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For years China has been pursuing its policy of a string of pearls; which meant having naval stations around the Indian subcontinent as a means of encircling India.  The building of a port in the Sri Lankan town of Hambantota, Gwadar in Pakistan, courting the island states of Seychelles, Maldives, Mauritius and not to mention Myanmar.

Unwittingly of course, India had been resorting to its own plan of undoing this pearls by its Look East policy that it put in place a couple of decades ago.  Over these years, India has strengthend not only economic, but also military partnership with some key nations of South East & East Asia like Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand & Singapore.

Its no secret that China is one of the biggest trading partner of ASEAN as well as of Japan & South Korea.  But its also a fact that most of these countries are not comfortable with the flooding their domestic markets with Chinese goods.  Also China’s yuan manipulation keeps the prices of their goods cheaper and affects the local economies of countries like Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia etc.  And many of these countries are already protesting the same.

The increasing economic clout of China has also massaged its military ego and it now has a lot of territorial claims against countries like Japan, Vietnam and other South East Asian countries.

It is in this context that one can see how India’s Look East policy is reaping rich dividends.  Not only has it led to economic benefits, but also robust military exchanges between the countries and India.

In all these hoopla, what is not being missed is the increasing defence collaboration between the militaries of America and India.  During the cold war era, India was fully dependent on the Russians for arms supply.  with the collapse of the USSR, the spares dreid up and defence procurement dipped to a low for India. During the Kargil war, it was the Israelis who came to India’s aid with timely supplies of spares and the required ammunition.

Today Israel and the US are increasingly becoming the biggest arms suppliers to India. Over the last couple of years, India has purchased six C-130J Super Hercules aircraft for almost US$1 billion and eight Boeing P-8I planes for more than US$2 billion (2009) from the US.

Also US is in running to bag the massive $12 billion 126 advanced figher for which the testing is already underway.

Though it would do a world of good for India to have a coherent defence policy instead of buying piecemeal arms and ammunitions.  Not to mention try to have an indegenous arms production industry within the country.  Depending on the DRDO and its allied organisations is a suicidal step for the country.  Privatisation of the defence industry would go a long step in indigenisation of defence technology.   The Mahindras, L&T, Tatas are increasing their participation in defence technology and it would do a lot of good in future.

Some good reads on this topic

How India is undoing China’s string of pearls
Delhi’s obsequious Obamamania
India counters China’s “String of Pearls” through Naval Diplomacy

Above pictures courtesy: Tactical Life & Twenty22

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Blackburn have edged closer to opening up a new frontier in English football by becoming the first Premier League team to have Indian owners.

The club confirmed that talks with the Venky’s conglomerate over a £46million deal are close to conclusion and a takeover should be completed next month. The price includes £25m to buy the club from the family of the late Blackburn benefactor Jack Walker and a further £15m to clear debts.

Venky’s managing director Balaji Venkatesh Rao, whose father founded the company, said: ‘It’s very much confirmed and we will be announcing it formally in the next 10 days.

‘It’s a £46m deal. I wouldn’t say that is cheap or expensive but we will have to pump in some more money later on. The money is up front from our own sources. We are not here to compare with anybody but this is a first for India. It’s a prestigious moment for everybody and one we should cherish.’

Read the full article here

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The BSE Sensex was around 18000 when Reliance Power came out with its IPO in February 2008.  The crash that followed the listing brought the markets down to around 8000.  It was the bloodiest bloodbath i ever experienced as an investor in the market.  I took that opportunity to buy a lot of good companies at ridiculous prices; and raked in good profits when the markets bounced back a year later.

More than 2 years later, we are staring at a similar situation.  The markets are hovering close to 20500.  The Public Sector Unit, Coal India is set to come with its mega 15,000 crore IPO.  The markets are at their all time highs. The pundits have been predicting a cooling down for some time now.

Will we see a correction again post the Coal India IPO launch?  Am watching from the sidelines to pick up some good bargain.

Above images courtesy: Topnews

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Sold off Asahi Songwon for a very good profit.  The below shown chart should give you an idea of how much the stock grew in the past 1 year.

Also bought more stocks of MIC Electronics & Graphite India

This year the dividend payout has been pretty good. Add to that bonus shares from both Dabur (1:1) and & TVS Motors (1:1)

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Been a while since i updated my equity portfolio.  Some of the stocks were already at their highs; and i felt it was appropriate time for me to liquidate them and invest in others.

Bought the following

Sold the following

Hoping for the markets to correct sharply once the much expected double dip recession hits the US economy.  There would be lots of great bargains out there then.

Above stock price history courtesy:  Yahoo Finance

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