Side Notes by Zerodha Varsity

NBFCs borrow money from banks and the public to give out loans. They make money by keeping the difference between the interest rate they receive from their customers and the interest rate they pay to…

Amber's revenues are the strongest in the March quarter and the weakest in the June quarter. 

Taj Hotels sees the weakest quarter in September and the strongest in December. 

Ultratech Cement witnesses…

Do you know the brand of bricks in your house? Do you know the brand of zips or buttons on your denims? Do we really care for the nuts and bolts used in our cars? How can one be successful in running…

TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto are similar in terms of the size of their revenues and assets. However, TVS has a return on assets of 4%, while Bajaj’s return on assets is almost 20%. Why this difference?

Z…

Vedanta Limited has been paying dividends that are in excess of its earnings over the past two years. Why is it doing so? And how can it pay such high dividends?

Zerodha Varsity on Social Media:

Insta…

Velvette's shampoo sachets, Colgate toothpaste tubes with wider openings, and the rounded Parachute oil bottles were all revolutionary innovations in product packaging. These cases show how packaging…

China is the second-most populous country on earth but has a significantly low population density. How is this causing the same sector to behave differently in India and China? 

Zerodha Varsity on So…

Apple, TSMC, and Nvidia have much higher PE ratios than Samsung despite Samsung competing directly with these players in the global markets. Samsung's revenues and operations are at comparable levels…

In 2024, people in Argentina carried bags or even suitcases filled with money for simple transactions. Inflation was as high as 287%. What structural issues pushed Argentina into a spiral of hyperinf…

Risk attracts a premium. A higher price is quoted if there is doubt about a customer's ability to pay up in time. The higher price is because the business wants a premium for assuming the risk. What …

Cuba is called the sugar bowl of the world, but Brazil and India have overtaken it as the largest sugar producers. Why did Cuba fall back? It seems the Middle East might be taking lessons from such m…

When Bangladesh struggled to pay power bills, Adani Power cut power power supply to the country by half. Adani could do this because its power generation was being done in India. What would the Bangl…

Palantir makes about 55% of its revenues from government contracts. That seems to be a lot of dependency on just one customer. Apple also apparently depends heavily on TSMC for semiconductor chips. T…

Torrent Pharma's Q2FY25 revenues from Brazil were up 4%, but in constant currency terms, the same revenues were up 17%. The concept of constant currency comes up only when the business has operations…

Bad quality of earnings or reporting may not be unlawful, but is that enough? Why is it important to have good-quality earnings? As an investor, why is transparency in reporting important? And why do…

Dmart's trade receivables are small, but those of L&T are huge. Is it because of the difference in the nature of their business or the difference in their management?

Zerodha Varsity on Social Media:

…

According to Warren Buffett, Coca-Cola and Apple enjoy economic moats. Coca-Cola’s brand identity is a moat, and Apple’s brand and product design are both moats. Any feature that makes it difficult f…

Cybersecurity is mission-critical for TCS and Infosys, tech infrastructure and delivery agents are mission-critical for Zomato and Swiggy, and coal mining is mission-critical for Coal India. Any impa…

Retailers, both online and offline, sell many products at a loss. Have you ever come across potatoes or sugar being sold for just 1 rupee per kilo? How do retailers make money if they offer such stee…

The gross margins of tech companies are inherently different from those of most manufacturing companies. It is their different nature of business. But come to think of it, what really are the input c…