Hawks and Doves in Finance.

When the RBI Governor mentions that the interest rates are increased, it is hawkish and vice versa is dovish.

What are they?

Policymakers are labeled as hawks or doves depending on how aggressive they are in dealing with the economic factors. Like the predatory hawk that grabs any unsuspecting prey, hawkish policymakers become offensive to tackle a problem. They keep the inflation in check with high interest rates.

Dovish policymakers, on the other hand, are peace-loving and prefer sweet-talking the enemy into submission. They argue keeping the rates low will help companies to borrow more, build more manufacturing units and produce more goods and services. Thus, supply will eventually catch up to demand there by reducing inflation.

                           

 

Why are they important?

If the RBI is hawkish — believes that inflation is a worry. What does it do? It promptly increases the repo rate, the rate at which banks borrow money from the RBI. Banks in turn try recovering this increase in cost from their customers in the form of higher loan rates. This works towards reducing people’s spending — people take fewer loans and buy fewer homes, cars etc. As consumption falls, it helps control prices. So, if you can’t produce more goods quickly, the next best thing to do is to make people buy fewer goods.

Why should We care?

For example:

You’ve been planning to buy a house for quite some time and you intend on taking a bank loan. But, you might have to think if the RBI is in a hawkish mood. If you take the loan now, your EMIs (equated monthly installments) may go up as the RBI hikes interest rates. But you are benefited if you have more number of bank deposits. As interest rates increases, you get a better return on your deposits. Also, if the government is in hawkish mood, there can be higher taxes and lower subsidies.

14 Life Touching Incidents ,,,,,.

               

 

1. Fall and Rise

Today, when I slipped on the wet tile floor a boy in a wheelchair caught me before I slammed my head on the ground. He said, “Believe it or not, that’s almost exactly how I injured my back 3 years ago .

2. A father’s advice

Today, my father told me, “Just go for it and give it a try! You don’t have to be a professional to build a successful product. Amateurs started Google and Apple. Professionals built the Titanic

3. The power of uniqueness.

Today, I asked my mentor – a very successful business man in his 70’s – what his top 3 tips are for success. He smiled and said, “Read something no one else is reading, think something no one else is thinking, and do something no one else is doing.

4. Looking Back

Today, I interviewed my grandmother for part of a research paper I’m working on for my Psychology class. When I asked her to define success in her own words, she said, “Success is when you look back at your life and the memories make you smile.

5. Try and U shall know

I am blind by birth. When I was 8 years old, I wanted to play baseball. I asked my father- “Dad, can I play baseball?” He said “You’ll never know until you try.” When I was a teenager, I asked him, – “Dad Can I become a surgeon?”. He replied “Son, you’ll never know until you try.” Today I am a Surgeon, just because I tried!

6. GOODNESS & GRATITUDE

Today, after a 72 hour shift at the fire station, a woman ran up to me at the grocery store and gave me a hug. When I tensed up, she realized I didn’t recognize her. She let go with tears of joy in her eyes and the most sincere smile and said, “On 9-11-2001, you carried me out of the World Trade Center.”

7. LOVE CONQUERS PAIN

Today, after I watched my dog get run over by a car, I sat on the side of the road holding him and crying. And just before he died, he licked the tears off my face.

8. A DOOR CLOSES TO OPEN ANOTHER

Today at 7AM, I woke up feeling ill, but decided I needed the money, so I went into work. At 3PM I got laid off. On my drive home I got a flat tire. When I went into the trunk for the spare, it was flat too. A man in a BMW pulled over, gave me a ride, we chatted, and then he offered me a job. I start tomorrow.

9. LOOKING BACK

Today, as my father, three brothers, and two sisters stood around my mother’s hospital bed, my mother uttered her last coherent words before she died. She simply said, “I feel so loved right now. We should have gotten together like this more often.”

10. AFFECTION

Today, I kissed my dad on the forehead as he passed away in a small hospital bed. About 5 seconds after he passed, I realized it was the first time I had given him a kiss since I was a little boy.

11. INNOCENCE

Today, in the cutest voice, my 8-year-old daughter asked me to start recycling. I chuckled and asked, “Why?” She replied, “So you can help me save the planet.” I chuckled again and asked, “And why do you want to save the planet?” “Because that’s where I keep all my stuff,” she said.

12. JOY

Today, when I witnessed a 27-year-old breast cancer patient laughing hysterically at her 2-year-old daughter’s antics, I suddenly realized that I need to stop complaining about my life and start celebrating it again.

13. KINDNESS

Today, a boy in a wheelchair saw me desperately struggling on crutches with my broken leg and offered to carry my backpack and books for me. He helped me all the way across campus to my class and as he was leaving he said, “I hope you feel better soon.”.

14. SHARING

Today, I was traveling in Kenya and I met a refugee from Zimbabwe. He said he hadn’t eaten anything in over 3 days and looked extremely skinny and unhealthy. Then my friend offered him the rest of the sandwich he was eating. The first thing the man said was, “We can share it.”

Cheers to life!!!

Did you Know?

                     

 

1. Ben & Jerry’s is owned by ​Unilever.

2. Wal-Mart averages a profit of $1.8 million every hour.

3. “Yahoo” is an acronym for “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.”

4. Starbucks’ round tables were created specifically so customers would feel less alone.

5. Apple’s iPad retina display is actually manufactured by Samsung.

6. Dasani water is just purified tap water; it doesn’t come from a natural spring.

7. One in 10 Europeans are conceived in an Ikea bed.

8. Marvel Comics once owned the rights to the word “zombie.”

9. The red and white Coca-Cola logo is recognized by 94% of the world’s population.

10. The iPad 2 would cost $1,140 if it were made in America.

11. Taco Bell has proved to be a huge flop in Mexico, as Mexicans were confused by the Americanization of their traditional cuisine.

12. Adding /4 to the end of Facebook’s URL will take you to Mark Zuckerberg’s profile.

13. Cereal is the second-largest advertiser on television today, behind automobiles.

14. Google was originally called BackRub.

15. Pepsi got its name from the digestive enzyme pepsin.

16. U.S. corporations are reportedly hiding $1.6 trillion in profits offshore.

17. Amazon.com employees spend two days every two years working at the customer service desk — even the CEO — in order to help all workers understand the customer service process.

18. Speaking of Amazon, it also owns Zappos, ShopBop, Goodreads, and Audible.com

19. Everything you say to Siri is sent to Apple, analyzed, and stored.

20. Candy Crush brings in a reported $633,000 a day in revenue.

21. Samsung accounts for 20% of Korea’s gross domestic product.

22. Burt’s Bees is owned by Clorox.

23. The most productive day of the workweek is Tuesday.

24. Warner Music owns the copyrights to “Happy Birthday,” so it’s technically owed royalties every time you sing it to someone on their big day.

25. Changing the U.S. $1 bill for a $1 coin would save the U.S. $4.4 billion in 30 years.

26. The “new car smell” is composed of over 50 volatile organic compounds.

27. If Bill Gates were a country, he’d be the 37th richest on earth.

28. Sixty-four percent of consumers have made a purchase decision based on social media content.

29. McDonald’s first menu items were hot dogs, not hamburgers.

30. The actor who played the “Marlboro man” died of lung cancer.

31. More people in the world have mobile phones than toilets.

32. Starbucks spends more on health care insurance for its employees ($300 million) than on coffee beans.

33. If you have $10 in your pocket and no debts, you are wealthier than 25% ofAmericans.

34. Facebook is primarily blue because Mark Zuckerberg suffers from red-green color blindness.

35. Apple had a third founder, Ronald Wayne, who had a 10% stake in the company. He left the fledgling company after 12 days and forfeited his shares for $2,300 (about $9,600 today).

36. Robert Chesebrough, the inventor of Vaseline, ate a spoonful of the stuff every morning.

37. Seventy percent of small businesses are owned and operated by a singleperson.

38. Each week nearly one-third of the U.S. population visits a Walmart.

39. Victoria’s Secret is the most followed retailer on Instagram.

40. In iPhone ads, the time is always 9:42 a.m. or 9:41 a.m., because Apple events start at 9 a.m. and big product reveals generally happen 40 minutes into the presentation.

41. The Rubik’s cube is the best-selling product of all time. The iPhone is second.

42. Steve Jobs is credited as an executive producer on Toy Story.

43. One in eight American workers have been employed by McDonald’s.

44. In 2000, Coca-Cola launched a stealth campaign against water called “Just say no to H2O.”

45. The Volkswagen group owns Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Audi, Ducati, and Porsche.

46. Smoking near an Apple computer voids the warranty.

47. Twitter CEO Dick Costolo used to work as an improv comedian, including a stint at the legendary Second City in Chicago.

48. YouTube broadcasts about one-third of the U.S.’s multimedia entertainment.

49. The world’s 100 richest people earned enough money in 2012 to end global poverty four times over.

50. The average smartphone user checks Facebook 14 times a day.

51. More than 80 million “mouse ears” have been sold at Walt Disney World to date.

52. The Asia Tiger Funds’ stock symbol is GRR.

53. Gambling generates more revenue than movies, spectator sports, theme parks, cruise ships, and recorded music combined.

54. You can purchase large sheets of uncut U.S. currency through the mail.

55. Tom’s of Maine is owned by Colgate-Palmolive.

56. The “Mayfair” filter in Instagram generates the most likes.

57. A customer in a wheelchair successfully sued Chipotle in 2010, claiming its tall ordering counter denied him from seeing the “Chipotle experience.”

 

CASA

Casa Ratio: 

Casa is basically the current and savings account deposits. The CASA ratio shows how much deposit a bank has in the form of current and saving account deposits in the total deposit. 

If the CASA ratio is higher than it means that a higher portion of the deposits have come from current and savings deposit.

This means that the bank is getting money at low cost, since no interest is paid on the current accounts and the interest paid on savings account is usually low.

 

Current and Saving Accounts are demand deposits and therefore pay lower interest rates compared to term deposits where the rates are higher.

 

In India, interest rates paid on current and savings account deposits is administered by banking regulator – the Reserve Bank of India.

                                    

 

Why are banks keen on gained a higher share of CASA?

Interest rate paid on Casa is much lower compared to other deposits like term deposits or recurring deposits. While banks do not pay any interest on current account, interest paid on savings account deposit is 4%.

 

Banks therefore make maximum effort to increase the share of Casa on their books to reduce their overall cost of deposits. HDFC Bank has the highest share of Casa to total deposits at 52%, followed by the State Bank of India at 48% and ICICI Bank at 45%.

 

What does Casa mean for customers?

Recently interest paid on savings account deposits is 4%. Banks pay interest on savings deposits on a daily basis rather than paying on the minimum balance maintained by them in six months.

As a result, savings account customers earn better returns compared to what they earned a year ago.

 

Further, interest earned on savings account deposits does not attract TDS (tax deduction at source). Interest income above 10,000 a year attracts TDS of 10% in case of term deposits. However, there is no major benefit for current account deposits, which is mainly maintained by corporates and traders.

 

What are the disadvantages of high CASA?

These deposits can move out of banks’ books anytime, leading to asset-liability mismatches. While in case of term deposits, banks are almost certain that the depositor may not withdraw money before the maturity of the deposit and may also renew the deposit on maturity.

 

Further, to finance long-term projects, banks need to have long-term liabilities on their books to avoid mismatches. Banks cannot rely on Casa deposits to fund long-term loans.

 

Five Steps to Create a Marketing Plan.

Step One: Look inward.
Think of a company as if it was a person with its own unique personality and identity. With that in mind, create separate lists that identifies the business’s strengths, weaknesses and goals. Put everything down and create big lists. Don’t edit or reject anything.

Then, find priorities among the bullet points. If you’ve done this right, you’ll have more than you can use, and some more important than others. Kick some of the less important bullets off the list and move the ones that are important to the top. This sometimes requires input from  managers as well.

Step Two: Look outward.

Make outlines of business’s opportunities and threats. Think of both as external to the business factors that you can’t control but can try to predict. Opportunities can include new markets, new products and trends that favor your business. Threats include competition and advances in technology that put you at a disadvantage.

Step Three: Focus on strategy. 
Look for the intersection of the unique identity and the target market. In terms of business offerings,  think about dropping those who aren’t in your target market.

For example, a restaurant business focused on healthy, organic and fine dining would probably cater to people more in tune with green trends and with higher-than-average disposable income. So, it might rule out people who prefer eating fast-food like hamburgers and pizza, and who look for bargains.

                                     

 

 

Step Four: Set measurable steps.
To get the details that are concrete and measurable. The marketing strategy should become a plan that includes monthly review, tracking and measurement, sales forecasts, expense budgets and non-monetary metrics for tracking progress. These can include leads, presentations, phone calls, links, blog posts, page views, conversion rates, proposals and trips etc.

 

Step Five: Review often and revise.
Just like the business plan, your marketing plan should continue to evolve along with the business. Assumptions will change, so adapt to the changing business landscape. Some parts of the plan also will work better than others, so review and revise to accommodate what you learn as you go.

                                                           

5 Keys to Inspiring Leadership!!!

1. Face challenges.

Great leaders are brave enough to face up to challenging situations and deal with them honestly. Whether it’s steering through a business downturn or getting struggling employees back on track, effective leaders meet these challenges openly. Regular communications with your staff, informing them of both good news and how the company is reacting to challenges will go a long way toward making employees feel like you trust them and that they’re unlikely to be hit with unpleasant surprises.

“The gossip at the coffee machine is usually 10 times worse than reality,” Handal says. “Employees need to see their leaders out there, confronting that reality head-on.”

2. Win trust.

       

Employees are more loyal and enthusiastic when they work in an environment run by people they trust. Building that trust can be done in many ways. The first is to show employees that you care about them, Handal says. Take an interest in your employees beyond the workplace. Don’t pry, he advises, but ask about an employee’s child’s baseball game or college graduation. Let your employees know that you’re interested in their success and discuss their career paths with them regularly.

When employees, vendors or others make mistakes, don’t reprimand or correct them in anger. Instead, calmly explain the situation and why their behavior or actions weren’t correct, as well as what you expect in the future. When people know that you aren’t going to berate them and that you have their best interests at heart, they’re going to trust you, Handal says.

3. Be authentic.

       

If you’re not a suit, don’t try to be one. Employees and others dealing with your company will be able to tell if you’re just pretending to be someone you’re not, Handal says. That could make them question what else about you might be inauthentic. Have a passion for funky shoes? Wear them. Are you an enthusiastic and hilarious presenter? Get them laughing. Use your strengths and personality traits to develop your personal leadership style, Handal says.

4. Earn respect.

       

When you conduct yourself in an ethical way and model the traits you want to see in others, you earn the respect of those around you. Leaders who are perceived as not “walking their talk” typically don’t get very far, Handal says. This contributes to employees and other stakeholders having pride in the company, which is an essential part of engagement, Handal says. Also, customers are less likely to do business with a company if they don’t respect its values or leadership.

5. Stay curious.

        

How Failure Made These Entrepreneurs Millions..

1. Call failure something else.

     

When was the last time anyone got hired for a senior-level position without any experience? For serial entrepreneurs, “experience” is simply another word for “failure,”. By labeling a failed effort an opportunity to expand your knowledge base, you’re framing it in a more positive light, allowing yourself to add to your credibility as a more seasoned entrepreneur.

2. Use failure as a stepping stone.

     

With every failure, identify what you know you did wrong and be conscious not to repeat your mistakes. This will bring you one step closer to success.

“I’ve never heard a millionaire entrepreneur say they hit it right the first time out,” “The bigger they are, the more they’ve typically failed.”

3. Never fail alone.

       

Entrepreneurs like to be trailblazers. But make a mistake on your own and you might have a hard time determining what went wrong. Having a partner you trust and respect can turn every failure into an opportunity for collaboration. “A good partner can help you determine what not to do again.

4. Don’t hide your failures.

     

Be proud that you were brave enough to take a risk in the first place. By being forthright about your mistakes, you open yourself up to learning from others.

Baehr’s mentor, Walter Hailey, whose insurance company Lone Star Life Insurance went on to become a Kmart insurance company, used to take an hour-long walk at 5 a.m. every morning with a group of close friends to talk about ideas, successes and failures. “By the time they got back to the house, they had solutions,” says Baehr. “They had a plan for  the day.”

5. Redefine what you want.

     

 

10 Time Management Tips That Work.

           

• Carry a schedule and record all your thoughts, conversations and activities for a week. This will help you understand how much you can get done during the course of a day and where your precious moments are going.
• Appointment books work. Schedule appointments with yourself and create time blocks for high-priority thoughts, conversations, and actions.
• Plan to spend at least 50 percent of your time engaged in the thoughts, activities and conversations that produce most of your results.
• Schedule time for interruptions. Plan time to be pulled away from what you’re doing.
• Take the first 30 minutes of every day to plan your day. Don’t start your day until you complete your time plan. The most important time of your day is the time you schedule to schedule time.
• Take five minutes before every call and task to decide what result you want to attain. This will help you know what success looks like before you start.
• Put up a “Do not disturb” sign when you absolutely have to get work done.
• Practice not answering the phone just because it’s ringing and e-mails just because they show up. Disconnect instant messaging. Don’t instantly give people your attention unless it’s absolutely crucial in your business to offer an immediate human response. Instead, schedule a time to answer email and return phone calls.
• Block out other distractions like Facebook and other forms of social media unless you use these tools to generate business.
• Remember that it’s impossible to get everything done. Also remember that odds are good that 20 percent of your thoughts, conversations and activities produce 80 percent of your results.

23-Year-Old Entrepreneur Who Turned Down $3 Billion From Facebook!

For many entrepreneurs, the dream is to launch a kickass startup and then grow it into a powerhouse.

         

That young entrepreneur is Evan Spiegel, the co-founder and chief executive of messaging service Snapchat. The mega-offer of $3 billion he is said to have turned down came from Facebook.

Below are the interesting details about the young man who just turned down billions of dollars for his startup:

      

 

• Spiegel was born in 1990. He was raised in a $2 million house in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.
• Growing up, Spiegel and his two younger sisters attended a private prep school in Santa Monica, Calif., where they were “assisted by tutors, some of whom charged up to $250 an hour.”
• Spiegel was into all things geek but wasn’t necessarily a geek himself. According to the report: “Yes, he was into computers as a kid, but he was just as proficient at snowboarding.”
• In April 2007, Spiegel’s parents divorced.
• By the time Spiegel hit high school he’d become an “expert party thrower,” and then was made social chair of his fraternity at Stanford.
• At Stanford, his connections landed him opportunities to meet major players in tech, including Google chief executive Eric Schmidt and Chad Hurley, co-founder of YouTube. His mentor was Scott Cook, the cheif executive of Intuit.
• The idea for the Snapchat was born from a conversation about sexting among his fraternity brothers.
• Spiegel dropped out a few credits shy of graduation to work on Snapchat full-time.
• Snapchat is headquartered in a bungalow on the Venice boardwalk.
• Without much media attention in the early days, Snapchat relied on word-of-mouth among teenagers. In February 2012, the app had 40,000 users and was processing 60 million messages a day.

 

Apple Preparing 65-Inch TV for Release in 2014.

Apple will probably start selling ultra-high definition televisions with 65- and 55-inch screens during the fourth quarter of 2014, according to a Tokyo-based analyst at Advanced Research Japan Co. The models will have a frameless design.

              

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, before he died in 2011, told his biographer he had “finally cracked” how to build a TV with a simple user interface that would wirelessly synchronize content with Apple’s other devices. TV is an area of “intense focus” for Apple as it seeks to add products that can build on the success of Macs, iPhones and iPads.

LG, Samsung and Corning Inc may be among the suppliers for Apple’s TVs, which may be priced at about $1,500 to $2,500.  LG Display may supply more than 70 percent of the liquid-crystal displays, Samsung may make graphic processing units and Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 may be used as the cover.