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Business Standard

Every Monday, Business Standard analyses one family's financesand suggests a suitable way forward

Case study

How safe are virtual cards over credit or debit cards?Virtual cards are safer than debit or credit cards, as these do not require the cardholder to enter the debit or credit card details. On registering with a bank, cardholders get a 16-digit number, along with a CVV2 number, which they need to enter at the time of making payment. This number is different from the CVV number written on credit cards. The number is generated by banks only for one-time use, where the person can set a limit for transaction.Is it important to have a credit card to get a virtual card?No, it is not necessary to have a debit or credit card. The cardholder just needs to have a bank account with the virtual card-issuing bank. Lenders issue such cards without any charges.

Tipping point

Dependence on caller tune revenue must be replaced

Telcos' new trouble

New law to force government to do what it should, anyway

A right to be a citizen

In a season of scams, it is appropriate to recall the July 2001 collapse of the US-64 Scheme of the Unit Trust of India (UTI). It led to many small savers losing a substantial part of their lifetime earnings. There were rumours at the time that were corroborated by a former chief of State Bank of India, which had a representative on the UTI board, that big companies had made heavy withdrawals in June on learning about the troubles of the scheme. But no references were made to UTI officials themselves, withdrawing their investments with the advantage of their insider knowledge. A few years earlier, a committee had recommended an enquiry into UTI buying the shares of Reliance Industries at a considerably higher than market price. There was no follow-up. Given the low level of probity and public morals in the country, it would not be surprising if some UTI officials withdrew from the US-64 Scheme in May-June 2001. Even if no action can be initiated because of the limitation of the law, th

Letters: US-64 fiasco

This refers to the editorial "Enter compulsory licensing" (March 6). On the basis of historical and international evidence, a recent article in The Atlantic suggested that weak patent systems spur innovation, while strong patent systems retard innovation. The old, established corporations want to keep new players out of their markets and thus, lobby to extend the life of their patents. In another article in the reputed medical journal, The New England Journal of Medicine, it was found "that during the past 40 years, 153 new Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs, vaccines, or new indications for existing drugs were discovered through research carried out in public sector research institutes". More than half of these drugs have been used in the treatment or prevention of cancer. If anything, research has flourished under the initiative of public sector or university research initiatives. Hence, your comment that "compulsory licensing will weaken patent regime and endanger pharmaceu

Letters: Affordable medicines

The capital's auto rickshaws have a poor reputation in general and it hit new depths after it was discovered that the refusal of one of them to take passengers resulted in the gang rape and death of a young woman in December last year. So some of them decided to try a PR exercise of sorts on International Women's Day. Women commuters who stepped out of prominent Metro stations like Pragati Maidan and Rajiv Chowk were pleasantly surprised to find uniformed auto drivers waiting at the stations and offering them a free ride to their destinations. "It's our way of making a difference and celebrating Women's Day," an auto driver explained.

Auto suggestion on Women's Day

The Union Budget provided little for the aviation sector in terms of tax support or incentives but it did have something for one group in this industry: cabin crew and pilots. Finance Minister P Chidambaram has revised the baggage rules applicable to them by increasing the duty-free allowance from Rs 600 to Rs 1,500. Considering the general duty-free allowance into India is Rs 25,000, cabin crew and pilots have greeted the enhancement with mild sarcasm. "What a magnanimous and magnificent increase in the allowance. We all are going on a shopping spree," a senior pilot from a private airline said.

Airing a grouse

So obsessed are some Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his steady climb to the national stage that they never forfeit an opportunity to remind everyone that the country's current ills will be rectified as soon as Modi becomes prime minister. During a recent debate in Parliament, a senior leader representing a prominent party of minorities from Hyderabad was listing the United Progressive Alliance's failures to address issues concerning the country's minorities in the country despite being in power for more than eight years. As soon as the member of Parliament started speaking, a BJP backbencher, with an obviously short memory, interrupted and shouted "Ghabrao mat, Modi aa rahe hai, sab theek kar denge (Don't worry, Modi is coming to Delhi and sort out everything)", much to the amusement of most present in House.

Modi as saviour

Emerging market (EM)-dedicated funds posted outflows of $1.01 billion this week, breaking the run of 24 consecutive inflow weeks, the second-longest period of fund inflows into EMs

Breaking the trend

The message from Chavez's legacy: dirigisme really doesn't work

The perils of Chavismo

The International Women's Day was marked in a big way by Parliament - especially since last year's horrific gang-rape incident has forced the government to address women concerns. In the Rajya Sabha, Chairman Hamid Ansari dispensed with the Question Hour and allowed women members to put across their views. The Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan said "there was little to celebrate" so long as mindsets are not changed. Congress' Ambika Soni talked about the Rajya Sabha already passing the long-pending Women's Reservation Bill, appealing to the Lok Sabha to pass it. Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar allowed a two-hour-long debate on women safety and security, besides hosting a dinner in the evening for women mediapersons only. Women journalists had a hectic day - also attending two other functions hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice-President Ansari.

A hectic Women's Day

CAG report on farm debt relief underlines need for action

Plugging the leaks

After defence cuts in Budget, indigenisation is further away

The necessary goal

Here is an up-close-and-personal account of a "public-private partnership" negotiation. A senior government official was offered money to close a deal, and once the negotiations were through, he duly wrote "approved" on the file concerned. But before the file could be passed on, there was a glitch in the deal, so the official added the word "not" in front of the original word "approved". This being India, everything can be had for a price, and the deal was finally closed to everyone's satisfaction after further negotiations. So what would happen to the "not approved" noting on the file? Easy, all that was needed was to add an "e" at the end of the word "not". No doubt, the approval was duly noted.

Nota bene

Journalists in Bangalore received a unique "request" in the form of an email the other day. A press and media relations officer of a government department wanted  journalists to publish an obituary, not of any ministry official's or even a colleague's but of his "co-brother's" mother. The accompanying "orbituary" (sic) also mentioned that the venerable lady left behind two sons and "scores of grandchildren".

Dearly departed

This refers to the report "Rlys needs more steam for cargo edge" (March 7). Unfortunately, the Indian Railways is steadily losing its competitive edge to the roads sector with every freight increase. This will continue for some time till the populist policies of successive railway ministers get gradually corrected  the most important being their refusal to increase passenger fares for the last decade. At last, Pawan Kumar Bansal has bitten the bullet and raised the fares by 30 per cent. However, keeping up with inflation, the increase should have been almost double. The introduction of over 3,000 new passenger trains over the last two decades has not only compounded losses of the passenger business, forcing freight to cross-subsidise, it has also crowded freight trains, leading to their average speeds dropping to an abysmal 20 kmph. The Railways has never been a serious contender for freight over small distances, say less than 500 km, long-haul being one of its USPs. In that area, it w

Letters: Railways' freight burden

This refers to the report "Budget aims at plugging tax leakages in property deals" (March 4). While the move to make buyers liable for "under-reporting" in property transactions is welcome, it relies too much on guidance values (or circle rates as it is called in some areas), and how well they proxy for market values. State governments set guidance values, with little to no transparency in how it is done. Many states have increased their guidance values recently, even when market prices have remained stable or have started falling. Moreover, guidance values are based more on the locality, and less on the property being sold. My own experience in selling an old, independent house recently in Chennai suggested that the lack of a parking space and good road access may bring down the actual market value by several lakhs, but not its guidance value. The new provision would ensure that even that single buyer, who came to buy my property, would have walked away owing to the additional tax bur

Letters: Unreliable guidance

This refers to Samuel Paul and Kala S Sridhar's article "The demand side of inclusive growth" (March 5). Owing to the data limitation, the writers' analyses of poverty estimates in various states were restricted till 2004-05, for which the National Sample Survey's data are available. Montek Singh Ahluwalia had recently said analyses of poverty and economic growth need to consider this data limitation. In 2013, is the trend in poverty reduction, as pointed out by the writers, continues in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, or has the situation changed? The period after 2004-05 is crucial since during the past six years, while economic growth has slowed down at the national level, some states have seen impressive growth rates.Chandrashekhar G Ranade  VirginiaFrom Samuel Paul and Kala S Sridhar:With reference to R K Arya's letter "Employment and growth" (March 7), the study about Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh is about historical trends in literacy rate, education, reservation in economic opport

Letters: Poverty in real time

Ever since Videocon announced that it is in the race to set up a bank, its Managing Director Raj Kumar Dhoot is the most sought-after man by bankers. Dhoot, who wears three hats as Assocham president, Rajya Sabha member and Videocon managing director, is meeting a slew of bankers to help launch the bank. When it comes to business, Dhoot, who is well-connected from Delhi to Davos, is also apolitical since he has good friends in both the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party despite being from the Shiv Sena. But the billion-dollar question is whether the central bank will actually issue this group a banking licence.

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