Ammu Lavanya on How Foreign Capital Changed Indian Bank Lending

Our seventh and final scholar in the series is Ammu Lavanya, a PhD candidate in Economics at George Washington University. Her research is in the areas of International Finance, Monetary Economics, Empirical Banking and Financial History.

We spoke about her job market paper titled International Financial Flows, Credit Allocation and Productivity. We talked about financial liberalization in India, the 2004 banking reform that increased the ceiling on raising foreign equity its impact on market value, lending capacity and increasing productivity through credit in India, the difference between private versus state owned banks, and much more.

Recorded October 9th, 2025.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:03:06) - Understanding Capital Inflows and Financial Liberalization

(00:04:36) - Concerns Around Foreign Capital and Hot Money Flows

(00:07:12) - The Banking Reform and Ownership Landscape in India

(00:12:10) - Banks Most Affected and Patterns of Foreign Investment

(00:17:05) - Impact on Borrowing Capacity and Lending Behavior

(00:19:38) - Productive Lending and Screening Mechanisms

(00:25:53) - Managerial Practices and Governance Improvements

(00:34:20) - Firm-Level Effects and Data Construction

(00:39:50) - Aggregate Effects and Decline in Misallocation

(00:45:19) - Implications for Policy and the Future of Liberalization

(00:48:42) - Differences Between Public and Private Banks

(00:53:15) - Outro