Srinath Sridharan

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

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

Sarci-Sense: The Calm That Hides Everything

Indian middle age has mastered the art of appearing composed while quietly avoiding uncomfortable truths. We have made this “being sorted” a social performance, and it costs us our self.

Srinath Sridharan

January 4, 2026 at 4:42 AM IST

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Sarci-Sense: In Praise of the Mundane, Before January Arrives

Basis Life

Before the New Year resolutions begin, a reminder that most lives survive not through transformation but through repetition. As the year ends, let us look at the small, ordinary habits that quietly carried us through, and why they deserve more respect than our grand plans for change.

Srinath Sridharan

December 28, 2025 at 4:34 AM IST

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Sarci-Sense: You Had Choices, You Chose Not To

Basis Life

We live in an age of endless options, yet most of us follow the safest possible script. How we hide behind our own idea of freedom, how we mistake caution for character.

Srinath Sridharan

December 21, 2025 at 5:58 AM IST

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Sarci-Sense: The Middle-Age Happiness Audit — We Have Everything Except Joy

Basis Life

We upgraded our homes, careers, holidays and skin-care routines. Somehow joy did not get the memo. Middle age is now a place where comfort is abundant and contentment is missing in action.

Srinath Sridharan

December 14, 2025 at 9:04 AM IST

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SIM-Binding is a Strategic Misstep

The SIM-binding mandate is not a procedural privilege the state grants itself; it is a structural redesign of India’s digital ecosystem.

Srinath Sridharan

Anand Venkatanarayanan

December 12, 2025 at 5:33 AM IST

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Sarci-Sense: The Adult Adolescence — Growing Older Without Growing Up

Basis Life

We have income, independence and opinions but not emotional maturity. Middle age today looks impressive but behaves like adolescence wearing nicer clothes.

Srinath Sridharan

December 7, 2025 at 5:10 AM IST

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IndiGo’s Meltdown Exposes Loss of Regulatory Control

Opinion

IndiGo’s crisis saw domestic routes descend into chaos while high-margin international operations stayed largely protected, raising hard questions.

Srinath Sridharan

December 6, 2025 at 6:24 AM IST

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Rethinking SLR Through India’s Political Reality

Any debate on the SLR must be grounded in the political and fiscal realities, not in abstract theories of deregulation. And any rethink must acknowledge that liquidity reserving is not an Indian anomaly but a global norm for safeguarding stability.

Srinath Sridharan

December 3, 2025 at 7:34 AM IST

Deregulation in an Age of Imperial Ambition

Washington’s push to unwind post-crisis safeguards signals a deeper shift: political ambition overtaking regulatory discipline. As US institutions dilute standards they once enforced globally, the credibility underpinning the rules-based order begins to erode, with worldwide consequences.

Srinath Sridharan

December 2, 2025 at 7:18 AM IST

Sarci-Sense: You are Nicer Than Honest. That’s The Problem

Basis Life

We live in a society where politeness has replaced courage and silence has replaced truth. Loneliness, broken relationships and quiet resentment are simply the bill we pay for being so very nice.

Srinath Sridharan

November 30, 2025 at 4:34 AM IST

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Justice Cannot Rely on Technology Alone

For the judiciary to remain a trusted democratic pillar, technological upgrades must advance alongside institutional discipline, administrative reform, and a culture of transparent accountability.

Srinath Sridharan

November 26, 2025 at 8:17 AM IST

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Sarci-Sense: Why Modern India Feels Alone in a Crowd

Basis Life

We are a nation that can host 500 people at a wedding and still have no one to talk to, once they leave. That silence — the eerie and lonely one — is the scariest unsaid fear.

Srinath Sridharan

November 23, 2025 at 7:56 AM IST

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The Bureau

Equities Slide as Rupee Hits Record Low Amid Foreign Outflows

India Faces Higher EU Tariffs as GSP Suspension Hits 87% of Exports

India Insurance Sector Seen Gaining Profitability on Premium Growth, Reforms: Moody’s

Cyber Threats Set to Intensify in 2026 as AI Arms Race Accelerates: Moody’s

Bloomberg Defers Call on India Gilts Inclusion for Global Aggregate Index

Stablecoins Are No Longer Just a Crypto Story

Is Geopolitics the Signal? Markets, Money Flows & Gold Explained

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