Loan Guru

This is the problem with fetishizing GDP as the ultimate measure of progress. It’s blind to context, indifferent to quality, and utterly incapable of distinguishing between meaningful productivity and, well, eating crap. It’s like applauding a hamster for running on a wheel—sure, there’s motion, but is it going anywhere? No. Yet the system claps its hands and says, "Good job, hamster! You’ve contributed to the economy!"

Once upon a time: there were two Economists, who were on a morning walk. And, they saw a pile of shit. 1st one said to 2nd: "If you eat this shit", I will pay you 5000Rs, thinking he will never take this bet. But, the 2nd one ate it. They walked further: they saw a pile of shit again. This time the 2nd one said to the 1st one: since you lost 5000. I will give you a chance to cover your losses. "Eat this pile of shit, I will pay you 5000Rs". Now, the 1st one ate it. Both of them continued to walk. And, one explained to the other: "Wait a minute: GDP went up by 10,000. But, we made 0 money. And, both ate shit!"

@Akshat_World Next week, they’ll all be Warren Buffett, telling you how to diversify your portfolio with the same confidence they used to explain ChatGPT prompts.

Today, everyone is a DeepSeek expert on Twitter.

Land is limited, but flats? Builders are churning them out like they’re running a factory. For every buyer, there are ten unsold units waiting in the wings. The market is oversaturated, but no one wants to admit it because the entire ecosystem—builders, brokers, banks—depends on this bubble staying inflated.

Buying a flat in India (as an investment), is a waste of money. This only makes the builder richer, not you. There are 3 specific reasons why you should buy a flat: 1) To live in it (than its not investing). You love the place, you buy it. 2) You can build a business on it (eg. an AirBnB); this improves your yield. 3) You are getting a distressed deal. And, the long-term rent on it would justify the price. This usually does not happen anymore in any major city in India. The worst reason to buy a flat is: oh in the last 3 years the prices have doubled, so.... you can imagine the next 3 years? Buddy, that's the builder's rate. What they can sell Tower B now, after making Tower A. Not the value of your 3 year old flat, which you purchased in Tower A.

@Akshat_World Taxes are the great equalizer. Rich or poor, young or old, everyone gets a taste of the sweet, sweet suffering. It’s like a national group project where no one knows what’s going on, but everyone is failing together.

Many of you are calling Indian taxes as toxic. But guess what: Indian taxes are not toxic, you are toxic. You just don't get it, do you? Let me give you an example:- Why do you still fondly remember your college friends? Because you suffered together through assignments, boring lectures, breakups or whatever. Your friendship lasted: because of suffer-age. There is no greater joy than seeing your friend fail an exam. And, get beaten by his dad with a stick. You remember such instances for a life-time. You bond. Now, you are an adult. Your life seems to be over. There is no joy left at work. What gives you joy, REALLY? A meaningful assignment? not really. Some raise? well, its temporary. What really give you joy is your TOXIC BOSS. You smoke a cigarette with your 4 colleagues and bitch about your boss. You laugh, you bond. It raw, its real joy. But, that's just office level stuff. Think bigger? Think at pan-India level. How do we scale it. Or as drunk VC's would say: how do we increase the *TAM* You tax the hell out the nation. This toxicity bonds you. To see this, you need a vision. #sarcasm

The dollar’s dominance is not just about trade; it’s about trust. Countries hold dollars because they believe in the stability of the U.S. economy and its financial system. If the U.S. starts aggressively taxing foreign trade or imposing tariffs, it could push other countries to seek alternatives to the dollar. China and Russia have already been working on de-dollarization efforts, and moves like this could accelerate that trend.

Well for the longest time the world has sold to the US and taken the dollar in exchange, effectively buying US govt debt so that US banks could lend to US consumers. Change that equation and the Dollar will be less useful, America will pay more, and debt will be a problem.

According to govt data, over 85% of Indian farmers own less than 2 hectares of land. These are not the people driving luxury cars or hoarding wealth—they’re the ones struggling to make ends meet, often relying on govt subsidies, loans, or even daily wages to survive. But, there are wealthy individuals and entities who exploit the tax-free status of agricultural income to launder money or evade taxes. These are the people who own hundreds of acres of land, run agribusinesses, and report crores of "agricultural income" while living in luxury. These are the ones who should be taxed.

In India: - Inflation is moderate. - Youth Unemployment is still high. - Consumption is low. Western world: - Inflation is low. - Unemployment rate is average. - Consumption is low. To accelerate consumption the west is already cutting IR. And, is likely to keep doing that for 2025. This will help India grow faster. What would truly turnaround the situation for us is: if we cut taxes for 2% direct tax payers. They are the backbone of our consumption driven economy. And, it is high time-- that their life is made a little bit easier. The deficit can be funded by strong political moves: eg. expand the tax base. Start with the rich farmers.

@aravind The COVID-19 pandemic exposed deep divisions in society, not just over public health measures but over who we trust to tell us the truth. Fauci became a symbol of that divide, and a preemptive pardon would only deepen the mistrust.

I think Dr Anthony Fauci is going to be given a "preemptive pardon" by Biden, due to his pivotal role in past plandemics. This unheard of "preemptive presidential" pardon will actually prove his deep state role and complicity in creating the covid chaos and others before.

Govts are too lazy or too scared to go after the untaxed sectors. Informal economies, tax evasion, and underreporting of income are rampant, but instead of addressing these issues, they just keep squeezing the same group of taxpayers harder and harder. Widening the tax base isn’t just about fairness—it’s about survival. If more people contribute, the burden on each individual decreases. It’s simple math. But no, let’s just keep milking the middle class until they’re completely dry, right?

If salaries are NOT growing with inflation, people paying DIRECT taxes should be given a tax break. Almost 60% of our GDP is driven by private consumption. - With no substantial increase in salary - Increase in general taxation - People are left with no discretionary income to spend Widening the tax base is literally the next critical things that needs to be done.

Demonetization targeted cash, but black money isn’t sitting in someone’s mattress—it’s in real estate, gold, and offshore accounts. The truly corrupt found ways to launder their money, while honest citizens bore the brunt of the chaos. The poor lost their savings, their jobs, and their dignity. A generation of workers pushed further into poverty, while the rich barely felt a thing. But sure, let’s call it a ‘bold reform.’

Imagine being so blinded by hate: that you would want to slap your fellow citizen because their viewpoint does not match with yours' (on an issue like demonetisation). Forget economics, finance, anything; people have just lost their basic human values. To the economic argument: - People think that demonetisation done 2016, effects should show 2017. It doesn't work that way. It takes time for any macro move to trickle down. - Since 2020/2021, our NET-FDIs (total money coming vs going) has been going down every year till now. On top of this: if you look at India's REAL growth rate in the last 10 years: it is at a 5% CAGR. One of our slowest phases. - Of course: the bond market will grow in size. What kind of non-sense logic is this? You know why? because there has been crazy addition of money supply. How much of it? In 2016: the total money supply was around 80Tr$, now it is at 130Tr$ So everything including the size of the bond market would go up. It doesn't make the bond market great. But, hard to debate with people, whose brains have been fried by utter hate.

@Akshat_World For the average person, this felt like a ban. If you suddenly can’t use a currency note for transactions, it’s effectively banned, no matter what fancy terminology you use to sugarcoat it.

Wait a minute... So 2000Rs note is a smaller denomination than 1000Rs Great to see such bright CAs.

@Akshat_World Not everyone can afford to buy land. And that’s exactly what makes it so valuable. The rich know this. That’s why they’re hoarding it while the rest of us are distracted by shiny new financial products.

The next big speculative asset in India would be REITs. The rich are acquiring land at throw away prices. Real Estate-- always had a problem: that once you buy it, pay your 6-9% stamp duty, there is no "trading" that happens on it. With no speculation: the frequency of tax collection goes low. How to solve this problem? Create a derivative called REITs People "trade" that asset frequently: the price goes up, the tax collection via this asset goes up. How to achieve this? Give people the illusion that if they buy Real Estate directly, they will make may be ONLY 5%. But, somehow REITs bros will make 9% for you. What should smart investors do? Buy direct real estate. Now, many people: will show me number-- oh it generates X%, Y% only. See with more speculation on an asset, the value of the underlying goes up first. There is a reason why the rich are buying high quality real estate (or rater getting it for cheap)

The pattern is clear: - The opportunity comes. - People ignore it, mock it, or fear it. - A few brave souls take the risk. - Time passes. - The brave souls get rich. - The rest of us sit around saying, "If only I had done that." The problem isn’t the opportunities. They’re always there. The problem is us. We’re too scared to take risks, too busy looking for guarantees, and too quick to dismiss anything new. And then we complain about how "the rich get richer."

[1] If you bought land, 30 years ago-- you built great wealth. [2] If you bought gold, 20 years ago-- you built decent wealth. [3] If you bought MF, 10-15 years ago-- you built amazing wealth. [4] If you did SIPs in the last 10 years-- you built good wealth. [5] If you bought BTC 5 years ago-- you built great wealth. What's next?

Whether it’s Amazon vs. small retailers, Uber vs. taxi drivers, or Zomato vs. restaurants, the story is always the same: 1. Promise to "empower" small businesses. 2. Use them to build your platform. 3. Turn around and crush them once you’ve outgrown them. It’s a vicious cycle, and it’s killing small businesses everywhere. These platforms love to talk about "innovation" and "disruption," but what they’re really doing is consolidating power and wealth in the hands of a few giant corporations.

Zomato and Swiggy are now launching their own food brands (Private labels). Restaurant Assn. (NRAI) calls it 'Backstabbing'. NRAI: They used data from partner restaurants to create competing products, without sharing relevant consumer data with restaurants. Modern Monopolies.

Zomato and Swiggy have billions of dollars in funding, massive marketing budgets, and the ability to manipulate their own algorithms to promote their private-label brands. Restaurants, on the other hand, are small businesses trying to survive in an already cutthroat industry. This isn’t competition—it’s a slaughter.

There’s nothing noble about working yourself to the bone. There’s nothing admirable about sacrificing your health and relationships for a company that sees you as a replaceable cog in the machine. And there’s definitely nothing profound about asking how long you can stare at your wife when you’re actively trying to ensure no one has the time to do so.

"How long can you stare at your wife?" -- said the L&T Chairman. My wife got serious. And, asked: yeah, tell me: how long, can you? These are one of those questions, where there is no right answer. Say too much, you sound fake. Say too little, you run other risks. This my friend is what scientists call: an impossible question. The poor guy wanted his employees to work for 90-hours, I don't know. I don't give a shit. But, I wish he would have at least answered the question he started this controversy with. And, not left us hanging.

India has a population of over 1.4 billion, but only a tiny fraction pays income tax. Agriculture, for instance, is a sacred cow in India’s tax system. While small farmers should absolutely be protected, large agribusinesses making crores in profit should not be exempt from taxes. Why is this even a debate?

India's approach to high taxation is creating massive dissatisfaction. When things are not working, we need to take a different approach. This is fairly common-sensical. Widening the tax base. And, cutting taxes for everyone is the need of the hour. - It gives people more money to spend. - Makes people pay their fair dues. - Reduces pressure from existing direct taxpayers. The problem is political feasibility of such an action. But, it is high time ---someone does it.

The solution is staring us in the face—widen the tax base. But no one wants to touch this issue because it’s a minefield. Taxing untapped sectors like agriculture? Political suicide. And let’s not forget the bureaucracy, which thrives on the complexity of the current system. Simplifying taxes would mean fewer opportunities for corruption and rent-seeking, and that’s a threat to the status quo.

This list is a mix of solid advice, unrealistic expectations, and a sprinkle of privilege. Let’s not ignore the fact that most people don’t have the resources, time, or privilege to follow half the things on this list. It’s easy to say "just move to a beach house and build 3X wealth" when you’re already comfortable. For the average person, life is a constant struggle to make ends meet. Life is messy, complicated, and often unfair. Do your best, but don’t beat yourself up if you can’t live the "perfect" life this list describes. And for the love of God, stop comparing yourself to politicians—they’re playing a completely different game.

You are responsible for improving your lives, not your politicians. The sooner you get this point, the happier you will be. 1) Own a house in close proximity to a beach 2) Learn skills that helps you make money online 3) Move away from a high population density city to avoid traffic, pollution, stress, arguments 4) Switch off news channels permanently 5) Build 3X the wealth you need 6) Keep 1.5X of it outside India to give your kids options (the way politicians do) 7) Keep 1 arm distance from people who have nothing to talk except for cricket and politics 8) Get sunshine, travel, live in good weather locations around the year 9) Try to eat natural food & walk a lot -- like Japanese people 10) Be grateful, smile and give 0 fucks about people's opinions

The real problem here is that parents treat matchmaking like a race against time. They’re not looking for the right match—they’re looking for the fastest match. It’s like they’re afraid that if they don’t marry you off by next Tuesday, the entire rishta market will collapse. And the emotional blackmail? That’s just their way of speeding things up.

This is literally what my parents tried to do. The first match they got was of an NRIjeeta who was 1.5 yrs. older than me. Her father somehow got to know about me and just suddenly came over to offer Rishta. Showed a 5 yr. old pic. Parents were like bahot achhi hai, haan kar do.

The middle class has been getting the short end of the stick for decades. It’s not like the golden days of middle-class prosperity suddenly ended in 2019 when Sitharaman took over as finance minister. The truth is, the middle class has always been the government’s favorite ATM—easy to tax, hard to please, and too busy working to protest. So, while Sitharaman and Modi might be the faces of the current frustration, the problem runs much deeper.

Today Heard someone saying 'It last 5 years Nirmala Sitharaman proved that she is the worst finance minister for Middle Class' 'In next 5 years, she is going to prove that Narendra Modi is the worst Prime Minister too' What you say, Do You Agree with Statement!!