Outsourcing 2.0: The Global Capability Centre Boom in India
In the early years of the 21st century, India became the IT outsourcing hub for the Western economies. However, over the past decade, as India’s talent pool has widened to sustain multiple functionalities beyond IT services, the West is also outsourcing audit, finance, HR, marketing, analytics, and other functions to India. As the West’s labour shortage […]
Unleashing the Power of ‘Owner Operators’ to create Wealth for our Clients
Marcellus’ Global Compounders Portfolio (GCP) strategically invests in 25-30 deeply moated global companies listed in developed countries, leveraging their products and services aligned with global economic megatrends, fortified by exceptionally solid moats. These elements contribute to the consistent compounding of free cash flow/earnings in the mid-to-high teens. Here, we spotlight the investment philosophy known as […]
Midnight Approaches for India’s Retail Lending Boom
India’s savings rate, on a net basis (i.e., savings less borrowings), has touched a 40-year low, as for the first time ever, Indian households are borrowing more than they are saving through bank deposits. This fall in the net savings rate is a by-product of three structural trends: (a) the youthful demography of the nation; (b) the […]
Gamification of Indian Equities
Indian savers’ parcipatition in equity markets has grown manifold over the past few years as indicated by the rise in demat accounts, now well above 100m. Part of the reason is the structural trend of financialisation of savings in the country away from the historical affinity with real estate and gold as default asset classes. […]
The mysterious monoliths of Meghalaya
The North-East of India is full of hidden treasures. Ms Paul’s article in the BBC is about one such hidden gem: “Hundreds of standing stones, some 8m tall, stand sentinel in Nartiang, Meghalaya, with their origin shrouded in fantastical folklore.” Nartiang is two hours south of Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya. Ms Paul says, “I found myself […]
Depaul’s cold coffee has been Delhi’s favourite since 1952. SRK used to hang out here
Those of us who grew up in Delhi can affirm that the world’s best cold coffee is served by Depaul’s in Delhi. As Ms Manmohan explains, “Packed in tiny, customised bottles of 200 ml, Depaul’s beverage lasts just about 4 happy gulps.” Every work trip to Delhi should therefore involve visiting one of the many Depaul’s outlets […]
How China’s EV Boom Caught Western Car Companies Asleep at the Wheel
Earlier this month, we featured a piece on how China is flooding the world with its cars. To construe this as yet another case of China dumping low quality products sold cheap thanks to the Chinese state’s subsidies would not be out of the ordinary. However, this follow up to that story suggests something different. […]
You’re not going to like what comes after Pax Americana
For those of us uninitiated, Pax Americana is a term used to refer to the period post World War 2, when the US became the dominant economic and military power which supposedly contributed to relative peace in the western hemisphere. Especially the period post the collapse of the Soviet Union has been termed Long Peace, […]
People not professionals
Over the past decade, several of us in Marcellus have sought counselling from psychologists to deal with the pressures of our job alongside personal upheavals such as losing a loved one to trying to settle down in a new country. However, people like us our fortunate at multiple levels – we have the money to […]
Portfolio Performance and Update on Fundamentals September
Consistent Compounders Portfolio (CCP) Despite volatility in the external economic and geo-political environment, Marcellus’ CCP companies have historically delivered consistency of revenue growth and profit growth. We expect this consistency to sustain in the foreseeable future as well. Additionally, over the last few months, we have seen a rise in competitive intensity through new entrants […]
Large parts of Asia are getting old before they get rich
That the Indian economy is a bright star on the global horizon is consensus thinking. One of the key reasons for the promise that India holds is its large young working age population or what is referred to as the demographic dividend. This piece in the Economist not only shows why that is such a […]
MS Swaminathan, architect of India’s green revolution, 1925-2023
Those of us who are fortunate enough to live in an era which celebrates teenagers who launch vegetable delivery apps looked back with pride at the life of one India’s biggest gamechangers, MS Swaminathan. As John Reed wrote on the FT last week, “MS Swaminathan, who has died aged 98, was a university student in Kerala […]
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