Category: Observations

There was an article in the Indian Express which mentioned that 6000 sub-brokers shut down shop  this year.

Now there is an article in ET about how well known broker Shankar Sharma is bidding goodbye to Dalal Street.

Brokers in India are fast becoming an endangered species…thanks to lackluster volumes,abolition of entry loads,increasing compliance ,rising employee costs and possibly the biggest reason of all-customer distrust.

Its fairly clear we are treading the US path here…small mom and pop shops will close down and the only survivors will be the discount brokerages and the big players.

Its already 9:30 pm and NSE has yet to post today’s bhav copy on their website.

Maybe they feel ignorance is bliss !!

In an excellent paper written for the American Enterprise Institute, Nicholas Eberstadt states that :

Over the next two decades, India‘s total population is set to grow by a little over 1% per annum, possibly becoming the world‘s most populous state before 2030—and almost all of this growth would be working age manpower. As India‘s manpower pool grows, the country‘s ―dependency ratio (the ratio children under 15 and persons over 65 to working-age population) will be falling, and the society will remain relatively youthful. Such changes in population structure could facilitate higher levels of national savings, investment, and thus —all other things being equal—economic growth.

 

The catch?Lack of education access (education deficit) and proper medical facilities (health deficit) for millions of Indians can possibly spoil the party.

Now the President’s office has come under fire for a land grab (see here)

Now practically, every branch of the Government-President’s office, the Army,the Executive, the Legislature and even the Judiciary is embroiled in some controversy or the other.

Am reminded of  a couplet of Akbar Allahabadi:

“Barbaad Gulistan karne ko,

ek hi ullu kafi hai,

har shaakh pe ullu baitha hai,

anjame gulistan kya hoga?’’

 

To destroy a garden

One owl (colloquial for fool) is enough

There is an owl on every branch,

What will be the fate of the garden?