Financializing poverty labor and risk in indian microfinance

FINANCIALIZING POV ERT Y SOU TH ASI A IN MOT ION EDITOR Thomas Blom Hansen EDITOR I A L BOA R D Sanjib Baruah Anne Blackburn Satish Despande Faisal Devji Christophe Jaff relot Naveeda Khan Stacey Leigh Pigg Mrinalini Sinha Ravi Vasudevan SOHINI K AR F I NA NC I A L I Z I NG P OV ER T Y Labor and Risk in Indian Microfinance S TA N F O R D U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S S S TA N F O R D , C A L I F O R N I A Stanford University Press Stanford, California ©  by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Stanford University Press Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Kar, Sohini, author Title: Financializing poverty : labor and risk in Indian microfi nance / Sohini Kar Description: Stanford, California : Stanford University Press,  | Series: South Asia in motion | Includes bibliographical references and index Identifiers: LCCN  (print) | LCCN  (ebook) | ISBN  (e-book) | ISBN  (cloth : alk paper) | ISBN  (pbk : alk paper) | ISBN  (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Microfi nance—India—Kolkata | Microfi nance—Social aspects— India—Kolkata | Poverty—India—Kolkata | Poor women—India—Kolkata Classification: LCC HG..I (ebook) | LCC HG..I K  (print) | DDC —dc LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/ Cover design: Cadence Design Studio Cover photo: Tiffen center, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India ©McKay Savage Typeset by Motto Publishing Services in / Adobe Caslon Pro For my parents, Syamal and Rita Kar This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS List of Abbreviations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction: Enfolding the Poor  Entrepreneurship and Work at the “Bottom of the Pyramid”   From Social Banking to Financial Inclusion   The Reluctant Moneylender   The Domestication of Microfinance   Financial Risk and the Moral Economy of Credit   Insured Death, Precarious Life  Epilogue  Notes  References  Index   This page intentionally left blank ABBREV IATIONS BC business correspondent BJP Bharatiya Janata Party BNCCI Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry BOP bottom of the pyramid BSE Bombay Stock Exchange CGAP Consultative Group to Assist the Poor COO chief operating officer CSR corporate social responsibility EDI Enterprise Development Institute GAD gender and development GDP gross domestic product ILO International Labor Organization IMF International Monetary Fund IPO initial public offering JNNURM Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission KYC know your customer LO loan officer MFI Microfinance Institution MFIN Microfinance Institutions Network MGNREGA Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act MIV microfinance investment vehicle ... paper Library of Congress Cataloging -in- Publication Data Names: Kar, Sohini, author Title: Financializing poverty : labor and risk in Indian microfi nance / Sohini Kar Description: Stanford, California... Anup and Rita Thakur for housing me in New Delhi Thank you to Dilip and Bani Mitra, Debkumar and Manju Mitra, Ajoy and Chandra Ghosh, Asim and Anjana Ghosh, and Arindam and Susmita Mitra I am incredibly... creditworthiness and fi-  Introduction nancial risk are constructed and negotiated in the everyday interactions between loan officers and borrowers and how they are informed by existing local social and