Creat-Mak!

Who's Mr. Fate?

2009-06-16T22:34:00.002+05:30

This post will tell all you readers about the importance of Mr. Fate in my life and to be precise, in this recently passed by one month. For all of you who are still wondering about the name Mr. Fate, let me clarify this right away, I got inspired by Tushar Raheja's "Anything for you Ma'am", where he quite often refers to Mr. Fate.

Now, what role does Mr. Fate play in my life? Mr. Fate left a very bitter experience in my mind before a couple of weeks, when my Happy Journey turned out to be a 'almost Happy Journey'. It was me and my child hood friend who were traveling together and returning to Bengaluroo. It just took 2 minutes for me to loose my best friend- my laptop (God Bless the person who stole my friend). And post that my ship seems to be always heading towards North. Mr. Fate had changed direction and seemingly blessing me in some or other ways.

To quote few examples, first time in my career i managed to earn over 1.5 lac in a single day (for those who dont know, i am a Trade and Forex Manager at ICICI Bank), then came my second achievement for the day which was becoming the first person in my group pan India to close a case of secured lending for this FY. Mr. Fate then also blessed me with a couple of more achievements which ultimately resulted me in lime light and recognition.

Hmnn.....i believe that i have been sharing too much of my personal gyans and achievements in this forum, but cant help it out. This is the way Mr. Fate plays a important role in everyones life. Believe it or not, Mr. Fate has a very important role to play in your life. So, finally would like to thank Tushar Raheja for creating such a wonderful term-"Mr. Fate", and all my readers, i would urge you to read his book as well. Cutely......amazing book....and i am trying to honestly cross sell(with no intention of earning profit out of it)

When South Meets North

2009-01-11T21:17:00.003+05:30

When South Meets North:
So, readers please accept my apologizes for posting this topic a bit too late. So in continuance with the previous post, where i was talking about the visit of Kolkata, in this topic i am talking about my visit to New Delhi.

It took me 2 years to revisit Delhi. New Delhi, as i call it my second native place, is one of my most admired places. Today i feel proud to see that Delhi is one place, which over the years has changed immensely. Delhi today is incomparable to the Delhi before 8-10 years. I would definetly attribute this change to the Shiela Dixit government, hats off to her. Hats off to E.Sridharan as well, the chairman of Delhi Metro. Well, comparing my visit to Kolkata with Delhi, only one thing comes to my mind is number of head counts.

One thing is for a sure in India, i.e., beautiful faces. Han, in Kolkata, chances of seeing a good looking girl is 2:10 ( i mean, so much of public is there, you dont even get a chance to see 2 girl for atleast 5 seconds). But in Delhi, you can see good looking faces 8:10.......aaaaaaaa, i love Delhi for that.
How can i forget Delhi's chat and pani puri.....muh mein pani aa gaya.
alrite, that is all about Delhi, my next visit in India is Hyderabad and further to that i will be visiting Bangalore.......keep looking on this column, for more such travel gyan...

muahhhhhhhhh

When South Meets East!

2008-04-22T18:30:00.003+05:30

Hi all:

Now it was time for a typical South Indian to visit East to attend his relatives. I have spent my whole life so far in the Southern part of the country such as Tamil Nadu and Bangalore. There's one famous site named indiastat.com which always gives the live population index of the country. I always used to wonder how is it possible to have a population of more than 1.3 Billion. But all my confusions broke away when i visited Kolkata.. To my surprise i found the statistics of indiastat.com to be true when i was in Howrah. Daily i used to see thousands and thousands of people walking around the area of Howrah. To me it seemed to be a ant's world, wherein one ant follows the other in search of food and shelter.

In my life i had never seen such clumsy roads filled with mutilated and old-fashioned buildings filled with innumerable people. There was a huge difference in the lifestyle of a South Indian and a East Indian. I say this beacuse a South Indian always likes to have his own space of living, but East Indians are denyed with this luxury. One thing which is common across all states in India would be its people. No matter what happens people tend to live happier than ever before. A South Indian would always prefer to eat fast-food sitting in McDonalds or Pizza Hut, but Kolkata wasis prefer road side vendor selling fast-food items(..which even i liked it- for a change). There were a N number of things which i noticed during my week stay in Kolkata. After my visit i also realized as to how difficult should be for all the marketers who try to reach out the entire country through their advertisement campaign. Hats Off to them!!!

Finally i ended my trip in a happy note with my NET PROFIT also increasing by 1000%. My next destination would be my favourite place- New Delhi.

Budget-o-Nomics 2007-2008

2008-03-04T17:56:00.011+05:30

Well, Budget 2007-2008 presented on Feb 29, 2008 by our Hon. Finance Minister Shri. P.Chidambaram saw many twists and turns. Many economists had to say this as a political budget and some declared it as a "aam aadmi ka budget". But in my point of view, this budget was a kind of balancing act done by our Finance Minister. Increasing the B.E.L in the Income Tax to 1.5 Lacs, No effects on the corporate tax rate structure were some of the moves which made the Budget felt an aam aadmi budget. On the other hand, giving a statement that "I want retail investors to stay long in the market rather than short", Chidu also had in mind the fluctuation which the stock market is facing. Saying this he hiked the STCG tax rates to 15%, an hike of 5%. But the increase in this rates saw the Bombay Stock Exchange index SENSEX fell upto 7% for the next two working days. On the same note by waiving of Rs.60000 Crore of all the small and marginal farmers, certainly that showed a poilitical move. Following are some of the key highlights of Budget 2007-2008.

Proposals:

1. Complete waiver worth Rs.60000 Crore of all loans overdue on December 31, 2007 and which remained unpaid until February 29, 2008 for three crore small and marginal farmers.
2. One time Settlement (OTS) scheme for other farmers for all loans that were overdue for the same period; rebate of 25% against payment of the balance of 75% under OTS.
3. Rs.3780 Crore multi-sectoral development plans for 90 minority concentration districts.
4. National Program to be launched for the elderly.
5. Mid-day meal scheme to be extended to upper primary classes in all blocks.
6. 6000 high quality model schools to be opened.
7. 3 IITs in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan and 16 central universities to be established.
8. Rs.750 crore allocated for upgrading 30 ITI’s
9. Allocation under Indira Gandhi Old Age Pension Scheme up from Rs.2392 crore to Rs.3443 crore.
10. Equity, loan support to Central PSUs

Direct Taxes:

New Income Tax Slabs:
0-150000 - NIL
150000-300000 - 10%
300000-500000 - 20%
Above 500000 - 30%

1. Exemption Limit for women hiked to Rs.1.8 Lakh
2. For Senior Citizens, limit up to Rs.2.25 Lakh
3. No Change in Corporate tax and surcharge
4. Banking Cash Transaction tax goes.
5. 125% weighted deduction on payments for outsourced research.
6. Tax on Short Term Capital Gain hiked to 15%
7. Commodities transaction tax introduced
8. Creche Facilities, guest houses off FBT
9. Senior Citizen Saving Scheme 2004, Post Office Time Deposit Account come under Section 80C
10. 5 Year Tax holiday for new hospitals in Tier- II and Tier – III towns
11. Reverse Mortgage stream of revenue received by senior citizens not considered income
12. 150% deduction on R&D expenditure of seed producers and farm implements manufacturers
Indirect Taxes:

1. Cenvat rate reduced from 16% to 14%
2.Excise duty on 2, 3 wheelers cut by 12%
3.Excise duty in small cars down to 12%
4. Excise duty on buses, chassis cut to 12%
5. No excise duty on coconut water, tea, coffee mixes and puffed rice
6. Breakfast cereals to cost less, non- filter cigarettes to cost more.
7. Anti-AIDS drug off excise net.
8. Excise duty on Pharmaceutical product slashed.
9. Duty on some writing, printing paper cut.
10. Service Tax Net widens.
11. No change in peak rate of customs duty
12. Customs duty on certain life saving drugs cut.
13. No import duty on steel, aluminum scraps
14. Customs duty on project imports cut
15. No customs duty on bactofuges
16. No import duty on rough cubic zirconia
17. Duty on polished cubic zirconia cut from 10% t0 5%.
18. Select parts of set top boxes off custom duty.

Enjoy,
Piuesh Jain

Being an Entrepreneur

2008-02-20T12:28:00.005+05:30

What takes up to being an Entrepreneur?
Five keys ways to unleash the hidden potential for innovative thinking in your business and achieve high levels of success.

THINK TWO GENERATIONS AHEAD:
Envision your company 50 or even 100 years from now, even if you don’t foresee your product or service lasting that long. Such forward-looking reflection creates an umbrella for long-term innovation to occur. Working back from your 50 or 100 year vision plan in 10 year increments, ask and answer the critical “who, when, what, where, why and how” questions about your business. For instance, who will be your target demographic; what will your core products and business focus be; where will be your office and facilities are located; when will key business milestones be achieved. Why will your business matter 10, 15 or 50 years from now and how are you going to achieve your business goals.

CONFRONT & PARTNER WITH THE UNCONSCIOUS:
Experts suggest that of all the experiences, knowledge and data stored in our minds, we are only “conscious” of and actively use just 10% of it. The other 90% resides in our “unconscious”- it’s this part of our mind we can tap into for valuable some aspect of your leadership process that you want to improve. The more you write about a problem, the more you will tap your unconscious for innovative ideas solving it.

AIM TO INCREASE ENERGY, NOT JUST EFFICIENCY:
Do a quick energy audit of your employees to understand what energizes them and fuels their personal growth. If you understand what energizes them, you’ll be able to implement actions that motivate your employees and increase productivity. Ask every employee to identify the three things that energize him or her most about their jobs. Also ask them to identify the things they’re not currently doing that would energize them. Then match your employees to the energizing activities that best fit their talents and skills and needs. Also ask your staff to identify the three things that steal their energy. Help your management tam reduce the activities that de-energize the workplace.

ESTABLISH THE FREEDOM TO INNOVATE:
Creativity drives change. So tap into your employees’ intuitive side by ritualizing “ingenuity time” on the job. Utilizing creative techniques can often help people see issues more clearly. Set aside enough money for your team to compete for an industry related contest. It will keep your top people on their toes. Encourage people to draw a diagram or depiction of their business problem or challenge in the form of a character or situation. Then ask that they sketch the conclusion they envision that would resolve the matter. Seeing their problem put to life often helps people envision the best solution.

START TAKING RESPONSIBILITY:
Any problem you are directly involved and which you wish to solve required reflection on your role and responsibilities related to that problem. While you may not be the primary cause of the problem, reflecting on your role will help you better understand and acknowledge how you may have contributed to it. When you have a problem employee, start the fix by asking yourself: “What changes do I have to make in myself to help this person perform better?” You may not always identify something that need changing, but the mere matter of asking and spending some time on reflecting will make you a better leader.
Source: www.entrepreneur.com; www.economictimes.com ;www.google.com

Dutch Disease

2008-01-16T22:56:00.000+05:30

Dutch disease is an economic condition that, in its broadest sense, refers to negative consequences arising from large increase in a countries income. Dutch disease is primarily associated with a natural resource discovery, but it can result from any large increase in foreign currency, including foreign direct investment, foreign aid or a substantial increase in natural resource prices. This condition arises when foreign currency inflows cause an increase in the affected country's currency.

This has two main effects for the country with Dutch disease:

1. A decrease in the price competitiveness, and thus the exports, of its manufactured goods

2. An increase in imports In the long run, both these factors can contribute to manufacturing jobs being moved to lower-cost countries. The end result is that non-resource industries are hurt by the increase in wealth generated by the resource-based industries.

The term was coined in 1977 by The Economist to describe the decline of the manufacturing sector in the Netherlands after the discovery of natural gas in the 1960s.

The "Core Model"

The classic economic model describing Dutch Disease was developed by the economists W. Max Corden and J. Peter Neary in 1982. In the model, there is the non-traded good sector (this includes services) and two traded good sectors: the booming sector, and the lagging sector, also called the non-booming tradable sector. The booming sector is usually the extraction of oil or natural gas, but can also be the mining of gold, copper, diamonds or bauxite, or the production of crops, such as coffee or cocoa. The lagging sector generally refers to manufacturing, but can also refer to agriculture.

A resource boom will affect this economy in two ways. In the resource movement effect, the resource boom will increase the demand for labor, which will cause production to shift toward the booming sector, away from the lagging sector. This shift in labor from the lagging sector to the booming sector is called direct-deindustrialisation. However, this effect can be negligible, since the hydrocarbon and mineral sectors generally employ few people. The spending effect occurs as a result of the extra revenue brought in by the resource boom. It increases the demand for labor in the non-tradable, shifting labor away from the lagging sector.

This shift from the lagging sector to the non-tradable sector is called indirect-deindustrialisation. As a result of the increased demand for non-traded goods, the price of these goods will increase. However, prices in the traded good sector are set internationally, so they cannot change. This is an increase of the real exchange rate.

Effects of Dutch Disease
In simple trade models, a country ought to specialize in industries that it has a comparative advantage in, so theoretically, a country rich in natural resources would be better off specializing in the extraction of natural resources. In reality, however, the shift away from manufacturing can be detrimental.

If the natural resources begin to run out or if there is a downturn in prices, competitive manufacturing industries do not return as quickly or as easily as they left. This is because technological growth is smaller in the booming sector and the non-tradable sector than the non-booming tradable sector. Since there has been less technological growth in the economy relative to other countries, its comparative advantage in non-booming tradable goods will have shrunk, thus leading firms not to invest in the tradable sector. Also, volatility in the price of natural resources, and thus the real exchange rate may prevent more investment from firms, since firms will not invest if they are not sure what the future economic conditions will be.
There are also many other harmful effects often associated with Dutch disease, such as corruption and protectionist policies for affected lagging sector industries. However, these effects can most accurately be described as part of the broader resource curse.

References:

www.investopedia.com
ww.wikipedia.com

www.google.com

Space Tourism- Related Print Ads

2007-12-03T11:08:00.000+05:30

Here comes my Favourite......

Nice one...

Energizer..isnt it?

All the world's a stage and all the human beings are just droplets...

Dont ask me the cost of one pair of Shoes!!!!

Cheers!!!!

Piuesh Jain

Space Tourism

2007-12-02T23:57:00.000+05:30

Is Sky the Limit?

Space tourism is the recent phenomenon which might venture out as a very lucrative business as well in the future. On 12th April 1961, Yuri Gagarin (Russian), traveled to space and etched out his name in the annals of history books forever. For the next 40 years the space travel was confined to Astronauts.

“We do not know where this journey will end, yet we know this: human beings are headed into the cosmos”
- George William Bush

US President

In April 2001, American businessman, Dennis Tito became the first civilian traveler to pay $20 Million for a trip to space. Dennis Anthony Tito (born August 8, 1940 in Queens, New York) is a United States multimillionaire who gained celebrity status by becoming the first space tourist to pay for his own ticket, although he himself opposes being called "tourist" and asks to be called an "independent researcher" since he performed several scientific experiments in orbit.

In April 2002, South African entrepreneur, Mark Shuttleworth became the second commercial space tourist. Both Dennis and Mark traveled on the Russian Soyuz. Mark Richard Shuttleworth (born 18 September 1973) is a South African entrepreneur who was the second self-funded space tourist and first African in space. He is now best known for his leadership of the Ubuntu Linux distribution.

The third was Gregory Olsen in October, 2005, who was trained as a scientist and whose company produced specialist high-sensitivity camera went into space with space adventures. Gregory Hammond "Greg" Olsen (b. April 20, 1945) is an American entrepreneur and scientist. Olsen was the co-founder and chairman of Sensors Unlimited Inc., a company developing optoelectronic devices such as sensitive near-infrared (NIR) and shortwave-infrared (SWIR) cameras.

Anousheh Ansari (Persian: born 12 September 1966) is the Iranian-American co-founder and chairman of Prodea Systems, Inc and a spaceflight participant with the Russian space program. Her previous business accomplishments include serving as co-founder and CEO of Telecom Technologies, Inc. (TTI). The Ansari family is also the title sponsor of the Ansari X PRIZE. On September 18, 2006, a few days after her 40th birthday, she became the first female Muslim and first Iranian in space. Ansari is the fourth overall self-funded space tourist,and the first self-funded woman to fly to the International Space Station.

Charles Simonyi (Hungarian: Simonyi Károly; born September 10, 1948, Budapest) is a computer software executive who, as head of Microsoft's application software group, oversaw the creation of Microsoft's flagship office applications. He now heads his own company, Intentional Software, with the aim of developing and marketing his concept of Intentional programming. In 2007, he became the fifth space tourist and the second Hungarian in space.

A space tourist was the one who went to the space spending his own money and could not be called a professional astronaut, so he was called as “touronaut”. Very recently the charm of Space Tourism has increased day by day, with more companies venturing into this industry.

The Cost of Space tourism:

The Commercial Space Ventures:

- Ansari X Prize
- Virgin Galactic
- Rocketplane Kistler
- Blue Origin
- Bigelow Aerospace
- Hilton-Space Island Group
- Space Adventures
- Starchaser
- Armadillo Aerospace
- XCOR Aerospace

With the same intensity, this sector is going to boom like anything and the human dream of reaching space and crossing the limits will be fulfilled.

Source:

About the Blog

2007-11-30T12:04:00.000+05:30

Hi all,

I start this blog by a famous saying,

First of all, I welcome all the bloggers and blog users to my blog called

Creat-Mak!

Well….Creat-Mak is a combination of two words, one being Creativity and the other Kalatmak (Hindi). Creativity as you all know is a well used excerpt these days, where in Kalatmak means ‘art of doing a work’.

As the proverb emphasizes on Change, therefore the word Creativity also demands a change in it. Time has come that we dig deep into the realm and incorporate the ancient style of getting the work done.

It would be a great accomplishment if at all this blog provides some information about everything.

Cheers,

Piuesh Jain