I am a bulk shopper i.e. I do not shop every week or month, instead I go out once in 4-5 months and buy almost everything under the sun..:) Yesterday was one of my "shop till you drop" days and inspite of a "warning" tele call from my husband in the morning, I shopped for almost 7 hours..;)
Anyway, coming to the point, my shopping experience was immensely enhanced by the music playing in the background. The mall that I visited was "Bangalore Central" and I must say that their music collection was fabulous. One of the songs that specifically made my day was "Love will keep us alive" by Eagles. This is one of those songs that I can hear again and again without getting bored. I was introduced to it by my husband way back in 2002 and my bond with it still holds strong. Words fail me to describe how this song makes me feel. Those beautiful four minutes bring back all the good nostalgic moments of my life. I experience a unique blend of emotions, a divine feeling that makes me go numb and a mysterious melody that renders me speechless!
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
India's Enron!
What happened?
Satyam Systems, a global IT company based in India, was found to be involved in fraudulent financial activities. The rough time for Satyam began in December last year when the world bank barred it for 8 years on account of "improper benefit to bank staff" and "lack of documentation on invoices". This was reported as the harshest sanction ever made by the bank since 2004! During the same time the "Satyam - Maytas" deal was facing the heat from its investors and the Indian government. Satyam's controversial decision to buy two unrelated business groups - Maytas infra and Maytas properties, both owned by the chairman's(Ramalingam Raju) son, led to adverse reactions from the investor community. This deal was called off within 24 hours of it's approval!
As predicted by many, Satyam's CEO Ramalingam Raju resigned on the 7th of January 2009 after notifying the board members and the SEBI that Satyam's accounts had been falsified. Following this announcement some US firms like Merrill Lynch terminated their contracts with the company, New York Stock Exchange halted trading Satyam stock and Satyam was also stripped off a prestigious corporate award that it had won in 2008. Needless to say, the employees of Satyam, it's customers and investors were both shocked and angry!
Resolution?
The Indian government dived in and appointed a new set of respectable members to Satyam's board so that this issue could be analyzed with seriousness and speed. The bidding process was kicked off soon after to select a suitable investor for Satyam. The new board shortlisted 6 bidders including Spice, L&T, Tech Machindra in one of it's last bidding rounds. Finally, on April 13 2009, Satyam saw some ray of hope when Pune based Tech Mahindra, a mid-tier IT services provider outbid its competitors for a 51% stake in the company.
What lies ahead?
Tech Mahindra is focused on the Telecom industry and most of its business comes from "British Telecom". The acquistion of Satyam will definitely help it diversify in other veticals like manufacturing, healthcare, financial services and auto along with Telecom and also enable it to expand itself in other markets like North America.
Will the name "Satyam" be retained? While many feel that the brand "Satyam" has lost its credibility, there are a few who still believe in it. I agree with the latter group. The employees of Satyam were not even aware of this fraud and the company's core values still stand strong. Why punish the brand for the misdeeds of a few? Besides, this acquistion in reality is more of an integration into Satyam as it has a bigger client and resource base. Well, here's the dilemma - The brand "Satyam" needs to be reduced in some way due to the bad reputation that it gained recently. On the other hand, it is more well known and better established than "Tech Mahindra". Some trade off would definitely be needed while blending these two brands. I sincerely hope it's in the best interests of both the companies.
Satyam Systems, a global IT company based in India, was found to be involved in fraudulent financial activities. The rough time for Satyam began in December last year when the world bank barred it for 8 years on account of "improper benefit to bank staff" and "lack of documentation on invoices". This was reported as the harshest sanction ever made by the bank since 2004! During the same time the "Satyam - Maytas" deal was facing the heat from its investors and the Indian government. Satyam's controversial decision to buy two unrelated business groups - Maytas infra and Maytas properties, both owned by the chairman's(Ramalingam Raju) son, led to adverse reactions from the investor community. This deal was called off within 24 hours of it's approval!
As predicted by many, Satyam's CEO Ramalingam Raju resigned on the 7th of January 2009 after notifying the board members and the SEBI that Satyam's accounts had been falsified. Following this announcement some US firms like Merrill Lynch terminated their contracts with the company, New York Stock Exchange halted trading Satyam stock and Satyam was also stripped off a prestigious corporate award that it had won in 2008. Needless to say, the employees of Satyam, it's customers and investors were both shocked and angry!
Resolution?
The Indian government dived in and appointed a new set of respectable members to Satyam's board so that this issue could be analyzed with seriousness and speed. The bidding process was kicked off soon after to select a suitable investor for Satyam. The new board shortlisted 6 bidders including Spice, L&T, Tech Machindra in one of it's last bidding rounds. Finally, on April 13 2009, Satyam saw some ray of hope when Pune based Tech Mahindra, a mid-tier IT services provider outbid its competitors for a 51% stake in the company.
What lies ahead?
Tech Mahindra is focused on the Telecom industry and most of its business comes from "British Telecom". The acquistion of Satyam will definitely help it diversify in other veticals like manufacturing, healthcare, financial services and auto along with Telecom and also enable it to expand itself in other markets like North America.
Will the name "Satyam" be retained? While many feel that the brand "Satyam" has lost its credibility, there are a few who still believe in it. I agree with the latter group. The employees of Satyam were not even aware of this fraud and the company's core values still stand strong. Why punish the brand for the misdeeds of a few? Besides, this acquistion in reality is more of an integration into Satyam as it has a bigger client and resource base. Well, here's the dilemma - The brand "Satyam" needs to be reduced in some way due to the bad reputation that it gained recently. On the other hand, it is more well known and better established than "Tech Mahindra". Some trade off would definitely be needed while blending these two brands. I sincerely hope it's in the best interests of both the companies.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Pehchan Kaun?
"Laughter Challenge" used to be one of my favorite serials on TV. The season with Raju Srivastav, Sunil Pal and Navin was the best i have seen till date. I remember everyone being a fan of either Raju or Sunil in those days. Though they both performed consistently well, i was too impressed by one of the acts presented by Naveen Prabhakar. In this act he enacted a bar girl conversing with one of her customers.
Thanks to youtube i could see Naveen's act today after a long gap. Trust me, it still makes me laugh aloud.
So enjoy the video and keep smiling..:)
Thanks to youtube i could see Naveen's act today after a long gap. Trust me, it still makes me laugh aloud.
So enjoy the video and keep smiling..:)
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
The Crisis of Credit
My idiot box has been buzzing with news about recession, credit crunch, layoffs and the diminishing real estate market for the last six months approximately. I, being little poor in the "finance" related subjects, found most of this information going over my head. Each article that i read added a new perspective to the current economic crisis and with everyone around me sharing a different viewpoint on this situation, i just didn't know what to believe!
Finally i found an interesting video on google that explains the origin of this crisis. It's perfect for a layman like me...:) Now that i have some basic understanding, i can convert myself from a listener to a talker in the so called "recession discussions"...:)
http://www.crisisofcredit.com/
Hope you all find this link useful too.
Finally i found an interesting video on google that explains the origin of this crisis. It's perfect for a layman like me...:) Now that i have some basic understanding, i can convert myself from a listener to a talker in the so called "recession discussions"...:)
http://www.crisisofcredit.com/
Hope you all find this link useful too.
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