Can a gig economy come to the rescue

Valuation guru Aswath Damodaran in a recent interview said that the golden days of Indian IT firms are over and they would not be able to relive their past glories again. His reasoning hinged on the fact that other people have managed lower costs than India and the cost advantage game has ceased to exist for Indian IT. Read more at 

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/economy/can-a-gig-economy-come-to-the-rescue-of-the-beleaguered-it-sector-2305623.html

A must see

https://youtu.be/Ghud5F03Zh4A

The way back for monetary policy

The central banks of major advanced economies have been navigating uncharted territory in recent years. While their use of a range of unconventional monetary-policy tools has had benefits, it has also generated significant uncertainty, without fully stabilizing the world economy. Read more at http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/Ju5hmBV1rBw4sapWDGMdcK/The-way-back-for-monetary-policy.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

Consumer confidence at 9-year high

For the first time in nine years, India's consumer confidence index has soared to levels of 134 for the March 2016 quarter, pointing to optimism that people here feel about job prospects, personal finance and spending. It was in the first half of 2007 that India had achieved a consumer confidence index of 135 ahead of Norway, which was then ranked second globally with an index of 132. 
Read more at http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/consumer-confidence-at-9-year-high-116051800051_1.html

Profit margins to six-year highs

Operating profit margins of top Indian companies continued to expand in the March quarter, and rose to their highest level in at least six years, benefitting from the lag impact of the decline in commodity prices. Read more at http://www.livemint.com/Companies/ym672PyYMe28dFGKgECs7M/Lower-raw-material-costs-drive-profit-margins-to-sixyear-hi.html

Risk cover for your home loan

Rangan is 35 years old, married, has twins aged three years. His wife, Ragini, is a home-maker. She teaches music to a few young aspirants and earns a small amount of money every month that takes care of her personal expenses. But Rangan is the main earning member of the family. He works for an IT company, earns well, has a home loan which still has another 17 years of repayment (Rs.50 lakh more to be paid including principal and interest), has a car loan to be paid for another three years, and has to take care of his children’s education over the next 20 years. 
Read more at http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-propertyplus/risk-cover-for-your-home-loan/article8597495.ece

Know your needs, before you pick a debt mutual fund

Income fund, also known as debt fund, invests in a basket of fixed income securities such as bonds, debentures & money market instruments like certificate of deposit, commercial paper. These schemes are devoid of equity exposure and ideally suited for risk averse investors. However, such instruments carry broadly three types of risks – credit or default risk, interest rate risk & reinvestment risk. 

Read more at: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/fixed-income/know-your-needs-before-you-pickdebt-mutual-fund_3930681.html?utm_source=ref_article