Poor
February 24, 2012
Solar Energy is one of the best ways to bring energy to the disenfranchised poor in Africa and Asia which have no access to electricity and energy. Note Solar Panel prices have fallen by almost 90% in the last 4-5 years making solar energy much more accessible to the poor . Solar Panels can be now be bought at less than $200 which makes them affordable to large sections of the poor. They having stopped costing a ton in subsidy money given the low prices. Besides massive capacities exist in China and other places in Asia which can churn out solar panels in the hundreds of millions.
January 30, 2012
The Solar Products Business is booming not only from the Solar Power Plants but also in consumer products business. Sol not are big conglomerates like Mahindra, GMR , Reliance getting into the lucrative booming solar power in India, but now water purifier companies in India are too getting into the act. India's biggest water purifying company Eureka Forbes which is found in almost every Indian home is going to start selling solar lighting products like torches and lanterns.
January 11, 2012
The rising income inequality throughout the world is sowing seeds of dystopia according to a report released by World Economic Forum. The biggest risk amongst the 50 risks listed is the increasing wealth gap between individuals in all countries. Gini's coefficient has risen in most countries developing as well as developed and this has a strong correlation to globalization. The global artitrage of labor has tilted the scales towards capital and increasingly made wages become stagnant. Developing countries with weak institutions are showing income inequality in horrific forms with $2 billion homes existing in the middle of millions surviving on less than $2 day. US has already seen the OWS movement as a result of this increasing income gap between the have and have nots. Middle Eastern countries have also seen revolutions brought upon by the massive riches of the elite compared to the rising poverty of the poor and even the middle classes.
January 9, 2012
However distribution into the millions of villages remains the biggest hurdle even if the people there can afford the products.T here are no good roads and the smaller solar companies lack the marketing muscle of say a big MNC like Hindustan Lever and ITC.People have tried to sell solar products using the microfinance companies but have not had much success as of now.India's government has also pushed some small subsidy schemes but the red tape and the off and on nature has meant failure.
January 6, 2012
The Indian Private Equity Industry was on a high for the past few years with a new PE fund being opened every few months by PE veterans.The global interest in the Indian economy had been very high given the growth potential.There was a lot of money waiting on the sidelines to take part in the Indian growth story.Most of the PE performance till then had been very good given a rising tide lifts all boats.However the recent year has not been that good.More than one PE manager has had to shutdown given the lack of funding while others have found it difficult to exit given the bad stock market conditions.
January 3, 2012
Income Inequality is a Theme that is getting played across the world in developing as well as developed nations.Most of the turmoil in 2011 in the Middle East and the Occupy Wall Street Movement can be attributed to the growing Income Gap between the Have and Have -Nots.The Great Recession in 2008 can also be looked upon as a fallout of this.Gini's Coefficient which measures the income distribution gap has shown continued deterioration all over the world.The Middle Class is shrinking and growing poor by the day and it is not only the Poor Class that is getting affected.
January 2, 2012
2011 has been a bad year for emerging markets with high inflation,slowing growth and rising interest rates.Most of the problems are a consequence of the 2008 Financial Crisis when emerging countries increasing fiscal spending and reduced interest rates to reduce the affect of the Lehman crisis.Now the Bill is coming due with slowing growth and higher inflation.Most of the BRIC countries have heavily increased interest rates in 2011 to slow inflation as their poor population can ill afford the damaging effect of inflation.
Brazil has reduced its 2012 Budget by $32 billion to control inflation drawing howls of protest from politicians who always want to spend more as if money grows on trees.The country has reined in spending in both 2011 and 2012 to reduce the fiscal deficit and spend more money on productive sectors like infra.
July 6, 2011
Solar Power in India has been growing at an explosive pace due to declining costs of Solar Energy and incentives given by the Government of India under JNNSM.While most of the subsidies for solar energy in India are going to large solar farms,Solar Lighting is also growing steadily without any support.This is due to the fact that Solar Lighting saves on electricity costs and is also environment friendly.Solar Lighting in India is gaining traction not only in the upper income segments but also at the bottom of the pyramid.Solar Lanterns and Lamps are replacing expensive,GHG emitting kerosene lamps in poor rural as well as urban India.Depsite shoddy subsidies,solar lamps have become economic to compete with fossil fuel alternatives.Solar Lighting is also being heavily used for Street Illumination in places where the electricity grid is not present.Solar Lighting is also gaining acceptance in use in gardens where they can capture sunlight in the morning and light the gardens in the night using the stored energy.
July 5, 2011
India's Supreme Court took over the investigation of vast amoutnof black money stashed in foreign money accounts from the compromised government.The ruling Congress party has proven to be remarkably reluctant to take action against corruption and black money despite huge pressure from the civil society and the judiciary.The government itself has ministers who are highly corrupt with a telecom minister in jail and the textile minister who may be on the way as well.Other ministers like the Agricultural Minister Pawar has repeatedly surfaced in numerous scams rocking the country.The Supreme Court has also taken the government to task for granting a retail banking license to the Swiss giant bank UBS.Note UBS had not been given a license as it was under suspicion for facilitating the movement of ill gotten money into Swiss bank accounts
July 4, 2011
India has become the third country in the world to start a National Green Tribunal (NGT) which is a judicial body exclusively meant to judge environmental cases.Note Environment has become the one of the most important issues in the country affecting the broader society.Alongwith Land Acquisition,environment has become the most frequent conflict flashpoint.There have been numerous case where large industries have been confronted by local people fighting for the environement.Recent cases like the Vedanta Bauxite smelter in Orissa,Thermal Power Plants in Andhra Pradesh,the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant in Maharashtra have seen huge controversy and protests.Note Vedanta Resources has found itself in the centre of controversy over mining bauxite in Niyamgiri Hills which are held sacred by the Dongria Kondh tribal group.With powerful political and bureaucratic patrons,Vedanta has managed to ride roughshod over Tribal Rights.
Having a National Green Tribunal (NGT) has become essential for the country so that development can proceed with peace between various stakeholders .Note normal judges and courts don't have the expertise to understand the massive complexities and intricacies involved in billion dollar industrial projects and their impact on the environment.The NGT will have each judge having an environmental expert to guide him/her on the ecological issues so that they can come to an informed judgment.
July 4, 2011
India's Supreme Court took the matter of hundreds of billions of dollars of Black Money stashed into foreign bank accounts into its own hands as the government has repeatedly failed to take any action stalling the case.The Indian government led by the Congress Party has been repeatedly blasted by the Supreme Court for not acting against corruption matters.Recently the Court in an unprecedented move took over the supervision of the CBI in 2G Telecom Scandal Case Investigation.Note CBI is under the Home Ministry and like other investigations was being tardy to take action government ministers.The 2G Telecom case has resulted in top ministers and corporate CEOs being jailed with prospects of more being convicted.
July 3, 2011
Solar Products in India are set to grow at a tremendous rate in the future driven by the declining costs of solar power and the increasing price of fossil fuel energy products.Already we are seeing massive power cuts across the country due to shortage of coal.Beside this,the prices of electricity has increased tremendously as well and is approaching seriously high levels due the increasing price of coal and gas.This has made it inevitable that people will turn towards solar products which are not only becoming cheaper but are also greener.Solar Products comes in a wide variety and range from almost all electrical home appliances.You can solar air conditioners,solar fans,solar toys etc.The main uses of solar products however are those in generating electric power .These are known as solar panels and poised to become ubiquitous in the days to come.The day is not far off when almost every house in India will have solar panels on their roofs to generate cheap electric power.Beside this solar lanterns are already replacing expensive and polluting kerosene lamps in poor households.Solar Lighting is also increasing particularly in those areas where the electricity power grid cannot reach.Solar Heaters have become extremely popular in southern India as solar water heaters are much cheaper than normal electricity powered water heaters.Though Solar Cookers have not caught on in a big way,there are also very cost effective and clean.Below is listed out the main solar products sold in India along-with their suppliers
June 30, 2011
China has increased the tax exemption limits for urban workers by 80% to $540 a month as soaring inflation and rising income inequalities has reached dangerous levels.Note increasing corruption and vast income inequalities have led to increasing incidences of violence and riots in the country.The prices of essential commodities like food and fuel have been increasing rapidly like in the rest of the developing world.Despite the central bank increasing interest rates,the prices have hardly moderated.Pork prices have touched new records making the life of the poorest quite unbearable.Note Gini's coefficient in China has reached 0.47 which is very high.While economic prosperity has increased,a vast section of the population remains poor.This is apparent in the fact that only 24 million workers out of 300 million urban workers earn more than $6500 per year .
June 30, 2011
NGO Krishi Bikash Shilpa Kendra (KBSK) members have been involved in the past in job heist schemes where they have fleeced money from unsuspecting villages using jobs as incentives.5 members of the organization had been arrested in West Bengal .The organization had also used the names of central officials and the national emblem to embezzle money from poor villages.It does not have an inspiring track record with a former secretary in jail as well.There is little details about how this NGO will go about this program or how it would get funds to do it as well.
June 28, 2011
Orb Energy a non-profit supplier of off grid solar systems in Southern India has got a million dollars in additional funding from Acumen Fund.Orb Energy supplies solar systems to both residential and commercial customers in 4 states in India Kerala,Maharashtra,Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.It is headquartered in Bangalore and received initial funding from Zouk Ventures.Acumen Fund invests in socially relevant enterprises and has also invested in D.Light which is one of the major producers of LED Solar Lanterns in India.Note Orb Energy in its websites says that it sells around 1000 systems a month and plans to double the size of its operations by increasing the number of branches,employees.Solar System is a massive opportunity as Solar Power in India is set to grow exponentially in the coming years.Note Orb Energy is a system installer and does not manufacture solar panels in India.
May 31, 2011
Solar Lamps in India are one of the most successful solar products in India as they provide economical value without requiring huge subsidies.Note India’s Solar Mission […]
May 12, 2011
BJP,the chief opposition party in India is finding it hard to fight the ruling party's widespread corruption as its leader are too compromised in land scams of their own.The Karnataka ministers of the BJP are known to be amongst the most corrupt in the country with the CM himself indulging in land scams along with his sons.The Bellary trio of Reddy brothers have amassed billions of dollars through plundering iron ore illegally and having literally bought the government in Karnataka for the BJP with their ill-gotten wealth.Karnataka’s Chief Minister has justified corruption as tradition and despite huge pressure to resign managed to survive due to unique caste politics of India .The Supreme Court has called the corruption in India “mind boggling” while the Chief Vigilance Officer had earlier called 30% of India’s population utterly corrupt.Now the BJP's ministers in the Punjab government have been accused of land scams in the state.Two of the BJP ministers Manoranjan Kalia and Swarna Ram have been implicated in a Land deal on the outskirts of Chandigarh.Kalia holds the industries and local bodies portfolio, Ram is social welfare and justice minister.
May 5, 2011
The Tata Group which is known in India for high standards of corporate governance and doing business ethically in a country steeped in corruption too seems to have fallen.Ratan Tata appeared blemished as tapes of his conversations with the now disreputed corporate lobbyist Nira Radia were published in the media.He was caught at least listening and agreeing the the open manipulation of the Indian ministries in government formation if not the architect.Tata Teleservices which was a major beneficiary of the second round of 2G Telecom Auction during Raja's tenure has now again appeared in the news for the wrong reasons.Despite denials by the Tata Group honchos,the Tata companies seem to be complicit in the billion dollar scam that has shaken the political and business roots of India.
May 3, 2011
Grantham has made a famous call that the rise in commodities is not a cyclical phenomenon but a secular long term one.He says that the rise in commodity prices is different from the past.Note Grantham has done an extensive study of bubbles and is one of the leading minds in the investment community.While every time in the past,the statement "this time is different" has led to a crash,Grantham's call cannot be taken lightly.He says that the rise in population,shortage of resources,the growing consumption power of massive chunks of prosperous citizens in India and China will lead to a continued surge.Note commodity prices have declined secularly in the last century and since 2000 have managed to erase all their losses to form new peaks.Grantham also says there is a possibility of a massive short term decline which will give a historic opportunity to load on commodities.Jim Rogers is the most famous commodity bull and now Grantham has joined him.Note famous hedge fund managers have already made huge bets on gold and are winning currently.Note CIA and German Military are already on the record for calling Peak Oil which would lead to a drastic fall in living conditions worldwide as the global growth fueled by cheap fossil fuels sees an end
May 3, 2011
India's Central Bank has been steadily raising interest rates in 25 bps increments as inflation has raged at more the double digits for more than a year.However it has not stopped the inflation from coming down as high commodity prices keep the inflation at 9% which is much more than the target of 3-5% inflation rates.With Bernake money printing fueling oil and food prices globally,it looked unlikely that RBI's timid measure would bring the inflation down anytime soon.So this time the Central Bank has thrown the kitchen sink at the problem raising the interest rates by 50 bps to 7.25% which is much more than what the market was expecting.The Central Bank also raised the interest rate on savings rate from 3.25% to 4% which was not expected by anyone.Note the low interest rate on savings bank had been a huge money spinner to top Indian banks which have large deposits of this low interest rate savings deposits.
April 25, 2011
India has lately become a nation known for endemic corruption rather than the world's poster growth boy with the ruling party members implicated in a number of corruption scams.With the government reluctant to take action against its own,the Supreme Court was forced to take over the supervision of the investigating agency CBI.In the first chargesheet top corporate honchos and CEOs were put under arrest alongwith the former telecom minister Raja and his cronies.With the ruling party under pressure from a civil society movement against corruption,the ability to manipulate the investigation process is limited.Not that the government is not trying put impediments in the court cases and top ministers and leaders indulging in character assassination of the eminent social activists like Santosh Hedge and others.This comes even as other chief ministers of the Congress like Gehlot get caught in nepotism.
April 22, 2011
The Congress Party and its leaders can't stop being caught in corruption scams and instead of trying to correct them,they slander and character assassinate civil rights activists who try to bring about an anti-corruption bill in the country.The Adarsh Housing Scandal in which the Congress Chief Minister in Maharashtra was involved had to resign though no jail time for him or for his associates.The Scam which also involved top bureaucrats,Corrupt Indian Military Generals and other sleazy officials has died a natural media death as fresh scams take their place.Not that the Opposition party BJP is any better with its Karnataka Chief Minister failing to resign despite being accused of a number of scams.Note the Karnataka Ministry of the BJP has robber mining barons as top ministers who have made billions of dollar through illegal mining of iron ore.
April 22, 2011
Indian Politicians after being forced to bend against the popular support received by Anna Hazare and other civil rights activists in the recent fast unto death […]
April 12, 2011
Solar Lamps or Solar Lanterns have seen astounding growth in India driven mainly by the lack of access to electricity and the high costs of Kerosene or gas lamps.Note Solar Lamps have been so successful in India mainly due to their economic utility rather than their Green Characteristics.Note 100,000 Indian villages do not yet have electricity which means that the productivity comes to a complete stop in the dark.Poor schoolchildren cannot study in the dark and people cannot work in the night either.Note Kerosene a dirty oil refined product is the main source of energy for millions of Indian citizens.Kerosene is a health hazard resulting in accidental fires and causing a lot of smoke which can lead to various respiratory diseases.Note Kerosene is subsidized by the Indian government and distributed through the Public Distribution System (PDS) which is a massively corrupt and inefficient system.The Kerosene is given in limited quantities and is not sufficient to Light the Darkness for a month or more.The advent of Solar LED Lamps has been a godsend solution to this problem.
April 10, 2011
India's Income Disparity is not growing among the rich and the very poor but also widening between its super rich and middle classes.Note India's Middle Class is not as big as a percentage of the population in the developed countries and its per capita income is also much lower.However India's Middle Class is growing as the economy grows by 8-9% and despite the lopsided economic growth some of the massive wealth that is being generated does trickle to the middle class.However those gains are being eroded by a Persistent Double Digit inflation which has entrenched itself.Despite periodic interest rate increases,India's Central Bank has miserably failed on the Inflation Front in the last couple of years.First it was having too loose a policy to overcome the effects of the global eco crisis in the aftermath of the Lehman collapse.Now it was too slow to raise rates as commodity price increased dramatically.
April 9, 2011
Anna Hazare is to end his fast unto death on April 9,5 days after starting his hunger fast demanding the implementation of a Jan Lokpal Bill to replace the toothless Lokpal Bill which has been gathering dust for the last 42 years.The massive public anger against endemic corruption in public life had made the position of the government and the ruling Congress Party extremely uncertain.After trying to defame Hazare as a RSS stooge and worse,wiser counsel seems to have prevailed.Seeing the growing popular support for this anti-corruption movement,the leaders of the Congress Party have totally capitulated to all demands made by the civil society movement.Twitter and Facebook have played an important role in galvanizing popular opinion against corruption and for Anna Hazare.It could mark a turning point for the Indian state as Corruption becomes increasingly difficult.
April 8, 2011
Tunisia's Mohamed Bouazizi was an unlikely and unknown here protesting againt the daily suffering of the high handedness of authroties while Tahrir Square in Egypt was where the regime toppled.India is still far different from those situations as there is no demand for the government to go,only for a strict anti-corruption law.However Anna Hazare and Jantar Mantar have the ability to become far more than simple a protest on Lokpal Bill.It could be the tide which washes away the abject helplessness of Indians over the corruption of the powerful and rich.Here is a short excerpt of Jantar Mantar and about Anna Hazare
April 8, 2011
Anna Hazare who is fasting unto death in the capital of India has called for Indian citizens for fill jails on April 12 as the government has refused to key demands in the formation of the Committee to write the LokPal Bill.With millions supporting Anna Hazare's agitation against corruption amongt public officials in India,the ruling Congress Party is under tremendous pressure.However it is trying to wiggle out of this situation by making token concessions like giving half of the committee to civil society but refusing to give it "Official Notification" and not giving the chairmanship as well.
April 7, 2011
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.