Kunal Kumar Kundu
Vice President & India Economist
Global Investment Bank
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With a research experience of nearly 20 years, I have straddled across the financial research spectrum. I have written extensively for Wall Street Journal, Asia Times Online, Straights Times, Financial Times and Business Standard. After trying my hand at being independent, I am back to regular employment with a global investment bank as their India economist.
Prior to going independent, I was heading the Indian operations of Roubini Global Economics in New Delhi, India. As India economist, I was responsible for all India-centric research, interaction with clients and media. As head of Indian operations I was responsible for starting the office from scratch and ensured complete adherence to all legal and compliance matters. Before joining RGE, I was working with Infosys and was the heading the macro economic research process of a leading global investment bank.
Originally from Kolkata, I am currently based out of Bangalore, having checked into his city for the third time. I have also had the privilege of living in Mumbai, New Delhi (twice) and Chennai as well. However, I am a true blue Bengali having lived in Kolkata (erstwhile Calcutta) for about 24 years. Essentially, I have been in Kolkata till I completed my Master’s in Economics from the University of Calcutta and came back again to live in this city for a few years as a professional.
Looking back at those wonderful years I feel lucky to be part of a city, part of a culture that does stand out. Nowadays, of course, Kolkata stands out for all the wrong reasons. Hence while Kolkata (with all its contradictions) is so close to my heart, I am not sure I would be able to go back to the city as a professional. The leftists have been ruling the state for more than three decades. However, the decadence that started more than a decade back has led to the state of West Bengal to a path of ruin. The new government under the leadership of Ms. Mamata Bannerjee romped home to power on the plank of change. We were all enthused and looked at her as a messiah of change. Unfortunately, after a few months, our hopes have been shattered. Change we are seeing for sure, but not the ones we desired. A true leader should have been able to forget the traumatic past, apply soothing balm on the pains and take everybody along with, in the path of progress. Unfortunately, the quality of leadership displayed thus far holds out little hope for real change. Kolkata yielded its position economic pre-eminence long back. Now we are losing even culturally as time and again we bow to the dictats of the politically important religious lunatics who tend to bring in religious colour to every expression and the current leadership pampers to them. It’s painful, but being an eternal optimist, keeping fingers crossed.
I started my career with Dalal Street Investment Journal in New Delhi (India), way back in 1996 soon after I completed my study in finance. Those years at Dalal Street Journal turned out to be wonderful learning experience for me, notwithstanding the fact that, at times, I had to endure delayed salary for months. Subsequently I moved to a few other organisations like GIO Sanmar (AMP Sanmar at a later stage), Fitch Ratings & Indo German Chamber of Commerce. A high point during this period of time has been the conception and creation of IGCC 15 Index, a market capitalisation index of 15 Indo German Companies (minimum German share holding of 26%) whose shares are listed in either BSE and/or NSE.
While I have been exposed to various facets of financial research, the journalist in me still remains alive. The love for writing and a passion for financial research have found expression in various articles and reports I have been writing for long.
With the aim of providing a common platform to all my thoughts that I have penned down over the years, I have launched this website. It includes all the articles that I could manage to find online. I have started blogging as well. Hope you would enjoy reading these as much as I enjoy writing.
Unfortunately I have been quite on and off lately. Regulatory requirements prevent me from sharing my views regularly. Hence, while I have stopped blogging for now, I would occasionally be posting my publicly available reports to be able to share my views with my dear readers.
Please do keep on visiting my website and in case you want to be intimated about any new updates, do let me know by mailing me at kunalkundu@yahoo.com. As always, bouquets and brickbats welcome.