Short read: Mount Fuji: Iconic view to be blocked to deter tourists
Across the world, tourism has skyrocketed since the pandemic ended. In India, airline traffic growth – both domestic and international – has hit all time highs. The northern Indian hill stations are rammed full several months before the school summer holidays have begun. The same is true for European cities. In fact, Amsterdam announced last […]
Short read: Master Your Attention: Schopenhauer’s Strategy Against Clickbait
Whilst social media with its user generated content has resulted in an explosion of content such as blogs and podcasts from practitioners, hitherto restricted by mainstream media controlling what we consume, it has also meant that we need to work that much harder to filter for good content. But why should we bother filtering and […]
Short read: The Little Things that Result in the Big Things
“When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact”, Warren Buffett is known to have said suggesting why it is important to look for businesses which are fundamentally strong before evaluating management quality. The great Peter Lynch […]
Long read: Made in Bihar: How superfood makhana works its magic
The strong growth in packaged foods and in particular snacks as a category, has been the saving grace in an otherwise slowing FMCG industry. Within that, thanks to rising health awareness and the resulting change in consumption habits, the health foods category, albeit small, is growing rapidly. Whilst millets have emerged as a healthy alternative […]
Long read: Modi Govt Doubled Spending On Insurance, Not Enough On Health Infrastructure
This being election season, we are treated to politicians engaged in heated debate on a daily basis. However, on critical issues like health, what’s at stake is much more than political careers. What’s at stake is the health of your & our relatives and friends. Hence you might want to read this piece in IndiaSpend […]
Long read: India’s difficult business environment is improving
A year ago The Economist noted that India is likely be the world’s fastest growing large economy for several years to come – see https://marcellus.in/story/the-economists-cover-story-india-is-likely-to-be-the-worlds-fastest-growing-big-economy-this-year/.This year The Economist’s special issue on India notes that “The difficulties of doing business in India and the lack of broadly available finance are two reasons why large conglomerates have dominated the […]
Short read: D Gukesh makes history: Viswanathan Anand’s successors are here
In our past editions of the 3L&3S, we have been featuring pieces on the rise of Indian chess. Last Sunday, that rise hit a crescendo of sorts as D Gukesh became the youngest to win the Fide Candidates tournament, beating the legendary Gary Kasparov’s record. Incidentally, Kasparov tweeted soon after the win: “Congratulations! The Indian earthquake […]
Short read: The surprising benefits of a traditional Japanese diet
Those of us who grew up in fish-eating families were often force-fed fish by our tiger mums or grandmums on the pretext that “eating fish makes you cleverer”. Whilst as children we used to think that this was gobbledygook, now as middle-aged professionals we are realising that our elders were on to something. As per […]
Water extraction and weight of buildings see half of China’s cities sink
A couple of years ago, a friend of ours published an outstanding book on the escalating water crisis in India. In “Watershed: How we destroyed India’s water….” , Mridula Ramesh describes amongst other things how cities like Delhi, Bangalore and several other high density urban centres in northern India, groundwater is being used both for washing, […]
Long read: Valuation Multiples – What They Miss, Why They Differ, and the Link to Fundamentals
Valuation multiples such as and specifically the Price to Earning or PE ratio are the most commonly used valuation approach by investors in India as well as globally. In our newsletters, we at Marcellus have highlighted the limitations of multiples as a valuation approach. As this piece shows, Prof Aswath Damodaran makes a further distinction […]
Long read: The irresistible mystery of the beautiful batsman
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal provided one of the greatest rivalries of sport, not just for the intensity with which they competed but also the mutual respect they showed for each other. It will be hard to choose one over the other. Whilst Rafa’s grit might appeal to some, for others the sheer elegance of […]
Long read: Explained: Tamil Nadu’s decentralised industrialisation model
The legendary journalist and author Harish Damodaran (he of ‘India’s New Capitalists’ fame), has written an outstanding piece that would be of interest to anyone who has been trying to understand why over the past two decades peninsular Indian has surged ahead of the rest of the country. In cities like Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, […]
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