Rural
January 14, 2012
Australia & New Zealand Banking Group , is going to cut 900 jobs are the Australian real estate market slumps. Financial Jobs are facing a carnage with banks cutting down left , right and centre .ANZ which is one of the 4 largest banks in Australia joins its couterparts around the world in sharply cutting banker jobs as the global slowdown bits the financial industry. Note the outlook in the Financial Industry is that of a Depression even as the world economy faces some hiccups from the European Debt Crisis . Real Estate Markets have been distorted globally by bad regulation , low interest rates etc. While China is seeing the first signs of a troubled real estate market, USA has been feeling the effects since the last 3-4 years. Australia has also joined in with the popping of the real estate bubble. Alongwith construction and real estate companies , financial companies who make the real estate mortgages are the worst hit in general.
January 9, 2012
Bank of America had already announced thousands of job cuts earlier.Today it cut 20% of its Asian MDs as it tries to cope with the sinking of investment banking revenues.Other investment banks like RBS,Nomura,BNP Paribas,Societe Generale are also cutting jobs with a vengeance.Goldman Sachs also announced big time salary cuts for its partners and fixed income trading.
January 5, 2012
Biomass Plants in India are shutting down as feedstock costs have increased rapidly while government regulated electricity tariffs have yet to increase.60% of India's Biomass Plants have closed down as they are longer profitable.Note India has a massive growth target for biomass electricity capacity up from 1 GW at present (2 GW if you count cogeneration).A number of agricultural companies have set up a number of plants besides dedicated green utilities.However inflation in India has affected the operation of plants specially those who don't have inhouse feedstock supply.
January 5, 2012
Seeing Stocks Markets these days would make one think that the world economy has managed surpass the problems of the European Union Debt Crisis,the slowing of China,India's governance led slowdown etc.However big global companies continue to bunker down reducing job headcount and reducing investment.Despite record levels of cash and big profits,MNCs are not increasing their investment giving a thumbs down to efforts by policymakers to boost growth through record low interest rates.RBS has been rumored to cut 10,000 jobs in its investment banking division while Pepsi which has a mostly recession proof business too is cutting down.India's beleagured airline Kingfisher is set to cut 2000 jobs as well.
July 5, 2011
The hair care industry has grown a lot in the recent years. The reason can be attributed to the fact that a large portion of our Indian population is using higher quality branded products. Of the estimated Rs.1, 611 billion FMCG market in India, hair care products make up approximately Rs.91.5 billion, or 8%, of the total according the Nielsen Retail Audit Report. The 14% growth rate in the hair care industry is also slightly higher than the overall industry average of 13.4%. Shampoo and hair oils, including coconut oils, continue to be the key components of this segment. The marketing startegy of rural distribution campaigns adopted by the hair oil manufacturers and dealers have helped to greatly expand the geographic coverage of hair oil products into the rural parts of the country. In addition, average prices for hair oil products have risen from Rs. 22.25 per 100 ml in 2008 to Rs.23.74 per 100 ml in 2009 according to the Nielsen Retail Audit Report.
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 .
April 11, 2011
A number of Agricultural Companies and Green Utilities are focusing on setting up biomass plants in different places in India.Note Biomass Energy accounts for almost 20-30% of the Energy Requirements of the country and is the main source of energy for most of the rural communities for cooking and heating.Biomass Energy is best suited where Crop and Animal Residue are cheaply available.Most of India's Biomass Power Plants have been built by companies involved in agri industries particularly sugar.Now Rice Companies are finding Biomass Energy perfect for their needs as they generate huge amounts of waste Rice Husk which can be used to generate electricity for their inhouse needs as well as for sale to the power grid.Note on top of this,Rice Biomass Electricity is also eligible for Subsidies from the State Governments.Haryana is seeing a surge in Rice based Electricity Plants with 16 MW installed already.Note Haryana is one of the top agri states in India alongwith Punjab and provides a lot of potential.Note a number of Rice Companies such as Lakshmi Energy and Foods have made Biomass Electricity a key part of their growth strategies even changing their names.Here are a couple of Rice Companies with aggressive Biomass Electricity Plans.
March 10, 2011
India had set up around 500 MW of Biomass Capacity by 2007 and has increased it by almost 150 MW since then to reach around 1 GW capacity today.Most of Indias' Biomass Electricity is being generated in Andhra Pradesh,Maharashtra,Tamil Nadu,Karnataka and Rajasthan.A lot of new capacity is being built in Punjab and Chattisgarh as well.India with a total biomass capacity of around 1 GW is planning to increase it by 10 times to 10 GW by 2020 by setting up a number of 1-2 MW biomass plants around the country.Around 400-600 acres of land are required to support 1 Mw of Biomass Capacity and 200-300 acres using energy intensive crops.This is much more than what is required for even thin film solar energy which is around 10 acres.The large land requirements make Biomass Energy Scalding a difficult proposition,however it has a great use in niche applications where there is a large amount of crop and animal residue/waste
Biomass Energy is clearly seeing a massive investment of private capital by a number of Green Energy companies.A number of these companies are backed by Private Equity Players.Almost all Sugar Companies in the country co-generate biomass power at their sugar plants.The size of the segment is quite large and has not been listed here.In India 3 types of companies are focused on biomass electricity - Sugar Companies,Rice Companies and Green Energy Utilities.The first 2 categories will be successful as their cost of feedstock is essentially zero while the the success of the third kind will depend on the management and execution.
February 7, 2011
India's Fast 8-9% GDP Growth has become the envy of the developed world groping with anemic growth rates of 1-2% and rising sovereign debt burdens.Asia led by India and China are the new engines of growth of the global economy.However a close examination of the growth shows the rising strains and inequality.Most of the growth in India has been a jobless one with capital intensive sectors leading the way.While some service sectors like the IT and BPO Industry have also grown at a rapid pace,it has only affected a minuscule portion of the Indian population.The rest continue to wallow in misery and poverty which is reflected in the growth of Naxalism.India's education infrastructure is quite woeful with majority of graduates unemployable.This has led to a growing army of unemployed half education youth fighting to get low end jobs.Unlike China,India's industry forms just 30% of India's GDP and majority are still employed in agriculture.Most of India's service industry too constitutes of low value add,low paying jobs.With growing communication and information,the few good low end jobs on offer leads to a desperate jostling.Public sector jobs in railways,paramilitary are especially lucrative offering job security and a decent social position.This has led to increasing clashes.
September 13, 2010
India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has been criticized by a parliamentary committee for missing out several targets on renewable energy installations and cost […]
July 17, 2010
India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme or MGNREGA as it is popularly known is leading to labor shortages around the country.The NREGA scheme which […]