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160

Friday, July 7, 2023

End of tax benefits worries GST Council to weigh tax cuts

livemint.com French FPIs uP1 on select items uP1
 MUMBAI, NEw DELHI, BENGALURU, kOLkATA, CHENNAI, AHMEDABAD, HyDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, pUNE* VOL. 6 NO. 160

Friday, July 7, 2023

Think Ahead. Think Growth.

mint primer QUICK EDIT

Can India’s rupee Let the

be turned into a dead be
Given how intensely cricket’s
global currency? Ashes series is fought over, the
sparks that have flown since the
second Test match between
By Gopika Gopakumar England and Australia ended on
An RBI-appointed panel has presented a roadmap to increase the use Sunday aren’t a surprise. It has
of the rupee for cross-border transactions. Members of the Asian kindled a letter-of-the-law ver-
Clearing Union are also looking to settle trade in local currencies to sus spirit-of-the-game debate in
reduce dependence on the dollar. So what are the benefits for India? which even the prime ministers
of the UK and Australia have
Waning dependence jumped in. Australian wicket-
keeper Alex Carey stumped
Indian economy’s linkages with the rest of the world in terms of trade and
capital flows have increased. With currency internationalization, India's
English batter Jonny Bairstow
requirement for maintaining forex reserves in dollars will reduce. after he, having left the delivery,
700 started walking to the non-
Forex reserves (in $ billion) 578.4 striker’s end, assuming the ball
600 was dead. Though the rules say
a ball is no longer in play once
500
it’s settled in the hands of the
400 wicketkeeper or bowler, this
292 detail is often lost on the field. In
300
any game, it’s fair to engage in a
200
contest only if the other side is
2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 aware of it, so for a fielder to
Source: RBI catch a batter off-guard out of
SATISH KUMAR/MINT the crease is sneaky, regardless
What is currency Will India benefit from of what the rulebook says. The
1 internationalization?
Internationalization means using a
2 a rupee move?
The use of the rupee in cross-
Aussies thought otherwise.
Technically, they would have
currency for cross-border border transactions helps the been right. But the spirit of the
transactions, including for country’s exporters and importers game is on Bairstow’s side; it’s
purchase of goods, services or to reduce transaction cost and another matter that he himself
financial assets by non-residents. limit exchange rate risks. It also has been accused of trying the
An international currency can be helps lower the cost of capital due same stunt. Nevertheless, both
used by private players to settle to better access to global financial
teams have vocal backers,
trade or by governments to markets and reduces the need to
intervene in currency markets and maintain foreign exchange including their PMs. Let’s hope
financing balance of payments. It reserves. Internationalization the next match sees the game’s
can also be used as a reserve could allow the government to spirit restored. A ball that’s seen
currency or as capital assets by finance part of its budget deficit by as dead should be left alone.
private players. The process is issuing domestic currency debt in
closely interlinked with the size of international markets rather than
an economy and the scale of trade. issuing foreign currency
Currently, the US dollar, the Euro, instruments. It could also allow the
the Japanese yen and the British
pound are the leading reserve
government to fund part of its
current account deficit by private
MINT METRIC
currencies in the world. capital flows from abroad. by Bibek Debroy

Acchan from Barabanki is eighty-three,

3 What’s the trend with the
Indian currency?
RBI has put in place an additional
He cannot be allowed to wander free.
arrangement for invoicing, payment and
A bus driver 29 years ago,
settlement of trade in rupees through He ran over a buffalo.
Special Rupee Vostro Accounts (SRVAs). A
total of 18 countries have been allowed to
Court now issues summons to the retiree.
open SRVAs. The Asian Clearing Union has
introduced rupee as a settlement currency.
And Sri Lanka has formally named the
rupee as a designated foreign currency. QUOTE OF THE DAY
The future development of
Will the move face any What are the panel’s
4 challenges?
The biggest challenge to the
5 recommendations?
The panel has suggested short-
humanity lies in our collective
ability to responsibly harness,
internationalization of the rupee is term measures like opening of INR pool resources and utilize space
whether or not other countries accounts for non-residents in and technology towards achieving
will actually accept the Indian outside India, and integrating
currency. The rupee is not fully Indian payment systems with sustainable development goals
convertible and India’s share of other countries for cross-border and improving the lives of
global exports of goods is just transactions. As medium-term
about 2%. This reduces the measures, the panel said there is a
the common man.
necessity for other countries to need to review taxes on masala
hold rupees. The recent bonds and international use of
negotiation with Russia over a Real Time Gross Settlement for
rupee settlement mechanism cross-border trade transactions. JITENDRA SINGH
showed that Moscow was not For the long term, the panel has Union minister for science
willing to hold rupee deposits recommended that efforts should & technology
because of the trade gap between be made for the inclusion of the
the two countries. rupee in IMF’s SDR basket.

MINT PODCASTS

ON BUYING FARMLANDS CAPEX CHALLENGES ON COST OF DIVERSITY

We talk to Harsh Parikh, partner at Listen as N. Madhavan elaborates on Diversity, equity, and inclusion, or
Khaitan & Co law firm. Discover the the significance of capital expendi- DEI, doesn’t come cheap and compa-
risks, regulations, ture (capex) and the nies have to invest
and conditions challenges hinder- and work around
associated with ing its optimal out- policies and infra-
purchasing agricul- comes in Indian structure to make it
tural land in India. states. Discover happen. Pallavi Par-
Explore the mean- how the Centre’s eek, chief executive
ing of agriculture, incentives have officer and DEI
who qualifies as an agriculturist, and aimed to support and encourage adviser at Ungender, explains how
whether the children of agriculturists capex while gaining insights into the return on investment is often the big-
hold the same title. existing bottlenecks. gest hurdle on the road to diversity.
 PLAIN FACTS

Data recap: Jio phone,

tomato prices, stocks
CURATED BY PRAGYA SRIVASTAVA
very Friday, Plain Facts publishes a compilation of data-based insights, complete with easy-to-read charts, to help you

E delve deeper into the stories reported by Mint in the week gone by. India’s manufacturing and services activity has
remained strong despite moderation, while tomato prices have been on fire. The Sensex crossed the 65,000 mark earlier
this week. The sale of Reliance Jio’s new 4G feature phone will begin today.

Down, Yet Strong Tomato Troubles

India Purchasing Managers' Index Change in retail prices of tomatoes between 1 and 27 June (in %)
65 58.5 Ahmedabad 264
Services
Delhi 186
60
Bengaluru 185
55 57.8 Chennai 131
Kolkata 92
50 Manufacturing
Mumbai 91
45 Pune 65
Visakhapatnam 35
40
Jul 2021 Jun 2023 Hyderabad 24
Source: CMIE Source: Price monitoring cell, ministry of food and consumer affairs

THE PURCHASING managers’ indices (PMIs) for
both manufacturing and services in India slipped in
June to 57.8 and 58.5, respectively. However, the 50-
plus figures still suggest a strong pace of growth, aided
by rising demand and retreating cost pressures.
Headwinds from the global growth slowdown could
weigh on manufacturing activity in the coming months,
but the services sector, which supported the economy
in 2022-23, is likely to remain strong this year as well.
TOMATO PRICES have shot up rapidly, crossing ₹100/
kg in several cities. The key reason is crop damage in key
growing states due to extreme weather from unusually
hot conditions to incessant rains. Data from the
Department of Consumer Affairs showed that retail prices
shot up by 264% in Ahmedabad, 186% in Delhi, and 185%
in Bengaluru during 1-27 June. Currently, the average
price across India is hovering around ₹90/kg, with the
lowest at around ₹31/kg and the highest at ₹160/kg.

Sensex Soars
THAT’S THE latest milestone the Sensex crossed earlier

65,000 this week, helped by strong economic activity in the country

and fading fears of a global recession. The last 5,000 points
came after a lengthy gap of 438 trading days. After hitting the
mark, the index has remained above the level, with foreign
portfolio investors pumping in the money. The rally is also
being fuelled by the expectation that the US Federal Reserve
may end its battle against inflation sooner than expected.

Lessons Learnt Tepid Investments

Change in exchange rate against the US dollar (%) Value of new project announcements, quarterly ( trillion)
Taper tantrum -13.3 14 Private Government
Brazilian real
period, 2013 5.4 12
US rate hikes, -8.8 South African rand
-18.7 10
since 2022
-9.9 Indian rupee 8
-7
-19.8 Indonesian rupiah
6
-3.9 4
-13.8 Turkish lira
-37.9 2
Time periods: 22 May 2013 to 31 December 2013, and 16 March 2022 to 14 June
2023. (22 May 2013 was the date of the US Fed taper announcement; 16 March 0
Jun Jun
2022 was when the US Fed first raised interest rates in the current cycle.) 2019 2023
Source: Investing.com The numbers for the latest quarter are provisional. Source: CMIE CapEx

WHEN THE US Fed began hiking interest rates in 2022 THE VALUE of new investment proposals by
to control spiralling inflation, emerging market businesses in India slumped sharply to ₹6 trillion in the
economies, including India, were dreading a repeat of the quarter ended June, Mint reported. There was an

18
2013 taper tantrum-like situation. A decade ago, exchange
rates of the “Fragile Five”—Brazil, India, Indonesia, South
Africa, and Turkey—plummeted when the US indicated a
possible policy tightening. But this time, most emerging
markets have fared much better since 2022 despite the
rate hikes in the US, a Mint analysis showed.
unusual spurt in proposals, which amounted to ₹12.1
trillion in the March quarter but the momentum did not
continue. Project announcements by public sector
firms were 10% lower on a sequential basis, while those
by the private sector plunged 55% as global economic
uncertainties likely kept investors on the sidelines.

Premium Ride

2.29 lakh
THAT’S THE starting ex-showroom price of the newly
launched premium lifestyle motorcycle Harley Davidson

₹ X440 by Hero MotoCorp. It is a fully indigenized 440cc

motorcycle that will go up against Bajaj Triumph’s Scrambler
and Speed 400 motorcycles in the same segment, as well as
Royal Enfield’s range of middleweight motorcycles. Being
manufactured at Hero MotoCorp’s Neemrana facility, the
motorcycle’s delivery will begin during the festive season.

Going Exotic Chart of the week: Budget Phones

Current prices of common and exotic fruits (₹/250 g) Select low-price 4G feature phones in India (in ₹)
Banana
I Kall K20 Pro 2,599
Papaya Common itel MagicX Play 4G 2,699
Mango fruits
Pomegranate XTouch 4G 2,499
Apple XTouch F40 3,499
Dragon fruit Snexian Rock 2,999
Avocado Exotic Nokia 106 2,999
Peach fruits itel MagicX Pro 3,199
Kiwi Nokia 110 3,499
Blueberry XTouch F10 3,999
0 50 150 250 350 450 550 650
Based on maximum retail prices as listed on e-commerce websites.
Calculated from prices listed on four grocery delivery websites. Where prices
were listed in terms of number of pieces, the per-250-g price is based on Price may differ by specifications.
approximate weight of each piece. Source: Mint research Source: E-commerce websites, Mint research

WITH GROWING affluence, Indians’ taste has also INDIA’S TOP telecom company Reliance Jio has
evolved, which can also be seen in the consumption of announced the sale of its affordable internet-enabled
fruits. Beyond the traditional apple-banana-orange mix, mobile phone, Jio Bharat, priced at ₹999, from today.
Indians are also consuming fruits like avocado, cranberry, Other low-cost feature phones are
and kiwi, among others. As per a Mint analysis, imports of currently being offered in the range of
fresh fruits have risen 8% on average in the past decade, ₹2,499-3,999 on e-commerce
showing a strong rise in consumption, despite their prices websites.
being sharply higher. Blueberries are the costliest among Follow us on #MintCharts on our
them, while dragon fruit and avocado are in the mid range. social media handles.
PARAS JAIN/MINT

TOP FIVE MALAYALAM TV SERIES TOP 5 SHORT FILMS

3 KUDUMBASHREE 1 AN IRISH GOODBYE 3 TWO DISTANT
SHARADA STRANGERS (OSCAR
Language: English
Platform: ZEE5, Cast: Mersheena Platform: Vimeo (on rent only)
WINNER 2021)
Neenu, Sreelekshmi R Language: English
Platform: Netflix
4 MARIMAYAM
1 MOUNARAGAM
Platform: Manorama Max,
4 ZION
Platform: Disney+ Hotstar, Cast: Manikandan Pattambi, Language: English,
Cast: Naleef Gea, Anjo Nair Vinod Kovoor Platform: Netflix

2 KUDUMBAVILAKKU  5 SANTHWANAM  2 THE LONG GOODBYE PERIOD. END

5 OF STORY
Platform: Disney+ Hotstar, Cast: Meera Platform: Disney+ Hotstar,
(OSCAR-WINNER 2022)
Vasudevan, Noobin Johny Cast: Gopika Anil, Sajin Language: English, Platform: YouTube Language: Hindi, Platform: Netflix
 MuMbAI, NEW DELHI, bENGALURU, kOLkATA, CHENNAI, AHMEDAbAD, HYDERAbAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE* VOL. 6 NO. 160 Rs. 10.00 18 PAGES

Friday, July 7, 2023

Why this MSP regime doesn’t India to open first foreign IIT
livemint.com help farmers uP10 campus in Tanzania uP2

SENSEX 65,785.63 339.59 NIFTY 19,497.3 98.8 DOLLAR ₹82.51 ₹0.28 EURO ₹89.62 ₹0.03 OIL $76.54 $0.2 GOLD ₹58,337 ₹79

End of tax benefits ‘Coal export strategy in works;

local lithium hunt gains pace’
DON’T MISS

worries French FPIs Rituraj Baruah &

Subhash Narayan
means coal is freely importa-
ble without restrictions and
licence. Hence, coal is being
They fear tax treaty tweaks to end capital gains exemptions NEW DELHI imported both on essentiality
considerations and economic
P&W must supply five engines

T
he Centre will devise a considerations. The import of
Pavan Burugula strategy to tap export some categories of coal such as every month to Go First: SIAC
pavan.burugula@livemint.com FrEnCh TouCh markets for Indian coal coking coal (used by the steel In a respite for low-cost carrier Go First, the
NEW DELHI as domestic production sets sector), low ash coal (<9% ash Singapore International Arbitration Centre
France is one of the largest sources of FPI inflows into India, with new records, Union minister coal used by imported coal- (SIAC) has issued a directive to engine

A
meeting between
Indian and French tax
authorities on the side-
lines of a recent G20
summit has set off alarm
bells among foreign portfolio inves-
tors (FPIs) based in France, three
people with direct knowledge of the
matter said.
The meeting, around potential
tweaks to the double taxation avoid-
ance agreement (DTAA) between
India and France, has led to appre-
hension among foreign funds that
India may soon renegotiate the
treaty to eliminate the capital gains
tax exemption. Currently, France
and the Netherlands are the only
major jurisdictions benefiting from
a tax treaty with India that grants
exemption from capital gains tax on
share sales.
This comes ahead of Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi’s visit to Paris
next week, where several new bilat-
eral agreements will be discussed.
Following the G20 meeting,
Indian FPI representatives, includ-
ing custodians, consultants, and law-
yers, have received calls from their
French clients to check if capital
gains tax was on the discussion table,
the people cited above said on condi-
tion of anonymity. A spokesperson
funds based in the country holding securities worth ₹1.2 tn of parliamentary affairs, coal based, or ICB, power plants), manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, instructing it
Top contributors of FPI inflows into India and mines Pralhad Joshi said. and anthracite coal are essen- to provide at least five engines every month
20.8 to the airline starting 1 August. >P7
Assets under custody In an interview, Joshi said tial as their domestic produc-
(in ₹ trillion) India already exports around 2 tion is either scarce or not
million tonnes (mt) of coal to available.
its neighbours. He said that Pralhad Joshi, Union coal This essential coal import Google accuses CCI of protecting
2.8 2.6 after the recent lithium finds minister. constitutes about 30-40% of rival Amazon in Android probe
in Jammu and Kashmir and the total imports. Thus, Google has accused India’s competition
1.6 Rajasthan, the Geological Sur- from 2025-26. This enhanced remaining more than 60% of regulator of ordering changes to its business
1.2 1.2 vey of India (GSI) has begun six domestic coal production will the coal imports, which are model “only to protect” rival Amazon, which
projects on lithium investiga- enable not only to meet domes- imported due to the demand- complained about its struggles to develop a
tion in Chhattisgarh, Meghal- tic coal demand but also give supply gap and other logistic modified version of the Android system due
aya, Jammu & Kashmir, and surplus coal for export. Accord- or economic considerations, to Google’s curbs, legal papers show. >P9
US UK Ireland Canada Japan France Andhra Pradesh. Edited ingly, a strategy will be adopted may be substituted by domes-
Data as of 31 May, 2023 Source: NSDL excerpts: to tap marketing avenues. tic coal. It is also expected that
We aim to become Aatman- in the long run, technological Sitharaman urges state-run
TAX GAINS The Centre has set a target irbhar in coal by enhancing changes in the steel sector and lenders to increase farm loans
ThE Netherlands and In 2017, India tweaked IndIA also removed of making India a net production, efficiency and ICB plants will further reduce Recognizing that India’s business outlook is
France benefit from a such tax treaties with such exemptions from exporter of coal. What is sustainability. With a record the requirement for essential improving despite headwinds from global
tax treaty with India Singapore, Mauritius its pact with Cyprus your road- coal production imports. bank collapses, finance minister Nirmala
map for that, m INTERVIEW of 893.08 mt in India has recently found Sitharaman has urged banks to improve their
SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
and which FY23, register- significant lithium deposits, diversify the business base, and
for the finance ministry declined to where many bilateral issues will be markets are ing a growth of reserves. Will we see fur- focus on ease of services. >P2
comment, saying DTAA negotia- discussed.” you looking at? about 14.76%, annual coal pro- ther lithium reserves in the
tions are confidential. In 2017, India renegotiated similar India exports coal of about 2 duction is targeted at 1.12 bil- country?
There were discussions around tax treaties with Singapore and Mau- mt to neighbouring countries lion tonnes in FY24. This Yes, GSI is carrying out sys- Companies revert to long notice
‘corresponding adjustments’ under ritius, ending capital gains tax like Nepal, Bhutan, and Bang- growth has come due to the tematic mineral exploration periods to retain employees
the DTAA along with tweaks to the exemptions. India also removed ladesh. Several measures have steps taken in the past nine activities for various mineral
Indian firms are reverting to extended notice
information sharing policy,” said such exemptions from its pact with been initiated to increase years by the government. commodities, including lith- periods of 2-3 months as a retention measure
one of the people. “However, it could Cyprus. Consequently, many foreign domestic coal production. Will India be able to curb ium, in different parts of the due to mounting difficulty in sourcing talent.
not be ascertained if the capital gains banks and large funds shifted their According to the projection of imports of coal going country. In the last five years Companies from across sectors told Mint
tax renegotiation was part of the India equity trades away from Mau- demand and supply of coal, ahead? (FY18 to FY23), GSI has carried that long notice periods allow organizations
talks. We will get better clarity post India will produce more coal Import of coal is under open ample time to groom replacements. >P3
the Prime Minister’s visit to France, TURN TO PAGE 6 than total demand beginning general licence (OGL), which TURN TO PAGE 6

Adani Green board approves Can’t rest on laurels, India

plan to raise ₹12,300 crore poised for growth: FinMin
Mayur Bhalerao group founder Gautam Adani Rhik Kundu said. “Urban demand condi-
mayur.bhalerao@livemint.com (on behalf of Shantilal Bhuder- rhik.kundu@livemint.com tions remain resilient, with
MUMbAI mal Adani Family Trust), the NEW DELHI higher growth in auto sales,
report said, citing people aware fuel consumption, and UPI

T I
he board of Adani Green of the matter. ndia’s painstakingly built (Unified Payments Interface)
Energy Ltd (AGEL) on The Adani family trust owns economic stability, which transactions. Rural demand is
The GST Council may take up a proposal for the taxation of food and Thursday approved rais- 20.76% of Adani Green, while placed it on a quicker recov- also on its path to recovery
beverages at cinema halls at 5% in certain cases rather than at 18%. PTI ing up to ₹12,300 crore Adani Trading Services Llp ery path than many other with robust growth in two- and
through a qualified institu- and Infinite Trade And Invest- nations, should not be diluted three-wheelers sales.”

GST Council to tional placement (QIP) or any

other permissible mode. In a
stock exchange disclosure, the
ment Ltd hold 29.94% and
6.28%, respectively.
In January, Adani Group
as the economy is poised to
sustain its growth in a more
durable way in the future, a
According to DEA, factors
that can constrain the pace of
growth include greater geopo-

weigh tax cuts

renewable energy company Adani Green shares rose as much companies had put capital finance ministry report said. litical stress and volatility in
said it may raise the capital by as 2.6% to ₹972.90 after the expenditure and fundraising “India appears poised to sus- DEA’s word of caution is global financial systems, sharp
selling shares or any other eli- announcement. BLOOMBERG plans on hold after a report by tain its growth in a more dura- significant in a pre-poll year. MINT corrections in global stock
gible securities. US short-seller Hindenburg ble way than before. Nonethe- markets, the deep impact of El

on select items The amount of funds to be

Gireesh Chandra Prasad & rather than at 18%, as is done by
Rhik Kundu some multiplexes.
The Council will also clarify a
NEW DELHI host of issues to remove ambi-
guity in tax liability, covering
raised will be subject to regula-
tory and statutory approvals,
as well as the approval of Adani
Green’s shareholders by way
of a postal ballot process, the
filing said.
Following the announce-
index gained 22%, now has a
market capitalization of ₹1.52
trillion.
On 23 May, Mint first
reported that Adani Green is in
talks with global fund manag-
ers to raise ₹5,000-6,000
crore as India’s largest renewa-
Research accused the con-
glomerate of stock price
manipulation and accounting
fraud, wiping out as much as
$150 billion from the group’s
market value. The group has
denied all charges.
In an effort to recover from
less, it is no time to rest on lau-
rels nor risk diluting the
painstakingly and consciously
achieved economic stability,”
the ministry’s Annual Eco-
nomic Review for FY23
released on Thursday said.
The word of caution from
The review also states that
despite urban demand
remaining resilient and rural
demand in recovery mode, any
deepening of geopolitical
stress and El Nino impact
could pose risks to growth in
the rest of the fiscal year.
Nino, and modest trade activ-
ity and foreign direct invest-
ment (FDI) inflows owing to
frail global demand.
“Should these develop-
ments deepen and dampen
growth in the subsequent
quarters, the external sector

T
he goods and services tax
(GST) Council meeting
next week will discuss tax
relief on certain medicines, farm
products, arthroplasty implants,
and services such as satellite
launches by private organiza-
tions, a person with direct
knowledge of the matter said.
A committee of officers that
reviews proposals for tax rate
changes, called the fitment
committee, has recommended
lowering the GST rates on
unfried snack pellets to 5%
from 18% and suggested that
exemption from the 12% Inte-
products ranging from cotton
sold to cooperative societies by
farmers, multi-utility vehicles
and pan masala and chewing
tobacco. The Council may also
clarify that the transfer of cot-
ton from farmers to coopera-
tives is clearly a taxable supply,
and such supply of raw cotton
by farmers to the cooperatives
attracts 5% GST under a reverse
charge basis.
Apart from the recommen-
dations of the fitment commit-
tee, the GST Council will also
review areas where changes in
the law and rules are required.
ment, shares of Adani Green
rose as much as 2.6% to touch
₹972.90 before ending lower
at ₹958.
The Adani Group company,
which has shed half its value in
a year the Nifty benchmark
Instagram unveils Threads app, a threat to Musk’s Twitter
Bloomberg
feedback@livemint.com
bles company revives its capital
expenditure plans four months
after the Hindenburg setback.
The fundraising will include
the sale of new shares, as well as
promoter shares held by Adani
family entities, including
10 million sign-ups in its first
seven hours, Meta founder
Mark Zuckerberg said on his
the impact of the Hindenburg
report crisis, Adani Group has
unveiled fundraising plans of
up to $2.6 billion for Adani
Enterprises Ltd and Adani
Transmission Ltd, in addition
to other initiatives.
the department of economic
affairs (DEA), which prepares
annual budgets, is significant
in a pre-election year when
governments tend to loosen
fiscal controls and announce
fresh schemes.
“Strong balance sheets and
digital advancements could
lead to better credit decisions,
allowing India’s financial cycle
to sustain for longer periods
before encountering the chal-
lenge of bad debts,” the report
disappearing posts followed
the rise of Snap Inc.’s Snapchat.
Meta’s apps in the past have
may challenge India’s growth
outlook for FY24,” it added.
India’s gross domestic prod-
uct (GDP) growth accelerated
to 6.1% in the March quarter,
TURN TO PAGE 6
cies, and put users and adver-
tisers through a spate of techni-
cal challenges.

grated GST (IGST) could be
considered when cancer medi-
cine (dinutuximab/qarziba) is
imported by individuals for
personal use. The committee
also recommended similar
relief to medicines and food for
special medical purposes
(FSMP) when imported.
Tax exemption is also being
considered for satellite launch
services provided by private
organizations with a view to
providing a level playing field,
the person said on condition of
anonymity.
The Council is also likely to
consider a proposal for taxation
of food and beverages at cin-
ema halls at 5% in certain cases
The new foreign trade policy of
2023 has necessitated certain
changes in the GST framework.
A ministerial group report
on the tax regime for online
gaming is also expected to be
discussed at the meeting.
The GST Council will also
finalize the framework for set-
ting up an appellate tribunal
and consider the demand from
the industry for full reim-
bursement of GST in moun-
tain states.
An email sent to the finance
ministry and the GST Council
secretariat on Thursday seek-
ing comments for the story
remained unanswered.
gireesh.p@livemint.com
M
eta Platforms Inc.’s
Instagram officially
unveiled Threads, an
app designed as a direct rival to
Twitter, launching the most
serious threat yet to Elon
Musk’s struggling social-me-
dia site.
On Threads, people can post
text and links and reply to or
repost messages from others.
The app will let users port over
their existing follower lists and
account names from Insta-
gram, Meta’s photo and video-
sharing app that counts major
brands, celebrities and crea-
tors among its more than 2 bil-
lion users.
The app garnered more than
Threads account. That’s still a
far cry, however, from Twitter’s
more than 300 million. “There
should be a public conversa-
tions app with 1 billion-plus
people on it,” the Meta chief
executive officer (CEO) said in
an earlier post on Threads.
“Twitter has had the opportu-
nity to do this but hasn’t nailed
it. Hopefully we will.”
Many of Instagram’s influen-
tial users have been asking the
company to make a text-based
app, according to Connor
Hayes, a vice president of prod-
uct. “Creators were telling us,
‘We want an alternative to
what’s out there, and we don’t
want to start over and have to
competed indirectly for user
attention with Twitter by
courting news publishers, poli-
ticians, and other high-profile
people to favour posting on
one versus the other. The
arrival of Threads marks the
first time Meta is releasing a
Twitter lookalike.
On Wednesday, Zuckerberg
tweeted for the first time in 11
It garnered more than 10 million sign-ups in its first 7 hours, Meta years — taking a playful swipe
founder Mark Zuckerberg said on his Threads account. BLOOMBERG at his billionaire rival, who in
turn called Instagram fake.
build out a following from long—and successful—history The timing seems propitious
zero,’” Hayes said in an inter- of copying products from for Meta. Since Musk acquired
view, without mentioning upstart internet competitors. Twitter for $44 billion in Octo-
Twitter specifically. The company’s Reels feature ber, the company has cut thou-
Instagram and Facebook, was a knock-off of TikTok’s sands of employees, loosened
both owned by Meta, have a viral video app, and its Stories its content moderation poli-
Twitter is hurting finan-
cially, too. Advertising revenue
at the San Francisco-based
company has declined by 50%,
Musk said in March, and he
recently hired Linda Yacca-
rino, a NBCUniversal execu-
tive, as CEO to try to improve
relationships with brands.
As of the Wednesday launch
of Threads, Twitter is still limit-
ing how many tweets per day
users can view—a measure
Musk called “temporary” in
order to fend off data scrapers
and bots.
Those restrictions are only
the latest move prompting
TURN TO PAGE 6
02 Friday, 7 July 2023
MuMbai ECONOMY & POLICY LIVEMINT.COM

m MINT SHORTS
Indian Oil commits to investing
FM tells PSBs to boost India may permit
Sri Lanka to repay
₹54K crore in projects in TN
Chennai: Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), Chennai, has com-
mitted to invest ₹54,000 crore in various projects in Tamil Nadu
in the next few years, including a 9-MMTPA (million metric tonnes
deposits, farm credit debt over 12 years
per annum) grass-root refinery at an estimated cost of ₹35,580 Ravi Dutta Mishra gramme for Sri Lanka to help
crore, its executive director and state head (TN & Puducherry) V. ravi.dutt@livemint.com stabilize its economy and
C. Asokan said. This new refinery, which will come up on about NEW DELHI begin restructuring its debt.
1,300 acres of land in Nagapattinam, will produce petrol and diesel Asset quality of PSBs has improved significantly with gross NPAs at 4.97% The island-nation received an

I
for BS-VI specifications and also polypropylene. PTI ndia plans to allow Sri Lanka immediate disbursement of
up to 12 years to repay its about $333 million under the
Subhash Narayan & Saurav Anand debt to help ease the finan- 48-month programme
Sensex, Nifty scale new closing NEW DELHI cial burden on the island-na- approved by the IMF.
tion, India’s Export Credit Senthilnathan added that
highs amid RIL share rally

R
HT
ecognizing that India’s business Guarantee Corporation the National Export Insurance
outlook is progressively (ECGC) Ltd’s chairman-cum- Account, managed by the
improving in spite of head- managing director M.Senthil- ECGC, has received close to
winds from global bank col- nathan said. ₹4,500 crore worth of claims
lapses, finance minister Nir- Sri Lanka, facing its worst from exporters facing default
mala Sitharaman on Thursday urged economic and political crisis in in countries such as Sri Lanka,
banks to improve their deposits, diversify over seven decades, owes $7.1 Zambia, Suriname and Ghana
the business base, and focus on ease of ser- billion to bilateral creditors— which faced extreme eco-
vices and customer protection. $3 billion owed to China, $2.4 nomic hardships after covid-19
Chairing a meeting to review the per- billion to the Paris Club and and the Ukraine war.
formance of public sector banks (PSBs) on $1.6 billion to Notably, Sri
various financial health parameters for India. Sri Lanka, facing Lanka’s financial
FY23, the finance minister advised banks “Sri Lanka’s its worst situation is
to ensure an increase in rural, agriculture negotiations with economic crisis in improving as it
Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices scaled fresh all-time and sectoral credit in order to meet prior- the IMF are going over seven has lifted import
closing highs on Thursday, driven by unabated foreign fund ity sector lending (PSL) norms. She said Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman advised banks to ensure an increase in rural, on. After that restrictions on
decades, owes
inflows and buying in index major Reliance Industries. Defy- banks ensure that the PSL targets are agriculture and sectoral credit in order to meet priority sector lending norms. PTI restructuring 286 items. Origi-
ing a weak trend in the global markets, the 30-share BSE achieved across all sub-categories includ- package will $7.1 billion to nally, its govern-
Sensex climbed 339.60 points or 0.52% to settle at its new all- ing agriculture—particularly small and they earned in FY14. Strengthened by to chair meetings across different regions come, we will bilateral creditors ment had limited
time closing high of 65,785.64. PTI marginal farmers —and micro enterprises. high capital adequacy of 15.53% capital of the country to review the functioning of recover [our] imports of more
Government data shows that all the risk to assets ratio—comparable to the regional rural banks (RRBs) and their money over a than 3,200 items,
major financial parameters including major economies of the world—clean bal- sponsor banks, with a focus on technolog- period of time. What we are including seafood, electronics
Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal credit deployment, profitability, ance sheets supported by a healthy ical upgradation. supposed to get in 3-4 years, and even musical instruments.
asset quality and capital ade- provision coverage (90.68%), The review of the RRBs would com- may get extended to 10-12 Besides, its reserves have
invests $3.5 mn in LeverageEdu quacy indicate that the per- and improved resilience, mence from 21 July in Tripura, where years,” Senthilnathan said. grown 26% to a 17-month high
New Delhi: Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal has invested $3.5
million (about Rs 29 crore) in edtech firm LeverageEdu, sources
formance of PSBs has signifi-
cantly improved and they ₹1.05
tn
was the net profit of
PSBs are well-positioned to Sitharaman will conduct a review of the
support the credit needs of functioning of the RRBs in the Northeast.
“But the interest rate will of $3.5 billion in May, helped
come down. This is a situation by stronger remittances and
aware of the development said. Bansal made the investment were well capitalised, resil- the productive sectors of Meetings to review the functioning of the induced by inflation and tourism earnings.
through his venture capital firm Three State Ventures at an ient and have sound finan- PSBs, almost triple the growing economy. RRBs, along with the corresponding because of the fallout of India had earlier extended a
enterprise valuation of $150 million.The investment from Bansal cial health. of FY14 The finance minister sponsor banks, will then be held by the (Ukraine) war. You accommo- $1 billion credit line for Sri
was part of the $40 million funding round which LeverageEdu It was noted at the meeting advised banks to ensure that Union finance minister region-wise in the date them for the next 5-6 Lanka by a year.
concluded recently. LeverageEdu, which facilitates overseas that the asset quality of PSBs has there is fair and transparent rec- North, West, South, East, and Central years and later the markets will The credit line, part of a $4
education, closed the financial year 2023 with a revenue of about improved significantly with gross ognition of NPAs as per the guide- regions. The meeting also discussed the open up,” Senthilnathan billion emergency assistance
₹110 crore. PTI non performing assets at 4.97% and net lines of the regulator and to periodically progress of the Pradhan Mantri Street added. extended by India during the
NPAs at 1.24% in March 2023. In FY23, review it internally to ensure that there is Vendor’s Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PMSVAN- Earlier this year, the Inter- peak of Sri Lanka’s financial
PSBs earned a record aggregate net profit proper recognition and reporting of the idhi) scheme. national Monetary Fund (IMF) crisis early last year, was
RBI appoints P. Vasudevan as of around ₹1.05 trillion, almost triple what stressed assets. She also announced plans subhash.narayan@livemint.com approved a $3 billion loan pro- scheduled to end in March.
new ED, to look after 3 depts
MINT

Mozambique gas field Thali plates reflect spike in food prices

restart is win for India
Shashank Mattoo &
Puja Das
puja.das@livemint.com
players—producer, consumer
and the government—who get
NEW DELHI hurt due to a rise in essential
Videsh holds 16%, while BPRL commodities prices when

T
Rituraj Baruah Ventures Mozambique BV, a he cost of vegetarian and crops are hit by disturbance in
subsidiary of BPCL, and Oil non-vegetarian thalis, or weather.

T
he Cabo Delgado gasfield India Ltd hold 10% and 4% plates, trended up Because of weather shocks,
in Mozambique, in which respectively. India has main- sequentially in June following the incomes of all agricultural
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it has Indian energy majors tained an active interest in the a spike in the prices of tomato, producers are hit.
appointed P. Vasudevan as executive director and he will hold a 30% stake, is expected to resumption of operations at the tur and chana dal, impacting Whatever jump is noticed in
look after three departments, including that of currency resume production this month plant. Mint reported in March consumer expenditure and the the retail prices of any com-
management. The appointment is with effect from 3 after terror attacks threatened that India was planning to send economy, a report said. modity—whether grains, per-
July, RBI said in a statement. Prior to being promoted as to derail it, according to per- an expert team to Mozambique The average cost of a thali is ishables or fruits—generally
executive director, Vasudevan was the chief general sons aware of the matter. to examine whether the project calculated based on input pri- producers do not get a propor-
manager in-charge of the department of payment and The $20 billion ‘Offshore could resume operations. ces. Monthly change reflects Rising food prices hurt the wider economy and not just tional rise in their income, chief
settlement systems. PTI Area 1’ project has been under According to the persons cited the impact on the common common people, economists said ISTOCK economist of India Ratings
force majeure since April 2021 above, visits from Indian foreign person’s expenditure. Devendra Pant explained.
following attacks ministry and While the cost of a vegetar- The decline in thali cost was have declined by up to 4%, sup- “If the tomato prices have
Congress appoints Kanhaiya Kumar by Islamic State ONGC Videsh petroleum officials ian thali rose from ₹25.1 in May supported by an on-year porting the decline in the cost gone up six times to ₹120 a kg, it
terrorists in the holds 16%, while have taken place in to ₹26.3 in June, that of a non- decline of 15% in onion and of a non-vegetarian thali, is unlikely that farmers will see
as AICC in-charge of NSUI coastal town of recent months. . vegetarian thali increased from potato prices and 20% in cook- Sharma said in Crisil’s monthly a six-time boost in their
BPRL Ventures
New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday appointed former Jawa- Palma in Cabo Mozambique BV, “It is one of the ₹59.3 in May to ₹60 in June, ing oil prices in June. High pri- indicator of food plate cost income. If the crop is
harlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Delgado province. Crisil said. ces of wheat atta, which published in July. destroyed, because of which
and Oil India Ltd most prolific gas
Kumar as the AICC in-charge of its students’ wing. Congress presi- The fragile secu- assets. It’s just a However, the cost of both spurted 9% on-year in June, The data also reveals ingre- farmers’ income is hit, it trans-
dent Mallikarjun Kharge has appointed Kanhaiya Kumar as AICC rity situation led hold 10% and 4% three-day journey vegetarian and non-vegetarian limited the dients such as lates in the demand of the con-
in-charge of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) with the TotalEnergies- respectively from there to thalis declined 5% on year in decline in thali The data reveals cereals, pulses, sumption in the economy,”
immediate effect, according to a statement issued by K.C. Venugo- operated Mozam- India. So, once the June due to a steep fall in prices prices, said ingredients such broiler, vegeta- Pant added.
pal, the Congress general secretary organisation. The NSUI is bique LNG to supplies start, it of vegetables and cooking oil, Pushan Sharma, as cereals, pulses, bles, spices, edible If consumers have to spend
headed by Neeraj Kunadan. PTI announce the withdrawal of all would significantly and imme- which together account for director of Crisil broiler and oil and cooking more on a particular commod-
project personnel from the site. diately add to the LNG availa- 25% of the total cost of a vege- Market Intelli- gas driving ity, they will have to allocate a
cooking gas
However, an improvement bility in the country,” said a per- tarian thali. An increase in the gence and Analyt- changes in the higher share from their family
Indian, US navies conduct 11-day in the security situation in the son familiar with the project. prices of cereals, pulses and ics. driving changes in price of a thali. budget. They can compensate
province of Cabo Delgado led Queries to the ministries of chicken, however, capped the Prices of rice the price of a thali According to for it by either buying fewer
military exercise the government of Mozam- external affairs and petroleum reduction. and pulses inched economists, this is other commodities or cutting
New Delhi: The navies of India and the US carried out an 11-day bique to green light the and natural gas remained The cost of a vegetarian thali up 12% and 8% not limited to expenditure on leisure.
military exercise in Kochi that focused on boosting interoperability resumption of operations in unanswered at press time. Que- in May and June last year was at on-year, respectively, in June, impacting common people—it If they continue to consume
and operational coordination. The seventh edition of the Salvage April this year. India had ries to BPCL, OIL and ONGC ₹27.6 and ₹27.8 and that of a preventing a further decline in has a wider impact on the econ- the same way their savings will
and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) exercise concluded on invested in the project in order Videsh also went unanswered. non-vegetarian thali ₹63 and the cost of a vegetarian thali. omy as well. take a hit, ultimately impacting
Thursday, the Indian Navy said. PTI to improve gas supplies. ONGC shashank.mattoo@livemint.com ₹63.2 respectively. Broiler prices are estimated to There are three different the economy.

IIT to open first foreign campus in Zanzibar; classes begin this October CORRECTIONS AND
CLARIFICATIONS
A 6 July, page 1 story
Shashank Mattoo president Hussein Ali Mwinyi Second, education and skil- Third, India has positioned people to people ties across erroneously said investors
shashank.mattoo@livemint.com and external affairs minister ling have long been a key itself as a key leader of the Africa and the Global South,” called for Byju’s chief executive
NEW DELHI S. Jaishankar. focus of India’s diplomatic global South over the last few the MEA said on Thursday. officer to step aside during a
special shareholders meeting
The plan is for India to relationship with Africa. years. It has used its G20 pres- “The setting up of IIT Cam-
this week. The error is

T
he Tanzanian province
of Zanzibar will host the
first foreign campus of
the premier Indian Institute
of Technology, in a move that
the ministry of external affairs
said was set to burnish India’s
credentials in South-South
cooperation.
A memorandum of under-
standing (MoU) for setting up
a campus of IIT Madras in
Zanzibar was signed on 5 July
between the two ministries of
education and IIT Madras in
the presence of Zanzibar
bring in its expertise for the
education and skilling of Tan-
zanian students.
The academic programme
and curricula will be designed
by IIT Madras while the gov-
ernment of Zanzibar-Tanza-
nia will meet capital and oper-
ating expenditure for the new
campus.
Degrees from IIT Madras
will be awarded to students of
this new campus. The two
sides expected programmes
to be launched by October.
For India, this development
Capacity building in Africa
has gone on for decades under
the Indian Technical and
Economic
Cooperation programme,
which was launched in the
1960s. Schemes like the Pan
African e-Network Pro-
External affairs minister S. Jaishankar with Zanzibar president gramme and e-VidyaBharati
Hussein Ali Mwinyi. PTI have looked to harness digital
connectivity for education.
serves several key goals. try points out, the National The establishment of an IIT
The first is the develop- Education Policy, 2020 calls campus in Tanzania repre-
ment of a global footprint for on top-flight Indian institu- sents a significant shot in the
Indian educational institutes. tions to set up campuses in arm to India’s diplomatic
As the external affairs minis- foreign countries. efforts on this front.
idency effectively to bat for
developing country interests
and has called for the African
Union to be made a full mem-
ber of the body.
Deepening its ties with the
developing world through
closer education partnerships
is thus a key focus for India as
it helps build the country’s
global brand.
“This campus is reflective
of the longstanding friend-
ship between India and Tan-
zania and a reminder of the
focus India places on building
pus shall also enhance India’s
reputation globally and its
diplomatic relationships and
expand the international
footprint of IIT Madras.
It is also likely to enhance
the quality of IIT Madras edu-
cation and research further,
due to student and faculty
diversity from the interna-
tional campus.
It will further serve to
deepen research collabora-
tions with other top-ranked
academic institutions world-
wide,” the MEA added.
regretted.
A picture caption
accompanying the 6 July, page
5 story ‘After Harley, Bajaj-
Triumph trains guns on Royal
Enfield’, should have identified
the Triumph executive standing
next to Bajaj Auto MD Rajiv
Bajaj as its CEO Nick Bloor. The
error is regretted.
Readers dissatisfied with the
response may write directly to
the editor at
asktheeditor@livemint.com

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First published in February 2007 to serve as an unbiased and clear-minded chronicler of the Indian Dream.

SRUTHIJITH KURUPICHANKANDY (EDITOR); PUBLISHED/PRINTED BY MANHAR KAPOOR ON BEHALF OF HT MEDIA LTD, 9th Floor, Tower 3, Indiabulls Finance Centre, Senapati Bapat Marg, Elphinstone Road (West), Mumbai-400013
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LIVEMINT.COM CORPORATE Friday, 7 July 2023
MuMbai 03

Goods transit strong

Long notice periods are back despite June decline
Gireesh Chandra Prasad
gireesh.p@livemint.com
Talent shortage, transition woes prompt India Inc to revert to extended notice periods of 2-3 months New DelhI
markets. India Manufacturing
Purchasing Managers’ Index
(PMI) was at 57.8 for the month
despite receding from the 58.7

G
eneration of e-way bills mark in May. S&P reported
Devina Sengupta & Ranjani Raghavan As part of its ambitious plans to hire retain employees. Its group HR head dipped marginally to “considerable improvement in
MuMBAI 3,000 employees this year, the com- Kumar Krishnaswamy, cited an exam- 86.1 million last month operating conditions” for all
pany has implemented a mandatory ple where an employee resigned to compared to 88.2 million per- manufacturers.

I
ndia Inc. is reverting to extended
notice periods of 2-3 months as a
retention measure due to mount-
ing difficulty of sourcing candi-
dates from the market. Companies
from across sectors told Mint that long
notice periods following the hiring
frenzy allows organizations ample
time to groom replacements.
In recent years, firms had curtailed
their notice periods so that they could
poach talent from competitors, and
swiftly onboard them.
“Companies have notice periods of
2-3 months for a smooth transition to
ensure there is no impact on business
when an employee resigns. During the
hiring frenzy of last year, companies
wanted to hire quickly and realized,
they would rather let go than adhere to
stringent notice periods,” said Roop-
ank Chaudhary, partner, human capi-
tal solutions, India, Aon.
“However, now that hiring has nor-
malized, we see firms going back to the
In recent years, firms had curtailed their notice periods so that they could
poach talent from competitors, and swiftly onboard them.
2–3-month routine,” he added.
While some are reverting to longer
notice periods, others are becoming
more stringent, with some imple-
menting it across hierarchies.
“We have always had three months
for middle and senior executives, but
now there is demand for even at junior
levels. This is in line with market prac-
MINT
tices to ensure business continuity,”
said Vikram Bector, president and
chief human resources officer,
Piramal Group.
It’s not just financial services and
pharma companies that are undergo-
ing transformation; insurance com-
pany Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance has
also decided to follow industry peers.
90-day notice period. “take a break”, without disclosing the mits in May, indicating intra- E-way bill data, regarded as
“Three months’ notice is mandatory real reason behind her move. Follow- and inter-state shipments of an early sign of robust manu-
among rivals and now, the entire sec- ing interactions over a month, the goods continued to be robust facturing activity in the econ-
tor has done the same. Earlier, the time company discovered that she wanted despite a slight moderation. omy, shows goods movement
(served by the candidate) was far more to shift because her husband had Data from Goods and Servi- across the country, including
relaxed and optional. Now, moved to a different location ces Tax Network (GSTN) which stock and raw-material trans-
getting people on board for his professional com- processes goods and services fers within companies. It cap-
takes time,” said Tarun mitments. AHH tweaked tax (GST) returns, showed that tures data for shipments valued
Chugh, managing
director and chief exec- 90 -day
mandatory notice
her role and offered her a
position in the same
56 million permits were raised
for intra-state movement and
at ₹50,000 or more, being
transported for at least 50 km.
utive, Bajaj Allianz Life city, which she 30 million permits for inter- Given that e-way bill data has
Insurance, which has period enforced by accepted. state goods movement in June, remained above 80 million for
been hiring aggressively Bajaj Allianz “It was possible against 56.7 million intra-state the last eight months is a sign of
over the past five years to because of the longer and 31.5 million inter-state post-pandemic economic resil-
take its workforce strength notice period and in-depth e-way bills raised in May. ience, said analysts.
from 7,000 to 23,000. conversation during her notice Goods transportation data Policymakers are expecting
Insurance, retail, pharmaceutical, period. We strongly believe that for June is in line with the PMI sustained urban demand and a
and healthcare companies are strictly employees open a lot more to the orga- manufacturing data, indicating recovery in rural India for the
enforcing extended notice periods, in nization during notice periods.” robust demand despite the economy to expand at 6.5% in
contrast to the earlier trend to ensure In India, contracts are drafted dif- index dipping marginally from FY24, but are also keeping a
adequate support to clients even dur- ferently than the West, where the con- the levels seen in May. close watch on the geopolitics,
ing the transition period. tract is termed as ‘employment at will’, S&P Global had on Monday impact of El-Nino and banking
Asia Healthcare Holdings (AHH), a allowing an employee to decide her reported robust demand for industry stress in the West that
TPG-backed healthcare platform, said last day at work, which cannot be Indian-made products, both in could pose downside risks to
notice periods of 2-3 months will help made to extend. the domestic and international India’s growth.

Tata eyes Temasek’s

holding in Tata Play
Bloomberg television via set-top boxes
feedback@livemint.com and over-the-top video
streaming through its app,

T
ata group is considering according to the conglomer-
an offer to buy back a ate’s website.
stake in its entertain- Tata Play has recently
ment content distribution received green light from reg-
platform from Temasek Hold- ulators to proceed with the
ings Pte as the Indian con- IPO, the people said. Its listing
glomerate weighs postponing would have been the first
Tata Play Ltd’s initial public among the $128 billion Tata
offering (IPO), according to group’s businesses to go public
people with knowledge of the since Tata Consultancy Servi-
matter. ces Ltd.’s $1.2 billion IPO in
Tata group is contemplating 2004.
whether to delay the planned Discussions between Tata
Tata Play listing group and Tem-
because of mar- Tata group is asek are ongoing
ket conditions, contemplating and could still fall
the people said. whether to delay apart, the people
Instead, Tata the planned Tata said. Tata Play
group has started
Play IPO because could still opt for
discussions with a listing should
Temasek around of market market condi-
a deal that would conditions tions improve,
give the Singapo- they added. Rep-
rean state inves- resentatives for
tor an opportunity for a long- Tata group and Temasek
awaited exit from its invest- declined to comment.
ment in the platform, formerly Last year Tata Play filed
known as Tata Sky, the people confidentially with India’s
said. capital markets regulator,
Temasek owns about 20% of becoming the first Indian
the content distribution plat- company to take advantage of
form, one of the people said, the option to file IPO docu-
asking not to be identified as ments without making sensi-
the information is private. A tive information public.
joint venture between Tata Temasek first invested in
group and Walt Disney Co.’s Tata Sky, as it was known at the
Twenty-First Century Fox time, in 2007, according to its
Inc., Tata Play provides pay website.

Interim relief for

Goyal in loan case
Priyanka Gawande
priyanka.gawande@livemint.com
MuMBAI

T
he Bombay High Court
on Thursday granted an
interim stay on a show-
cause notice issued by IDBI
Bank to Naresh Goyal, former
promoter of debt-laden carrier
Jet Airways.
In accordance with Reserve
Bank of India’s (RBI) master
Circular on wilful defaulters,
IDBI Bank’s review committee
issued a notice accusing Goyal
of being a wilful defaulter on 31
May. Goyal had challenged the
notice before a division bench
of the Bombay High Court.
In his petition submitted to
the high court, Goyal asserted
that he was denied the oppor-
tunity to put forth his submis-
sions to the show-cause notice
which, he argued, violated the
principles of natural justice
and contravened RBI’s circu-
lar on fraud classification and
reporting. Goyal also said that
the review committee failed to
consider his response based on
the information available with
him.
In a significant verdict, the
Supreme Court in March said
that borrowers must be heard
before their accounts are clas-
Naresh Goyal, former
promoter of Jet Airways.
sified as fraud. The court held
the principles of “audi alteram
partem” (let the other side be
heard) must be read into the
circular issued by RBI on clas-
sifying bank accounts as fraud.
It also said that since classi-
fying a fraud account entails
serious civil consequences for
a borrower, directions must be
interpreted and analysed rea-
sonably, adhering to the prin-
ciples of natural justice.
Goyal, also alleged that the
notice is a “sham and an empty
formality”, and strongly criti-
cized its legality, terming it as
“ex-facie illegal, bad perverse,
and completely contrary to the
settled positions of law,” and
urged the court to set aside the
bank’s notice.
04 Friday, 7 July 2023
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65446.04 65391.88 19398.50 19385.70 16597.20 16600.75 44108.00 44,209.35 19297.95 19293.15 28994.35 29023.63 33004.56 33036.08
HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW

65832.98 65328.29 19502.30 19373.00 16693.50 16590.70 44351.25 44,136.70 19399.50 19279.65 29235.10 29002.16 33247.70 33031.69

m MINT SHORTS
Top Asia IPO gainers in Japan as
Rubber meets road in Macrotech Developers
sets strong foundation
nation lures global funds
Japanese initial public offerings may keep luring buyers
after having delivered the biggest gains among newly
listed Asian shares this year in the world’s best-performing
premium bike market for the new fiscal year
equity market. Tokyo’s debutants in 2023 are up an aver- Vineetha Sampath & Pallavi Pengonda Harsha Jethmalani
Feeling blue Solid show
age of 75% since their listings, according to data compiled vineetha.s@livemint.com harsha.j@livemint.com
by Bloomberg. That’s more than any other major Asian Bajaj Auto’s shares have run up lately The strong footing of EIcher Motors’ Macrotech Developers clocked its
highest Q1 pre-sales in the June

T M
market that had at least $1 billion raised through IPOs over he premium motorcycles seg- on new premium launches, while that Royal Enfield in the premium segment acrotech Developers Ltd quarter of FY24.
the period. Looking at the first day of trade alone, new- ment is getting crowded. And of Eicher Motors have dropped. faces a threat from new launches. (Lodha) impressed the
Pre-sales (in ₹ crore)
comers in the city rose 51% on average, the most in five why not? Profit margins are Eicher Motors Bajaj Auto Market share in the above Street with its robust pre- 4,000
years, the data show. “The Japanese IPO market is running higher, and the demand is any- 250cc two-wheeler segment (in %) sales or bookings for the June quar-
105
red hot,” said Clarence Chu, an analyst at Aequitas way muted for entry-level two- 104.05 Eicher Motors’ Royal Enfield Bajaj Auto
ter (Q1FY24). Bookings grew by 17%
Research Pvt Ltd in Singapore. “Fundamentals aside, this wheelers. Others
year-on-year to ₹3,353 crore, also the
is likely owed to the ‘buy Japan’ investment angle that is Hero MotoCorp Ltd in partnership highest Q1 number delivered by the 3,000
100
ongoing right now, with investors looking at the country with Harley Davidson has launched the 100 company. Lodha has now achieved
as an attractive geography to risk on.” Japan’s performance Harley-Davidson X440, and Bajaj Auto 23% of its FY24 pre-sales guidance of
80
comes as the nation boasts a stock market that has soared Ltd in collaboration with Triumph ₹14,500 crore in the first quarter.
to levels unseen in over three decades. BLOOMBERG Motorcycles launched Speed 400. Both Demand is robust, says Lodha’s man- 2,000
95 60
these motorbikes are in the above-250 cc agement. The company’s shares are
segment and have been priced competi- up 4% since the update after market
40
tively, opening the doors for better cus- hours on Tuesday.
tomer acceptance. 90 Thus, it requires 21% year-on-year 1,000
20
“We think this will lead to faster premi- growth in bookings in Q2–Q4 FY24
umization of the two-wheeler industry,” 86.97 to meet the guidance, reckon ana-
0
said Kumar Rakesh, an analyst at BNP FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 lysts from Nuvama Research in a
85 estimated
Paribas Securities India, in a report on 6 06 Jun 2023 06 Jul 2023 report dated 5 July. 0
Source: Society of Indian Q2FY22 Q1FY24
July. Investors in Hero and Bajaj Auto are Values rebased to 100 Source: Capitaline Automobile Manufacturers, Nomura estimates
Reserve Bank of India has paused
Source: Company, Nuvama Research
excited, perhaps a bit more than war- interest rate hiking cycle. With likeli-
ranted at this stage. Shares of both auto- SATISH KUMAR/MINT hood of a downward journey of inter- SATISH KUMAR/MINT

makers hit new 52-week highs on Thurs- firm notes that the cheapest Triumph to monitor how gross margin shapes up est rates in the next few quarters, the to investments on business develop-
day. motorcycle in India thus far is 660 cc Tri- given the competitive pricing of management sees momentum for ment projects. Lodha plans to reduce
Speed 400 is priced at ₹223,000 for dent priced at ₹812,000, about four times ₹233,000. Further, marketing spends housing strengthening further. debt to lower than 0.5x equity, as
the first 10,000 units and ₹233,000 the price of RE Classic 350 cc. and royalty fees are likely to weigh on The company also added five new guided for FY24. For this, the com-
thereafter. This is roughly in line with Now, with the Bajaj-Triumph vehicle Ebitda margin,” Varun Baxi, an analyst at projects with gross development pany will reduce debt significantly in
base variant of Harley-Davidson X440. being priced lower, affordability Antique Stock Broking, said. value (GDV) potential of ₹12,000 second half of the year.
Average 90-day correlation between basket of currencies Pricing of both vehicles is at about 20% increases for the Indian consumer. The Currently, RE holds the largest market crore across different micro-mar- “There has been a slight uptick in
and bond yields has fallen to 0.1 from 0.42 last year. AFP premium when compared to base variant planned capacity for the Triumph bikes is share in the above-250 cc category at kets. For perspective, Lodha’s full debt, but the debt issue is largely out
of Eicher Motors Ltd’s Royal Enfield (RE) 5,000 units per month, which would be 88%. This also means there is room for year guidance for new project addi- of the way for the company,” Kandpal
Classic 350 cc. “Speed 400’s aggressive further expanded based on how demand more companies, offering more choices tions is ₹17,500 crore. “The com- said. In this year so far, the stock has
Asia’s emerging-market bonds, pricing shows Bajaj Auto’s determination pans out. The vehicles would be launched to consumers eventually. However, the pany’s business devel- rallied by 33%, in keep-
currencies lose traditional link to disrupt the segment, after launch of Bajaj-Triumph opment GDV in Q1FY24 The company ing with the gains seen
Asia’s emerging-market currencies are losing their tradi- having failed to do so with RIDING THE WAVE and Hero-Harley at com- was a positive surprise aims to in Nifty Realty index.
tional close relationship to local bonds as falling hedging Avenger and Dominar ear- petitive pricing poses a sig- for the market and that significantly “However, since Q2 is a
costs means more investors are choosing to offset their for- lier,” said BNP report. HERO MotoCorp, BENEFITS of BUT, margin gains nificant risk to RE’s market is driving sentiment typically weak quarter
reduce debt
eign-exchange risks. The correlation is also breaking down Speed 400 will be availa- Bajaj Auto have premiumization, need tracking as the share. Investors in shares of towards the stock. That
launched better margins are pricing of the newly in the second half for the sector, we expect
as China’s gloomy outlook weighs on Asian currencies, ble through Triumph’s motorbikes in the factors driving auto launched vehicles Eicher Motors seem to have said, granular details on pace of new launches to
while having little impact on regional debt markets. The dealership network, which over 250 cc category cos to this segment is competitive taken note of this, evident locations of these pro- of the financial meaningfully pick up in
average 90-day correlation between a basket of emerging is likely to expand to 100 from the 10% drop in the jects will be awaited,” year H2FY24,” he added.
Asian currencies and government bond yields has fallen showrooms across 80 cities share price this week. Parikshit Kandpal, insti- As such, like other
to 0.1 from 0.42 at the end of last year, according to data by FY24-end. Scrambler 400 X will be in international markets such as UK, All said, the premium two-wheeler tutional research ana- listed real estate peers,
compiled by Bloomberg. A level of 1 would mean the two launched in October and the price will be North America, South America, Japan segment promises to be action-packed in lyst at HDFC Securities Ltd, said. the company will continue to benefit
move in lockstep. The breakdown in the relationship revealed later. and southeast Asia by 2023-end. coming months. Nomura Financial Advi- Collections at ₹2,403 crore in from ongoing consolidation in the
shows why increasing inflows into Asia bonds this year are However, it is worth noting that Tri- Bajaj Auto’s investors are optimistic, sory and Securities (India) expects more Q1FY24, fell sequentially and annu- sector. That said, macro risks such as
having only a limited spillover into the regional currency umph’s success in India has not been what with the shares gaining 36% so far in product launches in the above 250 cc seg- ally, but the management expects demand slowdown can be a damp-
market. Cheaper hedging costs and growing expectations impressive. “Triumph has so far struggled 2023. To be sure, since Speed 400 is ment from Triumph, TVS Motor Co., collections to pick up in the remain- ener. “Faster land monetisation at
for rate cuts in Asia suggest currencies will remain under to ramp up volumes in India, selling only priced competitively, the near-to-me- Yamaha Motor India, Hero, and Honda ing quarters of the fiscal year. Palava, portfolio growth, geographi-
pressure for the rest of the year. “It’s about relative interest about 1,000 units annually, due to high dium term margin trajectory needs closer Motorcycles and Scooters India. The BNP More importantly, net debt cal diversification and annuity asset
rates,” said Galvin Chia, emerging-market strategist at vehicle prices,” said analysts at Jefferies attention. “Given the features and com- Paribas report title sums it up aptly: ‘The increased marginally to ₹7,264 crore sale can be potential stock catalysts,”
NatWest Markets in Singapore. BLOOMBERG India in a report on 5 July. The broking ponents going into Speed 400, one needs premium motorcycle’s moment is here.’ from ₹7,073 crore, sequentially, due according to Nuvama.

Mark to Market writers do not have positions in the companies they have discussed here

Sebi nudges FPIs to Sebi holds ‘fit and proper’ rule FinMin points to EU carbon tax
bond RFQ platform cloud over steel, cement exports
Priyanka Gawande
priyanka.gawande@livemint.com
porate Services, CD Equis- enforcement agency in an eco-
earch, Systematix Shares and nomic offence against them.
MuMBAi Stocks (India), LKP Wealth In their petitions before the
PTI Advisory, LKP Securities, KR high court, the intermediaries PTI risks to India’s exports include

T
feedback@livemint.com he Securities and Choksey Shares and Securi- said such provisions by Sebi feedback@livemint.com the European Union’s intro-
new Delhi Exchange Board of India ties, and Almondz Global are “manifestly unreasonable, new Delhi duction of the Carbon Border
(Sebi), which set forth Securities, besides others, had arbitrary, unfair, forbiddingly Adjustment Mechanism,” the

S A
ebi on Thursday pro-
posed mandating For-
eign Portfolio Investors
(FPIs) to undertake at least 10%
of their total secondary market
trades in corporate bonds by
value on the RFQ (Request For
Quote) platform of the stock
exchanges.
The proposal is aimed at
increasing the liquidity on the
RFQ platform and enhancing
the transparency and disclo-
sures pertaining to invest-
ments in corporate bonds,
which, in turn, will encourage
investment by FPIs in the cor-
porate bond segment, Sebi
said.
RFQ, which was launched
on BSE and NSE in February
2020, is an electronic platform
that enables multi-lateral
negotiations to take place on a
centralised online trading
platform with straight-
through processing of clearing
and settlement to complete
the trade.
Sebi has sought comments on
the proposals till 26 July. MINT
native investment funds
(AIFs), portfolio management
services (PMS) and stock bro-
kers.
The Securities and
Exchange Board of India (Sebi)
has sought comments on the
proposals till 26 July.
RFQ platform reduces
information asymmetry and
enhances transparency in the
corporate debt segment by
providing disclosures such as
term sheets, price information
and market quotes. This is
expected to result in better
price discovery, lower costs
the ‘fit and proper’ person cri-
teria for intermediaries, said in
a statement before Bombay
High Court on Thursday that it
will not insist on compliance
with notice until 2 August.
A division bench led by Jus-
tices Gautam Patel and Neela
Gokhale asked Sebi to file its
affidavit in reply to the pleas
filed by the proprietary con-
cerns challenging schedule II
of the Sebi (Intermediaries)
Regulations, 2008.
Intermediaries including
Motilal Oswal Financial Servi-
ces, Anand Rathi Shares and
Stock Brokers, Roongta Cor-
Oil marketers’ shares hit 52-week highs on margin hopes
Ujjval Jauhari
ujjval.j@livemint.com
new Delhi
filed a clutch of petitions chal- excessive, extremely wide in lready facing subdued finance ministry said in its
lenging constitu- scope and appli- demand from devel- annual economic report.
tional validity of The regulations cability and cre- oped nations, India’s On the positive side, the
C l a u s e 6 o f seek to disqualify ate an unreasona- exports are likely to be hit by report said energy prices were
Schedule II of persons from ble restriction”. the European Union’s 20-35% expected to remain at lower
2008 regulation. participating in The regulations tariffs on high-carbon goods levels for the rest of the year,
Amendments
securities market seek to disqualify like steel, iron ore and cement, which should take pressure off
notified in Sched- persons from par- the finance ministry said in a India’s exports are likely to be the trade deficit.
ule II under merely on basis of ticipating in secu- report released on Thursday. hit by EU’s 20-35% tariffs on India’s merchandise trade
clause 3(b) (i) and accusations rities market on In April, the EU approved high-carbon goods. deficit rose faster-than-ex-
(ii) state that prin- the basis of accu- the world’s first plan to impose pected in May to $22.12 billion,
cipal officers, sations. a levy on high-carbon goods in exports to the EU would be from $15.24 billion in April, due
directors, managing partners, The petitioners had antici- imports from 2026, aiming to required beginning 1 October to reduced demand for Indian
compliance officers and key pated Sebi would act against become a net zero emitter of 2023, and the main goods exports from developed coun-
managerial persons will attract intermediaries if they did not greenhouse gases by 2050, affected would be steel, tries.
disqualification from being ‘fit comply with notice regarding some 20 years earlier than cement, aluminium, fertilisers, The report also said India’s
and proper’, the moment a declaring any individual ‘fit India’s target. electricity and hydrogen. rural demand is on the path to
chargesheet is filed by an and proper’. Reporting of carbon content “The impending downside recovery.
from Russia is likely to support showing steep losses over the With no retail price cut,
refining margins for oil mar- first half of FY23, have steadily despite lower international
keting companies, analysts recovered over the last four product prices, OMCs’ auto
said. months and they estimate pet- fuel over-recoveries further

A wide variety of debt secu-
rities are available for trading
on the RFQ platform.
In its consultation paper,
Sebi has proposed that FPIs
may be mandated to under-
take at least 10% of their total
secondary market trades in
corporate bonds by value by
placing quotes on the RFQ
platform of stock exchanges,
on a quarterly basis, to start
with.
The regulator has provided
a similar mandate for other
intermediaries such as alter-
S
and ease of doing business.
“The various advantages
brought in by the RFQ plat-
form are expected to propel
Indian bond markets into a
higher growth phase, thereby
promoting investments in the
segment by all participants,
including FPIs,” Sebi said.
However, the same can be
achieved if the participation
on the platform is deepened
and widened due to adoption
by a maximum number of par-
ticipants resulting in a greater
volume of trades, it added.
tock prices of oil market-
ing companies Bharat
Petroleum Corp. Ltd
(BPCL), Indian Oil Corp. Ltd
(IOCL) and Hindustan Petro-
leum Corp. Ltd (HPCL) scaled
52-week highs on Thursday on
expectations of healthy June
quarter performance.
The companies are
expected to report a strong
performance during Q1 helped
by good marketing margins.
Although benchmark refining
margins declined during Q1,
discounted crude sourced
While oil prices have inched
up recently from lows, led by
deepening production cuts
announced by the various oil
producing nations, analysts do
not see much upside for oil pri-
ces amidst weak China
demand, global slowdown
concern and adequate global
reserves and supplies.
Analysts at Jefferies India
Pvt Ltd said OMC profitability
during Q1 should spike on
marketing strength, despite
refining weakness. The OMCs,
after suffering significant
rol and diesel margins at a stel-
lar ₹8-9 a litre in Q1. Modera-
tion in both crude costs and
softer product prices are likely
to benefit OMCs’ marketing
earnings in Q1, they said.
The OMCs are being
allowed to recover their losses
The companies are expected to report a strong performance on marketing during a high
during Q1 helped by good marketing margins. REUTERS crude price environment. The
blended auto fuel margins
losses on marketing auto fuels FY23 amidst declining oil pri- stood at ₹3 a litre during Q4
during 2022 amidst high ces. The momentum is likely which are likely to improve to
crude price environment, saw to continue in Q1 FY24. ₹9 a litre during Q1, said Avis-
strong rebound in marketing Analysts at ICICI Securities hek Datta, senior analyst at
performance during the Q4 said marketing margins, after Prabhudas Lilladher.
increased to nearly
₹24,000-25,000 crore in Q1
FY23, on an estimate, said ana-
lysts at Kotak Institutional
Equities. Auto fuel over-recov-
eries will more than offset the
impact of 50% sequential
decline in benchmark gross
refining margins (GRM), they
added.
The benchmark Singapore
GRMs averaged lower at $4.1 a
barrel versus $8.2 a barrel in
Q4 FY23, due to drop in diesel
and ATF spreads by $12 a bar-
rel as per analysts’ data.
LIVEMINT.COM DEALS, TECH & STARTUPS Friday, 7 July 2023
MuMbai 05

TCS to train
m MINT SHORTS
Drone co InsideFPV bags ₹2.75 cr in
PE investments in real estate 25K staff on
Azure, OpenAI
seed funding from Inflection Point
Bengaluru: Drone maker InsideFPV has raised $333,505 (₹2.75
crore) in a seed funding round from Inflection Point Ventures (IPV).
The Surat-based startup will use the capital for product development,
to stay slow on macro woes Gen AI tools
Shouvik Das
and research and marketing. Founded in 2020 by Arth Chowdhary shouvik.das@livemint.com
and Deyvant Bhardwaj, InsideFPV plans to target the market for con- New Delhi
sumer drones, agricultural, and defence drones in the coming quarters.
Private equity investments in the real estate sector remained stagnant in FY23 at $4.2 billion
T
ata Consultancy Servi-
ces (TCS), India’s larg-
Luzo raises ₹2 crore pre-seed est software services
Priyal Mahtta India has raised its lending rates by 250 company, on Thursday said it
funding from 100x.VC, others priyal.mahtta@livemint.com basis points since May 2022. will train 25,000 engineers
ISTOCK
BeNgaluru Another industry executive said large on generative artificial intelli-
Asian investors, including Singapore gence (AI) tools and services

T
he pace of new private equity
(PE) investments in India’s
real estate sector is likely to
remain tepid in the near term
due to global macroeconomic
challenges but existing PE investors and
domestic investors are likely to continue
growing their exposure, industry execu-
tives said.
While marquee PE firms and PE-style
investors based in the US and Canada
Bengaluru: Premium salon, spa and aesthetic clinic mar- such as Blackstone, Brookfield, Canada,
ketplace Luzo has raised $250,000 (₹2.06 crore) as a part of Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB)
its pre-seed funding round led by100X.VC, with participa- and Caisse de dépôt et placement du
tion from angel investors like Yash Kotak (Jumper.ai) and Québec (CDPQ), are expected to remain
Kabir Kulkarni, among others. The startup plans to use thre invested, the likelihood of new foreign
funds to onboard more partners in Mumbai, Delhi and other investors joining India’s realty sector are
metro cities. Additionally, it will deploy the capital to low because of a high interest rate
improve its technology platform. regime, said Shobhit Agarwal, manag-
ing director and chief executive officer
of Anarock Capital.
Lightspeed-backed OfficeBanao “While the longer-term prospects are
promising, the near term may see muted
secures angel investment activity on account of elevated interest
Bengaluru: Workspace interior firm OfficeBanao has raised an rates (impacting valuations), global
undisclosed amount in an angel investment round from Ajit headwinds and upcoming national elec-
Mohan (Hotstar), Ramesh Nair and Apurva Chamaria (Google tions,” Agarwal said.
India). This comes a couple of months after the Gururgam-based PE investments remained stagnant in
startup raised $6 million from Lightspeed in a seed round. Office- FY23 at $4.2 billion, significantly trail-
Banao plans to boost its technology-driven platform, accelerate ing the $6.3 billion in the pre-covid year
product development, and add talent with the fresh capital. of FY20, property research and consult-
COMPILED BY K. AMOGHAVARSHA ancy Anarock said in a report in April.
state investment firms Temasek and
GIC, and the Middle East investors, such
as Abu Dhabi Investment Authority
(ADIA), are more inclined to increase
their exposure in India’s property sec-
tor, a trend which has gained ground
lately, and is likely to continue.
The executive added that even
though foreign institutional capital,
especially from the US and Europe, may
see some tapering in the near term,
there is increased optimism among
Indian investors including high-net-
worth individuals and family offices to
boost their exposure to the sector, par-
ticularly to the residential segment.
Foreign investors took part in about 81% of the total real estate PE deals in FY22, but Many domestic investors largely take
the figure fell to about 75% last year, according to Anarock. BLOOMBERG the alternative investment or structured
debt route to invest in the realty sector.
A comparatively higher interest rate “Blackstone, Brookfield, and the Anarock’s report showed foreign
regime, triggered by global central likes, those would be investing for long investors took part in about 81% of the
banks’ efforts to rein in inflation, is likely periods of time and continue their jour- total real estate PE deals in FY22, but the
to offer higher risk-adjusted returns to ney of investing, but no new money is figure fell to about 75% last year, signal-
US and European investors likely to be coming in, and ling greater activity by local PE firms.
and they may pocket about unless you’re a new investor, Meanwhile, the longer-term view for
10-12% returns in dollar terms your market doesn’t grow as private equity inflow in the realty sector
on their real estate bets. These much,” Agarwal said. remains promising. Amit Goenka, MD
investors, excluding the existing inves- The US Federal Reserve began raising and CEO of Mumbai-based Nisus
tors such as Blackstone or Brookfield, rates last year as a response to the deca- Finance, expects a significant rise in PE
will, therefore, be more inclined to dal-high inflation in the world’s largest exposure play in India in the longer
invest in their home countries as against economy and has raised its benchmark term, with local investors partnering
emerging markets such as India. rates by 500 basis points since then. with global entities.
by AI research firm OpenAI,
the makers of popular chat-
bot, ChatGPT.
The generative AI services
will be hosted and provided
on Microsoft’s Azure cloud
platform, thus making this
offering available to its cli-
ents. Microsoft is an investor
in OpenAI.
TCS also launched a gener-
ative AI business offering,
called TCS Generative AI
Enterprise Adoption, which
will offer deployments of
OpenAI’s generative AI busi-
ness tools via the Azure plat-
form to businesses.
TCS said, in a statement,
that the business unit will
“help clients enhance cus-
tomer experience, launch
new business models, grow
revenue, and enhance pro-
ductivity.”
The launch of the Azure
OpenAI business unit follows
TCS’ partnership with Google
Cloud on 22 May to launch
generative AI business offer-
ings based on Google’s cloud
platform.

Battery Smart bags $33 mn from

Tiger Global, Blume, two others
Aman Rawat battery swapping for two and
aman.rawat@livemint.com three-wheeler EVs in under
New Delhi two minutes, reducing the
upfront investment of a con-

B
attery swapping network
platform for electric two
and three-wheelers Bat-
tery Smart has raised $33 mil-
lion (about ₹273 crore) in a pre-
Series B funding round from
existing and new investors.
Existing investors Tiger
Global and Blume Ventures
participated in the round, while
The Ecosystem Integrity Fund
(EIF) and British International
Investment (BII) joined as new
backers.
Battery Smart plans to use
the fresh capital to onboard
100,000 customers as it
expands its network across
India, the company said in a
release on Thursday.
“With 25,000
active customers
across tier 1, 2 and 3
cities, we are keen to
reinforce our ESG (environ-
mental, social, and governance)
objectives while supporting
India’s pursuit towards net-
zero emissions,” said Pulkit
Khurana, co-founder and chief
executive at Battery Smart.
Prior to this, Battery Smart
Pulkit Khurana, co-founder,
Battery Smart.
raised $25 million in Series A
funding led by Tiger Global,
along with participation from
Blume Ventures and Orios
Ventures in June last year. The
company claims that since its
last funding round, it has wit-
nessed a sixfold jump in reve-
nue and customer
base.
Last November,
the company had
raised $9 million in debt
financing from Stride Ven-
tures.
Founded in 2019 by IIT-
Kanpur alumni, Khurana and
Siddharth Sikka, Battery Smart
offers battery-as-a-service,
which enables interoperable
sumer.
The company currently has
a network of more than 600
battery swapping stations
across 25 cities. It claims that it ISSUE OUT
has completed more than 12 TOMORROW
million battery swaps to date.
India’s electric vehicle mar-
ket is projected to reach $113.99
billion by 2029, clocking a
compound annual growth rate
of 66.52% from $3.21 billion in
2021, as per a November 2022
report by Fortune Business
Insights.
In a bid to tap the massive
opportunity, several venture
INDIA’S NEW
capital and private equity
investors have continued to
invest in EV opportunities,
despite a broader slowdown in
the startup ecosystem.
For instance, early this
month, EV startup Vegh raised
CULTURE CAPITAL?
Culture in Bengaluru is edgy, experimental, underpinned by a
$5 million in its ongoing pre- sense of social responsibility. As exciting new projects break
series A round that has a target
of up to $50 million. Also, last ground, it seems set to be the country’s culture capital
month, EV startup Oben Elec-
tric raised $4.8 million in its
extended pre-Series A funding
round while EV maker River
secured $15 million.

VC funding plunges globally

in first half despite AI frenzy
Reuters point for me to add to the mis-
feedback@livemint.com ery.”
PitchBook said large inves-

V
enture capital (VC)
funding globally almost
halved in the first six
months of 2023, data from
research firm PitchBook
showed, highlighting a lack of
enthusiasm on the part of
investors as well as less demand
amid sharply higher interest
rates.
The 48% decline in invest-
ment to $173.9 billion and the
19% drop-off in deal numbers
comes despite huge interest in
artificial intelligence (AI) start-
ups sparked by the success of
OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Investors poured more than
$40 billion into AI startups in
the past six months, the data
showed. That includes a $10
billion investment by Microsoft
in OpenAI and $1.3 billion in
funding for rival Inflection AI.
By region, Latin America
had the biggest drop with an
86% slump while the US and
Europe fell 65% and 69%
The first six months of 2023
saw 48% decline in investment
to $173.9 billion. ISTOCK
respectively.
Investors say that not only
have higher interest rates
caused a rethink of valuations,
the current IPO drought and
lack of other exit opportunities
has made them more selective.
“I haven’t written any checks
in the past 18 months,” said
Kevin Colleran, a co-founder at
early-stage firm Slow Ventures.
“I have 30 portfolio companies
that I need to help figure out
how to survive. There is no
tors weren’t actively participat-
ing in venture funding and out-
sized deals that had pushed
deal values to records were no
longer happening. Venture
capital funding globally hit an
annual record of $745.1 billion
in 2021.
Funding activity has fallen
across all stages, with the first
seed round logging the biggest
drop with a 44% decline in the
number of deals in the US.
Many firms that secured
funds in 2021 are still sitting on
a considerable amount of
money and feel little need to
come back to a market that
expects much lower valuations,
investors said. But they added
that a moderate pickup in
demand could emerge in the
second half. “More companies
will have run low on cash and TASTE: Palate cleansers have STYLE: Does #viralcore THINK: Tibetan essays that
will need to come to market to become big crowd-pleasers make for good fashion? are a meditation on exile
fully finance their plans,” said
Mary D’Onofrio, a partner at
Bessemer Venture Partners.
06 Friday, 7 July 2023
MuMbai CORPORATE LIVEMINT.COM

Instagram
unveils ‘Biocon Biologics ahead of m
MOVES
Twitter-like
Threads
plan in integrating Viatris’ A weekly list of C-Suiters who have moved up
the corporate ladder either within or outside
their companies.
Abhijit Appointed as chief executive
FROM PAGE 1 Bhave officer at Equirus Wealth

Twitter users to seek alterna-
tives. But most of the com-
pany’s previous direct challen-
gers, such as Bluesky and Mas-
todon, haven’t built up
networks big enough to give
posts the reach and impact they
The biosimilar unit of Biocon expects to raise additional capital this year, says CEO Tambe Anand Appointed as chief human
Amrit Raj resource officer at The Best Group
Ranjani Raghavan The new equity fundraising is Dilip Appointed as chief information
ranjani.raghavan@livemint.com expected to happen in the upcoming Kastala officer at HIL
MuMBai year, he said, declining to specify the
Hardeep Appointed as chief financial
size. The company’s current valuation is officer at Pepper Money
Singh

have on Twitter. Many new
alternative networks are also
still building out systems for
managing harmful, inappropri-
ate, or violent content.
Threads will embark with all
those mature company systems
in place, thanks to Instagram’s
existing infrastructure. The
app will have the same content
rules as Instagram, with the
same controls for muting and
blocking harassing accounts.
Public figures who have veri-
fied accounts on Instagram can
maintain their blue badges on
Threads. Earlier this year,
Twitter turned verification into
a paid-only feature.
B
iocon Biologics Ltd, the bio- in the range of $5.4 billion, Tambe
similar unit of drugmaker added. Appointed as head of supply chain
Biocon Ltd, has achieved a Biocon, including Biocon Biologics, Jaspreet Singh management at Mrs. Bectors
third of its post-deal integra- has raised $850 million in capital for Chadha Food Specialties
tion with Viatris’s global bio- Biocon Biologics from external inves-
similar portfolio ahead of time and tors. In May 2023, Edelweiss Alternative Pankaj Appointed as chief technology
expects to focus on integrating its US Asset Advisors received a competition Goel officer at BharatPe
and European operations in the next commission of India approval for an Appointed as global director
phase, chief executive Shreehas Tambe approximately $100 million investment Pankaj business development-fiber
said, adding the company also expects to in Biocon Biologics. The company also
raise additional capital this year. has several other private equity inves-
Priyadarshi optics and managing director
“Earlier, we had guided two years for
the whole transition. A good part is the
first wave has come way ahead of plan
and is a good indicator of where we are
headed,” Tambe said.
On Wednesday, Biocon Biologics said
it had taken over the commercialization The business is very strong with cash flows, and we are able to support the kinds
of Viatris’ biosimilar business in over 70 of debt leverage that we’ve taken on our books, CEO Shreehas Tambe said.
tors.
It launched the biosimilar for adali-
mumab (used to treat rheumatoid ari-
thritis) in the US this week, which is
expected to be a major growth driver for
the company. Two other immediate
growth drivers for the company include
its Aspart and Bevecizumab products.
Peuli
Das

Prarthana
Agarwal
m India at Rosendahl Nextrom

Appointed as chief insurance officer

at Future Generali Life Insurance

Appointed as head of finance

at Hero Vired

Appointed as managing director

“People are looking for an
experience where they have
more control, and where safety
is built into the product from
the start,” Hayes said.
Another selling point, Hayes
said, is that Threads is built on
the same ActivityPub social-
networking protocol as Masto-
don and other decentralized
social-media apps. That means
people who build followings on
Threads eventually will be able
to use the app to interact with a
wider community beyond
Instagram. It’s the first Meta
app that will be interoperable
with competing products,
though Hayes didn’t give a
timeline for that update.
Threads is also launching
without ads—for now, the focus
is to get as many people excited
about the product as possible,
Hayes said.
MOVES
countries of emerging markets. Biocon “We’ve been delayed for the two prod- Purvank and chief executive officer
Biologics closed the $3.34 billion deal to (Europe) as the last wave of countries,” tory,” Kiran Mazumdar Shah, founder ucts for approval — which is (Insulin) Purohit at Solara Active Pharma Sciences
acquire the global biosimilar portfolio of Tambe said. and chairman and managing director of Aspart and Bevacizumab. These prod-
Viatris in November 2022 in a mixture Biocon Biologics is already benefiting Biocon said then. ucts should have ideally come in sooner Sanjay Appointed as India managing
of cash and equity. Biocon paid $2 bil- from the deal, he added. However, Biocon Biologics is likely to — but as we work past this, these are the Sudhakaran director at Johnson Controls Hitachi
lion in cash, which included a $1.2 billion The last quarter of FY23 reflected the raise additional equity capital to reduce other immediate growth drivers,” he
sustainability loan. It also issued com- benefits of the boost that Biocon Biolog- debt. “The business is very strong with said. Bevecizumab will be part of Bio- Appointed as managing director
pulsorily convertible preference shares ics received from the merger. “It was a cash flows, and we are able to support con’s oncology portfolio. Sirisha and chief executive officer India
(CCPS) to Viatris of approxi- clear reflection on two things. the kinds of debt leverage that Other products in the pipeline Voruganti at Lloyds Banking Group’s
mately $1 billion. One is the revenues have we’ve taken on our books. It is include biosimilar ustekinu- Technology Centre
The post-deal integra- grown, and profitability has a very healthy position, mab (a monoconal antibody
tion of the two entities was
set up in three stages. In $3.34 been maintained. Our even from a multiple and
bn Ebitda (earnings before Ebitda standpoint,”
Biologics paid to
56%
Biologics’ share in
used to treat several auto-
immune conditions,
Sonal
Jain
Appointed as chief human
resource officer at EPL
the initial stage, the inte- interest, taxes, deprecia- Tambe said. At the con- including psoriasis,
gration with Viatris was buy biosimilar tion, and amortization) solidated level, net debt is Biocon’s Q4FY23 Crohn’s disease, ulcera- Sreejit Appointed as chief executive
focused on emerging mar- portfolio of Viatris margins, which we con- at $1.25 billion, excluding revenue tive colitis, plaque psoria- Nair officer at Costa Coffee India
kets. “Following this, we will stantly point to, have been structured investments, sis and psoriatic arthritis)
focus on value, which will be in the 35-40% range,” Tambe Biocon said. “There is this and the denosumab biosimilar Sundar Appointed as chief executive
coming in from our North Ameri- said. perception (about the company’s (monoconal antibody for treat- Subramanian officer at Ramco Systems
can operations, which will follow next. Biocon Biologics contributed 56% of high debt), but it is not really a business ment of osteoporosis). Tambe said that
And subsequent to that would be the revenues for Biocon’s Q4FY23 reve- concern. We feel very confident that the these will also multimillion dollar assets Vishal Appointed as chief executive
Europe, which is not one single mono- nues. “It continues to be the largest busi- business should be able to generate cash for the company. “Those are large, large Salvi officer at Quick Heal Technologies
lith in any way, because there are multi- ness segment for Biocon, with revenues flows to pay down the debt, but we have assets coming into the market. We
ple countries within the EU and the free of ₹2,102 crore, a growth of 114%, exiting said that we will be raising equity to expect those to be the next growth driv- Source: Accord India, executive search worldwide
trade zone. We would transition that the year on a $1 billion revenue trajec- bring down the debt,” Tambe added. ers,” he added.

End of tax benefits FSSAI to assess WHO rules on sweeteners

worries French FPIs Suneera Tandon
suneera.t@htlive.com
sugar sweeteners on the
Indian population. We do take
New Delhi the Indian data into considera-
FROM PAGE 1 “We received several queries tion before we set out any stan-

F
from FPIs asking about the cap- ood Safety and Standards dards,” he added.
ritius and Singapore to France. ital gains tax status. We reiter- Authority of India FSSAI has a “very sturdy and
DTAAs are bilateral agree- ated that the capital gains tax (FSSAI) said it would look robust” mechanism of setting
ments between two countries exemption with France will at the impact of non-sugar standards, he said. “Whether it
India’s current account gap narrowed to $1.3 billion or 0.2% of to prevent businesses from get- eventually be renegotiated,” sweeteners on the Indian pop- is carbonated beverages or
GDP in the last quarter of FY23. BLOOMBERG ting double-taxed for the same the person said. ulation via an expert panel and non-carbonated beverages, we
product or service. For The custodian said he engage with stakeholders take stakeholders into consul-

Can’t rest on laurels, instance, if a French company expects a renegotiation of

invests in India and makes a DTAAs at some time in the
profit and repatriates it to future, considering the Indian
before concluding any adverse
effects of such additives used
in foods and beverages.
tation…Before setting any
standards or thresholds limits,
we go for larger stakeholder

India poised for France, its profit

would be taxed in
India since it
DTAAs are
government’s
focus on plugging
bilateral treaties loopholes in such
FSSAI’s comments follow
news reports that said aspar-
tame, a commonly used artifi-
consultation then only we
arrive at a certain conclusion
that too which has scientific
earned t h e between 2 nations a g r e e m e n t s . cial sweetener, is set to be evidence,” he said. Aspartame
growth: FinMin income from
India. Addition-
ally, such compa-
to prevent “With the advent
businesses from of anti-avoidance
laws, we are advis-
declared as a possible carcino-
gen by the International
Agency for Research on Can-
In May, WHO said the long-term use of non-sugar sweeteners to
control body weight may pose potential undesirable effects MINT
is a common additive used in
diet beverages and even some
foods and candies. In May, the
FROM PAGE 1 ago, as oil prices cooled and nies may also be getting ing FPIs to keep cer (IARC), the cancer (FSSAI), said while addressing Shashank Joshi, a well-known World Health Organization
services exports and remittan- taxed in France double-taxed their structures research arm of the World a panel at an industry event in endocrinologist...we are dis- (WHO) also released guide-
pushing FY23 growth to 7.2% ces rose. CAD widens when since the proceeds simple and clean Health Organization (WHO). the capital on Thursday. cussing it. The studies have to lines on non-sugar sweeteners
from 7% estimated earlier. the value of the goods and ser- are received there. and avoid com- “We will look at the Indian Oberoi said a panel set up by be done comprehensively (NSS) that recommended
The DEA report said the vices a country imports The DTAA lets the company plex layering for the sake of tax perspective. We really don’t the FSSAI “is deliberating on before coming out with any against the use of NSS to con-
economy carried the growth exceeds the value of its choose if it wants to pay tax in benefits,” the person said. have to go with what the world that aspect”. “WHO had come kind of information or data. trol body weight or reduce the
momentum from FY23 into exports. India has largely been India or France and avoids get- France ranks as the 10th- says. A lot of recommenda- out with a paper saying non- We don’t have to ape the West risk of noncommunicable dis-
the current fiscal year, and a net importer, heavily ting taxed in both countries. largest source of FPI inflows to tions keep coming out. We sugar sweeteners are not or ape the East when India eases. In fact, long-term use of
high-frequency indicators dependent on imports to fulfil A leading custodian, on con- India, with funds based in the have to look at the Indian pop- linked to weight management, itself today is in a powerful sit- NSS may pose potential unde-
paint a healthy picture of the its energy needs. dition of anonymity, said it has country holding securities ulation...then only we will take and now the second bomb- uation. So we are working on sirable effects such as an
state of the economy. The report stated FDI flows been asking clients to be pre- worth ₹1.2 trillion in Indian the decision,” H.S. Oberoi, an shell was that aspartame can what the Indian population increased risk of type 2 diabe-
The report said the current to India bore the brunt of infla- pared for the eventuality for the markets as of 31 May, deposi- adviser at the Food Safety and cause cancer. We have with us looks at, what is the effect of tes, cardiovascular diseases,
account deficit (CAD) is sus- tionary pressures and tighter last two years. tory data showed. Standards Authority of India on the panel experts like Dr consuming aspartame or non- and mortality in adults, it said.
tainable if it is financed by nor- monetary policy abroad. “This
mal capital inflows. phenomenon is not unique to
“However, in 2022, capital India, as net FDI inflows to
flows to the EMEs (emerging EMEs declined by 36% in 2022,
market economies) remained as per OECD (Organisation for
subdued and volatile as geopo- Economic Co-operation and
‘Coal export strategy in works; local lithium hunt gains pace’
litical uncertainties rose and Development) statistics.”
global economic activity “Also, geopolitics has domi- FROM PAGE 1 announced several steps to sten, molybdenum, nickel, the mining of deep-seated
weakened. Yet nated geography, ensure coal availability cobalt, PGE, lithium, etc., and offshore minerals. Will
India continued Total FDI with investors out 40 projects on lithium and during the summer season. where the domestic demand is the legislative exercise be
to be comforted inflows into the ‘friend shoring’ associated minerals in differ- How prepared are we to import-dependent and where carried out in the upcom-
by a net FDI country fell FDI by increasing ent parts of the country. GSI meet the power demand in efforts have been put for ing monsoon session?
inflow even as 16% to ₹3.67 investments in could establish lithium resour- September-October? increasing self-sufficiency and There are a few pieces of leg-
most of the EMEs countries that are ces in the Reasi area of Jammu In 2014, the production was self-reliance by taking more islation that will allow the auc-
trillion during

‘
and AEs geopolitically and Kashmir. As a follow-up, 560-570 mt. Last year, we exploration projects. GSI tion of offshore minerals
(advanced econo- FY23 from ₹4.37 aligned to each the lithium investigation pro- reached around 893 mt. It is a has taken up and other
mies) were chal- trillion in FY22 other, thereby gramme has been taken up in record production in inde- 117 projects on beach sand
lenged by net FDI leading to frag- adjoining areas of Reasi during pendent India. For that, we put critical and We aim to minerals,
outflows,” it said. mentation in FDI field season FY24. a lot of effort in spite of having strategic ele- become Aatmanirbhar i n c l u d i n g
“The contrasting capital flows across the globe indi- Recently, following the different party governments in ments during in coal by deep-seated
flows can be attributed to cated in IMF’s (International MEMC Amendment Rule 2021 different states. We have India exports coal of about 2 mt to neighbouring countries like field season and critical
strong macroeconomic funda- Monetary Fund’s) World Eco- (Amended MMDR Act 2021), increased production in the last Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. AFP FY24. Out of enhancing production, minerals. We
mentals and the supportive nomic Outlook (April 2023),” GSI has handed over two geo- few years. The policy changes this, two pro- efficiency and are looking at
FDI policy of India, which have it added. logical memorandums on lith- that we have brought have also next year, at least another 7-8 of other battery minerals jects have sustainability completing
characterised the country as an Total FDI inflows into India ium to the Chhattisgarh and helped. We allowed captive commercial coal mine opera- like cobalt as it seeks to be been taken up the consulta-
Pralhad Joshi
attractive and investor-friendly fell 16% to ₹3.67 trillion during Andhra Pradesh state govern- plants to sell 50% of their stock tions will start. So, for the first independent in battery? for the explo- Union coal minister
tion process
destination. A global slowdown FY23 from ₹4.37 trillion in ments for auctioning as com- in the market after their captive time in India, because of all To achieve self-reliance, GSI ration of on the legisla-
in investment flows to EMEs FY22. India will need to take posite licences. In field season requirement was met. In case these initiatives, we will be has given thrust on exploration cobalt in tion and tak-
led to India’s net FDI inflows measures to facilitate FDI FY24, GSI has taken up six all the clearances are there, but reaching 1 billion tonnes. I am of various metallic and non- Andhra Pradesh and Karna- ing cabinet approval for it soon.
dipping in FY23,” it added. inflows and address last-mile projects on lithium investiga- the plant is not ready, we have confident that there will not be metallic minerals throughout taka. The government can work
India’s CAD narrowed to infrastructure issues, labour tion in the states of Chhattis- allowed them to sell their coal a problem in future as far as the country. As I have said ear- A slew of reforms in the quickly to get Parliamentary
$1.3 billion or 0.2% of GDP in availability, and measures to garh, Meghalaya, Jammu and in the market. With additional coal is concerned, even in the lier, emphasis has been given mining sector is proposed approval for the legislation.
the last quarter of FY23, down facilitate large capacity crea- Kashmir, and Andhra Pradesh. commercial coal mining, we rainy season. to various critical and strategic through the amendment to rituraj.baruah@live-
from $13.4 billion or 1.6% a year tion, the report said. The government has have reached around 8 mt, and Is India looking at reserves minerals like REE, tin, tung- the MMDR Act and bills for mint.com
LIVEMINT.COM CORPORATE FRIday, 7 July 2023
MuMbaI 07

P&W must supply 5 engines THE WAVES COME ASHORE, A

FEW NANOSECONDS EARLY
per month to Go First: SIAC A M AT T E R
takes a day to rotate once. Imagine if the planet com-
pleted a rotation not in a day, but in, let’s say, ten mil-
liseconds. That’s how fast pulsars can rotate.
The clockwork (and better) periods of pulsars
OF NUMBERS make them indispensable astronomical tools - cos-
mic clocks, if you like. In particular, they helped
Both parties have also been directed to provide the tribunal with quarterly updates DILIP D’SOUZA astronomers detect gravitational waves.
Five different groups of astronomers around the
Respond to this column at world — one in India —each took on the responsibil-
Anu Sharma the resolution proceedings in compli- view the NCLT proceedings as a case feedback@livemint.com ity of monitoring a set of pulsars. These sets are called
anu.sharma@livemint.com ance with its order and if any other of insolvency but as ‘corporate reso- Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs).

Y
relevant circumstances emerge. The lution’ as the airline’s management ou may have heard the recent excited noises What were these teams looking for in their set of

I
n a respite for low-cost carrier Go
First, which was forced to sus-
pend operations due to delays in
delivery of aircraft engines, the
Singapore International Arbitra-
tion Centre (SIAC) has issued a direct-
ive to engine manufacturer Pratt and
Whitney, instructing it to provide at
least five engines every month to the
airline, starting 1 August.
“The respondent must take all rea-
sonable steps to release and dispatch
to the claimant, without delay as they
become available, five engines per
month immediately after any engine
becomes available, commencing, at
latest, on 1 August 2023 and continu-
ing through 31 December 2023, sub-
ject to further orders of this tribunal,”
it said in its order.
SIAC clarified that the order will
not apply to any third-party engines
where leases have been terminated
before a moratorium was triggered on
the airline’s assets, when it voluntarily
filed for insolvency on 2 May.
The arbitration court also directed
Go First to provide an undertaking,
within seven days from the resolution
professional Shailendra Ajmera
ensuring P&W gets the highest prior-
ity in repayment of costs in case Go
First is forced into liquidation.
The airline is expected to approach
the Delaware court again to get the
ruling enforced MINT
“The claimant shall procure from
the resolution professional, within
seven days of the date of this order, an
undertaking that costs incurred by
the respondent in complying with
this order will comprise costs of the
insolvency resolution process such
that the respondent will rank highest
priority in repayment in the event the
claimant was forced into liquidation
proceedings.”
Both parties have also been
directed to provide the tribunal with
quarterly updates on the progress of
first update should be provided on 1 and the original owners have moved about gravitational waves, in scientific circles. pulsars? Try this thought experiment. Your friend
October, it added. away from “operational responsibili- You may have also thought — wait, didn’t we Eva sends you a letter by courier every day. Each
“The parties are at liberty to apply ties”, and it has not defaulted on any go through this once before? You’d be right: about day’s letter takes exactly 24 hours to reach you.
for further reconsideration of this repayment. seven years ago, sensitive instruments in the US One week, Sunday’s letter reaches you on Monday.
order, upon the demonstration of a The SIAC hearing concluded last found evidence that a gravitational wave had crashed Monday’s, on Tuesday. But on Tuesday, someone
sufficient change in circumstances,” week, and the airline is expected to into our Earth. ‘Crashed’, in a manner of speaking, of flies Eva to your house, where she writes her letter
SIAC said. approach the Delaware court again to course. for the day, hands it to you and returns home: all
Go Air moved SIAC in March, get the ruling enforced. That event set off waves (yes) of excitement in sci- on that Tuesday. The rest of the week proceeds as
alleging P&W had failed In the most recent sign entific circles. Partly, it was the sheer engineering normal. So, Eva has written a letter every day of the
to provide engines as CLEARING of resumption of opera- and astronomical ingenuity that detected that wave week, just as usual, but you have received them
agreed upon in the con- THE DECKS tions by the airline, civil (see my article The waves come ashore, http:// like this: Monday, Tuesday, Tuesday, Thursday,
tract. aviation regulator, the bit.ly/43telsJ). That was accomplished by two Laser Friday, etc. That is, even though Eva stuck to her
In an emergency GO Air moved the Directorate General of Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatories once-a-day letter-writing habit, her Tuesday trip
award, SIAC had asked SIAC in Mar, alleging
that PW had failed to
Civil Aviation, conducted (LIGO) stationed in the US. (India will build its own means the frequency at which you received her
P&W to supply Go Air 20 provide engines as an audit on 4-6 July, LIGO too.) letters changed.
engines lying at its main- agreed upon focussing on Go First’s But the excitement was also because these waves Analogously, if astronomers found variations in
tenance, repair and over- safety-related aspects, proved one of Albert Einstein’s predictions. Over a pulsar frequencies, that would suggest a disruption:
haul facility by December, P&W filed a plea continued compliance hundred years ago, he theorized that cosmic events a gravitational wave that warps spacetime and thus
with SIAC, saying Go
as well as recover the 44 First had not paid with the guidelines to cause ripples in the fabric of spacetime, and that we moves the pulsar slightly. So, yes - variation like this
defunct engines of Go dues worth $100 mn have an air operator’s cer- should be able to detect those ripples. And when we is exactly what the five teams were trying to detect in
First’s fleet spread across to the engine maker tificate and physical veri- finally did detect them, it spoke all over again of the their PTAs. The Indian project (InPTA), for example,
various airports in India fication of arrangements remarkable mind this man had. used the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope in Maha-
for more than 270 days. made for resuming flight That first detected wave was set off, astronomers rashtra to observe their PTA.
After approaching the National operations. concluded, by the merger of two black holes. Each And - drum roll please! -
Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in In its latest submission to the was about 25-30 times the mass of the Sun, and they The clockwork they found exactly such
May, Go First approached the Dela- DGCA, the airline said it can recom- were about 1.8 billion light years away. It might set off periods of variation. In fact, all five
ware federal court to implement mence approximately 160 daily a little shiver in you, as it did in me, as you fully com- PTA teams did. In all, they
SIAC’s award. Subsequently, P&W flights with 26 aircraft, Mint reported. prehend what happened with those black holes. I pulsars make analysed pulsar data col-
filed a plea with SIAC again, saying Go Out of the 26 aircraft, four aircraft will mean, start by thinking for a moment of dropping them crucial lected over 25 years. This,
First had not paid the dues to worth be kept in reserve to be prepared for even a large boulder into a placid lake. You’d see an astronomical InPTA said in a press
about $100 million to the engine backup in case of issues related to enormous splash, and ripples would scurry away in tools release, “revealed that the
manufacturer. technical glitches in any of the opera- every direction, possibly even reaching the far shore measured rate of ticking of
Go First has requested SIAC not to tional aircraft. of the lake. But within minutes, you’d expect the lake these cosmic clocks has
to be placid again. With the black holes, though ... if characteristic irregularities ... This is consistent with
we know that there are still signs of that merger 1.8 the effect produced by gravitational waves.”
billion years later, detectable 1.8 billion light years The press release continued: “As radio signals

Input cost surge prompts automakers to raise prices away - well, take a moment to imagine just how cata-
clysmic an event it had to have been.
In the years since, scientists have used LIGO to
travel through space and time, the presence of gravi-
tational waves effects [sic] their path in a characteris-
tic way: some pulses will arrive a little (less than a mil-
detect several dozen more such waves. But the gravi- lionth of a second) later, some a little earlier.”
Alisha Sachdev wheeler makers likely to follow suit, has been passed on. In the last two portfolios and oscillating market sen- tational waves detected today are qualitatively differ- There is still confirmatory work to be done. But
alisha.sachdev@livemint.com Maruti Suzuki said it was evaluating a years, this impact on cost has not been timents. With dealers noting sporadic ent. Not just that, they were found using a quite dif- pay some mind to what happened here. In our
neW DelhI possible price hike. passed on because the market was supplies of popular models and aging ferent mechanism. thought experiment above, Eva’s Tuesday letter
“On the price front, we haven’t yet recovering from covid, therefore man- product concerns of slow moving var- Fundamental here are objects called pulsars. arrived a day earlier than expected. Easy to detect, of

T
wo-wheeler as well as passen-
ger vehicle manufacturers are
increasing prices to pass on the
impact of high commodity costs and
fluctuating prices of steel.
Hero MotoCorp Ltd, India’s largest
two-wheeler maker, announced on
Friday that it will hike prices by an
average of 1.5% across its portfolio.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor and Tata
Motors have also announced higher
prices. Tata Motors will take an aver-
age price hike of 0.6% , while Toyota
Kirloskar will revise prices upwards to
“partially offset rising input costs”
effective 5 July. Prices were raised by
1.5% on an average for its products.
With a majority of car and two-
taken any decision, but as usual, we are ufacturers did not take the risk, they iants, the segment still experienced When a giant star — up to 25 times as massive as our course. But here we have pulses from pulsars that
closely watching the sit- did not want to risk the an uptick in demand for new models Sun— reaches the end of its life and collapses in on arrive less than a millionth of a second earlier (or
uation. Commodity pri- With a majority of volumes by increasing and anticipates rural sales to pick up itself, the small, dense object that results is known as later) than expected.
ces are fluctuating for car and 2-wheeler prices,” said Shashank further pace,” said Manish Raj Sin- a neutron star. Some neutron stars rotate, emitting In those minuscule fractions of a second, strong
the last few quarters, makers likely to Srivastava, senior execu- ghania, president, FADA. beams of radiation as they do - behaviour best under- evidence of gravitational waves set off by some vast
they have weakened a follow suit, Maruti tive director, Maruti Suz- “We are seeing price hikes by man- stood by thinking of the rotating beam of a light- cosmic happenings. In fact, what the PTA projects
little bit, but steel prices
Suzuki said it was uki, in an interview. ufacturers every few months. If prod- house. These rotating neutron stars are known as have found is that these waves are coming from
have also been fluctuat- Registrations of auto- ucts do not have strong demand, price pulsars (‘pulsating radio sources’). everywhere around us. One report put it like this:
ing. So that’s something evaluating a price mobiles grew 10% over a hikes have a worse-off impact, but for If a pulsar’s beam points towards us on Earth, we there’s “a constant jostling in random directions.
we are closely watching hike year ago in June but saw products with waiting period, impact will “see” it as a star that varies in brightness. That is, This is comparable to the random sloshing of water
and, therefore, we have 8% dip from the previous will not be significant. Besides, price- it pulses. One remarkable thing about such an object on the surface of a pond caused by the rain.”
not yet taken a decision month, indicating a sensitive products such as entry-level is that it rotates at an unvarying speed, so that the Inconceivably distant, inconceivably long-ago
in this regard. The reason why some short-term slowdown in sales, accord- two-wheelers will see some impact. pulses are regular like clockwork. An even more incidents all around us. Their mark, as almost incon-
OEMs have been taking price ing to the Federation of Automobile Automakers are contending with cost remarkable thing about such an object is that it can ceivably tiny slices of time, on us today. There’s just
increases is because of the increased Dealers Association (FADA). pressures, such as inflation, foreign rotate at an almost unimaginably high speed, so the something about astronomy.
commodity prices. If you compare pri- “PV segment navigated through a exchange and commodity shortages, pulse frequency is also unimaginably high. We know Once a computer scientist, Dilip D’Souza now lives
ces with the levels they were two years mixed landscape characterized by necessitating actions,” C.S. Vignesh- of pulsars with only milliseconds between pulses. To in Mumbai and writes for his dinners. His Twitter
back, it is still elevated and not all of it variable demand, dynamic product war, vice-president, FADA, said. give that some perspective, remember that our Earth handle is @DeathEndsFun.

BRIHANMUMBAI MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

E-TENDER NOTICE
Tender Document No. 7200055440
Name of Organization Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
Subject Work of repair/refurbishment of
pyre sets, replacement of Sump
Tank along with allied rectification
work of Air Pollution Control system
at Shivaji Park and Boiwada Hindu
Cemeteries.
Cost of Tender/Tender Scrutiny Fee Rs.3000/- + 18% (G.S.T)
Cost of E-Tender (Estimated Cost) Item Rate tender
Bid Security Deposit/ EMD Rs. 22,600/-
Date of issue and sale of tender 07.07.2023 from 11:00 Hrs.
Last date & time for sale of tender 13.07.2023 upto 12:00 Hrs.
Submission of Packet A, B & 13.07.2023 upto 16:00 Hrs.
Packet C (Online)
Pre-Bid Meeting Not Applicable
Opening of Packet A 14.07.2023 after 15:00 Hrs.
Opening of Packet B 14.07.2023 after 15:05 Hrs.
Opening of Packet C 17.07.2023 after 15:00 Hrs.
Address for communication Office of the:-
Executive Engineer Mechanical
(South), BMC Municipal Workshop,
103, R.S. Nimkar Marg,
Byculla (W) Mumbai- 400 008
Venue for opening of bid Not Applicable
Contact Person :
A) Name Shri A.C.Mohite
B) Telephone (Office) 022-23083051/52/53/54.
C) e-mail address eemechsouth.me@mcgm.gov.in
D) Website Address : https://portal.mcgm.gov.in
This tender document is not transferable.
The BMC reserves the rights to accept any of the application or reject
any or all the application received for above subject without assigning
any reason thereof.
Sd/-
PRO/954/ADV/2023-24 Executive Engineer Mechanical (South)
Let’s together and make Mumbai Malaria free.
BHOPAL SMART CITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LIMITED
Zone-14, Bhopal Municipal Corporation, BHEL, Govindpura,
Bhopal - 462023 (M.P.), Phone : 0755-2477770
Email : tenderqueries@smartbhopal.city / www.smartcitybhopal.org
Bhopal, Date : 06.07.2023
Bhopal Smart City Development Corporation Limited I e AûS ÀFZ d³F¸³FFadI °F
I F¹FÊ WZ °Fb MPBSCDCL/TENDER NO-272 AFG³F»FFB³F d³Fd½FQFEa AF¸FadÂF°F I e ªFF°Fe W` :-
Cost of Earnest Prebid Purchase
S. Tender Name Bidding Money Meeting of
no Document Deposit/ Date Tender
(non Bid End Date
refundable) Security
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Supply, Installation, Testing, Rs. 5000/- Rs. 11.07.2023 24.07.2023
Commissioning and Operations (Five 4,00,000/- at at
of Variable Message Display Thousand (Four 12:00 Hrs. 17:00 Hrs.
Advertisement Boards at under Rupees) Lakh HINDUSTAN MEDIA VENTURES LIMITED
Bhopal Smart City on PPP Mode Rupees CIN: L21090BR1918PLC000013
(MPBSCDCL/TENDER No- 272, only) Registered Office: Budh Marg, Patna - 800 001
Tender ID- 2023_UAD_286740_1) Tel: +91 612 222 3434 Fax: +91 612 222 1545
RFP QÀ°FF½FZªF/ÀFaVFû²F³F E½Fa d³Fd½FQF ÀFa¶Fad²F°F d½FÀ°FÈ°F ªFF³FI FSe www.mptenders.gov.in Corporate Office: Hindustan Times House (2nd Floor)
18-20, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi - 110 001
´FS QZ£Fe ªFF ÀFI °Fe W`Ô Ü ·Fû´FF»F À¸FFMÊ dÀFMe OZ ½F»F´F¸FZÔM Tel: +91 11 6656 1234
I FG´FûÊSm VF³F d»Fd¸FMZ O Website: www.hmvl.in E-mail: hmvlinvestor@livehindustan.com
NOTICE
(for the attention of Equity Shareholders of the Company)
Sub: Transfer of unpaid/unclaimed dividend & Equity shares to Investor Education and
Protection Fund (IEPF)
In terms of Section 124(5) of the Companies Act, 2013 (“Act”) read with the Investor
Education and Protection Fund Authority (Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund) Rules, 2016
(“IEPF Rules”), if dividend remains unpaid/unclaimed for a period of seven (7) years or more,
the same shall be liable to be transferred by the Company to the IEPF account. Further, in terms
of Section 124(6) of the Act and IEPF rules, the Company is also required to transfer the shares,
in respect of which dividend remains unpaid or unclaimed for a period of seven (7) consecutive
years or more, to the IEPF Account.
The Company has communicated individually to the concerned shareholders, on their latest
available address, whose shares are liable to be transferred to Demat Account of IEPF
Authority under the IEPF Rules, for taking appropriate action(s). The list of such shareholders,
whose shares are liable for transfer to the IEPF, is placed on the website of the Company i.e.
www.hmvl.in under ‘Investor relations’ section.
The concerned shareholders holding shares in physical form, and whose shares are liable
to be transferred to IEPF Authority, may note that the Company would be issuing new share
certificate(s) in lieu of the original share certificate(s) held by them for dematerialization,
BHOPAL SMART CITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LIMITED followed by transfer of shares to IEPF Authority as per the IEPF Rules. Upon such issue, the
original certificate(s) which stands registered in their name will automatically stand cancelled
Zone-14, Bhopal Municipal Corporation, BHEL, Govindpura, and be deemed non-negotiable. In case of shares held in demat form, the Company will inform
Bhopal - 462023 (M.P.), Phone : 0755-2477770 the respective Depository by way of corporate action for transfer of shares to IEPF Authority.
Email : tenderqueries@smartbhopal.city / www.smartcitybhopal.org The shareholders may please note that the details uploaded by the Company on its website
viz. www.hmvl.in will be considered as, and shall be deemed to be, adequate notice in respect
Bhopal, Date : .07.2023
of issue of new certificate(s) by the Company for the purpose of transfer of shares to IEPF
Bhopal Smart City Development Corporation Limited I e AûS ÀFZ Authority pursuant to the IEPF Rules.
d³F¸³FFadI °F I F¹FÊ WZ °Fb MPBSCDCL/TENDER NO-275 AFG³F»FFB³F d³Fd½FQFEa AF¸FadÂF°F The concerned shareholders are requested/advised to claim the unpaid/unclaimed dividend
I e ªFF°Fe W` :- amount(s) on or before October 17, 2023, failing which the Company shall proceed to
Cost of Earnest Pre Bid Purchase transfer the liable dividend and Equity shares to IEPF Authority without any further notice. The
S. Tender Name Bidding Money Date of concerned shareholders may still claim the dividend and Equity shares from IEPF Authority by
no Document Deposit/ Tender submitting an online application in e-Form IEPF-5, available on the website www.iepf.gov.in

Have fun Catch the latest column of 1 2

(non
refundable)
3
Bid
Security
4 5
End Date

6
and following the procedure laid down under the Act and the IEPF Rules.
Kindly note that unpaid/unclaimed dividend for financial years upto 2014-2015 and shares in
respect thereof, have already been transferred to IEPF, and the same can be claimed back from

with facts A
1 Selection of Service Provider Rs. Rs. 13.07.2023 27.07.2023 IEPF Authority, following the procedure laid down under the said IEPF Rules.
for Installation, Commissioning, 15,000/- 8,00,000/- at at
Integration and Maintenance of (Fifteen (Eight 15:00 Hrs. 17:00 Hrs. For any queries in respect of the above, shareholders may contact the Company’s Registrar and
Command Center at MP Excise Thousand Lakh Transfer Agent at KFin Technologies Limited, Unit: Hindustan Media Ventures Limited, Selenium
Department. (MPBSCDCL/TENDER No- Rupees) Rupees Building, Tower B, Plot No. 31 & 32, Financial District, Nanakramguda, Serilingampally

on Sundays A quiz on the week’s development.

RFP
275, Tender ID- 2023_UAD_287757_1) only)
QÀ°FF½FZªF/ÀFaVFû²F³F E½Fa d³Fd½FQF ÀFa¶Fad²F°F d½FÀ°FÈ°F ªFF³FI FSe www.mptenders.gov.in
´FS QZ£Fe ªFF ÀFI °Fe W`Ô Ü I F¹FÊ´FF»F³F ¹FaÂFe
Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Telangana, India - 500032. Toll Free No.: 1800-309-4001; Email:
einward.ris@kfintech.com; Website: www.kfintech.com.

Date: July 6, 2023

For Hindustan Media Ventures Limited
(Pumit Kumar Chellaramani)
hindustantimes htTweets www.hindustantimes.com
·Fû´FF»F À¸FFMÊ dÀFMe OZ ½F»F´F¸FZÔM I FG´FûÊSm VF³F d»Fd¸FMZ O Place: New Delhi Company Secretary
08 Friday, 7 July 2023
MuMbai GLOBAL LIVEMINT.COM

m MINT SHORTS
SoftBank backs robot startup as
Yellen lands in China to Prigozhin still in
Russia, says Belarus
Masayoshi Son goes on offensive
SoftBank Group Corp. joined a $170 million funding round for a
robot maker, adding to its investment portfolio after founder
Masayoshi Son said he’s going back on the offensive.Tokyo-based
find common ground prez Lukashenko
Telexistence Inc. said it raised a Series B round backed by Soft- AP
Bank, a fund set up by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. and CTBC feedback@livemint.com
Financial Holding Co., Globis Capital Partners and earlier inves- Minsk
tors, without giving a breakdown. It’ll use the funds to expand to First test of her policy to secure US security without holding China back
T
the US and add workforce, the startup said Thursday. BLOOMBERG he mercenary leader
who led a short-lived
Bloomberg mutiny against the
Sri Lanka cuts key rate for feedback@livemint.com Kremlin is in Russia and his
troops are in their field camps,
second time as inflation halves

AFP
Sri Lanka cut its benchmark rate for the second consecutive
meeting as faster disinflation gave policymakers the space
to focus on recovery from the worst economic crisis in
seven decades.The Central Bank of Sri Lanka lowered the
standing lending facility rate by 200 basis points to 12%,
according to a statement on its website on Thursday. Four
of the six economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast
cuts ranging from 150-250 basis points, while two pre-
dicted a hold. BLOOMBERG
China releases its first open-source
computer operating system
Hong Kong: China has released its first homegrown open-
source desktop operating system, named OpenKylin, state media
said, as the country steps up efforts to cut reliance on US technol-
ogy. Released on Wednesday, and based on Linux operating sys-
tem, China’s version was built by a community of about 4,000
developers, and is used in its space programme and industries
such as finance and energy, they added.
REUTERS
Pentagon to tighten controls on
classified information after leak
Washington: The Pentagon announced on Wednesday plans
to tighten controls on top secret information following an alleged
leak incident that saw an airman arrested in April and later
indicted on accusations of posting classified documents on the
messaging app Discord.Following a 45-day review, the Pentagon
said the new measures included appointment of “Top Secret
Control Officers”. REUTERS
U
S treasury secretary Janet
Yellen arrived in Beijing on
Thursday afternoon with the
goal of finding areas of com-
mon economic ground and
opening communication channels amid an
increasingly turbulent relationship
between the world’s two biggest econo-
mies.
It will be the first major test of a policy
she outlined in April that’s geared toward
defending and securing US national secu-
rity without trying to hold China back eco-
nomically.
Yellen’s arrival comes days after China
imposed restrictions on exporting two
metals that are crucial to key technology
industries, the latest escalation in a trade
war that ramped up last year with US export
controls on semiconductors and chipmak-
ing equipment. The US is also considering
restrictions on China’s access to cloud
computing, according to a person familiar
with the discussions.
Yellen touched down in China exactly
five years after the Trump administration
imposed tariffs on the first wave of more
than $300 billion of goods from China —
duties that President Joe Biden has kept in
place despite Yellen’s criticism of them.
Yellen will meet with Chinese Premier Li
Qiang in Beijing Friday, a senior treasury
official said.
“Relations have not improved but the US
has increasingly realized—so has Europe—
that the degree of economic interdepend-
ence with China is such that decoupling is
impossible,” said Alicia Garcia Herrero,
chief Asia Pacific economist at Natixis. “In
other words, there is no way out through
the back door: dialogue is needed.”
Yellen’s visit was among the topics most
frequently asked about by local Chinese cli-
ents speaking to Goldman Sachs Group
Inc. economists in recent days, according
to a note published by the investment bank
Wednesday. Clients were also looking for
the president of Belarus said
on Thursday, raising new
questions about the deal that
ended the extraordinary chal-
lenge to President Vladimir
Putin’s rule. Belarusian Presi- Wagner chief Yevgeny
dent Alexander Lukashenko’s Prigozhin. REUTERS
claim could not be independ-
ently verified, and the Kremlin Last week, Lukashenko said
refused to comment on Yev- the mercenary leader was in
geny Prigozhin’s where- Belarus, but on Thursday he
abouts. told international reporters
But Russian media have that Prigozhin was in St
reported he was recently seen Petersburg and could also
at his offices in St Petersburg. travel to Moscow if he so
It was not clear if Prigoz- wishes, while Wagner’s troops
hin’s presence in Russia would were in their camps.
violate the deal, which allowed He did not specify the loca-
the head of the Wagner Group tion of the camps, but Prigoz-
US treasury secretary Janet Yellen waves as she arrives in Beijing on Thursday. AP military contractor to move to hin’s mercenaries fought
Belarus in exchange for end- alongside Russian forces in
insight on US-China relations, the note nothing came of those discussions. ing the rebellion and a promise eastern Ukraine before their
said. Her trip follows that of state secretary The economic pressure to remove them of amnesty for revolt and also
Antony Blinken last month and adds to has waned as inflation slowed, and the h i m a n d h i s The move comes have bases on
broader efforts by the Biden administra- political pressure to keep them has troops. days before the Russian territory.
tion to re-engage with its chief geopolitical increased as tensions with Beijing flared. But the reports central bank is set He also said
rival amid an uncertain global economic That makes their continuation the most signalled that the to announce any that Prigozhin
outlook that could also suffer from frag- likely scenario, analysts say. agreement may has been given
adjustments to
mentation. Still, while in Beijing, Yellen will seek to have allowed him back the cash and
Yellen has for months find common ground on to finalize his the rate on one- weapons that
hoped to visit the Chinese The figures come other issues. She will meet affairs in Russia. year policy loans were confiscated
capital, but an escalation in a day before the with senior Chinese govern- If that’s true, it by Russian
tensions stemming from Fed is set to make ment officials to discuss the could suggest the authorities.
then-house speaker Nancy a decision on importance of responsibly threat posed by Prigozhin has Asked where Prigozhin is,
Pelosi’s trip last year to Tai-
whether to raise managing the US-China rela- not yet been fully defused and Putin’s spokesman Dmitry
wan—which Beijing claims as tionship, communicating that the Kremlin is treading Peskov shrugged off the ques-
part of China—and the flight rates for an 11th- directly about areas of con- carefully with him until it can tion, saying that the Kremlin
of a Chinese balloon over the straight meeting cern, and working together to figure out what to do with has neither the desire nor the
US left the plans in limbo. address global challenges like troops who may still be loyal to means to track his movements
On the trade front, Yellen climate change and debt dis- him. — but reaffirmed that the deal
has questioned the efficacy of the US tariffs tress in poorer nations. A key priority for Putin has said that Wagner that ended the mutiny envis-
in the past, saying they contribute to infla- the Treasury has been pressing Beijing to troops can join the Russian aged his move to Belarus.
tion and suggesting they could be rolled boost debt relief for developing nations, military, retire from service or Lukashenko said his gov-
back. Biden briefly raised expectations for where China has become one of the largest move to Belarus. ernment offered Wagner the
removal of the duties a year ago, when he creditors. Yellen’s visit will follow a recent But much about the agree- use of Belarusian military
said that he was reviewing their impact on agreement in principle for Zambia, which ment, which was brokered by camps but that the company
consumer prices as inflation surged, but she has praised. Lukashenko, remains murky. had not made a final decision.

ChatGPT’s explosive growth cools in June

Reuters monthly visits, one of the top cas at Macquarie.
feedback@livemint.com 20 websites in the world. OpenAI also released the
For instance, ChatGPT has ChatGPT app on the iOS sys-

C
hatGPT, the wildly pop- far surpassed Bing, the search tem in May, which could sap
ular AI chatbot engine run by Microsoft which some traffic from its website.
launched in November, uses OpenAI’s technology. Some also tie the usage change

A SYMBOL saw monthly traffic to its web-

site and unique visitors decline
for the first time ever in June,
according to analytics firm
A few ChatGPT competitors, to the summer break for
including Google’s Bard chat- schools, as fewer students look
bot, have been launched in the for help with homework.
past few months. The chatbot

THAT STANDS FOR Similarweb.

Worldwide desktop and
mobile traffic to the ChatGPT
Microsoft’s search
engine Bing also
provides chatbot
Worldwide
desktop and
was downloaded
more than 17 mil-
mobile traffic to lion on iOS glo-

CLARITY & CREDIBILITY website decreased by 9.7% in

June from May, while unique
visitors to ChatGPT’s website
dropped 5.7%. The amount of
With a rich legacy spanning more than nine decades, Hindustan Times time visitors spent on the web-
site was also down 8.5%, the
has always upheld the values: clarity and credibility. As India’s leading data shows.
news brand, we stand by our resolve every day to continue upholding Decreasing traffic is a sign of
the chatbot’s novelty wearing
the truth in our essence. off, said Similarweb’s Senior
Insights Manager David Carr,
while RBC Capital Markets
Keep Reading Hindustan Times to stay updated analyst Rishi Jaluria explained
the data points to more
demand for generative AI with
real-time information.
OpenAI did not immediately
ChatGPT’s novelty may be
wearing off. REUTERS
respond to a request for com-
ment.
ChatGPT set off a frenzied
use of generative AI in daily
tasks from writing to coding
and reached 100 million
monthly active users in Janu-
ary, two months after its
launch.
It is the fastest-growing con-
sumer application ever, and
now boasts over 1.5 billion
powered
OpenAI to users
for free.
b y the ChatGPT site bally as of 4 July,
decreased by
“I think there 9.7% in June from
according to
data.ai.
The analytics
are growing pains May firm said down-
when you go from loads peaked on 31
zero to 100 mil- May and has
lion users that quickly. The remained popular in the US,
extraordinarily heavy infra- averaging 530,000 downloads
structure would result in less per week in its first six full
accuracy. It’s a combination of weeks of availability.
having to change what the The recent slowdown in
model is trained on and having growth might help control the
to deal with the potential impli- cost in running ChatGPT,
cations of regulation,” said which requires intensive com-
Sarah Hindlian-Bowler, head of puting power to answer que-
Technology Research Ameri- ries.

June was the ‘world’s hottest on record’

Reuters phenomenon develops further
feedback@livemint.com over the coming months, it is
BrUsseLs not unexpected to see more
global temperature records

L
ast month was the hottest
June globally on record,
with abnormally high
temperatures recorded on
both land and sea, the Euro-
pean Union’s Copernicus Cli-
mate Change Service said on
Thursday.
Last month smashed
through the previous temper-
ature record for the month of
June - which was in 2019 - by a
substantial margin, Coperni-
cus said.
Globally, June was just over
0.5C above the average tem-
perature for the same month
in 1991-2020, Copernicus said,
as climate change pushes
global temperatures to new
records and short-term
weather patterns also drive
hindustantimes htTweets www.hindustantimes.com temperature movements.
Above-average tempera-
tures swept through countries
Globally, June was just over 0.5C above the average temperature
for the same month in 1991-2020.
including India, Iran, Canada,
while extreme heat in Mexico
last month caused more than
100 deaths and Beijing
recorded its hottest June day.
Scientists have said climate
change combined with the
emergence this year of the El
Nino weather pattern, which
warms the surface waters in
the eastern and central Pacific
AP
Ocean, have fuelled recent
record-breaking tempera-
tures.
“This record is no surprise
and a testament of climate
change progressing at a worry-
ing pace,” said Joeri Rogelj, a
professor of climate science at
Imperial College London’s
Grantham Institute.
“As the amplifying El Nino
broken,” he said.
On Tuesday the world
recorded its hottest day on
record, surpassing a record set
just a day before on Monday,
according to Copernicus data,
as North Africa, China and
other regions sizzle under
heatwaves.
Global sea temperature also
rose to a new record for the
month of June, with extreme
marine heatwaves recorded
around Ireland, the United
Kingdom and the Baltic Sea,
Copernicus said. The body’s
analysis is based on billions of
measurements from satellites,
ships, aircraft and weather sta-
tions.
Antarctic sea ice fell in June
to its lowest extent for the
month in the satellite record,
at 17% below average, Coperni-
cus said.
LIVEMINT.COM NeWS Wrap Friday, 7 July 2023
MuMbai 09

TWEETS & QUOTES

James Cleverly Doreen Bogdan-Martin Harsh Goenka
António Guterres Foreign secretary, UK Secretary-General, ITU Chairman, RPG Enterprises
@antonioguterres Any direct attacks on the Indian I’m calling for AI that Interesting to see how Dubai &
Secretary-General, UN High Commission in London are uses data that works for Doha (inspite of hostile weather
Investments in renewa- completely unacceptable. We people, not against and desert surroundings) have
bles have nearly tripled have made clear to V Dorais- them. These are not just become the magnets of luxury
since 2015, but most of wami & the Govt of India that core UN values—they travellers, premium experiences
the money has gone to the safety of staff at the High are universal & human and 5 star hotels, ahead of New
developed countries... Commission is paramount values York and even London

CBI books KJ Infra for AIMING HIGH Govt approves draft

duping Union Bank for AC truck cabins

T U
he Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) nion minister Nitin Gadkari said that the
on Thursday registered a case against KJ draft notification to mandate the
Infrastructure Projects India Pvt Ltd, its installation of air-conditioning systems
directors and others on allegation of duping the in the cabins of trucks has been approved. The
Union Bank of India, Pune, for ₹91.92 crores. draft includes trucks under categories N2 and
The investigating agency registered the case N3, Gadkari said in a Twitter post. “Approved
after a complaint was filed by the bank against the draft notification to mandate the installation
the private company, its directors Kalyan J. of air-conditioning systems in the cabins of
Jadhav, Kalyan Eknath Kakade, Santosh trucks belonging to categories N2 and N3. Truck
Sambhaji Dhumal, and Amol Maruti Paigude, drivers play a crucial role in ensuring road
and others involved, CBI said in a statement. safety,” he said. This decision marks a significant
According to CBI, KJ Infrastructure and its milestone in providing comfortable working
promoters availed credit facilities from Union conditions for truck drivers, thereby improving
Bank on the basis of manipulated stock-book their efficiency and addressing the problem of
debt statements—a stock statement prepared to driver fatigue, the minister added. Last month,
arrive at the actual drawing power or the Gadkari said truck drivers play a key role in the
amount that can be borrowed by a company transport sector which is one of the most
from a bank based on the actual level of important areas for India, and that there is a
inventory and receivables, inflated sales, income need to address issues regarding their working
and profit numbers on the financial statements. conditions and state of mind. PTI
NAMAN SURI

The Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM3) M4 vehicle carrying Chandrayaan-3, which will be launched on 14 July, is being transported to the launch pad at
Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on Thursday. ISRO chairman S. Somanath said the space agency would attempt a soft landing of the
lander on the moon on 23 or 24 August. PTI

Delhi High Court has allowed lessors to check Go

CCI order on Android was only to Reliance Industries informed that NCLT had
sanctioned the scheme on 28 June. REUTERS
First planes

NCLT to hear Go First

REUTERS

protect Amazon, Google tells SC NCLT approves RIL’s

financial demerger
lessors’ plea on 4 Aug
T
he Mumbai bench of the National

T
he National Company law Tribunal
(NCLT) on Thursday heard pleas by
engine and aircraft lessors of Go First, who
are seeking an interim relief from the court to
inspect planes and engines, and deferred the
matter till 4 August.
During the hearing, senior advocate Arun
Kathpalia, who appeared on behalf of one of the
Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has
Google’s latest SC filing shows its deepening disagreement with CCI’s Android investigation approved the demerger of the financial
services business of Reliance Industries, the
Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate said on
Reuters Google said CCI officers had “copypasted” parts of poor user experience. In India, the Fire Phone was Thursday.
feedback@livemint.com a European ruling against the US firm in a similar not even launched,” Google argued in its 1,004- “We wish to inform you that the National
new delhI case. CCI denied the accusation. In the CCI’s Octo- page filing, which has not been made public but Company Law Tribunal, Mumbai Bench, vide
ber order, which also fined Google $163 million, the was reviewed by Reuters. “Thus, the Commission its order dated 28 June (uploaded on the

G
lessors, argued that the Delhi HC order to grant
access to lessors to their 30 parked aircraft is
binding on the tribunal and on the Indian civil
aviation regulator DGCA. The counsel cited the
country’s aviation regulatory framework and
Cape Town Convention to convince the court
that an airline cannot fly the aircraft after the
termination of the lease agreement.
The Delhi high court, in an interim order on
Wednesday, directed the Directorate General of
Civil Aviation (DGCA) and airport authorities to
allow Go First’s lessors’ representatives and
officers to inspect the 30 parked aircraft within
the next three days. The tribunal gave three
weeks’ time to the lessors and the resolution
professional to file an additional affidavit and
rejoinder in the matter. KRISHNA YADAV
oogle has accused Competition Com-
mission of India (CCI) of ordering
changes to its business model “only to
protect” rival Amazon, which com-
plained about its struggles to develop
a modified version of the Android system due to
Google’s restrictions, legal papers show.
Google has approached Supreme Court to quash
the CCI October order asking the company to
make 10 changes to its business model after the CCI
found it abused its dominant position in the market
with its Android operating system, which powers
97% of India’s smartphones.
Google’s latest Supreme Court filing shows its
deepening disagreement with how the CCI con-
ducted its Android investigation.
In an earlier December filing in a lower tribunal,
company was asked to allow modified versions of called Amazon’s lack of attempt to compete in website of NCLT on 5 July), has sanctioned the
its Android operating system, called Android forks, India a failure and attributed it to Google’s agree- scheme,” it said in a regulatory filing.
to be liberally dis- ments.” The company added that it, along with
tributed without any “The CCI’s direct- Reliance Strategic Investments Ltd, will take
licensing restric- Google has approached SC to quash ive was issued “only necessary steps including fixing the record
tions such as those the CCI October order asking the to protect Amazon— date for allotment and listing of equity shares of
related to pre-instal-
lation of Google company to make 10 changes to its who complained
that its attempts at
Reliance Strategic Investments.
In May, shareholders and creditors approved
apps. business model creating a forked the spinoff of Reliance Strategic Investments
Amazon told the version of the Ltd, which will be renamed Jio Financial
CCI during the Android did not Services. STAFF WRITER
investigation that Google’s restrictions hindered work because of (Google’s) restrictions.”
development of its Android fork called Fire OS, and Google declined to comment, citing ongoing
Google said the watchdog unfairly relied on that in legal proceedings. Amazon also declined to com-
passing its adverse decision against it, the company ment, while the CCI did not respond to the Alpha-
said in the 26 June Supreme Court filing. bet-owned company’s court filing, which is set to
Audi India to launch
“Globally, FireOS failed commercially due to be heard in the coming days.
electric SUV in Aug

G
erman luxury carmaker Audi will
‘Electronics input launch its electric SUV, Q8 e-tron, in
Medical Commission to rate colleges India next month to strengthen its
tariffs in India high’ electric vehicle portfolio in the country,
according to a senior company official.
Council of India (QCI), and will start the The company will launch its Q8 e-tron on 18

I
ndia’s tariffs on electronics inputs are the
highest among competing economies,
according to a study by the Indian Cellular
and Electronics Association (ICEA) . The
industry body has said the government must
begin rationalizing of tariffs or import duties to
reduce disadvantages and increase
competitiveness with rivals like Vietnam and
China. IECA said, in a statement, that the
department of revenue, under the finance
ministry, which decides on imposing tariffs,
must create a glidepath for input duties to match
those of Vietnam and China over the next two
years. Currently, India has the most complicated
tariff regimes with six tiers or slabs—0%, 2.5%,
The move will help students in choosing the
right medical college
rating assessment from the next session.
The activity will be carried out under
“Establishment of Medical Institutions,
Assessment and Rating Regulations, 2023”
which states to conduct assessments and
ratings of medical colleges under the
government platform. This comes in the
backdrop of credibility issues faced by
some private medical colleges, given that
their ratings are done by private
organizations. Once the government
ratings are in the public domain, it will not
only facilitate students in choosing the
HT right medical college but will also help in
stemming the practice of private medical
SBI posted a record profit in the previous quarter,
riding on higher margins and lending income. MINT
New roles for 4 SBI
August, in two body types—Q8 e-tron SUV and
Q8 e-tron Sportback—with a 114kW battery
offering more range as compared to the
existing e-tron that has a 95 kW battery.
“We are basically strengthening our (electric
vehicle) product portfolio and (bringing) what
is available globally also for our customers in
India,” Audi India Head Balbir Singh Dhillon
said.
Whatever makes a positive business case, he
said, “We want to bring in India, and with the
Q8 e-tron, we want to strengthen our (EV)
portfolio with what is the latest available across
Audi’s offering.” PTI

F execs in reshuffle
5%, 10%, 15% and 20%, plus surcharges, which
leaves room for classification misinterpretation,
and in turn, disputes between importers and
customs authorities. “Industry seeks a
reduction in the number of tiers/slabs from six
to three—0%, 5% and 10%. This will reduce
arbitrage, misinterpretation and consequent
or the first time, medical colleges in
India will receive government ratings
based on the quality of education they
offer to students. To roll out the initiative,
the country’s apex medical education
regulator—the National Medical
Commission—has tied up with Quality
colleges from exploiting students by
charging high fees. The experts from NMC
and QCI will carry out surprise inspections
of medical colleges to ascertain whether
they are following government regulations
and offering quality education among
other metrics. PRIYANKA SHARMA
JSW Steel crude steel
S
tate Bank of India is re-jigging its senior
leadership positions with at least four key
executives getting new roles, according to
output rises 11% in Q1
people familiar with the matter.

disputes,” the body said.
US govt urges court to deny Rana’s plea against extradition
GULVEEN AULAKH Rajay Sinha, chief general manager in charge
of global markets, will become managing
director and chief executive at the brokerage
arm SBI Capital Markets Ltd, the people said,
asking not to be identified as the details aren’t
public. Sinha replaces Amitava Chatterjee,
who’ll now return to the bank to oversee its
J
SW Steel on Thursday reported an 11% rise in
consolidated crude steel production at 6.43
million tonne (mt) for the first quarter of this
financial year. Production stood at 5.77 mt in
the same period last year, the company said in a
statement. However, on a sequential basis, steel
production declined 2% to 6.43 mt.

T
he Biden administration has urged a court in California to deny the writ of vertical catering to corporate clients. The company posted combined production
habeas corpus filed by Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Chatterjee will be deputy managing director in of 6.61 mt during the quarter with the Indian
Tahawwur Rana and reiterated that he be extradited to India where he is his new role, they said. operations recording production of 6.19 mt and
sought for his involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Nand Kishore took over as the deputy its US-Ohio operations at 0.24 mt output.
In May, a US court approved 62-year-old Rana’s extradition to India. Rana is managing director of global markets division in JSW Steel posted about 12% increase in
currently detained at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Los Angeles. Mumbai last week, while Abhijit Chakravorty consolidated net profit to ₹3,741 crore for the
On 10 June 2020, India filed a complaint seeking the provisional arrest of has been elevated as the managing director and March quarter, helped by higher income. Total
Rana with a view towards extradition. The Biden Administration had CEO at SBI Cards, according to the people. income rose to ₹47,427 crore from ₹47,128 crore
supported and approved the extradition of Rana to India. “The United States Government-run State Bank of India is in the year-ago quarter.
respectfully requests that the Court deny Rana’s petition for a writ of habeas fortifying its dominance at a time when a JSW Steel is the flagship business of the $23
corpus,” said E. Martin Estrada, US attorney for Central District of California in merger between HDFC Bank Ltd and its billion JSW Group which has interests in
his petition filed before the US District Court for the Central District of mortagage unit has created a new private-sector energy, infrastructure, cement, paints, sports,
California. Opposing Rana’s petition, Estrada said the petitioner is unable to mega rival. State Bank posted a record profit in and venture capital. Its next phase of growth in
demonstrate that India’s extradition request lacks sufficient evidence of Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana is allegedly the previous quarter, riding on higher margins India will take its total capacity to 38.5 MTPA by
probable cause. PTI involved in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. HT and lending income. BLOOMBERG FY25. SAURAV ANAND
10 Friday, 7 July 2023
MuMbai LONG STORY LIVEMINT.COM

WHY THIS MSP REGIME

DOESN’T hElP FarMErS
From its bias towards four water guzzling crops to lack of awareness among farmers, it distorts agricultural markets

howindialives.com

E
arlier this month, the govern-
ment announced the minimum
support prices (MSP) for 23 crops
for the forthcoming kharif sea-
son. The MSP is an advisory price
and is intended to serve as a floor. This
year, the government hiked MSP rates by
5-10% over last year. Thus, for example,
the increase in MSP for paddy was around
7%, for cotton around 10% and for coarse
cereals 6-7%.
Some farmers groups have protested
that the hikes are too little. The govern-
ment’s defence is that these are the big-
gest hikes in MSP for crops such as paddy
and cotton in the last few years. With this
being the last agricultural season before
the Lok Sabha elections next year, the
issue has both political and economic
ramifications. But the growing criticism
that the hikes in MSP are too low every
year obscures other, deeper problems
with the pricing mechanism and the wider
malaise affecting agriculture itself.

LaggIng InfLatIon

I n 2018-19, the average farm household

earned ₹10,218 per month (at current
prices), according to government data.
This was just short of the national per cap-
ita income for that year, which was
₹10,495 per month. In other words, on
average, a non-farm household in India is
better off than a farm household.
A structural issue pertaining to agricul-
ture is that as overall incomes improve in
the economy, even if at a slow rate, food
becomes a progressively smaller compo-
nent of the overall household budget. So,
the demand for food will, in general, grow
at a slower pace than overall incomes. If
farm households are not provided with
income support in some manner, incomes
will tend to stagnate (though there are
other options open to such households
such as diversifying into more lucrative
cash crops).
Thus, one of the aims of the overall
public procurement system was to pro-
vide farm households with a remunera-
tive income, while balancing it with the
requirement of non-farm households to
access food at a reasonable price. Given Women plant saplings in a paddy field in Nadia, West Bengal, on Wednesday. If farm households are not provided with income support in some manner, incomes will tend to stagnate. PTI
that average farm incomes are below the
overall average income, the public pro-
curement system has failed in this
respect at least. dra Kumar Bhoi and CL Dadhich in a 2019 mentation on the ground, either through mint
On the face of it, the system of deter- working paper of Indira Gandhi Institute direct government procurement or forc- SHORT
REALITY CHECK
mining MSP seems set up to provide a of Development Research (IGIDR). “Until ing private industry to pay.” STORY The increase in MSP usually trails inflation even when its awareness and usage remains
strong income to farmers. The govern- 2013-14, minimum support prices (MSP) This is reflected in sample surveys con- low among farmers
ment determines the cost of cultivation for several farm products were hiked sig- ducted by the government among farm- MSP increase exceeds inflation MSP increase trails inflation
for farmers based on field surveys across nificantly, for five consecutive years,” the ers. As chart 2 shows, awareness about WHAT Year-on-year change in MSP (in %) Retail inflation
the country to figure out the actual paid authors say. “As a result, the terms of trade MSP among farmers varies according to Paddy Wheat Coarse Sugarcane Cotton (rural in %)
out costs—wages, rent, inputs, etc. It also tilted in favour of agriculture vis-à-vis the crop—from 52% of paddy farmers MSP is announced by the common cereals 12
government as a price assurance 2012-13 15.7 5.1 19.9 17.2 18.2
10.9
‘imputes’ the value of family labour to this industry. However, farmers got a limited being aware of the system to just 14% for
cost, and adds a margin of 50% to arrive at share of the improvement in the terms of growers of bajra. But even if the awareness to the farmers and is based 2013-14 4.8 3.7 11.5 23.5 2.6 10
the MSP figure. Given this cost-plus trade. Bulk of the retail prices was retained exists, the actual proportion of farmers of on field surveys to factor in 2014-15 3.8 3.6 0.0 4.8 1.3
approach, it seems the MSP approach is by middlemen operating in the agricul- a crop who sell to the relevant agency at actual paid out costs—wages,
rent, inputs, etc. 2015-16 3.7 5.2 1.1 4.5 1.2 8
adequate to cover costs and provide an tural value chain. Despite improvement in MSP is almost always far lower. 6.8
additional margin. the terms of trade, investment in agricul- There can be legitimate reasons for this. 2016-17 4.3 6.6 3.0 0.0 1.5
However, despite the claims of succes- ture continued to remain negligible. The actual MSP may be lower than the 2017-18 5.4 6.8 4.4 10.9 3.8 6
sive governments, MSP hikes have tended Large hikes in MSP seem to have raised market price, thus giving farmers incen- BUT 2018-19 12.9 6.1 19.3 7.8 26.2
to fall short of inflation. This indicates that retail prices rather than pushed up farm tive to sell to private traders rather than 4
2019-20 3.7 4.6 3.5 0.0 1.8
farm households who sell all or part of investment.” the government. But as chart 2 shows, this MSP hikes have lagged
their produce to the public procurement is a relatively less important reason for not inflation and a bulk of the 2020-21 2.9 2.6 5.1 3.6 5.0
procurement is focused only on 2
system at MSP may not earn enough to Coverage ISSueS selling to a procurement agency. Across 2021-22 3.9 2.0 1.1 1.8 3.4 2012-13 2022-23
three crops—paddy or rice,
keep pace with inflation in rural areas. In
seven of the last 11 years, the increase in E ven if the MSP is made more remu- crops, the bigger reasons are that a buyer
nerative to farmers, there are other under MSP was not available. At a more
MSP for paddy and wheat—the most-pur- problems. One is in terms of the actual basic level though, as the Commission on
wheat and cotton. This has
skewed farm production.
2022-23 5.2 5.5 4.9 5.2
MSP: minimum support price. A year pertains to an agricultural year (July to June).
5.9 Source: Commission for
Agricultural Costs & Prices; Mospi

Share of agricultural households (in %)

chased commodities by the government’s crops covered under the system. While Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), Growing crops and Selling to procurement Aware of MSP but did Aware of MSP but did
Food Corporation of India under the pub- the government announces an MSP for 23 which advises the government on MSP, aware of MSP agency not sell* not sell**
lic procurement system—have tended to crops (from paddy and sugarcane to copra noted: “Despite impressive increase in SO Paddy 52.8 18.5 5.8 0.5
lag the rural Consumer Price Index (CPI), and different dals), the bulk of procure- number of farmers benefitting from pro- Jowar 14.3 0.7 1.9 0.0
an overall measure of price rise in rural ment by government agencies is spread curement operations during past few Farming has become an Maize 22.7 6.0 4.0 0.4
areas (see chart 1). across just three crops—paddy or rice, years, a large number of farmers are still unviable economic activity 9.7
Wheat 37.1 3.5 0.2
The numbers for cotton are worse, with wheat and cotton. excluded from procurement system due for a majority of the rural
Sugarcane 56.9 40.7 2.3 0.0
the MSP increase being less than the CPI The biggest acquirer is the Food Corpo- to lack of awareness.” population and making MSP Source: Situation
Cotton 35.8 12.8 7.6 0.0 Assessment of
(rural) in eight of the 11 years. The picture ration of India, which procures wheat and The fact that the bulk of MSP procure- legally enforceable is one way Agricultural
of reducing uncertainty. * because agency/local purchaser was not available, ** because better price was received elsewhere Households, NSS
for sugarcane is marginally better. States paddy, while the Cotton Corporation of ment is skewed only toward a small
SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
like Uttar Pradesh routinely announce India buys cotton. Incidentally, in the last range of crops has created problems of
their own so-called ‘state advised price’ couple of years, the government has not its own. Damodaran notes the close link-
over and above the so-called fair and procured any cotton at all since market ages between areas that have well-devel- vast majority of the rural population, forc- least the 23 crops under the public pro- needed, it is unclear whether they, even
remunerative price (FRP), the sugarcane prices were well above the MSP oped irrigation systems and MSP. “Sim- ing them to seek work outside agriculture curement system, reducing uncertainty. in conjunction with other measures to
equivalent of MSP. Including the state announced and farmers found it more ply put, the provision of irrigation facili- to supplement incomes. Promising a higher MSP margin to farm- make farming more viable, can succeed
mark-up would improve the picture for lucrative to sell in the open market. ties to farmers in India has induced them According to National Sample Survey ers for crops that are not as water-inten- in turning the clock back to a time when
sugarcane farmers. Sugarcane is also a major commodity to plant water-guzzling cash crops,” he data, the proportion of rural households sive may also provide incentives to shift rural households could live to a large
The Reserve Bank of India has forecast acquired under the public procurement notes. “This is due to their not wanting to who are ‘marginal’ farmers (owning less away to crops that are more ecologically extent on the proceeds of farming. The
inflation for 2023-24 program, though in this ‘waste’ scarce yet assured water on grow- than a hectare of land) rose from 69.6% in sustainable. mere fact of the frag-
(financial year) at case, it is sugar mills, ing crops solely for self-consumption. 2002-03 to 76.5% in 2018-19. Adding to As often is the case mentation of landhold-
around 5.1%. If this fore- In 2018-19, the average farm rather than a govern- Irrigation has gone hand-in-hand with this is the external environment, whether with policy innovations In seven of the last 11 years, ings puts an upper
cast holds, MSP growth household earned ₹10,218 ment agency, that are cash cropping. The existing MSP regime it is trends in global markets for agricul- (ranging from employ- the increase in MSP for paddy bound on how many
will exceed inflation for required to buy the com- has further reinforced this tendency. tural commodities (which the CACP, in its ment guarantees to households can sustain
2023-24. Yet, the gen- per month (at current prices), modity from farmers at With irrigation boosting yields and MSP latest report, describes as “volatile” and a mid-day meals), it is and wheat—the commodities themselves, even if
eral point of MSP which was just short of the t he gov er nment purchases assuring a stable market, “deep cause of concern”) or domestic fac- individual states that by the Food Corporation of cash transfers or other
increases trailing infla- announced FRP. Finally, farmers have found it more remunera- tors which have “shocked” the agricul- have been more enter- reforms were intro-
tion remains. national per capita income at for most other commodi- tive to produce crops benefiting from tural sector like demonetization. As prising than the Centre India—have tended to lag the duced, which could
As a result, there have ties such as dals, ground- both forms of support. And if this weren’t Damodaran points out, this has led to risk- in thinking of alterna- make farming more
been several recom- ₹10,495 per month. nut, and soyabean, the enough, these crops have also received aversion among farmers and caused them tives. For example, rural Consumer Price Index. productive and sustain-
mendations to revise the procurement is done by priority by way of public breeding and to expand production of MSP-protected Madhya Pradesh intro- able. The simple fact is
way MSP is calculated, to include other the government-owned NAFED. research support.” crops that are also relatively water-inten- duced a new scheme in 2018, Bhavantar that a vast majority of rural households
costs, including the imputed rental value According to Harish Damodaran, jour- sive.’ “It is clear that the existing MSP pro- Bhugtan Yojana, which compensates are not able to make a living from farm-
of owned land, and the cost of transport- nalist and senior visiting fellow at the Cen- Beyond MSP curement regime is neither economically farmers for any shortfall in market prices ing, and are unlikely to be able to do so
ing produce, etc. These have not been tre for Policy Research, MSP in India has
implemented so far. had the same limitations as irrigation. In a T
he MSP, though, is just one compo- nor agro-ecologically sustainable,” he from MSP through direct cash transfers in the future. In India, as in other coun-
nent of what plagues agriculture and concludes.
But even when MSPs have been hiked 2021 article, Damodaran observes: “…the households that depend on farming as a
to bank accounts, with the amount based tries throughout history which have
If this is true, where do we go from on the quantity sold by farmers in man- grown successfully, the key is in gener-
substantially, as they were till a decade benefits in both have flowed largely to major source of income. The bigger prob- here? Damodaran is in favour of making dis. The Centre introduced a variant of ating viable jobs outside agriculture.
ago, the benefits have not been fully cap- farmers of a few crops and regions. MSP’s lem is that farming has become a com- the MSP legally enforceable, thus provid- this for oilseeds. howindialives.com is a search engine
tured by ultimate producers, note Baren- effectiveness has been a function of imple- pletely unviable economic activity for the ing farmers with an assured price for at But while reforms to MSP are sorely for public data.
LIVEMINT.COM MINT MONEY Friday, 7 July 2023
MuMbai 11

Small-cap funds are all the rage WHAT'S THE FOREX RATE?
Whether you are planning
overseas travel or want to

now but should you buy them? send money abroad, it is

always a good idea to shop
around for the best forex
exchange rate. From banks,
travel aggregators to money
changers, various small and
big players sell foreign
exchange. To simplify your
work, here is a list of INR to
USD forex rates offered by
Investors need to know that the small-cap category is flourishing because of the base effect some of the major banks
and travel aggregators. We
recommend that you also
Sashind Ningthoukhongjam check the commission being
charged by these players to
feedback@livemint.com
mumbAi
Are small-cap funds getting overvalued? ensure that you are getting
the best deal.
Investors are flocking into small-caps funds due to extraordinary past performance but valuations are

S
mall-cap funds have suddenly now on the higher side. Tata Small Cap MF and Nippon India Small Cap Fund temporarily closed fresh FOREX RATES (/$)
become the darling of Indian lump sumps, citing difficulty in deploying funds Wire transfer* Buy forex
Bank/travel
investors. That is, if you go by
Net Inflow in MF categories PE Ratio* of Nifty Smallcap aggregator inward Outward Forex/travel card Cash
data released by the Associa-
tion of Mutual Funds of India 4,000 (In  cr) 250 Stocks SBI 81.31 82.81 83.00 83.40
(Amfi). The data explicitly states that Small Cap
small-cap funds, among all categories, 3,000 Bank of Baroda 81.65 82.46 82.85 83.25
were the biggest beneficiaries of a huge Canara Bank^ 81.56 82.27 82.48 NA
2,000 Mid Cap
inflow of funds in the last six months. 58 25
Small-cap funds started gaining With MF WIthout MF IndusInd Bank 80.57 83.57 84.36 84.66
1,000 Large & Mid Cap exposure exposure
momentum in March after they deliv-
ered eye-popping returns to existing Kotak Bank NA NA NA NA
0 Flexi Cap
investors . Soon, the category featured HDFC 80.79 83.37 83.62 84.18
on various trending sections of fintech
-1,000
brokers such as IndMoney, Groww, Large Cap ICICI 80.25 83.85 83.64 85.20
Kuvera, and Paytm Money. Then, herd Simple Average taken
-2,000 *Excluded companies with negative or no PE Axis Bank 79.74 84.53 85.20 84.95
mentality took over. Investors rushed Jan Feb Mar Apr May Source: AMFI Source: Fisdom Research
in and started pouring their savings Yes Bank 80.64 83.49 84.39 84.39
into the small-cap category. Trending MF schemes on fintech apps
“When any mutual fund category Thomas Cook 80.59 83.48 83.33 83.70
begins to deliver stellar returns, there is INDmoney Kuvera Paytm Money Groww
Note: Data collected from website of respective entities as on 5 July 2023; Rate denotes INR/USD; Rates are as mentioned on
usually a heavy inflow into that cate- Trending funds Investor choice Top rated funds Sort by popularity the website of the bank/FI and it may vary according to different amount slabs; *Telegraphic Transfer (TT) buying and selling
gory,” said Arun Kumar, head of research rates used. ^As on 4 July 2023.
Quant Small Cap HDFC Small Cap Quant Small Cap Quant Small Cap Compiled by BankBazaar.com
at Chennai-based FundsIndia. In this
Nippon India Small Cap Quant Small Cap Quant Infrastructure Fund Quant Infra Fund
case, the category delivered high returns
largely due to the base effect. It had suf- HDFC Flexi Cap Fund HDFC Mid Cap opportunities Nippon India Small Cap ICICI Prud Commodities
fered the most during the market crash Axis Small Cap Tata Small Cap Canara Robeco Small Cap Nippon Indis Small Cap
of 2018-19 and the covid pandemic years.
Small-caps are generally more vola-
tile than large- and mid-cap segments.
SBI Small Cap Nippon India Small Cap ICICI Pru Small Cap Canara Robeco Small Cap
Source: Company websites
What is the rule on bank accounts
So, when the markets slumped in
2020, small caps took a bigger hit.
Thereafter, when the markets started
Small-cap share in
overall market cap (%)
Before stopping inflows, fund managers
normally do three things
for overseas Indian students?
rebounding, small-caps stocks shot up 20 Smallcap (>250) Increase cash and Increase the
and people sat up and took notice.
“Most investors look at one-year or
18 High 1 cash equivalents 2 number of stocks 3 Increase allocation
toward large & mid-cap
Archit Gupta
valuation Average In May
three-year returns but if you take the 16 14.8 No. of stocks Large & midcap
Cash level (in %) exposure (in %)
returns from 2018 levels, they aren’t 14 Is it mandatory for an
Nippon Smallcap 2.4 168 171 29.8
that great,” said Kumar. 3.5 27.9 Indian resident studying
12
To be sure, while companies like SBI Smallcap 15.1 16.9 overseas to convert bank
52 52
Value Research and Morningstar 10 16.5 16.5 savings account in India to
assign ratings to mutual funds, retail 8 HDFC Small Cap 7.7 72 72 11.3 non-resident ordinary
Cheap Apr-Jun 7.9 10.5
investors tend to focus more on past valuation 2023
(NRO) or non-resident
6 Axis Small Cap 15.6 18.9
returns than expert ratings. 11.7 84 90 20.4 external (NRE) account?
However, the inflows coming into 4 4.7 12.6 Also, what conditions will
2004 2022 Jun DSP Small Cap 72 73
small-cap funds on the back of past per- 4.9 11.8 determine one’s residency
2023
formance is not always a good sign for Souce: FundsIndia Research Average is for past 5 months (Jan to May) Source: Ace Mutual Fund
status for tax purposes?
the category. For one, smaller market —Kaushik Ghosh
cap companies have lower liquidity ASK MINT Rs 15 lakh, the 60 days are sub-
compared to large companies. This chasing stocks, it can lead to higher valua- fund handles size issues differently. For Kumar, who heads research at Fund- Residents who leave India m N R I TA X AT I O N stituted by 120 days; in any
means that higher inflows could drive tions of these stocks and reduce returns instance, Nippon chooses to invest in sIndia, looks at the small-cap market with the intention of staying other case, the 60 days are
up their prices and make valuations in the future. “So it makes sense to wait more stocks to tackle its large assets but capitalization as a portion of the overall abroad for an extended period substituted by 182 days. Such
unattractive. Two, the huge inflows for some time and let things settle down,” others may choose to remain concen- market capitalization to gauge if the of time must intimate their India for 60 days or more in persons are considered as
into small and micro-cap stocks can said Padiyar. “We are hoping to deploy trated,” said Kumar. “It is better to look small-cap valuations are in the expen- bank of their intention and the said financial year and 365 deemed residents.
come back later to haunt investors this excess cash in the next 1-2 months, at each scheme individually to gauge if sive, moderate, or cheap territory. then the bank will convert days or more in the four FYs The two additional condi-
when the cycle turns and exerts but only when we deploy this cash will we they are struggling to invest more.” According to him, the small-cap their resident bank accounts immediately preceding the tions, mentioned earlier, are:
redemption pressure. think about opening our fund,” Are the valuations expensive? market cap generally hovers in the to foreign currency accounts. relevant financial year. In the You are a resident in two of the
“It is also important to see if the The largest small-cap fund, run by Nirav Karkera, head of research at range of 10-15% of the universe. When Therefore, a student who second condition, the period 10 financial years immediately
small-cap fund has outflow pressure. Nippon India Life Asset Management, Fisdom, said the small-cap category has this percentage goes beyond 15%, it is a intends to live abroad for an of 60 days is substituted by 182 preceding the relevant; you
When there is redemption pressure, has also halted fresh inflows with effect taken exposure to only about 75% of the sign that small-caps have become extended period must inti- days for an Indian citizen or a are in India in the seven years
you need to be a lot more careful,” said from 7 July, pointing to the difficulty in total number of stocks available in the expensive and when it goes below 10% mate the bank suitably. person of Indian origin, who immediately preceding the
Kumar. “We should actively monitor deploying funds. NIFTY Smallcap 250 basket. The cate- it’s a sign that investors are pessimistic. As per the guidelines issued lives outside India and comes relevant financial year for 729
the pace and quantum of such out- Kumar said there are a gory has been looking well Currently, the small-cap market capi- by Reserve Bank of India, to visit India in the said finan- days or more. If you meet any
flows.” few ways to check if a small- Some fund beyond the primary talization to the total universe is hover- banks are permitted to include cial year. of the first set of conditions
It is in this context that Chandrapra- cap fund is having difficulty houses have benchmark for opportuni- ing around the higher side of 14.8%. an NRI as a joint holder with The same applies for a citi- and both the additional condi-
kash Padiyar, the fund manager of Tata in deploying its funds. Typ- stopped ties. “One must acknowl- “Whenever it crosses 15%, it is gener- the resident account holder, zen of India who leaves the tions, you shall be considered
Small Cap Mutual Fund, took a call ically, fund managers have accepting edge that smallcap funds’ ally on the expensive side, and close to provided a few conditions are country in the said financial a resident in India. If you meet
recently to temporarily stop accepting three options before stop- success is attributable to 10 is cheap,” said Kumar. “Right now met. The NRI relative can only year for employment outside any of the first set of condi-
lump sum
further lump sum investments into the ping inflows. They can strong bottom-up stock we are somewhere close to 14, so it is use this account for domestic India or as a member of a crew tions, but not both the addi-
small-cap fund. Padiyar told Mint that increase its cash and cash investments in selection practices, and neither too expensive nor too cheap.” payments and shall not create of an Indian ship.There is also tional ones, you shall be con-
the heavy inflows in the last couple of equivalents component; small-cap funds availability of opportuni- This indicator had last shown such any beneficial interest for him- another rule of deemed resi- sidered a resident, but not
months made it difficult for the fund increase the number of ties at reasonable valua- attractive valuation levels in 2020 self. dency. An individual who is a ordinarily resident in India. If
house to deploy additional funds with- stocks held; or allocate tions is critical.” when it fell to 10%. It was in the over- Your residential status must citizen of India who is not lia- you do not meet any of the first
out driving up stock prices. As a result, more money to large and mid-cap stocks. While the broader market valuations bought territory in 2017 when it be determined as per the ble to tax in any other country set of conditions, you shall be
the cash level of Tata’s small-cap fund He said that these metrics should be across conventional valuation metrics may breached the 15% mark to touch 17%. Income Tax Act for each finan- or territory and has total an NRI for tax purposes.
rose to 15% compared to an average 10%. looked at on a fund-to-fund basis and indicate that valuations are not expensive, Experts Mint spoke to said that cial year in the following man- income, other than from for- Archit Gupta is founder and
“Any stock that we buy, we want to not the category as a whole. This is the same may not hold true for all stocks; investors should exercise caution while ner. You must meet at least eign sources, exceeding Rs 15 chief executive officer, Clear.in
add to it gradually but when you are because unlike the large-cap category, especially ones that have garnered the selecting small-cap funds. They are vol- one of the following condi- lakh during the said FY, shall
getting five times the inflow of what where schemes have a large overlap of highest institutional interest, he added. atile in nature and run the risk of being tions and two more additional be a deemed resident of India. Do you have a personal
you were getting every day, the cash holdings, the small-cap category has a To put this in context, the price-to-earn- illiquid when the markets turn bearish. conditions that will determine For a citizen or a person of finance query? Send in your
level keeps going up and this starts much wider pool to choose from and ings ratio of Nifty Smallcap 250 with Although small-caps funds haven’t had your tax residency status: Indian origin who comes on a queries at
impacting the performance of the fund hence, each small-cap scheme is very mutual fund holdings stands at 58, whereas a major redemption pressure in the First, you are in India for 182 visit to India, if the total mintmoney@livemint.com
and get them answered by
at some point,” said Padiyar. different from the other. the average price multiple for stocks with- past, that doesn’t mean it will never days or more in the relevant income, other than income
industry experts.
He added that if a lot of money starts “It is difficult to generalize since each out any institutional exposure is at 25. happen in the future. financial year; or you are in from foreign sources, exceeds

HERE’S HOW YOUNG PROFESSIONALS CAN START BUILDING THEIR CREDIT HISTORY
and conditions you may be offered. A strong credit history and them. It also empowers you to assess details regarding your credit
a good credit score offer several benefits, such as qualifying for utilisation, payment history, and overall credit management,
POWER credit cards and securing lower interest rates on loans. By sav-
ing money on interest payments, you can allocate those funds
helping you identify areas for improving your financial health.
While building your credit history, it’s equally important to
POINT towards investments that shape your future. Additionally, some avoid certain practices. Maintain a low credit utilisation ratio and
employers in certain industries review credit reports during the avoid maxing out your credit card. Applying for credit too fre-
SAJISH PILLAI hiring process, making a solid credit history crucial for job quently can negatively impact your credit score, as it suggests a
opportunities. desire to take on more debt. Therefore, space out your credit
We welcome your views and comments at Lenders are increasingly leveraging alternative data sources applications and only apply when necessary.
mintmoney@livemint.com and advanced analytics to evaluate creditworthiness of such cus- Navigating personal finance can be challenging for young pro-
tomers to fulfil their borrowing needs. These lenders could be fessionals starting their careers. Focus on expanding your finan-

A
s you start your professional journey and embark on your
career path, it’s crucial to understand the importance of
establishing a strong credit history. Your credit score
plays a key role in shaping your overall financial well-being and
opens doors to various opportunities. However, many young pro-
fessionals face the challenge of having a limited or insufficient
credit profile. By taking proactive steps and planning carefully,
you can lay the foundation for a financially secure future.
Although building credit may not be your immediate prior-
ity, it holds considerable significance. Your credit score, acting
as a comprehensive reflection of your responsible borrowing
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your financial life. It serves as a yardstick by which lenders eval-
uate your credit worthiness. When you apply for various finan-
cial products like loans or credit cards, lenders use your credit
history to decide on your loan application and finalize the terms
one of the first avenues that can be leveraged to start building
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responsible financial habits. Make timely payments not only for
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impact your creditworthiness.
The duration of your credit history significantly affects your
credit score. Consider getting a credit card early in your profes-
sional journey and prioritise paying off the full outstanding bal-
ance by the specified deadline. Responsible use of your credit
card and meeting payment obligations will enhance your credit
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In addition to credit cards, diversify your credit portfolio to
strengthen your credit history and score. Effectively managing
and responsibly handling various forms of credit demonstrate
your ability to handle diverse financial obligations.
Lastly, regularly monitor your credit reports and track your
credit closely. This allows you to promptly identify any discrep-
ancies or errors in your reports and take necessary steps to rectify
cial knowledge, learn about budgeting, saving, and effectively
managing your finances to make informed decisions. Addition-
ally, prioritize building an emergency fund alongside developing
a credit history. This fund acts as a buffer during medical emer-
gencies or unexpected expenses.
Developing a solid credit history requires time, consistency,
and responsible financial management. Start by creating a well-
structured budget that aligns with your specific needs and aspira-
tions. Avoid common pitfalls like overspending, accumulating
excessive debt, and incurring high interest charges. Building and
improving your credit score typically takes at least six months, so
plan ahead when considering major purchases. Adopting pru-
dent fiscal habits and practices will pave the way for a strong
credit profile, unlocking numerous financial opportunities.
Sajish Pillai is managing director, head of assets and strategic
alliances, DBS Bank India
12 FrIdAy, 7 July 2023
MuMbAI VIEWS LIVEMINT.COM

OUR VIEW MY VIEW | TECH WHISPERS

MINT

Tech’s climate impact is scarier

than any super-AI ‘terminator’
AI’s carbon footprint is the big risk to worry about rather than extermination by a super-smart bot

parameters and GPT4 and Google’s
Bard are possibly even larger. Besides,
most of these models are trained multi-
ple times for optimum accuracy.
Two, most of these models live on the
cloud; for instance, GPT is on Microsoft
Azure. The ‘cloud’ is nothing but hun-
dreds of data centres around our planet,
guzzling water and power in massive
JASPREET BINDRA quantities. A recent Guardian article
is a technology expert, author of ‘The Tech revealed that data centres currently
Whisperer’, and is currently pursuing his consume 200 terawatt hours per year,
Masters in AI and Ethics from Cambridge roughly equal to what South Africa does
University today. With the emergence of genera-
tor makers strive to build hundreds of
more fabs to satiate demand from AI
and other technologies, carbon foot-
prints are likely to expand exponentially
since clean power would struggle to
keep up even as water scarcities grow. It
is a bleak picture. What can we do about
it? The first is to build awareness among
communities. A lot of tech companies
are aware of this, and Microsoft, Google
and others have pledged to make their
clouds ‘green’. However, there are other
things that the industry can do. Each
time a model is created or trained, the

India’s shield of privacy

tive AI, it is estimated that by 2030, this producer must estimate and budget the
electricity consumption will cross that carbon footprint, so that we know what

S
oaring daily temperatures, wild- of Japan, the world’s third largest econ- we are dealing with. Many use-cases do
fires in Canada, inexplicably hot omy. A global semiconductor confer- not require a huge model; a smaller
ocean currents—our worries ence recently predicted that the com- model using far less resources could do

should reflect Article 21 around climate change have intensified.

There is another fear out there this year,
though mixed with frenzied excite-
ment: the worry of whether we have
puting demand worldwide could out-
strip the total world electricity power
generation within 10 years.
Three, the bedrock of generative AI
the job. Just throwing more computing
power will not make a better model;
there are other fine-tuning techniques
that are much less power intensive. The
created a Frankenstein’s monster in the models are chips. Large chip fabrication good news is that Big Tech companies
quest for artificial intelligence (AI). My plants (or fabs) require huge amounts of have realized this, and are looking at
What began as an enunciation of fundamental rights has taken shape as data regulation of fears, however, are not as much about electricity and pure water. A typical fab smaller models, training them in places
an AI agent becoming more intelligent might use up to 19 million litres of water with cleaner energy, using specialized
private players. Our personal data protection law must prioritize privacy as a basic right than us, as two things more fundamen- and 30-50 megawatts of peak power lower-consumption data centres, and
tal and immediate. One is of this power- daily, about the needs of a town with tweaking training protocols to reduce
ful technology being used by malevo- some 50,000 residents. their environmental footprints. Indian
lent actors to influence elections and As Big Tech companies across the companies also have stepped up; for

T
he monsoon session of Indian
Parliament will likely take up a bill
framed in response to the Supreme
Court ruling of 24 August 2017 that
said privacy is a fundamental right.
The Digital Personal Data Protec-
tion Bill, a draft of which was published last
year to replace an unwieldy earlier proposal,
got Cabinet approval this week as part of the
Centre’s effort to update Indian laws for the
digital age. A shield for our personal data was
dearly needed; think of the online heist pulled
off by data hoarders before the EU and others
tightened rules. If New Delhi enacts its pro-
posed law, digital players must take our point-
wise consent for data, explain its storage and/or
use, let us wipe our files clean, disclose data
leaks and act responsibly in other ways—or risk
steep fines. In the okayed version, the facility of
‘deemed consent’ may have been tweaked and
relief offered to global operators on data held
abroad, but the rest is largely expected to be
what was released in 2022 for public comment.
If so, then the private sector that’ll be regulated
personal liberty, justice demands that only democracy by creating terabytes of fake world race to build larger and larger instance, NTT and Airtel have set up
impartial judicial rigour can waive those news, or even building autonomous war models, cloud providers build ever captive solar plants to power their own
weapons. The other worry, which is far more powerful clouds and semiconduc- data centres and CtrlS has become the
rights, case-by-case. As a key aspect of liberty, less talked about, is how AI and genera- world’s first LEED certified Platinum
privacy must be seen in similar light. No one tive AI can accelerate global warming Green Data Centre.
should be locked up and nobody spied upon and climate change. Going forward, both governments
unjustly. The potential indignity of both was A lot has been written and talked QUICK READ and communities need to participate in
captured vividly by the recent Netflix web about blockchain and cryptocurrency this effort. Many governments seem to
being an environmental disaster. But so We worry about generative AI be blinded by the dazzling possibilities
series Scoop, about a jailed journalist in a brick- are AI and generative AI. There are creating a monster someday of AI and generative AI and are rolling
and-mortar setting. Given the web’s reach, three ways in which generative AI but the immediate crisis of out incentives for new data centres and
dignity in the digital realm needs to be secured degrades the environment. humanity’s survival is climate fabs; they should start factoring in the
with no less urgency. To guard online privacy, One, training the gigantic generative change that’s being worsened environmental costs. Society should
we should ‘own’ our personal files as the law’s AI models requires enormous amounts by the tech sector’s advances. weigh the benefits of this infrastructure
of energy, leading to vast carbon emis- being created, and whether enough is
default position, so that it’s for us to part with sions. As an example, training a 213 mil- Everything from the models being done to counter the degradation.
what data we want, with a firm list of carve- lion generative AI model just once can used to train AI to the chips they If we do not wake up, we will not have to
outs for information the state must necessarily spew out the same carbon emissions use and clouds where data is wait for a Terminator-like AI super-in-
have on us for it to function. With the alleged that 125 New York-Beijing round flight stored takes up huge quantities telligence threat. The globe’s accelera-
use of spyware like Pegasus not forgotten as a trips would! This is a small model, GPT3 of energy while a clean-up can’t tion towards climate disaster would
is 800 times bigger with 175 billion hope to keep up with this boom. annihilate us sooner than that.
scandal that wasn’t settled satisfactorily, clear
limits on intrusion by state agencies are a must.
Properly issued e-search permits may click.
The draft bill of 2022, however, gave the
government and its arms such wide scope to
operate above the rules proposed for private
players that its efficacy as a universal data www.livemint.com
New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh*, Pune* Monday, July 8, 2013 Vol.7 No.161 `3.00 in Delhi­NCR/`4.00 outside Delhi­NCR 24 PAGES

by it has reason to worry about the autonomy of shield—as an assurer of digital privacy ought to NATION: Blasts at Mahabodhi
temple complex >4
CAPITAL CALCULUS: Jobs, aspirations
and the rural vote >4

a proposed data board for dispute resolution; a be—was thrown in doubt. Even the concept of CONTENT PARTNER
INTERNATIONAL: Morsi’s supporters protest;
plan to resolve Egypt crisis hits snag >5
CORPORATE: RCom to spin off real estate
business >7
It used to be expensive
statutory body that stands apart from the day’s ‘deemed consent,’ needed for emergency SENSEX 19,495.82 ® NIFTY 5,867.90 ® DOLLAR `60.23 ® EURO `77.40 ® GOLD `26,150 ® OIL $107.72 ®

to make things public

GLYN KIRK/AFP
DOWNBEAT FORECASTS CAG tells NTPC, QUICK EDIT
An FDI
Cloud ofgloom Coal India to
settle row over spanner
government would’ve signalled neutrality. Yet, access to data (say, at a hospital), looked a bit to remain
payments he home ministry has
T raised a red flag over

and cheap to make them

B Y U TPAL B HASKAR increasing the limits to
utpal.b@livemint.com foreign direct investment

over earnings
························· (FDI) in sectors such as

a reset of the platform-user equation under too susceptible to misuse by authorities for
NEW DELHI defence, telecom and

T he Comptroller and Auditor

General of India (CAG) has
stepped in to resolve the around
space for security reasons.
While this may sound
reasonable—in view of
`2,000 crore payment impasse investments by less than
Seasonal dullness, between state-owned NTPC Ltd friendly countries in
rupee’s depreciation SLUGGISH TRACK and Coal India Ltd over fuel sup-
ply.
many of these sectors—it
is in one sector, defence,
and domestic economic Profit and revenue growth for 25
India’s largest power genera- that such an attitude is

private. Now it’s expensive

Sensex firms* for the past 4 quarters

regulatory oversight isn’t the be-all and end-all comfort. Suspicions of a dismissive disposition
woes to reflect on Sales growth year-on-year in %
tion utility has been sparring questionable.
with the world’s biggest coal It is an open secret that
June quarter results 17.70 miner over the poor calorific val- for heavy defence
12.09
8.96 ue of coal being supplied. The equipment such as

T he June quarter is sea-
sonally a dull period for
many Indian business-
es. Add to this mix a sharp de-
preciation in the rupee over
7.28 government’s statutory auditor fighter aircraft, naval
has asked the public sector units vessels with advanced
to settle the issue. capability and other
2012 2013
Calorific value refers to the equipment, India is
Profit growth
amount of heat that can be gen- dependent on imports.

of it, even if that’s where this law seems headed. towards privacy, as seen in the Centre’s push to
the past month and it’s a reci- erated by burning a certain Its ability to
pe for another gloomy earn- 3.21 quantity of fuel. Typically, the manufacture these items

to make things private

ings season. Sure, lower com- calorific value falls when the fuel locally was never
modity prices—the CRB index -2.54 -2.12 quality is poor or it has impuri- nurtured properly. While
is almost 5% down from a year ties. indigenization efforts are
ago—will help, but any gains -13.60 NTPC claims that it was important, imports very
in margins will largely be an Jun Sep Dec Mar charged for coal with a calorific often attract controversy
interplay of the fall in raw ma- 2012 2013 value of 5,000 kcal (kilo calorie) to the point that
terials versus the rupee’s 9% *excluding banks and financial per kg but was supplied with coal acquisition is delayed

Nearly six years ago, India’s apex court held break chat encryption (for “public security”),
fall during the quarter.
In any case, domestic eco-
nomic problems haven’t gone
away. HSBC Markit’s Purchas-
institutions Source: Capitaline with a calorific value of 3,500 inordinately.
SARVESH SHARMA/MINT kcal per kg. It has held back pay- Attracting foreign
MARK TO MARKET ment of around `2,000 crore to manufacturers to set up
Coal India on this account. base in India by raising

and cheap to make

ing Managers’ Index data for
April and May show that a
weak manufacturing recovery
noticed in the March quarter
has fizzled out.
RAVI KRISHNAN The miner has denied NTPC’s the FDI cap is an option
Long­awaited victory: Andy Murray on Sunday became the first Briton in charge and has started a process that should not be
It naturally will dent profit 77 years to win the Wimbledon men’s singles title, beating world No.1 discarded lightly.
growth. Bank of America-Mer- Novak Djokovic in straight sets. See Page 9 TURN TO PAGE 2®
rill Lynch estimates profits for

privacy as a basic right in consonance with have willy-nilly been part of the buzz around
While services data show Sensex firms to rise 4.1% and
some improvement, it can’t be Angel Broking Ltd a growth of
called a trend yet. It is no sur-
prise that brokerages are fore-
5.6%. Religare is a tad more
optimistic, projecting a 7.5% Will Aakash 4
casting a snail’s pace of sales
and profit growth in the June
gain.
The common thread tablet deliver

quarter.
According to Bank of Ameri-
ca-Merrill Lynch, sales growth
them public.
through these forecasts is that
operating margins are expect-
ed to improve from a year ago.
the goods?

Article 21 of the Constitution on ‘Protection of this law. Fixing its flaws is critical for it to fulfil
for Sensex firms is likely to be
3.5% over a year ago. Religare
Institutional Research esti-
mates the sales growth of
these set of companies exclud-
Estimates for margin gains
again range from 65 basis B Y L ESLIE D ’M ONTE &
points to 1.2 percentage G OPAL S ATHE
points with varying degrees of ·························
belief that the fall in input MUMBAI / NEW DELHI

ing oil firms at 3.4%. Whichev-

er way, one views it, that is
the lowest growth in at least
15 quarters. This slowdown in
prices would have more than
offset the falling rupee. One
basis point is one-hundredth
I f Aakash, the low-cost com-
puter tablet aggressively
promoted by the government
of a percentage point. to bridge India’s digital device,

Life and Personal Liberty’, by which nobody its original intent as outlined by the judiciary.
demand is expected to be
across the board, spanning in-
dustries such as automobiles,
cement—where monthly vol-
ume numbers already offer a
premonition—and infrastruc-
ture and metals, where an ear-
ly and heavy monsoon has
crimped activity.
Still, a caveat here is that fails to live up to its promise, it
the benefits might not be won’t be for lack of trying.
across the board. Edelweiss After faltering on quality is-
Securities Ltd warns that 16 sues when it was launched in
out of 30 firms on the bench- July 2010, the human resource
mark Sensex index are likely ministry has again asked for
to see profits decline. In Bank vendor comments on the pro-
of America’s estimates, three posed fourth iteration of Aa-
firms—Reliance Industries kash with strengthened speci-

can be deprived of either, except in accordance If it remains too easy for sarkari officials to peer C L AY SHI R KY
Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd and ICICI fications, which is expected to
Bank Ltd—account for over cost around `3,000.
three-fourths of the profit But the world has moved on
growth. Thus, the stark reality since then and 70% of the tab-
is that earnings downgrades lets sold in India now retail be-
will continue to happen. low `10,000, compared with
“We expect downward just 10% when Aakash was
(earnings) revisions to contin- commercially made available

with a process of law. Basic rights hold value into our online lives, privacy would weaken as
ue led by muted demand and in October 2011. Many experts
a weak currency, offsetting the are not convinced if the gov-
benefits of falling commodity ernment will be able to per-
prices and easing cost of suade buyers to purchase the
funds,” said a note from Relig- tablet in large enough num-
are. bers.
With equities putting in a “The specifications of Aa-
muted performance though, kash 4 appear good on paper,
owing to mainly external fac- but given the past experience,

only if upheld against all forces, the state a fundamental right at the very start of its
tors in recent times, at least, can the government ensure
one won’t hear the popular re- that good components are pro-
frain that the markets have cured at the prices specified
Mint is also available for R7 with run ahead of the macro.
Hindustan Times in Delhi-NCR only ravi.k@livemint.com TURN TO PAGE 3®

included. To minimize the denial of life and legislative life. That would be a let-down.

THEIR VIEW

India can blend the EU and US models of AI regulation

bureaucratic systems would be comfortable
AdItyA SInhA operating within.
As we stand at the frontier of the AI revo-
lution, emerging technology ventures
including AI grapple with the ‘liability of
newness.’ The hurdles these ventures face
involvement. Governance systems must spectrum, ranging from straightforward AI that protects individual rights and data
adapt swiftly to the pace of AI development automation algorithms to complex machine privacy, mitigates risks, and promotes AI
to mitigate unforeseen consequences. There learning models. The lack of a universally adoption. The EU approach blends specific
is a growing capacity of AI to manipulate lan- accepted definition complicates efforts to and general regulations, addresses cyberse-
guage and influence society, from politics to establish clear regulatory parameters, curity concerns, and encourages innova-
relationships, by altering beliefs. Given AI’s thereby hindering the development of pre- tion through regulatory sandboxes. Mean-

is additional private secretary
(policy and research),
Economic Advisory Council to
the Prime Minister
D
uring his visit to India, Sam Altman
once again called for governments
worldwide to regulate artificial intel-
ligence (AI). At first glance, this proposition
may seem paradoxical. Corporations gener-
ally prefer a laissez-faire approach from gov-
ernments, favouring minimal regulations
that allow businesses maximum freedom.
After all, more regulation often translates to
more bureaucratic oversight, increased
compliance costs and potential constraints
on innovation. Innovators might be discour-
aged from exploring uncharted territories
for fear of non-compliance or burdensome
regulatory processes.
On the other hand, bureaucrats might
welcome such advocacy from influential
figures in the tech industry like Altman. As
Max Weber detailed in Economy and Soci-
ety: An Outline of Interpretative Sociology,
bureaucracy, at its core, seeks to create
order, uniformity and predictability. A reg-
ulated AI landscape may just be the rational,
systematic environment that traditional
are formidable—from securing necessary
resources to stay afloat, to establishing their
legitimacy among diverse audiences,
including consumers, regulators and gov-
ernment bodies. Carving out a distinctive
identity in a convoluted industry structure
presents another battlefront.
Moreover, the ambiguity of the market
structure, the underdog’s fight against large
established companies for a voice in policy-
making, the looming threats of competition
from powerful incumbents and resistance
from public-policy demanders, all combine
to create a veritable storm.
However, Altman’s stance, which could
easily be misunderstood as counter-intui-
tive, may instead be seen as a forward-think-
ing perspective. The presence of regulation,
albeit potentially slowing the pace of inno-
vation and erecting higher barriers to entry,
bestows upon the industry a cloak of legiti-
macy and quells uncertainties.
The powerful and unpredictable societal
impact of AI demands greater regulatory
potential misuse for misinformation and its cise and relevant regulations. while, the US favours a decentralized
risk of perpetuating bias, effective regula- AI’s diverse nature defies a blanket regu- approach, assigning responsibilities to spe-
tion is crucial. However, designing such reg- latory approach, risking over-regulation in cific federal agencies to avoid overregula-
ulations is a complex and time-consuming some areas and under-regulation in others. tion and promote innovation.
task, with five inherent challenges. For instance, AI in generative language Furthermore, we cannot let AI players
AI’s inherently fast-paced and constantly models needs a different regulatory touch self-regulate themselves or become pseudo-
evolving nature often outstrips legislative than AI that could imperil infrastructure regulators. A case in point are AI startups
processes. As such, the security or human lives. involved in creation of deepfakes. AI self-
rapid advancement of AI needs an interna- regulation stirs issues of accountability and
technologies, particu- QUICK READ tional consensus for transparency. Though it may fuel flexibility
larly those dealing with effective regulation. and innovation, it’s not bulletproof; studies
generative AI systems, While regulation of AI is difficult However, achieving reveal it can breed oversight gaps, fostering
often leaves regulatory but necessary in view of its global standardization is unethical practices or biases.
bodies scrambling to capacity to influence society and no small feat. The varied India should consider a balanced
catch up. These systems’ outcomes in various spheres, our regulatory approaches approach to AI regulation, learning from the
capacity to generate con- policy challenge is to ensure that and differing stances EU and US models. Like the EU, India needs
vincing yet fictional texts rules do not stifle innovation. among countries create a a robust framework that safeguards individ-
and images introduces significant barrier to this ual rights, mitigates risks and ensures data
new layers of complexity A global approach would work effort. The EU and the protection without impeding AI develop-
that make regulation best but if that’s too complex, we US have contrasting ment. Embracing aspects of the decentral-
even more challenging. should draw inspiration from the approaches to AI regula- ized US model can help avoid overregula-
Even defining AI EU’s robust safeguards of rights tion. The EU is proactive, tion, allowing specific sectors to address
remains an elusive goal. as well as the decentralized US aiming to create a strong, AI-related issues based on their unique
It encompasses a broad model to avoid overregulation. enduring framework for needs, and also encourage innovation.
LIVEMINT.COM VIEWS FridAy, 7 July 2023
MuMbAi 13

MY VIEW | ThE LaST WORD M I N T C U R AT O R

Define boundaries and state the An e-euro need not fall victim
to post-crypto bubble apathy
fiscal costs of election freebies The Eurozone’s digital currency project should stay under debate

Their fairness and financial burden on the exchequer depend on the manner in which beneficiary boundaries are drawn

ISTOCKPHOTO

LIONEL LAURENT
is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering
digital currencies, the European Union and
France.
INDIRA RAJARAMAN
is an economist.

S T
tate election season is on again (when
did it ever go away?), and with that
comes freebie season. The term ‘freebie’
is used here exclusively for promises to
be financed by the state exchequer post-
election, not pre-election giveaways.
Freebies vary in the manner in which beneficiary
boundaries are drawn, and in their fiscal cost. To
stay politically neutral, I will look at the freebies
currently on offer without reference to political
parties. Freebies are imitated so much in any case
that the identity of the originating party is lost in
the melee.
I have written at length (Mint, 2 December 2022
and 6 January 2023) on the folly of switching back
to the Old Pension System (OPS), so will leave that
aside for now, although it has surfaced again as an
election promise in Madhya Pradesh. Besides, the
pension issue is currently under the lens of a high-
level committee constituted by the finance minis-
try at the Centre.
Among the freebies currently on offer in
Madhya Pradesh is free electricity up to 100 units
(kilowatt hours), 50% subsidy beyond that up to
200 units, and full rate levy thereafter. The prob-
lem is that the offer is seemingly open to all con-
sumers. Subsidizing electricity for poor house-
holds at low connected loads is a common (and
commendable) practice in all states. In the annual
report of the Central Electricity Authority on state-
wise electricity tariffs for 2020-21 (dated May
2022), Madhya Pradesh charged a subsidized rate
of ₹3.25 per unit for an individual household with a
connected load up to 100 watts and monthly con-
sumption up to 30 units. But the minimum
monthly charge of ₹45 is roughly three times the
cost of likely daily usage of a 40-watt light bulb
over three to four hours. There is also a bulk supply
provision for slum clusters (without a minimum
charge per household), but those charges are often
unfairly distributed between households within
the cluster.
It could be argued that zero-pricing the first slab
at low connected loads is the push poor house-
holds need to migrate to an individually metered
legal connection to the grid. That then makes pos-
sible identification of the remaining (large) illegal
connections and so getting rid of them altogether.
This could potentially place utility distribution
companies (Discoms) on a universal billing plat-
form, as a secure basis for future revenue growth.
The current freebie on offer by one of the con-
testing political parties does not draw the bounda-
ries to cover only low connected loads. The subsidy
bill paid by Madhya Pradesh to Discoms in 2020-21
to cover revenue shortfalls was ₹20,371.61 crore, by
far the highest among all states. In that context, an
initial free slab for all consumers looks seriously
infeasible.
Also on offer is a subsidy on liquefied petroleum
gas (LPG) cooking fuel, capping the price for an
LPG cylinder at ₹500. That is roughly a 50% sub-
he digital euro, like a lot of central
bank proposals around the world to
issue virtual cash, has so far existed
in a policy sweet spot: Maximum imagina- Crypto disruption isn’t the only reason for
tion, minimal execution. Dreaming up the euro to go digital ISTOCKPHOTO
tokens, wallets or ledgers that may future-
proof fiat money against the next Bitcoin the tech world. With the likes of World-
or stablecoin is easier and cheaper than coin plotting to scan the planet’s eyeballs
doing it for real. to create a digital currency-backed ID
As deadlines loom for a shift from based on human iris data, CBDCs seem
pumping out jargon-filled white papers less Orwellian and more like a practical
into an actual decision on whether to go way to hire tech talent and stay in a race
ahead, however, feet have been shuffling that could lead anywhere.
awkwardly as big risks hover into view. The latest proposals by the European
A string of bank failures in the US—in Commission appear to go in the right
which cryptocurrency played a part—and direction: They point to a form of digital
the downfall of Credit Suisse Group AG cash that’s as narrow as possible, offering
have attuned central bankers everywhere payments even without an internet con-
to the dangers of tinkering with a financial nection and making it legal tender.
system where depositors are increasingly But there is still no real answer to the
flighty. Throwing a digital euro into the privacy question, other than to trust that,
banking system, for example, could suck like Odysseus, central bankers can stay
deposits away; one study found that even tied to the mast even as the sirens call for
a small take-up of €2,000 ($2,180) per more data access.
household could rob smaller banks of Nor is there any real answer to how we
more than 10% of their deposits. could avoid weakening the grip of com-
The risk of a public backlash is also seen mercial banks on their funding or risk
to be rising, fed both by assorted conspir- models, even as they’re prodded to share
acy theories of Orwellian control, but also more data with fintech rivals.
the undeniable truth that an online digital Perhaps what central bankers should do
euro will offer less privacy than cash. next is kick more of these questions back
sidy. Currently, about 40% of the price of petro- households that come voluntarily forward to get a Some surveys [in the West] suggest con- to politicians and governments. The line
leum consists of central excise and state value- job card for performance of manual labour on pub- sumers aren’t keen on central banks between fiscal and monetary policy is
added tax (VAT) including dealer commission lic work sites get automatically included. accessing personal payments data. inevitably going to blur as CBDCs become
(petroleum products are outside the GST system). Free bus travel for women is similar to MNREGA Then there is the niggling feeling of real, according to economist Paul Sheard,
Halving the issue price of an LPG cylinder essen- in being self identified. In some other cases, such central banks proposing to fix what ain’t former vice-chairman of S&P Global, from
tially amounts to paying the central excise on the as farm loan waivers (on offer again in Madhya broke at the taxpayer’s expense. Crypto- developments such as distributing heli-
product along with forgoing the Pradesh), the qualifying parame- currency fever has cooled since the pan- copter money in a crisis or automating
state VAT on it. ters are usually tightly drawn so demic and venture capital funding has some kinds of tax settlement.
If offered universally to all QUICK READ as to contain the fiscal cost. But more or less dried up without any major Central bankers should confess to not
LPG consumers, a cap on the that makes for arduous calcula- disruption—suggesting central banks’ having all of the answers: If the physical
number of subsidized cylinders The fairness of a freebie depends tions of the dues to each farmer, existing tool-kit is still enough to defend euro required a grand bargain between
is the only way to contain the fis- on how wisely the bounds of who and delays the receipt of benefits the financial system and that maybe the French leader Francois Mitterrand and
cal cost. If not universal, it raises benefits are set but the handouts by qualifying farmers. inflation fight should be its real priority. Germany’s Helmut Kohl to take off 23
the same problem of identifying on offer today seem a random The freebie packages cur- Sweden now says it doesn’t need a central years ago, maybe its digital version also
beneficiaries as that arising with bunch held out to attract rently on offer are typically a bank digital currency (CBDC), while the needs a less technocratic touch.
other freebies such as the basic whoever will take the poll bait. motley collection seemingly UK has abandoned plans for a Royal Mint- That may also mean many years of work
income to every woman head of thrown out as a net to pull in the issued non-fungible token. There’s the ahead to get the euro’s digital version
household (offered in Karna- It should be for political parties votes of whichever voters think nagging feeling that this whole CBDC right, echoing the time taken to finesse its
taka). External identification of to highlight the fiscal impact and they may benefit from this or scene just isn’t hip anymore. physical predecessor. Given that trust in
beneficiaries can be rife with opportunity cost of freebies that element of it. If the technocratic moonshot of a CBDC central banks isn’t ironclad, patience
injustice. A woman may head offered by rivals. Credibly done, I now realize that my earlier is to survive the current crypto winter, it would be justified.
the household because her hus- it would elevate public debates, suggestion that the Election will need a change of approach. It should At the turn of the millennium, as PayPal
band has migrated elsewhere but that isn’t happening yet. Commission require political at least make its manifesto clearer. Holdings was just getting started, econo-
but his remittances could make parties to quantify the fiscal There are still good reasons to pursue a mist Charles Goodhart dismissed the idea
it a non-poor household. Another woman may not impact of freebies is infeasible. What political digital euro in a world where weird and of digital monetary disruption: “Central
head her household, but the nominal male head parties themselves can do is credibly quantify the worrying forms of money are still rolling banks may bring about their own demise
may be unemployed or ill or disabled. cost of freebies offered by a rival party, and display off the conveyor belt, from stablecoins to by incompetence, (but) they will be com-
The most famous freebie of all was the Mahatma for voters the size of the bite other programmes AI-backed tokens, with potentially desta- paratively immune to technological inno-
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee and schemes will suffer as a consequence. Such bilizing effects on cash use and monetary vation,” he said. He had a point: Best walk,
(MNREGA), a brilliantly conceived scheme actions would raise the level of electoral debate, policy. The rise of digital transactions has not run, into the future of digital central
because its beneficiaries are self-selected. Those but it has not happened so far. already handed oodles of personal data to bank money. ©BLOOMBERG

MY VIEW | PEN DRIVE

The pandemic ended the regime of alpha employees

A behavioural coach to CXOs explained
DevInA SengupTA to me that an alpha is not a personality but a
behaviour trait. “The modern leader cares
about ‘how’ something was achieved and
not ‘what’ was achieved,” said the coach. As
teams in offices worked through profes-
and employees have their Key Result Areas after they are no longer with the firm. assumed was natural as cases of covid
(KRAs) directly linked to their team and Why the change then? Companies are reduced, continues to be met with resist-
business performance. The message is clear: realizing that placing a disproportionate ance. Cautionary mails have given way to
No one cohort of employees will influence onus on a few is risky. This is a risk that per- threats that it will impact appraisals, but
the culture and decision-making capabili- meates right down the hierarchy and leads employees have held steadfast to their
ties of the entire group. to a select few coming under the limelight stance that it is hybrid at most, or one will

U
writes on workplaces and
education at Mint
ntil two years ago, it was easy to spot
future leaders in every batch of new-
comers in a company. The alphas
among them worked their way into cabins,
usurping others’ at lethal speed. It often left
the rest of the staff with the impression that
these alpha employees were reclaiming
roles and designations that had temporarily
been given to others. But then, the covid
pandemic happened. Business leaders
across corporate hierarchies were no longer
viewed as invincible.
Since then, the days of alpha employees
have seemed numbered.
Why the pandemic? Because it acceler-
ated discussions on ‘empathy’, ‘vulnerabil-
ity’ and the need to work together as a cohe-
sive unit, relying on one another. Until then,
these attributes were taken as ‘soft touch’
traits in many companies, but not must-
haves. The essential part until then was to
get the job done, itself part of the business
drive for returns on investment.
sional and personal crises, they were forced
to listen , take decisions involving everyone
and seek advice on how to wade through
many a tough spot. There was no place left
for one dominant viewpoint. No one had
experienced a lockdown or medical crisis at
this scale, and even the leader of the pack
was forced to loosen reins of control.
A Mumbai-based conglomerate’s Human
Resources (HR) head described how the
business house was changing and alpha
team members were no longer appreciated.
“Their age is over. We are becoming global
and the new generations are teaching us not
to be alpha,” he said, indicating that aggres-
sive and ‘get results at any cost’ behaviour
would no work in the group, which employs
more than 20,000 people. The HR head
said the group had changed its performance
measurement system and colleagues were
now asked to rate each other on what were
earlier called “softer skills”. The manager
does not have a say in appraisals anymore
Are alphas detrimental to a workplace? while the rest slave away in the shadows. have to deal with exit interviews,” said the
Absolutely not. Many of them have battled Companies are realizing that when baton CXO. Alpha team leaders have also realized
and powered through many wars for their holders whip up support behind a leader or that accepted norms need to be overhauled
teams and companies. In some ways, they a project, risks can rise of manipulation, and they may no longer wield the same
are like the whips of political parties who groupism and a fractious environment power as they did before the pandemic.
influence decisions and impact the organi- roiled by office politics. Two alphas who Will alphas end up forced out of the pack?
zational culture by turn predatory in the Unlikely. As turfs shrink, those who display
pushing for agreement same company could get alpha behaviour will have to change along
on important issues. Not QUICK READ embroiled in turf wars. with their employers. The dominant voice
all alphas are aggressive. A CXO pointed out will need to soften, even as the approach to
Some work in phantom Alpha refers to a behaviour trait that an egalitarian problem-solving will have to be one that
mode. Typically, they displayed by people who tend to approach towards prob- makes optimal use of all skill-sets repre-
make themselves availa- dominate proceedings and had lems is the new trend. sented. Hierarchies are getting fluid, and
ble to the top leaders, been scrambling up corporate Employers are forced to this means even for the alpha, the path to
become privy to infor- hierarchies by focusing hard rethink every policy that survival and success is blurry. Moving along
mation that can be on just getting the work done. worked over the past with others will be the safer option.
important in certain cir- decades as they now have After alpha, who? Studies on workplaces
cles, and within a short The pandemic experience has multiple generations of have begun to highlight the recent rise of
period of time, are usu- made empathy and teamwork workers squeezed into the so-called omega employee. One who is
ally given more respon- vital to achieve business goals the same payrolls for the confident, has many interests beyond work,
sibility than their peers. and that has favoured ‘softer’ first time. does not require validation, is competent
Sometimes, they leave traits and flatter work patterns in “A return-to-work pol- but avoids confrontation. Post-pandemic,
their traces etched even efforts to optimize resource use. icy, which companies omega employees are in demand.
14 Friday, 7 July 2023
MuMbai BUSINESS OF LIFE INDULGE LIVEMINT.COM

The perfect India-made

evening dress is here GETTY IMAGES COURTESY INSTAGRAM/BHAVANAPANDEY

A 1993 Rolex owned by actor-film director Paul Newman. AFP

Half of fake
watches are
Rolex replicas
Pre-owned dealer Watchfinder & Co is
seeing a rise in hard-to-detect fakes
full-skirt lehnga. The blurring of lines between Bloomberg
what is ‘Indian’ and ‘Western’, along with

COURTESY INSTAGRAM/POORNA JAGANNATHAN
designers understanding the need to pay atten-
tion to sartorial details, has proved to be a game-
changer… both at home and abroad,” she says.
“The gown has now been given an Indian point
of view, be it through referencing the drape of
the sari, the volume and silhouette of a lehnga
and, of course, its modern use of the country’s
crafts tradition.”
T
he number of sophisticated fake watches uncovered by
pre-owned dealer Watchfinder & Co is rising, with Rolex
replicas accounting for about half of the knockoffs.
As many as 10% of the watches received from sellers last year
were determined to be fakes during an authentication process,
according to Watchfinder chief executive officer, Arjen van de
Vall. “Rolex is the most aspirational luxury watch brand and the
highest demand—hence—it’s the most replicated,” van de Vall

O
ver the past few years, divas like
Beyoncé, Cardi B and Jennifer
DRESS Lopez have turned to Indian
designers for red carpet appear-
SENSE ances. At present, it seems Gau-
rav Gupta has become the go-to name for
S U J ATA artistes, be it Lizzo or Megan Thee Stallion,
ASSOMULL looking to make a statement on stage.
Write to us at Even the global South Asian actors are look-
businessoflife@livemint.com ing to wear more designers from their own
country. Take Poorna Jagannathan’s wardrobe,
for instance, which has a good number of
Indian designers are bespoke Rahul Mishra dresses.
“His use of surface ornamentation on gar-
finally becoming more ments feels like they could hang on someone’s
comfortable with the body but also on a wall,” says Jagannathan, who
plays the role of Nalini in the Netflix series Never
gown silhouette, giving Have I Ever. She seems to be on a mission to col-
laborate with more Indian designers: “These
global consumers dresses, especially the gowns, just work with my
body and sensibility perfectly.”
enough options to Indian designers are indeed getting the gown
silhouette right.
experiment But it has been a long, tiring process. Indian
designers know their embroidery, but it’s the
construction of the garment that didn’t come
naturally to them.
Amit Aggarwal, a designer whose strength is
marrying architectural forms with moulded
shapes, says, “The focus with a gown will always
be the silhouette and tailoring, and there is no
room to distract the wearer from even a slight
miscalculation. I think that’s what makes the
gown difficult as a form to crack.”
For the local shopper, the Indian designers’
successful experimentation with the gown
means they no longer have to wait to travel
abroad to buy their evening dresses. It has
resulted in Indian women having a newfound
confidence when it comes to dressing for special
occasions. “Be it celebrities or brides, they wear
gowns with such ease and style now,” says
designer Monisha Jaising, who was among the
first creators to make evening dresses the main-
(clockwise from above) Poorna Jagannathan in
a Rahul Mishra outfit; Lizzo in a Gaurav Gupta
ensemble; and Bhavana Pandey in a gown by
Monisha Jaising.
stay of her collection. Before the pandemic, her
gowns were selling at London’s Harrods.
“When I started my career as a designer in
1989, I could see how Indian women’s approach
to dress was changing. I worked on draped
gowns with cut-outs that would have the same
appeal as a sari. I also worked on a volume gown
with décolletage that could work in place of the
Hema Bose, the founder of luxury communi-
cation agency Maison Bose, which has clients
like Gaurav Gupta, agrees: “Indian design is
uniquely special due to its rich cultural heritage,
skilled craftsmanship, and diverse influences.
You can see the heart, passion, love, spirit and
joy through India’s designs.”
Another possible reason for Indian designers’
refreshing take on the gown could be their
international training, whether at educational
institutions or fashion houses.
Bose explains: “One of the reasons celebrities
are choosing to wear Gaurav Gupta is his unique
perspective on the traditional garments. It’s his
education at the Central Saint Martins (in Lon-
don) and all his international experiences,
which has resulted in this perfect blend.”
By adding the gown to their design vocabu-
lary, homegrown designers have ensured that
the global fashion industry keeps an eye on the
Indian creative talent.
With both Gupta and Rahul Mishra now part
of the Paris Haute Couture Week, it will not be
long till more Indian names find their way to
leading department stores like Bergdorf Good-
man and Harrods. Both stores have been testing
the waters with Indian fashion, stocking occa-
sional collections.
Aggarwal says, “If we can stay true to what we
know and our own perspective of fashion, we
will be creating an entire new ecosystem for
Indian talent across the globe.”
The evening dress can breathe new life into
the textile traditions of India while also giving
the West a new gown genre. There’s nothing
fashion loves more than something surprising
and striking. The gown might be the game
changer Indian fashion has been looking for.
Dress Sense is a monthly column on the clothes we
wear every day.
Sujata Assomull is a journalist, author and
mindful fashion advocate.
said in an interview with Bloomberg Radio.
Fakes are also becoming more sophisticated and harder to
spot. Watchfinder used to be able to identify about 80% of bogus
time pieces by sight alone but now that’s just 20%, he said.
Employees at the company, owned by Swiss luxury conglomerate
Richemont, now need to perform more detailed inspections
including opening watch casebacks and checking movements to
identify the high-end knockoffs.
Fake or replica luxury watches are a growing problem in the
€25 billion ($27.3 billion) per year secondary watch market with
some counterfeit versions fooling even the most knowledgeable
experts.
Omega, part of Swatch Group AG, said last month that three
former employees were part of a crimi-
Fake luxury nal plot to sell a “Frankenstein” Omega
watches are a Speedmaster, that was an amalgam of
growing issue in mostly authentic parts from other vin-
the $27.3 bn per
tage watches.
The watch sold at auction in 2021 for
year secondary more than $3 million, the highest price
watch market ever paid for an Omega timepiece.
The company itself was the buyer
and has said it was the victim of a crimi-
nal conspiracy.
Last year, Rolex began a certified pre-owned program that
authenticates used watches sold through authorized dealers.
It isn’t just Rolex watches that are being faked or altered with
inauthentic parts and components.
“You see replica or clone watches—very, very high quality
watches—of virtually all of the big luxury brands,” van de Vall
said. “The whole gamut.”
The rising fraud in pre-owned watches comes after prices for
the most desirable models spiked to unprecedented levels during
the pandemic before pulling back sharply.
Secondary market prices have declined by about 18% in the
past year, according to the Bloomberg Subdial Watch Index,
which tracks prices for the 50 most traded luxury watch models
by value including Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet.
Less volatile prices in the watch market as speculators exit is
welcome, van de Vall said.
“We’re not interested in the next crypto run. For us, it’s not
about speculation, stability is good.”
Write to us at businessoflife@livemint.com

‘Trends put you in a box... make you disappear in a crowd’ ©JOAQUIN LAGUINGE ©PAUL SCHMIDT

Hermès Beauty’s blushes, nail paints, lotions and more, here is to create collections that reflect the
launched internationally in 2020, as well. DNA of the house. That’s why it took us so
creative director on why “Purpose… there has to be a purpose in long to arrive here. We could have arrived
following trends is not what you do,” says Gregoris Pyrpylis, the much earlier, of course, there was pan-
creative director of Hermès Beauty, which demic and all, and with the kind of resour-
the best idea, and the entered India in May. Pyrpylis has worked ces Hermès has, we could have quickly
true meaning of beauty with the likes of Cindy Crawford, Carla made make-up, skincare, but we took our,
Bruni and Alexa Chung in a career span- to bring something little by little.
ning more than 15 years. It’s also a way to show our respect to
Pooja Singh In an interview with Mint, Pyrpylis talks customers; you don’t want to bombard
pooja.s@htlive.com about bringing the Hermès aesthetic to them with products, you need to give
the beauty line, why skincare needs to be them some time to experience the offer-

I
n the world of fashion and beauty,
change is the only constant. Brands
study trending GRWM (Get Ready
With Me) Reels to predict what the Gen Z
shopper might want in their wardrobe
next season. Make-up tutorial videos offer
some sense of which new colour texture
should be introduced in the market.
There’s a constant race to capitalise on
trends. But there are some establishments
that continue to stand proudly with their
past, choosing to stay away from a world
where today’s new is tomorrow’s old.
Since 1837, French luxury house Her-
mès has created a world of quiet luxury
that celebrates artisans and their craft.
Whether it’s the elegant silk scarf or the
luxurious Birkin, the design house has
managed to resist change, earning a loyal
following.
It follows the same principles for its
beauty line, a collection of lipsticks,
a core part of make-up and his idea of
beauty. Edited excerpts:
Why is it so important to you not to
follow trends?
It has been one and a half years since I
joined (the brand). When I was
approached by Hermès, I felt it was a natu-
ral fit, because throughout my experience
of 15 years of working in fashion, in maga-
zines, with celebrities, in fashion shows, I
have realised that people have the same
vision of beauty—enhancing the natural
beauty.
People, at least the ones I worked with,
desire make-up that expresses every facet
of their personality, never transforming or
masking… never trying to change. At Her-
mès, we don’t really talk about trends,
because trends have this power of unify-
ing the idea of beauty, they put you in a
box, make you disappear in a crowd.
Hermès Beauty entered
India in May; and (right)
Gregoris Pyrpylis.
Everyone has their own vision of
beauty. We are not trying to create one
vision of beauty; we are aiming for time-
less beauty.
What is timeless beauty?
If you offer well-being in make-up, you
get timeless beauty. We have kept skin-
care at its core. Whether it’s a lipstick or a
blush, there’s a presence of active ingredi-
ents in our products… either they’re
hydrating, or anti-pollution or antioxi-
dant, or all of them.
For instance, we recently launched a
bronzing powder that has a semi-matte
finish to enhance your natural skin tone.
It is infused with real pearls, not glitter.
Make-up is not just visual, it’s also a senso-
rial experience.
How did you translate Hermès, as a
brand, into the beauty products?
The whole collection is inspired by the
main brand… from the colours of the nail
paints to the finish of the lipstick. The
satin finish of our lipstick range, for exam-
ple, is inspired by the box leather (delicate
fine-grained surface with a natural sheen)
that you see on our bags. The matte lip-
sticks have this powdery finish that
reminds you of the Doblis leather (regular
suede, with a smooth touch).
Hermès has a loyal following globally,
but many brands are finding more
ways to target the post-millennial
consumer. What’s your strategy?
When I joined the company, I was never
asked to create a collection to sell. My goal
ing and then see whether they like it in the
long run. You also need to realise that our
beauty offerings are also an introduction
to the brand. Let’s be honest, it’s the most
affordable way to own an Hermès product.
You might not be able to afford a scarf but
by owning a lipstick or blush, you can be
part of the brand.
You have worked with several celeb-
rities. What do they want from
make-up?
I have worked with people who use
make-up not as a transformation tool, but
more for its enhancing power. They are
looking for the well-being and comfort
aspect in make-up.
What is your idea of beauty?
I know it sounds clichéd but when you
feel good, you’re going look good.
Read the full interview on lifestyle.live-
mint.com/fashion