The smartest-looking lady made the smartest bid to snare Kieron Pollard, the most sought-after cricketer in the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) third player auction held in Mumbai on Tuesday afternoon.

Nita Ambani, Mumbai Indians’ owner, walked into the bidding room at a five-star hotel here wearing a newly-designed team T-shirt. She later said she was sure of what to purchase. It is a different matter that three other teams - Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers and Kolkata Knight Riders - had walked in with similar plans. However, it was Nita Ambani’s superior, secret, bid that prevailed.

The bidding for Pollard began at a base price of $200,000 and soon turned into a hot battle between Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata. Every passing bid of $10,000 saw all the four teams locked in a tie when the entire purse of $750,000 was emptied. Lalit Modi, the IPL chief, then called for the tie-breaker rule where all three franchisees concerned had to quote an amount - a silent bid which wouldn’t be revealed - and the team quoting the highest amount could buy Pollard.

The Knight Riders were the first to back off at this stage, leaving the other three to slug it out. Nita Ambani wrote an amount slightly higher than Rs 6.5 crore (approximately $1.75m) which saw her pip rivals N Srinivasan (Chennai Super Kings) and Vijay Mallya (Royal Challengers). The idea, it seemed, was to keep in mind that the Kings and the Challengers would be missing out on the services of their costliest players this season - Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen - and so they would utilize that money to buy another player.

Mumbai Indians quoted a figure slightly higher than $1.5m and Pollard was theirs.

“The team strategy, discussed between Sachin Tendulkar, TA Sekar and Robin Singh was that we wanted a batting allrounder and we are happy to have him,” Nita Ambani, wife of CMD, Reliance Industries said after the successful bid.

Pollard technically emerged the costliest player of the IPL, as the money spent on him totals up to a mindboggling $1.75m. Ironically, according to the auction rules, the Trinindadian will only get $750,000. The rest of the amount ($1.55m) will go into the IPL kitty.

Mukesh Ambani’s Mumbai Indians have now exhausted their purse and will play no more part in the auctions.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is shocked and outraged by the reports broadcast on Thursday, first by TV5 and later by a few other Telugu television channels, which attempted to link us with the most tragic death of former Chief Minister Dr.Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

Reliance Industries strongly condemns and unequivocally refutes all the allegations with the contempt they deserve. The unsubstantiated, malicious and motivated reports are utter rubbish, without an iota of truth in them. That the news channels sensationalized a speculative story appearing on a little-known foreign website of dubious credentials, without crosschecking with us, betrays their mala fide intentions.

This is further evident from the sudden, pre-meditated, organized and well-coordinated attacks on RIL’s various installations and properties across the State that ensued within minutes of the first news broadcast. These orchestrated criminal acts have caused extensive damage to our properties. Worse, some of our personnel and valued customers have been injured in the mindless violence. All this has been done in cahoots with our business rivals.

Reliance Industries will proceed legally against TV5 for deliberately telecasting a false report, which has tarnished our reputation, harmed our customers, and caused us business losses. We demand that the Central and State governments conduct a thorough inquiry into the synchronized criminality of the news channel and the perpetrators of violence against Reliance Industries. The culprits must be brought to justice.

Reliance Industries is a law-abiding corporate citizen. We have cordial relations with all the stakeholders in the state, including leaders of all the political parties. We fondly recall our association with the late Chief Minister Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. Thanks to his active support, several of our business initiatives in Andhra Pradesh took off and RIL rapidly expanded its footprint across the State. Our significant investments in Andhra Pradesh have benefited both the State and the nation. Today we are one of the biggest private sector employers, providing direct and indirect employment to more than 10,000 people in the State.

We deeply regret inconvenience caused to our customers in the State following the disruption of our business activities. We sympathise with, and sincerely apologize to, our customers.

“Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket!” You’ve probably heard that over and over again throughout your life…and when it comes to investing, it is very true. Diversification is the key to successful investing. All successful investors build portfolios that are widely diversified, and you should too!

Diversifying your investments might include purchasing various stocks in many different industries. It may include purchasing bonds, investing in money market accounts, or even in some real property. The key is to invest in several different areas – not just one.

Over time, research has shown that investors who have diversified portfolios usually see more consistent and stable returns on their investments than those who just invest in one thing. By investing in several different markets, you will actually be at less risk also.

For instance, if you have invested all of your money in one stock, and that stock takes a significant plunge, you will most likely find that you have lost all of your money. On the other hand, if you have invested in ten different stocks, and nine are doing well while one plunges, you are still in reasonably good shape.

A good diversification will usually include stocks, bonds, real property, and cash. It may take time to diversify your portfolio. Depending on how much you have to initially invest, you may have to start with one type of investment, and invest in other areas as time goes by.

This is okay, but if you can divide your initial investment funds among various types of investments, you will find that you have a lower risk of losing your money, and over time, you will see better returns.

Experts also suggest that you spread your investment money evenly among your investments. In other words, if you start with $100,000 to invest, invest $25,000 in stocks, $25,000 in real property, $25,000 in bonds, and put $25,000 in an interest bearing savings account.

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