After hitting a record of high in January 2020, Indian equity benchmarks crashed 40% to hit around 4 year low level on March 24. The indices have recovered since then on the back of liquidity (by global central banks) and gradual re-opening of economies despite virus risk. The BSE Sensex and Nifty50 as well as Midcap and Smallcap indices plunged 29% each during the March quarter. Sectoral indices also witnessed double-digit decline. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), one of the major equity investors, made fresh investments in 16 stocks…

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) was passed in a joint session of parliament on 1 July, 2017. It is the biggest tax reform in the history of the country. GST’s rollout abolished a plethora of regional taxes and ushered in a unified indirect tax regime across the country. This change was expected to cut red tape, facilitate movement of goods and services across state borders and widen the tax base by bringing erstwhile evaders into the system via the input tax credit radar. It was a radical reform. Reforms…

UPI payments had fell to 999.57 million in terms of volume with transactions worth of  Rs 1.51 lakh crore in April, following the coronavirus-induced lockdown that halted almost all services, except essentials. Payments on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in June hit an all-time high of 1.34 billion in terms of volume with transactions worth nearly Rs 2.62 lakh crore, as per National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) data. On a month-on-month basis it registered a 8.94% growth from 1.23 billion in May. UPI payments had fell to 999.57 million in terms…