How would history remember 2020? For the losses suffered or the how the pandemic put our civilisation under the microscope? Going by the experience the answer could be both. The global lockdown put us inside our home. Days, then, were

I always believe while urban India may be the face of India, the heart lies in our villages. We can experience the core of India's culture and life only if we go deep into the rural parts. But, unfortunately, penetration

Being an Aatmanirbhar Bharat or self-reliant India is a dream that will put the country in a significant position in the global market if we can implement it. And we can make this come true only when we have business

“May my children have an abundance of milk and rice”, says the loosely-translated verse from the Bangla narrative poem Annada Mangal by Bharatchandra Ray. This blessing is what the boatman seeks when Devi Annapurna wants to pay him for ferrying

I have mentioned it multiple times that the primary mandate of microfinance is to provide access to finance to the unemployed or low-income individuals or groups who otherwise would have no other access to financial services. This means that we

With the COVID-19 lockdown getting lifted in phases, all of us have been striving to return to our normal life. Some took small steps, some took long strides, but as a society, we are bouncing back even as we fight

Come what may, India will remain an agricultural country for quite some time to come. Despite urbanisation and the growth of industry and services, agriculture remains the largest provider of wherewithal to a big chunk of the population. Agriculture is

Microfinance will keep growing in importance in the days to come, as it has in the days past. Microfinance has grown from being just an instrument in poverty alleviation to the fuel for a national aspiration — the aspiration of

Manju sounded like a proud mother when she told me that her daughter had stitched a salwar suit the day before, entirely on her own, and with no help or guidance. It so happened that Manju had not been feeling

I have always believed that repaying loans on time has a lot to do with the mind of the borrower. There is no model or perfect equation that can ensure compliance with the repayment schedule if the borrower does not

The COVID-19 pandemic has confined more than half the population. While the lockdown has been lifted, people still fear meeting each other physically while others continue to avoid going out unless it is essential. With public gatherings such as fairs,

Over the years, the Indian subcontinent has been witnessing regular natural disasters like cyclones, flash floods and earthquakes. As lives and livelihoods suffer devastation, the aftermath often takes years of recovery. It goes without saying that the most affected by

Indian women are often referred to as Goddess Durga, the Devi with multiple arms. When I, in my current role, visit a VFS borrower and get to know of her personal life, I cannot help but agree with the comparison.

The jury is still out on the actual contraction that the world economy will undergo due to the coronavirus pandemic. But, with a vaccine date in the zone of speculation, the global rating agencies are converging on their assessment of

The Honourable Prime Minister has taken his 2014 Make-in-India mission to its logical second stage by stressing the need to create a Bharat that is Atmanirbhar or self-reliant. As Krishnamurthy V. Subramanian, the Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of

An enterprise is seen by many as a field that needs the highest form of intellectual creation. Agility and the ability to adapt quickly to a fast-changing environment are the hallmarks of business. Entrepreneurs who cannot come up with a

A CMIE survey claims that a little over 12 crore people in India have lost their jobs during the pandemic till date (July 2020) across the economy. Going by the Economic Survey, we had a workforce of a little over

The pandemic has thrown up an economic challenge that has never been experienced in recent history. Shop floors are mostly deserted, jobs are vanishing, unemployment is rising and markets are unstable. There is no easy way out. And more and

The COVID-19 pandemic has not been kind to us. It has stressed us out in a manner that we couldn’t have anticipated even a few months back before the lockdowns began in end-March. Newspapers, television and social media project this

An article in a consumer behaviour research journal has described smartphones as an “adult pacifier”. The term is catching up very fast. However, the issue goes one step further during the pandemic. With a very big percentage of the working

When it started there was a feeling that we wouldn’t be bound to our homes for very long. But we put up a brave face as the lockdowns continued. It was cooking time, sharing-of-hobbies time and learning-new-things time for some.

Getting a job is easier than keeping it. This mantra has perhaps been there ever since business organisations came into being. Yet very few pay heed to this timeless, classic advice - be flexible and adapt themselves to changes in

The use of social media has been rising sharply following the advent of smartphones. Facebook and Twitter added to the acceleration and platforms such as Orkut fell by the wayside. The fact that social media, by providing us with a

It’s difficult to avoid the context of the COVID-19 pandemic while discussing any aspect of our lives now. With the economy (and our life) having lost a quarter of a year to the lockdown that was imposed to contain the

Green shoots. A term that is slowly getting into everyday use as did “social distancing” after the coronavirus began wreaking havoc earlier this year. Before March, when the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic and many countries including India

As the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to adopt lifestyle changes such as social distancing and home-quarantine that we have never experienced, the fabric of the urban economy unravelled and we are yet to weave a new one that can handle

When Nature unleashes her fury, the only option for many is to pick up their lives and start from scratch after the storm has passed. Devastation is an acceptable outcome. It should not be. Improvements in science have given us

When we speak of society today, we shall only be referring to the collective of people state-wise, and not in any broader term. Our country as such consists of many such societies together. Let us look at any one such

“A natural disaster is an act of nature of such magnitude as to create a catastrophic situation in which the day-to-day patterns of life are suddenly disrupted and people are plunged into helplessness and suffering, and, as a result, need

We knew it but did not realise its importance till the coronavirus pandemic pushed it down our throats. The importance of taking care of our mental health just as much as we do of our physical health suddenly became a