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Shalini Amarnani 03 December 2009
Life insurance comes in a variety of plans to suit the needs of different individuals. Each insurer claims to offer its customers unique plans. Most of these are designed around some basic plans with add-on features. Here are some basic plans offered by most life insurance companies.

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It is 20 years since the Berlin Wall collapsed, ending State socialism whose most visible outcomes were the tyranny of the State, the secret police, food shortages and continuously declining living standards. It also looked like a crushing victory for capitalism. Well, it all depends on the...

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Debashis Basu on where the stock market is headed 03 December 2009
Pending further evidence, we continue to have no market forecast Last fortnight, I had said that we are entering what may be called a non-trending market. In such a market, investors, and even traders, can be easily tricked into buying and selling at the wrong time. Just when it seems that...

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BV Rao on what’s going on in the corridors of power 03 December 2009
The prime minister has written to all chief ministers asking them to take personal interest in the welfare of a section of the populace that they might not stop to even think of on a normal day: street vendors. He has asked them to ensure the implementation of the National Policy on Urban Street...

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Realty, auto and banking stocks were the major gainers in a flat market Indian markets pared gains from the day’s high on concerns over a hike in the cash reserve ratio by the central bank to suck out excess liquidity from the banking system. The Sensex declined 175 points from the day’s...

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SEBI’s recent moves to protect NSDL damage its credibility irreparably The machinations of the venerable directors of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to protect its ring-fenced chairman, CB Bhave, is threatening to ruin the credibility of the regulatory process altogether....

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A high figure of depreciation, which is a non-cash charge, can distort the net profit figure. Adding it back gives us cash accrual data, using which we have zeroed in on three stocks. Analysis by ML Research Desk One of the classic ways to figure out whether a stock is cheap or not is to...

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Vinsura Winery, formerly known as Sankalp Winery, plans to launch the wine made from the best quality Shiraaz or Zenfendel grapes next month priced at Rs1,000 and above Leading wine-maker, Vinsura Winery, will be launching three products in the premium reserve wines segment by mid-January, a...

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Sanket Dhanorkar 03 December 2009
Merely being competent at your job is not enough; you need to be a true professional. This is the idea behind Subroto Bagchi’s latest book. It is an outcome of the author’s lifelong experience of what it takes to be a professional, and the challenges that lie ahead.The book delves into the idea...

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Several funds are benchmarked to obscure indices, making it impossible to measure their performance How do we know whether a fund is doing well or not? No, it is not based on the absolute returns that a fund earns. It is based on relative returns. Funds measure their performance against an...

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The story of Bernie Madoff, one of the biggest scam artists ever When Bernie Madoff was a sophomore in New York City’s Far Rockaway High in the early 1950s, he and his classmates were each supposed to read a book and make an oral report in the class. He hadn’t read a book for this assignment....

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The Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) decision to standardise some aspects of the Power of Attorney (PoA) signed by investors is an excellent move that is, at least, five years overdue. The introduction of compulsory dematerialisation of securities for secondary market transactions...

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RBI gets tough about bounced cheques To enforce financial discipline among bank customers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked all commercial banks to introduce a tough new condition for operation of accounts with cheque facility: if cheques above Rs1 crore on a particular account of...

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Longer trading hours will mean a huge disruption for mutual funds including a delay in meeting redemption requests The Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) proposed move to extend trading hours from the current five-and-a- half hours to eight hours is only likely to increase the...

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How central banks can avoid future financial crisis William McChesney Martin (Jr) was the ninth and longest-serving chairman of the US Federal Reserve Board (from 2 April 1951 to 31 January 1970). He is known for his famous comment that it is the Fed’s job to “take away the punch bowl just as...

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Infotech is set to get back on the growth path Infotech Enterprise provides a variety of services, like geographic information system (GIS) and engineering designs, for clients like Pratt & Whitney, Tele Atlas, Bombardier, etc. In 2008-09, it acquired a design company called Time to Market....

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HUL is spending more on advertising but it is not leading to higher revenues Switch on any television channel and you will see advertisements of Dove, Fair & Lovely, Pepsodent, Lux, etc, sometimes back to back. You switch channels quickly to avoid watching those pedestrian and sometimes...

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Century Enka’s margins may be come under pressure but the stock remains reasonably priced Century Enka makes polyester yarn (47% of revenues), nylon yarn (24%) and nylon tyre-cord (27%). Its presence across multiple segments insulates it partly from business cycles. But these products are...

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If a brand loses money continuously, it is headed for extinction, not greatness Among the most misunderstood terms in business is ‘brand’. Brands have only one purpose—to create and attract customers easily, leading to profits. In that sense, how many real brands are there in the media space?...

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Jain Irrigation Systems commands a premium due to its unique business profile; so buy the dips Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd (JISL) is a unique company, pioneering micro-irrigation systems (MIS) in India and has diversified into farming. It is into drip irrigation systems, sprinkler irrigation...

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