Looking back at the top 5 posts from the month of August 2020. All these posts were originally published in LinkedIn as part of the daily content I have been posting.

Project Update: Rohtang Tunnel

India’s one of the most ambitious and strategic road project, Rohtang Tunnel will be inaugurated in September this year after nearly a decade in construction .

Project through the years 

1983 Ideation 
1⃣ 1990 Feasibility study
2⃣ 2004 Geological Report
3⃣ 2006 Design and specification report
4⃣ 2007 Tenders floated
5⃣ 2010 Foundation stone laid
6⃣ 2015 Expected project complete date
7⃣ 2020 Project completed

Salient features 

World’s longest tunnel above an altitude of 10,000 ft
All weather connectivity 
Telephones, fire hydrants, air quality monitoring, CCTVs etc at regular intervals
Length: 9.02 km
10.5 m wide, 5.52 m height
80kmph maximum speed
Up to 1,500 trucks and 3,000 cars are expected to use it per day
Reduces the distance between Manali and Leh from 474 km by 46 km to 428 km, and reduces the journey time by 2.5 hours.
Project Cost: 3200 cr

1% a Day

Whatever you want to get better at, do 1% more each day.

1% compounded everyday is 3800% a year

What’s your favorite?

Buy as costly as possible and sell as cheap as possible: How often do you hear that?

The primary objective of most private companies is to buy as cheap as possible and sell as high as possible. This is how they make a profit.

Amul on the other hand is not a private company, it is a Co-operative, where small farmers and dairy producers come together to pool their resources, process and market their product.

As a Co-operative their aim is not to make profits for the company, but to maximize the returns for its stakeholders/suppliers, who are also the owners.

Dairy being a perishable good, they also have to ensure much of the products are sold off within the end of the day. They do so by ensuring a delicate equilibrium of the lowest difference between buying and selling.

This strategy/philosophy has worked wonders for the company. Amul is already the largest FMCG in India with revenues of Rs 52000 crores in 19-20. Whereas, the largest listed FMCG company, Hindustan Unilever had revenues of about Rs 40,000 crores as of March ’20.

Google launches People Cards in India

Ever wanted your name to rank on Google, now it’s possible with Google People Cards

You can now set up how you want to be found on Google Search in form of virtual visiting cards that shows details such as

Your name
Occupation 
Education
About
Website
Social media handles
Phone/E-Mail

To create just search for Add me to search while being logged on to your google account from mobile

Cost, Price and Value

Warren Buffett once said “Price is what you pay, value is what you get” this is not only applicable in stock picking, but in everyday life and business also.

Cost: Money incurred on the raw materials, effort, and process of manufacturing a product or rendering a service.

But you will almost never be able to buy a product at this cost, because who would want to sell at break even?

Price: Cost + Profit 

This is what you and me pay for to buy a product or a service.

Value: What the customer gets out of a product or a service that he paid the price for.

Can Value exceed the Price?

Let’s say you paid 50000 rupees to buy your latest phone, the Price you paid is 50000, which might have Cost the manufacturer 30000 to make.

Now let’s say you were able able to derive a value of Rs 70000 with the phone over its life time, this might be through actual money earned by selling photos you take, leveraging social media or percieved value from daily tasks the phone was ment for, or even the social image of having Xyz Phone.

When Value >> Price, people will pay you money for it. This is why people pay crazy amounts of money for a Rolex watch, when a normal watch would have shown the same time.

Honourable Mention

Project Update: Kasaragod’s COVID Hospital by Tata Group

The first hospital in Kerala dedicated for COVID is nearly ready for handover to the government in Kasaragod district of Kerala.

Built using pre-fabrication technology, following are some of the salient features:

541 beds
51,200 square feet
Completed in a record 124 days.
At a cost of Rs 60 crores
Expected life: 30 years
With proper maintenance could be extended up to 50 years.
Units include: air conditioners, fans, separate toilets, air purifiers and air vent ducts.
Units made of styrofoam puffs filled between layers of steel.

Reading my blog for the first time? Check out my last blog article on my investing lessons here. Also, feel free to share your thought in the comments below.

E S Krishna Ram

Krishna Ram is the man behind the website you are currently on. For more updates follow me:

The post Top 5 LinkedIn posts from August 2020 appeared first on E S Krishna Ram.

Looking back at the top 5 posts from the month of July 2020. All these posts were originally published in LinkedIn as part of the daily content I have been posting.

Mirror AI

An AI for interview preparation.

Mirror AI is an android application which helps students and professionals in interview preparation. This is done by assessing how one communicates based on speech and video.

During the current period when interviews are mostly on digital platforms, preparing oneself for such a medium would be essential.

The application gauges the audio and visual aspects in terms of your Smile, Eye Contact, Calmness, Pronunciation, Pauses and Fillers used.

So, would you give such an AI a shot before an interview or would you do a mock with your trusted friend?

India’s second ever REIT offering

The Mindspace Business Parks REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) is opening its IPO for retail investors from 27-29th of July 2020. 

The company plans to raise Rs 1000cr inform of fresh issue and another Rs. 3500cr in form of offer for sale taking the total deal amount to Rs 4500cr.

The minimum amount of investment needed is set at Rs 55,000 for 200 shares at Rs 275 each, which was earlier fixed at Rs 2,00,000.

This is the second ever REIT offering in India till date after Embassy Parks Office REIT back in 2019, which has been doing relatively well even in these uncertain times.

Most Innovative Companies of 2020

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) released its annual report defining the world’s most innovative companies in 2020. Technology giants, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and Samsung take the top five spots for 2020.

A key insight from the report is “The companies most committed to excelling at innovation prioritize advanced analytics, digital design and technology platforms to strengthen their specific initiatives and create new ventures”

Following similar lines, I hope Reliance Jio finds a mention in the coming years with the innovations and prioritizations following the recent AGM as an Indian representation on the list.

We are preparing for the future by looking at the past.

A huge percentage of our actions are based upon data from our past. Experiences of those who walked the same roads, did the same things, made the same mistakes, or even our own past experiences.

But when you base your future actions on your past, your future will always have a shade of your past.

The greatest innovators, inventors, leaders and people who were called ahead of their times had the vision of a different future. Making it possible to come with original thoughts, ideas and inventions.

Design the future, from scratch.

Debt trap diplomacy

Guess what these red dots represent and then read along

The following is a screen grab from an online web map by AidData, a research lab based of the United States.

The website consolidates locations of Chinese-funded development projects around the globe. The data set includes over 3,485 Chinese Government-financed projects in 138 countries and territories.

The debt-trap diplomacy, especially with the developing and under-developing countries in Africa and with the countries neighbouring India, has been raising questions on various fronts. But to see data visualized like this gives a better understanding of the impact it will have on the geo-political front.

Thoughts on debt-trap diplomacy?

Honorable Mention: The New Pamban Rail Bridge

India’s first vertical rail-lift bridge

Construction on India’s first vertical rail-bridge started on the New Pamban Rail Bridge connecting Rameswaram to the mainland. 

The 2.05km bridge will replace the over 100-year-old Pamban Bridge dating from the British era because of speed and weight restrictions.

A vertical-lift bridge design planned is a type of movable bridge in which a 63m span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck, unlike the double-leaf bascule section which exists in the old bridge, allowing vessels to pass through.

The Rs. 250cr project is an undertaking of Railway Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL)

Reading my blog for the first time? Check out my last blog article here. Also, feel free to share your thought in the comments below.

E S Krishna Ram

Krishna Ram is the man behind the website you are currently on. For more updates follow me:

The post Top 5 LinkedIn posts from July 2020 appeared first on E S Krishna Ram.

Looking back at the top 5 posts from the month of June 2020. All these posts were originally published in LinkedIn as part of the daily content I have been posting.

1. L&T’s commitment to Self-Reliant India

L&T affirms its commitment to Self-Reliant Indian Industry

Indian construction giant and conglomerate Larsen & Toubro reaffirmed its commitment to building a strong and feasible “Make In India” ecosystem.

The company aims to drastically reduce its dependency on imported products including those from China. This is done by putting processes and systems in place to develop a large scale, efficient and cost-effective domestic industrial ecosystem over a medium to long term.

The company has also been involved in developing a strong supply chain of local vendor partners in its businesses, nurturing the local manufacturing and construction ecosystem.

A welcome move from one of the big names in our industry, hoping other players will follow suit, making self-reliant India a reality.

2. Reliance becomes Net-Debt free

Reliance Industries Limited becomes Net-Debt free, keeps promise.

Indian conglomerate, Reliance Industries under the leadership of Mr Mukesh Ambani has become net-debt free. The company achieved this feat by raising over 1.68 lakh crore rupees in just 58 days.

The company usually follows a high debt, high cash strategy. Leading to a debt of over 1.61 lakh crore rupees as of FY20.

They raised the cash in way of 11 deals for 24.7% of the Jio Platforms and a rights issue for Reliance.

The plan to go debt free was first announced during the company’s 42nd AGM in August 2019. Having set March 2021 as its target, they achieved this status a full 9 months in advance.

On back of the powerful sentiments from investment firms, the stock has also doubled from 52 week lows. Making it the first Indian company to have a Market Capitalization of $150 Billion, which it achieved on 22^nd June.

The company also plans to list Jio and Reliance Retail within 5 years.

3. Atmanirbhar Bharaat

Atmanirbhar Bharat, but how?

The recent news of Delhi-Merut RRTS Tunnel Project where a Chinese firm has become L1 over an Indian firm has received a lot of attention in wake of the current tensions between the two countries.

The difference between the L1(Chinese) and L2(Indian) bidders is just 44 crores or less than 4%. And yet the contract might go to the lowest bidder, because of our love for the “lowest bidder”

A workable solution on how this can be tackled can be found in Kerala, in its nearly 100-year-old cooperative company that an IIT Professor has called as a mini-Kerala version of L&T: ULCCS.

Because of its status as a cooperative entitles it to various benefits from the government.

1⃣ If the bid price of ULCCS is higher than a private contractor’s but the difference is within 10%, the project can be awarded to the cooperative. 

2⃣ Exempt from depositing earnest money or a performance guarantee 

3⃣ Award projects up to a certain amount directly to it without calling for a tender 

Given the renewed interest in self-dependence, it is prime time that such steps (especially 1) that favour and makes Indian companies more competitive over others are taken.

4. 5 C’s of Wisdom

5 C’s of Wisdom

Collection: Everything you experience forms a collection of data, the books you read, movies you watch, conversations you have, everything. This is raw Data.

Categorize: Data in itself may appear meaningless, so you categorize based on its type and your experiences you’ve had with them. This is Information. 

Criss-Crossing: Once you’ve categorized the information, you see patterns emerging, intertwining and relationships between them. This is Knowledge.

Couple: Somewhere you find that there is a link between 2 data sets, but you don’t know how they are connected, yet. This is Insight.

Connect: Then you develop an ability to connect 2 seemingly random dots to an untrained eye with logic, reasoning and meaningfully. This is true Wisdom.

Further Reading: DIKW Pyramid

5. Leveraging LinkedIn

The 90-9-1-0.1 Rule

Once you’ve set up your profile and is optimized, the next thing to do is to start posting content on the platform and I’ll tell you why it’s important.

The 90-9-1 Rule applies to online communities, with the numbers showing the percentage of its users falling into 3 broad categories

90% Lurkers: Users that just scroll through content without engaging with them.

9% Contributors: Users that engage with content in some form, through comments or re-shares often by adding their own thoughts. 

1% Creators: These are the group of people that actively create content on the platform.

The easiest thing to do to set oneself apart from others is to “CREATE”. With the participation inequality so stark, creating has become quite rewarding.

So which category do you fall into and which category do you want to be in?

Still wondering who the 0.1% users are?
They are people who create content daily!!!

Honorable Mention: Networking lesson from Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani

Perspective Matters: A Lesson on Networking from Dhirubhai Ambani

Came across this crazy story of why Dhirubhai Ambani, in his earlier days used to go to Taj for a coffee, a very expensive place even at the time. A coffee at Taj would cost 50 odd rupees whereas coffee at a roadside shop would have only cost a couple of rupees.

A friend who noticed this asked, why so? He replied:

“I am paying 5 bucks for the coffee and another 45 bucks because the Taj gives me an opportunity to connect with the city’s most influential people! It’s not about the coffee; it’s about acquainting myself and developing relationships with the people who really count”

Not sure if he ordered coffee or tea, but that mindset sure is a lesson in networking and why having a unique perspective on life is such a superpower.

Reading my blog for the first time? Check out my last blog article here. Also, feel free to share your thought in the comments below.

E S Krishna Ram

Krishna Ram is the man behind the website you are currently on. For more updates follow me:

The post Top 5 LinkedIn posts from June 2020 appeared first on E S Krishna Ram.