Category: Observations

Bagrry’s India is a leading manufacturer of breakfast cereals and cornflakes

Their Notice of Shareholder Meeting contains this astounding excerpt:

Guess the promoters want to have the minority shareholders for breakfast !

Hat Tip: Dhaval Shah

In 2006:

On a warm Delhi evening in 2006, star fund manager Madhusudan Kela and his trusted lieutenant Sunil Singhania were at a dinner with the promoter of food processing company REI Agro. The firebrand duo from Reliance Mutual Fund was considering an investment in the up and coming firm. The company had also arranged their visit to the factory the following morning. But as the dinner progressed and the chat kept coming back to REI Agro’s future plans, Kela became more and more excited. He asked the promoter if they could visit the plant immediately after dinner instead of the next day. Taken aback, the entrepreneur nevertheless said yes. So it was around midnight that Reliance Mutual Fund decided to make one of its most daring bets. –from Forbes

In 2017:

The CBI today arrested the chairman of REI Agro along with a promoter of the company in connection with an alleged bank loan fraud of Rs 3,871 crore.

It was alleged that the company had defrauded the banks to the extent of Rs 3,871 crore since 2013 through conspiracy, cheating and forgery, the spokesperson said.

It is alleged that the company cheated the banks using 150 shell companies, on the basis of fixed commission, through a group of brokers by creating false invoice, documents of money transfers for non-existent transactions, CBI sources said.-from Money Control

 

Hat Tip- Sagar Karkhanis

From National Steel Policy, 2012

Major Objective of the Steel Policy, 2012:

To attract investments in Indian steel sector from both domestic and foreign sources and facilitate speedy implementation of investment intentions on board so far so as to reach crude steel capacity level of 300 million tonnes by 2025‐26 to meet the domestic demand fully.

A full 5 years later.

From National Steel Policy, 2017

Objective of the Steel Policy, 2017:

Build a globally competitive industry with a crude steel capacity of 300 MT by 2030-31

So the objectives are the same, the dates keep changing.

The Ministry of Steel seems to be learning from Vishal Sikka, the CEO of Infosys on being asked whether Infosys will meet the stated target of $ 20 Billion by 2020 replied:

It’s an aspiration. We established something to galvanise people’s attention around. This is not a target or a goal. We are barely $10.2 billion now.

The song these fine folks seem to be inspired by is:

“Hum Honge Kamyaab,

Hum Honge Kamyaab,

Man mein hai vishwas,

Poora hai vishwas,

Hum Honge Kamyaab,

Ek Din”

Just don’t ask when that day will come.

Hat tip: Kapil Tandon

The data of the Nifty Midcap 50 below reminds me of Charles Dicken’s quote from ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ :

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

In Jan 2008

In April 2017