Financial Well-being and Social Protection

Does Women’s Banking Matter for Women? Evidence from Urban India

Erica Field, Jose Martinez, Rohini Pande

In many developing countries, women are prevented to take full advantage of the benefits of living in an urban area. In India, while one of every two men participates in the labor market, it is the case just for one … Read More

Natural Calamities and Social Safety Programs

Arpita Khanna, Diksha Singh

This factsheet presents evidence from a recent IFMR LEAD, BIGD, IGC feasibility study on utilizing a mobile money platform to deliver cash transfers to vulnerable populations, in Northwest Bangladesh.

Understanding the Advice of Commissions-motivated Agents: Evidence from the Indian Life Insurance Market

Santosh Anagol, Shawn Cole, Shayak Sarkar

In this paper, authors share findings from a series of field experiments to evaluate the quality of advice provided by life insurance agents in India. Agents overwhelmingly recommend unsuitable, strictly dominated products, which provide high commissions to the agent. Agents … Read More

Kiosk Banking: The Challenges to and Implications of Building an Inclusive Financial Architecture

Parul Agarwal, Amulyakrishna Champatiray

The Government of India and the RBI have taken various measures to promote and deepen financial inclusion in India. One of the more recent and innovative channels of increasing financial inclusion has been through kiosk banking. The study seeks to … Read More

The Economics and Psychology of Long-term Savings and Pensions: A Randomised Experiment Among Low-income Entrepreneurs in Maharashtra, India

Karna Basu, Shailendra Singh Bisht

This report presents findings from a study that examines determinants of long-term savings among low-income households through marketing interventions and incentives.

Smallholder Access to Weather Securities in India: Demand and Impact on Production Decisions

Francisco Ceballos, Isaac Manuel R, Miguel Robles, Andre Butler

This report presents findings from a study that seeks to make weather-index insurance simple, transparent, flexible and affordable for smallholder farmers.

Do Flexible Repayment Schedules Improve the Impact of Microcredit? Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Rural India

Kristina Czura

In this paper, the authors present findings from a randomized evaluation of flexible microcredit repayment schedules relative to “normal” inflexible, fixed repayment schedules.

The Need for Better Evidence to Evaluate the Health & Economic Benefits of India’s Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana

rindam Nandi, E. Phoebe Holtzman, Anup Malani, Ramanan Laxminarayan

In this review the existing evidence on the impact of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) is discussed in the context of international literature available on health insurance. We describe potential pathways through which health insurance can affect health and economic … Read More

Smallholder Access To Weather Securities: Demand And Impact On Consumption And Production Decisions

This study evaluates the potential of a weather index insurance product in addressing the insurance requirements of smallholder farmers.  … Read More

Role of Microfinance Sector in Disaster Risk Reduction in India

Microfinance Institutions can provide wider support during natural disasters to poor households by implementing Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) activities This study aims to assess the gaps between existing DRR practices of MFIs and disaster related vulnerabilities of clients to inform disaster preparedness strategies. … Read More