Deepa Bhatia

@TravelBluez Pls DM but we want to travel in May end

The Postcard in The Himalayan Willows, Leh. - A modern luxury retreat just outside Leh, overlooking the Stok mountain ridge. - With only 5 sprawling 1,000 sqft suites each featuring panoramic windows and sun parlours. - Personalised service and a focus on local cuisine, the hotel offers an intimate base for exploring Ladakh’s cultural and natural highlights - Thiksey Monastery, Leh Palace, Stok Village and Sham Valley, all within easy reach. We have special 3N/5N packages for this summer. DM to know more.

@wordmae Impertinent?

What’s the word? 🤨

@thetrickytrade In touch with fora HQ and they aware about the Accor issue especially in India. They want to build the biz but were feeling that a lot of Indian advisors were not understanding the premium positioning. I think they will be very happy with the change

One thing we haven't spoken about. What happens to FORA advisors now that Accor is gone? 👀

@sidin @b50 Would we want a camera live streaming us working and our bosses ( party heads) looking into who we mingle with? It’s added new incentives and complexities. Heard from an old rajya sabha member on how they only speak freely when in the canteen

Sometime in 2009 or so I went to do a story on a then somewhat novel idea known as Lok Sabha TV. It had been set up some years before, but around 2008 or 2009 it started going... viral? I do not recall the exact trigger for this virality. Anyway. I wanted to do a piece on the team. And their plans to turn this new found fame into something more meaningful? More citizen engagement with politics? Pull democracy from darkness into light? Etc. Also there was a mutual benefit angle. Lok Sabha TV had a lot of video archives. And I was hoping we could use them at Mint in interesting ways. Budget speeches for our business audience etc. Anyway. I went there a couple of time. Very nice people. Very committed to doing their jobs well. And then towards the end of my reporting trips, when there was a trust between reporter and source so to speak, one of the senior fellows said: "You know all this might end very badly..." "Why? This is so good for democracy!" "Yes. But also it might turn the whole thing into a performance." "What do you mean?" "Some of the best parliamentarians we have are very low key fellows who quietly go about doing things in boring committees and what not. Most people haven't even heard of their names. But now... if this becomes a televised thing... it might turn into a form of entertainment for the cameras... and that means no serious work will get done in the Lok Sabha. It will just become a circus." "Oh... you think so?" "Maybe. But let's hope not. 99% of the work that happens in Parliament is boring but critical. I am just worried that the media spectacle means that the boring stuff will get done even more secretively. Or not at all." I think about this often.

@devinamehra Have noticed this too but also Indians are getting richer & mostly the parent are able to afford both the education for their children & a more than comfortable retirement for themselves, maybe it’s your cohort?

Random observation looking at middle-aged Indians around me... Compared to earlier generations 1. People now want to free their children from any obligation of looking after the parents in old age...will often tell them so in so many words. 2. On the other hand, they feel obligated to fulfill any educational ambition of their children - jis course, jis country per hath rakh diya... They feel they have to pay fees for that. And the kids appear entitled, rather than grateful. Makes no sense to me...it's a lose lose. In an earlier generation, there was always an implicit obligation to look after parents and also an understanding that there would limits to what parents could fund... Except for the really rich (or the odd person with a scholarship) no one went overseas for an undergraduate degree If you want to follow the Western model do it all the way and let the children fund their own education... Or let them study where you can genuinely afford to fund their fees without financial or mental stress... At the very least ask them to pay you back when they start working What do you guys think?

@advsanjoy My sanghi trainer said “ pollution is a scam to stop Hindus celebrating our festivals. How come pollution goes away rest of the year” this from a family of farmers who I would have thought knows something about weather patterns

My Sanghi gym instructor asked me how I was. I told him pointing to the Delhi sky that because of the pollution my nose is blocked for days. His reply was “why don’t you think of moving back to Kolkata, even better why don’t you go and settle in Bangladesh?” This is how enabled we have made these forces in the last 11 years!

@AdiFrenzy Noooo!! 🤣

@Drowzydee overtaking him real soon

@pointspro Flying blue had better tax pricing when booking return vs one way though. So case to case?

🚨 Always book one way with award flights There is no point in booking return flights actually. Book two single way. It is easier to cancel, if required. And costs the same or more (as with Air India). However there is one exception (see next post) 👇

@Kiran58149654 @sanjayuvacha Same

@sanjayuvacha Haven't seen a cricket match since year 2000 when the match fixing scandal broke out

Nor did I

@devinamehra @ThePrintIndia Thank you for this. Dr Manmohan Singh is my personal hero since I first had an economics class! I remember the newspaper showing a crane lifting containers with the headline that we had mortgaged our gold & had coverage for 13 days of imports. This country is lucky to have him

Picture by Prateek Jain on Dr Manmohan Singh's first day as Finance minister - apparently hangs at @ThePrintIndia office. It is a day I still remember - I was thrilled at the thought of what a magnificent opportunity it was for a professional to do something this big for the country. And of course, later he got an even bigger opportunity that he delivered on equally well! I also remember one of his subsequent interviews where he said that since he had already had a coronary bypass before 1991, his friends advised him against taking so taxing and thankless a job. His answer was that he was willing to die in the service of the nation. Many dismiss his 1991 reforms as having been dictated by the IMF but the number of countries with multiple crises and that struggle for years, if not decades, is legion. Here we were out of it and on our way in less than a year. Nevertheless being the honorable man and the academic at heart he was, I remember an interview on completion of 25 years of the reforms where he must've named at least 15 to 20 others with whom he wanted to share the credit for the reforms - so very different from most other politicians and leaders. What my generation has forgotten is how we were at the right place at the right time with the liberalisation. The salaries of the 80s were at a totally different plane by the year 2000. For the very first time salaried employees could reach real affluence and wealth by the end of their careers - something which was unthinkable for our parents' generation. It is something we have taken for granted. On a macro basis he was great for the IT and ITES business which then drove both primary and secondary employment for decades on end. For me personally, his 1992 budget that began the opening of the market to foreign investors was the landmark event. This became the trigger for me to start on my entrepreneurial journey and for the professional securities industry to take birth in India. Even when he was Prime Minister and the world saw the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) 2008 onwards, India sidestepped it with the highest GDP growth while reducing debt - a mind boggling feat he has got little credit for. Most repeat the same tired old cliches of policy paralysis in UPA 2. As always, hardly anyone looks at the data, which shows an achievement unparalleled by even a single other country in the world at the time. It was the debt reduction and the consequent reduction in interest cost in the budget that created room to fund all the rights based legislations that he brought including Right to information, food, education etc. There was no MNERGA tax or cess. Funds were found within the budget. Here are extracts from his epoch-making 1991 speech “I do not minimise the difficulties that lie ahead on the long and arduous journey on which we have embarked. But as Victor Hugo once said, “No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come”. I suggest to this august House that the emergence of India as a major economic power in the world happens to be one such idea. Let the whole world hear it loud and clear. India is now wide awake. We shall prevail. We shall overcome.” For me there is also a personal echo in his life story. Dr Singh had completed Matriculation (Class 10) and my father had completed Intermediate (Class 12) when the Partition happened and the families were displaced. From what Dr Singh said in interviews it is clear that he faced similar pressures, that my father did, of being asked to get a job and help his family economically rather than study. Both of them fought very hard to study, had outstanding academic careers, went right up to doctorates and chose academic careers. Of course, Dr Singh rose to MUCH greater heights in other spheres.

@Jatin_Khemani To decrease GST but also remove ITC for specific industries is actually fairly dishonest. Business have no choice but to pass on the buck quite literally & to avoid paying 18% towards inputs the biz can’t recoup. compliance will worsen rather than improve

The peak personal income tax rate in India was 97.75% during 1970s. In other words, our ancestors worked hard for 52 weeks but got to keep only one week of earning. Currently, the peak is 39% (inc. all cess & surcharges), while over 99% tax payers pay far lesser as income upto Rs 7 lacs (now increased Rs 12 Lacs) is exempt, with gradual slabs of 10-30%. Yet, India’s FY25 personal tax collection was a staggering Rs 11 Lac Crores. Similarly, reducing GST from unreasonably high levels on every-day items consumed by masses (28% to 18% and 12% to 5%) is likely to improve compliance meaningfully. Over time, the revenue loss for government should be more than compensated by many unorganised players (currently selling in cash) becoming GST compliant. This should trigger India’s Consolidation Wave 2.0 In 2016, an original (on-ground) research by @Stalwartsadvise covered multiple industries & players which enjoyed these tailwinds and growth opportunities. With this landmark reform, many such opportunities are likely to emerge again. India’s Consolidation Wave: youtu.be/AQgyd5xmLX4?si…

@imYadav31 @_random_thought Same issue. They said it will be issued with the same numbers so it didn’t make sense

@_random_thought U are still getting add on with same number?? What exactly did u tell them while replacing ?? Lost card?

HDFC has implemented monthly limits on Gyftr vouchers like 👉 Swiggy 👉 Blinkit 👉 BigBasket 👉 Amazon Pay and Amazon Shopping For heavy users, this is not a good news 💔 But… there’s still a way to bypass these limits and continue earning 6%–15% rewards depending on your HDFC card 💳 And surprisingly, not many people talk about it. The secret? Add-On Cards 🧵 Here’s how the game works 👇

After watching last evenings press conference I was really eager to see how our mainstream news deals with this. Was sorely disappointed by @htTweets and will cancel the subscription now. Not one of them is worth the paper they print on.

@tejasghongadi Good ol days!

Unlimited Amazon Pay Vouchers on 5X waala bhi toh bata do. Remained active for over 30+ Months. 112K Worth Amazon Pay Vouchers on 5X without any convinience charges using HDFC Infinia. Only difference - Instead of Gyftr, purchased via the Points Redemption Portal. #CCgeeks

@singhsahana @sanjayuvacha My 85yr old father has advanced dementia but insists on going to work daily. It helps it’s his own office & although he doesn’t get anything done, the workers all do the salaami & indulge his small talk every single day. And he comes home feeling fulfilled

The kindness of people in India never ceases to astonish me. Today, once again, my 85-year-old father in Bengaluru, who has been particularly difficult after his brain injury, insisted on going out to Xerox some document, visit the bank, and get some printout on stamp paper. He asked me to hire a driver for his car. My sister, the attendant, and I accompanied him dutifully, knowing well that any attempt to explain how these errands could be handled over the phone would only lead to an emotional meltdown. But this time, we took a different approach. We decided not to intervene—not to offer help, not to reason, not to invite reprimand. We would simply let him carry out his missions on his own, in his own way. Secretly, we hoped he might encounter a bit of resistance from the outside world and perhaps learn a lesson when bank staff or vendors refused to indulge his impatience. Like Thomson and Thompson of Tintin fame, my sister and I sat in the background, nervously anticipating a series of explosions, while the attendant trailed behind my father like a shadow. But Ram Ram the people of India, with their deep wells of patience and respect for elders! Even when my father barged into the Chief Manager’s room at the bank and presented his list of demands, no one rebuked him. They listened, tried to understand, and genuinely attempted to help. At the xerox shop, when he waved his phone and declared he needed a copy of a document, the vendor asked him to email or WhatsApp it. Watching from the car, my sister and I were stunned when the vendor patiently guided my father through the process of sending the file. He even offered him a chair and showed no irritation, despite repeated pestering. At another location, when my father began hustling ahead without waiting for instructions, the lady there simply said, “Sir, please don’t start scanning before even knowing how much you have to pay. Hang on, Sir.” Her tone was kind, not curt. And so, my father returned home with a sense of accomplishment No one scolded him. No one dismissed him. No one even frowned. Perhaps these strangers saw their own father or grandfather in him. I recalled the words of William Durant: “India will teach us the tolerance and gentleness of a mature mind, the understanding spirit, and a unifying, pacifying love for all human beings.”

@karanaggarwal86 De kas restaurant in Amsterdam is a must do. Gorgeous refurbishing of old warehouse that has been converted into a glass house. Vegetarian friendly too.

Looking for suggestions for places to eat in Amsterdam & Brussels. Any must do thing or must visit places here?

@SujeethP Congratulations! 🎉

We are pleased to announce the arrival of our healthy baby boy last night. Mother and baby are doing well.

@ActusDei Ha ha does it? Thankfully they don’t offer very tempting desserts though

@Drowzydee Is it? But it tends to be spicy & that triggers a need for desserts

Any suggestions for Mumbai cafes/restaurants with a health-food focus? I eat out a lot due to my work, unfortunately.

@ankurmittal @ankitmathur1407 Autopay

@ankitmathur1407 We were anyhow not earning reward points on RedGirraffe when paying via HDFC cards or am I missing something?

Upcoming changes on HDFC Credit Cards W.e.f. 1st July 2025 -Reward Points accrued for insurance transactions will have a maximum cap of 10,000 per Month for Infinia, Infinia (Metal Edition), 5,000 per month for Diners Black Metal Edition, Diners Black, H.O.G Diners Club, BizBlack Metal Cards and 2000 per month for all other credit cards. -Wallet Loading (excl PayZapp) -1% fee will be levied on Wallet loading spends exceeding Rs 10,000 in a calendar month. Fee will be applied on the total wallet loading spends in a calendar month Fee capped at Rs 4999 per transaction -Online Skill based Gaming- 1% fee will be levied on Online Skill based gaming spends exceeding Rs 10,000 in a calendar month.Fee will be applied on the total Online skill-based gaming spends in a calendar month. Fee capped at Rs 4999 per transaction. Online Skill Based gaming transactions will not earn Reward Points/CashPoints on all the cards. -Rent Pay Transactions: 1% fee on transaction amount will be levied on rental transactions done on any applicable merchant for the month. Fee capped at Rs 4999 per transaction.