Roger Bannister and Tata Nano

I know the obvious question you have is, who is Roger Bannister?

In athletics, the four-minute mile is the running of a mile (1,609.344 metres) in under four minutes.
It was once thought by some to be impossible, but since it was first achieved in 1954 by
Roger Bannister the 'four minute barrier' has been broken by many male athletes,
and is now the standard of all professional middle distance runners. In the last 50 years the mile record
has been lowered by almost 17 seconds. Still, four minutes remains the standard by which all male amateur milers
are measured.

I am hopeful that Tata Nano will do the same to auto industry what Roger did to athletics.
Already Renault has announce that it will produce a car to compete with Tata Nano.
Let's see if in years to come 1 lakh car would be in stable of every car maker.

Two defensive stocks

Here are three defensive stocks for this volatile market

1. Novartis(From outlook money)
CMP Rs 335
As per BSE site (As of 23-Jan-2008)
Azim Harsham Premji holds 935634(2.93 stake) shares of Novartis


2. Merck (From outlook money)

CMP Rs 375.

3. Infosys

CMP Rs 1420

To me it is a safe bet and below is another example of high level of ethics Infy practices.

Infosys CEO fined for violating stock-holding rules Bangalore, Jan 22 (PTI) Software major Infosys Technologies Ltd has imposed a fine on its CEO and Managing Director S Gopalakrishnan for not reporting within the stipulated time a change in his shareholding. On December 24 last year, Gopalakrishnan inherited 12,800 equity shares from his mother, the Bangalore-headquarted company, listed on NASDAQ, said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. "Mr. Gopalakrishnan inadvertently failed to notify the company within one business day following the change in his shareholding, which failure was also a violation of the company's Insider Trading Rules", the filing said. On January 10 this year, the audit committee of the company's board of directors determined that Gopalakrishnan's failure to provide notification was a technical violation of the Insider Trading Rules, although it noted that it believed that he had no intention of contravening the Rules. "However, given the position of responsibility held by Mr. Gopalakrishnan in the company, the audit committee imposed upon him a penalty of Rs 5,00,000 (Rs five lakh), which Mr Gopalakrishnan was directed to donate to a charitable organisation of his choice", the filing said. Gopalakrishnan has made the donation as directed by the company's audit committee.

Time to Buy

In this tough phase of stock markets here are some words of hope/wisdom

“To buy when everyone is desperately selling and sell when everyone is buying requires the greatest fortitude but pays the highest rewards.”...Sir John Templeton

In stock market always sell hope and buy despair ... Anonymous


What happened in past few days was due from long time, and was not a new phenomenon but then we hardly ever learn from our mistakes.

Rupee has appreciated less than Yuan

Interesting Article from ET

CEOs and Chin

Interesting Conclusion

(From Business Week)

How CEOs Lead with Their Chins

A strong chin, that Hollywood staple, may also be a plus for aspiring CEOs. That's the conclusion of New York plastic surgeon Darrick Antell, who presented his highly anecdotal evidence at the recent 2007 World Congress on Liposuction Surgery and Advances in Cosmetic Surgery in Dubai. Antell drew a line from the nose tip to the chin on photos of 42 CEOs from 2005's top 50 Fortune 500 companies. Some 90% (including Carly Fiorina, then Hewlett-Packard's (HPQ) CEO) showed nonreceding-to-prominent chins, vs. 40% of the U.S. population. People equate such jawlines with confidence and character, says Antell, who performed 20 chin augmentations in 2007. (Topping out at $7,500, the surgery's a bargain compared with, say, a $92,000 MBA from Harvard.) Some dynamos have "deficient" chins, Antell admits. But most are entrepreneurs. When it's time to pick a top manager, the one with the Superman jaw gets the job.

—By Ben Levisohn, Edited by Deborah Stead

Is Rupee appreciation Really Impacting Jobs

Great Article by Swaminathan

Buy Merck

Buy Merck.
Report from outlook money