Srinath Sridharan

Dr. Srinath Sridharan is a Corporate Advisor & Independent Director on Corporate Boards. He is the author of ‘Family and Dhanda’.

Mis-selling’s Structural Problem. But, What Next?

The Finance Minister’s warning on mis-selling signals overdue consumer concern. Durable reform will require possible FSDC involvement, incentives, supervision and culture across financial regulators to change and harmonise synergies together.

Srinath Sridharan

February 26, 2026 at 11:23 AM IST

iStock.com

Sarci-Sense: The Performance We All Do on Weekends

Basis Life

Weekends were meant for rest. Middle age turned them into theatre. We don’t relax anymore, we produce happiness.

Srinath Sridharan

February 22, 2026 at 7:03 AM IST

iStock.com

Reskilling Alone Won’t Save Us From the AI Shock

Reskilling helps, but the real test lies in building sovereign compute, research depth, and new institutional responses to AI-led change.

Srinath Sridharan

Anand Venkatanarayanan

February 18, 2026 at 6:09 AM IST

iStock.com

Sarci-Sense: Have we trivialised Love into Once-a-Year Event?

Basis Life

Valentine’s Day celebrates love, but long-term love is mostly unseen effort. Do we dare confront our modern delusions about what constitutes love? Especially when love is a daily choice made quietly, long after the flowers fade.

Srinath Sridharan

February 14, 2026 at 6:19 AM IST

iStock.com

Do Strikes Still Speak to Power?

Strikes were once the clearest grammar of dissent, the sharpest interruption in the flow of authority. In an age of fractured workforces and distracted democracies, the strike remains potent, but only if we understand what it is truly meant to do.

Srinath Sridharan

February 13, 2026 at 4:42 AM IST

iStock.com

When Everything Works, But You Don’t

Basis Life

Nothing is wrong, which is why everything feels slightly wrong. Middle age is when life becomes manageable, but you have disappeared into an abyss.

Srinath Sridharan

February 8, 2026 at 4:40 AM IST

iStock.com

RBI’s First Step Timely, But Guardrails Needed to Prevent Gaming of Fraud

MPC Review

Small-value digital frauds are individually minor, but collectively corrosive to larger public trust. The RBI’s proposed compensation framework is timely, but it must be designed to deter fraud, not become opportunity for others to farm it.

Srinath Sridharan

February 7, 2026 at 4:08 AM IST

iStock.com

A ‘Done Deal’ Announced, But Where Are the Details?

A trade understanding between Washington and New Delhi has been announced with confidence abroad and restraint at home. Does this restraint reflect a forced agreement, or the discipline of a state that understands the costs of premature commitment?

Srinath Sridharan

February 3, 2026 at 6:10 AM IST

White House

Banking Cannot Be Treated as Another Asset Class

Private equity supplies capital, not conscience, and banking regulation cannot rest on market optimism.

Srinath Sridharan

February 3, 2026 at 2:27 AM IST

Sarci-Sense: You’re Either Silent Or Unbearable. Neither Is Conversation.

Basis Life

We live surrounded by messages, opinions, voice notes, and updates, yet most of us feel unseen and unheard. Let us ‘talk’ of how modern society has mastered silence and noise, but quietly lost the courage to converse.

Srinath Sridharan

January 31, 2026 at 6:06 AM IST

Istock.com

When Disclosure Meets Discipline: Recasting India’s Financial Regulatory Architecture

As India’s markets mature, the distinction between a disclosure-driven regulator and a prudential guardian reveals both strength and strain in our governance model. An introspective analysis shows that the predicaments of financial supervision demand not just transparency and buffers, but an integrated approach to systemic risk.

Srinath Sridharan

January 28, 2026 at 1:13 PM IST

Sarci-Sense: The Age of Permanent Explanation

Basis Life

Modern adulthood is no longer about making choices, but seems more about defending them. Why we explain everything we do, who we are trying to convince, and what it costs us when life turns into a permanent justification exercise.

Srinath Sridharan

January 25, 2026 at 6:38 AM IST

iStock.com

Elusive Investments, Silent Disinvestments: Budget's Real Test

Budget 2026

India’s growth narrative is being propped up by public spending while private investment and disinvestment quietly retreat. Budget 2026 must choose political courage over fiscal politeness if the demographic dividend is to be saved.

Srinath Sridharan

January 23, 2026 at 5:57 AM IST

PIB

When Private Credit Becomes India’s Financial Morphine

Budget 2026

Private credit is emerging as India’s fast-growing financial instrument at a time when global equity capital is cautious, and exits are under sharper scrutiny.

Srinath Sridharan

January 22, 2026 at 7:52 AM IST

iStock.com

Capital Discipline Is Not Investor Hostility

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Tiger Global tax case signals institutional maturity, not caprice, as India shifts from capital accommodation to capital discipline.

Srinath Sridharan

January 21, 2026 at 8:58 AM IST

iStock.com/naveen0301

India’s Growth Moment: Cyclical Strength, Structural Test

Budget 2026

India’s post-pandemic growth has leaned on supply-side reforms, public capex and upper-income demand, while private investment stays uneven. Budget 2026 will decide if growth turns durable and private-led, or remains state-driven.

Srinath Sridharan

January 19, 2026 at 8:50 AM IST

iStock.com

Sarci-Sense: What Our Shoes Reveal About The Modern ‘Us’

Basis Life

From slip-ons to sneakers, footwear now reflects a society eager to belong without standing out. Comfort has become India’s most reliable social signal.

Srinath Sridharan

January 18, 2026 at 3:35 AM IST

iStock.com

Why India’s Cities Are Failing the Growth Story

Budget 2026

India’s growth has turned decisively urban, but the financial foundations of its cities remain weak. Unless municipal finance, land monetisation and city-level balance sheets are fixed, urban India will become the binding constraint in the next phase of growth.

Srinath Sridharan

January 14, 2026 at 6:52 AM IST

iStock.com

Sarci-Sense: When ‘Ordinary’ Began To Feel Like Failure

You reach the stage of life where nothing is wrong, and still nothing quite feels right. An exploration of the private unease that creeps in when ordinariness starts to feel like underachievement.

Srinath Sridharan

January 11, 2026 at 11:38 AM IST

iStock.com

India at the Edge of a Harder World

As global norms erode, hard power returns, and advanced economies fracture under social and political stress, India’s ascent is unfolding in a far less forgiving international order. Can India sustain economic credibility, institutional confidence, and strategic autonomy as power increasingly shapes global outcomes?

Srinath Sridharan

January 7, 2026 at 5:30 AM IST

The Bureau

Bears Dominate Dalal Street, Equities Log Decline Led by Financials

Pakistan Bombs Afghan Cities, Minister Says it is ‘Open War’: Reports

Risk Appetite Wavers After Nvidia Slide and Iran Talks Stall

SEBI Overhauls Mutual Fund Categories, Ends Solution-Oriented Plans

Stablecoins Are Raising New Risks for Emerging Markets

FTA Revival and Uranium Deal Could Define Carney’s Visit: GTRI

US Slaps 126% Duty on Indian Solar Exports, Subsidised Parts From China Under Lens

Duvvuri Subbarao on India’s Growth, Inflation Targeting and Centre–State Faultlines

Learning to Shoot: I Tried to Fly Before I Could Walk