Biztro

1. The economy is looking better, but…

The economy gods have been kind to Narendra Modi’s government. Thanks to a 34 per cent drop in international oil prices, things look more upbeat than a year ago. Dreaded inflation is down, and a major reform—freeing up diesel price control­—has consumers happy. With the four-month summer monsoon considerably covering up the huge deficiencies of the first two months, farm productivity has been decent. On the other hand, in matters of foreign trade, the government needs to do more to push exports at a time when demand in most markets is still to pick up. It will take some time for the ‘Make in India’ campaign to show an impact.

2. The big bang reforms dampener

Expectations of a reforms push during the four-week winter session of Parliament may well end a dampener, given the stance of opposition parties. Most of the opposition has refused to be won over by Modi’s attempt to forge a consensus to push the insurance bill and the long awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST). The opposition stance is nothing new—it is a replica of the BJP mode of functioning while in the opposition. Without adequate numbers to back it, BJP will not be able to push ahead with its reforms agenda.  At least for now…..

3. Kisan Black Patra

The tricky Kisan Vikas Patra is on its way back amidst a din over black money. Even as India struggles to repatriate black money from overseas, this neat little PAN-free domestic investment route is bound to please fat cats. Taxed when mature, but with no TDS on interest, there’s nothing to stop anyone from fixing up hundreds of KVP cocktails for themselves, each worth Rs 50,000. The scheme is so simple—doubles your money in 100 months—that small savings will gravitate to banks in the new avatar. UPA hit the brakes on KVP two years ago saying it would push up investments in bank fixed deposits. Oddly, the NDA is pulling the KVP rabbit from its hole with the same justification—mainstreaming small savings.

Math

91 mn The number of visitors annually at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, the world’s most visited tourist attraction

NDA’s Six-Month Report Card

5 Countries accounting for 61% of modern slavery—India, China, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Russia. India is on the top with 14.29 m enslaved people.

Mojo

The world’s latest currency

Even if no country in the world is ready to recognise it yet, the ISIS dinar has made an appearance, in gold, silver and copper. The maximum value coin of 5 dinar will contain 21.2 gram of gold, and the lowest will be a 10 gram copper coin.

Mind

This week we learnt about…Google’s hiring formula

It’s regarded as one of the best companies to work with in the world. But what happened when Google tried to come up with a “formula” to decide how to promote its armies of super-smart engineers? It was a disaster, says Google’s Prasad Setty, whose team came up with the formula that was “reliable, it back-tested very well, it was stable across multiple cycles, and for almost a third of our promotion decisions, with 90 per cent accuracy, it gave the right decision”. But Google’s engineers hated it— they wanted to own the decisions they made and not rely on a formula.