08.11.2006

• Buoyant revenue scenario in India
  
• Rise in tax-GDP ratio up from 8.3% in 1998-99 to 11.2% in 2006-07.
• The present direct tax slabs are at 10%, 20% and 30%. They are set in 1997.
• Corporate tax rate made 30% in 2005.
• MAT (Minimum Alternate Tax) rate hiked from 7.5% to 10% in 2006.
• The buoyancy is believed to have arisen out of low tax rates leading to a larger tax base.
  
• IIT, Roorkee develops stealth technology for aircraft
• It developed microwave absorbing nano-composite coatings that could make aircraft almost invisible.
• The coating absorbs most of the incident radiation and reflects very little.
• Mining bribery scam in Karnataka
• The allegations of bribery leveled against the Chief Minister Mr. H.D. Kumaraswamy by Mr. Janardhan Reddy, the BJP’s suspended MLC that the CM took Rs. 150 cr in bribes for mining rights allotment are being probed into by a one man commission of enquiry headed by Justice U.L. Bhat.
• Costs of containing emission levels across the globe
• Experts estimate that about 1% the global GDP – meaning $500 bn a year – would be required to check emissions to safer levels.
• Knowledge management
• There is an excellent article written about the varieties of knowledge and the process of knowledge-conversion written by Jaspal Singh in the Economic Times dated today. Read it here.
• Knowledge is of two types: tacit and explicit. There is a knowledge conversion model given out by Japanese academicians called SECI – socialization, externalization, combination and internalization.
• Strange goings on in the US government debt market
• American government debt market is of the size $4 bn. It is the world’s most liquid and deepest market for debt with an average daily volume of $600 bn.
• The strange goings on: Some banks/firms have gained control over scarce bond issues, then used that power to distort prices and make a dishonest buck. With some note and bond issues, it seems, banks can squeeze the market by getting their hands on much of the paper and then restricting the supply, sometimes by parking it with custodian banks. When notes are in short supply, holders can profit by using them as collateral for loans. They do this in the repo market by offering them as collateral. In the repo market, the scarcer the paper that you offer as collateral, the lower the interest you need to pay. It is reported that in some instances the repo rate has fallen to almost zero.
• It is felt that the rising overnight interest rates (at 5.25% currently) have encouraged traders to play this game.
• Loans by cooperative banks all across the country
• Stated to be close to Rs. 70,00 cr with Maharashtra alone accounting for about Rs. 40,000 cr of it.

Note:
In the true spirit of blogging, I would like you all to express your opinions on some burning topic everyday. I would leave the burning topic here at the end for you to express your opinion on it in the form of comments below:

Today’s topic: Is the Supreme Court overreaching itself in its stand on the demolition of shops issue in Delhi?