In a short span of just under two years, Moneylife Foundation has reached its first century of seminars and workshops. All members and volunteers are roaring to go for the next century
Moneylife Digital Team
The Moneylife Foundation is on the verge of creating another record. This time, the Foundation is organising its 100th seminar on Tuesday with a much-in-demand talk on Wills & Nomination by well-known legal expert and chartered accountant Vimal Punmiya.
The Foundation was established in February 2010 by Debashis Basu and Sucheta Dalal, with a vision to be a catalyst in making investors and consumers better informed and to engage policymakers so that regulations, procedures provide a fair deal to investors and consumers. Sucheta Dalal, Founder-Trustee of Moneylife Foundation, says, "Our Mission is to help people who work hard, earn, save and still don't seem to have a say in the decisions that affect us, because we are neither a vote bank nor part of any vested interests."
In over a year and half, Moneylife Foundation has conducted 100 events. Some of the flagship seminars include, 'How to be safe and smart with your money' which is conducted by Ms Dalal and Mr Basu. That apart, the Foundation has held seminars on the Union Budget, mutual funds, financial scams, pensions, banking services, insurance, wills, m-commerce, real estate, credit cards, tax returns, how to deal with mis-selling by banks, credit bureaus, right to information and many others. While many of these have been done in Mumbai, the Foundation has also conducted seminars in Pune, Nashik, Kolkata, Gurgaon, Bangalore and Chennai.
Last year, while speaking at Moneylife Foundation’s first anniversary, Dr KC Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, said,”It was a pleasure to have been a part of your first anniversary celebrations. Moneylife is doing an excellent job in financial literacy and also creating consumer awareness about financial markets, products and services, which is a challenging job. Keep it up!”
The Foundation had also published three Position Papers and several representations which were sent to policymakers in the relevant ministries. The first was on ‘Financial Issues Faced by Senior Citizens’ was prepared in consultation with several NGOs working on senior citizens’ issues. The second was on ‘Financial Issues Faced by Retail Investors’, which gives an insight into declining participation of retail investors. The third position paper was on Health Insurance Portability.
In addition, the Foundation has sent representation and memorandums to authorities and ministers. This includes a representation sent to the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister and RBI urging a ban on multi-level marketing (MLM) schemes andmemorandum on TDS sent to the FM and RBI and memorandum to BEST and Chief Minister of Maharashtra appealing to start air shuttle for Mumbai Airport.
Moneylife Foundation has tied up with DISHA Financial Counselling of ICICI Bank to spread financial literacy through workshops, besides creating forums for debt counselling. The effort aims at enhancing the overall financial health of consumers, especially those who are suffering from debt-related issues.
"The Foundation has an important date coming up in the New Year. Moneylife Foundation will be celebrating its second anniversary on 4 February 2012 with an interesting guest and programme," says Ms Dalal.
Moneylife Foundation spreads financial literacy through a free reading room of business books, workshops, counselling, grievance redressal, lectures by experts and inputs for effective policy-making. Membership to the Foundation is completely free with no hidden riders and thousands have benefited from its efforts.