Finance

Indian startup aims for the moon – and $30 million Prize Money!!!!

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GOOGLE LUNAR X PRIZE | MOON | SPACE | TEAM INDUS

Rahul Narayan, who describes himself as a serial entrepreneur, is the founder of Team Indus. It is the only Indian team in a race to the moon by privately funded groups competing for the largest international incentive prize of all time – the Google Lunar X Prize.

Google is offering $30 million in prizes to the first privately funded teams to safely land a robot on the Moon, including a grand prize and other bonus prizes.

With a purse of $30 million, the competition will reward the first privately funded team to softland on the moon, travel 500 metres and transmit back to earth, at a distance of nearly 4 lakh km.

With a purse of $30 million, the competition will reward the first privately funded team to softland on the moon, travel 500 metres and transmit back to earth, at a distance of nearly 4 lakh km.!!!!!!

In a conversation with Reuters, Narayan talks about Team Indus’ prospects, timing, his struggle to be taken seriously by investors and why he would not be too disappointed if someone else wins.

Q: What is the biggest challenge in this mission?

A: Everything is a challenge – money, finding advisers, being taken seriously, reaching out to people.

Almost all of it is uncharted territory. Nobody’s done a (privately funded) mission before, definitely not from India.

Q: How was Team Indus formed?

A: I had gotten in touch with them (organizers) saying, if there was an Indian team, please let me know, I’d like to work with them. They got back to me saying there was no Indian team, and if you want to set up a team, we can give you a bit of expert help. That’s when I got out of whatever startups I was doing.

Q: How did you recruit people for this project?

A: Almost our entire team right now is people who came to our website and said they wanted to work.

Q: When is your planned launch date?

A: We plan to launch sometime in 2015.

Q: How much have you spent so far? What is the projected total cost?

A: We’ve spent about one crore rupees (10 million rupees, or about $185,200), including for registration, a little bit of prototype being done, operational expenses and salaries. It’s a design effort and we are not doing any hardware yet. Total spend, we expect it to be $15 million.

Q: Where do you see yourself among the 23 active teams?

A: We believe we are in the top five. We believe the moment we sign up with ISRO, we will be in the top two. Signing up with ISRO is the one big event that changes a lot of things for us. It has not happened yet, but we’ve started talking to them. (The Indian Space Research Organisation, or ISRO, is the primary space agency of the Indian government. Team Indus plans to use ISRO’s PSLV satellite launch vehicle for its moon mission)

Q: The competition rules state that the project must be 90 percent privately funded. So how are you managing?

A: Right now it is founder-funded. We’ve divided the cost into three different parts. One is cost of design, second is the cost of building it and the third is the cost of launching it. We have separate strategies for each one of them. For designing, we will be looking for investments. Building it is where we are looking at partnerships (aerospace companies, IITs or government agencies). We are looking at these people to partner with us and potentially contribute, if not money, then equipment. The last part, we are going to do crowdfunding.

Q: Why would investors be interested?

A: I started by saying we are an aerospace company. So we see this as a company which is doing a project, and it will continue doing other aerospace projects or derived technologies or IPR, or licensing rights from what we’re going to do here (moon mission).

We are a for-profit company. It’s not just this mission, we will continue building beyond it.

Q: What if somebody else beats you to the prizes?

A: We’re definitely aiming for the first prize. We’ve got one bonus prize built into it. But, if all the prizes go away in 2014 and I’ve booked my launch with ISRO, that doesn’t mean I stop. I have to go because I’ve already done my engineering, I’ve already spent the money and probably just a residual amount is left. So you’d see that differently as then maybe it converts from a Google Lunar X Prize mission to simply a India’s mission. It’s a people mission, people have contributed to it, people have worked in it, and people have a part in it.

Q: What would losing mean for your team?

A: Even if we lose, we’ll still accomplish a fantastic engineering feat. Prize money is just one component of it, so I’m talking about a company which is going to continue after the prize money….

source:::: David Lalmalsawma  in Reuters US

Natarajan

You can follow the David on Twitter @confusedat30

An Indian Village Where 60 Millionaires Live !!!!!

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India is a leadership driven society—it suffices to look at Popatrao Pawar, the village head of Hiware Bazar in the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. In the span of twenty years, he transformed his drought-struck poverty-ridden village into one of the best models India has seen.

Before he took over the reins, the village suffered many problems: there was hardly any agriculture in the village from a lack of water, causing villagers to migrate elsewhere as daily wage labourers; the school was non-functional; domestic violence and village fights punctuated lives as alcoholism was rampant; and the surrounding eco-system was seriously degraded.

So how does one actually make a village rise against such problems?
The first thing Pawar did was get rid of the 22 illicit liquor dens, ban consumption of liquor all together, and ban tobacco and gutka.

Then he inspired the villagers to pitch in to build dams and dig ponds to trap the little rain that came in. This new water management system helped immensely as the wells soon filled, allowing farming to begin anew with fields becoming lush and green.

Not wanting to take change for granted, Pawar got water audits done so that there was a close check on water availability. Water was never wasted, as selfless villagers built 52 earthen bunds, two percolation tanks, 32 stone bunds and nine check dams—All through the use of the same government funds available to any other village.

Before 1995, there were 90 open wells with water at 80-125 feet, whereas today, there are 294 open wells with water at 15-40 feet. To put this into context, other villages in the Ahmednagar district have to drill nearly 200 feet to reach water.

Farming flourished as Pawar got farmers to invest in milch cattle, making milk the new gold of the village. While milk production was only 150 litres per day in 1995, today, it has crossed the 4,000 litre threshold! All this helped reverse migration see over 60 families return with the desire of becoming farmers once again to live life with dignity.

Now there are decent-looking houses all over and villagers look content, glowing with happiness. The monthly per capital income has crossed Rs. 30,000, and in a village of 235 families and 1,250 individuals, there are 60 millionaires!

Today there are only three families who live below the poverty line, but the village is now working to help them improve their income with hopes that in another year, no villager be poor. All this is more amazing when taking into account that in 1995, there were 168 BPL families in the village.

But Pawar has not only tackled the economic needs of the village. With regards to the waning ecosystem, he facilitated the planting of over ten lakh trees to fuel languishing bio-diversity; even Babool trees that were earlier cut for fuel are now cared for, as villagers began harvesting its gum that sells for Rs. 2,000 a kilo.

One would think that these accomplishments already make Pawar one of the great leaders of India, but on top of everything, Hiware Bazar is spotlessly clean—all without sweepers; villagers take pride in keeping their home clean, and defecation or urination in public is unheard of. Best of all, now that cleanliness has overtaken the village there is a crucial benefit for the villagers: widespread disease has become a thing of the past.

In addition, to get children to learn the benefits of good governance, Pawar began a children’s parliament giving them specific roles to work under. The “Education Minister” for example, goes from house to house inquiring if the school is functioning well. Even the teachers themselves learn from their students and respect this monitoring to incorporate the childrens’ advice into their work!

But how did Pawar address caste and communal conflicts that often divide society into sparring aggressive groups? It was very simple: he relentlessly stressed that change could not be brought about without communal amity, and his efforts were so beautifully embodied when the village Hindu community built a mosque for the only Muslim family in the village for them to not have to pray in the open.

And how has Hiware Bazar brought a new respect to women in the face of strong gender inequality in India? First of all, Pawar has got the gram panchayat to take care of the education and marriage expenses of the second daughter of any family, but also, out of the seven-member panchayat, three are now women. In addition, Pawar has stepped down from the village headman’s position (remaining as deputy sarpanch) to allow a woman to replace him.

Finally, to bring in holistic change, Pawar is now motivating villagers to adopt family planning. A lot of stress is being put on health and hygiene as it is crucial for the future of the village. In fact, Hiware Bazar is also the first village in India to persuade couples take an HIV test before marriage.

Interestingly, none of Pawar’s suggestions or schemes are opposed as the village has full confidence in him as he goes about trying to better their lives.

Hiware Bazar has shown that stimulating change is easy.  All it requires is good leadership and the political will to empower others in rising to a better future.

source:::::yahoo news

Natarajan

Why Do The Rich Get Richer !!!!!

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You often hear the saying ‘The Rich are getting Richer….’ have you wondered why?

Five main reasons:

a. The power of compounding
b. Income far, far greater than expenditure
c. Understanding the Wealth Virtuous Cycle
d. Ability to take risk
e. Deep wealth buckets ensuring no asset class is ever reduced to zero

In the real world the word Rich and wealthy are used interchangeably, so in that context I will use the word rich here to mean and include the wealthy too.

a. The power of compounding: When the real rich invest they can let each asset class compound
without touching them for real long periods of time. If you had invested Rs 100 in the Sensex in 1979 it would be worth about Rs 20,000 today – 200 times in 33 years – amazing by any standards. However, if you were not really wealthy all the gyrations in the Sensex would have worried/bothered / scared you. That may have sent you running to the broker to liquidate. However, if you were really rich you could have invested a portion of your assets and seen a fantastic growth in that part of the portfolio.

b. When a person (family) is really wealthy the income has no connection at all with the expenditure. You just operate like 2 different machines – one wealth creating machine and one spending machine. It helps that your income is say 10 times of your expense. So an increase or decrease (inflation) does not have any impact at all on your life style. Since you are saving/investing a big surplus of your income, you are able to compound faster too.

c. Understanding the wealth virtuous cycle – protecting the wealth (insurance), managing it well (when you have a net worth of say Rs. 100 crores you can afford a Family Office to look after the family wealth) , and learning to live sensibly are all part of the wealth cycle.

d. When you have a lot of money in different baskets you can take a chance with each basket. I know of a top industrialist who used to use his personal money for lending to movie making. Movie funding is a one or all kinda game – you can get 100% p.a. return or be wiped out. You also need to fund in multiples of Rs 10 crores – thus keeping the retail guys out. Such opportunities are not even available for the common man! Similarly I know of one person who bought 1 lakh shares of Infosys at Rs. 90 (discount at the time of issue, remember it devolved!!). He was holding till the listing of TCS and at that stage sold off. Only because he had (has) a networth in excess of 3 digit crores, he could hold on without getting excited about the prices. For a person with lesser networth there would have been a great pressure to ‘book’ profits.
Take the case of a boy earning Rs. 12 Lakhs at age 28 – on this salary is it possible to commit to a Rs. 35000 EMI for a house? Hardly. It is almost impossible. However, when the father has a huge networth it is possible to do so. I know of a father who has told his son ‘the month you CANNOT pay the installment, I will. Thus the son has a FREE risk transfer mechanism – if he were to lose his job, his DAD is the safety net!

e. If you have say a big portion of your money in equities, technically it is possible that you panicked and sold off EVERYTHING in 2008. This would have meant that in 2009 when the market revived YOU would have had nothing in equities – thus the fantastic growth of 90% would have been missed. You would be kicking yourself, right?So now when you hear the Rich get Richer….you know it is not emotional, it is mathematical!

source::::Article by Mr.P.V.Subramanyam in yahoo finance

Natarajan

” That is What I am Doing Now ” !!!

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Short story with Great Morals 
One day a rich Westerner who had made sqillions from speculating on the stock market was strolling along the beach and saw the fisherman pulling in his boat with his meager catch.
The rich Westerner stopped and remarked “not much of a catch today”. The fisherman replied “yes not much” but explained that his small catch was enough for him and his family.
The rich Westerner asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”
“I sleep late, play with my children and have an afternoon’s rest under a coconut tree. In the evenings, I go to the local pub to see my friends, play some music, and sing a few songs….. I have a full and happy life.” replied the fisherman.
The rich Westerner ventured, “I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you…… You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat.
With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have a large fleet. Instead of selling your fish to a middleman, you can negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to a city from where you can direct your huge enterprise.”
“And after that?” asked the fisherman.
“After that? That’s when it gets really interesting,” answered the rich Westerner, laughing, “When your business gets really big, you can start selling stock in your company and make millions!”
“Millions? Really? And after that?” pressed the fisherman.
“After that you’ll be able to retire, move out to a small village by the sea, sleep in late every day, spend time with your family, go fishing, take afternoon naps under a coconut tree, and spend relaxing evenings with friends…”
At this the fisherman exclaimed  “that is what I am doing now.”.!!!!!!
If you ever get a chance, think about the moral of the story..Dont get so engrossed in making profits that you lose the people who matter the most to you.. Dont get so busy in making your future so bright that your present becomes dark..Dont run so fast that your not able to breathe the fresh air and enjoy the beautiful nature around you. Dont ever make the mistake of thinking that money can buy everything because money still does not have the power to buy love or true friendship..Counting money might seem great but counting your blessings is even greater . And living a life with happiness, love, peace of mind and God’s devotion in your heart is the greatest of all..Think about it , you might not agree with me today but may be someday- this story will definetly make sense..
source:::::: input from a Sai Devotee…
Natarajan

” குறை ஒன்றும் இல்லை எனக்கு ” !!!!…..மகாபெரியவர் !!!!

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காஞ்சி மஹான் சதாராவில் முகாமிட்டிருந்த சமயம்.

கோடீஸ்வரரும் தொழிலதிபருமான பிர்லா அவரைத் தரிசிக்க வந்தார். பம்பாயில் பாரதீய வித்யா பவனைக் கட்டிக் காத்து வந்து பக்திமான் அவர்! அவர் வந்திருக்கிறார் என்பதால் மஹான் தங்கியிருந்த இடத்தில் எந்த விதமான பரபரப்பும் ஏற்படவில்லை. சாதாரண பக்தர்களுக்கு எப்படி தரிசனம் கிடைத்ததோ, அதைப் போலவே திரு ஜி.டி. பிர்லாவும் ஜன்னலுக்குப் பின்னால் அமர்ந்திருந்த மஹானைத் தரிசித்தார்!

எப்போதுமே பிர்லா எந்தக் கோயிலுக்கோ அல்லது புண்ணிய க்ஷேத்திரங்களுக்க& #3019; போனால் நிறைய நன்கொடை தருவது வழக்கம். வெளியே போகும்போது செக் புத்தகத்தை உடன் எடுத்துச் செல்வார். மஹான் ஏதாவது நன்கொடை கேட்பார் என்று அவர் நினைத்து விட்டார்.

அவர் அங்கிருந்து நகரும் வரை மஹான் வாயைத் திறக்கவில்லை.

பொறுக்க முடியாமல் பிர்லாவே கேட்டுவிட்டார்.

”நான் உங்களுக்கு என்ன செய்ய வேண்டும்?”

இதற்கு மஹான் சொன்ன பதில் பிர்லாவை பிரமிக்க வைத்துவிட்டது.

”நீ இப்போ செய்யற தொண்டையே விடாமல் செஞ்சுண்டிருந்தா போதும். நீயும் உன் குடும்பமும் க்ஷேமமாய் இருப்பீர்கள்!” என்று முடித்துவிட்டார்!

அத்துடன் பிர்லாவை சகல மரியாதைகளுடன் அனுப்பி வைக்கும்படி மடத்து சிப்பந்திகளுக்கு உத்தரவிட்டார்.

பக்தனின் திரட்டுப்பாலை ஏற்றுக்கொண்ட மஹான், கோடீஸ்வரரிடம் தான் கேட்க ஏதுமில்லை என்று சொல்லிவிட்டார் மாமுனிவர்!

source::::www.periva.proboards.com

Natarajan
Read more: http://periva.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=exptamil&action=display&thread=3769#ixzz2MRWVEtif

Money Making Myths…Busted!!!

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 ‘Study hard, you will have a rich future!’, ‘Work hard, you will have money to burn!’; similar to these two sayings, there are many more sayings which the Indians are very much used to. No one knows who wrote these lines, but almost everyone tries to implement all these.
Being Indian, no one can say that they haven’t tried to implement all these ideas. May not be for a longer period of time, but at least once in their lives, they must have tried all these.
However, most of these sayings are totally deceiving and ends up bringing no good to anyone. Here is the list of 7 such sayings which has been misleading the minds over the past centuries as reported by ‘unmaskingthemillionaires.com’.
. ‘Money brings money.’
As it has been already said, business is all about serving the customers. The more proficiently one fulfills the needs of the customer, the more success he will taste in his life.
Most of the millionaires in the rich league started their business career from scraps and not with money. Even the richest person in today’s world started earning money by selling gums from doors to doors.
 ‘I’m waiting for the right time.’
‘Time and tide waits for none!’. Despite of knowing this, people usually waits for the right time to start up with.
Time is precious and can never be categorized as right or wrong. Beating the odds, one can achieve success.
Most of the successful people’s stories reveal that they started when everyone was against them. If they would have wasted their time in convincing everyone to support them, today ‘Microsoft’ and ‘Dell’ would have been a myth.
‘Time made it hard to become a millionaire now.’
Business doesn’t means to sell something or just to trade with something. Business means serving the customers, making them happy, taking care of their investments.
Time has nothing to do in bringing wealth into anyone’s wallet. The increasing number of millionaires in today’s world proves this.
No doubt, with the advancement of technology, the competition has increased but at the same time, using the same technology one can serve the needs of customers in a more decent and an easier way.
‘Amazon.com’ can be a better example in this regard.
 ‘Age doesn’t permit me.’
Warren Buffet is the person who is ruling the recent list of the richest people. Buffet is crossed 82 and will be stepping on 83 by August, 2013.
Also, Mark Zuckerberg is mere a 26 years billionaire and so is the other co-founder of Facebook, Dustin Moskovitz.
Where do age problem arises? It’s not the age but the way one works, which makes them rich. When it’s work, there can’t be any age. One should have the spirit to work and not the wrinkles in their faces to retire from work.
‘Select the best way, make more money.’
When it comes to work, nothing can be categorized as good or bad; work is work.
At present, people like bankers, software giants, medical professionals, consultants, retail marketers, etc. has been occupying the places in the list of the rich people.
Except having money, more and more money, there are no other criteria which can label someone as a millionaire or billionaire.
In the league of the rich people, there are people who are related into a single sector and also there are people who are related to multiple sectors.
 ‘Education makes people rich.’
Education can enhance one’s knowledge but it can’t make someone rich. If this would have been the reality, the list of the rich people in the world would have had all the names of the professors and the lecturers of the top colleges.
Education can show the way but one has to choose their own way with their own experience.
In today’s list of the richest people, there are several names that don’t even have a basic graduation and are dropouts from colleges. Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Li and Michael Dell are some of the examples in this list.
‘Work hard, earn more.’
This is one of the most common sayings. Whether in home or in school or in colleges or it be in workplace, this is the first ‘money’ lesson.
If this would have been the reality, the person carrying a load of hundred of kilos on his back would have been the richest man in this planet today.
Money has nothing to do with how hard one is working. Money is the result of how proficient one person is at his job. The way they completes their task, the amount of time they saves while completing their tasks makes money and not the amount of hard work they does.
source:::::siliconindianet
Natarajan

Financial Lessons to Learn From Lord Ganesha !!!!

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 Lord Ganesha is worshipped as the god of prosperity and symbol of happiness. It is believed that any activity started by worshipping lord Ganesha will bring good results and will be successful. Lord Ganesha’s appearance teaches many things along with some financial tips which people often forget and put themselves into wrongful financial situations. Hiral Thanawala in InvestmentYogi.com discusses 11 financial lessons which you can learn from lord Ganesha.
1. Big Head of ‘Gajanana’
He has a big head or Gajanana which means “Elephant Faced God” symbolizes to think big. People often fail to think out side the already set boundaries. Though at times there is a little amount of risk involved experimenting with financial planning but there are safe ways in which one can explore their options and start thinking differently. Each and every problem has a solution to it. To find the solution one just need to be calm and analyze the situation.
2. Small Eyes of “Gajakarna”
The small and sharp eyes of Ganesha symbolize to have concentration. Any work or plan where there is lack of concentration cannot be successful. Your financial planning also needs proper concentration and need you to think all the risk and gain factors involved. Ask questions to your self before you take any decision. Concentrate on smallest of small details and take note of each and every pros and cons of the step you are about to take. After setting your goals, you need to prioritize them according to their importance.
3. Large Ears of “Lambakarna”
The large ears of “Lambakarna” which means “Large Eared Lord” and symbolizes to listen carefully and keep you years open always. You should know what is going on in the financial markets and what the new innovations are. Also listen to your financial advisors. Often people tend to take their financial decisions on their own in order to save a little amount they have to pay to the advisors. But at times in order to save little money they end up incurring a huge loss.
Still in case you do not feel like consulting an advisor, collect information on your own. There are many articles on internet as well as Television which can help you to know better market trends and take proper decisions.
4. Small Mouth of “Gajavaktra”
At times it is said that actions speak better than words, but few wrong words may make bigger and a very wrong impression than your actions. Lord Ganesha’s small mouth reminds that one should think before they speak anything. Your words portray your personality, you need to listen more and talk less while planning your financial plans. More over it is not always safe to discuss your financial plans with every body as they might provide you some wrong information. Talk only those things which will help you to gain further knowledge and help in making strong financial decisions.
5. One Tusk of “Ekadanta” or “Ekadrishta”
Ganesha’s one tusk symbolizes that you should keep the good and throws the bad. It conveys that keep studying your investments on regular period of time. Investments which are running at loss should not be retained. On the other hand investments which are making profits should be retained and look other measures that how they can perform even better.
6. Trunk of “Vakratunda”
Lord Ganesha’s trunk conveys that one should be highly adaptable and efficient to their surroundings. Even in unfavorable situations one should be patient and should not panic. Your financial matters need to be handled with care for which you need to have patience. Impulsive decisions may often make you take wrong decisions which will further causing you more damage. Once an investment done doesn’t mean your job is over. You need to be efficient and keep checking the prospects on regular intervals.
7. Large Stomach of “Lambodara”
Ganesha”s big stomach conveys that one should be able to digest all good and bad phases of financial decisions. It is not always necessary that you investments will only generate profits. At times they may incur losses too. It such situations one should be able to digest the bad upcoming and find out solutions to handle the problem wisely. You should identify what went wrong wile making the decision and take a note that it should not be repeated any more.
8. Right foot over left foot
Ganesha keeps his right foot over left foot when ever he is seen in sitting posture. This posture symbolizes using knowledge and reason to overcome emotions. One should never take their financial decisions emotionally. Money matters are acute mathematics and are based on strong reasons; decisions related to these should also be taking in such a way. You should have a strong base of financial knowledge to relay your decisions on them. You can read books or go through internet articles on financial issues.
9. Axe
The lord of all Ganas (Gods), Ganesha holds an axe in one of his hands in order to shed off all the bonds and attachments. It means that you should not put all your money and make investments only in one company or one type of investments. This is because different companies and investments perform differently according to the market conditions and investing only in one company increases your risk. Therefore it is suggested by financial advisors to invest in different companies as well as different type of investments.
10. Mouse at Akhuratha’s Feet
“Moshak” or mouse is considered as Ganesha’s ride. Akhuratha means the lord who has mouse as his charioteer. It conveys the message that people should keep their desirers under control and not take a toll of them. Often people end up spending for things they really do not require and just have the urge to have that. Few impulsive buyers like these at times really end up putting themselves in big trouble by not planning properly to invest their money.
11. Modak and Prasada
Modak is ganesha’s favorite sweet and it is served to the devotees as ‘prasada’. This symbolizes that one who does hard work and is patient always gets good rewards. If you are capable of following all the suggestions devotedly, you will definitely get your reward. You financial decisions cannot go wrong and you will always live a healthy and care free life.
 source:::::::silicon india net
 Natarajan

7 Ways Money Can Buy Happiness !!!!!

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source :::siliconindia net

Natarajan

 

 

 You may wonder ‘how money can buy a little happiness’ as it is not something which is sold in the market. Of course what you are thinking is right but at the same time you cannot ignore the fact that money can buy many things which make you happy. Different people hold different notion about money, which influences the way they make use of their money. Now let’s look at the ways, by which money adds more fun and happiness in our lives, reports Investopedia.com

 

 

1. Time

 
‘Money can buy a wrist watch but not time’ are you the one who thinks in the same way. To some extent you are right but not completely. Just think once about the ways money can buy technologies which can help you to cut short the time you spend in your day to day work. Like a washing machine, dish washer, lawnmower and many more make some chores quicker and easier to perform. Money can also help you to save time by giving you the ability to hire a maid, landscaper or butler for doing chores and running errands. Hence, money can definitely buy time.

 

 

2. Achieving Goals

 

Today, the things which are available for free can easily be counted on your fingers but the things which money can buy are countless. Even for achieving your goals you need money. You may aim to become a doctor or a engineer or a lawyer or a MBA, but for studying any of these professional courses you need of lakhs of money. Even for training under the vocational courses like music, dance, fine arts you require money to pay your fees. Life is not just about living with serious ambitions but even for achieving softer goals like vacation trips or buying luxurious car. In many ways, money can help achieve goals and make you happy.

 

 
3. Financial Security

 
Financial security can only be achieved with sufficient finance, in other words with money. Financial security helps a man to keep financial worries at bay, and this helps him to live his life more happily than the one who is struggling without it. Laura Vanderkam, Author of “All the Money in the World: What the Happiest People Know About Getting and Spending,” says “satisfaction with life and consequently happiness amplifies with income”. This is possibly because when one has enough money, he or she won’t have to stress day and night about providing proper food for the family, or worry about a family member falling ill and not having adequate funds to pay for healthcare. When someone has sufficient money to take care of his priorities, it brings about bundles of joy.

 

 

 

4. Creates Opportunities

 

It is often said that the person who himself is happy can keep other have too. In the same way the person who has enough money can help someone in need of money. It could be your spouse, child or a close friend who needs money to fulfill his or her aims. Remember, the more money you have, the greater the opportunities we have to help others. As you know, money creates opportunities to help others as its gives you the ability to help them. Michael Norton, associate professor at the Harvard Business School, says it is far more rewarding in the long run if people use their money to aid others, instead of spending it only in fulfilling their individual needs.

 
5. Experiences

 
Vanderkam says that money can buy happiness if used wisely. When you buy too much of something, the pleasure which you get out it start diminishing. Rather use your money for creating an experience that can be shared. This, she says, would help the happiness grow three-fold. It grows through the anticipation, the experience and the happy memories each time you remember it. Money can provide you the capital required to enjoy lasting experiences like traveling around the world, scuba-diving, paragliding and trying some of the most watering meals in the 5 star restaurants. Money can buy a ton of wonderful experiences which you can cherish lifelong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Social Standing

 
In today’s materialistic world money plays an important role in building social status and earning popularity. There is an age old saying that ‘Adversity Test Friends and Prosperity Gains Friends’. It’s true that our socio-economic status are determined largely by the amount of money we have. There is certainly no fun to be poor and it doesn’t hurt to be rich. For most of us who fall in the varying shades of the middle class income group, it is money that puts us there more than our ethnic and educational backgrounds. If it didn’t, then we would have also participated in the proud discussions about how much we earn.

 
7. Enabler

 


Keeping aside the extravagant life and appearance in page 3 of some streaming sections of magazines and tabloid newspaper which comes usually comes with money; you can also aim for attaining eternal peace by donating your money for a charitable cause. Some philanthropists like Azim Premji are working towards building better healthcare and education systems. This year he made a grand donation of $1.3 billion. According to psychologist Martin Seligman, humans find happiness by enabling greater opportunities for many others who need a helping hand, which gives them a great sense of triumph.

 

” Ugly Indian ” Look Projected by Indian Companies Abroad….Why ?

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Article by T N Ninan: The ‘Ugly Indian’? IN Business Standard…

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Companies get into all manner of scrapes in the crony-capitalist business environment at home, but continue doing business, whereas the consequences in another country are quite different

Most people in India have assumed that the Maldives is guilty of breach of contract in the case of the Malé airport, and GMR the victim. But is there another side to the story? The contract was a revenue-sharing arrangement (one per cent till 2014, 10 per cent after that; also 15 per cent and 27 per cent revenue share on fuel). The contract allowed GMR to charge an airport development fee (users of Delhi airport, also run by GMR, will be familiar with this issue). The issue went to court in Malé, which in late 2011 struck down the fee as illegal. The Maldives then allowed GMR to set off its revenue share against the fee that might have been collected. The consequences became clear in the first quarter of 2012, when a revenue share for the Maldives of $8.7 million was reduced to $0.5 million after setting off the airport fee. By the second quarter, the Maldives instead of receiving revenue share was asked to pay $1.5 million; the bill climbed further in the third quarter, totalling $3.5 million. The new Maldives government feared that, far from receiving an expected $1 billion, it might end up paying massive sums to GMR over the 25-year period of the contract, extendable by 10 years. Abrogation of the agreement followed. Readers will see parallels with the Enron/Dabhol case, where Maharashtra was in the position of the Maldives government: stuck with a contract that would ruin the state, but faced with severe penalties if it walked away. India eventually paid a price for throwing out Enron, and that may well be the fate awaiting the Maldives. Where should our sympathies lie?

Cut to another case. Back in 2011, Pankaj Oswal was riding high; his company inWestern Australia was supremely profitable, and he and his wife set up an extravagant home outside Perth that got a lot of press attention. Soon, however, the headlines became negative; there were allegations of money being siphoned out of Burrup Fertiliser to privately held firms in Singapore, and Burrup went into receivership. Mr Oswal and his wife left Australia and their fancy home outside Perth, and are said to be in Dubai or Singapore.
The question to be asked, as more and more Indian businessmen invest overseas, is whether we are risking the birth of the “ Ugly Indian”. Lakshmi Mittal’s problems in France, where the French government has threatened to nationalise a unit of ArcelorMittal, would seem to have more to do with the vagaries of French politics. But there is also the case of Jindal Steel and Power(JSP), which had to exit Bolivia in May. JSP had made headlines in 2007 by bagging the world’s largest untapped iron ore mine, and agreeing to set up a steel plant in Bolivia. Amid a welter of charges and counter-charges, a new Bolivian government said the company had not fulfilled its investment targets, while it said the government had not provided it with the required natural gas for fuel. End of project, no steel plant and no iron ore.
In both Bolivia and the Maldives, there was a change of government before contracts were cancelled. France too has seen a change of tune after the François Hollande government assumed office. India has its own history of throwing out companies after a change of government — Coca-Cola and IBMafter the Janata came to power in 1977; Enron after the Shiv Sena government took charge in Maharashtra in 1995. Now the boot is on the other foot, and poses tricky challenges for Indian diplomacy (should the government automatically back Indian companies?), as well as for India’s entrepreneurs. Companies get into all manner of scrapes in the crony-capitalist business environment at home (Jindal in the coalgate affair, GMR over the Delhi airport), but continue doing business; the consequences in another country are quite different, and also on a wider plane.

Beyond Apple, 9 Most Valuable Companies in the History!!!!!

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source:::: yahoo finance…

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For most of the people, the phrase “most valuable company” always reminds of Apple, the Cupertino tech giant who hit $623 billion valuation on August.Many referred to it as the history’s most valuable company. But it ignited a debate over why people don’t consider inflation while evaluating the companies. The fact is, if you look back into history, Apple doesn’t even make it into the top five, as there werecompanies which had hit as high as $7.4 trillion in valuation, when adjusted to inflation.

Here are history’s most valuable companies, compiled by Yahoo Finance.

#9 Exxon-Mobil in 2007
Value then: $513.3 billion
Adjusted to 2012: $572.9 billion

Exxon-Mobil, the American multinational oil and gas corporation was formed on November 30, 1999. It is still the world’s largest company by revenue. At its peak in 2007, Exxon Mobil’s reserves were 72 billion oil-equivalent barrels. With refineries in 21 countries, it is also the largest refiner in the world.

With the subsided oil prices and also the market deflections, the company now stands at a value of $401.77 billion.
#8 Apple in August 2012
Value then: $661.6 billion
Adjusted to 2012: $661.6 billion

The anticipated launch of a new iPhone, coupled with rumors of a smaller iPad and a feature-rich Apple TV had lifted Cupertino tech giant’s stocks and the valuation to $661.6 billion in August this year. The company which was valued at less than $10 billion as in 2004 and at $100 billion just three years ago grew unstoppable with its iPhone business.

The company presently has the highest market capitalization in the world. However, its stock has sunk 15 percent since September and is now valuated at $554 billion.

#7 Microsoft in 1999
Value then: $620.6 billion
Adjusted to 2012: $851 billion

Microsoft might be the one existing tech company which fell from glory to gloom in a matter of 10 years. Microsoft reigned the market from licensing deals with the computing giants especially IBM, where the company earned money for every machine they sold.

But the failure to adapt quickly into a mobile and Smartphone centric world had hurt the software giant and is now hoping for a bright future with its latest OS and debut in hardware.

The company is currently valued at $226.82 Billion.

#6 PetroChina in 2007
Value then: $1 trillion
Adjusted to 2012: $1.12 trillion

PetroChina, founded in 1999 is China’s biggest oil producer. It is the most profitable company in Asia. It entered trading following the announcement of stock issue in Shanghai in November 2007. The first-day valuations of stock fuelled by investor speculations over growth made it world’s first trillion dollar company.

However, the share values later retreated to normal levels and the company is now valuated at $233.68 Billion.

#5 IBM in 1967
Value then: $193 billion
Adjusted to 2012: $1.3 trillion

The International Business Machines Corporation, which always ran ahead of its competitors with innovations, was the first company from tech sector to mark its valuation above trillion dollars in this list. At its peak times, the company had developed deep relations with government organizations including NASA, delivering them cutting edge computing power.

Subsequently the company sold off its PC business and is now focusing more on enterprise and also technology services. It is now valuated at $216 billion.

#4 Saudi Aramco in 2012
Value today: U.S. $3.6 trillion
Adjusted to 2012: $3.6 trillion

It turns out that one of the world’s most valuable company is not even listed on a stock exchange. Saudi Aramco or officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company owns the world’s largest oil field. The company manages over 100 oil and gas fields in Saudi Arabia. Presently, the company tops all the largest lists in the world. It is estimated to worth $781 billion in 2005 and according to the present estimation by University of Texas finance professor Sheridan Titman, it is worth $3.6 trillion.

#3 The South Sea Company in 1720
Value then: 200 Million British Pound
Adjusted to 2012: $4 trillion

The South Sea Company was a British joint-stock company founded in 1711, created as a public-private partnership to consolidate and reduce the cost of national debt. The company’s share values rose on the speculations over future business growth, which never happened, as the government pulled its strings.

Subsequently, in 1720, investors realized the truth and the share values crashed. The company was later resolved in mid- 19th century.


 

#2 The Mississippi Company in 1720
Value then: 300 million British Pounds
Adjusted to 2012: $6 trillion

The Mississippi Company or the Company of the West was founded in 1684 to facilitate trade with the then-New World. John Law, controller of the French National Bank, was named the Chief Director of this new company, which was granted a trade monopoly of the West Indies and North America by the French government. The company’s stocks shoot up twentyfold, fuelled by the value speculations and an effective marketing scheme.

However, the “bubble” burst at the end of 1720 and the company collapsed. Law was dismissed from his positions and the company was declared bankrupt. He then fled France for Venice.

#1 The Dutch East India Company in 1637
Value then: 78 million Dutch Guilders
Adjusted to 2012: $7.4 trillion

The Dutch East India Company is considered to be the first multinational corporation in the world and the first company to issue stock. It was established as a chartered company in 1602, where it is given the monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia.

The company eclipsed all of its rivals in the Asia trade and enjoyed huge profits from its spice monopoly through most of the 17th century.

However, corruptions in the late 18th century combined with turmoil in the trade made the Company go bankrupt and was formally dissolved in 1800.