West Bengal Finance Minister proved that he is a blunt person to handle such an important portfolio like finance. He is one of the best sycophants of Mamta - who is pathetically misfit to be the CM of any state!
Showing posts with label corporate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label corporate. Show all posts
Monday, August 25, 2014
Friday, November 18, 2011
CM's party in West Bengal sucks Industries
Jobs cut, monthly pay intact
Backed By Unions, 1,000 Casual Workers Refuse To Quit
Udit Prasanna Mukherji & Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay | TNN 17.11.11
Haldia: Faced with losses of Rs 600 crore this fiscal, the management of Haldia Petrochemical Limited (HPL) reduced its hired car fleet by 25% last month to trim expenses. The move was part of a larger cost-cutting exercise across various departments that made around 1,000 of the 1,800 casual workers engaged in HPL redundant. But all of them, blessed by their powerful unions, have refused to quit and continue to draw their regular wages, rendering the whole cost-cutting operation ineffective.
Now, as the petrochem giant fends for survival strategies, it continues to issue paycheques worth around Rs 1.5 crore every month to workers not even on the payrolls. Partha S Bhattacharyya, managing director of HPL, said, “The decision was taken as part of the overall cost-cutting exercise. One needs to understand that.” The average monthly pay of an HPL casual worker is Rs 10,000-12,000. “This (paycheques to redundant workers) will affect the margin by Rs 15-18 crore this year,” an HPL official said. Such workers are not HPL recruits but are hired by private contract agencies that are close to the trade unions.
The much celebrated political change appears to have done little for Bengal’s largest industrial town, where Trinamool Congress-backed labour unions continue to hold sway and issue diktats in the same fashion that Citu did during Left rule. “When Citu controlled the unions, it forced HPL
to employ these casual workers. Now, only the signboard has changed and Trinamool-backed labour wing INTTUC has taken over. Nothing else has. We have told union leaders to redeploy the excess labour in other companies. But they are not listening. The company will not survive if they continue to step up pressure,” the official said.
HPL officials also alleged the productivity of most of these casual workers is very low. “They are unskilled workers. In Gujarat, if you change contractors, the new contractor has the right to deploy a new set of workers. But here, you cannot do that. And we cannot change the contractors either because no good contractor is willing to come,” an official said.
Milan Mondal, working president of the INTTUC-affiliated HPL casual workers’ union, does not think casual labourers at HPL are in excess. “This is a ploy to get rid of workers,” he said.
Amid a fierce battle among INTTUC factions for control of unions, HPL’s highly skilled permanent employees — numbering around 400 and most of them engaged in technical jobs — are putting up a brave face. A majority of them have shunned unions affiliated to a political organization.
Narayan Chakraborty, an employee of plant materials department, said Citu had forced them to form a union a few years back but they never took active part in the union’s
activities. “Now, the Citu union exists only on paper. They do not have any influence on us. If INTTUC approaches us, we will say no,” he said. Dibakar Karmakar, an employee of the instrumentation department and Dipnarayan Sarkar, who works in logistics, share the same view. “Why should we form a union when we can approach the management on our own?” Sarkar said.
Now, as the petrochem giant fends for survival strategies, it continues to issue paycheques worth around Rs 1.5 crore every month to workers not even on the payrolls. Partha S Bhattacharyya, managing director of HPL, said, “The decision was taken as part of the overall cost-cutting exercise. One needs to understand that.” The average monthly pay of an HPL casual worker is Rs 10,000-12,000. “This (paycheques to redundant workers) will affect the margin by Rs 15-18 crore this year,” an HPL official said. Such workers are not HPL recruits but are hired by private contract agencies that are close to the trade unions.
The much celebrated political change appears to have done little for Bengal’s largest industrial town, where Trinamool Congress-backed labour unions continue to hold sway and issue diktats in the same fashion that Citu did during Left rule. “When Citu controlled the unions, it forced HPL
to employ these casual workers. Now, only the signboard has changed and Trinamool-backed labour wing INTTUC has taken over. Nothing else has. We have told union leaders to redeploy the excess labour in other companies. But they are not listening. The company will not survive if they continue to step up pressure,” the official said.
HPL officials also alleged the productivity of most of these casual workers is very low. “They are unskilled workers. In Gujarat, if you change contractors, the new contractor has the right to deploy a new set of workers. But here, you cannot do that. And we cannot change the contractors either because no good contractor is willing to come,” an official said.
Milan Mondal, working president of the INTTUC-affiliated HPL casual workers’ union, does not think casual labourers at HPL are in excess. “This is a ploy to get rid of workers,” he said.
Amid a fierce battle among INTTUC factions for control of unions, HPL’s highly skilled permanent employees — numbering around 400 and most of them engaged in technical jobs — are putting up a brave face. A majority of them have shunned unions affiliated to a political organization.
Narayan Chakraborty, an employee of plant materials department, said Citu had forced them to form a union a few years back but they never took active part in the union’s
activities. “Now, the Citu union exists only on paper. They do not have any influence on us. If INTTUC approaches us, we will say no,” he said. Dibakar Karmakar, an employee of the instrumentation department and Dipnarayan Sarkar, who works in logistics, share the same view. “Why should we form a union when we can approach the management on our own?” Sarkar said.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Make it simple for millions to start a business
SWAMINOMICS
Make it simple for millions to start a business
SWAMINATHAN S ANKLESARIA AIYAR
Elite journals like Economic and Political Weekly are full of articles describing Indian economic policy as neo-liberal. This might lead readers to think that India has become a haven of economic freedom, a business paradise. Anybody who has actually tried to start and run a business will tell you this is a pack of lies, but the fiction continues unabated. India ranks only 132 out of 183 countries in ease of doing business, according to ‘Doing Business 2012’, the latest global annual report on ease of doing business produced by the International Finance Corporation and World Bank. China is way ahead of India in 91st position, but is clearly no business paradise either.
Five years ago, in the ‘Doing Business 2007’ report, India came 134th out of 175 countries. Clearly the improvement since then is very minimal. This is not liberalism or neo-liberalism. Rather it is neo-illiberalism, in which you remove a few of a hundred hurdles and claim you have done economic reform. The hundreds of remaining hurdles are imposed in the supposed public interest, but actually used for kickbacks and patronage networks.
You might think that governments swearing to make life simpler for the aam aadmi will take special care to improve the ease of starting a business. Alas, India ranks just 166th in ease of starting a business. The government wants the aam aadmi to be a recipient of subsidies and freebies, not somebody who can start a business and stand on his own feet. Five years ago, India occupied 88th position, and has gone seriously downhill since. This constitutes a huge bias against small businesses and in favour of entrenched large business. That is a hallmark of neo-illiberalism.
Most new businesses require some form of construction. Whether you are opening a new shop or factory, you need a construction permit. How easy is this? The latest report places India at 181st out of 183 countries, almost at the bottom! So much for euphoric reports abut India becoming a superpower. The New Statesman, UK, actually had a cover story on India posing the question “Should we fear this new superpower?” Nobody should fear a country that seems determined to place every possible hurdle in the way of construction.
Hurdles and delays raise the cost of starting a business to 46.8% of per capita income, without even counting any bribes or speed payments. The cost of getting a construction permit is awhopping 1,631.4% of per capita income, against 444% in China and just 12.8% in the US.
Left-wing politicians complain that reforms have created a two-track India where some of the bigger firms have surged ahead but others cannot take off. The problem surely lies in the continuing illiberalism that makes it so difficult to start a new business or get a construction permit.
Any market system depends critically on contracts being honoured. If people can renege on or ignore contracts without paying any penalty, business becomes very risky for new and small entrepreneurs. Only those with money, muscle and influence can thrive in this milieu, because they have extra-legal ways of ensuring that they are not double-crossed. Alas, India ranks 182nd out of 183 countries in enforcement of contract. On average it takes 1,420 days to enforce a contract, given our legal and administrative delays. China beats us hollow—it ranks 16th in the world. Contract enforcement in China averages 114 days, less than one-tenth of the time taken in India.
Businesses everywhere pay a multitude of taxes—corporate tax, excise duty, sales tax and so on. India ranks 147th in ease of paying business taxes. Indian businesses have to pay some sort of tax no less than 33 times a year, against just seven times in China. In this respect too, India discriminates against new, small entrepreneurs. Large companies have the staff and contacts to deal with the burden of repeated tax payments, but smaller businesses do not.
Competitive markets imply the winding up of insolvent businesses as well as creation of new ones. Insolvent companies should be wound up quickly, so that their machines and workers can be redeployed in new, more productive enterprises. India comes 128th in ease of winding up. On average, resolving insolvency takes seven years! In China it takes only 1.7 years.
The key reforms India needs are not higher limits for foreign investment in banks or insurance. The most important reforms will be those making it simple for millions of Indians to start businesses and stand on their own feet. Such reforms will not get banner headlines or TV coverage. Yet they are the most important reforms of all.
SPEED BREAKER AHEAD Michael Boneham (centre), president of Ford Motors, at the plant site in Gujarat. India ranks 132 out of 183 countries in ease of doing business, according to a new report
Monday, November 14, 2011
Kingfisher got BEER-HUG!
Revealed: The real reason behind Kingfisher Airlines’ fall from grace
Different quarters attribute different reasons for Kingfisher Airlines’ lack of profitability that has caused them to beg the government to bail them out. Vijay Mallya blames the government for high taxes. Other businessmen blame Vijay Mallya for whining without understanding how a free market works. And so on. The real reason is however right under everyone’s noses.
As Deepika dated Yuvi, his form dropped drastically, forcing people to question his cricketing abilities. But at least he had Deepika...
Er.. not for long, as it turned out. Deepika went on to romance Ranbir, whose towel promptly dropped along with Saawaria's fortunes at the box office...
Er.. that ended too. Deepika now went on to date the dashing Siddharth Mallya... Love was in the air... but uh.. Kingfisher isn't about to be in the air too long
What should Vijay Mallya do now?
(Based on a wisecrack floating around on Facebook)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)