Sania is getting married to Shoaib Malik. The media persons went into a tizzy to find out how the relationship started. But they have little time to dig the story, especially with short notice for marriage. They are busy covering the plethora of issues surrounding the wedding, cricket, tennis, Indo-Pak, visa, Dubai, who will become what, dance, song, mehndi. Everybody is joining, Pakistan Govt., tennis authorities from two nations, moral issues, societal issues, Bal Thackeray. For the first time in Sania’s career, tennis, mini-skirts and her pranky Tee quotes have taken a backseat. Just perception theories whether it’s a clean bowled or an ace, nobody can get a clue.
I believe they have taken a huge step for mankind. India and Pakistan talking politically in the garb of Afghanistan and United States of America, cannot achieve anything. It’s the people from two nations who can bring the change. India should continue to revisit its formalities for the so-called PEACE talks with Pakistan till the next generation arrives. The current generation carries the images of Partition, 1971 War, burnt houses of Hindus in Kashmir, against which it’s difficult to talk peace with anguish in the eyes. Either Pakistan will reach the fate of Afghanistan esp. with the complete access given to United States of America. The moment you give access to Americans, the story is over. In Pakistan, HOPE is despair.
Pakistani tennis authority stated, looking at the moral and societal values of Asians, Sania should play for Pakistan since her husband is from Pakistan. Perhaps for the first time, Pakistan is backing an Indian, fighting for and encouraging an Indian to be called a Pakistani. They would have responded the same had it been the case of Shoaib Malik marrying a Hindu. No …… No….. No……. I will not tread on the religious issues, right now its only about Indo-Pak, superstars and the sports.
Sania did hit the Ace when asked whom she would support India or Pakistan. Would always be cheering for India and supporting my husband for the hard work that he puts in. answered definitely in context to cricket, no political statements from sportpersons. Ayesha angle perhaps has been brought in to deviate the media, consulates and diplomats away from the main point of contention. It’s like American rugby player marrying a Russian gymnast in the Cold War period, read one of my friend’s status messages on Facebook.
The masterstroke is settling in Dubai. After all neutral venue has always been chosen for hosting matches between India and Pakistan. I wish the two LUCK and future ahead. Hope India and Pakistan can take a lesson from the love of two sportsperson. Or perhaps neutral venue will be the solution for India and Pakistan. Till then, we wish to explore the possibility of deriving something like Shoania for India and Pakistan.
As India is on its way to becoming a plutocracy, what implications does it have for investors in India?
The Oxford Dictionary defines the word “Plutocracy” as a society governed by the wealthy. Accordingly, the “plutocracy” label is usually attached to countries such as present day Russia or to societies such as ancient Greece or the Republic of Venice in the 16th century. India is fast emerging as a heavyweight entrant of this club. Why do I say so and what implications does it have for investors? Let us focus on the “why” first.
Recently, the Asian Development Bank published a study (“India 2039 - an affluent society in one generation”) highlighting that that India has 50 billionaires who together control wealth equivalent to 20% of gross domestic product and 80% of stock market capitalisation. Concentration of immense wealth (and the power that goes with it) in the hands of a select few is one would think fairly commonsense criteria for entry into the plutocrats club.
Secondly, one of the features of the Indian stockmarket over the past four years has been the visibility and rising importance of realty, infrastructure and construction companies (loosely called “infrastructure” in this column). Infrastructure now constitutes nearly 20% of the BSE 500 by market cap, up from 13% five years ago. Whilst there are fundamentally sound reasons for this sector coming to fore, if there is one sector where politics and business works hand in glove to enrich each other, it is infrastructure. In our daily interactions with these companies and their financiers, we cannot but help notice how deeply embedded politicians and/or political power brokers have become in the Boardrooms of these companies.
Thirdly, there is the RIL-RNRL saga being played out in the full glare of the media. Leaving aside the vexed issue of which of the two companies is in the right, one cannot help being astonished by the sheer punch that each the Ambani brother packs in the corridors of power in Delhi. Add to that the sheer size of two Ambani empires (the Reliance companies in totality account for 14% of the BSE 100’s market cap and nearly 6% of the Indian economy) and one can safely say that we are looking at not just two of the wealthiest people who have ever lived anywhere in the world but also two of the most powerful people in India.
So if India is on its way to becoming a plutocracy, what implications does it have for investors in India? The first and obvious implication is that to be a large and successful investor in the long run, you have to have strong political connections. As a contact of ours in the Infrastructure sector says “apart from experience, political connections matter a lot in winning small to large infrastructure/ construction projects”.
Beyond winning contracts, political connections also give you powerful informational advantages as is evident from the successful “political consultancy” business that a friend of mine runs in Delhi – he specialises in helping investors stay on top of the latest thinking in high places on subjects such as the 3G licenses, Governmental infrastructure subsidies, Governmental spending plans, etc.
Secondly, if politicians are as important for investment success in India as I am making them out to be, it stands to reason that rather than being satisfied by a base fee they will want a cut of investment returns. So investors’ “carry” or upside assumptions need to be revisited accordingly.
Thirdly, since most politicians’ careers fluctuate, unless investors are able to associate themselves with politicians from across the political spectrum, their investment returns too will fluctuate in line with the fortunes of their political contacts.
Finally, to the extent that what I have described above is already part of the status quo but is not reflected in your investment strategy, you might want to dig deeper into the ownership of the subsidiaries of listed Indian companies. You might then find some very powerful non-businessmen holding large stakes in the subsidiaries of listed entities. To understand the true value of the listed entity, you could then knock off from it value of the powerful non-businessman’s sizeable minority stake in the subsidiary. If you were the person holding the regulatory keys to the biggest infrastructure contracts, I don’t think you would be attaching any sort of discount to the value of your stake in those projects. Astonishingly that is what many analysts assume when they attach attractive valuations to such infrastructure companies with undisclosed investors at the subsidiary level. So much for the efficient market hypothesis.
This write-up has been reproduced from WWW.VCCIRCLE.COM. Check the following link for the original http://www.vccircle.com/columns/india-as-the-new-plutocracy
Tomorrow is the Independence Day of India, August 15, 2009. Is it a big deal or any deal et al?
Probably countries which got freedom in last 25-30 years may be able to tell us something about it feels to be free rather than governed by an outsider. Iraqis can tell us better as many of them feel and believe it was better to be tortured and living in constant fear with curbed rights under Saddam Hussein than nuts like Americans ruling their lives. As the popular saying in India goes, a cruel, crooked son living under same roof is always better than an adoring, caring and lovely son-in-law under same roof.
Our generation or the generation succeeding us will not see it as any moment to celebrate. Do we still need to celebrate it? It’s a blasphemous thought. Had any politician reverberated such thought, it would have meant the end of his political career. Personally for me and I guess for many amongst us, that it is the day when we relax and have an assured holiday. Holiday also is lost this time as I have my Saturday off otherwise as well. A welcome break from our bored routine. The time when we can look for some real deal steals in the malls and shopping areas. But this time, the bloody scary of Swine Flu will keep shoppers off, esp. in Maharashtra. There are few guys like my pa, who have to get up early in the morning on Independence Day dressed in their finest to unfurl the Flag in their Institution, Organization. I really wanted to go for the ceremony during my University days but realized I was an hour late due to my sleep.
The only time of the Year when Indians realize that sixty-seventy years ago, this country was ruled by Britishers. What is the point of this freedom when we throw few intelligent foreigners out of the country in order to allow buffoons from our society to destroy (we cannot say, reshape over here) our lives? Now also India’s political and economic concerns in this globalized world where every big city has certain importance on the global stage can be handled and taken care off in isolation. But India still has to listen and comply to the diktats of the powerful western nations. The only right we have earned because of the independence is the right to shit and pee at the place of our choice. I don’t know or understand whether we are becoming complementary or supplementary to the world powers or are we losing our rights and our Independence (not as I am saying but as independence is perceived to be).
The only good point is that Indians get to hear their National Anthem, which we generally forget after our teenage days. Jana Mana Ga is one amongst few the common thread which stands amongst all the Indians. Rest everything has some kind of farcical thought attached to it. It is also the time when we lament on the fact what Independence meant for a Citizen in India?
The songs dedicated to the nation are played continuously throughout the day. Manoj Kumar always comes alive on screen on August 15. He is assured of his place in history. People realize saffron, white and green are sexy colours and you look good in it and the same time can promote the cause of saying, ‘I am Indian’, do you hear that (all the MCs, BCs standing across the bend of the street), “I am an Indian”. There are special features every year in newspapers, magazines and books released on what have we achieved in 55, 56, 57 ,58………….. this year it’s 62 years of independence. Do we have achieved? I don’t think much has been done at any point in last sixty years. The way India has grown socially, economically, politically. Socially the condition has only gone poor. Economically we are better because we had gone from worse to worst in first 25 years. Otherwise it is not remarkable. Politically we have deteriorated to the point of no return. We have more number of people without electricity than in 1947, we have more people falling under BPL (below poverty line) tha in 1947, we have increased food grains production but still falls short for a 1050 million mouth’s to feed. We have more buildings, highways, expressways but still more people living without a roof on their heads. We have more intelligent and educated people but still lesser jobs for them. The only area where India has made a significant progress is the POPULATION and burglary of the nation. Where nation becomes a country. Its like a body without a soul. I know it is not lost but we are not far from it.
Independence was not an easy process, it was probably the most painful process. Bharat gained independence sans its limbs to be called India. It was a moment for political revolutionaries, there motives and wishes were fulfilled. But ordinary Indians were wailing and mourning. Somehow I don’t know why I feel more. May be because I belong to Punjab where you still meet people who say their grandfather had spent the good years of his life in Lahore, where they were caught into ambush fires against Britishers not for drawing a line across the Earth. But for the exit of Britishers from the mass piece of land called Bharat.
