By Moin Qazi* Rural banking has come a long way from the days when bankers had their first brush with rural culture. Bankers are now financial anthropologists, and many of them are playing a missionary role in transforming rural societies. However, challenges continue to persist. When rural banking took its baby steps, villagers were shy … More Present urban-centric bank model has shown that it is a recipe for disaster when used in villages

Mumbai resolution* of the People’s Convention on “Infrastructure Financing Challenging Undemocratic & Destructive Global Finance: Building Political and Economic Alternatives”: We, representatives of social movements, adivasis, dalits, women, farmers, fisherfolk, forest workers, trade unions, civil society organisations from across India, together with solidarity groups from Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas, who have gathered at … More Need to resist hegemony of undemocratic and unaccountable financial institutions such as AIIB

A note on the two-day civil society-sponsored people’s convention on infrastructure finance, organized on the eve of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) board meeting, to take place in Mumbai  on June 25-26, 2018:   Peoples Convention on Infrastructure Financing – A response to AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank) Annual Meeting is the coming together … More A south-led multilateral development bank, AIIB should have its ears and eyes close to the ground

Excerpts from the report, “Peoples’ Convention on Infrastructure Financing: A Peoples’ response to AIIB Annual Meeting”, released as curtain-raiser ahead of Civil Society Organizations’ (CSOs’) meet on June 21-23, 2018 in Mumbai: The 3rd Annual Governors Meeting of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank [AIIB] will be held in Mumbai, India from 24-25 June 2018. This two-year-old … More AIIB, unlike older banks, does not have a clear line on reducing poverty, other safeguard issues

By Venkatesh Nayak* Readers may recall the gory incidents that took place at Thoothukudi (Tuticorin) in Tamil Nadu in the southern part of India on 22 May, 2018. Thirteen protesters died on the spot when the police opened fire to disperse an assemblage of thousands of local residents and representatives of civil society groups. They were protesting … More Why are 17 Indian companies, including Sterlite, blacklisted by Norway’s investment fund

By Gautam Thaker* From January 2016 onwards, the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, has been advising the Banks and the Indian Banks Association (IBA) to initiate and conclude settlement in time well before November 2017. Several reminders were given by the Government. Even then the IBA has not bothered to … More Government of India is indifferent towards bank employees’ justified demand for pay hike

A civil society-trade union joint statement on cash crunch in ATMs: In the past few weeks, ATMs across India have gone cashless, bringing back nightmares of the cash crunch during demonetisation. Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Manipur and Telangana are some of the states that have experienced severe cash crunch during this … More Cash crunch: Prepare white paper on demonetisation, publish names of wilful defaulters