FACETool

I have created a new mobile application FACETool for Samsung Bada devices such as WAVE, HERO etc.

FACETool is an image application based on Face recognition.
The tool extracts each face in an image containing many faces.
Various actions can be performed on the extracted faces like creating and editing contact with the extracted face, saving the face in memory.

From your Samsung mobile, you can visit Samsung app store to download my application

OR

You can visit below link (and download using Samsung Kies PC software)

http://www.samsungapps.com/topApps/topAppsDetail.as?productId=G00000519711&listYN=Y

Poland Diary (Mar – May 2010)

My trip to Warsaw, Poland (capital) was eventful in terms of NEWS. (Even if it was not, need to create news!)
Poland is a developing country. It joined EU lately, focus is to provide on par facilities like other EU nations and also trying very hard to be in league of top Euro nations. . It’s yet to adopt EURO; right now the currency is Zloty.
Poland is the only EU state that has avoided slipping into recession. Since Poland is late boomer it didn’t get chance to slip into recession.
The biggest stock exchange is WSE (Warsaw Stock Exchange).
Number of companies listed are 376 which is less if compared with our NSE.
Poland is included in MSCI Emerging Markets as well as India.
That’s more about Poland as a country, now would like to say something about my stay in there in terms of NEWS again.

Suzlon and me!
My favorite stock is Suzlon. Its 3rd largest wind turbine manufacturing company in the world. At any given time of year, my portfolio is green. It’s not due to profits but due to presence of green energy Suzlon!
Right now, Suzlon is going through a rough patch and my portfolio is in red, deep red!
I was thrilled, when the news flashed that Suzlon’s subsidiary RePower entered Polish market. It entered into a contract with a Germany-based company WSB Group to deliver 15 wind turbines in Poland.
There is a saying in the markets that one should not be emotionally attached with any stock. I need to learn this lesson.

Polish Prez unfortunate air crash
The aircraft carrying Polish president Lech Kaczynski and his aides crashed in Russia leading to the death of all passengers onboard. The plane was carrying Ministers and Army chiefs.
It was heart breaking scene to see scores of car escorting the dead bodies from Warsaw airport. The cars were passing one after another and we lost the count of number of cars. Polish people were seen on either side of roads with flags. It is the most tragic event for Poland after World war.

Volcanic ash eruption debate
The news of Volcano Eyjafjallajökull (no idea how to pronounce it!) emitting ash in Iceland created havoc. It caused the biggest airspace shutdown in Europe since World War II, affecting more than 100,000 flights and eight million passengers.
It was a hot topic for us since many of my colleagues were supposed to travel on that week. I personally felt that the decision to stop aircrafts for one whole week was over exaggeration. But many others supported the decision since safety of passengers is of higher priority.
There is a news that a neighboring volcano Katla (short and sweet name!) is about to explode and it is more powerful than the present volcano. BEWARE… !!!!!

Greece Hangover

Greece hangover continues…

The market is yet to recover from the Greece crisis, as markets across the world continues to slide with standard 2 % down on daily basis!

Indian markets fall in the morning and tries to recover in the late afternoon.

Chinese market will be up when the whole global market is down and vice-versa!!!

EU and IMF finally rescued the beaten up EURO and came up with 1 trillion $ package to resolve the debt and budget deficit crisis in Europe.

The news sparked around 5 – 10 % rally, but finally came down on the subsequent days with analysts calling for more fundamental action rather than ornamental changes.

Germany passed EU aid package and USA passed financial reform bill.

Germany banned naked short selling of EURO thereby providing stability to EURO but markets usually doesn’t like any restrictions and effect is there to see. Markets were down for couple of days, due to the short sell ban.

Dow Jones has entered the correction zone officially.

Meanwhile, there was 998 points fall in US markets and 500 point recovery in span of 30 minutes. Initially, rumor was that the market crashed due to Greece. Many were envy of Greece ability to bring down markets so heavily! .One of the theory going around was that the crash was due to a typing error by a broker! Instead of ‘M’(Million), ‘B’(Billion) was typed. Ahhh.. that makes a real difference.. !!

Couple of events that needs to be watched:

1. Greece fallout spreading to other countries. (Old issue)

2. South vs. North Korean possible war. (New issue)

Indian markets are keeping a close watch on Euro / US events as there are no major events in India and are looking for the world market for direction.

Hope to see GREEN soon, RED is so scary!!!

Follow up blog on Greece crisis

The news from Europe is getting worse day by day.
After Greece it was the turn of Portugal ratings getting degraded.
But the real worry came in the form of Spain.
Spain is considered to be heavyweight compared to Greece or Portugal.
The deterioration of Spain economy will have a major impact on the world economy compared to Greece.
There are some concerns on China's asset bubble but positive data are emerging from US economy.
The markets are falling daily. But the correction was much needed since the markets rallied heavily in recent months.
So the market initially used the bad news as an excuse for correction. But now the concerns are threatening the markets.
As of now , EU has agreed to bail out Greece but on condition that it will reduce the expenditure.
Many Greeks have been outraged by the measures, which slash salaries and pensions for civil servants and hike consumer taxes.

Hopefully
1. The austerity bill will get passed in Greece Parliament.
2. The crisis is limited only to Greece and Portugal.
3. Spain remains unaffected.

We need to wait and watch if economy is really recovering from the recession or the economy is
entering double recession dip. The likely scenario is that the worse is behind us.

Greece debt crisis

Last year Iceland was bankrupt due to the collapse of the major banks.
Normally we hear companies go bankrupt !
Now , Greece is under tremendous pressure to clear debt. Its outlook is reduced to
JUNK by S&P !!!
Even Portugal ratings is reduced.
If further action is not taken then Greece may become next Iceland and
Portugal may become present Greece.
EU is trying hard to bailout Greece but there exists lot of difference among the Euro nations.
EU is struggling nowadays. EURO is showing weakness.
Hope EU succeeds in making Greece stable since its very important
for world economy.
The present rally across the globe is pulled down regularly
by Greece bad news. And in turn affecting common investor in India like me who is very very far
from Athens... !!!

Berkshire Hathaway's 15 Biggest Stock Holdings - CNBC

The below link contains Warren Buffett's (Berkshire Hathaway) top 15 stocks.

Berkshire Hathaway's 15 Biggest Stock Holdings - CNBC


The portfolio includes mostly banks and strong revenue based companies such as NIKE, COCA COLA etc. Important point is not a single Tech company is present in the list.
The top 15 stocks are

1. Costco Wholesale
2. Nike
3. M&T Bank Corp
4. Washington Post
5. Moody’s
6. US Bancorp (USB)
7. Johnson & Johnson
8. ConocoPhillips
9. Wesco Financial Corp
10. Wal-Mart
11. Kraft Foods
12. Procter & Gamble
13. American Express
14. Wells Fargo
15. Coca Cola

And also Warren Buffett holds Goldman Sachs. It was a sweet deal (and not sweat deal !!!) for Warren since he invested when the banks were roughed up last year. His investment was to instill credibility and stability to the company. After the recent Goldman Sachs fraud it would be interesting to hear Warren's take on that.

RBI monetary policy

RBI monetary policy is reviewed quarterly and the policy is spelled out which modifies the key interest rates.
Following are the key rates definition.

CRR (cash reserve ratio)
Its the reserve amount bank has to keep with RBI.
If CRR is hiked then bank has to keep more money with RBI. Due to this RBI sucks out extra liquidity out of the financial system.
If CRR is reduced then bank has to keep less money with RBI. Due to this bank will have more lending power thereby increasing the liquidity in the financial system.

RR (Repo rate)
Whenever the bank faces shortage of funds it can borrow from RBI. RR is the rate at which bank borrows money from RBI.
If its hiked then bank has to pay more money on borrowed money from RBI. The bank might pass the burden to the customer.


RRR (Reverse Repo rate)
Similarly RBI might need money !. During such scenarios RBI itself borrows money from the banks.
Therefore RRR is the rate at which RBI borrows money from the bank. Banks will be obviously happy to lend the money to RBI since it will be in safe hands.

SLR (Statutory Liquid rate)
Its the minimum amount of money the bank needs to park into Govt bonds,gold etc before providing credit to the customer. They can even hold in the form of cash.
The main difference between SLR and CRR is that in CRR the bank parks its money in RBI whereas in SLR it parks money in the markets.

Bank Interest rate
Its the rate at which RBI lends money to the bank. Depending on this bank will lend money to the customers keeping the banks profit in mind.
For customers like us hike in interest rate means hike in deposit rates and also hike in EMI !. Similarly lower interest rates means lower deposit rates and lower EMI propelling the customer
to take loans and thereby fueling the economy.

Inflation
Its a generic term to measure the cost price of food and goods in the country.Higher inflation rates means you need to pump in extra money for the same 1 kilo of sugar thereby bleeding your purse. Normally RBI in turn hikes the interest rate so that value for money is retained. But due to this growth will be affected due to higher rates.
Therefore RBI policy needs to look into inflation vs growth aspect before changing the policy . Its indeed a tough job for RBI Governor.

The rate sensitive sectors are normally affected by RBI policy. Sectors are Real estate, Auto, and obviously Banking.
If rates are cut then loans will be cheaper and customers will be more interested in buying lands and vehicles. Similarly when rates are hiked loans becomes dearer.
If rates are cut then depositing money in banks will not be attractive enough and money will be pumped into stock markets.
Normally the markets are smart enough to factor in the possible rate cut or hike even before the policy is announced.
Therefore when the policy is announced market doesn't react as expected since it has been factored already. But if the policy is full of surprises then the market will move up or down drastically. Many traders speculate in this period whereas long term investors review the policy and if need modify their portfolios.