No More Secret Swiss Accounts For Indians, A Disclosure In The Tata Spat, Furore in Parliament And Other News

No More Secrets: In yet another signal of the deadly seriousness of India’s fight against black money, the government has signed a pact with Switzerland to share information about Indians holding accounts in Swiss banks to help it catch tax evaders. The legendary practice of keeping all Swiss bank information secret has led to tax evaders in many countries keeping their illegal money stashed overseas. This may not eradicate the practice of squirreling away money into overseas accounts entirely, but it does make it more risky and painful. Of course, the disclosures from Switzerland will only start in September 2019, which gives the account holders enough time to clean up their act or find another home for their black money. (Pic: ET)

Word Battles: In the continuing battle of words between the Tatas and ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry, the can of worms continue to yield juicy details. The latest is a decades-old story that Ratan Tata had wanted to sell TCS to IBM in its early days but the deal fell through when Tata’s predecessor JRD Tata turned it down. The disclosure assumes relevance at a time when the it is the one company that’s really carrying the load for the finances of the entire group and TCS’s board is meeting to discuss removing Mistry as its chairman. This statement is clearly intended to counter a statement from Tatas that Mistry didn’t contribute to TCS’s success. Tata Sons said it will respond to Mistry’s statement on Wednesday. Meanwhile, almost all Tata companies have now convened board meetings to remove Mistry as chairman. And the war of words continues.

“JRD turned down the offer, demonstrating true vision. But it was a near-death experience for TCS at the hands of Ratan Tata.”- Mistry's statement

Parliament on Demonetization: The winter session of Parliament was disrupted again as the debate on demonetization continues unabated. The latest demand from the Opposition was to pay compensation to those who died in the queues at banks. While there is plenty that one can question in the demonetization story - the chaotic implementation, for one, or a debate on whether that was the right way to go -  the focus remains on drama.

Chart of the day: India’s top 1 percent holds more than 58 percent of the country’s wealth, up from 53 percent a year ago, Credit Suisse’s wealth survey has showed. India is also one of the world’s most unequal societies in this regard, it shows. (Pic Credit: Mint, using Credit Suisse data)

Housing got funded again: Housing.com is back in the news, for the right reasons. The real estate startup just got another round of funding from Softbank - $5 million in a bridge round. This comes at a time when Housing is reportedly looking for partners to buy it out or to merge with, as it seeks to  scale up operations in a notoriously difficult and opaque business.

Cover Image: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Senior leader L K Advani during the BJP Parliamentary meeting on Tuesday.

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