Hi Friends,

Even as I launch this today ( my 80th Birthday ), I realize that there is yet so much to say and do. There is just no time to look back, no time to wonder,"Will anyone read these pages?"

With regards,
Hemen Parekh
27 June 2013

Now as I approach my 90th birthday ( 27 June 2023 ) , I invite you to visit my Digital Avatar ( www.hemenparekh.ai ) – and continue chatting with me , even when I am no more here physically

Sunday, 22 November 2015

Thank You , Policy Makers !




Dear  Policy  Makers :


I just came across following news report:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Financial Intelligence Unit to generate reports on black money suspects in 72 hours 

( Source : Economic Times / 22 Nov 2015 )




NEW DELHI:

Government has bolstered the capabilities of the elite Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which can now dish out volumes of data on suspicious transactions in 72-hours flat and gain access to

   " secret database of offenders maintained by various law
    enforcement agencies in the country. "

Earlier, when an agency wanted to get any information on financial transactions and other similar details on entities on its scanner the time taken used to be between a fortnight to 20 days.

The elite financial snoop wing under the Union Finance Ministry has switched to

 full electronic mode for exchange of data,

 from the earlier existing paper-based pattern, with all probe and enforcement agencies of the country like the Income Tax department, CBI, ED, DRI and Intelligence Bureau among others, beginning November 1. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thank you for listening - and acting on my following suggestion , sent to you sometime back

(  Source : www.hemenparekh.in > Blogs  /   E - Governance   /   03 April 2014  )







E - Governance ?



Can e-Governance help eliminate corruption  ?


Most certainly


Look at the following , partial list of Central and State Agencies set up to fight fraud , money-laundering , corruption , tax-evasion , economic crimes etc :



*    Public Accounts Committee           (  PAC  )


*    Central Vigilance Commission        (  CVC  )


*    Central Information Commission     (  CIC  )


*    Research and Analysis Wing           (  RAW  )


*    Serious Fraud Investigation Office   (  SFIO  )


*    Information Bureau                        (  IB   )


*    Economic Offence Wing                   (  EOW  )


*    Central Bureau of Investigation        (  CBI  )


*    Department of Revenue Intelligence (  DIR  )


*    Comptroller and Auditor General       (  CAG  )


*    Anti Corruption Bureaus ( States )     (  ACB  )


*    Enforcement Directorate                    (  ED   )


*    Lok  Ayukts                                      (  States   )


*    Lok Pal                                             ( Central  )




Despite such an army of Agencies , how do corrupt manage to get away  ?


Or , in case caught , manage to delay delivery of punishment for years  ?


No doubt , there must be several reasons , including , inter - agency rivalry to get credit - something difficult to eliminate altogether


But , I believe , the most important reason is :



Lack of a  COMMON  / COMPUTERIZED  database of all offences / cases / persons being investigated,

- which is readily " Accessible " to all of these Agencies , all over the country ( 24 * 365 )



Already , every Agency compiles huge dossiers on " Suspects " in its own 
" Departmental Database " , which is never shared with other Agencies ,
leading to ,


*   Huge amount of duplication of efforts / information


*   Fractured / scattered profiles of " Suspects "


*   Enormous waste of time / resources



What will help  ?



*     Dismantling of individual departmental databases


*     Merging of all Agency-wise databases into a SINGLE / UNIQUE database


*     All Agencies to enter their findings / data / info into this COMMON
       database , with nothing preserved on local computers


*     All data-entry  FORMS   to be   ONLINE  .  No paper forms at all


*     All local computers connected to ultra-secure Network ( Encrypted )


*    " Access Rights " to individuals , based on Biometric Identification




Will BJP want to make this , a prominent promise in their Poll-Manifesto , likely to be released on 7th April  ?  ( Congress /  AAP missed this boat  ! )


It is high time political parties stop talking of motherhood in vague terms and start telling the voters ,


" If you vote us to power , this is precisely what we will do , to bring about E-GOVERNANCE  -  and do it within 6 months of assuming power  "



*  hemen  parekh  (  04  April  2014  /  Mumbai  ) ..www.hemenparekh.in > Blogs

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hemen  parekh
23  Nov  2015
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Thursday, 19 November 2015

Making Molehill out of Mountain ?



Yes , you read it right  !

How else can you describe the following ?

*   Gold Monetization Scheme managed to garner 400 gms of Gold in first 15 days

     Extrapolate to 100 Kg in a year ( give benefit of doubt )

     How many years to attract all of 20,000 TONNES , estimated to have been hoarded by
     Indian citizens  ? ( Valued at Rs 52 LAKH*CRORES )

     Correct answer : 200,000 years


*  SIT appointed by Govt , managed to uncover ( not get back ) , Rs 10,000 Crores worth of
    black money , illegally stashed abroad by Indians ( approx $ 2 Billion ) , in one year.

    How many years will it take to bring out into open , $ 2000 Billion worth of domestically
    hidden black money ( Gold / Land / benami assets etc )  ?

    Correct answer : NEVER


Why this ignominy  ?  -  this miserable failure  ?


Simple . There is no power / law on Earth , which can vanquish " Human Greed "

But there is a way to bridge the divide between " Greed " and " Goodwill "

By harnessing the " GREED " to lead India to " GREATNESS  "

By :

*   Abolishing Personal Income Tax ( Revenue loss of Rs 2.4 Lakh*Crores )

*   No questions asked for any amount of cash deposited in Jan Dhan Yojana bank accounts

*   By launching  SPVs for , Infrastructure / Health / Education / Renewable Energy /
     Electric Transport  /  Green Cover Forestry / Affordable Housing / Smart Cities etc

*   No questions asked as to the source of funds invested in such SPVs ( Amnesty Scheme )

*   Dividend / Interest from such SPVs to be directly credited to Jan Dhan bank accounts

*   Introduction of Bank Transaction Tax ( BTT ) @ 2% to yield revenue of Rs 15 lakh*crore

*   2 % ( out of 27 % ) of GST , to be directly deposited in the PPF a/c of the buyer

    ( This will ensure that all citizens have PPF account )

 *   This 2 % to be used to pay the premium for that person's health insurance


This is , in my opinion , the surest / fastest / least controversial method to :

#   Solve the problem of BLACK MONEY for ever

#   Put that $ 2000 Billion worth of BLACK MONEY to productive use

#   Generate 100 million jobs in 5 years (to take care of addition of 12 million to workforce )

#   Raise GDP to 10 % by 2016-17


Best feature of my proposal :

No need to beg the opposition to pass any BILL in
Rajya Sabha
  !


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

hemen  parekh

20  Nov  2015

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Wednesday, 18 November 2015

Rise of the Middlemen ?



For long , marketing pundits have been telling us :

"  Internet is all about disintermediation . There is no place for middlemen .

   Distributors / Dealers / Agents / Retailers etc , will gradually become redundant .

   With arrival of Online Market Platforms ( aka, e-Commerce web sites ) , manufacturers
   will accept orders online and directly deliver to end users , bypassing supply chain  "


Coming from Marketing Gurus of Harvard etc, this was accepted as Gospel Truth  !

Now a bunch of Indian Start-ups are proving them wrong !

These are , Bluebox / Browntape / Unicommerce ( and others I have not heard of  )

How  ?

By acting as " Middlemen " ( of some sort  ) between e-Commerce web sites and MSMEs of India

And what role do these " Middlemen " play ?

*   Getting MSME listed on e-Commerce web sites as " Sellers "

*   Cataloguing their products

*   Managing their inventories

*   Reconciling payments

*   Maximizing Sales

*   Photo-shooting products.......etc


Is there a big enough " Market " for such " Middlemen " Start-ups  ?

Consider this :

#   There are 500 lakh MSMEs in India

#   Of these , barely 3.6 lakhs are currently registered as " Sellers " on e-Commerce web
     sites , distributed as follows :

     *   Flipkart...............  60,000    sellers

     *   Amazon.............. 100,000   sellers

     *   Snapdeal............  200,000   sellers


#   Indian e-Commerce market was worth mere $ 5.3 billion in 2014

#   As per Merril Lynch , this would go up to $ 220 billion by 2025, with 530 million buyers


So , there is scope for many more of such " Mentoring Middlemen "

May be some such " Middlemen " can help the MSME to export their products, considering that India's exports have been continuously shrinking for past 10 months

Is there a " Scope " to increase exports from MSME  ?

Take a look at the following :

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Country         /     No of  MSME     /     Ave Export / year ( $ )
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Singapore     /    9,296                /       6.74    Million
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Malaysia       /    28,840               /       2.05    Million 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
S.Korea        /    2.9 million           /       45 , 000
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
India            /   30 million        /          4, 000
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now , even if each of our MSME succeeds in exporting just $ 40,000 worth of exports per year , that would amount to ,

$ 40,000*50 million  !


Currently each MSME ( on an average ) employs 2.5 persons

How many more persons would 50 million MSME need to employ , if each were to raise exports by 10  times ? ( from $ 4000 to $ 40,000 )

It is reported that , even at the current level of operations , India's MSME sector creates 1.3 million jobs every year

For raising (Ave) MSME exports by 10 times , would that figure go up to 13 million new jobs / year  ?

Enough to absorb the 12 million persons joining our job market each year ?


It is time for Indian Governments ( Central + States ) , to encourage these " Mentoring Middlemen " Start-ups , by abolishing for them , Corporate Income Tax , for next 10 years


Anything other than such a " BIG  BANG  REFORM " , will amount to tinkering !

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

hemen  parekh

19  Nov  2015

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Monday, 16 November 2015

From Inter-Pol to Inter-Mil ?



Over the past 100 years, countries of the World have instituted quite a few organizations to deal with international issues . These include :


*    United Nations ( earlier, League of Nations ) and its various arms

*    World Bank

*    International Monetary Fund  (  IMF  )

*    World Trade Organization  ( WTO - earlier , UNCTAD )

*    International Court of Justice - Hague

*    Atomic Inspection Agency

*    Environment Protection Agency

and ,

*   International Police ( Inter-Pol )


During the past decade, the World is facing another major international threat to civilization

It is " Terrorism "

" Terrorism " is characterized as follows :

*     Distinct from

       #     Internal conflicts / civil wars , within a nation's boundaries

       #     Localized commotions / disobedience / militancy , within a country

       #     Breakdown of " Law and Order " situations , inside a country

       #     Country's citizens trying to overthrow an oppressive dictatorship / 
              military rule

*    Spread across international borders

*    Unrelated to any geographical / territorial disputes between countries

*    Hiding under fundamentalist ideologies that disregard human rights

*    Trying to overthrow democratically elected legitimate popular governments

*    Killing innocent citizens

*    Poisoning the minds of Youth with hatred for certain peace-loving / non-             violent religions or philosophies
      
*    Recruiting children / women as shields against reprisals by legitimate
      authorities

*    Glorifying suicidal attacks while bombing peaceful gathering of people

*    Aided and abated by black money / arms , from sympathizers everywhere


Of course , this is not a comprehensive definition of " Terrorism " , but it is good enough for UN to adopt it right away

And it is high time , UN forms, along the lines of Inter-Pol ,

Inter- Mil  ( International Military )

And lay down clear and unambiguous rules under which :

*   Any country affected by terrorism, can seek intervention / help from Inter-Mil ,

OR

*   UN itself may take suo moto cognizance of such terrorism anywhere in the World ( and
     not only confined to the territory of a Member Country ) , and act on its own
     to press Inter-Mil into service , to eliminate terrorists and their supporters

    Such unilateral action on part of the Security Council , will not require any " Invitation /
    Permission " from countries affected , nor can such Security Council Resolution be vetoed

I request the readers to " Like / Share / Re-tweet / Forward " this message to policy-makers / opinion-makers , all over the World

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

hemen  parekh

17  Nov  2015

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Sunday, 15 November 2015

E - Commerce is Easy Commerce !




Hindustan Times (16 Nov 2015) quotes Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as follows :


"  The Government is working on the definition of E Commerce to clear the air over issues such as taxation and Foreign Investment

We have got the inputs from States . We are in the process of putting it all together  "


Not an easy task to define what is E Commerce ( and what is not ), considering all the possible permutations / combinations ( running into LAKHS of them ! ) , of the following elements :


#    NATURE


      *  A physical " Product " ( Capital Goods / FMCG / Consumables / Perishables )

      *  A virtual " Service "    ( Medical advice / Legal advice / Consultancy / Software etc )



#    GEOGRAPHIC   SPREAD


     *   Across National boundaries    ( International Trade )

     *   Across State boundaries        ( within India )

     *   Across Municipal boundaries   (within a State )



#    SUPPLY- CHAIN   /  INTERMEDIARIES


     *   Mfr  >  Distributor  >  Dealer  >  Retailer  >  Buyer

     *   Mfr  >  Buyer

     *   Any disintermediation in the above chain



#     ORDER  PLACEMENT  /  ACCEPTANCE


     *   In a physical location ( Shop / Store / Office / Factory / Home )

     *   In a virtual location   (Web site/Mobile App/SMS/ Email / Phone / Video Conference  )



#     DELIVERY


     *   Physically in a Shop / Store etc where Buyer collects / picks-up from shelf

     *   Delivered to Buyer's location, thru Delivery Boy

     *   Delivered to Buyer's location, using a Drone

     *   Delivered to Buyer on his home-based 3D Printing Machine  ( using internet )



#    PAYMENT


     *   Cash against delivery

     *   Pre-paid / Post-paid Cheque

     *   Credit / Debit Cards across counter

     *   Credit / Debit Cards thru online Payment Gateways

     *   Through Mobile Wallets

     *   Electronic Bank Transfer

     *   Using Virtual Currency like Bit-Coins

     *   Barter of Goods or Services



#    FOREIGN   INVESTMENTS


    *   FDI in Manufacturing / Supply Chain / Payment Gateways - Apps-  Mobile Wallets 

    *   FDI in Web sites like Amazon - Flipkart - Alibaba - Snapdeal etc ( What percentage ? )



Can you think of any other " Elements " that I have forgotten  ?


In any case , given the fact that there can be lakhs ( if not millions ) of permutations / combinations of the above-mentioned elements , one must not attempt to define what is E Commerce ( and what is not ) , by inclusion or exclusion of these elements in definition


Such a complex definition would lead to thousands of court cases involving Governments and each court interpreting the definition , differently  !


The only definition that would satisfy  ALL  of these permutations / combinations , is :


Any exchange of " Value " between any number of parties , involving ,


>  Goods or Services , on the part of one party


with,


>  Money or its equivalent consideration , on the part of a second party


with or without using,


>  Intermediary services , on the parts  of any other parties


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

hemen  parekh

16  Nov  2015

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