Impact and Incidence of tax evasion How poor tax morale and tax evasion impacted the Government’s spending ability during the pandemic
PIs: Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy
Researchers chose to conduct the survey in Mumbai and Thane, these being two prominenturban areas in Maharashtra which has the has been the highest contributor to Direct TaxCollections from Assessment Year 2014-15 to 2018-1943. Maharashtra also consistently topsother states when it comes to Goods and Services Tax Collection. Morsel translated thequestionnaire to Marathi and Hindi, digitised them, provided in-house trainingto theirenumerators and thereafter conducted the survey to record the data. The survey wasundertaken physically by Morsel Research and Development Private Limited. Data wascollected data from 517 persons in Mumbai and Thane in July 2022.50% of the participants mentioned that they were eligible for some relief measuresannounced by the government. Out of these people, nearly 77% were eligible for reliefmeasures funded by the Central Government and the rest were eligible for some reliefmeasures announced by their State Governments. Only 30% of the participants received someaid from the Government which was either in the form of free ration, deposits into their JanDhan Account, or some money under COVID19 relief schemes. This coupled with the factthat91% of the participants did not report any concession in taxes during the lockdown isconcerning.Less than half of the participants believe that tax money has been put to good use in India.While 64% of the participants believed taxes have a functionalvalue i.e., they are paid toserve a purpose such as better infrastructure, improving services to the populace, fosteringdevelopment, etc., 36% felt that taxes were a mere obligation. It is argued that people that donot trust governments may think that tax evasion is justified
Financial inclusion of women during the pandemic: The role of Jhan Dhan accounts and cash transfer
PIs: Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy
Data was collected from 3 sets of respondents: women respondents, BCrespondents and FI respondents between the month of March 2022 to May 2022.Morsel had translated the questionnaires in Kannada, Odia, Hindi and Punjabi,digitised them, provided in-house training to the enumerators and thereafterconducted the survey to record the data.There were three components of the survey:-
1.Women survey
2.BC members’survey
3.Fis survey
.Survey of women respondents: 560 women respondents were surveyed.Researchers chosen study areas based on the Crisil Inclusix, 2018, which isan index prepared by Crisil to measure the extent of financial inclusion in Indiaacross 666 districts. While 2 districts (Shravasti, UP and Malkangiri, Odisha)were chosen from the bottom 50, 2 districts (Rupnagar, Punjab and Shimoga,Karnataka) were chosen from the top 50.2.Survey of BC respondents: 17 BC respondents were surveyed for conductingthe Study. They were chosen from the same Surveyed Districts from whichwomen respondents were surveyed.Similar to women respondents, the BCrespondents belonged to one block of each district and were chosen based onconvenience. The majority of the BC respondents, i.e., 14, were males.3.Survey of FI respondents: 23 FIs were surveyed for conducting the Study. Itincluded 10 PSBs, 10 PvSBs. Payment banks and SFBs were also sought tobe surveyed given their important role in promoting financial inclusion.However, only 2 payment banks and 1 SFB responded. The 10 PSBs and 10PvSBs were chosen from the list of FIs that had opened the highest numberof PMJDY accounts as on 30 March 2022 and as available on the website of DFS, Ministry of Finance.
Effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on households in rural Maharashtra
PIs: Dr. Bansi Malde University of Kent
Researchers were trying to find the socio-economic impact of Covid-19 pandemic, specifically on issues related to health, employment, gender and politics on the Households of Maharashtra. In this study researchers asked questions related to Economic activity and coping strategies, Debts and borrowings, Investments in business and human capital, Migration, Covid Symptoms, Handwashing/Hygiene during Covid and Vaccination. Morsel India surveyed Household of Maharashtra by using phone numbers collected in previous studies. The field team succeeded to get ~60 percent response rate. This project was funded by Global Challenges Research Fund
Ethnicity and relationships among local leaders: Evidence from 5 states
PIs: William O’Brochta Washington University
Morsel collected contact information for about 850 Municipal Corporation members in 5 states (Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal) by filing RTIs and visiting Corporation offices. Morsel verified the contact information with each Municipal Corporation member by phone. Half of the Corporation members were selected at random for a survey conducted on the phone. Morsel successfully surveyed 400 Corporation members for a survey completion rate of 90%. The researcher wanted to assess the impact of the ethnicity of the leaders on their relationships with each other.
Impact of Financial Literacy Program
ShoreBank International Ltd, based in Washington DC, implemented a project on Financial literacy and Sub-K. Sub-K is a mobile banking platform with a growing agent network that targets poor and un(der) banked households in India to give them affordable access to formal financial and transactional services, and to educate Sub-K customers on how to transact despite low literacy and confidence. This survey-based project covered 5 states of India, namely Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chattishgarh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. MORSEL collected primary data from 4000 households and agents of these states.
Location : Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chattishgarh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh
Financial Capabilities of Rural Low-Income Households in India
GIZ and NABARD have been cooperating in the programme to strengthen the management and operation of Short-Term Cooperative Credit Structure (CCS), to promote access to financial services of self-help group (SHG) members and to enhance Financial Inclusion through Business Correspondents (BCs) in rural areas in India
Microfinance Opportunities (MFO), a US-based NGO, has developed the Financial Capability Index – a methodology to assess the financial capabilities of communities through their own definitions. Jointly the GIZ , NABARD , and MFO feel the need to assess the capabilities of the target group of rural financial services especially among the low income and low literate households in order to use financial services in a beneficial way. MORSEL collected data from 4 States of India namely, Orrisa, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan, which was based on Financial Capability Index.
Location : Orrisa, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan
Consumer Understanding of Branchless Banking
This randomized control trial is evaluating Financial Literacy Program run by FINO Fintech Foundation (FFF) in association with Microfinance Opportunities (MFO) and International Finance Corporation (IFC – The World Bank Group) Using Financial Diaries methodology, MORSEL collected data in the real-time from 12 villages in Jaunpur and Mau districts with the help of notebooks for 52 weeks. Principal investigators could see data online within 24 hours after the survey in the Dropbox.
Location : Jaunpur and Mau districts Uttar Pradesh
Impact Analysis of Financial Literacy Program
GIZ and NABARD have been cooperating in the programme to strengthen the management and operation of Short-Term Cooperative Credit Structure (CCS), to promote access to financial services of self-help group (SHG) members and to enhance Financial Inclusion through Business Correspondents (BCs) in rural areas in India
Microfinance Opportunities based in Washington DC developed a financial literacy program, and FINO implemented it in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh. We evaluated the impact and implementation procedure by surveying Clients and Bandhus (FINO’s agents)
Location : Uttar Pradesh
Transport, taxation, employment and effect on flow of goods in India : Evidence from Pan India Truck Driver’s survey
PIs: Jonathan Dingel The University of Chicago Booth Prabhat Barnwal Michigan University, University of Chicago Trust
Morsel is collecting data from 12 different cities in 12 states of India. Morsel is collecting data by surveying a total of 1350 truck drivers and 240 transport firms. This research project aims at understanding the effects of policy-induced transportation bottlenecks on the flow of goods in India. It wants to estimate how recent logistics-related reforms associated with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) policy have affected goods movement within the country, domestic trade, and international transactions. It also wants to identify additional bottlenecks and the scope for alleviating them. GST policy is one of the world’s most ambitious tax reforms and some of its components are directly aimed at reducing the costs of interstate freight transport. Most notably, the legislation abolished check posts at state borders and introduced electronic bills to replace paper documents. Reduction of these barriers to interstate transactions is expected to facilitate greater internal and international trade.
The business environment in India and the obstacles it poses for firms
PIs: Dr. Vineeta Yadav, Associate Professor of Political Science, Pennsylvania State University.
This is an academic, not-for-profit study funded through a research grant awarded by the Azim Premji Foundation and supported by Pennsylvania State University. The researcher tries to understand the different political, economic and institutional factors that influence the business environment firms face at the national and state levels in India, and why some states are more successful in creating good business environments than others. This survey collected information on the opinions of business organizations and firms about the business environment in India, and their experiences interacting with central and state governments in solving problems and designing policy solutions. For this purpose, Morsel is conducting an interview of 325 business chambers, business associations and law firms who interact with the government on behalf of firms across 10 states in India.
Location : Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bhubaneshwar, Lucknow, Patna, Cochin, Kanpur, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Ahmedabad
