Bibliography and Footnotes - I
As of September 2023, India is one of the world's fastest-growing economies and is projected to continue on this path, with aspirations to reach upper-middle income status by 2047.
Read more: Worldbank (2023): India Overview, https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/india/overview .
Borrowed any money: 45%; Borrowed money from a formal financial institution: 12% (for age above 15 years)
Read more: The Global Findex Database 2021
https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/globalfindex/Data
The Irish Loan Funds were microcredit institutions that operated in Ireland between 1720 and 1915. They were run by local associations which provided small loans to the low-income working class. For instance, Irish Reproductive Loan Funds microcredit schemes provided small loans for reproductive purposes, such as the purchase of fishing equipment or the repair of fish-curing sheds.
Read more: Committee on Loan Fund Societies (Ireland) (30 April 1855), Reports from Committees, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons.
Minute books, loan ledgers and other account books of the Local Associations and County Committees, etc., from the National Archives on the Irish Loan Fund can be found here: Irish Reproductive Loan Fund (n.y.): Records (1822-1849), https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C13828.
Net assets or fund balances in 2021 were 449,773,218 USD. See a public copy of the Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax for Accion International for the year 2021 here: https://content.accion.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ACCION-INTERNATIONAL-INC._TAX-RETURN_CLIENT-990PD_2021.pdf.
Joseph Blatchford was the Director of the Peace Corps from 1969 until 1971. As an independent agency and programme of the United States government, the Peace Corps trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. Read more: Peace Corps (n.y.): Past Directors, https://www.peacecorps.gov/about/history/past-directors/.
Today (2023), the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) comprises more than 2.5 million (2023) members, mainly low-income, self-employed women workers from the informal economy in India.
Read more: Rekha Datta (2003): From Development To Empowerment: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20020171 .
Ela Ramesh Bhatt (7 September 1933 – 2 November 2022)
Yunus, Muhammad. “Grameen Bank, Microcredit and Millennium Development Goals.” Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 39, no. 36, 2004, pp. 4077–80. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4415509 . Accessed 16 Oct. 2023.
Read more: Grameen Bank (2023): Monthly Report from August 2023, https://grameenbank.org.bd/archives/monthly/monthly-report-in-usd-august23 .
Total support and revenue of Grameen Foundation was 11.1 million EUR for the financial year 2021/22, as reported in the 2022 Annual report.
Read more: Grameen Foundation (n.y.): Annual Report 2022, https://grameenfoundation.org/documents/GF_2022-Annual-Report_digital-9.pdf
In 2006, more than seven million borrowers had received loans via Grameen Bank. The documented average amount lent was 100 USD, with a repayment rate of 98%. They received the Nobel Peace Prize “for their efforts to create economic and social development from below”. Read more: Nobel Prize (2023): Grameen Bank, https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2006/grameen/facts/
International Monetary Fund (2007): Microfinance. Banking for the poor, https://www.elibrary.imf.org/downloadpdf/journals/022/0044/002/article-A015-en.pdf
Grameen Capital India was established in 2007 as a joint venture between Grameen Foundation, Citicorp Finance and IFMR Trust. In November 2012, Amit Patni and Arihant Patni acquired IFMR Trust’s stake in Grameen Capital, in a landmark investment, marking a first-of-its-kind exit in the social business space.
Read more: http://www.grameencapital.in/about.html
In 2020, Grameen Capital launched Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) bonds for clean energy.
Read more: Fourth Partner Energy/Grameen Capital India Limited (2020): Grameen Impact and Fourth Partner Energy launch Impact Bond for the climate imperative, http://www.grameencapital.in/images/pdf/Press_Release_POWER_SDG7_Impact_Bond.pdf.
Read more: Chandrakala/Ramesha (2018): Micro Finance through Self Help Groups as a tool for Financial Inclusive with reference to Bangalore Region –A Conceptual Study, https://www.researchguru.net/volume/Volume%2012/Issue%203/RG25.pdf.
KIVA Microfunds and Subsidiaries Audited Annual Report 2022 notes that the repayment rate for all of its loans from all Kiva’s partners as of June 30, 2022 was approximately 97 percent.
Read more: KIVA Microsfunds and Subsidiaries consolidated financial statements and supplementary information, 18-month period ended June 30, 2022, https://www.kiva.org/cms/kiva_microfunds_and_subsidiaries_audited_financials_for_the_18_months_ending_6.30.2022.pdf.
A poverty line is an indicator determined by a minimum threshold of the income levels considered adequate in an economic system. The international poverty line is 2.15 USD per person per day as of Sept 2022.
Read more: Worldbank (2022): Fact Sheet: An Adjustment to Global Poverty Lines, https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/factsheet/2022/05/02/fact-sheet-an-adjustment-to-global-poverty-lines#1.
Read more: Government of India (1981): The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act, https://www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/1670/1/A1981-61.pdf
The SHG-Bank linkage programme now covers 140 million families and 11.9 million SHG groups, having cumulative savings of 47,240.48 crore INR (equals 5,39 billion EUR) as on 31 March 2022. The credit linkage is also impressive insofar that 34 lakh (equals 340 000) SHGs have been credit linked during FY 2021–22 (as against 29 lakh (equals 290 000) groups in 2020-21) and loans worth 99,729.23 crore INR (equals 11,3 billion EUR) were disbursed. The credit outstanding as on 31 March 2022 is 1,51,051.30 crore INR (equals 16,6 billion EUR) for 67.40 lakh SHGs (equals 6,74 million) (an average of 2.24 lakh INR (equals 2540 EUR) per SHG).
Read more: A Report by NABARD Status of Microfinance in India 2022 https://www.nabard.org/auth/writereaddata/tender/2707225843somfi-2021-22-final-english.pdf.
’The MFIs’ loan assets have grown at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 42 per cent over the two-year period ended March 2014.’’
Read more: India’s 25 leading Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) by CRISIL (2014), https://www.findevgateway.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/indias_25_leading_mfis.pdf.
For the first time, they measured the contribution of MFIs based on data from the MicroFinance Institutions Network (MFIN), the self-regulatory organisation recognised by the RBI.
Read more: CRISIL INCLUSIX Jun 2015 Volume III, https://www.crisil.com/content/dam/crisil/crisil-foundation/generic-pdf/CRISIL-Inclusix-Volume-III.pdf.
NBFCs stand for Non-banking financial companies.
“That said, NBFCs are facing three headwinds. First, intensifying competition from banks that, flush with liquidity, have sharpened focus on retail loans, which are the mainstay of NBFCs. Second, gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) are expected to increase, mostly because of the recent regulatory clarification in recognition norms and, to some extent, due to slippages from the restructured book. And third, funding access is yet to fully normalise for some of the players.“
Read more: Looking up NBFCs on revival path post pandemic blow (Dec 2021) by CRISIL
In this study, findings suggest that SHG membership has a significant positive impact on aggregate measures of women’s empowerment and reduces the gap between men’s and women’s empowerment scores.
Read more: Kumar, Neha et al. “The power of the collective empowers women: Evidence from self-help groups in India.” World development vol. 146 (2021): 105579. doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105579.
In this study, findings highlight challenges to gender parity.
Read more: Duvendack, M., Sonne, L. & Garikipati, S. Gender Inclusivity of India’s Digital Financial Revolution for Attainment of SDGs: Macro Achievements and the Micro Experiences of Targeted Initiatives. Eur J Dev Res (2023). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41287-023-00585-x
Read more: A Report by NABARD (n.y.): STATUS OF MICROFINANCE IN INDIA 2021-22, https://www.nabard.org/auth/writereaddata/tender/2707225843somfi-2021-22-final-english.pdf.
An evaluation of the Grameen Bank as a strategy to empower and improve the socio-economic status of women in Bangladesh concludes that the Grameen Bank is not a panacea for poverty reduction and improving women's lives. However, it has increased the income of borrowers, led to improvements in certain aspects of women's lives and has the potential to contribute to long-term, sustainable and progressive social change when combined with other progressive social and economic policies.
Read more: Bernasek, A. (2003): Banking on Social Change: Grameen Bank Lending to Women. International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, 16(3), 369–385. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20020172
The transformative potential of Self Help Groups (SHGs), evident through their key role in the response to COVID-19 on the ground, has served as a pivot for rural development through women's empowerment. In India, there are around 12 million SHGs, of which 88 per cent are all-women SHGs.
Women's SHGs have a positive, statistically significant effect on women's economic, social and political empowerment. However, the positive impact on empowerment is achieved through different pathways, such as familiarity with money management, financial decision-making, improved social networks, asset ownership and livelihood diversification.
Read more: Government of India (2023): Economic Survey 2022-2023, https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/userfiles/file/EconomicSurvey2023Q44O.pdf.
A study in the federal state of Odisha concluded that the accessibility and usability of MFIs and SHGs by transgender persons are poor. On the one hand, social stigma and stereotypes have led to transgender persons being marginalised by mainstream society, which in turn has led to low literacy, social exclusion, lack of formal employment, landlessness, homelessness and exclusion from the microfinance market. On the other hand, problems with legal documents, less dissemination of information, financial illiteracy among transgender persons and fewer political initiatives have led to their exclusion from the microfinance market.
Read more: Barik, Rajesh & Sharma, Pritee (2018): Exclusion of Transgender from Microfinance Market: Field Study from Odisha, India. Journal of Exclusion Studies. 8.69.10.5958/2231-4555.2018.00006.2.