Talking War and Market Volatility With a Giant of Economics
This is an exceptionally good interview conducted by Jeff Sommer with the Nobel Laureate, Eugene Fama, who demonstrated 60 years ago that that short-term stock price movements are unpredictable and approximate a random walk. In doing so, Fama revolutionised finance and set the ground both for the rise of tracker funds and for the use […]
An extract from Anirudh Kanisetti’s book, ‘Lords of the Deccan’
Many of us in Marcellus are fans of the young Indian historian, Manu Pillai, who has done much to make Indian history interesting and accessible through several bestselling books. Now, as the remaking of India produces more scholars who are researching the country’s history, we have found another equally articulate historian in Anirudh Kanisetti, an […]
How Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema Pulls Off a Shallow Depth of Field
Over the past two decades we have watched Christopher Nolan’s riveting movies (eg. Inception, Dunkirk, Interstallar, Batman Begins, The Dark Night Rises, Tenet, etc) as much for the stunning visuals as for the intriguing plotlines. Nowhere is more apparent than in last year’s movie ‘Tenet’, part of which is set in Mumbai. In ‘Tenet’ the […]
Why Buddha would be frowning at Ukraine today, and why India got it right with Pokhran 1 and 2
The West’s feeble response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted Shekhar Gupta to write this piece the sum of substance of which is that we should laud India’s political leadership – across parties – for pursuing India’s nuclear agenda over the past 40 years. In a world where the West’s assurances of protection and civility […]
‘Women Are The Best Borrowers And The Best Repayers’
As India’s economy and society has changed rapidly over the past decade, one straightforward source of competitive advantage – in business, in investing, in politics and generally in Indian life – has accrued to those who have made the effort to understand the new India. Govindraj Ethiraj is amongst those who has made strenuous efforts […]
How Bots and Fake Accounts Push China’s Vision of Winter Olympic Wonderland
We have highlighted before the sort of Orwellian propaganda the Chinese Communist party likes to use to keep its vast kingdom under control – see https://marcellus.in/story/chinas-troll-king-how-a-tabloid-editor-became-the-voice-of-chinese-nationalism/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=MIMPL&utm_campaign=3L3S-9th-Jan-2022&utm_content=LR1.This piece from ProPublica illustrates how even a sporting event like the Winter Olympics is airbrushed by the Communist Party. Whilst such articles will be viewed by some as a sign […]
How to work hard
Paul Graham, the English-American computer programmer, is the legendary founder of the Y Combinator, the seed capital firm which 20 years ago transformed start-up investing in the Silicon Valley. Now retired, he lives in England and writes thought provoking blogs about seemingly simple topics which, under Graham’s treatment, yield rich insights. In this blog he […]
Spotlighting Ultramarine & Pigments
This month we place the spotlight on Ultramarine & Pigments Limited (UMP), a top 3 global manufacturer of inorganic Ultramarine Blue pigment (and the leader in India and Asia-Pacific) and amongst the top manufacturer of anionic surfactants in India. Ultramarine’s pigment business enjoys significant manufacturing complexities around yield, purity and consistency particularly for industrial grade […]
Acceleration in growth rates of CCP companies’ fundamentals
Marcellus’ CCP companies grew their revenues in 3QFY22 (vs 3QFY20) at 19% CAGR. This is significantly higher than: a) the 17% revenue growth reported over FY14-19 (i.e. prior to Covid-19); and b) the 16% revenue CAGR that was reported in 2QFY22 (vs 2QFY20). The drivers of this acceleration can be categorized into two types. Firstly, […]
The charm of Bappi Lahiri
For those of us who went to school in the 1980s, Bappida was the coolest, hippest music composer because he had almost singlehandedly dragged India into the disco age. Just as RD Burman captured the fusion of Indian, jazz and rock better than any other music composer, Bappi Lahiri blended desi and disco and booked […]
In Hong Kong, China’s ‘covid zero’ strategy is falling apart
In the rest of China, the Government’s approach to dealing with Covid-19 involved brute force and a dodgy vaccine: “China fought the virus in Beijing, Xi’an, Tianjin and in Henan province by flooding the zone with testing, tightly restricting flights and mobility, and aggressively isolating those who tested positive, locking down whole cities when necessary. In […]
The Calorie Counter: Evolutionary anthropologist Herman Pontzer busts myths about how humans burn calories—and why
Herman Pontzer, a scientist at Duke University, has conducted research and shown what some of us have long suspected: exercise and a more active life does NOT help you lose calories. What exercise does is it helps you stay healthy, stay fit i.e. those who exercise more tend to suffer fewer illnesses as they age. […]
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