Marcellus Insights
Great Companies Befriend Time. So Must Their Investors
Everyone wants the returns that come from holding a great company for decades. But not everyone can actually sit through the 50%-plus drawdowns that come along the way. In our new book, The Art of Enduring, we explore why time favours great companies, and why staying invested in them is so hard, but can be […]
Short read: The pioneering women who pushed for gender equality shortly after India’s independence
In their best-selling book, our colleagues Nandita Rajahansa and Saurabh Mukherjea highlighted the rise of the Indian woman as a key theme underpinning India’s economic progress. Whilst encouraging, it has taken its time coming. Not without effort though. Indeed, a blog we featured here a few months ago attributed women’s liberation as one of the […]
Short read: Falcons for status, reptiles for show – how social media feeds the exotic-pet trade
Unless you were hiding under a rock, you would have read about the five infant orangutans recently found in a forest in Odisha. It is suspected they were victims of international wildlife trafficking and most likely destined to become part of someone’s private collection of pets. Behind cases like these sits an entire supply chain, […]
Short read: What is an EV worth after five years? China’s used-car market has an answer
As part of the investment research at Marcellus, we rely on a lot of field work, including meeting customers, preferably at the point of sale, to understand buying behaviour. For the auto sector it invariably involves a visit to a few dealerships. And we come across two recurring drivers of the preference for one brand […]
Long read: The taxman comes for China’s offshore riches
Earlier this week, in a blog titled ‘Big Winners and Losers from India’s ‘Breakpoint’, our colleagues Nandita Rajahansa and Saurabh Mukherjea wrote about how the benefits of productivity boom in the west and in India over the past few decades have largely accrued to capital than labour i.e, returns for business owners and stock market […]
Long read: Stanford University professor Karl Deisseroth wins 2026 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine
It is that time of the year when distinguished scientific work contributing to human progress gets recognised – the week when Nobel prize winners are announced. This article features one who shared this year’s award in the field of medicine – Karl Deisseroth of Stanford University for his work in the new and exciting field […]
Long read: The truth behind Trump’s “biggest oil deal in world history”
Crude oil is India’s Achilles’ heel. Our energy dependence makes the price of oil one of the most critical inputs in our fiscal planning as well as in monetary policy actions. It follows that policymakers would have their eye on everything that happens in the global crude oil market. So, when a US president calls […]
Big Winners & Losers from India’s ‘Breakpoint’
Automation almost always displaces workers but whether it also impoverishes them is a political choice. Post-war America shared the gains from its machines with its workers until the 1970s; since 1979, a typical American worker’s pay has risen 33% while productivity has risen 94%. Germany faced the same situation but gave its workers a legal […]
What Enduring Companies Do in a Crisis
Good companies don’t become great by avoiding crises. They become great by how they handle them. We found this as a common trait across all the five companies featured in our new book, “The Art of Enduring”. This is the story of how Tata Elxsi and Divi’s turned their worst moments into turning points. If […]
Short read: The Index Fund Turns 50: How Jack Bogle Changed Investing Forever
Earlier this week, the Indian authorities granted Marcellus the license to operate a mutual fund company. We at Marcellus feel privileged to be given the opportunity to help Indian families fulfil their financial and hence life aspirations. With this responsibility, we feel appropriate to invoke the man who has made the most difference to ordinary […]
Short read: Who Says Reading Is Dead?
Several studies have shown the tragic decline of reading (especially for pleasure) across the world and across socioeconomic strata. Unsurprisingly, the advent and growth of social media use is often blamed for what is increasingly referred to as the ‘post literate’ world. However, there is an interesting aspect of ‘literacy’ that is rising that this […]
Short read: Who Is Really Rich in America? (Hint: Main Street Millionaires)
In a world with increasing wealth inequality, especially with a growing lot with stupendous wealth (even a trillionaire), wealth creation gets a negative connotation in social debates. Yet, there is a class of wealthy outside the mega tech deca/centi billionaires, that are ‘merely’ decamillionaires who have built their fortune in more unassuming ways. Nick Maggiulli […]
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