Raising revenue for fiscal consolidation will require hikes in indirect taxes.

Valuing good taxes

Business Standard

West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra generally chooses his words carefully when he speaks in public. So much so that during his address to assembled industrialists at the inauguration of Bengal Leads 2012 in Kolkata, Mitra made a point of coining a word &ldquo;person-power&rdquo; to replace &ldquo;manpower&rdquo;. &ldquo;Please note I do not say manpower. I think women are as strong as men,&rdquo; Mitra explained. Maybe the fact that he was sharing the stage with his leader and Bengal&rsquo;s first woman chief minister had something to do with his choice of words.

Word power

So impressed was Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot with the success of the tenth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas that he announced that soon his government will launch a scheme to fund the travel of 50 overseas Indians who are natives of Rajasthan to visit the desert-state. The scheme, &ldquo;Know your Rajasthan&rdquo;, will be for overseas Indians in the age-group 18 to 20 years.

Return of which natives?

Management experts will tell you that a loss-making company requires a nimble organisation, especially when it operates in a competitive market. But here&rsquo;s a reason state-owned MTNL, the hugely overstaffed telecom service provider in Delhi and Mumbai with losses of over Rs 2,800 crore, may be challenged in that respect. It&rsquo;s the age-old public sector tendering system.

Tender mercies

It is said before assuming office as chief minister Mamata Banerjee often tried her hand at painting or the synthesizer, even in the early hours of the morning. These days she is too busy to pursue her hobbies. Maybe that&rsquo;s why she was seen fashioning flowers out of satin ribbons at the Bengal Leads Investor Summit when Industry Minister Partha Chaterjee was making his opening remarks.

Mamata's blue period

This refers to the Q&amp;A with Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh (&ldquo;DGCA safety audit from time to time is routine but there are no violations,&rdquo; January 10). The minister in the interview said &ldquo;they [Air India] have to become competitive and follow the industry norms.&rdquo; This begs the question as to who is stopping Air India from being competitive. Isn&rsquo;t it the government itself? Why does the minister not own up to the fact that it is the government that is responsible for bankrupting Air India? And why should employees take the blame when it is the government that mismanaged the company? The management and employees have always had their hands tied by political influence. So, instead of blaming them, efforts should be directed towards creating an independent management and doing everything possible to bring the airline back on track.

Letters: Shifting the blame

The West Bengal government appears to have drawn lessons from the tragedy at AMRI Hospital in Kolkata, where a fire killed 89 people, but has put them to use in a different place altogether. Has it insisted on more stringent fire precautions in other hospitals in the city? No, instead it has thoroughly reviewed the fire fighting facilities in Banga Bhavan, the official state office in New Delhi. Insiders said the review was comprehensive, complete with mock-drills, to ensure that the AMRI tragedy is not repeated in any state-run building.

West Bengal's AMRI lesson

The Lunch with BS with Gunit Chadha was interesting (&ldquo;Working hard, partying harder,&rdquo; January 10). The striking thing about Chadha is his remarkable grit and determination to achieve goals. He is confidence personified. His tenure at the IDBI Bank was eventful since he steered the bank to become a cash-rich, one-stop financial powerhouse that was not only tech-savvy, but also focused on understanding customer psychology. If I am not wrong, the bank at that time had a logo designed for its customers that read: &ldquo;What can I do for you?&rdquo; It, therefore, comes as no surprise that the India business that Chadha is heading today has become Deutsche Bank&rsquo;s fifth-largest profitable operation.

Letters: Confidence personified 

The need of hour is to have proper transparency as in foreign educational institutes. Numerous agreements should be made on the development of a system of internationally comparable qualification to make higher education systems more transparent.

Student's Corner

This refers to A K Bhattacharya&rsquo;s column &ldquo;The changes coalitions need&rdquo; (Delhi diary, January 11). In a vibrant democracy, a coalition government is the last choice. But in our case it has become a continuing inevitability. The history of unsuccessful coalition governments traced by the writer points to the need for a radically different approach by political parties &mdash; particularly the regional ones. Whether it is DMK or AIDMK, the Samajwadi Party or the Bahujan Samaj Party or the Trinamool Congress, they need to shed their state-centric narrow focus and learn to evolve and work on a broad national vision. A coalition formed before the election is a better option than post-election arrangements that give rise to political horse-trading. Besides, considerable flexibility is required when partners have differing political, social and financial ideology.

Letters: Making coalitions work 

The government&rsquo;s new policy on assaying gold will be difficult to implement.

Half marks for hallmarks

Sources close to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi say for the last six months the Gujarat strongman hasn't had a single conversation on the phone with his national party president Nitin Gadkari. Why? Because Modi is said to be angry that his bete noire Sanjay Joshi was inducted into the central party organisation by the national president a couple of months ago. Joshi and Modi have been adversaries for some time now and a CD featuring Joshi surfaced in Gujarat though Joshi vehemently denied he was the one featured in it. Suffice it to say the two aren't exactly the best of friends.

Modi miffed

I will be retiring next year and my wife in four years. Our monthly income is Rs 1.75 lakh and we own two flats, in Mumbai and Ratnagiri. After retirement, our income would be Rs 75,000. Monthly expenses are Rs 35,000, plus Rs 20,000 towards the education of my nephew (to be paid for another two years) and Rs 18,000 for son's education loan. The rest is saved: Rs 12,000 towards PPF, Rs 25,000 in mutual funds via SIP and the remaining in a recurring deposit.

Financial Planning: Gaurav Mashruwala

The mechanism excludes retail investors from the process, but it will help companies meet listing norms.

Should Sebi have allowed IPPs to meet disinvestment targets?

The Mahindra Satyam case raises questions about who is fraudster, and who victim.

Who's the company?

No new compacts or hybrids, but many SUVs.

Reading the Expo

I will be abroad for two months in the US. I may extend my stay, as I have a six-month visa. I have taken a travel insurance policy for two months.

General Insurance: Bhargav Dasgupta

This refers to Pratip Kar&rsquo;s column &ldquo;Fault lines in the Indian IPO market&rdquo; (Capital concerns, January 9). The author is absolutely right to point out the confusion over the role of various participants in the initial public offer (IPO) market. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has not done much about malpractices committed during the IPO process. The price fixation of shares is still a contentious issue and has defied a just solution. I believe investors, particularly small investors, have suffered losses because IPOs have been over-priced. Therefore, even as we welcome Sebi&rsquo;s actions to tackle other lapses, it is necessary to take note of this vexed issue of over-pricing that needs a permanent solution.

Letters: Taking stock

Apropos your edit &ldquo;Disinvestment disrespect&rdquo; (January 6), it is worth noting that there are more than 100 companies &ndash; including many renowned and frequently traded companies &ndash; that have had less than 25 per cent public shareholding for the past two to three years. These companies are struggling to comply with Clause 40A that makes it mandatory to maintain public shareholding of at least 25 per cent.

Letters: Sebi is right

This refers to the edit &ldquo;Voting across the sea&rdquo; (January 12). When a citizen of India can vote only from a constituency in which he or she ordinarily lives, then how can we give voting rights to non-resident Indians (NRIs) who stay away from the country and indeed their constituency for most of the year? Moreover, NRIs may already be voting in their countries and giving them the right to vote in India too would lead to dual voting. The government may take all the steps to attract NRIs and their money by providing sops, but giving them voting rights is not a good move. As you have mentioned, representation without taxation is not a good idea at all.

Letters: Resident voter?

Being low profile has its merits but not when it comes to a charity auction. An auction of Bayern Munich memorabilia that was originally planned for January 9 at the Siri Fort auditorium has now been re-scheduled to a five-star hotel as a more publicised event. Apparently, the organisers, Kapil Dev-led NGO Khushi, had kept the auction such a tightly-guarded secret that the response was lukewarm.

Business Standard

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