Investing important cash:

During the entire first year of my college period, I used to travel by bus. In the second year, I wanted to buy a two wheeler since I had my ACS classes everyday at 6 A.M. Though I didn’t (don’t) want my parents to spend cash for me, but still I thought a two-wheeler would be comfortable to attend my classes in the early morning.

When I told my father, he didn’t have adequate cash but he borrowed money from someone and bought me a bike the next day. Years ran by, I used it for about 13 years and treated it like my friend (people used to comment that they can walk more faster than my driving :-). I used to drive very slowly / carefully, keep it clean and service it once in 3 months – all because that I liked it a lot.

Since it became aged and also the fact that I use my car, I could not use it regularly and hence, did not want to spoil its life. I sold it off to someone for 8k in 2008.

While carrying this cash, I was thinking how to spend it. Definitely for investments, but where? Being a finance professional, my investment portfolio is across almost all investments.

I understood that my father bought it during critical time and also that I liked my bike a lot. Hence, I want that money to be invested in guaranteed instrument and also want to have it for longer period of time.

Suddenly I remembered that I haven’t contributed to Public Provident Fund (PPF) for about a year, and thought investing this money on that would be wiser. It’s a guaranteed investment portfolio and also would stay for 14 more years (2 years are already over).

I was able to do it last March and feel happy about it.

Guys / Gals: If you want to invest your money in guaranteed instrument, for a longer term and with reasonable return of 8%, I would strongly advice PPF.

Forgot to mention that my bike never carried any gal in the pillion and perhaps, that’s the reason for it being so memorable :-)

Message from siliconindia.com about the event for startups:

Hi,

After the phenomenal success of the siliconindia Startup City 2008, wherein there were 4000 attendees and 50 Startups, it is back again!

Siliconindia Startup City 2009 is a technology showcase event wherein Startups' can demo the cool products you are building. This is a great opportunity for them to find investors, technology partners, resellers and potential customers.

BENEFITS:

1) Booth: 3x2 mtr

2) One page company profile in the Show Guide

3) 10 Minutes company presentation time (VCs, Corporate Investors and senior management of various technology companies will be present)

4) One invitation for round table breakfast and lunch with investors and leaders of technology giants.

5) One Special invite for the CEO Roundtable discussion

6) Visibility on the website for one month

7) Opportunity to meet 40 investors

8) All PR and Marketing activities related to event promotions will carry your Company name

CONFIRMED VCs: Accel Partners, Artiman Ventures, Axon Ventures, Battery Ventures, Bluerun Ventures, Canaan Partners, DFJ, Epiphany Ventures, Greylock, Helion Ventures, IDG, Indian Angel Network , Intel Capital, Inventus Capital, Jafco Asia Ventures, Lightspeed, Mercatus Capital, Mumbai Angels, NEA-Indo US Ventures, Nexus India Capital, Ojas Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Reliance Capital, Seeed Fund, Sequioa Capital, Singularity Ventures, UTI Ventures, Venture East, Walden International

CEO CONCLAVE: This is a close-door CEO discussion, which will be attended by CEOs and Managing Directors of over 500 startups. The roundtable will facilitate an informal discussion amongst the senior management about the best practices of building a technology company in India, what works, what doesn’t work, potential pitfalls and other challenges.

PARTNERSHIP: Leaders of technology companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Sun Microsystems, Yahoo!, Honeywell, Alcatel-Lucent, Philips, Siemens, SAP, Nokia, Adobe and many other will be present at the venue. You can explore opportunities of technology partnerships.

BRANDING: Siliconindia has put in place a brand campaign plan, which ensures greater visibility.

ATTENDEES: Last year we had 4000 qualified professionals. This year we will have close to 5000. The profile of attendees include:

1) Senior Management of multinational companies & established Indian companies

2) Senior management of Indian Startups

3) Senior management of US based startups with R&D center in India

4) Distributors & Resellers

5) Angel Investors

6) Venture Capitalists

7) Corporate Investors

8) To-be Entrepreneurs

9) Qualified technology professionals with product bent of mind.

For details & Participation enquiries please email to Suman Rammurthy [suman@siliconindia.com].

Tough experience with Bajaj Auto Finance:

Attracted to the advertisement about the 4 days’ Electronics exhibition being conducted by Vasanth & Co, I visited Rani Meyyammai Hall to buy an Air Conditioner for my sister as her marriage gift. The place was heavily crowded for three reasons –

- interesting cost-saving offers
- hall-entry is free
- it was the last day of the event

I swam in to the crowd and took a complete visit of the hall. Was able to enquire about the split air conditioner for 8 brands. I came out, then analysed the features and costs involved, had a con-call with my family members, then finally decided to buy Samsung air conditioner.

Again swam inside and landed at the Samsung stall. The person over there was happy to receive me again and after negotiating for few minutes, gave me a discount of INR 1,500. The price was fixed at 26,000 with free stabilizer and installation. All went fine till this moment.

He then offered me interest-free financing option. Being a finance professional, I felt that I should not ignore it. He introduced me to a useless staff of Bajaj Auto Finance. That guy did the calculation at a fast pace (I should mention that he was fast, only in calculation and rest were all dead slow). He insisted for the advance payment of two months’ EMI and certain documents like ID proof, address proof, couple of cheques and photocopy of the bill. He promised that the product will be delivered in two day’s time.

After making advance payment and furnishing the documents, I waited for two days and since I didn’t hear anything from them, I called him to know the status. He told that there were thousands of applications received during the exhibition and they were processing one by one, and hence my application was in queue. He repeated the same story whenever I called him. One fine day, he told me that my application was missing and they were searching for.

After a week’s time, he completely stopped attending my calls. I was a little bit irritated and tried to reach the top management guys online. When I searched online, I found that there are many complaints like this against Bajaj Auto Finance. Pls check www.consumercomplaints.in (this is a web site where people express the problems they face in buying/availing products/services - a must-check web site).

I spoke to the Branch Manager and he agreed that there are many internal problems. It looks like there are several complaints like this where customer pays advance but couldn’t get the products delivered because of the internal confusions in Bajaj Auto Finance and that’s the reason they don’t attend the customer calls. I thought of cancelling my order, but was informed that it will again take a long time for refund. Meanwhile, I got my credit card statement where I was charged the advance amount of 2 month’s EMI, but the product was not delivered yet.

Finally, I got someone from Bajaj who put his personal efforts to help me. It works like - only after the financier passes the order, the shop will deliver the product. Then, I also spoke to the person who processed my application, the shop keeper, the delivery-in-charge – all to ensure that the delivery happens at least before the summer season ends.

I got the machine delivered after 15 days of booking. But received another surprise that the installation needs to be done by Samsung guys and they were all busy. Then, I took care of it myself by talking to the concerned person and insisted to install it immediately.

You could understand that a customer’s job is over after he pays the advance money and submits the relevant documents. The financier / vendor should take care of the rest. But, the response from them gave mental agony and involved lots of our efforts to have the product delivered.

RBS - Cogzidel's first product launched

RBS – Cogzidel’s first product was launched on late hours of 25th March, 2009 at 23.45 IST. It is a proud and exciting moment for the entire Cogzidel team. I take this opportunity to thank Senthil Guru who started the project and Sathick Basha who took over from Senthil and completed the mission. I must also thank Pandi who assisted Sathick, Saravanan for CSS work, Major Karthik for his design, Bala Subramaniyam for managing and getting the product out successfully, last but not least it is our Bala Krishnan for his commitment and passion he contributed a lot encouraging the team and he acted as System Analyst for the project.

RBS is an abbreviation for Reverse Bidding System, it is a bidding system which is developed by taking inspiration from scriptlance.com. We have more features in mind to make the product unique and we will be evolving the product in a phased manner by releasing update at frequent intervals which will be bundled with new features and patches.

Product is launched under Creative Common license and is offered for free. This must be a bonanza for webmasters. We are offering the project for free to create more entrepreneurs & webmasters. You can think why we are offering it for free, let me explain it with an example,

“A has one rupee and B has one rupee… Both exchange that rupee… They go home with one rupee each!

But if A has one idea and B has one idea… Both exchange that idea… They go home with two ideas.”

Same way when we offer something for free lots of people will try it and it will create an eco-system where it will create lots of opportunity for many people and ideas will be flowing. So, we want to create such a eco-system and that is why we are offering the product for free.

In coming days, I think there will be lots of success stories and I wish it happens soon.

Prayers to God:

A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, desert like island. The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agree that they had no other recourse but to pray to God. However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.

The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the land, and! he was able to eat its fruit. The other man's parcel of land remained barren.

After a week, the first man was lonely and he decided to pray for a wife. The next day, there was a woman who swam to his side of the
land. On the other side of the island, there was nothing.

Soon the first man prayed for a house, clothes, more food. The next day, like magic, all of these were given to him. However, the second man still had nothing.

Finally, the first man prayed for a ship, so that he and his wife could leave the island. In the morning, he found a ship docked at his side of the island. The first man boarded the ship with his wife and decided to leave the second man on the island. He considered the other man unworthy to receive God's blessings, since none of his prayers had been answered.

As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from heaven booming, "Why are you leaving your companion on the island?"
"My blessings are mine alone, since I was the one who prayed for them," the first man answered. "His prayers were all unanswered and so he does not deserve anything."

"You are mistaken!" the voice rebuked him. "He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings."

"Tell me," the first man asked the voice, "what did he pray for that I should owe him anything?"

"He prayed that all your prayers be answered."

For all we know, our blessings are not the fruits of our prayers alone, but those of another praying for us.

This is too good not to share...

My prayer for you today is that all your prayers are answered. Be blessed.

"What you do for others is more important than what you do for yourself"

This was shared with me by a friend; I hope you will share with your friends!
----------------------
LETS PRAY FOR EACH OTHER.

Sometimes a kind word at the right moment can change a life forever.

RESOURCE UTILIZATION - Thought Provoking

Buddha, one day, was on deep thought about the worldly activities and the ways of instilling goodness in human. The following is the text of conversation between him and his disciple.

One of his disciples approached him and said humbly " Oh my teacher ! While you are so much concerned about the world and others, why don't you look in to the welfare and needs of your own disciples also."

Buddha: "OK.. Tell me how I can help you"

Disciple: "Master! My attire is worn out and is beyond the decency to wear the same. Can I get a new one, please?"

Buddha found the robe indeed was in a bad condition which needed replacement. He asked the store keeper to give the disciple a new robe to wear on. The disciple thanked Buddha and retired to his room.

Though he met his disciple's requirement, Buddha was not all that contended on his decision.

He realized he missed out some point. A while after, he realized what he should have asked the disciple. He went to his disciple's place and asked him "Is your new attire comfortable? Do you need anything more?"

Disciple: "Thank you my Master. The attire is indeed very comfortable. I need nothing more"

Buddha: "Having got the new one, what did you do with your old attire?"

Disciple: "I am using it as my bed spread"

Buddha: "Then, hope you have disposed off your old bed spread"

Disciple: " No.. no, master. I am using my old bedspread as my window curtain"

Buddha: “What about your old Curtain?"

Disciple "Being used to handle hot utensils in the kitchen"

Buddha: "Oh.. I see.. Can you tell me what did they do with the old cloth they used in Kitchen"

Disciple: "They are being used to wash the floor."

Buddha: “Then, the old rug being used to wash the floor...?”

Disciple: “Master, since they were torn off so much, we could not find any better use, but to use as a twig in the oil lamp, which is right now lit in your study room...."

BUDDHA SMILED IN CONTENTMENT AND LEFT FOR HIS ROOM.,
=====================
If not to this degree of utilization, can we at least attempt to find the best use of all our resources - at home and at office .. ??

It becomes imperative in the critical times of Recession....


Treat the earth well.....it was not given to you by your parents; it was loaned to you by your children. We did not inherit the earth from our ANCESTORS; we borrowed it from our children.

Would be great if every CEO thinks like this....

Global Depository Receipts (GDR) / American Depository Receipts (ADR)

Companies in India which have the eligibility to issue shares to person resident outside India, under the Foreign Direct Investment scheme, are generally allowed to raise equity capital in the international market by issuing.....

..... click here to read more .....

Taxing Times:

Being a taxing time, I’m sure you would have already got the first call from your accounts department detailing your tax liability and telling you how much you should invest in order to save taxes.

Like everyone, you will also be questioning as to why we should taxes be paid at such higher rates. Well, though this question can be answered, you will not accept whatever way it is convincing. Hence, it’s advisable to focus on how to save tax wherever possible.

“The best place to start is where you are with what you have.”

Regarding the tax benefits, there are many queries being raised in the minds of people. Notably, not all employers clarify the same for many reasons like inadequate time, lack of knowledge etc.

Click here to read more..........

Roles and Responsibilities of key members:

Here is a brief note on roles and responsibilities of some of the key persons in an organisation. The insights have been picked from various sources, but the content proves to be reflecting the fact and hence we thought sharing the same would benefit the readers.

Index:

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
Chief Information Officer (CIO)
Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Chief marketing officer (CMO)
Chairman

Click here to read more..........

Procedures for foreign investments in India on certain sectors

Here's my write up about this subject published in www.cogzidel.in

Investments in Small Scale Industrial (SSI) units

SSI is an undertaking in which the investment in fixed assets in plant and machinery whether held on ownership terms on lease or on hire purchase does not exceed Rs 10 million.

A company which is a SSI unit and which is not engaged in any activity under the prohibited category may issue equity / preference shares or fully convertible debentures to a foreign investor, to the extent of .....click here to read through.....

Even God has a Sense of Humour

God was in the process of creating the Universe. And he was explaining to his subordinates "Look everything should be in balance. For example, after every 10 deer there should be a lion"

Look here my fellow angels, here is the country of the United States.
I have blessed them with prosperity and money.
But at the same time I have given them insecurity and tension....

And here is Africa . I have given them beautiful nature.
But at the same time, I have given them climatic extremes.

And here is South America . I have given them lots of forests.
But at the same time, I have given them lesser land so that they would
have to cut off the forests...

So you see fellows, everything should be in balance.

One of the angels asked...

"God, what is this extremely beautiful country here?"

God said....... "Ahah...that is the crown piece of all. " INDIA ", My most precious creation. It has understanding and friendly People. Sparkling streams and serene mountains.

A culture which speaks of the great tradition that they live. Technologically brilliant and with a heart of gold.....

The angel was quite surprised:

"But god you said everything should be in balance."

God replied --

"Look at the neighbours I gave them."

Govt to raise threshold limit for appointing Company Secretary to Rs 5 Cr

Considering the shortage of company secretaries, the government is planning to relax rules for corporates on employing a full time company secretary but their apex body ICSI is opposing the move.

At present, companies with a paid-up capital of Rs 2 crore are required to hire a full time company secretary. The government is planning to amend the Companies Act and raise the threshold limit on equity capital from Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore for employing a full time secretary.

Once the proposal is approved, companies with less than Rs 5 crore paid-up capital need not employ a full time company secretary and instead they can hire one on temporary basis, the officials in the know of the matter said.

The proposal is aimed at addressing the problem of shortage of company secretary in the country.

There are 31,705 companies with a paid-up capital of Rs two crore plus, whereas there are only around 15,000 qualified company secretary, making it difficult for many companies to appoint a whole-time company secretary, the officials said.

The government is planning to amend the Companies Act, 1956, which lays down the criterion for employing a whole-time company secretary, in this regard.

According to Section 383 (A) of the Companies Act, 1956, "every company having paid up capital of Rs 2 crore shall have whole-time secretaries and where the Board of directors of any such company comprises only two directors, either of them shall be the secretary of the company".

However, there is a huge gap between the availability of company secretary and their demand by companies. As per the officials, there are 19,582 qualified members of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), of which not even 50 per cent are in employment.

The officials said, "the companies above Rs 5 crore threshold are only 15,000 so it would be prudent to fill the demand-supply mismatch like this".

The move is going to benefit around 16,000 companies as they are not required to employ a whole-time company secretary, which would save cost for them.

However, ICSI President opines differently. "We don't want the limit to be enhanced right now. Large companies are properly governed, it is the small and medium size companies which need good governance," ICSI President Keyoor Bakshi said.

"We will write to the government requesting them not to raise the limit right now. With the economic slowdown, it may not be a right time for such a decision," Bakshi said.

He said as far as the shortage of company secretaries is concerned, the institute has seen an increase in the number of applications this year, with enrolment increasing by 50 per cent this year. Over a period of two years, the gap will be filled, Bakshi said.

This year, 35,000 students enrolled for the course of company secretaries as a result of various awareness campaign organised by the institute. Also, the ICSI is planning to increase its office count from 70 to around 150, which will promote the course, Bakshi said.

Courtesy: 'The Hindu'

Duties and Liabilities of Directors:

Here's my content published on www.cogzidel.in.....

Normally, people think that directors of companies are simply drawing fat salaries and enjoy their life on vacations / partying and so on. But, is it true in the real life scenario? The answer is .....click here to read through.....

Company Vs Partnership:

My recent article on www.cogzidel.in.....

Many proposed start-ups find it difficult to decide whether to incorporate a company or a partnership concern. Understanding the differences between the two would solve this problem .....click here to read more.....

Private Company Vs Public Company

My recent blog on www.cogzidel.in is presented herebelow....

There has been a general confusion among corporate managers about whether to have the status of their company as private or public. Well, it basically depends on the requirement it needs to be. Notably, many companies prefer it to be private considering ..........click here to read more.........

Difference between Success and Failure !!

In a temple, the Idol of the Lord and the Stepping Stone were conversing.

Stepping Stone: "What a good fate you have. We both were the same lump of rock for millions of years. The sculptor carved an idol out of you and every one is worshipping you. And look at me, I am a stepping stone and every one stands on me and stamps on. What kind of life is this?"

The Idol replied: "But do you remember that when the sculptor set out to carve an idol, it was you he chose first. You were so impatient. In one strike, you broke in to two. But when he tried on me, I grinned and bore all the hammers and chisel strikes with PATIENCE. And that's the reason for me being an Idol and you being the stepping stone."

The differences between success and failure are patience and persistence.

Nice thought !!

Once a boy went to a shop with his mother. The shop keeper looked at the small cute child and showed him a bottle-full of sweets and said 'Dear Child, you can take the sweets...'

But the child didn't take. The shop keeper was surprised. Such a small child he is and why is he not taking the sweets from the bottle. Again he said 'take the sweets....'

Now the mother also heard that and said.. 'take the sweets dear', but still he didnt take. The shopkeeper seeing the child not taking the sweets... he himself took the sweets and gave to the child. The child was happy to get two hands full of sweets.

While returning home the mother asked the child... 'Why didnt you take the sweets, when the shop keeper told you to take?'

Can you guess the response ?:

Child replies... "Mom! my hands are very small and if i take the sweets i can only take few.. but now you see when uncle gave with his big hands, how many more sweets i got!

Morale: When we take we may get a little, but when God gives us, we get more beyond our expectations and more than what we can hold..!!

HOW TO RECRUIT THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THE JOB?

Put about 100 bricks in some particular order in a closed room with an Open window.

Then send 2 or 3 candidates in the room and close the door.

Leave them alone and come back after 6 hours and then analyze the situation.

- If they are counting the bricks, put them in the accounts department

- If they are recounting them, put them in auditing

- If they have messed up the whole place with the bricks, put them in engineering

- If they are arranging the bricks in some strange order, put them in planning

- If they are throwing the bricks at each other, put them in operations

- If they are sleeping, put them in security

- If they have broken the bricks into pieces, put them in information technology

- If they are sitting idle, put them in human resources

- If they say they have tried different combinations but yet not a brick has been moved, put them in sales

- If they have already left for the day, put them in marketing

- If they are staring out of the window, put them on strategic planning

- And then last but not least, If they are talking to each other and not a single brick has been moved, “Congratulate and put them in top management”

Strange mail from Axis Bank !!

I received the following mail from Axis Bank saying someone has tried to access my Axis personal account and that's why I'm alerted. The mail looks original but the point is that I'm no way connected to Axis Bank.....


"Security Alert!: Transaction Activity in Your Account!

Attention! Your Axis Online Banking Account has been violated!

Someone with IP Address 81.102.72.19 tried to access your personal account!

In accordance with Axis Online Banking User Agreement and to ensure that
your account has not been compromised, access to your account was limited.

Your account access will remain limited until this issue has been resolved."