"You know you are living in the 21st century if your r�sum� is on a disk in your pocket," says a popular e-mail forward. It is probably for employees such as these that Food Bazaar, a division of Pantaloon Retail India Ltd (PRIL), has come out with a scheme, aptly dubbed the "New Tool for Employee Satisfaction". The first retail store in India to launch its own food coupons, it advises employers to "make (their) employees� day" by spicing up employee salary with meal vouchers. And if a happy employee is an employee retained, then this new offer should have management queuing outside the portals of Food Bazaar outlets.

Sanjeev Agrawal, head of marketing, PRIL, says, this is "just another tax benefit instrument". An ad for the Food Bazaar reads: "As per Rule 3(7)(ii) of Income Tax Rules, 1962, meals up to Rs 50 per day are totally tax free as against cash and are treated as perquisites in the hands of employees." ... more