FROM THE LENS OF HARRY BUCKLEY December 2018 | Sammaan | 19 In the year 2010, then Commanding Officer of the Victoria Cross Regiment Col MK Keshwar wrote a letter to Maj Harry Buckley who was the Officer Commanding of the glorious 21(VC) Field Company as an invitation to unit raising day, However, his Sister Janet Bukley replied and also gifted a album consisting of photos clicked by Maj Harry Bukley during his deployment in Ceylon, Burma and India. Harry was born in 1919 and did his education from St Bees School in Cumbria and studied Civil Engineering from Hampton University. Harry Buckley took over as OC 21(VC) Field Company in Dighi in the spring of 1946. Some of his lens works is in the following photographs:- THE BUND OVER THE MULA, DIGHI EARLY PHOTO OF ROYAL BOMBAY SAPPERS & MINERS MESS KIRKEE 102 ENGR REGT
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FROM THE LENS OF HARRY BUCKLEY
December 2018 | Sammaan | 19
I n t h e y e a r 2 0 1 0 , t h e n
Commanding Officer of the
Victoria Cross Regiment Col MK
Keshwar wrote a letter to Maj
Harry Buckley who was the
Officer Commanding of the
glorious 21(VC) Field Company
as an invitation to unit raising
day, However, his Sister Janet
Bukley replied and also gifted a
album consisting of photos
clicked by Maj Harry Bukley
during his deployment in Ceylon,
Burma and India. Harry was born
in 1919 and did his education
from St Bees School in Cumbria
and studied Civil Engineering
from Hampton University.
Harry Buckley took over as
OC 21(VC) Field Company in
Dighi in the spring of 1946. Some
of his lens works is in the
following photographs:-
THE BUND OVER THE MULA, DIGHI EARLY PHOTO OF ROYAL BOMBAY SAPPERS & MINERS MESS KIRKEE
102 ENGR REGT
PARADE AT BOMBAY SAPPER PARADE GROUND WITH WAR MEMORIAL IN BACKGROUND
PT BEING ORGANISED IN TB DIGHI (NOW TB 2)
GHAZNI DAY SPORTS, KIRKEE THE BABOOS RACE BRIG THURBURN LEADS COLOMBO MILITARY MARCH PAST
THE PATHAN CONTINGENT THE MARATHAS FOLLOWED BY THE SIKHS
During his tenure in Ceylon with the coy he narrated his story through his lens.
December 2018 | Sammaan | 20
December 2018 | Sammaan | 21
TRUCK IN THE FOREGROUNDTHE TOWN HALL COLOMBO
VIEW OF THE RIVER JUMA (YAMUNA)FROM THE TAJ
THE LIONS FEET AT SIGIRLYA
BIBLE BOOK NEAR ARANAYAKAMOSQUE PICTURE TAKEN FROM ONE OF THE TAJ MAHAL MINARS
Mesmerizing and Beautiful Taj Mahal prepared for protection during WW-II.
THE PEARL TEMPLE IN DELHI FORTOLD DELHI
Streets of Delhi.
NEW DELHIKING GEORGE V STATUE NEW DELHI
LOOKING MORE CHEERFULSHANGARA SINGH AND SADHU SINGH WORK WONDERS
In his album Harry Bukley captured the true always smiling, bright and happy Bombay Sapper in
his buddy L/Nk Shangara Singh.
December 2018 | Sammaan | 22
THE JUNGLE FOX -SUBEDAR MAJOR HONORARY CAPTAIN SUNDAR SINGH, ASHOKA CHAKRA
LT GEN GHANSHYAM SINGH KATOCH (RETD)
December 2018 | Sammaan | 23
I first met Havildar Sundar Singh, Ashoka
Chakra, in 1962 at Dagshai in the Shimla hills of
Himachal Pradesh, where the 4 JAK RIF was
stationed. The unit was getting ready to go for a UN
tenure to Congo. He was in ‘Charlie’ company
whose Company Commander was my father Major
(later Lt Col) Rajindra Singh Katoch. I was all of six
years old and was extremely impressed by the stories
of Havildar Sundar Singh’s bravery that my father
used to narrate to me. The five feet six inches Sundar
Singh, had been christened the Jungle Fox (taking
the cue from Rommel who was known as the Desert
Fox), because of his astonishing ability to melt into
the jungle and successfully stalk a variety of game
birds. It was an ability he had acquired from the
veterans of the Burma campaign of 4 JAK RIF, who
had perfected the art through the experience of
stalking Japanese soldiers in a deadly game in the
tropical jungles of Burma. That was where 4 JAK
RIF had earned accolades as well as five Military
Crosses and numerous other decorations.
Sundar Singh would take my father’s 12 bore
shotgun and cartridges and melt into the jungles
around Dagshai. After a few hours, he would always
emerge with one or more pheasants or black
partridges. Whenever he came back we would watch
awe struck as he sat down to have a cup of tea and we
children would pester him to tell us what he had done
at Hussainiwala and stare wide eyed at his shrapnel
scarred arm. Sundar Singh would very briefly tell us
what happened. In the narration, he always played
down his part. It was only later when I grew up that I
was able to learn more about him and his saga.
Acting L/NK (later Subedar Major Honorary
Captain) Sundar Singh belonged to Naushera in
Jammu and Kashmir. In March 1956 the battalion
was deployed at the Hussainiwala headworks on the
Indo-Pakistan border. From here, the water of the
Sutlej river is channelled into the Dipalpur canal
that goes to Pakistan, and also a canal that irrigates
Indian territory. As per the Radcliffe Commission
(the Indus waters treaty had not been signed at that
time, it was signed in 1960) India was responsible
for maintaining the embankments. The floods that
year had damaged the embankments and when these
were being repaired by the Indians. The Pakistanis
objected and attacked the bundh called “the Bela”
which was occupied by our troops to protect the
Engineers repairing the damaged embankment. On
the night of 18-19 March 1956, 4 JAK RIF was
tasked to evict the Pakistani troops from the end of
the right guide bundh, where a light machine gun
(LMG) was dominating the complete area, including
the left guide bundh across the river. This prevented
the ferrying of reinforcements across the river as
well as evacuation of casualties. The attack to
dislodge the Pakistanis was also held up by this
LMG. Volunteers were sought to silence this LMG
and the name of L/Nk Sundar Singh, a diminutive
soldier from “C’ Company who had proved his
mettle in the 1947 operations and was known for his
bravery and courage, was suggested. Sundar Singh
was that time in the central bundh area. When he
came to know of this requirement he immediately
volunteered to destroy the machine gun nest and
clear the way for the attack on the embankment.
Sundar Singh did not let down his superiors and
comrades. In an astounding feat of individual
stalking, he crawled about 150 yards carrying six
grenades, through a bullet swept area under
Pakistani observation up to the “Bela”. He was not
only able to silence the gun by killing all the crew
with the hand grenades but was also able to pull the
Bren LMG out of its nest, and carry it back to his
position, along with two magazine boxes containing
fourteen Bren-gun magazines. This enabled the
battalion to launch the attack successfully. L/Nk
Sunder Singh sustained shrapnel injuries to his arm,
despite which he had carried out his task. Not only
this, he went back later and brought back the bodies
of all the three Pakistani soldiers he had killed. For
this act of bravery L/Nk Sunder Singh was awarded
the Ashoka Chakra Class I, (presently called the
Ashoka Chakra, since Class II & III are now known
as the Kirti Chakra and the Shaurya Chakra).
Following the outbreak of the 1962 war, 4 JAK
RIF’s move to Congo was cancelled and the unit
moved to Hashimara in West Bengal, on the Bhutan
border. The unit was tasked to counter any attempt
by the Chinese to cut the Siliguri corridor through
Bhutan. The unit carried out extensive combing
operations in the thick jungles on the border with
Bhutan. My father recounts that while moving
through the dark jungles with very poor maps,
Havildar Sundar Singh with supreme confidence
and a mystical ability would lead the ‘Charlie”
company to its objective. Even when everyone
thought that they were lost, Sundar Singh would
retain the confidence to navigate the Company out of
the dark, leech infested jungles where no sunlight
could penetrate through the thick trees and
secondary growth. He was always optimistic and
said:” Ho jayega sahib !!”
As Sundar Singh —only the fourth Ashoka
Chakra of India — rose in rank, and long after he
retired, he participated in every Republic Day march
past by the winners of India’s highest gallantry
awards. It was a rare parade that he missed.
However, three days before 26 January 2017 this
brave soldier, who was ever humble, passed away, at
his native village of Chowki, Tehsil Nowshera at the
age of 90 years. People of that area resented the fact
that there were no army or police personnel present
to give a last Guard of Honour to a hero of the
country. But I am certain that this brave soldier from
his place in the heavens, would have dismissed the
indignation. Humble and shy, he never felt that what
he had done was extraordinary because in his
lifetime he had seen many brave men in his battalion
and in the army. “I just followed in their footsteps” is
what he quietly used to say.
We may not acknowledge it, but I am certain that
he motivated many brave soldiers of our army and
especially from J&K state. Capt. Bana Singh, PVC
was seven years old when Sundar Singh won the
Ashoka Chakra but I am sure he must have been
motivated by Capt Sundar Singh who came from a
place, a scant three hours drive, from his home in RS
Pura - as many others have been motivated by Bana
Singh. The tradition set by Sundar Singh will live on.
December 2018 | Sammaan | 24
CONTRIBUTION OF VETERANS TO STRATEGIC STUDIES THINK TANKS
BRIG GURMEET KANWAL (RETD)
December 2018 | Sammaan |25
Think tanks undertake evidence-based research
that is rooted in sound methodology with a view to
influencing policy and presenting solutions for the
challenges confronting their stakeholders. Armed
forces veterans have been providing high quality
leadership in strategic studies think tanks in India.
However, these think tanks are still few in number
and are mainly located at New Delhi. Till recently,
very few efforts were being made to educate Indian
civilian and armed forces officers in strategic studies
and international affairs. The proposed National
Defence University (NDU) is still in a nascent state.
Only a handful of universities have defence studies
departments and even these find it extremely
difficult to attract students. ‘Generalist’ bureaucrats
without any expertise in national security issues,
provide inputs for defence policy decisions to the
political leadership. In the words of H. M Patel,
India's first defence secretary, "the ignorance of
civilian officials in defence matters is so complete as
to be a self-evident and incontrovertible fact."
Despite being numbered among the five largest
armed forces in the world, strategic studies and
international affairs think tanks in India are few in
number.
While it is true that institutions like the National
Defence College (NDC) and to a limited extent, the
three war colleges (the Army War College, Mhow;
the College of Naval Warfare, Mumbai; and the
College of Air Warfare, Secunderabad), educate
officers in strategic studies, these are not think tanks
that debate the pros and cons of alternative policy
options. The Army Training Command(ARTRAC)
could loosely be deemed the official think tank of
the Indian Army; however, its role is mainly limited
to supervising training in the army’s training
institutions and conducting formation-level
(division and corps) war games based on
intelligence inputs. For example, the HQ ARTRAC
kept track of the Chinese plans to divert river waters,
but it was a CLAWS seminar that sensitised the
bureaucracy and the nation to the serious
implications of the proposed Chinese projects.
The First Think Tank
Since the May 1998 Pokhran-II nuclear tests,
when India declared itself a nuclear-armed state,
India's strategic culture is becoming gradually more
resurgent and vigorous and India has, at long last,
embarked on a quest for strategic autonomy. New
think tanks are springing up and new journals are
In the words of H. M Patel,
India's rst defence secretary,
"the ignorance of civilian
ofcials in defence matters
is so complete as to be a
self-evident and
incontrovertible fact.
hitting the stands. Newspapers, including the
business dailies, now carry national security and
defence related news items and opinion pieces fairly
regularly. Even the dotcoms have joined the
bandwagon – the web pages of regular newspapers,
as well as pure web-based news magazines are
increasingly carrying strategic and defence-related
news content. Television news channels now just
cannot seem to air enough of defence-related
reportage and panel discussions, even though some
of these are fairly sensational in content.
For many decades the Institute for Defence
Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi, founded
in 1965, was India’s only strategic studies think tank.
K Subrahmanyam, IDSA’s founding director,
straddled the strategic studies scenario like a
colossus for over 30 years. The Indian media lacked
journalists who specialised in national security. The
few articles that appeared on national security were
written mainly by retired generals, admirals, air
marshals and a few former foreign secretaries.
Honourable exceptions included General J. N.
Chowdhary's regular columns in The Statesman
while he was still in service. There were few defence
and security related journals and these were mainly
the professional journals of the various training
establishments and regiments or wings of the armed
forces.
The IDSA is the leading strategic studies think
tank in South Asia. It has excellent infrastructure for
research. Its Asian Security seminar, held in the
January of each year, is a landmark event in Asia’s
security calendar. After K Subrahmanyam, Air
Commodore Jasjit Singh carried forward the
research at IDSA for almost two decades. Since then,
other veterans have been instrumental in directing
and conducting research at IDSA. In a mutually
beneficial arrangement, the armed forces have now
started sending three to four research fellows every
year to IDSA and the civil services are gradually
following suit. The Indian Foreign Service and the
Border Security Force have sent a few research
fellows. Dennis Kux, the well-known author of
Estranged Democracies, was IDSA’s first
international fellow who came on a Ful bright
fellowship. Strategic Analysis, the premier quarterly
journal of IDSA, is well known and is often cited by
renowned international scholars, though it still has
some way to go before it measures up fully to famous
international journals.
Despite the gross indifference of India's national
security establishment in the past, IDSA directors,
notably K. Subrahmanyam and Jasjit Singh,
continued to plough a lonely furrow and were
instrumental in shaping key defence policy issues.
For example, the concept of "minimum credible
deterrence" as a viable nuclear policy option for
India was advocated extensively by IDSA. IDSA
alumni are serving on the editorial staff of leading
national newspapers and as professors in the
international studies departments of universities like
Jawaharlal Nehru University. In the future, IDSA is
likely to be called upon to provide consultancy to
government depar tments and be a l lot ted
autonomous projects, much like the RAND and
other reputable international think tanks. However,
while the IDSA has established itself as the premier
strategic studies think tank in South Asia and held
many well received international seminars, it has yet
to produce a single book of seminal significance. It
has concentrated mainly on foreign policy and area
studies and has not done enough to promote hard
core defence studies.
Other major think tanks include the Centre for
Policy Research, a multi-disciplinary think tank
promoted by the government of India in 1973. The
Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS) was
founded in 1996 by P R Chari, a former IAS officer
and Maj Gen Dipankar Banerjee, a former deputy
director of IDSA. It has several research
programmes and a very active website. K Shankar
Bajpai, a former Indian ambassador, was for long
December 2018 | Sammaan | 26
chair of the Delhi Policy Group, founded by a
business house with Lt Gen Vijay Raghavan heading
the security studies programme; and Dr Radha
Kumar heading the peace and conflict programme.
The Observer Research Foundation, founded by the
late R K Mishra is being supported by the Reliance
Group. The Institute of Chinese Studies is supported
by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
(CSDS), New Delhi. All of these think tanks have
together contributed to a serious discussion on major
national security issues and have brought out some
good publications - and armed forces veterans have
served in all of them.
Armed Forces Think Tanks: Good Beginning
For many decades, the National Defence College
(NDC), New Delhi, remained the only formal think
tank run by the armed forces. However, successive
commandants at the NDC did not pay much
attention to the think tank function of the NDC’s
charter and continued to focus primarily on its
training role. The research undertaken by the
officers undergoing training at NDC was not
published or widely circulated. In October 2001, Air
Cmde Jasjit Singh, former Director, IDSA, founded
the Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS) and the
Centre for Strategic and International Studies
(CSIS). While the CSIS remained somewhat low
key in its activities, CAPS began to flourish with
support from the Indian Air Force. Soon, the Indian
Army sponsored the Centre for Land Warfare
Studies (CLAWS) in January 2004 with Lt Gen
Vijay Oberoi as its first Director. The Indian Navy
raised the National Maritime Foundation (NMF) in
February 2005, with Rear Admiral R B Vohra as its
first Director. In due course, Lt Gen H S Lidder,
CISC, HQ Integrated Defence Staff, set up a tri-
service think tank to undertake research into joint
operations and India’s immediate neighbourhood
and the Centre for Joint Warfare Studies
(CENJOWS) came up.
A few armed forces and civilian officers got
together and established the Forum for Strategic
Initiatives (FSI) and the South Asia Institute for
Strategic Affairs (SAISA) with their own funds.
Most strategic studies think tanks are located at New
Delhi and are staffed by both armed forces and
veterans and young civilian scholars.
The establishment of think tanks by the three
services HQ and HQ IDS was a very pragmatic step
as there had been a long felt need to encourage armed
forces officers to graduate to strategic thinking and
broaden their horizons by undertaking research
activities. These think tanks have conducted many
seminars on contemporary issues as well on the
various facets of warfare at the strategic level. The
emphasis has always been on learning lessons from
the past, to prepare for the future. Seminars have
been conducted at Delhi and jointly with the various
Command HQ. In keeping with the dictum of
‘publish or perish’, all of these think tanks have a
slew of good quality publications. All of them have
flagship journals, issue briefs and occasional papers
and commissioned books and monographs. They
also undertake research projects on behalf of
Services HQ, Command HQ and other institutions.
December 2018 | Sammaan | 27
All of these think tanks have
together contributed to a
serious discussion on major
national security issues and
have brought out some good
publications - and armed
forces veterans have served
in all of them.
These think tanks have conducted many seminars
jointly with defence journals and the chambers of
commerce so as to bring together overseas and
Indian defence industry representatives along with
serving officers of the armed forces to showcase
future weapons technology. However, the four think
tanks CLAWS, CAPS, NMF and CENJOWS soon
fell short of funds and were eventually bailed out by
the ministry of defence (MoD) by being given a
corpus amount of Rs 10 crore each, in two tranches
for day-to-day expenditure, besides providingthem
with limited infrastructure support by way of
housing them in defence buildings. A few years
down the line inflation and falling interest rates took
their toll and the corpus amount was no longer
sufficient to for their ongoing activities and further
expansion. Though some additional funds were
allotted by the MoD, all of these think tanks need
another infusion of funds if they are to continue to
grow and be at par with international institutions.
Veterans have brought a healthy mix of rich
experience anddiligence to each of these think tanks.
Without the active involvement of armed forces
veterans, the research conducted by these think
tanks would have been too theoretical to provide
plausible policy options to the decision makers.
December 2018 | Sammaan | 28
FINANCIAL WELL-BEING AFTER RETIREMENT
COL RAJ RAKESH (RETD)
December 2018 | Sammaan | 29
Keep the ‘in’ of financial in-dependence and do
not let it ‘out’ to become financially dependent on
your children during your golden sunset years
Year after year about 60,000 soldiers retire at
between the ages of 37 to 54 depending on their rank
and service. This is too soon for anybody to retire
because the person has neither fulfilled his family
obligations nor accumulated enough wealth to
ensure his financial well-being for the balance of his
life. Therefore, the veterans do not retire but
necessarily re-attire to meet their family obligations.
Unfortunately, when a soldier retires, his exposure to
money matters is very limited or negligible since the
organisation barely encourages it during his career
for obvious reasons. Most often, he retires with only
his provident fund or postal life insurance as savings,
oblivious of the other financial available. Thus,
when he steps outside the protected service
environment his relatives or village kin try to lure
him into their business or property ventures. If he
manages to stay away from them, then some shrewd
money shark or tout befriends him and lures him into
areckless, commission driven investment or Ponzi
scheme promising unrealistic returns. He loses his
hard-earned money and is left high and dry at the
beginning of his second innings.
A veteran has many long decades before him to
work and meet his financial goals. If he starts on the
wrong foot financially, then his remaining years and
depleting income will be ill suited for wealth
creation and for meeting his financial goals. These
days, based on his rank and qualifying service, an
officer retires with a tax-free corpus of 80 to 90 lakh;
a JCO retires with 27 to 31 lakh; and a jawan retires
with 18 to 24 lakh. This includes only the gratuity,
commuted pension, AGIF and not his leave
encashment and provident fund. Besides, they will
get their monthly pension, which is 50 percent of
their last pay drawn but is taxable for personnel
retiring without disability. This is a reasonable
amount and if invested judiciously it can give
handsome returns. However, he must understand
that the government gives this as the last lump sum
payment for his services rendered. Therefore, he
must consider this as a family asset that can see him
through difficult times in future. During service, one
came across numerous cases where rip-off financial
advisors or relatives swindled the veterans into
financially imprudent investments that ruined their
families’ lives and their children’s future. Most of
our soldiers have a rural background where they
consider land purchase as the best form of
Therefore, the veterans do not
retire but necessarily re-attire
to meet their family obligations.
Unfortunately, when a soldier
retires, his exposure to money
matters is very limited or
negligible since the organisation
barely encourages it during
his career for obvious reasons.
investment. However, they must understand that this will take away bulk of their corpus for a highly illiquid
asset that is giving poor returns post demonetisation, besides precluding their diversification options.
The next aspect he must consider is the investment horizon available to him, which is a function of the
longevity of his life based on his economic well-being and better medical facilities. Given this life
expectancy, he must take into account the number of years he will live after his retirement. A jawan retires
between 37 to 42 years of age, a JCO between 46to 52 years and an officer between 54 to 60 years. He still has
30 to 50 years to live after his retirement. Hence, his retired life is probably more than his working life.
This makes it imperative for him to work (job or entrepreneurship) and generate additional income for as
long as possible. It ensures that he can meet his household expenses from his pension and the income from
work after retirement without depleting his retirement corpus. In addition, he can start investing through
monthly systematic investment plans (SIP) to meet his unfulfilled domestic and family liabilities.
Before he invests his retirement corpus, he must understand the risk-return aspect of various asset classes
and the implication of taxation on their returns to derive full benefit. Summarised and tabulated below is a
comparison for better comprehension.
Asset
DetailsEquity Debt Fixed Gold Property
Returns
Tax
Liquidity
Investment
Risk
Regulations
TimeHorizon
12 to 15%
Only on capitalgains in FY
Only on capitalgains in FY with
indexationbenefit on long-
term gains
On total interestearned in FY
8 to 10% 6.5 to 8.5% 5 to 7% 3 to 5%
Only on capitalgains in FY
Only on capitalgains in FY with
indexationbenefit on long-
term gains
Good exceptELSS and ULIP
Good Very Good Fair Poor
Small amountsin SIP and lump
sum
Small amountsin SIP and lump
sum
Lump sum in allexcept RD and
PPF
Lump sum forphysical; Smallamount in SIP
for ETF
Lump sum
High Medium Low Low High
SEBI regulated SEBI regulated RBI regulated
Only ETF isSEBI regulated;physical has no
regulation
Regulated byrecently
introducedRERA, which is
still evolving
7 to 10 years3 Months to 7
yearsOvernight to 10
YearsDepends on
investorDepends on
investor
December 2018 | Sammaan | 30
December 2018 | Sammaan | 31
Financial Wisdom
• Invest Before You Spend – A very common mistake that people make is that they try to invest their
savings. This means that they first spend their monthly income for meeting their needs and wants and then
invest the surplus in their hands. Cash is a liquid asset and like any liquid, it has the propensity to slip out of
your hands. Therefore, financial wisdom lies in working out your monthly expenses into two categories:
obligatory expenses required to meet your essential, must-do domestic obligations; and indulgence expenses
that include entertainment and vacations. After this, invest at the beginning of the month through an SIP and
spend the balance in your hand.
• Diversify to Beat Market Volatility and Hedge the Risk – The commonly used adage to‘not put all your
eggs in one basket’ is equally applicable to investments. Simply put, this implies that one should not risk
everything in one endeavour or invest everything in one asset. Our soldiers retire early and the classic
philosophy for investing after retirement at 60 years, is not relevant for them. Given below is an option for
investing their cash assets ( Rs30 lakh) in various financial instruments as per their age profile. These
guidelines may vary as per an individual’s risk appetite and liabilities.
• Risk and Returns are Directly Proportional – This is an important point to understand. A higher risk
financial instrument will generate higher returns and a lower risk financial instrument generates lower
returns. A sovereign guarantee bond gives a 7 percent return; a corporate bond gives 9 to 10 percent return;
and equity generates 12 to 15 percent returns. See the chart below to understand this better for various asset
classes.
Age GroupEquity Debt Fixed Gold TOTAL
PROPORTION IN VARIOUS ASSETS
ASSET WISE DISTRIBUTION RUPEES 30 LAKH
ASSET WISE VALUE OF ABOVE DISTRIBUTION AFTER 10 YEARS
30 to 40
41 to 45
46 to 50
51 to 55
56 to 60
60%
55%
50%
40%
30%
25%
20%
20%
20%
20%
10%
20%
25%
35%
45%
5%
5%
5%
5%
5%
30 to 40
41 to 45
46 to 50
51 to 55
56 to 60
18,00,000
16,50,000
15,00,000
12,00,000
9,00,000
7,50,000
6,00,000
6,00,000
6,00,000
6,00,000
3,00,000
6,00,000
7,50,000
10,50,000
13,50,000
1,50,000
1,50,000
1,50,000
1,50,000
1,50,000
30,00,000
30,00,000
30,00,000
30,00,000
30,00,000
Age Group
%ReturnsAgeGroup
30 to 40
41 to 45
46 to 50
51 to 55
56 to 60
55,90,527
51,24,650
46,58,772
37,27,018
27,95,263
17,75,523
14,20,418
14,20,418
14,20,418
14,20,418
5,90,145
11,80,291
14,75,364
20,65,509
26,55,654
2,44,334
2,44,334
2,44,334
2,44,334
2,44,334
82,00,529
79,69,693
77,98,888
74,57,279
71,15,670
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
12% 9% 7% 5%Total Value
After 10 Years
• Power of Compounding – Einstein called it the eighth wonder of the world. The key is the snowball effect
when your earnings generate even more earnings. If you invest Rs one lakh, they will grow to Rs 9.64 lakh
within 20 years at a 12 percent rate of return. This indicates a growth 103 percent and the table and chart below
depict it graphically.
• Equity Investment is a Function of Time – When you invest in equity then remember to ‘invest and
forget’. This is because any investment in equity is subject to market risks and the market cycle volatility. As
time goes by, the investment returns from equity start performing better than the benchmark indices since
volatility decreases and so does the probability of loss, which is only 3.7 percent after 10 years and becomes
zero after 15 years. Moreover, the power of compounding kicks in after about 5 to 7 years and the corpus
grows exponentially.
RISK RETURN TRADE-OFF
RETURNS%
FD Debt Equity Real Estate Direct Stocks
RISK%
FIVE YEARLY EARNING OF INITIAL INVESTMENT OF RUPEES ONE LAKH
* Notice how the earnings are increasing every 5 years due to compounding