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Journalism of Courage
The first item thrown up by a Google search for Dharmesh Doshi is an Interpol Red Corner notice issued A-1025-10-2002 after he vanished from India in 2001. Dharmesh Doshi was a close associate of Ketan Parekh and a director in his firm Triumph International Finance as well as crony companies such as HFCL Infotel Ltd. The sketchy notice issued by the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI says that he is wanted in connection with 8216;8216;Criminal breach of trust, cheating and forgery,8217;8217; but our premier investigation agency has no information on him other than that he is male, an Indian national and speaks English and Gujarati. It does not even have his date and place of birth, which is listed in every passport. Other reports say that Doshi is wanted in connection with bogus transactions worth Rs 83 crore in 2000 and that the Red Corner notice was issued following a complaint filed by European Investment Ltd. The notice is clearly not intended to bring Doshi back to India, because it is common knowledge in capital market circles that he is an active trader operating out of London.
Ignorant regulator
Surprisingly SBI
State Bank of India SBI, often described as a banking behemoth or the Big Daddy of Indian banking or banker to the government is clearly feeling very insecure. Its 8216;8216;Surprisingly SBI8217;8217; campaign is itself evoking surprise and anger at the suggestion that people are unaware of its size and reach. We learn that the campaign is based on a survey conducted over FM radio and is targeted at yuppies in the 20 to 35 age bracket. But few are willing to buy its findings. It is difficult to believe that India8217;s educated, upwardly-mobile youth is so ignorant. It is however possible that this target group cares less about numerical supremacy than quality of service. And there, SBI indeed has a long way to go before catching up with its private sector rivals. But SBI investors are not amused at the public admission of 8216;8216;inferiority and diffidence8217;8217; coming through in its advertisements.
Re-evaluation time
Now that the Finance Minister FM is starting his pre-budget exercises, there is a quiet admission that the Fringe Benefit Tax FBT needs reworking to remove what the Revenue Secretary reportedly called 8216;8216;worrisome complexities8217;8217;. In fact, the FBT militates against the objective of simplifying the tax structure by granting enormous discretionary power to income tax officials. Worse, it amounts to extorting money even from loss-making companies, by taxing expenditure instead of profits. In doing so, it inflicts the great damage on small companies and budding entrepreneurs. The question is, why is corporate India rather muted in its protests about the FBT? Tax experts say, the biggest reason is excellent corporate performance this year. Most large companies have done so well this financial year that they have chosen to take the additional taxation in their stride. As for the small and loss-making companies, they have never had a voice anyway. The Banking Transaction Tax BTT, also created last year, was supposed to help track large cash transactions through the banking system to unearth black money. The FM assured us that such transactions were significant enough to warrant action. Tax officials however say that their efforts to trail cash transactions have been stymied after protests by banks and the Reserve Bank of India. Consequently, the BTT has been reduced to a revenue collection mechanism, as anticipated.
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