Fundamatics

Category: 2017

  • From the Beehive

    From the Beehive

    July – August, 2017

    This month we focus on travels. Our potpourri of travel articles will transport you to far-flung corners of the big, wide world where the peaceful harmony of bountiful nature is punctuated only by the reverent tread of an occasional traveller. In these travel narratives, the landscape comes across as malleable, an almost protean presence that is being constantly shaped and reshaped through the lens of each traveler who passes through it.   And then, we have travels of quite another kind – those that do not end but stretch on interminably in our consciousness even after the physical experience of it is long over. Let’s embark on this journey then! (more…)

  • Big Deal

    Big Deal

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  • NaMo And DeMo

    NaMo And DeMo

    Photograph by Igor Ovsyannykov

    Just back from IIT B campus where we had a very stimulating lecture by Dr Kaushik Basu (former Chief Economist of  the World Bank and also former Economic Advisor to Government of India).  The topic was deliberately and most appropriately chosen as The Economics of Corruption, Black Money, and Demonetisation.

    On December 9, 2016 Dr Basu was delivering the 3rd Prof N R Kamath Chair Colloquium Lecture which is an annual event.  Prof N R Kamath was a well known Chemical Engineer and I was wondering what an economist had to do with chemical engineering. But I realised on second thoughts that what an economist does for a living, not unlike a chemical engineer, is just trying to put some of his recipes into practice. While a chemical engineer can manipulate the pressure, temperature,and concentrations of various chemicals and pH of the solutions, an economist has variables like money supply, interest rates, exchange rates, and other equally obtuse parameters to play with. But while a chemical engineer may quickly be able to ascertain the results of his experiment an economist can safely keep on arguing about correctness of his solution vis-a-vis other solutions by other economists till Doomsday. (more…)

  • Demonisation of Demonetisation

    Demonisation of Demonetisation

    I am Bankim Biswas and what I write is a lot of bunkum and wishwash. For instance, it’s bumkum that I’m an old 500 Rupee note. Old, yes I am for sure. But let’s make believe that I’m an old 500 rupee note numbered 5BP 6350JJ signed by someone called Governor YV Reddy.

    Today, I lie in my final resting place in some obscure vault of the RBI, awaiting my imminent demise in some shredder that will be purchased by deploying my successors i.e. new notes signed by the new Governor Urjit Patel. While I enjoy my last moments of static bliss, I recollect moments of my younger days when I was virtually in a state of perpetual motion. Right from the time of my birth as a scrap of paper and being coloured green and imprinted with Gandhi photos in a minting press, I’ve been in constant motion.

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  • From N. R.Kamath to Samir Mitragotri – The Past and the Future of Chemical Engineering

    From N. R.Kamath to Samir Mitragotri – The Past and the Future of Chemical Engineering

    About five years ago, during a ’71 batch chemical alumni meet in Pune, there was a suggestion that an N. R. Kamath Chair Professorship be set up through our donations. Though it sounded good, nothing much came of it. As a matter of fact, we did not even get started on raising funds.

    But then, during the birth centenary celebrations of Prof. N. R. Kamath, Alum Himmatsinhka proposed this cause to a much wider audience. His determination, diligence and persistent effort resulted in the chair professorship becoming a reality.

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  • Digital Payments: An Opportunity to Build the Next Unicorn

    Digital Payments: An Opportunity to Build the Next Unicorn

      Photograph by Ruchit Goswami

    As I am writing this note about Less-cash/Cashless India, the Indian media is reporting the great confidence in Prime minister Modi’s government, and the corporate community is showing high confidence in his leadership.  The Prime minister’s office is claiming the reports to be a validation of the acceptance and success of the bold initiative of Prime Minister Modi: the decision on Demonetisation on November 8th, 2016. (more…)

  • Standing in a Queue

    Standing in a Queue

    Standing Guide

    Thanks to our soldiers, who are dying on our borders, and to one man who works 26 hours a day without sleeping, you have been pampered and have adopted a sedentary lifestyle. You think you should be able walk into an ATM and walk out with your money in a manner of minutes.

    Well, times, they are-a-changin’ and as somebody who knows a thing or two about doing totally unnecessary things for hours on end, I thought I should use my experience and pen a guide to Endurance Cashathons, and successfully Standing them. (more…)

  • Note Ban – A Vote Spinner

    Note Ban – A Vote Spinner

    This one was truly a googly, if ever a cricketing metaphor was appropriate to economics. While the impact on India’s economy is yet to be fully realised, there is no doubt that the political dividend has been handsome. What AAP’s resounding victory in Delhi brought home to politicians of all hues, was that India was really Against Corruption. Even the champion of Development was swept away by it.

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  • From the Beehive

    From the Beehive

    June – July, 2017

    As demonetisation and its consequences hit news headlines in India again last week, we thought the time was ripe to bring you an issue focussed on the topic. This issue explores various perspectives on different aspects of the note ban – the background, the implementation process, the long-term impact, the possibility of going cashless etc. We have a variety of articles to suit every mood – knowledgeable thought pieces and informed views for when you’ve got your thinking cap on, to humorous ones in a lighter vein that will have you laughing out loud.

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  • Demonetisation: The Bigger Picture

    Demonetisation: The Bigger Picture

    In a move which took the country by surprise, the government demonetised currency notes of denominations Rs.500 and Rs. 1000 with immediate effect from the midnight of Nov 8, 2016. This step has been variously praised and pilloried. Politicians took predictable stands and economists are divided on its merits. Parliament was paralysed and the media hyperventilated extensively on it.

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