Expense AccountInvestmentsMintMoneyPersonal FinanceNovember 17, 2020by Monika Halan0How does the LVB crisis impact you?
Indian households, looking for a safe space to put their money in, have been hurtling from crisis-to-crisis past few years. Banks have failed, debt funds saw uncharacteristically deep losses and in March 2020, we saw six debt funds frozen. People who trusted nobody and kept cash under the mattress, lost it during demonetisation. The latest...
Expense AccountFinancial LiteracyMintMoneyPersonal FinanceNovember 11, 2020by Monika Halan0Don’t buy into the distressed home sales story
The full-page ads are back. So are the stories in some parts of the media where “experts” are advising you to take advantage of the low interest rates and bargain basement prices to invest in real estate. The real estate corporate brokers are pushing the narrative of aisa mauka phir kahan milega (when will you get...
Expense AccountMintMoneyPersonal FinanceNovember 5, 2020by Monika Halan0Regulatory turf today prevents an Ant-like IPO. But things are changing
As much as $2.8 trillion, or money almost equal to the GDP of India, was available to buy shares of Alibaba Jack Ma’s Ant Group last week, making the $34.4 billion IPO, which has now run into trouble with the Chinese regulators, hugely oversubscribed. Ant is a Chinese company that began life as an escrow account to facilitate...
Consumer RightsExpense AccountFinancial LiteracyMintPersonal FinanceOctober 28, 2020by Monika Halan0The insurance regulator’s 70’s mindset is not serving the purpose in 2020
It is almost as if you can see the conflict: there is the desire to do the right thing by the customer, but the DNA of an institution that does not believe in consumer rights comes in the way. The insurance regulator is torn with this dichotomy, of watching its capital market counterpart take giant...
Expense AccountFinancial LiteracyMintMoneyMutual FundsPersonal FinanceOctober 14, 2020by Monika Halan0Three regulation changes that make mutual funds safer
The closer you examine the financial sector, the more you get to believe that parts of the industry believe that if there is a way to do something wrong, why do it the right way? Not for all the firms in the market, but a few aggressive ones. And these cause regulators to go on...
Expense AccountMintNarendra ModiOctober 12, 2020by Monika Halan0A pragmatic fiscal stimulus package that nudges households to spend
A far more confident, poised and assertive Nirmala Sitharaman looked nothing like the fumbling FM just a few months ago when she announced the first fiscal package. The almost ₹1 trillion of spending plus infra push announced can be criticized by arguing that the government is not really spending anything much. And where is the ₹10 trillion...
Expense AccountFinancial LiteracyLet's Talk MoneyMintPersonal FinanceOctober 7, 2020by Monika Halan0Spend less, save more and get financially fit
How to get rich. These four words tickle the aspirations of anybody who is not living in a cave having given up on maya or this world of illusion! The usual answers to this question deal with tips, some stocks, some real estate that is changing from agri to commercial very soon, some new crypto...
Consumer RightsExpense AccountFinancial LiteracyMintNarendra ModiSeptember 30, 2020by Monika Halan0The change we want is also the change we resist
Reform is always tough but reform built with good first principles will finally help the market grow and lift all boats. In one of my last conversations with R.H. Patil, the founder and managing director of NSE and one of the big names in the reform of the Indian capital markets, told me: “When you hear resistance to reform in the name of the poor, or the small guy, you know the other side is out of arguments and change will come." I hope this is as true of the agri-market as it has proved to be of the capital market.