IFMR Capital: The Money Conductors
The latest edition of the Forbes India magazine features a cover story on IFMR Capital. The story traces the origins of IFMR Capital, its evolution over the years and…
The Green Stool Innovation
On Wednesday, we brought together leaders from our Kshetriya Gramin Financial Services (KGFS) companies to talk about best practices from across our operations in Uttarakhand, Orissa and Tamil Nadu….
The crucial link between financial access and decision making of the poor
A new paper by Anandi Mani et al in the August issue of Science has a stunning finding – that the cognitive impact of being poor may be equivalent…
Shadow banking as the symptom and not the disease
A friend pointed me to an interesting new book recently, “Inside China’s Shadow Banking: the Next Subprime Crisis”. This is written by an investment banker turned shadow banker, Joe…
Housing Rental Markets for the Poor (and not-so-poor)
I read an excellent post by Ajay Shah recently that questioned the policy wisdom of emphasising house ownership over rental housing.
How much do rural bank branches cost the financial sector?
For every loan of Rs, 10,000 made through a Public Sector Bank rural branch, it costs them about Rs. 4150. The same number for a Private Sector Bank rural…
Innovations in Micro Finance: Field notes from Eastern Uttar Pradesh
A few colleagues and I recently travelled through Varanasi and Mirzapur in Eastern Uttar Pradesh visiting Micro Finance Institutions (MFI) in that region and their clients. I am delighted…
Why the land and gold obsession of rural Indians may be entirely rational
What does the asset allocation look like for people living in remote rural India (villages with less than 5000 population)?
Who will pay for the payments plumbing?
A recent Economist article says that 70% of Kenyans now use mobile money in some form. The battle against cash is an important one in the larger war against…