An interesting paper on chit funds
Till today, I had no idea about this chit funds business. I can see how this could’ve been very useful to some of my friends who had to rely heavily on credit card balance transfer schemes.
Real estate frenzy is back in Chennai. For e.g. 99% of all houses was blocked in the first three days in a newly launched real estate project. Déjà vu.
OMR was the place of action in 2005-8. This time the action is clearly leaning towards the Vandallur - Kelambakkam corridor. VIT university, IIITDM, Sports university all make it the most hyped real estate market in chennai suburbs. The NRI crowd is the lead participant in this rally too. Any google search on real estate project lands up in R2Iclubforums website.
Earlier I had calculated that the bubble would burst in Tier 2 places like Coimbatore. That was not to be. Sobha developers is selling a villa in Vedapatti where I suspect the forest sequences in Mani Ratnam’s Raavan would’ve been shot. Did i mention the price i heard? 1.25 crores. I think film-making will get cheaper than buying a house.
Personally, I am still in a dilemma whether to participate in this speculation or not. Staying away is probably the safer thing to do though. At the moment lot of calculations are running in my head.
The latest kudumi pidi sandai among regulatory bodies SEBI and IRDA is the most happening thing in the Indian commerce world.
What is the problem? According to SEBI, ULIPs aka vatradha jeeva nadhi for insurance companies, are actually more investment products (almost mutual funds) and less insurance products. Therefore, SEBI thinks ULIPs fall within its jurisdiction and want these insurance companies to get its approval before selling ULIPs. On the other hand IRDA thinks it is the sole god father for all insurance companies and hence SEBI has no business in dictating terms to insurance companies. It has asked the companies to ignore the SEBI ban.
As a person who has been bombarded with phone calls from sweet talking women representing the Insurance companies who literally promise me anything so long as that will help buy into their ULIPs, I am convinced that these insurance companies and their agents are making a killing selling these ULIP products at the expense of the naïve public. One girl called me and promised a ‘guaranteed’ return of 20% per annum for the next so many years. She might’ve as well promised I will never get old if I buy their product. Deceiving customers with such promises is nothing less than con job. God alone knows how many had fallen prey. The common man, who does not know the difference between the various financial products are being misled and taken for a royal ride by these ULIP hawkers in this insurance burma bazaar.
So I, for once, especially after reading the latest issue of Moneylife (Covery story: What is the right insurance policy. Online readers need to wait a fortnight longer. If you are in India, I suggest you get the latest issue from any leading bookstore.) think SEBI is doing the right thing for the common man. Of course one should not ask questions like ‘when was the last time SEBI had the interests of the common man in mind?’ That’s a different story altogether.
http://shareable.net/blog/dude-wheres-our-car
The one phrase which jumped out was ’stumbling on happiness’