India has the Third largest number of billionaires Next to US and China

India is a land of many contradictions. On one hand you have an economy which is the second fastest growing in the world after China, strong Indian companies with a global footprint, surging stockmarkets and an interesting diversity in terms of culture and languages. On the other hand you have poor infrastructure, lack of significant development in the rural hinterland and a majority of population which depends upon agriculture as means of livelihood. Of the various phenomenon that have put India on the global map, one such factor is the number of billionaires in the country. As the above chart shows, in 2009, India had the third highest number of billionaires after the US and China. Interestingly, India also has the highest percentage of population living below the poverty line as compared to its BRIC peers further accentuating a myriad of stark contrasts in the country. - Excerpts from Equity master

Long hours for brokers starting to-day

Brokers, bankers, fund managers and day traders in Mumbai have reset their alarm clocks to wake up an hour early from Monday to Friday. Some breakfasts, many morning walks and a few school drops will be sacrificed as the country’s two largest stock exchanges start trading at 9am beginning on Monday.
An entire generation of market intermediaries used to the 9.55am-3.30pm slot will have to make some painful adjustments in their personal and professional lives. An extra hour of work a day means almost an extra day a week.

Will gold turn out to be the asset class of choice in the next decade as well?

"Amidst all the madness there was one asset class that remained rock solid right till the end. In fact, it ended each year of the decade higher than the price at which it started the year. Thus, if there is one widely accepted asset class that deserves the title to be the asset of the decade, it is none other than the yellow metal gold. As per a story in LiveMint, Gold witnessed a near fourfold jump in its price over the past decade. It beat other contenders like crude oil and the Indian Sensex, which were up around three-fold, by a handsome margin.

Now, to the question that we are sure would be on most investors' minds. Will Gold outperform in the coming decade as well? We may not like to hazard a guess on that one. But we are fairly certain about is its ability to continue giving attractive returns. As one financial expert rightly put it, 'Gold no doubt is a speculation but it is a speculation on a certainty. And that certainty is the debasement of currencies.' Thus, gold bugs can continue to keep the faith. But do not go overboard with your gold investment."

My recommendation :- Go with Gold ETF, you don't loose on redemtion(but for the brokerage) and it is faster to get it redemed. If it is ornament it has got utility vaue but would attract lesser price while redemption and is little more tougher to get cash in exchange of gold as most of the Jewellery shops would prefer a gold to gold exchange ( old for new ornaments)

Indian Auto Industry Dec'09 performance

"India's auto industry ended 2009 on a strong note with car and two I wheeler makers reporting robust growth in December sales as increas ing economic activity and easy avail ability of loans prompted buyers to rush to dealerships.
December is traditionally seen as a weak month for sales as customers prefer to wait for the new year to make purchases as cars bought in December attract lower resale prices than than those bought a month later.
However, in the past few years car makers have rushed to attract buyers with discounts and other rebates to shore up December sales.
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, the coun try's largest car maker reported a 36% jump in sales. The company sold 71,000 units in December, compared with 52,029 units a year ago.
Sales at rival, Hyundai Motor India Ltd, rose 42% to 22,252 units. Mahin dra and Mahindra Ltd clocked the big gest percentage jump, with sales ris ing 122% to 22,754 units.
Tata Motors Ltd did not release its numbers.
The growth was also helped along by the base effect when muted growth in one month leads to the next year's numbers looking stronger then they would have otherwise. Car and twowheeler sales started falling in October 2008 and continued to do so till February.
Smaller players such as General Motors India and Skoda Auto also reported brisk growth. Sales at Gener al Motors doubled to 8,258 units. Sig nificantly, the Spark, its small car, accounted for 4,147 units. It plans to further strengthen its offering in the small car segment with the launch of the Chevrolet Beat at this month's New Delhi Auto Expo. Skoda sold 1,113 units compared with 732 a year ago.
Car makers also benefited from buyers advancing purchases due to price hikes, which several companies have said they plan to do in the next few months. Some, such as Ford India Pvt. Ltd, have already announced an increase in prices from January.
Among twowheeler companies, Hero Honda Motors Ltd ended the year with the company selling"

Indian infrastructure - Ports

"The average turnaround time for ships at Indian ports was 3.85 days in FY09, compared with just 10 hours in Hong Kong"

Investing in Indian Stock மார்க்கெட்

"If the coming decades belong to China and India, then we are going to witness the changing lifestyle of the average Chinese and Indian. In particular, he will be consuming more energy. The primary sources of energy remain hydrocarbons – coal, crude oil and natural gas. Of these, natural gas is the most environment friendly. Little wonder then, the growth rate in demand is going to be the highest for natural gas, from all across Asia and especially from China and India.

So, natural gas producers and transporters are going to create a lot of wealth for themselves and their shareholders. The demand is evident in the off take numbers. But the supply side might also surprise us. In fact, we believe India also has enormous potential in terms of new discoveries"

I also read in to-days ET that India has abundant frozen hydrates in its ocean beds - a source of Natural Gas. This would put India with excess natural gas and hence India would also export the same to Iran.