Capitalmind

> It's too expensive to make the whole internet free. Mobile operators spend tens of billions of dollars to support all of internet traffic. If it was all free they'd go out of business. >> Mark seems to be implying here that mobile networks are eating the cost today as a form of charity. Is that true? Patently untrue. On the contrary telcos are raking it in hand over fist ever since data usage started shooting up. If anything the massive popularity of WhatsApp, Skype, Viber and explosive growth in India's own home-brewed tech startups is a godend for these telcos. The avg nontech Indian was already getting home-delivered $2 groceries & $5 ladies suits from solopreneurs marketing on WhatsApp. Increased data usage helps telcos. Instead of riding on the coattails of these massive data services and not looking at a gifthorse in the mouth, instead of strengthening their backbones & support they still employ 90s era CSRs (hundreds thousands of em) who answer every support call with Start Internet Explorer, Click Options, Delete cache..delete history, Click Windows icon on bottom-left of screen & Restart computer....still didn't work? Ok please write to us with your query at [email protected] and we will escalate this ticket with a turnaround time of 48-72 hours. Here's a definitive explanation with chart & figures (from telco's own disclosed numbers) by one of the most widely followed financial blogger in India -…

Oxfam is a variable charity at best. Oxfam India, for example was found to spend 70% of what it received in donations on fundraising[1]. In the UK it spends a significant volume of money on fundraising, paying a company called Tag Campaigns to raise money in the streets, not without controversy[2][3]. Oxfam GB also acts as a lobbyist in the UK, receives large amounts of funding from the government and has particularly close ties to the Labour party[4]. I realise that this is easy to construe an attack on Oxfam rather than the crux of the post, but my point here is that Oxfam have a vested interest in highlighting such things, regardless of whether or not there's anything tangible that can be done in order to raise funds. I would encourage anyone looking to donate to charity to do some basic due diligence on their charity of choice, and to preferably donate to a smaller local charity first. [1] - http://capitalmind.in/2011/06/oxfam-india-spends-70-of-donations-as-fu… [2] - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9367… [3] - http://www.charitywatch.org/articles/street_solicitations.html [4] - http://fakecharities.org/2011/02/charity-202918/

Some years ago there was a big one. Pls see here https://www.capitalmind.in/2015/01/the-inflexion-point-for-the-it-serv…

I think it's important that proper lessons are learned and reforms are taken. Just like what happened in 1991. https://www.capitalmind.in/2019/09/dont-waste-a-slowdown-part-1-whats-…

Essentially inflation [0] and weakening currency [1]. [0] https://capitalmind.in/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Adj-for-Inflation.pn… [1]https://s.tradingview.com/widgetembed/?frameElementId=tradingview_b719…

It's not about going cashless at all. New notes for 500 Rs and 2000 Rs are coming soon. Read: http://capitalmind.in/2016/11/black-money-is-dead-long-live-black-mone…

In Bangalore, the driver seems to be making $3 for every $1 spent by the passenger. For Uber, this translates to about $7.5m/month of subsidy in Bangalore alone. Source: http://capitalmind.in/2015/10/the-economics-of-using-uber-in-india-for…

Thanks - I wrote the original post (http://capitalmind.in/2012/03/angel-investors-beware-funding-startups-… and have a few more that the recent Budget has introduced, at http://capitalmind.in/category/startups/startuptax/

Circular investments were also a compounding factor in the Japanese asset price bubble. The practice was known as “zaitech” > zaitech - financial engineering > In 1984, Japan’s Ministry of Finance permitted companies to operate special accounts for their shareholdings, known as tokkin accounts. These accounts allowed companies to trade securities without paying capital gains tax on their profits. > At the same time, Japanese companies were allowed to access the Eurobond market in London. Companies issued warrant bonds, a combination of traditional corporate bonds with an option (the “warrant") to purchase shares in the company at a specified price before expiry. Since Japanese shares were rising, the warrants became more valuable, allowing companies to issue bonds with low-interest payments. > The companies, in turn, placed the money they raised into their tokkin accounts that invested in the stock market. Note the circularity: companies raised money by selling warrants that relied on increasing stock prices, which was used to buy more shares, thus increasing their gains from investing in the stock market. https://www.capitalmind.in/insights/lost-decades-japan-1980s-asset-pri…