Furqan Qamar and Taufeeque Ahmad Siddiqui

Come clean on clean economy and clean note policies

June 12, 2023

The brain has two organs - the nucleus accumbens and the anterior cingulate. These organs illuminate when an activity takes place around us and start searching for possible patterns in the environment. This primal instinct helped humans observe phenomena like changing weather, food distribution, predator behaviour, etc. That was millions...

The Fatal Affliction

April 8, 2023

Abraham Lincoln, in his letter to Albert G Hodges on 4th April 1864, wrote: “I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.” Abraham Lincoln. What was true then remains true now but few would want to admit so. Instead, they would like to...

NPS could be made as good as OPS

March 3, 2023

The central and the state government employees and their brethren and sisters working in their autonomous institutions have been unhappy with the New Pension Scheme of the National Pension System (NPS). They want the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) that has been in vogue since Independence to be restored. Chhattisgarh, Himachal...

Old vs New Tax Regime: What you need to know

February 14, 2023

The past two budgets have been nudging people to opt for the New Tax Regime (NTR). Budget 2023 claims to have made NTR all the more alluring for all categories of taxpayers. Standard Deduction as applicable to OTR has been extended to NTR besides raising the tax exemption limit for...

Bank-corporate ugly nexus: No easy way out

January 7, 2023

Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) are inherent in the financial system’s very nature but must be contained within enduring limits. Lately, however, they have been skyrocketing, impinging adversely on the credibility of the banking industry. It is gratifying to note that despite predictions to the contrary, the Gross NonPerforming Assets (GNPA) ratio...

Bad assets must come down for good health of banks

August 22, 2022

It was a great relief to know that the Gross Non Performing Assets (GNPAs) of the commercial banks had declined to 5.97 percent of their gross advances. It may, however, be a too early to rejoice as the 24th issue of the Financial Stability Report (FSR) of the Reserve Bank...

‘Bad Bank’ must succeed to have good banks

June 29, 2022

‘Exact predictions of policy outcomes are routine. Expressions of uncertainty are rare. Predictions and estimates often are fragile, resting on unsupported assumptions. So the expressed certitude is incredible,” states Charles F. Manski, an eminent economist, renowned for his work on judgement and decisions, and policy analysis in an uncertain world....

Perilous pitfalls of the ease of doing PhD

June 15, 2022

Policy planners typify mid-course corrections to ensure that a designed policy delivers the desired result. This is as true in the case of higher education as in other realms. They are, however, expected to be progressive rather than retrograde. A case in point relate to the selection and recruitment of...