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Monika Halan

Articles by Monika Halan

US is playing Russian Roulette with China

The world waits to see who gets the bullet in the head

For stock investors, now is the time to get out of the room and not take any action (either buy or sell) (AP)

Opinion

Updated on Apr 08, 2025 06:47 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

The stage is yours for only 35 years

Retiring early might sound good at 40, but are you prepared for the 60 years ahead?

The early retirement dream that social media influencers have sowed sometimes forgets to fully account for the twin impacts of inflation and longevity (HT Photo)

Opinion

Updated on Apr 01, 2025 08:27 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

What is to be done when the markets keep falling

Your portfolio tells a story. If the bleed is less than the market average, it’s a good story, else you need to read this

As an investor, your plan should be asset allocation and not speculation or short-term return maximising (PTI)

Opinion

Published on Mar 06, 2025 07:51 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

A high-class budget for middle-class India

The finance minister has put over ₹1 lakh crore in the pockets of income-tax-paying Indians, betting on higher consumption and savings for growth

Mumbai, India - May 25, 2017: Office goers having food and drink together at Dishkiyaoon, BKC in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, May 25, 2017. (Photo by Pratik Chorge/Hindustan Times) (Pratik Chorge/HT Photo)

Opinion

Published on Feb 01, 2025 11:29 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

The missing taxpayer in India’s middle class

India loses ₹8 lakh crore a year in unpaid income taxes due to exemptions and tax evasion from just the middle class.

For decades, various governments have tried to bring those outside the tax net into it and have failed Pradeep Gaur/ Mint (Pradeep Gaur/ Mint)

Opinion

Updated on Jan 26, 2025 08:35 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

Between the rich and the poor, the middle is stuck

The income-tax-paying Indian has become the cash cow for the government

Personal income taxes, paid by less than 5% of the total population, pulled 19% of the almost <span class='webrupee'>₹</span>45 trillion total budget burden in 2023-24. (Photo by Santosh Kumar / Hindustan Times)

Opinion

Published on Jan 10, 2025 10:20 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

Money lesson for 2025: Keep faith in basics

There is little reason to panic: Stay diversified between debt and equity, instead of chasing high-risk instruments or treating the stock markets a gambling den

FILE PHOTO: Indian twenty rupee currency notes are displayed at a roadside currency exchange stall in New Delhi, India, May 24, 2024. REUTERS/Priyanshu Singh//File Photo (REUTERS)

Opinion

Published on Jan 03, 2025 08:26 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

What ails the health insurance industry

Deny, delay, and depose pave the way for insurance company profits and widespread policyholder anger

While insurance firms and hospitals have the legal and operational muscle to deal with each other, the patient and policyholder suffers a double hit (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO)

Opinion

Updated on Dec 11, 2024 08:27 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

The unbearable heaviness of financial conversations

On the issues of money and relationships, a non-emotional, baggage-free approach works best.

Stress about money emerges around joint expenses and apportioning costs across the family. (Photo by Arun Sharma/ Hindustan Times (Arun Sharma/HT PHOTO)

Opinion

Published on Nov 08, 2024 08:34 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

Non-US world struggles to find common currency

The case for a non-US-control based international system of transactions is clear. The world needs to build pipelines

A souvenir bitcoin token is seen pictured with a 100 ruble bill in Moscow on July 30, 2024. Russian lawmakers voted on July 30, 2024 to tighten rules on petrocurrency mining, while also paving the way for it to be used in cross-border payments as a means to skirt Western sanctions. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / AFP) (AFP)

Opinion

Published on Sep 30, 2024 08:43 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

This generation gap is actually a valley

The first beneficiaries of the 1991 economic reforms are now retiring. Their kids are clear that they don’t want to repeat their parents’ lives

The FIRE movement — Financial Independence, Retire Early — movement is a rage with the young urban Indians who can’t wait to quit the work grind and travel the world, engage in their hobbies and just chill. / AFP PHOTO / INDRANIL MUKHERJEE (AFP)

Opinion

Published on Sep 16, 2024 12:20 AM IST

ByMonika Halan

Falling deposit growth: The rot is in the branch

RBI must look in the mirror to see how a lack of regulation of third-party sales and inadequate competition in the banking industry led to the current situation

FILE PHOTO: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seal is pictured on a gate outside the RBI headquarters in Mumbai, India, February 2, 2016. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/File Photo (REUTERS)

Opinion

Published on Aug 20, 2024 08:56 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

Budget 2024: The Indian middle class expected more

From 35,000 feet, the Budget 2024 story is this: The government will continue to tax the top 10% of the population heavily

Mumbai, Jul 23 (ANI): People watch the live telecast of Union Budget 2024-25 presentation by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the Parliament House on a display screen, outside the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in Mumbai on Tuesday. (ANI Photo) (Sandip Mahankal)

Opinion

Updated on Jul 24, 2024 12:12 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

Eat the rich, but do it in a logical way

A clean-up is needed in India’s tax regime to make it rational across assets. There is also a need for policy permanence

Mumbai, India - March 31, 2015 : People stand in queue to file their IT returns on last day of financial year outside Income Tax office at BKC, Bandra in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, March 31, 2015. (Photo by Pratham Gokhale/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

Opinion

Published on Jul 01, 2024 08:34 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

How the Centre should spend the bonanza from RBI

The new government would be wise to prioritise reducing fiscal deficit with the surplus dividend from RBI. Spending, if any, from this amount should be on capex

Opinion

Published on May 24, 2024 11:06 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

KYC is a public good that is crying for an overhaul

To have a fundamental flaw in the form of a botched KYC will hurt the most vulnerable people such as the elderly, the poor, or migrants the worst.

The problem of uniform KYC should have been solved at the central government level when they set up the CKYC that promised a single source of truth of identity and address to the entire market.(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Opinion

Published on May 15, 2024 10:59 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

Questions to the Congress on wealth redistribution

A mass redistribution of assets in a subcontinent-sized country with 1.4 billion people will need huge government capacity to carry out the exercise.

FILE- India’s opposition Congress party leaders from left, Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Rahul Gandhi, display copies of party’s election manifesto during a press conference in New Delhi, India, April 5, 2024. India's 6-week-long general election starts on April 19 and results will be announced on June 4. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)(AP)

Opinion

Published on Apr 16, 2024 10:11 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

Two seat-belts to safely invest in small-cap stocks

Small caps have a place in a retail portfolio, but investors must have protections in place

Opinion

Published on Apr 05, 2024 11:44 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

IRDAI signs off on investor gouging

Early exits from life insurance will continue to haemorrhage savings

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India

Opinion

Updated on Mar 28, 2024 11:20 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

A non-event budget, which is a good thing

The interim Budget 2024 has few policy announcements. Given the coming elections, a work-in-progress budget is better than a freebie laden one

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, carrying a folder-case containing the Interim Budget 2024.(PTI)

Opinion

Published on Feb 01, 2024 10:00 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

India need not rush in where the US dares to go

US securities market regulator has allowed Bitcoin ETFs. India should not follow blindly.

Representation of Bitcoin cryptocurrency and

Opinion

Published on Jan 19, 2024 09:41 AM IST

ByMonika Halan

Trust the market to make your millions

The year promises to be volatile in events and for markets. A practical strategy-based approach to your money can give you stability along with good returns

The stock market index on a display screen at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai.(PTI)

Opinion

Published on Jan 04, 2024 10:11 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

Insurance regulator’s baby step to guard policyholders

The IRDAI has taken a baby step to potentially reduce the costs for a policyholder when she surrenders the policy earlier than the maturity period

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has taken a baby step to potentially reduce the costs that a policyholder must bear in a traditional plan (money back, endowment, child plan) when she surrenders the policy earlier than the maturity period

Opinion

Published on Dec 19, 2023 10:31 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

The growth roar of Middle India

Tax data shows India’s journey towards becoming a middle-income country

The graphic shows the growth of salary income according to income slabs over this period. (File)

opinion

Published on Oct 30, 2023 10:55 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

In praise of growth that lifts all the boats

There is no evidence that suggests that India’s economic growth has furthered inequality

The tricolour atop the new Parliament building. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

opinion

Published on Sep 19, 2023 12:42 AM IST

ByMonika Halan

Money wrinkles must not mar your old age

Assets of the 70-plus are at risk from within and outside the family. Outright fraud, misselling and emotional wrangling of assets are just some of the dangers

Whether it is a neighbourhood group, a religious one or something related to a hobby, a community where you meet and share your everyday issues is a big emotional cushion(Stock)

opinion

Published on Aug 30, 2023 10:46 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

This market bull run is no hot air balloon

The Indian stock market rose 16% between March 24 and July 17, powered by a clutch of reforms, and fuelled by retail and foreign institutional investor money

opinion

Published on Jul 17, 2023 09:29 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

An equal wheel of the marriage cart, not just a donkey

A recent HC judgment takes a giant leap in women’s rights over assets built during a marriage

For women, whose contribution to the home is often relegated into an endless void, the HC judgment is a giant leap forward.

opinion

Published on Jul 01, 2023 11:24 AM IST

ByMonika Halan

Cracking down on fraud in cyberspace

Sebi’s latest paper aims to curb the misuse of cyberspace channels that are enabling insider trading. It’s vital to understand it

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), recently noticed that disappearing messages, chat groups and encrypted calls were being used for what looked like insider trading and front running(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

opinion

Published on May 31, 2023 09:49 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

Tighter regulations will assist investors

A new Sebi consultation paper aims to look after mutual fund investors, reduce charges and save retail investors crores

Sebi’s consultation paper may herald growth for mutual fund investors through increased transparency and disclosure (Shutterstock)

opinion

Updated on May 21, 2023 08:19 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

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Monika Halan

The world waits to see who gets the bullet in the head

Retiring early might sound good at 40, but are you prepared for the 60 years ahead?

Your portfolio tells a story. If the bleed is less than the market average, it’s a good story, else you need to read this

The finance minister has put over ₹1 lakh crore in the pockets of income-tax-paying Indians, betting on higher consumption and savings for growth

India loses ₹8 lakh crore a year in unpaid income taxes due to exemptions and tax evasion from just the middle class.

The income-tax-paying Indian has become the cash cow for the government

There is little reason to panic: Stay diversified between debt and equity, instead of chasing high-risk instruments or treating the stock markets a gambling den

Deny, delay, and depose pave the way for insurance company profits and widespread policyholder anger

On the issues of money and relationships, a non-emotional, baggage-free approach works best.

The case for a non-US-control based international system of transactions is clear. The world needs to build pipelines

The first beneficiaries of the 1991 economic reforms are now retiring. Their kids are clear that they don’t want to repeat their parents’ lives

RBI must look in the mirror to see how a lack of regulation of third-party sales and inadequate competition in the banking industry led to the current situation

From 35,000 feet, the Budget 2024 story is this: The government will continue to tax the top 10% of the population heavily

A clean-up is needed in India’s tax regime to make it rational across assets. There is also a need for policy permanence

The new government would be wise to prioritise reducing fiscal deficit with the surplus dividend from RBI. Spending, if any, from this amount should be on capex

To have a fundamental flaw in the form of a botched KYC will hurt the most vulnerable people such as the elderly, the poor, or migrants the worst.

A mass redistribution of assets in a subcontinent-sized country with 1.4 billion people will need huge government capacity to carry out the exercise.

Small caps have a place in a retail portfolio, but investors must have protections in place

Early exits from life insurance will continue to haemorrhage savings

The interim Budget 2024 has few policy announcements. Given the coming elections, a work-in-progress budget is better than a freebie laden one

US securities market regulator has allowed Bitcoin ETFs. India should not follow blindly.

The year promises to be volatile in events and for markets. A practical strategy-based approach to your money can give you stability along with good returns

The IRDAI has taken a baby step to potentially reduce the costs for a policyholder when she surrenders the policy earlier than the maturity period

Tax data shows India’s journey towards becoming a middle-income country

There is no evidence that suggests that India’s economic growth has furthered inequality

Assets of the 70-plus are at risk from within and outside the family. Outright fraud, misselling and emotional wrangling of assets are just some of the dangers

The Indian stock market rose 16% between March 24 and July 17, powered by a clutch of reforms, and fuelled by retail and foreign institutional investor money

A recent HC judgment takes a giant leap in women’s rights over assets built during a marriage

Sebi’s latest paper aims to curb the misuse of cyberspace channels that are enabling insider trading. It’s vital to understand it

A new Sebi consultation paper aims to look after mutual fund investors, reduce charges and save retail investors crores

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