World Bank in India Newsletter : August 2020

World Bank in India Vol 19 / No. 1

August 2020

Bank Sakhi – My Banker Friend

Development Dialogue COVID & India's Growth Story

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Lighthouse From Farm to Table

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New Publications

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Since the onset of the pandemic, Bandhini wakes up at 4.30 every morning to finish the housework before setting out to meet the needs of her customers. She chalks out circles six feet apart to ensure they maintain social distancing, wears a mask and gloves, and sanitizes the devices she uses, including her micro-ATM machine, laptop and scanner.

Bank Sakhi – My Banker Friend In India’s Villages Women Self Help Group members provide vital banking services during the COVID-19 crisis.

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n this remote village in Bihar’s Aurangabad district, Bandhani Kumari has never been so busy. Since the morning, women have been lining up outside her tiny roadside stall to withdraw the money the government is crediting into their bank accounts to help them tide over the Covid crisis.

As a bank sakhi – or female banker friend – Bandhani has been providing basic banking services in her village for the past two years.

But she hasn’t seen such a rush before.

“Even those who hardly ever operated

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The importance of the services that thousands of women banking correspondents (BC) like her provide is evident from the growing number of transactions. While the average value of each transaction may have fallen – in line with the slowing down of the economy – nearly 750,000 transactions worth some $40 million were completed by some 6,000 bank sakhis in 12 Indian states in the month of February 2020 alone. This was 70,000 more than the month before.

"When we first piloted the concept of local women banking agents in rural India, we never thought they would prove so invaluable in these difficult times," said Gayatri Acharya, who leads the World Bank’s support for India’s flagship National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM).

Banking - a critical service The idea of banking agents - ‘barefoot bankers’ in a sense - was first mooted in 2006 when India’s central bank allowed banks to employ banking correspondents to provide basic financial services in hardto-reach rural areas.

In 2014, the government launched the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) - a nationwide drive to bring the poor and vulnerable into the banking fold. Given this massive push for financial inclusion, almost 400 million PMJDY bank accounts were opened by May 2020. More than half of these accounts belonged to women.

Nearly 750,000 transactions worth some $40 million were completed by some 6,000 bank sakhis in 12 Indian states in the month of February 2020

their accounts are now coming forward to withdraw this money. I deal with 50-80 people every day, ” she says.

Women like Bandhini have proved to be a lifeline in these extraordinary times. Without them, poor rural women would have found it extremely difficult to access the government’s relief package of Rs 500 per month that is being provided to them during the crisis. The government too would have found it daunting to reach relief money to 206 million women in far-flung corners of the country who are eligible for these benefits.

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Win-win for all "The bank sakhis work well because they belong to the villages where they work," added Alreena Pinto, who leads the data analytics for the World Bank program. "As members of local SHGs, they enjoy the trust of their communities. Besides, they can visit women customers at their homes – something the men can’t do."

Initially, however, most of these accounts remained inactive. Less than 10 percent of India’s 650,000 villages had a branch of a bank, leaving account holders with no option but to walk for miles, or pay for transport to reach the nearest banking facility. What’s more, some customers were illiterate, while some could just about sign their names, making it a nightmare to complete the bank’s paperwork. On the other hand, most banking correspondents who visited their villages were men, and the women hesitated to deal with them. To add to that, the rates of attrition among male agents were high.

In 2015-16, India’s National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) - with support from the World Bank – sought to address the issue by piloting a new female-led model that employed self-help-group (SHG) women as banking correspondents in the villages.

The pilot built on the success of the country’s 7 million plus women’s SHGs, which had emerged as significant grassroots institutions of the poor. The advent of the biometricbased unique identification numbers

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(Aadhaar) gave a further boost to financial inclusion. "The linking of Aadhar UIDs with PMJDY bank accounts proved to be a game changer as customers can now carry out banking transactions through any BC agent, anywhere in the country," explained Trivikram, National Mission Manager for Financial Inclusion, driving the government’s SHG-BC program under NRLM. Moreover, the government can now channel benefits directly into the bank accounts of the poor, enabling widows to withdraw pensions, students to access scholarship money, and workers to receive earnings under cash for work etc. without stirring out of their homes.

"Because we stay in the village, our customers can even withdraw money during festivals and holidays," said Nisha Devi, a bank sakhi from Gumla district in Jharkhand.

"They can save more easily too as they no longer have to go long distances to deposit small sums." It is no surprise then that

women banking correspondents are out-performing their male counterparts in many places.

The system has also opened up new opportunities for local women to earn. And by outsourcing smaller transactions to this lower-cost channel, banks have been able to expand their customer base without placing an additional burden on their often understaffed branches. The employment of women banking correspondents has also had a significant social impact in rural India. The recognition and respect the bank sakhis receive, both at home and within their communities, is overturning patriarchal mindsets, breaking down the rigidities of the caste system, and giving the women a huge sense of empowerment.

Because we stay in the village, our customers can even withdraw money during festivals and holidays. They can save more easily too as they no longer have to go long distances to deposit small sums.

Nisha Devi Bank Sakhi from Gumla District, Jharkhand

The linking of Aadhar UIDs with PMJDY bank accounts proved to be a game changer as customers can now carry out banking transactions through any BC agent, anywhere in the country.

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DEVELOPMENT DIALOGUE COVID 19 and India’s Growth Story

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he Covid-19 pandemic has led to exceptionally challenging times. World Bank projections suggest that the global economy will contract by 5.2 percent in the current year. While advanced economies are likely to contract steeply, emerging markets and developing economies will also witness marked contractions. India too is likely to be significantly impacted.

The pandemic afflicted India when the economy was already decelerating. After growing at an average of 7 percent a year in the previous decade, growth decelerated to 6 percent in 2018-19 and fell further to 4.2 percent in 2019-20. The pre-Covid-19 growth deceleration was due to a number of factors: long standing structural rigidities in key input markets, stressed balance sheets compounded by greater risk aversion among banks and corporates and, more recently, growing vulnerabilities in the non-banking financial sector. A subdued global economy further impacted growth.

The pandemic has rendered the outlook even more somber. In 2020-21, the economy is projected to contract by several percentage points, rebounding slowly over the next year or two. So is India’s growth story over? Will the economy revert to a 7 percent growth path in the foreseeable future?

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Two years ago, we analyzed the long term trends in India’s growth rates. Studying 50 years of data, we found that the Indian economy has had a pretty exceptional run. Despite variations in the trend rate, growth accelerated steadily, with no prolonged reversals. Economic growth also became stable—both due to growth rates stabilizing within each sector, and due to the economy’s transition toward the steadier services sector. Importantly, faster and more stable growth was evident across states without being concentrated, for the most part, in a few sectors or activities.

Furthermore, periods of faster growth saw productivity gains and not just an increase in factor inputs. All these point to the long-term resilience of India’s economy.

Several factors were instrumental in India’s growth story. First, India benefitted from a growing working-age population. Second, its savings and investment rates continued to increase until the late 2000s. Third, the financial sector grew significantly, with a rising ratio of bank credit to GDP. Fourth, India was likely aided by its strong institutional base. Fifth, India’s trade to GDP ratio grew rapidly from the early 1990s, until world trade stalled due to the global financial crisis. Finally, the macroeconomic policies, notably monetary and fiscal policies, were formulated under credible frameworks

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

By Poonam Gupta, Lead Economist and Dhruv Sharma, Senior Economist, World Bank

in the last decades, yielding impressive macroeconomic stability.

However, some of these factors have weakened in recent years, and some have been further impaired by Covid-19. Indeed, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008-09, specific weaknesses emerged in private investment, export performance, and the banking sector. These have persisted for nearly a decade since.

Investment rates and exports declined as a percentage of GDP, and worryingly, the vulnerability of the financial sector increased, resulting in anemic credit growth.

Covid-19 has magnified these weaknesses.

It has led to unprecedented disruption in economic activity, denting consumption, investment and exports. The RBI’s financial stability report has cautioned that the financial sector is likely to bear a significant burden from the slowdown. What, then, is

the short and medium-term prognosis for India’s economy and how may the policy response be tailored?

The response to Covid-19 has been timely, constructive and innovative. Extensive measures have been taken in the regulatory, fiscal, and monetary policy areas. But there are limits to these relief and support measures, both in terms of their effectiveness and affordability. Hereon, recovery will depend in equal measure upon unlocking the supply side and on the containment of the virus itself.

Bringing the economy back to its trend growth rate will require alleviating the factors that inhibit investments and exports, and putting the financial sector on a strong footing. In this context, the reforms that have been announced in the last few months assume significance.

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Exports were an important driver of growth prior to the global financial crisis, but their contribution has diminished since. The ratio of exports to GDP has been declining, with India’s share in global exports remaining stagnant or even decreasing.

India can improve its competitiveness in the world economy by boosting investment in infrastructure and bringing it at par with other global manufacturing hubs; further reforming land, labor, and financial markets; and upgrading the education system to equip its workforce with the skills needed in a modern economy. Besides, a competitive exchange rate, deeper trade integration, and greater embedding into the global value chains will assume significance.

In the financial sphere, the last few years have been challenging. Indian banks have seen subdued credit growth, and asset quality remains stressed. In the past few years, a number of measures have been announced - including the consolidation of banks, an asset quality review, timely

resolution for specific institutions, strengthened oversight (e.g. through prompt corrective action) or forbearance (post Covid-19), and equity infusions. These measures have improved the oversight of India’s financial sector and boosted financial inclusion. However, more needs to be done to improve the safety, depth, and efficiency of financial intermediation.

Additional priorities include maintaining financial sector stability, undertaking specific reforms in the non-banking finance sector, deepening capital markets, enhancing the role of fintech, and ensuring a more selective and strategic footprint for the public sector in the financial sphere.

On the positive side, there is nothing that seems permanently broken in India’s growth model to warrant pessimism. Many of the deep-rooted structural factors that helped fuel the economy’s sustained growth during the past decades seem intact: demography, a large and diversified economy, still low income levels that signify the potential to grow, a dynamic entrepreneurial class, political and geopolitical stability, a strong instutional base, and credible policy frameworks.

With the continued policy attention on reforms that spur private investment, increase the economy’s competitiveness, promote greater integration into the global economy, and ensure a robust and efficient financial sector, India can revert to the growth path of yesteryears.

This article was published in the Economic Times on August 27th 2020 under the title – Keep Your Eyes on the Road

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'Lighthouse India' is a World Bank initiative supporting systematic knowledge exchanges on good practices and innovations in development programs between Indian states and the world.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

It will be important to remove the constraints on private investment in India, which include financial sector inefficiencies, deleveraging, crowding out, and the regulatory policy framework, as well as to address sectorspecific constraints, and ensure policy certainty. While India has received healthy volumes of FDI, encouraging these further can spur both domestic investment and greater integration in global value chains.

LIGHTHOUSE INDIA

From Farm to Table: Feeding a Nation During a Pandemic and Beyond – Lessons from India and Africa

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he COVID 19 pandemic has sent shockwaves around the world, cost more than 750,000 lives and pushed the global economy into recession. Almost every sector is severely impacted.

The lockdown, imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus, created significant disruptions in the agricultural sector. With restrictions imposed on movement of

goods, farmers found themselves without easy access to seeds and fertilizers, traders were unable to replenish their stocks of agricultural produce, and the hospitality industry, which buys food in bulk, shut down, as did the markets.

But the pandemic also inspired innovative thinking and pushed forward long-overdue agricultural sector reforms in many countries.

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To learn from each other on how to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on food security and agriculture and seize the opportunities it presents, senior policymakers and experts from India and Africa came together in a rich virtual knowledge exchange on June 9, 2020.

Several African countries participated, including Rwanda, Mozambique, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Senegal and Ethiopia. On the Indian side, experiences were shared by Government of India and state governments of Punjab, Maharashtra and Odisha. The exchange was part of the South-South knowledge exchange between India and Africa on agriculture, supported by DFID and organized by the World Bank.

“We wanted to learn how a country as vast as India could move swiftly to ensure that it made food available to everybody, including to the most vulnerable. They were able to feed more than 800 million people,” said Abel Lufafa, Senior Agricultural Specialist, World Bank. “Hopefully, this exchange triggered thinking for the African counterparts on how to prepare strong social safety nets and quick emergency responses across entire countries during a pandemic or similar crisis.”

Recalibrating agriculture – activating the welfare state and fast-tracking reforms In India, to meet the immediate needs of vulnerable families, the government rolled out a welfare kit of food and cash transfers, facilitated through existing schemes. Under the National Food Security Act, poor families received double their normal allocation of

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food grains. And cash transfers worth almost US$3 billion were directly made into their bank accounts through India’s expanding Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system.

Reforms and policies were fast-tracked, enabling the government to relax regulations in agricultural markets so traders could purchase produce directly from farmers.

They also made it easy to carry agricultural produce across the country through seamless, barrier-free transportation between states. Along with this, the Essential Commodities Act was amended, freeing up age-old constraints on the quantum of food commodities that traders could buy and store. Farmers, in turn, got an opportunity to sell more of their produce to traders and increase their earnings.

In May 2020, the Government also committed to invest an estimated US$ 20 billion in agricultural infrastructure to strengthen the functioning of food supply chains – including in the livestock and fisheries sectors - with better storage and transportation facilities, and backward and forward market linkages.

Indian states on the frontlines - Innovations from Punjab, Odisha and Maharashtra At the onset of the pandemic, Punjab – the granary of India - was faced with the dual challenge of how to harvest their winter crop and retain the migrant workers who help with the harvest without risking the spread of the coronavirus. The state government on a war footing, set up over 4,000 agriculture produce purchase centres with facilities for marketing and transportation.

“There was full discipline among the farmers, almost 1.5 million of them whose livelihoods were saved,” said Suresh Kumar, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Punjab. “Not a single coronavirus case was reported in the 4,000 purchase centres.”

In the mineral-rich state of Odisha, senior bureaucrats were assigned to each district as nodal officers, and villages were empowered through the Panchayati Raj system. In the urban areas a “Veg on Wheels” initiative was rolled-out to make vegetables and perishables available, where markets had closed. To tackle the issue of labour shortage, farmers were encouraged to use machinery in their fields, and drivers from local mines were deployed to transport the harvest to market.

Digital technology was used extensively to link farmers and traders. A live call centre – Amakrishi – was started to provide advisory services to a million farmers.

Several WhatsApp groups were created at the panchayat level for quick dissemination of information. The existing employment guarantee scheme, MNREGA, was used to create farm ponds in farmers’ fields to improve productive irrigation. The processes for contract farming and land leasing were also streamlined through ordinances and amendments to laws.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

India & Africa - Challenges and Opportunities

In Maharashtra, India’s second largest producer of fruits and vegetables, farmers’ collectives and producer companies were given licenses to directly market their goods.

“Farmers actually earned more as a result of direct marketing,” said Suhas Diwase, Commissioner, Agriculture, Government of Maharashtra. “Support from the farmer community was so overwhelming – they owned the initiative. Direct communication with the political leadership also helped.”

In a novel experiment in the state, farmers growing soybean – a popular crop in Maharashtra – were taught to grow their own seeds, helping them manage their own seed supply.

The ongoing World Bank supported Maharashtra Agri-Business and Rural Transformation Project (SMART) and Project on Climate Resilient Agriculture (POCRA) helped to build the capacity of the farmer producer companies (FPOs) and strengthened the state machinery to respond to the COVID-19 challenges.

Lessons from Africa Kenya's experience beating COVID-19 Africa learned many important lessons from the Ebola pandemic for protecting agriculture and food security.

When Kenya reported its first COVID case in March 2020, the government was proactive and ready. It allowed agricultural production to continue, and food processing, marketing and procurement were declared essential services. Those who could not afford to buy food, weekly cash transfers were given so they could purchase it directly from their nearest vendor. Partnerships were built with the private sector, who led the way, and

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guidelines and protocols developed for each stakeholder, including think tanks and civil society. A weekly tracking and reporting mechanism helped maintain constant communication with all stakeholders.

What the future holds And so, as these two agriculture-dependent regions move beyond the most disruptive effects of COVID on food security, they are now planning on how to become “more resilient if not entirely pandemic-proof” in the future.

The Kenyan government plans to continue with the cash transfer scheme which it feels is preferable to the direct distribution of food.

“It is so swift to implement – within a day and at the click of a button rather than physical food distribution, which is open to abuse by officials. We have to trust the people with feeding their families,” said Hamadi Boga, Principal Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of Kenya. “It also gives more dignity to the people. We will take this forward as a way of life in Kenya.”

In India, there are plans to institutionalize the direct marketing measures introduced between traders and farmers as well as the channels created to respond to the pandemic, under the Agricultural Trade Act. Since cash transfers are not sustainable, the government has upgraded the employment guarantee scheme – MNREGA - with budget

allocations to provide employment, not just to people living below the poverty line, but also to every “able bodied person”, including migrant labour, particularly in agriculture.

In Punjab, state agriculture universities have revised the package of practices and protocols for sowing, harvesting, watering, and irrigating crops. In addition, the use of digital technology is being enhanced to connect with farmers through cell phones and video conferencing. Odisha is planning to establish urban business centres, institute a perishable essential goods promotion policy in line with small and medium enterprises (SMEs), expand the production of dehydrated foods which can be stored for longer periods, and strengthen farmer producer collectives. In Maharashtra, the government is thinking of promoting the processing of horticultural produce, the extension of e-platforms for marketing, and to intensify collaboration with private players.

Some recent Blogs Rethinking India’s public transport after the COVID-19 lockdown is over: Impact on Indian bus operators and discuss how they can be helped both during the lockdown and after

By Gerald Ollivier and Nupur Gupta In India, like in so many other parts of the world, the coronavirus (COVID-19) has struck a massive blow to public transport. Last week, to better understand the impact of the pandemic, we surveyed both public and private bus operators, in partnership with the International Association of Public Transport, UITP. The survey showed that bus services have almost ground to a halt, down by 98-99 percent from before the pandemic. Operators are losing huge revenues but still have to pay staff salaries and repay loan installments. In a sector with razor-thin margins, this double whammy has proved to be devastating. All told, the city, intercity, and rural bus industry is losing about $7 billion for every month of inactivity.

Read More: https://blogs.worldbank.org/endpovertyinsouthasia/rethinking-indiaspublic-transport-after-covid-19-lockdown-over

Given that pandemics may occur again, policymakers and practitioners will also have to address the growing concern about nutrition security and immunity-boosting foods by diversifying the food grain basket to include millets and nutri-cereals, pulses, fruits and vegetables.

In India, air quality has been improving despite the COVID-19 lockdown

How to make such a food basket available up to the last rural mile is certainly food for thought.

India is home to some of the world’s most polluted cities. An unintended but welcome consequence of the lockdown to contain the coronavirus has been improved air quality throughout the country.

By Urvashi Narain, Rochelle Glenene O’Hagan, Varun Kshirsagar and Emmanuel Skoufias

Growing Threat of Air Pollution: Poor air quality has come to be recognized as a serious health risk and drag on economic development in India.

Read More: https://blogs.worldbank.org/endpovertyinsouthasia/india-air-quality-hasbeen-improving-despite-covid-19-lockdown

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RESULTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS Managing tropical storms during COVID-19: Early lessons learned and reflections from India: Here are five lessons from managing tropical storms during COVID-19

A short summary of the Implementation Completion Report (ICR) of a recently closed project. Full text of ICR available on the website

By Kamal Kishore In May and June, in the midst of the outbreak of COVID-19 India experienced two major cyclones. On May 20, super Cyclone Amphan hit the east coast of India, West Bengal and Odisha and parts of Bangledesh. On June 2, Cyclone Nisarga on west coast hit Maharastra.

Managing the competing demands of a lockdown with an evacuation was challenging, but overall human losses were limited to a significant extent.

Read More: https://blogs.worldbank.org/endpovertyinsouthasia/rethinking-indiaspublic-transport-after-covid-19-lockdown-over

Protecting South Asia’s poor and vulnerable against COVID-19

By Lynne Sherburne-Benz, Stefano Paternostro and Zaineb Majoka When India went into lockdown in late March as a result of COVID-19, one of the country’s biggest priorities was to ensure access to food. As millions risked starvation, the government mobilized its existing Public Distribution System (PDS) to give away food rations to over 800 million people, thus averting a catastrophic food crisis.

As the coronavirus spreads exponentially across South Asia, food insecurity is just one of the many challenges facing the poorest and the most vulnerable in the region. Most work in the informal sector, which does not provide any social insurance benefits. Many do not have any savings to tap into during rough times.

Read More: https://blogs.worldbank.org/endpovertyinsouthasia/protecting-southasias-poor-and-vulnerable-against-covid-19?CID=WBW_AL_BlogNotification_EN_EXT

North East Rural Livelihoods Project Project Approved

December 20, 2011

Project Closed

September 30, 2019

World Bank Financing

US$98.8 million

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he picturesque North East (NE) region in India is surrounded by the eastern Himalayan ranges and lush dense forests. In the year 2011, the region’s 44 million people largely resided in rural areas and agriculture provided employment to over 75 percent of the population.

However, agriculture, which was the core economic activity, was not delivering the desired growth. The farmers lacked the necessary technical expertise to address soil

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fertility and productivity issues and did not have viable alternate non-farm livelihood opportunities they could turn to. Also, employment avenues among the educated youth were severely restricted. The region also lacked a developed infrastructure with limited road connectivity and poor access to electricity.

The North East Rural Livelihood Project (NERLP) was approved by the World Bank in December 2011 with the aim to empower

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and improve the livelihoods of the rural poor in four states of the NE region - Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.

The project development objective was to improve rural livelihoods, especially that of women, unemployed youth and the most disadvantaged in the participating states.

NERLP was expected to benefit approximately 3 lakh households in over 1600 villages across eight districts in the four NE states. The primary beneficiaries would be women, unemployed youth and the most disadvantaged which included the vulnerable groups, such as female-headed households, the scheduled castes (SCs) and Tribes (STs), the physically challenged and the poorest of the poor.

Results Achieved The analysis of output results showed that all states gained from the project, despite extremely varying characteristics and challenges: such as high population lowland villages in Tripura, remote tribal areas in Nagaland and Mizoram, and relatively betteroff but mountainous conditions in Sikkim.

As a start, the communities were mobilized to form Self-Help-Groups (SHGs) to help them access finance from banks and utilize government services and platforms to build other community development institutions and livelihoods activities. Under the Project, more than 28000 SHGs were formed.

The project was very successful in reaching out to women, poor, low caste and tribal households in all project areas and targeted villages By the end of the project, in September 2019, more than 3.4 lakh households had benefited from

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community driven programs and skills training under the project. Of this, almost 85 percent beneficiaries were women. A 2019 impact evaluation study concluded that close to 80 percent of the SHG members were from the Poor and the Poorest of the Poor communities and a large number (nearly 86 percent) of the beneficiary households belonged to vulnerable and marginalized groups. Women actively participated in tackling community economic development issues, engaged in problem resolution and even lead various forums.

In terms of income generation, the study also found that 56 percent of the sampled households in the project area had an average income increase of over 17 percent compared to sampled SHG households in the non-project areas.

Financial inclusion: The project helped SHGs to have access to financial resources and ensure their productive use among poor communities. Almost 80 percent SHG members increased their savings by 50 percent. The project financed over 2.9 lakh SHGs with around Rs. 24 lakhs for re-lending through the Community Investment Fund.

The project also created access to formal finance by building partnership linkages of SHGs with banks and other financial institutions overcoming challenges of geographic access and bank coverage. By the end of the project more than 5000 SHGs had access to credit worth around Rs. 5198 lakhs from banks.

The project also helped create innovative partnerships between SHG communities and public and private sector agencies. For instance, NERLP pioneered homestays in the NE region. Realizing the tourism potential of the region, several SHG women are now

running home stays as entrepreneurs in partnership with the tourism department, local travel operators and private hospitality companies such as Airbnb. Similarly, a women’s cooperative society in Sikkim was empaneled by the state government to provide detergents, soaps and other cleaning products to State government agencies, including hospitals and public sector undertaking.

Employment for Youth: Under the project, MOUs were signed with government certified skills training institutes to provide skills training to more than 10,000 youth in the region. About 5500 among them were employed in the hospitality, aviation and beauty/cosmetology sector and several of them were also self-employed.

Several participatory Community Development Programs (CDPs) were implemented under the project, that helped to manage natural resources and improve agriculture for food security and enhance incomes from farming and related livelihoods — a concept relatively new to the region. By the end of the project, over 1000 CDPs in all villages were in operation benefiting over 1.2 lakh households. These included irrigation,

plantation, rainwater harvesting, wasteland development and solar energy applications.

Farmers received training in new and adaptive agricultural practices. Many farmers adopted organic farming in their fields and used rainwater harvesting techniques in terrain where water shortage was an issue.

The CDPs and livelihood infrastructure activities introduced several innovations to the region such as solar powered rice mills and dryers, village electrification through hydro generators, fodder cultivation through hydroponics, production of bio-fertilizers.

The project also created about 30 clusters which included vegetable clusters in Tripura and Sikkim, pig and goat clusters in Tripura, spice and poultry clusters in Mizoram and handloom cluster in Peren, Nagaland. This cluster-based approach introduced in the project, focused on capacity building of Producer Groups and Producer Companies.

Households were now able to link to new markets, receive better better-quality inputs (seeds, better livestock breeds, better processing equipment), and better prices for their products through links with formal markets. Six of the nine PCs had started recovering production costs within the first quarter.

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Lessons learned and recommendations

services and the availability of banking services in the region.

While a large part of the project objectives was met successfully, there were several lessons learnt which are useful to keep in mind when engaging in the region in the future.

In terms of implementation, the NE region poses challenges due to its diversity, capacity constraints and infrastructure gaps. Therefore, any approach should allow for multiple implementation strategies and have scope for innovations. When creating programs for skills development and jobs placement in the region, a strategy keeping in mind the local and regional job opportunities would be advisable.

In order to ensure large scale inclusion, a multi-pronged approach through wellstructured SHG based federations is advisable. To ensure smooth bank linkages for financial inclusion, it is advisable to identify early-on the demand for banking

It should be kept in mind that Producer Organizations require time to grow and mature and need continued support. Any project in the region supporting innovative systems and facing implementation challenges should have in place mechanisms for intensive implementation support and a strong mid-term review process. An exit strategy from one project or program to another should be planned well in advance to ensure smooth transition and sustainability.

In conclusion, the NERLP created strong and inclusive institutions, including SHGs, facilitated access to credit and provided support to groups and federations, which led to the transformation and strengthening of livelihoods of the rural poor in the four NE States. Subsequent engagement in the region should capitalize on these efforts to develop horticulture-agribusiness opportunities for growth, with strong linkages to grassroots institutions.

NEW PROJECTS APPROVED AND SIGNED $400 million to Enhance Support for Rejuvenating the Ganga July 2020

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he World Bank and the Government of India signed a loan agreement to enhance support for the Namami Gange program that seeks to rejuvenate the Ganga River. The Second National Ganga River Basin Project (SNGRBP) will help stem pollution in the iconic river and strengthen the management of the river basin which is home to more than 500 million people.

The World Bank has been supporting the government’s efforts since 2011 through the ongoing National Ganga River Basin Project, which helped set up the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) as the nodal agency to manage the river, and financed sewage treatment infrastructure in several riverside towns and cities.

“The government’s Namami Gange Program has revitalized India’s efforts to rejuvenating the Ganga. The first World Bank project helped build critical sewage infrastructure in 20 pollution hotspots along the river, and this Project will help scale this up to the tributaries. It will also help government strengthen the institutions needed to manage a river basin as large and complex as the Ganga Basin."

Junaid Ahmad, World Bank Country Director in India The SNGRBP will finance sewage networks and treatment plants in select urban areas to help control pollution discharges.

The NE region requires transformational change in line with the strong policy context for economic growth that has evolved for this important region. The NERLP has begun this transformation through the creation of sustained community institutions and initiated structured efforts around agricultural commodity clusters and markets, playing to the strengths of the agricultural and rural sectors.

Priti Kumar, Varun Singh Task Team Leaders, NERLP

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$750 million for Emergency Response Program for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises

$250 million to Increase Access to Affordable Housing for Urban Poor in Tamil Nadu

July 2020

July 2020

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he World Bank and the Government of India signed the $750 million agreement to support increased flow of finance into the hands of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), severely impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.

The Program will address the immediate liquidity and credit needs of some 1.5 million viable MSMEs to help them withstand the impact of the current shock and protect millions of jobs.

“The MSME sector is central to India’s growth and job creation and will be key to the pace of India’s economic recovery, post COVID-19. The immediate need is to ensure that the liquidity infused into the system by the government is accessed by MSMEs. Equally important is to strengthen the overall financing ecosystem for MSMEs. This operation seeks to achieve both these objectives by furthering the role of NBFCs and SCBs as effective financial intermediaries and leveraging fintech to broaden the reach of finance into the MSME sector.”

Junaid Ahmad, World Bank Country Director in India The $750 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), has a maturity of 19 years including a 5-year grace period.

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he Government of India, Government of Tamil Nadu and the World Bank signed an agreement to help low-income groups in the state of Tamil Nadu get access to affordable housing.

The agreement was signed for two projects – $200 million First Tamil Nadu Housing Sector Strengthening Program and $50 million Tamil Nadu Housing and Habitat Development Project – to strengthen the state’s housing sector policies, institutions, and regulations.

The $200 million First Tamil Nadu Housing Sector Strengthening Program supports the government’s ongoing efforts to increase the availability of affordable housing by gradually shifting the role of the state from being the main provider to an enabler. It will also aim to unlock regulatory barriers and incentivize private sector participation in affordable housing for low-income families.

The $50 million Tamil Nadu Housing and Habitat Development Project will support

innovations in housing finance, strengthen housing sector institutions in the state and help enable cross-subsidization opportunities to make affordable housing commercially viable for potential investors.

“Global experience shows that the public sector alone cannot address a growing housing demand, especially as countries undergo rapid urbanization. The public sector can play an important role in providing regulatory and market incentives to make affordable housing more attractive for the private sector. Both projects will complement each other and strengthen key institutions to transform the housing sector in Tamil Nadu.”

Yoonhee Kim, Abhijit Sankar Ray Task Team Leaders for the Projects The $200 million and $50 million loans from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), have a maturity of 20 years including a grace period of 3.5 years

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

The World Bank Group, including its private sector arm – the International Finance Corporation (IFC), will support the government's efforts to channel liquidity to the MSME sector by de-risking lending from banks and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) to MSMEs; Improve the funding capacity of NBFCs and Small Finance Banks; Incentivize and mainstream the use of fintech and digital financial services in MSME lending and payments.

This will enable lenders, suppliers and buyers to reach firms faster and at lower cost, especially small enterprises who currently may not have access to the formal channels.

20

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World Bank in India

$500 million to Help Improve Quality of India's Education System July 2020

T

he World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved a $500 million Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States Program (STARS) to improve the quality and governance of school education in six Indian states*. Some 250 million students (between the age of 6 and 17) in 1.5 million schools, and over 10 million teachers will benefit from the program.

STARS will support India's efforts to address learning outcome challenges through a series of reform initiatives which would focus on the delivery of education services at state, district and sub-district levels; produce better data to assess quality of learning; give special attention to students from vulnerable sections; deliver a curriculum that keeps pace with rapidly evolving needs of the job market; and equip teachers with relevant training.

“India recognizes the need to significantly improve its learning outcomes to fuel future growth and meet the demands of the labor market. STARS will support India’s response to this challenge by strengthening implementation at the local level, investing in teacher capacity and ensuring that no child of any background is left behind from the right to education. Investing more in the early years of education will equip children with the skills required to compete for the jobs of the future.”

Junaid Ahmad, World Bank Country Director in India The $500 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), has a final maturity of 14.5 years including a grace period of five years.

WORLD BANK PUBLICATIONS NEW ADDITIONS A select listing of recent World Bank publications – reports, policy research working papers and project documents – that are available on the World Bank’s website. Links to some reports are also available here.

India Development Update Published: August 2020 The India Development Update, is a biannual flagship publication of the World Bank that takes stock of the Indian economy. The current issue describes the state of the Indian economy over the previous six months and places these in a longer-term and global context. It also provides a more in-depth analysis of selected economic and policy issues and highlights the economic reforms that India has been undertaking and needs to continue with in the medium to long-term.

Policy Research Working Papers Political Reservation and Female Labor Force Participation in Rural India WPS9350

By Klaus W. Deininger

yields accompanied the improvement in yields at the state level, thereby reducing regional inequalities in land productivity.

This paper uses nationwide, individual-level data to explore whether random reservation of village leadership for women affected their access to suitable job opportunities, demand for participation in the labor force, and income as well as intrahousehold bargaining in the short and medium term.

Recent Trends in Bank Privatization WPS9318

Crop Yield Convergence across Districts in India's Poorest State WPS9339

Occupational Dualism and Intergenerational Educational Mobility in the Rural Economy: Evidence from China and India WPS9316

By Rishabh Sinha Bihar, India's poorest state, witnessed impressive yield growth in each of its three principal crops over 2005-17. This paper examines whether a convergence in district

By Ata Can Bertay This paper revisits trends in bank privatization and analyzes their economic impact over the past 25 years.

By M. Shahe Emran This paper extends the Becker-Tomes model of intergenerational educational mobility

*Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Rajasthan 22

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World Bank in India

to a rural economy characterized by farmnonfarm occupational dualism and provides a comparative analysis of rural China and rural India.

A Multiple-Arm, Cluster-Randomized Impact Evaluation of the Clean India (Swachh Bharat) Mission Program in Rural Punjab, India WPS9249

Other Publications

Caloric intake and energy expenditures in India WPS9309

By Shari Eli Anthropometric, time-use, and detailed employment surveys are used to estimate the separate components of total energy expenditure related to metabolism and physical activity levels.

By Harris Selod

By Ganesh Kumar Seshan

This paper reviews the emerging big data literature applied to urban transportation issues from the perspective of economic research.

This study examines the asset gains to households in Kerala, India, from two types of labor migration: moving overseas versus moving within India for employment.

It draws on panel data from waves of a representative household survey conducted in 1998 and 2003.

This paper shows that daily electricity consumption and monthly nighttime light intensity can proxy for economic activity in India.

Gender Bias and Intergenerational Educational Mobility: Theory and Evidence from China and India WPS9250

By M. Shahe Emran, Hanchen Jiang and Forhad J. Shilpi This paper incorporates gender bias against girls in the family, school and labor market in a model of intergenerational persistence in schooling where parents self-finance children's education because of credit market imperfections.

manage them. They depend on the export of oil, gas, or coal; the use of carbon-intensive infrastructure (for example, refineries, petrochemicals, and coal power plants); or both. Fossil fuel–dependent countries face financial, fiscal, and macro-structural risks from the transition of the global economy away from carbon-intensive fuels and the value chains based on them. This book focuses on managing these transition risks and harnessing related opportunities.

Diversification and Cooperation in a Decarbonizing World identifies multiple strategies that fossil fuel–dependent countries can pursue to navigate the turbulent waters of a low-carbon transition.

The policy and investment choices to be made in the next decade will determine these countries’ degree of exposure and overall resilience.

Abandoning their comfort zones and developing completely new

Big Data in Transportation: An Economics Perspective WPS9308

By Robert Carl Michael Beyer

the world economy means for fossil fuel–dependent countries.

These countries are the most exposed to the impacts of global climate policies and, at the same time, are often unprepared to

skills and capabilities in a time frame consistent with the Paris

This study reports the findings of a large-scale, multiple-arm, cluster-randomized control study carried out in rural Punjab, India, to assess the impact of a flagship sanitation program of the Government of India.

Migration and Asset Accumulation in South India: Comparing Gains to Internal and International Migration from Kerala WPS9237

Examining the Economic Impact of COVID-19 in India through Daily Electricity Consumption and Nighttime Light Intensity WPS9291

24

By Luis Alberto Andres, Saubhik Deb, George Joseph and et.al

Strengthening Public Health Systems: Policy Ideas from a Governance Perspective WPS9220

By Stuti Khemani, Sarang Chaudhary and Thiago Scot This paper provides novel evidence from a survey of public health workers in Bihar, India's poorest state, that supports the insights of economic theory and taken together yields ideas that can immediately be put to work in policy responses to the COVID-19 crisis. These ideas address problems of governance and trust that have bedeviled health policymakers.

Agreement on climate change is a daunting challenge and requires long-term revenue visibility and consistent policy leadership. This book proposes a constructive framework for climate strategies for fossil fuel–dependent countries based on new approaches to diversification and international climate cooperation. Climate policy leaders share responsibility for creating room for all countries to contribute to the goals of the Paris Agreement, taking into account the specific vulnerabilities and opportunities each country faces.

ISBN 978-1-4648-1340-5

SKU 211340

Sourcebook on the Foundations of Social Protection Delivery Systems Edited by Kathy Lindert, Tina George Karippacheril, Inés Rodríguez Caillava, and Kenichi Nishikawa Chávez Published: July 2020 The Sourcebook synthesizes real-world experiences and lessons learned of social protection delivery systems from around the world, with a particular focus on social and labor benefits and services.

Handbook of Deep Trade Agreements Edited by Aaditya Mattoo, Nadia Rocha, and Michele Ruta Published: July 2020 This handbook presents detailed data and analysis on the content of the policy areas most frequently covered in DTAs, focusing on the stated objectives, substantive commitments, and other aspects such as transparency, procedures, and enforcement.

Diversification and Cooperation in a DIVERSIFICATION COOPERATION Decarbonizing World: DECARBONIZING WORLD Climate Strategies of Fossil Fuel-Dependent Countries

By Grzegorz Peszko, Dominique van der Mensbrugghe, Alexander Golub and et.al.

Published: July 2020 This book is the first stocktaking of what the decarbonization of the world economy means for fossil fuel–dependent countries.

Climate Change and Development Series

his book is the first stocktaking of what the decarbonization of

DIVERSIFICATION AND COOPERATION IN A DECARBONIZING WORLD

Women and Trade: T The Role of Trade in Promoting Gender Equality

By World Bank Group and World Trade Organization Published: July 2020 Given the complexity and specificity of the relationship between trade and gender, it is essential to assess the potential impact of trade policy on both women and men and to develop appropriate, evidencebased policies to ensure that trade helps to enhance opportunities for all.

AND IN A

Climate Strategies for Fossil FuelDependent Countries

Grzegorz Peszko Dominique van der Mensbrugghe Alexander Golub John Ward Dimitri Zenghelis Cor Marijs Anne Schopp John A. Rogers Amelia Midgley

Violence without Borders: The Internationalization of Crime and Conflict Published: July 2020 This Policy Research Report, offers a unified framework to take stock of the theoretical and empirical literature on crime, conflict, and violence and to discuss how the international community organizes itself to address security as a regional and global public good.

Global Productivity: Trends, Drivers and Policies Edited by Alistair Dieppe Published: July 2020 This Report presents the first comprehensive analysis of the evolution and drivers of productivity growth, examines the effects of COVID-19 on productivity, and discusses a wide-range of policies needed to rekindle productivity growth.

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World Bank in India

Progress and Challenges of Nonfinancial Defined Contribution Pension Schemes: Volume 1. Addressing Marginalization, Polarization, and the Labor Market Volume 2. Addressing Gender, Administration, and Communication

By Robert Holzmann, Edward Palmer, Robert Palacios and Stefano Sacchi Published: June 2020 The publication analyzes progress, challenges, and adjustment options of the reform revolution for mandated public pension schemes.

Analyzing Banking Risk: A Framework for Assessing Corporate Governance and Risk Management (Fourth Edition)

By Hennie Van Greuning and Sonja Brajovic Bratanovic Published: June 2020 The Report provides a comprehensive overview of topics focusing on assessment, analysis, and management of financial risks in banking.

International Debt Statistics Published: June 2020 A longstanding annual publication of the World Bank featuring external debt statistics and analysis for the 122 lowand middle-income countries that report to the World Bank Debt Reporting System (DRS).

26

Global Economic Prospects, June 2020 Published: June 2020 The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is dealing a severe blow to the global economy. Its adverse effects could reverberate long after the worst of the health crisis has passed, according to two analytical chapters of the June 2020 edition of the Global Economic Prospects report. Weakened productivity, depressed investment, lost human capital, and shortened global supply chains will likely be among the lasting consequences of the pandemic.

Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Disaster Recovery World Bank. 2020 Published: May 2020 This guidance note aims to provide actionoriented guidance to local and national government officials and key decision makers who face postdisaster challenges and to assist them in incorporating gender-responsive recovery and reconstruction efforts across all sectors.

Communication during Disaster Recovery

By World Bank Published: May 2020 This publication provides practical guidance for governments regarding how to effectively communicate with communities during the recovery phase following an emergency. This guide focuses on external government communication with individuals and communities.

The COVID-19 Pandemic: Shocks to Education and Policy Responses

By F. Halsey Rogers and Shwetlena Sabarwal Published: May 2020 Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was living a learning crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic now threatens to make education outcomes even worse. The policy note helps to successfully build toward improved education systems and accelerated learning for all students.

COVID-19 and Food Security: Gendered Dimensions

By Joao Montalvao and Patricia Van de Velde Published: May 2020 This note highlights women’s contribution to food supply chains, focusing on women as informal producers and traders of food. It discusses potential impacts of the pandemic on their vulnerabilities and policy responses.

Lessons from International Experience on Fiscal Decentralization for Regional Governments

By Jorge MartinezVazquez and Ewa Joanna Korczyc Published: August 2020 The study is in two volumes. Volume I provides a systematic review of the relevant international experience in fiscal decentralization for the mid-level of government. Volume II includes in-depth case studies with descriptions and analyses of decentralization processes in four selected countries: Colombia, Indonesia, Poland and Spain.

Adaptive Social Protection: Building Resilience to Shocks

By Thomas Bowen, Carlo del Ninno, Colin Andrews, Sarah CollBlack and et.al.

Published: August 2020, pages 152 English Version. Paperback.

Diversification and Cooperation in a Decarbonizing World: Climate Strategies for Fossil Fuel-Dependent Countries Published: July 2020 This report is the first comprehensive stock-taking of what the global low-carbon transition may mean for fossil fuel-dependent countries and how they can manage it. The report focuses on managing the transition risk and harnessing related opportunities.

ISBN: 978-1-4648-1575-1 Adaptive social protection (ASP) helps build the resilience of poor and vulnerable households by supporting their capacity to prepare for, cope with, and adapt to large covariate shocks. This book outlines a framework to help guide the design and implementation of ASP.

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World Bank in India

Policy Research Working Papers WPS9352

WPS9345

Coastal Development between Opportunity and Disaster Risk: A Multisectoral Risk Assessment for Vietnam

Job Search and Hiring with Two-Sided Limited Information about Workseekers' Skills

By Johannes Michael Braese

By Eliana Carranza

WPS9351

WPS9344

Coastal Development between Opportunity and Disaster Risk: An Assessment of the Coastal Protection System in Vietnam

Expansionary Fiscal Austerity: New International Evidence

By Mathijs van Ledden

WPS9343

WPS9350

The Information Content of Capital Controls

Political Reservation and Female Labor Force Participation in Rural India

By Owen Nie

By Klaus W. Deininger

WPS9342

WPS9349

Income Distribution, International Integration and Sustained Poverty Reduction

Internationally Linked Firms, Integration Reforms and Productivity: Evidence from Pakistan

WPS9348

Structural Change and Productivity Growth in Guinea

Hide and Protect: A Role of Global Financial Secrecy in Shaping Domestic Institutions

By Abdoul Ganiou Mijiyawa

By Gulnaz Sharafutdinova WPS9347

Gender Empowerment, Supply-Chain Linkages and Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence on Bangladesh

Who on Earth Can Work from Home?

By Ana Margarida Fernandes

WPS9340

By Daniel Garrote Sanchez WPS9339

By Damien B. C. M. De Walque

28

Mobile Money and Investment by Women Businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa

Active Conflict and Access to Education: Evidence from a Series of Conflict-Related Shocks in the Republic of Yemen

By Asif Mohammed Islam

By Safa Ali Qassim Almoayad WPS933 Capital Market Financing and Firm Growth

Crop Yield Convergence across Districts in India's Poorest State

By Rishabh Sinha

WPS9329

By Tatiana Didier Brandao

Big Data for Sampling Design: The Venezuelan Migration Crisis in Ecuador

WPS9336

By Juan Eduardo Munoz

The Labor Market Effects of Venezuelan Migration in Ecuador

WPS9327

By Sergio Daniel Olivieri WPS9335 The State of Land Use in Northern Nigeria: A Landsat-Based Mapping Framework

By Fernando Sedano WPS9334 What Can the Service Delivery Indicator Surveys Tell Us about COVID-19 Preparedness?

By Jigyasa Sharma

By Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg WPS9341

Invitations, Incentives, and Conditions: A Randomized Evaluation of Demand-Side Interventions for Health Screenings in Armenia

WPS9330

By Owen Nie

By Stefania Lovo

WPS9346

WPS9338

WPS9333 ByThe Effects of Digital-Technology Adoption on Productivity and Factor Demand: Firm-level Evidence from Developing Countries

By Ana Paula Cusolito WPS9332 Shoring Up Economic Refugees: Venezuelan Migrants in the Ecuadoran Labor Market

By Sergio Daniel Olivieri WPS9331 Using Remittance Transaction Data for Timely Estimation of the Foreign Worker Population in Malaysia

By Zainab Binti Ali Ahmad

The Lives and Livelihoods of Syrian Refugees in the Middle East: Evidence from the 2015-16 Surveys of Syrian Refugees and Host Communities in Jordan, Lebanon, and Kurdistan, Iraq

By Nandini Krishnan WPS9326 Coping with the Influx: Service Delivery to Syrian Refugees and Hosts in Jordan, Lebanon, and Kurdistan, Iraq

By Nandini Krishnan WPS9325 Short-Run Welfare Impacts of Factory Jobs: Experimental Evidence from Ethiopia

By Girum Abebe Tefera WPS9324 COVID-19 and EMDE Corporate Balance Sheet Vulnerabilities: A Simple Stress-Test Approach

By Erik H.B. Feyen WPS9323 Relationship between Macroeconomic Indicators and Capital Markets Performance in Selected Southeastern European Countries

By Ante Dodig

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World Bank in India

WPS9322

WPS9314

Gender Pension Gaps in a Private Retirement Accounts System: A Dynamic Model of Household Labor Supply and Savings

The Evolution of Built-up Areas in Ghana since 1975

By Clement Jean Edouard Joubert

WPS9313

WPS9321

COVID-19 Age-Mortality Curves Are Flatter in Developing Countries

Contagious Protests

By Gabriel Demombynes

By Marcel Fafchamps

By Rabah Arezki WPS9312 WPS9320 Adding Fuel to the Fire: Cheap Oil during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Should Consumption Sub-Aggregates Be Used to Measure Poverty?

By Luc Christiaensen

By Collette Mari Wheeler WPS9311 WPS9319 Reform Chatter and Democracy

By Rabah Arezki

How Valuable is the Reliability of Residential Electricity Supply in LowIncome Countries? Evidence from Nepal

World Bank in India

By Anna Alberini WPS9318 Recent Trends in Bank Privatization

By Ata Can Bertay WPS9317

WPS9310 Trust or Property Rights? Can Trusted Relationships Substitute for Costly Land Registration in West African Cities?

Estimating Capital Formation and Capital Stock by Economic Sector in China: The Implications for Productivity Growth

By Lucie Michele Maya Letrouit

By Richard Herd

Caloric intake and energy expenditures in India

WPS9316

By Shari Eli

Occupational Dualism and Intergenerational Educational Mobility in the Rural Economy: Evidence from China and India

By M. Shahe Emran

WPS9309

WPS9308

Publications and Knowledge Resource Center The World Bank The Hindustan Times House (Press Block) 18-20, Kasturba Gandhi Marg New Delhi - 110 001, India

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Contact: Nandita Roy Email: mediaindia@worldbank.org Tel: +91-11-4147 9220

Contact: Sunita Malhotra Email: smalhotra@worldbank.org Tel: +91-11-49247753

Big Data in Transportation: An Economics Perspective

By Harris Selod

WPS9315 Diversification and Cooperation Strategies in a Decarbonizing World

By Grzegorz Peszko

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