Making Money Work for the Poor in India: Inclusive Finance through Bank-Moneylender Linkages

Making Money Work for the Poor in India: Inclusive Finance through Bank-Moneylender Linkages

Garg, A.K., and Neha Pandey. 2007. "Making Money Work for the Poor in India: Inclusive Finance through Bank-Moneylender Linkages." (Working Paper)

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http://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/archive/00002110/01/Moneylending_Commons.pdf

"India has one of the most extensive financial systems comprising of commercial and cooperative banks, microfinance institutions and self-help groups. Yet, the vast majority of rural poor still does not have access to formal financial services necessary for poverty reduction and wealth creation. What effective measures are required to make money work for the poor? Here we draw on published research to show that neither banks nor microfinance institutions have been able to replace moneylenders in India. Indeed, the informal moneylenders have dynamically outmanoeuvred formal financial system in their reach to poor by their adaptive management skills and resilient social networks. We suggest that in order to reduce poverty and propel India towards sustainable human well-being a comprehensive financial system based on the bank-moneylender linkages is required. Without a full integration of traditional and contemporary financial innovations any attempt to expand the formal financial system in India is likely to be of limited utility to the poor."

Document Type:
Working Paper
Keywords:
economic change--India poverty alleviation--India business and finance--Indiaindigenous institutions--Indiainformal economy--India

Linking Local Knowledge to Global Markets: Livelihoods Improvement through Woodcarving in India

Role of traditional knowledge for the conservation science is acknowledged but the evidence related to its direct contribution to livelihoods and household income is often overlooked. Recent importance to woodcarving in India provides opportunity to explore if, and under what conditions, traditional knowledge on woodcarving contributes to livelihoods improvement and household incomes. There is a paucity of good studies on woodcarving in India but the preliminary information provides inference that a comparatively much better policy and governance, good infrastructure and a growing tourism play vital role in supporting local artisans and entrepreneurs to use their traditional knowledge for generating large household incomes. Although it seems plausible that local knowledge can support livelihoods improvement with suitable interventions, robust studies are urgently required to provide operational models for linking livelihoods and conservation through trade in woodcarving. Suitably designed action research is likely to provide insights for supporting livelihoods through woodcarving as well as promoting the tree-growing in agroecosystems to supply raw material for woodcarving enterprise.