Are women really risk-averse? The lending behavior of women-owned banking cooperatives in India. Issue 6 (20th August 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ghosh, Saibal
• Is Part Of: Equality, diversity and inclusion. Volume 37:Issue 6(2018)
• Page Start: 600
• Page End: 620
• Publication Date: 2018-08-20
• Subjects: Gender -- Banking; Women -- Employment -- Periodicals; Discrimination in employment -- Periodicals; 305.05
• DOI: 10.1108/EDI-04-2017-0082
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2040-7149

Abstract

Abstract : Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the lending behavior of women-owned cooperatives (WoCs) by exploiting the natural experiment of the financial crisis, employing a novel data set of Indian cooperative banks during 2004–2013. Design/methodology/approach: In view of the longitudinal nature of the data, the authors employ panel data techniques for the purposes of analysis. Findings: The findings indicate that WoC banks increased lending to both agriculture and small-scale industries, especially in high-income states. Further disaggregation reveals that the possible weaknesses in asset quality from lending to these sectors in low-income states could be driving the results. Originality/value: To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the earliest studies for a leading emerging economy to empirically investigate the behavior of WoC banks and relatedly, how their behavior evolved during the financial crisis.