Work has been too tough and nerve wracking ever since i moved into the new department more than 5 months ago (ya, time flies), not to mention colleagues who are of no use to the team but somehow manage to survive at work inspite of doing nothing productive. Ya, life is a big bunch of surprises.  The ones who work are questioned when there is a lapse on their end, but some people just laze around at work and unashamedly take the salary at the end of the month and no one even bats an eyelid.

Anyways, over a period of time have steeled myself to ignore such characters and sideline them.  There are others who are enthusiastic about work and they are the ones who really encourage me to look forward to going back to work daily.

But this week off was a much needed one.  Have been doing nothing but having good home cooked food, having my regular post lunch naps, wandering aimlessly around the city, reading books on the couch and most importantly watching the financial markets melt the world over.  Watching this self inflicted wound by the US not only to itself but criminally exporting its problems to the worldwide economies is simply mind boggling to watch.  Not to mention morons like Alan Greenspan openly bragging that this debt ceiling is of no issue to the US as they can print as much dollars they want.  Now beat that.

The funniest part of the whole debt problem is the reaction from China which blasted the US for its uninhibited funding of its consumerism by debt.  But why is China so worried about the debt downgrade of the US from AAA to AA+ by S&P ?  Its because China holds more than a trillion dollars worth of US debt.  The more irony comes from the fact that just a few months ago, some so-called Chinese thinkers were threatening to dump dollars that China is holding in the form of its foreign reserves to show who the boss is.  Which makes one wonder, if China dumps the dollar, which moron in the world wants to buy it?  And if it dumps the dollar and the value of the dollar takes a nosedive further eroding the value of the reserves its holding, who is China threatening in the first place?  Its like cutting the nose to spite the face.  The whole fracas reminds me of the saying that i had posted sometime earlier in this blog….

“If you owe the bank $100 that’s your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that’s the bank’s problem.” – J Paul Getty

China today finds itself between the devil and the deep sea.  On one hand it needs to keep the yuan weaker by buying up all the dollars else the export oriented economy that China has carefully built up over the decades will collapse.  With thousands of riots happening countrywide, the Communist government doesn’t want another disaster on its hands.

And its not easy to make a complete turnaround of the economy from an exporting one to a local consumer led economy.  The transition takes years to happen. So, it keeps buying up dollars to keep its own currency cheaper and with the US dollar collapsing to newer lows, everyone is at their wits end trying to hold things together.

So, what to do now?  Nothing much..if you have money sit tight or start buying into blue chips in small tranches.  For the ones who sold off their equity holdings a few months earlier, i have nothing but admiration for your foresight.  For those who plan to sell during the collapse now, there is nothing more foolish decision than that.

Gold is scaling new heights daily as the US dollar loses its value.  Its gonna be a turbulent few months ahead.  Sit tight, there is much more trouble ahead.  Like the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett once said…

“Its only when the tide goes out that you learn who has been swimming naked”

Pictures courtesy: Now Public, Guardian, wmpoweruser

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India is now the largest petroleum products exporter in Asia, surpassing South Korea. According to the data compiled by oil and metal information provider Platts, India’s gross exports currently average 1 million barrels a day, inching past South Korea which exports 0.9 million barrels a day.

With the commissioning of a new refinery by Reliance Industries at Jamnagar and Essar Oil increasing refinery output at Vadinar, India overtook South Korea by mid-2009 and has since then consistently maintained the lead position.

India’s average petroleum products export grew from 0.77 million barrels a day in January 2009 to one million barrels a day in August 2009. In the current year, the average oil products export from India stands at 1.07 million while South Korea exports average 0.88 million.

In fact, India’s refining capacity at 3.69 million barrels a day is the third largest in Asia after China and Japan, which have a refining capacity of 9.6 million bpd and 4.64 bpd respectively. Platts’ compilation is based on the data from individual countries.

“Both Reliance Industries’ Jamnagar and Essar’s Vadinar refineries contribute more than 90 per cent of the petroleum products exports while the rest is by public sector oil companies,” said Ms Vandana Hari, Asia Editorial Director, Platts.

Read the full article here

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The situation now is mirroring the famous words said by some great soul “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed is the king“.

So, what does this crisis mean to people who want to invest for the long term?  Its the ripe time to buy.  Dont pump in all your money at once.  Buy good companies in small quantities.  The market might go down further from here. Buy some now and some more when the markets go down further.  Never try to time to market.  The markets might not go down further from here, and if you buy now, you would have still got some great stocks for cheap.

Am a big follower of Warren Buffett when he says “Buy when there is blood on the streets“.  It might not be complete mayhem now, but there are some great companies available for cheap.

I have bought a few more shares of the following companies

Alok Industries

Bharti Airtel

MIC Electronics

Punj Lloyd

I really hope that the markets fall further so that i can pick up some more good stocks at some great prices.

Important Note: Please dont follow my buy/sell advise blindly.  Do your own research or follow the advise of a certified financial planner before investing.  Iam not responsible for any profits or losses you make by following my investment strategy.

Above price charts courtesy:  Yahoo Finance

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A good article here mentions about the top 10 reasons why the Euro will fail.  You can supplement these theories to other economies too and see why the fundamental argument for a common currency is a non-starter.

1. One interest rate cannot be suitable for everyone

Quite simply if there is a single currency there must also be a single interest rate set by the European Central Bank.  For the single currency to work, this single rate must be suitable for all member states.  It is difficult to see how a single rate could possibly be suitable for all of the economies in all foreseeable situations.  Take for example Germany and Ireland in 2001.  The German economy is on the brink of recession while the Irish economy is booming.  The Germans would ideally like a low rate while the Irish needed a higher rate.  The compromise rate is not suitable for either Ireland or Germany.  This shows that in the long term the result is painful for both countries as both countries have an unsuitable interest rate. One size cannot fit all!

Read the full article here

Above picture courtesy: Bized

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Future Group will open Carrefour-branded franchise stores in the country under a deal signed three months ago, said the two persons, who spoke on condition of anonymity because an announcement is yet to be made.

Future Group plans to open between 150 and 300 Carrefour-branded hypermarkets in the next five years, said one of the two persons.

“This is quite ambitious given the challenges in finding right space required for such hypermarkets,” said the person.

Future Group, which runs Pantaloon and the Big Bazaar chains, will pay the French retailer a royalty for using the brand, said the person, who declined to specify the royalty amount.

Indian rules allow foreign multi-brand retailers to operate in the country only through franchise agreements with local firms.

Carrefour has been scouting for a partner for several years, without success. It has previously held talks with Bharti Enterprises Ltd, which teamed up with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Wadia Group, and real estate firms DLF Ltd and MGF Ltd, among others.

In 2007, Carrefour started two separate units in India, Carrefour WC and C India Pvt. Ltd to roll out fully owned wholesale stores, and Carrefour India Master Franchise Co. Pvt. Ltd, which was to partner an Indian company to open the French firm’s branded stores in the country.

Full article here

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“There is a drop both in the number and the quality of Ph.D. applications, more noticeably in the last two years.” says Anand Sivasubramaniam, professor of computer science and engineering, Pennsylvania State University (Penn State). “This year, of the more than 700 applications we received from prospective graduate students worldwide, the number of applications from top Indian institutes such as the IITs and IISc was in the single digit. Less than three years ago, this number was in the double digits,” he says. An article this February in The Chronicle of Higher Education reported a 50 percent decline in the number of new Indian graduate students this Autumn at the University of Georgia. The computer science department at California State University (Long Beach) saw a spate of prospective master’s students from India abandoning their application process midway.

“It’s the beginning of a trend, an indicator that something is happening and that Indian students are not coming here like they did in the past,” laments Dr. Nathan Bell, director of research at the Council.
You don’t have to look far to find the reasons for this. With the US economy in a shambles, there are severe budget cuts at state-funded universities. The prospects of obtaining a full waiver of tuition fees are slim. Dwindling grant money also means that local students stand a better chance of getting a research fellowship than foreign students. So, many Indian students end up working for free. Last semester, Atulya Prasad, a master’s and Ph.D. candidate in biomedical engineering at New York’s Stony Brook University, worked as a research assistant sans the stipend.

The situation doesn’t improve upon graduation. The growing political backlash against the loss of American jobs, and the rising anti-immigrant sentiment means that getting a work visa — let alone getting a job — is as tough as it can get. So much so that now, even the lure of a US-located son-in-law is starting to fade. “The classic America-educated son-in-law syndrome is almost nonexistent as students, especially from tier 2 schools, hardly get jobs in the US after they graduate,” says Satyavrata Samavedi, a Ph.D. candidate in tissue engineering at the Virginia Institute of Technology (Virginia Tech).

Full article here

Above picture courtesy: Associated Content

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Bharti Airtel is in $10.7 billion talks with Zain to buy most of the Kuwaiti telecom’s cellular assets in Africa — the Indian firm’s third attempt to gain a foothold in the region.

The deal, if clinched, would be India’s biggest overseas acquisition since Tata Steel’s $12 billion purchase of European steel maker Corus in 2007.

Mobile subscriber additions are running at a monthly average of about 15 million in India, making it the world’s fastest-growing wireless market. The rapid pace has attracted new foreign operators such as Telenor and Sistema, making competition more intense.

Call charges have fallen sharply, to as low as a fraction of a US cent per minute, squeezing margins and clouding earnings growth potential.

Bharti reported its slowest profit growth in more than three years for the December quarter, and average revenue per user (ARPU) — a key operational gauge — fell 29 per cent to 230 rupees ($5). The market is also showing early signs of saturation, with penetration reaching about 45 per cent.

To beat the slowdown, Bharti has been scouting overseas, with a focus on high growth-potential emerging markets. After failing to get a deal with South Africa’s MTN Group, the company has set up a new unit to drive overseas expansion. It also agreed last month to acquire control of Bangladesh’s Warid Telecom.

Africa is attractive for Bharti as the mobile user base is low there, with just over a third of the population having a mobile.

Zain’s 15 African operations included in the deal have a combined user base of about 42 million, and the operator is No.1 in 10 markets, ranking second in another four, according to brokerage reports. ARPU in these operations ranges from $3 to $25, with 10 of the 15 having higher ARPU than Bharti.

Rest of the article here

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1. Games Indians Play – Why We are The Way We Are

If you are someone who easily gets offended by criticism, this book is surely not for you.  If you are someone who believes in chest thumping patriotism, the kinds we find in Sunny Deol – Anil Sharma movies or the kind of person who likes to forward chain mails which proclaim that 35% of employees working in NASA, Microsoft etc are Indians, then this book is not for you either.

Games Indians Play is a hard hitting look at the way we Indians manipulate our way around the system, looks at reasons why our cities are dirty, creaking, why our roads are full of potholes, why our system, law and order machinery is corrupt, why we keep raking up examples of our thousand year old culture and morals, but are the worst behaved, immoral and culture-less people around.

The author, V Raghunathan uses game theory to explain the ills of India, as to why we are free loaders, corrupt and do not stand up to our rights etc.

Though the author goes great lengths to analyse the problems facing India, he doesnt suggest ideas or solutions to mitigate the problem.  That i believe is the only negative point about the book.

A few comments on the book that i found at Amazon website reinforce the author’s point of view

“It’s a very interesting book and does a great job of explaining some of the bizzare things that go on in India and why people say “it’s like that only”. As an Indian living in US for two decades, I can relate to author’s observations about Indian and western societies. I have been puzzled by some of those things over the years but couldn’t figure out why it was so.

And to Mr. Raghunathan: Lots of Indians/asians in US don’t behave much differently. Just go to any temple and you can see a pile of shoes/chappals on the floor right next to empty shoe shelves & just below the sign “please don’t leave your shoes on the floor”. Or visit any south asian grocery store and you can tell instantly if they sell “paans” by looking at stains all over the parking lot.”

“As an expat currently living in India, this book affirmed what I’ve found difficult and perplexing about living in New Delhi. The constant helplessness, petty jealousies and a sense that some of the observed poverty is just another one of India’s treasured rackets (an alternative route for their bizarre and seemingly increasing corruption) is overwhelming and frustrating to watch on a day-to-day basis. I enjoyed this book immensely as it helped me to understand the behavior I see around me, why it continues without change (or question) and in the end, why and how others perceive their continued benefit from this seemingly irrational paradigm (from a Western view point).

Listening to Indians and the media in India, there is a view that Westerners are selfish, lack connected communities and have no “family values” or “morals” (whatever this means by whomever defines it). It’s almost as if Indians have it reversed from Westerners. In particular, Americans who value personal independence coupled with a sense of civic duty and responsibility to others whereas Indians emphasize family and communal relationships to guide their behavior and actions but do not necessarily extend their concerns outside their immediate circle.”

“The author postulates that it is ‘Supreme Selfishness’ which drives every Indian. The author then creates models of everyday situations using principles of Game Theory to explore how Indians react to such situations given that they are driven by ‘Supreme Selfishness’. For example, the author uses Prisoner’s Dilemma to model the common situation every Indian faces while emptying his trash can every morning – should I empty the bin on the road or should I have to walk two hundred feet to the nearest municipal waste bin?”

Games Indians Play
Author – V Raghunathan
Pages – 170
Publisher – Penguin Books

2. Germany – Cultures of the World

I have a good collection of the Lonely Planet series.  But they are books for the hardcore traveler.  Though i love to travel; finances, time and other considerations deny me that pleasure.  I love reading up on the countries, their cultures, people, society, food etc, but i find the Lonely Planet series of books too bulky to read and i find its a book good for people who like to micro-manage their travels.  As for me, i like to take the leisure way out and i just like to do a broad research of the place before i travel.

Europe is a dream destination for me.  Germany is one of my most admired countries and i happened to chance at this book in the library.  Its small, concise and covers all aspects of the country just the way i love it.  The book covers the geography, government, culture, food, people, cities, environment, politics, history etc in a precise manner.

3. Hiroshima – Story of the First Atom Bomb

Its a pretty small book, mostly for kids which traces the dropping of the first atom bomb on Hiroshima.  Capturing mostly pictures of both before and after of the destruction and a few explanations about the bomb, the politics behind it.  The book is mostly about Manhattan project, nuclear theory, progress of World War II, Truman’s decision to use the bomb, the mission of Enola Gay, results of the Hiroshima explosion and the subsequent use of the bomb on Nagasaki.

Above picture source: Amazon & Nowpublic

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Three Shiv Sena legislators complained Monday that their police security cover had been withdrawn, and accused the Congress-NCP of getting back at them for their recent opposition to the government.

Two of the three lawmakers, Jogeshwari MLA Ravindra Waikar and Andheri MLC Anil Parab, were among the 342 Shiv Sena activists who were detained last week for waving black flags at Rahul Gandhi during his visit to Mumbai. Before that, Parab had led a march to Shah Rukh Khan’s home to protest the star’s statement that Pakistani players should have been part of the IPL.

The third lawmaker, Bandra MLA Prakash (Bala) Sawant, said he had not taken part in any protests but had visited police stations to talk to Sainiks who had been detained.

MLAs and MLCs in Maharashtra are provided security by the Protection and Security Department of the Mumbai Police, and are assigned policemen not above the rank of constable who carry a small weapon and work in 12-hour shifts.

Sawant complained he had been targeted despite his not having taken part in the protests. “I had only gone to meet activists detained at various police stations,” Sawant said. He added he would write to the police to ask them to restore his security. “My constituency is very sensitive and if anything happens to me the state government will be responsible.”

Read the full news here

I have always believed that all these morons dont deserve even a single police constable’s protection around them.  Since they have no qualms whipping up communal and regional feelings and exhorting their supporters to beat up innocent people, the police should also let them be at the mercy of people who want to take revenge from them.

Let them also be beaten into pulp while the rest of the world watches the fun.

Picture source: Moneytrader

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The Agni 3 test, which took place from the Wheeler Island off the Orissa coast, has made the missile ready for induction, the Defence Ministry announced on Sunday. “The launch is part of the pre-induction trial. The Indian Army (the user) has carried out the total launch operations guided by the Defence Reseach and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientists. Now the Missile system will be fully inducted into the Armed Forces,” a statement by the Defence Ministry said.

While the formal induction will take at least two more years and a few more tests, the missile is strategically vital in India’s nuclear deterrence plans that rely on the second strike theory. India’s stated policy has been of no first use, which makes it vital to have long range missiles to strike back in the event of a nuclear attack.

Full article here

Pictures courtesy: Rediff & Mensa-Barbie

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