Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Leadership Lessons from the life of the Dominant Leader: Balasaheb Keshav Thackeray


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Leadership Lessons from the life of the Dominant Leader: Balasaheb Keshav Thackeray





Who can believe that around 20 lacs people in metro city like Mumbai were present in funeral procession and cremation of 86 year old man. But one has to believe this when we are talking about a dominant leader Shri Balasaheb Thackeray. We all know him as founder of Shiv Sena, some believe that he was the political Godfather of Mumbai, etc. etc. but the fact is that he was one of the dominant leader and owner of charismatic personality. Shri Bal Thackeray was known for his opposition to domestic and foreign migrants, which was directly at odds with the reality of India’s cosmopolitan business capital, and his tight grip on Mumbai, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s. Bollywood stars, politicians and tycoons were said to visit him and touch his feet, acknowledging their need for his approval.

If we analyze his life as  a leader, one can learn many lessons.



Shri Bal Thackeray started his career as a cartoonist in the Free Press Journal in Bombay. In few days he became very popular for his cartoons with very high level of humors. His cartoons were also published in the Sunday edition of The Times of India. In 1960, he launched a cartoon weekly Marmik with his brother. He used it to campaign against the growing numbers and influence of non-Marathi people in Mumbai, targeting Gujaratis and South Indian labor workers. After Thackeray's differences with the Free Press Journal, he and four or five people, including George Fernandes, left the paper and started their own daily News Day. The paper survived for one or two months.

Now that was the time for his entry in Indian Politics and for the same, he formed the Shiv Sena on 19 June 1966 with the intent of fighting for the rights of the natives of the state of Maharashtra. The early objective of the Shiv Sena was to ensure job security for Maharashtrians competing against immigrants from southern India, Gujaratis and Marwaris. In 1989, the Sena's newspaper Saamna was launched.


Politically, the Shiv Sena was anti-communist and wrested control of trade unions in Mumbai from the Communist Party of India and extorted money from Gujarati and marwari business leaders. It later allied itself with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the common issue of Hindu Nationalism which both parties believed in. The BJP-Shiv Sena combine won the 1995 Maharashtra State Assembly elections and came to power. During the tenure of the government from 1995 to 1999, Thackeray was nicknamed 'remote control' and 'The Kingmaker' since he played a major role in government policies and decisions from behind the scenes. Though the year of 1996 was very shocking for him as he lost his wife Meena to a heart attack in September 1996, and his eldest son Bindumadhav ("Binda") to a road accident on 20 Aprl 1996, but these shocks could not stop him.

On July 28, 1999 Thackeray was banned from voting and contesting in any election for six years from December 11, 1999 till December 10, 2005 on the recommendations of the Election Commission. After the six-year voting ban on Thackeray was lifted in 2005, he voted for the first time in the 2006 BMC elections. 

Thackeray claimed that the Shiv Sena had helped the Marathi manoos (Maharashtrian laymen) in Mumbai and also fought for the rights of Hindu people. Thackeray was a staunch Hindu and believed that Hindus must be organized to struggle against those who oppose their identity and religion. especially in the public sector. Opposition leftist parties allege that the Shiv Sena has done little to solve the problem of unemployment facing a large proportion of Maharashtrian youth during its tenure, in contradiction to its ideological foundation of 'sons of the soil. 

Really the life of this Marathi Manoos was full of obstacles but he converted all the difficulties and problems in opportunities and shown the way to fight against injustice not only to Maharashtrians but also all citizens of India. Today, it is very difficult to fill his place in Indian politics. 



Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Basic Concepts of Income Tax

                                                         Basic Concepts of Income Tax
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Accounting for Managers Chapter 7: Fixed Assets and Depreciation



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Accounting for Managers Chapter 7: Fixed Assets and Depreciation

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Happy Diwali and Prosperous New Year...!!!


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Greetings,

May these Diwali light up your life with peace, prosperity and happiness...

Happy Diwali and Prosperous New Year to you and your family...


Sunday, October 28, 2012

Monday, October 8, 2012

ONLY 10% STUDENTS WORK IN THE SECTOR FOR WHICH THEY QUALIFIED...!!!

ONLY 10% STUDENTS WORK IN THE SECTOR FOR WHICH THEY QUALIFIED...!!!


With changing economic scenario and increasing choices, many youngsters are choosing careers that are different from what they are academically qualified for, according to experts.
The trend of people opting for different career paths are seen more among engineering students, they said. Going by data compiled by Youth4work.com, a portal mainly for those pursuing graduation, only about 10 percent of engineering students surveyed were planning to take up a job in the same sector.
Experts believe that pursuing different careers is also much dependent on prevailing economic conditions. “… the choices are also governed by the economy and the booming sectors. For example for quite sometime in late 1990s, students form across the engineering domains, focused on IT jobs as that was booming across the world,” Edukart.com CEO Ishan Gupta said.
Also, students nowadays have more options beyond their formal education by way of online and offline courses. In addition, increasing number of companies are hiring people on the basis of their attitude and skills rather than just academic knowledge, experts added.
Data based on 4,000 students around the country by Youth4work.com showed that among those doing engineering courses, nearly 15 percent were interested in careers related to writing, while 12 percent wanted to move to fine arts area.
Among students doing business and administration courses, as much as 85 percent showed interest to go into other areas like IT and animation. Meanwhile, the trend of choosing a different career from what you are qualified for academically is also noticed in professionals.
Professional networking site ApnaCircle.com founder and CEO Yogesh Bansal said that 55 percent of professionals registered with the portal have changed their industry in past one and half year. Lack of job satisfaction, professional stagnation and monetary issues are some of the factors behind professionals changing their job fields, Bansal added.
“Job switches remain high. However, sticking with one organisation at an initial stage, helps in your career growth. “It also provides a solid foundation and gives a candidate’s resume much needed credibility in terms of loyalty and sincerity towards his/her work,” Bansal said.
From; Firstpost Economy.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Mutual Funds: New Regulations by SEBI

Mutual Funds: New Regulations by SEBI
 
 
 
 
Recently SEBI has announced some new regulations for mutual funds. According to the experts, the changes will more useful to AMCs and distributors, rather than investors. After analysing all the announcement of SEBI, the major decisions are as under, let's see effect of each change on AMCs, Distributors and Investors.
 
 
Increase in Expense Ratio: SEBI has proposed to increase the Expense ratio by 30 basis points (0.3%) if the mutual funds are able to increase their reach to smaller towns in India and increase their contribution to 30% . The big effect, is that now there will be higher expense ratio for everyone. So inflow from smaller cities will affect investors from bigger cities. Investors from big cities will have to bear the burden of increased expense ratio.
 
 
No Internal Limits in Expense Ratio: A very big change which goes in favor of AMCs is the removal of internal limits on the expense ratio and for what it can be used. Earlier there was a limit on the AMC to charge up to 2.5% expense ratio (up to 100 crores AUM), but it was allowed to charge only 1.25% as Fund Management Charge and 0.5% as distribution charges. The rest was taken as their profits. So earlier suppose a Mutual Fund charged 2.25% as the expense ratio, then they compulsorily had to allocate 1.25% as Fund Management Charge and 0.5% for distribution.
But now, that sum limit has been removed and mutual funds are allowed to allocate expenses the way they want. This means you can now see more advertisements, more commissions to the distributors and more aggressive selling. While this is a very big change which will make AMCs happy, they will still have to keep a check on the expense ratio because of competition from other AMCs.
 
 
Exit Load is Back: When a investor got out of a mutual funds , he was charged an exit load if he quit before 1 year. That money was not transferred back to mutual fund, nor was it the profit of the mutual fund. It was actually transferred to a separate fund, which was used for sales, distribution and marketing. But now, when a investors exits prematurely, the entire exit load money will be credited back to the scheme account and will not be treated as AMC profit. However an equal amount (capped at 20 basis points) can be included in expense ratio back to compensate the AMC loss due to outgoing investors, which means that overall, for the investors on one hand, the AUM gets increased (NAV increased marginally because of exit load money coming back to them), while at the same time they’re paying more in expense ratios, so the net effect of this would be, no gain no loss to both the parties.
 
 
Direct Plans with Lower Expense Ratio: SEBI has directed that for each mutual fund, there has to be a equivalent Direct Plan with a lower expense ratio. So for every mutual fund XYZ, now you will see XYZ and XYZ-Direct options. So XYZ will come with higher expense ratio, and XYZ-Direct will have lower expense ratio. Many people who research mutual funds and like to buy it on their own directly from AMC by passing agents and other online distributors, this option will be cheaper and makes sense. However, many distributors are not happy with this move and think this will “kill” their business, all because investors will then just invest into the direct options.
 
 
Investors have to bear Service Tax: SEBI has ruled that service tax that has thus far been borne by the AMCs can now be passed through to the investors. Basically, this is how it is done in all other industries. Anybody who has received an invoice for a service will be familiar with the “Service tax extra” caveat to the quoted amount. AMCs provide a service (fund management service) to investors and will rightfully start charging the investors the requisite amount. This charge, however, is apparently likely to be 2-3 bps (according to the press release). My thought is that this 2-3 bps is more likely to be the blended overall impact across schemes. For equity schemes, it is likely to be higher, more in the 7-8 bps range for big funds and 10-12 bps range for smaller funds (service tax is charged on the amount that an AMC gets to keep from the expense ratio, so it will differ from AMC to AMC and scheme to scheme).
 
 
Seperation between Financial Advisors and Distributors: There will be some minimum qualification, registration and guidelines for financial advisers. They will have to register with SEBI and a separate body of regulators will soon be created for this. A financial advisor is a professional who advises his clients on investments for a “fee.” The important distinction being, he wont be able to earn any money from commissions by selling financial products. If a person wants to sell financial products and earn commissions out of it, then he will not be able to “advise” the clients. But CA, MBA, and several other professionals are kept out of this rule and even mutual fund agents who have a valid ARN code are kept out of this rule because their basic advice is seen as the extention of their work. There is still more clarity required on this, so don’t conclude anything yet.
 
 
 
From Jago Investor

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Job Creation through Retail FDI

Job Creation through Retail FDI
 
 
The recent reforms push by the government is likely to have a positive impact on organized employment sector in the country and the retail sector alone is expected to see as many as 10 million jobs in the next 10 years’ time, experts believe.
 
Pursuant to FDI in the retail, international MNCs are likely to enter India either directly or through Indian companies and they in turn are going to recruit people for sales, customer service, back end logistics and IT, which would mean substantial job creation.
 
According to experts, FDI in retail can create 3 million jobs in three years including both direct and indirect jobs. In the next 10 years’ time the figure could touch as much as 10 million, wherein 4 million would be direct jobs and around 5-6 million indirect jobs including contractual employees, says Indian Staffing Federation (ISF), an apex body of the flexi staffing industry in India.
 
“The reforms push will have a very good impact on the organised employment. If more retail happens then lot more jobs are going to get created,” Randstad India President (Staffing) Aditya Narayan Mishra told PTI.
 
According to ISF, FDI in retail will have a much wider impact on organised employment than what happened in IT, 12 years back as it shall open doors for less skilled and less educated people as well.
 
Moreover with the recent reforms push, foreign investors are showing renewed interest in India, which is likely to result in more investments and thus more number of jobs.
 
The government has taken a number of reform initiatives like opening the multi-brand retail sector to FDI, hiking diesel prices by over Rs. 5 a litre, capping the number of subsidised LPG cylinders to six per family a year, allowing foreign carriers to pick up stake in domestic airlines and liberalising FDI rules for broadcasting sector.
 
For the economy it is going to be good, lot more people are going to be enrolled in the organised field but it also brings new challenges, experts say.
 
“As the demand suddenly increases and the same could not be said for supply, which could put a pressure on salary and attrition… And hence retention efforts would become much more difficult and employer branding would become more challenging than what it is today,” Mishra said.
 
After the opening up of the retail sector the only challenge there will be is to create enough skilled workers to cater to the demand that shall follow, ISF said.
 
IIT Delhi, Professor and Head (retd) Department of Management Studies, Rajat K Baisya said: “India is a difficult market. In order to sustain and be a success they (Walmart and the like) will have to invest in supply chain, improve efficiency, reduce wastage, and that might help”.
 
firstpost.com



Friday, September 28, 2012

Developing a Sustainable Supply Chain to add Value

Aung San Suu Kyi @ Harvard

Aung San Suu Kyi @ Harvard

Cambridge, Massachusetts: Myanmar pro-democracy leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi got celebrity treatment from students at Harvard University on Thursday, but insisted she was not an “icon.”

“I don’t like to be referred to as an icon, because from my point of view, icons just sit there,” Suu Kyi said during a lecture before an enthusiastic, overflow crowd at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“I would like you to think of me as a worker. I put a lot of faith in hard work. Even under house arrest, I had to work very hard to live a disciplined life. It was hard work. … Please look upon me as a hard worker.”

Suu Kyi is on a 17-day tour of the United States that included a meeting with President Barack Obama, the receipt of a US Congressional Gold Medal to recognise her efforts to promote freedom and democracy, and visits with Myanmar expatriates.

Myanmar pro-democracy leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi got celebrity treatment from students at Harvard University. Reuters

She has spoken on several college campuses, where her celebrity, forged by years as one of the world’s most prominent political prisoners, has attracted excited crowds.

Suu Kyi’s Nobel Peace Prize came in 1991, while she was under house arrest in Myanmar, enforced by a military dictatorship. The country is also known as Burma.

Elected in April 2012 to the lower house of the Myanmar parliament, Suu Kyi said she was surprised at suggestions she only now had to learn the art of politics.

“I have always seen myself as a politician. What do they think I have been doing for the past 24 years?” she said.

In her lecture, the leader of Myanmar’s National League for Democracy Party said the Southeast Asian nation had a long way to go to become a free society.

“The best way to be a truly responsible citizen in a free society is to act as though you were already a free citizen in a free society,” Suu Kyi said.

firstpost.com

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Rajiv Gandhi Equity Saving Scheme: How worth it is...

Rajiv Gandhi Equity Saving Scheme [RGESS]: How worth it is...

In his anxiety to keep the markets in a state of good cheer so that he can unload lots of public sector equity, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has okayed a dubious equity scheme for first-time stock investors that makes very little sense.

That it is being made in the name of Rajiv Gandhi – it is called the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS) – may not go down well with Madam Sonia if the scheme is a resounding flop.
For a scheme (read the details here) that is supposed to encourage new retail investors who have never invested in stocks to finally take the plunge, it should have been a simple one that is easy to understand. But RGESS is anything but that.

The main attraction of the scheme, announced by Pranab Mukherjee in his last budget, is that it offers investors a 50 percent deduction for investments upto Rs 50,000 under a new Section 80CCG (which will save you Rs 5,000 in the 20 percent tax bracket). The eligibility limit is upto Rs 10 lakh of taxable income. But it’s not easy to navigate the scheme.



First, you need to have an income-tax PAN and a depository account. Which is fine, since this is the only way the taxman can find out if you already own shares. But the scheme also says you shouldn’t have dabbled in derivatives – wonder how they will find that out, especially if you have done it through a broker on the sly.

Second, the choice of stocks is limited. You can invest in “stocks listed under the BSE 100 or CNX 100, or those of public sector undertakings which are Navratnas, Maharatnas and Miniratnas” or their followon offers. Since losers like MTNL are labelled as Navratnas, the list does not automatically guide first-timers to profitable companies. How a newbie investor is supposed to find the right stock so that he does not make a mistake nobody knows. If he burns his fingers, RGESS will turn him off stocks for good.

Third, some mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) investing in these kinds of shares are also eligible for investment. But you have to buy these funds or ETFs from the stock market through a depository account. There’s no escaping that.

Fourth, and this is the biggest put-off, the scheme specifies a three-year lock-in, that is essentially a more complicated one-year lock-in. You can sell your share/shares after one year, but you have to reinvest the initial amount (for which you claimed a tax deduction) back by buying from the same select list of shares.

Source: firstpost.com

India is the only living example of several religion

India is the only living example of several religion

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama today said India is the only example where more than 100 crore people of various religions are living in harmony.

“I am the active messenger of India and keep on promoting Indian treasure of compassion, truth and honesty throughout the world. India is the generator of non-violence and peace,” he said.

The Nobel Peace laureate said, “Every where I have said that India is the only living example of several religion, where more than 100 crore people live in harmony.”


He also termed Dharamsala as his “mother land”.

While welcoming spiritual guru Morari Bapu he said, ”As I spent a major portion of my life in
Dharamsala, I consider it as my ‘Matri Bhumi’ (mother land).”

The Lama was speaking on the opening day of the 9-day Ram Katha at Police Ground here today.

Lama said to Morari Bapu, “I am happy that you didn’t confine yourself to the temples and came out to teach people the lesson of truth and honesty.”

It is now the time that the religious leaders of India should guide the countrymen to keep them away from corruption and injustice.

Dalai Lama said that though the money is important for life, but without peace it too can’t help.

PTI Source: firstpost.com

Accounting for Managers: Chapter 1 Slides

Friday, September 21, 2012

Test Your Knowledge...

Increased allocation for Higher Education in 12th Plan

Increased allocation for Higher Education in 12th Plan
Realizing that country’s sustained growth will only be possible through a strong education system, Union Minister for HRD Kapil Sibal has pushed for increased allocation for the sector in the Twelfth plan.
At the recently concluded meeting of Planning Commission, Sibal made a strong pitch for more funds. Though the initial allocated saw a rise between 100 to 125 percent over the Eleventh plan. It is understood that Sibal argued that the increased allocation was not even adequate for business as usual. The minister was of the view that this was the right time to make investments in crucial sectors like secondary education including skill development, to expand the Kendriya Vidyalaya and Navodaya Vidyalaya experience. There are plans to set up 500 new Kendriya Vidyalayas and 378 Navodaya Vidyalaya in the Twelfth Plan, reports Economic Times.
A stronger school education system, on the back of the Right to Education and universalisation of secondary education, would mean robust demand for higher education. Sibal argued that there was a need to strengthen the state institutions and the student financial aid system. More importantly the minister made the case that if India was to grow at 8.2 per cent and sustain that growth then it would need a vibrant research and innovation. That would require increased funding for the higher education sector.
It is to be noted that the planning commission is understood to have accepted the argument for higher funding. As against a demand of Rs 65000 crore, over and above the Rs 40000 for secondary education, the plan panel has agreed to increase allocation to Rs 55,000 crore. Though far less than the Rs 125000 that the minister asked for the increased funding is expected to bolster the efforts to universalise secondary education. The ministry has target an enrollment ratio of 90% at the secondary (class IX and X) and 65% in the higher secondary (class XI and XII) by 2017.
The higher education segment has got a larger increase from the allocation of Rs 110000 to Rs 166000. The additonal funds will be used to better the student financial aid system, improve funding to state institutions and research and innovation. With the government aiming to increase enrollment ratio at the higher education level to 25.2% by 2017-18, from the current rate of 17.9%, a strong student aid system is essential. In the Twelfth plan, the ministry aims to set up comprehensive student financial aid programmes at all levels and establish the Credit Guarantee Fund for loans.
However, Sibal was unable to convince the panel for an additional amount of Rs 100000 crore over the next four years to implement the Right to Education, provision for a year of pre-school and strengthen residential school system in SC, ST and minority blocks was not accepted. Neither was the demand of an additional Rs 30000 crore for mid day meal scheme accepted.
Sibal was, however, able to secure an agreement for a differential fund sharing pattern for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to address the special requirements of states which are lagging behind. In addition to the North Eastern states and Jammu & Kashmir, two more states—Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh—have been designated as "special category" states and the centre will bear 90% of the funding.

The Retail Giant Wall Mart: How far from India...?

The Retail Giant Wall Mart: How far from India...?

Retail giant Wal-Mart is looking to open its first outlets in India within 12 to 18 months as it would seek permission from states that have already indicated their willingness to allow foreign retailers to set up shop in India, Scott Price, president and CEO for Asia, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

The move comes after the UPA government last week agreed to allow megastore retailers to enter the country through joint ventures.

Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, has not yet decided where or how many stores it would like to have in India, Price told the newspaper. Price added that the company expects to continue its current partnership with Bharti Enterprises in a chain of 17 cash-and-carry stores, but it is not in discussions with any other companies for a potential retail partnership.

Meanwhile, Anshuman Magazine, CMD, CB Richard Ellis told the Business Standard that purchasing power and consumption will be the biggest hurdle for foreign retailers in India. “Is there purchasing power to absorb the supply form the big retailers? Despite all the restriction of 1million population, foreign brands may be confined to major metros only, at least in the initial years,” Magazine told the paper.

Moreover, Local sourcing from small-scale companies, which also caused IKEA some second thoughts about the Indian market, will probably be the hardest part for Walmart and others–whose business success depends on ultra-efficient management of a global supply chain to drive down prices.

Indian students in UK get court reprieve


Indian students in UK get court reprieve
 
London: Indian and other non-EU students at the London Metropolitan University heaved a sigh of relief today as the high court allowed them to continue their studies and permitted the university to challenge the recent revocation of its licence to admit non-EU students.
 
LMU’s application for interim relief was granted by Justice Irwin, who ordered that the non-EU students be allowed to resume their courses from Monday.
 
There are currently 359 Indian students enrolled on various courses at the university.
 
The UK Border Agency (UKBA) had revoked LMU’s licence to admit and teach non-EU students on August 29, due to what it called “serious and systemic failures”.
 

 
The revocation had put the academic future over 2,600 current non-EU students in disarray as LMU denied the charges. As the judicial review progresses through the court, and the existing students continue their courses, the university will still not be able to admit new non-EU students due to the revocation.
 
LMU vice-chancellor Malcolm Gillies welcomed the court ruling.
 
A taskforce put in place to find alternative courses in other universities for the affected students had been put in place after the revocation, but it may not continue in view of todays high court ruling.
 
The ruling means a reprieve for the non-EU students who faced deportation if they were unable to find alternative courses after December.
 
At the hearing, solicitor Richard Gordon appearing the LMU said there were “two major areas of dispute”.
 
One was whether the UKBA’s decision had been lawful and the other was whether “requirements of fairness” applied, meaning London Met should have been informed prior to the revocation notice and allowed to make representations.

PTI

How to read a Balance Sheet...?

Doing Better by the Environment: A Case Study of Nestle

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AFM Module I Theory