Nuclear deal with France - A joyous moment or a cautious moment?

Would you be proud as Indian with the news that France will supply nuclear material to India?

Yesterday India and France signed 5 deals related to supply of nuclear material for energy needs. The deal ensures French suppliers can supply nuclear material to India for its civilian nuclear activities. India is hoping that new power plants will add 10,000 MW of power to the grid. As per Indian laws, the supplier assumes full responsibility incase of hazards due to nuclear material which could potentially slowdown the deal with France. However, is this a proud moment for us?

Agreed that we are a developing nation with double digit GDP growth prospects for next 10 years. Should we adapt the same policies as Developed Nations did in growing? Can we make a difference as Indians by investing in alternate technologies and better policies that can sustain our environment? Do we have the capabilities to deal with nuclear waste generated from the civilian nuclear reactors? Is it a race we are in to go after GDP year after year growing aggressively at any cost (sometimes including our mother Earth in that cost) ?

Just google around for the protests in Europe over nuclear waste. There is still no technological solution possible to deal with radioactive waste in a harmless way. There are strong protests in Europe to restrict nuclear power plants and the governments there are bending to these demands. It should now be obvious to you, why the west wants to sell nuclear material to east.

My dream home theater

Display Unit - 40" LCD - not 3D TV yet [Sony Bravia Preferred] (50)

AV Receiver - Denon 1911 (45)

Disc Player - Sony BD Player (10)

Front Speakers - Polk Audio Tsi 300 (Monitor Series) (21)

Center Speaker - Polk Audio CS 10 Center Speaker (9.5)

Rear Speakers - Polk Audio OWM 3 (11)

Add Ons

- Nintendo Wii (18)

- Sony PS3 (18)

- Tata Sky Receiver (2)

Although its a dream home theater, it has to be affordable as well.

Oil Subsidy in India

With the recent announcement by Government of India to reduce subsidies slowly and move towards market determined prices of oil, the Petroleum Minister announced that state supported oil companies are losing millions of money everyday.

India is 7th largest importer of oil. But India also meets 40% of its demand from domestic production. Besides, ONGC sells crude to government at some discount. Now think about it.... the oil companies claim they buy 100 barrels of crude at international prices, lets say 80 dollars per barrel. That is 8000 dollars. But in reality, they buy only 60 barrels at international prices and rest 40 are bought in domestic market. I am not sure whats the price in domestic market, but it cant be 80 dollars per barrel. Assume it is half the price. The total cost to oil company is (60*80 + 40*40) = 6400 dollars. The oil companies are showing notional loss of 1600 dollars, though in reality, it is not incurred.

Any comments?

Godmen

Whenever I read about the scams about "Gurus", I am surprised by the fact that why do so many people blindly worship them when there are so many real Gods around us. Yes, it is true, I have seen the GODS around us in current world who never said they are gods. Let me quote some examples:

In the year 1976, Dr. K Venkataswamy a retired doctor from the Government Medical College, Madhurai spent all his savings and built a 11 bed hospital with the help of his family members. He never got married, he raised all his family members, he is the only doctor from his village, he suffers from rheumatoid arthritis (that forced him to retire from Army), he was practically bedridden for sometime and with great will power he was able to hold the surgeon's scalpel and joined Government service as eye surgeon. Post his retirement, he started Aravind Eye Care with only one mission, “Eradicate needless blindness, restore to these people the precious gift of sight, and provide compassionate and high quality eye care for all”.

Aravind Eye Hospital treats the maximum number of free patients in the country or probably all over the world. All the employees of Aravind Eye Hospital including the doctors, paramedics share the same service attitude towards any patient - paid or free. In my opinion, Dr. V is God in human form.
If you want to be a devotee, if you want to reach heaven after death, if you want solutions for your depressing life, if you want short cuts to your problems, if you want peace of mind, if you want to live for a purpose then reach out to people like Dr. V.

One liners...

I am currently reading 'High Performance Entrepreneur' and came across this sentence. I thought I dont always have to write minimum of hundred words to make up a post. So, here it goes.

"Do not try to solve all the problems you face, some problems do not need to be solved and in those situations try to change the rules of game".

For example, if you are running a business where its no more profitable and has negative margins and with no proven business model, it does not make sense to pump in more money. Just forget it and start a new life. Or you picked up a stock without your own research and later realized its a dead investment, just get out of it even for a loss. Atleast you are free of the space it is occupying in your mind.

Saving Earth and filling pockets

Shai Agassi calls it quits to commit himself to alternate energy, environmental policies and other issues. Norway aims be zero emission country by 2050 and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 30% before 2020. Carbon trading business is reaching close to a billion dollar per annum and its growing.

ICICI Bank announced a Rs. 100 crore fund on April 26, to support innovation and development of green business in India, focusing on energy-efficient and environment-friendly ventures. Well, needless to say the interests on saving earth from greenhouse emissions are growing. This concern has been there for a while. So, whats new now? Let me explain what motivates countries like India and China in this program.

Before I proceed, let me introduce to one buzz word, carbon trading.

• Under Kyoto protocol, developed countries agreed that if their industries can’t reduce carbon emissions in their own countries, they will pay others like India (a signatory to the Protocol) to do it for them and help them meet their promised reduction quotas in the interest of worldwide reduction of greenhouse gases.

• The “currency” for this trade is called Carbon Emission Reduction (CER). One unit of CER is one tonne equivalent of carbon dioxide emission.

• UN Framework Convention on Climate Change registers the project, allowing the company to offer CERs produced by the project to a prospective buyer.

Now that we know the currency for carbon trading, lets look at who is gaining this currency in India.

Vadodara-based Gujarat Fluorochemicals Ltd (GFL), and Gurgaon-based SRF are likely to see their bottomlines grow more by selling carbon credits, a waste product, than their main business, refrigerants.

SRF made Rs 149 crore from the transfer of Certified Emission Receipts (CERs, also called carbon credits).

So far, GFL has received around Rs 350 crore (including advances) toward sale of carbon credits. They claim a potential of upto Rs 400 crore per annum if they are able to sell all of 6 million CERs.

It was the first Indian company to get registered for a CDM project in March 2005 for 3 million CERs. With 114 CDM-registered projects, India is currently the world leader.

Meanwhile, SRF which got registered for its 3.83 million CERs in December the same year, has taken the lead in actual trading accounting for 39 per cent of market share in the country.

Coffee day is expensive

Coffee day has revised its pricelist since last month. One of my alltime favourite 'Cappuccino' that was priced Rs. 30 now costs Rs. 45. Its a 50% jump straight. I think its either planning an IPO (to show good balance sheet) or the costs have gone up really high. If we say, costs have gone up high, milk did not really go up so much in the past one year. Fuel prices have come down, the number of people visiting coffee day did not go down, the staff remained same, rentals would have been agreed upon before and one could expect a rise of about 10% max in a year. Salaries would have gone up by 15% more. Total expenses would not have rised more than 15 to 20% considering the above facts. And finally coffee prices. Weighted average prices of coffee in the last three years did not change much. I understand there are fluctuations, but as I said overall in a year not much of change (google on coffee prices). But a straight 50% rise is a surprising move. I would be consuming less coffee there.

Are you over-achiever?

Picked up this from smbconsultinginc.com.

10 Dynamic traits of over-achiever

Are you a successful over-achiever? Considerable research has been done about the characteristics that typify the successful business owner. Most experts who have studied the subject tend to agree that the most important single factor is an overpowering need to achieve. In other words, a person's attitude seems to be the main determinant of success in business, more so than education, intelligence, physical attributes, or having a pleasing personality. The key characteristics that have been found to be part of the makeup of all successful over-achievers are:

1. Powerful need to achieve -- which should not be confused with a mere need to exercise power or be liked or admired; the way in which different entrepreneurs "keep score" in assessing their level of achievement varies, and may range from accumulating great wealth to creating a better mouse trap;

2. Perseverance -- the characteristic trait of following through on commitments and not abandoning objectives when difficulties are encountered;

3. Positive mental attitude -- the self-confidence in one's abilities that allows a person to remain optimistic in new, unfamiliar and unexpectedly difficult situations;

4. Objectivity -- an ability to accurately assess the risks associated with a particular course of action, including a realistic understanding of one's own capabilities and limitations. This includes being willing and able to abandon an ill-advised project without having ones' ego get in the way.

5. Foresight -- the ability to anticipate developments and be proactive, rather than constantly having to react to problems after they arise;

6. Well-developed personal relations skills -- being cheerful and cooperative and able to easily get along with people, but often without being close to employees and associates;

7. Strong communication skills -- the ability to communicate well in written form and in making effective oral presentations, either one-on-one or before groups;

8. Resourcefulness -- an ability to solve one-of-a-kind problems in unique or creative ways, including the ability to handle problems for which you might not have had previous training or experience to call upon;

9. Technical knowledge -- broad and well-rounded technical knowledge and understanding, especially with regard to the nuts-and-bolts physical processes of producing goods and services

10. A respectful attitude towards money -- a tendency not to look upon it as an end in itself, but to view it as a means of making things happen and accomplishing business goals, or as a type of objective feedback from the outside world, which lets the entrepreneur know if is on the right track with the business.

So, there you have it...10 successful business traits. If you see yourself in this list, then we will be seeing you at the top!

Be your own life coach

I was reading this nice article in RD March edition by Keith Ferrazzi, CEO of Ferrazzi Greenlight and author of Never Eat Alone. He emphasizes on the following four aspects that sound quite logical.

Focus: Identify your needs first. Form a focus. Many times it is not easy for us to answer this simple question 'What do I want to do?'. But its not that difficult too. Its a matter of focus. Dont let others define your success. Once you know what you want, just follow the next three steps.

Diagnose: You need to identify what is the behaviour that stops you from moving forward in achieving these goals. Identifying weakness is as important as knowing strengths. The good behaviour and the bad one work in opposite directions to prevent moving forward. For example, I was raised in an environment where I was told to respect elders, do not question them and give them what they want. Unfortunately I observed that I carry the same with me in my professional life where I seldom question my manager in the fear of sounding too argumentative and also in fear of making my boss feel uncomfortable with me. But when I found such a problem with me, I consulted my friends and got an advice that I need to handle the conversation in a professional way. Put all the information in black and white and let him know what I want, instead of work towards what he wants me to be.

Share: Help others to let them help you. Let others know what you have in mind. Be open to receive feedback. If somebody is giving you a 'gift' saying your behaviour is not good or certain aspect of you is not good and few more people share same feeling, certainly there is some change needed in you. A good behaviour is always respected and makes you feel good. Someone would not bother to give their opinion on your behaviour if you are going to contradict everytime you receive some feedback. Perhaps the best people who would know your weakness are your friends, colleagues, or your spouse. If you receive some negative feedback, seek clarifications if you dont understand. Ask more like 'Could that person give more examples', or 'What exactly do you mean by that?', 'What came to your mind when I was doing this?'. You could work it out by forming a group of trusted advisors to you and let them know that you give importance to their advice. 

Milestones: You cant manage what you cant measure. Once you got the focus, you need to see if you are going in the right direction. Periodic checks always help. It is possible that the contents of checkpoint change. For example if your focus is weight management, check everyweek changes in the weight. Once you got the weight into control, perhaps next checkpoint would be to see if the waist is reducing.

Successful Innovation

I am currently reading this book and picked up few lines that I thought I must remember & recollect often.

Capturing the thoughts... (How to capture creative ideas)

• Org wide competetions - People put their minds to work not because of the prize money, but because of the opportunity to gain public recognition for their thinking.
• Association of language and creativity - The choice of words provde an intellectual and emotional context for the way in which subordinates and colleagues relate to and make sense of their work.
  
• Avoide bullets during presentation - instead use story telling. Story telling has always been an important part of the culture of 3M. For example, story about a scientist who, while singing in the choir, wished he had bookmarks that wouldn't fall out of the hymnal - and later createed Post-It Notes. Bullets are typically generic and cant give critical relationships in a logical way.
  
• Reduce work based stress, one of the great inhibitors of creativity.
  

A small story....

Once upon a time in a village a man appeared who announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for Rs. 10. The villagers seeing that there were many monkeys went out in the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at 10 and as supply started to diminish and villagers started to stop their effort he announced that now he would buy at 20 rupees. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching moneys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer rate increased to 25 and the supply of monkeys became so that it was an effort to even see a monkey let alone catch it. The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at 50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business his assistant would now buy on behalf of the man. In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers. Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at 35 and when the man comes back you can sell it to him for 50. The villagers queued up with all their saving to buy the monkeys. Then they never saw the man nor his assistant, only monkeys everywhere!

What is the similarity between Indian Cricket & Indian Stock Market

These days its like Indian cricket team. I seriously doubt the current windies series. What would you do incase the popularity for cricket is going down especially when windies is hosting the next year's cricket world cup!! One must revive the interest and which is the best way to do it? Get a strong cricket team and make it lose. Thats it. I feel this series would have been mutually agreed at high levels.

Big deal. What the heck this has to do with Indian stock market? Pretty simple huh... how do you attract lot of money? Make it popular... from 6000 to 12000 in just one year, hype it, talk about it, let media take care of advertising for it, create an impression as if its going to cross 20000 points... let the retail investor's hard earned money be pumped in. Now pull your (FII) money back...

Drawing similarities between these two.... look at mass behaviour of people. Its pure flocking nature. And others make money out of it.

**Disclaimer: All my posts are purely of personal opinions. You are most welcome to comment on my posts.

Stock market blues... cont...

Found some interesting statistics...
Today's market correction is the biggest single day fall in absolute terms (Sensex).

Single Day market falls
18-May-2006 = 862 Points ?? Global fall + Commodities fall + Fed Hike + Taxation of FIIs
28-Apr-1992 = 570 Points ?? Harshad Mehta Scam
17-May-2004 = 564 Points ?? NDA losses + Left joins Govt
15-May-2006 = 462 Points ?? Global Fall starts...

In percentage terms...
Oct 8,1990 = 15
Apr 28, 1992 = 12.7
May 17,2004 = 11.1
May 12, 1992 = 9.7
May 18, 2006 = 7
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Indian stock market

Tell any stock market savvy person that lefts have joined the government or serial blasts in Bombay or war situation in middle east or new RBI credit policy, immediately he would ask how many points Sensex moved?

Situations like changing governments that do not suppoert liberalization, could be a big thing. Stock market crashed more than 200 points. Trading was stopped for a while.

Well, times have changed my friend. Two years is a considerable time. I agree, looking at the percentages, you might say it is just 7% down. But, when its big, a small percentage of change also effects.

Look at small investors who entered the markets at 12000 levels, hoping for 13000 or worse (rather best) 16000 levels. And if the market goes down 850 points in a single day who is protecting them?