In 1981, aspiration became a car called Maruti Suzuki. Suddenly the middle-class was upwardly mobile — but what goes up must come down. With prices of everything from cars to telecom tariff rising up, the ballooning middle-class aspiration that had been driving the economy for a long time has gone bust.

The end of the WeWork boom should serve as a cautionary tale to both investors and founders of start-ups. Why a company with so little to show in terms of monetary achievement would even dare to make its numbers public is a case study in hubris that needs its own wing in a psychology department.

There used to be a time when the discount was solely intended to drum up sales in the low season. But today’s “discount-addicted” Indians need to realise that, at some point, we’re going to have to go back to paying the actual price of these products.

As the buzz around the slowdown in the economy grew louder, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took some small steps – support for the auto sector, a fine-tuning of FDI, and liquidity support for banks. And then, like MS Dhoni in the final over of a run chase, she sent the ball thundering out of the stadium with her decision to reduce the corporate tax rate.

Since the great crash of 2008, not much has changed. Economies around the world – in order to avoid collapse – have played every available trick in the book to convince consumers that the future was rosy. This played well until the future arrived and things seemed just the same.

The bad news is that India is seeing the very real possibility of a recession. The good news is that it’s possible not just to survive but to thrive in this environment. All you need is a little belt-tightening and willingness to experiment.

Across the spectrum of government-allotted projects, it appears there is no pie in which Adani does not have a finger. The Gujarat government rescued the Adani Power Project from the brink of bankruptcy. Adani is the sole beneficiary of the Vizhinjam and Mundra Ports project and will soon to be handed over control of six airports.

It takes special talent to be Anil Ambani. He took a billion-dollar business, one half of one of India’s largest corporate empires, and dwindled it down to nothing. After the Supreme Court order that has asked him to pay ₹453 crore, will history remember him only as Mukesh’s unsuccessful brother?

Online giants Amazon and Flipkart have been messing with our local retailers and with elections round the corner how can the government not show concern? They have tightened FDI rules for e-comm. But will this impact customers?

As reports surface of a doubling of the Indian household debt, it’s a good time to pause and assess the situation. Is this merely a blip in our spending activities, or are we veering toward a westernised consumer culture as feared by so many of our right-wing leaders?

The super-populist interim budget of 2019 had something for everyone – small farmers, the middle class, and retirees. Considering this is an election year, we expected nothing less than a budget to appease the masses. For once, the government has not disappointed.

This year’s budget will be worth watching. Even if all we really care about is section 80, there is a lot there that will tell us what our government is thinking. With an election coming up, that’s more important than scrolling through your Instagram feed.

A look back at the year that was for India’s economy. 2018 began with the PNB scandal that might have drawn an impressed slow clap from Vijay Mallya, and ended with the RBI governor resigning, replaced by a man with as much fiscal competence as a gambling addict.

The face of financial frauds in India in 2018 was Nirav Modi… with dishonourable mentions for Nitin Sandesara, Vikram Kothari, and the OG Bank Chor Vijay Mallya. Let’s hope our public sector banks will take up a New Year resolution: Avoid reckless lending.

The farm loan waiver is the political Brahmastra, the Draw Four card you play just before the other guy is about to shout “Uno!” because it’s a lot easier to keep farmers on the brink of financial ruin and then sprinkle waivers around to remind them which political party really cares.

When the BJP lost in 2004, we said, “It’s about time.” When they lost again in 2009, we were pleasantly distracted by the poor showing of the CPIM and the idea that a stronger coalition might mean better policy enactments. When Congress lost in 2014, we were back to “It’s about time.”

Recessions are like black swans. They’re rare, come out of nowhere, and people frown upon you when you say they look delicious. Is the next one staring us between the eyes? Because it’s been a while since the last one so maybe the next one should just hurry up and get here. And Urjit Patel’s resignation has not helped things.

Urjit Patel resigned from his post as RBI governor citing that old nugget: “personal reasons”. It doesn’t require a keen student of current affairs to realise that “personal reasons” is just code for “just generally fed up of all this nonsense”.

RBI Governor Urjit Patel has resigned citing personal reasons. The relationship between the Reserve Bank of India and the government has been less BFFs and more “show me the money”. It’s a bit like watching a father deal with a spoilt teenager who has blown away his pocket money and is now asking for an extension on his allowance.

GDP is to economists what e=mc2 is to physicists, or the “Single Ladies” dance is to Beyoncé fans. But how does one trust the figures? There is the issue of reported data, the methodology, and the unorganised economy. It’s like when my friend tells me he earns less than one lakh rupees a month and then comes to pick me up in a Bentley

Last December, when Bitcoin was at its peak, people ridiculed me for investing in shares and gold. Fast forward to November 2018. Suddenly my minus 23 per cent returns on the stock market don’t seem like the worst thing anymore. Bitcoin’s barely clinging to $4,000 – a nearly 80 per cent nosedive since last year.

I’m not sure if the lay person really bothers to understand exchange rates, but spare a thought for the boy whose life-long dream has been to stand on the snowy inclines of Switzerland and stretch his arms wide open, Shah Rukh-style. He now needs to be satisfied with a trip to Manali.