A closer look at the number and types of complaints in the insurance sector

Taking stock of grievances

Business Standard

Cyclone Phailin, which had brought India and parts of Southeast Asia to a standstill, somehow seemed to have bypassed the attention of a few MPs. Four MPs from various parties, including one from the ruling party Biju Janata Dal in Odisha, one of the states where the disaster had struck in October, recently filed a parliamentary question that, among other things, actually asked the ministry of home affairs whether the cyclone had recently hit Odisha and other parts of the country. Maybe these MPs don't read the papers or watch TV since the cyclone was closely tracked on both media. At any rate, the minister's secretariat returned a deadpan confirmation.

Gone with the wind?

Amazon.com, the leading e-commerce portal was in the news recently for exploring drones (or unmanned aerial vehicles) to deliver goods to customers who order them online. When the chief of a competitor in India was asked if he would consider a similar strategy, he said tongue firmly in cheek, "It won't work. In India, people will start hunting them down."

Hunting the drones

The hard-hitting print advertisement campaign by the Department of Customs and Excise encouraging businesses to pay service tax has upset an unlikely group: the Delhi Transporters' Association. The association has sent a letter with copies to media houses protesting against "the vilification" of their industry in the advertisement. It accused the department of "caricaturing the truck owners as a defaulting tribe" that willfully avoids registering for service tax. The association has also taken exception to the fact that the advertisement exhorts this category of transporters to either register and pay or remain defaulters who are already under the department's scanner. The association wants the department to immediately withdraw the advertisement and offer an apology, through all the publications in which the advertisement appeared, to the transport industry and specially to transporters not liable to payany service tax or not liable to register.

Ad and subtract

This refers to Devangshu Datta's column "Scaling up the AAP" (Viewpoint, December 14). The message sent out by the Aam Aadmi Party is being deciphered by different people differently. From Rahul Gandhi, who said "The Congress has to learn a lot from the AAP", to N R Narayana Murthy, who said "What Arvind (Kejriwal) has done is that he has redefined what is possible", and added that he (Murthy) would still "bat for Nilekani", the politically and financially wise did not leave the aam aadmi any wiser. But their quick comments are indicative of the churning our political system is undergoing. It is now the turn of the common man to organise and force legislators at all levels to uphold the spirit of the Constitution and bring back ethics and morality to governance.If the aam aadmi and the BPL (businessmen politician and lawyers) combine and take the message sent out by the AAP through the medium of broomstick seriously, and act in a proactive manner, several stages of pre-stabilisation ex

Letters: AAP-rise

This refers to Devangshu Datta's column "Scaling up the AAP" (Viewpoint, December 14). The author has based his views on (i) demographies, that AAP appeals to the middle- and low-income groups; (ii) migration to cities making 600 million people urbanised; and (iii) the young population resenting the system, and also being better educated than prior generations; and (iv) it can easily get space by intruding the Congress and the BJP territory.The next challenge for the AAP is to contest another election for the Delhi Assembly, and at the same time enter the Lok Sabha elections. Another challenge is scaling up to other states and gradually make inroads into difficult terrains. Other states also witnessed small-scale rallies but that could not be presumed to have raised mass awareness. That task remains incomplete. Also, local issues have not been the focus in such campaigns. We all know that local issues play a key role when one plans political initiatives at the state level. The AAP shou

Letters: Broadening the base

Arvind Kejriwal has asked for time to decide on whether to form the Delhi government by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The Congress has extended unqualified support. So, there is no question of any compromise on principles. With the Congress, the AAP will have a bare simple majority to run the government. It is unfair to foist another election on Delhi's citizens who rose magnificently to the occasion standing in queues late in the night at the voting booths. Kejriwal should form the government. He has an opportunity to implement his ideas. If they are sound, neither the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nor the Congress will dare to bring his government down. The Congress will fight shy of the BJP coming to power in case the AAP fails. Good governance in a short period will help the AAP in the general elections also.A Seshan  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@b

Letters: Kejriwal's dilemma

Former home secretary R K Singh on Friday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was welcomed by senior leaders from the Bihar BJP and party President Rajnath Singh. Not so long ago, however, Singh was in the news for saying, [During] the investigations into the Mecca Masjid blasts, the Samjhauta Express blasts and the Dargah blasts, at least 10 names are of those who have had associations with the Rashtriya Sawayamsevak Sangh (RSS). On the day he joined the BJP, he said, The term saffron terror was coined by Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. I never used that term. He added that terrorism had no religion and organisations such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh were driven by the nations interests.

One day terror, other day national interest

With 10 days of the winter session gone and no business being transacted, both Houses of Parliament have witnessed disruptions over a range of issues. While Telugu Desam Party (TDP) members have been raising Save Andhra Pradesh slogans, the Bahujan Samaj Party has been holding the House ransom over infant deaths in the Muzaffarnagar relief camps, hoping to embarass the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh. Not willing to be outdone, the SP in turn raised the perennial issue of price rise. The Trinamool Congress raised placards demanding the Delhi Police book Justice A K Ganguly in a sexual harassment case. With practically every political party except for the Congress protesting, it was difficult to make sense of all the issues being raised. Most were left wondering what the CPI (M) was protesting about.

Protest parade

Compensation for Mary Barra, who will become General Motors' chief executive on January 15, has not yet been determined, the automaker said in a US regulatory filing on Thursday. Barra, who is 51 but will turn 52 by the time she takes over as CEO, had a total compensation of about $4.9 million in 2012, including a $750,000 cash salary, according to the filing. A snapshot of other women top executives' compensation package:

Barra, other women of substance

India Inc announced merger and acquisition (M&A) deals worth $1.31 billion in November, taking the tally for the January-November period to $26.76 billion

Dealing in big deals

Is internet usage in India being overstated?The number of internet users in the country has crossed the 200-milion mark, according to the Internet & Mobile Association of India. It took a decade to go from 10 million to 100 million, but just three years to rise to 200 million. As many as 50 million are estimated to have come on board in the last one year alone. Projections are that by June next year, India will have 243 million internet users - next only to China (300 million) and ahead of the United States (207 million).But the numbers need to be treated with caution. One, India's internet penetration is abysmal - just 17 per cent. This is way below the US (81 per cent), China (42.3 per cent) and even the average for developing countries (24 per cent). Two, not all internet users are active. Out of the 205 million estimated by the Internet & Mobile Association of India (as in October 2013), only 80 per cent, or 164 million, are active users. And the association's definition of

Not quite online

Potential for automotive exports revealed

Bikes for China

Given new data, a hike in the repo rate looks likely

Triple whammy?

Concerned with the mounting backlog of cases in the Supreme Court and high courts, Haribhai Chaudhary of the Bharatiya Janata Party submitted a parliamentary question on whether the judiciary "enjoys" summer vacations every year since the British era. To which Law Minister Kapil Sibal in a written reply stated that a recommendation has already been put forward to curtail vacations in higher courts by 10 to 15 days. Given Chaudhary's concern about backlogs, he might as well submit his next question on the attendance rate of Parliamentarians in the House since the backlog of legislation is no less severe.

Vacating the vacations

The court case between Sahara and the Sebi over an optionally fully convertible debenture scheme has created more than its share of entertainment, what with the eloquent full-page advertisements that the Uttar Pradesh-based group periodically puts out protesting its innocence. But there is a fair amount of entertainment in the court as well. Submitting the title deeds worth an estimated Rs 20,000 crore before the court, Sahara counsel C A Sundaram said he had ensured that the order has been complied with in spirit, if not in letter. To which Judge J S Khehar asked poker-faced, "Morning spirit or evening spirit?" "Morning spirit, my lord," a smiling Sundaram clarified, as the court burst into laughter.

Spirited repartee

After Sundaram finished his arguments and was seeking some relief for his client, Judge Khehar said, "Let us see what he has to say," pointing to Sebi counsel Arvind Datar. Even as Datar stood up, Sundaram said, "Datar will not accept what I said. I know him since we used to sit next to each other in law college." To which Khehar said, "He can say the same about you." And Datar gleefully added, "It's payback time."

College payback

A K Bhattacharya, in his column "Squandering a mandate" (New Delhi Diary, December 11), fittingly questions the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s decision to refrain from supporting or forming a new government after the Delhi Assembly elections. The public emphatically ruled the Congress and its leaders out of power but were not so sure about the suitability of the AAP for the job - they voted its candidates essentially because of their clean image. They put the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the AAP so that the two together give an efficient and honest administration. This mandate should encourage the AAP to prove its commitment to such governance by offering common programme-based support and serving as the watchdog for the masses.If this arrangement works, it could predict a growing co-operation between the two parties at a national level. The nation will benefit from the synergy of the BJP's experience and the AAP's probity and secular engagement. By escaping from this role and thus f

Letters: Why shy away?

This refers to Janmejaya Sinha's article "What about near national treatment for state banks?" (December 11). It is necessary to have a level playing field for all banks in India. Public sector banks (PSBs) are commercial entities with a social heart and, therefore, have a greater responsibility towards socio-economic development. Private banks, in contrast, enjoy a greater degree of functional autonomy and are obviously able to deliver a higher degree of operational efficiency. It is right that the two key challenges confronted by the PSBs are "manpower" and "capital". While a few of them have already exhausted the threshold limit of 51 per cent of government holdings, others are either in the process or about to exhaust the limit. This makes it difficult for them to build the capital base further. Raising capital, therefore, is going to be a critical issue in terms of their future business expansions since over 70 per cent of assets in the banking system are still controlled by PSBs,

Letters: Treat it right

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is a highly esteemed organisation, which takes pride in its independence as well as its diligence and analytic abilities. It is a matter of concern, therefore, that one prominent businessman, ostensibly one of the biggest borrowers from the banking system, sits on its Board of Directors. Perhaps, it is time the RBI published the minutes of its boardroom discussions so that the public is informed if there is any undue influence from the Board of Directors in keeping real interest rates in the banking system negative. Alternatively, it could publish a characteristically brilliant piece on why central banks are absolved from conflict of interests.Rohan Soares  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 a postal address and telephone number

Letters: Minutes of the meeting

Competition Commission's order is a wake-up call

Business Standard

Business Standard

Page 648 - Business Standard