What is Open Credit Enablement Network (OCEN)?

The government of India launched the Open Credit Enablement Network (OCEN) last year. It is an initiative in India aimed at democratizing credit access and fostering innovation in the financial ecosystem. It is a kind of a virtual credit marketplace which brings distributors, lenders, and borrowers together in one location. Basically OCEN is a set of protocols that enables seamless interaction between the lenders, loan service providers and borrowers by creating a standardized framework for credit underwriting, disbursement, and management for small-ticket financing with brief tenures by enabling distant lenders to conduct business in remote areas and permitting access to data from other sources.

Judiciary Must be Reformed

Son of a rich and influential family, Vedant Agarwal has all rights to fly on the roads with his Porsche and if some stupid people comes in his ways and get killed, it is their fault, not Vedant's. For this crime, judges who granted him bail must register a case against to those who died in this accident! Basically the victim is the that juvenile whose right to fly on the road was interfered with. He should be compensated for this and the Milords must give a new historic order and may be establish a fund to compensate him so that none does this even in the future.

Sarcasm on one side but it can be said that the Judiciary in India is completely. The way Milords have granted bail to this so called juvenile Vedant Agarwal, 17 years son of a builder, loudly tells how sick the judiciary has turned! But no questions will be asked or no investigation against the judge will ordered by the Supreme Court of India!!

Peculiar Case of Inflation in India

Someone asked me why do most of the non-BJP ruled states have higher fuel prices than that of BJP ruled states? Don't they realize that it'll be the reason for high general prices?

First of all, I wanted to ignore this question due to its political reason but after a while I decided to respond knowing the fact that the answer to this question is very peculiar. If I try to remain politically correct, there would not be a factual and satisfying answer to this question. It is not possible at all to be politically correct and answer this question both at the same time!

As a matter of fact, most of the non-BJP ruled states are charging higher VAT on petroleum products than the BJP ruled states. As a result, the oil prices are higher in Non-BJP ruled states. But it is not that simple. It is more complex than it looks at face.

Pesticide Use in India and the World

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has published a report with a title of “Pesticides Use, Pesticides Trade and Pesticides Indicators; Global, Regional and Country trends, 1990–2020”. This report is providing some very important insight about the global agricultural practices. The information is to some extent very surprising and frightful.

The following graph represents the pesticides Kilogram /Hectare used in different countries in agricultural activities.

Relationship of India with the UAE

In geopolitics and foreign policy making, things are often very long term, move slowly and look very deceptive and sometimes illusive also. From outside they often seem to move in the north direction but actually they lead in the south direction or might be in the east or west. It can be anything.

From the way the world perceives India today, it is very clear that India is doing well in the foreign policy making and positioning and placing its bets and people.

Relationship of India with most of the nations across the globe is improving dramatically. This is also true in the case of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The relationship of India with the UAE has never been so strong the way it looks today and it is becoming stronger day by day. None could have even thought of it 10-15 years back but Modi Government has done wonders in the last ten years to completely change it by serving and securing the economic interest of UAE.

One Visit can also have Positive Diplomatic Implications!

In the last couple of days, India has given very strong messages at least twice to the whole world and the neighbours in general and China in particular without saying a single word! The first message was given in the Arabian Sea in Lakshadweep by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the second one was given in the Indian Ocean by the Indian Navy!

The present day government under President Mohamed Muizzu has come to power in Maldives by openly opposing and running ‘India Out’ during polls. But that was in the elections. However, since Mohamed Muizzu has come to power, Maldivian government has been tirelessly working on policies which are aimed at opposing in possible ways and giving as much possible space to China. Giving priority to China is an issue of foreign policy of Maldives but they were continuously insulting India in whatever possible ways and means.

UPI vs. NEFT vs. IMPS: Which is Preferred?

India has many ways to transfer money supported by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) using banking platforms, BHIM app, payment banks as well as payment wallets. These methods are Unified Payment Interface (UPI), Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT), Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), Electronic Clearing System (ECS), Mobile Wallets, Prepaid Cards, Debit Cards, Credit Cards, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), and AADHAAR Enabled Payment System (APES). At present, of all these ways, three ways of payment have turned out to be the most popular and those are UPI, NEFT and IMPS.

Visa Free Entry to Indians is Increasing

Rising economic might of India is increasing the importance of India in the global economy. It should be noted that the Indian economy is the fastest growing large economy in the world and is expected to become the third largest economy in the world by 2030 and probably a $5 trillion economy by the end of 2028 itself.

This simple but very important fact is forcing the countries of the world to review their overall public and economic policies in the matter of India to fit in the new reality. They are adjusting their policies at every level irrespective of the political spectrum.

India Needs to Increase Investment in Agriculture

According to The World Bank, 60% of the total land in India was found to be suitable for agriculture in 2021 against the world average of 38.4%. However, the share of cultivated land was only 53.7% of the total land in India of which 50.4% is arable and 3.3% is covered permanent crops, 24.4% of total land area is forest land and rest is used for other different purposes.

As per the definition given by Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations (FAO), agricultural land covers only 38.4% of the world’s land area in 2011. However, only 10.9% of the global land area is arable that can be used for growing crops and just 1.2% of global land area is covered by permanent crops.

Micro ATMs are Helping Fill the Gaps

Financial inclusion has been a multifaceted problem for the whole world. The whole world is facing difficulties bringing in people in the formal financial system. Even the developed countries cannot claim to have brought its citizens into the formal financial system. And when it comes to a developing country like India, financial inclusion is a herculean task. However, India’s performance in bringing her citizens into the formal financial system in the last decade is really remarkable.

A number of initiatives and schemes such as Jan Dhan Yojana to Pension Yojana to Mudra Yojana etc. have been started by the central government in India over time to bring in people in the formal financial network but still a long distance is yet to be covered. There are crores of individuals who are still not part of the formal financial system or cannot access the formal financial system. Though, the government has been trying to use every possible initiative and technological advancement to advance financial inclusion in India. ATMs have also been used to increase financial inclusion in India especially in rural India.