Policy Circle

IRDAI’s proposed commission caps aim to curb mis-selling, but could affect insurance affordability, distribution and industry growth. Will insurance commission cuts make policies cheaper? India’s insurance regulator faces a difficult choice. Lowering distribution costs could improve affordability and discourage the sale of unsuitable policies, but excessive cuts could weaken the network of agents, banks and brokers on which insurers depend to reach customers.

India’s luxury market is expanding, but premium car sales reveal little about the financial security and spending power of ordinary households. Luxury market growth reveals limits of headline consumption: India’s households do not experience rising prosperity in the same way. Some buyers are willing to pay lakhs of rupees to have a luxury car painted in a particular shade. Others must weigh the cost of shampoo, biscuits or bread against the rest of the household budget.

India needs fiscal discipline, but better spending and stronger implementation matter as much as higher allocations. Fiscal discipline must start with better spending: With global public debt rising, economists remain divided over how much debt governments can safely carry. The concern is that high debt can narrow fiscal space, squeeze developmental spending and complicate monetary policy. The counterargument is that debt cannot be judged by its size alone.

India $1 trillion export target in FY27 depends on better logistics, lower costs and stronger manufacturing capabilities to win orders. India’s $1 trillion export target needs more than FTAs: India wants to raise exports of goods and services from a record $863 billion in 2025-26 to $1 trillion in 2026-27, an increase of nearly 16%.

UPI MDR charges may help finance digital payments, but its impact on small merchants depends on margins, exemptions and implementation. UPI MDR charges must balance financial viability: The Supreme Court’s refusal to stay the proposed merchant discount rate (MDR) on certain Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions has left the debate over digital payment charges unresolved. The legal challenge continues, and the government’s plans for implementation remain subject to confirmation.

International law cannot command legitimacy when powerful states can evade rules they readily impose on others. The obituary of international law has been written many times over the past few decades. Yet the law itself has not disappeared. What has become harder to defend is the claim that it operates as an even-handed restraint on state power.

India’s professional class plans carefully for retirement but has struggled to turn its economic weight into collective political influence. India’s professional class has little political clout: When the Godrej family divided its businesses between two branches in 2024, the striking feature was not simply that a large Indian business house had managed a succession without a public feud.

GST reforms promise faster refunds, wider input tax credit and simpler registration, but businesses need predictable rules and fair enforcement. GST reforms: Nine years after the introduction of the goods and services tax (GST), the government is turning its attention to the costs imposed by its administration. The GST Council’s recommendations of October 8, 2026, address long-standing business complaints about delayed refunds, cumbersome registration and the denial of input tax credit.

India’s environmental accounts could improve decisions on water, mining and infrastructure, provided governments use the data. New environmental accounts must change how growth is measured: Economic growth can make a country richer even as it runs down the natural assets on which future prosperity depends. When groundwater is extracted faster than it is replenished, forests are cleared or soil loses fertility, the resulting economic activity may add to GDP.

The controversy surrounding the functioning of India’s Election Commission exposes gaps in institutional transparency, delegated authority and digital governance. The recent controversy within the Election Commission of India (ECI) has raised questions that go beyond reported differences among the three Election Commissioners.