Ranjan Varma

Business Sutra: Connecting Beliefs to Behavior and Business

Ranjan — Tue, 07 May 2013 05:20:09 +0000

“Business Sutra: A very Indian approach to Management” is a book by Devdutt Pattanaik that I have fallen in love while reading it again and again. I was already a big fan of Devdutt’s blog and I jumped at the opportunity of reviewing the book for BlogAdda.

The Author

Let me begin with the man who has written this book. Devdutt Pattanaik is presently the Chief Belief Officer at the Future group of Kishore Biyani. His job at the Future group is not to judge or manipulate beliefs, but to expand the minds of the managers who blindly followed western management practices and open them to understand the world better and take better decisions.

Devdutt Pattanaik does not use the Doctor in his signature even though he was trained to be a Doctor. He chose the pharmaceutical industry rather than clinical practice and worked with Apollo Health Street and Sanofi Aventis and briefly with Ernst & Young. Pattanaik had a passion for the mythological stories that had come to him from listening to his father.

The Book

The index of this 432 page book lists out the following:

Introduction Connecting Belief to Business
From Goal to Gaze Decoding Western, Chinese and Indian Beliefs
Business Sutra A Very Indian Approach to Management

Business Sutra Vocabulary
Index of Sutras
How to reject this book

The crux of the book is that our belief system plays a critical role in the way we do business. Our beliefs impacts our behavior and it determines our choices. The decisions of individuals like buyers and sellers, regulators and shareholders, investor and entrepreneurs, employers and employees, vendors and customers impact the way business is done.

However, management science, a child of scientific revolution and the industrial era shuns the intangible and non-measurable beliefs and pays value to objectivity. For example, decisions are arrived at by a team through consensus following a logical process. These decisions belongs to no one but every member of the team is obliged to adhere to them, even at the cost of their personal beliefs.

Pattanaik explains that Indian thoughts may not be as efficient as the western thought or more orderly like the Chinese thought but is accommodative and inclusive. He explains:

The biblical way celebrates rule following leaders. The Greek way celebrates rule breaking forces. India celebrates both: the rule following Ram and the rule breaking Krishna. The confucian way celebrates social responsibility while the Taoist way prefers individualistic harmony. India celebrates both: the royal Vishnu and the ascetic Shiva.

The book is a totally Indian approach to doing business and draws its story telling from Hindu, Jain and Buddhist mythology. The mythological stories are applied to day to day management issues like talent management and business development.

One such interesting passage is about measurement. In management science measurement is the key to management. They say that if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage or improve it. Here’s an excerpt from the book:

Comparison is a powerful tool to identify ourselves and locate ourselves in a hierarchy. Comparisons means measurement. In Sanskrit, the word maya or delusion is rooted in the sound “ma” meaning “to measure”. For a world seen through measurement is delusion. Measurement is the matrix called maya!

Maya and satya are opposites of each other. Both are truths, but maya is truth based on comparison while satya is truth not based on comparison. Maya allows for judgment, as there is a reference scale; satya does not.

Go buy the book and give yourself a great Indian management education at just Rs 695/-

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

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PPFAS Long term Value Fund

Ranjan — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 04:59:40 +0000

PPFAS is launching a mutual fund scheme titled ’PPFAS Long Term Value Fund’ shortly.

It will be a diversified equity scheme. While 65% of the corpus will be invested in Indian equities, it has the freedom to invest in debt instruments and international equities too.

Here’s a preview of the new scheme

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Why be wary of personal finance experts

Ranjan — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 03:17:13 +0000

Dear Reader,

Congratulations, you have started making informed choices about your personal finance journey by reading up on blogs/websites/media. Now, that’s something to be ecstatic about. But it’s something to worry about, as well, and I don’t mind telling you that I am damn worried for you!

I am worried that you might end up getting more confused after reading up the articles that ostensibly “simplify” or “demystify” personal finance.

I am worried that you will drown in the information overload and suffer from decision paralysis by reading up on so many websites on personal finance. You may have no clue in who is right and who is wrong

I am worried that you’re going to fall into the trap of ‘insights and advice’, that you’re going to worship ‘numbers’ (returns, expenses, commission rates, ratios, rupee cost averaging, etc.) without worrying about the real thing, i.e., about getting started at least.

I am worried that you are going to follow bad advice and random people instead of trying to taking responsibility yourself about your financial decisions, that you’re going to be drowned by superficialities (gimmicks, contests, trivial updates).

Do not follow the herd. Do not, I repeat be the prisoner of numbers and free unsolicited advice. And conflicting opinions

There are a lot of gurus and experts in personal finance. They say even I am one. But don’t believe the gurus. Definitely not me.

Use your brain, stay simple and start exploring the changing personal finance advisory landscape. It’s your money. Don’t let anyone else spend or invest your money.

Gurus are happy increasing the size of their own followership. They know the entire ‘rules’ of keeping a reader’s attention. They can tell you 100s of “Do’s” and “Don’t” of personal finance. They know how to optimize their websites for search engines to find them. Period.

They can tell you that there are 5 steps of financial planning. They wax eloquent on the financial mistakes of lesser mortals like you. They can tell you how to invest, why to invest but not give you any specific recommendations. They conveniently hide behind disclaimers.

They can give you rule after rule after rule. They are the scientists of personal finance.

But there’s one little rub. Personal finance is fundamentally personal and varies from person to person and happens to be not a science but an art. Are you shocked? Indeed it is 90% psychology and a mere 10% number game (that’s the only number I use. And even this is a made-up statistic!).

So what you really need most dear reader is common sense. A little bit of discipline and creative money management would not hurt.

Just like many consultants, may I request you have a high disdain for the usual personal finance consultants! They don’t understand your needs and story as well as you do. What’s worse, they might not even care! Sure, they have personal finance know-how. Yes, they can mouth the rules and statistics, etc.

But look beneath the jargon and what did you find? The same-old-sh**t, and a paucity of ideas. Have they done budgeting as they recommend for you? Or for that matter, financial planning, portfolio tracking or bought the products they recommend?

Jokes aside, all this is not to say that ‘expertise and understanding of numbers’ are unimportant. Superior tracking & review and their proper understanding will make for a good personal finance journey. But the danger is a preoccupation with reading up on financial insights or the mistaking of inane activity for taking simple financial decisions.

The danger lies in the temptation to out-source (in case you have the money) personal finance ‘gurus’ who have a formula for personal finance. The danger lies in feeling under-confident and therefore not starting on your own!

If you are to manage your personal finance, you must understand your distinctive personality, you must develop your own philosophy and ethos and not have the ‘personal finance rules made by experts’ imposed on you.

So, dear reader blaze new trails. Make mistakes. Let us prove to the world that good money managers can exist without reading/trawling the internet and common sense works as the best financial advice.

Respectfully,

@rupeemanager

Not a personal finance expert by a mile. Just an aspiring storyteller on finance

*Disclosure: I have shamelessly copied the template of this letter from Manish Sinha’s post on Next BigWhat to Entrepreneurs.

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DIY Financial Planner at Rupeemanager

Ranjan — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 06:34:52 +0000

A few days back, Pattu shared my DIY Planner on Facebook with the comment :

Want to make your own financial plan? Use the elegant online tool designed by Ranjan Varma

http://rupeemanager.com/planner/#

I realized that I have never shared that planner tool on my blog! Today, on Gudi Padwa/Ugadi/Hindu New Year day, I request you to try out the planner.

After you take out the planner on a spin, let me know your questions, feedback and suggestions.

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Industry Reviews on Housing & Infrastructure

Ranjan — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:24:25 +0000

Here’s some reviews of the real estate, infrastructure and housing finance industry posted on our revamped information portal on personal finance. Your feedback is always welcome.

Real Estate & Infrastructure Industry Review:

Here’s a look at the supply demand ratio, barriers of entry and the bargaining power of suppliers & customers of the Real Estate/Infrastructure sector.

Overview of Housing Finance Industry

Housing finance disbursements are estimated to have grown by around 16.1% in Fiscal 2012 to Rs 2,044 billion (as compared with Rs 1,760 billion in Fiscal 2011). Read the full report.

Starting your stock investment journey

Here’s something you can learn from a fellow traveller of the stocks journey

Were you looking for a particular industry review? Please let me know.

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Slides of the Smart Investor Workshop

Ranjan — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 05:16:26 +0000

In the workshops, addressed to students of IIT Patna, NIT Patna, NIT Jamshedpur, BIT Mesra, Ranchi, St Xaviers College Ranchi, Jamshedpur Womens College, etc, the following slides were used to tell some stories about finance. The idea was not to throw the financial jargons on students and help them understand the basic concepts through stories.

In most places, the time constraint led to cutting short the slides. Many students wanted the presentation and I mailed it to people who asked by email.

Smart investor workshop from RupeeManager

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To Change or Not to Change

Ranjan — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 13:04:39 +0000

If you are looking for help, everybody has some advice for you. Do this or don’t do that. It’s essentially about changing something.

The other way to live your life is to accept yourself. Or forgive yourself and move on. Don’t force any change!!

So there are two approaches, 1: to change or 2: not to change!

There’s a third approach too. Don’t worry about the question of change. Accept all automatic changes that come to you :)

Because today’s holi and let’s forget all the worries and have fun.

Happy Holi

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The dangers of half baked knowledge

Ranjan — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 05:34:56 +0000

Opinion and facts often blend into each other. While writing, article the author has his/her own interpretations of the facts. We need to be aware of the limitations of the knowledge being shared by the author.

We need to constantly challenge the assumptions.

We often talk about the advantages of mutual funds, investing in equities and listening to an expert investor. At the same time, you need to be aware of:

The laggards of Mutual Funds: India has 44 AMCs, which were managing assets worth around Rs.8.26 trillion as of 31 January 2013. According to Mint research, 117 out of 329 open-ended equity schemes underperformed their benchmark indices in the past year; 98 of 298 schemes underperformed in the past three years; and 80 out of 209 schemes underperformed in the past five years: Livemint
India’s popular equity trader, Jhunjhunwala is not doing well with his stock bets. Stock picking is a great humbler!

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Opinion versus Facts

Ranjan — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 06:57:32 +0000

I observed a discussion where two guys were debating aloud, one with his facts and the other with his opinion. The guy with the facts remarked that, “What you say is your opinion, not a fact”.

The other guy responded, “My opinion is a fact!”

Have you ever been witness to such funny discussions? Check out Pattu’s post on blogger agendas in the field of personal finance.

Check out Pattu’s post on blogger agendas in the field of personal finance.

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Investments and Team Sports

Ranjan — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 07:50:40 +0000

I posted about Investing and sports and asked you if we must take investing as a game! Did you get the impression that we should take it easy?

No, even sports is serious business! We have the administrators, sports associations, commentators, media and not to forget the spectators and these people want their own pie from the games.

Imagine a game of cricket without the BCCI, ICC, Selectors, Commentators/Media and the spectators participating.

So investing is serious business too. We have the regulators, financial experts, financial institutions, media and the crowd of bystanders with each playing its role.

For an ordinary investor like you and me, we need to

figure out the agenda of these people and
stick to playing the game of investing the best we can.

Let’s play! We need to constantly upgrade our skills, iron out weaknesses and get into peak form.

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Ranjan Varma

Business Sutra: Connecting Beliefs to Behavior and Business

The Author

The Book

Most Commented Posts

PPFAS Long term Value Fund

Most Commented Posts

Why be wary of personal finance experts

Most Commented Posts

DIY Financial Planner at Rupeemanager

Most Commented Posts

Industry Reviews on Housing & Infrastructure

Real Estate & Infrastructure Industry Review:

Overview of Housing Finance Industry

Starting your stock investment journey

Most Commented Posts

Slides of the Smart Investor Workshop

Most Commented Posts

To Change or Not to Change

Most Commented Posts

The dangers of half baked knowledge

Recommended posts

Opinion versus Facts

Most Commented Posts

Investments and Team Sports

Most Commented Posts