Fayaa Laare

( from Burmese language : loosely translated as “ God has arrived “ )

For the Start Up eco-system , this could be paraphrased as “ Prabhu has arrived “

Only yesterday , Shri Suresh Prabhu posted many tweets re the relaxation of rules / norms governing the Start Ups

Following news report provides the details :

Govt removes the devil in angel tax for startups  

Highlights :

• Startups with sales of up to ₹100 crore—earlier, the exemption limit was ₹25 crore—would be eligible for angel tax relief

• An entity will be considered a startup for up to 10 years from the date of incorporation, up from the earlier seven years

·         Under the new rules, startups will be kept out of the purview of an anti-tax evasion provision in the Income Tax Act, 1961

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Will this relaxation unshackle the Start Ups to create millions of “ Self Employed “ ?

( -  essential, considering that neither the Private Sector , nor the Public Sector , nor the

     Governments can create jobs for 12 million youth joining our work-force, each year )

What is the way out ?

I urge Shri Prabhu to consider my following suggestions ( earlier sent as E Mail to Cabinet Ministers , 3 years ago  ) :

  A NEW ECONOMIC ORDER ? aka " Start Up Act - 2015 "   [  12  sept  2015  ]

 #  Objectives of the Act

     Every  year , to create 5 million Start Ups , each employing 2 persons , for a total of 10

     million new jobs per year

#    Methodology

·         Instead of Companies Act - 1956 , these Start Ups will be governed by the Start Up Act - 2015

·         A Start Up can be launched by any Indian citizen under the age of 30 ( covering roughly 65 % of our population )

·         A Start Up will need to register online on the web site of the Income Tax Department and obtain a unique " Start Up Number"

·         Although all Start Ups will need to file annual Income Tax returns ( with full disclosure of income / expenses / profits / sources of funds etc ) , it will not be required to pay any Corporate Income Tax for the first 10 years of its existence

·         A Start Up will be free to raise  funds from any source ( Individuals / Companies / PE funds / VCs / Angel Investors / Religious Trusts etc )

·         100 % FDI will be permitted in Start Ups

·         A Start Up can receive loans or equity and be able to accept fixed deposits . It can also give loans to individuals or other Start Ups or invest in other Start Ups by way of equity

·         There will be no restrictions on what interest ( on loans / FDs ) that a Start Up may pay nor any restrictions on dividends it may declare

·         The dividends declared by Start Ups will not attract any Income Tax

·         As far as the persons / companies etc providing funds to Start Ups ( by way of loans or equity ) is concerned , no questions will be asked re their source of funds

 

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Readers may want to look up following 25 Emails sent so far over the past 3 years to Cabinet Ministers :

·             In  Wonderland  of  Start Ups

·             FDI ; by any other name ?

·             Start Ups  need  wooing  ?

·             50  million  new  jobs  in  5  months  ?

·             A  Riddle   wrapped   in  Mystery

·             Well   Begun   is   Half   Done

·             How   to  Stop  the  Start  Ups

·             Start  Up  Re-defined

·             10  Million  Start  Ups  in  one   Year  ?

·             Fear   of   being   Ridiculed  ?

·             Blue  Print  for  Start  Up  Nation

·             Get   Out   of   the   Way

·             Ten   Million   Entrepreneurs  ?

·             Start  Up   Eco- System  /  USA  vs  INDIA

·             Treading   the   Beaten   Path

·             Second   Industrial   Revolution

·             From   Job-seekers   to   Job-Creators

·            Myth   of   Job  Creation

·            A   New   Economic  Order  -  Start  Up  Act  / 2015

·           Back  Factory  of  the  World

·           Killing  Many   Birds   with   one   Stone

·           Jan  Dhan   Sarjan   Yojana

·           Who   will   obsolete   Whom  ?

·           Defining   E  Commerce

·           FDI   in   Retail

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Dear Shri Prabhuji,

Since I am also sending this mail to the Manifesto committee of the Congress , BJP runs the risk of being “ also ran “ !

PS :

Incidentally – and refreshingly - Congress Committee acknowledges every single emailed suggestion , whereas none ( out of over 1,000 emails ) of my emails to the Cabinet Ministers over the past 4 years , have been acknowledged !

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20  Feb  2019

Rsvp :  hcp@RecruitGuru.com

Ray , a drop of golden Sun

This is how Julie Andrew sang in film, “ Sound of Music “ :

Doe, a deer, a female deer 
Ray, a drop of golden sun 
Me, a name I call myself 
Far, a long way to run……..

In Hindu legends, Sun was also referred to as “ Vasu “

Dr Subramanyan Vasudevan , Senior Principle Scientist at CECRI is out to harness the power of Sun to produce large quantities of Hydrogen from Water – and do it safely – and on location !

Then push this Hydrogen into fuel cells that generate electricity and ( back to some ) water

Electricity to power Electric vehicles

He and his team has come up with a contrivance that marries solar panels to electrolysis equipment so as to produce hydrogen using a Proton Exchange Membrane in water electrolysis

For full report , read :

With a little help from the Sun  

Dr Vasudevan may have “ a long way to run “ till we see solar panels mounted on roof-tops of cars, producing hydrogen – and electricity - from “ Water Electrolysis Contrivance “ located under the hood , and driving small electric motors

A contrivance which would require occasional filling up with water ( from “ Water Filling Stations “ –  Piyawas / Parabs of old times )

A holy grail ?

Without doubt , considering that skies are filled with Sunlight and abundant water on earth contains 11.19 % hydrogen !

Dr Vasudevan adds :

“Water electrolysis by PEM concept is the most suited process for onsite production of hydrogen, because of its simplicity of operation and maintenance, compactness, absence of corrosive liquids and purity of hydrogen 

The source of electricity is solar panels. You need 5 kWhr of electricity to produce one cubic metre of hydrogen in an hour, and half a cubic metre of oxygen, at atmospheric pressure. Both gases are of 99.99 per cent purity and the oxygen can be used in hospitals

The device costs around ₹1 lakh, but that is because the anode and cathode are made of iridium and platinum respectively. 

Now CECRI is trying out different materials for the electrodes to make it less expensive. The electricity, of course, is free once the cost of the solar panels is paid for. “

CONTEXT :

·         Government is budgeting Rs 5,500 Cr by way of subsidies for Electric Vehicles under FAME 2 ( Rs 25K for 2 wheelers / Rs 40K for 3 wheelers / Rs 50K for 4 wheelers )

·         Current designs of EVs will need a huge outlay on creating a Battery Charging Infra

·         Lithium for batteries has to be imported ( a dangerous dependence )

·         FAME 2 proposes CESS on vehicles driven by petrol/diesel engines ( Rs 500-25000 )

·         Disposal of Lithium batteries is a hazardous process ( might cause more pollution ? )

·         Battery Charging Stations will use Electricity produced in coal-based power plants , hence we will be only transferring the pollution from exhaust pipes to chimneys !

·         As far back as May 2017 , ISRO demonstrated a OMNI station wagon , fitted with solar panels on its roof-top and generating enough electricity to drive the motors . Nothing more is heard since then about this break-through !

As it seems to have happened in case of ISRO , will vested interests ensure that Dr Vasudevan’s innovation too , is given a secret burial ?

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Dear Shri Nitin Gadkariji,

If we fail to encourage our brilliant Scientists ( through public recognition and handsome grants for commercializing their innovations ) , then we have a bleak future !

I urge you to send a congratulatory email to Dr Subramanyan , at :

Vasudevan65@gmail.com   /  svasudevan@cecri.res.in

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19  Feb  2019

Rsvp :  hcp@RecruitGuru.com

E Commerce Story is unfolding

Following news appeared today :

Grey areas in the ‘new’ FDI policy changes in ecommerce need clarification  

Extract :

The applicability of the ‘group companies’ concept has been turned on its head.

Earlier, the group companies obligation was applied on vendors.

Now, it is applicable to marketplace entities.

Accordingly, the inventory of a vendor will be deemed to be controlled by an ecommerce marketplace entity if more than 25% of the purchases of such a vendor are from the marketplace entity or its group companies.

This new criterion for considering vendors’ inventory as the inventory of the marketplace entity has resulted in a substantial change in the business model of marketplace entities.

First, how does a marketplace entity assess whether more than 25% of purchases of a vendor are from the marketplace entity or its group companies ?

The marketplace entity, after all, will not have access to books of accounts of thousands of its vendors.

And even if this is included as a contract condition by the market place entity with its vendors, what if the vendor changes name and purchases the same goods from the former with a different name ?

Who will audit the vendors? The statutory audit seems to be only for marketplace entities, not for vendors.

First, there is now an ambiguity with regard to ownership or control of inventory.

On one hand, it prevents e-commerce entities providing a marketplace from exercising ownership or control over the inventory. 

On the other hand, it specifies that the present policy does not impose any restriction on the nature of products that can be sold on the marketplace. 

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Of course, you cannot blame the Babus in the Commerce Ministry for envisaging all the 39.92 MILLION permutations / combinations that are likely to occur in a Universe called , E Commerce

It is still not too late for them to debate the following scenario which I envisaged in email that I sent to them , on 20 Jan 2019 :

(  Weave a Wondrous World [ W3 ]  )

“ How complex can these Business Structures get  ?

I expect Shri Mukesh Ambani to conjure up for Reliance Retail , a complex structure comprising following elements :

·         Holding Company  and  Subsidiary company Reliance Retail Ltd ( RRL )

·         A “ Cooperative “ of 4 million Kirana Shops ( ala AMUL ) – KIRIL

·         Cooperative holding “ non-transferable / non-voting “ shares in RRL

·         Holding Company giving loans to Kirana Shops to buy shares of KIRIL

·         Manufacturers of Consumer Goods launching “ E Com Platform “

·         4 million Kirana shops listing their inventory on this “ E Com Platform “

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Unless the Babus want to forever remain tied up in knots, they may just admit that :

“ One day ,

#  everything will get sold online and delivered offline

#  no one will be able to determine for certain, what “ business process “ takes place in

    which country and when and what value gets added to a product / service where

#  it will become impossible to decide who owns how much of which company and when

#  there may be hundreds of variants of “ Marketplaces “ and “ Inventory Models “

#  ( at least , to begin with ), many SERVICES will get delivered from outer space, where

     no country has any jurisdiction. This phase will be followed by manufacture of GOODS

#  WTO may need to be replaced by IPTO ( Inter-planetary Trade Organization ) considering

    that  USA has taken the lead in declaring its intentions by passing,

    Who Owns Space? US Asteroid-Mining Act Is Dangerous And Potentially Illegal 

    Given this scenario , it is not difficult to understand why India has refused to participate

    in WTO’s E Commerce Policy discussions

#   People will download designs from internet and 3D PRINT products in their kitchens

#   India may ( - and must ) become the  BACK FACTORY of THE WORLD 

#   Millions of  Indians may ( and must ) acquire “ skills training “ delivered from abroad ,

     using VR  headsets and pay for the same by providing some online service

A time will come ( sooner than some may like ) when our great grand-children may ask :

“  What is a shop ?  “

Those “ some “ are saying :

Swadeshi Jagran Manch wants registration of e-commerce cos to be made mandatory

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17  Feb  2019

Rsvp : hcp@recruitGuru.com