Sociopolix

long time....

2005-05-05T02:27:00.000-07:00

aah its been forever since i posted.....but hey been busy with work and exams.....so i guess its justified....but will definately keep this site updated all summer when im going to be in jersey and pittsburg

2005-03-11T12:58:00.000-08:00

gonna be heading to london for spring break..hoping to get some work done...ill try and post some stuff while im there...see u soon

99c stores

2005-03-07T09:16:00.000-08:00

hey i got an interesting question i just thought off...how do u think 99 cent stores cope with inflation...i mean they sell everything at the same price and almost at wholesale....i just hought id throw this question out there maybe we can get some interesting replies...

Sensex closes at 6,785, a record high

2005-03-04T01:12:00.000-08:00

MUMBAI: On Thursday, oil & petroleum sector majors ONGC and Reliance Industries gave the biggest post-budget boost to the market, as did FM's assurance that the government would revisit the proposed taxation of fringe benefits.

As investors took stock of the positive developments, the BSE Sensex ended 98 points, or 1.5 per cent higher at 6,785 points, a record peak, along with BSE's market capitalisation, which jumped by over Rs 26,000 crore to nearly Rs 17.5 lakh crore, also highest ever. P Chidambaram's assurance that his ministry would re-consider the tax proposals relating to fringe benefits, the biggest issue that has been giving jitters to the market since the Budget on Monday, enthused investors to pump in money into the market. "Along with select MFs which are flush with funds, FIIs bought on today," said head of institutional dealing at a brokerage. Despite recent market jitters relating to the proposed taxation structures, FIIs have been investing in the Indian market. Official data released on Thursday showed that FIIs had pumped in $160 million (Rs 700 crore) into the market the previous day. After pumping in nearly $2 billion in February, FIIs have pumped in $361 million this month, Sebi data showed.

Also, the news that a Reliance group company has sold around 86 lakh shares of ONGC, picked up during the latter's public offer in March 2004, also enthused market players. "On one hand, this will increase liquidity in the ONGC counter as part of the 86 lakh shares (that changed hands) are likely to be available in the market. On the other hand, the sale proceeds would boost the finances of the Reliance group company that owns a majority stake in Reliance Infocomm," explained a dealer at a local brokerage.

At the end of the session, ONGC stock, one of the Sensex heavyweights, ended nearly 4 per cent higher at Rs 889 while Reliance Industries ended 1.8 per cent higher at Rs 558. BSE's oil & gas index ended 2.1 per cent higher at 3,192. The other top Sensex gainers were Cipla, up nearly 4 per cent at Rs 268, Wipro up 4 per cent at Rs 697 and Bajaj Auto, too up almost 4 per cent at Rs 1,084. On the sectoral front, the top gainers were automobile, with BSE's auto index up 2.5 per cent at 2,852 and PSU index up nearly 2 per cent at 4,512. Looking at the momentum, chartists feel that the Sensex would reach a new high of 7,000 over the next few sessions.

Found this on business world on rediff

2005-03-03T08:15:00.000-08:00

The Reliance saga could finally be reaching its climax.
According to a news story published in the latest issue of Businessworld, ICICI CEO K V Kamath may have succeeded in brokering a deal between the two Ambani brothers -- Anil and Mukesh.
Kamath, who is acting as an arbitrator in the dispute, has prepared his final report, which suggests a way to carve up the empire between the two.
The brothers are expected to present it to their mother Kokilaben Ambani in the next few days.
Over the last couple of days, Kamath has had several rounds of meetings with the two Ambani brothers at his Bandra Kurla Complex headquarters in Mumbai, sometimes separately with each one and also together.
According to the terms of the division, Anil will now get to run Reliance Energy and Reliance Capital. Additionally, he will also be given the petrochemicals business of Reliance Industries.
It is expected that the petrochemicals business of RIL would be hived-off and merged into IPCL, which will then be managed by Anil. Mukesh, on the other hand, will get the oil and gas business of RIL and also continue to run Infocomm.
On the face of it, the division appears equitable. Before Reliance Petroleum was merged with Reliance Industries in 2000-01, both the businesses were almost of the same size. So what Kamath has apparently now recommended is to once again split RIL into two -- giving the brothers a mutually acceptable share of the company. This way, he has also allowed each brother to retain the businesses they had initiated.
For example, Anil gets to keep the two businesses -- Reliance Capital and Reliance Energy -- which he had initiated, while Mukesh gets to keep Infocomm.
If the final settlement finally proves acceptable to the brothers, it would mean that Mukesh is now willing to climb down from his original stand of not splitting RIL.

interesting article on the Ambani's from Time

2005-03-03T08:10:00.000-08:00

FAMILY LEADERS: Mukesh and Anil Ambani

BUSINESSES: Textiles, petrochemicals, telecommunications, finance

CONGLOMERATE: Reliance Group

REVENUES: $16.8 billion

PRIZED POSSESSIONS: Corporate jets; a private auditorium at home for watching films
ATUL KASBEKAR FOR TIME
Looking Ahead: Mukesh has helped Reliance move into new areas such as oil exploration

Posted Monday, February 16, 2004; 21:00 HKTThe 56-hectare Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City on the outskirts of Bombay is one of the showcases of India's high-tech sector. There, some 8,000 employees of Reliance Group, the country's largest private conglomerate, operate 24-hour call centers, monitor the company's fiber-optic network on giant video screens, and update data services provided to mobile-phone subscribers. Many wouldn't associate the gleaming campus with Reliance, which blossomed under legendary founder Dhirubhai Ambani in old-world industries such as textile production and petrochemicals. But Knowledge City is evidence that a new generation of the Ambani family is reinventing India's most powerful business enterprise.

People will remember you after you are gone not for your money or your power, but because of what you have left behind.
—MUKESH AMBANI, Reliance Industries chairman

After Dhirubhai died in July 2002, his sons, Mukesh and Anil (estimated net worth for both: $2.8 billion), took control. They've been on an expansion tear ever since, successfully bolstering Reliance's presence in power generation, oil exploration, finance and biotech, and consolidating the company's position as a leading player in India's fast-growing telecom sector. Last year, with revenues of $16.8 billion, Reliance accounted for 3.5% of India's GDP. So confident are wealthier Indians in the future of the firm that one out of every four stock-owning citizens possesses shares in it.

That's a large cheering section, especially considering the doubt that swirled around the conglomerate after Dhirubhai's death. Mukesh, now 46 and chairman of the group's flagship Reliance Industries, and Anil, its 44-year-old vice chairman, seemed so different from their father, a schoolteacher's son and self-made billionaire famed for his ability to work India's Byzantine bureaucracy to his advantage. Some questioned whether highborn Anil and Mukesh could fill their father's managerial shoes, even though Mukesh graduated from Stanford's business school and Anil from Wharton School. Others wondered whether the antipodean brothers could work together. The flashy Anil, who is married to a former film actress, likes designer clothes and jogs every morning, his chauffeur driving slowly behind. Mukesh is sedate and prefers spending time with his children or catching up on technical journals.
Right now, there is no sign of friction. Mukesh, Anil and their wives and children live under one roof with their mother, Kokilaben, called "Mummy" by Reliance employees. The Ambani boys appear to many to have absorbed some of their father's deft political touch, too. Last year, Reliance triggered a major row over its entrance into the mobile-phone market. A latecomer to the business, the Ambanis in 2002 acquired a license to sell basic fixed-line telephone services, which included the right to provide limited-range wireless services using souped-up cordless phones that enabled customers to roam around their own neighborhoods. But with a $2.7 billion investment in advanced network technology, Reliance began hawking mobile-phone services essentially as capable as those sold by existing cellular carriers—without having to pay the high fees required of government-sanctioned cellular operators.

As Reliance began capturing market share (more than 6 million subscribers at recent count), a flood of complaints from rivals prompted regulators to rewrite telecom policy, allowing Reliance to continue in mobile telephony if it paid a $116 million penalty. To critics, this was a wrist slap. Columnist S. Gurumurthy charged that regulators were "condoning a deliberate, planned illegality. And it is happening because Reliance is in a position to control the levers of power." A Reliance spokesman counters, "When you're successful, your competitors will try to find alibis for your success."

Unfazed by criticism, Mukesh says he's determined to keep Reliance growing. His father demonstrated that Indian companies could be modern, vital and competitive. Now the sons have picked up the torch. "People will remember you after you are gone not for your money or your power," Mukesh says, "but because of what you have left behind."

—By Aravind Adiga and Meenakshi Ganguly

So whats happenin on the Mumbai Front???

2005-03-02T13:20:00.000-08:00

OK, so heres wats hit Mumbai in the last couple of weeks....Reliance is not going to Split...suprise.....apparetly the brothers have sorted out their differences and Amabani is still a big name in the corporate sector....wonder how long thats going to last.....
Tata launched its swift a couple of days ago...lets see how that fairs in the market....its definately alot more realistic than the 1 lakh car they have been waiting to release...thats all i got for now...anybody with any interesting updates??