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“In India, companies may fall sick, but promoters rarely do!”

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July 2013

Driven into an Isaac Asimov Mode for a reason ….and Enjoying it

I’m simply aghast and how intensely all the TV News Channels are now in General Election Results Prediction Mode ~ thrashing around permutations and combinations and probabilities and possibilities and airing two bit sound bytes of  every political hue and person with propoganda and profanities clearly standing out Profound Prognostication by Psephologists and Politicians ~with Anchors plugging some as Prophetic ! I’m more aghast at how  even the Intelligentia are glued to these loud coverages and want to discuss them ! ~ I started to hum a Classic Song I love to put off one such discussion that was threatening to begin last evening when I met up with a few Took me to Isaac Asimov ~ his quotes and my brief interpretation  below reflects my mood and mindset currently “Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that’my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’” ~ there’s a scarcity and a premium on those who are truly intelligent, wise ,selfless,moral and visionary ~ anybody living  that comes instantly to your mind ! “Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”  ~ It’s not restricted to just West Bengal ! “I write for the same reason I breathe … because if I didn’t, I would die.”  ~ Reason I blog  to express my anguish at times ~ at most other times I’m an Optimist ! “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.”  ~ It’s a humble submission that many of us are far wiser and intelligent and mature and knowledgeable and understanding  that those who assault our senses on TV News Channels day in and day out Of course Isaac Asimov’s Atheism or as he puts it ‘Rationalism’ is a matter to ponder on another day !

Huge Retail Price Gap between MNC Glaxo Drug & Indian Mankind Pharma marketed similar Drug

Am down with a severe toothache for past two days and have been advised Augmentin 625 Medication by the Dentist  ~ it’s all my fault for neglecting an annual dental check up ~ I always rush when my teeth painfully remind me that they exist ! ~and this situation arises every two years and thus  Augmentin 625 is not a new prescription for me !

Glaxo makes Augmentin 625 and it retails in Mumbai for Rs 266 for a strip of six tabs ~ Basically it’s a Amoxycillin & Potassium Clavulanate Formulation

The Indian Brands are Clavmentin by Wockhardt and the Moxikind -CV 625 marketed by Mankind Pharma Ltd and made by Copmed Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd

Got to take Two a day and I ran out of Clavmentin and the Chemist had both Augmentin (Rs 266) &  Moxikind-CV 625 which retails at just Rs 75 for 6 tabs !

I chose Moxikind-CV 625 for Rs 75 rather than paying Rs 266 for Augmentin 625 ! 

I chose Mankind Pharma over Glaxo !

The Chemist and a Close Friend who has done his B Pharm say I’m not really compromising as the tablets have a similar composition and the Indian Drug Industry is regulated even though pirated and adulterated drugs scenario exists ~ Buy from reputed Chemists and insist on a Bill that details the Strips batch number and other details

I am sure there are many Drug Formulations,which go off patent and become generic, where a Cheaper Indian Company Option exists

 Update on Morning of Thursday,August 1,2013

Not too sure about the efficacy of Moxikind as I yet don’t feel the relief on third day after having it ~ whereas Augmentin was pretty effective by the third day ~ Anurag & Mayur  you make  good points ~ also what scares me is  the recent US Warning issued for Imports from Wockhardt’s Waluj Plant and that the formulations may be adulterated   and this morning news of even the dreaded ‘483’  show cause letter from US FDA to Strides Arcolab for one of it’s injectibles ~this is a precursor to issuing a warning if the response is not recieved or not  accepted  ~ so Anil,one cannot blame us Indians too to rely on the MNC Pharma Company Retailed Drugs

Further Update on Afternoon of Thursday,August 1,2013

My Dentist confirms ,after having had a look,that I need to shift to Orni O 500 mg from Augmentin~ so maybe I was being unkind to Moxikind !

TATA Group ~ How to Instantly increase current Market Cap from US $ 92 Billion !?

😎 You will surely find this perspective,linked below and just uploaded in the freely accessible Scrip Standpoint Module on my company  website, quite quite cool & interesting and can draw your own inferences and conclusions  on how TCS places the TATA Group in a relatively better position than most Business Groups despite High Debt Positions and continuing Challenges in  the Auto,Power and Steel Space ~ and how the Group can put in play the TCS Advantage

TATA Group ~ How to Instantly increase current Market Cap from US $ 92 Billion !? ~ 29-Jul-2013

🙂 Now how do we get the ‘cost conscious and hands on’  Tata Group Chairman,Cyrus Mistry too thinking on these lines !

Feedback is welcome

Stripping or Stealing the Listed Company of Assets ! ~ How Promoters are suspected to do it and Auditors suspected to allow it !

You’ve heard of Naked Speculation ! but have you heard of Naked Companies that have been rendered so because they were stripped off their Assets by their Own Promoters  !!!?

Have always known how Indian Corporates ,even some of the well known names, indulge in siphoning off funds and stripping and stealing assets of the companies they have promoted or taken over !

In fact this reality is well captured in the tagline for my blog  ” In India,Companies may fall sick but Promoters rarely do !”  

But this one takes the Cake !  ~ the Kolkata based Listed Company Vikash Metal & Power ~ Business Standard highlighted this in it’s edition yesterday ~The great Indian listed firm robbery

Vikash Metal & Power says on April 12,2012, it lost a building and other stuff worth Rs 90 cr to an “incident of robbery” and auditors have simply remarked that the Fixed Asset Registers were not shown to them  rather than raising deeper questions on this ! ~ the thieves also took away the registers where the company had recorded the details of its fixed assets ! ~ Wow ! ~ and I checked it was a Thursday ! when this ‘Immovable Property’ was ‘Moved ‘!

The Company has been promoted by the Patni Family ~Father Vimal Kumar Patni and sons Vikash Patni and Akash Patni.Their stake has dropped from 59% to just 15.06% as at December 31,2012 ~ all pledged.

The Share Price of the FV Rs 10 shares is just 54 paisa !

The Patni family was also the Promoter of another  listed firm, Impex Ferro Tech. In fact Vikash Metal & Power was shown as part of the Impex Group.Till December 31,2011 the Promoters Group shows these Patnis ~ but no longer so from then ~ The Share Price of Impex is Rs Rs 3.54 for a FV Rs 10 share

Clearly this has the making  of a massive Fraud here ! ~ Stealing with a Legal Tag !? ~ that’s the Substance over Form !

Some other ways of suspected siphoning of Funds or Assets from the Company are as below with links to Company  illustrations which I had extensively blogged on recently

  1. Writing off Fixed Assets as Impaired and Value not Recoverable ~ Goldstone Infratech  May 22nd, 2013
  2. Writing off Inventories stating it was a correction in erroneous valuation earlier  and reducing  Debtors outstandings  as being overstated as found out in a reconciliation and not found to be realisable !  ~Bhoruka Aluminium June 8th, 2013
  3. Using the Free Cash for Investments in Group Companies or extending Loans & Advances to Them ~Geodesic March 27,2013
  4. Inflating Project Costs & Expenses ~Reliance Industries  October 3rd, 2012

Shortly I shall also reveal, with clear financial evidence how the Promoter & Top Management lied and mislead, what I strongly suspect how the Vedanta Sterlite Group took the Minority Shareholders of Sesa Goa for a ride by Investing over Rs 12000 crs of Sesa Goa’s Free Cash in Cairn India stating it would be immediately EPS accretive ! ~ it has just received Madras High Court Approval to merge Sterlite into Sesa Goa now to make it Sesa Sterlite ! read more

Mumbai is drenched ! ~ a Wet Welcome for Visiting US Vice President Joe Biden !

Mumbai is drenched !~a Wet Welcome for Visiting US Vice President Joe Biden !

It’s been pouring relentlessly and incessantly from June 7,2013 with the Sun reminding us, just four or five days in the last 45 days, that it still rises and sets

The Weekend Washout continues into the Week even as I blog past midnight on a Tuesday Night ~ it’s now Wednesday

There’s going to be a lot of absenteeism tomorrow ! ~ you can bet on that !

Son just returned too by rick,train and then a cab from a Sound Studio he works at in the Andheri Suburbs  ~ says the Slow Trains are on time but the Fast Trains are Slow ! ~trying to figure that out ! ~ probably means all Trains are now Slow as Tracks are surely waterlogged in some locations

I too just returned from my Tuesday Lord Ganesha Darshan at Siddhivinayaka Temple and Infant Jesus and St Anthony Shrine on the return and quite fittingly in this Heavy continuing Downpour a FM Station was playing “Aye Dil Yeh Mushkil,Jeena Yaha,Zara Hatke,Zara Bachke,yeh hai Bambai meri Jaan ” 

There’s  Police Personnel lined up every 10 meters on either side of the Road ~some  huddled in groups in their Yellow Raincoats and looking bored and kicking imaginary pebbles ~ wondered which visiting VIP was disturbing them on raindays like this with mandatory midnight duty  ! ~ Ah ! realised that Joe Biden,the US Vice President was to  fly in from New Delhi tonight after having met  the PM on Monday and others on Tuesday~ and this was standard protocol

So why is Biden really here in India ! His Wife and he arrived in New Delhi on Monday,July 22,2013 ~the Official position is this as stated on  http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/07/22/new-delhi-vice-president-biden-tours-gandhi-smriti  and reproduced below

“Vice President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden arrived in New Delhi today, the first stop on a six-day trip to India and Singapore.

This trip is an important opportunity to strengthen our partnerships within the region and reaffirm our commitment to rebalancing U.S. foreign policy toward the Asia-Pacific. Over the next several days, the Vice President will meet with leaders in both countries to discuss a range of issues, from economic growth to energy and climate change to security.” 

I just hope India does not get bulldozed or bullied by the US  into any more economic  concessions in US reaffirming their commitment to rebalancing US foreign policy !~whatever that phrase means!~ and it cannot be a coincidence that Walmart just told the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion( DIPP) in India that it will not be able to comply with the FDI multi brand retail clause of a minimum of 30% procurement of supplies from India itself ~ maybe 20% they say ! ~ not a single application has come in since opening out multi brand retail through FDI was announced  ten months ago read more

An MBA in Index Management !? Sensex at 20300 and Nifty at 6100 levels ~ near 2013 high

An MBA in Index Management !? Sensex at 20300 and Nifty at 6100 levels ~ near 2013 high

The Course will have many takers ! and some very experienced old hand faculty !

In 2013 till date the Intra day Sensex High was recorded on May 13,2013 when Sensex  reached 20443.62 but closed lower at 20224

We are close to recording a New Sensex High for 2013 ~ just under 150 points required ~ it’s a intra day job! ~ maybe today or this week !~ and we have more than five months yet to go in 2013 and General Elections then nearing

Looks like we’ll also top the All time High of  21206.77 in Jan 2008 which it came pretty close to in Nov 2010  ~ just 900 points required ~ that’s less than 4.5% ~ that’s a few weeks job !

😎  And this is Serious ! ~ So what will the MBA Curriculum be !? It’s got to be  Hand On Practical and  Definitely will include :

  • Regulatory Framework ~ Is there an effective one ? or does BSE stand for Become Surely Extinct  as it’s BOLT terminal will surely Strike you or NSE stand for ‘Nocked(k’s silent)  Surely Extinct  as it’s NOW Terminals surely are Time Bombs that one moment in Time will scream without warning ‘NOW!’ and blast or does SEBI stand for Systematic Elimination of Brokers & Investors !
  • Corporate Governance and why it should but does not matter ! ~ with Fantastic Real Life and Real Time Case Studies
  • Role of FIIs and their namesake Broking Houses in Index Management ~ and are these FIIs really Foreign Institutional Investors at all ! and do they stand for F…ing Indian Investors
  • How to Spot Liars  who bet on your Losing for their Winning !
  • How to Play Poker with a Straight Face
  • How to not just Survive but to create and sustain a winning streak in a Casino
  • When to and not to place additional weight on Fundamentals(Valuations of micros and macros) or Market (Sentiment & Momentum and who’s doing what and why) or Technical (Float,Liquidity & Positions) Factors
  • How and When to time leverage winning plays on the Indices
  • How are the Index Constituents and weightages decided and how to perfectly time to play them  
  • Major Players ~ Who should you Follow and when to UnFollow !
  • How and When to spot coded spot fixing and vested and deliberately misleading  advise on stock channels and research reports and do exactly the opposite
  • Why never to take PM and FM at Face Value ! ~ the former has an unassuring  silence that says  ‘I Dont Know’ or ‘Will Not Reveal’ as we have signed a Confidentiality Agreement with the FBI in USA and the Swiss Banks and the latter has an unassuring speak that makes excuses and tries to defend just about everything that is going wrong saying BJP is responsible and Government is considering additional Reforms !
  • How to build your Virtual & Physical Network  including which Websites and Social Media Forums you should be visiting regularly and when to simply eavesdrop and when to participate and interact in them and which  Seminars & Cafes and Clubs and Restaurants and Nightclubs you should frequent and keep your ears and eyes open and mouth shut ~ and not just in Mumbai  ~ and where also to plan your weekend breaks and holiday destinations ~ and when not to take your Spouse along !
  • Sources of Financing your Plays and when to go the whole Hog like George Soros did when he gave the go ahead to Stanley to bet the ‘Quantum’ House and successfully short the English Pound in the early 1990s
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