synergies in M&As - landline and mobile disconnect

india inc is on a mergers and acquisitions spree. overseas cos are being bought like a kid buying candy. great explanation about the synergies are being given and 1+ 1 = 4 !!
but i think the benefits of the mergers may be far less than being portrayed.

take the case of airtel, the merged the landline and mobile operations after the universal licensing regime came into place. but walk into to an airtel showroom, and they are likely to carry on only one activity - landline or mobile --- not both. - which is pretty annoying from a customer perspective

if bharati, one of most admired company in india cant pull of an internal merger from a customer perspective - i wonder what the other cos. buying overseas assets can do.

TVM Links

i have just put up a new blog - www.tvmlinks.blogspot.com. this blog contains interesting reading that i have come across while browing. it is a copy of ramzlinks.blogspot.com, from whose author i have learnt much of what little i know about the net and the new economy. thankyou.

when all asset classes soar

i guess it is something worth repeating and trying to understand further.
what is the significance of the prices of currency (dollar), equity, land, gold, metal, and even some agricultural commidities - rising or soaring - all at once. shouldnt there be a negative correlation between some of these asset classes. i cant undertand nor have i come across a meaniful explanation for such a movement. it will be interesting to see the long term outcome of such movement - whether any asset class with correct strongly or such a run will continue forever!

india better viewed thro western eyes

westerners often have a better ability to understand india . perhaps it is because our sense s are numbed by the everyday occurances which we take for granted. i enjoyed reading this article in the NY times, some excerpts here:

Debt, once anathema for the middle class, is now an acceptable means to an end.

America, of course, went through a similar evolution: the making of a postwar consumerist economy; the introduction of credit cards and growing comfort with, and dependence on, debt; the rise of an advertising culture. India today offers the chance to watch it in real time, at a hyper, almost-out-of-control, pace.

ndian society has always been more about duty, or dharma, than drive, more about responsibility to others than the realization of individual desire.

"The value system is finishing now," he said. "We are gradually increasing everyone for himself." Luxuries are now necessities, he said, and children are focused more on earning for themselves than on caring for their parents. Indians have always been critical of what they see as American selfishness, the way children relegate parents to retirement homes so they can pursue their own lives. Now, suddenly, they are hearing such stories among themselves.

There are still only about eight million passenger vehicles on Indian roads, in a country of more than one billion people. By the late 1920's, in comparison, the United States had 23 million registered car owners.

India's growing material hunger has another downside: it is largely being sated by credit and debt.

With borrowing comes the danger of overstretching, and pricy cars purchased in Vishakhapatnam's Toyota showroom can always be taken back.

That is where the repo man comes in.

what is the meaning of asset price

finding no attractive option to invest in any asset class - equities, bonds or real estate, i stumbled on a topic which i thought was very easy to understand -- "what does an asset price calculated in paper currency actually mean" - in absolute terms. i have no clue for the answer to this question

when a kilogram of rice sells for Rs 20 - it means crudely that Rs 20 meets the hunger requirement of a family of four for a day. when a share of a company trade at rs 100 it reflects the fundamental earning of the corporate - or atleast supposed to.
but what does a house selling for Rs 25 lakhs mean ? that it is equivalent to the five or ten year gross salary of the person buying it? while in absolute terms it will be difficult to evaluate the value of house , perhaps the relative method of valuing is also flawed, which may be one of the reasons for an asset price bubble in the sector.

if retail property in india peddles for a higher rate that prices in other cities like in europe , it a cause for concern. maybe people should sell their flats in mumbai and move to london - or maybe many would once they are permitted to do so by law.