-Ideas for India The share of bank credit extended to MSMEs increased dramatically during the pandemic. In this post, Harsh Vardhan discusses the the government guarantee of bank loans as a possible driver of this growth. He outlines the current policy of providing credit against collateral, and the constraints MSMEs face while borrowing– which leads to decreased investment and firm productivity. He argues that the learnings from the credit guarantee scheme...

-Scroll.in Data from a survey conducted by think tank CMIE had to be used as India has not published official figures since 2011, the financial body said. A total of 5.6 crore Indians slipped into poverty in the pandemic year of 2020, the World Bank said in a report on Wednesday, citing data from a household survey conducted by think tank Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. The findings of the Consumer Pyramids Household...

-The Telegraph Over two dozen petitions have challenged the legal and constitutional validity of DeMo A five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice Abdul Nazeer will on Wednesday start hearing a batch of petitions challenging the Narendra Modi government’s demonetisation of high-value currency notes in November 2016. Over two dozen petitions have challenged the legal and constitutional validity of the demonetisation and the short window offered to citizens to exchange the demonetised notes. A three-judge...

-Scroll.in A rise in work allocation through the pandemic saw an enthusiastic response. Now, delayed wages and reduced allocation forces workers out of the district again. Bardha Girdhar had to wait more than six months to get Rs 2,976 he had earned for digging trenches in Nandurbar. A farmer who own a patch of land of a little over two acres in the district, Giridhar spends some part of the year growing...

-The Hindu Business Line The Centre should build on the success of PMJDY to promote other financial products for the lower sections of society As the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) completes its eighth year, it is becoming increasingly clear that this is a rare State-initiated welfare scheme that has not just met but exceeded its initial promise. That the scheme has made a material difference to financial inclusion is evident...