Reflections

Startups in India are variously hailed as employment generators, the future and so on.  There are now sites dedicated to various aspects of the Startup ecosystem; you have experts in Startups, specialists so to speak; you can get courses in Startups, and much more. On the one hand, as one of my recent book reviews show, there is also the faint hint of a bubble – while on the other hand, as 3 of my book reviews detail, you have a list of successful startup companies in operation. Where the truth lies is hard to say at this point in time, as there is persuasive evidence on both sides of the argument; this question can only be answered in the due course of time.  What we can do is, take a look at some failures, and try and draw some basic lessons for the startup ecosystem…. STARTUPS : FAILURE ANECDOTES In this section, I will detail a few startups that failed- the objective being to learn lessons from their failure. The first that comes to mind is a company in the M...

I review only the best movies; the next one that qualifies is Hampi. Some people told me Hampi was a movie. Some told me it was a great movie. Some told me it was a travelogue. Some told me it was a sweet movie. Well, all the above were wrong; all the above were right – and all the above did not, in my opinion, come even close to what Hampi is. It was a relatively short movie – if you can call it that; which I don’t. It was over in 1 hour and some 40-odd minutes tops. It wasn’t a moving movie; it wasn’t a deep movie; it didn’t deal with esoteric subjects. It also isn’t a movie that will appeal to everyone, that is also equally true. You need, in my opinion, a particular kind of emotional / artistic / simple outlook in your mind to truly connect. हंपी एक नुसतं चित्रपट नसून एका उत्कृष्ट कवी ची कल्पना असावी ; एका विलक्षण चित्रकाराचे चित्र असावे . हिला   एका महान कवी ची कविता जरी म्हंटलं तरी चालेल . ह्या चित्रपटाची सर्वात मोठी गोषट तर हि आहे ...

Childhood memories are very strong and potent – and not easy to forget; for they form the strongest associations in our mind, and are the strongest elements in our personality makeup. I am no different from the norm; and harbor a series of strong memories both good, bad as well as ugly. I can truthfully state that these were central to me becoming what I am today. While I bear no grudge today for the bad / ugly, it is important to point out that these memories remain etched the strongest. As to the good, I can honestly state that I remember them – almost as strongly THE BAD & THE UGLY Lets get this out of the way. My memories of my childhood, on the negative side, in this are of one thing, and one thing only. Being bullied, brutally bullied by self-styled Rambos, so-called machos who thought the world of themselves, and cared little for the feelings of others. The bullying was constant – not just of me – but of other students like me.  I haven’t forgotten; neither will ...

Hindu terror {or similar terms like Extremism} – the buzzword of the past week or so. This is, at best, a topic that ensures passion – but we need to confront this allegation head-on as a society, for our own well-being. In the past week or so, two or three articles have appeared that open this debate; the author’s courage and forthrightness needs to be appreciated, that much is certain. Opinion is strictly divided into two camps – one says, with a marked lack of eloquence at times, what terror? The other side says, look around. As in much else, here too, I have a middle opinion – and no, I am not sitting on the fence on this one, as a couple of my friends and seniors have alleged in some cases IS THERE HINDU TERROR? So, we first need to examine whether or not there is Hindu Terror at all, in the first place, and then look at its dimensions. Now in this, sorry to state, there can actually be no debate : there is no terror so far as we know from what information is prese...

In the previous article – India’s NPA Problem, 2001-2012; we got an overview of the NPA Problem, and could see from the graphs its genesis lay in the high growth period between 2003-2008. As the NPAs started rising from 2008 onwards  they clearly pertain to investment decisions taken in the previous years. Now in any high growth period, some investment calls are going to go bad; if we play too safe – we sacrifice some growth. But, when the same investment decisions turn bad to an extent that Bank Credit to industry dries up, it becomes a serious issue that needs to be dealt with. WHO IS RESPONSIBLE AS PER CURRENT DISCUSSIONS? There is a tendency by some to blame the UPA Government, and some to blame the NDA Government; as I looked at in the previous article, no one is calling the industry/s to task for failing to judge the environment properly. Is it the contention of the people that 100% of all NPAs were caused by unforeseeable external shocks? There is a strong case in th...

An article in The Hindustan Times today caught my eye -  Fewer than half of new MBA graduates getjobs as economy sputters, trend at 5-year low . The articles open with a hard punch to your gut : “ Job offers for fresh management graduates in India are at a five-year low, official data show, a trend experts blame on a sluggish economy as well as a mismatch between the years-old curriculum and industry expectations…. In 2016-17, just 47% of Master of Business Administration (MBA)   graduates got placed on the campus, a dip of 4% over the previous year, marking a five-year low. At 12%, the drop was far sharper for postgraduate diploma holders. ” Image Source : from HT Article linked above I said this on my blog nearly 4 years ago - there is a dire need to revisit the MBA Curriculum; but it isn’t the only aspect of this problem . I say this with authority, as I have seen both sides – having been a Visiting Faculty, as well as a current Industry Veteran. There is an issue ...