The Oil bubble is getting bigger, will it burst soon?

The current Oil prices seem intent on reaching new heights and with the latest announcement from the US energy secretary that the low production is the only cause behind the sudden increase in Oil prices, the ball has been knocked back onto Saudi Arabia's court.

With almost every single country reeling from high oil prices and the accompanying inflationary pressures, a conference of sorts is currently underway in Saudi Arabia, between the Oil suppliers and the Oil consuming nations. The steep hike has set ramapant inflation loose with many of the countries registering double digit inflation figures. China has already been on the brink of the 'double digit' inflation quite a while before the Oil crisis started. This was on account of its economy and with the current oil rates, the inflation is bound to shoot up like anything.

Samuel Bodman's comments prior to the conference suggests that the rest of the world has but lost their patience with Saudi Arabia as well as the rest of OPEC dragging their feet on this issue. One of the key goals of this conference would be to make Saudi Arabia see reason and not cry fowl. All the eyes are on the conference and one can but hope that the Oil bubble will burst soon rather than later, for the resultant mess would be easy to cope with.

World finance leaders vow to tackle bank reforms!

The credit crunch as well as the mortgage crisis seems to be pushing the U.S economy on to the fast track towards recession and this is having effects on all the global markets. As it is, most of the major economies are facing the heat as a result of the credit crisis and the world consumer confidende has dipped rather low of late. Some of the major powers like China nd India are facing inflation in high figures and are busy seeking ways to contain the surging economy as well as the rampant inflation. At a recent IMF meeting, the mention of the sale of gold to the tune of $11 Billon by the IMF to shore up funds has highlighted the problem and made it amply clear that no one is immune to the current crisis, it is truly a global one onb almost all the aspects.
Recetnly some of the world financial leaders
met up to discuss the current situation and it was then decided that some of the financial regulations needs to be tightened up a bit so as to enable the world economy to handle the current crisis better. To some this may seem like closing the barn doors after the horses have bloted but the fact of the matter is that the current situation can get a whole lot worse and very quickly at that. In order to prevent that from happenkng as well as to be able to take a firm grip on the situation at hand, the world financil leaders have made the right decision by agreeing to regulate further and to revamp certain financial regulations. This certainly beats sitting in a corner and moping!

Paypal to Indian bank, made easy!

Paypal has certainly matured into a very reliable monetary portal, one through which we can all transfer our funds safely without any hassle whatsoever. I have the pleasure of being a member of Paypal for quite a while now. The changes that have taken place since I was first a member here are too many to mention here. Anyway this post is in relation to the other post that I had made on Paypal with drawl.

Like I had mentioned earlier, paypal has modified its with drawl process by allowing its Indian members to withdraw their funds directly to their bank accounts. This is a decision that has been welcomed by nearly all the Indian members, mainly because the only other option available to them earlier on, was to depend on the check. The check usually got sent through ordinary mail and most of the times, the person to whom the check was sent to, did not even receive it. The mail got lost as it usually happens and now as a result of this policy modification on the part of Paypal, we can all rest happily and withdraw our funds with no anxiety what so ever.

All you have to do is to go to the paypal members profile tab and click on 'add bank account'. Then, please follow the process set up there and you should be able to transfer your funds right away. I added my Bank account using the methods listed out b Paypal,and it was a total success. In the beginning, after having initiated my transaction to withdraw the funds from Paypal to my Indian bank account, I thought that it would not come through. Initially Paypal completed my request and sent the funds to their United states bank account. From there , it was later relayed on to my Indian bank account. The whole process on Paypal's side took only about 1 day, and then onwards, it took roughly about 3 days for the money to get credited to my account. My first with drawl was for the amount of 250$, but seeing how safe and easy it is, I do not think that I would have any qualms as far as transferring funds, small or large, anymore! Just check out the links and add your bank account! Wish you all success!

Pensions on the stock market!

The latest rumors that is doing the rounds in the finance ministry is the idea of investing the pension funds in the stock markets. The very idea of playing fast and loose with the pension funds is anathema to many a government person and the civil service for one is not at all pleased with the way that the finance ministry is operating business here in New Delhi. It is high time that the finance ministry woke up and smelt the roses, that the idea of investing the funds in a market that seems to swing with volatility between the bear and the bull is not acceptable to anyone here in India!

Avon calling no more?

Avon, the brand leader in women's beauty products is planning to shed some 2400 jobs as a result of its restructuring. The restructuring plans have proves a bit costly to Avon and as a result it is shedding some 2400 jobs, all across the board.
Coming at a time when the unemployment is high in the United states and with the economy being the way it is, one would not be all that surprised if Avon was to move over to India and just set up a back end here in the United states.
These are the days when the nickel and dimes are more important and the recent restructuring plans of Avon will save it a cool 240 million$. Of course, once they are on the road to cutting costs it is not going to be all that long before Avon moves altogether to a country like India where the costs are quite minimal in spite of the recent tumble in the Dollar values versus the Rupee!

Asian stocks rage on in 2007!

Asia and its stocks has seen a bumper year and this was mainly die to the FII's pouring their money into Asia and this has bumped up the stock indices all across Asia by a huge margin, the noteworthy one here being that of the Indian stock exchange. Will this momentum last, that seems to be the question on the mind of every capital analyst. The way that things are shaping up in the United states is bound to have an effect on the Asian markets and lets not forget that most of the Asian currencies are still pegged to the U.S dollar.
I guess it is all a question as to when will the bear start rising again in Asia? But in spite of poor showing by the U.S economy, the Asian markets should not be affected that much since most of the major ones are protected against any severe backlash resulting from the recession starting in the United states, but even then, the growth rate should be down for the following year by a considerable margin at the least.

The Paypal to Indian spice!

Like I had mentioned in the beginning of this blog, I would also be discussing all payment gateways from time to time. As such, since Paypal has kid of emerged the leader in all payment solutions it seems that is what I would be discussing for today.

Paypal, when it started, was rumored to have an Indian connection and that I have to emphasise is till a rumor as far as I am concerned since I have not found any real facts on that. Anyway to get on with my story, when Paypal started it was meant to be a payment gateway for people with credit cards, that is, if you had one you could use Paypal to send and receive payments. The problem was that Paypal advertised its services as one that could be used by anyone and everyone, it did not say that only people with credit cards can utilise its services to withdraw money.

So a lot of people joined up with Paypal only to find out that although they could receive funds into their account they could not withdraw it without a credit card. This caused a lot of problems for the many Indian customers since most of their local bank issued credit cards were not accepted by the Paypal system, and also since their debit cards did not have the required CCV number in the back.
Then, some of the paypal customers in the United states decided to sue paypal for misleading the customers as well as fraudulent practises and this went to trial. Since this case is all over and done with, I guess that I can discuss it here. Anyway, the case was settled and the court ordered that certain changes be made to paypal immediately and that meant opening up their services in full to All customers.

Since then, Paypal has installed a verification service and made sure that the non verified members especially those from Asia can utilise the payment facilities of the gateway without any hassle of any sort. And now, the good news is that Paypal has made further changes by which most of the Indian banks issued Credit cards are accepted by Paypal without any problem what so ever. The best part is that since these CC'S are accepted by paypal this also means that one can utilise these cards on Ebay and start shopping like mad.

Today, Paypal has evolved into a mature and trustworthy payment gateway providing a lot of payment solutions to a lot of people,individuals and small business alike. Today, many Indians can withdraw the money in their account to their Indian bank directly and this issue I will be covering in a later post today or tomorrow. Paypal is one of the leading payment gateways that is available for all to utilise for their freelance payment purposes and it is fast and reliable! I am one satisfied paypal customer!

paypal,money,payment gateway,India,credit card,withdraw,

OPEC forecasts more gloom on the Oil front!

I have to say that as a layman even I am pretty disappointed with the way that OPEC is handling this bullish trend in the oil prices. One would have thought that with all the resources that they have at hand, the OPEC would do more to bring down the price of Oil, but that seems to be far from happening.
It is not just the United states that is bound to be affected by OPEC's shilly shallying, but the entire world. Here, in India, the government is forced to foot the oil bill and this situation cannot go on forever. Either the OPEC acts by increasing the supplies as that will definitely bring down the price of oil or they should at the very least allow the International body like the United Nations to take over. We are all feeling the pinch of the Oil these days and it seems, according to OPEC, that we are bound to do so for quite some time to come!

Chinese stocks go a bit too 'shady'.

The recent bull run, which by the way is far from over, has made the Indian stock market the cynosure of nearly every investment firm with an eye to increasing its profits. As a result the FII's are dumping their money into the Indian markets in huge volumes. Although the Chinese stock markets have done well, and have even tripled their business, so as to speak, they are still a long way off from regulations and tighter rules.
India besides Hong Kong is the only second Asian Nation where the stock indices have crossed this 20 K mark. The Indian bourses are much more attractive because they show a steady growth and are more tightly regulated instead of the free for all kind of attitude in the Chinese markets. What is more, the sharp incline in the Chinese markets has already triggered a sort of an alarm that the market is overheating rapidly and is 'ripe' for some tampering. Who knows, we may even have a 'George soros' incident in the Chinese markets in the very near future!

money,george soros,china,stock markets,
india,kcm,

Paulson urges India to go ahead on Nuke deal and the Doha trade talks!

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on a visit to India, urged India to finalise the Nuke deal and the do something about the impasse on the Doha trade talks. India naturally mentioned to Paulson about their worries regarding both.
But the meeting was fruitful and Paulson indicated that a happy ending was on the cards and that one should not give up on either the Nuke deal or the Doha trade talks.
politics,doha,trade,paulson,

Migration and the remittances that top 300 billion$

Migrants often seek greener pastures and then they settle down and seek ways of sending some of the benefits back home. This is all so true in the modern world. Today migrants go off to work at greener pastures [developed countries] and they send their profits home and this is what we call remittances. If you were to take all the remittances that the migrants managed to send home last year, well they reach a whopping 300 billion$ and that is a whole lot more than the financial aid being currently provided by the developed world to the lesser countries. The migrants have proved time and time again that they have the stuff and the perseverance to work harder which is why their talents are so widely respected by so many corporates like Microsoft.
The Migration of humans has been there for quite a while and it is this very same migration of the human species that has spread the human race to all corners of the world. We all came out of Africa in search of greener pastures and now we can all trace our roots all the way back to Africa. Today migration has taken a different form, it is driven more by purely socio economic factors than by mere socio factors as it was the case in that very first migration out of Africa. Today saw India top the list of having the most remittances sent by the migrants to home. India's remittances for 2006 stood at 24.5 billion$ and they managed to pip both Mexico and China for the top spot. What is interesting to note is that the Migrant remittance sis evolving the way that money transfers are made. Since most of the relatives of the migrants back home lack even a basic bank account, the money remittances are made using innovative methods for eg, some of the remittances have been made by using mobile banking methods. The migrants have always added value to the society at large and they have proved time and time again that they are as creative as the best of us!

migration,united states,india,china,remittances,banking,

New heights for the Indian sensex

Today saw the Indian sensex reach new heights with the forex inflows into the country reaching new heights.the stock markets have reached and crossed the 17 K barrier within a matter of a few days.of course this also means that the Indian rupee will be strengthening against the U.S dollar which naturally means that the exporters will have to do a very good job if they hope to see the same amount of profits that they saw the last year!

New dizzy heights for the Indian sensex!

With more and more FII inflows flowing into the Indian subcontinent is it any surprise that the Indian sensex is growing at a very tremendous pace and it has already reached the 17 K mark within 10 days.it is setting a record of sorts.but of course this also means that the Indian rupee is also growing in strength against the U.S dollar,which naturally means that the exporters will have to do much better if they expect to see the same amount of profits that they saw last year!

the 'Ripple' effect!

With the feds cutting the rates by 50 basis points,the Indian sensex shot over the 16,000 mark posting the largest intra day gain in quite a while.this was only to be expected and the other Asian markets reacted likewise.most of the currencies rose to new heights against the U.S dollar once the news of this 'cut' hit the markets all except for one.the only currency which did not do so was the Yen and i am sure that the suppression of the Yen by the Japanese government and the Japanese central banks still continue.will this feel good feeling last,probably,at lest for the nest 2 weeks.it is like a ripple effect,every ripple creating a lot of smaller ripples and they all start from a central point.lets see what the next week brings the economic markets!

Indian company bags Uranium mining contract!

At a time when the Nuclear deal seems to have reached an Impasse in the Indian parliament,an Indian company has secured for itself a contract o mine Uranium in Nigeria.this is a first of sorts,a first time that such a contract has been awarded to an Indian company.
Of course one should understand that this is a private venture and that the Government of India as such has nothing to do with it.but it makes sense that any such Uranium mined will be immediately be bought by India for its uses.a rough estimate of the amount of Uranium that could be mined in the area has been made and believe it or not it is around 30,000 metric tons of Uranium, which he says 'should be enough to meet India's requirement for the next 1,000 years'.so this is good news for India and the Indian government as they are trying so hard to ensure energy security for India.well done!

india,nigeria,uranium,energy,

India outdoes the U.S and Japan by 2050!!!

Well it is common news that India's economy is surging ahead with more and more investment pouring form overseas.according to a new study,it clearly shows that India's economy will outstrip the United states and Japan by 2050 with a much more optimistic date put for 2030.
India needs to do a lot more as regards transparency and infrastructure development.but the good news,well,i should say,what is shocking experts world over is that while China had to invest more in infrastructure,be more transparent in business dealings and had to spend more on training its citizens,India spent very little on infrastructure[compared to China],still has problems with transparent business dealings and yet managed to provide quality work that turns to be better than the work provided by China.this has caused many people to take a very close look at their readings and it seems that the Two giants of Asia are in the race for the top global power.
Be that as it may,come 2050,the BRIC economies that includes Brazil,Russia,India and China will outstrip their American and European counterparts in GDP!something to much about,right?

Israel and India-free trade pact!

Israel has proposed a free trade pact with India and India is seriously considering this.of course the United States is also in favor of this and would like this to become a reality.but India needs to watch out.with the current political scenario and the resurgent economy that seems to grow only stronger by the hour,the last thing that India needs is a trade pact that could very well ruin India's relationship with the Middle Eastern countries once and for all.this would also pretty much sound the death bell for the NAM.
Economics aside,India really does not need a FTA pact with any country at the moment.of course having an FTA pact would be beneficial for the economy but only if it palpable politically as well.having a close relationship with Israel is okay but to become its strategic friend and a FTA partner is something different altogether.the sooner New Delhi realises this the better off it would be.
Israel has proposed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India to boost burgeoning economic and bilateral ties.
Israel's deputy prime minister and Minister for Trade and Industry, Ellie Yishai conveyed this during a meeting with Indian Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Ashwani Kumar, who is leading a high-level FICCI business delegation to Israel.

india,
israel,
economy,
united states,

JP Morgan goes 200% on India!

JP Morgan is looking to double its investment in India and has invested its capital of around 700 million$ in various sectors like health,cement,construction and so on.JP Morgan does not have a crystal ball so these investments and with more to come form the bank are probably a result of a detailed analysis of the Indian economy.
The U.S major is spreading its wings from banking to investment banking, corporate finance and capital market business in India.what is more.with more investment going to come about,JP Morgan is slowly but surely turning into a player who is betting on a sure thing.the recent world bank report on India has only made this more obvious to the world at large.but of course the question of economic reforms remains on everyone's mind these days.will the pace of reforms continue?going just by what JP Morgan is planning to do i would say yes!

india,united states,jp morgan,business,investment,economy,