Do We Now Have Something to Rely On?
It is educative and encouraging to see that this agitation and its participants – young and restless – have not only been able to dispel the veil of fear in publicly speaking up against...
Financial Inclusion has Remained only a Buzzword in Banking
Financial inclusion cannot be measured by the number of loans disbursed; it cannot be measured only by opening bank accounts or simply through digitisation; it cannot be served with the idea of “efficiency”; it...
Did the Budget Do Enough to Solve the Problems Faced by the MSMEs?
This budget has grabbed headlines for its support to the MSME sector, particularly with the announcement of the 10,000 crore SME Growth Fund. Given the fact that MSMEs have suffered in recent times because...
The Labour Codes serve Capital
What better time to bring into effect the Labour Codes than right after a thumping victory in the Bihar elections. Bihar, a labour-sending state, saw out-migration, “palayan” of youth, lack of employment opportunities and...
A note complicating the claims around financial inclusion through Banking
When the RBI announced recently that its Financial Inclusion Index had jumped from 64.2 to 67 this year, celebrating “significant improvement,” it painted a rosy picture that masks a troubling reality. The Department of...
Loan Write-offs and Reduction in Rural Bank Branches Are Undermining Financial Inclusion in India
As the DFS gears up for its stock-taking meet, it must recall that true financial inclusion needs more public sector bank branches and staff. It appears that a major stock-taking and brainstorming is being organised by...
Street vendors are the low-hanging fruits in the battle against plastic
Single-use plastic ban vilified street vendors and small players, but conveniently missed the real villains: the producers and users of plastic – petrochemicals companies, plastic producers, and FMCG companies – who choose to make...
The (Few) “People’s Budget”
The budget this year has been touted as a middle class friendly budget. The proposal of no income tax for those with yearly income up to 12 lakh rupees was celebrated across news rooms...
To undo the deadly noose of loan apps, RBI’s occasional warnings won’t do
A new ecosystem based on loan apps has mushroomed across India’s financial landscape over a decade, preying on those abandoned by the formal banking sector. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently imposed a...
To tackle the climate crisis, address inequality
Every morning, when we turn the pages of the newspaper, we get a glimpse of a rather grim future.we turn the pages of the newspaper, we get a glimpse of a rather grim future....
Hanuman’s leap: Why India’s firms aren’t making investments despite Nirmala Sitharaman’s pleading
Industrialists will only invest when it they see returns and it makes business sense. In Kishkinda Kanda, the fourth book of the epic Ramayana, the wise Jambavan reminds Hanuman of his own strength. As...
How the row over ‘freebies’ hides India’s failure to meet the basic needs of its citizens
While it targets welfare schemes, the Union government has also written off crores in outstanding loans for India’s rich and given huge corporate tax rebates.
A NITI Aayog-Commissioned Report Unveils the Hypocrisy of Modi Govt’s ‘Climate Concerns’
The report seems to only focus on guilt tripping the judiciary by mechanistically enumerating immediate economic losses owing to the stalling and closures effected by rulings. It is symptomatic of the urge of the...
Lies, Despair and a Grotesque Inequality Plagues Indian Economy Today
We witnessed an infantile jubilance on the part of the government since last year about a “record recovery” from the pandemic. Finance Ministry’s report claimed that armed with necessary macro and micro growth drivers, India...
More Privatisation, less Accountability- How did the Indian Economy fare last month?
In pursuance of its policy of monetisation of national assets, the government earlier this month approved the setting up of the National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC). It would be a government-owned company with the...
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