Archive

Archive for August, 2008

Recent posts on Ranjan’s Web Channel

August 26th, 2008

India’s Online Weekly on Personal Finance

August 25th, 2008

Welcome to India’s first online weekly on personal finance. All of us would do well to improve our levels of financial awareness. This site aims at organizing information on personal finance for Indians. If as a result, there is an increased financial awareness and better financial decisions, we’ll be thrilled.

I am passionate about making personal finance easy to understand so that all of us can make better financial decisions. Let’s see if I can make a useful contribution. My Blog is another platform on this topic

Personal Finance

Indian Homepage & Your Window to the World

August 24th, 2008

Today I registered with “World’s tiniest domain” in.com. IN.com is your gateway to the web.

Find the best of News, Music, Videos and Games, from more than 16,000 websites, and search for the best prices on Flights, Hotels and Products. Enjoy the web’s shortest mail address @in.com.

I was happy to see a homepage for myself where I could read news & feeds, listen to podcasts, watch my favorite videos, play and find products while also check my mail!

The site is in Beta phase. I love the interface.

Check out Ranjan’s Blog

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Do you Know the Market Jargons?

August 23rd, 2008

BSE = BOMBAY SE EXIT

NSE = NATION SE EXIT

F/O = FUTURE OVER

NIFTY = NO INCOME FOR THIS YEAR

FII = FRAUD INTERNATIONAL INVESTOR

PE- PLUNGE ENDLESS

EBITDA- EXIT BEFORE IT TUMBLES DOWN AGAIN

QIB- QUIXOTIC INDIAN BLUNDER

HNI - HAS NO IDEA

FII- FURIOUS IMPOVERISHED INVESTORS

SIP - SUICIDE BY INVESTING PATIENTLY

FUND MANAGER - LAST YEAR’S ACE STOCK PICKER NOW LOCKED UP IN AN ASYLUM

INVESTOR- SO MEONE WHO IS BROKE

BROKER - WORSE OFF THAN AN INVESTOR

CORRECTION- THE NEXT DAY AFTER YOU BOUGHT SHARES

MOMENTUM BUYING - THE FINE ART OF BUYING HIGH AND SELLING LOW

VALUE BUYING - THE ART OF BUYING LOW AND SELLING EVEN LOWER

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Actuarial Methods in Health Insurance

August 21st, 2008

Typically, the life insurance companies in India have relied on actuarial methods and life tables for fixing premia. The GIC and its subsidiaries do not have the option of estimating probabilities associated with the vulnerability of individuals to various diseases. Hence, they have relied mainly on simplified procedures based on the information available to them from the policy documents and the claims register. Recently, however, the GIC introduced a differential system for setting premia for its Mediclaim policies which adjusts for health expenditure differences as between five age groups. Information has also been collected for differences in claims rates by age, sex, rural/urban, habitat, occupation, and income groups. The age dimension, however, remains the only criterion being used by the GIC for adjusting premia.

 personal-finance-workshop

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Next GenX Billionaires

August 20th, 2008

Nishita Shah, 28, an Indian origin businesswoman from Thailand, golfer Tiger Woods and Elon Musk, co-founder of online payment processor PayPal figure on Forbes’ list of next-generation billionaires.

Besides Shah, Managing Director of Thailand’s diversified GP Group, on the list are Hollywood actor Tyler Perry, Kenji Kasahara, creator of Japan’s leading portal Mixi, and Michael and Xochi Birch, who started Bebo, a social networking site.

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Internet Telephony to Spur Internet Penetration in India

August 19th, 2008

Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has applauded Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) recommendation to allow internet telephony in the country. IAMAI believes that internet telephony can motivate people to get internet and broadband and subsequently graduate to other innovative use of internet based applications. The move may also help the government to meet its broadband targets.

According to IAMAI, about 30 per cent of the PCs in India are still not connected to the internet and the government is woefully lagging in meeting its broadband target. While the targets were 9 million subscribers by 2007 and 20 million by 2010, at the end of April 2008 there were only 4 million broadband subscribers in India.

Source: Alootechie

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Zoho Competes with Google and Wins!

August 19th, 2008

Maybe I have such a view because I’m such a big fan of Zoho. But read this post by Sridhar and you’ll know why

Excerpts:Google’s resources are going to flow into figuring out how to monetize the humongous traffic of YouTube or compete in online auctions, rather than figure out a way to squeeze a bit more margin compared to Oracle or Adobe or Salesforce. That may explain why Google has been silent on CRM, Project Management, Invoicing or HR type of tools, because those markets don’t offer the profit potential they already enjoy.

Zoho will win. I’m sure.

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Financial Planning is so Tiresome?

August 18th, 2008

Tyler Cowen guesses on why India does not win Olympic Medals

August 16th, 2008

Check it out

….. authoritarian governments feel greater need to prove themselves on the international stage and to their people at home….

So Indian Government is complacent about Olympics? I guess that’s there is no vote bank there!!

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Happy Independence Day to India

August 15th, 2008

Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India . Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th Century; the largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Indians used numbers as big as 1053.

Check out this post by Rajendra which will make each of us proud to be Indians

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An Entrepreneur’s Journey

August 14th, 2008

Rajesh Jain is a person I respect. He turns 41 today. Check out his post where he chronicles his journey.

Excerpts: On the business front, the focus was almost entirely on Netcore and building the MyToday service. It was one of the busiest years for me since 1999. I finally had found something that worked - from the many ideas that we tried in Netcore over the past 7-8 years. The free SMS subscriptions service grew rapidly, and with that came more challenges. Tackling those and laying the foundation for monetisation was what much of the year was about (besides our failed attempt at raising venture capital). This was a year when vision started being converted into execution. We still have a long road to go, but the journey of a thousand miles has begun in full earnest.

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India focussed Web Channels

August 14th, 2008

It has been a interesting as well as a learning experience rolling out the various web channels which are India centric. If I haven’t told you before, here they are:

India

Can India achieve its 2050 potential ?

August 12th, 2008

Ten things for India to achieve its 2050 potential, by Jim O’Neill and Tushar Poddar of Goldman Sachs does a good job of summarising the economic policy reforms agenda for the next government.

The 10 tasks are big and complex, and each requires a book-length treatment on translation from ideas to action. E.g. in the case of #6, financial sector reforms, such groundwork has been laid in the form of the Mistry and Rajan reports. Similar work is needed on the other nine as well.

India ,

Startup Stock Exchange: An idea whose time has come?

August 12th, 2008

The Knowledge Commission headed by Sam Pitroda has recommended setting up a stock exchange for small and new startup companies.

The startup scene in India is picking up steam. But still around 70-80% of startups are self financed. And capital is a big factor in helping the startups scale up and become a worthwhile business.

But this idea is not a new one. I remember Rajesh Jain’s Blog post on the subject that is dated December, 2006. So is it a workable idea. Or does it need some capital for its own success!?!

India