04 KALEIDOSCOPE ERGO Monday, February 2, 2009

Ask your query

Q: I recently quit my company and
joined a new company. My friends
advised me to withdraw the PF
amount, while others advice me to
TO BE OR NOT TO BE
transfer it to the new company’s
account. What should I do? The question on whether to continue investing in
Joseph, Omega Consulting, Chennai
mutual funds or not in the market downturn scenario
Answer: Joseph, if you are not in need of
cash urgently it is better to transfer the PF
amount to the new company’s account. The
first reason is that assuming you have not
completed five years in your previous com-
pany the amount is taxable. The second rea-
son is more of a self-control issue as it might
be tempting for you to spend it off if you see
it in cash. In today’s hard times its better to
keep cash in your account and avoid spend-
ing it.

Q: My company accountant has been

behind me to give my tax investments
declaration by Feb 15, but I have not
done any investments so far and also
do not have money right now. Should
I borrow money and make the
investments and save tax?
Satish Kumar, Quantum technologies

Answer: Satish, don’t hurry up to give tax

declaration if you have not done anything
so far. It’s better to let your company deduct
TDS now and arrange for money (without
borrowing on interest) and make the invest-
ments before 30 March 2009 and then claim
a refund from the government.
Do you have any queries related to your
personal finance? Ask our experts. Mail your
queries to finergo@goergo.in

Mini Quiz

T
he downturn in the markets
that started in January 2008 has
Q1: Who is the new Chief Executive sent shivers down the spine of
of ICICI Bank many investors in mutual
funds. This holds especially true for
A. Chanda Kochar first time investors whose tryst with
B. K.V. Kamath equity markets began only in the last
C. Suneeta Reddy few years. The surge in the markets
D. Renuka Ramnath to record highs had lured many to
enter the market. But the slide in the
Q2: Who is the governor of the index during the last 12 months has
Reserve Bank of India caught several investors off guard.
What should I do is the question
A. C.B. Bhave that lingers in the minds of the many
B. D. Subbarao people whose investments has gone
C. Y.V. Reddy
D. Montek Singh Ahluwalia
southwards. Many rush to redeem
the units to prevent complete ero-
sion of the principal. Is it a right
Send your answers to finergo@goergo.in decision?
or SMS your answers to 92813 98889. For To answer this question, the in-
example if you choose A as the answer to
vestor must conduct an honest ap-
question 1 and B as the answer to question praisal of their risk profile and
2 type it as 1A2B and send it. investment horizon. The investor
should also introspect to answer the
question why he invested in a given
mutual fund.
If an investor believes that he can
take on higher risk and is willing to
stay invested for a longer period say
3 to 5 years time, then we believe
there is no reason to panic. In fact
investors can even consider cashing
in on the crash and add to their port-
folio and average the purchase price
The investor must
conduct an honest
appraisal of their risk
profile and investment
horizon. The investor
should also introspect to
answer the question
why he invested in a
given mutual fund.
by buying more units when the mar-
kets are low.
Conversely, if the investor has a
low risk appetite and chose mutual
fund investment to take advantage
of rising market and make quick
money, such investors made a
wrong choice of avenues for invest-
ment. They are advised to work out
an exit strategy in consultation with
their financial advisors to minimise
the loss, if any.
Although most investors seem to
have lost money, but based on what
has been predicted by experts, the
Indian markets will in all likelihood
start growing in the next 6-8 months.
So if you are not too much in a hurry
to save and exit what’s left, just play
the wait and watch game and let
your fund manager work towards
making up for lost ground. ■
V.Ramachandran
ram@finerva.com
 Monday, February 2, 2009
05
Websites of the day
Learn the local lingo wherever you go: http://www.urbandictionary.com
Catch up with your favourite TV theme tunes of yesteryear: http://
www.tvtunesonline.com/

Camp Major
‘The Startup Guy’ on Proto’s next plans, new initiatives and his next venture in the field of music
Starting the ecosystem
Barcamp and Blogcamp were our
early initiatives that kick-started the
start-up movement. We later formed
Knowledge Foundation in September
2006, which is the umbrella organisa-
tion for all these initiatives.
Proto.in has been getting great re-
sponse. I have around 3,000 people in
my mailing list, though I want the
count to go up to 100,000.
When we started Proto we were
around 10 to 15 guys. Today, I have
about 120 volunteers representing 17
cities – Coimbatore, Vellore, Kolkata...
the list is growing.
The team functions in 12 different
departments, where they evangelise

A
three-month vacation after the start-ups, etc.
Class X Boards can get really Proto.in is largely for technology
boring for some boys. So, what start-ups. When can we see it
do they do? Work in a computer diversify?
centre, build and deliver projects and It’s true we have been getting simi-
start a company. Vijay Anand was also lar feedbacks. In the next edition,
bitten by the entrepreneurial bug this which in all probability will be hosted
way, with due credit to his father who in Pune, we hope to bring start-ups
motivated him. from diverse fields. I want to cut down
“I started a company whenever I on Internet and introduce more of
needed a job,” exclaims Vijay, lucidly bio-tech, energy, healthcare and edu-
explaining the three companies he cation.
started. The third being a product What is the success of Proto with
company that was involved in making respect to MNCs coming and acquir-
media servers for mobile phones, ing them?
which he and friends later sold to We have industry majors like Wipro,
Nokia. Siemens, Qualcomm, to name a few,
“We slept once in three or four attending these events. Wipro, for ex-
days,” he explains about juggling col- ample, is working with a start-up in
lege, part-time jobs and a company in the RFID (Radio Frequency Identifica-
Ottawa, Canada. tion) space. Even at the just-conclud-
Today, it is a line-up of community ed edition of Proto 09 we had a
events like Barcamp, Blogcamp, Wik- start-up that received an average of 40
icamp, Startup Lunch, Mobile Mon- offers from clients.
day and Fix Chennai that keeps him Future of Proto
busy. Proto has a long way to go. We have
Though all these start-up events to take some companies global – some
have not always received the same re- have huge potential in them. To start
sponse, Proto.in, where he is the cura- off, we are working on taking a group
tor, at least, keeps him running. of start-ups to Israel – there is lot to
The start-up event is billed as one of learn from their telecom sector.
the best platforms for entrepreneurs What next on the agenda?
to converge. We are having a Searchcamp – con-
It is on his mind 365 days a year, he ference for website managers and de-
says. All this is besides heading the velopers – in February end and early
incubation centre at TeNeT (Telecom- March.
munications and Computer Network- In Facebook Developers Garage in
ing) at IIT-Madras, where he overseas mid-March, participants will be re-
technological and business develop- quired to develop applications for Fa-
ment for research/ business incuba- cebook.
tion departments in IIT. The entrepreneurial in me...
Brought up largely in Dubai, it is I am planning to start my next ven-
amazing to see this 28-year-old, just ture, but it will take time. I am waiting
three-and-a-half years in India (Chen- for Proto to mature a little more. It will
nai), spearheading a number of initia- be something to do with the music
PHOTO: R. RAVINDRAN

tives for the start-up eco-system in industry.

India. “Chennai has 560 start-ups, a Also, like Proto, I want to bring the
majority of them working from resi- music industry to one platform. It will
dential areas, and it is second to Ban- be something like ‘Eurovision’, which
galore.” will showcase some of the profession-
Vijay Anand in conversation with al artistes in to the world space. One
Liffy Thomas: more to Vijay’s many hats. ■