My Dear Members,
Many
things have happened all around us in the recent past. On 20th
August, the BCAS along with the BCA Foundation hosted the Fifth
Narayan Varma Memorial digital event jointly with other organisations.
Everything happened virtually in the true spirit of ‘the show must go on’ and
following the positive attitude of the Late Narayanbhai Varma. In the
panel discussion on Covid-19, the participants included a physician, a
psychologist and a Covid survivor CA professional who shared their thoughts and
experiences. As per tradition, the BCA Foundation recognised the social
contributions of its CA nominee Sanjay Hegde and felicitated him.
This
year, the volunteers of the BCAS and the BCA Foundation could not
visit Dharampur for the annual tree plantation programme. This initiative was
started in 2011 with the planting of a mere ten trees; but it has now gone on
to over 300 trees. We started with seven volunteers visiting the place and now
it is over 40 with a combination of young and old. And so, on 28th
August we arranged the tree plantation event via a digital meeting with the
trustees of the Sarvodaya Parivar Trust with video presentations of the Dharampur
site. We followed ‘Work from Home’ here, too, in an innovative manner with our
‘BCAS Green Warriors’. We felicitated the volunteers who planted trees
in and around their localities and carried out tree plantation this year
although they were working from home.
In
the West, tech companies have surged past every other industry in this digital
transformation regime amplified by the Covid-19 situation. Recently, the
world’s most famous equity benchmark, the Dow Jones Industrial Average of USA,
replaced the world’s biggest company of the last decade, viz., Exxon Mobile
Corp., from the index list with a technology company. This reflects the steady
challenges faced by commodity companies in the American economy; the trend is
similar in other economies, too.
‘Retire
from your job, but never retire your mind.’ These are golden words. Retirement
is a stage of life that could be a new beginning with new initiatives on the
family front, the social front, or in one’s personal space which might have
been missed during the days of one’s employment. The person who plans his
retirement years in advance – financially as well as post-retirement new
initiatives – is prudent and wise.
On
Saturday, 15th August, on the occasion of India’s 74th
Independence Day, the 39-year-old M.S. Dhoni (MSD) bid adieu to
international cricket and thus called curtains on his illustrious career
spanning 16 years. It was, as we know him well, done in his normally cool,
silent style, with very few words.
‘Looking
at you as just a sportsperson would be an injustice. The correct way to assess
your impact is as a phenomenon! Rising from humble beginnings in a small town,
you burst onto the national scene, made a name for yourself and, most
importantly, made India proud,’ – this is how the Hon. Prime Minister, Mr.
Narendra Modi, wished the hero of the Word Cup. How aptly the person and the
situation are portrayed in these few words. All Indians would always be proud
of MSD and he would be an inspiration to the next generation. I wish and hope
that post-retirement he would take up and initiate the setting up of a training
academy to create more MSDs for Indian cricket.
Recently,
the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) published its annual report 2019-20 (year ended
30th June, 2020). On a review of the report and certain comments
therein, I, as an accounting professional, observed three key perspectives –
accountants, auditors and economics / investment.
The accountant’s perspective
RBI’s
lower income and higher provisions resulted in the transfer of lesser surplus
to the government. It fell to Rs. 57,000 crores from Rs. 1.76 lakh crores in
the previous fiscal. The increase in provisions towards Contingency Fund from
Rs. 64 crores in the previous fiscal to Rs. 73,615 crores was the Covid-19
effect on the RBI financials.
The auditor’s perspective
The
cases of major frauds reported in 2019-20 added up to Rs.1.85 trillion, more
than double the previous year’s figure. Large credit frauds were the major
component, though low-value online cybercrimes arising out of net transactions
are a cause of worry, too.
Economic / investment perspective
The moratorium for loan
repayments with the infusion of more than Rs. 3 lakh-crore guarantees by the
Central Government has boosted the morale of the MSME sector where banks have
started disbursing funds to help the sector recover from the adverse impact of
the pandemic and migrant labour.
The sharp cut in corporate
tax announced in September, 2019 has been used by the corporates to reduce debt
and build up cash and other current asset balances rather than a fresh CAPEX
cycle. This resulted in a weakness in private investment demand and capital
expenditure in the economy.
In the present context of
rising inflation and slower growth, monetary policies cannot be traditional and
book-bound but progressive and innovative. The report narrates in detail the
various measures initiated by RBI including progressive reductions in the Repo
rate and the various windows to infuse additional liquidity to lead the economy
onto the path of growth.
Come September and let it
bring changes much awaited and longed for. May I close this page by requesting
you to visit our site bcasonline.org for extremely relevant and
innovative events in the month of September, 2020, such as M&A – Master
Class, Brand Building by professional firms and so on? You may also visit the BCAS
Global social media handle for the events missed, if any.
Best Regards,
CA
Suhas Paranjpe
President
