The Business Blog
Read biographyThe Business Blog is a daily business blog anchored by Firstpost senior editors. It will offer quick comments and insights into major business news developments from the pink press.
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This may be a time to SIP gold, not sell mindlessly
By R Jagannathan The crash in global and domestic gold prices has brought out the bears in some numbers. So is it time to write off gold as an investment and safe haven? It’s worth listening first to some of the bears, who surely have a point right now. Paul Krugman, writing in #Gold Bug #Gold prices #Smart Money
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That sinking feeling: No sign of green shoots of revival
By R Jagannathan The Green Shoots of recovery allegedly seen some time ago by eagle-eyed scouts in the finance ministry were a mirage. Yesterday, all the numbers to emerge on the economy were negative. The combined output of eight core sector industries – which account for 38 percent of the Index #Crystal Ball #GDP growth #HIndu Rate of Growth #Slowdown
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Guess which state improved most in malnutrition? Gujarat
By FP Editors Since everybody, from Jairam Ramesh to Markandey Katju, has made malnourishment in Gujarat a cause célèbre, it is worth noting what the Comptroller and Auditor General’s latest report on the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) – whose focus is to eliminate child malnutrition in all states – has #CAG report #Child Malnourishment #ICDS #ToTheContrary
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Not just rich people; richer companies too pay less tax
By R Jagannathan The rich must pay more tax has been the finance ministry’s maxim of late. Hence the additional 10 percent surcharge on those with incomes over Rs 1 crore in this year’s budget. However, the budget papers disclose an interesting anomaly where rich companies pay less taxes than the poor. #Budget 2013 #Effective Tax Rates #Tax axe #WhatNext
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Budget 2013 math is going out of the window already
By R Jagannthan The first big numbers to go out of the window from P Chidambaram’s barely two-day-old budget are at hand: subsidies in both fertiliser and fuel. In his budget, the Finance Minister had put out subsidy figures for fertiliser at Rs 65,974 crore for 2012-13 (the year just ending this #Budget 2013 #Fertiliser Subsidies #food subsidies #Petro Subsidies
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Growth budget? The momentum is still southwards
By R Jagannathan Even as P Chidambaram was mesmerising us yesterday with his fancy footwork on the fiscal deficit and revenue grabbing calisthenics, what went largely unnoticed and uncommented was the GDP figure for the third quarter (Q3) of 2012-13. The number of 4.5 percent is a decade’s low. But that’s #Budget2013 #GDP growth #Q3 GDP
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Budget 2013: Worry about those not paying tax, not rich taxpayers
By R Jagannathan The case for taxing the rich more – something that the finance minister and other policy-makers have been mumbling about for some time now – is falling apart in the light of closer scrutiny. While no one disagrees with the apparently egalitarian proposition that if you are rich, you #Budget 2013 #Taxing the Rich
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Memo to FM: You can’t feed the poor and the corrupt
Mr P Chidambaram, your job’s just gotten easier. Or at least, that is what Surjit Bhalla, Chairman of Oxus Investments, thinks, assuming Madam Sonia will buy the idea. If she's clear about eliminating poverty, reining in subsidies and providing enough to eliminate poverty can be managed without busting the budget. Bhalla #Anti-Poverty Schemes #Good Read #NDA #Poverty Schemes #Subsidies #UPA
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Even smart investors will need dumb luck post Budget 2013
Should you buy bonds, or equity or gold or something else in the coming months and years? The answer may be to bet a bit on all of them. Depending on your view of the future, you would normally do the following: if you expect inflation to run rampant, you would #assets #Bonds #commodities #equity #Gold #Smart Money
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Why predictions make asses out of all of us
By R Jagannathan When the US economy was downgraded in 2011, it seemed as if it was only a matter of time before the world started bailing out of the dollar and into emerging market currencies. The dollar era was over – or that’s what I thought. I still think so. #Crystal Ball #HowThisWorks #Sensex #US Dollar