Wealth Management. The very term conjures up images of High Net-worth Individuals (HNIs), big banks, and sophisticated financial advisors. Categorically speaking though, wealth management is just a way of allocating finances to maintain liquidity on one hand and to invest for growth on the other. The fundamental principles of wealth management have nothing to… Continue reading A quick introduction to micro-wealth management using IndiaStack

Photo by India Picture on Shutterstock   That Indian households invest largely in physical assets is well known. What is not well understood is why this might be so. The reluctance in engaging with formal financial markets in India may have its roots in lack of trust, financial illiteracy, and access to resources that make it easy for… Continue reading Reducing financial skill asymmetry between distributors and retail investors

  Over the last decade, financial inclusion — access to and use of formal financial services — of the underserved and excluded populations has become a priority goal of National Governments as well as International Organizations. Transaction accounts (such as bank account, mobile wallet, payment card, or similar electronic instruments) that allow individuals to store… Continue reading Digitizing Payments in India: Inducing Behavioral Change Through Peer Comparison

Image Credit: Shutterstock   Self Help Groups (SHGs) are the foundation of Indian microfinance, and are a particularly Indian concept. They are different from the Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) through which Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) provide loan funds to women. SHGs encourage savings, opening of bank accounts, inter-loaning among members, and most importantly, members of SHGs… Continue reading Supporting Women Self-Help Group Federations

  The use of technology (and mobile phone/smartphone based solutions in particular) is widely seen as a solution to overcome the information asymmetries that persist in agriculture in India, especially among small and marginal farmers.   Given the constraints faced by government and practitioners in traditional extension services, technology based solutions are likely to be… Continue reading Beyond Product Design – Digital Financial Services in the Farmer Segment

Photo by Deepak Sudhakaran on Shutterstock.   Ramdas is a middle aged man and a third generation potter living in the country side of Bihar (an Indian State) with his wife and two children. Advent of Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY, Financial Inclusion initiative by Govt. of India) has opened up a bank account for… Continue reading Will Ramdas go to a Bank?

  “It seemed to him that in [urban slums], fortunes derived not just from what people did, or how well they did it, but from the accidents and catastrophes they dodged. A decent life was the train that hadn’t hit you, the slumlord you hadn’t offended, the malaria you hadn’t caught.” ― Katherine Boo, Behind the Beautiful… Continue reading Decoding Financial Lives of Urban Poor

  Full disclosure- I’m a lawyer.   And just like most other professional pursuits, being a lawyer affects the way you think and the manner in which you perceive the world. But this field also makes you cognizant of the way in which the world perceives you and your industry.   The legal world has… Continue reading A New Paradigm for Contracts

The Bharat Inclusion Team and Research Fellows.   In his work, that has long become the material of common wisdom, the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter identified an entrepreneur as an agent of change. Schumpeter characterized the entrepreneur as the force required to drive economic progress, as the proactive carrier of transformation in economies that are… Continue reading When Fellows Talk Inclusion