Internet Marketing

Internet marketing is very interesting. Buying books and audio CDs and video CDs especially are exciting. Because there will be an element of surprise. One does not know whether the book/Audio CD/Video CD will be good or not. In case you buy and it happens to be good, then your joy becomes higher. In case it is not good and you get scolded by your wife, then you see and explain the good part of the book/Audio CD/Video CD.

What are the lessons for internet marketeers?

·         Look forward to collaborate. It is about social circles.

·         Remember over internet ‘I Like It’ matters. Not number of followers or even weight of  followers.

·        Be prepared for opportunities in rumours. Rumours spread in social circles, like the Doomsday rumours.

·         “Old” people exist. Remember it is not that only beauty and handsome and young exist.

And the lessons for internet buyers?

·         With great power comes great responsibility. Take care over the net.

·         Not everything can be said in 140 words. Be clever and read between lines.

·         Be tech savvy and be in buzz. You may be able to bargain better.

Now let me see. Which daily do I read?

Steps by Prime Minister

FDI in retail, I feel has technical flaws. It is a central subject. But states have been allowed to decide for itself whether to allow FDI in their states or not. MP and UP have outrightly rejected FDI in retail.
Then there is an interesting stand of RBI. They reduced the CRR but did nothing to repo rate. This is a diplomatic step by RBI if we take a look at it with respect to diesel prices. What they seem to be saying is we have to manage with the money available in the market and we are not going to do anything about decreasing money available to banks. This has raised inflation and the Congress committee has reduced central taxes in diesel.
If there is seriousness in implementing FDI, policy steps need to be taken with respect to other aspects of FDI. The import duty, the insurance of goods, consumer redressal and others. Let us wait and watch how things are planned by advisors. 

Standard & Poor downgrades India

S&P has downgraded India to BBB-. This will mean difficult international funds for India. S&P has also criticised Dr.Manmohan Singh saying he is "unelected". Nice joke !! Sikhs like jokes even if made on them.
The world is unusual. Advanced countries like Spain, Greece are facing economic problems. How can an advanced country have economic crisis is beyond me. Only thing could be Spain when compared with Germany or France can be possibly considered less advanced. So does it mean that the countries are being benchmarked with one another? Likely. Then in that case is India benchmarked with the other BRIC countries?
India's problems are different. It is capitalist. It is socialist. I would like to mention here that some of our businessmen are world class and have big reputation. From that angle it is a bit unfair to downgrade India. But most of Indians are poor but hard workers. They physically work hard and deserve food and money.
S&P has also talked about rift between the PM and cabinet and Sonia Gandhi. This is news to me. The newspapers never talked about it. I thought serious efforts were made by the PM but did not yield results.
The problem as I see is the socialist India prevents efforts made by government if the effort seemed capitalist in nature. Where only a few will make money.
Leadership is crucial at this difficult juncture and it is hoped India will come out of this problem.

GDP falls to the lowest ever

What went wrong? Why is the situation so bad? Who is to be blamed?
The fiscal deficit was growing. The government was spending much too much than earning. But the currency notes were getting printed. Everyone were getting salaries. No concrete efforts made to control the deficit.
Because the amount of money with public were more imports became easier. The government turned a blind eye to this. Foreign companies began to make better quality items here too. Also in the imports side, even fruits and vegetables were imported. Government did nothing.
In this process, domestic production began to slow down. People liked imported things and local items got a back seat. Gradually it covered the whole gamut of Indian growth mechanism and industry, services were all affected. The GDP fell drastically.
As a first step, a zero profit objective for PSU oil giants is recommended. Why should they make profits? The subsidy in diesel and kerosene should be given in such a way that profit is zero. This step in itself will give a lot of money to the government. The diesel and kerosene prices may rise but the advantage is poor in villages will get food as transport will become costly.

Lessons from businessmen

Birla, the great Indian businessman switches off light whenever he or his family members leave room. Birla also insists on eating food together with all the family members present. Discipline is very important. And many rich men take care to see to it that one is particular about things.
Do you recall any important points from the lives of rich which can improve our values?

What is the value of rupee?

What is the correct value of rupee? You may have wondered many nights sometimes without sleep. Is 50 rupees equal to a dollar?
If I were to be a consultant in foreign exchange, I will advise my customer with the statement "Rupee is nothing but an acceptance that an Indian needs a lot of things". It is not enough that I have a bag of rice. I need some wheat, some cement, some clothes. How to go about it? Rupee is the answer. It is very basic definition actually.
So, next time someone says the bottle of whisky is 5400 in India. It is only 100 in US. Then, just thank god that you get to drink the stuff. Do not worry about anything else.

Inflation - Who causes it?

Inflation happens when prices of common items rise. The poor are unable to buy food because of this. They then die in many numbers because of inflation.
Agriculture output is more or less constant or rising. Because of better technology. Demand is same. Then why should price rise? The factor that causes inflation is what lies between. Transport. The transporters may not cooperate and may refuse to take load or may charge exhorbitant or may be facing margin pressures due to hike in fuel price. But it is now clear that inflation is more or less caused by transporters.
But how inflation mechanism is controlled?
There are three or four things involved here. Fuel (comes from refineries), grocery malls, financial wizardry. There are private companies which are into all the three above. They are into refineries, malls and finance. It can be said with more certainity now that they are better placed for triggering inflation.
So next time when you eat roti knowing fully well that a poor fellow does not get to eat the same; you know whom to blame.

Derivatives - What we have missed ?

Derivatives, mathematically means change in one thing by the change in other. In economy this factor is traded for money and is a business.
If we look at history, we had a progressive vision of growth of India by our erstwhile political leaders. The changes made by some of the policies were great investment opportunities in the form of derivatives. But all those opportunities have been wasted by financial corporations and industry. They had a myopic vision of change and it will not be wrong to say that this short sightedness has resulted in today's sorry state.
I am absolutely right when I say that Nehru's vision of India was welcomed by even foreigners. Maybe the concern of foreigners had been whether India can take it. Whether the poor will be benefitted. Whether everyone will get food.
A chain is as strong as the individual strength of each of its links. And it is weak at the weakest link. Derivatives based economy is for strengthening the country and not for finding weakness as the present economic vision is heading for.

Banking Finance - humour !!

I was keen to learn about banking finance. No, not from books. But from newspaper and analysis and application of thinking abilities.
I have a method for this complex system. And I shall share it with you.
Can banks do without IT? No, it cannot. So I thought let me look at banking from the IT angle.

1)IT can do complex calculations.
2)IT follows logical steps.
3)IT has hierarchy in permissions.
4)IT can connect to the whole world.

1)
If a wise guy says,  "Don't you know XYZ Bank offers higher interest and that too with more flexibility and more facilities?". Then do not be awed by his knowledge. You can satisfy yourself with the thought that maybe XYZ Bank has better methods for more complex calculations.

2)
If the wise guy says, "Don't you know GHI Finance Ltd. needs lesser documents for verification and quicker processing for loans?". You can satisfy yourself with the thought that maybe GHI Finance is using overloaded functions with lesser parameters though all the steps are followed.

3)
If your boss says, "Go and submit this bank guarantee.". You must go one step ahead and after submitting the bank guarantee to clerk, you contact the super user (bank manager) to ask whether he has approved receipt of bank guarantee.

4)
If the wise guy says, "What? You got only 78 rupees to an english pound? I managed to get 79 rupees." You can satisfy yourself with the thought that today the world is connected by Internet and maybe the wise guy managed to log on to a better site.

Beware of Bullish Bubble Bursting

The Bull (Stock Exchanges) charges and runs amock. It sees red everywhere. Be a move by RBI. Be a step by the government. It charges with speed and carries the sensex with it, making it rise.
Those who are not experienced with working with shares are well advised to invest in the mutual funds domain and keep the risks low. The fund manager of the mutual funds is committed to see that your interests are considered. It is his job you see. It is my hunch that a mutual fund's fund manager is more interested in financial challenges and less in making money for himself. So play safe. Buy mutual funds.
The Indian market is unique in its own way and the bubbles do not burst easily. And if it does it causes explosion. Not just a burst. But an explosion.
Harshad Mehta is a recent past. He siphoned off 4000 crores from the system. He not only bought shares but also created a shortage of funds in the market. The result shares were sold. The sensex were seriously affected and only some made money at the loss of general public.
Use your thinking and invest wisely. Do not day dream about high returns. Contribute to national growth. Invest in post office schemes. Make the nation grow. Believe that India is superior to individuals and India is not a coterie of successful individuals. Your money can do wonders for you. You deserve it. But your money is needed by country. Contribute for the welfare of nation and reap the benefit.

Commodities

Cotton growers are unhappy with central government on putting restriction on export of cotton bales.
It is high time we brand cotton bales and central government deals with brands and not with commodities. Because a normal person is more affected by brands. And lesser by commodities.
Consider coffee. People will be affected only when Nescafe raises prices and not when coffee growers raise prices.
So it is high time that a joint empowered working committee be formed to advise the government on brand policy and actions thereof as and when required.

Personal Investment Benchmarks

There is an interesting middle page in Economic Times Wealth.
I also have a benchmark for my finance.

My benchmarks are :-
1) How much to have for emergency?
The emergency amount should be maximum withdrawal from ATM.
It was Rs.15,000 earlier.

2) How much to save for retirement?
No saving. Remember you are a Hindu and shall become a sanyasi on retirement.
You may cheat if you want.

3) How much insurance do you need?
The monthly expenses on roti, kapda and maybe makaan for your family.
So invest enough in insurance so that you get monthly returns equivalent to above.

Disinvestment

Government tried to disinvest ONGC yesterday. But none of the big brokers showed interest in ONGC shares. Can you imagine? ONGC did not get response. Disinvestment of other PSUs will be more difficult. Of course certain companies like BHEL may fetch good response. Cannot deny that. But still the big brokers are not interested in PSUs in general. They do not have the drive because of lack of FII support.
Government has forced LIC to use its huge financial backup for saving its face.
Why doesn't the government take up a consultant and directly disinvest to public? There will be tremendous response.  Why cause embarassment to itself and LIC? The answer is who will bell the cat. The ball rolls in government from here to there like a hockey match heading towards a tie.

2G Scam

Currently the Supreme court has cancelled 2G licenses. Then we heard that IDFC will continue support of even parties which got their licenses cancelled. Support to what extent is a question no doubt. But why support? Are you the only source of finance available? Morally, IDFC chairman has to resign. But in India everyone changes stand with time. If questioned by CBI IDFC chairman will say support for non 2G related activities.
Foreign companies have no concern with Indian government working. They followed rules that was there. Now SingTel is threatening the government to return back money. Sistema is more diplomatic and says the investment is subject to Indo-Russia treaties. Hence not much threat from Systema.
Today the government is asking the Supreme court to reconsider the judgement on cancellation of 2G spectrum. Why so much of delay? Probably time wasting tactics. Pass the buck back to Supreme court. Supreme court will blame government. Then on the other side IDFC will support "non-related" activities of cancelled 2G companies.
The government keeps the ball rolling from one side to another like a hockey match heading for a tie.