The brand new bankruptcy process is being brazenly gamed by those with connections and money. The touts and fixers of the previous regime have been replaced by a new set close to this one, observes Debashis Basu.

Large investors track high-frequency data that is immediately available today. That data has been bullish, points out Debashis Basu.

'The growth drivers are mostly invisible, but the growth is undeniable at least for now,' notes Debashis Basu.

Even when large businesses said they were flying blind in mid-2020, the markets rallied and an incredible business boom followed. This is not to say that the markets will continue to rally and there is nothing to worry about, observes Debashis Basu.

While law-abiding customers are harassed for KYC and have to comply with endless paperwork even to open and close accounts, DHFL could easily open nearly 260,000 fake home-loan accounts, reveals Debashis Basu.

It is intriguing that the CBI has shown little interest in the most scandalous and biggest collective investment scheme ever, from the Sahara group, asserts Debashis Basu.

While most brokers have upgraded their backend systems to trade, their front-end systems have not been upgraded. They are not compliant with Sebi's interop circular of November 2018 and no one seems to be either aware of this, nor has anything been done about it so far, explains Debashis Basu.

It is mystifying how the NSE, a near-monopoly, gets protection, as the February 24 episode shows, when it is competition and accountability that should be the regulatory objective, says Debashis Basu.

Human memory about policy issues is short. That alone can explain why many are deliriously happy with his latest slogans and ignore seven years of poor 'doing business' climate, taxtortion, extortionate oil prices, and high dependence on babus and the big State that has kept the enterprise system stifled, observes Debashis Basu.

It is impossible for anyone to explain how markets are hitting record highs during an economic recession. It is both mysterious and surreal, notes Debashis Basu.

Bad loans of PSBs are at Rs 20 trillion. Most of it is, I sense, due to corruption and behest lending. Nobody pays a price for this charade. Not the promoters, the bankers, RBI officials, finance ministry bureaucrats or politicians, points out Debashis Basu.

The most common complaint of financial consumers is cumbersome processes, complicated products, usurious charges, and mis-selling of products, which finally don't deliver what is promised or as expect, notes Debashis Basu.

The RBI, which has no interest or mechanism to get feedback from bank customers, is unaware of this. If made aware, it remains silent, proving that it has no problem in allowing lenders to short-change its customers, says Debashis Basu.

Scams happen with high regularity because the price of getting caught is insignificant. Aggrieved investors run from the police to already clogged courts to find redress for issues for which financial regulators have been specifically set up. For over 3,750 years we have known what to do, but we don't do it, observes Debashis Basu.

'The promises of netas and babus and new laws, however well-meaning, mean little.' 'What matters is implementation on the ground.' 'Every law is finally implemented by a vast army of offici

And if there are so many opportunities, why haven't they invested in them, asks Debashis Basu.

'The recalculated ranking showed India should have had a higher ranking earlier (113 in 2012 instead of 132) and lower ranking later (114 in 2018 instead of 100).' 'This would mean that there has been no change in India's climate of doing business across two regimes.' 'This is exactly consistent with the reality on the ground,' observes Debashis Basu.

'Under this government, tax laws have become more draconian, and the government itself is setting stiff, unrealistic targets for tax officials, who have got more powers to harass us,' points out Debashis Basu.

The problem is with the broking model and what brokers are allowed to do, notes Debashis Basu.

'The finance ministry and public sector banks have tried to keep the names of wilful defaulters secret.' 'Secrecy and concealing information are inbred among banks and even the RBI,' observes Debashis Basu, editor, www.moneylife.in.