This disclaimer informs readers that the views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the blogs belong solely to the author, and does not represent the opinions of any entity or employer with which the author has been, is now currently with.
Thursday, June 7, 2018
Evolving Environment and the World
Sunday, December 21, 2014
European Union (EU) disintegration : Challenges and perspectives.
In general, the last year has seen the dollar rise in comparison to almost all the currencies.
This presents us with two simple alternatives:
1. The US economy is on a recovery path with a faster growth than 3-5%, which given the size of US is impossible.
2. The Global economies are losing investor confidence in all economies and are looking at securing the most stable and strongest currency in wake of an economic aftermath, the US $.
Since the first option is out of question. Let’s look at the second one.
Trying to look each of these currencies will take me down the path of yet another enormous article. So let me look at them in a regional bloc manner and categorically reach to the smaller ones, starting with the Euro, Ruble, and then Rupee.
Euro will have to be looked as a variable directly proportional to European Union (EU). Currently, EU is mired with problems starting from fiscal to ideological to diplomatic perspectives. The tensions of 2012 summer of Euro disintegration has been recently brought to fore by the Dutch finance minister. What brings us to the brink of such a situation ?
The decision drivers which are gunning for the disintegration are multifarious. The reasons and the triggers for the Euro weakening have many theories to be earmarked with. It all started around the 2008 financial turmoil with the fall of Lehman Brothers and since then the EU and euro has been in crisis. The crisis exposed each of the member countries financial stability and thus weaker countries were left to fend for themselves. The stronger member economies such as Germany, France, UK were scared to bail out the weaker economies as they risked being dragged down financially. This brought down the level of confidence in the union.
The EU could never unify all its member states and bind them to a common agenda of fiscal and monetary prudence. The member countries are always scattered and differentiated with the union policies. This never aided the EU to come to terms hindering their diplomatic and economic trade stance with other regional blocks.
Read Opinion : Future of Energy Storage Series 1
The euro member countries have been also been dealing with a lot of internal political instability. Italy’s democracy has been challenged by Beppe Grillo “Movimento 5 stelle” and its wave of populism. His “La Repubblica” advertisement in 2005 called for the resignation of the then Italian Bank governor over the banking scandal. Later, he rocked the Italian political scenario with his “Operation Clean Parliament”. His “vaffanculo” rally was attended by 2 million Italians in 2007. Greek has seen its own share from Alexis Tsipras of SYRIZA, revolting against the austerity agenda. Viktor Orban’s landslide win in recent Hungarian elections bring a more pragmatic thought to the way the populism is molding the societal core. France’s National Front and Hungary’s Jobbik present perspectives which should not be overlooked by EU.
What may come out of these movements could be either good or bad for the Euro/ Europe/ the member countries in that matter. That's something which time shall scribe.
I am right now being unbiased and trying to list what could affect the European Union (Euro).
The EU has two options:
i. They should let loose some of the weaker laggards, lose its initial agenda of European unification and continue as a closed stronger and focused.
ii. Nibble on time and hope that the EU members come together under a covenant and do away with all the fiscal and economic ideological disparities in the region.
While EU looks at the first option, it risks losing its character and essence. The choice is fraught with the making more enemies and seclusion of trade with the smaller and weaker economies and inviting distrust and enmity with the neighbors.
The second option is more to do with buying time and sticking together hoping that one day all the nuts and bolts (members) of the EU region start functioning in a more coherent manner… One day…
To be continued in the next blog with the core performance reasons for the Euro fall …
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Power should not be subsidized
Opinion : Soyabeans, Washing machines and Pigs was a key
reason for US China Trade War
Interestingly, we are only looking for a solution at the user end of the problem. Indian government should start addressing issues at the power generation, transportation and transfer level. We need to invest in upgrading our infrastructure by notches to match the international standards. India’s transmission facilities infrastructures are eons behind in terms of zero loss energy transmission capabilities and the new state of the art smart grid concepts. The 11th 5 year plan intended to 62,000 MW capacity generation plan, but ended up 34,500 MW now put this in perspective of Duke Energy of US, which alone generates 58,000 MW or an EDF of France, ranked 4th in utility companies of the world, whose 95.9 percent of the electricity output is CO2-free.
Sunday, November 9, 2014
The manipulation of "The Dollar". A lesson for superpower administration.
Lets talk about the most talked country's one of the most untalked topics.
Financially, the usage of Dollar has been executed with such perfection, so as to create a web where none of the economies can actually be detached from the green currency. Recently, it used one of its old tricks, Fed’s Quantitative Easing and other monetary growth programs create huge amounts of Dollars, and the majority of itto be exported to emerging market countries, like India in the form of loans and investments for development. The excess inflow puts upward pressure on their currencies, and the foreign speculators made speculative profit at the expense of domestic exporters. Obama's India visit would see some more of such plans being announced. Keep Watching...
The majority of newly printed money has indeed been shifted to emerging markets, where it enjoys one of the best returns and the highest potential for appreciation. The current economic and investing climate in the US is not as strong as in India. Indeed, this is why the (first) Quantitative Easing program was not very successful, and why the Fed has proposed a second round. While there is a bit of a chicken-and-egg story in the unvieling (does economic growth drive investing, or do investors drive economic growth?). US is harping these measures to propel growth in US,but if you watch minutely, the current capital flow trends suggest that any additional quantitative easing will also be felt primarily in emerging markets, rather than in the US.
While the ineffective of this measure is well-understood for the US investing community, a strong case is made for investing in emerging markets. Emerging market economies like (BRIC) are individually and collectively more robust, with faster growth and lower-debt than their industrialized counterparts in Europe and America.
The lucrativeness of these countries is driving speculative capital into emerging markets even though a critical currency appreciation of about 30% has already taken place and the asset bubbles that may be forming in their financial markets suggests that their assets and currencies are still undervalued. Please hold your horses, that does not mean the markets are perfect, but instead the speculators think that there is still money to be made in the situation. On the supply side, exchanges for the emerging market currency for Dollars (and Euros and Pounds and Yen) must necessarily accept the exchange rate they are offered. The rationale of the exchange rate is not decided from the fact that it is agreeable to all parties but because of the equilibrium it maintains in the demand and supply equation of world currency exchange.
Opinion : Thermal Power Energy Storage and Future Series 3
This occurrence unfairly penalizes the state of countries like India, whose economy is dependent on the export sector to drive growth. The situation actually proves that economies of the third world have no comparative advantage in the exports, they happen to produce and export. Low costs and loose laws are the only competitive advantage on which the third world countries should be dependent upon to grow their export sectors in spite of the currency appreciation phenomenon. Japan and Germany are an perfect example. They have recorded trade surpluses continuously for decades, in spite of the rising Euro and Yen for decades. But again you would ask me to explain India's Indian Rupee, and the answer is dead political will to deregulate laws and export shackles and too an extent sub-standard image in terms of product quality and marketing. I should do justice and give this subject its due space in form of another post.
The problem is that everyone benefits (in the short term) from the fundamental misalignment's in currency markets. Traders like to mock purchasing power parity, but over the long-term, this is what drives exchange rates. Adjusting for taxes, laws, and other peculiarities which distinguish one economy from another, prices in countries at comparable stages of development should converge over the long-term. You can see from The Economist’s Big Mac Index that this is largely the case. As emerging market economies develop, their prices will gradually rise both absolutely (due to inflation) and relatively (when measured against other currencies).
more to continue...
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Global Manufacturing and Make in India magic
“In a century, once, the youth gets to choose between respectable competence and ways of tainted wealth. One who is honorable and dedicated, holds the single element of success.”
Leadership of even self-sufficient countries, such as the Saudi Arabia which has been maintaining significant positive balance of payments for eons now has stressed the need to pursue the goal of job creation in right earnest. The creation of job is not only the creation of money and constructive chain of reactions but also a tool for countries such as India and China to keep its teeming youth’s energy constructively challenged in building a nation.
The government from a longer term perspective should look at developing co-manufacturing and knowledge sharing agreements with the Germans and the Scandinavian economies at the corporate level so as to develop and enable skill transfer to bring the Indian workforce at par with the global quality standards. It should also initiate educational and curriculum changes at the IITs and NITs and encourage steps and measures such as student transfers and invite lecturers and industry doyens of the advanced economies so as to develop the nubile skills at its germination.
Opinion : The Dollar as a Currency and its future
Oh I hear a snigger there, well, it would seem good to add, that a need of an innovative product begins with an understanding of market need. Importantly, the need should be fulfilled by precise delivery of the product, sieved through financial value, albeit, with a pinch of social brand value (Hope, you are happy egomaniacs).
Once the need assessment is set right, the product is a cakewalk. Today, the value emerges is in realizing the product outlay right and tailor it to suit the need to hit the sweet spot, e.g., Apple.
Saturday, October 4, 2014
SARFAESI Act, 2002 and the Indian Banking Industry.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Conundrum of Egypt - Turbulence and Rearing of Growth.
Both the countries have been trying to control or rather balance the equation of raising foreign competitiveness, increasing the economy with flush income growth and promoting exports. The one divergence which they both were experiencing was the ability to infuse confidence of the larger countries on their own national currencies. India didn’t do well with a nonchalant attitude on where it exchange rates went to, compared to a Egyptian economy which were on their feet to guard its exchange rates including the build up to the turbulent times before the Crisis and thereafter.
What did the undoing for the Egyptian economy was the diverse price distortions it has experienced for decades, fortunately, the realization for the stakeholders of the economy about the distortion will bring about a relative price corrections which will help in the smoothening the transition and helping in formulating a mature social market economy.
Thermal Power Storage and Future : Energy Storage Series 3
This is Series 3 where we look into companies which could shape future in thermal energy storage and crystal ball gazing of the sector per...
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This is Series 3 where we look into companies which could shape future in thermal energy storage and crystal ball gazing of the sector per...
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A recent furore in the international markets, made it unavoidable for me to dig deep down to know more about the Issues, Context and Solutio...
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Global geopolitics and policy making are playing their hand through the consumption of soyabeans, washing machines and PIGS. Yes, yo...




