Today my guest is Snigdha Poonam who is a journalist and writer. She is the author of the new book Scamlands and also the author of the 2018 award winning book Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing Their World.

We talked about the scam industrial complex in different states like Jharkhand, Assam and Tamil Nadu in India, the interaction between the scam economy and the formal economy, the transnational scams in China and Cambodia and how they are connected to India, the aspirations and traumas of the scam work force and much more.

Recorded November 17th, 2025.

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:01:13) - The Scam-Industrial Complex

(00:03:48) - On Jamtara and the Economics of Joining a Scam

(00:09:12) - The Moral Logic of Scamming

(00:13:31) - How the State Enables the Scam Economy

(00:15:54) - Inside Assam's Paperwork and Insurance Scams

(00:23:04) - The Politics of Legibility in Assam

(00:32:47) - Women in the Scam Economy

(00:38:32) - How Scammers Get Trapped Inside the System

(00:46:18) - From Local Scams to Transnational Cybercrime

(00:52:18) - Scam Slavery in Southeast Asia

(01:02:15) - Reporting on the Shadow Economy

(01:10:49) - Starting the Story

(01:16:54) - From Aspiration to Desperation

(01:21:56) - Closing Reflections

(01:27:08) - Outro

Shruti and Ideas of India producer Dallas Floer sit down for the 2025 end-of-year episode. They look back at key themes and top episodes from the past year, address listener questions, and look forward to what's in store for Shruti and the show in 2026.

Recorded December 16th, 2025.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

Learn more about The 1991 Fellowship.

Connect with Ideas of India

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:01:03) - Listener Questions

(00:25:50) - Big Themes and Top Episodes

(00:42:21) - Personal Moments

(00:46:53) - Looking to 2026

(00:49:47) - Hope or Concern for Next Generation

(00:51:45) - Intellectual Mood Around India

(00:53:01) - Shruti and Animals

(00:56:52) - What's New for 2026

(01:00:07) - The Ideas of India Team

(01:05:21) - Thank You's

(01:09:49) - Outro

Our seventh and final scholar in the series is Ammu Lavanya, a PhD candidate in Economics at George Washington University. Her research is in the areas of International Finance, Monetary Economics, Empirical Banking and Financial History.

We spoke about her job market paper titled International Financial Flows, Credit Allocation and Productivity. We talked about financial liberalization in India, the 2004 banking reform that increased the ceiling on raising foreign equity its impact on market value, lending capacity and increasing productivity through credit in India, the difference between private versus state owned banks, and much more.

Recorded October 9th, 2025.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:03:06) - Understanding Capital Inflows and Financial Liberalization

(00:04:36) - Concerns Around Foreign Capital and Hot Money Flows

(00:07:12) - The Banking Reform and Ownership Landscape in India

(00:12:10) - Banks Most Affected and Patterns of Foreign Investment

(00:17:05) - Impact on Borrowing Capacity and Lending Behavior

(00:19:38) - Productive Lending and Screening Mechanisms

(00:25:53) - Managerial Practices and Governance Improvements

(00:34:20) - Firm-Level Effects and Data Construction

(00:39:50) - Aggregate Effects and Decline in Misallocation

(00:45:19) - Implications for Policy and the Future of Liberalization

(00:48:42) - Differences Between Public and Private Banks

(00:53:15) - Outro