rohitc99

Sure you can say that, unless you are based in India or have invested and understand the country dynamics. Then you can separate the signal from the noise However for me china does not fall in that category. I have no clue how to handicap the geopolitical risks and hence my comment. If one has an intimate knowledge of the country and its dynamics then they have an edge. We extend that argument to a sector too. If you dont understand the risk, why would you underwrite it? My comment was tongue in cheek and not a reflection on the country or its risk. Its just that if you have to guess and learn based on other people's opinion, then why take that risk? Just my opinion, but same has occurred with fairfax and their investments in africa v/s china. My guess is Prem watsa grew up in India. That definitely gives him a far deeper insight into the country compared to say africa or china ?

No offense to china bulls, but i reminded of munger's quote - if you mix turds and raisins when i think of investing in china tech companies. great companies, cash flow etc etc ., but politics and the geopolitical drama is a 7 footer there are enough ideas in North america or Europe for sure

do both ? percentage split can vary based how much fun you want to have

+100 ! wow, talk of contributing to the society and others

ofcourse i am only joking. None us are machines trying to maximize our networth that said, somehow the stats show that as the cost of raising children rises, birth rates are falling. Me and my wife wanted kids and did not think of the economics behind it. but at the society level, this is changing

+1 if you are a poor immigrant to begin with, then you are rich the day you make some money. when you reach the 50 percentile, you feel wealthy ! low expectation its because the reference point was much lower and hence the story is much better. Kids born to such immigrants are not this lucky. They start with much higher expectations

My takeaway from the thread - how expensive raising kids is. No wonder population growth is slowing and even dropping. I am sure my kids and their generation is already on the fence on having kids of their own and it is showing up in the stats already From a pure economics standpoint, marry - dont have kids and you can retire 20 years early

I am of indian origin and have been investing directly in the Indian markets for last 25 years. However i still hold FIH as it gives access to opportunities like BIAL which i cannot get directly (lived in bangalore for 8+ yrs too) There are some public investments like IIFL which are good investments on their own. This company is growing AUM @ 25% and could continue for a long time

I think there was some attempt in the 60s and India was caught napping which resulted in a war. I doubt there will be trust again and btw, there continue to clashes and disputes across the border

Also you have to assume an average of 3-4% depreciation on the currency on average. Its a unstated policy to continously depreciate the currency to boost exports. After the payments crisis in early 90s, the govt would never want that to happen

You will have to look beyond the sensex. 5 companies - reliance, HDFC group, infosys, and icici bank account for 40%+ of it.

+100 imagine a young munger going all in on BABA. we may have never heard of him in the alternate universe

great story and inputs from you and viking can you share more on the business ventures, without giving out personal details. what kind of opportunities are these ? how did you source them ? what was involved in running them including your effort and what was your due diligence process

Exactly and also a lot of social issues like casteism as not imposed top down. Does not mean its acceptable or fair, but it a feature of the society and the government has been fighting it for the last 75 years with some success and progress. that said, the level of freedom is very high (maybe too high sometimes). What prem has been pointing out in his letters is not hyperbole, there is a lot change happening in the country. he referenced this video ..worth watching especially from an investing standpoint too India has leapfrogged a lot of western countries from a digital infrastructure standpoint

Cannot speak for Mexico, but can for India. Its tough to compare and its changing very rapidly in India. some of the indicators are changing and quality of life is improving a lot. In the next 5 years a lot of social indicators will be much better Its difficult to say what is better ? having freedom, but worse economic indicators, or the other way around. The ideal would be both, but nothing is ever ideal In Urban India, a lot of social and economic indicators are above world average. Its the rural areas where a lot of catch up has to happen

+1 reminds me that old quote from churchil i think - Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others

This development is very positive for Fairfax India in more ways than one. For one, they will have less 'unfair' competition where political leverage is used to buy assets

absolutely and this has been the case for a long time. Only names change. And inspite of that the country continues to do fine and per capita income continues to rise

thats quite a leap of faith. Did enron or FTX make US economy a fraud. Is govt corruption only in the developing countries ? what is lobbying and regulatory capture ? There is fraud in India and all kinds of regulatory capture like any other country. But 95% of businesses are legit and creating value which is no different from the US

+1 including pharmaceuticals, paints, comestics and even food and packaging. if you dig into the chemicals value chain, oil related chemicals are everywhere till we can figure direct carbon capture at scale and right cost and somehow convert that cheaply to hydrocarbons, i cant see usage of oil go to zero. ofcourse usage of oil for fuel could drop sometime in the future based on current trends

@Gregmal have you explored platforms like fundrise ? any views on it ? https://fortune.com/2022/07/09/rental-property-homes-recession-proof-investment-fundrise-ben-miller/ thanks in advance

I have been looking at TDW and VAL too. any reason why you picked the warrants over the common ?

Most seem to be NSE 50 stocks. why not buy the index Personally i would avoid the adani group. consumer good companies are an avoid for me too ...growing low single digits and selling at 60 times PE or more. Pharma companies have a good domestic business, but their generics segment is a challenge. ITC is a good candidate for research if you have no issues with cigarrette companies. ICICI bank is doing well too. Same for HDFC. These three could do 20% CAGR for the next few years in terms of growth

i invest directly. I am a USC but also an OCI holder so that allows me to do it. did you have any specific question ?

https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/fairfax-eyes-1-5-bn-in-bangalore-airport-exit-11666808036906.html