rediffGURU Ulhas Joshi answers your personal finance and mutual fund queries
Hospitality players want the government to accord infrastructure status to hotels to make investments on new properties more attractive rather than categorising them as luxury or even 'sin goods' in the upcoming Union Budget considering the sector's potential to play a key role in India's growth. They also want the government to consider incentives in the form of tax breaks or subsidies for adopting sustainable and eco-friendly practices, while asserting that the upcoming budget must accelerate the tourism agenda saying it is an opportunity to make Indian hospitality the emerging engine for GDP growth and employment generation.
India has flagged concerns over non-tariff barriers (NTBs) faced by its exporters with the Russian government, commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Monday. NTBs faced by Indian exporters are mainly in sectors such as marine products and pharmaceuticals.
India's approach with the bat now is drastically different to what it was in the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final and both teams will start Thursday's contest on an even keel, said England head coach Matthew Mott on Wednesday.
Venkataramana Pittala from Telangana was driving a rented Yamaha personal watercraft (PWC) that collided with another PWC operated by a 14-year-old boy from the South Florida mainland on Saturday, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
Jaismine Lamboria registered a dominant victory over Ana Marija Milisic of Switzerland to enter the 57kg quarter-finals of the World Olympic Boxing Qualifier in Bangkok.
The 61-year British business tycoon flew into New Delhi on Saturday evening to help efforts in conservation of tiger, which he says his favourite animal.
The April-June quarter (Q1) of the current financial year (FY25) may be soft for banks with loan growth moderation, net interest margin (NIM) pressures, and higher staff and credit costs inching up, according to analysts. Credit growth could ease due to the lagged impact of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) tightening and deposit growth has weakened, and the current account and savings account (CASA) ratio has declined 10-370 basis points (bps) quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) for many banks.
'I grew up in an environment which is very submissive and conservative. People would judge you if you wore a short skirt.' 'I made my way up from there to Mumbai and landed a big song Aila Re Aila with a huge star like Akshay Kumar.'
'Opportunity is there in each segment of the market. There is opportunity in affordable and specifically governed by government initiatives as well as for housing for all.'
'Not disclosing information to the public indicates that there is something wrong with Project Cheetah.'
From installing water-saving aerators on taps to using cans for washing hands and dishes, Bengaluru is adopting diverse strategies to tide over the water crisis. While several citizens have taken to social media to urge Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to make work from home mandatory for IT companies, it appears that hybrid mode will continue to be the norm for most - although with new water conservation measures in place. Co-working space provider Urban Vault has, for instance, installed smart water meters to detect leakage.
Signalling both change and continuity, India's new government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a third consecutive term, got into work gear on Tuesday with cabinet ministers and ministers of state filing into their respective offices to assume charge.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, along with her team of bureaucrats, delved into the fine print of the 2024-25 Budget documents in a press conference, detailing the government's road map on bringing down the debt-to-GDP ratio and bold tax measures.
'Democrats don't care about those on H-1B visas. They don't care about the Green Card backlog.' 'President Trump wants to stop the massive flow of illegal immigrants and focus on a robust and legal immigration system.' 'Indian Americans would thrive in such an immigration system.'
There has been no change in Tata Steel's strategy on operations in the United Kingdom (UK), company chairman N Chandrasekaran has told shareholders. The statement comes amid growing concern about the restructuring plan in the face of change in government in the UK. Tata Steel's plan for the UK entailed a 1.25 billion investment plan agreed upon by the Conservative party-led government in September last year.
US Vice President Kamala Harris, who is of Indian and African heritage, has formally secured the Democratic presidential nomination becoming the first Indian-American to win the nomination from a major political party, and chose Minnesota Gov Tim Walz as her running mate on Tuesday.
Godrej Properties (GPL) reported strong pre-sales of Rs 22,500 crore in FY24, up 84 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y). The performance was led by new launches, which increased 65 per cent to Rs 23,000 crore in FY24, and contributed 70 per cent to total pre-sales. The sales volume increased 31 per cent Y-o-Y to 20 million square feet (msf), while realisation rose 40 per cent Y-o-Y, driven by contribution from high-realisation markets of National Capital Region (NCR) Delhi and Metropolitan Mumbai Region (MMR) and positioning in the premium segment.
The 66-year-old spiritual guru is the founder of the Isha Foundation and has launched campaigns such as 'Save Soil' and 'Rally for Rivers' for environment conservation.
To protect tigers, Rs 50 crore has been allocated to the National Tiger Conservation Programme.
Without giving too much away, India head coach Rahul Dravid hinted at the possibility of playing wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav in the Caribbean leg of the T20 World Cup, starting with the Super 8 opener against Afghanistan.
Investors should view the increase in the LTCG tax rate in conjunction with the increase in capital gains exemption from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.25 lakh, which will provide some relief.
Spiritual leader Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev was discharged from a private hospital in New Delhi on Wednesday, days after he underwent an emergency brain surgery after suffering 'life-threatening' bleeding in the skull, a source at the medical facility said.
'Is there a connection between the way we pitched the entire issue of Udta Punjab's censorship and the apologetic, full-of-very-specific-answers tone of the movie?' 'Maybe it's just me, but as an Indian liberal, I am more scared of us liberals than I am of the average Indian conservative bloke,' says Sreehari Nair.
Designer Anita Dongre presented festive styles for women who are not big fans of lehengas, saris and anarkalis.
The court had asked the West Bengal Zoo Authority to consider renaming the lioness and lion, and wondered why create a controversy by giving such names.
Up to three billion people are expected to tune in for the opening ceremony in Paris.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday sacked his Indian-origin Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, and replaced her with James Cleverly, while former premier David Cameron, in an unusual move, is back in the frontline government as the new foreign secretary.
Britons on Thursday voted in what is billed as the most tightly contested general election since the World War II which could lead to a hung Parliament, though latest opinion polls gave a clear edge to opposition Tories over the ruling Labour as well as Liberal Democrats.
State-owned Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency's (Ireda's) chairman and managing director Pradip Kumar Das has announced that the company has requested the government to allow it to carry out a follow-on public offer (FPO) as it will need further equity infusion to maintain the pace of growth. The FPO would aim to raise between Rs 4,000 crore and Rs 5,000 crore. Ireda, which provides funding assistance and other services to renewable energy and energy efficiency/conservation projects and is 75 per cent owned by the government of India, has requested the Union Finance Ministry to be included under Section 54EC of the Income Tax Act, which will help reduce borrowing costs.
The finance minister continues to be backed by the same policy team in charting out the broad strategy as in the few earlier Budgets.
Akshata Murty delivers a four-minute speech introducing her husband Rishi Sunak to the Conservative party conference in Manchester.
Gourav Vallabh joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday hours after he quit the Congress, saying he can neither raise anti-Sanatan slogans nor abuse "wealth creators" day in and day out and was joining the ruling party due to his support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's agenda of "Viksit Bharat".
'We are sure FY25 is going to be better...But to call out that all problems are behind us is a bit early.' 'The underlying business sentiment has not changed significantly.'
Environment ministry is organising various programmes at Sesaipura related to Project Cheetah.
'What my Labour government will seek with India is a relationship based on our shared values of democracy and aspiration. That will seek a free trade agreement (FTA), we share that ambition, but also a new strategic partnership for global security, climate security, economic security'
Religion and economic barriers continue to define love in modern India, discovers Preshth Bhardwaj.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signalled that he would largely bypass the New Hampshire primary next week and instead would focus on South Carolina where the Republican presidential primary is scheduled for February 24.
For trust in democracy to be retained, elections need to be not just free of intervention -- ruling out Pakistan and Russia -- but also demonstrate the capability to both deliver ruling mandates and hold the potential for large swings in favour of the opposition, points out Mihir S Sharma.And, after an election is done, they need to see a mandate in order to go back to their lives and let their representatives get on with the business of government, points out Mihir S Sharma.
