COVID-19 and the Unequalizing Infrastructures of Financial Inclusion in Tamil Nadu

TY - JOUR

T1 - COVID-19 and the Unequalizing Infrastructures of Financial Inclusion in Tamil Nadu

AU - Guérin, Isabelle

AU - Guermond, Vincent

AU - Joseph, Nithya

AU - Natarajan, Nithya

AU - Venkatasubramanian, Govindan

N1 - Funding Information: We are firstly very grateful to the many respondents that willingly gave up time to speak with us and share their stories and experiences. We are also grateful to Vivek Raja, Antony Raj and Radhika Kartikeyan who were key to enabling us to undertake data collection. The research used in this article was funded by the UK Research and Innovation Global Challenges Research Fund (Ref: ES/T003197/1). Access requests to the data underlying this article should be addressed to [email protected] Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Development and Change published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Institute of Social Studies Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2021/7

Y1 - 2021/7

N2 - This article discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on microfinance borrowers in Tamil Nadu, India. Through an examination of the social and financial infrastructures underpinning inclusive finance, the article demonstrates how the COVID-19 pandemic exposes the limits and exclusionary tendencies of the for-profit financial inclusion industry. The unequalizing breakdown of financial inclusion infrastructures during the pandemic prioritizes future revenue extraction over current livelihood needs, throwing hard-hit borrowers back on hierarchical informal financial and social infrastructures to cope with COVID-19-induced risk. Tracing the experiences of poor microfinance borrowers in Tamil Nadu, this article examines how COVID-19 is reshaping inclusive financial infrastructures in ways that reveal the dynamics of exclusion at the heart of financial inclusion.

AB - This article discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on microfinance borrowers in Tamil Nadu, India. Through an examination of the social and financial infrastructures underpinning inclusive finance, the article demonstrates how the COVID-19 pandemic exposes the limits and exclusionary tendencies of the for-profit financial inclusion industry. The unequalizing breakdown of financial inclusion infrastructures during the pandemic prioritizes future revenue extraction over current livelihood needs, throwing hard-hit borrowers back on hierarchical informal financial and social infrastructures to cope with COVID-19-induced risk. Tracing the experiences of poor microfinance borrowers in Tamil Nadu, this article examines how COVID-19 is reshaping inclusive financial infrastructures in ways that reveal the dynamics of exclusion at the heart of financial inclusion.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85112765448&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/dech.12674

DO - 10.1111/dech.12674

M3 - Review article

AN - SCOPUS:85112765448

SN - 0012-155X

VL - 52

SP - 927

EP - 951

JO - DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE

JF - DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE

IS - 4

ER -