Paper Title
Emerging Trends in Indian Microfinance Industry; Role of Financial Technology and Inclusive Policies

Abstract
The Indian microfinance industry has been a strong enabler of financial inclusion of underserved and unbanked people in India. After the mission of Pradhan Mantri Jah-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) in 2014, financial inclusion is vigorously promoted to ensure delivery of banking services at an affordable cost to the vast sections of the unbanked group. Subsequently, The Government of India and Central Bank (RBI) reaffirmed the role of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in financial inclusion by introducing NBFC-MFIs guidelines, Priority Sector Lending (PSL), promoting MFIs as Business Correspondents (BC) of banks and launching of MUDRA bank due to its easy viability and wide range beneficiaries across the country. Nowadays banks also concentrate on Microfinance sector with different schemes and corporate sector considered Microfinance as a mode to fulfill the corporate social responsibility (CSR). Even though the recent movement of the Indian government towards demonetization (8th Nov-2016) and Andra Pradesh Microfinance crisis happened in 2011, this sector is dropping large collections and experienced loan defaults due to the cash crunch. Hence, this study explores emerging trends in Indian Microfinance due to impact of policy reforms, financial technology (Fintech) and banking initiations. JEL Classification: G00, G21, I38 Keywords: Microfinance, Financial Inclusion, Financial Technology (FinTech), Priority Sector Lending (PSL)