Finance in a minute

Governments collect money through taxes and other sources of revenue, but sometimes they want to spend more than they currently have. This difference is called a budget deficit, and one way governments cover it is by borrowing money. Governments can borrow to fund large projects such as roads, railways, schools and infrastructure. They may also borrow when tax revenue isn't enough to cover their planned spending. One common way governments borrow is by selling bonds. Investor

A ₹100 note might look simple at first, but it contains several features designed to make it easier to identify and harder to counterfeit. For example, Indian currency notes use features such as watermarks, security threads, colour-shifting elements and raised printing. Some of these can be seen, while others can be felt or checked more closely. The ₹100 note also has an interesting piece of Indian history on its reverse side: Rani ki Vav, the famous stepwell in Gujarat. It w

Investing is often presented as a way to build wealth, but that doesn't mean it is a quick way to get rich. Imagine you invest ₹10,000 and your investment earns 8% in a year. You would have around ₹10,800 — a ₹800 gain. That's useful, but it isn't going to make you a millionaire overnight. The bigger advantage of investing often comes from time. When your investment earns a return, those returns can stay invested and potentially earn returns of their own. Over many years, thi

You might see a headline saying “Stock markets crash” and wonder how thousands of companies can suddenly lose value at the same time. A market crash usually happens when investors become extremely worried about the future and many people start selling their investments at once. There can be many reasons for this. Investors might be worried about a recession, rising interest rates, political events, a financial crisis or companies earning much less than expected. Remember that

We usually think of interest in a simple way: you earn it when you save and pay it when you borrow. But what if interest rates went below zero? Some countries have actually experimented with negative interest rates. Under this system, certain banks could effectively be charged for keeping money with their central bank rather than earning interest on those reserves. Countries including Japan, Switzerland and several euro-area countries used negative policy rates at different p

A savings account is generally considered a low-risk place to keep your money. Your balance doesn't normally jump up and down like the price of a stock, and you can usually access your money when you need it. But there is another risk that is easy to overlook: inflation. Imagine you put ₹10,000 into a savings account and earn 3% interest. After a year, you would have ₹10,300. Sounds good, right? Now imagine that prices across the economy have risen by 6% during that same year

Financial scams are increasing not because people are careless, but because scammers have become very good at sounding convincing. They know how to create urgency, excitement, or fear, and that’s often enough to make someone act without thinking. The goal is to rush you into making a decision before you have time to question it. Common financial scams you should know about 1. The “You’ve won something” scam You receive a message saying you’ve won a prize, scholarship, cashbac

The world’s first stock exchange opened in Amsterdam in 1602 and it didn’t look anything like what we imagine today. At the time, global trade was risky and slow. Ships travelled for months to bring back spices, silk, and other goods. If a ship sank, investors could lose everything. Earlier, people funded these voyages individually, which meant one bad journey could wipe someone out. The Dutch East India Company solved this problem by creating a new idea. Instead of investing

Needing a lot of money to start investing is one of the most common beliefs about investing and also the most misleading. Many people believe that it is only the wealthy adults with large sums of money who are able to invest, but in reality investing is about habit, not how rich you are. Investing is like planting a seed. You don’t need a huge garden to start growing the tree. If the seed is planted early and taken care of regularly, it can grow into something meaningful ove

If you’ve ever sent money to anybody instantly using a phone number or QR code, you’ve probably used UPI (Unified Payments Interface). It’s a system that lets money move from one bank to another within seconds, at any time, with no cash needed. UPI was launched in 2016, and since then, India has grown into one of the fastest-growing digital payment countries in the world. Millions of transactions happen daily, from paying for groceries and movie tickets to school fees and piz

In 1949, a businessman named Frank McNamara went out for dinner in New York with his clients. When the bill arrived, he realized he had forgotten his wallet. His wife had to rush over with cash to save him from the embarrassment. That night, Frank had an idea: what if people could pay without always carrying cash? A year later, in 1950, he launched the Diners Club Card, the world’s first credit card. It allowed members to dine but then pay later. At first, only 27 restaurants

A lot of people think the stock market is just luck, like playing cards or a coin toss. But it isn’t the same thing. When you buy a stock, you own a small piece of a company. If the company grows and makes profits, your share in the company grows in value too. It's not based on chance but rather on how the business performs. Yes, in the short term, prices can go up and down quickly. That’s why it sometimes feels like gambling. But if you look at the stock market over many yea