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...