The operations of national financial institutions – banking and non-banking – and the policies that influence their functioning are two of the least monitored. Their operations have serious impacts on the nation’s economy and the lives of the common people.
a study on Indian coal-fired power project’s finance between the year 2005 and 2013 reconfirmed that the share of national financial institutions in development finance is far greater than that from all international sources. This study shows only 11% finance of 125 plants above 1000 MW financed by international sources, rest 89% finance come from National Finance Institutions which includes commercial banks, both public and private banks, and non-banking institutions. While the study focuses only on one sector, recent figures of NPAs in banks reveal that such large-scale lending without due diligence has been the order of the day since 2000.
These investments are not without impacts. In many instances, the investment is blind towards the social and ecological impact of the investments. Large-scale investments have also negatively affected the commercial banks in general and public sector banks in particular, which have been leading in lending for infrastructural and other developmental projects. This is a result of changes in the lending policies over the last few decades to dovetail the neoliberal agenda and also facilitate large-scale lending through commercial banks.
Further policies like demonetisation, the introduction of GST, have adversely affected a large population of the people. Similar irreversible changes are expected if Universal Basic Income, Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill. What we are looking at is not just a few drastic changes that could be written off as illogical or criticised for faulty implementation. The country is made to undergo a seismic shift in its approach to finance and financial institutions to achieve “global standards”, which is not necessarily one that benefits the economy or the people of the country.
CFA attempts to look at these institutions and policies locating them within the global shifts post the global recession of 2008. We also keep the interest of the poor and marginal at the centre of our engagement with these policies. Thereby contributing at a small level to envisage an economic policy that would be sustainable and democratic.
The budget missed an opportunity to fix the economy, which is reeling under an unprecedented slowdown, with all indices pointing towards a recession. This was one of the much-anticipated budget, given that the country...
Banking in India is in crisis for some time since 2014, and there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. One crucial problem in the banking industry is the problems...
The Finance Department has informed the Banks that there will not be any interest subsidy for Gold Loans given to Farmers (Refer Circular of SBI No.1370 / 2019-20 dated 24.12.2019). In 2006-07 Budget speech,...
“Religion cannot be a marker for availing banking services and this amendment should immediately be withdrawn by RBI” a statement issued by around 50 civil society organisations and concerned citizens said. This is in...
In the name of making banks into supermarkets, providing all financial services, cross-selling was permitted by RBI and the government in the banking industry. Life insurance policies, general insurance policies, mutual funds etc are...
Fiscal Federalism is in danger, which can lead to further economic crisis stated Dr. Thomas Issac Finance Minister of Kerala at a National Workshop at Pondicherry. The GST due to states is not given...
The announcement by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman yesterday (Nov 15) that the government is planning to increase the deposit guarantee limit from the existing Rs 1 lakh is a confirmation of the rumours/reports going around for some...
Deutsche Bank AG was one of the largest Banks in the world (it was ranked largest before Chinese Banks replaced it). The Bank on a verge of collapse due to internal scandals has sent...
On the 3rd anniversary of demonetisation, which wrecked the economy from which India is yet to recover, put people in insurmountable misery and for which nobody is held accountable yet, a small video capturing the...
On Nov 8th, 2016 the Prime Minister told the citizens that “For years, this country has felt that corruption, black money and terrorism are festering sores, holding us back in the race towards development.”...
More than a month of waiting for 16 lakh depositors is leading to a dangerous position of loss of faith in banks. The Cooperative banks have more than 13 crore small depositors. RBI has...
On 22nd Oct, AIBEA and BEFI went on strike against merger of Banks. Did anybody care? Sad that all Unions and Associatious objecting merger did not fight together. The Banking Sector Trade Unions in...
In the last week, we saw two indices, which were released globally. One on hunger and another on Ease of Doing Business. India slipped from 95th position to 102nd position out of 117 countries...
Lessons from the Nobel Prize in Economics After Dr. Amartya Sen received Nobel Prize for Development Economics, Abhijit Banerjee, an Indian has become the winner of Nobel on Economics along with his wife Esther...
On August 30th 2019 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced collapsing of 10 Public Sector Banks in 4 Banks. A lot has been said about what will be the impact of this decision on NPA...