Two Indians in Top 10 richest College Dropouts !

Yes, two Indians has made it to the top 10 richest dropouts of the world .. I was surprised when I read the list, more so as I never knew that both Mukesh Ambani and Ajim Premji are college dropouts.

One can say that they had the legacy of their fathers behind them but I will still say that they actually made it big. Particularly Mr Premji venturing into software from commodity business was amazing.

Incidentally both  of them were studying in Stanford University before they left it for the good. Other college dropout that made up to the list from Stanford University is Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft.

Harvard Grads, Bill Gates and Mark Zukerberg of facebook fame also adored the list of richest dropouts.

Now we know where to go if we want to be rich and also don't want to study for too long :-)

Speak like a Captain

 Being a captain of any team, one has be responsible and intelligent in all the external communications. The curious case of Shahid Afridi bashing Indian people and media is still alive in our memories and has left a bad taste in mouth. Since the wordings were so strong the media actually made him take his words back.

Now the hard hitting batsman Mr. Sehwag has also done something which I will not associate well for a captain of the team Delhi Daredevils. He said in a press briefing, " I have played under Dhoni's captaincy and I know what all tactics he can deploy as a captain and will make it ineffective against Delhi Daredevils Team" . Now there are somethings which you might be thinking of but speaking it out as a captain does not look really good for a captain of the team. Yes, it might not be as bad as what Afridi did but non the less he could have been more discrete. The media might not have caught the comment made by him but it does looks immature for some one like Sehwag.

The only thing which is interesting in these recent episodes is the similarity between Sehwag and Afridi's way of playing cricket.

Anna shows the Power of Democracy

Mr. Anna Hazare is actually showcasing the power of democracy in this modern world. Old Gadhian tools of Ahimsa and Satyagraha are working wonders again in this world of tears and blood sheds. I am really fascinated to see the kind of support his movement has got from the people of the country.

The youth of country has also sent a very strong message to the government that the days of corruption are limited now and they should better improve the governance otherwise this country come to the streets and fight it out. Ihe important part of this message is that the youth of the country is intelligent and responsive and will adopt the route of peaceful agitation. Few years back it was difficult to foresee this new face of Indian Youth, I believe the Sanjay Dutt movies on Gandhi giri should be admired for making this internet and i-pod generation believe in Gandhian philosophy.

Other exciting thing happening is the rapid adoption of technology in the country. I am very hopeful that the changes brought about by use of Information technology and social movements will work in parallel and will make the administrators of the country more transparent and responsive.

The initiative of UID could prove to be a another milestone which will change the way system works and will drastically reduce the leakages.

Looking at the evolution of the western world, they all suffered from corruption during high growth phase but the systems became much cleaner and government agencies became far more responsive as they got the dose of development.  India is also witnessing the same changes and hopefully in our life times we might see a new India with with far less corruption and red tap-ism. 

What exactly is CBI doing ?

If we look at the past, we all know how honest had all our politicians and bureaucrats been. The Central Bureo of Investigation was primarily created with following divisions:

• Anti Corruption Division: Cases of corruption and fraud committed by public servants of all Central Govt. Departments, Central Public Sector Undertakings and Central Financial Institutions.

• Economic Crimes Division: Deals with cases including bank frauds, financial frauds, Import Export & Foreign Exchange violations, large-scale smuggling of narcotics, antiques, cultural property and smuggling of other contraband items etc.

• Special Crimes Division: Deals with cases such as cases of terrorism, bomb blasts, sensational homicides, kidnapping for ransom and crimes committed by the mafia/the underworld.                      (Source:  Wikipedia)

Now if we analyze their work particularly in anti corruption,  I cant remember any of the politician or a top notch bureaucrat being nabbed by CBI. The Raja's 2G scam was discovered by central Vigilence Unit so was the case of Hasan Ali where Supreme Court has to intervene when it found CBI doing nothing. This is the story with almost all the prominent cases.

Even now that the CBI is investigating  the 2 G scam, the charge sheet filed by CBI is kind of soft towards Raja. I really dont understand what exactly are they doing ? Is there some genuine conflict of interest where all the posting and promotions of CBI are being done by the influential politicians and bureaucrats and they just cant do anything about them ?

Team India: Making History

It was amazing to see India lift the Cricket World Cup yet again after 28 years. The team never looked perturbed by the initial blows in the finals, not even when Sachin got out. This team under Dhoni has graduated to a level where they can think about winning without Sachin.

I still remember the matches of world cup from 1992 to 2011, the truth is the team never looked so formidable before. Yes, the team had a good chance in 1996 but Srilankans with the assistance from unprepared pitch of  Eden Gardens gave us a disappointing loss. The uncompleted match played at Eden  made a lot of Indians to cry and we still get emotional about that game. The itch lasted really long  but finally Dhoni's XI gave  Lankans  reply after 15 years. What a fabulous way of winning.

The God of Cricket got the due respect from the team and it was very nice to hear the team dedicating the cup to him. Sachin actually got what was long due to him. I strongly believe Sachin should play another world cup as he is still the best batsman in India and the world and his fitness levels are beyond doubt.

The whole thing is still to seep in, Winning the world cup Feels great !

Stock Market Puzzle

Nobody Knows when the markets moves up or down !

The market was going smoothly in 2010 and than it declined nearly 20% all of a sudden. What were the reasons for it ? People can only find out the reasons after the market actually falls. People gave lot of reasons

• Egypt Crisis
• Inflationary Conditions
• High Interest Rate to reduce the Profitability of India Inc
• Corporate Governance issues emerging in Indian Companies
• Libya Crisis
•  Manmohan Singh Government and scams
• Crude Oil to hit the growth of India 

Few of the economist had even written off India. Likes of Goldman Sachs said that developed countries will outperform the emerging economies .. hmm too many views all of a sudden..

Now the market has recovered almost 1000 points in a short run. The conditions are actually quite similar to earlier conditions or much worst that what they were. The crisis in Japan can also affect the growth of the world, than you have RBI increasing the policy rates yet again and none of the earlier conditions have actually changed.

The truth is that no one can predict the direction of market in short run and whenever market takes sharp turn than most of the market players are caught unaware of it and it is not logical.

The funny side of the story is that whenever there is a strong rumor that the market it is going to decline, usually there is no actual decline in stocks and when the market declines, nobody knows it.

10 reasons why people love regular Bollywood movies ..

Its hard to imagine people loving bollywood movies.. a big statement right .. I am talking about the regular bollywood movie where you can predict the movie right from the beginning, there are cheezy and crapy songs after every 15 minutes, characters which might look 50 year old but can still be shown as teenagers, larger than life lead characters and same old  f***** story. Wow, this is the real bollywood movie .. Hard to imagine why people just fall for it over and over again.. 

I still remember that once upon a time I went to watch this movie " KISNA" and had taken a vow that will think twice before getting into a theater. Yes some of the movies are real awesome but  Goodness me watching KISNA was a real pain sitting in that theater, you can't even sleep, it was so irritating !

So I was trying to think why people might like bollywod movies ..and at times watch the same movie over and over again ..  The reasons can be plenty but the one I can think of are: -

1.  Hero Worship : hmm , rather a costly way .. cant resist the mass appeal hmm ..

2. Songs : Wanna hear to good songs  , Get yourself a I-Pod ..

3. Heroines : Hmm actresses ,  cant find a solution , go buddy watch it again as if she is gonna jump out of the screen..

4. Time Pass : Have you tried the new PS 3 with motion sensors..

5. Accompanying your GF/BF/WIFE/Relatives : Hmm , I can very well understand what you are going through ..

6. Insomniac :  If typical bollywood movie is better than a sleeping pill , wow .. its a new market for theaters.

7. Language Troubles : Can't understand the accent, try the subtitles. You gonna love it !

8. Place for Romance: There are very few corner seats , try the box seats, they are kinds cool !

9. Bird Watching : Never knew you can watch birds in dark !

10. Bollywood movies are real awesome : No comments .

Investing in Mid Caps .

Small and mid caps companies looks very attractive at times on stock indices. You might find them rightly priced, far cheaper than the regular blue chips but investing in them is a tough question.

The biggest problem in these companies is lack of transparency. Inspite of strict discloser norms enforced by SEBI, there are companies which frequently cook up their numbers.


The corporate governance issues are creating lot of volatility in the mid caps stocks off late.The mid caps actually corrected by nearly 25% in last one month as some of the companies were found to be either involved in unethical business practices or their owners were involved in some types of scams which puts a question mark on the whole company.  

Mid caps also have problem of cash and seldom a recession can eat of all their cash reserves and a company might never be able to become profitable even after the return of good times . In case of blue chips the resilience to survive a few quarter of negative growth is much more.

I believe the best way to pick a good mid cap stock is :

1.      
      How to pick the real Infosys of the future amongst hundreds of scripts? The real multi-baggers will be found in mid or small caps only . 

            1. Analyze the leverage of the company: A highly leverage medium sized company is more likely to fall in bad times.

2.      
      2.Disclosures and Transparency

3.      3.Quality of management

4.      4.Business Model

5.      5.Barriers to Entry in the business

6.      6.Profit margins 

             

        All said and done , its a tricky exercise . If one is not very sure of investing in equities than investing in mid caps is definitely not a option . 

Centre Point of India

Nagpur isn't really a exciting place, sun beating down on you even in the month of November. The only thing I was excited about was to see the Centre Point of India, yes the point from where the East, West, North South parts of India are equidistant. ! Wow centre of this huge country ! Must be awesome ..

So me along with Sid asked our Cabbie to show us the Centre Point , he told us " Do you mean Centre Point Hotel Sir " . No we told him . Finally he left us somewhere in between and we kept searching for the place, no body there seems to know about the Centre point.

Finally some learned man told us that the place is called the "Zero Mile". Hmm, the name is in interesting. Finally we reached the place, and was aghast after seeing the condition of the place. Thay have simply killed it !

The place was uncleaned, surrounded by political and business hoardings. The centre point of India and no maintenance what so ever. Tried to click a few photographs, Planning to write to the authorities. Where are our taxes going ?

When will we start marketing our country ?

Once upon a time in India..

Recently happen to visit Sevagram, the place where Mahatma lived with his team and planned and implemented the project " Freedom of India " . All the great freedom movements were actually thought through and discussions on the future directions for the pan India movement was done at a place which is almost the centre point of India.  The simplicity of the place and lifestyle of Mahatma really makes you think   "What Am I running for ?"

Clicked few of the pics during the trip ..

Barkha Dutt Episode : Not a surprise

Although very few newspapers are reporting the controversies of alleged lobbying by the celebrated journalists like Burkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi, people are slowly getting the feel of the reality. Media does not want to publicize or comment on the episode as it might lead to problems for them . "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones on other."

It was not at all surprising to find Burkha and Sanghvi involved in such practices. The whole media is like that Only the stories which are well paid are told by the media. Needless to say all controversies relating to page 3 people, linkages of actors and actresses just before a movie release, editorial with a biased stance are the profitable products of our media. We all know now why one of the leading newspaper of India was so critical about CWG scams just after loosing its bid to be the media partner of the event. Its all about conflict of interest and media have power to portray anything in the way they want.

Burkha dutt has always been a loud mouthed women, making big statements which catches public attention. I still remember her article , " Like Father , Like Son" she published after the son of Late Promod Mahajan was found involved in a drug overdose case. In her article she critiques Promod and tries to suggest that the son of Promod is so much like Promod Mahajan himself. It was a profound insult to a dead man. The lady leaves no one when it comes to publicity . Now if we just use the same analogy in case of Burkha, the character of whole Dutt family can be easily sketched , but will any sane person do it .

Its so easy to be the one, holding the mike and asking difficult question, making witty remark and commenting on the integrity of the person but its so difficult to be a real genuine person using your power responsibly.

Black Money : Making India Uncompetitive

 Indian economy is over a trillion dollar economy but lot of economist says that the parallel economy (in the form of black money or undisclosed transactions ) is as big as the real economy. Billions of rupees are never shown to the tax man to avoid tax . This black money is really bad for India. It is making India uncompetitive in business at a very fast pace . How ?

Black money usually goes into the investments where it is hard to detect. Usually people keep the black money in cash but it is hard to carry it every where and there is no return on it. Real Estate is the prime investment destination for it as the prices paid in white are abysmal and a very high amount to black money is involved to evade tax. Very high proportion of black money is chasing very few investment destination of real estate. The  real estate prices are shooting over the roof. Now when the land prices are abnormally high due to vested interest of people some of the speculators bring in even more money in the real estate market which increases the costs even further. In a nut shell the black money is creating a bubble in the real estate market.

Now land and real estate are essential part of the infrastructure required for industries. Due to soaring cost of infrastructure the industry is finding it tough to be profitable. The entry barriers for small size co-operations are even higher. If you want to have even a small office in rime locations the money which is charged to you is as high as one in developed economies like USA or Europe with the pricing of products and services nowhere close to it. How will the industry in India survive in long term if the real estate price goes on increasing.

A Passing thought: It is good that lot of Indian black money is parked in the Swiss Banks as it will only worsen the condition of property markets in India.

Indian Judiciary : Can't Get Worst !

Indian Judiciary might be seen as a important part of the Indian democratic system, but its very difficult to cope with it. Yes, as a citizen of the country I have my rights protected but the slowness of the judiciary makes life difficult .

Anyone can do anything here as one knows that the Judiciary is slow and nothing will happen. It is really painful to see likes of molester cop Rathore to again get a bail after years of struggle by the affected family. His smile is a tight slap on the face of the system which is giving no justice to people who are suffering.

In my lifetime I have not seen any powerful person to get the real taste of prison, be it the actors crushing laborers on road, be it the politicians involved in serious crimes, be it powerful people exploiting every little person for their individual gains or be it influential people inciting violence and hatred in the minds of people of the country. Anyone can do any thing here as long has one has muscle power, money power or influence on the system. Sanjay Dutt can be a lone exception to this case.

Even in so called consumer court it takes years to get a judgment.  In case you miss any of the hearing the case is rejected. In case the accused party misses the hearing the court is adjourned. Even if you get the decision in your favor after years of effort, the other party can move to the civil court which will again takes years for judgment.Thinking of all this a common man just drops the case and just feels cheated.

We are doing all kinds of reforms in India, how about reforming the judiciary. No Jessica Lal killers or Ruchika's molester should go out of the hands of our legal system. No person should be able to bypass the judiciary of the country.

De'ja' Vu , The Great 2008 Recession

Summer of 2008 was simply unforgettable. Recession was tough on us as the students as it was on the people who were employed in various corporations. I can never forget the time, maybe that was a good thing which keeps me grounded all the time.

The recent times has so many similarities with the recessionary times. It simply feels like a de'ja' Vu. Various similarities are:

1.  Sensex nearing all time High:  The levels are just a ting lower than the previous high which followed a crash.

2. A Big IPO lined up in the form of COAL India , similar to Reliance Power IPO which turned disaster in the end.

3. Precious Commodities at all time High: The Gold and Silver almost touching all times high.

4. Inflation nearing Double Digits

5. Strong Rs and weak dollar : The rupee has touched almost 44 to a dollar


6. US trade deficit: Widening to $ 40 Billion/ month which is scary .

7. Excited  Retail Investers : Participation in recent IPOs have been really out of ordinary .

8. HR hiring anyone with a degree like there is no tomorrow.

9. Real State prices doubling every 6 months . 

I hope it doesn't goes the way it went last time. The fundamentals looks much better this time . Lets see how it goes, I am optimistic this time.

Empty CWG Lanes

Its been 2 days that the common Wealth Games are over. CWG lanes are now open for the general public and I must say its a big relief from every day traffic hassles . There has one really interesting observation. People are still not using CWG lanes and they continue to use the other crowded lane. It is really surprising. What can be the possible reasons for the same :

1. People don't know that CWG are over: Since the CWG lanes still shows CWG written over it, people are not choosing it to avoid fines . Likely to happen, knowledge about current affair of an average Delhi hunk is not debatable. They at time even dont know about who is the chief minister of the state .

2. People showing anger and boycotting CWG Lanes: Highly unlikely.

3. Human Programming: As the people are using only non CWG lanes from past 13-14 days, they have been subconsciously programmed to use only the non CWG Lanes or we can say , they want to take the usual roads and are avoiding the roads less traveled. :)

Whatever may be the reason, I am just loving it !

Poor PR Practices ..

India and China are being compared on a regular basis in both national and international media nowadays. Its bound to create some animosity between the two countries, Than our Chief of Army Staff yesterday came up with an statement " China and Pakistan are two of our Biggest Irritants " , he even added that " India should be prepared for war on two front with both China and Pakistan " . I was least amused by such an undiplomatic comment . Is there something in it which people don't know ?

The only message I have for him is, WTH. Everyone knows it, you sitting at such an post of honor and responsibilities should not utter a word which creates doubt in the mind of our not so friendly neighbor. If India wants to be prepared to take on any country , talk to the concerned people who can sanction you funds for doing so. Giving open ended statement like this will only deteriorate our relationship with countries like China .

I don't know if there is a post of public relation officer in the ministries or is there a communication department who is handling all such statements from people at the highest positions. Likes of Kalmadi , Lalit Bhanout  and VK Singh only makes India a laughing stock in front of other countries.

Analysis: Common Wealth Indian Performance

Indians have every reason to be proud of our record second position, podium finish in the overall medals tally at common Wealth games 2010 conducted in Delhi . Its also the time to actually analyze where we did well , where we went wrong and how can we improve in future .


Overall Analysis

Last time we won 22 gold medals in Melbourne , this time ours medal tally reflects 38 golds. We are good 16 golds ahead of our last CWG performance. The overall increase in medals will start to look less rosy when we deduct the gold medals we have won in the games like Wrestling ( 10 Golds), Archery ( 3 Golds) ,Tennis  ( 1 Gold) which were not played in earlier version of the games at Melbourne. So the net real addition of medals was limited to just 2 Golds.

Shooting: Compared to last year the performance remained same with no real addition to the medals .

Hockey: The team lifted their game at the right moment, aussies were just too good for us.

Tennis : Remained a big disappointment, our players were beaten by unknown players, may be the era of Lee Hash is finally coming to an end.


Weight Lifting: The game was again disappointing for Indians , it started with doping controversies and India ended with just 2 golds out of the event.


Archery : This looks to be the game where Indians can really go to Olympic level in no time. Our inexperienced young player were really performing well against the best of the teams.

Badminton: The sport has shown that India has really emerged as a big power in Badminton lead by likes of Saina Nehwal.

Athletics, Swimming, Diving: A big hole , we need to get into the medals in these events as bulk of the medals comes from them. If India wants to lead the medal tally, it was to do well in swimming and Athletics.

Gymnastics: Who can be better than India, land of Yoga in Gymnastics ? We just need to nurture our talent young.

Common Wealth Winners !

CWG games finally coming to an end with a spectacular closing ceremony. Last 14 days have been really awesome, it generated so much curiosity and interest, for the good everyone was actually concerned about some sport other than Cricket.

The turning point of the CWG can easily said to be the opening ceremony which brought smiles and pride on the faces of Indians who were thrashed by media around the world. And Indian athletes lead from the front by winning medal in almost all sports.

The best part of the game for me was easily the close contest for the second sport between India and England, at one point of time it looked like England will easily walk away with the second position as they have a lot of athletes in finals of various events. God has his own plans, except the dismal hockey performance for the gold medal match, Indians actually won every thing which came there way in last two days, be it boxing, table tennis or Badminton . It was truly an awesome performance, specially for a nation which is obsessed with cricket and most of us don't even remember the names of our sporting heroes.

We registered a great beginning in the sports like swimming and even gymnastics. We were spectacular as ever in wrestling and shooting.

CWG2010 can become the turning point for the sports in India. As its seen all over the world, all rising nations eventually do well in sports, I hope the same becomes true for India too and we lead the medal tally for Olympics in our life time.

Why Blame Politicians for corruption ?

Common Wealth Games Corruption, Why are we blaming bureaucrats and politicians for large scale corruption . I have the following questions ?

1. Why do we idolize our wealthy relatives without checking out their means of income and wealth ? And even when we know that they are corrupt, our respect and appreciation within society for them never change. 

2. Do we prefer to  bribe the Traffic Police man rather than paying actual penalties ? How much money are we annually saving out of it, nothing, But we still do it , right ?

3. Do we lay more stress of wealth rather than knowledge, personality or behavior of the person ?Do we speak with same respect and admiration to people with equal education but unequal wealth status ?

4. Do we prefer to worship Laxmi more than Saraswati ? Why so ?

5. Are we showing all our rental , interest and other sources of income for our Tax returns ? Is that because we  are afraid or tax man or due to strong value system ?

6. Do we publicly look down on people who bribe or receive bribe? Do we do it even when they are our relatives, friends, parents or close acquaintance ?

7. If we have a option of saving or gaining 1,00,000 which might have potential damaging affect on government of country by 50,00,000, what will you do ?

Changing politicians is out of our circle of influence and criticizing them will not change them . What we can do is that we can change ourselves and once society starts reforming the politicians will themselves change. The day most of the Indians have proud answers to these seven questions, we will not have much of problem with the rampant corruption in the society.

Credits : Inputs from lot of people who influence my opinion and knowledge. 

Reliance ..

 As far as i see, Reliance has always tried to provide best price to its customers and that has been a consistent strategy in all its companies big or small. Have they ever considered differentiating them-self by quality of services, socially conscious group  or by creating a niche. Naah ! The prime reason might be that they always want to capture a larger market which makes sense.

Reliance is much more of a company whose strength lies in Public relations, Project Management and Financial Engineering. Over the years they have shown us that they can get the large market share within no time by aggressive pricing , can get the facilities built before time because of there project management capabilities and has always been a darling of the financial markets. But they never attracted the best of the marketing talent, never have they boasted or tried to go aggressive on the branding of the company.

Reliance ADAG group and RIL group has survived and made it big even without much of branding and marketing initiatives primarily as there offerings were much more of B2B ( Business to Business Marketing ).  Off late ADAG group has ventured into many of the B2C ( Business to Consumer) businesses like Reliance Entertainment, Mutual Funds, Telecom etc where they have to start thinking about the branding aspect of their company.

Its not that ADAG group has not tried for branding , particularly for Reliance communication, they came out with "Sehwaag ki maa ka phone aaya hai" advertisement. I just cant stop smiling thinking about that advertisement, its really tough to find logic behind it . Why the hell will Sehwag's Mom call a spectator in the stadium and how did the spectator came to know by looking at the number that Sehwag's Mom is calling . But all that is past, they were trying to enter a uncharted territory so initial hick-ups  ( popularity called as teething troubles by business managers to safe themselves from Senior Management bashing :-) ) were bound to happen .

Yesterday I called up Reliance Capital ( Another ADAG Company) Customer Care  for a query regarding Reliance Mutual Fund and during the waiting period they played Voda-phone Tune. I was amazed and surprized and than I asked my friend to check out if its Voda-Phone tone only, he confirmed it. Its a  classic case of marketing disaster, as a Group if you can not promote your own company , why are you playing your Competitors Song !