Financial experts are of the opinion that one can avoid these tricky financial traps by little planning by the means of risk free financial instruments like debt terms.

Even if there is an economic crisis in the country this funds are always safe and can always expect good returns.

When one has identified what you need to buy, what is the present cost, and when you need it, and then divide the amount by number of months and the number you get is the amount of money you need to save each month to buy the gadget, or a car, or even a house, that you want to buy so badly.

Systematic investment plans have various debt free plans. The difference between the recurring accounts and short term debt funds is in recurring account the funds are parked with the bank but in short term  funds the money is invested in a mutual fund.

Debt free plans have various options for you to choose like-

Ultra short term or liquid plus funds- where duration is 3 to 6 months and have no exit load, and returns are mostly predictable.

Short term funds- where the duration is 6months to one year- and gives slightly higher returns than ultra short term plans, and have exit load in case of very early redemption.

Dynamic bond funds- duration is one to two years- there are even higher returns in some cases, could be used for price appreciation and usually has exit load for redemption within a year.

Normally all bond funds offer higher post tax returns when compared with investment instruments of same nature and tenure.

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The gaming industry since recent years is growing at a tremendous pace in all the countries and making its present felt across varied platforms and mediums.

It is a proven fact that the entertainment is the opium of this century as it keeps the youth high in spirits; hence in this perspective gaming is pure, unadulterated thrill.

In this happening gaming industry there is a scope of employment for many professionals such as graphic designers, architecture and OS developer, game developer, QA, technical writer, sound and art directors, marketing.

The gaming industry apart from the employment also gives a chance to work on the cutting edge technology.

Every day the gaming industry is developing new products, exploring new markets, creating new special effects in gaming.

A good game developer must have an eye for creativity, sense of storytelling, visualization.

A Game Engine Developer must have a good knowledge of computer programming.

Game testers must have a burning desire for playing video games.

Thus it is very true to say that game designing is not a child’s play and it takes a lot of effort and hard work to dish out a perfectly entertaining game for you to play.

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In other words the taxes paid by a tax payer are utilized to provide civic amenities, security of the citizens by the armed forces, build roads and highways, supply electricity, drinking water, provide law and order by police provide, courts to provide speedy and fair justice, open hospitals for needy to give the best possible health care, operate a road and air, rail transport for its citizens, to run the government machinery effectively, to pay its employees.

There are various kinds of taxs levied in different countries and there are countries that are so rich in resources that no tax is levied on its citizens.

Taxes fall under two heads:

1. Central Government Taxes.
2. State Government Taxes.

The various forms of taxation are:

1. Income Tax: Income tax is charged according to the income of the tax payer.
2. Wealth Tax: is charged as per the tax payers’ wealth he is holding like property, stocks, gold, and vehicles.
3. Property Tax: It is levied on sale, purchase, property and yearly tax for its maintenance.
4. Vehicle Tax: This is levied for purchase, transfer, sale of any vehicle, road tax etc.
5. Corporate Tax: is paid by industrial houses, factories, big companies as per their profits/assets/turn over.
6. Capital Gains Tax: is paid on gaining returns from the sale of property / shares, after having retained them for a certain period.
7. VAT: is value added services charged at different rates for different products and services.
8. Service Tax: The tax levied on services provided by the authority or government. The services provided by anybody including professionals such as advocates, insurance premiums, hiring and leasing including commercial property, brokerages including purchases of property and supply of goods and services of various categories.
9. Custom Duty: It is paid for dutiable items imported.
10. Excise Duty: It is charged on certain items like liquor / alcohol, etc.
11. Sales Tax: It is chargeable on various items under the Sales Tax Act and subject to certain amounts.
12. Octroi: It is chargeable on goods or trading between states.
13. Luxury Tax: It is charged at Grade or Star Hotels, restaurants, etc. for food, liquor also.

All the above taxes are also to include a certain percentage by way of education, cess, surcharge or any other addition as specified in the income tax Act from time to time.

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From the company’s point of view an appraisal is an effective and accurate way to view their employees and base their retention, development, engagement policies on their appraisal report.

Appraisals reports are based on salary reviews and performance reviews.

Rating and ranking people is a very hard task and communicating the feedback is much more difficult because delivering a bad or unpleasant message is always embarrassing and difficult to convey.

For employees they will tense, awkward when their performance is rated and evaluated and then conveyed to them by the management. Sometimes employees have a highly inflated opinion about their work and performance and when they are confronted with the facts otherwise, they feel cheated; there is sense of disappointment, resentment towards the management.

Appraisals must have a clarity and purpose, with fine details of each employee and sound justified reasons on which the reports are based, to win the trust and confidence of the staff and ensure that the finer points are put to practice by the employee which will contribute in the growth of the company.

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From 1st May 2012, the prices of both petrol and diesel cars will be raised. This development could hit the car manufacturers badly and their sales will go down.

So those who are buying petrol cars will have to pay 2% more on the road tax, and the diesel cars will have to pay 4% more than the regular tax.

However the government gave a concession for CNG run vehicles of 2% to promote more CNG vehicles.

The new tax rates for the petrol cars and jeeps costing less than ten lacs is 9% and costing above tens lacs is 10%, and above twenty lacs is 11%.

The new tax rates for the diesel car and jeeps costing up to ten lacs is 11%, and more than ten lacs is 12% and above twenty lacs is 13%.

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To buy a home and keeping all these factors in mind sometimes we plan to take a home loan if we are short of funds and need time to repay the amount in due course of time.

We have to carefully make a choice of the bank from which we intend to take a home loan keeping in mind the following factors.

1. You must check out the bank interest charged by different banks and chose the bank which offers you the amount at the lowest possible rate.
2. You must check the term of repayment as some banks offer a 20 year tenure while some others offer a 15 year tenure, if you take a 20 year tenure then your interest cost increases but if you take a 15 year tenure your monthly EMI goes high which you might find difficult to pay. Hence make a right choice when you decide the tenure.
3. Today the interest rate are quite high and id you take a fixed rate home loan then you would be locked in for a long time  and miss the benefits if the interest rate goes down, and looking at the present economic situation it is advisable to go for a floating interest rate.
4. Plan your finances is such a manner that you will not face financial crisis as these payments are to be made in EMIs regularly else you can be declared as defaulter and the bank can claim your property and initiate a legal process for non- payment.
5. You must ideally buy a home which offers you ready possession as the EMI starts on buying the home and if there is delay in your getting the possession of the house you may end up paying rents and EMI and it will be heavy on your pocket as you will have to suffer heavy losses.
6. Once you finalize the home try to pay the maximum down payment as this will reduce your monthly EMIs as well as the interest amount.

Therefore a well chosen home loan can make your dream of owning a new house into a reality without pinching much on your pockets.

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A major chunk of gold owned by the Indians is in the physical form but paper gold is also fast becoming popular and 35 % of the gold demand is for this more convenient, cost effective and tax saving alternative.

The advantages of paper gold, known as gold ETF units are mentioned below:

1. It offers fast liquidity and can be bought and sold easily just by click of mouse or by your stock broker.
2. The price of paper gold is completely transparent.etf unit is linked to the price of 1 gram of gold.
3. Profits from gold ETF units are treated as long term capital gains and are taxed at a lower rate if the holding period exceeds one year.
4. Paper gold is suitable for investment purposes as it can be bought in small denominations of 1 gram. Some companies also offer 500 grams. It is not possible to buy gold jewellery in small denominations as the smallest ornament weighs about 4 to 5 grams.
5. There is no need to worry about the purity of gold while investing in ETF gold units as they are required to hold equivalent quantity of gold of 99.5% purity. In physical gold one has to check and ensure the purity is right.
6. Physical gold has the risk of being stolen or lost while the gold ETF units are in paper form and are held electronically in Demat forms.
7. Paper gold can also be converted in to physical gold by re- materialization.

Due to these benefits paper gold is becoming a rage with the modern Indians and has now become an accepted form of investment for the smart investors and efficient homemakers.

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The report stated-domestic markets in India contributed to the slowdown, as weak business sentiment reduced the investments and policy tightening raised borrowing costs. India is expected to grow at a slower rate this year and the forecast for the year 2013 remains unchanged at 7.3%. The report also stressed that India needs to tighten more the fiscal policy to take the growth in the positive direction, and make policies which support the economic activity.

The government recently projected a fiscal deficit of 5.1% of GDP of 2012-2013.

The report said that India needs to keep a check on the potential growth as it is the maximal rate of growth a country can achieve without inflationary pressures. The report outlined that there is an upside risk of global inflation which in turn would mean lower global growth and prices of petroleum products also play a vital role.

With declining exports, India’s external balance is expected to go down in the current year.

The IMF said that addressing infrastructure bottlenecks and enhancing governance could help India kick start private investments which are necessary for its economy.

It said managing volatile capital flows and spillover effects from the global economy are the main challenges for the emerging economies.

The IMF called for better fiscal management which would help to sustain the demand and also lead India to a path of healthy fiscal consolidation.

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This cutting of interest rates for the first time in three years will result IB home loans and auto loans becoming cheaper. RBI in its annual policy reduced 50 bps of its repo rate- the rate at which it lends funds to banks. It also announced other measures like:

1. Loans to individuals and business man to become cheaper.
2. There will be no foreclosure or prepayment charges on home loan.
3. Zero balance savings account s with minimum facilities to be opened to all its customers.
4. Unique customer ID may open way for savings account portability whereby the customer can transfer his account to any other bank if he is not satisfied with the services offered by the existing bank.
5. Banks will not provide undue returns for bulk depositors.
6. Fixed bank rate for home loans may become a reality soon.
7. RBI will give more liquidity support to banks to borrow more.
8. Expected economy to grow to 7.3%, inflation up to 6.5%, deposits to 16% and loans by 17% in 2012 – 2013.
9. The availability of cheaper funds is expected to motivate individuals to spend more and business to increase investment.

Giving the policy a thumbs-up the BSE Sensex closed 207 points higher.

New regulatory measures include specialized training to bankers to help them in detecting fake notes.

The downside of this rate cut can by:

1. RBI wants the fuels prices to be raised.
2. RBI warns that the future rate cuts are not guaranteed.
3. Inflatory pressures could increase as there is more liquidity in the market and people will spend more and increase the rate of inflation.
4. While all banks welcome this move, all of them may not pull down rates as the transmission takes time to take place.

The continuation of the downward cycle in interest rates depends largely on stable commodity prices, government not shooting its budget and corporate not passing on all the price increases whenever the petroleum product prices are raised.

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Data released by central statistics office reflects industrial growth slowed to 4.1% in February 2012 as compared to 6.7% expansion in February 2011.

Economists inform that the February data raised expectations of cut in interest rate in the backdrop of easing inflation and slowing growth. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised interest rates 13 times since March 2010 to bring down the high inflation.

Industry groups also called for a cut in interest rates to revive positive sentiment in the economy.

The Finance Minister of India, Mr. Pranab Mukerjee vowed to take steps to boost investments. The finance minister stated, “Domestic demand has also moderated considerably as reflected in the negative growth in consumer goods. The government along with the RBI will take steps to revive investment activity”.

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