NOĒSIS

Proliferation of “Chinese” goods!

When I went around looking for some memorabilia at the Liberty Island, US hoping to take something back home, I was surprised to see all items having a “Made in China” stamp. I repeat … all. I was stumped. I wanted to carry something back that represented the US and here, everything that represented the…
Developed vs developing world

Is there a way to differentiate between a “developed” nation and a “developing” nation by asking a single question? I think yes. When you want to find out if a particular place belongs to the “developed” category just ask a fairly rich local “What is your preferred mode of travel within the city/town anytime during…
Impact Measurement

In the recent times, there has been a lot of discussion on social performance measurement. From CSR initiatives to charity foundations and from investors to social enterprises, everybody has either adopted or has been talking about adopting social performance measurements. At the same time there is a group of people who think it is all…
Business Sustainability

There are four key ways in which we typically try to do better in business/improve profitability. Offer a cheaper product with the belief that improved affordability will increase the size of the target market. Offer a better product (at the same or higher price) with the belief that customers will appreciate the value of a…
Pricing: Loan against property v/s home loan

Simplified Definitions Mortgage Loan/Loan Against Property (LAP):A mortgage loan is given for an open end use and is given against the lien of a property. Home Loan: is given for a restricted purpose of buying/ constructing a house to stay. Typically a mortgage loan is often the most common way of raising funds for growing…
Private property v/s Shared ownership

In the real “physical” world, humans went from economies based on shared resources or common property resources as seen during the “hunter gatherer” phase of ancient human civilisation to the economies based on concepts of private property and ownership as we see today in the modern era. Interestingly, in the digital world, we have taken…
Housing and Housing Finance (Part-3)

In addition to the points discussed in the earlier post, there are a few other key elements that go a long way in ensuring access to finance. Two major aspects are discussed in this last post of this series. Credit Infrastructure: In addition to the above, comprehensive credit information systems, reliable information on house transactions…
Housing and Housing Finance (Part -2)

The Indian policymakers and regulators have been fairly active in ensuring that through a mix of adequate policies and regulatory measures there is the right kind of stimulus to keep the housing finance market growing in India. In fact, with the expansion of housing finance institutions and regulatory and fiscal support, mortgage interest rates have…