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Are Rural Households Really Saving? NABARD National Financial Inclusion Survey – 2

By Madhura Swaminathan|2022-02-01T14:54:18+05:30October 8, 2018|

In the last year, there have been several peasant protests in different parts of the country, a reflection of low incomes and distress among the peasantry. We now have a new source of data on the extent of savings and investment of rural households. According to NAFIS, on average, a rural household had a monthly income of Rs 8,059 in the survey year (the figure was Rs 8,931 for an agricultural household). The main point of this Note is to argue that this picture is flawed — it is very unlikely that rural households in distress, particularly those in the lower income deciles, have positive savings.

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NABARD National Financial Inclusion Survey (NAFIS) – 1

By Madhura Swaminathan|2022-02-01T15:01:36+05:30October 3, 2018|

A major new source of data on rural households is the recently completed NABARD-sponsored National Financial Inclusion Survey or NAFIS 2016-17. This is a large sample survey covering 40,327 households in 245 districts of 29 States. Except for a pilot survey, the NSSO has never attempted to collect data on income and expenditure whereas NAFIS provides estimates of income, expenditure, saving, investments and asset ownership. In this first Note on NAFIS, I shall focus on income.

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The Foundation for Agrarian Studies is a charitable trust based in India and established in 2003.

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Independent Researcher

Savani is an intern at the Foundation. She is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Applied Economics at Christ University, Bangalore. Her research interests include agrarian studies, gender, and public policy.

Sameer is an intern at the Foundation. He holds a Master's degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge. He has worked as a Research Assistant at the Institute for Government, a London-based policy think tank, and he will be joining the UK civil service in September 2025. His research interests focus on exploring international development.

Emilia Tjernström is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability, Monash University, Australia. She has held academic positions at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the University of Sydney. Her research applies behavioural economics, econometrics, and experimental methods to development economics. She explores a range of topics through field and lab-in-the-field experiments.

Gaurav Datt is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability, Monash University, Australia. He has held research and operational roles at the World Bank and the International Food Policy Research Institute. His work focuses on poverty, inequality, education, labour, and social policy across multiple countries. With extensive experience in development economics, he has contributed to research in countries including India, China, Egypt, Laos, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Timor-Leste.

Kristy is a Research Officer at the Foundation. She holds a Master’s degree in Development Studies from IIT Guwahati and has previously worked with various civil society organisations. Her research interests include women and gender, rural development, and WaSH (water, sanitation, and hygiene).

 

Ajil holds an M.Phil. in Applied Economics from the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and is in the final stages of his doctoral research. His doctoral study focuses on the impact of government regulation on the technological developments in, and performance of the chemical fertiliser manufacturing industry in India. His research interests include agriculture and the fertiliser sector, innovation, public policy, and decentralisation.

Harshan is an Associate Research Fellow at the Foundation. He holds a Ph.D. in Social Science from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, specialising in climate change and disaster studies. His research focuses on the socio-economic impacts of environmental shocks and disasters. He also has extensive experience in research and policy-making, having worked with the Kerala State Planning Board, where he contributed to policy documents, economic reviews, and five-year plan formulations.

Rebecca is the Coordinator (Communications and Events) at the Foundation. She holds a Master's degree in Sociology from Delhi School of Economics. A former data journalist with The Hindu, her expertise lies in data research and analysis. Rebecca's interests include gender and health, politics and rural development.

 

Muktha is an Administrative Assistant at the Foundation. She holds a Master's degree in Commerce from Bangalore University. Muktha assists the administrative division of the Foundation.

Emeritus Professor and Fellow, Wolfson College, University of Oxford.

Daya is a Research Assistant at the Foundation. She holds a Master's degree in Applied Economics from CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru. Her research interests include Gender and Development in Rural India.

Senior Research Fellow, Economic Analysis Unit, Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Bengaluru, and PhD Scholar, Department of Economics, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), University of Madras.

PhD Fellow, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram.

Senior Research Fellow, Economic Analysis Unit, Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Bengaluru, and Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Liberal Arts, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Hyderabad.

Dona is a research assistant at the Foundation. She holds a Master's degree in Development from Azim Premji University . Her research interests include studying agrarian relations, and land tenancy in rural India. She had extensive work experience as a software developer, before shifting to the social sciences.

Rithika is a research assistant at the Foundation. She holds a Master's degree in Applied Economics from Christ (Deemed to be University), Yeshwanthpur Campus, Bengaluru. Her research interests include, agricultural economics and the public policy.

Nency is a research assistant at the Foundation. She holds a Master's degree in Economics from Dr. B.R. Ambedkar School of Economics University, Bengaluru. Her research interests include gender and labour dynamics, particularly in rural contexts.

Parvathi Menon is a writer, and former journalist. She was Resident Editor of The Hindu, Bengaluru, and also served as the London Correspondent of The Hindu.

Namasivayam is currently a member of the Kerala State Planning Board. He has over 37 years of consulting experience of which over two decades have been spent on leading several large, complex, multi-year reform engagements in various sectors, with a special focus on the electricity sector. He was Deloitte India’s Energy and Resources Industry and Government sector Leader until his retirement in March 2017. Before joining Deloitte, Namasivayam was part of the India leadership team of PwC, and led its Government Reforms and Infrastructure Development service unit and Energy Utility & Mining industries.

Sarita is a special teacher and certified trainer in QST for autism spectrum disorders. She has been working at the Spastics Society of Karnataka from 2007, and is currently the Head of the Autism Spectrum Unit.

Professor, Department of Economics, Meijo University, Japan

Associate Professor, Kanagawa University, Japan

Former ICSSR National Fellow, Former Professor and Head :
1. Department of Economics, University of Madras

2. Dr. Ambedkar Centre for Economic Studies, University of Madras

Yogesh holds an MA (Honours) degree in Economics from Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana. He is interested in understanding credit markets and financial inclusion in rural India. Yogesh will be a part of the team involved in the entry and processing of data collected during our recent re-survey in Uttar Pradesh.

Sai Chandan Kotu is a Research Assistant at the Foundation. He holds a Master's degree in Economic Growth, Population & Development from Lund University, Sweden, and an Integrated Master's in Development Studies from Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He has previously worked with FAS as an intern and is currently working on the entry and processing of data collected through our recently concluded survey in two Uttar Pradesh villages. Sai is interested in studying farm mechanisation and technology adoption in Indian agriculture.

B.A. Economics student at Azim Premji University, Bengaluru

Saniya is pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Symbiosis School of Economics, Pune. She is working with our team to process the data collected from the two villages in Uttar Pradesh. The villages were resurveyed by the Foundation in July.

Komal is an Associate Fellow of the Foundation. She is pursuing her Ph.D. in Sociology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Her research interests include agrarian labour, caste, and gender. Komal is currently working on (un)freedom and labour relations in rural India.

JSPS Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University

Kulvinder Singh

Kulvinder is a Research Assistant at the Foundation. He holds a bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, and an MA in Development Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He has previously worked with the Haryana State Government as an Information, Education and Communication Expert, Atal Bhujal Yojana. Kulvinder is interested in studying aspects of agrarian change and rural transformation in India and aspires to do a PhD soon.

Nikita is an Editorial Assistant at the Foundation. She is involved with the coordination of the Review of Agrarian Studies (RAS), the peer-reviewed academic journal of the Foundation. Nikita has extensive experience as a copy editor. She holds a Master's degree in English from The English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Lucknow campus.

Research Fellow, Azim Premji University, Bangalore

M.A. Economics student at Ahmedabad University

Research Fellow, Centre for Sustainable Employment, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru

Post Doctoral Fellow, KREA University, Sricity, Andhra Pradesh

M.A. Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai

Retired Professor, Osaka Prefecture University

Consultant, M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, and Retired Head of Department, Department of Economics, Bharathidasan University.

Senior Fellow, Climate Change, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai

Former Associate Editor, Frontline magazine, Bangalore.

Research Scholar, Department of Development Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London

Assistant Professor - Sociology, FLAME University, Pune

Garware Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Institute for Advanced Study of India, and

Non-Resident Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania

Professor, School of Development Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai

Independent Researcher

Postdoctoral Fellow – Gender Research, Sustainable Impact Platform, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)

Associate Professor, Bihar Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Patna, Bihar.

Research Scholar, School of Economics, University of Hyderabad, and

Technical Assistant, Office of the Vice Chairperson, Kerala State Planning Board

Department of Economics, Yokohama National University

Associate Professor of Economics, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Division of Food and Environmental Economics, Department of Agricultural Engineering and Socio-Economics, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Kobe University.

Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University

Associate Professor, Department of Management Studies, PES University, Bengaluru

Assistant Professor, Department of Economics and Finance, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

British Academy Newton International Fellow, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Senior Lecturer, School of Development, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru

Assistant Professor, Department of Liberal Arts, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad

Master of Social Work. Vijaykumar is part of the Project on Agrarian Relations in India (PARI) team.

V. K. Ramachandran is retired Professor and former Head, Economic Analysis Unit, Indian Statistical Institute Bangalore Centre. He currently serves as the Vice Chairperson, Kerala State Planning Board. He is one among the Trustees of the Foundation. He is also the Editor of Review of Agrarian Studies.  Webpage

Tapas is an Associate Fellow of the Foundation. He has a Ph.D. in Social Science from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. His research interests include the irrigation economy of India, water policies and institutions, agricultural policy, economics of farming, and rural incomes. He is also interested in the use of spatial technology to study the Indian countryside. He leads the Project on Village level Spatial Information using Geographic Information System (GIS), and the Pandemic Study Unit of the Foundation that examined the impact of Covid-19 pandemic in rural India.

Sudha is an Administrative Assistant of the Foundation. She assists the administrative division of the Foundation and also has taken part in fieldwork organised by the Foundation.

Subhajit is a Senior Data Analyst of the Foundation. He has done B. Tech from West Bengal University of Technology. He works primarily on issues related to employment and livestock economy in rural India, and has in-depth knowledge on cleaning and processing of survey data. He has also hands-on experience in the use of R software for data analysis.

Sethu is a Data Analyst of the Foundation. He holds an Integrated Master's degree in Development Studies from Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai. He has experience of coordinating a field survey of two villages in Nagapattinam district, Tamil Nadu in 2019. He is interested in agrarian relations in Tamil Nadu and Geographic Information System (GIS).

Sanjukta is a Senior Data Analyst working on the Project on Agrarian Relations in India. She holds a Master of Science degree in Computer Application from West Bengal University of Technology. Her major research interest lies in rural education and schooling. She has experience in working with a web development company prior to joining the Foundation.

Sandipan is a historian of Science, with a Ph.D. from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. His research interest lies in the history of agricultural science in India. He started his professional career as a Software Engineer and a Business Analyst with the Tata Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd, before shifting to social science research. He holds an undergraduate degree in Computer Science Engineering, and was a gold medalist for post-graduate studies in School of Development Studies, TISS. He joined the Foundation as the Programme Coordinator in 2016 and became the first Director of the Foundation in 2018. He oversees the work of the Foundation and its various research projects.

M. Sc. in Development Practice. Riya assists in editing the Review of Agrarian Studies and other publications of the Foundation.

M. A. Economics. Ritam works on the Project on Agrarian Relations in India (PARI) team.

Rakesh is a Senior Data Analyst working on the Project on Agrarian Relations in India. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Economics from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS)-Pilani, Hyderabad. He works primarily on issues related to migration and employment.  Rakesh is also interested in issues related to access to basic amenities in the Indian countryside.

Pinki works as Assistant Manager-Accounts at the Foundation. She holds a Master's degree in Financial and Management Accounting from Sikkim Manipal University and a Master's degree in Economics from University of North Bengal. She is experienced in various accounting software packages. She has also been involved in several field work projects of the Foundation.

Noopur Varma is Honorary Consultant, Human Resources at the Foundation. She has more than 30 years experience in the area of Human Resources. She started her career in Tata Steel, Jamshedpur, where she worked for 14 years and her last corporate job was with Deloitte Bangalore. She is currently an independent consultant taking up projects and assignments for companies. She is involved with Strategic Human Resources initiatives of the Foundation.

Nihira graduated from the New School University, New York with M.Sc. in Media Studies. Her educational background is in film-making and audio production with a concentration on South Asian history. She joined the Foundation for Agrarian Studies in August, 2020 as the Online Events Coordinator.

Madhura Swaminathan is Professor and Head, Economic Analysis Unit, Indian Statistical Institute Bangalore Centre. She is one the Trustees of the Foundation. Webpage

Jayamary is our Office Assistant. She assists the administrative division of the Foundation in maintaining office supplies and in upkeep and maintenance of office premises.

Deepak is an Associate Fellow at the Foundation. He has a Ph.D. in Development Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. As part of his doctoral research Deepak analysed the incomes from rice production in Kerala, and compared the crop incomes in Kerala with the Mekong Delta Region in Vietnam. Deepak is interested in agricultural policy, with a particular focus on agricultural costs and incomes. Data visualisation is another area of his expertise. He has experience of working at an analytics company. He holds an Integrated Masters in Economics from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. 

Arindam is the Joint Director of the Foundation. He is pursuing Ph.D. in Economics from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS)-Pilani, Hyderabad. Arindam leads the Project on Agrarian Relations in India (PARI). He has worked at the Foundation from 2011 and has in-depth knowledge about various data management and analysis techniques. His research interests include rural wage rates and its determinants, rural employment, and Economics of farming. He has hands-on expertise in the use of R software for social science research.

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