What if the Government doesn't intervene now...

There seems to be a debate whether the government should intervene and rescue the homeowners and lenders alike. What happens incase the government or the Federal Reserve doesn't intervene. Many think that if the Government doesn't do anything now, home prices will find a equilibrium based on fundamentals rather than what has pushed up prices over the last few years. Home prices might very well fall below the whatever the fundamental price needs to be, same way the prices did over shoot on their way up. When no one knows what the bottom is going to be, lenders wont be ready to lend at what they think are over priced houses. Buyers even if they want to will not be able to buy if there is no money to borrow. This in turn will push the prices down. Falling prices will deter new home buyers from buying since they would be waiting for the prices to fall still further.

Even if there are moral issues in helping the homeowners and the lenders who got us into this mess, Government and the Federal Reserve need to act to stop the financial industry from collapsing.

Fastest growing Indian Business

Read this article on time.com and you would be surprised to know what has become one of India's fastest growing business. This is not entirely surprising if you take into the consideration what India surfs for on the net. According to a India Online 2007 (A survey conducted by JuxtConsult, an online research solutions consultancy firm), 48 percent of urban net users in India use the Internet for online matrimonial search.The popularity of online matrimonial search has really surged in last one year. Last year the percentage of all net users undertaking matrimonial search was only 15 per cent. At 48 per cent usage level now, the category has seen an addition of a 33 per cent of all net users joining the category in this year. With so many Indians looking for a soul mate online, the number of users in this category has increased exponentially and along with that has increased the fraud that goes along with it. More and more people are looking at Dating detectives to find out that they are not being cheated.

BTW the most used activities on the net are email, job search and instant messaging.

Indian Economy Slowing . . .

With our markets turning the tide over the past few days not all confidence is back. With the Sensex putting a good show many wonder with glee of getting back into the market. Key economic data made available this week throws caution to the wind.

Industrial production for December '07 has fallen to 7.6% compared to 13.4% in December '06. Also the Core sector growth , comprising of crude oil, steel, cement, electricity, coal and refinery was 4% in Decemeber '07 as opposed to 9% in the corresponding month in the previous year. One might argue this is just a sign of the economy slowing in line with the global economy especially since our exports are hit hard due to a strong rupee. Our GDP too has been expected to grow at a rate of 8.7%

This does raise concerns over India's competitive relationship with China. Though China's GDP is slowing too; it is still growing at a rate faster than India's. To catch up or atleast maintain a healthy gap between India and China so as to not China get away with the cake we need to continuously clock growth rates higher than currently forecasted. As they say - We live in interesting times. Hope our FM comes up with his magic potion for the economy soon.

 

ADAG plans a new IPO... Will you get carried away this time?

There is news floating around that ADAG might file for DRHP with SEBI for Reliance entertainment IPO.

All about Reliance Entertainment.. (ADA Group)

Reliance Entertainment is spearheading the Group’s foray into the media and entertainment space. Reliance Entertainment’s core focus is to build significant presence for Reliance in the Entertainment eco-system: across content and distribution platforms.The key content initiative are across Movies, Music, Sports, Gaming, Internet & mobile portals, leading to direct opportunities in delivery across the emerging digital distribution platforms: digital cinema, IPTV, DTH and Mobile TV.Reliance ADA Group acquired Adlabs Films Limited in 2005, one of the largest entertainment companies in India, which has interests in film processing, production, exhibition & digital cinema.
Reliance Entertainment has made an entry into the FM Radio business through Adlabs Radio www.big927fm.com Having won 45 stations in the recent bidding, BIG 92.7 FM is already India’s largest private FM radio network with 12 radio stations across the country as on 28th February 2007, with many more to be launched in the coming months.

I'll surely think twice before applying for this one. How about you?

Regards
HM