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

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Business Standard

Keeping a balance

Govt cannot continue to ignore non-performing assets

Bad asset blues

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi has laid the blame for farmer woes in Telangana at the door of "mini Modi" K Chandrasekhar Rao aka KCR. Gandhi was on a padayatra through the drought-hit villages of the southern state last Friday. He said neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor state Chief Minister KCR was worried about the farmers, leave alone console them in their hour of distress. A combative Gandhi has relentlessly attacked the government since his return from a two-month sabbatical and has travelled to several states to rally support against a range of policies and initiatives taken by the government.

Salvos in the south

One would remember that 'selfie' was named Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2013. Some other words added recently to the Oxford Learner's Dictionaries show how technology and social media jargon are recognised universally. One of these words (as seen on oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com) is "lolz", described as an exclamation (in emails, comments on social networking websites and so on). It is "used to express fun, laughter or the feeling that something is amusing". Another word that will sound familiar to selfie lovers is "photobomb", which means "to spoil a photograph by suddenly appearing or doing something unexpected as the picture is taken". Among other words included were "contactless", "fracking" and "vape".

A word's worth

As Sahara lawyers began arguing forcefully that the company's chief, Subrata Roy, should be granted bail so that he could negotiate the sale of group assets, the Securities and Exchange Board of India counsel intervened, saying nothing stopped Roy from selling these while he was still in jail. Kapil Sibal and other Sahara lawyers rejected it vehemently, saying this was simply not possible. Then, Sahara counsel Rajeev Dhavan stumped everyone by saying, "I challenge any lawyer to practise from jail. Or, for that matter, your lordship, to do what you do from within the jail. It is simply not possible."

A lawyer's challenge

This refers to the infographic "Modi's China visit: A historical perspective (May 14). China's first Premier Zhou (then Chou) Enlai, first visited India in mid-1954 when the Panchsheel Agreement was signed and a deep friendship was epitomised by the slogan "Hindi Chini bhai bhai". The visit was followed by several other business-like visits by Chou and he - for sometime - became a familiar figure in certain circles of the Indian capital. But then commenced Chinese incursions into Indian territory and the bonhomie was over; the relations turned worse after the Dalai Lama was subjected to tyranny in Tibet in 1959 and sought asylum in India. People in India turned hostile to the Chinese regime and considered the "bhai bhai" slogan, a forgettable joke.At the height of this tension between the two countries, Chou on his own (suo moto) announced his proposal to visit India. The government and most of the people looked at the offer with cynicism, while some saw in it a ray of hope.The exact d

Letters: China, India circa 1960

This refers to the editorial "Move case along" (May 14). Your solicitude for the Karnataka High Court judge, who apparently committed such an elementary and glaring mistake in calculation of income, is inexplicable. There is nothing new about judges being overworked or judgments running into thousands of pages.One does not need an army of expert assistants to spot and be vigilant about such errors, which have a critical bearing on the judgment. This is not all. As widely reported, while the defence counsel had a full two months to argue their case, the special public prosecutor was not allowed to present oral arguments at all and had just a day to submit written arguments. Viewing these two together, one is led to wonder if there is something more than meets the eye.Parthasarathy Chaganty  MumbaiLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201E-mail: letters@bsmail.inAll letters must have

Letters: Judging it right

Parliament last week cleared the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2014, which seeks to simplify some provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, to facilitate ease of doing business. Here's what it means for businesses:

'Welcome relief to closely held companies'

For Asiatic lion's sake, Gujarat should allow some to leave Gir

The lion is India's

Jack Ma

This extract from a new book by Porter Erisman, a former Alibaba vice-president, explores Jack Ma's mercurial mind

Book excerpt: War on eBay

The fall in the wholesale price index (WPI) steepened in April "dropping to -2.7 per cent from -2.3 per cent in March

Starting FY16 on a disinflationary note

Current account worries are back for India

Good that an e-retailer is aiming for profits

Myntra's step forward

For a government that is more than eager to project a clean image of itself, the recent incidents of corporate espionage could not have come at a worse time. Rattled by the events, some central ministers have put in place additional layers of security to keep troublemakers at bay. One such minister has posted an official outside his office, whose sole job is to screen people approaching the corner that houses his office. The official also checks the credentials of people who have formal appointments, before allowing access to the private secretary's room.

Layered security

A recent conference for start-ups organised by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) included a slot for open discussion, during which the panel, comprising experts and start-up bosses, answered questions from the audience, many of them budding entrepreneurs. The questions were related to issues faced by entrepreneurs - such as, funding, taxation and scaling up challenges. One question posed to Sharad Sharma, founder of iSPIRT, was rather unique. What if a seed or angel investor stole an idea, asked a gentleman. Sharma, an investor in many companies, tried to allay his fears. Investors had a reputation to protect and would desist from such things, especially in a hyper connected world where such things spread fast, he said. Towards the end of the long answer, he requested the gentleman to visit Bengaluru, to check for himself "the social fabric of the start-up community". "He won't have such concerns there," Sharma told his audience.

Starting up jitters

When the aftershocks of the April earthquake were felt again last week, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was attending a function in Lucknow organised to felicitate Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation drivers who had ferried victims back to India. As fresh tremors shook the hall, journalists trooped out, followed by Yadav. When the function resumed, Yadav thanked the media for alerting him about the tremors, and quipped that if he had tried to leave the venue ahead of the journalists, the following headline would be splashed all over media the next day: "CM runs away in fear".

Fear factor

Apropos the report "Govt to allow children to work in family firms, film industry" (May 14), the government's move to allow children below 14 years of age to work in the entertainment industry beyond school hours is well-intentioned but impractical. Imagine a 10-year-old child returning from school in the afternoon and then proceeding to a TV serial or film shooting, which may extend to midnight. Moreover, since the shooting schedule depends on the availability of other key stars, the timing might clash with school hours. And in any case, it won't allow enough time to the child for homework or studies. These serials run for months, dislocating the study schedule.So a likely consequence will be violation of the law by the producer and one more opportunity for the labour law enforcing authority to line the pocket.Y G Chouksey  PuneLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201E-mail: lett

Letters: Two sides of labour law

This refers to the report "Post Bank to get professionals from private sector" (May 11). The Post Bank of India's (PBI) proposal to establish a payments bank is good. In fact, the PBI was eager to set up a universal bank but the Ministry of Finance sent out a strategic hint to the Ministry of Communications to opt for payments bank. That was a good move. Even for payments bank, the PBI will face tough competition from some telecom operators.Of all the issues, the PBI's plan for recruiting top professionals from the private sector could remain only a dream. First, the business model of payments banks is such that they don't need the kind of top professionals needed in managing a universal bank. Second, the PBI would not be able to offer the remuneration packages offered by the new payments banks in the private sector. The PBI should remember that while it derives its strengths from government ownership, a host of weaknesses stem from the state-ownership. Even after more than 100 years o

Letters: Problems for Post Bank

This refers to the report "Which is the best GST rate?" (May 12). While analysing the issues involved in fixing the final rates for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) structure, the authors could have dwelt on the issues of educating and creating awareness among the consumers, who are the ultimate targets of these rates and also the state governments who are looking at the limited angle of revenue-neutral rate (RNR). As for the former, who are consuming goods or are availing of services, they are already under the burden of various taxes imposed in the anticipation of implementing the GST. The idea was that there won't be a cascading effect of some of the levies, as the manufacturer would get the benefit of taxes paid in the previous stages of production and so on. It is expected that with the implementation of the GST, the cost to the consumer will come down.As for the state governments, they are to be convinced that with the GST, the tax net will increase and more and more small trader

Letters: The right GST rate

Hu Jintao

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU

RAJIV GANDHI

ATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE

Almost a week before completing a year in office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is embarking upon a trip to China. This will be his first visit to that country as PM. This three-day trip is part of a six-day tour to China, Mongolia and South Korea. India has made it clear the visit is aimed at augmenting Chinese investments. Business Standard takes a look at visits by Indian and Chinese premiers to each other's countries

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