Two years in Infy

On August 10, 2011  I completed my two years with Infy. These were the years of achieving self-reliance, gaining tremendous learning experience and lots of exploration into unknown avenues with fearlessness and childlike enthusiasm.

FDI vs FII

• FDI is an investment that a company makes in a foreign country whereas FII is an investment made by an investor into the markets of a foreign nation.
• FII can enter and exit the market easily whereas FDI can not enter and withdraw from the market that easily.
• FDI targets specific enterprise whereas FII increases capital availability in general.
• FDI is considered more stable than FII.

Microsoft’s layoff email to employees

From: Steve Ballmer
Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2009
To: Microsoft - All Employees
Subject: Update: Realigning Resources and Reducing Costs

In January, in response to the global economic downturn, I announced our plan to adjust the company’s cost structure through spending reductions and job eliminations. Today, we are implementing the second phase of this plan.

This is difficult news to share. Because our success at Microsoft has always been the direct result of the talent, hard work, and commitment of our people, eliminating positions is hard.

Today’s action includes positions in the United States and in a number of countries around the world. In the US, affected employees will be notified directly by their managers today. In other countries, local leadership teams will provide more specific information about the impact to their organizations.

With this announcement, we are mostly but not all done with the planned 5,000 job eliminations by June 2010. We are moving quickly to reach this target in response to consistent feedback from our people and business groups that it’s important to make decisions and reduce uncertainty for employees as quickly as possible, and so that organizations can concentrate their efforts and resources on strategic objectives.

As we move forward, we will continue to closely monitor the impact of the economic downturn on the company and if necessary, take further actions on our cost structure including additional job eliminations.

For those of you directly affected by today’s announcement, I want to thank you for your contribution to Microsoft and assure you that we will continue to provide support as we did during the previous job eliminations.

And for everyone across the company, I want to reemphasize how much I appreciate the way you have pulled together to help the company respond to this difficult economic environment. There’s no doubt that these are very challenging times. But together, we are making the right choices to ensure that we will continue to deliver great products and position ourselves for strong future growth and profitability.

Thank you for your continued hard work, commitment, and focus.

Steve

BEING B-U-S-Y (The Devil's Convention)

Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his evil angels, he said "We can't keep the Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from conservative values.

But we can do something else. We can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship in Christ. If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken.

So let them go to church, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time so they can't gain that experience in Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do, angels. Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"

"How shall we do this?" shouted his angels.

"Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent unnumbered schemes to occupy their minds," he answered.

"Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, then borrow, borrow, borrow. Convince the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6 or 7 days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day, so they can afford their lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work."

"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that small still voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive, to keep the TV, VCR, DVDs, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their homes. And see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical, contradictory music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ."

"Fill their coffee-tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk-mail, sweepstakes, mail-order catalogues and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes."

"Even in their recreation let them be excessive. Have them return from the recreation exhausted, disquieted and unprepared for the coming week. Don't let them go out to nature to reflect on God's wonders. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead."

"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotions."

"Let them be involved in soul-winning, but crowd their lives with so many causes that they have no time to seek power from Christ. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause."

It was quite a convention in the end. The evil angels went to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busy, busy, busy and rush here and there.

Has the devil been successful in his scheme?

You be the judge.

How about this definition of BUSY: Being Under Satan's Yoke

Satan's goal is to take our minds away from Christ and steer us towards the cares of the world. God wants us to enjoy life, but He must be first. If we are too busy for God, then we are too busy!

A beginner's guide to stocks

It’s Long-term

Only invest money that you dont need for at least 5 years. Rather put your money only if you can lose ‘all’ of it. A holding period of more than one year not only reduces the possibility of loss, but also ensures that you will be treated better on tax front, as there is no tax on capital gains if the holding period is more than one year.

Study and invest

Not knowing about the possible outcomes of your actions is the true risk of investing in equities. Never invest on tips. Try to find information on the stocks and mutual funds you intend to invest in. A good track record across market cycles, while not a guarantee of future performance, reduces possibilites of future underperformace.

Direct or indirect

Should I invest on my own? The answer is no – if you do not have the time, expertise and inclination to research into ‘investment opportunities’ and if investing is not a full time activity for you. In such circumstances, it makes sense to hire an expert and invest through them. The transactional costs – such as demat charges, brokerage - are a deterrent for those with a a small investment corpus. This is where mutual funds come in as they start as low as Rs 500 and in some cases even at Rs 100 per month in the form of micro SIP.

SIP route

Systematic investment plan (SIP) is one of the better options for investing in the stock markets. Exposure at various time intervals helps reduce the risk associate with the market timing.

Index fund

In a rising market, the first to rise will be the front rung stocks. Index funds that track Nifty and Sensex help you to tap the opportunity. You just have to ensure that the fund will have least tracking error and minimal cost of the offering.

Equity linked saving scheme (ELSS)

Those who want to invest in equities and avail of tax breaks, equity linked saving schemes are the option. A scheme such as Franklin Templeton Index Tax can offer you a channel to invest in index while you enjoy a tax break.

Pitfalls to avoid

New fund offers (NFO) are best avoided if there is a lack of track record. Unit linked insurance plans are good only for those who typically have a term of more than 20 years on mind. If your investment horizon is three years mutual funds are better options. Do not get swayed by the online advisory services that claim to have 100% success ratio in day trading. Only god or a liar can claim a 100% success ratio.

There is no ‘one shirt fits all’ solution here. You have to assess your financial needs and your resources in the light of the markets. Portfolio rebalancing from time to time will further enhance the quality of the returns.

Meet Infosys highest-paid execs

Prof Marti G Subramanyam was the highest paid non-wholetime director at Rs 96 lakh (Rs 59 lakh). Other two names in the Infosys' 2007-08 were Srinath Batni, and Subhash Dhar. Batni received an annual compensation package of $316,207 (little less than Rs 1.3 crore). A member of the Infosys board, Batni is also a director on the board of Infosys Technologies (China) Co Ltd and Infosys Australia Pty Ltd.

Dhar is a senior vice-president and heads the communications, media and entertainment business unit at Infosys. He is also a member of the executive council of Infosys and serves on the board of Infosys Australia Pty Ltd. Dhar got an annual compensation package of $248,316 (a little less than Rs 1 crore), in the year 2007-08.


Among the board members, Mohandas Pai earned the highest compensation package of Rs 2.59 crore. He was followed by CFO Balakrishnan at Rs 2.36 crore (Rs 0.63 crore).

Last year, Pai was the third highest earning executive at Infosys. He received an annual package of $443,379 (about Rs 1.8 crore). This included $82,033 (approximately Rs 37 lakh) as annual salary, bonus/incentive of $308,625 (Rs 1.3 crore), other annual compensation of $31,916 (around Rs 14 lakh) and $20,805 (around Rs 9 lakh) towards long-term benefits.




The US-based Ashok Vemuri, head of BFSI and capital markets, took home a total compensation of Rs 4.04 crore (Rs 2.81 crore last year).

Last year Vemuri, had received an annual compensation of $704,111 (a little over Rs 2.8 crore).







BG Srinivas, head of European operations and an executive council member, was the highest paid employee at Infosys in the year-ended March 2009.

Last year, Srinivas received a total compensation package of Rs 3.07 crore, which includes approximately Rs 1.8 crore towards salary, Rs 1.16 crore towards bonus and incentives. This included an amount of Rs 38 kakh accruing from long-term benefits.




The CEO and MD, S Gopalakrishnan’s total compensation package stood at Rs 92 lakh (Rs 81 lakh) while co-chairman Nandan Nilekani earned Rs 91 lakh (Rs 82 lakh).

COO SD Shibulal’s Rs 87 lakh (Rs 78 lakh) was the lowest among key management personnel. NR Narayana Murthy, non-executive chairman and chief mentor, took home a commission of Rs 63 lakh (Rs 50 lakh).

Buying Guide To Cameras

Wanting to buy a camera for long? Bamboozled by the cameras around you? However, not sure how to go about hunting, what to look for? What features and how many megapixels?

You need some help in choosing your perfect one. Take a shot...



With digital cameras, it does. The overall quality of the image depends mainly on three things; quality of lens, quality & size of image sensor and image processing circuitry.

Stick to better known brands only; preferably Canon & Nikon. Both these companies do only imaging and they’re good at it too!

Millions of dollars spent by companies on advertising the ‘megapixel myth’ have brainwashed many. The fact is megapixels have nothing to do with image quality. Cramming more megapixels into a smaller image sensor can even lead to reduced picture quality.

Before buying, check out the optical zoom (more the better), LCD (size, quality), optical viewfinder (useful to frame photos in bright sunlight) and video recording (should be at least VGA quality @ 30 fps).

Also take note of the battery type, accessories (lens, flash, remote), optical viewfinder and manual modes. Some smaller cameras have really tiny and hard-to-use buttons; see if the camera fits your hand before you buy.

Cameras with touchscreen LCDs reduce the number of buttons, but attract a lot of fingerprints. Also check if the responsiveness of the screen is good enough for you.

Rechargeable batteries are convenient, but offer no means of recharging while on the move. If you’re worried about running out of power while travelling, you can go for a camera that uses standard AA size batteries.

Use high-power Ni-MH batteries, but in a pinch, you can also switch to alkaline batteries.

Prosumer refers to a class of camera that is intermediate between basic point-and-shoot and digital SLRs. They offer features suited to the more advanced user like full manual control, high optical zoom, image stabilisation (usually), high quality video and ability to attach an external flash.

But they are also usually more expensive and larger than their basic counterparts.

CCD/CMOS (charge coupled device/complementary metal oxide semiconductor): The type of image sensor used in a digital camera.

Digital zoom: This type of zoom digitally enlarges a portion of the image to make it appear bigger/closer.

Image stabiliser: A technology/mechanism by which camera shake is automatically countered (to a certain degree). It can be electronic or optical. Electronic is cheaper, not as effective.

ISO/ASA (Industry Standards Organization or American Standards Association): Denotes sensitivity to light, assigned to a number. Higher ISO/ASA means greater sensitivity and vice versa. It can help reduce camera shake, and can also lead to increased image noise.

Optical zoom: Refers to the use of movable lens elements to bring an object closer. Look for optical zoom figure, not the digital zoom.