Intellectual thoughts by Sanjay Panda

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Articles: 1, 2, 3

Alternate energy. A slow lane in India
2008-05-25 09:07:00
India's failure to agree a biodiesel policy has forced firms to shelve expansions plans, putting it way behind energy-hungry rivals like China in the drive to greener fuels, a top industry representative said. The delay has also left edible oil processing companies, which have built capacity to turn 1.2 million tonnes of jatropha into biodiesel, in the lurch -- and Rs 9 billion ($227 million)
More About: India , Energy , Lane , Slow

Hong Kong remains pricest retail space in Asia
2008-05-18 09:00:00
Hong Kong's Central district is Asia 's most expensive shopping area, with street-front retail space costing $775 per square foot a year to rent.Central beat Causeway Bay, Hong Kong's traditional shopping district and last year's number one, and Tokyo's Ginza, this year's second-most expensive shopping area in Asia. The Central district ranked seventh worldwide after New York's Fifth Avenue,
More About: Space , Hong Kong , Retail , Hong

China to manufacture Jumbo jets
2008-05-11 18:25:00
China has established a homegrown company to make passenger jumbo jets, state media reported Sunday -- a step forward in the country's quest to become less dependent on Boeing and Airbus. China Commercial Aircraft Co. was established in Shanghai with registered capital of 19 billion yuan $2.7 billion, the official Xinhua News Agency said.It said the central government and the Shanghai
More About: China , Jets , Jumbo

Powering the future- Alternate energy
2008-05-04 17:51:00
Once dismissed as kooky ideas spawned by impractical environmentalists, alternative energies are now part of the energy plans and policies of most nations. “Governments all over the world recognise the importance of renewable energy as fossil fuels are finite,” & now aggressively planning investments in renewable energy projects. Once dismissed as kooky ideas spawned by impractical
More About: Future , Energy , The Future

Biogenerics Opportunity
2008-05-04 11:40:00
Even assuming a 50 per cent price erosion (since biopharmaceutical companies, creators of original biologicals, slash prices at the first sign of a biogeneric), it is a $7 billion-$9 billion opportunity for generic players. And, unlike in conventional pharma, Indian companies are on par with global ones to make good of this opportunity. Even assuming a 50 per cent price erosion (since
More About: Opportunity

Finance- Economy vs Real exchange rate
2008-05-04 10:24:00
The Chinese experience shows the costs of under-valuation are a lot less than the benefits in terms of jobs. In recent years, as China’s exports have grown rapidly, and the country is registering increasingly larger surpluses on the current account (an estimated $140 billion this year), it has faced a lot of pressure for a “more flexible” exchange rate regime. Instead of openly calling for an
More About: Economy , Finance , Exchange , Real , Rate

Crisis of confidence
2008-05-03 14:37:00
The old-fashioned financial system was like Old Maid, a parlour game once beloved of small children. The banks were like players, dealt hands from a pack of cards, which they swapped among each other. At the end, one player was left holding a lonely queen—a bad debt, if you will—and lost. Over the past few decades the game has changed. Securitisation has snipped the old maid into pieces; new
More About: Confidence , Crisis

Gulf emerging as big market for Indian medical tourism
2008-04-27 10:19:00
India's growing reputation as a major medical tourism destination is attracting more and more visitors from Gulf countries. And many travel agents are now offering packages combining treatment with a vacation. The Gulf is one of the most important markets for India's tourism industry. In the last two years, there has been a significant growth in the number of visitors from this region going to India for medical tourism. He said that though the West has been the traditional medical tourism destination for Gulf citizens, the trend changed after the 9/11 terror attacks and with the Indian government launching the Incredible India campaign, the total concept of India in the region has changed.. They have also realised that top hospitals in India like Apollo, Max or the J J Hospital in Mumbai can carry out major operations at a fraction of the cost in the West.While a heart surgery costs $30,000 in the US, it can be done for just around $6,000 in India.A bone marrow transplantation c...
More About: Medical , Medical Tourism , Tourism , Market

5 Keys to Increasing Your Pay
2008-04-23 18:15:00
It could be that managers and workers have a different take on what it means to be a top performer, and so they disagree on who should get the corporate spoils. Most workers think that if they know what their job is and do it well, hitting all their goals on time and within budget, then they're doing a good job and deserve to have raises and bonuses heaped upon them. That would be true in a pure meritocracy. But in the real world, the politics of compensation are not that simple. Here are five keys to increasing your salary and benefits: 1. The boss's priorities rule From the boss's perch, the biggest raises and plumpest perks go to the people he values the most and doesn't want to lose. These are the people who help him to get things done, meet his goals, and generally look good. In short, your performance and the raise it garners are less about you and all about him. "Executives value people who fit in well with them and with the team, who understand the culture and can he...
More About: Finance , Keys

Darling's of Dalal Street in Despair
2008-04-20 09:23:00
Indian investoer in the Indian equity market might as well agree with Sir John Templeton, the legendary US-born stock investor, given the current gloom that pervades Dalal Street . Before the bearish sentiment could set in, a large section of experts was busy justifying the boom in Indian equities - a boom that saw the benchmark indices earn nearly 50% returns last year. A major part of their reasoning was based on the paradigm that in India, things were different then, compared to the early '90s.However, just as in times of plenty the rise tends to be stratospheric, the fall during lean times is sharp. While many experts have come up with a number of theories regarding well-established stocks, little or no attention has been paid to the darlings of the bourses last year - initial public offers (IPOs).How have companies, which listed since the beginning of January '07, fared in the recent carnage witnessed on Dalal Street? Were they fairly priced or did they just take...
More About: Economy , Finance , Despair

World Economic Outlook- Not too Grim
2008-04-13 08:14:00
IMF?s World Economic Outlook , put out on 9th April, conforms to the now virtually unanimous perception that the US economy will slip into a recession during 2008. The IMF?s latest forecasts for US growth over the current and next year are 0.5 per cent and 0.6 per cent, respectively, which suggest that the recession will be relatively mild and also relatively short-lived. It is expected to peak during the fourth quarter of 2008, during which GDP will be 0.7 per cent lower than in the corresponding quarter of 2007. Against the backdrop of a US recession of this magnitude, the world economy is expected to grow by 3.7 per cent in 2008 and at about the same rate in 2009, 0.5 per cent below the previous forecast made three months ago. This is significantly below the average of the past four years of about 4.8 per cent, but not dramatically so and compares favourably to the performance of the global economy in the preceding four-year period, which encompassed the previous US recession. ...
More About: Economy , Finance

Powering the future,- Alternate energy
2008-04-06 17:38:00
Once dismissed as kooky ideas spawned by impractical environmentalists, alternative energies are now part of the energy plans and policies of most nations. ?Governments all over the world recognise the importance of renewable energy as fossil fuels are finite,? & now aggressively planning investments in renewable energy projects. ?Worldwide, the renewable energy industry is growing at 20-30 per cent per annum. Demand exceeds supply in some sectors such as wind energy, and companies are generating returns in excess of their cost of capital. Fifteen European Union nations, including Spain and Germany, who are world leaders in renewables, have committed to generating 20 per cent of the energy using alternative technologies by 2020. India has also put in place several renewable initiatives and the country is now the world?s fourth-largest generator of wind energy with an installed capacity of 7,093 MW. Entrepreneurs are venturing int...
More About: Society , Technology , Future , Energy , The Future

Mid Term policy review- Copious foreign flows
2008-04-06 17:33:00
The surging capital inflows continue to pose a policy challenge for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), as it undertakes its mid-term policy review on October 30, despite some measures taken to contain unregulated inflows. The central bank is unlikely to signal any easing of monetary policy with surplus liquidity in the system, as any lowering of interest rates at this point, could hold upside risks to inflation.The copious capital inflows have forced the RBI to mop up close to $43 billion of foreign exchange since April and $20.5 billion since September alone, to curb rupee appreciation. The rupee has appreciated by over 11 per cent against the dollar since January. The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council had estimated that an increase in the forex reserves of the RBI of $26 billion in 2007-08 could be consistent with the current real growth of the economy, moderate monetary expansion ( 17.5 per cent) and a tolerable inflation rate (4 per cent). "In the current financial year ...
More About: Economy , Regulation , Finance , Money , Review

Special Export Zone ( SEZ). Business proposition or land grabbing opportun
2008-04-05 20:42:00
On the face of it, setting up a special economic zone (SEZ) seems to be the hottest business to get into. At last count, 263 companies had received formal approvals to set up SEZs, and another 169 had been granted in-principle clearance by the government. Reliance Industries is pumping in Rs 30,000 crore into two SEZs in Maharashtra and another Rs 40,000 crore into a third in Haryana; DLF is investing over Rs 31,000 crore in four units in Amritsar, Ambala, Ludhiana and Gurgaon; and the DS group has a Rs 12,000-crore plan for two SEZs in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Others such as Bharat Forge, Videocon, Suzlon, etc., are investing over Rs 1,000 crore each in SEZs in places such as Pune and Mangalore.Together, they hope to buy, develop and lease out over 300,000 hectares of land. These SEZs will house factories, IT parks, office space, warehouses, residential apartments and malls. A few may morph into cities. All that will call for a cumulative investment of Rs 3,30,000 crore (based...
More About: Business , Special , Land , Export , Zone

Grey market Blues- Rpower
2008-04-05 20:35:00
The debut of Reliance Power (RPL) shares on the Mumbai Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was one of the most spectacular fiascos in recent times in the Indian primary market. It was hyped up so much that when the stock crashed below its offer price, even grey market investors felt the tremors. Scores of investors are believed to have refused to pay up after buying RPL shares shelling out double the Rs 450 offer price as premium. Usually, operators do not lose money because shares invariably list at a premium to the last traded price in the grey market. Sometimes, if there is a marginal loss, the difference is settled through cash and the show carries on to the next IPO. However, the RPL stock is believed to have spawned a Rs 2,000-2,500 crore payment crisis in the unofficial bucket (dabba) shops most of which are in Gujarat centres such as Ahmedabad and Rajkot. That is because, it debuted at a 21 per cent premium to its offer price of Rs 450 but soon sank be...
More About: Blues , Market , Grey

Americans prefer Indian products to Chinese
2008-01-27 15:16:00
A majority of Americans are not averse to purchasing made-in-India products, but the opposite is the case for those made in China, according to a new survey conducted by renowned US-based business magazine Fortune. In the wake of some of the American companies, including toymaker Mattel, recalling products they sourced from China due to high lead content, nearly three in five (57%) of the US citizens surveyed by Fortune said they were "less likely to buy a product if it is made in China." As much as 52% of the survey respondents said such an incident would not affect their purchasing decision if the product was made in India. In the survey, only 35% of Americans said they were "less likely" to purchase a product manufactured in India, while 11% said they were "more likely" to buy such goods. For China-made products, 11% people said they were "more likely" to buy these products, while 30% said it did not matter to them whether goods were exported from the dragon country. Fortune...
More About: Products , Indian , Chinese

Asia Seen Weathering Any US Recession
2008-01-22 17:38:00
Asia would be able to weather any recession in the United States, analysts say, because rising trade and investment within the region make it less dependent on the U.S. economy than in the past. While a severe downturn in the United States would drag on Asian growth by eroding demand for exports, a rapidly growing middle class is fueling orders for automobiles, electronics and housing -- much of which will be supplied from Asia itself. Voracious demand for oil, iron ore and other commodities to build roads, sewage systems, and office buildings -- especially in the booming economies of China and India -- will also help sustain the region through any U.S. slowdown. The U.S. economy is not that important anymore. Excluding Japan, 43 percent of Asia's exports go to other nations in the region, Lehman Brothers calculates -- up from 37 percent in 1995. China and India represent a bigger presence on the world stage than just a half dozen years ago. China, in particular, has "more it ...
More About: Economy , Asia , Recession

Tata unveils the Nano, world's cheapest car
2008-01-10 15:34:00
Tata Motors Ltd unveiled the world's cheapest car on Thursday(10th jan), which cld bring car ownership closer to millions of consumers. The 4-seater Nano , with an engine around 625cc, will have a dealer price of 100,000 rupees ($2,500) -- about half the cost of the cheapest car availble on today's market.Let me assure you and our critics the car we have designed will meet all safety norms and all foreign environmental criteria," Chairman Ratan Tata said as he proudly unveiled what had been dubbed the "People's Car" at the Auto Expo in New Delhi.Tata said the car would have a rear-mounted engine and travel 20 km per litre. It would be offered in a basic model and two deluxe variants. The proof of the pudding will be in driving it, but visually it looks pretty good," said an auto analyst. "The pricing was a bit of a surprise. I thought it would be a bit higher."Tata has said it will initially produce about 250,000 Nanos and expects eventual annual demand of 1 million units.Global c...
More About: Technology , Tata

Rising Rupee hutrs exports- Pharma ( case -I)
2007-12-08 11:09:00
The weakening dollar has taken a serious toll on India's pharmaceutical exports, which generate revenues estimated at around Rs20,000 crore and have been a key source of foreign exchange for the country. Pharma exports have seen a drop of 20% in value during the April-June quarter with total exports, at Rs5,054 crore, not only missing the 14% growth that the industry had expected, but falling well below the year-ago period's Rs6,069 crore in export revenues. The quarter marked the first time in five years that pharmaceutical export revenues have declined. With the rupee, which has appreciated by 12% in the last six months, staying strong, India is likely to miss its export target for the year by more than 25%, predicts industry lobby, Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council, or Pharmexcil. It's time for the industry as well as government to devise some mechanism to help exporters balance the revenue loss. It could be either an interest subsidy or an aid to explore non-conventio...
More About: Economy , Case , Rupee , Exports

Malaysia- Truly Racist
2007-11-29 17:55:00
For a country that abhors public protests and suppresses them with strict rules against illegal assembly, Mala ysia has had two big demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur just this month. Two large street rallies within a month by Indian ethnic group may be a sign that the 50-year-old code defining the rules of engagement between the state and the minority ethnic groups. The biggest source of discontent is ?race? since the minority Chinese and Indian communities are disenchanted with economic policies that favor heavily to the majority Malays . Free-trade talks with the U.S. and Australia have been delayed and the ones with New Zealand have had to be suspended primarily because Malaysia's policy of discouraging non-Malays ?including foreigners? from bidding on government tenders is unacceptable to these countries. The same issue might also jeopardize a free-trade deal between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations of which Malaysia is a member and the European Union. When ...
More About: Racist

FIIs may face tougher entry norms
2007-11-19 15:11:00
The finance ministry of Govt of India, wants to restrict investments by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) from countries whose market regulatory structure is not compliant with principles laid down by the International Organisation of Security Commissions (IOSCO). Drawing from the Ashok Lahiri committee recommendations, the ministry, which had earlier asked Sebi to prepare a negative list of tax havens, has asked the regulator to prepare a list of non-IOSCO jurisdictions. This move by the ministry may lead to a blueprint for FII investments in the country. Sources said it was important to ensure that an entity investing in India was regulated by a credible regulator back home, which followed internationally-accepted principles of due diligence. A country becomes a tax haven only because of a favourable double taxation avoidance agreement with India. A tax haven can lose its status with changes in the tax treaty. While a country which is not a tax haven may not necessarily have...
More About: Economy , Finance , Face , Entry

Investors pull out $2.1 bn from BRIC funds
2007-11-18 18:42:00
Stock market volatility forced investors across the world to pull out five billion dollars from emerging market equity funds last week, including over two billion dollars from funds focused on four BRIC Markets.China accounted for more than half of the total outflow from BRIC funds, while India, Russia and Brazil together shared the remainder, according to international fund tracking firm EPFR Global. "With sub-prime and global credit fears being fuelled by almost daily news of fresh write-downs in the financial sector and evidence mounting that the US Economy will slow going into next year, investors retreated from equity funds during the second week of November and shifted to the relative safety of money market funds," EPFR said in its weekly report. During the second week of November, emerging market equity funds reported a net outflow of 5.58 billion dollars, while those focused on developed Markets saw an outflow of 5.07 billion dollars. Nearly all the outflow from the develope...
More About: Investors , Funds , Pull

CII disputes growth claims of India
2007-11-11 10:03:00
Contradicting the growth numbers given out by the government, industry body Confederation of India n Industry (CII) has on 11th Nov claimed that 17 sectors have recorded negative growth in the first half of the current fiscal."It is a matter of concern that more than 50 per cent of the manufacturing sector has recorded either moderate or negative growth," said CII Industry Council Chairman Satish Kaura while releasing the ASCON Survey conducted by the chamber.Contradicting the government's claim that only one of the 17 industry groups (based on two digit NIC classification) recorded negative growth in April-August 2007, the survey said 17 out of 91 sectors showed negative performance during the first half of the year(April-September).The survey attributed low growth in various segments of manufacturing to rising interest rates, reduced credit availability and a strong rupee.The Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) signed by the government with some of the countries in the last two years too...
More About: Economy , Growth , Claims , Disputes

Indians most optimistic on economy: McKinsey
2007-11-11 09:41:00
Business executives in India are the most optimistic across the world when it comes to their take on the overall economy and inflation over the next six months, according to a survey by McKinsey.According to the Economic and Hiring Outlook survey by McKinsey for the latest quarter, 77% Indian executives said they think the economy would get ?better? in six months. This is the highest for the executives from any other region including China, Europe, North America and other Asia-Pacific nations.The optimism level of 77% in India is considerably higher than the global average of 36% and the Asia-Pacific average of 46%. In China, 65% executives said they expect the country?s economy to improve in the next six months, while it was just 26% in North America. On inflation, 19% Indian executives said they expect it to decline in the next six months, which was the highest for any other region and significantly above the global average of 9% and Asia-Pacific average of 4%. In China, 13% said ...
More About: Economy , Indians , Finance

Mid Term policy review- Copious foreign flows
2007-10-28 17:54:00
The surging capital inflows continue to pose a policy challenge for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), as it undertakes its mid-term policy review on October 30, despite some measures taken to contain unregulated inflows. The central bank is unlikely to signal any easing of monetary policy with surplus liquidity in the system, as any lowering of interest rates at this point, could hold upside risks to inflation.The copious capital inflows have forced the RBI to mop up close to $43 billion of foreign exchange since April and $20.5 billion since September alone, to curb rupee appreciation. The rupee has appreciated by over 11 per cent against the dollar since January. The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council had estimated that an increase in the forex reserves of the RBI of $26 billion in 2007-08 could be consistent with the current real growth of the economy, moderate monetary expansion ( 17.5 per cent) and a tolerable inflation rate (4 per cent). "In the current financial year ...
More About: Economy , Review , Policy , Regulations , Foreign

SEBI recommendations on P-Notes issuance
2007-10-16 19:41:00
ObjectiveThis paper sets out the proposed policy measures on Offshore Derivative Instruments (Participatory Notes ).BackgroundWith a view to monitoring the investment by FIIs through Offshore Derivative Instruments (ODIs) such as Participatory Notes (PNs), Equity Linked Notes, Capped Return Notes, Participating Return Notes etc., SEBI had prescribed reporting of issuance / renewal / cancellation / redemption of the ODIs on a monthly basis since October 2001. The figures submitted by the FIIs on a month to month basis showed an increasing trend.In the latter half of 2003, a Technical Committee of SEBI Regulated Entities was constituted by the HLCCFM to examine the issues pertaining to P-Notes more closely. The Committee, comprising representatives of RBI, IRDA, SEBI and NSE met in October, 2003 and extensively discussed the issues like:* Whether PNs should be allowed to be issued at all,* Whether restrictive use of PNs is possible,* Monitoring of compliance* Phasing out of PNs that ar...
More About: Regulations , Recommendation , Dati

Our real challenges lie at home - Internal security concerns
2007-10-06 17:11:00
The internal security situation in India continues to remain a cause of concern for the Central/ state governments and all the citizens alike. Out of the many challenges we face at home, the internal security challenge is one of the key one. Violent incidents continue in some states of the North-East, particularly in Assam, Manipur and Nagaland. The ethnic overtones of violent acts in Assam are particularly disturbing. While the situation in Jammu & Kashmir has shown some overall improvement, apart from the bombings by the terrorists which are happening in several areas throughout India in regular intervals. To control/reduce them we need better security forces, better in all senses, be it training, be it skills, be it equipment, be it resources, be it mobility or be it attitudes and the police forces should not be in control of the politicians. We need superior intelligence capabilities which can alert us to the impending threats. We need greater discipline, lesse...
More About: Society , Security , Home , Internal , Real

Indian stock market- Has de-coupling happened???
2007-09-11 15:59:00
Stock prices come tumbling down in the US, Europe and Asia, but Indian stock prices continue to climb, and the key indices are not far from their all-time highs. The financial and economic news gets from bad to worse in the United States, and the dreaded ?R? word (for recession) has begun to get used as the housing market tanks and employment numbers fall for the first time in four years. But Indian markets continue to bounce along, recovering by some 10 per cent from the trough it hit last month. Is it possible that the de-coupling thesis ? which says that the Indian market will strike out on a different course from those in the west ? is turning out to be true? If so, it would be a striking development, for until now the accepted wisdom was that the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) dictated, through their conduct, the direction of Indian stock prices. If they were investing, Indian prices went up; if they were selling, the prices fell. That no longer seems to be the case; or...
More About: Economy , Stock Market , Market , Stock

Yahoo Mail lets e-mailers text-message to phones
2007-08-29 21:36:00
Yahoo Inc said on Sunday it was giving its e-mail users more ways to reach friends and online contacts by allowing them to trade messages with mobile phone users.The new e-mail-to-phone connection is one of the features the Internet media giant plans to add as it makes available to the more than 250 million Yahoo Mail users a new version of the world's most popular e-mail program in coming weeks. Already this year Yahoo has been testing another feature that lets its e-mail users communicate using conventional e-mail or via instant messages using either Yahoo Messenger or Microsoft Live Messenger.( Gmail has the facility long back though..) Yahoo is scrambling to make its services more relevant as many Internet users spend more and more time on social networks like MySpace, YouTube and Facebook and less time passing through portals like Yahoo, AOL.com or Microsoft Corp's MSN. The new version of Yahoo Mail gives users three options for communicating with contacts -- e-mail, on...
More About: Technology , Yahoo , Phones , Message

Powering the future,- Alternate energy
2007-08-26 20:23:00
Once dismissed as kooky ideas spawned by impractical environmentalists, alternative energies are now part of the energy plans and policies of most nations. ?Governments all over the world recognise the importance of renewable energy as fossil fuels are finite,? & now aggressively planning investments in renewable energy projects. ?Worldwide, the renewable energy industry is growing at 20-30 per cent per annum. Demand exceeds supply in some sectors such as wind energy, and companies are generating returns in excess of their cost of capital. Fifteen European Union nations, including Spain and Germany, who are world leaders in renewables, have committed to generating 20 per cent of the energy using alternative technologies by 2020. India has also put in place several renewable initiatives and the country is now the world?s fourth-largest generator of wind energy with an installed capacity of 7,093 MW. Entrepreneurs are venturing into so...
More About: Technology , Future , Energy , The Future , Alter