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Why Jim Rogers hates India

“As usual, we attracted a crowd.A local man walked up behind my fiancee Paige  and put his hand on her bottom.She spun around, and there he stood,making no attempt to disassociate himself from the offense,assuming,it seemed, that he had every right to do what he had done.

To appreciate what happened next,one must remember that in India women are the lowest of the low.To call them second class does not come close.They are treated more as property than as human beings.Out in the villages,just to take one example,women are not allowed to leave their homes without the permission of their fathers or husbands.

Paige turned on this particular man,grabbed him by the shirtfront,and started smacking him.She hit him three times.Startled and clearly horrified,he scurried off as soon as he could extricate himself.It was probably the most humiliating thing that could ever happen to the man,being beaten by a woman in public,in front of all the men and women of the village.”-wrote Jim Rogers in his book,Adventure Capitalist

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Nilesh Shah: Things have started moving…

  • I met a road contractor. He bided for the NHAI project on e-tender basis and got the LOA (letter of approval) in three hours on email. In previous era, it used to take six months. The government is planning to spend four times more than last year for building roads. It will be fair to say that ‘acche din’ (good days) are coming for the road sector.
  • I met an iron ore miner. As you are aware, many iron ore mines are closed due to court orders. India had to import iron ore in last few years to run its steel plants. Iron Ore mining is likely to begin in Odisha in near future boosting domestic production by more than 20%. Many coal mines will also become operational post auctions to sustain mining boom.
  • I met a Railway contractor. He mentioned that railway orders have started flowing with transparency in tendering. As the rules of games are changing there is a little bit of turmoil as old business models are giving way for new and better business models.
  • I met a power equipment supplier who mentioned that there is a hope for future as PSUs have started giving orders.-wrote Nilesh Shah, MD Kotak Asset Management
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Parag Parikh dies in car crash

An investor from India who attended Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting Saturday has died in a two-vehicle crash, and three other people were hospitalized with injuries.

The Omaha World-Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1AymdoX ) the crash happened before 7 a.m. Sunday in midtown Omaha. A 2014 Volkswagen Jetta was struck by a 2011 Chevrolet pickup.

Omaha Police said 60-year-old Parag Parikh of Mumbai, India, died at the Nebraska Medical Center. His wife, 59-year-old Geeta Parikh was in critical condition with head and chest injuries.

Two others in the Volkswagen — 42-year-old Rajeev Thakkar of Mumbai and 29-year-old Raunak Onkar of Maharastra, India — sustained non-life threatening injuries.

The truck’s 63-year-old driver was treated for a shoulder injury at a different hospital and released.

 Police Sgt. Chuck Casey said Thakkar was driving the Volkswagen at the time of the crash. He paused at a stop sign before pulling forward into the path of the pickup truck.

Police say Thakkar might face charges related to the crash.

Shailesh Shah says Parag Parikh was a stockbroker and his brother-in-law. Shah told the World-Herald that all four were in Omaha to attend Berkshire’s shareholder meeting.

“Parag was a very nice gentleman, very successful,” Shah said. “It still has not sunk into me about the death of my brother-in-law. It is very sad.”

Shah said all four of the people in the Volkswagen were on their way to the airport at the time of the crash. Thakkar and Onkar both worked for Parikh’s investment firm.-from Yahoo

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Howard Marks on Warren Buffett

Source:Ben Carlson

I found this line very interesting-“Developing a network of contacts brimming with good ideas”

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Atleast 6 months before BSE can list

(Disclosure:I am market making in the shares of BSE)

A merger between the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) could delay initial public offerings (IPOs) by India’s stock exchanges. The merger is likely to alter the definition of the term ‘securities’ and this will have to be addressed before Sebi allows stock exchanges, including the BSE, to list.

Sebi Chairman U K Sinha on Tuesday said the integration had led to issues that had to be resolved before exchanges were allowed to list. “One (issue) is how will the exchange space shape up with the commodity market coming to Sebi. Those (commodity) exchanges will technically become securities market exchanges. So, there are issues around that,” Sinha said on the sidelines of an event organised by the Indian Merchants’ Chamber.

“Since commodity futures will be defined as securities, these (commodity exchanges) could technically demand and be eligible for trading in (equity) futures,” he added.

Sinha said Sebi was working towards resolving these issues and it would take another six months to enable exchanges to list.

He said the regulatory functions of exchanges had to be separated, before these entities were allowed to go public. “Today, exchanges in India are performing regulatory functions. These include regulation of brokers and listed entities… We are trying to evaluate whether we are comfortable with the current arrangement,” he said.

The BSE has, in the past, made public its plans to list. It had also appointed investment bankers to manage its IPO.-from BS