Short read: Palmer Luckey and Anduril want to shake up armsmaking
Indian companies catering to the increasing indigenisation of defence spending by the Indian government have seen their stock prices soar over the past couple of years. A different trend is emerging in America which could likely spread to the rest of the world. The American defence industry largely controlled by a handful of behemoths is […]
Long read: The Crazy Economics of the World’s Most Coveted Handbag
Earlier this month, we carried a blog on the history of what is arguably the world’s ‘biggest’ luxury company – Hermès. This piece in the WSJ does a detailed take on the economics behind Hermès’ flagship handbag brand ‘Birkin’, which seems to make it an appreciating ‘asset’. “A basic black leather Birkin 25 costs $11,400 before tax […]
Long read: Inside the Recent Rise in Female Workforce Participation Rate in Rural India
Over the past year or so we have published a series of blogs on the rise of Indian women. More specifically, we have viewed the rise in the Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLFPR) over the past few years as a positive development (see https://marcellus.in/blogs/the-rapid-rise-of-female-entrepreneurs-in-india/). Sapna Goel, Assistant Professor at Hindu College in Delhi takes a […]
Long read: UP village kids forced ISRO to bring space lab. Now they use drones, building weather station
The Print’s reportage of India consists not only of heartwarming feel-good stories, their stories (almost always authored by outstanding female journalists) help one understand both changes afoot in this vast land AND the upside potential if India fixes its broken institutions. The added benefit of these stories is that they highlight how the changes seen […]
Creative Destruction on an Epic Scale in India Inc
As per data from the Income Tax department, of all Indian companies that filed non-zero tax returns for FY22, only 17% saw growth in PAT in real terms over the preceding ten years. And these 17% accounted for 98% of corporate India’s PAT. Furthermore, data from the CMIE shows that the prospect of upward mobility (in terms […]
Short read: Why does AI hallucinate?
You know Artificial Intelligence has truly arrived when you hear instances of chatbots making up information which appear right most of the time, akin to the delusions that intelligent humans go through. The article begins with a few such instances: “Meta’s short-lived scientific chatbot Galactica made up academic papers and generated wiki articles about the […]
Short read: Successful entrepreneurs don’t worry about being different
When six years ago the founders of Marcellus put their life’s savings on the line to create the firm, they realised that becoming an entrepreneur is not everyone’s cup of tea. This short piece by the broadcaster Evan Davis struck a chord with us: “In the interview series The Decisions That Made Me a Leader, […]
Short read: For Bengalis who left their home in Bangladesh, a new tour can take them to their desher bari
Several of us in Marcellus are the children or grandchildren of those who migrated to India during the Partition. In such families, discussion regarding the ancestral home (or “desher bari” as it is known in Bangla) takes on an almost mythical dimension. An enterprising company in Kolkata has built a business around this yearning that […]
Long read: Learning to Slow Down Time
We often complain how time flies. Implicit in this is a feeling that we are not able to make the most of what is a limited lifespan. This blog highlights research which explains why that happens and what we can do to ‘slow down’ time and make the most of our lives. The author talks […]
Long read: The Great American Poisoning
Last month, we featured this piece about how ultra-processed foods are affecting our bodies. This piece builds on it by showing how the processed food industry is actually incentivised to cause harm. Before that, the article reiterates the gravity of the situation: “In 1990, zero states had obesity rates above 20%. As of 2018, zero states had […]
Long read: How the West has been misreading China for years
In the ranks of experts on China, Frank Dikotter is in the premier league thanks to the insightful books he has published on Chinese politics and society over the past four decades. Mr Dikotter is the author of the “People’s Trilogy” about China under Mao Zedong and has been chair professor of humanities at the […]
Spotlighting Eureka Forbes
In this month’s newsletter, we delve deeper into Eureka Forbes Limited (EFL) one of the new additions to the portfolio. We see several earnings growth levers for EFL over the next 5 years: (a) Increase in the water purifiers (WP) category penetration backed by improved tap water supply, and initiatives taken by the WP companies […]
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