Encyclopedia of Economic terms

There are a number of economic terms, which you come across in your day to day life but you do not know their meaning. In some cases you have a vague idea about the meaning of the term but you do not know its exact meaning. In such cases you cannot fully appreciate the text or the context in which that particular term is used and you feel a little left out.

This encyclopedia covers all the important economic terms that are generally used and explains them in simple and lucid manner. The terms have been explained keepng in mind that the reader is a layman and not an economist. The list of terms given in the encyclopedia is not exhaustive and will be updated from time to time.

CRISIL
CRISIL is acronym for Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited. CRISIL is India's leading Ratings, Financial News, Risk and Policy Advisory company.

Fringe Benefit Tax
Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) is a tax levied on perquisites-or fringe benefits -provided by an employer to his employees, in addition to the cash salary or wages paid.

Goods and Services Tax
Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a part of the proposed tax reforms that center round evolving an efficient and harmonized consumption tax system in the country.

Liquid Fund
Liquid funds are used primarily as an alternative to short-term fix deposits. Liquid funds invest with minimal risk (like money market funds).

Service Tax
Service Tax is a form of indirect tax imposed on specified services called "taxable services". Service tax cannot be levied on any service which is not included in the list of taxable services.

Standard & Poor's (S&P)
Standard & Poor's (S&P) is one of the world's preeminent providers of credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research and data.

VAT
VAT or Value Added Tax is a consumption tax which is levied at each stage of production based on the value added to the product at that stage.

Derivative Trading
Derivatives are contracts that are based on or derived from some underlying asset, reference rate, or index. The underlying asset can be securities, commodities, bullion, currency, livestock or anything else.

Futures Trading
Futures trading is an agreement between a buyer and a seller obligating the seller to deliver a specified asset of specified quality and quantity to the buyer on a specified date at a specified place and the buyer

Hedge Fund
The term hedge fund is used to indicate a 'hedge' against investment deterioration. Hedge fund can be defined as a managed portfolio that has targeted a specific return goal regardless of market conditions.

Multi Commodity Exchange
Multi Commodity Exchange is a commodity exchange based in Mumbai, the financial capital of India. The MCX is a demutualized electronic multi commodity futures exchange