the inner voice

The downturn is bringing along with it other forms of casualty besides losing trillions of dollars. It is witnessing steep erosion of moral values. The moral fabric of companies and managers running has weakened. As they get increasingly jittery, they tend to break away from promises made and don’t fight back within the respective hierarchy with the same ebullience as they would in good times.  The concept of morality and justice implies that commitments made in advance must be acknowledged even if it’s to one’s own disadvantage. To one’s own disadvantage is something we are not prepared to live. Why is our moral fiber built so tenuous that a simple sudden tension snaps it? Why do we people start tending to take decisions by popular demand than by principle? Managers try to postpone or run away from the existing promises by blaming the ‘change in circumstances’? Changing times as a reason comes in handy in business like situation and everyone’s exploits that to cover his or her sh...

Came across a very relevant quote in today's context from Richard Feynman while reading one of his books/articles. He was a brilliant, leading post-war theoretical physicist, a Nobel Laureate, a great teacher, terrific original thinker, and writer. I quote:  "There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It is less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers. - Richard Feynman, physicist, Nobel Laureate ( 1918-1988)" When seen in today's context of financial crisis which runs in trillions of dollars, this number looks even smaller. Next-generation will probably start counting from $1BN, $2BN, $3BN....$100 BN. Had he been alive...he may have called them "Infant Numbers". What do you say? Or Can you propose some other name!

Yesterday Sensex lost 800 points and has been on the losing streak throughout the week. Same has been the case of Dow, Nasdaq, Nikkei, Hang Seng, and all the other bourses across the world. On the other side Rupee is on a continuous decline since the crisis intensified. Are we seeing worst of times?  As finance professional the events are overwhelming. How deep this shit is? How long will it continue? How many participants will it gulp? What does it take to get the confidence of players back?  Since nobody has clear answers it’s leading to fear. And fear has no rationality. Further it has dented the trust levels and trust has not substitute. Majority of the business is transacted on trust. Even at work, we deal with our colleagues on trust. If one were to have everything in writing, it would be nightmarish to work. But once you lose trust on someone, then the team cracks. That’s what is happening in the financial markets. With trust taking a knock no amount of reassurance is ...

Oct 2nd, the birthday of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, more popularly known as Bapu or Gandhiji, is celebrated as Gandhi Jayanti in India and International Non-Violence Day, the world over. Couldn’t have been more timely with bloodbath all around. Let's see what's happening around the country. India has been rocked by a series of deadly explosions starting with Jaipur, followed by Bangalore, Ahmedabad, (failed ones in) Surat, Delhi, and recently North-East leading to heavy casualties of life and property leaving trust and confidence in tatters. It has managed to instill fear in the minds of innocent citizens and has shattered peace. The whole intelligence and security apparatus has failed, rather failed miserably.  Yesterday Ratan Tata announced a pullout from Singur. He cited violence, agitation, and lack of a congenial atmosphere as the key reason. We can blame Mamta Bannerjee but this is what the Left has practiced for ages and getting a taste of their own medicine. Rule-of-L...