India’s Access to Capital Problem
Rohit Chandra
January 17, 2022
In the latest issue of India in Transition, Rohit Chandra (Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and former CASI Research Coordinator) discusses access to capital in India and how public sector banks and foreign investment have both contributed to rising capital concentration in India today.
This article is the second in a set of guest-edited IiT short series. The articles in this series seek to make sense of the many manifestations of political and economic centralization in India today, with a particular focus on the historical antecedents of India’s federal institutions and how greater centralization in these institutions is altering state-business relations, India’s welfare architecture, as well as electoral competition. In 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power with a thumping victory, winning 303 out of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha. This marked the first time since 1984 that a single party won a majority of seats in back-to-back national elections, and the first time a party other than the Congress Party achieved this feat. This massive electoral mandate given to the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has evidently ushered in a period of nearly unprecedented political and economic centralization. Recent months have seen a rapidly deteriorating relationship between the Centre and many states in India, so much so that Louise Tillin has referred to the current situation as “a defining moment for the future of Indian federalism.” (Guest Editor: Neelanjan Sircar, CASI Fall 2021 Visiting Scholar; Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research)
CASI in the News
Congratulations to a number of our CASI affiliated scholars, including Devesh Kapur (CASI Senior Fellow & former Director, 2006-18) and Mekhala Krishnamurthy (CASI Non-Resident Visiting Scholar & former Postdoctoral Research Fellow, 2010-12) for making the Apolitical 100 Most Influential Academics in Government.
Ambassador Shyam Saran to Deliver Upcoming CASI-Khemka Lecture
On February 24, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. EST | 8:30 p.m. IST, Ambassador Shyam Saran (26th Foreign Secretary of India) will deliver a virtual CASI-Nand & Jeet Khemka Distinguished Lecture titled "Overlapping Peripheries: How Will India and China Navigate the Asian Century?" The lecture is in partnership with the Andrea Mitchell Center, Center for the Study of Contemporary China, and Perry World House. [Register]
CASI Student Programs
Application for CASI's Summer Internship Program are NOW OPEN!
CASI is resuming the Summer Internship Program and will send students to India in May 2022! Though we will operate in a limited capacity due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we are thrilled to extend opportunities to Penn students interested in working with Aravind Eye Care Systems and The Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). Interested in learning more? Check out the updates on our Summer Internships page.
Subscribe to the CASI Student Programs Blog and read about students' experiences in India!
Questions about CASI Student Programs?
Please contact Laura Iwanyk, Assistant Director, CASI Student Programs and Outreach, liwanyk@upenn.edu
2021-22 CASI Virtual Seminar Series
January 20, 2022, 12:00 noon EST | 10:30pm IST via Zoom
"More Ideas, More Problems: Government Thinking During a Crisis"
[Register]
CASI / South Asia Center / Andrea Mitchell Center Book Talk with Bilal Baloch (Co-Founder and COO, Enquire; CASI Non-Resident Visiting Scholar; CASI 2017-19 Postdoctoral Research Fellow)
January 27, 2022, 12 noon EST | 10:30pm IST via Zoom
"The Making of Land and the Making of India"
[Register]
CASI / South Asia Center / Penn Earth & Environmental Science / Penn Anthropology Book Talk with Nikita Sud (Associate Professor of Development Studies, Oxford University)
February 3, 2022, 12 noon EST | 10:30pm IST via Zoom
"Government of and by Apps: Mobile Infrastructures in 'Digital' India"
[Register]
CASI / South Asia Center / Penn Anthropology Seminar with Nafis Aziz Hasan (CASI Postdoctoral Research Fellow)
VIEW VIDEOS of CASI past events—Transcript, English captions, Hindi subtitles available on select events
Campus Location
CASI's office is located close to the heart of Penn's campus at the Ronald O. Perelman Center for Political Science & Economics at 133 South 36th Street (Suite 230) Philadelphia, PA 19104-6215.
Please note: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CASI is operating on a hybrid schedule.
