Crude oil is one of the most traded commodities globally. The reason for huge trade volumes is the dual-use nature of the commodity. Crude oil is primarily used as a source of energy, but it is also used as an investment product for portfolio diversification by some investors. An important aspect of the crude oil …
“How will the GST impact your personal financial plan” surely appears to be a rather strange question? In reality, the implications of the GST for your financial plan could be much more significant that you may care to imagine at this point of time. GST is going to directly and indirectly impact your asset mix, …
The RBI / DoCoMo case continues to baffle with its twists and turns. On Friday, the 28th of April, the Delhi High Court has ruled that the RBI cannot intervene in a settlement between two consenting parties. In this case, both DoCoMo of Japan and the Tata Group have agreed for the compensation to be …
The Consumer Price Index (CPI), a measure of retail inflation, touched a five-month high of 3.81% for the month of March 2017. The higher retail inflation was on the cards due to pressure from oil prices. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has in the past highlighted the possibility of upside risks to inflation due to …
The minutes of the discussion of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) that concluded on 06th April were released on 20th April. Like the previous 3 MPC meetings in October, December and February, there was absolute consensus among the 6 members on the need to maintain status quo on rates. However, the MPC seems to be …
The Core Sector number for the month of March 2017 and the PMI Manufacturing number for the month of April; both surprised on the upside. The Jan-Mar quarter was the first full quarter after the impact of demonetization and the negation of the lag effects of demonetization was supposed to be over by the end …
The best gauge of economic worries in any country is the bond yields. When bond yields move up sharply in a very short time, then it is a signal that the country is going to print a lot more of currency and that is going to lead to higher inflation. US bond yields are up …
The Year 2016 was a tumultuous year in many ways. The year began with a tremendous sense of uncertainty and ambivalence. The global markets lost nearly $12 trillion in value in the first few weeks of 2016. That immediately brought back memories of 1992, 2000 and 2008. All these were nerve racking years for markets …
For too long there have been demands for greater transparency and accountability in the area of real estate transactions. Laws were too ambiguous, recourse methodologies were opaque, home buyers were not organized and the legal process was overloaded. It was to address these pressing issues that the Real Estate Regulation & Development Act (RERA) was …
The trade data for the month of March 2017 had few surprises in store. The exports continued to grow positively for the 6th consecutive month. However, the growth in imports was much faster than expected leading to a slightly higher trade deficit for the month. The sharp rise in imports is slightly surprising considering that …
