Quick Bites

Well! A posting after almost 16 months. Sharing something which may amuse you may find interesting:

1) According to latest Economist, pharmaceutical companies are working on smarter pills in an effort to diversify and stabilise their revenue. Proteus's technology, which enables pills to relay data about a patient back to doctors after they have swallowed, is a prime example. You can read the whole article on http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15276730.

2) Cricinfo jury, comprising retired and current test cricketers and eminent cricket journalists, declared Ricky Ponting the cricketer of decade (2000-2009). Think about it for a moment and you seem to agree. Ponting has indeed made runs in important matches in both forms of the game. The only black spot is loosing ashes twice but more as a captain.

3) Food inflation and general inflation in India is showing rising trend. The government is more worried with food inflation which has come down slightly to 17%. However, views in the government is interesting. Mr. C. Rangrajan (Head of Economy Advisor panel to PM and a former RBI governor) is advocating for hardening interest rates, Mr. Kaushik Basu (eminent economist and head economist in Finance Ministry) is saying nobody takes loan or no bank gives loan to buy lunch or dinner meaning hardening interest rates will be like using a hammer to kill a mosquito. Finance Minster has hinted that raising interest rate while government stimulus is on, will be contradictory.

Reserve Bank Governor is silent. I guess RBI will revise only Cash Reserve Ratio.

4) Bankers in India are headed towards Technology. Earlier private banks proved how technology can be instrumental in increasing reach and increasing per employee profit. Now, Public Sector Banks are after technology and implementing in their respective banks. The latest revolution is in mobile banking where RBI has revised guidelines and encouraged banks to launch mobile banking applications. The purpose seem to be marrying mobile with banking. The launch of 3G will spur internet browsing on mobile by Indians because there is hardly any broadband penetration in India (2-2.5%). But still there are miles to go as far as mobile banking is concerned.

5) 3G launch will change complexion of mobile phone market in India. The demand for powerful and internet-browsing friendly phones will rise. Further, we may see Apple and Google focussing on Indian middle class needs and launching India specific phones. Nokia is already sweating with launch of Google 'Nexus One' in USA and it may sweat in India if Google and Apple become serious in Indian market.

Visit this site tomorrow for next of quick bites.