Microfinance, debt distress and data capture: Evidence from pandemic times in rural South India Research findings report - Institut français de Pondichéry
Reports Year : 2024

Microfinance, debt distress and data capture: Evidence from pandemic times in rural South India Research findings report

Abstract

In India, the economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have high-lighted the conflict of interests involved in commercialised microfinance, as well as the limits of state-subsidised micro-credit provisioning through self-help group (SHG) collectives, both of which failed to protect poor women during this crisis. Our research on these two forms of micro-lending, carried out over the two-year period following March 2020, has documented the impact of the pandemic on different stakeholders and at different scales. Locating our in-depth study of three rural sites in Tamil Nadu, South India, in the broader landscape of microcredit, we analyse policy measures and discourses ranging from the global to the national and sub-national state, and discuss their impact on the lives of low-income women. Our sector-level analysis, together with our village-level data, force us to challenge claims that India’s financial inclusion infrastructure was an effective channel for aid during the pandemic.
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Dates and versions

hal-04635978 , version 1 (05-07-2024)

Identifiers

  • HAL Id : hal-04635978 , version 1

Cite

Nithya Joseph, Isabelle Guérin, Vincent Guermond, Katherine Brickell, Nithya Natarajan, et al.. Microfinance, debt distress and data capture: Evidence from pandemic times in rural South India Research findings report. Royal Holloway University of London; French Institute of Pondicherry; King's College London; Princeton University. 2024. ⟨hal-04635978⟩
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