31 July 2013: EasyPaisa: Launching the Largest Mobile Money Service in Pakistan

Nadeem Hussain
Tameer Microfinance Bank

Abstract:
EasyPaisa, the largest mobile money service in Pakistan, has 5 million users, in a country where 89% of the population is unbanked. The service is owned and operated by a unique partnership of Telenor (a mobile network operator) , and Tameer Bank (financial service provider). In addition to a mobile account through which the user can remit money, Easy Paisa offers utility bill pay, and receipt of government benefits. This talk, by Nadeem Hussain, CEO and founding partner of EasyPaisa, will describe the role of technology, agent networks, regulation, and knowledge of customer needs, all of which contributed to the growth of this service.

Date: July 31, 2013
Time: 12:30 P.M.

Venue:
Second Floor Conference Room
The World Bank,
70 Lodi Estate,
New Delhi-110003(INDIA)

Location:

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Note:
Please confirm your attendance by email to Aarti Nanda (ananda@worldbank.org) by Tuesday, July 30th.

23 July 2013: Networks, Commitment, and Competence: Caste in Indian Local Politics

Kaivan Munshi
Brown University

Abstract:
This paper widens the scope of the emerging literature on economic networks by assessing the role of caste networks in Indian local politics. We test the hypothesis that these networks can discipline their members to overcome political commitment problems, enabling communities to select their most competent representatives, while at the same time ensuring that they honor the public goods preferences of their constituents. Using detailed data on local public goods at the street level and the characteristics of constituents and their elected representatives at the ward level over multiple terms, and exploiting the random system of reserving local council seats for caste groups, we fi nd that caste discipline results in the election of representatives with superior observed characteristics and the provision of a signifi cantly greater level of public goods. This improvement in political competence occurs without apparently diminishing leaders’ responsiveness to the preferences of their constituents, although the constituency is narrowly de fined by the sub-caste rather than the electorate as a whole.

Date: July 23, 2013
Time: 03:00 P.M.

Venue:
Seminar Room (First Floor)
Department of Economics,
Delhi School of Economics,
New Delhi-110007(INDIA)

Location:

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16 July 2013: Indian Policy Forum 2013 Lecture - India: The Way Forward

Raghuram Rajan
Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India

Abstract:
The Indian Policy Forum is a joint venture of NCAER, The National Council of Applied Economic Research in New Delhi and the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Its objective is to promote rigorous research on Indian economic policy with commissioned papers, an annual conference leading to a published volume, and the annual IPF Lecture. The IPF is entering its 10th year.

Date: July 16, 2013
Time: 06:30 P.M.

Venue:
Multipurpose Hall, New Wing
Indian International Centre
40, Max Mueller Marg,
New Delhi-110003(INDIA)

Location:

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By Invitation:
RSVP: Geetu Makhija - gmakhija@ncaer.org

11 July 2013: Role of Payments Infrastructure in Social Security

Nitin Chaudhary
Micro Pension Foundation

Date: July 11, 2013
Time: 06:00 P.M.

Venue:
GIZ Conference Room,
21, Jor Bagh,
New Delhi 110 003(INDIA)

Note:
Please confirm your participation to Suchitrita Bhattacharya at igssp@giz.de until 10th July 2013.

5 July 2013: PHDCCI National Seminar on Indian Financial Code - The Time Has Arrived

Organised by:
PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, New Delhi

Abstract:
The financial sector in India is currently governed by more than sixty legislations along with a plethora of rules and regulations. This has led to a lot of ambiguity in the legal framework applicable for doing business in the country. The problem gets compounded by the fact that many of these legislations were enacted more than sixty years ago, with objectives and purposes that are largely not in sync with the realities of the present day globalised competitive world creating inefficiencies in addressing critical emerging issues in an increasing dynamic, complex and interconnected financial world.

Realising the need to address these issues and for formulating a legal framework geared up to facilitate growth of the financial sector in the future, the Government of India set up the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) on March 2011 under the chairmanship of Justice (Retd.) B.N. Srikrishna. The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) submitted its report on March 22, 2013 to the Hon’ble Finance Minister. The Government has set up FSLRC Cell for implantation of the recommendations of FSLRC in Ministry of Finance and has invited comments/suggestion on the report of the FSLRC by July 15, 2013.

Agenda

0915-0945	Registration of Delegates
Inaugural Session
0945-0950	Welcome Address	Mr. Suman Jyoti Khaitan, President, PHDCCI
0950-1000	Theme Address	Mr. Prithvi Haldea, Chairman, PHDCCI Capital Markets Committee
1000-1020	IFC-The Overarching Principles	Dr. Ajay Shah, Professor, National Institute of Public Finance & Policy
1020-1045	Address by Chief Guest	Mr. Arvind Mayaram, Secretary, Dept.of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance
1045-1055	Q&A
1055-1100	Concluding Remarks and Vote of Thanks	Mr. Sharad Jaipuria, Sr. Vice President, PHDCCI
1100-1115	Tea Break
Business Session
1115-1130	Talk 1: Regulatory Governance in FSLRC	Mr. Shashank Saksena, Director, Dept. of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance
1130-1145	Talk 2: Financial Regulation in FSLRC	Mr. Suyash Rai, National Institute of Public Finance & Policy
1145-1200	Talk 3: Macro Finance in FSLRC	Prof. Ila Patnaik, Professor, National Institute of Public Finance & Policy
1200-1215	Talk 4: Capital Market in FSLRC	Mr. Ashishkumar Chauhan, Managing Director & CEO, BSE Ltd.

Date: July 5, 2013
Time: 09:15 A.M.

Venue:
PHDCCI Auditorium,
PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry,
PHD House, 4/2 Siri Institutional Area,
August Kranti Marg,
New Delhi 110016 (INDIA)

Location:

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