Fund-based approach to reduce urban poverty

Urban poverty is increasingly becoming an important challenge, given the rising levels of urbanisation across the globe. Urban poverty can no longer be viewed as simple issue related to inadequate income of people, as done conventionally, but it has to be viewed as an issue with multiple dimensions. Finance can play an important role in addressing the problems of urban poor not only to supplement incomes but also to support civic service provision to them. Financial intermediation through special Funds is emerging as an important approach to develop and maintain civic infrastructure services in cities. The experiences of some existing models suggest that it is possible to use finance flows wisely through constitution of specialized Funds for providing urban infrastructure for the poor. This monograph argues the need for taking such approach of Fund-based models to provide Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP) in India.