Do it yourself

Thought for the day “The Chinese seemed to be mourning Mao in a heartfelt fashion. But I wondered how many of their tears were genuine. People had practiced acting to such a degree that they confused it with their true feelings.” -Jung Chang (British, 1952 - ) Word of the day Repast (n) Something taken as food; a meal. (Source: Dictionary.com) Shri Nārada Uvāca Will Rajan preempt any pre-poll fiscal indulgence by hiking 50bps upfront? 2014 - War continues If you can look into the seeds of time, And say which grain will grow, and which will not, Speak. Shakespeare, Banquo -Scene III, Act I, Macbeth The post Lehman period has seen an intense war between the forces of “Greed” and “Fear” in the global financial and political fields. So far most of the battles have been won by Fear. Potent fears of yet another collapse, mostly kept investors under check. The torrents of liquidity emitted by central banks in US, ...

Thought for the day “What a good thing Adam had. When he said a good thing he knew nobody had said it before.” -Mark Twain(American, 1835-1910) Word of the day   Cusp (n) A point or pointed end. A point that marks the beginning of a change. (Source: Dictionary.com) Shri Nārada Uvāca Is Raghuram Rajan already frustrated with politics? Get back to the business, as usual Nifty has given up all the gains made in the wake of recent state assembly election results. The ‘gap’ (6260-6415) created at the opening on Monday, the 9 th December, has been completely filled yesterday. Incidentally, the opening level of Monday (6415) is also the highest ever level for Nifty. Technically, Nifty should correct a little more to fill up the ‘exit poll’ gap (6160-6262) of 5 th December also. A close below 6150 would however negate the entire up move, pushing Nifty back in neutral territory (5850-6300 with occasional violati...

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Thought for the day “Never accept ultimatums, conventional wisdom, or absolutes.” -Christopher Reeve (American, 1952-2004) Word of the day Calorifacient (adj) (of foods) producing heat. (Source: Dictionary.com) Shri Nārada Uvāca After bank license, now Tata’s do not want airport! Will we see Tata House shifting from Mumbai to Dublin in next one decade? Positioning for May 2014 As suggested yesterday , expecting any substantial improvement in macro fundamentals of the economy in 2014 could lead to disappointment. In our view, the best thing that could potentially occur in 2014 due to change in government is improvement in execution of existing plans, programs and projects. We however do not agree with the consensus that the improvement in execution would completely depend on the outcome of the elections. In our view, irrespective of the constitution (UPA, NDA or third front) or nature (minority or majority) o...

Thought for the day “Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance.” -David Mamet(American, 1947- ) Word of the day H ardihood (n) Boldness or daring; courage. (Source: Dictionary.com) Shri Nārada Uvāca Should Congress take solace from the fact that its 3/5 for BJP and not 4-0 as many pools projected! Will Congress become a “Party of smaller states” – HP, UK, Mizoram, Haryana, Arunachal, Manipur and Meghalaya – post 2014-15 elections. Assam, AP, and Karnataka are the only larger states where Congress is in power on its own. It shares power in J&K, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Kerala. What to expect from the new government post 2014 election The general mood in Indian financial markets had been rather optimistic since announcement of Mr Narendra Modi as PMship candidate of principle opposition party BJP. The results of recently concluded state assembly elections have provided further impetus to the...

Thought for the day “Most of us spend too much time on the last twenty-four hours and too little on the last six thousand years.” -Will Durant (American, 1885-1981) Word of the day Largesse (n) Generous bestowal of gifts. (Source: Dictionary.com) Shri Nārada Uvāca Morarji Desai (1977); V. P. Singh (1989); NTR (1982); Praful Mahanta (1985) Arvind Kejariwal (2013)? A quick telephonic survey of 28 young finance professionals   - 16 were not aware if V. P. Singh is dead or alive; 13 thought Morarji Desai was a RSS colleague of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and no one remembers who were three main leaders who founded AGP! Congress losses semi final; captain retired hurt The results of recently concluded four state assembly election, though not unexpected, would have surprised most. The key highlights of the results are (a) The people have mostly continued with the trend seen in past 3-4years by giving a decisive mandate at the st...

Thought for the day “In a world where every event is identical to a previous event no change would ever occur.” Peter L. Bernstein (American, 1919-2009) Word of the day P okelogan (n) Marshy or stagnant water that has branched off from a stream or lake. (Source: Dictionary.com) Shri Nārada Uvāca Is it healthy for democratic traditions to presume a “demand for debate” as “opposition”? Investment strategy - II As the world endeavors to slither out of the fiscal crisis, a new global economic order takes shape and India’s socio-economic transition to a truly federal governance structure that is transparent, accountable gets established over next decade or so, Indian businesses will face numerous challenges. Historically, a large majority of Indian businesses have grown on government patronage and/or resource arbitrage opportunities and have been low on innovation, productivity and scale. The politically advantageous social...