Friday, February 26, 2010

Relax! It ain’t a giant wave, not yet!

With two IPOs hitting its shores one can finally see some sign of life in the primary market again. But is the market really ready? manish k. pandey acts investor... oops investigator!

At least 50,000 retail investors applied for shares when Mahindra Holidays & Resorts came out with its initial public offering (IPO) in June this year, while the much awaited Adani Power IPO, which closed last week, received a whopping 5,79,000 applications (the Rs.30 billion IPO attracted total bids to the tune of Rs.650 billion). So the entire IPO ecosystem is buzzing with energy and enthusiasm yet again. Investors are seeing this as a chance to party again after a prolonged sobering period.

But then, is the market really ready for the next big wave of IPOs considering that the retail investor is still sceptical to investing in IPOs after the failure of Reliance Power IPO? “Capital markets have short memories. They have the habit of forgiving and forgetting the losses quickly as soon as they start making money again. Investor response to the Adani Power IPO is a case in the point after the fiasco of Reliance Power IPO. Certainly, investors are back into the IPO arena and it’s business-as-usual for them,” reasons Jagannadham Thunuguntla, CEO and Equity Head, SMC Capitals.

Further, the participation of retail investors in an IPO depends primarily upon two factors. Firstly, on the valuations at which the IPO is being made available to investors and secondly, on the state of the market at the time of the IPO (which has a bearing on investor sentiments). If these two factors are in favour, there is little doubt about the success of an IPO. But are these two factors really in favour of the investor as of today? “I believe that the market is ready for quality IPOs. With the return of the risk appetite amongst the investor community at large, there is certainly a demand for newer IPOs. However, to ensure that investor appetite remains unaffected, it’s important that these IPOs are not bunched together within a short span of time,” cautions Hitesh Agrawal, Head – Research, Angel Broking.

But, despite the optimistic signs in the fund raising environment, there is a looming tsunami that threatens any momentum: the Budget has projected a deficit of 6.8% of GDP in fiscal 2009-10 and to finance this, the government will borrow about $80 billion from the market, which may further squeeze out the private sector, directly impacting their fund raising capabilities (Knowledge@Wharton). This statement certainly supports the contrarians who believe that the market still has a long way to go before it can finally take on to the IPO rush. “In reality, there is no rush of IPOs. It’s only media hype. Despite the secondary market being on an upward trend since March this year, we have had only 4 IPOs/FPOs raising Rs.4.43 billion. There was a huge expectation that this Budget would set the right tone for the secondary market, a prerequisite for the primary market. But, the immediate market reaction has shown that it is not very impressed,” avers Prithvi Haldea, Founder and CMD, Prime Database.

Certainly, a sense of stability in the secondary market is critical for IPOs to happen. This is because, one, when the appetite for listed stocks is also minimal, to expect new issues to find favour is hard and second, an issuer has to take a call of a stable market at least 30 days ahead (the time it requires to open and list an IPO). Since this stability or continued buoyancy is still not being seen, IPOs are not happening. In fact, as many as 17 companies are holding SEBI approval (typically the last hurdle in the launch of an IPO) for months now to raise Rs.69 billion, but are not daring to enter the market. “So at best, the next 3-4 months can see only 34 companies (holding and awaiting approval) hit the market,” says Haldea. Raison d’ĂȘtre: Issuers are finding the future outlook uncertain.

This can be seen by the fact that despite nearly 700 companies wanting to do an IPO, just four companies have filed their offer documents with SEBI since April this year. This certainly points out in the direction that the market is not yet ready for another big wave of IPOs.

shores.

No doubt, there are many IPOs that are in the pipeline, which include Future Ventures, Godrej Properties, Indiabulls Power, NHPC, Oil India, et al. While all these IPOs are much awaited and look promising, whether they are worth investing in would depend upon the valuations that they would command at the time of the IPO. Certainly two IPOs don’t make a trend, just as two vehement and scorned gentlemen are not enough to start a revolution. Guess investors will have to do with what they have.

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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Outlook Magazine money editor quits
Don't trust the Indian Media!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Thank heavens for the power trip!

Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. has been able to comfortably manage the recession on the basis of sound strategies and its investments in the power sector, by VIRAT BAHRI

So is globalisation the road to paradise or to perdition? The events that unfolded in the past several months have provided cannon fodder for both points of view. Understandably, the prevailing economic turmoil gives companies that favour protectionism all the more reason to go further into their shells and stay away from everything that’s even remotely ‘global’.

Then there are companies like the Naveen Jindal promoted Indian steel and power behemoth Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. (JSPL), who seem to believe that the recession only strengthens the argument in favour of globalization. They go by the doctrine – nothing ventured, nothing gained. JSPL CEO Vikrant Gujaral, was in fact in Bolivia, heading the negotiations with the Bolivian government for JSPL’s $2.1 billion project proposal with regard to the El Mutun mines in Bolivia (the company plans to also set up an integrated 1.7 MT steel plant, a 6 MT sponge iron and 10 MT iron ore pellet plant), when he had an interaction with Business & Economy for this feature. The company had laid a roadmap for development of the mines and setting up of steel and pellets plants. But they had to face significant regulatory and political hurdles, wherein even Bolivian President Evo Morales had expressed his reservations earlier w.r.t. the project. Then there were also issues of royalty sharing. Finally though, JSPL’s project has been approved and a contract is expected to be signed soon. The reward for JSPL would be in the form of access to 20 billion tonnes of iron ore reserves, which would make it one of the largest players in the world.

As we mentioned earlier (refer the story on NMDC), iron ore is a thorny issue for steel players globally. In fact, most steel players were virtually sandwiched in FY 2008-09 by the double whammy of rising raw material prices on one hand and declining demand on the other. Iron ore and coking coal prices seemed to be defying recession like nobody’s business. Moreover, major markets, particularly US and Europe crashed w.r.t. demand. In this murky environment, JSPL’s numbers for FY 2008-09 look quite insane. The company posted a rise in net sales (consolidated) by 96.7% yoy to Rs.108.4 billion and the net profit jumped by 140.6% yoy to Rs.30.1 billion. It is not that the company was not impacted.

These colossal numbers can be credited, to a large part, on their power business. Jindal Power’s 1000 MW merchant power plant became operational during the year, and contributed significantly to the topline and bottomline.
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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Tuesday, February 16, 2010

why they are both wrong and dangerous...

This view further adds that India would have grown much faster and eliminated poverty much sooner if the ‘State’ had not been allowed to play such an overwhelming role in shaping the economy. It is almost de rigueur for proponents of this dogma to point out how Japan, South Korea and China have outstripped India by miles by ‘reforming’ their economies much sooner and faster than India.

Business & Economy would like to use this special issue to set the record straight and explode some dangerous myths. Lets start with Japan – the miracle economy till the early 1990s. So stunning was growth in Japan after the Second World War that it is still the second largest economy in the world despite almost two decades of slowdown. But dogmatic opponents of the ‘State’ conveniently forget to mention that Japan created an agency called Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) whose sole role was to promote business houses from Japan to become world beaters. It was the State through MITI that provided the impetus, the import controls, the export subsidies, the massive capital infusion at cheap rates and unwavering support that allowed companies like Sony, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Panasonic et al, to be the global giants they are today. Something similar happened in South Korea after the late 1960s. It was the unflinching and constant State support that allowed companies like LG, Samsung, POSCO and Daewoo to be what they are today. And the success of China is too recent to elaborate how it came about. Quite simply, it was the ‘State’ that ‘planned’ the massive industrialisation and export push that has made China the global powerhouse that it is today. It is downright wrong, and dangerous, for free market fundamentalists to keep chanting that it is only ‘entrepreneurship’ that created the success stories in Japan, China and South Korea. We must add – all three countries had ‘states’ that also invested massive funds in primary education and healthcare – something that the ‘State in India still fails to do.

Equally, important, whatever that ails the public sector in India is not the result of public sector managers and workers; it is the perfidious manner in which politicians and bureaucrats have converted public sector companies into private fiefdoms. Do read on and share the thrills enjoyed by our team of reporters who traveled across the country to revisit Nehru’s modern temples!
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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Monday, February 15, 2010

The advocates are up in arms and the case drags on

On Angayarkanni's petition to the high court asking to quash the CBI's chargesheets, the CBI was ordered to stop any further action on the chargesheets and given eight weeks to reply. Meanwhile, CBI said the advocates did not cooperate with the agency’s investigation. As the lawyers did not come up with evidence, they were not able to indict more policemen, Harsh Bahl, CBI spokesperson, told journalists. “We asked the advocates' associations to furnish the evidence they have against the police. But most of them did not. We conducted open investigations and gave ample opportunities to all,” said Bahl.

What has irked the advocates is that the CBI has identified only five police personnel for their role in the violence. It has recommended departmental action against 22 police personnel but let the four senior officers off the hook citing a pending case in the Supreme Court.

G. Mohanakrishnan, Madras High Court Advocates Association (MHAA) secretary, also figures among the accused, going by the CBI chargesheet. He says that the advocate community has lost its faith in CBI. “Normally for fair investigations we prefer CBI. But CBI has proved that it is anything but fair. It has deliberately delayed the investigations right from the start. I was attacked by 28 personnel on the day. I handed over the evidence to CBI. Yet they could not nail the guilty policemen. CBI has lost its credibility completely. Many of the advocates whose names figure in the CBI chargesheet were not even present when the incident occurred in the court premises. We have a strong case against the CBI and I am confident that their chargesheet will be quashed," he told TSI.

In a scenario that is typical of the Indian judiciary, this case is dragging on endlessly. The violent incident occurred almost a year ago, but the motive behind the brutal attack on the advocates by the men in khaki still remains a mystery.
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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Thursday, February 11, 2010

Reactions to IPCC’s retraction on the 2035 status of the himalayan glaciers

Dr R.K. Pachauri

Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)


The very fact that we’re not trying to brush the error done by IPCC under the carpet and have instead come out and apologised, proves that we’re clean. This issue might give a handle to the climate skeptics, but I’d say that they are just on the lookout for anything that can demolish the history of scientific concept. In the last few years we have created enormous amount of awareness on climate change, which is disturbing them. In Washington D.C alone, there are 1200 lobbyists being funded by about 770 companies to stop this awareness that is being generated. And this is the figure only for United States…

Dr MS Swaminathan

Eminent scientist and father of the Indian Green Revolution


The retraction is acceptance of the factual position. Skepticism will not help, particularly developing countries, since they will suffer most from increase in temperature; even by 2°C, drought, floods and sea level will rise.

The lesson from the recent retraction is that the scientific body, which was at one time led by world leaders in climate science like Bert Bolin, should again regain its scientific credibility.
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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Friday, February 05, 2010

The End...?

The prophecies and science behind 21st Dec, 2012

Cataclysmic events unfolded in Roland Emmerich’s film 2012 – the earth’s core began heating up due to solar flare bombardment, California was engulfed by the Pacific Ocean, the Yellowstone Supervolcano erupted, megatsunamis thundered at every country’s shores – and one would imagine Emmerich was a little boy immensely enjoying destroying every conceivable object in his line of view! While most level-headed people enjoyed the effects of the film and let the subject be, there are many equally sane people worried if really all they had before their inevitable end was three years… just a little more than a thousand days… With numerous books and roughly six million websites dedicated to the predictions and prophecies about the year 2012, and 21st December 2012 to be more particular, most of us are being pulled in by these Doomsday prophecies.

The entire hoopla began with the predictions of the Mayan civilisation that say an alignment of the planets in our solar system, which happens only once every 6,40,000 years, will occur on 21st December, 2012 and lead to a catastrophic event. Astronomy was one of the strengths of this race, and they had managed to calculate the length of the lunar month with near accuracy some thousands of years ago. Now, along with their worrying prophecy, their Long Count calendar, credited for its accuracy, ominously ends on the same date.

Another ancient prophecy is by Sumerians circa 5000 BC about a planet Nibiru, which would collide with our planet – in 2003. But, while it obviously failed to do so, the date was moved to 2012, by theorists who probably consider the year to be a much safer bet for widespread calamities! For the record, as of now, there is no planet with that name.

2012 is going to be the year when solar storms will bombard the Earth, which NASA confirms will not cause life to end, but could temporarily cause power outages and the suspension of other services powered by electricity. The Yellowstone volcano in USA is supposed to blow up anytime too. Said to erupt every 6,50,000 years, it threatens to fill the atmosphere with ash, cloud the sky and throw Earth into a 15,000-year-long frozen winter.

Then there is the Bible that talks of the approaching Armageddon, where the final conflict between the Christ and Antichrist will occur. The Vedas say that this would be the time of the end of Kali Yuga, which had commenced in 3102 BC. Many other cultures are said to follow this chorus, and let’s not even start on the grim picture painted by Nostradamus…

NASA has been particularly dismissive of the 2012 prophecies. "There apparently is a great deal of interest in celestial bodies, and their locations and trajectories at the end of the calendar year 2012. Now, I for one love a good book or movie as much as the next guy. But the stuff flying around through cyberspace, TV and the movies is not based on science. There is even a fake NASA news release out there..." says Yeomans, NASA Senior Research Scientist.

There are as many theories about the world ending in 2012 as there are about the same theories being products of over-imaginative and psyched minds. On Facebook, an open party – Night of Mayhem – has been announced for everyone on Earth for 1st January, 2013, just in case the floods don’t occur, the earth doesn’t rip apart, and humanity survives 2012. As of now, 42,177 people have RSVP''d as ‘Attending’. Rather than worry about events we can’t really do much about, I suggest we take all these theories with a pinch of salt and plan for a grand New Year Party for 2013!
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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Monday, February 01, 2010

Tkm is a small Baby!

B&E: Toyota is a global market leader but how important is the Indian market?

AO: The current contribution of TKM to Toyota Motor Corporation is minimal but India will be a primary market for Toyota and also for the automotive market to make a comeback. Toyota may have got the top spot last year only but we have been a leading player in the SUV segment for a long time now. The introduction of Fortuner in India will only strengthen our base in the Indian SUV market.

B&E: Prius has been globally a bestseller in Toyota’s hybrid sales; do you have plans to bring Prius in the Indian market?

AO: We are very keen on introducing hybrids in India but keeping in mind the duty structure, the pricing comes to be very high, which makes it practically unviable to bring to hybrids like Prius to India

B&E: As per you, where does Toyota India stand in the Indian market?

AO: Toyota as a brand is known for quality but with a 3% market share, it is a baby when compared to giants like Maruti Suzuki on volumes front. The dream of reaching the double digit market share will be followed by the launch of our much-awaited small car in the Indian market.

B&E: Can we expect the luxurious Lexus in India?

AO: We have no plans to introduce the Lexus brand as of now in the Indian market but a lot of planning is going on in Japan and we will stay committed to the Indian market.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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