Why India is a good 3-5 year bet

I have been quite worried and am still so as to the short-term prospects for the Indian equity markets. In the short term the worries are many - the global slowdown, the possibility of our economy getting overheated, the slow pace of reform, huge market gains over the last three years and the lack of valuation support.

These issues have been bothering me for some time and continue to do so. We can have and most likely will have another correction in the markets, which can cool things down, but that will be in the short term.

However, having been recently given a mandate to look at stocks with a genuine 3- to 5-year view, the picture and nervousness change quite dramatically. There is little doubt in my mind that the country is transforming, and if you are willing to take a three-year bet, ideas abound. The longer you extend your time horizon, the more the feeling of the markets being too expensive fades.

What lies at the root of my optimism are the changes evident in both manufacturing and agriculture. The services story in India is very well-known, and it will undoubtedly be a strong growth engine, but on the margin the growth surprises will come from elsewhere.

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Hi-speed railway tracks for development in Maharashtra

The Maharashtra government has asked the railway ministry to upgrade its track in the state for 200 kilometre per hour speed to achieve double digit growth of the economy and development of backward regions.

Speaking with Business Standard after participating in the National Infrastructure Development Mission conference in New Delhi, state finance minister Jayant Patil said, "We all know that railways were the engines of first industrial revolution in India in the late 19th and early 20th century and if we want to have manufacturing-based growth, which will provide employment to millions, the time has come to invest in the modernisation of the rail network".

He further said, "Maharashtra has always remained in the forefront of the economic development of the country and the growth of the gross state domestic production has been in the double digit mark for the last two to three years. If investments are made in the rail network, state will easily grow at the present 10 percent rate and lift the country's overall growth rate".

He said the present average speed of Indian railways is just around 55 kmph and maximum speed is about 110 kmph, which is even lower than the speed in some of developing countries."

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Telecom to farming: Mittals plan it BIG

The first export shipment in 2005 was a complete disaster. By the time the containers of mushroom, grapes and okra reached the Middle East, much of the produce had rotted.

It would have broken the back of any budding exporter, but the Bharti-Rothschild FieldFresh joint venture survived the setback. And a fortnight ago, fortune seemed to be smiling on it when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Ladowal village, near Ludhiana, to be shown its 300-acre model farm.

The visit was both an acknowledgment of the importance of the agriculture business as well as telecom major Bharti's ability to focus public attention on whatever it does.

So moved was the Prime Minister that he abandoned his prepared speech to speak extempore. "We need more corporates to enter farming for the creation of wealth," he said. That hope, at least, may take a little longer to fulfill.
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The inspiring rags-to-riches tale of Sarathbabu

When 27-year old Sarathbabu graduated from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, he created quite a stir by refusing a job that offered him a huge salary. He preferred to start his own enterprise -- Foodking Catering Service -- in Ahmedabad.

He was inspired by his mother who once sold idlis on the pavements of Chennai, to educate him and his siblings. It was a dream come true, when Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy lit the traditional lamp and inaugurated Sarathbabu's enterprise

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