Sahjik Finserv and Realty Blogs

  When we plan for the future, we mostly focus on two steps - identifying a destination and a plan to reach there. But between the two are many equally important steps. It’s the same when it comes to our financial future. Effective financial planning includes a step by step approach to meet our life goals and aspirations. It also manages risk protection for us and our dependents along with income, expenses and investments control. However, what mostly we miss out is envisioning a  longer time horizon  to realise true potential of all planning. Why to have a long term perspective? Let's observe some pointers: Remember our school mathematics formula for amount calculation: Amount = Principal * (1+ Return) ^ Time. Time is the exponential function and that has the largest impact on the final investing outcome. In the scenario of equity investing, a long term duration reduces the chance of us losing money and improves the chance of us achieving an inflation-beating return And,...

Real Estate in India: A Promising Landscape in 2023 The Indian real estate industry is on a roller coaster ride, with its ups and downs, but in 2023 it seems to have reached a steady peak. The year 2023 promises to be a game-changer for the real estate sector, with many positive developments and reforms.  From increased government initiatives to a more stable economy, the future of real estate in India looks bright. The government has taken several steps to boost the real estate sector, such as the implementation of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) and the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which have improved transparency and accountability in the industry. These measures have made it easier for buyers to invest in real estate and have also increased trust in the sector. Another important development driving the growth of real estate in India is the rise of affordable housing. The government has launched several schemes to make housing more accessible to the masses, includin...

  Did Qatar waste money on the World Cup? The Story $200 billion. That’s the kind of money Qatar is estimated to have spent in the run-up to the World Cup. They built massive expressways, subsea tunnels, state-of-the-art hospitals, swanky hotels, and upgraded their airports. The whole shebang! For context, Russia spent just $16 billion in 2018. Brazil — about $20 billion in 2014. And South Africa sunk $7 billion in 2010 to get everything in order. So the first question is — why on earth did Qatar spend over ten times the money other countries seem to have spent? Well, it’s complicated. Because you see, even though there’s a lot of money in the World Cup, it doesn’t go to Qatar. For instance, TV broadcasting rights were estimated at $2.64 billion. But that money didn’t go to Qatar. It went to FIFA. Okay, what about ticket sales? Well, that’s run by a company that’s 100% owned by FIFA, so Qatar doesn’t see a penny here also. Then there are the operational costs associated with runnin...

  Why has PhonePe returned home? The Story Indian startups like Singapore. It’s easier to raise funding when you’re headquartered there. Simply because there are a lot of VCs who’ve set up base in the island nation. Singapore has a lower corporate tax of 17% compared to over 25% in India. So that’s always appealing. And most importantly, investors in companies don’t have to pay a tax on capital gains when they sell shares. That’s an added bonus. Also, it’s just easier to do business in Singapore.  In 2020 , the World Bank ranked India 63rd in terms of ease of doing business. But Singapore snagged the 2nd spot. So it’s no wonder that in the past two decades,  over 8,000 Indian companies  have made Singapore their official home. But, things could be changing… PhonePe, the Bengaluru-incubated fintech startup (now owned by Walmart), is saying goodbye to Singapore. It has come back home. In fact, it’s the first big startup to return to its home base. And guess who’s lovin...

  RBI's fictional letter to the Government - on inflation The Story Inflation in India is at a 5-month high. It hit 7.41% in September. It’s a problem for the RBI. Because the central bank has a mandate — to keep long-term inflation between 2–6%. It’s called ‘inflation-targeting’ and it’s a strategy etched into the RBI’s job description (JD!) since 2016. That means the RBI is failing. And anytime inflation breaches this band for 3 quarters, the RBI needs to explain what went wrong. They need to do the explaining to the government by the way and they also need to articulate how they intend to bring inflation back on track. And so far, they’ve not had to do any explaining. They’ve done a pretty decent job overall. But now, that record is in jeopardy. Inflation has consistently stayed above the 6% mark these past few months and they’ll have to draft that letter. Also, it’s quite historic since this will be the first time since 2016 that the RBI will have to do something of this sort. ...

123Pay by NPCI - Newsletter The RBI's vision is to offer accessible, affordable, safe, secure, reliable and efficient payment systems to all Indians. India has made massive strides in this direction, with NPCI driving robust products like UPI, NEFT, RTGS, IMPS and more to cater to the needs of retail and B2B segments.  Amongst the most successful is UPI, which revolutionized payments for the common man. Today, it accounts for almost 20% of all retail digital payments. UPI achieved this feat primarily due to the following factors: Affordable Smartphones and wide usage  Affordable internet and penetration pan India  Pandemic push for Digital transformation and rise of digital payments All round focus on Digital literacy However, this still leaves behind a segment of people who still find a smart phone beyond their reach. To address this audience, the NPCI has introduced 123Pay, which allows feature phone owners to access UPI without the ne...

  The Story You know Truecaller, of course. It helps you deal with spam calls — weeds out folks who sell you credit cards, insurance policies and trading accounts. And since India has the dubious distinction of being the spam capital of Asia, Truecaller has been a lifesaver. But not everybody is convinced that Truecaller is a benign enterprise trying to rid India of spam calls. Especially Viceroy Research. They’re a research company putting out reports on publicly traded companies. And their end objective is to find dodgy companies with suspect financials and make money off of betting against the stock. And their latest target is Truecaller. In a scathing  report  headlined ‘Truecaller’s True Colors’, they’ve taken down the company’s business model bit by bit. Now Truecaller isn’t listed in India. It’s actually listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm Exchange. But the company earns  over 70%  of its revenues from India and the report features Truecaller’s many indiscreti...