Credit card loans and personal loans are two prime examples of unsecured loans that must always be avoided.

'Narendra Modi could be too old to change his personality. On the other hand, his attachment to the RSS could be mostly sentimental. So one must hope that if he becomes prime minister, he is able to detach himself from the RSS view of the world as completely as Narasimha Rao detached himself from the Congress's First Family.' 'India cannot be governed by the autocratic methods by which he has governed Gujarat. If he becomes prime minister he will have to learn to speak in a more civil language about his political opponents,' historian Ramachandra Guha tells Arthur J Pais/Rediff.com

Markets ended at record highs for the third straight session as exit polls showed that the BJP-led NDA is set to form a stable government.

Foreign investors are betting top dollar on the country as growth is likely to recover at a time when other emerging markets are battling macroeconomic adjustments.

India is the world's second-biggest sugar producer after Brazil and has been looking to offload a surplus in an already well-supplied world market.

'AAP's real value must be measured not by the number of Lok Sabha seats it wins in the election -- which may not exceed 10 or 15 -- and not even by the number of votes it takes from the BJP, but by its ability to deflate Modi's superhuman '56-inch chest' image and the charisma so assiduously manufactured around him by the corporate-controlled media.'

United Progressive Alliance's abysmal performance and the Bharatiya Janata Party's claims of good governance are two factors that could change how India votes this year, says Shreekant Sambrani

The 30-share Sensex ended flat at 21,833 and 50-share Nifty gained 7 points at 6,524.

Better-than-expected financial results in Q3 due to higher revenue growth and margins in key markets fuel the rally

United States space agency NASA said it would launch a water-related satellite in collaboration with India's ISRO.

MCX Stock Exchange is bullish on breaking-even in one year's time frame.

Barring the two events of elections and the Fed taper, the markets are well poised to show gradual improvement.

Shreekant Sambrani is confident that today's adversity will make the country emerge even stronger

Filmmaker Karan Bali shares the fascinating story of Ellis Roderick Dungan with Aseem Chhabra.

The highest court in the land will have to find a mechanism under which in future, if sexual harassment allegations are made against a judge, he/she will not go in the manner of Justice Ganguly. Hopefully, there will be some kind of system and guidelines to be followed by the accused and the victim, says Sheela Bhatt.

'Let's talk a bit about minimum and overtime wages, since that is a topic so dear to everyone's heart. After all, critics say that heartless Devyani paid poor Sangeeta neither the minimum wages nor overtime wages and since "in this country we don't do it this way," she deserves to go to jail. But the FLSA itself makes several occupations exempt from either payment of minimum wages or from overtime wages or both. Disabled people need not be paid minimum wages under FLSA. Seamen on American vessels have to be paid minimum wages but seamen on other than American vessels need not be. So how fair is the Fair Labor Standards Act,' asks Sharmista Khobragade, diplomat Devyani Khobragade's sister.

The goal of the Committee on Comprehensive Financial Services for Small Businesses and Low-Income Households, a panel chaired by Nachiket Mor that submitted its report to the Reserve Bank of India last week, is truly a BHAG.

Markets surged nearly 2% led by IT majors on better-than-expected Q3 earnings from Infosys and hopes that RBI would continue to maintain status quo on key policy rates.

MCX Stock Exchange, set up by crisis-hit NSEL's promoters, on Friday appointed Saurabh Sarkar as CEO and announced plans for fresh capital infusion by its existing shareholders among measures to boost business.

Markets ended flat amid volatile trade after short covering in late trades.

This is the full text of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's address to media persons ahead of his interaction with them in New Delhi on Friday

Palash Sen may not be India's biggest rockstar. He is however the frontman of Euphoria, a band that is popular in the college festival circuit. At his last concert held at the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai on December 21, Sen managed to tick off a section of people who took offence to some of the things he said. In the days that followed his alleged remarks, Sen has found himself at the receiving end of a lot of ire, the beginning of which was first expressed in a blog by research student Arpita Phukan Biswas. With no official recording of the concert, the waters have been muddied by voices from both sides. Rediff.com's Abhishek Mande Bhot reports

The deficit data was the latest in a run of positive signs for the sluggish domestic economy and could put India in a better position should the Fed start tapering, than in the summer when the rupee hit a record low.

ITC, L&T and banks like ICICI Bank, SBI and HDFC Bank aid the upmove.

A total of 3,696 allottees pertaining to group housing, commercial department, industrial department, institutional department and residential plots are defaulters.

Most expect these bubbles to break in short order and cause serious financial pain to anyone who's foolhardy enough to remain invested in financial assets.

India's winning streak in elections to UN bodies demonstrates it is time for the country to become a permanent member of the Security Council and those who doubt this can no longer behave like "ostriches in sand", the Indian envoy to the world body has said.

In an interview to Rediff.com's Anita Katyal, Shambhu Srivastava speaks about the need of breaking out of the communal-secular paradigm and focusing on the Congress party's poor performance and its track record in fuelling communalism.

Hopes for India's long-term growth have never been lower, but the likelihood of that growth has never been higher.

Gold imports had totalled 335.1 tonne in the April-June quarter, but have declined to 58.37 in the second quarter (up to September 25).

It's Sanjeev Chadha, named Pepsi's chief executive for Asia, W Asia & Africa, versus Coca-Cola's Atul Singh.

Top Lashkar-e-Tayiba bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda was on Wednesday remanded in seven days' police custody by a Delhi court after the investigators said those who had allegedly helped him in illegal infiltration of Pakistani nationals are yet to be identified.

Sanjay Mathur, managing director and head of economics research for Asia Pacific (ex-Japan), Royal Bank of Scotland, tells Business Standard that in the emerging market pack, India needs to learn lessons from Korea and Taiwan, which have managed their economic situations well.

The partially convertible rupee closed at 66.24/25 per dollar after hitting a record low of 66.30, and down 2.9 per cent from its close of 64.30/31 on Monday.

We present Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's full speech as he addressed the country on the occasion of 66th Independence Day, from Red Fort, Delhi.

Crisis of growth is worsened by the challenging global environment and policy missteps. Returning to 9 per cent growth trajectory will be a tall order.

Industry is displeased over the failure of the National Manufacturing Policy, which has failed to invite any sizeable investment since it was launched more than two years ago.

Few readers will remember the socialist utopia of Indira Gandhi when food queues were the norm even for the middle class and tankers supplied water at odd hours of the night twice a week. Is that what you are trying to return us to, dear Congress, asks Jaideep Prabhu

With response tepid so far from domestic investors, these funds might soon approach FIPB for approvals.

The rupee has been falling for five straight weeks, taking its losses this quarter to 6.6 per cent, making it the worst performing currencies in Asia during this period.