Cover Story

Retail Joe Skips the party
A dodgy mix of high-priced and dubious issues makes public offerings a less popular investment avenue for retail investors than before.

Stay insured and invested
Investment plans that offer both protection and the promise of long-term returns are proving to be stiff competition for mutual funds.
When greed is good (or is it?)
As the indices hit new highs with monotonous regularity, an increasing number of investors (and punters) are riding the gravy train. Will some fingers get burnt?
The great Indian mutual fund illusion
Positioned as instruments that are safe (safer than venturing on one's own into equities) and that promise attractive returns (more attractive than bank deposits), mutual funds are supposed to be the retail investor's best bet. Why is it then that 85-90 per cent of the assets managed by Indian funds are those of institutions and high net worth individuals?

2007-08-12

Digital

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Back of the Book

The ongoing evolution of the BlackBerry

If the Pearl had you mesmerised, the Curve will not disappoint you.

Smells like success

Indian floriculturists embark on an Ethiopian odyssey to cash in on the boom in the flower industry.

In This Issue

Good SUV, great price

The new Suzuki Grand Vitara offers fantastic value for money.

Treadmill

India's most investor-friendly companies

Our fourth annual survey of companies that have delighted their shareholders the most. They aren't the biggest by revenue, profits, or market cap. But they are the biggest by consistency of returns, reporting and respect for their investors.

Jobs

Easing Angst

Is a certain nasty individual at your workplace making life miserable for you? BT does a reality check on what collateral damage these individuals can cause and how companies can deal with them.

Destination Growth

The travel and tourism industry is in hiring mode.

Help, Tarun!

Tarun Sheth answers queries related to your career.

Features

Change Agent

He gave India its first world-class business school and now its only public health foundation. What makes McKinsey's Rajat Gupta a social entrepreneur and the only Global Indian(-American) of his kind?

Maximum Citi

It has nudged ahead of the competition in the foreign banks arena, but there's more to Citigroup in India than just banking.

Southward Ho

It offers the unbeatable combination of big-spending and experimentative consumers, who have the appetite and the wallet to spend. Some smart marketers are finally waking up to its lure.

Beyond consumer electronics

Videocon's Venugopal Dhoot is thinking really big. He is diversifying into new areas such as SEZs, real estate, telecom and retail. The target: more than treble revenues to $10 billion over next five years.

The crisis in two-wheelers

Rising interest rates have taken their toll. Sales in the first quarter are down 14.5 per cent, and every manufacturer is cutting back on production.

60 minutes

"I Don't Think Telecom Valuations Are Stretched In India" 

Editors note

From The Editor

It is an oddity of our times that stands out for its sheer starkness. The stock market is roaring from one high to another, and the kitties of mutual funds are swelling like never before.

Current

The amazing race

Both brothers have plenty to trumpet. Take Anil's all-cash purchase of Yipes, for instance, which gives him a foothold in the global market for enterprise and institutional data services, a pie that's valued at $90 billion.

Getting foggy again?

Uncertainty stalks IT services-and it's not just the rupee.

Playing to win

Step into our gameplex, say the online players.

Helpless in a wireless world

BSNL loses ground as a contract gets delayed.

The Jangle in Jingles

FM radio needs to go beyond advertising for revenue.

Grey ain't good

Samsung cracks down on grey market imports of its hardware.

Stray straws in the wind

Has Suzlon been diverting IPO proceeds?

Genpact: Act two

Their master's choice

Appoint IIM Directors and control them, plans government.

Hill kingdom calling

Bhutan, of all places, is wooing Indian BPOs.

Still lost in transition

While the latest deal would boost Avesthagen's presence in the bio-nutritional market, it hasn't been shy of spending heavily to enter other high-growth segments as well.

What's on his mind?

Will the India partner for Renault's small car not be M&M?

Clean cut from the past

With enzymes sold off, Biocon goes pure bio-pharma.

Toons in tinsel town

Cartoon Network goes to Bollywood.

Branding biotech

Genome Valley becomes Andhra's intellectual property.

In the land of plenty

A Swiss-German combine that's hot on Indian realty.

Ogilvy's new offspring

It opens job options, provides shelter to conflicting clients.

Second wind

Do flanking channels translate into more viewership?

Noted

Make a note of these

By FDI magazine, a Financial Times group publication, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, as Global FDI Personality of the Year 2007. To know more read on.

Trends

PC Sales: Boom Continues

Desktop sales, which grew a respectable 19 per cent (from 4,614,724 to 5,490,591 units), were completely overshadowed by the laptop market.

King Khan bats for wildlife

King Khan is doing his bit for wildlife conservation. He appears in a public service campaign, to be broadcast at all international and domestic airports, to raise awareness about the issue.

Drowning under the forex pile

The government is yet to come to terms with its riches.

The fortnight's burning question

The BSE Sensex has risen quite fast and is now ruling at 15,000-plus levels. Is the stock market overheated?

Bubbly goes well with spicy dishes

People are drinking more champagne, and we have been increasing production to keep up with consumption.

Indian animation coming of age

Today, Indian animation studios are increasingly realising the need to create their own IPS. The Indian animation industry has proved its mettle in the global markets.

Rates have peaked, but hold the bubbly

Just ahead of the quarterly review of monetary policy by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on July 31, two of India's top bankers feel that interest rates have plateaued out.

A leg up for India

Here's some cause for cheer-India will figure in the World Bank's list of lower middle income nations this financial year itself.

India to follow global accounting standards

B&W hits to come alive again, in colour

Get a biometric PAN Card

What is it? A biometric Permanent Account Number (PAN) card that the Ministry of Finance plans to launch, over time, to replace the PAN card that you currently have.

Global crude prices

In India, the expected fall in interest rates, which have hardened over the last year, will now probably have to wait for some time as the lag effect of rising oil prices will impact all sectors of the economy.

Insure Growth

While the government is to blame for not promoting growth in the insurance sector, the large private companies are equally guilty.

Leak Proof

That the government leaks like a sieve is well known. But when it hurts, one would expect the chief to crack the whip, in the manner of companies.

Numbers of note

40 per cent: The proportion of consumer goods bought in the US imported from China. To know more interesting numbers read on.

Editorial

Stock market paradox

Although the industry boasts of Rs 4 lakh crore in assets, contributions from retail investors account for less than 15 per cent. At an aggregate level, just 3 per cent of household savings get funnelled into mutual funds.

Policy paralysis

Caution appears to have become the leitmotif of this government. But this is not a caution born out of prudence, but one dictated by political expediency.

IIMs as PSUs

The government now wants the authority to appoint directors of various Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), starting with Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta, where the terms of their directors are coming to an end.

Reporters Diary

Fishy Tales

Kolathur village, just outside Chennai, is fast emerging as the capital of the ornamental fish trade in India, Nitya Varadarajan reports from the spot.   

Book

How it all began

A delightful work sets out to remind the world that globalisation is older than the WTO.

Money

The picks of the bull

The great India market story has returned to its booming ways. Stocks are making new highs, but there are enough places where you can still spot a good stock.

The delisting blues

What you can do when the company you hold wants to opt out of the stock exchanges.

For a smooth drive

Car insurance tariffs aren't any cheaper after deregulation. But things could change.

For a rainy day

How to ensure that you have enough cash when you need it most.

Pay up and profit

If you have a good track record of credit card repayments, you can now enjoy lower interest rates.

Protection for life

What the new Tata AIG's InvestAssure Gold has to offer.

Columns