Thursday, October 15, 2009

Wake up Mumbai

Taking a cue from his wife Sagarika, Rajdeep seems to have woken up to the reality of the India. Im my opinion I have observed that he has sugar coated his words when speaking or intervewing policticans on televsion but here he is direct and at his eloquent best.

As the megapolis one grew up in, there is an obvious emotional attachment to Mumbai. Which is why, at a studio discussion this week, when a panelist referred to the maximum city registering minimum voting as a sign of Mumbai's "resident non-Indian" mentality, I felt a little aggrieved.

Surely, a city with the energy and enterprise of Mumbai, a city which literally never sleeps, cannot be seen through such a cynical worldview.
And yet, as voting day for the Maharashtra assembly elections wore on, it became increasingly apparent that Mumbai was struggling to pass Pappu's electoral test.


Maybe, it's the same mindset which has chosen to watch the city being reduced to a giant slum by a political class which sees slum-dwellers as one large vote bank and little else.

Perhaps, that is also why year after depressing year, the city routinely goes under water in the monsoons.

It might also explain why no one has been able to challenge the builder-babu-neta nexus which has allowed the mangroves and green areas to be concretized.

You commute for eons in a creaking railway system, flyovers don't get built on time, a sealink takes years to come up, no additional power is generated for a decade, old, dilapidated buildings remain hostage to antiquated laws: nothing seems to change, and worse, no one seems to care enough to force change.

Take a look at the morning papers in Mumbai and you get a sense of just how much the city lives in a bubble of its own.

In no other city has page three merged as effortlessly into page one as in Mumbai. Shah Rukh's trousseau, Salman's antics, Priyanka's twittering, the city seems to have magnified all things trivial and made Bollywood its ultimate temple of worship. Read more

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let Mumbai keep sleeping and people don't want to face reailty. Let them be in denial mode till the they have to face the truth in face.

Anonymous said...

Foreclosures rise 5 percent from summer to fall
Foreclosures keep soaring as unemployment remains main cause of housing woes. October 15, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) —

Unemployment is the main reason homeowners are falling into trouble. While the economy is likely out of recession, the unemployment rate — now at a 26-year high of 9.8 percent — isn’t expected to peak until the middle of next year.

Mortgage companies sometimes allow unemployed homeowners to defer three to six months of payments while they are looking for a job. But there’s little else they can do.

Anonymous said...

more mortgage fraud for you all:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/nyregion/16fraud.html?_r=1

Anonymous said...

Results not pretty for Citi
Citi reports per-share loss on credit woes

BOSTON (MarketWatch) — Citigroup Inc. Thursday reported third-quarter net income of $101 million, and a 27-cent loss per share, on revenue of $20.39 billion. In the year-ago quarter, Citi posted a loss of 61 cents a share on total revenue of $16.26 billion. The company said the latest quarter’s results included $8 billion in net credit losses and an $802 million net loan loss reserve build. “While consumer credit trends are improving in international markets, the U.S. consumer credit environment remains challenging,” said Vikram Pandit, Citi’s chief executive.

Anonymous said...

I guess goldman had another blowout qtr on the back of the taxpayers.I guess they are handing out record bonuses too.I woudnt touch that stock with a ten foot pole right now.Not to long ago it was at 40 now at 190?All of a sudden the world looks rosy again.What about all those bogus cdo’s they created?Do you guys remember when the crooks on wall street were tanking the market when congress didnt pass the 700 billion bailout?They eventually got their money through a behind closed door deal.Ruin the economy and then be rewarded with free money from the govt.Must be nice to have friends in congress.

Anonymous said...

If the estimations materialize, Fortune points out, “The average Goldman worker could end up taking home more than 10 times the typical American family’s income.” The average employee would finish the year with approximately $773,000, more than doubling the $363,000 they took home in 2008 and trumping the $662,000 they made in 2007. Even if Goldman doesn’t end up with a record-setting year, the pay scale is seen as a bit of a shock in light of the current economy”

Anonymous said...

Expecations create their own reality.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a_A5nqmw9Dq8

“The dollar may drop to 50 yen next year and eventually lose its role as the global reserve currency, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.’s chief strategist said, citing trading patterns and a likely double dip in the U.S. economy.”

“The U.S. economy will deteriorate into 2011 as the effects of excess consumption and the financial bubble linger,” said Daisuke Uno at Sumitomo Mitsui, a unit of Japan’s third- biggest bank. “The dollar’s fall won’t stop until there’s a change to the global currency system.”

Blame Bush? Blame Obama? I think the former gets some demerits, and the latter just inherited the mess. But “excess consumption and the financial bubble” have more to do with it.

Anonymous said...

Dubai World ( International ) - 15% of Workforce
Dubai state conglomerate cuts jobs as it downsizes
10.15.09, Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The deeply indebted company controlling many of Dubai’s prized state-owned businesses said Thursday it has cut 15 percent of its work force in a restructuring effort that is nearly complete.

Dubai World, a conglomerate whose businesses range from building islands and running U.S. luxury hotels to hauling cargo off ships worldwide, said the reorganization should save it $800 million over the next three years.

“Our diverse portfolio of assets … provides us with an exciting and compelling future,” Chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem said in an emailed statement. “With the reorganization, the group enters this next vital phase of our evolution better able to withstand all economic eventualities.”

Dubai World counts fewer than 70,000 employees around the world following the job cuts.

The layoffs fell especially hard in the United Arab Emirates, where a quarter of the company’s employees lost their jobs.

Most of those cuts came in the hard-hit real estate sector, which has seen property prices in Dubai plunge by half from their peak last year.

Anonymous said...

Southern California Home Prices Fall on Foreclosures (Update2)
By Daniel Taub

Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) — Southern California house and condominium prices fell 11 percent in September from a year earlier as foreclosures dominated sales, MDA DataQuick said.

The median price dropped to $275,000 from $308,500 a year earlier, the San Diego-based research company said today in a statement. The number of homes sold rose 5.1 percent from a year earlier to 21,539 in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties.

Transactions involving houses or condominiums that had been foreclosed on at some point in the past year accounted for 40 percent of all home sales in Southern California last month, MDA DataQuick said. That was down from almost 42 percent in August and a record of almost 57 percent in February.

“It’s still abnormally high, but down significantly from the peak levels,” Andrew LePage, an MDA DataQuick analyst, said in an interview.

Anonymous said...

Another sign of the great depression that is just around the corner.
Google beats estimates by a mile. Earnings up 27%, revenue up 14%.

Anonymous said...

Cool! I guess the dot com bust was just a big hoax. Next thing you know, the NASDAQ will be back above 5000 again, and the economy will be humming again like it was back in Y2K!

Anonymous said...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Third-quarter earnings season is proving precarious for short sellers, who are fighting a swell of investor optimism that’s driving the broader market to new highs.

On Thursday, Harley-Davidson Inc. (HOG 27.63, -0.06, -0.22%) shares gained 5.5% even after the motorcycle maker’s profit fell 84% and results excluding special charges missed expectations. Read more on Harley.

The rise in Harley shares — some 17% of which are shorted — illustrates the precarious nature of betting against an individual stock in the current environment, according to Doug Noland, lead portfolio manager of Federated Investors’ $1.3 billion Prudent Bear Fund (BEARX 5.64, -0.02, -0.35%) .

“We don’t like the risk-reward of being short fundamentally weak companies going into the earnings season, because even if they miss earnings [estimates], investors may look past that and the stock goes up anyway,” he said.

Anonymous said...

Guys, can someone post something about India it will be more useful. This kind of news we are hearing for almost a year despite the tables turning!!

Please post more sensible news!!

-Retired Old Man

Anonymous said...

Old man:
All these posts maybe from US but India will see the same fate in the coming years. Did you get old without learning anything and how global markets work? Didn't you get a lesson on massive liquidity created by stimulus. Do you think from your life experience, the prices should have become 4 times in 3 years?

Or maybe you are the same pimp: BB.
If you are BB, why don't you leave us alone here and buy/sell more RE.

Anonymous said...

Prime Home Loan Crisis unfolding with vengeance

U.S. Foreclosure Filings Jump 23% to Record in Third Quarter
Oct. 15 (Bloomberg)
By Dan Levy



Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. foreclosure filings climbed to a record in the third quarter as lenders seized more properties from delinquent borrowers, according to RealtyTrac Inc.

A total of 937,840 homes received a default or auction notice or were repossessed by banks, a 23 percent increase from a year earlier, the Irvine, California-based seller of default data said today in a report. One out of every 136 U.S. households received a filing, the highest quarterly rate in records dating to January 2005.

The problem is prime loans going into foreclosure and people being underwater and losing their jobs,” Richard Green, director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, said in an interview. “It’s a really bad number.”

Mounting foreclosures mean U.S. home prices probably will resume falling , analysts from Amherst Securities Group LP in New York said Sept. 23. A “shadow inventory” of 7 million properties are in the foreclosure process or likely to be seized, up from 1.27 million in 2005, they said.

The pace of prime and so-called alt-A loan defaults is accelerating as subprime defaults slow, Standard & Poor’s analysts led by Diane Westerback said yesterday in a report. Prime loans are those made to borrowers with the best credit records while alt-A loans are considered riskier because they were often granted without documenting the borrower’s income.

Home foreclosures will climb through late 2010, peaking after the unemployment rate reaches 10.2 percent in the second quarter, the mortgage bankers said in an Oct. 13 forecast.

Anonymous said...

$6,900 home in Detroit.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/16/real_estate/Real_estate_bargains.moneymag/index.htm?postversion=2009101612


Wait and be patient for India's housing. There will be houses selling for 70-80% less in a few years. People who were not patient in US bought in the boom time from 2001-2007 are crying. People in USA who waited and are buying after a wait of almost 8-9 years are getting really good deals. Almost like buy one get two free.

Anonymous said...

It is almost time to cash out of stocks now. A second dip is coming in a few months. Be careful "infestors".

Anonymous said...

http://www.mid-day.com/news/2009/oct/171009-pre-economic-slowdown-Diwali-Dussehra-Vijay-Khandari.htm

50,000 per sq feet is stupid in Bandra. That is more than NYC prices.

Anonymous said...

Twice as Nice
A joint home loan results in higher tax savings even on a lower loan amount, leaving more disposable income with a family
SU P R IYA VER MA M I SH R A ET INTELLIGENCE GROU P

FOR most working couples, buying a house is once-in-a-lifetime experience — and their most expensive buy. An easy way to fund this expensive buy is a home loan, which also offers tax breaks on both principal and interest payment components.
What a lot of working couples miss out on are the additional tax benefits available on a joint home loan. So, even if an individual can afford the monthly installment, it is better to opt for a joint home loan. ET Investor’s Guide presents the basics of a joint home loan and the financial benefits that result from tax savings.
THE BENEFITS: A joint application makes a couple eligible for a bigger home loan, with each applicant entitled to tax benefits — Rs 1 lakh for principal repayment under Section 80C and Rs 1.5 lakh for interest payment under Section 24 — that apply individually. Since upper limits on both principal and interest payment components double when paid jointly, tax savings over the term of the loan can be enormous.
Consider an example where a family takes Rs 30-lakh home loan for 20 years at 9.5% per annum interest. As the accompanying table shows, the total income-tax outgo falls by Rs 41,550 in the first year if the couple opts for a joint home loan. The savings increase if the couple opts for a higher amount of loan.
Similarly, on a higher salary of Rs 10 lakh, a couple can save Rs 39,824 on a Rs 30-lakh loan, while the savings rise to Rs 51,980 on a loan of Rs 70 lakh. These tax benefits are available to a couple in the ratio of
equated monthly installments (EMI) paid by them. So, if the husband pays 60% of the EMI and the spouse pays the rest, the tax benefit would be available to them in the same proportion.
The rider: for the couple to be eligible for tax benefits, the house has to be jointly owned by them. This needs a joint bank account, but other documents are similar to the ones for a single loan applicant.
A joint home loan also needs careful management of home finances to ensure sufficient funds in an individual’s bank account for unforeseen circumstances. The onus of practicing restrain would lie with both partners as they would be jointly paying the home loan. If an individual is already paying back a loan, the eligibility for the amount of home loan goes down to the extent of EMIs being paid. Banks, on their part, ensure that EMIs as a percentage of monthly income don’t end up as a burden on the borrower. A joint application can help overcome a lower loan amount in such a situation.
NOT SO BENEFICIAL: There is a downside to a joint home loan if the couple plans to purchase a second home. According to the Income Tax Act, if an individual has more than one house in her name, the first house is treated as self-occupied and the other is treated as let out — even if the house has not been rented out. The owner of the second house has to pay income tax on rent received on the property. If the house has not been rented out, it is deemed as rented out and a rental income is calculated on the basis ofprevailing market rates. So, the owner of a second house pays tax on an income that she may not have earned. If a couple plans to purchase two houses, it is better that each spouse buys one house each. In this manner, the couple can own two houses and escape paying tax on an income that they don’t earn.
THE DECISION: The decision is clear: if the loan amount is high, a couple should opt for a joint home loan and save a higher amount of tax. However, if there are chances of buying a second house and one partner can afford the monthly repayment of the loan, it is better to skip a joint home loan.

confused said...

Hey guys,should we not include the black money effects on Indian property bubble?how can we compare the western housing bubble experiences with that of the indian one ? all the cash involved in developed countries is legit ..where as on the indian scene people talk of the 60/40 ratio when buying/selling propety.Am keen to find this out from any experts out there? especially in the curent economic climate...how cana non-performing asset earn more money than a performing asset?..defyin gravity?

Anonymous said...

Mumbai is a dead and decaying city now. Fathom this! It is much more water logged than it was 5 yrs back. It has no tree cover worth mentioning. The last lot at Napean Sea road, were chopped to make the road wider and the stupid Marathi person did not realise that they could have made the whole stretch one way, saving all the trees. Temperature level is much higher than it was 5 yrs back. I expect Mumbai to be underwater in about 10 yrs time. No warden road, no chowpatty. It will all start from Carmichael road and Hill road and the marathi govt will still be groping to build a bridge 15 yrs later. Compared to Delhi or Bangalore, the only reason Mumbai still thrives is because of the stock market and bollywood. Take one of them away, and it will be just like Patna. Greed of builder, babu and neta has made life miserable for many Indians.

Anonymous said...

burj khalifa apartments in dubai on the 100th floor is reported to being offered at rs. 38000/- with all the trappings of a boutique hotel on the premises and other unheard of amenities available in mumbai. mumbai topline quoted near a lakh of rupees with no such amenities. as my friend said, is mumbai overpriced by 1 : 5 till the year 2020 ?

rajni said...
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