The Direct Taxes Code (DTC) will be in focus this year. Individuals will seek more clarity on income tax slabs and the investment instruments eligible for tax exemptions. Options like tax-saving funds (ELSS) may no longer be eligible for tax breaks going ahead.

Reuters India asks its readers to don the finance minister’s cap and tell us what shape they would give to the budget.

What is your budget wishlist for this year? What should the income tax slabs look like? Which investment products should be added or removed from the exemption list?

Register below to post your comment.

Kingfisher has so far failed in efforts to get fresh equity capital. Banks own about a quarter of its shares after the company’s debt was  restructured early last year. And the State Bank of India has refused to lend further if the airline did not infuse fresh equity.

Stranded passengers have been venting their anger at the airline on social networking websites, blaming the company’s inability to provide on time information about cancelled flights.

Should the government step in to rescue Kingfisher Airlines. Share your views?

Infosys’ head honcho S.D. Shibulal revealed he is an INTJ type.  It is hardly surprising then that Shibu, as he likes to be called, was one of the pioneers of the Global Delivery Model – corporate speak for outsourced IT services.

INTJ (short for Introvert, Intuition, Thinking and Judgment) is a rare personality type based on psychoanalyst Carl Jung’s works. INTJ personalities are self-starters, preferring to work alone without an authority looking over their shoulders and meticulously plan their activities to achieve success.

Shibulal’s thoughts on M&A and his company’s margins reflect his INTJ traits.

“M&A is like falling in love. There is no plan like falling in love!” he said at the Reuters India Investment Summit.

Considering it has only made three acquisitions over the last five years, Infosys clearly doesn't fall in love easily.

Still, Shibu said the Indian software services behemoth “is comfortable spending 10 percent of its revenue on acquisitions.”

Shibu, one of the seven founding members, always looks for high-margin contracts.

“The competition can fight for low-hanging fruit.”

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, one of India’s most influential businesswomen and among the world’s most powerful women, says she’s an accidental entrepreneur.

Mazumdar-Shaw has shown that modest garage start-ups can extend beyond software and hardware companies. She set up what is now India's largest listed biotechnology company in 1978 and she encourages others to follow suit.

“Today a lot of early stage research work can be done in a garage,” she said at the Reuters India Investment Summit.

Mazumdar-Shaw reckons opportunities for bio-tech startups are huge, considering the demand for sophisticated technology like genomic based systems, diagnostics for cancer stem cells, and high-end synthetic biology. All these are usually developed in small labs across the country.

“What I find today is that there are a large number of very innovative young biotech entrepreneurs who are doing things in a very small way. CellWorks is doing very interesting work on drug design.”

Her advice to budding entrepreneurs – If you have a novel idea and are looking to set up a business, don’t think twice, just go for it.

“I think in the life of any entrepreneur, you start somewhere. You start small. I don’t think most entrepreneurs have the luxury of thinking big because you have very limited resources. “

“If you’re an entrepreneur with a concept, with some kind of idea which you can at least start something with, go for it. It might be something small, but you know it’s just building it up. I mean that’s what I did.”

After Rahul takes over, Sonia Gandhi will restrict her role to giving broad directions to the party and government, the report added.

The Nehru-Gandhi family political dynasty has no other equivalent in the world, combining the birthright of royalty with the tragic glamour of the Kennedy clan. A member of the family has been in charge of India for more than two-thirds of the period since independence from Britain in 1947.

But Rahul Gandhi’s apparent ascendancy, and uncertain leadership qualities, has raised questions about whether a family political dynasty is compatible with a modern democracy. In September, Reuters interviewed Congress party officials and family friends, some of whom have talked to the media for the first time. They revealed deep concerns about the future of the Gandhi dynasty.

Rahul’s taking over as Congress president, if and when it happens, will come at a time when the government is battling high inflation, corruption scandals and slowing growth. Is this the right move for the ruling Congress?

Will the move backfire? Share your views.

Comment on this blog or call us at 011-41781026 to register your views.

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Views (via phone)
ANIL ZINGADE (Pune) – “Whatever he’s doing is very good. It’s a good decision for such a thing. We’re always there for support.”

Now that the BlackBerry PlayBook has been rolled out in India, are you still thinking of buying the revamped Apple tablet?

Customers now have the option to buy the PlayBook, which features Wi-Fi support, with 16, 32 or 64 GB of memory and the models are priced between 27,990 rupees and 37,990 rupees.

The iPad 2, a thinner and faster version of the original Apple tablet, features two cameras for video chat and is priced between 29,500 rupees and 46,900 rupees, depending on the model.

Apple iPad 2 or BlackBerry PlayBook — which tablet is better?

Though this will prove to be a relief for state-run oil firms, it can have an impact on inflation as well.

Brokerage Nomura said in a report late last month that even a 10 percent hike in petrol and diesel prices would add around 70 basis points directly to headline inflation. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said inflation is likely to remain at elevated levels between 7-7.5 percent during FY12.

How is this hike seen affecting your daily budget and is it likely to change your spending habits?

The inflation data comes just after a quarterly HSBC report based on purchasing managers indexes showed that inflation in India seemed impervious to monetary policy tightening.

The truth, is the inflation-fighting central bank has little backup from the government which remains stubbornly in spending mode. Its foot-dragging on reform and foreign investment contributes towards keeping food price inflation high. This year's fiscal deficit target is 4.8 percent of GDP and even this
is seen as optimistic.

"What India really needs is to have domestic demand slowing down quite rapidly but the government is not prepared to risk that,"says Claire Dissaux, investment strategist at Millenium Global in London.

The RBI has repeatedly said it shouldn't have to do all the heavy lifting. But lack of support from the government means the central bank will have to put up rates another 100 bps this year, analysts reckon.

Of course India is not alone in this bind though it is the most extreme example of lax fiscal policy being counterbalanced by tight monetary policy. Brazilian interest rates are among the highest in the developing world at 11.75 percent and that is down to loose fiscal policy, a lot of it "quasi-fiscal spending" via the state development bank BNDES, research house Capital Economics says.

Brazil's central bank suggested recently that fiscal tightening of one percent of GDP would have the same impact as 125 bps of interest rate hikes.

Meanwhile the high-growth, high-inflation gamble carries its risks. Investment banks have been cutting their India growth forecasts for the current fiscal year, citing the risks from inflation.