A load of crap from an idle brainPersonal, Movies, Music, IT, India, Singapore, Politics, Fun

The new year has not been off to a great start, at least blogging wise for me.  For some strange reason, iam not even checking my blog, visiting any other blogs or even commenting on them. Contrary to the economic conditions worldwide, am swamped with work.  On my way back home, am so tired that i hardly can open a book and read.

The songs in my Creative Zen play in my head as i doze off.  Fortunately, i haven’t missed out on my bus stop.  Eitherway, the bus interchange is quite close to my home and even if i don’t wake up, the driver will kick me out once the bus reaches the interchange.

Before i could realise, the 4 day weekend passed by.  Did nothing constructive. Just lazed around at home and watched 6 movies.  Some of them i have updated at the Movies page.

I have almost stopped reading the newspapers thoroughly.  With layoffs to the emergence of Talibans in Mangalore, the Thuggerays in Bombay to the incessant coverage of Manmohan Singh’s health conditions, its getting routine and boring.  With so much of bad news around, i hardly need any more in the papers to feel more glum.  So, i have made it a point to no longer read any news in detail that sounds negative.

The only positive thing that happened is that South Africa beat the hell out of the Aussies both in the test and one-dayers.  Pricky Ricky Ponting’s face was well worth watching during the match.  Everything that he is laying his hands on is turning into cow dung.  Looks like Australia committed the same mistakes that West Indies did in the 90s after a superb 80s.  By not managing to get effective players to replace the likes of Waugh brothers, Taylor, Warne, McGrath, Slater, Hayden etc the Aus team is now in a serious rut.

Warner and Shaun Marsh are great prospects, but Aus doesnt have a bowling lineup that can bowl out an opposition twice in a test match.  In McGrath and Warne they had 2 of the most lethal and consistent bowlers.  Of course such players are born only once in a generation, but for sure there has been no good nurturing of the kids to replace the giants.

Compared to them, i believe the Indian team has done a better transition.  With Kumble and Ganguly gone and with Dravid almost out, India has lost a majority of the Fab 5 that it boasted of.  The one day team has no one from the Fab 5 except Sachin Tendulkar and unlike the past when we switched off the TV when Sachin got out, today hardly anyone blinks.

From the boring domination of the Aussies at the beginning of this decade to a much more rounded competition (South Africa, India and Australia), i believe we could be looking at much better matches ahead.

Also once Muralitharan and Jayasuriya hang their gloves, Sri Lanka would also be on their way down.

So, what have i been doing in the past 2 months ever since the markets crashed and the economic gloom all around? Invest in the stock markets of course.  Some of the best companies are available at dirt cheap prices or at the lowest ever prices in their lifetime.  I know of a lot of people who are staying away and waiting for the markets to stabilize (am not sure what that means), but am buying.

I have started buying small amounts in L&T even though am not really appreciative of the L&T management trying its luck in the Satyam muck.  I have also started buying into Tata Motors.  Also have averaged out my investments in Reliance Communications, Punj Lloyd, Suzlon & Praj Industries.

Disclaimer:  I would like to hereby declare that all the investments that i write in my posts are not to be taken as an advice.  Iam not responsible for any losses that you might make by following  what i have mentioned in this blog. Please approach a Certified Financial Advisor for more info or do your own research before investing.

+++

The Satyam mountain of lies crumble in face of evidence.  As per Ramalinga Raju, a big 4 consulting company had advised the management on the Satyam-Maytas deal.  All the top 4 consulting firms (Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and KPMG) have now denied being a part of the deal.

Satyam’s valuation of unlisted Maytas Properties is turning out to be a whodunit. The big four audit firms have denied any role in the
generous valuation of the private company owned by the Raju family. Satyam’s abortive attempt last week to acquire Maytas has turned into a blazing corporate governance controversy.

Satyam had said that one of the big four audit firms was the advisor to the board. And, based on this report, the board had proceeded with the acquisition of privately-owned real estate company of the Rajus for $1.3 billion (about Rs 6,240 crore).

In an email to ET, an E&Y spokesperson said, “I would like to reiterate that Ernst & Young was not involved with the Satyam-Maytas transaction.” ET received similar responses from PwC, Deloitte and KPMG. ET interacted with the spokespersons of PwC and Deloitte, while the KPMG spokesperson responded through an SMS.

Then, who valued Maytas? Satyam did not reply to an email asking the basis on which the land bank of Maytas Properties was valued at Rs 6,400 crore or Rs 1 crore per acre.

Real estate brokers said the valuation was done when the prices of land on the outskirts of Hyderabad was below Rs 10 lakh an acre due to the slump in real estate prices.

“Maytas Properties has three upcoming SEZs in Hyderabad and most are in the development phase. The firm also has properties in Nagpur, Chennai and cities in Andhra Pradesh such as Vizag. Putting these properties together, the maximum valuation could be Rs 3,500 crore.

Considering current market conditions, even this valuation may be a little extreme. But a valuation of Rs 6,240 crore is completely over the top,” a senior official with a leading property consultancy firm said.

An independent Satyam director had earlier told ET that the board relied on E&Y’s advice, something that has been denied by the audit firm. Satyam had to reverse its decision within 12 hours following protests by its investors across the world. Despite the cancellation of the Maytas transaction, the shares of Satyam crashed 33% to end at Rs 163 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday.

Above news from: Economictimes

+++

Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi and now Hyderabad.  Its a metro boom all over India.  Finally the infrastructre boom has started and the ones who persisted and got into the deals could reap a good harvest over the next few decades.  Of course, land acquisition would be a major hurdle, with political parties eager to jump on to the bandwagon when a few properties would be demolished.

But we cant discount the fact that more than US$200 billion worth of infrastructure projects are going on in India at this time and its only going to increase.  Maybe 4-5 years down the line, we would have a better infrastructure and wouldnt be so surprised when we go overseas and see their metros, road and rail network.

The Andhra Pradesh government has formally issued the ‘letter of award’ in favour of Maytas Infra-led consortium for undertaking the development of Hyderabad Metro Rail Project on design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis.

The consortium, Navabharat Ventures Limited, Maytas Infra Limited, Ital Thai Development Public Company Limited and Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited (‘NMII Consortium’), will take up the metro project estimated to cost Rs 12,000 crore (approx US$ 3 billion) in Hyderabad.

The project has three lines totaling 71km, which include

Miyapur to LB Nagar – 30 Kms
Jubilee Bus Station to Falaknuma – 15 Kms
Nagole to Shilparamam – 26 Kms

Full article here

+++

At one point of time, the Sensex was down around 14%. There was news of some morons shouting slogans against the Finance Minister outside the Bombay Stock Exchange office. Not surprising, these must be the traders who lost the most and were just looking for scapegoats. These are the same ones who would have had the biggest smile on their faces as the market raced to 22,000. But never had time to thank the same government they are shouting slogans against now.

Anyway, it was a great time to do some cherry picking. I ended up adding to my Reliance Petroleum, Punj Lloyd portfolio. Also bought Reliance Communications and Suzlon Energy for the first time. Hope to see some upside pretty soon.

Another few months and all these blood bath will be forgotten and i believe the market will touch 25,000 by the end of the year. Or maybe even earlier. Ignore the naysayers, the India growth story is much on track. As i mentioned in the previous post, nothing has changed in a week’s time. There is more than $100 billion of infrastructure projects going on in India. The government is inviting foreign investors to invest another $450 billion in various infrastructure projects in the country. In the next 2-3 years time, we will start to see visible signs of an India with better infrastructure.

The Finance Minister has again insisted that we would be seeing a growth of 8.9% this fiscal year and 8.5% growth the next year. So, just keep investing. There has never been a better time to invest in India.

+++