Marcellus Insights

Why are we underperforming the Nifty?

In FY19, our portfolio companies reported 18% revenue growth, 16% earnings growth and 37% ROCE. Whilst this was a healthy performance at an overall level, the external environment facing our companies deteriorated towards the end of FY19 due to tight credit conditions accentuated by the challenges in the NBFC sector (and hence challenges faced by […]

Marcellus: “Unusual Billionaires” Flip the Competitive Paradigm

There are around 25 dominant franchises in the BSE500. Most of them have been created by “Unusual Billionaires – promoters or CEOs who saw their sectors through a very different lens than everybody else and then proceeded to flip the competitive paradigm to create an enduring competitive advantage.  “…And they shared an interesting set of […]

A short film explaining the evolution of our investment philosophy.

Marcellus: Can Meditation Help Us at Work?

Inspite of the origins of meditation in the East, it is Western investors who are highlighting to a sceptical world the significant benefits that meditation confers upon practitioners whose day jobs are highly stressful.  “I am so busy today that…I am going to meditate for two hours instead of one.” ― Mahatma Gandhi Meditation: definitions & origins […]

Polls have no long-term bearing on stock markets: Saurabh Mukherjea

Marcellus: The Working Habits of Great Minds

Published on:17 May, 2019 Pathbreaking work has at its core very hard work, often done in the midst of a well-defined schedule and usually done in solitude. Research shows that the greatest minds of the past three hundred years have used a surprisingly similar template to grind their way to success. “I must have liked […]

Why radical transparency about salaries can pay off

The iconoclastic hedge fund manager, Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates emphasised about ‘radical transparency’ in the work place, well documented in his book ‘Principles’. This piece in the FT focuses on transparency in perhaps the most opaque aspect of worklife – salaries. “Pay has long been considered a taboo subject in many parts of the world. […]

Dear school leavers, don’t believe all the stories that will be told to you about the world you face

In his latest blog, my colleague Saurabh Mukherjea writes about “The Tussle Between What we “Should do” & What we “Must do”” blaming in part to societal expectations for “what we should do”. In this Indian Express OpEd, Pratap Bhanu Mehta extends the debate to Indian students’ educational choices and how they are driven or rather […]

Could the single engine driving India crash? Yes, if you go by one of Modi’s top guys

It was about time someone brought the ‘middle income trap’ risk back to the front and centre of the discourse on the Indian economy. There are few better than Rathin Roy to have done it, not just because he is one of India’s finest macroeconomists. That he is a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic […]

Kidnapping – A Very Efficient Business

This unusual and interesting article is a review of two books on kidnapping. These books are ‘We Want to Negotiate: The Secret World of Kidnapping, Hostages, and Ransom’ by Joel Simon and ‘Kidnap: Inside the Ransom Business’ by Anja Shortland. The article explains that not only is kidnapping a well organised, professionally managed business but […]

The Truth about Dentistry

Millions of people dread sitting in the dentist’s chair and most of them can’t bear the sound of the dentist’s drill grinding into their teeth. Now they can draw solace from this article which says that dentistry is “…much less scientific—and more prone to gratuitous procedures—than you may think.” The article uses American data and American examples […]

Vanguard Patented a Way to Avoid Taxes on Mutual Funds

Vanguard, the world’s second largest fund management house, continues to astound. Not contend with becoming a giant in index funds, Vanguard has found a new innovation – avoiding capital gains taxes for its clients: “…Vanguard Group Inc. has figured out a way to shut off taxes in its mutual funds. The first to benefit was the […]