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Monday 31 October 2016

Impoverished by Too Much Money

Impoverished by Too Much Money

Oct 20, 2016

27
BALTIMORE - 'It's over!'
Raúl Ilargi Meijer, a regular contributor to David Stockman's Contra Corner newsletter, explains that the 'entire model our societies have been based on for at least as long as we ourselves have lived is over!'
Meijer again:
That's why there's Trump...
  • There is no growth. There hasn't been any real growth for years. All there is left are empty, hollow, sunshiny S&P 500 stock market numbers propped up with ultra-cheap debt and buybacks, and employment figures that hide untold millions hiding from the labor force. And most of all, there's debt, public as well as private, that has served to keep an illusion of growth alive and now increasingly no longer can.

    These false growth numbers have one purpose only: for the public to keep the incumbent powers that be in their plush seats. But they could always ever only pull the curtain of [The Wizard of] Oz over people's eyes for so long, and it's no longer so long.

    That's what the ascent of Trump means, and Brexit, Le Pen, and all the others. It's over. What has driven us for all our lives has lost both its direction and its energy.

Shipping Decline

None of this will come as a surprise for Diary regulars... We know nothing makes people poorer faster than too much 'money'.
The feds provided the economy with an almost unlimited quantity of credit-based funny money. The money was phony. But it bought real resources. And then, with no need to think carefully about how the capital was put to use, the resources were wasted.
Corporate defaults are running at their fastest pace since 2009. Nine out of ten households have lost income. And tax receipts for the last quarter fell from the same quarter in 2015.
Adjusted for inflation, real growth in the US economy - as measured by actual tax collections rather than the feds' squirrelly statistics - is falling.
The world economy, too, is slowing. Lambert Strether of the blog Corrente Wire explains:
  • I started following shipping... partly because it's fun but more because shipping is about stuff, and tracking stuff seemed like a far more attractive way of getting a handle on 'the economy' than economics statistics, let alone whatever books the Wall Streeters were talking on any given day.

    So, what I noticed was decline, and not downward blips followed by rebounds, but decline for months and then a year. Decline in rail, even when you back out coal and grain, and decline in demand for freight cars. Decline in trucking, and decline in the demand for trucks. Air freight wobbly. No Christmas bounce at the Pacific ports.

    And now we have the Hanjin [shipping company] debacle - all that capital tied up in stranded ships, though granted only $12 billion or so - and the universal admission that somehow 'we' invested w-a-a-a-a-a-y too much money in big ships and boats, implying (I suppose) that we need to ship a lot less stuff than we thought, at least across the oceans.

Get-Rich System

As we reported last week, China's exports are falling at a 10% annual rate, in U.S. dollar terms.
If you're not exporting stuff, you don't need ships to send it anywhere.
But as the global economy sinks, debt rises, financed by central banks. Bloomberg:
  • The world's biggest central banks are bulking up their balance sheets this year at the fastest pace since 2011's European debt crisis to boost lackluster economic recoveries with asset purchases that are supporting stock and bond prices.
Let's see... How does this work again?
The world has too much debt and too much capacity. Growth slows. Defaults increase.
So what do central banks do?
They facilitate governments adding to their debts...and they finance more capacity.
The feds used fake money to give the economy fake credit...which was used to buy real resources...which were squandered. Now we have an abundance of claims (debt) against declining future output.
How was that ever supposed to work?
An economy is a moral system, after all. It is not a get-rich system. You get what you deserve, not what you want or what you expect.
Over the long run, the economy punishes waste, error, foolishness, impetuousness, laziness, arrogance, and indiscipline.
Americans now are being punished. Gently, so far.
The lash will sting much more later.
Regards,
BILL BONNER Founder, Agora Inc
Bill

Bill Bonner is the President & Founder of Agora Inc, an international publisher of financial and special interest books and newsletters.
Disclaimer: The views mentioned above are of the author only. Data and charts, if used, in the article have been sourced from available information and have not been authenticated by any statutory authority. The author and Equitymaster do not claim it to be accurate nor accept any responsibility for the same. The views constitute only the opinions and do not constitute any guidelines or recommendation on any course of action to be followed by the reader. Please read the detailed Terms of Use of the web site.

Peter Lynch: Making Money by Investing in "Fast Growers"


Peter Lynch: Making Money by Investing in

"Fast Growers"



“The investor of today does not profit from yesterday’s growth.” Warren Buffett

Most of us have relatives who like to fashion themselves as ‘stock-gurus’, with their stories revolving around how they ‘could have been’ millionaires now, if only they had held their nerves. The stock that comes up frequently in these conversations is Infosys. If you had invested Rs. 9,500 to buy 100 shares of Infosys in the IPO (that went undersubscribed in 1993), 51,200 shares (adjusted for bonus issues) worth sum of Rs. 5,13,79,200 would be in your kitty.

Infy has given CAGR returns of whopping 45.3% to investors during last 23 years (that too after keeping dividend payouts aside). Infosys got listed in June 1993 at price of Rs. 145 per share and investment of Rs. 9,500 in June 1993 is valued at 5.14 crores today. But, is Infosys still the key to riches? As often repeated, past performance is no guarantee of future results. So, how does one find out the next ‘Infy’?

A Fast Grower is a small yet aggressive & nimble firm, which grows roughly at 20-25% a year. This is an investment category which can give investors a return of 10 to as much as 200 times the investment made by them. No doubt, it remains a favourite of Peter Lynch!

In 1950s, the Utility & Power Sector were the fast growers with twice the growth rates to that of the US GDP. As people got more power-hungry gadgets for themselves, the power bills ran through the roof & the power sector surged with booming demand. Post the Oil Shock in 70’s, cost of power generation became high with power tariffs going up; people learnt to conserve electricity. Demand, thus, fell and power sector witnessed a slowdown. Prior to it, similar decline was observed in the Steel Sector & Railroads. First, it was the Automobile Sector, and then the Steel, followed by Chemicals & Power Utility & now the IT Sector is showing signs of slowing down. Every time, people thought, rally in the fast growers of the age would never end, but it did end, with people losing money as well as their jobs. Those who thought differently like Walter Chrysler (founder of Chrysler Corporation), who took a pay cut and left the railroads to build new cars in the turn of the last century, became the next millionaires.

Three phases involved in their life cycles, are:

1. The Start-Up Phase: Majority of the companies either burn up all the cash or run out of ideas by the end of this phase. Maximum casualties have been observed here, making it one of the riskiest phases. However, maximum returns can be made from them, if one enters near the end of this phase.

2. Rapid Expansion Phase: The Company’s core proposition has worked now, with the strategy being replicated by expansion of product/service portfolio or consumer touch points.

3. Mature Phase: Growth slows down, either due to high debt or low cash, owing to the massive expansion witnessed in early stage. Fall in demand or legal restrictions might also contribute to faltering growth.

The trick is to track, which phase the organization is in, at the moment. If the firm is in late start-up phase with possibility of moving to rapid expansion phase, buy the stock when it is still cheap. Once firm’s earnings start falling with its products witnessing poor demand, it’s time to bid goodbye to the stock.

The key parameters involved in Peter Lynch’s ‘two minute drill’ are:

1. P/E Ratio: avoid stocks with excessively high P/E

2. Debt/Equity Ratio: should be low

3. Net Cash per Share: should be high

4. Dividend & Payout Ratio: should be adequate

5. Inventory levels: lower the better

Stay away from companies which are being actively tracked, followed & invested in by large institutional investors. News about buy back of shares or internal stakeholders increasing their stakes should be construed as positive.

Checks specific to Fast Growers:

1. The star product forms a majority of the company’s business.

2. Company’s success in more than one places to prove that expansion will work.

3. Still opportunity for penetration.

4. Stock is selling at its P/E ratio or near the growth rate.

5. Expansion is speeding up Or stable

One must judiciously walk the tightrope between the unquestioning belief that made the stock to be held for so long and the fear of the end from nose-diving prices due to a one-off bad year. The key is to always keep revisiting the story & ask some pertinent questions like ‘What would really keep them growing?’, ‘What is their next offering? or ‘Are their products & services still in vogue?’ It is here, that one must track the point of time when the phase 2 of the firm’s expansion comes to an end. This is usually the dead-end for organizations as success is difficult to be replicated. Unless, innovation happens, downfall is imminent & thus, an exit is necessary. P/E of these stocks is drummed up to unrealistically high levels by the madness of crowd towards the end. One must keep one’s eyes & ears open to signs, which mark the end of the road for these fast growers. A great case in point is Polaroid which had its P/E bid up to 50, only to be rendered obsolete later by new technologies.

A sure shot sign of a decline is a company which is everywhere! Such a company would simply find no place to expand any further. Sooner, rather than later, such a company would see its ‘Manhattans’ of earnings reduced to ‘plateaus’ of little or no growth, simply because no space is left to expand further.


1.The quarterly sales decline for existing stores.

2. New stores opening, though results are disappointing: weakening demand, over supply.

3. High level of attrition at the top level.

4. Company pitching heavily to institutional investors talking about what Peter Lynch calls ‘diversification’.

5. Stock trading at a P/E of 30 or more, when most optimistic estimates of earning growth are lower than 15-20%, thus, unable to justify the high price.

Fast Growers, which pay, are ephemeral & one misses them more often than not. It is a High Risk & High Gain Category of Stocks. One must remember along the classic risk & return principle, that when one loses, one loses big! So, if you are in the quest for magnificent returns, a Fast Grower can be your bet provided you know when to bid Goodbye!

Happy Investing
Source:Saralgyan.com

Renewable energy: India’s green push needs wind

Renewable energy: India’s green push needs wind

With higher installed capacity than solar, wind energy may hold the key to unlocking India’s renewable energy potential.


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Ever since the government unveiled its ambitious plans to generate 100 GW of solar electricity by the year 2022, solar energy has been the showpiece of India’s renewable energy policy and its climate change action plan. Wind energy has been reduced to playing second fiddle, despite the fact that it was an early mover in the renewable energy sector and even today has an installed capacity of about four times more than solar energy.


Thanks to sustained policy push, incentives, and attention from the highest echelons of decision making, solar energy has started to take off in a big way. In the last one year, more than 3 GW of solar capacity was added in the country, taking the total installed capacity to almost 8 GW. It is still a tall order to attain the target of 100 GW in the next six years, but at least the sector cannot blame negligence.

The wind industry, which had been spearheading India’s renewable energy push since the end of 1990s, is now fearing just that. While the sector would not mind the attention that solar has been getting in the last few years, but has been seeking some policy consideration for itself as well.

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“The importance being given to solar is not unexpected. Wind is placed in a much better situation and is already fairly well established, while solar is still in its infancy. But solar cannot be the only solution to India’s energy problems. The answer has to come from both solar and wind. Hybrid (combined solar and wind generation) policy is also going to play a major role,” Sarvesh Kumar, chairman of the Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association (IWTMA), said.

Huge potential

At nearly 27 GW of installed capacity, India is already the world’s fourth biggest producer of wind-based electricity, after China, the United States and Germany. Latest outlook from Global Wind Energy Council shows that India would have close to 45 GW of installed wind energy by the year 2020 even in the most modest of growth scenarios. If pushed aggressively, it can go up to 67 GW by 2020. That means, India’s target of generating about 60 GW of electricity through wind energy can be realised two years in advance.

Last year, the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) in Chennai revised the estimate of wind power potential in the country. It was earlier estimated to be just over 102 GW, if tapped at a height of 80 metres from the ground. Thanks to availability of better technology, the NIWE said it is now possible for Indian companies to install taller wind mills that go up till a height of 100 metres. In that case, the potential for wind energy in India shoots up almost three times, reaching 302 GW. What’s remarkable is that more than half of this potential, 153 GW, is located on wastelands, according to NIWE estimates.

Viewed from this context, India has currently utilised just about eight per cent of its wind energy potential. It can easily grow at a fast rate, possibly even outpacing the growth in the solar energy sector.

More attention needed

India’s wind capacity has grown from nearly 12 GW in 2009-10 to more than 27 GW now. Almost 10 GW of this capacity addition has come in the last four years during which most of the policy focus was on solar energy.

To accelerate growth in the sector, the government, in January 2015, announced a separate Wind Mission under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). The Solar Mission has been in place since 2008, as one of the original eight missions in the NAPCC. There are also plans to increase the wind energy generation target to 100 GW by 2022 from the current 60 GW. Earlier this year, the government also announced incentives for the industry to ‘repower’ their existing wind turbines. Most of the wind mills in the country are of low capacities and are harnessing energy that is far less than the potential. As part of the incentive, the companies would get assistance from the government to replace the existing turbines with those of higher capacities.

The wind industry, however, is asking for more. “There is no doubt over the intention of the government to promote the wind sector. But the clarity and focus seem to be missing. There is no consistency in the policies. Recently, the government decided to withdraw 50 per cent of accelerated depreciation benefit to the industry from next year. The generation-based incentives are also being withdrawn. These steps are not particularly helpful for the growth of the industry,” IWTMA’s Kumar said.

He said the wind manufacturing industry had the capacity to produce equipments for 10 GW of generation, but domestic demand was only about 3 GW. “In the absence of proper atmosphere for export, our potential is getting wasted. The government needs to create the platform to enable the industry to export. Outside, our companies have to compete with their Chinese rivals who get lots of incentives from their government,” Kumar explained.

The industry is also keenly awaiting the Renewable Energy law that has been in the making for quite some time now. “The industry is looking forward to a new renewable law that would bring in policy clarity and remove uncertainties in the sector. Investors need long-term predictability to invest big money. Currently, that is missing in the wind energy sector. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy issues guidelines from time to time, but many times these are not adhered to. States have their own separate policies. The wind energy sector is waiting for the right kind of attention from the government in order to achieve its true potential,” Manish Kumar Singh, secretary of the Indian Wind Energy Association, said.

Happy Investing
Source:Indianexpress.com

Did you Buy Gold this Dhanteras?

Did you Buy Gold this Dhanteras?



The festival of Dhanteras falls in the month of Kartik (Oct-Nov) on the thirteenth day of the dark fortnight. This auspicious day is celebrated two days before the festival of lights, Diwali.

Dhanteras is spent in worshipping Lord Yama – the god of death – to provide prosperity and well being. It is also the day for celebrating wealth, as the word ‘Dhan’ literally means wealth and ‘Tera’ comes from the date 13th. People flock to the jewelers and buy gold or silver jewelry or utensils to venerate the occasion of Dhanteras.

Legend behind the Festival:

An ancient legend ascribes the occasion to an interesting story about the 16 year old son of King Hima. His horoscope predicted his death by snake-bite on the fourth day of his marriage. On that particular day, his newly-wed wife did not allow him to sleep. She laid out all her ornaments and lots of gold and silver coins in a heap at the entrance of the sleeping chamber and lit lamps all over the place. Then she narrated stories and sang songs to keep her husband from falling asleep.

When Yama, the god of Death, arrived at the prince’s doorstep in the guise of a Serpent, his eyes were dazzled and blinded by the brilliance of the lamps and the jewelry. Yam could not enter the Prince's chamber, so he climbed on top of the heap of gold coins and sat there the entire night listening to the stories and songs. In the morning, he silently went away.

Thus, the young prince was saved from the clutches of death by the cleverness of his new bride, and the day came to be celebrated as Dhanteras. It is also know as ‘Yamadeepdaan’ as the ladies of the house light earthen lamps or ‘deep’ and these are kept burning throughout the night glorifying Yama, the god of Death.

The Myth of Dhanavantri:

Another legend says, in the cosmic battle between the gods and the demons when both churned the ocean for ‘amrit’ or divine nectar, Dhanavantri – the physician of the gods and an incarnation of Vishnu – emerged carrying a pot of the elixir. So, according to this mythological tale, the word Dhanteras comes from the name Dhanavantri, the divine doctor.

Significance of Dhanteras:

Dhanteras is famous as festival of shopping. On the occasion Dhanteras people buy Utensils, Gold or Silver coins, trendy jewelry, God’s Idol, Pooja Thali and Dhanteras Sweets. Several people purchase Gold or Silver coins containing emblems of Lakshmi, Ganesh, Om or Swastik.

Dhanteras, which is celebrated today on 28th October 2016, is associated with buying gold to usher in wealth and prosperity. Over the past few years gold has metamorphosed from a glittering piece of jewellery to a valuable investment option. Even if you are a stickler for tradition, don’t just add to the gold rush by buying jewellery. There are better and more cost efficient ways to invest in Gold such as Sovereign Gold Bond (SGB) or Gold ETF (Exchange Traded Fund).

What you need is just a demat account to buy units of Sovereign Gold Bond and Gold ETF. Most of you already have a demat account to buy / sell stocks. The same can be used to buy Sovereign Gold Bond and Gold ETF.

Few benefits of SGB & Gold ETF over conventional buying of Gold coins / jewellery are as under:

i) There is no storage cost. The SGB / ETF is kept in your demat account.

ii) No risk of impurities. At the same time, you don’t have to pay a premium for buying superior quality gold.

iii) You have the flexibility of buying gold in smaller lots through a DIYSIP (DO IT Yourself Systematic Investment Plan) in case of Gold ETF

iv) You can easily sell ETFs unlike physical gold, which is often bought back at a discounted rate. In case of Gold ETFs, you get money close to the spot price of gold.

v) Physical gold and e-gold attracts wealth tax. No wealth tax applicable on Gold ETFs in India.

Advantage of Sovereign Gold Bond (SGB) over Gold ETF

How do SGBs compare to ETFs? One area where the SGBs score over gold ETFs is the sovereign guarantee. The government guarantee is applicable both on the redemption amount and on the interest.

Gold ETFs are offered by private sector AMCs and do not have that kind of advantage. But do note that the sovereign guarantee here does not shield investors' capital from volatile gold prices. Both the value of your SGB and the value of your ETF swing up and down with market prices of gold during your holding period.

Secondly, SGBs pay you an assured interest over and above the price returns on gold. Gold ETFs do not give you that comfort and rely only on price returns. Gold bonds offer 2.75% per annum (paid half-yearly) on the initial investment. Thus, investors earn returns linked to the gold price (just like in gold ETFs) plus a fixed annual interest income. The tenure of gold bonds is 8 years but exit options are available in the 5th, 6th and 7th year.

Unlike gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the bonds will not be backed by gold but a sovereign guarantee. The bonds are issued by Reserve Bank of India on behalf of the government, denominated in grams and sold through banks and designated post offices.

The sixth tranche of SGB will remain open for subscription till November 2, 2016. The nominal value of these bonds was fixed at Rs 3,007 per gram. However, the government decided to offer a discount of Rs 50 per gram, so that the effective issue price works out to Rs 2,957 per gram. The bonds will be issued on November 17, 2016. They will have a tenure of eight years and will allow exit from the fifth year. The interest rate on this tranche has been reduced from 2.75 per cent earlier to 2.50 per cent of the nominal value.

This Dhanteras, think different and make an auspicious beginning!

Gold comprises the bulk of India's total imports with close to 900 to 950 tonnes of gold imported every year. It is estimated that close to 23,000 tonnes of gold is lying in Indian household. If the ideal gold is deposited with banks, it will enable banks to lend it to jewellers, thereby reducing demand to import gold.

After giving negative returns in the previous three calendar years (2013-2015), gold has rallied around 20 per cent in the Indian market year-to-date. Having run up so much, there is a question mark on whether the yellow metal can repeat its stellar performance in the near term. The possibility of one Fed rate hike this year, and a couple more in 2017, also casts doubt on the yellow metal's prospects in the short term.


My take use Gold investment as a hedging option only and do proper asset allocation based on your risk profile. Equity investment is the one of the best investment to beat inflation and create longterm sustainable growth.

Happy investment
Source:Saralgyan.com

An ambitious plan to sell loss-making state-owned companies

Modi Govt Has Made a Start, But More Loss Making Companies Need to Be Shutdown


On September 28, 2016, the union cabinet led by the prime minister Narendra Modi, decided to shutdown Hindustan Cables Ltd (hereinafter referred to as Hindustan Cables). This is one of the best decisions that the Modi government has made in the recent past and I sincerely hope that this trend to shutdown loss-making public sector enterprises continues.
Hindustan Cables has had no production activity since January 2003. Take a look at the following table. The company accumulated losses of Rs 5,847 crore in the decade spanning 2005 and 2015:
YearLosses(in Rs crore)
2014-2015933
2013-2014782
2012-2013885
2011-2012648
2010-2011607
2009-2010506
2008-2009445
2007-2008435
2006-2007311
2005-2006295
Total5,847
Source: Public Sector Enterprises Survey
In 2014-2015, the company incurred total losses of Rs 933 crore. It was sixth in the list of the ten largest loss making public sector enterprises in India. In fact, it has constantly been in the list of the ten largest loss-making public sector enterprises since 2005-2006.
Given that it has not produced anything since 2003, the closure has taken way too many years to finally happen. Other than the losses, the company also managed to accumulate a huge amount of debt. As of March 31, 2015, the company had a total debt of Rs 5,963 crore. And not surprisingly, the interest that needs to be paid on this debt was the biggest expense of the company.
In 2014-2015, the total interest on debt amounted to Rs 747 crore. The company stopped production in 2003. Given this, it was not earning anything from its operations. In this scenario, in order to continue paying the employees on its rolls, it had to borrow money. Employees' remuneration and benefits at Rs 113 crore was the second largest expense of the company.
And how many employees did the company have? As on March 31, 2015, it had 1,533 employees. The number of employees as on March 31, 2013, was 1,832.
This basically means that the government chose to run a loss of Rs 933 crore in 2014-2015, just so that 1,500 people continue to have a government job. By keeping Hindustan Cables and many other such companies alive, the government has gone around wasting the hard earned money of taxpayers over the years.
The good part is that now that it is shutting down, the government will no longer have to bear the losses of the company. The government bears losses of the loss making companies in two forms. One is by putting money into the company every year to keep it going. Or it ultimately has to take on itself the entire debt that the company takes on to keep itself going. And the financial system lends to the company despite it not making any money because it knows ultimately they are lending to the government.
The other good thing that will happen is that the government will end up with a lot of land (on which any public sector enterprise like Hindustan Cable sits). The 2014-2015 annual report of Hindustan Cables points out that the company got land free of cost from state government of West Bengal as well as erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. This land should be returned to the states and can become a part of the land bank that states can use to attract industries.
This is very important given that the land acquisition policy in the country remains a mess. Hence, land from public sector enterprises which are shut down can be an important source of land in the short to the medium term, for a programme like Make in India to take off.
Further, it is important that the government continues with this and shuts down more loss making public sector enterprises in the time to come, especially those companies which haven't been producing anything for a while.
Take the case of Hindustan Photo Films Manufacturing Company Ltd. Between 2004-2005 and 2014-2015, the company had accumulated losses of Rs 12,432 crore.
In 2014-2015, the company incurred total losses of Rs 2,164 crore. It was fourth in the list of the ten largest loss making public sector enterprises. In fact, it has constantly been the list of the ten largest loss-making public sector enterprises since 2004-2005.
YearLosses (in Rs crore)
2014-20152,164
2013-20141,820
2012-20131,561
2011-20121,352
2010-20111,157
2009-20101,003
2008-2009876
2007-2008789
2006-2007653
2005-2006561
2004-2005496
Total12,432
Source: Public Sector Enterprises Survey
The funny thing is that the company was referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) under the terms of the provisions of Sick Industrial Companies (Special provisions) Act, 1985, in October 1995.
Interestingly, the BIFR had confirmed its opinion for winding up the Company in an order in January 2003. This company has continued to exist and accumulate losses as well as debt. The total debt of the company as on March 31, 2013, had stood at Rs 7,692 crore. This debt had been taken on in order to ensure that the company continues to operate despite making losses.
As in case of Hindustan Cables, the total production of the company had more or less collapsed: During 2012-2013(the latest annual report that I could find) the total production of the company stood at Rs 3.6 crore. The sales had stood at Rs 3.7 crore. Now, imagine who in their right minds would run a company with sales of under Rs 4 crore, which ends up with losses of more than Rs 1,500 crore, during the course of the year.
The most obvious explanation could have been that these losses helped people continue to have jobs. So how many employees does Hindustan Photo Films employ? As of March 31, 2013, it employed 687 individuals. This had fallen to 348 by March 31, 2015.
What does this mean? The government chose to run a loss of greater than Rs 2,164 crore in order to keep 348 people employed. Of course, all the money being spent is not going towards employee salaries. The biggest expense of such companies is paying the interest on the debt that they have accumulated over the years. In order to pay this interest, they need to take on more debt. A perfect Ponzi scheme, if ever there was one.
When companies borrow to survive their structure becomes akin to that of a Ponzi scheme. They survive by borrowing and then using that money to pay off the interest on outstanding debt as well as debt that needs to be repaid. In case of government companies this can go on endlessly given that the lending is ultimately backed by the government.
To conclude, it's about time that along with Hindustan Cables, the government shut down Hindustan Photo Films and many other such Ponzi schemes that it has been running for a while.
The government is taking steps in the right direction, to bring a resolution to these chronically sick companies. Doing so in a speedy manner would benefit all the stakeholders alike. But the sale of PSUs will surely attract agitation from the employee unions. However, India is at a stage when tough reforms cannot be delayed to make the best use of resources and ensure profitability in public sector enterprises.
Happy Investing
Source:Equitymaster.com