PEOPLE NEWS: November 2018

Friday, November 30, 2018

Tech Mahindra launches new business unit for video services in 5G

Software major Tech Mahindra on Friday announced the setting up of a new business unit to leverage cutting-edge technology and solutions to cater to the expected heavy demand of video services in the 5G ecosystem.With the establishment of the new "Video Integration and Engineering" (VIE) platform, Tech Mahindra said it would aim to improve its strategic position with several video distribution companies in the US."The strategic establishment of the VIE platform will help us increase our expertise in developing niche applications and services as well as cater to the exponentially growing digital video services market," CP Gurnani, Managing Director and CEO of Tech Mahindra said in a statement.According to industry reports, video will account for 90 per cent of all 5G traffic mainly on account of mobile video and Over The Top (OTT) streaming services.5G is expected to grow the global mobile media market over cellular networks from $170 billion in 2018 to $420 billion in 2028.Consumer spend for video, music, and games on mobile is expected to nearly double by 2028 to reach almost $150 billion globally."Our endeavour is to speed up the digital transformation of video for our clients and help reduce the costs and open up other revenue generation avenues for our clients and partners," said Manish Vyas, President, Communications, Media and Entertainment Business, and the CEO, Network Services at Tech Mahindra.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2Rvri0A

Asus Partners Quantum Cloud, Helps Gamers Earn Passive Income From Mining Cryptocurrency

via RSS Feeds : RSS Feed - NDTV Gadgets360.com https://ift.tt/2RonVc5

Samsung Galaxy S10 to Have 2 In-Display Fingerprint Sensor Suppliers: Report

via RSS Feeds : RSS Feed - NDTV Gadgets360.com https://ift.tt/2TZzeZS

DKS is point man of Cong in Telangana battle

Party leaders said the Congress high command, which was impressed by Shivakumar’s performance as a poll strategist, had tasked him with quelling a rebellion in the party in the neighbouring state while finalizing candidates for the assembly elections earlier this month. Shivakumar handled the job well, assuaging the hurt feelings of as many as 27 of the 30 disgruntled aspirants.

from Times of India https://ift.tt/2rcHQPy

ISL: Bengaluru FC fined Rs 15 lakhs for fans’ misconduct

via Sports News: Cricket News, Latest updates on Tennis, Football, Badminton, WWE Results & more https://ift.tt/2DSCjp1

Tech Mahindra launches new business unit for video services in 5G

With the establishment of the new "Video Integration and Engineering" (VIE) platform, Tech Mahindra said it would aim to improve its strategic position with several video distribution companies in the US.

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/2Rvri0A

Facebook Says COO Sheryl Sandberg Asked for Info on Soros

via RSS Feeds : RSS Feed - NDTV Gadgets360.com https://ift.tt/2DU8jZF

Microsoft Office 365 Icons Updated With New Design to Reflect Cloud-Oriented Approach

via RSS Feeds : RSS Feed - NDTV Gadgets360.com https://ift.tt/2E62Hga

Banks may soon have no option but pay you higher interest

MUMBAI: Domestic savers could get higher interest incomes as Indian banks must stump up more cash for garnering fresh deposits, which are now being outpaced by credit advances to willing borrowers in an expanding economy.Fresh credit to deposit ratio is at 122% as of November 9, compared with 90% a year ago, show the latest data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). That ratio points to a likely increase in deposit rates amid a quickening expansion in loans.The data mean that for every incremental Rs 100 collected in deposits, banks are lending Rs 122, drawing down from their holding of government bonds. Hence, lenders have to raise the share of deposits to meet credit demand. Fresh investments to deposit ratio has come down to 31% from more than 100% a year ago.RBI data also indicate the widening gap in the credit-deposit growth, with credit expanding at close to 15% YoY and deposits climbing at 9%. The trend implies that banks are also relying on borrowed funds to meet credit demand. “The increasing wedge in the credit-deposit growth… is leading to an increase in the market rates for the wholesale deposit even as moderation in the G-sec yields has happened last month,” said B Prasanna, group executive and head of markets, ICICI Bank. “The continuation of this wedge would lead to further pressure on the deposit rates. This has led to an increasing spread for deposit rates and, consequently, lending rates over the risk-free rate.” Many private and public sector banks, including the India’s most valuable lender HDFC Bank, have started raising deposit rates. On Wednesday, the country’s largest lender, State Bank of India, also offered more for one-year and twoyear term deposits.Wholesale deposit rates have also gone up by about 75-100 bps in the last six months. The upward movement in deposit rates has led to an increase in MCLR of various banks by about 50 basis points. In addition to an increase in the MCLR, the spread over MCLRs for various categories of loans is also going up, resulting in an increase in the overall rates in the banking system.“Ideally, credit creates new deposits, and there lies the role of commercial banks,” said Soumyajit Niyogi, associate director at India Ratings and Research. “The current high divergence is an outcome of leakages in the system owing to the heavy upsurge of cash in circulation. Nevertheless, banks are likely to stay light on SLR bond holding, with a greater thrust on deposit mobilisation.”Banks have to park 4% as cash with the RBI under its cash reserve ratio requirements, and mandatorily invest 19.5% in government bonds under statutory liquidity ratio requirement out of every Rs 100 they raise as deposits. This means that banks are left with Rs 76.5 for onward lending. The outstanding credit deposit ratio is 77% compared to 73% last year, pointing to an increasing demand for funds.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2Q0xyAQ

Modi aims his next magic bullet at factories

by Archana ChaudharyPrime Minister Narendra Modi plans to unveil a long-awaited industrial policy soon to boost domestic manufacturing and accelerate economic growth before federal polls next year.Under the new plan, a company need not purchase land or equipment but could lease them on long-contract basis helping lower costs and cut down time on setting up operations, secretary to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Ramesh Abhishek said in an interview. Units located in industrial clusters may be able to share infrastructure.“We have to be competitive,” said Abhishek, who’s ministry has been working on the plan for over a year. “For this we need to upgrade our technology, lower costs, improve logistics, skill our labor. The industrial policy will bring all things together and will come out with recommendations on what needs to be done.”Prime Minister Modi’s administration has been struggling to fulfill one of his key campaign pledge -- creating 10 million jobs a year-- that propelled him to power in 2014 elections. As the country heads to poll due early 2019, the main opposition Congress party is moving to cash in on the disenchantment over unemployment and rising social tensions. 66875996 The reform measure, likely to be one of the last few before the Modi seeks re-election, attempts to attract over $100 billion in investments into the country and kick start the economy. Quarterly growth is expected to have slowed in the three months ended September even as a liquidity crunch at its banks hurts business sentiment before state elections.Rules will be eased for small and medium businesses which constitute more than 90 per cent of the Asia’s third-largest economy. India jumped 23 places to the 77th position in the World Bank’s global ease of doing business rankings announced earlier this month.The government is also completing work on the $100 billion Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor that has been delayed by a decade. Work on $2-billion worth of projects has been completed with companies being allotted land to set up factories.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2BHtOM8

How to calculate your retirement corpus

It is one of the most frequently asked questions in ET.com Mutual Fund’s Facebook page: Is my retirement corpus large enough to take care of my retired life? That is why we thought it would be a great idea to do a primer on how to calculate your retirement corpus and how much you need to invest to build it.To begin with, starting early and investing regularly in an equity mutual fund would definitely help you to build a decent retirement corpus. However, you need to work with the real numbers to get realistic target and invest the right amount in an equity mutual fund scheme in line with your risk profile to build a retirement corpus that would last your your entire life.Here’s how you can compute your retirement corpus: Step 1: You need to make a few assumptions like the age at which you would want to retire, life expectancy, rate of return that you will earn from your investment while accumulating your corpus, rate of return on your investments post retirement and inflation rate. You can write these figures in an excel sheet to begin with calculations.For illustration, we are assuming that your current age is 30 years, expected retirement age is 60 years, life expectancy is 85 years, rate of return during accumulation phase is 14 per cent, rate of return post retirement is 8 per cent and inflation is at 7 per cent (See table below).From this data, you can calculate the number of years remaining to your retirement, number of years of your life after retirement, and inflation-adjusted returns. Accordingly, time in hand before retirement is 30 years, number of years after retirement is 25 years (85 yrs- 60 yrs) and inflation adjusted returns is 0.93 per cent (((1+rate of return after retirement)/(1+inflation rate))-1)*100.Current Age (yrs)30Expected Retirement Age (yrs)60No of years to retirement30Life Expectancy (yrs)85No of years after retirement25Rate of return during accumulation14%Rate of return after retirement8%inflation rate7.00%Inflation adjusted return0.93%Step 2: The next step is to find out how much money you need every year to take care of your living expenses after your retirement. You can do this by inflating your current annual expense. For example, assuming your current monthly expenses are Rs 60,000 (or Rs 7.2 lakh per year) and annual inflation rate is 7 per cent, you can calculate your annual expense after retirement using the Future Value formula in Excel. Your inflation-adjusted annual expenses at retirement come to around Rs 54.80 lakh.Post retirement monthly expenditure (inflation adjusted)Current annual expense (Rs)7,20,000Inflation rate7.00%Expense at Retirement (inflation adjusted) (Rs)54,80,824Step 3: Now you are ready to calculate your retirement corpus or the amount you want to accumulate by the time you retire. This sum should be enough to take care of your financial needs for the rest of your life (based on your assumed life expectancy). You can do this by calculating present value of your total expenses for all the years after retirement. You may use Present Value formula in Excel.For our calculations, we have taken annual expenses post retirement Rs 54.80 lakh (as calculated in the last step), 25 years as the number of years after retirement, and inflation-adjusted return of 0.93 per cent to reach the retirement corpus. We have used inflation-adjusted returns because inflation will be eating your returns throughout your life.Our required retirement corpus comes to around Rs 12.28 crore .Total corpus requiredExpense at Retirement (inflation adjusted) (Rs)54,80,824No of years after retirement25Inflation adjusted return0.93%Corpus you will need on retirement (Rs)12,28,23,871Step 4: Once you have successfully calculated your target corpus, you can proceed to find out how much you need to invest monthly to create the target corpus. On an Excel sheet, you may use PMT Formula to find this out. You have to divide the interest rate (14 %, rate of retirement during accumulation phase) by 12 and multiply the number of years to retire (30 years) by 12 to calculate the monthly investment.Well, as per our calculations, you need to invest Rs 22,360 every month in equity mutual funds in line with your risk profile to create the target corpus at the end of 30 years.Monthly Savings required to reach corpusNo of years to retirement30Rate of return during accumulation14%Corpus you will need on retirement1228,23,871Savings Required (Rs)22,360Once you have learnt the calculations, you may play around the figures and assumptions to calculate your desired retirement corpus. You may save this calculator in an excel file and use it whenever you think there is a need to change your retirement plan.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2QtYYP5

An account of Gurumurthy's views, in his own words

Swaminathan Gurumurthy, who joined the Reserve Bank of India's board in August, is now one of the country's most influential economic voices, pressing the central bank to loosen policy to help India's smaller businesses.Here are a selection of his views on politics, economics and society, taken from speeches and social media posts.ON THE WEST"I reject not Western knowledge or tech, but embracing models that have not stood test of time and stand discredited. We can't import Western anthropological modernity into Indian society."ON COLONIALISM"Colonisation lasted for 200 years. Now it's abused as one of the worst happenings in the history of world. It dominated the world, our minds, it left its imprint. Even today we suffer from hangovers of colonisation. The colonisers feel guilty about colonisation. But the colonised people are not feeling sad that they were colonised. They revel in things which colonisers left. It is a paradoxical phenomenon."ON THE OPPOSITION CONGRESS PARTY"The Congress agenda is to make India a nation of minorities and castes, which is the best way to destroy the Indian society."ON DEMONETISATION"The Indian economy could have collapsed if demonetisation hadn't happened. It was a corrective. Masses who used only cash for their daily lives massively support demonetisation. Buccaneers using cash to push up asset prices to make a killing for themselves and killed the economy are hostile."ON THE ROHINGYA"They should be sent back before they do what illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators did: take ration cards, driving licences."ON ISLAM"Confined to homes it is as good as any other religion. Once it goes into the streets, it is as violent as fascism and Nazism."ON TOLERANCE"Hinduism has the advantage of doctrinal tolerance. Islam and Christianity suffer from doctrinal intolerance."ON DONALD TRUMP"Trump was working with a plan and was correcting the distortions for America. See the results he produced: the dollar rose by 5.6 percent. Stocks rose by 38 percent in 22 months, a historic rate of return for America by any standards."ON JAPAN"Our financial, investment, trade partner must be Japan. But our mind is hooked to America."ON A FORMER RBI GOVERNOR"Raghuram Rajan destroyed the RBI's independence by making it subservient to global thought rather than pursue India-centric solutions. The RBI can't now move away from that line for fear of going against global financial opinion. RBI has lost its capacity to think for India." (Reporting by Alasdair Pal; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Alex Richardson)

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2TV1cWC

42% of world's coal power stations run at loss: Report

NEW DELHI: Renewable source of energy can provide more power in much less cost than new coal-powered power plants in India, and it costs more to run 62 per cent of the country's coal capacity than to build new renewable power generation facilities, according to a new study.The study titled 'Navigating the economic and financial risks in the last years of coal power' by financial think tank Carbon Tracker, states that phasing out coal power would benefit consumers and taxpayers because India is a regulated market where state support keeps uneconomic plants profitable.However, it is the state which ultimately underwrites investment risk in regulated markets, where coal is sheltered from competition, it said.In countries such as China, India, Japan and parts of the US typically approve the cost of generation and pass it on to consumers.Backing coal in the long-term will threaten economic competitiveness and public finances, because politicians will be forced to choose between subsidising coal power or increasing power prices for consumers, the study said, adding consumers and taxpayers are keeping coal profitable in (many) regulated markets by picking up the bill to support uneconomic coal plants.A phase-out could save them billions, but would hit coal owners' profits, it said.If plants are closed in line with the Paris Agreement the industry could lose USD 92 billion in South Korea, USD 76 billion in India and USD 51 billion in South Africa, compared with business as usual supported by the state, the study by Carbon Tracker said.It said governments should phase out coal in an orderly manner and develop plans to close the least economic plants first."When it is cheaper to build new renewables and gas than to build new coal power, they should ban investments in new coal power. This point has already been reached in Europe, the US, India and parts of Latin America," the think tank said.The think tank has carried out the first global analysis of the profitability of 6,685 coal plants worldwide, representing 95 per cent of all operating capacity and 90 per cent (220GW) of capacity under construction, and has published the results in a new coal power economics portal.In India, the study found that it costs more to run 62 per cent of the country's coal capacity than to build new renewable energy generation facilities and by 2030 that will rise to 100 per cent."India has rapidly become the world's third largest power producer, adding 157 GW of coal capacity since 2006 to bring its 2018 fleet size to 219 GW. Coal was responsible for three-quarters of the 1,323 TWh of electricity produced in 2017," the study said.It also found that new renewables can supply more cheap power than new coal plants in India. Also, phasing out coal power would benefit consumers and taxpayers because India is a regulated market where state support keeps uneconomic plants profitable.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2E7VXhu

Rise of online shopping makes warehouses hot property in India

by Pooja Thakur and Dhwani PandyaIndia’s burgeoning logistics sector is gaining favor with property developers and investors, boosted by a growing consumer class’s embrace of online shopping.With the nation’s residential market in the doldrums and good quality office space in short supply, logistics assets are attracting global players such as Brookfield Asset Management Inc., Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Warburg Pincus LLC.“India’s logistics sector is coming of age,” said Rushabh Desai, Asia-Pacific chief executive officer at Allianz Real Estate. The firm recently partnered with ESR Group for an initial $225 million investment targeting logistics properties in cities including Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, with a goal of growing to $1 billion in assets.The introduction last year of a uniform national goods and services tax, replacing a plethora of state and federal levies, has helped unify India’s 29 states into a single market. That’s brought a structural shift to the logistics sector as small, fragmented networks are consolidated into large distribution chains with centralized hubs. The rise of e-commerce giants Amazon Inc. and Flipkart Online Services Pvt. has also stoked the need for seamless, last-mile delivery of goods in cities and the country’s remote towns and villages. 66876182 The explosive growth in online shopping is expected to give a further boost. The $35 billion e-commerce market is projected to grow 25 percent a year for the next five years and exceed $100 billion by 2022, according to a report by tech industry body Nasscom and PricewaterhouseCoopers.Warehouses accounted for about $3.4 billion, or 26 percent, of private equity real-estate investments between 2014 and 2017, according to Knight Frank LLP. Returns for a warehouse development can reach 28 percent, and exceed 20 percent in most major markets, according to Knight Frank estimates.The government has also given infrastructure status to the logistics industry, allowing developers to access lower-cost funding for developments.“Over the next decade, we envisage a potent mix of drivers to transform the large yet inefficient, logistics sector,” Alok Deshpande, an analyst at Edelweiss Securities Ltd., said in a note this week.The rosy outlook is even encouraging some developers to shift their focus from housing to warehouses.Panchshil Realty, which built one of India’s Trump-branded towers, is one. While it will complete existing residential projects, it won’t take on any new housing developments, and instead concentrate on logistics facilities and its existing hotel and office assets.“The introduction of the goods and service tax has meant the advent of ‘One-Nation, One-Tax,’ and this has given a big impetus to the logistics sector,” said Prakash Mirpuri, a spokesman at Panchshil Realty. “So far the sector has not been institutionalized and this is a promising opportunity.”

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2E21oyw

PE multiples are useless, focus on cash flows: Prashant Khemka

Among financials, we have historically always found a lot of opportunities in well-run private banks, Prashant Khemka, 66876669 66876115 66865058 Founder, White Oak Capital Management, tells ET Now.Edited excerpts:How are you reading the markets?Markets are as usual. Many times over the last few years the markets have been as volatile as now. They are no different in that sense. It is markets as usual. There are certain events over the next six months which only comes once in five years and markets are focussed on those.From an investor standpoint, has 2018 been disappointing? Could one look at 2019 more optimistically for next year?Over a 30-year window, equity markets in India have returned about 14% to 15% and that has not come in a straight line. In certain years, we have been down 40-50% and in certain years we have been up as much as 100%. That is the nature of the market and this year has been flattish, though there has been excitement in the mid and smallcap space. They have been down a lot and the largecaps have held up flattish. It is one of those years where one has not done too poorly.We are just a month away from the year ending, and looking forward to what 2019 could throw at us. The Nifty is back at 10,900. Crude has slumped to a one-year low. The rupee has strengthened to a nine-month high. With so many events lined up, can one say how long the market is going to sustain here?The events like G-20 and OPEC meet, all continue in the backdrop all the time. What is most pertinent for India is the corporate earnings growth which is picking up momentum over the last few quarters are there are clear signs of the long awaited earnings growth picking up from single digits to at least in the teens. The next six months with general elections in May and a the results of the assembly elections coming out in a couple of weeks could see a little more volatility. How does one go about stock picking in such a scenario? Where is the risk- adjusted reward opportunity present in the market?Stock picking is not much affected by these events. It depends on your style of investing as well but you continue to look for good businesses or great businesses which are attractively valued. And those businesses occur in every environment. Volatile environments may give even more opportunities. But since environment is always volatile, you have those opportunities all the time. I do not think that from a stock picking perspective, you can change anything event to event. There are better ways of generating higher returns. Otherwise you just generate a lot of turnover without generating much return. Are you buying in midcaps?Yes as always, we are buying across the market cap segments, large, mid, small across various sectors. The team has a certain investment philosophy and process that leads to certain sectors presenting larger number of opportunities and yet other sectors presenting fewer opportunities and it is more structural in nature and not dependent on specific events. Since you are market cap agnostic, where do you find those alpha opportunities? The alpha opportunities are found across the spectrum around the world, not just in India. But let us start with India first. In developed or emerging markets, there are greater inefficiencies in midcaps and smallcaps. There are certainly opportunities you find in largecaps as well but just the sheer numbers in mid and small caps are much larger and they are by definition under-researched. There are a greater number of inefficiently priced attractive businesses in the mid and smallcap range. We do find a lot of opportunities in mid and smallcap and also opportunities in largecaps but as I said, they are fewer. So, you take chunkier positions in largecaps and the liquidity and the market cap also allows for chunkier positions. In mid and smallcaps, there are large number of opportunities and you do not need to take chunkier positions but you can take larger number of positions. In terms of sectors, it is easier to highlight sectors where we have historically or structurally tended to have greater difficulty in finding great opportunities because our philosophy is focused on superior returns on invested capital, scalability and well managed companies both in terms of execution and governance. We have historically struggled to find opportunities in the energy sector, telecom and utilities. At this time are not able to find opportunities in real estate or in metals. Generally, we do not have much investments in government owned equities and that is the case right now as well. With banks too? We have hardly ever invested in government owned banks be it in India or abroad when I was managing global emerging markets. I think of government owned entities as a bit of a separate asset class just like you have fixed income commodities, private equity, and public equities. There are privately owned public equities and there are government owned public equities and they are quite different. I have usually struggled to find attractive opportunities in government owned entities. So you have told us what are staying away from. But that leaves two large pools which I guess you would be keen on -- financials and consumption. Where are you taking concentred bets in these sectors? There are several sectors. Consumption and financials too, but also technology, also healthcare and industrials more broadly. All these sectors are well represented in the portfolio. Among financials, we have historically always found a lot of opportunities in well-run private banks. The asset quality is of highest focus for us while investing in financials because when you look at three times price to book versus one time price to book, it is a very misleading comparison because the debt is a given. You have to pay back the debt and these banks are leveraged 10 times to equity. When you look at a high quality asset bank which is trading at three times book, you can also see it is trading at 1.3 times assets compared to a bank which may be trading at 1 time or 1.1 time assets.So are you staying with the compounders?Certainly, if you are positioned this way, if you position this way 1.3 times for these well run banks is a lot cheaper. They are very attractively valued than for some of these corporate lenders where you do not know what is in the asset side.I know that HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank, IndusInd Bank have done well. But it is not just about what the compounders do in terms of giving you consistency in returns, it is also how much of outperformance can be generated on the alpha. What about leadership transition? Would you attribute a change in their business model and leadership as a positive to seek value in those businesses?A lot of the managements which are in transition, offer a lot of opportunities. There are certain sectors like banking and IT which are very execution led businesses. There are certain businesses which are brand dependent and a good management or a bad management can do only so much additional good or harm to them.But businesses like banking and IT are very execution dependent. PSU banks have execution driven or execution shortfall problems. Sooner or later, India would have the largest bank by market capitalisation and those are banks which have created value through sheer execution. Management changes are happening particularly in banks which were not well managed in the past. That does present an opportunity and we have used some of these opportunities offered by the recent NBFC related market falloff. We have added to those financials where we believe the new managements would execute well and so their future would look very different from their past.One of my fund manager friends has said that never let a crisis go to waste. Are you sizing up opportunities within NBFCs and saying that some of the high quality names did not deserve to fall as much as they have? Should we on a selective basis look at those opportunities?Financials are heavily levered and the price-to-book multiples mean ultimately less. So a three time going to two times is not as attractive as it may sound. Typically, in financials, given the leverage element we have always been focussed on superior asset quality. Many of those also came under pressure both in NBFCs, particularly in the NBFC space and the team has used that opportunity to build to those positions. Just a little bit on the crisis, call it a mini crisis. What has happened is very interesting since Lehman Brothers, is something you only see once in a lifetime in my view. It is a species of flower that only blooms once in 50 to 100-year timeframe.My whole issue with a lot of these global managers saying 2019 is going to be disastrous is that nobody before 2007-2008 ever saw the magnitude of the problems. So, the very fact that they are calling for it, reduces the chances of it happening?Absolutely true. The fact is that since 2008, everybody is running pillar to post looking for the next Lehman. The odds of sighting the next Lehman have gone down quite dramatically. But what it does do is even when there is a small problem, it can blow it a little bit out of proportion.Do you think that was the case with IL&FS? Was it blown out of proportion?Not particularly, I would not say any particular name necessarily but yes the scare of Lehman comes back to everyone when there is one skipped payment. But the scare and crisis of confidence or lack of confidence can be magnified, maybe rightly because you have learnt something from Lehman fiasco. I did say 50 to 100 years but you can never rule out the odds of the next Lehman in our lifetime.What about consumption? Where are the opportunities?Again opportunities are across the board. When we talk about consumption, we typically think of consumer staples and all but consumption is a very broad category including automobile and what is called consumer durables, We are finding more opportunities in travel and tourism related, entertainment related and also staples related space. We are finding opportunities across the board. Consumption as a theme has never failed investors looking at India. The Indian consumers have always given returns. Shouldn’t a price to earnings of 50 times or even 60 times as a multiple seem heady? In my experience, PE multiples are the most useless and most abused. We have a very deep rooted disregard for PE multiples as a means of valuation. I do not think my team members know or remember PE multiples for current year or next year of any of the stocks in the portfolio.PE multiples are not just useless but they are harmful because you attach meaning to something that is meaningless. So ours is a lot more cash-flow focussed approach and when you look at cash-flow based valuation, some of these names are very attractively valued. I am not suggesting that high PE means attractively valued but that is not a metric you can rely on. An often asked question is why is China trading at more attractive multiples than India? China often trades at half the PE multiple compared to even Russia or EM in general. But that is comparing apples to not oranges but lemons at times. You have to look at the underlying constituents, cash flow generation capability, the governance structure and composition of the index. Government ownership of Indian index is one of the lowest in emerging markets and one of the highest is in China and Russia. As I said earlier, they are two different asset classes. If you separate the government owned or sovereign owned equities and privately owned equities and then compare the respective valuations, they would be a lot more similar. But mix two different asset classes into one index and then compare the composite, which is true for individual companies as well. Russia is 50% plus commodities, you cannot compare an Exxon multiple to a Pepsi or a Google multiple which is what you will end up effectively doing if you compare Russia, leave aside the governance issues.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2Q5feH0

Chakri Lokapriya is bullish on PSU banks, here’s why

With fall in oil price and rupee appreciation and the bond yields improving as well, PSU banks are likely to do well, Chakri 66876115 66865058 66863516 Lokapriya, CIO & MD, TCG AMC, tells ET Now. Edited excerpts: It seems like the worst is way behind us. But do you actively hunt for mid and smallcaps now or are you moving away from largecaps already? In terms of financials, we will stick to the frontline names. As far as the other sectors are concerned, wherever there is a good amount of earnings visibility, stocks have corrected quite a lot. The appreciating rupee has reduced the raw material pressure, the input costs and therefore their margins will improve assuming that rupee does not fall back or it does not go back up. Against that backdrop, we look at midcaps which will benefit from the reversed market conditions of and oil fall and a rupee appreciation.Where are you placing your bets in the market currently? A couple of things have happened – with fall in oil price and rupee appreciation and the bond yields improving as well, PSU banks are likely to do well. Also, RBI has eased norms for both PSU banks as well as NBFCs. PSU banks in terms of their capital requirements, have one additional year. It reduces their burden to raise capital tier I in the coming months and as PSBs like State Bank of India is still the leader. It is still very cheap. Also, the credit cost for a largecap like SBI or a midcap like Union Bank has been coming down quite significantly in the last few weeks.. Given that they have low valuations and have lesser capital requirement, PSU banks will able to sustain a rebound in credit growth which will be per course for SBI at about 12-14% and in the case of Union Bank, it was hardly zero. It is close to zero last year so any improvement form there is a welcome thing.Do you think all the bad news is in the price of MCX? Potential competition has now come to the doorstep of MCX because the BSE and NSE. Do you think is it safe to ignore that? I would continue to stay away from all exchanges. Look what happened to National Stock Exchange, NSE. It was supposed to have gone public a couple of years ago and various issues one after the other have delayed its IPO. Also, whether it is BSE, NSE or even MCX, these are all politically sensitive companies in terms of the price that they charge, the services they can offer and if so, at what rate. We are moving into an environment where these will be traded like utilities going forward. There will be multiple de-rating and because of greater regulatory oversight on all exchanges, they have become a commodity provider. Whether you trade on one exchange or the other, what difference does it make if your only differentiation is the price of the trade that you are paying on one exchange versus the other? Against that backdrop, if you fast forward, maybe in next three-four years, the margins may come down even further. Yes, volumes may go up but for a volume play, I would rather stay with lots of other fish in the pond. Do you think the time is right to buy into telecom stocks or do you believe that wait going ahead, we will get better opportunities in the next six months? I would stay away from telecom and not just for just next six months. It is just a volume game. It is a low-margin game and also increasingly a huge amount of debt to service. Vodafone-Idea even after the proposed fund raise will still be trading close to bankruptcy level and that is not a good place to be. Bharti is not much better with ARPUs bottomed out. Maybe there will be some relief in terms of their margins but it is still way off to be an investment case. I would continue to stay away from the entire telecom space of Bharti and Vodafone.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2RoofYh

IIT-Delhi, IBM enters into a multi-year research collaboration on AI

NEW DELHI: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and IBM have entered into a multi-year research collaboration on artificial intelligence (AI). The collaboration will enable the duo to develop AI solutions for organisations across all sector. AI solutions will be trained to comprehend complex questions using natural language techniques and derive new insights using domain knowledge.IBM researchers will partner with students and professors from the IIT Delhi to conduct joint research in AI systems focusing on some key traits like reasoning, comprehension and inferencing. “While working with AI systems, organisations require explicit reasoning and comprehension to reach a particular conclusion. We believe advancement in AI can tackle such problems,” said Michael Karasick, Vice President, Global Labs, IBM Research. “India has immense talent to accelerate innovation in AI and related technologies. We are happy to collaborate with IBM Research scientists and provide opportunities to our students and faculty colleagues to work on some of the complex problems around AI and apply the solutions to real-world scenarios,” said V. Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi.The teams plan to publish their research in peer-reviewed academic journals and release datasets and open challenges to the research community to identify new areas in making AI decisions better.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2Q3gkDa

Professor in Jammu calls Bhagat Singh 'terrorist'

from Times of India https://ift.tt/2DWzbsn

Fifty vs England is in the past, Hanuma Vihari eyes century in Australia

via Sports News: Cricket News, Latest updates on Tennis, Football, Badminton, WWE Results & more https://ift.tt/2AFgBRY

Injured Prithvi Shaw ruled out of Adelaide Test

via Sports News: Cricket News, Latest updates on Tennis, Football, Badminton, WWE Results & more https://ift.tt/2Qn8XWv

Ramesh Powar may pay price for Mithali Raj face-off

via Sports News: Cricket News, Latest updates on Tennis, Football, Badminton, WWE Results & more https://ift.tt/2TSjYxX

Age of drag-flickers coming to an end?

via Sports News: Cricket News, Latest updates on Tennis, Football, Badminton, WWE Results & more https://ift.tt/2FOhVb3

Kohli backing gives Gower hope for Test's future

via Sports News: Cricket News, Latest updates on Tennis, Football, Badminton, WWE Results & more https://ift.tt/2Axm2m4

No fear of going bankrupt: AIBA

via Sports News: Cricket News, Latest updates on Tennis, Football, Badminton, WWE Results & more https://ift.tt/2P8Almj

Live Score, Bangladesh vs West Indies, 2nd Test

via Sports News: Cricket News, Latest updates on Tennis, Football, Badminton, WWE Results & more https://ift.tt/2DTKzov

Forwards did a good job vs South Africa: Pillay

via Sports News: Cricket News, Latest updates on Tennis, Football, Badminton, WWE Results & more https://ift.tt/2RjDqBL

Liverpool face Everton test as Spurs play Arsenal

via Sports News: Cricket News, Latest updates on Tennis, Football, Badminton, WWE Results & more https://ift.tt/2zrSmXR

We're not scared to tackle Woods: Fowler

via Sports News: Cricket News, Latest updates on Tennis, Football, Badminton, WWE Results & more https://ift.tt/2AF6tsq

7 Indian IL&FS workers held hostage by unpaid staff in Ethiopia

Seven Indian workers from the shadow lender, which rocked financial markets after it began missing debt payments earlier this year, have been detained since November 25 at three sites in Ethiopia’s Oromia and Amhara states by unpaid local staff, according to an emailed letter from the employees.

from Times of India https://ift.tt/2QtJRoN

Signal to Pak? China shows map with PoK in India

The move is significant because it comes ahead of the India-China military drill on December 10 and the ongoing debate on the Kartarpur issue. CGTN showed PoK as part of India while reporting the terror attack on its consulate in Karachi. This was seen as a signal that Beijing was extremely unhappy with Pakistan's inability to protect its citizens.

from Times of India https://ift.tt/2FOjplA

Powar may pay price for Mithali Raj face-off

The Indian women’s team coach Ramesh Powar is unlikely to get an extension after his recent faceoff with Mithali Raj. Powar’s contract ends on Friday and Indian cricket board sources said the decision not to continue with him was taken in wake of the continuing blame game between Mithali and Powar, which is affecting the morale of the team.

from Times of India https://ift.tt/2TSjYxX

Why old GDP numbers are political fodder today

Before the numbers were revised, the average GDP growth rate under the Congress-led UPA government (2004-14) was 7.75%, higher than current NDA government's 7.35% but now UPA figures have gone down to 6.82%. That's a good selling point for the current government and a reason to cry foul for the last one.

from Times of India https://ift.tt/2rbQAFN

Live updates: Delhi cops stop agitating farmers

Thousands of farmers from across the country, who have been camping at the Ramlila ground here since Thursday, began their march to Parliament Street today amid heavy policy deployment, to press for their demands, including debt relief and remunerative prices for their produce. Stay with TOI for all the live updates:

from Times of India https://ift.tt/2TYVSkT

Royal Enfield Interceptor, Continental GT 650 first ride review

from Auto - Videos - The Times of India https://ift.tt/2zqlJd5

How Amazon's Cloud arm AWS is democratising Machine Learning for all

GE Healthcare is training computer vision models with Amazon SageMaker that are then deployed in its MRI and X-Ray devices.

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/2TWTOtP

IIT-Delhi, IBM enters into a multi-year research collaboration on AI

The collaboration will enable the duo to develop AI solutions for organisations across all sector.

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/2Q2pKi8

TikTok, TikTok! A Chinese bomb in Indian app space

With risqué humour and raunchy content, video apps pose a big risk for pre-teens & adolescents.

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/2BFHU0c

Google, WhatsApp told to clear air on data storage

Separate letters sent by NPCI seeking info about plans to store local payments data exclusively in India.

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/2rexPkS

Vivo plans to invest over Rs 4,000 crore in India

Vivo’s existing plant over 50 acres in Greater Noida has completely localised production, with even components such as printed circuit boards being manufactured locally. The company has invested Rs 300 crore in this facility.

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/2E4BGtp

That virus alert on your computer? Scammers in India may be behind it

Law enforcement authorities, working with Microsoft, have now traced many of these boiler rooms to New Delhi, India’s capital and a hub of the global call-center industry.

from Tech-Economic Times https://ift.tt/2TXaphe

Gold Rate Today: Gold, silver up in morning trade

MCX Gold was trading at Rs 30,209 per 10 grams, up by Rs 5 around 10:45 am.

from Gold News - Economic Times https://ift.tt/2KGViUI

Gold prices flat ahead of Trump-Xi meet at G20 summit

US gold futures were down 0.2 per cent at $1,221.6 per ounce.

from Gold News - Economic Times https://ift.tt/2Qu3SeS

Arsenal and Chelsea power on in Europa League

via Sports News: Cricket News, Latest updates on Tennis, Football, Badminton, WWE Results & more https://ift.tt/2QqknIN

Khawaja will outscore Kohli: Ponting

via Sports News: Cricket News, Latest updates on Tennis, Football, Badminton, WWE Results & more https://ift.tt/2E2BJWt

Reverse tie-break artificial: Magnus Carlsen

via Sports News: Cricket News, Latest updates on Tennis, Football, Badminton, WWE Results & more https://ift.tt/2DUlxpE

2018 was tough year due to packed schedule: Saina

via Sports News: Cricket News, Latest updates on Tennis, Football, Badminton, WWE Results & more https://ift.tt/2FQ0MxG

Teenager Esha stuns Manu, Heena to win 10m air pistol gold

via Sports News: Cricket News, Latest updates on Tennis, Football, Badminton, WWE Results & more https://ift.tt/2E6st3V

Hockey: China must thank Inner Mongolia for World Cup debut

via Sports News: Cricket News, Latest updates on Tennis, Football, Badminton, WWE Results & more https://ift.tt/2Q3zdFM

Big sports events today

via Sports News: Cricket News, Latest updates on Tennis, Football, Badminton, WWE Results & more https://ift.tt/2E4znX1

Virat Kohli slammed for wearing shorts at toss for warm-up match

via Sports News: Cricket News, Latest updates on Tennis, Football, Badminton, WWE Results & more https://ift.tt/2SiIoPg

Rule change could see Jofra Archer playing for England at World Cup

via Sports News: Cricket News, Latest updates on Tennis, Football, Badminton, WWE Results & more https://ift.tt/2SpOv4L

Hockey World Cup: Argentina toil hard for 4-3 win over Spain

via Sports News: Cricket News, Latest updates on Tennis, Football, Badminton, WWE Results & more https://ift.tt/2rbQMEX

A Company Few Know Is About to Dethrone Intel

Hsinchu-based TSMC has scores of customers, including tech giants Apple and Qualcomm, second-tier players like AMD, and minnows such as Ampere Computing.

from RSS Feeds | TELECOM - RSS Feed - NDTV Gadgets360.com https://ift.tt/2TUGtlH

Vodafone Revises i-Roam FREE International Roaming Plans for Postpaid Subscribers

With the latest change, Vodafone is offering its international roaming plans at Rs. 599, Rs. 2,999, Rs. 3,999, and Rs. 5,999.

from RSS Feeds | TELECOM - RSS Feed - NDTV Gadgets360.com https://ift.tt/2BH2PQD

Huawei Seeks Clarification After New Zealand Intelligence Agency Rejects 5G Bid

Huawei said it had not had formal contact with the Government Communication Security Bureau (GCSB).

from RSS Feeds | TELECOM - RSS Feed - NDTV Gadgets360.com https://ift.tt/2ramgLA

ISRO Says GSAT-11, India's Heaviest Communication Satellite, to Be Launched on December 5

GSAT-11 is the forerunner in a series of advanced communications satellites with multi-spot beam antenna coverage over Indian mainland and islands.

from RSS Feeds | TELECOM - RSS Feed - NDTV Gadgets360.com https://ift.tt/2Pdi2N2

Airtel Offers Discount Coupons Worth Up to Rs. 1,500 for Postpaid Referrals

Airtel has rolled out a new referral scheme in an attempt to motivate the telecom operator’s numerous postpaid customers.

from RSS Feeds | TELECOM - RSS Feed - NDTV Gadgets360.com https://ift.tt/2AvhfBt

Jio User Base Rises by 13 Million in September as Rivals Airtel, Vodafone, and Idea Lose Subscribers: TRAI

While Airtel's stays at the top in terms of market share, Jio leads by a huge margin when it comes to adding new users.

from RSS Feeds | TELECOM - RSS Feed - NDTV Gadgets360.com https://ift.tt/2RmqCeb

Setback for India: Prithvi Shaw out of first Test with ankle injury

Indian opener Prithvi Shaw was Friday ruled out of the first Test against Australia after suffering an ankle injury during the ongoing tour game against Cricket Australia XI here.

from Sports-News-Economic Times https://ift.tt/2SiKjDz

Cricket: Prithvi Shaw carried off injured during tour match

The 19-year-old rolled his left ankle when taking a catch on the deep mid-wicket boundary and tumbled over the rope.

from Sports-News-Economic Times https://ift.tt/2zxUc9t

Sanjay Bangar to KL Rahul: Not young anymore, play responsibly

Sanjay Bangar made it clear that the opening combination as well as the No 6 slot for the first Test in Adelaide beginning December 6 were yet to be decided.

from Sports-News-Economic Times https://ift.tt/2PZ38yW

Virat Kohli slammed for wearing shorts at toss for warm-up

A photograph of Kohli in shorts attending the toss with CA XI captain Sam Whiteman was posted on BCCI's Twitter handle.

from Sports-News-Economic Times https://ift.tt/2RmJf1D

Usman Khawaja will just pip Virat Kohli: Ricky Ponting gives series' projection

The 43-year-old, while speaking to cricket.com.au, not only tipped a 2-1 series result in favour of Australia for the four-Test match campaign against India, also suggested that Khawaja will be the leading run scorer and the player of the series.

from Sports-News-Economic Times https://ift.tt/2zwqr9b

Elon Musk's Boring Company Said to Cancel Plans to Open One of Its LA Test Tunnels

A report claimed Boring Company withdrew its project after it settled with community groups that had sued the LA government over plans to exempt the company from an environmental review process.

from RSS Feeds | TRANSPORTATION - RSS Feed - NDTV Gadgets360.com https://ift.tt/2FL4dWz