In the looking glass world of India's governance, banning something is a good way to promote it
'Ignorance isn't a problem when it's a question of common citizens having forgotten (or never learnt) middle school science.' 'It becomes a problem when it's displayed by policymakers and people of some influence,' says Devangshu Datta.
'Political parties can play up different ideological aspects to fit individual voters.' 'For example, a party may present itself as business-friendly to one individual while it could target another voter by harping on communal fears.'
'The Indian market has all the factors at the moment: Over-valuation, over-confidence, reliance on some source of massive fund flows and massive scams.' 'The trigger for a collapse could also have arrived.' warns Devangshu Datta.
'The 2019 election and the run-up to it will certainly see bots being deployed in large numbers on all sides.'
'... because their parents wanted a boy.' 'But over 2 million women go every year due to sex-selective abortion, disease, neglect or inadequate nutrition,' says Devangshu Datta.
Devangshu Datta predicts the good, the bad and the ugly of currency trends for the coming year.
Nothing spawns the creation and perpetration of conspiracy theories more effectively than an official obsession with secrecy.
Dealer despatches will probably be a good signal of economic turnaround or further deterioration, says Devangshu Datta.
Invest in stocks of export-oriented and capital-intensive companies, says Devangshu Datta.
Eradicating the Aedes aegypti or developing a vaccine will take years. Genetic modification offers a way out; the question is how to scale it up across continents, says Devangshu Datta.
From the valuation angle, the market is showing similar signs of being over-valued without being in a bubble territory yet.
Mathematical problems can sometimes turn out to have real-world applications. This is true for the Riemann Hypothesis. Crypto-currency investors will heave a sigh of relief if the problem is unsolved since a proof could render their expertise obsolete, explains Devangshu Datta.
Six pieces of malware present in the laptop had truly terrible track records. It's estimated that these six programs have logged combined damages of $95 billion between them, says Devangshu Datta.
The LIGO announcement -- which confirmed, among other things, that gold, platinum and other heavy metals were products of neutron star collisions -- came just before Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar's 107th birthday.
After stripping Pluto of planet status in 2006, some astronomers want to reclassify it once again, says Devangshu Datta.
RJio's aggressive plans will lead to significant impact on listed companies in this space
By November-December 2014, investors should also look at debt funds.
The government has displayed a tin ear in its responses to the JNU protests by using the sedition law -- and by encouraging lawyers who wear their political affiliations on their sleeves to display utter contempt for the Constitution. The Modi Sarkar has over three years of its term to run. But it may well have already sown the seeds of defeat,' says Devangshu Datta.
With a surge in users and transactions in two weeks, payment wallets step up cashbacks to get more users online.
Why do people need to trot out a moral justification for doing certain appalling things and not for others, asks Devangshu Datta
The ongoing experiments on Moon, Mars and elsewhere could translate into better crop yields and hardier plants that could thrive in inhospitable parts of the world, says Devangshu Datta.
The Nifty Index features 50 of the largest companies in the country and represents close to 50 per cent of total market capitalisation. It is now trading at valuations that could only be justified if India Inc grows earnings at better than thrice the GDP growth rate. This is extremely unlikely, says Devangshu Datta.
On the grounds of freedom of expression alone, astrology cannot be banned; it also provides a legal livelihood to lots of people.
Some cigarette-smokers may switch to beedis, or gutka, which is probably not the outcome the health ministry wants.
Akbar is rumoured to have once asked the navratnas of his court what the greatest pleasure in the world was. The stock answers came back: wealth, power, women, food, wine and so on, with the emperor's own contribution being hunting. Birbal was the outlier; he asserted that the greatest pleasure in the world was surely a good bowel movement.
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The latest macro-economic numbers confirm the economy trundles along in a low growth trajectory, while inflation climbs.
There is hope for us non-vegetarians. At least some enlightened judges believe diet is a personal choice. Here's to Maansh Wapsi.
'One problem with machine learning is that extensive human inputs are required.' 'This is both an expense and time consuming.' 'If AIs can do this on their own, the process may become more efficient,' says Devangshu Datta.
Managing Brexit, inflation and banking reforms, along with the political environment, will be tough.
Devangshu Datta highlights the silver lining for the long-term investor.
The World Bank's latest review of its purchasing power parity (PPP) baseline will reignite the poverty debate.
At a time when the Modi government is attempting to push cashlessness with coercive means, Devangshu Datta explains why cash usage is popular even in nations with good cashless infrastructure.
A good monsoon would translate into demand pickup across multiple sectors.
Given that there are hundreds of players in the shadow banking space, it's hard to make a credible estimate of potential NPAs. That creates more scope for panic, says Devangshu Datta.
The second half of June could be driven more or less by technical factors triggered by news flow from Greece, the US Federal Reserve and the monsoon. The technical picture seems bearish as of now, says Devangshu Datta.
RBI might not cut rate on June 2 but will surely cut soon.
A fall in the rupee could boost exports. But the flip side of the equation is that a weaker rupee could stoke some inflation
If error margins and confidence intervals are accounted for, even apparently decisive polls are not "sure things" and that brings us to bookies, who don't believe in any "sure things", says Devangshu Datta
An index P/E of 23 implies that the market is already discounting EPS growth at 20% or more, says Devangshu Datta.
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