To penetrate further into the sector, LIC is now recruiting direct sales executives which is a completely new channel to increase its distribution. Going by the facts, it successfully hiked its share in the life insurance pie from 55 per cent in 2008 to 65 per cent at present. To cater to the wide range of customers’ aspirations, insurance firms are now coming with an ‘Health Plus Life Combo Product’ offer. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has permitted for the policy which will offer the benefits of both life and health insurance. However, this will require a tie-up between life and non-life insurance companies. The policy is ultimately aimed to provide more choice to the customers in India.

Undoubtedly, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is keeping a strong eye on the insurance companies and also looks after the interests of the policyholders. Now seems to be the perfect time to opt for an insurance policy and provide your family members an umbrella (insurance) to safeguard their interests, even in the tough times. When it comes to buying a plan, companies have made the whole process as simple as saying ABC. You can even buy a plan online or call the insurance advisor at home. No-doubt, things have really become simple.

State-owned investment holding company Dubai World’s decision to seek extension to repay its debt of $59 billion has sent terror-waves across the world and the same were also felt in the Indian Stock Market, spooking investor confidence. The Dubai crisis has also hit the Indian IPO market badly. JSW Energy, Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Emaar MGF are among the companies in India, which have recently headed for the IPO market to raise funds to support their expansion plans. The problem doesn’t end here and further extends to million of families which are solely or partly dependent on remittance from the Middle East. There are also healthy chances of job-cuts in construction sector in Dubai and this is surely not a good news for numerous Indian workers in Dubai.

However there is a very popular proverb that says, “Every cloud has a lightening” and yes, this cloud of crisis has also got a lightening and that is the recent remarks by India’s Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Assuring the investors in India, he said that there is no need to press the panic button as there is a very limited exposure of Indian banking systems to the Dubai financial systems. Similar views were expressed by Navin Kapoor, Managing director of Xpertize United and a board member of the Indian Business Professional Council (IBPC) in Dubai. He said that the impact of Dubai crisis on India would be practically negligible.

Whatever the case may be, the truth is: Indian stock market is presently reeling under Dubai debt crisis and it will take the market at least few more months to recover and take the right path.

ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, IDBI, ING Vyasa Bank, Dhanalakshmi Bank Ltd and Bank of Rajasthan are among the top private banks in India. It is noted that Indusland Bank was the first private bank to be set up in India. The Public Sector include State Bank of India, Bank of India, Punjab National bank, Allahabad Bank and Andhra Bank among many others. There are some foreign banks as well in India which are ANZ Grindlays Bank, ABN-AMRO Bank, American Express Bank Ltd, and Citibank among others..

There was a time when people had to wait for hours for depositing or withdrawing some money but with the modern technologies and a strong focus on the customer needs, the entire banking scenario has changed. Lending and borrowing money have been the primary functions of the banks, but now they are spreading all over and have come out with new and better products and services to cater to the needs of the customers.

Must have heard about Bank Loan which is one of the best products by the banks in India. There is a wide range of banks loans in India but the main ones are Personal Loans, Home Loans, Auto Loans and Education Loans among many others. Here these loans have been described in detail:

Personal Loans: As the term suggests, personal loans are for meeting the personal needs and there is no need of any collateral security as well, to keep with the bank against the loan. ICICI Bank and Allahabad Bank are among the major providers of personal loans in India. However, the interest rates on the personal loans are high when compared to other types of loans.

Home Loans: When it comes to buy a home or a piece of land, home loans prove to be an excellent financial tool. Many banks have also introduced special home loan schemes this festive season. State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank are the banks which are offering special home loan plans at the best competitive interest rates.

Auto Loans: Buying a car or a two-wheeler has become much easier wit the auto loans. Avail a special auto loan this festive season with attractive rate of interests and additional benefits.

Education Loans: Nothing less than a boon for the students who wish to go for higher studies and are confronted with the financial problems. Muthoot and ICICI Bank are among the top providers of education loans in India. Union Bank of India is also offering special education loan offers this festive season.

Besides a wide range of loans, banks are also providing credit cards and smart investment plans in the ever-changing Indian economy. And now with the online banking facility, one can check out the details of his/her account with in seconds, anytime and anywhere. Many more new plans and new services are in the pipeline and will soon be introduced for the customers to make their lives a lot more simpler and easier.

However, a ray of hope surfaced when e-tax came into picture. The new move did look to outdo the can’t-be-done-away-with evils of IT act and infused a fresh lease of life in the jaded income tax structure. The government backed the revolutionary tax filing procedure and recently, made it a compulsory for corporate houses to file their returns Online only. Seeing the broader picture, one can hardly deny the fact that e-tax has simplified the complexities involved in the filing of income tax return. However, it only managed to leave a superficial effect as people continue to find problems with present IT act.

Enter Direct Tax Code, a simpler and a fresh proposed tax system conceptualised by former Finance Minister P Chidambaram. Direct Tax code presented a much simplified way of looking at Indian tax mechanism. The best part of this proposed code is that it is extremely easy to understand hence, a layman tax-payer need not to hire the services of professionals such as Chartered Accountants and Tax preparers to file the return.

However, sudden simplification of the tax mechanism has turned out to be a phenomenon which experts are finding it hard to digest. Complaints of possible complications and other problems are already surfacing up which in certain situation might detriment the popularity of e-tax among the tax-payers which is nothing but a baseless speculation. E-tax along with Direct Tax code will only add to the popularity and simultaneously will encourage eligible tax payers to file returns. Since, the code has to a large extent demystified the complexities involved in the tax structure and filing procedure and has been well-received by the target audience. Some of the intellectuals have already given it a green signal however, final approval will still take some time.

But if everything goes well, very soon you might get to see a historic facelift of the Indian tax structure which is assured to bring about a staggering surge in the number of people who prefer to file their returns via Internet ie e-tax.

As we all know, bygone liquidity crisis saw many real estate firms plummet down. This scarcity of liquidity caused the delay in the completion of many projects. Now when there is ample liquidity in the market, only countable housing unit developers have left thus, creating a healthy void which in turn has seen surge in demand levels. The ongoing festive season looks to repair all the damage done. For those who don’t know real estate sector was the worst-affected economic sector at the hands of recession causing significant value-erosion thus, leaving the whole sector shattered.

However, speaking from developers’ point of view, they will still be sticking with their rigid approach and would aim to recover losses in this 3 months-period. Hence, no experimentation and hurrying up of things at least for the time being mainly because the market is still price-sensitive and any unplanned move can scare away the prospective customers. Wiping out debt and regaining the confidence of investors and customers is on top-most priority. Moreover, special focus is on providing townships that serve to the residential needs of middle and lower middle class families within a realistic price-band. To add to it expansion holds the key to trim down the debt volumes and developers fraternity knows that. Knowing that expansion of customer base can maximise the profitable prospects, several listed realty firms have overcome their inhibitions and have met the liquidity requirement through Qualified Institutional Placements route in recent past.

Hence, unlike last year this year’s festive season certainly has lot to offer in terms of substance however, it remains to be seen whether it fulfils expectations or not.

But I wonder what can be the possible reason of Facebook being a such a massive hit with Internet masses. Then suddenly my eyes fell on a picture of its creator, Mark Zuckerberg. Mark, I am sure, many of you must be knowing, studied in the prestigious Harvard university. Quite impressive. Mark apparently conceived the idea of this popular networking website in his college days when he was studying there. He along with his room-mates, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes who were also studying Computer science with him in the same university, helped him in realising the idea.

Now if I believe making a website popular isn’t an easy task in the virtual world specially knowing that factors like bounce-rate and average time spend on the site do take a lot to get improved. Certainly, according to me Mark had one thing in favour, his university. We all know Harvard University attracts the best academic talents from across the world. Undoubtedly, some of the most exceptional brains study over there which directly indicates to the fact that whatever they do is an example for others to follow.

Facebook initially had a limited audience base. Yes, initially the website was exclusively meant for studying and alumni students of Harvard. Hence, an innate publicity base was already in place when Mark decided to launch his product.

Credit should be given to Mark for smartly planning his strategies. He managed to retain the uniqueness of his product despite being aware of the fact that how quickly virtual world changes. He not only used the Harvard University as testing ground but also managed to create a Harvard brand in the virtual world, a factor upon which he capitalised later on.

Now in order to be a perfect product (be it in any domain) you need to have a certain amount of publicity and as we all know ‘no publicity is good or bad unless we see it from that perspective.’ Mark and his allies’ product practically landed in soup when a lawsuit was filed against them.

Harvard’s very own students Tyler Winklevoss, Cameron Winklevoss and Divya Narendra who also happened to be the classmates of Zuckerberg, alleged of ‘infringement of intellectual property’. According to the allegations imposed by the other bunch of techies, the so-called ‘Facebook’ concept was meant for their website ‘ConnectU’.

After a long legal battle, Facebook finally agreed to settle the issue for $65 million. Meanwhile by then Facebook had got the leverage it needed to be there at the top.

Quite interestingly, right from the beginning, everything was falling at place for Mark and co. Soon when the concept got live, it was received by a thumping response. And from thereon, rest as they say is history. The internationally-acclaimed social networking website, Facebook is definitely an impressive product.

The one area where it outscores everybody else completely, is the applications area which according to me is its strength. Applications available with Facebook quite easily imparts the element of interactivity to the site. Speaking of security, Facebook without a doubt is the best player in the market then any other name.

What amazes me is the number of tricks Mark has up in his sleeve. Knowing that competition in virtual world has now reached a different level, he has come up with voice chat feature in Facebook which again guarantees to put them leagues ahead of the other players in the market.

Wishing Mark best of luck from our side!!

These incidents sent waves of panic across the world economies. The event led to the situation where banks halted their process of credit circulation which ultimately saw liquidity levels hitting rock-bottom which directly resulted into the loss of working capital for the companies, loss of funds for long-term projects etc. But due to the unprecedented involvement of the Central banks and the governments of the developed countries, the situation after a year has got pretty stable. Although, the situation is stable as per the markets, problems like unemployment and drastic changes in spending style have been observed. That is not all rocketing prices for food products and oil are still bothering US and UK. Although governments are providing stimulus packages to avoid these uncertainties. But then stimulus packages ultimately leads to a deficit in the budget. The government may again try to compensate this with increasing taxes or by spending less on development works which directly connected to us. These circumstances are leading the consumers to reduce their consumption or spending in order to avoid taxes.

Many economies world wide which target the spending ability of the US and UK consumers are now taking the route of diversification thus, with a view to spread their risks. There are many economies like Singapore, Hong kong which are completely trade based economies that got affected with the global recession but are recovering in a steady manner.

Above example quite clearly tells us that its high time for the developed countries to learn what is all about sustainable spending and growth rather than excessive spending. Asia is already marching towards the growth path, with China and India showing positive signs in the markets. Although, the storm has subsided, the after effects are still very much in the picture and might consume more time before vanishing from the scene completely.

Paisawaisa as a portal has ten main domains comprising of News, Community, Stocks, Real Estate, Cars, Insurance, Banking, Loans, Credit Cards and e-Tax. The News domain has all the latest news in finance, politics, sports, international and news articles etc. We at paisawaisa, believe in the power of sharing the knowledge and has introduced a domain called Community, which is very interactive, where people can form members of our website and can drop their opinions and ideas through blogs, forums and polls. Also, we have Q&A through this one can post his/her questions and can get the answers from various browsers. We have a separate column for expert advice where in an individual can post his/her queries and can get advises from our experts.

Stocks domain is very dynamic, where one can get the live market updates and can post queries related to stocks and also foreign exchange rates can be calculated through the currency converter. Domains like Loans, Banking, Insurance and Credit cards provide and compare all the interest rates, premium rates between various companies which provide these products and also all the details regarding these products. The world of finance has no boundaries, so we as paisawaisa are improving and developing as a brand day-by-day, will continue our efforts to provide the best and latest information and services to the society.