Category: Excerpts

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These people are capable

When the blocks were awarded by the government’s Directorate General of Hydrocarbons the following January, Bora was taken aback, the board member said. ONGC had lost KG D6, outbid by not only one, but two firms—Reliance Industries, which won the block, and Cairn Energy, a European upstream company.

ONGC’s director of exploration thought that something “fishy” was going on, the board member said. “I feel it got leaked out—our numbers got leaked out and somebody was snooping around,” he recalled the director telling him. The director suspected that the bid was opened beforehand and given to Reliance. “In the DGH’s office itself the bid was opened and given to them,” he speculated to the board member. “They took back their bid, and came back with a new envelope.”

“Of course this was unconfirmed,” the board member told me. He wondered if there was “one dark horse” in ONGC who spied for the competition. Were the private companies that cunning? He said almost admiringly, “These people are capable.” – from Caravan

 

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Anecdotes Excerpts

The frustrations of an Indian Financial Advisor

Technically I am an Insurance and MF salesman. We salesmen meet our prospects from the position of weakness and not all people we meet treat us very well. Rejections, disappointments are part of our job and we are usually OK with it. But sometimes things go awfully wrong.
I met a dentist in his clinic yesterday. I had called him a day before for an appointment and he happily agreed to meet me. I again called him half an hour before appointment for confirmation. This time also he was well spoken and asked me to come to his clinic.
When I reached his clinic on time, the dentist was yet to reach. I called him and he said that he is on his way and would reach within 5 minutes. There were no patients in the clinic and I was the only person waiting for him. The dentist did not arrive for next 30 minutes and by the time he reached 2 patients had come. This man rushed past us to his cabin wearing a look of attitude and superiority. He did notice me on his way to his cabin.
Since I had reached before patients, his assistant let me go in. I opened the door of his cabin and asked for permission to come in. He angrily looked at me and rudely said “Bahar ruko (wait outside)”. He then called his assistant and asked her to send patients in. I did feel bad for the way he talked to me but then I thought being a doctor his first duty is towards his patients and he is doing the right thing. This was an evening appointment and since I had no other appointment after that I chose to wait outside.
He made me wait outside for another one hour attending his patients. Every time the patient would come out I would look at his assistant and she would ask another patient to go in. After more than an hour like this I was the only person left in the clinic with no other patient and finally his assistant allowed me to go in.
This time I opened the door and politely asked him permission to come in. I was responded with an arrogant nod of head. I settled in a chair in front of him. I introduced myself and started by asking whether he invests in MF (since I had specifically taken this appt. for MF).
He said “Mai faltu chijo me invest nahi karta (I don’t invest in useless things)”.
I said “No problem sir. Where do you invest?”
“I invest only in property and LIC” he replied.
I politely asked “how much investments go into LIC Sir?”
As I asked this, he looked at me with such a bad stare and facial expression as if very bad odor is coming out of my body and he is not being able to bear it.
He said “Ded do lakh dalta hu mai saalke(I put 1.5 L to 2 L every year)”
I said “Don’t you think sir, even LIC is a Mutual Fund if we keep aside insurance part of it?”
Very rudely he replied “Sab pata hai mereko. Tumhare MF me invest hi nahi karna mujhe. Dusra kuch hai to bolo (I know all of this. I don’t want to invest in your MF. If you have anything else to say then speak)”
Sensing that there is no point spending time with this man, I took out my visiting card and held it out to him saying “Here is my card Sir. If you feel like investing in MF in future, I would love to assist you.”
Again very rudely he said “Wo card wagaire mai nahi rakhta. Merepass number hai tumhara. Jarurat padi to call kar dunga (I don’t keep those cards. I have your number. If required I will call you)” And he gestured me to get out.

I thanked him and left his cabin wondering what made this man behave like this to me. I took out my phone and put him a message thanking him for giving me time to meet him. Immediately his reply came asking me not to send any further messages.
I thought if he did not want to listen to anything I had to say, then why did he ask me to come to meet him? Why did he make me wait for more than one and half hour outside his cabin? Why did he give me appointment at all? Did he want to teach me a lesson? Did he want to show me my place? Or did he want to prove that he is smarter than all the salesmen and he knows how to treat them?

Why don’t some people understand that salesman is also a human being. He also has emotions like everybody else. He also feels bad when rejected and ill-treated though it is part of his job. He does not like to disturb and irritate people either but it is part of his job and he has to do it to earn bread and butter for his family. –wrote Swapnil Kendhe

 

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Excerpts

Govt proposes 49% FDI in Insurance

(Disclosure:I am market making in the shares of ICICI Pru Life)

The government plans to increase foreign direct investment in the insurance sector to 49 per cent with a rider that voting right of overseas partner will remain capped at 26 per cent.

The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008 proposes an increase in foreign holding in insurance joint ventures to 49 per cent from the existing 26 per cent with corresponding voting rights.

The Finance Ministry now proposes an amendment to the the Bill, pending since 2008, by capping voting rights of the foreign partner to 26 per cent even as FDI is raised to 49 per cent, sources said.

This is being done in the interest of meeting the growing capital requirement of insurance companies which are highly capital intensive.

Sources said the proposal says that equity shares of foreign company should not exceed 49 per cent of total paid-up equity capital of an insurance company provided voting rights of such foreign shareholders are not exceeding 26 per cent in aggregate.

Besides, the CEO of the insurance joint venture should be appointed by Indian shareholders subject to regulatory approvals, according to the proposal.

The proposal also stipulates that the majority of company’s directors should be  Indian nationals-from ET

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Excerpts

Go out and get some milk

This is about 14 years ago. I was working in the office. I work very late, and we were in the middle of the Quaker Oats acquisition. And I got a call about 9:30 in the night from the existing chairman and CEO at that time. He said, Indra, we’re going to announce you as president and put you on the board of directors … I was overwhelmed, because look at my background and where I came from — to be president of an iconic American company and to be on the board of directors, I thought something special had happened to me.

So rather than stay and work until midnight which I normally would’ve done because I had so much work to do, I decided to go home and share the good news with my family. I got home about 10, got into the garage, and my mother was waiting at the top of the stairs. And I said, “Mom, I’ve got great news for you.” She said, “let the news wait. Can you go out and get some milk?”

I looked in the garage and it looked like my husband was home. I said, “what time did he get home?” She said “8 o’clock.” I said, “Why didn’t you ask him to buy the milk?” “He’s tired.” Okay. We have a couple of help at home, “why didn’t you ask them to get the milk?” She said, “I forgot.” She said just get the milk. We need it for the morning. So like a dutiful daughter, I went out and got the milk and came back.

I banged it on the counter and I said, “I had great news for you. I’ve just been told that I’m going to be president on the Board of Directors. And all that you want me to do is go out and get the milk, what kind of a mom are you?”

And she said to me, “let me explain something to you. You might be president of PepsiCo. You might be on the board of directors. But when you enter this house, you’re the wife, you’re the daughter, you’re the daughter-in-law, you’re the mother. You’re all of that. Nobody else can take that place. So leave that damned crown in the garage. And don’t bring it into the house. You know I’ve never seen that crown.”-said Indira Nooyi,Pepsico CEO

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Excerpts

Ratnakar Bank IPO expected to draw strong response

(Disclosure:I am market making in Ratnakar Bank)

Analysts expect the RBL Bank IPO—the first primary market offering by a bank since Punjab and Sind Bank raised Rs.480 crore in 2010—to draw a strong response.

“We expect the Ratnakar Bank IPO to be subscribed by 20-30 times. Also, given the bank’s potential to capture a large market share, the investors are likely to get an annual market return of 20-25%,” said Vikas Khemani, chief executive for wholesale capital markets at Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd.

He added that RBL Bank can gain immensely at a time when public sector banks have been losing market share to private banks—a trend that is expected to accelerate with state-owned banks starved of adequate capital for growth. “This will be a litmus test for the bank because an IPO is always the lead indicator of things to come. How the IPO goes will be critical to subsequent issues and also what perception the bank develops in the minds of both retail and institutional investors,” said Robin Roy, associate director at audit and consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Apart from raising fresh funds, the issue will also help some of its existing investors exit. Over the last three years, global and local private equity and development funds have invested over Rs.1,400 crore in the bank in three tranches.

As recently as 10 April, RBL raised Rs.328 crore by selling fresh shares to UK government-owned development institution CDC Group Plc and Asia Capital and Advisors Pte Ltd along with existing shareholders World Bank-backed International Finance Corp. and Gaja Capital. Housing Development Finance Corp. Ltd, Norwest Venture Partners, Samara Capital, Beacon Capital, Faering Capital, TVS Shriram, Cartica Capital, Ascent Capital, Aditya Birla Private Equity, IDFC’s Spice Fund and ICICI’s Emerging India Fund are also shareholders in the bank.-from Mint