Woman, empower the Lakshmi in you!
Here’s what a recent news article said: “India Inc wants more women on its rolls, not because it’s fashionable, but because it makes business sense. Diversity hiring intent among leading companies has...
View ArticleEconomics 101: Why gold & rupee rose and are now falling
If words like ‘risk aversion’, ‘safe haven’, ‘store of value’ and the likes have been throwing you off, let’s decode the jargon. The story so farI have posted a detailed chronology of the crisis since...
View ArticleQ&A: What exactly is happening in Greece and Europe?
Today, Euro zone leaders will begin to discuss if more funds should be given to Greece. The decision is likely to be taken on Oct 13, but Greece is already in urgent need of more...
View ArticleIf shoes could tone and yogurt could cure
Recently, Reebok agreed to pay USD 25 million in refunds to all its US customers who had bought the company’s EasyTone shoes. In addition to ordering this refund, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had...
View ArticleA sad day for Indian personal finance
‘Life insurance favorite investment class of urban Indians’ screamed the headline. I opened the article and read the entire piece, which was based on a survey of urban Indians. If the survey is an...
View ArticleWhy portability is an illusion
As a ‘customer friendly’ move, regulators in India have started allowing portability. It started off with the TRAI allowing mobile number portability in Jan 2011. More recently, the IRDA has allowed...
View ArticleFree savings rate: Less lazy banker, more lazy investor?
Last week the Reserve Bank of India freed the savings bank deposit rate. The RBI will no longer fix the savings account interest rate but will allow banks to fix the rate freely. Moreover, for...
View ArticleGetting it right on Education
I have been following CNN’s Fareed Zakaria for a while now and one of his recent shows was called ‘Restoring the American dream: Fixing Education.’ As a run up to the show, he wrote several...
View ArticleFill it, shut it, forget it
Recently I visited a bank branch in Mumbai with my 4 year old daughter. As part of their ‘start saving young’ campaign, the branch manager gifted my daughter a piggy bank. Excitedly she started...
View Article8% guaranteed or 16% unguaranteed?
After much to and fro the government has finally managed to secure the support of the BJP on the pension reform bill by agreeing to the opposition’s demand that the scheme offer a minimum assured...
View ArticleForget the foreigner; only we can help our stock market now
A new year’s gift from India to the foreigner: Come, invest in our stock markets. So far, foreign investors could invest in Indian stock markets only through institutions or via participatory notes....
View ArticleBefore you take sides on SOPA and PIPA
Yesterday saw a black out of sorts on the internet. While Wikipedia and Reddit blacked out for 24 hours, Google showed its anguish against the proposed US bills – SOPA and PIPA (Stop Online Piracy...
View ArticleEconomics 101: GDP growth, per capita income rise and how it affects us
This week, the Government released a slew of statistics. The government expects GDP growth in 2012-13 to be higher than 7.2%, but not close to potential 8.6%. Per capita income crosses Rs 50,000 for...
View ArticleThis is what happens when you lie
‘Business gets worse for private life insurers’ screamed a headline. The story said that first year premiums of private life insurers dipped 15% in January 2012 as compared to January 2011. And I...
View ArticleWho is IRDA protecting?
Action-reactionCirca 2001: Private life insurance companies introduce ULIPsYear 2010: IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority) revises guidelines to prevent mis-selling of ULIPs (the...
View ArticleDear India, From India
As we near the completion of 66 years of independence, our country is in the throes of rapid change. On one hand, India is a land of opportunity but on the other, there is immense...
View ArticleMFs to hike fees further; weren’t they high already?
An article I read recently quotes a fund manager who says that to make the New Pension Scheme sustainable as a business model, the fund management fee must be hiked from the present 0.0009% to...
View ArticleA fool’s market?
So the markets have been swinging up and down lately, up for the most part. And whenever that happens, you’ll find plenty of people offering to double and triple your money. I saw an ad...
View ArticleExplained: The US Shutdown
For the last 48 hours, the big international news story has been about the impending US Government shutdown. Yesterday, a few hours before September ended, the shutdown did really happen. So what’s...
View ArticleExplained: The US debt ceiling
In a few hours from now, the US must raise its debt ceiling and if that does not happen, the world economy stands to become a riskier place. How come? Let’s take a look. What...
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