Have you bought or sold a house or a plot for more than Rs 30 lakh? Then expect a knock from tax hounds. Real estate sector is high on the radar of the income-tax department, which is going to keep a close watch on buyers or sellers of property. (more…)

Continuing flight of foreign capital from Indian equity markets and the persisting global financial crisis, hit by surging crude oil prices, are likely to send the domestic currency crashing to 47-level against the US dollar in the coming months, the experts have warned. (more…)

OUCH! Buying a new car will get costlier from this week. Following the CRR and repo rate hike by RBI, top auto financiers have decided to raise interest rates on loans. This is the third rate hike so far this year. According to car dealers, the top trio of ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Kotak have all lined up 50-100 basis point hikes from July 1. (more…)

For the 12 years Jerry Schneider has invested in the 401(k) retirement plan offered by his employer, Portland, Oregon-based engineering firm Elcon Associates Inc., he has battled to learn how much he pays in fees and then has tried to get Elcon to reduce them.
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If soaring gasoline prices have prompted you to look for a more fuel-efficient ride, using miles per gallon as a guide could lead you astray, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.Instead, they propose a new standard based on gallons per mile, which gives people a far better idea of how much gasoline they might save by switching trading in that gas-guzzling minivan. (more…)

As many Indian Businesses are involved in filing for green cards for their employees this case is of special interest to us. Looks like we have to follow this case closely as DOL seems to be indicating that Firms should not contact their lawyers to figure out if a candidate is qualified to be hired. (more…)

Indian inflation reached a 13 year high of 11.42% for the week ending Jun 14, 2008. The government anticipates the rate increasing another 0.2 percent to hit its peak before it starts coming down due to the numerous policies of the government to reduce inflation rate. Not sure if their intention is to create a self fulfilling prophecy as I do not see inflation peaking after a 0.2% rise as the main component of this rise is crude oil and today crude hit a peak of $141 and is close to $142. (more…)

I could not stay away from this interesting perspective on the Mugabe issue. This presentation by Swaminathan Iyer (the Consulting Editor of The Economic Times, India’s largest financial daily. He writes a popular weekly column in the Times of India titled Swaminomics) reflects my thoughts closely on this issue (more…)

India and China saw bigger growth in the millionaire population last year than anywhere else, and wealth in the Asia-Pacific is expected to grow nearly 8 percent a year to 2012 despite a slowdown in the world at large, a survey showed. (more…)

RBI raised the benchmark repurchase rate at which it lends to banks to 8.5% to curb rising inflation. It also raised the cash reserve ratio to 8.75% (more…)