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Finance Trading Times sites brings out the latest news and happenings in a unique way about the stock markets across the globe, in the field of finance, investment, IPO's, Mutual Funds, Insurance and More. It is our purpose to provide these sites as a Guide to Insurance, Mortgage, Loans, Finance, Credit Cards, Investments, Stock Market, Interest Rate, Mutual Funds, IPO & Trading Strategies, as well as a news source for the corporate news across the globe.

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About Us

This page contains the details about the expert panel of contributors on Finance Trading Times Website. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions, complains or suggestions. The contact details (email) is provided at the end of this article.
FTT Authors: Meet the Expert panel of Contributors at FTT

FTT Articles & News Contributors and Experts Panel

The articles and news stories on Finance Trading Times are contributed by a team of financial specialists. Though based in different parts of the globe, they are connected to each other as MBA colleagues or through industry contacts:

Erica Hull:

Erica is an experienced investment accountant and writes articles on different financial segments like Accounting, Mutual Funds and IPO's for companies across the globe. She also writes about financial training courses and contents. Earlier she was in London (UK), now she is a based in Netherlands, Europe. (See LinkedIn Profile of Erica)

Vilas Neelkant:

Vilas is a seasoned private equity and corporate investment researcher. He works at a leading investment firm in Mumbai (India) as an analyst and writes regularly on the latest trends in the investment industry. His primary interests are in the fields of Private Equity, Corporate Investments and Mergers & Acquisitions.

Chris Tien:

Chris is based in Michigan, US. He works as a financial consultant with a leading consultancy firm, and likes to write on Trading Trends in the stock markets and investment oppotunities in developing alternate energy sector. His primary interest is in ETF and alternate energy sector specific stocks. (See LinkedIn Profile of Chris)

Shobhit:

Shobhit is the owner of this Finance News site, which started in 2007. Shobhit is based in India, and works as a derivative consultant. His areas of interest are in Derivative & Commodity Trading, Technical Analysis on Index Price Movements and developing Quantitative models for pricing derivatives.
Shobhit started this site as a hobby blog and was gradually joined by his MBA colleagues and industry contacts like Chris, Erica and Vilas. Today, each of them contribute articles in their respective areas of expertise.
Shobhit also owns another website exclusively meant for Derivatives: Futures, Options, etc..

Rajesh & Raghu:

Rajesh and Raghu work in multiple roles - from gathering news items and trends, proof-reading, formatting and publishing the articles received from the expert contributors as well as maintaining the layout of this website. They also work on contributing to general news items on this site.
Usually, all the articles are published by Rajesh & Raghu under the common Author Name "Investment n Trading Advisor", as they are formatted and published after being received from the respective author. However, we have now gradually started to include the individual author names.

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About the Site:The purpose of Finance Trading Times sites is to bring out the latest news and happenings in a unique way about the stock markets across the globe, in the field of finance, investment, IPO's, Mutual Funds, Insurance and More. We also offer services like filing tax returns. It is our purpose to provide these sites as a Guide to Insurance, Mortgage, Loans, Finance, Credit Cards, Investments, Stock Market, Interest Rate, Mutual Funds, IPO & Trading Strategies, as well as a news source for the corporate news across the globe.

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DISCLAIMER: The information & details provided here are for informational purposes only and are not a solicitation to buy or sell any of these mentioned financial securities. Investing & Trading involves substantial risk and you should evaluate your own risk levels before you make any investment. Past results are not an indication of future performance. Neither the Editor(s), the Author(s), the Publisher(s), nor any of their respective affiliates is responsible for any errors or omissions on the Website. In every article or news item we publish, we provide a link to the source of the article - usually we keep it as a hyperlink with the image included in the article. However, it is possible that the original article content on the source site may get changed from the time we publish the information. The Website's news, commentary, analysis, opinions, advice and recommendations are sourced from various sources like the internet, print media, advertisements, etc. Some articles represent the personal and subjective views of the Editor, and are subject to change at any time without notice. The logos and images displayed on this site may not correspond to the original logos of the products and may not link to the respective official sites. In case you believe the content on "Finance Trading Times " sites are violating any copyrights, please contact us at contactus(AT) finance-trading-times.com and we will be happy to listen & work with your issue.
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Real Estate Fund: Claymore Global Real Estate ETF (CGR): Review Analysis and Details

The benefits of ETF's or Exchange Traded Funds are known to many, and if you can find a good ETF on Real Estate Sector, then without actually putting a big amount of your money in buying properties, you can benefit from the rise in the property or Real Estate Sector by making an Investment in Real Estate ETF. In this article, we will focus on some of the Real Estate Exchange Traded Funds.

What is the Claymore Global Real Estate ETF?
Claymore Global Real Estate ETF is a kind of Exchange Traded fund which focuses on the Real Estate Sector. This fund is aiming to replicate the performance of the underlying Real Estate Index called the Cohen & Steers Global Realty Majors Index. The investment by the Claymore Global Real Estate ETF Fund will be to invest the investors money into Constituent Securities of the Index. Good thing is that this fund will hold the securities in the same ratio like the underlying fund, so except for the brokerage charged and other expenses, the investors can expect this fund to track the underlying real estate index with low tracking error. However, the prospectus also mentions that the fund manager may also invest in derivative instruments to obtain exposure to the performance of the Index

What is the underlying index for Claymore Global Real Estate ETF?
The Claymore Global Real Estate ETF will track the underlying index called the Cohen & Steers Global Realty Majors Index.
The Global Realty Majors Portfolio Index is a free-float, market-cap-weighted total return index of selected real estate equity securities. Typically it holds around 75 securities. It is quoted intraday on a real-time basis by the CME or Chicago Mercantile Exchange and uses the symbol GRM. The index’s modified market capitalization approach and qualitative screening process emphasize companies that the Cohen & Steers Index Committee believes are leading the securitization of real estate globally.

Fund Data for Claymore Global Real Estate ETF:
Ticker Symbols TSX: CGR
Advisor Class Units TSX: CGR.A
Initial Unit Price $20.00
Income Distribution Foreign Income
Distribution Frequency Quarterly
CUSIP Symbols 18384J114
Advisor Class Units 18384J106
Management Fee 0.65%

Recent performance of Real Estate Funds Index:

What are the benefits of investing in a Real Estate ETF?
There are many benefits of investing in a Real Estate ETF like the Claymore Global Real Estate ETF:

- You can get exposure to real estate sector with limited capital without actually buying properties worth millions
- You can stay in Alaska, but can benefit from the price rise in New York property if you buy a Real Estate Fund which has good exposure to New York properties
- You can also opt for a global fund like Claymore Global Real Estate ETF, and benefit from overseas property market exposure.
- You don't have to get into the hassles of taking a loan from benefiting from Real Estate sector. You can bet with small amount of money also.

Is this the right time to invest in a Property or Real Estate Fund?
Experts say yes. Some are of the opinion that the worst is already over and we can see an uptrend from here. Hence this looks like the correct time for investing in the property market. And the best way to do it is through Real Estate Sector Funds or ETF or Property Funds

Claymore Natural Gas Commodity ETF (GAS ETF): Review Analysis and Details

Interested in Investing in Natural Gas sector? You dont need to be a millionaire to buy some natural gas basins to benefit from Investments in Natural Gas. All you need is a good Natural Gas Exchange Traded Fund or Natural Gas ETF. The Claymore Natural Gas Commodity ETF is a fund which gives you this kind of investment option or choice.
This Claymore Natural Gas Commodity ETF fund will provide non-leveraged exposure to the Alberta natural gas market. It will do so by investing the investors money in physical natural gas forward contracts. As per morning star, this fund targets a 1:1 relationship between assets and natural gas exposure.

Benchmark Fund for Claymore Natural Gas Commodity ETF: NGX Canadian Natural Gas Index
Ticker Symbols Common Units TSX: GAS
Initial Unit Price: $20.00
Income Distribution: Regular Income
Distribution Frequency: Annual
CUSIP Symbols Common Units: 18384H100
Fund Management Fee: 0.80%

What are the benefits of investing through the Claymore Natural Gas Commodity ETF?
The Claymore Natural Gas Commodity ETF gives the investors the easy option to invest in Natural Gas business and contracts, without the hassles of being directly involved in the Natural Gas exploration, Natural Gas operations, Natural Gas reserves, Natural Gas engineering and management risks associated with an investment in Natural Gas entities that are explored for, produce and sell natural gas.

As a whole, Natural gas has emerged as one of the cleanest and environment friendly source of fuel and energy. Hence, whenever someone talks about investments in the Alternative Energy Mutual Funds, the Natural Gas Investment surely comes into discussion because of its clean and environment friendly nature.

How are the natural gas prices determined?
There are many factors which play are role in determination of natural gas prices. Here we are listing the ones which have a major impact:
- - Weather – Heating /Cooling demand
- - Performance, demand and supply of other alternative energy sources
- - Oil sands production
- - Electricity generation
- - Fertilizer production
- - Petrochemical production
- - Drilling and Exploration Activity
- - Production decline rates
- - Pipeline transportation constraints
- - Storage Balances
- - Liquified Natural Gas (LNG)
- - Natural Disasters (i.e. Hurricanes)

What are the risks of investing in Natural Gas sector?
Remember that it is alternative form of energy. Hence, the price and demand and supply of Natural gas will vary depending upon not just the discovery and innovation in exploration of natural Gas, but also vary with the performance and demand and supply and innovation in other alternative energy sectors like Biomass, Solar Energy, Wind Energy, etc. Moreover, the Natural Gas has a risk of being extinct one day, while other sources like the solar energy and wind energy may not face this problem or risk

Ready to invest in the Natural Gas sector?
Here is a list of all available ETF's in the Natural Gas Commodities and ETF space: Natural Gas ETF List: Trade Natural Gas through these ETF

Reliance Mutual Fund declares dividend for Banking, Pharma & ELSS Funds

Good news for the investors of Reliance Mutual Fund, the ADAG or Anil Dhirubhai Ambani led Reliance Mutual Fund Company.
The mutual fund house has come out with a bonanza offering of dividends for 3 of its funds and the amount of dividend being paid is also big. Here are the details of the dividend declared by the Reliance Mutual Funds:

Reliance Banking Fund: Dividend Amount 20 percent

Reliance Pharma Fund: Dividend Amount 15 percent

Reliance Tax Saver ELSS Fund: Dividend Amount 15 percent

Though in real terms, the value of NAV or Net asset value for each of these funds will drop down by the amount of money paid out in dividends. However, investors will benefit because without paying any exit load charges for these mutual funds, they can get a portion of their invested money back. The best is for the investors of the Reliance Tax Saver ELSS Fund, because the ELSS schemes actually lock in the money of the investors for a period of atleast 3 years. Hence, getting back 15% of this money will be additional benefit, in terms of liquiity

Kotak Single Invest Plan Review Analysis & Details: Kotak Life Insurance

A new insurance policy has recently hit the markets. The policy is from Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Company and is a Single Premium Policy i.e. you need to pay the money or premium only once. It is a Unit Linked Plan, or ULIP, so you can have a mix of Insurance as well as investments in this policy.
Since this is a single policy, you don't need to keep making repeated payments year after year. You will get a choice on investment funds, and there are many options available to switch your money from one investment option to the other.

What are the funds available for investments under Kotak Single Invest Plan?
There are many funds available for investments under Kotak Single Invest Plan. All of these funds are from Kotak Mutual Fund house or Kotak Insurance.

Kotak Opportunities Fund: This is the fund for investors who have a good risk appetite. This fund will invest in large and mid sized companies stocks.

Kotak Dynamic Floor Fund:

Kotak Dynamic Bond Fund : Suitable for more risk averse investors who are looking for more protection of their capital and limited profits rather than risky investments in equities

How can I invest in these various funds under the Kotak Single Invest Plan?
The Kotak Single Invest Plan offers you 12 different and free switches in one POLICY YEAR. Policy year means the year starting from the date of your policy. Hence, you make a single payment and keep switching your money from one fund to the other as per your will and wish. 12 such transfers or switches are free in one policy year. No details are available about whether there are any charges to be paid if any investor wants to switch more than 12 times in a year.

Is there any charge for entering or exiting from a particular fund?
This is not clear. Though they say FREE SWITCHING, but there are no details available whether there will be any charges in the name of entry load or exit load from a particular fund. Investors should ask this question before making an investment.

What is the allocation for Kotak Single Invest Plan?
It is reported that the allocation of investors capital money will be in the range of 97.75% and 99%. Actual allocation depends upon the amount of money or Single Premium invested. Rest might be taken as administrative charges or fund management charges.

Is there any tax benefit available in Kotak Single Invest Plan?
Yes. It is reported that Kotak Single Invest Plan will offer tax benefit to the investors. But there is no information about the lock in period of this investment, which should be atleast 3 years in case tax benefit is available. There are some more questions about the investment horizon, about premature withdrawal and how much charges one will have to pay if going for early withdrawal, etc

Dollar General IPO: Review Analysis & Details

So there are sufficient, if not all, signs that the economy is coming out of recession. That makes many companies go publich with their shares to be listed on the stock exchange. One such company which is willing to come out with an IPO or Initial Public Offering is the Dollar General Company.
In this article, we will look at the review, analysis and fine details of the Dollar General IPO and try to do the Review and analysis of Dollar General IPO.
Some basic details first:
What is the issue size of the Dollar General IPO?
The Dollar General issue size is going to be for around 750 million USD.

How is the share distribution done?
The current shareholders will be given a special dividend of 200 million USD. No more details available as of now.

How will the capital raised by Dollar General IPO be used?
The use of capital will be for paying debts and notes by Dollar General.

What is the price band of the Dollar General IPO
The price band for shares of Dollar General IPO is not yet decided.

What is the trading symbol & exchange for the Dollar General IPO
No info is available about the trading symbol.

What are the IPO dates for Dollar General IPO
The IPO for Dollar General is expected to come out sometimes in the 3rd or 4th Quarter, there are no concrete details available.

Who are the underwriters of the Dollar General IPO?
Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (Private Equity Firm) are the book running lead managers.

What are the analysts recommendations for this IPO?
The company profile look good. The company is a Discount retailer, and has the backing of big PE or private equity players Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. Hence, analysts are bullish on this IPO and were expecting this IPO to hit the markets soon. With the company making a IPO filinf with SEC, it is confirmed to be coming out with the IPO

Gas Electricity: How to Generate Electricity from Gas

In this article, we will discuss Gas Electricity and some of the common techniques and technologies used for Generating Electricty from Gas.
Let's begin with the basics: What is Gas Electricity or Gas based Electricity?

Electricity or Electric energy is a form of energy. Generally, electric energy is obtained from other forms of energy.
Gas Electricity is a term used to describe the form of electricity which uses Gas as a source of transforming energy to Electric energy. In short, if Gas is used to generate electricty, then it is called Gas Electricity.

How is Gas Electricity produced?
There are many techniques and technologies available to produce electricity from Gas. Some of them are practically viable, while some are not viable as of now, but discussions and research are still going on for them. Below we present the various methods for generating Gas Electricity or generating electricity from gas.

Steam Based Generation of Gas Electricity:
This is one of the most commonly used methods to produce Gas electricty. Burning of a gas based fossil fuel, say natural gas, helps achieve this. When Natural Gas is burned, it produces steam and other gases from combustion. These combustion gases and steam is used to rotate the turbine blades which in turn generate electricity.

Heat Based Generation of Gas Electricity:
In this, the following method is used: Burning of natural gas in a gas turbine and use of the residual heat to generate additional electricity from steam. These plants are said to give efficiencies of up to 60%.

Gas Electricity Generation from Gas well pressure:
This may not have been implemented till now, but forms a good idea - Is it possible to make electricity from the high pressure available in the Gas Well?
It appears to be a viable option. The reason is that there is huge pressure inside the Gas well - in the range of 100 to 250 bars. This huge pressure, can be used to rotate the blades of a turbine, which can in turn produce gas based electricity. Here is a demo for the way this can be implemented.


Please note that this is just an idea yet to be implemented. May be some day we can see this being practically used

Water ETF: Benefit from Investment in Water based ETFs

There is a new concept - ETFs or Exchange Traded funds on varius commodities and stocks and indices - basically on anything that can be traded. So some investment companies have come out with some unique concept of Trading on Water and they have floated their Water Based ETF or Water Exchange Traded Funds.
In this article, we will discuss about how Water ETF work?, How can one invest in Water ETF and whether it is worth investing in Water Based ETFs.
Let's begin with the basics - What is a Water ETF or Water based ETF?
A Water ETF is an exchange-traded fund that invests in companies which are having business in water based segments. Typical examples can be of companies which derive their business profits by operating in water industries like for water treatment, water purification, water utilities, water monitoring, and water distribution, packaged drinking water, water distillers, etc.
So if there is some index which is tracking these sector specific water based companies (examples below), then there can be an ETF of Exchange Traded Fund on Water. These Water ETFs usually invest the money into publicly traded equities based on an underlying index, and float the ETF shares on any exchange for people to trade on them.

Why should someone invest in water ETF
Well, its all about your thoughts and aspirations of the requirements. Water resources are getting depleted day by day, there is need for water everywhere, but the water sources are scarce. Hence, some investment experts are of the opinion that investments in water based stocks or water based ETF or mutual funds will generate good returns.

Isnt there an Ethical side to investment in Water based ETF or companies?
Yes there is. Some individuals are of the opinion that if more water based trading starts happening through water based mutual Funds, water based ETF's , it might lead to manupalation of water prices and there might be a supply-demand gap. Others feel that it is not ethical to invest in such funds or stocks making business out of the very basic necessities of life.
Other feel that there is nothing wrong in such investments and one can actually hedge themselves against scarcity of water by investing in scuh water based financial instruments. Having more and more water resources companies and stocks listed on the exchanges will ensure that there is transpenrancy in prices and proper competition to keep the water prices and demand supply in control.
Overall, it is an individual's call.

What are the available water based ETF?
We cover 3 of the available water based ETF's as follows:



PowerShares Water Resources Portfolio PHO :
The PowerShares Water Resources Portfolio (Fund) is based on the Palisades Water Index™ (Index). The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its total assets in ADRs and common stocks that comprise the Index. The Index seeks to identify a group of companies that focus on the provision of potable water, the treatment of water, and the technology and services that are directly related to water consumption. The modified equal weighted portfolio is rebalanced and reconstituted quarterly.

PowerShares Global Water Portfolio PIO:
The PowerShares Global Water Portfolio (Fund) is based on the Palisades Global Water Index (Index). The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its total assets in securities that comprise the Index and ADRs based on the securities in the Index. The Index seeks to identify a group of global companies that focus on the provision of potable water, the treatment of water and the technology and services that are directly related to global water consumption. The modified equal weighted portfolio is rebalanced and reconstituted quarterly.

Claymore S&P Global Water Index (ETF) CGW:
The Claymore S&P Global Water Index, seeks investment results that correspond generally to the performance, before the Fund’s fees and expenses, of an equity index called the S&P Global Water Index (the "Water Index" or "Index"). The Fund is the first U.S.-listed global water ETF. The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its total assets in common stock and American depositary receipts ("ADRs") based on the securities in the Index. Claymore Advisors, LLC (the "Investment Adviser") seeks a correlation over time of 0.95 or better between the Fund’s performance and the performance of the Index

Sixth Pay Commission Pension & Salary Hike

With the recent news coming out about the One Rank One Pension for the retired members, here is something more.
The latest news on Sixth Pay Commission is for the Retired Pensioners, who are going to benefit from the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission. These Pensioners will be getting the benefits of the Sixth pay Commission Panel Recommendations from 1st January 2006.

What is most interesting and beneficial to the retired employees is that in some cases, the pension drawn by these retired employees is much higher than their last drawn salary. Not only that, the amount of pension they are going to get will continue to rise till they become 80 years or more. i.e., there will be a pension rise every five years for the pensioners, as long as he/she survives or reaches the age of 80.

All thanks to the Sixth Pay commission recommendations and their implementations.
Not only that, the New Pension money is effective from 1 January 2006. That means a lot of retired employees will get the major amount as a form of arrears.

General Sixth Pay Commission Salary Hike & Arrears Calculator

Salary Calculator for Pension calculations for Sixth Pay Commission Salary Hike

Ravindra Dholakia, member, Sixth Central Pay Commission, explains why. "With increasing age, you need someone to take care of you. You need more money for medicines, check-ups, surgeries. We kept this in mind when making the recommendations," he says.
What this means is that the retired pensioners will no longer have to think twice before buying anything- whether the basic necessities of food, or anything lavish like a holiday or a vehicle. They no longer have to remain dependent on their children for their needs. All thanks to Sixth Pay Commission Recommendations. Work Hard, Retire Rich

Solar Panels Energy: Angle of Solar Panel Tilt Correlation with Output

Google did some experiments with Solar Panels and has come out with some significant results for its experiments. Here in this article we summarise the finding s of Solar Panels Installations.
So far, we've been talking about Solar Energy Trading and investments. We also touched upon the topics like Low cost PV Solar Cells & Solar Panels: High Efficiency of 40%, Solar Energy Storage: in batteries, PV Solar Cells & Solar Panels.

Related: Solar Panels Installation Guide: Step-By-Step Guide to Install Solar Panel

Now, Google has done some experiments with the Solar Panels installed at various locations of their offices. They experiemented on various parameters like Tilt of Soalr panels, etc. In this article, we will look at the factors whether Tiltting of Solar Panels at a certain angel really affects the output or not. In a nutshell, the answer is YES - it does make a lot of difference to the output of the solar panels, if they are tilted at a certain angle. Have a look at the output chart below which was a result of the experiment done by Google with its solar panels.

What you see in the red lines in the chart are the outputs of the Solar Panels which were not titled at all - i.e. having a zero degree tilt. The three red graphs are for 3 different locations with zero degree tilt. As clearly visible from the graph, these sero degree titled solar panels produce more or less the same solar energy output.

What stands different in the set of the solar panels is indicated by the green line. This line indicates the solar panel output for the panel which was titled at 15 degrees. As you can see, More energy was produced by the solar panels with a 15° tilt than a 0° tilt during non-summer months.
Hence, the verdict is clear - ensuring that the solar panels are titled at the correct angle will enhance your solar energy outpur considerably. Think about it, analyse your area and the solar energy reception and then decide upon the correct angle of tilt for your solar panels

Swine Flu Insurance: IDBI Fortis Life Insurance offer Insurance for Swine Flu H1N1

Here comes a big news of respite for people who have bought life insurance policy and are worried whether their life insuracne will actually cover for the death due to Swine Flu. Since at the time of buying the life insurance policy, the policy wording usually states the no. of diseases for which the policy holder will be covered. In case of death due to disease, Life Insurance amount is paid to the nominee only if the death has been caused by one of the listed diseases in the policy. This list is available only at the time of buying the life insurance, and usually it cannot be amended later.
However, there is a big panic among the people in countries where Swine flu is creating a Havoc. Not only are the people worried about being hit by the Swine flu virus, they are also worried whether the insurance cover they have bought for themselves to cover for their life insurance, will it cover the deaths due to Swine flu.

Fortunately, the IDBI Fortis Life Insurance company has declared that it will include Swine Flu deaths as one of acceptable diseases for Life Insurance claims, even if it was not included in the list of diseases at the time of buying the life insurance policies.

As of now, there are 17 disease listed for which Life Insurance from IDBI Fortis Life Insurance can be claimed. Addition of Swine Flu will take the count to 18.
As per the news reported, "Insurance will be given in the case of death due to the H1N1 virus even though the disease has not been mentioned at the time of buying the policy," IDBI Fortis Life Insurance Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer G V Nageswara Rao told media here. However, the disease will continue to be out of the firm's policies, Rao said

Gujarat Professors get Sixth Pay Commission Salary Hike from September 1, 2009

The latest news on Sixth Pay Commission is for the Ahmedabad, Gujarat, which is going to implement the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission for its Professors. These Gujrat State Government employed Professors will be getting the benefits of the Sixth pay Commission Panel Recommendations from 1st Septmeber 2009. This will be implemented for both colleges as well as University professors.
Is this a confirmed report?
YES. KS Shastri who is the President of Gujarat State Federation of University and College Teachers' Association, has confirmed the same. He and others have met with the education minister Ramanlal Vora and finance minister Vajubhai Vala, and the required resolution for this implementation will be introduced by August 15th, i.e. the coming weekend.

What is the date by which the Gujarat Professors will get Sixth Pay Commission Salary?
The date is finalised to be 1st September 2009.

Why is this special order issued only for Professors?
The sixth pay commission is already implementated for all other government employees except professors. Hence this special order will be for professors. Around 10,000 teaching employees across the state will benefit from this.

General Sixth Pay Commission Salary Hike & Arrears Calculator

Salary Calculator for Pension calculations for Sixth Pay Commission Salary Hike

A professor who has put in 16 years of service will get an hike of about 65-70 per cent in salary while the average hike will be around 40 per cent, claimed Shastri

Arunachal Pradesh get Sixth Pay Commission Salary Hike

The latest news on Sixth Pay Commission is for the Arunachal Pradesh, which is going to implement the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission. This is the election year, and no government will leave any stone untruned to attract votes. The Arunachal Pradesh Government understands this very well and is all set to give the benenfits of Pay Hike or salary hikt to its around 86,000 employees. These Arunachal Pradesh State Government stafd will be getting the benefits of the Sixth pay Commission Panel Recommendations.
How many months arrears will be paid by the Arunachal Pradesh Government?
It is reported that the Arunachal Pradesh Government has agreed to pay 15 months arrears to it state government employees. The total amount of arrears comes to around 300 Crore Rupees.

Any demand by the Arunachal Pradesh employees which is not accepted by the government?
Yes. The goverment has not agreed to increase the retirement age from 58 to 60. It will remain at 58 years.

Is the pay hike details for Arunachal Pradesh clear?
No, there is still no clarity on the HRA and other allowances.

General Sixth Pay Commission Salary Hike & Arrears Calculator

Salary Calculator for Pension calculations for Sixth Pay Commission Salary Hike

The employees began an agitation in December last year in protest against the state government’s “apathy” to their demands. They were demanding the immediate implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission’s recommendations, fixation of the employees’ superannuation age at 60, regularisation of services of contingency and work-charged employees and a stop to the contract appointment of teachers and other employees.
The salary hike is already as per the sixth pay commission recommendations

Buying Mutual Fund from ICICIDirect? Charges you pay after 1 August after SEBI orders

In our recent article about Buying Mutual Fund? What Charges you pay after 1 August after SEBI orders, we had given you the details and an example of how the mutual fund charges be levied to an investor after the SEBI orders for Eliminating the entry loads for Mutual Funds. We had taken the example of ICICIDirect Mutual fund charges. Now, it appears that ICICIDirect has gone for a revision of charges it will take for investments of less than 8 Lakh Rupees.

You still dont have to pay any charges if your lumpsump investment or cumulative investment with ICICIDirect in Mutual Funds has been more than 8 Lakh Rs. The "cumulative value" will be taken as per Value at NAV of your entire MF holdings, at the time of order placement, as seen on your MF Unit Holdings page. Transaction charges will be applied as per the new fee structure, accordingly.

However, if your investment with ICICIDirect in Mutual Funds is less than 8 lakh Rs., then the following charges will apply:

For SIPs - Rs. 30/- or 1.5% whichever is lower
For Lumpsum investments - Rs. 100/-

The benefit will come to those who may want to invest in smaller amounts of SIP. So for example, if you want to invest Rs. 500 per month, then you will only need to pay 500 * 1.5% = 7.5 Rs. per transasction or Rs. 90 for the entire year 12 months) SIP investment.

Will this new scheme really help?
It actually depends upon you and your broker and his charges.
If your broker charges high amount, then you may be a looser on that. But if you can find a good broker who charges low rates, then you can save a lot of money. So you will have some choice. However, you will now have to face and evaluate various conditions set forth by the broker. For eg. For Zero charges, ICICIDirect requires a minimum of 8 Lakh Rs. investment. That is a big amount for any investor.

It is good because now you will know what charges you are paying for investing in Mutual Funds. It will give respite to investors in Mutual Funds who were not keeping a close eye on the Mutual Fund Charges, which can build up to a significant amount in the name of distribution charges, marketing charges, fund management charges, entry load, etc. Now, the cheque that you write for the Mutual Fund Investment will ensure that all your money value written on the check actually goes into your investment

IIT, IIM, NIT & School Staff get Sixth Pay Commission Salary Hike

The latest news on Sixth Pay Commission is for the IIT, IIM, NIT & School Staff Employees, i.e. the institutes which are funded by the government.Now these staff members will be getting the benefits of the Sixth pay Commission Panel Recommendations. However, they are still no clarity about the exact numbers of the pay hike for these institutes like IIT, IIM, NIT, REC, and other government funded educational institutes.
However, there are still some differences with those of the central government employees.
What are the major reasons for the salary hike of IIT, IIM, NIT & School Staff?
The main reasons quoted for this salary hike is to attract fresh PhD graduates to teaching. One of the major roadblocks for indian education system has been unqualified teachers and the scarciy of qualified people taking up teaching. Governmetn salaries have been the major cause of concern for the concerned employees. Now with the Sixth Pay commission salary hike being put in place, we can expect some fresh infusion of good qualified people joining the teaching line.

Will all institutes get teh same salary hikes?
No. There are reports that NIT salaries will me lower than that of the IIT salaries, though the demand from NIT's have been to keep the salary at par with IIT.
Also, staff at IIT, IIM, NIT willget more salary as compared to their counterparts in central universities.

The salary hike is already as per the sixth pay commission recommendations.
General Sixth Pay Commission Salary Hike & Arrears Calculator

Salary Calculator for Pension calculations for Sixth Pay Commission Salary Hike
Last year, after the government implemented the Sixth Pay Commission, it had set up a panel under former Indian Institute of Science director Goverdhan Mehta to suggest pay hikes for teachers at central technical education institutions

Google Billboards: Marketing Advertising Strategy to take Microsoft competition

So you thought that Google will sit silent and peacefully watch Microsoft and Yahoo join hands and eat away into Google's search share? No. Google is all set to hit back with the latest Google Marketing Strategy or Google Advertising Strategy using the very basic, age old advertising medium - the BillBoards.

Google has decided to host dynamic Billboards in 4 major cities Boston, Chicago, New York and San Francisco of the USA. The interesting thing about these Billboards will be that they will change every weekday, for the next 4 weeks. That means regular (and curious) audience will get to see something new everyday, for 20 times in 4 weeks.
This is not the first time Google has come out with some unique and distinct marketing and advertisement strategy. Remember Google IPO, when they went the un-traditional and unique way for selling and advertising for the Google IPO by the street. Majority of the investment banks (who lost their commission) claimed that this is not the way for an IPO, but Google IPO was a huge success.

Now, similar unique and distinct advertising will be the mode for this next phase of Google Billboards. Already, blogs and websites have written aplenty about Google Billboard Marketing & Advertising Strategy, so the on-lookers will be curious to see what new Google Billboard has to convey everyday.

What is the aim of Google Billboard Marketing Strategy?
Google is attempting to hit back on Microsoft core business. To understand that, the main difference between Google and Microsoft is that Google focuses more on online content (putting everything online docs, sheets, etc.), while Microsoft focuses more on licensed content based on PC based Installations. So for a Google user, things are free online, while Google derives its profits and revenues from online ads. For a Microsoft user, he has to buy a license (say MS office) and install it on desktop, free from all ads and no need for internet connection.
Google claims that they are having cost efficient applications called Google Apps, which can be purchased by the enterprises and corporates for a small fee and will help them improve the corporate efficieny and output.
Now that Microsoft has partnered with Yahoo for improving online advertising and search business with its newly introduced Bing search engine, this move by Google to get into attracting Corporates is seen as a response to MS+Yahoo move, as claimed by many experts.
Google claims that its free online versions are good, but there are hundreds of other features and enhancements which are still unexplored by the users and this Billboard campaign will highlight those features and attempt to get the market share in these segments. In a nutshell, its a threat to the Microsoft licence based business model. Google claims that Over 1.75 million businesses, schools and organizations have "Gone Google" i.e. started using the feature rich paid versions of Google Apps. Let's see how the drama unfolds in the next 4 weeks and what imapct does it have on Microsoft core business

Identity Theft: Protection Techniques, Introduction, Examples & Types of Identity Theft

What is Identity Theft?
As the name suggests, Identity Theft means stealing someone else's identity or pretending as someone else - to get any benefits which you may not be entitled to. Common examples of Identity Theft include

- Disguise to get financial benefits

- Disguise to cheat in someone else's name and identity

- Disguise Online, and use other's financial details, like bank account no. or credit card for illegal benefits.

- Fake a website, like that of a bank or financial institute or lottery site, to attract people to put in their financial details and later take advantage for the same

Identity Theft has become more common in the electronic era - at times when things can be done online at the click of a button at the computer.
Cases are aplenty when one steals someone's credit card or debit card and swipe it for their own use. Or someone using someone else's credit card nos. online to purchase things. Or the cases of Nigerian fraudsters, who pose as some bank sites and attract unsuspecting customers to pay some money as clearance charges or customs charges, or lottery sites which may claim that you have won millions of dollars and you need to deposit some admin charges to claim that money. So examples of Identity Theft or Identity Fraud are aplenty.

What are the various types of identity Theft Types?
Identity Theft may be braodly classified into the following sectors :

* Business identity theft OR commercial identity theft: examples - using another's business name to obtain credit - like the cases of lottery scams or Nigerian frausters claiming transfer of funds

* Criminal identity theft: THis might be a case of the suspect mentioning himslef/ herself as someone else when caught committing a crime

* Financial identity theft: This is the most common type of identity theft - it is for benefitting by using someone else's details (like credit card, bank account details) for goods & services. They are again classified as follows:

  - Accessing victim's information like Bank Account details and using them for personal benefits

  - Using the victim's information and opening bank accounts in his/her name or taking loans or credit cards in the victom's name

  - Another example can be for claiming insurance benefits of the victim after his/her demise OR trying to get the insurance for a person already dead and trying to act as the beneficiary

* Identity Cloning: Posing as someone else in your daily life - usually in distant places. For example, some visitors to Britain may pose as a millionaire business tycoon from USA and enjoy the luxuries of a star hotel and then abscond later.

* Medical identity theft: Not so common, but it involves using another's information to obtain medical care or drugs

What are the common methods used for Identity Theft?
Most of the times, it is the social engineering skills - people try to con others by calling them and telling that they are calling from a bank, or someone acting as a representative of a company, etc

Buying Mutual Fund? What Charges you pay after 1 August after SEBI orders

After a long time, a good news has come to the investors in the Indian Mutual Funds Market. SEBI or Securities and Exchange Board of India has directed all Mutual Fund houses and brokerages not to deduct marketing and distribution charges from the investment made by subscribers.


What has changed after SEBI's instructions?
Let's say you wanted to invest 10,000 in a Mutual Fund of your choice and it had an entry load of 2.25%. That would mean that an amount of 225 would be deducted from your 10,000 and 9775 only would be your actual investment.
However, after the recent change introduced by SEBI, your entire 10,000 will be invested in the Mutual Fund.

Does this mean I dont have to pay any charges for investing through my broker or agent or Mutual Fund Distributor?
No. That is not the case. Many people are getting the impression that they may not be required to pay anything after the SEBI's directive. However, what this order means is that if you write a cheque for 10,000, then all your 10000 will be going to your investment in Mutual Funds. You will still HAVE TO PAY Brokerage and distribution cost, but that might vary depending upon your broker.
This charge will be reflected and charged seperately to you.
The order for SEBI is not to eliminate the charges, but to involve transperancy in the investment process. Please bear in mind that you will still have to pay the charges for making the investments in mutual funds, though this will be charged seperately by your broker.

Is there an example for this?
Yes. Say ICICI Direct has come out with its variable brokerage plan after the order from SEBI. As per the plan, if you have a total cumulative holding in Mutual Funds with ICICI Direct at 8 Lakh or more, then you dont need to pay anything either for SIP investments or lumpsum investments.

However, if your Mutual Fund holdings are less than 8 Lakhs, than you will have to pay per transaction:

For SIP investments - Rs. 30 per transaction

For Lumpsum Investment - Rs. 100 per transaction

Will this new scheme really help?
It actually depends upon you and your broker and his charges.
If your broker charges high amount, then you may be a looser on that. But if you can find a good broker who charges low rates, then you can save a lot of money. So you will have some choice. However, you will now have to face and evaluate various conditions set forth by the broker. For eg. For Zero charges, ICICIDirect requires a minimum of 8 Lakh Rs. investment. That is a big amount for any investor.

It is good because now you will know what charges you are paying for investing in Mutual Funds. It will give respite to investors in Mutual Funds who were not keeping a close eye on the Mutual Fund Charges, which can build up to a significant amount in the name of distribution charges, marketing charges, fund management charges, entry load, etc. Now, the cheque that you write for the Mutual Fund Investment will ensure that all your money value written on the check actually goes into your investment