How to save money on travel (including bucket list destinations)

Loknath Das

Whether it’s written down in the back of your agenda, in a note on your phone or filed away in a mental cabinet to be called on by daydreams when work and life get too hectic, we all have a bucket list of places we’d love to go. Unfortunately for many of us, that’s exactly where these destinations stay — on a list that never gets checked off. Pricey flights and hotels make jet-setting to far off, exotic locales difficult. But if you know how to go about booking them, you…

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Parliamentary panel on finance seeks inquiry commission into IL&FS crisis

Loknath Das

The government had re-constituted the IL&FS board after the crisis surfaced. The parliamentary standing committee on finance has asked the government to set up a high-level inquiry commission to identify the reasons behind the Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS) default crisis. ET has reliably gathered that the panel, which will table its report in the matter on Wednesday, has specifically sought an investigation into the role of credit rating agencies (CRAs) and Life Insurance Corporation, IL&FS’ largest institutional stakeholder. The committee members met on Monday, and are said to have unanimously…

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27 Best Business Travel Tips From A Boss Babe In The Tech Space

Loknath Das

Olinda Hassan is a partner on the Strategy & Innovation team at Twitter and an expert on business travel. Here, she is pictured in Singapore.PHOTO COURTESY OF OLINDA HASSAN Thanks to technology, the world is getting smaller and smaller, and yet, sometimes you need to be there in person, which is the case for Olinda Hassan, a partner on the Strategy & Innovation team at Twitter. Now based in San Francisco, this boss babe helps drive Twitter’s customer experience strategy and regularly travels around the world to meet with and learn from various groups. In order to maintain her hustle both on…

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Move over, Marie Kondo. It’s travel that sparks joy

Loknath Das

Reducing clutter is the theme of the Netflix program “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo,” which recently brought the host’s minimalist philosophy to reality TV. She demonstrates how to fold T-shirts and, to make decluttering decisions easier, she’ll ask the untidy people she visits to consider, item by item, whether an object sparks joy within them. If not, it’s sent on its merry way to Goodwill. I suspect thrift stores are receiving ample supplies of “What was I thinking?” souvenirs from Kondo’s devoted viewers. But other aspects of travel are not…

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Best Travel Rewards Credit Cards of 2019

Loknath Das

While 2018 was a jam packed year of new and improved credit card offerings, limited time award sales and countless other valuable deals, 2019 hasn’t skipped a beat. From the incredible Cathay Pacific first class mistake fare that started the year off to the limited time Southwest Companion Pass welcome bonus on a number of Chase cards, it’s been a busy couple of weeks. If you’re in the market for a new travel rewards card and haven’t quite found one that suits your needs, here are my top picks for 2019 including a…

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NBFC risk-weight move sends gold finance companies’ shares soaring

Loknath Das

Mumbai: Gold finance companies Manappuram FinanceNSE 0.72 % and Muthoot FinanceNSE 0.39 % rallied on Thursday after the RBI in its sixth bi-monthly monetary policy said that it will assign risk weights for rated exposure of banks to all NBFCs. While Muthoot Finance ended up 6.5 per cent to Rs 515.60 and Manappuram Finance gained 7.7 per cent to Rs 104.05 on Thursday. Earlier, claims on exposure of corporates, asset financing companies and infrastructure NBFCs were risk-weighted as per their ratings. But for NBFCs, which are systemically important non-deposit taking NBFCs there was a blanket 100 per cent…

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Bloomberg Media has developed technology to connect its TV and digital ad inventory

Loknath Das

One of the most valuable pieces of technology in ad-supported media today is the tech that can connect media companies’ linear TV and digital advertising businesses. That technology doesn’t fully exist yet, but it’s beginning to take form. Bloomberg Media has developed a technology called Bloomberg Interlink that, as the name suggests, will enable the media company to link its ad inventory across its linear TV network and digital properties. The company will initially use the technology to update the banner ads that appear on screen during its TV shows,…

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This travel company wants to pay you €118k to run their Instagram around the world

Loknath Das

Dream job alert. It’s officially been winter for 47 years now so we’re all very much living for when we can leave work for a much needed holiday in the sun. If you can’t wait until summer to get away and fancy working in social media, we’ve come across a job opportunity that you won’t want to miss. Royal Carribbean is hiring an apprentice ‘shore explorer’ and it sounds class. The role would see you travelling all over the world to destinations including Dubai, Alaska, Norway and Japan. The successful…

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How Does NPS Scheme Work?

Loknath Das

Started by the Government of India, NPS or National Pension System is a discretionary contribution pension system operated and managed by the PFRDA (Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority). It was started in India in order to stop defined benefit pensions for the employees joining after January 1st 2004. This scheme was originally planned for Government employees only, but it became accessible for all the Indian citizens in 2009. It is an endeavour by the Government to create a pensioned community in India. Any Indian citizen (resident or non-resident) aged…

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Travel: Indonesia’s extremely rare pink beach

Loknath Das

Whilst Bali might be highly rated as one of Indonesia’s most incredible islands, a few other islands offer something more spectacular. That is, Pink beaches. Indonesia is home to three of the world’s seven pink beaches. Far from civilisation and reached only by boat, Serai Island’s beach blushes a rich shade of pink. The boat anchors a few metres from the shoreline to protect its spectacular coral reef, leaving you to swim to shore. Whilst, the more famous pink beach just off Komodo National Park, colour can only be seen at a certain time of…

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