My footsteps into the Indian Stock Market..

On Jan 19, 2009, I got a good business and earned some 15k in that week. Two weeks before that..to be precise on Jan 9th the Corporate India was in for a shock coz the markets didn't seem to recover soon. It was the 7000 crore Rs. Satyam fraud. For those who didn't understand economics, the newspapers were just a piece of crap coz there was nothing other than this news. The Stock Markets had collapsed and the investors had lost faith in the stocks. Just check out these figures:

Satyam Stock lost 77% of value and is ended the day at 40. 14 crore shares were traded in the BSE Sensex while 33 crore shares were traded in the Nifty.
On December 16, when Satyam Computer Services (Satyam) declared that it wants to buy Maytas, it triggered investor activism, forcing the software giant to retract.
Buoyed by the power of shareholders, fund houses started stocking up the company’s shares, lured by its strong balance sheet and cash reserves of Rs 5,040 crore. Fund houses, including HDFC Mutual Fund, Tata Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund and a host of others, hiked their stakes.

For instance, ICICI Prudential mutual fund bought another 35,00,000 shares (314 per cent) and HDFC mutual fund bought 54,00,000 shares (106 per cent). Others like Franklin Templeton mutual fund added 17,28,000 shares and Tata mutual fund bought 2,65,000 shares of the now-tainted company last month.

On Jan 09,2009 the share value reached an all time low of 11.50 Rs. By then the markets had lost about 2,600 crores. But this had kept the people on their toes and so was I. By the time I got my money for the business, I knew the moment had arrived. The share value had increased to 48.75 Rs. per share and it was on Feb. 6th,2009 I first entered the Stock Market. It wasn't a big risk that I took coz it was a long term investment for me. And now with Tech Mahindra taking over 38% stake in satyam I'm hoping the Share value goes up and I dont have to turn back.

Basic rule in stock markets:

Never hold even a single stock when a fraud is broken out in a Company. Exit immediately even with big losses. That's why Swiss Finance exited from Satyam with Rs 500 crore losses. That's why Aberdeen Investments exited with more than Rs 1,000 crore losses (estimates).

A humanitarian crisis

Well.! I'm not talking about our own economy or the global economy and the recession factor. This is about the country miles away from all economic clusters, a country that has lost its way out o the political turmoil, a country where more than half the population dont have access to proper food, sanitation and health care is in the worst possible state. Yeah.! I'm talking about another African country - Zimbabwe. This is the country that houses the 'Victoria falls' and an amazing wildlife. It was once called the 'Breadbasket of Africa' but there are no more breads in the basket. Just take a look at these figures:

In 1983, USD $1= ZWD $1
In 2000, USD $1= ZWD $1000
In 2003, USD $1= ZWD $100,000
In 2006, USD $1= ZWD $500,000
In 2008, USD $1= ZWD $18,700,000,000
If you all remember, a few months ago in India the inflation figures rose to about 11.42% and there was panic seen clearly in our stock markets. Well.! U got to look at this - The inflation in Zimbabwe as of today(22 May,2009) is about 231 million percent. Today only about 6% of the population is employed and 8 out of 10 people in the country dont get one proper meal a day. You have people moving with million and billion dollar notes in their pockets but cant spend it coz it has absolutely no value. Inspite of all these problems there is very little aid available to this country from the major countries and also from the United Nations. Its an emergency situation for which the solution is simple but needs the involvement of the global community.
I won't go into the history but I'll brief you a bit about the history as it is important how the problem started.
Robert Mugabe, who helped end the white rule in Zimbabwe has been the President since 1980 and from then its been a one man's country. Mugabe's reputation has plummeted from an African liberation hero to a despot, who has ruined his once-prosperous country. The elections in the country is no more free and fair. Voting for the opposition could cost your life. The Police are themselves involved in looting the banks and markets. One of my cousin who recently went there was telling me how difficult it is to even walk on the streets. People come and rob you of any and every stuff you have. But you cant blame them either. When the govt. isn't providing any employment oppurtunities this is the only way to earn. The African Nations isn't doing anything coz most of the leaders consider him as a freedom fighter. A refugee crisis has stuck the neighbouring countries, China is donating weapons to Robert Mugabe and the United Nations is doing very little to solve this problem. Robert Mugabe is still the President. I think its peak time all the responsible countries of the world come together and bring down the political structure of this country and save the direct descendants of Adam n Eve, more importantly value the human lives.

"Welcome to Zimbabwe"