ETIG FASTEST 100 SMALL COMPANIES

DO you repent having missed the opportunity to invest in Infosys Technologies when it was a small IT company or Unitech when it was struggling to find its feet in the real estate and construction sectors. Or do you lament failing to captalise on the recent rise of Praj Industries, Core Projects or ICSA (India). Don't lose heart. In a fast growing economy like ours, there's always an opportunity to catch small but well-managed companies when they are still cheap.

We have made the task easier for you by picking up India's Fastest 100 small companies, many of which could be chartbusters of tomorrow. Since we intended to pick small heroes, we excluded companies with average market capitalisation of Rs 5,000 crore or more in the past 30 days. We also excluded banks, which operate under a different regulatory environment than companies in other sectors. These companies are not only growing fast, but seem to be well managed, as revealed by the high return on capital employed (RoCE) by them.

So, how do we define a fast growing and well-managed company? We believe that a well-managed high-growth company must meet three criteria - an average RoCE of 15% or more, average net sales growth of 20% or more and net profit growth of 15% or more in the past three years. Though this may appear too generous to many people - given the scorching pace of economic growth in India - but only around 15% of all listed companies meet these benchmarks. And more than half of them are large companies, which find it easier to exploit new opportunities. There are only about 270 small companies which meet all the above criteria besides being traded actively on the BSE.

We have used two different methods to arrive at two different sets of list. In the first list ETIG Fastest 100 Small Companies-Greater Weightage To Growth, a company's composite ranking is 0.5 times its actual RoCE plus 0.25 times its net sales and profit after tax growth in the past three years. As it is easier to grow but tougher to improve RoCE beyond a point, the ranking is biased towards high growth even if the companies rank lower down in terms of RoCE. The companies in the list are more suitable for investors with a higher risk appetite. We are referring to folks who don't mind a little deterioration in a company's finances as long as it delivers superior growth. In the second list ETIG Fastest 100 Small Companies: Greater Weightage To Return On Capital, a company's composite rank is the sum of 0.5 times its rank on RoCE plus 0.25 times its net sales and PAT growth ranks. To secure a position in this list the company not only has to show good growth, it should also have an equally high RoCE. This list is for investors who like growth but only at the cost of moderate risk. They don't want their target companies to sacrifice operational efficiency in pursuit of growth.

Indian celebs attain divine status

http://broadband.indiatimes.com/indepth/2155799.cms

Film stars and politicians from all over the world ought to envy their Indian counterparts. For, our Desi actors and leaders not only enjoy the adulation of the masses, but are also venerated by their fans. They're treated as Gods, worshipped with pious chants, incense sticks and even prasad. Whoever heard of a church dedicated to Abraham Lincoln or even Marlon Brando for that matter!

From depicting Sonia Gandhi as the eight-armed goddess Durga slaying the "demon of terrorism and corruption," to performing yagnas for Amitabh Bachchan's speedy recovery, Indians are going that extra mile to prove their adulation. Whether one dismisses these fans as overzealous sycophants or politely calls them 'admirers', they are very much a part of the Indian social fabric.


Politicians being equated to deities can be traced back to the days of Indira Gandhi. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee once called her ‘Goddess Durga’ for displaying astounding diplomatic-military skills during the liberation of Bangladesh. The recent instances of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi portrayed as Goddess Durga and now as Maharani Laxmibai of Jhansi are classic examples of how celebrities are worshipped in our country. It’s strange that in a country in which people slit each other’s throats at the mere suspicion of blasphemy, such strange acts are somehow gaining popularity.