03.08.2007

• From today we have a new blog where I keep sharing with you some interesting and funny snippets that I keep getting across either on my own or from my friends. I named it “Time Pass.” Take a look at it here. This is not to suggest that you should keep wasting your time; but whenever you feel bored, you can go over there and enjoy a joke or two.
• Then back to business. In today’s Discover It blog, I have answered a interesting question that was posed to me by one of you. Take a look at it here. It is about the relationship between CDS and sub-prime mortgage woes.
• Collieries turn ultra bomb caches
• It is a very disturbing news report. Organizations like the PWG, the Maoists and the ULFA have figured that using RDX and other explosives from the coal mines is by far the easiest option available to them.
• There are about 500 coal mines spread across the country, with India being the home to world’s third largest coal deposits.
• The commonly used explosives in the mines include RDX, gelatine sticks and ammonium nitrate.
• Powder factor is the amount of overburden or coal that can be removed after each blast. The Coal India Limited Chairman Mr. P. Bhattacharya tries to allay the fears by emphasizing that the accounting norms for explosives used across its coal mines are very stringent and that suppliers (of explosives) are paid on the basis of powder factor. This he assures, keeps the CIL officials and the suppliers on high alert as payments are linked to every explosion.
• It is very interesting to know that CIL uses about Rs. 800 crores worth of explosives every year.
• Effect of a rising rupee on our IT houses
• For software companies every 1% rise in the rupee shaves off 35-50 basis points at the operating margin levels.
• Banking penetration in India
• There are about 800 mn Indians outside the formal financial services sector. These are people who use financial services but from moneylenders and others in the informal sector. There is no incumbency in this sector and these consumers do not see banks as natural providers of financial services.
• India draws top dollar from PE funds
• India has emerged as the third largest destination for PE (Private Equity) in the Asia-Pacific region in 2007, next only to Australia and Taiwan, both in terms of value and volume of transactions.
• While we have received $2.49 bn for 29 deals, China received $752 mn for 28 deals.
• What are PIPE deals?
• Private Investment in Public Enterprises.
• Many of the above noted PE deals are entered in this PIPE space.
• Our country’s plans for education sector during 2007-2014
• To spend about Rs. 1.31 lakh crores.
• To setup 30 central universities; 14 of them with international standards
• 370 new colleges
• 6000 existing colleges to have upgraded physical and academic infrastructure
• Establishing 7 IIMs, 20 NITs (National Institutes of Technology) and expanding the existing IITs, IIMs and NITs.
• Jute may be used in all government packaging
• Cabinet is likely to take up a textile ministry sponsored proposal making it mandatory for government agencies to use jute products for packaging and other purposes.
• Globally, India is the largest producer, and the second-largest exporter of jute goods. It provides livelihood to some 40 lakh families.
• What does offering jelly beans to a cricket bowler signify?
• When jelly beans are offered to a bowler of the other team, it is an insinuation that unfair means have been used to give the ball greater swing.
• When India’s Zaheer Khan came for batting in the post-tea session of the third day of the Nottingham Test, he found jelly beans on the pitch. He was not amused.
• What does outsourced market research encompass?
• It involves processing information obtained from market research surveys, analyzing it and generating reports.
• Two important articles
• Today’s ET carries this article which explains how PE firms are finding easy returns by using ‘asset swap’ FCCB route. It also explains in detail about the asset swap. Take a look at it here.
• All of you would have heard about the VIX – Volatility Index of the CBOE (Chicago Board Options Exchange). It is a measure of the market’s expectation of volatility (of options) over the next 30 day period. A similar tool is now developed locally by NITIE – National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai to track volatility of Nifty Index options. Take a look at it here.
• Difference between depression and anxiety
• Depression is a mental disorder marked by altered mood. This may occur daily with the additiona of diminished interest or pleasure in most or all activities.
• Anxiety on the other hand, is an uncomfortable emotional state in which one perceives danger, feels powerless and experiences tension in preparation for an expected danger. Physical symptoms include increased heart rate, irregular breathing, trembling and sweating.