Explore by keyword
Search beyond titles. This explorer reads the full archive and shows each word in context before you choose an essay.
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Legal Perspective Series : Episode 4 A bank may do everything that banking process expects it to do. Title documents may be obtained. Legal scrutiny may be completed. Mortgage may be created. Disbursement may be made. Default may occur. SARFAESI action may beg…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Legal Perspective Series : Episode 3 A property-backed loan can look safe on paper. Title deeds are available. Legal opinion is satisfactory. Valuation report is comfortable. Mortgage is created. MoDT is executed. Borrower declarations are on record. Tenant NO…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Legal Perspective Series : Episode 2 The story — where it began Canara Bank needed residential flats in Delhi for its officers. Around December 1984 , it entered into an agreement with K.L. Rajgarhia, owner of a 300 sq. yard plot at B-9, East of Kailash, New D…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Justice, Scheduled—But Not Served Listed, But Not Heard: The Accountability Gap in Justice Delivery We smiled when Advocate Chaudhary delivered that iconic line in Damini . It felt exaggerated. Dramatic. Cinematic. But for many litigants today, it is no longer…Read in full
AI & Digital Lending
…icitly used that model as a foundational lens, and the journals reinforced it repeatedly through discussions on intent, ethics, controls, process, observations, and behavior. It was, and remains, one of the most useful ways to understand why fraud happens. Pressure explains t…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
March is the most sensitive month in the books of any bank. As the financial year closes, the quality of the loan portfolio — especially SMA accounts and NPAs — comes under intense scrutiny. To strengthen early detection of stress in the banking system, the Re…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Section 94, Sequencing Power, and the New Insolvency Reality Section 94 Received The branch received a letter. It was formally worded. Procedural. Calm. The personal guarantor had filed an application under Section 94 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Gold Jewellery Funding : Episode 19 A ring rarely comes alone. It comes with a finger size, a stone, a promise, a memory — and often, an expectation that something so small must be valuable. In gold lending, rings are the most misunderstood collateral: compact…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Bangles: Behaviour, Duration & What Time Reveals ORNAMENT Sub Series : Gold Jewellery Funding : Episode 18 Sunita didn’t pledge her necklace again. She chose bangles. One bangle at first. Then another, a few months later. Each decision felt temporary Each pled…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
From Temporary Liquidity to Silent Continuity ORNAMENT Sub Series : GOLD JEWELLERY FUNDING : Episode 17 Sunita didn’t pledge her necklace again. She chose bangles. One bangle at first. Then another. Each time it felt small. Each time she told herself she’d cat…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
When Gold Became Working Capital: The Rise and Closure of the Re-Pledged Route Gold Jewellery Business - Episode 15 Introduction For decades, pawn brokers occupied a quiet but critical space in India’s gold ecosystem — bridging household distress, informal cre…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Part 2: What Works, What Doesn’t — And Why Gold Jewellery Funding - Episode 14 3. What RBI Permits (And Why It’s Often Misunderstood) 3. 1 Loans Against Gold Jewellery (Classic Gold Loans) Gold jewellery loans remain one of the cleanest secured retail products…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why the Confusion Persists Gold Jewellery Business Series - Episode 13 India’s gold ecosystem sits at the intersection of culture, collateral, credit, and compliance . As gold loans surge and jeweller-led schemes multiply, so do q…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Gold Jewellery Business Series - Episode 12 If risk in gold jewellery lending surfaces at exit, the harder question is this: why does the system continue to behave as if exit will never be tested? Episode 11 showed where gold-loan risk surfaces. Episode 12 ask…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
The Legal Lifecycle: Where Gold Loan Risk Actually Surfaces Gold Jewellery Series - Episode 11 PART A — WHEN GOLD LOANS ENTER THE LEGAL DOMAIN ⚖️ Trigger Points (Not Defaults) Gold loans enter courts and tribunals not because borrowers default , but because: C…Read in full
AI & Digital Lending
…og encourages you to think critically and engage with these issues. It’s about building a finance community that values ethics as much as innovation. Join the Conversation: Why You Should Follow The Vivek Perspective If you’re hungry for insights that go beyond the surface, t…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Jewellery Business Series - Episode 8 Not how loans are sanctioned, but how risk quietly travels. Act 1: The Customer Walks In A jeweller walks into a bank branch. He is profitable. He has customers. He has gold moving every day. He also has advance money from…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Jewellery Business Series - Episode 7 Across multiple jewellery clusters, a recurring structure emerges — what I refer to as the Gold Timing Mismatch Pattern — where customer money arrives before gold is actually owned or hedged, creating temporary liquidity c…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
JEWELLERY BUSINESS SERIES - EPISODE 6 How Can a Banker Tell This Just by Looking at the Balance Sheet ? You cannot see the fraud directly. But you can see the timing distortion very clearly — if you know where to look . Think in four lenses , not one. Lens 1:…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Jewellery Business Series - Episode 5 The Schemes Around Gold — and the Risks They Don’t Advertise Gold has always been marketed as safety. But the moment it is wrapped inside a “scheme”, the risk quietly shifts—from the jeweller to the customer, and from the…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Jewellery Business Series — Episode 1 A story of fire, skill, memory… and money . If you walk into a jewellery workshop before sunrise, you will hear it before you see it. The hiss of the furnace. The metallic tap of a hammer. The whir of a rolling mill waking…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Legacy complexity in Indian banking A case for cleaning up our legacy MIS code burden in Indian banking There are moments in policy that go quietly unnoticed — but signal a seismic shift in the way a system thinks. One such moment happened recently. The Reserv…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
TAT - The untold stories There was a time when bankers feared NPAs, audits, inspections, and credit committees. Today, they fear something far more colourful: the next morning’s TAT dashboard . One red cell is enough to trigger panic. People raise queries they…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Aadhaar vs PAN/Passport If there is one question that keeps surfacing in customer onboarding counters across India, it is this: “My Aadhaar has an initial, but my PAN and Passport have my full name. Can the bank force me to open the account as per Aadhaar?” Sh…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
…2025 with the theme — “Vigilance: Our Shared Responsibility.” Two campaigns, continents apart, but united by one truth: ethics is the first and last line of defence against corruption. As someone who has spent nearly three decades in banking and risk, I can say that vigilance…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Policy Vs Practice Series Policy Intent When the SARFAESI Act was introduced in 2002, it was hailed as a game-changer. For the first time, banks in India could enforce security interests without the long wait of civil courts . The intent was clear: empower len…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Policy Vs Practice The Setting (Rating Methodologies) A branch credit officer is reviewing a ₹50 crore working capital renewal for a reputed engineering firm. The borrower proudly points to their BBB rating from a leading agency. Looks decent. Case closed? Not…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Policy Vs Practice Series Policy Intent: Regulatory frameworks — from RBI’s capital adequacy norms to provisioning requirements — are designed to safeguard the banking system and ensure credit discipline. Practice Reality: In real-world cycles, these very rule…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Policy Vs Practice Series THE BEGINNING In just 67 days of early 2020, the RBI slashed the repo rate by 115 basis points — the steepest short-term cut since the global financial crisis. Corporate loan yields at India’s top banks fell by nearly 1% in a single q…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Over the past five years, working capital loans — dominated by Cash Credit (CC) and Overdraft (OD) facilities — have accounted for a substantial share of bank credit in India. Designed to bridge short-term liquidity gaps, these facilities were never intended t…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Opening Scene Mumbai, June 2025. Dr. K, a 73-year-old retired cardiologist, receives a video call. A woman, fluent in English, claims to be from TRAI. Moments later, a uniformed officer appears on screen. He shows Dr. K a document with the Mumbai Crime Branch…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
How artificial deadlines make us bypass logic and fall into deception. 🧾 REAL STORY: A Missed Package, A Costly Click Kochi, 2023 Rajesh, a small business owner, received an SMS on a busy Monday morning: “Blue Dart: Package delivery failed due to incorrect KY…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Curiosity-driven trust — when the urge to know overrides the instinct to pause. REAL STORY: The Email That Felt Too Specific Hyderabad, 2023 Priya, a 29-year-old HR executive, received an unsettling email: “Final Notice: Your resignation approval letter is pen…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
– When Trust Wore a Saree and Taught Multiplication Ponzi In the dusty corridors of a government school in Cuddalore, everyone simply called her “Ma’am.” Not Mrs. Something. Not by her first name. Just Ma’am — the kind that stayed etched in school diaries and…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
When Misinformation Comes in Familiar Fonts He didn’t have a title.He didn’t wear a uniform.He didn’t even show his face. Yet, during the early days of the pandemic, his voice message went viral across Tamil Nadu: “Don’t take paracetamol — it’ll worsen COVID.…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
(Based on true events in Kolkata, 2021) – When the Seal of Science Was Forged In June 2021, as India reeled from the brutal second wave of COVID-19, a peculiar vaccination camp was set up in Kolkata’s Kasba locality . The banners bore the logo of the Kolkata M…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
(Based on the real 2019 Hyderabad “Fake IAS” marriage scam) – When Authority Becomes the Mask of Deception – He arrived in an SUV with a red beacon on top. Symbol of Authority He carried himself like someone used to deference — fluent English, structured speec…Read in full
AI & Digital Lending
…ans. They are lost relationships, lost trust, and lost opportunities for long-term value creation. Reconciling TAT with Ethics In a hyper-competitive lending market, fast decisions are a business imperative. Customers expect instant approvals, and financial institutions are m…Read in full
Leadership & Reflection
WHAT's YOUR STORY ? This used to be standard tag line asked by one of my supervisors. Initially, it used to bug me and felt it lacked the seriousness in its tone and purport. It took me quite a while to understand it.. The concept of story-telling As we grow u…Read in full
Leadership & Reflection
Whilst half the country over is immersed in fighting “Vedic” battles over the relevance of Onam and the Thiruvonam day, it has been quite an experiential learning exercise this season at the heart of it all in Kerala. This onam, we decided to try own recipe of…Read in full
Leadership & Reflection
Recently read about Dr. Masaru Emoto's Water Experiments....... Showing the effect of Positive Energy and being associated with Postive thoughts.. Considering that water forms nearly 75% of the Brain material, this experiment showcased the importance of remain…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
The study of the principle of Truth Bias , has exhibited some very beautiful behavioral patterns, specifically in the Rural Markets. However, the relevance of this, is in the context of defaults in repayments of loans given by many financiers. Many of them hav…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
As has been my experience, in my recent years of my career, the start point for any investigation, Underwriting, or process has been to check if all facts were correctly elicited and recorded and then check for misrepresentation. This brought forth an importan…Read in full
Leadership & Reflection
Change of jobs, Change of roles, Change in bosses, Change in organizations, or New Organizations – I’m sure, irrespective of our vintage or age, all of us have had our fair share of fears. However, the enhancers, in these instances, have been opinions, informa…Read in full
Leadership & Reflection
Interesting lessons are learnt in real life sceanarios when you least expect it. The net result is that the lesson so learnt becomes part of you almost permanently. Success in selling or a sale, be it a tractor or a financial product or any product for that ma…Read in full
Leadership & Reflection
Some of my recent experiences, with regard to visits to colleges and campuses as part of various initiatives, have aided in active engagement with students, and understanding their requirements and views. Let us take a closer view of students from Agricultural…Read in full
Tractor & Rural Finance
…ensures every person in the chain earns. Can we make a difference ? While I realize I rationalize on the wrong side of ethics, it worries me more to see a segment / class of people suffer, because this ethic is grossly violated by people who can make a difference.... This Du…Read in full
Leadership & Reflection
The “Pre-Owned” vehicles have always been a special segment !! To the world of tractors this is nothing new either. A colleague of mine was exchanging notes with me on the various facets involved in Used / Pre-Owned Tractors. The key link as we discussed, turn…Read in full
Leadership & Reflection
…ery positive and progressive approach in tractor marketing. A market considered unorganized in its methods did have its ethics. 3. ASSOCIATIVE APPEALING Once inducted into the use of mechanization and farm equipments, one would feel the job of marketing is lot easier. Nay ! I…Read in full
Leadership & Reflection
…expectation. Aham Brahmaasmi – i am the lord... the supreme. The “we” aspect that is ideal takes the “ I ” perspective. Ethics / Values seem pliable and mouldable. A sense of tremendous power surges through the self. The feeling of me being at the centre of all activity is a…Read in full
Leadership & Reflection
Charismatic leadership style with a human touch is a rarity. Seldom do we have the opportunity to experience this style in all its glory. Yet, here is one such story. What is amazing is their ability to give new "family additions" their space and allow them ti…Read in full
Credit & Underwriting
I was quite influenced by a training on Fraud Detection and Prevention recently, where a point came up about "Triggers" losing relevance with time. This was when the Trainer pointed to the underlying principle rather than Trigger in itself. The Triggers change…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Introduction given in Part 1 ( Repeated for sake of continuity / reference ) : It looked like just another day. Yet, it was a day which got me crystallizing my views and thoughts. The topic is a clichéd one – Role of internal check mechanisms. Nay, it is not a…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
It looked like just another day. Yet, it was a day which got me crystallizing my views and thoughts. The topic is a clichéd one – Role of internal check mechanisms. Nay, it is not about how and where. It is about some lovely concepts that came out the discussi…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Continued..... from Part 1.. ..highlights of a talk on "Fraud Prevention in Farm Equipment Financing" Observation 3 - Know your domain I've read about Luca Pacioli's Quote, which I shall use slightly differently - "He who does business without knowing all abou…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
Let’s start this with a positive story – a business oppurtunity wise story and then we can correlate it to other scenarios One financier received a case where the customer had quote Lemon to be the crop. The business team had seen a huge oppurtunity… yet the c…Read in full
Fraud, Ethics & Governance
At a recent gathering, I was asked to speak on " Fraud Prevention in Farm Equipment Financing ", and this was more of an impromptu talk with little time to prepare. Yet, I gathered and covered the talk in points of Observation, in the background of Rural and F…Read in full
Credit & Underwriting
"Do you know what makes the Quarter 4 the most challenging ? " asked a fellow mate. We were friends for years now and every time we meet each of us ramble on quite a few topics. This time he poised this question as we sat by the beachside catching up on old ti…Read in full