What Am I

Wrote this couple of months ago, but was just not sure how to close it .. still Iam not..but here it goes. 28 years... this is what it took for an uncle of mine to establish, operate and sell a company. It is then that I realized how the total valuation process undermines the efforts and the journey involved in establishing the entity. After the company was sold, I sat with him and he started pouring out his emotions. It’s been quite a tumultuous journey for him to let go his company into the hands of other entity. He certainly appeared to be shaken, no doubt, but one thing for sure was evident. His desire to perform! Only a few people stuck with him throughout the journey, and as usual it was not the relatives and as predicted they were the friends and well wishers. In the times of depression, while some did pull him up, it was he who dedicated most of his life with a rigor matched only by his vision. During the journey, he fell down, lost many a battles, battered relatio...

Recently was watching the "Save the Tiger" program which is attempting to create awareness about the reducing tiger count and so measures to ensure that the tigers are saved. I was wondering, why would people go ahead with killin tigers inspite of the fact that they are dying and would be extinct in the near future. Then it hit me, that the scarcier something is, the faster it will become extinct. To be more precise, scrcier an entity is, people will try to go illegal routes and ensure that the entity is consumed or not left in a state to be consumed by any one else. Let's take an example of Tigers themselves. While Tigers have always been a thing of precious value, the intrinsic value of their not having around was much higher. Since, Tigers were plenty and are a threat to the cattle & humans as well, people mercilessly killed them. Even at that time there was demand to wear tiger fingers as nechlace and to showcase tiger skin/head as a proof of the bravery. As...

Even this is about Power sector in India. Let's say CompanyXYZ intends to setup power plant. Total Project Cost is Rs1,000 Cr.  They managed Rs300 cr and they got a debt of Rs 700 cr since they got all the clearances including Coal Linkage, PPA, EC etc. They went ahead and placed the BTG order and BoP order. Activity worth ~Rs 500 cr is executed. Suddenly one day the Coal Linkage is cancelled. And due to forex fluctuations the BTG cost increased by 20% leading to an overall cost increase of 15% for the project. Since the RoE from a power plant in itself is around 15%, the plant is no longer viable.  Now a Performing Asset (PA) has become an NPA. Now what are the options for lender? While Technically NPA happens only after a default, for the sake of discussion let's assume that any project which is no longer happening is an NPA. If the borrower is a Govt. entity, every lender has the support and cushion that Govt. body will pay back. But what if the borrower is ...

Ever thought, if some one would actually say this. Of all the people, do you actually expect this coming from the largest Energy consumer in the world!!! Many companies in USA are suddenly fighting with a decrease of more than 25% in their total energy cost. All power utilities and major states which predicted revenue for the fiscal at a target price of $4 per gallon, are forced to work under less than $3 a gallonn. This has dented the profitability of all utilities and many states, especially in Texas and the Floridas ofthe world. Imagine a state whose primary soruce of revenue is gas. Now, gas prices have crashed by 25%, so this would decrease their revenue by 25%. This is precisely the reason that the stock prices of major utilities companies are down. Obviously the whole story is one-sided i.e. from the producers of energy. A country doesn't run by the producers of energy alone and hence overall the economy is bound to benefit ..  but Iam in the industry of energy pr...

Monday blues, hangover blues, marriage blues and lot others!! Every one discusses about these normal things .. but the blues that none of us speak about are the No work blues.. All of us crave for days when there is no work, and all that we are expected to do is to come to office, surf, coffee, gossip and leave.. But, what if the same continues for an extended period of time.. especially when you actually love working and need something to keep the senses up and running.. Iam going through these patches, that for the past 10 days I hardly have any work.. Now these blues are actually making me sleepless since the mind is reluctant to allow me to go to sleep for having not used it for quite some time.. Iam only starting to realize what it means like not having any work or sitting on bench (IT parlance).. while I will be paid for my salary, for all the position and experience that I extend to the company, what is the point if all the experience is there only for CV sake.. ...

“We, the willing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, with so little, for so long, we are now qualified to do anything, with nothing.” - Mother Teresa (Took it from the article written in Dawn ) Just been to some remote locations from Delhi for the long weekend. Quite an un-planned trip which did end on a good tone. Was in places, where there was no network, continuous vegetation, but still a human to be found. The road was not a proper one, with huge bumpy rides along the road, but the road was still visible and accessible Streams of water, cold, flowing across the landscape at different depth, at varied pace..but we could still take a dip in it and not be scared of getting washed away. Staring into the sky, clear sky, with a full moon, bright stars .. but still there was light that we could see coming from the closest neighborhood and we were sure that we are not lost in the woods. Add to that the scare due to the chance of bumping into a wild el...

It was in 2005 that Reliance Industries made big news with the discovery of the largest gas deposits in that year. The gas deposits are found off-shore near the Eastern Coast of India. While the gas discovery was made, there were/are no major pipelines connecting the eastern coast of India with rest of the country. Hence there was a need to setup a major gas pipeline from Eastern Coast to the Western Coast and beyond (~1500 kms). So Reliance Industries with no prior experience in either of these two areas floated two companies: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) owns the gas well. Reliance Gas Transportation Infrastructure Ltd. (RGTIL). Every one was gungho about the discovery of gas and the progress of the gas pipeline because the gas production was estimated to reach 80mmscmd by FY2013 and the pipeline also planned to extend by another 1500 kms towards South & North Eastern India. Investments by various players also ensured that RIL got a decent return on equity. Alas,...