Governments

Name based search: Key to unlocking unclaimed assets

Governments, IEPF / By /

₹1.96 lakh crore is lying unclaimed—could some of it be yours?
That’s the scale of forgotten wealth—bank deposits, insurance, EPF, mutual funds, and shares—scattered across India’s financial system (source: https://bit.ly/42RA5kI). Most heirs don’t even know what to claim, because Indian systems (except IEPF, to a very limited extent) don’t allow a simple name-based search. The true scale of the problem remains hidden. As more people become aware of this, public pressure will grow to fix the broken claim processes. A proposed Central Unclaimed Property Authority (CUPA) could finally enable name-based search—something existing regulators have been psychologically resistant to—and reveal the true extent of the unclaimed property issue.

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Instant tax credit: An idea whose time has come

Governments, Taxes / By /

Imagine paying for a movie on an OTT channel but being told to wait a day before watching—just to confirm payment. Sounds absurd, right? Yet, when it comes to taxes, businesses face exactly this problem. Whether it’s TDS or GST input tax credit, parties often don’t get instant credit for the taxes, creating cash flow issues, costly reconciliations, and even write offs. Big players demand full payments upfront, but smaller businesses bear the brunt of delays. What if taxes could be paid directly to the government at the time of payment, with instant credit to both parties? It could transform India’s economy, boost trust in transactions, and level the playing field. But is such a system possible? What are the complications? Read Harsh article in Business standard to find out.

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EPF is in urgent need of an overhaul

EPF, Governments, Press / By /

A friend recently found himself facing court summons for an EPF default that happened 15 years ago—long after the problem was resolved. Another, a high-earning professional, is stuck contributing to EPF even though he no longer wants to, losing out on better investment options.
Why? Because once you’re inside the EPF Chakravyuh, there’s no way out. Meanwhile, NPS offers flexibility, investment choice to employees and no criminal liabilities for employers —but employees and employers alike are denied a real choice.
Truth be told, the system needs urgent reform. But will it ever change?
📖 Read the full article (4 minute read) in Business Standard to see why the rigidity of the EPF system affects every employer and employee and the employment generating potential of India itself.

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Is it a step towards “Nyaya”?

Governments, Press, Taxes / By /

The big bang announcement on tax breaks overshadowed other important announcements like the launch of revamped CKYC 2.0 . That could be the UPI moment for the financial sector as financial inclusion and access to financial products will become easier. The move to activate the moribund annuities market is much needed as the absolute number of senior citizens are quite high in the country. The new tax bill to be introduced next week promises ” Nyaya” to the tax payers. Whether it actually delivers on the promise remains to be seen. Harsh’s take on Budget2025 published in the Business Standard.

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Reform inefficient succession processes

Governments, Press, Succession / By /

India’s succession process is broken. Most of us have faced issues in dealing with transfer of assets of a deceased investor. Succession remains an obstacle course across all asset classes with real estate and agricultural land being the worst even in cases where there are no disputes. SEBI’s recent circular categorically stating that the MFs or Depositories can only ask for death certificate and KYC documents from the nominees apart from the standardised transmission form (and nothing else) should do much to ease the process of succession in the securities market. The government has a great opportunity to take the ease of living index up many notches by ensuring changes in laws and procedures that will make the succession process easier across the financial sector and possibly even the real estate sector. It requires no budgetary support just the will to act. Will we see action on this front soon?

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IT department´s stock and flow problem

Governments, Press, Taxes / By /

Lakhs of tax payers receive notices from the Income tax dept. regarding their expenses or investments being disproportionate to their taxable income for the same year – implying that the expenses or investments are from unaccounted sources. Most cases have simple explanations – the income was declared in a previous year or it is exempt income – facts already available in the tax dept database. Yet lakhs of tax payers have to duel with the tax authorities to prove their credentials. Most people emerge victorious after a long and arduous ordeal costing time and money. The tax department resources are used up in dealing with the honest tax payers & the tax evaders may escape. Harsh’s article in Business Standard on why the tax departments Data Analysis Package can cross tally more information and thus have more pointed search results more likely to net tax evaders while being bothersome for fewer honest tax payers.

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Usher in competition between EPF and NPS

Financial, Governments, Personal Finance, Press / By /

Employees earning Rs. 15,000 pm pay “tax” @42% (the same rate as those earning more than Rs. 5 crores do). Finance minister late Arun Jaitley in his budget speech for 2015 mentioned “the situation with regard to the dormant EPF accounts and the claim ratios of ESIs is too well known to be repeated here. It has been remarked that both EPF and ESI have hostages, rather than clients. Further, the low paid worker suffers deductions greater than the better paid workers, in percentage terms.” He went on to advocate the solutions listed here. These solutions though promised a decade ago in a budget speech on the floor of the parliament have been stonewalled by the powerful EPFO and ESI establishments. Bureaucrats can justify anything as exemplified by the fictional UK bureaucrat Sir Humphrey in the BBC series “Yes Minister”. Watch how he justifies continuing a hospital with no patients but with 500 administrative staff https://shorturl.at/pdau2 . Don’t let the Sir Humphreys win this battle.

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How to make tax officials accountable

Governments, RIA, Taxes / By /

Individual Tax payers have become more vocal as compliance by them has improved significantly and aggregate taxes paid by individuals has overtaken taxes paid by corporates. With that the demands for the tax department to be held accountable have also increased. Unfair treatment such as indefinite delays by the tax department or very low interest paid by them on delayed refunds are no longer acceptable. Harsh’s article in the Business Standard on how accountability can be infused in the Income Tax department using the model of Public Service Guarantee Act enacted by almost all state governments. comments welcome.

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Usher in transparency, not price controls

Governments, Insurance, Press / By /

Hon’ble Supreme Court has asked the Union Health Ministry to coordinate with the states to roll out of a common pricing structure for hospital services across the country. This is impractical for many reasons – Real estate prices – which is a significant part of the cost of hospital services – vary widely from location to location, the quality of equipment and personnel also vary widely making availability of hospitalisation services within a standard price range impractical. Harsh’s article in Business Standard on how enforcing transparency on pricing of hospital services might be a better first step towards achieving the goal of similar pricing across the country. Disclosure : Harsh is not connected to the medical services industry/hospital sector in any manner.

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