According to RBI, the net household savings declined by 19% in FY 23 while household liabilities, excluding mortgage loans (housing/real estate), grew 99 per cent. As could be expected, the Finance Ministry has shrugged off this disturbing development on the basis of cherry picked data put out by SBI’s economic wing. It is agreed that…

Although reliable statistics are hard to come by, experts estimate that an overwhelming majority of Indians die intestate. It is not that only ordinary Indians die intestate. Even industry doyens are afflicted by this fairly pervasive reluctance to execute a will, or put a succession plan in place as exemplified by the egregious public spat…

On 1st April 2023, BSE Sensex was at 59106 and closed at 67572 on 20th July 2023. The corresponding figures for NSE Nifty 50 were 17398 and 19979. This translates into an appreciation of nearly 14.5% in less than four months. Well, as is their wont, the stock markets have come off since then. So,…

One keeps wondering why Cricket is so popular in a poor but populous country like India. Presumably, one reason for its popularity is because every action of the batsman, the bowler and the fielder is reduced to easily comprehensible numbers. But the power and reach of numbers is not confined to sports alone. Data as…

Stock markets around the world have taken note of the AI revolution. The league of trillion-dollar marketcap stocks saw a new member joining it recently. It’s Nvidia, the seventh member to join the trillion-dollar club. The company defines itself as the world leader in AI computing. Here’s how the stock has performed. For investors, AI…

While Alan Turing, the “enigma man” of the Second World War, might have provided the logical foundation for the present day ubiquitous computer, it was Arthur C Clarke who in 1968 conceived of the fictitious computer called HAL (Heuristically Programmed Algorithm),  in his celebrated science fiction, 2001: A Space Odyssey. HAL was sentient and could…

Inflation, interest rates, Investments and taxation. These are some of the variables that policy wonks assiduously keep tracking, while those in authority try to manipulate them to get the economy to behave. But such actions by the government and bureaucrats, more often than not, fly on a wing and a prayer. One might as well…

Every year, the ritual of celebrating International Women’s day goes on with a lot of fanfare! And we see , mainly men, waxing eloquent about empowering women! Celebrations for the day are generally organized by men and we also hear of awards specially reserved for women, like outstanding woman leader or outstanding business woman of…

It is a moot point if the Finance Minister is subscribing to Hegelian dialectics of thesis, antithesis and synthesis. But in Budget 2023, she has given us the old tax regime with tax breaks and the new (default) tax regime without tax breaks, with likely eventual synthesis being the new tax regime with a few…

Union Budget is almost on us with the mandarins in the finance ministry and sundry politicians along with policy wonks of various hues looking forward to their day under the arc lights, while they sanctimoniously offer their expert opinion for what it is worth. The fact, however is that the State Budgets and GST, which…