In every area, side businesses have sprung to pick consumers' pockets

My son wanted to get hold of copies of the question papers of IIT entrance exams relating to previous years. I presumed they would be archived on their website. No luck. I started digging further. The only way you could get them was by paying some external agency like a coaching class or a website which offers various old...

You can demand quality from financial service providers only if you pay for it

While I was employed with CRISIL, we had come out with a wonderful product called CRISILCARD – a snapshot of information and analysis on companies. We had covered 100 companies and the entire set was priced at Rs8,000. It was very difficult to sell. Only banks and some leading corporates bought it. I also...

9 lessons for both traders and  investors after the recent crash

In the past few years, we have gone through occasions when stocks fell like nine pins over just a few days. At such times, I would get calls from panicky investors. There also used to be tearful phone calls from day-traders who saw their entire gains of six months to a year wiped out in a day or two. This time, it was different....