Content

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CONTENTS

LETTER

ISSUE CONTENTS

15 November 2012

FROM THE

EDITOR

Investor Issues: A peculiar Committee; a bizarre report, Investor’s Woes: Wanted: Genuine solutions, not meaningless ideas Insider Trading: Rajat Gupta’s Life Ahead

Testing Times

W

e have witnessed rapid changes in the healthcare and medical industry over the years. This has resulted in increasing lifespan using life-saving techniques and medication. Tests and diagnostics have been developed to detect diseases early, thereby saving lives. However, healthcare industry is increasingly using such tests for revenue generation; these are marketed aggressively to even healthy people by scaring them. Should a perfectly healthy person undergo such tests? Screening is often unnecessary for a healthy person and can be fatal. In our Cover Story, we have interviewed top doctors, to expose the dangers of such unnecessary tests and report what you really need to know. A companion piece comes from Dr Prof BM Hegde, a Padma Bhushan awardee, whom late Nani Palkhiwala had called ‘Cardiologist with a Heart’. He has also written our regular health column about the deadly ‘pill-popping’ culture. The Nitin Gadkari exposé has shattered our trust in democracy—a system of government in which the opposition is supposed to keep a watch on the ruling party. Sucheta Dalal, in her Different Strokes section highlights how the lines between the opposition and ruling politicians have got blurred. Mr Gadkari was co-opted by Sharad Pawar’s cronies to share the spoils. This story is repeated across the country. In her Crosshairs section, she exposes the functioning of a Central government committee to follow up on investor issues. The committee, of which she was as a member, barely met and issued the report without even discussing the draft or obtaining members’ signatures. We are pleased to announce that the number of members in Moneylife Foundation has crossed 14,000! We are now starting an RTI exclusive forum which will meet twice a month in November and December. The sessions will be conducted by Shailesh Gandhi, former chief information commissioner. We’ve received a tremendous response; its first session on 5th November was fully booked. Do make sure you attend and register early to avoid disappointment. Debashis Basu  MONEYLIFE | 15 November 2012 | 10

18

MUTUAL FUNDS POINTERS

TRAVEL

22 Lacklustre Performance

54 Paris

We had described global funds as a marketing ploy you should stay away from. Their performance justifies our view

Discover the road less travelled in the City of Lights AIR TRAVEL

DIFFERENT STROKES

New 20 The Political Nexus

24 Cover Story

Screening & Diagnostic Tests: Don’t Fall for the Sales Push Preventive healthcare packages are targeted at everyone right from age two. While diagnostic tests are necessary to find what made you unhealthy, screening is often unnecessary and harmful. Raj Pradhan collates advice from sensible doctors

13

Your Interest

HDFC Standard Life Insurance asked to pay Rs5 lakh for misselling; RBI cautions public against mischievous mails; Kingfisher fined Rs30,000 for denying boarding to passenger; NCR, Gurgaon flat-owners band together

14 Your Money Banks: Banks offer discount on gold coins; avoid them; Gold: Rising gold prices sucking more people into gold ETFs; Mutual funds: Exit-loads on equity schemes, Mutual funds should now take reforms forward: SEBI; SEBI: SEBI seeks special courts for speedy trials in market frauds, SEBI sets one-year target for probes

16

Current Account

Publicity: Bad Reviews? Don’t Worry

17

Loose Change

Moneylife Quiz; Sound Bites: Naveen Jindal; Sudhir Chaudhary, Editor of Zee News; Markandey Katju, Press Council of India chairman; Sushma Swaraj, BJP leader

If you were wondering why most of the recent major cases of corruption have not been exposed by opposition parties, especially the BJP, now you have the answer: they are all in it together STOCKS

36 Medium Term Kajaria Ceramics moved up 6%, HCL Technologies moved up 5% while Supreme Infrastructure tanked 7%

37 Long Term

33 Lazy Investing Thoughts for the discerning armchair investor

INSURANCE

48 Insurance Trends – Health Insurance: Max Bupa’s Health Assurance – Health Insurance: Religare Health Care – Right to Information: United India Ignores CIC – Fine Print

AUTO

Bajaj Finance rocketed up 10%, M & M Financial Services went up 1% while eClerx Services Ltd plummeted 9%

800 50 Alto Reviewed

38 Street Beat

Is the latest car from the Maruti-Suzuki stable worth it?

– JVL Agro Industries – Poly Medicure STOCK PERFORMANCE: Our Report Card

Of Business Models

46 Value Picks

Airline lounges may just be the place for a quick coffee or email LEGALLY SPEAKING

Bank Too 58 Don’t Much on Banks Banks aren’t exactly ‘customer friendly’. They take you for granted EARNING CURVE

Mistakes 60 7YouFinancial Can Avoid Savers and investors commit blunders which catch them by surprise – Global Learning ML FOUNDATION EVENTS

mediclaim 61 “Acoverhigher can be denied” Moneylife Foundation held an in-depth session on health insurance which discussed inexpensive mediclaim options, the fine print and ways to avoid claims rejection

66 Protecting Your Parisar

The global tide starts to go against us

43 Popular Picks

a Break, 57 Take Go Lounging

BEYOND MONEY

42 Which Way

Reality Check Disclaimer: Moneylife has a policy of not allowing its editorial staff to buy and sell stocks that are written about in the magazine. All personal transactions in individual stocks are subjected to internal disclosure rules.

SMART MONEY

HEALTH

Thrill 52 Pills But Could Kill! Consuming pills could lead to deadly results over the long term, based on evidence – Pulse Beat: Medical developments from around the world

Traffic woes are a constant source of discussion and debate. Sujit Patwardhan, founder and trustee of Parisar, tells us how and why urban transport is their focus

DEPARTMENTS Letters............................. 4 Book Review.....................59 Money Facts.....................63


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