The Role of Microfinance in Women's Empowerment: A Comparative Study of Rural & Urban Groups in India

by Raji Ajwani-Ramchandani

Overview

While the important topic of women’s empowerment through microfinance has been the subject of academic and practitioner interest, Ramchandani examines these issues from brand-new perspectives. This new work focuses on the Self-Help Group (SHG) model, an under-studied aspect of microfinance practice, and looks at both rural communicates and urban slums. Ramchandani presents recent empirical work from India including first-hand field-level case studies, where microfinance plays a key development role in reducing poverty, addressing women’s empowerment, and fostering rural economic growth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781787144262
Publisher:	Emerald Publishing Limited
Publication date:	10/17/2017
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dr. Raji Ajwani-Ramchandani has two decades of work experience across India and in the United States, she has contributed to various sectors including banking, information technology, media, education, development and entertainment. She has worked as a director of finance in a multinational company and as a consultant to CNN-Time Warner in the areas of accounting and finance and as an Assistant Professor at the Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development. She is currently Program Manager at Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation (BAIF), an award-winning development and research institution based in Pune, India. BAIF works to alleviate poverty in India by pioneering agricultural development. Her research interests include microfinance, banking, digital economy and sustainable development.

Table of Contents

List of Figures vii

List of Tables xi

List of Boxes xiii

List of Maps xv

List of Abbreviations xvii

Preface xxiii

Foreword xxv

Acknowledgements xxvii

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

Chapter 2 Literature Review 15

Chapter 3 Conceptualising Empowerment: A Theoretical Model 25

Chapter 4 Nationalisation to Demonetisation: An Overview of the Indian Banking Sector 45

Chapter 5 Microfinance in India - The Self-Help Group Federation and Joint Liability Models 67

Chapter 6 Data and Methods 81

Chapter 7 An Overview of the MFI Organisations: Annapurna Pariwar (AP) and GMSS 103

Chapter 8 Observations and Discussion - Rural Area 125

Chapter 9 Observations and Discussion - Urban Area 173

Chapter 10 Vetale Village: Then and Now (2013-2016) 211

Chapter 11 Concluding Remarks 227

Appendix 1 A 'Bad Loans' Bank for India 273

Appendix 2 Less Cash or Cashless: What about the Common Man? 275

References 283

Index 295

Editorial Reviews

Community-based women-centric microfinance institutions can play a very big role in enabling women to realize their own inner strengths by leveraging the power of aggregation, says Ajwani-Ramchandani, but most of the literature and discourse is by international, male bankers. She focuses instead on the work of two women-centric grassroots organizations that have been working towards empowering women in India for over a quarter century.

Annotation ©2017

Community-based women-centric microfinance institutions can play a very big role in enabling women to realize their own inner strengths by leveraging the power of aggregation, says Ajwani-Ramchandani, but most of the literature and discourse is by international, male bankers. She focuses instead on the work of two women-centric grassroots organizations that have been working towards empowering women in India for over a quarter century.

Annotation ©2017