Press

Restrictions on foreign spends erode Brand India

Governments, International, Investments, Press / By /

The 20% deposit requirement imposed on overseas remittances inhibits all citizens from spending or investing overseas. The sweeping inhibitory measure is supposedly to catch a few wrong doers who abuse the Liberalised Remittance Scheme who anyways could , with a little dilligence, be identified from the mass of data that the department has. Harsh’s article in Business Standard on the long term costs of inhibiting/restricting our ordinary citizens from spending and/or investing overseas and the impact such measures have on our aspiration to be a Super power.

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Podcast – How AA ecosystem can improve reach of investment advice

Audio, Governments, Press, RIA / By /

Harsh’s Podcast and article on AccountAggregator system and how it can help the #InvestmentAdvisory profession shed the tag of being an elitist profession and start catering to the needs of the every Indian who can benefit from the #Fiduciary advise. #AA will bring down the cost and time of collecting authentic data based on client consent and lead to the democratisation of #Investment advice.

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Have realistic expectations from your investments

Financial, Investments, Press / By /

Clients are always amazed when we tell them that looking at how the investments have fared for them is not the right way to review their continuance or otherwise. Using cricketing analogy Harsh explain why looking at moving long term performance of the investment vis-a-vis its peers is a much better way to review the continuance of any investment – rather than the performance experienced by them. In fact the focus on reviewing investments (reviewing the performance of the selected batsman) takes the focus away from reviewing the performance of the entire plan itself. Harsh’s article in Business Standard.

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High pension recipients can get short-changed in bailouts

Financial, Governments, Personal Finance, Press / By /

Do not transfer large sums of money from your tax free Employee Provident Fund to the Employee Pension Account in the hope of getting a large pension in the future. As per the EPFOs own calculations the deficit was Rs. 15,000 crores as on March 31, 2017. The deficit position for the years ended March 31, 2018 and 2019 has not been released by the government but is likely to be much higher. Even the calculation of the deficit figure has not been made for the last 4 years. A pension fund that has not even calculated its liability is a scary place to invest your hard earned tax free Employee Provident Fund money. Those people depending on government bailout should be aware of the precedents whenever governments have stepped in to protect pensioners – those entitled to larger pensions inevitably get shortchanged in the process”.

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Debt fund growth option: A smart choice for retirees

Investments, Personal Finance, Press / By /

Growth scheme of a moderately low risk debt fund allows lower tax payment on the income earned as compared to a bank fixed deposit of like maturity even if the interest rates till maturity are similar. This is due to the inherent tax friendly structure. Besides, the Debt MF allows easier encashment and part encashment facilities with no prepayment penalties. Harsh’s article in Business Standard today provides an interesting analogy of a water tank to explain the inherent structural advantage of the growth scheme. look forward to your comments.

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Wealth creation is simple but not easy, requires discipline

Financial, Investments, Personal Finance, Press / By /

“Sleep well, eat healthy and exercise regularly” are the “simple” rules that enable a healthy life. However it is not “easy” to follow these simple rules. Similarly wealth creation has simple rules which require discipline and patience. Most people prefer complex solutions in their search for faster results and it takes a dedicated coach to keep them on the path (pardon this bit of self promotion for our profession). Harsh’s article in Business Standard. Your comments welcome as always..

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Focus on coverage provided, not premium collected

Insurance, Press / By /

Do you measure the progress of a journey by the amount paid for petrol rather than the distance covered? The Life Insurance industry seems to be doing exactly that in its laudable quest for “Insurance for All” goal by 2047. They measure the amount of premium paid rather than the life coverage provided. The only way to reach the Insurance for all goal is by way of group Insurance and term insurance which provides Life coverage at very low premiums. This will result in the the progress as measured by them dropping even as the goal is achieved. “A case of Patient successfully cured but the operation being declared as a failure” – a reversal of the popular maxim. Read the article for interesting example. Your comments are welcome.

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Searchable database for unclaimed shares needed

Financial, Governments, Investments, Press / By /

Check on this link https://bit.ly/3Pf2ffX for the names of any investors who were active in teh stock markets in the 1980s/1990s . The link will provide details if any investor has unclaimed shares or dividends that have been transferred to IEPF. Around 48,000 crores are currently deposited with Investor Education and Protection fund (IEPF). IEPF does not have a functional search facility & investors are left to use private searchable databases.
Once discovered there are long tedious processes to recover the shares/dividends. Whilst action has been initiated by the finance minister to create an integrated portal to make the refund process simpler I make a plea in this article in Business Standard that a transparent searchable database is a must to reduce the mountain of unclaimed assets. comments welcome.

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Beware! Govts do default on pension liabilities

Financial, Governments, Personal Finance, Press / By /

Employees who are taken in by the promise of old pension scheme could do well to learn from Gandhi ji. In 1942, while the II world war raged, the Cripps Commission made a vague promise of granting Dominion Status after the war was over, if Indians would support the war effort. “I refuse to accept a post dated cheque on a failing bank” Gandhi ji responded. Politicians who are making the promise of restoring the “Old pension scheme” know that they will not be around when the time comes to actually pay the pension. They are just looking to save on making the employers contribution to NPS. The demand for the “Old Pension Scheme” explained through a Fable in Harsh’s article in Business Standard

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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/.