The Economic Survey 2010-11, an annual document that tracks the state of the Indian economy, makes recommendations and presents challenges to it, has taken a moral twist. Read more

Meet Trill: an innovative financial product that can help investors and nations alike. Even before inflation-indexed bonds reach India, a recent study by Mark Kamstra of York University and Robert J. Shiller of Yale University make a case for a new security. Tied to the US current GDP, the Trill, as the authors call it, would pay one-trillionth of the GDP. And with investor appetite for risk falling and the government becoming a larger player in the global financial sweepstakes, the Trill could be worth exploring and expanding. Read more

The new direct tax code fails to convince me on how it would better enforce the creation, distribution and proliferation of black money. In theory the Direct Taxes Code Bill 2009, put up for public debate last week, has enough provisions — nine pages that define concepts from ’round trip financing’ to ‘arm’s length price’ — for the “prevention of abuse of the code”, including “special provisions to prevent evasion”. Read more

This post is going to go national today as your blogger evaluates the six pledges and 38 recommendations that the leaders of G20 signed and what they means for India. As I mentioned earlier, there are more benefits than costs and if we were to look at the big picture, I think India has gained. But 6.4 is a pathetic score for leaders of G20 to get in what was the biggest financial event this world has ever seen. Here’s the break-up: Read more

I hate to say ‘I told you so’, but I told you so — I really did.

Coming to a global congregation of the world’s largest economies and hoping 18 members to blindly follow what the US dictates and the UK furthers was nothing short of a foolish expectation. High on intent, reason and morals but low on humility, persuasion and mutual respect, the audacious spend-your-way-out-of-the-crisis proposal, born in the USA, grown in the UK and parroted by IMF, was destined to die. Read more