How did India narrowly avoid a potentially costly encounter with Sanjeev Gupta, the steel tycoon whose business empire expanded across Britain, Australia and other markets?

In this episode, Sucheta Dalal examines Gupta’s India foray in 2018, when his Liberty House group announced plans to invest $10 billion and bid for several distressed Indian companies under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

The promises were grand. The payments, however, were another story.

Gupta’s bids for companies including ABG Shipyard, Amtek Auto, Adhunik Metaliks and Bhushan Power & Steel raised serious questions about his ability—and willingness—to complete acquisitions. In the case of ABG Shipyard, his failure to make the required upfront payment contributed to the company’s liquidation, leaving banks with a fraction of what was owed.

Sucheta Dalal also explores the wider allegations and revelations surrounding Gupta’s global empire, including its relationship with Greensill Capital, aggressive supply-chain financing, political connections, and the eventual collapse of several businesses.

Drawing on investigative journalist Paul Barry’s 2026 book The Big Steal: How Steel Tycoon Sanjeev Gupta Fooled Australia and the World, the episode asks a larger question: Why did banks, regulators, politicians and the media repeatedly accept promises of investment and jobs without adequately scrutinising the money behind them?

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When regulation is legal, compliant—and still fails the public, what has gone wrong?

In this video, Debashis Basu examines how public interest can be displaced by private interests in India’s policymaking. Using IRDAI’s proposed reforms to insurance distribution, digital lending, the Licence Raj, public-sector banking, RTI and SEBI, he identifies three ways this happens: bad policy design, capture during implementation, and the weakening of institutions meant to protect citizens.

The larger question is not whether a policy looks good on paper, but who actually benefits when it is implemented.

As India aspires to become a developed nation, public interest must become the governing philosophy of policymaking—not an afterthought.

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India’s Gen Z is being celebrated as part of an “Aspirational India” — young consumers entering the formal credit system, taking loans for education, two-wheelers, smartphones, emergencies and small businesses.

But beneath the credit-growth numbers lies a more complicated story.

In this audio, Sucheta Dalal examines India’s rapidly expanding consumer credit market and asks an important question: when does financial inclusion become over-indebtedness?

Credit bureau data shows younger borrowers accounting for a growing share of new borrowing, while multiple-loan borrowing and over-leveraging are also rising. Moneylife Foundation’s counselling work reveals how seemingly small digital loans can accumulate into unsustainable repayment obligations.

The audio explores:

• The rapid expansion of credit among Gen Z and young Indians

• Why “loan stacking” is becoming a concern

• How small digital loans can turn into large household liabilities

• The difference between disclosed interest rates and the actual cost of borrowing

• Why a borrower’s income alone does not determine loan affordability

• What RBI’s digital lending framework addresses — and what it may not

• Why credit bureaus need to look beyond defaults to identify financial stress earlier

• The crucial shift from disclosure to suitability and affordability

Credit can undoubtedly create opportunities — from financing education and productive assets to supporting small businesses and gig workers.

But speed and accessibility do not automatically make borrowing affordable.

The real question is whether India’s credit boom is helping young borrowers build financial security, or simply allowing them to spend tomorrow’s income today.

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