Portable device tests for TB faster, cheaper

Mumbai Mirror Bureau

Researchers have created a low-cost 30-minute test for tuberculosis that is not only faster but more
accurate than tests currently in use. It could help control the disease by detecting it early.

A new test for tuberculosis (TB) could dramatically improve the speed and accuracy of diagnosis for
one of the world's deadliest diseases, enabling health care providers to report results to patients
within minutes, according to a study published in the journal Angewandte Chemie.

Jeffrey Cirillo, professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and
investigators at Stanford University, have identified a new chemical compound to spot the bacteria
that cause TB with a level of sensitivity that currently takes months to produce; and results of the
first human clinical trial data are promising. Findings show the test can determine that a patient has
tuberculosis with 86 per cent sensitivity and 73 per cent specificity. Smear microscopy, the most
widely used test in the world, has asignificantly lower ability to detect TB, ranging between 50 to 60
per cent sensitivity.

Although preventable, TB claims three lives every minute, making it the second leading cause of
mortality from an infectious disease in the world. Spread through the air when an individual with
active TB infection coughs or sneezes, reports show that if left untreated, a person with active TB
infects an average of 10 to 15 people each year, leaving a need for reliable testing.

Cirillo's latest breakthrough perfects the technology behind the test. Using a fluorescent substrate,
the device targets BlaC - an enzyme produced by the bacteria that cause TB - as an indicator of the
bacteria's presence. Until now, it has not been possible to target a specific TB enzyme for diagnosis.
Once sputum samples are combined with the reactive substance, a batterypowered, portable tabletop
device, the TB REaD, is then used to detect any fluorescence and deliver the diagnosis in as little as
10 minutes.

"It's simple. Take a sputum sample, treat it with the solution and put it inside the reader," Cirillo
said. "A
camera
inside looks for a reaction between the sample and solution that produces light. No light, no
infection."

Currently, there is no diagnostic tool comparable to this and while others exist, they take several
months to produce the same level of sensitivity; and come with a high price tag. The target price tag
on Cirillo's test is less than $1000 for the reader and less than $5 per test. Additionally, the one-step
test will require little technical expertise or resources, should take less than 30 minutes to carry out,
and is easily transportable, making it an ideal candidate for field diagnosis in developing countries.

The device significantly undercuts current diagnostic methods, important, given the staggering
statistic that if left untreated - a common scenario in countries lacking infrastructure or resources to
efficiently screen and follow up with patients - a person with active TB has only a 50 per cent chance
of survival, Cirillo notes.


"Interrupting disease transmission will require early and accurate detection paired with appropriate
treatment," Cirillo said. "Our new, rapid point-of-care TB test dramatically reduces the current
delays in diagnosis with incredible accuracy, accelerating appropriate treatment and reducing the
death rate of the disease. We're looking at a low-cost, easy-to-use test that has the potential to
eradicate TB."

The test is currently in the later stages of clinical trials with plans to go to market in 18 months.
Act against illegal flat allottees under CMs quota: High
Court
MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Monday told the state government to start
taking actionagainst illegal allottees of flats detected under the chief minister's discretionary
quota.

A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice A S Chandurkar was hearing a public
interest litigation by activist Ketan Tirodkar.

In response to the high court seeking a final statement on compliance of its order of April
10, 2012, which directed the state government to produce the list of double allottees,
Tirodkar said that there has been no compliance.
In a note handed over to the judges, Tirodkar stated that the state government has in a
"piecemeal fashion filed affidavits hiding, more than revealing, names of privileged
allottees". He further stated that there has been no initiative to take possession of the flats
offered for surrender by the double allottees.

"None of these flats have been taken back and in no case any first information report (FIR)
is registered," he added. He urged for seizure, registration of FIR and monitoring by the
high court "as enforcing authorities may develop cold feet".

After reading the note, the judges observed that the state government must take action
against the detected illegal allottees and added that this included cancellation of allotment
and recovery. "Just because the matter is pending, you will not take action," said Justice
Oka.

The prosecutor, however, said that action has already been initiated. The judges said that
they will dispose of the public interest litigation at the next hearing on August 26 but will
pass an order for a time-bound action against the remaining allottees.


Builder to pay Rs 3 lakh to housing society for not
providing conveyance deed
MUMBAI: A builder has been ordered to pay Rs 3.10 lakh compensation to a Bhandup
housingsociety for failing to procure the conveyance deed 15 years after the flat owners
established a cooperative housing society. Ganesh Builders will have to procure Neelima
Apartment (B Building)'s document within six months. The forum said the builder was
guilty of deficiency in service.

Members of the building filed a complaint on October 10, 2010, before the additional
Mumbai suburban district consumer disputes redressal forum. They said that procuring the
document was binding on the builder under the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act and that
the developer was making attempts to construct another building in the same area.

In its reply, the builder said the society had filed a false complaint with the sole intention of
causing harassment. It claimed that the area near the building was divided into three parts
with a large portion housing slums. The builder said that after construction of this and
another neighbouring building, redevelopment for slumdewellers had commenced and that
it had the requisite permissions.
The forum observed that despite getting into an agreement with the flat buyers in 1982, the
builder had failed to procure the document. It further pointed out that the builder had not
submitted any substantial arguments explaining the delay. The forum said instead, all that
the builder said is that the demands of the society were illegal. It observed that the builder
had failed to provide the necessary document despite it being mandatory.
Top real estate firms vie for Crompton land
Runwal Group, Lodha Group, Oberoi Realty, Mahindra Lifespace Developers and Kalpataru Group have been
shortlisted as potential buyers

Bangalore/Mumbai: Several top real estate developers are in the hunt for a 24.5-acre parcel of land in suburban
Mumbai being sold by its owners, Crompton Greaves Ltd, for around Rs.1,000 crore. Runwal Group, Lodha Group,
Oberoi Realty Ltd, Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd and Kalpataru Group have been shortlisted as potential
buyers, with Runwal Group leading the deal, said several people familiar with the transaction. There is no formal
bidding and the deal is happening through private negotiations. All the parties have submitted their prices and
conditions. The board (of Crompton Greaves) will take a call on the buyer, said one of the people mentioned above.
Real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle is the advisor to the transaction. The land, which is used for industrial purposes,
is located in Kanjurmarg area that is dotted with residential projects but is also an upcoming commercial office area.
The Crompton land is ideal for residential development due to the large size and location, said another person.
Crompton Greaves said in an email, As a policy at CG, we do not respond to rumours and market speculation. A
person close to the development said the firm is expected to finalize the deal shortly. As of March 2014, Crompton
Greaves total consolidated debt was Rs.2,395.99 crore. In July, the firm said it is planning to separate its consumer

products business unit into a publicly traded firm. The Crompton Greaves deal is only the latest of several such
acquisitions this year in Mumbai, Oberoi Realty bought Tata Steel Ltds 25-acre land parcel in suburban Borivali for
Rs.1,155 crore this year. In June, the late nuclear physicist Homi Bhabhas iconic bungalow in south Mumbais
Malabar Hill was auctioned by the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) for Rs.372 crore to an unnamed
buyer. Bangalore, too, has seen some large land deals. In July, Prestige Estates Projects Ltd bought an eight-acre
land parcel in a prime location for Rs.345 crore from engineering firm Siemens Ltd. Runwal Group bought two acres
from shipbuilding firm ABG Shipyard Ltd in Mumbais Worli area for Rs.245 crore in 2013. Anirudh Wahal, managing
director-occupier services, transactions, DTZ International Property Advisers, said developers who are snapping up
land today are those looking to put them up for quick development, rather than long-term land banking. The
sentiment is positive in the market and there is a lot of demand for quality land assets simply because demand
outstrips supply, Wahal said.

Get ready to welcome REITs into your
portfolio REITs are a new avenue, but will have to struggle to deliver good enough returns
After almost six years since the concept was introduced in India, it seems real estate investment trusts
(REITs) will finally become an investment option for investors. On 10 August, the Securities and Exchange
Board of India (Sebi) approved REITs to be set up here. These will be closed-end schemes with a minimum
subscription of Rs.2 lakh, with each unit size being equal to Rs.1 lakh. (Mutual fund units are usually priced
at Rs.10 a unit initially.) REITs will be allowed to raise funds through an initial offering and will have to be
listed on a stock exchange. REITs can further raise funds through follow-on offers, rights issues or qualified
institutional placements. These instruments will need to have assets worth at least Rs.500 crore at the time
of an initial offer and the minimum issue size has to be Rs.250 crore. REITs have been discussed since 2008,
but it was only in October 2013 that Sebi issued draft guidelines. The market regulators board has retained
most of the proposals put forth in the draft guidelines. Prior to the budget announcement which gave REITs
a pass-through status in taxation, the main bone of contention was the tax treatment. A pass-through status
means that income will be taxed in the hands of the investor and not the fund. Earlier, it was feared that
income of both may be taxed leading to double taxation, which was the single biggest hindrance in the path
of REITs, according to all the experts Mint Money spoke to. This will be a game changer in a way.
Implementation of REITs in India as an investment product will boost the liquidity situation of cash-starved
developers, who are struggling to find funds for construction activities. Clearly, it would help in lifting the
subdued investor sentiment in the country, said Devina Ghildial, deputy managing director-South Asia,
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. How does it work? Under a REIT, money is pooled from a set of
investors and a manager invests, either directly or through a special purpose vehicle, in income-producing
real estate assets. Whatever is the income, most of it is distributed among the investors; Sebi has set this
limit as 90%. At present, only high net worth individuals and institutions will be allowed to invest in REITs,
but eventually, retail investors will also be able to participate. Globally, there are various structures and
REITs generally fall into three categoriesequity, mortgage and hybrid. In India, according to the guidelines,
REITs will focus on revenue generating properties, which should form at least 80% of the portfolio. The
remaining 20% can be put in specified products such as under-construction projects that are still to get
occupancy certificates, equity shares of real estate companies having 75% income from realty activities, and
so on. Most of the listed realty stocks gained on Monday and the S&P BSE Realty index rose 0.96%. But will
India be able to build a REIT market? Lets examine a few issues. Investment options A pure REIT by
mandate is supposed to hold most assets in income-producing real estate assets. Something similar to
REITs is a business trust, which can hold investments in, say, infrastructure projects, roads, hotels,
hospitals, and so on. However, one of the largest challenges is lack of investment grade properties in the
country. On top of that, 90% of investment grade properties are limited to the top 7 cities. With such little
availability, the REITs market may lack depth. If you look at the office market in tier I cities, there is a
significant quantum of grade A space that is available for occupation. The challenge for realtors has been
that absorption has been slow and in most key markets has been largely driven by consolidation and
relocation needs than by growth, said Viswajit Srinivasan, director-business development and wholesale
lending, Capri Global Capital Ltd, a non-banking finance company. A REIT works on a lease model and a lot
depends on the economy being able to generate lease rentals and robust market. However, an estimate by
Cushman and Wakefield, assets that may qualify to be included in REITs may reach $20 billion by 2020, and
REITs may be able to raise $12 billion in the next three to five years. The matter of returns The guidelines
released in October had indicated that both foreign and domestic individuals would be allowed to invest in
REITs. However, after the approval, as of now only HNIs and institutions have been allowed to do so. Diwakar
Rana, director-capital markets, Cushman and Wakefield, said that though there will be domestic investors
but one cannot grow a REIT by selling only to them. Apart from a narrow investor base, there are issues in
terms of returns. Generally, REITs are supposed to be ultra-low risk. Thats because they hold income-
producing assets giving regular income, and are backed by a tangible asset, said Gaurav Pandey, chief
executive officer, Golden State Capital, a real estate private equity firm. However, he added that worldwide,
REITs have been successful in places where comparable benchmark rates were low. For instance, in
Singapore, which has a big REIT market, government bond yields are 3-4% and fixed deposit rates are 1-2%,
while REITs give around 6%, said Pandey. Indias benchmark bond yield hovers just a notch lower than
9%. So, for India to have a robust REIT market, returns will need to have a reasonable spread for investors to
overlook property, currency, sectoral and developer associated risks. Or, bond yields have to come down,
which is a function of several factors, added Pandey. REIT managers should not have biases, nor should a
developer be a REIT manager as the position requires for the person to protect interest of investors; there
shouldnt be any conflict of interest either, said Pandey. Of course, the first thing a REIT will have to do is
generate sufficient returns compared with other products. Can REITs give that much return? The rental yield
from grade A properties has been 9-10%, and stable at that level for around 10 years. However, smaller
projects, which do not attract high quality occupiers will give lower returns, thus limiting the market. The one
plus point in favour of REITs is the potential of capital appreciation of the underlying real estate asset.
However, REIT traditionally is a long-term regular income generating investment and gains from capital
appreciation should be looked at as an added bonus. If done properly, REITs will change the landscape as it
happened in 2005, when foreign direct investment was allowed. Now, we are seeing sovereign funds coming
in, said Rana. According to Anshuman Magazine, chairman and managing director, CBRE South Asia Pvt.
Ltd, a successful India REIT market will require strong support from existing landlords and investors, as well
as favourable market conditions. The markets growth will depend on implementation, the regulatory
environment and the response from issuers as well as investors. REITs may, in fact, become an investment
avenue for mutual funds and insurance companies as well. Whether that happens or not, REITs are a
welcome investment option, especially for those looking to diversify their portfolio.

DLF, Prestige, Phoenix set to be biggest Reits
beneficiaries
Experts, however, caution that though the moves are positive for the sector as a whole, they
don't expect much gain in the near-term
Shares of real estate companies gained ground on Monday after market regulator Securities and
Exchange Board of India (Sebi) approved the setting up and listing of Real Estate and Infrastructure
Investment Trusts, commonly referred to as Reits.

DLF, Indiabulls Real Estate, Unitech, Oberoi Realty, Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL),
Phoenix Mills and Prestige Estates have rallied 3-5 per cent on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The
NSE CNX Realty index, the largest gainer among sectoral indices, rallied 3 per cent in intra-day deals
compared to a less than 1 per cent rise in the benchmark CNX Nifty.

ALSO READ: Sebi clears decks for REIT launch
The Sebi, on Sunday, made some changes in the proposed guidelines permitting foreign institutional
investor (FII) participation. It has reduced the minimum asset by half to Rs 500 crore, one of the key
positives in the final guidelines.
ALSO READ: Investors can take REIT exposure with minimum Rs 2 lakh: Sebi
Lowering of the minimum size of Reit assets to Rs 500 crore is a positive move. This is a more realistic
figure in terms of what is practical availability of assets. Another positive is the proposal that not less
than 80 per cent of the value of the Reit assets shall be in completed and revenue generating
properties, says Niranjan Hiranandani, managing director, Hiranandani Constructions.

Sebi has mostly kept the original format as proposed earlier and hasnt changed anything much in
substance in terms of totality. The concept note draft which they had stated in December has been
followed in terms of principles behind the recent regulations. We look at this proactively and feel that this
is a positive move as far as Sebi is concerned, he adds.

Long-term gains
Experts, however, caution that though the moves are positive for the sector as a whole, they dont expect
much gain in the near term.

The proposals were long overdue and it looks like India is on its way to a viable Reits regime over time.
I think in the near term, though, a large Reits market is unviable given the rental yield levels. However,
over a long-term period, say five years, if rents start picking up, a much bigger Reits market will
emerge, feels Saurabh Mukherjea, CEO - Institutional Equities, Ambit Capital.

We expect the first moves to be made by private players i.e. Embassy, Blackstone, etc, and listed
players to follow after the February 2015 Union Budget, a reduction in interest rates, clarity on taxation
and the GST (goods and services tax) rollout. We expect a similar direction to be followed by
infrastructure companies, with L&T being the first to hit the market, followed by ILFS Transportation,
Sadbhav Engineering and IRB Infrastructure, says Parikshit Kandpal, an analyst with Karvy.
DLF,Prestige Estate and Phoenix Mills remain the biggest beneficiaries of Reits and L&T, ILFS
Transportation, Sadbhav and IRB Infrastructure remain beneficiaries on the infrastructure asset owner
side, he adds.

Mukherjea of Ambit suggests that most realty companies are not worth touching with the exception of
some South India-based developers. Among the lot, Sobha Developers and Prestige Estates in
Bangalore, Oberoi Realty and Phoenix Developers in Mumbai are some of the credible names. Of these,
only Prestige has a big Reit-able portfolio, he says.
Reits could get respite from dividend tax
Final regulation to widen the definition of SPV to include LLPs
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is likely to widen the definition of a Special Purpose
Vehicle to include limited liability partnerships (LLPs).

The move will make the latest investment instrument more tax efficient, since it would help save
on dividend distribution tax(DDT), said market players, whove been pressing this request for a while.

"If Reits (Real Estate and Infrastructure Investment Trusts) are allowed to invest in LLPs holding real
estate, sponsors might contemplate setting up LLPs for Reits. This would provide slightly higher returns
to investors, since dividend distribution tax is not applicable to profit distributions made by LLPs, said
Bhairav Dalal, associate director, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Though the government had approved tax pass-through status to Reits in the recent Union Budget, those
in the sector felt it wasnt of much help. The move to allow LLPs is likely to provide partial relief.

Investment in properties through LLPs would help in avoiding DDT. A tax liability of nearly 16 per cent is
not applicable on LLPs. More, a number of real estate assets are held by LLPs and this would give greater
flexibility to Reits in acquisition of these, said an expert.

The representation to Sebi was that
LLPs were gaining popularity as
preferred vehicles to own real estate
assets. Allowing Reits to hold real
estate assets through LLPs would
provide the required flexibility, it was
argued.

The soon-to-be-issued final
regulations on Reit could provide
more clarity on the issue, said
observers.

It is expected that the final
regulations will include detailed
framework on a Reit follow-on
offering and on delisting of the
instrument from stock exchanges. In
the draft regulations on Reits issued
by Sebi last financial year, the
regulator hadnt touched upon either
delisting or taxation.

Sebi, however, did extensive market
consultation on Reits over the past
year. It had got nearly 700
comments on the regulations it had
proposed.


Bahu can't occupy in-laws' own property: Delhi high
court
NEW DELHI: A daughter-in-law has no right to continue to occupy the self-acquired
property of her parents-in-law against their wishes, the Delhi high court has held in a
significant order.

Justice A K Pathak in a recent verdict, made it clear that a self-acquired property doesn't fall
under the definition of a "shared household" enunciated in the Domestic Violence Act and a
daughter in law can't enforce her right in such a property.

In fact, HC went a step further, holding that even an adult son or daughter has no legal right
to occupy the self-acquired property of the parents against their consent.

"Daughter-in-law cannot assert her rights, if any, in the property of her parents-in-law
wherein her husband has no right, title or interest. She cannot continue to live in such a
house of her parents-in-law against their consent and wishes. In my view, even an adult son
or daughter has no legal right to occupy the self-acquired property of the parents; against
their consent and wishes. A son or daughter if permitted to live in the house occupies the
same as a gratuitous licensee and if such licence is revoked, he has to vacate the said
property," the court noted in its order.
HC was hearing an appeal by the daughter-in-law against a trial court's verdict directing her
to hand over peaceful and vacant possession of the property to her estranged father-in-law.
In her plea in HC the woman said she is a legally wedded wife and has a right to live in the
property from where her father-in-law wants her evicted.

She claimed that the property was purchased out of joint family funds. Accusing the father-
in-law and husband of harassing her for dowry, she informed HC that she is living
separately from her husband due to matrimonial discord and divorce proceedings are on.
Under DV Act, the property is a shared household where she has the right to reside, the wife
maintained.

But the father in law through advocate Prabhjit Jauhar told HC that he is sole owner of the
self-acquired property. Jauhar also convinced the court that the property was not purchased
from joint family funds and his son had no share in it.
The father-in-law furnished before the court proof that he disowned his son in 2010 who
has since then been living separately.



Justice Pathak concluded that the legal position "which can be culled out from the above
reports is that the daughter-in-law has no right to continue to occupy the self -acquired
property of her parents-in-law against their wishes more so when her husband has no
independent right therein nor is living there, as it is not a "shared household" within the
meaning of Section 17(1) of The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005."

HC also took into account lack of evidence to show that suit property was purchased from
joint family funds.
Woman judge didnt file complaint on
harassment
MUMBAI: The woman district judge from Gwalior who has accused a Madhya Pradesh high
court judge of harassing her had not complained to the HC sexual harassment committee. A
high court officer said her resignation letter on July 15 also did not mention the allegations.

The woman judge had alleged that "malicious" behaviour and "false" complaints by the HC
judge to the chief justice had led to her being transferred from Gwalior to the "remote"
district of Siddhi. However, MPHC registrar general Ved Prakash said in a statement: "She
has not represented about the alleged harassment caused to her by anyone."

On July 8 the HC had, by a common order, transferred 28 judges, including the woman
judge. She was posted in Gwalior since August 1, 2011. The HC had said the transfer was on
"administrative grounds".

Some judges were transferred to remote tribal places and all accepted the transfer, except
her. She sent a typed and signed letter to the registrar general on July 9 requesting
cancellation of the transfer. "I have two daughters aged 15 and seven residing with me," she
said. "My husband, due to compelling circumstances, is in Delhi. I am not in a position to
disturb the education of my daughters ... I have no right to disturb the right of decent
education of my children."




An HC judges' administrative committee in Jabalpur rejected her request, saying the district
she was being sent to had three English-medium and central board schools.

On July 11 she sought cancellation of her transfer, saying her eldest daughter was studying
in Class 12. However, the HC did not consider her plea again. On July 15, she handed in her
resignation letter.

"It is most respectfully submitted that I am unable to continue my services as additional
district judge as I have been transferred to Siddhi in mid-academic session of my daughters
studying in Class 3 and Class 12," she wrote. "It affects mostly the crucial stage of my Class
12 daughter. Therefore I am left with no option but to resign ... I am ready to submit my
salary as per rules." She paid a month's salary.

The HC officer said: "She sought an appointment telephonically through the principal
private secretary to the chief justice, after she had tendered her resignation, which was
forwarded to the state government for necessary action. She was asked to make a formal
representation but hasn't made any so far."
Post a comment


Unable to house the housing regulator, government issues ad
for rental space
The Maharashtra Government is keen to set up a Housing Regulatory Authority and Tribunal by next
month, but ironically cannot find the space to accommodate the new agency. With no space available
in Mantralaya or the new administrative building opposite, and the asking rent rate at MHADA
(which incidentally is controlled by the Housing Department) too high, the Housing Department had
no go but to issue an advertisement seeking 10,000 sq ft office area for the housing regulator.

Having received Presidential assent earlier this year, the State is eager to put in place the Housing
Regulatory Authority by September as per provisions of the Maharashtra Housing (Regulation and
Development) Act 2012. Minister of State for Housing Sachin Ahir had, in fact, wanted to set up the
authority by June, but it did not work out.

The Act aims to regulate and promote the construction, sale, management and transfer of flats on
ownership basis. It will empower flat owners and be a game changer in regulating the housing sector.
Once set up, it will make Maharashtra the first State to establish a regulatory authority for the
housing sector.

Principal Secretary of the State Housing Department Debashish Chakraborty told Mirror, "Since
large scale renovation work is going on in Mantralaya, the Housing Department has moved to the GT
Hospital administrative complex. We have not enough space for ourselves in Mantralaya, the new
administrative building or any complex nearby. Hence we are looking for a space of 10,000 sq ft."

The preferred areas are Nariman Point, Cuffe Parade, Parel, Worli or BKC. A Housing Department
officer said, "When we sent the file to the government seeking space, both the Public Works
Department and the General Administration Department refused space. There is ample room in
MHADA's Bandra (E) premises, but they charge rent of Rs 450 per sq ft, which is very expensive.
They refused to give any concession for the housing regulator.

Another senior IAS officer who earlier worked with MHADA said, "It's unfortunate that the
government does not have space for such an important authority that can redress grievances of
Mumbaikars related to builders. If the State cannot provide space, they must ask Mumbai
Metropolitan Region Development Authority to provide the same in BKC."

An officer said that the regulatory authority will be headed by a retired bureaucrat, probably a retired
additional chief secretary or a chief secretary. The CM initially wanted former BMC commissioner
Subodh Kumar to head it, but Kumar was later nominated to the Fare Fixation Committee for the
Mumbai Metro.

After the Act was passed by the Maharashtra legislature in 2012, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan
had communicated the same to the Centre on July 21, 2012, May 2, 2013 and again on November 18,

2013. Finally, on December 22 last year, Chavan sought the help of Union Minister of Housing and
Urban Poverty Alleviation Girija Vyas to recommend the State Act for Presidential assent.
Lets talk about sexual harassment in the workplace The new law
on sexual harassment took effect nine months agobut
companies are still coming to grips with it
Chanpreet Khurana inShare 0 inShare 0 Comments Subscribe to: Daily Newsletter Breaking News Latest News
12:34 PM IST Gilt fund inflow seen ebbing as rate cut bets dashed 12:29 PM IST Nawaz Sharif says hes staying until
2018 as Pakistan march looms 12:28 PM IST Boggi Milano downscales plans, eyes Delhi alone 12:06 PM IST Bhel
shares slip 7.7% after June quarter earnings 11:32 AM IST Nomura raises Sensex target to 30,310 by end of August
2015 Editor's picks Retail inflation, industrial growth data underline economic uncertainty IMD cuts monsoon forecast,
says more rains in second half Donald Trump seeks to invest in India Trai proposes ownership curbs, independent
regulator for media Kingfisher Airlines likely to be issued wilful defaulter notice by banks More from Business of Life
Stay safe on public Wi-Fi The new lifestyle managers Libraries on the go Clues on how to build a super brain
Hindustan Power has put up posters on its zero-tolerance policy in the office, outside the cafeteria, and on the
landings. Photographs by Priyanka Parashar/Mint Dozens of questions ricocheted around the roomful of people
managers at a session on the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal)
Act, 2013. At the session organized in May in the National Capital Region by the Centre for Transforming India
(CFTI), a not-for-profit trust, HR managers had a host of questions. For instance, should a company stop its internal
investigation if a victim files a police complaint? What are the rules on protecting women in the extended workplace,
like office taxis and business trips? They asked if the rules could be extended to help someone of the third gender, or
even men. And they were puzzled about what to do if an accusation was found to be falsehow would they then
restore reputations and work relationships? The new sexual harassment law, which borrows heavily from the 17-year-
old Vishaka guidelines, came into effect nine months ago, but human resource (HR) managers and company
executives are still working out the details of its implementation in their corporate offices, regional and zonal units, as
well as factory outposts. The new law covers everything from unwelcome physical contact or advances, and seeking
sexual favours, to sexually coloured remarks, showing pornography, and any verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual
nature. Organizations, including home offices and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), are required to form an
internal complaints committee (ICC) to receive written complaints, investigate them and give their recommendations
to the employer. In Indias New Law On Prohibition Of Sexual Harassment At The Workplace, an article published in
March in The Chambers Journal, Veena Gopalakrishnan and Vikram Shroff of the law firm Nishith Desai Associates
explain the timeline: The ICC should send a copy of the complaint to the respondent within a week, and the
respondent is expected to file his reply within 10 working days. The ICC must investigate and close the case within 90
days, and issue a report based on its findings in another 10 days. The employer is required to act on the
recommendations of the committee within 60 days, they write. Currently, only women may file a written complaint
(six copies), and they must do so within three months of the incident, attaching supporting documents and the names
and address of witnesses. Poor awareness of the law is a problem, according to the CFTI and NGOs working in the
area of gender equality. CFTI chief trustee Pankaj Sharma says that of the 50 Indian companies whose policies he
has reviewed, most seem to be outsourcing the development of their internal policy framework on harassment to
legal firms, or simply superimposing the Act on to their people policy without quite understanding it. The biggest
challenge being faced by Indian corporates is understanding the domain itself and establishing a comprehensive
system for its implementation, says Sharma, who divides his time between the US and New Delhi. The 13-page Act
describes in some detail the composition of the ICC, the procedure for filing the complaint, the punishment in case
guilt is established, and the organization of sensitization programmes in offices. But some lawyers are now pointing
out that the road map isnt complete. According to senior lawyer Indira Jaising, The gaps are too many. In an email
interview, Jaising, who became Indias first woman additional solicitor general in 2009, says: The procedure for
conducting the enquiry is not set out. It is essential to screen the woman from the person against whom she has
complained and not confront her with him in cross-examination; the questions he wishes to ask can be given to the
committee (ICC), which will ask the questions. The news site Firstpost recently reported that Jaising has again
sought justice in a sexual harassment case, this time for a woman district judge who complained that a Madhya
Pradesh high court judge had been making unwelcome overtures, asking her to come alone to his house. A question
of understanding Its a can of worms that most HR managers dont even want to open, says Amitabh Kumar of the
New Delhi-based NGO Centre for Social Research (CSR). Our Gender Training Institute offers a sensitization
programme for corporates, and in our interactions we find most of the smaller companies dont know about the Act,
says Kumar. CSR, along with the US Ford Foundation and content firm Rainmaker, launched a free massive open
online course in July. The two-week course is open to anyone seeking a basic understanding of what the law says, as
well as some tips on how to comply with it. It is available on MyLaw.net. Kumar says the course includes information
on the local complaints committee framework organized at the district level by the government, which companies can
also access as a stopgap measure till they put together their own committee, headed by a senior woman executive,
and with at least 50% female representation. Seeking clarity But even in cases where companies have organized
their ICC committees and put their policies down on paper at least, some confusion persists. Mumbai-based Deepak
Deshpande, senior vice-president of HR at technology firm Netmagic, says the rules outlined by the Vishaka
guidelines had been part of his companys internal framework for years, so the sexual harassment Act was not an
eye-opener for them. The company has uploaded the Act on the company intranet. Deshpande is concerned,
however, that the law asks companies to constitute the ICC for three years, and believes branch offices may not be
able to find enough women in senior positions eventually to constitute the committees on rotation without repetition.
This is a common concern, as the Act does specify a three-year term for the ICCan implication being that new
members would have to be selected at the end of this period. Jaising clears the air on this: Internal complaints
committee members can be the same after three years, there is nothing to stop them in law. Moreover, they can have
senior outsiders in the committee (where there arent enough women at top executive positions to people the
committees) and put them as chairpersons. To Jaising, what is essential is that while making the selection,
companies ensure that the person chosen has a demonstrable commitment to non-discrimination against women. I
have known companies to select women from political parties or mahila morchas or Rotary Club, etc., with no
experience in addressing discrimination issues, she says. Zero tolerance Deshpande, who is on the nine-member
ICC committee in his organization, wishes that the Act had offered a clearer definition of sexual harassment. He isnt
alone in his quandary. The definition of sexual harassment is linked to an extent with how a remark or gesture is
perceived by a woman. While blatantly asking someone out for coffee or to meet them outside the office are clear
signs, sometimes a harmless comment like I like your dress maybe misunderstood, says Anthony Joseph,
executive vice-president, global HR, Hinduja Global Solutions, Inc., a business process outsourcing firm. Bangalore-
based Joseph says the ICC at his company has received seven complaints in eight months. In four of them the
parties agreed there had been a misunderstanding. Joseph adds that most of the companys employees are in their
early 20s and he finds it useful to talk to them in small teams about what may constitute inappropriate behaviour, and
redress. The best advice we can give to corporates is that they should make it clear that the company has zero
tolerance of sexual harassment, says Jaising. Put it on a poster Hindustan Power has put up a poster on its zero-
tolerance policy outside the cafeteria New Delhi-based Ranu Kulshrestha, head of Hindustan Powers corporate
social responsibility unit and chairperson of the ICC, is trying to publicize what constitutes acceptable and
unacceptable behaviour. On the intranet, outside the cafeteria and in employee-initiation programmes at the
companys corporate offices in Okhla, south Delhi, posters with bullet-point missives break down legalese into
language that employees can relate to. The names and phone numbers of ICC members are mentioned clearly in
breakout zones and on noticeboards around the office. Kulshrestha says she also talks regularly to teams and
employees about the Act. New employees are an obvious choice, to take them through this policy among others and
stress our zero tolerance towards sexual harassment to them. At the largely male-dominated plants, regional units
and corporate offices of truck maker Ashok Leyland, HR executive director Balachandar N.V. says he has been
designing posters in languages like Tamil. For the new law applies also to what it calls the extended workplace, which
includes office transport and business trips, as well as to contract labour, probationers and apprentices. Chennai-
based Balachandar says his focus is on keeping the communication as straightforward as possible, to be able to
reach out to employees across different backgrounds. What you make of it Hindustan Power has put up posters on its
zero-tolerance policy on the landings Kulshrestha says one thing that has helped her immensely is co-opting people
whom most others in the office feel comfortable with. You know, the ones who are great at water-cooler
conversations. By sensitizing and training these people in what constitutes sexual harassment, the company policy
in dealing with it, and the steps to filing a formal complaint, she says you equip them to become the first line of
defence, as it were. Sexual harassment is not always blatant or obvious, she saysit may help if the woman has
someone to just talk to, even if its just to figure out whether what shes facing is indeed harassment. And while HR
managers are always available, she says employees sometimes just feel more comfortable talking informally with
another colleague. Mumbai-based Saba Adil, head of talent at Aegon Religare Life Insurance, and one of the five ICC
members in her office, says it can be tricky for someone in a regional office with a small team to make a written
complaint. Adil says its up to the ICC representatives and the company as a whole to inculcate that trust in
employees. You just have to build that confidence in your employees to come and talk to you, no matter how high up
the person who is making them feel uncomfortable.
Lets talk about sexual harassment in the workplace The new law on sexual harassment took effect nine months
agobut companies are still coming to grips with it Chanpreet Khurana inShare 0 inShare 0 Comments Subscribe to:
Daily Newsletter Breaking News Latest News 12:34 PM IST Gilt fund inflow seen ebbing as rate cut bets dashed
12:29 PM IST Nawaz Sharif says hes staying until 2018 as Pakistan march looms 12:28 PM IST Boggi Milano
downscales plans, eyes Delhi alone 12:06 PM IST Bhel shares slip 7.7% after June quarter earnings 11:32 AM IST
Nomura raises Sensex target to 30,310 by end of August 2015 Editor's picks Retail inflation, industrial growth data
underline economic uncertainty IMD cuts monsoon forecast, says more rains in second half Donald Trump seeks to
invest in India Trai proposes ownership curbs, independent regulator for media Kingfisher Airlines likely to be issued
wilful defaulter notice by banks More from Business of Life Stay safe on public Wi-Fi The new lifestyle managers
Libraries on the go Clues on how to build a super brain Hindustan Power has put up posters on its zero-tolerance
policy in the office, outside the cafeteria, and on the landings. Photographs by Priyanka Parashar/Mint Dozens of
questions ricocheted around the roomful of people managers at a session on the Sexual Harassment of Women at
Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. At the session organized in May in the National Capital
Region by the Centre for Transforming India (CFTI), a not-for-profit trust, HR managers had a host of questions. For
instance, should a company stop its internal investigation if a victim files a police complaint? What are the rules on
protecting women in the extended workplace, like office taxis and business trips? They asked if the rules could be
extended to help someone of the third gender, or even men. And they were puzzled about what to do if an accusation
was found to be falsehow would they then restore reputations and work relationships? The new sexual harassment
law, which borrows heavily from the 17-year-old Vishaka guidelines, came into effect nine months ago, but human
resource (HR) managers and company executives are still working out the details of its implementation in their
corporate offices, regional and zonal units, as well as factory outposts. The new law covers everything from
unwelcome physical contact or advances, and seeking sexual favours, to sexually coloured remarks, showing
pornography, and any verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature. Organizations, including home offices and
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), are required to form an internal complaints committee (ICC) to receive
written complaints, investigate them and give their recommendations to the employer. In Indias New Law On
Prohibition Of Sexual Harassment At The Workplace, an article published in March in The Chambers Journal,
Veena Gopalakrishnan and Vikram Shroff of the law firm Nishith Desai Associates explain the timeline: The ICC
should send a copy of the complaint to the respondent within a week, and the respondent is expected to file his reply
within 10 working days. The ICC must investigate and close the case within 90 days, and issue a report based on its
findings in another 10 days. The employer is required to act on the recommendations of the committee within 60
days, they write. Currently, only women may file a written complaint (six copies), and they must do so within three
months of the incident, attaching supporting documents and the names and address of witnesses. Poor awareness of
the law is a problem, according to the CFTI and NGOs working in the area of gender equality. CFTI chief trustee
Pankaj Sharma says that of the 50 Indian companies whose policies he has reviewed, most seem to be outsourcing
the development of their internal policy framework on harassment to legal firms, or simply superimposing the Act on
to their people policy without quite understanding it. The biggest challenge being faced by Indian corporates is
understanding the domain itself and establishing a comprehensive system for its implementation, says Sharma, who
divides his time between the US and New Delhi. The 13-page Act describes in some detail the composition of the
ICC, the procedure for filing the complaint, the punishment in case guilt is established, and the organization of
sensitization programmes in offices. But some lawyers are now pointing out that the road map isnt complete.
According to senior lawyer Indira Jaising, The gaps are too many. In an email interview, Jaising, who became
Indias first woman additional solicitor general in 2009, says: The procedure for conducting the enquiry is not set out.
It is essential to screen the woman from the person against whom she has complained and not confront her with him
in cross-examination; the questions he wishes to ask can be given to the committee (ICC), which will ask the
questions. The news site Firstpost recently reported that Jaising has again sought justice in a sexual harassment
case, this time for a woman district judge who complained that a Madhya Pradesh high court judge had been making
unwelcome overtures, asking her to come alone to his house. A question of understanding Its a can of worms that
most HR managers dont even want to open, says Amitabh Kumar of the New Delhi-based NGO Centre for Social
Research (CSR). Our Gender Training Institute offers a sensitization programme for corporates, and in our
interactions we find most of the smaller companies dont know about the Act, says Kumar. CSR, along with the US
Ford Foundation and content firm Rainmaker, launched a free massive open online course in July. The two-week
course is open to anyone seeking a basic understanding of what the law says, as well as some tips on how to comply
with it. It is available on MyLaw.net. Kumar says the course includes information on the local complaints committee
framework organized at the district level by the government, which companies can also access as a stopgap measure
till they put together their own committee, headed by a senior woman executive, and with at least 50% female
representation. Seeking clarity But even in cases where companies have organized their ICC committees and put
their policies down on paper at least, some confusion persists. Mumbai-based Deepak Deshpande, senior vice-
president of HR at technology firm Netmagic, says the rules outlined by the Vishaka guidelines had been part of his
companys internal framework for years, so the sexual harassment Act was not an eye-opener for them. The
company has uploaded the Act on the company intranet. Deshpande is concerned, however, that the law asks
companies to constitute the ICC for three years, and believes branch offices may not be able to find enough women
in senior positions eventually to constitute the committees on rotation without repetition. This is a common concern,
as the Act does specify a three-year term for the ICCan implication being that new members would have to be
selected at the end of this period. Jaising clears the air on this: Internal complaints committee members can be the
same after three years, there is nothing to stop them in law. Moreover, they can have senior outsiders in the
committee (where there arent enough women at top executive positions to people the committees) and put them as
chairpersons. To Jaising, what is essential is that while making the selection, companies ensure that the person
chosen has a demonstrable commitment to non-discrimination against women. I have known companies to select
women from political parties or mahila morchas or Rotary Club, etc., with no experience in addressing discrimination
issues, she says. Zero tolerance Deshpande, who is on the nine-member ICC committee in his organization, wishes
that the Act had offered a clearer definition of sexual harassment. He isnt alone in his quandary. The definition of
sexual harassment is linked to an extent with how a remark or gesture is perceived by a woman. While blatantly
asking someone out for coffee or to meet them outside the office are clear signs, sometimes a harmless comment
like I like your dress maybe misunderstood, says Anthony Joseph, executive vice-president, global HR, Hinduja
Global Solutions, Inc., a business process outsourcing firm. Bangalore-based Joseph says the ICC at his company
has received seven complaints in eight months. In four of them the parties agreed there had been a
misunderstanding. Joseph adds that most of the companys employees are in their early 20s and he finds it useful to
talk to them in small teams about what may constitute inappropriate behaviour, and redress. The best advice we can
give to corporates is that they should make it clear that the company has zero tolerance of sexual harassment, says
Jaising. Put it on a poster Hindustan Power has put up a poster on its zero-tolerance policy outside the cafeteria New
Delhi-based Ranu Kulshrestha, head of Hindustan Powers corporate social responsibility unit and chairperson of the
ICC, is trying to publicize what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. On the intranet, outside the
cafeteria and in employee-initiation programmes at the companys corporate offices in Okhla, south Delhi, posters
with bullet-point missives break down legalese into language that employees can relate to. The names and phone
numbers of ICC members are mentioned clearly in breakout zones and on noticeboards around the office.
Kulshrestha says she also talks regularly to teams and employees about the Act. New employees are an obvious
choice, to take them through this policy among others and stress our zero tolerance towards sexual harassment to
them. At the largely male-dominated plants, regional units and corporate offices of truck maker Ashok Leyland, HR
executive director Balachandar N.V. says he has been designing posters in languages like Tamil. For the new law
applies also to what it calls the extended workplace, which includes office transport and business trips, as well as to
contract labour, probationers and apprentices. Chennai-based Balachandar says his focus is on keeping the
communication as straightforward as possible, to be able to reach out to employees across different backgrounds.
What you make of it Hindustan Power has put up posters on its zero-tolerance policy on the landings Kulshrestha
says one thing that has helped her immensely is co-opting people whom most others in the office feel comfortable
with. You know, the ones who are great at water-cooler conversations. By sensitizing and training these people in
what constitutes sexual harassment, the company policy in dealing with it, and the steps to filing a formal complaint,
she says you equip them to become the first line of defence, as it were. Sexual harassment is not always blatant or
obvious, she saysit may help if the woman has someone to just talk to, even if its just to figure out whether what
shes facing is indeed harassment. And while HR managers are always available, she says employees sometimes
just feel more comfortable talking informally with another colleague. Mumbai-based Saba Adil, head of talent at
Aegon Religare Life Insurance, and one of the five ICC members in her office, says it can be tricky for someone in a
regional office with a small team to make a written complaint. Adil says its up to the ICC representatives and the
company as a whole to inculcate that trust in employees. You just have to build that confidence in your employees to
come and talk to you, no matter how high up the person who is making them feel uncomfortable.

Generation in-betweens conundrum
We fully own up to providing for our children but are preparing to not depend on them as we age

One of the most important financial goals parents like to achieve is planning for their childrens education. Regardless
of current income levels, parents aspire to give their children the very best. The definition of very best is, often,
vague. As part of a research report we undertook to study peoples personal finance decision making process, we
looked at 15,000 users, of which about 2,000 used our child education planner to estimate their savings needs. Over
85% have children under 10 years of age and have 12-16 years to save for their childrens higher education. And
while 80% of them asked about cost of education in India, 20% sought to save enough to be able to send their
children oversees. Looking at how people have gone about planning their childrens education, and as a parent
needing to do the same, Im trying to answer a fundamental questionare large spends on education, especially
courses abroad, justified? Apart from data points available from user queries, we looked at a couple of other
examples. Consider an undergraduate course in the US, such as engineering. The 4-year programme is likely to cost
(and there is a wide range depending on college, lifestyle chosen, and so on) approximately $50,000 per annum or
Rs.30 lakh a year in just course fees and stay. That makes it $200,000 or Rs.1.2 crore at todays exchange rate. If
youre a parent of an 8-year-old and planning to get to a corpus of Rs.1.2 crore, you will need to save (assuming you
start today) over Rs.1.5 lakh per month every month for 10 years (assuming an 8% inflation rate and an 8% post-tax
return on your savings). Once you put together this sum of money, the next question is the return on this investment.
If the student got a starting salary of, say, $90,000 per annum in the US, and saved approximately $20,000 per year,
youre looking at 10 years just to recover the cost of education. This might be a simplistic calculation given that
savings per annum will keep rising, but the limited point here is that could a cheaper choice, say, an engineering
course in India, be a more profitable option? If the 4-year B. Tech course costs a total of Rs.25 lakh, wont it take
lesser time to recover that money? I had a very interesting conversation with a parent who had a unique perspective.
His son is currently in Class 11 and preparing to appear for the different engineering entrance examinations. He has
the means to send his son to the finest universities abroad, but has given his son these options: spending the Rs.1.2
crore on an undergraduate degree abroad or choosing an undergraduate course in India and having the Rs.1.2 crore
deposited in a fixed deposit with access to it when he graduates, either to study further or as capital to start his own
venture. Indirectly, he has also provided his son the ultimate motivation to work hard for his entrance examinations,
as well as have seed capital ready should the boy choose to set up his own venture. Could a 17-year-old ask for
anything more? Granted that not everyone has a corpus set aside by the time the child is ready for higher studies, but
its hard to ignore that approaches such as the one described are unique and deserve more attention. Many of us find
ourselves being described as an in-between generationwhere we fully own up to providing for our children but are
preparing to have zero dependence on them as we age. In the bargain, we might end up putting a disproportionate
allocation of our savings into our childrens goals and too little for ourselves, be it adequate health insurance,
especially for our post-retirement years, or having built up a large enough corpus for retirement itself. As many an
ageing professional has realized, a little too late, retirement is the only goal for which no one lends you money (apart
from reverse mortgages that seldom come close to giving as much as you need). And yet, in our quest to provide the
very best for our children, we dont always objectively view the options available to us. Whether its the many parents
or the approximately 200,000 Indian students who go to universities abroad each year (http://goo.gl/GHHJwI ), I hope
that a more comprehensive debate ensues in more households on this decision. Manish Shah, co-founder and chief
executive officer, BigDecisions.in





REITs get Sebi boards approval The move will give developers easier
access to funds and create a new investment avenue for investors
Mumbai: ndias capital market regulator on Sunday approved a long-pending proposal to introduce real estate
investment trusts (REITs)a move that will give cash-strapped developers easier access to funds and create a new
investment avenue for institutions and high net-worth individuals, and eventually ordinary investors. The Securities
and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) secured the approval of its board to allow REITs and introduce a separate set of
regulations to govern them, six years after it proposed introducing the trusts. The board broadly approved proposals
put out in a consultation paper on REITs in October 2013. The launch of REITs has been delayed partly because of a
perception that the taxation structure was unfavourable for investors. In the Union budget announced by the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on 10 July, finance minister Arun Jaitley had said the government was planning
friendlier tax norms for REITs and infrastructure investment trusts. REITs invest primarily in completed, revenue-
generating real estate assets and distribute a major part of the earnings among their investors. Typically, the income
of these trusts comes from the rentals received from such properties. REITs offer a less risky alternative to investing
in under-construction properties and also provide a regular income. To begin with, though, only wealthy individuals or
institutions will be allowed to invest in REITs. The Sebi boards approval followed a weekend meeting between the
finance ministry and the market regulator primarily focused on creation of new investment channels in the real estate
and infrastructure sector. All REIT schemes, to begin with, will be close-ended real estate investment schemes that
will invest in property with the aim of providing returns to unit holders. The returns will be derived mainly from rental
income or capital gains from real estate. REITs, Sebi said, will be allowed to invest in commercial real estate assets,
either directly or through special purpose vehicles (SPVs). In such SPVs, a REIT must have a controlling interest of at
least 50% of the equity share capital. Further, such SPVs have to hold at least 80% of their assets directly in
properties. REITs will be allowed to raise funds only through an initial offering and units of REITs have to be
mandatorily listed on a stock exchange, similar to initial public offering (IPO) and listing for equity shares. An REIT will
be required to have assets worth at least Rs.500 crore at the time of an initial offer and the minimum issue size has to
be Rs.250 crore. The minimum subscription size for units of an REIT on offer will be Rs.2 lakh and at least 25% of the
units have to be offered to the public. Subsequently, REITs can raise money through follow-on offers, rights issues or
qualified institutional placements and the trading lot for such units will be Rs.1 lakh, Sebi said in a statement.
Reduction in the asset size to Rs.500 crore will attract more rent-yielding assets under the fold of this vehicle and
allowing foreign investments, will attract pension funds and insurance companies, which have been proved as a
catalyst of REITs markets globally... Both these can become drivers of growth for REITs in India, said Neeraj
Sharma, partner, Walker Chandiok and Co. Llp, a chartered accountants firm. According to an estimate by property
broker Cushman and Wakefield, the assets that may qualify to be included in REITs may reach $20 billion by 2020, In
the first three to five years, as much as $12 billion could be raised. To help develop the trusts, BSE has set up an 11-
member advisory group of experts, bankers, legal professionals and consultants in the real estate industry, according
to a statement on 10 July. The market regulator had said in its October consultation paper that although a REIT may
raise funds from any type of investors, resident or foreign, initially only wealthy individuals and institutions will be
allowed to subscribe to REIT unit offers. The market regulator said an REIT may have up to three sponsors, with
each holding at least 5% and collectively holding at least 25% for a period of at least three years from the date of
listing. Subsequently, the sponsors combined holding has to be at least 15% throughout the life of the REIT. Similar
to the practice in the US, Australia, Singapore and other nations where REITs are common, Sebi has decided to
allow these trusts to invest primarily in completed revenue-generating properties. To ensure that REITs generate
continuous returns, Sebi said at least 80% of the REITs assets has to be invested in completed and revenue
generating properties. And, only up to 20% assets can be invested in properties that are being developed, mortgage-
backed securities, debt of companies in the real estate sector, equity shares of listed companies that derive at least
75% of their income from real estate, government securities, or money market instruments. However, no REIT can
invest more than 10% in properties that are under construction. Jitendra Virwani, chairman and managing director,
Embassy Property Developments Ltd, said that while many are looking at overseas markets such as Singapore to
list, he would look to list his REIT in India. There are foreign funds looking to deploy at least a part of their allocation
in emerging markets such as India apart from which there are mutual funds, insurance companies that are looking to
invest. While Singapore has a currency risk, there are other incentives there, he said. Embassy Property, which is
planning a $2 billion REIT with global private equity firm Blackstone Group Lp, is planning to list it in India sometime
next year. Virwani said that while in Singapore, the minimum threshold is 90%, the 80% limit in India will help
developers in India to bring in under-construction assets as well into REITs. Sebi said every REIT has to invest at
least in two projects, with a maximum of 60% of assets going towards one project. All REITs have to distribute at
least 90% of their net distributable cash flows to the investors. To ensure transparency, Sebi said every REIT has to
undergo an yearly valuation and declare its net asset values (NAV) within 15 days of the exercise. The Sebi board
also approved the launch of so-called infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs), which are somewhat similar to REITs.
However, an initial offer will not be mandatory for InvITs though listing will be mandatory for both publicly and
privately placed InvITs. The regulator said such trusts can invest in infrastructure projects, either directly or through
an SPV. In case of public-private-partnership (PPP) projects, such investments will be only through an SPV. In most
of the concession agreements in infrastructure projects, 51% of the SPV needs to be held by the promoters who have
obtained the approval, Hemal Mehta, senior director, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt. Ltd, said. Sebi has now
addressed this issue and said that the condition in the concession agreement has certified that InvIT can hold less
than 50%, but there has to be a controlled shareholders agreement where a decision is jointly made. While listing,
the collective holding of sponsors of an InvIT has to be at least 25% for at least three years. An InvIT will be required
to have a holding worth at least Rs.500 crore in the underlying assets, and the initial offer size of the InvIT has to be
at least Rs.250 crore. Executives from GMR Group and Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group, on condition of anonymity,
said they will now explore the opportunities of using InvITs. Sebi said in its statement that any InvIT, which looks to
invest at least 80% of its assets in completed and revenue generating infrastructure assets, has to raise funds only
through a public issue of units, with a minimum 25% public float and at least 20 investors. Also, the minimum
subscription size and trading lot of such a listed InvIT has to be Rs.10 lakh and Rs.5 lakh, respectively. A publicly
offered InvIT may invest the remaining 20% in under construction infrastructure projects and other permissible
investments, Sebi said. An InvIT, which proposes to invest more than 10% of its assets in under-construction
infrastructure projects, can raise funds only through private placement from qualified institutional buyers with a
minimum investment and trading lot of Rs.1 crore and from at least five investors, where single holding cannot be
more than 25%. Neeraj Bansal, partner and head of real estate and construction at consulting firm KPMGs India unit,
said after the Sebi approval, expediting of notification of REIT and InvIT norms will facilitate the infusion of an
estimated $15-20 billion in the sector, and offer an alternative to bank finance. With amendments (and) other
corresponding regulations, both foreign and domestic institutions and other investors will be eligible to invest in these
trusts, and also liquidity to investors (will be ensured) as these trusts will be listed and traded on stock exchanges,
Bansal said. In a separate development, Sebi also approved single registration for entities willing to act both as stock
brokers and clearing members. Madhurima Nandy in Bangalore and P.R. Sanjai in Mumbai contributed to this story.

Scrutiny of bad loans set to increase CBIs moves against IDBI Bank and
chairman of Syndicate Bank are likely signs of the govt getting tough on
bad loans in the banking system

Mumbai: Recent moves by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against IDBI Bank Ltd and the chairman of
Syndicate Bank Ltd are likely signs of the government getting tough on bad loans in the banking systemas much a
reflection of the rot in Indian banking as it is of the economic slowdown and policy paralysis that delayed projects.
There could be more such action by enforcement and investigative agencies in the weeks and months to come and
the banks themselves could get more aggressive in dealing with the sour loans on their books. On Saturday, CBI
registered a preliminary enquiry against IDBI Bank Ltd and Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, with an intention to look into the
banks decision to sanction Rs.950 crore to the airline at a time when it had a negative net worth and negative credit
rating. The enquiry comes a week after CBI arrested S.K. Jain, chairman and managing director of Syndicate bank,
for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs.50 lakh for increasing the credit limit of two companies in violation of banking rules.
It also arrested Ved Prakash Agarwal, chairman and managing director of Prakash Industries Ltd, which has interests
in mining and steel, and Neeraj Singal, vice-chairman of Bhushan Steel. Soon after, State Bank of India chairperson
Arundhati Bhattacharya said the 51 lenders that together have a Rs.40,000 crore exposure to Bhushan Steel will
meet soon to possibly set up a management agency to run the firm. That aggressionnot displayed by banks
including SBI in Kingfishers casemay well be what the governor ordered. In an October interview, Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan had indicated that he would like to see banks becoming more aggressive in
their management of bad debt, bringing in fresh blood to manage defaulting companies if necessary. Other regulators
are also getting aggressive about defaulters. Last week, stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of
Indias (Sebis) chairman U.K. Sinha said his agency was working with RBI to create a list of wilful defaulters
entities that dont pay back loans though they are capable of doing so. On 7 June, DNA newspaper reported that the
CBI had expanded its probe concerning non-performing assets (NPA) of public sector banks, with 27 cases already
registered against nine companies figuring on the list of top 30 wilful defaulters. Earlier this year, the All India Bank
Employees Association released a list of 406 defaulter accounts amounting to Rs.70,300 crore, the DNA report said.
As of March 2014, the gross NPAs of 40 listed banks was Rs.2.42 trillion, up 34.41% from Rs.1.8 trillion a year ago.
Data for all 40 banks for the quarter ended June 2014 is not yet available. On 6 August, RBIs Rajan said the central
bank, working with regulators such as Sebi would toughen norms for wilful defaulters in the banking system. Among
the measures being considered is a rule that would block wilful defaulters from accessing the capital markets.
Currently, wilful defaulters cannot access bank funding after being labelled as such by a bank, but they can still raise
funds from the capital markets. RBI is also looking at creating a separate category for borrowers considered non-
cooperative and intends to make it tougher and more expensive for such borrowers to borrow from the banking
system. We are looking at our own definition of non-cooperative defaulter and trying to see how we can make it
operational. Non-cooperative defaulters may not be in violation of the laws but we have this genre of promoters who
hold up collections at every court using every instrument, said Rajan. Thats perfectly legal but from the perspective
of the financial system its a problem because it can take years to collect. So we are saying that you are not a criminal
but you are a financial risk. From that perspective, can we increase the cost of any new loans made to that person?
Hopefully that makes the person think twice. So there is a financial stability angle there, Rajan said. All such moves
seem to have the governments blessing. On 3 June, Mint reported that the National Democratic Alliance government
is looking to amend the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest
Act, 2002, (Sarfaesi) and the Debt Recovery Act to make it easier for banks to recover money from defaulters. RBI is
also looking at requests made by asset reconstruction companies (ARC) to give them powers to replace the
management of a firm permanently. Currently an ARC is allowed to replace the management for a stipulated time
period, after which the company must be returned to its original promoters. They (government and regulators) are
trying to get to the root of the bad loan problem. There are clearly two elements to itthe weak economy and the
process of loan approval. While there is not much you can do about the first, it seems like there is an effort to tackle
the second part decisively, said a consultant to banks who asked not to be identified. CBIs recent moves can be
directly attributed to the governments intention to rid the banking system of bad loans, the consultant added. This
kind of pressure started six months or so ago and seems to have gathered momentum under the new government,
said the consultant. He added that RBI, too, seems to be of the view that any element of connivance between banks
and industry in the credit appraisal process must be dealt with as a way to cleanse the system. In IDBIs case, there
was no need for the bank to take the exposure outside the consortium when already other banks loans were getting
stressed, said a CBI official who spoke on condition of anonymity. A senior IDBI executive, requesting anonymity,
said that CBI had asked for certain specific information and the bank had provided the same. However, we do not
know about any investigation as of now, the executive added Kingfisher Airlines owes Rs.7,500 crore to a
consortium of banks led by SBI. In February 2013, bankers publicly stated they lost faith in the managements ability
to revive the company. Banks that had then initiated recovery measures have been able to recover Rs.550 crore by
selling the equity they held in the troubled airline, PTI reported in August 2013 quoting Shyamal Acharya, then deputy
managing director of the bank. Kolkata-based United Bank of India, which tried to tag promoter Vijay Mallya a wilful
defaulter, has been dragged to court by Mallya. A case is on in the Kolkata high court. According to a second
consultant who works with the banking sector, RBI has been approaching the problem from the point of view of
systemic lapses, while also discreetly investigating cases where bank discipline may have faltered. There is no doubt
that there are huge corporate governance challenges in the public sector banking system. But you have to be careful
not to tackle these issues in a manner that creates paralysis in the banking system, said the consultant, requesting
anonymity. On Friday, speaking on the sidelines of a press conference, SBIs Bhattacharya said that Syndicate Bank
incident may have an impact on the morale of bankers. We accept all proposals, but very rigorous due diligence is
done by our officials before sanctioning a loan. We are never dependent on these people (brokers) for our loans. The
episode (bribe taking) is more an individual act than at the institution level, assured Bhattacharya.



GoAir posts Rs50 crore profit, aims for Rs100 crore net profit in FY15 Chief
executive Giorgio De Roni says airline has no aggressive plans to add
planes; focus on metro routes waning
Mumbai: Low-fare airline GoAir, run by Wadia Groups Go Airlines (India) Ltd, says it made a net profit of nearly
Rs.50 crore in the quarter ended June of the current fiscal. The nine-year-old airline is targeting a net profit over
Rs.100 crore in the current fiscal year, provided there is no dramatic increase in jet fuel costs. In an interview on
Friday, Giorgio De Roni, chief executive officer (CEO) of GoAir, claimed that his airline made a profit of a little less
than Rs.100 crore in the previous fiscal, while it made a little over Rs.100 crore in fiscal 2013. GoAir is an unlisted
company and hence not required to disclose financial results every quarter. The net profit that we made in the
previous fiscal was exclusively with the help of pure revenue of passengers and cargo unlike in 2012-13, where we
had revenues of sale and lease back of planes. The June quarter results of the current fiscal is also from pure
passenger and cargo business, Roni said. GoAirs profits come in the backdrop of massive losses in the countrys
aviation sector. The combined losses of Indian airlines are expected to reach $1.4 billion in the current fiscal year due
to high costs, as per an outlook report by consultancy firm Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa) in June. The
combined losses for Indian airlines were at $1.77 billion in the last fiscal. In the last seven years, accumulated losses
have reached $10.6 billion. So how has GoAir managed to stay ahead of the industry? We are a smaller airline. But
size does not matter. We are not here to chase market share. But we want to be a profitable airline, Roni, the
longest-serving CEO at GoAir, said. Roni, who started his career as a check-in agent at Italian airline Meridiana fly
S.p.A., joined the airline in May 2011. To be sure, the fleet of GoAir, that was launched in November 2005, is still at
19 planes while IndiGo, run by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, has a fleet of 78 planes. IndiGo, Indias largest airline, was
launched in August 2006. The countrys second-largest low fare airline SpiceJet Ltd, launched in May 2005, has a
fleet of 53 planes. Bharath Mahadevan, an independent consultant, said GoAir is the only Indian airline that has
followed a measured growth strategy. Nineteen aircraft after almost a decade may sound extremely low. However,
their small size will help them get close to profitability because they dont have to worry about filling up too many
empty seats in their network. The other airlines have pursued a very aggressive growth strategy which means they
are forced to buy the passengers to fill up their planes by dumping fares, Mahadevan said. He pointed out that
more aircraft mean more flights and seats on sectors and timings that are not viable, but need to be operated to
utilize their aircraft. Mahadevan also pointed out that the new airline venture of Tata Sons Ltd and Singapore Airlines
Ltd (SIA) has a plan similar to that of GoAir. And look at Jet Airways (India) Ltd and Air India Ltdtrimming their
domestic network drastically to cut their losses, he added, indicating that others are starting to follow a strategy
similar to GoAir. Tata-SIA airline is expected to start operations in October. Roni admitted that he has no aggressive
plans to add planes. GoAir would add only one plane in next 12-18 months. We cannot compete with bigger airlines
at this point. If the market is not growing, why should I add planes? Let us remain small but profitable, Roni
reiterated. Experts pointed out that GoAirs strategy of focusing on metro routes is also helping. GoAir has put more
flights into metro routes, that are cash cows. It has also smartly selected metro to non-metro routes that can get
better yields by offering stimulating fares, said a senior airline executive from a competing airline, requesting
anonymity. Roni, however, says the focus on metro routes has waned over time. At present, we have 24% of our
flights on metro routes, 70% on metro to non-metro and 6% on non-metro routes. Moreover, we are getting better
revenues from non-metro routes compared with metro routes, Roni said. GoAir is increasing the aircraft utilization to
13 hours a day compared with an industry average of 11 hours. Roni said GoAir will start taking delivery of 72 fuel-
efficient Airbus A320neo planes from 2016. We have already made pre-delivery payments (PDP) for these airplanes,
that will save 15% of fuel. We will take seven in 2016 and 10 in 2017. All these 17 planes will be acquired through the
sale and lease back model to cut costs to the company, he said. In June 2012, GoAir had placed an order for 72
A320neo planes for $7 billion. GoAir is also actively in talks with foreign airlines for a possible equity stake sale. We
are looking for a strategic partner. We are in talks with foreign airlines for a foreign direct investment, Roni said
without disclosing the names of the airlines. The Indian government had permitted foreign airlines to invest up to 49%
in Indian airlines. Etihad Airways PJSC had bought a 24% stake in Jet Airways after the governments decision. Roni
said GoAir would be applying to the ministry of civil aviation to fly overseas as soon as it takes delivery of the 20th
plane. According to government regulations, a domestic airline will have to complete five years of operations and
have 20 planes to qualify for flying abroad. He said GoAir was keen to fly to West Asian countries and neighbouring
countries to begin with. However, the airline executive quoted above cautioned that GoAir may not be able to sustain
the current profitability as it starts taking the delivery of more planes and competing with other airlines. Craig Jenks,
president at New York-based consultancy firm Airline/Aircraft Projects Inc. said it would be a tough task for GoAir to
scale up from 19 planes. Anything can wrong in the civil aviation industry. The secret is to keep the business model
simple and flexible. We will be trying to do that, Roni added.

VGN Developers to raise Rs400 crore from private equity funds The real
estate firm had earlier raised Rs300 crore Clearwater Capital Partners and
NBFC of Piramal Enterprises
Mumbai: Real estate firm VGN Developers Pvt. Ltd is looking to raise Rs.400 crore from private equity funds to
refinance debt, two bankers familiar with the development said. They are in talks with large private equity funds to
raise the capital. The money will be used to retire debt that they had raised last year said one of the bankers
mentioned above. Pratish Devadoss, managing director of Chennai-based VGN Developers, declined to comment.
Last June, the developer had raised Rs.300 crore from Asia-focused private equity fund Clearwater Capital Partners
Llc and the non-banking financial company (NBFC) of Piramal Enterprises Ltd. VGN had raised the capital to part-
finance the acquisition of a 10-acre plot in Chennais Guindy area for nearly Rs.305 crore, in one of the largest land
deals in the city. The plot was auctioned by State Bank of India (SBI) which was a non-performing asset lying in its
books. VGN is developing 16 million sq. ft of residential projects in the southern region. The joint financing was done
through high-yield debtnon-convertible debentures (NCD)a popular way of financing for developers in last few
years.

Realty-focused PE funds raise $1.6 billion in last seven months While
investors seem willing to commit fresh funds, capital invested in previous
years hasnt yielded the kind of returns that were expected
Mumbai: Private equity (PE) investor Milestone Capital Advisors Ltd plans to raise a Rs.700 crore fund from domestic
investors this year and invest the proceeds in the real estate sector. Milestone has raised the proposed fund size
from the Rs.500 crore it had been planning to raise three months ago because of a conducive market environment. It
is one of the many funds seeking to raise capital with the intention of providing structured financing for the real estate
sector, in response to demand for capital from developers and the improving risk appetite from investors. Based on
announcements made since the start of this calendar year, Indian real estate focused private equity funds are looking
to raise nearly $6 billion, in addition to $1.6 billion that has already been raised. In 2007-08, real estate focused
private equity funds had raised $8.1 billion. Some of the funds that have raised capital or are in the process of doing
so include HDFC Property Fund, ASK Special Opportunities Fund, Piramal Capital, Motilal Oswal Real Estate Fund,
IDFC Real Estate Yield Fund, Religare Credit Advisors LLP, Jones Lang LaSalle Indias Residential Opportunities-I
and India Infoline Wealth Management Ltd. The sudden flux of capital is a positive sign and investors are ready to
listen to the India story,said Sunil Rohokale, CEO and managing director at ASK Investment Holdings Pvt. Ltd. ASK
Special Opportunities Fund is seeking to raise $200 million, of which it has already raised $50 million, this year. Much
of the capital being raised by real estate-focused funds will be invested in residential projects via debt or structured
investments which will include both debt and equity components. This has emerged as the favoured route for
investors over the last three-to-four years, as payments are made on a quarterly or half-yearly basis. Earlier
investors were expecting equity returns of 25-30% whereas mezzanine products gives reasonably assured internal
rate of returns of 17-20% which further enhances investor comfort to invest in this asset class, said Sumeet Abrol,
executive director at Grant Thornton India LLP. Anuj Puri, chairman and country head at Jones Lang LaSalle India,
said investors are currently preferring to invest in real estate debt as the returns being offered are comparable to
equity returns, at least for now. Today the debt returns offered is closer to the guaranteed equity returns promised by
fund managers earlier but going forward after 5-6 months time we see that debt investments will start diminishing and
equity investments will begin, said Puri. For real estate developers this capital is coming at a steeper cost than debt
taken from banks. Funds charge higher than bank lending rates which is around 14-16% but banks do not pay for
land acquisition or if the developer has already raised loan against a project and needs further subsequent amount of
money for the same project. That is why developers are raising higher-cost capital, said Ashutosh Limaye, head of
research and real estate intelligence service at property consultants Jones Lang LaSalle India Another reason for
raising costly debt from funds is lack of project sales, said Pranay Vakil, ex-founder and chairman of property
consultancy Knight Frank India. The stress is due to lack of sales and not where funds have been raised for
construction finance or to repay debt in some cases. But we expect 2014-15 to be a better year as compared to
earlier and sales will start picking up, said Vakil. While investors seem willing to commit fresh funds, capital invested
in previous years hasnt yielded the kind of returns that were expected. Much of the $8.1 billion raised in the 2007-08
is yet to be returned due to the inability of funds to exit existing investments. Exits have been delayed due to various
reasons including delayed project launches due to environmental clearances, delayed execution of projects. Also due
to rupee-dollar foreign exchange scenario, most of the funds had deployed capital at Rs.45 to a dollar which has
been eroded as rupee now stands at Rs.60, and it hit its worst nine months back. said Vakil. Some developers have
also defaulted on their repayment obligations in cases where investments had been made via debt instruments. We
have been hearing cases of defaults by developers, they need to understand that just because capital is easily
available they should not raise it. In the long term repayments can become problematic; also PE funds need to
understand that they need to take equity exposure than being satisfied by giving out debt, cautioned M. Murali,
managing director at Shriram Properties, the real estate arm of Shriram Group.

Tracing Ebola's Breakout to an African
2-Year-Old
Gueckedou, Guinea: Patient Zero in the Ebola outbreak, researchers suspect, was a 2-year-old boy who died
Dec. 6, just a few days after falling ill in a village in Gueckedou, in southeastern Guinea. Bordering Sierra
Leone and Liberia, Gueckedou is at the intersection of three nations, where the disease found an easy entry
point to the region.

A week later, it killed the boy's mother, then his 3-year-old sister, then his grandmother. All had fever,
vomiting and diarrhea, but no one knew what had sickened them.

Two mourners at the grandmother's funeral took the virus home to their village. A health worker carried it to
still another, where he died, as did his doctor. They both infected relatives from other towns. By the time Ebola
was recognized, in March, dozens of people had died in eight Guinean communities, and suspected cases were
popping up in Liberia and Sierra Leone - three of the world's poorest countries, recovering from years of
political dysfunction and civil war.

In Gueckedou, where it all began, "the feeling was fright," said Dr. Kalissa N'fansoumane, the hospital
director. He had to persuade his employees to come to work.

On March 31, Doctors Without Borders, which has intervened in many Ebola outbreaks, called this one
"unprecedented," and warned that the disease had erupted in so many locations that fighting it would be
enormously difficult.

Now, with 1,779 cases, including 961 deaths and a small cluster in Nigeria, the outbreak is out of control and
still getting worse. Not only is it the largest ever, but it also seems likely to surpass all two dozen previous
known Ebola outbreaks combined. Epidemiologists predict it will take months to control, perhaps many
months, and a spokesman for the World Health Organization said thousands more health workers were needed
to fight it.

Some experts warn that the outbreak could destabilize governments in the region. It is already causing
widespread panic and disruption. On Saturday, Guinea announced that it had closed its borders with Sierra
Leone and Liberia in a bid to halt the virus' spread. Doctors worry that deaths from malaria, dysentery and
other diseases could shoot up as Ebola drains resources from weak health systems. Health care workers,
already in short supply, have been hit hard by the outbreak: 145 have been infected, and 80 of them have died.

Past Ebola outbreaks have been snuffed out, often within a few months. How, then, did this one spin so far out
of control? It is partly a consequence of modernization in Africa, and perhaps a warning that future outbreaks -
which are inevitable - will pose tougher challenges. Unlike most previous outbreaks, which occurred in
remote, localized spots, this one began in a border region where roads have been improved and people travel a
lot. In this case, the disease was on the move before health officials even knew it had struck.

Also, this part of Africa had never seen Ebola before. Health workers did not recognize it and had neither the
training nor the equipment to avoid infecting themselves or other patients. Hospitals in the region often lack
running water and gloves, and can be fertile ground for epidemics.

Public health experts acknowledge that the initial response, both locally and internationally, was inadequate.

"That's obviously the case," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. "Look at what's happening now."

He added, "A couple of months ago, there was a false sense of confidence that it was controlled, a stepping
back, and then it flared up worse than before."

Health experts have grown increasingly confident in recent years that they can control Ebola, Frieden said,
based on success in places like Uganda.

But those successes hinged on huge education campaigns to teach people about the disease and persuade them
to go to treatment centers. Much work also went into getting people to change funeral practices that involve
touching corpses, which are highly infectious.

But in West Africa, Ebola was unknown.

In some areas, frightened and angry people have attacked health workers and even accused them of bringing in
disease.

"Early on in the outbreak, we had at least 26 villages or little towns that would not cooperate with responders
in terms of letting people into the village, even," said Gregory Hartl, a spokesman for the World Health
Organization.

The outbreak has occurred in three waves: The first two were relatively small, and the third, starting about a
month ago, was much larger, Hartl said. "That third wave was a clarion call," he said.

At a House subcommittee hearing Thursday, Ken Isaacs, a vice president of Samaritan's Purse, said his aid
group and Doctors Without Borders were doing much of the work on the outbreak.

"That the world would allow two relief agencies to shoulder this burden along with the overwhelmed
Ministries of Health in these countries testifies to the lack of serious attention the epidemic was given," he
said.

In mid-March, Guinea's Ministry of Health asked Doctors Without Borders for help in Gueckedou.

At first, the group's experts suspected Lassa fever, a viral disease endemic in West Africa. But this illness was
worse. Isolation units were set up, and tests confirmed Ebola.

Like many African cities and towns, this region hums with motorcycle taxis and minivans crammed with
passengers.

The mobility, and now the sheer numbers, make the basic work of containing the disease a monumental task.
The only way to stop an outbreak is to isolate infected patients, trace all their contacts, isolate the ones who get
sick and repeat the process until, finally, there are no more cases.

But how do you do that when there can easily be 500 names on the list of contacts who are supposed to be
tracked down and checked for fever every day for 21 days?

"They go to the field to work their crops," said Monia Sayah, a nurse sent in by Doctors Without Borders.
"Some have phones, but the networks don't always work. Some will say, 'I'm fine; you don't have to come,' but
we really have to see them and take their temperature. But if someone wants to lie and take Tylenol, they won't
have a temperature."

At Donka Hospital in Guinea's capital, Dr. Simon Mardel, a British emergency physician who has worked in
seven previous hemorrhagic fever outbreaks and was sent to Guinea by the World Health Organization,
realized this outbreak was the worst he had seen. A man had arrived late one night, panting and with
abdominal pain. During the previous few days, he had been treated at two private clinics, given intravenous
fluids and sent home. The staff did not suspect Ebola because he had no fever. But fever can diminish at the
end stage of the disease.

The treatment room at Donka was poorly lit and had no sink. There were few buckets of chlorine solution, and
the staff found it impossible to clean their hands between patients.

The man died two hours after arriving. Tests later showed he had been positive for Ebola. Untold numbers of
health care workers and their subsequent patients had been exposed to the disease.

Gloves, in short supply at the hospitals, were selling for 50 cents a pair on the open market, a huge sum for
people who often live on less than a dollar a day. At homes where families cared for patients, even plastic
buckets to hold water and bleach for washing hands and disinfecting linens were lacking.

Workers were failing to trace all patients' contacts. The resulting unsuspected cases, appearing at hospitals
without standard infection control measures, worsened the spread in a "vicious circle," Mardel said.

Tracing an Epidemic's Origins

As is often the case in Ebola outbreaks, no one knows how the first person got the disease or how the virus
found its way to the region. The virus infects monkeys and apes, and some previous epidemics are thought to
have begun when someone was exposed to blood while killing or butchering an infected animal. Cooking will
destroy the virus, so the risk is not in eating the meat, but in handling it raw. Ebola is also thought to infect
fruit bats without harming them, so the same risks apply to butchering bats. Some researchers also think that
people might become infected by eating fruit or other uncooked foods contaminated by droppings from
infected bats.

Once people become ill, their bodily fluids can infect others, and they become more infectious as the illness
progresses. The disease does not spread through the air like the flu; contact with fluids is necessary, usually
through the eyes, nose, mouth or cuts in the skin. One drop of blood can harbor millions of viruses, and
corpses become like virus bombs.

A research team that studied the Guinea outbreak traced the disease back to the 2-year-old who died in
Gueckedou and published a report in The New England Journal of Medicine. He and his relatives were never
tested to confirm Ebola, but their symptoms matched it and they fit into a pattern of transmission that included
other cases confirmed by blood tests.

But no one can explain how such a small child could have become the first person infected. Contaminated fruit
is one possibility. An injection with a contaminated needle is another.

Sylvain Baize, part of the team that studied the Guinea outbreak and head of the national reference center for
viral hemorrhagic fevers at the Pasteur Institute in Lyon, France, said there might have been an earlier case that
went undiscovered, before the 2-year-old.

"We suppose that the first case was infected following contact with bats," he said. "Maybe, but we are not
sure."

Roaring Back in Liberia

Dr. Fazlul Haque, deputy representative of UNICEF in Liberia, said that after a few cases there in March and
April, health workers thought the disease had gone away. But it came roaring back about a month later.

"It reappeared, and this time, it came in a very big way," he said. "The rate of increase is very high now."

From July 30 to Aug. 6, Liberia's government reported more than 170 new cases and over 90 deaths.

"Currently, our efforts are not enough to stop the virus," Haque said.

He added that most health agencies believed the true case numbers to be far higher, in part because locals were
not coming forward when relatives fell ill, and because detection by the health authorities has been weak.
Rukshan Ratnam, a spokesman for UNICEF in Liberia, said some families had hidden their sick to avoid
sending them to isolation wards or out of shame stemming from traditional beliefs that illness is a punishment
for doing something wrong.

Haque said that the tracing of cases, crucial for the containment of the disease, was moving too slowly to keep
up with new infections. Seven counties have confirmed cases, and the government has deployed security forces
in Lofa County, where Liberia's first case was detected, he said. But the government has given leave to
nonessential employees in those areas, so it is not clear how they will have the staffing to isolate the sick.
Some hospitals have closed because so many health workers have fallen ill.

Liberia has closed markets and many border crossings. It has said testing and screening will be done at
immigration checkpoints.

But on Thursday, at a checkpoint staffed by at least 30 soldiers in Klay, Bomi County, there was no screening -
just a blockade and a line of trucks loaded with bags of charcoal, plantains and potato greens.

Hilary Wesseh, a truck driver who was sucking the last drops of juice out of a small lime, said he had been
stuck there for two days.

"They are holding us hostage," he said.

A Desperate Call for Help

By June and July, Sierra Leone was becoming the center of the outbreak. At the government hospital in
Kenema, Dr. Sheik Umar Khan was leading the efforts to treat patients and control the epidemic.

But he was desperate for supplies: chlorine for disinfection, gloves, goggles, protective suits, rudimentary
sugar and salt solutions to fight dehydration and give patients a chance to survive. Early in July, he emailed
friends and former medical school classmates in the United States, asking for their help and sending a
spreadsheet listing what he needed, and what he had. Many of the lines in the "available" column were empty.
One of his requests was for body bags: 3,000 adult, 2,000 child.

Before his friends could send the supplies, Khan contracted Ebola himself. He died July 29.
2014, The New York Times News Service

7 Bizarre Job Interviews You'll Be Glad
You Weren't Involved In
YouTube/MOVIECLIPS
Will Ferrell, as Brennan, on an awkward interview in the movie Step Brothers.
See Also
15 Great Careers With Unconventional
HoursThe 10 Best Careers Right Now For Recent College Graduates
12 Actors Who Should Rejuvenate Their Careers With TV
Shows
The internet is full of good advice for what you should and should not do
during a job interview.
For instance, experts recommend that candidates present a unique
personality trait to make themselves stand out,while avoiding the use of
excuses when describing their past performance.
But there are some situations even the most rigorous research won't
prepare you for.
People on Quora recently discussed the question, "What is the most
bizarre job interview you have ever been party to?"
While the stories people told might not provide a lot of insight for your
next job interview, many of them are simply too good not to share.
Here's a sampling of the craziness that befell these unfortunate
interviewers and interviewees:
1. Strip, please.
Quora user Sami Thompson's interview for a receptionist position was
going pretty well, at least until the interviewer asked her to take off her
clothes. It was then that she realized she was interviewing for a
receptionist job at a strip club.
"Needless to say, I expressed my regrets, plucked my application form
from [the strip club owner's] hands, and we both had a good laugh as I
hastily retreated to my car with the reddest face on the planet,"
Thompson recalled.
2. No guests allowed.
Bennett McEwan was interviewing recent grads for a healthcare analyst
job at Unisys when one of the candidates arrived with a very special
guest in tow: her mother.
McEwan reports that the prospective hire barely said a word, instead
deferring to her mother. Among other demands, the mother said Unisys
would have to pay for an additional hotel room whenever her daughter
had to travel because "I accompany my daughter everywhere."
Needless to say, neither the mother nor the daughter left with a job offer
that day.
3. The opposite of flattery.
Video-game industry veteran and Quora user Chris Charla was
interviewing a job candidate and asked which video game consoles she
liked to play.
"I've owned every game system since the Super Nintendo except PSP,"
the candidate replied. "I was excited for it and then I played 'Death, Jr.'
and I hated that game so much I decided the system sucked."
The problem? Charla was one of the primary creators of "Death, Jr."
Fortunately for the candidate, Charla didn't hold it against her.
"She got the job because a) she was the best qualified candidate, b) I'm
not vindictive and c) her graceful recovery from an embarrassing
moment demonstrated effectively that she did well in high-pressure
situations," Charla wrote.
4. A job interview that turned into a date.
Leitha Matz was interviewing to be a copywriter for an older
businessman when it became increasingly clear that the man was looking
for more than just a new employee. The two-day interview included
dinner, drinks, several rides in a fancy car, and a hike to a romantic vista
before the man revealed that he wanted to marry her.
After an unwanted kiss, Matz politely told the man she didn't want to be
his wife - or his copywriter.
5. A date that turned into a job interview
An anonymous Quora user responded to a personal ad on Craigslist to go
to a sex club with another man. On the way there, his date revealed that
he was the founder of a web company, a perfect fit for the unemployed
Quora user's software skills.
One thing led to another, and Anonymous had himself a new job by the
end of the evening.
"It's my favorite job I've had so far; I kinda feel like I could do this for the
rest of my life," he wrote.
6. Earthquake!
Quora user Lee Ballentine had the perfect opportunity to prove his
toughness to the CEO of a Silicon Valley company who had previously
served in the Israeli army. Midway through the interview, an earthquake
erupted.
But while others scrambled for the exits, both Ballentine and the CEO
continued through the interview as if nothing was wrong.
"I decided that if the CEO could take it, so could I," Ballentine wrote.
"We kept right on talking until we were the only two people left in the
building."
The rest of the people in the office returned about a half hour later.
Several days after that, Ballentine had a job offer.
7. Whose dog is it anyway?
Venture capitalist Murli Ravi tells the story of a friend who was
interviewing candidates for a mid-level position at his company when
one of the job applicants walked in with a golden retriever.
Ravi's friend said the interview was pretty normal, with the only
exception being that the
dog
spent most of it lying under a table, only to leave the room with the
interview still in progress.
At the end, Ravi's friend couldn't help but ask the candidate why he
decided to bring a dog to the job interview.
The candidate's response: "My dog? I thought it was your dog! I wanted
to ask you the same question!"
It turns out the dog had walked in off the street.
inShare



Centre, 5 states to set up solar power projects
States to tie-up with the centre for
solar power
projects: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh

The Narendra Modi government has made the first concrete move towards expanding India's solar
generation capacity.

Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh would soon tie up with
the Centre to execute ultra mega solar power projects with more than 500-Mw capacity each.

To put at least 5,000-7,000-Mw solar power generation under operation as soon as possible, Power
Minister Piyush Goyal has asked officials to ensure agreements are signed with interested states by
the end of the month, a government official said.

Madhya Pradesh is eyeing 750 to 800 Mw, while Rajasthan is looking at developing 4,000 Mw.
Andhra Pradesh is looking to add 1,000 Mw of solar power and it is likely that Union government-
owned NTPC might take up this project. NTPC has 95 Mw of solar power projects.

"In the case of Madhya Pradesh, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) would be formed between the
Centre and the state," said a senior official. "Private participation will be invited subsequently. The
power evacuated would be sold to Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), which would take up
the task of selling the power to the utilities." Telangana is also likely to sell solar power to SECI,
wholly owned subsidiary of the ministry of new and renewable energy.

The project developers would bid for viability gap funding support from the Centre.
The price of solar power, if the SPV is
formed, might be Rs 5.5-5.4 a unit,
said an official who did not want to
be named.

Tarun Kapoor, joint secretary,
ministry of new and renewable
energy, said the thrust was on large
power projects. "The new
government is pushing for big
capacity addition in solar. Taking a
cue from the Budget, the upcoming
policies are likely to look at big
projects in every possible corner of
the country," said Kapoor.

Known to be a clean energy
enthusiast,
Prime
Minister Modi is keen on development of renewable power. The Prime Minister's Office has decided to
meet key officials of the energy and infrastructure departments every month, with special focus on
developing clean energy.

Gujarat, when Modi was the chief minister, was the first mover in the renewable energy space with 860
Mw of solar power projects. It still is the largest contributor to India's solar power capacity of 2,600 Mw.

In the Budget, Rs 500 crore was allocated to develop solar ultra mega power projects. Under the flagship
programme of the United Progressive Alliance-II, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, the target
was to achieve 20,000 Mw of solar power by 2022. Renewable energy comprising solar, wind, biomass
and small hydro currently accounts for 12% of the country's installed generation capacity.
DivyaSree Developers to raise Rs 900 cr in
commercial realty arm
DivyaSree Developers, one of the largest privately-held realtors in south India, is set to raise $150 million
(Rs 900 crore) through the private equity (PE) route by bringing as much as 7 million sq ft of its leased
out office space under one umbrella. The realtor, in which TPG-Axon had made a $100 million investment
at the enterprise level during 2007, is understood to be close to signing the mandate to Standard
Chartered Bankfor the fund raise.

Bhaskar Raju, managing director of DivyaSree Developers, confirmed to Business Standard that the
company is finalising its plans to raise about Rs 900 crore at its commercial development arm, but are yet
to arrive at a structure. "We should be finalising the contours of the transaction pretty soon as there is
high interest for rental-yielding commercial properties in India," he added.

According to information available, DivyaSree Developers has an annual rental income of about Rs 300
crore even as it adds another 3 million sq ft of office space. Investment bankers in the know told
Business Standard that DivyaSree Developers is under a debt of close to Rs 1,000 crore and part of the
proceeds from the fresh transaction will be used to pare that. DivyaSree Developers has in the recent
past embarked on an aggressive expansion in the residential segment and it is currently in the process of
rolling out 3 million sq ft of built-up space.

The move by DivyaSree to unlock value at its rental yielding arm comes after a slew of similar deals. In
the recent past, the commercial real estate market in south India has witnessed landmark transactions
involving global private equity majors such as Blackstone, Barings Private Equity, Qatar Investment Fund,
and Xander Group making significant bets. Embassy Developers, RMZ Developers, Mantri Developers, etc
have leveraged this high interest from global PE majors to go on a expansion spree.

Industry analysts indicated that PE investments in real estate saw investments of Rs 2,800 crore during
the first quarter of 2014, witnessing an increase of 28 per cent compared to the previous quarter and 2.5
times the investment in the first quarter of 2013. According to global real estate consultancy Cushman &
Wakefield, this healthy increase was due to increasing investments in leased office assets by both foreign
and domestic funds, given the potential of stable yields and attractive capital values in the asset class.

Sanjay Dutt, executive managing director (South Asia) at Cushman & Wakefield, said: "A number of
funds have committed funds towards investments in Indian real estate and this is expected to translate
into increasing transactions in the sector, especially in income-yielding assets. With expected growth in
capital requirements, we see a number of fund houses raising additional capital to invest in the sector."
He added the investments in real estate by domestic companies have witnessed a significant increase
during the first quarter of the year. "This was due to companies acquiring land and office assets required
to execute growth strategies ahead of the anticipated recovery of the economy," explained Dutt.

Investor interest in the commercial office sector has been steadily increasing with investments doubling
in the first quarter of 2014 from that of 2013 (Rs 700 crore). Healthy valuations of commercial
developments, stable yields, and the potential of rising capital values have led to investors actively
evaluating and investing in
prime
office assets across the top cities. Bangalore witnessed the highest level of transaction activity in the first
quarter of 2014 with investments of Rs 1,905 crore ($312 million), an increase of 45 per cent compared
to the previous quarter.
IDFC shifts its PE strategy to consumption-led
infra
Private Equity Investors
Find out why thousands of private equity professionals read AltAssets www.altassets.net
Add to My Page
Read more on: Idfc | Infrastructure | Private Equity | Gmr Energy | M K Sinha
M K Sinha, Managing partner & CEO, IDFC Alternatives
RELATED NEWS
IDFC shifts its PE strategy to consumption-led infra
Temasek, IDFC set to land equity in GMR Infrastructure
Temasek, IDFC to buy CCPS in GMR Infra worth Rs 1,136 cr
We are keen to buy lower-risk operating assets: M K Sinha
Temasek, IDFC pick up CCPS in GMR Energy
Submit Resume Now
Immediate Requirement. Sign up to Apply & Find
Jobswww.monsterindia.com
ICICI Lombard Online
Get Free Quick
Quotes
on Health, Motor & Travel Insurance. Buy
Now!icicilombard.com/GeneralInsurance
Ads by Google
IDFC Alternatives, one of the largest multi-asset class fund managers with a corpus of Rs 14,414
crore, is shifting its focus for private equity (PE) business from growth opportunities
ininfrastructure for public utility to those linked with consumption. The firm, which also has a
separate infrastructure fund outside its private equity business, will continue to invest in operational
utility infrastructure that could give assured returns.

"There is no one setting up a new road or a port or a power company; there are talks only about
buying out assets," says M K Sinha, managing partner and CEO of IDFC Alternatives, giving reasons
for a shift in the investment strategy. The 12-year-old firm has one of the largest PE investments in
infrastructure sector with a corpus of Rs 5,700 crore across three funds.

"Private equity opportunity in infrastructure was the opportunity between 2002 and 2008, that was
the time to put growth equity in development risk," Sinha adds.

IDFC Alternatives manages three private funds across private equity, infrastructure and real estate
business. The shift in strategy means that the investment in infrastructure utility will be done
outside of the PE business.

In 2004, its PE business invested in GMR Energy whose parent GMR Infrastructure was setting up a
plant. But this year, when Abu Dhabi-based Taqa announced to buy two operational hydro-power
plants from the debt-laden Jaypee Group, IDFC Alternatives proposed to be a co-investor. It planned
to buy out a 10 per cent stake in these assets, which required Rs 10,320 crore investment.

IDFC Alternatives raised $644 million for its second infrastructure fund in September after
exhausting 84 per cent of $927 million raised as the first fund in 2009. This fund is meant for
investing in operational assets. The deal was aborted last month after Taqa withdrew and
subsequently Reliance Power announced to buy those assets.

"Our approach for infrastructure market now is to buy out some of the operating assets from
promoters who need the money as equity to complete the other under-construction projects; once
you buy those operational assets, it is an annuity business and not private equity," he explains.

In the private equity business, it has fully invested Rs 5,700 crore that it raised through three funds
and now it is in exit mode. "In our PE business, the last few deals have linkage to consumption,"
informs Sinha.

This includes Parag Milk Foods, StarAgri Warehousing and Collateral Management. "That is the
direction we are moving; it is a theme that links infra with consumption but is not utility," he says. It
is also not in a hurry to raise fresh PE fund at this moment despite being fully invested. It rather
aims to use the current sentiments to get return on the money through exits, before it reaches the
limited partner for fresh investments in a new fund.

HDFC Pension Fund challenges exclusion by PFRDA in court
Dispute is over the results of which three financial years are to be considered

HDFC Pension Fund Management Co. Ltd has been ousted for a second time from the pension fund management
race, prompting it to challenge the regulator in court. On 23 July, seven pension fund managers (PFMs) got their
letters of appointment, but HDFC Pension Fund was rejected. The application by HDFC Life, the sponsor of HDFC
Pension Fund, has been rejected at the appointment stage on grounds that it did not meet the eligibility condition of
profits in all the immediately preceding three years, said a statement by HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co. Ltd. The
Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is looking at the three fiscal years (FY11, FY12 and
FY13) preceding the request for proposal (RFP) for bidding, which was announced in January, since FY14 had not
yet ended. HDFC Life says that the three years should include FY14, which would then make it eligible. The matter is
now sub judice as HDFC Life has filed a writ petition in the Delhi high court. The Delhi high court vide its order dated
July 30, 2014 has granted an interim stay in the matter and directed that HDFC Pension be permitted to carry on the
pension fund management business, said the company statement. PFRDA officials familiar with the development
confirmed the directive. In light of the court directive, the NPS (National Pension System) trust would be issuing a
letter of continuation to HDFC Pension Fund only till the writ is disposed of, said a PFRDA official on condition of
anonymity. HDFC Pension Fund will have to manage the funds in the interim at the new fund management cost of
0.01%. In January, PFRDA decided to go back to the original design of selecting pension fund managers (PFMs)
through a process of bidding. The original design was discarded in 2012 when Yogesh Agarwal, then chief of
PFRDA, decided to do away with the bidding process and open the doors to many more PFMs as against the six
PFMs that were selected in 2009. Three new PFMs joined, and one exited due to the extremely low fund
management fee of 0.0009%, taking the total tally to eight. The fund management charge was also increased to a
maximum of 0.25%. HDFC Pension Fund was barred from participating in the commercial bid, which included bidding
on the fund management charge. Even then the biggest contention was around the period of profitability and HDFC
Life took the matter to court. HDFC Life had earlier filed a writ petition challenging the PFRDAs wrongful
disqualification of HDFC Lifes bid. The Delhi high court had directed PFRDA to evaluate the bid submitted by HDFC
Life in accordance with the steps outlined in the RFP, said the company statement. Accordingly, PFRDA evaluated
our bid, cleared HDFC Lifes technical and the commercial bid and called upon HDFC Life to match the lowest bid,
which it undertook to do. HDFC Life was, therefore, awaiting a final confirmation of appointment from the regulator,
added the statement. Reliance Capital Pension Fund Ltd bid the lowest fund management charge of 0.01%, and six
PFMs, including HDFC Pension Fund, agreed to match this. Birla Sun Life Insurance Co. Ltd, a new entrant, also
agreed to match the lowest bid, but DSP BlackRock Pension Fund Managers Pvt. Ltd, an existing PFM, and Tata
Asset Management Co. Ltd opted out of the race due to the low fund management charge.

Start-ups aim to redefine the real estate experience A look at few fledgling
Indian companies that hope to redefine the real estate space
Nimble start-ups are known for using innovation to identify, and fill, gaps in different sectors. Here are a few fledgling
Indian companies that hope to redefine the real estate space. Building portable living spaces Entrepreneur: Nilesh
Jadhav Firm: Annan Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd Set up in: August 2011 Nilesh Jadhav came from a family of architects
even as he dabbled in ballet dancing, carpentry, beer-making and exploring the possibility of creating new kinds of
construction material. After graduating in London, Jadhav spent many years practising for leading architectural firms
like Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. At the architecture college, I did a project with bread carts, which I stole from
across town. I always thought: Can we make something out of something that is not supposed to do that? asked
Jadhav, who began exploring new possibilities in the construction materials industry. In 2011, he returned to Mumbai
and started research on possible innovations. He launched Annan Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd, which built lifespaces
products under the name inpod, in 2013 . Pods are strong, lightweight and scratch-proof portable structures made of
inskina unique composite building material produced using German technology and used to build yachts. The
Mumbai-based start-up, which has patented its modular building system, has started accepting orders for residential
flats, villas and sample apartments. Each apartment, measuring about 1,800-2,000 sq. ft, costs about Rs.50 lakh, and
can be assembled anywhere. These plug-and-play pods are being used by various Indian builders and developers
including the Wadhwa Group and Mahindra Lifespaces, to display their sample flats onsite. Sharing ownership and
benefits Entrepreneur: Kunal Moktan Firm: Bricks Property Investment Llp Set up: May 2014 Hemant Mishra/Mint
Kunal Moktan, who worked for global private equity firm Blackstone Group, gained almost 60% by selling his three-
year-old house in Bangalore in 2012. Thats when the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad graduate thought
of helping people who had just about Rs.15-16 lakh to also be able to gain similarly. Moktan used the idea of
fractional ownership, where many owners invest in a single property and benefit when it is sold at a premium later,
and set up Bricks Property Investment Llp . The companys online portal (www.bricksinvestments.com) lets people
browse through available properties and contribute as little as Rs.5 lakh. Bricks Property carries out the sale and
prepares the property for tenancy. Dividends are shared by owners every month, while the company takes a 1%
processing fee for the service. In short, it is a rental yield model in homes where investors get part-ownership and
gain from the rental yield (the difference between the original purchase price and sale price). After a few years, say
two or three, the property is ready to be sold off, said Moktan. He charges a 20% fee of the profit, if the property
appreciates by at least 8%. These are initial days and Moktans company has raised Rs.1.92 crore for one property in
Bangalore till date. He hopes to do the same for at least 7-10 projects by the year-end. Realty trends for investors
Entrepreneur: Aditya Agarwal Firm: GSF Realtech Pvt. Ltd Set up: January 2014 Pradeep Gaur/Mint When Aditya
Agarwal became a consultant with Monitor Company Group Lp after graduating from IIT-Bombay in 2005, he got
many opportunities to sit with chief executives of firms and talk about how they should be run. In 2009, Agarwal left
his job to join his fathers natural stones and granite business, but continued doing freelance assignments for the
Monitor Group. One such assignment, which involved studying the situation of housing for all, proved to be his
eureka moment. I travelled across small pockets of large cities and small cities, and realized that people struggled to
find enough data about real estate trends in India. They made investments based on (the advice of) some chachas or
mamas (uncles), said Agarwal. This inspired him to create getSquareFeet.com, registered under GSF Realtech Pvt.
Ltd, early this year. The online site displays data on real estate projects and prices, and also enables investors to
participate in fractional ownership (where many owners invest in a single property and benefit when it is sold at a
premium later) deals by making investments of above Rs.2.6 lakh each. The Delhi-based start-up claims to have
done analyses for 440 projects in and around the Capital. Its fractional ownership investment service is available for
two properties in Raipur. According to Agarwal, this self-financed company plans to expand to at least 10 cities by the
year-end. Marketplace for building material Entrepreneur: Kris Nair and Shubh Cheema Firm: fusedcow Inc. Set up:
January 2013 Shubh Cheema (right) and Kris Nair. Photo: OnlyPix As students of architecture, Kris Nair and Shubh
Cheema always felt that the real estate segment could do with more technology. India is one of the last in the use of
technology and innovation in the architecture space, and we wanted to create something like a platform that many
people would benefit from, said Nair, who along with Cheema launched fusedcow Inc. in January. The Mumbai-
based start-up built the site to enable owners and developers to efficiently communicate with vendors, architects
and designers. Usually there is a junior architect or assistant who does all this work of connecting people and
coordinating logistics. That person can be easily replaced, said Nair, claiming the site helps users save almost 60-
70% on time and efficiency. Currently, fusedcow has 450 vendors and has sourced thousands of crore rupees worth
products to owners or builders. Items such as timber, vitrified tiles, bamboo flooring, electrical and plumbing fittings
can be sourced using the site. Over the next year, the company plans to increase the number of vendors to about
2,000, while archiving over 10,000 architectural plans for downloads, added Nair. Recycling waste into bricks
Entrepreneur: Sourabh Bansal, Puneet Mittal and Sidharth Bansal Firm: Magicrete Building Solutions Pvt. Ltd Set up:
April 2008 When Sourabh Bansal wanted to start a business after graduating from IIT-Kharagpur in 2007, his first
option was real estate because he believed that all the rich people were part of real estate. An undergraduate
degree holder in industrial engineering, he founded Magicrete Building Solutions Pvt. Ltd along with Puneet Mittal and
Sidharth Bansal in 2008. I thought, If not real estate, why not accessory to the field? Plus I had knowledge that
there were AAC (autoclaved aerated concrete) blocks being manufactured abroad. I wanted to bring it to India, said
Sourabh Bansal, chief executive and co-founder of Magicrete, which manufactures large brick-like blocks made of fly
ash and other hazardous industrial wasteswhich are either gathered adjacent to power plants, causing nuisance to
villagers, or dumped into nearby ponds. These AAC blocks, usually nine times the size of a normal brick, are priced
between Rs.3,500 and Rs.4,000, and have been supplied to more than 1,500 projects across India. The Surat-based
start-up, backed by angel investor Motilal Oswal, also manufactures factory cast concrete. In this method, entire parts
of the concrete walls are produced in the factory and fixed onsite using connectors and grooves. Magicrete is
undertaking three villa projects for which it will provide pre-cast concrete systems for over 400 villas.

Asset reconstruction firms told to invest more in security receipts Firms will have to
invest minimum of 15% of the security receipts of each class issued by them
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) to invest more
in the security receipts (SRs) issued by them and to increase disclosures about recoveries made under each
asset they acquire. Under the amended norms, ARCs will have to invest a minimum of 15% of the SRs of
each class issued by them under each scheme on an ongoing basis till the redemption of all the SRs issued
under such scheme, according to an RBI notification dated 5 August. Till now, ARCs would pay up 5% of
the value of the asset to the bank, while issuing SRs for the rest. We will certainly require more resources to
acquire assets from banks as now we will have to hold 15% of the receipts issued by us. This is a major
change. But stronger ARCs should not find it difficult to adhere to these guidelines, said V.P. Shetty,
executive chairman of JM Financial ARC. In its amended guidelines, RBI stated that reconstruction
companies can ask banks for a minimum time of two weeks to conduct due diligence on the stressed assets
which are up for sale. The initial valuation of SRs should be done within a period not exceeding six months
of acquiring the underlying asset (instead of one year as at present) to enable all the stake holders to
realistically assess the value of SRs at an earlier date, RBI said on its website. ARCs will have to
mandatorily disclose the basis of their valuation if the acquisition value of the assets is more than the value
of the assets as declared by the seller bank in the auction. Similarly, these companies will have to disclose
the details of the assets disposed of either by write-off or by realization, during the year at a discount of
more than 20% of valuation as on the previous year-end and the reasons for it. The banking regulator asked
banks to give these companies a membership in the joint lender forums (JLFs) set up by banks and that they
should be part of the process involving the JLF with reference to such stressed assets. Under the new
guidelines on management of stressed assets issued by RBI on 30 January, a JLF is formed as soon as a
bank classifies an account under the special mention account-2 (SMA-2) category, which implies that interest
payment on the account has been delayed for more than 60 days. These companies are required to provide
details about chartered accountants, lawyers and valuers who have committed serious irregularities in the
course of rendering their professional services, to the Indian Banks Association (IBA). They are also
required to publish data about wilful defaulters on its websites on a quarterly basis. I think the idea is
broadly to ensure that financial assets are dealt with in a way to ensure the maximum value for the
underlying real assets and to put the economy back on track in terms of growth. Time, often, is the most
important thing. The longer you wait, the more distressed the asset becomes, RBI governor Raghuram
Rajan told reporters on Tuesday, after his monetary policy announcement.

PPF still the best among tax-exempt
instruments
Since PPF has become market-linked, any reduction in rates will make it unattractive in
comparison to deposits and tax-free bonds as these lock the rate of return

Sarita Singhal's relationship manager insisted on meeting her though she did not have any service or
related complaints. In no time, the manager came to the main reason for his visit - pitching a new
combo-product. His bank had specially designed the product for their 'privilege customers'.

He began by asking how she planned to invest the additional Rs 50,000 worth of deductions allowed
under Section 80C from this financial year. Singhal, 40, said she wanted to put the money in the Public
Provident Fund (PPF). "The manager then told me that PPF is not an attractive option. Reason: It is a
market-linked product and in times to come, its returns might go down to six per cent levels. Hence, he
advised investing in the bank's new product, which gives the edge of equities and insurance," the law
professional says.

Many bank relationship managers and brokers are advising individuals to stay away from PPF, for it is
market-linked. In 2011, the Union Finance Ministry announced that the rates for small saving instruments
would be benchmarked to those of government securities (G-secs) of similar maturity periods, with a
positive mark-up of 25 basis points (bps). Being market-linked, the rate of return would come down
whenever there was a downward revision of interest rates.

What works

However, PPF still stands out as one of the best among the instruments giving exempt-exempt-exempt
(EEE) benefits, which makes it one of the most popular investment products say financial planners. The
EEE tax status means the contribution, the accumulation and the withdrawal amounts are all exempt
from tax. The other EEE products are Employee Provident Fund (EPF) and life insurance in the basket of
instruments that qualify for deductions under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act.

"PPF is one of the best options in the debt universe and among the EEE products. Net of tax, other debt
products offer much lower return. For instance, fixed deposits' post-tax returns are in the six per cent
range for someone in the highest tax bracket (State Bank of India is offering nine per cent for deposits
maturing in one year to less than two years). The product that comes close to offering PPF returns will
be tax-free bonds (in the secondary market) with post-tax returns of 7.50-7.90 per cent. Among the EEE
products, only voluntary contribution towards EPF ranks at par with PPF," says Vishal Dhawan of Plan
Ahead Wealth Advisors. In the long term (three to five years), debt funds' returns could be comparable,
despite 20 per cent tax with indexation, he adds. According to data from mutual fund rating agency Value
Research, medium-term to long-term gilt funds have returned a little over six per cent in the past year.

Additionally, from this financial year, individuals can invest as much as Rs 1.5 lakh as against Rs 1 lakh
earlier in PPF. Both PPF and EPF currently earn 8.7 per cent return annually. The PPF rate applicable for
each financial year is declared at the beginning of the year.
Problem areas

The product does have
negatives. PPF has a 15-
year tenure, a long period
to stay invested without
knowing the future
interest rate applicable,
as it is a market-driven
product. The first-year
investment can be
withdrawn only in the
seventh year. Though the
government has always
been soft on PPF's return
on investment, it is not a
given that the rates will
stay constant or will go
up in a high interest rates
scenario. Since 2013,
when the rates were
increased from 8.5 per cent to 8.7 per cent, banks were offering close to 9.5-9.75 per cent
for up to two to three years of deposits, compounding quarterly, which could take the yield
to more than 10 per cent, says Abhinav Angirish, managing director of InvestOnline.in.

Future prospects

Yet, even if the PPF rates drop in the years to come, it could remain among the most
attractive debt products to invest in. Assume PPF returns six per cent tax-free in future; the
competing debt products will give less post-tax returns. Then, banks will also returns six to
seven per cent annually, which will go down to three to four per cent, post tax.

"But, with five-six per cent returns, PPF will become unattractive compared to products that
hold or lock interest rates on investment. For instance, once you invest in a three-year fixed
deposit rate of, say, six per cent, it will earn you that much every year for three years. The
same goes for tax-free bonds. But, PPF rates will change as per government announcement
every year," explains certified financial planner Anil Rego.

Recommendations

Investment experts advise parking all of the additional Rs 50,000 under Section 80C in PPF
only for those close to retirement, say if one is five to seven years away from hanging up
his/her boots. "And, this too for those who are self-employed. The idea is to keep the
retirement corpus untouched from business needs," explains Dhawan.

Salaried individuals should avoid PPF and focus on saving through equity because EPF
contribution towards EPF is mandatory for them. And EPF is no different from PPF. "If an
investor is willing to stay invested for 15 years, the best mode of investment should be
equities. There is not a single period of 15 years at a stretch where equities would have
given below 15 per cent a year. An equity-linked savings scheme (ELSS) with a three-year
lock-is an ideal tool to invest among the Section 80C instruments. However, this is also
subject to an investor's risk appetite and asset allocation," explains Angirish.

In the past one year, ELSS has returned 54.23 per cent, shows data from Value Research. In
comparison, equity diversified funds have returned 50 per cent in the same time period.
Additionally, ELSS gets tax exemption for both the investment amount and returns on it.

Rego suggests sticking to the proportion of PPF one always invested in. Say you invested Rs
25,000 in PPF when the Section 80C limit was Rs 1 lakh. Then, you could maintain the 25 per
cent allocation and invest Rs 37,500. The rest of the limit could be diversified among other
instruments.

Tax law penalises buyers for construction
delay by builders
At that time, nobody would have thought a construction period of three to four years
would be grossly inadequate
My friend, Ajay, called the other day and excitedly told me the under-construction flat that he had bought
in 2007 was finally delivered. The builder had promised to deliver the flat in 2010. Ajay was extremely
happy that he would, at last, be able to move into his dream home. What had added to his happiness
was the fact that he would be able to claim the enhanced interest deduction of Rs 2 lakh for the year as
well.

This is when I had to sadly puncture his happiness. I told him that given his facts, the maximum
deduction of interest he was eligible for was only Rs 30,000 and not the new limit of Rs 2 lakh. He
refused to believe till I explained to him that as he had taken the first loan disbursement in the financial
year ending March 31, 2008, and the house was not completed by March 31, 2011, the increased limit of
Rs 2 lakh was not applicable to him and the maximum deduction in his case would be Rs 30,000. He
cross checked the facts with his tax advisor, who confirmed this.

Ajay wondered why he, a home buyer, was being penalised for a delay that was not his fault in the first
place and because of which he had already suffered huge loss. To add insult to injury, his tax deduction
was being severely curtailed.

That set me wondering, too. Why was this seemingly unfair provision put in the Income Tax Act in the
first place? The limit for deduction of interest payable on a loan taken to acquire a self-occupied property
was Rs 30,000 without any other conditionality till 1999. This restriction for completing construction was
first put into place by the Finance Bill of 1999, which raised the limit for deduction of interest on a loan
taken for a self-occupied property from Rs 30,000 to Rs 75,000 but only for those completed before
March 31, 2001. This increase in limit was subsequently enhanced to Rs 1 lakh, Rs 1.50 lakh and finally
to Rs 2 lakh by the latest Finance Bill, with the restriction on construction period being adjusted from
time to time.

The limit for unconditional deduction has been kept at Rs 30,000 all along. I studied the explanatory
memorandum to each of the Finance Bills that put in the construction period restrictions but none
mentioned any specific reasons for these restrictions.

The only speculation I can make for this seemingly unfair restriction was that till only a few decades ago
self-construction of houses was the norm rather than the exception it is today and the tax authorities
wanted to encourage people to build their house quickly, rather than buy a plot of land and keep it
vacant to speculate on land prices. I don't think they envisaged that more than 70 per cent of home
loans would be given out for acquiring under-construction properties from independent developers. At
that time, it might have been difficult for them to envisage that delays would be endemic to the whole
building process, mostly because of delay in approvals from the government authorities themselves, as
well as fund shortage for the developers.

At that time, nobody would have thought a construction period of three to four years would be grossly
inadequate. As a result of this lack of understanding, the home buyers are hit by a double whammy.
They have to pay pre-EMI (equated monthly instalment) interest during the construction period for long
periods and this pre-EMI interest enjoys no deduction at that time. Then the total limit for deduction is
restricted to Rs 30,000 a year if the construction period exceeds four years, which again has
unfortunately become the norm rather than the exception nowadays.

The only reason it has not become a big issue till now is that tax returns do not capture information
about construction periods. Hence, most home buyers are going ahead and claiming the enhanced
deduction, blissfully unaware that they will be liable for penal interest if their income tax returns be
opened for detailed scrutiny. Luckily for them, most tax returns are nowadays accepted as filed and even
when opened for scrutiny, most assessing officers are equally unaware of this restrictive provision.

This happy state of affairs cannot last for long, given the huge collection targets that the tax department
has. It would be in the fitness of things that the tax law is amended to remove this unnecessary
restriction on construction period or at least be appropriately amended to make such restrictions apply
only when the tax payer is doing self-construction. Till that is done, the least all home buyers like Ajay
can do is be aware of these tax provisions and make sure they buy properties either ready to move in or
at least at a stage such that the completion will not exceed the three-year period.

Maharashtras Interim Budget focuses on women,
minorities
MUMBAI: The Congress-NCP government in Maharashtraannounced many schemes for minorities
and women in itsinterim budget presented by state finance minister and deputy CM Ajit Pawar in the
assembly on Tuesday. Pawar declared that he will come out with a full-fledged budget in the monsoon
session of the assembly in July.
The state finance minister announced special aid worth Rs 40 crore to minority community members
living in rural clusters and financial help to Madrassa schools and various aid packages for women in rural
areas , including a Rs 183 crore to support education and healthcare for girls. He also declared
recruitment of over 61,000 cops by the Maharashtra police which will be undertaken soon.
The budget granted Rs 2,836 crore to build new roads in the state and Rs 165 crore for new airports in
cities like Shirdi, Amrawati and Solapur. The budget envisages revenue receipts of Rs 1,69,907 crore and
expenditure of Rs 1,75,324 crore for the next financial year. The government has decided to continue tax
exemption on items like wheat, rice, pulses, their flours, jaggery, turmeric and tamarind till next fiscal.
Similar exemptions would also continue on coriander seeds, fenugreek, chillies, parsley, coconut, papad ,
wet dates, currants and raisins, Solapuri chaddars, towels and the current concession on tea till March
31, 2015. "We had expected a small revenue surplus in the year 2013-14. Though we achieved revenue
targets, we had to incur heavy expenditure for natural calamity relief, electricity bill subsidy and such
other expenses. As a result, the revenue surplus has become a revenue deficit of Rs 3,017.23 crore. The
decision taken this year, like electricity bill subsidy, etc. will also lead to a substantial increase in revenue
expenditure in 2014-15 ," the minister said.
For 2014-15 , the draft plan of the state has not yet been discussed with the Planning Commission , the
finance minister said.
Isle of Man court rejects builde Hiranandani's plea
MUMBAI: The Isle of Man high court has rejected builder Niranjan Hiranandani's plea that
the court had no jurisdiction in a case filed against him and daughter Priya Hiranandani-
Vandrevala for fraud and misconduct. The case was filed by investment firm Hirco PLC,
which had raised Rs 3,000 crore from global investors in 2006 to be invested in two
township projects of the Hiranandanis in Panvel and Chennai. Hirco claimed it was
supposed to receive cash returns of 1 billion (Rs 10,000 crore) on its investment by 2012,
but had received nothing.

In a judgment released on Friday, the court ruled that 'the Isle of Man is clearly the
appropriate forum for the determination of the dispute between the parties and we will do
our best here on the Isle of Man to determine that dispute expeditiously and fairly.'

The court also rejected Hiranandani's contention that notwithstanding the fact that he was
Hirco PLC's chairman during the relevant period he owed no duty to the company.
'Hiranandani says he did not owe any duties to PLC in relation to the investment decisions
because his role was "effectively that of a seller" and he "was left out" of PLC's decision to
invest in the projects. I agree with [Hirco's counsel] that this assertion is belied by
Hiranandani's participation in three of the four board meetings at which Plc decided to
invest in the projects. The claimants raise serious claims against Hiranandani in his capacity
as a director of PLC. Hiranandani's position as a director is at the heart of the claimants'
case against him,' it said.

Hirco has alleged that the Mumbai-based builder "made and conspired in making
fraudulent misrepresentations to them, which induced them to invest 350.8 million in two
large-scale Indian real estate projects to be developed by entities associated with the
Hiranandani family.'' The alleged fraudulent misrepresentations concerned the time it
would take to develop the land, what the land was worth and the returns that Hirco could
expect from their investment. The company also alleged that the plots were worth no more
than 160 million and probably less than that.

Sebi proposes Monitoring Agency to oversee
usage of IPO funds
To check possible misuse of money raised through public offers, Sebi today proposed to make it
mandatory for all companies to appoint a 'Monitoring Agency' to oversee orderly utilisation of such
funds and to make public their observations on a quarterly basis.

Under the new framework, the Monitoring Agency Report would also need to list out all deviations
from the fund utilisation objectives stated by the company at the time of public offer, as also the
comments from their management and auditors on such matters.

The Monitoring Agency, which can be a public financial institution or a scheduled commercial bank,
would also grade the deviations observed in the utilisation of public offer proceeds, which their
reports need to be made public through stock exchanges within 45 days of the end of every
quarter.

Inviting public comments on these new norms by March 25, Sebi said necessary amendments would
be made in the existing regulatory framework to bring about proposed changes.

Currently, companies are required to appoint such Monitoring Agencies only for IPOs and other
public issues worth Rs 500 crore or more. Also, these agencies are presently required to submit their
reports on a half-yearly basis, while such reports are not made public under current regulations.

Proposing new norms, Sebi said that these requirements would now be made compulsory for all
companies, irrespective of the issue size, while the companies would also have to made the
Monitoring Agency Reports public. The frequency of such reports will also be increased from half-
year to quarterly.

Sebi said its regulations are aimed to ensures that the amount to be utilised towards each object of
the issue is specifically earmarked and disclosed in the offer document.

"Mandating such detailed disclosures helps in monitoring of utilisation of the funds raised through
public issues as well as enables the investors to take informed decision," Sebi said.

Keeping similar objective in mind, the regulator recently amended its regulations and put a limit on
the amount that can be earmarked for 'General Corporate Purpose' to 25 per cent of the total issue
size.

Sebi has come across several case where the companies have diverted funds raised through public
offers for motives beyond the stated objectives, while money has also been used for personal gains
of the promoters and others in some cases.

The regulator has also proposed a new format for the Monitoring Agency Report, wherein details of
each deviation would be required to be mentioned alongwith comments of the agency, audit
committee and the management of the company.

Also, a board committee would need to oversee the monitoring of utilisation of issue proceeds by
the company.

Sebi clears decks for REIT launch
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Sunday set the stage for launch of Real Estate and
Infrastructure Investment Trusts, commonly referred to as REITs and InvIT.

In the final regulations, the market regulator has made some major changes to what it had proposed
earlier. These include allowing foreign institutional investor (FII) participation and reducing the minimum
asset size for a REIT. Those in the sector said these two new instruments had the potential of attracting
nearly Rs 1 lakh crore to the cash-starved real estate and infrastructure sector.

The proposals were cleared at a meeting of the Sebi board, which was addressed by Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley. In Budget 2014-15, the finance minister had announced giving a pass-through status to
these trusts.

In his first interaction with Sebi's board after assuming charge as finance minister, Jaitley asked the
regulator to be vigilant about possible violations in the marketplace and to come up wit measures to
attract retail investors and address their grievances. Sebi Chairman U K Sinha said after the meeting that
these trusts would help in the progress of the real estate and infrastructure sectors.

While the draft guidelines did not give a clarity on foreigninvestments in these trusts, the final norms
have permitted foreign entities to invest in REITs. These investments, however, will be subject to certain
guidelines, which will be issued by the Reserve Bank of India.

Among other changes, the minimum asset size of REITs, fixed at Rs 1,000 crore in the draft guidelines,
has been reduced to Rs 500 crore. This is expected to bring in more assets under these trusts.

The final guidelines have also liberalised norms related to sponsors of REITs. It has increased the number
of sponsors to three (from one), provided an individual owns at least five per cent of the fund.

The final guidelines have also relaxed investment norms. Now, investment of up to 20 per cent is allowed
under construction assets, shares, debts of real estate companies, mortgage-backed securities, against
10 per cent proposed in under-construction assets.

"Reducing asset size to Rs 500 crore is a significant move, as it will allow more players to access this
platform. Allowing REITs to invest up to 20 per cent in real estate equity and debt, will give room to
diversify investment portfolio," said Bhairav Dalal, associate director, PwC India.
Is someone using your cheque book?

The text message was like any other from a bank back office. "Your ACXXXXX704753 Debited INR 6,90,123.00 on
07/08/14- DR THRU CHQ. Avl Bal INR ............."

Vasudev Kataria, a businessman and the account holder with a large stateowned bank, knew something was amiss:
he had not signed a cheque in the last one week. Did the bank make a mistake? He accessed his Net banking
account; money was missing and the cheque number was 977199. He looked around for his cheque book. It was
lying in his drawer.

As he flipped through the pages, Kataria spotted the leaf with the number 977199. There was someone, he knew,
who had deposited a cheque with the same number to take money out of his account. Is it possible? What was
happening? Kataria sensed that he was not a victim of new-age frauds that newspapers have been reporting about:
no one had stolen his Net banking password; no hacker had fished out his credit card data.

Instead, someone had simply used a cheque that was a replica of a leaf in his cheque book. Half an hour later,
Kataria was told by the bank's Mumbai branch manager that the cheque was debited at the bank's branch in Nipani, a
non-descript town in Karnataka and 37 kms from Kolhapur.

While Kataria did not lose any money (as the amount was credited back to his account by the end of the day), he as
well as his branch manager are clueless of what happened, how it happened.

- How could someone, whom Kataria had never met, whose identity he was unaware of, get to know the cheque
series that Kataria was using?

- Are there fake cheque books floating around? Aren't cheque leaves printed on special paper in some well-guarded
security printing press?

- Don 't cheques have security features like watermarks similar to currency notes?

- How does a man in Nipani get to know Kataria fs signature?

The bank may stay mum and one doesn't know whether the police will ever look into the matter even though Kataria
has filed a complaint with the local police station (after the Mumbai Economic Offences Wing told him it does not
probe frauds less than Rs 3 crore).

What happened to Kataria could happen to anyone. One can only guess what the fraudster did. He befriended
someone at the bank's central hub which issues cheque books; the guy at the hub may have put him in touch with his
colleague in Kolhapur or Kanpur or anywhere as core banking solution gives any employee at a branch access to
account details, signature impression and available balance of any customer.

Officials often clear cheques looking at images transmitted to them on their computers and may not have a chance to
get a feel of the paper to figure out that a cheque is fake. Kataria's bank has found out the conman, a resident of
Belgaum with an account in a large co-operative bank, deposited the cheque with the Nipani branch of the co-op
bank.

Fake FD Receipts

At a time when banks are trying to curb phishing, there are oldfashioned conmen who prefer printing fake cheque
books and fixed deposit certificates. In the past few months, the Mumbai police has arrested a few after some
companies, educational institutions and temple trusts in Maharashtra discovered that someone had raised money
through overdrafts against their FDs using fake documents.

It begins with a broker who promises the best rate on FDs, collects documents like balance-sheet and tax returns,
and opens an account on behalf of the institution. He also prints fake documents that look identical to originals.

After the money is deposited either through electronic transfer or account payee cheques the broker collects the
FD receipt but never delivers it to the client.

Instead, an envelope of the bank is used to courier a fake receipt to the deposit holder who suspects nothing. Weeks
after the FD account is opened, the broker once again representing a company raises an overdraft using fake
documents. Old-fashioned crooks can be as smart as new-age con artists.

The Securities Laws Bill: Amendments & their legal
implications
Reena Zachariah, ET Bureau Aug 11, 2014, 03.07AM IST


(The Securities Laws (Amendment))
The Lok Sabha unanimously approved a landmark securities law last week, empowering the capital
market regulator to search premises and seize assets of securities law offenders.
The Securities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2014, also provides more teeth to the Securities and Exchange
Board of India to take on promoters who raise funds through ponzi schemes. ET takes you through the
amendments and their legal implications.

Why did sebi propose these amendments to The Securities Law?
In January last year, the regulator, based on its experience of dealing with the Sahara case, sought more
power to plug regulatory gaps. Sebi had to battle the Subrata Roy-led group in the Supreme Court for the
right to oversee the Lucknow-based group's fund-raising through optionally convertible debentures.
Within a few months (in April), the Saradha Group financial scam broke out in West Bengal, leading to the
collape of the company's ponzi scheme and lakhs of investors losing their money. To respond to market
needs, it became necessary to enhance Sebi's powers.
As Parliament was not in session and the President was satisfied that immediate action was required
against illegal deposit-taking schemes, the new securities law ordinance was promulgated to confer the
regulator with certain powers to protect investors' interest and to enforce securities laws.
What are the highlights of the Bill?
The bill proposes to amend the Sebi Act, 1992, Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956, and the
Depositories Act, 1996. It empowers Sebi to regulate any pooling of funds of Rs 100 crore and above,
that are not overseen by any regulator under law; conduct search-and-seizure operations on any
suspected securities law violator's premises after obtaining permission from a magistrate or judge of a
court in Mumbai (the initial ordinance had empowered the Sebi chairman to authorise such operations
and had removed the need for seeking judicial permission), recover monetary penalties imposed by it
through attachment and sale of assets, arrest and detain an individual for any failure to comply with its
orders, call for information and records from any person, including banks or other authority, to aid its
investigation, establish special courts for speedy trials of offences under the Sebi Act, re-examine an
adjudicating officer's orders and raise the penalty amount if it is in the interest of the securities market and
enter into agreements for exchange of information with foreign financial regulators.
What are the legal implications of the new powers?
Sebi has been given the power to frame regulations on collective investment schemes. It will have to
clearly define "pooling of funds" and also spell out the key attributes of what constitutes a collective
investment scheme (CIS) to avoid any ambiguity, legal experts say. These provisions would cover a wide
range ofbusiness activities that do not fall under the definition of CIS as specified under section 11AA(2)
and would have to seek Sebi registration.
The regulator will now be in a far better position to carry out its investigation in an expeditious manner as
it can go to special courts to seek permission to carry out search and seizure operations, among others.
Sebi can approach a court in Mumbai headed by a sessions judge or additional sessions judge.
Lawyers said the judicial understanding of judges with regard to the complexities of the securities
marketrelated laws would be better than a first class judicial magistrate from whom Sebi had to obtain
permission earlier. Besides,the regulator can seek call data records as the new bill empowers it to seek
information from "any person", which, legal experts say, would include telecom service providers as well.
The bill also provides that funds collected through disgorgement (repayment) orders would be credited to
the Investor Protection and Education Fund but does not explicitly provide that those individuals who
have suffered losses would have the first right to the funds.
Opposition likely to stall more Bills in Rajya Sabha

(Ironically, some- including)
NEW DELHI: When the BJP MPs would troop into the Well of the House during the last ten years of UPA
rule, little did they know that the same would be done unto them once they come to power.
The NDA government led by Narendra Modi is encounteringopposition from the Congress, Left parties,
TMC and a few others on virtually every piece of legislation that they seek to get passed.
Even as the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill is hanging fire in the Rajya Sabha as Congress and other
parties are demanding that it be sent to a Select Committee, the opposition parties are further ganging up
to block other Bills as well in the Upper House where the Treasury Benches are in a minority.
"The NDA sowed the seeds in the last ten years and now it should reap the fruits. We intend to oppose
every Bill, especially in the Rajya Sabha," a senior Congress leader told ET on the condition of anonimity.
Ironically, some- including the Insurance Bill and legislations related to labour law reforms like
the Factories (Amendment) Bill and Apprentices (Amendment) Bill, among others- were initiated by the
Congress-led UPA government but are being opposed by it now as an opposition party.
While the sizable majority enjoyed by the BJP-led NDA will ensure smooth sailing for a Bill in the Lok
Sabha, it is likely to face major hurdles in the Rajya Sabha. There is already a buzz in Parliament House
these days that the real activism of the Opposition is visible in the Upper House where Congress, Left
parties, TMC, and even parties like AIADMK, SP and BSP are consistently stonewalling the government's
plans.
Though BJP has given veiled threats of calling a Joint sitting of Parliament for clearing the Insurance Bill,
but this can be done only after the Rajya Sabha rejects the Bill. This delay would come as a
disappointment for the government as it reportedly wants the crucial Bill to be passed before
Prime
Minister Modi visits the US in September.
"There has to be a final disagreement between the two Houses on aBill. Only then can a joint sitting of
Parliament be called," former Lok Sabha Secretary General S Bal Shekar told ET. There are only three
instances when Joint sittings of Parliament have been held in the past to pass Bills.
In 1961, the Jawaharlal Nehru government had called a joint sitting to pass the Dowry Prohibition Bill. In
1978, the second joint sitting was called to pass the Banking Service Commission Repeal Bill, while on
March 26, 2002, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government called a joint sitting to pass the Prevention of
Terrorism Bill.
Article 108 of the Indian Constitution that deals with the provision for Joint sitting of Parliament makes it
clear that the President can convene such a session only when it has been passed by one House (usually
the Lok Sabha) but rejected by the other or if six months have elapsed from the date of the reception of
the Bill by the other House without the Bill being passed.
Be that as it may, Congresswith ample support from the Left- is not in a mood to let the NDA government
have it easy. "Passage and consideration of a legislation is a very serious business. So every Bill has to
be scrutinized on its individual merit and a call with regard to its efficacy. In a democracy this is the
responsibility of the opposition," Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told ET.

Law Commission working on hate speech definition

NEW DELHI: The Law Commission of India has been working on a report to suggest laws to tackle hate
speeches and whether the EC can be empowered to de-recognise apolitical party or disqualify its
members for making them.
As the term "hate speech" has not been described under any penal law, the commission will define the
expression and make recommendations to parliament on how the EC can play a role in curbing it.

The Law Commission will also examine if a political party needs to specify in its constitution that such
speeches will be avoided. A hate speech is an attempt to marginalise individuals based on religion or
community, leading to mutual hatred.
The EC can take action against political parties making appeals for votes on the basis of caste or
communal feelings only when the model code of conduct is in force.
In March, while hearing a public interest litigation on the matter, the Supreme Court asked the Law
Commission to suggest laws to curb hate speeches. The court noted that the legislature had provided
sufficient laws to curb provocative speeches, although enforcement was lacking.

Scrapping key UPA measures: Rajasthan drafts biz-
friendly land acquisition Act
AKSHAY DESHMANE, ET Bureau Aug 11, 2014, 01.06AM IST


Tags:
Vasundhara Raje|
UPA|
sia|
Rajasthan|
Land Acquisition Act|
labour laws

(Under new law, consent of)
JAIPUR: After radical changes in labour laws, the Vasundhara Raje-led Rajasthan government is firming
up plans for a new land acquisition Act that seeks to facilitate speedier acquisition of land for industry and
government by scrapping some key measures, notably those requiring consent of landowners, that form
part of legislation passed by UPA last year.

While relaxing the consent provisions, the desert state's version of the law will hike the quantum of
compensation to incentivise purchase of land from owners.
Draft Sent to CMO Last Week
According to senior officials involved in the drafting process, the new law will get rid of a provision
requiring consent of 70% to 80% (in case of private projects) of land owners and a requirement to carry
out a Social Impact Assessment Study (SIA).
These relaxations will apply to "Core Infrastructure Projects" such as roads, power lines, bridges and
pipelines regardless of whether these are being implemented by the public or the private sector.
However, to incentivise owners to part with their lands, the quantum of compensation will be increased
from two to two-and-a-half of the prevailing rates for urban areas and from four to four-and-a-half for rural
areas.
"We are not against farmers or land-owners at all. We are against processes which increase delay in
acquiring land. By enhancing compensation, we will ensure land owners get a better deal as well as the
project proponents who, under the current law, will otherwise have to wait for 4 years and 10 months,
which is a huge delay and adds to costs. The burden of these high costs is eventually borne by the
consumers, so why let that happen?" a senior official argued.
Rural Development Minister Gulab Chand Kataria, who headed a three-member ministerial group which
vetted the proposed legislation, said the draft was sent to the CMO late last week and it is now for Raje to
take a call on which measures to approve.
"We have proposed to clarify the urban and rural boundaries more clearly to help identify lands better.
The minimum expectation is that owners should get more rates than what is mentioned in the DLC. We
have also proposed a ceiling on the quantum of land which can be acquired by one project proponent in
both rural and urban areas for the former it is 1000 hectares and for the latter it is 200 hectares,"
Kataria said.
Industry has been critical of the consent and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) clauses of the Right to Fair
Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, which
is currently in force. While the industry has sought reducing the percentage of landowners whose consent
is required from 70% to 60% or 50% and limiting the SIAs to only large projects (more than 500 acres in
area), a higher quantum of compensation may not be to their liking.
The complete doing away of these contentious measures is also certain to invite criticism from farmers
groups and other organisations fighting against forcible land acquisition. The senior official cited earlier
said that a draft of the proposed legislation will be uploaded on the government's website soon after the
Chief Minister's Office clears it, which could be on Monday or Tuesday.
While there may be some changes, depending on the response from industry, the social sector and other
stakeholders, officials believe that the BJP's three-fourths majority in the assembly will enable it to push
through the legislation without major amendments.
According to experts, since land is a state subject, the central land acquisition law acts as a model based
on which states have to devise their own laws. Rajasthan had first come up with its own state specific
land acquisition law in the year 1953 and which was amended several times subsequently. Once the
central law was brought into force, it superseded all previous state and central amendments to the law.
Soon after she came to power, Vasundhara Raje set up a ministerial committee comprising Kataria, PWD
Minister Yunus Khan and Health Minister Rajendra Rathore to amend the law for facilitating speedier land
acquisition. As in the case of the labour laws, these amendments will also have to receive presidential
assent which means it will have to cleared by the Centre.
Tracing Ebolas breakout to an African 2-year-
old
Patient Zero in the Ebola outbreak, researchers suspect, was a 2-year-old boy who died on
December 6, just a few days after falling ill in a village in Gueckedou, in southeastern
Guinea. Bordering Sierra Leone and Liberia, Gueckedou is at the intersection of three
nations, where the disease found an easy entry point to the region.

A week later, it killed the boy's mother, then his 3-year-old sister, then his grandmother. All
had fever, vomiting and diarrhea, but no one knew what had sickened them.

Two mourners at the grandmother's funeral took the virus home to their village. A health
worker carried it to still another, where he died, as did his doctor. They both infected
relatives from other towns. By the time Ebola was recognized, in March, dozens of people
had died in eight Guinean communities, and suspected cases were popping up in Liberia
and Sierra Leone three of the world's poorest countries, recovering from years of political
dysfunction and civil war.

In Gueckedou, where it all began, "the feeling was fright," said Dr Kalissa N'fansoumane,
the hospital director. He had to persuade his employees to come to work.

On March 31, Doctors Without Borders, which has intervened in many Ebola outbreaks,
called this one "unprecedented," and warned that the disease had erupted in so many
locations that fighting it would be enormously difficult.

Now, with 1,779 cases, including 961 deaths and a small cluster in Nigeria, the outbreak is
out of control and still getting worse. Not only is it the largest ever, but it also seems likely to
surpass all two dozen previous known Ebola outbreaks combined. Epidemiologists predict it
will take months to control, perhaps many months, and a spokesman for the World Health
Organization said thousands more health workers were needed to fight it.



Some experts warn that the outbreak could destabilize governments in the region. It is
already causing widespread panic and disruption. On Saturday, Guinea announced that it
had closed its borders with Sierra Leone and Liberia in a bid to halt the virus's spread.
Doctors worry that deaths from malaria, dysentery and other diseases could shoot up as
Ebola drains resources from weak health systems. Health care workers, already in short
supply, have been hit hard by the outbreak: 145 have been infected, and 80 of them have
died.

Past Ebola outbreaks have been snuffed out, often within a few months. How, then, did this
one spin so far out of control? It is partly a consequence of modernization in Africa, and
perhaps a warning that future outbreaks, which are inevitable, will pose tougher challenges.
Unlike most previous outbreaks, which occurred in remote, localized spots, this one began
in a border region where roads have been improved and people travel a lot. In this case, the
disease was on the move before health officials even knew it had struck.

Also, this part of Africa had never seen Ebola before. Health workers did not recognize it
and had neither the training nor the equipment to avoid infecting themselves or other
patients. Hospitals in the region often lack running water and gloves, and can be fertile
ground for epidemics.

Public health experts acknowledge that the initial response, both locally and internationally,
was inadequate.

"That's obviously the case," said Dr Thomas R. Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. "Look at what's happening now."

He added, "A couple of months ago, there was a false sense of confidence that it was
controlled, a stepping back, and then it flared up worse than before."

Health experts have grown increasingly confident in recent years that they can control
Ebola, Dr Frieden said, based on success in places like Uganda.

But those successes hinged on huge education campaigns to teach people about the disease
and persuade them to go to treatment centers. Much work also went into getting people to
change funeral practices that involve touching corpses, which are highly infectious.

But in West Africa, Ebola was unknown.


Ebola virus viewed under a microscope

In some areas, frightened and angry people have attacked health workers and even accused
them of bringing in disease.

"Early on in the outbreak, we had at least 26 villages or little towns that would not cooperate
with responders in terms of letting people into the village, even," said Gregory Hartl, a
spokesman for the World Health Organization.

The outbreak has occurred in three waves: The first two were relatively small, and the third,
starting about a month ago, was much larger, Mr. Hartl said. "That third wave was a clarion
call," he said.

At a House subcommittee hearing on Thursday, Ken Isaacs, a vice president of Samaritan's
Purse, said his aid group and Doctors Without Borders were doing much of the work on the
outbreak.

"That the world would allow two relief agencies to shoulder this burden along with the
overwhelmed Ministries of Health in these countries testifies to the lack of serious attention
the epidemic was given," he said.

Guinea's monumental task

In mid-March, Guinea's Ministry of Health asked Doctors Without Borders for help in
Gueckedou.

At first, the group's experts suspected Lassa fever, a viral disease endemic in West Africa.
But this illness was worse. Isolation units were set up, and tests confirmed Ebola.

Like many African cities and towns, this region hums with motorcycle taxis and minivans
crammed with passengers.

The mobility, and now the sheer numbers, make the basic work of containing the disease a
monumental task. The only way to stop an outbreak is to isolate infected patients, trace all
their contacts, isolate the ones who get sick and repeat the process until, finally, there are no
more cases.

But how do you do that when there can easily be 500 names on the list of contacts who are
supposed to be tracked down and checked for fever every day for 21 days?

"They go to the field to work their crops," said Monia Sayah, a nurse sent in by Doctors
Without Borders. "Some have phones, but the networks don't always work. Some will say,
'I'm fine; you don't have to come,' but we really have to see them and take their temperature.
But if someone wants to lie and take Tylenol, they won't have a temperature."

At Donka Hospital in Guinea's capital, Dr Simon Mardel, a British emergency physician who
has worked in seven previous hemorrhagic fever outbreaks and was sent to Guinea by the
World Health Organization, realized this outbreak was the worst he had seen. A man had
arrived late one night, panting and with abdominal pain. During the previous few days, he
had been treated at two private clinics, given intravenous fluids and sent home. The staff did
not suspect Ebola because he had no fever. But fever can diminish at the end stage of the
disease.

The treatment room at Donka was poorly lit and had no sink. There were few buckets of
chlorine solution, and the staff found it impossible to clean their hands between patients.

The man died two hours after arriving. Tests later showed he had been positive for Ebola.
Untold numbers of health care workers and their subsequent patients had been exposed to
the disease.

Gloves, in short supply at the hospitals, were selling for 50 cents a pair on the open market,
a huge sum for people who often live on less than a dollar a day. At homes where families
cared for patients, even plastic buckets to hold water and bleach for washing hands and
disinfecting linens were lacking.

Workers were failing to trace all patients' contacts. The resulting unsuspected cases,
appearing at hospitals without standard infection control measures, worsened the spread in
a "vicious circle," Dr Mardel said.

Tracing an epidemic's origins

As is often the case in Ebola outbreaks, no one knows how the first person got the disease or
how the virus found its way to the region. The virus infects monkeys and apes, and some
previous epidemics are thought to have begun when someone was exposed to blood while
killing or butchering an infected animal. Cooking will destroy the virus, so the risk is not in
eating the meat, but in handling it raw. Ebola is also thought to infect fruit bats without
harming them, so the same risks apply to butchering bats. Some researchers also think that
people might become infected by eating fruit or other uncooked foods contaminated by
droppings from infected bats.

Once people become ill, their bodily fluids can infect others, and they become more
infectious as the illness progresses. The disease does not spread through the air like the flu;
contact with fluids is necessary, usually through the eyes, nose, mouth or cuts in the skin.
One drop of blood can harbor millions of viruses, and corpses become like virus bombs.

A research team that studied the Guinea outbreak traced the disease back to the 2-year-old
who died in Gueckedou and published a report in The New England Journal of Medicine.
He and his relatives were never tested to confirm Ebola, but their symptoms matched it and
they fit into a pattern of transmission that included other cases confirmed by blood tests.

But no one can explain how such a small child could have become the first person infected.
Contaminated fruit is one possibility. An injection with a contaminated needle is another.

Sylvain Baize, part of the team that studied the Guinea outbreak and head of the national
reference center for viral hemorrhagic fevers at the Pasteur Institute in Lyon, France, said
there might have been an earlier case that went undiscovered, before the 2-year-old.

"We suppose that the first case was infected following contact with bats," he said. "Maybe,
but we are not sure."

Roaring back in Liberia

Dr Fazlul Haque, deputy representative of Unicef in Liberia, said that after a few cases there
in March and April, health workers thought the disease had gone away. But it came roaring
back about a month later.

"It reappeared, and this time, it came in a very big way," he said. "The rate of increase is very
high now."

From July 30 to Aug. 6, Liberia's government reported more than 170 new cases and over
90 deaths.

"Currently, our efforts are not enough to stop the virus," Dr Haque said.

He added that most health agencies believed the true case numbers to be far higher, in part
because locals were not coming forward when relatives fell ill, and because detection by the
health authorities has been weak. Rukshan Ratnam, a spokesman for Unicef in Liberia, said
some families had hidden their sick to avoid sending them to isolation wards, or out of
shame stemming from traditional beliefs that illness is a punishment for doing something
wrong.

Dr Haque said that the tracing of cases, crucial for the containment of the disease, was
moving too slowly to keep up with new infections. Seven counties have confirmed cases, and
the government has deployed security forces in Lofa County, where Liberia's first case was
detected, he said. But the government has given leave to nonessential employees in those
areas, so it is not clear how they will have the staffing to isolate the sick. Some hospitals
have closed because so many health workers have fallen ill.

Liberia has closed markets and many border crossings. It has said testing and screening will
be done at immigration checkpoints.

But on Thursday, at a checkpoint staffed by at least 30 soldiers in Klay, Bomi County, there
was no screening just a blockade and a line of trucks loaded with bags of charcoal,
plantains and potato greens.

Hilary Wesseh, a truck driver who was sucking the last drops of juice out of a small lime,
said he had been stuck there for two days.

"They are holding us hostage," he said.

A desperate call for help

By June and July, Sierra Leone was becoming the center of the outbreak. At the government
hospital in Kenema, Dr Sheik Umar Khan was leading the efforts to treat patients and
control the epidemic.

But he was desperate for supplies: chlorine for disinfection, gloves, goggles, protective suits,
rudimentary sugar and salt solutions to fight dehydration and give patients a chance to
survive. Early in July, he emailed friends and former medical school classmates in the
United States, asking for their help and sending a spreadsheet listing what he needed, and
what he had. Many of the lines in the "available" column were empty. One of his requests
was for body bags: 3,000 adult, 2,000 child.

Before his friends could send the supplies, Dr Khan contracted Ebola himself. He died on
July 29.
Windowless offices with air conditioned rooms, a threat
to health
Kounteya Sinha, TNN | Aug 10, 2014, 05.53PM IST
LONDON: Modern day offices with centrally air conditioned rooms and air tight windows
could be seriously harming your health.

Office workers with more light exposure at the office have been found to have longer sleep
duration, better sleep quality, more physical activity and better quality of life compared to
office workers with less light exposure in the workplace.

Employees with windows in the workplace received 173% more white light exposure during
work hours and slept an average of 46 minutes more per night than employees who did not
have the natural light exposure in the workplace.
There also was a trend for workers in offices with windows to have more physical activity
than those without windows.

Scientists from Northwestern Medicine and the University of Illinois have highlighted the
importance of exposure to natural light to employee health and the priority architectural
designs of office environments should place on natural daylight exposure for workers.

"Light is the most important synchronizing agent for the brain and body," said Ivy Cheung
from Northwestern. "Proper synchronization of your internal biological rhythms with the
earth's daily rotation has been shown to be essential for health.''

Workers without windows reported poorer scores than their counterparts on quality of life
measures related to physical problems and vitality, as well as poorer outcomes on measures
of overall sleep quality and sleep disturbances.

"There is increasing evidence that exposure to light, during the day, particularly in the
morning, is beneficial to your health via its effects on mood, alertness and metabolism," said
senior study author Phyllis Zee, a Northwestern Medicine neurologist and sleep specialist.

"Workers are a group at risk because they are typically indoors often without access to
natural or even artificial bright light for the entire day. The study results confirm that light
during the natural daylight hours has powerful effects on health.''

"Architects need to be aware of the importance of natural light not only in terms of their
potential energy savings but also in terms of affecting occupants' health," said co-lead
author Mohamed Boubekri, an associate professor of architecture at the University of
Illinois.

A simple design solution to augment daylight penetration in office buildings would be to
make sure the workstations are within 20 to 25 feet of the peripheral walls containing the
windows, noted Boubekri.

Daylight from side windows almost vanishes after 20 to 25 feet from the windows, he
added.

The study group included 49 day-shift office workers; 27 in windowless workplaces and 22
in workplaces with windows.

Health-related quality of life and sleep quality were measured with a self-reported form and
sleep quality was evaluated with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Light exposure,
activity and sleep were measured by actigraphy in a representative subset of 21 participants;
10 in windowless workplaces and 11 in workplaces with windows.

Actigraphy is a single device worn on the wrist that gives measures of light exposure as well
as activity and sleep. This is an ambulatory physiological data logger that records motion
and light illuminance. The motion was used to determine activity levels during waking time
and to calculate sleep time. The light luminance was used for measures of light exposure
during the workday period.

Best ways to cut tax under Sec 80C
Sanket Dhanorkar, TNN | Aug 11, 2014, 07.04AM IST

Before you start planning your investments, find out if you actually need to invest more.
Deduction under Sec 80C has increased. Instead of random investments, use the additional
limit to fill gaps in your financial plan

Imagine you have won a gift voucher worth Rs 50,000 at the local hypermarket.

When you go to the store, there is a vast array of items you can purchase with it.
Salespersons try to draw your attention to their counters, pitching their merchandise
aggressively. Will you buy whatever new gizmo they are trying to sell? Or will you utilise the
money to purchase something you actually need for the household? The additional Rs
50,000 deduction given to taxpayers under Section 80C in this year's budget is also like a
gift voucher from the government. Instead of investing at random, a taxpayer should assess
his needs and invest to fill the gaps in his financial planning.

Do you need to invest more?

Before you start planning your investments, find out if you actually need to invest more.

Section 80C is an overcrowded deduction, which includes more than a dozen instruments.
Besides, it has the principal repayment of home loans and tuition fees of up to two children.
Many taxpayers may find that their Section 80C investments already exceed the enhanced
deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh.

In the lower income segments, taxpayers may not need to save too much. Note that the basic
exemption limit has also been raised by Rs 50,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh for ordinary citizens and to
Rs 3 lakh for senior citizens. So, if a person has a taxable income of Rs 3.5 lakh, he needs to
invest only Rs 1 lakh to reduce his tax liability to zero. Even otherwise, a person earning less
than Rs 4 lakh a year might find it difficult to invest an additional Rs 50,000 under Section
80C just to save tax. Unfortunately, many people are either not aware of their actual tax
liability or are fooled into investing more.

For many home loan customers, the loan repayment alone can take care of the investments
under Section 80C. Pune-based IT professional Vilas Pacharne will reap three benefits from
the budget proposals, but won't have to invest even a rupee more to avail of them. He gains
from the increase in the basic exemption, the raising of the Section 80C limit and the
increase in the home loan deduction under Section 24(b) to Rs 2 lakh.



Though he does not contribute a very large amount to his EPF and PPF, his home loan
repayment adds up to around Rs 92,000 a year.

"My Section 80C investments are already more than Rs 1.5 lakh and the home loan interest
is close to Rs 2 lakh," he says.

On the other hand, there are taxpayers with higher incomes who may want to invest more to
save tax. Salaried employees who contribute to the Provident Fund often find they have to
invest very little under Section 80C. Delhi-based finance professional Puneet Narang
contributes nearly Rs 92,000 to his Provident Fund. "I have never had to do any tax
planning because my PF and an insurance policy take care of it," he says. But now that the
limit has been enhanced by Rs 50,000, Narang is contemplating investing in ELSS funds to
gain the equity exposure that's missing in his portfolio. "If you do not have any equity
exposure, an ELSS fund can be the first step towards this asset class," says Nisreen Mamaji,
founder of Moneyworks Financial Advisors.



Choose instruments carefully

The enhanced deduction limit is certainly an opportunity for taxpayers to reduce their tax
liability, but how much you benefit from it will depend on how you deploy the money.
"Insurance companies and agents will now become more aggressive and push bundled
products under the pretext of helping you save tax," cautions Neeraj Chauhan, CEO of
Delhi-based Financial Mall. For example, investment-linked insurance policies, also known
as Ulips, neither offer you adequate cover nor give good returns.

Says Mamaji: "Buying a high-cost product with a long lock-in period many not be the best
idea."

The good part is that Section 80C offers enough choices to fulfill all your financial needs.

Is your insurance in place?

Before taxpayers like Narang allocate money to ELSS, they should assess their insurance
needs.

Most experts say that adequate life insurance cover is the first step in a financial plan. A
pure protection term plan can be useful here. It offers a large insurance cover at a low price.
Narang is grossly underinsured and should buy a term plan of Rs 1 crore for himself. That
will cost him around Rs 18,000 a year. The balance amount of the additional limit can be
put in ELSS funds. If he needs more equity exposure, he can go for diversified equity funds
instead of ELSS.

If you already have adequate life insurance, move to other tax-saving avenues. Do consider
the tenure of the instrument you invest in. The lock-in ranges from three years for ELSS
funds to 15 years for PPF. Choose a tenure that coincides with your financial goals. For long-
term goals such as retirement, you may choose to invest in the 15-year PPF or the NPS. The
Budget has also raised the ceiling for investments in the PPF to Rs 1.5 lakh, which may
entice some to invest more in this vehicle.

Saving for retirement

Before deciding to invest more in PPF, consider adding more to your EPF. The 12% of your
basic salary that you contribute every month will help build your retirement
kitty
. You also have the option of contributing a higher amount through the VPF. Both the PPF
and EPF enjoy exempt tax status, which means the initial contribution, interest earned and
the maturity proceeds are all tax-free. However, if you encash your EPF before five years,
the interest component is added to your total income and taxed at the rate corresponding to
your tax slab.

The 80C benefit you claimed in earlier years is also reversed. Pension plans offered by
insurers are not an attractive option.

Harness the power of equities

Experts advise against depending purely on EPF and PPF for retirement needs. They are
debt based instruments and their returns will not be able to beat inflation. "People have
been depending on PPF for too long," says Mamaji. "It is time investors realised that these
are not sufficient for their retirement needs." If you want to build a decent corpus for
retirement invests in equities. ELSS funds can be an investor's first step in the equity
market. Says Hemant Rustagi, CEO, Wiseinvest Advisors: "Besides your compulsory savings
towards PF and insurance, investors should make use of this enhanced limit to take
exposure to a different asset class like equity."

Ideally, you should start an SIP in an ELSS from the beginning of the financial year,
spreading investments over 12 months. The best thing about ELSS funds is the flexibility
they offer.

The minimum investment is very low at Rs 500 and the investor can put in money on any
trading day of the year. Unlike a Ulip or a pension plan, there is no compulsion to invest
every year. Turn to page 15 to know more about the advantages of ELSS funds.

You can take equity exposure through other instruments, such as Ulips, unit-linked pension
plans and the NPS, as well. However, the high charges of Ulips and pension plans make
them poor choices. On the other hand, the NPS is a low-cost product that can be effectively
used for retirement planning. You can decide the allocation to equity, corporate bonds and
government securities, as per your risk profile.

Saving for short-term goals

Not all financial goals are 15-20 years away. For taxpayers who need the money sooner,
NSCs and five-year tax-saving bank fixed deposits can be useful options. NSCs can be
purchased from designated post office branches. The tax-saving FD is offered by most
nationalised banks and the rate currently on offer is 9-9.5%. However, the interest earned
through NSCs and tax-saving bank FDs is fully taxable as income at the applicable rate. So,
for an individual in the highest 30% tax slab, the post-tax returns from a five-year NSC will
be only 5.95%. This makes them tax-inefficient compared to the PPF and EPF.

Tax-saving options for senior citizens

Senior citizens looking to save tax should consider their cash flows carefully. Many, like
Mumbai-based Shripad Narvekar may not find it easy to spare for tax-saving investment.
They should also steer clear of long-term investments. "It would not make sense for retirees
to keep their money locked for long tenures," says Chauhan. The Senior Citizens' Savings
Scheme is a perfect option. There is a five-year lock-in period but interest is paid out every
quarter to generate an income stream for the individual. Though premature withdrawals
from the scheme are allowed, there is a penalty if the amount is withdrawn before five years.