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MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 2020

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mint primer
QUICK EDIT
The govt and RBI Swipe
face a trilemma money
regarding PSBs A Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
affidavit in the Supreme Court
suggests that the decks for
BY VIVEK KAUL WhatsApp Pay to start opera-
tions in India have been more
Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Urjit Patel in his new
book Overdraft—Saving the Indian Saver, talks about a trilemma facing or less cleared. According to the
the Indian central bank and the government, when it comes to the document, as reported, the
public sector banking system in India. Mint explains this trilemma. Facebook-owned payment ser-
vice has met five RBI require-
Losing proportion ments, and the National Pay-
Over the last decade, the share of PSBs in the overall lending basket has dropped ments Corp. of India (NPCI) has
sharply from 75.1% to 57.5% at present. As PSBs keep losing share, they will cause informed the central bank of its
fewer headaches for the government and RBI. compliance with data storage
Share of banks in total lending rules and sought RBI’s permis-
Public sector banks Private sector banks
(in %) sion to let it go live.
80
With NPCI’s okay, it seems a
71.4 57.5 matter of time before over 400
60
million Indians are able to use
WhatsApp as a tool to swipe
40
money around the internet.
19 34.5 Given the app’s strong engage-
20 ment of its users’ waking hours,
its success seems a foregone
0
June 2005 Mar 2020 conclusion. A network of small
Source: Reserve Bank of India businesses under Reliance’s
SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
JioMart shopping platform is
What is the trilemma What will happen in ready to play catalyst and get
1 that Patel talks about?
Urjit Patel writes: “The sovereign
2 such a circumstance?
In this scenario, the Reserve Bank
catalysed by the service. Early
movers in the e-payments
(government) and the regulator will have to compromise on space, like Paytm, will have to
(RBI) face a trilemma: It is clear independent regulation. To watch out. An app that people
that it is not possible to: (i) have dominate the banking system, chat on tends to stay close-at-
dominance of government banks PSBs will have to increase lending thumb. For the consumer, it’s
(public sector banks) in the at a fast pace. This will lead to convenience and safety that
banking sector; (ii) retain accumulation of bad loans or loans
count. With its claim of end-to-
independent regulation; and (iii) that haven’t been repaid for 90
adhere to public debt-gross days or more. Given that the end encryption, WhatsApp has
domestic product (GDP) targets.” recoveries of bad loans are an advantage on the security
The government along with RBI minimal, the government, as the front as well. Expect cashless
cannot hope to achieve all three owner, will have to invest more commerce to get a big boost.
points at the same time. Only two money into the PSBs to keep them
out of the three can be achieved. going. If the government puts
Let’s say the government wants the more money into the PSBs, its
public sector banks (PSBs) to expenditure will go up. It will have
dominate the banking system and
at the same time ensure that the
to borrow more money and the
public debt to GDP ratio will
MINT METRIC
public debt doesn’t go up. substantially rise. by Bibek Debroy
MINT
What is this about Chinese seeds

3 How can public debt to GDP
ratio be saved from rising?
The central bank will have to dilute some
At a time of nefarious deeds?
regulations to help the PSBs in not
Unsolicited, in the mailbox,
recognizing bad loans. In such a case, the A new variety of Wuhan pox?
government need not invest in the PSBs
immediately. PSBs will have a greater
Tough to sift plants from weeds.
market share and the public debt to GDP
ratio will not rise right away. However, the
central bank will have to dilute banking
regulations. QUOTE OF THE DAY
What is the issue with What is the eventual
President Trump will take
4 RBI diluting norms? 5 way out for RBI, govt? action in the coming days with
When RBI dilutes regulations, As Patel writes: “The decline in the respect to a broad array of
banks end up kicking the bad share of government banks in the
loans can down the road. This banking sector should not be national security risks that are
postponement leads to a bigger resisted… Current trends broadly presented by software
problem, which hits the banks, not suggest that the banking sector is
immediately, but a few years later. increasingly privatized, by stealth, connected to the Chinese
This is precisely how PSBs much like the telecom sector.” In Communist Party.
accumulated peak bad loans of the last decade, the share of PSBs
₹8.96 trillion, as of March 2018. in overall lending has dropped
The government then has to sharply from 75.1% to 57.5% at
recapitalize the banks in the years present. As PSBs keep losing share,
to come. In the process, it pushes they will cause fewer headaches MIKE POMPEO
the public debt to GDP ratio up. for the government and the central US SECRETARY OF STATE
This is one situation that the bank in the decades to come.
government has been trying Vivek Kaul is the author of
hard to avoid. Bad Money.
m MINT SHORT
Rich nations are first in line to get access to vaccine

REUTERS
Bloomberg ble and accessible to all, doses will likely
feedback@livemint.com struggle to keep up with demand in a
world of roughly 7.8 billion people. The
W
ealthy countries have already possibility wealthier countries will
locked up more than a billion monopolize supply, a scenario that
doses of coronavirus vacci- played out in the 2009 swine flu pan-
nes, raising worries that the rest of the demic, has fuelled concerns among poor
world will be at the back of the queue in The US, Britain, EU and Japan have so nations and health advocates.
the global effort to defeat the pathogen. far secured about 1.3 billion doses of The US, Britain, EU and Japan have so
Moves by the US and UK to secure potential Covid immunizations. far secured about 1.3 billion doses of
supplies from Sanofi and partner Glax- potential Covid immunizations, accord-
oSmithKline Plc, and another pact shots, well before anyone knows ing to London-based analytics firm Air-
between Japan and Pfizer Inc., are the whether they will work. Although inter- finity. Options to snap up more supplies
latest in a string of agreements. The EU national groups and a number of nations or pending deals would add about 1.5 bil-
has also been aggressive in obtaining are promising to make vaccines afforda- lion doses to that total, its figures show.
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FLIP SIDE
T
U RA L E
O
Y SV
N E W m
Mint Lite
A daily wrap of news and views, opinions and talking points to start your day
UNION HOME minister Amit Shah went into hospital on Sunday after testing positive for covid-19, even as the country
recorded close to 55,000 new cases and crossed the 17 lakh mark. Within three days, India’s caseload has risen by more than
1.5 lakh. In the past 24 hours, over 850 people have died due to the novel coronavirus, pushing the death toll to 37,364. Of
the 17,50,724 cases, 5.6 lakh are active, while more than 11 lakh have recovered. For the rest of the national and world news,
here’s Mint Lite.
OUR ROLE IN FOREST FIRES

RESEARCHERS FROM Indian Institute of Remote Sensing
in Dehradun have recorded an 83% decline in the number of
forest fires in the western Himalayas during two months of the
nationwide lockdown. March to June is usually the peak season
for forest fires, but despite the heat wave, there was a decline in
blazes. The researchers, who published the findings in Current
Science, say this is more proof that humans are one of the main
causes of forest fires in the region. Of the 7lakh sq.km of forest in
India, 21.4% is prone to forest fires, says the Forest Survey of
India. And in Brazil, fears of a repeat of the 2019 wildfires are
back as government data shows a 28% rise in July in fires in the
Amazon. Last month, there were 6,803 fires in the rainforest,
compared to 5,318 in July 2019. Meanwhile, about 8,000
people were evacuated as an out-of-control wildfire, which
started over the weekend, is wreaking havoc in Los Angeles.
CREW DRAGON IS RETURNING

TWO ASTRONAUTS who flew the first commercial trip into
orbit are on course to splash down into the Gulf of Mexico about
15 minutes past midnight on Monday. Since it set off for the
International Space Station late in May, the NASA-SpaceX Crew
Dragon mission has had a fairly smooth ride, and on Saturday,
US’ Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken undocked the Endeavour
capsule from ISS to return home. If it lands safely, it gives the US
a means of getting its own people into orbit and back. The US
retired its fleet of shuttles in 2011, preferring to use commercial
partners to save the cost of owning and operating space crew
transportation shuttles. Much of the hardware SpaceX has
provided, from rockets to capsules, is reusable. The next
operational flight with SpaceX is set for September with a full
crew of four astronauts. Boeing is also developing a taxi service
to ISS for the US, but software problems has delayed its launch.
GOOD LIFE IS IN THE AIR Years we’d gain with cleaner air
Effect on life expectancy of reducing PM2.5 to
IF AIR quality met WHO guidelines, Indians would WHO guidelines
live on average 5.2 years longer. Globally, bad air cuts Potential gain in life expectancy (in years)
life expectancy by about two years, says a new report Lucknow 10.3
from University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute. Delhi 9.4
Nearly a quarter of the world lives in four countries in Gurugram 8.8
South Asia that are among the most polluted: Bangla- Kolkata 8.4
desh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. Pollution levels in Patna 8.4
these countries is 44% higher than two decades ago.
High PM2.5 levels across Bangladesh make it the most Ahmedabad 3.4
polluted country, but the most severe pollution is in Chennai 3.2
parts of India. India’s PM2.5 concentration in 2018 Mumbai 3.2
(base year of the study) was 63, against the WHO norm Hyderabad 3.1
Note: Based on from 2018
of 10. Some parts fare worse than average (chart), with Bengaluru 2.8 PM2.5 concentration
air pollution shortening life by 9.4 years in Delhi and
Source: Energy Policy Institute, University of Chicago (EPIC)
8.6 in Uttar Pradesh, the most polluted state.
UK MONEY MAY GET GANDHI

THE UK is considering putting people of colour, or Black,
Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) figures, on its bank notes and
coins for the first time, and at the top of the list of people likely
to feature on a coin is Mahatma Gandhi. UK finance minister
Rishi Sunak has asked the Royal Mint Advisory Committee
(RMAC), an independent committee of experts who
recommend themes and designs for notes and coins, to
consider recognition of individuals from BAME communities.
Military nurse Mary Seacole, who was born in Jamaica, and
WWII secret agent Noor Inayat Khan, who was of Indian
descent, are being considered. The move comes after a global
outcry against racism following the killing of George Floyd by
US police officers. It has also forced many institutions in the UK
to reassess their history and ties to oppressive colonialism,
while looking at ways to improve diversity.
REMBRANDT’S SELFIE RECORD

A SELF-PORTRAIT by Rembrandt, done in 1632, sold for
$18.7 million at a virtual auction, a record price for a self-portrait
by the Dutch master, according to auctioneer Sotheby’s. The
original selfie artist, Rembrandt, created about 80 paintings,
etchings and drawings of himself between the ages of 22 and 63.
The previous record for a Rembrandt self-portrait is $8.9
million during a 2003 auction. On stage too, there’s a renewed
interest in art—a Broadway musical on the mystery
surrounding the world’s most costly painting is set to debut in
New York in 2022. Salvator Mundi! tells the tale of Leonardo da
Vinci’s portrait of Jesus of the same name, which was lost for
hundreds of years and rediscovered in 2005. After being in
private hands for years, it was shown in London in 2011 and then
sold at an auction for $450.3 million in 2017. The painting
hasn’t been seen in public again since the auction.
Curated by Shalini Umachandran. Have something to share with us?

Write to us at businessoflife@livemint.com or tweet to @shalinimb
PEANUTS by Charles M. Schulz

MUMBAI, NEW DELHI, BENGALURU, KOLKATA, CHENNAI, AHMEDABAD, HYDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE* VOL. 3 NO. 186 Rs 6.00 16 PAGES
IPL FINAL MATCH TO BE HELD IN INDIA EASES QUARANTINE RULES

MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 2020
LIVEMINT.COM
UAE ON 10 NOVEMBER uP3 FOR INTERNATIONAL FLYERS uP6
WhatsApp a step Confused about where to invest in a volatile

DON’T MISS
TAX RELIEF FOR
STRANDED NRIs
closer to pay play market? Here’s a list of hand-picked funds The coronavirus crisis,
which has halted
international air travel,
is prompting India to
Sunita Abraham Mint50's top multi-cap funds ‘long-term’ required to make rewrite its tax
sunita.a@livemint.com Top multi-cap funds from Mint50, a curated basket of equity investments worth- residence rules. >P6
NPCI says platform has complied with data storage rules NEW DELHI mutual funds for your portfolio. while moved to over seven
Returns (in %) 3 years 5 years 10 years
years for many categories and
M
m MINT GRAPHITI any retail investors investment styles. The fixed- RBI MPC UNLIKELY
Shreya Nandi & have dabbled Aditya Birla Sun 0.07 income investments that TO CUT KEY RATES
Gireesh Chandra Prasad GAINING CURRENCY directly in stocks to
pocket quick bucks as their
Life Equity 6.77
9.93
were supposed to be the safe
portion of their portfolio took
RBI’s Monetary Policy
Committee may keep
NEW DELHI Unified payments interface, or UPI, transactions have seen a surge in long-term portfolios lan- 2.68 sharp cuts in net asset values
Kotak Standard rates unchanged on
popularity amid the raging pandemic. Here’s a snapshot of the UPI guished because of the mar- Multicap 7.66 as bonds defaulted. The need 6 August due to rising
F
landscape that WhatsApp is seeking to tap into: 11.62
acebook Inc.’s What- ket volatility triggered by the to go beyond the return num- uncertainty over the
sApp unit is set to UPI monthly transactions Market share coronavirus pandemic. 11.11 bers and understand the risks inflation outlook. >P5
Parag Parikh
launch its payment Value (in ₹ tn) Volume (in bn) Google While a volatile stock mar- Long Term Equity
11.42 and portfolio features was a
services in India, with 0.99 1.23 1.34 1.49 Pay ket may present short-term NA valuable lesson learned.
the National Payments opportunities, mutual funds 2.48 We have done the ground- ‘REAL ESTATE
Corp. of India (NPCI) informing 2.61
2.9 42 are best suited for your finan- Nifty 500 Total
6.71 work for investors and DEMAND RISING’
Return Index
the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) 2.18 cial goals. But selecting a 8.55 screened the schemes. But
(in %) There is a revival in
that the messaging platform 1.51 fund can be taxing, given the Growth option in regular plans has been considered Returns as on 29 July 2020 for a few schemes, the list
has met data localization 23 35 multiple categories and Source: Quantix by CRISIL Research and Mint Research
PARAS JAIN/MINT
remains unchanged, validat-
demand for quality real
estate as footfalls and
requirements. schemes. ing the selection process. sales have increased, says
An affidavit filed by RBI in To help you select funds as On the other hand, the eas- Changes were made where Amarjit Bakshi, chairman
the Supreme Court last week Apr May Jun Jul Others PhonePe per your asset allocation, we ing of policy rates to pump- we felt that a scheme did not of Central Park. >P3
Source: National Payments Corporation of India, Mint Research
said NPCI had told the central curated a list of 50 schemes prime the economy along add value to the basket or if
bank in June that it was satisfied GETTING READY TO LAUNCH that balanced returns and with tools like ‘Operation the risks were seen as exces-
with WhatsApp’s compliance risk, and maintained good Twist’ adopted by the sive. To give you a snapshot, INDIA AND CHINA
RBI’S affidavit in NPCI says it will WHATSAPP is
with the regulator’s data stor- portfolio hygiene factors. Not Reserve Bank of India to sof- here is a list of multicap ENGAGE IN TALKS
SC says NPCI is give approval to now awaiting a
age rules and was good to go live only are Mint50 funds picked ten yields allowed debt funds funds from the Mint50 bas-
satisfied with ICICI Bank, the formal nod from See pages 10 & 11 Senior commanders of
on the Unified Payments Inter- WhatsApp’s app’s service NPCI to launch its after a rigorous quantitative to reap valuation gains as pri- ket (see graphic). Multicap the Indian and Chinese
face (UPI) platform. WhatsApp compliance report provider bank UPI operations and qualitative process, but an ces of fixed income securities funds can invest across armies met at Moldo on
is now offering the payments on annual audit of the schemes is funds underperforming the went up in response to falling equity market segments and, Sunday, on the Chinese
a trial basis to some users. also done to review their per- benchmarks and long-term interest rates. Debt funds therefore, the different side of the LAC, to hold a
“We would like to confirm on payments or settlement lines on data localization. Our formance and make changes returns from equity invest- also had to deal with tighten- investment flavours offer fresh round of talks. >P14
that WhatsApp has satisfied the transactions, customer data, team has worked hard to meet wherever needed. ments barely beating fixed- ing liquidity in the fixed-in- something for most inves-
data localization requirements among other information, has these standards over the last Each year presents new income investments on a come markets, especially for tors. Investors should review
based on Cert-In auditor’s to be stored in India, according year,” the spokesperson said. challenges, and this year, too, point-to-point basis. lower-rated bonds. We their portfolios to assess how BFHL TO OFFLOAD
reports and we hereby are giv- to RBI rules. WhatsApp is waiting for a fund performances reflected On the fixed-income front, increased the weightage for well they are poised to meet BANDHAN STAKE
ing ICICI Bank (payment ser- A WhatsApp spokesperson formal communication from the double whammy of a the economic slowdown and asset quality and liquidity in their goals. Holding a diver-
Bandhan Bank, backed
vice provider bank for What- said the company is ready to slowing economy that was the worsening credit climate the assessment process so sified portfolio of invest- by Bandhan Financial
sApp) the approval to go live,” provide payment services to TURN TO PAGE 5 compounded by the covid-19 translated into a greater fear that the riskier schemes ments across categories Holdings (BFHL), will sell
the affidavit submitted by RBI users in India soon. pandemic and a skewed mar- of defaults and the flight to could be filtered out. aligned to their needs should shares worth ₹10,500 cr
to the court said. Mint has “We understand NPCI is satis- UPI saw a record 1.5 bn
ket that rewarded just a few safety of ‘AAA’ and govern- For investors, it was a time be the guiding principle for to bring down promoter
reviewed a copy of the affidavit. fied with WhatsApp’s compli- transactions in July >P6
stocks. It reflected in equity ment bonds by debt funds. to reset expectations. The all investment choices. shareholding. >P3
Payments data, information ance with RBI’s payments guide-
Not giving credit where due

The novel coronavirus pandemic has increased risk aversion
Auto may continue to face covid pressure Lenders see a surge in
among Indian banks, as reflected in the slowing credit growth
over the past three months. Amit Panday &
demand for gold loans
Year-on-year credit growth (in %)
18
Personal loans Services
Agriculture and allied activities Industry Total
Malyaban Ghosh
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI
‘Double-digit growth Shayan Ghosh &
16
16.58
must for real revival’ Tanya Thomas
A
14 utomobile sales in India
13.01 will likely stay in the MUMBAI
12 10.67
10
11.06 slow lane for some time
8.72 10.49 Malyaban Ghosh
T
8 despite a rise in sales in July, seen in July was led by the he economic repercus-
6.45 6.73
6 given the uncertainties over malyaban.g@livemint.com rural market though there sions of the coronavirus
4 2.41 demand, according to industry NEW DELHI has been some improve- pandemic have worried
2
2.25 experts. ment in urban demand as Indians lining up to pawn their
0
A
Jun 2019 Jun 2020 Companies and analysts Maruti posted a 1.8% y-o-y rise real recovery in well. gold jewellery for cash, leading
Source: CMIE expect an uptick in wholesales, in local sales at 100,000 units India’s automobile Edited excerpts: to a surge in gold loans by com-
or factory dispatches, over the last month. MINT industry will be How will you interpret panies such as Muthoot Fin-
PARAS JAIN/MINT
next few months to replenish achieved when sales grow in the current recovery in corp Ltd and Manappuram Higher gold prices have helped
SBI needs moratorium dealer stocks ahead of the

upcoming festival season. Also,
rural markets and segments
wheeler makers reported
sequential as well as year-on-
year (y-o-y) rise in sales in July
double digits compared to sales in the sector?
FY18-19, said R.C. Bhargava,
chairman of
There has been a lot of
pent-up
Finance Ltd.
While a large number of bor-
rowers continue to avail of
borrowers get maximum value
for their jewellery. MINT
Maruti Suz- m INTERVIEW demand and

cloud to lift if it has to such as motorcycles are
expected to fare better than the
urban markets and cars.
as the easing of lockdown curbs
began to take effect.
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, the
uki India Ltd. this has its
In an interview, Bhargava origins partly in the fact that
these loans to tide over imme-
diate cash shortages, many len-
ders are moving away from
borrowers towards gold loans,
said John Muthoot, chairman of
Muthoot Pappachan Group.
However, rising cases of cor- country’s top carmaker, posted refrained from giving a sales in the previous year unsecured credit to gold loans, “While owning gold has always
lend without restraint onavirus infections and spo-
radic local lockdowns mean the
auto industry faces many hur-
a 1.8% year-on-year (y-o-y) rise
in local sales to 100,000 units
in July. This was driven by a
forecast for this fiscal, citing (FY19-20), because of vari-
the continued uncertainty ous factors, sales of cars for
amid a rising number of cov- the industry as a whole went
which provides adequate risk
cover against any future
default, industry experts said.
been a boon, the higher prices
during this period have helped
borrowers get maximum value
Aparna Iyer late the economy through dles before it can score a full 49% jump in sales of entry-level id-19 cases. The drying up of unsecured for their gold. Muthoot Fincorp
aparna.i@livemint.com credit flow. For RBI, risk aver- recovery. He said the sales rebound TURN TO PAGE 5 loans post-lockdown and the
sion has meant that its 115 basis On Saturday, car and two- TURN TO PAGE 5 moratorium period has pushed TURN TO PAGE 3
I
ndia’s largest lender is will- points reduction in the policy
ing to take risks and lend rate within six months has had
amid a raging pandemic, little effect. Rate cuts, along
even though the rest of the with an unprecedented level of
financial year looks like a wash- liquidity surplus, have only
out for the economy. made banks binge on risk-free
“A bank’s job is to take risks, government bonds. SBI, too,
WFH alters Insurers see spurt in Interest on cap Gamers wary as govt
and this is the best time to take has hardly lent, with its loan
Bengaluru’s gains bonds
risks,” State Bank of India (SBI) book showing a sequential 1.5%
chairman Rajnish Kumar said contraction in Q1.
in a virtual press meet while SBI’s private sector peers tech landscape surrender of policies slashed to 5% plans ban on PUBG
announcing June quarter haven’t fared well either. “Pri- MINT
results. vate banks reported a 2% QoQ Sharan Poovanna & Anirudh Laskar Neil Borate Abhijit Ahaskar since July 2019 through in-app
“It is only if there is a bubble contraction in loans as most Madhurima Nandy anirudh.l@livemint.com neil.b@livemint.com abhijit.a@livemint.com revenue, app analytics firm
and we keep on lending, it banks pulled back on con- MUMBAI MUMBAI NEW DELHI Sensor Tower data showed .
would be something to worry sumer lending. Growth slow- BENGALURU India alone had 300 million
E I O
about,” he said. down was ven as the coronavirus nvestors looking to save nline gamers in India gamers last year. PUBG virtual
B E H I N D sharper in the
T
He may be right he bustling information pandemic continues to long-term capital gains —their ranks swelling tournaments come with crores
as companies
m T H E N E W S retail segment, technology (IT) corridors rage, policyholders are through so-called EC54 along with the prize of rupees in prize money.
that are down in given the impact of Bengaluru may become giving up their life cover at a bonds sold by public sector money—are steeling them- “PUBG Mobile is holding the
the dumps may find it hard to from lockdowns, while whole- a thing of the past as the transi- rapid pace amid pay cuts, job entities such as National High- selves for disappointment amid flag of Indian eSports because of
inflate projections as they may sale growth fared better, largely tion to remote work negates the losses and general economic ways Authority of India, REC government plans to ban the its massive audience and invest-
tend to do during good times. led by HDFC Bank, which saw need for large office spaces, uncertainty, top executives at Ltd and Indian Railway popular Chinese gaming app ment. And if it gets banned, it
While this hope may not fit 35% YoY and 6% QoQ whole- overhauling the way India’s Sili- four life insurance firms said. Finance Corp. Ltd beginning 1 PUBG Mobile. will be a huge loss for the eSports
comfortably with a recession- sale growth,” analysts at Credit con Valley operates. With firms In the June quarter, the The soaring policy surrenders August will earn 5% interest, With 180 million in India, the ecosystem,” said Sabyasachi
ary narrative, perhaps a dose of Suisse wrote in a note. switching to work-from-home 13-persistency ratio, which are a blow to insurers who are against 5.75% earlier. The game accounts for 24% of all Bose, a professional gamer.
SBI’s bullishness is what would Indeed, Kumar’s sanguine (WFH), the city’s big IT parks are measures how long a policy- seeing low premium collections. game downloads and has gen-
help the economy get out of the message sounds counter-intui- seeing 5-15% employee attend- holder retains insurance, TURN TO PAGE 5 erated close to $28 million TURN TO PAGE 5
funk covid has brought on. tive, especially at a time when ance, with no certainty when declined by an average of close In the same period, the aver-
After all, the biggest hurdle SBI’s private sector peers have others will return. to 10 percentage points from a age ticket size (premium) of For short takes on the news Listen to Mint Evening
for the government and the been conservative in their out- At the 69-acre International year ago, the executives said on conventional life insurance before you start your day, Market Wrap for Nasrin
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has look. “What we have done is a Tech Park in Whitefield, a prom- condition of anonymity. The products such as endowment, follow our daily podcast Mint Sultana’s detailed analysis of
been risk aversion among lot more of treasury invest- inent IT hub that hosts Tata Con- decline means many customers pension and money-back poli- Lite Morning Shot with the day’s news from Dalal
Shalini Umachandran on Street and other markets on
banks. This is threatening the did not renew policies after pay- htsmartcast.com htsmartcast.com
government’s efforts to stimu- TURN TO PAGE 5 TURN TO PAGE 5 ing the first year’s premium. TURN TO PAGE 7
02 MONDAY, 3 AUGUST 2020

MUMBAI
PLAIN
FACTS
THE OTHER INVESTMENT INDIA NEEDS

Investments in social infrastructure such as education and public health are critical for sustainable growth but do not get the attention they deserve
PRIYANKA PARASHAR/MINT
Nikita Kwatra &

m MINT GRAPHITI
Mexico reached the same lev- over Korea and Taiwan left the past two decades, learning
els in 1987, 31 years before both countries with “a major outcomes continue to be poor.
Pramit Bhattacharya
India. Brazil reached the same accumulation of human and In the last international com- India lags far behind peers in social infrastructure
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI level in 1998, 20 years before physical capital”, wrote Amer- parison of learning outcomes
CHINA INDIA
Physical infra Demographic
India. India’s life expectancy ican economist Henry J. Bru- that India participated in
indicators
I
t is well-recognized today gap with Indonesia is rela- ton in a 1998 review of the 2009, India ranked 72nd out Per capita income (current US$) 2,099
13 YEARS
2,104
that India’s infrastructure tively smaller, with Indonesia experiences of fast-growing of 73 countries, outranking Urban population (% of total) HOW TO READ 34.9 34.5
deficit needs to be fixed. reaching India’s current level emerging economies. Most only Kyrgyzstan. 20 YEARS
Power consumption (kWh per capita)
THE GRAPHIC 821 805
From erratic power supply only in 2011. colonial rulers saw their colo- India’s meagre investments 18 YEARS
indicators
to clogged ports, India’s While China’s lead over nies as markets for their own in health have been even more Air passengers carried (% of population) Each row represents a 12.1 12.1
specific parameter on 12 YEARS
strained infrastructure drags India in terms of its impressive factories. In contrast, Japan lop-sided, with greater invest- Fixed broadband subscriptions (per 100 people) 1.9 1.3
which India and a peer 14 YEARS
down productivity and hurts physical infrastructure is used its colonies as production ments in curative facilities country has been
Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people) 88.3 86.9
growth. Unsurprisingly, the widely commented upon, hubs as it prepared for war. than in preventive public compared. For instance, 5 YEARS
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) China’s early efforts in provid- The Japanese also borrowed health initiatives such as dis- Life expectancy at birth (years) China attained an 69.4 69.4
under-five mortality rate 26 YEARS
Social infra
governor Shaktikanta Das ing education and healthcare from the best European prac- ease surveillance and waste
indicators
Under-5 mortality rate (per 1,000 live births) of 37 in 2000. India 36.8 36.6
called for a big infra push to to the masses deserve atten- tices to create a world-class management. Among curative reached a similar rate 18
18 YEARS
revive India’s growth engines tion. Its early investments in health infrastructure in these care facilities, tertiary medical Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and above)
years later, in 2018. 74.7 74.4
30 YEARS
at a Confederation of Indian social infra during the Mao colonies. The superior health centres have received far more Tertiary enrollment (% gross) 28.7 28.1
Industry (CII) event a few days Zedong era provided a solid outcomes of Taiwan and attention than primary health 6 YEARS
ago. launch pad for its growth take South Korea, and the resil- centres. The upshot: India has INDONESIA INDIA
What is less well recognized off in the post-Mao era, wrote ience shown by them during always ranked among the
indicators
is the role of India’s social Pranab Bardhan, emeritus the ongoing pandemic is countries with the highest toll Per capita income (current US$) 2,167 2,104
11 YEARS
infrastructure deficits, in edu- professor of economics at the partly because of that legacy. from contagious diseases, Urban population (% of total) 34.9 34.5
25 YEARS
cation, skills, health, and University of California, Japan was certainly as brutal much before the novel coro-
Power consumption (kWh per capita) 812 805
nutrition, that have stifled its Berkeley, in his 2011 book, as any other colonial ruler but navirus landed on our shores. 0 YEARS
indicators
growth potential. A Mint anal- Awakening Giants, Feet Of it helped equalize opportuni- The legacy of poor invest- Air passengers carried (% of population) 11.9 13 YEARS
12.1
ysis of a broad range of eco- Clay: Assessing The Economic ties in otherwise unequal soci- ments in education and health Fixed broadband subscriptions (per 100 people) 1.3 1.3
nomic indicators suggests that Rise Of China And India. Deng eties. shows up in poor productivity 4 YEARS
India’s deficits in social infra Xiaoping, who took charge of By the time Japanese rule numbers. According to a 2016 8 YEARS
may be harder to bridge than the Chinese communist party ended, the labour force in The Lancet study, an average Life expectancy at birth (years) 69.5 69.4
7 YEARS
Social infra
indicators
its deficits in physical infra. in 1978, unshackled many of Korea and Taiwan was vastly Indian’s peak productive Under-5 mortality rate (per 1,000 live births) 37 36.6
Only countries with gross the Mao-era socialist controls superior to that of any other period was just seven years— 10 YEARS
domestic product above $2 to usher in an era of unprece- developing country, wrote less than half of that of an aver- Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and above) 74.4 74.4
33 YEARS
trillion (purchasing power dented prosperity. However, Bruton. It is the early develop- age Chinese worker— due to Tertiary enrollment (% gross) 26.3 28.1
parity, current international the Maoist legacy of heavy ment of human capital, Bruton poorer health and quality of 7 YEARS
dollars) and with per capita investments in argued, that learning. MEXICO INDIA
incomes at most three times broad-based The lack of good allowed Korea The lack of quality educa-
indicators
India’s current levels have education, and Taiwan to tion and healthcare also make Per capita income (current US$) 2,148 2,104
education and 36 YEARS
been considered for this anal- healthcare, and healthcare make deploy global best it difficult for the less privi- Urban population (% of total) 34.5
1930
34.5
89 YEARS
ysis. There are four such coun- rural electrifica- it difficult for the practices rapidly leged to take part in India’s
tries in the world: China, Indo- tion also helped
less privileged to on shop floors, growth process. As these 35 YEARS
indicators
nesia, Mexico and Brazil. The Deng’s cause, boosting produc- pages have pointed out earlier, Air passengers carried (% of population) 12.5 12.1
take part in India’s tivity and growth. 42 YEARS
analysis considers the gap Bardhan argued. the premium on higher educa- Fixed broadband subscriptions (per 100 people) 1.8 1.3
between India and each of The World growth process In contrast, mass tion in India’s job market has 13 YEARS
these countries in terms of the Bank’s first study education and climbed sharply since the turn 4 YEARS
number of years separating on the Chinese healthcare were of the century. With greater Life expectancy at birth (years) 69.6 31 YEARS
69.4
Social infra
indicators
them by examining when each economy published in 1983 neglected in India, first by digitization and automation in Under-5 mortality rate (per 1,000 live births) 36.6 36.6
peer was at the same level as noted that despite low per cap- British colonial rulers, and the post-covid world, such 24 YEARS
India is right now, on various ita consumption levels, then by successive Indian gov- returns are likely to increase Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and above) 74.2 48 YEARS
74.4
parameters. China’s “most remarkable ernments post independence. even further. Unless educa- Tertiary enrollment (% gross) 28.3 28.1
On some infra indicators, achievement has been to make Despite the “strong pro-ed- tional opportunities are equal- 7 YEARS
such as mobile and internet low-income groups far better ucation rhetoric” in the Indian ized, existing inequalities will BRAZIL INDIA
connectivity, India is less than off in terms of basic needs than freedom movement, progress only widen in the years ahead.
indicators
a decade behind its peers. their counterparts in most on mass schooling was It will become even more diffi- Per capita income (current US$) 2,087 2,104
32 YEARS
However, it is several decades other poor countries.” remarkably slow in India, cult to sustain growth in the Urban population (% of total) 34.5 34.5
1929 90 YEARS
behind most peers on all social The story of the Asian tigers economists Jean Drèze and face of such inequities.
indicators (see chart). is broadly similar to China in Amartya Sen wrote in their The key to the “East Asian 36 YEARS
indicators
About three-fourths of this respect. All four of the 2013 book, An Uncertain Glory: miracle” lay in the ability of Air passengers carried (% of population) 12.5 12.1
23 YEARS
adults in India are literate so-called Asian tigers—Hong India And Its Contradictions. their political leadership to 1.3
Fixed broadband subscriptions (per 100 people) 1.7
today. China reached the same Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and While the Nehruvian period make “shared growth credi- 14 YEARS
level of literacy in 1988, Indo- South Korea—which made the gave birth to several world- ble”, wrote the researchers 9 YEARS
nesia reached that milestone transition from being under- class institutions of higher Hilton L. Root and Jose Life expectancy at birth (years) 69.4 69.4
20 YEARS
Social infra
in 1985. Brazil and Mexico developed countries to devel- learning, school education did Edgardo Campos in a 1996
indicators
Under-5 mortality rate (per 1,000 live births) 37.1 36.6

reached the same levels of lit- oped economies in less than not see a big push. Even today, Brookings Institution report. 19 YEARS
eracy earlier. The gap in life half a century, embraced the gap between India and That’s a challenge Indian lead- Adult literacy rate (% of people aged 15 and above) 74.6
38 YEARS
74.4
expectancy is narrower than wide-ranging state interven- peers in basic literacy is higher ers have perennially struggled Tertiary enrollment (% gross) 28.4 28.1
12 YEARS
the gap in literacy but still very tions, including heavy invest- than the gap in tertiary enroll- with.
large. In 2018, India reached a ments in education and ment rates, as the accompany- This is the third of a four-part 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2019
life expectancy of 69.4. China health. ing graphic shows. series on India’s growth chal- Note: The latest year values are as reported by the World Bank. For a couple of indicators for which World Bank
reached the same levels in During the first half of the Although access to school- lenge. does not provide historical data for all years, the figures are based on secondary research and interpolation. Source: World Development Indicators, Mint research
1992, 26 years before India. 20th century, Japan’s rule ing in India has improved over nikita.k@livemint.com
AHMED RAZA KHAN/MINT
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First published in February 2007 to serve as an unbiased and clear-minded chronicler of the Indian Dream.
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NEWS MONDAY, 3 AUGUST 2020

MUMBAI 03
Reopening FT schemes will Sebi to set up

mint
SHORT TAKES virtual museum

AIIB in talks for financing of $8-bn
health infra scheme with India
New Delhi: The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is
have a contagion risk: Sebi of securities
market
in discussions with the Indian government for financing a $8-bil-
lion scheme to improve health infrastructure at the district level PTI
to make the country better prepared for future healthcare chal- feedback@livemint.com
lenges. The Beijing-based multilateral funding agency had ear- This will lead to 100% redemption requests from Franklin’s unitholders, it told HC NEW DELHI
lier approved a financial assistance of $1.2 billion for India to fight
R
the covid-19 pandemic. PTI egulator Sebi is planning
Jayshree P. Upadhyay to set up a virtual
jayshree.pyasi@livemint.com museum of securities
GC decides to hold IPL final on MUMBAI market to highlight achieve-
ments and milestones in the
10 Nov, retain Chinese sponsors
R
eopening for transac- Indian capital market.
SANDEEP SHETTY/SPORTZPICS
tions the six debt In a notice, Sebi has invited
Sensex schemes of Franklin Expression of Interest (EoI)
rallies 7% in
July. Now, all
Templeton that were from agencies to develop the
eyes on wound down will have a virtual museum. The museum
RBI’s stance contagion risk on the entire mutual is intended to be a visual online
on loan fund industry, the Securities and organised collection of history
moratorium
Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said of evolution, achievements and
bit.ly/3gnnhIg in its filing for the Franklin Tem- milestones in the Indian securi-
pleton case in Karnataka high ties market over the decades in
court. The court is hearing the four terms of market infrastructure,
cases filed by investors who chal- regulation and enforcement,
lenged the fund house’s decision to among others, Sebi said.
wind down the six debt schemes The achievements will be
New Delhi: The Indian Premier League’s governing coun- without the consent of unit holders. told through photos, videos,
cil (GC) on Sunday decided to retain all its sponsors, includ- The investors have also urged articles, media clippings, inter-
ing Chinese mobile company Vivo Communication Tech- the court to intervene so that the active display like quiz, paint-
nology Co. Ltd, and approved covid-19 replacements in the schemes are reopened for transac- Franklin Templeton’s investors have urged the Karnataka high court to intervene so that the six debt schemes are ings, drawings, diagrams,
event to be held in UAE this year. The tournament will be tions, including redemptions and reopened for transactions. The high court will begin hearing the arguments on 6 August. BLOOMBERG graphs, newspaper articles,
played from 19 September to 10 November, the IPL GC subscriptions. transcripts of interviews and
decided after a virtual meeting on Sunday. “All I can say is The high court will begin hear- Gujarat high court stay is not market now knows the distress,” The market regulator raised numerical databases, among
that all our sponsors are with us. Hopefully you can read ing the arguments on 6 August. vacated, the trustees will have to said Sebi in the affidavit. “Some of apprehensions that in such a sce- others. Information pertaining
between the lines,” an IPL GC member told PTI on the con- Franklin Templeton had shut reopen the schemes for transac- the bonds would be sold at a negli- nario, investors will also put in to history of securities laws as
dition of anonymity. PTI down its six debt schemes on 23 tions and that would lead to all unit- gible price,” it said. redemption requests for schemes well as establishment of stock
April, following severe illiquidity in holders placing 100% redemption “Distress selling of underlying of other fund houses. These exchanges in India and history
underlying bonds and redemption requests immediately. Mint has bonds would establish a new, much schemes would also need to resort of institutions important to
Aptel puts off renewable energy pressures. Petitions filed in to distress selling of other securities market, including
certificate trading until 26 August Gujarat high court on 3 June SEBI FEARS RIPPLE EFFECT IN MF SPACE bonds in their portfolios, it UTI and Forward Market Com-
and 8 June had obtained a said. mission (FMC), would be used
New Delhi: The Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (Aptel) has stay on the e-voting process, FRANKLIN would DISTRESS selling of THIS would bring IN such a scenario, “This could create a as content for the proposed
postponed the trading of renewable energy certificates (REC) which would have started have to distress sell
securities at a deep
underlying bonds
would establish a
down the net asset
value of all mutual
investors will put in
redemption requests
widespread contagion museum, it said. In addition,
scheduled on 29 July, by four weeks. In an order issued on 24 the liquidation and moneti- discount to meet new, much lower fund schemes which for other schemes of effect across the entire trading practices, rules, regula-
July, Aptel postponed the RECs trading session scheduled for 29 zation of underlying bonds redemption requests price of these bonds have these bonds other fund houses mutual fund industry and tions prior to and after estab-
July, 2020, by four weeks in three separate appeals filed by Green present in the portfolio. harm the interest of inves- lishment of Sebi or FMC, com-
Energy Association, IWPA (Indian Wind Power Association) and The process of refund to tors at large,” Sebi said. modity trading during period of
Techno Electric and Engineering Company Ltd against the Franklin’s 300,000 investors can reviewed a copy of the affidavit. lower price of these bonds in the In comparison, winding up of various dynasties’ rulers and
CERC order issued on fixing REC floor and forbearance price. PTI start only after liquidation, accord- “To meet the redemption market. This would bring down the these six schemes will lead to pre- landmark judgements for secu-
ing to Sebi regulations. request the mutual fund would NAV (net asset value) of all mutual serving value for all unit holders rities market, among others,
The market regulator, which is a have to distress sell securities at a fund schemes, which has these and equitable exit to all investors, would be exhibited in the
Six of 10 most valued companies respondent in the case, said if the very deep discount as the whole bonds.” Sebi contended. museum.
lose ₹1.38 tn in market valuation
New Delhi: Six of the 10 most valued companies witnessed a
combined erosion of ₹1,38,839.83 crore in their market valuation
last week, with Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank emerging as
major losers. The market valuation of Reliance Industries Lim-
ited (RIL) plunged by ₹50,239.78 crore to ₹13,10,323.21 crore.
HDFC Bank Ltd’s valuation tanked ₹46,374.63 crore to
Revival in demand for quality real estate: Bakshi Promoters of Bandhan
₹5,67,877.74 crore. PTI
Nandita Mathur
nandita.m@livemint.com
Bank to offload stake
Park Flower Valley, as well as
Sky Villas at Central Park
esses. The challenges in our
industry are manifold. The
FPIs continue as net buyers in July; NEW DELHI Resorts. The current quarter “ease-of-operations” and
has shown signs of increased “one-window” approach to Swaraj Singh Dhanjal Holdings on the share sale.
invest ₹3,301 cr amid vaccine hope
W
hile housing sales sales activity, especially in the government regulatory bodies swaraj.d@livemint.com A text message sent to Ban-
New Delhi: Foreign portfolio investors (FPI) remained net buy- plunged across investor segment. is something we urge the MUMBAI dhan Bank managing director
ers for the second consecutive month in July by pumping in major cities during Are you seeing a revival in authorities to continue pursu- and chief executive officer
B
₹3,301 crore in Indian markets amid hopes of a coronavirus vac- the covid-19-led nationwide demand? ing. The fiscal and banking andhan Bank’s promoter (CEO) Chandra Shekhar Ghosh
cine. According to the depositories data, a net sum of ₹7,563 crore lockdown, some developers There is a definite revival in policies for home loans and the entity, Bandhan Financial did not elicit any response till
was invested in equities while ₹4,262 crore were withdrawn by are seeing a gradual return in demand for good-quality real “industry-status” approach Holdings Ltd, will sell press time. Spokespersons for
FPIs between 1-31 July. The net investment during the month demand. In an interview, estate. Footfall and sales have towards developers will be shares worth ₹10,500 crore, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, Gold-
stood at ₹3,301 crore. PTI Amarjit Bakshi, chairman and increased. We have also seen Digital tools helped in closing beneficial to customers and through block trades on Mon- man Sachs, and JM Financial
managing director, Central an increase in unique visitors transactions, said Central Park developers. Special focus is day, to bring down could not be
Park, talks about the NCR on our website, and our call chairman Amarjit Bakshi. required for the government’s promoter share- immediately
Microsoft and ByteDance put realty market, luxury projects centre is also getting positive vision of “Housing for All” by holding to meet Bandhan reached for a com-
and future challenges. Edited response from customers. Per- professional and business 2020, and Smart Cities imple- the Reserve Bank Financial ment.
TikTok acquisition talks on hold excerpts: haps, there is classes of India. mentation. of India (RBI)’s Holdings, which According to
How did the m INTERVIEW more focus on
BLOOMBERG
What’s the outlook on the What are Central Park’s norms. owns a 60.95% RBI’s bank licenc-
covid crisis developers with sector and challenges? plans for this year? B a n d h a n stake in the bank, ing norms, pro-
impact project sales and a strong track record and pen- The real estate sector is an Central Park will promote Financial Hold- will be selling 337 moter sharehold-
launches in Delhi-NCR? chant for style and design. important contributor to the new investment opportunities ings, which owns a million shares ing has to be
There’s no doubt that the How is the luxury housing economy and provides in the Bellavista suites project. 60.95% stake in brought down to
pandemic has had an adverse market faring? employment and livelihood to We are also focusing on our the bank, will sell 40% three years
effect on the real estate indus- The luxury housing market different strata of society. I township Flower Valley, look- 337 million shares, after launching
try at large. Initially, there was is a niche by itself; it rarely believe that the market will ing at the promotion of plotted representing a 20.95% stake, operations. After Bandhan’s
a negative impact on sales and wavers, though it stalls and bounce back. Due to covid-19, development Mikasa Plots and according to the terms of the three-year deadline ended in
we did hold off on product often sits on the fence. There many customers were appre- low-rise independent floors deal. September 2018, RBI imposed
launches, but the lull was actu- will always be demand as it is hensive about site visits and from 2 BHK to 4 BHK. A floor price of ₹311.1 per share restrictions on expanding its
ally temporary. There is so linked to quality lifestyle meetings, but we have seen a We will be making a world- has been set for the share sale, branch network and CEO remu-
much latent demand for real desired by the consumer, significant revival of activities. class club house and offering which is at a discount of 9.89% to neration. However, citing the
estate that we soon started along with the hospitality ser- Digital tools like virtual real- possession of homes this year, Friday’s closing price of ₹345.25. efforts made by the bank in
New York: Microsoft Corp. and ByteDance Ltd have put reviving the sales impetus; we vices and construction offered ity, augmented reality and vid- starting with the plots. Investment banks Credit reducing its promoter share-
acquisition talks for TikTok on hold after President Donald have witnessed an increase in by Central Park. The reason eo-conference meetings have We are looking at new prod- Suisse, JP Morgan, Goldman holding, RBI had lifted the
Trump said Friday he would oppose the deal, Dow Jones queries, site visits and sale of behind this is also the social helped in closing transactions uct launches at Dwarka Sachs, and JM Financial are restrictions in February, with
reported, citing people familiar with the matter who assets in our township, Central and upward mobility of the and the decision-making proc- Expressway and Goa. advising Bandhan Financial certain conditions.
weren’t identified. Trump’s comments prompted TikTok
to make additional concessions, including agreeing to add
as many as 10,000 jobs in the US over the next three years,
according to the report. BLOOMBERG
Delhi, Mumbai Customs to start

faceless cargo assessment today
Gold loans spike on pivot to safety PERSONAL FINANCE
New Delhi: Delhi and Mumbai Customs will begin faceless FROM PAGE 1 ness also, and existing custom- You are important to us. That’s why our dedicated
assessment of certain imported goods beginning on Monday, the ers are also taking more. More- section on promising investments will help point your
central board of indirect taxes and customs (CBIC) has said. On has disbursed loans of about over, gold price is high and cus-
8 June 2020, the CBIC had rolled out in Bengaluru and Chennai ₹9,000 crore in the three tomers need cash flow,” wealth in the right direction–up.
the first phase of “faceless assessment” scheme for imported months to June, an increase of Srinivasan said on the bank’s
goods, as it prepared for pan-India roll out by 1 January 2021. PTI 30% from the previous year to investor conference call on 15
almost 2 million customers,” July. Then, there are others
said Muthoot. who do not want to miss the
SpiceJet repatriates 269 Indians Muthoot Fincorp is one of bus. Fino Payments Bank aims
the non-bank financiers of the to double the value of its gold
from Amsterdam in first long haul Pappachan Group. loan sourcing business in FY21.
New Delhi: SpiceJet said it operated its maiden long-haul char- The record surge in gold pri- Lenders are more comfortable Since payments banks cannot
ter flight from Amsterdam to Bengaluru and Hyderabad on Sun- ces has allowed borrowers to with secured loans as chances lend, Fino is looking to form
day carrying 269 Indians. The low-cost carrier said in a press raise more money against the of recovery are greater. MINT partnerships with banks and
release it had chartered a wide-body A330neo aircraft from Por- same quantity of gold. Although NBFCs to source gold loans on
tugese airline Hi Fly for this flight from Amsterdam in the Neth- data on aggregate gold loan vol- by at least 4 percentage points their behalf.
erlands. PTI ume is not available, bankers and in the year to March, lenders Amit Jain, head (alliances
non-bank financiers said there seem more comfortable with and project management To get your MINT copy, give a missed call on
7039035039 or visit www.mintreaders.com
has been a surge in demand, secured loans, where chances office) at Fino Payments Bank,
or write to us at subscription@livemint.com
Rothschild expects to close more especially in March to June. of recovery are greater. said in a statement on 28 July
The loan-to-value ratio for Shyam Srinivasan, chief that it expects demand to grow
deals in India in second half of 2020 gold loans has been capped at executive of Federal Bank, said in FY21 as people turn to gold
Mumbai: Global investment bank Rothschild & Co is bullish on 75% by the Reserve Bank. This gold loans are one of the focus loans for their personal and
India deal street as is already working on a pipeline of deals worth essentially means customers areas of the bank, growing 10% working capital requirements.
billions of dollars. Domestic deal activity remained in the green can get a maximum of 75% of sequentially and about 36% on “We aim to do over ₹2,000
during the first half, thanks to the stake sale by Reliance Indus- their value of gold as loans. As a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis. crore of gold loan referral busi-
tries in Jio Platforms, between April and June. PTI bad loans are expected to rise “We are getting new business this fiscal,” said Jain.

MUMBAI
S&P BSE Sensex Nifty 50 Nifty 500 Nifty Next 50 Nifty 100 S&P BSE Mid-cap S&P BSE Small Cap
CLOSE 1-WEEK CHANGE (%) CLOSE 1-WEEK CHANGE (%) CLOSE 1-WEEK CHANGE (%) CLOSE 1-WEEK CHANGE (%) CLOSE 1-WEEK CHANGE (%) CLOSE 1-WEEK CHANGE (%) CLOSE 1-WEEK CHANGE (%)
37,606.89 -1.37 11,073.45 -1.08 9,035.75 -0.55 26,861.35 1.98 11,222.95 -0.66 13,759.11 0.41 13,021.76 0.43
1-MONTH CHANGE (%) 3-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-MONTH CHANGE (%) 3-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-MONTH CHANGE (%) 3-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-MONTH CHANGE (%) 3-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-MONTH CHANGE (%) 3-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-MONTH CHANGE (%) 3-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-MONTH CHANGE (%) 3-MONTH CHANGE (%)
7.71 11.53 7.49 12.31 6.62 12.77 4.34 11.45 7.02 12.15 5.39 14.53 5.18 17.29
6-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-YEAR CHANGE (%) 6-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-YEAR CHANGE (%) 6-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-YEAR CHANGE (%) 6-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-YEAR CHANGE (%) 6-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-YEAR CHANGE (%) 6-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-YEAR CHANGE (%) 6-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-YEAR CHANGE (%)
-7.65 0.34 -7.43 -0.40 -8.37 -0.10 -5.07 3.03 -7.15 0.02 -11.01 0.85 -11.22 2.60
After a soft June quarter, Reliance’s

mint
SHORT TAKES
A drop in the US dollar seen
boosting Asia’s stock rally
The sliding US dollar is buttressing the case for a
further recovery in Asian shares despite jitters
pricey valuations stand out more
caused by spikes in covid-19 cases. A drop in the
greenback—about 4% in July alone—may spur Pallavi Pengonda there can be a significant downside.
any details on capital expenditure Tough times
flows to Asian markets, fund managers and strate- pallavi.p@livemint.com Analysts at Macquarie, for instance,
(capex) while announcing its June
Barring telecom, all major operating segments at RIL reported a drop
gists said. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index capped its have a target price of only ₹1,320 per
quarter results (Q1FY21). The com- in profits.
S
fourth monthly gain on Friday, helped by tech- hares of Reliance Industries share. Post the June quarter results,
pany said it will update details on
nology shares. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufac- Ltd (RIL) have risen 37% Macquarie analysts said, “We con- debt, capex and other balance sheet
Q-o-Q change in segment 970
Ebitda (in crore)
turing Co. briefly became the world’s 10th most In risky bets, this year, at a time when the tinue to highlight material earnings
items in the half-yearly cycle.
retail investors
valuable firm in the past week. Samsung Elec- in India pile
benchmark Nifty 50 index downside risk to consensus earnings, At the other end of the spectrum, 14 28
tronics Co. advanced about 7%. A weaker US dol- into most has shed 9%. In absolute explained by lower refining and JM Financial Institutional Securities
-225
lar tends to be beneficial for Asian equities. It ren- leveraged terms, RIL has added about ₹4 trillion chemical margins, lower retail reve-
Ltd’s analysts say, “RIL is entering a
ders Asian earnings to be worth more in US dollar stocks to its market capitalization. nue, and higher minority interests.”
strong free cash flow generation
bit.ly/2DpyoBN
terms, and signals higher risk appetite which is No doubt, valua- phase with major capex
beneficial to the asset class. BLOOMBERG tions are demanding, AHEAD OF THE CURVE completed and expec- -1,508 -1,486
especially with near- tation of strong 17-18%
term earnings outlook CURRENTLY, at RIL’S earnings may BUT for investors, earnings per share -2,796
remaining grim due to ₹2,067, the stock stay depressed in the there is a joker in the CAGR over the next 3-5
Above estimates trades at about 21
the covid-19 crisis times estimated
near term given that pack—an expected
years led by digital and
Petrochemicals Refining Oil and Retail Digital Financial Others
recovery would be stake sale in the retail Gas services services
More than 80% of S&P 500 companies have impact. Currently, at earnings for FY2022 slow owing to covid business retail businesses.”
beat analysts' estimates this earnings season. ₹2,067, the stock CAGR is compound
Note: The chart represents consolidated numbers. Source: Companies, Mint research
(in %)
90 trades at about 21 annual growth rate. SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
Share of S&P 500 companies 83.4 times estimated earnings for fiscal The broking firm added, “Also, we Note that Q1FY21 results are unin- crore, 6% lower than Bloomberg’s sale in the retail business. Analysts at
that beat EPS expectations
80 2022, based on Bloomberg data. The think consensus capex estimates at spiring with the covid-19 impact consensus estimates of 10 analysts. CLSA say the Reliance Retail stake
average target price of 23 brokerage about $5-6 billion/annum is too light weighing across business segments, After the results, quite a few analysts sale may need to happen at valuations
70 firms for the RIL stock stands at (our estimates are about $9-10bn) as except the telecom business, which have cut earnings estimates. of over $70 billion to justify a large
₹2,022 apiece. And these are target we believe spend in retail, JIO, main- benefited from the price hikes taken RIL’s earnings are likely to stay immediate upside in RIL shares. Note
60 prices set for a year from now. Clearly, tenance capex in refining and chemi- in December. Overall, RIL’s consoli- depressed in the near term given that that many analysts currently value
the shares have run ahead of them- cals, and RIL’s digital aspirations will dated earnings before interest, taxes, recovery would be slow owing to the the business much lower. But, after
50 selves. overshoot.” depreciation and amortization or pandemic. But for investors, there is the record fundraising in Reliance
43.1 Some analysts are, in fact, saying Unfortunately, RIL has not given Ebitda last quarter stood at ₹16,875 a joker in the pack—an expected stake Jio, any surprises can’t be ruled out.
40
31 Mar 1993 31 Jul 2020
Source: Bloomberg
Market watchers find cheer

in decade’s worst earnings
Tata Motors’ weak sales outlook may Sun Pharma sails through Q1, but the
The bad news, if anyone needs the reminder, is
that US companies are currently in the process of
reporting the worst quarterly profit decline in 12
keep profitability on the bumpy lane stock may be outpacing profit growth
years. The good news is that despite a lot of day-
to-day volatility, nobody in the stock market Clifford Alvares
Pandemic woes Clifford Alvares
seems to care. Three weeks after companies clifford.a@livemint.com
Tata Motors' revenue fell 48% y-o-y in Q1, hit by covid-led disruptions, rate was also because of a higher new products, which aided
began reporting, the S&P 500 is en route to an with recovery expectations pushed back to the second half. clifford.a@livemint.com base last year from one-time growth.
T
earnings-season advance that will rank among the ata Motors Ltd’s first Consolidated revenue ( cr) Year-on-year change in % (right-hand scale) opportunities. Some of the slow- The company’s active pharma-
I
best of the last five years. One explanation is that quarter results were 80000
JLR Revenue
20
nvestors can’t get enough of down is also being attributed to the ceutical ingredient (API) segment
certain earnings-season trends have not been as badly hit largely because pharma stocks these days. That marginal price erosion in the US. is proving resilience, with growth
70000 10
bad as Wall Street expected. The slope of earnings of the lockdown put in place to 61,467 seems to be the reason that Sun Sun Pharma’s arm Taro points to of about 20% y-o-y. Even so, the
60000 0
revisions by analysts is tracking at their best level contain the spread of coronavi- -2.8 Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd’s the sluggish environment in the contribution of the API business
since January. Price-earnings ratios are high, but rus and the consequent shut- 50000 -7.7 -10 stock was up about 5% on Friday. US with sales showing for captive consump-
next to bloated valuations in bonds, they don’t tered dealerships. Revenues 40000
31,983
-20 Otherwise, there are no major pos- a yearly drop of 27%. An increase in tion is rising.
look so bad. BLOOMBERG fell about 48% year-on-year as 30000 -30 itive surprises or triggers in the Q1 Revenue growth earnings in FY22 is The company
vehicle sales slumped across 20000
-44 -40
numbers, with the June quarter from emerging mar- expected, but increased research
the globe. 10000 -48 -50 results largely in line with what the kets and the rest of the may not be and development
China’s influx of foreign oil Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) 0 -60
Street was expecting. world segments fell
enough to justify expenses to 5.6% of
revenues fell about 44% year- Q1 FY20 Q1 FY21 Sun Pharmaceutical’s revenues sizeably over last year, revenue in Q1, from
slows in tanker movements on-year (y-o-y) in Q1. Europe Source: Company
fell 9.6% year-on-year in the first which is a disappoint- Sun Pharma’s 5.1% in the year-ago
The volume of crude bound for China has and US sales remained weak. As SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
quarter. Global growth across ment. One saving valuations period. Some of that
plunged to its lowest level since early May, hint- such, the break-even this quar- domestic unit’s Ebitda stood at JLR. The India arm also many of its markets was sharply grace is a marginal will benefit the US
ing at faltering demand in contrast to the buying ter by its Chinese arm is a negative ₹770 crore. embarked on cost-saving lower. A drop of 33.5% y-o-y in the increase in the India drug launch pipeline.
bonanza that took place only a few months ago. encouraging. Substantial cost Low trucking activity has measures. US revenue is sharp, considering business. Revenues improved 3% Sun Pharma has about 95 abbrevi-
The number of supertankers signalling the Asian savings and grants from the UK impacted truck utilization lev- Still, the firm’s net losses are that it did well in Q4. The covid-19 y-o-y. ated new drug applications await-
nation during the next three months fell by 12 this government meant that JLR’s els. The upcoming freight corri- a worry. The cost-saving pro- impact on this segment is evident Sales had slumped in April and ing approval. In Q1, the company
week to 111, ship-tracking data compiled by operational performance was dor could also see the road gramme initiated by the com- going by the slower sales on the May in the domestic pharma mar- received approvals for eight drugs
Bloomberg show. The decline underscores falter- impressive. JLR showed an transport segment losing some pany may not suffice for the specialty portfolio and Taro. ket. However, Sun Pharma’s in the US.
ing demand as global infections of covid-19 rise. Ebitda margin of 3.5%, which business to the railways. This firm to return to profitability, To an extent, the slower growth domestic arm was able to launch Meanwhile, Sun’s Ebitda mar-
In May, Chinese oil demand soared to around was lower by just about 70 basis will weigh on a recovery in the according to analysts. Fixed- gins improved marginally. “Sun
pre-coronavirus levels, and tankers raced to points from the medium to heavy cost remains high and debt lev- Savings boost Ebitda margin (in %) Year-on-year change, in % (right-hand scale) Pharma’s operating margin
China to discharge their cargoes. BLOOMBERG year-ago period. The India commercial vehi- els increased this quarter, India sales growth US sales growth improvement was in line with what
This was despite Sun Pharma’s others have reported and is likely
operations have cle segment. which is an added worry.
domestic revenues
25
23.1
40
sales volumes Globally, This will also bear on the 22.8 because of a favourable foreign
been hit hard by were up in Q1 and its 30
Covid effect being sharply covid-19 and this demand for vehi- recovery in Tata Motors’ stock, margins were 20
exchange rate and lower market-
lower than the cles remain soft which has halved since its Jan- buoyed by cost 20 ing spend in branded markets,”
Spain has been the worst-performing economy could be a drag 12 said Kunal Dhamesha, pharma
in Europe so far in the second quarter. year-ago period. because of the uary highs. The stock was savings. The US and
In contrast, the for a few more pandemic. The showing promise early in 2020 other geographies' 15 3 10
analyst, Systematix Securities Ltd.
quarters 8
India operations management also on the back of JLR’s improving revenues, however, 0 Even so, the stock’s recent
have been hit declined to give performance. However, an contracted. 10 run-up of about 23% since the
Germany Austria Belgium Italy France Spain -10
0 hard by covid-19 guidance for the increase in volume becomes beginning of the year has been
and this could be a drag for a coming quarters. Even so, the critical in addition to cost-sav- 5
-33.5 -20 sharp. An increase in earnings in
4
few more quarters. Revenues company has cut back on capi- ing measures. As that continues -30 FY22 is expected, but may not be
fell about 80% y-o-y, which had tal expenditure. It has also to look dull, the stock may not enough to justify valuations. The
8 0 -40
a big impact on operating per- increased the cost savings tar- be able to step up the gear just Source: Company Q1FY20 Q1FY21
stock trades at a PE of 23 times
12 formance. As a result, the get by about £1.5 billion for yet. FY22 expected earnings.
1Q GDP 2Q
16
20
Source: National statistics offices, Bloomberg survey
Virus plunges Euro-area

How Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel’s fortunes have differed post tariff hikes
economy into recession Mobis Philipose said an analyst at a domestic Impact of hikes in international roaming reve- before interest and tax of around
The coronavirus pandemic sent the euro-area mobis.p@livemint.com institutional brokerage, request- Except on revenues and voice traffic, Jio and Airtel have reported
nue, while Jio has gained in areas 7.4% of revenue, to a profit
economy into the deepest recession on record in ing anonymity. vastly different numbers since they hiked tariffs. such as interconnect usage char- amounting to 1.3% of revenue.
B
the second quarter, taking output back to levels oth Reliance Jio Infocomm “Airtel weeds out subscribers ges (IUC) and fixed broadband. It For Reliance Jio, earnings
Arpu growth Jio Airtel
not seen since early 2005. While indicators show Ltd and Bharti Airtel Ltd who haven’t paid for a while, has become a net receiver of IUC before interest and tax (Ebit)
a rebound is already underway, the 12.1% plunge had raised tariffs by 14-54% which results in a drop in sub- Growth in (in %) after it started charging subscrib- margin fell by 130 basis points in
subscriber base
in the 19-member region and mounting concerns in December. But the impact of scriber numbers, and a boost to ers a fee for outgoing calls out- the past two quarters.
about new flare-up in inflections point to a long the tariff hikes has played out dif- Arpu. Jio, on the other hand, pre- Revenue growth side its network; it has also The company has been capi-
recovery that may leave lasting scars in its wake. ferently for both companies. fers to show strong subscriber Ebitda growth started charging its fixed broad- talizing some expenses related to
Spain took the biggest hit, shrinking 18.5%, while In the past two quarters, Reli- growth numbers even though it Incremental Ebit
band subscribers. Adjusted for its fixed broadband business.
French and Italian output also dropped by double ance Jio’s average revenue per ends up lowering Arpu,” he margin* these, revenue growth of both This is now happening to a lesser
digits. The declines reflect the effect of strict user (Arpu) has risen by 9.3% to added. Growth in voice
traffic
*incremental Ebit divided companies is in a similar range, degree. But the end result is that
by incremental revenues
quarantine measures on businesses and con- ₹140, while the Arpu for Airtel’s Indeed, in the past two quar- Growth in data
said the analyst quoted above. 58% of Airtel’s incremental reve-
sumer spending, and a slump in tourism in some India wireless division rose 16.3% ters, while Airtel’s mobile sub- traffic In terms of revenue market nues have flown to the Ebit line,
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
countries. BLOOMBERG in the same period to ₹157. This scriber base fell 1.1%, Jio has share, therefore, things remain while in Jio’s case, the ratio is
suggests that Airtel has gained reported a 7.6% jump in the total Note: Growth is calculated based on Q1FY21 results' the same as they were before the merely 18.5%.
comparison with Q3FY20 numbers. Source: Companies, Mint research
For more reports and analysis much more from the tariff hikes. number of users. tariff hikes. But Airtel’s margin of 1.3%
on the markets, follow our But there’s more to it than meets Given the dissimilarity in While that may be so, the way pales in comparison to Jio’s
Mark to Market podcast with the eye. reporting subscriber count, some product of Arpu and subscriber Airtel’s India wireless revenue the incremental revenues have 25.8% margin. While Airtel may
Pallavi Pengonda and Aparna “Some of the difference is due analysts preferred to compare count. At first look, Jio looks bet- grew at a slightly lower pace of flown into the profit line is vastly have trumped in terms of profit
Iyer on htsmartcast.com to the way the two companies the two companies by looking at ter placed, with an 18.5% jump in 15.3%. different. Airtel’s India wireless growth in the past two quarters, it
measure their subscriber count,” the revenue figures, the sum revenue in the past two quarters. But note that Airtel has lost out business swung from a loss still has a long way to go.
Mark to Market writers do not have positions in the companies they have discussed here

MUMBAI 05
WhatsApp a
step closer MPC unlikely to cut rates Work from home
to pay play alters Bengaluru’s
FROM PAGE 1
NPCI to launch a UPI-based

due to inflation concerns tech landscape
payment system in India. MINT
“Now that NPCI has given FROM PAGE 1
clearance on data localization
requirements nothing prevents Six out of 10 bankers and economists surveyed said they expect the RBI to hit pause sultancy Services Ltd, India’s
WhatsApp from going live. It is largest software firm, just 5-7% of
only a matter of time now,” an 55,000 employees is back at
industry official said, request- Gopika Gopakumar work. At Manyata Embassy Busi-
ing anonymity. gopika.g@livemint.com ness Park, which houses around
RBI’s submission to the apex MUMBAI 100,000 employees and counts
court came in a public interest IBM and Cognizant as large
T
litigation filed by New Delhi- he Reserve Bank of occupiers, only around 15,000
based think tank, the Centre for India’s Monetary Policy Compute are attending office.
tax demand
Accountability and Systemic Committee may keep for all
“Smaller companies like
Change, challenging What- policy rates unchanged assessees by startups will question the need
sApp’s pilot project for alleg- on 6 August due to rising Aug 31: for an office. But it still makes
edly not adhering to data locali- uncertainty over the inflation out- CBDT chief sense for larger companies with With firms switching to WFH,
to taxmen
zation norms. look, shows a Mint survey of bank- hundreds and thousands of Bengaluru’s big IT parks are
Data localization had become ers and economists. However, bit.ly/2XmzF3H employees to work out of an seeing 5-15% staff attendance.
a thorny issue between the gov- there is a possibility of a 25 basis office,” said S. Gopalakrishnan
ernment and foreign firms in point cut in reverse repo as the (Kris), co-founder of Infosys footfalls at office spaces when
India after the banking regula- MPC looks to push banks to pass on and chairman of Karnataka’s compared to other large cities.
tor in 2018 said financial data the rate cut instead of keeping vision group on IT. “Having Unlike manufacturing and
will have to be stored in India. money at the reverse repo window. said that, they will plan to have other sectors, WFH has been
Emails sent to RBI, NPCI and Six out of 10 bankers and econo- 20-30% of employees to WFH.” easier to implement in the IT
ICICI Bank remained unan- mists polled by Mint said they In the past two decades, Ben- industry. Recent earnings show
swered till the time of going to expect the MPC to pause, as infla- galuru has grown around these the strategy has had minimal
press. While most global finan- tion is likely to remain near the IT clusters, lifting real estate pri- impact on revenues and produc-
cial services firms initially said upper end of the RBI’s mandate. ces in their vicinity, and adding tivity even during the lockdown.
they will incur high costs for “There is a significant likelihood to traffic and infrastructure Hema Ravichandar, a strate-
storing data in India, most of of MPC members voting for a pause The respondents expect the RBI to refrain from giving any projections on growth and inflation this time. MINT woes. The skywalk in front of gic human resources advisor,
them have eventually complied. during the review. The extent of Manyata Embassy Business Park said while it’s “too hasty” to say
WhatsApp’s pilot run began front-loaded easing already carried are being priced by reference to an 50-75 bps,” said V. Lakshmanan, The MPC was also of the view is used by 22,000 staff daily, and firms will abandon IT parks,
two years ago by partnering out and lingering immediate external benchmark. RBI should treasury head, Federal Bank. that headline inflation may remain the Outer Ring Road area, which they will have to look at ‘near-
with ICICI, while it awaited reg- uncertainty about the inflation tra- ease monetary policy now, if it is to In the May policy, RBI had firm in the first half of FY21, but hosts several IT ness centres’ dis-
ulatory clearances to launch its jectory for the next couple of factor in lowering lending rates in announced a 40 bps cut in repo and should ease in the second half, firms and startups, Over the past persed across the
UPI-based payments for its 400 months may weigh on the rate deci- 12-18 months. We believe RBI will reverse rates, pivoting its focus aided by a favourable base effect. By accounts for nearly two decades, city, which will
million users in India, one of the sion. The upside inflation surprise ease policy by cutting both the repo from inflation control to fostering Q3 and Q4 of FY21, it expects head- 40% of the 16 mil- Bengaluru has provide smaller
company’s biggest markets. suggests that headline inflation is and reverse repo rates by at least 25 growth impulses. The shift was line inflation to fall below the target lion sq. ft of office grown around office hubs. The
The development assumes likely to remain near the upper end bps to 3.75% and 3.10%, respec- prompted by the MPC’s concerns of 4%. “Thus, the forward guidance space leased in the
IT clusters, lifting WFH culture will
significance as the Facebook- of the RBI’s inflation mandate of 4% tively,” said Rahul Bajoria, chief over the severity of the pandemic’s of the MPC is directional rather city annually. also entail manag-
owned firm is expected to cap- plus or minus 2 till September,” economist, Barclays Bank. macroeconomic impact. than in terms of levels. Going for- Despite the real estate prices ers changing their
ture a significant share in the fast- said Mandar Pitale, treasury head, With the 115 bps reduction in In the previous policy, the MPC ward, as and when more data is easing of curbs, in their vicinity outlook towards
growing UPI-based payment SBM Bank (India) Ltd. repo beginning February, banks also refrained from providing a gui- available, it should be possible to the WFH option is staff and reward
landscape and pose a challenge However, four respon- estimate the path of infla- available for at for results and not
to market leader Google Pay. dents expect a 25 bps cut in RISING UNCERTAINTY tion with greater certainty,” least 80% of Cisco staff, over just effort, she added.
As of May, Google Pay com- the repo rate as, they said, Das had said. 90% at Infosys Ltd and Wipro Jitu Virwani, chairman and
mands a 42% market share in the RBI could front-load IN the previous THE central bank CONCERNS over the HEADLINE inflation The respondents expect Ltd, and 100% at Dell Technol- managing director, Embassy
UPI transactions, while Flip- the rate cut to enhance bet- policy review in May, had pivoted its
RBI had announced focus from inflation
severity of covid’s
macroeconomic
has risen in the past
few months, with the
the RBI to refrain from giv- ogies. Despite nearly 93% of its Group, which owns and oper-
kart-owned PhonePe has a 35% ter transmission. The a 40 bps cut in repo control to fostering impact had prompted June data crossing ing any projections on 240,000 staff working from ates multiple business parks in
share. The remaining 23% is respondents added that the and reverse rates growth impulses the shift in RBI policy the RBI’s 6% mark growth and inflation this home, Infosys COO U.B. Pravin the city, said most global com-
with Paytm, Amazon Pay, Bha- RBI could look through the time. However, they expect Rao recently said the model has panies had instructed their
rat Pe and others, Mint temporary spike in infla- consumer price inflation to not disrupted productivity. employees to work from home.
reported on 30 July. tion as being driven by covid-19-re- have already transmitted 72 bps dance on GDP growth for fiscal move significantly towards the 4% In July, Sundar Pichai, CEO, “However, firms have not
UPI allows users to transfer lated supply disruption. cuts to customers on fresh loans. 2021, or the likely trajectory for level by December, led by food. Google, in an email said it is terminated their leases and we
money without sharing details “To prepare the ground for However, a majority of the inflation. RBI governor Shaktik- Headline inflation has risen in the extending its voluntary WFH know at some point, staff will
of the beneficiary’s bank cheaper lending costs in 6-12 respondents expect a 50 bps rate anta Das had said: “Given all these past few months, with the June data for employees until June 2021 return. And when they do, they
account. UPI-based payments months, we believe it is better to cut before the end of the fiscal year. uncertainties, GDP growth in crossing the central bank’s 6% globally, including India. will need large space because of
clocked a record 1.49 billion move now, rather than wait. By sev- “RBI will be erring on the growth 2020-21 is estimated to remain in mark. And, the market is not ruling A 21 July mobility report by the new social distancing
transactions in July. eral metrics, India’s monetary side and will look at the rate cut as a negative territory, with some out further risk to the inflation out- Google indicates Karnataka, norms,” Virwani said.
Shayan Ghosh & Gopika Gopa- transmission has become slower at measured objective. That could be pickup in growth impulses from H2 look arising from the possibility of particularly Bengaluru, has seen Ayushman Baruah contrib-
kumar contributed to the story. the margin, even though new loans in the range anywhere between 2020-21 onwards.” fresh restrictions due to covid. the sharpest decline of 56% in uted to the story.
Double-digit growth will signal revival: Maruti SBI needs moratorium cloud to Gamers wary
as govt plans
FROM PAGE 1
lift if it must lend without restraint
RAMESH PATHANIA/MINT
strong wicket. One should

remember that in May, there
has become even more now
because income levels are
to ban PUBG
down by 18%, and Maruti, as a was no production virtually, down. The cost of production
consequence, was down by and production in June was needs to be cut and a lot of fac- FROM PAGE 1 moratorium. Analysts and for the past five years won’t FROM PAGE 1
16%. That was unusual because, also very small. So, the base tors that go into the cost of pro- bankers have lamented that the push firms to borrow.
usually, every year, we used to from which you are comparing duction are controlled by the ments, where yields are lower, moratorium distorts asset qual- Regional curbs are proving Though PUBG (PlayerUnk-
have at least 6-8% industry is actually very low. Also, last states. Taxation on cars, like but they are safer,” Dipak ity and many expect a surge in to be a challenge. Amid a strug- nown’s Battlegrounds) was
growth. Then, because of these year, sales in July were low. road tax, is entirely on states Gupta, joint managing director bad loans in September. SBI gle to keep supply chains work- originally developed by South
three months of the shutdown What steps should the gov- and GST can’t be changed of Kotak Mahindra Bank, said believes it can withstand this ing, it is unfair to expect compa- Korean PUBG Corp. for PC and
and the subsequent restart, ernment take to ensure the without consent of the states. while announcing the bank’s onslaught of slippages. Its pri- nies to put forth plans of expan- later consoles, the mobile ver-
there was no sale and there recovery is sustained? Will the industry be able to quarterly results last week. vate peers are not so sure. The sion. sion was launched and distrib-
were a lot of people waiting to I am sure everybody in the match the growth seen in But SBI has good reasons for race to raise capi- Besides, firms uted by Chinese firm Tencent.
buy cars. To a large extent, I government must be paying a February 2020? its confidence. The bank has a tal by private A recessionary need to see Tencent recently updated its
think the recovery is based on great deal of attention to the There are too many risks and project finance pipeline of ₹1 banks is proof year and a demand for prod- privacy policy and announced
the pent up demand of the past. recovery of the economy. Cer- unknown factors. My approach trillion and a fast-improving that lenders are moribund ucts from people. that all user data generated in
Is the demand revival led Maruti Suzuki India chairman tainly, the automobile industry is let’s take it month by month as growth in retail loans. fortifying balance investment climate A proxy of this India is stored on local servers.
primarily by rural markets? R.C. Bhargava. is a big part of the economic the Covid situation is very Sure, corporate loan book sheets ahead of an demand is the Rushindra Sinha, co-founder
It is true the rate of growth in
for the past five
recovery because of its poten- unclear. So, who can predict growth was slow at 3.5%, but expected blowout retail loan book. of Global Esports, said the aver-
sales is higher in rural areas, but and try to develop the industry tial to create jobs and generate how it will go in the next two Kumar is hopeful the pace will of bad loans. years won’t push Here the picture is age viewership for larger-scale
it not as if urban areas are not and the employment (opportu- taxes. The recovery of the auto months. We are planning on the increase. SBI also plans firms to borrow not convincing yet. PUBG Mobile tournaments is
growing. This kind of sales can- nities) of the country. The real industry, though, is not entirely basis that we have to maximize What will make the SBI head to raise money, SBI’s retail loan over 2 million. “In all our
not happen without contribu- issue we should look for, and I in the hands of the Centre. In our production consistently, walk his talk on lending? although Kumar book growth was engagements with the gaming
tion from urban areas as well. am not talking of the next 4-6 fact, probably the states have a following all the regulations For SBI to lend, two things said the government’s funds flat. Private banks have shown a community, the highest
Is the current recovery in months; the recovery would larger role to play. which are required for the safety need to fall in place. One is that may not be needed. sharp deceleration as well. response for community tour-
demand sustainable? really be when we get to Ultimately, if sales have to of our employees, associates and the standstill on loans by way of That brings us to the second FY21 may be a terrible year naments and customs hosted
The demand level where we FY18-19 volumes and then, on improve to double digit growth customers. We will continue to moratorium has to end for an factor of demand. SBI needs for the economy. But, for a have been for PUBG Mobile.”
have reached is way below top of that, we can get growth in from FY18-19 level, the cost of do that and keep increasing pro- accurate assessment of risk. companies and individuals to quick recovery, it needs banks “Tournament prize money
FY18-19 and sustaining this is double digits. Then you can say acquisition of a car has to come duction, but if suddenly some Indeed, Kumar joins HDFC come forth and borrow. to increase lending. It is right in India grew 180% year-on-
either not very difficult or of the industry has recovered and down. The affordability factor changes happen in the market, Ltd’s chairman Deepak Parekh A recessionary year and a that the biggest lender takes year in 2019. The single most
any relevance as we go forward Indian manufacturing is on a is most important today and we have to follow those changes. in pushing for an end to the moribund investment climate the first step in this direction. important driving factor has
been PUBG Mobile. Although
we’re just halfway through the
year, there has already been a
total of ₹5 crore in prize money
from PUBG Mobile tourna-
Interest on cap Auto sector may continue to come under covid pressure amid curbs ments,” added Sinha.
The gaming industry in India
gains bonds has grown significantly after
covid compelled people to stay
earlier. On a sequential basis, tion related to covid -19 evolves. motorcycles, especially in the bounced back completely. indoors, with PUBG Mobile alone
slashed to 5% FROM PAGE 1
though, both Maruti and Hyun- We have seen a decline in rural markets. “Car wholesales are expected adding over 25 million new users.
FROM PAGE 1 cars such as Alto and S-Presso, dai reported robust growth in replacement demand as cus- Honda Motorcycle and to be robust over the next 3-4 To be sure, PUBG Mobile
and 26% in utility vehicles such sales at 51,274 and 21,320 vehi- tomers are holding on to their Scooter India recorded a 53% months as there is good isn’t the only option out there
sharp rate cut comes in the as Vitara Brezza and Ertiga. cles, respectively. vehicles for longer periods, but sequential growth in sales in pent-up demand in the system. offering a world-class gaming
wake of falling interest rates. However, like some infor- Senior executives at top first-time customers have July amid a pickup in demand Also, carmakers will produce experience. Downloads of Fort-
Existing bonds, though, will mation technology companies, automakers said they are not increased,” Srivastava told ana- for its scooters and executive full throttle to build inventory nite and Call of Duty (COD)
continue to earn 5.75%. Invest- the market uncertainty was fully convinced whether the lysts after reporting the quar- segment motorcycles. at their dealership network, Mobile have also soared, but
ment up to ₹50 lakh in these also reflected in Maruti Suzuki rebound seen in July will sus- terly earnings. Automakers remain wary of which is at its lowest level cur- they still don’t have the same
bonds offers a deduction from as it declined to give sales vol- tain beyond the harvest season, In some categories, recovery several challenges such as rently. However, there is no following as PUBG Mobile.
capital gains tax under Section ume forecast when it issued which ends in October, coin- is expected to be faster than the timely procurement of compo- doubt demand will come down “I don’t think switching to
54 EC of the Income Tax Act. earnings on 29 July. ciding with the festive season, rest. Hero MotoCorp Ltd nents, sporadic lockdowns, clo- post-festive season,” Gupta other games will be that diffi-
Such investment must be Maruti reported its first ever during which vehicle sales The auto industry faces many reported a 3.9 % y-o-y drop in sures of dealerships and availa- said. He added that once the cult or will take that much time.
made within six months of the quarterly loss in the past 17 across categories typically hurdles before it can score a domestic sales to 514,509 units bility of manpower at vendors loan moratorium period ends, For instance, Valorant from
transfer of the capital asset. years in the three months increase. full recovery. MINT in July. to scale up production. several small- and medium- Riot games (a multiplayer
The government has, how- ended 30 June. Shashank Srivastava, execu- On a sequential basis, Puneet Gupta, associate sized firms will be required to shooting game on the lines of
ever, extended the six-month Hyundai Motor India Ltd, tive director, sales and market- pandemic level. “However, though, sales rose from director at IHS Markit, said the start repaying interest to banks, Counter Strike: GO) was
due date falling between 20 the second-largest carmaker, ing, Maruti Suzuki, said retail steady growth depends on an 450,000 units in June and strong recovery in July not- which may weaken their bal- recently released and it’s
March to 29 September, till 30 posted local sales of 38,200 sales and bookings have recov- economic recovery, consumer 120,000 units in May, thanks to withstanding, it is still too early ance sheets leading to more already getting a huge response
September. units, a 2% drop from the year ered to 80%-90% of the pre- sentiment and how the situa- demand for its entry-level to conclude if demand has defaults and job losses. in India,” said Bose.

MUMBAI CORPORATE
VIRUS EFFECT
UPI saw a
record 1.5 bn Crisis prompts govt to rejig
transactions
last month tax residence norms for FY21
Shreya Nandi
shreya.n@livemint.com The RT-PCR test should have been conducted within 96 hours
NEW DELHI This will provide relief to NRIs, foreigners who couldn’t leave India due to flight restrictions prior to undertaking the flight, according to the guidelines. HT
U
nified Payments Inter-
face (UPI)-based pay-
ments grew 12%
Gireesh Chandra Prasad
gireesh.p@livemint.com
State quarantine not
sequentially, clocking 1.49 bil-
lion transactions in July and
NEW DELHI
mandatory for flyers
T
hitting yet another high since he coronavirus crisis which
its launch four years ago, has halted international air
according to data released by
the National Payments Corp.
of India (NPCI).
travel is prompting India to
rewrite its tax residence
rules, providing relief to
with ‘negative’ report
As many as 822 million non-resident Indians (NRIs) and for-
transactions were done in July eigners unable to leave the country. Neetu Chandra Sharma guidelines. All travellers
2019, the data showed. Under India’s tax rules, individuals liv- neetu.s@livemint.com should submit a self-declara-
The transactions completed ing in the country beyond specific time NEW DELHI tion form on the portal at least
last month were worth ₹2.90 periods become liable to pay tax in 72 hours before the scheduled
T
trillion, compared to ₹2.61 tril- India. hose flying to India from travel, the ministry said.
lion in June and ₹1.46 trillion a The finance ministry had earlier 8 August may seek The guidelines said that
year ago. given a relief, excluding quarantine exemption from institu- other travellers should give an
As of July, 164 banks are live period and covid-related extended stay tional quarantine by submit- undertaking on the portal that
on the UPI platform, com- from tax residence calculations for ting a negative RT-PCR test they would undergo manda-
pared to 155 in June. FY20, but the surge in infections is set report on arrival. tory quarantine for 14 days,
The latest data not only to result in an overhaul of the rules for This is part of the new comprising seven days paid
indicates a sharp recovery the current fiscal year. guidelines issued on Sunday institutional quarantine at
after payment transactions As per existing rules, a person who by the Union ministry of their own cost, followed by
declined during April-May stays in India for six months (182 days) health and family welfare for seven days isolation at home
because of the stringent lock- in a year becomes an Indian resident international arrivals and with self-monitoring of health.
down and a consequent dip in for tax purposes. Since India suspended supersede those issued in May. Only for compelling reasons
demand, but also a larger shift international air travel on 22 March, Since the government suspended international air travel on 22 March, any person who was in the country as on 1 April would The RT-PCR or cases of human
towards online payments as any person who was in India as on 1 complete six months of stay in India on 29 September and risks being treated as an Indian resident for tax purposes. HT test should have Fliers to India may distress such as
people stayed away from han- April would complete the six months been conducted seek exemption pregnancy, death
dling currency notes amid the stay in India on 29 September, and risks crossed 1.7 million in the country. To be sure, the Central Board of uine cases and to provide for checks on within 96 hours from institutional in family, serious
pandemic. being treated as Indian resident for tax Extending the travel restriction Direct Taxes (CBDT) had in May any potential abuse of the relaxation,” prior to under- quarantine by illness and par-
Such payment transactions purposes. could have a huge income-tax exposure assured that once international air said Sonu Iyer, tax partner and national taking the flight ent(s) with chil-
bounced back to pre-covid lev-
submitting a
The law also prescribes another set on these individuals, said Sandeep travel normalizes, it will issue a circular leader-people advisory services, EY to India, accord- dren of the age of
els in June, as the government of circumstances in which a person can Jhunjhunwala, partner at Nangia excluding the period of stay of these India. ing to the guide- negative RT-PCR 10 years or below,
eased lockdown restrictions be attributed Indian domicile for tax Andersen LLP, a consultancy. Apart individuals up to the date of normaliza- India has recently struck bilateral lines. The test report on arrival home quarantine
across the country. purposes— 365 days of stay in four pre- from Indian citizens or individuals of tion of international flight operations arrangements with select countries report should be may be permitted
Transactions made via ceding years and 60 days of stay in the Indian origin, international travellers for deciding their residential status. such as France, Germany and the US, uploaded on the for 14 days, the
Immediate Payment Service tax year. For NRIs, there is a relaxa- for opening up international air portal www.newdelhiair- guidelines said.
(IMPS), which also allows tion in this case and the window of RESPITE IN THE OFFING travel in a limited way. It is likely port.in for consideration. The If travellers wish to seek
transferring of funds instantly stay is 182 days in the tax year and the government may wait for more test report could also be pro- such exemption for such rea-
within banks across India, from FY20, it is 120 days if the A person who stays RESIDENTS’ global EXTENDING the GOVT had excluded clarity on how the coronavirus pan- duced upon arrival at the point sons, they should apply to the
grew 11% sequentially to reach income from India is more than ₹15 in India for 182 days income gets taxed in travel restrictions has covid-related
in a year becomes an India while NRIs only a huge income-tax extended stay from
demic situation evolves and when of entry airport in India, it said. online portal www.newdelhi-
222 million transactions worth lakh. Residents’ global income gets Indian resident for have to pay taxes on exposure on NRIs and tax residence international travel stabilises Reverse transcription-po- airport.in at least 72 hours
₹2.25 trillion in July. taxed in India while non-residents tax purpose their India income foreign travellers calculations for FY20 before any new norms are lymerase chain reaction before boarding.
Meanwhile, online utility only have to pay taxes on their India announced, Iyer added. (RT-PCR) is the gold standard The decision taken by the
payments through the Bharat income. Another area the government of covid-19 testing. It requires government as communicated
Bill Payment System also con- The continued suspension of regular to India are vastly diversified and But considering the fact that tax resi- needs to clarify is whether an extended nasal and throat swabs for on the online portal will be
tinued to increase, with 20.16 international air travel has made it includes businessmen and employees dence has been an area of disputes and presence of expats in India would con- directly detecting the pres- final, the government said.
million transactions worth impossible for NRIs to comply with visiting for meetings, sportsmen, art- the potential of any relaxation for stitute a permanent establishment (PE) ence of the virus. Those arriving through land
₹3,707 crore done in July. rules and avoid Indian residence for tax ists, teachers, students and interna- abuse, it remains to be seen what form for foreign corporations in India, added “Each passenger shall also borders will also have to
After demonetization, the purposes. Aviation regulator the tional tourists. “To ease the challenge the relief will take. Jhunjhunwala. Local presence of a for- submit a declaration with undergo the same protocol as
covid pandemic has become a Director General of Civil Aviation on these international travellers could “In a year where revenue collections eign corporation, which is not in the respect to the authenticity of those for air travellers and only
significant turning point Friday extended the suspension of nor- face and avoid undue hardship, there is have been severely impacted, the effort form of a subsidiary and to which profit the report and will be liable for those who are asymptomatic
towards the adoption of digital mal air travel by another month till end an urgent need for revised residency of the government may be to strike a is attributable, is called a PE — a major criminal prosecution if found will be allowed to cross the
payments in the country. of August, even as coronavirus cases guidelines,” said Jhunjhunwala. balance between offering relief in gen- area of tax litigation. otherwise,” according to the border, the norms added.
C-suite headhunters prioritize emotional intelligence Shift towards online consultations

Kalpana Pathak
kalpana.p@livemint.com
2008-09 global financial crisis. executive search firm.
Now, things are looking up. But with hiring done virtu-
spurs growth in e-health startups
MUMBAI Headhunters said compa- ally, how are executive search
nies are unable to postpone firms assessing the soft skills? Nandita Mathur telemedicine users, while 45% grown 3-4 times since March-
C
ovid-19 has added new critical hiring any longer. And Recruiters said while earlier nandita.m@livemint.com were from smaller cities. end. “We now have more than
specifications to the list sectors, which are aggressively appointments would be closed NEW DELHI “Health-tech startups in 500 hospitals on the MFine
of C-suite headhunters: looking for CXOs to lead their after meeting the candidates, e-health, remote healthcare, platform with over 3,000 doc-
T
soft skills and being tech savvy. businesses, include pharma, now they are using assessment he covid-19-led nation- and online medical supplies tors. We added nearly 250
Till last the fiscal, companies e-commerce, IT, tools, though not wide lockdown and space have seen high growth hospitals in the last three
wanted executive search firms chemicals, active The sectors that foolproof, as indi- social distancing norms in the post-covid world,” said months,” said Prasad Kom-
to hire high performers, who pharmaceutical are aggressively cators. These led to sharp growth for Aryaman Tan- palli, MFine chief
were passionate, ambitious, ingredient(API), looking for CXOs include Hogan e-health startups, as custom- don, practice Healthcare executive officer
deal makers and go-getters. industrial prod- include pharma, P e r s o n a l i t y ers moved to online consulta- leader, health- startups are and co-founder.
Now, the pandemic has ucts, agrochemi- Inventory assess- tion, treatment, medical tests care, Praxis witnessing a surge MFine also
e-commerce,
prompted them to look for cals, and retail. ment, and in- and e-pharmacies. Global Alliance. in demand and a launched a cov-
C-suite candidates with soft The ability to manage a crisis with empathy as people are going “Soft skills are IT, chemicals depth interviews Healthcare startups are wit- E-pharmacies id-19 assessment
and retail spurt in funding
skills. through tough times is vital for the role, say experts. GETTY now morphed as by many stake- nessing a surge in demand and have played an tool on its app,
CXOs or C-suite refers to soft power, which holders. The a spurt in funding activity, essential role activity, similar to which has been
leadership roles, such as chief tough times, requires a fairly sets of people and complex sit- is the power to number of refer- similar to edtech platforms, during the crisis edtech platforms used by over
executive officers (CEO), chief high level of soft skills,” said uations, added Nath. Emo- drive change, to influence and ral checks have also gone up. which outperformed all the in making drugs 50,000 patients,
financial officers (CFO) and Jyoti Bowen Nath, managing tional quotient is becoming manage crisis one day at a time. “Referral checks have sectors among startups. available to con- and records
chief operating officers (COO). partner, Claricent Partners, a more and more important at Yes, that soft power is being become significant for many E-health platform Practo sumers, as social distancing 10,000 transactions per day.
“Soft skills are more impor- talent consultancy. With con- leadership levels. demanded. And, CEOs are dis- companies so that hiring Technologies registered norms were key to contain the “Covid reinforced MFine’s
tant now than earlier. The abil- solidation, collaboration and C-suite hiring, which had playing they can change them- becomes robust and fool proof. 600% growth in online con- infection, he said. vision that healthcare services
ity to manage crises, pressure, mergers, CXOs need to have fallen by 50% following the out- selves to wield that soft power,” If earlier there were two refer- sultations since the lockdown Teleconsultations at Benga- should be accessible on per-
and teams with empathy, as fairly evolved soft skill sets as break, was far worse than what said R. Suresh, managing ral checks, now there are four,” began on 25 March, with 70% luru-based on-demand sonal devices any time from
people are going through they are dealing with diverse was witnessed during the director, Insist, a boutique added Nath. of all users being first-time healthcare service Mfine have anywhere,” added Kompalli.
mint that while vehicle sales have improved in July, the outlook for Indian Oil to invest ₹13,805 crore
festive season will depend on how the health crisis pans out, and
Home minister Amit Shah tests
SHORT TAKES the long-term vehicle demand will also depend a lot on the funda-
mentals of the economy. “First-time car buying is up and replace-
ment buying is down, which means exchange is down. However,
positive for covid, hospitalized
MINT
for setting up plant in Odisha
Bhubaneswar: Indian Oil
Corp. Ltd (IOCL) will invest
BLOOMBERG
Govt approves scheme to increase additional car buying is also up because of the functionality ₹13,805 crore to set up a plant in
requirement,” Maruti Suzuki India executive director (sales and Odisha’s Paradip to manufac-
local production of incense stick marketing) Shashank Srivastava said. PTI ture raw materials for the textile
MINT New Delhi: Micro, small and sector, an official said on Sun-
medium scale enterprises (MSME) day. The project is expected to
minister Nitin Gadkari approved a Amitabh discharged after testing be completed by 2024, he said.
job creation scheme to make India The paraxylene (PX) and puri-
self-reliant in agarbatti-making.
negative; son Abhishek recovering fied terephthalic acid (PTA)
The ‘Khadi Agarbatti Aatmanir- New Delhi: Amitabh Bachchan has tested negative for covid-19 plant will be integrated with the IOCL’s refinery facility in the
bhar Mission’ aims to create jobs and was discharged on Sunday after more than three weeks in port town of Jagatsinghpur district. PTI
for migrant workers and to raise AP hospital. Son Abhishek Bachchan,
agarbatti production, the MSME who had also tested positive,
ministry said. PTI tweeted to confirm the news. “My New Delhi: Union home minister Amit Shah has tested Liquor sales in states with high
father, thankfully, has tested neg- positive for covid-19. The minister tweeted: “After showing
ative on his latest covid-19 test and symptoms of coronavirus, I got myself tested and my report
corona cess declined by 59%
Rise in Maruti’s first-time buyers, has been discharged from the is positive. I am feeling well, but on the advice of doctors, New Delhi: States which imposed more than 50% covid-cess on
hospita,” he said. “I, unfortu- I am getting admitted to the hospital.” “Those who came liquor post lockdown witnessed an average 59% decline in sales
additional purchases amid covid nately, due to some comorbidities in touch with me in last few days, i request them isolate and in May and June due to higher tariffs, a report by trade association
New Delhi: The percentage of first-time buyers and additional remain covid-19 positive and get themselves checked,” he further said in his message on Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies (CIABC)
car buying have increased in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic remain in hospital,” he added. Twitter. NEETU CHANDRA SHARMA claimed. States which had imposed a covid-cess of 50% and above
as customers prefer personal mobility over public transport, LATA JHA Read more on livemint.com reported a decline of 66% in May and 51% in June compared to the
according to Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. The company also believes Read more on livemint.com year-ago period, the CIABC report said. PTI

MUMBAI 07
‘All higher education institutes C A P I TA L

C A LC U LU S
aim to be autonomous by 2035’ A N I L PA D M A N A B H A N
Read Anil Padmanabhan’s earlier columns at

livemint.com/capitalcalculus
Prashant K. Nanda
prashant.n@livemint.com
NEW DELHI
education must thus be achieved no later guage or regional language. There will be recently announced that the seats in our
than 2030, to ensure that all students a major effort from both the central and premier institutes will be increased so that
entering Grade 1 are school-ready. All state state governments to invest in large num- students can stay and study in India. Funds
NEP: PERFECTION
and Union territory governments will pre- bers of language teachers. States may will be made available under the higher
CAN BE THE ENEMY
T
he new National Education Pol- pare an implementation plan for ALAMY education financing agency to cre-
icy (NEP) will make India a attaining universal foundational ate infrastructure.
knowledge superpower, said literacy and numeracy in all pri-
education minister Ramesh mary schools for all learners by
Pokhriyal in an email interview. Grade 3 to be achieved by 2025.
From which year will the new
education policy be imple-
mented, the ongoing academic
OF THE GOOD
It will take the sector on a path of struc- Teacher education will gradually session (2020-21) or the next?
L
tural reform, promote autonomy, assess be moved to multidisciplinary col- The implementation plan is laid ast week, the Union government unveiled the long-awaited
the competencies of students, and reduce leges and universities by 2030. By out in QUEST and EQUIP docu- National Education Policy (NEP), only the third such effort
rigidity in the learning environment, Pok- 2030, the minimum degree quali- ments for school and higher edu- since India gained independence. It is by all counts a
hriyal said. Schools will be pushed to focus fication for teaching will be a cation. We have to talk to various remarkable document that sets out a very bold and radical vision
more on helping students develop basic 4-year integrated B.Ed. degree. By states. As the reforms are revolu- to reset the education landscape in the country. Almost no one
skills and competencies, and all higher 2025, at least 50% of learners tionary in nature, we have to take Lewis can quarrel (except for the constant critics) with the objectives
Hamilton
educational institutions will “aim to through the school and higher everyone on board. wins British
and milestones of change set out in the document. One can only
become autonomous by 2035”. Edited education system shall have expo- NEP talks about a national wish that this had happened when we were students.
excerpts:
What are the big changes that NEP
sure to vocational education.
‘
By 2040, all higher education NEP 2020 emphasizes on the
has underlined and how will this institutions (HEIs) shall aim to criticality of the early years to
impact the education sector? become multidisciplinary institu-
The policy recommends transforma- tions, each of which will aim to ensure quality early childhood
‘ research fund to promote
research and development.
Will both private and govern-
ment institutions benefit from
this fund?
Grand Prix
for record
seventh
time
bit.ly/2XjWPrs
Ironically, if indeed there is one flaw in the NEP it is that it is
just too perfect. My fear is that perfection can end up being the
enemy of the good. Don’t get me wrong. This is not to suggest that
we should not aim high. Absolutely we should. It is just that we
should be realistic. Perfection can be elusive, while making some-
tional changes…India will surely emerge have 3,000 or more students. By care and education. The overarching goal of the NRF thing good is eminently achievable. It is also a good strategy to
as a global knowledge super power. NEP 2030, there shall be at least one will be to enable a culture of promise less and deliver more, particularly in dealing with tren-
2020 emphasizes on the criticality of the large multidisciplinary HEI in, or RAMESH POKHRIYAL research…in the country through chant critics who will judge you by holding you to your promise.
early years to ensure quality early child- near, every district. The board of Education minister suitable incentives and recogni- Especially in a country like ours where the public delivery sys-
hood care and education (ECCE) for all governors of an institution will be tion of outstanding research and tem is broken and has been used to amass pelf.
children between three and six years by empowered to govern the institu- by undertaking major initiatives to Take for example, the decision to use Aadhaar, the 12-digit
2025. Children in the age group of 3-5 will tion free of any external interference. It is enter into bilateral agreements to hire seed and improve research at state univer- unique identity, as proof of identity for university teachers.
be catered to by the existing system of envisaged that all HEIs will be incentivised teachers in large numbers from each sities and other public institutions, where Doubt if anyone was prepared to discover that out of 1.4 million
anganwadis and preschools, and 5-6 year and mentored during this process and other, to satisfy the three-language for- research capability is limited at present. teachers in colleges and universities about 130,000 were ghost
olds will be included in the schooling sys- shall aim to become autonomous and have mula in their respective states. How will you enable the private sec- teachers!
tem in a seamless integrated manner, with such an empowered board of governors by The focus on competency learning is tor to invest more in both schools and Similarly, every year, the Annual Status of Education Report
a playway-based curric- 2035. progressive. Will this lead to a more the university system? (ASER) details the abysmal standards of learning in our schools.
ulum to be prepared by The NEP talks about comprehensive and prescriptive All institutions, public and private, shall Add to this, the burden of teacher absenteeism. Some estimates
the National Council of mint reforming the exami- examination system in both schools be treated on a par…the regulatory regime claim that a quarter of teachers do not turn up. Are we then sur-
Educational Research
and Training. The plan-
CONVERSATION nation process and and the higher education sector?
making board exami-
shall encourage private philanthropic
The primary purpose of assessment will efforts in education. At the same time, it
prised that seven decades after independence, one in four Indi-
ans are illiterate and that the legions of engineers hired by our top
ning and implementa- RAMESH POKHRIYAL nations low stake. indeed be for learning…There will be a shall closely monitor and eliminate com- information technology (IT) companies have to be retooled, forc-
tion of early childhood Does this mean that shift from summative assessment to regu- mercialization of education. ing them to invest in setting up big campuses.
education will be carried out jointly by the the importance of marks in board lar and formative assessment, which is Having pointed out my apprehension and ignoring the manu-
ministries of education, women and child examinations will come down in more competency-based, promotes learn- factured controversy over language, it is clear that the NEP 2020
development, health and family welfare, higher education admission and also ing and development, and tests higher-or- is a brilliant blueprint to create a new future for education in
and tribal affairs. in employment selections? der skills, such as analysis, critical thinking India. It is driven by two simple but powerful mantras: “Children
The policy envisages broad-based mul- While the board examinations for Class and conceptual clarity. not only learn, but more importantly learn how to learn” and
ti-disciplinary holistic education at the X and XII will be continued, the existing Experts favour the comprehen- “One size does not fit all”.
undergraduate level for integrated and system of board and entrance examina- sive university system that NEP NEP 2020 leans Accordingly, it makes out a case for
rigorous exposure to science, arts, human- tions shall be reformed to eliminate the talks about. How fast will this towards an entirely new education architecture
ities, mathematics, and professional fields, need for undertaking coaching classes. shift in our university system that leans towards learning and away
with imaginative and flexible curricular Board examinations will be redesigned to take place? learning and from the present bias towards rote.
structures. The undergraduate degree will encourage holistic development. Students Holistic and multidisciplinary edu- away from the “Pedagogy must evolve to make educa-
be of either three or four years, with multi- will be able to choose many subjects when cation will help develop well-rounded present bias tion more experiential, holistic, inte-
ple exit options…The four-year multidisci- they take board examinations, depending individuals who possess critical 21st towards rote grated, inquiry-driven, discovery-ori-
HT
on their individual inter- century capacities in fields across ented, learner-centred, discussion-
ests. Board examinations humanities, languages, sciences…techni- based, flexible, and, of course,
will also be made easier, in cal and vocational fields. Such holistic enjoyable,” it says.
the sense that they will pri- education shall be, in the long term, the That is exactly why it de-emphasizes rote and redraws the
marily test core competen- approach of all undergraduate pro- schooling system on a 5+3+3+4 formula, junking the current 10+2
cies…To further eliminate grammes, including those in professional, model. My personal favourite: it incorporates sports and voca-
the high stake aspect of technical, and vocational disciplines. tional courses as part of the school curriculum (at present, they
board examinations, all How soon can the Indian Institutes of are considered extra-curricular activities). Surely many of us will
students will be allowed to Technology and the Indian Institutes remember being given monikers (actually a pejorative) like
take board examinations of Management become multidis- “sports-case” for showing a greater inclination to excel in sport
for up to two occasions ciplinary and comprehen- or “vocational” for preferring a vocational course.
during any given school sive, so that more stu- In the case of higher level education, the NEP makes it impera-
year, one main examina- dents can benefit from tive for institutions to embrace multidisciplinary courses so as to
tion and one for improve- good quality educa- deliver on holistic education. It also proposes a four-year degree
‘
to encourage holistic
development; these exams will
‘ ment, if so desired.
Board exams will be redesigned You said NEP will not W e h a v e
impose any language on
students. How will the
mother tongue and
regional language rules
tion? with the option for a student to opt out earlier (or even return at
a later date) and settle for a diploma.
Most importantly, NEP 2020 makes teachers central to the
transformative agenda. Excellent thinking, particularly if you
look back and see how good teachers deeply influenced so many
of us.
also be made ‘easier’. be implemented. Can “The new education policy must help re-establish teachers, at
students and schools all levels, as the most respected and essential members of our
plinary Bachelor’s programme will be the continue to learn and teach in English society, because they truly shape our next generation of citizens.
preferred option as it allows the opportu- if they so wish? It must do everything to empower teachers and help them do
nity to experience the full range of holistic The ministry of education has held rig- their job as effectively as possible,” the NEP document says.
and multidisciplinary education and also orous consultation. France, China, and Now, that the architecture is in place, the country can get down
envisages focus on major and minors Japan all have instruction in their mother to building the new edifice. Let us not fret about perfection. Like
according to the choice of the student. tongue. Most of the developed countries Gretchen Rubin wrote in her book, The Happiness Project, “Many
How will NEP influence India’s edu- of the world have made an earnest effort to things worth doing are worth doing badly.” So, let perfection be
cation system, in 5-7 years, and 10-15 ensure that a child studies in the mother the inspiration for this transformative project and not the metric
years? tongue…Young children learn and grasp to measure success.
The policy is certainly what the country concepts more quickly in their home lan- Anil Padmanabhan is managing editor of Mint and writes every
needed to move onto the path of develop- guage. Thereby, the NEP Para 4.11 states week on the intersection of politics and economics.
ment and progress. It is true that the policy that, wherever possible, the medium of Comments are welcome at anil.p@livemint.com
has advocated progressive structural instruction until at least Grade 5, but pref-
reforms. Universal provisioning of quality erably till Grade 8 and beyond, will be the
early-childhood development, care and home language, mother tongue, local lan-
SONU MEHTA/HT
Insurers see spurt in surrender of policies

Business of Life
FROM PAGE 1 renders may rise in coming oriented policies. Daily articles on the workplace,
days,” said Tarun Chugh, man- For Bajaj Allianz, the average
and how it is evolving.
cies fell by 25-30%, three of the aging director and CEO of Bajaj ticket size in the June quarter
four officials said, adding unit- Allianz Life Insurance Co. Ltd. fell by 30% to ₹39,061 from
linked insurance products “Typically, in Ulips, surren- ₹55,657 a year ago.
(Ulips), the mainstay of many ders are more rampant because “The industry’s growth is
insurers, are witnessing signifi- the surrender value goes up now being driven by protection
cant premature withdrawals. when the market and the NAV and guarantee products, which
“People who bought 20-30 go up. In Ulips, one can with- relatively have a lower ticket
year tenure life insurance poli- draw the policy any time after size as compared to Ulips.
cies are surrendering policies five years, even if the Ulip is Equity Ulips remain a drag on
and withdrawing money, booked for 10 years,” said growth on account of cyclical
which is tax-free. This, they are The industry’s growth is now Chugh. He said in 2019-20, too, weakness in Ulip sales due to
doing to keep as much cash as being driven by protection and saw a decline in persistency, weak capital markets. Ulips
possible, and later start new guarantee products. MINT adding that for Bajaj Allianz used to be a higher ticket size
policies or investment plans Life, the ratio for the June quar- segment,” said a spokesperson
once the pandemic is over and are in a rush to redeem invest- ter was only slightly down to at Bajaj Allianz Life.
the situation improves,” the ments and stop policies every 76.6% from 77% a year ago. People have started borrow-
first of the four people said. time the equity market goes For the life insurance indus- ing against life policies as col-
The increasing policy surren- up,” said the second person. try as a whole, the average lateral more than before so that
ders come as another blow to “We, as an industry, are annual premium fell to ₹47,236 they are able to continue to
insurers who are already battling expecting a rise in surrenders in the June quarter from have cash all the time, life
low new premium collections. as customers now prefer to ₹54,651 a year ago, as risk- insurers said. THE MOST AWESOME BUSINESS DAILY THERE IS.
“In Ulips, the trend is more have immediate cash in hand. averse customers sought to In the June quarter, Bajaj
worrisome. Ulips contribute Many surrenders may be stuck keep disposable cash and pre- Allianz gave out 2,077 loans
45-50% of premium income for because insurance company ferred pure protection prod- worth ₹25.8 crore against life To get your MINT copy, give a missed call on 7039035039 or visit
www.mintreaders.com or write to us at subscription@livemint.com
private insurers. Policyholders branches are closed, but sur- ucts rather than investment- policies.

MUMBAI
REPORTAGE | TALKING POINTS | IDEAS | INSIGHT | THE BOTTOMLINE
WHY ANTITRUST IS A
JUMBO INDIAN PROBLEM
As the US is convulsed by hearings against Big Tech companies, India’s dominant firms remain intact. Will it change?
Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani (left), Vedanta Group chairman Anil Agarwal (centre) and Bajaj Auto managing director Rajiv Bajaj (right). They are at the helm of companies that have significant presence in their respective sectors. MINT
Arjun Srinivas How has firm dominance changed over the National Company Law Appellate Tri- eventually influence or even restrict the
mint MONOPOLY FEARS
feedback@livemint.com the past 10 years? Data shows that while the bunal (NCLAT) or under challenge in the SHORT choices of consumers. In the run-up to the
BENGALURU number of industries or sectors with domi- high courts or the Supreme Court. STORY Chart 1: While the incidence of dominant Jio deal, Facebook floated a new wholly-
nant firms has declined—as it often does in Over the past 10 years, the CCI has firms has decreased over time, they owned subsidiary called “Jaadhu Holdings,
O
n 15 July, during the annual an expanding economy—the dominant imposed penalties amounting to ₹13,381 control a higher share of market cap Llc” in March 2020. The entire investment
general meeting of the firms’ market cap in their respective indus- crore, but less than 1% of that amount WHAT 80.48
% of Dominant firms was routed through Jaadhu, and Facebook
shareholders, the chairman tries has increased correspondingly (See (about ₹127 crore) has been actually real- Market cap in was able to able to declare that Jaadhu “is
and managing director of chart 1). ized (See chart 2). Shockingly, ₹66 crore, or Dominant firms are an endemic respective industry
not engaged in any business in India or any-
feature of many sectors of the 39.13
Reliance Industries Ltd The consolidation of market power in over half of this fine amount, has been 84.25 where in the world”, therefore denying any
(RIL), Mukesh Ambani, announced that these dominant firms means that they are refunded to the offending parties. In economy. Among 2,035 listed plausible collusion. As tech giants become
global tech giant Google would be invest- in a position to dictate terms. Similar con- August 2016, the CCI had imposed its larg- firms across 298 sectors, one firm 2010
more creative to skirt anti-competition
corners over 50% of all sales in a 38.80
ing $4.5 billion in Jio Platforms, RIL’s tele- centration risks abound India’s newly est-ever penalty of over ₹6,700 crore on 11 89.33 arrangement, CCI will have to become sav-
com and digital subsidiary. Following Face- emerging internet economy too. And these cement companies and their trade associa- third of the sectors. Dominant firms vier. One of the places the CCI can look to
2015
book’s acquisition of a 9.99% stake in Jio risks are a lot harder to quantify since many tion, Cement Manufacturers Association, are those publicly for a precedent is the European Commis-
listed companies that 16.78
Platforms at $5.7 billion, this is the first time of the firms are either unlisted private enti- for cartelization and fixing prices. Even control over 70% of their sion and the US federal trade commission,
that both global technological giants have ties or listed in stock markets outside the though this fine was upheld by the NCLAT, AND industry's net sales 2020 which has set a really high bar in negotiat-
invested in the same entity, anywhere in country. But estimates indicate that Face- the Supreme Court in 2018 stayed this ing with tech giants.
Similar concentration risks Chart 2: Even as the CCI has imposed
the world. book and Google together mop up 68%of order, directing the companies to pay only penalties in more cases over the years,
While these investments are a vote of India’s digital ad market revenues, while 10% of the penalty amount. abound India’s newly emerging GLOBAL ACTION
the aggregate penalty imposed has
internet economy too. Estimates
confidence for Jio Platforms and its wide
array of digital services—ranging from
Amazon and Flipkart serviced 90% of all
e-commerce orders during the 2019 festi- THE MANY LOOPHOLES indicate that Facebook and
Google together mop up 68% of
fallen sharply
No. of cases Penalty imposed S ince 2010, the European Commission
has launched three anti-trust investiga-
T
(right hand scale)
smartphone apps to online retail—ques- val season period in October. he inability of CCI to consistently 50 8000
tions against Google, related to Google
tions have been raised about the potential In the absence of robust anti-competi- adjudicate and enforce punitive meas- India’s digital ad market revenues. Shopping, AdSense and the Android oper-
anti-competitive nature of these deals. tive regulation, these firms can then poten- ures points to certain lacunae in the provi- 40
6000
ating system. Google has been found guilty
Anti-competitive practices represent a tially misuse their market power to enrich sions of the Competition Act, 2002 from regarding the latter two and has been fined
range of business practices that lead to the themselves at the expense of competitors which the CCI derives its authority. In an HOWEVER 30
4000
over €8 billion. From 2010 to 2019, the
emergence of one or a few dominant firms, and consumers. This also underscores the article published in the Economic and Polit- 20 European Commission has imposed fines
which are then able to restrict competition need for a competent authority to ensure ical Weekly, Aditya Bhattacharjea, a profes- The Competition Commission of amounting to €16.2 billion against cartels
in the industry in a bid to preserve their free and fair competition in the market- sor at the Delhi School of Economics, India, which is the statutory body 10
2000
alone. Google’s parent Alphabet is also cur-
dominant status. place. argues that even though the 2002 Act rep- mandated to regulate anti- rently under an anti-trust investigation by
While the implications of the Jio Plat- resents an improvement from its extremely competitive activity in the 0 0
the US justice department for its advertising
2011-12 2018-19
form’s potential dominance are immense, TOOTHLESS REGULATOR restrictive predecessor —the MRTP ACT— country, has been largely Source: Capitaline, Competition clout, while Facebook is the subject of an
toothless and ineffective. Commission of India, Annual Reports
dominance is an endemic feature of many
other sectors of the Indian economy. An T he Competition Commission of India
(CCI) is the statutory body mandated
analysis of 2035 listed companies across to regulate anti-competitive activity in the
it remains riddled with loopholes and
ambiguities. According to Bhattacharjea,
this creates unnecessary legal uncertainty,
anti-trust investigation by the federal trade
commission. On the other hand, the favour-
able track record of Jio in terms of its own
298 industry groups shows that in up to country. Based on the Competition Act which favours lawyers and law firms. For deemed as anti-competitive. million subscribers, the combined entity brush with anti-competition law in India
100, or 33% of all industry groups, there is 2002, the CCI’s stated objectives are to pro- instance, the law allows the CCI to leave According to Smriti Parsheera, technol- would be a veritable tech behemoth. With would have certainly encouraged Google
one single company that controls over 50% mote and sustain competition in markets, some leeway for “relative advantage, by ogy policy researcher at the National Insti- further investment from Intel as well as and Facebook’s investment.
of the net sales in the sector. Even with a while protecting the interests of consumers way of contribution to the economic devel- tute of Public Finance and Policy, the dis- Google, whose Android operating system With India’s Atmanirbhar policy tilt, the
stricter definition—at 70% of the net sales— and ensuring freedom of trade to all market opment.” This may allow large firms to jus- tinguishing feature of internet and telecom powers the majority of the 500 million country is looking to create globally com-
there are still 50 or 17% of industries which participants. The CCI started full-fledged tify their anti-competitive practices in the markets is the accruing of ‘network effects’, smartphone users in India, Jio’s dominance petitive firms. For this, there might be a
have a dominant firm, according to data operations in 2010, following the repealing name of development, he argues. a phenomenon whereby a product or ser- will only be enhanced. Several commenta- temptation to have a permissive outlook on
sourced from Capitaline. of the Monopoly and Restrictive Trade The most significant challenges that the vice gains additional value as more people tors have noted that Jio Platforms is all set to domestic monopolies and allow them to
Several of these dominant entities are Practices Act, which was in force from 1969 CCI will encounter in the future, however, use it. In an article titled Challenges of Com- become all the FAANG (Facebook, Ama- scale up. However, this policy is fraught
legacy firms which have to 2009. Since its incep- are in new emerging spheres such as tele- petition and Regulation in the Telecom Sector zon, Apple, Netflix, Goo- with peril and Indian
held sway for a signifi- tion, till 31 March 2019, com, internet and big-technology. In these in the Economic and Political Weekly, Par- gle) companies rolled consumers, as well as the
cant period of time, such The inability of the CCI to the CCI has noted 1008 spheres, the CCI’s functions also overlap sheera argues that there can be situations into one for the Indian One of the places CCI can economy, may end up
as ITC for cigarettes. In consistently adjudicate and instances of ‘anti-trust’ with those of regulatory bodies such as the where large internet firms and technology market, while also look to for a precedent is the paying a heavy price in
the automotive sector, matters, meaning, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India companies can pose anti-competitive chal- becoming a significant the long-run. The draft
there are companies enforce punitive measures instances of anti-compet- (Trai). To assess and ensure competition in lenges due to their dominance arising from global player. Bloomberg European Commission and Competition (Amend-
such as Bajaj Auto that points to certain lacunae in itive practices. Over 20% these spheres, CCI will require staff with network effects. This is precisely the poten- noted that Jio had the US FTC, which have set a ment) bill, 2020, cur-
dominates the scooters of these cases have been specialized knowledge in technology as tial risk posed by Jio Platforms. In fact, the secured over 50.7% of all rently before the Parlia-
and three-wheeler the provisions of the in the real estate sector, well as an understanding of modern indus- investment from Facebook in Jio Platforms global telecom deals this really high bar in negotiating ment, has taken a few
industry, and Tata followed by automobiles trial economics. was under review by CCI for potential mis- year till the 18th of June. steps to empower CCI by
Motors, which has the Competition Act, 2002 at 10%. In the year In the case of Reliance Jio, the company use of user data, but the deal was eventually What are the implica- with tech giants bestowing it with regula-
most significant pres- 2018-19 alone, the CCI has had several run-ins with both Trai and approved on the 22 June. CCI concluded tions for the consumers tory functions, while also
ence in light and heavy commercial vehi- received 68 cases related to anti-competi- the CCI ever since it announced its disrupt- that the deal was pro-competitive, benefits and competitors? Jio’s entry saw tariff wars mandating guidelines for the settlement of
cles. In metals and mining, Aditya Birla tive agreements and abuse of dominant ive entry into the market in September consumers, small and local micro-busi- that greatly reduced prices and benefited penalties by offending parties. But whether
group-owned Hindalco and Vedanta position. It passed prima facie orders in 65 2016. The incumbent telecom entities— nesses and “takes forward the vision of digi- the consumers at great detriment to its India’s economic sphere will tilt over-
group’s Hindustan Zinc dominate the Alu- of these cases and completed investigation Airtel, Vodafone and Idea—filed objections tal India”. competitors. The expansion of Jio plat- whelmingly in favour of long-term con-
minium and Zinc industries, respectively. in 51 instances and imposed penalties to the against Jio, alleging that its aggressive tar- The network effects emerging from the forms might portend similar benefits for sumer interest and fair marketplace com-
This list also includes public sector under- tune of ₹357.85 crore. However, merely iffs amounted to ‘predatory pricing’. Both Jio-Facebook merger are immense. Face- consumers in the short-haul. However, the petition is still an open question.
takings such as the Oil and Natural Gas ₹1.41 crore was actually realized as on 31 Trai and CCI, however, ruled in favour of book has 241 million active users in India on longer-term ramifications are uncertain. Arjun Srinivas is with www.howindiali-
Corp. that is the country’s largest firm March 2019. This is because most of the Jio, arguing that since it was new player and its social networking site, and over 400 mil- The concentration of such clout in India’s ves.com, which is a database and search
engaged in oil exploration. orders of the CCI are under appeal before not a dominant firm, its tariffs could not be lion WhatsApp users. With Jio having 388 digital economy in a single entity might engine for public data.
BUSINESS OF LIFE MONDAY, 3 AUGUST 2020

MUMBAI 09
STARTUP INC.
of 1.6, while manual feeding takes it to 2.8.
Insights from shrimp behaviour also go
into calibrating the auto feed. Shrimp are OCEAN OF
gluttons in the summer months when tem-
peratures are warmer, but extra feeding OPPORTUNITY
doesn’t contribute to growth. It’s the oppo- As population and wealth increase, demand for
site in the winter when they tend to eat less food, especially protein, is rising. Consumers,
than they should for optimal growth. chefs and businesses are looking for sustainably
raised seafood, and tech and startups have
COVID-RELATED CHALLENGES a role to play here.
The second benefit of the auto-feeder is howindialives.com
reduced dependence on farm labour,
which has become even more uncertain in FOOD DEMAND RISING
the post-covid scenario. Shrimp farmers
The world population is projected to cross 9.4 billion in
are facing several covid-related challenges,
the next 30 years, and food demand will rise 59-98% by
such as disruption of cold storage and 2050, requiring changes in the way food is produced.
exports. But technology is helping them
Growth in population (in bn)
manage aquaculture better. 9.5 9.41
Duggineni points out that the number of
live shrimp can be accurately estimated 9.0
right up to harvest, whereas earlier the out-
put of a pond was anybody’s guess. This 8.5
helps everyone from the farmer to buyers
and others on the supply chain to plan bet- 8.0
ter and conserve resources. 7.33
7.5
“If a buyer comes to the farm expecting
a five-tonne harvest and gets only three
7.0
tonnes, he will bargain with us to lower pri- 2016 2050
ces to cover his wasted expenses on trans- Source: US Census Bureau
port and storage,” he says.
Although Eruvaka ran its first pilot pro- FISH ON THE PLATTER
jects on farms in India, like the one in Tan-
With rising incomes, food habits are changing, and
Shrimp farmer Hanumantharao Duggineni (left) was the first user of the devices made by Eruvaka, an aquaculture startup founded by Sreeram Raavi in 2012. gutur, it was on larger shrimp farms in people eat more protein. Fish consumption has
Ecuador that it found a stronger product- more than doubled since the 1960s.
For this startup,

The next year he started looking into market fit. “A farmer from Ecuador found
Growth in per capita fish consumption, world (kg/capita)
technology for aquaculture and came us on Facebook and ordered two devices.
across Eruvaka, founded in nearby Vijaya- He tried those for a month and then 20 20.9
18.9 19.7
wada in 2012. The startup had launched its ordered 300 devices,” recalls Raavi. Bulk
17
first device, PondGuard, which provides orders such as this were a godsend for a 14.4
the contest is in
real-time monitoring of DO and pH levels fledgling aquaculture IoT device maker.
in shrimp ponds. Today Duggineni and In 2018, Netherlands-based aquafeed- 9.9
others get alerts on their mobile phones maker Nutreco invested in Eruvaka, whose
when DO levels drop, which helps avoid first backer was Indian agritech VC Omni-
shrimp deaths. It also reduces power bills vore. The Nutreco connection helps it to
the shrimp tank

by automating running of aerators. scale and expand across Latin America as 1965 1990 2000 2010 2013 2015 2019
“It was a learning curve for both of us,” well as Southeast Asian shrimp-producing Source: OECD, FAO
recalls Sreeram Raavi, CEO and founder of countries like Indonesia and Vietnam.
Eruvaka. “Not many farmers would have The Eruvaka devices have gone through
tried a new device. But Hanumantharao several iterations and improvements over
AQUACULTURE MATTERS
was tech-savvy and took a chance with us. the years. One of the early challenges for As wild schools are depleted, aquaculture is the way
to meet the demand. In 2013, seafood from
It’s not technology alone but ground-level the startup was figuring out why sensor aquaculture exceeded fish catch.
knowledge and feedback that data was going erratic after a
Global fish production, capture vs aquaculture
go into a product like this.”
Vijayawada-based Eruvaka uses real-time analytics to track After PondGuard, Duggin-
The devices couple of weeks. It turned out
to be a buildup of algae on
(in lakh tonnes)
Aquaculture Capture fisheries
eni used Eruvaka’s Shrimp- cut the feed underwater devices. Initially 120
1,060.04
shrimp feeding and pond conditions, and save time and costs Talk and PondMother devi-
required by awas manual cleaning protocol 100
ces to automate feeding. The introduced, but later a
auto-feeder system has twin 40%, a major self-cleaning mechanism was 80
347.90 937.37
Malavika Velayanikal The first user of Eruvaka was Hanuman- benefits, he explains. 60
tharao Duggineni, who grows shrimp in 27 PondMother spreads feed-
saving given built into the devices so that
they could run for six months 40
T
he sound of shrimp feeding, ponds in Tangutur village near Ongole on ing through day and night, that feed adds without the need for human 20
magnified many times, would be the Andhra Pradesh coast. His father took unlike the traditional manual 20.29
much like us munching kurkure. up shrimp farming, while Duggineni stud- way, which is to dump large
up to half the intervention.
“What differentiates us
0
1960 2015
On India’s modern shrimp ied engineering in Coimbatore, and then amounts of feed four or five expenditure from other players on the Source: Our World in Data, FAO
farms, hydrophones record the joined a construction firm in Hyderabad. times a day. The auto-feeder
tiny marine creatures crunch away inside What brought Duggineni back to the reduces wastage and input
on a shrimp ground is the thought that has
gone into the detailing of FUNDING FOR FOOD STARTUPS
ponds. Software analyses the sound real shrimp ponds was a disaster that wiped out costs, by providing shrimp farm these devices since we started
Companies use technology to track food and give
time to control feeding. This is among the the crop in 2012 and caused losses of ₹1 with the right amounts of feed in 2012,” says Raavi. The customers a sense of safety. Startups are working on
many uses of IoT in aquaculture. crore because of a power cut one night. when they’re hungry. breakdown of auto-feeders because of lab or plant-based alternatives to fish.
The long coastline of Andhra Pradesh is “A human food dispenser will put out power fluctuations in rural areas prompted
Investments in fish alternatives (in $ mn)
dotted with ponds growing shrimp for CUTTING LOSSES 20kg of feed in 10 minutes. The active Eruvaka to adapt their machines to use
world markets, contributing to India being Ponds such as these with a high concentra- shrimp will grab it, the less active ones will solar power. That has lowered the break- Good Catch Foods 50.7
the world’s top shrimp exporter. Not sur- tion of shrimp depend on aerator machines miss it. The uneaten food pellets settle at down rate significantly.
prisingly, startups have been wading into to maintain their dissolved oxygen (DO) the pond bottom, spoiling the water and New requirements keep arising as Eru- Wild Type 16
these ponds with technology to improve levels. Generators come on during power causing diseases,” says Duggineni. vaka enters new markets. Shrimp farms in Shiok Meats 8.3
their productivity and reduce risks. cuts but the aerators had to be switched on In contrast, the auto-feeder dispenses the US that use certified organic feed want
Among the early starters is Vijayawada- manually. A few hours without the aerators 20kg of feed in 4-5 hours. Think of it as drip the analytics engine to look out for traces of Finless Foods 6.8
based Eruvaka, whose ShrimpTalk IoT can kill the shrimp, as on that night of irrigation. It brings down the amount of various chemicals. In India, the focus has
device monitors the sound of shrimp eat- December 22, 2012, on Duggineni’s feed required by 40-50%, which is a signifi- been on avoiding the use of antibiotics Ocean Hugger Foods 3.4
ing and provides inputs to another device, 85-acre farm. cant saving given that feed accounts for which used to be the usual practice to make Odontella 0.8
called PondMother, that uses AI-based The date is imprinted on Duggineni half the expenditure on a shrimp farm. shrimp grow faster—until the rigours of the
analytics to calibrate feeding based on mind. “The power went off around mid- Shrimp farmers calculate expenses on the export market made it a no-no. New Wave Foods 0.2
appetite. This not only reduces wastage but night but the operators and supervisor basis of feed consumption ratio (FCR), or Source: CB Insights
also leads to better growth of the shrimp by slept through it. The next morning, we saw the amount of feed used for every unit of Malavika Velayanikal is a consulting editor
providing feed at optimal times. tonnes of dead shrimp.” shrimp harvested. Duggineni has an FCR with Mint. She tweets @vmalu. PARAS JAIN/MINT
For more stories on how startups

PROBLEM, India is the world’s top shrimp pro- Eruvaka’s devices, analytics calibrate Shrimp numbers at harvest can be esti- are changing the way we work
ducer—and startups are now wading feeding based on appetite to reduce mated accurately. This helps the farmer, and the way we live, follow our
CHALLENGE weekly podcast Startup Inc
into the arena to improve productivity wastage and help growth of shrimp buyers and others on the supply chain
& SOLUTION and reduce risks in the business. by providing feed at optimal times. plan better and conserve resources.
hosted by Shalini Umachandran
on htsmartcast.com
Taking a leaf from the Swiggy playbook to assist aqua farmers

Sumit Chakraberty ting data. We struggled in the ini- suggests what medicines to add,
tial months as usage was very lim- and so on. Everything has become
S
tartup ideas strike at unex- ited even when our app was down- more regular,” says Raj.
India needs to move up the pected places and moments. loaded,” explains Somasundaram.
value chain to ensure better For Rajamanohar Somasun- Then the aqua app maker came REDUCING WASTAGE
daram, it was during a train jour- up with a services hack. For Somasundaram, this is just the
returns for shrimp farmers. ney when he sat opposite an aqua basic level where technology can
Rajamanohar Somasundaram farmer from his home state, Tamil TESTING THE WATERS make an impact on aquaculture in
FOUNDER, AQUACONNECT Nadu, four years ago. Somasunda- One of the pain points for a shrimp India. He was part of the Hatch
ram was a transitory point: his first farmer is getting pond water aquaculture startup accelerator
venture in mobile value-added tested periodically. Testing the programme in Norway, which
services had run its course. water ensures healthy growth of later joined Omnivore in provid-
The more they talked, the more the shrimp and preventing dis- ing $1.1 million seed funding to
interested Somasundaram got in eases with interventions. But it Aquaconnect.
the scope for mobile tech to make involves taking the water to a town At Hatch, Somasundaram came
a dent in aquaculture. Farmers in with a lab and collecting results. across multiple innovations, right
this domain were more prosper- So Aquaconnect created a Swig- from aquafeed to fish processing.
Earlier, output of a pond was ous than the average farmer in gy-like service where a delivery Iceland processes 80% of every
just a guess. Now, accurate other areas of agriculture. Shrimp person collects water samples cod caught, he points out, as the
farming entails an expenditure of from farms, takes them to partner bones and skin go into value-
forecasts save money, time. ₹10 lakh per acre, which amounts labs, and enters test details in the added products like gels and even
Hanumantharao Duggineni to an investment of ₹1 crore for FarmMojo app. clothing. There are 120 startups
SHRIMP FARMER, ANDHRA PRADESH two half-yearly hauls from a five- Here was something useful for working on full utilization of the
acre farm. Yet, the adoption of the aqua farmers that also created An Aquaconnect delivery person collects a water sample from a shrimp pond in Tamil Nadu. The sample is fish in the Iceland Ocean Cluster.
technology was so low in India a physical point of contact delivered to a lab and the results are sent via an app, along with an advisory for water treatment, to the farmer. In contrast, after processing
that aquaculture was far less pro- between them and the startup. shrimp meat for export in India,
ductive than in other countries. “The farmers get the water quality The advisory service is in turn The app data can help with Indian carp species, like rohu, but 35-45% of the shrimp goes waste
After that train journey, Soma- results instantly and also our advi- linked up with aquaculture input traceability. Shrimp farmers, who switched to shrimp because it’s as the shells and heads are dis-
sundaram put together a team, sory services based on the data,” companies to create a market- export 95% of their produce, are more profitable. But it also raised carded. Thailand even imports
with a mix of aquaculture and says Somasundaram. place where Aquaconnect is able well aware that they should not the risk of bigger losses if anything raw shrimp from India for its aqua
mobile tech expertise, to launch There are various advisory to offer better prices and more use antibiotics to stimulate went wrong. processing industry. Somasunda-
It’s not technology alone but his new startup Aquaconnect in modules for water treatment, choice than local distributors growth, but sometimes these He used to painstakingly note ram hopes that India moves up the
ground-level knowledge that 2017. It began with a simple Farm- feeding and more, based on over because of aggregation of additives get carried over from everything down in a notebook, value chain for better returns to
Mojo app to provide advisories to 20 parameters in the water quality demand. hatcheries or what’s fed to larvae. from feeding details to test results. farmers instead of just treating
goes into a product like this. farmers based on inputs of farm test. For example, if the aquafeed The startup later evolved into a Arul Raj, a 35-year-old farmer “Now with Aquaconnect, data is shrimp as a commodity.
Sreeram Raavi data, but soon ran into an issue. is settling on the pond bottom full stack model with both near Chidambaram on the Tamil fed into the app which makes it
FOUNDER, ERUVAKA “The farmers know how to use instead of being consumed, it pro- upstream and downstream mar- Nadu coast, has been using Aqua- easy to track anytime. Aquacon- Sumit Chakraberty is a Consult-
mobile apps, but they’re lazy or duces an abnormal level of ammo- ket linkages, from shrimp hatch- connect for a year. He had initially nect staff visits the farm once a ing Editor with Mint. Write to him
reluctant when it comes to input- nia which can kill the shrimp. eries to exporters. leased five acres of land to farm week, gets water testing done, at chakraberty@gmail.com

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what drives a mutual fund’s performance facilitator categories
ISTOCK
Sunita Abraham ISTOCK
mintmoney@livemint.com Sunita Abraham
mintmoney@livemint.com
T
he Mint50 list is not a
T
mere ranking of mutual here are three primary
fund schemes that give How market products—ones that
cycles affect
the highest returns. It is an MF’s
cater to the invest-
a curated basket for ability to ment needs of the core
which schemes are selected on the outperform portfolio, ones that serve as
basis of a quantitative and qualita- bit.ly/3hMCToS facilitators to help execute
tive evaluation processes. money decisions and ones that
We looked at the daily rolling serve as riders to enhance the
return to capture the journey of portfolio’s need for return or
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ated. We leveraged the expertise portfolio would be deciding on focused funds, value or contra
of our data partner, Quantix, an asset allocation to deter- funds, small-cap funds can
CRISIL’s data and analytics plat- mine how much of the portfo- find a place in the portfolio to
form, to score funds on features lio should be held in equity give heft to returns. For exam-
such as exposure to sensitive sec- and how much in debt. For ple, contra and value funds,
tors, portfolio liquidity and asset this, you would need to con- typically, invest in sectors and
quality to zero in on schemes that While it settles down in its new sider the tenor of the goals and themes that are not currently
passed muster on returns as well as avatar and proves its credentials, What's out, what's in? the need for growth and popular and as such can act as
robustness of portfolios (read there are other large-cap-oriented Here is a list of funds that went out of the Mint50 list this year, liquidity in the portfolio. a hedge against the risks in the
Methodology). The 16 categories multi-cap funds in the Mint50 and the ones that replaced them. For long-term goals with an growth strategy followed by
included in Mint50 represent with steady performance. In its OUT WHY IN investment horizon of at least funds in the core portfolio. But
those that we believe will find a place, we’ve brought in Parag Par- Principal Poor returns, falling AUMs, Parag Parikh five years, consider invest- the strategy, typically, also
place in most investor portfolios ikh Long Term Equity that has Multi Cap Change in mandate Long Term Equity ments in core portfolio takes a longer time to fruition.
(read How to use Mint50). been a consistent top quartile per- schemes. However, not all A small-cap fund can give a
Franklin India Poor returns, fund Axis
Every year, we put all the 50 former and provides investors Smaller Companies house risk Small Cap schemes are return lift to the
schemes through the wringer Equity, also found the going tough exposure to international equities equal in terms of The starting portfolio when
again to review their performance on account of their investment along with Indian equity. Franklin India Poor returns, fund SBI Focused risk and return. the segment is
Focused Equity house risk Equity point in building
and identify stress points that may calls. Returns of others such as We have also decided to drop For goals that are a portfolio is to expected to do
need to be tracked. IDFC Tax Advantage took a hit due Franklin India Focused Equity and Asset quality and liquidity risk from DSP Equity three-five years decide how much well. You need to
ICICI Prudential excessive exposure to sub-AAA
A scheme does not get dropped to their higher exposure to small- Franklin India Smaller Compa- Equity and Debt paper in a credit downcycle and Bond away, consider have an invest-
just because it is not the top per-
of the portfolio
caps as a long-term strategy. nies. Both funds have seen contin- Asset quality and liquidity risk from BNP Paribas aggressive hybrid ment horizon of
former in its category. At Mint, we In the case of debt funds, we uing bottom quartile performance
ICICI Prudential
excessive exposure to sub-AAA Conservative funds, for goals should be in five-seven years
Regular Savings
believe strongly that chasing top found that a majority of them with very few indicators of a turn- paper in a credit downcycle Hybrid that are five- equity and in debt and more for
performers is a zero-sum game in sought the safety of AAA-rated and around. Moreover, FT is facing a seven years away, most of these
the long run, both from the point government securities (G-secs) to trust deficit as a fallout of its han- consider large- strategies to
of view of strategy and the costs shield from the deteriorating dling of debt fund schemes, which WHAT YOU SHOULD DO be clear about how much indul- caps and schemes in the large- work.
and taxes that will eat into any credit environment. Funds also pointed to elevated process and If you have invested in any of the gence you’ll allow the fund man- and-mid-cap and multi-cap An international fund can
short-term benefits. Staying took advantage of falling yields by operational risks that allowed the five schemes that are no longer in agers. If the better returns from categories. For goals with a give geographical diversifica-
invested in a fund whose invest- increasing the duration, where situation to deteriorate to the det- Mint50, you have three choices: ICICI Prudential Equity and Debt longer horizon, consider funds tion benefits to the portfolio. A
ment philosophy you are comfort- possible. With the debt funds riment of investors. SBI Focused staying and continuing invest- and ICICI Prudential Regular Sav- with a more aggressive strat- conservative hybrid fund can
able with and giving the fund man- space seeing turmoil in the face of Equity takes the place of Franklin ments, holding existing invest- ings relative to their peers com- egy, in terms of market seg- be used to give an equity fla-
ager’s calls a chance to play out is a downgrades and defaults, fund India Focused Equity and Axis ments but switching to another pensate for the higher risk of hold- ment and portfolio manage- vour to a debt-heavy portfolio
better long-term strategy. But managers told us about stress tests Small Cap replaces Franklin India scheme for future investments, or ing lower-rated bonds and you ment strategy. For goals that if the investor does not want to
ignoring red flags either in the that they are conducting to ensure Smaller Companies. stopping all investments and choose to take comfort from the are one-three years away, con- take the trouble of tracking the
form of persistent bottom half per- safety and liquidity in funds. The other two changes were on redeeming the current holding. issuers and the small holdings in sider the short-duration and performance of a pure equity
formance or enhanced risks may This year, we increased the account of higher risk in ICICI Pru- If the large-cap pivot of Princi- individual securities in the funds’ corporate bond categories. fund. Select the satellite fund
affect the expected outcomes. weightage to asset quality and dential Equity and Debt and ICICI pal Multi Cap is acceptable to you, portfolios as a risk mitigator, then Use funds in the facilitator that gives what your portfolio
liquidity of debt portfolios given Prudential Regular Savings. We then you may leave existing you may choose to stay invested. category to help you park your needs.
WHAT WE FOUND the credit downcycle that we are see the debt portion of the portfo- investments and give the scheme If, however, you take a dim view of money for periods of up to one It is not necessary to select a
The performance and portfolios of yet to emerge from and followed lio in the hybrid categories as the time to settle into its new look, but the elevated risks in the “safe por- year. Select the category based scheme from each of the cate-
the schemes reflected the times up with fund managers on their ballast to offset the risk of equity. channelize fresh investments into tion” of the portfolio, especially in on the period for which you gories. That would depend
we are passing through, both in risk management protocols. High credit risk, particularly in a another scheme in the category. a period of magnified growth and want to hold the money. Use upon your goals and risk appe-
equity and debt markets. period of credit quality deteriora- Similarly, you may discount the credit risks, you may exit. liquid funds, ultra-short funds tite. Not all schemes in a cate-
The lack of breadth in the equity WHAT HAS CHANGED? tion, did not sit well with our phi- string of poor performance in FT The Mint50 audit is our annual and low duration funds, in that gory are similar either. There
market run-up, which saw indices Five schemes changed in Mint50. losophy for these categories. Both schemes and give them more time exercise to ensure that investors order, for money that has to be will be variations in strategy
being driven up to new highs on Principal Multi Cap is being the schemes have very high expo- to turn around their performance. have a pre-vetted set of schemes held for a short period before it and style that will impact the
the back of a handful of stocks, dropped. A run of poor perform- sure to AA-rated and below papers Though chasing top performers that meet robust risk and return is invested, money held in an risk and return. The com-
meant that funds with diversified ance combined with a steady fall in and scored poorly on credit and is not a sustainable long-term evaluation parameters. Use the emergency fund and money ments section in the table
portfolios, especially in the large- assets under management (AUM) liquidity risk parameters relative to strategy, staying invested in funds curated list as the basis for the that has to be parked for a seeks to capture these differ-
cap space, took a beating. Some makes it a less desirable choice at their peers. Instead, DSP Equity that are third and fourth quartile annual portfolio review you must short period before it is used to ences. Use the factsheets of
equity funds, such as the HDFC this stage. The fund which had and Bond enters the aggressive performers for long periods will undertake to ensure you are able meet goals. mutual funds to understand
Top 100 and ICICI Prudential maintained a mid- and small-cap and BNP Paribas Conservative the mean your money is not working to meet your goals, most effi- Funds in the satellite cate- more about the return and risk
Bluechip and Aditya Birla Sunlife focus now has a large-cap focus. conservative hybrid categories. as hard as it could. So you should ciently. gory help give an additional in a scheme before investing.
Methodology: the two-level evaluation process we used to create the list

ISTOCK
Sunita Abraham years (equity, hybrid, short last five years, and assigned it liquidity, asset quality and MD. and protect the principal in
mintmoney@livemint.com duration and corporate bond) 50% weight. Active return For liquid, ultra-short and low case of a credit event.
and three years (liquid, ultra- considers the return of a fund duration, we took one-, three- For aggressive hybrid funds,
T
he mutual funds in the short duration and low dura- in excess of the benchmark. It and six-month return, respec- the return and risk measures
Mint50 basket are tion). 2) Schemes with AUM shows how well an actively tively, rolled daily for the last were similar to the equity
selected after a two-level (assets under management) managed fund performed over three years, and gave the funds. A weight of 25% was
evaluation process. that fell in the 98% percentile. its benchmark and if it justifies parameter 40% weight. Stan- given to portfolio features.
Out of the 36 categories of Except for funds with very investor fee. Standard devia- dard deviation got 10%. The For conservative hybrid
mutual funds defined by the small AUMs, all others came tion was assigned portfolio charac- funds, we took one-year roll-
Securities and Exchange into the evaluation bucket. a weight of 25%. First, all schemes teristics got 50% ing return, rolled daily for the
Board of India (Sebi), we Funds which had totally dif- Portfolio charac- were put through and included last five years, and gave it 50%
selected 16. Under equity ferent portfolios before Sebi’s teristics, with a a quantitative issuer concentra- weight. Standard deviation got
funds, we picked large-cap, re-categorization of schemes 25% weight, test, and then, tion, exposure to 15% and portfolio characteris-
large-and-mid-cap, multi-cap, in 2018 were excluded because included stock sensitive sectors, tics 35%. The debt and equity
qualitative
mid-cap, small-cap, value-ori- the change makes tracking and sector con- number of issu- portions were separately ana-
ented or contra, equity-linked past performance futile. centration, aspects were ers, liquidity, lyzed for hybrid funds. For
savings scheme (ELSS) and At the first stage of evalua- liquidity in terms considered asset quality and international funds, the three-
focused categories. Under tion, all eligible schemes were of the ease with MD. year rolling return and risk
hybrid funds, we chose con- put through a quantitative test which a portfolio We increased were given 50% weight each.
servative and aggressive cate- of their past performance, and can be liquidated, cash hold- the weights for asset quality Once the report card was
gories. Under debt funds, we at the second, we looked at the ing and portfolio churn. and liquidity for short dura- generated, final scores were
picked liquid, ultra-short dura- qualitative aspects. For short duration and cor- tion, corporate bond, liquid, assigned. A shortlist was then
tion, low duration, short dura- Our data partner, Quantix, evaluate performance and these was given a progressive liquidity, asset quality, portfo- porate bond, we took one-year ultra-short and low duration created for the second level of
tion and corporate bond cate- CRISIL’s data and analytics standard deviation of rolling weight in a way that recent lio turnover, cash holdings and rolling return, rolled daily for categories, given the credit evaluation. At this stage, Mint
gories. We also included the platform, ran the numbers and returns as the risk measure. performance had greater rep- modified duration (MD), if the last five years, and gave it risks prevalent in the econ- reached out to fund manage-
international funds category. generated the report cards for The period of analysis was resentation, but long-term applicable, to understand the 45% weight. Standard devia- omy. These parameters are of ment teams of each scheme to
Schemes that met two quantitative evaluation. The five years for equity and hybrid performance wasn’t ignored. source of returns and risk. tion got 10%. Portfolio charac- greater relevance in funds understand the strategy, the
requirements were eligible. 1) parameters were return, risk and three years for debt funds. For portfolio characteris- For equity funds, we calcu- teristics got 45% and included where the investment period processes, capabilities and the
Those with NAV (net asset and portfolio characteristics. This was broken into four tics, we looked at industry and lated the three-year active roll- issuer concentration, expo- is low and there’s not enough checks and balances, to arrive
value) history of at least five We used rolling returns to overlapping periods. Each of company concentration, ing return, rolled daily for the sure to sensitive sectors, time for the NAV to recover at the final list.
PERSONAL FINANCE MONDAY, 3 AUGUST 2020

MUMBAI 11
MINT50 SCHEMES TO INVEST IN

We have hand-picked 50 mutual funds for your portfolio that have jumped through hoops of good returns, low risk, good portfolio hygiene and our own qualitative research. We have restricted the choice universe to 16 categories
out of the total 36 and given you at least three options to pick from each. In equity, stay with your risk appetite. Match your investment horizon to the debt fund category you pick. Pick eight to 10 schemes and revisit them every year.
3-year return 5-year return 10-year return Corpus Total expense

E Q U I T Y (in %) (in %) (in %) (₹ cr) ratio (in %)
Comments
LARGE-CAP (CORE)
HDFC Top 100 -0.72 4.73 7.93 15,482 1.88 In top quartile on active returns. Low portfolio turnover. Takes high-conviction stakes
ICICI Prudential Bluechip 2.70 6.56 10.33 22,881 1.79 In top quartile on active returns. Holds high-conviction stakes in few stocks. Very low exposure to mid-caps
Mirae Asset Large Cap 4.05 8.47 12.49 16,381 1.66 In top decile on overall performance. Holds diversified portfolio (mid-cap exposure at around 10%)
Nippon India Large Cap -1.03 3.82 9.11 9,983 1.76 Top quartile fund on active returns with a portfolio of well-diversified holdings across companies
NIFTY 100 TRI 4.23 7.27 9.09
Category average 2.14 5.46 9.05
LARGE-AND-MID-CAP (CORE)
Invesco India Growth Opportunities 3.61 6.68 10.47 2,498 2.09 Top in category for overall performance. Has large-cap orientation with negligible small-cap exposure
Mirae Asset Emerging Bluechip 5.20 11.92 18.15 9,834 1.76 Top on active returns. Has large-cap orientation now, but has had equal exposure to mid- and small-caps
Principal Emerging Bluechip 0.79 7.61 12.57 1,918 2.14 Has high mid- and small-cap focus, along with large-caps. Returns reflect current downturn in these segments
NIFTY LARGEMIDCAP 250 INDEX TRI 1.77 7.17 9.53
MULTI-CAP (CORE)
Aditya Birla Sun Life Equity 0.07 6.77 9.93 10,175 2.07 Holds large-caps with a dash of mid- and small-caps for steady long-term returns
Kotak Standard Multicap 2.68 7.66 11.62 27,976 1.69 Top-quartile rank and second on three-year rolling returns. Large-cap focus with low portfolio churn
Parag Parikh Long Term Equity 11.11 11.42 NA 3,514 1.97 A top decile performer across time horizons. Low standard deviation given exposure to foreign equity
NIFTY 500 TRI 2.48 6.71 8.55
MID-CAP (CORE)
DSP Midcap Fund 2.34 8.19 12.60 6,962 1.93 Top quartile performer over three, five, seven years. Good record of downside protection in falling markets
Kotak Emerging Equity 0.20 6.83 11.86 6,449 1.93 Gives true mid- and small-cap exposure. Top quartile returns in five- and seven-year periods
L&T Midcap Fund -2.44 6.48 12.03 5,699 1.95 In top decile on overall performance. Second on three-year rolling active returns. Low exposure to large-caps
NIFTY MIDCAP 150 INDEX TRI -0.82 6.82 9.89
Category average -1.12 4.64 11.35
SMALL-CAP (SATELLITE)
Axis Small Cap 4.38 8.05 NA 2,310 2.05 In top quartile on overall
Lorem performance
ipsum and active rolling returns. Holds a concentrated portfolio
Nippon India Small Cap -2.43 7.11 NA 7,898 1.90 In top quartile over three, five and seven years. Keeps a 'bench' of stocks on the to-buy-at-the-right-price list
SBI Small Cap 3.05 9.36 16.46 3,917 2.21 Ranked top on overall performance. Aggressive on booking profits on price targets. High portfolio concentration
NIFTY SMALLCAP 250 INDEX TRI -10.64 0.20 5.48
VALUE/CONTRA (SATELLITE)
Invesco India Contra 5.73 8.71 11.74 4,662 1.98 Top-ranked fund on overall perrformance. A multi-cap fund with a large-cap bias
L&T India Value -2.23 5.43 11.60 5,965 1.92 Second quartile return. Higher exposure to mid- and small-caps. Scores high on concentration, turnover
Tata Equity PE 0.31 7.74 10.98 4,262 1.96 Top quartile fund on active returns. Has a large-cap bias and takes concentrated bets
NIFTY 500 TRI 2.48 6.71 8.55
FOCUSED (SATELLITE)
Axis Focused 25 5.83 9.38 NA 10,399 2.01 Top performer overall and on active returns. Large-cap orientation and higher portfolio churn
SBI Focused Equity 6.03 9.21 13.80 8,962 1.88 Top quartile performer. Takes high mid- and small-cap exposure. Has large cash holdings
Motilal Oswal Focused 25 3.58 6.36 NA 1,199 2.28 Large-cap-oriented. Performance up in last one year. Low standard deviation and portfolio churn
NIFTY 500 TRI 2.48 6.71 8.55
ELSS (CORE)
Aditya Birla Sun Life Tax Relief 96 2.27 6.61 10.13 10,101 1.92 High-conviction multi-cap portfolio. Takes equal exposure in large- and mid-caps with some small-cap too
IDFC Tax Advantage (ELSS) -1.29 4.11 10.02 1,920 2.12 Has highest small-cap exposure, with second quartile active returns. Has low stock and sector concentration
Invesco India Tax Plan 4.62 6.95 11.68 997 2.41 Top quartile performer. Large-cap-oriented with concentrated portfolio and high portfolio churn
Tata India Tax Savings 1.47 7.41 NA 1,855 2.31 Large-cap oriented. Top top quartile performer over five, seven, 10 years. Near-term stress on returns
NIFTY 500 TRI 2.48 6.71 8.55
H Y B R I D
AGGRESSIVE HYBRID (CORE)
Canara Robeco Equity Hybrid 6.15 7.78 11.06 3,041 2.00 Equity portfolio has large-cap orientation. Debt part managed for liquidity and safety
DSP Equity & Bond 3.96 7.11 9.51 5,661 1.91 Multi-cap with large-cap bias. Debt part actively managed for duration with some exposure to AA papers
SBI Equity Hybrid 5.51 7.63 10.67 30,192 1.63 Top on active returns. Large-cap focus. Manages debt actively for duration, has some exposure to AA papers
CRISIL HYBRID 35+65 - AGGRESSIVE INDEX 6.14 8.56 9.29
CONSERVATIVE HYBRID (SATELLITE)

BNP Paribas Conservative Hybrid 6.68 6.95 8.42 229 1.94 AAA and sovereign bond portfolio with some good quality AA papers. Large-cap-oriented equity portfolio
Canara Robeco Conservative Hybrid 5.50 6.82 7.93 285 2.22 Debt portfolio of AAA and sovereign bond portfolio. MD of two-three years. Equity portfolio is large-cap-oriented
IDFC Regular Savings 4.67 6.52 8.30 177 2.27 Actively managed debt part for duration with mostly AAA papers and G-secs; equity has large-cap focus
CRISIL HYBRID 85+15 - CONSERVATIVE INDEX 8.29 9.43 9.05
#
I N T E R N A T I O N A L
Franklin India Feeder - Franklin U.S. Opportunities 24.51 15.84 NA 1,844 1.54 Invests in Franklin US Opportunities Fund, which invests in US firms. Rupee appreciation can hurt returns
ICICI Prudential Global Stable Equity Fund 7.00 6.49 NA 87 1.30 Invests in well-known global companies listed on US stock exchange with minimum market cap of $4 billion
ICICI Prudential US Bluechip Equity 17.01 13.15 NA 692 2.60 FoF invests in Nordea 1-Global Stable Equity Fund, which invests in global firms with stable growth, low risk
S&P INTERNATIONAL TOTAL RETURN NET INDEX na na na
1-year return 3-year return 5-year return Corpus Total expense

D E B T (in %) (in %) (in %) (₹ cr) ratio (in %)
SHORT DURATION (CORE)
IDFC Bond Fund - Short Term 11.01 8.27 8.23 12,716 0.80 Conservatively managed for credit and duration; MD of two years. Good liquidity, asset quality features
L&T Short Term Bond 10.90 8.22 8.19 4,694 0.75 100% AAA and sovereign bond portfolio. MD between one and two years. Top quartile on active returns
SBI Short Term Debt 10.82 8.01 8.32 14,777 0.84 High on credit quality, has less than 10% exposure to AA papers. MD between 1.5 and 2.5 years
CRISIL SHORT TERM BOND FUND INDEX 11.18 8.41 8.60
CORPORATE BOND (CORE)

Aditya Birla Sun Life Corporate Bond 11.95 8.97 9.10 20,061 0.45 AAA-rated portfolio. Structured to generate 75% returns from accruals. MD between 1.5 and three years
ICICI Prudential Corporate Bond 11.48 8.51 8.67 15,799 0.59 No securities with credit rating less than AAA. The portfolio is actively managed for yield and spread
Kotak Corporate Bond 10.41 8.61 8.57 4,607 0.61 MD of one to 1.5 years. Only AAA papers. Strict internal caps on individual issuers. Manages liquidity well
CRISIL CORPORATE BOND COMPOSITE INDEX 12.89 8.42 9.34
1-month 3-month 1-year return Corpus Total expense

LIQUID (FACILITATOR) return (in %) return (in %) (in %) (₹ cr) ratio (in %)
DSP Liquidity 0.25 0.91 5.17 9,668 0.22 Has internal requirement to maintain adequate part of portfolio in papers that can be easily liquidated
IDFC Cash 0.25 0.92 5.01 11,912 0.19 Conservative credit, liquidity management, high exposure to some bonds, good liquidity and asset quality
Kotak Liquid 0.26 0.99 5.14 36,040 0.25 Conservative liquidity management to meet redemptions, adequate liquidity and asset quality scores
CRISIL LIQUID FUND INDEX 0.32 1.14 5.56
ULTRA-SHORT (FACILITATOR)
Kotak Savings 0.46 2.14 7.14 9,189 0.76 Around 85% of portfolio AAA rated and around 10% in AA. Liquidity is carefully managed
L&T Ultra Short Term 0.35 1.90 6.92 1,960 0.53 Good liquidity and asset quality scores. Lower exposure to sensitive sectors
SBI Magnum Ultra Short Duration 0.43 2.05 7.27 9,750 0.49 Strict internal limits on liquidity, credit quality. Small exposure to AA papers. Larger exposure in top holdings
CRISIL ULTRA SHORT TERM DEBT INDEX 0.49 1.90 7.18
LOW DURATION (FACILITATOR)

Canara Robeco Savings 0.50 2.53 7.67 1,049 0.55 Very good liqudity and asset quality scores. Negligible exposure to AA and lower rated bonds
IDFC Low Duration 0.55 2.77 8.31 4,575 0.50 Actively manages MD. Highest score in asset quality, liquidity and exposure to sensitive sectors
SBI Magnum Low Duration 0.59 2.66 8.13 8,548 1.05 Steady MD at middle of allowed band. Adequate liquidity and asset quality scores. Less than 10% non-AAA papers
CRISIL LOW DURATION DEBT INDEX 0.66 2.75 8.39
Returns as on 29 July 2020 While core is the heart of your portfolio, facilitator funds help execute money decisions and satellite funds give your portfolio the extra edge. Compiled by Sunita Abraham Graphic by Paras Jain/Mint
There are three schemes in each category except in equity large-cap and ELSS categories, which have four schemes each because the third and fourth schemes were separated by a negligible margin and we felt both deserved to be included; #For satellite portfolio;
NA: Not available because the fund has not completed the requisite period; na: Data was not available; MD: modified duration; Growth option in regular plans has been used; Data up to 31 March 2020 considered for evaluation; data from Quantix by CRISIL Source: Mint research

MUMBAI VIEWS
OUR VIEW MY VIEW | PARALLAX VIEW

AP
The US is belatedly facing up to

the ugly truth about shifty China
Secretary of state Pompeo admits that America’s had a misguided China strategy for half a century
Pillsbury put it, “the greatest outpouring Beijing Television produced a documen-
of American scientific and technological tary, Attack America, in which, over the
expertise in history”. The next year, the video of the jets crashing into the World
US granted China most-favoured-nation Trade Centre, the narrator says: “This
status as a trading partner. Wrote Pills- is the America the whole world has
bury in 2015: “There is no available wanted to see. Blood debts have been
accounting of all the activities funded by repaid with blood.” Yet, a mere three
the US government to aid China. Not months after 9/11, China achieved its
only is America funding its chief oppo- dream of admission to the World Trade
SANDIPAN DEB nent, it doesn’t even keep track of how Organization (WTO), principally due to
is a former editor of ‘Financial Express’, and much is being spent to do it.” strong US support. Since then, it has
founder-editor of ‘Open’ and ‘Swarajya’ In the 1980s, the Ronald Reagan repeatedly flouted WTO rules.
magazines administration funded and trained new The People’s Liberation Army’s
Chinese state-run institutes specializ- (PLA’s) cyber warfare division, Unit
ing in high-tech areas, from genetic 6139, has been found to be hacking into
The monopoly power

engineering to intelligent robotics. US vital US computer systems for years,
O
n 23 July, US secretary of state companies began investing in China, from its department of defence to
Mike Pompeo delivered a agreeing (or being coerced) to transfer Google and AT&T, and stealing data
speech that is the clearest often-proprietary technology to and technology. The J-20, the PLA’s
admission ever by a top US official that Chinese firms. Wall Street bankers answer to the American stealth fighter
that Facebook wields his country’s leadership had followed a

wrong China strategy for half a century.
And to say this, Pompeo chose the
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and
grew mega-rich while raising billions of
dollars for Chinese companies, many of
them dubious, with very few following
transparent accounting norms.
jet F-35, may have been developed with
F-35 designs stolen from the US. But
when Chinese President Xi Jinping
visited the US in 2015, Barack Obama
Museum as a venue. President Nixon Americans paid no attention to the agreed to Chinese demands not to raise
began the current US-China relation- fact that Chinese textbooks continued the issues of intellectual property theft
Mark Zuckerberg’s defence against charges of dominance may have held good under old ship in 1971, after 22 years of hostility. to portray the US as a hegemon that, for and the PLA’s cyber attacks.
Pompeo said that US policymakers more than 150 years, had tried to stifle Last month, Christopher Wray,
norms of competition, but was flimsy in the context of how power is exercised in this era had presumed for decades “that as China’s rise. Or that the Chinese director of the Federal Bureau of Inves-
China became more prosperous, it National Museum in Beijing, where the tigation, described Chinese stealing of
would open up, it would become freer CCP tells its version of Chinese history, scientific research from US industry
at home, and indeed present less of a consistently shows America as an evil and academia as “theft on a scale so
E
ver since Thomas Paine’s 1776 Com- a free chat service after acquiring it in 2014. An threat abroad”. They had been totally power. The list of anti-China US presi- massive that it represents one of the
mon Sense effaced America’s eternal internal 2012 email that spoke of a need to mistaken. “And if we don’t act now,” dents showcased range from Abraham largest transfers of wealth in human
said Pompeo, “ultimately the Chinese Lincoln (who surely didn’t have much history”. In one case, Chinese scientist
allegiance to a single man, one with a “neutralize” Instagram, which he bought soon Communist Party (CCP) will…subvert time to think about China) to—incredi- Hongjin Tan alone was found to have
crown playing halo, the US has held after, was dismissed as benign. Also, he argued, the rules-based order that our societies bly—Nixon. The US ignored Document stolen over $1 billion worth of trade
the idea of a monopoly in govern- technology was not a field given to dominance: have worked so hard to build. If we bend 9, a 2013 CCP position paper that stated secrets from his employer, a petroleum
ance to be the antithesis of liberty. It “History shows that if we don’t keep innovat- the knee now, our children’s children that the belief that “freedom, democ- company, before getting caught.
has fought for this cause even overseas, at least ing, someone will replace every company here may be at the mercy of the CCP, whose racy and human rights are universal” is But none of this is a great revelation
actions are the primary challenge today an attack on the foundations of the CCP, to any China watcher. These facts have
on paper, as it did against Soviet autocracy in today.” The innovative part of the deposition in the free world.” and “promoting Western constitutional been known for years, if not decades.
the Cold War. It has long viewed oligarchs as was his attempt to present Facebook as a cham- Secretary of state Henry Kissinger democracy” is an “attempt to under- The only mystery is why the US govern-
villains. Today, even as the US economy suffers pion of America’s tech war with China. The visited China in 1971, and soon after, the mine… the socialism-with-Chinese- ment took so long to wake up. As Pom-
its worst quarterly crash on record, with a third fastest-growing app in the US was TikTok, he US began providing financial and mili- characteristics system of governance”. peo put it, “Perhaps we were naive
of last April-June’s output wiped out by covid said, and of the globe’s top 10 tech firms, many tary assistance. In the late 1970s, Deng Soon after the terror attacks of 9 Sep- about China’s virulent strain of commu-
Xiaoping realized that to prosper, China tember 2001, The Telegraph of London nism, or triumphalist after our victory
spasms in the second quarter of 2020, US law- were now Chinese. So there was no guarantee needed to obtain knowledge and skills reported that “the Chinese state-run in the Cold War, or cravenly capitalist,
makers are mulling intervention against a that the web would stay free and open, or that from the US, the key being technology. propaganda machine is… producing or hoodwinked by Beijing’s talk of a
brisk accumulation of wealth and clout by its US values would win. In 1979, Deng and President Jimmy books, films and video games glorifying ‘peaceful rise’.” Whatever the reason, it
Big Tech companies. Last week, a panel of Dominance of the internet, however, is best Carter signed agreements that led to the the strikes as a humbling blow against is good news for the world that America
legislators asked the chiefs of Facebook, Ama- judged neither by market share nor usage US providing China, as analyst Michael an arrogant nation”. The State-owned is finally facing the truth about Beijing.
zon, Apple and Alphabet, Google’s parent, to charges, but by the authority that apps wield
respond to charges of their being “gatekeep- over users. While Apple and Alphabet may
ers” to the digital economy. This was hours have control of our interface with mobile
before the four reported robust earnings amid phones, Facebook’s platforms have an edge in
all the gloom. Given Facebook’s social media keeping our eyeballs riveted. Thanks to our
heft, the spotlight was on its boss Mark Zucker- need for common space and its network www.livemint.com New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh*, Pune* Thursday, August 5, 2010 Vol.4 No.185 Rs. 3.00 32 PAGES
berg, a veteran of such hearings. He was grilled effects, WhatsApp has grown into an essential A new career option
IN DETAIL:
emerges in Bihar >12
NATION: Drug regulator seeks inquiry into
last year over Libra, his e-currency project, and utility with captive users. It can pitch us any-
Bhopal clinical trial >3
MARKETS: Reserve Bank set to introduce
credit default swaps >3
EXCLUSIVE PARTNER
FAN GANG: On the key to correcting China’s
external imbalances >31
hauled up over a “data leak” in 2018. This time, thing, be it a payment tool or an e-currency. SENSEX 18,217.44 Æ 102.61
Govt restores
NIFTY 5,467.85 Æ 28.30
NO CONSENSUS
DOLLAR Rs46.17 ® EURO Rs60.69 æ Re0.23
Panel to pick
GOLD Rs18,030 Æ Rs125
QUICK EDIT
OIL $82.23 Æ $0.45
he seemed to acquit his company rather easily, Moreover, our attention is not all it has, but
$25,000 floor
pay for foreign
IT employees
Has GST been successor to
Ratan Tata
Weapon
safety
derailed again? T
B Y S ATISH J OHN he world knows them
satish.j@livemint.com as “weapons of mass
B Y S AHIL M AKKAR ························· destruction”. So should
though only under US anti-monopoly rules of also vast volumes of our personal data, a highly Monopoly is a
MUMBAI
sahil.m@livemint.com India toy with them?
·························
NEW DELHI
T he Tata group on Wednes-
day announced the setting
This question has
rightfully plagued India’s
T he government revised its

policy on the employment of States oppose draft
RAMESH PATHANIA/MINT HINDUSTAN TIMES up of a five-member commit-
tee to decide on a “suitable
regulators. The Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) in 2007
overseas nationals for the third
time in five months, reinstating
constitutional successor” for Ratan Tata, the
septuagenarian chairman of
brought out guidelines for
credit-default swaps (CDS),
a minimum salary, but only for amendments; finance Tata Sons Ltd, the main hold- the derivatives that sank
those hired by information tech- minister Mukherjee ing company for India’s oldest AIG. But with the crisis in
the industrial era. If these get updated to the valuable resource that could be abused even
nology (IT) firms. conglomerate. full swing, it postponed
According to the clarification says time running out The selection committee will introduction.
terrible thing, till

issued by the home ministry to comprise five members, in- The central bank faced
all stakeholders, including the B Y L IZ M ATHEW & cluding an external member, ample criticism then for
ministries of foreign affairs, la- S ANJIV S HANKARAN who will eventually decide on that decision, labelled as it
bour and IT, the $25,000 ························· a successor to Tata, due to re- is as a conservative
(Rs11.55 lakh) minimum annual NEW DELHI tire “only” at the end of De- institution obstructing
wage floor has been reinstated
for those working in IT and IT-
T he roll-out of the goods
and services tax (GST)
cember 2012. “The committee
has commenced its work,”
modern finance.
But we think RBI did the
information age, as they should, Facebook for politics, as the Cambridge Analytica scandal
enabled services (ITeS). seems headed for another Tata Sons said in a late evening right thing then. The
“Foreigners can apply for jobs delay as state governments said statement. instrument, which insures
in the IT sector provided Indian on Wednesday that the constitu- AFP HINDUSTAN TIMES The group declined to name a bond against default,
firms pay each of them a mini- tional changes recommended by the five members on the com- needed more study. And
you have it.

mum annual salary of $25,000,” the finance ministry to facilitate mittee. RBI has done the right
a senior home ministry official the introduction of the levy were However, a senior official thing in bringing it back: It
told Mint. “There is no salary lopsided and unfair to states. from Tata Sons said the com- put forth fresh draft
cap for any other sector like “It’s not going to be intro- mittee will consist of one guidelines on Wednesday,
power and steel. We would grant duced by April and it looks like member each from the Sir now that it’s better aware
could be back in the dock. showed. It may be true that any move to hobble
visa in other sectors as per the we’ll continue with VAT (value- Dorabji Tata Trust and the Ra- of the risks.
guidelines issued by the ministry added tax) even in 2011-12,” tan Tata Trust, the two charita- For all the flak it gets,
of labour and employment.” T.M. Thomas Isaac, Kerala’s fi- ble bodies that own a substan- RBI has consistently
The cap on foreign workers nance minister (FM), said after tial stake in Tata Sons, which approached financial
has been set at five for smaller Wednesday’s meeting of the em- controls the flagship firms sector reform with caution.
organizations and 20 for bigger powered panel of state FMs. among the $71 billion (Rs3.28 CDS can indeed help make
ones, the official said on condi- Even as state FMs held forth trillion) group of 98 compa- India’s credit markets more
tion of anonymity. The decision against the proposed constitu- nies. The other two members robust. But they should be
was taken last week after consul- tional amendments in a closed- handled with care.
In defence of his social media empire, Zuck- it could work to China’s advantage. Yet, on the
tations with the various stake- door meeting, Union finance TURN TO BACK PAGE ®
holders, he added. Mint has re- minister Pranab Mukherjee At odds: (clockwise from top left) finance minister Pranab Mukherjee;
viewed the revised policy. sought to link the introduction Narendra Modi, M. Karunanidhi and V.S. Achuthanandan, chief
Indian missions abroad can of GST with reining in inflation ministers of Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, respectively.
grant employment visas to the and urged all political parties to
extent of 1% of the total em- back the levy’s introduction. draft of the constitutional pressed its reservations.
ployed at the concerned Indian “The empowered committee amendments needed to intro- Some participants indicated
RU P E RT MU R D OC H
firm, up to a maximum of 20. If of state finance ministers, they duce GST. The draft was op- that GST could become hostage
1% works out to less than five, are meeting,” he said in Parlia- posed by several states, includ- to the rivalry between the Con-
erberg resorted to an old trope, arguing that it evidence so far, Facebook can hardly project
that will be the maximum num- ment. “If we can do that (intro- ing those run by the Congress. gress and the BJP.
ber of overseas workers allowed. duce GST), not only petroleum According to Asim Dasgupta, Tax experts say the situation
These rules only apply to the products, but also the entire West Bengal’s FM, the states can be turned around.
employment of overseas nation- range of products can be cov- have agreed to GST “in princi- “There is certainly some de-
als locally by Indian companies ered will be under (the new tax) ple”, but oppose the infringe- gree of despondency on part of
and not to hires at their foreign mechanism and it will be a win- ment of their autonomy. the Centre on whether it (the
locations. win game. Time is running out.” The primary complaint of the constitutional amendment) can
“If the Indian firm wants to Former finance minister P. states was against the clause that be salvaged,” said Satya Poddar,
hire more than 20 foreign na- Chidambaram had originally set provides the Union finance min- partner at audit and consulting
did not dominate usage markets, nor did it itself as an online warrior for a free world. All
tionals, its request will be re- 1 April this year as the deadline ister veto power over all key as- firm Ernst and Young. “It can be
ferred to the labour ministry in to roll out GST, but the Centre pects, including rates, thereby salvaged by allowing it some ad-
Delhi,” said another home min- and the states could not agree on setting the stage for tough nego- equate flexibility on both Central Cowed down: A still from the Chlormint chewing gum advertisement.
istry official, adding that the 1% the architecture. In the last Un- tiations with states that are un- veto and empowerment of states
rule will not apply to the IT and ion budget, Mukherjee reset the willing to let go of all autonomy to levy some additional taxes.” PLAYING SAFE
ITeS sector. “The labour minis- deadline to 1 April next year. over taxation. GST’s constitutional amend-
try will then check and verify
whether such nature of expertise
is available in the country and
GST is India’s most ambitious
indirect tax reform, aiming to
stitch together a common mar-
“The special power conferred
on the Union finance minister to
virtually veto any majority deci-
ments need the support of two-
thirds of the members present
and voting in both Houses of
No cows harmed while
overcharge users. In the US, he said, Facebook in all, if a monopoly in the arena of politics is a writing this story
take a final call.” ket, which is expected to trans- sion of the council gives a one- Parliament. In addition, legisla-
late into lower prices and even- sided preferential treatment to tive assemblies of at least half
TURN TO PAGE 2® tually higher revenue for all gov- the Union government, which is the states need to approve the
ernments. neither fair nor equitable,” said amendment.
To meet the April deadline, K. Anbazhagan, Tamil Nadu’s The resistance to the draft B Y G OURI S HAH The ad shows cows being fed
Mukherjee, in July, watered FM. Anbazhagan’s Dravida amendment has undermined gouri.s@livemint.com Chlormint and being milked
down his ministry’s desire to roll Munnetra Kazhagam is a part of Mukherjee’s attempt to bridge ························· for ice cream. Even a disclaim-
out a simple GST architecture the United Progressive Alliance the trust deficit between the MUMBAI er that this was a “symbolic re-
T
got less than a tenth of every advertising dollar, threat to liberty, so too in the domain of busi-
that would eliminate the discre- government at the Centre. Centre and the states, which had he team at advertising presentation” didn’t seem to
tionary power exercised by gov- Gujarat, a Bharatiya Janata surfaced in the last fiscal over agency McCann Erickson render it immune to the but-
ernments. His formula envisages Party (BJP)-ruled state, has all compensation to states after re- (India) Pvt. Ltd thought of it’s-offensive-to-us problem.
two separate rates for goods and along been supportive of the duction of Central sales tax. many things while creating its Statutory disclaimers on fi-
another rate for services in the idea of GST. On Wednesday, According to Isaac, the states popular ad for Chlormint nancial products, alcoholic
first year (2011-12). Over the state FM Saurabh Patel signalled will meet Mukherjee in a fort- chewing gum, but it never im- drinks and tobacco aren’t new;
next two years, depending on tax a possible delay in the process. night to discuss the constitution- agined that the commercial nor are disclaimers on ads
collections, the tax rates will be “It’ll take at least a few months al amendments. would be “offensive to cows”. featuring dangerous stunts
both lowered and compressed to to finalize the views of the states Dasgupta continued to be up- Yet, in another instance that performed by experts (because
had a rival in Apple’s iMessage that carried ness. Will the US uphold or let this principle
one: 16%. Many states have op- on the proposed constitutional beat about the outcome. The highlights a growing trend some unenlightened person in
posed the idea of uniform rates amendments,” he said. states trust Mukherjee and they where ads run afoul of some
for all commodities. Bahujan Samaj Party-ruled can “do a very quick job” to individual, political party, reli- TURN TO PAGE 2®
Mukherjee also circulated Uttar Pradesh, which has sup- solve the problems, he said. gious body, or activist group,
among state representatives a ported GST so far, also ex- liz.m@livemint.com the Chlormint ad attracted the ALSO SEE
ire of the Amritsar unit of the
Mint is also available for Rs5.50 with Hindustan Times under a combo offer Shiv Sena. >OurView: Sex is fine; humour isn’t >P30
more messages, and had turned WhatsApp into down? The stakes seem high for everyone.
MY VIEW | MODERN TIMES
Why the country’s new plan for education is smart

career of any professional politician or physical territory and not people’s minds. science and maths did with their lives. In school not as something esoteric, but as
MANU JOSEPH bureaucrat. There are evidently some cul- After how many years of being useful to a reality, a vocation is what a person is best something that is in line with the merging of
tural motives in the policy, but they do not society does a foreign language become suited to do, and what one truly wants to do. education and “vocational training”.
run too deep. The guidelines are a reminder native? Maybe Indian cultural figures are The most extraordinary aspect of the new The liberation from education: The pro-
that the instinct of most humans, including beginning to accept an answer—“around education policy is the respect it accords var- posed flexibility of college students to leave
Indians, is to make their tribe better. now”. That’s what I see in the feeble and ious intelligent activities like carpentry and college midway, pursue a job and return to
E
very time I see a new underpass, I get a Here are some reasons why I like the new ambiguous recommendation to use regional plumbing, and their being ushered into the resume education is not only intelligent, but
bit emotional. An underpass does not education policy: languages as a medium of mainstream. also one of the most humane ideas India has
win elections. Why do politicians do The vernacular-speaking Indian’s quarrel instruction in primary I am reminded of the bad tried. Unlike the influential middle class,
these little good things? Why do bureaucrats with the English language is easing: Among schools. What is left unsaid We need no luck of some boys I grew up most Indians have a bad start to their lives.
do their jobs? The loudest Indian lament is the significant recommendations of the pol- is the inevitability of with. They were great Their families and finances are unsteady.
that the government is lousy at its job; but icy is that the medium of instruction for pri- English beyond that phase. longer lose mechanics but were made They give up the idea of college or suffer
the greatest mystery is why some good mary school children be their mother The eclipse of English in to feel dumb and useless through a three- or four-year entrapment in
things happen in India in the first place. tongue or the regional language where the early education is actually a
millions of because they could not pursuit of a degree. Giving them the freedom
is a journalist, and a novelist,

You may say an underpass generates illicit
cash down a whole chain of practical men. I
school is located. While this is not manda-
tory, it may appear, at first glance, to be an
good idea for a majority of
Indian students. In the
childhoods to spell “mechanic” in English
or take a “rhombus” seri-
to step out of college when circumstances
demand, and later pick up from where they
most recently of ‘Miss Laila,
Armed And Dangerous’
am a big admirer of self-interest as the most
influential force of good, but still I don’t
extension of that tiring war that provincial
politicians and cultural figures wage against
lives of upscale kids,
English is in the air. As a
a poor analysis ously. We have lost millions
of childhoods to a poor
left off, will transform millions of lives.
But what would have been truly coura-
think greed is a complete theory that fully English. But I see this as a truce, and even a result, it becomes their of the meaning analysis of the meaning of geous of India is—as this column had once
explains the origins of good deeds. Maybe, concession of our culture hawks that English dominant language. But a intelligence and education. argued—to altogether remove the require-
like many other things in India, nobody fully is too useful to be denied to students beyond majority of Indian children of intelligence By bringing “vocation” into ment of a degree for non-technical jobs and
knows why they do what they do, even when their early formative years. struggle to pick up English the mainstream, India has, all aptitude tests. Millions of young Indians
it is good. The mystery lingers not only in The suave Westernised Indian has in the “good” schools at least in theory, taken an who do not wish to pursue knowledge are
small things, like underpasses, but also in receded in public life, and the non-English where their ambitious parents put them. As opportunity to liberate itself from the dark trapped in meaningless education, wasting
some major policies. The country’s new edu- speaking Indian is rising. Even so, the guard- a result, they struggle to grasp the basics of ages of colonial education. the best years of their lives, purely to obtain
cation policy, for instance. ians, champions and beneficiaries of Indian all subjects, as we witnessed with “slum chil- Until now in India, what was considered a piece of paper. If the young are gainfully
National guidelines, for the first time in culture have faced a problem—their cultural dren” in our own school days. formal school education was separate from employed and they receive love for the
over three decades, to transform how Indi- wares, languages especially, have not been India accepts the true meaning of “voca- what was considered vocational. The new actual work they do, instead of pursuing
ans learn has such a long arc and its impact of use to the young. Without being of mate- tion”: When I was a boy, “vocation” meant policy attempts to change that. I see the charlatan degrees, cultural hawks may note,
so widespread, that it does not affect the rial use, a cultural colonizer will merely get something bleak that students who failed in introduction of computer coding in primary half of all activism will cease to exist.
VIEWS MONDAY, 3 AUGUST 2020

MUMBAI 13
MY VIEW | THE INTERSECTION M I N T C U R AT O R

GETTY IMAGES
A national vaccination campaign

ought to be run like an election
Inadequate cold storage and transport facilities necessitate electoral-scale preparation to vaccinate the country’s multitudes
PTI
Some species of male anglerfish fuse themselves with their partner’s body
A species that literally practises sexual union
B orn into an inky deep sea world, the males of certain anglerfish species exist
solely to sniff out their mates. Upon locating his lady (who might be up to 60
times his size), the male will nip at her belly. His mouth then dissolves in a sludge
of chemicals that physically fuse him to his bioluminescent bride, forever commin-
NITIN PAI gling his blood and tissues with hers. This grotesque ritual, called sexual parasitism,
is co-founder and director of The Takshashila looks just as bizarre as it sounds. To an immunologist, though, the aesthetics of this
Institution, an independent centre for research macabre form of unholy matrimony aren’t actually the weirdest part. Two geneti-
and education in public policy cally distinct animals, no matter how much in love, shouldn’t be able to merge their
flesh without serious consequences, said Dr. Thomas Boehm of the Max Planck
Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics.
The New York Times
S
ometime over the next 12 months, a vac- This map can alter our celestial understanding
cine against covid-19 is likely to be avail-
able. The task of administering it to few
hundred million people—perhaps even
over a billion—so that India acquires
O ur universe is much more “homogenous” than would be expected, scientists
have said after producing a detailed map of matter in the cosmos. The findings
could suggest that there is something deeply strange about our understanding of
herd immunity appears daunting. That the universe, which could require a new kind of physics or fundamentally alter our
is, until you realise that India routinely carries out a understanding of dark matter. The new results come from the Kilo-Degree Survey,
task of the same scale and similar complexity fairly or KiDS, which uses the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope
regularly. I’m referring to elections. If you think to map the distribution of matter across our universe. So far, it has charted roughly
about it, a national vaccination programme is like a 5% of the extragalactic sky, from an analysis of 31 million galaxies that are as much
general election, but at much lower temperatures. as 10 billion light years away. Producing such a detailed map allows scientists to
It is a good idea to approach it as one because our examine the “clumpiness” of how galaxies are distributed through the cosmos.
elections involve a combination of administrative The Independent
machinery, mindsets and behaviours that are ideal
for a rapid national vaccination programme.
In conducting elections, the Election Commis- The Sahara’s advance is escalating water wars
sion assembles an elaborate administrative setup
from existing governmental capacity for a single
purpose, performs the task on a tight schedule,
and then quickly disbands the setup after it is
W ater has long been at the centre of conflict in the northern regions of Mali,
in West Africa... “One can travel tens or even hundreds of kilometers without
seeing a single water facility. And when there is water, it is not of good quality,” says
done. It coordinates departments across various Almahady Cissé, the head of Cri de Cœur, a local NGO working in northern Mali.
levels of governments to schedule, organize and As the Sahara Desert advances south, finding water is becoming increasingly urgent
secure elections, and communicates with citizens to ease the strain on local community tensions. Water is the source of many con-
in a fairly transparent manner. It has systems to flicts in across the Sahara, within nations and between them. Here in Mali, local
enumerate voters, arrange for polling stations people and NGOs are digging a network of micro-wells in an effort to reduce ten-
near them, inform them of the time and place of sions, provide for local communities and keep up with shifting populations from
voting, and identify those who have voted. A lot of internal displacement.
what it does for elections is more stringent than BBC
what is needed for vaccination. It would be good
to have vaccination stations as close to home as
polling booths, queues of manageable length, and offering them other inducements. A lot of this hap- work (eVIN) in 2017, over 21 Indian states have Crustaceans that can reduce plastic to nanobits
priority accorded to senior citizens. But identifi- pens because there’s a lot of money flowing more efficient public vaccine distribution systems.
cation requirements for vaccination are less strict
and the entire process need not be completed in a
single day. The same indelible ink can be used to
around, which will not happen for vaccination. Yet
the desire on the part of Indians to get vaccinated
might compensate for the absence of competitive
The latest figures are unavailable, but the govern-
ment intends to cover all states, with over 27,000
vaccine storage points in the country, by year-end.
S mall crustaceans can fragment microplastics into pieces smaller than a cell
within 96 hours, a study has shown. Until now, plastic fragmentation has been
largely attributed to slow physical processes such as sunlight and wave action,
mark those who’ve received a dose, something political spending. The eVIN has not only been able to make the stock- which can take years and even decades. Environmental scientists at University Col-
that will be especially useful if the vaccine This much is similar, but unlike elections, a vac- ing, cold storage and distribution far more effi- lege Cork (UCC) in Ireland studying the 2cm-long amphipod Gammarus duebeni
requires two. cination programme needs a robust cold chain. cient, but has been able to reduce avoidable wast- found that microplastic beads were not only ingested but were also fragmented
India’s administrative performance is often Many of the vaccines under development and trials age of vaccine doses. incredibly quickly into nanoplastics. Because these fragments are small enough
inversely proportional to the time assigned for the require deep freezing or refrigeration. This is a This is the right time for the Union government to pass through cell membranes, it is thought they are likely to be potentially more
task. We do great events, very effective campaigns, challenge in India, where cold storage and trans- to institute the administrative setup for covid vac- damaging to wildlife than microplastics of up to 5mm in size. Dr Alicia Mateos-Cár-
and fairly good missions, but are awful at “business port facilities are not widely available and electric- cine distribution. The health ministry runs the denas... said that her findings were “completely unexpected.”
as usual”. India’s elections are outstanding, the ity supply is patchy. According to a study con- world’s largest immunization programme, reach- The Guardian
Swachh Bharat Mission was declared a success, but ducted by AT Kearney and two Indian pharmaceu- ing over 27 million infants and 30 million pregnant
our public hospitals and government schools are tical trade associations, on average, supply chains women every year. Against covid-19, India will
shoddy. In other words, the shorter the time frame, can account for as much as 25% of the cost of have to vaccinate more than ten times that number Can’t get your digital detox? Try plant parenting
the better the outcome. It follows that if we want an goods, compared to 10% for their best-in-class in the space of months. For this, we need some-
effective vaccination programme, it is better run
like an election than any of the health ministry’s
regular immunisation programmes.
international counterparts. It points out that “high
operating expenses in cold chain fleets are imped-
ing vendors from investing in newer technology.”
thing like the Election Commission that would be
just as powerful, cross-cutting, single-minded and
temporary. As we wait for a vaccine, India should
B ought some greenery to spruce up your home during the circuit breaker? You
are in good company. Patricia Law, founder of social media agency Goodstuph,
bought more than 50 plants during Singapore’s two-month shutdown of non-es-
India does well at elections not merely because According to the Union health ministry’s Immuni- urgently extend and strengthen the eVIN and sential services and workplaces. Law, who is in her late 30s, started collecting plants
of administrative genius, but also because the sation Technical Support Unit, cold chain equip- ensure that all storage points are equipped and last year when she bought some for her office. She says with a laugh: “I kind of
incentives of various social actors are aligned. Our ment costs were budgeted at roughly a quarter of ready. With a vaccine estimated to cost ₹1,000 per started progressively, healthily growing my collection. Then I went out of control
political leaders excel at polling booth level organi- the cost of vaccines in 2014-15, but actual spending dose, every rupee spent on infrastructure and effi- during the circuit breaker.” Plant parenting has been especially helpful during the
zation. Almost everywhere in the country, quite a was lower, perhaps because government procure- ciency would be well worth it. There are a number circuit breaker as more people spend time at home beavering in front of their com-
number of people turn up at the doors of voters, ment tends to be slow and messy. of policy issues, including prioritization, equity puters. “Tending to my plants gives me a mental break while working and these
informing them of where their booths are, encour- The good news is that thanks to the Universal and privacy, that need thoughtful deliberation and snatches of time away from the computer screen are a brief digital detox.”
aging them to turn up at the appointed time, often Immunisation Programme (UIP) and implementa- public debate. Leaving them for the last minute The Straits Times
arranging for their transport and—let’s face it— tion of the Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Net- would be a recipe for avoidable social tensions.
MY VIEW | GENERAL DISEQUILIBRIUM
Big words but little action for corporate bond markets

presentation on Indian capital markets, the corporate bond market during March- State, popularized the idea of private invest- Fund Regulatory and Development Author-
RAJRISHI SINGHAL including corporate bond markets. Conduct May averaged around ₹200,000 crore every ment in public infrastructure, based on a ity (PFRDA). Their rules mandate invest-
a search on RBI’s website and you will find month, a level not seen since 2008. public-private partnership (PPP) platform ment only in high-rated bonds, leaving out
the need for an active corporate bond mar- But will this sustain after the lockdown? and a “user-pays” revenue model. Under the a large chunk of infrastructure bonds. And
ket figuring at least once a year in some gov- Governor Das’s phraseology —“promotion PPP’s inherently lopsided structure, the no regulator is inclined to relax the rules for
ernor’s speech. of the corporate bond market” —implies that State provided most of the equity and fear of post-retirement harassment by
T
he Indian financial sector has many Multiple official reports, as well as inde- there’s still work left to be done. India’s cor- assumed all the risk, thus shielding the pri- investigative agencies.
flaws, but you cannot fault it for tenac- pendent efforts, on activating the Indian porate bond market’s pen- vate sector partner. This Other inter-regulatory turf issues could
ity. It has the ability to keep issues rele- corporate bond market dot the financial etration—or outstanding peculiarity influenced the also bedevil India’s corporate bond markets.
vant for years as works-in-progress. For landscape, outlining why it failed to take off, corporate bonds as a per- India needs financing structure of For example, the central bank’s latest
example, regulators and administrators are and offering detailed recommendations. centage of gross domestic almost all infrastructure Financial Stability Report highlights how
still debating the need for a vibrant corpo- Governor Das has valid reasons for his product—is abysmally low these markets projects, resulting in little mutual funds and insurance companies
rate bond market, years after the advent of new-found optimism. Corporate bond issu- (at around 15%), compared corporate debt issuance have emerged as large credit providers or
financial sector reforms. This topic is like a ances between March and June, according to many of its emerging
to deepen but and over-reliance on bank corporate bond investors, stepping in to fill
is consulting editor of Mint. His

seasonal migratory bird: it makes an appear-
ance at least once an year.
to RBI data, touched a record ₹246,700
crore. Of this, corporates—which means all
market peers, like Brazil
and Turkey. Das makes
that would loans. This spelt trouble for
banks since bank deposits
the gap left by credit-averse banks. Many of
these loans or bonds have gone bad, how-
Twitter handle is
@rajrishisinghal
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor
Shaktikanta Das, while addressing Confed-
manner of companies barring non-banking
financial companies (NBFCs), housing
special mention of the cor-
porate bond market
require better are essentially short-term
in nature but infrastructure
ever, creating systemic instability. But their
sectoral regulators do not have the institu-
eration of Indian Industry members finance companies and financial institu- because it is a key catalyst regulatory loans are necessarily long- tional capacity to regulate or supervise
recently, said: “Promotion of the corporate tions—alone raised ₹111,787 crore, or over for infrastructure finance, term. A robust corporate these credit actions. They are also unlikely
bond market, securitization to enhance mar- 45% of the total issuances. NBFCs raised which he sees as crucial for cohesion bond market would have to allow RBI to intervene. Similarly, com-
ket-based solutions to the problem of ₹78,964 crore, or 32%. Much of this an economic revival. But allowed agents with long- mercial banks are normally regulated by
stressed assets, and appropriate pricing and increased activity, of course, is also due to we could still be talking term liabilities (such as RBI, but their actions in the corporate bond
collection of user charges should continue to RBI’s robust liquidity enhancement meas- about infrastructure finance and corporate insurance companies and pension funds) to market are regulated by Sebi. And, given the
receive priority in policy attention.” Sounds ures, which include providing liquidity for bond markets for some time to come, unless invest in assets of matching tenures. lack of coordination among regulators, this
familiar? Successive RBI governors have targeted instruments. This even allowed for the existing mistakes are corrected, an exer- But these institutions are overseen by could well be the ground zero of future sys-
repeated similar words and tried hard to secondary market trading in, and primary cise that would have to include fixing the separate sectoral regulators—such as the temic instability.
breathe life into a moribund corporate bond market issuance of, lower-rated instruments basic structure of infrastructure projects. Securities and Exchange Board of India A corporate bond market might be what
market. In June 2019, former RBI deputy from smaller NBFCs and micro-finance In-vogue fiscal economics of the 1990s, (Sebi), the Insurance Regulatory and Devel- the doctor ordered, but it still seems some
governor Viral Acharya also made a public institutions. Secondary market trading in combined with a near bankruptcy of the opment Authority (IRDA) and the Pension distance away.
MUMBAI, NEW DELHI, BENGALURU, KOLKATA, CHENNAI, AHMEDABAD, HYDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE* VOL. 3 NO. 186 Rs 6.00
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DON’T MISS
Panel on labour suggests social TWITTERVERSE
protection for informal workers

Anand Mahindra
@anandmahindra
Govt may rewrite In today’s world, this
tax residence rules The panel called for a framework of a model composite scheme to bring greater uniformity among states one man’s (Dr. Anthony
Covid-19 has prompted Fauci ‘s)statements can
govt to rewrite its tax affect markets more
residence rules, as a relief Gyan Varma logically linked with the database strongly than the words
measure for stranded of any political leader or
gyan.v@livemint.com for the migrant workers, including
NRIs. See Page 6
NEW DELHI construction workers and the self- central bank governor.
employed, such as street vendors,
T
he parliamentary panel so that if any such worker changes
NEP: Perfection Chandrayaan on labour has batted for location, details of the worker auto-
can be the enemy 2’s rover
universal social protec- matically gets updated in the data-
‘intact’ on
NEP 2020 leans away moon’s tion for unorganized base and portability benefits
from the bias towards surface, sector workers and has should be truly achieved,” it said.
rote, writes Anil claims proposed a blueprint for the Centre Stress has been laid on defini-
Padmanabhan. Chennai
to include gig-economy workers, tions of certain terms, as the com-
See Page 7 techie
while acknowledging rapid mittee felt that the definition of gig
bit.ly/2D2CQa0
changes in the labour market. workers needs to be more specific Piyush Goyal
The parliamentary panel, which and that of platform workers needs @PiyushGoyal
submitted its report to Lok Sabha to be expanded. World’s largest phone
speaker Om Birla on Thursday, “It is imperative to clearly men- makers to make phones
suggested that there should be a tion the status of the gig workers worth ₹11 trillion under
framework of a model composite and platform workers in the code production linked
scheme to bring about greater uni- itself so as to effectively extend the incentive scheme. Make
formity among states. This should social security provision. As the in India phones are
include issues and concerns of edu- The panel took note of the recent migration of workers against the backdrop of the lockdown and said there was a definition of ‘gig workers’, given in coming for the world.
cation, health, social security, and need for a national level database for all unorganized sector workers. HT terms of all activities outside the
old age and disability pension, traditional employer-employee
UPI transactions which are necessary for living a life social security, old age, disability ees, employers, central govern- age pension,” it said. relationship, appears too broad, the
hit record high of dignity, it said in its recommen- pension,” the committee said. ment, state governments. For bet- The panel took note of the recent committee desires that the defini-
UPI-based payments dations to the National Democratic The panel also suggested ways to ter focus and efficiency, the social migration of workers against the tion of ‘gig workers’ needs to be
scaled a new peak in July Alliance (NDA) government on the bring uniformity across states on security fund for the unorganized backdrop of the lockdown to con- made more specific and unambigu-
by clocking 1.49 billion Code On Social Security, 2019. welfare schemes, tain the spread of ous,” it said.
transactions worth
₹2.90 trillion. See Page 6
“The committee is of the consid- besides expanding ROADMAP FOR GIG ECONOMY coronavirus and The Code on Social Security,
ered opinion that clear demarca- definitions of gig said there was a 2019 was introduced in the Lok
tion of areas for notification of and platform THE committee IT also suggested EMPHASIS was laid need for a national Sabha last December, but concerns Arvind Kejriwal
schemes by the central govern- workers to accom- sought the creation
of a social security
ways to bring
uniformity across
on expanding the
definitions of gig and
level database for were raised over some key provi- @ArvindKejriwal
E-health startups ment and the state governments is modate emerging fund for unorganized states on welfare all unorganized sions, which led to the Bill being
see sharp growth platform workers in
required to avoid overlapping and forms of labour sector workers schemes the panel report sector workers sent to a standing committee. The Saddened by the loss of
Healthcare startups are duplication. It is imperative to pro- market activities. and the schemes Code replaces nine laws related to lives in Punjab due to
booming during covid vide for a framework of a model “A social security they are registered social security and is focused to illicit liquor. State govt
as Indians shift online composite scheme to bring a fund for unorganized sector work- sector should be spent on the in, to ensure that in case of migra- ‘amend and consolidate the laws needs to immediately
for consultations and take necessary steps to
medicines. See Page 6
greater uniformity among states, ers and others should be set up and important categories of social pro- tion from one state to another, the relating to social security of the
which should include issues and clearly defined in the Bill stipulat- tection, hospitalization, health benefits are extended to them. employees’ and related issues. curb such mafias.
concerns of education, health, ing contributions from the employ- insurance, life insurance, and old “The database should be techno- Anuja contributed to this story.
Cong urges its leaders India, China hold talks again to scale down tensions in border area
to refrain from public Elizabeth Roche
elizabeth.r@livemint.com
troop buildup and multiple
intrusions into Indian territory
6, 22 and 30 June, and 14 July. move back to positions they
Last week, the Indian foreign held in April.”
NEW DELHI by the Chinese side along the ministry had said that disen- “In the current circumstan-
spats on social media LAC in early May, besides a vio- gagement of troops in eastern ces, the Chinese are looking for
I
ndia will focus on the com- lent clash on 15 June in the Gal- Ladakh was not yet complete, a solution without pulling out,”
plete disengagement of Chi- wan Valley that resulted in the though some progress had he added.
nese troops from the banks first casualties along the border been made, rejecting claims by Chinese troops are still
Anuja of the Pangong Tso lake and in 45 years. While the Indian China that front present in the
anuja@livemint.com other friction points in Ladakh army said 20 Indian soldiers, line forces of the The focus of talks Depsang Plains
NEW DELHI during a fresh round of military including their commanding two countries had was on complete region, Gogra or
talks on Sunday to scale down officer, were killed, China has “completed” dis- disengagement of Patrolling Point
T
he central leadership of tensions along their Line of not yet made known the casual- engagement in Chinese troops 17A and the Fin-
the Congress has sent Actual Control (LAC), a person ties on its side. most locations gers region along
from the banks
out a strong message to familiar with the matter said. Sunday’s talks also come along the border. the Pangong
party leaders on sticking to air- Senior commanders of the against the backdrop of news Srikanth Kon- of the Pangong Lake. Last month,
ing their views only on party Indian and Chinese armies met A satellite image of Galwan valley, Ladakh. China is reported to reports that China had moved dapalli, a profes- Tso lake India and China
forums and refraining from at Moldo on Sunday, on the have moved another battalion to an area adjacent to Lipulekh. another battalion to an area sor of Chinese had started a
public spats on social media, Chinese side of the LAC, he adjacent to Lipulekh, which Studies at Jawa- mutual disen-
amid the ongoing war or added. The Indian delegation A second person familiar would also talk about pulling falls between India, Nepal and harlal Nehru University, New gagement by creating a buffer
words between the old guard was led by lieutenant general with the matter said the focus of back large numbers of troops China. Lipulekh recently was Delhi, said with the statements zone along the LAC.
and younger leaders. Friction between young and Harinder Singh, commander of the Singh-Liu meet would be and weapons from rear bases shown as part of Nepal in a new from China that they have not “India agreed to the buffer
The developments have old leaders has strained Sonia the Leh-based 14 Corps, while on finalizing a framework for a along the LAC, the person map of the Himalayan country, crossed the LAC with their zones only to ensure that ten-
come against the backdrop of Gandhi-led Congress party. PTI the Chinese side was headed by “time-bound and verifiable” added. raising tensions between New present positions on the sions don’t get out of hand
Congress president Sonia major general Liu Lin, com- disengagement process from This was the fifth round of Delhi and Kathmandu. ground, “the Chinese are pre- again,” Kondapalli said, adding
Gandhi holding a meeting of of the senior leadership in the mander of the People’s Libera- all the friction points like Pang- talks between the countries at Previous rounds of senior senting us with a fait accompli”. that India would insist the Chi-
the party’s Rajya Sabha mem- Congress to guide the young tion Army’s South Xinjiang ong Tso and the Depsang the military level to defuse ten- military level talks between “This is not acceptable to us. nese return to pre-May posi-
bers last week, during which a leadership, to lead them and military region. plains. The two commanders sions following the massive India and China took place on We have said that they have to tions.
section of younger leaders dis- make way for them. Therefore,
cussed the performance of the I would request all my col-
United Progressive Alliance leagues, elderly, middle-aged
(UPA)-2 government and sen- and young, that it is time to
ior leaders, while a former come together and expose the
Union minister defended its realities of the current govern-
legacy. The details of the ment,” he added.
meeting came out in news Surjewala was hinting at
India ramps up covid diagnostics facilities, tests over 20 mn samples
reports, following which lead- some of the views expressed
ers discussed the issues on on social media by party’s sen- Neetu Chandra Sharma include both symptomatic and ICMR only collates data from mines who is infected or not, INDIA TOLL
social media. ior leaders. neetu.s@livemint.com asymptomatic individuals, and states to calculate the cumula- and preventive measures are
“I want to tell The move comes Former Union NEW DELHI allowed different types of diag- tive number of tests, and tests taken accordingly,” said Dr CROSSES 38,000
all our friends after details of a ministers , such as nostic kits, such as rapid antigen done in the previous 24 hours. Jugal Kishore, professor and
INDIA
F
who are playing meeting between Anand Sharma, rom just 100 covid-19 tests tests, antibody, TrueNat and “Health is a state subject. States head, department of commu-
Twitter-Twitter, Manish Tewari a day in January, India has CBNAAT (tuberculosis tests) publish the bulletin daily and nity medicine, Safdarjung Hos-
who express their
party’s Rajya
and Shashi Tha-
Sabha members roor, besides Mil- ramped up its public and and antigen tests. Even the lab- we receive the data everyday. pital. “Testing helps in various 1,796,486 38,063
views on Twitter. private diagnostics network to oratories of animal and botani- While state data is readily avail- measures to control and pre- Total cases Deaths
I want to give an came out in news ind Deora and test over 600,000 samples a cal institutes were upgraded for able on websites and daily press vent the infection. But, if you 1,180,453 577,970
a dv i c e wi t h reports recently Mukul Wasnik day to cross 20 million total covid-19 testing. bulletins, there may be a lag in don’t do anything and just keep Recovered Active cases
folded hands that defended UPA’s tests on Sunday, as the corona- However, 85% of all tests is break-up of testing types data as testing, it will not decrease the
under Sonia Gan- track record. virus cases in the country still RT-PCR, according to data data comes at different times,” pandemic.”
dhi and Rahul Gandhi there Lawmaker Rajeev Satav, who neared 1.8 million, with over released by the Indian Council said an ICMR official. Tamil Nadu is conducting GLOBAL
are party forums of the Con- was in the eye of the storm, 38,000 deaths. of Medical Research (ICMR) 85% of all covid-19 tests is still Public health experts said the highest number of daily
gress where you can discuss also took to Twitter on Satur- After facing a lot of flak for and state governments. RT-PCR, says ICMR. HT that though testing has been tests, followed by Uttar Pradesh 17,831,162
anything you want to because day evening to say that his not testing enough, the govern- RT-PCR requires nasal and ramped up, it will have to be fol- and Maharashtra. “Now, UP has Total cases
we have internal democracy views were misrepresented, ment gradually introduced a throat swabs to detect the pres- response. ICMR approved it for lowed up with adequate steps to 32 RT-PCR labs. We are estab-
and we do not send anyone and it was a ‘lie’ that he ques- range of testing modalities, ence of the virus rather than use in containment zones and contain the pandemic. “If fewer lishing more RT-PCR labs. We 685,179
into forceful retirement,” Con- tioned the UPA leadership. including reverse transcrip- antibodies. Like RT-PCR, rapid healthcare settings in combina- people are left in the population also have 14 private RT-PCR Deaths
gress chief spokesperson Ran- The sparring between the tion-polymerase chain reaction antigen detection tests also tion with RT-PCR. to get the infection, the pan- labs doing over 40,000 tests 10,591,825 6,554,158
deep Singh Surjewala said at a old guard and young blood has (RT-PCR), the gold standard for detect the virus. An antigen While state health bulletins demic will decline. This is the everyday,” said Alok Kumar, Recovered Active cases
media briefing on Sunday. strained the internal working testing covid-19. India also refers to any toxin in the body give the detailed representation rule of susceptibility from infec- secretary to UP chief minister Source: Union health ministry, states
“It is also the responsibility of the Congress recently. expanded its testing strategy to that triggers an immune of the kind and number of tests, tion. Increased testing deter- Yogi Adityanath.

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