Category: Excerpts

Categories
Excerpts Politics

BJP:Abolish Income Tax,Sales Tax and Excise Tax

I know who I am going to vote for if this proposal becomes part of the BJP Manifesto.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) favours abolition of income, sales and excise tax and the party may include it in its vision document to be unveiled ahead of general elections next year.

Former BJP president Nitin Gadkari, who is in charge of preparing the party’s vision document, ‘India Vision 2025’, said that the party is deliberating the matter.

“We were talking about tax and although we have not decided as yet…there is a suggestion of complete abolition of income, sales and excise tax,” he said at a function on political agenda of political parties.

Mr Gadkari said that the total revenue of the country is Rs. 14 lakh crore and 1.5 lakh bank branches are operating in the country presently.

“If we abolish these taxes and if we apply around 1 or 1.5 per cent of expenditure or transaction tax, then we will get revenue to the tune of around Rs. 40,000 lakh crore. So those 3.5 lakh people who are using beacons of various colours now, they will not be required anymore as no tribunals or commissioners will be required,” he said.

“So I think along with transparency, there should be time-bound result-oriented administration coupled with right way of economic reforms and if it so happens, then the 1.5 lakh banks operating now will become 10 lakhs. There is another suggestion of doing away with Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes…we are deliberating on these proposals as we want transparency…” Gadkari said.

Echoing Mr Gadkari’s thoughts, senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said that there was no shortage of resources in the country and “if one had auctioned the natural resources properly, one did not have to have income tax at all”.

Giving details, he said if the government had auctioned 2G spectrum, it would have got at least Rs. 1.76 lakh crore as extra which went to private hands.

He maintained if the government had auctioned the coal blocks, it would have got Rs. 11 lakh crore and by auctioning the oil sites, Rs. 24 lakh crore could have been realised.

“Illegal money lying in foreign banks mostly stashed by politicians is Rs. 120 lakh crore. And what is the total income tax bill…just Rs. 2.5 lakh crore. Why should we pay income tax? I urge Nitin Gadkari that we should abolish income tax,” Mr Swamy said.

“Do you think if you abolish income tax, the middle class will squander their money? No they will put it in banks and will be available for investment. It is the same with corporate income tax…You can abolish it.”-from NDTV

Categories
Excerpts

Warren Buffett’s Secret

Warren Buffett is a great investor, but what makes him rich is that he’s been a great investor for two thirds of a century. Of his current $60 billion net worth, $59.7 billion was added after his 50th birthday, and $57 billion came after his 60th. If Buffett started saving in his 30s and retired in his 60s, you would have never heard of him. His secret is time-from Fool

Categories
Excerpts

Ratnakar Bank is the Fastest Growing Small Bank

(Disclaimer:I am market marking in Ratnakar Bank)
For 27 long years, a day at Bank of America (BankAm) India began with Vishwavir Ahuja, Vish to many, calling on the who’s who of the India Inc rolodex. So, it came as quite a shock when he quit as BankAm India CEO in July 2009 to move to the Kolhapur-based Ratnakar Bank, catering to the hinterland of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa.

“I wanted to do something that would keep me busy beyond retirement age, and help me leave behind a legacy,” says Ahuja. His bet: Ratnakar Bank could move into a higher orbit with the right mix of brains and capital. But the ‘old’ private bank, set up in 1943, had its own concerns, and Reserve Bank of India had appointed two board directors to keep a watch on its affairs. Besides, both Indiabulls and Kotak Mahindra Bank were eyeing Ratnakar Bank.

But in just three years, Ahuja and his team have delivered. From being a relatively unknown entity, it has gone on to become the Fastest Growing Small Bank in the BW | Businessworld Best Banks Survey 2013. Advances increased 54.30 per cent to Rs 6,376.21 crore in end-March 2013; deposits 75.99 per cent to Rs 8,340.52 crore.

After the new team came on board, advances grew at a compound annual growth rate of 76 per cent (it was Rs 1,170 crore in FY10) and deposits at 74 per cent (Rs 1,585 crore). Net profit in end-March 2013 rose by 29 per cent. “This growth in net profit is significant as it is against a backdrop of increasing investments in technology, branches and infrastructure,” points out Ahuja. The ramp-up from FY10 saw employee strength rise to 1,900 (from 700), branches to 130 (from 89), ATMs to 184 (from 13) and clients to 450,000 (from 300,000).

By end-2015, these numbers should read: 3,300 employees, 225 branches, 500 ATMs and 900,000 clients. It’s in such a scenario, where a bank management’s attention is stretched to the limit, that dud loans raise their head. At Ratnakar Bank, gross non-performing assets (NPA) were at 0.8 per cent with the net NPAs at 0.4 per cent.

Ratnakar Bank will float its maiden public issue of shares in mid-2015, to raise Rs 700 crore. As for Ahuja, he will soon be the MD and CEO of the rebranded RBL Bank. The French firm, Penn Schoen Berland, is advising it, and McCann is taking care of the communications.

All of this has led to whispers that Ahuja and his A-team may soon get calls from a few big banks — and those lucky enough to bag a new private bank licence. –from BusinessWorld

Categories
Excerpts Realty

Warning for Bangalore Realty Buyers

if you are contemplating buying an apartment on the city outskirts of Bangalore, it’s better to abandon the plan.
This cautionary advice comes from none other than V Balasubramaniam, additional chief secretary (retired), who in many forums has spoken about the impending water crisis staring Bangalore. And Balasubramaniam has a point.

Around 90 residential projects slated to come up on the outskirts are either getting delayed or not taking off for their failure to get the ‘No Objection Certificate’ (NOC) from the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB).

The BWSSB has stopped issuing the NOC for major residential projects in BBMP limits, citing builders’ failure to identify a water source to supply water to the apartments.

T Venkataraju, chief engineer, BWSSB, said they were withholding issuing the NOC to builders planning apartments in areas where there was no infrastructure to supply water.

As per norms, without the NOC residential projects will not be granted environmental clearance from the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, without which the builder cannot start the construction work.

According to Balasubramaniam, the BWSSB has provided water connections to only seven lakh houses, while the total number of properties, excluding the apartments that have sprung up recently, in the city is 18 lakh. “Supplying drinking water to thousands of apartments on the outskirts or in the newly added areas of the BBMP will be a daunting task for the BWSSB,’’ Balasubramaniam said.

Advising public not to invest their hard-earned money in apartments on the outskirts, Balasubramaniam said builders will bear no responsibility after handing over the apartments to their customers. “Getting clean water will be a problem. They can’t rely on borewell water since groundwater has been contaminated,’’ he said.-from DNA

Categories
Excerpts

Ratnakar Bank to list in 2015

Disclaimer:I am market making in Ratnakar Bank

Ahuja then set about convincing investors to commit capital to the bank. “It was a mission for the first six months. We couldn’t give investors a single piece of paper. It was me and my team’s personal credentials which were presented to the investors,” said Ahuja. The bank raisedRs720 crore in two phases in 2010 and 2013.Investors included marquee names such as HDFC, Samara Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Gaja Capital Partners and International Finance Corp., the World Bank arm that drives private sector investment in developing markets. Faering Capital, co-promoted by Aditya Parekh, son of HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, also holds a stake. Institutional investors now have a 50% holding. The bank has also given stock options to senior management and other employees.

IFC’s investment was made after eight months of due diligence. “Ratnakar Bank’s focus on growing their micro, small and medium enterprise segment in semi-urban and rural markets aligns with IFC’s India programme,” said senior investment officer Anup Kumar Agarwal

Now, at Ratnakar Bank, Ahuja’s mettle will be tested all over again as he puts the building blocks in place and scales up the business.

He’s not without his critics, who say he’s merely touching up the surface to make the bank look good for a potential investor. Ahuja flares up at such a suggestion. “We have not dressed up the bank to go anywhere,” he said. “We have done everything the hard way. We have not come in to make money by selling. I have made a long-term institution.”
Ahuja said Ratnakar Bank has put in place a clear road map to list by 2015. –from ET