A long distance travel followed by a bout of serious illness and a pre-occupation with an exam result saw to it that there was a break in my posts, extended to more than a month. In this intervening period, there were some significant developments on the economic front. Inflation is soaring, Economic Survey and the biggie, Budget 07 were presented, EASIEST was introduced, CRR was hiked, etc. Surely, my blog missed out on all the heat and action!!
It's been close to three weeks since the presentation of Budget 07. I'm still not ready for a full-fledged reflection on it; still two points are worthy of immediate mention.
First is the proposal to formulate a scheme of 'Reverse Mortgage'. "In the scheme, being conceptualized, a senior citizen of 62 years or more, who owns a house, can be given loan up to a fixed amount worked out on the percentage basis of the market value of the house owned and given on mortgage. They can, if they so desire, opt for receiving the amount in monthly installments also. In such a case, the amount admissible will be spread over in 15 years in the form of annuity....The loan amount need not be repaid in the lifetime of person / spouse.....In the event of their death, the institution will realize the amount through selling the property or their progeny can take it back paying the necessary amount." It surely does look good, theoretically, I hasten to add. The reason is simple: it's the Indian psyche! Our customs and mindset are against taking up a liability as we age. Moreover, the scheme applies only to self-acquired property and not ancestral property (that's as I understand it). Besides, the children of the loanees may be against foisting another liability upon them.
Second, "Finance Act section 83 made an amendment in Service Tax and now Central Excise Section 14AA is also made applicable to service tax provisions for the purpose of Audit. Now the Cost Accountants empowered to conduct audit in service tax also as referred in section 14AA Central Excise Act." This is music to the ears of Cost Accountants in practice, given the growing scope of service tax. This amendment is all the more heartening since the amendment (I was told) was made despite strong lobbying by ICAI. The crucial question, as raised by a member of the Chapter in my home town, is about how many Cost Accountants would be ready to rise to this. Hope there will be many....
More in next....
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