In the recent post on PSUs (click here for the post), I wanted to explain the impact of Govt/PSU investments on the economic growth which is much deeper and complex than checking their profit & loss account statement. PSUs mobilize resources and channelize investments in an economy differently so their performance shall be judged from macro level of socio-economic impact rather than micro level of linear net profits. But I left this segment in that post as I had decided to explain the same in the next post on development of semiconductor industry in India. But now I have decided…

(Stocks covered: RITES Ltd, Bharat electronics Ltd, BEML Ltd, HAL, CONCOR, ELGI Equiments Ltd, Laurus labs, Sasken Tech) Ignorance is the biggest hindrance to growth but still the good thing about ignorance is that it itself does not pose as a hindrance…it does not obstruct the path on its own. And that’s exactly why Prejudice is most dangerous because it can mislead to wrong path while the traveller is assured of righteous which eliminates the chance of a course correction. Wrong path is more destructive than no path. And so we can see that religion is not marred by ignorance…

In past few days, got many messages that current stock market rally is liquidity driven...so much noise. I see many analysts crying "liquidity" and claiming that a big market crash is coming. But every asset rise is always about liquidity first. Further, Can anybody say that stock market fundamentals are destroyed forever (say for 5-10 years)? No, not at all!! Liquidity is definitely there, but it could go to other asset class also. But it has come to stocks because investors know that they are cheaper as compared to their fundamentals. These talks of liquidity driven market rally may be…

(Stocks covered: Godrej Agrovet, Laurus Labs, Tata power, Borosil renewables, BEL, BEML, Oberoi Realty, Mahindra Lifespace, Mahindra EPC, Rallis, NH, Max India, HCG) Passion is growth. Passion is transformation of energy. Once I was travelling in train and a nice fellow who was a classical dancer and dance teacher was travelling with me. He was explaining about dance to other passengers and then he showed us a video of some party where one fellow was dancing full of energy but with unrhythmic steps. Then he explained that there is a natural rhythm in our body but that fellow in the…

Covid-19 crisis may be going to change the world as we know as of now. I still hope that India will emerge stronger from this crisis though there may be some complications due to migrant labours on virus infections and economy front in the near time and we need to plan for normalizing this migration as early as possible. On infection front, I still think our demography and better immune system may help us in controlling the severity and mortality though I think infections can run high as due to novelty of this virus it is highly contagious. But I…

Covid lockdown has inflicted a very severe damage on the businesses (may be short time impact for most of the businesses). But in some cases, the hit is like a double edged sword where they have lost the revenue but can’t avoid the expenses. Project sites are one such casualty. Infrastructure projects generally recognize revenues under percentage completion method (Input method) as per the guidelines of IND AS 115. Here the issue is whether the expenditure incurred by any company at a project site during the covid lockdown is abnormal expenditure without having any impact on contract performance and these…

Doubts have been raised on the availment of ITC on prepaid insurance because in conditions provided for claiming ITC (section 16(2)) under GST act, one of the conditions for availing ITC is the receipt of goods and services. So there are apprehensions that insurance service is not received to the extent of prepaid insurance hence ITC is not available. However there is nothing in GST act which disallows the ITC of GST paid on full insurance premium regardless of the periodicity of the premium paid. 1. No financial year and Prepaid expenses concept in GST Act: First of all, the…

Coronavirus spread has devastated the entire globe. The devastation has not just created a healthcare crisis but also economic and existential. But most horrific thing about this crisis is that it has, with its global spread at fast pace, turned much adorable “globalization” into a curse. This curse is not limited to the spread of virus across borders but with the closure of international boundaries it has stopped the flow of goods across the globe because globalization has resulted into vast distances in demand centers and supply centers like USA is facing extreme troubles in procurements because China is its…

Clariant chemicals ran up decently to 440 from 275 when it was advised last time in Nov-2019 (Click here for old post). At that time it was expected to sell its Masterbatches and Pigments business to focus more on high margin specialty chemicals business. I was expecting to sell the same at anywhere around 1500 cr to 2000 cr valuation excluding land bank which was around 15 times its last year EBITDA and around 1.5 times to 2 times of the turnover of 1000 cr while it was available at just .6 times of turnover. So the valuation discount was…

(This is the first article on GST in this Blog and it may not be that relevant for a non GST professional. So I have divided the article in two parts- first part is general discussion about taxes which I think is relevant for everybody and second part is specific to the GST issue but even in this part the views about immovable property are relevant even for a non GST professional) PART-1-General discussion about Taxation Tax laws should be simple If we keep ourselves aside then objectively, on its own, life does not seem to have any higher purpose….except…