What Am I

BSES, is one of the two distribution franchisee companies responsible for distribution of electricity in the city of New Delhi, India. Though, BSES is owned by Reliance group, which has asset base across the value chain of electricity, the electricity supply is not assured from its counterparts in electricity generation. The other distribution franchisee owned by Tata group is vertically integrated i.e. the the distribution franchisee entity of the group purchases electricity from it's counterpart in electricity generation. In India, electricity prices are calculated by the individual suppliers, but are approved by a regulatory body, but may be squashed by the political parties. hence, the electricity prices in most of the states in India are kept low, mostly due to the influence of the political parties. It has forced the distribution franchisees to a corner, where they are compelled to supply costly electricity but at the same time cannot recover their costs from the co...

Continuing the discussion from the previous blog ( Is crude price decline good or bad? – Energy Economics 102!!  ), now that the decline in crude is seeing no decline, what next?? a) Acquisitions have become active... First the deal between Baker Hughes and Halliburton. Now the talks between Shell and BP. Wonder why Exxon is lying idle!! This was bound to happen, as companies continue to fight for survival due to working capital issues and also to increase their revenue. This is the right time for big fish eating the small fish. b) Social Planning: Many countries, especially the Opec ones derive much of their revenue from crude oil exports. The decline in crude prices have reduced their GDP by multiple basis points. Below is a chart that explains some of the impacts: Source: World Bank, Oil Rents (% of GDP) As you can see, the crude prices have reduced some of the least developed nations into a state of disarray. Countries like Saudi Arabia where oil revenue ...

Crude prices have declined by more than 20% since June this year, creating turbulences/confusion across various governments. So, the question: Is it good or bad? The answer is: If you are a net oil exporting nation then it is bad for you and if you are a net oil importing nation then it is good for you. Going away from Macro Economics into Micro Economics, All oil producing companies are having a tough time trying to sell their product. Going by the analogy of countries all oil consuming companies should start feeling good. But on the contrary, every one is suddenly concerned whether they are oil producing company or oil consuming company. Why? Many oil/energy consuming companies which are heavily dependent on oil & natural gas as their input have seen a decline of more than 20% in their input costs. So, technically their margins should have gone up. Yes, the margins would go up only for those companies whose sale price hasn't come down as much as the input cost...

The other day during a journey we halted for a while and when asked for a proper place for defecation, we were disappointed and disgusted at the place, and yet they were charging money to use that place. It may not come out as a surprise to many, but many of us in India still wash our shit with our hands!! We are just too ashamed to discuss about it. How many of us tried different and innovative techniques to try and use water instead of paper to perform the daily duty. But that's not the agenda of the blog. Wiki has a very good page about it ( Human_feces ) We have a belief that whenever we come out of toilet, it is really important to wash our feet. While, yes there is emphasis to wash our hands but we are specifically asked to wash our feet since misfortune may follow un-washed feet. Nothing was said about the hands part!!!! I was going through this article today which said that 60% of the open defecation of the world is in India due to various reasons ( fixing...

North Dakota has seen an increasing trends in various kinds of violence. Drug abuse, domestic violence and various other crimes have seen an upsurge in the recent years, albeit it still is below the country's average. Now, why am I suddenly writing about North Dakota?? This is one state, which has seen a sudden rise in shale gas production, which has more than doubled in a span of a small time. It now has one of the largest proven reserves and is expected to play a strong role in making US, the leading natural gas producer. The new oil & gas has produced lot of jobs, especially in mining, oil & gas technicians and various other jobs and suddenly the unemployment opportunities have become a thing of the past. While I was going through a movie, I realized that many places across the world, which have seen a sudden upsurge in wealth have become some of the most insecure places. For example, m any countries in Africa, Central & Latin America, Middle East, Central ...

The topic continues to intrigue me. Honestly I continue to not understand it at all. As a boy from south India, where any open discussion regarding the biology of a woman is considered taboo, it took me quite a while to realize what exactly is it. Since then, it's been a confused topic for me. We, do follow this tradition of keeping women separate during the mensus stage. I did ask why, never got a valid explanation. No one at home complained about it. But things aren't as straight forward as they seem.  It is one of the traditions/rituals unknown, and appear to be un-called for. I am still looking for answers. It is not a philosophical journey. But it is another case where I should fight on behalf of ....!!  I've started asking questions. It is one of those instances where I think it is wrong, yet I hope it is correct. Wiki has some answers, read some interesting blogs ( Menstruation perspective ), but am not entirely convinced either ways. (Or do I not w...