See you there!
Thursday, 16 October 2008
Thursday, 6 March 2008
A prayer, a message for my Almighty
If only God reads my wishes devoted to him -
Bless me God with your presence in my heart,
Bless me God so I draw closer to You,
Bless me God for being one with You.
Let me renounce my desires,
Let me seek happiness in serving you my Lord.
As the day begins, You show me the right way
And as the day ends, I pray to you Lord,
Forgive me for all my sins; and teach me the right.
But at all times keep me close to you God,
With you I find my life a beautiful miracle!
Bless me God with your presence in my heart,
Bless me God so I draw closer to You,
Bless me God for being one with You.
Let me renounce my desires,
Let me seek happiness in serving you my Lord.
As the day begins, You show me the right way
And as the day ends, I pray to you Lord,
Forgive me for all my sins; and teach me the right.
But at all times keep me close to you God,
With you I find my life a beautiful miracle!
Tuesday, 4 March 2008
The Union Budget 2008
Here comes the Union Budget once again! Once the most awaited, most eventful time for most Indians - now uneventful - unless of course elections are around the corner. The politicians seem to break their minds well just before the elections and know how to win the "aam aadmi" votes. Reducing personal income tax was indeed a welcome move - however it just went against the monetary policy and the Congress party's motto of "aam aadmi's Government". The populist Budget has given relief of Rs 65k crores to farmers - well how many "poor" farmers REALLY benefit from this move and how many rich farmers benefit, we'll leave that to Almighty.
The Congress and the Reserve Bank jointly have refused to reduce the interest rate in India - for a simple reason that inflation should be controlled - aam aadmi should not bear the brunt of rising prices. So while the entire world has interest rates ranging from 2 to 8 % , India stands alone at more than 12% since years! America's sub prime crisis has forced it to reduce the interestt rate to 2%. However, India's monetary policy does not heed to this. We want our interest rate be high to curb inflation. So the dollar keeps depreciating against the rupee and India gets flooded with dollars, thereby destroying the export as well as the IT industry completely. Secondly, in the process of curbing flow of money in the economy via high interest rate, the Reserve Bank seems to oversee two factors - one : restrict the economic growth by restriction in money flow due to high interest on capital borrowed ( a necessary step to some extent to reduce excessive money in the economy); two : allow more money flow in the hands of investors who by way of higher return on their investment. A complete viscious circle in itself, there must be critical analysis to be undertaken while deciding the interest rate. The best way to curb inflation other that interest rate hike would be through increading the supply of goods in the economy. If not, then increase the CRR and SLR for the banks, increase the direct taxes and decrease the indirect taxes like custom duty and excise duty on oil and other oil products. The government should issue treasury bills and G secs to suck the money out of the economy. However, there are always less chances of custom and excise duties to be reduced since the government won't get it's share of income to pay to our dear politicians. Reducing income tax is a populist move to win the upcoming elections! However, with our government very adamant in reducing the interest rate; the country's economic has become a secondary issue. They reduced the income tax so that there is more expendable income which will help to usher growth. But how far can this hold true? There is acute shortage of supply of goods and services - leading to rise in prices and therefore inflation. I agree easier said than done. It's easy for me to write and an amazingly difficuly decision to take as a FM. But somewhere, India's monetary and fiscal policy should match vis-a-vis the world's polcies.
By giving waiver to the farmer's loan, the country's financial critics have been tight lipped. For if anyone criticises the budget; the world will rise against him, pointing fingers with a view that the person is not favouring the poor man's plight. It's good to know that the FM has taken steps to promote agriculture; however, a temporary solution by writing of loans as they were NPA, does not solve the farmer's plight. Better irrigation, equipments, 24 hours electricity, other infrastructure is what they need. Our farmers in the rurual areas suffer from 10 to 12 hours loadshedding - they are unable to water the crops! Irrigation facilities are left incomplete - or they are sub standard as the contractors and the government bodies breed in corruption. Money lenders ever since born are probably taught to be harsh, cunning and cruel to the poor. Rural areas are the same pre-independence and post - independence. It's a relief to see that Reliance Retail, ITC e-choupal, Birlas, Tatas, Monsanto, Syngenta and other numberable corporate are extending knowledge and aiding in the upbringing of the farmers in realistic ways.
Very often, FM will announce a populist budget before the elections just to ensure they win the seat. Our politicians are here only for power and not to serve the country. Unfortunately, this message remains among the well educated class of citizens - the poor, I sympathise, has no means of understanding the complexities involved with politicians motives. The still believe Indira Gandhi is alive in many parts of the country in North! If there are true politicians, they exist in corporate India - by way of social responsibility, they have helped Indian rural areas.
2% Education Cess and 1% Secondary and Higher Education Cess on all taxes and duties - for improving our educational systems. Yet, decades later we still have IITs and IIMs which even a nursery kid can count. I was surprised there is no Primary Education or Nursery Education Cess in the Budget. I would have appreciated the Cess had there been some improvements in our educational systems and literacy. Quantity of people knowing to read and write is not the only factor that should be included in the literacy rate - the quality of education and the ability to use education in practical scenario should be included in the literacy factor. These cess would be useful if the beggars stop hogging all the money unethically.
At the end - the story has a sad end - the budget has nothing in hand for us! The aam aadmi will thereby remain an aam aadmi and the politicians will continue to grow as bade ameer aadmi. Aam aadmi will pay taxes and duties and yet suffer poor quality of life at the expense of the politicians.
PS : I think Congress has done a good job to keep the opposition away from criticism by waiving off the loans and making its seat secure for a mid term poll ( if the N Deal is signed!)
The Congress and the Reserve Bank jointly have refused to reduce the interest rate in India - for a simple reason that inflation should be controlled - aam aadmi should not bear the brunt of rising prices. So while the entire world has interest rates ranging from 2 to 8 % , India stands alone at more than 12% since years! America's sub prime crisis has forced it to reduce the interestt rate to 2%. However, India's monetary policy does not heed to this. We want our interest rate be high to curb inflation. So the dollar keeps depreciating against the rupee and India gets flooded with dollars, thereby destroying the export as well as the IT industry completely. Secondly, in the process of curbing flow of money in the economy via high interest rate, the Reserve Bank seems to oversee two factors - one : restrict the economic growth by restriction in money flow due to high interest on capital borrowed ( a necessary step to some extent to reduce excessive money in the economy); two : allow more money flow in the hands of investors who by way of higher return on their investment. A complete viscious circle in itself, there must be critical analysis to be undertaken while deciding the interest rate. The best way to curb inflation other that interest rate hike would be through increading the supply of goods in the economy. If not, then increase the CRR and SLR for the banks, increase the direct taxes and decrease the indirect taxes like custom duty and excise duty on oil and other oil products. The government should issue treasury bills and G secs to suck the money out of the economy. However, there are always less chances of custom and excise duties to be reduced since the government won't get it's share of income to pay to our dear politicians. Reducing income tax is a populist move to win the upcoming elections! However, with our government very adamant in reducing the interest rate; the country's economic has become a secondary issue. They reduced the income tax so that there is more expendable income which will help to usher growth. But how far can this hold true? There is acute shortage of supply of goods and services - leading to rise in prices and therefore inflation. I agree easier said than done. It's easy for me to write and an amazingly difficuly decision to take as a FM. But somewhere, India's monetary and fiscal policy should match vis-a-vis the world's polcies.
By giving waiver to the farmer's loan, the country's financial critics have been tight lipped. For if anyone criticises the budget; the world will rise against him, pointing fingers with a view that the person is not favouring the poor man's plight. It's good to know that the FM has taken steps to promote agriculture; however, a temporary solution by writing of loans as they were NPA, does not solve the farmer's plight. Better irrigation, equipments, 24 hours electricity, other infrastructure is what they need. Our farmers in the rurual areas suffer from 10 to 12 hours loadshedding - they are unable to water the crops! Irrigation facilities are left incomplete - or they are sub standard as the contractors and the government bodies breed in corruption. Money lenders ever since born are probably taught to be harsh, cunning and cruel to the poor. Rural areas are the same pre-independence and post - independence. It's a relief to see that Reliance Retail, ITC e-choupal, Birlas, Tatas, Monsanto, Syngenta and other numberable corporate are extending knowledge and aiding in the upbringing of the farmers in realistic ways.
Very often, FM will announce a populist budget before the elections just to ensure they win the seat. Our politicians are here only for power and not to serve the country. Unfortunately, this message remains among the well educated class of citizens - the poor, I sympathise, has no means of understanding the complexities involved with politicians motives. The still believe Indira Gandhi is alive in many parts of the country in North! If there are true politicians, they exist in corporate India - by way of social responsibility, they have helped Indian rural areas.
2% Education Cess and 1% Secondary and Higher Education Cess on all taxes and duties - for improving our educational systems. Yet, decades later we still have IITs and IIMs which even a nursery kid can count. I was surprised there is no Primary Education or Nursery Education Cess in the Budget. I would have appreciated the Cess had there been some improvements in our educational systems and literacy. Quantity of people knowing to read and write is not the only factor that should be included in the literacy rate - the quality of education and the ability to use education in practical scenario should be included in the literacy factor. These cess would be useful if the beggars stop hogging all the money unethically.
At the end - the story has a sad end - the budget has nothing in hand for us! The aam aadmi will thereby remain an aam aadmi and the politicians will continue to grow as bade ameer aadmi. Aam aadmi will pay taxes and duties and yet suffer poor quality of life at the expense of the politicians.
PS : I think Congress has done a good job to keep the opposition away from criticism by waiving off the loans and making its seat secure for a mid term poll ( if the N Deal is signed!)
Tuesday, 26 February 2008
Thursday, 15 November 2007
The telecom war!
Its been in the papers.... on the news channels..... even to the Prime Minister... the telecom war - Reliance vs Bharti / Vodafone.
Reliance (or Ambanis) - scoundrels of our country - the bribery masters due to which the Indian politicians are so well corrupted. Fact is while the other family businesses grew over a century, Reliance (the most unreliable) grew over a decade. Whats the catch? Other industries thrived international competition while India was still progressing from agriculture based economy to an industrial economy. In this era, Reliance Industries requested "protection", corrupted the politicians by offering bribes, evaded custom duties, manipulated enough to become a monopoly and drive competition out. Imagine, with this background Anil Amabni actually has the shame to say that the other GSM players are encouraging unhealthy competition and evading taxes /fees payable to the government. His claim that the GSM players are depriving the government to earn high revenues from the telecom sector by way of license fees are baseless and faulty prima facie. For once, Relaince Communication has a CDMA license and it wants to enter GSM with this license - itself shows that they are evading license fees. An over night submission of license fees for entry into GSM worth a few thousand crores of rupees is astonishing! How did Anil Ambani know that he's got the license without any press release of the same by the DoT? Why is he hell bent on the number portability feature in the metros only for GSM? And when he talks about healthy competition, why at all favour number portability out of the blues? The TRAI had suggested number portability 20 months back - why is this decision taken by the DoT over night without any intimation and transparency? Fact remains that Reliance wants to drive out all the existing GSM players and fancy its name in being India's largest mobile service provider. They did this earlier with the textile industry and now GSM. What is surprising is that they entered CDMA with a huge flop, and now their target is GSM. At the end of the day, it does not suit him declaring that there should be healthy competition. All that Reliance wants is monopoly. Reliance Comm received the worst customer service for this CDMA services! The DNA - mumbai newspaper has claimed that he has bribed the DoT and probably all the Lok Sabha members with more than Rs 200 crores for just getting an easy entrance into the GSM sector.
An old school time joke - 3G CDMA stands for 3 Gujrati Chor- Dhirubhai, Mukesh, Anil
Did you know? Reliance Industries - run by Mukesh Ambani - does not allow its employees to use Reliance Comm cell phones!
An acquaintance working for Reliance Industries told me " they charge me for my evening tea at office" He further added "They retained Rs 1 lac from my salary annually to be payable after 3 years of service!" This is the state of the largest industry in our country!
And to think about it, the Ambani brothers are the richest Indians - corruption jindabad!
Reliance (or Ambanis) - scoundrels of our country - the bribery masters due to which the Indian politicians are so well corrupted. Fact is while the other family businesses grew over a century, Reliance (the most unreliable) grew over a decade. Whats the catch? Other industries thrived international competition while India was still progressing from agriculture based economy to an industrial economy. In this era, Reliance Industries requested "protection", corrupted the politicians by offering bribes, evaded custom duties, manipulated enough to become a monopoly and drive competition out. Imagine, with this background Anil Amabni actually has the shame to say that the other GSM players are encouraging unhealthy competition and evading taxes /fees payable to the government. His claim that the GSM players are depriving the government to earn high revenues from the telecom sector by way of license fees are baseless and faulty prima facie. For once, Relaince Communication has a CDMA license and it wants to enter GSM with this license - itself shows that they are evading license fees. An over night submission of license fees for entry into GSM worth a few thousand crores of rupees is astonishing! How did Anil Ambani know that he's got the license without any press release of the same by the DoT? Why is he hell bent on the number portability feature in the metros only for GSM? And when he talks about healthy competition, why at all favour number portability out of the blues? The TRAI had suggested number portability 20 months back - why is this decision taken by the DoT over night without any intimation and transparency? Fact remains that Reliance wants to drive out all the existing GSM players and fancy its name in being India's largest mobile service provider. They did this earlier with the textile industry and now GSM. What is surprising is that they entered CDMA with a huge flop, and now their target is GSM. At the end of the day, it does not suit him declaring that there should be healthy competition. All that Reliance wants is monopoly. Reliance Comm received the worst customer service for this CDMA services! The DNA - mumbai newspaper has claimed that he has bribed the DoT and probably all the Lok Sabha members with more than Rs 200 crores for just getting an easy entrance into the GSM sector.
An old school time joke - 3G CDMA stands for 3 Gujrati Chor- Dhirubhai, Mukesh, Anil
Did you know? Reliance Industries - run by Mukesh Ambani - does not allow its employees to use Reliance Comm cell phones!
An acquaintance working for Reliance Industries told me " they charge me for my evening tea at office" He further added "They retained Rs 1 lac from my salary annually to be payable after 3 years of service!" This is the state of the largest industry in our country!
And to think about it, the Ambani brothers are the richest Indians - corruption jindabad!
Saturday, 11 August 2007
Sensex crosses 15k... Poverty?
I was driving by in Mumbai last week, when a big hoarding caught my attention > Sensex crosses 15k but more than 23 million remain below the poverty line - An advertisement by DNA. True, the capital market in our country has undoubtedly shown tremendous results and many cyclical patterns of crashing and booming within 2 days.. So how does this affect our country? Why are the economists behind the capital markets and the big giant corporates panting behind their shares to do well? Where is all the money going if in one day Rs 17k crores were lost by the great crash? Thats a huge amount!
I remember during my first round of interview with ITC Ltd, the interviewer asked me how does the capital market reflect growth prospects of the Indian economy? I knew the answer but it was so basic, that I had no answers... It does... simply it does. Thinking back on those lines, people invest in the capital market... effectively investing in the companies they feel they are going to get some assured return risking their money. It may be capital appreciation or by way of annual dividend. So why will I as an investor or speculator invest in a company which is running into losses or has no bright future or for that matter in a country which shows no sign of growth? Obviously, to maximise my return on capital, I will ensure that my investments go in perfect companies where growth is obvious and there will possibly be no default. India is said to be a booming economy not only because it is an underdeveloped country, but also because the government has opened the economy for upgradation. The mass population by itself is the biggest consumer of goods and services and as people's wants grow, the demand grows thus showing a good prospect for corporates! Thus, the growth process is accelerated. And hence more and more people invest in capital markets. This in turn shows that our economy is booming and growing. Ofcourse this is one side of the story for capital markets boom. Various factors affect - international markets, oil price, other world economies, interest rates, government regulation, rumours, speculations, sentiments, etc. However a true investor will always remain in the market without worrying about the ups and downs.
So withthe sensex crossing 15k, obviously a lot of money is being exchanged. Where is this money? Why can't it be seen as a sign of real growth in terms of standard of living or in terms of poverty alleviation? Does a boom in the economy imply that poverty level has been reducing? Infact, its the opposite - the income disparity seem to be indefinitely large! When we talk in economics term, more demand for goods / services mean the industry is accelerated to supply which in turn means that more people are employed thus improving the standard of living and these people in turn are able to demand more goods and the cycle goes on. That means if the government sanctioned some amount towards infrastructure development, it means that more people will be employed to produce the goods - like roads, dams, bulldozer, bridges, railways and so on - who in turn will be paid for their services. They in turn will demand other goods (may be furniture, TV sets, new houses, cars, electronics) which previously they couldn't afford, thus setting the whole economy in parallel motion. So this means that the standard of living should have improved - but infact it is not. The middle men just got richer, the richer became millionaires and the poor remained where they are, with marginal increase in their income.
Even when profit figures of most giant corporates are doubling, it logically signifies that they are either expanding their business or atleast investing somewhere! Either ways the money should be available for consumption by the people of the country.
India suffers a basic problem of consumption and investment mismatch! The savings of the people are not mobilised and act like dead funds. There are known facts of people owning acres and acres of idle land with no rental income or any prospects of selling the land. They cash on the capital appreciation - dead funds. Unlike America, our economy thankfully doesn't move on credit system (may be half of America's growth is attributable to their credit cards!)- Indians have a tendency to save more and consume less - however, these savings are just dead funds most of the time! Proper investments and consumption ensures that the funds are parked in sectors requiring funds urgently for immediate growth. Consumption sets the machinery of production and growth into motion. The needy man is unable to get funds as and when required, thus leaving the country in spate of poverty! Round about this is a pure viscious circle!
The strong capital market indeed is a good sign for India Inc! However, poverty alleviation and infrastructure growth is mandate for India to shine like a Knight and help double the growth with low inflationary pressure!
I remember during my first round of interview with ITC Ltd, the interviewer asked me how does the capital market reflect growth prospects of the Indian economy? I knew the answer but it was so basic, that I had no answers... It does... simply it does. Thinking back on those lines, people invest in the capital market... effectively investing in the companies they feel they are going to get some assured return risking their money. It may be capital appreciation or by way of annual dividend. So why will I as an investor or speculator invest in a company which is running into losses or has no bright future or for that matter in a country which shows no sign of growth? Obviously, to maximise my return on capital, I will ensure that my investments go in perfect companies where growth is obvious and there will possibly be no default. India is said to be a booming economy not only because it is an underdeveloped country, but also because the government has opened the economy for upgradation. The mass population by itself is the biggest consumer of goods and services and as people's wants grow, the demand grows thus showing a good prospect for corporates! Thus, the growth process is accelerated. And hence more and more people invest in capital markets. This in turn shows that our economy is booming and growing. Ofcourse this is one side of the story for capital markets boom. Various factors affect - international markets, oil price, other world economies, interest rates, government regulation, rumours, speculations, sentiments, etc. However a true investor will always remain in the market without worrying about the ups and downs.
So withthe sensex crossing 15k, obviously a lot of money is being exchanged. Where is this money? Why can't it be seen as a sign of real growth in terms of standard of living or in terms of poverty alleviation? Does a boom in the economy imply that poverty level has been reducing? Infact, its the opposite - the income disparity seem to be indefinitely large! When we talk in economics term, more demand for goods / services mean the industry is accelerated to supply which in turn means that more people are employed thus improving the standard of living and these people in turn are able to demand more goods and the cycle goes on. That means if the government sanctioned some amount towards infrastructure development, it means that more people will be employed to produce the goods - like roads, dams, bulldozer, bridges, railways and so on - who in turn will be paid for their services. They in turn will demand other goods (may be furniture, TV sets, new houses, cars, electronics) which previously they couldn't afford, thus setting the whole economy in parallel motion. So this means that the standard of living should have improved - but infact it is not. The middle men just got richer, the richer became millionaires and the poor remained where they are, with marginal increase in their income.
Even when profit figures of most giant corporates are doubling, it logically signifies that they are either expanding their business or atleast investing somewhere! Either ways the money should be available for consumption by the people of the country.
India suffers a basic problem of consumption and investment mismatch! The savings of the people are not mobilised and act like dead funds. There are known facts of people owning acres and acres of idle land with no rental income or any prospects of selling the land. They cash on the capital appreciation - dead funds. Unlike America, our economy thankfully doesn't move on credit system (may be half of America's growth is attributable to their credit cards!)- Indians have a tendency to save more and consume less - however, these savings are just dead funds most of the time! Proper investments and consumption ensures that the funds are parked in sectors requiring funds urgently for immediate growth. Consumption sets the machinery of production and growth into motion. The needy man is unable to get funds as and when required, thus leaving the country in spate of poverty! Round about this is a pure viscious circle!
The strong capital market indeed is a good sign for India Inc! However, poverty alleviation and infrastructure growth is mandate for India to shine like a Knight and help double the growth with low inflationary pressure!
Friday, 10 August 2007
कैसी है यह दुनीया?
कुछ बुरा हो तो कहें हम
तकदीर ने साथ ना दीया
मीठे फल जब मीलें
तो कहें महनत सफल हुई
जब सब कुछ गलत हो
तो ज़माने को बदनाम करें
खुशियाँ मानाने के वक्त
वही ज़माने को बुलाये
कैसी ये दुनिया है -
ईशवर की प्रार्थना करना भूल गयी हैं
आज मैं कौन कल तुम कौन?
तकदीर ने साथ ना दीया
मीठे फल जब मीलें
तो कहें महनत सफल हुई
जब सब कुछ गलत हो
तो ज़माने को बदनाम करें
खुशियाँ मानाने के वक्त
वही ज़माने को बुलाये
कैसी ये दुनिया है -
ईशवर की प्रार्थना करना भूल गयी हैं
आज मैं कौन कल तुम कौन?
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