Reportage on a planet without equitable or sustainable development.
On the banking correspondent auctions…
for some time now, ET has been reporting on a worrying move by the philosopher kings in the department of financial services (the offshoot of the finance ministry tasked with managing the banking sector) to overhaul the banking correspondent (BC) model.
well, the auctions to appoint common BCs for all public sector banks in a “cluster” (one large or a couple of smaller states clumped together = one cluster) are underway. and the bids are frankly astonishing. after complaining for years that a 2% fee to deliver payments, etc, is not enough, companies are bidding ridiculously low amounts – the fourth auction was won by a company that bid 0.11% (or 11 paise to deliver to hundred rupees).
this raises three possibilities. either, the economics of the BC model have changed entirely in the new approach (perhaps due to the fact that a monopoly is being created). two, companies are bidding out of desperation and they will fail to deliver. or, three, they are going all out to win contracts figuring they will work out ways to make it viable later (the time-honoured strategy of contract renegotiation after winning the bid, perhaps).
I am an Indian journalist with interests in energy, environment, climate and India’s ongoing slide into right-wing authoritarianism. My book, Despite the State, an examination of pervasive state failure and democratic decay in India, was published by Westland Publications, India, in January 2021. My work has won the Bala Kailasam Memorial Award; the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award; five Shriram Awards for Excellence in Financial Journalism; and, more recently, been a finalist at the True Story Award and GIJN’s Global Shining Light Awards. Write to me at despitethestate@protonmail.com.
“Westland closure: Titles that are selling fast and a few personal recommendations,” by Chetana Divya Vasudev, Moneycontrol. (Because this happened too. In February, a year after DtS was released, Amazon decided to shutter Westland, which published the book. The announcement saw folks rushing to buy copies of Westland books before stocks run out.)
Fractured/Earth 
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