ULIPs vs Mutual Funds

Unit Linked Insurance Policies (ULIPs) as an investment avenue are closest to mutual funds in terms of their structure and functioning. As is the case with mutual funds, investors in ULIPs are allotted units by the insurance company and a net asset value (NAV) is declared for the same on a daily basis.

Similarly ULIP investors have the option of investing across various schemes similar to the ones found in the mutual funds domain, i.e. diversified equity funds, balanced funds and debt funds to name a few. Generally speaking, ULIPs can be termed as mutual fund schemes with an insurance component.

However it should not be construed that barring the insurance element there is nothing differentiating mutual funds from ULIPs.

ULIPs vs Mutual Funds

	ULIPs	Mutual Funds
Investment amounts	Determined by the investor and can be modified as well	Minimum investment amounts are determined by the fund house
Expenses	No upper limits, expenses determined by the insurance company	Upper limits for expenses chargeable to investors have been set by the regulator
Portfolio disclosure	Not mandatory*	Quarterly disclosures are mandatory
Modifying asset allocation	Generally permitted for free or at a nominal cost	Entry/exit loads have to be borne by the investor
Tax benefits	Section 80C benefits are available on all ULIP investments	Section 80C benefits are available only on investments in tax-saving funds

The Munjal settlement

It is one of the rare times in corporate history that we have seen an amicable split of a large family's massive business empire. The Hero Group's Munjals have carved up the family's business into four separate units – each headed by one of the founding Munjal brothers.

Under this arrangement, whoever is heading or running a certain company gets to maintain operational status quo.

All businesses have been valued and the cross holdings have been untangled to ensure everyone ends up with a similar value at the end.

So who ends up with what?

The late Dayanad Munjal's sons Vijay and Ashok run Hero Exports and Sunbeam respectively.

Satyanand Munjal has four sons each running a separate business unit and that includes the listed entities like components company Munjal Auto, Munjal Showa and Majestic Auto.

And then you have O P Munjal who along with his son runs Hero Cycles – the companies that started it all, as well as Hero Motors with its sub divisions.

Finally, the big daddy Hero Honda which comes under the Brijmohan Lall Munjal family and also includes Hero Corporate Services and Easy Bill.

But here comes the kicker. Any previous formal and informal pacts by family members and indeed their businesses to not compete with each other directly are now off.

This means Hero Motors is free to foray into bikes independently or with a new partner. Sunbeam Castings can get into engineering services and even financial services. So it offers a free hand for all companies to look for aggressive growth areas.

The days ahead will be interesting to watch as the growth potential for many of these companies now widens.

India’s Foreign Trade Data : August, 2009

EXPORTS & IMPORTS  : (US $ Million)
(PROVISIONAL)
	AUGUST	APRIL-AUGUST
EXPORTS(including re-exports)
2008-2009	17724	92959
2009-2010	14289	64129
%Growth 2009-2010/ 2008-2009	-19.4	-31.0
IMPORTS
2008-2009	33512	153691
2009-2010	22661	102300
%Growth 2009-2010/ 2008-2009	-32.4	-33.4
TRADE BALANCE
2008-2009	-15787	-60732
2009-2010	-8372	-38171
EXPORTS & IMPORTS  : (Rs. Crore)
(PROVISIONAL)	AUGUST	APRIL-AUGUST
EXPORTS(including re-exports)
2008-2009	76103	391841
2009-2010	69066	311715
%Growth 2009-2010/ 2008-2009	-9.2	-20.4
IMPORTS
2008-2009	143890	648041
2009-2010	109533	497108
%Growth 2009-2010/ 2008-2009	-23.9	-23.3
TRADE BALANCE
2008-2009	-67787	-256200
2009-2010	-40467	-185393
Figures for 2008-09 are the latest revised whereas figures for 2009-10 are provisional

इलेक्ट्रिक कार बनाएगी जीएम

अमरीका की कार बनाने वाली कंपनी जनरल मोटर्स ने कहा है कि वह भारतीय बाज़ार के लिए छोटी और सस्ती इलेक्ट्रिक कार बनाएगी.
जनरल मोटर्स (जीएम) भारत की रेवा इलेक्ट्रिक कार कंपनी के साथ मिलकर ये ख़ास मॉडल तैयार करेगा. कंपनी ने उम्मीद जताई है कि इस नई कार का निर्माण अगले साल से शुरू हो जाएगा.
रेवा की इलेक्ट्रिक कारें ब्रिटेन में जी-विज़ ब्रांड के नाम से बिकती हैं. भारत में कंपनी के प्रमुख कार्ल स्लिम ने कहा कि उनकी कंपनी भारत सरकार के साथ मिलकर चार्जिंग स्टेशनों के नेटवर्क स्थापित करने के लिए काम करेगी.

बाज़ार

रेवा इलेक्ट्रिक कार कंपनी का मुख्यालय बंगलौर में है. इस कंपनी ने भारत में पहली इलेक्ट्रिक कार वर्ष 2001 में बनाई थी. जनरल मोटर्स की ये घोषणा अमरीकी में उसकी प्रतिद्वंद्वी कार कंपनी फ़ोर्ड की उस घोषणा के एक दिन बाद ही आई है, जिसमें फ़ोर्ड ने कहा था कि कंपनी फ़ोर्ड फ़िगो के नाम से भारतीय बाज़ार के लिए नई कार बनाएगी.
फ़ोर्ड का कहना है कि कंपनी की भारत में 50 करोड़ डॉलर निवेश करने की योजना है और फ़िगो इसी के तहत लाँच की जाएगी.
दोनों कंपनियाँ भारत में छोटे कार के क्षेत्र में हाथ आज़मा रही हैं, जो नई गाड़ियों के बाज़ार का 70 प्रतिशत है.

Pharma exports up by 29% in 2008-09

Shri Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, while addressing the Indo-Africa Pharma Business Meet in Hyderabad today, has stated that the exports of drugs, pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals for the year 2008-09 stood at Rs.39,538 crore (around US $ 9.35 billion), registering a growth of about 29% over the last year. “In recent times the Indian pharmaceutical sector has emerged as one of the major contributors to Indian exports with export earnings rising from a negligible amount in early 1990s to Rs.29,139.57 crore (US $ 7.24 bn) by 2007-08. The exports of Drugs, pharmaceuticals & fine chemicals of India have grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 17.8% during the five-year period 2003-04 to 2007-08”, the Minister added. Shri Sharma also distributed the awards to the leading exporters of the pharma sector. Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Shri K. Rosaiah, was also present as the Guest of Honour at this function.

The Minister also announced the Government of India’s decision to establish National institute of Design in Hyderabad as a mark of respect to the departed Chief Minister Shri Y.S. Rajshekhar Reddy. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Sharma stated that in generic medicines sector i.e., tablets and capsules, injectables and infusion, oral solutions, ointments and creams, Indian companies have established their lead in most of the markets including Africa. He further added that the growing export of India in African countries has started causing concern in multinational companies who have started a campaign as Indian generic medicines being counterfeit and substandard.

Haier appoints new India head

Haier has appointed Eric Braganza as President of its India operations. He will oversee sales and marketing, manufacturing and all support functions. The present whole-time director and COO of Haier Appliances India, Pranay Dhabhai, has decided to move on to start a new venture

mjunction launches coal spot price index

KOLKATA: mjunction services (a joint venture of SAIL and Tata Steel) has launched India’s first coal spot price index. It is expected to serve as a barometer of the Indian coal market. There would be three specific industry indices — for steel, cement and power besides a composite index

What is 3G ?

* 3G is short for third-generation mobile telephony services.
* The technology is based on an International Telecommunication Union standard called IMT-2000.
* 3G phones work in higher bandwidths of 15-20 MHz, while currently available mobile phones are loosely regarded as 2G or 2.5G, and use 30-200 KHz bandwidth.
* Since the bandwidth for 3G is higher, it facilitates faster, better and simultaneous delivery of audio and non-audio data. 3G networks offer download speeds of 14.4 Mbits/second and uploads of 5.8 Mbits/second.
* Bandwidth is a measure of the width of a range of frequencies used while transferring data from one point to another, and is measured in hertz.
* While audio data is normally associated with telephone call, non-audio data comprise e-mail exchanges, instant messaging, and downloading information, all riding on the Internet.
* Now with 3G services telecom carriers will be able to provide video broadcast and other value-added services such as tele-medicine, mobile banking, stock transactions, e-learning etc, through wireless communications at a faster pace and with high quality.
* Various government services (e-governance) to the masses would be facilitated through the medium of mobile phone powered by a higher bandwidth of 3G.
* Acquiring 3G spectrum is expensive (Rs 1,600 crore for new licence holders according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India). So a telecom carrier would like to capitalise by ensuring widespread usage of mobile telephony.
* 3G services were first launched by NTT DoCoMo of Japan in October 2001, followed by Korea in January 2002.
* As of December 2007, 190 3G networks were operating in 40 countries.
* There are about 225 million 3G subscribers worldwide today