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IN THE NEWS
‘MF schemes can't
invest in physical
goods except gold’
THE SEBI ON Friday said
mutual funds cannot invest in
physical goods barring gold
through gold exchange-
traded funds (ETFs), reports
PTI. Exchange-traded
commodity derivatives
(ETCDs) having gold as the
underlying asset would be
considered as 'gold-related
instrument' for gold ETFs.
However, as MF schemes
participating in ETCDs may
hold the underlying goods in
case of physical settlement
of contracts, in that case
the mutual funds will have to
dispose of such goods
from the books of the
scheme at the earliest.
Send all migrants
home in 15 days: SC
LEASH ON SPENDING
Govt puts a pause
on new schemes
Revenue dept advises restraint to ministries,
tells them to focus on Atma Nirbhar Bharat
and PM Gareeb Kalyan Yojana for now
FE BUREAU
New Delhi, June 5
WITHTHE STIMULUSpackage
inflating the Centre’s budget
expenditure in FY21 by 1% of
GDP amid the possibility of a
huge revenue deficit in FY21,
the Centre is leaving no stone
unturned to rein in low-prior-
ity expenses. The expenditure
department in the finance
ministry has directed all min-
istriesanddepartmentstosus-
pend spending on most new
SIXTH DEAL IN SIX WEEKS IT TAKES TWO
Abu Dhabi fund picks Lagarde, Merkel
unite Europe via
up 1.85% stake in Jio €1.35-trn stimulus
FE BUREAU RIL TRANSACTIONS ANNOUNCED CRAIG STIRLING,
Mumbai, June 5 CATHERINE BOSLEY &
Investors Facebook Silver Vista General KKR Mubadala
WILLIAM SHAW
Lake Partners Atlantic
RINGING IN ITS sixth deal in Frankfurt/Zurich/London,
April 22, May 04, May 08, May 17, May 22, Jun, 5
schemes for at least a year. the last six weeks,Reliance Jio Date June 5
2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020
The ministries are empow- on Friday said that Abu Investment
ered to devise schemes with Dhabi’s sovereign fund (` cr) 43,574 5,655.75 11,367 6,598.38 11,367 9,093.6 EUROPE’S MONETARY AND
expenditure commitment of Mubadala will invest fiscal titans are finally moving
up to `500 crore. `9,093.60 crore ($1.2 billion)
Equity
stake (%) 9.99 1.15 2.32 1.34 2.32 1.85 inlockstepasawaveofGerman
ECB boosts pandemic
bond-buying
It is not immediately clear for a 1.85% equity stake in Jio stimulusbuttressingadditional programme by
which schemes will be Platforms. The transaction central-bankeasingheraldsthe
impacted by the move, but values Jio Platforms at an prospect of a new era of policy 600 bn euros
recent schemes approved by equity value of `4.91 lakh coordination in the region.
administrative ministries crore and an enterprise value Those measures to aid the Central bank extends
include the National Techni- of `5.16 lakh crore. economic pickup from the programme until at least
cal Textile Mission and
Bharatiya Prakritik Krishi
With the latest invest-
ment,Jio Platforms has raised
coronavirus crisis, announced
within half a day of each other June 2021
Paddhati, as a sub-scheme a total of `92,202 crore from
`87,655.35 cr in Berlin and Frankfurt, fol- Germany clinches a
under Paramparagat Krishi leading global technologyand lowed a groundbreaking shift
stimulus push of

to Centre, states
schemes, including self-
approved ones for FY21 and
not to initiate any fresh
THE SUPREME COURT on
Friday asked the Centre and
states to transport all
stranded migrant labourers
to their respective native
states in 15 days, reports
fe Bureau in New Delhi. The
apex court will also prono-
unce its order on Tuesday
(June 9) on the problems
faced by migrants in the
wake of lockdown warranted
by Covid-19 pandemic. It
said: “What we intend to do
is we will give you and the
Vikas Yojana. growth investors which
include Facebook,Silver Lake,
Continued on Page 2 Vista EquityPartners,General
Atlantic, and KKR, for a total
equity sale of around 19%.
Recent steps to contain expenditure In all these deals,the com-
pany will issue fresh shares to
the investors. It further
~`1.4 lakh crore strengthens parent Reliance
Likely saving from capping of Industries (RIL) target of
Q1 spending by a few depts becoming a zero-debt com-
pany ahead of March 2021.
`25,000 crore
Saving from freezing of DA hike for
employees/pensioners in FY21
RIL’s net debt currently
stands at `1.6 lakh crore and it
has just raised `53,124 crore
from a rights issue which
Spending curbs likely
to continue for a
Covid-related schemes won't be affected
(18.97%)
portfolio for its share-
Silver Lake and its holder, the government of
co-investors will Abu Dhabi.
Jio Platforms is a wholly-
invest an additional owned subsidiary of RIL
`4,546.80 cr, focusing on next-generation
technologies and the chief
in addition to company under its umbrella
is Reliance Jio Infocomm
toward creating a European
recovery fund in Brussels sup-
ported by joint borrowing.
The European Central Bank
boosted its pandemic bond-
buying programme by 600 bil-
lioneuros($680billion)to1.35
trillion euros, and extended it
until at least June 2021.
Germany needed to act
“courageously and decisively,”
ChancellorAngela Merkel told
GermanbroadcasterARDinan
interview late on Thursday as
she defended the govern-
ment’s unprecedented spend-
130 bn euro
substantial, but combined
they’re quite the showof force.
Theyalso suggest that Europe,
which has long struggled to
find common ground over
economic policy, is more than
ever exhibiting a sense of col-
lective purpose.
“The shift in policymaking
at the European level has been
tremendously significant,”
said Neville Hill, chief Euro-

~`1.8 lakh crore

closed onWednesday.
Mubadala Investment
`5,655.75 cr which has 388 million mobile
subscribers.
ing spree.“Luckily in the good
times we have acted in a way
pean economist at Credit
Suisse in London.
states 15 days’ time to
number of depart-
Likely additional budgetary cost arising from Company is a sovereign
earlier that enables us to do this now.”
ments in Q2FY21
transport all migrants...” Atmanirbhar and PM Gareeb Kalyan package investor managing a global Continued on Page 2 Each initiative is already Continued on Page 2

Special Features Highest paid celebrities FORBES INCREASING NUMBER ● 'GLOBAL CHALLENGE'

Lawmakers in
Kylie at top, Akshay only Indian on Forbes list With 10,000 daily infections, eight countries
Akshay Kumar has emerged as the only Indian on the list, grabbing the 52nd spot this
year with a total pre-tax earning of $48.5 million. Reality TV star and 22-year old
entrepreneur Kylie Jenner tops the list, with an estimated $590-million earnings.
India now third in the world form alliance to
ISHAAN GERA counter China
New Delhi, June 5
1 IAIN MARLOW
How Seltos Akshay ON FRIDAY, INDIA’Snewinfec- Hong Kong, June 5
Kumar tions increased to 9,851. The
became India’s 2 Kanye
Ka 3 Roger 4 Cristiano 5 Lionel 6 Tyler $48.5m country is expected to breach AGROUPOFseniorlawmakers
bestselling SUV $1
We
West
$170m
Federer
$106.3m
Ronaldo
$105m
Messi
$104m
Perry
$97m
the10,000markonSaturdayas
cases rise steadily at 4.6%
fromeightdemocracies,includ-
ingtheUS,havelaunchedanew
On the eighth day of the (rolling average for three-day cross-parliamentaryallianceto
Seltos being launched, 52 period).Indiarecordedatotalof help counter what they say is
it made Kia the seventh- 226,770 infections on Friday. the threat China’s growing
largest carmaker in As per calculations from influence poses to global trade,
India; in the third month Kylie paragkar.com, India’s daily securityand human rights.
fifth-largest; and in the Jenner 7 Ne
Neymar 8 Howard 9 LeBron 10 Dwayne growth rate increased from The Inter-Parliamentary
Stern James Johnson
seventh month third- $590m 4.6%onFridayfrom4.4%aday Alliance on China, which
largest $95.5m
$95. $90m $88.2m $87.5m ago.ForDelhi,dailygrowth rate launched Friday, comes as the
■ Motobahn, P9 increased to 6.3% from 6.0% Workers wearing protective gear disinfect a hotel room US struggles to muster a cohe-
on Thursday.Maharashtra wit- before its reopening next week, in Kolkata on Friday sive alliance to take on China’s
nessed a growth of 3.6% from growing economic and diplo-
OVERCOMING DELAYS 3.4%.The growth rate in West
Bengal and Uttar Pradesh also
Hopkins Universitydata shows
that India with 5 deaths per
Why 112 died in matic clout and as it leads for-
eign governments in con-

Now, embedded approvals for increased to 6% and 3.4%,

respectively,rising0.2%ineach
state from the previous day.
million people ranks 119th in
theworld,andwith164positive
cases per million ranks an even
Jalgaon hospital?
AT 12.3%, THE death rate for
demning Beijing’s move to
imposenational securitylegis-
lation on Hong Kong that

mineral blocks being auctioned Aspertheserollingaverages

andaccountingforacorrection
factor of 0.8, India will have
lower 145th, in absolute num-
bers India has moved to the
fourth position in terms of
Covid-19 in Jalgaon, a district
400 km to the north-east of
Mumbai, is the highest in
threatens the city’s autonomy.
The group said it aims to
“construct appropriate and
SURYA SARATHI RAY Average time taken to ready before these are put up 5,64,238 cases byJune-end. deaths and third in cases. Maharashtra, reports Tabas- coordinated responses, and to
USL’s showing New Delhi, June 5 obtain clearances now for auction. While India still has a lower WhileBrazilandtheUSrank sum Barnagarwala in Jal- helpcraftaproactiveandstrate-
According to an order proportion of cases and deaths much higher with 31,890 and gaon.Four cities Jalgaon,Bhu- gicapproachonissuesrelatedto
was below par HAVING SHOWN A steely
Environment
clearances 270 days issued by the mines ministry in terms of its population.John 22,268 newcases everyday. sawal, Amalner and Pachora the People’s Republic of China”.
in Q4FY20 resolve to promote invest-
ments in the mining sector
Forest
clearances 530 days
on June 3, the system of
embedded clearances will be Rising problems
account for 80% of the 112
deaths till June 4.
US Republican senator Marco
Rubio and Democrat Bob Men-
As with other alcohol through several steps taken Land tried in at five green-field (Compounded daily growth rate, based on 3-day rolling averages, %) For District Collector endez,formerJapanesedefence
companies, the outlook recently,including the system acquisition Years blocks in each mineral-rich Avinash Dhakne, alarm bells minister Gen Nakatani, Euro-
6.3
6.3

6.2
6.2

6.0

6.0
6.1

5.8

is bleak for FY21 and of single-licence with cer- ■ Pilot scheme of embedded state on a pilot basis,with the rang loud more than a month pean Parliament foreign affairs
4.6
4.6
4.4

FY22, with RoE likely to tainty of tenure across the intent to scale it up over time. backonMay2.Outofatotal42 committee member Miriam
4.4

4.3

clearances for five blocks in

4.0

3.9
3.6
3.5

3.4
3.4

3.2

be well below 20% mining value chain, the cen- each mineral-rich state Agovernment-level project cases, 14 died. Just five days Lexmann and prominent UK
seen in past 4 years; tral government has now monitoring unit (PMU) will be back, the district, known for Conservative lawmaker Iain
■ A govt-run project
‘Neutral’ retained as come out with a scheme monitoring unit (PMU) will
tasked with the mandate to banana cultivation, had Duncan Smith are all co-chairs
valuations are fair under which non-coal, obtain the clearances and obtain the clearances. recordeditsfirstCovid-19case. of the newlylaunched group.
India Delhi Maharashtra West Bengal Uttar Pradesh
■ Investor, P9 non-fuel mining blocks recoup expenses from
will have most clearances successful bidder Continued on Page 2 June 2 June 3 June 4 June 5 Detailed report on Page 12 Continued on Page 2

QuickPicks BORDER TENSION

SBI Q4 standalone net
shoots up 327% y-o-y
Non-food credit growth
shrinks `1.76 lakh cr
Satellite images show China has changed Pangong status quo
KRISHN KAUSHIK 2017, told The Indian Express Chinesetroops“butdefinitelya
on one-time gain year-to-date New Delhi, June 5 after looking at satellite images substantial number can be
STATE BANK of India’s (SBI’s) OUTSTANDING NON-FOOD fromMay27thatthestructures accommodated”. “This time,
Q4FY20 standalone net profit credit in the banking system fell AN ANALYSIS OF satellite werenotthereearlier.“Thatdef- thereisasubstantialnumber(of
jumped 327% year-on-year to 1.7%, or by `1.76 lakh crore, imagesofLadakh’sPangongTso initelywas not there before.It is tents)...One cannot make out
`3,581 crore on the back of a between March 27 and May 22 area shows that not only have not a normal thing that goes on how many troops are there.
one-time gain of `2,731 crore from the to `101.44 lakh crore, showed the Reserve the Chinese changed the status between Finger 4 and Finger 8. Have they been taken off? One
sale of its stake in its credit card subsidiary Bank of India data, reports fe Bureau in quo at the Fingers, the moun- Itiswhatwecallachangeinsta- cannot be sure. That kind of
and an 18% year-on-year reduction in Mumbai. While there had been a tain spurs along the lake, but tus quo in the disputed area.” activityhashappenedbefore.In
provisions to `13,495 crore, reports `1.68-lakh-crore fall in loans outstanding also built “substantial” struc- He said the Chinese have in all probability, after the talks
fe Bureau in Mumbai. In the worst-case even in the comparable period a year tures in the contested region of the past pitched tents in the between the Generals, this will
scenario under the Covid breakout, the ago, the drop this year stands out in the the Line ofActual Control. region but not on the scale as alsobetakenoff.Idon’tseeany-
public sector lender sees itself going light of the credit overdrive launched Colonel S Dinny, who was now,andthiswillnotbeaccept- thing else being acceptable to
back to its performance in FY18, when it by the central government and the commanding officer of an abletoIndia.Thestructuresvis- ourside,”Dinnysaid.
had posted a net loss of `6,547 crore loan moratorium, which has resulted Indian Army battalion at Pan- ible now, he said, may not be Satellite images from May 27 showing Chinese tents on the
on a full-year basis. PAGE 10 in a fall in repayments. PAGE 10 gong Tso between 2015 and able to house “thousands” of north bank of Pangong Tso in Ladakh PLANET LABS VIA REUTERS Continued on Page 2
 2 FINANCIAL EXPRESS WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM

Economy
LABOUR LAWS

❝
Sanjeev Sanyal, principal economic advisor
We are actually going to tighten safety and
working condition laws. We are actually
introducing nationwide minimum wages. So it's
not entirely as some people may claim tilted
❝
SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 2020
against the labour.

Quick
View
GST Council
to meet on
June 12
THE GST COUNCIL is
scheduled to meet on June
12 and likely to discuss the
impact of the COVID-19
pandemic on tax revenues,
sources said.The 40th
meeting of the GST
Council will be held via
video conferencing.
TUs call for
protest on July 3
TEN CENTRALTRADE
unions,including the
INTUC and CITU,on Friday
called for a nationwide
protest on July 3 against
alleged anti-worker and
anti-people policies of the
government.
Discoms’debt expected to rise
30% to `4.5Lcr by FY21 end
FE BUREAU
New Delhi, June 5
LOSSES OF STATE-OWNED
powerdistribution companies
(discoms)areseentobearound
`58,000 crore in the current
fiscal because of lowerrevenue
generation amid muted power
demand due to the lockdown,
analysts at Crisil Ratings said.
LossesinFY20weretothetune
of around `30,000 crore,
according to an estimate.
Discoms are also expected
to end up owing lendersa stag-
gering `4.5 lakh crore by the
end of this fiscal, recording a
30% annual rise, and deterio-
rating their credit profiles.
It was difficult for discoms
to continue meter reading
exercisesandcollectpayments
from consumers amid the
lockdown. On top of that,
muted industrial operations
took a toll on their finances as
these high-paying consumer
segments contribute more
than 70% of discoms'revenue,
but use about 50% of the over-
all electricity supplied.
This is seen to widen the
gapbetweencostofsupplyand
revenue realised (ACS-ARR
gap) for discoms."Higher costs
and constrained cash inflows
amid declining demand mean
the per-unit operating gap of
discoms will widen to 83 paise
per unit by the end of this fis-
cal," Manish Gupta, senior
director, Crisil Ratings said.
The ACS-ARR gap currently
stands at `0.37/unit. "Cash
losses this fiscal may almost
double to `58,000 crore over
last fiscal,"the agencypointed.
The government has
announced a `90,000-crore
loan package for discoms to
battle the coronavirus crisis.
Fundswill primarilybe used to
clear the dues of power gener-
ators. However, Crisil noted
that "this would be a tempo-
rary stitch at best", and higher
cash losses could lead to
"payables re-inflating sans
incremental funding or state
support".
Going by the unaudited
information provided by the
states,discoms'financiallosses
stood at more than `27,000
crore at the end of FY19.
According to audited data,dis-
coms losses fell 13.2% to
`33,365 crore in FY18. Dis-
coms traditionally face cash-
flow issues because state elec-
tricity regulators infrequently
and inadequately raise con-
sumer tariffs. Dues from state
government departments and
local civic bodies, pegged at a
whopping `50,000 crore at
the end of September 2019,
also significantly impair the
discoms'abilitytoturnaround.
Can pvt hospitals
treat coronavirus
patients at
Ayushman Bharat
rate, asks SC
FE BUREAU
New Delhi, June 5
THE SUPREME COURT on Fri-
day sought responses from pri-
vate hospitals if they can treat
coronavirus patients at the fee
charged under the Ayushman
Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan
Arogya Yojana. The scheme
announced in 2017 provides
healthcovertopoorandvulner-
able persons.
Besides industry group
Healthcare Federation of India
and private hospitals, a Bench
led by Chief Justice SA Bobde
asked the government to share
itsviewonfreetreatmentintwo
weeks. When senior advocate
Harish Salve,who represented
thehealthcaregroup,saidearn-
ings of private hospitals have
fallenbyupto70%aspeopleare
not coming to hospitals, the
Chief Justice asked: "That is all
right.Youaremakingasacrifice
foragoodcause…Areyouagree-
SC: Send stranded
migrant workers
home in 15 days
FE BUREAU
New Delhi, June 5
THE SUPREME COURTon Fri-
day asked the Centre and the
state governments to trans-
port all stranded migrant
labourers to their respective
states in 15 days.
A Bench of Justices Ashok
Bhushan, SK Kaul and MR
Shah said: "What we intend to
do is we will give you and the
states 15 days' time to trans-
port all migrants.All stateswill
bring on record how they will
provide employment and
other kind of relief. There
should be registration of the
migrants."
The apex court will also
pronounce its order on Tues-
day (June 9) on the problems
faced by migrants in the wake
of lockdown warranted by
Covid-19 pandemic.
Solicitor general Tushar
an approximate of one crore
migrant labourers so far. "By
road, 41 lakh migrant labour-
ers have been transported,and
57 lakh by train,"he said.
Mehtasaidtherehasbeenno
death because of lack of water,
food and medicine, and all
deathstookplaceduetoexisting
illness.Besides,theentirecoun-
tryisworking in tandem.
While the Bihar govern-
ment also informed the apex
court that 28 lakh people have
returned to the state from the
big cities, the Gujarat govern-
ment submitted more than
20.5 lakh migrants have left
the state for their homes else-
where.
Additional solicitorgeneral
Sanjay Jain, who was repre-
sentingthe Delhi government,
told the court that around 2
lakh workers are still in Delhi.
"They are choosing not to go
back. Less than 10,000 work-

IBC ordinance: No fresh default case for a year from Mar 25 able to charge Ayushman
(Bharat) rates from patients?"
Mehta told the court that the
government has transported
ers have expressed desire to go
back to their native places."

FE BUREAU
New Delhi, June 5
THE GOVERNMENTONFriday
notified an ordinance to sus-
pend insolvency proceedings
for up to one year against fresh
default from March 25. The
move will potentially provide
breather to thousands of firms
battered bythe pandemic.
"Notwithstandinganything
contained in Sections 7, 9 and
10(oftheInsolvencyandBank-
ruptcyCode),noapplicationfor
initiation of corporate insol-
vency resolution process of a
corporate debtor shall be filed,
for any default arising on or
after March 25, 2020, for a
period of six months or such
further period not exceeding
oneyearfromsuchdate,asmay
be notified in this behalf…,"the
ordinance said.
These sections (7,9 and 10)
deal with the initiation of the
insolvency proceedings by
financial and operational cred-
itors and corporate debtors.
However, insolvency appli-
cations filed for default before
March 25will be entertained.
The government has
introduced a sub-section - 10A
-intheIBCtodeclaretherelax-
The move will potentially
provide breather to
thousands of firms
battered by the pandemic
ation.Ithasalsoextendedsome
relieftofirmsunderSection66
of the IBC. This Section sug-
gests: "If during the corporate
insolvency resolution process
or a liquidation process, it is
found that any business of the
corporate debtor has been car-
ried on with intent to defraud
creditors of the corporate
debtor or for any fraudulent
purpose, the adjudicating
authority (NCLT) may on the
application of the resolution
professional pass an order that
any persons who were know-
ingly parties to the carrying on
ofthebusinessinsuchmanner
shall be liable to make such
contributions to the assets of
the corporate debtor as it may
deem fit."
The ordinance said a sub-
section will be inserted after
Section66oftheIBC:"Notwith-
standinganythingcontainedin
this Section, no application
shallbefiledbyaresolutionpro-
fessional under sub-section (2)
in respect of such default
against which initiation of cor-
porate insolvency resolution
processissuspendedasperSec-
tion 10-A."
Thecut-offdateofMarch25
also comes as a relief for the
lenders who had filed applica-
tions or intended to do so
against stressed firms that had
defaulted before the pandemic
started to spread, in sync with
the central bank's June 7,2019
circular.Accordingtothiscircu-
lar,a default casewill have to be
referred to the NCLT under the
IBCifnootherresolutionplanis
firmed upwithin six months.
Price index for commercial coal mining
FE BUREAU
New Delhi, June 5
THE GOVERNMENTON Friday
released the indicative coal
pricesforthemaidentrancheof
commercial auctions underthe
revenue sharing model.'Repre-
sentative prices'will be used to
computethegovernment'srev-
enue share from auctioned
mines.
The rates have been derived
fromaweightedcombinationof
monthlypricesofcoalinvarious
channelsoftransaction,includ-
ing imports, for the month of
March. Companies will use
these prices to evaluate their
bids for coal blocks in auctions,
whichareexpectedtotakeplace
nextweek.
The representative prices of
non-cokingcoalbetweentheG7
andG14gradesareintherange
of `1,098/tonne to
`2,619/tonne. Though prices
are higher than the notified
price of the fuel sold by CIL,
industry sources said the rates
lookbalanced.Thecoalministry
has also rolled out the‘national
coal index’, which is the
weightedaverageofthechange
incoalratesbasedonFY18price
levels.This index, sources said,
will be used to calculate the
amount of performance secu-
ritycompaniesneedtopayafter
winning coal blocks, and will
also have a bearing on prices of
coaltobesoldfromthesemines.

From the Front Page

Leash on 2016orderdelegatedadminis- thatitcan’tdothejobalone.Pol- national relations, abandon a

Now, embedded approvals for

trative ministries power to icymakersexpandedbondpur- Cold War mentality,stop inter-
spending: Govt appraise schemes and projects chases by 600 billion euros on fering in domestic affairs and
puts a pause on costing up to Rs 500 crore Thursday,and could still add to makingpoliticalmovesforself-

mineral blocks being auctioned

new schemes
THE CENTRE is keen to re-pri-
oritise the expenditure, to
restrict the widening of the fis-
cal deficit in FY21.Already, the
deficit in FY20 turned out to be
4.6% of GDP,versus budgeted
(RE) 3.8%, as the Centre had
faced a 9.4% shortfall in
receipts from the revised esti-
mate level,and still had to keep
thespendingatover99%ofthe
RE level.
The Centre has upped the
gross borrowings for FY21 by
54% to Rs 12 lakh crore. Its
budgetedfiscaldeficit,inclusive
of the fiscal stimulus and likely
revenue shortfall, is seen to be
about7-8%oftheGDPthisfis-
cal byvarious analysts.
By asking some depart-
ments to restrict Q1 spending
to 40% of the usual level, the
Centre is looking to save nearly
Rs 1.4 lakh crore; another Rs
25,000 crore is being saved by
freezingthedearnessallowance
(DA) increase of its employees
forFY21. Expendituresecretary
TV Somanathan recently told
FEthatsomeformsofspending
restrictions and categorisation
might continue in Q2 aswell.
“No new proposal for a
scheme/sub-scheme,whether
under delegated powers to
administrativeministryinclud-
ing standing finance commit-
tee (SFC) proposals or through
expenditure finance commit-
tee(EFC)shouldbeinitiatedthis
year except proposals
announced under the Pradhan
Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Yojana,
Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan
package and any other special
package /announcement,” the
expendituredepartmentsaidin
a circular.
The initiation of new
schemes already
appraised/approved for FY21
under the delegated powers of
the administrative ministries
including SFC proposals
(schemes up to Rs 500 crore),
will remain suspended for one
year till March 31, 2021 or till
furtherorderswhicheverisear-
lier, it said. The expenditure
department sought the list of
such schemes to be suspended
from ministries/department,
byJune 30.
In order to expedite project
approvalsandimplementation,
the finance ministry in a June
through their respective SFCs.
“It may be appreciated that in
the wake of Covid-19 pan-
demic, there is an unprece-
dented demand on public
financial resources, and a need
to use resources prudently in
accordance with emerging and
changingpriorities,”thedepart-
ment said.
While the Centre won’t cut
spending on flagship schemes
officially,therecouldbesavings
on this front also,as states may
not be able to fully utilise the
scheme due to theirinabilityto
provide matching contribu-
tions.
Despite a tight leash on
expenditure, the Centre spent
10% of FY21 budget in April
compared with 9% of the rele-
vant target in FY20, due to
expenditures on Covid-related
relief such as cash transfers to
the poor, widows, the elderly
and farmers.
Mubadala
picks up Jio
Platforms stake
WITH THE series of invest-
mentswhichstartedwithFace-
book investing Rs 43,574 crore
for a 9.99% stake in Jio Plat-
forms on April 22, even other
globaltech-majorshavereport-
edlystartedlookingatinvesting
in Indian telecom players.
Reportedly,Googleislookingto
pick up a 5% stake inVodafone
IdeaandAmazonaround5%in
BhartiAirtel.
Mukesh Ambani, chairman
and managing director, RIL,
said Mubadala is one of the
most astute and transforma-
tional global growth investors.
"Throughmylongstandingties
with Abu Dhabi,I have person-
ally seen the impact of
Mubadala'sworkindiversifying
and globally connecting the
UAE's knowledge-based econ-
omy.We look forward to bene-
fittingfromMubadala'sexperi-
ence and insights from
supporting growth journeys
across theworld,"he said.
KhaldoonAlMubarak,man-
aging director and group CEO,
Mubadala Investment Com-
pany, said,"We are committed
to investing in, and actively
working with, high growth
companies which are pioneer-
ingtechnologiestoaddresscrit-
ical challenges and unlock new
IN FACT,the PMU will be the
applicant for the assorted
clearances required for a
mining project.All expenses
related to the approvals will
be recouped from the suc-
cessful bidders later.As many
as 20 clearances are required
before the mining can start,
including the environmental
and forest clearances, and
the approval process is
tedious.On an average,envi-
ronmental and forest clear-
ances take 270 and 530 days
respectively,at present.
Under the proposed pilot
scheme,the two-stage forest
clearance process has been
eased with the first phase to
be obtained by the PMU,
while the successful bidder
will obtain the final clear-
ance.The PMUwill also com-
plete the environmental
clearance process.
Since obtaining land
rights for mining is another
time consuming process,the
PMU would get the land
rights for mining in case of
both government as well as
privately-owned land. The
state government should
also apply and obtain all
other clearances which are
required for the lessee to
start the mining operations.
The fees for obtaining these
clearances shall also be ini-
tially borne by the state gov-
ernment and subsequently
recouped from the success-
ful bidder.
“Since the mining plan is
the basic document to start
opportunities. We have seen
how Jio has already trans-
formed communications and
connectivityin India,and as an
investor and partner, we are
committed to supporting
India's digital growth journey.
With Jio's network of investors
and partners, we believe that
the platform companywill fur-
ther the development of the
digital economy”.
To further its commitment
to innovation and technology,
Mubadala established its Ven-
tures arm in 2017 to partner
early with visionary founders
and support innovative busi-
that in future. ish interests,” Chinese foreign
“The ECB is acting much ministry spokesman Geng
more aggressively than it has Shuang told a regular news
ever done before, and so is the briefing in Beijing Friday.
mining operation on which wider scope, this ministry The major challenge in this Germangovernment,”saidNick The alliance said China’s
hinges the environment and seeks to make provision for regard is to speed up the pre- Kounis, an economist at ABN economic rise is putting the
forest clearances, the PMU auction of mineral blocks sent procedural processes Amro in Amsterdam.“The pol- global,rules-based orderunder
should get the mining plan with pre-embedded clear- involved in obtaining statu- icy response has been much pressureandthatcountriesthat
prepared byengaging a qual- ances. This will help to over- tory clearances from various more rapid and coordinated havetriedtostanduptoBeijing
ified person and then come the delays in opera- authorities of the central and and focused compared to the have mostly done so alone –
approach Indian Bureau of tionalisation of mines into state governments by the global financial crisis.” and“oftenatgreatcost.”Thelist
Mines with the mining plan production afterthe auction. successful bidder. Some of the debt the ECB of participating nations
which would approve the This will improve the busi- The Federation of Indian will buywill be German -- con- includes the US, Germany, UK,
mining plan with a period of ness environment and Mineral Industries (FIMI) veniently issued to pay for the Japan,Australia, Canada, Swe-
15 days, allowing a success- improve mining sector’s hailed the move and said this country’s new stimulus. That den, Norway, as well as mem-
ful bidder the flexibility to contribution to the country's would spur investments. H. fiscal-monetary connection is bers of the European parlia-
either enhance or reduce the GDP and will bring greater Noor Ahmed, former FIMI alreadywellunderwayincoun- ment. Several of those nations
production limit by 25%,” participation of companies, president, said that the gov- tries such as the U.K.,where the havefacedintenseeconomicor
the mines ministry said. ensuring better rates of auc- ernment should also allow central bank and government political consequences for
In order to make it easier tion. This will also ensure the mines already allocated have emphasized their coordi- crossingChina’sstrategicambi-
for the new higher rev- through the auction route to nation. tions. BLOOMBERG
owners of Under the proposed enues for the start production immedi- A mark of success for euro-
the mer- pilot scheme, the two- state govern- ately. area officials came in the form Border tension:
chant mines stage forest clearance
where lease process has been eased, auction as
ments in Since the amendment to
the Mines and Minerals
of Italian 10-year bond yields,
which dropped to the lowest
Satellite images
period with the first phase to the minerals Development and Regula- level in two months on Thurs- show China has
expired in blocks can tion (MMDR) Act in 2015 to day.That narrowed the spread
March 2020 be obtained by the PMU, start produc- ease investment procedures, over German debt that’s long changed Pangong
while the successful
(auctioning tion immedi- just 12 newmining blocks of been a warning signal for offi- status quo
was allowed
even before
bidder will obtain the
final clearance
ately after
allocation.
non-coal minerals such as
iron ore, limestone and
cials. It had spiked in March,
when Lagarde mistakenly sug- THE MAY 27 images by Planet
the expiry of Auction of bauxite have got opera- gested the ECB wasn’t inter- Labsshowdozensofnewstruc-
the lease blocks with tionalised. ested in keeping it in check. tures, most likely tents, that
period), the Centre had pre-embedded clearancewill Apart from the stickyreg- Theemergencythathaspro- havecomeupbetweenFinger8
passed the Mineral Laws also be a positive step ulatory issues and the voked Europe’s economic and Finger 4 on the north bank
(Amendment) Act, 2020, towards achieving the objec- tedious delays associated actors intochanging theirways ofPangongTso,oneofthemain
passed on March 12, under tives included in ease of with grant of environmental remains pressing. Lagarde said pointsofcontentioninthecur-
which new owners can carry doing business,” the mines and forest clearances, the on Thursday that the region’s rent standoff.
on with mining activity for a ministry said. enormity of taxes and levies contractioninthesecondquar- The hills protrude into the
period of two years from the The ministry said the also continue to be an irri- ter will be “unprecedented” -- lake like fingers, and are num-
date of grant of new lease, need to have the window of tant forinvestors in non-coal leadingtoanear9%slumpthis bered 1 to 8 from west to east.
without acquiring fresh pre-embedded clearances mining, where India’s per- year.“Anambitiousandcoordi- According to India,the LAC lies
environment and forest stems from the fact that so formance is farbelowpoten- natedfiscalstanceremainscrit- at Finger 8,but China points to
clearances.The lease holders far 95 mining leases have tial, making it vulnerable to ical,”she added. Finger 4.The distance between
could also apply for fresh been allocated through the huge import bills. Indian BLOOMBERG Finger 4 and Finger 8, Dinny
licence beyond the period of auction since 2015. How- levies,on average,are around said, is about 8 km. It would
two years. ever, it has been observed 40-45% (without including Lawmakers in mean that the Chinese have
“Now,the ministrywants that due tovarious processes
to extend this facility also to involved,start of production
the corporate tax) compared
to 5-14% globally.arm min-
eight countries now camped 8 km inside the
areawhich India claims.
green-field projects with a gets inordinately delayed. istry data showed. form alliance to He said India has a “proper
post between Finger 3 and Fin-
counter China ger 2” and an “administrative
nesses. Mubadala's Ventures Wardwellactedaslegalcounsel. rienceofpriorfinancialmarket “CHINA,UNDERtheruleofChi- base between 3 and Finger 4,”
business currently manages turmoil. Germany’s long-serv- nese Communist Party, repre- which is used during patrols.
severalventurefundsintheUS, Lagarde, Merkel ingchancelloroversawtwodays sentsaglobalchallenge,”Rubio, Similarly,Chinahas“anadmin-
EuropeandMiddleEast.Atpre-
sent, Mubadala's portfolio
unite Europe in oftensenegotiationstoclincha
130 billion-euro ($147 billion)
a frequent critic of Beijing and
supporter of US legislation tar-
istrative base on the other side
of Finger8”.
spans advanced manufactur- €1.35-trn stimulus push, after Merkel geting China over its actions in Recalling his stint there, he
ing, semiconductors, metals & broughthergovernmentround HongKong,saidinavideomes- said: “There was no construc-
mining, pharmaceutical and stimulus zeal to sharing its fiscal might to sage onTwitter. tion between Finger 4 and Fin-
medical technology,renewable “IT’SNOTonlycapableofallow- back the EU’s new borrowing Beijing has repeatedly ger 8. No permanent construc-
energy and utilities, and the ing the euro-area economy to tool. stressed that the situation in tion,not even tents.”
management of diverse finan- recoverwellfromthenear-term Meanwhile, European Cen- Hong Kong is an internal mat- While Dinny is not sure if
cial holdings. crisis, but it does raise the tral Bank President Christine ter,whilesayingChina’sbroader the Chinese have removed the
Thetransactionissubjectto prospect of a better, and a bet- Lagarde, a former French economic and diplomatic tents since May 27, sources in
regulatoryandothercustomary ter-balanced,policyframework finance minister and Interna- expansion poses no threat to Delhi told The Indian Express
approvals. Morgan Stanley intheEuropeanUniononceit’s tionalMonetaryFundchief,has theworld. that the Chinese are now sta-
acted as financial advisor to recovered.” kept herinstitution at the fore- “We urge a small numberof tioned till Finger 4,and are not
Reliance Industries and AZB & Atthecenteraretwowomen frontofcrisisfirefighting,while politicians to respect facts, allowing Indian troops to go
Partners, and Davis Polk & who can draw on unique expe- bluntly telling governments respect the basic rules of inter- beyond it.
WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 2020

FINANCIAL EXPRESS ECONOMY 3

Adar Poonawalla-backed clean tech

startup buys Swiss fuel cell company
FE BUREAU inherited a great team and a tive for the future with high vol- ''IMPORTANT'' PRASHANT INDIA LTD.
Pune, June 5 strong product portfolio and ume manufacturing and cost re- Regd. Office : Block No.456, N.H.No.8, Palsana-394315, Dist. Surat (Gujarat)
Whilst care is taken prior to
NOTICE
with frugal approach they will duction making fuel cells a pre- acceptance of advertising copy,
NOTICE pursuant to regulation 29 & 47 of SEBI(Listing Obligations and
ADAR POONAWALLA-BACKED make these products afford- ferred and affordable clean it is not possible to verify its Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 is hereby given that a
Indian clean tech startup, h2e able for the masses. energyalternative to fossil fuels. contents. The Indian Express (P.) Meeting of the Board of directors of Prashant India Ltd. will be held at
Limited cannot be held Registered Office of the Company on Monday, 15TH JUNE,2020 at
Power Systems, has acquired Apart from the real estate, Additionally,the solid oxide elec- responsible for such contents, 02:00 P.M. to consider and approve the Audited Financial Results for the
Swiss fuel cell specialist Hexis for commercial and green hydro- trolyser can be used to make nor for any loss or damage quarter and year ended 31.03.2020.
an undisclosed amount. gen markets, we intend to ex- green hydrogen,which is a clean incurred as a result of This information is also available on the Company's Website at
h2e PowerSystems,a fuel cell pand the Hexis product portfo- fuel that can be stored easily, transactions with companies, www.prashantindia.info and also on the Website of the Stock Exchange
company, made this acquisition lio to applications in thus making a potential alterna- associations or individuals at www.bseindia.com.
advertising in its newspapers or Place: Palsana For Prashant India Ltd.
through its German subsidiary, agriculture, oil & gas and tele- tive battery. Publications. We therefore Date: 05.06.2020 Sd/- Managing Director
mPower and it would create an com,he said.We intend to build SOFCs are robust, reversible recommend that readers make
India owned global fuel cell and the first truly global solid oxide clean powergenerators and have necessary inquiries before
green hydrogen company. fuel cells (SOFC) company, a wide variety of residential, in- sending any monies or entering
into any agreements with
Poonawalla, chairman, h2e Mayur added. dustrial and commercial appli-
advertisers or otherwise acting
Power Systems,said the acquisi- Fuel cell technology is cations with outputs ranging on an advertisement in any
tion of Hexis was an important pegged to be the energy alterna- from few watts to MW. manner whatsoever.
milestone and they look to cre-
ate a global footprint and locally
produce zero emission power
generators in Pune.“We intend
to reach every home,every com-
mercial establishment and every
city with our hydrogen and fuel
cell technologies. We are build-
ing large manufacturing capac-
ity in Pune for Indian and global
markets,”Poonawalla said.
h2e acquired 100% of Hexis
from the Viessmann Group. It
will be working with Viessmann
for supplyof fuel cell modules in
the European markets. The
Viessmann group is one of the
largest integrators of heating
systems in Europe. These mod-
ules are used for for heating ap-
plications in individual homes
and commercial establishments.
h2e founder and MD, Sid-
dharth R Mayur said with the
acquisition of Hexis, they have

Ordinances on inter-
state farm trade,
contract farming out
of judicial process
FE BUREAU
New Delhi, June 5

STATE GOVERNMENTS
CAN'T tax farm trade under
the new central law for inter-
state trade thatvirtuallyallows
farmers to sell their produce
anywhere in the country with-
out being impeded by the
APMCmandis,accordingtothe
Ordinance issued on Friday.
Via another Ordinance,
farmers would get share of
post-contract price surge,after
they sign agreements of con-
tract farming with private
players.Also,theywill have the
coverof minimum guaranteed
price if open market/mandi
rates fall drastically.

indianexpress.com

I look at every side

before taking a side.
Inform your opinion with
insightful perspectives.

The Indian Express.

For the Indian Intelligent.
 4 FINANCIAL EXPRESS
Companies
SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 2020
Quick
View
BMW Chennai plant
to move to 100%
green electricity
THROUGH A host of initiatives,BMW
Group’s Chennai plant has commit-
ted to convert to 100% green electric-
ity by the end of the year.Over the last
fewyears,the plant has steadily
replaced conventional energy sources
with sustainable alternatives.
UltraTech Cement curbs
FY21 capex to `1,000 cr
ULTRATECH CEMENT has restricted
its capital expenditure plans for this
fiscal to `1,000 crore due to Covid-19
disruptions,as conserving its cash
position has become the“biggest
motto”for the company this year.In a
regulatory filing,the Aditya Birla
Group firm said the capital and finan-
cial resources of the company remain
entirely protected in spite of the
adverse impact on its sales during the
first two phases of the lockdown and
the liquidity position remains“ade-
quately covered”.“Due to COVID-19,
capital expenditure (CAPEX) plans for
the current financial year have been
restricted to an amount of around
`1,000 crore,”said UltraTech in a dis-
closure of material impact of the
Covid-19 pandemic.
Mahindra to raise
`500 cr through NCDs
MAHINDRA & Mahindra (M&M) on
Friday said it will raise `500 crore
through issuance of securities on a
private placement basis.The loans
and investment committee has
approved issuance and offer of 5,000
rated,listed,unsecured,redeemable
non-convertible debentures of `10
lakh each aggregating `500 crore,
M&M said in a regulatory filing.The
auto major did not elaborate on the
reasons for raising the capital.
CavinKare launches food
produce cleanser brand
HOME-GROWN FMCG company
CavinKare on Fridayannounced the
launch of its newbrand SaaFoo forveg-
etable,fruit and meatwashes in an
easy-to-use sachet format.The Chen-
nai-headquartered companysaid that
as most of the households in India con-
tinue to relyon plainwaterforcleans-
ing of fresh produce,the sachet format
of SaaFoo products has been intro-
duced in the market to aid consumers
maintain effective cleansing practices
forfood.The newly- launched brand
will house two exclusive products
underits umbrella: SaaFooVeggies and
FruitsWash and SaaFoo MeatWash.
CavinKare is a diversified FMCG firm
with business interests in personal
care,professional care,dairy,
snacks,foods,beverages and salons.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor to
hike price of two models
TOYOTAKIRLOSKAR Motor(TKM) on
Fridayannounced itwould increase
the prices of the CamryHybrid Electric
Vehicle and theVellfirewith effect
from next month.The move has been
necessitated due to the“substantial
rise”in exchange rates,the company
said in a statement.“As of now,the
extent of the price hike has not been
decided,”aTKM official said.The
CamryHybrid is touted as one ofToy-
ota’s flagship models among self-
charging electricvehicles.“TheVellfire,
latest launch byTKM in India,also
stands out forits ultra-luxurious,pow-
erful and eco-advanced performance
backed bylowfuel consumption and
carbon footprints,”the statement said.
Atlas Cycles shuts ops at
last manufacturing unit
ATLAS CYCLES has shut its last manu-
facturing unit in Sahibabad,just out-
side the national capital,citing lack of
funds to run the factory.Its CEO NP
Singh Rana,however,insists the shut-
down is only temporary,and the com-
panywill resume operations once it is
able to raise around `50 crore by sell-
ing surplus land.The company shut
the factory on June 3,which ironically
was also the World Bicycle Day.It laid
off 431 remaining employees,though
Rana insists they continue to be on
the roll of the company and will be
paid“lay-off wages”upon marking
attendance daily.
● GUIDANCE NOT PROVIDED
Private capex not returning in
a hurry: L&T; Q4 net down 6%
FE BUREAU
Mumbai, June 5
PRIVATE SECTOR CAPITAL expenditure
isnotcomingbackinahurry,ascompanies
still need to dust their balance sheets and
get revenue and cash flows back in line
before they start investing, Larsen &
Toubro’s(L&T)topbrasssaidonFriday.Like
other large corporates like Wipro and
Infosys, L&T too refrained from giving a
guidance for the current financial year,
which is a break from tradition.
L&T CEO and managing director SN
Subrahmanyansaidthatthecompany,toa
large extent, is going to be dependent on
stategovernment,publicsectorunitsanda
fewcentralgovernmentjobsbutthesewill
be backed by a lot of multilateral funding.
“About35%ofthejobswillbemultilateral
funded from the likes of JICA,World Bank,
Asian Development Bank as such. I don’t
see private sector revival at the moment”.
He added that the company sees some
activityon the airports side,and some jobs
coming in on the residential andcommer-
cialrealestate.Alargeextentwillbefunded
by multilateral funding and government
funding.
HeaddedthatintheMiddleEasttoothe
jobs would be mostly government-led and
that was the way the companywas looking
at forthe next one to twoyears.
In a break from the tradition, L&T also
kept from giving a guidance forFY21,stat-
ing that as the economic situation is
dynamic and uncertainty over how the
Covid-19 pandemic plays out,“any guid-
ance will not be relevant” at this stage and
will be given once the situation becomes
betterlaterin theyear.
The company has started operations in
all its factories and 60-70% labour is back
IL&FS Transportation incurs
`17K-cr standalone loss in FY20
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
New Delhi, June 5
IL&FSTRANSPORTATION NETWORKS,a
group company of the troubled IL&FS
Group, on Friday reported a standalone
loss of `17,000.32 crore for fiscal year
2019-20,amid Covid-19 disruptions.
Thecompanyhadclockedastandalone
profit of `251.76 crore during the fiscal
2018-19,it said in a regulatory filing.
However,the companydid not provide
figures for the fourth quarter of the fiscal
2019-20 and the consolidated figures for
the quarter and year ended March 31,
2020.
During the last fiscal,the companysaw
a sharp decline in its standalone total
income to `786.24 crore, as against
`4,709.48 crore in the year-ago fiscal.
Its total expenses during the last fiscal
stood at `3,014.37 crore, as against
`4,377.69 crore in the previous fiscal.
“As a result of the spread of COVID-19,
economic uncertainties have arisenwhich
are likely to negatively impact the timing
of claim receivable by the Special Purpose
Vehicle (SPVs) and asset monetisation,
Chandrasekaran: Tata Sons not looking to
monetise investments to raise capital
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
New Delhi, June 5
THE $111-BILLION TATA Group is not
looking to monetise investments to raise
capital and has enough cash to support
group firms, its chairman N Chan-
drasekaran said on Friday as he sought to
scotch speculations about the impact of
Covid-19 on the group’s business.
The board of Tata Sons, the holding
company of the salt-to-software con-
glomerate, met on Friday, reportedly to
evaluate and discuss strategies to allocate
funds to group companies and prioritise
sectors needing more liquidity.
Malls to have thermal screening, sanitisation tunnels, staggered entry
FE BUREAU
New Delhi, June 5
THEGOVERNMENTHASallowedshopping
malls outside containment zones to open
from Monday (June 8),albeit with thermal
screeningofshoppers,staggeredentryanda
proper crowd management strategy.The
measuresformpartofthestandardoperat-
ing procedures (SOPs) issued by the home
ministry(MHA) onThursday.
As the government moves ahead with
UnlockIndia1.0andtriestorevivetheecon-
omy,which has taken a hit due to the novel
Coronavirus(Covid-19)outbreak,mallsand
shopping complexes have been allowed to
open,butwithprecautions,inabidtoboost
retail demand.
As per the SOPs,thermal screening will
bemandatoryattheentranceandonlythose
shopperswillbeallowedwhousefacemasks
(` crore) Q4FY19 Q4FY20
Revenue Ebitda Net
profit
from
operations
44,245
43,303.4
5,120.7
5,280
3,400
2 3
«
«
«
Order Book Ebitda
2.90 3.03
as on March margin
(lakh) (%)
4 60 bps
«
Source: Company Consolidated figures
said Subrahmanyan said. However, of its
950-odd sites,about 90% have started but
hardly with 40% of labour. “We have
120,000-odd labourers right now at the
sites, we need to get it up by another
100,000,”he said.
L&T posted a mixed set of numbers.
While it beat analyst expectations on the
net profit and revenue fronts,it missed the
estimates on operating income. However,
in comparison to the previous year, the
numbers remained weak. The company
reported a decline of 6% in net profit on a
year-on-year basis for the quarter ended
March 31, 2020 to `3,197 crore against
Bloomberg’s consensus estimates of about
`3062 crore. Revenues from operations
during the quarter were marginally up by
2% y-o-y to `44,245 crore.Analysts had
expected the revenue to come in at nearly
`43,896 crore
The company’s Ebitda (earnings before
interest, tax, depreciation and amortisa-
The company did not provide
figures for the fourth quarter of the
fiscal 2019-20 and the consolidated
figures for the quarter and year
ended March 31, 2020
which may result into additional impair-
ment of investments, trade receivables,
loans and other receivables.
“Other financial impact could also
occur though such potential impact is
unknown,”the company said.
It said it has net liabilities of
`13,884.41 crore,as on March 31,2019.
The company said it has also suffered
consistentdowngradesinitscreditratings
since September2018,as a result ofwhich
the company's ability to raise funds has
been substantially impaired,with normal
business operations being substantially
curtailed.
“These conditions, along with other
matters...indicate the existence of a mate-
rial uncertainty that may cast significant
doubt about the company’s abilityto con-
tinue as a going concern,”it said.
Without mentioning the board meet-
ing, Tata Sons issued a statement to “dis-
pel the recent unfounded rumours”about
the group.
“The Tata group companies, like all
other companies, are facing both chal-
lengesandopportunitiesarisingoutofthe
pandemic and resulting economic situa-
tion,based on the industries and markets
they operate in,” Chandrasekaran said in
the statement.
“All our group companies are pro-
gressing well responding to these chal-
lenges and opportunities and we are con-
fident that theywill emerge stronger,”he
added.
that are to be worn at all times. Hand sani-
tisers should also be placed at the entrance
andonlyasymptomatic customersandvis-
itorswill be allowed.
Entry to shopping malls should be
allowedinastaggeredmannerandadequate
manpower should be deployed to ensure
socialdistancing norms are followed.
Apart from SOPs, malls will have an
immersive disinfection process for air con-
ditioning and fresh-air systems, alternate
seatingarrangementsatF&Boutlets,plexi-
glassshields,isolationroomsforcustomers
and staffwith symptoms,etc.
PushpaBector,executivedirectorofDLF
Shopping Malls, told FE that the company
hasbeenpreparingforthepasttwomonths
andisgeareduptoopenthemalls.Thefirm
runs seven high-end shopping malls.“We
arealsoembracingtechnologyforproviding
real-timefoottraffic,real-timenotifications
Chg (%)
«
Order Firm wins up to `5K-cr
inflow
Telangana contract
LARSEN & TOUBRO on Friday said
57,785
55,100
it has secured a large contract from
the government of Telangana for an
irrigation project.
Though the company did not
3,197
specify the exact contract value, as
peritsspecification,a‘large’contract
ranges between `2,500 crore and
6 5
«
`5,000 crore.
PTI
12.2 11.6
tion) stood at `5,120.7crore, a decline of
«
3% y-o-y against analysts’ expectation of
`5,325.58crore.Consequently,Ebitdamar-
ginscameinat11.6%,adeclineof60basis
pointsy-o-y.
Order inflows during the quarter
increased 5% to `57,785 crore,while the
order book stood at `3.03 lakh crore as on
March 31,2020.
As for working capital, it deteriorated
to 23% to sales versus 18% to sales in
FY19. R Shankar Raman, chief financial
officer,said that to some extent deteriora-
tionwasonaccountofthecompanyallow-
ing the vendor sub-system to get paid
regardless of the payment out of the cus-
tomer collections.“So deterioration is not
directlylinked tocustomers not payingus,
it is also because of the fact that we paid
our vendors. Secondly, the terms of trade
with all our contracts are increasingly
becominginterestlinkedwhenitcomesto
customeradvances.Earlierdaysweusedto
have customer advances which are inter-
est free, I guess the liquidity squeeze all
around are making people count their
pennies more closely”.
DLF plans to refinance `1,300 crore
of debt to conserve liquidity
DHWANI PANDYA
Mumbai , June 5
DLF, THE LARGEST listed developer in
India, plans to refinance `1,300 crore of
debt due for repayment this year,the com-
panysaid in an investorpresentation.
While“these can easilybe serviced from
the current cash levels, we are working
toward refinancing this debt to maintain
strong liquidity position throughout the
year. New funding being done at reduced
interestcosts,therebyreducingoutflow,”the
companysaid in the presentation.
Thecompany’snetdebtstoodat`52.67
billion as of March 31,cash and cash equiv-
alents were `25.07 billion. DLF reported a
loss for the fourth quarter of `18.6 billion
against a profit `4.37 billion y-o-y,follow-
Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw named
EY World Entrepreneur of 2020
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
New Delhi, June 5
BIOCON EXECUTIVE CHAIRPERSON
KiranMazumdar-ShawhasbeennamedEY
World Entrepreneur of the Year 2020 at a
virtual award ceremony,the company said
in a statement.
Shewasselected fromamong46Entre-
preneur of the Year country award winners
from 41 countries and territories,it added.
“Iamtrulyhonouredtoreceivethepres-
tigious EYWorld Entrepreneur of the Year
Award2020.Atitscore,entrepreneurshipis
aboutsolvingproblems.Thegreatestoppor-
tunities often arise at the toughest times,
and that’s been my experience throughout
my entrepreneurial journey,” Mazumdar-
Shawsaid.
“My business focus is global healthcare
and the provision of universal access to life
saving medicine; however,my responsibil-
on safety and cleanliness,booking of time
slots,golden hours to visit our malls which
ourconsumerscanexperienceverysoonon
DLFMall’s Lukout app,” she noted.
Bector said DLFis initially looking at re-
opening malls at 12:00 pm and shutting as
per curfew hours set by the government,so
that consumers feel safe to come in during
that time.It is also setting up protocols for
WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM
SHIFTTO FLEXIBLE WORKSPACES
Karan Virwani, CEO, WeWork India
❝
Space as a service is a huge opportunity for them
(businesses) to free up cash, and WeWork has the
right foundations and experience to provide safe,
flexible workspaces
Sun Pharma starts trials
for potential plant-based
Covid-19 medicine
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
New Delhi, June 5
DRUGMAKER SUN PHARMACEUTICAL
Industries on Fridaysaid it has begun clini-
cal trials of a plant-derived drug for the
potential treatment of Covid-19, with
results expected byOctober.
Thedrug,AQCH,isderivedfromtropical,
climbing shrub Cocculus hirsutus, com-
monlyknownasbroomcreeperorPatalgar-
udi,and is believed to have medicinal prop-
erties.
In a statement,Sun Pharma said Phase-
2trialson210patientsacross12centresin
India will be conducted and results are
expected byOctober.Ahuman safetystudy
of the drug has been completed.
AQCH was initially developed to treat
dengue but has “shown broad antiviral
effect” in laboratory tests against Coron-
avirus,it said.
India’s largest drugmaker joins pharma
companies around the world to develop an
effectivetreatmentorvaccineforthedisease
that has killed almost 4 lakh people world-
wide.
TwootherIndianfirms,GlenmarkPhar-
maceuticalsandStridesPharmaSciencetoo
areconductingtrialsforpotentialCovid-19
treatments.
Sun Pharma said it received approval
from the Drugs Controller General of India
(DCGI) forconducting the trials of the phy-
topharmaceuticaldrug inApril thisyear.
“The clinical trials will be conducted
across 12 centres in India on 210 patients.
The treatment duration for patients will be
10 days.The results of the clinical trials are
expected byOctober2020,” it added.
HumansafetystudyofAQCHhasalready
been completed and the drug has been
found safe at the recommended dose for
DLF retained its positive rental
outlook, with sustained success in
collections, business continuity
support, and positive feedback from
tenants
ing deferred tax asset reversal on the adop-
tion of a lowertax rate
The company’s development business
Biocon executive chairperson
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
ityasanentrepreneurisgreaterthansimply
deliveringvaluetoshareholders,”sheadded.
Wealth creation can be a catalyst for
change,andallentrepreneurshavearespon-
sibility to the world around them and the
communities in which they operate,
Mazumdar-Shawsaid.
“Women also play a hugely important
role in economic development,and for too
longtheircontributionhasbeenignored.It’s
foot traffic control at the entrances, along
with deployment of the mall staff at the
walkways and common areas, to ensure
adherence of social distancingnorms.
“Right from temperature checks at
entrance,three-stepsrolloversatescalators,
permanent distance markers in the eleva-
tor,repeatedsanitisationofcommonplaces
including washrooms; trained staff and
more, we are positive to enable a safe yet
enjoyable shopping experience forourcus-
tomers,” she added.
Food and beverage brands will reduce
seating arrangements to 50% and main-
tain placing of seating and tables six feet
apartforallcustomers.Theywillbeaccept-
ing pre-orders to avoid long queues and
there will also be a focus on more of take-
aways,Bector said.
PacificGroup,whichrunsfourmalls,will
give educational messages through online
❝
Sun Pharma said Phase-2 trials on
210 patients across 12 centres in
India will be conducted and results
are expected by October
Phase-2 study,Sun Pharmasaid.
“This is the first phytopharmaceutical
drugapprovedforclinicaltrialsbytheDCGI
as a potential treatment for COVID-19.
AQCH has shown anti-SARS-CoV-2 effects
in in-vitro studies conducted in collabora-
tion with ICGEB (International Centre for
Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology),
Italy,” Sun Pharma MD DilipShanghvi said.
These results combined with informa-
tion on mechanism of action through in-
vitro and small animal studies give us the
confidence to evaluate this potential treat-
ment option for Covid-19 patients, he
added.AQCH,which is being developed for
dengue,has shown a broad antiviral effect
invitro studies and hence is being tested as
a potential treatment option for Covid-19,
Sun Pharma said.
“Our efforts to develop a safe,effective,
andaffordabledrugagainstdenguestarted
about 13 years ago.The collaborating team
quickly initiated studies for the develop-
mentofadrugagainstCOVID-19,” Depart-
ment of Biotechnology Secretary Renu
Swarup said.
StatingthattheCouncilofScientificand
Industrial Research (CSIR) has had a close
association with the Indian pharma indus-
try, CSIR DG Shekhar C Mande said the
council“welcomes this collaboration with
Sun Pharma in taking forward AQCH into
clinical trials for COVID-19 patients.This
collaborationalignswithourscientificratio-
nale for the quickest way to develop drugs
against SARS-CoV-2.”
arm fell short of reaching the annual sales
targetsof`27billioninFY20,followingpan-
demic-relatedlockdownsandcancellations
atultra-luxuryresidentialprojectCamellias
DLF expects Q1FY21 to be a washout,
owingtotheextendedlockdownandlackof
short-term visibility for the buyers; some
semblance of normalcy will return toward
Q3FY21.
DLFretained its positive rental outlook,
with sustained success in collections,busi-
ness continuity support,and positive feed-
back from tenants.
Thecompanyhasresumedconstruction
immediately upon lifting of restrictions.It
sees lending institutions to be risk-averse,
thereby accentuating funding challenges
for stressed developers and accelerating
consolidation. BLOOMBERG
important that we use the platform of EY
World Entrepreneur of the Year to encour-
agemorewomentoparticipateinentrepre-
neurial pursuits,” she added.
Mazumdar-Shaw is the third Indian to
win this award, the earlier winners from
India were Uday Kotak of Kotak Mahindra
BankandNarayanaMurthyofInfosysTech-
nologies,the statement said.
Rajiv Memani, EY India chairman and
regionalmanagingpartner,said,“DrShaw’s
recognition is a moment of tremendous
pride for Indian entrepreneurship. She is
trulyawinneron several counts — not only
has she shown tremendous vision and for-
titudetogrowBioconintoamarket-leading,
innovation-drivenbiotechnologyorganiza-
tion which has created a global impact,but
has also made her mark as a torchbearer of
diversity, a voice of Indian industry and a
frontrunner in philanthropy and giving
back to the society.”
and offline platforms on Covid-19 through
twocharacters,HarryandJazz.Forthisitwill
use life-size cut-outs, social media anima-
tions,etc.“We have also taken a decision to
haveahospitalpartnerfortrainingandsup-
port, and a Covid-19 task force and emer-
gencyresponse team (ERT) forstrict adher-
ence and action. We will also have a
state-of-the-art contactless food-ordering
and payments app for food courts and will
encouragecashlesspaymentmethodsatall
stores and food counters,” Pacific Group
executive directorAbhishekBansal said.
Gaurs Group managing director Manoj
Gaur said,“We are committed to taking all
necessarymeasuressuchasthermalcheck-
ing, sanitisers, social distancing as pre-
scribed norms, regular sanitisation, con-
trolled hours and sanitisation tunnel at all
entry points”.The group has two malls in
GreaterNoidaWest and Ghaziabad.
WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 2020

FINANCIAL EXPRESS COMPANIES 5

BajajAuto plans Steel Limited

foray into Brazil

CORPORATE IDENTIFICATION NO. (CIN) : L27102MH1994PLC152925
Regd. Office: JSW Centre, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (E), Mumbai - 400 051
Tel.: 022-4286 1000 Fax: 022-4286 3000 Email: jswsl.investor@jsw.in Website: www.jsw.in

NOTICE TO EQUITY SHAREHOLDERS

GEETA NAIR
Pune, June 5
BAJAJ AUTO IS all geared up to
enter Brazil, the largest two-
wheeler (2W) market in Latin
America and the eighth-largest
in theworld.
With domestic market fac-
ing challenges, exports are
expected to contribute more to
Bajaj Auto’s recovery as some
global markets have been rela-
tivelyless impacted bythe pan-
demic and lockdowns.An entry
intoBrazilwillexpandthecom-
pany’spresenceanddiversifyits
global footprint. Bajaj will be
competing with the Japanese
automotivegiantsintheBrazil-
ian market.
The country’s largest expo-
rter,BajajAuto,already ships its
motorcycles to Latin America
and the region accounted for
around15%oftotalexportvol-
umes in 2019-20.The markets
include Argentina, Colombia,
Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia,
Uruguay,Guatemala,Honduras
and Nicaragua.
“We are constantly seeking
toexpandourglobalfootprintin
a meaningful way, and at the
righttimeforusaswewouldlike
to keep strengthening our glo-
bal business,” Rakesh Sharma,
executive director, Bajaj Auto
said. Bajaj aims to develop a
complete business in Brazil,
encompassingassemblyopera-
tions in compliance with local
laws,a distribution network for
sales,servicingoperations,spare
parts and retail financing sup-
portaswellascustomerengage-
ment, Sharma said. The plans
areintheearlystagesanddetails
are beingworked out,he said.
The company has not
directly exported to Brazil yet,
butitsvehiclesmadeinChakan,
Pune, under the KTM brand,
havebeensoldtoBrazilthrough
its strategic partner, KTM Aus-
tria, the ED said. According to
Sharma, the Brazilian market
for motorcycles is around one
million units per annum. The
companyexported2.17million
unitsto79countriesinFY20.In
FY19 total exports stood at 2
million units. In the first two
monthsofFY21,exportswereat
1.24lakhunitsofthetotalsales
of 1.65 lakh units. Exports are
expected to exceed domestic
sales formost part of thisyear.
OnMobile Global Limited
Registered Office : OnMobile Global Limited, Tower #1,
94/1C & 94/2, Veerasandra Village, Attibele Hobli, Anekal Taluk,
Electronic City Phase-1, Bangalore - 560100
Corporate Identity Number (CIN): L64202KA2000PLC027860
Phone: + 91 80 40096000 Fax: + 91 80 40096009
E-mail: investors@onmobile.com, Website: www.onmobile.com
NOtiCe
Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to Regulation 47 of
SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements)
Regulations, 2015, a meeting (FY2020-21/4) of the Board
of Directors of OnMobile Global Limited, is scheduled to
be held on Monday, June 22, 2020 at the registered office
of the Company at Tower #1, 94/1C and 94/2, Veerasandra
Village, Attibele Hobli, Anekal Taluk, Electronic City Phase-1,
Bangalore - 560100 through Zoom Video conference to
consider and approve inter alia the audited financial results
of the Company (Standalone and Consolidated) as per
IND-AS for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2020 and
to consider the recommendation of dividend, if any, amongst
other matters.
Further details are available at:
Company website: www.onmobile.com
Stock Exchange website: www.bseindia.com, www.nseindia.com
For OnMobile Global Limited
Sd/-
Dated : June 5, 2020 P V Varaprasad
Place : Bangalore Company Secretary
TRANSFER OF EQUITY SHARES OF THE COMPANY TO INVESTOR EDUCATION
AND PROTECTION FUND (IEPF) AUTHORITY
Pursuant to the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 read with the Investor Education and
Protection Fund Authority (Accounting, Audit, transfer and refund) Rules, 2016 as amended (“the
rules”), it is hereby notified that all equity shares in respect of which dividend has not been encashed
or claimed by the shareholders for seven consecutive years will be transferred by the Company to the
Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) Authority.
The required communication in this regard, to the concerned shareholders whose equity shares are
liable to be transferred to IEPF, will be communicated by email to those shareholders whose email
addresses are registered with the Company or the Registrar & Share Transfer Agent or Depository
Participant (DP) as the case may be and by post or by any other means of communication as soon
as possible considering the current situation of COVID 19 outbreak and directives of Central / State
Government or Local Bodies.
The Company has uploaded the relevant details of unpaid/unclaimed dividend payable to such
shareholders and corresponding shares due for transfer to the IEPF Authority on its website www.
jsw.in in the Investors section. Shareholders may further note that both the unclaimed dividend and
shares transferred to the IEPF Authority including all benefits accruing on those shares, if any, can
be claimed back by them from the IEPF Authority after following the procedure prescribed under
the said Rules.
In case the unpaid dividends are not claimed by the concerned shareholders by August 30,
2020, necessary steps will be initiated by the Company to transfer shares held by the concerned
shareholders to IEPF by the due date as per the procedure stipulated in the Rules, without any
further notice.
The concerned shareholders, holding shares in physical form and whose shares are liable to be
transferred to IEPF Authority, may note that the Company would be issuing new share certificate(s) in
lieu of the original share certificate(s) held by them for the purpose of dematerialisation and transfer
of shares to IEPF Authority as per the Rules and upon such issue, the original certificate(s) which
stands registered in their name will stand automatically cancelled and be deemed non-negotiable.
The shareholders may further note that the details uploaded by the Company on its website should
be regarded as and shall be deemed to be adequate notice in respect of issue of new certificate(s)
by the Company for the purpose of transfer of shares to IEPF Authority pursuant to the Rules. Please
note that no claim shall lie against the Company in respect of unclaimed dividend amount and shares
transferred to IEPF Authority pursuant to the said Rules.
For any further communication/query, please contact the Company’s Registrar and Share Transfer
Agents, M/s. KFin Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Unit : JSW Steel Limited, Karvy Selenium Tower B, Plot
31-32, Gachibowli, Financial District, Nanakramguda, Hyderabad – 500 032, Toll Free No.: 1800-
3454-001, Email einward.ris@kfintech.com.
The aforesaid information is also available on the Company’s website www.jsw.in and also on the
websites of the National Stock Exchange of India Limited and BSE Limited at www.nseindia.com and
www.bseindia.com respectively.
For JSW Steel Limited
Sd/-
Place : Mumbai Lancy Varghese
Date : June 055, 2020 Company Secretary

Shree Digvijay Cement Company Limited

(CIN : L26940GJ1944PLC000749)
P.O. Digvijaygram, Jamnagar – 361 140 Via. Jamnagar, Gujarat, India
Tel: 91 288 234 4272-75 Email: investors.sdccl@digvijaycement.com Website: www.digvijaycement.com
NOTICE
NOTICE REGARDING THE 75 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, BOOK CLOSURE,
TH

DIVIDEND INFORMATION AND FACILITY FOR REGISTRATION/CHANGE OF E-MAIL ID:

Regd Office: Plot B5, Block III, Uppal, IDA, Hyderabad - 500039
www.alkalimetals.com Email Id: secretarial@alkalimetals.com
Ph : +91 40 27201179/27562932, Fax : +91 40 272 01454; CIN: L27109TG1968PLC001196
NOTICE TO SHAREHOLDERS
Transfer of Equity Shares of the Company to Investor Education and Protection
Fund (IEPF) Demat Account
This notice is published pursuant to the provisions of Investor Education and Protection
Fund Authority (Accounting, Audit, transfer and Refund) Rules, 2016 as amended from
time to time.
The Companies Act, 2013 and the Rules, inter alia contain provisions for transfer of all
shares in respect of which dividend has not been paid or claimed by the shareholders for
seven consecutive years or more in the name of Investor Education and Protection Fund
Authority (IEPF).
In compliance with the requirements of the Rules, individual communication has been
sent to each of the shareholder(s) at the latest available address who have not claimed
their dividends for last seven consecutive years i.e from financial year 2012-13 onwards
and accordingly, whose shares(s) are liable to be transferred to IEPF under the said Rules
for taking appropriate action.
The Company has also uploaded complete details of such shareholders including names,
their folio no or DP ID and client ID and the number of shares due for transfer to IEPF on its
website under the Statement of Unpaid and Unclaimed Shares Transferred to IEPF found
under the Investor Tab.
Concerned shareholders holding shares in physical form and whose shares are liable to
be transferred to IEPF, may note that the Company would be issuing new share
certificate(s) in view of the original share certificate held by them for the purpose of
transfer of shares to IEPF as per the Rules and upon such issue, the original share
certificate(s) which are registered in their name will stand automatically cancelled and be
deemed non-negotiable. The Shareholders may further note that the details uploaded by
the Company on its website shall be deemed to be adequate notice in respect of issue of
new share certificate(s) by the Company for the purpose of transfer of physical shares to
IEPF pursuant to rules. In respect of shares held in dematerialized form, the Company
shall inform the depository by way of corporate action for transferring shares to IEPF.
In case no valid claim in respect of unclaimed dividend is received from the concerned
shareholders by 5th September 2020, the Company shall in order to comply with the
requirements of the Rules, transfer the equity shares to IEPF as per the procedure
stipulated in the rules without any further notice to the shareholders.
No claim shall lie against the Company in respect of the Unclaimed Dividends and the
Shares transferred to IEPF. On transfer of Dividend /Shares to IEPF, Shareholders may
claim the same by making an application to IEPF in Form IEPF-5, as per the Rules. The
said Form is available on the website of the IEPF www.iepf.gov.in
In case of any queries on the subject matter, please write to or contact our Company
Registrar & Share Transfer Agent (RTA): M/s. Cameo Corporate Services Limited, Unit:
Alkali Metals Limited, 5th Floor, Subramanian Building , No.1, Club House Road, Chennai
-600 006 Phone: 044-28460390/28460394 & 28460718, Fax: 044-28460129, e-mail:
investor@cameoindia.com or contact the Company's Secretarial and Investor Services
team on the contact details provided in this Notice.
For Alkali Metals Limited
Sd/-
Date : 5-June-2020 Siddharth Dubey
Place: Hyderabad Company Secretary & Compliance Officer
Notice is hereby given that the 75th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Company is con-
vened to be held on Tuesday, 30th June,2020 at 3.00 p.m. IST through Video Conferencing
("VC") / Other Audio Visual Means("OAVM") in compliance with the applicable provisions of
the Companies Act,2013 read with General Circular No.14/2020 dated 8th April, 2020, 17/2020
dated 13th April, 2020 and 20/2020 dated 5th May, 2020.
Pursuant to Section 91 of the Companies Act,2013, the Registers of Members and the Share
Transfer Books of the Company will remain closed from 24th June,2020 to 30th June, 2020 (both
days inclusive).
The Notice convening the 75th Annual General Meeting as well as the Annual Report is being
made available on Company's website www.digvijaycement.com and on the website of Stock
Exchanges on which the equity shares of the Company are listed.
Members who hold the shares of the Company in physical form or who have not registered
their email addresses with the Company can get the same registered with the Company by
requesting Members Updation Form by sending an email to rnt.helpdesk@linkintime.co.in and
investors.sdccl@digvijaycement.com, please submit the duly filled and signed Members
Updation Form to the above mentioned email.
Members can submit their mandate for receiving dividend directly in their Bank Account
through Electronic Clearing Service (ECS) or any other means by submitting their Bank
/Account details in Members Updation Form to rnt.helpdesk@linkintime.co.in or
investors.sdccl@digvijaycement.com.
Members who are holding shares in physical form or who have not registered their email
addresses with the Company can cast their vote through remote e-voting or through the
e-voting platform provided by National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) during the
meeting as per following procedure:
1. In case shares are held in physical mode,please provide Folio No., Name of sharehold-
ers, scanned copy of the Share Certificate(front and back page), PAN (self-certified
scanned copy of PAN Card),AADHAR(self-certified scanned copy of Aadhar Card) by
email to rnt.helpdesk@linkintime.co.in and investors.sdccl@digvijaycement.com
2. In case shares are held in demat mode,please provide DPID -CLID(16 digit +CLID or 16
digit beneficiary ID) Name, client master or copy of Consolidated Account Statement,
PAN (self-certified scanned copy of PAN Card ), AADHAR (self-certified scanned copy of
Aadhar Card) by email to rnt.helpdesk@linkintime.co.in and investors.sdccl@digvijayce-
ment.com
3. Alternatively members may send an email request to e-voting@nsdl.co.in for obtaining
User ID and Password by providing the details mentioned in point(1) or (2) as the case
may be.
The Company has availed the services of NSDL for providing facility of remote e-voting as well
as for providing platform for conduct of 75th AGM through VC or OAVM and also for voting
during the time of 75th AGM.
For the process and manner of e-voting (both remote e-voting and voting at the time of AGM)
and also for attending the 75th AGM through VC or OAVM, Members may go through the
instructions mentioned in the AGM Notice or visit NSDL's website https://evoting.nsdl.com and
in case of queries email to evoting@nsdl.co.in. Members may please contact the Company at
investors.sdccl@digvijaycement.com.
By Order of the Board
For Shree Digvijay Cement Co. Ltd.
Sd/-
Place: Ahmedabad Suresh Meher
Date : 4th June, 2020 VP (Legal) & Company Secretary
 6 FINANCIAL EXPRESS WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM

Opinion
POLITICS TRUMPS PANDEMIC?

❝
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee
I really feel bad that when we are fighting against
Covid-19 and Amphan and working to save lives,
some political parties are asking to remove us ... Is this
❝
the time for engaging in politics?
SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 2020

Ayush needs THE US MOVE MAY STRAIN TIES DESPITE MODI-TRUMP RAPPORT, BUTTHE LOWTHRESHOLD FOR
● USTR 301 INVESTIGATIONS

TCM treatment EQUALISATION LEVY 2020 ALLOWS INDIATO ARGUE THATTHE IMPOST DOESN’TTARGET US FIRMS

Bad news, but

If Ayush is to be taken seriously, the govt must facilitate
rigorous research to answer sceptics

T India may have wiggle room

HE GOVERNMENT IS batting for alternative medicine in the fight against
Covid-19—even as it acknowledges that there is no established line of treat-
ment or prophylaxis,the health ministry,and even the prime minister him-
self,has stated that the public should keep in mind the recommendations of
the Ayush (ayurveda, yoga, unani, siddha and homoeopathy) ministry.And, the Ayush

T
ministry, in a letter to the states/UTs dated March 6, listed many Ayush formulations
as preventives, prophylactics, standalone and add-on symptom management inter- RADE CONSIDERATIONS for diplomatic engagements to ward-
ventions, with claims that many of these have anti-inflammatory, immunomodula- HAVE invariablybeeninter- off a negative outcome.Another posi-
tory,even anti-influenzaeffects.Itwouldbefoolish to dismiss traditional medicine and twined with tariffs; an tive forIndia appears to be the fact that
denyit a role in the Covid-19 response,given communities have,forcenturies,relied on
these—a continued observational study,ifyouwill.More so,given allopathic medicine
increase in tax is inversely
proportional to trade and
MUKESH BUTANI the threshold for the 2020 levy,which
is `20 million,is not exceedinglyhigh,
seems to have no sure-fire intervention either.However,Ayush interests will be served vice versa. So much so that substantial & TARUN JAIN meaning that it doesn’t exclusively
far better if the government were to push for concerted research on this,with the gold foundationalpremiseoftheWorldTrade Authors are Partners, BMR Legal Advocates
target US technology giants and may
standardofclinicaltrial/research—randomised,double-blind,placebo-controlledstud- Organization is beset with prepositions Views are personal as well pass off as a tax measure
ies—or any other widely accepted standard of trial rigour, applying. While there are whichrelatetotheregulationoftaxeson equally applicable to almost all NRD-
claims of research literature, the robustness of these have been under a cloud; many trade.Though,theyarelargelyrelatedto SPs.This isverydifferent than the DST
studieshave failedtestsofreproducibility,complicatedbythefactthatmosttraditional indirecttaxes,suchascustoms&similar 301 investigations. InthecontextofDST,theUSTRcom- levy in other jurisdictions. It certainly
medicine systems saythat theirtreatment must be applied and appreciated in a holis- forms of tariff barriers, an inquiry into To appreciate the contours of the menced 301 investigations against provides a vital avenue to India to jus-
tic manner—that is,factors such as diet,stress,etc,also affect outcomes. theroleofdirecttaxesactingastradebar- USTR action,it is expedient to appraise France in July last year,and has recently tify its levy as non-discriminatory
Tobesure,thegovernmentnowseemsmoresurefootedaboutbolsteringAyushcredi- riers is unknown in the modern age.A thenuancesofIndia’sEqualisationLevy. launched a fresh set against a host of towards US companies. Furthermore,
bility.TheAyushministry,quiteadmirably,issuedadirectiveonApril1,againstfalseclaims caseinpointistheongoinginternational The 2016 levy was technically a charge nations including Austria, Brazil, Italy, a rate of 2% on revenues sketches it as
debate on Digital Services Taxes (DST) on the NRDSP, but practically borne by Spain,the UK,the EU,etc,besides India. a modest tax measure rather than an
ofAyush cures for Covid-19.OnApril 21,recognising the opportunitythe pandemic pre-
that are evolving to address an area in Indian Service Recipients (ISRs).Thus, As a next step, the USTR will officially unreasonable restriction on NRDSPs
sents,theministrycalledforAyushresearch/trials,afterconsultationswiththeDrugCon-
relationtotaxingofsegmentsofthedig- the NRDSP were largely unaffected as, engage with these countries to deter- from operating in India,thereby,stul-
troller General of India,the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and ital economy hitherto not taxed,due to effectively,the cost of the 2016 levyand mine if their DSTs inter- tifying 301 investiga-
otherexpertsonclinicalresearch,sayingsuchresearch/trialswouldneedtoconformtothe constraintsunderthetraditionalrulesof the compliance burden was upon the fere or act as a barrier for tions.
ministry’s guidelines forclinical research on Covid-19.Last month,the government even taxation that their origin to the League ISRs. Furthermore, the 2016 levy was US companies to under- In the overall frame-
setupataskforcetooverseeAyushresearchinthecountry.However,therearecertaingaps of Nations era, dating back to the early restrictedonlytodigitaladvertisements, take trade.In practice,the
The 2020 levy and work, however, the 2020
that could undermine the endeavour,and traditional medicine could be back at square part of last century. which did not affect most NRDSPs.The USTR examines whether 301 probe reveal levy and 301 investiga-
one.Theguidelineshaveloopholesthatcanbemanipulatedtodressresearchfindings—or The Permanent Establishment test, 2020levyismateriallydistinctandwider themeasuresbeinginves- the onset of an era tions, viewed conjointly,
questionrobustnessofthestudy—dependingonhowscepticaloneisoftraditionalmedi- invogueforalmostacenturyasthebasis initsscope—itobligestheNRDSPsown- tigatedaretargetedspecif- where national reveal the onset of an era
cine.Forinstance,the“desired”inclusioncriteriafortrialsallowinclusionofsubjectsaged for taxing non-residents’income in the ing or operating an e-commerce plat- ically against US compa- where national interests
between 18 and 60years,leaving out the elderly,amongwhom Covid-19 disease compli- source country, is found to be wanting, formtopaytaxonconsiderationearned nies and, in this case,
interests overwhelm overwhelm international
cationand mortalityratesare thehighestacrossagecohorts.And,fortreatmenttrials,the or,we must say,inadequate,in the mod- by them from the supply of their own whether the DSTs are international cooperation on tariffs and
guidelinesrecommendinclusionofonlymildandmoderatecases,samplingproblemsthat ern digital model space, owing to the goods or services, including considera- intended to penalise“par- cooperation trade. Some of our Indian
have been flagged for some allopathic drug trials too.The guidelines also recommend negligiblepresenceoftheNon-Resident tion earned forfacilitating supplymade ticulartechcompaniesfor friends call it nationalism;
excludingsubjectswithpre-existingco-morbidities.Of60trialsthatasearchontheweb- Digital Service Providers (NRDSPs).The by third-parties on their platform.The theircommercialsuccess”. we,though,label it a dilu-
siteoftheClinicalTrialsRegistryofIndia(CTRI)yieldedwiththesearchterm‘Covid-19’,23 debate to move away from taxing such tax-incidence and the compliance bur- In the current eco- tion of multilateralism,
wereAyush-related;overhalfofthesewerenon-randomised,andnonehavebegunrecruit- businesseshasmatured,andthereareno den,both,areupontheNRDSPunderthe nomic environment, clearly, the 301 which is what the world needs most in
ingyet.Also,whiletheCDSCOrecognisesAyurvedicmedicineasthosethatconformtothe takers, particularly in government, for 2020 levy,thus,obliging them to regis- announcement is not good news for today’s environment—more so to man-
classical texts,the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 recognises only 54,31 and 14 texts as leavingthemuntaxed.Itsoutcomeisevi- ter in India, file periodic returns and India. Firstly, it will strain the US-India age the economic consequences of an
dentintheongoingOECDleadBaseEro- undergoassessmentbyIndianRevenue. trade-relations,despitethestrongpolit- unprecedented health crises. This is
“authoritativebooks”onayurveda,siddhaandunani,respectively;alargenumberofAyush
sion & Profit Shifting (BEPS) debate cul- Thechargeunderthe2020levyextends ical capital the leaders of the two coun- wherethefocuswillbethemostforyears
formulations outside these texts will be considered non-standard,hobbling research on
minating in an inclusive framework of not just to their transactions with ISRs, tries have developed. Secondly, these to come,when the pandemic is behind
these.And,withnon-standardformulationswillcometheattendantproblemofnon-dis- nations,looking at achieving a consen- but to thosewith othernon-residents in investigations are widely perceived by us.Politicalleadershipwill,hopefully,be
closure,especiallyincasesofproprietarymedicine,andasuitableplaceboorcontrolwould susonthebasisfortaxationandsharing certain forms of specified transactions, mostEUnationsas“arm-twisting’’mea- alivetotherealitythatsuchstandoffsare
be hard to design.To pushAyush,the government must take a cue from China’s efforts on of such tax revenues amongst the such as the sale of data collected from sures to push nations into changing not good for any nation,let alone to the
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)—invest heavily to become an R&D leader itself and nations. While the endeavour of the Indian residents or advertisements tar- their trade policies to advance the US’s idea of promoting multilateralism on
help design research protocolsthathave acceptanceacrosssystemsof medicine.Perhaps, OECD has been to arrive at a consensus, getedtowards Indian residents. interests.Apopularexample,thoughnot subjects such as tax, and there are very
then,Ayush might get theboost thatTuYouyou’s medicine Nobel meant forTCM. in the interim, it has invigorated adop- The USTR inquiry is under the US specifically in the context of 301 inves- few situations where tariffs and sanc-
tionofunilateralmeasuresbycountries, TradeActof1974andSection301ofthis tigations,is pushing India to undertake tions are imposed as these are bound to
challenging the continuation of a rule- law, hence referred as ‘301 investiga- reduction of customs duty on Harley evokeemotivereactions.Therecouldnot

Allowing drones to take off basedorderinthespaceofinternational

taxation.Indianlawmakersledbyexam-
ple in the year 2016 by enacting the
tions’,enablestheUSTRtoinitiateinves-
tigations to determine whether actions
of othercountries are actionable,on the
bikestoavoidtradesanctions.Thirdly,in
these unprecedented times,when eco-
nomicfundamentalsofmostsegments
be a more crucial time to engage in
meaningful discussions, especially
throughdiplomaticchannels,insteadof
DGCA’s latest relaxations good, but more needed EqualisationLevy(2016levy)whichhas premisethattheyinterferewiththeUS’s oftheeconomyareunderstress,thedig- public inquiries, to seek consensus on
been substantially expanded in this tradeinterests.Though,itisessentiallya ital services have beaten the red lines. policies and tax measures that affect

T
year’s budget (2020 levy).It is the 2020 domestic inquiry, the implications for The 2020 levypresumablywas enacted otherjurisdictions,sothatunilateralism
HE COVID-19 PANDEMIC hasdelineatedquitesharplyhowIndia’slumbering
‘expansive’levythathasraisedeyebrows countriesbeinginvestigatedcanbeomi- with an aim to mobilise additional rev- doesnotleadtoisolation.Inourview,the
regulation has hobbled technological solutions that could have been mar- in the international fraternity. Apart nous.An affirmative finding results in enues by tapping into the potential of US administration will do better by
shalledinthefightagainstthedisease.Inearlydaysofthelockdown,theChen- fromgrievanceregardingthelackoflead theUSadministrationengagingwiththe the NRDSPs’Indian supplies.Were 301 engaging productively with the OECD-
nai Municipal Corporation had engaged Garuda,a start-up,forsanitisation of time forimplementing the newlawand country, resulting in tariff measures investigations to lead to a review of the led BEPS initiative to accelerate consen-
hospitalcomplexesandadjacentareasthroughaGoogleMaps-guideddrone.Thedrone absence of stakeholder consultation, should a country fail to address USTR’s 2020 levy, it would further dent the sus on taxation of digitised economy,
covered 1.2 hectares in one flight,and upto 60 hectares in one day,within a signal range critics have claimed that the 2020 levy findings.Acase in point is the infamous exchequer’s reserves. which will ease pressure on nations,
of 3 km.Lateron,UttarPradesh and Odisha also hired Garuda’s services.Had it not been strainsfree-tradecommitmentsandvio- US-China face-off leading to sanctions The silver lining, however, is the whether India or the EU, to ease up on
for the pandemic, all this would have drawn the regulator’s ire.The original norms on lates WTO rules. Seemingly acting on and tariff barriers on Chinese exports; fact that the current 301 investiga- unilateral levy such as DTS or equalisa-
drone flight, introduced in December 2018, allowed only manual operations of the such lines,the United States Trade Rep- most of it is linked in large measure to tions are not India-specific and extend tion levy.This will automatically make
drone, and had near-total restrictions on drone flight beyond the visual line of sight resentative(USTR)hasrecentlyinitiated 301 investigations. to 10 countries, thus, offering scope the 301 investigationsacademic.
(BVLOS). In January 2019, the government had a rethink and said it will allow BVLOS
fromMay2019,butthatneverreallytookoff,withonlyahandfulofplayersallowedtest
runs; which is why the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) allowing 13 consor-
LETTERS TO
tia to start BVLOS operations, as reported by Economic Times, is welcome news. DGCA
will allow these 13 consortia,which include food delivery services such as Zomato and
Swiggy,andDunzo,a pure-playdeliveryservice,to testdrone-useforahostofpurposes,
Quarantine is terrible, but it works THE EDITOR
from delivery to surveillance.The companies will have to complete 100 hours of flying
bySeptember 30,and submit their data which,will inform regulation,to the DGCA.
Lockdown has resulted in flattening the Tackling Covid-19
DGCA’s changed stance is certainly reassuring,but policy needs to adapt to changing
times and technology,especiallyin something as dynamic as drone flight.DGCAstill has-
curve in many nations. People should be MARK BUCHANAN The WHO is found wanting on
weary of sceptics who are against such a view Bloomberg
enforcing global-compliance to
n’tmadeitclearwhetheritwillallowautonomousdroneoperations.Ifdronedeliveriesare restrictive measures, at a time when
tobemeaningful,companieswouldwanttoautomatemostoftheprocess.Moreover,DGCA combating the pandemic and
can’t have strict licensing conditions for drone pilots.At present, the bar is set too high, IN MARCH, MANY governments Yes—if we only consider this kind of There is one conceivable alternative conserving human-life ought to be
which means concomitantlyhigh labourcost forcompanies even as drone flight impacts aroundtheworldimposedstrictcontrols misguided statistical comparison.We explanation: that the epidemic slowed the highest priority. The entity is
low-enddeliveryjobs.The‘no-permit,no-fly’rulehasaddedtotheproblem.DGCAintends on human meetings and movement— shouldn’t expect any clear correlation, everywhere as enough people became operating in a fragile manner. With
toenforcethis,whilecountriesthatfirstintroducedsuchregulations,viztheUK,Australia, “lockdowns”—toslowthespreadofcoro- because we know that lots of other fac- infected and populations reached herd evolving dynamics and the
etc,have to ease such provisions in their regulations.The DGCAlaunched the Digital Sky navirus. The pandemic’s curves were torsmatterbesideslockdownornolock- immunity.Exponentialgrowthofanew emergence of other powerful-forums
portal forregistration before flying,but these processes need to be fast-tracked.Covid-19 soon“flattened,” sparing health services down,including the timing of the lock- epidemic does normally slow when so which boast of an increased
has made distancing and contactless service delivery a necessity,and has thus,widened from being overrun. Now, in China, downandthepresence(orabsence)ofan many get infected that the virus has a funding/visibility, the mechanism to
the scope for deployment of drones.This is a reality the regulator needs to appreciate. Europe,the US and elsewhere, authori- effective public-health service to carry hardertimefindingnewuninfectedtar- revive the Organization appears to
Besides,once it allows recreational flying,costs will come down further and this will spur ties are cautiously relaxing the rules. out testing,contact tracing and quaran- gets. But, the evidence weighs heavily be an uphill task. The surveillance-
innovation on drone safety,obviating in time the need fortight regulation. Lockdowns have been costly, but they tining of the infected. againstthisidea.EstimatesinSpainand test rate continues to be low across
helped us avoid a farworse catastrophe. Taketiming.Ofcountriestakingsim- France find about 5% of their popula- most nations. Is the Organization
Yet our very success—tenuous as it ilar measures, those that acted earlier tions may have been infected by early willing to shoulder the end

LockdownBLUES
is—has suddenly stirred contrarian were more successful in containing the May.The number is similar for the UK accountability for the aggravated
voices,with some pondering the possi- epidemic.NewZealand,institutinglock- overall,risingtoperhaps15%inLondon. global situation, which is marked by
bility that the lockdowns may not have downwhenithadonly102cases,hashad This isn’t close to herd immunity,with an unknown root cause of the
had much effect. Statistician William 22 deaths. On March 16, the UK had almost everyone in the population infection, non-availability of a robust
Karnataka survey shows how deep and widespread the misery Briggs insists that“there is no evidence 3,000confirmedcasesyetdelayedlock- remainingsusceptible. cure, ill-planned implementation of
from the corona pandemic and the lockdown has been thelockdownmadeadifference”,noting down for another week.This one-week Asidefromallthisevidence,itisalso restrictive measures and an uncertain
that the virus waned even in some delay, a recent study in pre-print esti- just very hard to imagine how a lock- future for developing nations?

W
nations—Taiwan,forexample—thatdid mates, caused roughly 11,000 further, down, which greatly reduces the fre- Shouldn't the reputed institution
HAT LEVELS OF poverty forced migrants,within days of the lockdown
not go into lockdown. An article in a avoidable deaths. Not really surprising, quencyof human contact,could possi- have stayed on top of things to
announcement,to flee cities theyhad come to forwork?AsurveybyKar-
right-wingBritishnewspaperinsiststhat as the number of infected was doubling blyfail to have an impact on the spread ensure that nations are duly
natakaJanashakti,aKarnataka-basedcivilsocietyorganisation,mayhave there is not even a“shred of real proof” everythree to fourdays at the time. of an infectious agent.This is epidemi- compensated for the loss and a cost-
some pointers.The organisation surveyed 1,387 workers across sectors the lockdown did anygood. If lockdowns were effective,why did ology in another universe. Indeed, sci- effective vaccine sans side-effect is
and members of certain marginalised groups in the state,and found that an overwhelm- None of this should be taken seri- some nations without lockdowns have entists have clearly seen the effects of generated/rendered within
ing82%didn’thavemoneytobuyessentialsandruntheirhouses.Almostthree-quarters ously. The position flies in the face of very few deaths? Obviously lockdown lockdown on thisyear’s flu in Northern stipulated timelines? With most
of the farmers among the respondents said they could not sell their produce,and among overwhelming evidence,and accepting isn’t the only way to fight the spread of Hemisphere countries. In January, we countries being too pre-occupied
thosethatdidmanagetosellitoff,nearlyfour-fifthsincurredseriouslosses.Morethanhalf it requires the commission of a litany of an epidemic. Some nations didn’t lock had expected thisyearto be among the with competitiveness, market-share,
of the respondents stated that theywere not able to access any government relief during basic errors in reasoning. downbecausetheydidn’tneedto.South worst flu seasons in several decades. cutting-edge technologies and
the lockdown period.The surveyalso covered those living at the fringes of societysuch as Tobeginwith,Briggsreliesonaterri- Korea,Hong Kong and Canada each had But, the number of flu infections economic-growth, is it a surprise that
those in sex-work,transgenders and nomadic people,and found that nearlyall such peo- ble statistical argument, citing the lack very-well-developed infrastructure for dropped sharplyinApril,not long after the upkeep of medical-infrastructure
ple received no relief from the government.And,just 5%were able to receive the medical ofastrongcorrelationbetweenthenum- aggressivetesting,tracingandquaranti- Covid-19 lockdowns were imposed. has taken a back-seat? Is it the time
attentionrequiredduringtheperiod.Suchwideanddeepdistressislikelytoexactimmense berofcoronavirusdeathsinanationand ning.Theyappliedmorepreciseanti-epi- Anotherweird coincidence? to preach the importance of
health,economicand socialcostsfromsomeof themostvulnerablesectionsofthepopu- its imposition of a lockdown policy.The demictools than others did. It is hard to understand the motiva- amnesty, fraternity and morals and
lation,especiallyif the barriers to accessinggovernment relief remain. UKimposedalockdownyet hasstill had If lockdown didn’t make anydiffer- tionfor“lockdownshadnoeffect”think- work towards establishing an ideal
The Karnataka story is likely to have played out across the country, and perhaps will thesecond-highestdeathratepercapita ence, then why, in all the nations ing.Ofcourselockdownisunpleasant.It world symbolised by harmony? Or to
manifestinaworsemannerasruralareasinpoorstateseeasurgeofreturningmigrants— of any nation. No-lockdown Taiwan, in imposing lockdowns, did the growth has been socially and economically introspect the root-cause of
withCovid-19casesrising,wagesfalling,anddeprivationdeepening.Whiletacklingrural contrast,hadveryfewdeaths.Onagraph rateoftheepidemicsoonshowmarked costly.But,it never had any effect? That inconclusive lab-results for
distresswillneedanincreaseinthenumberofguaranteeddaysofworkunderMGNREGA, of lockdown or no lockdown versus epi- reductions?Take China,the US,the UK, is about as plausible as Covid-19 being the numerous vaccines/drugs,
demicoutcome,thereisnoclearpattern, Spain, France, Italy—each shows the caused by5G microwave signals. tested hitherto?
KarnatakaJanashaktirecommendedanurbanemploymentguaranteescheme.However,
soBriggsthinks:“Whatcanweconclude? same pattern of sharp change in This column does not necessarily — Girish Lalwani, Delhi
what is really needed is kickstarting industry, especially MSMEs, to ensure job creation
Onlyone thing: We cannot conclude that growthratesoonafterlockdown.Isthis reflect the opinion ofthe editorialboard
picks up.Without that, the government may not even have the resources to continue a lockdowns worked”. just a weird coincidence? orBloomberg LP and its owners ●Write to us at feletters@expressindia.com
relief/employment guarantee programme.
R.N.I. Reg. No. 6188/61 Printed for the proprietors, The Indian Express (P) Ltd by Vaidehi Chintaman Thakar at The Indian Express (P) Ltd Press, Plot No. EL-208, TTC Industrial Area, Mahape, Navi Mumbai-400 710 and published from Express Towers, Nariman Point, Mumbai-400 021. Editorial & Administrative Offices: Express Towers, Nariman Point, Mumbai-400 021. Phone: 22022627/67440000. Fax: 022-22856323.
Chairman of the Board: Viveck Goenka, Managing Editor: Sunil Jain, Resident Editor: Malini Bhupta* (*Responsible for selection of news under PRB Act) © Copyright: The Indian Express (P) Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner, electronic or otherwise, in whole or in part, without prior written permission is prohibited. The Financial Express®
WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 2020

FINANCIAL EXPRESS OPINION 7

● BEYOND UNLOCK-1

An age of innovation
The 21st century could truly belong to India, with companies and start-ups set on innovative responses to Covid-19 with data connectivity, and faster tests
with quick results that can be printed,
ativeness arising out of a problem just for use in remote areas.
like what happened in World War II or Drona Maps has built a full-service,
the Cold War’. Mumbai’s iconic Taj technology-enabled war-room solution
Mahal Hotel was also thrown open by for public and administration dash-
the Tatas for free stay for Covid-19 boards, enabling geofencing, patient &
health workers. The Tatas also part- quarantine monitoring,and predictive
DHANENDRA nered with Institutes of Excellence analysis. Infinite Analytics is a tech

KUMAR under the department of science and

technology (DST), and CSIR to come up
solution for tracing high-risk individu-
als based on their accurate historic
Former chairman, CCI, and former ED, with latest testing kits based on RT- proximity and time of contact with
World Bank. Views are personal LAMP technology for quick and effec- infected individuals. Healthians is
tive results. working on a three-pronged approach
Aditya Birla Group pledged `500 to holistic and scalable testing, drive

W
crore,one million N95 masks,2,80,000 through testing and booth/kiosk based
HEN THE CENTRE PPEs and ventilators. They also testing. Project PCR Sample Pooling
announced Unlock- announced a 100-bed Covid-19 facil- aims to reduce cost of testing by pool-
1 after 68 days of ity at the Seven Hills Hospital in Mum- ing RT-PCR samples.
national lockdown, bai. Cumulative capacity of 200 beds On the health service delivery side,
nature too seemed was announced at Ujjain, Pune, Haz- too, there have been innovations. Spe-
to greet it with an unusual‘double rain- aribagh, etc. cialist tele-consultations will provide
bow’, widely ‘considered a symbol of Maruti, the country’s largest car- effective solutions for the vast primary
transformation and a sign of good for- maker,partnered withAgVa Healthcare care providers and patients at home,
tune’. The numeral in Unlock-1 also to produce the much needed 10,000 without the need to go to hospitals. e-
raised hopes of subsequent phases of ventilators every month, besides PPEs Psyclinic will be especially helpful in
unlocking. and masks and other protective equip- tackling general anxiety, depression,
Theworld has been reeling underthe ment. Similarly, the Mahindra group feelings of deep isolation, psychoso-
Covid-19 onslaught; it is evident that announced plans to manufacture ICU matic disorders,domestic violence and
the real end to the long drawn war with ventilators and other healthcare equip- psychological problems.
the pandemic will come with an effec- ment, and indigenously developed a The private sector is also contribut-
tivevaccine,forwhich a global race is on, prototype of the big valve mask, also ing significantly through innovations
with India participating. Until then, as known as Ambu bag to help patients in other areas. Deep Kalra, founder of
PM Modi stressed,“do gaz doori (six-feet with breathing problems and act as an MakeMyTrip,played a key role in devel-
distance), wearing masks and staying interim lifesaver. oping the Aarogya Setu app, which has
indoors as much as possible” has to be Azim Premji of Wipro pledged been hailed by the prime minister as a
the new normal. Alongside, innovative `1,125 crore to fight Covid-19, and game-changer in fighting Corona.
solutions must be devised to strengthen signed an agreement with the Maha- ILLUSTRATIONS: ROHNIT PHORE
Abhiraj Bhal at Urban Company
the healthcare ecosystem, save our rashtra government to repurpose one launched Project Vishwas, helping
frontline‘corona warriors’,and upgrade of its campuses in the Hinjewadi area reusable frame of the shield is not bound ease management at home (like tele- test. They have built a complete work- 27,000 service partners bounce back
the infrastructure.Prime ministerModi into a 450-bed, intermediary care to the transparent sheet.IITBombayhas medicine),enhanced support forhealth- flowchain,from tele-consulting to test- with innovative solutions.TourHQ.com
has repeatedlyemphasised the forinno- Covid-19 hospital. Infosys announced come up with a portable UltraViolet care workers & hospitals (like protective ing. Ethereal provides a splitter has been similarly working with its
vative solutions at this juncture.Even at a `100-crore support to fight Covid-19 Sanitiser device that helps in sanitising gear for healthcare workers, augment uniquely designed for managing two 30,000 guides to retrain them, and
CII,at theirAnnual Session on June 2,he and launched a 100-room quarantine currencynotes,gadgets and otheritems. hospital capacity), management of crit- patients with different ventilatory help them get the necessary equipment
underlined the need of innovation. facility for Covid-19 patients next to Another area of notable innovation ically ill patients (like expansion of ICU needs (differential pressure splitting). to be able to earn a living by providing
There are innumerable examples of Narayana Health City in Bengaluru. is ensuring hygiene in public spaces. capacity,ventilators,oxygen supply) and This will also prevent cross contamina- virtual experiences to global clients,sit-
how firms, big and small, have stepped Pune-based MyLab Discovery Solu- There are start-ups likeAqoza technolo- support for mental health (like families tion between paired patients. ting in the comfort of their homes.
up to the challenge by pivoting their tions has come up with indigenously gies and PerSapien who have developed of patients and broader community). StepOne is a solution for state Indian minds have repeatedly
normal business models to find and manufactured Covid-19 test kits and chemical formulations for disinfecting Anumberof projects have been iden- helpline numbers which are breaking proved their mettle across the world.In
deliverlow-cost solutions,sometimes in PCR kits that can speedily detect the public spaces. Airlens minus Corona tified and supported. Clovia is working down under the burden of calls. This is times ofw war and crisis, the entire
step with the government, particularly infection. Aerobiosys Innovations, an from PerSapien dispenses water on manufacturing superior quality PPE achieved through a scalable network of nation has stood as one! As PM Modi
to beef up healthcare infrastructure. incubated start-up of IIT-Hyderabad, droplets to oxidise the viral protein. kits (higher GSM fabric with lamina- existing cloud telephony queuing sys- exhorted in his call to the nation, the
Ratan Tata, doyen of Indian Indus- has come up with a low-cost, portable Crowdsourcing is also in full swing tion,and anti-bacterial tapes).Karkhana tems, and a network of doctors on call. world believed that 21st Century
try, while pledging `1,500 crore, high- emergency use ventilator called‘Jeevan during the pandemic. India’s start-up is using a variety of techniques (3D Mozark has helped DoT to set up an belongs to India, and this crisis has
lighted support to ‘own innovative- Lite’.This is a low-cost (`1 lakh) option community set-up a platform ‘ACT printing, injection moulding, etc) to open platform for states to monitor given us that opportunity to achieve it!
ness’. He stressed ‘it is not a world war, enabled by Internet of Things (IoT). Grants’,and has mobilised `100 crore to produce PPEs, including face shields, quarantined individuals and issue Whatever happens,one thing is certain,
but it is like a world war.There is a dra- IIT Roorkee has also developed a low support ideas to combat Covid-19 with aerosol boxes,goggles,etc; 1mg is help- alerts, identify the geography of the the post-Covid erawill be different than
matic need for vaccine, there is a dra- cost ventilator called‘Prana-Vayu’,and a immediate impact. The candidate pro- ing in mass-scale testing that uses tech population density of infection, etc. the BC (before Covid) one, and the new
matic need for solutions’. He said that low cost face shield for the doctors dur- jects could be in fields like prevention of (for triage) for doctors (for prescription) Molbio has come up with indigenously normal will make our lives easier in sev-
‘there could be another wave of innov- ing the shortage of PPE.The 3D printed Covid-19 spread,scale-up of testing,dis- and innovative ways to administer the made portable RT-PCR kits equipped eralwayswith newinnovative solutions.

DATA DRIVE

Huge pendency Environmental crimes in 2018 Worrying trend

35,196 6,281 48,238

Environment-related Cases pending Cases pending 12 states have registered an increase in
environmental crimes between 2017 & 2018
crimes registered police investigation in court

in green cases
2017 2018

A long way to go Uttarakhand

75
194
Courts need to dispose of Average number of cases Time courts will take to Average cases courts have to
132 cases a day to clear the Uttar Pradesh 1,863
courts disposed of every finish the backlog if it moves dispose of every day to finish

W
backlog in a year 1,693
HILE THE NUMBER of Environmental (Protection) Act and The day in 2018 * at its current pace** the backlog in a year***
Jharkhand 158
environment-related offences Air & The Water (Prevention & Control
in the countrydeclined 17% of Pollution) Act, where it will take over
The Forest Act & The 5.56 cases 9 years 2 months 51.18 cases 51
155

to 35,196 in 2018 from 42,143 in 2017, 32 and 33 years, respectively, to clear Forest Conservation Act Bihar
States with most offences: Uttar Pradesh (1,436), Rajasthan (471), Himachal Pradesh (240) 152
the number of cases pending in counts the huge backlog of pending cases. Over Himachal 196
went up by7% to 48,238.So,at the 90% court cases remain unresolved The Wildlife
0.62 cases 13 years 3 months 8.22 cases Pradesh 270
current rate,according to Centre for under five of the seven Acts related to Protection Act Punjab 35
States with most offences: Uttar Pradesh (227), Rajasthan (220), Madhya Pradesh (240) 35
Science and Environment’s State of forests, wildlife, environment protection
India’s Environment 2020 report,courts
will take nine to 33 years to clear the
and pollution. The most worrying trend
is that 12 states, including
The Environmental 0.05 cases 32 years 3 months 1.77 cases
Jammu & 13
Kashmir 8
(Protection) Act
backlog of cases forviolations under Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar, Madhya States with most offences: Maharashtra (45), Uttar Pradesh (13), Haryana (9) 105
Assam 94
forest,wildlife,environment protection Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Uttarakhand,
and air pollution laws. have registered an increase in
The Air & The Water 0.01 cases 33 years 3 months 0.27 cases Arunachal 2
(Prevention & Control Pradesh 2
For instance, under The Forest Act environmental crimes between 2017 States with most offences: Madhya Pradesh (7), Kerala (3), Gujarat (2)
and The Forest Conservation Act, the and 2018. of Pollution) Act 1
Manipur 1
average number of cases courts The Cigarette and Other 61.93 cases 9 months 54.75 cases
disposed of every day in 2018 was 5.56. Chandigarh 4
Tobacco Products Act States with most offences: Tamil Nadu (14,462), Kerala (5,723), Rajasthan (1,378) 0
At that rate, courts will take 9.2 years to
complete the backlog. States with most Mizoram 1
number of offences were Uttar Pradesh
Noise Pollution Act 17.51 cases 9 months 15.77 cases 1
0
(1,436), Rajasthan (471) and Himachal States with most offences: Rajasthan (7,713), Tamil Nadu (72), Maharashtra (56) Meghalaya 45
Pradesh (240). Similarly, under The 88
Wildlife Protection Act, the average The National Green 0 cases Over 73 years 0.2 cases West Bengal 64
number of cases courts disposed of Tribunal Act States with most cases: Meghalaya (45), Maharashtra (34) Odisha 8
3
every day in 2018 was less than one. At
the current rate, it will take more than Total environment & 85.68 cases 1 year 5 months 132.16 cases Chhattisgarh 65
54
13 years to clear the backlog of cases. pollution-related acts
The worst showing is for The * Total cases disposed of in a year divided by 365 days ** Cases pending at the end of the year divided by average number of cases disposed of every day *** Cases pending at the end of the year divided by 365 days A & N Islands 2
0
Major pile-up Telangana 307
483
Over 90 per cent court cases remain unresolved under five of the seven acts related to forests, wildlife, environment protection and pollution Andhra 135
Pradesh 91
The Forest Act & The Wildlife The Environmental The Air & The Water Total Environment Haryana 42
37
The Forest Protection Act (Protection) Act (Prevention & Control of & Pollution-
Delhi UT 21
Conservation Act Pollution) Act Related Acts 17
COURT PENDENCY* COURT PENDENCY COURT PENDENCY COURT PENDENCY COURT PENDENCY 10,122
Rajasthan
9,784
Gujarat 78
102
Madhya 46
Pradesh 139
0
D&n Haveli 1
90.2% 93% 97% 97.1% 60.7% Daman & Diu 0
1
Maharashtra 439
POLICE PENDENCY** POLICE PENDENCY POLICE PENDENCY POLICE PENDENCY POLICE PENDENCY 1,010
Goa 28
5
Karnataka 494
400
Lakshadweep 0
1
25.5% 28.1% 49.3% 41.2% 15.2% Puducherry 75
63
20,914
Tamil Nadu 14,536
Court cases with conviction Court cases with conviction Court cases with conviction Court cases with conviction Court cases with conviction

1,300 132 7 3 95.9 Kerala 6,780

5,750
42,143
* Percentage of the total cases pending trial at the end of the year divided by the total cases that came for trial during the year ** Percentage of total cases disposed of by police divided by total cases for investigation during the year
India
35,196
Source: Centre for Science and Environment’s State of India’s Environment 2020 report
 8 FINANCIAL EXPRESS
International
SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 2020
● TRADE WAR
Trump issues memo to protect US
investors from Chinese companies
AGENCIES
Washington, June 5
IT IS WRONG and dangerous for China to
benefit from US capital markets without
complying with critical protections that
investors rightfully deserve, President
Trump said on Fridayas he issued a mem-
orandum calling forrecommendations to
be issued within 60 days to protect Amer-
ican investors from Chinese companies.
“We must take firm, orderly action to
endtheChinesepracticeoffloutingAmer-
ican transparency requirements without
negatively affecting American investors
and financial markets,”Trump wrote.
The statements mark the latest flash-
point in US-China relations at a time of
escalating tensions between the world’s
twolargesteconomiesovertrade,thecoro-
navirus pandemic and Hong Kong.
For decades, Chinese companies have
availed themselves of the benefits of US
financial markets,andcapitalraised in the
US has helpedfuelChina’s rapideconomic
growth, Trump said. The memorandum
wasissuedtoSecretaryofStateMikePom-
peoandothermembersofthetopnational
security leadership.
While China reaps advantages from US
‘Truly sorry’: Scientists pull panned
Lancet study of hydroxychloroquine
REUTERS
New York/London, June 5
AN INFLUENTIAL STUDY that found
hydroxychloroquine increased the risk of
death in Covid-19 patients has been
withdrawn a week after it led to major
trials being halted, adding to confusion
about a malaria drug championed by US
President Donald Trump.
The Lancet medical journal pulled the
studyafterthree of its authors retracted it,
citing concerns about the quality and
veracity of data in it.
TheWorld Health Organization (WHO)
will resume its hydroxychloroquine trials
after pausing them in the wake of the
study.Dozens of othertrials have resumed
or are in process.
ThethreeauthorssaidSurgisphere,the
companythatprovidedthedata,wouldnot
transfer the dataset for an independent
review and they“can no longer vouch for
the veracityof the primarydata sources.”
The fourth author of the study,
Dr Sapan Desai, chief executive of
Quick
View
Harvard wins Apple,
Twitter backing on
affirmative action
THE STAKES FOR business in use of
affirmative action in admissions have
been laid out in a brief that
companies such as Apple,Twitter,
Intel have filed with the US Court of
Appeals in Boston.While they took no
position on Harvard’s specific policy,
they said they depend on diverse
college student bodies in their hunt
for“the next superb employee.”The
nation’s oldest university is fighting a
challenge by Edward Blum,a staunch
foe of affirmative action who seeks to
stop it from weighing race in student
selection altogether.
LVMH won’t renegotiate
Tiffany deal: Report
FRENCH LUXURYGOODS giant
LVMH is not seeking to renegotiate its
$16.2 billion acquisition of US jewelry
chainTiffany& Co,people familiar
with the matter said on Friday,
according to Reuters.LVMH CEO
BernardArnault had been in talks with
his advisers this week to identifyways
to pressureTiffanyto lower the agreed
price of $135 per share in cash,
Reuters reported onWednesday.
German economy set to
shrink 7% this year
THE GERMAN ECONOMY has passed
the trough of its coronavirus recession
and is starting to grow again, the Bun-
desbank said, endorsing the govern-
ment’s sweeping fiscal stimulus that
should underpin the rebound.Yet the
recovery is still muted as some restric-
tions to rein in the spread of the pan-
demic remain in place.Output thisyear
isforecasttoshrink7.1%,beforebounc-
ing back in the subsequenttwoyears.
markets, the Chinese government has
consistently prevented Chinese compa-
nies and companieswith significant oper-
ations in China from abiding by the
investorprotections that applyto all com-
panies listing on US stock exchanges,
Trump alleged.
“It is both wrong and dangerous for
China to benefit from our capital markets
without complying with critical protec-
tionsthatinvestorsinthosemarketsright-
fully expect and deserve,”he said.
Surgisphere, declined to comment on
the retraction.
The Lancet said it “takes issues of
scientific integrity extremely seriously”
adding: “There are many outstanding
questions about Surgisphere and the data
thatwere allegedlyincluded in this study”.
The Lancet said reviews of
Surgisphere’sresearchcollaborationswere
urgently needed.
Major Apple supplier says launch of
new iPhone could be pushed back
BLOOMBERG
Los Angeles/ San Francisco/ June 5
BROADCOM, A MAJOR Apple supplier,
suggested the latest iPhones will be
launched later than usual this year.
HockTan,CEO of Broadcom,discussed
a “major product cycle delay” at a “large
NorthAmerican mobile phone”customer,
during an earnings conference call with
analysts on Thursday.
Tan often refers to Apple this way.This
time, the executive said the delay will
mean the bump in wireless revenue
experiencedbyBroadcomwill happen one
quarter later than usual this year.
“We are in,”Hock said,referring Broad-
comcomponentsintheiPhone.“Theques-
tion is timing.”
“This year,we do not expect to see this
uptick in revenue until our fourth fiscal
quarter,” the CEO added.“So accordingly,
we expect,ourwireless revenue in Q3 will
Kylie Jenner is highest
paid celebrity: Forbes
REUTERS
Los Angeles, June 5
KYLIEJENNERANDKanyeWestonThurs-
day topped the annual Forbes list of the
highest paid celebrities, but sports stars,
including RogerFedererand Lionel Messi,
dominated the top 10.
Forbes estimated that Jenner earned
$590millioninthelast12months,mostly
from the sale of a 51% stake in her Kylie
Cosmetics line to Coty in 2019.
Jenner, 22, the half-sister of Kim Kar-
dashian,made headlines aweek agowhen
Forbes said that after reviewing data from
the Cotysale,it no longerbelieved shewas
a billionaire as it had declared a year ago.
Jennerresponded saying that the orig-
inal Forbes estimatewas based on“a num-
❝
We must take firm, orderly
action to end the Chinese
practice of flouting
American transparency
requirements without
negatively affecting
American investors and
financial markets
❝ safeguard the interests of domestic
— DONALD TRUMP, US PRESIDENT
“China’s actions to thwart our trans-
parency laws raise significant risks for
investors.The time has come to take firm
action in an orderly fashion to put an end
to the practice that has tacitly permitted
companieswith significant Chinese oper-
ations to flout protections United States
law requires for investors in United States
markets,”Trump said.
The president said for example, the
Chinesegovernmentrefusestoallowaudit
firms registeredwith the Public Company
WHO: Cases seen
rising in countries
after easing
of lockdowns
SOME COUNTRIES HAVE seen
“upticks” in COVID-19 cases as lock-
downs ease, and populations must
protect themselves from the coron-
aviruswhileauthoritiescontinue test-
ing,the WHO said on Friday.
The epicentre of the pandemic is
currently Central, South and North
America, particularly the US, WHO
spokeswoman Margaret Harris said.
“When the lockdowns ease, when
the social distancing measures ease,
people sometimes interpret this as
‘OK, it’s over’,” Harris told a UN
briefing in Geneva. —REUTERS
BROAD STROKES
■ Apple usually unveils new models in
second half of September
■ If it followed the same timeline,
Broadcom would receive orders in Q3
■ He said wireless revenue in Q3 will be
down sequentially
■ Broadcom CEO says uptick in
revenue not expected until Q3
be down sequentially.”
Apple is planning to release its next
iPhone line multiple weeks later than
usual, Bloomberg News previously
reported.Thecompanytypicallyunveilsits
newiPhones in the second half of Septem-
ber,but has occasionally,like in the case of
the iPhoneXin 2017,launched majornew
ber of inaccurate statements and
unproven assumptions.”
West, who is married to Kardashian,
followed with an estimated $170 million
in earnings, much of it from his deal with
Adidas for his Yeezy sneaker brand.
China to safeguard
blacklisted firms
THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT saidit
will take “necessary measures” to
companies,afterfreshUS restrictions
on a blacklist of 33 companies took
effect Friday.
The Ministryof Commerce issued
a statement saying that it opposed
moves to make 33 Chinese
companies subject to curbs on access
to US technology. —BLOOMBERG
Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) to
provideauditworkingpaperstotheboard.
‘Model for exchanges’
Meanwhile, US Secretaryof State Mike
Pompeo on Thursday warned American
investors against fraudulent accounting
practices at China-based companies and
said the Nasdaq’s recent decision to
tighten listing rules for such players
shouldbe“amodel”forallotherexchanges
around the world.
MAPPING THE VIRUS
Cases pass
6.6 million
Deaths exceed
391,000
Number of unemployed
Singapore residents may top
100,000 this year
UK scientists unsure on face
mask use
Japan minister says cultural
standard helped beat virus
Trump’s re-election hopes
grow shakier with Biden gains
EU set to prolong ban
on travel
Brazil surpasses Italy in
coronavirus deaths
UK halts trial of malara drug as
'useless' for Covid-19 patients
models later in the year.
Phone makers usually order compo-
nents months ahead of product launches.
Appletypicallyreleasesnewversionsofthe
iPhone in September.
If it followed that time line,Broadcom
would receive orders in the current quar-
ter,which runs through July.
Zoom’s 484% surge gives little-known
Taiwanese investor a massive fortune
BLOOMBERG
Hong Kong/ San Franciso, june 5
SOME OFTHE BIGGEST names in finance
and business made a fortune on Zoom
Video Communications : Hong Kong’s Li
Ka-shing, Tiger Global Management’s
Chase Coleman and, of course, founder
Eric Yuan, whose net worth has surged to
$10.7 billion.
And then there’s Samuel Chen,a little-
known Taiwanese investor who made his
initial wealth through ink trading and
started putting money in the video-con-
ferencing juggernaut about a decade ago.
His Digital MobileVenture,which par-
ticipated in Zoom’s early funding rounds,
controls a $1.6 billion stake, assuming it
hasn’t soldstock since theholdingwas last
disclosed at the end of March. Shares of
WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM
BOUNCING BACK STRONGER
❝
Boris Johnson, British prime minister
As we come through this pandemic and begin to
rebuild our economies, it’s time to invest in the
industries, infrastructure and jobs that will endure
any storm — or even another virus — so we bounce
back stronger than before
Unemployment drops
faster than expected
as US lockdowns ease
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington, June 5
THE US UNEMPLOYMENT rate fell unex-
pectedly in May to 13.3% — still on par
withwhatthenationwitnessedduringthe
Great Depression — as states loosened
their coronavirus lockdowns and busi-
nesses began recalling workers.
The government said Friday that the
economy added 2.5 million jobs last
month, driving unemployment down
from 14.7% in April.
The May job gain, which confounded
economists’expectationsofanotherround
ofseverelosses,suggeststhatthousandsof
stores, restaurants, gyms and other com-
panies reopened and rehired more quickly
than many analysts had forecast.
Still, it raises a key question for busi-
nessesandunemployedworkers:Howfast
will the rebound proceed? For hiring to
continue at a solid pace, businesses will
probablyneed to see signs that consumers
are starting to resume their pre-outbreak
habits of shopping and dining out.
Other evidence has also shown that the
job-market meltdown triggered by the
coronavirushasbottomedout.Thenumber
ofpeopleapplyingforunemploymentben-
efits has declined for nine straight weeks.
Iran reported 2,886 new coronavirus cases and 63
more deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the
country’s tally to 167,156 infections and 8,134 deaths.
Bentley Motors plans to cut as many as 1,000 jobs in
the UK, about a quarter of its workforce, to cope with
the fallout of the coronavirus crisis after years of weak
profitability.
Iraq recorded more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases
in a single day for the first time on Friday, with its
total approaching 10,000 confirmed cases, the health
ministry said.
In France, “we can reasonably say that the epidemic is
under control,” Professor Jean-Francois Delfraissy, the
head of the country’s scientific council, told radio
broadcaster France Inter on Friday.
Fears of deflation justified the European Central
Bank’s decision to ramp up its emergency
bond-buying programme, according to policy maker
Pablo Hernandez de Cos.
Germany’s coronavirus infection rate dropped further
below the key threshold of 1.0, while the number of
daily cases remained far below the thousands seen at
the height of the crisis more than two months ago.
New York City’s health department produced data
Thursday that showed no deaths of virus-carriers the
previous day, giving officials cause to cautiously
celebrate. Three deaths probably attributable to
Covid-19 occurred in untested patients, the
department reported.
Ireland will accelerate the cautious reopening of its
economy, with the fourth and final phase of easing
restrictions to start on July 20, three weeks earlier than
scheduled, acting PM Leo Varadkar said on Friday.
Twitter disables Trump
video tribute to Floyd
REUTERS
June 5
TWITTER HAS DISABLED US President
Donald Trump’s campaign tribute video
to George Floyd on its platform, citing a
copyright complaint.
The clip,which is a collation of photos
and videos of protest marches and
instances of violence in the aftermath of
Floyd’s death, has Trump speaking in the
background.
Floyd’s death last week after a fatal
encounter with a police officer has led to
nationwide protests. In widely circulated
video footage, a white officer was seen
kneeling on Floyd's neck as Floyd gasped
for air and repeatedly groaned, “I can’t
breathe,"before passing out.
Twitter said the video on the presi-
dent's campaign account was affected by
its copyright policy.
“We respond to valid copyright com-
ZOOMING IN
■ Samuel Chen made his initial
wealth through ink trading
■ He started putting money in
the video-conferencing
juggernaut about a decade ago
■ Chen’s venture could be in
control of up to $1.6-bn stake
■ His investment firm has already
sold a $22 m chunk in April and
another 13 m shares
■ Digital Mobile Venture may have
earned a windfall of as much as
$2.1 bn from those trades
❝
The May job gain suggests that
thousands of stores, restaurants,
gyms and other companies
reopened and rehired quickly
And the total numberofAmericans receiv-
ing such aid has essentiallyleveled off.
The overall job cuts have widened eco-
nomic disparities: While the unemploy-
ment rate forwhiteAmericanswas 12.4%
May, it was 17.6% for Hispanics and
16.8% forAfrican-Americans.
Evenwith the surprising gain in May,it
may take months for all those who lost
work in April and March to find jobs.
Bombardier to
cut 2,500 jobs to
over business jet
demand slump
BLOOMBERG
London/Toronto, June 5
BOMBARDIER PLANSTOeliminate2,500
jobs at its aviation division following a
slump in demand for business jets.
Manufacturing operations in Canada
will bear the brunt of the cutbacks, to be
carried out this year, Bombardier said in a
release Friday.Overall,the group employs
nearly 60,000.
TwoyearsofsellingassetshasleftBom-
bardier particularly exposed to the
vagaries of the private-jet market amid a
wide-reaching recession. Demand in that
market is forecast to drop 30% because to
the pandemic,Bombardiersaid.The Mon-
treal-based company said it would give an
update on its outlook August 6.
“Bombardiermustadjustitsoperations
and workforce to ensure that it emerges
from the current crisis on solid footing,”
the release said.
plaints sent to us by a copyright owner or
their authorised representatives,” a
Twitter representative said.
The social media platform has been
under fierce scrutiny from the Trump
administration since it fact-checked
Trump’s tweets about unsubstantiated
claims of mail-in voting fraud. It also
labeled a Trump tweet about protests in
Minneapolis as“glorifying violence.”
Trump has pledged to introduce legis-
lation that mayscrap orweaken a lawthat
shields social media companies from
liability for content posted by their users.
Ken Farnaso, Trump campaign’s
deputy press secretary, said it was
“unsurprisingly sad” that Twitter had
joined the mainstream media in censor-
ing the President’s message.
Thethree-minute45-secondvideowas
tweeted by his campaign on June 3. It was
also uploaded on Trump’s YouTube
channelandhiscampaign’sFacebookpage.
Zoom, which recently reported a 170%
increase in first-quarter revenue, have
more than quintupled since their initial
public offering last year.
Chen’s investment firm has already
sold some Zoom shares, including a $22
million chunk at Zoom’s April 2019 IPO
and an additional 13 million shares
through March,according to a filing.That
means itcouldhave earned awindfallof as
much as $2.1 billion.
Zoom’s surging popularity has come
with concerns over its security practices,
prompting the companyto bolsterprotec-
tive measures for users.
There’s also the risk that people will
abandon the service after the pandemic
ends and they return to offices.The stock
slipped6% to $210.35onThursday,giving
the companya $59.3 billionmarketvalue.
 9 FINANCIAL EXPRESS WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM

Motobahn
A NEWAVTR

❝
Vipin Sondhi, MD & CEO, Ashok Leyland
With AVTR, we have achieved the dual challenge of meeting
BS6 norms and development of a new platform. This gives us
an edge not only in India but globally also, with its potential
❝
to switch between right-hand-drive and left-hand-drive.
SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 2020

How the Seltos One model, many milestones

Month Sales (units) Smooth sailing

became India’s
Seltos launched on August 22; by August 31,
Aug 2019 6,200 it made Kia seventh-largest carmaker in India
Sept 2019 7,554 Booking number crosses 50,000 units

largest selling SUV

Oct 2019 12,850 Seltos becomes highest-selling SUV in the segment

Nov 2019 14,005 Seltos remains the highest-selling SUV

Low domestic sales because Kia India exported 6,341 units

Unveiled a year ago, it
helped Kia become India’s
third-largest carmaker
VIKRAM CHAUDHARY
LAST YEAR WHEN Hyundai India
launched the Venue and MG Motor
launched the Hector, both carmakers
promoted these as a‘connected SUV’and
an ‘internet SUV’, respectively. Almost
equally ‘connected’ even the Kia Seltos
was,but it was path-breaking in so many
areas that merely promoting it as, say, a
cyberspace SUV or an infobahn SUV may
not have done justice to the other things
it excelled in.
TheSeltos,launchedlastyearinAugust
and unveiled ayearago in June 2019,set a
newbenchmark forSUVs in India (see‘Has
the Seltos set a new benchmark for SUVs?’
FE, June 22, 2019; https://bit.ly/3eUzxPr),
and sales numbers prove that. On the
eighth day of the Seltos being launched,it
madeKiaMotorsIndiatheseventh-largest
carmaker in the country; in the third
month fifth-largest; and in the seventh
month third-largest (see table).
Monthly sales
The Seltos comprehensively outsold
Hyundai Creta—the Cretawas anywaydue
for model change, which happened this
year—and during some months it even
outsold the far more affordable Maruti
SuzukiVitara Brezza,India’slargestselling
SUV overall.
Until now, 83,535 units of the Seltos
havebeensold(thisincludesthelockdown
period of zero sales), and if you calculate
only the entire-month normal-market
condition sales (September 2019 to Feb-
ruary 2020), these stand at 68,078 units
in six months, i.e. an average of 11,364
unitseverymonth—morethanwhatbehe-
moths such asVolkswagen and Nissan sell
in India with their many models.
Well-planned strategy
There are many reasons for its success.
One, there has been an increasing
demand for SUVs,and Kiawas able to pro-
ject the Seltos as an aspirational SUV.
Two,the design stands out.
Three, the Seltos takes premiumness
onto a different plane—the quality of the
material used in the cabin matches what
you see in some cars from BMW orAudi.
Four,Kiaofferedarangeofenginesand
This week Kia launched the updated Seltos, with new features and pricing
gearboxes and trim levels and so on,prac-
ticallykeepingtheentire`10-20lakhpas-
sengervehicle segment to itself.
Brand image helped,too.Since its par-
ticipation in the Auto Expo 2018, Kia was
able to create the image of a premium car-
maker,whose products are the one people
aspire for, says Harish Bijoor, brand guru
and founder of Harish Bijoor Consults.
“Kia,the brand,now has a very high-qual-
ity image. An image it has carefully nur-
tured to be two notches ahead of existing
mass-marketplayers,”hesays,adding,“the
company has also maintained a tone and
tenor of advertising creative that has
helped it position itself uniquely.”
New competition
At the same time,it can be argued that,
until now,the Seltos didn’t face stiff com-
petition within its segment (the old Creta
was on its way out; and both Nissan Kicks
and Renault Captur failed to generate
enough buyerinterest).The all-newCreta,
Dec 2019 4,645 of the Seltos to cater to growing overseas demand
Helps Kia become India's fourth-largest carmaker;
Jan 2020 15,000 Seltos becomes highest-selling SUV in India
Feb 2020 14,024
Kia becomes third-largest carmaker in India;
Seltos remains highest-selling SUV
Mar 2020 7,466 Lockdown started on March 25;
Seltos remains India's highest-selling SUV
Apr 2020 0 India under lockdown
Kia Motors India resumes car production at
May 2020 1,611 its Anantapur plant in Andhra Pradesh
Source: Kia Motors India, SIAM
launchedjustbeforethelockdownstarted, This week Kia launched the updated
couldchangethat.Infact,inMay2020,the Seltos,with new features and pricing,and
new Creta became India’s highest selling a more advanced connected car tech—
model overall,with3,212unitssold.Itwas called UVO Connect, which can now be
primarily due to the pre-lockdown book- accessedbythevoicecommand‘Hello Kia’.
ings getting converted to sales. While it’ll be interesting to see which
“The Creta will regain its ground,”says SUV comes out tops, what the Seltos did
Gaurav Vangaal, associate director at IHS was unprecedented—just one model
Markit, the global information company. helped a brand new car company become
“The noveltyfactorhugelyinfluences car- a country’s third-largest within seven
buying decisions in India; Hyundai is still months of market operations.
a stronger brand in India; Hyundai has a
bigger service network; and the Creta has (While Kia India and Hyundai India are
a loyal customer base and there would be separate entities, globally Hyundai owns a
manywho would want to upgrade.” part ofKia,and so they share product devel-
Vangaal,infact,iscautiouslyoptimistic opment.The Seltos and the Creta share the
that the Creta will take back the top-sell- platform, engines and gearboxes, but the
ing SUV crown from the Seltos. design and everything else is different.)

Investor
Now, sanitiser ● NEW PLATFORM

dispensers for Ashok Leyland

cars and buses
IIT Madras makes sanitiser
dispenser for cars, autos
FE BUREAU
INDIAN INSTITUTEofTechnologyMadras
has partnered with industry to develop a
touchless sanitiser dispenser that can be
deployed in runningvehicles such as cars,
vans,buses and even autorickshaws.
This design, IIT said, is scalable for use
with both AC and DC power supply.“Care
has been taken in the choice of materials
so they can be safely used with liquid and
gel-typesanitisers,”IITsaidinastatement.
Kavitha Arunachalam,professor,Dept
ofEngineeringDesign,workedwithAnan-
draj G and Rajesh D from Shima Engi-
neering,aChennai-basedfirm,onthispro-
ject. They have
received business This design is
enquiries,and are powered by both
the process of AC and DC, and
moving to pro- can be deployed
duction mode. in cars, vans, buses
Arunachalam
said the idea of and autorickshaws
building a touch-
less sanitiser dis-
penserwasinitiatedShima Engineeringin
mid-March 2020.“Anticipating the need
for hands-free personal hygiene products
after Covid-19, I mentored Shima Engi-
neering to build prototypes to suit differ-
ent end-users.”Theproposalwasapproved
byProf Seshadri Sekhar,facultyin-charge,
Covid-19 Projects, IIT Madras, and sup-
ported by Central Workshop,IIT Madras.
Shima Engineering is in the process of
getting incubation support from IIT
Madras for developing related products
forpersonal hygiene,andproducts fordis-
infecting classrooms,office spaces,etc.
Hyundai Creta is
largest selling car
in India in May
IN MAY 2020, the all-new Hyundai
Creta became India’s highest selling
model overall,with3,212 unitssold.
It was primarily due to the pre-lock-
down bookings getting converted to
sales. Launched on March 16, a few
days before the lockdown started,
the new Creta has received 24,000
bookings, including about 1,000
online bookings under Hyundai’s
Click to Buy digital sales initiative.
The other top-selling models in
May, according to SIAM, are Maruti
Suzuki Ertiga (2,353 units sold),
Maruti Suzuki Dzire (2,215 units),
Mahindra Bolero (1,715 units) and
● UNITED SPIRITS RATING: NEUTRAL
Performance was below par in Q4FY20
Outlook is bleak for FY21
and FY22, with RoE likely
to be well below 20% seen
in past; ‘Neutral’ retained
as valuations are fair
UNSP’S Q4FY20 RESULTS were worse
than expectations. If bulk scotch sales
(that could be lumpy but not extraordi-
nary) are excluded,then resultswould be
evenweaker.While UNSP’sPATCAGRfor
5years ending FY20 stood at 33%,FY21
and FY22e are likely to be the lost years
for UNSP and other alcohol companies
with negligible earnings growth.Impact
of extremely sharp excise increases
across states would only exacerbate the
pressure on FY21 profitability.
Further, we believe profitability is
already sharply impacted by (a) the
absence of any sales until 3rd May; and
(b) absence of sales from on-trade chan-
nel (20-25% of sales),which is expected
to last fora significantlylarge part of the
year after the latest MHA guidelines.
Maintain Neutral on UNSP on account
of fairvaluations.
COVID-19 impacts volumes
Standalone net sales declined 11.4% y-
o-y to `19.9 bn. Underlying net sales,
excl. the one-off sale of bulk Scotch,
declined 14.8%. Overall reported vol-
● CREDITACCESS GRAMEEN RATING: BUY
AuM growth in quarter was strong
umes declined 13.3%.P&A/Popularvol-
umes declined 20%/6.6% y-o-y.
Reported gross margin contracted by
430bp to 42.2%,primarily due to COGS
inflation aswell as the dilutive impact of
the last tranche of bulk Scotch sales.
Underlying gross margin, excluding the
one-off sale of bulk Scotch, was down
364bp to 42.9%. Despite significant
gross margin compression, reported
Ebitda margin expanded 100bpy-o-yto
13.6%,primarilydelivered through sav-
ings in operating costs.
Adjusted for one-off impact of bulk
Scotch sales and restructuring costs,
underlying Ebitda declined 16.2%y-o-y
andunderlyingEbitdamarginwasdown
21bp y-o-y to 13.2%. Reported Ebitda
declined 4.3%y-o-yto`2.7bn. Adjusted
PATdeclined16.9%to`1.1bn.Reported
PAT declined 81.1% to `239 m on
account of higher taxes.
FY20 performance: FY20 sales/
Ebitda/Adj. PAT growth stood at 1.2%/
17.1%/16.9% y-o-y. The company
repaid debt amounting to `4.9 bn. Net
debt as of Mar’20 stood at `20.7 bn,
down 20% YoY.
Madura added 21%/42% to
CAGL’s FY20 standalone AuM
AuM (FY20 - ` mn)
1,40,000
1,20,000
98,960
1,00,000
80,000
60,000
40,000
21,000
20,000
0
CAGL MMFL
Source: Company, I-Sec research
in a new AVTR
The company launches new
modular platform for trucks
Financials & Valuations
(` billion)
Y/E March 2020 2021E 2022E
Sales 90.9 74.5 91.5
Sales Gr. (%) 1.2 -18.0 22.7
Ebitda 15.1 10.4 15.6
Margin (%) 16.6 14.0 17.1
PAT 7.9 5.2 9.6 FE BUREAU
EPS (`) 10.9 7.1 13.2
EPS Gr. (%) 16.9 -34.6 85.3 THIS WEEK ASHOK Leyland, the com-
BV/Sh.(`) 52.4 59.6 72.8 mercial vehicle (CV) manufacturer,
launched a new range of modular trucks,
Ratios
RoE (%) 20.8 12.0 18.1 AVTR, with i-Gen6 BS-VI technology. The
RoCE (%) 17.3 17.8 24.4 modular platform, the company said, is a
Payout (%) 0.0 0.0 0.0
first of its kind in the Indian CV industry
Valuations
with multiple options of axle configura-
tions, loading spans, cabins, suspensions
P/E (x) 54.3 83.0 44.8
anddrivetrainsonasingleplatformforthe
P/BV (x) 11.3 9.9 8.1
entire range of rigid trucks, tippers and
EV/Ebitda (x) 29.3 41.3 27.2
tractors in the 18.5-tonne to 55-tonne
Source: Company data, Motilal Oswal estimates
category. The AVTR platform will replace
all Ashok Leyland vehicles for the Indian
Valuation and view market,andwill be available in five engine
As highlighted earlier,outlook is weak for options having a power range of 200hp to
alcoholcompanies,leadingtoasignificant 360hp. The company has invested `500
slowdowninearningsgrowth(from>30% croreonthedevelopmentofthisplatform.
growth in the 5years ending FY20).Weak A modular platform allows for swap-
results have led to further EPS cuts of ping of modules to configure multiple
6.4%/4.0% for FY21/FY22e. RoE for products in a familyofvehicles.Therefore,
FY21/FY22e is likely to be well below the the AVTR platform gives the customers a
20% range witnessed over past 4 years. choice to customise their product as per
Our DCF-based TP leads to an 8% down- their requirements, which, in turn, can
side to CMP (effective target multiple of help deliverbetteroperational economics.
41x Mar’22e EPS).Maintain Neutral. For the company,it would mean faster
turnaround alongwith bettermarket cov-
MOTILAL OSWAL erage owing to virtually millions of com-
binations, for any kind of customer. The
Buy with a target price of `585.
modular platform,Ashok Leyland added,
also provides improved safety and better
Resumption of business operations
comfort for drivers, higher reliability and
enhanced durability. This platform has
from 1st Jun’20 is positive been tested for over 60 lakh km as well as
1,19,960
Given significant relaxation of the lock- through 30,000 hours of system testing.
down, CAGL is geared to restart business Vipin Sondhi, MD & CEO, Ashok Ley-
operations from 1st June’20.With more land, said,“With the launch of AVTR, we
than80%ofcustomersengagedinessen- have achieved the dual challenge of meet-
tial activities, it expects collection effi- ing the BS6 norms and development of a
ciencytoremainaround~70%inJun’20. whole newplatform.This gives us an edge
not onlyin India,but also globally,with its
Strong liquidity position; ability to potential to switch between right-hand-
CAGL+MMFL
raise funds at competitive rate drive and left-hand-drive conditions.”
Lower marginal cost of borrowing in
Q4FY20 at 9.1% would ensure margins
sustainingatcurrentlevel,ifnotimprov-
ing,in FY21e.With it focusing on resum-
A pollution-free
ing collection and cumulative sanc- drive for BluSmart
tion/applications of ~`20 bn tillAug’20,
we believe CAGL is well placed to sail
through the current liquidity cycle.
FE BUREAU

Maruti Suzuki Eeco (1,617 units). BLUSMART, THE all-electric ride-hailing

In May, carmakers gradually
restarted production, and car deal-
erships have started reopening.
—FE BUREAU
Company likely to navigate crisis better than peers; ‘Buy’ maintained with TP of `585
CREDITACCESS GRAMEEN’S (CAGL’S)
Q4FY20resultischaracterisedbytwokey
events: (a) completion of first phase of
Madura acquisition (~76%) and (b) pro-
active building of Covid-19-related con-
tingency provision of ~`0.8 bn (87bps of
loans). Key highlights of the quarter: (i)
strong 38%/17% y-o-y growth in
AuM/borrowers;(ii)~40bpsdeclineincost
of borrowing to 9.6% (marginal cost of
borrowing is lower by ~50bps at 9.1%)
even in a most challenging quarter; (iii)
GNPA increase to 1.57% (0.85% in
Q3FY20); and (iv) ~70% y-o-y decline in
standalone PAT to `228 mn due to
merger-related expenses (`150 mn) and
elevated credit cost due to Covid-19.
Thoughthemergerbringsinsynergy,
decline in consolidated CAR to 23.6%
(post acquisition) and Madura’s high
concentration in Tamil Nadu (most dis-
tricts in red zone) poses near-term risk.
However,strong execution track record,
weekly collection model, customer pro-
file (~35-40% unique and ~75% >1
year) and ability to raise funds at com-
petitive rates, would ensure CAGL navi-
gatingthecurrentchallengingphaserel-
atively better than peers and emerging
stronger in post Covid-19 era. Maintain
AUM growth remains strong
While CAGL continues to deliver indus-
try-leading AUM growth at 38% y-o-y,
driven by17%y-o-ygrowth in customer
acquisition, acquisition of Madura
added ~21% to total AuM as of Mar’20.
Significantly lower ticket size of
Madura’s customer is likely to ensure
revival of AuM growth quicker than
peers. Standalone retail finance book
now constitutes 5% of total AUM.
ICICI SECURITIES
platform, has said it has completed 4.75
million pollution-free km in one year by
making 175,000 trips in Delhi NCR. The
on-demand electric taxi service,BluSmart
was launched on June 4,2019.
Anmol Jaggi, founder, BluSmart, said,
“We plan to expand ourservice radius and
make travel within the city environment-
friendly.Ourcabs are sanitised twice a day
during the charging time.”
On the World Environment Day (June
5),it added that itwill make inroads in dif-
ferent markets and contribute towards
zero tailpipe emission mobility.
 10 FINANCIAL EXPRESS
Markets
SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 2020
Money Matters
G-SEC
Benchmark yield rose 0.007%
under selling pressure
5.766
5.753
May 22 Jun 05
`/$
Rupee ended flat amid 0.005%
dollar buying by banks
and rising crude prices
75.57
75.95
May 22
Inverted scale
Jun 05
=/$
C mance in FY18, when it had posted a net
The euro rose against 0.035%
the dollar
1.1342
1.0901
May 22 Jun 05
Quick
View
Forex reserves all-time
high at $493.48 billion
THE COUNTRY’S FOREIGN exchange
reserves surged $3.43 billion to a
fresh all-time high of $493.48 billion
for the week ended May 29 on a
handsome accretion of the core
currency assets,the Reserve Bank of
India said on Friday.The reserves,
which are counted as a key strength as
the country faces the economic
impact of the Covid-19 pandemic,
had risen by $3 bn to an all-time high
of `490.044 bn in the previous week.
Mahindra Finance to raise
up to `86 crorevia NCDs
MAHINDRA&MAHINDRAonFriday
saiditwillraise`500crorethrough
issuanceofsecuritiesonaprivate
placementbasis.Theloansand
investmentcommitteehasapproved
issuanceandofferof5,000rated,listed,
unsecured,redeemablenon-convertible
debenturesof`10lakheach
aggregating`500crore,M&Msaid.
Northern Arc raises
$50 m from USIDFC
NORTHERN ARC,one of India’s
leading debt financiers,on Friday
announced that it has received a
commitment of $ 50 million of debt
financing from US International
Development Finance Corporation.
The funds will be used by Northern
Arc to support the growth and
liquidity needs of its institutional
clients as well as lend to small
businesses and individuals.
Aditya Birla Capital’s net
falls 44.2% to `144 crore
ADITYA BIRLA Capital (ABCL) on
Friday reported a 44.2% decline in its
consolidated net profit to `144 crore
for the fourth quarter of the financial
year ended March 2020.The
company had registered a net profit
of `258 crore in the corresponding
quarter of the previous financial year.
HDFC Bank launches
offer to push spending
FE BUREAU
Mumbai, June 5
HDFC BANK ON Friday announced the
launch of a string of deals and exclusive
offers to push consumer spends as the
lockdown is lifted in phases.Named‘Sum-
merTreats’,thedealsare aimedatmeeting
the changing needs of merchants as well
as salaried and self-employed customers,
the bank said. It said that the changes in
lifestyle amid the lockdown have resulted
in increased demand for phones, tablets,
computers and related accessories.
Demandforsafedigitalpaymentsandpri-
vate transport is also rising. Similarly, as
shopsandbusinessesbegintoreopen,they
have requirements for business finance.
● Q4 RESULTS
SBI posts 4-fold jump in
profit on one-time gain
In the worst case amid the
Covid breakout, the lender
sees going back to its
performance in FY18
FE BUREAU
Mumbai, June 5
STATE BANK OF India’s (SBI) Q4FY20
standalone net profit jumped 327%year-
on-year(y-o-y)to `3,581croreon theback
of a one-time gain of `2,731 crore from
the sale of its stake in its credit card sub-
sidiaryandan18%y-o-yreductioninpro-
visionsto `13,495crore.Intheworst-case
scenario under the Covid breakout, the
lender sees itself going back to its perfor-
loss of `6,547 crore on a full-year basis.
The bank’s provisions fell despite its
decision to take higher-than-mandated
provisioning against accounts that had
been given a repayment moratorium in
March. SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar said
the lender had treated all these accounts
— worth a total `6,250 crore — as slip-
pages in terms of provisioning and set
aside 15% against them, as against the
regulatory requirement of 10% spread
over two quarters.
Asked about the kind of scenarios the
bankhad factoredin giventhewidespread
disruption arising out of Covid and the
lockdown,Kumarsaid,“In the current cir-
cumstances,Iwouldsaywehave three sce-
narios — one iswe repeat the performance
of FY20.If things go worse then we repeat
the performance of FY19 and if things go
very bad then we repeat the performance
of FY18.”
The asset-quality impact of the pan-
demic and the associated lockdown will
start to become apparent in September,
Kumarsaid,adding that SBIwill start pro-
viding in June on the basis of its assess-
RBI to launch `500-cr payments
infra fund, will put in half the amount
FE BUREAU
Mumbai, June 5
THE RESERVE BANK of India (RBI) on Fri-
dayannouncedthecreationofa`500-crore
paymentsinfrastructuredevelopmentfund
(PIDF) to encourage acquirers to deploy
points of sale (PoS) infrastructure — both
physicalanddigitalmodes—intier-3totier-
6 centres as also in northeastern states.
Thecentralbankwillchipinwithanini-
tial contribution of `250 crore, it said in a
statement,withtheremainingcontribution
coming from card-issuing banks and card
networksoperatinginthecountry.ThePIDF
will also receive recurring contributions to
cover operational expenses from the banks
and card networks.The RBI will also con-
tribute toyearlyshortfalls,if necessary.
“Overtheyears,paymentsecosystemin
the country has evolved with a wide range
of options such as bank accounts, mobile
phones,cards,etc.To provide further fillip
to digitisation of payment systems, it is
necessary to give impetus to acceptance
infrastructure across the country,more so
in underserved areas,”the RBI said.
The PIDF will be governed through an
‘MPC had to front-load action in
view of deteriorating outlook’
FE BUREAU
Mumbai, June 5
THE MONETARY POLICY committee
(MPC) must frontload rate actions inview
ofthe rapidlydeterioratingeconomicout-
look,Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor
Shaktikanta Das wrote in the minutes of
the policy meeting held on May 20-22,
explaining the reason behind advancing
the meeting scheduled for June 3-5.
Das wrote that since the last off-cycle
MPC meeting on March 27, macro-finan-
cial conditions had deteriorated rapidly.
“The benign inflation outlook that is
expected for the second half of 2020-21,
coupled with the rising probability of a
sharper loss of growth momentum in the
near-term,has provided us with more pol-
icy space to ease financial conditions fur-
ther and stimulate growth. Since the out-
break of Covid-19, the MPC has voted for
front-loadingitsactions.Inviewofthedete-
riorating outlook, it is critical to reinforce
these actions in sync with the space pro-
videdbytheunderlyingconditions,”hesaid.
Deputy governor Michael Patra
painted a farbleakerpicture of the growth
outlook and said that India’s growth was
likelybeing set back on a more permanent
basis.“In fact, my view is that the damage
issodeepandextensivethatIndia’spoten-
tial output has been pushed down, and it
Report card
(` cr) Q4 2019 Q4 2020
Total Income 7,5670.5 76,027.51
Net Interest Income 22,954.0
Other income 12,685.1 13,346.11
Domestic NIM* (%) 2.95
Provisions 16,501.9 13,495.08
Net Profit 838.4 3,580.81
Gross NPA (%) 7.53
Net NPA (%) 3.01
Source: BSE
❝
❝
Unless we know how
things turn out to be as
we exit the lockdown,
anything would be just
a guess
— RAJNISH KUMAR, SBI CHAIRMAN
ment of the situation.
Eighty-two percent of the bank’s cus-
tomers have paidtwo ormore instalments
in the last fewmonths and 92% have paid
at least one instalment. In the corporate
book,13% of borrowers have not paid any
instalment, Kumar said.“The amount is
very, very insignificant, I would say,” he
added. The bank’s investor presentation
showed that 23% of its term loans are
under moratorium and 21.8% of cus-
tomers have availed the benefit, without
specifying a date.
“We have done all the analysis of our
corporate book and retail book,but unless
we know how things turn out to be as we
exit the lockdown,anything would be just
a guess,”Kumarsaid,adding that anycon-
clusions can only be arrived at after
another three months.
SBI’s operating profit fell 7% y-o-y to
`15,734 crore, as per the numbers filed
advisorycouncil and managed and admin-
isteredbytheRBI.Thesettingupofthisfund
is in line with the recommendations of the
report of the committee on deepening of
digital payments, chaired by Nandan
Nilekani.The report had made the case for
an acceptance development fund which
would help cover some of the costs associ-
atedwith the payments businesswhich,on
a standalone basis,is a loss-making one for
banks.For instance,one of the recommen-
dations of the report was that the inter-
change on card payments be reduced by15
basispoints(bps),or0.15%.Anadditional5
bpsshouldbeplacedinanacceptancedevel-
opmentfundbytheissuerandtheRBIcould
choosetomatchthecontribution.“Thiswill
increase the incentive for acquirers to sign
up merchants,” the report had said.
Deputy governor Michael Patra
painted a far bleaker picture of the
growth outlook and said that
India’s growth was likely being set
back on a more permanent basis
willtakeyearstorepair,”Patrasaid,adding,
“In the deliberations of the MPC,myview
is that the threats to growth have to be
addressed frontally and aggressively, or
risk a more dire outlook.”
At the same time,Patra made a case for
calibrating the quantum of the rate cut to
the space opened up by the inflation out-
look,afterallowing formargins of errorin
these fluid and uncertain times, while
keeping in mind the ramifications of the
size of the rate reduction forfinancial sta-
bility. While the MPC has predicted a
benign trajectory for inflation,its surveys
on household expectations of inflation,
the results of which were released on
Thursday, showed that median inflation
perception and expectations increased
sharplyinMay2020ascomparedwiththe
March 2020 round of the survey.
In its May policy review, the MPC had
refrained from offering a specific level for
growth in gross domestic product (GDP)
while pegging it to be in negative territory
for FY21.
% Chg Q3 FY20 % Chg
0.5 76,797.9 -1.0
22,767 -0.8 27,779.0 -18.0
5.2 9,105.9 46.6
3.19 24 bps 3.27 8 bps
-18.2 7,252.9 86.1
327.1 5,583.4 -35.9
6.15 138 bps 6.94 79 bps
2.23 79 bps 2.65 42 bps
*Domestic net interest margin
withtheexchanges.Kumarsaidthebankis
taking an eight-quarterview,and in FY22,
it targets clocking an operating profit of
`1.4 lakh crore.The bank hopes to restrict
the slippage ratio at 2% in FY21. In
Q4FY20, slippages fell 51% sequentially
to `8,105 crore.
The bank’s net interest income fell
0.81% y-o-y to `22,767 crore and its
domestic net interest margin shrank 65
basis points (bps) sequentiallyto 2.94%as
a result of interest reversals in the agri
loan book.
SBI’s gross advances grew 5.64% to
`24.23 lakh crore as on March 31,2020.
Addressingthequestionofloangrowth
inFY21,Kumarsaid,“Wehadbudgetedfor
a 12% growth in the loan book, but that
seems unlikelyin the current scenario.We
believe it should be somewhere between
5% and 12%; the midpoint is 7-8% and
that is where we should be.”
Deposits grew11.34%y-o-yto `32.42
lakhcroreasonMarch31,withthecurrent
account savings account (CASA) ratio
falling 58 bps y-o-y to 45.16%.
There was an improvement on the
asset quality front as the gross non-per-
forming asset (NPA) ratio fell 79 bps
sequentially to 6.15% and the net NPA
ratio slid 42 bps to 2.23%. SBI’s shares
ended 7.9% higher than their previous
close on the BSE at `187.80 on Friday.
Non-food credit shrinks `1.76 lakh cr
despite credit push, lower repayments
FE BUREAU
Mumbai, June 5
OUTSTANDING NON-FOOD credit in the
banking system fell 1.7%,orby`1.76 lakh
crore, between March 27 and May 22 to
`101.44lakhcrore,shows datareleasedby
theReserveBankofIndia(RBI).Whilethere
had been a `1.68-lakh crore fall in loans
outstandingeveninthecomparableperiod
a year ago, the drop this year stands out in
thelightofthecreditoverdrivelaunchedby
the government and the loan moratorium
which has resulted in a fall in repayments.
The ministry of finance said earlier this
week that state-owned banks alone have
sanctioned loans worth `10,361.75 crore
underthe100%emergencycreditlineguar-
antee scheme (ECLGS) to small enterprises.
Bankers say that while credit is being sanc-
tionedtobusinesses,theirutilisationremains
limitedatatimewhenrestrictionsonmove-
mentareonlyjustbeginningtoeaseandthere
is existing inventory to be cleared.In other
words,thereislittledemandforcreditevenas
banksarefloodedwithliquidity.
RBI pushes back
on Hindujas’ plan
to raise IndusInd
Bank stake
THE RESERVE BANK of India (RBI)
pushed back on the billionaire Hinduja
brothers’ plan to raise stake in IndusInd
Bank,which has lost more than 70% of its
market value this year, according to peo-
ple familiarwith the matter.
The Reserve Bank of India has con-
veyed the decision to the IndusInd
founders Srichand and Gopichand Hin-
duja, the people said, asking not to be
named as the information is not public.
The brothers had applied to the central
bankforapproval to raise theirstake in the
lender to 26% from less than 15%, the
bank said in an exchange filing in April.
IndusIndBankwastheworst-hitmem-
berof the country’s benchmark index this
year,afterthecentralbankeffectivelytook
control of troubled lender Yes Bank in
March. Shares of IndusInd have fallen
72% this year on concerns about the
founders borrowing money against its
shares, worsening asset quality, and ero-
sion of low-cost deposits.
TheIndusIndfounders,ledbytheHinduja
brothers,repaidasecuredloanbackedbythe
lender,theirrepresentativesaidinApril.
Representatives forHinduja,IndusInd
and the RBI didn’t respond to requests for
comment. —BLOOMBERG
WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM
MPC MINUTES
❝
Shaktikanta Das, RBI governor
Since the outbreak of Covid-19, the MPC has voted for
front-loading its actions. In view of the deteriorating
outlook, it is critical to reinforce these actions in sync
with the space provided by the underlying conditions.
● Q&A: RAJNISH KUMAR, SBI chairman
‘82% of customers have
paid two or more EMIs’
Despite the economic stress triggered by the
lockdown,only 21.8% State Bank ofIndia’s
(SBI’s) customers have availed of the mora-
torium. In a post-earnings call with media,
SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar said that
82% of customers had paid two or more
instalments during lockdown.He also men-
tioned that SBI has around `1 lakh crore for
taking care ofall possible elevated slippages
and the bank did not intend to go to market
for raising capital.Edited excerpts:
Whatisthevalueofmoratoriumyouhave
providedtocustomers?Whatisyourper-
spective after extension of moratorium
by three months by RBI? Have you done
anycontingencyprovisioning?
We extended the moratorium to every-
one, despite that, 82% cus-
tomershavepaidtwoormore
instalments. Around 92%
peoplehavepaidoneormore
instalments.Inthecorporate
book, only 13% people have
notpaidanyinstalments.The
repayments which are hap-
pening, shows quality of our
book.Onthequestionofhow
many more people will opt
for moratorium after extension,we are yet
to know because it has just started.But my
sense is that numbers will not be signifi-
cantlydifferentfromfirstthreemonths,or
rather it may improve as we exit the lock-
down.We have not made any contingency
provision, as our provision coverage ratio
(PCR) is already high.We have provided at
15% for `6,250 crore worth accounts
which were standard as on February
29,2020,butwouldhavebecomenon-per-
forming assets (NPA) on March 31, 2020.
Thisisafloatingprovision,notaccountspe-
cific provision.It is not included in PCR.
How many non-banking financial com-
panies(NBFCs)haveavailedmoratorium?
Are you continuing to provide morato-
riumtoNBFCsonacasetocasebasisonly?
Only16NBFCaccountsoutof117intotal,
haveavailedmoratoriumfromourbank.We
areexaminingcashbudgetofNBFCsandpro-
viding moratorium.. There are still three
Credit and deposit growth
(%, y-o-y )
16 12.63
14
10.66
12 Deposit
10
10.09
8 Analysts do expect a pick-up in credit
Credit
6 viduals facing cash flow issues arising
6.14
4 InanotedatedMay20,CareRatingssaid
May 24, 2019 May 22, 2020
Source: RBI
Thelatestdatashowsdepositsgrowing
10.66% year-on-year (y-o-y) to `138.3
lakh crorewhile credit growthwas a much
slower 6.14% y-o-y during the fortnight
ended May 22.The weak environment for
credit has been around since FY20 and the
spread of Covid-19 has only intensified
risk aversion among lenders.
Banks admit that previous forecasts of
ANALYST CORNER
‘Reduce’ on Aurobindo
Pharma with FV of `730
KOTAK INSTITUTIONAL EQUITIES
ARBP’S 4QFY20 REVENUES were
expectedly strong, although the mix
surprised with US injectables declining
sharply. Gross margins surprised
positively, expanding 290 bps QoQ ,
although the benefit was partly
negated by a sharp increase in
employee and SG&A spend, with
EBITDA margins expanding only 130
bps QoQ . Even as ARBP’s US and EU
businesses continue to surprise
positively, the R&D scale-up on
complex filings is only likely to play out
from FY2024. Post the recent stock
price run-up, we downgrade the stock
to ‘reduce’ from ‘add’ with a revised
FV of `730 (from `690).
ARBP’s 4QFY20 revenues were in
line with estimates. EBITDA was only
~4% higher than estimates, with
EBITDA margins at 21.8% (+130 bps
QoQ; +90 bps vs KIE) with lower
depreciation and lower tax rate
resulting in PAT at 10% higher than our
estimates. Debt further declined $87
m QoQ , with FY2020 decline at $365
m to $360 m (OCF generation at `41
bn, with capex at `1,400 crore).
❝
monthstogoforprovidingmoratorium.
Howdoyou see slippages onyourbooks?
Do you want to raise more funds?
In financial year 2021,even in bad sce-
nario,we are not going to have slippages of
more than 2%.Although,we have to wait
for at least one quarter more for better
assessment.We do not intend to go to gov-
ernment or to market for raising capital.
Thatisagain,myassessmentasofnow.In8
quarters pre provision operating profit
wouldbe`1.4lakhcrore.OurnetNPAtoday
is `51,000 crore. We will need `40,000
crore forlegacy...andwe have `1 lakh crore
for taking care of all possible elevated slip-
pages, plus we have substantial unlocking
value in our subsidiaries.As of now,we do
not foresee any need that
bank will be going to the
market for raising capital.
Although we have made
enabling provision for rais-
ing `20,000 crore.
How do you see your loan
growth this year?
Wearetakingeightquar-
ter view. We had budgeted
for 12% growth in loan, but that seems
unlikelyin the current scenario...It should
be somewhere between 5% to 12%... So,
mid point will be 7-8%. Therefore it
should grow by 7-8 %.
SBI’soneyearMCLRstandsat7.25%and
savingsrateat2.7%.Isthereanyfloorfor
deposit rates and what should deposi-
tors prepare themselves for?
Ithinktheratesshouldstabliseatthese
levels. But if further rate cut happens, we
have no choice but to cut the rates.
Your net interest margins (NIMs) have
contacted8basispoints(bps)year-on-year
(yoy),and65bpsquarter-on-quarter(q-o-
q)to2.94%.Whathasbeenthereason?
Ithasbeenduetointerestreversalonagri-
culture accounts. During the last quarter,
there has been slippages of `5,238 crore in
agriculture NPAs.So,correspondingly there
hasbeeninterestreversalonthatfront.
creditgrowtharegoingtofallflatthisfiscal
year. State Bank of India (SBI) chairman
RajnishKumaronFridaysaidthatthebank
hashadtotemperitsexpectationofa12%
growthincreditinFY21.“Wehadbudgeted
fora12%growthintheloanbook,butthat
seems unlikely in the current scenario.We
believe it should be somewhere between
5% and 12%; the midpoint is 7-8% and
that iswhere we should be,”he said.
offtake in FY21 as enterprises and indi-
from the lockdown could tap banks.
that the loan guarantee by the government
for small enterprises and non-bank lenders
couldstimulatebankcreditofftake.“Further,
bankshavebeentoldtoincreasetheworking
capitallimitsofborrowersby10%whichwill
help the SMEs in particular,” it said,adding,
however,that the improvement maynot be
substantial,given the underlying risk aver-
sion of banks and fears of worsening asset
quality.Care expects bank credit growth for
theyeartorangearound5-6%.
ARBP has been gradually moving
up the complexity curve for sterile
products, with range of approvals,
including colored products, PFS
products, large volume lyophilized
products and complex API products.
We believe progress in other
complex filings such as triamcinolone
injectable, iron products, peptides and
depot injections will be required to
reach $400-500 m sterile sales in the
US (from $280 m in FY2020E), and
propel overall US growth, with existing
high-volume injectables likely to reach
a capacity bottleneck by FY2022.
However, progress in these areas
has been understandably slow, while
its inhalation (pMDI’s as well as Advair,
though none in clinics) and biosimilars
(Avastin filing for the EU in 1QFY22)
products are yet to be filed, with
meaningful profit contribution unlikely
before FY2024.
We raise our estimates by ~5% each
for FY2021/22. Given the recent sharp
rally in the stock price, we downgrade
the stock to ‘reduce’ (from ‘add’) with a
revised fair value of `730 (from `690),
valuing the stock at 13X FY2022E EPS
or 8X FY2022E EV/EBITDA.
WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 2020

FINANCIAL EXPRESS MARKETS 11

Liquidity still drives up markets,
benchmarks gain 6% in a week
FE BUREAU
Mumbai, June 5
LIQUIDITYCONTINUEDTO dri-
veIndianequities,whichended
the week with 6% gains. The
rally was fuelled by European
Central Bank (ECB)’s additional
fiscal stimulus,continued buy-
ing of Indian equities by over-
seas investors and optimism
surroundingtheexitingoflock-
downs bycountries globally.
Friday’s rise in the bench-
mark indices was driven by
banking stocks. The 30 share
index Sensex gained 306.54
points or 0.9% to close at
34,287.34.ThebroaderNifty50
closed at 10,142.15, up by
113.05 points or1.13%.
ThebenchmarkNiftygained
more than 316 points since
Monday’stradingsession,Nifty
Bank as well ended its week
higher by 9%, outperforming
the benchmark’s gains.
Foreign portfolio investors
(FPIs) have pumped in $2.59
billion in Indian equities as on
June 4.According to the provi-
sional data on exchanges,FPIs
on Friday bought shares
worth $12.92 million,
whereas domestic institu-
QUANTUM BUILD-TECH LIMITED
CIN: L72200TG1998PLC030071
Registered Office : 8-1-405/A/66,
Dream Valley, Near O.U Colony, Shaikpet,
Hyderabad, Telangana – 500104.
Ph. 040-23568766, 23568990
Email: info@quantumbuild.com
Website: www.quantumbuild.com
tional investors bought shares
worth $6.2 million.
The global rally is fuelled by
anticipation of more stimulus
measuressuchasthatannoun-
ced byECB onThursdayto help
arevival.Indianmarketsrosein
line with its global peers.Asian
bourses in China, Taiwan and
South Korea were up between
0.4% and 1.43%.Hong Kong’s
Hang Sengwas up by1.6%.
European indices, too,
were up at the time of press
with stock markets in the UK,
Germany and France up in
the range 1.19-1.9%. Dow
Jones mini futures were up by
659 points.
Market experts have noted
thattheopeningupoftheecon-
omyand exiting of lockdown is
accompanied by the rise in
Sensex
Intra-day, Jun 5
34,500 34,287.24
34,300
34,100
33,900
34,198.55
33,700
Open Close
Covid-19 cases in India. Kotak
Institutional Equities in its
report said,“While the positive
sample rate is very high and
increasing in Maharashtra,
Gujarat and Delhi, it is also on
the rise in the rest of India.Kar-
nataka,West Bengal and Delhi
have the highest growth rate in
numberof confirmed cases.”
Thisshowsthatthethreatof
asecondwaveofCovid-19cases
and the economic costs
attached with it still looms.
ICICI Securities in its report
said,“Asthelockdowneasesthe
fearof a secondwave is real and
will add to uncertainty on eco-
nomic outcomes. China will be
keenly watched as it enters the
third month since the end of
thefirstwave.Currently,Indiais
still under the grips of the first
wave but the recovery rate has
been increasing and death rate
is moderating.”
Banking stocks have been
gaining momentum for the
past two weeks.According to a
report by Jefferies, banks are
currently more confident on
the borrowers’ cash flows as
lockdown has been relaxed and
white-collar job losses have
been limited.
Banks are discouraging bor-
rowers from generously taking
moratoriumsthroughstepslike
offering moratoriums only for
one-monthatatime,informing
about cost of moratorium and
switchingfrom‘opt-out’to‘opt-
in’structure.
“If the above trends could
continue, loans under morato-
rium forbanks can decline over
nextthreemonths.Ontheother
hand, NBFCs are continuing
with ‘opt-out’ approach due to
uncertainty on borrower cash
flows. So share of their loans
under moratorium can stay
high,but what’s encouraging is
that their collections have
improvedfrom30-35%inApril
to40-50%inMayandexpecta-
tionforJuneisaround60-70%,”
said Jefferies in its report.
Planters seek Maharashtra sugar mills seek extension of
moratorium on licence for manufacturing hand sanitisers
rubber imports NANDA KASABE
FE BUREAU
sugarmillerswantthestategov- of hand sanitisers for five years
Kochi, June 5
THE UNITED PLANTERS Associ-
ationofSouthernIndia(Upasi),
the apex body of south Indian
planters, on Friday requested
the Centre for an immediate
moratorium on natural rubber
(NR) import for a minimum
period of two years to help the
1.32 million rubber growers.
InalettertotheUnioncom-
merceandindustryandrailway
minister Piyush Goyal,AL RM
Nagappan, president of Upasi,
stated the current status of NR
farmers who have been going
through a severe crisis due to
the steep fall in prices for the
past eight years.
The prices have been far
below the cost of production
and the main reason being
unrestricted surge of cheap
imports into the country from
Southeast Asian origins.
The spread of Covid-19
pandemic and the consequent
lockdown implemented
turned out to be a double
whammyastheNRproduction
cametoagrindinghaltandthe
current situation is threaten-
ing the very existence of the
sector.
Pune, June 5 ernment to grant extension for
thelicenceforayear.Sugarmills
butthemillsweregivenathree-
monthprovisionallicencewhich
SUGARMILLSAND distilleriesin had realised that production of willexpireonJune30,2020.
Maharashtra,whichhadstarted sanitisers could become a new Jugalkishore Mantri, joint
manufacturing hand sanitisers revenue stream forthem. commissioner of Maharashtra
during the lockdown, have These licences are usually FDA, and drug controller of
sought an extension of the issuedbythestateexcisedepart- Maharashtra, said the depart-
licence to continue manufac- ment,and food and drugs adm- mentwasawaitinginstructions
turing sanitisers. inistration on directions from fromthestateexciseofficewith
Bothcooperativeandprivate the Centre for the manufacture regard to the extension.
Canara Robeco Mutual Fund
Investment Manager : Canara Robeco Asset Management Co. Ltd.
Construction House, 4th Floor, 5, Walchand Hirachand Marg, Ballard Estate, Mumbai 400 001.
Tel.: 6658 5000 Fax: 6658 5012/13 www.canararobeco.com CIN No.: U65990MH1993PLC071003
NOTICE-CUM-ADDENDUM NO. 18
Precautionary measures taken against Coronavirus issue in respect of Canara Robeco Mutual Fund
Investors are requested to note that, AMFI vide its notice dated 22nd March, 2020 has issued a directive,
recommending all mutual funds to implement social distancing measures and keep their branch offices
closed. It was thereby decided that Canara Robeco branches will be temporarily closed with effect from
Monday 23rd March 2020 till further notice.
Post considering the overall situations, it has been decided to recommence the operational activities of
following branches of Canara Robeco Mutual Fund:
Sr.No. CRMF Branch Name/City Date of recommencement
1 Kolkata 8th June, 2020
2 Nagpur 8th June, 2020
3 Indore 9th June, 2020
Unit holders are requested to visit www.canararobeco.com in respect of their amounts remaining unclaimed
or unpaid and follow the prescribed procedure therein.
For and on behalf of Canara Robeco Asset Management Company Ltd.
(Investment manager for Canara Robeco Mutual Fund)
Date: 05-06-2020 sd/-
Place: Mumbai Authorised Signatory
Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully.

NOTICE
Notice is hereby given pursuant to
Regulation 29 of the SEBI (Listing
Obligations and Disclosure
Requirements) Regulations, 2015,
that a meeting of the Board of
Directors of the Company will be held
on Wednesday the 10th day of June,
2020, to take on record, inter-alia,
among other things, the Audited
Financial Results for the quarter
ended 31st March, 2020 & for the year
ended 31 st March, 2020. For
further details, refer to the
Company’s website:
w w w. q u a n t u m b u i l d . c o m / h t m l /
investor.htm and the Stock Exchange
website: www.bseindia.com
In this connection, please be informed
that as per the provisions of SEBI
(Prohibition of Insider Trading)
Regulations, 2015 read with
Company’s code of conduct for
prevention of insider trading, the
trading window for dealing in equity
shares of the Company shall remain
closed for Connected Persons upto
48 hours from the date of declaration
of the Audited Financial results.
For Quantum Build-Tech Limited
Sd/-
G. Satyanarayana
Managing Director
Place : Hyderabad
Date : 05.06.2020 DIN: 02051710
NOTICE CUM ADDENDUM NO. 23/2020
THIS NOTICE CUM ADDENDUM SETS OUT THE CHANGES TO BE MADE IN THE STATEMENT
OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (“SAI”), SCHEME INFORMATION DOCUMENT (“SID”) AND KEY
INFORMATION MEMORANDUM (“KIM”) OF ALL THE SCHEMES OF MIRAE ASSET MUTUAL FUND
(“MAMF”)
NOTICE is hereby given that further to our notice cum addendum dated May 30, 2020, the drop-box
facility at AMC branches shall now be discontinued.
http://
The investors may however, submit physical applications at specified collection centres / branch offices
of the AMC and the Investor Service centres of the Registrar & Transfer Agent, KFin Technologies Pvt.
Ltd. (i.e., the “official points of acceptance / OPAT”), in accordance with our notice cum addendum dated
May 11, 2020. Investors / unitholders are advised to refer to the website i.e. www.miraeassetmf.co.in
for list of OPATs and the changes thereto, from time to time.
The investors may note that the AMC continues to accept transactions through the online mode and all the
investors are encouraged to adopt online means for transacting. Further, our designated email addresses
i.e. transact@miraeasset.com and insti.care@miraeasset.com continues to be the official points of
acceptance for processing the transactions.
Investors are requested to kindly take note of the above.
This notice cum addendum forms an integral part of SAI, SIDs and KIMs of the Scheme(s) of
MAMF, as amended from time to time. All the other terms and conditions of SAI, SIDs and KIMs
of the Scheme(s) will remain unchanged.
For and on behalf of the Board of Directors of
MIRAE ASSET INVESTMENT MANAGERS (INDIA) PVT. LTD.
(Asset Management Company for Mirae Asset Mutual Fund)
Place : Mumbai Sd/-
Date : June 5, 2020 AUTHORISED SIGNATORY
MIRAE ASSET MUTUAL FUND (Investment Manager: Mirae Asset Investment Managers (India)
Private Limited) (CIN: U65990MH2019PTC324625).

PI Industries Ltd.
Registered & Corporate Office: 606, Windsor, Off CST Road, Kalina, Santacruz (E), Mumbai - 400098.

1800 2090 777 (Toll free),  customercare@miraeasset.com www.miraeassetmf.co.in
Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks,
read all scheme related documents carefully.
EXTRACT OF STANDALONE AND CONSOLIDATED AUDITED FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE
QUARTER AND YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH, 2020
(` in Mn.)
Standalone Consolidated
Investment Manager: BNP Paribas Asset Management India Private Limited (AMC)
Quarter ended Year ended Quarter ended Year ended Corporate Identity Number (CIN): U65991MH2003PTC142972
S.No. Particulars
31.3.2020 31.12.2019 31.3.2019 31.3.2020 31.3.2019 31.3.2020 31.12.2019 31.3.2019 31.3.2020 31.3.2019
Registered Office: BNP Paribas House, 1 North Avenue, Maker Maxity, Bandra Kurla Complex,
Audited Un-Audited Audited Audited Audited Un-Audited Audited Audited Bandra - East, Mumbai - 400 051. Website: www.bnpparibasmf.in • Toll Free: 1800 102 2595
1 Total income from Operations 8,008 8,695 8,270 33,547 29,009 8,620 8,689 8,269 34,154 29,004 NOTICE CUM ADDENDUM NO. 26/2020
2 Net Profit / (Loss) for the period (before Tax, Exceptional 1,249 1,690 1,684 5,944 5,346 1,419 1,698 1,701 6,138 5,379
Notice cum Addendum to the Scheme Information Document (SID) and Key Information Memorandum (KIM)
and/or Extraordinary items)
for the Schemes of BNP Paribas Mutual Fund (‘the Fund’):
3 Net Profit / (Loss) for the period before tax (after 1,249 1,690 1,684 5,944 5,346 1,419 1,698 1,701 6,138 5,379
Exceptional and/or Extraordinary items) I. Changes in terms and conditions for SIP Pause facility under the Schemes of BNP Paribas Mutual Fund:

4 Net Profit / (Loss) for the period after tax (after Exceptional 983 1,204 1,244 4,423 4,077 1,107 1,211 1,257 4,566 4,102 BNP Paribas Asset Management India Private Limited (AMC), vide Notice cum Addenda no. 18/2020 dated
and/or Extraordinary items) April 16, 2020, had introduced SIP Pause Facility under all the Schemes of BNP Paribas Mutual Fund offering
SIP facility. In this regard, investors are requested to note that SIP Pause facility may be availed through the
5 Total Comprehensive Income for the period [Comprising 550 1,177 1,408 3,863 4,154 674 1,184 1,421 4,010 4,179
Stock Exchange platforms as per the terms and conditions as may be prescribed and as per notices issued by
Profit / (Loss) for the period (after tax) and Other
Comprehensive Income (after tax)] the respective Stock Exchanges from time to time. Currently, SIP Pause facility can be availed for SIPs sourced/
registered through BSE Star MF Platform (Stock Exchange Platform of BSE) w.e.f. June 08, 2020.
6 Paid-up equity share capital 138 138 138 138 138 138 138 138 138 138
(Face value of ₹ 1/- each (Previous Year ₹ 1/- each)) All other terms and conditions of the said facility shall remain unchanged. AMC/Fund reserves the right to
amend the terms and conditions of the SIP Pause facility and/or withdraw the said facility by issuing a suitable
7 Reserves excluding Revaluation Reserves as per Balance 25,773 22,609 26,053 22,716
notice to this effect.
sheet of previous accounting year
II. Change in Exit load structure of BNP Paribas Flexi Debt Fund:
8 Earning per Share (in ₹) (for continuing and discontinued
operations)* Investors are requested to note that with effect from Monday, June 08, 2020, the load structure for BNP Paribas
Flexi Debt Fund shall be as below for prospective investments.
1. Basic (Rs.) 7.11 8.72 9.02 32.04 29.56 8.03 8.76 9.13 33.08 29.74
2. Diluted (Rs.) 7.11 8.72 9.02 32.02 29.54 8.03 8.76 9.13 33.08 29.73 Existing Exit Load Revised Exit Load (w.e.f. June 08, 2020)
• 0.75% of the applicable NAV if redeemed or • Nil.
* Actuals for the quarter not annualised switched-out upto 6 months from the date of No exit load will be charged for Dividend reinvestment
Notes: allotment of units. units.
1 The above financial results were reviewed and recommended by the Audit Committee of the Board and approved by the Board of Directors at their meeting held on June 04, 2020. • Nil, if redeemed or switched-out after 6 months
No exit load will be charged on switches between
2 Financial results for all the periods presented have been prepared in accordance with the recognition and measurement principles of Ind AS notified under the Companies (Indian Accounting from the date of allotment of units.
options of the same plan of the Fund. Transaction
Standards) Rules, 2015. No exit load will be charged for Dividend reinvestment charges, if applicable, shall be deducted.
3 The Figures for the last quarter are the balancing figures between audited figures in respect of full financial year and the published unaudited year to date figures upto the third quarter of the units. Transaction charges, if applicable, shall be deducted.
current financial year. No exit load will be charged on switches between
4 The Company is in the business of manufacturing and distribution of Agro Chemicals and accordingly has one reportable business segment viz. 'Agro Chemicals'. options of the same plan of the Fund.

5 Effective April 1, 2019, the Company has adopted Ind AS 116 "Leases" and applied the same to all lease contracts existing on April 1, 2019 retrospectively with the cumulative effect of initially
BNP Paribas Flexi Debt Fund (An Open ended Riskometer for the Scheme
applying the standard recognised at the date of initial application, with right-of-use asset recognised at an amount equal to the lease liability, adjusted by the prepaid lease rent. In the statement
Dynamic Debt Scheme investing across duration) is
of profit and loss account depreciation for the right of use assets and finance cost for interest accrued on lease liability is being accounted for as against operating lease rent included under Other
suitable for investors who are seeking*:
Expenses earlier. This change did not have a material impact on the financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 and year ended March 31, 2020.
6 Consequent to the nationwide lockdown announced on 24th March 2020, Company’s operations were disrupted at R&D facilities at Udaipur, manufacturing facilities at Gujarat and sales depots • Regular income in long term.
across the country. This resulted in partial deferment of Company’s domestic and export revenues for the month of March to the next quarter. The Company has since been able to resume • Investments in debt and money market
operations at its various sites from the beginning of April in a gradual manner and management believes that being into an essential commodity, there is no significant impact of COVID-19 instruments.
pandemic on the current and future business condition of the Company, financial statements liquidity position and cash flow and has concluded that no material adjustments are required in the
financial statements. Management will continue to closely monitor the situation.
7 The previous period's figures have been regrouped/ rearranged/ reclassified wherever necessary.
*Investors should consult their financial advisers if in doubt about whether the product is suitable for them.
8 The above is an extract of the detailed format of the Standalone and Consolidated Financial Results for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2020 filed with the Stock Exchanges under
Regulation 33 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015. The full format of these Financial Results are available on the websites of the Stock Exchange(s) Note: This Notice cum addendum forms an integral part of the SID & KIM of the Fund read with the addenda
(www.nseindia.com, www.bseindia.com) and the Company's website (www.piindustries.com). issued thereunder. All other features and terms and conditions as mentioned in the SID & KIM remain unchanged.
9 The Board of Directors at their meeting held on June 04, 2020 have recommended final dividend of ₹ 1.00 per equity share, subject to the approval of the shareholders in the ensuing Annual For BNP Paribas Asset Management India Private Limited
General Meeting. With this, total dividend for the year (including interim dividend of ₹ 3.00 per equity share paid during the year) is ₹ 4.00 per share. (Investment Manager to BNP Paribas Mutual Fund)
Place: Gurugram Sd/-
Date: June 4, 2020 For PI Industries Ltd. Jyothi Krishnan Date : June 05, 2020
Sd/- Head of Compliance, Legal & Secretarial Place: Mumbai
Regd. Office: Udaisagar Road, Udaipur - 313001 (Raj) Mayank Singhal
Phone: 0294 2492451-55, Fax: 0294 2491946 Vice Chairman & Managing Director
MUTUAL FUND INVESTMENTS ARE SUBJECT TO MARKET RISKS,
CIN: L24211RJ1946PLC000469 DIN: 00006651 READ ALL SCHEME RELATED DOCUMENTS CAREFULLY.
SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 2020 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM

12 BACK PAGE FINANCIAL EXPRESS

● INTERIM ORDER Poor care among reasons why

HC allows fliers to occupy middle seat
But says airlines
should strictly
comply with other
DGCA guidelines
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
Mumbai, June 5
THE BOMBAY HIGH Court on
Friday,inaninterimorder,per-
mittedairlinestoallowpassen-
gers to occupy the middle seat
in flights amid the Covid-19
pandemic, but said it should
strictlycomplywithguidelines
issued by the Directorate Gen-
eral of CivilAviation (DGCA) to
prevent spread the of novel
coronavirus.
A division bench of Justices
S J Kathawalla and S P Tavade,
while reserving its order on a
plea filed by an Air India pilot
claiming the airlines was not
following the safety condition
of keeping the middle seat
vacant, said the May 31 circu-
lar issued by the DGCAshall be
adhered to until then.
TheDGCA,initsMay31cir-
cular,hadsaidflightoperations
should try to keep the middle
seat vacant, but if it has been
carrier.
The committee, in its note
submitted to the court on Fri-
day,said Covid-19virus can be
transmitted by touch only
under certain circumstances
like when an infected person’s
droplets from nose or mouth
(coughingorsneezing)comein
contact with a surface or
clothes and another person
comes in contact with the sur-
face and then touches his or
her nose,eyes or mouth.
“If an infected person
merelytouches a non-infected
person the virus will not be
transmitted.Transmission has
A division bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and S P Tavade to take place through droplets
said the May 31 circular issued by the DGCA shall be carrying the virus and ulti-
adhered to until then mately the same reaching the
mouth, nose or eyes of the
booked, the passenger shall be chairmanship of the civil avia- other person,”the note said.
provided with a wraparound tion secretary, on Friday The committee said if pas-
gown in addition to the mask responded to a query posed by sengers wear protective gear,
and face shield. the court earlier and said mask and face shield provided
“Flightoperatorsshallallow Covid-19 did not spread by by airlines, it would decrease
passengers to occupy the mid- meretouchofapersonwhoisa the risk of spread of the coron-
dle seat strictly in compliance carrier of thevirus. avirus.
withthecirculardatedMay31, Thecourthad,onThursday, The petition,filed byDeven
2020, and all circulars and asked the committee,set up to Kanani, claimed Air India was
guidelines issued from time to review public health care pro- violating guidelines laid down
time by the concerned author- tocols for air travel amid the bytheCentreinacirculardated
ities,”the court said. Covid-19 pandemic, if coron- March23topreventthespread
An expert panel of the Min- avirus can be transmitted by of Covid-19 during air travel.
istryofCivilAviation,underthe mere touch ofapersonwhois a AirIndia,however,opposed
the plea, and informed the
court lastweek that the March
23 circular was superseded
with a new circular issued by
the government on May 22,
while permitting domestic
flightstooperatefromMay25.
Accordingto the airline,the
new circular does not say the
middle seat needs to be kept
empty.
TheHClastweeknotedthat
a cursory glance at the May 22
circularshowed it applied only
to domestic flights and not the
‘Vande Bharat’ international
flights operated byAir India.
Thecourthadthendirected
Air India and DGCA to clarify
their stand.
The Air India later
approached the Supreme
Court which, while allowing
the national carrier to keep
operating its scheduled flights
with middle seats filled till
June 5, observed that the gov-
ernment should be more wor-
ried about the health of citi-
zens than the health of
commercial airlines.
The HC on Friday also
extended the SC relief to Air
India to book middle seats for
the Vande Bharat flights till it
passes its orderin the petition.
112 died in Jalgaon hospital
Lack of counselling
for scared staff,
doctors also to be
blamed for high
Covid death rate
TABASSUM
BARNAGARWALA
Jalgaon, June 5
AT 12.3%, THE death rate for
Covid-19 in Jalgaon, a district
400 km to the north-east of
Mumbai,isthehighestinMaha-
rashtra. FourcitiesJalgaon,Bhu-
sawal, Amalner and Pachora
account for 80% of the 112
deaths till June 4.
FordistrictcollectorAvinash
Dhakne, alarm bells rang loud
morethanamonthbackonMay
2.Outofatotal42cases,14died.
Just five days ago, the district,
known for banana cultivation,
had recorded its first Covid-19
case.Overthenext30days,100
more died.Jalgaon’s death rate
todayisthreetimesthenational
average of 3.5%.Of those dead,
60wereover60yearsofage,and
47 in the 50-60 age bracket.As
many as 77 persons had co-
morbidities. Only five persons
were in the 40-50age group.
But there is more to the
Inside the Covid ward at Jalgaon hospital
breathless. Of the 907 diag-
nosedwith Covid-19 till June 4,
as many as 112 died.In fact,13
were brought dead.There may
not be one single reason for the
high death rate of Covid in Jal-
gaon. It stems from multiple
issues: general health care neg-
lect, little to no counselling for
staff and doctors,delays in test-
ing,lack of patient monitoring,
and easy entry and exit of gen-
eral publicin isolationwards.
Another Covid patient,
Rambhau Sadanshiv, 70, died
dueto“adelayinventilatorsup-
port”on May28,his son Naren-
draSadanshivalleged.“Thestaff
does not want to enter ward,
they throw medicines from a
PHOTO: TABASSUM BARNAGARWALA
was in the corridor, said: “I am
here for the past 14 days. Till
now my swab result has not
come.Everytime a patient next
tometestspositive,Iprefertobe
on the corridor,” he said.
Inside theward,Faheemud-
dinShaikhlayonthecotwithan
oxygen pipe attached to his
mouth,acylindernexttothecot.
He kept complaining to his
brother Sajid that his body was
inpain.“Adoctortoldhiminthe
morningthathewillgivemedi-
cines. Its evening now,” Sajid
went out to complain to the
nurse.“Look at them, none of
them are going inside wards to
check patients,” he said.
When contacted, Dr BS

Sebi issues regulatory sandbox framework ‘Over 5k IoT

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
New Delhi, June 5
CAPITAL MARKETS REGULA-
TOR Sebi on Friday released
guidelines for the regulatory
sandbox,enabling entities reg-
ulated by the watchdog to test
theirnewsolutionsinaliveenvi-
ronment and on a limited set of
real customers with necessary
safeguards.
The move is aimed at enco-
uraging adoption and usage of
financialtechnologiestofurther
develop and maintain a trans-
parentsecuritiesmarketecosys-
tem,said Sebi.
To encourage innovation
with the minimal regulatory
burden, Sebi said relaxations
fromvariousregulationsmight
be provided after analysing
specific sandbox testing appli-
cations. Under the guidelines,
entities regulated by Sebi will
begrantedcertainfacilitiesand
flexibilitiestoexperimentwith
financial technology solutions
in a live environment and on a
limitedsetofrealcustomersfor
a limited time frame,a circular
said.These features will be for-
tified with necessary safe-
guards for investor protection
andriskmitigation,Sebisaidin
a circular.
Coming out with detailed
guidelines pertaining to the
functioning of the regulatory
sandbox, Sebi said all entities
registered with the regulator
shallbeeligiblefortestinginthe
regulatorysandbox.
“Theentitymayeitheronits
own or engage the services of a
FinTechfirm.Ineitherscenario,
the registered market partici-
pantshallbetreatedastheprin-
cipal applicant,” Sebi said.
On regulatory exemptions,
the regulator said it shall“con-
siderexemptions/relaxations,if
any,whichcouldbeeitherinthe
form of a comprehensive exe-
mptionfromcertainregulatory
requirements or selective
exemptions on a case-by-case
basis,dependingontheFinTech
solution to betested.”
patents filed
over last 5 yrs’
ABOUT 6,000 INTERNET of
Things(IoT)patentswerefiledin
Indiafrom2009-2019,ofwhich
over 5,000 were filed in the last
fiveyears,areportbyITindustry
bodyNasscomsaidonFriday.
Forty per cent of the IoT
patentsfiledhavebeengranted,
thereporttitled‘IoT:Drivingthe
Patent Growth Story in India’-
said.Over 80% of these patents
filedwererelatedtoapplications
pertaining to Industry 4.0 with
death rate than the age and
health profile of the Covid-19
patients.
AnincidentonMay28inJal-
gaon’s civic hospital will throw
some light. The condition of
Tafazzul Shah, 57, who was
admitted on May 21,was dete-
riorating in the hospital’s ICU.
Breathless,with oxygen level at
70, he seemed to urgently
requireaventilator.Hisnephew,
an Unani doctor, begged the
doctor on duty to intubate
(insertatubeintothetracheafor
ventilation) Shah.
The doctor allegedly told
him she“does not know how to
doit”.FamilyfriendKarimSalar
said three medical staffers in
distance at the bed,” he said.
Narendra remembers entering
the isolation ward with no
guards to stop him. His father
pleaded with him:“I want to go
home, I will die there.” Sadan-
shiv’s oxygen levels dropped to
alowof35,nursestoldhimdoc-
tors were not available.An hour
before his death,award boyput
him onventilatorsupport.
On May31,afemalepatient
stepped out of the isolation
wardtobuyteafromaroad-side
food stall; she returned four
hours later after the hospital
administrationwas alerted.
Three days later on June 3,
the district civil surgeon
informedthestategovernment
Khaire, Dean of the Govern-
mentMedicalCollegewhere92
Covid patients have died so far,
toldTheIndianExpress,“Jalgaon
has a population of 42 lakh,we
are serving the entire district.
Most patients come late, their
lungs get severely infected by
then.Fiftypercentdiewithin24
hoursofadmission.Ourdoctors
are available and there to treat.”
WithreferencetoKonte,hesaid,
the hospital was awaiting the
resultsofasecondswabsample.
District collector Dhakne
realised people were scared of
visiting the Covid hospital,and
thedelaywascostinglives.More
than `16.5 crore has been allo-
catedtoJalgaonforcoronavirus.

MSP hike poses threat to spinners, says Icra
FE BUREAU
Chennai, June 5
THE ANNOUNCEMENT BY
the Cabinet Committee on
Economic Affairs (CCEA) on
June 1,approving a hike in the
minimum support prices
(MSPs) for kharif crops
(including cotton) for the Cot-
ton Year 2020-21 augurs well
for cotton sowing but is likely
to be unfavourable for the
domestic spinning sector.
WhiletheMSPforthemedi-
um-staple variety stands incre-
asedby`260/quintalto`5,515
/quintal, the price for the long-
staple variety stands increased
by `275/quintal to `5,825/-
quintal,translating into an rise
of 5% over the level fixed for
CYi2020(referstoIndiancotton
year,ending September 2020),
said an Icra analysis on Friday.
Theincreaseof5%incotton
MSP for CYi2021 comes after a
muted 2% increase imple-
mentedforCYi2020,whichfol-
lowed a significant increase of
26-28% announced for
CYi2019.Thehikeisinlinewith
theannouncementmadeinthe
Union Budget 2018-19, to fix
theMSPsatalevelofatleast1.5
times of the all-India weighted
average cost of production.
Commenting on the impact
of the development on the sec-
tor, Jayanta Roy, seniorV-P and
group head, Icra Ratings, said:
“The move is set to benefit the
farmers on commencement of
harvestingfortheongoingkha-
rif season, from October 2020
onwards. It is a positive devel-
opmentforthemandislikelyto
encouragecottonsowing,desp-
ite a fall in cotton prices wit-
nessed in the recent months.
However, the move may incre-
ase challenges forthe domestic
spinning companies, as this
comes at a time when the pan-
demic has resulted in severe
demand-side pressures in the
international textile markets.”
IncreasedMSP,timelyonset
ofmonsoonandexpectationof
normal monsoons augur well
forcotton sowing in India.
Although cotton sowing in
key regions in the Western and
Southernbeltsisyettostartina
meaningful manner, initial
sowingpatternsinthenorthern
belt indicate higheracreage for
theyear.
the healthcare and automobile
industry leading the way, the
report said,adding that 70% of
the patents came from MNCs,
and7%werefiledbystart-ups.
Also,95%ofIoTpatentswere
relatedtohardwarecomponents
with connectivity network and
sensors being the leading sub-
technologies.
Manufacturers of electron-
ics and electrical equipment,
semiconductor devices, and
computer and telecom equip-
ment, together accounted for
over 60% of the IoT patents
filed in India by business enti-
ties over 2009-19, while the
share for IT-ITeS companies
stood at 13%. —PTI
personal protective equipment
(PPE) looked on through a glass
window as the desperate
nephew barged into the isola-
tionwardwith no gloves,mask,
orPPE,and intubated his uncle.
Therewere 20 otherpatients in
the isolationward.
But Shah succumbed to
Covid-19 afewhours later.
“It’s not that doctors don’t
know how to intubate,they are
just scared to go near the
patients,” Salar claimed. The
nephew remains under home
quarantine,but did not wish to
be named. Incidents like these
havedeterredpatientsfromvis-
iting the Covid hospital; they
self-medicate until they turn
thatatleast22swab samplesof
suspected patients in Jalgaon
were missing,lost in transit to a
laboratory in Dhule.They have
not been tracedyet.
Thedistrictisbattlingwitha
poorly-managed two-year old
Government Medical College
(GMC); an attached civil hospi-
tal has been converted into a
Dedicated Covid Hospital now.
Against the 253 doctor posts,
the hospital has only 119, of
which a dozen don’t attend
work.When The Indian Express
visited the hospital, there were
no guards or staffers to stop
entry even to the suspected
Covid-19 ward. Prakash Konte,
from nearby town Yawal, who
Dhakneusedfundsforelectrical
fittings, to fix toilets, clean
garbage in hospital premises,
install centralised oxygen sup-
ply,and fix more beds.The hos-
pital has 225 beds forCovid-19,
ofwhich160areoccupied.There
are 30 ICUs,also fully occupied,
and 60 beds with centralised
oxygen. With the modernisa-
tion,hehopes,peoplewillnotbe
scaredtovisitthehospital.
A ward boy told The Indian
Express they are not given
properprotectivegear.Hewears
a plasticshield,one thatis com-
monly called an HIV kit,but his
feet and face are exposed.“We
werenottrained,wedon’tknow
what to do,” he said.

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