Where Angels Prey by Ramesh S. Arunachalam

Dear Friends, 

I attach a book release note prepared by my publishing facilitator of my DEBUT novel, Where Angels Prey, which is complete fiction. 

Hope you enjoy this novel and look forward to your feedback 

Thanks 

Warm Regards

Ramesh S Arunachalam

PS: Please see site: www.whereangelsprey.com and also read the terms of service, disclaimer and FAQs (if you have any questions)

Book Release Note 

(Prepared by Publishing Facilitator)                                                                                              30^th March 2015

Where Angels Prey

by Ramesh S. Arunachalam

FINANCIAL THRILLER EXPLORING THE CARTEL OF COMMERCIAL MICROFINANCE

“Behind every successful fortune there is a crime.” -- Mario Puzo, The Godfather

Microfinance: providing financial services for small businesses or entrepreneurs, especially in poor or rural communities, who do not have access to traditional banking or financial services. Sounds wonderfully altruistic, but just ask the people of Andhra Pradesh what their thoughts are about microfinancing and you’ll probably hear a completely different answer.

           

Ramesh S. Arunachalam, economic development strategist and the author of a new novel, Where Angels Prey, reveals the devastating truths that often lurk behind the good intentions of Wall Street’s interest in India’s poor. Loosely inspired by real life events in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachalam’s fictionalized account exposes the double-edged sword that emerges when no safeguards are put into place.

While the rest of the world reels under a severe financial crisis, India’s microfinance sector enjoys an unprecedented boom. Why on earth are people investing such huge amounts of money in an obscure industry, especially at the time of global recession, and why is Wall Street suddenly so interested in India’s poor? That is exactly what Robert Bradlee, senior correspondent with The New York Post, sets off to investigate, along with his journalist friend, Chandresh. Little does he know that his search for a scoop would lead him through a complex multi-pronged web of deceit, fraud, manipulation and financial crime, remote controlled from distant lands by an entire chain of financial sector stakeholders. 

Gripping, racy and meticulously researched, this financial crime novel weaves in and out of the affluent world of high-powered boardrooms and the grueling poverty of the remotest villages of India, to reveal the devastating truths that often lurk behind “good intentions.”

A thrilling, intense and entertaining read, Where Angels Prey, has received very positive comments[1] from several noted personalities:

• “Where Angels Prey is an engaging and touching story of the collision of altruism and aspiration. Its narration of how the Indian rural poor suffer from this collision, in the context of the spectacular growth and equally spectacular crisis of the Andhra Pradesh microfinance industry, shocks and moves. I found it a most enjoyable, but also most disturbing, read!” - Matthew Gamser, CEO, SME Finance Forum, International Finance Corporation, Washington DC, USA 
• “Fantastic storyline, but startlingly realistic; written racily, yet in impeccable English. Interweaving fact and fiction, this novel is a creative and compelling read.” - G R Swaminathan, Assistant Solicitor General of India 
• “Wow, what an amazing, engaging, honest, searing tale! I absolutely adored this book. I started to read it and I was hooked. I could not put it down until I reached the end. A completely believable and mind boggling eyeopener of a tale of greed, corruption and altruism and its effect on the desperately poor. Beautifully written, with not one word out of place, it gives a very clear and scary picture of what could and does go wrong in India today. An amazing book which will stay with me,” - Renita D'Silva Author of ‘Monsoon Memories’, ‘The Forgotten Daughter’ and ‘The Stolen Girl’ (5* Review on Amazon.com) 
• “Money is trust encrypted; the story of how it can be used to destroy trust in the name of the poor is vividly portrayed in this highly entertaining book…the title says it all.” - Al Fernandez, Chairman NABFINS Ltd and Padmashree Awardee 2000 
• “Where Angels Prey is really an excellent read! Written with flair, verve and a superb eye for detail—which is not surprising as Arunachalam is India’s leading microfinance analyst—this gripping novel is a trip into the darker side of the poverty industry as it rampages and careens through the lives of the poor under cover of actually helping them. I look forward to the film in due course—it will be India’s very own ‘Wall Street’!” - Milford J. B. Bateman PhD, Freelance consultant on local economic development, Visiting Professor of Economics, Juraj Dobrila at Pula University, Croatia and Adjunct Professor of Development Studies, St Marys University, Halifax, Canada 
• “No one doubted the power of microfinance in pulling millions out of poverty. But, a spate of suicides by the borrowers in 2010 raised more questions than answers. For an inside story of what happened and why, you don’t need to go farther than this brilliant yet entertaining novel, which is so hard to put down. Ramesh’s idea to write the microfinance story as fiction is ingenious. The intrigue behind the rise and fall of the sector could be brought out no holds barred. It’s a must read.” - S Sivakumar, Architect, ITC e-Choupal 
• “This rip-roaring piece of fiction races the reader through the halls of the Mumbai and New York Stock exchanges and into the villages of Andhra Pradesh. Where Angels Prey exposes the worst of what can happen when commercial interests and desperation collide: a train wreck tragic in every way. At the heart of the story, as two journalists work unstoppably to interpret a rain of motives, they uncover why and how the angels prey.” - Kim Wilson, Faculty, The Fletcher School, Tufts University 
• “During the very spectacular implosion of microfinance in Andhra Pradesh in 2010, Ramesh Arunachalam combined field trips, secondary research and his experience in the rural development space, to strip bare the malaise in the sector. It is excellent that he has now parsed all that knowhow into this racy entertaining novel.” - M Rajshekhar, Senior Journalist, Scroll.in and former Senior Assistant Editor (Rural India, Environment), The Economic Times

Where Angels Prey is now available worldwide through Amazon (worldwide), Amazon India, Flipkart, iBooks, Kobo, Nook, www.whereangelsprey.com, NetGalley, BarnesandNoble.com, AuthorsUpFront and wherever books are sold.

About The Author:

Ramesh S. Arunachalam wears many hats. He is an Author, Film Maker, Columnist, Entrepreneur and Economic Development Practitioner.  An Engineer with an MBA degree, he has 25 + years of experience across 25 countries in 5 continents through 240 assignments in the financial sector including microfinance and financial inclusion. He has worked with a wide range of stakeholders such as multi-laterals, bi-laterals, governments, private sector, NGOs and others. He has also worked at grass-roots in India in over 546 districts out of 600 odd districts. His blog on microfinance has been well received and he has also penned two books - The Journey of Indian Microfinance and An Idea Which Went Wrong: Commercial Microfinance in India – both of which, have received critical acclaim. Arunachalam has also showcased three films including the National and International Award Winning Kutty in 2001 (on domestic child labor). His latest film, Yeh Hai Bakrapur, a socio political satire (espousing communal harmony), had a successful global premiere in 2014.

Learn more about Arunachalam at www.whereangelsprey.com and connect on Facebook, Twitter and Skype: ramesh.s.arunachalam  

REVIEW COPIES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

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ADVANCE PRAISE[2] FOR WHERE ANGELS PREY

People from many walks of life have given their feedback with regard to the book and these are summarized below:

• “This novel is a brilliant piece of work from a person who has seen at close quarters the microfinance industry’s rise and fall in Andhra Pradesh. The plot, fit for a movie, is beautifully woven into all the happenings that have plagued the sector. It makes for such a compelling read that it can’t be put down even once!” - Madhusudhan Lagisetty, Assistant Vice President, Tata AIA Life Insurance Co Ltd
•  “Where Angels Prey is art imitating life ... a great read the first and the second time around.” - Jami Solli, Executive Director of the Global Alliance for Legal Aid (GALA), USA
• "Really enjoyed the novel Where Angels Prey.... Its unique plot and fast pace make it a very entertaining and smooth read.” - Prof M S Sriram, formerly Professor at IIM (Ahmedabad) and currently visiting Professor at IIM (Bangalore)
• "Where Angels Prey is wonderfully written and captivating. I thought I’d read a chapter, but the narrative was so gripping I went through the whole book at one stretch.” - V Ramamurthy, I.A.S. (Retd), 1959 Batch
• “Where Angels Prey pulls and absorbs you into its plot and holds you there from start to finish.” - Joy Deshmukh-Ranadive, Global Head, Corporate Social Responsibility, Tata Consultancy Services
• “A Brilliant Read—Where Angels Prey blurs the line between fiction and truth. From a man who understands money as well as anyone I know, this book paints the two worlds that wrestle in India in the 21st century. Descriptive, taut, with well-etched-out characters, and most importantly entertaining. This book is crying out to be made into a film!” - Anshuman Jha, Actor
• “Riveting…. Congratulations to Ramesh for having successfully converted his long-standing experience with the microfinance sector into a gripping narrative that will have readers asking for much more.” - Moutushi Sengupta, Director–India, MacArthur Foundation
• "From rural Andhra Pradesh to the shiny lobbies of Wall Street, this financial thriller is a must read for everybody. This book boasts of Arunachalam’s sheer brilliance as a writer and as a financial expert. Smooth, fast and nail-biting! I wonder when the movie is going to be out!” - Anand Bhaskar, Musician

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[1]The endorsements expressed are strictly opinions of the individuals concerned. They are not the views of the organizations/institutions that these individuals represent and/or positions that these individuals hold.

[2] The endorsements expressed are strictly opinions of the individuals concerned. They are not the views of the organizations/institutions that these individuals represent and/or positions that these individuals hold.

Some Ideas to Further India’s New Financial Inclusion Initiative!

Some Ideas to Further India’s New Financial Inclusion Initiative!

Ramesh S Arunachalam

In India as well as other developing countries, inclusive growth has always been seen as the imperative for achieving equity and equality objectives. While that point is well taken, the experience of the last few years, and especially during the global financial crisis, suggests that inclusive growth is perhaps essential to even sustain the overall growth momentum. That said, while the UPA sadly failed in creating a really inclusive growth paradigm (despite having a great chance to do so), I really hope that the NDA learns from the experiences of the last 10 years and ushers in a practical and yet effective inclusive growth program that yield dividends on the ground. Several aspects need emphasis here:

First, in emerging market economies like India, a huge proportion of the population (over 60% at least) is based in rural areas, where agriculture is the primary source of livelihood. And any further (substantial) increase in demand for manufactured goods and services will have to come primarily from this large rural population[i], which mainly depends on agriculture and allied sectors. And barring a couple of years (2005/6), by and large, the performance and growth of agriculture has been rather indifferent and continues to be so. Even when agriculture performs, the benefits accrue to the larger and better off (corporate) farmers and not the small/marginal farmers.

Indeed, what has become more apparent with this kind of skewed growth is the dualistic nature of the Indian economy - where the gaps are indeed deepening and widening across various sections of the society. The classic manifestation of these gaps and the failure of the economy to re-adjust and ensure equitable economic opportunities for wealth creation, especially in relation to the work and inputs, can hardly go unnoticed –one manifestation is suicides by small and marginal farmers and others  at the grass-roots. That several farmers and low-income people have committed suicide in the last few years tells us the causes of these problems are not short-term – they are, mainly due to serious structural weaknesses in livelihoods systems of low-income people that require urgent and systematic attention.

Why is this happening? What are the consequences in a country like India, where over 60% of the population is engaged in agriculture and related activities? The key point to note here is that the case of farmer suicides is neither a cotton specific problem nor a paddy crop germane issue. Rather, it concerns fundamental problems[ii] associated with one of India’s largest livelihood sectors, agriculture and allied activities – a sector where over 600 million people and a majority of India’s low income and poor[iii] people earn their living. More importantly, it is a sector without whose produce/products, we will be deprived of sustenance and cannot survive in the long run. Therefore, without question, agriculture and allied areas, as sectors, and the low income people dependent on it for their livelihoods must be “included” in the overall growth paradigm. That is an urgent imperative in India today and the inclusive finance paradigm must take the lead in facilitating/enabling this.

Second, as noted above, from the perspective of supply-side management, growth in agriculture is very vital for keeping manufacturing prices under check, ensuring food security and keeping inflation under control. India knows this better from its own (past) experience. Price stability is not merely important as an anti poverty measure but also as an instrument to ensure stable and sustained growth. Again, the lessons of the last five years should not be forgotten and especially, with regard to prices of essential food items as well as from a food security perspective. That the farmers who grew these commodities hardly got returns/rewards commensurate with their effort, investment and risks taken can hardly go unnoticed. This again points to very fundamental weaknesses in the structural aspects concerning agriculture and low income livelihood systems. Here again, financial inclusion can play a major role in enhancing the bargaining and staying power of such low-income people.

Third, higher growth in agriculture and rural areas coupled with demographic dividend (i.e. growing proportion of population in the working age group of 15-65) should result in a rise in the savings level, which, in turn, should facilitate financing the increasing level of investments required to maintain the overall momentum with regard to growth. This is again a very crucial aspect and the role of local and small savings should not be discounted in any serious measure. Its potential to support inclusive growth is phenomenal and appropriate incentives must be provided in this regard to encourage local/small savings as a resource alternative in any new inclusive growth paradigm. This is perhaps where responsible micro-finance/grass-roots banking can usher in a new era of savings led micro-finance in India, subject to various kinds of MFIs/other institutions enhancing the quality of the internal control/other systems. Perhaps, it may be better to use MFIs and others as business correspondents (BCs) to tap savings and, here again, policy may want to address inherent weaknesses in the business correspondent (BC) model, which has prevented this so far.

Fourth, the limitations on increasing production and productivity in agriculture are forcing people to migrate to urban areas, which results in increased population pressure in urban areas as well as larger numbers of urban poor. And this burgeoning urbanization has several important consequences for low income people, who tend to migrate and live in slums. As an NSSO survey revealed (a few years ago), nearly 40 per cent of farmers claimed that would like to quit farming, if they have the option to do so. Unfortunately, there is little option for them except moving into urban slums[iv].

Thus, in reality, migration to urban areas primarily implies greater growth of urban slums, which hold a lower quality of life for the poor, many of whom have migrated from rural areas in search of better livelihoods. This growth of urban slums, typically, is associated with greater unemployment for the poor living there, harsh living conditions, enhanced crime, greater negative impact on health and several aspects including environmental degradation[v]. Therefore, the major point to be noted is that the infrastructure in urban areas is simply not enough to cater to the growing needs of these migrants. Huge and appropriate investments are therefore needed in housing, sanitation, water, lighting and power, solid and other waste management, education, health, and so on and so forth. Therefore, we need “inclusive and enabling investment” in the above areas to deal with the huge and ever increasing flow of low-income migrant population into urban areas. This is yet another new area of focus for the new financial inclusion paradigm. This also calls for a paradigm shift in urban planning, which must also become more inclusive.

Fifth, in countries such as India, the growth process is essentially knowledge-based and primarily services led. These new growth areas will continue to have a lot of potential going forward. Hence, the requirement of skilled labour is rather huge in comparison to the current levels of availability. Therefore, in order to ensure availability of adequate supply of labour skilled to tackle opportunities in new growth areas mentioned above, we also need huge enabling and inclusive investments in areas such as practical education and skill development. This is to enable the vast majority of people who have the latent potential but cannot afford these services to gain access to such practical skills and knowledge, and thereby perform to their potential. The role of financial institutions (MFIs, banks etc) in servicing the last mile end users clients and facilitating such enabling and inclusive investments must be seriously explored.

Last but not the least, whenever we talk of rural areas, the sector that comes first to our mind is agriculture. However, there is the (unorganized and informal) non-farm sector which continues to play an increasingly important role in absorbing large numbers of rural people. Make no mistake, all put together, this non-farm sector and value added agriculture enterprises (MSME) sector have huge potential for growth. This again requires investment in  `inclusive infrastructure and enabling mechanisms’  for ensuring easier/quicker access to assets, skills, appropriate technology, wide range of vulnerability reducing financial services (including credit for post harvest and post production) and fair linkage to various markets and other market development infrastructure (both private sector and government procurement). Without question, the financial inclusion paradigm should lead such efforts, and facilitate these hitherto excluded sectors to become expanding bases for wealth creation for low-income people in a competitive manner.

Therefore, to reiterate, it is critical to ensure that growth takes place in: (a) agriculture, allied and non-farm sectors as well as service (enabling) sectors in rural areas; and (b) amongst urban poor so that they (also) serve as a growing market for the goods and services produced by the expanding industrial sector including those produced by MSMEs. However, this growth cannot be mere dumping of goods and/or provision of services in rural areas or among the urban poor. It has to be responsible growth and delivered in an ethically sound and transparent manner. This is one of the most important lessons from the Andhra Pradesh/Indian micro-finance crisis and growth story. Otherwise, all the gains will be lost.

Thus, it is clear that a new paradigm of inclusive growth is very necessary for sustainable development and equitable generation of wealth and prosperity. However, achieving this inclusive growth is the biggest challenge in a democratic country like India as it translates to the concern of integrating 600 million people living in rural India, and several million living in urban slums, into the mainstream economy.

And this requires that we let go of our narrow conceptualization of inclusive financial services and broaden the paradigm to ensure that financial services play a very vital role in addressing two critical supply-side issues: (i) by creating an effective ecosystem for delivery of a wide range of financial services to facilitate productive and enabling investment in largely excluded but employment impacting sectors such as agriculture, value added agriculture, MSMEs etc as well as hitherto excluded areas and for enabling low income and excluded people (living in rural India and urban slums) to realize their latent untapped potential; and (ii) by driving large scale investment in inclusive infrastructural facilities and enabling mechanisms like watersheds, irrigation, rural/urban reconstruction, social infrastructure such as health care, education and sanitation and the like.

 So, how can this be achieved on the ground in India today, where financial inclusion is narrow implemented either as micro-credit for consumption or as access to no frills accounts opened by banks. As noted earlier, without question, mere credit[vi] to low-income people can do very little for inclusive growth and it is time to bell this cat. Only a new paradigm of inclusive finance can help usher in an era of real inclusive growth in India and I hope that the NDA government expands its financial inclusion program of today!

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[i] And this issue becomes even more critical when one considers the fact that the average monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE) in urban areas in India is near double that of rural areas. And in some States (like in Central or Eastern India), these disparities are even more glaring.

[ii]  “Farming is both a way of life and the principal means of livelihood to 65 per cent of India's population of 110 crore, Our farm population is increasing annually by 1.84 per cent, The average farm size is becoming smaller each year and the cost-risk-return structure of farming is becoming adverse, with the result that farmers are getting increasingly indebted. Marketing infrastructure is generally poor, particularly in perishable commodities. The support systems needed by farmers, like research, ex-tension, input supply and opportunities for assured and remunerative marketing are in various stages of disarray. Small farmers are forced to borrow money from money-lenders at high rates of interest, since less than 60 per cent of the credit requirements of farmers is met by institutional sources.” (Dr M S Swaminathan, Chairperson, National Commission on Farmers, 2006 as cited in The Hindu Survey of Agriculture).

[iii] Despite significant progress made by India during the last decade or so, about 30 – 35% of the total population still lives below the poverty line.

[iv] INDIA has always been considered a country that lives in its villages. But increasingly rural Ind1a is moving towards the town and the city.  The 2001 Census established that almost one- third of India's population, an estimated 285 million people, lived in urban areas. By 2020, half the country's population is expected to be city-based.

[v] In fact, as the data suggest, almost 50% of country’s population and a large majority of the poor are likely to reside in urban slums in India by 2020. And Noted environmentalist Chandrasekar confirms the above trends and summarizes the issues with rapid urbanization, “Although on paper all cities have some kind of development plan, the actual development follows no particular pattern except that dictated by expediency, patronage and privilege. As a result, every city in India is the epitome of urban chaos - lacking in adequate water and sanitation, affordable housing, all weather roads, decent public transport and clean air. Cities generate wealth but increasingly Indian cities have become home to the urban poor. Every city is marked by the informal settlements where the poor are forced to live without access to basic services like water and sanitation. City administrations are unable to check the flow of poor people into the city and have failed to build affordable housing where the poor can live. As a result, in some cities like Mumbai, for instance, half the population lives in slums. And in Maharashtra, India's most urbanized state, 61 cities and towns have slum populations that together makeup over 27 per cent of the total urban population and a third of the total population of the State. Indeed, the slum has now become an inescapable part of the Indian urbanscape” (The Hindu, 2006).

[vi] Several factors like market imperfections and other factors (like poor infrastructure and production practices etc) severely constrain these low income people in their efforts to build sustainable livelihoods and enhance their economic security - as a result of fragile livelihoods, they often go through a cycle of being financially included and excluded at various times.  The key point is that, in the absence of other infrastructure and mechanisms, the use of loans by poor and vulnerable people renders them into greater debt.

An Idea Which Went Wrong: Commercial Microfinance in India is Now Published

Dear All

An Idea Which Went Wrong: Commercial Microfinance in India is now published

It will be up on all amazon sites in a couple of days and the kindle version has also been set up

The book may be immediately ordered from

https://www.createspace.com/4264702

Hope you enjoy the book

Look forward to your feedback and you can write to me at r_arunachalam@hotmail.com  

Thanks

Warm regards

Ramesh