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Monday,
September 10, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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When you
sell your property How to
make successful investment
Get
thermometers verified from Weight Dept |
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Q:
I am a retired bank employee and in March, 2001, I have opted for VRS.
I have received a salary, including arrears for 1997/2000, Rs 2,25,000
b. Ex-gratia compensation VRS 10,92,000. While calculating income tax
bank has given exemption for 5 lakh for VRS.
PM
convenes meeting of Economic Council Goodwill
Network unveiled in city
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When you sell your property It is not only that the intending purchaser is required to exercise due diligence while purchasing a property; the seller, too, shall have to be extra cautious while selling one’s property. Whereas the purchaser’s guidelines guide the purchaser to invest safely besides cautioning him to be vigilant against any fraudulent deal, the seller’s guidelines help the seller to fetch him the full worth of the property under sale. Present day complicated real estate documentations have virtually made impossible for both the purchaser and the seller to go for a bargain without the active involvement of a real estate agent. However, the role of the seller and the purchaser vis-a-vis respective dealings with the real estate agent shall have to be entirely different. Whereas the purchaser is advised to go places before going for a bargain, the seller, at the same time, is advised to be extra choosy and secretive while putting one’s property for sale. Reverse check Before a piece of property is thrown into the market for sale, the seller is advised to select and authorise a reputed real estate consultant of his confidence and choice, after ascertaining the actual worth of the property from the market by the principal of “reverse check”, to fetch a genuine prospective buyer. By the principal of “reverse check” the seller, by pretending to be a purchaser for same type of property, the one which he wants to dispose of, can ascertain the actual prevailing market value of the property. The seller, under all eventualities, is strictly advised to refrain from offering his property for sale to more than one real estate agent to avoid competition among the real estate agents. So many dealers offering the same property from different platforms means there exist more sellers as compared to one or at the most two purchasers thus giving a competitive benefit to the purchasers. Unnecessary competition among the agents shall lower the worth of the property and may even stall and delay the possible disposal of the bargain. Authorisation to one agent shall ensure fetching the actual or even more price in case a choosy purchaser happened to put his finger on the particular deal. The seller should also avoid dealing directly with the prospective customers as this may indirectly involve other agents into the deal. Tell your authorised agent to negotiate the bargain on your behalf at a prefixed ascertained price and then call you to sign the agreement to sell
directly with the intending purchaser. Direct those intending customers, who approach you
directly, to contact the appointment agent. This way you shall definitely be able to create a monopoly, as the other agents operating in the area shall have to channelize through one agent and quote the same fixed price to their prospective customers. Never mention the exact number and location of the property in the advertisement and also direct your agent to follow your instructions in this regard. The seller is advised to study the agreement to sell throughly before signing it. Resale of property As the resale of the property purchased from the open government auction is generally a losing proposition, the speculative sellers are advised to prefer purchasing the properties for resale from the open market to the open Government sponsored auctions. The auction prices of the properties put for sale are usually higher than the market price due to the apparent benefit of deferred system of payment in yearly instalments. The system instead makes the proposition more costly by adding interest and conveyance charges at the auctioned price and makes it impossible to sell in the open market even at par or below the auctioned price. Documents Transferable and freehold properties are transacted through a sale deed duly executed before the sub registrar put the non-transferable properties are transacted by transferring property rights by executing indirect sale documents like general power of attorney, will, affidavit and sale agreement. The seller is advised to be extra cautious while signing these documents. The will, one of the documents, must be related to the property under sale. The seller must also be careful to account for the amount received in the sale agreement for the income tax purposes. Never sign a blank sale agreement even relating to the same property that may lead
the seller in trouble. Nothing blank should be left in the sale agreement. The seller is also advised to not to forget to complete the income tax formalities such as obtaining the 37(I), before finalisation of the bargain, if the transaction amount in the sale agreement is above the prescribed limit as applicable in the particular area as per income tax laws. In certain cases the seller is re-approached by his purchaser to re-execute the indirect sale documents such as General Power Of Attorney, will etc. for further sale. However there is no harm in re-executing GPA and will, the seller is advised to not to sign the sale agreement and affidavit while re-executing these documents. The seller is also advised to have written consent of the previous GPA and will holders while cancelling the previous documents before re-execution. Preferably they should be the one of the witnesses to the re-execution of these documents. It is rather safer to obtain a no objection affidavit from them. The seller must ensure the full consideration money having been received before signing the final sale documents. Especially, of a General Power Of Attorney empowering the holder to sell/transfer the property in question should not be done till the full and final payment as agreed has been received. The seller should not forget to have his copy of the sale agreement or sale deed, as the case may be, along with the photocopies of the documents pertaining to the property showing his previous ownership for his accounting records.
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How to make successful investment When faced with the question, “Where should I invest my money?”, most people tend to flounder. The main reason for this is that they do not go through the process of analysing their needs in a proper manner. There is a widespread tendency to jump immediately to what should actually be the last stage — that of picking a particular security in which to invest. Then, there are people who have the attitude that ‘investing’ is only for the rich. That is because they confuse ‘investing’ with the buying of shares in stock market. If this applies to you, to you, think again! If you have moved your money into a bank’s savings account, you have already made an investment. Simply put, if you are a saver then you are automatically an investor, because investing is nothing more than the act of deploying your savings somewhere. So, if you are not consciously making an investment decision, you are allowing a very important decision to be made by dafault there are many forms of investment that are just as simple as opening a bank account, and they offer you the potential to earn attractive returns. Before considering any investment, it is important to understand some key principles, which govern successful and prudent investment management. These are outlined below and are not difficult to understand. Define your financial goals: When do you need the money: Understand risk tolerance: Your tolerance for investment risk is subjective, and depends upon numerous factors, including your attitude and past investment experience. Risk tolerance may also vary depending on the financial goals. Two aspects of risk tolerance need to be specially noted: the desire to assume investment risk, and the ability or the capacity to assume the risk. When desire exceeds capacity, investing becomes gambling. Available opportunities: Asset Allocation: Choose your investments: Helpful guidelines: Diversify Invest regularly A long term perspective Know what you are buying Remember, investment success is attainable, but not without making educated investment decisions. However, making the correct choice from the array of investments available today is not always simple. Working with a financial advisors, to select investments appropriate for your goals, will increase your chances of success.
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by Pushpa Girimaji Get thermometers verified from Weight Dept If your clinical thermometer makes you hot under the collar every time you try to make sense of the mercury level, cool down. You will soon have thermometers that will not only give the right reading of your body temperature, but also facilitate their reading. Yes finally, there are three positive developments that will soon ensure the availability of reliable thermometers in the market. First, a court
stay order against enforcement of the Standards of eights and Measures (General) Rules in respect of clinical thermometers has finally been vacated. This will mean that manufacturers of thermometers will now have to get a licence and get the thermometers verified and stamped by the department of weights and measures before they are released into the market. This will ensure that they are manufactured in accordance with the specifications given under the Rules. Second, the government has decided to bring clinical thermometers under mandatory ISI certification to further improve and tighten quality control. An amendment to the Standards of Weights and Measures Rules bringing the specifications for thermometers in tune with the IS standards formulated by the Bureau of Indian Standards is expected to be issued in a day or two. This will be followed by another Order called the clinical thermometers (Quality Control) order 2001 issued under Section 14 of the Bureau of Indian Standards Act.. This means that after 180 days from the date of publication of the order in the official gazette, no person can manufacturer or sell clinical thermometers without the standard mark of the BIS. Third, the government notification amending the Standards of Weights and Measures Rules will also bring digital thermometers under quality control. As of now,. The
BIS does not have standards for digital thermometers, so the amendment has incorporated the specifications recommended by the International Organisation of Legal Metrology. Which means that soon digital thermometers will also be subjected to quality control enforced by the department of weights and measures. Once the IS standards for digital thermometers are ready, they will also be brought under mandatory ISI certification. One may well ask why it took the government so long to bring such an essential, yet simple instrument under quality control? Well, like most laws meant to protect consumers, this too has a long history, going back to 1987 when the union government first notified quality specifications for clinical thermometers under the Standards of Weights and Measures (General) Rules. As per these Rules, all clinical thermometers had to be graduated in degree Celsius (as per the metric system) and not Fahrenheit and the quality and accuracy of every clinical thermometer sold in the country had to be verified and stamped or authenticated by the department of weights and measurements, which was the enforcing authority. The state governments, however, took their own time to begin enforcement and finally when they did start the work, they came up against writ petitions filed by manufacturers against it. According to the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, the biggest jolt came from the Aligarh Sub Magistrate’s court which gave a stay against the implementation of the Rules. Subsequently, the Uttar Pradesh Government sought vacation of the stay through the Allahabad High Court and finally following directions from the High Court, the Sub Magistrate’s court vacated the stay about two months ago, thereby bringing to an end an eight-year long litigation and clearing the way for enforcement of the law. So all these developments will finally ensure quality control in the manufacture of clinical thermometers and hopefully in another six months, we will have BIS authenticating the quality of these instruments sold in the country. Besides giving an accurate measure, a thermometer is supposed to respond to the body temperature within eight seconds. And once the mercury column goes up, it is supposed to stay there till you have noted the level. And the graduation and numbering should be clear enough to be read. Quality control will ensure all this. However, in line with the metric system that we are following, these thermometers will be graduated in Celsius. Since initially consumers will find it difficult to comprehend the measurement of body temperature in Celsius, the department of weights and measures will have to immediately take up consumer education on the subject. In fact one of the objections raised by manufacturers to the Standards of Weights and Measures Rules was that it required thermometers to be graduated only in Celsius and there was consumer resistance to those thermometers. So the government has to step in and ensure consumer acceptance of thermometers graduated in Celsius. But all this speaks very poorly of manufacturers who cannot produce quality goods unless forced to do so by bringing their products under mandatory quality certification. Last year, Consumer Education and Research Centre, Ahmedabad, tested 17 brands of clinical thermometers sold in the market and not one passed the test for accuracy! Of the four brands of digital thermometers that it tested, only one showed accurate temperature. |
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by A N Shanbhag Q: I am a retired bank employee and in March, 2001, I have opted for VRS. I have received a salary, including arrears for 1997/2000, Rs 2,25,000 b. Ex-gratia compensation VRS 10,92,000. While calculating income tax bank has given exemption for 5 lakh for VRS. The balance amount if taxed @ 30% + surcharge. The bank has also given rebate of Rs 16,000 u/s 88 and also Rs 5,000 for ladies and also Rs 1,972 for arrears of 97/2000. I desire to know whether I can file my returns claiming refund as I have been given to understand that I can get refund if I file returns showing the ex-gratia amount bifurcated into number of years. — Seema A: The information you have received is wrong. This ex-gratia, related with VRS, cannot be spread over a number of years. The bank has gone to the extent of giving you the benefit of the concession of Sec. 89 (1) for arrears of salary. You should feel contented. Q: My uncle wants your advice regarding US-64 scheme. My uncle holds around 3,300 units. He had bought 3,000 units of Rs 16.40 in 96-97 and thereafter got 300 bonus units. He wants to know whether he should keep the units or not. — Firdaus Daruwalla A: It is tantamount to foolhardiness to ask for redemption of US-64 units at this juncture. Had you had a serious look at the redemption offer of UTI, you would have advised ‘hold’ action to your uncle on your own, without referring his case to me. Q: So far I have not come across any article in which you have mentioned about tax deducted at source (TDS) by LIC and other Mutual Fund operators while redemption of their certificates or while paying their dividends. I would like to know if whatever tax is deducted is enough for a taxpayer or does he have to pay more or less. — Harshal Joshi A: In most of the cases, the TDS rate is not connected with the actual liability of the taxpayer. Most unfortunate! Q: This is my first job and I would like to know the ways to save money from paying tax. I would be greatly obliged if I get this info? — Dr M.R. Srinivasan A: It is difficult, nay impossible to answer your query without knowing the financial biodata; not only yours but of each and every family member of yours. Then again, I must know your risk appetite. I suggest you read my book entitled, ‘In the Wonderland of Investment’. You have not even indicated whether you are an NRI or a Resident. If you are an NRI read my ‘NRI Investment Guide, Opportunities in the Motherland’. |
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PM convenes meeting of Economic
Council New Delhi, September 9 The meeting of the Council, consisting of
eminent economists as members, is a part of the series of meetings convened by the Prime Minister to thrash out policy to reverse the downtrend which is currently plaguing several sectors of the economy. On Friday last the Prime Minister chaired a meeting of the his Trade and Industry Council and unviewed a 14-point economic reforms agenda. Most indicators, however, suggest that the economy is running out of steam. The Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) has scaled down the GDP growth for 2000-01 to 5.2 per cent — making it the third worst growth rate since 1991-92. It is lower than the 6.4 per cent GDP growth that the economy clocked in 1999-2000, and significantly worse than the 7 per cent plus growth achieved in three consecutive years — 1994-95 through 1996-97. The National Development Council (NDC) which recently met in the capital under the chairmanship of Mr Vajpayee, had set out a rather ambitious target of achieving a GDP growth rate of 8 per cent by the end of the Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-07). Effectively this would mean a doubling of per capita income. The CII, however, has painted a not-too-rosy picture for the current year and in a study has maintained that the GDP growth for the current year is unlikely to exceed 5.25 per cent. This is somewhat lower than the revised forecast of 5.6 per cent of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER). “Almost half the year is over and little has happened in terms of reforms. Even if there is a flurry of reforms in the second half of the year, it is unlikely that their effects will be evident until the first half of 2002-03. That has been the usual lag, and there is no reason why it should be different this time”, the study prepared by the CII Corporate Research Group said. Economists here said that the immediate necessity was to implement policies which generate demand in the rural areas. This can be done only improving the terms of trade of rural areas vis-a-vis urban areas. The Prime Minister has already said that public spending in rural development programmes such as Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Sampoorna Grameen Rojgar Yojana will be increased. In the context of the bogging problems, the Prime Minister and his think-tank would have to indulge in hard brain-storming to put the economy back on tracks. |
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Goodwill Network unveiled in
city Chandigarh, September 9 Mr Parjinder S.
Sandhu, Managing Director, Goodwill Network said, “We have determined our goal to provide complete computer literacy from basic level to degree level. We are providing courses from Cambridge and Oxford Universities, United Kingdom and California State University, USA under our special program to provide international quality IT education.” Goodwill Network at present has 20 centres all over Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and Chandigarh.
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Inflation falls HDFC opens ATM O.P. Munjal CII competition |
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It
is not only that the intending purchaser is required to exercise due
diligence while purchasing a property; the seller, too, shall have to be
extra cautious while selling one’s property. Whereas the purchaser’s
guidelines guide the purchaser to invest safely besides cautioning him
to be vigilant against any fraudulent deal, the seller’s guidelines
help the seller to fetch him the full worth of the property under sale.
