The Brexit Circus: What you need to know here in India Part 2 (of 3)

As promised last week, I am going to be keeping my readers up to date with a thorough analysis of how we are going to be impacted by the Britain’s ‘divorce’ with the EU across the world and in India.

Today I am going to dwell a little deeper into the impact we should be feeling in India in the near future. In this article, I am going to give myself the liberty to explain a little more of the technical details of the diplomatic crisis that is going on within the British government with regards to their Brexit negotiations (If you have no clue what I’m talking about, I would suggest reading the first part of this article first).

Let me just clarify that I am intending to write this article in the format of a rant, regarding all the things that I have had to deal with and learn about while working in a company that might have major impacts depending on the outcome of the Brexit negotiations. If you are looking for more clarity, feel free to get in touch with me. I am happy to discuss and debate; the more I learn the more empowered I feel.

So here goes nothing….

Fall in the Value of the Pound Sterling:

Due to the fall in the value of the British Pound, Indian exports to the UK will suffer. A cheaper Rupee will make Indian exports, including IT and ITeS, more competitive. Indian import companies operating from within the UK may also report losses. Also note that India exports more to the UK than imports from the UK.

On a positive note, there are many who think that a weakening British currency might be good news. India being more of an importing nation than an exporting nation, the overall impact of a weakening British currency may be positive for India, given that the US Dollar does not appreciate too much against the Rupee at the same time. With a lower Pound value, Indian companies may be able to acquire many hi-tech assets.

Investor Optimism in India

As investors look around the world for havens in these turbulent times, India stands out both in terms of stability and in terms of growth.

Trade

Brexit might give a boost to trade ties between India and the UK; Britain will finally be free to discuss a bilateral trade pact with India, which it couldn’t as part of the European Union.

Indian migration to UK options are up

Due to the fall in pound sterling, sophisticated organizations like T1 Digital in the UK assisting in work immigration routes are keen on helping many Indian professionals gain career opportunities through the Exceptional Talent Visa that might have been a lot more difficult during the EU days. Brexit might indeed open up a lot of lucrative life growth options for career-oriented Indians who are lacking the right opportunities here in India. 

Tourism boost for the UK

More Indian (and global) tourists can afford to visit Britain in coming days as the currency value has fallen.

UK Education

British universities are still, and probably always will, be considered as some of the best in the world. And now thanks to the low Pound value, many Indian students can afford to study in the UK without a hard pinch in their pockets.

There, I am out of breath now :P. So if you haven’t caught on, I am trying to make each of these Brexit articles one step more analytical than the previous. Meaning the last article of this series which I will be publishing next week will be slightly more analytical. If you're curious, I am going to be talking about how the pound fluctuations will be affecting the prices of various commodities, and hence the impact on global markets and economies.

I would say this is going to be a bigger tragedy for the UK than Price William losing his hair (Forgive me)

Stay tuned until next week for my conclusions on the Brexit Circus!

In the mean time, please leave your comments and opinions below, along with your email addresses if you would like to be notified about regular updates! 

The Brexit Circus

The Brexit Circus: What you need to know here in India Part 1

No better way to encompass everything that’s been going on with regards to the UK and its split from the EU than the word circus. There’s people juggling, there are people roaring, there are people crying and pretending to smile, and there are people smiling and pretending to cry.

Before I get on with my rant, I might as well add that since there’s so much of garbage and fear mongering happening by media outlets across the world, the best option for eager followers of Brexit (for whatever reasons ranging from plans to move to the UK, or if you’re like me and your work deals with British finance on an intimate level) then the best option is to keep track of a combination of 4 types of sources; news channels, opinion articles, and immigration discussion boards 

Yes, that is indeed the only way for you to have a more or less accurate picture of what’s going on in the UK these days and how good or bad things are really looking. And speaking of opinion articles, here’s mine J

What I intend to do is provide a list of all the consequences that this process of negotiation between the UK and the EU are leading up to; in the UK and all the nations connected. Since I am just getting the hang of blogging, I am going to use some blogger friends’ advice and provide the information in a list format as supposedly you readers find that more convenient. So here goes!

Why should you care about Brexit here in India? (10 today, 10 next week)

If any of the below listed consequences affect you in any way, then you know that you should care about Brexit and keep up with this blog for regular updates! If not, well you have some good general knowledge to read for today J

(Disclaimer: Keep in mind that a lot of these points regarding India are regarding the short term. IF things pan out in certain ways, then India should come off in a strong position in the long run after Brexit.) 

1)      There might be a rise in the US dollar value thanks to the fund outflows from the UK

2)      The Indian Ruppee may drop in value bcause of the the dual effect of fund outflows and rise in Dollar value.

3)      This in turn may lead to an increase in Petrol and Diesel Prices.

4)      Prices of gold, electronic goods, and other things might also increase.

5)      There might be a short term tumble in the Sensex and Nifty.

6)      Falling value of the GBP (Great Britain Pound) could render several existing contracts with UK based firms as loss making.

7)      Foreign funds might also move out of India if the above mentioned fluctuations creates a perception of risk towards investment in India.

8)      India’s Forex (currently a record 363 Billion Dollars) may diminish, particularly if the currency     is stored in Euros or Pounds (which accounts for about 20% of the total Forex)

9)      There would be a short term negative impact on the $108 Billion IT industry of India.

10)   All the Indian companies listed in the London Stock Exchange and those which have their headquarters in London, might suffer.

I have made an extremely long, detailed list of all the possible consequences of Brexit for Indian corporations as well as individual investors. However, I would like to put those out in my article next Sunday. This is due to the fact that the coming week might be very exciting in terms of the course Theresa May’s government takes with regards to Brexit, and also how it would lead to global confidence I the UK and the EU.

As always a special shout out to my friends and colleagues: A very belated Happy Birthday to my dear friends Divya and Sebin! May all your wishes come true.

And lastly (my blog wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t say this), a big big congratulations to the Indian Cricket Team for DOMINATING in Australia!!

In the meantime, if you would like to have a brief summary of the Brexit happenings in 2019, have a look at this summary video put together by Siddhant Menon: 

Stay tuned till next Sunday for part 2 of the consequence of Brexit to Indian investors, corporations and individuals. Leave your email below and I shall keep you updated every time there is something new I think about, and hence write about!

My Passport Strongest! – A List of the Most Powerful Passports to hold in 2019

Guest Posting Time!!!

I always appreciate other people offering me suggestions of things to think and talk about (advice requests, questions, opinions, whatnot), based on which I create new content every week for this blog. However today I would ALSO like to remind everyone that if anyone has a good article that they have written and feel would it be valuable to the people who read this blog, I would love to publish your article on my blog as a guest post!

Today we have my college time buddy who works for an immigration law firm writing an article he considers to be potentially valuable for you guys, and I agree! How do you rank the passports of a nation? How important is a passport anyway? Find the answers to this question in Siddhant Menon’s article on Henley Passport Index’s latest publication ranking the world’s most “powerful” passports. Take a look!

My Passport Strongest!

2018 was the year of immigration: immigration related news, immigration related politics, immigration related controversies, and, dare I say, also immigration related opportunities.

From Donald Trump’s Great Wall and the Brexit stall to Canada’s great migration call; civilization as a whole has had to encounter the very real truths of what it means to have distinct nationalities and what types of evidence prove this crucial identity of yours.

One such evidence that tackles both these question; a document that represents both the proof of your nationality along with the power that goes with owning that proof. That document is the passport. A word so crucial to so many of us in the global rat race.

But how do you define the worth of passport? Is it correlated with the value or worth of a nation as a whole? Its questions like these that we attempt to answer in this analysis.

And what better time to do this than a week after the Henley Passport Index launches its first list for 2019 of the “strongest passports in the world”.

Before we get to the list, I am sure you guys are wondering crucially about 4 questions, so let’s get those out of the way:

1)     Where does India rank? – 79!

2)     What’s number one? - Japan
3)     And since my team and I have a fondness for the UK, where doe the UK stand on this list? – 6

      4)   How the hell is this defined?

      

      The 4^th question is what we are going to spend the rest of this article dealing with. 

What IS a strong passport really? 

Well the answer to that question is less exciting than you might have imagined. The Henley Passport Index assesses the ‘strength’ of a passport by counting the number of nations that allow a passport holder of that country to enter their country WITHOUT a visa.

Now while this may seem a very simplistic definition, it’s not without good measure. A passport is a device created to allow the holder to enter another country. Then What could be more accurate in describing the strength of a passport than the number of countries that passport has access to without any government related stamp on it (and the hassles that go along with getting one).

Access to more countries implies better mobility for the person, allowing for more ease in doing business, as well as ease in personal matters like travelling for holidays. It’s no wonder that “purchasing a passport” from powerful countries is a lucrative investment options for high net worth individuals across the world.

Now that we have the 4^th question answered, you have earned the right to the list of top 6 rankings of the most powerful passports in the world (plus India) with the number of nations that each of these countries can access visa free. For the full list, check out this link.

I hope this guest post was helpful! I would just like to end by saying it's great initiative by Sana in creating this blog. I hope as many people can find value in this project as possible.

That being said, I myself write and work for an immigration law firm with particular expertise in British law (UK). SO if you have any inquiries, just hop by our site and fill out our inquiry form and we shall get back to you with any and all information, assistance and guidance you require regarding legal migration to The UK, Canada, Malta, Cyprus and several other nations for your business or personal reasons. 

Breaking down Common Sense

Common sense.

That two worded phrase can be very deceiving, paradoxical, insulting at times, and many many other things simultaneously.

I am going to give you my interpretation of why I think this is the case.

First of all, if common sense is really that common, then why is it that we always find ourselves in situations where we have to face some serious lack of it.

No let's take it one step further back.

What is this thing that we refer to as "common sense"?

Well the Google dictionary defines common sense as "good sense and sound judgement in practical matters".   ....and that gets us nowhere because now we have a new phrase to define. What is "good" sense?

For now, why don't we stick with the second half of the Google definition, because Thou shalt not ignore the Great Google.

"Sound judgement in practical matters". That's definition I can work with. At first glance.

On the second and third glance, an over-thinker's mind will spot a new problem. Let me explain.

Each of us has more 'matters' to deal with in a day than we have time do deal them in. Thus a crucial concept comes into play when it comes to living our life sensibly; and that concept is prioritization. Each of us MUST decide on and manage a priority list, that is dynamic and changes to different time periods.

I love my mom dearly and I will be using my experiences with her as anecdotes for my theories frequently :) And seeing as no one has accused me for not having common sense as much as my mother, it makes sense to pay tribute to her in this article.

My mother is one of the sharpest individuals I know. She has great instincts when it comes to the tasks she has to deal with on a daily basis, and many would say she has "common sense". Yet there have been occasions when I have worked with her on accomplishing things and end up having to rip my hair off screaming "my mom isn't using common sense!".

Now If I can make a hasty conclusion like that about my mother, imagine how inaccurate we might have been every single time we have accused (internally or externally) someone for not having any common sense. The truth just might have been this: just like my mom did not consider my task as her priority, rightly so, maybe the people you have had common sense struggles with have had different things on their mind too.

"Sound judgement in practical matters".

Who is to say what practical matters matter practically? :) pardon the pun ahem.

Long story short: my irritations at the seeming lack of common sense in people around me could have been dealt with much more productively had I just changed my line of sight, or 'angle' a little bit.

This was my first in a series of posts in which I talk about how your perspective defines your reality. I will be creating different pages on my blog for investment tips, life advice, personal anecdotes. I guess this particular piece would fall in the "life advice" section. As you can see, I have big plans with this blog. Please subscribe and share if you think it would be worth the while!

Parting thoughts:

My newest blog obsession: https://prathikshaaa.blogspot.com/
She talks about fitness, health and wellness with articulate ease I have never seen before. Her latest article is about women suffering from PCOS> if you are on of them, her work should really inspire you. If not, it's worth checking her blog anyway.

Note: I believe I had mentioned earlier that I would be publishing blog posts of anyone who has any requests, or would like to share their work. For the time being, my active blogging partner Siddhant Menon is top of the list as he posts new and useful content on a regular basis about politics, global legal immigration, and other sociopolitical issues. His latest Post

Keep the interactions coming so I'll start including more of you in my shout outs list.

Congratulations!

 :) Don't forget to subscribe to my channel.

This one is for everyone who is feeling bittersweet about the pace at which the years are going by...

Special thanks to my friend for giving me the "letter head format" idea : Sid