Want a work-from-home job?

With the continuing technological advancement of telecommunications, more people are exploring the option of telecommuting -- working from home or elsewhere without having to give attendance at the office.

The reasons for telecommuting or taking up a non-office based job could be numerous. Stay-at-home moms prefer it so they can look after their children, the unemployed make the most of such offers till they find a steady job, others with health concerns may be unable to work from the office and so on.

Here's a few ideas on how to make money while remaining within the confines of your own home. All you need is an Internet connection and a computer. Most of the jobs described here do not require you to be a computer whiz, either -- you just need to have working knowledge of the Internet and programmes like MS Office, Word etc.

~ Set up an online store

This is like owning a retail shop online. You can design your own online store and sell products -- anything from apparel to books, bouquets, accessories, electronics etc. Starting up such a business will not require much of an investment. You will, however, have to be careful about monetary transactions and dispatches, as payments are all made online. If you think, you can't handle the money and logistics part, a better way is to register with an Internet marketplace like eBay.

~ Translation

If you have a good command over two languages, translation could be a very interesting option. If you want to take up some assignments within India, knowing English, Hindi and one regional language is a winning bet. A lot of companies outsource their translation jobs. You can approach them and ask for a contract. Government offices also outsource such assignments; you can try for opportunities with them.

If you know a foreign language and English, it is again a very interesting combination. You can approach a lot of publishers wanting to republish their content in a foreign language. These can be the publishers of books, magazine, software etc. This career can offer you an earning potential of approximately Rs 600 per page!

~ Day-trading

Day-trading in the stock market is a good way of making money from home. All you need is an Internet connection and a demat account. You can make money by operating in the stock market. It is up to you to decide how aggressively you want to operate. While you start speculating, be careful how you are investing your money.

~ Authoring

If you have a good knowledge of any subject, you can get in touch with some publishers to find out if any of them wants to publish a book on the proposed subject. This will give you an opportunity to put your knowledge to good use and utilise your time in a better way while earning money. When you are approaching a publisher for the first time, make sure that you submit a well-drafted proposal, so that you can discuss it in detail. The earning potential in this field depends upon your subject.

~ Proof-reading

Again if you have a good command over a language, you can approach some publishers for a proof-reading job. Any written material, be it a book or online content, needs to be proof-read before actual publication. This presents a good opportunity to those who have a good command over language. You can earn anything from Rs 7000-10,000 to start with.

~ Blogging

If you know your subject well, you can start blogging it. Good content will attract a lot of traffic and hence advertising. You can gain monetary benefits through Google Adsense and other advertisements.

~ Moderating a forum

You can apply to work as a moderator for a forum. There are various forums on the Internet which need moderators. If the job interests you, it presents a good work-from-home opportunity. Usually a forum moderator is paid based on the revenue the forum generates. This should be able to earn you something around Rs 10,000-15,000 per month.

~ Graphic designing

This is a creative field which needs an interest in creativity and a knowledge of working on software. Anything starting from a visiting card to an advertisement needs graphic designing. So, if you have a flair for creativity and knowledge of creating graphics, this could be another interesting field. The earning potential in this field depends on the size of assignment. Designing an A4 size ad for a medium level company should be able to fetch you somewhere around Rs 3,000-Rs 5,000.

~ Typing

Every organisation needs documents to be typed. You can approach some organisations to see if some of them are ready to outsource it to you. Also, you can find some opportunities on Internet. The payments here are made on page basis. This job can get you anywhere from Rs 100-500 per page, depending upon the company and the language you need to type in.

~ Content writing

Many online and print magazines actually pay freelancers to write for them. If this interests you, this field offers some really worthwhile opportunities. You will see many websites advertising for content from freelancers. Approach them and see if there's an opportunity for you. The earning potential this job offers also varies with the company and subject. You can earn anything from Rs 500-4000 per article.

You may ask, how do I get a work-from-home opportunity? The best option is to explore if there's an opportunity with your current employer to work from home, or look up online vacancies. If that is not possible or you are not interested in doing it, you will have to graduate from the university of hard knocks and make your own way freelancing.

The personal qualities you will need to ensure that you are successful in your working from home assignment are:

~ Self-discipline
~ Commitment
~ Maturity
~ Productivity
~ Self-motivation

So, if you think you have the qualities that a home-based job needs, start working on your options now.

(http://in.rediff.com/getahead/2008/mar/11home.htm)

How the Sensex is calculated

For the premier Bombay Stock Exchange that pioneered the stock broking activity in India, 128 years of experience seems to be a proud milestone. A lot has changed since 1875 when 318 persons became members of what today is called The Stock Exchange, Mumbai by paying a princely amount of Re 1.

Since then, the country's capital markets have passed through both good and bad periods. The journey in the 20th century has not been an easy one. Till the decade of eighties, there was no scale to measure the ups and downs in the Indian stock market. The Stock Exchange, Mumbai in 1986 came out with a stock index that subsequently became the barometer of the Indian stock market.

Sensex is not only scientifically designed but also based on globally accepted construction and review methodology. First compiled in 1986, Sensex is a basket of 30 constituent stocks representing a sample of large, liquid and representative companies.

The base year of Sensex is 1978-79 and the base value is 100. The index is widely reported in both domestic and international markets through print as well as electronic media.

The Index was initially calculated based on the "Full Market Capitalization" methodology but was shifted to the free-float methodology with effect from September 1, 2003. The "Free-float Market Capitalization" methodology of index construction is regarded as an industry best practice globally. All major index providers like MSCI, FTSE, STOXX, S&P and Dow Jones use the Free-float methodology. (See below: Explanation with an example)

Due to is wide acceptance amongst the Indian investors; Sensex is regarded to be the pulse of the Indian stock market. As the oldest index in the country, it provides the time series data over a fairly long period of time (From 1979 onwards). Small wonder, the Sensex has over the years become one of the most prominent brands in the country.

The growth of equity markets in India has been phenomenal in the decade gone by. Right from early nineties the stock market witnessed heightened activity in terms of various bull and bear runs. The Sensex captured all these events in the most judicial manner. One can identify the booms and busts of the Indian stock market through Sensex.

Sensex Calculation Methodology

Sensex is calculated using the "Free-float Market Capitalization" methodology. As per this methodology, the level of index at any point of time reflects the Free-float market value of 30 component stocks relative to a base period. The market capitalization of a company is determined by multiplying the price of its stock by the number of shares issued by the company. This market capitalization is further multiplied by the free-float factor to determine the free-float market capitalization.

The base period of Sensex is 1978-79 and the base value is 100 index points. This is often indicated by the notation 1978-79=100. The calculation of Sensex involves dividing the Free-float market capitalization of 30 companies in the Index by a number called the Index Divisor.

The Divisor is the only link to the original base period value of the Sensex. It keeps the Index comparable over time and is the adjustment point for all Index adjustments arising out of corporate actions, replacement of scrips etc. During market hours, prices of the index scrips, at which latest trades are executed, are used by the trading system to calculate Sensex every 15 seconds and disseminated in real time.

Dollex-30

BSE also calculates a dollar-linked version of Sensex and historical values of this index are available since its inception.

Understanding Free-float Methodology

Free-float Methodology refers to an index construction methodology that takes into consideration only the free-float market capitalisation of a company for the purpose of index calculation and assigning weight to stocks in Index. Free-float market capitalization is defined as that proportion of total shares issued by the company that are readily available for trading in the market.

It generally excludes promoters' holding, government holding, strategic holding and other locked-in shares that will not come to the market for trading in the normal course. In other words, the market capitalization of each company in a Free-float index is reduced to the extent of its readily available shares in the market.

In India, BSE pioneered the concept of Free-float by launching BSE TECk in July 2001 and Bankex in June 2003. While BSE TECk Index is a TMT benchmark, Bankex is positioned as a benchmark for the banking sector stocks. Sensex becomes the third index in India to be based on the globally accepted Free-float Methodology.

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Example (provided by rediff.com reader Munish Oberoi):

Suppose the Index consists of only 2 stocks: Stock A and Stock B.

Suppose company A has 1,000 shares in total, of which 200 are held by the promoters, so that only 800 shares are available for trading to the general public. These 800 shares are the so-called 'free-floating' shares.

Similarly, company B has 2,000 shares in total, of which 1,000 are held by the promoters and the rest 1,000 are free-floating.

Now suppose the current market price of stock A is Rs 120. Thus, the 'total' market capitalisation of company A is Rs 120,000 (1,000 x 120), but its free-float market capitalisation is Rs 96,000 (800 x 120).

Similarly, suppose the current market price of stock B is Rs 200. The total market capitalisation of company B will thus be Rs 400,000 (2,000 x 200), but its free-float market cap is only Rs 200,000 (1,000 x 200).

So as of today the market capitalisation of the index (i.e. stocks A and B) is Rs 520,000 (Rs 120,000 + Rs 400,000); while the free-float market capitalisation of the index is Rs 296,000. (Rs 96,000 + Rs 200,000).

The year 1978-79 is considered the base year of the index with a value set to 100. What this means is that suppose at that time the market capitalisation of the stocks that comprised the index then was, say, 60,000 (remember at that time there may have been some other stocks in the index, not A and B, but that does not matter), then we assume that an index market cap of 60,000 is equal to an index-value of 100.

Thus the value of the index today is = 296,000 x 100/60,000 = 493.33

This is how the Sensex is calculated.

The factor 100/60000 is called index divisor.

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The 30 Sensex stocks are:

ACC, Ambuja Cements, Bajaj Auto, BHEL, Bharti Airtel, Cipla, DLF, Grasim Industries, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Hindalco Industries, Hindustan Lever, ICICI Bank, Infosys, ITC, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Udyog, NTPC, ONGC, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Reliance Communications, Reliance Energy, Reliance Industries, Satyam Computer Services, State Bank of India, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, and Wipro.

(http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/feb/21bspec.htm)