For the past one year Mutual funds are falling over themselves to please the bankers. However it is not having a great impact on the net sales. For many mutual funds, the ‘net sales’ figure by the big banks is  NEGATIVE figure. When you talk to a banker however they are not so negative, and […]

Read More →

The Reserve Bank of India has just issued (I mean I just saw it at 9.30pm) a circular signed by its CGM – Alpana Killawala.   This says the investigation of the cobrapost.com episode (where they had showed bankers talking about money laundering) will be over by 31st March, 2013. Great. The investigation will exonerate […]

Read More →

  What are the options that a person has when he/ she chooses to invest in a debt instrument? Well the choices are: 1. Bank fixed deposits:  requires very little explanation. 2. Company fixed deposits  not a big range of companies available, but a good option. 3. Company Bonds: Right from Tata to Sriram and […]

Read More →

WoW that is amazing, right? banks become brokers, so what is in it for you? Well, er, sorry, but NOTHING. Really, nothing. Ok, do you know how a shop sells cell phone connections? – 99% of the customers will not care whether they buy a Bharti Airtel, Tata, Reliance….so the shop keeper sells the ones […]

Read More →

All finance company shares are up and in the sky. With p/e ratios in the 30s and even in the 90s. Let us ask ourselves some basic questions. What will really happen if Tata, Birla, LnT, Shriram group, Religare, Indiainfoline and a couple of others do get a banking license? To start off, there will […]

Read More →

Why does the government need so many banks? With different names, multiple branches, multiple ATM booths,….but essentially doing the same work. The metros are over banked – seeing 4-5 branches in a small road is a given. Well the reasons are simple. If there is a Rs. 10 crore fraud in a small private sector […]

Read More →

I do not know much about the other industries, but the financial services industry has a lot of interesting behaviour… The life insurance industry had a product called Classic Endowment Policy. This was a compulsory saving and risk cover product where the returns were a function of how well the fund was managed, how the […]

Read More →