Will Documentation Kiosks in Rural India Increase Access to Credit?

An American company, Wyse Technology is working with Indian consulting company Comat Technologies to bring computer kiosks to 5000 villages around the Indian state of Karnataka. The ICICI Bank, Indian government, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which is a division of the World Bank (WB), will also participate. Six to ten networked terminals containing information about education, healthcare and land records will be set up in each village.

Some say simple projects to legally document property ownership will enable millions of villagers to access credit. However, the jury is still out on this theory. After property rights advocate and economist De Soto researched and published this theory, several quantitative studies contradicted his results. It is safe to assume that the security of private property under the law will increase access to credit by stabilizing the economy in general. The question before us is how best to achieve this property security in the context of the developing world. The current kiosk initiative may help us answer this important question if it can deliver property documentation efficiently to the general public in India.

Additional Resources

1) Main article discussed in entry: "Group Plans Kiosks for Rural India.”
2) “Thailand, China Eye Property Rights As Growth Key.” Reuters News 30 Jan 2003. Valisno, Jeffrey
3) "Thousands of Poor to Get Lots in Gov’t-Owned Land.” 21 Jan 2005. Field, Erica4) “Do Property Titles Increase Credit Access Among the Urban Poor? Evidence from a Nationwide Titling Program.” Working Paper. Harvard University: Jan 2004. Field, Erica
5) Review of de Soto’s “The Mystery of Capital.” Journal of Economic Literature. Dec 2001. Vol 39, No 4, pg. 1215-1223. Bishop, Matthew
6) Financial Times: "A Little Credit Can Go Far."
7) BBC News: "Insuring Ethiopians Against a Poor Harvest."
8) Center for International Private Enterprise: "An Interview with Hernando de Soto."
9) Cato Institute: "Hernando de Soto’s Biography."