Diversification boosts MSME revenues: CRISIL study

The CRISIL analysis involved about 13,000 MSMEs rated on the basis of their 2013-14 (financial year April 1-March 31) financials

Business Standard

Apropos the report, "Retrospective tax laws scared investors away, says Jaitley" (January 3), while the government may be legally competent to levy retrospective taxes, such taxes are morally illegitimate.Apart from retrospective taxation, what hurts investors as well as Indian taxpayers is the manner in which revenue officials exercise quasi-judicial powers in dealing with disputes. It is axiomatic that they are expected to be fair in their interpretation of the law, irrespective of the amount of money involved in a dispute. They are not expected to be revenue-biased, at least not recklessly. They are expected to act like judges. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's advice to them, "when in doubt, go straight (without leaning on either side)" is saying the obvious. He is only reminding them the hallmark of an ideal tax administration.However, the credibility of the officials in resolving disputes is strikingly low. What hurts taxpayers the most is that even in patently undeserving cases of

Letters: Act according to the law

With reference to T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan's article, "A paradox for Mr Modi" (January 4), the brief but excellent presentation of the change of guard in the capital of the largest democracy during the last 65 years makes the article a collector's item. The writer has brought out the rise and fall of all prime ministers in a manner that future historians might record the events in Delhi while putting together the country's parliamentary history.What the writer almost misses is the context and content of the change that has taken place in Delhi in the current decade. Here, the article goes with the perception of the common man, keeping aside the historian's mantle. Those who voted in the 2014 general elections were fed up with the manipulations of coalition politics and wanted change. They saw in Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal change agents, not only because of their Bharatiya Janata Party-Gujarat and anti-corruption crusade backgrounds. They saw two individuals speaking out on issue

Letters: A country in transition

Click on graphic

Over 2015, how did the rupee do in terms of the currencies of several of India's major trading partners and peers? Of course, pressure on the rupee depends not just on global factors but also on the inflation difference between countries and the spread of interest rates that entices foreign money in - represented here by the difference between yields on government debt.Only against the Brazilian real, in Table 1, and the Indonesian rupiah, in Table 2, has the rupee unambiguously strengthened over 2015. The interest rate differential with Brazil altered markedly in India's favour.In both cases, the yield spread trended downwards for much of the year.Against the Japanese yen, as shown in Table 3, the rupee found a lower level. Japanese inflation has trended downwards over the year as compared to Indian inflation. Against the Chinese yuan, inTable 4, the rupee headed downwards for most of the year - but volatility at the beginning and the end meant it ended up pretty much where it began.

StatsGuru: Taking stock of India's key economic indicators vis-a-vis other nations

Parliament in the Winter session, 2015

The Lok Sabha is edging past the Rajya Sabha in productive work. During this session, the Lower House worked for 98 per cent of its scheduled time, whereas the Upper House worked for 51 per cent of its scheduled time.| Over the years, the productivity of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha has been similar, with a few instances of one House performing marginally better than the other. However, in the past four sessions, the average productivity of the Lok Sabha has been 97 per cent and the average productivity of the Rajya Sabha has been 62 per cent|  In this session, the majority of productive time was spent on non-legislative business, which included discussions on issues related to price rise, drought and floods, and a two-day special sitting on commitment to India's ConstitutionEight Bills were passed by Parliament in this session|  The Lok Sabha spent more time debating Bills as compared to the Rajya Sabha in this session. The Lok Sabha discussed 13 Bills for 28 hours, whereas the R

Baidu's O2O (online-to-offline) food delivery subsidiary Baidu Waimai is reportedly looking at raising anywhere between $300 million and $500 million. According to various Chinese media reports, Waimai is contemplating deploying a major portion of the proposed funds to improve its platform, on research and development, new category expansion and marketing.Palantir valued at $20 bnPalantir Technologies, a provider of powerful data analysis tools for governments and businesses, has raised $880 million in its latest round of financing. With the new funding, Palantir is valued at about $20 billion, up from $15 bn. It brings the total amount of money raised by the firm to about $2 bn. The money will most likely be used for hiring and developing new businesses, The New York Times reported.UPQ's gadgets in more nationsTokyo-based UPQ has started selling two of its gadgets - a GoPro-like action camera for $177 and a see-through glass keyboard for the same price - in Singapore via e-commerce gi

Waimai to raise $500 million

For an industry that accounts for more than 10 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and around 8 per cent of total employment, the retail segment saw a racy 2015. A plethora of brands flooded the market in categories such as textiles, fashion, electronic durables and departmental stores and that brought about a surge in advertising across media. And among all Indian retailers, the Future group emerged as the top advertiser in the last quarter of 2015

Future group: Top advertiser among retailers

Business Standard analyses one family's finances and suggests a way forward

Case study

Realty check

Business Standard brings you a snapshot of average current rates and unit sizes in localities that offer property in a price range of Rs 1-1.5 crore. If you are looking at buying real estate and your budget falls within this range, an idea about prevailing rates would come handy

My car was stolen from a paid parking lot near the railway station. Can I claim insurance for it?Yes, you can claim under insurance as the motor insurance policy is an all-risk cover. Please ensure that you file a First Information Report immediately and lodge a claim with the insurer at the earliest.I am a non-resident Indian working in United Arab Emirates (UAE). If I get treated in India during my holiday, can I use my medical insurance issued by my employer?Generally, the health insurance plans allow the insured to take treatment only within a defined domestic geography. You will have to check with your UAE insurer whether they provide reimbursement of expenses incurred outside UAE.I had a health insurance claim and I was not happy with the service. If I want to switch my insurance company, will it be possible? Will my claim be held against me?Yes, you can switch your health insurer under the portability guidelines. This would require you to approach the new insurer at least 45 day

General Insurance: Rakesh Jain

Important moves towards a single agricultural market

Breaking down barriers

Improved fuel norms should be a top priority

Battling pollution

National leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recently sat down with their counterparts in West Bengal to recast members of the party's state executive. The objective: to include new and young people in the executive to reinvigorate the BJP ahead of Assembly elections in the state. Given that polls in the state have to take place by April, the BJP faces a tough task taking on the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress. Party leaders ended up ejecting several old-timers from the state executive. They suggested that the old-timers be "promoted" to a state-level "mentors' group" along the lines of the margdarshak mandal at the central level. However, the BJP leadership, wiser after recent meetings with the margdarshak mandal - which comprises L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi among others - caused much embarrassment to the party, jettisoned the idea. Instead, it favoured a quiet retirement for the old-timers.

Once bitten, twice shy

Given that the odd-even formula for private vehicles in Delhi is the first such step by any state in the country to curb pollution, the Aam Aadmi Party government went the extra mile to garner publicity. The media was informed in advance about the mode of transport Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and members of his cabinet would opt for. So details such as "Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will leave his residence at 8 am on his bicycle, go for an appointment and then cycle to the Delhi Secretariat" or "(Transport and Rural Development Minister) Gopal Rai will leave his residence in his even-numbered car for work and then take a bus tour from the Secretariat" circulated in the media. With such detailed itineraries of the cabinet available to the media, no wonder television crews were tracking the ministers closely.

Detailed itineraries

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has said it would support the Khan Market Traders' Association in New Delhi if it sues actor Salman Khan for naming his online shopping portal Khanmarketonline.com. In a statement, CAIT asked how anyone could use the name of one of the world's most prestigious markets for personal gain. If the actor were allowed to go ahead, there was a possibility that websites with names such as "Indiagateonline.com" or "Rashtrapatibhawanonline.com" might come up.

It's all in the name

With reference to A V Rajwade's column, "Some end-of-the-year thoughts" (December 31, 2015), the financial economy becoming the master of the real economy is not good news for India or the world. The implications of such a phenomenon are clear: Borrowing companies have leveraged their balance sheets without a corresponding stake.  Lenders did not bother about the ubiquitous ratio, that is, debt-equity. Interest cover was never taken into account to determine borrowers' ability to service loans. No wonder lenders are now at the mercy of their borrowers. This is at least true of lenders in India, especially the public sector banks.There is another dimension to this issue. When the financial economy dominates the real economy, its market capitalisation also exceeds that of participants in the real economy. Lenders are growing faster than the players in the real economy. This is quite dangerous. Supporting institutions (read lenders) have overlooked the basic parameters of lending and the

Letters: A dangerous trend

With reference to the thought-provoking editorial, "Hopes for 2016" (January 1), there is no substitute for consensus for the government of the day. While the success story of the National Democratic Alliance government led by Narendra Modi in the area of economic reforms is reasonably suspect, it would be naive to blame it alone for its dismal performance. The role of a united Opposition in Parliament to stall the government's legislative agenda is equally to blame for impeding progress. It is an open secret that the Congress practically turned the tables on the government by tactfully "utilising" the numbers in the Rajya Sabha.On key pending issues that have been well enumerated in the editorial, there is no doubt that the government had to adopt a policy of persuasion rather than confrontation.The year 2015 would go down as one of the blackest in the history of the Indian democracy when political communication stooped to its lowest level. Some leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata

Letters: Be more receptive

Technology to drive Employee Engagement

Technology can get employee survey data in the hands of managers more quickly, rather than waiting for a slow, cascade process

The Strategist Quiz (#441)

Leo Burnett, London The D&AD Pencil international creative awards that celebrate and nurture outstanding work in the design and advertising industry each year. A D&AD Pencil is recognized the world over as a shining symbol of the very highest creative achievement. Ambuja Cement featured India's first WWE wrestler Great Kali. Government of India's make in India campaign with the emoji of the lion is considered as the first non US brand from India to create custom emoji and pay for the promoted trend offering on Twitter. Animation in television commercials was used for the first time for Bassett's Murray mints, a brand now owned by Cadbury's Volkswagen has taken off its Dus Auto (The Car) tagline after the recent emissions controversies it got entangled in. Crisco in 1911 Brainstorming. The term was popularised by Alex Faickney Osborn in the 1953 book Applied Imagination. He was the O from the famous ad agency BBDO The Economist The ad agency TBWA world wideThere were no correct

Answers to the Strategist Quiz (#441)

Samajwadi Party leader Totaram Yadav was arrested last month for allegedly rigging a panchayat election in Uttar Pradesh three months ago. Totaram Yadav, the chairman of a state-level board, was caught on video stuffing ballot papers into ballot boxes. An FIR was filed but no action was taken against him. To prevent his arrest, he petitioned the Allahabad High Court, but did not appear in court. He did attend public functions, but no one dared lay a finger on him. Curiously, he was arrested at a function where Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's uncle, Shivpal Yadav, and brother-in-law, Tej Pratap Yadav, were present. Or to be precise, the police arrested him the minute Shivpal Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav left the venue. This was probably Akhilesh Yadav's way of sending a message to his uncle - which indicates how deep the rift in the family is. However, he was released within three hours of his arrest on medical grounds.

Fissures in UP's first family

Zafar Sareshwala, the man committed to education for Muslims - and a staunch supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi - says the issue of Ayodhya is as outdated as Greek and Latin. Sareshwala, a Gujrati Muslim who defended Modi on the Godhra riots issue, says 65 per cent of the voters in Uttar Pradesh were born after 1990 (the Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya took place in 1992). Whether they are Hindu or Muslim, the Ayodhya issue is ancient history for them, he says. And if Europe can be without borders after two bloody wars, why can't India and Pakistan not do away with borders, he asks. He believes Modi's recent "impromptu" Pakistan visit was a masterstroke.

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