Most people have a habit of buying unnecessary things especially if available at so-called discounts. What usually happens is that old stocks get discounted at current prices or the prices are jacked up before offering a discount. But the craze for discounted goods appears to be growing unabated. And Diwali is the best time for business houses to exploit this general human weakness.

M Kumar

New Delhi

Who will buy?

Although numerous apartment complexes are being built, the market is sluggish. A flat has a life-span of about 30-35 years. By the time the loan is repaid, the structure becomes weak, so it has to be demolished and reconstructed. Only the undivided share of land component is an asset. Hence a fresh investment has to be made, collectively by all the owners, towards the reconstruction.

From the beginning, buyers have to save for this, besides meeting the loan obligation. The corpus of the sinking fund has to be utilised for reconstruction. If they decide to sell, the old flat will fetch only the value of UDS of land. If they intend to purchase another flat, the sale proceeds would be sufficient only to meet the UDS land cost of the new flat. There will be no scope to build additional units in an existing complex as the FSI norm would have been fully utilised by the builder. Hence investing in more than one apartment is not a viable proposition.

V Raghavan

Chennai

Close to auditors 

The article, “Time to reboot” by Mohan Lavi (October 20), draws attention to an issue that’s of concern to chartered accountants. There is certainly a need for a law that addresses the needs of the regulator and the public with regard to information pertaining to the annual reports of corporate. This utopian attitude is reflected in the Companies Act, 2013. But although the Government aimed for an all-time solution, it’s been seen in every financial statement emerging after the announcement of the Act, that it’s more aspirational than feasible.

 The 1956 Act did not fail the regulator, except that it did not collect penalties in the way the new Act plans. However, the 2013 Act has successfully destabilised the operational boat of smooth-sailing companies. Auditors need to be watch-dogs, not bloodhounds; the new Act forces the latter role on them. We need quick clarification so that the financial statements for 2015 can come out on time.

The issue of IFS is a troubling one. It should focus more on companies that secure public money in a direct manner. There’s no need to suffocate small companies and make the audit function a prohibitively expensive tool. For the present at least, IF should be made mandatory for listed entities that have raised public money since the rest of the companies are directly monitored by interested parties, whether private equity or lenders.

P Jitendra Kumar

Email

Good decision

Going solo in Maharashtra and Haryana paid rich dividends for the BJP, as you have said in your editorial: “Modi’s second victory” (October 20).   People are fed up with coalition politics and want a change. Aggressive campaigning by the leaders, door to door campaigning and reaching out through the social network made a difference. Congress leaders have to do some serious introspection. But the BJP should be wary of distancing itself from NCP’s outside unconditional support and try to bring back the estranged Shiv Sena.

HP Murali

Bangalore

Errata

b In “For large spends consumers still prefer brick & mortar stores” by Purvita Chatterjee and Meenakshi Verma Ambwani (October 17), the person referred to as ‘Singh’ in the fourth paragraph is CM Singh, COO, Videocon Industries. The omission is regretted.

b In “Unions divided over investing PF in equity” (October 18), the last paragraph should read: “Ashok Singh of INTUC and PJ Banasure of the BJP-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh reportedly were in favour of investing in public sector equity” and not as published. The error is regretted.

Sensible suggestion

The article “Rail reform: stick to the right track” by RC Acharya (October 20) has made a sensible suggestion regarding restoring the primacy of the CRB as CEO. The Railways, being the largest carrier of passengers and goods with the common man being solely dependent on it for transport, has to shoulder the major responsibility of the system performing to the needs of the public and at the same time keeping the cost within affordable limits. It has to examine from time to time whether the functions are being carried out to the satisfaction of the public in tune with changing economic conditions. Also the cost of transporting goods is an item on which the cost of living depends to some extent and thus it should be monitored continuously. The Railways’ efforts to satisfy the demands of availability during festivals needs to be further stepped up since the alternative facilities become very costly. The committee should seek the views of the public before working out the suggestions for restructuring.

TR Anandan

Coimbatore

Making connections

India’s plan to float a company to develop Chabahar Port to circumvent Pakistan and open up access to landlocked Afghanistan is a good move. It will give India access to Afghanistan via Iran. India has always supported Iran and continued doing business with it even when the US and the EU had imposed economic sanctions against that country. Iran has a store of natural resources and a rapidly developing industry and technical knowhow. Both countries can learn from each other. After the formation of Pakistan, the historical Grand Trunk Road was blocked, blocking India’s access to Afghanistan and Central Asia. It is viable and beneficial economic route. Historically Afghanistan had access to the sea through Sindh, but this was blocked by Pakistan. Now Afghans have all the rights for access to their traditional routes and get on the bandwagon of economic growth.

Santhosh Mathew

Puducherry

It’s our right

This refers to the article “US pharma gets a booster shot” by Leena Menghaney (October 20). Pharma companies in the US pressure their government to have a uniform global patent regime which is dominated by them. This means rent seeking. They just charge exorbitant prices on these patented drugs. Drugs have a utility value and drug discovery should be incentivised, but for how long?

If any designer fabric or footwear cannot be patented for their utility value then drugs which are capable of saving lives should be allowed to be patented for a minimum period. Because these patents are an extension of science and no one company should be allowed to exploit the world with its patents. We being a developing country without safety nets, should not allow patent protection by the US pharma industry. World trade talks have been dominated by these rent seeking arrangements rather than reduction of tariffs. Because the tariffs are already down across the world, patents have come to dominate trade talks.

We should give our people a chance to live with low-cost generic medicines which are 97 per cent cheaper as mentioned in the article. Global auto companies charged about 4000 per cent of manufactured cost on car spare parts in China and the Chinese government intervened to get them to behave properly with their business practices in that country. For life-saving drugs what shall we do? Compulsory licensing is the only option we have and we should never lose our legal right to do so.

CR Arun

Email

Set the example

It is promising to see the Prime Minister taking up the scheme to clean the country. Modi has absolutely kept a tally over his predecessors by initiating this campaign and making many celebrities join this drive. Though politically opposed, the leaders have followed suit by starting a clean-up campaign in a school toilet in Alappuzha.

We often comment on the hygiene in western countries. We don’t realise it’s the people who keep the streets clean. It is our primary duty to maintain a clean atmosphere not only in our homes but also in the streets. We should have neat public toilets and see that people actually use them. Our children should also made to understand the value of clean surroundings.

KA Solaman

Alappuzha

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