Reliance Power to list today!

Finally the day is upon us when we will know how strong the Ambani name is in the market. Reliance Power, India's biggest IPO to date, received a tremendous response, being oversubscribed by as much as 73x. However, times have changed for the markets since the IPO opened to the public on January 15, 2008. At the time of the IPO opening, experts had expected shares of Reliance Power to list at Rs. 900/- .. Compare it to the current expectations of the IPO listing at Rs. 550 - Rs. 600 and you know something really bad went on during this interim period.

So what caused a sharp decrease in the premium for Reliance Power? I believe the slowdown in the U.S. market led to heightened fears of recession, which in turn caused a severe correction in the Indian markets. This has affected the investors' appetite for IPOs; this is very much evident from the withdrawals of the IPOs for Emaar MGF and Wockhardt Hospitals last week. Both the comapnies saw a poor response to their IPOs and have now decided to raise money from the primary market at a later date when market conditions are more favorable.

The markets too have been trading in the negative for most of last week and everyone's eyes are now on the listing of the IPO for Reliance Power. A blockbuster listing for Reliance Power should see some short-term bullsih momentum enter the market. The Indian markets severely need some positive indicators to stem the outflow of FIIs and generate some liquidity in the primary market. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for no matter how flawed Reliance Power may be as a company, the name RELIANCE can make or break the Indian market! There is just no denying the fact that divided, the Ambani brothers stand taller!!

India & Pakistan --- The Defining Difference

Hey readers, received an interesting article today which I thoughht of posting on the net for your benefit.. This article has supposedly been written by a Pakistani writer..

The two Ambani brothers can buy 100 percent of every company listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) and would still be left with $30 billion to spare. The four richest Indians can buy up all goods and services produced over a year by 169 million Pakistanis and still be left with $60 billion to spare. The four richest Indians are now richer than the forty richest Chinese.

In November, Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark Sensex flirted with 20,000 points. As a consequence, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries became a $100 billion company (the entire KSE is capitalized at $65 billion). Mukesh owns 48 percent of Reliance.

In November, comes Neeta's birthday. Neeta turned forty-four three weeks ago. Look what she got from her husband as her birthday present: A sixty-million dollar jet with a custom fitted master bedroom, bathroom with mood lighting, a sky bar, entertainment cabins, satellite television, wireless communication and a separate cabin with game consoles. Neeta is Mukesh Ambani's wife, and Mukesh is not India's richest but the second richest.

Mukesh is now building his new home, Residence Antillia (after a mythical, phantom island somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean). At a cost of $1 billion this would be the most expensive home on the face of the planet. At 173 meters tall Mukesh's new family residence, for a family of six, will be the equivalent of a 60-storeyed building. The first six floors are reserved for parking. The seventh floor is for car servicing and maintenance. The eighth floor houses a mini-theatre. Then there's a health club, a gym and a swimming pool. Two floors are reserved for Ambani family's guests. Four floors above the guest floors are family floors all with a superb view of the Arabian Sea. On top of everything are three helipads. A staff of 600 is expected to care for the family and their family home.

In 2004, India became the 3rd most attractive foreign direct investment destination. Pakistan wasn't even in the top 25 countries. In 2004, the United Nations, the representative body of 192 sovereign member states, had requested the Election Commission of India to assist the UN in the holding elections in Al Jumhuriyah al Iraqiyah and Dowlat-e Eslami-ye Afghanestan. Why the Election Commission of India and not the Election Commission of Pakistan? After all, Islamabad is closer to Kabul than Delhi.

Imagine, 12 percent of all American scientists are of Indian origin; 38 percent of doctors in America are Indian; 36 percent of NASA scientists are Indians; 34 percent of Microsoft employees are Indians; and 28 percent of IBM employees are Indians.

For the record: Sabeer Bhatia created and founded Hotmail. Sun Microsystems was founded by Vinod Khosla. The Intel Pentium processor, that runs 90 percent of all computers, was fathered by Vinod Dham. Rajiv Gupta co-invented Hewlett Packard's E-speak project. Four out of ten Silicon Valley start-ups are run by Indians. Bollywood produces 800 movies per year and six Indian ladies have won Miss Universe/Miss World titles over the past 10 years.

For the record: Azim Premji, the richest Muslim entrepreneur on the face of the planet, was born in Bombay and now lives in Bangalore.India now has more than three dozen billionaires; Pakistan has none (not a single dollar billionaire).

The other amazing aspect is the rapid pace at which India is creating wealth. In 2002, Dhirubhai Ambani, Mukesh and Anil Ambani's father, left his two sons a fortune worth $2.8 billion. In 2007, their combined wealth stood at $94 billion. On 29 October 2007, as a result of the stock market rally and the appreciation of the Indian rupee, Mukesh became the richest person in the world, with net worth climbing to US$63.2 billion (Bill Gates, the richest American, stands at around $56 billion).
Indians and Pakistanis have the same Y-chromosome haplogroup. We have the same genetic sequence and the same genetic marker (namely: M124). We have the same DNA molecule, the same DNA sequence. Our culture, our traditions and our cuisine are all the same. We watch the same movies and sing the same songs. What is it that Indians have and we don't?

Indians elect their leaders.

Disclaimer: This is not an original publication.