The RBI announced its Second Quarter Review of Monetary Policy for the Year 2009-10 today and as expected, has left the key rates unchanged. Though the RBI kept key rates unchanged, it hiked Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR), the deposits that commercial banks are to park in government securities, by one percentage points to 25 per cent.

While this should have brought some cheer to the markets, they plunged deeper into the red not only because the RBI looks set to raise interest rates going forward, but also because the central bank has upwardly revised its target inflation by March 2010 end to 6.5% from 5% earlier.

The upward bias in interest rates was apparent from the RBI's move to hike the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) to 25% from 24%. Having said that, whether interest rates in the future rise or not will depend on whether the inflation continues to rise the way it is doing now, and the economic momentum continues to pick up pace.

OutLook Money has a very interesting cover story on the 51 things that they won't tell you!

There is hardly a day in our lives that passes without taking a decision that affects our finances—whether it is swiping a credit card, buying an insurance policy or even deciding whether to take up a new job that is paying more.

Though there are mandatory disclosure guidelines in most cases, certain things that might affect your decision may not be visible upfront. Or, even if they are, they might be worded in complex jargon or expressed in fine print, hidden somewhere in a boring document that you might not have the patience to read through. Either way you will end up making an uninformed decision, which you may regret later. This is not to say that everyone out there is out to get you. But, it pays to be careful. Literally.