GDPR Notice
Friday, June 11, 2010
Co-locating Risk and Rewards
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Emerging Markets are too small!
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Government and Markets are competing systems
Thursday, May 20, 2010
The Search for Growth
From the first principles approach, we know growth is derived from two sides. First, an increase in the penetration of current activity to cover more population leads to growth. Second, inventing new activities leads to growth.
Developing countries are growing using the first method. They have population where goods and services are yet to reach and mature. The risks involved in such growth are well understood.
Developed countries essentially rely on second approach to growth. The technology boom created one innovation driven growth wave in late 80’s and early 90’s. Internet created next one in late 90’s and early 2000. So where will the developed countries get the next source of growth? The answer is still not clear.
First, the tech-led triggered after more than 3 decades of scientific research. Modern computers and the Internet were inventions of 60’s and 70’s before they became a true mass-invention capable of driving GDP growth. At the moment only alternative energy seems to be on such a take-off point. In my limited understanding both nanotech and biotech will take more time and won’t be mass-inventions for another few decades.
Finally, it means that investors should be better off targeting “penetration-led” growth in the interim.
Monday, May 17, 2010
West - decline or browning
Yet the infrastructure in west is fundamentally very sound and hence it is hard to make a definitive conclusion. A more reasonable approach seems to be one suggested by John Hempton. He refers to what I call a "browning" of the west. It implies a population growth through migration, predominantly from Asian region.
If and how will the western world react to this new trend remains to be seen. One predictable response should be a wave of protectionism against people movement. Possible job protection and corresponding labour harsher labour laws is likely. Yet even this is not certain. Europe has shown surprising resilience in protecting and upholding democracy and capitalism. It is possible they might stand up to negative developments again.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Exchange Rate Conundrum
The old regime, dominated by US Dollar and other western currencies, was installed through higher savings and purchasing power (ability and intent). The intent to consume remains strong in the western economies. But the ability is seriously impaired due to lack of savings. So the old regime is falling unless we do something about it.
On the other side, a new regime is yet to emerge. China and eastern countries have higher savings rate (ability to spend), but seem to be lacking the intent. It is believed that the savings rate is excessive and may translate into consumption. Michael Pettis, professor from Peking University, believes this savings rate cannot rapidly translate into consumption. The savings are earmarked for social security, pension and education. Thus the demand that we expect from China or other eastern countries will not be that high. In other words, to be a strong consumer for the world, China will need much higher savings and purchasing power.
A rising currency can reinforce purchasing power for any economy. Importing capital goods becomes cheaper. Importing key raw materials becomes easier. There are lot of cost efficiencies that are generated. However, it exposes the economy to competition from overseas. It means employment is threatened. If economy has large population at lower incomes then it reduces consumption at national level. This is a good move for an economy where income pyramid is fatter in middle. It is natural that China would feel threatened by such a move.
There is other way to sustain the economy in appreciating currency environment. This stems from Porter’s competitive advantage of nations. Economies should start building sustaining competitive advantages. Low labour cost is not a sustainable advantage; rather it is a self-cancelling strategy over long term. The answers lie in Germany, in all likelihood.
In sum, it is time to establish a new regime based on fundamentals rather than managed currencies. In such a regime, those with purchasing power will have stronger currencies than those without. There has to be global agreement on this regime to make it effective. Without it, we are going to wander aimlessly as far as exchange rate scenario is concerned.
My book "Subverting Capitalism & Democracy - Systemic faults that caused the financial crisis" is available on Amazon.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
The RBI policy
- Inflationary concerns are dominant. The RBI is keenly watching the change in the structure of inflation. Rising food prices triggered inflation last year (weak monsoon effect). However, it quickly moved to non-food price increase. This, coupled with abundant liquidity has given inflation a substantial resilience. It is imperative to highlight that food prices have eased since January.
- The Indian economic recovery is yet to get proper traction. The direction is right but credit off-take (bank and non bank) and other indicators are still wobbly.
- The policy rates in India are about 100-150bps below the normal rates. So this is a process of normalization.
- Global factors continue to remain weak due to impending sovereign crises and playing out of asset deflation. The potential impact of sovereign crises is not fully clear and it is better to be circumspect than sorry.
There is still a lot of uncertainty in Indian economy. The way to counter uncertainty is by introducing certainty in controllable variables. The RBI has indicated a clear direction towards normalization and given us exactly this.
The RBI is also facing challenge of managing exchange rate regime. Any changes to relative exchange rates, interest rates will trigger a capital inflow into India affecting Indian domestic and export competitiveness. While it is not correct to promote export competitiveness through weak currency, the global exchange rate regime does not allow RBI that flexibility. With many countries following weak-currency approach, RBI will risk exposing domestic industry to unfair competition.
Thus, moving steadily while constantly watching the global scenario will serve the RBI and Indian economy better. The RBI has shown prudence, intelligence and resolve in combating the crises. Overall, this policy reinforces the RBI’s credibility.
My book "Subverting Capitalism & Democracy - Systemic faults that caused the financial crisis" is available on Amazon.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
My book "Subverting Capitalism & Democracy" Launched!
Subverting Capitalism and Democracy
What caused the current financial crisis? A lot of answers have been proposed. But do we know the root causes? This book looks at the causes behind the causes we know. The micro-faults that subverted capitalism and democracy are still overlooked.
Today, finance dominates our socio-economic hierarchy. Sadly, we know less about finance and economics than we like to believe. We must relook at the basic concepts of finance and economics. We need to know how large pools of money create systemic weakness. We need to ask why the media and the regulators were sleeping at the switch.
We have to go beyond lobbying, beyond “intellectual capture”, beyond exotic financial instruments and ask the next level of questions. Only then we will reach the root causes. Now is the time to set the system right. I hope this book will extend the discussion towards a solution.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The challenges facing Indian IT
- The terms of exchange rate contribution will be adverse. Going forward, I expect the INR to appreciate closer to 35 (INRUSD). The only variable is exactly when. At the moment, financial analysts have lulled the managements into thinking that these levels are not possible in near future. I am not so sure.
- Exchange rate will trigger further competitive pressures from global IT majors.
- The need for cost cutting and efficiency is driving demand for IT companies. This may not remain as strong as expected. There should be some pressure on margins in this area.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Debt Repudiation
Monday, January 18, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Market View and trading strategy from Vitaliy Katsenelson
In range-bound markets, as P/Es compress they turn against investors; thus investment strategy in this very different and difficult environment needs to be adjusted for the new investment reality:
- Become an active value investor. Traditional buy-and-forget-to-sell (hold) strategy is not dead but is in a coma waiting for the next secular bull market to return; and it’s still far, far away. Sell is not just another four-letter word; sell discipline needs to be kicked into higher gear.
- Margin of safety needs to be increased. Typically, value investors seek for margin of safety to protect them from overestimating the “E”. In this environment it needs to be beefed up to accommodate the impact of constantly declining P/Es.
- Don’t fall into the relative valuation trap. Many stocks will appear cheap based on past valuations, but past secular bull market valuations will not be in vogue for a long time, thus absolute valuation tools such as discounted cash-flow analysis should carry more weight.
- Though timing the market is alluring, don’t – it is very difficult to do it consistently. Value individual stocks instead. Buy them when they are undervalued and sell them when they become fairly valued.
- Increased margin of safety and stricter sell discipline will lead one to have a higher cash position at times. Don’t invest for the sake of being invested, because this will force you to own stocks of marginal quality or ones that don’t meet your heightened required margin of safety. Secular bull markets taught investors not to hold cash, as the opportunity cost of doing so was very high. However, the opportunity cost of cash is a lot lower during a range-bound market.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Stimulus - Monetary, Fiscal or both
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
US Dollar views
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Defining end of recession
If it takes three consecutive quarters of GDP decline to call a recession then how can we call it over by just one good quarter?
Monday, December 14, 2009
Dollar will go down - just not yet!
Exporter push developing country central banks to the wall!
Currency tango - It still takes two for it!
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Hidden Risk in Indian Tech
- Multi-location operations will be an advantage: This implies having robust processes to create and manage scaling issues well. Companies like ones mentioned above are operating in various countries thus helping them react better.
- Flexi-sizing will be key: If the currency valuations reach new normalcy, it will be important to relocate manpower to cheaper locations. Companies will have to be quick to rapidly expand, move or lay-off employees. While, all the companies above have what it takes to do it, we should realise it is not an easy process.
- A bit more fat! The crisis is upon us and the IT companies are cash rich. The key is to keep higher than normal cash reserves and not fall into the acquisition trap at this early stage.
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Interpreting Equity Valuation and simple strategy
- We have to find financially robust companies that generate positive cash flows and have lesser leverage.
- We then look for managements that have a vision for growth. We are looking for cash-flow accretive growth. So companies with plans to buy market share are out. Growth should be profitable growth.
- Thereafter we watch these companies for opportunities to buy. Any correction is opportunity to accumulate.
- Exit when the market peaks! Exit is very critical otherwise all profits are paper profits.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Tele-density and MOU - changing Paradigms
A lot of telecom analyst base their growth forecast on tele-density figures. Tele-density refers to ratio of number of connections to population. It is usually expressed as a percentage. Tele-density determines the upper limit to subscriber growth.
MOU refers to minutes of usage or talk-time of subscribers. “Minutes of Usage” multiplied by Average Revenue per Minute (ARPM) to arrive at Average Revenue per User (ARPU). ARPM has shown a declining trend with respect to time. MOU, therefore, represents growth potential of current subscribers.
The growth potential of any telecom company is a function these two variables. Yet, the concept of teledensity and MOU have not been understood well. A few innovations in the past few years have added new life to both these variables in ways analysts have failed to grasp.
Era of bandwidth Node
The interpretation of teledensity as a cap is remnant of telephone as a voice call device era. This old era represented voice-based communication. We also discovered ways to send data over telephone lines. But this was inefficient. We were sending data over voice networks.
The era has changed and a new era is here. Today, telecom is essentially a provider of bandwidth node at a given location. The question of what to do with this bandwidth is entirely left to market forces. Market forces have deciphered one use of the node through “smart phone technology. Today our networks are essentially dual-mode networks. On the smart-phone or any 3G phone, we have access to a data network AND a voice network. We are no longer sending data over voice network.
So the correct way to look at MOU is in fact, to look at overall consumption of bandwidth. There is no doubt this is only going to go up!
Smart phones boosting data usage
The smart in smart phone is actually in usage of bandwidth tap. The smart phones have, through use of apps, created new uses of data. Further, the presence of 3G implies we are going to listen to move songs and watch more videos on the smart phone. Both these applications are bandwidth-hogging applications.
Overall data requirement of phone user has definitely gone up. And most of the time, data is served by a telecom company. Sometimes, it is your telephone cable connected to a wi-fi modem, other times it is your phones 3G network. As new apps spread, we will have increasing data requirements. So MOU, in terms of overall usage of telecom service will go up. Also, the more connected people are more are voice calls likely!
The upper limit on teledensity
Tele-density has another story. First, there is natural requirement for multiple phone connections per person. In developed countries the number is 2. So we can expect a natural phone penetration limit to twice the population. Further, simply put, there is a potential to connect all the laptops that are in use in the market currently. So the factor of 2 seems pretty understated. Thereafter, anything that is mobile and generates data is a target for embedding a phone connection.
Telecom can definitely cannibalize 50% of the GPS applications. Cars can share location data, engine performance and others. Trucks and delivery vehicles are already using telecom based location services.
Further, it does not take much imagination to foresee new applications. A door viewer that can send photo of visitors is pretty common. Telecom-equipped nanny cams are definitely well accepted. TV set-top boxes can have embedded connections transmitting viewing habits. Buses in Switzerland are already transmitting data about arrival times.
In sum, we can say that older paradigms of Tele-density need to be massively revamped.
It will happen within 5 years
The classical rebuke to these arguments is visibility. Analysts do not foresee such changes happening in near term. I think otherwise. All it needs is right pricing and little bit of imagination. The iPhone, is revolutionary in that sense. It has socialized the imagination part while retaining the basic bandwidth pipe control to itself! I am betting, we will see tremendous explosion in bandwidth consumption in next 5 years and most of this will enrich the telecom companies. That is why I have invested in Bharti Airtel (Bloomberg: Bharti IN).
Download the document in PDF format.Ideapaper - New Teledensity Paradigms
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
The impending Crash...
There is a difference between the recovery rally and the main rally that preceded it. People have started talking about sustainable recovery in equity markets. Still, things are not as they seem. Investors should brace for a rough ride ahead. The rally seems to comprise four phases.
Four Phases of market movement
First phase of secular insanity. In this phase all stocks go up. People ignore the fundamental warning signs. Even companies with questionable managements got sky high valuations. His phase ended with the great crash of 2008. Possibly, what Rob Shiller calls "irrational exuberance" appears to be this stage.
Phase two is essentially over-excitement of the rationalists. Looking at cheap valuations and signs of strength in company performance the rationalists over-extended themselves. Midway, the irrational investors rejoin the party. The phase ends when the cynics join in. We are currently at this stage. I am watching the converstion of cynics. Even this phase ends with a crash. The dimension of the fall now will determine the long term damage to the economy.
Phase three is a placid languishing of the markets at near bottom levels. There is lack of trust and overall cynicism about any future prospects. This is the true bottom. Sweat, sacrifice and prudence regain their respect in this phase.
The hard work in phase three results in growth and proserity that is our final phase. The economy gains traction and with it, a new hope emerges.
Is the crash coming?
President Obama attempted to jump phase three into phase four. For a while it seemed possible. But I do not see the tough choices being made, or vision to take down broken structures. Sadly, we will see our third phase. The time is just about right.