In August 2000, Fortune magazine published an article titled ‘10 Stocks to Last the Decade.’ The sub-head read ‘Here’s a buy-and-forget portfolio,’ created out of the contributions of some ‘top stock pickers’, as well as due diligence by the staff of Fortune. The fabulous 10 were: Broadcom, Charles Schwab, Enron, Genentech, Morgan Stanley, Nokia, Nortel Networks, Oracle, Univision and Viacom....

ML: Tell us how you came into the fund management business.
TP: My father was a chartered accountant and I felt that was the right thing for me to do. Before joining CA, I worked in an audit firm. Actually, I think my understanding of companies and business really goes back to those times. For instance, I remember having gone to audit an agricultural bank in Mehsana, Gujarat. The largest and...

Every few years, the government appears to take note of the fact that companies enhance promoters’ net worth through a stock listing and then attempt to keep control by ensuring that the floating stock is barely in line with the listing requirements. So the government or the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) make noises about asking companies to increase their public shareholding...