Gold and silver prices fell in international trade on Wednesday, October 21, as expectations of tighter US monetary policy weighed on precious metals, even as geopolitical uncertainty and seasonal buying in India offered potential support. On COMEX, gold futures declined $14.10, or 0.34%, to $4,128.50 per ounce, compared with the previous close of $4,143.40 an…
Earning ₹80,000 a month in India could place an individual among the country’s top 10% of earners. A comparison using the World Bank’s 2026 Poverty and Inequality Platform, however, highlights the wide gap between living standards in India and several advanced economies. The daily income or consumption threshold for the poorest 10% in India is…
Two exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking the same index may not deliver identical returns. Differences in expenses, portfolio management and trading prices can affect how closely each fund follows its benchmark, and how much investors ultimately earn. An index represents a benchmark, while an ETF holds securities to replicate its performance. The fund incurs operating and…
The Telangana High Court has ruled that tax authorities cannot invoke anti-avoidance provisions solely because a taxpayer derives a tax advantage from genuine stock market transactions, providing important clarity on the scope of the General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR). In a judgment involving EKGE Retail LLP, the court struck down a decision that had characterised a…
1 Finance has received in-principle approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to set up an asset management company (AMC) under the regulator’s MF Lite framework, which is designed for mutual funds offering passive investment schemes. 1 Finance gets SEBI in-principle approval for MF Lite AMC licence The Mumbai-based personal finance advisory…
PNB MetLife India Insurance Company has launched the Momentum Quality Index Fund, a passively managed fund available under its Smart GEM and SIPP Pro unit-linked insurance plans (ULIPs). The fund tracks the customised BSE 500 Momentum Quality 50 Index and combines momentum and quality factors to determine its investment exposure. The fund’s strategy uses momentum,…
The mutual fund industry’s assets under management (AUM) declined 5.1% month on month to ₹82.64 lakh crore in September from ₹87.08 lakh crore in August, even as equity schemes attracted higher inflows and the number of investor folios continued to rise, according to ICRA Analytics. The ₹4.44 lakh crore decline in AUM raises a question:…
PhonePe has renamed its stockbroking platform Share.Market as PhonePe Invest and introduced a tool that analyses investors’ portfolios, including their holdings across demat accounts. The tool, Portfolio Optimiser, provides a consolidated view of a portfolio’s diversification and offers research-based Hold, Monitor or Sell ratings for individual holdings, the company said on October 19. It is…
Should you wait for a market correction to start a systematic investment plan (SIP)? Does the investment date affect returns? And can a longer investment horizon reduce the risk of losses? A historical analysis by WhiteOak Capital Mutual Fund, based on BSE Sensex Total Return Index (TRI) data from August 1996 to September 2026, examined…
The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has launched NPS Central, a digital platform that allows National Pension System (NPS) subscribers to access and manage their accounts across three Central Recordkeeping Agencies (CRAs) through a single interface. The platform, available at www.npscentral.in, was launched on October 1 on NPS Diwas and is jointly developed…
