America’s RIL Deal, India’s Real Deal

“Buy when there’s blood in the streets, even if the blood is your own.” That gem is credited to Baron Nathan Rothschild, a member of the legendary, eponymous banking family. And that wasn’t just a smart quip. He lived by it. The Baron invested while the Battle of Waterloo was raging. He profited handsomely after the war. Nor is Waterloo a unique case in history.

Geopolitical upheavals have invariably thrown up economic winners (and losers). WW2, the most devastating geopolitical event known to mankind, allowed US to overcome a biting depression, and emerge as the pre-eminent world power. It also allowed USSR to recover very quickly, from the extensive destruction it suffered, and emerge as a peer-competitor to US. The ensuing Cold War threw up several winners – most of East Asia as economic powers, and finally emergence of China, as a near-peer geopolitical rival to US.