Comments on India Development Blog: Gender and Microfinance Impact

Thank you for this interesting piece. I thought yo...

2009-06-23T16:38:10.217+05:30

Thank you for this interesting piece. I thought you might be interested to see this blog piece I wrote on our work with Self-Help Groups in India which expands on your final point about economic development not being the be all and end all:

http://findyourfeet.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/microcredit-the-power-and-the-pitfalls/

Thanks Natalie. I will check out the papers you m...

2009-05-12T18:16:00.000+05:30

Thanks Natalie. I will check out the papers you mention.

There is actually some evidence that lending to wo...

2009-05-12T07:46:00.000+05:30

There is actually some evidence that lending to women has a higher impact on social and family welfare (beyond the higher repayment rates). There is a whole chapter on Gender and microfinance in Armendariz and Morduch's essential "The Economics and Microfinance" but I will just provide some key points here. For example, Khandker (2003) found that serving women had stronger impacts on the household, and Blumberg (1989) showed that women are more concerned with children's health and education than men. There is also some evidence that microlending can have a negative impact on fertility rates (eg in Bangladesh). That said, of course, this doesn't mean that microfinance should be restricted to women.

Hi Ankur, you can email me a ist of questions that you have and I will try to respond asap.

Dear Sir/ Madam, I wanted to reach you people, co...

2009-05-07T16:29:00.000+05:30

Dear Sir/ Madam,

I wanted to reach you people, couldn't find any other way on your site. I am First Year MBA student at Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. As part of my summer training project - "Scope of Microfinance in India", I am required to study the way MFI's work. I wish to know the following:

-What exactly MFI's do in "Loan Assignment"? How is it different from "managed loans"?

-Is there any circular/guideline by RBI on these practices?

I gather, they form a part of off-balance-sheet items, but do not know what exactly MFI's do in them. Hope you have an idea and I'll be grateful if you share with me. Also, some other pointers/contacts who could throw light on this topic will also be appreciated.

Awaiting your response.

Regards,
Ankur Garg
NMIMS, Mumbai

interesting post!

2009-05-04T19:44:00.000+05:30

interesting post!