India taxes ESOPs, ie employees stock options, harshly, very harshly. Let me give you a quick history lesson.
When I founded TV18 in the early 90s, we had given generous stock options to our critical team members. In that sense, we belonged to a clutch of ESOP pioneers in India. And since we were leaders in business news, we also drilled hard into issues around entrepreneurship, taxation and union budgets.


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<div>India taxes ESOPs, ie employees stock options, harshly, very harshly. Let me give you a quick history lesson.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>When I founded TV18 in the early 90s, we had given generous stock options to our critical team members. In that sense, we belonged to a clutch of ESOP pioneers in India. And since we were leaders in business news, we also drilled hard into issues around entrepreneurship, taxation and union budgets.<br>
<br>
Tune in to Raghav's Take!</div>

The Quint’s editor-in-chief Raghav Bahl speaks on business, politics and policies.

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Budget 2020: Despite ‘Fixing’, ESOP Remains A Much-Abused Acronym

The Democratic National Convention (DNC) nominated Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for the November elections in a uniquely spectacular manner. The fact that it was a COVID-induced ‘virtual event’ was perhaps the least of it.

But the parade of Republican heavyweights at a Democratic convention was unprecedented, from Colin Powell, John Kasich to Cindy McCain. I shudder to think what legal convolutions would have gotten triggered if India’s moth-ridden anti-defection law was applied to these worthies!


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Music: Big Bang Fuzz

<div>The Democratic National Convention (DNC) nominated Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for the November elections in a uniquely spectacular manner. The fact that it was a COVID-induced ‘virtual event’ was perhaps the least of it.<br>
<br>

</div>
<div>But the parade of <em>Republican</em> heavyweights at a Democratic convention was unprecedented, from Colin Powell, John Kasich to Cindy McCain. I shudder to think what legal convolutions would have gotten triggered if India’s moth-ridden anti-defection law was applied to these worthies!<br>
<br>
Tune in to the podcast!<br>
<br>
<strong>Music:</strong> Big Bang Fuzz</div>

Will India Do Better Or Worse Under ‘Centrists’ Biden & Harris?

It’s a familiar cacophony. Cut taxes. Invert the inverted duty structure. Control the fiscal deficit. Be honest about your arithmetic. Abolish equity taxes. Step up government expenditure, the fisc be damned. Bring back investment allowance. Slap inheritance taxes... And on it goes, a laundry list of standard policy tactics which could revive India’s economy.



Frankly, the time for budget quick-fixes is over. If PM Modi genuinely wants to rejuvenate, he’s got to create ‘TRUST’ for India’s private enterprise which accounts for 90% of the economy.


India’s bureaucracy has always been deeply suspicious of well-regulated markets. Which is why they love to micro-manage outcomes. But this time, their quest has become maniacal. If you create truly competitive markets, ‘super profits’ will vanish on their own — when will our policy-makers understand that?


We should have learned from Ben Bernanke, who authored TARP (Troubled Assets Reconstruction Program) and saved America’s economy in 2008.


The ‘criminalisation’ of business has now become quite outrageous. 

Therefore, it has also had the most harmful impact on India’s economy.

Host: Raghav Bahl

Editor: Mohammad Ibrahim

Producer: Sonal Gupta


Read the story on The Quint

<div>It’s a familiar cacophony. Cut taxes. Invert the inverted duty structure. Control the fiscal deficit. Be honest about your arithmetic. Abolish equity taxes. Step up government expenditure, the fisc be damned. Bring back investment allowance. Slap inheritance taxes... And on it goes, a laundry list of standard policy tactics which could revive India’s economy.<br>
<br>
<br>
Frankly, the time for budget quick-fixes is over. If PM Modi genuinely wants to rejuvenate, he’s got to create ‘TRUST’ for India’s private enterprise which accounts for 90% of the economy.<br>
<br>
India’s bureaucracy has always been deeply suspicious of well-regulated markets. Which is why they love to micro-manage outcomes. But this time, their quest has become maniacal. If you create truly competitive markets, ‘super profits’ will vanish on their own — when will our policy-makers understand that?<br>
<br>
We should have learned from Ben Bernanke, who authored TARP (Troubled Assets Reconstruction Program) and saved America’s economy in 2008.<br>
<br>
The ‘criminalisation’ of business has now become quite outrageous. <br>
Therefore, it has also had the most harmful impact on India’s economy.<br>
<br>
<strong>Host: Raghav Bahl<br>
Editor: Mohammad Ibrahim<br>
Producer: Sonal Gupta<br>
<br>
Read the story on </strong><a href="https://www.thequint.com/voices/opinion/raghav-bahl-budget-2020-nirmala-sitharaman-trust-economic-policies-tax-fiscal-cuts"><strong>The Quint</strong></a><strong> </strong>
</div>

Budget 2020: Don’t Give Tax & Fiscal Cuts — Just Give Us ‘TRUST’

For over five years, I’ve criticised ‘state creep’ on Prime Minister Modi’s watch. This tendency hit a crescendo on 5 July 2019, when the second Modi regime’s first budget was read out in parliament. While that document was riddled with state over-reach, I will remind you only of the most egregious measure: a voluntary contribution under CSR (corporate social responsibility) was converted into a criminal liability! Mercifully, it was quickly aborted, but not before it had betrayed the underlying instinct.
Inevitably, the sentiment, markets and financial indicators tanked after the Fifth July Budget. A concerned Modi tried to ‘talk up’ the economy by feting ‘wealth creators’ in his Independence Day speech, but it fell on deaf years. The markets continued to plummet.

Tune in to this podcast for the full story!

<div>For over five years, I’ve criticised ‘state creep’ on Prime Minister Modi’s watch. This tendency hit a crescendo on 5 July 2019, when the second Modi regime’s first budget was read out in parliament. While that document was riddled with state over-reach, I will remind you only of the most egregious measure: a voluntary contribution under CSR (corporate social responsibility) was converted into a <em>criminal</em> liability! Mercifully, it was quickly aborted, but not before it had betrayed the underlying instinct.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Inevitably, the sentiment, markets and financial indicators tanked after the Fifth July Budget. A concerned Modi tried to ‘talk up’ the economy by feting ‘wealth creators’ in his Independence Day speech, but it fell on deaf years. The markets continued to plummet.</div>
<div>
<br>
Tune in to this podcast for the full story!</div>

Budget 2020: Despite ‘Fixing’, ESOP Remains A Much-Abused Acronym

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