CMF’s Savings Monitors Study provided me an opportunity to get a first hand feel of some of the challenges faced in implementing financial inclusion among the poorer, rural community. Recent research has shown that individuals across the world have … Read More

What is women’s empowerment? And more importantly, how is a woman valued in India? A brutal gang-rape of a medical student, who gave in to her injuries a fortnight later, shook the nation last December. The incident and the events … Read More

India is one of the biggest markets for gold and gold loans. Reasons for this are spread across various social, economic and cultural dimensions. According to World Gold Council, India accounts for 10% of total world gold stock, of which … Read More

As you can see, we’ve rebranded our blog from the Centre for Microfinance Blog to include the Centre for Development Finance (CDF), the Small Enterprise Finance Centre (SEFC) and the Centre for Microfinance (CMF) – the research centres under IFMR … Read More

While going through the recent Budget 2013 session described vividly across various media sections, it would be safe in saying that it has not raised any major controversy or questions to some extent, though experts are still going through the … Read More

I am quite sure most of you have seen or know of a village haat or bazaar. Ever wonder what exactly happens out there? (In case if you are not aware of what a village haat is-  as most interior … Read More

Dear Government, My eldest 17-year-old son has lately started talking about going to a big city for a “better” livelihood. He is a very skilled farmer; however, he does not see any future in it. Some say our young boys … Read More

While reading up on Agricultural Credit, came across this interesting paper on farm credit in Pakistan, our neighbour. What was interesting about this paper is that the provision of farm credit in rural Pakistan actually benefited the small farmers though … Read More

Development of rural credit systems have always been a complicated affair and this is clear from India’s history. Intermittent failure of monsoons, unscientific farming practices and rural indebtedness, seasonal need for credit and other risks has ensured that high interest … Read More

With an even-fisted force in the air, he yells, “We are not a slave to your microfinance!” and storms off to the back of the house, leaving twenty-three clients, one collection officer, and two surveyors in a small room shyly … Read More