In this weekly wrapup, we'll be talking about the problems with coal mining in India, the revolutionary new account aggregation system, SBI's guarantee to potential homeowners, tech companies' foray into oil extraction and the implications of an income tax cut.
India welcomes Coal diggers
On Monday, we spoke about the liberalisation of India's coal industry.
For starters, India is coal rich. We have the fourth largest coal reserve in the world, more than enough to meet domestic demand. And yet, we had to import 235 million tons of coal last year. So clearly there are problems here. Problems like Coal India's inability to meet production targets, supply chain inefficiencies, and good old bureaucracy. So the government of India has finally realised that it's time to introduce more competition and is now relaxing rules so that more players can mine coal in India.
And if you want to know about the implications of this long-overdue move, click right here.
The next big innovation in the FinTech space
On Tuesday, we spoke about how account aggregators are likely to transform the financial ecosystem in India.
So, your financial transactions are stored in a lot of different places. Your bank knows where your money is going and how much cash you have in your account. Mutual fund houses know about your investments. Your insurance companies know how prompt you are with premium payments. But what if there was some way to bring all this data together and share it with whoever you need to, whenever you need to? Well, now there is.
So if you are excited about this new development you should definitely check out our story on Account Aggregators right here.
A new improved variant of a home loan?
On Wednesday, we spoke about SBI's new home loan offering.
India's real estate market has been in crisis mode for a while now. Real Estate Developers who went on a spending spree back in the early 2010's commissioned extravagant projects in the hope that the Indian middle class would lap up everything on offer. Unfortunately, most homes were simply too expensive for the average Joe and unsold inventory started piling up en masse.
Eventually with GST, Demonetsiation and RERA taking center stage, RE developers were stranded in no man's land- with incomplete projects and irate home buyers. So in essence, the industry is now in tatters and prospective customers are having second thoughts about buying a home in the first place
And what do you do when everything is down in the dumps. You call, SBI. So if you want to know how the State Bank of India is trying to alleviate these issues, read our full story here.
Big Tech meets oil
On Thursday, we spoke about why Google, Microsoft and Amazon are getting into the oil business.
Now bear in mind, these companies have been using big data and tech to push the clean energy initiative for a while now. However of late, they've been focusing their energy in the oil business. Turns out the cutting edge innovation that's inspired the green revolution can also be used to extract oil using more efficient methods.
Not following us fully? Well then, go ahead and read the whole article here.
To cut income tax or not to cut income tax
On Friday, we spoke about the implications of lowering income tax rates.
The premise is simple. The government cuts tax rates. It incentivizes people to work hard. The amount of people falling into the taxable bracket increase. Once everybody starts paying their taxes, there's more government revenue here. It's a win win for everybody.
Or is it? Well, we are not so sure and if you want to know why, read our fully story on the contentious topic here.
That's all from us! See you next week.
