About Money, Mapped
Money, Mapped is for the people who keep banks, insurers and fund houses running but were never handed the manual. You picked up the vocabulary on the job — NIM compression, the float, the expense ratio — and learned to nod along. Here it all is, laid out one idea at a time, each one causing the next, in plain language and real rupees.
Learn the shape once and you half-know it everywhere else: a bank's spread, an insurer's float and a fund's fee are the same trick wearing different clothes. It's Indian-market first — RBI, IRDAI and SEBI, ₹ figures you'd actually see — and it grows one industry at a time. Read the Brief for a two-minute skim, switch to Deep when you want the arithmetic, or follow a reading path end to end.
Who makes this
I'm Pratik Patil. I've been in unsecured lending for over a decade, first at ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, then at Paytm. I studied at IIM Indore, wrote credit policy under RBI constraints from the bank side, and shipped lending products at fintech speed from the other.
The longer I worked in lending, the more I noticed that the same structures keep showing up in different parts of financial services. Provisioning, risk-weighted assets, net interest margin, cost-to-income: each one connects to the next, and understanding one makes the next easier to pick up. But nobody had written those connections down in one place. Money, Mapped is my attempt to do that, starting with banking and working outward into insurance and funds.
About the numbers
Figures tagged "example numbers" are made up — chosen to show real mechanics at a believable scale, not to quote a live rate. When a worked example puts a bank's NIM at 4.55%, treat the method as real and the number as a stand-in. Anything meant to be a current, real figure is sourced and dated on the idea's own page.
How we check facts
Mechanics and definitions are checked against the primary source — the regulator's own master directions and circulars, not second-hand summaries. Every idea lists its sources; where a real figure has been verified against a filing, the page shows when. Spot something off? Tell us — corrections jump the queue.
Not investment advice
Everything here is education about how the industry works — nothing is investment advice, a recommendation, or a solicitation for any financial product.
Blocked at the office? Ask your IT team to allow moneymapped.in — it's finance education, not a financial product.
Same idea, different counter
The full set of parallels across every industry on the site. Each row is one idea; each cell is what that industry calls it.
| The idea | Banking | Insurance | Funds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core-engine profitabilityThe single number that verdicts what you actually earn on the core activity — one metric, three industries. | NIM | Combined Ratio | Net Return after TER |
| The base the economics scale onThe pool everything else is charged on or earned against — grow it and the whole model scales. | Balance Sheet | Technical Reserves | AUM |
| Sticky, near-free fundingOther people's money that keeps arriving cheaply and quietly funds the base. | CASA | Float | SIP Book |
| The cost dragThe recurring cost that eats the gross number before anyone sees the net. | Cost of Funds | Expense Ratio | TER |
| Distribution / commission costWhat it costs to have someone else bring the money in — with a twist: the bank is usually the intermediary collecting it. | Distribution & Fee Income | Commissions | Direct vs Regular |
| Bottom-line return to the ownerWhere it all resolves for whoever actually put up the money. | ROA / ROE | Insurer ROE | XIRR / CAGR |
| The scorecard hubHow to read the whole thing off a single results page or factsheet. | Reading a Bank's Results | Reading an Insurer's Results | Reading a Factsheet |
| Primary regulatorDifferent regulator, same grip — the body that sets the rules each business plays by. | RBI | IRDAI | SEBI / AMFI |
| The regulatory capital floorThe cushion the regulator forces the business to hold before it may grow — and the throttle on growth when it runs thin. | CRAR | Solvency Ratio | — (no capital at risk: the fund is a pass-through) |
| Growth of the bookThe volume lever — how fast new money comes in, and why the headline growth number flatters unless you check its quality. | Credit Growth | GWP Growth | Net Flows |
| Where the market marks the bookThe place market prices reach in and reprice the balance sheet — gains in a rally, bruises when rates rise. | Treasury Book | Investment Book | Mark-to-Market |
Core-engine profitability
The single number that verdicts what you actually earn on the core activity — one metric, three industries.
- BankingNIM
- InsuranceCombined Ratio
- FundsNet Return after TER
The base the economics scale on
The pool everything else is charged on or earned against — grow it and the whole model scales.
- BankingBalance Sheet
- InsuranceTechnical Reserves
- FundsAUM
Sticky, near-free funding
Other people's money that keeps arriving cheaply and quietly funds the base.
The cost drag
The recurring cost that eats the gross number before anyone sees the net.
- BankingCost of Funds
- InsuranceExpense Ratio
- FundsTER
Distribution / commission cost
What it costs to have someone else bring the money in — with a twist: the bank is usually the intermediary collecting it.
- BankingDistribution & Fee Income
- InsuranceCommissions
- FundsDirect vs Regular
Bottom-line return to the owner
Where it all resolves for whoever actually put up the money.
- BankingROA / ROE
- InsuranceInsurer ROE
- FundsXIRR / CAGR
The scorecard hub
How to read the whole thing off a single results page or factsheet.
- BankingReading a Bank's Results
- InsuranceReading an Insurer's Results
- FundsReading a Factsheet
Primary regulator
Different regulator, same grip — the body that sets the rules each business plays by.
- BankingRBI
- InsuranceIRDAI
- FundsSEBI / AMFI
The regulatory capital floor
The cushion the regulator forces the business to hold before it may grow — and the throttle on growth when it runs thin.
- BankingCRAR
- InsuranceSolvency Ratio
- Funds— (no capital at risk: the fund is a pass-through)
Growth of the book
The volume lever — how fast new money comes in, and why the headline growth number flatters unless you check its quality.
- BankingCredit Growth
- InsuranceGWP Growth
- FundsNet Flows
Where the market marks the book
The place market prices reach in and reprice the balance sheet — gains in a rally, bruises when rates rise.
- BankingTreasury Book
- InsuranceInvestment Book
- FundsMark-to-Market
Questions, corrections, or an industry you want mapped next?