TMS Ep120: Medical education, Jim Rogers, Russian listings, pandemic

The desperate appeals and shocking visuals of thousands of Indian medical students stuck in war-ravaged Ukraine are making everyone ask one question. What made them travel so far for education? And the answer is access to quality education at an affordable fee. A medical degree costs over three times more in India, than in Ukraine. So what can be done to bring down the cost of medical education in India while increasing the number of seats at the same time?

Russia’s Ukraine invasion has sent the stock markets on a roller-coaster ride. It has also sent prices of most commodities, including oil soaring. Brent crude oil has hit 110 dollars a barrel. So what investors should do amid this upheaval? Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, reveals his investment strategies in an exclusive interview with Business Standard’s Puneet Wadhwa. The ongoing geopolitical crisis, he believes, is an opportunity to buy.

Financial institutions around the world are winding down or suspending business in Russia, following heavy sanctions against it by the West. Global index providers MSCI and FTSE say that these sanctions have made Russia’s stock market “un-investable”. And, removal of Russian listings from their indices is a “natural next step”. But will India really see FPI inflows after this? 

After markets, let us move on to a contagious disease which has been causing worldwide havoc for over two years now. Covid-19’s dreadful journey started from China as an epidemic, before it turned into a pandemic. And now the third wave is likely to become endemic here. Find out what is the difference between these terms and more in this episode of the podcast. 

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