(Disclosure:I am market making in the shares of ICICI Pru)
Top private sector lender ICICI Bank will consider listing its two insurance units to unlock value at an opportune time when it feels that valuations are optimum, the bank’s chief Chanda Kochhar has said.
We will take this step when we feel that the valuations are really optimum. We can mainly look at two insurance companies — life and general insurance units,” Kochhar said.
While making it clear that there were no immediate plans for listing of any of its subsidiaries, she said, “Clearly, at some point of time we will look at some amount of unlocking of value, more so from the point of view that it establishes a benchmark and it is always good to have a benchmark.
“But the thing is that we do not really need capital, whether it is in the bank or in the insurance company,” Kochhar said.
In ICICI Bank’s latest annual report, Kochhar had said that the bank’s subsidiaries achieved healthy performance in fiscal 2014.
“Our life insurance subsidiary sustained its profitability and maintained its position as the largest private sector life insurer in the country. Our general insurance subsidiary saw strong improvement in profitability in fiscal 2014 while maintaining its market leadership position among private players.” – from ET
Category: Excerpts
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Petroleum=Cash?
In 1996, the Central Bureau of Investigation began pursuing a 1993 bribery case in which members of the Congress-led ruling alliance allegedly paid the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha to help defeat a no-confidence vote and keep the government intact. In the course of that investigation, the CBI questioned Brijnath Safaya, the additional private secretary to Captain Satish Sharma, the minister of petroleum at the time the joint ventures were awarded.
In a statement recorded by inspector Harish Sharma, and reported by Outlook, Safaya claimed that in the months before the contracts were awarded he had been at Satish Sharma’s house to receive suitcases stuffed with roughly Rs 13 crore. He also said that frequent visitors to the house included Mukesh Ambani, and the heads of other private companies whose bids were eventually successful. Reliance, Safaya told the CBI, sent Sharma a total of Rs 4 crore through one S Raman in 1993—Rs 1 crore in June, Rs 1 crore in October and Rs 2 crore in December. The heads of Essar and Videocon also allegedly sent cash. At least some of this money is thought to have been routed to the JMM. (Safaya later retracted his statement.)-from Caravan
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Wishful Thinking
The 57-year-old Vikram Pandit has not given an interview in almost two years since he was ousted as chief executive of Citi. At any large US company, where supine boards are often the order of the day, this would have been an unusual event. At a bank that used to be the biggest in the world, and whose operations span 100 countries, it was stunning. Perhaps this explains why both Citi and Pandit have maintained their separation was amicable.
With many of his new interests, Pandit says he is looking to remove “frictions”, which happen to be the way Citi and other banks make their money: for example, the middle men that sit between a big bond manager and retail investors and charge a fee. As he points out, the wealthiest individuals are not saddled with these costs to the same extent.
“If you are a large, wealthy multi-billionaire you can put that into an M&A transaction and earn 15-20 per cent. If you’re an ordinary American you earn 2 per cent on your investments. That disparity has to be democratised. It’s now possible to take those frictions out. That is an important concept because it expands the number of people who are in the financial sphere. That has a positive growth impact. At the same time it is about unmet needs.”
I ask how he finds his investments. “I have an office and it’s Grand Central Station: everyone comes through there. That shouldn’t be surprising,” Pandit adds matter-of-factly. “That’s just the nature of things.”
The bill arrives and, without thinking, I take out a Citi credit card to pay. Pandit seems pleased. He still has a lot of his wealth tied up in Citi stock, though he will look to sell if it rises a couple of dollars.
“Wishful thinking,” he muses.-from FT
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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
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