There is much middle-class angst at the heavy burden it bears on income taxes paid. Other than the dysfunctional nature of government services and a deeply corrupt interface with government agencies, what weighs heavily on the middle-class heart is the fact that so many people remain stubbornly outside the tax net. These people are seen...
As yet another budget rolls up, the usual expectation of a tax cut has reared its head again among the Indian middle-class that continues to seek a cut in the burden that they carry disproportionately for all those who don’t. Personal income taxes, paid by less than 5% of the total population, pulled 19% of...
If you were to read the news reports about your own earning, spending and saving patterns, you would think that you are earning less due to stagnant wages, spending less due to inflation, and saving less due to repayment of loans. And this is contributing to a slowing economy and therefore, the cue is to...
Murders usually stoke a rush of sympathy for the victim and her/his family, as it should. But the murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, on a New York street on December 4, 2024, instead brought to the surface the simmering public anger against insurance firms which “deny, defend and depose” as a strategy to...
I have answered reader, viewer, and listener questions about money for a long time. I have seen them change over time. There used to be entry-level questions about what to do with ₹50,000 in the bank, what stocks and funds to buy, portfolio questions around asset allocation, strategy questions — a whole range of questions around...
From September 1, Russia legalised the use of cryptocurrencies to settle international trade accounts and wants to create an “experimental infrastructure” for such payments. India has at least $900 million stuck in unpaid dividends in Russian investments that are unable to be repatriated due to the sanctions faced by Russia. India has allowed the Chinese...
The age cohort that began work in the decades surrounding 1991 is now in its 50s and 60s. This is the urban mass affluent population slice that saw its boats lift with the giant wave of economic growth and prosperity that the economic reforms of 1991 unleashed. You just had to be in the right...
Alarm bells rang earlier this year within the ministry of finance and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) over slowing deposit growth at a time when credit growth was robust. Banks need the fodder of fresh deposits to keep lending going. As Indian economic activity picked up after the Covid shock, and with both bank...
Budget 2024 came at a rare moment in the history of Indian budgets. Tax revenues are up, bank and corporate balance sheets are cleaned up, reserves are looking good and a surprise bonus from the Reserve Bank of India has bolstered the ability of the government to spend without compromising the fiscal consolidation process. But...
Opinions on taxes on assets almost always depend on one’s position in life. Those without assets see the merit in taxing the asset-rich and those who have built or inherited assets will argue for no or low taxes. After all, they argue, that tax on the income has already been paid and then the assets...