Moneylife News Bites

India’s new labour codes were supposed to modernise the country’s workforce regulations by replacing 29 outdated laws with four streamlined codes. On paper, they promise simpler compliance, wider social security, and more flexibility for businesses. But as Debashis Basu explains, India has a long history of great policy design collapsing at the execution stage—whether it was GST, IBC, RERA, Swachh Bharat, or Smart Cities.

India’s insolvency system seems to operate with two rulebooks — one for honest small borrowers who lose their livelihoods, and another for powerful defaulters who walk away with massive “one-time settlements”.In this audio, we break down Sucheta Dalal’s exposé on the shocking contrast between the treatment of a Mumbai doctor couple—driven to ruin by an ARC—and the extraordinary leniency shown to the Sandesara brothers, declared fugitive economic offenders in a ₹14,000–16,000 crore fraud.

India’s GDP is soaring—but corporate revenues are barely crawling. In this audio, Debashis Basu breaks down the striking disconnect between headline GDP growth and muted corporate performance. Why are top-line numbers stagnating when the economy is supposedly booming? The answer lies in the composition of GDP itself: consumption-heavy growth, government-led capex, weak private investment, and stagnant real wages. Basu explains how PFCE, public expenditure, and sluggish private capex shape this paradox, why old rules linking GDP to corporate growth have collapsed, and what it will take for corporate India to feel the impact of high GDP figures. A sharp, insightful analysis you won’t hear anywhere else.

Mumbai’s land belongs to its people — not to politicians, builders, or bureaucrats. Yet, across Maharashtra, public land is being quietly ‘monetised’ and handed over to private developers under the guise of redevelopment and modernisation. From the Parth Pawar land deal in Pune to the proposed monetisation of BEST depots, this video exposes how public assets are being stripped, leased, and sold for short-term fiscal gains.Sucheta Dalal explains how this unchecked land grab is turning Mumbai into a city of gated luxury towers and disappearing public spaces. It’s time citizens drew a red line and demanded transparency, accountability, and a Public Land Protection Act.

The U.S. stock market is riding an unprecedented wave of artificial exuberance, fuelled by hype around artificial intelligence and a handful of tech giants — the “Magnificent Seven.” But as valuations soar to levels last seen during the dotcom bubble, cracks are forming beneath the surface. In this sharp analysis, Debashis Basu dissects the dangerous web of incestuous investments in the AI ecosystem, the ballooning private-credit bubble, and the speculative frenzy spreading across global markets. Are we heading for another crash — one that could wipe out trillions in global wealth? Watch to understand why history may be about to repeat itself — and what it means for investors worldwide.

An explosive investigation by Sucheta Dalal uncovers how over Rs1.5 lakh crore belonging to government schemes, welfare programmes, charities, and even military funds has quietly landed in the Reserve Bank of India’s Depositor Education and Awareness Fund (DEAF) — forgotten, unclaimed, and unaccounted for.From ESIC and EPFO accounts to Gram Panchayat Yojanas, Chief Minister’s Relief Funds, and charitable trusts, Moneylife’s research reveals a massive systemic failure — where money meant for public welfare now sits locked away.This audio exposes how RBI’s UDGAM portal, meant to help recover unclaimed deposits, is riddled with flaws, making discovery nearly impossible. The question remains: Who is accountable for this vanished public wealth?

In this episode of Crosshairs, Sucheta Dalal traces the arc of India’s most powerful financial institution — the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) — from the 1957 Haridas Mundhra scandal to the present-day Adani controversy.Drawing parallels between Justice M.C. Chagla’s fearless public inquiry and today’s opaque decision-making, she exposes how decades of political interference and bureaucratic secrecy have eroded LIC’s accountability.This is the story of how India’s once-transparent institutions turned into fortresses of silence — and why it matters to every policyholder.

India’s courtrooms are no longer hidden from public view. With live-streaming, social media coverage, and viral clips, every word and gesture of judges and lawyers is now under public scrutiny. Sucheta Dalal examines how this new transparency is reshaping judicial behaviour, exposing power dynamics, and testing the credibility of India’s justice system. From the Adani–Hindenburg hearings to heated courtroom spats, this video unpacks the growing tension between openness, accountability, and the erosion of judicial sanctity.