INDIAN ECON, POLITICS, SOCIETY + BTC PRICE

[Bitcoin Smith]

Oh wow Nimo tai!
"There will be no Income Tax payable up to an income of Rs 12 Lakh,"

But they are indirectly forcing the people to move to new tax regime altogether?

12lakh seems to be no tempting but still the old tax regime is better for high value individuals cause that is what allows the deductions for various schemes while new tax regime only offers the concessional rates.

My final question is our government doesn't want the people to invest their money?

[JSRAW]

Oh wow Nimo tai!
"There will be no Income Tax payable up to an income of Rs 12 Lakh,"

But they are indirectly forcing the people to move to new tax regime altogether?

12lakh seems to be no tempting but still the old tax regime is better for high value individuals cause that is what allows the deductions for various schemes while new tax regime only offers the concessional rates.

My final question is our government doesn't want the people to invest their money?

It looks like it and the name "old tax regime" should give the idea. In the long term, it might vanish completely.

Our annual GDP PC is around 2.5 lakh to 3lakh so it's a big jump and a relief to most salaried class, jo sirf ek tragedy ki wajah se barbaad ho jate hai. I'd put every single earner of 12-15 lakh in a nuclear family in the same category, it's 99% of India.

Arey bhai shukar manao ki LTCG phir se nahi badai Nimo tai ne. I don't think Gov wants to discourage investment but IMHO Jinko financial freedom chahiye woh toh invest karenge hi, no one should wait for gov's initiative.

Dekho kya karti hai woh next week jab new income tax bill aayega, uske baad picture aur clear hogi.

[pawanjain]

Oh wow Nimo tai!
"There will be no Income Tax payable up to an income of Rs 12 Lakh,"

But they are indirectly forcing the people to move to new tax regime altogether?

12lakh seems to be no tempting but still the old tax regime is better for high value individuals cause that is what allows the deductions for various schemes while new tax regime only offers the concessional rates.

My final question is our government doesn't want the people to invest their money?

I was wondering the same thing. Investing in ELSS funds, taking term life insurance, NPS, PPF etc... were all the perks of section 80C.
All of these will be useless if we opt for the new tax regime isn't it. So as you say, does the government doesn't want us to do all of these ?
I guess it's more of a perference now for the people who choos new tax regime.
As JASRAW mentioned, even I believe that the old tax regime might get vanished in the upcoming years.

[Bitcoin Smith]

Arey bhai shukar manao ki LTCG phir se nahi badai Nimo tai ne. I don't think Gov wants to discourage investment but IMHO Jinko financial freedom chahiye woh toh invest karenge hi, no one should wait for gov's initiative.

I am not saying we should wait for the government but if we expect to see changes in the economic status as community then it is only possible with policy level changes. Making things harder will push fewer people achieving the financial freedom. There is two way of increasing the tax revenue, one is increasing the standard of life in people and make them rich and increase their spending nature to have more tax collection and there's another one just keep sucking the tax irrespective of unemployment, high inflation, increased cost of goods and service with the indirect taxes and our government always chose the later one to increase their tax revenue.

[JSRAW]

Arey bhai shukar manao ki LTCG phir se nahi badai Nimo tai ne. I don't think Gov wants to discourage investment but IMHO Jinko financial freedom chahiye woh toh invest karenge hi, no one should wait for gov's initiative.

I am not saying we should wait for the government but if we expect to see changes in the economic status as community then it is only possible with policy level changes. Making things harder will push fewer people achieving the financial freedom. There is two way of increasing the tax revenue, one is increasing the standard of life in people and make them rich and increase their spending nature to have more tax collection and there's another one just keep sucking the tax irrespective of unemployment, high inflation, increased cost of goods and service with the indirect taxes and our government always chose the later one to increase their tax revenue.

We should be honest with the realities. The standard of living is worse even in metro cities unless you are living in a 5km radius of some premier location. Revenue and finance help but It's not a holy grail and won't solve this mess here in India primarily because we don't have a civic sense or zero political will and mix it with retarded bureaucracy, Just compare Delhi with Sri Lanka (Delhi is practically a gas chamber). Here I'll give Modi some credit. He did push for it and was the first PM or political figure in India to talk about this but nothing happened.  

Many pundits are hoping that consumption, savings and investment of the middle class will go up or improve for sure because now they'll have more money in their pockets, which makes sense but we'll find out the result soon and the jury is still out.

Indirect taxes are a pain in the ass but mainly for salaried and honest taxpayers. I don't hold a grudge against the unfortunate ones and poor section of our society but there are a shitload amount of people who hide their incomes and avoid direct taxes, might sound stretch but numbers must be around 10s of crores. You can find these people in all walks of life. Be it Babus, politicians, celebrities etc etc. It's a fool's errand but I'd like to see some strict action on these leakages. Last but not least bring the most pampered section of our society, Farmers (rich ones) under the tax bracket.  

Edit: "Here I'll give Modi some credit...." Talking about Swach Bharat Abhiyan.

[Bitcoin Smith]

Many pundits are hoping that consumption, savings and investment of the middle class will go up or improve for sure because now they'll have more money in their pockets, which makes sense but we'll find out the result soon and the jury is still out.

The median salary of an average Indian is 20 to 30K INR so increasing the tax exemption to 12 lakh didn't change anything when it comes to majority of the people but instead of giving tax exception reducing the excise duty of fuel will bring more changes in everyone irrespective of their earning potential.

Indirect taxes are a pain in the ass but mainly for salaried and honest taxpayers. I don't hold a grudge against the unfortunate ones and poor section of our society but there are a shitload amount of people who hide their incomes and avoid direct taxes, might sound stretch but numbers must be around 10s of crores. You can find these people in all walks of life. Be it Babus, politicians, celebrities etc etc. It's a fool's errand but I'd like to see some strict action on these leakages. Last but not least bring the most pampered section of our society, Farmers (rich ones) under the tax bracket.  

Almost all the transactions are happening via banking from paying via chai to purchase car still our government and IT can't track these tax evaders and they only concentrate on the lump sump like 50Lakhs and above, if they increased the efficiency of IT and collect all the taxes then we can reduce GST to some extent which not including the black money which is more complicated and Indians always found different ways to keep their money under the records.

[JSRAW]

Arey Dilli walo, Kejri gayo. BJP finally won in Delhi after 27 years. Pure Delhi-NCR mein ab BJP ki Gov hai.

Ab kya expectation hongi Capital mein and what would be the priority for the BJP?

Air Pollution?
Yamuna?
Crumbling infrastructure?
Horse trading at MCD?
Hunting Kejriwal?
Illegal Rohingyas -Bangladeshi cleanup in NCR?

[Bitcoin Smith]

Ab kya expectation hongi Capital mein and what would be the priority for the BJP?

Air Pollution?
Yamuna?

Modi addressed as,"Yamuna Maiya Ki Jai." also they made some daring promises while campaigning which includes

➤ Cleaning the Yamuna River and developing a riverfront within three years.
➤ Clearing landfills across the city within three years.
➤ Providing LPG cylinders at ₹500 and free on Holi and Diwali.
➤ Granting ₹2,500 per month to women from economically weaker sections.
➤ Implementing Ayushman Bharat scheme in the first Cabinet meeting, offering ₹10 lakh in medical treatment coverage.
➤ Resuming pensions for seniors: ₹22,500 per month for those above 60 years and ₹23,000 per month for those above 70 years.
➤ Free education from kindergarten to postgraduate level.
➤ Ensuring a 100% manual scavenging-free Delhi.
➤ Deploying 13,000 e-buses to reduce pollution, aiming for a 100% e-bus fleet with a ₹20,000 crore investment.
➤ Allocating ₹765,000 crore for highway development to ease traffic congestion.
➤ Constructing new colleges, with three to be completed by 2026. ..
➤ Offering ₹21,000 and six nutrition kits for pregnant women.
➤ Granting ₹15,000 financial aid for students taking competitive exams.
➤ Providing ₹1,000 per month for Scheduled Caste students enrolled in technical and vocational courses.
➤ Creating 50,000 government jobs and 20 lakh employment opportunities.
➤ Granting ownership rights to 1,700 unauthorized colonies.

Source

I doubt they would do anything at all but they effectively ended the AAP party just because of their controversial alliance with congress in parliament election.

[JSRAW]

Ab kya expectation hongi Capital mein and what would be the priority for the BJP?

Air Pollution?
Yamuna?

Modi addressed as,"Yamuna Maiya Ki Jai." also they made some daring promises while campaigning which includes

➤ Cleaning the Yamuna River and developing a riverfront within three years.
➤ Clearing landfills across the city within three years.
➤ Providing LPG cylinders at ₹500 and free on Holi and Diwali.
➤ Granting ₹2,500 per month to women from economically weaker sections.
➤ Implementing Ayushman Bharat scheme in the first Cabinet meeting, offering ₹10 lakh in medical treatment coverage.
➤ Resuming pensions for seniors: ₹22,500 per month for those above 60 years and ₹23,000 per month for those above 70 years.
➤ Free education from kindergarten to postgraduate level.
➤ Ensuring a 100% manual scavenging-free Delhi.
➤ Deploying 13,000 e-buses to reduce pollution, aiming for a 100% e-bus fleet with a ₹20,000 crore investment.
➤ Allocating ₹765,000 crore for highway development to ease traffic congestion.
➤ Constructing new colleges, with three to be completed by 2026. ..
➤ Offering ₹21,000 and six nutrition kits for pregnant women.
➤ Granting ₹15,000 financial aid for students taking competitive exams.
➤ Providing ₹1,000 per month for Scheduled Caste students enrolled in technical and vocational courses.
➤ Creating 50,000 government jobs and 20 lakh employment opportunities.
➤ Granting ownership rights to 1,700 unauthorized colonies.

Source

I doubt they would do anything at all but they effectively ended the AAP party just because of their controversial alliance with congress in parliament election.

- I have a slight hope for Yamuna because they did an alright job with the Sabarmati Riverfront. Yamuna stretch in Delhi is around 20-22 km, not expecting them to cover the full stretch but if they can
  somehow take control of encroachment then there might be some possibility. It's tough job and needs political willpower.
- Cleaning landfills is low-hanging fruit, given every zone gets its waste management plan on order.
- Freebie stuff they will do, no matter what but with some checklist. Recently Maharastra Gov rejected around 4-5 lakh names from Ladli Behan scheme.
- Kejriwal didn't implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme in Delhi as he had some sort of scheme going on, so easy for new gov.
- Not following any news on pensions.
- Back in 2004-05 I remember paying 50-60 rs as annual fees or maybe quarterly (school fee). Still, it's a good scheme.
- Not sure about 100% manual scavenging-free Delhi
- We don't even have 10k e-buses in India so props to them if they manage to up their game, i have my doubts though.
- BJP's record is good with building stuff like roads, highways, hospitals, colleges etc.
- In regards to competitive exams, Financial aid is good but it should go to EWS only be it SC-ST-OBC-General because in the context of competitive exams, most of the time, these benefits go to the
  creamy layer (SC-ST).
- I won't mind some benefits for technical and vocational courses but again target should be EWS.
- Jobs well, it's a political promise.
- Unauthorized colonies are big votes so possible.

[Bitcoin Smith]

Anyone noticed the gold price? It just keep on increasing 600, 800 per day since the Budget and seems like the 1gm =10K is not that much far?

Also I want to initiate the discussion about the best way to invest on Gold in India? The standard method is buying jwellery but it's comes with wastage cost that makes it as the most stupid as investment the other options are buying gold coins or buying the digital gold which one you prefer especially if you accumulate on small scale.

[TheUltraElite]

Also I want to initiate the discussion about the best way to invest on Gold in India? The standard method is buying jwellery but it's comes with wastage cost that makes it as the most stupid as investment the other options are buying gold coins or buying the digital gold which one you prefer especially if you accumulate on small scale.

I was going for the Sovereign gold bonds but seems like the government understood its folly of them being profitable for the investors and loss for the government so they stopped issuing them.

I also keep eyes on the gold price and buy those coins when the price is right. This patient waiting can take years so in between just spend on investing in other sectors like stocks and other bonds.

[Bitcoin Smith]

I also keep eyes on the gold price and buy those coins when the price is right. This patient waiting can take years so in between just spend on investing in other sectors like stocks and other bonds.

We can buy Gold coins from any jwellery with hallmark but selling them is not that easy, even pledging the coins is not accepted on banks so they are only good if we have plans to convert them into jwellery in the future. Digital gold is trusted? Almost every app such as Google pay, phone pe has option to buy digital gold starting from 100 INR but trust factor is a concern with them.

Is there any app that lets buy digital gold and allowing it to convert into physical coins if we wanted?

[JSRAW]

The standard method is buying jwellery but it's comes with wastage cost that makes it as the most stupid as investment

There is a reason Women in India hold lots of gold. Middle-lower middle class doesn't see it as an investment but as a safeguard for bad times with an emotional touch. 

We still have a tradition where close family members (rich and poor) gift gold to a bride and groom. It could go as little as a Jumka, nath, locket-chain or chuda etc.

I am still very new to traditional investing and my first major investment was in BTC back in 2017 so gold returns don't excite me much. Bought a couple of properties tho but using them for personal use so won't call it an investment.

[Bitcoin Smith]

The standard method is buying jwellery but it's comes with wastage cost that makes it as the most stupid as investment

There is a reason Women in India hold lots of gold. Middle-lower middle class doesn't see it as an investment but as a safeguard for bad times with an emotional touch. 

We still have a tradition where close family members (rich and poor) gift gold to a bride and groom. It could go as little as a Jumka, nath, locket-chain or chuda etc.

I am still very new to traditional investing and my first major investment was in BTC back in 2017 so gold returns don't excite me much. Bought a couple of properties tho but using them for personal use so won't call it an investment.

Even in my family they always forced me to buy gold jewellery but I feel stupid whenever I bought them because I always paid 20% extra than what we are buying and it paid off too but the time period to get anything in return from gold lies from anywhere near 5 years. But as you said gold give access to money whenever we are in need cause this is the one we can pledge instantly almost anywhere.

People still fond of buying real estate but it's too complicated whenever we want to sell them and the tax is huge too from registration, annual property tax, etc.

[pawanjain]

Also I want to initiate the discussion about the best way to invest on Gold in India? The standard method is buying jwellery but it's comes with wastage cost that makes it as the most stupid as investment the other options are buying gold coins or buying the digital gold which one you prefer especially if you accumulate on small scale.

I was going for the Sovereign gold bonds but seems like the government understood its folly of them being profitable for the investors and loss for the government so they stopped issuing them.

I also keep eyes on the gold price and buy those coins when the price is right. This patient waiting can take years so in between just spend on investing in other sectors like stocks and other bonds.

Can you tell me what's the reason for buying gold coins instead of gold biscuits ?
While selling gold coins, they will reduce the making charges but gold biscuits don't have making charges as far as I know.
We should be aware that there's nothing printed on it and they are plaing gold biscuits which we can buy/sell at direct gold price.
After Soverign Gold Bonds, Gold biscuits would be the best way to invest in Gold but where to keep it ? There's no safe place to store it.

[TheUltraElite]

Can you tell me what's the reason for buying gold coins instead of gold biscuits ?
While selling gold coins, they will reduce the making charges but gold biscuits don't have making charges as far as I know.
We should be aware that there's nothing printed on it and they are plaing gold biscuits which we can buy/sell at direct gold price.

Nothing in particular. But I havent bought any for quite a few years now.

After Soverign Gold Bonds, Gold biscuits would be the best way to invest in Gold but where to keep it ? There's no safe place to store it.

I know that storing them is a pain in the rear too and you have to keep them in a bank safe at the most. SGB was a good option for plebs like us, but government stopped issuing them and I am not investing in anything in that sector at this point anymore. Just plain stocks for the long term.

[Bitcoin Smith]

Can you tell me what's the reason for buying gold coins instead of gold biscuits ?
While selling gold coins, they will reduce the making charges but gold biscuits don't have making charges as far as I know.
We should be aware that there's nothing printed on it and they are plaing gold biscuits which we can buy/sell at direct gold price.
After Soverign Gold Bonds, Gold biscuits would be the best way to invest in Gold but where to keep it ? There's no safe place to store it.

I don't think there's any difference at all, coins starts from 1GM and when it bigger the size changes. We can buy them from reputed jwellery with no making charges too, only we need to pay GST while buying coins and we can even buy from banks if I am not wrong.

The real problem comes with selling, we can convert into a jwellery at the current market price but when we want to sell they deduct the price not sure how much.

[JSRAW]

Arey what's happening in Nagpur? Saw videos in the news that Islamists are running riot but they are saying that it's because of Bajrand Dal or some other fringe Hindu group? Left is blaming the movie and actor for this chaos and again giving cover to Islamists? What happened to "if you don't like it, don't watch it".

Tamilnadu is also in the race for the Drama Cup by replacing the rupee symbol.

[Bitcoin Smith]

I am not aware of that issue

Tamilnadu is also in the race for the Drama Cup by replacing the rupee symbol.

Yup but the irony is the Rupee symbol ₹ created by a person is Tamil Nadu and the current ruling party there celebrated that but now they are going against it.

I get that it's like a way of protesting against the three language policy and unexpected one too.

However, our government really think learning Hindi adds any value to the person in terms of getting employed?

[JSRAW]

I am not aware of that issue

Tamilnadu is also in the race for the Drama Cup by replacing the rupee symbol.

Yup but the irony is the Rupee symbol ₹ created by a person is Tamil Nadu and the current ruling party there celebrated that but now they are going against it.

I get that it's like a way of protesting against the three language policy and unexpected one too.

However, our government really think learning Hindi adds any value to the person in terms of getting employed?

This is a shitty way to protest, some time back there was a North-South divide wave, today it's the rupee symbol because of Devanagari. One might argue that what if it's just a start?

Correct me, if I am wrong. It's not that 3 language policy pressuring someone to opt for Hindi as 3rd language. One is free to opt for any Indian language so why the fuss? NEP 1968 had mandatory Hindi status and the 2020 NEP gives freedom to choose any 3rd Indian language.

For South Indian, it won't help with the job in a big way but IMO it does increase your reach to 600+ million people. One could use this to his/her advantage, be it a politician and in the interweb world sky is the limit.