THE A TO Z OF 2011 in terms of investment: Ruma Dubey

By RumaDubey

A –A year that began with a bang for automobile companies,only fizzled out in the end with car sales posting the steepest fall in nearly 11 years; a year marred by strikes – 2011 will be one that the Indian automobile industry would like to forget in a hurry.

And the one word which has become the mantra of the year is undoubtedly, Anna. His fight and fast against corruption, taking on the entire might of the Govt, took the nation by storm. He continues to remain the man of the year even as 2011 draws to a close.

B –Ban on iron ores exports has crippled the entire mining industry. The Govt ban on shipments of the key steelmaking raw material from Karnataka and subdued output in Goa remains strongly in place, debilitating the entire sector with tremors being felt by the steel sector too.

C –Undoubtedly, Cyrus Mistry, the 43 year-old son of PallonjiMistry, whose company ShapoorjiPallonji is the largest shareholder in Tata Sons and now, is the successor to Ratan Tata. It cannot get bigger than this!

Cable TV digitization Bill was passed and it is to be implemented in phases, to be completed by December 2014. This is certainly a moment of triumph for broadcasters who had been lobbying with the government to allow the cable industry to convert from analog to digital.

D – Divestment target of Rs.40,000crore is nowhere close to being met. Till date, only 3% of this target or a measly Rs.1200 crore has been collected. Most of the PSUs share sale have been deferred. Yet the Govt kept on stating that it will meet the target and removed the bunny from the hat – sale of SUUTI assets and it might just manage to meet the target!

E –Europe debt crisis kept the world markets on leash. The news of the crisis first crept up in the first part of the year and since then has held the world markets at the edge of its sword. It continues to remain a big Damocles sword.

F –FDI in retail was a huge buzz word during the year. Huge expectation built up over 51% FDI in mutli brand and 100% in single brand. But it all fizzled like air out of the balloon.

G –Gold pricedazzled everyone with its price climbing right into the sky.  Gold rose more than 30 percent since the start of the year, to a record $1,923.70 an ounce in September. The driver was speculation that Europe's debt crisis would worsen as governments in the region and the U.S. tried to shore up growth through monetary easing.

H –Housing sector has never been so bad. The rising interest rate sapped out whatever little demand was there. And the outlook continues to look bleak. Maybe lowering rates will help spur demand in the new year.

I –Inflation, especially food inflation remained worrisome through the year. The highest was recorded during the year for the week ended 3rd Feb at 17.05% and it ended the year, at 0.41% for the week ended 17th Dec.

IIP along with price rise in a big concern.October IIP at -5.1% was a true shocker. The consistent low IIP shows that incessant rate hikes by RBI has started hampering growth. Estimates for closer to 7% GDP growth for 2011-12 have already been announced by rating agencies.

J –Japanese earthquake on Mar. 11, which measured 9 on the Richter scale caused a devastating chain of events few people predicted. The quake triggered a tsunami that claimed more than 15,000 lives. Thirty-foot-high waves flooded the cooling systems at Tepco's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, leading to the world's worst nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl meltdown 25 years ago

K – Kingfisher Airlines is struggling to pay its daily fuel bills, has lost many pilots and has cut down on the number of flights, this was definitely one of the worst years for Mallya.

L –Undoubtedly the Lokpal Bill. This is one Bill which is being perceived as the magic pill which will drive away the deep rooted weed of corruption from India.

M –Maruti made the maximum headlines this year, thanks to persistent labour problems at its Manesar plant. Striking employees led to a slump in production as well as car sales, intensifying the pain already being felt because of cooling demand.

N –End of an era when co-founder Narayana Murthy stepped down in late August. Murthy co-founded Infosys with six engineers in 1981 by borrowing Rs 10,000 from wife Sudha.

O –Occupy Wall Street. A quiet movement but it took a larger shape with similar agitations all over the world. The movement was about fight against greed and capitalism on Wall Street, about growing inequalities, the marker driven capitalist policies and unemployment.

P –Primary markets have literally dried up. There has not been a single IPO in three consecutive months – Oct, November and Dec there was one issue on the 30th. And the issues which did raise money were probably some of the worst crop that we have seen in recent times.

Q –Q2FY12 numbers have not been good but a common thread running through many companies is MTM or better recognised as forex loss.  Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti, Exide, SterliteInds, Dish TV, Essar Oil, Arvind, Jet, Sesa Goa, Subex, JSW Steel, Shree Renuka, PFC, JSW Energy; around 70 major companies reported forex losses.

R –On Dec 15th, rupee was at 54.2000/2050 per dollar, after hitting an all-time low of 54.30 in early trade after which RBI imposed curbs on banks' trading limits to help rein in speculation on the currency. The partially convertible currency closed down 15.8% compared with a fall of 19.1 percent during the global financial crisis in 2008. 

S –Moody’s downgrade of State Bank of India’s financial strength rating to D+ from C- in October caused quite a commotion in equity markets, and even prompted Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to lash out ratings agencies for trying to “destabilise the banking system”.

Savings account deregulation was a huge thing and it is changing the way banks work now. Kudos to RBI for this!

T –Treasure worth Rs.1 lakh crore was unearthed at the Padmanabhaswamy Temple at Kerala and it took the whole country and world by storm. The treasure, an accumulation of religious offerings to the Hindu deity Lord Vishnu, includes a four-foot high gold idol studded with emeralds, gold and silver ornaments and sacks of diamonds.

U –UKSinha, Chairman of SEBI fired a powerful salvo just before the otherwise disappointing year from SEBI. By bringing to book the promoters, directors and merchant bankers of seven manipulative companies which had recently raised money via IPO, it ended the year with a sweet taste.

V –VikramAkula of SKS Micro came in for harsh criticism and he stepped down from the micro finance company, which has come in for harsh criticism for its flawed business model, changing from a NGO into a commercial institution that chased investor returns and rapid growth instead of providing financial services to the poor.

W –The victory at World Cup. The sheer exhilaration felt when India won the cup remains unmatched. The entire country and Indians across the world celebrated the victory as one and that is one beautiful moment we Indians will not forget in a hurry.

X – Xenophobia means fear of the unknown, especially foreigners and strangers. And in the aftermath of the terror attacks, countries world over are tightening their visa rules. India too has done it and drawn flak too. Call it whatever, but this was much needed.

Y –Youngistan is what India is all about which is what the Census 2011 indicated. Currently the 15-64 age group is around 65% of the population—India's baby boom generation.

Z –Zero debt company? Now that is the flavour of the season. With interest rates high and debt becoming a bad word, any sound company with no debt became a ‘hot cake’.