The Hindu Business Line : Speed is the key to post-Budget publications

WALK into one of those bookshops that cater to accountants and lawyers these days and what you find are publications about Budget that was presented only a couple of days ago.

At C.Sitaraman & Co in the city, one encounters an array of these books at the very first counter. Taxmann Allied Services P Ltd leads the march with `The Budget 2004-05' and the book opens with a page of quick bullet points under direct and indirect taxes, such as: "Gifts from unrelated persons above Rs 25,000 on or after Sep 1, 2004 will be taxed as income." After the speech, there is the Finance (No 2) Bill, 2004, schedules, notes on clauses and so on.

While it is true that all these are on the Web site of the Finance Ministry, most professionals prefer to have the Bill in printed form. "It is easy to track the discussion when one has the Bill in hand," says a chartered accountant attending a post-Budget analysis meeting. Also, since the site provides the Bill and other Budget-related documents in many small PDF files to facilitate downloading, there is difficulty in compiling everything in the right order at one's computer.

Taxmann's `The Economic Survey 2003-2004' is also hot on the shelves. The publication adds interest by printing charts in art paper, and presenting an otherwise drab report in a readable format. There is little to compose at the printer's end because the Ministry itself does much work; the files that are posted on the finmin.nic.in are in print-ready condition.

Another tome is `Service Tax: How to meet your obligations' by S.S. Gupta, from Taxmann. From the `relevant extracts of Finance Bill' in this book, you would learn here that opinion poll means any service designed to secure information on public opinion regarding social, economic, political or other issues. Mr Amit Bhargava, Director (Sales) of Taxmann explains how his Delhi customers get the Budget by 8 p.m. on the B-Day itself.

"We are in this for the last about four decades. Speed is a `value addition' we have been able to achieve as regards government publications such as the Survey. Ten publications have been brought out post-Budget, and within 24 hours we manage to reach these at all places in India. This is possible because of a strong editorial team and streamlined operations such as production, processing, binding, transport and so on that work with precision."

Bharat Law House Pvt Ltd plugs the FM's picture on the cover of its latest publication on Finance Bill. Centax Publications Pvt Ltd targets avid followers of Customs and Excise with its compact publication that includes relevant notifications too. For instance, one of the latest Service Tax Notifications provides benefit to rent-a-cab scheme operator exempts thus: "from so much of the service tax leviable as in excess of the service tax calculated on a value which is equivalent to 40 per cent of the gross amount charged." Pooja Law House has brought out Budget Notifications on indirect tax.

There are bulkier volumes too that have hit the racks double fast. Such as Snow White Publications' Cenvat Manual, with a preface dated July 9, 2004, by the author T. Gunasekaran. Cenvat is not gone totally; only the textile sector has been relieved of it.

Over phone, Mr Ketan Thakkar, Director of Snow White, explains how authors are given about four hours to `research' the changes and then provide commentary. "This time, by 10th morning, we brought out four publications, including a ready reckoner for Excise and a guide to Service Tax, and release them all over India. Next year, our target is to squeeze in the deadline by about 12-14 hours." With greater awareness of fiscal happenings among the people, it would not be surprising if these Budget publications make it to bestseller lists.