Deep Impressions

    Medicine, Money  & Morality : A Contrary View       There are two vociferous demand these days :   ·        a loud cry against the high prices of medicines and health essentials  ·        an appeal to make covid vaccines off-patent      The former complains against lawlessness ; the latter demands a temporary lawlessness.  The former is creating waves domestically and the latter internationally.  Strangely, the both have a common unanswered question.     Yes, we all agree that one should not be greedy, one should not be insensitive and one should not be adamant in these times. And therefore, there is a strong case for the covid vaccines to go off-patent. However, there is also a counter argument. It says that before giving the waiver, one should also consider the implications for the next pandemic.    Will during the next pandemic,...

Let the virus not 'SIP' through middle class savings Let the virus not SIP through middle class savings India, as of now, remains amongst the less affected nations by Covid 19.    However, the heart breaking fall in sensex has ensured that Corona jitters reach larger number of middle class savings – enabled mainly through the exposure to SIP (Systematic Investment Plan). In 90s, only a small percentage of household savings were invested into stock market. To achieve government’s agenda of shifting larger share of household savings into financial instruments from hard assets like gold and real estate, the Mutual Fund    (MF) Industry undertook a major PR exercise and advertising campaign focussing on benefits of long term disciplined investing in equity MFs. And since every mass revolution requires an icon, SIP became the icon for this revolutionary shift in investment habit. As a result, majority of Indian middle class (from a travel agent...

Debt, Debt, Debt……Everywhere !! The four letter word that everyone loathes today is DEBT. Whether it is retail borrowings, industrial credit or loan to developers, debt has occupied the top of the mind discussions as demonetisation had done in November 2016. It is commonly believed that the biggest concern comes from real estate sector. And while identifying the reasons for high indebtedness in real estate, oversupply, economic slowdown and developer’s greed are believed to be the key factors. Unfortunately they only happen to be the more obvious reasons. Oversupply and economic slowdown lead to mismatch between Demand and Supply - for which most developers have contingency plans. And as far as developer’s greed is concerned, when were developers not greedy ? So even these are insufficient explanations to the quantum of debt within the sector. What has actually caused this humongous debt in the structural shift in the core pillar of the real esta...