HSBC India

HSBC 'Customer Care' is great... talk time = 2 mins... time on hold = 28 mins... server down time everyday... work done = 0 ... thats HSBC for you!!!

Tax, Tax & More Tax

How much tax do we pay effectively in India?

We pay toll tax for roads - for which we have already paid as taxes on petrol + 1% cess for highways.

User development fee for using airports - for which we pay taxes through air tickets.

We pay income tax, VAT of 4 different types, Octroi, Excise, Customs, Property etc. The number of direct and indirect taxes in India are comparable to number of stars in the universe. Effectively we pay around 50% of our earning as tax for an appalling infrastructure and facilities.

The question is where does all this tax go?

We all know that it goes into the pockets of few GREEDY PIGS (so called politicians) pockets.

That is why our votes and getting the right people into the system matters so much.

It will be a slow process, but we need to set the wheels in motion.

WTF

What a start to new year....
Israel attacks palestine, satyam fraud, truckers & oil companies strike, ukraine russia gas issues. How is economy going to get started again?

Thought things will start picking up again slowly this year but got too many speedbreakers it seems.

Doing a background check on a company

During my job hunt and before accepting the new offer. I did a bit of background check on my prospective employers.

This is when I came across a couple of websites which offer a lot of help. Also, the companies section on www.linkedin.com is of great help with its statistics and all.

Here are the links to two web sites I found really helpful.

www.talentquity.in
www.workexp.com

Post crap errrr post scrap...!!!

'Post Scrap' on orkut sounds so similar to 'Post Crap'

My 5 cents on Financial Crisis

I had been following the current Financial Crisis and Credit crunch very keenly since it all started. 

Yesterday it seems it was the final straw with Lehman brothers filing for bankruptcy, Merryll Lynch being bought for 50 billion US$ and AIG also about to fall.

From here on I beleive things will be better.

But, throughout I can't stop thinking about all these banks, investment banks, mortgage firms etc. They are headed by the most qualified people in the world, all passouts from Ivy League colleges. How can they do such a silly mistake - 

"Lending money to people who have already deaulted on loans or have poor credit history, that too on higher rates than the market."

Obviously they will default on these loans too. Such people don't need loan, they need help.

I am not an economic whizz but it is common sense.

And even if you lend money like this, one tries to contain the exposure to risk.

For example if I have 100Rs extra and my expenses are 50Rs I will lend only 10Rs for risk related investments.

What I understand for all this is; that some people to bloat there sales figures and to get good salary hikes have proposed this and went overboard selling such loans. Now, they are sitting pretty with their millons of dollars while everybody else is facing the music.

With the slowdown in economy it does affect people like you and me everywhere across the world.

I will say this is a shame to all the people involved and they should be brought to court and tried for duping the investors and manipulating the economy. 

Today's news

While watching news this morning I came to know that Shah Rukh Khan smoked a Cigarette in Khalsa college premises.

Government was very quick and filed a complaint against him in court.

Wow!!! At least our government is fast in something.

While so many other big crimes go unnoticed, it seems government has time to sue Sharukh Khan for smoking cigarette.

WTF!!!