अब दो लाख तक नहीं लगेगा आयकर

केंद्र सरकार वेतनभोगी वर्ग पर काफी मेहरबान होती नजर आ रही है। सरकार के नए प्रस्ताव से कुछ इसी तरह की तस्वीर उभर कर सामने आई है। सरकार ने व्यक्तिगत आयकर छूट सीमा को मौजूदा 1.6 लाख रुपये से बढ़ाकर दो लाख रुपये करने का प्रस्ताव किया है। यही नहीं, कॉरपोरेट जगत पर भी सरकार की कृपा तय नजर आ रही है। सरकार ने कॉरपोरेट टैक्स पर सरचार्ज एवं सेस हटाने का प्रस्ताव किया है। जाहिर है, ऐसे में कंपनियों को भी काफी राहत मिलने की उम्मीद है। कैबिनेट ने गुरुवार को जिस बहुप्रतीक्षित डायरेक्ट टैक्स कोड (डीटीसी) विधेयक को मंजूरी दी उसी में इन सारी उत्साहवर्धक बातों का उल्लेख किया गया है। संसद के चालू सत्र में ही इसे पेश करने का मन बनाया गया है ताकि अगले वित्त वर्ष से डीटीसी लागू हो सके।

कैबिनेट की बैठक के बाद पत्रकारों से बातचीत में वित्त मंत्री प्रणब मुखर्जी ने ये सारी जानकारियां दीं। उन्होंने टैक्स के स्लैबों का तो खुलासा नहीं किया, लेकिन बताया कि तीन स्लैब होंगे। इसका खुलासा वित्त विधेयक में हेागा। कॉरपोरेट टैक्स के बारे में प्रणब का कहना है कि इसे 30 फीसदी पर ही बरकरार रखने का प्रस्ताव है, लेकिन इस पर कोई सेस या सरचार्ज नहीं लगेगा। इसके साथ ही उन्होंने कहा कि इसके पीछे मुख्य मकसद सरकार द्वारा दी जाने वाली तरह-तरह की कर रियायतों की संख्या को सीमित करना है।

इससे पहले प्रधानमंत्री मनमोहन सिंह की अध्यक्षता में गुरुवार की शाम यहां हुई बैठक में डीटीसी बिल को पेश करने के बारे में फैसला किया गया। मंत्रालय के सूत्रों से मिली जानकारी के अनुसार यह विधेयक देश के वर्तमान आयकर कानून का स्थान लेगा। इससे देश की कर प्रक्रिया आसान होगी। उनका कहना है कि डीटीसी से कर बोझ तो घटेगा, साथ ही इसका दायरा बढ़ेगा। इस वजह से सरकार को घाटा तो नहीं होगा, पर लोगों को फायदा होगा। सूत्रों का कहना है कि 30 अगस्त को इसे संसद में पेश किया जा सकता है।

वित्त मंत्रालय ने पहले डीटीसी विधेयक पर एक मसौदा तैयार किया था, लेकिन उसके प्रावधानों की उद्योग जगत के साथ-साथ आम आदमी ने भी काफी आलोचना की थी। इसमें पीएफ की निकासी पर टैक्स लगाने और उद्योग जगत की परिसंपत्तियों पर मिनिमम अल्टरनेटिव टैक्स (मैट) के प्रावधानों की सर्वाधिक आलोचना हुई थी। राजस्व सचिव सुनील मित्रा के मुताबिक अगस्त 2009 के दौरान जारी हुए डीटीसी पर 1600 रिप्रेजेंटेशन मिले थे। इन समस्याओं के समाधान के लिए मंत्रालय ने संशोधित डीटीसी तैयार किया।

वित्त मंत्रालय का कहना है कि रिवाइज्ड डीटीसी में सरकारी भविष्य निधि (जीपीएफ), पब्लिक प्रॉविडेंट फंड (पीपीएफ) और रिकॉग्नाइज्ड प्रॉविडेंट फंड (आरपीएफ) पर एग्जेंप्ट-एग्जेंप्ट-एग्जेंप्ट (ईईई) दर्जा बरकरार रहेगा। यही नहंी, भविष्य निधि संगठन की पेंशन योजना के साथ-साथ जनवरी 2004 के बाद भर्ती हुए सरकारी कर्मचारियों की पेंशन योजना पर भी ईईई दर्जा बरकरार रहेगा। उद्योग जगत के लिए राहत की बात यह है कि उन पर लगने वाले मैट में भी संशोधन हुआ। पहले कंपनियों की परिसंपत्तियों को मैट के दायरे में लाया गया था। हालांकि, अब प्रावधान यह है कि कंपनियों के बुक प्रॉफिट पर ही मैट लगेगा।

पहले मसौदे में 1.6 से 10 लाख रुपये तक की आय वालों पर 10 फीसदी, 10 से 15 लाख रुपये की आय वालों पर 20 फीसदी और इससे ऊपर की आय वालों पर 30 फीसदी सलाना के आयकर की सिफारिश की गई थी। संशोधित मसौदे में ऐसा कोई उल्लेख नहीं है। अधिकारियों का कहना है कि कर की दर तो वित्त विधेयक से ही पता लगेगी। संशोधित मसौदे की एक और विशेषता होम लोन लेने वालों के लिए स्पष्टीकरण है। इसमें कहा गया है कि होम लोन के ब्याज भुगतान पर पहले की ही तरह सालाना डेढ़ लाख रुपये की छूट मिलती रहेगी। पहले मसौदे में इस पर कुछ भी नहीं कहा गया था।

बिल में और क्या है खास
आयकर के होंगे तीन स्लैब, लेकिन इसकी दरों का खुलासा नहीं
कॉरपोरेट टैक्स की दर को 30 फीसदी पर ही बरकरार रखने का प्रस्ताव
जीपीएफ, पीपीएफ और आरपीएफ पर ईईई दर्जा बरकरार
ईपीएफओ की पेंशन योजना पर भी ईईई दर्जा कायम
जनवरी 2004 के बाद भर्ती हुए सरकारी कर्मचारियों की पेंशन योजना पर भी ईईई बरकरार
लेकिन यूलिप को रखा ईईई दर्जा के दायरे से बाहर
मैट कंपनी की परिसंपत्तियों के बजाय उसके बुक प्रॉफिट पर ही लगेगा
होम लोन लेने वालों के ब्याज भुगतान पर डेढ़ लाख की सालाना छूट कायम
(ईईई से तात्पर्य निवेश के समय, योगदान व राशि की निकासी के समय तीनों बार मिलने वाली कर छूट से है

New Direct Tax Code: Pay less in taxes from April 2011

New Delhi: A windfall for taxpayers from the next financial year. You will in fact have to pay less Direct taxes in every slab of income. This comes with the Cabinet clearing the Direct tax code.

The much-awaited Direct Taxes Code (DTC) Bill is likely to be tabled in Parliament during the ongoing Monsoon session and thereafter it may be referred to a select committee of members of both houses of Parliament.

The new provisions under the Direct Tax Code are as follows:

• Tax for income between Rs. 2 lakh - Rs. 5 lakh: 10%
• Tax for income between Rs. 5 lakh - Rs. 10 lakh: 20%
• Tax for income over Rs. 10 lakh: 30%

The limit for exemptions for salaried people is Rs. 2 lakh, while that for senior citizens is Rs. 2.5 lakh.

Corporate tax has been kept at 30%.

The new Code comes into effect from April, 2011.

After the approval of the Cabinet, the decks are cleared for tabling the legislation in the Monsoon Session of Parliament so that the new Act ushering in reduced tax rates and exemptions may come into effect from next fiscal.

When enacted, the Code will replace the archaic Income Tax Act and simplify the whole direct tax regime in the country.

The Code aims at reducing tax rates, but expanding the tax base by minimising exemptions.

The Finance Ministry had earlier come out with a draft on the (Direct Tax Code) DTC bill, some of whose provisions drew strong criticism from industry as well as the public.

To address those issues, the ministry brought out the revised draft, dropping earlier proposals of taxing provident funds on withdrawal and levying Minimum Alternate Tax on corporates based on their assets.

"As of now, it is proposed to provide the EEE (Exempt-Exempt-Exempt) method of taxation for Government Provident Fund (GPF), Public Provident Fund (PPF) and Recognised Provident Funds (RPF) ...", the revised DTC released by the Finance Ministry said.

The revised draft also puts pensions administered by the interim regulator PFRDA, including pension of government employees who were recruited since January 2004, under EEE treatment.

The first DTC draft had proposed to tax all savings schemes including provident funds at the time of withdrawal bringing them under the EET (Exempt-Exempt-Tax) mode.

Under the EEE mode, the tax exemption is enjoyed at all the three stages - investment, accumulation and withdrawal.

The earlier DTC draft had proposed to reduce the corporate tax to 25 per cent from the present 30 per cent. The revised proposal has also made it clear that tax incentives on housing loans will continue. Payment on interest on housing loans up to Rs. 1.5 lakh will continue. The earlier draft was silent on housing loans.

Income Tax limit now 2 Lakh

The proposed Direct Tax Code is a combination of major tax relief and removal of most tax-exempted benefits. It is expected to usher in a new tax regime of transparency and greater compliance writes Dilip Maitra.

When archaic rules have to be replaced with new ones, the changes must be dramatic and path breaking. This is what Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee conveyed to all taxpayers when he introduced the draft Direct Tax Code (Tax Code) last week. The Tax Code, now open to public debate, will be introduced as a Bill in Parliament’s winter session. If passed, it will become the new Income Tax Act, replacing the existing four decade old IT Act of 1961. The new IT Act will come into force from April 1, 2011. In the foreward to the Tax Code Mukherjee explains that the aim is to eliminate distortions in the tax structure, introduce moderate levels of taxation, expand the tax base, improve tax compliance, simplify the language and lower tax litigations. Initial analysis shows that most of these objectives are achievable by tweaking of some provisions. Talking to Deccan Herald, KPMG Executive Director Personal Taxation, IT & ESOP Vikas Vasal said “The new proposals are in the right direction. They will simplify regulations and reduce unnecessary litigations significantly.” Agreed Bangalore Chamber of Industry & Commerce (BCIC) President K R Girish. “The Code is a completely new law and not an amendment of the existing Income Tax Act. This is a commendable change as one has always experienced tinkering of existing laws, ” observes Girish. Major gains for individuals What do the major changes proposed in the Tax Code look like? Personal income tax, almost all salaried persons will agree, in our country is one of the highest in the world. More open and honest an employer is in terms of disclosing remunerations, worse it is for the employees because taxable income goes up. The present system thus rewards dishonesty and non-disclosure of income by way of lower tax. The Tax Code will try to address these issues by significantly lowering income tax and by disallowing all tax-free perks. It proposed exemption of income tax on specified savings up to Rs 3 lakh a year as against the present deduction limit of Rs 1 lakh for all types of savings under 80C of the IT Act. The catch, however, is that a few long term investments like public provident fund, employer’s provident fund, insurance premium in pension (annuity) schemes, Post Office National Savings Scheme etc will be eligible for tax exemption. But contributions to fixed deposits, interest and principal payment on housing loans, educational expenses of dependents, and a host of other forms of savings will not qualify as eligible for tax savings. The thrust, clearly, is to induce long term savings for future needs. The Tax Code also raised income tax slabs significantly, lowering the tax burden on individuals. The draft proposed exempting the general tax payer from paying tax for income up to Rs 1.60 lakh a year. According to the proposal, a tax payer will pay at the rate of 10 per cent for income above Rs 1.60 lakh and up to Rs 10 lakh, at 20 per cent on income between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 25 lakh and at 30 per cent for income beyond Rs 25 lakh. At present, while the basic exemption limit remains at Rs 1.60 lakh a year, the limit for tax slabs are much lower — one pays 10 per cent tax on income ranging between Rs 1.60 lakh and Rs 3 lakh, 20 per cent between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 5 lakh and 30 per cent beyond Rs 5 lakh. Thus, for an individual with taxable income of Rs 10 lakh a year tax payment will drop from Rs 1.68 lakh to Rs 51,000, a net annual saving of Rs 1.17 lakh. The exemption limit for women and senior citizens will continue to be Rs 1.90 lakh and Rs 2.40 lakh, respectively. Not without pains If the finance minister is for giving major relief to tax payers, he will also make sure that there aren’t many avenues to avoid taxes. So, as a rider, the Tax Code proposes to add all perquisites enjoyed by a tax payer to income for the purpose of tax calculations. In other words, allowances like leave travel, furnishings, entertainment expenses, conveyance, medical etc, will be added to income. Similarly, the tax treatment for post-retirement benefits may prove to be a major dampener. Money saved in specified instruments like PPF and PF for getting tax exemption will become taxable when they are withdrawn later. These investments, when accrued, were earlier exempted from tax. The Tax Code says that under the Exempt Exempt Tax (EET) system all withdrawals will attract tax because the amount withdrawn will be treated as part of the income for that year. But in the Tax Code it is unclear if the employee’s contribution to PF and PPF will be taxed at the time of withdrawal. KPMG’s Vasal says that this is an anomaly that needs to be corrected. He believes that only the employer’s contribution and interest accrued to the account will be taxed. Though taxing financial gains available after retirement will pinch the retired people, Vasal is of the view that the proposal is equitable as income is liable to be taxed at least once. However, as a relief to senior citizens, tax exemption limits for them should be raised to Rs 5 lakh per annum instead of Rs 2.40 lakh at present. The Tax Code, however, specified that the tax exempt status currently available to withdrawals would continue to apply to amounts accumulated in post-retirement savings schemes like PPF, EPF, etc, up to March 31, 2011. Money that accrues from April 1, 2011 will be taxed on withdrawal. Wealth tax benefits The proposed Tax Code has sought to make major changes in wealth tax calculations and rates. The threshold limit for wealth tax will be raised to Rs 50 crore from the present Rs 30 lakh and the tax rate was reduced from 1 per cent to 0.25 per cent. But, in a smart move, to expand the scope of taxation the Tax Code included financial assets like shares, corporate bonds, fixed deposits, etc in wealth tax. The valuation of these assets will be done at cost or at market price, whichever is lower. In case of capital gains tax too, the Tax Code proposed some sweeping changes. It has done away with the present system of short-term and long-term capital gain tax, and replaced it with a uniform structure and gains will be taxed at the marginal tax rate as applicable to the tax payer. The implications of these changes are clear: The period of holding has no bearing on the tax payable and bigger investors will be taxed at higher rates than the smaller ones. A mixed bag For the corporate world, the proposed reduction in the tax rate to 25 per cent from the existing 30 per cent is certainly good news and will help lowering the tax burden of India Inc in a big way. But at the same time the Tax Code proposes to do away with many exemptions that help lowering the tax. In a significant policy change, the Tax Code plans to discontinue all profit linked incentives for area-based investments like setting up plants in a backward area or in the north-east with investment-linked incentives in specific sectors like infrastructure, power, exploration and oil production etc. Moreover, under the new proposal, tax holiday will not be for a specific period, as is the case now, but will be equal to all capital and revenue expenditure barring land, goodwill and debts. Once a firm recovers the permitted investments and profits will be taxed. This change is aimed at incentivising capital formation in critical areas and remove incentives to shift profits from the taxable unit to the exempted unit. On the mat The Tax Code has also proposed changes in the calculation of minimum alternate tax (MAT) payable by corporates. MAT will now be levied at 2 per cent of the value of gross assets of a firm in case of all companies except for banks which will pay tax at 0.25 per cent. This shift in MAT from book profits to gross assets is aimed at encouraging optimal utilisation and increased efficiency of assets. But Ernst & Young Partner- Tax & Regulatory Services, Sudhir Kapadia feels that this proposal seems to run counter to the objective of encouraging of capital investments for productive growth. Vasal of KPMG also of the view that changes in MAT rule will cause hardship to loss making companies as they will have to pay tax on assets. Carrot and stick If the Tax Code is generous in giving relief to tax payers, be sure, it will also make life miserable for those who evade tax through fraudulent means. As the Tax Code prescribes stiff penalties and prosecution for non-compliance with the tax laws, it proposes that every tax offense under the Code will be punishable by both imprisonment and fine. Apart from defaulters, the Tax Code proposes to punish tax consultants who help in tax evasion. It gives sweeping powers and blanket protection to Income Tax officials for initiating court proceedings on matters relating to tax offences.

1/3rd of firms globally can't find right talent

New Delhi: Across the world the talent is hard to come, around one-third of employers' worldwide find it difficult to fill key positions within their organizations. In the Asia Pacific region, the situation is even worse, with two in very five companies facing a talent shortage in their companies. The region has also seen an increase of nine percent in non-availability of desired skills this year, as compared to the previous year says the survey conducted by HR solutions firm Manpower.

Fortunately, India faces a slightly less shortage of talent, with only 16 percent employers saying they find it difficult to access people with the appropriate skills. The survey covers about 1,700 employers in the country.

Manpower Chairman and CEO, Jeffrey A Joerres said, "Employers have become more specific about the combination of skill sets they are looking for. They not only seek technical capabilities in a job match, but also hold out for people who possess additional qualities that will help drive their organization forward." This conundrum, he adds, may be upsetting to the ubiquitous job seeker, who will need to take more responsibility for his skills development in order to find ways to remain relevant to the market.

The survey also reveals that the top five hardest jobs to fill are skilled trades (electrical work, carpentry, masonry, plumbing and welding), sales representatives, technicians, engineers and accounting and finance staff. It also highlights that these are the same top jobs that employers have been struggling to fill for the past four years - demonstrating an ongoing global mismatch in these areas.
The U.S., UK, India and Norway are among the counties where a shortage of skilled labour seems less problematic. While 14 percent employers in the U.S. report a brush with talent shortage, the comparable figures for the UK and Norway are nine percent and 11 percent respectively.

Survey covered 35,000 employers across 36 countries and also lists countries facing an acute talent shortage. These include Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Singapore and Poland, where 50 percent or more employers say they do not find the right talent for their businesses. Countries where 40 percent or more employers face the same problem include Australia, Mexico, Peru, Taiwan and the Hong Kong part of China.

Top 10 Lessons for an Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurial success is all about innovative thinking and breakthrough ideas. The success usually comes through great execution, simply by doing a superior job of doing the blocking and tackling.

I�ve been an entrepreneur most of my adult life. Recently, on a long business flight, I began thinking about what it takes to become successful as an entrepreneur and how I would even define the meaning of �success� itself. The two ideas became more intertwined in my thinking: success as an entrepreneur and entrepreneurial success. I�ve given a lot of talks over the years on the subject of entrepreneurship. The first thing I find I have to do is to dispel the persistent myth that entrepreneurial success is all about innovative thinking and breakthrough ideas. I�ve found that entrepreneurial success usually comes through great execution, simply by doing a superior job of doing the blocking and tackling. But what else does it take to succeed as an entrepreneur and how should an entrepreneur define success? Bored with the long flight, sinking deeper into my own thoughts, I wrote down my own answers to send to my kids. Here�s what I came up with: The �Top Ten List� for a budding entrepreneur. 10. You must be �passionate� about what you are trying to achieve. That means you�re willing to sacrifice a large part of your waking hours for the idea you�ve come up with. This passion will ignite the same intensity in the others who join you as you build a team to succeed in this endeavor. And with passion, both your team and your customers are more likely to truly believe in what you are trying to do. 9. Great entrepreneurs �focus� intensely on an opportunity where others see nothing. This focus and intensity helps eliminate wasted effort and distractions. Most companies die from indigestion rather than starvation, i.e. companies suffer from doing too many things at the same time rather than doing a few things very well. Stay focused on the mission. 8. Success only comes from �hard work�. We all know that there is no such thing as overnight success. Behind every overnight success lies years of hard work and sweat. People with luck will tell you that there�s no easy way to achieve success - and that luck comes to those who work hard. Successful entrepreneurs always give 100 percent of their efforts to everything they do. If you know you are giving your best effort, you�ll never have any reason for regrets. Focus on things you can control; stay focused on your efforts and let the results be what they will be. 7. The road to success is going to be long, so remember to �enjoy the journey�. Everyone will teach you to focus on goals, but successful people focus on the journey and celebrate the milestones along the way. Is it worth spending a large part of your life trying to reach the destination if you didn�t enjoy the journey along the way? Won�t the team you attract to join you on your mission also enjoy the journey more as well? Wouldn�t it be better for all of you to enjoy the time of your life during the journey, even if the destination is never reached? 6. Trust your �gut instinct� more than any spreadsheet. There are too many variables in the real world that you simply can�t put into a spreadsheet. Spreadsheets spit out results from your inexact assumptions and give you a false sense of security. In most cases, your heart and gut are still your best guide. The human brain works as a binary computer and can only analyze the exact information-based zeros and ones (or black and white). Our heart is more like a chemical computer that uses fuzzy logic to analyze information that can�t be easily defined in zeros and ones. We�ve all had experiences in business where our heart told us something was wrong while our brain was still trying to use logic to figure it all out. Sometimes a faint voice of instinct resonates far more strongly than overpowering logic. 5. Be flexible but persistent � Every entrepreneur has to be agile in order to perform. You have to continually learn and adapt as new information becomes available. At the same time you have to remain persistent to the cause and mission of your enterprise. That�s where that faint voice becomes so important, especially when it is giving you early warning signals that things are going off-track. Successful entrepreneurs find the balance between listening to that voice and staying persistent in driving for success - because sometimes success is waiting right across from the transitional bump that�s disguised as failure. 4. Rely on your team � It�s a simple fact that no individual can be good at everything. Everyone needs people around them who have complimentary sets of skills. Entrepreneurs are an optimistic bunch of people and it�s very hard for them to believe that they are not good at certain things. It takes a lot of soul-searching to find your own core skills and strengths. After that, find the smartest people you can, who compliment your strengths. It�s easy to get attracted to people who are like you; the trick is to find people who are not like you but who are good at what they do and what you can�t do. 3. Execution, execution, execution � Unless you are the smartest person on earth (and who is) it�s likely that many others have thought about doing the same thing you�re trying to do. Success doesn�t necessarily come from breakthrough innovation but from flawless �execution�. A great strategy alone won�t win a game or a battle; the win comes from basic blocking and tackling. All of us have seen entrepreneurs who waste too much time writing business plans and preparing power points. I believe that a business plan is too long if it�s more than one page. Besides, things never turn out exactly the way you envisioned them. No matter how much time you spend perfecting the plan, you still have to adapt according to the ground realities. You�re going to learn a lot more useful information from taking action rather than hypothesizing. Remember this - stay flexible and adapt as new information becomes available. 2. I can�t imagine anyone ever achieving long term success without having �honesty and integrity�. These two qualities need to be at the core of everything we do. Everybody has a conscience - but too many people stop listening to it. There is always that faint voice that warns you when you are not being completely honest or even slightly off track from the path of integrity. Be sure to listen to that voice. 1. Success is a long journey and much more rewarding if you �give back�. By the time you get to success, lots of people will have helped you along the way. You�ll learn, as I have, that you rarely get a chance to help the people who helped you because in most cases, you don�t even know who they were. The only way to pay back the debts we owe is to help people we can help - and hope they will go on to help more people. We draw so much from the community and society that we live in that when we are successful we should think in terms of how we can help others in return. Sometimes it�s just a matter of being kind to people. At other times, offering a sympathetic ear or a kind word is all that�s needed. It�s our responsibility to do �good� with the resources we have at our disposal. Measuring Success Hopefully, you have internalized the secrets of becoming a successful entrepreneur. The next question you are likely to ask yourself is: How do we measure success? Success, of course, is very personal; there is no universal way of measuring success. What do successful people like Bill Gates and Mother Teresa have in common? On the surface it�s hard to find anything they share - and yet both are successful. I personally believe the real metric of success isn�t the size of your bank account. It�s the number of lives where you might be able to make a positive difference. This is the measure of success we need to apply while we are on our journey to success

TCS, Bharti, Suzlon among world's most sustainable firms

Mumbai: According to a study conducted by the Swiss lender, Bank Sarasin, the Indian IT majors like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), telecom major Bharti Airtel and wind-turbine maker, Suzlon are among the global firms having high sustainable development standards. "These companies are better equipped for the forthcoming challenges and this will be reflected in lower risks and superior return opportunities. This makes them very attractive to investors," Sustainability research analyst, Andreas Holzer, said in the study.

The study, conducted among 360 odd emerging market companies, found that a third of these firms have high rating in terms of sustainability, which also implies that they offer more attractive returns to investors. Other Indian firms, which have have highest level of sustainability standards mentioned in the report include India's largest manufacturer of irrigation plants, Jain Irrigation and leading IT-firm Infosys.
According to the survey, number of firms, which have socially responsible production of goods and services with maximum resource efficiency, are higher from the developed countries-at a little over 50 percent. However, even in emerging markets like India and China, a sufficient number of companies can be found eligible for sustainable investment, it said.

Other world firms, which have found place in the list include world's largest cement manufacturer, Cemex of Mexico, South African mining firm, Lomin, pharmaceuticals company, Aspen Pharmacare and South African Nedbank.

The survey has assigned the top rating to Brazil's largest cosmetics company, Natura Cosmeticos as it consistently uses plant-based raw materials and takes environmental and social considerations into account in procurement. Bank Sarasin has a subsidiary in India - Sarasin Alpen (India), which provides financial consultancy service in the domestic market

Golden principle of Billion dollar company!!

She was a single mother struggling to raise here children . She chose direct sales as a career as it allowed her the flexibility she needed to raise three children. She started work as a sales representative for Stanley Home Products, presenting "home shows" at the residences of customers. She operated as an independent contractor who purchased merchandise from Stanley and then sold it herself. After a slow first year, the next year she became "sales queen."

She recruited other women as salespeople since Stanley paid a small commission to the recruiter for the sales of each person recruited. She eventually signed 150 women and received a small percentage of the sales of each. When Stanley made an unfair demand that she move to Dallas to develop its market but would not pay her any commissions for the sales of the women she had recruited in the Houston area, she reluctantly made the move but quit Stanley later.

Soon afterward, she became a representative for World Gift Company, where she quickly became its national training director. But quit in disgust when the man she trained was promoted to become her boss.

Sounds similar is n't it.

With no full-time occupation, She decided to write a book about direct sales, but it became a book on managing people. She began to think about what a "dream company" might look like, and the book waited 20 years to be written and published.

Meanwhile she decided to utilize her skills ans decided to start a direct sales company since that was the area with which she was familiar; direct sales also would be appealing to women who could sell part-time and follow a flexible schedule.

To everybody's horror she based the company on this fundamental principle

: God first, family second, and career third.

She chose as a product a line of skin care products she had been using for more than a decade.

She had been introduced to the skin care products while she was selling Stanley products at a home party. The hostess, a cosmetologist, was testing these products on her friends. This woman had developed the products from a leather tanning solution her father had formulated, after he noticed how young his hands looked from using the solution every day. Although the cosmetologist marketed the products to her friends, she did not achieve great success in sales and, after her death in 1961, She bought the formula from the woman's daughter.

She and her husband invested their life savings of $5,000 to rent a small office and manufacture an initial inventory of skin care products. They also recruited nine independent sales representatives.

In the first Year

Only a month before the company was to open for business, Her husband died, but still she decided to proceed with the opening. Her 20-year-old son, Richard Rogers, quit his job and for $250 a month ran the financial and administrative operations.

His qualifications consisted of two college marketing courses and experience as a sales representative for a life insurance company. Within the year, her other son Ben moved his family to Dallas, took a pay cut, and went to work for the family company.

The company finally opened The products were manufactured by a Dallas company and sold through a network of salespeople, who were called "beauty consultants" and were required to purchase an initial "Beauty Showcase" kit. The beauty consultants were trained in scheduling and conducting parties, or "skin care classes," in private homes.

Beauty consultants purchased the company products at 50 percent below retail and resold them. They also received commissions for sales of salespeople they recruited.

The company tried to differentiate itself from companies that used illegal pyramiding. Unlike pyramid operations, the company sold its products to all of its consultants for the same 50 percent discount. It also took recruiter bonuses out of company earnings, not out of each sales recruit's earnings.

Contrarian business strategy

The company also developed specific guidelines for its salespeople. Emphasis at home parties was on teaching, rather than selling, and the number of guests was held to no more than six. Delivery and payment on the spot were required, and beauty consultants could not purchase from the company on credit. The company also limited its product line so that salespeople would be knowledgeable about each product.

Unlike many companies, this company did not limit sales territories. Beauty consultants could recruit other consultants from anywhere in the world.

You must be thinking the company must have gone under very unlike todays competitive and cut throat world but…..

The company initiated an incentive program that included the use of a pink Cadillac. This famous prize was established in 1967 when a pink Cadillac was awarded to the top sales director. The year after that, five Cadillacs were awarded and the next year, ten.

By 1970, the company was awarding 20 Cadillacs. Later, rather than awarding them on a top-seller basis, they were awarded to any sales director reaching a preset sales level. By 1993, 6,500 consultants were driving pink Cadillacs or other complimentary cars.

Annual conventions were held to recognize achievement, a practice that quickly became an important public relations event. Among other programs, the conventions featured workshops for husbands of company consultants on how to be supportive of their wives' careers.

In the first full year of operation, sales totaled $198,514 and the company had 318 consultants. Soon, more office space was needed and Mary Kay moved to a three-office headquarters with a training room and warehouse space, for a total of 5,000 square feet. Within two years, it had about 850 beauty consultants selling its beauty products.

Revenue from 3G auction now over Rs.51,000 crore

New Delhi: India Saturday concluded 143 rounds of an auction to award spectrum for third generation (3G) telecom services in the country, with the government's provisional revenue from the sale of airwaves reaching Rs.51,833.46 crore ($11.4 billion), which is well above the amount it expected.

The government had hoped to rake in Rs.55,000 crore ($12 billion) from both the 3G auction and the rolling out of broadband wireless internet services in the country. But with the agressive bidding in few circles, the government is poised to get more than the estimated amount from the 3G auction alone.

At the end of the 25th day of the auction, which began April 9, the provisional winning price for a pan-India 3G licence stood at Rs.12,850.66 crore ($2.82 billion), up around 267 percent from the Rs.3,500 crore reserve price.

Slots for three-four players are available in each of the 22 circles into which the country has been geographically divided for the 3G services, which will facilitate faster connectivity and enable applications such as Internet TV, video-on-demand, audio-video calls and high-speed data exchange.

Nine telecom companies - Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Vodafone Essar, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, Aircel, Etisalat, S Tel and Videocon Telecommunications - are participating in the online auction.

The government has already given Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) spectrum for 3G services on the condition that they pay the same licence fee as would be levied on private players after the auction.

Along with the fee that will be eventually paid by the two state-run enterprises for the licences, the government will provisionally get at least Rs.51,833.46 crore ($11.4 billion) from the auction.

According to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the 3G auction will conclude next week.

Data on the DoT's website showed Mumbai continued to attract the highest bid at Rs.2,315.79 crore. The provisional winning price for Delhi stood at Rs.2,208.59 crore, followed by Karnataka at Rs.1,374.51 crore, Tamil Nadu at Rs.1,171.75 crore and Maharashtra at Rs.1,127.47 crore.

While Bihar, Mumbai, Delhi and Karnataka witnessed more players in fray than the number of slots available, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and the northeast still could not attract enough bidders.

This 3G auction is a simultaneous auction for the 22 circles over a secure website. At each round, the price is hiked from between 10-1 percent based on demand.

The auction is being held on all days except Sundays and national holidays. The bid data, including the winning companies' names, will be made public after the auction's completion and approval by the government.

The winning firms will have to deposit the money within 10 days after the auction and the successful bidders would be allowed to offer 3G services on a commercial basis from Sep 1.

CAREER

Current BPO Industry Trends 2010

The years that have gone by have been defining moments in many ways for the economies in general and the BPO services in particular. They have made us realign our thinking, question some convictions and relook at some issues. In all, we see some paradigm shifts which have enabled us to align to these realities. The times ahead are going to be even more challenging, capital scarce and we will need to modulate our strategies to account for that environment.

Trends point towards a greater IT adoption in retail, healthcare, telecom and BFSI (the banking, financial services and insurance vertical) and 80 percent of growth to come from new areas. BFSI contributes almost 41 percent to the industry’s revenues. With BPOs moving up the value chain to provide such high-end services as business analytics and knowledge-based services through a mix of re-engineering skills, technology-enabled platforms, new operating models and increased depth of services, BPO exports are estimated to grow 6 percent to $12.4 billion (over Rs. 57,000 crore).

Why off- shoring makes more sense now?

Traditionally, cost rationalization was a compelling reason for corporates to consider outsourcing/off-shoring in the first place. Post the economic downturn, it came back to being an important reason for corporates to revisit their strategy for off-shoring and push it more aggressively.

With green shoots appearing in the economic scenario, proliferation of technology in various sectors and an increasing number of companies going global, Asia is witnessing a marked rise in IT spend. While Asia-Pacific constitutes about 10percent share of the total global IT services market, IT spend in the region is growing at a much faster rate compared to the mature markets. IT spending is a precursor to IT and BPO outsourcing and Asia-Pacific will attract increased competition, being the fastest growing geography with an estimated growth of 10 percent, according to a NASSCOM* report.

This year 2010, the key trends that will impact the industry going forward, to my mind are:

Markets in newer geographies

The U.S. and the UK have been a major revenue source for the BPO industry since the genesis of this industry. But now service providers are exploring markets in other global regions such as Europe, Australia, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. WNS on its part has channelized its initiative into three regions – 1) US 2) UK & Europe, 3) Asia Pacific thereby reducing its dependency in a single geography.
Such moves by service providers have come at time when potential customer base in these geographies has also seen a growth in maturity. It is without doubt that this year will witness aggressive moves by many service providers to tap this client base.

Expanding the global footprint

BPO service providers are building delivery centers around the world, often in newer nations, that provide a plentiful supply of educated but low-cost workers. WNS recently set up a delivery center in Costa Rica, which is not a conventional site for off-shoring, however it is strategic in terms of its proximity to the US. There has also been expansion of WNS's delivery centers in Philippines, Romania, Sri Lanka and India. This footprint provides clients tremendous flexibility in terms of cost, language capability, real time processing as well as access to Innovation networks driven by a partner.

Focus on mid-markets and SME's

The off-shoring option for the mid-market companies and the SME largely remains untapped. This could be probably because we have not reached out to the SME and the mid-market fraternity, to help them understand how we could be partners of profit in the long run.

KPO is another important segment through which we can tap the opportunities available in this space. SME's and mid-market companies largely depend on the trends that could help them in understanding the market better thereby create new business models to change their cost as per short / long term demands.

As we move forward, globalization is sure to intensify competition and this will encourage not only the large corporates but the mid-size companies and the SME's to revisit their strategy for off-shoring, push it more aggressively and thereby benefit in the long run.

Global Transformation Practice

Knowledge Component is one of the most sought after value addition in our space. Knowledge services such as analytics, legal services, consulting, amongst others if delivered with precision, adds great value to the client. This arms the service provider with relevant expertise to scale their offer and thereby winning the trust of their client.

In addition clients prefer to look out for providers with whom they can propel operational excellence, focus on core business solutions, and enhance end-to end solutions.

At WNS, we are already providing consulting and analytics to our clients thereby building not just trust but relationships as well. This is due to the fact that knowledge services help the client to understand its customers, its geographies/demographics, how to better its services/offer, thereby increase customer loyalty.

In our experience we realize this serves as an integral part while signing up new businesses as well.

Deep industry and business process knowledge, comprehensive services offered and a proven track record enables WNS to deliver business value to the world's leading companies and continues to be our business proposition.

Business in newer segments

With new business and vertical specialization, outsourcing will continue to grow both vertically and horizontally. Some examples where new businesses have been introduced and are growing are processes such as the litigation support and document review work within the Legal vertical, and the collections business within mortgages in the BFSI segment.

A NASSCOM report recently said that growth in emerging verticals such as retail, healthcare and utility would be higher and they are growing three times faster than core verticals. Pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and food, among others will emerge as new sources of revenue as the BPO industry expands, and demand for value-added services should accelerate in the next five years.

Many services that were not offshore earlier will now open up; but volumes in existing services may also shrink. Though, overall the long-term growth presents a healthy picture as increasing cost pressures will ensure that off shoring is imperative.

Technology will drive the change in the industry

Technology has always been the trigger that has driven trends in the industry, and technological advances tending towards the green agenda are going to make 2010 a green year.

Green Computing is the buzzword today. Cost savings and energy efficiency being two sides of the same coin, will drive greater adoption for Green computing (or cloud computing) among enterprises. Companies are now looking to consolidation of data centers allowing for optimization of their power consumption.

One such technology WNS has adopted is virtualization, which is one step towards cloud computing; it has been utilized in the data center infrastructure in building a centralized data center. It has obvious benefits in operational efficiency, data centre footprint and power consumption allow for better management and cost efficiencies.

WNS's CIO award for two consecutive years in a row is proof of the innovation within this sector.

Technology innovation in BPOs will provide truly "friendly technology" for self-help, enabling clients to address their concerns quickly. Social networking is a powerful, emerging tool for building customer care communities that incorporate client interface in addressing other client issues - the technology and platforms built for essentially personal and social interactions are catapulting to the next level to serve the purpose of corporate interactions. Social networking platforms serve as a collaborative tool for geographically dispersed teams to work together more closely. WNS has been exploring this platform to build client interfaces for collaborative work across its geographies.

BPOs bring in energy efficiencies

Becoming green is no longer a choice for any industry, governments or individuals. The BPO industry is looking to adopt green buildings, energy efficient data centers, power efficient computers, shared data centers and e-waste management. I am sure that many large contracts will soon come with a carbon neutrality condition.

WNS is on its journey to carbon neutrality and we have a concrete emission reduction plan. WNS’s Green Lean Sigma initiative launched in Jan 2008 to spread the message of 'be seen living green', has since had 'Green teams' aggressively promoting the WNS vision of carbon neutrality. Apart from building sensitivity to the environment, we have quality management systems to ensure environment conformance, and have adopted tangible measures in the form of rain water harvesting, energy conservation, saving paper, saving water, managing waste, clean air and clean land, tree plantation, owning a village. Concurrently, over a 100 green projects are running across locations, promoting innovative ideas on reducing our carbon footprint to ensure our promise is fulfilled. Every new employee who joins WNS takes pledge to comply by WNS's green promise.

And the cost advantage remains relevant at all times

When one of the world's largest online travel companies rapidly needed to reduce the cost of its customer care and finance and accounting operations, they turned to business process outsourcing, partnering with WNS. By leveraging the right onshore and offshore model, WNS delivered $3 million in savings right to the bottom line within the first quarter of going live. After ramping up the operations to over 1,000 people in fewer than nine months, WNS delivered cost savings of over 30 percent on the base run rate.

Where do we go from here?

To wrap up the BPO industries character is driven by Technology, Talent (availability), Global Policies, Cost Efficiencies, and of course The Demand for (value-added) Services.

These drivers govern growth across markets/geographies and in a variety of new services. A NASSCOM report recently also said that Infrastructure services would also be a key growth driver for the industry with an estimated growth of 10.5 percent in the next fiscal.

India is the world's largest offshore outsourcing center, with 2.3 million people in India employed in the IT-ITeS industry.

NASSCOM estimates that the industry would hire 150,000 people this year, and the domestic market will witness 12 percent growth this year and would reach Rs. 66,200 crore. The growth rate has been estimated at 5.5 percent, on the back of increased cost efficiencies, utilization rates and diversification into new verticals. Direct employment in the Indian IT-BPO sector is estimated to cross 2.3 million, while indirect job creation is estimated to reach 8.2 million.