From Aadhaar to ONDC: India’s Methodical Build of Digital Assets Creates Competitive Advantages
Over the past decade the Indian economy – fragmented into several regional economies a decade ago – has gradually been integrated by the doubling of highway networks, tripling of local airline traffic, the introduction of GST and – most importantly – rapid digitization of the economy. From Aadhaar (in 2010) to UPI (in 2016) and […]
The Rise of Affordable Housing Finance in India
Urbanization, improved affordability (low interest rates and stable house prices), support from government initiatives (PMAY), and emergence of unique underwriting models has led to the sustainable growth of the affordable housing finance sector in India. Affordable Housing Finance Companies (AHFCs) are solving a large problem for a section of the society which does not have […]
Book review: A trove of insights on how to get India’s institutions future-ready
As Morgan Housel writes in this week’s Long Read 3, the world is at an inflection point where the factors shaping the future are changing. The last four decades of low interest rates and the relatively cordial and collaborative relationship between the west and the east seem to be a thing of the past. This […]
Why Bloomberg lives on and on and on and on and on and on
Amongst the paraphernalia of techy things that we use to invest money, the Bloomberg terminals in Marcellus are the clunkiest, most 1980s-looking bit of kit in our office. And yet we pay a fortune to use these machines. This article in the FT explains why Bloomberg is able to command such loyalty from millions of […]
India seen through the eyes of its young women
More girls than boys go to school in India now and result unsurprisingly is that India now produces more female graduates than male graduates. As a result, women in India are increasingly writing bestselling books about the lives of Indian women. Nilanjana Roy’s article two such recent books. First up is Shrayana Bhattacharya’s “Desperately Seeking […]
The Illusion of Knowledge
If you are an investment management professional, you will inevitably be asked the question about where we think the markets are headed? By clients, media, friends and family alike. ‘We don’t know’ is our preferred response every single time. This recent memo from Howard Marks reminds us that we should keep it that way. The […]
The obscure economist Silicon Valley billionaires should dump Ayn Rand for
For several decades now it has been fashionable for rich and successful people in America to say that they fans/followers of Ayn Rand. Such people – whose list includes Travis Kalanick, Donald Trump and Alan Greenspan – then usually go on to say that Rand’s bestselling book “The Fountainhead” had a profound influence on their […]
The Illusion of Progress
In investing, as in many other aspects of life, we at times tend to mistake inputs with outcomes, efforts with progress. Working hard is important, but efforts, if misdirected are a waste of time. This paradox is even more extreme in the field of investment where what is commonly regarded as the main activity of […]
Rising Giants Are Following the CCP Template
The Rising Giants (RG) portfolio companies have witnessed significant acceleration in their Free Cash Flow (FCF) compounding in recent years. In terms of trend in FCF generation, the RG companies currently are where Consistent Compounder Portfolio (CCP) companies were about a decade ago. Given that the CCPs have been consistently improving their FCF conversion (i.e. […]
Focus to Win
We have all known the power of focus to succeed. But not many of us understand what it really means to focus. In this really short blog, Shane Parish makes a powerful point drawing from the life of Steve Jobs, as shared by Jobs’ Chief Design Officer and the man behind those cool designs of […]
Why economists are flocking to Silicon Valley
Whilst financial markets continue to chase macroeconomics for that elusive insight, the world of business still finds value in microeconomics. The latest to hop on the bandwagon is tech giants who have hitherto thrived on electronics, computer science and software engineers. The emergence of data science in new age technologies such as artificial intelligence and […]
Crazy rich relocations: Singapore becomes a haven for Chinese elite
In the wake of Jack Ma’s very public defenestration and with Chinese authorities talking of “common prosperity” and making no secret of their desire to cut down to size other articulate billionaires, unsurprisingly the Chinese elite is taking flight. Had the Chinese economy been booming perhaps these billionaires might have hung around but with a […]
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