Limited options
Finance is the life-blood of business. More so for Internet companies, popularly known as dot-coms. These companies are in an unenviable position today. They are discovering to their dismay that the financing avenues open to them are limited.

Editorial -- Need to go slow
Internet companies need to explore new avenues for financing. It is time they develop strong business models and sustainable revenue models. Only then would they be able to tap the IPO market successfully.

New parameters for new economy stocks
Meet Rashikbhai, a third generation stockbroker. Rashikbhai learnt the business of broking from his father. Despite not possessing any professional degree, he is able to understand his business, thanks to his hands-on approach. He understands the cyclicals, the utilities and the FMCG stocks. He tracks their movements continually. When he finds a fixed pattern in these stocks, he enters the stock early, much before the market could identify the winning stock.

Valuing Net firms -- a new ball game
A good valuation exercise is based more on an estimate of future potential than on track records of financial success. This valuation tenet holds good for new economy companies. The new economy companies hardly have assets or revenues worth talking about. They bank heavily on their future potential. Values here depend on the speed of Internet companies and their knowledge of the market.

Internet companies discover a new medium of exchange`
Indian Internet companies are taking a cue from their American counterparts. Keen to arrest cash outflows, they are increasingly issuing shares to settle their bills.The trend is discernible. Swapping stocks for services is becoming popular among Indian Internet companies. What are the expenses the Indian Internet companies incur? How are they being settled?

Financing Indian dot-coms
The invincible trio seems to be no longer so. The information, communication and entertainment stocks, popularly known as ICE stocks, are on a meltdown. Of late, the bourses have been reminding investors that information technology stocks need not always move up. They can also fall. And when they do, they fall rapidly taking the whole market down with them.

It is a different ballgame
Internet companies, also known as dot-coms, are mushrooming. Most of them do not have strong business and revenue models and hence they might not be able to launch their IPOs in the near future. How then are these dot-coms going to finance their operations? To find answers, Financial Express organised a symposium on 3 May, 2000.

Share swaps have become very popular in India
Munesh Khanna is country head of Arthur Andersen India. Khanna, who has spent 13 years in Arthur Andersen, is a well-known figure in the world of Internet. He was instrumental in the merger between Online Solutions and Net Across. He has provided overall consultancy services for Clubgreetings.com, Pugmarks, Travelmart, Webdunia, Total cricket, Cricline, Saval.com and Telesoft, among others.