India's trading boom is creating a dangerous illusion of easy wealth. Influencers and fintech platforms increasingly portray trading as a shortcut to financial success, while SEBI data shows that over 90% of retail F&O traders lose money. The real cost extends beyond individuals to families, savings and aspirations, raising an urgent question: are we encouraging young Indians to create wealth—or merely to chase it?

The Foreign Exchange Management (Non-Debt Instruments) (Third Amendment) Rules, 2026, notified on 12 June 2026, represent a significant development in India's foreign investment regulatory framework. While the Amendment seeks to liberalize certain investment channels by expanding the category of eligible foreign investors, it simultaneously reinforces the government's ability to scrutinize investments involving ownership, control, or beneficial ownership with certain countrie

Foreign influence has become one of the defining governance challenges of the digital age. Across democracies, governments are increasingly concerned about the ability of foreign actors to shape public discourse through funding of media organizations, think tanks, advocacy groups, research institutions and digital platforms. India is no exception. As cross-border capital flows become more sophisticated, concerns about opaque funding structures, hidden beneficial ownership and

The unfolding investigations surrounding the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) have thrown up an uncomfortable question for India's enforcement architecture: how is it that senior executives are being arrested, interrogated, and chargesheeted while the group's principal promoter, Anil Ambani, remains largely outside the immediate prosecutorial spotlight in several of these proceedings? This is not an argument about guilt or innocence. The law must ultimately determi

Independence Becomes a Legal Fiction I. Background: A Governance Question That Should Never Have Been Necessary Indian corporate governance has spent the better part of two decades trying to strengthen the institution of the independent director. Every major corporate scandal—from Satyam to governance controversies involving listed entities across sectors—has reinforced one central lesson: minority shareholders need credible voices in the boardroom that are insulated from the

Political Theatre involving Congress and BJP Indian politics increasingly resembles less of an ideological battlefield and more of a sophisticated negotiation table — one where conflict is real, but so are incentives, trade-offs, and strategic accommodations. The recent dynamics involving All India Trinamool Congress, Indian National Congress, Mamata Banerjee and the Bharatiya Janata Party invite one such alternative interpretation. To be clear, this is not an assertion of fa

Travel wide - travel freely - caravan travel There’s something about Indian highways that doesn’t show up in brochures. It’s in the chai stops that turn into conversations. The unplanned detours. The quiet dignity of small towns that don’t try to impress you. Over the years, Shital and I have discovered that road travel in India isn’t just transit—it’s perspective. And yet, we’ve always felt one limitation:You’re never fully free. You’re always chasing the next hotel, the nex

NSE Settlement and the Arithmetic of Absurdity The proposed settlement between the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is being presented as closure. In formal terms, it fits within a consent-based enforcement architecture. In economic terms, however, it raises a sharper question: Has a multi-year structural distortion of market fairness been reduced to a financially efficient exit? A tighter reading—through the lenses

Iran’s move to demand cryptocurrency tolls in the Strait of Hormuz exposes crypto’s darker reality. What was designed to bypass control is now enabling it—allowing states to evade sanctions, obscure flows, and exert coercion. Crypto isn’t dismantling power; it’s quietly becoming a more opaque instrument of it.

MODIFIED FOR TRAVEL The Evolution of Indian Regional Aviation: Learning from the Sky For nearly a decade, the Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) scheme has served as the centerpiece of India’s aviation narrative, aiming to fulfill the middle-class dream of affordable air travel. However, by early 2026, a stark reality had set in: nearly half of the routes launched under the original 2016 framework had collapsed once government subsidies expired. The recently approved Modified UD

Reclaims Indian Democracy from Foreign Influence The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment (FCRA) of 2020, and the subsequent 2026 Bill, represent a fundamental shift in India’s approach to national sovereignty and internal security. For decades, the "voluntary sector" operated with minimal oversight, allowing foreign-funded entities to bypass the democratic mandate of the Indian electorate. By tightening the strings, these amendments are empowering a "right set of idea

Board Brief: India’s New Labour Codes Reshape Cost Structures, Compress Margins, Expand Social Security, and Demand Strategic Workforce Reconfiguration to Balance Compliance Efficiency with Long-Term Financial Sustainability

Reimagining India’s ₹20,000 Crore Credit Guarantee Scheme for Microfinance: From Liquidity Patch to Structural Reform The Government of India’s ₹20,000 crore Credit Guarantee Scheme for Microfinance Institutions (CGSMFI-2.0) is a timely intervention. It addresses an immediate liquidity squeeze in the microfinance ecosystem by incentivizing banks to resume lending to NBFC-MFIs through sovereign-backed risk cover. In doing so, it helps prevent a contraction in credit flow to lo

3 years back i was involved in a marquee program supported by SIDBI - Svavalambam India. The idea was to provide about 3 months free residential program for first generation entreprenuer from cross section of non metro residents of maharashtra. i met a extraordinary bunch of budding individuals with interesting set of business ideas. i also formed personal bond with many of them. however after nearly three years of the culmination of the program, i am yet to see any of the co

The Supreme Court’s recent observation that income should not be the sole determinant in identifying the “creamy layer” within Other Backward Classes (OBCs) has reopened a fundamental question: what exactly are reservations meant to achieve? At first glance, the Court’s reasoning appears sympathetic to the idea that social discrimination can persist even among economically prosperous individuals. But this argument risks blurring the original logic of India’s reservation frame

Censorship resistance is one of the most powerful philosophical pillars of cryptocurrency. At its core, the idea holds that no authority—state, corporation, or intermediary—should be able to block, reverse, or selectively permit transactions. Money, in this view, should be neutral infrastructure: as indifferent to identity, politics, or geography as the internet protocol itself. This principle animated early crypto communities and remains central to how decentralization is mo

True financial inclusion is slow, institutional, and often unglamorous. It requires legal identity, consumer protection, financial education, and integration with the real economy. Crypto can complement these efforts, but it cannot substitute for them. When promoters portray crypto as a standalone emancipatory tool, they conflate access with empowerment and technology with trust.

Cryptocurrency emerged from a deeply philosophical conviction: that money should be decentralized, insulated from political discretion, and freed from the control of governments and banks. At its core, this belief reflects a distrust of centralized authority—born from repeated historical episodes of inflation, capital controls, financial repression, and crisis-driven bailouts. Crypto promised an alternative monetary order: rule-based rather than discretionary, global rather t

“Cryptocurrency is driven by the belief that money should be decentralized , not controlled by governments or banks. It champions financial sovereignty , giving individuals absolute ownership of their assets. The movement favors code over institutions , replacing intermediaries with transparent, trustless systems. Promoters see it as a pathway to universal financial access , beyond geography or status. At its core lies a conviction in economic freedom and censorship resi

trends in Padma awardees Over the last three decades, the announcement of Padma Awards has quietly evolved into more than a ceremonial recognition of individual achievement. In my view, it has become a mirror reflecting India’s changing ideological and philosophical self-understanding. While officially apolitical, the pattern of Padma Award recipients reveals how the Indian state’s conception of merit, contribution, and national identity has shifted over time. In the mid-1990