231 results found for: telecom
Corruption in India has taken a widely virulent and blatant form with scams popping up almost everyday.Greed is Good has become the motto for India’s Role Models in Sport and Military as well.India’s Politicians are Leading the protagonists with Realty being the Main Theme.Note Real Estate companies in India are notorious for corruption with the sector being avoided by Fund Managers.India’s Southern State of Karnataka is known for its IT Industry with capital Bangalore famous as a Knowledge Hub.However the Politicians of that State have made it the Corruption Capital with Bangalore equally famous for Land Grabbing and Real Estate Scams by Bureaucrats and Politicians.While Districts in the State have been made famous by Robber Mining Barons,the capital is famous for Realty Shenanigans.
India’s Fast Growing Economy is seeing substantial churn in the Top 10 Rankings for Companies.Coal India which recently did a successful IPO straightaway went from being a Government Owned Private Company to the Top 5 in Market Capitalization Rankings.The Top 10 Rankings are dominated by State Owned Companies known as PSUs in India.Despite Privatization in the 1990s,Government Companies Lead the Rankings.Note the Top 10 Rankings don’t have any Private Companies because of the lack of good information about their Financials.Note Most of the Largest Companies in India are related to Banding and Oil/Gas as is the case worldwide.India’s Technology Companies like Infosys,TCS and others are still way behind in Revenues compared to the dominant Materials,Fossil Fuel,Industrial and Financial Sectors.However note that the diversity is much greater when you rank the companies by their market capitalization.TCS and Infosys are both amongst the top 5 recovering strongly in 2010 from their 2008 underperformance.You also see a Capital Goods and Telecom Representation in this Top 10 Rankings
India’s Fast Growing Economy based on Consumption rather than Exports has made it a Darling for International Fund Managers.When the whole world is suffering from some structural crisis or the other,India seems an like an oasis in the desert.However like a Mirage,the Governance and Regulatory Shortcomings make India look much better than what it is.$90 Billion of Record Foreign Inflows have been invested into India mostly into the booming Stock Market even as Indian Retail investors have fled.The dichotomy is perhaps explained by the problems faced by people on the ground who have a better sense than Fund Managers sitting in their Glass Towers in Singapore,New York and London.Insitutional Investors in India are mostly Compromised or Incompetent in my view herding into the Indian Markets dazed by the positive aspects of the Indian Economy while glossing over the Risks.Crushing Income Disparity where a $2 Billion Home is constructed while 80% of Indians live on less than $2 day,Pervasive Corruption with Billions being Swindled in Telecom and Land Scams,Massive Red Tape and Policy Bankruptcy has been ignored.However these Risks remain as can be seen by the SKS Microfinance Debacle.
India is a Software Powerhouse ,home to some top Technology Companies like Infosys,TCS and Wipro.Besides top IT Companies worldwide have huge India Development Centers.No Technology Company of Decent Size can afford not to have a Sizeable base in India.Project Management Skills and a Huge Engineering Workforce have made India a power to reckon with.However most of the IT work done in India continues to be of low value addition.Most of the Technology Development and Research Work continues to happen in the US.That is the reason that you don’t see a Google or Apple being incubated in India till now.However things have started to move up the value ladder with Large Indian IT Companies fast approaching the scale limits on IT Outsourcing.However their efforts till date have not been very encouraging.India’s IT Companies don’t find a slot in the Top 10 Indian Companies,however Infosys and TCS are present in the Top 10 by Market Value.Note Top Indian IT Companies have increased the Lead over the middle and smaller IT Companies recently as Global Customers look towards Bigger Indian Companies as more Reliable.Here is a list of Top Indian IT Companies which I have divided them into 3 Tiers depending on their scale,market value ,quality and growth
LIC Housing Finance is one of India’s Largest Home Lenders with a huge distribution network around the country.LIC Housing Finance Stock has been on a roll propelled by fast growth of the company and the housing loan growth sector.The Company was a relatively safe investment being promoted by Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) which is India’s largest insurance company owned fully by the government.The Foreign Ownership of the LIC Housing Finance Shareholding is quite high at 40%+ due to its relative safety and high growth.However the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) raids on the company has resulted in a sharp 20% price fall.The company’s top officials have been implicated in misappropriation of money and home loan scams along with a company called Money Matters.
One97 a Private Equity Backed Mobile Value Added Service (VAS) Company is raising Rs 120 crore ( $25 million) from the Stock Market in an IPO.The Company operates in India’s Telecom Sector which is the fastest growing in terms of subscribers and represents a good growth opportunity as 3G services starts to roll out.
The Company has not indicated the pricing of shares as of now ,only that it wants to raise Rs 120 crore.Note the VAS Category is seeing increasing competition with a number of new entrants.One97 has diversified into a combined VAS player cum Technology Investor makings its valuation difficult.Note the VAS sector is no longer a unique or fancied one as OnMobile has already listed sometime ago and its valuation has decreased dramatically since then despite improved profits.I would sit out on this one due to the complicated nature of the business,slowing growth and valuation difficulties.A higher risk investor probably might want to buy this one.
Nira Radia one of the top lobbyists in India has been exposed through wire taps done by Indian investigative agencies which has been leaked to the media.The conversations in the tape have revealed how this lobbyist has India’s top politicians,bureaucrats,journalists at her beck and call.While it is known that corporate interest wield huge influence amongst Indian government officials,the tapes reveal that Big Business has the government almost completely in its pocket.The 2G Telecom Scam had earlier shown that how top ministers had connived with capricious business houses in swindling the Indian taxpayers of billions of dollars.LIC Housing Finance Scam which has been recently exposed has led to top government company officials being arrested for taking bribes in sanctioning loans to top realty and infrastructure companies.This had been done by a financial intermediary listed on the stock exchange and which had top investors like Goldman,GMO,Fidelity and Morgan Stanley.With the scam exposed these top investment banks have lost their shirt in this investment.
The increasing amounts of Wind Energy and Solar Energy will require elements of a Smart Grid.China’s electricty capacity is going to double in the next 5 years to around 1500 GW from 850-900 GW at present.This will require a huge increase in transmission capacity creating a huge market for electricity equipment giants like Siemens,ABB,Areva and Alstom.China also has the opputunity of creating a a Smart Grid as it builds Transmission Capacity form Scratch.Almost $100 Billion is going to be spent over the next 5 years attracting even IT firms like IBM and Cisco.IBM has already tied up with Chinese cities to roll out a pilot program.Note Smart Grid Technologies are still in their infancy.Chinese investment in Smart Grid will allow development of these technologies giving a huge boost to companies winning Smart Grid Projects in China.The Chinese Market despite its size is a highly competitive market with local companies competing mainly on price.Local companies that are benefiting from the Grid Investment are
The low level of trust in the Indian government’s investigative and vigilance agencies was revealed when India’s Highest Court,the Supreme Court of India blasted the government for its choice of the Central Vigilance Commissioner.India has been rocked by a series of Housing Loan,Telecom and Land Scams recently implicating top politicians,bureaucrats and even army generals and admirals.However no one expects anyone significant to be prosecuted as the prosecutors themselves are compromised.It is openly known that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is totally controlled by the ruling party at the centre.The Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate also serves as puppets of the government being selectively used against opposition politicians and businessmen.
Now the Agricultural Minister of India has come out brazenly batting for his favored corporate interests.It is openly known that Sharad Pawar is closely associated with the Lavasa City Project being built by HCC near Pune.The Company has criticized the Environment Minister for questioning the environment clearance.The Minister on the other hand wants to know why he was not consulted.Don’t know how Agriculture expertise will help in deciding the environment clearance of a Realty Project.But in case of India’s Business Elite anything goes it seems.Note the Agricultural Minister is said to be close business ally and played a prominent role in the recent cricketing scam as well.However as usual nothing came out of it as the politician-business unholy alliance brazenly runs the Indian government.
Karnataka,the southern state of India is known for fostering the growth of the IT industry in India.Bangalore which is the capital of the state is known around the world for being the Technology Capital of India.The state is home to India’s biggest and most famous companies like Wipro,Infosys and numerous other IT MNCs.However the state which was known for its Technology prowess is fast becoming the Land Scam Capital.Karnataka has seen numerous land scams as the states politicians took advantage of the appreciating real estate price in Bangalore and surrounding areas.With the sharp increase in purchasing power amongst Bangalore’s citizens,the real estate prices shot up in a crazy manner.Real Estate in India is the worst sector in India in terms of Corruption and Real Estate Companies are known to be totally sleazy and corrupt.In fact most of the recent scams in India has one or more Realty Companies as the main prognosticator.
A2Z Maintenance and Engineering Services is a Private Equity Promoted Facilities Management,Waste Management and EPC Company which is getting into the business of biomass energy.Company has fixed a price band at Rs 400-410 comprising of fresh issue of Rs 675 crore (~$150million) by the company and an offer for sale of upto 4.5 million shares by the selling shareholders.Note Renewable Energy in India has a bright future with around 5 GW of Renewable Energy Capacity to be installed per year over the next decade.However Biomass Energy may not be the best area considering the considerable expense and uncertainty in acquisition of feedstock.The Company already operates in 3 distinct sectors namely
Summary
A2Z is very similar in nature and valuation to VA Tech Wabag which did a successful IPO recently.The margin profile,growth and management is very similar.As such A2Z is a decent company however its not a compelling buy given the valuation.Note Biomass Energy is a tough sector to operate in and Orient Green Power has done badly since its IPO without having done anything badly as such.A2Z given the overall qualitative and quantitative factors seems a good stock at fair valuation.This makes the company a decent one to buy.
India has been plagued with numerous corruption scandals being exposed in the last few months.While a number of such scandal like the Adarsh Land Scam,Commonwealth Scams,Stock Market Scam,Stock Market Scam,Housing Finance Scam have been written about in this blog,the spate refuses to stop.With India’s Chief Vigilance Officer calling 30% of Indians as utterly corrupt and even the Supreme Corrupt calling corruption in India “mind boggling”,it is not a surprise.2G Telecom Scam Prime Suspect Telecom Minister Raja has come into the spotlight again for threatening a High Court Judge in a CBI case related to an eduction scam.The background relates to a High Court Judge of Tamil Nada accusing a Union Minister of influencing a decision of the court.This created a huge ruckus as the said Judge refused to name the Minister.India’s Judiciary is one of the more powerful institutions in the country and considered much more trustworthy than the other 2 arms executive and the legislature.The Agriculture Minister brazenly supports favored Business Interest while another Minister was sent packing off after unethically supporting a cricket franchise
The biggest problem is that the winners of the Solar PV Projects are mostly unknown small firms who have bid so low that make the returns negative for investors according to the renewable energy ministry officials (MNRE).Bidding has gone as low as 23c/Kwh which is crazily low considering the debt costs in India are as high as 13% annually.Compare that to China where debt is priced as low as 3-4% and the winners are huge utilities.With even India’s Tata Power saying that the projects are not bankable as their is confusion how the electricity tariffs will go to developers,its difficult how these unknown firms could manage the financing .While the companies will lose their bid deposits if they don’t finish the projects,Indian Solar Energy will be the biggest loser as the failure of the Phase 1 of JNNSM of 1000 MW by 2013 will lead to even further delays.Already JNNSM has been criticized by a parliamentary panel for the tardy progress.Note some states have taken the lead in pushing solar energy on their own,namely Gujarat which aims to put up more than 500 MW in the next year or two.
Indian Small Cap and Mid Cap Stocks got massacred today even as the rest of the global markets were up.There was no specific catalysts for the sharp sell off in the small cap space which was down more than 5% with a large number of stocks hitting circuit filters on their way down.FII and brokerage favorite mid cap stocks were the worst off declining by anywhere between 10-20%.Note India has seen a huge wave of scandals hitting the political and business spheres in the past couple of months.While Corruption is nothing new to India with India’s Supreme Court calling “Corruption a Way of Life” ,the rising frequency has unnerved the investors.The Stock Market has also seen a number of scams hitting the news with well regarded stocks tanking by more than 50% in less than a week.Since its hard to explain all the scams that have been hitting India,I am listing out the blog posts explaining the scams here.
Dongfang Electric Corporation,China’s largest power equipment producer has bagged major contracts in India.Dongfang Electric is the 3rd biggest Wind Turbine Producer in China as well and has managed to bag a 276 MW $203 billion WTG supply contract with Abhijeet Group .This is the first major contract wind in the Wind Equipment Sector for a Chinese company and could be start of a major trend.Dongfang has also won a small a massive $2.5 billion contract to supply 6. GW of super critical coal equipment to KSK Energy. Note Chinese companies have become the low cost leaders in the Wind Equipment Industry and sell much below Western competitors.At almost $700,000/MW,the Turbine order is a steal for the Abhijeet Group and cannot be matched by Indian or Western players.Leading WTG companies from the West like Vestas and Gamesa are reeling from Chinese competition and slowdown in Western markets.Suzlon too has been affected as Korean shipbuilders and Chinese wind producers have become major players.Using domestic content requirements and technology transfer,Chinese companies have become top global producers from zero presence just 5 years ago.
These 3 Indian companies DB Realty,Sun TV,Spice Jet have very little to relate to each other.One is a real estate company,one is one of the fastest growing media companies while the third one is one of the biggest low cost airlines in which Wilbur Ross was an investor.The common thread running through these companies is their association with a regional political party in India at the center of a massive billion dollar telecom scam in India.The leader of this party Raja was recently sacked from his post as the telecom minister and has now earned the dubious distinction of becoming the first minister to get jail time from his own government.Corruption Scandals have ruled the roost in the last 6 months frequently leading to huge stock price drops.Small Cap,Mid cap scandals,insider trading,bribery rings have all been documented by this blog which led to huge losses for investors.
This time India’s Space Research Agency ISRO has come under the scanner for giving a sweetheart deal to a private company without bidding and tenders.This has resulted in another huge loss for the public treasury just like the Telecom Scam.The Space Agency comes under the direct authority of the Prime Minister and has further muddied the waters for the ruling coalition.With scam per day performance,the government is under tremendous pressure and losing its way in reforming the economy.Corruption in India is literally taking on Galactic Proportions and showing no signs of stopping.The Devas-Antrix Deal has also foreign investors which makes scrapping the contract for giving spectrum to Devas difficult.With India’s Supreme Court breathing down its neck over prosecuting the guilty in the Telecom Scam,the government finds itself besieged.It can hardly afford opening another corruption frontier when it already finds its hands full with the existing scams.
The Liberalization of India in the 1990s ushered in a new era of not only high growth as its industries and enterpreneurs were unshackled from the chains of License Raj but also an era of Crony Capitalism.The erstwhile business barons who maintained their fiefdoms through manipulation of licenses,now shifted their focus elsewhere.With new sectors of the opening up and growing exponentially unscrupulous promoters had the chance to mint billions.The bursting of the 2G Telecom Scam has bust the cozy Crony Capitalism Relationship.India’s Supreme Court reposing lack of faith in the investigative powers of the government has personally taken charge of the prosecution.With powerful ministers,bureaucrats and billionaire businessmen involved,only India’s Supreme Court has the chance to bring the guilty to justice.
Insider Trading is quite rampant in India particularly in mid cap and small cap companies where promoters frequently collude with market operators in rigging up stock […]
The recent Supreme Court case dealing with the phone tapping of a political leader who has fallen on bad days has revealed an astounding fact.The Indian Government taps more than 100 phones a day just from a single telecom operator.When the Supreme Court castigated Reliance Telecom for tapping the phone based on a phony letter full of bad grammar,the operator revaeled that it had recieved requests to tap 150,000 phones over a period of 5 years.This reveals a massive systematic abuse by the government of its powers.This sort of behaviour seems more like that of a police state like Egypt rather than a flourishing democracy.Talking on the mobile phone has suddenly become a dangerous activity as Big Brother Indian government is listening to most of the country’s communications.The recent Nira Radia phone tap leak shows the complete respect for privacy.It is not only the government,the service providers in the country have scant respect for your privacy.Telecom operators,Banks,Travel Agencies will sell your information for a pittance to marketing agencies.Telecom operators will not only sell your information but also the list of all your contacts.
Corruption in India has taken massive proportions with a new scam being unearthed almost every day .However this has not metered the architects of corruption in India from continuing their looting spree.While the 2G Telecom Scam throws up new looting revelations,newer corruption scams are also competing for newspaper inches.Investing in the Indian stock markets is at best a hazardous activity with most of the promoters trying to fleece shareholders.Mid cap and small cap scams have already resulted in massive losses.Now investing in India’s largest companies belonging to the main Nifty Index has also become dangerous.While the scam related to the ADAG Group has already resulted in 80-90% fall from the peaks of the companies of this group,others are joining in.Nalco which is a government owned integrated aluminum producer was thought to be one of the safest companies to invest in.However even this company has fallen.The CEO of the company was found taking bribes in the form of gold bricks in return for favors.
While I was tearing my hair out at the experience there were a couple of very funny episodes which highlights the complete lack of service quality
1) One of the Tata Indicom Engineers after seeing my laptop connect automatically to the neighbour’s WiFi (I was using it temporarily) said that my Tata Indicom Internet was working fine (how the guy became an engineer seems a mystery,guess there is truth to industry studies that most Indian graduates are unemployable)
2) A Tata Indicom Webstie to give Customer Feedback on submission constantly gives an Error .The link (https://ttslemc.tatatel.co.in/EMC_FEEDBACK/TataIndicomFeedBackDetails.do?messageID=3727423) which was sent to me to “valuable inputs will go a long way in helping us deliver world class services” still does not work.Readers can try out the link also.
India’s Oil and Gas Industry has an interesting mix of Oil & Gas companies from the government and private sector.Except for some companies providing ancillary and drilling services,most of the companies are huge with billion dollar balance sheet and huge operations as is the case with the Oil and Gas Industry worldwide.Except for Reliance Industries,the upstream sector of oil and gas production and distribution is dominated by government owned companies which are heavily regulated.Despite attempts at liberalizing the APMC and the operations of the PSU Oil Companies,HPCL,BPCL and IOC run billions of dollars in losses as they are forced to sell oil and gas products at below their cost.The government’s policies are mostly ad-hoc compensating these companies through bonds and money transfers.It is quite strange as the minority investors are forced to pay for government subsidies for energy.India’s Oil Subsidies has led to the flourishing of a massive Oil Mafia which does not think twice before killing government officials and has led to poor outcomes for the country.Despite this government stupidity,some government companies like GAIL,OIL India and ONGC which operates in the production and have to bear less of the subsidy burden have grown and performed admirably.In the private sector companies like Reliance,Aban,Great Offshore,Essar have managed to grow rapidly as well with varying degrees of success.Here is the list of the major Oil and Gas Companies in India.
The Wikileaks Cable says that an Indian Official Nachiketa Kapur showed an Embassy Staffer Two Chests filled with millions of Ruppees in Cash meant for bribing legislators.This corruption scam is the latest in a series over the last 6 months or so.Already India’s previous Telecom Minister is cooling his heels in Jail and crucial leaders of the ruling coalition have been questioned in the 2G Scam.Most of Indian corporate chieftains have also been implicated in the Telecom Scam with mudslinging in full flow.India’s Foreign Policy is being made by such crass and corrupt leaders is a shocking revelation though nothing new.Earlier Jharkand state had seen its legislators convicted of accepting bags full of cash during the earlier Congress regime.So this means that bribing and making Indian Policies is not a new thing.India’s Opposition Parties are making a huge hue and cry and demanding the PM’s resignation.
India's Supreme Court castigates ED for incompetence on Black Money Hasan Ali Hawala Corruption Case
India’s Supreme Court has become a schoolmaster for the errant Indian investigative agencies which keep showing glaring incompetence and reluctance to go after top offenders.The Indian […]
Sharad Pawar,India’s powerful agricultural minister and the president of the international cricket body ICC has managed to get involved in most corruption scams coming out in the last year or so.However he has managed to come out unscathed even as his fingers are in multiple corruption pies.The name of Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule ( who is a MP what a surpise) has come up in multiple corruption scandals like the 2G Telecom Scandal,IPL Cricket Scandal and Lavasa Scam etc.However it points to his influence and reach,that nothing has happened.He is the leader of a regional party which is part of the ruling coalition in the centre.
India has been rocked by a number of scams and scandals in which the ruling Congress Party members have invariably involved.The Adarsh Housing Scam,Commenwealth Games Scam,2G […]
The Jan LokPal Bill is supposed to be the answer to India’s massive endemic corruption which strikes daily in the form of a new scam or scandal.The government has proven to be woefully inadequate in taking on the corrupt politicians,bureaucrats and businessmen.This corrupt nexus has been repeatedly exposed and its structure exposed through the Nira Radia Tapes.The Indian administration has shamefully failed to take action only promising to do something without doing anything worthwhile.The Indian Judiciary has also castigated the government numerous times for its abject failure in the 2G Telecom Scam,Black Money Scandal etc.However the government instead of strengthening anti-corruption measures has only put obstacles in the way.Its no wonder when the committee meant to look after the Bill comprises of ministers tainted with a number of scams themselves.Anna Hazare has held a fast unto death to put pressure on the government to pass the draft bill but the Minister appear unconcerned.Here is a short summary and guide to the main points of the Jan LokPal Bill which IMHO deserves the support of the whole Indian civil society.
Seeing the rapidly mounting support for the movement,the government has tried to cut losses sending ministers to hold talks on ending the fast.Thousands of schoolchildren,executives,college students has spontaneously joined the Anti-Corruption Movement at Jantar Mantar in Delhi and millions more in different cities across India.It was the first real chance to protest against the endemic corruption and brazen arrogant behaviour of the ruling classes.Many politicians sensing the wind were trying to associate with Hazare.Shashi Tharoor the sauve face of modern India who had been discredited by his unethical conduct in IPL too tweeted that he supported Hazare ( don’t know what that means,use your position to gain money unethically in IPL and Commonwealth Scams and support anti-corruption).For now its a success for the Indian democracy but the ultimate success will be when a strong Lokpal Bill is passed.