15th anniversary essay: Thoroughly conscious ignorance
In many ways, the most crucial personal trait in investing is humility. Adam Grant in his recent book Think Again brings out the power of knowing what we don’t know. In this blog, Anand Sridharan, an investor with Nalanda Capital looks back at his 15years in the firm and attributes his success (modestly calls it survival) to […]
Open network for e-commerce: It’s an idea whose time has come
One of the key elements of The Economist’s last month’s cover story on India titled ‘India’s Moment’ was the national “tech stack”. The article said “As the country emerges from the pandemic, however, a new pattern of growth is visible. It is unlike anything you have seen before. An indigenous tech effort is key. As the cost of […]
Tata Power bets on microgrids for rural power supply in India
In our 28th May blog we highlighted that like Japan in the 1970s, India too is poised to pivot away from fossil fuel based power generation. Already 14% of India’s power generation is from solar. This FT story about how Tata Power is investing in microgrids as a precursor we believe of how India will tap […]
We were all wrong’: how Germany got hooked on Russian energy
Whist the war in Ukraine sees no signs of peace, oil prices have rallied again as Europe imposed sanctions on Russian Oil. However, as George Soros highlighted in his Davos speech, it is not easy for Europe, in particular Germany, to wean itself of Russian gas. How bad exactly is Europe’s dependence on Russian energy? The […]
About 200 years ago, the world started getting rich. Why?
We are all taught in secondary school that the world started getting rich two centuries ago because the Industrial Revolution started. What we are NOT told is why did the Industrial Revolution take place 200 years ago rather than at any other point in human history. We are not also told why did the Industrial […]
The Netflix Hit “RRR” Is a Political Screed, an Action Bonanza, and an Exhilarating Musical
Having been under the colonial yoke themselves, the Americans have a less romantic view of the British Raj than the British. It is in that context that Richard Brody’s review of Rajamouli’s superhit movie ‘RRR’ becomes a riveting read – the review celebrates the movie’s in-your-face criticism of colonialism as much as it celebrates the […]
A Framework for Assessing Competitive Advantages in the Digital Era
Given the vibrancy of India’s startup ecosystem, it is interesting to see what sort of competitive advantages businesses of this sort can build. We use five parameters – (1) Barriers to Entry, (2) Product Complexity, (3) Customer Stickiness, (4) Bargaining Power & (5) Network Effects – to assess the strength of online businesses & apply […]
Making brainstorming better
When we are fazed with a problem demanding a creative solution, we often call for ‘brainstorming’ sessions to thrash it out. But many of us sometimes find these sessions ineffective at best, painful at worst. This piece in the Bartleby column identifies inherent conflicts in such exercises which require a balanced approach to make them […]
Rallies to the Bottom
Bear market rallies are important to understand for those who fancy their chances of catching the bottom or in general time the market. And no better than Nick Magguilli to use plenty of data to drive the point home. US markets were up c.7% in the week ending 27th May tempting many to call the bottom. […]
Jack Welch, The Man Who Broke Capitalism
The world of business is full of larger than life businessmen or CEOs who are credited with the entire success of the company. In some cases, it is well justified, especially in a company’s early stage of development where the idea, the passion and perseverance of one individual drives the company’s fortunes almost entirely. However, […]
Olivier Blanchard: ‘There’s a tendency for markets to focus on the present and extrapolate it forever’
With crude rallying back above $120, there seems to be no respite from the inflationary pressures affecting the global economy. Given this situation has resulted from both demand side (unprecedented stimulus – monetary and fiscal during the pandemic) and supply side factors (broken supply chains, war and Chinese lockdown), it isn’t particularly straightforward to assess […]
My investment lessons from 40 years in China
For those of us who have never worked in China or invested in that vast country, China remains for us a fascinating and somewhat forbidding nation. In this piece, Steve Watson, a portfolio manager at Capital, shares his experiences of travelling to and investing in China over the past 40 years. He begins by recounting […]
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