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

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February 2011

Anil Ambani’s Reliance Companies battling more than just negative Investor Sentiments….Outlook Business quotes me in a Cover Story on this

Outlook Business Feb 5-19 2011 carries a cover story on Anil Ambani battling serious issues that are threatening his Business Empire currently…..What will come to the rescue of a grim and worried Anil Ambani is that the scale of operations and stakes are high…Reliance Power for example…..The Outlook Business Article quotes me as such….check it out at

http://business.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?270573     or

http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-can-anil-ambani-pull-his-firms-back-from-the-brink/20110211.htm

So is Reliance Power at Rs 115 an interesting play for the coming three to five years ?…May just well be….as long as financial and feed closures are clinched firmly and projects executions remains on track  

Smashing Weekend…begins with Sensex closing on 18/2/11 at 18/2/11…Cricket World Cup beginning with a thumping India win….and Fun at a Family Wedding

It’s been a smashing weekend……

….Sensex closed on Friday 18/2/11 at 18211….and I prefer to believe it’s not a coincidence !

…..The Cricket World Cup begins with India and Sehwag smashing Bangla Desh in the first Match…Sehwag scoring 175 !…and Virat Kohli being the first Indian to score a century on World Cup Debut as India,being put into bat, piled on a record 370 runs…Before the Match began and as our National Anthem played and the Camera panned close ups of each Team Member it was amusing to see Dhoni with a smart haircut and clean shaven while Tendulkar was unshaven…the whole Indian team looked like Warriors ready for Battle…Mean and ruthless…with a killer instinct…they clearly want to be crowned the World Champions in this World Cup…and a steely determination showed on their faces

 …..and we had a Grand Family Wedding….my niece took the plunge into matrimony….the Festivities in Traditional style continued over three days beginning with Mehendi and Mosala with Raas and Garba and then some more freestyle frentic  Dancing with a live renowned Gujarati Lady Singer and her Troup in attendance….then there was the Sangeet and Cocktails & Dinner Night…and this was real fun and we came home exhausted at 4 am ! on Sunday morning….In a 45 minute Performance, that began with a lovely Ganesha Stuti, and compered by my aunt and me, the whole Family,close relatives and Friends of the Bride and Bridegroom danced choreographed Bollywood Songs…..The Theme was Pre Wedding,During Wedding and Post Wedding….and all of us have been rehearsing,under the retained and trained and watchful eye of a young lady choreographer, for the past month in the nights till past midnight…atleast twice a week to begin with and then every day last week for this !….and then unrehearsed dancing with a well known DJ belting out super bollywood remixes and originals non stop for five to six hours !…Phew !….legs were killing ! and only the ritual Sunday morning massage relieved the tiredness and aches….and last evening was the Wedding in all it’s traditional splendour….Pundit,pheras et all…. followed immediately by the reception……

…..Now We need a Vacation !…..but Wife reminds me of our School Motto…yes we do go back all the way  to school !….that ‘Work is Worship !’…she is really kicked that the humurous Pundit who conducted the wedding stated that no husband should take any decision without consulting his wife ! read more

PM Manmohan Singh finally chooses to break his Silence on Pressing Challenges and Accusations on Corruption and Inflation among others……would have been better if he had stayed silent

Our PM Manmohan Singh called for this Meeting this morning at 11 am at his residence at 7 Racecourse Road,New Delhi with the Top Editors of Media Channels to break his silence on a Host of Issues challenging his Coalition administration and India currently and field questions from the Editors

 

It was naive to expect him to expose his coalition and party colleagues on Corruption……He said nothing that we do not know already !

 

My sense was he should have remained Silent……

 

Because what came out from his 90 minutes live telecast meeting was this……

 

HONESTY….that we have his assurance that he was dead serious of bringing to book all wrong doers regardless of the position they occupy….he asserted that they will not escape this time….but he has been unable to live up to his promise of 90 days on exposing the culprits on the Commonwealth Games Corruption as due process of law has to be followed,however frustratingly long it takes

 

HELPLESSNESS….On the Twin Demons of Rising Inflation and Corruption,without precedence in Scale…the PM expressed helplessness on Inflation,especially food inflation confessing that we did not have all the tools to fight this…we have no control of International events….India is now an open economy and will be impacted…we are trying to combat inflation without compromising on GDP Growth …..On the Issue of Corruption,the PM raised the politics of Coalition Compulsions….but tell me Mr PM,where is coalition compulsion in the Scams of Adarsh Housing,Commonwealth Games,Black Monies in Swiss Banks and ISRO-Devas Space Spectrum !….you can pass the blame on coalition compulsions only where the huge 2G Scam is concerned where the world knows of Coalition Partner DMK’s involvement…..on one hand you are assuring us that all wrong doers will be brought to book while on the other hand you are trying to cover up the alleged involvement of Congress Higher Ups in Huge Scams by deflecting the blame on Main opposition party BJP and your Coalition Partners !

 

HILARITY…..Mr PM, you are well recognised as an Economist too and as Father of Modern Reforms in India when as Finance Minister in 1991 you initiated some path breaking economic reforms…so I was completely flabergasted when you drew parallels between the 2G Scam Loss and the Food,Fuel and Fertiliser Subsidies !….Hilarious !….and completely unacceptable…..The 2G Scam was facilitated to benefit a few corporates and their Promoters to the tune of thousands of Crores !…..by selling the treasured national asset of spectrum at cheap rates to a predecided selected few corporates,some even ineligible !,and who lost no time in making obscene profits of thousands of crores by leveraging on this asset by selling of huge chunks of their Equity at fantastic valuations …….clearly this was the predecided nexus gameplan between politicians and bureaucrats and the beneficiaries……and therefore clearly it is logical to assume that the beneficaries passed on some of the benefit  back into the nexus in various ways…probably some before and some after getting the spectrum……How in the hell can you compare this Loss to the Exchequer to the Subsidies on Food,Fuel and Fertilisers !…..current telecom Minister,Kapil Sibal wants us to believe that 2G  is a Zero loss ! while CBI has just stated yesterday that it is easily Rs 50000 crs and counting,while CAG report says it could be as high as Rs 176000 crs !…..the rationale of Subsidies is that the Poor should not feel the brunt of Rising Input Prices and therefore they,like farmers, are accomodated with Tax Payers therefore paying for this accomodation…the beneficiaries of the subsidies are therefore targeted to be the millions of the poor in India read more

Our External Minister S M Krishna delivers the wrong speech at the UN !…probably his best one !

It was bloody embarrasing alright….and probably has everything to do with Age and Awareness Levels

Our External Minister,78 year old S M Krishna began his speech at the UN Security Council meeting in New York yesterday…three minutes into it,our UN Envoy Hardeep Singh Puri gently reminded the Minister that this was the wrong Speech and that his Speech was lying in a stack of Papers in front of him…what Krishna was reading out like a parrot was the Speech of the Portugese Delegate who had already delivered this speech earlier !

…..This Faux Pas raises a very sombre point…are Speeches at such Important Forums so meaningless and simply parroted from a prepared text  only to be consigned to the records !?…that a minister does not realise it’s the wrong speech till he is prodded ! ?…has he not gone through what he has to say before he says it !..atleast once !

….reminded me of 1983/84 in Sydenham College,Mumbai…we had a quack of a Proffessor for one of our chosen subjects…..there was a Unit Test one Day and a Friend of mine had simply not studied a word for this….but he had great caligraphic writing skills and instead of answering the questions he beautifully wrote in the paper,the whole story of the classic Movie ‘Pakeezah’ !…and no guesses for who got the Highest marks in the Test !….this Professor simply did not read or register what was written

…..our Minister read but did not register…and tongue in cheek this must have been his best speech yet !

Shame !     

Connected after ages with Ustad Fazal Qureshi & his Experiment with Fusion

We were in School Together in Mumbai in the 1970s…Tabla Maestro Ustad Fazal Qureshi & Me…Ofcourse he became an Ustad later….he was a year junior to me and was my Cricket team Wicket Keeper and as Captain it was my responsibility to literally round up my Team to come play the Inter School matches…I distinctly remember,one fine morning in 1975 I think,Fazal had not reported for the Match…We desperately needed him,as he was our only Keeper !….rushed to his house and pulled him out of Bed…he was sleeping !…. to play the match !…probably reverberating in the Tabla’s Taal in his Dreams ! 

Ofcourse his Pedigree is illustrious…father the renowned Tabla Maestro,late Ustad Allah Rakha and his brothers Taufiq and the flamboyant Ustad Zakir Hussain…..but Fazal has always been different in the sense he loves experimenting with different sounds and it has been his endeavour to create soulful compositions from just plain cacophony and Noise when fusing Classical and Western Musical Instruments to play together

…and last evening I reconnected with him after years….it was warm meeting him and his lovely wife and young daughter …..warmer as we refreshed some lovely memories of school days……this was after 600 of us were regaled with some interesting Fusion in an uninterrupted two hour session from 7 pm to 9 pm  on the Lawns of Willingdon Sports Club under a clear starry Sky with a cool breeze blowing…..

Ustad Fazal Qureshi & those renowned accompanying him were in their element…we had the superb Sabir Khan on the Sarangi…he even sang a Rajasthani Folk Song !….Sridhar Parthsarthy on the Mridangam,Navin Sharma on the Dholak,Mukul Dongre on Drums…his Solo was quite superb, Ravi Iyer on the Electric Guitar…he has taught my son to play the Guitar…. and Sonu on the Bass Guitar….they were supported in the initial hour by students of the Ustad Allah Rakha Institute

…so what would one expect to sound like Noise in ordinary hands was transformed to Higher level of Fusion by these Maestros…and our ears were soothed with a fascinating fusion Blend of Classical,Blues,Soul and even traces of Hip Hop and Jazz

….and it is lovely that the Ustad has developed a very fluent and easy going sense of humour…it was evident when he introduced his compositions  

For me,two pieces stood out…the initial jugalbandi that set up the Evening….between Ustad Fazal Querishi on the Tabla and Sabir Khan on the Sarangi…Fabulous….and later the Percussion Fusion between the Drums,Mridangam,Tabla and Dholak…the Rhythm got to you….For Me the Sound System was quite good,though there was a faint hum on stage…and Ustad Fazal Qureshi confessed that they had not reckoned with the Dew..it was causing some Tuning Issues….I just could not make this out…as his Fingers rolled over and played the Tabla,the sound reverberated quite ‘kadak’ and brilliantly….if ever they did miss a beat,It missed me ! read more

Anil Ambani Group’s Reliance Pack of Companies Raped on the Bourses by a Ruthless Market on unfavourable developments and rumours !

The CBI arrest yesterday of listed  D B Realty Promoter Shahid Balwa in connection with the ongoing Investigations into the 2G Spectrum Scam triggered off a ruthless sell off in all Anil Ambani Reliance Group of Companies….Why ?…well ,D B Realty Promoted Swan Telecom which was reportedly favoured and  awarded the 2G License at a pittance and within months sold a significant stake at several multiples of what it paid to Etisalat….It is suspected that Swan is just a front for Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications

Aggravating Problems for Anil Ambani is the fact that his company Reliance Communications was under a special investigation audit by Parakh & Co,a CA Firm from Jaipur….This Firm has appealed yet again to the Ministry that they are being badgered by Reliance Comminication who have used their influence to get Police Agencies to harass them…they yet stand by their report which revealed that Reliance Communication had manipulated accounts and caused a loss to the Exchequer

This Ruthless Rape of Reliance Group Companies of Anil Ambani in a single day’s session should serve as a big red alert for lack of maturity and depth in our Bourses and the scary volatility,based on founded or unfounded developments and rumours, that an Investor or Trader is exposed to even in high profile companies…. 

Retail Investors who were short circuited by their Investment in the Reliance Power IPO in February 2008 at Rs 427.50 and whose  at ex bonus holding cost remains high at Rs 268 + have serious mixed feelings…live in hope and yet curse Anil Ambani for seducing them through some superb hardsell in a high priced IPO

Just observe this Rape today on BSE….These are even in all probability 52 Week Lows on these scrips….ADAG Companies have lodged an official complaint right after market closure to SEBI and the Exchanges that some people have spread baseless rumours to cause the panic fall in their Companies Share Prices….but look at the abnormal burst in Volumes….clearly a huge sell off 

Scrip

LTP

%

High

Low

Volume

2W Avg Q

Reliance   Broadcast Network

62.35

-9.83

69.10

62.25

0.43L

0.46L

Reliance Cap

412.90

-14.05

478.80

388.10

21.23L

4.03L

Reliance Comm

94.85

-14.32

109.75

90.80

60.12L

11.21L

Reliance Infra

534.70

-18.79

666.00

492.85

42.59L

2.94L

Reliance Power

113.15

-8.93

124.00

107.00

32.97L

9.07L

Reliance Media

129.90

-16.11

154.30

122.25

5.66L

1.52L

  

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