With so many developers and builders in the real estate market in India, finding the right investment at the right price is always tough. Sometimes, even the experts don’t help. You may be better off doing your own homework. I remember looking at buying a piece of property around 2003 in Gurgaon. It was a commercial real estate and would cost Rs 36 lacs giving rent of around Rs. 30,000 a month. The economies were coming out of the recession.... Read more
A democracy has special checks and balances. One of the checks is the way one of the three branches of the Government – Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary – can make sure that the country is not been taken apart by the other two working in connivance. In India’s case, Executive and Legislative branches are in cohoots with each other when it comes to corruption. When one looks the the political will and reaction across the spectrum in the Parliament –... Read more
The low cost tablet from the Indian Government seems to have been a rather unusual success. In just two weeks of the launch, the sales topped 1.4 million units! Now, the tablet is being used by Universities for their unique needs and be provided at a subsidized rate. Work on innovations in India needs to transcend the cost reduction in products, and go to creating newer and useful products that work better for the Indian audience. The University of Mumbai... Read more
Rs 10 lakh for 100 houses is pittance. With stairs, roofs, pipes and balconies crumbling, I wonder if this Rs 10 lakh can do much? These houses will be the first ones to crumble in an earthquake, such is their vulnerability. They are virtual coffins. For years poor maintenance of DDA group housing societies has been a sore point with flat owners. Finally, there is a silver lining in the clouds. DDA has decided to pay up for maintenance and... Read more
The richest temple in the world is taking a new lead in another area. It is going Green! A temple which gets 30 to 40 million pilgrims annually, (50k to 100k a day), food is a major project. Every day 50,000 kilos of rice and lentils is cooked for free food distribution to the devotees of Lord Venkateshwara. Apart from this, curry and vegetables are also prepared, as well as the famous Prasadam (which incidentally has been copyrighted and cannot... Read more
In our 2012 Predictions, we had talked about the tenuous situation with the Forex reserves of India and the whims and fancies of the Foreign Investors. Well, here is an example – which, hopefully, will not become a trend – otherwise India might face a forex crisis sooner than later. Its time the politicians and the business in India woke up to the reality that faces them in the coming years. Fidelity Investments is in talks to sell its India... Read more
At least the Zimbabweans are “Embarrassed” with their loss in under 3 days. Indian stars seem unaffected by their complete rout! One test under 3 days, another in under 4 days. Something is completely wrong with the entire cricket structure in India!! Alan Butcher, the Zimbabwe coach, has said his players were embarrassed by their loss inside three days to New Zealand in Napier. Zimbabwe were bowled out twice on the third day of the Test, and lost by an... Read more
Not sure why the Film Censor board should be the carrier of morals of Indian adults? Just give it an Adult only rating and let the grown ups be responsible for their libido or lack of it. Someone saying that bare bottoms and bare breasts are unacceptable for Indian audience is all nonsense. I am not advocating for such movies but if there is a movie like this and there is an audience for it, then so be it. Who... Read more
With so many indigenous cafe chains, will Starbucks make a difference? Heck, yes!! If you have been to a Cafe Coffee Day or others, you will see how it takes ages to get a simple coffee to you. Although it comes with the nice cup and all, but its taste isn’t all that better than say of a Starbucks. The Indian chains will be caught offguard because they do NOT have the processes to handle fast moving traffic. They will... Read more
The successful IITians are coming back in investing in fundamental research in India. Such Centers of Excellence (CoEs) for various areas will go a long way to promote scientific research back home. Living up to his promise made nearly four years ago, a US-based Indian and IT entrepreneur came to his alma-mater Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to launch a research centre for biosciences and bio-engineering with the focus on cancer. An alumnus of the 1969 batch of IIT, Romesh... Read more
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