How does informal economic activity respond to increased financial inclusion? Does it become more entrepreneurial? Does access to new financing options change the gender configuration of informal economic activity and, if so, in what ways and what directions? We take advantage of nationwide data...

How does informal economic activity respond to increased financial inclusion? Does it become more entrepreneurial? Does access to new financing options change the gender configuration of informal economic activity and, if so, in what ways and what directions? We take advantage of nationwide data...

How does informal economic activity respond to increased financial inclusion? Does it become more entrepreneurial? Does access to new financing options change the gender configuration of informal economic activity and, if so, in what ways and what directions? We take advantage of nationwide data...

This paper gauges the effect of financial deepening and bank outreach on informality using micro data from the Indian manufacturing sector and exploiting cross-industry variation in the need for external finance. We distinguish between two channels through which access to finance can reduce...

Using the 2000 introduction of the Clause 49 regulations in India as a natural experiment, we examine the impact of increased disclosure on firm financing choices. Clause 49 introduced transparency and disclosure rules, among others, and listed Indian firms were required to adopt it by 2006....

Programs to direct finance to small firms are ubiquitous. We develop evidence of unexpected side-effects of these programs. Exploiting discontinuities in program eligibility in India’s PSL program, we show that targeted lending programs can slow growth, paradoxically creating financial...

Financial Inclusion for inclusive growth is a topic of contemporary significance and relevance. This study besides establishing the growth enhancing role of bank-based financial intermediation through empirical evidence has also found that access to finance by the poor is a prerequisite for...

Access to finance by the poor is a sine qua non for poverty reduction through economic development thereby driving inclusive growth which can further lead to sustainable growth. This study using adequate data covering pre and post-liberalisation period from 1974-75 to 2007-08 in the Indian...

This paper analyses the need, significance and the advantages of ‘reforms in institutional finance for inclusive growth' in the context of Indian economy and offers some practicable suggestions from the functional perspective. India's Rural Financial Architecture (RFA) is subject to systemic...

Many emerging markets have undertaken significant financial sector reforms especially in their banking sectors that have been quite critical for both financial development and real economic activity. In this paper, we investigate the success of banking reforms in India where significant banking...