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Submitted Articles
MarketsJio’s IPO Is Huge. That Is Not a Reason to Apply.
Everyone in my college WhatsApp group is planning to apply for the Jio IPO. Very few of them have read anything about the company beyond the fact that they use its SIM card.
MacroeconomicsOnions Have Doubled Again. Why Does This Keep Happening?
Onion prices more than doubled on a year ago in September. My mother says it happens every few years. She is right, and the reasons are surprisingly predictable.
Personal FinanceThe RBI Hiked Rates. My Brother’s Car Loan Didn’t Change. Here Is Why.
My brother was sure his EMI would jump after the October rate hike. It did not move. The difference between fixed and floating loans turned out to be the whole story.
AgricultureWhy My Grandfather Is Planting Less Cotton This Year
The IMD expects a weak monsoon with El Niño strengthening. My grandfather in Saurashtra has already changed his plans. Here is how a weather forecast becomes an economic forecast.
MarketsForeign Investors Sold. My Mother’s SIP Bought.
Foreign funds have been selling Indian shares for months, yet the market has fallen far less than in past episodes. The buyers on the other side are ordinary Indian savers.
BusinessCommercial LPG Jumped ₹993. So Did the Price of Dhokla.
Petrol prices did not move on May 1. The price of a commercial gas cylinder rose by almost a thousand rupees. The farsan shop near my house had to decide who pays.
PolicyThe New Income Tax Act Removes a Word I Never Understood
For years I could not understand why the tax return for 2024-25 was filed under “assessment year 2025-26.” From April 1, India finally stopped doing that.
Energy & GeopoliticsHormuz Is 2,000 Kilometres Away. It Still Set Our Canteen’s Prices.
Our school canteen raised the price of a samosa plate by ₹5 in March. I traced the increase back through gas, diesel and the rupee to a strait off the coast of Iran.
CurrencyThe RBI Spent $12 Billion in a Week. Here Is What It Bought.
When the rupee hit 93.28 per dollar, the RBI sold reserves at a pace rarely seen before. It did not stop the fall. That was never the point.
EnergyThe LPG Queue Outside Our Building
For two weeks in March, the cylinder delivery van came late or not at all. India keeps emergency stocks of crude oil, but not of cooking gas. I wanted to know why.
TradeFrom 50% to 18%: What the Trade Deal Is Worth to a Tiruppur Knitter
Tiruppur makes the T-shirts sold in American malls. For six months its exporters competed with a 50% handicap. An 18% tariff does not make them rich. It makes them competitive.
PolicyThe Budget Made Options Trading More Expensive. Good.
Traders are angry about the higher securities transaction tax on futures and options. After a year of reading SEBI’s loss data, I think the government made the right call.
Personal FinanceGold Fell 10% in a Day. My SIP Didn’t Notice.
On January 30, the WhatsApp groups in my family went from celebrating gold to panicking about it in a single afternoon. My ₹500 index fund SIP carried on as if nothing had happened.
TradeWhy a Trade Deal With Europe Matters to a Morbi Tile Factory
Morbi makes most of India’s ceramic tiles and sells them to more than a hundred countries. The India–EU agreement could change which of those countries matter most.
CommoditiesSilver Crossed ₹2 Lakh. Soni Bazaar Is Not Celebrating.
Rajkot’s silver trade should love a record price. The artisans who make anklets and pooja items explain why a price this high is a problem for them.
MarketsMeesho’s IPO and the Customers Nobody in My Class Admits They Are
Ask my college friends where they shop online and you hear about premium apps. Check their order history and you find Meesho. The IPO priced that gap.
BusinessIndiGo Grounded My Trip Home and Taught Me About Market Power
I spent fourteen hours at Delhi airport watching cancellations scroll past. The lesson was not about one airline’s bad week. It was about what happens when one company carries most of a country’s flyers.
CurrencyThe Rupee Crossed 90 and My Exchange Programme Got Expensive
When my family first budgeted for my summer programme in Boston, a dollar cost ₹83. This week it crossed ₹90. Nothing about the programme changed. The price did.
Personal FinanceMy First Salary Slip Under the New Labour Codes
My take-home pay fell by about ₹1,100 this month, and HR sent an email about “wage definition.” Here is what changed, and why I am less annoyed than I was a week ago.
MacroeconomicsInflation Was 0.25%. Ask the Sabziwala What That Means.
October’s inflation figure was the lowest India has ever recorded. The vegetable seller near my school said his customers are still complaining. Both of them are telling the truth.
MarketsWhy I Stopped Watching My Uncle’s F&O Screenshots
Every Friday, my uncle posted a screenshot of a winning options trade in the family group. It took me a while to notice he never posted the other four days.
CommoditiesGold at ₹1.3 Lakh and My Grandmother Is Not Selling
Gold has more than doubled since my grandmother last bought any. I asked her whether she would sell some at these prices. Her answer was a lesson in what gold is actually for.
PolicyGST 2.0 Made My Mother’s Shopping List Cheaper. Not Her Rent.
I compared our family’s September bills before and after the new GST rates. Shampoo, ghee and the scooter service got cheaper. Most of what we spend did not change at all.
JobsThe H-1B Fee Changed My Cousin’s Plans Overnight
My cousin had a US offer letter and a visa lottery to win. A $100,000 fee made his employer rethink the whole thing, and taught our family how fast a policy can move a career.
TradeThe 50% Tariff Reached Surat Before It Reached the Headlines
My uncle’s diamond-polishing unit moved to a four-day week in early September. Nobody announced anything. The American orders simply stopped arriving at the old pace.
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