Some stuff I am reading this morning:
India’s tax plan troubles foreign investors (Nytimes)
India’s Food Security Bill to increase fiscal deficit by 1.2 Trillion Rupees (Mint)
Goa Grand Hyatt in green trouble (BusinessStandard)
Was Madhu Kannan a failure at BSE? (SuchetaDalal)
Can fortune tellers predict stock price movements? (BusinessToday)
Ghosts in the Newsroom:Washington Post’s business strategy (VanityFair)
A devastating critique of Vijay Mallya (Kaipullai)
As the Indian fiscal year has come to an end (April 2011-March 2012), its time to take stock of sector performance over the last one year.
The best performing sector has been Cigarettes :
1.ITC (Up 24%)
2.Godfry Philips (Up 66%)
3.VST Industries (Up 129%)
The worst performing sector has been Telecom Tower infrastructure:
1.GTL Infra (-74%)
2.Sujana Tower (-70%)
3.TN Tele (-55%)
The Dept of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations has prepared a great study on world urban populations (see here)
Increasing urbanization is a huge mega trend with huge implications for all of us (especially Indians).
The chart below shows the projected increase in urban populations in India till 2050
If these projections come to pass, then our Indian cities will add around 500 million people to the existing urban populations in the next 40 years !
Considering our choking infrastructure, water scarcity, high food inflation,pathetic sewage systems- a doubling of urban populations can lead to severe social and economic stress.
On the other hand, increasing urbanization can also lead to investment opportunities especially in real estate and agro commodities.
One of the oldest sayings in Wall Street is “There is always a bull market somewhere”
Apparently, now the biggest bull market is in industrial sand. There is a huge – and growing – shortage on the high-quality silica sand required in the fracking industry in the US.
According to Thomas Dolley, a mineral commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey, best described what is going on in the industry… “It’s a gold rush. Demand for frac sand is jumping through the roof.” (see article here and here)
Hilarious.