Alibaba to take on Amazon in India

As Amazon increases its investment in India, terming it to the next trillion dollar opportunity, its Asian rival Alibaba is not far behind. Reports suggest that Alibaba is looking to a buy stake in Flipkart, India’s leading e-commerce company. 

Flipkart is also Amazon’s biggest competitor in India, which commands a 44% market share in the Indian e-commerce market, nearly three times that of Amazon’s 15%.

Alibaba already holds a stake in an Indian e-commerce company, Snapdeal, and a 40% stake in Indian online payments firm PayTM.  

It thus appears that the company is now looking to expand its footprint in India through Flipkart. If Alibaba’s deal with Flipkart goes through, it might indicate a consolidation of e-commerce players in India, creating a strong competitive front against Amazon providing Alibaba a strong foot holding in the growing Indian e-commerce market.

Rate Cut in Small Saving Schemes

The government on Friday sharply reduced interest rates on small savings schemes across the board, including that on Public Provident Fund, Senior Citizen Savings Scheme and announced the highest reduction of 130 basis points in the case of one-year time deposit, as per an office order issued by the finance ministry. The rates on small savings schemes have been reduced to align them to market rates. The new rates, therefore, will be applicable from April 1 to June 30.
  “This will enable banks to consequently reduce their deposit rates and extend loan and credit to public and borrowers at lower rates.”
 The RBI has cut the repo rate, by 125 basis points since last January, but the banks reduced their lending rate by only about 70 basis points. The RBI is slated to review its monetary policy on April 4.

How to Start Investing?

Steps to start your investment:

Apply for PAN:

• An applicant will fill Form 49A online and submit the form. OR You can approach PAN application facilitator.

• Fees for PAN application is Rs.107.

• Visit the link for further details. https://tin.tin.nsdl.com/pan

Apply for DEMAT Account:

• In India, shares and securities are held in electronically in a dematerialized or "Demat" account, instead of the investor taking physical possession of certificates. A Dematerialized account is opened by the investor while registering with an investment broker (or sub-broker). The Dematerialized account number is quoted for all transactions to enable electronic settlements of trades to take place. Every shareholder will have a Dematerialized account for the purpose of transacting shares.

• Your DEMAT Account will be maintained by Depository.

• A depository in a simple term means a place where something is deposit for storage and security, however in our capital market, this term has a lot of relevance, we define

                           “Depository as an institution that works like bank.”

• Likewise our bank holds investor fund, similarly depository maintains an account for investors securities (share, debentures, mutual fund etc) hold by them in a dematerialised or an electronic form.

• Investor used to hold the securities in the form of physical certificate which has their own disadvantages and to take a control over the irregularities of the capital market for the protection of an investor`s interest, Depository system has been introduced in India where the securities could be handled in an electronic form by the process of dematerialization.

• We have 2 depositories in India which are well known as NSDL (National securities depository limited) and CSDL (Central Depository Services (India) Limited). They interface with the investors through their agents called Depository participants (DPs). DPs could be the banks (private, public and foreign), financial institutions and Sebi-registered trading members. a where the securities could be handled in an electronic form by the process of dematerialization.

• A Depository Participant (DP) is an intermediary between the investor and the depository. A DP is typically a financial organization like a bank, broker, financial institution, or custodian acting as an agent of the depository to make its services available to the investors. Each DP is assigned a unique identification number known as DP-ID. A broker can also act as a DP. /html> a where the securities could be handled in an electronic form by the process of dematerialization.
  

Apply for Trading Account with Broker:

• Next step is to open a trading account with broker. You will be required to open an account with valid ID and address proof, bank statement and demat account. You will be required to MAP (means register) a bank account with your broker, so that whenever you sell shares the amount of sell proceeds shall directly be credited to your account. Also when you want to buy shares you will be required to give cheque from your Mapped Account.

• There are lots of broking firms in India. Now which broking firm to select is a personal perception because selection depends upon brokerage rate, fees charged for online trading, back office services etc.

• For beginners it is really necessary to practice paper trading. Paper trading means buying and selling stocks on paper. Nowadays lots of application are available for paper trading. Yes, you have to practice trading everyday to be above average at it. Just like the world's best athletes practice every day.

• Follow at least 20 to 30 blue chip stocks every day. Know more and more about companies like “What products they produce?”, “What are their revenues?”, “What are their future plan?”. Regularly visit company website for detailed information.

Last but not the least: “Don’t be a Trader be an Investor.” 

Bharti Airtel to Acquire Videocon's Spectrum

Bharti Airtel on Thursday said that it will acquire Videocon Telecom's spectrum in six circles for Rs 4,428 crore through a bandwidth trading deal. 

Bharti Airtel has entered into a definitive agreement with Videocon Telecommunications Limited to acquire, at an aggregate consideration of Rs 4,428 crore rights to use 2 x 5 MHz spectrum in the 1800 MHz Band. Bharti will acquire rights to use Videocon's spectrum in Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, UP (East), UP (West) and Gujarat.