Socially Disadvantaged Groups and Microfinance in India

Jean-Marie Baland, Rohini Somanathan and Lore Vandewalle

No 278, Working papers from Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics

Abstract: About two-thirds of microfinance clients in India are reported to be in Self-Help Groups (SHGs). These mostly women’s groups have been promoted by nationalized banks since the early nineties to improve credit access among especially disadvantaged populations. We study the survival of members and groups and their differential access to credit using a census of SHGs created between 1998 and 2006 in 386 villages in eastern India. Households without land and those from disadvantaged castes and tribes exhibit higher attrition rates and smaller loans but we find the main predictor of differential outcomes is education rather than social identity. Members with formal education receive larger loans and have a 30 per cent lower risk of being separated from their group. Groups with no such members are also four times more likely to become inactive.

Pages: 41 pages
Date: 2017-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ban, nep-fle and nep-mfd
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.cdedse.org/pdf/work278.pdf

Related works:
Journal Article: Socially Disadvantaged Groups and Microfinance in India (2019)
Working Paper: Socially Disadvantaged Groups and Micro-finance in India (2017)
Working Paper: Socially Disadvantaged Groups and Microfinance in India (2015)
Working Paper: Socially Disadvantaged Groups and Microfinance in India (2011)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cde:cdewps:278

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.cdedse.org/

The price is free.

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working papers from Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics Delhi 110 007. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sanjeev Sharma ().