FROM THE DESK OF ASSOCIATE DEAN

Our mission in the university is “Global leadership in banking and excellence in education”. Our perseverance and endeavor is guided by our vision to transform the lives of our students, through exemplary education and training. Outcome based education essentially shifts emphasis from the mere absorption of a body of learning provided to students by an institution, to making students demonstrate that they ‘know and are able to do ’whatever the required outcomes of that body of learning are The curriculum maintains a healthy balance between depth and breadth of knowledge and skills, thus combining a strong conceptual base with exposure to contemporary practices and trends.We are happy that this time a group of women joining us in Feb for the KPO Program and hope they will experience wonderful journey with Manipal. Wish you all the best for your effort and hope your E-Newsletter will meet grand success.

Regards,A.B.Kumaraswamy(Associate Dean)

MESSAGE FROM HR

For all of us at Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited the event of a new batch joining in KPO Program is always a moment to us one as

we continue our journey of acquiring best in class talent. You all have left your home to chase your dream; to know, to explore and to excel in Banking. We feel proud to associate ourselves with stars like you with so many ideas and when you perform

and excel. As a HR partner of your journey with KMBL we appreciate your efforts and hard works towards making this

mission a grand success. We wish a grand success for your effort towards E-News Letter. Wish you all a colorful journey with us.

Hope you will exceed our expectations and take KMBL to the top of her glory

TEAM HR, KPO Program

FROM THE DESK OF HOD

INFINITY IS THE JOURNEY OF MY LIFE

Manipal University, Bangalore campus is being developed with the PO trainings, educational, residential and recreational facilities. Highly qualified, experienced and dedicated faculty from various banks and other reputed fields are committed for imparting quality education. Students at Manipal campus are achieving remarkable academic success and enjoying socially and culturally rich campus life. We want our students to show certain standards as they step into their professional life, so we have imposed certain rules and regulations which are supposed to be followed. We feel glad when you take such initiatives and this really sets higher standards. This February your junior batch is stepping into the campus and I take this opportunity to welcome all of them to our premises. Wish you a successful journey ahead.Regards,

RAVI PRAKASH KRISHNAMURTHYHOD KPOP and AYBP

MESSAGE FROM STUDENT ENGAGEMENT OFFICER

First thing I always like to tell the children that we are following code of conduct and not the rules, it is easy to break or bend the rules, but codes are followed and never be broken. You have to inform to the right person where and when you are going. If you fail to follow this, then it’s a painful affair.I want people would recognize you because of your code and they should follow you that are my aim. Also, I heartily welcome the 8th Batch of the Kotak and opportunities for girls are now increasing in Kotak. And I am sure they will enjoy their stay in academy. Let the 8th batch enjoy their liberty till I meet them.

Colonel Rana

“We invented money and we use it, yet we cannot understand its laws or control its action. It has a life of its own”. The most concerning chapter for India during last two years and specifically last two months is the weakening of rupee against dollar. It is not only that rupee has lost its value in the global context but also dollar has improved its performance in the global trading markets.The government of India is still unable to generate heavy capital inflows. If US Federal Reserve withdraws its bond buying programme, there will be unexpected outward flow of money leaving India clambering for dollars. The slowdown in the economy has made the situation more fickle. The government has a strong role in controlling currency in the form of policy regulation and reforms. As a result the government has gradually lost its control over rupee depreciation. Investors’ sentiment plays a pivotal role over there and gold imports account for 35% and 11% of India’s trade bill respectively. There has been an uninterrupted demand for the dollar from oil importers pushing the rupee lower. Likewise the falling gold prices have made the central bank to reduce imports, which increases CAD and hits the currency directly. Indian economy requires a strong structural reform to maintain a positive balance of payment. Also government spends excessively as election approaches just to win electorate votes. This causes the rupee to depreciate, and then the government beats around the bush to control the currency behavior. Most of the time these measure worsen the economic crisis to a great extent. As a result there is a heavy demand for dollar and Indian currency, hence, economic situation is looking too gloomy.RBI has taken certain steps to be followed to have a control over rupee. But the big question comes here “What are the implications and how bad it has affected?” The best business prototype anyone can have is to spend in rupees and earn in dollars. Basically the sector which is targeting exports for its industrial operations are the one who wins the game. Dollar appreciation would be positive for sectors such as IT, pharmaceuticals, hotel, textiles and automobiles which have the total foreign exchange earnings of these firms are far greater than their forex spends.Sharply declining rupee triggers inflation, broadens the current account deficit, hits investor sentiment and creates burdens for organization with high exposure to foreign debt. The government and the RBI have taken several reform initiatives to resist the down turn, but their success stories are looking gloomy.A weak rupee will create extra stress on oil marketing corporation(OMC) and this will surely be passed on to the consumers as the companies are allowed to do so after the deregulation of petrol and partial deregulation of diesel. If the OMC’s increase fuel prices, there will be a substantial increase in overall cost of transportation which will trigger inflation. If the depreciation is steep and beyond control, it will hit inflation. Indians who have gone to abroad for tours or studies are highly affected in these times. The only smiling people in this context are the NRI’s who gain more on sending money to their homeland.As a whole we can say that though weakening rupee is the reason for someone’s smile it is the real threat for the country’s overall fiscal health. But in my opinion this huge downgrade is a temporary phenomenon and the rupee is really oversold. Now the government and central bank should work hand in hand and find out policy measures to stabilize the frightening scenario. I personally hope a further cut in SLR to ease the liquidity to save rupee and also import duty hike in gold and other related materials. RBI can buy bonds to ease liquidity in the market. Finally, we can say that the situation is tight and challenging for us, but we cannot only hope for the best but also should contribute the most to get back Indian Economy in the driving seat.

Shakshi KPO 7

SCOPE OF FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN GUJARAT

Financial inclusion is the delivery of banking services at an affordable cost to vast sections of this advantaged and low income groups. The focus is basically on four products: a pure savings product with inbuilt overdraft facility, a recurring deposit product, and remittance product and entrepreneurship credit in the form of KCC/GCC. The basic reasons for exclusion are-geographical location, economic and social factors, financial illiteracy, development in a country, accelerate economic growth of the country, the

regulators benefit from the audit trail and the customers can avail a variety of financial products provided by institutions. Some of the initiatives taken by the government and regulator are establishment of commercial banks, RRBs, UCBs PACS MFIs, SHGs. Other initiatives currently underway are –launching national financial literacy campaigns, facilitating low cost remittance products and setting up of financial literacy centres and credit counselling and many more. Some of the measures taken by RBI are Project Financial Literacy, Bank Branch and ATM Expansion Liberalized, targeting of villages where population is more than 2000 people, simplification of KYC Norms etc. KMBL’s initiative towards Financial Inclusion (as on 31st May 2013)KMBL has more than 2.79 lakh BSBDA opened under its Financial Inclusion Initiative.The Bank has started its ICT based Financial Inclusion Initiative in various districts of Gujarat.KMB has covered 49 villages through its own rural bank branch network and 693 villages by way of engaging Business Correspondents.According to AISECT, the scheme offers services such as a/c opening, deposit withdrawal, issuing of ATM cards and opening a/c’s of minors.Despite widespread expansion of the banking sector the data that has been collated comes out with the following findings:Though 87.3% respondents were covered under FI drive only 70% could open an a/c and hence the coverage remains only 70%.The facilities such as pass book, overdraft, GCC etc. were known to less than 10% respondents.While 84.1% were acquainted with the facilities provided by the bank only 33.3% could actually utilize it.Almost 88% persons transacted with the banks while 12% could not owing to various reasons such as the procedures were found cumbersome, it required several visits to the bank and hesitant (6.5%), 12.5% had no information about the a/c they had.Now coming to future endeavour a major challenge for the system is that along with tackling illiteracy we also need to develop the ability to include people who are not in the system. Legal identity as a challenge also follows, but with AADHAR in action, it will slowly diminish. We can also look to include more facilities via the Rupay card especially for a customer at one bank to carry out transactions at another. Since the idea is to target people with low buying this is done to make them lucrative for the private enterprises to get abilities , we have to build economically feasible business models around the services offered. This is done to make them lucrative for the private enterprises to get actively involved. The government should cater to tax benefits up to a certain value to promote electronic money transfers. Similarly we need to keep working to reduce the cost of electronic transactions so that more people can make avail of this utility. At last we can say that government bodies, banks and private players together need to build an eco-system that is largely driven by retail transactions, rather than only a/c opening or remittance , so that India attains true “digital” financial inclusion.

Prachi KPO 7

ALUMNI SPEAKS

Q: What are your leanings from previous experiences? Ans: As such I am not having much experience but yes I was working for KFC as a ‘Shift Manager’. There I learnt the value of Management.

Q: When did you get to learn the most, was it during your training period or after your posting? Ans: -I leant the most in Bangalore because I was new to banking, I really want to thank my faculty members for their guidance.During training I learnt about the reality of banking, more practically I guess.

Q: What is your message to KPOs who are going under training right now? What key preparations they need to do before entering? Ans: The key preparation is make your mindset as flexible as your mindset as flexible as you can, don’t presume things early.

Let’s Walk in Empty Street: BANGALORE

Q: What are the areas of expertise you feel you still need to fulfil as a professional?Ans: Some areas of expertise I still feel needed is EXTROVERSION.Our work is business, but as we are professionals don’t assume the client to be the same. We all will meet many varieties of people, adjust yourself in those situations, but you being truly professional.

Q: We would like to have an overview of your qualifications?Ans: My qualification is basically, I am a Hotel Management Graduate from IHM Bhubaneshwar.My schooling was from Stewart School, Cuttack, Orrisa.

Q: Why did this type of work interest you and how did you get started? Ans: My personal satisfaction says am doing a white collar job. Dissatisfaction; nothing yet.

Q: What are the most important personal satisfaction and dissatisfaction connected with your occupation?Ans: Particular talent is knowledge about banking and most important the ability to showcase it in front of the world.

Q: what part of this job do you personally find most satisfying and most challenging?Ans: If my work life progress as it is going now, I would prefer to become Branch Relationship Manager soon.

Name: Sourav KesariBatch: 4th

Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum......Treasure house of knowledge

The Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum (VITM) is a museum in Bangalore, India. Its management comes under the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), Government of India. The museum was instituted as part of the centenary celebrations of the engineer-statesman Sir M. Vishvesvaraya. This is the only museum in the world other than the Smithsonian Institution’s in the US,

to have a full scale replica of the 1903 flyer of Wright brothers. Vishveshwaraya Museum is not a 'museum' in its classical sense, because it has interactive exhibits unlike stationary models of a museum. It is more of a "Science Centre". Each floor of this museum is dedicated to a scientific discipline. It has Engine hall, Electro Techno gallery, Fun Science Gallery, Space Gallery, Science for Children and other attractions. I can say that it is a place for each and every age group.

By spending 3 hours in the museum one can understand the concepts of engineering, can have a glimpse of this treasure house of knowledge in the heart of Bangalore, can have fun in fun gallery, can learn about dinosaurs can make their children to learn while playing as here is a big piano over which they can dance to play music. The museum which attracts close to one million visitors a year and is opened on all days from 10 am to 6 p.m.

WASSUP?

Sr. No. Date Events Participants Organizing team Concerned

Faculties1 12.01.2014 Marathon Inter bank Sports Pls Manipal mgt.2 16.01.2014 Youth Festival All Kpos Batch7 Raj Mohan Sir

4 Feb.2014 Paper Presentation competion All Kpos Academic PlsBislaiah Sir, Chandrakala Mam

5 Feb.2014 Blood donation camp Inter bank CSR Pl Raghvi Mam6 04.02.2014 Creative Crafts All Kpos Art Pl Raghvi Mam7 Feb.2014 Sales Fortnight Batch 6 Academic Pls Murli Sir8 05.02.2014 Magazine launch All Kpos All Pls Ritu Mam9 06.02.2014 Debate competition All Kpos Academic Pls Murli Sir

10 08.02.2014 Volley ball competition Inter bank Sports Pls Jayanth Sir

11 09.02.2014Table Tennis tournament & Onset of Football Cluster(Inter bank)

Inter bank Sports Pls Jayanth Sir

11 13.02.2014 Junk art All Kpos Art Pl Raghvi mam12 13.02.2014 Treasure Hunt All Kpos Cultural Pls Kavita mam13 15.02.2014 Cricket Tounament All Kpos Sports Pls Jayanth Sir14 Feb.2014 Educating poor volunteers CSR Pl Raghvi Mam

15 20.02.2014 Interbank Cultural Event (back up date: 23rd Feb) Inter bank Cultural Pls Kavita mam

16 20.02.2014 Advertisement Making All Kpos Art Pl Raghvi Mam17 22.02.2014 Football Cluster Inter bank Sports Pls Jayanth Sir18 27.02.2014 Jam Session Inter bank Academic Pls Murli Sir19 Feb.2014 Health Check up All Kpos CSR Pl Raghvi Mam20 27.02.2014 Arts Mela All Kpos Art Pl Raghvi Mam

OPEN LETTER TO MY MUSE

Dear Muse,

Thanks for your ignorance and hope that this phase will continue…perhaps you will be glad to learn that I like your ignorance the most; in fact this is my favourite pastime. I am habituated will all these kind of garlands since my early days.I don’t know why it happened…how it happened and when it happened? I don’t have any answer for these questions. I never dared to face these questions from you. I know even if the Almighty gives me the courage to reach you and express my ECG report in words, you will defeat me with all your tough questions. I never tried to decode what my every heart beat utters. I am not that great that I will be able to decode them, all I know is that I can feel them when you eye at me or when you call me by my name. Hey you are getting bored, right? Ok, let me tell you one interesting story.Someone always remains busy with his mobile phone. Friends do ask every time the reason and he remains silent. No one knew that fellow simply tries to hide his nervousness behind fake busy moments. Perhaps one day you to asked me the same and I just replied a meaningless idiotic smile. There are people who have got excellent skill to express their thoughts; I look at them with great honour. Lucky people they are! They can decode easily but I can’t…This may be totally insignificant for someone like you that somewhere someone feels blessed with the moments when he gets the privilege to look at your smiling face, your beautiful pair of eyes. I don’t know how to praise but I feel a pool of blood wants to come out from my heart as you adjust your hair…my heart starts raining as you manage your cloud. I keep looking at you during all the lectures and somehow time flies. I felt my day was made when probably for the first time you looked at me and called me by my name… wish I could make you listen what my heart wanted to tell you; I got speechless.Someone lost all his belief in such feelings and lost respect towards life. Your ignorance brought me back to the main stream of life…it’s you who made me believe again that life is not yet over. Life is something beyond this insignificant day and night where I feel my significance among all mundane happenings.Dear muse, I don’t know how you feel…but my conviction not yet lost. I know your ignorance will keep me alive. Ignore me if you can; but you must admit this time you lost and I won. You failed to ruin my conviction…I believe today that it can happen twice.Keep smiling.

From,Someone who deserves your ignorance till Death.

Magic MomentsCultural Events:

Program Leaders: Deepshikha Tiwari, Ankita Naik, Ankit Jain, Mayank Jain

FRESHERS (Batch 7) AND FARWELL PARTY (Batch 5): On 13-12-13 batch 6 Cultural PLs had organized this event at M&E BUILDING, Guest of honors were Mr. THAMMIAH (Director) and Mr. KUMARASWAMY (Associate Dean). The following programs were conducted; Memento distribution by Dean sir and HOD sir, Singing by batch 6 and 7, Group dance, Drama, Ramp walk and then the final closing event, DJ night.

On 16th of January all KPOs celebrated Swami Vivekananda 150th Birth anniversary. A good participation was being witnessed by all the KPOs. The presence of Associate Dean, HOD and other faculties made this event much more spellbind. The event experienced inspirational speeches on Swami Vivekananda, Bhajans , Inspirational Songs , Dances and a fantastic play describing some events of Swamiji’s life.

Academic Events:Program Leaders: Tanya Nain, Rosalyn K.Joseph, Utkarsh Tomar, Siddhartha Daryani

Persuasive Skills:  The event ended on a good note and we had winners as: 1st Rank: Rohit Thakkar 2nd Rank: Anjali Gupta 3rd Rank: Meghjit Bose and Gagandeep Singh

Extempore: This event saw massive participation from 7th batch students.

Prachi Jain and Supriya Dhaneshwar secured the top two positions.

Sports Events:

Program Leaders: ReetuKandari, Shalini Sharma, Piyush Pachori, Nitesh KumarSports Day: It was conducted on 21stNovember, ‘13 by Sports PLs. It includes participation from 5th and 6th batch

Kotak students. Udit Bhatnagar Batch 5 and Ankita Naik Batch 6 were awarded for Best athletes.

Swami Vivekananda Birth Day Celebration

Marathon: Inter-bank marathon was conducted on 11th January, ‘14, Youth Day. It invited open participation from all other banks in the Manipal Campus. 60 students had participated along with the presence of Dean sir, Wardens of both Girls and Boys hostels, Venkatesh Sir. The names of the Winners are:Female: Male:Girisha Lakhani (ICICI Bank) – 1st RankKhuspreet (ING Vysya)Bhumika Thakur (ICICI Bank) – 2nd Rank P Avinash Kumar (ICICI Bank)

Arts Events:

Program leader: Nitesh Sharma &NagarajuSales Exhibition:Kalakunj 2013 on 19/12/2013, idea was to concentrate on sales skills and CSR as the fund raised

from this event was used for helping NGO.

Cross Word

1 6 218

7 1214 4 8 15

10 53 16

13 17

11 2119 20 22 23

9

Sourabh KPO 7

Across Down

1. Scheme is related to Financial Inclusion.3. Founder & Executive Vice Chairman of Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd Mr. _____ Kotak.4.Series of Annual Economic Report Published by Asian Development Bank is “Asian Development ____________ ” .7. Identify the Logo

9. When someone move money into or out his account he is making a ____________.13. A _____ market is a general decline in the stock market over a period of time.14. Currency of Japan.16. Association of Lawyers.17. Tata Sons & ______ Joint Venture will start full service Airlines in India.19. _______ of a corporation constitutes the equity stakes of its owners.22. Service provided by NPCI for instant mobile remittance.

1._______ Scheme is restructured as National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM).2. First Indian company to be listed in NASDAQ.3. Identify the Logo

5. Currency Name of International Monetary Fund.6. ____ bank launched the Rupay card for the first time.8. Banking _________ is a quasi judicial authority was created pursuant to the decision by the Government of India to enable resolution of complaints of customers of banks.10. Number of Banks Nationalized in first phase of Nationalization.11. ______ is a mechanism for subscribing to application in IPO.12. Union Cabinet cleared the Jet Airwaysproposed sale of 24% equity to _____ Airways.13. ______ is a system of exchange by which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange.15. Head of “Hindu Undivided Family”18. _____ is a type of public offering where shares of stock in a company are sold to the general public, on a securities exchange, for the first time.20. _______ provides international coverage to Indian Broadcasting Network.21. Department of ____ (Govt Organization) applied for new bank licence.23. “KotakAutoInvest” is a kind of _______ service.

Peenya Branch Report

Every team was able to cover minimum of 25

companies and the highest profiling was done by Md. Zibrail Ansari and Haffiz Ahmed (23 in total).At last, bank officials interviewed the pairs one by one for feedback and recommendations. For the first time batch 6 KPOs were exposed to Branch visits and according to them spending time in market was a good investment. Everybody had something to take away from this practical worthy experienceBy Siddhartha Daryani, KPO Batch 6

Record Breakersfrom Batch 5 (toppers)-

Aashima Dhiman Mohan Prathapani SaikumarPonugupati 13125430001 13125430039 13125430062GPA- 8.86 GPA- 9.18 GPA- 9.18

It is said that ‘Opportunities knocks your door only once, another time it is just pure luck’ every single person of selected 40 KPOs for Branch visit to Peenya will agree to that. Peenya Branch is unique because it is the 1st SME branch of Kotak bank in an industrial estate of Peenya near to Yeshwantpur Railway Station, which is divided into 4 phases and is housing nearly 6000 small and medium companies. The twenty-four carat golden opportunity was awarded to handpick 40 KPOs from batch 6. The day started by Mr.Sandeep (Head of SME branch) with formal introduction and then after a while everyone was given brief of what KPOs were expected to do and profiling forms were distributed to them. As Sales in Banking are target driven, so for each individual target was set to 10 companies profiling with specific detailing.

40 people were broken into 4 groups of 10 each and then 1 group was again broken into 5 pairs to increase penetration into the market. As there was a huge area to cover so everybody was asked to concentrate on Phase-1, it is considered most attractive due to high net worth clients. Teams faced some challenges like: Teams were not having appointments with any of the concerned persons so they weren’t allowed to get in, if luckily they got in there were not many people to entertain them due to vacation mood of employees. And the major issue was Security guards, as if they were specially trained in keeping KPOs away.

Tax Haven- Is it a Trap?HistoryWhat comes in our mind as soon as we hear the term ‘Haven’- Any place of shelter or safety? This itself tells the basis of the story. Combining both the terms, it gives us the idea of keeping money in a safe place. In Ancient Greece, some of the Greek Islands were used as depositories by the sea traders to place their foreign goods to avoid the two-percent tax imposed by the city-state of Athens on imported goods.Tax haven is defined as, “a country that offers foreign individuals and businesses little or no tax liability in a politically and economically stable environment”. They also provide little or no financial information to foreign tax authorities. However, pressure from foreign governments that want to collect all the tax revenue, are entitled to has caused some tax haven countries to sign tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) and mutual legal assistance treaties (MLAT) that provide foreign governments with formerly secret information about investors' offshore accounts. As a result, there was a considerable influx of capital into the country for tax related reasons.ClassificationsCorporations, in order to achieve effective tax avoidance, use various types of tax havens. Three types of tax haven types are as follows:Primary Tax Havens: The location where financial capital winds up. Subsidiary shell companies there have obtained rights to collect profits from corporate intellectual property (IP) by transfers from their parent.Semi- Tax Havens: The locations that produce goods for sale primarily outside of their territorial boundaries and have flexible regulations to encourage job growth, as free trade zones, territorial-only taxation, and similar inducements.Conduit Tax Havens:The locations where income from sales, primarily made outside their boundaries, is collected, and then distributed. Semi-taxhavens are reimbursed for actual product costs, perhaps with a commodity mark-up. The remaining profits are transferred to the primary taxhaven, because it holds rights to profits due to the corporate IP

Socioeconomic factorsOther than lower taxes and secrecy there are several other reasons that makes a particular destination a tax haven:

Political and economic stability Lack of exchange controls Treaties. Corporate Laws Communication and Transportation Banking, professional and support service Location No or only nominal taxes Protections of personal financial information Lack of transparency

Blacklisted Tax HavensAt the London G20 summit on 2 April 2009, G20 countries agreed to issue a blacklist for tax havens, to be categorized according to a four-tier system, based on compliance with an "Internationally agreed tax standard.” The four tiers were:Those that have substantially implemented the standard (includes most countries but China still excludes Hong Kong and Macau).Tax havens that have committed to – but not yet fully implemented – the standard (includes Montserrat, Nauru, Niue, Panama, and Vanuatu).Financial centres that have committed to – but not yet fully implemented – the standard (includes Guatemala, Costa Rica and Uruguay).Those that have not committed to the standard (an empty category)Why Criticized??

Many tax havens are thought to have connections to "fraud, money laundering and terrorism." While investigations of illegal tax haven abuse have been ongoing, there have been few convictions.Lobbying pertaining to tax havens and associated transfer pricing has also been criticized.Tax havens usually have currency easily convertible or linked to an easily convertible currency. Most are convertible to US dollars, euro or to pounds sterling.Corrective Measures, is there any?Attributing the income and gains of the company or trust in the tax haven to a taxpayer in the high-tax jurisdiction on an arising basis. Controlled Foreign Corporation legislation is an example of this.Transfer pricing rules, standardization of which has been greatly helped by the promulgation of OECD guidelines.Restrictions on deductibility, or imposition of a withholding tax when payments are made to offshore recipients.Taxation of receipts from the entity in the tax haven, sometimes enhanced by notional interest to reflect the element of deferred payment. The EU withholding tax is probably the best example of this.Exit charges, or taxing of unrealized capital gains when an individual, trust or company emigrates.‘GAAR’ is an acronym for General Anti-Avoidance Rules which are framed to minimize tax avoidance. Tax Avoidance is an area of concern across the world.  The rules are framed in different countries to minimize such avoidance of tax.News for GAAR has been in prominence in last few years as Indian Government has taken initiative to introduce GAAR with a view to increase tax collections. The methods adopted to reduce their tax liability can be broadly put into four categories : "Tax Evasion";  "Tax Avoidance",  "Tax Mitigation" and "Tax Planning".  The difference between these four methods sometimes becomes blurred  owing to the perception of the tax authorities or tax payers.  Australia introduced such rules way back in 1981.  Later on countries like Germany, France, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa etc too opted for GAAR.   However, countries like USA and UK have adopted a cautious approach and have not been aggressive in this regard. ConclusionThe existence of tax havens has many effects. At one level, the lower taxes or no taxes in one country put pressure on other countries for keeping their taxes low. The secrecy and opacity associated with some of the tax havens may encourage Money Laundering or other illegal activities that can harm the world economy. The crackdown on tax evaders in some countries shows that taxpayers need to tread with caution. There could be a landmine right under your feet.

SUPRIYA KPO 7

What I SAW...

We have come here from different parts of the country and also from different educational backgrounds. So Kotak & Manipal is here to help us bridge the gap to Banking and make us industry ready. Banking has evolved in the last decade and had been following leaps and bounds. So Manipal is actually helping us in the evolution and make us versatile so that in the long term we can outperform and outshine ourselves in the respective jobs and take Kotak to new heights.We are a cluster of trainees where we range between people with working experience and naive people who just came out from the comfort of the house for the first time. So the faculties in Manipal are doing their best to give us a true picture of the corporate jungle outside and giving us the tips and tricks of “HOW TO RULE LIKE A LION”.I want to part this message to my fellow existing batch mates and the upcoming KPOs of the next batch that we are here to make a name in our life and forward our own legacy. So to do this we need to keep our five senses open and keep a sharp lookout for opportunities. And always give your extra percentage and be ready to go that extra mile and stretch your limits so that after nine months you can fly out with flying colours.

MEGHJIT KPO 6

Moving towards into the whimsical world not being aware about the other end of the world where I was bound to reach the with dread in my heart unknown faces on verge of losing my familiar world I met new faces which was followed by first day of campus. I knew a fear kept in my heart but with the strong mind I led myself towards my destination, giving my world a hand to support me through the tides. I was very much apprehended by the thought that how I would survive in this tough world with new people and secure a band with them. I was very thankful to our seniors and faculty of Manipal supported me in a very warm manner. They embraced us with open hands the glimpse of college provided me a bliss. It was very magnificent campus which was equipped with all basic amenities. Summing up my experience the first of my campus was little scary because of new world which I was going to enter containing profuse remembering memories which would be tucked safety in deep corner of my heart and leads to a new journey.

My First Day at the Campus- IPSA KPO 7