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Monika Halan

Monika Halan

Articles by Monika Halan

Is the dollar getting dethroned? Not quite

De-dollarisation predicts the fall of the hegemony of the US, but no alternative currency currently exists.

The looming downgrade of US treasuries might cause global headlines, but will not have a lasting impact on the dollar’s supremacy. After the S&P downgrade in 2011, the US dollar went up rather than down. (Shutterstock)

Published on May 11, 2023 07:17 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

How to influence finfluencers (in five easy steps)

There are no easy steps in regulating the space. It will need to be a mix of regulatory outreach to regulated entities and investors going beyond fear and greed

Some expensive lessons learnt by investors who have lost money. Some reputations gone to dust. Some VC money burnt. The takeaway for investors is just this: If you don’t understand the risk of an investment, stay away. (REUTERS)

Updated on May 11, 2023 04:36 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

Don’t privilege govt workers over others

Instead of reviewing the National Pension System, train government employees to understand finance, markets and how to plan for their retirements

India has been a global pioneer in moving from a defined benefit (workers get a percentage of their last drawn pay) to a defined contribution (where workers accumulate a retirement corpus and then draw an annuity from it) pension system for government employees (PTI)

Updated on Apr 24, 2023 06:58 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

Bid to remove tax benefit from debt funds is hasty

There is an uproar in the Indian investing community over the collapsing of the long- and short-term tax status of debt funds, removing the indexation benefit from financial year 2023-24 and the manner in which it was pushed through.

Bid to remove tax benefit from debt funds is hasty

Published on Mar 25, 2023 01:32 AM IST

ByMonika Halan

The inflation-is-tamed narrative takes its first scalp

Silicon Valley Bank's failure: Asset liability mismatch due to poor risk management practices, worsened by a decade of zero interest rates in the US.

People gather outside of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) headquarters in Santa Clara, California, US, March 10, 2023 (REUTERS)

Updated on Mar 13, 2023 08:49 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

Judicial rush to save investors is misplaced

Investors need protection from fraud, toxic products and mis-selling. Not from volatility. The Supreme Court may consider widening the terms of the panel on investor protection

If a panel is set up, it must consider losses of investors in the other regulated parts of the market due to poor regulation and market failure (HT PHOTO)

Updated on Feb 19, 2023 08:43 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

A growth push, and a nudge to salaried class

The finance minister has done well to stick to the path of fiscal consolidation, but whether people will move to new default tax regime will depend on some factors

The 7.5% interest rate, given in the one-time small savings scheme aimed at women — the Mahila Samman Savings Certificate – with a limit of <span class='webrupee'>₹</span>2 lakh for two years, is meant to incentivise the move to the formal financial sector for women who are still wary of banks, typically in small towns and rural India (REUTERS)

Updated on Feb 02, 2023 07:37 AM IST

ByMonika Halan

FTX implosion is a costly lesson for retail investors

With the global crypto industry in a state of total disarray, the collapse of crypto giant, FTX, points to the grim future of an industry premised on decentralisation, albeit with no underlying asset to safeguard its value

For an industry that touted disaggregation and decentralisation as a unique selling proposition, it has been the aggregation and centralisation in some exchanges that put investor money at risk. (Shutterstock)

Published on Nov 15, 2022 06:57 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

A robust credit rating system is key for India

A recent Sebi decision to scrap Brickwork Ratings’ licence has sent a strong message. Now, courts must consider carefully the issue of investor protection as many funds rely on rating agencies to deploy the household savings of citizens

The market regulator, Sebi, cancelled the licence of Brickwork Ratings because of poor stability in ratings, failure to exercise due diligence and no effort to address the issue of conflict of interest (Shutterstock)

Updated on Oct 10, 2022 07:45 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

The Indian government’s decisive shift on markets

The political buy-in of markets is excellent news for India’s retail investors. Modi's decisive steps in this direction will lead to more reform and financial literacy

The words of the PM point to two areas of action in the days ahead. One, expect hard reform in the parts of the market that have resisted change. Two, expect a greater push on financial education and literacy efforts. (ANI)

Published on Aug 09, 2022 09:29 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

The time has come to change the poverty narrative in India

A change in the narrative to an I-want-to-be-rich one has the potential to drive the next few decades of economic growth

A nation emerging out of generations of poverty and a socialist political mind-set needs a change in narrative. “I want to be rich” should not be shamefully imagined but be owned and aspired for. (Shutterstock)

Published on May 05, 2022 09:36 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

Budget 2022 should lend a helping hand

Give workers a two-year PF contribution holiday; extend the ₹5 lakh health insurance to the ‘missing middle’; and make the buying of government securities under RBI’s direct scheme tax free

We need to remember that India is just emerging out of a once-in-a-hundred-year catastrophic event. We need to just stay afloat rather than split hairs about pre-pandemic growth rate trend lines. (Burhaan Kinu/HT PHOTO)

Published on Jan 30, 2022 09:49 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

A new-found confidence about India reflects in a bold Union Budget 2021

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has chosen to spend on generating future income using the higher capital spending, which has gone up by 35.4% over the previous year. This is good.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman holds a bahi khata containing the Union Budget 2021-22 as she poses for a group photograph with MoS Finance Anurag Thakur and other members of finance ministry, at North Block in New Delhi on Monday.(PTI Photo)

Published on Feb 02, 2021 12:11 AM IST

ByMonika Halan

A new confidence about India reflects in a bold Budget 2021

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has chosen to spend on generating future income using the higher capital spending, which has gone up by 35.4% over the previous year

Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman. (Ajay Aggarwal /HT PHOTO)

Updated on Feb 01, 2021 09:59 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

Modicare: A scheme for Bharat that India may like to pay for

Modicare can transform not just the lives of the poor, but also improve the behaviour of the insurance and healthcare sectors

Patients being treated at a hospital in Thane, Maharashtra (File Photo)(Praful Gangurde/HT)

Updated on Feb 09, 2018 12:03 AM IST

ByMonika Halan

Union budget 2018: A budget for Bharat, but middle class Indians sulk

Though finance minister Arun Jaitley’s budget has significant schemes in healthcare and the standard deduction for salaried class, the only middle class cohort to truly benefit is the senior citizen.

People watch finance minister Arun Jaitley present the budget in Parliament, in Mumbai on February 1, 2018.(Satish Bate/HT Photo)

Updated on Feb 02, 2018 02:19 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

Why there is a bad smell about life insurance in India

The very high front incentives are triggering massive mis-selling and fraud in life insurance. I worry that as the unbanked now get into the formal financial system, we are setting them up for financial disaster.

Life insurance mis-selling and fraud by bank branches is systemic in the country(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Published on Dec 30, 2017 05:08 PM IST

ByMonika Halan

FRDI bill: Don’t worry, your fixed deposits are safe and banks cannot use them without your consent

Your deposits will be insured, just as they are today and there is an additional protection for depositors because the bail-in can be invoked, and your deposits be lost, only if you have given your consent to the bank when you signed the deposit forms.

It will be a politically suicidal government that will allow bank depositors to lose their money due to bank failure, even beyond the insured amounts.(Sushil Kumar/HT PHOTO)

Updated on Dec 12, 2017 11:09 AM IST

ByMonika Halan

11 tax-savers to pick from

Did you know that there are several other—non-insurance—products that can get the same tax benefit that an insurance policy does? Even within insurance, there are plans that get tax deduction and work better as a life cover. But these remain the financial world’s best kept secrets reports Monika Halan.

HT Image

Updated on Jan 17, 2010 11:08 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByMonika Halan

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