Dr M Khalid's global village blog

Startups are taking e-commerce to small towns by partnering with mom-and-pop stores to set up kiosks with product catalogues. Customers get the shopkeeper to order products they normally do not have access to. It's online shopping, offline At Nisha Textiles, a 1,200-sqft two-storeyed apparel store in Cherupuzha, a small town in Kannur district of north Kerala, a queue of customers waits for a turn to shop on a device in a kiosk. The kiosk has a catalogue of products, such as gadgets and apparel, which are not available in the town but the tech-savvy shopkeeper will order for them online. "At first, people check out the kiosk as they are curious. Then they realize that a lot of products are easily available," says Rahul V S, the 28-year-old shop owner. The kiosk in his four-decade-old shop is powered by StoreKing, a startup that enables shopkeepers in small towns help their customers buy products they normally would not have access to. These kiosks remove hurdles to online...

1. If we're sitting here a year from now celebrating what a great year it's been for you in this role, what did we achieve together? "For me, the most important thing about interviews is that the interviewee interviewsus. I need to know someone's done his or her homework, truly understands our company and the role, and really wants it. "The candidate should have enough strategic vision to not only talk about how good the year has been but also to answer with an eye toward that bigger-picture understanding of the company--and why he or she wants to be here." Randy Garutti, Shake Shack CEO 2. When have you been most satisfied in your life? "Except with entry-level candidates, I presume reasonable job skill and intellect. Plus, I believe smart people with relevant experience adapt quickly and excel in new environments where the culture fits and inspires them. "So, I concentrate on character and how well someone's matches that of my organization. ...

We all want our children to become leaders. This article has been written by: Dr. Travis Bradberry: The award-winning co-author of the #1 bestselling book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0 ,  and the cofounder of  TalentSmart , the world's leading provider of  emotional intelligence tests  and  training , serving more than 75% of Fortune 500 companies. Whether they spend the bulk of their days in the mailroom or the corner office, we want our children to grow to be courageous, passionate, and authentic. We want their actions to inspire other people to be their best, to get more out of life than they ever thought possible. As parents and caretakers of children, their path to leadership is in our hands. We can model and teach the skills that will equip them to lead themselves and others in this hyper-competitive world, or we can allow them to fall victim to the kind of thinking that makes them slaves to the status quo. It's a big responsibility—but when isn't being a parent a massi...

Bengaluru:   Tracxn , a data analytics firm that provides financial information on start-ups, is launching a start-up incubator called TracxnLabs, backed by Flipkart co-founders  Sachin Bansal  and  Binny Bansal , to invest in new companies and help them grow. "With the current pool of capital, we can easily work with 50 start-ups a year. As our capital pool increases, we can work with a much larger set of start-ups," Tracxn co-founder  Neha Singh  said. With TracxnLabs, the company plans to use its large database and research to help entrepreneurs with start-up ideas and funding trends. Tracxn aims to help speed up the process of opportunity identification and launching start-ups. "There are entrepreneurs who start up after identifying a gap in the market or an opportunity, and there are entrepreneurs who don't necessarily seek to address a gap," said Avinash Raghava, co-founder at iSPIRT, a software products lobby group. "The initiative by Tracxn would be...

The importance of staying invested over the complete life cycle ​People have a tendency of terminating their SIP schemes as soon as they see a drop in the market. This defeats the whole purpose of investing via the SIPs. Staying put with the SIP over its entire cycle enables you to bank on both the upward and downward movements of the market, apart from averaging out the buying price. If you exit during the market lows, you forego the chances of gaining more number of units when the prices are low. Generally, it is advised that SIPs should have a 3-5 years or even a longer horizon to tackle market volatility. Using Systematic Transfer Plans (STPs) and Systematic Withdrawal Plans (SWPs) ​Once you close in on your financial goals, you need not wait till the last moment and to withdraw the whole amount in one go. Rather you can make use of Systematic Withdrawal Plans to pull out money at regular intervals, thus staying invested as well as meeting your financi al needs. This as a strategy ...

At a minimum, your investment needs to counter the corrosive effect of inflation on your savings. And for an emerging economy like India, inflation will be sizable. Consider CPI inflation in India over the last two decades. Returns of different asset class(es)  Consider the chart below comparing  returns from investing in the NIFTY, SENSEX or Fixed Deposits from 1994 until now. Rs 100 invested in FDs in 1994 would be worth Rs 450 by the end of 2013 except taxes would take a chunk out every year leaving you with just under Rs 300 (3x your initial amount). In comparison, investing in the NIFTY or SENSEX would leave with you 4.5x and 5.5x respectively, with gains on stocks held for longer than 1 year do not attract tax. Note that this return does not take into account the 1.5%-2% annual returns in dividends. A comparison of different asset classes: Bank-Fd-Vs-Mf There is no doubt that bank fixed deposits (FDs) are considered safe in that you will ...

More than half of Earth's 37 largest aquifers are being depleted, according to gravitational data from the GRACE satellite system. The world's largest underground aquifers – a source of fresh water for hundreds of millions of people — are being depleted at alarming rates, according to new NASA satellite data that provides the most detailed picture yet of vital water reserves hidden under the Earth's surface. Twenty-one of the world's 37 largest aquifers — in locations from India and China to the United States and France — have passed their sustainability tipping points, meaning more water was removed than replaced during the decade-long study period, researchers announced Tuesday. Thirteen aquifers declined at rates that put them into the most troubled category. The researchers said this indicated a long-term problem that's likely to worsen as reliance on aquifers grows.  Scientists had long suspected that humans were taxing the world's underground water supply,...

  UBS  Securities India has revised its Nifty target for the end of this year to 8,600 from 9,200 earlier, citing the effects of a poor monsoon on inflation and growth. Last week,  CLSA  cut its year-end Sensex target by 3% to 28,500, owing to a delayed growth pickup. That said, there is not much optimism in the rest of the world's economic outlook as well. Ref: http://www.livemint.com/Money/pZpT3HluXsQHtdu3o5OFoO/What-ails-the-Indian-markets.html

There are only nine institutes in India among 100 universities in the 'The Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2015' Apart from 5 IITs, and IIS Bangalore, only three universities are present: Rank Institute 37      Indian Institute of Science 38      Panjab University 90      Aligarh Muslim University 96      Jawaharlal Nehru University Complete list:  URL: https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014-15/regional-ranking/region/asia?mes Higher Education  Asia University Rankings 2015

1. Offices of Chiropractors Average Pretax Margin:  16% Some question the medicinal value of their service. Hard to question their financial performance, though. 2. Other Accounting Services Average Pretax Margin:  15.5% Various accounting, bookkeeping, billing and tax preparation services in any form, handled not necessarily by a Certified Public Accountant . 3. Offices of Dentists Average Pretax Margin:  15.4% Dentists enjoy operating scale–that is, they can handle several patients at once. Some of the equipment is expensive, but hygienists don't cost much. Better yet, a lot of customers pay out of pocket. That gives dentists more pricing power relative to other medical providers. 4. Tax Preparation Services Average Pretax Margin:  15.1% Who likes doing their taxes? Exactly. 5. Sales Financing Average Pretax Margin:  15.1% These companies are popular in a credit crunch. They lend money for the purpose of providing collateralized goods through a contractual installment sales agree...