Dear Members,
Greetings! It is already summer! The heat waves have been severe in many parts of the country. Bhubaneshwar, breaking a 30 year record with the temperatures touching 45.7°Celsius in April. Mumbai recorded 38°Celsius in April. About a quarter of our countrymen, spread in 10 states, are facing severe water shortage. For those of us, who receive water on tap, should certainly not take it for granted, and should rather be mindful of our water usage and support relief measures of which I have written later in this page.
ICAI Leadership visits BCAS & ICAI
The ICAI President Mr. Devaraja Reddy and Vice President Mr. Nilesh Vikamsey, both members of the Society, were kind enough to accept our invitation and visited the BCAS on 23rd April 2016. It was a wonderful opportunity to interact and exchange ideas with the leadership of our profession, get to understand their vision and extend our support in endeavours that will strengthen the profession as a whole. Both were candid, open and emphatic about challenges and pathways ahead. The new council has 15 first time entrants and we can expect a fresh set of ideas from that larger leadership. One notable development this year has been setting up of Digital Transformation initiatives which will result in superior and faster member services and experience.
You may be aware that recently Bank of Baroda cancelled the existing panel of internal auditors without giving any reasons on 30th March and launched an RfP for FY 2016-17 setting an eligibility condition of having an audit practice of Rs. 150 Cr in FY 2014-15. Obviously this is unprecedented and would disqualify most firms. The ICAI issued a notification, which was timely and required. It is worth taking a note that there could be more than what meets the eye.
The Guidance Note of CAR O 2016, was issued in record time of less than 30 days of the issue of the CARO 2016. This is commendable and deserves a special mention. I congratulate the AASB teams that worked behind the scenes. I am given to understand that several other GNs are on their way such on implementation issues in Ind AS, ICDS.
Tax Payer Data
The CBDT released an interesting paper giving data of Direct Tax collection, Contribution of Direct Taxes to total tax collection, Tax-GDP Ratio, Pre and Post Assessment collections, Cost of collection, Number of effective assessees, and disposal of cases. Although the basis and details are not adequate to decipher the exact impact, it’s a good start to see this statistically. We hope that this will develop further. You can refer to the document at: http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/Documents/Time- Series-Data-Final.pdf
Although there is increase in number of assesses from 4.36 Cr (11-12) to 5.16 Cr (14-15) resulting in 18% growth in 3 years, it still is a low number. The cost of collection has remained around 0.60% for last 10 years in spite of rise in the tax collection by more than 3 times.
CHANGE – SPEED, EXTENT AND IMPACT
For centuries, we have thought LINEAR for growth. In recent times the growth has been EXPONENTIAL. The primary engine of this shift is the INNOVATION LIKE NEVER BEFORE. So unprecedented that it has created opportunities to leverage tools that can make an idea into a reality.
Let me explain. In 1980s the apps that your smart phone has today, would cost about $900,000 in retail. Kodak, rated as one of the top 5 brands in the world (till 1990), employed 145,000 people (in 1988), accounted for 90% of film and 80% of camera sales in America in 1976, had peak revenues of $16 billion (in 1996), but filed for bankruptcy in 2012 with 17,000 employees. In contrast, Instagram in 2012 was sold to Facebook at $1 billion, and today is valued at $35 billion. Kodak thought that its business was of chemicals and paper, whereas Instagram thought – that people wanted to store their memories (through photos) and it fulfilled that need. Paper and Chemicals were no longer needed with advancement of technology. Kodak thought that it was not worthwhile to switch from making 70 cents on a dollar to 5 cents in digital, although it invented the digital camera in 1975. A 132 years old complacent monopoly, therefore, faded forever in 2012.
The story tells us a number of things: Change – Speed – Impact. One study says that between 2010- 2020 about further 3 billion people will have access to internet. This itself, is a phenomenal opportunity. Today you can reach almost anyone, anytime, without any difficulty. Today, almost every THING is better, faster, accessible and cheaper than what they were years ago. Material has lost out to dematerialisation (tickets, paper, photos, for example), and there is huge emphasis on DEMOCRATI SATION – more and more people having access to things that seemed out of reach some years ago. Are we moving from a scarcity mindset to an era of abundance? Technology, being intangible, and changing so fast, cannot be controlled or regulated. One can control nuclear arms or drugs, but not human curiosity which drives technology. This is not causing change, but turbulence. In January, San Francisco’s largest yellow cab company was reported to be filing for bankruptcy due to Uberisation. Being UBERED is not relevant to taxi business alone, but it will reach professional services too!
Revamping of BCAS Office into a Learning Centre
In the last several months, we have launched several projects to strengthen the infrastructure at the Society. One of them was to convert the existing office into a learning centre and give more space to the administrative and support staff of the Society elsewhere. We have reached a milestone in that direction by finally converting the BCAS office at Jolly Bhavan into a learning centre which will accommodate about 90-100 people in the hall and also seat people in the overflow area outside. The renovated premises will have better infrastructure including facilities for recording and live streaming. This will allow us to have more events in house and use of technology to reach out to members where they are.
Water and Drought
To counter the drought situation, your Society is reaching out to its members through BCAS Foundation, to collect funds to support the drought affected. It will launch an appeal this month for urgent action required. We request you to support the appeal in whatever measure you can to participate in the relief work.
On the other hand, a recent water footprint numbers speak of a tragic saga. As per recent reports, 2173 litres are required for growing 1 kg of rice and we have exported 37.2 lakh tonnes of basmati. About 2 trillion litres of water out of this would be ground/surface water. Therefore, according to this report, India remains virtual exporter of water. The obvious says – we should export what we have in abundance and import that which is scarce. So the question here is should we continue to do this?
It is quite clear that there are adequate amount of water resources but not adequate amount of thought at a strategic level to see that our farmers do not suffer and die due to water shortage. Clearly, the situation is not a natural phenomena alone but has significant man made inputs.
Times have always been challenging, perhaps they will remain so for all time. There have always been opportunities, and they will remain so for all time to come. Challenges and Opportunities are embedded in the same continuum. Yet within that turbulence of change, we have Choice – to be courageous, giving, and grateful. There is something that each one of us can do, each day, to make a small difference. I leave you with the words of Tom Hanks:
When I was a kid, only Batman had a cell phone. He had a car phone. I was like: Man, can you imagine having a car phone? But technology has not altered our lives, other than how we go about them. We are still in the position of waking up and having choice: DO I MAKE THE WORLD BETTER TODAY SOMEHOW; OR DO I NOT BOTHER?
Wishing you a magnificent day, and more to come!
