Categories
Links

Linkfest: July 10, 2017

Some stuff I am reading today morning:

P-Note unwinding to weigh on the markets (BL)

The complex IDFC-Shriram deal (Mint)

Air India break-up on fast track (FE)

Equity MF flows jump 3 fold in April-June (Quint)

Margin of Safety (Bala)

PI Industries-Another Look (Value Investor)

Stock Analysis-Caplin Point Labs (Dr. Vijay Malik)

To be a great investor, you must treasure volatility (Katusa)

Soundbite Investing (Common Sense)

The Real Estate Investing Rule to follow (Financial Samurai)

Categories
BookReview

Book Review: The Descent of Air India

The book ‘Descent of Air India’ is written by Jitender Bhargava, who spent more than 2 decades working with the airline.

As such, he writes with an insider’s view with brutal honesty how a great airline was brought to its knees.

Air India started life in October 1932 when the great JRD Tata flew a single engine aircraft from Karachi to Bombay carrying air mail.

The airline was christened as Tata Airservices and then Tata Airlines and then Air India in 1946.

In 1953, the Government took over the airline and thus started the slow descent of Air India.

The initial decades were very good for the company as it enjoyed monopolistic status.But as the skies freed up and competition increased, the airline was unable to cope and is currently on the deathbed.

The Book explains how deep the rot is there in Air India and makes for a depressing read.

The rot starts right from the top…the Civil Aviation Minister and the rotten babus of the Civil Aviation Ministry.

The Book is full of anecdotes of their antics that makes one cringe.

Once Air India wanted to recruit cabin crew.The Chairman and HR Head were summoned by Ghulam Nabi Azaad,then Civil Aviation Minister.He asked them to recruit his candidates.When the request was declined as these candidates were already rejected by Selection Panel, the Minister cancelled the Recruitment Process !

In another shocking example, a Canadian Company was found guilty in a Canadian Court for giving bribes to Officials for a security system in Air India.The then Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel is explicitly named in the indictment.

The rot follows to the Chairman/MD of Air India.The author wryly puts it: “Instead of following Mahatma Gandhi’s decree that Work is Worship, the successive Chairmen/MD of Air India believe in Worship (to the Minister) is Work”

There is an interesting passage in the book about how Air India Chairmen behave:

“Every new Chairman would come in and garland JRD Tata’s bust, which is located in the foyer;a photographer was present recording the moment for posterity;and then the Chairman walked into the room once occupied by JRD Tata. He would then say that he was humbled to sit where the great man once did and he would endeavor to restore the airline’s past glory.”

But nobody really did anything and the airline continued to bleed.

The author also writes about the notorious unions of Air India.For the slightest excuse, they would abort flights,walk out etc.

The unions were very successful negotiating fat paychecks, allowances, perks etc for themselves and this lead to the bloated cost structure of Air India.

The author examines critically two of the main problems facing Air India-the nonsensical acquisition of 50 aircraft and merger with Indian Airlines.

Both these decisions taken by Praful Patel resulted in the company collapsing completely…it has incurred losses of over 40,000 Crores (and counting) since then.

The author ends the Book with the Question-Was Air India murdered (due to specific acts of malafide intention) or suicide (due to own actions of stupidity and mismanagement) ?

The answer is : Both

After reading this book, one cannot help but come to the conclusion that Public Sector Companies can survive only in an environment where they are a monopoly. They cannot compete where the private sector have a free and fair hand.Sector after sector-telecom ,banking, insurance-etc bears this out.

Do buy this Book to know how sarkaari companies function and how the aviation sector works.

Categories
Links

Weekend Mega Linkfest: July 07, 2017

Some off beat reads for the weekend:

Inside South Kashmir (Rahul Pandita)

Real Estate : The Free Fall (Outlook)

Immediate withdrawal is the only wise move for India (Global Times)

Indian Israelis go ga-ga over Modi (Times of Israel)

Why India-Israel connect is unnerving our ‘secular liberals’ (Jaggi)

The brutal hazing culture of US Marines (NYTimes)

How date farming changed this farmer’s life (BI)

The sad,sexist past of Bengali cuisine (Mayukh Sen)

A Feni kind of love (IE)

How to get rid of mistresses in China (BBC)

Auto Talk: App Based Tyre Pressure Management System (TeamBHP)

30 Offbeat Indian Destinations (HP)

Why everyone needs a ‘gap year’ to see the world (NatGeo)

37 Etiquette Rules (Brightside)

Photos: Photographer of the Year Favorites (NatGeo)

Categories
Annual Reports

An inspiring lesson in Indian Entrepreneurship

Hat Tip: Dr. Vijay Malik

The objective was to venture where no Indian pharmaceutical marketing company or trader had been before. The more dangerous they said it was going to be, the deeper one was willing to venture.

Which is how Caplin Point ventured to Angola in the Nineties.

There were two challenges in this African country; we did not know anyone who would be interested in marketing and distributing products on our behalf; the prevailing environment was so unsafe that it was usual for businessmen to be held at gunpoint in broad daylight and relieved of their possessions.

Even as this reality was forbidding, the business reality was that there was a large market for the simplest of pharmaceutical products; consumers were willing to pay a premium across the counter for immediate availability. We resolved our challenges through a lateral initiative – we managed a restaurant for Indian cuisine.

The decision was deliberate; the launch of the restaurant was positioned as high-profile, translating into attractive media visibility; soon the walkin patrons comprised the city’s prominent and influential; we commuted every two months from Chennai to manage operations in that country.

The labors paid off; we were able to forge profitable engagements with prospective distributors and our Angola operations, starting from the restaurant,emerged as the foundation on which the later success of Caplin Point would be built.

-from 2016 Annual Report of  Caplin Point Laboratories Ltd.

Categories
Observations

How to screw shareholders- ITC Version

IiAS recommends voting AGAINST ITC’s decision to pay a monthly remuneration to Yogesh Deveshwar, the company’s non-executive chairperson. IiAS believes the board structure, and the proposed remuneration, signal Yogi Deveshwar’s continuing control over the company, which undermines the recently appointed CEO Sanjiv Puri. Once Yogi Deveshwar has stepped down, he must let go.

IiAS believes the board’s recent decision to pay a monthly remuneration to Yogi Deveshwar undermines the position and responsibilities of the CEO. At an aggregate remuneration estimated at Rs.127.1 million , his remuneration is higher than 90% of CEO’s and whole-time directors of the S&P BSE 500 companies. Although Yogi Deveshwar’s proposed remuneration is in the same range as that of the CEO, Sanjiv Puri, IiASestimates that, based on the past, his remuneration – in actual terms – will be higher than that of Sanjiv Puri.

To read the complete report, click here