Some people working till midnight at the RBI.?

BL :15 June 2014

Former RBI deputy governor KC Chakrabarty is always in demand because he speaks his mind. At the launch of a book on the Sahara group, he was in his elements. He said a couple of things in the book came to him as a revelation. For instance, he went on, “There are references to some people working till midnight at the RBI. I never knew about this!”

Resource conundrum

Pre-budget meetings were the flavour of the past week. Most suggestions made to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley were about how he could prop up the economy through fiscal incentives. Many wanted more money in the hands of the aam aadmi through tax breaks under Section 80C (say from ₹1 lakh to say ₹2 lakh). But ministry mandarins were worried about the revenue implications. Officials politely explained to Jaitley that every ₹1 lakh increase would lead to a revenue drop of ₹31,000 crore for the exchequer. Will Jaitley bite this bullet?

Plain bad form

The pioneer of microfinance, Nobel Laureate and founder of the Bangladesh Grameen Bank Muhammad Yunus had a rude taste of Hyderabad recently. Minutes into his speech at the inauguration of a conference on ageing, he was cut short so that the deputy chief minister of Telengana, who arrived two hours late, could make his speech. Uncaring of courtesy, the minister made his speech and left. No wonder Yunus was upset.

Gift of the gaffe

The normally poised and precise Narayana Murthy made a small error on the day the new CEO and COO of Infosys was announced. Talking to media persons, he accidentally said “We have a new CFO.” This gaffe immediately drew a response from the corporate team and Murthy was quick to reassure CFO Rajiv Bansal, “Rajiv, you are keeping your job.” Given that so many executives have left the company in the past few months, the laughter was heartfelt.

Cloudy silver lining

Industrialists are realising that having a commerce minister who is also the junior minister of finance is a double-edged sword. We’re talking about Nirmala Sitharaman.

While things have certainly become easier because of better coordination between the two ministries, the down side is that many of their budget demands get shot down since she has a better idea of the finances available!

Shown the door

A bureaucratic reshuffle in the finance ministry once the Budget exercise starts is unusual. On June 14, just a month before the Budget, Shaktikanta Das replaced Rajiv Takru as Revenue Secretary; Takru was moved to the Department of North Eastern Region. Though no official reason has been given for the shift, insiders say Takru, a 1979 batch officer from the Gujarat cadre, did not have a ‘good’ equation with Prime Minister Modi.

Inexplicable urgency

Why did the Intelligence Bureau leak its report on NGOs now? The report is said to have taken shape during the UPA rule and, according to the grapevine, a senior IB official due to retire is involved in formulating it.

It went directly to the PMO, bypassing the ministry of home affairs, even though the IB reports to the home ministry. What was the urgency, especially when it's nothing to do with India’s sovereignty or integrity?

Only standing room

At the AGM of a private sector bank, in which the promoters are entangled in a legal battle, bank employees occupied the meeting hall about two hours earlier. A rival promoter who is not part of the management had to keep standing for the first half hour of the AGM. Apparently, one of his family members had to stand during the entire meeting. Who will the High Court leave standing when it takes the final decision on the promoters’ rights next month.

Cracking the whip

It seems Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu wants to work like Coolie No 1 while rebuilding the State and its capital from scratch. A section of the opposition wonders what the fate of the common person will be in that case. Will the CM become a slave driver?

(This article was published on June 15, 2014)