Season of gifting or bribing?

This is the time when corporate gifts are given. The gifts are supposedly more about thanking the client for their support and in a way, ensuring that they continue with their support later too. But then there is a very thin line between gifting and bribing. At least that is what comes to light when we read about the recent Bank of Baroda case where a vendor ‘gifted’ the employee an Apple iPhone.

It is very common practice in this season to see some employees getting big ticket gifts like holiday abroad, gold jewellery, cars and the likes. This, many feel is a legitimate way to “gift’ the employee as it goes under the garb of Diwali gift. But this is actually a bribe if we look at the cost of gifts being doled out.

Sadly India does not yet have a law which stipulates the price range of the gift to be given. There is no specific law which spells out the threshold of a gift – the cost within which gifts can be given and taken. Yes, there is an Income Tax law on Gift Policy and it lays out specific guidelines wherein a civil servant can now accept gifts up to Rs 25,000 from relatives and personal friends on occasions such as weddings etc, without reporting the same to the government. Gifts from other contacts may be received without government sanction as long as their value does not exceed Rs.5000, according to amended provisions of All India Service (Conduct) 1968 relating to gift policy. But SEBI has no such rule in place nor does the Company Act stipulate anything like this.

Isn’t it time that we too, like the UK and USA have some specific law on “gifting”?