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Investing and markets: fund research and guides

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Direct Tax 29 Sept 2026 01 Diwali 2026 Money Guide: Tax on Gifts, Bonus and Gold — the ₹15,000 Gift from Your Employer, Gifts to Spouse and Parents, and What You Pay When You Sell Gold A festive-season tax guide for tax year 2026-27, the first Diwali under the Income-tax Act, 2025. Gifts from an employer are tax-free below ₹15,000 a year, up from ₹5,000. Gifts from friends are taxed in full once they cross ₹50,000. A gift to a spouse, daughter-in-law or minor child saves no tax on the income it earns. A bonus can be taxed away almost entirely near ₹12 lakh of income. Cash of ₹2 lakh or more cannot be accepted even from a relative. Gold sold after 24 months is taxed at 12.5%, and Sovereign Gold Bonds redeemed early are no longer tax-free. With the rules for employers on GST, TDS and statutory bonus. Read more Markets 29 Sept 2026 02 Red Monday and the Day After: More Than ₹12 Lakh Crore of Market Value Gone at the Low, ₹10.5 Lakh Crore at the Close, and the Five Forces That Did It On Monday 28 September 2026 the Sensex fell 1,124 points and the Nifty closed at 22,780.25, a six-month low, erasing ₹8.88 lakh crore of listed market value in one session. On Tuesday morning the fall continued and the two-day loss crossed ₹12 lakh crore, before the Sensex recovered to close 243 points lower at 72,529.07. At the close the two-day loss was about ₹10.5 lakh crore. The triggers were a rejected Iran offer, Brent at $108, US yields at a 19-year high, foreign selling of ₹5,353 crore and a rupee past 96. What the government and the RBI have done, how this compares with March and May, and what the numbers mean for a household with SIPs. Read more Markets 28 Sept 2026 03 The Price of Money Went Up Everywhere This Week: US Yields at a 19-Year High, a Hormuz Offer Rejected, and the Nifty's Seventh Weekly Fall in a Row Between 21 and 26 September 2026 the US 10-year Treasury yield touched its highest level since 2007, Norway raised rates and the Fed signalled more hikes, Iran offered a seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and the US President rejected it, Xi Jinping's state visit bought a two-month US–China trade truce, and India's Nifty fell for a seventh straight week as foreign investors sold ₹11,490 crore and the country's forex reserves dropped $14.9 billion in one week. What connects them, what the numbers say, and the ten dates that decide the next fortnight — from a three-day bank strike to the RBI's 7 October policy. Read more Markets 24 Sept 2026 04 IRDAI's Commission Crackdown and RBI's New Bank Rules: What Changed This Week, and Why Insurance Stocks Fell Up to 36% Today On 23 September IRDAI proposed to cut what insurers may spend on selling policies — expenses of management down to 12.5% of premium for life insurers and 20% for general insurers, first-year commissions of 2–2.5% on loan-linked term cover, nothing on third-party motor, and an end to insurance bundled with loans. On 24 September the market priced it: PB Fintech fell 36%, Max Financial 9.8%, HDFC Life 6.2%, banks with big bancassurance books followed, and the Nifty closed at a five-month low. Alongside it, the RBI finalised its Basel III market-risk capital rules and the new board-governance directions take effect on 1 October. The highlights, the numbers, and what each means for a policyholder, a bank customer and an investor. Read more Markets 22 Sept 2026 05 The World in One Week: A Signed Sanctions Law, a Greenland Pact, an Iran Ultimatum and Ukraine's First Counter-Offensive of the Year Between 18 and 26 September 2026, five things happened that an Indian saver has a direct stake in: the US President signed the Russia–Iran sanctions law that authorises tariffs of up to 100% on the biggest buyers of Russian oil; he signed a trilateral security pact with Denmark and Greenland at the UN; he told the General Assembly he must choose between a deal with Iran and annihilating it, and expects a deal only after November's midterms; Ukraine's Operation Vivaldi retook ground in Donetsk while Kyiv pressed for an energy truce; and India's turn at the podium falls on 26 September. Here is the week with the numbers attached — and what each one does to oil, the rupee and your portfolio. Read more Markets 19 Sept 2026 06 Global Markets This Week: Greenland Settled, Iran Blockaded, a Saudi Pipeline Hit, and India's Red Line on the US Sanctions Law Four fronts moved in one week and each has a number attached: the US–Denmark security agreement on Greenland after nine months of tariff and invasion threats; a US naval blockade that has taken Iranian oil exports to roughly zero and a drone strike that shut Saudi Arabia's 4–5 million barrel-a-day East–West pipeline, pushing Brent above $100; Britain's $44.10 price cap and Royal Marines boarding a shadow-fleet tanker; and a US law authorising tariffs of up to 100% on the top buyers of Russian oil — of which India, at 2.08 million barrels a day in August, is one. What each means for an Indian saver, borrower and investor. Read more Markets 17 Sept 2026 07 India's Economy This Week: EPF Ceiling Raised to ₹25,000, UPI Gets a Merchant Fee, and the Rupee Slides Past 95 What actually changed in India's economy in mid-September 2026, with the numbers: the EPF wage ceiling rises to ₹25,000 from 17 September (51 lakh workers, ₹11,339 crore a year), UPI charges merchants 0.4% on payments above ₹2,000 from 15 October, July's balance of payments shows a $20.8 billion reserve build on record NRI deposits, and RBI is draining a ₹9.85 trillion liquidity surplus while the rupee touches 95.96. Read more Markets 08 Sept 2026 08 Three Crises, One Week: How a Trade War, a Middle East War, and an Oil Shock Are Colliding Right Now Canada's retaliatory tariffs went live today, the Strait of Hormuz is still disrupted six months into the Iran war, and economists are openly split on recession. The three are feeding each other — and the connecting thread is oil and inflation. Read more Markets 07 Sept 2026 09 India's 7.8% Quarter: What the GDP Release Actually Says, and the Question Underneath It The economy grew 7.8% in real terms and 10.3% in nominal terms. The gap between those two figures is where most of the argument about this quarter actually lives. Read more Direct Tax 16 Aug 2026 10 Capital Gains After the 2024 Overhaul The July 2024 changes did more than move rates. They removed indexation for most assets, flattened holding periods, and quietly changed which investments make sense to hold. Read more Investing 14 Aug 2026 11 The 4% Rule Is a Starting Point, Not a Plan It came from a 1994 study of a single country, a single asset mix, and a 30-year window. Useful — but people are loading far more weight onto it than it was built to carry. Read more Investing 06 Aug 2026 12 Index Funds Won. Now What? Passive investing went from heresy to default in forty years. The interesting questions are no longer about whether it works, but about what happens when almost everyone does it. Read more Corporate 18 Jul 2026 13 Reading a Cash Flow Statement Like an Investor Earnings are an opinion; cash is a fact. A working tour of the third statement, and the five lines that tell you the most about a business. Read more Investing 11 Jun 2026 14 Sequence-of-Returns Risk, Explained Without the Jargon Two portfolios, identical average returns, wildly different outcomes. The order of the years matters enormously once you start withdrawing — and not at all before. Read more
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