FUTURE PRIORITIES --GET RIGHT

Get your priorities right

The time between making a financial plan and executing it should not be very high

Steven Fernandes / Oct 14, 2012, 00:50 IST

As the saying goes, ‘even with the best of intentions, things just happen’. As it did with Pravin Sinha. The thirty-nine year old has been planning to get his finances in order for a long time. But time has been a serious constraint.

Almost a year back, when he met a financial planner, a former class mate as well, he was quite overjoyed that finally there was help at hand. Sinha, a vice-president with an information technology company, met the financial planner in the latter’s office soon.
And after a long discussion, it was decided that there were some urgent steps that were needed and some long-term planning. For this, the financial planner required some financial documents related to his income, expense, assets and liabilities in order to analyse and provide the right solution.

After the first meeting, it took the financial planner nearly four months of reminders and constant follow up to get all the required documents from him. While Sinha constantly apologised saying that it would take some time to locate all the documents. Finally, he did locate them, the plan was prepared and after long discussions the implementation schedule was put in place as well.

But again due to his job commitments, Pravin somehow could not even complete the initial risk cover enhancement or any investment suggestions for almost a year. Things are still to be implemented. And for all one knows, his financial situation may have changed and he may have splurged somewhere or is planning to do so. Obviously, the financial planner is quite uncomfortable with the constant delay.

Sinha’s is not an isolated case. Financial planners have many such clients. Another one is 40-year old Raviraj Gupte, a general manager in one of the leading companies in the hospitality industry. Gupte maintained scans of all his investments and insurance documents and was therefore, able to provide all his financial documents within two weeks of starting the financial planning engagement.

But once the financial plan was done, it became difficult to contact and communicate with him since he has to travel constantly to different parts of India as well as South-East Asia.

Even though the financial plan was ready at the start of the year, it was discussed only in mid April when Gupte was available in Mumbai. Since then, another five months have passed and there is no news about the implementation of the insurance or investment recommendations. At times the emails sent to him are answered after nearly two weeks.

Consequences
In both Sinha and Gupte’s case, we find that though both are very keen in putting their financial lives in order, somehow or the other due to job commitments they are not able to give priority to their finances. They did not even feel it necessary to involve their spouse thinking that they already had other family commitments. And what is the end result.

• Both are heavily underinsured and have excess funds lying idle in savings account earning 4-6 per cent interest when the inflation is in the excess of 7 per cent. Ultimately this excess cash sometimes gets utilised in buying fancy things which might not be your need but desire.  
• Imagine if in such a situation if god forbid, either of them meet with an unfortunate event, and the family income stops, they being the sole earning members of the house. This is a possibility given the fact that today people earn a fat salary but in return they spend countless hours at office under stressful circumstances.

What’s the way ahead? Just like a manager in an organisation knows exactly what is to be done when he is supposed to achieve certain targets, we too need to prioritise our financial goals in such a way that we are constantly reminded of our very own little things which we have planned to achieve within the stipulated time. A few tips here should help.

• Keep reminders: People use gadgets like mobile phones or the ipad- off late to set reminders for their official meetings. Why not incorporate meeting your financial planner or meeting your insurance advisor to complete that pending life insurance/ mediclaim proposal, in your reminders!  
• Take responsibility: No one else but you is responsible for your financial future. The more you neglect and delay planning for your present and future, the more difficult it will be to achieve even basic goals like your retirement planning. Have you thought what would happen to your finances in the event of a job loss? Why wait for calamities to fall on you to meet your planner or to begin your investments?  
• Involve your spouse: Financial planners recommend involving the spouse in financial planning in order to ensure that one person takes charge and religiously helps in implementing the suggestions which is what is the ultimate aim of preparing a plan. It also helps that the spouse is aware of all the financial aspects related to insurance/ investments/ assets/ liabilities of the family. Haven’t we heard of several cases where on the death of the male earning member, the spouse was not even aware of how much insurance cover or loan liability her husband http://www.businessstandard.com/india/news/get-your-priorities-right/489496/

Mo Yan won the 2012 Nobel prize

(Reuters) - Chinese writer Mo Yan won the 2012 Nobel prize for literature on Thursday for works which combine "hallucinatory realism" with folk tales, history and contemporary life in China.

Mo, who was once so destitute he ate tree bark and weeds to survive, is the first Chinese national to win the $1.2 million literature prize, awarded by the Swedish Academy.

He said the award made him "overjoyed and terrified".

Some of his books have been banned as "provocative and vulgar" by Chinese authorities but he has also been criticised as being too close to the Communist Party.

While users of a popular Chinese microblogging site offered their congratulations, dissident artist Ai Weiwei said he disagreed with giving the award to a writer with the "taint of government" about him.

Mo, 57, who grew up in the town of Gaomi in Shandong province in the northeast of the country and whose parents were farmers, sets his works mainly in the land of his birth.

Mo Yan is a pen name which means "Don't Speak". His real name is Guan Moye and he was forced to drop out of primary school and herd cattle during China's Cultural Revolution.

Speaking to the state-run China News Service, Mo said he was happy to have won.

"But I do not think that my winning can be seen as representing anything. I think that China has many outstanding authors, and their great works should also be recognised by the world.

"Next, I'm going to put most of my efforts into creating my new works. I will keep working hard, and I thank everyone. As to whether I go to Sweden to receive the prize, I will wait for word from the organisers about arrangements."

"AT HOME WITH HIS DAD"

Peter Englund, head of the Swedish Academy, said Mo was "at home with his dad" when he was told of the award.

"He said he was overjoyed and terrified," Englund told Swedish television. "He has such a damn unique way of writing. If you read half a page of Mo Yan you immediately recognise it as him."

The award citation said Mo used a mixture of fantasy and reality, historical and social perspectives to create a world which was reminiscent of the writings of William Faulkner and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

At the same time, he found a "departure point in old Chinese literature and in oral tradition", the Academy said.

Englund said Mo offers "a unique insight into a unique world in a quite unique manner."

His style is "a fountain of words and stories and stories within stories, then stories within the stories within the stories and so on. He's mesmerising," Englund told Reuters television.

Mo is best known in the West for "Red Sorghum", which portrayed the hardships endured by farmers in the early years of communist rule and was made in a film directed by Zhang Yimou. His books also include "Big Breasts and Wide Hips" and "The Republic of Wine".

"My works are Chinese literature, which is part of world literature. They show the life of Chinese people as well as the country's unique culture and folk customs," Mo told reporters in his hometown, Xinhua news agency reported.

The last Chinese-born winner was Gao Xingjian in 2000, although he was living in France by that time and had taken French citizenship. His Nobel was not celebrated by the Chinese government.

CHINA HAS "WAITED TOO LONG"

Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily praised the win in a commentary on its website (www.people.com.cn).

"This is the first Chinese writer who has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Chinese writers have waited too long, the Chinese people have waited too long," it wrote.

Mo, a vice chairman of the government-backed Chinese Writers' Association, said he had nothing to say about Liu Xiaobo, the jailed dissident who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 and whose name has been banned from public discussion in China.

"His winning won't be of any help for Liu Xiaobo, unless Mo Yan expresses his concern for him," said Ai Weiwei.

"But Mo Yan has stated in the past that he has nothing to say about Liu Xiaobo. I think the Nobel organisers have removed themselves from reality by awarding this prize. I really don't understand it."

Beijing-based writer Mo Zhixu said Mo Yan, who once copied out by hand a speech by Chairman Mao Zedong for a commemorative book, "doesn't have any independent personality."

Yu Shicun, a Beijing-based essayist and literary critic, said Mo Yan was a puzzling choice for the prize.

"I don't think this makes sense," said Yu in a telephone interview. "His works are from the 1980s, when he was influenced by Latin American literature. I don't think he's created his own things. We don't see him as an innovator in Chinese literature."

On the streets of Beijing, there was pride in Mo's achievement.

"I think this is an unprecedented breakthrough, because before this they spoke of Chinese nationals getting the Nobel prize, but it was only the peace prize, never the others such as the literature, the physics and chemistry prizes," said Xu Jiebiao, 28-year-old IT consultant.

"So a Chinese getting the Nobel prize for literature will increase the national pride."

The literature prize is the fourth of this year's crop of prizes, which were established in the will of Swedish dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel and awarded for the first time in 1901.

The writer, who was in the People's Liberation Army before progressing to academia, was one of the favourites to win the award this year, according to British bookmaker Ladbrokes, along with Japanese author Haruki Murakami.

(Additional reporting by Johan Ahlander, Simon Johnson, Anna Ringstrom, Niklas Pollard, Sui-Lee Wee, Ben Blanchard and Lucy Hornby; Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Peter Millership)

Richard J. Davidson WORKS ON EMOTIONAL LIFE

The Emotional Life of Your Brain

In many human cultures emotions have been considered something suspect. Capricious, fleeting, and difficult to control, emotion is often set up as the enemy of rationality. As the field of neuroscience developed, emotional responses were often looked upon as scientific artefacts, something that distracted from studying the brain under “normal” conditions. The prime focus of study was the frontal cortex and its ability to carry out the so-called higher functions of logic and deduction.

However, neuroscience is beginning to discover that emotional responses may be more complex. Instead, they could be important cognitive elements that play a crucial role in shaping the human personality. In their new book The Emotional Life of Your Brain neuroscientist Richard J. Davidson and science journalist Sharon Begley argue that emotions are as integral a part of our personalities as our reasoning ability, intelligence, or demeanour. In fact, according to the authors, our emotional response to a situation is what makes our personality unique. “I’ve seen thousands of people who share similar backgrounds respond in dramatically different ways to the same life event,” Davidson notes in the book. The difference is due to what the authors define as each person’s unique “emotional style.”

According to Davidson, emotional style is made up of six dimensions: Resilience, Outlook, Social Intuition, Self-Awareness, Sensitivity to Context, and Attention. Each individual falls along a continuum in each of these dimensions. For example, some people may demonstrate a level of social intuition that borders on clairvoyance while others may traipse through life blissfully unaware of social cues. Most of us fall somewhere in between, and where we fall on all six of the dimensions determines our emotional style.

While the concept of emotional style may reek of pop psychology, Davidson bases his theories on patterns of neural activity and other biological mechanisms. His reliance on “hard science,” like cutting edge brain imaging techniques, sets him apart from the run of the mill self- help gurus. However, there is most definitely more than a tinge of the classic self-help ethos in The Emotional Life of Your Brain. Much of this comes from the authors’ descriptions of how an individual can, through concerted effort, change their emotional responses to external stimuli and remould their emotional style.

The idea that we can change our personality, an idea based on the scientific concept of neuro-plasticity, means we are not locked in a pre-disposed set of reactions and character traits. Instead, we carry with us the tools to tweak our traits. Davidson and Begley suggest methods that might help people reform their emotional style. Among these is meditation, which brain imagery shows can strengthen or change neural connections. The message is clear: Biology, especially psychobiology, is not destiny. We can train our brain through various techniques the same way we train our bodies with sport or exercise.

Ultimately, the message conveyed by The Emotional Life of Your Brain is upbeat and individualistic, not unlike the great bulk of self-help literature currently available. However, the authors’ citation of cutting edge science and insistence on basing his ideas in biology sets the book well apart from most other popular psychology volumes. The result is a work that manages to breathe new life into many tired self-help mantras, including the hackneyed refrain of mind over matter.

http://www.thefinancialist.com/the-emotional-life-of-your-brain-richard-davidson/

“ZERO COST- NEVER LOSS” MODEL

Not even a single day I could make Rs 1000/- for the last 20trading sessions. The reasons could be many. I call it like STORIES.

In my earlier trading days I never lost money on any given day for two months in a row.

Now there is lot of confusion, mis-reading the screen and wrong calculations…what not many things are generating tabulating for confusion. The turbulence in the mind is heavy and forcing me to take un-necessary positions causing me to PAY for IT.

I lost heavly during Jan-12 boom. I asked every body to buy in the market from last week of Dec-11 but unfortunately I kept a short position in TATASTEEL. I converted the day position in to a night position, paid heavy penality. The next day unfortunate position was taken, instead of covering the old one, we took another short position. The market zoomed like any thing. The beauty part is we lost our TWO internet connections. Calling the broker to square off the positions lead to Rs 15000 loss. So kept for one more day..loss is mounting…brick batting…blame game…Sleepless nights…everything crystallized to a loss of Rs55000 LOSS. I still remember the trauma. The suffering is heavy but I didn’t lost my smile on my face. Because I have not opted the position but failed to manage.

I have very good experience in managing my positions….MY TALL CLAIM…

Now I am not getting the confidence due to my On & Off screen management and readings…

At one time when my energies are high…I thought of building an empire for the deserving people ...needs to be supported…all is DREAM…the reality is …I am in requesting position….

The FACT is I have tremendous and stupendous STOCK MARKET knowledge…but behaving like a Stupid…loosing all opportunities for want of some thing…I have No eligibility to do any sacrifice…Only to take on the Challenges…

The WINNER is the one who accepts Challenges and convert them into success stories…where as the loser will succumbs to pressure an seek sympathy  from the …

The CAPACITIES are built on CONFIDENCE to ACHIVE and the Bench Marks of Success CYCLES goes…on..

I HAVE A DREAM OF CONVERTING MY SHARES INTO “ZERO COST- NEVER LOSS” MODEL. I STARTED WITH ONE AND WILL ADD….

Transgene Biotek Ltd.

Business Standard news coverage on Transgene Biotek Ltd. Transgene in pact with Dr Reddy's for obesity drug

Press Trust of India / Mumbai Jan 07, 2010, 20:42 IST

Biotechnology firm Transgene Biotek today said it has signed a pact with Dr Reddy's Lab to manufacture a drug named, Orlistat used in treating obesity.

The company has entered into a licensing and technology transfer agreement with Dr Reddy's Laboratories for the out-licensing of a technology to manufacture Orlistat, Transgene Biotek said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Under the terms of the compact, effective in due course of time, Dr Reddy's would gain worldwide rights to a unique technology to produce and commercialise Orlistat active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) which is developed exclusively by Transgene Biotek.

"The new alliance combines Transgene Biotek's technology with Dr Reddy's manufacturing skills, and extensive global sales and marketing capabilities" the company said.

Transgene Biotek would receive an upfront payments for certain commercial milestone, and royalties on the sale of Orlistat API in all countries worldwide.

Orlistat is used in the treatment of obesity, including weight loss and weight maintenance.

Transgene Biotek comes up with novel drug for colon cancer

BS Reporter / Mumbai Apr 26, 2010, 15:47 IST

Transgene Biotek has expanded its cancer drug pipeline by coming out with a novel drug for colon cancer. The drug is based on Transgene's proprietary technology platform using a humanised monoclonal antibody. Transgene has developed monoclonal antibodies, which efficiently kill colon cancer cells without harming normal cells.

According to a report from Economic Intelligence Unit, by 2020, 9.7 per cent of new cases of cancer in the world will be from colorectal cancer making it the third highest incidence cancer after lung and breast. Cancer accounted for 7.9 million deaths in 2007, about 70 per cent in low and middle income countries

http://www.businessstandard.com/india/news/transgene-biotek-comes-upnovel-drug-for-colon-cancer/92428/on

Transgene Biotek to raise up to Rs 500 cr via markets Press Trust of India / New Delhi Oct 01, 2010, 14:06 IST

Biotechnology firm Transgene Biotek today said it will raise up to Rs 500 crore through various domestic and international fund raising instruments.

The company's board, at its meeting held on September 30, has decided to raise Rs 500 crore through various domestic and international fund raising instruments, including foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs), global depository receipts (GDRs) and American depository receipts (ADRs), Transgene Biotek said in a filing to Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The fund raising would be subject to the approval of shareholders, it added.
     
The board also decided to increase the authorised capital of the company to Rs 75 crore from the present Rs 20 crore.
     
Shares of Transgene Biotek were today trading at Rs 59 on the BSE in late afternoon trade, up 3.69 per cent from its previous close.

Transgene in the red

BS Reporter / Hyderabad May 18, 2011, 00:00 IST

Transgene Biotek Ltd reported a net loss of Rs 2.85 lakh for the three months ended March 31, 2011, mainly due to Rs 51 lakh additional expenditure on account of currency fluctuation. Sales revenues were Rs 7.23 crore, while expenditure was Rs 6.58 crore. The profit and revenues in the same quarter of 2009-10 were Rs 15.55 lakh and Rs 1.1 crore respectively.

For the full year of 2010-11, the company registered a net profit of Rs 14.84 lakh, a decline of 61 per cent from Rs 38.16 lakh in the previous fiscal. Revenues during the year grew nearly three-fold to Rs 10 crore (Rs 3.98 crore). The bulk drug division accounted for 70 per cent of its annual revenues, with the rest coming from diagnostic services.

Transgene sells tech to TSS Export

BS Reporter / Chennai/ Hyderabad Nov 24, 2011, 00:00 IST

City-based Transgene Biotek Limited, a biotechnology company, has announced the sale of technology for recombinant human erythropoietin (rh-EPO) to TSS Export GmbH FZE, one of the group companies of Germany-based TSS group, for $5 million (Rs 26 crore).

The technology transfer and the sale of this technology is expected to be completed within 5-6 months. KK Rao, managing director of Transgene Biotek, said, “This transaction fulfils the pledge we made earlier this year to focus on revenue generation whilst monetising the sale of under utilised bio-generic drug assets, those developed by the company during the last 7-8 years, but which we now feel do not fit into our new agenda for sustained growth.”

Transgene Biotek recently commenced commercial manufacturing of DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid), an omega-3 fatty acid, which has seen explosive growth in the nutraceuticals and health supplements market.

The company is in the process of expanding its in-house infrastructure to augment production capacities for DHA and other APIs, and hopes to start commercial manufacturing of its second API (active pharmaceutical ingredient), called Tacrolimus. It is in discussion with a number of manufacturers in Europe and North America for strategic partnerships to manufacture and distribute these products, the release said.

Transgene Biotek joins hands with FII, to delist shares

The company is in the process of sending the postal ballot to all its shareholders seeking their approval

Press Trust of India / Mumbai Oct 07, 2012, 12:03 IST

Pharmaceutical company Transgene Biotek has announced that Mauritius-based Stream Value Fund has agreed to join hands on a long-term basis to support its drug discovery activity, in return for equity participation and certain rewards on drug licensing or sale.

Last week the Hyderabad-based company said it is offloading undisclosed quantum of stake to a foreign institutional investor as a result of which the company's shares will be delisted from domestic stock exchanges.

The company is in the process of sending the postal ballot to all its shareholders seeking their approval.

If delisting is successful, the management of Transgene said, it will enjoy enhanced flexibility without requirement to comply with a long list of regulators' rules and regulations which often hinder efforts to speed up the drug development process.

Transgene has a pipeline of more than six molecules in development - both novel bio-technology and bio-generic drugs, the release said.

The two recent animal studies on its oral insulin project have yielded exceptional results that give rise to confidence that Transgene will soon be in strategic partnership with a large pharma company, the company said.

Transgene Biotek to delist from Indian stock exchanges

Apart from Bombay Stock Exchange, the company is also listed on Luxembourg Stock Exchange

Press Trust of India / New Delhi Sep 04, 2012, 14:38 IST

Biotechnology firm Transgene Biotek today said that its board of directors has decided to delist its shares from Indian stock exchanges.

"The board of directors of the company at its meeting held on September 3, 2012, inter alia, has decided to delist the equity shares of the company from the all the recognised Indian Stock Exchanges," Transgene Biotek said in a filing to BSE.

Apart from Bombay Stock Exchange, the company is also listed on Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

Transgene Biotek said its proposal to delist is subject to approval of shareholders of the company and statutory approvals.

The company, however, did not assign any reason for the delisting.

Shares of Transgene Biotek were today trading at Rs 11.25 per scrip in the afternoon trade on BSE, up 4.85% from its previous close.

 Founded in 1991 by Koteswara Rao, the Hyderabad-based company is among the first biotechnology companies in India.

It has products in the therapeutic areas of cancer, auto immunity and other bio-generics apart from drug delivery devices for ailments such as diabetes and HIV infection.

FII to pick stake in Transgene Biotek

As a result of which the company's shares will be delisted from domestic stock exchanges

Press Trust of India / New Delhi Sep 10, 2012, 17:52 IST

Transgene Biotek today said it is offloading undisclosed quantum of stake in the company to a foreign institutional investor as a result of which the company's shares will be delisted from domestic stock exchanges.

Last week the company had announced that its board has decided to delist its equity shares from all the recognised Indian Stock Exchanges.

"Our announcement in the recent days has been triggered by an approach by a SEBI-registered FII to join hands with Transgene's promoters on a long term basis. This is to support company's drug discovery activity in exchange for equity participation and certain rewards on drug licensing or sale," Transgene Biotek said in a filing to BSE.

Without disclosing details such as the name of the FII or the quantum of stake to be offloaded, the company said one of the preconditions set by the investor that has approached it to support drug discovery activity was delisting.

"The investor shall join the promoter group and shall have a seat on the board, both events only, after the completion of delisting process," Transgene Biotek Managing Director KK Rao told PTI in an emailed response.

He further said the investor is backing the promoters in the delisting process for acquisition of the listed shares.

Transgene Biotek 's board has approved an exit price not lower than the floor price of Rs 25 per share.

In the event of the delisting being successful, the new management of Transgene will enjoy enhanced flexibility. It may at some point choose to increase exposure to western markets (besides Luxembourg), the company said.

As per latest data available on BSE, till the quarter ended June 2012, the promoters held 36.83% stake in the company. Out of a total public shareholding of 63.17%, FIIs held 6.99% stake.

The company further said that the lower market value of the company's stock despite progress of its product pipeline was also one of the reasons behind the proposed delisting.

The two recent animal studies on the company's oral insulin project for diabetes have yielded exceptional results that gives rise to the confidence that soon it would be in strategic partnership with a large pharma firm, it said.

"Yet we continue to see erosion in company value accompanied by perceived investor pessimism, and this has led to the approval by the board for de listing," Transgene Biotek said.

Shares of Transgene Biotek today closed at Rs 11.41 a scrip on the BSE, up a steep 4.97% from its previous close.