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2008-06-09

India stocks seen at 13,000 by end 2008 - Credit Suisse

India’s main stock index may fall to a 10-month low of around 13,000 points by end-2008, as the central bank may raise interest rates to check inflation due to record oil prices, Credit Suisse said on Monday.


"The market is still not pricing in the much lower earnings growth being forecast by corporates and banks," Nilesh Jasani, head of research at the Indian unit of the Swiss bank told reporters at a briefing.


Indian stocks fell as much as 2.5 percent on Monday on top of a 5.1 percent decline last week and has shaved off a quarter of its value so far in 2008 as foreigners sold $4.8 billion worth of stocks amid concerns of rising inflation and slowing growth.


They bought $17.4 billion of stocks in 2007, pushing up the main index by 47 percent. It was at 15,191 points on Monday.


Uncertainty ahead of national elections will also weigh on the minds of investors, Jasani said.


While the government expects the economy to grow by around 8.5 percent in 2007/08, many research houses expect Asia’s third-biggest economy to expand at less than 8 percent as the impact of previous policy tightening starts to show.


Jasnani expects the rupee to remain weak in the current year, pressured by a widening current account deficit and expects inflation at 9-9.5 percent by September.


The Indian rupee has fallen more than 8 percent in this year, hitting a 13-month low of 43.21 last month, forcing policymakers to ease offshore borrowing regulations for local firms and the central bank to intervene in the currency market.


"Every 1 percent depreciation in the rupee accounts for a 15 percent rise in the deficit bill, so we assume the government will want the currency to stop depreciating some time," he said.

Why food prices are skyrocketing

The new week started on a mixed note in overseas markets following last Friday’s memorable spikes in oil and in gold. As we expected, some posturing did emerge over the weekend regarding the melt up in oil prices. The G-8 issued a joint statement yesterday, in which they pledged to address the demand side of the oil equation by reigning in consumption, pursuing alternate technologies and addressing carbon emissions.


The group also urged producing nations to ratchet up their output as soon as possible. Ali al-Naimi, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister also tried to put a blanket on the oil market’s flames by calling Friday’s rise of $11 "unjustified." Crude was trading down nearly $2 at last check - just under $137 per barrel. Adding to the (one can now say relatively small) decline in black gold were reports that Brent crude shipments were set for a rise in the coming month. The US dollar thus got a bit of breathing room and rose to 72.40 on the index.


New York spot bullion trading opened with a loss of $1.00 this morning, quoted at $901.20 as participants will certainly look at oil prices first, but will also be watching for the release of US economic figures as regards construction spending and manufacturing activity. This is an extremely heavy Fed-speak week, with everyone from Mr. Bernanke to assorted Fed Presidents and Governors out on the circuit. No question that audiences and market participants expect some mention of the Fed’s intended dollar strategy, the spike in oil prices, and the central bank’s plans to keep the economy out of a deep recession while it fights the inflation bugaboo.


Gold touched a high of near $910 overnight but the going might prove a bit tougher today if profit-takers cash in some very attractive chips in the oil pits. India’s’ gold imports declined by 54% last month, as prices soared. The world’s largest importer of the precious metal, imported 32 metric ton of gold in May as compared to 69 tons in same month last year, according to the Bombay Bullion Association.


Silver dropped a dime to open at $17.40 and platinum lost $30 at $2039. Palladium showed no change at $430 per ounce. Holding at, or closing above the $900 level remains gold’s first task at this juncture, as the trade is well aware that much of the Friday near $25 jump required sending ’thank you’ notes (primarily) to the oil trade. Support remains visible however, as oil is not (yet) melting down, the Dow might have a difficult day (mostly on Lehman’s $2.9 billion loss) and the dollar is not exhibiting the post-Bernanke spring in its step that we saw early last week.


Well, it looks like the beginnings of some regulatory intervention in the commodities markets are in the works after the various bubbles that have been popping up within them for the past five years have attracted public as well as official attention (and not of the admiring kind). Faith Bremner, over at Gannett News reported this weekend that:


" The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has announced plans to help stabilize rising food prices, but critics say it doesn’t go far enough to rein in Wall Street speculators who have contributed to a 183 percent increase in the cost of food, crude oil and metals over the past five years.


The CFTC initiative, unveiled June 3, calls for the agency to reconsider a 17-year-old decision to allow investment banks to purchase unlimited numbers of futures contracts for commodities like wheat, corn and soybeans. All other nonagricultural market traders have limits to protect the market from excessive speculation. Some market and agricultural experts say the unregulated banks are overwhelming the commodity markets with their stacks of cash and should also have limits.


Congress began regulating the commodity futures markets after World War I for two purposes. One was to help farmers, grain elevator operators and their customers – livestock and chicken producers, food manufacturers and the like – buy and sell futures contracts to protect themselves from sudden changes in prices. The other was to create a basis for spot market prices.


“There’s no question the increased number of investors in commodities markets have really increased volatility and driven up prices,” said Patrick Woodall, a senior policy analyst with Food and Water Watch, a consumer advocacy organization. “It’s being felt in grocery stores and at overseas ports.”


As part of its plan to stabilize commodity markets, the CFTC also announced it has been investigating a sudden run-up in the cotton futures markets during February and March.


The commodities markets have always had speculators. But the amount of money unregulated speculators put in the commodities markets has exploded, from $13 billion at the end of 2003 to $260 billion as of March, according to Mike Masters, a managing member of the hedge fund Masters Capital Management LLC.


It’s not just the amount of money they pour into the agriculture markets, it’s the way they pour it, Masters said. The large investment banks and their customers overwhelmingly treat the commodity markets as if they’re stock markets – they buy and hold their contracts for long periods of time rather than buy and sell frequently, Masters said. These investors hardly ever sell. In essence, investment banks are “hoarding” commodities, treating the futures market like a virtual warehouse and driving up prices, Masters said. For example, unregulated speculators are sitting on 1.1 billion bushels of wheat futures, Masters said. That’s enough wheat to supply every American with bread, pasta and baked goods for the next two years.


“The commodities futures markets were not designed for that strategy,” Masters said. “They’re designed for bona fide hedgers who consume and deliver their wares.”


Among the many reasons food prices are increasing - high energy prices, droughts in Australia, the weak U.S. dollar, and growing economies in China and India - futures speculation ranks at the top, Masters says.


“It’s very hurtful having institutions amplify price moves by significant amounts,” Masters said. “This is a societal issue, this is something people need to know about.”


Today will still likely be a day of sorting out last Friday’s events (for both the bulls and the bears) but the building anticipation of Mr. Bernanke’s speech tonight might take precedence with the trade before it turns prices decisively into one or another direction. Remain alert however, as intra-day surprises have become commonplace.

Crude Oil Effect: India markets plunge into red

Soaring crude oil prices and fears that the global economy is going into a recession plunged India’s stock markets on Monday into the red.


The benchmark Mumbai Stock Exchange index (Sensex) fell below 15,000 by 700 points thanks to heavy selling. When the markets closed, the Sensex was at 15,128.04, down by 444.14 points from its previous close. Similarly, the Nifty was down by 107.90 points at 4519.90.


The blue-chip stocks that fell the most were Reliance Industries by 4.2 per cent at Rs 2,147.55, Tata Steel by 4 per cent at Rs 793.25, SBI down 5 per cent at Rs 1,273.80, L&T 4 per cent at Rs 2,573, Infosys Technologies 2.1 per cent at 1,943 and ACC 5 per cent at Rs 596 and ICICI Bank 4.5 per cent at Rs 734.


Marketmen said inflationary concerns due to rising fuel prices, which touched all time high of $139.12 a barrel on Friday, sparked the downfall in stocks.


Weakening trends in global stock markets and an increase in US unemployment rate also dampened the trading sentiments here. In the US, Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 3.13 per cent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 2.96 per cent.


Asian markets were also in negative zone. Singapore shares were trading about 2 per cent down while Japan’s Nikkei-225 index fell more than 2 per cent in early trade

DT target may be revised to Rs 3,92,000 cr

Upbeat over 36 per cent growth in direct tax collections last fiscal, the Government on Monday said budget estimate under this head will be revised upwards “substantially” from around Rs 3,65,000 crore for 2008-09.


Talking to reporters, Finance Minister P Chidambaram indicated that budget estimate for direct tax collections may be increased to over Rs 3,92,000 crore for this fiscal.


“The estimate will no longer be Rs 3,65,000 crore. The CBDT will meet over the next couple of days and increase the estimate upwards,” Chidambaram said after inaugurating two-day annual conference of Chief Commissioners of Income Tax here.


“Even if you take a 25 per cent increase over last year’s collection of over Rs 3,14,468 crore, the budget estimates must be revised upward very sharply,” he said. Twenty five per cent growth over the last year’s collection will push the estimate of direct tax collection to over Rs 3,92,000 crore.


When asked what is the rationale of being so upbeat on direct tax collection despite fear of slowdown in economic growth, Chidambaram reiterated that “every estimate says that Economy will still grow at 8.5 per cent this fiscal”.


Referring to non-compliance of TDS rules by the some ministries, he said, “We are not happy with TDS deductions in the Defence Ministry and Railways Ministry. We are taking steps to sensitise the authorised deductors in the government sector to comply with law and improve the TDS.” Steps are being taken to work with the Ministries of Defence and Railways. So, we are confident there would be significant improvement in 2008-09, he said.


On prosecution of tax evaders, he said directions have been issued that if during a search or survey a person is found that he has stopped filing returns for the past three years or has never filed a return, “invariably such a case will be taken for prosecution”.

Indian brokerages widen offering to lure millionaires

Indian brokerages are competing with banks to offer wealth management services to the nation’s burgeoning millionaires in a growing economy as a volatile stock market makes revenues from broking operations unstable.


So far, wealth management in India mainly included equity-linked portfolio management services and mutual funds but now the definition has widened to include estate planning, private equity, arts, among others.


India’s new millionaires, with high disposable income, want advanced financial advisory services and brokerages see this as an opportunity to diversify their revenue stream and hedge themselves from volatile equity markets.


"With the complexities in the financial market going up, its difficult for individuals to manage their own portfolios," said C.J. George, Managing Director of Geojit Financial Services Ltd.


Geojit has announced plans to enter the wealth management business which also includes rivals such as Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Kotak Securities and Edelweiss Capital.


The noveau-riche, unlike their predecessors who bought gold as a safe-haven investment, are open to more advanced assets such as private equity, real estate, arts and structured products.


"We see people want to move away from pure broking services to a broad range of wealth management," said Rashesh Shah, chairman, Edelweiss, adding people were happy with only equities when the stock markets were moving up.


Many financially well-off Indians have a habit of having a personal investment advisor and their brokers double up for the role, he said.


Broking companies, facing an income crunch because of increase competition, may seek to allay some woes through wealth management services.


Severe competition in retail broking may force some companies to offer steep discounts on commissions, which may squeeze their earnings, said Sanjay Aggarwal, national industries director (financial services), KPMG.


New services such as wealth management will help leverage the acquisition cost and maximise revenues, he added.



COMPETITION FROM BANKS


India has over 100,000 people having a net worth of over $1 million and the size is expanding by a fifth every year, said V. Vaidyanathan, executive director, ICICI Bank adding the revenue opportunity is 40-50 billion rupees for the industry.


India, along with Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and South Korea are homes for half of the 10 fastest growing markets for high networth individuals, according to KPMG.


Global firms such as HSBC, BNP Paribas, UBS, Citigroup, Standard Chartered and Societe Generale have been expanding their wealth management services in India.


Indian banks such as ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Yes Bank have also jumped into the fray to boost their fee income.


Financial services group ASK sold its brokerage business to JM Financial Services to focus on wealth management and launch private equity funds.


Edelweiss plans to boost its wealth management business and would set up 100 offices across India from the present 40, Shah said.

BSNL slashes STD rates of cellular services up to 50%

State-run telecom major BSNL on Monday announced a 40-50 per cent reduction in STD charges of cellular services under various plans.


It also announced to slash the call charges of landline services by 50 per cent.


Under the landline services, STD rates have been reduced from Rs 2.40 to 1.20 paise per minute to all networks in general and ’sulabh’ plan.


"The intra-circle call charges, to BSNL network and inter circle (STD) call charges to all the networks, has also been reduced by 50 per cent," BSNL CMD Kuldeep Goyal said.


Roaming charges under prepaid and postpaid services have also been revised.


Earlier this year, private telecom operators like Airtel and Vodafone had reduced their STD and roaming charges.

World will plunge into recession thanks to crude oil

It looks there is little doubt that crude oil prices would go past $150 per barrel soon. Iranian representative in the apex Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Sunday warned that oil prices could touch $150.


World is looking eagerly as oil prices spiraled to touch $139 per barrelk last week. The skyrocketing prices of crude oil have forced consumers now believe that the commodity’s prices could hit $150 soon.


Crude oil leapt in reaction to a decline in the U.S. dollar after the European Central Bank on Thursday signalled an interest rate hike and the U.S. reported a sharp rise in unemployment on Friday, analysts said.


Compounding the dollar squeeze were reported remarks about Iran’s nuclear programme by Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz. Analysts said the comments fanned fears of a Middle East conflict.


On Sunday, Iran’s representative to the OPEC oil cartel warned the price of crude oil is set to rise even further to $150 a barrel by the end of summer.


Eleven nations that guzzle nearly two-thirds of the world’s energy called Sunday for an urgent hike in global oil production. Japan’s energy minister Akira Amari, who hosted their meeting, warned the world could plunge into recession.

Sensex drops 500 pts on global woes, oil rise

Share prices in India fell to their lowest levels so far this year on Monday, following a sell-off in global markets, crude oil inching closer to the $140 mark over the weekend, and amid talk it would touch $150/barrel sooner rather than later.


US markets fell sharply on Friday, and Asia followed suit Monday, as concerns about the health of the US economy resurfaced after data showed unemployment increased. But stocks on Dalal Street were the worst performers
across the globe as domestic concerns weighed and talk of Indian markets in a ’bear phase’ spooked participants.


Even longer-term investors, already rattled by last week’s slide, were quick to liquidate positions, following a similar pattern among foreign institutions.


"Indian investors get weak in the knees when FIIs start selling. The fundamentals are not the same as they were a few months back, and people are starting to believe the bear phase is actually here. We are largely under performing other markets because our economy is comparatively more sensitive to the rise in oil," said Viral Doshi, independent technical and derivatives analyst.


"I think the selling will continue. I don’t expect to see any support coming in before Nifty reaches 4300 - the 38.2% retracement level from the January 2008 high to the March 2003 bottom," Doshi added.


National Stock Exchange’s Nifty closed at 4500.95, down 127 points or 2.74 per cent from Friday’s close. Intraday, it fell to a low of 4411.60--also the low so far in 2008.


Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex plunged 506 points or 3.25 per cent to 15,066.10, off the low of 14,846.18. The high was 15,202.74.


Mid-and small-cap stocks were not spared either. BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices ended down 2.83 per cent and 3.63 per cent, respectively.


Ranbaxy Laboratories (up 3.87%), Reliance Communications (1.34%), Hindalco Industries (0.2%) were the only gainers in the 30-share Sensex.


Among the index losers, Jaiparakash Associates (down 8.65%), DLF (7.39%), ONGC (7.02%), HDFC (5.99%), Reliance Infrastructure (5.65%) and Wipro (4.85%) were severely beaten down.


Realty stocks were hit the hardest as increasing probability of a slowdown in the sector, rising input costs and little chances of interest rate softening weighed on sentiment.


Being a high-beta sector, when the overall market sentiment is weak, real estate stocks tend to perform very poorly, said analysts tracking real estate sector.


BSE Realty Index shed a massive 7.38 per cent with industry leaders DLF hitting a life low of Rs 475 and Unitech plunging to 52-week low of Rs 183.05. Other realty counters Akruti City (6.72%), Anant Raj Industries (5.55%), Ansal Infrastructure (8.1%), HDIL (8.81%) and Indiabulls Realty (6.06%) were also beaten down.


BSE Healthcare Index edged higher in the afternoon as investors chose to place their bets on the defensive sector. Ranbaxy rose 3.87 per cent sending the BSE Healthcare Index up 0.53 per cent. Other sectoral gainers comprised Lupin Laboratories (8.05%), Nicholas Piramal (up 2.89%) and Sun Pharmaceuticals (2.72%).


Market breadth was negative, with 2,170 declines and 474 advances on BSE.

Rupee drops as oil triggers stocks sell-off

The rupee fell sharply on Monday, driven lower by heavy losses in local stocks as a weekend spike in oil prices tripped up Asian markets and fuelled concerns of more equity outflows.


The partially convertible rupee ended at 42.87/88 to a dollar, off a low of 42.95, but still 0.5 per cent weaker than Friday’s close of 42.66/67. It hit a 13-½ month low of 43.21 per dollar in late May.


"Oil spiked dramatically over the weekend and equity has performed poorly as well. The combination of these two factors has put pressure on the rupee," a dealer with a foreign bank said.


Dealers said the Reserve Bank of India could have sold dollars in the market at around 42.93 levels to curtail a sharp depreciation in the rupee.


The BSE Sensex fell 3.25 per cent to its lowest close in nearly three months after losing as much as 4.7 per cent in intraday trade.


It shed 5.1 per cent last week and is down about 26 per cent so far in 2008. The rupee has swayed with foreign capital flows in recent years.


Foreigners have so far dumped $4.7 billion of Indian stocks this year, pushing the rupee lower by 8 per cent.


Last year, the rupee rose more than 12 percent, driven by $17.4 billion of capital inflows into the record-breaking stock market.


Oil was trading around $137 a barrel on Monday, after making its biggest-ever one-day gain in the previous session.


High oil prices could widen India’s trade deficit and increase demand for dollars from refiners, which import about 70 percent of their crude needs.

RPL set for world record in construction of refinery: Ambani

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Petroleum Limited (RPL) on Saturday said his team is set to create a world record by constructing the new refinery at Jamnagar in less than 36 months.


The company, a unit of country’s most-valued firm Reliance Industries, is constructing an export-oriented 29 million tonnes refinery adjacent to RIL’s existing 33 million tonnes refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat.


The project was conceptualised in December 2005 and construction started in April 2006, sources in the industrial house said.


Addressing the third annual general meeting of RPL at Moti Khavdi in Jamangar, Mr Ambani said the company would ensure the refinery project is completed in less than 36 months, which will be a record.


"I am happy to announce that refinery will start generating revenues from this year itself," he said. He said on completion, this mammoth project would be the world’s sixth largest refinery.


"With the existing RIL refinery at Jamnagar, it will have a total processing capacity of 1.24 million barrels per day. This will make Jamnagar the refining capital of the whole world," Mr Ambani said.


"On completion, the RPL refinery will have the ability to process heavy and sour crude. It will also produce value added products meeting the highest quality specifications in the world," Mr Mukesh added.


He said, "during this year, the number of shareholders of RPL went up from close to 12 lakh to nearly 20 lakh. This reflects the immense confidence investors have placed in company’s future. RIL’s existing refinery was also set up in 36 months. - PTI

Markets open in red, Sensex loses 550 points

Stocks took a bad knock at the opening on Monday as traders were aggressively selling tracking declines in stocks overseas and as oil remained at record highs and domestic inflation stayed at a 3.5 year high. Real estate and power shares were the worst affected, down 4-5 per cent in early trade.


At 10:05 am, the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was down 380 points or 2.44 per cent at 15,192.74.


Among Sensex losers, Jaiprakash Associates, down 5 per cent, took the sharpest knock. BHEL (down 4.82%), DLF (4.8%), Reliance Infrastructure (4.6%), HDFC Bank (4.24%), Tata Motors (4.08%) and State Bank of India (4.05%) were also hammered.


There were no gainers in the 30-share index.


Market breadth on BSE showed 736 declines against 67 advances.


The National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was down 117 points or 2.52 per cent at 4511.30


Asian stocks were battered badly early Monday tracking losses on Wall Street on the back of negative economic data. The Nikkei 225 was down 1.7 per cent and the Straits Times slipped 2.14 per cent.


US stock ended with stiff losses on Friday as data showed unemployment rate in May rose to 5.5 per cent and as crude oil rose almost to $140/barrel. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3.13 per cent, the Standards & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 3.09 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 2.96 per cent.


Crude oil jumped by $11 on Friday hitting a record high of $139.12 a barrel on fresh tensions in the Middle East. Oil prices edged lower to $137.7 on Monday.


India’s wholesale price index rose 8.24 per cent in the 12 months to May 24, above the previous week’s 8.1 per cent, data showed Friday.

Foods that change your mood

Have you ever experienced a day when in the morning you felt great, but after lunch, you felt down and tired? What if we told you that eating certain foods could improve your mood, provide uplifting energy and make you feel like a fresh daisy?


The key to understanding the connection between the food we eat and our mood and level of alertness, lies in knowing a little about how the brain functions. The brain communicates by chemical substances passed from one nerve cell to the next. These chemicals, called neurotransmitters, are made in the brain from the food we eat. The neurotransmitters that are most sensitive to diet and influential in affecting the mood are serotonin, nor epinephrine and dopamine.


Dopamine and nor epinephrine are alertness chemicals. When they are produced we think and react more quickly, we feel more motivated, we are more attentive and overall, we are more mentally energetic. Serotonin is a calming and relaxing chemical. When produced, feelings of stress and tension decrease.


Now that you have a better understanding of the role neurotransmitters play in brain function, let’s look at the relationship between these neurotransmitters and the foods we eat.


Foods that make you feel alert: The best way to eat for alertness is to have meals that contain protein, are low in fat, and have carbohydrates that won’t drag you down. In the afternoon your brain’s supply of dopamine and nor epinephrine begins to wane.


When you supply the tyrosine (from eating protein), your brain will be ready to make it into more of the two alertness neurotransmitters (dopamine and nor epinephrine). Please do not avoid carbohydrates, as it is your main source of energy, especially the B group which is the energy-giving vitamin. Therefore, have a combination of complex carbohydrates, fibre (vegetables and salads) and a bit of protein. Some healthy protein-packed foods are: fish, sprouts, nuts, pulses, low fat paneer, skim or low-fat milk, low-fat yoghurt.


Lemons: The smell of lemons can induce the feeling of alertness. So, add lemon to all your food.


Apples, nachni, rajma, and broccoli: These foods contain boron, which is responsible for hand-eye co-ordination, attention and short-term memory. Boron-rich foods also maintain healthy bone and blood-sugar levels.


Foods that make you feel energetic for a longer time as they are low in glycemic index:


Low-glycemic carbohydrates: Brown rice, sweet potato, nachni, bajra, oats.


High-glycemic carbohydrates should be avoided: Sugar, white bread, rice cakes, wheat crackers, bagel, instant rice, rice, pasta.


Foods that make you smart: Prunes — they contain twice the antioxidants of most other fruits. Antioxidant-rich diets disable reactive oxygen molecules linked to memory loss and mental deterioration. They prevent mood swings. As they are low in glycematic index, they supply energy for a longer time. They are also high in fibre, prevent constipation, maintain blood pressure levels being high in potassium and an excellent source of iron. Low iron causes fatigue. Look for California prunes as they have no sugar added.


Foods that make you feel energised: Oranges, apples, and yoghurt — these foods are slow digesting carbohydrates and can supply a steady source of fuel for your body. Sunflower seeds contain magnesium which helps maintain normal muscle and nerve function, and keeps heart rhythm steady and bones strong. It is also involved in energy metabolism and protein synthesis. Just a handful of sunflower seeds will give you half of your daily magnesium needs.


Foods that make you happy:


Bananas: Bananas contain vitamin B6, which is known to build serotonin levels. They contain no fat, and are available everywhere.


Nuts: Walnuts (Kashmiri) are high in antioxidants, omega 3 fatty acids, prevent ageing, and are excellent sources of vitamin E.


Pistachios (Californian) are low in glycemic index, high in vitamin B and fibre, low in fat and maintain blood sugar levels. Almonds are high in antioxidants and vitamin E.


Dark chocolate: This treat releases pleasure-enhancing endorphins into the brain and also contains phenyl ethylamine, a stimulant associated with love. Hence, it makes you feel good. The higher the content of cocoa, the better you feel. It’s cocoa which contains the chemicals. Head for the darkest chocolate.


While all of the above will help you feel better throughout the day, there are also foods you should avoid if you find that you’re feeling sluggish more often than you’d like.


Water: At least eight glasses a day is the highest pick-me-up. Many times fatigue is related to thirst and not hunger. So, reach out for water.


Avoid large, high-fat meals. Fats stay in the stomach longer, diverting blood away from your brain, muscles, and other tissues, which in turn can make you feel sluggish for up to six hours.


Have at least one iron-rich food per day. Iron helps transport oxygen to your tissues. Good sources of iron include prunes Don’t eat too little. A low caloric intake leads to fatigue and irritation.


Watch your intake of alcohol and coffee. Alcohol is a sedative that can also cause dehydration. Coffee can pep you up in the short term, but can cause you to drop like a ton of bricks later on.


Avoid white sugar and white flour. It leeches the body of Vitamin B and calcium, causes constipation, and white sugar causes restlessness, lack of concentration and a quick feeling of fatigue.

McCain vs Obama: Who's better for India?

In April this year, in an informal tete-a-tete at a California fundraiser, Barack Obama casually referred to a visit he had made to Pakistan during his college days, a sojourn that had never been mentioned before in public — not even in his two best-selling autobiographies. It turned out that he had a couple of Pakistani friends during his identity-forming, collegiate years, and on the way back from visiting his mother and half-sister in Indonesia once, he had stopped by in Pakistan and spent three weeks in Karachi and Hyderabad in Sind.


Obama recalled this trip by way of maintaining he had fundamental foreign exposure from the ground up, going back a long way into his youth, unlike his more distinguished all-American Senate colleagues and political rivals, Republican John McCain and fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton. That, in addition to his mixed heritage and composite identity, he suggested, gave him better foreign policy grounding than his rivals, whose knowledge of foreign countries consisted largely of token official visits. In fact, Obama took a dig at the recently exposed ignorance among US politicians about the Islamic world, saying he knew the difference between Shia and Sunni long before he joined the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.


But his own staff, despite its considerable ethnic variety, misread his comments (at least geographically), and told the media that he had travelled to Karachi, Sind, and Hyderabad, India. In part, this misunderstanding arose because they knew of another Obama friend from India during his college days, Andhraite Vinai Thummalapally. However, it turned out despite his close friendship with Thummalapally, and his considerable knowledge of the subcontinent, he hadn’t visited Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. It was Hyderabad, Sind, which he visited.


Today, Thummalapally remains a good friend, besides being one of Obama’s "bundlers", the term used for anyone raising $100,000-plus for his campaign. President of Mam-A Inc, a mid-western company that makes blank CDs and DVDs, Thummalapally recalls how he and Obama discussed world issues and politics when they ran together (for exercise, not for office) even back in the 1980s when they roomed together. The Indian entrepreneur not only attended Obama’s wedding in 1992 but has kept in touch with him throughout his career, and is counted today as one of his close associates going beyond politics. "In his Senate office, you will find a picture of Mahatma Gandhi next to one of Martin Luther King," says Thummalapally, maintaining that Obama’s familiarity with the region is considerable.


Of course, several Democrat politicians, including Senate and House leaders Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, keep Gandhi busts or pictures in their office. The husband-and-wife Clintons, who too are well-read in subcontinental history, also speak eloquently about Gandhi. But here’s a trivial observation that suggests why Obama, because of his eclectic and unusual upbringing, may be different: He’s the only American leader who has been heard to pronounce Gandhi and Pakistan correctly — just like it’s pronounced in the subcontinent (Gaan-dhi, not Gain-dee; Paak-isthaan, not Pack-is-tan). In other conversations, Obama has also referred to Indian success in technology fields, and drawn comparisons between his father (who came to the US "without money, but with a student visa and a determination to succeed") and the experiences of Indian immigrants.


Such empathy and "connection" to immigrants from the subcontinent is only one part of Obama’s plural multi-ethnic background and wide-ranging eclectic education (American, African, even part-Asian) that makes him arguably the most unusual and exciting presidential candidate in US history — more universalist than American. In his first book, Dreams from My Father, written nearly a decade ago even before he came to Washington DC as a senator, Obama recalls the wanderlust of his mother (a white woman from Kansas who married a Kenyan exchange student) that took her to marketplaces as far apart as Marrakesh and New Delhi. He recounts his own experiences in Kenya and Indonesia, home of his biological father and stepfather respectively, including the turbulent politics of these boiling Third World countries he saw during his visits. His worldview even in those days was imbued with travels and exposures to such Third World hotspots, a clear departure from the more Atlanticist upbringing of his white contemporaries. To this day, he carries on his person, among other things, a small metal figure of Hanuman, having become familiar with the Ramayana during his days in Indonesia.


It’s this kind of exciting, open-minded, expansive outlook and intellectual growth that has drawn droves of young, idealistic first and second generation Americans, including Indian-Americans, to the Obama fold. Despite the common belief that recent immigrants are typically pro-Democrat (the proposition is questionable now, especially among wealthy Indians), and a majority of Indian-Americans back Hillary Clinton, it turns out that Obama has had significant support among Indians in this election cycle. Thummalapally aside, prominent Obama supporters include New York investment banker Anilesh Ahuja and Ohio legal eagle Subodh Chandra. Among his advisers on foreign policy and immigration are policy wonk Parag Khanna and legal eagle Preeta Bansal. South Asians for Barack Obama (SABO) was in the thick of action as much as Indian-Americans for Hillary Clinton (IAHC).


Obama’s idealism and verve has drawn young Indian-Americans like the actor Kal Penn (of Harold and Kumar fame), who confesses an aversion to politics before the young senator bounded on the national platform. "I’m not a registered Democrat, and I’ve never gotten motivated before, mostly because I wasn’t a fan of the political establishment," the actor previously known as Kalpen Mody explained recently. "But I was really inspired by Barack. I haven’t been that inspired since hearing my grandparents tell stories about marching with Gandhi."


Indeed, even a hardened political commentator like Newsweek International editor, Mumbai-born Fareed Zakaria, admitted that he empathized with Obama and his sense of personal identity. "There’s a debate taking place about what matters most when making judgments about foreign policy — experience and expertise on the one hand, or personal identity on the other. And I find myself coming down on the side of identity," Zakaria wrote in February, suggesting that like Obama he is "truly distinctive about the way I look at the world, about the advantage that I may have over others in understanding foreign affairs..." (the admiration is mutual; Obama was recently seen reading Zakaria’s book, The Post-American World, and some blogs have speculated about a cabinet position for him in an Obama administration).


Such testimonials have to some degree assuaged the doubts of Indian government observers, who for a while foresaw a Hillary Clinton-John McCain face-off in November. It was assumed to be a battle between two familiar rivals who would each bring their known proclivities to US-India relations. Conventional wisdom in Indian circles is that a McCain win will result in a broad continuation of Bush administration policies, including a possible revival of the US-India nuclear deal in the event of a favourable political alignment and atmosphere after the general elections. Beyond that, US-India ties, at least from Washington’s perspective, would continue to be largely security driven, subject to conservative impulses arising from fears of an extremist Islamist agenda to India’s west and an expanding Chinese influence everywhere. A Clinton administration would not be very different, with perhaps a little more emphasis on non-proliferation objectives (although a recent McCain speech suggests he too will go down the same path). "But with Obama, we are still not sure because he is still putting the pieces and players together," admitted one official on background, adding, "One thing we know for certain is that he, or anyone else for that matter, will not be hostile to India."


It is now widely acknowledged both in Washington and New Delhi that the two countries have gone beyond party- or individual-based foreign policy that bespoke closer ties with Democratic administrations and a rough time with Republicans in the old days. Following the tetchy years of the Republican Nixon administration, both Democratic and Republic administrations (Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr, Clinton, Bush Jr in that order) have pretty much stayed on course to improve ties with the occasional spat that both countries can live with, say officials. It won’t be any different under a prospective Obama administration.


In fact, some of the key players in an Obama administration could well be familiar India hands. Hillary Clinton is still a contender for vice-presidential nomination, and should the Obama-Clinton ticket win, she will definitely be a major player. Those mentioned as Obama’s secretary of state include Joseph Biden and John Kerry, both old hands from the Senate with deep interest in the region. McCain too is expected to draw on old hands who will be familiar with the region.


Where New Delhi will also hold its breath (aside from non-proliferation issues) is the approach of the coming US administration to the Islamic world, where the Bush regime is seen to have hit all the wrong buttons. Obama, because of a political vision evolved from a more composite upbringing, has already signalled that he is inclined to engage diplomatically with countries such as Iran, which most "thoroughbred" US politicians treat as an enemy. He was also among the earliest to oppose the war on Iraq and has promised to bring the troops home. Instead, he has indicated that the focus of his war on terror will be Pakistan.


In this area at least, Obama’s impulses are more in tune with New Delhi. Despite his abiding friendship with Pakistanis from his collegiate days, Obama appears to view a military-dominated Pakistan and the fundamentalist monarchy in Saudi Arabia with deep distrust (his Karachi visit happened during the Zia years). McCain, on the other hand, is the author of the long-running Republican coziness with the fundamentalists and militarists in Riyadh and Islamabad respectively, dispensations that India too has reservations about. Indian officials surmise that a McCain administration will be good for India in terms of bilaterals, but could also mean a world fraught with tension. But then, an Obama administration that backs away and hands over any notional victory to Islamists also cannot be good, they add.


In either event, India, as always, will have to tread carefully and tread its own path.

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