“…All these confounding circumstances inadvertently implicate the MFI into RNC. Earlier studies have reported the persistence of RNC in microfinance operations providing shreds of evidence related to the problems of clients’ indebtedness (Ray et al , 2019; Sangwan et al , 2020), multiple borrowing (Puliyakot and Pradhan, 2015), loan default (Nandhi, 2015; Polgreen and Bajaj, 2010), high-interest rates (Sangwan et al , 2021) and repayment periods (Sangwan et al , 2020). To the best of our knowledge, hardly any studies have attempted to cross-verify the stipulated regulation guidelines with the field survey and conduct an empirical assessment of the deviation of the RNC under each prescribed individual guideline.…”