Expense Account, Mint
October has begun well. On the first day we had the roadmap for financial sector legislative reform unveiled in the form of an approach paper, and significant life insurance reforms. While the insurance reform is about removing wrinkles in the world as it exists, the first one aims to redefine the world. At least the financial world in India. If finance (finance is more than just money, finance is what money does) is the brain of the economy, then a financial system translates investment into gross domestic product growth. The paper says that there is strong academic literature to show that countries with a better financial system obtain better economic growth. If this is true, then India is attempting to run with both feet tied—some of our financial sector regulation would outdate good vintage wine and the regulatory arbitrage results in overt and covert turf wars that will make kabaddi look like a sophisticated game.