Rohan Murty, a multi million-dollar executive assistant

BL :Adith Charlie; june 1,2013

MUMBAI, JUNE 1:  

Thirty-year-old Rohan Murty, the son of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy, will probably be one of the wealthiest executive assistants in the country.

His 79,49,782 Infosys shares were worth a whopping Rs 1,911 crore (around $347 million) at Friday’s closing price of Rs 2,407.60 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Interestingly, Rohan has more shares in Infosys than parents Narayana Murthy and Sudha Murthy, who own 23,79,672 and 73,14,660 shares, respectively, according to the shareholding pattern data on the BSE.

Among the promoters, only sibling Akshata Murthy (81,06,412), Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani (83,45,870) and his wife Rohini Nilekani (80,78,174) own more shares than Rohan in the company.

This probably explains why the father-son duo has agreed to draw a token compensation of Re 1 a year each.

Rohan holds a PhD in computer science from the University of Harvard and is a junior fellow in the Society of Fellows at the Harvard University. His graduate school work at Harvard was supported by a Siebel Scholars Fellowship and a Microsoft Research Fellowship, Rohan says on his Harvard research page.

He quotes father Murthy three times on his page, one of which reads: “The softest pillow is a clear conscience”.

On the technology side, his focus lies in the areas of networked systems, embedded computing and distributed computing systems. Rohan is said to be an avid programming enthusiast ever since his school days. Despite this, he has had little interest in working at Infosys, by his own admission. He completed schooling from the Bishop Cotton Boys’ School in Bangalore.

“I attended senior school with an auto-driver, a cricketer, a giraffe, a senior mugpot, another mugpot, a pianist, a geek, a brainiac, a Bong, a lawyer and a pilot,” he says on his Harvard research page.

On the personal front, Rohan’s interests span across philosophy, history and the classics. He also promotes the Murty Classical Library of India, an initiative aimed at bringing the classical literature of India to a global audience.

"I have read the Bhagvad Gita, the Mahabharata; but my reading is not as deep as Rohan's. He has taken several courses in philosophy and now, Sanskrit at Harvard," the senior Murthy had famously remarked in 2010. It was the same year Rohan married Lakshmi, daughter of Venu Srinivasan, Chairman of TVS Motors.

Clearly, Rohan’s time in the public eye has just begun. 

Going forward, several parallels will be made between him and Rishad Premji, Wipro’s Chief Strategy Officer and son of Wipro scion Azim Premji. 

It will be interesting to see how Rohan will respond to all the hype and expectations.

adith.charlie@thehindu.co.in

Checklist for education loans

For loans over Rs 4 lakh and up to Rs 7.5 lakh, a suitable third party guarantee is all that is required.

BL : Maulik Tewari ;June 1, 2013

Interest rates vary across banks, so survey many institutions before you zero in on one.

It’s that time of the year when students gear up for admissions to colleges and universities. Getting a seat at an institution of your choice may be the first priority, but being able to fund that education is equally important. Education loans are an option you canconsider.

WHAT’S ON OFFER

Banks offer loans for many graduate, postgraduate and other professional courses run by recognised institutions in India and abroad. Most banks lend a maximum of Rs 10 lakh and Rs 20 lakh for studies in India and abroad, respectively.

Some offer larger amounts too. For example, Indian Overseas Bank gives Rs 15 lakh for education inside the country and Rs 25 lakh for foreign education. State Bank of India can loan up to Rs 30 lakh for education abroad.

Since interest rates vary across banks, survey around to get the best deal possible. At present, the interest rates are in the range of about 11 per cent to 14 per cent. But remember that these loans are offered on a floating rate basis. So you need to be prepared for the risk of higher interest rates in future. But, you also stand to benefit if the base rate is revised downwards.

There are few ways in which your interest burden could be lower. If you have happen to make it to one of the country’s premier institutes including the IITs and the IIMs, then do check whether banks offer any loan scheme for students of these institutions.

The advantages could be many – relatively lower interest costs, higher loan amount and easier or no collateral requirements. SBI’s ‘Scholar Loans’ and Bank of India’s ‘Star Vidya Loan’ are two such schemes. Also, some banks offer a 0.5 per cent to 1 per cent concession in interest rates to girl students.

Those belonging to an economically weaker section i.e. those with an annual family income (from all sources) of up to Rs 4.5 lakh – can also hope for some relief. Such students can avail full interest subsidy during the moratorium (holiday) period.

However, they will have to bear the interest costs post this period. The scheme is applicable only for studies in India.

MARGIN MONEY

If you are borrowing up to Rs 4 lakh, you do not have to bother about margin money. But, if your loan exceeds this amount then you have to satisfy the bank that you are capable of meeting a part of the cost yourself. Generally, margin for loans for studies in India and abroad is 5 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively.

The good thing is that scholarship money, if any, will be considered a part of the margin money.

For loans over Rs 4 lakh and up to Rs 7.5 lakh, a suitable third party guarantee is all that is required. But you need to arrange for suitable collateral if your loan amount exceeds Rs 7.5 lakh. This could be an immovable property, fixed deposit, NSC or an LIC policy, among other things. A student taking a foreign education loan has yet another thing to take note of. A loan is sanctioned by a bank in rupees. At the time of disbursement, the bank will dispatch an equivalent amount in foreign currency (based on the existing exchange rate). If the rupee is relatively weaker then, the student will receive a lower amount. So, a student has to be prepared to bear this foreign exchange risk.

REPAYMENT

For education loans, banks allow a moratorium (holiday) – the period during which you do not have to start repaying the loan. This is taken as the course period plus one year or six months after getting a job, whichever is earlier. It is after this period that the EMIs begin.

It, however, makes sense to start paying/servicing the interest during the holiday period itself, if possible. If you do so, your EMIs will be lower. If you decide to service interest after the holiday period then you land up paying higher EMIs as they will be calculated based on a higher amount (principal + accumulated unpaid interest during the holiday period). Second, many banks offer a one per cent concession in interest rate during the moratorium period or even for the full tenure of the loan, if complete interest is serviced during the moratorium period.

Additionally, you can also claim the interest paid on an education loan as deduction in arriving at your taxable income. But, you must sure that the loan has been taken from an approved financial institution to be eligible to claim this benefit.

maulik.tewari@thehindu.co.in

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India to be a global powerhouse for investments and savings by 2030: World Bank

TOI :Partha Sinha, TNN | Jun 4, 2013, 06.53AM IST

MUMBAI: Across much of the developing world, robust growth over the next 17 years will be associated with high investment rates. 

As a result, by 2030, the combined share of China and India in world's total investments would be about 38%, compared to the combined share of all the high-income countries, including US, a report by the World Bank pointed out. 

"Under the gradual convergence scenario, Brazil, India and Russia, together, will account for more than 13% of global investment in 2030, more than the United States," WB's report, titled Capital for the Future: 

Saving and Investment in an Interdependent World, noted. The report said that in future, the patterns of investment will involve not only geographic shifts but also sectoral ones, mainly showing a marked tilt towards services. 

"As countries become richer, demand shifts toward services....In the gradual convergence scenario, services as a share of total investment in developing countries will grow from 57% to 61%," the report said. This shift will lead to increased demand for education, healthcare and infrastructure, and also a global drift "toward greater trade in services and a larger share of services being embedded in tradable goods," it pointed out. 

WB estimates that by 2039, India will reach its maximum ratio of working to non-working age population with 2.2 working person for every non-working one. 

"But already by the mid-2020, when most of the other developing countries will experience less favorable demographic trends, 

India will be one of the economies with the highest ratios of working to non-working population," it said. 

This, jointly with its large population and growing incomes, are the key explanations of why India will become a powerhouse in global savings and investment, the report noted.