Trounced Bollywood star Katrina, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar

Anna ruled the cyberworld in 2011: Search data

Bangalore, Dec 18, DHNS

Gandhian and civil rights activist Anna Hazare has been the most searched for man on the internet in 2011, with data suggesting that nearly 125 million people searched for him and his struggle to get a strong Lokpal Bill.


Google and Yahoo, two of the most used search platforms in the country, have named Anna amongst the most popular ‘searched names’ of the year, as they released the search data for India in 2011.

While Yahoo’s data suggests that Anna trounced Bollywood star Katrina Kaif and cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar, Google’s annual “Zeitgeist” said that the Gandhian is amongst the fastest rising people of 2011 on the internet.

The Google’s list of fastest rising terms also included the IBPS (Institute of Banking Personnel Service), which suggested a widespread interest among Indians to apply for banking jobs. Indian Railways also emerged as fastest rising search term given the increasing number of online ticket reservations.

In a sign that internet is finding more users on the mobile and is making inroads beyond the boundaries of the metro cities, Google also said the number of searches in the country touched the 125 million mark, 70 per cent of whom used the internet from outside the metros.

“This data suggests internet usage in the country becoming truly mainstream in 2011,” said Lalitesh Katrigadda, Google India’s product head. “Over 70 per cent of the search happened in non-metros. A lot of the searchs happened through mobiles and we hit the 125 million mark. For the first time, the online world heard the views of the aam adhmi.”

According to Google’s Zeitgeist, Katrina continues to reign supreme amongst Indian searchers, while Salman Khan and Anushka Sharma took the next two positions as the most searched stars. Bodyguard and Ra one were the most searched Bollywood flicks of the year.

Information on Lokpal Bill, Aadhar cards, Japan earthquake and assassination of Al Kaida leader Osama Bin Laden, also found a place amongst top searches of the year. Yahoo’s annual search data names Anna the “newsmaker” of the year. “His 288 hour fast at Ramlila Maidan made him the face of India’s battle against corruption,” according to the internet giant, which also positioned little master Sachin Tendulkar and Katrina Kaif as second and third most popular persons based on its data.

“Some bizarre (news) stories like PETA opening a porn site, a woman giving birth to her own grandchild and kissing can cause cavities,” were also amongst the top list of Yahoo. It also highlighted interest for “cheeky numbers” like Kolaveri and D K Bose. Yahoo said it had analysed the data gathered from search terms for the selection of the most popular news stories, while Google said it had sliced and diced aggregated search queries which do not reveal individual profiles.

The coming financial tsunami



17th Dec 2011


Shareholder capitalism has gone overboard, and we are going to pay a heavy price for it. In the '80s the economies of both Japan and Germany had grown and were threatening the hegemony of the US. In early 80's 3 of the top 10 banks were Japanese, Sony bought Universal Studios, NTT DoCoMo was the most expensive stock in the world and Japan bought Rockefeller Centre. The German auto and engineerin industries were challenging USA

Their success impinged largely on the stakeholder capitalism model both followed, in which all stakeholders were given importance. To counter it, the US strongly promoted shareholder capitalism, which gives more importance to the interests of providers of capital, and less to other stakeholders such as employees or suppliers or customers. It worked, and, alongwith its other pillars, such as its system of higher education, its venture capital industry and its judicial system, enabled the US to grow faster than other economies. Its GDP is over $ 15 trillion followed by Japan's at $ 4 tr.


The reason for this is that of the four factors of production, men, material, machines and money, it is only the last that is capable of digitization. It can thus move much faster than others, thereby having a greater influence compared to others. The weight of a factor of production is its quantity multiplied by its velocity of circulation.

Modern finance has further enhanced this velocity by creating derivatives of financial products and then, through securitisation, enabling the sale of these derivative products to the public after slicing and dicing them. The sliced products are rated by rating agencies, to make them acceptable to the investing public. This is how the subprime mortgage mess was created. US (later others) banks lent to ninja (those with no income, no jobs or assets) customers to buy homes, with zero collateral, as they had no assets. These ninja loans were then sliced and diced, and some parts of them even got AAA ratings by agencies! Amazing! An article in the Economist talked about a review of ratings given by Moody's, a rating agency, to one type of security called Alt A. At the end of a 5 day review Moody's downgraded over 90% of its own ratings from AAA to junk, in one step! That's insane!

Last week we got news at 3iInfotech's rating was also similarly downgraded by CRISIL to junk status, barely four months after it had re-affirmed AAA rating in August. How can this happen? Rating upgrades or downgrades are in steps, not in jumps.

Almost all European banks are in trouble today because of inordinate and foolish lending to sovereigns. Again, sovereign bonds were rated AAA on the basis that countries can't default. This has been proved wrong. Thus countries like Greece were lent much more money than prudent norms would warrant and, if one were to read the excellent book "Boomerang" by Michael Lewis, no one in Greece was keeping an account of spending. It was the same with Iceland, which was lent money at 14% interest, which was untenable, but used by its citizens to acquire all sorts of assets. These bubbles, funded by loose money, ultimately burst. Just as the US housing market did. Just as Iceland did. And Greece will.

Not only have regulators permitted the creation of derivative products (and derivatives of derivatives!), and allowed credit rating agencies to be blasé in rating them, but they have further compounded the problems by legally allowing misuse! This legal misuse was what brought down MF Global. It is well explained in an article by Christopher Elias. The FSA (Financial Services Authority) in the UK permitted securities which clients had hypothecated to brokers, to be re-hypothecated by the brokers! The US also permits this, but upto a limit of a shortfall; the UK allows it upto 100%. Since it is legally permitted, apparently the clients don't have a right on their own asset pledged as security! As per the article "A loophole appears to h ave allowed MF Global, and many others, to use its own clients' funds to finance an enormous $6.2 billion Eurozone repo bet." The bet went wrong and MF Global went into bankruptcy. The cost was borne by clients who had given security as collateral but had no claim on their own assets! How utterly corrupt!

So now European banks have lent against all sorts of funny and fuzzy instruments, including credit default swaps, and, since a lot of these assets have been securitized, nobody can really gauge the size of the problem. It is a financial tsunami waiting to happen.

That is why the euphoria, if any, over the Eurozone deal, which struck by the EU leaders last Friday, was shortlived. The problems of one country, especially a large one like Italy, could easily become an uncontainable contagion. It will spread to the US. Interbank lending will freeze, as it did after the Lehman Brothers' collapse; only this time it will be much worse.

The financial problems are compounded by global warming problems. These are caused by an overuse and exploitation of depleting natural resources. The deal to curb emissions, reached at Durban, is going to be too little, too late. Already countries like Canada have backed out, so that they do not have to pay the cost of polluting the environment, and others will follow.

What are countries doing to curb emissions? China has sensibly hiked import tariffs on criminally gas guzzling vehicles such as SUVs, making them thrice as costly as in the US. Why doesn't India do the same? Using excise duties for local manufacture, and import tariffs for imports, our Government should discourage the use of gas guzzling and fossil fuel resource depleting vehicles. It has not even bothered to mandate fuel efficiency norms. Why has not our Government built up an alternative, efficient, public transport system, in anticipation of the day (not distant) when private transport will become unaffordable. One wonders if banks will provide EMI loans to buy petrol!

The Government's big bang reform, FDI in multi brand retail, which it sought to introduce, was politically stymied and had to be shelved. Its other good idea, of the unique id project, or UIDAI, was stymied by a Parliamentary committee on which its own members were asleep. The GST bill has got nowhere. Also going nowhere is the Governments efforts, or lack thereof, to obtain details of offshore bank accounts held by Indians.

Apparently some of the banks have provided such details. Perhaps an idea the Government may consider is to offer the carrot of another amnesty scheme, offering a clean chit on payment of, say, 40% tax on the amount brought in before March 31, together with a stick of penalising severely those whose names appear on such lists, by prosecution, penalties, fines, disclosures and also arrest. If it succeeds, as it ought to, the fiscal deficit would be solved in one stroke.

Indians also have the world's largest horde of gold. Why doesn't the Government offer to trade physical gold with paper, bearing a low interest rate, with a guarantee to return the gold of the same purity, when asked for? Then use the gold to raise funds for 1. Physical infrastructure such as roads, power plants and ports and 2. Social infrastructure such as schools and colleges, training institutes, and hospitals. And not for its recurring expenses.

In corporate news of interest, Fortis Healthcare is under fire from analysts for poor governance, as it acquired, for $ 665m. the assets of privately owned Fortis International. The feeling is that the price was too high, and investors have sold the stock which has fallen 25% since the purchase, more than the 3.5% fall in the market.

The promoters of some companies had issued themselves warrants to acquire shares in their companies at a future date. Security And Exchange Board Of Indian (SEBI) mandated that 25% of the exercise price be deposited upfront, at the time when the warrants were issued. Accordingly, the promoters of JSW deposited Rs 529 crores. With the stock quoting some 55% below the exercise price, the promoters would tend to lose that amount. Similarly, the promoters of Pantaloon have to decide, by year end, whether to forfeit the initial deposit of Rs 100 crores, or to exercise the warrants and acquire shares, wh ich are quoting some 69% below the exercise price. Warrants have become double edged swords.

The CBI has charged Essar groups Ravi Ruia, Anshuman Ruia and CEO Vikas Saraf, together with IP Khaitan and Kiran Khaitan (sister of Ravi) of Loop Telecom, in the 2G telecom scandal, though Salman Khurshid has publicly stated that Essar was not in control of Loop.

The Reserve Bank Of India (RBI) left interest rates unchanged, which disappointed the market, which dropped to a 2 year low. Investors were hoping that interest rates would start coming down, as the economy is being visibly affected. The IIP (index of industrial production) fell 5.1% in November. The Government has scaled down GDP growth forecast for this year. AM Naik of Larsen & Tarbo (L&T) feels that GDP growth would be below 6% next year, as there is little capital investment taking place (thanks to high interest rates).

The BSE-Sensex dropped last week, ending down 722 points, to close at 15491. The NSE-Nifty fell 215 to close at 4651.

The rupee is also falling, going to a low of Rs 54.20 per US$ before sale of $ by RBI pulled up the Rupee. A wag says the next report on currency management ought to be named after the Hindi film, 'Ab Tak Chappan'.

We are also in for more political skirmishes. The Government is struggling to introduce a Lokpal bill in this winter session of Parliament but it is uncertain if it will fully bring the CBI under the purview of the Lokpal. It has been able to (mis)use CBI for its own purposes and is loath to give away the advantage. Anna Hazare is threatening a renewal of agitation if the Lokpal bill introduced by the Government is not to his satisfaction. Other, opportunistic, political parties will jump in and stir the pot for their own ends.

Several states, including UP (the largest, with the most seats in the Lok Sabha), Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur go to the polls early next year. Till these elections are over there can be no bold economic reforms as the Government does not have the spine. The market would continue to drift downwards and if it goes below 15,000 it could fall sharply further.

At some point in the future, earnings would have fallen enough and would start to rise. So would the Indian rupee, versus the $. Foreign investors would, if they enter before these rises, get a double whammy of increased earnings plus a currency appreciation. Add to that a re-rating, and higher P/E, it would become a triple whammy. So at some point in the future, the markets would bottom out.

That time is not now.


by Shri J Mulraj

Jyoti Amge, 18, stands on a chair during a news conference in Nagpur on December 16, 2011. Amge was officially announced by the Guinness World Records on December 16 the world's 'shortest woman living (mobile)

Anna prevails

Anna prevails

There can be no reason to keep out the Prime Minister, CBI or lower bureaucracy from the Lokpal's ambit.

From the looks of it, the Government and the Opposition seem inclined to meet most of the contentious demands relating to the Lokpal Bill that the movement led by Anna Hazare has been raising. The Government, already beleaguered by deepening economy-related troubles, is left with little choice. Having been cornered badly, the only option is to concede defeat gracefully. The Opposition, on its part, has sensed the mood on the ground. From the BJP to the BSP and the CPM, there is now virtual unanimity on bringing the Prime Minister, the lower bureaucracy and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the Lokpal's purview. The finer details of their inclusion may not be clear yet, but the fact that the Congress-led Government has eventually had to bend to public opinion goes without saying. Till recently, the Congress appeared to have forgotten the lessons from the past, especially the ease with which V.P. Singh had, in the mid-1980s, united the Opposition on the issue of corruption. The popular perception that it does not want a law providing for an effective anti-graft ombudsman is something the ruling party would definitely want to change. And it may not be too late for a Government that has, after all, taken credit for enacting a complementary Right to Information legislation enabling greater interface between ordinary citizens and public authorities.

That raises the question as to why the Government has been so reluctant in agreeing to the inclusion of the Prime Minister, the lower bureaucracy or the CBI under the Lokpal's jurisdiction. If the Lokpal is intended to tackle corruption, there is no justifiable reason to keep them out. The only issues remaining for resolution, then, are the exceptions. These can be determined fairly easily, at least for the Prime Minister in matters of national security and other strategic sectors. As far as CBI goes, the issue is really about guaranteeing its autonomy and protecting the investigating agency from being used selectively to target those not aligned to the ruling regime's interests. Whether this is best done by bringing its prosecution wing under the Lokpal is, again, a matter of detail.

Where the so-called Class C and D employees are concerned, since they are the face of the government and also the immediate oppressors of the common man, there is no question of exception at all. Although corruption from high-level deals is important, it is the persistent levies made by clerks and other employees, engaged in delivering services that ought to be a matter of right, which truly bothers the aam aadmi and has drawn him to Anna Hazare's campaign. The argument that monitoring millions of employees is impossible misses the point that the idea here is to give people an instrument and authority to which they can take their complaints to. The very fear of getting punished, if caught, can itself be a powerful deterrent. (source: Hindubusinessline)

Delhi in the making- 100 years back