The first issue of Finance Matters was released on 1st July 2017 and had articles titled:
- Appointment of a new Indian ED at the World Bank raises a few questions
- The Draconian FRDI Bill, 2017 will script death to the public sector banking
- India’s Ambitious New Energy Policy Draft Tries To Bridge Dreams And Reality, IndiaSpend’s analysis of the projections made by India’s new draft National Energy Policy (NEP), released by the government’s think tank, Niti Aayog, in June 2017.
- GST to Increase Tax Burden for the Poor in India: Surajit Mazumdar (Video)
Announcement of a Conversation with Dr Thomas Franco, General Secretary, All India Bank Officers Confederation, on the perils of the recent banking legislations, including Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) 2016, Banking Regulation (Amendment) Ordinance 2017, and the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill (FRDI) 2017. Will these new legislations solve the NPA crisis? Or will they result in the destruction of Public banking in India?
Forthcoming events
July 17, 2017, New Delhi: CFA organises a conversation with Dr. Thomas Franco, General Secretary, AIBOC, on the perils of the recent banking legislations. July 22–26, 2017, Hyderabad: People’s Summit against FTAs and RCEP.
7th July 2017 issue had:
- US Federal Appeals Court Rules That World Bank Group Cannot Be Sued for Harming Communities
- Bank mergers in the time of NPAs
- Report from the AIIB’s Second Annual Board of Governors Meeting at Jeju
- Budget Session of Parliament: An Overview
- Interview: RCEP – A Disaster for India and its People – Dr. Biswajit Dhar to Newsclick
- How 15,080 Profitable Indian Companies Paid No Tax in 2015–16
- In Brief: The New Banking Ordinance Will Do Little to Solve India’s Bad Loans Crisis — Banking ordinance opens up Pandora’s box.
Thereafter, there was no looking back. Weekly Finance Matters has covered international finance, national finance, analysis of current policy announcements, notices on events, etc.
Do you know that through lobbying, campaigning, addressing the media, meeting political leaders, and CFA, AIBEA, and AIBOC appearing before the Joint Parliamentary Committee, we could succeed in forcing the government to withdraw the bill in Parliament with an announcement that it would bring it at an appropriate time? For the first time, I met Mr. Rahul Gandhi and had an interesting conversation and requested support for our stand on the bill in Parliament. Before the withdrawal of the farm bill, we could achieve this, and CFA, Finance Matters, and Newsclick played an important role.
A quick glimpse of the archives of the newsletter shows that it is a wealth of statistics, critical comments, and suggested alternatives.
A series of articles on the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill 2017, appeals to the public, appeals to the Members of Parliament, assessments of every Parliament session, reviews of the Economic Surveys and Budgets, critiques of important bills placed in Parliament, BRICS and People’s Forum on BRICS, What is Threatening Public Sector Banks?
Tata Mundra monitoring report, 50 Years of ADB, Crony Capitalism and NPAs, Universal Basic Income, Paradise Papers, How Banks exploits Borrowers, Debunking WB Arguments on Large Infra Projects, Analysis of Blue Economy Proposals, Loktak Downstream Project, False Databases and Fraud Regulations in Banks, Failures of IFIs, AIIB, Aadhaar – $1.1 Billion Questions, Time to End Business Ranking by WB, Mumbai Resolution of the People’s Convention, Who Is Benefiting from Bullet Train Project?, Development and Constitutional Rights, PSBs Back Coal, Norway Blacklists 17 Banks, IFC Critique, Coastal Infra and Fishers’ Struggle in India, Adani Power Violates Forest Protection Act, People’s Convention on Infrastructure Financing, Diminishing Sundarbans and Royal Bengal Tigers, The Arbitrary Bank Charges Removed, Bank Merger: Another Scam. Opinions of C.P. Chandrasekhar, Com. C.H. Venkatachalam, AIBOC, IP of WB, NCLT Mumbai case files, Amaravati capital project, Parliament Standing Committee on Energy, PNB Scam, FRDI Bill Withdrawn, Water for Life, Not for Profit, LIC Issues, DHFL Crisis, three/four/five years of demonetisation, RCEP, Deutsche Bank on the verge of collapse, PMC Bank fraud, Time to End Inequality, The Invisible Hands of IFIs, Electricity Bill 2020, Brothers Have the Last Laugh (Ambanis) – Banks Become Bald with Haircuts, Yes Bank debacle, SBI Waives Minimum Balance Charges, Ground Report – Manipur Railway Projects, History of Nationalisations and Its Benefits, Farmers’ Agitation in Detail, Review of RBI Policies, Why Boycott Adani?, Why Boycott Ambani? (Farmers’ Demand Explained), Asset Monetisation, Business Correspondents – Modern Day Slaves, Loan to Corporates – Time to Implement RBI Decisions of 2016, Case Studies of Smart Cities and Money Wasted, NEP, RBI’s Consultative Paper on Microfinance, Analysis of Environment Clearances Given to Large Projects, National Monetisation Pipeline – What Lies at the End of the Pipeline?, Fintechs and Security, Inequality – Lessons from Chile, Selling the Golden Goose – LIC, Pension and Other Social Security in India, How Did the Banks Help BJP Win in UP?, Loan to TATAs at 4.5%, ABG Shipyard Scam, Should Corporates Own Banks?, Why Are Two Indias Growing Apart?, Human Development and India, EWS Quota, Why Public Sector Banks Are Performing Better?, Govt’s Lack of Political Will, IDBI Bank Sale – Height of Madness, Understanding the Great Nicobar Development Project, MUDRA Loans – Claims and Reality, New Global Financial Pact, Will You Arrest Anil Ambani? etc.
The articles have focused on finance, development, environment, policies, and status reports. They are permanent reference materials. I’m glad that officials in the Finance Ministry read them and, at times, send letters questioning them. Finance Matters has been publishing them with responses from the authors. There is no word limit for articles, as they are reference materials.
Podcasts and Pocket Money are bonuses.
Stepping into the ninth year, I appeal to every reader to at least circulate it to 10 friends.
Prof. Prabhat Patnaik, Prof. C.P. Chandrasekhar, Prof. Arunkumar, Prof. Jayati Ghosh, Prof. Surajit Majumdar, Adv. Prashant Bhushan, journalist Nitin Sethi, and many others have written articles/given interviews.
Let’s eagerly wait for more and more.
Tough days produce tougher newspapers (a few). Finance Matters is a newsletter of courage and conviction.
– Thomas Franco
Former General Secretary of the All India Bank Officers’ Confederation and a Steering Committee Member at the Global Labour University.
