Author: Dr. Rajendra Pratap Gupta

I work , write and speak on Public Policy , Economy, Education , Health , Innovation & Governance Reforms. Twitter handle @rajendragupta

Is it divestment or a buy back through a family controlled firm


On 8th February , 2013, i wrote about the ‘Oxytocin’ injections that the Government is giving to our economy to draw out milk…….here is the proof.

Life Insurance Corporation was the most dependable automated teller machine for the government in the past year, buying record amounts of bonds and stocks of public-sector firms. Which was shown as ‘successful divestment by the Government’.

The state-run insurer’s purchase of government bonds rose 20%, and it bought nearly 40% of the shares sold via offer for sale (OFS) in four out of total seven PSUissues, said people familiar with the investments.

Of the Rs 4.67 lakh crore raised by the government through securities, LIC provided over Rs 1.10 lakh crore, or 21.4% of the total figure.

LIC invested Rs 236 crore in Nalco (35% of the OFS size), Rs 142 crore in RCF (45%), Rs 608 crore in Hindustan CopperBSE 0.87 % (44%), Rs 923 crore in NTPCBSE -0.35 % (5%), Rs 1,069 crore in SAIL (71%) and Rs 282 crore in NMDCBSE 2.50 % (4.7%).

LIC had contributed 81% to the government’s Rs 14,000-crore mop-up from share sales in 2011-12 by investing Rs 11,400 crore in ONGC

LIC invests in government securities with a view to holding them till maturity, and mark-to-market losses in the interim are not good. It would be a good practice to evaluate returns on redemption each time it happens and compare it with benchmark government bond rates. “Any shortfall in the return should be compensated by the government,”

Also, LICs mandate to invest 50 % in Government securities should be re-looked .

So the big question is , was this really divestment or a ‘back door buyout’ & a ‘face saver’ from a state controlled financier with public money, which could have yielded better returns had the LIC invested into blue chip companies  . We all know that the state run PSUs will perform poorly when compared to other blue chip firms . Does it not warrant a CAG inquiry into the management ( mismanagement ) of LICs investments under duress ( from Chidambaram ) ?

LIC is failing in its fiduciary responsibilities to its investors ( people of this country who buy insurance policies from LIC ) , who invest Rs. 450 crore a day in LIC . Time to raise this issue and realise , that the actual divestment figure shown by the Government was a back door forced buyback by a family firm ( Government’s family firm- LIC )

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

http://www.commonmansblog.com

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/lic-turns-out-to-be-the-governments-atm-buys-record-amount-of-bonds-and-psu-stocks/articleshow/19313481.cms

Vehicle sales prove a depressing point about the Indian economy


Please see the data below .  If you carefully examine the data ,  a few things are apparent ;

1. Sales drop in tractors indicate poor state of affairs in agri- rural India ( decline in agricultural sector )

2. Sales drop in Medium and heavy ( M&H) segment indicate actual decline in industrial output

3. Sales drop in light commercial vehicles (LCV ) indicate that the ‘Public sentiment’ is negative .

In the tractor segment 3,44,911 units were produced as against 3,72,282 units in the same period of last FY, registering  7% decline according to the data of Tractor Manufacturers Association [TMA].

As per the  data of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers [SIAM], total production in M& H segment was 2,11,530 vehicles against 2,72,400 in the same period of last financial year.

Source : http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/steep-fall-in-commercial-vehicle-production-in-apr-dec-113012500139_1.html

VE Commercial Vehicle sales down 20% in December

By PTI Jan 01 2013 , New Delhi

Tags: News
Automaker VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV) today reported a 20.17 per cent fall in its total sales at 4,032 units in December, 2012.The company, which is a joint venture between the Volvo Group and Eicher Motors, had sold 5,051 units in the same month in 2011.Domestic sales decreased to 3,598 units in December 2012 from 4,512 units in the year-ago period, a decline of 20.26 per cent, VECV said in a statement.
Heavy commercial vehicle sales slipped by 27.80 per cent to 678 units from 939 units in December
Rajendra Pratap Gupta

Economy to grow 6 % ? Are we fooling ourselves !


Car sales in India slumped 25.7 percent in February, the biggest fall in more than 12 years and the fourth consecutive monthly slide, an industry body said on Monday, as sluggish economic growth continues to weigh on demand.

The industry is expected to see it first decline in annual sales in a decade as high interest rates and rising fuel costs in Asia’s third-largest economy put off buyers in a market that was once one of the world’s most promising.

Automakers sold 158,513 cars in India last month, data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed. Car sales are down 4.6 percent for the first 11 months of the fiscal year ending in March, it said.

“There is no improvement in the market sentiment. People have more or less stopped discretionary purchases,” Sugato Sen, deputy director general of SIAM told Reuters.

“This has really impacted the bottom of the pyramid, people who buy the smaller cars,” he said, referring to the slowing economy that is expected to grow 5 percent, a decade low. “That is getting reflected in the numbers.”

http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/03/11/india-autos-cars-idINDEE92A04R20130311

Our Finance Minister is now doing road shows in Hong Kong, Japan etc to attract investors ….. If the Finance Minister of India has to take to road shows, Indian economy is entering a ‘No show’ time ……

This is what i have been writing for the past one year ……..Wake up call for our ‘Learned Handicapped’ Politicians, who are disconnected from the ground realities

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

http://www.commonmansblog.com

Budget 2013-14


I am not an economist , so in case, my predictions go wrong ( so far, i have not been wrong on a single occasion ), i do have an option to take refuge in my lack of educational qualifications in the Economic theory unlike the proficient doctors of economics do at PM’s office , Planning Commission & the Finance ministry …..

My belief is that in 2013-14;

1. This Government will struggle to revive growth

2. Inflation ‘might’ ( 50 % chances ) come down a bit , as consumption story of India will go down

3. Manufacturing sector will slow down

4. Fiscal deficit will increase, and might create a balance of payments problem , or the Government will open more avenues for FDI ( or bend to the demands of the industrialists )

5. Tax collections will go down

6. Divestment target will not be met under the current situation unless some more ‘targets’ are divested

7. India might face a ‘security threat’ before the next elections

8. Investor confidence cannot be revived due to ‘Governance deficit’ and ‘Scamful’ Government at the centre .

Also, you can expect this Government to come out with injecting ‘Oxytocin’ in the economy as mentioned in my earlier blog ….. but this will be a short-term story, and will further dent the strength of the economy

Overall, not a good omen for job seekers and this nation . Hopefully, this will be the last budget for Congress

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

http://www.commonmansblog.com

Auction of Spectrum fails


Auction of Spectrum fails

The attempt of the UPA Government to raise Rs. 40,000 cr via spectrum auction failed  . I had written in detail in October 2012 about the same …… The UPA’s failure is becoming so predictable now ………even for a layman like me !

Read in the link pasted above how the Government has killed the Telecom sector 

Making Delhi safer


Delhi has an area of 1483 Sq. kms and a population of 1.9 Crore, and there are 75169 police men including 5356 women cops . So how can Delhi be made safer ?

So there are 50.68 policemen for each square KM. To me, this appears to be a good number per Sq. km.

Delhi has 149 police stations .

So , if we need to make Delhi secure . We might not need to add more police force just focus on deployment .

There are 617 PCR vans , but out of them 74 are off duty or dysfunctional . So, effective number of PCR vans are 543 . So ,  one Van for every 2.4 KM ( 2.7 KM , if we take out the dysfunctional vans  ) …

So, in a real sense , the Delhi state is not insecure for want of more force , but needs a more ‘effective force’.. I believe, the police personnel are so grossly involved in ‘making money’ , and getting ‘lucrative postings’ and then trying to make good the investment  , that they are not interested in security of the residents in Delhi at all. They are just ‘reactive’ and not a ‘proactive’ police .

I would recommend cutting the police force by 50 % , and increasing the salaries by 50 %,  and getting tough on corruption within  the force would make the things change . Also, we need ‘surveillance’ for politicians and the Delhi police need not provide security to them ,  and their ‘party workers’ should safe guard their leaders and not the police force . Though , the police could train the party workers for the security duty .

Also, each police station should not be having more than 10 police personnel at any point in time including 2 female police personnel

Roping in civil police volunteers with proper back ground check will do the trick of proving more timely action .

Also, FIR’s should be recorded over SMS / online , to avoid the cases of police not registering FIR’s at all . The format for FIR should be available to the public with basis information

Time to think radical to bring about the change

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

www.commonmansblog.com