Archive for the 'Musings' Category

Indian Stock Market Crashes

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on January 23, 2008
in Musings and Personal
. 0 Comments

Stock markets globally have taken a sharp U-turn and are plunging southwards. The trend was imminent with the emergence of subprime crisis in the US, even though there were desperate measures in the form of rescue packages and plans to write-off debt, in some cases. As a fallout of the tumbling US economy, the global investors had started looking at Asian markets, hoping to find the much needed growth economies.

The Indian market had been performing exceptionally well, backed by strong fundamentals and a booming economy. Over the last two weeks, share prices have fallen so fast that an attempt at a rally seems challenging. The market seems to be taking cues from the global exchanges, which are going into the red. Today has been another day when markets hit rock bottom.

For me, this is the perfect buying opportunity!

On Leadership

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on April 23, 2007
in Musings
. 0 Comments

“A true entrepreneur is the one who sends the elevator down for others, once he is successful” - Anonymous

Netscribes Spreads Love on Christmas

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on December 23, 2006
in Musings and Netscribes
. 1 Comment

Netscribes undertook a very thoughtful gesture this Christmas eve - an act of spreading the message of love. As a part of its corporate social responsibility initiatives, Netscribes sent its messengers of love to St Stanislaus School, Bandra to spend some time with the kids there. Varghis was the Santa of choice :-).

Even though I was not there with the team, I could see the profound sense of satisfaction and rejoice on the faces of people who went there to cheer the kids. Last year saw Venkat and a bunch of other Netscribians taking up the onus of making Christmas fun for the kids.

DNA has the complete story of Christmas eve’s CSR events.

Punjab Trip - II

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on December 17, 2006
in Musings and Personal
. 1 Comment

I came back from Punjab last week after a short vacation that was in the works since a long time. It felt nice to go back home after a year - a long year that seemed to have passed like a flash. And just like my last trip, this vacation also brought forth its share of surprises. Once again, the Punjab that I saw last time is undergoing further metamorphosis.

There is a strong NRI boom right now - you will see the youth in all shades and colors, spiky hairstyles or sans any hair, zooming around in swanky cars. And then the central meeting place in Jalandhar - aptly named ‘Headquarters’ is a hotbed for catching up on the latest trends in fashion, gossip, dating, food et al. It makes for an interesting sight to see so many different shades of how lifestyles have evolved in a matter of one year.

A lot of new food joints have also come up. Needless to say, the McDonalds at Jalandhar is on the topmost position in India in terms of revenue - a statistic that came up during a research project in Netscribes. And I was not shocked ;-). However, the past months also saw the sale of Haveli - an immensely popular food joint - that was launched three years ago. I could not confirm the exact deal size but it is believed to be close to INR 170 crores. A very shocking number there.

On exploring the NRI influx a little deeper, I found out that most of them are on vacation at home - just like me :-). All that they do back home is look at properties for making a quick buck and party party party. Not bad though ;-)). The realty prices are also on the rise. A friend tells me that there has been a 25% appreciation in property over the last three months. This is good news for those who are invested in property - but it might cause a tingle of worry for people planning to buy a house. Coming from Mumbai, this was not news for me - Mumbai is seeing its own share of insane price hikes in real estate market. And flats have already made inroads in Jalandhar as well - I visited a friend who has bought his own flat in one of the high rise buildings that have mushroomed recently. Even though I am not fond of closed spaces like flats, the sold-out flats point towards a new direction and an underlying demography shift. Needless to say, shifting into flats is a difficult decision for most Punjabis as they are used to living in big open spaces - homes with big gardens, ample lobby space and huge rooms. So the confinement must be painful at times. I was surprised to see the paradigm shift in the thought process of businesses as well - beautifully designed buildings and offices is the new trend. This is one change that I liked for the good and it was time that Jalandhar started looking at the aesthetics.

My trip to Amritsar was a pleasant one. The roads are awesome - you can actually do justice to your BMWs and Mercs on these roads. And to further take care of the increasing vehicles that ply on the highways, the government is on a rapid road widening spree - the four lanes are being converted into six lanes. There are a lot of new housing complexes and row houses coming outside the city as well. Clicked one on my way to Amritsar.

Golden Temple remains one of my favorite places in Punjab - the calmness and serenity of the place gets to you, and it was an amazingly wonderful experience visiting the holy temple.

Overall, there have been extremely positive developments vis-a-vis infrastructure, cleanliness and business space. If you are into any business that touches youth - entertainment, food, garments, automobiles - you cannot afford to ignore Punjab. One trip and you will become a believer in the business opportunity that this place has come to offer in recent years. I am waiting to go back again soon - every trip has started to become an exciting revelation.

A few pictures from the trip are posted on Flickr.

Retail - The India Story

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on November 26, 2006
in Musings
. 3 Comments

BLACK FRIDAY is here. The day after after Thanksgiving marks the start of one of the hottest shopping season in US that sees the retail chains and stores being mobbed in a quest for the best deals and prices. Economist says that the day is called black not because of the chaos caused by queues and crowds, but because it marks the moment when retailers are supposed to move from the red (indicating losses) to the black (indicating profits). In the coming weeks, the retailers in US would see a sharp climb in the consumer spending levels. And the retail industry expects to see green once again.

In India too, retail is one of the hottest and most recent sectors of the Indian economy to open up for foreign direct investment. Even though most of the sales to the Indian consumers are still made through the corner ‘kirana’ (read grocery) stores, yet recent efforts by companies like Reliance, Spencer and Pantaloon are symptomatic of changing dynamics in this industry. Reliance is planning to spend nearly USD 5 billion over the next few years - the company has opened its first store in Hyderabad recently.

The growth of modern retail in India is converging with the “consumption economy“. The growing interest in Indian retail industry is primarily driven by the strong and consistent economic growth fuelled by rising income levels and a stronger business environment across industries. With nearly 60% of Indian consumers being under 30, the per-person spending levels have suddenly rocketed skywards. And I believe that the opportunity would be in organized retail, a nascent sector that is expected to grow at an extremely rapid pace in the coming years.

Indian Retail has become the cynosure of all eyes and the global retail biggies like Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Target, Metro, Sears and Tesco are already trying to enter the Indian markets, in an effort to cash-in on the rapidly evolving sector. The government has banned FDI into this sector until the end of this year. However, this has not stopped MNCs to partner with franchises in India and open new stores. The model seems to be working fine as the locals run the day-to-day operations, whereas the franchisees take care of sourcing.

The Indian retail industry is moving fast - with the strategy based around different store formats, aggressive pursuit of first-mover advantage, rapid expansion in second-tier cities, and introduction of various metrics and scorecards to analyze consumer spending patterns. Even though there are concerns and challenges that need to be addressed, there are a lot of local players who have become big believers in this space. With a target turnover of INR 90,000 crore on an investment of INR 30,000 crore over the next five years, Mukesh Ambani has already made his move. And a lot of other Indian companies are following suit. What remains to be seen is how Indian players face competition from global retail powerhouses when they make an entry into India - an entry that is now only a question of time.

People at Netscribes

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on October 13, 2006
in Musings and Netscribes
. 1 Comment

This is a post dedicated to the ‘mavericks’ at Netscribes.

I have a great job that is not only interesting but fulfilling as well. It involves working on diverse topics right from the realms of information technology to business research and business intelligence. And along with this comes plenty of opportunity for innovation. Everyday at Netscribes brings forth a new set of challenges, new learnings and greater insight into the this rapidly evolving space called knowledge services. Whether it is high end business intelligence or basic data-mining - I have done it all. And I have enjoyed every bit of it. As I have outlined in my previous posts about Netscribes, a good job will not only provide healthy remuneration but would lay greater focus on freedom of thought and an open culture that promotes interaction and discussion.

A major factor in me enjoying my stay at Netscribes is the eclectic mix of people with an extremely interesting and varied thought process. It is this mix of people that are the very DNA that powers this organization. Sitting together and brainstorming on new ideas, or solving day-to-day problems becomes so much fun with my peer group. Every discussion brings about an influx ideas - so much so that we often go back to the discussion table and keep reinventing and refining our existing ways of doing work. The amount of ideas and discussions that we have - healthy debates on the merits and demerits of taking up any one approach during problem solving - becomes so much fun that everyone is extremely enthused to take any responsibility on his/her hands.

I am managing a multitude of projects right now. The insights that you get while working with different teams is extremely remarkable. There are people who are smart - people you can put on any projects and rest assured of a good job. Then there are extremely fast learners - who would scale up depending on the complexity of the work. And then there are the freshers - an exciting bunch of people who have joined the firm recently and are discovering the work environment at Netscribes. These are the kind of people that excite me and make every new day something to look forward to.

This post is just my way of saying thanks to all of my colleagues, who have and are making a difference to the everyday life at Netscribes. You know who you are … so thank you ‘mavericks’ and keep rocking.

Two Years at Netscribes

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on September 15, 2006
in Musings, Netscribes and Personal
. 0 Comments

Today I complete my second year at Netscribes. The journey has been very eventful with a lot of pleasant surprises and heartbreaking events. But all in all, I am enjoying it here and looking forward to another great year and another great stint at this great place.

There have been various key learnings over the short span of two years and along with it has come a sense of immense responsibility. I am still learning in the process and there is a long way to go. For now, it is party time as we also complete two years for our project. The party is happening at Tian in Juhu.