Title: Did micro-finance pass the COVID litmus test? An empirical analysis from women borrowers' perspective based in Rural Himalayas

Authors: Insha Ahad Wani; Megha Agarwal

Addresses: Department of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, India ' Department of Commerce, Rajdhani College, University of Delhi, India

Abstract: The study attempts to use COVID period as an opportunity to analyse how efficiently micro-finance has been able to deal with the unprecedented crisis. The objective of this study is to find the impact of two COVID-19 response measures; credit accessibility and moratorium on repayments, taken by the industry, on welfare status of its women beneficiaries. To test the validity of claims made by micro-finance, we carried an empirical study of 1,210 micro-finance women borrowers from nine districts of Jammu and Kashmir operating under DAY-NRLM. We used ANOVA, independent t-test and Welch test to compare the welfare status of these borrowers during the core pandemic period, using financial accessibility, domestic violence and economic stability as three dimensions of women welfare or empowerment. The findings are suggestive of a mixed performance by micro-finance.

Keywords: micro-finance; COVID-19; women welfare; economic stability; domestic violence; financial accessibility.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSOC.2025.148595

International Journal of Sustainable Society, 2025 Vol.17 No.3, pp.302 - 318

Received: 04 Jul 2022
Accepted: 29 Jan 2023
Published online: 15 Sep 2025 *

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