How much does it cost? Learning to ask this in finance

We ask this question all the time when we’re shopping. Whether it is the veggie or fruit vendor or the kirana store,kitne ka hai? (how much does it cost?) is the most heard phrase in a shop. Go to a mall, and barring the super cool, super rich, everybody else is busy struggling to find the price tag on the shoe or piece of clothing on display. Displays are all geared to get your attention to a good deal. And in shopping, a good deal is one that has a discount, costs less or you get something free with it.

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Payments banks for Rs10 deposit

When I wrote a piece (http://goo.gl/SiFxI2 ) about the Nachiket Mor committee report recommending the setting up of payments banks in January this year, I honestly did not think that six months later we’d be looking at draft guidelines for such banks. But here we are! On 17 July 2014, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the draft guidelines for payments and small banks (http://goo.gl/4P7FuT ) and will receive feedback on them until 28 August 2014.

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The Indian Banks’ Association is shockingly anti-consumer

Even if you are a hard-bitten old journo, some things still have the capacity to shock. The audacity of an industry lobby that keeps pushing for corporate profitability, even if it is at the cost of fairness, transparency and consumer rights, isn’t news anymore. But the latest statement by the banking lobby, the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), has taken this attitude to a new level. More of that later. First, read the following IBA statements over the years in reaction to changes that would rectify the unfair deal that bank consumers got, to see why I look at the IBA’s stance with a mixture of disbelief and distaste.

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Budget 2014: It takes a tax break to make the middle class smile

As a tax payer you’ve gained a bit this budget. If you are under 60 years of age, the first Rs.2.5 lakh of income is now tax exempt. If between 60 and 80, Rs.3 lakh is tax exempt and for those over 80, your first Rs.5 lakh continues to be tax exempt. The surcharge on the Rs.1 crore-plus income earners remains as do the tax slabs, cess and surcharge. The section 80C limit is now up by Rs.50,000 to Rs.1.5 lakh, and you can now invest up to Rs.1.5 lakh a year in Public Provident Fund (PPF), up from Rs.1 lakh. Your home loans just got sweeter with another Rs.50,000 deduction allowed on the interest, which takes the deductible amount to Rs.2 lakh. If you earn more than Rs.10 lakh a year, you are richer by just over Rs.35,000 a year due to these changes.

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Decoding financial lobby-speak

The pre-budget buzz has begun. Page one stories are all about the finance minister meeting the regulators, the banks and the financial sector captains to get inputs on what needs to be done to facilitate the flow of money that business will need as the economy is cranked up once more. There are certain words, phrases and terms used by the financial sector that have a deeper meaning—sometimes an actual threat—that a smart finance minister either understands himself or is made to understand by his team of bureaucrats. I’m decoding some of these so that we better understand the meaning behind the words we read as these meetings get underway. Why should we bother? It is our money they’re all talking about. And the conversation is all about how to keep our money earning below inflation rates and how to keep it captive so that it can’t go anywhere other than to the government and in the process fatten banks and insurance companies.

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