Categories
Links

Weekend Mega Linkfest: July 07, 2017

Some off beat reads for the weekend:

Inside South Kashmir (Rahul Pandita)

Real Estate : The Free Fall (Outlook)

Immediate withdrawal is the only wise move for India (Global Times)

Indian Israelis go ga-ga over Modi (Times of Israel)

Why India-Israel connect is unnerving our ‘secular liberals’ (Jaggi)

The brutal hazing culture of US Marines (NYTimes)

How date farming changed this farmer’s life (BI)

The sad,sexist past of Bengali cuisine (Mayukh Sen)

A Feni kind of love (IE)

How to get rid of mistresses in China (BBC)

Auto Talk: App Based Tyre Pressure Management System (TeamBHP)

30 Offbeat Indian Destinations (HP)

Why everyone needs a ‘gap year’ to see the world (NatGeo)

37 Etiquette Rules (Brightside)

Photos: Photographer of the Year Favorites (NatGeo)

Categories
Annual Reports

An inspiring lesson in Indian Entrepreneurship

Hat Tip: Dr. Vijay Malik

The objective was to venture where no Indian pharmaceutical marketing company or trader had been before. The more dangerous they said it was going to be, the deeper one was willing to venture.

Which is how Caplin Point ventured to Angola in the Nineties.

There were two challenges in this African country; we did not know anyone who would be interested in marketing and distributing products on our behalf; the prevailing environment was so unsafe that it was usual for businessmen to be held at gunpoint in broad daylight and relieved of their possessions.

Even as this reality was forbidding, the business reality was that there was a large market for the simplest of pharmaceutical products; consumers were willing to pay a premium across the counter for immediate availability. We resolved our challenges through a lateral initiative – we managed a restaurant for Indian cuisine.

The decision was deliberate; the launch of the restaurant was positioned as high-profile, translating into attractive media visibility; soon the walkin patrons comprised the city’s prominent and influential; we commuted every two months from Chennai to manage operations in that country.

The labors paid off; we were able to forge profitable engagements with prospective distributors and our Angola operations, starting from the restaurant,emerged as the foundation on which the later success of Caplin Point would be built.

-from 2016 Annual Report of  Caplin Point Laboratories Ltd.

Categories
Observations

How to screw shareholders- ITC Version

IiAS recommends voting AGAINST ITC’s decision to pay a monthly remuneration to Yogesh Deveshwar, the company’s non-executive chairperson. IiAS believes the board structure, and the proposed remuneration, signal Yogi Deveshwar’s continuing control over the company, which undermines the recently appointed CEO Sanjiv Puri. Once Yogi Deveshwar has stepped down, he must let go.

IiAS believes the board’s recent decision to pay a monthly remuneration to Yogi Deveshwar undermines the position and responsibilities of the CEO. At an aggregate remuneration estimated at Rs.127.1 million , his remuneration is higher than 90% of CEO’s and whole-time directors of the S&P BSE 500 companies. Although Yogi Deveshwar’s proposed remuneration is in the same range as that of the CEO, Sanjiv Puri, IiASestimates that, based on the past, his remuneration – in actual terms – will be higher than that of Sanjiv Puri.

To read the complete report, click here

Categories
Links

Linkfest: July 07, 2017

Some stuff I am reading today morning:

Tata Communications,Tata Sky may merge with Bharti (ET)

An IDFC Bank-Shriram Merger? (Quint)

SBI Life IPO plan gets approval (Mint)

NCR’s housing market continues to crumble (BL)

IPO financing to grow this fiscal (Mint)

Some things I’ve learned over last 30 years investing (BroadSword Capital)

Interview with Ashish Chugh (ET)

The tragedy of Dilip Pendse (Mint)

Hope investing in small cap stocks (Stocks Shastra)

What I believe most in investing (Collaborative Fund)

Categories
ConferenceCall

Notes from the Kotak Mutual Fund Conference Call

Attended the Kotak Mutual Fund Conference Call today where Nilesh Shah,MD,Kotak Mutual Fund spoke on the Market Outlook.

Key takeaways:

  • Major fears/overhangs on the market
    • Farm Loan Waivers-Feels the impact won’t be much despite the scary headline numbers
    • NPAs-Feels a beginning has been made to end this problem.But there is a long way to go.Narrated a humorous anecdote where the MD of a PSU Bank told him: “If RBI wants me to make so much provisions, they should provide the capital also else they should run the Bank”
    • Geo-Political Risks- Border fight with China & North Korea may impact EM flows
    • MSCI Index Changes-Addition of Chinese mainland stocks can reduce India’s weightage impacting ETF flows
  • On GST
    • Feels the initial implementation has been very smooth
    • Q1 will be impacted as companies have reduced their inventories, compensated dealers and cut prices
  • On interest rates
    • Feels markets have priced in a rate cut
    • Expects RBI to cut rates by 25 bps in August 2017
  • On political risk
    • Feels markets have priced in a Modi re-election in 2019
    • Expects BJP to continue winning in 2017 Karnataka & Gujarat elections
  • On fund flows
    • Continues to be strong-Kotak has crossed 1L Crores AUM this month
    • Says an IPO can be fully subscribed by going to Bandra-Kurla,Lower Parel and Nariman Point (Different locations in Mumbai) .No need to go to New York,London and Singapore !
  • Believes 3 Themes are playing out
    • Movement from Unorganized to Organized
    • Movement from Physical Savings to Financial Savings
    • Govt spending on Infrastructure
  • Bullish on the following Sectors:
    • Cement/Capital Goods/Autos/Auto Components
    • Private Sector Banks
    • Consumer NBFCs
  • Bearish on the following Sectors:
    • Export Based Companies (Including IT/Pharma)
    • Telecom
    • Commodities
    • Real Estate