Monetrix

  When you hear the phrase “wine cellar,” what pops into your mind? I picture a climate-controlled bunker attached to a gaudy beachfront mansion. Sure, wine collecting and investing is a popular hobby among the wealthy elite and has a certain snobbish connotation but that’s not the whole story. In recent years, it has become feasible and potentially lucrative for members of the middle class to invest in wine – in other words, to collect wine with the goal of selling it for a profit in the future. To be clear, most wine isn’t suitable for long-term investing, and it’s unlikely that you’ll find a vintage that produces eye-popping returns. But if you commit to exhaustive research and avoid making purchases that you can’t afford, you could find it to be a satisfying, rewarding hobby. Plus, even if it never earns you a dime, your wine collection can double as a source of enjoyment for friends and family. WHAT IS INVESTMENT GRADE WINE? Investment-grade wine is wine that has a reason...

  After looking at the latest GDP growth figures (4.1% for Q4 FY22 and 8.7% for FY22) revealed by the NSO last week, one may wonder whether the Indian economy is out of woods or not? The answer is Yes. However, India still hasn’t been able to cross its pre-pandemic growth trajectory (without any Covid). Many external shocks seem to shadow the growth targets the Indian government had set in when the budget was announced on Feb 22. The shocks that the Indian economy faces are inflation, capital outflows, depreciated currency, slowing European economy, and sudden oil price hikes. All of these have both direct and indirect relationships with the Russia-Ukraine war. Due to sanctions imposed on Russia, many western countries are reluctant to buy oil from Russia. It has put demand-side pressure on oil prices. As Russia is a major oil supplier in the global market, higher oil production by OPEC countries won’t help. Thus, oil prices are expected to remain in this range for the next many mo...

  I have always believed that India would be the next superpower after China. In retrospect, I have understood that my belief was on the rising working-age population of India that could earn money and spend accordingly on their needs and desires, resulting in robust domestic demand for goods and services. It is a good recipe for long-term economic growth. However, I have realized that advantages for India by having a large working population, compared to other young developing countries, would diminish after a decade. I wonder whether we would generate a good number of jobs for swathes of adolescents entering the workforce each year. United Nations Population Fund defines a demographic dividend as “the economic growth potential that can result from shifts in a population’s age structure, mainly when the share of the working-age population (15 to 64) is larger than the non-working-age share of the population (14 and younger, and 65 and older)". India reached this stage in 2005. It...

  We often believe that we are impervious to the subtle messages that we are bombarded with continuously. Isn’t it absolutely tempting to believe that we are people of our own making, that we make our choices because of our discernment rather than being brain-washed by certain narratives that play in the background of our lives tacitly without us even being able to pinpoint them for what they are?  In this article, we take a look at the business acumen of Marlboro. How it went from having a mere 1%  market share in 1964 to now being the global cigarette market leader. In fact it’s growth has been so phenomenal that its marketshare alone is now greater than the combined market share of its next 10 competitors. Sounds exemplary, doesn’t it? What would your conjecture be - how did they accomplish this seemingly impossible feat? What was their USPs. One thing seems for sure - their product must surely be different in some very significant way - isn’t it? Otherwise, why would ...

Intro, definition, and legalities: Predatory Pricing is the practice of employing below-cost pricing to undercut competitors in order to gain an unfair market advantage. In this method, the seller reduces its price to which other sellers cannot compete and are eventually pushed out of the market. Jio's initial pricing policy acts as a glimpse of predatory pricing strategy where it successfully reduced players in the market and established a competitive advantage to become the largest mobile network operator of India.   As per the Competition Act 2002, any abuse of the dominant position by a company in terms of partaking in unfair practices in the market is forbidden. This includes the application of predatory pricing to eliminate competition and increase market share. Currently, there has been no evidence to proclaim these discounting strategies like predatory pricing since no monopoly has been formed and the companies have not been entirely successful in wiping out the major ...

  Inflation in the Eurozone's 19 members accelerated in December, with consumer prices up 5% from a year earlier. Since the Eurozone was founded two decades ago, headline inflation has been at an all-time high. In comparison to the previous month, prices were up 0.4 percent. Furthermore, when volatile food and energy costs are eliminated, core prices rose 2.6 percent year over year in December, a new high. In comparison to the previous month, core prices increased by 0.4 percent. The key reason for the disparity between headline and core inflation was the 26 percent yearly increase in energy prices. Germany had 5.7 percent annual inflation, France had 3.4 percent, Italy had 4.2 percent, Spain had 6.7 percent, the Netherlands had 6.4 percent, Belgium had 6.5 percent, and Ireland had 5.7 percent. The reversal of the pandemic-related cut in the value-added tax has contributed to Germany's extremely high inflation rate (VAT). The government of the eurozone's largest member decr...

  The European Commission has been facing severe backlash over its latest draft proposal of including investments in gas and nuclear energy, under the bracket of "transitional economic activities" in the EU Taxonomy. Several experts and climate activists believe this decision will adversely affect the European Union's climate goals due to greenwashing and a divided financial market To better grasp this situation we must first understand what the EU Taxonomy is. The EU Taxonomy is a classification system that provides a list of environmentally sustainable economic activities. It thus makes it easy for environment-conscious investors and policymakers to make better decisions and provides a roadmap for companies to align their operations in a more sustainable direction. The environmental objectives that the taxonomy lists are climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources, transition to a circular economy, p...