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…

The  Economic Survey 2017-2018 was published yesterday with a clear warning that the stock market valuations are too high and unless earnings increase, a correction should be expected. The survey also argued that the bond market seems to have forgotten about the growth in the national small savings fund. Amidst the euphoria about increased GDP growth…

The distribution of wealth cannot be even among the members of a society/country. This is just not practical. Oxfam International’s global inequality report released this month points to the world in which the gap between the rich and poor is alarmingly getting wider. In this post, I discuss how to make (statistical) sense of this…

An exposure to equity is not necessary to beat inflation or finance our future if we know how to account for inflation by other means. It is merely a choice. Many of us did not have any equity exposure when we started managing our money. We read about it; thought it might a be a…

We all understand the importance of living within our means and strive to implement it on a day-to-day basis.  If the Indian government manages to do the same over a financial year, it would grab headlines! When I heard about the term fiscal deficit (expenditure > revenue) for the first time, I was shocked to…