Redefining Horizons

  INDIVIDUAL - CURRENCY AND PARITY VALUE The Currency Independent currency is a powerful symbol of sovereignty. It comes in different denominations, each different in looks, dimensions and security features. Differences aside, each one carries a statement of promise lending it credibility and making it legal tender, an instrument for value transfer and a medium of exchange. But there is a catch about the value “assured” to be transferred. Face Value Each note carries a promise that assures value at par with the printed face value. The value, said to be guaranteed with commensurate gold reserves, keeps fluctuating based on supply and demand, interest rates, inflation, public debt, and other macro and micro factors. Socio - political environment, itself speculative and make believe nowadays, influences currency value. Experienced as, purchasing power parity and expressed as exchange rates, a strong currency may equal many of a weaker currency. Transaction an Imperative Infla...

Caveat If the story narrated resembles any award function, it’s NOT intended! Advice To enjoy and get the best out of this article, as you read, try visualising being there watching it all. Lessons, you can draw thereafter. Visuals The dancers vanished from the stage after the scintillating sequence and the applause soon waned. The master of ceremonies took the stage wielding her mike like a sword. She surveyed the audience attempting to dramatise the occasion and even more dramatically announced “ It is time now for the final award ”. Silence consumed the crowd. Stars, mega, super, budding, fading, fallen and even self-assumed shuffled in their seats. The churn within notwithstanding, actors all, they put on their most detached looks as cameras panned. Fans waited to cheer. They create and nourish stars and celebrate anyway, even as the stars they created were kept safe, from them and their miserable existence, by bouncers. The fans crowded a real-life planet and nourish...

Phenomenal Growth Rs 5,124 crores in 2013. Rs 8,864 crores in 2016. Rs 11,300 crores in 2020. And if the Indian government’s statement to the parliament is to be believed, Rs 24,356 crores as on 31 Mar 2021. What a phenomenal growth! No. It is not the statement of the country’s achievements. It is the about the unclaimed money lying in 8.1 crore bank accounts. Each branch of every bank might have orphaned and unclaimed accounts. If the insurance sector is also considered, the orphaned assets could be anywhere near 50,000 crores. The figures do not include assets lying forgotten in vaults and lockers of banks and financial institutions.  The story of orphaned assets is incomplete! There is no organised and definite valuation, of real estate across the country lying uncared for and deteriorating due to ownership disputes or ignorance of inheritance. If assessed it will easily put the unclaimed accounts to shame. Who perpetrates such a colossal waste of resources? Who ...