The Covid-19 pandemic will undoubtedly send long-lasting shockwaves across all sectors and segments of society. To understand what this means for the Financial Inclusion sector, LEAD is taking a journey – virtual, of course – across India, speaking with experts … Read More

Introduction With an increasingly warming planet, climate change has been termed as an “emergency” by the United Nations Secretary-General, urging countries around the world to enhance their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). Under the Paris Agreement, each country is required to … Read More

Kanika Joshi and Deepanshu Khandelwal share stories from their recent visit to Bikaner, Rajasthan, where they were present as part of LEAD’s collaboration with Rangsutra. Rangsutra is an artisan collective that has empowered and transformed the lives of thousands of artisans across the country. LEAD is supporting Rangsutra in their efforts toward digitizing their workflow and supply chain … Read More

In this month’s story from the field, Research Associate Shruti Sheopurkar shares field notes and insights from a series of focus group discussions with women on the use of ICT and mobile phones. Twenty kilometers outside Raipur city in the … Read More

Two years ago, the government of India made a significant move by withdrawing from circulation India’s most frequently used bank notes. The ultimate aim of this move was to create a corruption-free and cashless society. Early evidence indicates that digital … Read More

It was almost three in the afternoon when we arrived at Padma’s house in the sleepy village of Katpadi in Tamil Nadu. In a state where 55 percent of women in rural areas don’t participate in the labor force, Padma is the … Read More

In addition to clinical biologists (and probably their assistants), every development-research enthusiast nowadays is fairly familiar with the term ‘Randomized Control Trials’ or RCTs, as they are fondly known. Since their inception in the early 2000s, RCTs have influenced research … Read More

Small businesses are often hubs of entrepreneurship, employment and innovation, thereby playing a crucial role in the socio-economic development of any nation. In a much appreciated move, the United Nations (UN) general assembly on recently designated 27 June as Micro, … Read More

Technology is disrupting the traditional banking and finance landscape in India, across a spectrum of services – credit, payments, savings and insurance. In this article, Prachi Agarwal profiles some upcoming fintech companies that are finding solutions to a variety of traditional … Read More

How can emerging economies tap into the benefits of big data for financial inclusion? This article draws on a panel discussion on Big Data, hosted by IFMR LEAD and BRAC at the What Works Global Summit 2016 in London recently. … Read More