CHENNAI, new delhi, mumbai, bengaluru, kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, chaNdiGarh*, pune* VOL. 17 NO.

240

Monday, October 9, 2023

Think Ahead. Think Growth.

mint primer QUICK EDIT

Sikkim review: War flares

How safe are are back
Half a century ago, a short and
dams in India? sharp Israel-Arab war gave the
world an oil shock whose effects
ranged from Asian success with
BY RITURAJ BARUAH fuel-saving cars to macro policy
The Chungthang dam in Sikkim, the source for a hydropower plant, rethinks in the West. No matter
collapsed last week, killing 30 people. Recently, other states have also how alarming Saturday’s tragic
witnessed catastrophes involving large dams leading to floods and outbreak of hostilities, we
landslides. Just how safe are these mega-projects? Mint explains. inhabit a markedly different
world today. This time, it’s only
Impending danger Hamas of Gaza against Israel.
Many dams in India were built before climate change altered rainfall patterns across
The region’s Arab countries are
India. They may not be adequately equipped to withstand sudden spikes in flow. mostly signed up for a US-led
Top five states with large dams in India Top five states with large dams
order of stability, with Iran’s
Number of large dams more than 100 years old Shia arc the only notable hold-
63 No. of dams out. Hamas’s fusillade of rockets
Maharashtra 1,845
44
at Israeli targets made Israel
Madhya
906 declare war on it on the week-
Pradesh 30 end, but even if other militia
25
Gujarat 632 21 forces join, chances of a wider
conflagration are low. Oil will
Chhattisgarh 258 face no embargo, and the grip
Maharasthra Rajasthan on crude prices of a cartel led by
231 Madhya
Karnataka
Pradesh Gujarat Telangana Saudi Arabia has in the past dec-
Source: National Register of Large Dams, 2019 ade been weakened by US shale
supply, even though Russia is
Are dams susceptible Which were the top now its ally. Neither the ferocity
1 to natural calamities?
Yes, dams can be susceptible to
2 dam failures globally?
As per a report by the National
of Hamas’s “Al-Aqsa Storm”, on
the heels of yet another scuffle
damage resulting from floods and Institute of Public Finance and in Jerusalem over a site claimed
cloudbursts. However, it depends Policy (NIPFP), as of 2021 there as holy by Muslims as well as
on the age of the dam, their have been 4,000 large dam Jews, nor the scale of Israel’s
construction quality and the failures across 84 countries. The response so far suggests any-
climate adaptation of these mega 1975 Banqiao dam failure in China thing quite like 1973. Yet, it’s a
infrastructure projects. In the case resulted in the collapse of 60 other
reminder of how old risks can
of the recent incident involving downstream dams. It killed more
the Chungthang dam in Sikkim, than 80,000 people. In 1976, the flare up to fan inflation. Global
the cause was a glacial lake Teton dam collapsed in the US, leaders must calm tempers and
outburst flood (GLOF). The dam leading to 11 deaths. As per the temper extremes while policy-
was about 20 years old and several Dam Safety Organisation, 23 major makers keep watch.
environmental concerns had been dam failures have occurred in
raised over the years about India between 1960 and 2010, with
formation of glacial lakes and some leading to several deaths.
likely GLOFs. The Union power The worst case is of the Machchhu
ministry has said that it would do a
detailed assessment after the flood
Dam failure in Morbi, Gujarat, in
1979, which claimed over 2,000
MINT METRIC
waters recede. lives, said the report. by Bibek Debroy

One hundred was the aspiration

3 How many Indian dams
could be at risk?
Many dams in India are highly susceptible
For an entire nation.
to natural hazards. About 293 are over 100
Our athletes have done us proud.
years old, said jal shakti minister Gajendra The message is clear and loud,
Singh Shekhawat in 2019. Also, a large
number of dams were built at a time when
Each one deserves a thunderous ovation.
the effects of climate change were not fully
understood and their designs have likely
not taken into account large changes in
rainfall patterns, stated the NIPFP report. QUOTE OF THE DAY
If India is on the path to become a
What’s the impact on Have any preventive
4 hydropower plans?
India’s installed hydropower
5 steps been taken?
The Central Electricity Authority
developed nation by 2047, then
IAF must be one of the best...We
capacity is expected to expand to has set up a technical committee to must reform or become a relic;
78 GW by 2030 from 52 GW in study the issues in the event of any
FY23. India is building 10 projects geological shock in the hydro we must innovate, else
totalling 6.8 GW in Jammu and projects. The parliament passed become mundane; and
Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. the Dam Safety Act, 2021,
India also plans to build its largest following which the government
we must transform, else
dam in Arunachal Pradesh of 10 last year set up the National Dam become irrelevant.
GW in a bid to counter China’s Safety Authority. The country also
water diversion plan. The recent has 29 state dam safety
incident is unlikely to bring about organizations, which, according to
a reconsideration of planned mega the Centre, conduct pre-monsoon V.R. CHAUDHARI
projects. A government official and post-monsoon inspections of AIR CHIEF MARSHAL
said that India would continue to the dams falling within their
add hydropower capacity, but with respective jurisdiction through
more caution. their dam safety units.

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 PLAIN FACTS

The story of how UPI is

going places, in charts
BY SHUJA ASRAR & TANAY SUKUMAR

L
ast month, when delegates of the Group of 20 (G20) nations arrived in New Delhi, they were given the taste of one of
India’s most successful creations: the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), an instant payment system. Travellers could
make a one-time payment in their own currency to load a digital wallet, which could be used throughout their visit to
pay merchants in rupees using the ubiquitous UPI QR codes. That was just one of the various ways UPI has gone global in
recent years: The system is already accessible in some form or the other in close to two dozen countries and in some cases,
its use isn’t limited to only Indians in those countries.

UPI’s travel diary

Following UPI’s local success, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) set up an arm called NIPL (NPCI
International Payments Ltd) in 2020 to take the payments system outside the country. Since then, NIPL and the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) have entered into agreements with financial entities in over 30 nations to expand UPI-based transac-
tions beyond India’s borders. In some cases, it is meant to aid remittances by NRIs, but in most, it is meant to help Indians
make seamless payments while travelling abroad, without needing the traditional forex card or cash.
Use of UPI outside India, either active or being planned

Jul 2021 Aug 2021 Sep 2021 Sep 2021

Bhutan Malaysia Singapore Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines,
Central bank roped Real-time UPI-PayNow linkage Vietnam, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Taiwan,
in to enable QR remittances to India for cross-border South Korea, Japan
payments for via tie-up with payments NIPL-Liquid Group tie-up to aid payments to 2 mn
visiting Indians Merchantrade merchants for visiting Indians

Sep 2022 Aug 2022 Jul 2022 Feb 2022 Nov 2021-Jul 2023
Global UK France Nepal UAE
Collaboration to enable Partnership with NIPL-Lyra Collect UPI-like system Tie-ups to aid payments by
UPI at TerraPay's QR PayXpert for UPI use tie-up for UPI use to be created visiting Indians, NRI remittances,
locations globally by visiting Indians by visiting Indians with India's help UPI linking with IPP

Oct 2022 Oct 2022 Jul 2023

Oman Netherlands, Belgium, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Oman,
Tie-up with central Luxembourg, Switzerland Qatar, US, Saudi Arabia, UAE, UK
bank for cross-border Worldline QR linked with UPI UPI access to NRIs with international mobile numbers
UPI remittances for visiting Indians linked to their NRE/NRO accounts
The dates refer to when the partnerships were announced. Some plans may not have been implemented yet. Partnerships may be with either RBI or NIPL.
IPP: Instant Payments Platform, UPI-like platform in UAE

World leader
UPI’s globalization isn’t limited to Indians being able to use it abroad. NIPL has also signed agreements to transfer
technology and help Nepal build a UPI platform of its own, while Japan is reportedly considering something similar with
India’s help. UPI has made India a leader in digital payments, far ahead of advanced countries. On most developmental and
financial metrics, India falls behind on per-capita terms due to its high population. But it is close to the top on per-capita
real-time transactions, ahead of the Netherlands and the UK. India conducts the most real-time payments (of which UPI is
one type) annually, by far, and it’s still rising rapidly.
Top five real-time payment markets, 2022 Average number of real-time payment transactions
per head* per month in 2022
Number of transactions (in bn) y-o-y growth (in %)
Thailand 23
228.9 Bahrain 19.1
0.9 63.4
9.6
76.8 South Korea 14.7
89.5 29.2 17.6 16.5 8 Brazil 14.2
India
South Sweden 9.5
China Thailand Korea
Brazil
Denmark 8.8
Volume of real-time payments as a share of all
India 7.4
electronic payments in India (in %) Netherlands 6.2
90
UK 5.9
80
Malaysia 5.3
70 *Based on population aged 15+

60 Share of real-time payments in all electronic

(non-paper-based) payments, select countries (2022)
50 81.4
40 63.7
30
20 25.1 21
10 13.5 11.7 9.5
Forecast 5.5
0
2015 2023 2027 India Thailand Hong South Singapore UK Japan Australia
Kong Korea

Early adopters Real-time payment methods, by the launch of the earliest method
Before 2000 2000-2005 2005-2015 2015-2020 2020 or later
At least 74 countries have real-time
payment systems active across the
world, according to ACI World-
wide’s 2023 report on real-time
payments. Though the first such
system was developed in Japan in Japan
1973, nearly all others came over Germany Zengin (1973)
the past decade. Most are SCT Inst South Korea
US
government-run, though some (2017) CD/ATM(1988)
RTP & Zelle
such as Interac Online in Canada (2017) China
and Yape and PLIN in Peru are Mexico IBPS(2010)
private. India’s first instant SPEI (2004) India
IMPS (2010)
payments system was IMPS, but
UPI has made a greater mark within
Brazil
seven years of inception. SITRAF (2002)

Next frontier
Real-time transactions are only set to grow. Cash and credit cards have
slipped in popularity. In India, real-time transactions are projected to
grow from 89 billion in 2022 to 235 billion in 2027, and paper-based
payments’ share in all transactions is set to decline from 45% to 22%,
the ACI Worldwide report said. Globally, the share of cash in PoS
transactions is expected to drop to 10% by value by 2026, according to
projections by FIS. While India will drive this decline, remember that
cash will continue to play a pivotal role in several economies.
Global point-of-sale cash transactions
Share (in %)
Value (in $ trillion)
2018 11.6 27
2021 7.8 17
2022 7.7 16
2026* 6 10
*Forecast Source: ACI Worldwide, FIS Worldpay's 2023 Global Payment Report, Mint research

PARAS JAIN/MINT

PEANUTS by Charles M. Schulz

 Chennai, NEW DELHI, MUMBAI, BENGALURU, KOLKATA, AHMEDABAD, HYDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE* VOL. 17 NO. 240 Rs. 15.00 16 PAGES

Monday, October 9, 2023

IPOs: How long will the dream Afghanistan earthquakes kill

livemint.com run last? uP10 2,053, Taliban says uP8

SENSEX 65,995.63 0.00 NIFTY 19,653.50 0.00 DOLLAR ₹83.25 ₹0.00 EURO ₹87.84 ₹0.00 OIL $86.29 $0.09 GOLD ₹56,327 ₹0.00

Indian stocks brace for DON’T MISS

Israel-Hamas war impact

Any escalation of the conflict could fuel surge in crude oil prices, affecting India
Ram Sahgal
ram.sahgal@livemint.com collateral damage Israeli Kohli, Rahul guide nervy India to
win over Australia at world cup
MUMBAI
Indian benchmarks Nifty and Sensex on Friday traded around 3%
below their mid-September record highs. intelligence While almost all developed members can protect their farmers, India started their World Cup campaign with a

I
ndian stocks may open lower Nifty 50 Brent crude (in $/bbl)
most developing nations can’t, leading to differences at WTO. HT six-wicket victory over Australia after Virat
on Monday, in line with other Kohli and K.L. Rahul guided the cricket team
20,200 20,192.4 96
under fire
global stock indices, in
response to the Israel-Hamas
war that erupted early Satur-
20,000 95.27
92
after attack India seeks support through a jittery run chase. Chasing 200, India
lost three batsmen before Kohli (85) and
Rahul (97 not out) put on 165. >Agencies
19,800
day, fund managers said.
While they expect no immediate
cause for panic, they are closely
19,600
19,653.5
88

86.29
Bloomberg
feedback@livemint.com
for system to raise Higher domestic demand to
monitoring the evolving situation bolster private investments
farm import duties
19,400 84

S
15 Sep 6 Oct 15 Sep 6 Oct
as any widening of the war could aturday’s surprise Private investments are expected to
profoundly impact Indian stocks Source: Capital Market,
attack on Israel by the pick up, thanks to a rise in domestic
because of a surge in oil prices and Bloomberg Palestinian group demand and high capacity utilization,
heightened volatility in rupee and Hamas may represent one Puja Das & Ravi Dutta Mishra domestic food security at a the Confederation of Indian Industry’s
bond yields. of the biggest failures by NEW DELHI time of volatile global food pri- Business Confidence Index (CII-BCI)
Israel’s benchmark TA-35 Index, Israeli intelligence since the ces in the wake of the covid-19 survey showed. >P6

tracking 35 top companies on the
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, which
runs from Sunday through Thurs-
day, plunged 6.47% on Sunday.
Indian benchmarks Nifty and
Sensex on Friday traded around 3%
below their mid-September record
highs, while small- and mid-cap
benchmarks ruled 2-3.5% below
their highs amid selling by foreign
institutional investors.
“It’s an evolving situation that we
need to gauge for a couple of days
before taking any decision,” said
Samir Arora, founder and fund man-
ager of Helios Capital Management.
“I don’t think there’s any cause for
panic yet, though we might see a
knee-jerk gap-down opening, in
sync with other markets. It’s better
not to pre-empt but to react.”
Arora said unlike the Ukraine
war of February last year when he
reduced his fund’s net long position
by 15%, he won’t do anything
instantly this time.
Crude prices last week corrected
9% from the year-high after oil car-
tel Opec proposed to keep output
cuts steady at its 5 October meeting.
Brent currently trades at $86.29 a
A MATTER OF CONCERN
Israel’s benchmark Indian stocks might
TA-35 Index fell open lower, in sync
6.47% on Sunday with other markets
barrel. But, a prolonged and
expanding conflict is a clear worry,
as market experts raised the possi-
bility of a state actor in the well-or-
chestrated and unprecedented
attacks on Israel.
“Our markets could gap down,
taking cues from Asia, but we could
recover by the end of the day,” said
Shiv Sehgal, president and head of
Nuvama Capital Markets. “Volatility
could rise in the days ahead, though,
given the impact of any likely esca-
lation and widening of the theatre
on commodities like metals and oil.
It’s hard to imagine Hamas would
consider such a brazen attack with-
out at least some sort of consultation
with its benefactors. Indian markets
will also be focused on the upcom-
ing results season and the state elec-
tions from next month.”
An oil rally could be driven by
Stocks such as SBI,
Adani Ports and Sun
Pharma to be in focus
SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
short-covering by hedge funds that
hold significant short positions.
ICE offers futures trading in West
Texas Intermediate (WTI), a light
sweet crude grade, where managed
money held net shorts of 27.38 mil-
lion barrels as of a 3 October report.
Actual users and hedgers also were
net short by 26.6 million barrels
while “others” were long by 72.6
million barrels, according to US
derivatives regulator Commodity
Futures Trading Commission.
“So far, the range for WTI is
around $77-88, but if the war
spreads, you could see a short cover-
ing rally,” said Gnanasekar Thiaga-
TURN TO PAGE 6
Escalation of Israel-Hamas war
could hit corridor plans >P2
I
Yom Kippur war of 1973.
The attack involved doz-
ens of infiltrations by land
and sea, together with
rocket attacks—a sophisti-
cated assault that involves
the kind of planning and
coordination that intelli-
gence agencies are sup-
posed to pick up on. Hun-
dreds have been killed on
both sides.
While Israeli officials
have said for months that
Palestinian militant groups
were preparing for vio-
lence, the timing and scale
of the attack appear to have
caught Prime Minister Ben-
jamin Netanyahu by sur-
prise. Israel and its ally the
US—which contributed
$3.3 billion to Israel in
defence spending in 2022—
were already weighing who
was most responsible and
how it happened.
“It’s shocking to me that
TURN TO PAGE 6
ndia is working to build a
consensus among develop-
ing nations at the World
Trade Organization (WTO) to
push for a special safeguard
mechanism (SSM) that will let
them temporarily raise agri-
cultural import duties, a
person aware of the
matter said. The trade
body’s 13th inter-ministerial
meeting will be held in Abu
Dhabi in February.
While almost all developed
members have the flexibility to
protect their farmers through
Special (Agricultural) Safe-
guards (SSGs), most develop-
ing members don’t, leading to
differences at WTO. Countries
routinely resort to tariff hikes
to protect their agricultural
producers from the adverse
impacts of import surges and
price declines.
Negotiations on the politi-
cally sensitive subject of agri-
culture is one of India’s key
priorities for the meeting, as it
looks to gain greater policy
space at WTO to ensure
pandemic and the Russia-
Ukraine war.
“Demand for the special
safeguard mechanism was
recognized in the Nairobi
Ministerial Declaration of
2015, but due to the lack of
consensus, the SSM continues
to be stuck. India is currently
seeking a simple, operable and
accessible non-onerous SSM
for developing countries,” the
person cited above said on
condition of anonymity.
WTO had urged India in
2021 to lower agricultural tar-
iffs and keep policies predicta-
ble. It said India’s average agri-
cultural tariff rose from 36.4%
in 2014-15 to 36.5% in 2020-21.
WTO members, especially the
US, have also criticized India
in the past for high tariffs and
non-tariff measures.
Most developing members
do not have any trade instru-
ment under WTO to address it
except by increasing the
applied tariff to the “bound
TURN TO PAGE 6
Meta may introduce ad-free FB,
Instagram in India by next year
Amid talks of launching an ad-free
subscription plan to conform to European
Union’s user privacy regulations, Mark
Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms may consider
introducing a similar plan in India by 2024,
according to two executives. >P5
Weekly options trading surges,
exceeding full-year F&O volumes
Retail investors’ growing fancy for weekly
options trading has reached staggering
proportions, with the whole of last year’s
futures and options (F&O) volumes set to be
surpassed in less than seven months of the
current fiscal year. >P7
How FTX executives secretly
spent $8 bn in customer money
The crypto exchange FTX went bust last year
after executives spent billions in customer
funds they had promised to safeguard. The
tab was $7.7 billion, a Wall Street Journal
analysis of company disclosures and legal
filings shows. >P8

BYD execs fail to Adani cement biz to cut reliance

get Indian visas on distributors to boost profits
Utpal Bhaskar Nepal, Sri Lanka and China, Varun Sood coming months, according to
utpal.b@livemint.com the people said on condition varun.sood@livemint.com an executive briefed on the
NEW DELHI of anonymity. BENGALURU development.
“No official reason has been “The profitability of the dis-

C T
hina’s BYD Auto Co.
Ltd’s executives have
been unable to secure
Indian visas for at least over a
year, precluding in-person
meetings with representatives
of Megha Engineering and
Infrastructure Ltd in India for
their electric vehicle (EV)
project, two people familiar
with the developments said.
In the absence of Indian
visas, meetings between BYD
and Megha executives are
being held in countries such as
given for the denial of Indian
visas to BYD executives,” said
one of the two people.
Ties between India and
China have been tense after
clashes along the India-China
border in the Galwan region of
Ladakh led to the deaths of 20
Indian soldiers. The clashes,
the worst flare-up of tensions
between the two sides in 45
years, have significantly
strained ties between the two
TURN TO PAGE 6
he Adani Group’s
cement businesses are
looking to cut their reli-
ance on distributors or whole-
salers as the country’s second-
largest cement maker looks to
boost its profitability.
As part of a pilot project,
Ambuja Cements Ltd and ACC
Ltd have reduced the number
of distributors from 12 to three
in the south Gujarat region,
which is home to half of the
state’s small and medium
industries and a fifth of the
Ambuja Cements and ACC cut
distributors in south Gujarat
from 12 to three. AFP
state’s population. Both
cement firms are expected to
reduce the number of distrib-
utors across the country in the
tributors is more than some of
the cement manufacturers,”
said an executive privy to the
development. “This needs to
change. Once you have fewer
distributors, they can continue
making more money on vol-
umes, provided they aggres-
sively seek discounts.”
“Both Ambuja and ACC are
very strong brands and can do
even better if we build an even
better engagement with retail-
TURN TO PAGE 6

Ready web shows struggle to find OTT buyers

Lata Jha could pitch to streaming plat- A senior executive at a con- the top ones say no, the execu-
lata.j@livemint.com forms later. Around 30-40 tent studio said the model of tive added. Several shows are
NEW DELHI such small to mid-scale titles creating and shooting web sold for no profits if not out-
made at a cost of ₹7-8 crore series first and then pitching right loss.

S
everal small-time pro-
ducers who had created
independent web series
for streaming services are
struggling to find buyers as
subscriptions plateau and plat-
forms spend less on content.
Unlike feature films, web
shows cannot be released in
theatres either.
Streaming platforms typi-
cally commission long-format
web series and subsequently
spend on production; how-
ever, the explosive demand for
each are unable to find buyers,
industry executives said.
“A much-needed cost
rationalization has definitely
happened across platforms.
The appetite was really high
during the lockdown, and
productions were stalled, so
platforms had to pick up ready
content even if they weren’t
happy with the quality in
some cases. But now, there
is no space for average
fare, and every platform has
its pipeline, so there is no
Small to mid-scale titles made
at a cost of ₹7-8 crore each are
unable to find buyers. ISTOCK
will always find takers,” said
Nimisha Pandey, chief con-
to streaming platforms can
only work in rare cases, like
that of Aditya Birla-owned
production house Applause
Entertainment. “It’s a real cri-
sis for the others who don’t
have similar clout. Also, con-
tent creation is a very unor-
ganized business, so a lot of
investors are often duped into
producing shows that don’t
see the light of the day,” the
executive said on condition of
anonymity. It is equally com-
mon for producers to
Media and entertainment
industry experts said the num-
ber of web shows commis-
sioned or launched by stream-
ing platforms has come down,
along with budgets for the
same, while the TV-plus
model—shows running into
50-100 episodes released in a
staggered manner—has
gained ground, where larger
volume is expected. “Plat-
forms are no longer experi-
menting too much with genres
and want to stick to templates
022-2.1C-HL

web content during the pan- shortage. It may seem like bad tent officer of Hindi originals negotiate with multiple plat- that have done well in the
demic attracted many new- news for some, but it just at ZEE5. She added that she forms for the best price and past,” said Karan Taurani, an
comers, who planned and pro- means that mediocrity will no receives pitches for ready eventually settle on a smaller
duced web shows that they longer survive. Great content shows regularly. platform for a lower price after TURN TO PAGE 6
02 MONDAY, 9 OCTOBER 2023
CHENNAI ECONOMY & POLICY LIVEMINT.COM

STRAIGHT
F O R WA R D
Escalation of Israel-Hamas India, Saudi
tie up for
SHASHI SHEKHAR

Respond to this column at

feedback@livemint.com
war could hit corridor plans grid, green
hydrogen
Rituraj Baruah
A COMMUNITY THAT While most countries have condemned the Hamas attack, some like Iran have welcomed it
rituraj.baruah@livemint.com
NEW DELHI

STAYS CENTRAL TO
I
ndia and Saudi Arabia on
Ravi Dutta Mishra & Rhik Kundu pressure on oil prices, and uncertain- Sunday signed a memoran-

INDIA, INDIANNESS ravi.dutt@livemint.com

NEW DELHI
ties around the proposed economic
corridor connecting Europe, Middle
East and India,” Dhar added.
dum of understanding
(MoU) on securing a green
hydrogen supply chain and

I
srael’s declaration of war on Hamas However, experts don’t expect world cooperation on power grid

T
his happened in December 2006. We were aboard a plane in response to attacks on its terri- powers like the US and other European interconnection.
carrying the then prime minister Manmohan Singh and an tory may cloud New Delhi’s ambi- powers to be drawn into the conflict. The MoU was signed in
Indian delegation to Tokyo. During the flight, the prime tious plans to build an India-Middle Efforts to de-escalate the situation will Riyadh by union minister for
minister’s media adviser, Sanjaya Baru, came up to the gallery East-Europe economic corridor be a top priority as the consequences of power and new & renewable
unexpectedly and told me: “PM is waiting for you.” I had told Baru (IMEEC), Indian exporters and trade a full-blown war will weigh heavy on all energy RK Singh and the Saudi
before boarding the flight at the New Delhi airport that I wanted experts said. countries. minister of energy Abdulaziz
to meet the prime minister. The plan to develop shipping and “Trade may be seriously impacted if bin Salman Al-Saud on the
I was led to the meeting room aboard this Air India special air- railway links between the three regions operations at the three largest ports of sidelines of the MENA Climate
craft. Two of the five chairs in the room were already occupied. was announced as part of the Delhi dec- Israel—Haifa, Ashdod and Eilat—are Week 2023.
Singh was seated on the chair in the centre, and the editor of a well- laration of the G20 summit in India. disrupted. These ports handle ship- “This memorandum of
known Punjabi publication was sitting on another. They were con- Fears are growing in the Indian capi- ments in agricultural products, chemi- understanding aims to estab-
versing in Punjabi and Hindi. Upon seeing me, Singh broke mid- tal that the war could drive insurance cals, electronics, machinery, and vehi- lish a general framework for
sentence, and asked me: “Yes, tell me?” premiums and shipping costs higher as cles. India’s merchandise trade with cooperation between the two
I hadn’t meant to ask the PM any questions. However, the pro- was seen on the trade routes affected by The plan to develop shipping and railway links between India, the Middle East and Israel happens mostly through Eilat countries in the field of electri-
cess of assembly elections was under way then in Punjab, Uttara- the Russia-Ukraine war last year. This Europe was announced as part of the Delhi declaration of the G20 summit. REUTERS port, located on the Red Sea. Fortu- cal interconnection; exchange
khand, and Uttar Pradesh. There were reports in the newspapers assumes further significance as Israel is nately, so far there is no report of port of electricity during peak times
that electoral rallies were being planned for practically every Con- India’s 11th largest trade partner with countries, notably Iran, have welcomed corridor through Europe and the Mid- disruption,” Global Trade Research and emergencies; co-develop-
gress politician who mattered, but the prime minister’s name was bilateral trade amounting to $12 billion. it. The corridor is expected to boost dle East with rail links, which will then Initiative said. ment of projects; co-produc-
not on the list. “IMEEC trade corridor is a very long- connectivity and infrastructure among be connected to India through ship- India’s merchandise exports and tion of green/clean hydrogen
So, I just said: “You must visit most, if not all, Sikh-dominated term infrastructure project. While it is India, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, EU, ping lanes. imports from Israel for FY2023 and renewable energy; and also
areas of Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh. Palia in Uttar Pra- still early to access the impact France, Italy, Germany and the If the Arab world is drawn amounted to $8.4 billion and establishing secure, reliable
desh, and Rudrapur in Uttarakhand have a large Sikh community. on the plans, if any of the US. The announcement into the conflict, it will $2.3 billion respectively—a and resilient supply chains of
You should also spend at least one night in Amritsar and offer (West Asian) countries made last month stated impact not only the trade surplus of $6.1 billion. materials used in green/clean
prayers at the Golden Temple. This will not only calm the Sikhs but
also take the wind out of the sails of separatists.”
joins the Hamas, then
definitely the entire $8.4
bn
worth of Indian
that linking these three upcoming corridor
regions will enable seam- project, but also hurt mn
of rough diamonds
Key Indian exports to
Israel are diesel ($5.5 bil- $519 hydrogen and the renewable
energy sector,” said a statement
Manmohan Singh had already made a few trips to Harmandir project will be derailed less flow of commerce, India economically, said lion) and cut and pol- from the ministry of power.
Sahib before as Prime Minister. Singh became pensive by the time because unless every exports to Israel energy and digital com- Biswajit Dhar, professor, imported to India ished diamonds ($1.2 bil- The MoU comes nearly a
I finished. The room fell into an awkward silence. I took leave of the country in the region is in FY23 munication. Centre for Economic from Israel in FY23 lion). month after both countries
PM quickly. onboard, the corridor Importantly, it is seen as Studies and Planning at the Key imports from Israel signed an agreement for
Some time later Baru approached me, smiling, and in his unique won’t work,” said Ajay Sahai, a counter to the Chinese Belt Jawaharlal Nehru University. are rough diamonds ($519 cooperation in energy, includ-
style said, “You have increased my work. The prime minister has CEO of the Federation of Indian and Road Initiative (BRI), which is “If the conflict is long-drawn million) and cut and polished dia- ing in renewable energy,
requested that the visit to all the three places be planned.” Singh Export Organisations. crucial for Beijing’s geopolitical and and the Arabs get drawn into it, India monds ($220 million), electronics and energy efficiency, grid inter-
later visited all the three places. His visit to the Golden Temple her- While most countries, including economic ambitions that India aims to may face some challenges. These telecom components, parts of photo- connection, strategic petro-
alded a new era of peace in Punjab. India, have condemned the Hamas counter. include remittances from that region voltaic cells ($411 million) and potas- leum reserves and energy
The point to be noted from this narrative is simple and straight- attack, some Arab as well as non-Arab The plan is to create an economic being impacted, further firming up of sium chloride ($105 million). security.
forward: Some people in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom,
and other western countries are
No Indian can attempting to rekindle the fire of Kha-
imagine this
country without mats,
listan. They sometimes attack diplo-
threaten Hindus to leave Canada,
and try to plant provocateurs such as
India to mark 10 Oct as Good UK eyeing Indo-Pacific push
Punjab,
Punjabis, and
Sikhs
Amritpal Singh on the soil of Punjab.
They claim that the Indian government
is adopting double standards towards
Manufacturing Practice Day Shashank Mattoo
shashank.mattoo@livemint.com
the Sikhs. They are only trying to NEW DELHI
deceive folks with these falsehoods. Priyanka Sharma sonnel, facilities, as well as the

B
Singh’s tour is a thing of the past, but it is important to gain priyanka.sharma@livemint.com environment. Right now, GMP ritain’s minister for Indo-
insights into the position and attitude of the current Prime Minis- NEW DELHI under Schedule M of the Drugs Pacific will visit India this
ter Narendra Modi on attempts at separatism. In the last nine years, and Cosmetic Rule is under month to push Britain’s

T
the Prime Minister has paid respects at the country’s major gurud- he government along
waras, including the Golden Temple. He has highlighted the patri- with the Indian Drugs
otism, bravery, service, and dedication of the Sikhs. Manufacturers’ Associa-
The Opposition is also not lagging. Earlier this month, Congress tion (IDMA) plans to celebrate
leader Rahul Gandhi offered voluntary service at the Golden Tem- the first ever National Current
ple for two days. He cleaned utensils as part of langar service, and Good Manufacturing Practice
did joda sewa, or the cleaning of shoes. Day (cGMP Day) on 10 October,
When it comes to national unity, the differences between the as they focus on improving the
ruling and Opposition parties vanish. No Indian can imagine this poor quality of many Indian
country without Punjab, Punjabis, and Sikhs. drugs.
To emphasize the point, I quote what Maneka Gandhi had told The pharma industry has
me during an informal conversation we had on the sidelines of a been hit by several incidents of
programme Hindustan organized in Agra a few years back: Indian cough syrups causing
“Everywhere you go [in India], you’ll see women wearing salwar the deaths of children in
kurtas. Without dal makhani, paneer masala, and tandoori roti, no importing countries, following
large hotel or restaurant can run. What do you want to call it?” She which government has made
hit the nail on its head when she said the clothing and food of the GMP guidelines mandatory for
Punjabis were the most popular in the entire country. all drugmakers.
Maneka, herself Sikh, did not touch upon one other important Daara Patel, secretary gen-
facet of the community during our conversation, but I’d like to add eral at IDMA said, “This day (10
it to this list. Without the Sikhs, the trading world of no great city October) shall be dedicated to
or town is complete in India. You’ve probably seen Sikhs pulling entire pharmaceutical industry
rickshaws, but you’ve probably never seen them begging any-
to create awareness on the
where. They are self-reliant, confident, courageous, and inclusive. cGMP guidelines. The image of
That is why they are widely accepted and respected throughout Indian pharma industry has
the country. People address them by the prefix “sardar ji” rather been affected badly due to mul-
than only by their given names. The Sikhs of our country under- tiple reports of poor-quality
stand this sentiment of their compatriots and fulfil it in every possi- cough syrups aboard. Hence,
ble way. we want to establish GMP rules
Why don’t Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and the ISI as a part of our good practices
brass realize this simple truth? and routine.”
Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief, Hindustan. Views are personal. He said that quality has no
revision wherein it will become “tilt” to the region, according to
applicable for all pharmaceuti- persons aware of the matter.
cal firms. Anne Marie-Trevelyan, who
There are around 10,500 serves as the minister responsi-
drug manufacturing units in ble for the region, is expected to
the country, out of which only focus on economic engage-
2,000 have WHO GMP certifi- ment with India during the
cation. Under the proposed visit.
amendment in Schedule M of The two sides are in the pro-
The govt has mandated GMP Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, cess of negotiating a bilateral Anne Marie-Trevelyan is expected to focus on economic
for all drugmakers in India. MINT 1945, the Centre has given a free trade agreement (FTA) and engagement with India during the visit. REUTERS
period of six months for large are also looking to take on more
substitute, especially in this companies (with a turnover joint projects in India’s neigh- across the full range of our billion pounds in the four quar-
sector. GMP rules are the back- exceeding ₹250 crore) and 12 bourhood. Mint had earlier shared interests. India—as the ters to the end of Q1 2023.
bone of pharmaceutical manu- months for MSMEs (below reported that this may include largest democracy in the world Investment has also grown
facturing operations and help ₹250 crore) to implement renewable power projects in —is an international actor of considerably. In 2021, the out-
manufacturers upgraded GMP Sri Lanka. A precise list of growing importance,” reads ward stock of foreign direct
prevent non- There are around standards. countries for India-UK collabo- the British gov- investment (FDI)
compliance, 10,500 drug Senior officials ration will be put together early ernment’s 2021 The move from the UK in
thereby protect- manufacturing from India’s next year. integrated review, towards the Indo- India was £19.1
ing the quality units in India, out health ministry, Trevelyan’s visit may lay the which spelled out Pacific came after billion accounting
of medicinal United States groundwork for pushing this the country’s trade between for 1.1% of the total
of which only
products. Food and Drug initiative forward and the selec- Indo-Pacific “tilt”
India and the UK UK outward FDI
GMP, as man- 2,000 have WHO Administration, tion of third countries. The and its focus stock, according
dated by the GMP certification Medicines and ministry of external affairs and on India. doubled between to the British gov-
World Health Healthcare prod- the British High Commission The move 2007 and 2019 ernment’s figures.
Organization ucts Regulatory did not respond to queries towards the Indo- UK-India prior-
(WHO), prescribes essential Agency, CDSCO, pharmacy mailed by Mint by press time. Pacific came after ities include
standards to enhance product schools, and academia are “The UK-India relationship trade between India and the UK re-energised trade and invest-
quality through control meas- likely to participate. Queries is already strong, but over the doubled between 2007 and ment and enhanced defence
ures related to materials, meth- sent to the health ministry next ten years we seek transfor- 2019. Total bilateral trade in cooperation that brings a more
ods, machinery, processes, per- remained unanswered. mation in our cooperation goods and services stood at 36.3 secure Indian Ocean region.

Bankruptcy, audit regulators tighten overview as bills undergo review CORRECTIONS AND
CLARIFICATIONS
Mint welcomes comments,
Gireesh Chandra Prasad ous inter-ministerial discus- the ideas proposed in an pendence, the NFRA has clari- tory auditor of the responsibil- suggestions or complaints
gireesh.p@livemint.com sions, according to a person expert committee report. But fied on what constitutes a ity to report fraud noticed dur- about errors.
NEW DELHI informed about the develop- a final call is yet to be taken,” ‘management service’ which ing the audit and that absence
Readers can alert the
ment. said a second person, who also an auditor is prohibited from of audit documentation and
newsroom to any errors in the

B
ankruptcy and audit
regulators are tighten-
ing their supervision of
the distressed asset and audit
markets as two bills proposing
amendments to the Insol-
vency and Bankruptcy Code
and the Companies Act make
their way through ministries.
The Insolvency and Bank-
ruptcy Board of India (IBBI)
and audit regulator National
Financial Reporting Authority
(NFRA) are moving ahead,
issuing clarifications, while
the two bills come under rigor-
Both watchdogs are focus-
ing on areas that require
greater compliance, giving
space to the government to
hold consultations on those
provisions of the two bills
where multiple sectors and
stakeholders are involved.
The ministry of corporate
affairs is holding consultations
on the two bills so that they are
ready in time for the winter
session of Parliament with the
cabinet’s approval, the
person said.
A special regime for real
spoke on condition of ano- offering directly failure to submit paper by emailing us, with your
nymity. or indirectly to an The MCA is audit files to the full name and address to
Ministries have different audit client. holding regulator could feedback@livemint.com.
views on the proposals and It has also consultations on make the audit
they may want to get their own given its analysis It is our policy to promptly
the 2 bills so that invalid. The IBBI respond to all complaints.
new ideas incorporated, this of network rela-
they are ready for meanwhile has Readers dissatisfied with the
person said. Onboarding all tionships that are been making response or concerned about
views and cyrstallizing the common in the Parliament’s changes in its Mint’s journalistic integrity may
The IBBI and NFRA are moving ahead, issuing clarifications, while final form of the bills cannot be audit industry winter session rules in order to write directly to the editor by
the two bills come under rigorous inter-ministerial discussions. MINT rushed, this person said, add- and how these cut the time taken sending an email to
ing the pace of change should could violate for debt resolu- asktheeditor@livemint.com
estate sector and a regulatory amendments include propos- be such that the system is able auditor independence norms. tion with improve corporate Mint’s journalistic Code of
regime for group insolvency als for changes to the statu- to adapt to it. In recent weeks, the audit turnaround results. Conduct that governs our
are mooted as part of discus- tory audit regime. “Project- While the Companies Act watchdog has also clarified Emails sent to the ministry, newsroom is available at
sions on the IBC amendments wise insolvency resolution for amendments explore meas- that quitting an audit assign- IBBI and NFRA remained www.livemint.com
while the Companies Act real estate sector was one of ures to step up auditor inde- ment does not absolve a statu- unanswered.

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LIVEMINT.COM
m THE MONDAY QUIZ
1) WHO recently
stepped down as the
co-founder and CTO of
Dunzo?
3) WHO will be leading the India Semiconductor
Mission and is currently the CEO of MyGov?
4) WHICH global
operator launched its
first prototype satellites
for internet services?
GLOSSARY
Quantum dots: These
are very tiny crystals and
can be tuned to different
colours. These are semi-
conducting particles just
one-thousandth the width
of a human hair. Quantum
dots have found many
applications in the indus-
trial and medical sectors.
The most common every-
day use of quantum dots is
probably in QLED (Quan-
tum-dot Light Emitting
Diode) televisions. The
particles catalyse chemi-
cal reactions and their
clear light can be used for
many applications,
including illuminating
tumour tissue for surger-
ies.
Grounding artificial
intelligence: This is the
process of anchoring AI
systems in real-world
experiences, knowledge,
4) Amazon 5) Visa
1) Mukund Jha 2) Nokia 3) Akash Tripathi
THE MONDAY QUIZ ANSWERS:
Deal value up 7% last week, volume down
Malvika Maloo & Priyal Mahtta
BENGALURU
P
rivate equity and venture
capital deals recovered
for the second straight
week, after plummeting in
mid-September to less than
$100 million.
However, the deal volume
slipped in the week through 6
October from as many as 28
transactions last week, one of
the highest in 2023.
Together, PE and VC firms
invested $203 million in 17
deals last week. The value of
two deals remained undis-
closed. This is about 7% more
than $189 million invested in
the previous five-day period.
In one of the major deals last
week, private equity firm War-
burg Pincus said it would
invest in IT services firm Ever-
ise Holdings at a valuation of $1
billion, paving the way for the
exit of PE firm Everstone.
Warburg Pincus joins existing
Canadian investor Brookfield,
which will retain some of its
Nisus eyes student housing, senior living
Priyal Mahtta
Priyal.mahtta@livemint.com
BENGALURU
A
sset manager Nisus
Finance is set to roll out
an alternative invest-
ment fund to finance managed
housing properties in India’s
key real estate markets as part
of a broader rental yield plat-
form, a top executive told
VCCircle.
The Mumbai-based real
estate-focused investor,
through its alternative asset
management arm Nisus
Finance & Investment Manag-
ers LLP, will invest mainly in
student housing assets
through the fund,
managing director
and CEO Amit
Goenka said.
The company intends to
team up with a strategic part-
ner, probably a large devel-
oper, for the fund. It may also
2) WHICH co’s 6G lab
was inaugurated by
telecom minister
Ashwini Vaishnaw?
5) WHICH financial ser-
vices firm has initiated a
$100 mn venture fund for
generative AI startups?
or data. The objective is to
improve the AI’s under-
standing of the world, so it
can effectively interpret
and respond to user
inputs, queries, and tasks.
Grounding helps AI sys-
tems become more con-
text-aware, allowing them
to provide better, more
relatable, and relevant
responses or actions.
MFA fatigue attack:
This is also known as MFA
bombing. It’s a social engi-
neering attack where
attackers constantly push
Multi-factor authentica-
tion (MFA) requests to the
victim. For example, in
this type of attack, the
threat actors convince an
employee they are from
the IT department.
After continuous
attempts to get the users
to approve a login
request, the employee
eventually is tricked into
approving. Once the vic-
tim clicks yes on the
device, the attacker will
have complete access to
the account they are try-
ing to access—making the
attack a complete success.
Companies raised $203 mn last week
Deal value ($ mn) Investors
50
Bizongo
 Schroder Adveq,
IFC, BII, Chiratae
Ventures
Warburg
Pincus 40
 Everise
Mensa Brands*
undisclosed  EvolutionX
*Includes debt
financing
Source: VCCEdge, VCCircle, Media Reports
stake. However, the deal size
was not disclosed. True North,
one of the oldest domestic pri-
vate equity firms, struck an IT
services bet after a year-long
gap of any activity in
the sector. The firm,
which is raising its
seventh fund, will
invest $75 million (around
₹624 crore) in US-based digital
transformation services and
consulting company iLink
Digital for a minority stake.
Amit Goenka, CEO, Nisus
Finance.
venture into senior living pro-
jects.
“We are in the process of
formulating the launch and
are adding certain strategic
partners. We should
be able to close [the
process] this month,”
Goenka said.
He didn’t disclose the iden-
tity of the developer, saying
only that the builder operates
in the affordable, built-to-suit
DEALS, TECH & STARTUPS MONDAY, 9 OCTOBER 2023
CHENNAI 03
‘Our LPs like the fact we don’t ValueQuest
hits halfway
chase what’s hot and sexy’
mark for
Debjyoti Roy
PE fund
journey and where we can lead or
debjyoti.roy@livemint.com co-lead a round. Malvika Maloo
NEW DELHI How has the VC firm’s third fund malvika.maloo@livemint.com
performed? Could you highlight BENGALURU
D
SG Consumer Partners has some of your investments?
P
become the latest India-fo- It takes seven to 10 years to create a ublic market investor
cussed venture capital firm brand. The average weighted life of our ValueQuest, which
to achieve a fundraising investment in Fund III is only two entered the alternatives
milestone this year, joining years. Some of the brands we partnered space earlier this year with the
the likes of Matrix Partners, pi Ven-
tures, Kae Capital, Blume Ventures and
with include Superbottoms, XYXX,
Stayvista, Supertails and Indus Valley
launch of its maiden private
equity investment vehicle, has
Omnivore. in India, Saturdays in Indonesia and hit the halfway mark of its tar-
Singapore-headquartered DSG Con- Brewlander in Singapore. geted corpus of ₹1,000 crore.
sumer, which has backed several cate- We had the first close of Fund IV in The fund has raised about
gory-leading brands such as Oyo, April 2022, so we have been busy con- ₹500 crore for the VQ
Veeba, Epigamia and Mswipe, plans to structing that portfolio. Brands that S.C.A.L.E fund, a category-II
retain its investment playbook for its Fund IV have partnered with include alternate investment fund,
fourth fund but has added an “early Farmley, Go Desi and Knyamed in approved by the Securities and
growth sleeve” to its strategy, founder India, Blood and Moom in Singapore, Exchange Board of India.
Deepak Shahdadpuri told VCCircle. Pickup Coffee in the Philippines and ValueQuest launched the
In an interaction after the VC firm Coolmate in Vietnam. fund in March, aiming to raise a
made the final close of the fund at $114 How does DSG Consumer’s exit corpus of ₹700 crore, with a
million, meeting its target, Shahdad- pipeline look? What would be the greenshoe option of ₹300
puri talked about the theme of the new preferred mode of exit? crore. The fund had already
vehicle, past portfolio performance and Exit management is a full-time role, received
its exit plans, among other things. and we evaluate the best time for the soft com-
Excerpts: company and the fund to exit. mitments
Did DSG Consumer face difficul- Right now, we are focused on exit- in March,
ties in raising the new fund, given theme? Are there any specific areas strategy. ing positions in Fund I, which is now with Dharamshi infusing a sig-
the fact that the startup and VC of interest for investment? Around $80 million of the $114 mil- 10 years old, and Fund II. We have nificant ₹200 crore himself.
ecosystems are going through a DSG Consumer was set up to back lion is for our core strategy of seed and already distributed some returns on Further, the Mumbai-based
slowdown? the most mission-driven entrepre- Series A. This is also what we did in the investments to Limited Partners from boutique portfolio manage-
Venture capital is a long-term asset neurs building the next generation of first three funds. We continue to use Fund I. Further, DSG Consumer Part- ment firm has appointed
‘
class. Experienced limited partners challenger consumer brands. That was the same playbook where we ners continues to hold positions in former Oman India Joint
(LPs) understand this and do not stop our mission in 2012, and that is our mis- reserve 2:1 after our category-leading Investment Fund executive
committing. You cannot time the mar- sion today. How we look at the market first cheque and follow brands, including Pushkar Jauhari as managing
ket. Great companies are founded in all is dynamic. Today, we are invested in on in multiple rounds Looking back, Veeba, Eazydiner, director and head – private
market conditions. I do not want to around eight core themes: looking and in our best-perform- I think being Chai Point and equity to head the vertical
comment on the market as a whole. feeling good, healthy living, luxury and ing companies. small and Mswipe. Jauhari was director of
DSG Consumer is one of aspiration, convenience, the The remaining $34 We expect to see investments at mid-market
the very few specialized early- evolution of the family and million is for early sector-specialized exits in the next six to OIJIF-MC. He has also worked
stage VC funds. We invest home, unorganized to orga- growth cheques to helped us cut nine months. Given with Malayasia’s sovereign
only in consumer brands. In nized, plant-based consum- consumer brands through the noise how early we invest in wealth fund, Khazanah
fact, we were the first fund to do this in erism, and sustainability. where we did not a business—for exam- Nasional, TVS Capital, Fidelity
India when we set up in 2012. Is there any change in the strategy invest in the seed or Deepak Shahdadpuri ple, we invested at Investments and McKinsey.
Founder, DSG Consumer
Our LPs—keep in mind 72% of the that DSG Consumer would follow Series A stages. [This Partners incorporation in “Pushkar brings in private
fund was raised from existing LPs—are for the latest fund? is] a space where there Veeba, Eazydiner and equity experience to the fund
looking for a particular strategy to add Our macro strategy has not changed is a vacuum as the Mswipe—we do not for ValueQuest,” said Ravi Dha-
to their portfolio. Looking back, I think over the last decade. We only do one funds that used to invest $4-10 million expect most of our companies to do an ramshi, founder and chief
being small and sector-specialized thing—which is understanding how in challenger consumer brands have IPO while we are shareholders. investment officer, Value-
helped us cut through the noise. LPs consumers spend, look at the con- moved up to investing $15-20 million So, exits will most likely be to finan- Quest. “Given his track record
tell me they like the fact that we do not sumer wallet and see where they will and have abandoned this important cial sponsors, which are the growth and experience working with
chase what is hot and sexy and keep spend more as discretionary income stage. funds that look to back profitable some of the largest PE firms, he
looking deeper into the broad con- increases. We are allocating that $34 million to growth companies or strategic players will play an instrumental role in
sumer space only. The only change is that we have invest in that space with a company looking to acquire brands for their accelerating the growth for the
What is the new fund’s preferred added an early growth sleeve to our that is three to five years into its brand portfolios. fund’s portfolio companies.”
trade enablement platform,
snapped up about $50 million
in Series E funding led by
Schroder Adveq, a Zurich-
DPDzero based private equity firm.
75  Blume
ILink Digital Ventures, International Finance Corpo-
 True North IndiaQuotient ration, Chiratae Ventures, B
Capital and British Interna-
3.25 Aampe
tional Investment participated
 Matrix
Partners India, in this round, which valued
7.5 Peak XV
Partners
Bizongo at $980 million, tak-
ing it near unicorn valuation.
20 Bolt.Earth
 Union Square Ananth Narayanan-led Mensa
Ventures, Prime Brands, which has been in talks to
Venture Partners,
ITIGO Funds raise capital for the last few
months, raised $40 million from
SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
growth-stage debt financing plat-
In the listed space, Reliance form EvolutionX Debt Capital.
Retail received an investment The startup, which has raised the
of ₹4,966 crore for an addi- capital through a combination of
tional 0.59% stake, late last debt facility and convertible
week, from Abu Dhabi Invest- investments, will use the fresh
ment Authority. proceeds to build brand.
UAE’s largest sover- In another growth-stage
eign wealth fund deal, Bolt.Earth, a charging
had, in October infrastructure provider, raised
2020, bought a 1.2% stake in $20 million from Union
the company for ₹5,512 crore. Square Ventures, Prime Ven-
In another major deal, Tiger ture Partners and ITIGO
Global-backed Bizongo, a Funds, among others.
business-to-business (B2B) malvika.maloo@livemint.com
development segment, mostly purposes, which could draw
in the Mumbai region. demand from universities,
The fund size is likely to be information technology com-
around ₹500 crore, he said. panies as well as banking,
The company will likely financial services and insur-
seek regulatory approval in ance companies.
November and aims to mark Nisus aims to put on block
the first close by March next about 40,000 beds through
year. this investment
Goenka said Nisus Fin may vehicle, one of
the new fund seek regulatory the first in India
would be a part of nod for the fund to focus on man-
Nisus’ rental yield in November and aged living.
platform which These assets,
aims to mark the
will include two which will have a
strategies— first close by unit cost of about
co-living and March ₹50 lakh, will be
managed living, located in key
and co-working hubs including
spaces. Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune,
However, the plan for and Chennai.
co-working spaces is still in the Explaining the rationale
works as it is contingent on behind the new strategy,
some regulatory clarifications. Goenka said that co-living has
Through this fund, Nisus emerged as a promising asset
Finance will establish a build- class post-covid due to the
to-suit development platform return to schools, colleges and
to create assets for co-living offices.
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04 MONDAY, 9 OCTOBER 2023
CHENNAI MARK TO MARKET LIVEMINT.COM

S&P BSE Sensex Nifty 50 Nifty 500 Nifty Next 50 Nifty 100 S&P BSE Mid-cap S&P BSE Small Cap
CLOSE 1-WEEK CHANGE (%) CLOSE 1-WEEK CHANGE (%) CLOSE 1-WEEK CHANGE (%) CLOSE 1-WEEK CHANGE (%) CLOSE 1-WEEK CHANGE (%) CLOSE 1-WEEK CHANGE (%) CLOSE 1-WEEK CHANGE (%)

65995.63 0.25 19653.50 0.08 17293.60 0.01 44950.40 -0.19 19584.45 0.04 32077.66 -0.81 37860.58 0.79
1-MONTH CHANGE (%) 3-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-MONTH CHANGE (%) 3-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-MONTH CHANGE (%) 3-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-MONTH CHANGE (%) 3-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-MONTH CHANGE (%) 3-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-MONTH CHANGE (%) 3-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-MONTH CHANGE (%) 3-MONTH CHANGE (%)

0.17 0.32 0.22 0.80 0.05 3.59 -1.23 1.30 0.03 0.97 -0.14 9.77 -0.23 13.96
6-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-YEAR CHANGE (%) 6-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-YEAR CHANGE (%) 6-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-YEAR CHANGE (%) 6-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-YEAR CHANGE (%) 6-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-YEAR CHANGE (%) 6-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-YEAR CHANGE (%) 6-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-YEAR CHANGE (%)

10.30 13.35 11.67 13.40 17.17 14.88 17.71 5.23 12.46 10.88 31.73 26.17 36.56 30.12

Dabur hopes for festive cheer In top form

Macrotech Developers clocked stellar pre-sales in Q2FY24.

4,000
Pre-sales (in  crore)

3,500
Vineetha Sampath in constant currency terms in Q2. The tors, increase in government expend- 3,000

vineetha.s@livemint.com
Lacking lustre upshot: consolidated revenue is likely iture and positive consumer senti-
Dabur India is likely to continue the streak of weak volume performance to clock mid to high single digit ment. 2,000

D
abur India Ltd’s shares
closed 0.7% lower on Fri-
day, a day when the Nifty
50 index was up 0.5%.
The company’s business
update for the three months ended
September (Q2FY24) indicates that
in Q2FY24. growth in Q2. In Q1, revenue grew by Dabur’s shares have dropped by 1,000
12
nearly 11% to ₹3,130.5 crore. nearly 3% in 2023 so far, a sharp 1,000
Year-on-year change in domestic volume (in %)
On the brighter side, Dabur underperformance versus Nifty
10 expects Q2 gross margin to expand at FMCG’s 17% gain. 0
Q1FY22 Q2FY24
a faster pace than Q1 when Demand in Q3 would
Source: Company, Jefferies
8 the metric had risen by 74 GRADUAL be boosted by the festive
basis points year-on-year LIFT season but whether this SATISH KUMAR/MINT

financial results for the quarter may

well be forgettable.
Dabur noted a year-on-year 4
to 46.6%. One basis point
is one-hundredth of a per- DABUR noted a
centage point. YoY improvement
in FMCG sector
translates into meaning-
ful volume growth is a key
monitorable.
Lodha zips towards
3
improvement in FMCG consumption
for the quarter, but the recovery has
been gradual at best. A mild summer
But higher advertise- consumption for the
ment expenses may limit Sep quarter
the entire benefit at the
“The Dabur stock is
trading at 43 times FY25
estimated earnings,
FY24 pre-sales goal
weighed on its food & beverage (F&B) 0 operating profit margin STEADY progress slightly below the long-
towards its goals Harsha Jethmalani
business. Q2 Q1 level. In Q1, this metric should fetch brownie term average,” said Tha- Cash flows during the quar-
FY22 FY24
This, along with many festivals fall- grew at a slower rate of 6 points from kur. harsha.j@htlive.com ter were up a robust 16% year-
ing in Q3 this year instead of Q2 basis points year-on-year investors Steady progress on-year, aiding the company’s

means the revenue in this segment is
expected to fall slightly from ₹431
crore (excluding Badshah acquisi-
tion) seen in Q2FY23. Other verti-
cals—healthcare, and home & per-
sonal care (HPC)—are likely to grow
in high single digits each. In Q1, these
segments saw revenue growth of 10%
and 11%, respectively.
Why Street is divided on Vedanta demerger
Dipti Sharma
dipti.sharma@livemint.com
W
-4 to 19.3%. towards its goals should hen FY24 began, efforts to reduce debt. In Q2,
Source: Company data, Nomura research Hereon, the outlook is fetch brownie points Macrotech Develop- net debt fell sequentially by
cloudy going into the second half of from investors. Over the medium ers Ltd’s (Lodha) ₹540 crore to ₹6,730 crore. For
SATISH KUMAR/MINT
FY24. Dabur has a sizeable presence term, Dabur aspires to nearly double guidance of ₹14,500 crore FY24, Lodha aims to cut debt
Overall, volume growth is set to be or grow by a mere 1% in Q2,” said Ajay in rural markets where demand the sales in healthcare, and HPC bookings for the year may have below the ceiling of 1x net debt-
weak. Thakur, an analyst at Anand Rathi recovery has been slow. The com- from FY23 levels to ₹5,000 crore seemed like a tall order. The to-operating cash flow and 0.5x
“After factoring in price increases Institutional Equities. pany hopes consumption rebounds and ₹7,000 crore, respectively, and base was large—Lodha had net debt-to-equity. In simple
of 6-7%, we expect Dabur’s domestic Dabur’s international business is in rural and urban markets helped by drive double-digit growth in the exited FY23 with pre-sales or terms, going by the estimates of
volume growth to either remain flat expected to see double-digit growth factors such as better macro indica- F&B business. bookings of ₹12,064 crore— Jefferies India, this translates
surpassing its guidance. Plus, into a net debt target of below
home loans have become pri- ₹6,000 crore. This calls for sig-
cier now. nificant debt reduction in the
m CHART OF THE DAY
Earnings push
But Lodha’s provisional
operational update for the first
half of FY24 shows that with
second half; and for that, timely
new launches and sustained
sales momentum are critical.
Nifty revenue growth is expected to be muted in
pre-sales at around ₹6,900 With solid sales, momentum
The main concern is the sub- Moody’s cut the corporate fam- jay Moorjani, research analyst, crore, the company has in cash flows and falling debt,
Q2FY24, but operating profit growth to be stronger.
stantial debt repayment obliga- ily rating of the parent citing SAMCO Securities. Revenue Ebitda Nifty year-on-year change (in %) achieved almost half of its tar- Lodha has served a perfect rec-
tion of parent Vedanta Resour- large refinancing needs and The parent’s high leverage 30 get. This, despite no launches at ipe to please investors. So far in

V
edanta’s demerger plan
has pushed analysts to
opposite sides of the
fence. Enthusiasm expressed
through rating upgrades by
CLSA, Nuvama Institutional
Equities, and PhillipCapital is
in contrast to the ‘sell’ recom-
mendations upheld by Citi and
Kotak Institutional Equities.
On 29 September, Vedanta
ces Ltd (VRL) and that is interest expenses. and impending bond maturi- 25 new locations. Impressively, 2023, the stock has rallied by
unlikely to be alleviated by this Simply put, there are appre- ties are a key overhang for 20 Q2FY24 pre-sales at ₹3,530 43%.
split. hensions about repayment of Vedanta. Kotak believes divest- 15 crore was its best ever quar- For now, there is a good
10
Last week, about $2 billion ing non-core businesses is cru- 5
terly. Note that the September chance that Lodha beats its pre-
Crisil Ratings Main worry is debt of the parent cial since the parent’s delever- 0 quarter is seasonally the weak- sales guidance this year as well.
placed long-term Q2FY23 Q3FY23 Q4FY23 Q1FY24 Q2FY24
debt repayment company due next aging hinges on divesting
Source: Motilal Oswal Financial Services estimates
est for Lodha. Ahead of general elections, a
bank facilities and obligation year. Some inves- stakes in Vedanta or subsidiar- The pipeline for the second new interest subsidy scheme to
SATISH KUMAR/MINT
debt instruments of parent Vedanta tors believe the ies. “The demerger reverses half of FY24 is strong, with boost the lagging affordable
of Vedanta under
‘rating watch with
Resources Ltd Vedanta demer-
ger could unlock
Vedanta’s past efforts (during
2012-17) of consolidating stakes
Tracking change launches slated at seven new
locations. The management
housing segment could be an
incremental positive. On the
negative implica- of ~$2 bn value for share- in different businesses and hopes to benefit from the fes- flip side, lower decline in debt
due in 2024

said it is demerging into six
independent companies.
While the demerger allows
investors to pick specific busi-
nesses for focussed invest-
ments and is seen to be benefi-
cial in the long run, challenges
on the debt, operational, and
repayment fronts could linger.
A
tions.’ Any delay holders. “Others contradicts the rationale of past mong Nifty50 companies, TCS will be the first tive season cheer and is confi- would be a concern.
in debt repay- hold a more cau- corporate actions,” it said. to announce its Q2FY24 earnings this week. dent of meeting its full-year “Seasonally, the second half
ment by VRL tious perspective Though Nuvama sees debt Overall, revenue growth of Nifty constituents pre-sales guidance. Further, on is much stronger on project
could have a bearing on the believing the impact to be neu- issues sticking, it believes the is expected to be dull, but operating profit growth the business development cashflows/operating surplus,
financial flexibility of Vedanta, tral considering the de-merger demerger plan is a step in the should be better. Motilal Oswal Financial Services front, it achieved around though acquisition of new pro-
especially its access to capital won’t bring about significant right direction. While CLSA expects sales and Ebitda for Nifty to improve 7% ₹14,300 crore worth of new jects beyond the target could
markets, and may result in a operational changes, and the said this move could help the and 19%, respectively. This would be propelled by business addition in the first reduce the extent of debt
downward rating action for company’s ability to service parent bring in strategic inves- auto companies, BFSI and oil marketing companies. half, achieving more than 80% reduction,” said Jefferies ana-
Vedanta. On 26 September, debt still persisting,” said San- tors and thereby ease debt. of FY24 guidance. lysts.

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

CAUTIOUS RBI GUIDES FOR KEY POLICY

RATES TO STAY HIGHER FOR LONGER RBI's key policy drivers, in charts
By Manjul Paul
manjul.paul@livemint.com
On Friday, the monetary policy committee (MPC) unanimously kept the repo rate steady at 6.5%, and said it would
The global macroeconomic backdrop continues to be compli- remain alert on global food and energy prices, and volatility in financial markets. The latest half-yearly monetary policy
cated. Inflation and central bank policy rates seem to have peaked report analyzed the shifts in the macroeconomic landscape since April. It said inflation had cooled gradually with
EXPERT for most countries, while the pace of economic activities remains
varied across economies. Macroeconomic data still point to a
correcting food prices, but noted that the transmission of past interest rate hikes to lending and deposit rates was still
VIEW healthy economy, albeit a slowing one. On the other hand, mac-
incomplete. The report highlighted pressures on core inflation from precious metals such as gold and silver. In framing
its policy, the MPC retained its earlier assumption on crude oil prices despite the recent rise, while its assumption on
ro-economic indicators in the Euro Area continue to decelerate monsoon rains didn’t hold. Mint delves into the specifics:
S I D D H A R T H A S A N YA L sharply as indicated by falling consumer sentiment, weakening
the manufacturing and services sector. Core inflation down, but gold and
Despite spike, crude oil Monsoon assumption was ‘normal’
Respond to this column at In its September policy, the US FOMC held interest rates silver put upward pressure
feedback@livemint.com assumed at $85/bbl for in April; ended up 6% below normal
steady but maintained a hawkish tone. They guided for another
hike in the Fed Funds Rate during 2023 and fewer cuts next year Oct-Mar Southwest rainfall as % of long period average (LPA) Consumer price inflation, year-on-year (in %)

T
he status quo on key policy rates maintained by the Mone- than what was indicated earlier. More recent commentaries by 100 Brent crude price CPI (excluding food and fuel)
tary Policy Committee (MPC) was no surprise. The soften- Fed officials paint a blurry picture regarding terminal Fed funds ($ per barrel) 2018-19 90.6 CPI (excluding food, fuel, petrol, diesel)
ing in agro commodity prices in recent weeks offered the rate, but the higher-for-longer rates seem to be the unanimous CPI (excluding food, fuel, petrol, diesel, gold, silver)
96
MPC better breathing space in the near term. However, the RBI choice. US markets currently assign about a 35% chance of at least 2019-20 110.4 6.5
is emphatic in underscoring that it should not be misinterpreted one more hike by the Fed during 2023.
as lowering of the central bank’s vigil against inflation. The gov- Global financial markets remained jittery of late as reflected 92
6
ernor reiterated that the RBI remains committed to achieve the by rising VIX and the extraordinary spike in global yields over 2020-21 109.2
85.35
headline CPI target of 4%, rather than merely bringing inflation the last few weeks. The US 10-year yield has risen by more 88 5.5
within its tolerance band (i.e., 2-6%). than 50 basis points since August to hit 16-year highs while 88.36 2021-22 99.3
The central bank kept its CPI forecast for FY2023-24 30-year yield briefly crossed the 5% mark for the first time 5
unchanged at 5.4%. Interestingly, the RBI’s CPI forecast of 6.4% since August 2007. On the other 84
2022-23 106.5
for Q2FY24 indicates that retail inflation can soften close to 5% The RBI is hand, the dollar has gained signifi- 4.5
in the September reading, thereby, softening by about 180 basis projecting retail cant strength on the back of rising US 80
points from the previous monthly reading. The RBI is projecting treasury yields, faltering global 1 Aug 2023 5 Oct 2023
2023-24 94.4 4
retail inflation to soften to about 4.5% during FY25. inflation to growth outlook, supply-constrained
Aug 2022 Aug 2023

Growth projection for FY24 remains unchanged at 6.5%, as the soften to about rising oil prices, and the recent Source: Bloomberg Source: IMD, CMIE Source: NSO, RBI

RBI continues to expect that growth will be led by sustained 4.5% during uncertainties around government
Households' expectations on mid-term Repo rate hike of 250 bps since 2022 hasn’t fully
buoyancy in services, revival in rural demand, consumer and FY25 funding stopgap for the US. RBI’s
inflation show decline in latest RBI survey transmitted to bank rates
business optimism, government’s thrust on capex, and healthy current indication of conducting
balance sheets of banks and corporates. Though domestic OMOs has come at a time when there Median inflation rate (%) expectations by households Change since April 2022* (in basis points)
growth remains upbeat, weather-related shocks to crop output, was nervousness in the domestic market about a spike in US Perceived inflation at time of survey Repo rate hike Transmission into various deposit/lending rates
global financial tightening alongwith domestic policy transmis- bond yields. One feels that today’s jump in IGB yields partly 3 months ahead 1 year ahead
Fresh deposit rates
sion mean that domestic growth trajectory warrants close moni- reflects that nervousness. 11 (retail) 168
toring over the subsequent quarters. Finally, to sum up, monetary policy in India in the recent
Fresh deposit rates
RBI has maintained that the financial sector balance sheet past has been characterised by decisive and front-loaded 10.5 (retail and bulk) 233
remains robust. However, the central bank raised red flags con- action balancing long-term objectives and near-term priori-
cerning the steep rise in unsecured personal loan growth as it ties. The MPC rightly refrained from any knee-jerk reactions. Outstanding deposit
10 rates (retail and bulk) 157
continues to monitor the retail credit landscape in order to gauge The status quo on the policy rates by the MPC in October,
early signs of strain. The latest RBI data shows that the personal albeit with abundant caution and a guidance of stronger vigil Fresh rupee
196
9.5 loan rates
loans segment grew at over 30% y/y. on inflation, was completely on expected lines and was a prag-
As in the last policy meeting, the RBI has again explicitly high- matic choice. However, the central bank was emphatic in con- Outstanding
9 112
lighted that active management of surplus liquidity would be veying its preparedness to act if the situation demands in the rupee loan rates
undertaken whenever required. This, along with the higher-for- coming months along with continued vigil on managing mar- 0 50 100 150 200 250
longer policy rate narrative of the RBI, is expected to induce fur- ket liquidity that will likely have a bearing on financial mar- 8.5 Weighted average rates used for each row. The cumulative repo rate hike
Jul Jul
ther policy transmission with respect to the current hiking cycle kets in the coming weeks. 2022 2023 of 250 bps ended in February 2023. *Till August 2023.
as the ongoing resilience of the domestic economy helps the Siddhartha Sanyal is chief economist and head of Research at Source: Inflation expectations survey of households, RBI Source: Monetary policy report (October 2023), RBI
cause for RBI to remain vigilant regarding the liquidity and infla- Bandhan Bank. The author thanks Gaurav Mukherjee for his
tion scenario. assistance. Views are personal.
LIVEMINT.COM CORPORATE MONDAY, 9 OCTOBER 2023
CHENNAI 05

Fund source:
Meta mulls ad-free FB, Insta ‘Demand surge for
Jet lenders premium apparel,
move SC
against JKC
access in India by next year beauty products’
Suneera Tandon
Krishna Yadav suneera.t@htlive.com
krishna.yadav@livemint.com NEW DELHI
NEW DELHI Ad-free subscriptions for users not willing to give consent for personalized advertisements
E
-commerce major Ama-

T
he consortium of len-
ders to bankrupt Jet Air-
ways, led by State Bank
of India, have now challenged
the National Company Law
zon is witnessing growing
Shouvik Das demand for expensive
shouvik.das@livemint.com watches, clothing, beauty
NEW DELHI products, and pricey footwear
on its platform, hinting at a

Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT)’s
28 August order before the
Supreme Court.
According to a lawyer famil-
iar with the case, this new peti-
tion questions NCLAT’s deci-
sion to permit Jalan-Kalrock
Consortium (JKC) to utilize a
₹150 crore performance bank
guarantee to settle ₹350 crore
in outstanding dues to the len-
ders.
This payment is a prerequi-
site for the airline’s ownership
transfer to JKC.
The counsel said the lenders
will raise concerns over sus-
pected unknown sources from
which JKC paid ₹200 crore to
the lenders in the apex court.
The case will be scheduled
for hearing on Monday before
a three-judge bench headed by
the Chief Justice of India, D.Y.
Chandrachud. The legal chal-
lenges could disrupt Jet Air-
ways’ revival plan. The new Jet
management aims to restart its
operations by 2024.
On 4 October, during the
NCLAT proceedings lenders
had alleged the deposited fund
by JKC may be laundered. The
lenders also filed a new appli-
cation in the Mumbai bench of
NCLT questioning the source
of the money paid by JKC.
They claim that JKC had not
discloses the source of funds,
and asserted that according to
the resolution plan, the money
should come from legitimate
sources of JKC.
A
mid talks of launching an clear post-covid19 shift from
ad-free subscription plan to value purchases to discretion-
conform to European ary spending.
Union’s user privacy regu- “There is a very clear trend
lations, Mark Zuckerberg’s on premium products across Amazon is seeing a pick-up in
Meta Platforms, the parent company of customer segments: fashion, luxury sales in clear sign of a
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, beauty, mobile phones. People post-covid shift. AP
may consider introducing a similar plan are trading up. It comes from
in India by 2024, two executives said. more disposable income and a instance, has a large collection
Internal discussions at Meta regard- larger middle class,” Saurabh of global brands in its beauty
ing a subscription plan for Facebook and Srivastava, the vice president of portfolio, some of which are
Instagram are in preliminary stages, and Amazon Fashion India, said. exclusive to the platform,
there’s a possibility of adopting such an “The online fashion and according to data.
approach in the future, the people said beauty market, by some esti- Customers are increasingly
on condition of anonymity. The move mates, is already over $11 bil- asking for international beauty
arises from the company’s concerns lion; it is estimated to grow at a brands, and both fashion and
about how increasing tech regulations 35% compound annual growth beauty are drawing first-time
worldwide, including in India, could rate till 2028. So, it is a huge shoppers at Amazon, and the
potentially change the way the internet opportunity. In certain catego- categories are its biggest in cus-
and its services are operating today, one ries, we are wit- tomer acquisition.
of the two people said. Internal discussions at Meta regarding a subscription plan for Facebook and Instagram in India are ‘in preliminary stages’. AFP nessing huge Fashion and “If you look at new
“Talks have been held internally to acceleration, for beauty are customers that
explore monetization options for Meta at options ensuring we comply with evolv- an ad-free subscription tier in the EU for A bundled subscription plan may be some we are sell- drawing first-time this category
a global scale, including India. While the ing regulatory requirements. We have users not willing to give consent to what Meta is looking at for its ad-free ing 2x, in some it is shoppers at acquires, it is the
firm is working towards achieving com- nothing further to share at this time.” Meta’s user tracking-based personalized access trial, both executives said. How- like 14x, mostly
Amazon, and are largest on Ama-
pliance with the recently notified Digital On 28 September, Nick Clegg, presi- ads, which is its primary revenue source. ever, they could not shed light on the focused on pre- zon India. Only
Personal Data Privacy (DPDP) Act, there dent of global affairs at Meta, said in an The plan could be introduced at $14 potential pricing of Meta’s paid ad-free mium products. If helping it most to after customers
will be increasing discussions on interview with Mint that it had (~₹1,150) a month for access to access plans for India. you look at luxury get customers shop for fashion
the best possible ways to started work on achieving Instagram on mobile devices, Experts said paid models beauty, we are and beauty, they
achieve compliance with all compliance with sub-rules and $17 (~₹1,400) a month will become increasingly growing almost go on to shop for
data regulations. A pilot of
a paid ad-free subscription $14
Monthly fee Meta
of DPDP Act. “We can for desktop access to both
implement existing solu- Instagram and Facebook. ₹699
Monthly fee for
common with the launch
of stringent data regula-
two times than we were,” Sriv- other categories: mobile
astava said at the release of its phones and television sets.” It
choice for users in India, tions we already have Meta offers a paid verifi- tions worldwide follow- fashion and beauty trends has also seen greater demand
following a trial in the EU, has fixed in EU for faster than creating cation programme both in access to verified ing Elon Musk’s decision report. for international footwear and
is likely to happen in mid- ad-free Instagram bespoke India-specific India and around the world. badge on platforms to introduce a ₹999 per In May, Amazon opened its athleisure clothing, he added.
or end-2024,” he added. solutions. Our India team is After announcing a trial on 19 month ‘X Premium’ sub- global beauty store, featuring Fashion has pipped mobile
When contacted, a Meta working with the government February and a public rollout in scription plan after his take- brands such as Forest Essen- phones as the single largest cat-
spokesperson neither confirmed stakeholders to implement legisla- global markets on 17 March, it over of Twitter. Recently, Jaspreet tials, Kama Ayurveda, and egory for online commerce
nor denied the development. In a state- tive recommendations under the DPDP announced access to a verified badge on Bindra, founder of Tech Whisperer, said O3+’s Proffesional. However, companies...while beauty, per-
ment to Mint, a spokesperson said: “Meta Act as rapidly as we can, based on expec- platforms at ₹699 a month on mobile devi- users will have to choose between free the portfolio consists of a few sonal care, grocery, home are
believes in the value of free services tations that have been set for us.” ces. A cheaper, ₹599 plan for purchasing services in exchange of consenting upmarket brands compared growing the fastest, a May 2023
which are supported by personalized On 2 October, The Wall Street Journal the subscription on web is also expected to access to their internet footprint, or pay with what rivals Myntra and note by consulting firm Red-
ads. However, we continue to explore was the first to report Meta’s plan to offer be rolled out in the coming months. for services such as social media. Nykaa offer. Nykaa, for seer said.

Reliance General Insurance gets GST notices for ₹922 crore

Press Trust of India crore, ₹359.70 crore, ₹78.66 the total value of Reliance pany in its books of accounts the company to pay GST on the the largest share of risk cover is
feedback@livemint.com crore, and ₹5.38 crore respec- Capital. and thus it needs to pay GST on realisation of Follower Pre- termed as the lead insurer,
NEW DELHI tively, on the revenue gener- RGIC received a show cause the same. Similarly, another mium. while the other insurers shar-
ated from the services like notice from the DGGI on 28 show cause notice, amounting But, the GST department is ing the risk are called to the

R
eliance General Insur-
ance Company (RGIC), a
subsidiary of Reliance
Capital Ltd, has received multi-
ple show cause notices from the
Directorate General of GST
Intelligence (DGGI), amount-
ing to ₹922.58 crore.
India has advised all its nationals in Israel to remain vigilant According to sources, the
company has received four
re-insurance and co-insurance.
According to a tax expert, the
RGIC auditors will have to pro-
vide for this amount in its quar-
terly results ending 30 Septem-
ber, as a contingent liability.
RGIC is the crown jewel of
Reliance Capital which is
undergoing a debt resolution
process through NCLT. Reli-
September, amounting to
₹478.84 crore in the matter of
applicability of GST on re-in-
surance commission booked
on the re-insurance services
ceded to various Indian and
Foreign Reinsurance compa-
nies, the sources said.
The GST Authority’s con-
tention is that re-insurance
to ₹359.70 crore, was received
by the company on 28 Septem-
ber, in the matter of applicabil-
ity of GST on the co-insurance
premium received as a follower
in the co-insurance transac-
tions, they said.
The company’s contention is
that the lead insurer has
already discharged its GST lia-
of the opinion that there is no
provision in the GST Act where
one registered person can col-
lect and disburse tax on behalf
of another, regardless of any
co-insurance arrangement.
In the co-insurance transac-
tion, the insured has an option
to spread their risk amongst
more than one insurer by allo-
participating co-insurers or fol-
lowers.
In the third show cause
notice, amounting to ₹78.66
crore, the DGGI had initiated
an investigation into the matter
of availing input tax credit (ITC)
without underlying services
with regard to marketing
expenses, during the period 1

AI suspends Tel Aviv notices from the DGGI

demanding GST of ₹478.84
ance General Insurance Com-
pany constitutes almost 70% of
commission forms part of the
revenue recorded by the com-
bility on the entire premium,
therefore, there is no need for
cating risk share to multiple
insurers. The company bearing
July, 2017 to 31 March, 2022,
sources said.

flights till 14 October

Bollywood blockbusters
as war breaks out
Anu Sharma reignite overseas box office
Online flight tracker flight-
anu.sharma@livemint.com radar24.com shows increasing
NEW DELHI activity to track flights originat- Lata Jha
ing from or arriving at Tel Aviv. lata.j@htlive.com

A
ir India has suspended “Under the current network NEW DELHI
Delhi-Tel Aviv flights and flight plan, Indian airlines,

O
until 14 October amid Air India and Vistara will not fly verseas markets, grap-
the disruption due to the Israel- over the current region of con- pling with post-cov-
Palestine conflict. It operates flict for flights to destinations id19 challenges despite
five flights per week on the across Europe or the US. We promising signs at the domestic
route. are currently monitoring the film industry, are witnessing a
“Our flights to and from Tel situation,” a government offi- welcome revival with recent
Aviv will remain suspended till cial said. successes such as Jawan, Jailer,
14 October for the safety of our Rising tension in the region and Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem
passengers and crew. Air India also forced all major airlines to Kahaani striking a chord with
will extend all possible support change their schedule by sus- the diasporic audiences, thanks Jawan earned over $22 million in the overseas market, setting
to passengers who confirmed pending flight operations, or by to the films’ mass-market new records in Australia and the Gulf region. PTI
bookings on any flight during reducing the number of flights, appeal.
this period,” an including United Rocky Aur Rani crossed the a for urban, high-end narratives. our and culture, as well as star
airline spokesper- Air India Airlines, Delta, $21 million mark in overseas For example, period drama faces. Audiences do not look for
son told Mint. evacuated staff, Lufthansa, Amer- markets, drawing audiences in Gadar 2 which had crossed the experiment and need assuran-
The airline also including flight ican airlines, Air the UK, the Middle East, and ₹500 crore mark in the Indian ces of a good time in theatres. In
cancelled flights and cabin crews France, Ryan Air, Canada, while Jawan earned market, breathing life into sin- North America and Canada, it
for 7 October fol-
from Tel Aviv with and Aegean air- over $22 million, setting new gle screens across small towns, will be the fifth highest grosser
lowing the attack lines. The impact records in Australia and the had only earned $2.1 million ever after Pathaan, Jawan,
on Israel in early the help of of the conflict is Gulf region. (₹18.03 crore) during its open- Dangal and Padmaavat at, say,
hours of the day. Ethiopian Airlines also being seen at “Overseas mar- ing weekend $10.65 million. In the UK, it is
The AI139 flight Tel Aviv airport. kets are definitely In the UK, Rocky overseas. likely to be ranked eight with
from Delhi to Tel On 7 October improving, along Aur Rani Kii Prem The film that earnings of £2.42 million (~$3
Aviv on 7 October and return night, passengers disembark- with Indian busi- Kahaani is likely resonated with million). Three of the top eight
flight AI140 from Tel Aviv was ing an aircraft had been asked ness, but this is to be ranked mass audiences in Indian films in the UK market,
subsequently cancelled. to take cover at the tarmac of only for big star India due to its along with Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
eight with
“For now, the decision has the airport as explosions were films. Post covid, emotional story- and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
been taken for a week. We will heard in the distance. even overseas earnings of telling technique, have been directed by Johar.
monitor the developments in The external affairs ministry audience has £2.42 million didn’t find favour Rocky Aur Rani continues to
the region and in consultation has advised all Indian nationals turned selective,” with viewers in play across 20 screens in the
with the stakeholders, the air- in Israel to remain vigilant, and said film distribu- overseas markets UK for the tenth week. In the
line will take a call about flights observe safety protocols as tor and exhibitor Sunny looking for premium fare. Gulf, it should clock nearly
beyond 14 October,” an airline advised by local authorities in Khanna. Trade experts said family $4.25 million, or double the
official said. view of current situation. The The preferences of diasporic entertainers have been lapped earnings that any Indian film,
Mint has also learnt that Air Indian government has also audiences are evident: they up by diasporic audiences, and other than Pathaan and Jawan
India evacuated staff, including advised its nationals to exercise favour films featuring popular works in favour of films like has made there post covid. The
flight and cabin crews from Tel caution, avoid unnecessary stars and continue to appreci- Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem other major market, Australia,
Aviv with the help of Ethiopian movement and stay close to ate song and dance, although Kahaani, which offer them the should end with collections of
Airlines. safety shelters. there is a growing preference right doze of song, dance, col- A$1.82 million ($1.20 million).
06 MONDAY, 9 OCTOBER 2023
CHENNAI CORPORATE LIVEMINT.COM

Indian
stocks brace
for Israel
war impact
FROM PAGE 1
rajan, director of Commtrendz,
a commodity researcher.
Risk aversion trades, where
foreign investors sell riskier
emerging market assets and
shift to the safe havens of the
dollar and gold, can happen if
Higher domestic demand to Adani cement units
cutting reliance
bolster private investments on distributors
FROM PAGE 1
ers,” said the executive.
CII Business Confidence Index survey says higher capacity utilization will also aid funding Adani’s strategy to build a
better relationship with the
last point of sales for the
Rhik Kundu 52% of respondents expected rural cement business appears to be
rhik.kundu@livemint.com
Ascending curve demand to pick up during H1FY24 similar to Asian Paints’ direct-
NEW DELHI
Overall, the CII-BCI index rose to a nine-month high during the September quarter, (March-August). to-dealer strategy in the past,
driven by resilient domestic demand, sustained government spending and deleveraging
of corporate and bank balance sheets. Recently, the World Bank kept its under which the country’s

the conflict intensifies, said
Nilesh Shah, managing
director at Kotak Mahindra
Asset Management Co. The
rupee closed at 83.24 to the dol-
lar on Friday. The rupee is just 5
paise off its record high of 83.29
logged in October last year.
India imports 85% of its
crude requirement, and a rise
of dollar-denominated assets
would result in a higher outflow
of dollars, making exports cost-
lier because of a weaker rupee.
Foreign portfolio investors
(FPIs) who purchased shares
worth ₹1.69 trillion between
March and August, which drove
markets from a low of 16,828.35
on 20 March to a record high of
20,222.45 on 15 September,
booked profits to the tune of
₹14,768 crore last month amid
rising bond yields in the US to
16-year highs. Their selling was
absorbed by domestic institu-
tional investors, who purchased
shares worth Rs 14,849 crore. A
rise in bond yields results in
US-based FPIs reversing flows
from riskier emerging markets
assets to US treasuries.
“Opec nations are mindful of
not increasing the oil price
beyond 10-12% as they have an
understanding in practice with
the US to ensure that oil prices
are not increased beyond certain
levels. Thus, under the knee-
jerk reaction to this attack, prices
may go up by 10-12% in the near
term,” said Deven Choksey,
managing director, KR Choksey
Shares and Securities.
P
rivate investments are % of respondents who picked each option economic growth projection for India at largest paint manufacturer
expected to pick up thanks to Positives for the Indian economy India's expected GDP growth 6.3% for FY24, the same as its April esti- did away with wholesalers
a rise in domestic demand and in the near term for FY24 mate, stating that the economy faces and distributors.
Recovery in rural Government's
high capacity utilization, the demand increased Less than 5.5% More challenges from adverse global factors “Additionally, all institu-
Confederation of Indian focus on capex than 7% affecting demand and consumption. tional sales will be done by Gautam Adani-owned Adani
Healthy 10 5.5%-6% 3
Industry’s Business Confidence Index bank credit Despite growing significantly faster ACC or Ambuja. So, if there is a Group is India’s second-
(CII-BCI) survey showed. growth 16 16 than most developed nations, India cur- large requirement for, biggest cement maker.
11 30
Two-thirds of the survey’s respon- rently faces key economic challenges, say, a flyover project,
dents expect sales and new orders to (in %) including inflation and slow rural instead of a wholesaler Gautam Adani-owned
(in %)
increase in the second quarter of FY24 14 demand, apart from lower demand for seeking a bulk order, the Adani Group became India’s
faster than in the previous quarter, while Resilient
29 manufacturing exports. cement manufacturer will second-biggest cement maker
half the respondents (53%) feel that growth in 18 36 Rising oil prices remain a concern as directly provide to the needs of in May last year after it paid
services 17
capacity utilization in their company Fresh sighting it directly impacts inflation. With agri- the contractor.” $10.5 billion to Holcim to buy
Healthy in private 6.5-7%
would be 75-100% in the September financial market investment
6-6.5% culture being a significant contributor An email sent to the Adani Ambuja Cements and its sub-
quarter. to India’s GDP and rural areas heavily Group on Tuesday seeking sidiary ACC.
Note: The survey, conducted in September 2023, covered 200 different
About 67% of the survey’s respon- companies of varying size from across the country. Source: CII-BCI survey
dependent on agricultural activities, a comment went unanswered. In August, Ambuja Cements
dents also anticipated an increase in slowdown in rural demand can nega- Adani’s latest efforts to agreed to spend $295 million
SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
sequential sales in the second quarter of tively impact consumption. improve profitability are in to buy 83% shares of promot-
the current fiscal, while 64% of respon- taken off, with investment intentions lections and air and rail passenger traf- Retail inflation, or consumer price addition to three measures— ers and some shares of public
dents anticipated an increase in new coming back in a big way. fic, also sustained the positive momen- index (CPI)-based inflation, moderated bringing down energy shareholders in Sanghi Indus-
orders during the same period. He added that while growth pros- tum during the period, the survey titled to 6.83% in August from a 15-month expenses, improving trans- tries, which has an annual
The survey, conducted in September, pects for India appeared bright, external ‘Business Outlook Survey: July-Septem- high of 7.44% in July as vegetable prices portation costs capacity of pro-
covered about 200 companies of vary- factors (slowing global growth and ris- ber 2023’ added. fell. However, it continues to exceed the and having one Adani’s strategy ducing 6.6 mil-
ing sizes from across the country. “In the ing oil prices) posed a great risk to the The CII Business Confidence Index Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) target team to run appears to be lion tonnes.
last two surveys, too, the majority of economy. rose to 67.1 during the September quar- range of 2-6%. both Ambuja and similar to Over the last
respondents had expected their capac- The government, which has allocated ter, up from 66.1 during the preceding The CII-BCI survey said that supply- ACC—which Asian Paints’ two months, the
ity utilization to be in the range of a record capex budget of ₹10 trillion for three months and 64 during the March side measures announced by the gov- have been out- group has already
direct-to-dealer built a conveyor
75-100%, which is an encourag- FY24, hopes to drive growth quarter. The index stood at 67.6 ernment, which include releas- lined in the past
ing sign as capacity utilization with public spending, thus during the December quarter ing substantial cereal stocks by Ajay Kapur, strategy in system to trans-
needs to be maintained opening up employment and 62.2 during the prece- from reserves, proactive chief executive the past port finished
between 75 and 80% to
fuel fresh investments in 64%
Respondents who
and investment opportu- ding three months.
nities. Investments give CII-BCI gives an indi- 67.1The CII Business
import-export manage-
ment of pulses to ensure
officer of the
cements business
cement from the
Sanghi factory to
the economy,” CII direct- fresh growth impetus to cation of the economy of supplies and restriction at Adani. the Sanghi port and has done
or-general Chandrajit foresee rise in new an economy. the country, which is Confidence Index of exports of rice and Another executive said away with the need for using
Banerjee said. orders in Q2FY24 Overall, the CII-BCI headed for several state level in Sep quarter sugar, have helped tame steps such as these, aimed to hundreds of trucks that were
“The expectation of an index rose to a nine-month elections later this year and inflation. “Notably, out of break the monopoly of some of deployed in the past.
improvement in rural demand high during the September the general elections next the key measures imposed, the distributors, would have Some of these cost savings
is reassuring and is much required quarter, driven by resilient domes- year. Key economic factors such as one-third of the survey respon- proved to be difficult had have already helped improve
for the inclusive growth of the econ- tic demand, sustained government inflation and employment can play a key dents noted that imposing export Adani been part of the Cement its earnings before interest,
omy,” Banerjee added. spending and deleveraging of corporate role in the voting pattern of the citizens. duties on commodities will be the most Manufacturers’ Association. In tax, depreciation, and amorti-
In August, chief economic adviser V. and bank balance sheets, the industry While 66% of respondents expected beneficial to tame inflationary pres- June, Adani Cements walked zation, or Ebitda, margin from
Anantha Nageswaran had said that pri- body said. the country’s economic growth in terms sures, followed by open market opera- away from this lobby group 15.5% in the June quarter of
vate sector capital formation, supported A host of high-frequency indicators, of its gross domestic product (GDP) to tions (26% of the respondents),” the comprising 40 of the largest last year to 22.2% at the end of
by the government’s capex push, had such as goods and services tax (GST) col- come in the range of 6-7% during FY24, survey said. cement manufacturers. June this year.

12 PSB GMs elevated
as executive directors
PTI
feedback@livemint.com
NEW DELHI
Canara Bank, has been elevated
to become ED of the same bank.
Bibhu Prasad Mahapatra,
chief general manager of Pun-
Ready web India seeks support for system
shows struggle
to find buyers to raise farm import duties
FROM PAGE 1 FROM PAGE 1 oping members do not have
any other practical policy
analyst at Elara Capital Ltd. level”, as per a working paper instrument to cushion the
The downturn will definitely by the Centre for WTO Studies impact of import surges and

T
he government has jab National Bank, has been ele- impact production houses at the Indian Institute of For- price dips.
approved the appoint- vated as ED of the bank, while whose growth rates would eign Trade (IIFT). “In case a developing mem-
ments of 12 general man- Ravi Mehra, general manager, slow down,” he added. “Similar to SSGs, which are ber has a low tariff overhang,
agers (GMs) as executive direct- has been promoted to become “With stricter government available only to a few mem- that is, the difference between
BYD invested $200 million to build two factories in India, where it ors (EDs) of various public sec- ED of Punjab & Sind Bank. regulation and AVoD (adver- bers, SSM seeks to provide bound and applied tariffs is
assembles its Atto 3 and e6 models. AFP tor banks (PSBs). The Rajiv Mishra, chief general tising-based video on flexibility to developing mem- low, it becomes difficult for the
Appointments Committee of manager with Union Bank of demand) models coming in, bers to breach the ‘bound tar- member to address adverse

BYD executives are the Cabinet on Saturday India, will take over as ED of
approved the
appointments of The
Bank of India, and
Brajesh Kumar
content has to be more palata-
ble, and premium shows now
make up a smaller percentage
iff’ in special cases of import
surges and price dips in order
to minimize its adverse
impacts of import surges and
price declines of a concerned
product,” the report co-au-

unable to secure 12 EDs, according

the development,
Appointments

Cabinet on
Singh, chief gen-
to people aware of Committee of the eral manager of
Bank of Baroda,
of overall budgets. The appe-
tite has certainly gone down,
and that over-the-top (OTTs )
impact,” the report said.
Bound tariffs are the maxi-
mum tariff rates a WTO mem-
WTO’s 13th inter-ministerial
meeting will be held in Abu
Dhabi in February. ISTOCK
thored by Prof. Abhijit Das,
head of the Centre for WTO
Studies, said.
As per the gov- will join Indian streaming platforms are no ber has committed to and Trade experts said the push
visas for India ernment order,
Sanjay Rudra,
general manager,
Saturday
approved the
appointments
Bank as ED.
Rohit Rishi,
chief general man-
longer overspending has been
the writing on the wall for a
while now,” said Siddharth
agreed not to exceed in its
trade practices.
Unbound tariffs are those
is 50%, which is also its bound
tariff. India can’t raise it fur-
ther even if its farmers struggle
for the SSM should not be
seen as merely driven by com-
mercial interest but as a
FROM PAGE 1 largest seller of EVs, set up its Bank of Maha- ager in Indian Anand Kumar, senior vice- on which the member did not to compete with imported crucial tool in achieving
India unit in March 2007 and rashtra, has been Bank, will take president of films and events make any such commitment. A apples. The SSM seeks to pro- various sustainable develop-
countries. has invested $200 million to appointed ED, Union Bank of over as ED of Bank of Maharash- at Saregama India Ltd, which WTO member can increase vide flexibility to developing ment goals, including zero
To be sure, Chinese compa- build two factories, where India. Another GM from the tra. The Centre has approved owns boutique studio Yood- customs duty on its unbound members to breach the bound hunger, eradication of pov-
nies in various sectors have it assembles its Atto 3 and same bank, Vijaykumar N. the appointment of Lal Singh as lee Films. tariffs to any level. tariff in special cases of import erty, and doubling agricul-
faced trouble in getting visas e6 models. Kamble will take over as ED of ED, Bank of Baroda; Shiv Baj- The company, Kumar The SSM aims to provide surges and price dips. tural productivity.
for travel to India. A spokesperson for the UCO Bank. rang Singh as ED, Indian Bank; added, recognized this shift flexibility to developing mem- Under WTO agreements, A query sent to the com-
As reported by Mint earlier, Indian ministry of external Besides, the people said, Mahendra Dohare as ED, Cen- and has decided to pivot to bers to breach bound tariffs as apart from raising applied tar- merce ministry remained
Megha Engineering is in talks affairs (MEA) said in a Bhavendra Kumar, currently tral Bank of India; and Dhanaraj regional language cinema that well. For instance, India’s iffs on an agricultural product unanswered till press time.
to assemble the Atto 3 and e6 text message, “this is not han- chief general manager with T as ED, Indian Overseas Bank. can be released in theatres. present import tariff on apples to the bound level, most devel- puja.das@livemint.com
electric cars from China’s BYD dled by MEA.” Queries
Auto in India. Also, Megha emailed to the spokespeople
Engineering and BYD’s $1 bil- for the ministry of home
lion equal joint venture affairs, Megha Engineering
investment proposal submit- and BYD India on 4 October
ted to India’s department for remained unanswered.
Hamas attack prompts blame around Israeli intelligence
promotion of industry and India has imposed tariff and
internal trade (DPIIT) is yet to non-tariff barriers to check FROM PAGE 1 wrong, and rejected any com- tiator. “The lack of sufficient by the targeted countries.
secure approval. Chinese imports parison to 1973. Israeli forces in that area was a Pearl Harbour and 11 Septem-
In April 2020, Chinese and cancelled they were able to do it without “Please don’t give Hamas grievous failure.” ber both heralded the start of
DPIIT notified companies in projects and con- Israel or the US picking up on the sophistication of the Yom The US Congress will need new wars and major shake-ups
changes in the various sectors tracts given to it,” said Martin Indyk, a former Kippur War,” Israeli defence to ask tough questions, given in the US’s security services.
foreign direct have faced Chinese firms. US ambassador to Israel and a forces spokesman Richard that Israeli and US intelligence Within hours of Saturday’s
investment (FDI)
trouble in getting New Delhi has fellow at the Council on For- Hecht said. “I know there are a agencies should have been attack, the Israeli defence for-
policy by man- also banned Chi- eign Relations. “Failure to pre- lot of questions about the expected to detect an attack on ces had launched Operation
dating govern- visas for travel nese apps, pare. Failure to have troops intelligence. Please stop ask- this scale, accord- Swords of Iron,
ment clearance to India including Tik- along the border, failure of the ing. Right now we’re fighting. ing to a congres- The attack comes carrying out air
for all FDI inflows Tok, with Chi- fence along the border that I’m sure there will be a lot of sional staffer who 50 years after strikes against
from countries nese automaker they paid millions of shekels discussions about the intelli- asked not to be Israel’s failure to targets in the
with which India shares a land Great Wall Motor Co. Ltd for.” gence down the road.” identified dis- head off a Gaza Strip. Prime
border. Mint reported on 7 abandoning its proposed $1 The attack is all the more Intelligence professionals cussing private
surprise attack on Minister Netan-
June that India has approved billion Indian manufacturing shocking given that it comes typically distinguish between conversations. yahu declared
less than a quarter of the total project in India. While Megha 50 years after Israel’s failure to failures of collection, failures The failure is all the Jewish holiday, that Israel is “at
435 FDI applications from Engineering manufactures head off a surprise attack that of analysis, and failures by pol- Prime Minister Netanyahu declared that Israel is “at war”. AFP the more striking Yom Kippur war”.
China since April 2020. Also, electric buses through Olectra Egypt and Syria launched on icymakers to heed warnings given that Israel’s CIA director
in October 2019, India’s home Greentech Ltd, wherein it the Jewish holiday, Yom Kip- from intelligence agencies. Israelis have protested for “The real problem here is security services William Burns
ministry raised concerns partners with BYD, its subsidi- pur. That intelligence failure For starters, there was the months against Netanyahu’s likely that the Israelis simply devote substantial resources cancelled a keynote speech he
about potentially sensitive ary Evey Trans Pvt. Ltd oper- prompted the creation of a simple fact that Israel was in efforts to strip power from the did not believe that Hamas to monitoring Palestinian was due to give on Saturday
investments in critical sectors ates electric buses. Megha commission to figure out what the middle of a holiday. And nation’s judiciary. The country would risk a cross-border infil- society, including Hamas, evening at The Cipher Brief
from “certain countries”, given Engineering, which is building went wrong and became the already, questions are being is also in negotiations with the tration,” said Aaron David Mil- through networks of human Threat Conference in Sea
the blurred ownership lines the Zojila Tunnel, recently subject of countless books and raised about whether Israel’s US and Saudi Arabia on a com- ler, senior fellow at the Carne- sources, as well as surveillance Island, Georgia, in order to
between state-owned and pri- secured a $648-million work scholarly articles. army and intelligence services plex three-way deal in which gie endowment for interna- technology. work on the crisis, according
vately held firms in China. order from Mongol Refinery Israeli officials said it was far were distracted by domestic Washington would offer secu- tional peace and a former state Surprise attacks have often to conference organizer
BYD, the world’s second- State Owned Llc. too soon to know what went infighting. rity guarantees to Riyadh. department Middle East nego- galvanized massive responses Suzanne Kelly.
LIVEMINT.COM CORPORATE MONDAY, 9 OCTOBER 2023
CHENNAI 07

Retail fuels F&O trade Swan Energy directed to pay ₹250 cr Priyanka Gawande complete the resolution pro-

to record high in 7 mths priyanka.gawande@livemint.com

MUMBAI
cess.
Swan Energy, along with
Hazel Mercantile (consortium)

T
he Ahmedabad bench of emerged as the successful res-
the National Company olution applicant for the cash-
Law Tribunal (NCLT) strapped firm. Swan submitted
has directed Swan Energy, the a bid of ₹2,133 crore duly
successful resolution appli- approved by the NCLT in
F&O interest persists in FY24 despite massive losses faced by individuals cant of debt-laden Reliance December 2022.
Naval and Engineering, to pay In accordance with the reso-
₹250 crore upfront before lution plan, Swan was to make
Ram Sahgal seeking any further extension an upfront payment of ₹293
Options frenzy
ram.sahgal@livemint.com
So far this financial year, index options’ trading accounts for 98.3% of FY23 to complete the corporate crore to the lenders of Reli-
MUMBAI
numbers, at 40.71 billion. insolvency resolution process. ance Naval by 23 March. Swan,
A bench led by Justice Until now, the consortium has paid ₹50 crore on the directions of however, got a further exten-

R
etail investors’ growing fancy No. of contracts Notional Value (in trillion) Chitra Hankare held that the NCLT to keep the insolvent firm as a going concern. ISTOCK sion till 23 July.
(in billion)
for weekly options trading has “From the application, it Until now, the consortium
41.76
reached staggering proportions FY23 38,223
appears that the applicant is On 1 August, On 1 August, the from the tribunal. has paid ₹50 crore on the
with the whole of last year’s 35,999 ready to pay the amount in the tribunal
41.41 FY23 FY24* tribunal granted The matter will directions of the NCLT to keep
futures and options (F&O) vol- FY24* compliance of earlier order. granted Swan Swan Energy a be taken up for the insolvent firm as a going
umes set to be surpassed in less than seven Reliance Naval has submitted Energy a second second extension further hearing concern, counsel aware of the
months of the current financial year. that the said amount is also not extension of 45
Source: NSE *1 Apr-6 Oct of 45 days, which on 22 November. development said.
The interest in FY24 persists despite paid, and the amount is not days (about one After repeat- Adding that the lenders
massive losses by individuals, and subse- given as per schedule. Before and a half ended on 14 edly failing to were supposed to receive ₹293
quent warnings by the regulator that F&O considering the application for months), which September arrange funds for crore towards the upfront pay-
trading causes nine out of 10 participants an extension of time, Swan is ended on 14 Sep- the upfront pay- ment by March end, but even
to lose their shirts. The market rally since directed to comply with the tember. This was ment, Swan, in its after 10 months, lenders have
March and zero day options — availability amount proposed in the reso- the third extension that the application, requested an not received an upfront pay-
of options that expire each day of week — lution plan”. resolution applicant sought extension of the timeline to ment from the consortium.
have been key attractions.
Total number of contacts traded on the
National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) equity
derivatives segment is 41.41 billion in just
over six months of FY24 , which is within
striking distance of the record 41.76 bil- centage of traded volumes have jumped to
SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT

A buyer of an option typically pays pre-

NCLT dismisses Simpl co-founder’s plea
lion contracts traded in the whole of FY23. 20.46-25.19% so far this fiscal year from mium to the seller, who takes greater risk
So far this financial year , index options’ 17.98-20.61% in FY23, on the back of the as her losses can be unlimited, while the Priyanka Gawande fide, oppressive, and vexa- rated in Delaware, US.
trading accounts for 98.3% of total trades bull market rally in mid-cap and small-cap maximum risk to the buyer is loss of pre- priyanka.gawande@livemint.com tious, to evade the arbitration After considering the argu-
or 40.71 billion contracts , surpassing the shares. The significant rise in volumes mium. Sellers of options are proprietary MUMBAI clause. ments of both sides, the tribu-
last fiscal record of 40.54 billion contracts means that those holding these shares can traders and high net-worth individuals, Opposing Sharma’s plea, nal observed that Chidan-

I
to hit an all-time high. put them up as collateral against the cash or HNIs, and buyers are mostly retail n a dispute between the Chidanand’s counsel Nausher and’s petition appears to raise
“Retail interest in options trading has margin requirement to sell options. investors. Index options, unlike shares, two founders of fintech Kohli argued that the essence contractual disputes as
picked up with cheap, zero-day options Many investors besides retail meet are settled in cash. “It’s normally the startup Simpl, the National of Chidanand’s dispute were opposed to disputes of
catching their fancy,” said Jayesh Bhanus- exchange cash margin requirements for seller who wins most of the time. The Company Law Tribunal has allegations of oppression and oppression or mismanage-
hali, lead research, IIFL Secu- buyer mostly loses,” added ruled in favour of Chaitra Chi- mismanagement, that can ment.
rities. “This frenzy will con- TRADING BOOM Bhanushali. danand, dismissing an appli- only be adjudicated upon by However, it also said an
tinue with daily option expiry Low volatility led options cation by Nityanand Sharma, NCLT and not an arbitral tri- arbitrator cannot direct the
and the lack of understanding THE market rally HIGH deliverable NSE data showed to be cheaper as implied vola- seeking to refer the disputes bunal. parties who are not signato-
for the technicality of trading since March and
zero day options
volumes in cash
market has
retail investor count
on its derivatives
tility or extent of price swings before the NCLT to arbitra- Besides, he said, all the par- ries to the arbitration agree-
in such instruments.” have been key also fuelled retail segment hit a record is key to options pricing, he tion. ties to the NCLT petition are ment to have shares allotted
High deliverable volumes attractions interest of 4 million in August said. But, time decay is A bench led by Justices Kis- not parties to the arbitration to Chidanand.
in cash market since the latest another price determinant hore Vemulapalli and Prabhat Simpl co-founder Nityanand agreement and, therefore, no Accordingly, the NCLT dis-
leg of the market rally begin- which is not understood by Kumar said the NCLT cannot Sharma. reference can be made to missed Sharma’s application
ning in March, has also fuelled retail inter- selling options with underlying shares retail investors. Therefore, despite low refer their disputes to arbitra- arbitration. for referring disputes to arbi-
est. NSE data showed retail investor count they hold in demat form, thanks to rise in price of options due to low volatility, buy- tion as requested by Sharma. management in the affairs of The tribunal said the crux tration.
on its derivatives segment hit a record of delivery, said Amit Gupta, senior vice ers are not able to make money. “As sellers In this matter, Chidanand, Get Simple Technologies, the of Chidanand’s grievance was Sharma was represented by
4 million in August, up from 3.7 million in president and fund manager, ICICI Secu- take more risk, they invariably are better who left in 2020 to co-found parent of Simpl. non-adherence to the under- Amol Jhunjhunwala of Khai-
July, 3 million in June , and an average 2.8 rities. “It helps them increase their return informed and more astute than buyers. SALT, filed a petition under Sharma’s advocates sought standing that the sharehold- tan & Co. Chidanand was rep-
million in FY23. The September figure is on investment, thanks to rising share price That is why they gain most times,” said sections 241-242 of the Com- dismissal of the company ing of Get Simpl Technologies resented by Sushmita Gandhi
awaited. besides the premium earned from selling Rajesh Palviya, derivatives head, Axis panies Act against Sharma, petition filed by Chidanand Pvt. Ltd will be mirrored in a and Sanaya Patel of Indus-
Cash market delivery volume as a per- options.” Securities. alleging oppression and mis- claiming it is dressed up, mala company that will be incorpo- Law.

A SYMBOL
THAT STANDS FOR IYF¹FFÊ»F¹F Ad²FVFF¿Fe Ad·F¹Fa°FF, SXFªFÀ±FF³F SXFª¹F IÈYd¿F d½F´F¯F³F ¶FûOÊX, £F¯OX ªFû²F´FbSX-´Fi±F¸F
d³Fd½FQF ÀFc¨F³FF ÀFa£¹FF: 11/2023-24 (NIB No. AGM2324A0188)

CLARITY & CREDIBILITY (1) IÈY.CX.¸F.ÀF. RY»FûQe IZY Aa°F¦FÊ°F RicYMX ½F ÀF¶ªFe ¸FaOXe RY»FûQe ¸FZÔ ÀFe¸FZ³MX IYFaIiYeMX ÀFOÞXIY (ÀFe.ÀFe. ´FZ½F¸FZ³MX) IYF d³F¸FFʯF »FF¦F°F
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»FF¦F°F ÷Y. 256.11 »FF£F »FF¦F°F IYe AFG³F»FFBX³F d³Fd½FQF www.eproc.rajasthan.gov.in IZY ¸FF²¹F¸F ÀFZ dQ³FFaIY
31.10.2023 IYe ÀFF¹Fa 6.00 ¶FªFZ °FIY ¶FûOÊX E½Fa A³¹F SXFªFIYe¹F d½F·FF¦FûÔ ¸FZÔ CX´F¹FbÊ¢°F ßFZ¯Fe ¸FZÔ ´FaªFeIÈY°F ÀFa½FZQIYûÔ ÀFZ AF¸FadÂF°F
IYe ªFF°Fe W`XÜ d³Fd½FQF ÀFZ ÀFa¶Fad²F°F d½FÀ°FÈ°F d½F½FSX¯F ¶FûOÊX IYe ½FZ¶FÀFFBXMX www.agriculture.rajasthan.gov.in@rsamb
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08 MONDAY, 9 OCTOBER 2023
CHENNAI GLOBAL LIVEMINT.COM

m MINT SHORTS
Azerbaijan leader says ready to
Death toll from Afghan Israel, Gaza reel as
casualties from war
hold treaty talks with Armenia
Azerbaijan’s president said on Sunday that his country was ready
to hold talks with Armenia on a prospective peace treaty after
reclaiming the breakaway Armenian-populated region of Nagorno-
quakes crosses 2,000 surge past 1,000
Karabakh, noting that Georgia would be a preferable venue for the AFP
negotiations. President Ilham Aliyev made the statement on a visit feedback@livemint.com
to Georgia after snubbing a planned meeting with Armenian Prime SDEROT, ISRAEL
Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the sidelines of a European summit Bodies buried in mass graves after series of shocks jolt hard-to-reach areas
I
in Granada, Spain, on Thursday that the EU has tried to broker. A srael, reeling from the dead-
day earlier, Aliyev scathingly criticized France for promising to sup- liest attack on its territory in
ply Armenia with weapons. AP AFP half a century, formally
feedback@livemint.com declared war on Hamas on
HERAT, AFGHANISTAN Sunday as the conflict’s death
Tens of thousands protest against toll surged to 1,000 after the

possible Catalan amnesty deal
BLOOMBERG
Tens of thousands of people marched through Barcelona on
Sunday to protest against a potential amnesty deal which
Spain’s Socialists must strike over Catalonia’s 2017 separa-
tist bid if they want to form a government. The protest, orga-
nized by the anti-separatist organization Societat Civil Cata-
lana, took place five days after Spain’s acting Socialist prime
minister was nominated to seek backing of other political
parties for a new mandate. The amnesty could potentially
cover more than 1,400 people involved in the independence
bid that came to a head in 2017, pro-separatist Catalan group
Omnium estimates. REUTERS
ECB president Lagarde confident
about meeting 2% inflation target
European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde said in
an interview published on Sunday that she was confident the ECB
would meet its target of getting inflation back down to 2%, and rela-
tively confident over Europe’s gas reserves situation. Last month,
the ECB raised its key interest rate to a record high of 4%. “The key
ECB interest rates have reached levels that, maintained for a suffi-
ciently long duration, will make a substantial contribution to the
timely return of inflation to the target,” Lagarde said in the inter-
view with French paper La Tribune Dimanche. REUTERS
Hong Kong cancels flights as
Tropical Storm Koinu nears
AP
T
he death toll from a series of
earthquakes in western
Afghanistan rose sharply on
Sunday to more than 2,000, the
Taliban government said, as
bodies continued to be pulled from
demolished villages and buried in mass
graves.
More than 1,300 homes were toppled
when Saturday’s magnitude 6.3 quake—
followed by eight strong aftershocks—
jolted hard-to-reach areas 30km north-
west of the provincial capital of Herat,
according to officials.
In the rural Zinda Jan district, village
households were reduced to jumbles of
broken masonry, where makeshift rescue
teams continued to dig frantic trenches on
Sunday.
Aid gradually trickled into the disaster
zone including food, water, tents and cof-
fins for the dead who were pulled from the
rubble by excavators and men with pick-
axes and shovels.
Some of the bodies were shrouded in
fleece blankets, as workers used those
same tools to excavate their communal
graves in the gravelly brown earth.
Disaster management ministry spokes-
man Mullah Janan Sayeq said the nation
“witnessed an unprecedented earth-
quake”, putting the number of dead at
2,053 across 13 villages around midday
Sunday.
“For the treatment of the victims of the
incident we are doing our best,” he told
reporters in Kabul. “On-site search opera-
tions in the affected area are ongoing.”
He also gave a figure of more than
9,000 injured but later retracted that, say-
ing it referred to the number of residents
in the affected area.
One further aftershock of magnitude
4.2 hit the same area around 7.00am
(0230 GMT) on Sunday morning, accord-
ing to the US Geological Survey.
In the rural Zinda Jan district, village households were reduced to jumbles of broken
masonry, where makeshift rescue teams continued to dig frantic trenches on Sunday.
In the Sarboland village of Zinda Jan
district, an AFP reporter saw homes
ruined near the epicentre of the quakes,
which shook the area for more than five
hours.
Gutted homes showed personal
belongings flapping in the harsh wind, as
women and children lingered out in the
open.
Most rural homes in Afghanistan are
made of sun-fired mud bricks built around
wooden support poles, with little in the
way of modern steel reinforcement.
Multi-generational extended families
generally live under the same roof, mean-
ing disasters like Saturday’s quake can
devastate local communities.
In Herat city, residents fled their homes
and schools, while hospitals and offices
evacuated when the first quake was felt.
There were few reports of casualties in the
metropolitan area.
Afghanistan is already suffering a dire
humanitarian crisis, with the widespread
withdrawal of foreign aid following the
Taliban’s return to power in 2021.
AP
Save the Children called the quake “a
crisis on top of a crisis”. “The scale of the
damage is horrific. The numbers affected
by this tragedy are truly disturbing,” said
country director Arshad Malik.
Herat province—home to around 1.9
million people on the border with Iran—
has also been hit by a years-long drought
that has crippled many hardscrabble agri-
cultural communities.
Afghanistan is frequently hit by earth-
quakes, especially in the Hindu Kush
mountain range, which lies near the junc-
tion of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic
plates.
More than 1,000 people were killed and
tens of thousands left homeless in June
last year after a 5.9-magnitude quake
struck the impoverished province of Pak-
tika.
“The Herat earthquake is worse than
the eastern earthquake that happened last
year,” said disaster agency spokesman
Janan. “Not only by the magnitude and
depth, but also more areas are affected and
destroyed.”
Palestinian militant group
launched a massive surprise
assault from Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu steeled the shocked
and grieving nation for a “long Gun battles raged as the Israeli
and difficult” war ahead after army sought to secure desert
Hamas launched a barrage of regions. BLOOMBERG
rockets at Israel before dawn on
Saturday and sent in fighters near the Gaza Strip.
who gunned down civilians Gun battles raged as the Isra-
and took at least 100 hostages. eli army sought to secure desert
The bloody escalation regions near the coastal
sharply heightened Middle enclave, rescue Israeli hostages
East tensions and killed more and evacuate all areas near
than 600 people on the Israeli Gaza.
side, the country’s worst losses “We’ll reach each and every
since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war community until we kill every
when it came under attack terrorist in Israel,” vowed Hag-
from a coalition of Arab states ari, a day after hundreds of
led by Egypt and Syria. Hamas fighters launched their
In Gaza—which was ham- shock offensive and surged into
mered by Israeli Israel using vehi-
air strikes on 800 There was cles, boats and
targets ahead of widespread shock even motorised
what many feared and dismay in paragliders.
may be a looming Israel after at There was
ground inva- widespread shock
least 100 citizens
sion—officials
were captured
and dismay in
reported at least Israel after at least
370 deaths, with by Hamas 100 citizens were
thousands more captured by
wounded across Hamas and
the war zone. abducted into Gaza, with
Tens of thousands of Israeli images circulating on social
forces were deployed to battle media of bloodied hostages,
holdout Hamas fighters in the and distraught relatives plead-
south, where the bodies of civil- ing for the state to rescue them.
ians had been found strewn on Israel also came under attack
roads and in town centres. from the north when Leba-
“The enemy is still on the non’s Hezbollah launched
ground,” military spokesman guided missiles and artillery
Daniel Hagari told journalists shells on Sunday “in solidarity”
as a second night fell after the with the unprecedented
attack, adding Israel was rein- Hamas offensive, without caus-
forcing its military strength ing any casualties.

California governor vetoes bill Opec leaders make case for

to ban caste discrimination fossil fuels in climate debate
Reuters Afghan American, in March. Reuters accelerate action to curb global
feedback@livemint.com An earlier version of it passed feedback@livemint.com warming to prevent the most
Scores of flights in Hong Kong were cancelled on Sunday as the state Senate before under- RIYADH devastating consequences of

C
Tropical Storm Koinu neared the southern Chinese city alifornia governor going revisions. extreme weather following a

after leaving one dead and over 300 injured in Taiwan. Gavin Newsom on Sat-
Koinu was expected to skirt about 70km from Hong Kong urday vetoed a bill
on Sunday night, dumping heavy showers, the Hong Kong passed recently by the state
Observatory said. Koinu was packing maximum winds of legislature to explicitly ban
90kph and gusts of up to 122 kph, according to the observa- caste discrimination, citing
tory. Hong Kong on Sunday raised its No. 8 storm signal, existing laws that already pro-
effectively shutting the city down with shops and schools hibit ancestry discrimination,
closing and reducing frequencies of public transport. AP which made the bill “unnec-
essary.”
Had Newsom signed the
Jokowi calls in army to help fight bill, officially called Senate
Bill 403 or SB 403, California
Indonesian fires causing haze would have become the first
Indonesian President Joko Widodo said he ordered the military ever US state to explicitly ban
and the police to tackle forest fires after neighbouring countries caste discrimination.
complained that smoke from the burning is making the air Newsom’s veto is a big set-
unhealthy. “When there is fire, there will be smoke, and if there is back for activists who had
wind it can get anywhere,” the president, known as Jokowi, told been advocating for the legis-
reporters in Jakarta. “I have ordered the military chief and the lation.
police to handle every hotspot, however small, immediately.” Haze US discrimination laws ban
is a recurring problem in Southeast Asia, disrupting tourism, caus- ancestry discrimination
ing severe respiratory illness and costing local economies billions though they do not explicitly
of dollars. AP mention a prohibition on
California governor
Gavin Newsom. AP
casteism.
California’s legislation tar-
geted the caste system in
South Asian and Hindu immi-
grant communities by adding
caste as a protected class to
the state’s existing anti-dis-
crimination laws.
The bill was introduced and
authored by Democratic state
senator Aisha Wahab, an
The revised version, which
listed caste under “ancestry”
and not as a separate category,
was passed by California’s
state Assembly in late August
and by the state Senate in
early September with a near
unanimous vote.
The bill defined caste as “an
individual’s perceived posi-
tion in a system of social strat-
ification on the basis of inher-
ited status.”
“Because discrimination
based on caste is already pro-
hibited under these existing
categories, this bill is unnec-
essary,” Newsom said in a let-
ter to California state lawmak-
ers posted on the website of
the governor’s office. “For
this reason, I cannot sign this
bill.”
O
pec heavyweights said
on Sunday oil and gas
should not be stigma-
tised in the climate debate and
that the industry had a role to
play in an orderly energy tran-
sition.
Energy ministers from Saudi
Arabia, the United Arab Emir-
ates and Iraq, the three largest
members of the Organization
of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries (Opec), have gath-
ered in Saudi capital Riyadh for
the UN MENA climate week.
“The three of us here as
major hydrocarbon producers
also have a responsibility to the
world to provide the transition
with enough hydrocarbon
resources to make sure we are
transitioning at a responsibly
priced manner,” UAE energy
The summit is an opportunity
to try to accelerate action to
curb global warming
AFP
minister Suhail al-Mazrouei
said on a panel that grouped the
three countries.
The UAE will host the
COP28 climate summit sched-
uled to take place in Dubai
between 30 November and 12
December.
The summit is an opportu-
nity for governments to try to
year of record temperatures,
wildfires and drought.
Reports so far show coun-
tries are off track to meet a UN
target to keep the rise in global
temperatures below 2 degrees
Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahren-
heit) above pre-industrial levels
and pursue efforts to limit it to
1.5C.
“COP28 will deliver transfor-
mational outcomes for this
region, and for the world,” Sul-
tan al-Jaber, COP28 president,
said in his opening remarks on
Sunday.
The choice of Jaber to lead
the summit has draw criticism
from environmental cam-
paigners because his country is
an OPEC member and a major
oil exporter, and he is the boss
of state oil giant ADNOC.

How FTX executives secretly spent $8 billion in customer money

Alexander Saeedy Venture capital invest- the former Hollywood agent finance Bankman-Fried’s FTX customer money from FTX’s donations.
feedback@liveminy.com ments: over $5 billion Michael Kives, each received criminal defense.” helped Bankman-Fried rise Alameda gave a $500,000
Much of the $5 billion-plus $125 million payments as part Bankman-Fried, Wang and from relative obscurity to one grant to the Good Food Insti-

T
he crypto exchange FTX
went bust last year after
executives spent billions
in customer funds they had
promised to safeguard.
The tab was $7.7 billion, a
Wall Street Journal analysis of
company disclosures and legal
filings shows. FTX founder
Sam Bankman-Fried and sen-
ior staff spent customer funds
on technol-
ogy invest-
ments, lux-
ury real
estate and political contribu-
tions, among other things.
The missing funds are at the
heart of Bankman-Fried’s
criminal trial, which kicked off
in Manhattan federal court
this week. Top lieutenants of
FTX and its sister company,
Alameda Research, have
pleaded guilty to fraud and
looting customer funds.
that FTX invested in tech com-
panies was financed through
misappropriated customer
funds, according to lawsuits
filed against senior executives.
Many deals haven’t paid off.
FTX bought the trading plat-
form Embed for $236.8 mil-
lion in September 2022, plan-
ning to use it to roll out stock
trading for FTX customers,
legal filings
show. No
buyers are
willing to
pay more than $1 million for
the company now.
FTX has sued Embed’s
former shareholders, includ-
ing Y Combinator and Bain
Capital, to get the money back.
Bankman-Fried invested
$700 million of FTX money in
the venture-capital firm K5
Global in 2022. K5’s
co-founders, Bryan Baum and
of the deal, according to court
filings.
FTX’s new managers have
been trying to claw back those
funds and have said the invest-
ments were “vastly overval-
ued.”
Direct payments to com-
pany insiders: $2.2 billion
FTX insiders paid them-
selves over $2 billion with sus-
pected customer funds. Exec-
utives also made personal
investments with customers’
money.
Bankman-Fried and FTX’s
chief technology officer, Gary
Wang, both took out personal
loans through the hedge fund
Alameda to acquire almost 8%
of the trading platform Robin-
hood Markets in May 2022.
They bought $546 million in
Robinhood shares, according
to lawsuits filed against Bank-
man-Fried.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried .
The FTX executive Nishad
Singh used a personal loan
from Alameda to buy himself
44 million shares of FTX in
November 2021, worth $477
million at the time.
In addition, Bankman-Fried
AFP
took around $10 million from
an Alameda account and
directed it to an account
owned by his father, Joseph
Bankman. FTX lawyers said in
court papers that Bankman
has “been using this gift to
Singh haven’t repaid a penny
of those loans and never
intended to do so, FTX’s new
management said.
Bahamas real estate:
$243 million
FTX’s founders moved their
headquarters from Hong Kong
to the Bahamas for the Carib-
bean jurisdiction’s laws favor-
able to crypto. The company
used customer funds to buy
units at a luxe Bahamas resort
called Albany, according to
court documents.
One $30 million purchase
was a five-bedroom property
known as the Orchid Pent-
house, where Bankman-Fried
lived with some other employ-
ees before FTX’s collapse. It
was also where he was taken
into custody before his extra-
dition to the U.S.
Donations: $80 million
to politicians and charities
of the biggest donors in U.S.
politics.
Bankman-Fried donated
over $28 million of his money
to a political-action committee
called Protect Our Future. The
PAC gave the crypto entrepre-
neur Carrick Flynn $10 mil-
lion. He lost his U.S. House
Democratic primary race in
Oregon in May 2022.
As a company, Alameda
contributed to Democratic
politicians including Sen. Kir-
sten Gillibrand of New York
and Rep. Jim Costa of Califor-
nia. Both have said they would
return or donate any funds
contributed by Bankman-
Fried. The FTX founder also
made a number of his dona-
tions on a personal basis, some
of which were made with cus-
tomer funds, according to fed-
eral prosecutors.
Several charities benefited
tute, a nonprofit think tank for
meat alternatives. The com-
pany said it had spent the FTX
funds it received.
Bankman-Fried’s brother,
Gabe, received $35 million
from FTX accounts for his
charity Guarding Against Pan-
demics.
FTX estimates that there is
still around $80 million of
charitable and political dona-
tions that the company could
recover to repay customers.
“These contributions were
disguised to look like they
were coming from the wealthy
co-conspirators, when in fact
the contributions were funded
by Alameda with stolen cus-
tomer money,” said Damian
Williams, the U.S. attorney for
the Southern District of New
York, last year.
©2023 DOW JONES & COMPANY,
INC
LIVEMINT.COM
QUOTES
Kristalina Georgieva
Managing Director, IMF
...the current pace of
global growth remains
quite weak — well
below the 3.8% average
in the two decades
before the pandemic.
FPIs sell ₹8K cr
equities in Oct
F F
oreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have
dumped Indian equities worth ₹8,000
crore in the first week of October on the
back of dollar appreciation and the steady rise
in the US bond yields.
This came after FPIs turned net sellers in
September and pulled out ₹14,767 crore.
Before the outflow, FPIs were incessantly
buying Indian equities in the last six months
from March to August and brought in ₹17.4
million during the period.
Going ahead, FPIs are unlikely to turn
buyers in the market soon in the context of the
elevated dollar and US bond yields, V.K.
Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at
Geojit Financial Services, said.
The selling by FPIs was countered by
domestic institutional investors (DII)
buying.On the other hand, FPIs invested
₹2,081 crore in the country’s debt market
during the period under review. PTI
Currently, MCX is conducting CDP mock tests for
its smooth operation after its launch.
Sebi’s nod for MCX
BLOOMBERG
to launch new CDP
The Securities and Exchange Board of India
(Sebi) on Sunday withdrew its order to keep the
new Commodity Derivative Platform (CDP) in
abeyance, allowing the Multi Commodity
Exchange of India (MCX) and MCXCCL to go
live with the platform.
“Sebi Technical Advisory Committee has
recommended that MCX and MCXCCL may
Go-Live with the CDP and to intimate Sebi
regarding the proposed date for Go Live,”
according to an exchange filing. This decision
comes after Sebi received replies from MCX
and MCXCCL on a complaint filed by Chennai
Financial Markets and Accountability (CFMA)
regarding the new CDP.
Sebi also considered the recommendations
of its technical advisory committee, which
recommended that MCX and MCXCCL be
allowed to go live with the CDP. The MCX has
not yet announced a date for the launch of the
new CDP. Currently, MCX is conducting CDP
mock tests for its smooth operation after its
launch. At NSE, it ended at ₹2,049.70, down
2.23% after falling 8.74%to ₹1,913.25 during the
day. MAYUR BHALERAO
In H2, 28 IPOs aim
to raise ₹38,000 cr
A
fter a record 31 initial share sales in the
first half of this fiscal, the IPO pipeline
looks strong with 28 firms eyeing to
raise ₹38,000 crore in the second half (H2) and
another 41 awaiting Sebi’s nod to launch initial
public offerings worth ₹44,000 crore, a report
said.
Fund raising through initial public offerings,
or IPOs ,fell 26% to ₹26,300 crore in the first
half of the current fiscal, despite the number of
issues more than doubling to 31, from 14 issues
with the total mop-up of ₹35,456 crore in the
year-ago period, according to Prime Database.
According to Pranav Haldea, managing
director of Prime Database which is a leading
database on the primary capital markets, of
these 69 companies, three new-age technology
firms are collectively planning to mop up
₹12,000 crore. According to Haldea,
notwithstanding the present volatility in the
secondary market, the next half is likely to see
several IPOs being launched before a pause on
account of the general elections. PTI
Sri Lanka to host Indian Ocean Rim meeting on Wednesday
S
ri Lanka will host the pivotal council of ministers meeting of the Indian
Ocean Rim Association (IORA) on 11 October, which will be participated
by senior leaders of 16 countries, including external affairs minister S
Jaishankar, the foreign ministry said on Sunday.
Minister of external affairs S Jaishankar is among the 16 ministers to attend
the October 11 meeting, the foreign ministry said.
“The Council of Ministers meeting in Colombo will see the participation of
16 ministers, including the foreign ministers of Bangladesh, India, Iran,
Mauritius, Malaysia and South Africa,” it said.
The ministers will deliberate on ways to cooperate on the six priority areas,
including trade and investment; maritime safety and security; fisheries
management; disaster risk management; and blue economy.
Foreign minister Ali Sabry will chair the council when the current chair,
Bangladesh foreign minister A K Abdul Momen will hand over the
chairmanship to his Lankan counterpart.
PT Usha
Rajya Sabha MP, sports icon
After this record-breaking
performance in the Hangzhou
Asian Games, if our country’s
athletes, coaches and national
federations work hard, I feel
we can win double digit med-
als in the Paris Olympics.
WINGS OF GLORY
Artistes perform during the closing ceremony of the 19th Asian Games, at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium, in Hangzhou, China, on
Sunday. China dominated the medals table, while India finished fourth with a record haul of 107 medals (28 gold, 38 silver, 41 bronze).
India’s 1st large pvt gold mine to
start production by 2024-end
Pilot started at Jonnagiri project in Andhra; producing about 1 kg of gold a month now
PTI
feedback@livemint.com
NEW DELHI
T
he full-scale production of the coun-
try’s first large private gold mine in
Andhra Pradesh will begin by the end
of next year, said Deccan Gold Mines
managing director Hanuma Prasad.
The Jonnagiri gold project, in which the pilot
scale operation has already started, will produce
about 750 kilogrammes of gold per annum once
it begins its full-scale production, Prasad told the
news agency in an interview.
Deccan Gold Mines Ltd (DGML), the first and
only gold exploration company listed on BSE, has
a significant stake of 40% in Geomysore Services
India Ltd which is developing the first private sec-
tor gold mine at Jonnagiri.
The mine, in which a total investment of about
₹200 crore has been made so far, is producing
Aditya makes trajectory correction
TCM ensures the spacecraft moves towards
the Halo orbit insertion around L1. PTI
I
SRO on Sunday said it has performed a
trajectory correction manoeuvre (TCM)
on Aditya L1 spacecraft, the country’s
maiden solar mission.
The Indian space agency also said the
spacecraft was healthy.
“The spacecraft is healthy and on its
PTI External affairs minister S. Jaishankar will be among 16 participants.
NEWS WRAP
about one kg of gold per month at present.
“In the Indian mine (Jonnagiri project) the con- producing around 400 kg gold per annum,” he
struction is going on. By next year, around Octo- added.
ber-November, that will come into production,”
Prasad said.
The gold mine is located near Jonnagiri, Erra- sector. DGML for a long period of time has been
gudi and Pagadirayi
villages within the
Tuggali Mandalam Deccan Gold Mines Ltd, the first and ties in India and
in the Kurnool dis- only gold exploration company listed overseas. DGML’s
trict of Andhra
Pradesh. on BSE, will produce about 750 kg of exploration
“The mine was gold per annum after full production nataka led to discov-
granted...in 2013. It
took about 8-10
years to complete exploration (of the project),” Archaean greenstone belts of Dharwar Craton.
Prasad explained.
The managing director further said that pro- moga belts.
duction from its another gold mining project in
Kyrgyzstan, in which DGML has 60% stake, is tion, DGML has initiated merger and acquisition
likely to begin in either October or November of activities.
way to Sun-Earth L1. A trajectory
correction manoeuvre (TCM), originally
provisioned, was performed on 6 October
2023, for about 16 s,” ISRO said on ‘X’.
It was needed to correct the trajectory
evaluated after tracking the trans-
Lagrangian point 1 insertion (TL1I)
manoeuvre performed on 19 September
2023, it added.
Aditya-L1 is the first Indian space based
observatory to study the Sun from a halo
orbit around first sun-earth Lagrangian
point (L1), which is located roughly 1.5
million km from earth. According to
ISRO, TCM ensures that the spacecraft is
on its intended path towards the Halo
orbit insertion around L1.
“As Aditya-L1 continues to move ahead,
the magnetometer will be turned on again
within a few days,” the agency said. Aditya
L1 was successfully launched on 2
September from Satish Dhawan Space
Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota. PTI
PTI
Christine Lagarde
President, European
Central Bank
The International
Monetary Fund has
revised down its
growth projections
worldwide, except for
the United States.
PTI
the next year. “The Altyn Tor Gold project will be
DGML was established in 2003 by promoters
with deep roots in the exploration and mining
involved in gold
exploration activi-
in India,
particularly in Kar-
ery of open pittable
gold deposits in the
These deposits are in Hutti and Dharwar – Shi-
Since 2021, as part of expansion and diversifica-
Special radars, drones and army dogs have been
deployed for the search operations. AP
Sikkim flash flood
toll rises to 32
T
hirty-two bodies, including those of nine
army men, have been recovered so far from
the slush and debris of the flash flood in the
Teesta river that devastated Sikkim, while the
search continued for the over 100 people who are
still missing, officials said on Sunday.
The flash flood, which was triggered by a
cloudburst in the early hours of Wednesday,
has affected 41,870 people. So far, 2,563 people
have been rescued from different areas of the
state, most of which have been cut off from the
rest of the country, according to the Sikkim
State Disaster Management Authority
(SSDMA).
Search was underway for 122 people who are
still missing. Seventy-eight people are missing
in Pakyong district, 23 in Gangtok district, 15 in
Mangan and six in Namchi, it said.
Special radars, drones and army dogs have
been deployed for the search operations,
officials said. So far, 21 bodies have been
recovered in Pakyong, six in Gangtok, four in
Mangan and one in Namchi, they said.The
disaster also damaged more than 1,320 houses
and washed away 13 bridges in the four districts
of the picturesque Himalayan state. PTI
MONDAY, 9 OCTOBER 2023
CHENNAI 09
Andrzej Duda
President, Poland
We will likely have another wave
of migrants from the Middle
East, which will hit Europe...Our
security, protection of Poland’s
borders, also the borders of the
EU and the Schengen zone,
becomes even more important.
Accor to open 30
properties in India
rench hospitality major Accor plans to
open 30 new properties in India in the
next three to five years to tap the huge
potential here, according to its senior vice
president operations, India and South Asia,
Puneet Dhawan.
The hotel chain, which has nine brands in
India out of 40 from its global portfolio, will
also consider introducing more brands in the
country to cater to different segments of
customers here.
“Currently our pipeline is about 30 signed
contracts...These are expected (to be
operational) in the next three to five years,”
Dhawan told PTI when asked about the
company’s expansion plans in India.
“We definitely think (with) the right partner
in the right location, we will be able to bring
some of the other brands into India as well,”
Dhawan said. PTI
When capacity expansion is completed, it will be
India’s largest single-location steel unit. BLOOMBERG
JSPL doubling
Angul capacity
J
indal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) is
planning to make its Angul unit India’s
largest single-location steel manufacturing
facility, its managing director Bimlendra
Jha has said. Currently, the capacity of the
Odisha plant is being ramped up to 11.6 million
tonnes per annum (MTPA) from the existing
5.6 MTPA, Jha told PTI in an interaction.
“We are more than doubling the capacity in
Angul by next year...we have ambitions to
further double it up to 24 MTPA, making it
India’s largest single-location steel plant,” the
managing director said without sharing any
timeline for the plan.
The steel plant in Raigarh will also undergo
an expansion of up to 9.6 MTPA from the
current 3.6 MTPA, the company said in a
statement. The government’s thrust on
infrastructure projects has led to the creation
of domestic steel demand. PTI
Electricity usage
grows 8% in H1
I
ndia’s electricity consumption grew nearly
8% to about 847 billion units (BU) in the first
half of this fiscal year from April to
September, showing uptick in economic
activities in the country.
According to the official data, electricity
consumption rose to about 847 BU during
April-September 2023 from 786 BU in the
same period of the previous fiscal.
The industry experts opined that the
widespread unseasonal rain in April, May and
June has affected the power consumption as it
could have grown in double digits in the
country.
They stated that there was strong recovery of
power demand as well as consumption in
August onwards due to unusually high
humidity level which increased the use of
cooling appliances like fans, coolers and air
conditioners. PTI
‘Mobile exports
jump to $5.5 bn’
M
obile phone exports from India almost
doubled to $5.5 billion, or ₹45,700
crore, till August this financial year,
according to industry body ICEA’s estimates.
ICEA said, mobile phone exports from India
between April and August 2023 was around $3
billion, about ₹24,850 crore.
A source, who did not wish to be named, said,
with Apple exported mobile phones worth
more than ₹23,000 crore, thereby accounting
for a little over half of the total export. An email
query sent to Apple did not elicit any reply.
Commenting on the overall mobile phone
export, ICEA chairman Pankaj Mohindroo told
PTI that mobile phone exports from India
continue to buck the overall trend of muted
global trade by registering a massive growth of
more than 80%.
“India continues to strive hard to be a
preferred location for GVCs. It is work in
progress but the trend is positive,” Mohindroo
said. PTI
10 MONDAY, 9 OCTOBER 2023
CHENNAI
Harsha Jethmalani & Pallavi Pengonda
MUMBAI
U
ntil March, the market for ini-
tial share sales in India had
been moribund this year and
badly in need of stimulus to
come back to life.
It took a condom maker to revive the
sagging market for initial public offerings
(IPOs). Mankind Pharma Ltd, the New
Delhi-based maker of the Manforce brand
of male contraceptives, raised ₹4,326
crore in a blockbuster IPO in April, almost
seven times the entire amount raised by
three companies that went public in the
first three months.
Until Mankind Pharma, which com-
mands 30% of condom sales in the world’s
most populous nation and also makes
over-the-counter consumer products like
sanitizers and Gas-O-Fast antacids,
breathed life into the primary market,
IPOs raised just ₹633 crore in the January-
to-March period, a drop of 92% from
₹7,819 crore a year ago, according to
Prime Database.
The initial stock sale attracted demand
for more than 15 times the shares up for
sale, and the price surged by nearly one-
third to ₹1,422.30 apiece on its debut. It
has since risen to ₹1,799.45 on the
National Stock Exchange on Friday, com-
pared to a 7.6% return offered by the
benchmark Nifty 50 in the same period.
True, Mankind has credentials that are
refreshingly different from those of other
companies, mainly tech-oriented ones,
that were deemed overvalued and under-
performing, which have tapped investors
in the past couple of years.
Its issue size was large, but not overly so,
at ₹4,326 crore, and the valuation judged
reasonable. Plus, the company’s financials
were robust, unlike those of tech compa-
nies such as Zomato Ltd, PB Fintech Ltd
and One 97 Communications Ltd (Paytm)
that hit the market in 2021. The tech
stocks fell in the range of around 50-70%
within a year of listing.
Not surprisingly, Mankind Pharma’s
stellar performance set the stage for a raft
of new share sales by companies. IPOs
were back on the radar of investors by
June and July, followed by an uptick in
August and a bumper September.
Overall, in the April-September period,
or the first half of fiscal year 2023-24, the
number of IPOs was 31, the highest since the
same period in 2007-08. Companies have
raised ₹26,281 crore, with September alone
contributing a share of as much as 55%.
The pharmaceuticals and drugs sector,
travel-related companies and cable and
wire makers raised nearly 23%, 17% and 8%
of the proceeds, respectively, in the first
half of this fiscal year.
“Mankind Pharma changed the for-
tunes of the IPO market in 2023. Its suc-
cess went a long way in boosting the confi-
dence of merchant bankers to proceed
(with initial share sales),” says Nitin Rao,
founder of investment blog alphaideas.in.
Now, the question uppermost in the
minds of investors and analysts who track
the stock markets is this: Will this run per-
sist into the second half of the year?
Rao expects it to have enough steam left
to last a few more months at least; the opti-
mism is offset by reasons for investors to
exercise caution.
THE FUEL
A mong other factors, experts point
towards a moderation in the valua-
tions of companies seeking a public listing
as an attractive enticement for investors.
Of course, it also helped that the Indian
stock markets have soared this year. So far
in calendar year 2023, the Sensex has
gained 8.5%, matching the Nifty, which
scaled a new peak of 20,000 points in
early September for the first time. Last
month, domestic liquidity was relatively
more robust at ₹20,311 crore, according to SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL
National Securities Depository Ltd data.
Typically, IPO market activity levels
depend on the gains in
recent listings and the
state of the secondary SME stock prices tend to
market, especially the undergo brutal corrections
broader indices.
“When these turn when market sentiment is
favourable, IPO markets subdued. Even an internal
become hot and over-
subscription levels regulatory change can upset Midcap 150 and Nifty
rise—a situation we have
seen in September in the apple cart for SME stocks. have risen by nearly 27%
India. The grey market
becomes active at such times and based on far in this calendar year compared to the
the grey market premium, investors apply 8.5% gain in Nifty 50. Against this back-
for IPOs, expecting them to list at such drop, the September reading for SME
premiums,” says Deepak Jasani, head of IPOs touched a record with 37 companies
retail research at HDFC Securities Ltd.
“As long as the IPOs list at a good pre-
mium (irrespective of their valuations), half, 97 SME IPOs collected a total of
investors will be tempted to keep apply- ₹2,732 crore, 140% higher than ₹1,137
ing,” he adds.
On their respective listing dates, the top period last year.
five companies (Mankind, JSW Infra-
IPOs: HOW LONG WILL
the dream run last?
A raft of new share sales boosted first-half IPO numbers. But, there are red flags
The Indian stock markets have soared this year. So far in 2023, the Sensex has gained 8.5%, matching the Nifty, which scaled a new peak of 20,000 points in early September for the first time.
structure Ltd, RR Kabel Ltd, Concord Bio-
tech Ltd, Samhi Hotels Ltd) by issue size
rose in the range of 14-32% from their
issue prices.
Expectedly, subscriptions for IPOs have
zoomed this year, especially from retail
investors. According to Prime Database,
the average number of applications from
individual investors increased to 1.002
million in the first half, compared to
757,000 in the same period last year.
Retail investors applied for shares
worth ₹55,516 crore, which is 118% higher
than the total amount raised through
IPOs. In comparison, this measure was
33% lower in the first half the last financial
year.
What stands out here is that the total
allocation to retail investors in the first
half of this year was 26% of the total funds
raised through IPOs, according to Prime
Database. In simple terms, this indicates
that a higher number of retail investors
were willing to apply for IPOs and
wanted greater allocation but were
unsuccessful in buying as many shares as
they wished to.
After a strong September, when as
many as 14 IPOs were launched, investors
are looking earnestly at what the rest of
the year has in store. As of 22 September,
28 companies had approval (which was
still valid) from the Securities and
Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the mar-
ket regulator, for IPOs with an estimated
aggregate sale of ₹38,440 crore.
T he increased quest for higher listing
gains amid a sharp outperformance
by mid-caps and small-
caps has opened the
doors for a flood of IPOs
by small and medium
enterprises, or SMEs,
this year.
For perspective, take a
gander at this: The Nifty
Smallcap 250 indices
and 30%, respectively, so
raising about ₹1,006 crore.
During the current fiscal year’s first
crore gleaned from 63 IPOs in the same
“Apart from ample liquidity, another
LONG STORY
reason why SME IPOs have fared well is
their relatively reasonable valuation com-
pared to a mainboard listing (large IPO
issue size),” says Abhijit Tare, managing
director and CEO at Motilal Oswal Invest-
ment Advisors. “Investors want to find a
margin of safety through IPOs.”
For instance, instead of buying HDFC
Bank, one will buy a better-valued NBFC,
or non-banking financial company, like
Utkarsh Small Finance Bank Ltd, he says.
TIGHTER SCRUTINY
S ome SME IPOs have also received a
positive rub-off from higher traction
in the Indian manufacturing sector. For
now, this could mean impressive earn-
ings/order inflows for manufacturing-fo-
cused SMEs, but whether this sustains
requires closer tracking.
“SMEs are expected to declare results
once in six months. When they raise funds
through IPOs in September, there could
be a lag in reporting earnings and this
poses a problem as a profitable SME could
well become a loss-making one in a short
span of time,” says Arun Kejriwal, founder
of Kejriwal Research and Information Ser-
vices.
“Here, it would be helpful if the stock
exchanges are more attentive,” Kejriwal
adds.
In any case, mid- and small-cap stocks
are considered relatively riskier than
large-caps. SME stock prices tend to
undergo brutal corrections when market
sentiment is subdued. At such times, for-
get the large external risks, even an inter-
nal regulatory change can upset the apple
cart for SME stocks.
For instance, in a bid to curb speculative
trading and protect investors from volatil-
ity, Indian stock exchanges recently said
some SME stocks will come under the
Additional Surveillance Measures frame-
work, which entails closer scrutiny and
regulation of certain shares, and trade-to-
trade settlement that requires compulsory
delivery of shares.
In the last one month, the BSE SME IPO
Index has declined by 6%. In comparison
to the gains of 53% seen in this calendar
year so far, this correction may seem mar-
ginal. Even so, with the market regulator
tightening the screws on trading in these
counters, any expectations of superlative
returns may be dashed going ahead.
Moreover, when too much optimism
prevails in the equity markets, more often
than not, “a rising tide lifts all boats” sce-
nario plays out. The latest regulatory
tightening comes amid uncertainty in the
global economy and at a time that central
mint
SHORT
STORY
WHAT
IPOs are back on the radar
of investors. In the first
half of fiscal year 2023-24,
the number of IPOs was 31,
the highest since the same
period in 2007-08.
NEXT
Investors are looking at what
the rest of the year has in store.
As of 22 Sep, 28 companies
had approval from Sebi
for IPOs with an estimated sale
of ₹38,440 crore.
BUT
Two factors are worth watching
out for. In September, FPI flows
turned negative. Second, in the
run-up to state and
parliamentary elections, caution
may prevail among investors.
banks across the world are fighting to
tame inflation by raising interest rates.
There are other risks as well. According
to Jasani, the quality of the companies and
corporate governance may not be quite up
to the mark. So their stock prices could
soon come under pressure, resulting in
losses for investors in some of these IPOs.
Compared to a mainboard IPO, for SME
share sales, the disclosure norms are not
as stringent. Yet, after much-hyped large
IPOs such as those by Life Insurance Cor-
poration of India and Paytm disappointed
investors, perhaps some are willing to
overlook risks that come with SME IPOs.
“The ongoing euphoria in the SME IPO
segment suggests that these have become
more like a speculative vehicle rather than
an investment vehicle with some counters
seeing a sharp spike in volumes on the first
trading day,” says Rao.
IPOS LAG
C oming to mainboards, while IPO
activity may have revived in the first
half, it is worth noting that the funds
raised are still 26% lower than the pro-
ceeds from the amount mopped up in the
LIVEMINT.COM
PTI
NOT JUST IPOS
HOT CAKES
The number of IPO issues that hit Indian stock market in
H1FY24 was at a multi-year high
O verall public equity fundraising in
India was solid in the first half of
2023-24. And apart from IPOs, companies
40
are exploring other fund- raising avenues
30
Number of IPOs
31 as well. For instance, qualified institu-
tional placements (QIPs) surged 358%
from a year ago with 20 companies mobi-
20 19
lizing ₹18,443 crore, according to Prime
Database.
10 QIPs were dominated by financial ser-
vices and power generation companies,
0 which accounted for 70% of the overall
H1 H1
FY09
Data for mainboard IPOs; H1 of each financial year
refers to April-September
FY24
Source: primedatabase.com
amount. The rush for fundraising came
in the backdrop of the government’s
increased thrust on infrastructure devel-
opment that is expected to translate into
Good returns higher capital expenditure by compa-
Top-five companies by issue size in H1FY24 saw their nies.
shares rise meaningfully on their respective listing dates
Gains on listing day (in %)
WHAT NEXT?
JSW Infrastructure
Mankind Pharma
32.2 L
ike Nitin Rao, founder of investment
blog alphaideas, many market partici-
pants are betting that IPO activity will
31.7 remain robust at least for the next few
Concord Biotech months.
RR Kabel
15.8
27.2 Yet, two factors are worth watching out
for in the near term. One, foreign portfolio
investor, or FPI, flows need closer track-
Samhi Hotels ing. In September, flows turned negative
13.8 after being in the positive territory for six
straight months.
Source: NSE
“This is a risk to the broader market
SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
sentiment and puts potential IPO candi-
dates in a wait-and-watch mode as they
same period of the last fiscal year. look for stability or improvement in
Sure, one could argue that the mam- flows,” says Rao.
moth share sale by Life Insurance Corpo- Two, in the run-up to state and parlia-
ration of India drove last year’s numbers. mentary elections, caution may prevail
Even so, overall first-half numbers of among investors in general.
2022-23 are lower by “Eventually, nervous-
32% year-on-year. ness will creep in since
This trend is not In a bid to curb speculative the general election is a
unique to India. Globally trading, Indian stock mega event. This elec-
too, IPO activity has tion is relatively more
been slow this year. A exchanges recently said some crucial because the
recent Global IPO SME stocks will come under economy is on a strong
Trends report by EY, the growth path and any dis-
accounting and research the Additional Surveillance ruption in political sta-
firm formerly known as bility would dampen
Ernst & Young, points Measures framework. investor sentiment on
out that in the first nine stock market outlook,”
months of 2023, the number of global says Yatin Singh, head of investment
IPOs and proceeds were down 5% and banking at Emkay Global Financial Servi-
32%, respectively, versus the same period ces.
last year. After touching highs, Nifty is now at
Broadly, emerging markets have been 19,653.50 points.
resilient. “Collectively, emerging markets For now, Mankind’s investors are not
have made up 77% of the global share by complaining. From its sale price, the stock
number and 75% by value in the first three has gained almost 67% in a spectacular
quarters of 2023 and sustained their dom- outperformance.
inance despite the slowed momentum Dipti Sharma contributed to this story.
from Mainland China,” says the EY report. harsha.j@htlive.com
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verybody wants a piece of
the mutual fund (MF) pie. A
mind-boggling ₹46 trillion
assets under management,
and still going strong, the
MF industry in India has thus been
witness to a flurry of new fund houses
setting up shop. Fintech firms, too,
have joined the race with their cut-
ting edge innovations . And the latest
to join the bandwagon is Groww
Asset Management Company
(Groww AMC), which started its oper-
ations in June after acquiring Indiab-
ulls AMC. Groww has launched a
first-of-its-kind total market index
fund, which will invest in 750 stocks
across large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap
and micro-cap companies and cover-
ing 96% of the market capitalization.
But do investors need the new fund?
The company says they do. “We want
to offer a well-diversified fund, in par-
ticular to retail investors who are yet to
experience equity investing. Also, right
now valuations are slightly on the
higher side in mid- and small-cap seg-
ments. So, this fund offers stability of
large-caps,” points out Varun Gupta,
chief executive officer of Groww AMC.
The nitty-gritty
As a passively-managed fund,
Groww Nifty Total Market Index Fund
will track the Nifty Total Market Index.
The Nifty Total Market Index includes
Nifty 500 Index stocks and Nifty
Microcap 250 Index stocks. Micro cap
companies are those that have less than
₹5,000 crore of market capitalization.
The Nifty 500 Index can be split into
large-caps (1-100 stocks in market-cap
terms), mid-caps (101-250 stocks) and
small-caps (251-500 stocks).
In terms of weightages, the Nifty
Total Market Index will have 72%
weightage in large-caps, followed by
mid-caps (16.1%), small cap (8.6%) and
micro cap (3.4%). Micro caps will have
the least weightage as these compa-
nies’ market capitalizations are much
lower than other market segments.
What works
The large stock coverage of the fund
offers exposure to a well-diversified
portfolio, across different company
sizes and sectors.
“This fund may be more suitable for
first-time equity investors, who are not
sure how investments should be allo-
cated across different market segments
or which funds to pick,” says Arun
Kumar, head of research, FundsIndia.
The fund can outperform concen-
trated indices like Nifty 50, when
there is a broader market rally. Funds
tracking the Nifty 50 Index invest in
the top 50 companies in India in
terms of market capitalization.
When market sentiments are weak,
investor flows are limited to these large
cap names. Mid-cap and small-cap
pockets of the stock market tend to
What a car loan costs you
It is tempting to buy a new car, be it an upgrade, a first car or another car for the family. Whatever
be the reason, a car loan makes the purchase easier. Car loans are usually of three to five years
but some lenders may offer loans for up to seven years too. A loan for longer may mean smaller
equated monthly instalments (EMIs), which makes the car seem more affordable, but overall, you
Interest
Lender
rate (%)
Indian Bank 8.60-9.50
State Bank of India 8.65-9.75
Bank of Maharashtra 8.70-13.00
UCO Bank 8.70-10.55
Bank of Baroda 8.75-12.05
IDBI Bank Limited 8.75-9.55
Punjab National Bank 8.75-9.60
Union Bank of India 8.75-10.50
CSB Bank 8.75-11.00
Canara Bank 8.80-11.95
Bank of India 8.85-10.75
Indian Overseas Bank 8.85-10.05
Punjab & Sind Bank 8.85-10.25
HDFC Bank 8.85
ICICI Bank Ltd. 8.95
Banks that have not updated information on their websites are not included here. Data was taken from bank websites on 14 September 2023. The EMI range is
indicative and calculated on the basis of interest rate range. In an actual situation, it may include other fees and charges. Actual applicable interest rate may
vary based on the credit profile, loan amount, tenure and as per bank’s discretion. #Up to 100% concession available under BOB Festivanza Offer; *Technical
issue with website **NIL processing fees for loan facility up to ₹5 lakh availed by Micro & Small Enterprises subject to URC submission prior to disbursal.
PARAS JAIN/MINT
MINT MONEY MONDAY, 9 OCTOBER 2023
CHENNAI 11
POWER
POINT
A N S H U L G U P TA
We welcome your views and comments at
mintmoney@livemint.com
HOW CORPORATE
BONDS CAN REACH
Total Market Index against other indices The tracking RETAIL INVESTORS
Groww Total Market Index Fund will have widest stock coverage, but can it make a difference?
difference
O
Rolling returns over 15-year ver the last year, the Securities and Exchange Board of
Point-to-point returns vs Nifty 50 vs Nifty 500 (in %)
and 10-year periods India (Sebi) has been working relentlessly to enhance the
P
24.7 24.1 assively-managed funds, participation of retail investors in the corporate bonds mar-
Nifty Total Market Index
21.9 Nifty 500 Three-year returns rolled from whether index funds or ket. It started in October 2022 with a circular titled ‘Reduction in
Nifty 50 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2023 (in %) exchange traded funds , denomination for debt securities and non-convertible redeemable
18.5 aim to mimic returns of an preference shares’, whereby it reduced the minimum face value of
17.6 39.7
16.1 36.4 underlying index. These funds listed debt securities under private placement from ₹10 lakh to ₹1
15.1 14.9
13.8 are expected to invest in the lakh. For the uninitiated, the ticket size of publicly issued bonds is
index stocks in the exact pro- ₹1,000. In November 2022, Sebi’s subsequent circular titled
portion as they are in the index. ‘Registration and Regulatory Framework for Online Bond Plat-
10.5 10.5 The more efficient the fund is in form Providers (OBPPs)’ prohibited these providers from facili-
tracking the index, the least is tating unlisted debt securities transactions to protect retail inves-
the tracking difference of the tors from liquidity risk in such investments.
-5.8 fund vis-à-vis the index. What While the right intentions guide Sebi’s regulations, there is still
1 year 3 years 5 years -9.8 can lead to such deviations? a lot of scope to increase the participation of retail investors in the
More than 1-year returns are annualized Data as on 30 September 2023 Nifty 50 Nifty TMI corporate bonds space while protecting their interests. For exam-
ple, the ticket size of privately placed corporate bonds is still much
Average Minimum Maximum
higher than what more retail investors can afford. Here are the four
Sector allocation: Nifty TMI vs Nifty 500
Three-year returns rolled from key reasons why this should be reduced even further:
Nifty TMI Weights (%) Nifty 500 Weights (in %) 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2023 (in %) Diversification challenges: Ideally, retail investors should
30.1 30.7 allocate 5-10% of their portfolio to bonds to realize any meaningful
30.9 32.4
37.3 36.1 gains. A higher ticket size restricts investors from diversifying across
multiple bonds because even by investing ₹1 lakh, they can only buy
a single bond unit. Even to invest ₹5 lakh in bonds, their overall
10.9 11.6 investment portfolio should be around ₹25-50 lakh. Such a portfolio
Indices are re-balanced at regu- is only possible for those under the ₹25-50 lakh annual net income
lar intervals. This can be done bracket. As per the financial year 2022-23 ITR filings data, only
6.3 10.1 6.3 10.3
quarterly or semi-annually. 500,000 people meet that criterion. So, the total addressable mar-
-5.2 -7.1 If a new stock is added to the ket of retail investors who can derive value from bond investments
8.0 8.2 8.1 8.4 index and the fund delays is extremely restricted. For the rest of the retail investors, the ticket
Nifty 50 Nifty TMI
Financials IT Oil & Gas FMCG Auto Others investing in it, this could cause size of ₹1 lakh is a major hindrance. As a
tracking differences. Similarly, As with MFs, result, they mostly rely on low-yield
Market coverage (% of total m-cap) Exposures across different market caps if the fund is not able to immedi- fixed deposits for their debt allocation.
there is a need
ately exit the stock after removal constraints: The next natu-
to meaningfully ralSupply
25 Large cap
Nifty TMI
(1st-100th) from index, this can again cause question is: Why don’t retail investors
4 Covered 9 Nifty Total
3
Outside
Market Index
Weights (%)
72 16 9
tracking difference. The effec- promote retail explore bonds through public issues?
coverage
0 20 40 60 80 100
Mid cap
(101st-250th)
tive date of such inclusions and participation in According to Sebi’s 2022-23 Annual
25 exclusions is announced much bond markets Report, in FY 23, private placements
96 92 Nifty 500 Small cap in advance so that the funds can made 98.79% of the debt mobilized in
Weights (%) 75 16 9 (250th-500th) execute these trades in a timely India. Only the remaining 1.21% was
51 49 0 20 40 60 80 100
manner. The fund’s cash hold- raised through publicly issued bonds. This means most of the bond
Nifty 500 Micro cap
Note: The 1st to 100th company in market cap terms are classified as ings to meet investor redemp- supply is available at ₹1 lakh ticket size. There are very few good pub-
Nifty 50 (501st-750th)
large caps, followed by mid caps, small caps and micro caps tions could also lead to tracking lic issues in which retail investors can participate meaningfully.
Percentages have been rounded-off differences. Investor awareness and faith: To adopt a new asset class, retail
investors always need a positive nudge and a leap of faith. An exam-
PRANAY BHARDWAJ/MINT ple case is mutual funds, which gained mass when the ticket size was
outperform when sentiments are returns of 10.54%, only marginally out- micro-caps and slightly lower weight exposure in micro cap companies. reduced to ₹500. Over the years, bite-sized mutual funds became
strong. The Total Market Fund— with performing Nifty 50 Index with 10.5% in large-caps at 72%. Can this fund When broader markets rally, the accessible to millions of households at the tap of a button. On the
24.7% weightage to mid-cap and small- returns (see graphic). meaningfully outperform the Nifty Total Market Fund can outperform contrary, the ₹1 lakh ticket size becomes a substantial friction for
cap stocks—is likely to do better than The same exercise over a 10-year 500 Index with the help of its micro narrow indices like Nifty 50. retail investors who want to explore corporate bonds. This friction
Nifty 50 during such periods. At the period shows that the Nifty Total Mar- cap allocation? Only time will tell. Broader market indices tend to do should be reduced significantly to give a similar chance to bonds.
same time, as the fund has higher ket Index has delivered average three- What should investors do well during such periods. “Investors Regulatory parity: As per the July amendments to Sebi’s Issue
weight in large-caps, it is likely to be year returns of 11.61%, against Nifty 50’s Actively-managed funds, particu- who have just experienced bank and Listing of Non-Convertible Securities Regulations, 2021, issu-
less volatile than mid cap returns of 10.93% larly in large-cap segment, have seen fixed deposits or other simple prod- ances of non-convertible securities through private or public place-
and small cap funds. Investors can let The Nifty Total Market their outperformance shrink. But ucts can consider such an all-market ments have similar processes and disclosures. Therefore, it also
What doesn’t work the fund build Index has delivered that’s not yet the case when it comes to fund to start their equity journey. As makes logical sense to eliminate the disparity of ticket size of pub-
A comparison of three- a track record higher three-year returns mid-cap and small-cap funds. Here, it is a passive fund trying to mimic licly issued and privately placed listed bonds.
year rolling returns and see how in 1,463 observations, actively-managed funds have contin- the index, there is no risk of under- There are several other reasons which emphasize the need for a
between Nifty 50 and while the Nifty 50 has ued to demonstrate their ability to out- performance due to the fund man- smaller ticket size of privately placed bonds for retail investors. At
efficiently it can
Nifty Total Market Index delivered higher three- perform benchmark indices. ager’s investment decisions,” points ₹1,000 ticket size, millions of investors who currently invest in tradi-
shows that the latter has track the year returns in 1,013 “There is still ample scope of out- out Nirav Karkera, head of research tional fixed-income products like fixed deposits, which does not
delivered higher three- underlying index observations. performance in actively-managed at Fisdom. Stock selection, assigning beat inflation, will have the motivation to explore bonds for the debt
year returns in 1,814 In terms of weightages, mid-cap and small-cap funds. So, of weightages to each stock, entry part of their portfolio. As a by-product, corporates will have more
observations. While Nifty the index has a lot of simi- investors with a certain understanding and exit will all happen in accord- opportunities to raise funds via the debt market to grow their busi-
50 has delivered higher three-year larities to Nifty 500. The Nifty 500 of MFs should still look for actively- ance with index’s semi-annual ness. This will also have a positive ripple effect in the form of
returns in 1,901 observations. Index has 75% weight in large-caps, managed funds in mid-cap and small- re-balancing. increased liquidity in the debt market: a win-win situation for every-
The three-year returns have been 16% in mid-caps and 9% in small-caps. cap space, along with a traditional Investors can let the fund build a one. Considering all these points, we can sum up that Sebi has put
rolled daily over a 15-year period, from The Total Market Index covers 250 Nifty 50 Index for a large cap exposure, track record and see how efficiently it sufficient guard rails in place to protect retail investors from any sys-
1 April 2008 to 31 March 2023. On an micro cap stocks in addition to the to complete their equity portfolio,” can track the underlying index. The tematic risk while investing in corporate bonds. Thus, it is high time
average, the Nifty Total Market Index stocks in the Nifty 500 Index. How- says Kumar of FundsIndia. Certain new fund offer is open for subscription they explore this asset class without worrying about the ticket sizes.
has delivered three-year annualized ever, the index has just 3.4% weight to small-cap funds also take sizeable from 3-17 October. Anshul Gupta is co-founder and chief investment officer, Wint Wealth
How is withdrawal of PF contribution taxed?
Parizad Sirwalla received under a life insurance
policy (including amount allo-
pay more as interest. Don’t forget that a car is a depreciating asset, so taking a bigger loan I am a 62-year-old retiree cated by way of bonus) issued
may not be the best thing to do. But if you take a car loan for a short duration, the EMIs and my employee’s provi- between 1 April 2003 and 31
will be heavy and non-payment will mean a blot on your credit report. Conditions dent fund (EPF) contribu- March 2012 is exempt from tax
apply to the loan amount also. For instance, some lenders give a loan for the full tions from five different provided the annual premium
ex-showroom price of the car, while others may offer a loan up to 80%. Apart from employers over the years paid is less than 20% of the
the interest rate on a car loan, also take a look at the applicable processing fee and have been linked to one capital sum assured.
other charges. universal account number If the policy is issued on or
Loan amount = ₹1 lakh. Tenure = 5 years (UAN) since January 2010. after 1 April 2012, then the
Will the accumulated maturity proceeds would be
credit in my EPF account exempt from tax, provided the
EMI (₹) Processing fee attract income tax on with- annual premium paid is less
drawal? than 10% of the capital sum
2,056-2,100 Nil —Name withheld on request assured.
2,059-2,112 Nil In the instant case, as the
As per the relevant provi- ASK MINT employment, shall however be annual premium paid for both
2,061-2,275 Nil sions of the Income-tax Act, m TA X AT I O N taxable in your hands. the policies is less than 20%
2,061-2,152 1% (Max ₹1,500) withdrawal of accumulated and 10%, respectively, of the
2,064-2,227 ₹1,500 + GST for upto ₹10 lakh & ₹2,000 + GST above ₹10 lakh#
balance in theEPF account is I bought two policies of capital sum assured , the
exempt from tax provided the assumed that you have also LIC Jeevan Saral in 2009 amount received by you on
2,064-2,103 Up to ₹2,500 employee has rendered ‘con- transferred the balance in your and 2012. Each had sum surrender of the policy shall be
2,064-2,105 Not available* tinuous service’ with his PF accounts with the erstwhile assured of ₹10 lakh, with a exempt from tax.
employer for period of five employers (though under the monthly premium of Such receipt should be
2,064-2,149 ₹1,000 (Nil for staff members) years or more. Further, if the same UAN) to the new ₹4,083 and a maturity reported as an exempt income
2064-2174 Not available on website employee changes his job and employer, as per the pre- period of 20 years. I sur- by selecting appropriate drop-
2,066-2,222 100% waiver from 1 Sep 2023 to 31 Dec 2023 under Retail Loan Festival
transfers the balance in his PF scribed process (i.e., all PF rendered these policies in down option in Schedule EI /
account from the erstwhile accumulation at your credit July after paying premium ‘exempt income’ in the income
2,069-2,162 0.25% (Min ₹1,000 and Max ₹5,000) employer to the PF account of stand in one PF account at the for 14 years and 11 years, tax return form.
2,069-2,127 As applicable the new employer, then the time of superannuation). respectively, and received Parizad Sirwalla is partner
period of employment with In such case, since the total maturity amount of ₹9.44 and head, global mobility servi-
2,069-2,137 0.25% (min ₹1,000 and max ₹15,000); Up to 50% concession available the previous employers is also service period exceeds 5 years, lakh and ₹8.63 lakh. Are ces, tax, KPMG in India.
2,069 0.5%, min ₹3,500 and max ₹8,0000** included in computing the the withdrawal of accumu- these taxable? If not, do I
2,073 ₹ 999 to ₹ 8,500 + applicable GST
period of ‘continuous service’. lated balance up to the date of need to show them in next Do you have a personal
We understand that you cessation of last contribution, year’s income tax return? finance query? Send in your
queries at
have been contributing to PF shall be exempt from tax in -Kaushik K Ghosh
since January 2010, under the your hands. Any interest mintmoney@livemint.com
and get them answered by
same UAN (Universal Account accrued on such accumulated As per the provisions of
Source: MyMoneyMantra.com industry experts.
Number). Further, it is balance post cessation of Income-tax Act, any sum
12 MONDAY, 9 OCTOBER 2023
CHENNAI VIEWS LIVEMINT.COM

OUR VIEW MY VIEW | THE INTERSECTION

MINT

Championing pluralism globally

will make India a ‘vishwaguru’
The 21st century world is in need of a better organizing principle than national self-determination

traditions that explicitly or grudgingly nate them. The recursiveness and

accept it.
It is not a coincidence that the Indian
republic is among the post-colonial
states of the 20th century that has
stayed united, democratic and prosper-
ous. Most countries that acquired inde-
pendence after World War I did so on
the basis of their right to national self-
NITIN PAI determination. If you could claim to be
is co-founder and director of The a ‘nation’ you could assert a right to an
Takshashila Institution, an independent independent state. However, if you
centre for research and education in think about it, there’s nothing natural in
public policy. this ‘right’ as different nationalities and
majoritarianism are not aberrations,
only logical consequence of a world that
accepts the right to national determina-
tion without any enforceable obliga-
tions to human liberty.
The answer is a world of states that
look a lot more like the Indian republic.
This is a world that accepts the legiti-
macy of religious, racial, ethnic, lin-
guistic and cultural communities while
upholding the individual’s fundamen-
tal rights. No community has a consti-
tutional or moral right to supremacy. If

Our inflation fight calls

ethnic groups lived under empires for they so wish, members of any group
most of history. Similarly, there is no could believe that they are better than

C
ontrary to what its critics think, single definition of what qualifies as a others, but this has no basis in law.
India is well placed to be a vishwa- nation. The emergence of the US as a More importantly, social traditions
guru, an exemplar state that power in the 1910s and its leaders’ dim uphold pluralism and civic values pro-

for a fiscal pullback too shows the world the way towards a better
future. Like all good gurus, it is neither
perfect nor without self-doubt. Its many
failings are open for all to see. Just like a
view of European colonialism led to the
Wilsonian moment; anti-colonial back-
lashes and internationalism coincided
with the decline of war-ravaged Euro-
mote tolerance. The state itself is neu-
tral, even if democratic politics often
appeals to communal and sectarian
causes.
good guru need not be a mahatma, it is pean empires and led to the enshrine- This is not always rosy in practice
not necessary for India to attain moral, ment of the right to national self-deter- and we in India are rightly cynical
RBI has reiterated its focus on taming inflation but a key role will also have to be played by political or economic superpowerdom to mination. The Indian freedom move- about the difference between the ideal
put forth its formula to improve how the ment benefited from these favourable and the day-to-day. Even so—and this
the Centre, which must resist overspending and stick to its fiscal glide path at the very least world governs itself. moral winds, but Partition came as an is important—the Indian system, with
That formula is pluralism. It is the early reminder that national self-deter- all its ugly warts and imperfections,
single value that is consistent with our mination is a double-edged sword. outperforms the alternatives. People in
philosophical traditions, social behav- What has all this got to do with India the Balkans, the Middle East, Central

T
he Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
under Governor Shaktikanta Das
has tended to surprise markets by
using tools other than policy rates
of interest. In Friday’s bi-monthly
review, while RBI again left its repo
rate unchanged at 6.5% and stuck with its
“withdrawal of accommodation” stance, it
announced plans to sell government bonds in
the open market that made bond players sit up.
Last time’s heavy freeze of bank cash, seen as
an action triggered by its variable rate reverse
repo vacuum proving a tad weak, was thought
to have plugged gaps in its liquidity control
schema. And, at this point of the calendar,
before a long poll season, RBI wasn’t expected
to suck too much money out. With volatile
retail prices RBI’s focal concern right now,
however, hawkish signals of less funds to go
around and dearer money than expected sent
Indian bond yields up sharply on Friday. As US
short-term bonds now yield 5% plus, it’s possi-
ble that RBI had the rupee’s external stability
(as linked to asset-related inflows and out-
volatile after the outbreak of hostilities in West iour and constitutional structure. The as a global champion of pluralism? Well, America, the Caucasus and many
Asia on Saturday, even though it’s only a faint Jain philosophy of ‘anekantavada’ or national self-determination has run its regions of Africa have trapped them-
non one-sidedness accepts the legiti- course and is no longer a good principle selves in sub-optimal states and
echo of the shock that followed an Israel-Arab macy of all standpoints and looks down to organize international politics. Its unsustainable economies because of
war in 1973, today’s risks look loaded against on those that claim a monopoly on cor- flip-side is ethnic majoritarianism. The their majoritarian polities. Lives would
local inflation panning out in line with RBI’s rectness. The Bhagavad Gita accepts a consequence of majoritarianism is be far better for billions of people if
dotted curve. Should oil flare up further, for multiplicity of paths even while con- secessionism based on—you guessed they were to re-organize themselves
example, New Delhi might opt to absorb the tending that some are superior to oth- it—the right to self-determination. The into inclusive, tolerant and pluralist
ers. Kautilya enjoins the victorious king Bengalis of Pakistan had enough of federations instead of tiny
cost in an effort to keep a lid on fuel-fed retail to respect the gods and traditions of Punjabi domination and created Bang- warring states.
inflation, but it would still queer RBI’s pitch for conquered people, implying a pluralist ladesh. Likewise, Eritreans split from We must, of course, regain the
achieving 4% even by the second half of 2024. state. Many Mughal emperors, most Ethiopia, Timorese from Indonesia, confidence in our own state and con-
After farm-supply woes and deficient rains over famously Akbar, conceded to pluralism Kosovars from Serbia and Southerners tinue to promote pluralism at home. It is
the summer, RBI’s forecast of 5.4% for 2023-24 in matters of state, as did the British col- from Sudan, among others. the way to address Kashmir, Manipur,
onists who came after them. But there are many more people delimitation, caste politics and commu-
had already begun to look rather Panglossian, The political and social practice of around the world struggling to break nal harmony. The more we succeed, the
and that was before geopolitical instability pluralism through our history was in away from domination. And if they do stronger our vishwaguru credentials
returned as a factor to reckon with in energy. part a realist acceptance of a large and get to form their own nation-state, the will be. A world constructed along the
The clarity of RBI’s clarion call on chasing an highly diverse population. But political chances are that they too will first try to lines of the Indian Union will be far
exact target can be interpreted as a dare taken pluralism would not have endured had cleanse their country of troublesome better than the one we currently live in.
it not been legitimized by philosophical minorities and then proceed to domi- It will also be in India’s own interests.
on by it to give inflation targeting an earnest
shot. It would be a big credibility win at the
macro level in favour of cheaper capital on a
sustainable basis, as loaned money will no
longer be inflated away at volatile rates and so
risk charges for long tenures should ease. For
a credible lid of 4% to be placed on inflation, www.livemint.com
New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh*, Pune* Wednesday, October 9, 2013 Vol.7 No.241 `3.00 in Delhi-NCR/`4.00 outside Delhi-NCR 24 PAGES

flows) partly in mind. But its approach seems though, the government will have to assist the INTERNATIONAL: Higgs, Englert
win Physics Nobel >24
CORPORATE: PNB, OBC reduce
lending rates; SBI to follow >6

directly aimed at the internal stability of our effort with a fiscal rein-back. The Centre has CONTENT PARTNER
AUTO: Passenger car sales decline
in Apr-Sep, first time in 10 years >5
NATION: Google survey says 37% of
India’s urban voters are online >4

currency—at inflation, i.e., which the central intervened in markets to calm specific prices, SENSEX 19,983.61 Æ 88.51

RAGHURAM RAJAN/RBI
NIFTY 5,928.40 Æ 22.25 DOLLAR `61.80 ®

INDIA TO GROW SLOWER THAN FMC accuses

EURO `83.96 Æ `0.13 GOLD `30,510 Æ `360 OIL $110.37 Æ $0.69

QUICK EDIT

Things will SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA IN 2013 NSEL directors The birth

bank said it is aiming to push down to 4%, the but more crucial would be for it to abide by its of defrauding
According to the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook released on

Inflation is a
Tuesday, India’s economy will grow by 3.8% in 2013-14, lower than the rate at which
sub-Saharan Africa’s economy will expand (5%). To be sure, the numbers are based on
of Fordism
gross domestic product (GDP) at market prices which IMF prefers. At factor cost,
investors
get better A
which India’s government and economists here use, India’s GDP will expand 4.25% hundred years ago
this fiscal, according to IMF, well below the government’s projection of 5-5.5%. The this week, Henry
Fund expects poor performance in the manufacturing and service sectors, and that a B Y A NIRUDH L ASKAR & Ford introduced one of
tight money policy will crimp demand. The multilateral agency expects India’s growth
to improve to 5% (GDP at factor cost) in 2014-15. At market prices, it expects the S UNIL B .S . the great innovations of
Indian economy to grow marginally faster, at 5.1%.
························· our industrial civilization

mid-point of its official target band. stated fiscal glide path towards 4.5% of GDP by
See Page 24 MUMBAI —the moving assembly

for India T he Forward Markets Com- line. He inaugurated a

IMF’s October estimate July estimate April estimate Year-on-year (%)
mission (FMC) has ac- new era of standardized

form of tax, a tax

2013* 2014* cused the promoters and di- production that allowed
3.8 5.1 rectors of National Spot Ex- him to lower car prices. A
India 5.6 6.3 change Ltd (NSEL) of complic- Model T was the first car
5.7 ity in the cheating of investors. to roll off the assembly
6.2
B Y T AMAL B ANDYOPADHYAY
A NIL P ADMANABHAN
&
mint INTERVIEW 7.6 7.3
While questioning their “fit
and proper” status, the com-
line in Detroit that day.
That was apt, since it was

Governor Das’s statement spelt out RBI’s 2025-26. With general elections due in 2024,
························· modities market regulator has the first people’s car.
MUMBAI China 7.8 7.7
tion, at least of some kinds; pressed, in a 40-page show- Ford had many critics

T he news on the economy and more savings, financial 8 8.2 cause notice, multiple charges who said the atomization
will only start getting savings”. Edited excerpts: 5 6 against NSEL directors, includ- of the production process
better from now, Re- Sub-Saharan 5.9 ing Jignesh Shah, for allegedly reduced the worker to a

that we all collectively

serve Bank of India (RBI) gov-
ernor Raghuram Rajan said in
an interview on Tuesday, his
first to an Indian newspaper
5.1
Has the economy bottomed out? Is Africa perpetrating the `5,600 crore mere cog in the machine,
the worst behind us? 5.6 6.1 settlement fraud and conspir- a fact that was brilliantly
I think the news from now -0.4 1 ing to cheat investors inten- lampooned by Charlie
on will start getting better. The tionally. Chaplin in his Modern

focus crisply: “I would like to emphatically can this year’s 5.9% budget goal be met? And
since he took charge at the
central bank on 4 September.
Rajan listed the factors behind
his assessment—rising exports
in the second quarter, the pos-
sibility that the problems in US
would be temporary and that
good news of the second quar- Euro area -0.6 0.9 Mint has reviewed a copy of Times. But even Lenin
ter of the year was the rising -0.3 1.1 the show-cause notice. advised his followers to
exports. I worry that if the According to the show-cause learn from Ford.
1.6 2.6
problem of the US continues or notice served on NSEL’s pro- The world has moved
gets worse, that could impact US 1.7 2.7 moters and directors, despite on since then. Factories
exports a little. But if the US 1.9 3 repeated warnings from the are increasingly being
slowdown is temporary, and I spot exchange’s internal audi- automated. Service sector
2.9 3.6

must pay.
lawmakers in that country think they (members of the US tors and continuing defaults by jobs are becoming more
would arrive at a fiscal deal, Congress) will eventually do World 3.1 3.8 the exchange’s borrowers, its important. This is the age

reiterate that our inflation target is 4% and not can the fisc in 2024-25 be kept under 5.2%? A
stronger agricultural produc-
tion, and the revival of many
projects that were stalled.
Rajan added that the first
signs of revival would likely
surface in the sector that went
down first—large infrastruc-
ture projects.
some fiscal deal, then I would
think that we have two or three
positives in the second half of
the fiscal year.
One is stronger agriculture
production, which looks very
healthy and all the related
stuff—fruits, vegetables, poul-
3.3 4 board continued to lure inves- of the knowledge worker.
Growth projections for India and other economies in the table are GDP at market prices. In terms of GDP tors with assured return But we must not forget
at factor cost, as per data released by the Indian government, the IMF’s growth projections for India for schemes. They also helped de- that it was the assembly
2013-2014 and 2014-15 are 4.25% and 5%, respectively. faulting members secure credit line that revolutionized
*For India, the period is 2013-14 and 2014-15 Source: International Monetary Fund
from banks by providing cor- the production process,
ALSO >MARK TO MARKET: The structural-cyclical split in slowdown >P14 porate guarantees. and made many factory
SEE >Views: The Indian economy is in a deep mess >P22 goods cheaper.
TURN TO PAGE 2®
PARAS JAIN/MINT

2 to 6%.” The emphasis on a specific figure is caste rumble in the arena of politics could alter
It was in 2010-11 that “the try, etc.
first large projects started stall- Second, the projects that
ing”, he said. When these had slowed down or stalled are
projects are revived, Rajan
said, benefits will accrue from
coming on stream. Power
should start picking up; we Cabinet clears
the projects themselves, the li-
quidity that is released into the
have already seen pretty strong
power production in the last Bill that gives
market, and the spillover effect
on suppliers. The first set of
core IIP (index of industrial
production) numbers. statutory

relevant in the context of a macro debate over the power calculus and tempt New Delhi to
stalled projects were revived in And third is exports.
January, he said, and the im- These three legs could help status to UIDAI

pact is beginning to be seen
now.
In Rajan’s scheme of things,
the two central pillars of mon-
etary policy are controlling in-
flation and maintaining finan-
HE N RY HA Z L I T T
lift us. We have already seen
auto exports pick up quite
strongly. One of the things I B Y L IZ M ATHEW &
am actually quite pleasantly K IRTHI V . R AO
surprised at is the capacity of ·························
the economy to react. For ex- NEW DELHI

cial stability; growth is inci- ample, take the highly indebt-

T he Union cabinet on Tues-

the wisdom of US-style inflation targeting and delay its pullback. But this would make price
dental because control over in-
flation creates the best
environment for growth. Infla-
tion is his primary concern,
but the fight against inflation
will take into account the state
of the economy.
India needs two transforma-
tions, Rajan said: “More in-
ed corporate sector. You have
seen large indebted companies
now selling assets. We need
more of that. Because it’s not
that the system as a whole
doesn’t have liquidity. There
are companies sitting on
tonnes of cash. Could they buy
from these guys? Could foreign
day cleared the National
Identification Authority of In-
dia Bill, giving statutory back-
ing to the Unique Identifica-
tion Authority of India (UIDAI)
which issues Aadhaar num-
bers, even as the Supreme
Court refused to modify its
earlier order against making

the flexibility needed by RBI to account for stability even harder to attain. For the sake of
vestment, and less consump- investors come in? Could the
asset reconstruction compa-
nies be started up once again
to buy more bad loans from
the banks? These are things we
need to find ways to energize.
So this would be one way to ener-
gize the investment cycle and
make consolidation happen, rather
the Aadhaar number compul-
sory for availing benefits.
The Bill, which will likely be
taken up in the winter session
of Parliament, is long overdue
and its consideration by the
cabinet may have been
prompted by the Supreme
Court’s observations on 23

supply rigidities. At 6.8% in August, down from our economy, the government must not over-
than greenfield projects?
Exactly. If the liquidity-
TURN TO PAGE 10®
NOTE TO READERS
The Media Marketing Initiatives on
Page 21 are the equivalent of
September that the Aadhaar
number cannot be mandatory
for government schemes.
“The Bill is to give a statuto-
ry backing to the UIDAI for is-
suing Aadhaar numbers and
delineate power and functions
of the authority,” said a gov-
ernment official, who did not

7.4% in July, retail inflation has been very high. spend. Whatever the odds of taming inflation,
paid-for advertisements, and no Mint wish to be identified.
journalists were involved in creating A spokesperson for UIDAI
them. Readers would do well to treat declined comment.
Mint is also available for R7 with them as advertisements.
Hindustan Times in Delhi-NCR only TURN TO PAGE 3®

With global crude oil prices looking even more a tighter fisc will certainly help.

MY VIEW | MODERN TIMES

Is it illegal in India to push views that China may like?

funnelled crores into an outfit that is practi-
MANU JOSEPH cally not worth a fraction of that. So what was
Singham buying; what was Newsclick sell-
ing? If Newsclick is a journalistic organiza-
tion, then it appears shady. As a pressure
group, it fares a bit better, but morally it is in
jailed for years on feeble grounds. As a result, nese state media… These groups operate in sclick has done such a bad job China should
India has acquired a poor global reputation, coordination. They have cross-posted arti- be more livid than India.
by which we of course mean a reputation in cles and shared one another’s content on Newsclick, in its feeble defence, has not
the West. India is just a little better than social media hundreds of times.” denied it took Singham’s money. It has said
China and Russia in Western perceptions of The NYT had reported on Singham that no matter who funded it, it remains
freedom. Why it is not in the same league is before. In a 2021 story, ‘How Beijing influen- “independent.” Maybe the views of Purkay-

T
he activist outfit, Newsclick, is under
attack from the Indian government on
the suspicion that it is funded by China
to unsettle India. Its founder Prabir Purkay-
astha has been arrested and at the time of fil-
ing this column was held under the Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act, one of those strin-
gent laws that has introduced many Indians
the grey area. In either case, there is no evi- probably because it is convenient for the ces the influencers,’ it reported that some astha, who has never hidden his affection for
dence that it is a criminal syndicate. The West to imagine that the American social media the communist movement in India, were so
government, once again, has used dispro- largest democracy in the influencers who showed a aligned with Singham’s that the millionaire
portionate force against activists. world is a better place than Newsclick’s pleasant side of China or did not have to bribe anyone. He had to just
It has been probing Newsclick for three China or Russia. The New- transmitted fake news that help Newsclick survive.
years using its formidable powers, including sclick case, though, adds defence may vilified the US were funded But even if, for a moment, we accept that
those of the Enforcement Directorate, and some credibility to India’s by China. But it would be Purkayastha accepted money to promote
has found nothing substantive to prove New- suspicions of the organized
work better if it unthinkable for the US China’s views, is it illegal? Unethical maybe,

is a journalist, novelist, and the

to the word ‘draconian.’ Several freelancers
who had contributed to the site were ques-
creator of the Netflix series,
‘Decoupled’
tioned for hours by the Delhi police, and
many more are deemed “suspects.” Main-
stream journalistic bodies see in this episode
yet another effort by the government to
intimidate its foes. They are not wrong, but
Newsclick does not emerge well at all.
The police has leaked to the media that
Newsclick has received about ₹38 crore in
donations since 2017 from non-profits and
shell companies linked to a wealthy Ameri-
can named Neville Roy Singham who con-
siders himself a “Marxist” and has close links
to the Chinese government. Whatever the
actual figure, it does appear that Singham
sclick is waging a war against India on
China’s behalf. The First Information Report
against Purkayastha, which the Delhi police
only reluctantly showed him after a court
order to do so, makes vague claims.
Over the years, the Bharatiya Janata
Party’s government has demonstrated a spe-
cial concern for not-for-profit organizations.
It is as though the party is privy to their
secret powers. After all, one of them, the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, did help bag
India for the party. So maybe other not-for-
profits can do it for others?
Over the past decade, the government has
created an environment of fear among activ-
ists who are critical of it. Some have been
empathy industry.
In August, The New York
is mounted on government to imprison
such influencers under an
as all of sponsored activism is, but illegal? He
did not try to create an insurrection or cause
Times ran a story that por-
trayed Singham as a shad-
the question anti-terror law. Freedom is
a habit, and America has
any injury. Does India not allow us the free-
dom to make a living off propaganda?
owy millionaire who indi- of our right to had it much longer than Indian activists who have faced similar
rectly funded several orga- India. And freedom should trouble from the government in the past
nizations around the world propaganda ideally include the right to have gone to the Supreme Court with pious
to promote China’s point be morally grey or even claims of innocence. It would be more
of view. One of the opera- corrupt, as long as one does meaningful if they instead went asking if
tions he funded through the circuitous not pose a danger to others. they, like Americans, have a right to non-
route, the report states, was Newsclick. In that light, it makes sense for Indian criminal propaganda, and if they do, do they
In several parts of the world, Singham’s journalists who are not aligned with the BJP have the right to access foreign funds? That
intervention created “a seemingly organic to condemn the disproportionate use of would settle the whole business once and for
bloom of far-left groups that echo Chinese state power on an activist who may at worst all. Otherwise, the government will have an
government talking points, echo one have hustled some funds. If the money was upper hand. So often, what people need but
another, and are echoed in turn by the Chi- for promoting Chinese propaganda, New- never ask for is the right to mediocrity.
LIVEMINT.COM VIEWS MONDAY, 9 OCTOBER 2023
CHENNAI 13

MY VIEW | GENERAL DISEQUILIBRIUM M I N T C U R AT O R

Indian monetary policy and the There’s a moral case for giving
up on engaging with Musk’s X
fine art of acting without acting The incentive structure of this platform has taken a dismal turn

RBI may have effectively set the course for slightly higher credit costs without making changes in its benchmark policy rates

MINT

DAVE LEE
is Bloomberg Opinion’s US technology
columnist.

RAJRISHI SINGHAL
is a senior journalist. His X (formerly Twitter)
handle is @rajrishisinghal.

A
man was murdered in my neigh-
bourhood last Monday. Ryan Car-
son was waiting at a bus stop with

T
he Reserve Bank of India (RBI) wears
many hats, but its role as a monetary
authority has an outsized influence
on the economy. Under that embodi-
ment, it has a somewhat dilemmatic
mandate —maintaining price stability
while fostering growth—which often requires it to
dissemble while communicating policy frame-
works to markets. The art of central-bank speak
essentially entails speaking a lot, but not saying
much, and occasionally deploying sophistry to
camouflage policy intent. The central bank’s latest
monetary policy may have also used a visual trick:
what you see is not what you get.
RBI’s October 2023 monetary policy has hewed
close to the street consensus, leaving the repo rate
unchanged at 6.5%. The stance of the monetary
policy is also unchanged: “focused on withdrawal
of accommodation to ensure that inflation pro-
gressively aligns to the target, while supporting
growth.” There are three ideas in here: withdrawal
of accommodation implies liquidity in the system
will remain surplus and RBI will continue to drain
it out, aligning inflation with its 4% target, and
growth support through credit availability. While
all these seem boiler-plate in nature, the central
bank may have effectively introduced a rate hike
(or dearer credit) without increasing benchmark
interest rates.
Here is how. In the lead-up to the policy
announcement, most news headlines and analyst
reports focused on the repo rate and RBI’s liquidity
play. But with the inflation rate exhibiting what
monetary policy committee member Jayanth R.
Varma calls “monthly gyrations,” it might be
instructive to take a look at the real repo rate. At
the end of August, interestingly, the real repo rate
was minus 30 basis points (bps) when inflation
based on the Consumer Price Index had clocked in
at 6.8%; but given that monetary policy must be
forward looking, using RBI’s projections for price
movement, the real repo rate works out to 90bps in
the October-December quarter and 1.3% in the
January-March quarter. Assuming that RBI keeps
repo rate untouched till March and its inflation
guidance hits the mark, the real rate seems set to
move from minus 30bps to 1.3%, or a journey of
160bps in just seven months.
There is one wrinkle that could derail this
scenario: while it is unlikely that RBI will raise rates
given the series of elections over the next 6-7
months, all bets will be off if it instead cuts rates
early in the cycle.
If this seems too simplistic or a flawed argument,
there is another way of looking at rates. Given
RBI’s policy stance, and the temporary deploy-
ment of an incremental cash reserve ratio, the sys-
tem went from liquidity surplus to liquidity deficit
temporarily, forcing many banks to borrow short-
term from RBI under the marginal standing facility
(MSF), which extracts a higher interest rate of
6.75%. According to the October monetary policy
report, MSF window borrowings averaged ₹29,287
crore during April-September, hitting a peak of
₹198,730 crore on 21 September. Subsequently,
RBI’s liquidity operations show that banks have
borrowed an average of over ₹125,000 crore every
day under MSF for the seven days between 25
September and 1 October. While this spike might
be temporary and reflective of banks unable to
plan for flux in system liquidity, it might be worth
asking whether banks will try to pass on this tem-
porary cost to borrowers. Given that RBI will con-
tinue to suck out surplus liquidity, and that many
banks will still queue up outside the MSF window
for tiding over temporary cash flow imbalances,
there is a likelihood that the MSF rate could
become the effective benchmark rate. The
weighted average call money rate has already
moved up from 6.44% on 8 September to 6.75% on
29 September.
There are also indications that RBI’s complaints
of incomplete rate transmission might be heeded
via the bond market. The central bank announced
that it will deploy open market sales of government
bonds, as an additional instrument, to soak up
surplus liquidity in the system.
Open market operations might have become
necessary given the seeming misalignment
between RBI’s liquidity absorption strategy and
tools, and the banking sector’s liquidity calcula-
tions and other aspirations. The bond market
reacted to the news with the benchmark 10-year
G-Sec yield jumping 13bps to 7.34%, a considerable
spike in a single day. If this spurt is not transient
and not extinguished pre-maturely by RBI, then
there is a faint likelihood that higher bond yields
could translate into higher lending rates; the trans-
mission path for this is likely to be indirect and
uncertain because few banks use the 10-year gov-
ernment bond yield as an external benchmark.
In the midst of all the dissimulation, it is clear
that RBI is walking on egg-shells: with intransigent
inflation prints, slowing growth and surplus liquid-
ity swirling around in the system, the central bank
has to be mindful that its actions do not dim festive
fervour nor jeopardize pre-election activities.
RBI’s anxiety is evident from the caution it
has issued to banks and finance companies on
the spurt in unsecured personal loans. It has been
evident for a while, even though RBI failed to
heed warnings, that a significant proportion of
unsecured consumer credit, or even loans
secured against fixed deposits, may have been
routed to capital markets for speculative activity,
assisted by unregulated fintech intermediaries.
RBI seems to have woken up now; the last
thing its balancing act needs is a threat to
financial stability.
his girlfriend just before 4am when a man
stabbed him repeatedly him in the chest.
The couple had been at a wedding. A video
of the attack was soon seized upon by one
of X’s newest ‘stars’—one of those users
who has thrived under Elon Musk’s regime
at the former Twitter. His feed is a stream
of incendiary incidents from around the
world, posted several times a day to an
audience approaching a million followers.
I don’t follow it, but X’s algorithm makes
sure that I see what it has to say. A senseless
murder is apparently a content opportu-
nity. The user’s Tuesday post was timely
and shocking. It was an innocent 32-year-
old man dying on the streets of New York
City. It was a chance, duly taken, to write an
inflammatory comment on Carson’s work
in public policy, as though it had somehow
led to this moment, as if he had it coming.
As I rode the subway home to Bedford-
Stuyvesant, I watched as the video clocked
1 million views, then 2 million. Up up up.
Disgusting replies flooded in: That’s what
you get for supporting woke policies;
should have carried a gun; looks planned.
By the time I got home, I had deleted the
app. I will have to continue to follow X, of
course, because it’s part of my job. But it’s
time to step back as an engaged user, one
who for the past decade has posted several
times a day and scrolled countless times
more. My eyeballs are no longer for sale to
Musk’s X and whatever grotesque content
it wants to serve up in front of them.
Social networks are moulded by incen-
tives for users. In the same way we can
encourage people to buy greener cars with
subsidies or even promote healthy living
by giving out smartwatches, so, too, can
levers be pulled to improve the health of
online life. Online, people can’t be told
what to post, but sites can try to nudge
them toward behaving in a certain manner,
whether through design choices or reward
mechanisms.
Under the previous management, Twit-
ter at least paid lip service to this. In 2020,
it introduced a feature that encouraged
people to actually read articles before
retweeting them, for instance, to promote
“informed discussion.” Jack Dorsey, the
co-founder and former CEO, claimed to be
thinking deeply about improving the qual-
ity of conversations on the platform—
seeking ways to better measure and
improve good discourse online. Another
experiment was hiding the ‘likes’ count in
an attempt to train away our brain’s yearn
Unfiltered eyeball maximization can drive
unwanted social trends AFP
for the dopamine hit we get from social
engagement.
One thing the prior Twitter manage-
ment did not do is actively make things
worse. When Musk’s X introduced creator
payments in July, it splashed rocket fuel
over the darkest elements of the platform.
These kinds of posts always existed, in no
small number, but are now the despicable
main event. There’s money to be made. X’s
new incentive structure has turned the site
into a hive of engagement farming—posts
designed with the sole intent to elicit liter-
ally any kind of response: laughter, sad-
ness, fear. Or the best one: hate. Hate is
what truly juices the numbers.
The user who shared the video of the
attack on Carson attack wasn’t the only one
to do it. But his track record on these kinds
of posts, and the inflammatory language,
primed it to be boosted by the algorithm.
By last Tuesday, this user was still at it,
making jokes about Carson’s girlfriend. All
content monetized by advertising, which
X needs. It’s no mistake, and the user’s no
fringe figure. In July, he posted that the site
had paid him more than $16,000. Musk
interacts with him often.
X is now an app that forcibly puts abhor-
rent content into users’ feeds and then
rewards financially the people who were
the most successful in producing it, egging
them on to do it again and again and make
it part of their living. Know this: As the
scramble for attention increases, the con-
tent will likely need to become more vio-
lent, more tragic and more divisive to stand
out. More car crashes, high school fights
and public humiliation.
Decency long left the building at X. It
flows from the very top. When former
executive Yoel Roth, whom Musk wrongly
accused of being a paedophile, warned
recently about hate speech on X, CEO
Linda Yaccarino’s first reaction was to play
down his concerns. On Monday, Musk fol-
lowed up: “I have rarely seen evil in as pure
a form as Yoel Roth.”
I have. It was on the corner of Malcolm
X Boulevard and Lafayette Avenue that
Monday night, as replayed to the hordes of
baying, heartless ghouls X now seems so
happy to host, and, in some cases, finance.
To continue to engage at length with X is
to enable this cycle of behaviour. You can
count me out. ©BLOOMBERG

THEIR VIEW

Is the monetary policy panel’s decision wise? Credible?

Central banks, let us accept, are (almost?)
MYTHILI BHUSNURMATH as fallible as you and me. Not that they can
be faulted for this, in a world where change
is the only constant, where oil prices can
swing from $94 a barrel (27 September) to
$86 (4 October) in less than a week, where
range of 2-6%. A target range it has failed to
achieve in seven out of the past 12 months!
Indeed, the central bank’s inflation projec-
tions have repeatedly been off the mark.
As late as June 2023, the MPC had pro-
jected inflation in the second quarter
range—i.e. 4%—on a sustainable basis.
Remember, this is a level not reached in
close to three years. The last time inflation
was down to little over 4% was in January
2021, when inflation touched 4.06%, only
to increase to 5.03% the very next month.
during the past few months. This also
explains the all-too frequent revisions in
RBI’s estimates. But it fails to explain why
markets hang on to its words!
However, the larger question that the
country’s central bank, and indeed all of us,

C
all it one of the best kept secrets of
modern free market economies: the
fallibility of central banks. What else
can possibly explain the hype in the run-up
to meetings of their rate-setting commit-
tees—whether it is the Monetary Policy
Committee (MPC) in India or the Federal
Open Markets Committee (FOMC) in the
a war that the West thought was won even
before the first shot was fired drags on more
than a year after it started, central banks
can, and do, make mistakes.
Nonetheless, thanks to the aura that sur-
rounds them—an aura that cryptocurren-
cies tried, and failed, to dispel—almost any-
thing they say or do, even when they do
(June–September 2023) at 5.2%, only to Yet, rather than shrug off the Governor’s need to ask at this juncture is this: Given the
raise it sharply to 6.2% at assertion as well-nigh reality of the growth-inflation trade-off,
its very next meeting in impossible, markets seem even ignoring the now largely discredited
August 2023. Since the The jury is out to have taken his words Phillips curve, how wise is it to give up the
first two months have seriously. Despite the flexibility (wisely) allowed under our infla-
averaged 7.1%, the actual on whether its ‘pause’, 10-year yields rose tion-targeting regime and get fixated on a
number is likely to be from 7.2 % to 7.4% after the particular level that we have almost never
closer to 7%. Yet, RBI’s
focus on a 4% RBI announcement. reached, except in the breach rather than

is a senior journalist and a

former central banker.
US? Or the way commentators and market
participants spend hours parsing every
word in their monetary policy statements,
and later in the minutes of the meetings
released subsequently?
This is especially puzzling if one consid-
ers how often the US Fed and Reserve Bank
of India (RBI) have got it wrong in recent
times. Both have demonstrated, time and
again, that there is no such thing as an infal-
lible central bank, whatever former Presi-
dent of the European Commission Jacques
Delores might have said about Germans
and the Bundesbank. “Not all Germans
believe in God, but they all believe in the
Bundesbank.”
nothing (as in the latest instance with RBI
and the US Fed), central banks hold mar-
kets, particularly financial markets, in
thrall. In the specific case of RBI, what was
meant to be a one-time pause on rate action
in April 2023 has now become a prolonged
one, with the MPC opting to retain the repo
rate (at which the central bank pumps
liquidity into the system) unchanged at
6.5%—for the fourth time in a row!
Despite this, most of us keep faith in the
central bank.
Consider. Under the flexible inflation tar-
geting regime adopted in 2016, RBI is
charged with keeping overall or headline
Consumer Price Index inflation within a
earlier estimate has barely
moved—from 6.2% in
inflation target
August 2023 to 6.4% now.
But far from being
will succeed
daunted by the task on even as it risks
hand, and its repeated fail-
ure on the inflation front hurting growth
(admittedly, more due to
sins of omission than com-
mission such as a failure to withdraw its
easy money policy in time), RBI says it is not
going to rest content with getting inflation
within the mandated range.
Rather, according to RBI Governor Shak-
tikanta Das, it is going to focus on bringing
it down to the mid-point of RBI’s target
In defence of RBI, it
must be said that, unlike
the Fed and central banks
of developed economies,
its writ runs, at best, over a
relatively small part of the
consumption basket.
In a scenario where food
and fuel account for close
to 60% of the country’s consumption basket
and demand here is largely immune to
changes in interest rates, RBI’s main policy
instrument—the repo rate—affects only
what economists call core inflation.
This is a fact borne out by the recent fall
in core inflation, even as retail inflation rose
practice?
Recall what Jerome Powell, Chair of the
US Federal Reserve, said about the FOMC’s
continued fight against inflation. “Getting
inflation sustainably back down to 2% (the
Fed’s target) is expected to require a period
of below-trend economic growth.”
Do we in India want to go down that same
route? Should we aim for a more judicious
mix of growth and inflation, rather than
take the ‘do whatever it takes’ path to get
retail inflation down to 4%, ignoring the
leeway allowed by law to the MPC, heedless
of what it might do to growth? Posterity
might want to pose that question to the
present MPC.
14 MONDAY, 9 OCTOBER 2023
CHENNAI BUSINESS OF LIFE WORKPLACE LIVEMINT.COM

Why your 5-to-9 is as

important as 9-to-5
It’s important to build a
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ISTOCKPHOTO

life away from the

office, and make sure
your identity is not MONDAY MOTIVATION
inextricably linked only
to your profession Kishan Jain on
Reem Khokhar

how to approach
V
asundhara Vyas, 40, quit her cor-
porate communications job six
months ago to take a break from
work. Afterwards, she attended
an event and introduced herself
with just her name to another attendee. “He
climate change
waited for me to complete the sentence, but I
had nothing to add,” says the Ahmedabad resi-
The Goldmedal Electricals director
dent. The conversation disturbed her, she says virtual meetings are easier for him
explains. “But it made me realise that I must
accept that I am beyond my work designations.”
Vyas’ discomfort at people feeling her Shrenik Avlani
response was “incomplete” is understandable.

Observing friends over the years, particularly
those above the age of 40, their identities
appear fused with their jobs. Conversations
centre around work, most do not have time for
interests or skills beyond the office, and retire-
ment appears daunting, because they wonder
how to fill their days. It is good to take pride in
work, but if one’s self-worth and identity are
inextricably linked to professional success, what
happens if your job is impacted by redundancy,
retirement or other reasons? This can result in
depression, and affect families, and more.
Enmeshment is a psychological term which
describes the blurring of boundaries between
people, and prevents the development of a sta-
ble sense of self. Similarly, enmeshment with
one’s career can engulf individual identity.
After psychologist Divya Raghav Singh, 40,
quit her job at a mental health NGO in Delhi in
2013 due to issues with the management, she
found it difficult to find suitable work, as her
daughter was just a few months old. “I realized
that I struggled to have an identity which was
more than what I did professionally,” says
Singh, who has a private practice in Jaipur now.
“When people asked me what I did, saying I’m
a ‘housewife’ or ‘stay-at-home mom’ didn’t feel
right to me. I never judged the women who
made the choice to take on these roles, but it
didn’t work for me. I felt I was not living up to my
purpose, and life seemed meaningless.”
Success is often defined through professional
achievement. Work becomes a single-minded
pursuit for many, often at the cost of neglecting
personal relationships and health. Younger
working professionals seem more mindful to
not let their jobs restrict their identities, but
older generations generally prescribe to tradi-
tional measures of success.
“I have met very few people from my genera-
tion who have made their lives more than just
about their jobs,” says Noida-based marketing
consultant Shivali Suri, 49. “Being overworked
and busy is a badge of honour which I feel Gen
Xers need to get over!”
Easier said than done, especially for earlier
generations with deep-rooted childhood
behaviours which emphasized academic and
professional achievement for survival. “This
kind of survival thinking can bring in a set of
behaviours, that is ‘blinders on’,” says Guru-
gram-based organizational psychologist Par-
meet Kaur Manchanda. “We look at what we
need to do to perform well at work, create
income security, stay relevant, and meet life’s
K
ishan Jain’s cotton shirt is practical for the Mumbai sum-
mer, and his hair is short. The choice of his office in subur-
ban Mumbai is again a practical one as it is a short drive
from his home. He is much like one of the most popular products
from his brand Goldmedal Electricals—a practical retrofit kit that
allows people to upgrade their existing electrical fittings to auto-
mated ones without changing any wiring.
financial needs. The blinders do employees to express, and explore The 44-year-old is a second-generation business leader in this
not allow for a wider perspec- their identities beyond work. Man- family-owned business, which started out as a wholesale venture
tive, like spaces for play, hob- chanda has observed companies in electricals in Vijayawada in 1979. Goldmedal started manufac-
bies, or taking sabbaticals.” acknowledging the rich inner lives of turing switches and electrical components in 1995 and today it
“For earlier generations, hob- their employees, and how this has products ranging from LED lights to electrical appliances to
bies weren’t seen as sources of impacts morale, loyalty, and produc- home automation solutions, alongside the core business of
income,” says Saswati Barat, tivity. “Trainings, workshops, and switches. Along with more products has come growth: the busi-
founder-CEO of AIOU, a Benga- dialogues are being conducted ness, which used to have a turnover of ₹18 crore when Jain joined
luru-based behavioral services around empathy, emotional intelli- about 20 years ago, today rings in ₹2,200 crore with three manu-
and consulting firm, adding that gence, people management, situa- facturing units and a fourth under construction.
there is a marked difference tional and person-directed leader- Jain, who trained in plastic engineering with L&T in Chennai
today, as seen even with how par- ship. Organizations are also offering before joining the family business, is now focused on scaling up
ents describe their children. opportunities to play sports, CSR the business. Jain tells Mint how his friend became his mentor
“They talk about their kids’ varied work that speaks to their employ- and taught him the importance of design and scaling a business.
interests—gaming, dance, and ees, health club memberships, and Who do you consider your mentor?
potential career as a musician. The self-development budgets,” she Yogesh Jain, who runs a garments export business in Benga-
expansion of professions has con- says. As a corporate workshop facil- luru, is a close friend and mentor. He taught me the importance
tributed to the larger formation of itator, Manchanda has witnessed of introducing changes into one’s life
identity.” Manchanda agrees, an increased demand for sessions We need a and encouraged me to explore new
highlighting how increased glo- on diversity and inclusion, manag- holistic avenues for doing things in a more
balization and easy access to infor- ing work-life balance, and mental effective manner. Under his guidance,
mation has allowed younger peo- health. But, she still feels there is approach to I gained an understanding of business
ple to explore different interests. more to be done in this space. climate change, scaling and the significance of honing
identity.” It has taken her many years to be able a generational design skills.
MULTIPLE FACETS to see herself beyond just her professional or EGGS IN MORE BASKETS concern One major insight you worked on
Vyas’ communications career dominated her relational self. “I’ve reconnected with myself. I Letting only work define you is risky. Barat says with your mentor’s guidance?
identity until she quit her job six months ago. “I actively make time to meet friends. I went on a this can lead to burnout, imposter syndrome, Early on, we encountered several
used to often think that I am talking to hundreds solo trip, am going for my first couple trip with- low self-esteem, and anxiety. She recommends difficulties where it appeared that giving in to a few compromises
of people through posts, articles, and videos, but out children, and soon for an all-girls trip. I’ve clear boundaries between work and personal would be simpler than upholding the values we had established
my own social media pages are blank. Do I have started prioritising my health.” life, and having a routine to disengage from for ourselves. The success we have had, however, is much sweeter
nothing to say that is Suri parted ways work. “Spend time with friends and family, and because we have remained true to the values we were raised with.
my own?” she recalls. with her two-decade alone, doing things you enjoy,” she recom- What’s the one positive work routine you have developed
Her break from work Letting only one’s job define long career in tourism mends. “One can also develop a better sense of during the pandemic?
helped her explore them is risky and can lead to and hospitality during self through practices that engross you fully. Taking part in video calls. Virtual meetings require much less
new possibilities. Piv-
oting to a long-time burnout, imposter syndrome, the pandemic, which
led to some internal
Like meditation, journaling, yoga.”
But exploring our sense of self does not mean
coordination than getting a team together in person.
How is the electrical and home appliances sector future-
love for cooking, she low self-esteem, and anxiety upheaval about her rejecting our professional identity. “Do not proofing against climate change?
recently launched identity. “I was no reject this space, but add more ways of feeling We need a holistic approach to climate change since it is a gen-
Curry Queen, a range longer so-and-so at a worthwhile,” says Manchanda. She suggests erational concern. With cities consuming high power and
of instant curry mixes, which she sells on What- company. I felt uncomfortable initially, but also nurturing sound relationships, joining similar resources, there is a need for advanced technology that can aid
sApp and Instagram. strangely liberated. I could be anything or any- interest groups, engaging in activities that make in the conservation of energy resources. Small but impactful
It is also key to not allow any single role to one,” she says. Now as a marketing consultant, us feel good, and if need be, consulting a coach actions like adopting environment-friendly products that put
consume us. Singh recalls an introductory video she enjoys varied opportunities. “I’m learning or therapist. “When we have a variety of sources emphasis on sustainability can make a big difference.
she had to make for a driving holiday she was about different businesses, like e-commerce from where we seek our value and self-worth,
taking through three countries. “I realised all I and interior design,” says Suri. “I love the expe- we are less likely to end up with all our eggs Monday Motivation is a series in which business leaders and cre-
had said was that I was someone’s daughter, riences, because they are now enriching me damaged because one basket broke.” ative individuals discuss their mentors and their work ethics.
someone’s wife, and someone’s mom. I had lost instead of exhausting me.”
my self. That was when I decided to expand my More organizations are also encouraging Write to us at businessoflife@livemint.com Write to us at businessoflife@livemint.com

Women ask for promotions but it’s men who get them ISTOCKPHOTO

Women are ambitious tions. “We promote men based on poten- 276 companies in the US and Canada with less fatigue and burnout. For
tial and women have to have already employing more than ten million people. women, the additional benefit of remote
and willing to assert proven it to you,” Sandberg told Bloom- Within these companies, 27,000 employ- work was having to face fewer microag-
themselves but firms are berg. “You can’t prove you can be a man- ees and 270 senior HR leaders were sur- gressions and having higher levels of psy-
ager until you’re a manager.” veyed. The aim of the report is also to pro- chological safety.
slow to promote them, While companies are making efforts to vide an intersectional look at the specific The report also found that men bene-
finds a new report increase women’s representation at the
top, “doing so without addressing the
biases and barriers faced by Asian, Black,
Latina, and LGBTQ+ women and women
fited disproportionately from in-office
work compared with women. “Men
broken rung offers only a temporary with disabilities. report when they are on-site that they
A Staff Writer stopgap”, notes the Women in the Work- The report found that women are get more mentorship and sponsorship
place report. “The broken rung” is the more ambitious than before the pan- than women. They feel more ‘in the

W
omen are ready to step up and
lead workplaces, and despite
discussions about equality,
diversity and gender justice, companies
still favour men when it comes to promo-
tions and positions of leadership.
Nine in ten women under the age of 30
want to be promoted to the next level,
and three in four aspire to become senior
leaders. Yet, for every 100 men promoted
to a manager role in 2022, only 87
women received the same boost, accord-
ing to the Women in the Workplace report
by Sheryl Sandberg’s LeanIn.Org and
McKinsey & Co. The number of women
promoted was 86 in 2021. Women are
still being overlooked despite asking for
promotions at the same rate as men, the
survey found.
One reason for the gap: the way men
and women tend to receive their promo-
gender disparity in early promotions,
which means men end up holding 60% of
manager-level positions in a typical com-
pany. Since men significantly outnumber
women, there are fewer women to pro-
mote to senior managers, and the num-
ber of women decreases at every subse-
quent level.
This year’s research reveals some
hard-fought gains at the top, with
women’s representation in the C-suite at
the highest it has ever been. Since 2015,
the number of women in the C-suite in
the US and Canada has increased from
17% to 28%, and the representation of
women at the vice president and senior
vice president levels has also improved.
However, with lagging progress in the
middle of the pipeline—and a persistent
underrepresentation of women of col-
our—true parity remains painfully out of
reach, according to the report, which is
now in its ninth year.
Black women are being promoted at the
lowest rate in at least five years compared
with men, explains Bloomberg. Only 54
Black women were promoted last year for
every 100 men, down from 96 in 2021. The
report began tracking respondents’ race in
2018. The number for Black women is now
closer to the 58 recorded in 2018 and 2019,
before the Black Lives Matter protests
prompted much of corporate America to
promise to hire more people of colour.
The report is based on research from
demic, with about 80% saying they’d like
a promotion compared with 70% in 2019.
The numbers are similar for men.
Women of colour are even more ambi-
tious than White women, found the
report—88% want to be promoted to the
next level.
The pandemic has changed the way
women work, however, and flexible
schedules have allowed one in five
women to stay in their job without reduc-
ing their hours despite increased family
responsibilities. A large number of
women who work hybrid or remotely
point to feeling less fatigued and burned
out as a primary benefit, while adding
that they have more focused time to get
work done, the report notes. A majority of
the men surveyed had similar views on
hybrid and flexible work, citing better
work-life balance as a primary benefit
know,’” Rachel Thomas, co-founder and
CEO of LeanIn.Org, told Bloomberg. If
that’s happening when everyone’s in the
office, the challenge will be to make sure
it doesn’t happen on an even broader
scale in a hybrid work environment.
Thomas suggested that companies need
to better train managers to evaluate
workers on flexible schedules, and that
performance reviews need to be rede-
signed to emphasize results, not when
and where work is done.
“The perception that it’s women who
are lazy, who are disgruntled, that it’s
women who are demanding flexibility
rather than how that flexibility can fuel
ambition is really unfortunate,” Sandberg,
the former chief operating officer of Meta
Platforms Inc, told Bloomberg.
Write to us at businessoflife@livemint.com
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