I have always wanted to run a business where I get a chance to interact with people and it is one of the reasons why I started the PC Sales and Services division of Zyxware. It is very interesting to watch human behavior and very challenging to interact with people through a commercial transaction. I see different kinds of people and different kinds of behaviors. Yesterday I came across a gentleman who was working in a government organization and who wanted me to help him bend a rule to get some extra cash.

This person called me up and asked me if I could give him a bill for a computer. I told him that I can do that only if I make a sale to him in the same month. He wanted the bill to present to his organization to claim a computer loan. Governments (central and state) have been promoting the use of computers among its employees by providing long term computer loans at low interest rates.

Now he came up with an interesting offer to me. He was willing to pay the tax for the bill so that I can pay the tax to the government and keep my records clean. But there was again another issue. I don't have any undocumented purchases so I will effectively have to sell a product I would have to create out of thin air. I explained the situation to him and confirmed that I will not give the bill to him in any case even if he pays me the tax for the amount.

The normal procedure for applying to loans is by presenting a Proforma/Invoice which is like a contract between the buyer and the seller for the sale of an item at a given price. Banks normally take this as a proof of intent to purchase and will issue the check to the company on presentation of the final sale bill for the item.

This person would definitely have paid the loan back to the government. It was not as if he was going to keep the money for him for ever. But it looks like he could not resist the opportunity to get a loan at low interest rates to keep his liquidity situations smooth. I am sure that a lot of people in government services are exploiting this loophole in the system to milk the government using this scheme.