India’s Absurdities

Omkar Goswami writes in BusinessWorld:

A friend of mine who has recently taken up a career as an independent consultant was given a serious run-around in getting a service tax registration. The authorities wanted proof of residence. He submitted the most recent bank statements as well as copies of his telephone bills — both of which carried his address. These were summarily rejected. Guess why? Because the bank statements were from a private, non-nationalised bank, and because his was an Airtel phone connection. According to the service tax babu, statements from private sector banks and telecom providers do not constitute valid proof of address. Those from state-owned banks and MTNL and BSNL do.

Eventually, my friend had to get a certified copy of his home rental agreement on stamped paper before the service tax office accepted it as a proof of residence. Had he been living in his father’s house, he would have been in serious trouble, for he would not have been able to give a rental agreement.

And concludes

The older I get, the more I focus on the micro: laws, rules, regulations, approval processes, and the nitty-gritty of doing business.

India’s macroeconomics is par for the course. It’s the myriad dysfunctional micros that drag us back. Like the absurdities that you have just read. And the many others that you, dear reader, could offer as examples. We are like that only.

I guess, this is yet another example of what we saw a few posts back. Rules are tilted in favour of businesses run by government - in many small ways.