Short read: Why it costs India so little to reach the Moon and Mars
When India successfully completed its historic launch of Chandrayaan-3 last year, there was a meme going around that its $75m cost was lower than the $100m budget of the sci-fi movie Gravity. India has punched way above its weight in terms of its space programme despite its developmental stage and relatively meagre resources compared to […]
Short read: Can We Prevent Cancer With a Shot?
Cancer survivorship has remarkably increased over the past couple of decades given the significant strides in medicine. Yet, it remains one of the key risks for life expectancy and quality of life in old age. So, it is encouraging to see possibilities of a vaccine for prevention. There are of course vaccines already available for […]
Short read: All about Major Bob Khathing, whose daring expedition & diplomatic parleys secured Tawang for India
If you haven’t been to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh your life is as incomplete as it would if you haven’t been to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Tawang is as breathtakingly beautiful as it is historical. There are four compelling reasons to visit this town which sits 15K feet high up in the Himalayas, […]
Long read: Prejudice and China
China is no longer just a source of cheap manufacturing for the rest of the world. In industry after industry, China is now setting global standards. Most remarkably in automobiles, as a recent quote from the Ford CEO in this piece goes “Freshly returned from a visit to China, Farley told The Wall Street Journal that the […]
Long read: How to build a nuclear tomb to last millennia
It is fashionable these days to talk about how nuclear power is making a comeback in a world characterised by roaring power demand alongside concerns regarding climate change. For its proponents, nuclear power is a solution to both of these problems. These proponents might want to read this article in the BBC about nuclear waste. […]
Long read: Inside the enduring heft of big business groups
The Indian economy liberalised in 1991. This piece in the Mint uses comparative data on corporate assets and revenues to assess which business groups have risen in India over the last 30 years and which ones have faded away. The biggest winner is – you guessed it – Reliance which accounts for 9.6% of India’s […]
The Big Are Getting Bigger and the Southern Ascendancy
Over the last 10 years, whilst India Inc’s PAT has grown at 17% p.a. on an average, the median Indian company’s PAT has grown at 15%. Delving into this gap between the average vs the median gave us two findings: (a) larger companies have grown profits faster than smaller companies; and (b) southern Indian companies’ […]
‘Capitalism Without Capital’ Fuels CCP
Capitalism without capital, i.e., the growing prominence of companies who are plays on intellectual rather than physical assets, is now increasingly prominent in India. Marcellus’ Consistent Compounder Portfolio (CCP) is actively participating in this theme. Over the past 5 years, profits of companies in our current CCP portfolio have grown at a significantly faster pace […]
Portfolio performance and update on fundamentals
Note: For all strategies except GCP, Performance data shown is net of fixed fees and expenses charged till September 30th, 2024 and is net of annual performance fees (Except for Little Champs Portfolio) charged for client accounts whose account anniversary/performance calculation date falls upto the last date of this performance period. Since, for Little Champs Portfolio, […]
Short read: Should we Sleep on a Problem?
Apparently, when we say ‘sleep on a problem’, it is not just meant figuratively. As the author of this blog says, before he goes to bed, he goes through a tricky problem he is trying to solve and lets his subconscious mind have a crack at the solution whilst he is asleep. Turns out, he […]
Short read: Jeff Bezos faces Backlash for Refusal to Endorse Harris
The slow but steady decline in the business model of traditional media is well understood given that in most countries, India included, the bulk of advertising revenue is ending up in the hands of Google and the social media giants. One last hope for traditional media was that if some of the marquee names in […]
Short read: Researchers say an AI-powered Transcription Tool Used in Hospitals Invents things no one Ever Said
Even as discussions with our investee companies point to the inevitability of AI taking over roles which are currently performed by well-paid humans (well-paid in the Indian human context), it is becoming clear that there are still flaws even in the most advanced AI models. Quoting from the AP article: “Tech behemoth OpenAI has touted its […]
For more content on our strategy, visit the archives GO TO ARCHIVES