Abhineet.in

Author: Abhineet Mittal

  • Need of a Government run App Store

    After ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce), it’s high time that the Indian Government also launch their own app store.

    It will help making things better for companies & developers as currently they are on the mercy of the rules decided by Google which are not very developer-friendly.

    They charge 25% commision on the payment done through the app which does not make any sense. Process to use third party options is not easy.

    A competitive product will help in making things better for everyone.

    Though we have some private app stores like Indus from PhonePe which are trying to do the same, a government backed app store has more chances of getting adopted by phone companies.

    An app store can only become successful if it comes pre-installed on new mobile phones.

    It’s much like how Windows is a monopoly in laptops and desktops. They all come pre-installed with Windows. Same with Google Play which comes pre-installed on all new smartphones.

    But it is difficult to pursue mobile companies to pre-install a new and smaller app store on their smartphones. However, it is not that difficult for the Government.

    First, every company operating in India will want to get their app listed on a national app store run by the Government. Much like companies are listing their products and services on ONDC.

    Second, the Government may give some benefits to the phone companies if they pre-install the Government’s app store on their phones.

    It will make the app store market competitive ultimately benefiting everyone.

    What do you think?

  • Someone found a human finger in their ice-cream

    Someone found a human finger in their ice-cream.

    The ice-cream company, which outsources its manufacturing, have stopped the outsourcing and decided to manufacture their ice-cream themselves.

    This shows how outsourcing is not a solid way to build a business. It may work in the short term, but in the long term, it has so many uncontrolled variables which makes it difficult to ensure proper quality control and timeliness.

    Though big companies like Apple outsource their manufacturing, but due to their sheer scale, they have huge control over their vendors.

    On the contrary, A small business does not have much say when it comes to such matters with their vendors.

    Most of the time a company requires outsourcing almost everything in the initial phases of its operations. But the long term goal should be to build their own supply chain.

    No matter how cost effective it seems at first, as the user base grows, it becomes counter intuitive.

    Ola and Uber are struggling as they cannot control their cars as they do not own them. They are merely connecting cabs with passengers.

    But if they own their own fleet, hire their own drivers, the day to day issues could be minimised as it would have been easier to control everything. This should have been their end goal.

    What are your views on this?

  • The case of the aspiring Ola-Uber killer

    The case of the aspiring Ola-Uber killer

    BluSmart cab service started as an aspiring Ola-Uber killer promising to solve all the issues which customers faced with Ola and Uber.

    When they began their operations, an important feature of their marketing campaign was that they will not indulge in differential peak hour pricing.

    In fact, this was a key point which differentiated them from the likes of Ola and Uber. Another key feature was no cancellation policy.

    But they have recently changed their pricing structure and now they charge differential peak hour prices.

    I am not saying it is bad, but in the long run, the need for profitability requires every company to go the same route. Blusmart is no different.

    Ola and Uber also started to be as customer friendly as possible but the requirement of profitability forced them to take tough decisions.

    But these startups themselves set unrealistic service expectations by burning investor’s money, and then once the money is over and the pressure of profitability kicks in, they go back on everything they promised.

    The worse thing is that they always know that this would happen. In fact they plan to do this after acquiring good user base.

    This strategy may be good for quickly acquiring new users, but I think even if a company has good amount of funds, they should not over-promise in terms of services.

    Being true from day one will result in better organic growth and user loyalty. Otherwise soon people may start criticizing BluSmart the same way they now do for Ola and Uber.

    And one day some new startup will emerge again promising to solve the issues faced by the customers with BluSmart.

    And the cycle goes on.

  • I lost 40% in a day

    I lost 40% in a day

    On June 4, during the counting of votes of the Indian General Elections, the stock market crashed and I lost almost 40% of the unrealized gains of last one year in my stock portfolio.

    But I did nothing.

    9 days later, my unrealized stock gains have doubled and are more than what they were 10 days ago.

    If I had panicked and sold the falling stocks on that day, I would have lost a good amount of money.

    The lesson is that stock investing is driven mostly by human psychology.

    Most people lose money in the stock market when they lose their calm and start panicking.

    A market crash or a stock dip is a bad time to sell. Unless a company is getting bankrupt, the stock will eventually go up in time.

    If you have bought a stock for a long term perspective, do not get worried by any short term fluctuations. No need to even check its value daily. Just sit back and relax.

    This may seem counter productive, but “doing nothing” is the best strategy when your shares are going down due to a market crash.

    What are your views on this?

  • Startup Investors To Lose Their Special Rights

    Startup Investors To Lose Their Special Rights

    Startup Investors To Lose Their Special Rights

    When a startup gets money from an early investor, it is more about investor’s faith in some people with an idea. It is a huge financial risk for the investors.

    The startup founders have less financial risk compared to the investors. To compensate this, the investors get special rights as part of their investment agreement, along with the shares.

    The special rights include right to veto, right to information, right to prevent divestment or liquidation of the company etc.

    There is also a risk of founders leaving the company midway while keeping their shares.

    To prevent this, the founders get lesser rights and their shares are usually vested over a period of time. That means they get their shares only if they remain with the company for a predefined period of time.

    This is also done with the help of agreements during the investments.

    Now, when these startups want to get listed in the stock market, all the shareholders need to cancel their special rights. This is a mandatory step by market regulator, SEBI, which has to be done before applying for the IPO.

    SEBI says that this is to ensure that no shareholder gets superior rights than others in a public company.

    This is fine as stock market listing means the shares of the company will most likely increase in value giving the early investors a chance to get good returns by sale of their own shares.

    But, if company fails to get listed, the investors have lost their special rights and it is very complex to get their rights back.

    So, this is a big risk for the investors.

    But these same investors already took huge risk by investing in a few people with an idea, and that idea now being IPO bound clearly means they were right in doing so. So I am sure they can again take a wise decision.

    What are your views on this?

    Note: Image generated with the help of AI

  • Banks are running out of money

    Banks are running out of money due to mutual funds & stocks

    Well in simplified terms, they are getting less deposits and giving out more loans. This is because more and more people are now investing their money in mutual funds & stocks, and moving away from the traditional bank deposits.

    Is it bad sign? No. In a free & fair market, everything balances out itself. This gap in deposits & credit will be balanced by better interest rates. But now banks have to compete not just with other banks, but also with other investment options like mutual funds & stocks.

    Banks are also trying to make deposits more attractive by offering high interest rates on deposits. They are even asking government to reduce the lock-in period of tax-saver FDs from 5 years to 3 years.

    But at the end, it’s a win-win for the end customer, whether they get fixed deposits with higher returns or higher returns on their investments in mutual funds & stocks.

    What do you think?

    Note: Image generated by AI.

  • The war of trash balloons and loud speakers

    The war of trash balloons and loud speakers

    Recently North Korea launched hundreds of trash balloons which landed in South Korea. Meanwhile, South Korea is broadcasting messages criticizing the North Korean government through loudspeakers pointed towards North Korea at the border. Reports are that North Korea is also installing speakers on their side.

    It is an interesting psychological warfare. Looks like these methods are somewhat working as leaders & forces of both countries are warning each other to stop such activities.

    Note 1: There is no management lesson in this post. Just sharing this as I found this interesting.

    Note 2: Image generated by AI.

  • Is it a good time to invest in the market?

    Is it a good time to invest in the market?

    I am sitting on more than 40% unrealized profit on a good portion of my investments in just a few months, thanks to the recent rise in the market.

    A lot of people have been saying that if you have not invested in the current market, you are losing out. But does it make sense?

    Is it really a good time to invest in the market?

    Well, the answer is not so simple.

    If you are a seasoned investor and you know what you are doing, then you can go ahead with your investments.

    But, if you are someone who is beginning your investment journey or has little idea about the share market, this may not be the best time to invest your money.

    If you want to avoid risk, a rising market is not a good time to invest. It is a good time to reap the benefits of the investments you made when the market was not rising.

    The reason for that is you never know when it reaches its peak. Now if you invest your money during a peak and it goes down after that, it may take a long time for your investments to recover their value.

    Earning good profits in the market is not a short-term game. It needs patience, a little planning, and of course, some luck.

    So, this is a good bull run, but it might be better for you to wait for the right opportunity to invest.

    I will keep writing more about this. Hope it helps.

  • Book Review: The Great Gatsby

    I just finished reading the The Great Gatsby. It is the first book I read on my new Kindle e-reader. I bought this new Kindle to read the most popular classics and this book marked its beginning.

    The Great Gatsby is a very popular book which has been made into multiple movies as well.

    I had started reading this book multiple times in the past, but could not go past the second chapter. And I understood its reason after reading the whole book.

    In this book containing 9 chapters, Mr. Jay Gatsby, who gives his name to this book, actually appears briefly in chapter 3 before properly appearing in chapters 4 to 8. First 2 chapters are filled with meaningless information about Gatsby’s parties which has nothing to do with the story.

    Though it may seem that such description is required to create the real livid image of the lavish party’s thrown by Gatsby, it is overdone. At one place, a lot of guests are named with their short histories, which seems completely redundant.

    Apart from the redundant parts, the story has merits of its own. It is a story about the dreams of a poor boy who loves a rich girl and could not get her, and his quest to get her (who is now married with a child), and not only get her, to hear from her that she has only loved him, and no one else.

    The innocence of Gatsby is touching at places and selfishness & carelessness of Daisy (her estranged lover) is something to despise her.

    I felt that the characters were not properly built and the meaningless description given at the beginning of the story could be replaced by more verbosity towards the second half of the story.

    I could not feel the lost connection between Nick & Ms. Baker. Their breakup felt abrupt.

    Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband, seems such a cliché character today as we have seen similar characters in innumerable novels & movies. It can be attributed to the story being 100 years old. I am sure it would have been original when this book was originally published in the 1920’s.

    Reading old books feel like a time capsule. You can feel the rythm of the depicted era in all earnestness as it was written in that era. The narrator describes the three killings as holocaust, though this word has got much bigger meaning almost 2 decades after this novel during holocaust in Germany.

    It tells us that world was a different place, though not different in a good sense, before the financial crisis of 1929-33, World War 2, Bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki etc.

    It also describes how the world was before current technology. When Daisy feels pride mentioning that her husband has been photographed 127 times in his life as an achievement. It shows how far we have come in terms of technology.

    Though I feel that lack of current technology did not hamper anything in life even 100 years ago. Life goes on the way it is.

    One interesting thing I found out was that Fitzgerald, the author of the book, has heavily based this story on his own life. He based Gatsby on himself, Daisy is based on his estranged teenage lover, Tom is based on her lover’s husband & father, Baker is also based on a real person. Also, the story loosely matches a story written by her estranged lover and gifted to Fitzgerald. Search the internet to read more about this.

    Overall, the book is a one-time read with some really good quotes. I am listing my favorite quotes from this book here.

    You can buy a copy of this book from here- [The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://www.amazon.in/dp/938777936X?tag=sp-str-21)

    > Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.
    >

    > Reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope.
    >

    > ‘There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.’
    >

    > ONE THING’S SURE AND NOTHING’S SURER THE RICH GET RICHER AND THE POOR GET—CHILDREN.
    >

    > What was the use of doing great things if I could have a better time telling her what I was going to do?’
    >

    > They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made….
    >

  • How to detect English/ASCII string in PHP

    There is no direct function for this in my knowledge. But it can be done easily like so.

    “`php
    if ( mb_strlen( $string, ‘ASCII’ ) === mb_strlen( $string, ‘utf-8’ ) ) {
    return true;
    }
    “`

  • The state of automobile dealerships in India

    My father had a "not-so-great" experience during routine service of his two-wheeler vehicle at a Honda service-center at my hometown. And it is the same for most dealerships and service outlets of major automobile companies in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities in India.

    These dealerships are operated as local businesses and though they adhere to company standards, they do not have consistent service quality across outlets.

    Usually these dealers have monopoly in their area for the given brand as it is not easy to replace a dealer due to various factors like lengthy compliance requirements, less number of eligible people and high costs involved.

    That’s why even after multiple customer complaints, these dealerships keep going on even with their poor service quality without any substantial action from the automobile company. This, along with lack of competition, makes them even more complacent.

    A "perfect" world would be where every business strives to give best service to its customers. But as they say, nothing is "perfect".

    servicequality #automobile #dealership

  • Sending JSON with data Javascript Fetch

    An important reminder to include following header while sending data in Javascript fetch() call in JSON format.

    Also, do not forget to use JSON.Stringify().

    var data = { some_data: ABC};
headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
},
body: JSON.stringify( data ),

    This is not needed if you are creating a form data object and appending data to it.

    var data = new FormData();
data.append( 'some_data', 'ABC' );

  • Disable RSS Feed Pages in WordPress

    To disable RSS feed pages in WordPress, hook into the action filters provided for each feed page function and then redirect to the home page.

    // Disable RSS feed pages
add_action( 'do_feed', 'disable_rss_feed_pages', 1);
add_action( 'do_feed_rdf', 'disable_rss_feed_pages', 1);
add_action( 'do_feed_rss', 'disable_rss_feed_pages', 1);
add_action( 'do_feed_rss2', 'disable_rss_feed_pages', 1);
add_action( 'do_feed_atom', 'disable_rss_feed_pages', 1);
add_action( 'do_feed_rss2_comments', 'disable_rss_feed_pages', 1);
add_action( 'do_feed_atom_comments', 'disable_rss_feed_pages', 1);

function disable_rss_feed_pages() {
    wp_redirect( site_url() );
    exit();
}

  • Safety & Liquidity of Debt Mutual Funds

    Yesterday I wrote an article about Debt Mutual Funds.

    I got a few questions about the liquidity and safety of a particular fund. So, I am adding a few more points.

    Many Debt Mutual Funds like Nippon, Axis and HDFC offer instant redemption and you get the money within 30 minutes.

    Safety of money means that the fund will not run away with your money. Market risk is there but it is almost zero for short-duration funds invested for a longer term.

    In the past, withdrawals have been restricted even in the case of prestigious banks when the banks were facing issues.

    Obviously, you should not blindly go for any Debt Mutual Fund just like you do not go for any FD offered at much higher interest rates by various NBFCs and smaller banks.

    Similarly, in the case of Debt Mutual Fund, it all depends on various factors like the fund’s category, company, fund manager, duration of investment, past record, etc.

    My article is about the overall advantages of Debt Mutual Fund over FDs and of course, both have their share of pros and cons. And there may be exceptional edge cases as well.

    Only after considering all the factors should you make your investment decision.

    investment #mutualfund #fixeddeposit

  • FDs are destroying your wealth

    If you are still making FDs of your monthly savings, you are destroying your wealth.

    Interest on FDs is taxable. That means the current interest rate of about 5.5% effectively gives you ~3.8% return on your money (Assuming you fall in the highest income tax slab).

    With more than 6% inflation, your money is losing its value.

    DEBT Mutual Funds is a better alternative which is tax efficient, gives better returns and is quite safe.

    Debt Mutual Funds are different than EQUITY Mutual Funds because they lend your money to government & companies rather than investing it in the stock market.

    A good Debt Mutual Fund can give you better returns than FDs, depending on the fund’s category.

    A few benefits are-

    • Mutual Funds in India are very tightly regulated, so your money is as safe as it was in the bank.

    • You will be taxed only if you withdraw the money. So, if you do not withdraw the money, you will have to pay ZERO taxes on the return.

    • If you withdraw money after 3 or more years, you get indexation benefit which further reduces income tax to an effective rate of 6-7%.

    • SEBI has defined different categories for Debt Mutual Funds based on the duration of loans and the type of companies to which loans are given.

    That means for safer investment, you can go for the funds with shortest duration or those that give loans only to the reputed companies.

    • There is no penalty for withdrawing money early, unlike FDs where you pay penalty if you withdraw the money before completing the term.

    • Debt Mutual Funds are highly liquid & you can withdraw your money in minutes. So, you can avoid keeping large sums of money in the savings account.

    So, it seems like a good time to move your money from FDs to Debt Mutual Funds.

  • A useful tip to save upto Rs.15k in tax: Section 80TTB for Senior Citizens

    As we are just 2 days away from the last date of filing income tax return, here is a useful tip to save upto Rs.15k in tax.

    If you are helping out a senior citizen in filing their Income Tax Return, do not forget section 80TTB which allows Rs.50k deduction on their interest income from both bank FDs and savings.

    This can save them upto Rs.15k if they fall in the highest income tax slab.

    On the contrary, section 80TTA which is applicable to individuals less than 60 years old, allows deduction upto Rs.10k that too only on the savings interest income.

    itr #tax #incometaxreturn

  • WordPress adding slashes in POST requests

    WordPress adds slashes before quotes even if we do not want to use magic quotes.

    To solve this problem, you can use either of the following two functions on the values returned from POST requests-

    • wp_unslash
    • stripslashes_deep

    References:

  • How to disable translation pop-up on website in Google Chrome

    Google Chrome on Android tries to show pages in user’s preferred language by continuously showing translation pop-up on each page load. This happens when website content is in a different language than user’s preferred language.

    But this creates issues in user experience by hiding bottom content on website. My site had fixed bottom navigation bar which was getting hidden by the translation pop-up and was badly ruining user experience by making it unusable at times.

    So, to disable these translation features, there are some meta tags that you can add to the head section of all your webpages.

    <!-- Disable translation in Google search -->
<meta name="googlebot" content="notranslate" />
<!-- Disable translation widget on Chrome -->
<meta name="google" content="notranslate" />

    The first meta tag disables translation in Google Search results, and the second one disables translation pop-up in Chrome.

    Problem solved.

    References:

  • How to Modify Title Tag in WordPress

    I always missed a function to directly change the title tag in WordPress template. But here is a function which can do that for you.

    function modify_title( $new_title ) {
    add_action( 'pre_get_document_title', function( $current_title ) use( $new_title ) {
        return $new_title;
    }, 9999 );
}

    Please note that this function uses use keyword to bind variables into anonymous function’s scope. Learn more

  • Restrict number of selected checkboxes in html

    This code will restrict html multi select input to given number.

    document.addEventListener( "click", function( event ) {
    if ( event.target.matches( '.input-checkbox' ) ) {
        var inputCheckboxes = document.querySelectorAll( '.input-checkbox[type="checkbox"]:checked' );
        if( inputCheckboxes.length > 3 ) {
            event.preventDefault();
            alert( 'You cannot select more than 3 categories for a post.' );
        }
    }
} );