Biz Masala

  Illustrative editorial artwork. Gold rates vary by purity, city and seller; jewellery invoices include additional charges. A historic price run is reshaping jewellery budgets, purchase sizes and the way households think about gold. By Biz Masala Desk   |   October 20, 2026 Gold has tested the ₹1.5 lakh-per-10-gram mark in India, putting a sharp new figure on a familiar household purchase. The threshold has captured headlines, but it is not a fixed price: a national 24-carat reference series opened October at ₹1,50,706, touched ₹1,51,096 on October 2 and stood at ₹1,48,823 on October 20. Rates differ across cities and sellers, while jewellery bills also include making charges and tax. [1] For families planning weddings and festive purchases, the higher price changes the arithmetic. Many shoppers are weighing grams, design, purity and exchange value more closely. The question is no longer only whether to buy gold, but how to preserve the occasion within a budg...

  BIZ MASALA   |   BUSINESS • MARKETS • PEOPLE • INSIGHT Can a review of STT and capital-gains tax bring investors back—or is the problem bigger   than tax? By Murthy ASR   |   Biz Masala   |   October 2026 THE BIG QUESTION India’s equity-tax debate has reopened just as foreign portfolio investors are selling heavily and the government begins preparing the next Union Budget. On October 13, 2026, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government was open to hearing views on long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax and Securities Transaction Tax (STT), but declined to commit to any change. That is an invitation to debate—not a promise of relief. [1][2] The issue is more complicated than a simple choice between high taxes and rising markets. Taxes affect post-tax returns and trading costs, but global interest rates, oil prices, currency movements, valuations and earnings also shape investor decisions. Any credible analysis must keep ...

  BIZ MASALA   |   INVESTIGATIVE BUSINESS FEATURE INDIA HALTS SUGAR-BASED ETHANOL PURCHASES The sugar-versus-fuel dilemma: why the government has changed course on ethanol By Murthy ASR   |   Biz Masala   |   18 October 2026 Ethanol production infrastructure sits at the centre of India’s shift in fuel-blending policy. Photo supplied for this story; facility identity not independently verified. THE DECISION—AND WHAT IT DOES NOT MEAN India’s state-owned oil marketing companies have been directed to set sugar diversion for ethanol at zero in the 2026–27 supply year. Their latest tender excludes ethanol made from sugarcane juice, sugar, sugar syrup and B-heavy molasses. C-heavy molasses remains eligible. This is not a ban on every form of sugarcane-derived ethanol; it restricts specified feedstocks in this procurement cycle. The change exposes a difficult trade-off: India wants ethanol to displace petrol and reduce crude-oil import dependen...