RBI Repo rate history from June 2000 to the present is presented in the table below. The repo rate is the rate at which RBI lends money to banks. It is an inflation and liquidity control measure.  A simple explanation with example is available here: Understanding Repo Rate and Reverse Repo rate Since the inception…

I am sure that at some point while watching the news on TV or skimming through news articles, you might have come across headlines like these and wondered what they meant: “RBI raises repo rate, reverse repo rate by 25 bps”,  “RBI cuts repo rate by 25 basis points” With the RBI’s rate-setting panel (the…

Every time the RBI lowers interest rates, we see many investors complain. In this article, Harshini explains why a high-interest rate is not healthy for our finances by taking Turkey’s example, where interest rates were recently increased to 17%! Older readers may recall when EPF and PPF rates were as high as 12% in the…

The Government launched an LTC (Leave Travel Concession) Cash Voucher Scheme for Central Government employees on 12th October 2020 to enable employees to purchase goods and services instead of availing LTC & leave encashment. This is a reimbursement scheme for LTC expense to revive the economy. Details and FAQ about the scheme are presented. About…

The consolidated monthly Account of the Union Government of India up to the month of June 2019 for the Financial Year 2019-20 was recently released. The total spending is Rs. 8,15,944 crore. This is 431% more than its total revenue!

India’s “debt to GDP ratio” increased by 3.5% from March 2019 to March 2020. In this article,  we discuss concerns over how the lockdown could push govt debt higher and enumerate the status of govt borrowing pre-lockdown listed in the Ninth Edition of the Status Paper on Government Debt.

Here is how the lockdown has impacted sixteen entrepreneurs and business owners from various walks of life

The consolidated monthly Account of the Union Government of India up to the month of October 2019 for the Financial Year 2019-20 was recently released. The total spending is Rs. 16,54,905 crores,  a good 77% more than its total revenue! What are the different heads of income and expenditure for the government? An explanation.

The reduction in corporate tax to 25.17% with no minimum alternate tax (MAT) for domestic companies (that are not incentivised) and 17.01% (plus no MAT) for new companies announced on 20th Sep 2019 is indeed a huge announcement. However, one should not confuse the zoom in market indices as a  sign of economic revival or…

The people have spoken and how! The stock market may rejoice at the results of Lok Sabha 2019, but the new government has its work cut out. Modi 2.0 faces many economic challenges,  perhaps because of their own doing: demonetization. Read about any sector, be it agriculture, auto, consumption, exports, banking, airlines etc, the one…

As oil prices rise once again, let us discuss what we can learn from historical petrol, diesel prices in India and the associated inflation. Petrol or Diesel prices in India is a touchy subject. While citizens (most users will be part of great, wide Indian middle class) feel angry about the huge taxes that they…