THE BYSTANDER

  What Is Inflation Really Doing to Middle-Class India? By The Bystander  |  June 2026  |  Tags: inflation India 2026, food prices India, cost of living India, middle class India Every month, the government announces the Consumer Price Index — India's official inflation figure — and every month, many Indians feel the number does not match their actual experience at the grocery store. Headline CPI might say 4.5%, but the tomato you bought for Rs 20 last year now costs Rs 60, and the cooking oil that was Rs 120 a litre is now Rs 175. What is going on, and why does official inflation feel so disconnected from real life? The gap explained: Official CPI is an average across hundreds of items and income groups, weighted toward rural spending patterns. For urban middle-class India — where education, healthcare, and housing dominate spending — the actual inflation experience is consistently and significantly higher than the headline number. The Categories That Actually...

  India's Startup Ecosystem in 2026: From Funding Winter to Focused Recovery By The Bystander  |  June 2026  |  Tags: India startups 2026, Indian unicorns, startup funding India, Bengaluru startups In 2021, 45 Indian startups became unicorns — companies valued at over a billion dollars — in a single calendar year. Investors were writing cheques at eye-watering valuations, and founders were expanding into new cities before proving their first one. Then came the correction. In 2023, just two startups became unicorns. Byju's — once India's most valuable edtech — collapsed toward insolvency amid allegations of financial mismanagement. GoMechanic admitted to accounting fraud. The party was over. By 2026, something more sustainable has emerged from that correction — and understanding what has changed tells you a great deal about where India's technology economy is heading. The numbers today: 129 Indian startups have entered the unicorn club, collectively raising over...

Can You Have Two PPF Accounts in India? What Happens If You Do Can You Have Two PPF Accounts in India? What Happens If You Do By The Bystander  |  June 2026  |  Last updated: June 2026 The direct answer: No. The Public Provident Fund Act, 1968 allows only one PPF account per person in India — regardless of whether you open accounts in different banks, different branches, or a bank plus a post office. If you have two PPF accounts, the second one is treated as "irregular," earns zero interest , and must either be merged into the first (with Ministry of Finance approval) or closed with only the principal returned. What's in this guide The one-account rule — what the law says What actually happens if you have two PPF accounts How to fix the situation The only exception — PPF for a minor child How to check if you accidentally have two accounts FAQ The One-Account Rule — What the Law Says Under the Public Pr...

You've seen the headlines: the Income Tax Act, 1961 is gone, replaced by the new Income Tax Act, 2025 from April 1, 2026. And now you're filing your ITR in the middle of 2026, wondering: which law applies to my return? Old form or new form? "Assessment Year" or "Tax Year"? The short answer takes one sentence. The full answer — including the one genuinely confusing mapping everyone should bookmark — takes five minutes. The one-sentence answer The return you are filing right now — for income earned between April 2025 and March 2026 — is governed entirely by the old Income Tax Act, 1961, with the old forms and the old "Assessment Year 2026-27" wording. Nothing about it changes because of the new Act. The new Act applies only to income you're earning from April 1, 2026 onwards — which you'll file in 2027. So for this filing season: same ITR-1/ITR-2 forms, same Form 16 from your employer, same Form 26AS, same July 31 deadline, same every...

  India's Gig Economy: Golden Opportunity or Digital Exploitation? By The Bystander  |  June 2026  |  Tags: gig economy India, Zomato Swiggy workers, gig worker rights, delivery workers India On December 25, 2025, while millions of Indians were celebrating Christmas, approximately 40,000 delivery workers logged off Zomato, Swiggy, Blinkit, Zepto, Amazon and Flipkart simultaneously. On New Year's Eve — one of the highest-demand nights for food delivery in history — between 200,000 and 300,000 gig workers across India staged what became the largest strike in Indian gig economy history. They were not asking for luxury. They were asking for a living wage, accident insurance, and an end to the 10-minute delivery model they described as a safety hazard. The scale: India's gig economy processes over 10 million daily orders, contributes 1.25% to GDP, and employs a workforce projected to grow from 7.7 million today to 23.5 million by 2030. But behind every order deliver...

You worked part of FY 2025-26, got laid off, maybe withdrew some EPF, maybe did a little freelancing while job hunting. Now the ITR deadline is approaching and your situation fits none of the standard guides — they all assume twelve tidy months of salary. This one doesn't. Here's how to file when your year broke in the middle, and why doing it carefully usually ends in a refund. The good news first: you probably overpaid tax Your employer deducted TDS every month assuming you'd earn that salary for the full year . You didn't. Your actual total income is lower than what the TDS was calibrated for — which means, for most people laid off mid-year, the government owes you money , not the other way around. But the refund isn't automatic. You get it only by filing the return, and only by filing it correctly. That's the whole reason to read on. And with the new regime's Section 87A rebate making income up to ₹12 lakh effectively tax-free this year (₹12.75 lak...

Getting laid off is hard enough. Then the severance lands in your account — 3, 4, 6 months of pay in one lump sum — and a big chunk vanishes as TDS. Most people accept this as unavoidable. It often isn't. Indian tax law has specific reliefs for retrenchment compensation and lump-sum payouts that neither your employer's payroll team nor the ITR portal will apply for you automatically. This guide explains each one in plain language, for AY 2026-27. First, understand what your "severance" actually contains Your full and final settlement is not one payment — it's several components stapled together, and each one is taxed differently : Retrenchment / severance compensation — the "X months of pay" part. Partially exempt under Section 10(10B), explained below. Notice pay (pay in lieu of notice) — fully taxable as salary. No exemption. Leave encashment — exempt up to ₹25 lakh (for non-government employees, computed per the Section 10(10AA) formula). ...