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How to effectively manage Credit Card Debt in India!

Kaushambi — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 04:50:08 +0000

No longer are credit cards limited to the high income bracket population in India. The Indian population is now amassing credit card debts and ‘reward point’ strategies of banks. If you have a credit card debt in India, here are a few tips to keep in mind to reduce your debt.

These tips to reduce credit card debt are aimed to inform and educate the budget conscious spender about how credit card debt can spiral out of control.

Don’t use your credit card to buy groceries

Do you have a budget for your groceries every month? Then we recommend that you stay away from using credit cards to shop for your groceries because if you use your ATM Debit card or cash, you will have better control on how much you spend. You will also be able to tell instantaneously if you are within your budgets and if you aren’t, you can cut down on spending elsewhere immediately.

Make big purchases on your credit card, but only if you have the capacity to repay in time

If you’re thinking that this is common sense, think again. Many of us make big purchases like airline tickets if we see a good deal online from our credit cards. Will we be able to pay it off? "Oh I will manage it in the coming months" is what many would think.

You better be able to manage this hefty credit card debt, or else you will end up paying 15-20% interest on your credit card debt in India. Ouch! And I am not even talking about other finance & service charges which in itself are quite huge!

Manage your credit card debt by saying no to cash advances

Cash advances on credit cards in India attract an interest rate of 2-3% per month along with transaction fees.

Is it really rocket science that it is best to stay away from cash advances while dealing with credit card debt in India? Unless you are faced with an emergency, look for other borrowing options if you are cash strapped.

Most banks offer loans against FDs which are a popular choice among those who want to borrow money without breaking investments or attracting a hefty interest rate on cash advances with credit cards.

Be a smart customer – convert your credit card debt in India into a loan

If you have a credit card debt that you are unable to pay off in the near future, you may want to talk to your bank or service provider to allow you to convert your credit card debt into EMIs. Credit card issuers may offer EMI facilities to customers who are unable to pay off their credit card debts. But this option may not be the cheapest as it attracts processing fees and other conditions.

Don’t roll-on your Credit

This probably is most important of all – If you have money, try to wipe out as much as you can from your credit card dues. Never get caught in the lure of paying 5% minimum due and rolling on the credit to next month.

Nothing beats the interest rates, finance charges & other overheads charged by Credit card companies. If you keep paying that minimum due, your principal amount will never reduce, it will only increase!

Watch out for the dodgy websites

Credit card frauds are rampant and we read about them in the newspapers every now and then. But the thought of "this will never happen to me" often gets the better of us when we make online purchases from our credit cards. Make sure that you verify the authenticity and security of the website before you give any credit card details. The last thing you want is to be faced with the complication of credit card while you’re trying to figure out how to manage your own credit card debt.

And please remember, most agencies in India have started using the Credit rating system as it is in Western countries. Do not default on your payments at any cost, or you will have a lot of head-aches while procuring a loan in future!

Financial Sector Reforms: Regulatory truce in retail financial products space!

Tensing Rodrigues — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 12:30:25 +0000

The truce between SEBI and IRDA seems to be holding. Definitely the ugly spat is behind us; but is it time to sit back and relax ?

I do not think so. We need to remember that the peace came through a ceasefire, not a resolution of the conflict; the conflict continues. Under different conditions and under different generals it can erupt. Worse still, the reality on the ground is definitely not a desirable one – it is a peace that stinks of death and decay. It may not appear so from the lofty perch of the high risers in Bandra-Kurla, Basheerbagh or Raisina Hill. But to a foot soldier in the retail financial products arena, which I have been for last twenty five years, the ground reality is depressing.

Here is then what I have to propose. I shall restrict myself to just the retail financial products space : mutual funds, insurance, pension and their intersections. The rest is beyond my core competency; and I shall not comment on it.

Mind you, the purpose of these proposals is not to just make peace between the respective regulators. That is a relatively small matter; and can be dealt with by a simple “shut your mouth” order from the Finance Ministry. It is also an open secret that the tussles between the regulators (and even within) are rarely real – they are more of proxy battles between the interest groups in the large and growing market for retail financial products. And these interest groups, we need to remember, are not some rogue fly by night operators who descend upon the market from time to time to rob the unwary consumer. Such get caught soon, and are made a show of, with the ever willing connivance of the media, for public appeasement. The real way layers are the large entities, often public sector, that have the clout to move the North Block.

Reforms, therefore, call for not tinkering with the small matters like entry load or agent commission. Reforms call for setting in place a transparent and non-discretionary regulatory framework for the retail financial products space and subsequently an overhaul of the fundamental structures of these products.

We may well underestimate the importance of the small (no longer so small) buyers of retail financial products; but their sheer number makes the dirtiest trick worthwhile – the fortune at the bottom of the garbage pile.

A growing economy with a growing middle class with growing incomes is a time bomb that is waiting to explode in the retail financial products space. In the face of that the quarrel between regulators is indeed a non event. What is of greater consequence, is the resultant regulatory ineffectiveness, and, worse still, policies and statutes pernicious to the interest of the consumer.

ULIP has been the bone of contention between the two regulators SEBI and IRDA, as it is perceived to lie at the intersection of the mutual funds and insurance. Consequently, and notwithstanding the delimitation of the regulatory limits, ULIP has remained a much maligned product. Definitely the product, and moreover its positioning in the market is one of the areas calling for immediate attention.

Many believe that the problem with the ULIP is the high rates of commission that it offers to its vendors. To start with, that is a falsehood propagated by the ignorant – the rates of commission on ULIP have always been lower than those on Traditional Endowment. Further, the real problem with the ULIP is not its cost; it is its positioning that is prejudicial.

[This is 1st part in the 4 part series of post on “Time For Financial Sector Reforms”, which will be coming up shortly]

Contrarian Investing: Redefining the investing basics [Finance Friday]

Charu — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 07:48:53 +0000

I paraphrase Lord Rothschild: ‘The time to buy is when there’s blood on the streets.’

The strongly-held belief that the worse things seem in the market, the better the opportunities are for profit generation, forms the foundation for contrarian investing. A contrarian is early in investing in companies that have potential, even as the herd may be more focused on the risk associated with the company. Great investors like Warren buffet, David Dreman, Mark Ripple & John Templeton names are synonyms with contrarian value investing strategies. Their investment styles respectively are testimony to the success of contra strategy.

Generally in stock markets where stock prices move up and down on a daily basis without any change in the fundamentals of the companies illustrates herd/crowd behaviour. If you notice investments in the stock market, you will observe that they move in herds most of the time and this influences stock prices.

For example, if a company announces mega investment plan in an emerging area, the stock price of the company indicates rally immediately without looking into the prospects/gestation period, impact on financial statements, cash inflow or net earnings from the investment to be made in this project. That is often mentioned as the behavioural finance/economics which looks into the cognitive psychology to account for the irrational and illogical behaviours that modern finance had failed to explain. Many finance practitioners have explored this field further following fathers of behavioural finance namely Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky.

Over the years it’s been observed that contrarian strategies have fared well even during recession. These strategies are based on factors other than the usual parameters of choosing a sector/industry/stock. To give you an insight, here are few of the contrarian principles tried & tested:

Firstly, invest in the fundamentally sound companies that are currently overlooked among investors. Secondly, identify opportunities.

All stocks have a life cycle – attractive stocks perform – Herd follows:

Stocks acquire momentum
Momentum results in overvaluation
Stock loses its sheen & herd loses interest
Contrarian opportunity arises.

Positive changes follow & contra stocks become attractive. The cycle repeats itself; the key is to spot the catch at the right time to buy during periods when the market is characterized by maximum pessimism & foresee the downfall to exit at the right time.

As the marvel ‘Warren Buffet’ quotes it..

“Do not follow the crowd. Ignore the market, the crowd, and its fashions.”

So you cannot forge ahead with the conventional investment guidelines. If you want to have a better performance than the crowd, you must do things differently from the crowd. For a contrarian, decoding the Matrix i.e. knowledge of market dynamics & sound financial analysis is critical. Looking at the unstable & unpredictable condition of stock markets today contrarian strategy is surely going to work.

The contra strategy would differ from person to person, as it’s not learned but mastered over the years, at first instance you might not garner the profits but as it goes no gain without pain. For instance in 1969, Dreman, a renowned contrarian investor, was following the crowd as the shares of companies with negligible earnings skyrocketed and lost 75% of his net worth. The aftermath of that painful lesson was that he became a legendary contrarian investor.

The investment style would be as distinguished & individualistic as the person; Going against the tide has to be recognized as contemplative & competitive at the same time.

Are you game for it?

Finance Friday: What is Microfinance doing in Capital Markets?

Rishabh — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 07:59:00 +0000

The buzzword in stock market today is Microfinance entering Capital markets. SKS Microfinance is going to raise Rs. 163 Crore through its IPO which is in news for few weeks. The Hyderabad based institution will be priced at Rs. 985 per share and the shares were oversubscribed by 13.7 times.

CRISIL reports that the company is today’s largest MFI in India in terms of total value of loans outstanding (Rs. 29,367.20 million), number of borrowers (6.78 million), and number of branches (2029 branches in 19 states).

The microfinance concept in India took off after adapting ‘Social Collateral’ concept by Grameen Bank, Bangladesh. This includes lending to Joint liability group ( For e.g: if Rs. 10,000 is given to a group of 6 women, each woman has to make a monthly payment of Rs. 150/- if one fails, entire group defaults and interest rates are affected).

This model ensured credit discipline through mutual support and peer pressure, focusing on income generating loans and lending exclusively to women (to reduce the chances of default). Microfinance institutions in India since then started growing. SKS Microfinance, Spandana Spoorthy, Share Microfinance, Asmitha, etc were few of them who are today’s market leaders.

Today SKS has come to investors to raise capital tomorrow another will come. I am happy that in the end this is fighting poverty in India. But the question raised by Muhammed Yunus(Father of Microfinance) is

“you are promising your investors that there is a lot of money to be made and that is a wrong message because lending to poor is shown as an opportunity to make money”.

Vikram Ahuja (Founder of SKS) reaffirms about the prospects of high and assured returns which will bring funding to the sector whose needs are gigantic.

One of the major problems today in microfinance is multiple lending. Person A borrows from a MFI (Microfinance Institution) then as he’s unable to repay so he refinances his current debt with another loan from another MFI and the story continues. These MFIs charge around 24% interest charges given the risk associated with sub-prime lending. The need of the hour is to curb multiple lending and bring transparency to the system. Otherwise in near future it will create a bubble (similar to housing bubble that created problems we’re facing today)

So what can be done?

It is right that MFI still required capital to lend to these people but the answer do not lie in capital markets. The answer is Money market. Yes MFI should be given access to money market which will help them to get fund at cheaper rate. Following the Bangladesh model, RBI should institutionalize all the lenders. This will also help us to curb the parallel economy (Black money) building a better nation tomorrow.

Your thought?

Finance Friday – Green Investments for a Green Future [Part II]

Moneyworks4me — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 05:42:00 +0000

Our last post ‘Green Investments for Green Future’ spoke about Green/Clean Technology being one of the fastest growing sectors. With increasing Government support and growing public awareness and interest in eco-friendly products, these companies are poised to grow tremendously. We also mentioned three companies (Praj, Suzlon & Moser Baer), that are involved in development of alternative energy/fuels.

Taking forward our last post, we are presenting to you the Green Investments for Green Future-II, where we bring to you 3 other green companies that offer completely different eco-friendly green solutions through their products/services and are poised for future growth.

Thermax Limited:

Thermax Ltd. provides a range of engineering solutions to the energy and environment sectors. It offers products like Process/Power Boilers, Heat Recovery Boilers, Vapour Absorption Chillers, Waste Water Management, and Pollution & Environmental Control Equipments. Its Vapour Absorption Chillers alone help to reduces Green House gas emissions by almost 50%. With its expertise in recovering industrial waste heat, Thermax also helps the energy-intensive industries to tap their waste heat for power generation and reduce their dependence on fossil fuels.

Private as well as public sector companies are rapidly adopting such environment friendly products. In future, Thermax is well positioned to leverage on the available opportunities arising from rapidly growing industrial base in India.

Jain Irrigation Systems Limited

Jain Irrigation Systems Limited is mainly engaged in the manufacture and sale of irrigation systems. It offers a range of products, which mainly include drip irrigation systems, sprinkler irrigation systems, valves, water filters, green houses etc. Micro Irrigation system and components produced by the company conserves water which is getting scarce day by day. The company’s water-efficient irrigation systems help farmers to use 40 percent less water on an average, which means that a lot more water stays in the aquifer or river, where it benefits the ecosystem. Also, farmers are getting benefits in the form of "more crop per drop".

Jain Irrigation is one of the most promising green technology companies in India. Micro Irrigation impacts the environment directly by increasing the green cover. A country like India, where irrigation penetration level is still very low, offers huge opportunities for Jain Irrigation in future.

ION Exchange India:

Ion Exchange India offers a complete portfolio of advanced environmental solutions and services spanning water, liquid & gaseous effluents, solid & hazardous waste management and waste generated renewable energy, for infrastructure, industrial, municipal and household applications. The company is market leader in design and engineering of the water treatment plants in India, with market share of about 35%.

Waste water treatment provides some relief to the rapid depletion of water resources caused due to excessive use of the resource by industries. In India, Industrial waste water treatment industry is growing at the rate of almost 15% pa and is more than US $ 2bn. Though globally, the water waste management business is growing at 10-11%, India offers better growth prospects (around 20-25%) based on huge business opportunities offered by growing industrial shift towards water management and favourable government policies. Being the largest and most efficient player in the industry, Ion Exchange is expected to grow rapidly in future.

Considering future opportunities, these companies indicate a good potential in future and should be closely monitored. As we have mentioned earlier, these companies could really prove to be our best investments if caught at the right prices. Also, don’t forget to check out the fundamentals of your selected green company before you invest.

Finance Friday: Telecom Sector Back with a Louder Ring!

Viral Dholakia — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 11:41:11 +0000

Ring! Ring! Didn’t hear it? Worry not; you will hear it ringing louder as the telecom sector is up for re-rating on the back of brokerage up gradation.

First, a look at the telecom stocks on the Indian bourses: Date: July 9, 2010 –

Bharti Airtel up 10%,
Idea Cellular up 12%,
MTNL up 4%,
Tata Communications up 4% and
Reliance Communications up 3%.

When all the stocks of a sector move up at the same time, it is called re-rating of the sector prospects. In this case, the telecom sector – which was pummeled at a depressing low triggered by intense price wars amongst the over-crowded telecom operators – may well be witnessing a rating upgrade.

The refreshing upsurge comes on the back of re-rating of the telecom stocks by the financial services firm Credit Suisse citing improved environment. The report says:

“Competitive environment is improving with headline tariffs stable over the past eight months. High 3G payouts have crimped ability of challengers to go for another price war. In this backdrop, we raise our mobile margins estimates by 200-300 bps over FY11-12.
We believe that Bharti (target price Rs.360) and Idea (target price Rs.75) could give us a 27-30% upside from current levels and hence upgrade them to OUTPERFORM."

The brokerage further says that Bharti may achieve an EPS (Earnings per share) of Rs.20 for the third quarter of the 2011 fiscal, with 27% earnings growth for the next 2 years. The reasoning behind re-rating for Reliance Communications and Idea Cellular is supported by improvement in the EPS by 7% and 100%, respectively.

The sector has been under a constant buzz after the re-entry of Reliance Industries into the Telecom sector post acquisition of Infotel Broadband Services – which owns pan-India licenses of broadband airwaves. Reliance Industries has indicated that it would use the unproven long-term evolution technology for wireless broadband services rather than the WiMax standard.

Telecom analysts are of the opinion that the sector is up for positive surprises once the premium 3G services are launched. Most of the bigger players have placed big bets on the elite 3G services at a time when the earnings from the call services are accruing wafer-thin margins.

Right now, the valuations in the telecom sector are cheapest in the nearest recorded history as it has priced in almost all the negative impact, including the flash distortion that is likely to emerge by a sudden entry of Reliance Industries in the telecom industry.

In fact, many retail investors have already started buying into telecom stocks based on the sum-of-the-parts valuations of the telecom towers owned by the telecom companies. More recently, even LIC had bought a 5% stake in Bharti Airtel – a hint that the sector prospects can only improve from here and that the sector is game for consolidation very soon.

What do you feel about this re-rating scenario for the telecom sector? Could it be for real?

Can BRIC Economies forge a New Global Reserve Currency?

Viral Dholakia — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 03:37:00 +0000

The 2008 recession has turned the global currency picture upside down. The impact of the slowdown has been felt harder on the advanced economies such as the US, UK and Europe, leading to substantial drain in their currency strength and prospects.

Prior to the great recession, economists had pegged Euro as the next global reserve currency which could give tough competition to the US dollar for its decades of dominance. However, the recent spate of Greece-led turbulence in the Euro zone had almost brought the euro on the brink of breakdown, if not for the $1 trillion rescue package announced by the EU-IMF bailout deal.

With both the dollar and the euro looking weak now, the balance tilts towards the currencies led by emerging market economies such as China’s yuan, India’s rupee and Russia’s rouble. However, the above statement is far away from concluding them as a reserve currency.

China’s yuan is no divine. China has humungous amount of reserves denominated in dollar terms which renders its fortunes susceptible to the fluctuations of the US dollar and store of value in it. The world needs a global currency which does not rely on the US dollars as the single major reserve currency.

Reports indicate that the pace of recovery in the US and Europe is unlikely to witness a sharp bounce back in the near term. In fact, some analysts are as well predicting a double-dip recession in the US. With both the US and Europe still under the wraps of recession, the global GDP is unlikely to witness a fast-paced growth.

According to the IMF data, the US dollar’s share of reserves dropped from more than 62% in the previous quarter to a 10-year low of 61.5%. Meanwhile, the euro’s share fell from 27.3 per cent to 27.2 per cent. In fact, even China is diversifying away from dollar at $3.7 trillion unallocated reserves.

In fact, the euro and the dollar are losing their sheen off late. This view can be supported by the fact that their share in the global foreign exchange reserves have decreased in the Q1-2010.

Sparkling among the lot of BRIC economies is Indian currency – The Rupee.

The Indian economy has emerged relatively unscathed from the global slowdown and leading the curve. In fact, India leads the charts in terms of inbound inflows by the way of FII and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), being amongst the top out-performers on the global podium.

Mirroring this trend, the Indian Rupee has appreciated sharply from the lows of Rs.50 per dollar during recession to the highs of Rs.45 more recently, currently around Rs.47 against a dollar. However, it cannot be pegged as a global reserve currency as Indian financial markets are highly susceptible to the volatility in the global flow of funds, as witnessed during the recent recession.

Economists are of the view that the new global reserve currency should not be based upon a basket of currencies, but the special drawing rights (SDRs) which would be controlled by IMF.

More over, even Russia wants rouble to be one of the world’s reserve currencies. Russia has renewed its push to reduce dollar’s dominance. In fact, the Russian president Dmitry Medvedev opines that the world may need as many as six currency reserves rather than relying solely on the fundamentals of any particular currency as a global reserve.

Any guesses…which will be the next global reserve currency in future?

Finance Friday: India’s first ever IDR from Standard Chartered gets lukewarm response – subscribed 1.38 times !

Viral Dholakia — Fri, 28 May 2010 10:38:59 +0000

On April 2, we had posted under this very section of Friday Finance, regarding India’s first ever IDR issue by Standard Chartered Bank aiming to raise anywhere between $500-750 million through issue of 24 crore IDRs.

Every 10 IDR will be representing 1 share of Standard Chartered under which investors will have the option to convert them into shares after one year.

The subscription for the Indian Depository Receipts (IDR) of UK-based banking major Standard Chartered, which is priced in the range of Rs.100 to Rs.115, is slated to close today. The foreign bank has launched its first ever IDR to enhance its market visibility and brand profile in India.

Until now, the issue has received a tepid response as per the latest updates available on the NSE site. The IDR has just managed to garner the targeted response with subscription figures of 1.38 times as on 03.00 pm. In fact, the issue had got very nominal subscription figures of 11% during the first three days.

However, this sort of lukewarm response for the StanChart IDR has come contrary to the positive recommendations tipped by most of the brokerage reports.

IIFL had recommended in its research report as:

“SCB’s Indian Depositary Receipt (IDR) provides an opportunity for Indian investors to buy into a truly pan-Asian bank with strong presence in India, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore. The bank emerged unscathed from the recent financial crisis and has delivered a remarkable 16.5% net profit CAGR during 2004-09. It is a well-known brand in Asia, offering a full product suite, strong ability to offer cross-border financing and deal structuring, stable funding base, and a well-capitalized balance sheet.”

According to one another report by SMC Capital:

“The bad market conditions are putting pressure on the ongoing IPO of Standard Chartered IDR. However, if one closely observes, there is some opportunity emerging in the Standard Chartered IDR.”

Nirmal Bang had advised investors to subscribe the IDR:

“At current market price of 16.11 pounds Standard Chartered is trading at 14x on P/E basis and 1.8x on P/BV basis. ROE of the bank stands at 13.3%. We believe that IDR price will reflect the corresponding equity price in London of Standard Chartered Bank. At CMP of 16.11 pound the corresponding price of IDR in Rupee comes around Rs.109 which is lower than the upper band price of Rs.115.”

Broking firm Angel Securities had recommended:

“Standard Chartered Bank’s (SCB) IDR provides Indian investors a vehicle to invest in a global entity that has a global presence. As a result of its diversified presence and emerging market focus, SCB came out relatively unscathed from the sub-prime crisis and is now well poised to benefit from the ongoing recovery in emerging economies. Hence, the bank is an excellent diversified multinational banking play, with strategic positioning in high-growth emerging markets. The stock is currently trading at 1.7x CY2010 P/B vis-à-vis 2.9x and 3.8x FY2010 P/B for Axis Bank and HDFC Bank, respectively. We recommend subscribe to the issue."

Since foreign companies cannot list in India, IDR could be a good medium for the Indian investors to take part in the growth of the foreign company. But, going by the response to the StanChart IDR, it seems Indian investors are not content with either the valuations of the issue or still risk-averse to invest in shares of foreign banks.

Well, if I am missing some point, it could as well be that Indian investors are more content to invest in state-owned SBI and Bank of Baroda’s of the world? ;)

Finance Friday: Despite Global Rebound, Two-third of Shareholders still to offset Recessionary Losses!

Viral Dholakia — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 09:40:14 +0000

Isn’t rebound equal to the recovery? Not really! Read on…

The rebound in the market valuations in the global markets in 2009 has not turned out to be an all-inclusive recovery around the sphere. Despite impressive gains registered during 2009, the total shareholder returns (TSR) from two-third of the large-cap global companies are still reeling under pressure.

Only about one-third of the large-cap companies around the globe have recouped their downturn losses to generate net positive TSR for the period 2008-2009, a study by the Boston Consulting Group involving 2000 companies across 37 countries.

The study found that the top value creators in 2009, out of the sample of 182 companies, the top ten companies generated TSRs of between 126 and 269%.

However, here comes the point of climax, where the finding suggests that not all of the above top ten companies could recoup their entire 2008 losses despite heavy gains registered during the rebound phase.

Since most of these top companies were biggest losers during 2008, their TSR for the year 2009 are not enough to recoup their entire losses. Hence, the study points out this lagged phenomenon as the Rebound effect rather than a complete Recovery.

Interestingly, only four companies in the top ten – Amazon.com, Apple, Ambev and Rosneft – registered enough gains in 2009 to recover all the 2008 losses.

Accordingly, from the sample list of 182 companies roughly one-third of the global companies could recoup their previous year losses, while others are still said to be in negative on net TSR basis.

The study points out that emerging market such as Russia, China, Indonesia, Brazil and Argentina generated the highest returns while developed markets like the US and Germany has a much weaker rebound. Only Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, SA, and Turkey among the list of 40 sample countries generated enough value to recoup 2008 losses.

The Mining sector has come out with flying colors with an average TSR of roughly 125% which managed to offset its negative TSR of 46% in 2008 a best performing sector among various other industries such as food, beverages, tobacco & alternative energy space.

We have a similar story to narrate in Indian context too. Take, for instance, the Automobile industry which was worst hit by the lack of consumer demand and tightening credit, rebounded the most in this recovery phase.

As soon as recovery was sniffed on the horizon the guzzling industry witnessed a strong turnaround on the back of unwinding of the suppressed demand on the sight of a slightest rebounding clue.

However, some of the domestic sector such as Airlines and Telecom which had witnessed a fall in their valuations during the recession has still not offset their earlier losses.

In fact, telecom sector is still yielding negative returns and is perched at the same old trough levels on the back of stiff price wars. Even the prevailing lucrative valuations in the sector are not attracting investors. The fear of further erosion in earnings if price war persists in the over-crowded market is keeping investors at bay as of now.

Do you feel that the rebound can be sustained for long after such a deep crisis?