European Monetary Union is in crisis.  Greece is likely to default on its monetary commitments. There is talk of kicking Greece out of the European Union (EU). Greece has PIIGS for company (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece & Spain). All have weak Sovereign finances. It is believed that if Greece becomes independent of EU it could devaluate itself out of its problems. But this surgical treatment has many side effects.    Once Greece is out, Currency speculators will cause havoc with the other PIIGS. It would kick-start a contagion in Europe. The treatment may itself turn into a disease. The suggestion proposed is similar to corporate restructuring / Split. Split Euro into two. Euro (S): representing strong countries like Germany, France and others, and Euro (W): representing weak PIIGS. Euro (W) will gradually devaluate itself and come out of its problems. The union will have sufficient size to take the currency speculators head on....

This stock is a bride to be, famous for its Hospitality. She has two suitors. One is a Stalker (Hostile?) Another is Arranged (White Knight?) Both Suitors have equal stake. The average cost of the stake of the Arranged suitor is at twice the current market price. One or the other suitor is bound to stake claim of the Bride! When? SEBI recently modified the ‘Take over’ regulation. The revised regulation includes a change in the trigger for an open offer from 15% to 25% With SEBI issuing the notification on Friday 23/09/2011, of the revised takeover code, and the revised code being applicable 30 days from the date of notification, expect action on this counter from November 2011. Can you benefit?

Inspirations: 1. Bible , The Exodus, Moses and the Wilderness: Moses is a man with a calling on his life. God chose him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and take them to the Promised Land. Through a series of events the Israelites are eventually freed to leave Egypt under Moses’ command. The people, though, are troublesome. They have been used to being slaves, and don’t know what freedom is. They don’t like Moses leading them, and demonstrate that they are a "rebellious house". So rebellious that God even threatens to wipe them out. Moses intercedes on the nation’s behalf and God relents. Rather than trusting God, a major rift develops between God and the Israelites. This proceeds to make God mad, and rather than supporting the nation, condemns them to 40 years wandering around in the desert. The 40-year wilderness experience that God put the Israelites through is something that He does to some of his own. Every one of the Israelites 20 years and older flunke...

The British have left. They have gone. It is nice to keep using there language. But it is a pain to keep following the rules they made to control the natives. While the British left India more than six decades ago; we follow outdated rules & regulations written by the British (to control the Slaves). Our Bureaucrats truly follow the dictum, “Hum Angrez ke zamane ke afsar hai.!” We have inherited from our former colonial masters an edifice of “prior approvals” required from the state for too many economic activities. We are also burdened with a tradition of opaque rules with the caveat that “notwithstanding anything contained in these rules, the collector/commissioner/secretary/minister can provide an approval if he…thinks it proper”. And there’s the rub! Opacity and discretion! Our erstwhile rulers found it a useful tool to ‘control’ us and to make sure their favorites (usually British companies) got the coveted approvals. It is high time we as free citizens change the system. O...

An Indian software company, specific vertical to aviation industry. Now an MNC after take over by a industry giant. Best under a Billion according to Forbes Asia. Acquired more than 34% shares by open offer, when SEBI rules required 20% offer. Open offer price was more than double the present share price. Aviation sector is the fastest growing sector of the Indian economy. Whether Airlines make profit or not, Service providers to these sector will have boom time. Identify these future Multi-Bagger.

Since 1929 there have been periods of boom & bust in the global economy. The wise say "This time, it's different." It's never different. It's always the same, but with bigger numbers. It reminds me of the quotations from George Santayana’s, Life of Reason, Reason in Common Sense, 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' The economic cycles are associated with the feelings of Greed and Fear. It was greed, rather than the absence of fear that was prevailing in the past few years. Regulation was disregarded, and so was risk, which had been whisked away by whiz-kid ‘quant’s’ They devised exotic financial instruments like derivatives and CDO’s, creating a financial Frankenstein the likes of which had never been seen. Great fortunes were made with the motto ‘profits at any price’. Warren Buffett, the world’s most successful investor called these derivatives, which almost no one understood, "weapons of financial mass destructio...

What is the best term to describe the Indian Economy? Developing Economy, Disparity Economy, what with the wide gulf between the rich and the poor. Or is it a Leapfrog economy? Reasons: 1. An economy graduates from Agriculture to Industrial to Services. We jumped from Agrarian to Services with minimal Industrial base. 2. Communication Industry grows from Postal to Landline to mobile. Without adequate coverage of Posts & Landline we have ubiquitous Mobile services. 3. Personal computing moves from Desktop to Laptop & then to Smart phones, for a majority of the population we seem to be directly jumping to smart phones and tablets. 4. Internet service moves from telephone line to broadband to wireless to 2G and then 3G. A maximum usage of Internet in India is likely to be using 3G. 5. In transportation its rail followed by roads followed by air. From rail we seem to be jumping to aviation as a preferred long distance mode of transport. 6. In Banking, from branch / tel...

Today is August the 15 th , the sixty-fifth year of India’s Independence. It is seven in the morning and I am lazing off on my giant revolving bed, on the top floor of my sea facing mansion in Mumbai. It is a luxury to be in bed at seven in the morning, a privilege I am availing after months, today being a National Holiday. I am dreaming. Dreams are not those thoughts that I get while sleeping. Dreams are those thoughts that don’t let me sleep. My bedroom follows an open plan. It is glass walled from all sides giving me a three sixty degree view of the world around me. The table in my room is studded with trophies, awards and mementos that I have received. It has been a long, tiring but very successful journey almost twenty five years since I graduated. I look out of the window towards the east and I see the magnificent St. Andrews church, the famous Hindu temple of Mahalakshmi and the mid sea Dargha of Haji Ali. There is so much diversity in India. India is a country full of myst...

Disclaimer: I am a trained Medical Professional.  I am still not sure if I am fully qualified to deal with issues pertaining to Medical Profession, forget about giving opinions on Economics, Sociology & Geopolitics. Hence what I write / think are my own personal views, to be read by the readers at their own risk with dollops of salt and....pepper. Revisit old news: Zeenews Bureau Mumbai, May 18: With the Congress-led UPA getting enough numbers to form a stable and progressive government at the Centre, buoyancy returned to the stock markets as both the Sensex and Nifty surged on Monday. The benchmark 30-share Sensex jumped 2099 points today and was trading at 14,479 when the trading was halted. The trading was resumed at 11:55 am after being halted in the morning but the further jump and the breaching of the 20% circuit breaker the trading was haled for the day. ( http://zeenews.india.com/news/business/markets-cheer-upa-sensex-crosses-14k_532573.h...

GDP growth and Socio Political revolution. Here is my take, but before you read further I put in a Disclaimer. I am a trained Medical Professional. I am still not sure if I am fully qualified to deal with issues pertaining to Medical Profession, forget about giving opinions on Economics, Sociology & Geopolitics. Hence what I write / think are my own personal views, to be read by the readers at their own risk with a dollop of salt and....pepper. GDP growth: India enjoy a Demographic dividend (In lay terms Indias maximum population is 20/30 years of age, young & working). For this demographic profile 5 to 7 % GDP growth is its natural / intrinsic growth. The young working people consume & you have the economy expanding. If there is any growth above 7% the credit goes to external factors like Government policies & global geopolitics. Socio-political revolution: So any GDP growth below this threshold of 5 to 7% will lead to tremendous social unrest, riots and ...

Terror strikes in India: 11/7, 26/11, 13/7, 7/9: Terror strikes snuffing out dozens of innocent lives are meant to provoke anger, trigger outrage. However some reports never make any headlines and never invoke any feelings of angst, WHY? Unmarked Graves: According to a recent report by the Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission, 2,156 bodies were found buried in several unmarked graves in dozens of villages in Kashmir.   "According to some human rights group, around 10,000 people have gone missing in the past 20 years, out of which many may have ended up in these graves,". Force-feeding India :   ‘Why don’t you cover Irom Sharmila’s decade-old fast with the same intensity as you did Anna Hazare’s 12-day fast?’ asked Binalakshmi Nepram, the founder of the Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network with characteristic passion. On stage in a live programme. “Perhaps, it’s because Ramlila Maidan is closer to television studios than Imphal,” was my ( Rajdeep...

A long time ago, may be in 2003/04, I am not remembering exactly right now, Big Bazar /Pantaloon opened there first Retail store in Mumbai, at Phoenix Mill. There were lot of Ads., Campaigns during that time. May be attracted by these promotions I decided to check out the store. So one Sunday evening I went to the store. There was a 'NO ENTRY' sign at the entrance. The store was bursting with people. On this wonderful Sunday, I had spent so much of my 'precious!' time to come all the way to Lower Parel, and they refuse entry to ME? Unko pata nahi hai ke mai kon huo, sabak sekhana padaega. To make them aware of 'mai kon hu" and to teach them a lesson, I took the typical Indian 'Juggad' way out. If entry is closed, no problem, go to the Exit. And so I went to the exit (from outside) and what do I see? There is a huge queue at all the Cash counters. Everybody is coming out with multiple carry bags and only after paying the bill. Ea...

We are in the midst of a revolution this monsoon. Either you are part of it, wearing an ‘I am Anna’ Toppi, or you are corrupt! Is it really so? At a time when disagreeing with team Anna is tantamount to treason, punishable with instant lynching, I stick my neck out in the hope that somewhere out there, some people still have some balance to read a contrarian view. Nobody, not even the builders & the politicians, deny that along with the arithmetic growth of  India’s GDP, Corruption has grown exponentially,   may be keeping pace with the Fibonacci series. If Thomas Malthus would have been an Indian and alive today he might have been forced to modify his Malthusian crisis (Population grows exponentially but Food supply grows arithmetically). Any agitation against the devil of corruption is fully justified. But where is the devil? Who feeds this devil so that it grows catastrophically? Is the devil outside or is it within?  Right from School admissions to ju...