From The President

I begin writing this month’s message while sitting in a hotel
room in another country after a very hectic day full of meetings. I felt that if
I begin the message in a completely new environment, maybe, I will get some
fresh ideas to write about.

At the outset, let me begin by congratulating the
Vice-President of the BCAS CA Mayur Nayak on his unopposed election as the next
President of the BCAS. He is joined by CA Pradip Thanawala who has been elected
as the next Vice-President. The new managing committee too has been elected. The
new team will take charge at the conclusion of the next AGM on 6th July. I must
confess that the thought of having only a few weeks left in office as your
President is a sad thought and I am already wondering how life would be after I
lay down office. But more about that next month.

I am continuing to write this message after returning to
India and flying off straight for a holiday with my family and a few friends.
Sitting in a tranquil place surrounded by mountains, valleys, forests and clouds
floating around, I feel I am in a different world altogether, compared to the
hustle bustle of daily grind in Mumbai. This much-needed break has given me time
to pause and think of the importance of relaxing and taking life easy. The
stress of routine work and constant fight against deadline-driven professional
life does tend to take its toll on one’s physical health. We all need to learn
to take compulsory holidays with our family members. We owe that to our own
selves and to our family members.

At the BCAS, though the year is drawing to an end, there is a
flurry of activities planned for the next few weeks. Responding to the
suggestions received from a few members in pursuance of my request for feedback,
our Indirect Taxes and Allied Laws Committee has planned the 4th Residential
Study Course on Service Tax in the first week of July. I hope that members will
take advantage of this unique course. The HR Committee too has gone ahead with
its annual programme for CA students. Members are requested to motivate and
encourage their students to participate in this very lively event. The
Information Technology Committee has, for the first time, arranged a half-day
seminar on Social and Professional Networking. Personally, I am an avid fan of
networking sites and I strongly believe that going forward, these sites will
become the centre point of communication amongst people. The various networks
created by the BCAS on different sites have met with very heartening response
and we have a reasonably large following on these networks. Therefore, this
seminar could not have come at a more opportune time. I invite readers to
participate in all our activities.

In my last communication, I had touched upon the concept of
networking and mergers amongst practising CAs. I have received responses from a
few members seeking advice on how to go forward with that idea. I intend to work
on this concept with our HR Committee and come up with a useful seminar very
soon.

During my visit to Mauritius recently, I met the Deputy Prime
Minister of that country and also a director of the Investment Board. The
difference in their approach and attitude towards investors and industry as
compared to our country’s red tapism and the bureaucratic approach of our Babus
was so obvious. The Deputy Prime Minister is a Chartered Accountant and was in
practice before he joined politics. The passion with which he spoke about how
their country was going out of the way to create an investor-friendly
environment conducive to the economic growth of the country was something which
I will not forget. I wish we had such people in our Government and public sector
bodies. Citizens would feel much more comfortable and confident of doing
business here. The ever-changing laws of our country make it difficult to plan
ahead. Retrospective amendments to the law seeking to overrule judicial
decisions send a very negative signal to investors and foreigners wanting to do
business in India. One hopes that our economist Prime Minister is able to bring
about much-needed change in India. Also, drawing inspiration from the Deputy PM
of Mauritius, I feel that more and more professionals and educated people ought
to join the mainstream politics so as to help cleanse the corrupt system. It is
not enough for all of us to merely sit back and complain all the time about the
ills of our society. We must do something about it.

Finally, the President-elect of the BCAS Mayur Nayak has
requested me to chair the Information Technology Committee of the BCAS next
year. I am looking forward to this exciting opportunity and hope to be able to
make a meaningful contribution to the BCAS and its members through increased use
of sophisticated technology in the months to come. I can assure you that you
will see much more of the BCAS on the Internet than ever before.

Yours sincerely,