The Tamil Nadu State Rural Livelihoods Mission (TNSRLM) plans to expand in Tamil Nadu with the same guiding principles as Tamil Nadu Pudhu Vaazhvu Project (TNPVP). The Annual Action Plan of TNSRLM states that the TNPVP will be the “pilot … Read More
Publications
Developing Financing Strategies for Implementing the State Action Plans on Climate Change
This report is a high level strategy document based on interim findings from a study on ‘Developing Financing Strategies for Implementing the State Action Plans on Climate Change.’ It primarily focuses on strategies for states to access and leverage Central … Read More
The Economic Returns to Social Interaction: Experimental Evidence from Microfinance
In this study, microfinance clients were randomly assigned to repayment groups that met either weekly or monthly during their first loan cycle, and then graduated to identical meeting frequency for their second loan. Long-run survey data and a follow-up public … Read More
Gold Loans as an Alternative Source of Credit for Low-income Households
The demand for gold in India has always been high, thus creating a huge potential for growth in the gold loan market. In recent decades, the market has emerged as a reliable sources of credit for low-income households. This report … Read More
Marketing Weather-indexed Agricultural Insurance to Smallholder Farmers in Rural Gujarat, India
This policy note presents findings from a study “Index Insurance to Manage Weather Risks: A Long-term Experiment” where the authors investigate the effectiveness of rainfall insurance as a tool to help farmers manage risk. The research also examines whether farmers … Read More
Self Help Group Bank Linkage: Through the Responsible Finance Lens
The report presents findings from a study that attempts to answer the questions associated with the above mentioned objective by collecting primary data from SHGs and SHPIs across three states -Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.
Comprehensive Social Security for the Indian Unorganised Sector: Recommendations on Design and Implementation
This report highlights challenges in the design and implementation of social security schemes in India, and draws out lessons for designing a comprehensive social security framework. The report delves into issues of ownership structure, program coverage, delivery architecture and specific … Read More
Agent Intermediated Lending: A New Approach to Microfinance
In this paper, authors present findings from a study on trader agent intermediated lending (TRAIL), a new version of microfinance where local intermediaries (lenders) are appointed as agents to recommend borrowers for individual liability loans designed to allow the financing … Read More
The Diffusion of Microfinance
To study the impact of the choice of injection points in the diffusion of a new product in society, this study examined the impact of a word-of-mouth diffusion model and applied it to data on social networks and participation in … Read More
Poverty Impedes Cognitive Function
The poor often behave in less capable ways, which can further perpetuate poverty. We hypothesize that poverty directly impedes cognitive function and present two studies that test this hypothesis. First, we experimentally induced thoughts about finances and found that this … Read More