to do your homework and brush up your financial skills. and you need to forget the old idea that money is not a subject for polite conversation. ” that is why it is important to enhance the general public ’ s understanding of financial and economic matters. achieving progress in this area is a joint objective of the bundesbank and deutsches aktieninstitut, albeit with a differing focus. the bundesbank strives to educate the population in issues related to money, currency and central banking, to which end it has considerably extended the amount of information provided on its website, whereas deutsches aktieninstitut is geared more to conveying basic capital market knowledge. i share christine bortenlanger ’ s belief that retail investors would invest more in equities if they had a better economic education. the planned introduction of a financial transactions tax is counterproductive to the development of an “ equity culture ” in germany. it will tend to make investment in the capital markets less attractive. the introduction of a financial transactions tax is intended to achieve several aims, both fiscal and non - fiscal. one objective, for example, is to make the financial sector pay a share of the costs of dealing with the current financial crisis, and another is to discourage transactions that are regarded as having a destabilising effect. an additional, very important aim is, of course, to generate extra revenues for the public budgets. the problem with trying to bail in the financial sector to bear a share of the costs is that the tax will not necessarily hit those who are supposed to be paying it. this was summed up somewhat sarcastically in a commentary in the german daily newspaper frankfurter allgemeine zeitung, which read “ anyone who believes that banks will bear the cost of the financial tax probably also thinks that cauliflowers grow in supermarkets ”. the reality is that the financial sector may well simply pass on the tax burden to its customers, and thus to the real economy and to retail investors. the intended steering effect with regard to risky transactions can be achieved more effectively and more directly by other instruments. one example that comes to mind is the bis central bankers ’ speeches regulation of high - frequency trading. it already applies with legal force in germany and will be introduced throughout europe as part of the markets in financial instruments directive ( mifid ). the financial transactions tax is most likely to achieve the intended fiscal goal of boosting public revenues. but doubts are warranted in this

shaktikanta das : launch of reserve bank of india ( rbi ) - retail direct scheme and rbi ombudsman scheme welcome address by mr shaktikanta das, governor of the reserve bank of india, at the launch of reserve bank of india ( rbi ) - retail direct scheme and rbi ombudsman scheme by the hon ’ ble prime minister, 12 november 2021. * * * a very warm good morning and namaskar. 1. on behalf of the central board of the reserve bank of india, i have the privilege of welcoming the hon ’ ble prime minister to this event to launch two major initiatives of the reserve bank. sir, your participation in this event is a source of great motivation for all of us in the rbi. i would also like to welcome the hon ’ ble finance minister to this event and thank her for her continuing support. we are also honoured by the esteemed presence of hon ’ ble ministers from the central and state governments, other financial sector regulators, senior govt. officials, md & ceos of banks and various regulated entities of rbi and several other dignitaries. a warm welcome to all the viewers from across the country. 2. the reserve bank, with its multifarious role touches the lives of the people in varied ways, be it through the currency system, the banking system, the financial markets or the 24x7 seamless digital payments. the reserve bank has been leveraging technology and innovation for enhancing the efficiency of its services. the recent announcement of a global hackathon contest, “ harbinger 2021 – innovation for transformation ” with the theme ‘ smarter digital payments ’ on november 9, 2021, is another such initiative by the reserve bank to promote innovation. 3. the rbi ’ s developmental role is focussed on further deepening of financial inclusion and undertaking people - centric initiatives. the two schemes being launched today by the hon ’ ble prime minister are steps in this direction. 4. the first scheme, namely the retail direct scheme seeks to widen the investor base for government securities by creating an ecosystem whereby retail investors can easily participate in the government securities market which is so far dominated by institutional investors. by doing so, india is setting an example in democratisation of the government securities market. 5. the other scheme being launched today by the hon ’ ble prime minister i. e. theintegrated ombudsman scheme focuses on strengthening the grievance redress mechanism for consumers of