Recent news about a Russian court hearing a petition to Ban "Geeta"provoked me to write this post. In today’s ‘Fast food   -   Twitter’   world if one is asked to interpret Gita it would translate as:   For the sake of religion (Dharma) you are justified to kill your brothers. Is it not the same thing that the Islamist (Jihad) and Christians (Crusade) talk about? It is not what the holy books talk but ‘Who’ and ‘how’ the words of the holy books are interpreted, that determines the understanding of Religion. To understand Mahabharat, Gurcharan Das did not go to Ayodhya, Mathura, Varansi or Kasi or make the Char Dham yatra, but he went   to the institution of Liberal art thinking, University of Chicago.!!! Ancient Indian Culture followed the Verbal method of telling stories / Mythology. Written works are fairly recent, and there are various version of Ramayana where the core thoughts remain the same but the body around it changes. (Valmi...

Indians move from necessities to luxury Spending On F&B Comes Down While Expenditure On Health & Tourism Jumps  According to recent reports although consumption is on the rise in India, a shift in pattern is clearly visible. In urban areas, food and beverages (F&B) is witnessing a declining share of the consumer’s wallet, while spends on tourism and health are going up. Even within categories, there is a shift in consumption. For instance, in foods, people are consuming more fruits and vegetables, meat and milk as compared to pulses and cereals. On the other hand, rural India is seeing a different pattern of consumption. Although rural consumers spend half of what urban consumers spend on cosmetics and toiletries annually, the lines between urban, semi-urban and rural areas are fast blurring with growing connectivity. In short, the geography of consumption is changing rapidly.     According to a Citi India report on consumption, spending i...

    There is growing euphoria over America’s energy future. Energy experts around the globe have been claiming that the US will gain energy independence in the next eight years. Optimists have even gone on to claim that America’s energy independence will lead to global energy independence. The primary basis for the first of these two claims is a series of technological breakthroughs, the most important of which is the application of what is called shale gas technology to extract oil from rock. Experts and journalists are so impressed by this technological breakthrough that they have credited it for lowering US dependence on imported oil by a quarter from 60% of the country’s overall oil consumption a few years ago to 46% in the current year.  Oil forecasts have been notoriously slippery; we hope that the current forecasts on US energy independence are based on firmer grounds. Experts claim that within the next eight years, shale reserves in the US wil...

Now a days, I have lot of rush in my clinic! I see more MR's (Medical representatives) than patients. While the  patient load has not gone down ( Thanks God!); The number of MR's has increased drastically, what with so many new companies in the market, selling the same drugs. Remembering symptoms of rare syndromes is a easier task, then remembering the different brand names of the same drugs. This observation about the fierce competition in the domestic market along with other indicators like: 1. Two major Pharma promoters ( Ranbaxy and Piramal) cashing out. 2. No new drugs to copy by process patent 3. Difficulties faced by Indian firms to launch Generic versions of off patent drugs in the Western market, that too after spending a fortune on legal fees. 4. Prolonged recession in the West coupled with reduced Medicaid spending. It makes me wonder if it is the end of growth of Indian pharma. Do they deserve the rich 20+ P/E valuations.? While I may be skeptic abo...

In my earlier blogs I had made / suggested quite a number of outcomes. What happened to them? 1: Stock story II: Fly along with: 20/9/11 Stock was at 76/-, Gave a Dividend of 2/- Went to 114/-, Now at 105/- A return of 50% in 45 days. 2. Stock story III: Bride and its suitors, 24/9/11 Stock was at 84/- Gave a dividend of .40 Invited ‘Bhabiji’ and ‘Man Friday’ to dining board. Went to 98/- Now at 91/- 3. Euro crisis: Sovereign problem; Corporate solution 26/9/11 It was mentioned that any solution that considers only one country (Greece) will lead to Havoc in other PIIGS. Following ‘Hair Cut’ for Greece its now turn for Italy. 4. Stock story IV: 26/10/11 Stock was at 348/- Now at 374/-

"I got it wrong. The world is so much flatter..... But Technological advances were not accompanied by Changes in the legal and regulatory system, And the political system got corrupted." said Thomas Friedman, author of 'World is flat', there by endorsing the need for structural reforms. Also Refer to Blog  Liberalization 2.0 dated 21 Sept 2011

In an earlier blog, Generation Gap, dated 4 October 2011, I had written about the Retro, Compromise and the Zap generation.  Let’s learn what happens in the house of each of this generation. For simplification assume that Retro is the parent of Compromise and Compromise is the parent of Zap generation. When there are ‘Generations’; ‘Gaps’ can’t be far behind. Generation gaps are nothing but conflicts arising out of difference in attitudes between people of different generations. The key word here is "ATTITUDES". Now attitude is a way of thinking or feeling about someone or something.  A generation gap occurs when older & younger people don't understand each other because of their difference in opinion, experience and nature. Bernard Rosenberg, Dictionary for the Disenchanged , 1972, describes generation gap as a chasm, amorphously situated in time and space that separates those who have grown up absurd from those who will, with luck, grow up absurd.  ...

Price of this share is almost half of the cash balance in its books. It has a twenty years history. It built itself from nowhere to being the fifth largest in the sector by acquiring assets /companies, some at distress. When the sector was enjoying rich valuations it sold off to a MNC and is now sitting on more than 10,000 Crores on its balance sheet. When the world is facing the problem of leverage and excess debt, here is a company with surplus cash, awaiting opportunity to invest in assets in distress. Markets presently dislike the company because it sold off / does not know where to invest /is investing in unrelated areas. But is this not the goal of all investing, sell at peak and buy at distress levels. When market-men are obsessed by minute by minute tickers, When bulls become bears in hours if not in days. Here is a company which buys nourishes and sells businesses and awaits opportunities In the mean while it also makes money for its investors. Would y...

Compared with Western economies we are considered ‘Underdeveloped’ or ‘Developing’ economies. However in India few industries have completely ‘emerged’ and have come to parity with Developed Economies. Salaries/ income in these industries (if you remove the top one percentile) are at par with Western economies.  These industries are: 1.        Entertainment Industry : Film Stars, Actors, Music directors, singers, TV and Media, Satellite rights .........etc. 2.        Financial / Banking : Especially in private investment banks. 3.        Sports: Especially Cricket

Amarthya Sen, Nobel Laureate in Economics and Professor at Cambridge and Harvard, on his writings of Indian culture, History and Identity calls Indian Argumentative. I violently disagree with him. You may ask, How a novice, immature person like you dare to challenge a luminary like Professor Amarthya Sen? Why not? If a two penny gully goondas can bash up Mr. Shanti Bhushan or banish M. F. Hussein, and become ‘Breaking News’ ‘24 x 7’, why can’t I? If someone fights against corruption undertaken by politicians, we are with him. If someone tells us not to give bribes, not to take shortcuts, we will show him the way, the way out. We are the largest Democracy of the world, but our world and our definition of democracy are our own. We have the right of freedom of speech and expression, Want proof, See any breaking news where a Doctor is bashed, a School Principal’s face blackened, dress codes imposed, shop shattered on Valentine day...... What better example of freedom ...

‘ Top 1% of Americans take quarter of all household income , Jeffery Sachs , Director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute . ‘ We are 99% ’ slogan of the protestors a Zuccotti park, Manhattan, hinting at the other 1% perceived to be “Rich, powerful, Corrupt especially Banks of Wall street. People movements are demonstrating their power. Anna Hazare demonstrated the popularity of his fight against unbridled corruption at the Ramlila Grounds, in New Delhi, compelling the Government to take his demands for a stronger Lokpal bill with more serious intent than it had been doing in the decade earlier. Move over to Egypt, and the protest at Tahrir Square brought down a 30 year reign of Hosni Mubarak, purely on the back of people power. Move further west and popular protest by those who claim to be the 99% majority unheeded by Government whose policies, they say, favour the top 1%, is being demonstrated in Zuccotti Park, in New York. They call themselves 'Occupy Wa...

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there... Yet death is the destination we all share... Death is very likely the single biggest invention of life. It’s life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new Jobs Takes iWay To Heaven An iCon Who Revolutionised Mobile Communications, Music, Movies And Modern Culture, Made Technology Beautiful, Ended The Reign of Personal Computers, And Changed Our Lives At 56, Co-Founder Of Apple Loses Fight Against Cancer      When historians look back at the life of Steve Jobs, they will chronicle a man of contradiction and genius. Jobs led a company that became one of the world's most valuable enterprises, and easily the most beloved by its customers, with a series of innovative and always elegant products that brought value and pleasure to people's lives. Reams are being written and hours are being broadcasted about what Jobs brought into our l...