The last four quarters have seen the index correcting by 25 per cent, resulting in an erosion of value of shares pledged for securing loans. In such a scenario, companies that have taken loans against shares have to provide further margin in cash or pledge more securities to maintain the margin requirement. The risks associated with pledging of shares are quite significant, particularly from the promoter&rsquo;s perspective.

Pledging family silver

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This refers to the debate &ldquo;Should there be a super-rich tax?&rdquo; (February 29). A country&rsquo;s taxation policy should be fair and those who are accumulating wealth at a fast pace must naturally come to the rescue of the poor. Ensuring equitable distribution of the nation&rsquo;s wealth is the government&rsquo;s responsibility and it is unfortunate to note that only three per cent of our population is paying tax.

Letters: Taxation policy needs data

The total exposure of over Rs 7,000 crore to the Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines in the year 2005 indicates the inefficiency of the banks&rsquo; executives in assessing the requirements on the occasion of every renewal-cum-enhancement proposal.

Letters: Bankable executives?

In the past, personal aircraft of a top Union minister from Madhya Pradesh used to be requisitioned by the Congress party routinely when elections were on &mdash; the understanding being that the aircraft would be given at &lsquo;friendly rates&rsquo;. But, during this round of polls, Congress treasurer Motilal Vora found the rates had become distinctly &lsquo;unfriendly&rsquo;. In fact, the price demanded was slightly higher than the commercial rates. As a result, the minister&rsquo;s aircraft has been in the hangar all these months, as the Congress party found it cheaper to hire a commercial aircraft.

'Unfriendly' airfare

India might lag the West in many ways. But the Election Commission and its gargantuan electoral machinery leave many advanced nations awestruck. In fact, the British High Commissioner to India, James Bevan, was so eager to understand how the world&rsquo;s largest democracy conducts its polls, that he put in a request to the Election Commission. The High Commissioner was taken around several polling booths in Noida during the sixth phase of elections in Uttar Pradesh. Bevan was quite impressed by the seamless manner in which polls were being held. He conceded that while Indians had moved on to electronic voting machines, the British still made do with the good old ink and ballot paper.

Electorally advanced

Gold prices rose above $1,790 an ounce on Wednesday, for the first time since mid-November, after the European Central Bank issued 530 billion euros in cheap three-year funds, lifting the euro and raising hopes government borrowing costs would ease further. Following are key facts about the market and different ways to invest in the precious metal.

The yellow metal puzzle

&ldquo;From the point of view of the telecom industry, we would be looking for steps that bolster consumer and investor confidence, macroeconomic stability and, of course, growth. The continued Indian economic transformation and emancipation would be the most important drivers of long-term healthiness for the industry.

Expert speak: Mohammad Chowdhury

&ldquo;We expect uniform six per cent fees. Since the telecom minister has talked about uniform fees to be fixed at eight per cent, we expect some announcement on that. Contribution to the USO fund should be abolished, as the fund is quite large already. Another long-pending demand has been infrastructure status to the telecom sector.

Industry speak: Himanshu Kapania

&ldquo;Mobile phone tariffs need to be kept at affordable levels. To achieve this, and to boost telecom services, we seek reduction in taxes and levies paid by the telecom industry, including through reduction in USO levy from five per cent to two per cent. We hope the Budget will accord the &lsquo;essential infrastructure&rsquo; status to the sector and extend tax holiday benefits under Section 80I(A).

Chamber speak: Kiran Karnik

I, 24, just started working in a recruitment agency.

General Insurance: Bhargav Dasgupta

Government-led oil major Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Thursday, sold 427.77 million shares through an offer for sale method. To find out all about this new method of disinvestment, read on.

New sale, old tale

The general strike on Tuesday called by India&rsquo;s largest trade unions was only a partial success. That should serve as a reminder of the limitations of a trade union movement that, in the end, represents only a small fraction of India&rsquo;s workforce &mdash; those employed in the organised sector.

The insiders' complaint

Talk about conspicuous absence, Mukesh Ambani was the centre of attention at a recent telecom summit in Hong Kong &mdash; even though he was not even present. The common question that most executives at the meet raised was the timing and specifics of the elder Ambani brother&rsquo;s telecom foray. Ambani announced his entry into the telecom sector through the broadband wireless access (BWA) route in 2010 after the non-compete agreements between the two Reliance groups were scrapped but there is much curiosity in the international market over when he&rsquo;ll make a big-bang foray into the competitive business of voice telephony.

Missing in action

The success of the initial public offering (IPO) by the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) was astounding by any standards. It is especially notable given that the IPO market has been moribund for the past year. MCX offered 12.6 per cent of its equity, or Rs 633 crore worth of shares, at the high end of the price band of Rs 860-1,032 a share. Subscriptions hit Rs 36,000 crore, with record ratios of retail over-subscription (24:1).

Lessons in exchange

Few private airlines are likely to highlight any similarities between themselves and state-owned Air India. But Kingfisher Airline promoter Vijay Mallya does not seem to suffer such qualms. On February 28, he tweeted: &ldquo;It seems as if air india and kingfisher are following a similar strategy of full service with reduced business seats and increased economy&rdquo;. Of course, both airlines have other, more serious things in common: both are deep in the red and are feverishly renegotiating their debt repayment obligations to banks.

Same difference

The fishing community in booming Rajkot, Gujarat believed that their income from fishing was not taxable, until an income-tax officer told them otherwise a few years ago. To widen the tax net, the officer offered them an olive branch: he promised the fishing community that he would not look into their past as long as they come clean. No wonder, tax collections from Rajkot shot up nearly 1,000 per cent. Unfortunately, the tax department has left the need to widen the tax net to the individual initiative and innovation of such officers than try to institutionalise the system.

Fishing in tax waters

This refers to the column &ldquo;PMO and the PM&rdquo; (Raisina Hill, February 28). The piece states that &ldquo;a decision taken with the express approval of the prime minister has been questioned by an officiating head of a public sector undertaking, who also happens to be a civil servant. This is about the prime minister&rsquo;s directive that the state-controlled Coal India Limited should import coal and meet the shortfall in coal supplies to power projects under its fuel supply agreement.

Letters: A clarification

This refers to your edit &ldquo;No-Go Organisations?&rdquo; (February 29). It is but natural for those in governance to turn defensive in the face of mounting protests and criticism. Indeed we have heard accusations like &ldquo;foreign hand&rdquo;, &ldquo;event management&rdquo;, &ldquo;terrorism&rdquo; and &ldquo;political motives&rdquo; earlier too. Post-Independence, India has not seen a time like the one in which we live today where every citizen has a grievance against the establishment (the government and corporate managements). This has found expression in the massive support received by organised protests in various sectors against divergent acts of injustice, exploitation and unethical practices. The coming together of unions of all denominations with divergent political leanings, even for a day, on February 28 for a &ldquo;general strike&rdquo; shows the gravity of the situation. The UPA II and Manmohan Singh should, at this late hour, try and get their act together.

Letters: Understanding protests

Former National Security Advisor (NSA) Brajesh Mishra&rsquo;s bone-dry sense of humour was well in evidence at the launch of a strategy document on non-alignment prepared under the aegis of Centre for Policy Research. Speaking after former NSA and current West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan, Mishra couldn&rsquo;t resist a dig at his successor. Referring to Narayanan&rsquo;s self-deprecating statement that he did not know anything about diplomacy, Mishra said, &ldquo;The governor said he is not a diplomat. But we hear and read from the newspapers that there is so much diplomacy going on in Kolkata.&rdquo; He was referring, of course, to the UPA&rsquo;s constant struggles to deal with its wayward ally in Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee&rsquo;s Trinamool Congress.

Covert diplomacy

Every year before the Budget is presented, any leave or tour is out of the question for finance ministry officials. This year, officials from other ministries will join them in this embargo.

Vacation notice

Events are an opportunity for hotels to make money, but some have a tough time distinguishing between profits and super-normal profits, as executives from a big Bangalore-based IT company discovered. Attending the Nasscom India Leadership Forum in Mumbai, they occupied a table for 15 minutes at a restaurant of the hotel where the event was being held &mdash; and were slapped with a bill of Rs 12,500 (Rs 15,500 including taxes).

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