Should you opt for corporate NPS?

A varsity explainer 🧵 on how it works, its pros & cons, and whether you should opt in. 👇 Budget 2024 made corporate NPS more attractive by offering tax benefits on employer contributions (up to 14% of basic+DA) under the new tax regime.

This is significant because, in the new regime, our personal NPS contributions don’t get any tax benefits.

A few companies already offer corporate NPS, and many others are considering it too.

Is it time for India to abolish MRP (Maximum Retail Price)?

Here's a Varsity explainer on why India is one of the only countries with MRP.👇 When a manufacturer prices a product, they factor in costs like ingredients, labor, packaging, profit, wholesaler cuts, taxes, and what customers can afford. The government doesn't dictate this initial price. (1/12)

Are small borrowers struggling to repay their loans?

Bajaj Finance’s quarterly results suggest so. Its investor presentation mentioned - Consumer leverage continues to remain an area of concern.

Here is a Varsity explainer on how it could be a reflection of a larger stress. 👇 (1/9) Bajaj Finance reported a 23% YOY growth in new loans and a 22% growth in net profits. However, its Gross NPAs rose from 0.86% in June 2024 to 1.03% in June 2025.
Consumer loans, which make nearly half of its total loan book, seem to be the culprit behind this rise in NPAs. (2/9)

SEBI cracks down on Dabba Trading!

A popular publication recently got a ‘letter’ from SEBI. All because they published an ad from an entity called Close Friends Traders!

Here’s a quick Varsity explainer on why Dabba Trading is an illegal practice.👇 (1/8) Dabba trading is an underground market where stock deals happen OUTSIDE official stock exchanges. There’s no registered broker to place trades. There’s no documentation or KYC.

Instead, there’s some dubious person or entity who intermediates trades.

What kind of trades? (2/8)

Don't be fooled by the 2.10% inflation number. There's more to it than meets the eye. Because there is something called core inflation, which is at 4.60%.

What is core inflation? How does it differ from inflation? We break this down in a quick Varsity explainer. (1/n) Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation measures the price change for a basket of goods and services of regular use, such as food, fuel, housing, clothing, education, health, and transport.

CPI inflation gets reported in the news headlines, so it is also called headline inflation. And this is at 2.10% now. (2/n)

SEBI has banned Jane Street from the Indian securities market for manipulation. One strategy Jane Street used is ‘Marking the Close’.

Here is a Varsity explainer on how the strategy works and why it's illegal. 🧵👇(1/n) Any option contract has an underlying, and its premium moves with the underlying. For e.g., Infosys' call option premium will rise if Infosys’ price rises, and its Put option premium will rise with a fall in its price. Basically, option premium is linked to its underlying price.

Should you shift all your money from a savings account to liquid funds?

The SBI savings account interest rate dropped to 2.5%, among the lowest we've seen in the past. Other banks also offer rates in the range of 2.5% - 3 % pa.

We got a bunch of queries asking if they should move their money from SB to liquid funds, as liquid funds' Yield to Maturity (YTM) is about 6%. But is that what you will really earn?

Here’s a Varsity explainer 🧵 We all understand liquid funds. They are MFs that invest in short-term debt securities issued by the Government, Banks, and companies.

Relatively, they are safe. But what most people don't understand is YTM. 🤔

In 2024, Jane Street, a Wall Street high-frequency trading (HFT) firm, made a profit of over $2.3 billion in India alone. In 2023, they made about a billion dollars. India is one of their most profitable markets.

Do retail traders stand a chance against HFT traders? Here is Varsity’s take on this. 🧵👇(1/8) Besides Jane Street, many Wall Street HFT heavyweights are active in India - Citadel Securities, Tower Research, and Jump Trading.

Trading is a zero-sum game. One trader's profit is another trader's loss. Jane Street alone inflicted a combined loss of $2.3 billion on its counterparties in a single year. We will not get into the how; that's another topic. (2/8)

The RBI recently slashed the repo rate by 50 bps. This is great news for the economy and borrowers in general because the interest you pay every month should reduce.

But then you see your next home loan EMI, and it has not changed; it's the same. Ever wondered why?

Here is a Varsity explainer and everything you need to know about home loans and the RBI’s repo rate. There are two components to any loan: the interest rate that you pay and the tenure over which you repay your loan.

When the RBI reduces the repo rate, you naturally expect your EMIs to reduce. However, most banks usually keep the EMI amount the same, but reduce the loan tenure.

Of course, you can speak to the bank to reduce the EMI amount while keeping the tenure unchanged.
Both options reduce your interest outgo.

SEBI’s debarment of Gensol and its promoters from the securities market has resurfaced the discussion on corporate governance.

Is there a way of spotting red flags in corporate governance? Let’s explore👇. 🧵(1/11) When studying a listed firm, check for the "Independent Auditor's Report" in its annual report.

The first section of the Auditor's Report is titled “Opinion” or “Unqualified Opinion.” It is a red flag⛳️ if titled anything else. (2/11)

What if we told you Nifty will expire somewhere between 23193 and 24006 on April 3rd, 2025?

No, a YouTube baba or WhatsApp University didn’t tell us that.

It’s from a legit research paper by Andrew Mack and Euan Sinclair that’s currently blowing up in the options world.👇(1/7) The ATM straddle premium can be used to calculate the option's implied spot price at expiry.

Source: Retail Options Trading - Andrew Mack and Euan Sinclair, 2024. (2/7)

India will remove Google tax from 01 April.

Do you know what is Google tax? And is this in response to Trump’s potential reciprocal tariffs?

A quick thread!🧵 (1/8) Google tax, or equalization levy, was first introduced by India in 2016 to tax the digital ad revenues of MNCs not based in India.

In 2020, India expanded the levy with a 2% tax on e-commerce revenues of non-Indian companies.
Other countries followed suit. (2/8)

The Nifty 50 has recovered 4.5% this week.

Reason: investors have been buying because Nifty's PE has fallen to what is perceived as a ‘fair valuation.’

But should you base your investments on Index PE? We have 3 reasons why index PE should be taken with a pinch of salt. (1/5) 1⃣The top 8 stocks make up ~50% of the Nifty 50 index, while the other 42 represent the other half. The index will reflect more about the few heavyweight stocks than the majority but low-weight stocks.

What about sectors? (2/5)

🚨 Big update on DigiLocker

You can soon view all your financial holdings in a single DigiLocker a/c.

Key feature: DigiLocker will automatically notify nominees upon the user's demise.

Nominees can access all holdings in one place & approach AMCs/brokers to claim assets.
🧵 DigiLocker, a digital wallet by the Govt of India, lets you store & access e-docs like Aadhaar, PAN, DL, birth/death certificates, insurance, bank & NPS statements - anytime, anywhere.

Now, you can also view MF folios & demat statements. These e-docs are valid as originals.

After becoming SEBI Chairperson, Tuhin Kanta Pandey's first public speech was on ‘India’s Growth Story: Opportunities & Prospects’. When a new leader takes charge, we look for their intent, vision & style. Here's what he said at the Moneycontrol-CNBC Global Wealth Summit. 🧵👇 Background

Tuhin Kanta Pandey is a 1987 batch IAS officer. In his 30+ yrs of experience, he served as Union Finance & Revenue Secretary and was with DIPAM & NITI Aayog.

He holds a Master’s in Economics from Punjab University & an MBA from the University of Birmingham (UK).

IndusInd Bank shares dropped 27% today.

Here👇 is a quick thread on everything you need to know about what is happening with IndusInd Bank.🧵
(1/10) IndusInd Bank noted some discrepancies that could hit its net worth by 2.35%. How?

Banks typically hedge their overnight derivative positions. If a bank has to make USD payments tomorrow, it would hedge the position today to avoid INR losses at the time of the payment. (2/10)

If you have watched Scam 1992 or The Big Bull, you probably know about the Harshad Mehta scam.

But do you know the reforms that India saw because of that scam?

Here’s a quick thread🧵👇(1/8) Dematerialization.

Mehta would get multiple loans against the same set of shares from multiple banks. He could do that because shares were traded in physical form at that time.

Dematerialization has eliminated the scope for pledging the same share with multiple lenders. (2/8)

Nassim Nicholas Taleb introduced The Lindy Effect in his book Antifragile in 2012.

The theory suggests that the chances of a new tech/idea to survive increase as their age increases.

With indices down ~20%, now might be a good time to study the Lindy Effect on the markets. 👇🧵(1/11) We wanted to see if there was any connection between a business's age and its likelihood of survival.

If the Lindy Effect works on stocks, older stocks are more likely to emerge fine from the current downturn. Here’s how we went about it and what we found. (2/11)

Warren Buffett has completed 60 years of running Berkshire Hathaway. As usual, he wrote an annual letter to Berkshire’s shareholders, and it is filled with investment nuggets and wisdom.

We spent the weekend deep-diving into it; here👇 is everything you need to know.🧵 (1/15) Buffett starts by discussing mistakes but doesn’t give details. In the past, he has listed his mistakes as and when they happened.

But he also mentions “pleasant surprises in both the potential of the business as well as the ability and fidelity of the manager.” (2/15)

Moats can be of different types.

Here’s a thread🧵 of a few Indian businesses with different types of moats. (1/6) Brand Moat: Nestle Maggi enjoys unbeaten brand loyalty in instant noodles.

Remember how it was banned in 2015 due to a health scare? Yet, when it was re-launched only months later, it reclaimed 60%+ market share very quickly. Maggi’s taste and brand loyalty are its moat. (2/6)

Budget 2025: When less is more.

Can someone earning ₹12.75 lakh take home more than someone earning ₹13 lakh?

Yes—at least to some extent.

Here’s a thread 🧵 Take ‘A’, who earns an annual salary of 12.75 lakhs. ‘A’ gets a standard deduction (SD) of 75,000, making the taxable income Rs 12 lakh.

Tax liability after Budget 2025: Nil

Here, ‘A’ is getting a full rebate on tax liability as the income is 12 lakhs or less.