If investors decide that US equities are good value, the consequences for the Indian market will be dire

Are US equities cheap?

Business Standard

Risks of not taking quick and strong action are enormous

Current account-ability

Ficci Frames, one of Asia's largest events on the business of media and entertainment, concluded in Mumbai earlier this month. Over three days, more than 2,000 people attended presentations, panel discussions, workshops and discussions about TV, print, radio, online and other media forms. Frames is a key event on the calendar of most people in the $17-billion (Rs 92,000 crore) Indian media and entertainment industry. Since it began in 2000, I have attended almost every Frames. Here are my favourite and not-so-favourite moments this year.* The late Yash Chopra, who chaired the media and entertainment committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) for many years, was a face everyone missed. However, Uday Shankar, CEO of Star India, has filled in the position rather well. (He is also chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industries,               or CII, national committee on media and entertainment.) In his opening speech, Mr Shankar tore into the inade

The Ficci Frames diary

Most powerful breakout signals are lifetime highs or lows, or 52-week highs or lows

Indicators point to bullish trend in IT, bearish in Metals & Realty

Both authoritarian and democratic governments are growing more distant from their angry citizens

The most dangerous gap of all

India urgently needs to bridge a yawning gap but private corporations must play as critical a role in achieving this as the state

Digital inclusion needs a PPP approach

The country's focus on domestic demand will influence the Doha talks

Negotiating China's future

Slums in urban India symbolise both hope and despair. They are the entry point for impoverished villagers seeking to escape their deprivation. Living conditions in them, however, are often so unspeakable that the declared aim of the government is to have a slum-free India. But if the first detailed census of slum households in the country is anything to go by, they are very varied in nature, and therefore the government's attitude to, and policy for, slums needs to be much more nuanced. What can be said unequivocally is that a slum is no fit place to live. In fact, the census covers not just officially recognised and notified slums but others as well, and the criteria used to identify a slum is any place which is home to at least 60-70 households and is unfit to live in for a variety of reasons like the nature of the shelter available, overcrowding, the lack of sanitation and drinking water. Nearly twice as many households in slums do not have in-premise latrines or drinking water sour

The reality of slums

Touching the sky

Germany became competitive by keeping wages low. But others should focus on productivity gains instead

Learning from Germany's success

China may be ahead in land power but a confrontation involving air and sea power would be a different matter altogether

India-China: The real military equation

Impleading top corporate executives is subject to strict conditions

When courts haul up honchos

China's decision to abolish its railway ministry - transfer operations and staff to a company, China Railway Corporation, and regulatory functions to the ministry of transport - inevitably raises questions over what India is doing with its own railways. Since the 1990s, China's railway system has seen stupendous growth, becoming in some ways the foremost railway system in the world. This has left India's railway system, which was ahead of China's at the time of Independence, far behind.Through the 1990s, China added over 1,000 kilometres of new track every year, whereas India added 661 km in the entire decade. Massive investment and spectacular growth made the Chinese railways a power centre and gave rise to enormous corruption. The recent drastic overhaul, in response to this, has also led to the dismissal of the railway minister and start of investigations.Â There is wide agreement that the Indian Railways also needs a drastic overhaul at the top so as to grow sustainably in tandem w

Follow China, transform railways

The Cyprus conundrum

Rural development ministry's odd suggestions on land

Two steps backward

Every IT industry analyst uses Infosys' results and guidances as a benchmark. While the 2008-09 full-year results more or less met expectations, the advisory for 2009-10 was worse than expected. The IT major said that it expected next year's top-line to shrink in dollar terms. If the rupee remains weak versus the dollar, it is possible that rupee returns might be positive.

IT will stagnate

The equity market trend has a strong correlation with Foreign Institutional Investor (FII) attitude. When FIIs are net sellers, the indices move down. And, they rise when FIIs are buyers. Since January 2011, this pattern has held, though net institutional attitude was positive, with net domestic institutional buying exceeding net FII sales since then.

What lies ahead in December

Conviction is admirable, but complacency is detrimental. In the recent past, the markets have migrated from conviction to complacency. While the former gives one an edge, the latter is destructive. No doubt, this flight has been largely powered by the recent stupendous fund flow into the market. I believe the risk perception of Indian equities is depleting which is reflected in the market&rsquo;s sentiment indicator.

Are markets becoming complacent?

Only the brave would guess the market&rsquo;s direction, but whatever the trend, there would be losses.

Life in a slow lane

Despite bullishness by both DIIs and FIIs since January, the broader indices have gone nowhere.

A curious story

Promoters are likely to price them cautiously, thereby leaving value on the table for the primary investor.

IPO investing can be lucrative now

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