Flying with the fastest birds on the planet: Peregrine Falcon & Gos Hawk...

Real birds eye view! Golden Eagle in flight - Animal Camera - BBC

Find the Strength of Society!!!!!!!!!!!

Residential real estate in Mumbai's peripheral areas has witnessed quite a few newsworthy events but this one is special: the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) cut across political affiliations and passed a resolution that would allow developers to go ahead with construction of residential buildings, without the earlier prerequisite of non-agricultural (NA) status of the land. MBMC mayor, Narendra Mehta called it the 'coming together of common minds for the benefit of home seekers'. "There is a legal issue pending before the Mumbai high court, the subject matter of which deals with a legal pre-requisite for getting the NA clearance, required as per MBMC rules, at the stage when the developer commences construction (the CC stage). This created a situation where, in the past few months, most developers did not commence work," explained Mehta. The MBMC has now passed a resolution, making the NA necessary at the stage of obtaining the occupancy certificate (OC) i.e., when the building is ready for possession. Former president of the MBMC, Praful Patil, lauded the move saying, "The MBMC has shown that it is responsive to the concerns of home buyers." The resolution should re-start new construction activity which has been at a stand-still in Mira-Bhayandar, for some time now, said Atul Shah of the Goldstar Group. "If status quo had continued, Mira-Bhayandar would have run out of fresh stock of residential realty. Alternately, the issue pending before the high court, would have effectively added Rs 250 per sq ft to the cost of homes in any residential project launched after October last year," adds Shah. "In a sluggish market scenario, the last thing one would want is an extra levy of Rs 250 per sq ft," says developer, Suresh Kabra, who is an office bearer at the Builders' Association. "While waiting for the court's decision, developers got together and proactively sought an interim solution for this problem. Thankfully, our elected representatives supported the move, passing the resolution which makes the NA status necessary at the OC stage, instead of at the CC stage, as used to be the case," he said. Developer Mahendra Kothari said the solution, although interim, was a 'practical solution' to ensure that home seekers continue to regard Mira-Bhayandar as the ideal residential destination, at prices that were affordable. Terming it as a 'welcome' step, estate agent, Girish Gohil, added that the primary issue pending before the high court needed to be redressed at the earliest. Echoing this sentiment is mayor Mehta, who added that the new MBMC municipal commissioner was likely to seek an opinion from the state government's law and judiciary department with regards to whether he could implement the resolution passed by the MBMC. For the moment, however, unity among developers has led MBMC to create history of sorts - by cutting across party lines and passing a resolution that would make home seekers' task a bit easier.

Discovery of a NEW Shining INDIA

The year 2002 was a watershed in former radio presenter, war journalist and marketing professional René Seifert’s life. Seifert had to leave his job as director-entertainment for Lycos Europe after the dotcom bust and used his severance package to travel the world. “It was a great chance for me to see places like Thailand, Russia and Cuba,” reflects the 38-year old half-German, half-Croatian Seifert. After his whirlwind sabbatical, Seifert sat down and considered his options. Business was clearly the way to go. “India and Ireland were both emerging as global sourcing destinations, but I felt that the former had greater potential,” he says. In July 2003, Seifert came to India and met with officials from the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce, apart from local lawyers and chartered accountants to do his homework. Convinced of his decision, he launched Level 360 the same year. “I soon realised that networking is of the essence in India, especially to get through all the bureaucracy. You have to know all the right people to get your work done - and some of the wrong ones too,” he chuckles. Seifert also recalls an interview with a candidate who had applied for a job, “In response to a question about his family, he just went on and on about them. I was taken aback, but soon realised that Indians put family above a lot of other things.” Level 360 initially tried to make money by selling low-cost gold and silver jewellery on EBay to customers in Germany and the UK. The jewellery was sourced from Canada and shipped to the buyers. But in November 2004, he realised this line wasn’t profitable enough. “I then looked around and wondered which of my skills and experiences I could best leverage,” Seifert says, adding, “I realised that a lot of German companies could benefit from the outsourcing wave, if only someone could connect them to software vendors in India.” It was an idea that clicked. Four years down the line, Level 360’s 12-member team works for 25 German clients spread across sectors such as Internet and Web solutions, retail, logistics and manufacturing and has annual revenues of around a million dollars. Unlike Seifert, Belgian Quentin Staes-Polet, CEO and cofounder of Mumbai-based Kreeda Games, was no stranger to India. As IBM’s former media and entertainment practice leader for Asia Pacific media and entertainment, Staes-Polet frequently travelled to India. “After joining IBM in 2001, I saw first-hand the emergence of telecom, broadband and mobile in India,” Staes-Polet remarks. Having realised that online gaming was picking up fast and also that there was no established player in the massive multiplayer online gaming (MMOG) space in India, the idea to start Kreeda came as a flash of inspiration to Staes-Polet. With Ramesh Anumukonda (now Kreeda’s chief gaming officer) and Robin Alter (Kreeda’s CTO), both former IBM consultants in tow, Staes-Polet started Kreeda in Mumbai in August 2006. “Between us, we had the technical skills like game creation, marketing and finance. We chose Mumbai, as it is the media and entertainment hub of the country,” he reveals. Staes-Polet used his contacts to obtain funding from two VCs, SoftBank China & India Holdings and IDG Ventures India. The two funds collectively hold under 50% stake in Kreeda. Kreeda’s first product was DanceMela, a multiplayer online dancing-cum-social networking game which was free for users. The original game was developed by a Chinese firm, 9You. Kreeda licensed the game from 9You, localised the content and characters and launched it in India. “We couldn’t develop the game ourselves, because that is a lengthy process that costs millions of dollars. Plus we don’t see that kind of talent here in India,” he says. Though a recent FICCI-KPMG study states that the gaming sector, led by online games, is growing at 33 % and is estimated to touch Rs 2740 crore by 2013, from Rs 650 crore in 2008, the market in India is still led by gaming over LAN networks in tiny cyber cafes. Rues Staes-Polet, “The biggest barrier is that the PCs here are generally old and slow. On top of that, the Internet bandwidth isnt conducive to large online games either. And when you have a hetereogenous target audience, that’s bound to affect usage too.” In the last two-and-a-half years, Kreeda has got about 100,000 registered users. However, the largest chunk of Kreeda’s revenues currently comes from lighter online games that they develop for foreign clients. However, if things pan out right, Kreeda plans to enter the mobile gaming space in some time. Brian Choudhary and Giuseppe Mozzillo met in 2004, while studying at the London School of Economics (LSE). When Choudhary learnt that Mozzillo’s extended family had been in the cheesemaking business in Italy for centuries, he wanted to visit his village to know more. “I saw how different cheeses were produced and the thought struck me that we could do this in India,” he says. Choudhary, with Indian and Serbian parents, had already seen quite a bit of India since his childhood. But though the duo was enthusiastic about the proposed venture, it wasn’t until 2008 that Exito Gourmet, their Panchkula-based company was born. “Both of us were working regular jobs for those three years—I, in New York and Giuseppe in Spain. During that time, Giuseppe met Jorge Tapia Chavero, a lawyer who also wanted to come on board. But in 2004, the laws on foreign direct investment in the food processing sector were unfavourable and we had to wait a while until they were eased by the Indian government,” Choudhary says. The Indian market was emerging slowly as awareness about different kinds of cheese grew. However, Indians are sensitive—and somewhat entrenched—in the views on milk products. “It was a risk,” Choudhary agrees, “But we still decided to go ahead.” In June 2008, the trio came to India and met Puneet Gupta, an Indian importer of cheese. Since he knew the Indian market well, Gupta joined Exito Gourmet as CEO. Choudhary himself handles the role of CFO. The total initial investment that went into the company was over Rs. 10 crores. One of the earliest issues was getting all the necessary permits. “You have all kinds of food production and industrial permits to get, and the process was a long one.” Recreating the flavour of authentic Italian cheese in India was also a challenge. “We put a big premium on the quality of milk we bought from our local suppliers,” Choudhary reveals. Producing approximately 20-30 tonnes of eight different kinds of cheese (annualised) at present, Exito Gourmet aims to produce around 100 tonnes a year soon. Their clients consist of five star hotels and restaurants. French airman Roger Langbour was posted at the French Embassy’s administrative wing in the seventies. But when he retired in 1975, he didn’t leave India. He married an Indian in 1981 and tried setting up a business of his own. By 1992, he had tried his hand at many different things, including handicraft exports, which didn’t work too well. “You have to have the feel for a business. If you don’t, then you shouldn’t do it,” he says. That’s when he decided what he wanted to do—sell organic poultry and vegetables to hotels in India. This was an area that was yet untapped. India had just started opening up and new affluence brought fresh demand. “I started at a small, crowded place behind Palam Airport in New Delhi. After starting, I went back to France for a while to learn new techniques of poultry farming and breeding at the famous Vendee farms,” he recalls. As an air force man, Langbour wasn’t equipped to be on a farm, but he learnt. He also improved his English in the meantime by going to the UK and learning the language. “When you want to do something on your own, you have to make the effort,” he adds. Langbour’s French Farm specialises in rearing Muscovy and Peking ducks, apart from quail, rainbow chicken, turkeys and pigs which go to leading five star hotels in the country as well as to expats, embassies and individual customers. Langbour bought his current 3-acre farm, which is beyond Manesar in the NCR in 1994. “I got the land along with Francis Wacziarg of Neemrana Hotels. I took three acres and he bought the other 4.5 acres of the total land I was offered,” he says. Looking back at his journey, Langbour says he really didn’t have to compete with anyone. “No one was doing what I was doing and so I had an advantage,” he says. But working with hotels, he says, is a difficult task. “They don’t pay on time, but they want the best possible quality at the lowest prices. And there is rampant corruption,” he explains. Nevertheless, his business has moved from just offering poultry and pigs to also growing organic vegetables, but that is only for private customers. French Farm’s turnover is now over Rs 1 crore. Chris Baker, 45, came to India from the UK five years ago to join an MNC real estate firm. Though he always harboured entrepreneurial ambitions, it was a sudden turn of fate that made him take the plunge. After quitting his job nine months ago, Baker found employment with a real estate consortium as senior vice president. However, the consortium is yet to start operations in the country. Baker, who lives in Bangalore with his wife, started bangalore buddy.com, late last year, just before the meltdown hit India. This site aims to be a one-stop shop for expat travellers, and has a dedicated team of writers who are carefully chosen to review and rate various places in town, like hotels, restaurants and weekend getaways. Bangalorebuddy claims to have around 1,500 registered users. Baker invested Rs 20 lakhs to get the team going and get the website started last year in November. The revenue is coming in from service providers, like hotel chains, who are paying to get listed on the site. However, the site had to reduce its prices after the downturn hit the hospitality sector. The registration fee is now at Rs. 20,000, down from Rs. 25,000. Baker is now looking for investments from VC funds. “Since we are already earning revenues, and growing at around 100%, I am optimistic of securing funding. We also plan to hire 160 people in the next two years.” The recession has not deterred Ema Trinidad, a US-settled native of the Philippines, from starting off a new antiageing clinic called S2 at Indiranagar in Bangalore. “The beauty business is recession-proof,” says Trinidad. Prior to starting her clinic five months ago, she was a global supplier for a US-based cosmetic product company. In the next two years, Trinidad plans to earn Rs 20 lakhs a month from this one centre alone, and is already seeing high-status women queuing up at her doors. Charging anywhere between Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,500 per sitting, S2 is targeting an elite audience with its first outlet. Two more outlets in Mumbai will start by 2010. For both Baker and Trinidad, the going has not been smooth. One of Baker’s biggest priorities was sending his son to study abroad. This, at a time when he was coping with the uncertainty surrounding his new job. For Ema, launching S2 slam-bang in the middle of recession and locating full time to Bangalore was a challenge. But they still persevere, for the Great Indian Dream is more powerful than perhaps we ourselves realise.

Contribution to the New Economy

The contraction in industrial production in January by 0.5% is comforting for the simple reason that it is not as bad as was expected, and capital goods production has rebounded sharply. Disaggregated numbers still look ugly as a general weakening is evident across the board. Production of processed food, having the third highest weight in the index of industrial production (IIP), has contracted a massive 16% in January. And the slowdown appears to have widened with only five sectors reporting positive growth in January against seven in December. Transport equipment and parts, a lead indicator of commercial activity, production fell over 13% in January. Yet, the latest industrial growth numbers hold out hope. As economic slowdown deepens in the emerging markets, industrial activity in India has hovered around the levels seen last year. Even the 2% contraction for December has been revised to a better looking negative growth of only 0.6%. The feared double digit drops in manufacturing, seen in other emerging economies, has not manifested yet in India, though exports are contracting at a fast pace. The strong 15.4% growth in capital durables, though off a low base, should nullify fear over a precipitous decline in new investments. The positive growth in consumer goods after three consecutive months of contraction is also a welcome sign. This resilience at lower levels gives the hope that once the sentiment improves, there could be sharp revival in industrial activity. The stock market, too, appears to have taken the marginal contraction in its stride and rallied near 2% on positive global cues.The burgeoning debt-financed government expenditure would support consumption, though there is a case for prioritising expenditure. The only fear is that such borrowing could crowd out private borrowers. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) can cushion it to the extent it can lower the cash reserve requirement, still at a fairly high 5% of banks’ net demand and time liabilities. The government and the Reserve Bank will have to find ways to ensure that credit needs are met when the economy starts to recover. Much of the decline in consumption appears to be sentiment driven rather than a decline in real incomes. Sentiment, as we know, can change very quickly. How much worse can it get is the question uppermost on most minds. Well, if punditry from multilaterals like the International Monetary Fund is any guide, there is no immediate solace at hand. After holding out the prospect of the global economy scraping through with 0.5% growth this calendar year, the Fund now expects growth to dip below zero. An absolute decline in global GDP, for the first time since World War II, is bad news. For emerging markets like India, whose fortunes are inextricably linked to global growth, with a large number of poor and no safety net, the Fund’s prognosis is doubly disquieting. Except to the extent the Fund’s managing director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn terms the present slowdown the ‘Great Recession’ not the Great Depression, there is reason to hope we might still escape a repeat of the 1930s experience.There are a number of reasons for this. One, world leaders and central banks have been far more proactive than during the Great Depression. We’ve seen country after country announce huge stimulus packages. Two, there is growing realisation that co-ordinated policy action, at least by the bigger powers, can alone save the day. So despite all the posturing about raising protective barriers and rise of economic nationalism, chances are we will not see a return to protectionist trade practices on a large scale. Three, the Fund itself is likely to see a sharp increase in its resources. The US administration has called for a tripling of ‘IMF firepower’. So, with a little luck, the immediate global resource crunch might be resolved. True, we might not see the rootand-branch reform of the global financial architecture we’d hoped for. But US treasury secretary Tim Geithner has already admitted, “lots of things that did not seem realistic in the past are not just realistic but compelling,” so hopefully we will see a less imbalanced global economic order in the not-too-distant future. For now, given how protracted serious reform of the international financial architecture will be, the G20 should use the opportunity of its forthcoming April 2 meeting to get the world economy out of its present comatose state and then address long-term imbalances.

Do we ready for a financial crackover?/

The Indian investor is now left wondering whether it is time to call a market bottom anytime soon or if 2009 will be a repeat of the miserable 2008. The year till date has not been particularly encouraging for equity investors with the sensex down about 14% and the mid and small cap indices by a steeper 20% or thereabouts. In addition, the rupee is down another 6% year to date and the foreign institutional investor has continued the selling spree with around $2 billion of net sales in 2009 till date following the $13 billion of sales in 2008. Expert opinion appears divided between a potential market rebound and an imminent crash. It is, therefore, worth trying to make some sense out of the mayhem that may help guide investors to make informed decisions. Though the market has been correcting since January 2008, the December 2008 quarter was the first quarter since the turn of the millennium that the sensex companies have shown a significant near 20% de-growth in earnings. Even this earnings de-growth was buoyed by a robust performance by the financial sector that accounted for just under a third of the sensex profits and a 22% earnings growth. It is well known that falling interest rates and consequently high investment profits among banks contributed to a disproportionately large portion of the December 2008 quarter profits. This is unlikely to be repeated over the next few quarters because interest rates are possibly close to bottoming out after last week’s repo cut by the Reserve Bank of India. Moreover, public sector banks are unlikely to be earning a margin over their marginal costs on the flavour of the season — mortgage lending at “directed” rates — even without considering potential delinquencies. The spectre of nonperforming loans looms large on the banking system with a slowing economy despite being deftly postponed by creative “restructuring”. With the economic slowdown gaining momentum and possibly getting deeper and wider on the back of a worsening global environment, the outlook on corporate earnings cannot be anything but gloomy. From an earnings growth projection in the mid to high teens a few months ago, analysts are settling down to earnings de-growth in FY09 and FY10. Viewed against this background, even at near 8,000 levels for the sensex, it is difficult to make the case for a compelling buy on India. The marked deterioration in government finances over the last few months has resulted in the budgeted market borrowing of some $60 billion in FY10 and this can only rise further because of a slowing economy and subsequent cuts in excise and service tax. With this level of borrowing, the dalliance with low interest rates cannot last long. At about half the expected deposit accretion in the banking system and twice the statutory liquidity ratio, government borrowing of this magnitude will inevitably lead to choking of credit to the private sector in addition to bidding up interest rates. Given the abysmal returns that the government earns on its investments and the well documented mega leakages in its spending programmes, crowding out private sector investments has the potential to structurally dilute India’s competitive positioning in the world over the medium term. WITH the solvency of the big global banks in doubt, the appetite for emerging market risk in the international markets is almost non-existent. Despite near zero interest rates in the developed economies, the global financial system continues to be in a state of utter disarray. In a recent report, the International Monetary Fund has forecast a stupendous 92% drop in private capital flows into Asia. Against this background, banking on foreign portfolio inflows to give a leg up to the Indian equity market is futile. Viewed through the prism of the critical factors that influence equity markets — earnings growth, valuation, interest rates and liquidity — and given the earnings de-growth projections of corporate India and the consequent issues on market valuation, the potential firming of interest rates in the next few months and the dim prospects of capital inflows it is not surprising that the market is in a state of stupor. The policy vacuum for the next three months in view of the federal elections, especially in the context of continuing global meltdown is certainly adding to the all pervading negative sentiment. While the gunslingers in the market remain hyperactive, investors would do well to ignore the daily noise of incessant movement in stock prices and work towards enjoying the symphony of longterm value creation. They are indeed best suited to do this because having invested their own savings they are not under any pressure of monthly performance or benchmark and peer comparison like professional fund managers. Subjecting available information to a rigorous analysis and identifying companies that can survive the economic slowdown and grow their business and cash flows can indeed be rewarding in the medium term, more so because of the current rock bottom valuations of several investment worthy companies. It is important to realise that the stock market reflects price and not value. The market price represents the meeting point between the most motivated seller of some shares of a company and the keen buyer willing to part with his money to buy these shares. Given that the shares that are exchanged represent a small portion of the company’s share capital, the price at which the transaction has been put through does not affect most investors in the company and the true worth of the company is not really at play. This explains why the price paid for a share in a company acquisition is generally quite different from the market price. To sum up, though the near-term outlook for the market is not rosy, this phase too shall pass. Beyond the current bear market, the economic growth potential of the Indian economy is certainly not in doubt. While the market can correct a bit more in the short term, the intelligent investor should identify companies that can survive the current downturn and generate good returns when the tide turns over the next few quarters.

Come, Let's Lead China to Freedom

China recently appeared keen on averting a replay of last year’s Tibetan unrest that nearly wrecked the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising on March 10 this year, it poured extra troops into Tibet to quell any disturbance. Since mid-January, security preparations sanitised the region of pro-Dalai Lama activists and kept out foreigners for fear of violent incidents attracting global spotlight. Internet and mobile text-messaging services have been blocked between March 10 and May 1 for “network improvement”.Monasteries have faced shutdowns and monks, subjected to ‘patriotic education’, have been monitored. On the eve of the anniversary, President Hu Jintao promised to build a “Great Wall” against Tibetan separatism while foreign minister Yang Jiechi warned other countries not to allow their territories to be used by the Dalai Lama for anti-China activities. Yet reports of monks defying orders have filtered out, especially from the Qinghai and Sichuan provinces. But the anniversary went off peacefully in Lhasa amid China’s heightened measures. Tibetans in exile staged symbolic protests and called on the “Indian people to free Tibet”. The Dalai Lama made unusually strong comments about his anguish at failing to realise a half-century-old struggle for Tibet’s independence. He accused Beijing of turning Tibet into “hell on Earth” through periods of martial law and hard-line policies. But he also reiterated the demand for “meaningful autonomy” within the framework of the Chinese constitution. Beijing too did not react to the event with a show of force. Refuting his criticism as “lies”, China extolled its own achievements in freeing Tibetans from supposed slavery. It declared March 28, marking the fall of the Dalai Lama regime in 1959, ‘Serfs’ Liberation Day’. Both sides perhaps saw reason for avoiding mutually counterproductive confrontation. The Tibetan cause has received the world’s attention but China has successfully resisted scrutiny by maintaining a seemingly nonnegotiable Tibet policy. If anything, explosive anger on the part of Tibetans has merely risked triggering aggrieved nationalism in China. Last year, Beijing was able to whip up public emotions at a time the Dalai Lama — finding growing support among the Chinese intelligentsia — linked his struggle with democracy’s advent in China and his ‘unshaken faith’ in the Chinese people. But 2008’s events damaged China equally. A huge country with the world’s largest population and en route to becoming an economic superpower was made to look paranoid and helpless when protesters the world over threatened to mar its Olympics showcase. China’s achievements appeared to lack credibility in
the international community’s eyes. The Chinese perhaps now recognise the soft power the Dalai Lama represents, which can impact negatively on China’s image. Beijing in the past followed a dual approach to the Dalai Lama, engaging him through talks but also accusing him of plotting bloody riots. Intermittent dialogue lost steam after the Olympics, with China rejecting a constitutional provision for the Dalai Lama’s sway over Tibet via what it called “disguised independence”. While Tibetan interlocutors faced condescension and admonishments about riots in Tibet, the talks helped Beijing sidetrack international scrutiny. The Dalai Lama came under intense pressure from younger Tibetans to abandon his mild creed in favour of a more proactive stance. When Beijing warned him to rein in his young followers, they told him to break off talks. Squeezed from both sides, he threatened to retire from political life. But in a special conclave in Dharamsala last November, the majority reaffirmed their allegiance to his non-violent approach. His retirement was ruled out but so were talks until Beijing showed seriousness. There is no visible sign of change in Beijing’s waiting-game strategy: waiting for the Dalai Lama to pass away so it can install a pliable replacement. The focus is shifting to the contested issue of succession. For the Dalai Lama, the choice, though involving a mystical process, is becoming clear. He had stoked a debate in 2007 over breaking his born-again rule and opting for a democratically elected successor through a referendum before his death. It is not clear if his recent statements are linked to a divine call or political expediency aimed at thwarting China’s control. The 73-year-old leader’s poor health last year compelled his followers to seriously think about a leadership change. It would be difficult to enforce an arrangement not involving the notion of reincarnation. But several campaigns favour passing the mantle to the controversial 17th Karmapa who has Beijing’s blessings apart from the Dalai Lama’s recognition. Succession is a complex issue under the Tibetan hierarchical system. It could mean the collapse of the Gelukpa’s supremacy which, in turn, would fuel dissensions along sectarian lines, resulting in a final victory for China. Tibet could figure prominently on the Obama administration’s radar. The US may call for a multilateral approach to ending the imbroglio. For India, Tibet will always cause some anxiety. Last year, New Delhi was both criticised for bending over backwards to please China as well as patted for its realpolitik. With economic issues driving India’s China policy, Tibet is unlikely to assume much significance though it is linked to critical security issues. It is not inconceivable that Beijing may at some stage pressure New Delhi to dismantle Dharamsala. India needs a more sophisticated policy that goes beyond simply curbing the Dalai Lama’s activities.