Russia’s surprising consumer spending boom
Heavy government expenditure and labour shortages have led to a sharp rise in real wages and consumption but the economy risks overheating
Kargil War will always be remembered for the soldiers' gallantry and Vajpayee government's strategic prudence
The Kargil War situation was complex, kinetic, and posed a national security challenge and it was dealt with restraint, resolve and transparency by the Vajpayee government. The Kargil war and its handling burnished India’s profile as a responsible nation
In Budget 2024, catalysts introduced to augment growth for auto sector
India's auto sector has received a major boost from the government's recent policies which focus on encouraging local manufacturing and lessening regulatory constraints
Taylor Swift and the fallacy plaguing modern economics
Why what we consider to be economic activity matters
Financial services perspective of India’s Budget and the path to Viksit Bharat
The Budget for FY24-25 is a forward looking one and it lays down a comprehensive framework for fostering economic growth, with a clear focus on inclusivity and sustainability. Its effective implementation would significantly contribute to the realization of the Viksit Bharat agenda
Cutting through tax complexity in Budget 2024
The budget announcements should give a positive signal to foreign investors about India’s intent to provide a benign tax regime
Capital gains tax structure changes will help IFSC
Budget’s changes will help outbound funds set up in IFSC raising money from resident investors. But the changes could have a negative effect on NAVs of offshore FPIs
Spike in intraday cash market trading is a big worry, needs regulatory attention
While F&O trading is attracting the attention of worried regulators, a sharp jump in the number of traders, with a high share of youth, in intraday cash market trading points to risks in a relatively unnoticed corner of the market
India has a small bank problem, and it needs to act soon
Smaller banks are struggling to stay afloat for different reasons. Many have shut shop, others remain as zombie banks.
How the budget has made gold investment attractive
Lowering duties ahead of the festival season will help improve demand, benefiting all stakeholders. For digital gold, lowering LTCG on gold funds or gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) aims to realign the tax structure of various asset classes
In its biggest acquisition, Mankind Pharma tries to replicate its past success in M&A
Mankind Pharma is acquiring BSV at an enterprise value of Rs 13,630 crore. The last major acquisition it did was for Rs 1,872 crore.
Judgement that will alter both federal and mineral tax landscape
The 8:1 judgement not just delivers closure to a long festering conflict, it can ease the fiscal landscape of most mineral-rich states that are among India’s poorer ones. But fragmentation in mineral taxation is the risk Gopal Mundhra
Chart of the Day: Credit guarantees, forbearance have fuelled MSME credit
Special schemes have beefed up bank credit to MSMEs in the past
Capital gains rationalisation is fine but there’s a reason for the backlash
Regulatory data on proliferation of financial instruments to different income segments counters the claim that capital gains affects only the wealthy. Indexation benefits are determined by geography which makes a cookie cutter approach irrelevant. Tax payers need to be given a choice of method
The government has an AI conundrum at hand
The Economic Survey has said that deploying capital-intensive and energy-intensive AI is probably one of the last things a growing, lower-middle-income economy like India needs. But disruption by AI is inevitable—What needs to be done is to prepare for it immediately if the country is not to be left behind
We need long-term budgeting to tackle climate change
Perhaps the most important climate-related provision in the Budget was the assurance to create a taxonomy for climate finance. By defining and categorising investments based on their impact on mitigating climate change, this opens up a host of activities and projects to potential funding from green capital
Bajaj Finance’s Q1 asset quality sours an otherwise optimistic growth outlook
Margin contraction and signals of increasing stress haven’t dampened the lender’s outlook
Procurement reforms: How manual reforms can take the story further?
Procurement manuals play a big role, they are supposed to provide a right choice architecture and a public policy communication tool. It is time for some manuals to ‘shed their weight’ and adopt a simple, trimmer and leaner outlook
India Inc’s effective tax rate rises on the back of large companies, services sector
After two successive years of reduction in the effective tax rate, Indian companies faced an increase in FY22 with the ETR rising to 23.3 percent from 22.2 percent a year ago
Funding surge for blank cheque companies points to Spac bounceback
An investing class left for dead after early excesses and poor performance shows signs of life
Inflation, stock prices, and french fries
A pandemic story
Congress has been systematically targeting RSS with bans, a brief look at history
Since 1948, Congress has periodically enacted bans aimed at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), with the intention to challenge the organization's influence within India
Chart of the Day: FDI equity inflows to infrastructure step up
About two-thirds of the FDI flows have come into infrastructure construction and the next largest share has been taken by renewables
SEBI's intraday trading report exposes market disparities
The problem with SEBI's recent study lies in the numbers themselves. According to the report, 51.1 percent of traders have an annual volume of less than Rs 50,000. Around 57 percent of traders have taken fewer than 10 trades in a year, and about half of the sample size has a trade size of less than Rs 5,000.
India’s SMEs need a comprehensive policy beyond budgetary finance to go global
India needs to put in place a holistic policy for SMEs
