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Excerpts

Govt channels its inner Vinod Khanna to tackle Cement Cartel

“Tum jis school mein padhte ho hum uske headmaster rah chuke hain…”
Vinod Khanna in Haath ki Safai

 

Government scored a tactical victory over cartelization by cement manufacturers on Tuesday as it put up a list of 36 companies committing to supply 95 lakh tonnes of the construction material during this year at price up to Rs 180 per bag. These companies will supply cement from 103 factories spread over the country and the material can be bought for building roads, affordable housing, irrigation projects, drain and other civil works by Centre, state and local governments.

Announcing this road transport minister Nitin Gadkari said that the manufacturers won’t increase their price for the next one year and a few of them are likely to fix this price for the next three years. “After taking consent of the manufacturers we have put the list on a dedicated website, which any company or government agency can access to book their orders. Since the factories are spread all over the country, they can make the best choice. As per the contract, manufacturers can only reduce the price and increase their commitment to supply more cement,” the minister said.-from TOI

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Plug

Pre-IPO Opportunity in the shares of ICICI Lombard

ICICI Lombard is India’s largest private player in the general insurance space (auto,health,travel etc)

The Annual Reports of the Company can be obtained from here and the latest disclosures from the company can be obtained from here.

A limited quantity of its shares are on offer for sale.Kindly note that you need a NSDL demat account to avail this offer.

For those interested,please email me at Alpha Ideas.

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Tweets

A new world

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Excerpts

Not Easy

Being a good investor is not easy. It’s incredibly hard work, and it takes a gigantic toll on a person emotionally. Whenever you hear a story about someone making a lot of money in the market, don’t suspend your disbelief. Most of the time, the story is too good to be true.

Back when I was on the floor, we all heard about a guy in one pit that was a miraculously incredible trader. Turns out he had a buzzer in his pocket. One of the largest order fillers in the pit would buzz him when he was buying. I have heard other stories about people making a lot of money, but usually there is a catch. They had a line on some inside information no one else knew about. Or, they controlled the order flow, and thus were able to take cues from it. Or, they had a back room deal with someone somewhere.

There are true stories where people undertook a lot of risk and did make a lot of money. I know more than a handful of people that did it. But, most people that invest for a living don’t make it all at once. They make it over years and years. They don’t have huge winning years, and they don’t have huge losing years. Warren Buffett’s return over time is massive. But, pick any one year out of the bunch and it’s not that much different than the others. It’s the cumulative effect and compounding effect of doing well each year. As an investors business matures, they can take bigger shots-only because they can withstand the downside if it all goes to hell.-wrote Jeff Carter

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Speeches

Uday Kotak: PSU Banks are cheap