Team FeeOnly

Usher in transparency, not price controls

Governments, Insurance, Press / By /

Hon’ble Supreme Court has asked the Union Health Ministry to coordinate with the states to roll out of a common pricing structure for hospital services across the country. This is impractical for many reasons – Real estate prices – which is a significant part of the cost of hospital services – vary widely from location to location, the quality of equipment and personnel also vary widely making availability of hospitalisation services within a standard price range impractical. Harsh’s article in Business Standard on how enforcing transparency on pricing of hospital services might be a better first step towards achieving the goal of similar pricing across the country. Disclosure : Harsh is not connected to the medical services industry/hospital sector in any manner.

Usher in transparency, not price controls Read More »

Balancing act: Knowing when you have enough

Press / By /

There can be a heavy price to pay when we confuse “Being Fit” with “Being healthy”. Harsh learnt this the hard way when he had to undergo a coronary heart bypass surgery recently despite being super fit physically and being extremely careful with his diet as well. This article in Business Standard is about the lessons learnt. Its also a tribute to his friend CA Dr Rajendra Jain who paid the ultimate price for this confusion between “fitness” and “healthy”. Have seen similar confusion between “Being rich” and “being happy”

Balancing act: Knowing when you have enough Read More »

Does your loan fulfil the AA criteria?

Personal Finance, Press / By /

5 minute read – When can you consider a Home Loan or a Car Loan as a “good” loan” and how can you avoid getting taken for a ride while taking a loan by following 3 simple rules – read Harsh’s full article https://bit.ly/49Oq9ZM . For those who prefer watching a video – here is a link to a 20 minute video on the same content – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-tzdVNrwOo

Does your loan fulfil the AA criteria? Read More »

Simplifying nominations can boost financialisation

Financial, Governments, Investments, Personal Finance, Press / By /

Indian securities market regulator SEBI has recently sought public comments on a consultation paper that seeks to comprehensively revamp the entire process of transferring assets to the nominees on the death of the investor. It seeks to remove hurdles and standardise the process so that the transfer to nominees can happen in a few weeks (the dream is the transfer happening in a few days of applying and God willing even that will happen eventually as the system stabilises). The paper also deals with providing access to the investor themselves in case of their incapacitation (unfortunately many such cases are coming up as longevity of Indians increase due to advances in medical science) . This is a giant step towards making Investments in Indian securities market convenient and easy and will aid in spurring the ongoing process of financialisation of household investment assets.

Simplifying nominations can boost financialisation Read More »

How to make tax return scrutiny less stressful

Personal Finance, Press, Taxes / By /

Centralised data collection by the Income Tax Department (ITD) has widened the tax base & led to higher tax compliance. Tax payers also benefit as more than 90%+ have their returns (and refunds) accepted within weeks instead of years earlier. The National Faceless assessment scheme (NaFAC) and the National Faceless Apellate Scheme (NFAC) were rung in by the ITD with lofty aims of simplifying the tax administration for those assessee’s whose returns were selected for detailed scrutiny (which remains a large number). Harsh’s article in the Business Standard on how a combination of stiff tax collection targets, overbearing and antioquated attitudes of the ITD officials and a complete lack of accountability had given a bad name to NaFAC and NFAC which otherwise might have taken their place among the host of population scale technologies such as Aadhar, UPI, Account Aggregator and ONDC that have been introduced by India in recent times.

How to make tax return scrutiny less stressful Read More »

Unclaimed assets: Create searchable databases

Financial, Governments, Press / By /

Give a gift worth lakhs to your loved ones this new year without costing a penny to you. Visit iepf.gov.in, click on “Search unpaid/unclaimed amount” under the “Services” tab, and enter their names in the search box and discover unclaimed shares in their name on the #IEPF website. The probability of discovering lost treasures for your loved ones is much higher if they are born before 1970.
IEPF has recently changed its search functionality to display potential unclaimed amounts/shares based on the inputted name without requiring any more information. Unclaimed shares/dividends worth Rs. 52,000 crores are with IEPF. Similarly large amounts (bank deposits – Rs. 35,000 crores), Insurance-Rs. 25,000 crores, Inactive/unclaimed Mutual Funds (Rs. 18,000 crores) , Provident fund/Small saving schemes (amounts unknown) exist throughout the financial sector. The Finance minister has already announced an integrated portal to ease the process of searching and claiming such amounts.

Unclaimed assets: Create searchable databases Read More »

Creating a balance sheet for every Indian

Financial, Personal Finance, Press / By /

“The Account Aggregator System should enable the easy compilation of a Balance Sheet for every Indian” – was the clarion call provided by Mr. K V Kamath as he went to the heart of the matter in his characteristic style. This was amply borne out by Harsh’s experience in providing financial planning services to his household help Sapna and her family. Such experience can be repeated with millions of Indian families if the potential of the Account Aggregator System(#AAS) is fully unlocked. #AAS has been ably helmed by RBI and is a great example of what inter regulatory coordination (RBI, SEBI, IRDA, PFRDA & GST) can achieve. Despite its undoubted potential a few steps (outlined in the article) by the regulators can unlock the full potential of AAS and enable it to live up to the goal set by Kamath Sir. It will also assist the investment advisory profession to shed it’s elitist tag and strive towards the goal of a financial plan for every Indian.

Creating a balance sheet for every Indian Read More »

Weigh the risks of EB-5 citizenship route

Financial, International, Investments, Personal Finance, Press / By /

Originating in Africa, Humans migrated to the remotest corners of the earth primarily to find food, avoid the threat of deadly predators or the danger from domination by other human species or due to dramatic changes in the climate. There is an intriguing scientific theory that unforced migration is motivated by simple curiosity and boredom, what is often called wanderlust. This is credited to a variation in the human DNA (DRD4-7R) now dubbed the “wanderlust gene”. Present in about 20% of the population, it impacts dopamine levels, increasing the person’s tolerance for risk taking including exploring new territories. Those willing for (or seeking) greener pastures in other countries have a larger capacity for risk taking. But can that innate larger risk taking ability justify staking your life savings in an “risky investment for citizenship” plan like US’s EB-5. Harsh’s article in Business Standard today. Your feedback most welcome.

Weigh the risks of EB-5 citizenship route Read More »

Savour the joys of delayed gratification

Personal Finance, Press / By /

Its festival time and all of us are besieged with exhortations to Buy! Buy! Buy! with discounted deals and “Buy now Pay later” schemes making it easy on the pocket. Credit artificially expands the amount of money available and reduces the “pain of paying”. This pushes people to satisfy their innate desire for instant gratification which is beautifully explained in this short 90 second video from behavioural economist Dan Ariely of “Predictably Irrational” fame (https://vimeo.com/62116854 ) . My article in Business Standard on the Double AA framework for differentiating between Good loans and Bad loans and how you can use the “Pay now Buy later” strategy to savour the joys of delayed gratification. Read more..

Savour the joys of delayed gratification Read More »

Curbing one’s competitive streak can be rewarding

Press, Uncategorized / By /

Evolution through natural selection favours individuals seeking higher rank in social hierarchy as that allows preferential access to mates, food and other resources. This inherent competitive streak has benefitted humankind through the ages as it is responsible for its progress but it also has negative long term impact. This is bought out best by the character Farhan in “3 Idiots” when he says “you feel bad when your friends flunks but feel even worse when he tops” – https://bit.ly/45MJo3E – It can also be seen when people spend lavishly (way beyond their means) on weddings, holidays or other personal expenses in a desperate bid to shore up their ranking in the social hierarchy . Humans are the only beings that are capable of thinking and taking these long term costs into account if only they become conscious of it. Read Harsh’s article in the Business Standard.

Curbing one’s competitive streak can be rewarding Read More »

Scroll to Top
Secret Link

Vigilance Awareness Week 2025 (VAW2025)

Vigilance Awareness Week 2025 is being observed from October 27th to November 2nd, 2025, with the theme:

सतर्कता: हमारी साझा जिम्मेदारी (“Vigilance: Our Shared Responsibility”).

All stakeholders are encouraged to participate in the e-pledge initiative by visiting the CVC portal: https://pledge.cvc.nic.in/.