Articles

The Politics of the Microfinance Crisis in Andhra Pradesh, India

Yerramilli, Pooja

The microfinance crisis in Andhra Pradesh incited controversy worldwide between those who supported and those who discredited the industry's ability to alleviate poverty. Many reporters defamed for-profit microfinance institutions (MFIs) as opportunists, and claimed that their fundamental deficiencies victimized the poor. This paper refutes this claim and suggests instead that the incompatibility of MFIs with the political system in Andhra Pradesh was the driving force behind the crash. A comparative analysis of the development of microfinance markets in Latin America, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka, and a study of the political actors involved in the industry reveal that the crisis was primarily precipitated by political rather than fundamentally economic factors.

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Title
The Journal of Politics and Society

More About This Work

Academic Units
Helvidius Group
Publisher
Helvidius Group of Columbia University
Published Here
February 10, 2014