Financial Well-being and Social Protection

Implementation of a Women-based Community Driven Development (CDD) Programme in Tamil Nadu: The Pudhu Vaazhvu Project (PVP)

Deepti Kc, K. Acharya

This case study examines one community driven development project in southern India, called the Pudhu Vaazhvu Project (PVP). The study reveals that most poor families in the examined region are included in PVP PIP list (the PVP’s list of poor … Read More

The Miracle of Microfinance? Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation

Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, Rachel Glennerster, Cynthia Kinnan

This paper reports results from the randomized evaluation of a group lending microcredit program in Hyderabad, India. A lender worked in 52 randomly selected neighborhoods, leading to an 8.4 percentage point increase in takeup of microcredit. Small business investment and … Read More

Barriers to Basic Banking: Results from an Audit Study in South India

Amy Jensen Mowl, Camille Boudot

This working paper presents findings from an experimental study conducted in urban South India to examine the barriers faced by customers in purchasing a low-cost savings product. The authors found that banks have a high ability to influence financial access … Read More

Dynamics of Demand for Index Insurance: Evidence from a Long-run Field Experiment

Cole S, D Stein, Tobacman J,

This paper estimates how experimentally-manipulated experiences with a novel financial product, rainfall index insurance, affect subsequent insurance demand. Using a seven-year panel, we develop three main findings. First, recent experience matters for demand, consistent with overinference from small samples. Second, … Read More

The Economic Returns to Social Interaction: Experimental Evidence from Microfinance

Benjamin Feigenberg, Erica Field and Rohini Pande

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

Misha Sharma

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

Shawn Cole, Maulik Jagnani, Lisa Nestor and Jeremy Tobacman

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

Parul Agarwal, Misha Sharma, Amulya Krishna Champatiray

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

Anand Sahasranaman, Vishnu Prasad, Swati Grewal, Nikhil Tambi, Shahid Vaziralli, Camille Boudot-Reddy

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

Pushkar Maitra, Sandip Mitra, Dilip Mookherjee, Alberto Motta, Sujata Visaria

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