Back in 2012, I interviewed the late Parag Parikh when he was about to launch PPFAS Mutual Fund. Besides his contrarian investing style, the one thing that stood out about him was his refreshingly candid take on things. This was when mutual funds were witnessing outflows for years and assets under management stood at a little over Rs 5 lakh crore - largely debt-oriented. When I asked him how he planned to garner investments at a time when mutual funds weren't in favour, he said: "By being on the side of the investor". He then pointed to a note he had gotten stamped on the physical prospectus of the AMC's inaugural equity fund that said: "Please do not invest in this fund if you can't remain invested for at least five years". I can't draw a straight line from the note to PPFAS' outperformance over the past decade, and the swelling of its assets. But surely, sobering investors' expectations when the temptation is to oversell helps attract...
US-based IT firm Oracle is believed to have laid off approximately 12,000 staff in India, with another round of layoffs expected within a month, impacted employees said on Tuesday. Globally, the company has fired around 30,000 employees. "In India, around 12,000 employees have been laid off. The company is planning another mass layoff within a month," said two people impacted by the retrenchment, including one from the company's human resource department. The company has approximately 30,000 employees in India, including those affected by the layoffs. Oracle declined to comment on the development. Oracle, in an email sent to staff, said the employees were informed about certain organisational changes and "because of these changes, a decision has been taken to streamline the operations, and as a result, unfortunately, the position you currently hold will become redundant". The company has offered 15 days' salary to each employee who has completed a year...