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Niveshak THE INVESTOR

VOLUME 6 ISSUE 6

June 2013

Real Estate Regulation & Development Bill 2013

VOLATILITY INDEX(VIX), PG. 18

Why INDIAN BANKS SHOULD FOLLOW THE ISLAMIC BANKING LAW?, PG. 22

FROM EDITOR’S DESK Dear Niveshaks, Niveshak Volume VI ISSUE VI June 2013 Faculty Mentor Prof. P. Saravanan

THE TEAM Editorial Team Anchal Khaneja Anushri Bansal Gourav Sachdeva Himanshu Arora Ishaan Mohan Kaushal Kumar Ghai Kritika Nema Neha Misra Nirmit Mohan All images, design and artwork are copyright of IIM Shillong Finance Club

The times have been torrid to say the least. Even after desperate measures by the RBI to defend the Indian Currency, the rupee hit an all-time low of 60.72 on June 26, 2013. What’s worse is that many experts feel that the worst is still to come. Riding on the rupee depreciation for the entire month, FII’s pulled out a massive INR 9000 crore from the stock market. The number in the debt market stands at a whopping INR 27850.2 crore. The stock markets have been equally volatile throughout the month, declining from close to 20,000 points to 18,500 and again breaching the 19,000 level just before the month end. The Article of the Month for the June issue closely follows the trend and tries to explain the Volatility Index in and out. The cover Story for the Month of June analyses the Real Estate Regulation & Development Bill 2013, an all important step finally taken by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation. Buying your own house might finally become a reality with the proper implementation of the Bill. Niveshak also brings some more good reads for you in this issue –The FinSight of the issue tries to explore the pros and cons of the highly debatable Islamic banking Rules, more so when the World’s Banking Sector is going through the toughest of times. FinGyaan of the issue talks of a new currency for the whole world, ‘BitCoin’. Sit back and read how it can bring the world on a common platform. Then there is the story of 1973, which brought the entire globe to a stop when the Arab Nations withheld the supply of Oil to the Western countries. Get to know how the Oil Crisis of 1973 affected the lives of millions of people and surprisingly, the positives it gave to our world. The issue also explains the concept of Golden Cross through our much cherished Classroom Section. To end this brief note, it’s important that we thank you, our readers, for your constant support and appreciation. Thank you! It is your end¬less encouragement and enthusiasm that keeps us going. Kindly keep pouring in your suggestions and feedback to niveshak.iims@gmail.com and as always, Stay Invested!

Team Niveshak

©Finance Club Indian Institute of Management Shillong www.iims-niveshak.com

Disclaimer: The views presented are the opinion/work of the individual author and The Finance Club of IIM Shillong bears no responsibility whatsoever.

CONTENTS Cover Story Niveshak Times

04 The Month That Was

Article of the month

08 Volatility Index (VIX)

11 Real Estate Regulation & Development Bill 2013

FinGyaan

16 BitCoin: A New Currency

for World

Finsight

Why should Banks in India follow the Islamic Banking Law?

Finistory

18 The Arab Oil Embargo 24 Golden Cross

CLASSROOM

NIVESHAK

The Month That Was

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The Niveshak Times Team NIVESHAK

IIM Shillong Mahindra Finance pulls out of the race for a banking License Mahindra Finance has decided not to apply for a banking licence in lieu of the regulations set by Reserve Bank of India which may have an adverse economic and operational impact on Mahindra’s non-banking finance business. Mahindra Finance will be the first large conglomerate to pull out. However, with the RBI norms prescribing exiting financial service businesses to be transferred into a new bank without any flexibility for an NBFC and a bank to coexist for a reasonable period, a number of large NBFC’s are expected to follow suit. Mahindra Finance also stressed that the current set of guidelines will have an adverse economic and operational impact on the business of larger NBFCs. Mahindra Finance was considered a top contender for the licence, given its presence in the rural and semi-urban areas. The last date for filing an application is July 1. RBI stipulations also mandate that from inception, NBFCs will have to comply with regulatory requirement of mandatory 23% statutory liquidity ratio, 4% cash reserve ratio and priority sector loan requirement of 40%. OVL-OIL to buy Videocon stake in Mozambique field for $2.5 bn This will the third acquisition in 10 months, state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) will be acquiring Videocon Industries’ 10 per cent stake in a giant Mozambique gas field for about USD 2.5 billion. The joint venture between ONGC and OIL will claim stake to Mozambique’s offshore Area 1 which may hold as much as 65 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas resources. ONGC Videsh Limited(OVL) is the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and will hold 60 per cent stake in the joint

June 2013

venture while OIL will have the remaining 40 per cent. OVL and OIL have signed a definitive agreement with Videocon Mauritius Energy Ltd to acquire 100 per cent of (its) shares in Videocon Mozambique Rovuma 1 Ltd for USD 2475 million. Merck & Co wins injunction against Indian firm over diabetes drugs

MSD, a unit of US drugmaker Merck & Co, said it has won an injunction against India’s Aprica Pharmaceuticals and a source said this will stop Aprica launching generic versions of two diabetes drugs in India. Global pharmaceutical firms have had a series of patent disputes with Indian makers of generic drugs and several recent Indian rulings have gone against the international giants. MSD holds an Indian patent on sitagliptin, a chemical compound sold under the Januvia and Janumet brands used to treat type-2 diabetes. Merck sued another Indian company, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, over the two brands in April, saying Glenmark had directly infringed MSD’s intellectual property. The same court is due to hear that case on July 15. Nissan to recall over 22,000 Micra, Sunny cars in India Japanese car giant Nissan will recall 22,188 units of its small car Micra and sedan Sunny in India due to faulty braking system, as part of a global exercise to rectify the problem. The company’s wholly-owned subsidiary Nissan Motor India will recall the vehicles, which were produced between June 2012 and March 2013. Nissan is conducting a voluntary recall campaign on approximately 67,089 Micra and Sunny vehicles in Africa, Asia, Europe, India (22,188), Latin America and Caribbean, and Middle East

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NIVESHAK

markets to replace the master brake cylinder as told by a Nissan Motor India spokesperson. She, however, said the company has not received any complaint in India so far and this is a voluntary recall. Elaborating on the problem, when operating the braking system under light braking force, the customer may experience longer brake pedal travel. In extreme cases, reduced braking performance may occur and as a result the braking distances required to stop the vehicle will increase. Tech Mahindra completes merger with Satyam Tech Mahindra completed its merger with Satyam and became the fifth largest Indian IT service provider. The revenues of the merged entity would be $2.7 billion with a team of 84,000 professionals servicing 540 customers across 46 countries and will be called Tech Mahindra. This purchase was done in a Government backed auction in 2009 after Satyam admitted to one of India’s biggest accounting frauds. Tech Mahindra has been fulfilling statutory & legal issues for the past four years. It owns approximately 43 percent of Satyam. It is offering one share in itself for every 8.5 shares of Satyam to absorb the company. This news lifted Tech Mahindra’s shares as they went up 1.3 percent at INR 1,014.60 on NSE. The same was applicable to Satyam’s shares which went up 1.3 percent at INR 116.30. Bharti Airtel penalized INR 650 crores Department of Telecommunications has approved a penalty of INR 650 crores on Bharti Airtel for violating roaming norms in 13 service areas between 2003 and 2005. DoT has alleged Bharti Airtel that it was offering SLD (Subscriber Local Dialing) services in 2003. It continued to route national and international calls as local calls under a scheme till 2005 despite being told to stop it in 2003. This caused losses to the government exchequer and state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL). The release of this news made the company’s shares go down 2% intra-day on the Bombay Stock Exchange, before recovering

to close up 0.5% to Rs. 316. A fine of INR 350 crore was earlier imposed upon the company for offering 3G services in seven circles where it did not have licenses. The company had entered into inter-circle roaming agreements with Idea Cellular and Vodafone and was offering services where they had won spectrum for 3G services. RBI tightens gold lending norms for RRBs Restrictions on gold lending by Regional Rural Banks has been tightened by the RBI. These curbs also extend to units of gold exchange traded funds (ETF) and units of gold mutual funds to tame demand for gold and rein-in a record high current account gap. The RRBs would not be allowed to lend against gold jewellery, gold ornaments and gold coins weighing above 50 grams, a norm already applicable for all other banks. Advances may be granted by RRBs against specially minted gold coins sold by banks which may not be in the nature of ‘bullion’ or ‘primary gold’. But it pointed out that there is a risk of some coins weighing much more, thereby circumventing the Reserve Bank’s guidelines regarding restriction on grant of advance against gold bullion. So, the RRBs should make sure ensure that the weight of the coin(s) should not exceed 50 grams per customer.

The Month That Was

The Niveshak Times

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NIVESHAK

Article Market of Snapshot the Month Cover Story

Market Snapshot

Source: www.bseindia.com www.nseindia.com

MARKET CAP (IN RS. CR) BSE Mkt. Cap Index Full Mkt. Cap Index Free Float Mkt. Cap

6,253,750 3,081,040 1,610,860

LENDING / DEPOSIT RATES Base rate Deposit rate

9.70%-10.25% 7.50% - 9.00%

Source: www.bseindia.com

CURRENCY RATES INR / 1 USD INR / 1 Euro INR / 100 Jap. YEN INR / 1 Pound Sterling

60.58 78.94 61.79 92.92

CURRENCY MOVEMENTS

RESERVE RATIOS CRR SLR

4.00% 23%

POLICY RATES Bank Rate Repo rate Reverse Repo rate

8.25% 7.25% 6.25%

Source: www.bseindia.com 21st Decemebr to 24th January 2013 Data as on 29th January 2013

JUNE 2013

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NIVESHAK

BSE Index Sensex

Open 20160.82

Close 18875.95

% change -6.37%

MIDCAP Smallcap AUTO BANKEX CD CG FMCG Healthcare IT METAL OIL&GAS POWER PSU REALTY TECK

6498.66 6068.62 11076.54 14799.81 7744.4 9679.51 6757.8 8805.66 6061.33 8864.14 8950.96 1790.24 6814.47 1832.18 3638.75

5832.58 5567.25 10392.42 12849.04 6123.79 8758.19 6434.29 8647.39 6208.7 7405.51 8610.65 1557.84 5953.47 1466.46 3636

-10.25% -8.26% -6.18% -13.18% -20.93% -9.52% -4.79% -1.80% 2.43% -16.46% -3.80% -12.98% -12.63% -19.96% -0.08%

% CHANGE

Article Market of Snapshot the Month Cover Story

Market Snapshot

NIVESHAK

Article of the Month Cover Story

Volatility Index (VIX) Siddhartha Banerjee

IFMR Chennai The volatility index- more commonly known as VIX is a measure of the implied volatility in the market by the use of the price levels of the index options. It was first introduced in 1993 by CBOE (Chicago Board Options Exchange) and it rapidly gained acceptance as the leading barometer for measuring market volatility. Since its introduction it has been closely followed and highly publicized, but never more so than in the recent past as the investors now look towards VIX to gain insights about the global market meltdown. The index is commonly known as the “fear index” or the “market fear gauge” because it is based on the real time option prices, which reflects investor’s consensus about the future stock market volatility. Option Pricing & Volatility One way to have an intuitive understanding of the relationship between volatility and option prices is to think of option as a form of insurance. Insurance carriers charge premiums on the basis of the risk: greater the risk higher is the premium charged. Like insurance premiums the option prices reflect the market perception of risk. When risk is perceived to be high, the investors are willing to pay more for options than when perceived market risk is low. Option prices also tend to reflect the expected variability of the stock market. When the market expects a large change in the stock prices, often at times of uncertainty, option prices tend to rise and the option prices fall as the uncertainty wanes. VIX – The Indian Context In India, VIX was launched in 2008 by National Stock Exchange. The volatility index of India is calculated on the basis of Nifty 50 index options. The values of VIX are calculated by NSE using the order book of Nifty options. On the basis of the best bid-ask prices of all Nifty options the annualized implied volatility is calculated. The figure generated is in terms of percentage and it indicates the market volatility over the next 30

JUNE 2013

days. This can be explained with the following example. If the volatility index is 37.19 on a particular day, it indicates an expected change of +/-37.19% over the coming 30 days. Historical evidences suggest that VIX is a fairly reliable indicator to identify and gauge the uncertainty in the market. If monthly closing averages of VIX are plotted against that of NIFTY we can see that they move in the opposite directions. It can be observed that a negative correlation exists between the two. Figure 1 substantiates this fact. Why Is Vix Important For The Investors? There are several reasons why investors pay attention to VIX. Generally investors monitor VIX since it provides important information about the market sentiment that can be helpful in evaluating potential market turning point. A group of investors use VIX options and VIX futures to hedge their portfolio. There is another group who use the same futures, options and VIX exchange traded notes to speculate on the future direction of the market. The most notable feature of this index is its negative correlation with the price index. This negative relationship is likely to be the reason that tempts the investors to try to hedge the portfolios using VIX. Apart from this, an asymmetric correlation of the VIX products with the equity market has been found which means as the equity market returns become more negative, the inverse correlation becomes greater. However since VIX itself is calculated as an index value, an investor cannot invest in it directly. Investors can only gain exposure to VIX through futures and option contracts whose payoffs depend on the values of the VIX. VIX futures were launched in 2004 and VIX options started trading in 2006. Figure 2 shows the growing popularity of the VIX futures and options over the years. There are some fundamental differences between VIX Option and standardized stock option. Table 1

NIVESHAK

Article of the Month Cover Story

Fig 1: Opposite movement of Nifty with respect to VIX

elucidates these differences. It is imperative for an investor to have a thorough understanding of how VIX options work and how these can be used as a hedging tool or for speculative purposes. To implement the hedge, the investor needs to buy near term VIX Call options; while to reduce the cost of the hedge he needs to sell VIX Puts of the same expiration month. The concept behind such a strategy is that, in the case of a stock market decline the VIX index will rise high enough so that the call option gains significant value to offset the losses in the portfolio. Volatility Speculation Using Vix Options VIX option is an excellent tool for the traders to make speculation on the future movements of the VIX. Just like any other traditional stock option, it can be traded during the normal stock market hours through a securities broker. The main features of the volatility trading are that it is non-directional in nature and the position taken by the trader is that of whether the underlying Features

asset will have more volatility in the future or not. Traditionally such a view is implemented by the use of non-vanilla options like strangles, straddles or through variance swaps. Since with the introduction of VIX derivatives, which have the advantage of having a standardized implied volatility calculation such trading can be easily implemented. How Reliable Is Vix? The volatility of VIX indicates investorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inability to effectively understand and measure the uncertainty of the market. To a certain extent this index also has the same human flaw of perception that drives the stock prices too high or too low. Since human perception can quickly lead to fear or greed which is beyond the realm of any mathematical or logical explanation, this index to a certain extent is affected by the error of human perception about the market. Misconceptions about VIX There are some popular misconceptions that have surfaced about VIX and these misconceptions

VIX Options

Standardized Stock Option

European Style Option American Style Option which can which can be exercised be exercised any time before or only during the expiration during the expiration Cash settled which means VIX options can only be Stock settled in which an indiSettlement exercised by cash delivery vidual can exercise the stock Method based on the difference option to take delivery of the between the index and the underlying stock strike price Expiration Date Expires on every third Expires on every third Wednesday of the month Friday of the month Exercise Style

Table 1

ÂŠ FINANCE CLUB, INDIAN INSTITUTE Of MANAGEMENT SHILLONG

NIVESHAK

Article of the Month Cover Story

Fig 2: Growth of average daily volume of VIX Futures & Options

need to be addressed to separate facts from fiction. These are some overly generalized interpretations about this index which are used to deduce certain things which VIX is not actually designed to convey. Myth-1: VIX is a measurement of present volatility In order to interpret the index more meaningfully it is important to remember that VIX is a measure of the expected future volatility and not a measure of present volatility. Myth-2: VIX and Index always move inversely Many people have a misconception that VIX was created as an indicator of the market direction rather than the market volatility. Actually VIX was not created to predict the market direction. Since the calculation of VIX is on the basis of the option prices which typically tend to rise at the time of uncertainty and fall when the uncertainty subsides, the VIX and the index like Nifty or SPX move inversely to one another. But there can be exception to this general trend in some cases. Since its inception in 1993, VIX has moved opposite to SPX on an average of 3 out of 4 times. This deviation from the expected movement is dependent on the market dynamics to some extent. Myth-3: VIX predicts the future stock price Some traders use this index to garner information about the stock market and to predict the bullish or bearish market situation. They believe that very high VIX value signifies extremely “oversold” condition and thereby they predict market bottoms. In the same way some technical analysts look for signs of investor “capitulation” in the market so as to identify the market bottom. The concept behind such a view of them is that if there are very few sellers in the market, the market has nowhere to go but up from that point. Historically it has been found that

JUNE 2013

on the days when the market capitulation has taken place very high values of VIX have been recorded. However there is no clear evidence to suggest that a particular level of VIX correspond to a particular SPX price at the bottom. Conclusion Volatility index is a very efficient tool to measure the implied volatility of the market and it is a great instrument for hedging at times of financial uncertainty. It also helps investors to trade volatility with the use of VIX derivatives in cases of expected volatility in the market. But there are some misconceptions in the minds of investors regarding this index which need correction so as to make use of the index more effectively.

NIVESHAK

Cover Story Story Cover

REAL ESTATE BILL 2013

Himanshu Arora & Nirmit Mohan

IIM Shillong The Indian real estate continues to meander along a slower-than normal recovery track with certain socio-political and economic issues, particularly rising inflation, subdued interest from opportunistic investors, uncertainty on fiscal policies and recuperating US economy. Though India’s favorable demographics, rising income level, rapid urbanization and latent demand continue to be a few of the redeeming factors, the sector seems to be going into the consolidation phase. Several markets still continue to provide suitable investment opportunities for investors and end-users alike. The dire need for focused political and economic reforms resulted in approval of FDI in multi brand retail, which is expected to lend a spark to the dormant retail estate prices. There appeared a light on the horizon, when Union Cabinet of India approved the Draft Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Bill,

proposed by Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation on 4th July, 2013. The Bill, which has been pending for the last two years, is expected to be tabled in the forthcoming Parliament session. The bill has been developed with a purpose to address the sad plight of millions of home buyers. It is expected to enhance transparency and accountability in real estate transactions, thereby restoring confidence of the general public. The Government had first proposed this bill in 2007 as a consequence of mounting pressure from the ever deteriorating customer power and various spheres of polity. Consequently, the first draft of the bill saw the daylight in 2009, but because of heavy opposition from the developers, the bill couldn’t be discussed in the parliament. This draft covered both the Commercial as well as Residential Real Estate projects. Another draft then came into being in November 2011 which only had Residential

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Cover Story Cover Story

Fig 1: Financial Statement Items for top Developers

properties in its ambit, as suggested by the multitude of reasons ranging from increased Ministry of Urban development, and the same borrowing costs, delay in getting clearances has now been approved by the Union Cabinet. and decreasing demand after the crisis may have contributed to the delays in the The Need For Real Estate Regulation completion, but customers have been the clear losers. And Development Bill The introduction of the Real Estate Regulation Another prominent reason that brought about and Development Act by MHUPA was all but the Real Estate Regulation and Development imperative. The Indian Real Estate market bill is the huge sum of black money involved was and still is marred by long delays in the in the sector. According to Reuters, around completion of the projects, involvement of 30% of the transaction money in each deal large sum of black money and under delivery. in the residential sector is turned black. For According to a report published in February example, for a house priced at INR 1 crore, the 2012 by PropEquity, a Real Estate Data, developer will ask the buyer to pay a sum of Analytics, Intelligence and Research firm, a INR 70 lac by a cheque and the rest as cash. The massive 45% of all the real estate projects that developer writes a receipt of INR 70 lac which were surveyed, are facing significant delays in is then registered with the tax authorities thereby causing a loss to the exchequer worth the execution. the tax on INR 30 lac. Considering that the A host of residential projects were announced Real Estate forms around 10% of Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s $1.9 by the developers between 2007 and 2009 trillion economy, this loss is immense. were to be delivered by January 2012. As per the report, only 23% of these projects The under delivery by the developers has in the NCR region were complete. For the been no less a concern for the Union Ministry Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Bangalore of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation. The Metropolitan Region this figure stood at 61% less than promised features in the interiors and 63% respectively. Within the residential of the house like the carpet area, the quality projects in NCR, the affordable housing of bathroom fittings, the quality of the false projects have been hit the hardest with 92% ceilings etc. have been a matter of contention of all projects facing considerable delays, between the developers and the customers followed by mid-end housing projects (76%) for years. and high-end residential projects (72%). A Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s discuss the major clauses of the bill:

June 2013

NIVESHAK

specify the carpet area of each dwelling and will have to send periodic updates on the status of construction mandatorily. • Adherence to specifications and Stress on timeliness: The Bill targets at providing considerable relief to the buyer who faces immeasurable difficulties and at times even gets duped by property brokers and developers. The bills postulates setting up of regulatory mechanism in every state to ensure that construction is completed on time and upon completion the customer gets a property that truly matches with the agreed specification. The bill also seeks to tackle cases of misappropriation of funds with strict guidelines for fund disbursement and project launches. • Fund Management: The Bill aims to make it mandatory for Real Estate developers to maintain separate bank accounts with scheduled commercial banks for each of their projects. The minimum limit of 70% of the corpus raised for the project from buyers (at intervals) will have to be deposited within 15 days of realization in the account. This limit can be further adjusted by the state regulator on need basis. Such arrangement will prohibit diversion of funds from one project to

Fig 2: Impact of Fund Management Clause

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• Regulatory Framework: The bill postulates setting up of a Regulatory framework in each State under the purview of State government. As a nodal agency to coordinate all efforts of the Government regarding the development of the real estate sector, the regulator shall take all possible measures for the growth and promotion of a transparent, efficient and competitive real estate sector. It shall also publish and maintain a website of records of all real estate projects for which an application for registration has been received. • Mandatory disclosure of project details: The Bill aims to make it mandatory for developers to disclose details about their projects (including minor details) on the company website. The details will include specifications, such as the layout plan, carpet area of each unit, number of units in the project, the amenities being provided, the status of approvals received, proposed timeline of completion, approved banks, approved broker details and Architect details. These disclosures aim at maintaining transparency and preventing any misuse of details by the property brokers. In addition, the concept of super area will no longer be permitted. Developers will have to

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Cover Story Cover Story

Fig 3: Timeline for Approvals

other and encourage developers to optimally utilize the money to meet the project cost of the individual projects. On longer run, this clause will ensure timely completion of project too. • Laws pertaining to Advertisements and Advances: The bill proposes to prohibit Real Estate companies from advertising or marketing their projects before getting all the necessary clearances and obtaining a certificate of registration from the authorities. They will also not be allowed to collect funds from buyers before obtaining all approvals. The project will be deemed launched only after getting all the necessary nods from the various government authorities involved. Non-compliance to such clauses will attract imprisonment for up to three years, or a penalty that may extend to 10% of the estimated cost of the project, or both. In addition, the developer will have to

compensate (to be decided by the regulator) the buyer who incurs a loss on account of advance payment based on false information contained in the developer’s advertisement. For cancellation of sale, the developer will need to give due notice to the parties to the agreement and refund the amount collected along with interest, as prescribed by the regulator. Moreover, in case there is a major structural defect or deficiency in the development or services offered and this is brought to the developer’s notice within one year by the buyer, the developer will have to rectify those defects without levying further charges. • Licensing of Realty brokers: In order to track the black money and consolidate the real estate broker industry, the bill mandates compulsory registration of real estate agents by the authority and issue licenses. This will further streamline

A massive 45% of all the real estate projects in the metros that were to be completed by January 2012, are facing significant delays in the execution.

June 2013

NIVESHAK

the part of the government. Though it puts a host of conditions on the developers, it does not address the basic concern of delays in the projects due to the governments’ incomprehensible process of providing clearances and land acquisition rights. 5 Years down the Line Having a regulatory body will ensure a more disciplined and practically ambitious industry, a timely and complete delivery of projects with greater transparency and accountability. Creation of an Escrow account, which will hold the funds of the buyers, will lower the risk for the lenders thus incentivising them to offer debt at lower rates. The ever increasing prices of the projects will be kept under check as additional demand for land will be controlled by prohibiting cross collateralization and cross routing of funds from one project to another. The landowners may get a stake in the project as against a one-time compensation paid up front, as the developers wouldn’t prefer creating land banks by over leveraging. The scenario definitely looks brighter once the Bill becomes a Law, but as is the case with all legislations in the country, the enforcement holds the key to the lock that the entire nation wants to break open.

The scenario definitely looks brighter once the Bill becomes a Law, but as is the case with all legislation in the country, the enforcement holds the key.

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this industry and make real estate broking an organized profession. Though many experts feel that license fee or registration fee shall be charged to conduct business but no provision has been made under the proposed bill. The Shortcomings Like most of the Indian Bills, this important piece of legislation is also marred by some serious shortcomings and lack of foresightedness. These lacunae can highly debilitate the entire purpose of the bill. Some of the clearly felt deficiencies in the Real Estate Regulation and Development Bill 2013 are: 1. The bill is applicable to only new real estate projects. Since this bill was coined in year 2011, a very high number of projects were launched by developers in past 2 years in anticipation of this bill. Thus, a significant number of customers will not be able to enjoy the benefits of the bill. 2. This bill covers projects which are of at least 4000 square meters in area. Given the real estate growth for the last three years, most of the land in and around the major cities has been used by large real estate projects. The current trends indicate that most of the new projects are expected to come from small developers with smaller area, which will not fall under the ambit of the bill thereby rendering the law useless. 3. The bill in its current form will lead to a sharp decline in the number of housing projects that will be launched in the coming 2 years as the developers wouldn’t be allowed to market their plans till they get all the necessary approvals from the concerned authorities. 4. Real estate being a concurrent subject also falls under the state’s list. Thus, it is up to the state government to decide the extent of the bill that gets enacted in their area of influence. Strong developer communities in a particular state can, for all practical purposes, defeat the entire purpose of the bill. 5. One of the biggest flaws that the bill encapsulates is the lack of transparency on

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Article FinGyaan of the Month Cover Story

Bitcoin: A New Currency for World Vipul Agrawal

Welingkar institute, Mumbai The best way to describe Bitcoin is as an invisible, virtual form of currency. Bitcoin, also known as crypto-currency, is a new decentralized electronic currency that can be sent through the internet without any middlemen. It is a concept which was first described by Wei Dai in 1998 on the cypherpunks mailing list. This scheme was first suggested by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008, and became fully operational in January 2009. Bitcoins are digital coins which are not issued by any government, bank, or organization, and are purely peer to peer online payments sent directly from one party to another without any interruption of any financial institution. Building upon the notion that money is any object, accepted as payment for goods and services or repayment of debts in any given country, Bitcoin is designed around the idea of using cryptography to control the creation and transfer of money. Unlike other commodities like gold or silver which we mine by digging and extracting, Bitcoins can be mined not by actually digging but by generating it on the internet and expectedly, it is done by programmers. Who Generates It? Bitcoin can be generated all over the internet by anybody, running a free application called a Bitcoin miner. Mining requires a certain amount of work for each block of coins. This amount is adjusted by the network such that the Bitcoins are generated at a predictable and a limited rate. The network is programmed such that the money supply will increase in a slowly increasing geometric series until the total number of Bitcoin reaches an upper limit of about 21 million BTC’s. The ledger which records all transactions is updated and archived periodically. Each Bitcoin is subdivided down to eight decimal places, thereby splitting it into 100 million smaller units called “Satoshis”. Unlike Fiat currency (Dollar, Euro, Pound etc.) which are issued by a government, and due to

June 2013

the fact that it has no intrinsic value and is not backed by any reserves, Bitcoin has no centralized issuing authority. Bitcoin miners are awarded with Bitcoins for cracking or solving an extremely and increasingly difficult proof-of-work problems which confirm transactions and prevent it from double-spending. To receive an award, the network currently requires approximately over one million times of more work for confirming a block. Currently 50 BTC’s are awarded whenever the first blocks gets confirmed. How It Is Traded? To start with a Bitcoin transaction, participants begin by first acquiring a program called a Bitcoin wallet. Bitcoins are stored in this digital wallet. This wallet has an address and one can have more than one Bitcoin addresses. Bitcoin addresses are used for receiving Bitcoins, in the same way we use our e-mail addresses for receiving e-mails. Payments through Bitcoin is in experimental phase, though it has already been deployed on a large scale (the current value of all the coins issued so far exceeds 100,000,000 USD) and attracts a lot of media attention. The user addresses are characterized by their public/private key pairs owned by him and the string length can differ in a range from 27-34 e.g. 1NvQuPB4L2hkJtY6NiNw9fLT1HQMYLfC4b. A Bitcoin transaction is a general form of a regular bank transaction – it allows multiple sending and receiving addresses in the same transaction. The transaction doesn’t disclose anybody’s identity about who gave how much to whom and just specifies how many Bitcoins were taken from each of the sending addresses and how many Bitcoins were credited to each of the receiving addresses. Where It Is Traded? There are various Bitcoin exchanges, where

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FIN-Q Solutions MAY 2013 1. Angelina Jolie Stock Index 2. Golden Parachute 3. Currency Note (U.S Dollar) 4. “Barclays Capital Global Aggregate Bond Index” 5. Chicken Market 6. Leo Melamed 7. Wanton Disregard 8. Pyramiding

FinGyaan Cover Story

Bitcoins are bought and sold at a variable price against the value of other currency. Bitcoin has appreciated rapidly in relation to existing fiat currencies including the US dollar, euro and British pound. In April 2013, 1 BTC was traded equivalent to $100–$260. Can This Money Be Robbed? As none is involved between peer to peer transactions, Bitcoin’s unique feature lies in the fact that transactions are accepted or denied just by agreeing on a single history of transaction on the network. Due to many connectivity and propagation issues, it becomes difficult to make everyone aware about the transaction at all times, and can be abused by double-spending the same money. Due to such flaws and incapability of the network, someone could actually spend the same money twice before the first transaction gets completed and registered. To avoid such fraud transactions, this gap needs to be plugged. On Bitcoin exchange network, people are identified by the software applications they are running and their respective IP addresses. The validity of transaction keeps a track of many IP’s and this could be hacked by someone who can then allocate these many IP’s . This technology is known as proof-of-work and was originally suggested by Adam Back’s Hashcash as a measure to prevent email spam. Scenario In Indian Market For Bitcoin Bitcoin has so far gotten very less popularity in India, despite the two facts that India has more programmers/computer people than the rest of the world combined and Millions of Indians live outside India and send money to/from relatives in India. This is due to following reasons: • People in India love tangible assets (gold/silver) • The Rupee has been falling since quite some time now. • Unlike China, India has no “great firewall” 2013 is expected to be a big year with small Exchanges emerging out for Bitcoin in India. Remittances is a growing market and there is a huge opportunity for Bitcoin in India. Initiatives are being planned for the same to roll out this or coming next year. Remittances market is currently dominated by banks or Hawala operators. Bitcoin can be the one stop shop and better solution for this which can instantly bring a tremendous positive change in this remittance market. This change can even be driven and adopted by the remittance companies and banks currently operating in India.

1973

NIVESHAK

Ever imagined about a war leading to the development of economies in the long run? Well, there was a war in the past which led to bear a commendable impact on the economy of the United States and other western countries. Until 1973, the western economy was largely dependent on oil and other resources which were not naturally available in their territory. Industries were dependent on it, cars were not as fuel efficient as they are today and even houses were heated using oil dependent resources. The US and other nations did not realize or even think about what would be the impact of the non-availability of oil on them. However, the Arab nations realized this dependence and used

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The Arab Oil Embargo

Darshana Nair

IIM Shillong

it to reprove these nations for supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur War against Palestine. On October 17th 1973, the Arab nations withheld the oil that they had produced without supplying it to the western countries which supported Israel in the war. They also introduced cuts in the production of oil. It was then that the governments of the western nations realized the seriousness of the position that they were in. In those days, oil cost was about 30 cents per litre. Cars were hardly fuel efficient; people did not bother to even think about the mileage of their cars. More than 80% of the working class travelled to their places of work by their own

Fig 1: Household Wasteage of Electricity in Pre-Oil crisis Days

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NIVESHAK

Article of the Month Cover Story Finistory

mode of transport. An average household lived on earnings of $2 per day and not surprisingly, houses did not make an effort to conserve energy. The Figure 1 illustrates how a usual household in the US wasted energy in the preoil crisis days. The Arab Oil Embargo was a huge hit to the people. Oil prices first doubled and then quadrupled. Due to shortage in availability of gas, pumps started supplying only to regular customers and on days, based on the number plates of the cars. This was when people actually started thinking that there could be an oil shortage someday. Hence, the Arab oil embargo, led to a lot of positive results in the economy. Car Industry & Energy Research This was one of the most directly affected industries due to the oil crisis. People of the US started looking for more fuel efficient foreign cars. Players like Volkswagen, Toyota etc. were able to enter the US markets and sustain because of the same. The American car manufacturers also started producing cars which were more fuel efficient. A great amount of R&D took place in this sector. The more fuel efficient 4 and 6 cylinder engines were introduced. This also led to the elimination of the use of lead in the gasoline. The government also imposed a 55mph speed limit as greater mileage could be achieved at this speed. Another very important outcome of this embargo was the greater amount of energy research that was encouraged in this period. It was during these times that discovery of fuel production from biological sources like corn was made, public transport which ran on natural gas was developed and the method of heating adopted in households was changed to use of electricity. Also, alternate sources of energy like solar power; wind energy etc. were developed and improved. Inflation, Unemployment & Stagflation The US government resorted to printing of more currency to meet the rising fuel bills. They increased public expenditure to bring this into circulation and, in the process, increased

inflation levels. People started losing their jobs due to the high cost of manufacturing goods and industriesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; running into loses. This led to a situation called stagflation, which economies had, until then, believed to be impossible. The situation was becoming dangerous and uncontrollable. Stock markets plunged. However, oil stocks did well due to rise in prices. Inflation may be a dangerous tool to be used to beat situations of recession. However, the right amount of R&D and development of alternatives helped the US economy recover from their recessionary situation. The US government launched Project Independence, which was designed to reduce the dependence of the US citizens on oil. It also engaged in diplomatic activities with the OPEC nations, which helped in bringing back the supply of oil to old levels. However, the high prices remained and spread on to other commodities too. To understand this better, let us take the example of bread and oil. Supposing the ratio of prices of oil to bread was 10:1 and the rise in prices led it to become as high as 20:1, this ratio was brought back to the old levels. However, if the oil prices had doubled, it remained at the same levels, while the price of bread was also doubled to maintain the same ratio. This led to a complete economic crisis in the late 1970s. Environmental Impact As mentioned earlier, the oil crisis led to extensive research in the energy field. It also brought about awareness amongst people that oil shortage is a likely possibility, or in other words, people realized that oil was an exhaustible resource. Alternative solutions such as electricity were used for heating houses. Also, the style of construction was changed to more energy conserving methods. The use of solar power, wind power etc. were encouraged. Awareness was spread about the importance of conserving the environment and efforts were made for the same. Apart from these, the long queues in front of the petrol pumps and the involuntary rationing of oil, led to reluctance in people, to use cars

The Arab Oil Embargo was a huge hit to the people. Oil prices first doubled and then quadrupled.

JUNE 2013

NIVESHAK

extent. Solutions Adopted By The Usa To Curb The Crisis The government of the USA undertook multiple initiatives to beat the crisis. They introduced the day light saving time throughout the year so that people would get to start the day early and thus save the amount of oil otherwise used on lighting up houses and offices. Sale of gasoline was restricted and banned on Sundays. On other days, multiple clauses were imposed on the same. There were numerous rules and regulations introduced in the use of private automobiles. As already mentioned, a speed limit of 55 miles per hour was imposed to improve efficiency of the automobiles. Energy policies such as Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1976, Energy Conservation and Production Act of 1976, Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, and National Energy Act of 1978 were introduced. The government also created a separate department known as the Energy department because they realized that depending on the resources of other nations could turn out to be dangerous in the long term.

Fig 2: Countries Affected by the 1973 Oil Crisis

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and other vehicles for walkable distances. A lot of people also started using public transport to go to the office or pool vehicles rather than use their own transport. Affected Nations The map below in Figure 2 gives us an idea of the countries that majorly imported and exported oil were affected by the 1973 oil crisis. As can be observed, the most affected country was the United States of America. Other nations that were involved on the victim side of the crisis were the nations of Western Europe which also supported Israel in the war. Japan was one the few nations which took advantage of the situation and benefited from the same on another front (though it was also grappling with the issue of high oil prices as shown in the map also). They increased production of fuel efficient cars and exported to affected nations (such as the US) which were in dire need for the same. The crisis also led to a world-wide recession. Thus, in effect it affected all the countries in one way or the other. However, the impact was greater in the US and Canada. The value of the dollar also came down to a large

NIVESHAK

Finisitory Cover Story

Fig 3: Oil Price Hikes

Alternative View There is also an alternate view that the embargo was a direct result of the 1971 price controls imposed by President Nixon. These controls acted in a restrictive manner preventing the oil companies from passing on the complete cost of oil to the retail outlets. It is said that this led the companies from cutting back their supplies and saving the same for their own franchise outlets. As a result, a lot of pumps had to shut down due to shortage of oil. The government then passed an emergency petroleum allocation act in September 1973. According to this act, the limited supply had to be shared by the franchise outlets and other pumps. A certain amount was also under the control of the state so that it could ensure smooth supply by supplying to those states which had a shortfall. According to this other view, the embargo was an illusion resulting from the above phenomenon. However, the cutbacks in the production are true, though these were lesser than the actual amount of oil that remained in stock. Conclusion Be it a myth or an intentional move, the oil crisis of 1973 created a huge impact on the economy of the whole world. Subsequent rises in price of oil has been pretty frequent ever since, but such a sudden hike was a huge

June 2012

shock to economies of many countries. Figure 2 illustrates the movement of oil prices in the international market since the oil crisis, till date. As can be seen in Figure 3, there have been greater hikes in prices after the 1973 oil crisis. However, that does not undermine the impact of this crisis, which has been massive in its own right. It has had a commendable effect on all economies of the world. It has resulted in bringing about a lot of good, though it did adversely affect the economies in the short run. Even though it brought about a lot of good, it is still debatable if the economy deserves such shocks in future! This was one event which helped a war lead to growth and development in the world.

NIVESHAK

IN INDIA FOLLOW THE ISLAMIC BANKING LAW? Prakarsh Jain & Varun Misar

Banking has been an integral component of every economy. In India too, it has evolved through a long journey and has attained pinnacles over the time. Today, it stands tall with a strong pillar base comprising nationalised , private and foreign banks. There has been a tremendous change in the way banks operate in terms technology usage, customer relations management, development of new products etc. The only thing, which has remained static, is the banking fundamentals . However, with the force of change sweeping across all industries, banking seems to be the most affected one. Globalisation has made it impossible for the country to stay shielded from the global crisis. To our destiny, India’s banking industry is among the very few in the world which has been able to survive this financial storm and maintain resilience. The financial crisis of 2008 became glaringly evident with the failure and collapse of several large banks in the United States. The banks in India could not escape without being hit by the storm and in no time started suffering from cash crunch, majorly due to global recession and the monetary policy decisions to control inflation. However, in these conditions too, they were able to sail through, due to limited exposure to bad assets, thanks to the Indian Banking system, which is well-regulated and financially sound. The world is witnessing a change not only in its climate, but also in economic conditions. The storm called recession hovers across the globe with fears of onset every 5 years. The horizon at which this storm occurs has reduced over the years and the world now faces a risk of falling into another recession. Though the world economy is showing progress in terms of reduced unemployment, bullish stock markets, increased industrial outputs, etc., analysts and experts consider this situation to be temporary and expect the economy to pass through another

SP Jain, Dubai round of recession soon. Taking these conditions into circumstances is there a vessel, which enables everyone to survive and wade through this turbulance with minimum destruction? Can there be a system, which has strict compliances and practises to ensure that interest of its stakeholders, is never put at stake? For an economy to grow steadily, it requires a sturdy base of savings backed by ample institutional arrangements for deployment of these sums such that it meets the requirements at all times. A welldeveloped capital market becomes an indispensible prerequisite for allocation of savings in the economy. This system must also be flexible enough to adapt to the ever-changing economic conditions. To mitigate all the fears we hold, a system of banking instilled with the principles of equity and justice, which is widespread and successfully implemented in many parts of the world, under the banner ‘Islamic Banking’ needs to be adopted. This system has its roots back to the early sixties, where the need to differentiate lawful activities from prohibited activities was identified. The seed of this form of banking has been sowed so well that it has never looked back since then and has continued a strong spree of growth despite the crisis that has burnt the pockets of the conventional banks globally. Islamic banking is a system in consistent with a law, which is against collection or payment of taxes. It also believes that inflation sources itself from interest and accumulation of the amount leads to increase in divide among the rich and the poor. Mortgage system is followed instead of lending an amount to the buyer to purchase the product, a bank might itself buy a product and re-sell it to the individual seeking a loan at a profit, while allowing him to pay back to the bank in instalments. There are some basic laws which are supposed to be followed as per the Islamic banking norms. For e.g.

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WHY SHOULD BANKS

NIVESHAK

Finsight Article of the Month Cover Story

prohibition on collection and payment of any kind of interest, prohibition on investment in business which is considered unlawful, etc. In the book, the ‘Future of Money’ by Bernard Lietar, he has very well highlighted the dangers of interest and then mentioned how this system has represented the last bastion of resistance. He has also gone further and explained interest, as a direct cause of inflation and thereon the concept the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer. Following are some of the financing options that have been made available as per the Islamic Banking Law: a. Murabaha – Cost Plus Financing b. Ijara – Leasing c. Mudaraba – Profit sharing d. Musharaka – Joint Venture e. Al Rahn – Short term Financing f. Salam – Forward Purchasing g. Qarhd – Non Profit Loans Islamic banking has a huge market potential in India. India is a 3rd largest Muslim populated country. The banking system has nothing to do with the community as such but the financial inclusion will lead to a feel good factor amongst the community. If we think of it further, it leads to a diplomatic advantage for the government to deal with Muslim dominated nations in an effective manner and thereby attracting funds for infrastructure which will help in reducing the fiscal deficit of the country. The Sachar Committee report has highlighted that approximately half of the Muslim population are financially excluded. It also points out that introduction of the Islamic banking system would lead to an inclusion of majority of this population and thereon an increase in the size of banking industry manifold.

JUNE 2013

Way back in time, one on one interview with executives of personal banking division of various banks revealed that significant Muslim population is: a. Against investing in funds which include a debt component b. Donating the interest component received on their savings account c. Using zero interest account This can take us to only one conclusion, as to that there are individuals, who in their own way follow the Islamic law. Experts have termed the Islamic Banking System as a one of the best recessionary proof system of banking in the World.

The Troubles Indian banking law does not explicitly prohibit the introduction but certain provisions in the current system makes it almost unviable for its introduction. Following are some of them: a. Various laws regulate banks and one of the features of these acts is that the banks can accept deposits from public only for further lending. They also prohibit banks from investing on profit and loss sharing basis in other companies. Furthermore, it restricts banks to directly or indirectly indulge in buying or selling or bartering of goods b. The government interferes in the balance sheet by directing banks to provide concessional credit to priority sector c. The CRR and the SLR requirements

The Solvent Besides banking to which there are various laws that apply, there are non-banking financial institutions, which can think of following the Islamic principles of finance without much of a change. On its part, government too can introduce some schemes for banks who are willing to follow these principles under which, instead of interest payments, it can share profits earned on investments. A research paper shows that nearly 50% of the BSE500 companies happen to follow Islamic finance parameters and therefore banks can invest and earn handsome profits.

NIVESHAK

Golden Cross Gourav Sachdeva IIM Shillong

Sir, this time, what confuses me is a term they call ‘Golden Cross’. I doubt, has it got something to do with gold trade? No, but the name surely sounds like a misnomer to beginners like it did to you. Rather, golden cross develops when a security’s short-term moving average (such as 15-day moving average) breaks above its long-term moving average (such as 50-day moving average) or the resistance level. Typically, this crossover is seen as a bullish indicator by technical analysts, which is why it is called ‘golden’. Are there any fixed standards on which averages should be considered while deciding on a golden cross? In truth, any pair of moving averages can be used to create the golden cross effect — point critics of technical analysis never tire of making. However, for most chart watchers, the classic golden cross develops when the 50-day moving average of a market crosses above the 200-day moving average of that market. On a similar note, a silver cross is said to be formed when the 40-day moving average of a market crosses above the 150-day moving average of that market. Sir, is it really true that golden cross indicates bullish market as the analysts say or is it that the stock or security is on a rally? There is a complexity involved here. Seeing past records, the strength of the signal appears to depend on whether it is

associated with a recession-induced decline or not. Since January 1928, the S&P 500 has generated 42 Golden Cross signals that have on average preceded a 12-month return of 9.3%, exceeding the average 12-month return of 7.1% for the index. The point is that, out of 43 crosses, 15 were when equity prices were recovering from a recession-induced bear market and, the average twelve-month return subsequently recorded for them has been an impressive 19 per cent or twelve percentage points above the long-term mean. That confuses me further. Do I conclude that golden cross points to an oncoming bullish season or not? Well, that’s a tough call. The erratic performance of the non-recession signals is such that the returns subsequently delivered lag the stock market’s historical mean return over any short-term period worthy of note, including three-, six-, nine-, and twelve-month horizons. Historically, on an annualised basis, the signal’s performance lagged returns that could have been generated by chance over the respective short horizons by three to four percentage points. In a nutshell, ‘Golden Crosses’ that are not associated with an economic downturn do not work and, have no place in the toolbox of seasoned investors. Thank you Sir. That makes things around the golden cross pretty clear. You are surely welcome. As an ending note, also remember that some people use the term “death cross” as the opposite of golden cross i.e. a point where security’s long-term moving average breaks above its short-term moving average or support level.

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CLASSROOM FinFunda of the Month

Niveshak

Anniversary Edition Finance Club-IIM Shillong invites articles for

“Scripting the Great Indian Revival” in Niveshak’s Anniversary Edition

Do you often think how an altogether new tax regime in the country would put half of the nation’s economic problems to an end? Or do you imagine a young figure taking India into that awe-inspiring league as (s)he is elected as the new PM? Well, here’s your chance!! Put on your thinking hats and take your beloved country on a path of uncharted success, and what’s more, win awesome prizes in the journey. As Niveshak enters the sixth year of its wonderful journey, Team Niveshak is coming out with its fifth annual special anniversary issue. For this purpose, we invite critical views on the theme – Scripting the Great Indian Revival from B-schools & Corporates across India. The top three articles would be awarded with Cash Prizes worth Rs. 12,000. Besides, all the articles that get published stand to win attractive Niveshak goodies and certificates! You can either choose to write on a topic of your choice (but within the ambit of the aforementioned theme) or choose one from the following list. Please note that the list is only suggestive and, by no means, and exhaustive one. 1. Will 2014 elections put Indian economy into new orbit? 2. Reforms in Banking Sector 3. Are stalled infra-structure projects weakening Indian economy? 4. Will playing with interest rates really solve the problem? 5. Youngsters in higher echelons of politics and corporate 6. Is natural capital accounting an answer to Indian misery? 7. How to attract FII and FDI to the Indian markets? 8. Will adhering to 5 year plans make a difference? 9. Will gold throw Indian economy for another toss? 10. Forging new economic ties with emerging economies 11. Is GCP answer to rising economic woes? 12. Tax reforms in the new economy 13. Decoupling of Indian Economy 14. Capital Market reforms 15. Your opinion of a sector which will be the engine of Indian economy

o H t S p /A u C zes 00 ir 2,0 P .1 s R

GUIDELINES Following Guidelines must be adhered to while submitting your entries for the event: • Please e-mail your entries before 31st July 2013 to niveshak.iims@gmail.com • Number of authors per article is limited to 2 at maximum. However, one person/team can send more than one article, if they so wish • Please keep the file name and the subject of the e-mail as “Anniversary Issue_<Title of the Article>_<Institute Name>” • Entries must be sent in Microsoft Word Document (.doc/.docx) format and NOT in any other format (including .pdf) and should be within the word limits of 2000-2500 words only • Mention your Institute name, e-mail id and mobile numbers without failing at the beginning of article • Please submit all relevant graphs, tables, pictures and references along with your entry • Plagiarism of any kind in the entry will lead to straight disqualification of the team • The decision of Finance Club, IIM Shillong regarding the selection and publication of any article will be final and binding

FIN-Q 1. He wrote the greatest book on investing and introduced the world to Mr. Market. The author is also a mentor of the great Warren Buffet. Identify the person. 2. This bank was established as a JV of World Bank, Govt. of India and Indian Insurance Companies, which later on transformed itself from a medium and long term financing institution to a diversified financial group. 3. The countries X has only paper currency and have no coins. X introduced cheque only in 1997. Identify X? 4. In case of an over-subscription of an IPO, the underwriter can sell additional shares up to 15% of the total shares offered which is called ____________. 5. The only Foreign bank to which RBI has issued a differentiated licence in 2008 to carry out transactions with respect to credit card and travel? 6. Name the rapidly growing debt instrument, which derives its name from a popular cuisine of the country, whose currency is the underlying denomination for the instrument. 7. Name the famous international fashion house, the owner duo of which has very recently been sentenced to more than a year and half in prison for tax evasion of USD 1.33 billion. 8. What term would be coined for a point on a yield curve indicating a year in which an economy had highest interest rates? 9. Which banking major with the following logo recently decided to surrender the banking licence in line with the groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s global strategy of conserving capital and wind up its capital intensive businesses?

All entries should be mailed at niveshak.iims@gmail.com by 10h July, 2013 23:59 hrs One lucky winner will receive cash prize of Rs. 500/-

WINNERS Article of the Month

Prize - INR 1000/-

Siddharta Banerjee IFMR Chennai

FIN - Q

Prize - INR 500/-

Hardeep Singh Tata Motors

ANNOUNCEMENTS ALL ARE INVITED Team Niveshak invites articles from B-Schools all across India. We are looking for original articles related to finance & economics. Students can also contribute puzzles and jokes related to finance & economics. References should be cited wherever necessary. The best article will be featured as the “Article of the Month” and would be awarded cash prize of Rs.1000/- along with a certificate. Instructions »» Please send your articles before 10th July, 2013 to niveshak.iims@gmail.com »» The subject line of the mail must be “Article for Niveshak_<Article Title>” »» Do mention your name, institute name and batch with your article »» Please ensure that the entire document has a wordcount between 1200 - 1500 »» Format: Microsoft WORD File, Font: - Times New Roman, Size: - 12, Line spacing: 1.5 »» Please do NOT send PDF files and kindly stick to the format »» Number of authors is limited to 2 at maximum »» Mention your e-mail id/ blog if you want the readers to contact you for further discussion »» Also certain entries which could not make the cut to the Niveshak will get figured on our Blog in the ‘Specials’ section

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