Minimum balance burden
People deposit money with banks not just because they offer some interest, but for meeting exigencies in the future. Insisting on minimum balance in the savings account by banks is in a way penalising the customers. With rising inflation, people sometimes find it very difficult to make ends meet. Hence, they need to dig into their savings they have with the banks. It is really shocking to learn that public sector banks have collected ₹8,500 crore in minimum balance penalties (an increase of over 34 per cent) in five years. There is no logic at all in this. If the customer doesn’t have the wherewithal to maintain a minimum balance, how can be pay the fine? The RBI, which is the bankers’ bank, should take effective steps to safeguard customer interest.
S Ramakrishnasayee
Chennai
Congress’s ideology
Apropos ‘Rethinking the Congress party’ (July 30), the Congress was never an ideologically-driven party. In fact, it is this lack of ideology and dogma that served as oxygen for its survival. Despite a strong Leftist lobby within the Congress, none from the Gandhi family surrendered themselves to Marxist ideas like Rahul Gandhi has done. This is evident from his plan for a wealth redistribution survey. Perturbed by the middle-class voters’ drift away from the party and with an eye on the political space believed to have been vacated by the Left parties, the de facto chief of Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, has chosen to toe the Marxist line.
N Sadhasiva Reddy
Bengaluru
Taxation of minerals
This refers to ‘Significant verdict’ (July 30). This is a landmark judgment where the court has upheld the rights of States to levy taxes on minerals. It has also clarified the difference between royalty and taxes. States like Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka and West Bengal would benefit now as their revenues would increase. Industry needs to get clarification on concerns over double taxation from both the State and the Centre, as it is another critical stakeholder and should not be penalised.
Bal Govind
Noida
Will start-ups scale up?
The Budget has quite a few announcements for the new-age economy. The biggest takeaway for the sector was the removal of the controversial ‘Angel Tax’ that was introduced more than a decade ago in 2012 to tackle unaccounted funds. This tax was being levied on start-ups or unlisted companies on the funding they received when their valuation exceeded the fair market value of such shares being sold. As the Indian start-up narrative unfurls, a pivotal question looms large: With the angel tax now a relic of the past, what lies ahead for the start-up ecosystem? Can this liberation from financial shackles pave the way for a renaissance in funding dynamics?
Nikhil Subramaniam
Mumbai