The Great Indian Tech Blog
Investing in bluechips always pays
Author: Gadget Techie, Category: India, Online Services, Stock Watch
This is a self reflection post, I have been investing in the stock market for more than 10 years now, when I was in school, I would ask my dad to buy shares on my behalf. I remember my 1st investment being in Tata Elxsi, I made a small fortune and exited out of the stock soon. Oblivious to tax liabilities.
But since then, I have made profit, made loss and sold out stocks on even value too. When I reflect upon the stocks that did well, almost all of them are bluechip stocks. I am listing here the stocks which I am currently in profit and loss. Not a small amount, but big amounts.
I hope some of you can derive lessons out of these, the loss stocks all have a story to tell.
Best Profit Stocks (for me):
1. Castrol – Boy , they love their investors. They keep giving generous bonuses and dividends and the stock price too is rock solid. I invest in this stock on dips and this stock has never let me down till now.
2. VST Industries – Wow, I bought this stock at a level of around 550 for the super dividend stock. Now its appreciated 3 times, I am keeping it for the long term.
3. ITC – this is the thing about blue-chip stocks, everytime I bought this stock, I thought it was overvalued and everytime it went up.
Worst Loss Stocks:
1. Panoramic Universal – I lost a significant amount of money in this stock, mainly because I got into the hype of a super bonus they were giving. The bonus came but the stock got pummelled due to bad fundamentals.
2. HCL Infosystems – India’s premier hardware company. This stock was also a good dividend paying stock with a stellar reputation, however poor performance recently has led to a bad valuation on the stock. I stopped further investment a few months ago into this stock.
3. CALS Refinery – Another lesson here, never invest on market hearsay, I invested due to rumours of this penny stock being the next gold mine. Guess what, nothing came out of the mine but a loss.
4. Varun Shipping – Again a stock which used to give a good dividend each year, however the shipping industry went sinking and so did this stock. Its very important to gauge the industry of your stock before investing into it.
Comprehensive Tata Sky Plus HD Review : Features and Operations review of Tata Sky’s premier HD DVR offering
Author: Gadget Techie, Category: India, Latest News, Online Services, Tata Sky, Video Review
Finally I decided to go over to the HD side, and why not get a DVR while we are at it. I decided to upgrade my Tata Sky box to a Tata Sky HD Plus set top box. HD signifies High Definition while plus signifies DVR capabilities. On Wisetechie.com we cover the installation and the basic features and formalities, Here on IndianTechBlog we cover features and operations part of the review :
HD Channels : The current HD gold bouquet has 6 full time HD channels (Star Plus HD, Star Movies HD, Star World HD, Star Gold HD,Nat GEO HD and Discovery HD) apart from that there is Set Max HD which only comes on during IPL matches.
HD quality is superb, at 1080i the images are crisp most of the time, to preserve HD quality, Start is not advertising on its HD channels and fills in remaining time with fillers. So a show which starts at 8:00pm finishes at 8:22pm on Star Plus HD and 8:30pm on Star Plus SD.
Hardware Capabilities : The set top box from Tata Sky is a fairly competitive piece of equipment offering 500GB of storage space. Apart from the space, features like live pause, rewind (live) and slow motion are really awesome. The set top box also has a cool rotating play display which tells you the state of playing from the hard disk.
The box has 2 inputs and HDMI and RCA outputs. It also promises 5.1 channel audio (which I haven’t verified). It has a super light indicator as shown in below video :
You can record 2 channels at one time, if you are recording two channels at one time, it wont let you switch channels and you will have to stop recording. This again is very counter intuitive.
Its takes a while to figure out why its giving the warning and how to stop recording one of the channels. If you had paused a similar warning is given on changing channels, this time with no reason as to why its asking you to confirm a channel change.
The recording can be done in many ways, ad hoc recording, just go to a channel and press record to record the current program. You can also choose a program in the future to record, apart from this there is also an option to record all instances of a TV series.
TV series is a little confusing though, it took me a while to figure out how to edit series settings. The manual is totally useless, offers absolutely no information on operation. Tata Sky really shortchanges customers on manual quality.
The usability of the box is severely reduced due to earlier point. I literally had to tutor my parents on usage.
Apart from the special characteristics, the set top box has the ability to set 50 favorite channels. I also observed that sometimes on changing the channel it wont come on. That’s a major issue that needs addressing.
So that’s it for this part of the review, for the earlier part of the review , head on over to Wisetechie Blog
Overall Positives :
1. Great price of Rs. 3999
2. Tata Sky Service Quality , best in DTH providers
3. Star’s bouquet of HD has no ads till now, 500 GB space is awesome
Overall Negatives :
1. Extremely complex to use for normal folks
2. No proper manual given, no guidance provided by setup staff
3. HD gold pack costs 50 rupees per month extra. So another pack you have to add to your bouquet.
Close on the football world cup launch made by Dish TV HD, Tata Sky has announced the launch of its own HD service called Tata Sky HD. It will be available to new and existing subscribers at the same cost of Rs.2599. The HD channels will be available under a new HD gold pack which will hit people with another Rs.30 per month charge.
Worth noting here is that they don’t have ESPN HD , Tata Sky has been involved in a lot of problems with ESPN Star Sports in the past, could be a reason why ESPN is giving its HD feed exclusively to Dish TV. the only HD channels announced are Nat Geo HD and Discovery HD.
Existing subscribers will get 1 year of the HD gold pack free. The dish antenna will remain the same and the only things you will need to change are the hdmi cables and STB.
ITC declares 1:1 liberal bonus, to be ratified on 23rd July
Author: Gadget Techie, Category: India, Stock Watch
In a board meeting today June 18th 2010, the board of ITC has approved a 1:1 bonus (one equity share of Re.1 for each Re.1 share held) which would double the share capital of the company from 500 crores to 1000 crores.
The board decisions are subject to approval of the members at the 99th Annual General Meeting of the company convened for July 23.
The record date and ex-bonus date shall be announced after the board meeting. Even before the bonus, ITC had given a huge 1000% bonus this year.
Stock Watch : Panoramic Universal to give a whooping 5:1 bonus
Author: Gadget Techie, Category: India, Latest News, Stock Watch
The next stock idea I present is a lesser known small cap company. Panoramic universal is a small company with a market cap of 56.48 crores. The share hit its all time high of Rs. 349 and a 52 week low of Rs. 123 lately mostly due to operator beating. The stock is currently trading at Rs. 176 on the NSE.
The stock has an EPS of 15.55 and a P/E ratio of only 11.34 compared to industry average of 20.91. Apart from that the company has shown solid performance year after year and has mostly increased profits all YoY.
The company is in the IT business and the hospitality business inside and outside India.
The company recently announced a 5:1 bonus in early May and has fixed 21 June as the record date. The current price does not justify the fundamentals of the company and I believe there is a good upside to the stock.
I have acquired the stock and you may want to acquire it to and keep for 2-3 years for a good profit on the same.
Market Cap
In other news Wipro Ltd. went ex bonus today with a good start to its ex bonus journey. the stock is currently trading at 408 levels which indicated cum bonus levels of Rs. 680 which is a cool 50 rupees profit from where I had started. Since I have a large horizon I am holding it, you might want to exit if you are a short term investor and re- enter on dips.
Disclaimer :
Please follow any advice at your own risk, we will not be responsible for actions taken on reading the items here. Please use your own research before making investments. Market investments are subject to very high risks.
I and/or my family may have certain holdings in shares listed here as of date of publication of this article.
Wipro Followup : 2.11% up , can book profit or wait for ex bonus
Author: Gadget Techie, Category: India, Stock Watch
642.55 
13.25 (2.11%)
Our stock tip yesterday panned out and you are now sitting on 2.11% gains in 1 day. You may book profits in Wipro or wait for Ex-bonus and Ex-dividend on 15th June 2010.
Stock Watch : Go Long on Wipro Ltd. Ex-Bonus and Ex-Dividend 15th June
Author: Gadget Techie, Category: India, Stock Watch
Since I am totally into share trading these days, I decided to blog about a few stocks which I think are interesting from the market point of view. I am the tertiary author of this blog but we all blog under the same pseudo name. Since I am an amateur, you are requested not to take my calls seriously, but only try and understand my approach and tell me if you think I lack somewhere.
The first stock idea I present is WIPRO :
Last close 629.30 on NSE
According to NSE India, Wipro is ex-bonus and ex-dividend on 15-June-2010. Wipro has taken a good beating from the market. From 700+ levels in March, the stock has come down to 629 despite showing good numbers in Q4 results.
The blame is to be put on the Euro economy and subsequent BP oil spill which is a client of Wipro. In anycase, I believe that the Wipro stock is a strong stock particularly since you will be able to expand your holding after 15th June with the bonus shares. Now only that you get a 6 rupees dividend and a good performer.
The share is currently trading at a P/E of 18.89 with an EPS of 33.36 v/s an industry average P/E of 20.31 (which means its discounted). Its also increased the dividend by 100% vis a vis last year to 300% i.e. Rs. 6 on a face value of Rs. 2 and the preceding falls have made it even more attractive. The bonus ratio is 2:3 which means 2 shares shall be awarded for each 3 shares owned by anyone.
The stock might have a small downturn in the short term, but in the long term , its going to be a good stock to have. Its certainly a wealth builder in my opinion.
| Market Cap | 92534.01 | EPS (TTM) | 33.36 | P/E | 18.89 | P/C | 16.89 |
| Book Value | 118.59 | Price/Book | 5.31 | Div(%) | 200.00% | Div Yield(%) | 0.63 |
| Market Lot | 1.00 | Face Value | 2.00 | Industry P/E | 20.31 |
Disclaimer :
Please follow any advice at your own risk, we will not be responsible for actions taken on reading the items here. Please use your own research before making investments. Market investments are subject to very high risks.
I and/or my family have certain holdings in WIPRO Ltd as of date of publication of this article.
Switching from Windows Mobile to Symbian : Dark Side ?
Author: Gadget Techie, Category: Asus, India, Mobile Phones, Nokia
I recently switched over to using a Symbian Mobile phone after using a Windows Mobile mobile phone for close to over 4 years. In these 4 years I had the Imate JAQ and the Asus P320. The Imate JAQ was a big solid phone whose screen broke. It didnt have a lot of features (only built in ones of Windows Mobile 5) but was sturdy nonetheless (except for the screen). The screen repair would have cost me Rs. 4000 (phone cost somewhere around 6k). That’s one reason to absolutely avoid the Imate brand in India. Blackmail type prices on service and little customer service (it was based out of Dubai if I remember).
The Windows Mobile Interface
Switch over to the Asus P320. This baby was awesome on paper, it was loaded to the core with features, GPS, WiFi, High Res Screen, Desktop Application, Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. This phone had it all and I was one of the 1st people in India to buy it. It had it all except reliability, the phone was very frail. The signal could never be received and every 3 months something would break off the phone.
The customer service was unreachable most of the time. In my 1.5 years of this phone , the GPS antenna cap broke, the stylus broke, the screen almost broke. The internal stylus lockin switch broke etc. Not only that the phone was terribly underpowered. All in all a super flop phone from Asus.
Then around 3 months ago, my brother got an extra Nokia E63. Before that I was looking to get one of those Chinese phones. These Chinese phones have a user interface very similar to Windows Mobile and also cost very little. But I thought if Asus being a branded Chinese Phone was so hopeless, that I can very well imagine the quality and service that seemingly anonymous brands would have. I decided to take the plunge and get the non touchscreen but Qwerty keyboard Nokia E63. It reminded me of my Imate JAQ except that it was 100 times lighter and a 1000 times sleeker than the bulky JAQ.
The switch
The switch from Windows Mobile to Symbian was surprisingly easy. Probably because the Windows mobile phones I had used were so underpowered that the Symbian phone seemed lightning fast in comparison. Even Chinese mobile phones (now banned mostly) were slower than my E63. Another interesting thing about my Nokia E63 is that its made in Finland while most Nokia E63s I see with people are made in China. I am hoping the Finnish pedigree makes it better in quality.
In Windows mobile even to receive bluetooth files or to send them to a folder of your choice, all this used to be hacking in itself. So I liked the intuitiveness of the Nokia E63 and its symbian interface. Its actually true that symbian is very regulated and not as versatile as the windows mobile. Infact a lot of software cannot even be thought to work in this Symbian interface, but I do not have many complaints. The speed and reliability of the Nokia E63 more than makes up for it.
I am a happy convert from the Windows Mobile franchisee to the Symbian Franchisee 
But I am looking forward to Windows Mobile 7, Windows 7 was a gamechanger in the PC domain, lets see if Windows Mobile 7 can do the same in the mobile phone segment.
How to get your latest consolidated Mutual Fund Statement online instantly
Author: Gadget Techie, Category: India
Ok, So I know this works for the following fund houses :
- Reliance Mutual Fund
- BNP Sundaram Paribas
- Morgan Stanley
- Birla Sun Life
- Principal Mutual Fund
- SBI Magnum Mutual Funds
- HDFC Mutual Fund
- ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund
In short if your mutual fund has an email ID filled in and its registrar is CAMs or Karvy, you will be able to get a consolidated statement instantly for all your investments.
To get this super product i.e. a consolidated copy of your mutual funds instantly, just goto this URL :
https://www.camsonline.com/invmailback/ConsAcstmtMBreq.aspx
Fill in your email ID, no need to fill your PAN number and fill in your password. Within 2 minutes you will get an email with a PDF attachment which will have details of all your mutual fund transactions for the selected period. Caution to Firefox users, you wont be able to edit the date. Use IE for this one.
Paypal stops and reverses all personal payments to/from Indian customers
Author: Gadget Techie, Category: India, Latest News, Online Services
In a move that has shocked the whole Indian webmaster community, Paypal Inc. has decided to block and ban all Indian payments, whether its incoming or outgoing. The only ones spared are those selling goods. If you are affected by this sudden decision , Paypal would have sent you an email that read something like :
Hello Mr. XYZ,
Your payment of [amount] has been sent back to the sender of the payment.
We reversed this payment because we have stopped allowing personal payments to be sent to or from India.
If this was a payment for a purchase of goods or services, and not a personal payment, then you may contact the buyer and have him or her resend the payment as follows: (a) click the Send Money tab, (b) select "Goods," and (c) provide a shipping address.
If this payment was a personal payment such as a gift, then we have requested that the sender find another payment method until we restore personal payments to and from India.
We are trying to resolve this issue as quickly as possible and we’re sorry for
any inconvenience.Thank you,
PayPal
No one really knows what Paypal is upto, there are rumours that its a regulatory issue, there are rumours that its a technical issue and further rumours that its an issue due to large number of scams being done in the market.
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