Title: Exploring the relation between micro-lending and economic growth - evidence from Indian macro environment

Authors: Ankit Biswal; Pramod Kumar Mishra

Addresses: School of Management Studies, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India ' School of Management Studies, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India

Abstract: Mixed results on the impact of microfinance continue to create concern among the policymakers due to the opportunity cost of the resources allocated towards micro-lending. While microfinance reduces income inequality, it becomes necessary to know its effect on economic growth, as income equality and growth are negatively correlated in developing economies. We hypothesise that microfinance leads to the economic growth of the nation at the macro level, using India's state wise panel data extracted by exploiting the database of Microfinance Institutions Network and database of the Reserve Bank of India. The study uses a random effects instrumental variable model to deal with the endogeneity and state and time effect involved due to bi-causality and panel data respectively. Results obtained, suggest that micro-lending has a significant and positive impact on the economic growth of a nation, which implies that microfinance can also contribute towards positive economic growth along with its role of reducing income inequality.

Keywords: micro-lending; growth; gross domestic product; GDP; India; macro environment; gross loan portfolio; GLP.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEBR.2022.124287

International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 2022 Vol.24 No.1/2, pp.145 - 158

Received: 15 Jun 2020
Accepted: 04 Dec 2020

Published online: 21 Jul 2022 *

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