Microfinance In India

Introduction : enfolding the poor -- Entrepreneurship and work at the "bottom of the pyramid"--Social banking to financial inclusion -- The reluctant moneylender -- The domestication of microfinance -- Financial risk and the moral economy of credit -- Insured death, precarious life

This book brings together empirical evidences and theoretical perspectives to provide a comprehensive overview of the microfinance sector in India. The essays in the volume: focus on the application of information and communication technology (ICT) solutions in microfinance institutions to strengthen the savings movement and widen credit access to the poor and marginalized sections of society; present case studies on self-help group (SHG) movements, federations and SHG-Bank Linkage programmes; propose measures for strengthening regulatory and governance structures of the microfinance sector; and identify linkages between overall financial inclusion and the contribution of microfinance institutions (MFIs). The volume will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of microeconomics, South Asian economics and development economics as well as professionals and aspirants in the microfinance, rural banking and financial inclusion sectors.

Microfinance in India provides an informative and holistic status of microfinance in the country and suggests a road map for the future. A valuable source of information for policy makers, Finance and Management students, and professionals alike, it is a collection of essays by experts from diverse backgrounds on topical themes that capture the complexities of the continuously evolving microfinance sector in India. It covers major microfinance delivery models in an unbiased manner through well-researched articles.The book provides an overview on microfinance institutions and measures that help promote the same. Among other things, it reflects upon the challenges faced by the dominant credit delivery model, i.e., SHG-Bank Linkage Programme and issues related to the emerging microfinance institutions (MFIs). It also dwells upon innovations in the microfinance sector and the efforts being made to evolve new models such as SHG Federations.

This book discusses women-oriented microfinance initiatives in India and their articulation vis-à-vis state developmentalism and contemporary neo-liberal capitalism. It examines how these initiatives encourage economically disadvantaged rural women to make claims upon state-provided microcredit and connect with multiple state institutions and agencies, thereby reshaping their gendered identities. The author shows how Self-Help Group (SHG)-based microfinance institutions mobilise agency and create channels of empowerment for women as well as make them responsible for alleviating poverty for themselves and their families. The book also brings out the importance of factoring in women’s dissenting voices when they negotiate developmental projects at the grassroots level. Rich in empirical data, this volume will be useful to scholars and researchers of development studies, gender studies, economics, especially microeconomics, politics, public policy and governance.

In Making Women Pay, Smitha Radhakrishnan explores India's microfinance industry, which in the past two decades has come to saturate the everyday lives of women in the name of state-led efforts to promote financial inclusion and women's empowerment. Despite this favorable language, Radhakrishnan argues, microfinance in India does not provide a market-oriented development intervention, even though it may appear to help women borrowers. Rather, this commercial industry seeks to extract the maximum value from its customers through exploitative relationships that benefit especially class-privileged men. Through ethnography, interviews, and historical analysis, Radhakrishnan demonstrates how the unpaid and underpaid labor of marginalized women borrowers ensures both profitability and symbolic legitimacy for microfinance institutions, their employees, and their leaders. In doing so, she centralizes gender in the study of microfinance, reveals why most microfinance programs target women, and explores the exploitative implications of this targeting.

This volume presents a comprehensive analysis of microfinance initiatives in India. Through substantive field research and case studies ranging across the country, it examines Indian microfinance within its distinct socio-economic realities — the role of women, financial inclusion, rural entrepreneurship, and innovation — its interactions with multiple institutions, the challenges, as well as future directions.

A thematic work on the factual profiles of prevalent microcredit programs in India, this book goes far beyond the review of literature on the concept, country models, and history of the movement. The book contains an up-to-date review of the regulatory measures and their nuances, as well as a detailed review of evaluation and impact studies. It also dwells on the limitations of the microfinance movement to satisfy the credit needs of the vast informal-sector enterprises and discusses the new initiatives that the authorities have taken under the broad theme of "financial inclusion." Keeping the broader objective of distributional goals embedded in the microfinance movement, this record attempts an assessment of the wider challenges faced by the financial system by providing suggestions for reaching out to the small and informal sectors on a more effective scale.

In recent years, microfinance in India has emerged as the most suitable and practical alternative to conventional banking in reaching the poor population. Microfinance enables poor people to be thrifty and helps them in availing themselves of the credit and other financial services for improving their income and living standards. The Self-help Group (SHG) Bank Linkage Program was formally launched in 1992 as a flagship program that envisages the organization of the rural poor into SHGs for building their capacities to manage their own finances and then negotiate bank credit on commercial terms. The poor are encouraged to voluntarily come together to save small amounts regularly and extend micro loans among themselves. Once the group attains required maturity in handling larger resources, the bank credit follows. This book explains the concepts associated with microfinance, traces its progress and performance, and examines the role of India's government agencies in its promotion. It also highlights the role of microfinance in the economic empowerment of women and as a tool of financial inclusion.