Short read: The Untold Story of Bank Deposits
Whilst the Indian equity markets have been on fire, not breaking a sweat over any perceived disappointments, be it the election results or the unwinding of the Yen carry trade nor the fairly muted earnings season that went by. Yet Indian banking stocks have lagged over concerns over a deposit crunch (deposits are the raw […]
Short read: How did a Neanderthal Gene for Antibodies Become Predominant in Humans?
All humans share the same African ancestors but as this fascinating article in The Wire explains, 800,000 years of evolution has meant that, some humans have certain genes which are different from the genes other humans have: “Our white blood cells make molecules called antibodies that bind to other molecules called antigens made by bacteria and […]
Long read: Notes on Eric Schmidt’s AI Talk at Stanford
Last week, Stanford put out a YouTube video of the former Google CEO Eric Schmidt talking to students on everything about AI, which instantly went viral thanks to some bold and controversial comments made by Schmidt. Stanford eventually deleted the video. Controversy apart, there was some genuine insights shared by Schmidt. Weikang Liu has duly […]
Long read: Antibiotics Are Failing. The US has a Plan to Launch a Research Renaissance
Nearly a century after penicillin was discovered, doctors are now finding that that many infections have become resistant to antibiotics. As Jess Craig explains, “This phenomenon where bacteria evolve to survive antibiotics is called antibiotic resistance, or antimicrobial resistance more broadly because viruses and fungi can also evolve to survive antivirals or antifungals. Common infections are […]
Long read: A Delhi doctor is the ‘Tihar specialist’. Extracts phones, drugs & blades from inmates’ bodies
Those Indians who gorge on the diet of gritty serials dished out by the OTT channels will be familiar with the smuggling of phones and drugs through the bodies of human mules. For the rest of us, this is a grimly fascinating world where crime meets desperate poverty and then – at least in this […]
Global Compounders Portfolio: Update on Favourable Policy/Regulatory Change
Marcellus’ Global Compounders Portfolio (GCP) strategically invests in 25-30 deeply moated global companies aligned with megatrends, fostering a consistent mid to high teens compounding of free cash flow/earnings. This portfolio is agnostic to market cap or sectors, and targets to deliver excess return through different periods in the cycle. As India catapults into the most […]
Portfolio Performance and Update on Fundamentals – July 2024
Note: For all strategies except GCP, performance data is net of annual performance fees charged for client accounts whose account anniversary date falls up to the last date of this performance period. Since fixed fees and expenses are charged on a quarterly basis, […]
Short read: East and West: Why we are what we are
“Why does Indian education focus on rote learning while foreign institutions prioritise critical thinking? How does the West, though stereotyped as an individualistic society, manage its public life with greater responsibility than the East? We talk of community first, but our classical music is focused on individual improvisation, while the ‘individualistic’ West has developed forms […]
Short read: Why India’s digital banking push is giving RBI nightmares. Hint: The Credit Suisse collapse
Something is going awry on the liability-side of Indian banks’ balance sheets. For a couple of years now, banks are struggling to raise deposits and all sorts of non-credible excuses have been cited for this eg. the stockmarket rally. In this piece TCA Sharad Raghavan cites the RBI’s growing alarm with the liability side of […]
Short read: When a Javelin Bridged Borders
At the recently concluded Olympics, Neeraj Chopra, the defending champion, won the silver medal in the men’s javelin competition. The gold went to Mr Chopra’s friend, Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan. This piece in The Wire captures the longstanding camaraderie between the Punjabis from either side of the world’s most hotly contested border: “The heartwarming moments […]
Long read: “The Common Denominator of Success”
In his brilliant book, ‘The Atomic Habits’, James Clear helps us appreciate the benefits of small improvements made consistently over a long period of time compounding to build habits that translate into behaviour can help fulfil our aspirations. In this piece, he pulls up this 84yr old speech by Albert Gray of Prudential Insurance delivered […]
Long read: Ukraine’s death-defying art rescuers
Among matters of national pride, cultural heritage should rank right up there. But not many of us go out of our way, let along risk our lives to protect it. Here’s a long read about a bunch of Ukrainians who have done exactly that – ventured into war torn areas of Ukraine to rescue art […]
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