Wednesday 25 December 2013

2013 Takeaways

As the year winds to a close. Here are some interesting nuggets of  2013.

AAP Effect: When amoral politicians start showing symptoms of being power averse. A temporary phenomenon, after all how long can flies stay away from sweets.

Aston Martin: So far known mainly to James Bond fans and car freaks; its Dark Knight like appearance on Mumbai's Peddar Road revealed its destructive potential. Forget the ill-fated cars which happened to be on the road at that time, even the URLs that contained some tidbits about the incident suffered an untimely wreck!!

Betrayed Billion: A term coined by brain dead TV anchors to convey their anguish over match fixing scandal and supplanting their fantasy that 'the nation' also thinks so (yawn).  

Bhaiya: A commonplace term to address brothers and give men on the street a feeling of importance got a whole new connotation, courtesy Asaram Bapu. The Godman would like us to believe that the damsels in distress just need to address their tormentors as 'bhaiya' to make them melt away from their evil intent.

Chowmein: Got elevated to the status of Spanish Fly, thanks to scientists at Khap laboratory. Pity the dish is not purely Indian, but the adulterated Hindustani masalas is something we can feel proud of.

Dented and Painted: This was Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijith's Digivijay moment. That day he lost his anonymity and had a feel of the heat of media glare.

Feku: Stories of Loh Purush's organisational skills have spread far and wide, thanks to a well oiled PR machinery. But the tall tales of his Rambo act after Uttarakhand floods took away much of the sheen.

Gold: Its lure in the country spans all centuries, social strata, language and even regional divides. It commands more respect than any other financial instrument, much to the askance of finance ministry mandarins. Quite ironic for a country with Saharan social indices.

100 crore club: The new benchmark for Bollywood rat race. How the movies rake in such a figure is as coherent as the story line of Dhoom 3 or Krishh 3 and as credible as Salman Khan's claim to virginity.

Internal matter: When an editor gets caught pants down. The publishing house closes ranks and even its competitors wink and keep quiet. But with Twitter and Facebook around they seldom remain so and get 'viral'.

Laceration: The dictionary defines it as 'a jagged wound or cut'. But it is also caused if the cover over a teterestone fuelled act by a famous person gets blown off. Highly fleeting moment, at the most it lasts till an advocate is finalised.

Pappu: His speeches tend to increase the escape velocity of his audience. Poverty of ideas is after all a state of mind! 

Pee-dam: A highly innovative water conservation concept. You can count on this dam when monsoon fails. Location: Somewhere in Maharashtra. Chief engineer and architect: Ajit Pawar.

Selfie: Social media has been stoking the inherent narcissism in us. The latest offering is the 'selfie'. Though many have been doing it of yore it got a name only recently.

Spot Fixing: Though this 20/20 version of match fixing had been around before, it came under spotlight during the IPL. 

Tunch Maal: I had thought that my Hindi is pretty good until I came across this yorker from Digvijay Singh. Though he tried to explain that he used the term from a goldsmith's perspective, he failed to realise that in post-Nirbhaya world such terms are no longer kosher, even in jest.
 
Also Read: Bangalore Beat 

Sunday 22 December 2013

Emerging Financial Ghettos


While TV channels were riveted by Khobragade circus, India's richest man took a momentous decision of shuttering his non-vegetarian food business, ostensibly owing to objection from vegetarian share holders. The move evoked three cheers from Internet Hindu keyboard warriors and PETA types who hailed it as an 'ethical' step. Did I hear K G Basin, Swiss Bank accounts, 2G, Aston Martin ... ? Oh come on after all which businessman does not have run-ins with tax and law enforcement agencies. So why deny Mukeshbhai his due.

The move smacked of an exclusivism similar to the one displayed by upmarket housing societies of South Mumbai barring tenants or buyers who happen to be non-vegetarians (read Muslims). Though talking of exclusive housing societies in Mumbai, it must be mentioned that there are similar enclaves of Parsees, Muslims and Christians and this trend has more or less continued ever since it got a booster dose after the Babri Masjid demolition riots.

Businessmen are known to trim sails according to political winds, and since Narendra Modi seems to be the frontrunner for the next elections, they are working overtime to build bridges with the party in waiting. Hence the above move should be seen in that backdrop. Otherwise why would they shutter down meat business now, after running it for five years. And to be fair to Ambanis they are not alone. Most business houses and the Sensex-driven class sees the current UPA government as lame duck with no quaking to do.

Coming back to investing, this kind of 'ethical' activism has been prevalent in the Indian bourses for nearly a decade. Already in the BSE there are Halal and Dharmic stocks. The former shuns businesses that charge interest, deal with alcohol, pork, liquor and gambling, while the latter professes to help Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs to invest in stocks that are in sync with their religious beliefs. The don'ts in Dharmic list comprises tobacco, aerospace and defence, brewers, casinos, gaming, and pharmaceuticals that indulge in animal testing and genetic modifications. Soon we may even have Khap stocks index listing companies that promote sex determination equipment and proscribing companies involved in making ladies jeans and ingredients for chowmein!

The question arises as to how does one monitor whether these companies are not straying from the moral high road of religion. Moreover what about other ethical tenets such as desisting from employing child labour, fleecing workers and customers or land grab from poor tribals. Sorry, they cause as much excitement to Sensex movers and shakers as Khobragade's maid to Indian media.

As more such financials ghettos emerge in the Indian investment scape, the analysts can safely bet on a 'secular' growth for these stocks.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat

Monday 9 December 2013

South Africa: Life After Mandela


Though he had gone into political retirement in 2004 due to ill health, Nelson Mandela continued to remain the benevolent patriarch in South Africa. His successors were too tiny to step into his shoes and clung on to his legacy. So when the end finally came, after a long drawn battle with illness, it evoked spontaneous mourning and anxiety about South Africa's future.

It evoked tributes and half-mast flags around the world, even in countries like Britain and US which had in the 1980s described him as 'black terrorist' and some UK Tory MPs even wanted him shot. The former rulers of these countries Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan steadfastly opposed imposing economic sanctions against the then apartheid regime in South Africa. They argued it would only hurt poor South Africans. Though Mandela has never been known to hold a grudge, but he made an exception during his trip to Britain in 1990. He refused to meet the then prime minister Margaret Thatcher, much to the indignation of Tories.

Though Mandela was seen as a cementing influence in South African society and has often been credited with peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy, but the fissures within the society still run deep. Not much has changed regarding the economic plight of blacks after apartheid was scrapped. South Africa continues to remain a very unequal society, even twenty years after the abolition of that hideous system, with blacks still languishing in the pits of pecking order.

The only saving grace is that unlike the past blacks are now free to go anywhere in the country, as no place is out of bounds for them and they needn't fear police witch-hunt. Even that idyll got dented at Marikana in August 2012, when policemen shot dead 30 striking miners, evoking memories of infamous Sharpeville (1960) and Soweto (1976) massacres. What was even more damning was that this time the policemen happened to be blacks themselves.

President Jacob Zuma and African National Congress will have lot of answering to do when the country goes to polls next year. Already there are murmurs of protest questioning whether ANC is concerned at all about the plight of blacks. Mandela's former wife Winnie has already fired the first salvo by accusing him and ANC for betraying black South Africans. She accused Mandela and other ANC leaders of being lackeys of the corporates.

Zuma can take heart from the fact that Mandela sympathy factor and absence of strong opposition could work in ANC's favour. The main opposition Democratic Alliance's support base is confined to whites and Asians, it has not made much inroads to the black electorate. However ANC can ill-afford to be complacent in the long run.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat

Friday 6 December 2013

Tata Nano In Its Labyrinth


The Tata Nano's poor run on sales front now even has Ratan Tata worried. He now says the whole idea of packaging it as a 'cheap car' was a mistake. Tata Nano had created a worldwide pre-launch buzz in 2008 on this 'cheap' tag and auto experts in West and Far East were baffled as to how someone could sell a car for a mere $2,000 (the rupee was in a much better shape those days).

Back home auto analysts had felt that for the price conscious Indian consumer the Rs 1-lakh car (though the actual cost was much higher) will be a steal too hard to resist. After all it is an established fact that Indians are suckers for anything cheap; you just need to look at the cell phone market and see how sub-Rs 10,000 smartphones by Micromax and Karbonn are selling.

They opined that it will soon transform the way middle and lower-middle class Indians commute, somewhat akin to what Maruti 800 did in 1990s to upper middle class. Rivals Suzuki and Hyundai were wondering how Nano will impact their own entry level offerings such as Alto and Eon respectively.

Motorists reeling under traffic jams and potholed roads were left wondering as to how much their regular commuting time will increase, once the roads get overrun by Nanos.

Environmentalists with knitted brows saw it as a recipe for disaster with impending spike in pollution levels in our cities and small towns. Nobel Prize winner Rajendra Pachauri confessed he was having 'nightmares' about the proposed car. But now these people can breathe easy as Tata Nano has not exactly set its sales graph on fire. Though initially there was some novelty interest, subsequently the deliveries never took off as expected.

I remember a friend of mine who happened to see a Nano in motion for the first time had remarked, "I thought some luggage auto was coming from behind, before I actually saw the car."

Tata Nano's 'cheap' tag became more of a liability than an USP. Firstly Tatas were unable to sell the car at promised Rs 1 lakh and secondly the actual price was within the striking distance of Hyundai Eon and Maruti Alto 800, which offered far better features like power steering and their after sales service was much better. Moreover the used cars' market too offered vehicles with much better features at more or less same price. So why settle for a glorified auto rickshaw and be called the owner of a 'cheap' car! To add to their misery the news of some cars catching fire went viral on the net and Tatas were left fire-fighting adverse publicity.

Now it is planning a makeover to appeal to youngsters and urban professionals by pepping up on the colour and exterior design front. It is even bringing in a power steering and a diesel version, albeit at a higher price. But the youth segment often aspires for power and speed, which I doubt Nano can fulfill. Rural market holds promise, but then it runs the risk of getting stigmatised as dehati car.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat