CAT is among the most prestigious exams in India, however, in last 10 years it has happened twice when regulators were unable to maintain the integrity of exam. This year IIMs and Government decided to conduct the exam online at various centers for 10 days, which turned out nightmare for candidates in various states. I was reading an article yesterday, quoted by Human resource development minister, he mentioned 8,000 out of 40,000 candidates were affected in first 3 days – were unable to take exam because of various reasons. He directed IIMs to be more careful and cautious next time. I wonder what “next time” means ? Government of this country is so helpless at every stage, let it be sponsored terrorism, China’s acquisition, inflation, Maharashtra (marathi vs hindi battle), CAT ….list is long.

I have few questions un-answered yet -

1. Did IIMs or Govt or Prometric ever had a mock drill before actual exam to check systems and centers, whether they are capable of taking so many candidates in 10 days.

2. It is evident CAT regulators have huge capital (revenue from exam) to deploy for exams, why can’t they have paper and pencil exam rescheduled next month – why everyone is running away from media to answer this question.

3. Government of India – why Human Resources Minister is so helpless, why he can’t place an order to scrap the exam and place an order to reschedule the exam next month.

It is difficult to predict the fate of 8,000 students, how they will be accommodated to take exam again in next 7 days, however, this years CAT exam has raised serious concerns on India’s IT infrastructure. We are still in stone age when compared to China and United States.

Vivek Misra

Here it comes the list of 20 worst CEOs of all times – source Conde Nast Portfolio magazine. It is kind of funny to read about these superstars how they performed amazingly well to deceive shareholders and associates in their own company. I don’t blame Vikram Pandit too much, because of he doesn’t had much in his hand when he took over Citigroup, the ship was already on its way to get drowned. Anyways, few of the big scandals before recent recession were World-com and Enron of course. We always tend to forget things as they come in news….I wonder how many in South Asia does even care of sub-prime fiasco in the US. But yes, no doubt countries in this region are affected badly because of the mess in US economy and people have lost jobs in the companies which are heavily dependent on US economy.

The magazine rightly booked rank one to Dick Fuld, this man has immense intellectual skills to drive Lehman into a dustbin…I wonder why these people are given Golden parachutes, they dont deserve it in the first place. Nothing against anyone, but how does a company’s CEO manages to manipulate things at this level and that too for a public company, and then one fine day its price deteriorates in a glamorous way and everyone then notice the Company and the CEO.

Yesterday, Reliance Power registered 188% profit growth, any layman who will look at this change will say “ouch”…even then the scrip didn’t do well….no big movement. I believe there could be two reasons, the promoters have no money to invest in their company {given recession} or probably the results are misleading. The second thing could very well be true, given Satyam’s infamous case. My fingers are crossed for the day when there will be Indian faces in the list of 20 worst CEOs across the Globe.

Vivek Misra

One of the best movies I have probably seen till date…Slumdog wins hands down! I have been reading much criticism about the movie…people have been bashing the director’s team for displaying poverty in such a way. However, far from Fiction movies, it stands apart. In Mumbai there is a section of people who might have similar lifestyle and probably might have a very close resemblance to what the movie showed up, or probably worse, everyone between us, reads newspaper with 10 different stories of murder, rape, extortion and what not, and then we close the newspaper and get down with our daily business. It is difficult for anyone to spend 10 minutes to think about someone like Jamal {actor in Slumdog} – and his lifestyle. Yesterday while I was on my way towards office, I witness a horrible incident, a small kid {beggar} was beaten horrendously by someone – I believe probably he might have not earned required amount by end of day.

There was not a single dull moment in entire run..every question has a story in itself…let it be riots in the city for no reason, I wonder what satisfaction one gets while killing 10 innocent poor people who have done nothing, probably those who have been killed don’t even know the reason for why they have been killed for…or human trafficking…kids / females are like commodities, I know it is brutal….but it stands true even in developed cities.

Slumdog is a low budget movie, but it might end up making far more money for the producers than big budget projects we have seen this year

Vivek Misra

Satyam computers is among big four IT outsourcing giants in India {don’t know if this holds true! now}. Being a public company it is difficult for any firm to manipulate things at this level. In last quarter the company filed debt close to 5,000 Cr, which could be under stated by the company as well. E&Y was third party auditor which signed the filing made by Satyam in previous quarter. Now since everything is in public, however still some dust needs to settle before everything comes out. I believe following events will take over -

1. Satyam’s ADR and Satyam Computers could face de-listing from various exchanges, the company has lost credibility. Satyam ADR at NYSE closed at 0.01 yesterday down 99.89% intraday. I was surprised to see this didn’t happened with Satyam Computers at BSE/NSE.

2. E&Y partners might loose their license, however, the bigger implication will be they will loose contracts and business going forward. Even if they somehow get rid of legal battle, it will be very difficult for them to regain confidence.

3. Satyam might have to sell off some of its stake to raise cash, as Raju already said 55,000 Cr of cash reserve is fake, now after the filing the Company has busted some of its negative covenants, the creditors will might enforce liquidation of some assets in the Company.

4. Satyam also have to reduce its work force, given they might also be loosing contracts and clients going forward, they will be under major restructuring phase in 2009.

5. Satyam might also face a ban from big banks and PE funds, given the fraud in cash reserve they have, it will be very difficult for the Company to raise any cash for operations going forward.

Last year, before Diwali there was an interview of Alan Greenspan aired, he said “This is once in a millennium like situation, probably we might not see anything close to this in our lives”. At least this stands true for me, 2008 was full of events, and 2009 started with Satyam blockbuster!

Vivek Misra

 

Asin and Amir Khan

Its been a wonderful day today…everything went exactly I wanted it to be… I know it happens rarely when things dance the way I wish them to….its 1:30 AM here and I am so tempted to come up here and share it with my best friend! 

 

I went for Ghajini after office today, one of the best movies I had seen in recent times, I was with a friend….actually initially we didn’t had any plans for movie, we were hunting for a good place for dinner….when he said lets see show timings and if we get some luck at the window. However, it was to our surprise…when we were standing in “Q”….someone cancelled two tickets and we actually got two tickets for the current show…and without wasting a second we were in the theatre …the magic was not over yet, both of us were hungry, we went down during intermission, both of us had the same feeling….we would be facing “Q” again, but it didn’t happen, we got last combination available, the couple behind us…were unable to get anything…given the show was houseful

The movie was fabulous…in fact I liked songs the most, Asin is amazingly beautiful, and her acting comes out so natural. Amir Khan was phenomenal….certainly one of my best weekends to start with  

Wish you a very Happy New Year….with all the happiness coming your way! {my best friend is my blog}

Vivek Misra

2008 is coming to an end…one more week and 2009 will take over….unlike 2007, last year was far more exciting and eventful for me…I am writing with mixed feelings, nevertheless, every time new year comes, I always have this feeling, time never stops…and it is THE most powerful force that drives us. Anyways, just wanted to summarize what I did last year -

1. Got promoted early in 2008 to a new role, enjoyed work – somehow managed the work-life balance.
2. I got possession of my new house in mumbai earlier this year, oh! how can I forget – one of the brightest event for me in 2008.
3. After many years…I was home on Diwali vacations.
4. A very special birthday, got calls from people across the globe, I never expected – on a good note it brings a lot of energy probably…when you get something you never expected it to be.
5. A lot of traveling I did in 2008 – and yes, given that I am a veg – I remember I didn’t have food for two days just milk and corn flakes, when stuck at a place, where I couldnt find things I can eat !
6. Took two exams this year – enjoyed stuyding for those exams, and even more when everything went fine hoping to take a few more in 2009! atleast the effort I had put for those, will surely help me going forward {I believe}
7. I stopped investing in Capital markets, early this year, and decided not to invest in any markets, emerging markets have become more gambling than anything – I guess this is something I won’t be doing in 2009 as well.
8. Made a lot of new friends, however, I realised the fact old is gold I miss IIT days….
9. One of my closet friend got married, however, I missed his wedding, was not in India  anyways, happy for him that he married someone he liked the most !!
10. Made a resolution not to celebrate New year and my b’day next year, after Mumbai was attacked.
11. I lost my cell phone – it was raining so heavy I remember in the evening, when I was waiting for a taxi close to my office, however, given my bad luck after waiting for 30 mins I was unable to convince any taxi driver for Churchgate station, I started walking in the rain, suddenly I realized my phone is not there in my pocket…. I guess someone took it off, when I was in a crowded lift !!
12. For the 1st time in two years of my job, I stayed at office for more than 18 hours {weird thing, just wanted to include this!}

….the list is long, I believe 2009 will be even more rocking…I wish to visit South Asia – is one of my dream. Also, one of my dream is deep sea diving, something like we usually see in Discovery channel yes! I know it sounds weird, but then no one is taxed for dreaming

Vivek Misra

I was an atheist until I realised that I was GOD….

One among the strongest one-liners I saw in recent times !

I have been hearing lot of expert opinion on real estate prices in India, and of course speculation whether the prices will fall down and how people and builders will hedge the risk going forward.  To start with, India had a good growth story from 2001 to 2007….six years back when I first came to mumbai, the prices in the busiest metro in India – mumbai were in comparison to its other metro in competition – yes Delhi ! However, things changed in 2-3 years and Mumbai saw an awesome 300% rise in property prices! I remember when I graduated from IIT, prices in nearby places were horrendous and searching a place to stay in the city and that too under heavy rain was a mammoth task…even when the demand was huge and prices were rising there was a big section of individuals who were investing in property expecting handsome gain going forward.

In late 2007 and early 2008 conditions start to deteriorate and prices became stagnant, someone told me the other metro Delhi and Noida has already been corrected to 30% in June, however, mumbai was one place which has to see correction. Finally with the fall of Lehman Brothers – the final nail in coffin came when Lehman filed bankruptcy protection and its investment and correlation with other major Indian banks and institutions were disclosed. {Normally private placements and inter-bank lending is not filed – it is not mandatory} Credit crunch was very much visible in early October 2008, when India’s second biggest financial institution ICICI Bank saw significant deterioration. However, the bank’s investment in Lehman of $200 million was known before hand, the Company had filed that, but its exposure to secondary credit markets in the US were not known, speculation at Dalal Street helped the bank to loose its 2/3rd market capitalization in 30 trading days.

Once banks came down, big real estate houses started feeling the heat, the projects slowly were cancelled and credit crunch was clearly visible. It was when mumbai saw price detoriation inspite of demand and bigger Industry than other metros. HDIL, Unitech, DLF, Reliance Industrial Infra, Jaicorporation were among big names in large caps and mid caps, saw 70-90% detoriation in the price and significant downfall in market capitalization. In late October the Reserve bank of India had two things to fight with Inflation and credit crunch – both entities have inverse correlation, however cooling of Crude and commodities somehow helped the central bank to reduce rates, and with the effect – Call rates {overnight interbank lending rates} which was hovering around 24% cooled to 15-15.5% levels.

Real estate prices will see more downfall in major metro cities, I believe 30% correction from here, will be a good price to acquire more of real estate in metros. Also, the benchmark prime lending rates of various banks should come down, given RBI will be reducing CRR and repo rates – which might drive prices to some stable levels.  I still believe in India’s growth story and I still believe India will outperform in South Asia going forward, I keep my fingers crossed for next elected government in March.

Vivek Misra

Last week was very busy for me, had to slog for the exam… finally I took it on last Sunday, however {sigh},  and now since exam is over…I am feeling void in my life, it is difficult to comprehend things after something significant is over successfully. I remember last Sunday evening after the exam..when I was back to hotel…was tired.. it was almost mid night…was reading few messages and mails. I tend to realise how fast things are changing around me…anyways it is impossible for anyone to predict the future and re-write its destiny, I feel nothing! {void}

Yesterday was one of the big day in my life, was waiting for this day since last few weeks, frankly after I returned back to India…and it ended well, much of what I expected it to be…but then again paradoxical feeling that what next! It becomes even more confusing when things are not clear…don’t know about others how they take up situations like this….anyways I am looking forward to developments as they come….at times I feel I am imposing things that I shouldn’t be doing!

Probably by the end of this week, things should be clear….I never had confusion for anything….or any decision, and…I am just a normal guy far away from limelight and complex things…however, I believe its my turn to get into things for the 1st time and see if it works good for everyone….

Vivek Misra

It was pleasant outside early today, and to my surprise it was raining…was around 4:30 AM…wow! after so many hot and humid counting days finally cold breeze in mumbai. I miss IIT days…when we use to have coffee early mornings…after long gaming sessions…it was when I was addicted towards…age of empires and Counter Strike in my penultimate semester…certainly age of empires has its own glamour and addiction {the gaming thing for me ended soon, when placements started on campus}…I just love games in which one has to design strategies with team-mates to make sure you get an advantage over other team…however, now the good old time is far behind me…but memories never perish…on a different note,  I believe the campus is far green than other places in mumbai…it is a bless to be at IIT. I remember… some two years back…in my final year…November end was my second stage presentation of final year project, and I was typing my presentation….it was around 4 in the morning, when it started raining..same cold breeze was flowing…and today it felt like Deja Vu!!

How many times in our lives incidents like this happen when we tend to think….something similar already has happened before, which unfolds few pages in the history….

I am planning to revisit my campus sometime next week, probably will click some pictures, early in the morning….at times I feel how difficult it is to get inside the campus where I stayed for five years…but all the time, something or other comes up. I never realised when at campus that life will be so busy…that I need to plan things for next few weeks.

I was watching quiet campus from my roof while morning showers were on…I envy birds who could travel long distance and have no boundary limitations, no time constraints…free within themselves. Hoping dynamics of my life also change like those of birds who have no boundaries, no limitations, no time dimensions…

Vivek Misra