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IN THE NEWS GROWTH POTENTIAL CORONA BATTLE

Deepest peace-
time slump in a
S&P retains India Low fresh infections in Dharavi,
century: OECD
Worli help Mumbai breathe easier
rating, outlook
THE GLOBAL economy will
suffer the biggest peace-
time downturn in a century
Infections in Delhi Two days to #4 slot! Political pandemic
before it emerges next year (Given the current growth, India will (Or how Delhi govt's estimates of beds rose
from a Covid-inflicted reces- and Chennai are, have 3 lakh cases by June 12) after the L-G scrapped its reservation order)
sion, the OECD said on Wed-
Hopeful of efficacy INDIA RATING/OUTLOOK On reforms though, picking up US Brazil Russia UK India (in lakh) (‘000) Covid cases Hospital beds
nesday, reports Reuters. The S&P Moody's Fitch and economy
Organisation for Economic of ‘ongoing reforms’, BBB-/ Baa3/ BBB-/
pace and both cities At At 1,000 Delhi Dy CM CM

20.19
S&P

19.99
19.61
Cooperation and Develop- govt Manish Arvind

19.8
3 lakh,
ment (OECD) forecast the
it forecasts economy stable negative stable The ongoing are adding more 2.9 lakh
UK India 800 panel by Sisodia on Kejriwal
global economy would and fiscal position All ratings lowest investment grade economic reforms, cases than Mumbai beats beats July 15 June 9 on June 10
contract 6.0% this year Key indicators for FY21 ifexecutedwell, India's the UK's
before bouncing back with
will stabilise & start Moody’s S&P should keep the 2.7 lakh 2.9 lakh 600

5,50,000
to recover next FY country’s growth

5,50,000
-4% -5%**

1,50,000*
GDPgrowth

7.52
7.31
5.2% growth in 2021. ISHAAN GERA

7.11
6.92
rate ahead ofpeers 400

4.95

5.05
4.77

4.86
General govt debt New Delhi, June 10
Petrol costlier 84 80*

88,000
2.89
2.87

2.91
2.88

2.99
2.77
2.67

by 40 p a litre,
diesel by 45 p
PETROL PRICE on Wednes-
day was hiked by 40 paise
per litre and diesel by
45 paise, the fourth straight
daily increase in rates after
oil PSUs ended an 82-day
hiatus in rate revision,
reports PTI.
2 OIL firemen found
dead near blazing
well in Assam
TWO FIREFIGHTERS of OIL
were found dead in a wet-
land abutting the site of a
major blaze at its Baghjan
well, which has been
‘uncontrollably’ spewing
gas for last 15 days in
Assam's Tinsukia district,
officials said, reports PTI.
FE BUREAU
New Delhi, June 10
GLOBAL RATING AGENCY
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) on
Wednesday affirmed its sover-
eignratingforIndiaat‘BBB-’,the
lowest investment grade, and
retained the ‘stable’ outlook,
with commentaryreflecting its
continued confidence in the
country’s long-term growth
potential,notwithstanding the
exacerbated fiscal settings.
The ongoing economic
reforms,ifexecutedwell,should
keep the country’s growth rate
ahead of peers, S&P wrote, in
apparent contrast to Moody’s
Investors Services’recent citing
ofthechallengesfacedbyIndia’s
policy-makersinmitigatingthe
risks of a “sustained period of
relativelylowgrowth”.
S&PpredictedIndia’sGDPto
shrink 5% in FY21, but said
growth could recover rather
(% ofGDP)
*Including PSB recap bonds **(to recover to 8.5% in FY22)
On outlook
Moody’s
The negative outlook
reflects dominant,
mutually-reinforcing,
downside risks from
deeper stresses in the
economy and
financial system
On (general govt) fiscal deficit
S&P Moody’s
To spike to 11% ofGDP
this fiscal, may decline
meaningfully next year
towell below 10%
smartlyonthelowbaseto8.5%
in FY22. The general govern-
ment’s fiscal deficit could spike
to 11% of the GDP this fiscal,
given the additional expendi-
ture measures to mitigate the
impact of the Covid-19 crisis
Moody’s
India faces a
prolonged period
ofslower growth
S&P relative to the
The stable outlook country's potential…
reflects ourview
that India's
the country's policy
making institutions
economy, and fiscal will be challenged
position,will stabilise to mitigate and
and begin to recover contain (the risks to
from 2021 growth and financial
stability)
Measures to improve India's fiscal strength
have underwhelmed… (there is) a persistent
lack ofclarity on how medium-term fiscal
consolidation objectiveswould be met
and a much weaker revenue
outlook, it prognosticated,
adding that, the deficit might
decline meaningfully next year
towell below10%of the GDP.
Continued on Page 2
42,000
2.9
200
WITH THE NUMBER of Covid-
infectedcrossing50,000,Mum-
09-Jun 10-Jun 11-Jun 12-Jun
bai is in the league of global
cities like London (27,300),
Projections
0
*including those for non-locals On July 31
Milan (24,000) and New York
(212,000),but the good news is
the city has had a major respite
Haryana growth N-E infections 200 Chennai
overthepastfewdays.Whilethe
daily compound growth rate is
nearly doubles rise 16 times deaths ‘missing’
downto2.6%from5.8%afort- FE BUREAU FE BUREAU ARUN JANARDHANAN
night ago,just 1,015 new cases New Delhi, June 10 New Delhi, June 10 Chennai, June 10
were reported on June 10 as
against1,442evenfivedaysago. THERE WAS A reason that INDIA’S NORTH-EASTERN THETAMILNADU government
It is early days yet,and many Delhi’s adjoining states were states,which until last month has ordered a Covid death
expectthecitytohavethe15,000 asking that the Capital not were free from the effect of audit in Chennai after it came
infections per million that New open its borders.Ten days into coronavirus, seem to be now tolightthat“not lessthan”200
Yorkhadatitspeak(Mumbaiisat
3,383 right now),but the game-
the lifting of restrictions,
cases have started rising in
struggling. Since May 17,
when the government
fatalities suspected to be
linked to the infection did not
changercouldbethecheckingof these states. announced the fourth lock- make it to the state’s official
infections in slumslike Dharavi; Haryana was adding down,case incidence in north- toll,a seniorhealth official told
given the density of population, around 74 cases per day in the eastern states has increased The Indian Express.
itwasexpectedthatinfectionlev- second fortnight of May, and 16 times. While the states The estimate is based on a
els would spread like wildfire,so this number rose 4.5 times to recorded only 281 cases on “preliminary assessment” of
maintaining the current level of 329 in the first 10 days of May 17, today the tally for the city corporation’s records,
spreadiscritical. this month. seven states is 4,433. the official said.
Continued on Page 2 Continued on Page 2 Continued on Page 2 Continued on Page 2

Special Features Lockdown losses FE BUREAU

In 2 months, 124 million jobs lost

The economy lost 124 million jobs in March and April, primarily in the informal sectors comprising
small traders and wage labourers; employment was also lower in self-owned businesses and
salaried employees, too, lost jobs. With the lockdown curbs being eased, the economy is estimated
to have added 21 million jobs in May, mainly in occupations that were hit the most: small traders &
OnePlus 8: One up wage labourers and businesses. However, salaried employees continued to experience job losses.

on competition, Unemployment rate in India (%)

30
Change in employed persons by occupation
(million) 2020 Jan Feb Mar Apr May
yet again 25
Business 4.4 -2.7 -0.8 -20.2 5.5
OnePlus 8 is a beautiful, 20
Salaried employees 7.9 -2.3 -3.3 -14.9 -0.1
classy device with a sleek 15
design and top-notch Small traders
performance. The phone 10 & wage labourers -11.2 -4.0 -9.6 -78.7 14.4
looks sharp, has a solid 5 Farmers 3.7 4.2 3.7 0.0 1.4
battery life and provides a 0 Others -0.0 0.2 -0.2 0.1 -0.1
great user experience Jun Sept Dec Mar Jun
All occupations 4.8 -4.5 -10.1 -113.6 21.2
2019 2020
■ Gadgets, P9
Source: CMIE and Nomura Global Economics Note: Others include retired/aged, students, homemakers & unoccupied

● LOAN MORATORIUM GARMENT EXPORTS

Sebi to SC:
Forcing banks' Vietnam-EU FTA to
hands to
be ruinous
hit Indian players Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi
INDU BHAN BANIKINKAR PATTANAYAK Clear disadvantage
New Delhi, June 10 New Delhi, June 10 (EU's import duty on garments, %) ● PNB SCAM

SEBI HAS TOLD the Supreme INDIAN GARMENT

Court forcing banks to grant
moratoriumonallloantransac-
tionsandfinancialinstruments,
including commercial papers,
bonds,non-convertible deben-
tures,etc,“would lead the entire
economy to a standstill and
bringchaos,disorderandhavoc”.
“(Giventhe)exposureofmutual
fund industry towards real es-
tate sector/NBFCs and HFCs, if
thesedelaypaymentsforthedue
amount of NCDs/commercial
papersetc,itwillhaveanadverse
effectontheMFindustry,”itsaid.
Continued on Page 2
AMRAPALI CASE
Vietnam*
Bangladesh
0
0
Nirav, Choksi
EXPORTERS, already battered
bytheCovid-19outbreak,arein
Sri Lanka
Pakistan**
0
0
jewellery
for further trouble, as major
competitorVietnamhasforged
a free trade agreement (FTA)
Cambodia#
India
0
9.6
worth `1.3k cr
with the EU.
Once the pact comes into
China 12
*when FTA with EU takes effect, likely in July;
brought back
**for about 80% of supplies; #From Aug 12,
force,likelyinJuly,Vietnamwill duties on certain garments will be levied
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
get duty-free access to the EU Source: Industry New Delhi, June 10
marketingarments(apartfrom 145 cities | 60 countries | 1 Award
dozensofotherproducts),while THE ENFORCEMENT DIREC-
such supplies from India will space being gradually vacated TORATE (ED) on Wednesday
continue to be taxed at 9.6%. by China. The EU typically brought back over 2,300 kg of
This will further harden the accounts for about 30% of polished diamonds and pearls
challengeforIndiatoevenhold India’s garment exports. worth `1,350 crore of firms
on to its market share in gar- belonging to Nirav Modi and
mentexports,letalonegrabthe Continued on Page 2 Mehul Choksi from Hong
Kong,the agency said.
Out of the 108 consign-
ments that landed at Mumbai,
© 2020 Ernst & Young LLP. All Rights Reserved.

SC to banks: Recast loans, release funds
INDU BHAN
New Delhi, June 10
IN A RELIEF to thousands of
home buyers of embattled
Amrapali Group, the Supreme
Court on Wednesday asked
banksandfinancialinstitutions
to restructure and release the
sanctioned loans to the home
buyers,soastoensureavailabil-
ity of funds to the state-run
National Buildings Construc-
tion Corp (NBCC) for construc-
tionofstalledhousingprojects.
■ SC raps Noida and
Greater Noida authorities
for charging high rate of
interest up to 23% from
builders for delay in
making payments
■ On Feb 28, 2019, SC
allowed Delhi Police to
arrest Amrapali CMD AK
Sharma and 2 directors.
It has been monitoring
execution & handover of
the firm’s stalled projects
32belongtooverseasentitiesin
the UAE and Hong Kong “con-
trolled”byNiravModi,whilethe
ItalsoaskedRBItodirectbanks rest are of Mehul Choksi firms,
to release loans that have been it said in a statement.
declared as non-performing Both the businessmen are
assets as per the banking regu- being probed by the ED under
lator’s guidelines. the Prevention of Money
Keepinginviewtheinterest LaunderingAct (PMLA) in con-
of home buyers,a Bench led by nectionwithanover$2-billion
Justice Arun Mishra asked the alleged fraud at a PNB branch
bankstoreleasethesanctioned in Mumbai.
loans under “the current The 2,340 kg valuables
norms of the RBI for releasing include polished diamonds,
loans and the rates fixed bythe pearls and silver jewellery,and
RBI therefore. is worth `1,350 crore.
Continued on Page 2 Continued on Page 2

New Delhi
 2 FINANCIAL EXPRESS
Economy
THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2020
Quick
View
‘Economy to
grow at 9.5%
in next fiscal’
AFTERA CONTRACTION
in the current financial
year,the India's economy
is forecast to bounce back
with a sharp growth rate
of 9.5% next year,
provided it avoids further
deterioration in financial
sector health,Fitch
Ratings said Wednesday.
Vietnam-EU
FTA to hurt
Indian players
OFCOURSE,withtheUKoutof
the EU now, the bloc’s share in
India’s supplies will drop.
India’s garment exports
dropped 4% year-on-year in
FY20 to $15.5 billion.
Importantly, India’s key
competitors — Bangladesh,Sri
Lanka and Cambodia — cur-
rently ship out apparel to the
EU at zero duty, and Pakistan
gets a preferential treatment,
with duty-free accesss for
about80%ofitssupplies.Sup-
pliesofcertaintypesofapparel
fromCambodia,ofcourse,may
betaxedfromAugust,astheEU
hasreportedlywithdrawnpref-
erential tariff treatment to
products making up for one-
fifth of its imports from that
country. Still, exporters say
Cambodiawillcontinuetogain
duetotheinvestmentsmadein
the countrybythe Chinese.
While the EU slaps a 12%
import duty on Chinese gar-
ments,slightlyhigherthanthat
on India, Beijing undoubtedly
remains far more competitive
than New Delhi and offers an
impressive range of apparels.
Meanwhile,after16rounds
of talks between 2007 and
2013, negotiations for an
India-EU FTA have been stuck
due to differences over the
bloc'sdemandforasharpcutin
tariffs on auto parts and wine
by New Delhi, among others.
Both the sides, however, were
trying to revive the trade talks
earlier this year when the
Covid-19 hit, forcing authori-
tiestoshiftfocustotacklingthe
pandemic.
According to the European
Commission data, between
2016and2019,Vietnam’sgar-
mentexportstotheEUwentup
from 2.61 billion euros to 3.29
billioneuros,whileIndia’scon-
tinuedtodeclinefrom4.47bil-
lioneuros to 4.31 billion euros.
Infact,Indiawastheonlycoun-
try among five key exporters
(the others being Bangladesh,
Vietnam, Cambodia and Pak-
istan)whosegarmentssupplies
to the EU dropped in the past
fouryears.
While China’s apparel
exportstotheEUdroppedmar-
ginally from 25.21 billion
euros to 25.03 billion euros,
India’s fall was sharper. This
suggests that while China has
been seeking to gradually shift
from labour-intensive indus-
tries like garments to capital-
intensive and high-tech ones,
India clearly hasn’t gained
from this; rather, it has ceded
its share in exports to its peers
in recent years.
EvenCambodia’sexportsto
the EU rose from 2.71 billion
euros in 2016 to 3.30 billion
euros in 2019, Bangladesh’s
rosefrom12.62billioneurosto
15 billion euros and Pakistan’s
increased from 2.23 billion
euros to 2.70 billion euros.
“Thecleartariffdifferential
intheEUmarketwilladdtoour
already-stark disadvatages in
other areas (logistics costs,etc)
and further erode our compet-
itiveness vis-à-vis Vietnam,”
said Gautam Nair, managing
directoratMatrixClothing,one
ofthecountry’slargestapparel
exporters.
“Vietnam’s FTAwith the EU
will be another blow to the
Indian garment exporters.
Whatwe need is no quick-fixes
but a long-term vision. Pro-
motinggarmentclusters,initi-
ating structural reforms and
tailoring policy interventions
accordingly will be a way for-
ward,” said Raja M Shan-
● TOP OFFICIALS CATCH INFECTION
Policy implementation may slow down
FE BUREAU
New Delhi, June 10
COVID-19ANDTHE resultant
uncertainty over market con-
ditions may delay the disin-
vestment process and the fol-
low-up moves on the recently
announced policy to privatise
all central public enterprises
(CPSEs) in the non-strategic
space and even some in the
strategic sector. Apart from
the overall gloom,the Depart-
ment of Investment and Pub-
lic Asset Management
(DIPAM) secretary Tuhin
Kanta Pandey, who is spear-
Corona battle: Low fresh infections in Dharavi,
Worli help Mumbai breathe easier
NEWS CHANNEL CNN-
News18 quoted a BMC offi-
cial as saying Dharavi had
managed to bring down its
daily Covid-19 count to less
than10,from185inthe first
weekofMay;aggressivecon-
tact-tracing, isolation and
testing, officials say, is the
reason behind this.
Hindustan Times
reported that while Worli
reported an average of 60
cases everydayin May,this is
down to around 35-40 now.
The growth rates of daily
infectionsofWorliandDhar-
avi has come down to 1.9%
and 1.7%, respectively, and
those are among the lowest
in the city.
In an interview to PTI,
Kiran Dighavkar, assistant
municipal commissioner of
G northward of BMC, had
said that “Dharavi has not
reportedasingledeathinthe
last sixdays,whichisthefirst
major indicator that we are
ontherighttrack.”Analysisof
Mumbai’sdailyreportsshow
mugham, president of the
TirupurExporters’Association.
Tirupuris the country's largest
garment export hub, having
recorded outbound shipments
of around Rs 25,000 crore in
FY20. Flagging the threat to
export competitiveness, the
Debroy panel had earlier said
India’s logistics costs alone
accounted for as much as 15-
16%oftheconsignmentvalue.
Also,aspointedoutinanearlier
reportbyHSBC,India’sdomes-
tic bottlenecks explain 50% of
the recent slowdown in overall
exports (remaining the biggest
threat to its outbound ship-
ments), followed by world
growth (33%) and the
exchange rate (just 17%).
S&P retains India
rating, outlook
On June 1, Moody’s trimmed
India’s sovereign rating by a
notchtothelowestinvestment
grade of Baa-3 and retained
the “negative” outlook, which
it said reflected “dominant,
mutually-reinforcing, down-
side risks from deeper stresses
in the economy and financial
system that could lead to a
more severe and prolonged
erosion in fiscal strength than
Moody’s currently projects”.
S&Pwrote: “We are affirm-
ingour‘BBB-'long-termand'A-
3'short-term foreign and local
currency sovereign credit rat-
ings on India… The stable out-
look reflects our view that
India's economy, and fiscal
position, will stabilise and
begin to recover from 2021
onwards”.
Notably,post-therecentrat-
ing actions by S&P and
Moody’s, both agencies and
peerFitchRatingskeepIndiaat
their respective lowest invest-
ment grades; while Moody’s
outlook for India is ‘negative’,
the other two have‘stable’out-
look on the country. Moody’s
wastheonlyagencytoreviseup
India’s sovereign rating for the
first time in over a decade in
November2017,whileS&Pand
Fitch haven’t yet given the
country an upgrade. Moody’s
thencitedexpectationsof“con-
tinued progress on economic
and institutional reforms”
whichcouldenhancethecoun-
try’s growth potential.Later,in
November last year, it revised
heading the disinvestment
programme, having tested
Covid-19 positive on Tuesday
could also slow the privatisa-
tion process.
In fact, senior government
servants catching Covid-19
infection could impact policy
implementations in othersec-
tors as well, as these have
resulted in shutting many
important offices forsanitiza-
tion and officers again start-
ing to work from home. Ear-
lier, defence secretary Ajay
Kumar and principal director
general of Press Information
Bureau KS Dhatwalia tested
Maximum city, minimum growth
(daily new infections, 5-day rolling average)
2,000
Mumbai
1,500
778
1,000
Delhi
461
500
386
0 Bench added.
15-May
thatnumberofwardsreport-
ing over 5% growth in cases
has also come down to three
from six on June 5.
While Mumbai may
breathe a sigh of relief, in
Delhi and Chennai cases are
galloping.Delhi,which until
a few days ago was reporting
an average of 700 cases a
fortnight ago, is now adding
down its outlook for the coun-
try to negative.
Recently, Thomas Rook-
maaker, director (sovereign
ratings) at Fitch Ratings, told
FE: "The projected medium-
term fiscal path after the pan-
demic will play an important
role in our assessment of
India’s sovereign rating. We
expectgovernmentdebttorise
in FY21 and FY22,but the gov-
ernment may tighten fiscal
policy again once the pan-
demic is undercontrol." Rook-
maaker had also said Fitch
would factor in the fiscal
buffers that sovereigns had
going into the crisis."In India’s
case the fiscal buffers are
small, but the external
finances are resilient relative
to many of its peers,”he said.
S&P said: “We forecast
overall net general govern-
ment debt will rise to more
than 80% of GDP this year,
from just over 70% of GDP in
fiscal 2020 (FY20).We include
the government's bank-recap-
italization bonds as liabilities
on its balance sheet.” India's
debt-to-GDP ratio, according
to Moody's, rose to 72.3% in
FY20, against 69.9% a year
before.
India's overall external
position remains a credit
strength, largely owing to the
economy's limited external
indebtedness, according to
S&P.It expectedIndia'scurrent
accountdeficittodeclinemod-
estlyto 1.1% of GDPthis fiscal
from 1.2% previous year, and
to continue to improve till
FY23, largely owing to its
improving terms of trade on
weaker oil prices. It projected
India to narrow net external
debt position,a measure of the
economy's net foreign indebt-
edness, will average less than
10% of current account
receipts through FY24. On
inflation front,it expected the
Reserve bank of India to con-
tinue to achieve its inflation
targets.
Ontheupsidescenario,S&P
said it could raise the ratings
onIndiaifthegovernmentsig-
nificantly curtails its fiscal
deficits,resulting in materially
lower net indebtedness at the
general government level. On
theotherhand,downsidepres-
sure on the ratings could
emerge over the next one to
From the Front Page
1,235
1,261
1,170
Chennai
10-Jun
nearly double the number
everyday.Giventhatthegov-
ernment expects cases to hit
5,50,000 bythe end of July,it
is likely that Delhi may pip
Mumbai in terms of daily
additions. Chennai, though,
lower than Delhi has fol-
lowed a similar trajectory
with daily cases doubling
within a fortnight.
two years “if: (1) India's GDP
growth fails to meaningfully
recover from 2021 onwards,
and its trend growth rate falls
towards the average of its
peers; (2) net general govern-
ment deficits materially
exceed our forecasts, signify-
ing a weakening of India's
institutional capacityto main-
tain sustainable public
finances”.
“The strong mandate for
India's Bharatiya Janata Party-
led coalition government in
the 2019 parliamentary elec-
tions should provide sufficient
politicalcapitaltopushfurther
reforms, but execution
remains key,”S&Psaid.It,how-
ever, noted that prior to the
onset of the pandemic, India's
GDP growth rate had already
slowed measurably.“Existing
vulnerabilities including a
weak financial sector, rigid
labour markets, and consis-
tently weak private invest-
ment could hamper India's
recoveryiftheyare notactively
addressed,”theagencywarned.
Amrapali case:
Supreme Court
tells banks to
recast loans,
release funds
THE DISBURSEMENT of fur-
ther loans may be based on the
present rate of interest fixed by
the RBI”.
Thedisbursementofbalance
loans at the current lower rates
has been ordered “in the pecu-
liarfactsofthe(Amrapali)case.It
may be released stage-wise and
long-term restructuring of the
loans may be done so that con-
structioniscompletedandbuy-
ers are able to repay the loan”,it
said.
“…as projects have been
stalledforthelastseveralyears,
thehomebuyershaveobtained
loans but cannot enjoy the
fruits of their investment. At
the same time, if projects are
not completed and home buy-
ersarenotsureofhandingover
of flats,itwould be difficult for
them to paybank dues till eter-
nity and it is in the interest of
homebuyers as well as banks
and FIs as they can recover
moneywhen projects are com-
pleted in an effective manner,”
Covid positive.
During recent press con-
ferences, Dhatwalia had
shared daiswith several Union
ministers,including roads and
MSME ministerNitin Gadkari,
agriculture ministerNarendra
Singh Tomar and information
and broadcasting minister
Prakash Javadekar. Besides,
some senior bureaucrats,
scores of staff in several min-
istries,including finance,rail-
ways and defence, have been
infected by the virus.
The CGO Complex build-
ing,which houses the DIPAM,
recently reported many Covid
the SC said.
The SC also came down
heavily on the Noida and
Greater Noida authorities for
charginghighrateofinterestup
to 23% from builders for delay
inmakingpaymentstoit.Itsaid
that despite allotting encum-
bered and disputed land cou-
pled with various other issues,
the authorities failed to either
reduce the exorbitant rate of
interestorcompletelywaiveoff
the interest and other charges
onaccountofdelayanddefault
in paying the land dues. “The
concerned authorities did not
take timely action, and the
financial institutions resulted
in projects being stalled, and
now it has become tough to
complete the projects,” the
In order to give impetus to
“standstill” housing projects
Justice Mishra ordered that the
Noida and Greater Noida
authorities cannot charge high
rateofinterestfrombuildersfor
any delay in making payments
toit.Cappingtheinterestrateat
a maximum of 8%, Justice
Mishrasaidthattheissueofthe
interest affects "the public at
large, particularly the home
buyers and banks and FIs”.
The judges noted that while
the banks in the last five years
have reduced the interest paid
on fixed deposits and it ranges
between 6% and 7% only as of
now, the interest rates on
delayedpaymentchargedbythe
authoritieshaveremainedexor-
bitantcontrarytotheprevailing
economicsituationofthecoun-
try.
They said that there have
beenabsolutelynobusinessand
commercial activities during
the Covid lockdown in the real
estate sector and the entire
industryhascometoagrinding
halt causing further financial
losses and damages to the real
estate sector.
Rejecting the pleas of the
Noida and Greater Noida
Authorities to release the FAR
(floor area ratio), which was
availabletotheerstwhileAmra-
pali Group of Companies, the
apex court allowed the sale of
balance FARthrough the court-
appointed receiver to generate
more funds that can be used to
complete projects.
“ThesaleofunusedFARshall
be up to permissible limit @
2.75 or more as available; the
sale of FAR beyond 2.75 up to
3.5 under the purchasable
schemeorotherwisegrantedin
DreamValleyProject…andother
projects or any increase in FAR
beyond permissible /pur-
chasable due to whatever rea-
sons such as the coming up of
Metro project are to be sold &
transferredundertheauthority
of Receiver and Committee
appointed by this Court,” the
order stated,while posting the
matter for further hearing on
June 17.
TheapexcourthadonJune3
asked NBCC, SBICap Ventures,
which manages the govern-
ment sponsored stress fund for
therealestatesector,andsenior
advocate R.Venkatramani,who
has been appointed as court
receiver,and UCO Bank to con-
ductajointmeetingandsubmit
a final plan for execution and
handing over the stalled hous-
ing projects ofAmrapali.
The receiver’s note submit-
ted to the SC earlier pegged
fundsfromsaleof5,228unsold
inventoriesatapproximatelyRs
2,220.45 crore,funds from sale
of other Amrapali properties,
attachedorotherwise,atRs500
crore,bankloanstohomebuyers
and balance accruing on sold
units at approximately Rs
3,870.4 crore, and receivables
cases, including from the
Ministryof Renewable Energy
and Public Enterprises,which
is housed in the same build-
ing. A junior staff of the
DIPAM had also contracted
the virus.
The railways ministry has
also seen a spurt in Covid cases
among its staff at various lev-
els. In the Madras division,
about 85 officers and staff,
including an additional divi-
sional manager, have been
tested positive.
The DIPAM was closed for
two days for sanitisation of
offices.
from unsold units at `213.46
crore.
Nirav, Choksi
jewellery worth
`1.3k crore
brought back
THE ED completed “all legal
formalities”withauthoritiesin
Hong Kong to bring back these
valuables, the agency said.
These valuables, officials said,
were moved to Hong Kong
from Dubai in early 2018 so
that they could be saved from
being seized or attached by the
ED or any other investigating
agency.
The ED got intelligence
inputs on this movement in
Julythatyearandsincethenthe
sleuths were on its trail.
Thesevaluableswerekeptin
the godown of a logistics com-
panyin Hong Kong,the central
probe agencysaid.
Sebi to SC:
Forcing banks'
hands to be
ruinous
THEMFwillnotbeabletohon-
ourtheredemptionrequestsof
the unit holders,” the market
regulator said, while strongly
opposing the Confederation of
Real Estate DevelopersAssoci-
ation of India’s petition seek-
ing instruction to lenders to
grant moratorium of loan
repayment to real estate com-
panies underRBI’s loan mora-
torium package.
According to Sebi, “unit
holders/investors of MF
industry are individual
investors aswell as institution
investors. Thus, the delay in
making payments for the due
amount of (non-convertible
debentures/commercial
papers) will have a cascading
effect on investors as well as
institutions.”
A Bench led by Justice L
Nageswara Rao had asked the
RBI and the finance ministry
to clarifywhether it is manda-
tory for banks to grant mora-
torium on instalments of term
loans forall NBFC orthe banks
have discretion to grant such
benefit.
The reply was sought on a
petition filed by the Haryana
chapter of Confederation of
RealEstateDevelopersAssocia-
tion of India, which is the top
body of private real estate
developers, seeking six month
Infections in NE rose 16 times
IN TERMS of daily growth,
north-east has registered a
growth of 13% in daily cases,
meanwhile India during this
period recorded a rise of 5%.
Assam, during this period,
grew from 92 cases to 2,937
on June 10. Arunachal grew
19%, Mizoram registered
21%, Manipur 18% and
Tripura 8% in dailycases.
Deaths in the region are
still low - the seven states
recorded only six deaths till
June 10.However,testing has
beenrampedupquitesignifi-
cantly.The average tests con-
ducted by north-eastern
states on June 10 was 5,051
tests per million,whereas the
national average as per ICMR
datawas a much lower3,691.
During the 24 days when
national testing doubled,
some of the north-eastern
states increased their testing
by a multiple of 10. On
New Delhi
WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM
CANDID
❝
Ashok Kumar Gupta, chairperson, CCI
"As far pricing caps put in place by the civil
aviation ministry, I can only say these are not
normal times and it would be inappropriate to
expect and to apply general and normal
principles of free market during the crisis.
Trai snubs RWAs for charging
money from telecom firms
FE BUREAU
New Delhi, June 10
WHILE LAUDING THE tele-
com operators for their ser-
vices during the ongoing
Covid-19 pandemic, Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India
(Trai) chairman RS Sharma
came down heavily on some
builders and RWAs for charg-
ing telcos allow entry inside
housingsocietiesandcolonies.
Sharma said when the
access forelectricityandwater
is given without any problem,
why are telecom operators are
being charged for providing
connectivity? He termed the
freeze on repayment of any
commercial paper, bonds or
non-convertible debentures.
Besides interest waiver for
the six-month moratorium
period,Credaialsoseeksforthe
RBI March 27 moratorium to
be made mandatory, not dis-
cretionary,forall banks,NBFCs
and HFCs.
Terming the Credai’s peti-
tion as “frivolous, miscon-
ceived,non-maintainable”and
liable to be dismissed,Sebi said
the petition “appears to be
proxylitigation”.
It highlights how all the
authorities including RBI,
IncomeTaxauthorities,IRDAI,
etc.havetakentargetedstepsto
easethepressureonNBFCsand
other institutions while the
government has announced a
stimulus package of Rs 20 lakh
crore aimed at reviving the
stalled economy.
The finance minister also
announced a total package of
about Rs 75,000 crore for
NBFCs and HFCs besides a par-
tial credit guarantee scheme
for Rs 45,000 crore under
whichthefirst20%losswillbe
borne by the government
which will be the guarantor,
Sebi told the apex court.
Additionally, for the bene-
fit of the real estate industry,
the ministry of housing and
urban affairs has also issued
an advisory to the state gov-
ernments to invoke the force
majeure clause under Section
6 of RERA Act to enable the
extension of timelines for
completion of projects,among
other things.
Haryana growth
nearly doubles
ANALYSIS OF daily average
growth rate forHaryana shows
that Covid cases in the state
grewat10.5%inthefifthlock-
down, nearly double of the
5.7% growth in the fourth.But
Haryana is not the onlystate to
bear the brunt of opening its
borders.The daily growth rate
in Uttar Pradesh for the fifth
lockdownis4.3%atahighbase
of11,335;thisnumberwas4.1
inLockdown4and3.5inLock-
down 3.
Other states which have
seenagrowthintheirinfection
levels include West Bengal
which has seen the daily
growth in infections rise to
5.8% this month, as against
5%inthetwoweeksofthepre-
vious lockdown.
Kerala,whichwasthemodel
RISING INFECTIONS
19.2 17.8
16.3
5.3
Arunachal Manipur Mizoram
Assam Meghalaya
17-May
India 90,927
North-east 281
Compounded daily growth rate, %. Calculation for Nagaland and
Sikkim from recording of first case
Wednesday, Manipur had
tested 18,612 samples, on
May17thiswas1,706.Assam,
which has tested more sam-
ples than Bihar, had com-
pleted 1,68,842 tests by
Wednesday, five times more
thanwhat it had done on May
❝
practice as"perverse".
Sharma,who was speaking
during a webinar organised by
Assocham,said there is a trend
where builders and resident
welfare associations (RWAs)
are charging moneyfrom tele-
com service providers to allow
them to enter premises.
"Telecom service providers
are providing service in a non-
discriminatory manner, they
are not charging anypremium
from those who are living in
these complexes,they are pro-
viding a service, but they are
being told you are not
allowed... You have to pay this
much of money,"he said.
state, is witnessing a 5.7%
growth,up from 5.3% in Lock-
down 4 and a meagre 1.2% in
Lockdown 3. Karnataka is no
better,growing at 7.3%.
Jharkhand has a rate of
9.6%, the highest levels till
date; in neighbouring Bihar,
infectiongrowthseemstohave
slowed down.
How rapidly infection is
spreadingbeyondthehotspots
can be gauged from the fact
that on May 31 there were
eight states with infections
over 5,000. On June 10, data
indicates 12 states with more
than 5,000 infections.
200 Chennai
deaths ‘missing’
TAMIL NADU had reported
307 Covid deaths till Tuesday
evening, including 224 in
Chennai citylimits alone.
Officials blamed the “mis-
match”on a“procedural lapse”
since there was no system of
reporting deaths recorded in
the Chennai corporation’s reg-
istry to the government on a
dailybasis.
Denying allegations that
the government had “fudged”
the numbers to show a lesser
toll,thestate'sHealthSecretary
Beela Rajesh said that a “nine-
member reconciliation com-
mittee to streamline Covid-19
deaths data will look into all
such cases”.
“We don’t have to hide the
death data,we cannot do that.
We have been accurately
reporting all Covid-19 deaths
as reported from hospitals in
the public and private sector.
Following latest reports that
there were several deaths that
were not reported, we have
formed this committee to
assess all these alleged Covid-
19 deaths in city limits,” said
Rajesh.
Rajeshsaidthatthegovern-
ment is yet to ascertain the
number of deaths that did not
makeittotheofficialtollasthe
committeewas“still collecting
data”.
“Evenifwehaveanefficient
system to collect data from all
hospitals including medical
colleges and private hospitals
aboutCovid-19deaths,thesys-
tem on the ground has had no
practice of reporting deaths on
a daily basis before the Covid
outbreak.Wesuspectthatthese
alleged deaths were cases such
as home deaths or those that
happened at private clinics,
etc,”she said.
28.4
21.5
15.3
7.4
Sikkim
Nagaland Tripura
10-Jun CDGR
2,76,583 5
4,433 12.7
17.Whilehospitalisationrates
are not available for all states,
data for bed capacity shows
that many may still be in a
comfortable position.Assam,
forinstance,has 3,338 hospi-
tal beds, 595 ICUs and 398
ventilators.
WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2020

FINANCIAL EXPRESS ECONOMY 3

Rail freight rises 25% in

UNION TERRITORY OF JAMMU & KASHMIR
About 15k MW DIRECTORATE OF HEALTH SERVICES, JAMMU
Near MLA Hostel, Indira Chowk, Jammu, J&K. Pin: 180001
of wind-solar E-mail: dhsjammu@rediffmail.com, dhsjammu@gmail.com
Tel. No.: 0191-2546338, 0191-2549632, Fax No. 0191-254963

May from April low, still

Dr. Waseem Hussain, Medical Officer
hybrid capacity S/o Sh. Tassadiq Hussain, R/o Village Sag District Rajouri.
Sub:- Show cause notice.

to come up in
Whereas, you applied for permission / No Objection Certificate (NOC) to pursue
Senior Residency (SR) Course at AIIMS, Delhi, and;

a fifth less than normal

Whereas, on the other side you left without bothering to seek prior permission from

FE BUREAU
New Delhi, June 10
FREIGHT OPERATIONS OF
Indian Railways — an impor-
tant indicator of the economy
—areshowinganuptickaftera
major disruption in the lock-
down periodwith the national
transportercarrying82.27MT
of commodities in May, com-
pared with 65.14 MT in April.
Between 1st April 2020 to
9th June 2020, Railways car-
ried 175.46 million tonne
(MT) of essential commodities
across the country.
Railways clocked 106.5 MT
of traffic movement in Febru-
ary 2020, as against 100 MT
achieved in February 2019.
Disruption in economic
activity due to the nationwide
lockdown due to Covid-19 has
been costly for Railways with
freight traffic declining by
28% in April-May this year to
148 MT compared with 206
MT during the same period
last year.
Freight earnings have also
gone down to `13,412 crore in
the first two months of FY21,
compared to `21,696 crore
during the same period last
year. The Railways achieved
freight loading of 1,223 mil-
lion tonne in 2018-19.
According to the
spokesperson ofWestern Rail-
way, due to the lockdown, the
total loss of earnings for WR
has been `761.56 crore.
A Railway spokesperson
told FE that with the resump-
tion of businessin the country,
the transporter would be in a
position of doubling the last
year’s achievement in freight
loading. “We have covered
almost up to 80% of last year
and are looking at significant
improvement,”the spokesper-
son added.
The slump in the economic
activityhas turned the focus of
Railways to transportation of
essentials, specially food-
grains,whichhavecontributed
to the better freight perfor-
mance. Since the announce-
ment of the lockdown, more
than 31 lakh wagons have
transported goods to keep the
supply chain functional, of
which more than 17 lakhwag-
ons carried essential com-
modities and the rest account-
ing for items like iron ore,
cement and steel.
5 years: Crisil Competent Authority, thereby violated rules and regulations governing the study leave,
and;
Now, therefore you are hereby directed to show cause as to why action as
warranted under rules shall not be initiated against you for such irresponsible
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA behaviour. Your reply in this behalf should reach this office within 07 days from
date of this notice, failing which it shall be presumed that you have nothing to say
Mumbai, June 10 in your defence and you are not interested to serve the department. Action as war-
ranted under rules shall follow.
No. ES-3/6108/769-72 Sd/- Dr. Renu Sharma,
AS THE GOVERNMENT con- Dated: 06.06.2020 Director Health Services, Jammu.
DIPJ-1222
tinues to focus on increasing
the share of renewable energy
in the country, nearly 15,000
MW of wind-solar hybrid
capacity is expected to come
up over the next five years,
Crisil said.
Out of this 15,000 MW,
works on nearly 10,000 MW
are already either under con-
struction or are being ten-
dered and are expected to start
feeding the grid byfiscal 2024.
In the hybrid option, the
system is designed using
solar panels and small wind
turbines generators for gen-
erating electricity.
“We expect the hybrid
market to grow and evolve as
the number of projects and
developers who seek to
unlock value from the hybrid
increases. Riding on strong
support from central public
sector undertaking Solar
Energy Corporation of India
and several state govern-
ments, we expect nearly
15,000 MW of hybrid capac-
ity will come up over the next
five years,” Crisil director
Rahul Prithiani said.

CIL set for marketing drive to create demand

FE BUREAU
Kolkata, June 10
STATE-RUN MINER Coal India
(CIL), which is primarily
focused on supplying coal to
the power sector, is now reori-
enting its marketing to create
demand amid concerns over
fall in despatches. The com-
pany is primarily tapping
domestic coal based power
plants and non power con-
sumers which import coal.
CIL so long didn’t have to
think of demand and meeting
the power sector’s require-
ment was a challenge till
recently. Even when the non
power sector was starved of
coal and had to lift the fuel,
paying high premium above
notified prices through e-auc-
tions, CIL gave priority to the
powersectorforsupplies.How-
ever,with the powersectorpil-
ingupwith50milliontonneof
stocks sufficient for 29 days of
consumption, the mining
behemoth will now have to
focus on marketing and look
into the factors that create
demand.
A CIL official said the com-
panyso long hasworked on the
supplies side improving facili-
tiestoitscustomerslikereduc-
tion in reserve prices of coal in
auctions and liasoning with
the Railways on behalf of the
customers but never looked
into the mechanism of creat-
ing demand. Demand is based
on many factors like logistics,
freighter movement, fluctua-
tion in international prices,
affecting landed cost most
importantly the liquidity con-
dition of the consumer. CIL
will now have to take into con-
siderations these factors too.
To find the avenues for
expanding its supplies, CIL is
now focusing on non power
sector consumers like sponge
iron,cement,fertiliser,captive
power plants, and steel, per-
suading them to replace their
imported coal with domestic
coal.“Dialogue is on with cus-
tomers who opted for import
substitution in FY20. Until
demands picks from the non
power sector supplies will be
low key,”a CIL official said.

FORM NL-1A-B-RA FORM NL-2A-B-PL

Liberty General Insurance Limited Liberty General Insurance Limited
(Formerly, Liberty Videocon General Insurance Company Limited)
(Formerly, Liberty Videocon General Insurance Company Limited) IRDA Registration No. 150 dt. 22.05.2012 (Rs in lakhs)
IRDA Registration No. 150 dt. 22.05.2012 (Rs in lakhs)
AUDITED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT FOR THE HALF YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2020
AUDITED REVENUE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2020
Sl.No. Particulars
Year Ended Year Ended
Sl. Year Ended 31st March 2020 Year Ended 31st March 2019 31st March 2020 31st March 2019
No. Particulars Fire Marine Misc Fire Marine Misc 1 OPERATING PROFIT/(LOSS)
(a) Fire Insurance 677 (1,446)
1 Premiums earned (Net) 876 2,336 112,859 375 1,633 78,536 (b) Marine Insurance 470 (745)
(c) Miscellaneous Insurance (4,453) (6,411)
2 Profit/ Loss on sale/redemption of Investments 16 6 291 8 5 210
2 INCOME FROM INVESTMENTS
3 Others- Contribution from Shareholders' Funds
towards Excess of EoM - 360 10,956 - 394 6,732 (a) Interest, Dividend & Rent – Gross 4,147 2,960
(b) Profit on sale of investments 94 77
4 Interest, Dividend & Rent – Gross 573 245 12,869 404 184 8,077 Less: Loss on sale of investments - -
TOTAL (A) 1,465 2,947 136,975 787 2,216 93,555
3 OTHER INCOME - Exchange (loss)/gain - -
1 Claims Incurred (Net) 18 1,387 82,654 795 1,942 56,368 TOTAL (A) 935 (5,565)

2 Commission (322) 426 14,192 365 367 10,395 4 PROVISIONS (Other than taxation)
(a) For diminution in the value of investments - -
3 Operating Expenses related to Insurance Business 1,092 664 44,582 1,073 652 33,203 (b) For doubtful debts - 524
(c) Others (to be specified) - -
4 Premium Deficiency - - - - - -
5 OTHER EXPENSES
TOTAL (B) 788 2,477 141,428 2,233 2,961 99,966 (a) Expenses other than those related to Insurance Business 482 537
Operating Profit/(Loss) from Fire/Marine/ Managerial Remuneration 30 25
Miscellaneous Business C= (A - B) 677 470 (4,453) (1,446) (745) (6,411) Stamp Duty on increase in share capital 55 57
Directors' Sitting Fees 13 12
APPROPRIATIONS - - - - - - Other expenses - -
(b) Bad debts written off - -
Transfer to Shareholders’ Account 677 470 (4,453) (1,446) (745) (6,411) (c) Others - -
Transfer to Catastrophe Reserve - - - - - - Transfer of Excess as per EOM Regulations, 2016 11,315 7,126
Transfer to Other Reserves (to be specified) - - - - - - TOTAL (B) 11,895 8,281
TOTAL (C) 677 470 (4,453) (1,446) (745) (6,411) Profit Before Tax (10,960) (13,846)
Provision for Taxation
- Current - -
- Deferred - -
FORM NL-3A-B-BS Profit After Tax (10,960) (13,846)
Liberty General Insurance Limited
(Formerly, Liberty Videocon General Insurance Company Limited) APPROPRIATIONS
Registration No. 150 dt. 22.05.2012 (Rs in lakhs) (a) Interim dividends paid during the year - -
AUDITED BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31ST MARCH 2020 (b) Proposed final dividend - -
Trade Logo displayed above belongs to Liberty Mutual and used by the Liberty General Insurance Limited under license.

(c) Dividend distribution tax - -

Particulars Year Ended 31st March 2020 Year Ended 31st March 2019
(d) Transfer to any Reserves or Other Accounts (to be specified) - -
SOURCES OF FUNDS
SHARE CAPITAL 108,598 108,523 Balance of profit/ (loss) brought forward from last year (95,191) (81,345)
RESERVES AND SURPLUS 64,837 34,913 Balance carried forward to Balance Sheet (106,151) (95,191)
FAIR VALUE CHANGE ACCOUNT-SHAREHOLDERS 1 4
FAIR VALUE CHANGE ACCOUNT-POLICYHOLDERS 5 12
FORM NL-30A
BORROWINGS - - Liberty General Insurance Limited
TOTAL 173,441 143,452 (Formerly, Liberty Videocon General Insurance Company Limited)
Registration No. 150 dt. 22.05.2012 (Rs in lakhs)
APPLICATION OF FUNDS Analytical Ratios
INVESTMENTS-SHAREHOLDERS 62,241 46,764
Sl. No. Particular As at As at
INVESTMENTS-POLICYHOLDERS 207,262 134,944 31st March 2020 31st March 2019
LOANS - - 1 Gross Premium Growth Rate 36% 38%
FIXED ASSETS 2,465 2,608 2 Gross Premium to shareholders' fund ratio 2.28 2.33
CURRENT ASSETS 3 Growth rate of shareholders'fund 39% 30%
CASH AND BANK BALANCES 2,707 4,190 4 Net Retention Ratio 86% 87%
ADVANCES AND OTHER ASSETS 25,188 16,261 5 Net Commission Ratio 11% 11%
Sub-Total (A) 27,895 20,451 6 Expense of Management to Gross Direct Premium Ratio 41% 42%
CURRENT LIABILITIES 157,144 98,442 7 Combined Ratio 118% 120%
PROVISIONS 75,429 58,064 8 Technical Reserves to net premium ratio 1.42 1.51
Sub-Total (B) 232,573 156,506 9 Underwriting balance ratio -0.25 -0.31
NET CURRENT ASSETS (C) = (A - B) (204,678) (136,055) 10 Operating Profit Ratio -13% -20%
MISCELLANEOUS EXPENDITURE (to the extent not written off or adjusted) - - 11 Liquid Assets to liabilities ratio 0.27 0.27
DEBIT BALANCE IN PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT 106,151 95,191 12 Net earning ratio -9% -17%
TOTAL 173,441 143,452 13 Return on net worth ratio -16% -29%
Disclosure 14 Available Solvency Margin Ratio to Required Solvency Margin Ratio 2.18 2.15
1 Public disclosure is made in accordance with IRDA circular No. IRDA/F&I/CIR/F&A/012/01/2010 dated 28th January, 2010. 15 NPA Ratio
2 The above financial results have been audited by the Joint Statutory Auditors of the Company and were approved by the Audit Committee on 26th May 2020 Gross NPA Ratio Nil Nil
and by Board of Directors on 27th May 2020. Net NPA Ratio Nil Nil
3 Previous year's figures have been regrouped/reclassified wherever necessary.

New Delhi
 4 FINANCIAL EXPRESS
Companies
THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2020
Quick
View
IIFCL gets capital
infusion of `5,298 cr
from government
INDIA INFRASTRUCTURE Finance
Company (IIFCL) on Wednesday said
the government infused equity share
capital of `5,297.60 crore in the com-
pany on March 30.This infusion has
increased the paid-up equity share
capital of IIFCL to `9,999.92 crore
against the authorized share capital
of `10,000 crore.“The increased
paid-up equity share capital enables
IIFCL to create requisite headroom to
provide finance to more number of
infrastructure projects in the coun-
try,”it said.IIFCLwill now have
increased exposure limits for individ-
ual projects and developer groups.It
would be able to comfortably main-
tain its capital to risk-adjusted ratio as
per RBI regulations and directions
and approach the markets to attract
more borrowings,it said.
Covid vaccine: Panacea
Biotec partners Refana
PANACEA BIOTEC on Wednesday said
it is setting up a joint venture firm in
Ireland with US-based Refana Inc to
develop a vaccine for Covid-19.The
company is advancing its response to
address the unprecedented chal-
lenges of Covid-19 by collaborating
with Refana Inc to make a vaccine
widely accessible around the world in
an equitable manner through a joint
venture company to be based in Ire-
land,Panacea Biotec said in a regula-
tory filing.The collaboration aims to
bring to patients a whole inactivated
virus-based vaccine for COVID-19,it
added.
‘Nearly15%corpworkforce
maypermanentlyWFH’
AN AVERAGE 13-14% of corporate
workforce may permanentlywork
from home,a development that may
hit demand for office space slightly,
JLL India country head and CEO
Ramesh Nair has said.However,he
said the de-densification of office
space by corporates to ensure social
distancing between employees may
mitigate any adverse impact on office
demand due to adoption of work-for-
home (WFH) policy.Nairwas speaking
at a webinar organised byWorkplace
Trends India founderTushar Mittal,
who also heads interior design firm
SKV,on Tuesday.
AnandMahindrainvests
$1minGurugramstart-up
HAPRAMP,A blockchain-based
social media company, has secured
$1 million from Anand Mahindra,
chairman of Mahindra Group.
Hapramp, based in Gurugram, sup-
ported from their early days by Hud-
dle Incubator, is working on some of
the biggest social media challenges
— user privacy, data security and fair
content monetisation — as part of
their product offering.
NFL signs MoU with ITI
to skill youth in trades
NATIONAL FERTILIZERS’ (NFL)
Nangal plant in Punjab has signed a
memorandum of understanding
(MoU) with ITI, Nangal to train
youth in 12 trades under the Skill
India initiative.The MoU was
exchanged between Renu R P Singh,
DGM (HR) I/c, NFL Nangal unit, and
Lalit Mohan, Principal of ITI, Nan-
gal.
DRL completesWockhardt
units acquisition
DR REDDY’S Laboratories (DRL) has
completed the acquisition of select
divisions of Wockhardt’s branded
generics business in India and a few
international territories of Nepal,Sri
Lanka,Bhutan and Maldives.How-
ever,the company has amended the
business transfer agreement (BTA) in
light of the Covid-19 impact,due to
reduction in sales revenues during
March and April 2020 from the prod-
ucts it is acquiring.On February 12,
Dr Reddy’s had signed a BTAwith
Wockhardt to acquire the business
undertakings for an upfront consid-
eration of `1,850 crore.
● ANALYSTS ON FUEL
OMCs need another `3/litre hike
for normal marketing margins
FE BUREAU
New Delhi, June 10
RETAIL AUTO FUEL rates will have to be
increasedbyanother`3perlitreifthestate-
run oil marketing companies (OMCs) are to
revive their marketing margins to the nor-
mal levels of `3 per litre, analysts pointed
out.Auto fuel marketing margins are cur-
rently running in negative territory, as
OMCs absorbed the higher excise duties
levied on these products,while retail petrol
and diesel rates remained unchanged for a
long time amid rising global prices.
Oil marketing companies raised retail
fuelpricesofautofuelsforthefourthdayin
a row on Wednesday,ending a month-long
hiatus,to cope upwith the gradual increase
in global oil prices. Diesel is now priced at
`71.62/litre in the national capital and
petrolat`73.4/litre,asagainst`69.39/litre
and `71.26/litre,respectively,on Saturday.
ICICI Securities pointed out that net
marketingmarginofOMCshadslippedinto
Covid to halve multiplexes’ occupancy rates in FY21: Crisil
FE BUREAU
New Delhi, June 10
MULTIPLEXES ARE EXPECTED to incur
Ebitda (earnings before interest,tax,depre-
ciation and amortisation) losses in the cur-
rentfinancialyearasadherencetosocialdis-
tancing norms will have a bearing on
occupancy levels, according to a recent
report byCrisil Ratings.
Analystsatthefirmestimateoccupancy
rates to halve to nearly 15% in FY21,com-
pared to about 30% in the previous two
financial years. Due to reduced seating
capacity, ticket sales that generate around
Sale of Flipkart shares: Tiger MT Educare acquisition: Zee Learn
Global may move HC against fails to address concerns, says IiAS
AAR’s denial of tax waiver
FE BUREAU
New Delhi, June 10
MAURITIUS-BASED INVESTMENT firm
Tiger Global International may approach
the Delhi High Court to challenge the
income-tax department ruling that the
firm wasn’t eligible for tax exemption on
capital gains regarding its Flipkart stake
sale,in accordance with India-Mauritius
double taxation avoidance agreement
(DTAA), as the actual control of the com-
pany was not in Mauritius but in the US.
TheAuthority forAdvanced Ruling (AAR)
in New Delhi ruled in favour of the
department earlier this year.
Tiger Global had applied for a certifi-
cation of nil withholding before it sold its
Flipkart shares toWalmart’s Luxembourg
entity FIT Holdings SARL. The sale was
part of the $17-billion acquisition by the
US retail giant,in which Tiger Global sold
shares worth over `14,000 crore.
Tiger Global applied to the income tax
department for a certificate that would
acknowledge that it would have no liabil-
ity to pay tax on capital gains due to
India-Mauritius DTAA. However, the
income tax department concluded that
the firm’s directors ‘based in Mauritius
were puppets and not independent’, and
the real control to make crucial decision
was vested with the US-based director.
The firm then applied toAAR for a rul-
ing. The department submitted to the
AAR that the element of good faith
needed to be retained for applicability of
the treaties. Both the India-Mauritius
treatyand the India-USAtreatyhave cap-
tioned “prevention of tax avoidance” as
one of the purpose of DTAA. Therefore,
Real estate developers design homes for post-Covid world
SHUBHRA TANDON
Mumbai, June 10
IN A POST-COVID world,real estate devel-
opers have gone back to the drawing board
toredesignhomes.Thefuture-readyhouses
are slated to have a separate study,kitchen
garden, storage room, powder room, con-
tactlesselevatorsandhomeautomationsys-
tems to name a few.
Akshaya, a Chennai-based real estate
developer, has already made changes to
threeofitsongoingprojects,where2.5-BHK
and3.5-BHKapartmentsarebeingmadeto
accommodate a separate small room for
work.Akshaya chairman and CEO T Chitty
BabutoldFE,“Wearereplicatingofficeenvi-
ronments at home.So basic infrastructure
like electrical points,WiFi and broadband
connectivity,air conditioning,power back-
upandprivacy,whichareagiveninanoffice,
will all be available to our customers at
home”.
Developers saythat as the focus of com-
panies get centred around reducing costs
like transport, office rentals and worksta-
Oil marketing companies raised
retail fuel prices of auto fuels for the
fourth day in a row on Wednesday,
ending a month-long hiatus, to cope
up with the gradual increase in
global oil prices
theredatminus`1.56/litreonJune1.Auto
fuel margins are calculated on the average
prices of gasoline and diesel in the interna-
two-thirds of exhibitors’total revenues are
likely to see a decline of nearly 55%. Rev-
enues from food and beverages (F&B) and
advertisementwill also be impacted.
“Their high operating leverage,in turn,
wouldleadtoasharpfallinprofitabilityand
cause Ebitda-level losses this fiscal. That
compares with average operating profit of
17%-19% seen through fiscals 2018-
2020,” said seniordirectorSachin Gupta.
CrisilRatingscitedthevirusasa“mater-
ialthreat”tomultiplexesasfearofenclosed
spaces will keep audiences away from the
theatres forsometime even post lockdown.
Occupancylevelsareexpectedtonormalise
Tiger Global had sold shares
worth over `14,000 crore
in Flipkart
the good faith application of these
treaties requires the element of tax
avoidance and treaty abuse to be exam-
ined by the tax administration while
invoking treaty provisions, the income
tax department had submitted.
The AAR agreed with the department
and said: “Control and management of
the applicants (Tiger Global) was not in
Mauritius but in USA.Therefore,we have
no hesitation to conclude that the entire
arrangement made bythe applicants was
with an intention to claim benefit under
India-Mauritius DTAA, which was not
intended by the lawmakers, and such an
arrangement was nothing but an
arrangement for avoidance of tax in
India.”
Amit Maheshwari,tax partneratAKM
Global, a consulting firm, said,“The AAR
has the power to reject the application if
the transaction is prima facie designed to
evade tax. This clause results in tax
department challenging almost every
application in AAR alleging tax evasion.
AAR has denied the application of the
India-Mauritius treaty. This will poten-
tially result in the tax department invok-
ing GAAR and denying treaty benefits
even in the case of the Mauritius treaty.
The treaty has a grandfathering clause
forinvestments priortoApril 1,2017 and
has not incorporated minimum stan-
dards to prevent treaty abuse in accor-
dance with BEPS Action Plan.”
tions, the option of work from home may
increase in the coming years.“IT services
currentlyspend$500-$800amonthonan
individual’s transport,on work space given
andofficerental.Iftheywanttoreducecost
they may probably increase the work from
home culture over the next five years and
then we need to provide homes with that
facility,”TChittyBabu said.
The pandemic, developers say, has
increased the demand for self sufficient
homes,which are currently doubling up as
offices formost.Also,with the emphasis on
self-reliancegiventhefearofcontamination
has got the developers to think of newways
tomakethehomewellfacilitatedforeaseof
living.
Godrej Properties,forinstance,is think-
ingofintroducingspaceforkitchengardens
intheupcomingprojectssothatpeoplecan
growtheirownvegetablesfromthecomfort
of their homes,and also making a separate
storage room by the kitchen where people
will be able to store their provisions.Anub-
hav Gupta, founder, GPL Design Studio,
Godrej Properties,said,“All these thoughts
tional market,which is reset once every 15
days.“Inanincreasingpriceenvironment,if
OMCs do not increase prices, then on 16-
June-20 (next reset), OMCs would make
losses on both gasoline and diesel,” analysts
at Credit Suisse pointed.
OMCs made super normal marketing
marginsof`14-18/litreinautofuelsinApril
andearlyMay,bykeepingpricesunchanged
amid falling global prices. However, their
margins took a hit as retail prices remained
stagnant even after the government hiked
exciseontransportationfuelby`10perlitre
onpetroland`13perlitreondieselonMay
5.
“No daily price change in the last two
monthsisdisappointingandourconfidence
in‘deregulation’has declined further,” ana-
lysts Nomura had said. However, average
auto fuel margins of the OMCs in Q1FY21
are seen to be at `5.1/litre,more than twice
the levels recorded in the corresponding
quarter last year,even if it stays negative in
June.
onlyinthenextfinancialyear,thefirmsaid.
Amixofhighfixedcostsandloweroccu-
pancyafterresumptionofoperationsmeans
thatmultiplexeswillhavetoresettheircost
structures. “Those with strong balance
sheets and ability to raise funds will be bet-
terplaced,but prolonged closure and lower
occupancy will impair credit profiles,”said
Nitesh Jain,director,Crisil Ratings.
Theatreswerethefirsttohaltoperations
after fresh cases of Coronavirus were
detectedinIndiainearlyMarch.Thereisyet
nodefinitetimelineforopeningoftheatres.
Industry players and analysts expect the-
atrestoopenintheJuly-Septemberquarter.
FE BUREAU
New Delhi, June 10
PROXY ADVISORY FIRM Institutional
Investor Advisory Services (IiAS) has
observed that the management and board
at Zee Learn have failed to respond ade-
quately to questions raised by it on the
acquisitionofMTEducare.“Thatacompany
spokesman addressed the media in
responsecanhardlybeconstruedasamean-
ingful answer to questions raised,” the firm
wrote.
In April, IiAS expressed concerns about
the corporate governance structure at Zee
Lift majors roll out steps to help users beat Covid challenges
SAJAN C KUMAR
Chennai, June 10
THECOUNTRY’STWOmajorliftandesca-
lator companies, Kone and Johnson, are
rolling out innovative measures to help the
usersoftheirproductstobeatthechallenges
thrown up bythe Covid-19 outbreak.From
escalator handrail sanitisers to elevator
remote call using WhatsApp,to elevator air
purifierstoasmartphoneappthatallowsfor
contact-free operation of lifts, the list is
‘heavy’ of solutions that support people
transitioninto a newnormal.
Kone Elevator India, a wholly-owned
subsidiaryof Finland-based Kone Corpora-
tion, has introduced a slew of people-flow
solutionstohelpbuildingsandcitiesbesafer
and healthier places to live,work and com-
mute in.This is based on findings that as
cities gradually begin to open, the experi-
enceofusingresidentialbuildingsandpub-
lic premises such as metro stations, shop-
ping malls and offices is bound to change.
The future-ready houses are slated
to have a separate study, kitchen
garden, storage room, powder
room, contactless elevators and
home automation systems
have come from the practical difficulties
thatpeoplearefacing.Imaginehavingyour
own kitchen garden which decreases
reliance on outsidevegetables and fruits,or
having a store room where one could store
supplies of a month or two,which is what
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Calcutta HC issues notice
to three MP Birla Group
firms to appear before it
FE BUREAU
Kolkata, June 10
AFTER THE SUPREME Court stated that
the probate court will hear the MP Birla
Group companies afresh and decide vari-
ous issues including the jurisdiction issue
raised by the Lodhas, the Calcutta High
Court has issued a notice to the three
group companies,Birla Corporation,Birla
Cable and Vindhya Telelinks, to appear
before it.
Earlier, on May 11, a Supreme Court
bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud had
asked the probate court to hear the MP
Birla Group companies afresh,upholding
the Calcutta High Court’s order that
allowed HarshVardhan Lodha’s reinstate-
ment as director of the companies with
remuneration.
Commenting on the June 8 order
passedbyjusticeSahidullahMunshiofthe
Calcutta High Court,a Birla spokesperson
said,“The direction for issuance of notice
to the companies by the Calcutta High
Court paves way for passing of further
directions to the companies for preserva-
tionandprotectionofthecontrolofEstate
of Late Priyamvada Devi Birla overthe MP
Birla Group.”
The spokesperson further said, “On
May4,2020 the division bench of the Cal-
cutta High Court at the instance of these
very companies allowed them to publish
the results of resolutions taken up at the
recent AGMs.While doing so,the division
bench in a landmark move directed the
Learned Single Judgeto hearthe said com-
paniesindecidingtheissueofdirectorship
of Harsh Vardhan Lodha and other issues
pending before it relating to control over
MP Birla Group companies. The order
dated May 4 was upheld by the Supreme
Learn,part of the Essel Group,and the asset
allocation, related-party transactions and
acquisition of MTEducare.
ZEE Learn had spent `280 crore to buy
MT Educare, which was accompanied by
write-offsandprovisioningofcertainassets.
ZEE Learn and MT Educare have not been
able to leverage synergies to expand rev-
enuesnorcontrolcosts—apromiseofwhich
was made to investors at the time of the
acquisition. IiAS has also pointed out that
ZEE Lean continues to invest in asset heavy
businesses — Digital Ventures Private Ltd’s
total assets on March 31,2019 aggregated
`690 crore — have low returns and more
The measures include escalator
handrail sanitisers, air purifiers and a
smartphone app that allows for
contact-free operation of lifts
To help reduce the need to touch sur-
faces,an elevator remote-call feature using
WhatsApp is a response to this by Kone. It
allows users to call an elevator using social
messagingchannelslikeWhatsApp,remov-
ingtheneedtotouchpossiblycontaminated
buttons ordisplays.
Amit Gossain,MD,Kone Elevator India,
said :“In the prevailing Covid-19 environ-
ment,thewaypeopleinteractwitheveryday
surroundingswillbechallenging.Asweease
out of lockdown and re-enter public build-
ings,weneedtocometotermswiththenew
normalwithcompletecertainty.Toaddress
this changing need,Kone has introduced a
range of health and well-being solutions
that will help recreate safer user journeys
people have beendoing currently.”
Builders are going into minute details
likewhatkindofadoorshouldbefixedinto
the room, which minimises the outside
sounds from entering the room and main-
tains privacy.
While pandemics could be a once-in-a-
lifetimesituation,onecanneverbesureand
therefore byhaving these amenities,devel-
opers hope to make houses future-ready.
ReezaSebastian,president(residentialbusi-
ness),EmbassyGroup,saidthatdesigninter-
ventions in residential complexes will now
include planning out a strategyto relook at
optimisationandefficiency.“De-densifica-
tion is certainly going to be the focus both
forresidentialandcommercialrealestateby
implementingsocial distancing norms.”
Sebastianaddedthathigh-risebuildings
were originally designed to organise as
many people as possible in one place,while
health and hygiene were not a considera-
tion.“In times of pandemics,it is necessary
to reduce contact with everything that is
usedinmulti-storeybuildingselevator,ele-
vator buttons, door handles, surfaces and,
New Delhi
❝
The court has issued a notice to Birla
Corporation, Birla Cable and Vindhya
Telelinks to appear before it
Court with several caveats and additional
protections to the Birlas.”
Commenting on the Calcutta High
Court’sorderdatedJune8,DebanjanMan-
dal,partner of Fox & Mandal,the solicitor
firm representing the Lodhas, said,“This
development is not something which
deserves comment. The companies will
surely take action in respect of such
notices as would be legally appropriate.”
The genesis of the 16-year-old legal
row between the Birlas and the Lodhas
over controlling the over `5,000 crore-
Birla Estate lies in the contestedwill of late
Priyamvada Devi Birla, the widow of MP
Birla, which was executed in July 1982
after the purported will allegedly trans-
ferred the shares of the MP Birla Group,
collectively called as the Birla Estate, in
favour of Rajendra Singh Lodha.
The legal tussle began afterthe July13,
1982 mutual wills that gave away all the
assets to charities but anotherwill ofApril
18, 1999 gave them to Rajendra Lodha,
now being pursued by his son Harsh
Lodha,and other heirs.
than half of Zee Learn’s debt (excluding MT
Educare) is attributable to the six schools
owned bythem.
“This is in sharp contrast to their belief
thathavinganasset-lightmodelisacritical
driver of its profitability,which is, indeed,
demonstrated by the profitable and cash
generating franchisee-led business model
ofKidzeeandotherpre-schoolbusiness,”the
proxyfirm explained.
ThecompanyproposestoselltheKidzee
business,IiASsaid,butZeeLearnhasneither
confirmedordeniedthedevelopment,while
the management has given unsatisfactory
responses to this question in investorcalls.
and healthyspaces inyourbuildings.”
JohnsonLiftshascomeupwithaninno-
vationthatensuresusersareabletooperate
lifts without touching the lift buttons.The
companyhas developed a smart phone app
for this purpose.V Jagannathan, executive
director,JohnsonLifts,said:“Ourdesignand
development team has created a smart-
phone App named EyeRIS that allows peo-
ple to have a contactless lift usage experi-
ence,crucialinthesetimeswhenCovid-19is
forcing us to lookat ourlives differently.”
Theappconnectsthesmartphonetothe
lift system using QR code technology and
the useroperates the lift byjust tappingthe
buttonsonthephone’sscreen.Theuserwill
only need to indicate the present floor and
the destination floor on the app and once
done,the lift arrives to take the user to the
destinationfloor.Thisensuresthattheuser
will not need to press anylift buttons.
Tofurtherreduceconcernsoverelevator
use,Kone is introducing the new Kone ele-
vatorairpurifierin select markets.
above all,neighbours,” she said.
Giving a sneak peek into the future,
developers said elevators will no longer
require operation through buttons and can
be controlled through mobile phones.
Godrej is also considering re-modelling
homes to have a washroom or a powder
roomjustbeforethelivingroom,aroundthe
entrance,where people entering the house
could first use it.Washing cubicles are also
being envisaged just outside the houses in
Akshaya.
At Shapoorji Pallonji, the move is
towards reviving 3-BHK apartments, in
which one room can be used as an office.At
present, 50-60% of the company’s resi-
dential portfolio is two bedrooms and 20-
25% is 3-BHK.The companyis planning to
increasetheshareofthreebedroomsby5%
going forward.
While mostoftheseadditionswillform
partofthedesignlayoutandmaynotattract
steep additional cost for the buyers, some
cost it will be.For the additional workplace,
Akshayawillbechargingitscustomers`100
persquare foot,TChittyBabu said.
WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2020

FINANCIAL EXPRESS 5

New Delhi
 6 FINANCIAL EXPRESS WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM

Opinion
TOUCHSTONE OF DEVELOPMENT

❝
PM Narendra Modi
Govt should envision and design development projects
for holy sites like Kedarnath and Badrinath in a way and
manner that stands the test of time and yet is eco-
❝
friendly and in harmony with nature
THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2020

Less workers, but better RETURNEES’ HOME STATES, LARGELY AGRI-DEPENDENT, MUSTWORK ON ATTRACTING
● COVID 19 & LABOUR

looked after, more skilled INVESTMENT IN THE AGRI SPACE, WHILE THE EXODUS EASES THE PRESSURE ON THE MEGA-CITIES

Opportunity in
India’s labour relations are due for a big reset; hostels and
better conditions are the new normal, & more reskilling too

G the migrant exodus

IVEN HOWTHEYsufferedduringthelockdownperiod,itislikelyagood
manymigrantworkerswill stayback in theirvillages,preferring to earn
a livelihood in the agri-rural economy.Given theverylimited opportu-
nities though, especially at a time when the economy is decelerating,
the majority will probably have no option but to take the train back to industrial

F
centres.In fact,Larsen &Toubro has seen its workforce increase to 1,20,000 from
70,000 in the last fortnight and is adding 2,500-3,000 workers every day. How- ROM AN INTERNATIONAL agriculture to develop supply-chains,
ever,given the dangers of the Covid-19 pandemic,it is important they are housed perspective, the economic with a focus on agri-processing indus-
incleanpremisesandare coveredforhealthandmedicalbenefits.Whethertheyare effects of migration vary tries, could enable home states to cap-
local labourers,living close to the factorypremises,ormigrants,from now,employ-
ers will have no option but to ensure that workers are looked after.
widely from country to
country and depend on fac-
PRASANNA italise on theircomparative advantage
in agriculture, creating employment
AsSRamadorai,chairmanoftheNationalSkillDevelopmentAgency(NSDA)and tors such as the demographics of both BALACHANDER and growth opportunities.
alsoofNationalSkillDevelopmentCorporation(NSDC),pointedoutinaninterview the sending and receiving country,the Group executive & group head, Global Markets,
The reverse migration would also
to this paper, the living conditions of workers in the cities are truly appalling; it is skill shortage and employment oppor- ICICI Bank Views are personal ease some of the strain on the mega
unacceptable that four dozen people are sharing a toilet in slums like Dharavi.The tunities that exist in these countries, cities and urban conglomerates, and
numbers are large—even if around 60-70% of about 100 million migrants go back etc. There are both gains and losses in give way for development of other
to the stateswhere theywere employed,that is 60-70 million people—so there can the short term, but, over the longer annual inter-state migration flows of criteria, and the states that could capi- urban centres in the lesser developed
be no overnight solutions. But India Inc and the local governments must work term, both countries might stand to closeto9millionsince2011.Thegrow- taliseonthisincreasedallocationaswell states. India’s mega cities, with popu-
together to start addressing their needs.There are tax incentives available for com- gain as the economic adjustment ing trend of internal migration across asthereturneeswillemergeaswinners. lationofmorethan10million,haveled
paniesthatwanttosetupaccommodationforworkers,buthostelscanalsobesetup works itswaythrough the system.This decadespointstothefactthatopportu- Homestatesshouldtrytoretainthis to cluster development around them,
bythird parties,say,in industrial hubs,so that the scale takes care of the economics. has been the subject of intense debate, nitiesandrewardsofmigrationfarsur- labour through creation of other gain- e.g., cities like Jaipur, Pune and Surat
with the topic of illegal migrants tak- pass risk, apprehensions and barriers ful employment opportunities, which have seen economic growth rates in
Meanwhile,thegovernmentmustfixthePDSandmakesureworkershaveaccessto
ing centre-stage during “Brexit”, The like relocation hardship,language,etc. could then have ripple effects in terms high double digits (pre-COVID period)
public health facilities.Whether companies locate their factories in places where
“Italian 5 star” movement, the rise of Covid-19 has led to forced reverse of development and economic activity. as economic and social clusters
workersareavailableinlargenumbersorwhetherworkersmigratetofarawaystates the “Alternative for Germany” debate migration from industri- State-wise ease of doing expanded around them. If the lesser
insearchofalivelihood,livingstandardsneedtoimprove.Morecritically,asautoma- on workers from Syria and the dis- alised states like Delhi, business rankings show developed states could encourage
tionallowscompaniestouselesslabour,workersneedtobeskilledfordifferentjobs. course on theAmericanwall bordering Maharashtra,TamilNadu that migrants’ home development opportunities, it could
In the villages, mobile training centres can be used to train them, and the skills Mexico.In India,the topic of migration to native stateslike Bihar, The reverse states rank poorly com- pave the path for creation of growth
mappedelectronicallysotheycanbetapped.Thisisalreadyhappeninginmanydis- has been revived recently,albeit with a UP and Madhya Pradesh. migration, if pared to the states that synergies in their urban centres lead-
trictsinthecountrywithcorporatehousesplayingarole,andsomeprogrammes,like focus on internal migration between This poses economic handled right by attract the migrant pool. ing to overall economic expansion.
the one in Jharkhand,have been successful. and within states. challenges for the first Improving ease of doing Development in urban centres
But the initiatives are hopelesslyinadequate in relation to the numberofworkers
the states, could
The states have been burning both groupofstates,asmostof businessconditionscould would also lead to growth in services
thatrequiretobetrained.Indiaprobablyspendslessthan1%ofGDPinskillingwhereas ends of the candle in the Covid-19 pan- the migrant population aid development of enablebothdomesticand sectoractivities including trade,trans-
anythinglessthan5-10%isinsufficientifthecountryharboursambitionsofbecom- demic, providing quarantine facilities was employed in labour- new urban centres foreigninvestment.Mak- port,hotels,entertainment,etc.India’s
ing part of the global supply chain. Over the next few years, job opportunities are andmedicalinfrastructure,distributing intensive industries or as in lesser developed ing changes to industrial, total factor productivity for services is
expectedtobecreatedinareassuchasagricultureandfoodprocessingwherereforms food, providing shelter to the destitute construction workers, sectoral policies and much higherthan manufacturing,and
states
are being rolled out.It is up to corporates and government to invest in education and and displaced,etc,on the one hand,and and even with lifting of infrastructure policies, urban centres attract the labour pool,
skilling programmes so as to create a workforce capable of being employed in high- grappling with depleting resources on the lockdown, these would allow greater includingunskilledlabour,intovarious
techindustries.Thereisalsothe opportunitytoincorporateskillingwithinMNREGA theotherasrevenuesdependentoneco- statescouldseestaggered industrial development, activities within the service industry.
giventhescheme’sreachandbudget.Inallthis,thelabourunionsmustco-operateso nomic activity, including GST, excise recovery heightened by unavailability supportinggrowthinprimary-agricul- Collaboration with knowledge-based
that workers become increasingly productive.Unless we step up our efforts to train duties,stampduty/registrationcharges, of labour.The home states could bene- turestates.TheUPgovernment’sinitia- platforms and technology-based start-
etc, have dipped sharply. However, we fitifthereturninglabourpoolistapped tive of setting up an ‘investment pro- ups could also be one of the avenues
workers,perhapsbyincorporatingskillingintoschoolcurricula,afewyearsdownthe
attempt to identify opportunities that judiciouslybyappropriate policypush. motionandfacilitationagency’isastep that state governments could utilise to
road,wewill endupwith large numbers of both unemployable and unemployed.
this shift entails for the states and the In the short-term, most returnees in the right direction. absorb the inflow of migrant labour
economyevenwhileacknowledgingthe could seek employment under the The recent agriculture reforms, into various service sector activities.
temporarynature of the same. MGNREGA,giventhehigherallocation aimed at creating‘One India,OneAgri- Whilewe acknowledge that most of

The true test of eminence Historically, migration takes place

for work and education from areas of
surplus-labour with availability of pri-
through the recent economic package
announced. MGNREGA is a demand-
based scheme, and state-wise alloca-
culture Market’,including the amend-
ment of the Essential CommoditiesAct
and APMC Act, could lead to the cre-
the shift in labour could be temporary,
crisis often opens the door for reform.
This unique opportunity provided by
QS 2021 shows even IoEs paying for bad regulation mary sector employment,to areas that tions are dependant on budgeted esti- ation of better storage and logistic Covid 19 could have the dual advan-
offeremployment in higher,more pro- mates and actual demand for work infrastructure,provide access to larger tage of mitigating some of the stress in

T
HE LATESTQSworld universityrankings showhowlittle the Institute of ductive sectors like industry and ser- during the year.Successful MGNREGA inter- and intra-state markets, and urban centres and paving the path for
Eminence (IoEs) tag from the Centre could mean for an Indian univer- vices.Whilethereisnoconsensusonthe implementation would be dependent access to all farmers to engage with development in the agriculture- dom-
numberofmigrantlabourersacrossthe upon timely payment of wages, industries acrossthevaluechain.Given inated states. What is envisioned here
sity/higher education institute if little is done to tackle legacy problems
country,most estimates point towards demand for employment, provision of the return of migrant population to is a path that, if successfully imple-
of over-regulation first. Most Indian universities have slipped in the QS
a numberaround 100 million,with the work and assets created. There is sub- agriculture-rich states, working on mented, could lead to more balanced
rankings,including 10 IoEs from the public and private sector.While India has still Economic Survey 2017 estimating stantialinter-statevariationinallthese encouraging private investment in growth across the country.
managed three universities in the top 200, their position has worsened over the
last rankings.India’s tallyin the top-500 globallyhas come down from six lastyear
to five.Theironyisthatthegovernmenthadmandatedthataninstitute/university
LETTERS TO
Get ‘data exclusivity’ right
conferred the IoE tag, with which came a promise of greater academic, adminis-
trative and financial autonomy, had to work on figuring in the top 500 by 2028,
before aiming to move into the top 100.As peran Indian Express report,two of the THE EDITOR
ten private universities that have earned the IoE tag—BITS Pilani andVellore Insti-
tute of Technology—have got pushed out of the list of top 1,000. Agro-chemical majors won’t find Govt must do sane
TheacademicandinfrastructuralgapsthatcouldexistbetweenIndianandtop- India attractive for investment, as
ranked foreign universities is mostly rooted in India’s regulatory architecture for
long as the regulator micro-manages
UTTAM GUPTA lockdown lifting
The rapid progression of Covid-19 in
highereducation.UGC andAICTE have constrained universities on almost all mat-
ters,academic oradministrative.And,though IoEs are out of the UGC’s purviewon even production decisions Policy analyst India is cause for concern. Daily
a significant number of matters, most of the public-sector IoEs that were to each increases in new coronavirus
receive `1,000 crore from the Centre have received only a quarter of this so far. infections exacerbate the health
And, even with the significant autonomy for IoEs, they have not been freed from Given China’s frequent changes in investmentinR&Danddatageneration, technical of the same product for indige- crisis and stretch the country’s
anti-meritocratic regulations for public universities such as reservation. Snail- rules,targeting of MNCs,its deteriorat- besides ensuring‘proper’and‘scientific’ nous manufacture u/s 9(3)/9(4) in the health infrastructure to the limit. It is
ing trade and investment relationship use of the newproduct. nameofsamefirmoranyotherfirmforuse pointless to rank India among the
paced recognition of changing realities has rendered the regulatory architecture
with the US, European countries and Theseobjectivescanbeachievedonly in the country.This requirement may be worst-hit countries and lament that
obsolete, at the cost of universities. For instance, the sclerosis on online and dis-
Japan, and questions over its role in whenthe‘firsttime’registrantgetsacer- imposedwithimmediateeffectincluding India is overtaking other affected
tanceeducationhasallowedforeign universities tocapitalise ondemand foronline spreadofCovid-19globally,hundredsof tain period of‘exclusivity’,duringwhich the applications underscrutiny process. countries. Nevertheless, we must be
education in India.While UGC, in 2018, allowed select universities to offer this— MNCs are planning to exit that country. the RC shall not grant registration to It means that,having taken registra- aware that the cases add up to 2.7
onlythosewithaNAACratingof3.25orhigher,andthosethatfigureinthetop-100 Theywouldeithergobacktotheircoun- anotherapplicantbyrelyingonregistra- tion for import of formulation without lakh, and counting. The ‘low
of the NIRF ranking qualified—only seven had been given approval. It is true that tryof origin,orlook forrelocation desti- tion data of the former.The US and EU registering technical u/s 9(3), the MNC mortality rate’ and the ‘high
the government has now allowed the remaining 93 to do this,but it is hard to tell nations such as India.The Modi govern- have a law on data exclusivity,which is must take‘immediate’steps to register recovery rate’ are poor consolation
yet if this will take off meaningfully.Also,if the UGC deems 993 universities fit to menthasstronglyindicateditsintentto behind most of the‘new molecule’dis- thetechnical.Applyingthiseventoappli- in the face of exponential increase in
teach,why does it have reservations about all of them being able to do this online? bring them here. coveries, data generation and registra- cations under scrutiny process makes it fresh cases. Community spread is
Thatsaid,someofthecriteriathatQSrankingsconsidermaynotsuitIndiaatafun- Intheagrochemicalsector,outofthe tion happening in those countries.But, bizarre(itcouldleadtooutrightrejection said to be happening in pandemic
damental level; for instance, the student-faculty ratio, and international students total import of technical material or Indiadoes not offerit. oftheapplicationiftheapplicantdecides hotspots or high intensity zones.
andfacultycriteriaarehardtomeetforhighlypopulateddevelopingeconomieslike active ingredients that go into making Once the original applicant gets reg- nottogivetheaffidavit).Suchundertak- Source of infection is not known
India.But,there are secular parameters where Indian universities haven’t done well end-use formulations, imports from istration under Section 9(3) of IA 1968, ings are also being sought for other reg- when mass transmission takes place.
either—IIT-Bombay,India’stop-rankedinstitution,hasslippedintermsofacademic Chinaaloneaccountforabout50%.The subsequent applicants can get registra- istrations,viz.import of technical pesti- As a result, contact tracing, a key
reputationandemployerreputation,whichtogetheraccountfor50%ofweightage. disruptioninsupplyoftechnicalmater- tion under Section 9(4) for the same cideunderthe‘TechnicalImport(TI)u/s component of the Covid-19 fight,
Italsohadapoorershowingintermsofcitationsperfaculty(20%weightage)fromlast ial from China is another reason why product on payment of nominal fee 9(3) andTI-Newsource u/s 9(3)’. becomes next to impossible.
year.Thegovernmentneedstounderstandthatthelongeritkeepsdictatingtermsto India is keen to attract MNCs. ‘withouthavingtosubmitanydata’.Asa This sounds the death knell ofwhat- Maharashtra, Gujarat Tamil Nadu and
highereducation institutes,the harderitwill be forthem to excel. At a macro level,even as the govern- result, for every registration u/s 9(3), everlimitedprotection(read:threeyears) Delhi - the hardest-hit - are
mentiswooingMNCsbyofferingincen- therearemultipleregistrationsu/s9(4). was available to innovators. It discour- struggling to contain the pandemic
tives,at the sectoral level,the actions of Currently,there are over 250,000 regis- agesMNCsfromsettingupshopinIndia disease. Most other states too are
thenationalregulator,theCentralInsec- trationsagainstonly280registeredmol- as their intellectual property remains showing an uptick in the corona

FleetingSUCCESS ticide Board and Registration Commit-

tee (CIB&RC) maydeterthem.
Themanufacturing,import,sale,dis-
ecules,orcloseto900permolecule.This
encouragesnon-seriousplayerswithlit-
tleregardforqualityandstandards(30%
unprotected.
That the regulatoris micro-manag-
ing things in enterprises is also evident
curves. The Delhi government fears
that the cases could run into lakhs in
the coming months. Anticipating a
Fleets makes Twitter a bit more safe for some, but it must be tribution and use of pesticides is regu- of agrochemicalsare sub-standard). from this decision of RC [381st meet- huge surge in cases, it is taking
lated underthe InsecticidesAct 1968 to Meanwhile, in 2000, the RC had ing]: If an applicant is possessing a cer- measures like converting stadiums
careful that it is not hijacked for undesirable purposes preventrisktohumanbeingsoranimals, issued guidelines for grant of registra- tificate ofregistration ofa productTech- into Covid-19 centres. No relief is in

A
and for matters connected therewith. tion for ‘formulation import without nical or Formulation for indigenous prospect. The WHO has cautioned
MIDST THE MANY changes that Twitter is instituting—it announced The Registration Committee (RC) set up registeringthetechnical’.Intheabsence manufacturing,thesameapplicantshall that Covid-19 may become endemic
fact-checking of tweets recently—the companyannounced that it will under the Act registers every pesticide of registration of underlying technical, not be allowed for registration of the and not go away. It has warned that
be providing an additional service to its users called Fleets. The new afterscrutinising the formula,verifying the formulation could not be copied, samepesticideTechnicalorFormulation an explosion of cases remains a
service will allow users to broadcast their messages to their followers, claimsofefficacy,safetyforhumansand thereby preventing the new product under any import category. possibility in India. Now the oft-
on their profile, for 24 hours,without having to worry about comments, likes or animals, specifying the precautions from falling into unsafe hands.Thiswas If technical of a pesticide is regis- heard phrase is “Learn to live with
retweets.More important,as messages disappear after 24 hours,there is no trail against poisoning, and any other func- a sort of ‘data exclusivity’ granted tered for indigenous manufacture to the virus”. The pandemic puts us in a
for anyone to track or trace; unless someone clicks a screenshot from their phone tion.TheRCisempoweredtorefusereg- through administrative route. anyfirm,then application forregistra- terrible predicament; loosening of
or starts a conversation, that is. However, Twitter has not blocked all two-way istration of any pesticide if issues per- In 2007, this protection was trun- tion of Formulation Import (FI) of such lockdown restrictions that could not
taining to safety have not been cated,with the RC allowing “deemed” pesticide molecule shall not be consid- have been postponed indefinitely
communication on Fleets, if you have an open direct message service, another
satisfactorilyadhered to. registration of the technical after three ered. What if the firm is unable to sup- for economic reasons is coincident
user can still send a message to you.Fleets shall stay on top of the page profile till
An applicant wanting to register a yearsfromthedateofregisteringthefor- plya productfromitsdomesticsource? with a surge in cases. It appeared to
the message does not get deleted. new product for the‘first time’in India mulationimport.Itmeantthat,oncom- In that scenario, farmers will suffer as be too early to re-open places of
Although the service will come in handy for companies looking for moment (normally, an MNC with huge stakes in pletion of three years from the date of the import option is shut. worship, malls and restaurants; still
marketingorsingle-daycampaigns,politicalpartiesareexpectedtousethisservice R&D,investing about 8-10% of its rev- registering formulation import, the Whileregisteringapesticide,theRC the government allowed it. Public
to promote theirevents.Forinstance,information about the firstvirtual rallycon- enues in R&D,against India-bred com- technical will automatically get regis- should only focus on assessing its worshipping, shopping in malls and
ducted by BJP in Bihar could be broadcast using this service.Twitter says that they panies spending 1-2%), is required to tered, paving the way for 9(4) registra- ‘safety’and‘efficacy’.Decisionsonwhat eating out are all optional, as against
will save message for a few days even after deletion, and posts can be taken down generate data to demonstrate the prod- tions. Going a step further, in its 381st is to be produced in India or imported essential, activities. Safety first. In
once a usertags it offensive.But,the success of this shall depend on how fastTwit- uct’s‘safety’and‘efficacy’in Indian con- meeting(December6,2017),theRCtook should be left to individual firms.Such pandemic time there’s no safety in
ter is able to act against those using the service for hate speech.If enough controls ditions—hundreds of million dollars thefollowingdecision:Anaffidavitshall intrusive regulations will not only numbers.
are in place, Twitter can indeed be used for promotion, but there is no scenario spentgloballyontoxicityandchemistry beobtainedfromtheapplicantsforimport undermineoureffortsto serve farmers — G David Milton, Maruthancode
where Twitter can avoid someone like US president Donald Trump using its plat- studiesnotwithstanding.Ithasafunda- offormulationwithoutregisteringtechni- better (and attracting MNCs), but also
form to convey his message. mentalinterestinrecuperatingthehuge cal u/s 9(3) about status of registration of be open to challenge at WTO. ●Write to us at feletters@expressindia.com

Regd. No: DL -21048/03-05. R.N.I. No.26750/74. Printed and Published by R.C. Malhotra on behalf of The Indian Express (P) Limited and printed at The Indian Express (P) Limited Press, A-8, Sector-7, Noida - 201301 and published at The Indian Express (P) Limited, Mezzanine Floor, Express Building, 9 & 10, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110002. Phone: 0120-6651500, Fax: 0120-4367933. (Cover price: Patna: Mon-Fri `6, Sat `9, Sun `11; Raipur: Mon-Fri `7, Sat `10, Sun `10)
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New Delhi
WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM
FINANCIAL EXPRESS
VIPUL
TULI
Managing Director, Sembcorp
Energy India Ltd. Views are personal
● FLUE GAS DESULPHURISATION
A `80,000 cr
investment
opportunity
There are many advantages of moving on FGD for coal-
fired thermal power plants in the country. Not only is it
an investment opportunity ripe for the taking, it has
obvious environmental and social benefits. Bringing
regulatory clarity to enable financing of environmental
investments is essential
G
OVERNMENT, INDUS-
TRY AND ECONOMIC
experts are aligned on
the need to urgently
encourage new project
investments, to revive growth. The
multiplier effects of large, new capi-
tal investments are many, especially
job creation through the project life
cycle, demand stimulation, produc-
tivity improvement and credit flow.
The National Infrastructure Invest-
T Retaining that
HE FEAR THAT can lethally
impair lungs and breathing
has forced people into pro-
longed inactivity and consid-
erably improved the air qual-
ity of cities. The International Energy
Agency (IEA) has estimated that global
energy-related CO2 emissions are set to
fall by 8% this year—the largest decrease
in emissions ever recorded,and six times
the previous record drop of 400 million
tonnes in 2009, after the financial crisis.
The environmental website, Carbon
Brief,saysIndia’semissionsfellby1.4%(30
million tonnes) in FY20 (Lockdown began
on March 24). During that month, it says,
CO2emissionsdroppedby15%,andlikely
fellby30%inApril,owingtothelockdown.
In Delhi, AQI was ‘satisfactory’ for 18
days in April and May compared to just
one day during the same period last year.
‘Satisfactory’,is one step lowerthan‘good’
in the six rung AQI. One step lower than
‘satisfactory’is‘moderate’,and therewere
41 such days compared to 26 in the year-
ago period.Thirty-fourdayswere‘poor’or
‘verypoor’duringApril-May2019 against
two ‘poor’ days during the same period
this year when people were likely to feel
discomfort in breathing or were at risk of
developing respiratory illnesses.
So, how do we retain the gains post-
lockdown? N Bharathi suggests planta-
tions of bamboo along the banks of the
Yamuna on raised bunds. Bamboo is a
fast-growing species and has economic
value. Bharathi is a bit of a bamboo
ment Pipeline of over `100 lakh crore
released last month by the prime
minister is a stimulus to achieve such
benefits.
One of the biggest challenges in
kickstarting infrastructure stimulus
programmes is the 2-3 years planning
and financing lead time required.
Therefore, the need of the hour for the
nation is to identify large, viable infra
projects that are ready for implementa-
tion. The thermal power sector offers
lockdown AQI
Three-tier mixed species
forests along the Yamuna
can scrub air columns of
pollutants
fanatic. An agricultural scientist from
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University
(TNAU), he has a company called Grow-
more Bio-tech in Hosur on the Tamil
Nadu-Karnataka border. It specialises in
making bamboo clones for state bamboo
missions, and the plantations that feed
power plant boilers and alcohol fermen-
tation vats. Each bamboo culm or pole
absorbs 450 kg of CO2 a year, he says.
Indians, on average, emitted 1.7 tonnes
of CO2 in 2014, according to the World
Bank.Itwould take fourbamboos perper-
son to neutralise annual emissions.Since
rural folk pollute less, city dwellers will
need to plant more.
Bharathi recommends Bambusa bal-
cooa, a species that grows extensively in
the north-east. It is naturally sterile,
ILLUSTRATION: ROHNIT PHORE
one such opportunity.
Coal-fired thermal power plants
across India are required to meet the
latest emission standards prescribed
by the government. To achieve this,
most plants will need to install addi-
tional environmental protection
equipment to reduce sulphur and
nitrogen emissions. Considering only
the sulphur removal equipment (FGDs,
or Flue Gas Desulfurisation), the esti-
mated investment required is over
`80,000 crore across India. Invest-
ments to reduce nitrogen emissions
would be over and above this, of a sim-
ilar order of magnitude.
Besides the environmental and
health benefits, there are several rea-
sons why India should prioritise this
massive capital invest-
ment programme. First, it
can be kickstarted rapidly.
The emission standards The benefits of job Compensation Cess after
are already mandated by
creation would be they commission their
law. Many power genera-
tion companies have spread across the diately provide financing
already planned and country, since the certainty to all contracted
designed their equipment,
and others are at various
identified
stages of planning. Dead-
lines for each power plant are across 16
to install FGDs are clear states, and about
and imminent, i.e., from
140 districts
2019 to 2022. Second, the
benefits of job creation
and economic activity
would be spread across the country,
since the 441 thermal power plants
identified for FGD implementation are
across 16 states and about 140 dis-
tricts. Third, FGDs offer significant
scope for indigenisation, which would
give a welcome boost to Make in India.
And finally, the financial implications
of these investments are modest,
amounting to 5-10 paise per kWh
across all power generated (around 25
paise per kWh for coal power). This is
just 1-2% of average end-consumer
tariffs of around `5/kWh.
Yet,implementation of the FGD pro-
gramme is sluggish.The primary obsta-
cle is the high investment cost for each
plant, amounting to `0.5 crore per
CHLOROPHILE
VIVIAN
FERNANDES
Author blogs at www.smartindianagriculture.in.
Views are personal
unlike other bamboo species, which
flower after a few decades, produce seeds
and die.It does not have thorns,so is unat-
tractive to snakes which use the spikes to
shed slough.That makes it easyto harvest.
Thevarietygrows up to 55 feetwhenwell-
tended. Each pole weighs 25 kg as it is
dense; the hole in the middle is about the
width of a finger.With close planting,irri-
gation (20 litres per day), application of
fertilisers and good agronomic practices
about 40 tonnes peracre can be harvested
annually, Bharathi says. At any time,
Bharathi has about a million two-year-
old,tissue-cultured plants produced at his
laboratory,ready for planting.
Forty tonnes of cane can produce
10,000 litres of ethanol, according to
Bharathi.Theyield is betterthan cane.The
megawatt (MW) of installed capacity,or
around `1,000 crore for a 2,000 MW
power plant. With neither stressed
power generators nor loss-making state
distribution companies having the
financial wherewithal to bear the addi-
tional costs, lenders understandably
seek assurance on how these costs
would be recouped. Only after electric-
ity regulations provide this clarity,
would lenders approve the necessary
funding.
The following measures would help
accelerate financing approvals for the
FGD mega-investment programme:
■ Provisional tariff increases for
contracted plants: A process for in-
principle approval to pass FGD costs on
to the end consumers via tariff
increases is already in place for plants
that have long-term power purchase
contracts.This should ordinarily suffice
for lenders to confirm debt financing.
However, in view of the inordinately
long and uncertain processes to secure
final regulatory approval after project
implementation,lenders perceive FGD
cost recovery to be risky,and therefore,
seek additional sponsor guarantees,
higher interest rates, higher security
reserves, etc, which are rarely feasible.
Therefore, to enable financing, a provi-
sional tariff increase for each such con-
tract should be approved upfront by
regulators,rather than just in-principle
approval.The final tariff can,of course,
be subject to final true-up based on
actuals.
■ Cost pass-through for uncon-
tracted plants: Nearly 25,000 MW,rep-
resenting 13% of India’s thermal
capacity,is currentlywithout long-term
power purchase contracts.These plants
are already struggling to survive since
they typically sell at lower margins into
the daily merchant and short-term
markets (IEX and DEEP). There is cur-
rently no regulatory mechanism to
repay the `12,500 crore funding these
plants would require for FGDs.Without
a viable financing mechanism, these
plants will likely end up as banking
non-performing assets (NPAs), to the
tune of another `1,00,000 crore. FGD
financing can be ensured for these
plants by a regulator-approved tariff
increase levied on all power sold on the
IEX and DEEP markets and paid to FGD-
ready plants selling into these markets.
This mechanism would, in one stroke,
enable uncontracted plants to go ahead
with their investments.
■ Waiver of clean energy sess: Clean
Energy Cess is being levied on coal-fired
plants since 2010, presently at the rate
of `400/ton.In 2017 this was renamed
GST Compensation Cess.An alternative
to passing on FGD costs to consumers
as described earlier is to
allow generators to retain
the Clean Energy/GST
FGDs. This would imme-
441 plants and uncontracted plants.
for FGD An additional benefit of
this option is that there
would also be no need to
increase end-consumer
tariffs. The downside of
this option would be lower
GST collections for the
government, but this
impact would be spread over 3-4 years
as FGDs are commissioned. India has
laid out a bold vision to transition to
cleaner thermal energy,the bedrock for
24x7 power to all Indians.Bringing reg-
ulatory clarity to enable financing of
environmental investments is essential
for this transition.It can almost imme-
diately unlock `80,000 crore of invest-
ment activity across the country, with
significant economic and health bene-
fits and a pre-emptive solution for
another looming NPA crisis. If success-
ful, a similar financing model can also
be used for other environmental equip-
ment, such as Selective Catalytic
Reduction (SCRs) that reduce nitrogen
emissions.
cane juice, when converted entirely into
ethanol, can yield 2,400 litres per acre,
says Bakshi Ram, Director of the Sugar-
cane Breeding Institute in Coimbatore.
This is from the blockbuster variety, Co-
0238,he has developed.It has a highyield
per acre (31.5 tonnes), and a high rate of
sugar recovery (a little over 11 tonnes for
every tonne of cane crushed). If the cane
juice is used to make sugar, the ethanol
yield from molasses drops to a fifth.
Ethanolisalsoproducedfrommaise.In
the US, an acre of maise yields on average
1,775 litres of ethanol, as per the Univer-
sityofNebraska-Lincoln.AverageUSmaise
yield is much higher than that of India.
U Sivakumar, professor of Microbiol-
ogy,TNAU,says the advantage of bamboo
as a raw material for ethanol production
THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2020
OPINION 7
● FOOD ENTERPRISES
In keeping with
standards
DEVESH ROY,
RUCHIRA BOSS,
& MAMATA PRADHAN
Authors are with International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
Views are personal
India needs certification & quality
standards for food exports
C
OVID-19 AND THE lockdown has brought
agriculture to the forefront of policy dis-
course. Just when the open-endedness of
Aatma Nirbhar Bharat started to ring a bell,
came the elaborate package for agriculture.
Several analysts and commentators then adjudged this as a
watershed moment for agriculture. Much has been talked
about it since,interalia on the extent of fund commitment,
the policyreforms related to the Essential CommoditiesAct,
and amendment in marketing laws.
Cluster-based approach for micro food enterprises
Smallandmicro-enterpriseswith0or<5employeesdom-
inatetheenterpriseinlowandmiddle-incomecountries.India
has more than 60 million of these, and 20 million are in the
food sector.These small food enterprises employ 25 million
menandnearly10millionwomenasentrepreneursandwork-
ers and support 150 million people.India has about 120 mil-
lion.In fostering recovery,it is important to realise that these
enterprises,and not agriculture,drives the growth in India’s
food economy. Between 2010-11 and 2015-16, their gross
value added increased at 24% peryearcompared to a meagre
2% in the agricultural GDP.An overwhelming share of these
enterprises are informal. Hence, their formalisation and is
probablythe most underrated proposalin the package.
The package also empha-
siseda clusterapproach forthe
food enterprises,ie,the idea of
developing commodity-spe- Unless the farmers,
cific clusters like makhanas FPOs, SHGs and
from Bihar, kesar from Kash- cooperatives are
mir and tapioca from Tamil
trained to deliver
Nadu. In such a cluster, units
could be horizontally or verti- on attributes local
cally linked. The success, pro- to global will not
fessor Michael Porter of Har- be tenable
vard Business School says,
depends on how enterprises
interactwith one another,and
how enterprises interact with each other depends on the
extent of formalisation.Hence,the clusterapproach to food
enterprise developmentmust undertake a massive pre-step
of formalisation,a tall ordergiven the numbers and the fact
that the average life is just three years.
The food enterprises are further envisioned to position
themselves in the context as“Vocal for local with Global out-
reach”.Rime richissime indeed,but much more is needed for
crossing the local-global viaduct.Some statistics underscore
therealitiesconfrontingfoodenterprises.Muchsmallercoun-
trieslikeThailandandEgyptdobetterinhorticulturalexports,
India’s position as the second-largest horticultural producer
in the world notwithstanding.Despite being a comparatively
smallexporterinfood,Indiafacesthehighestnumberofcon-
signment rejections from the US and Europe. Food, like any
otherproductwith credence attribute,is driven byreputation
effects.In domestic as well as international markets,the food
enterpriseshavetheirtaskcutoutintermsofbuildingarepu-
tationfordeliveringonqualityandsafety.UnlessIndiacomes
up with good agricultural practice (GAP) norms and enforces
them,much-neededcredibility,andreputationforgoingglobal
wouldnotbepossible.Ifthepackageweretostipulateonqual-
ityand safetystandards,set out a blueprint forGAPand other
standards,one could see a prospect forthe food enterprises.
Giventhehistoryandtenetsofconsumerpsychology,more
vocal for local has happened only when the local has a global
reach.In the current scenario,unless the farmers,FPOs,SHGs
and cooperatives are trained to deliver on attributes local to
globalwill not be tenable.One-size-fits-all type interventions
maynotworkinthepromotionoftheseclusters.Farmersalso
needtohavereal-timeinformationonnichecommoditiesand
their prices to be able to tap on global export markets. Like
Grapenet with registering of farmers and real-time informa-
tionandmonitoringonneededpractices,thereshouldbemany
othernets,Anarnet,applenetandothers.Thesesystemsinvolve
fixed costs that disadvantage small farmers. Hence, suitable
aggregation models that anchor on safety,quality and health
attributes are needed forlocal to globaloutreach models.
is that it does not compete with food forced a rethink, Barua says.
material. It can also be grown on waste- Even if there is a demand for ethanol,
land.KTParthiban,professor and head of are bamboo plantations advisable along
forestry at the Forest Research Institute, the Yamuna? CR Babu says they can be
TNAU,says Bambusa balcooa is a densely planted on the slopes of the bunds and
populated plant with heavy foliage, elevated flood plains of the Yamuna, not
which is good for trapping gaseous and in ribbons, but with native broadleaf
particulate pollutants.He says it acts as a species and shade-loving shrubs. Babu is
good sound barrier too. His experiments an ecologist and professor emeritus at
have shown that it responds well to irri- Delhi University’s Centre for Environ-
gation and fertiliser.He thinks it is a good
idea to plant it along the Yamuna.
mental Management of Degraded
Ecosystems (CEMDE). He is advising the
Bambusa balcooa is the preferred
input for a 60 million litre per year
Delhi Development Authority on bio-
diversityparks,and the Delhi government
ethanol plant that Numaligarh Refiner- on replacing Vilayati Kikar, an invasive
ies (NRL) inAssam is setting up.While it is Mexican shrub,with native species on the
contributing half the investment,the rest Ridge. Babu says a three-tier community
is from Fortum, a Finnish energy com- of mixed species,comprising bamboo and
panyand Chempolis,the Finnish licensor broadleaf trees with shrubs in between
of the technology. This is one of the 12 can efficiently scrub the columns of air
projects that the central government is passing through them of CO2 and partic-
supportingwith `150 cr each.The Indian ulate matter like PM10 and PM2.5.
refinery is the first to use the Finnish Any plantation along the Yamuna
licensor’s technology. needs an ecosystem approach,says Faiyaz
The capital cost of ethanol produced Khudsar, scientist in charge of CEMDE’s
from cellulose is usually high, making it biodiversity parks programme. The com-
unprofitable. SK Barua, managing direc- munity of trees and grasses must help
tor, NRL, says the Finnish technology is maintain riverflowand biodiversitywhile
efficient. The other chemicals—furfural mitigating air and dust pollution. This
and acetic acid—will enable the plant to means restoring the wetlands and
recover the cost of production. Barua marshes along with the establishment of
says, the bamboo species have been floodplain forest community and grass-
tested for alcohol production and found lands.Khudsarsays bamboo (Dendrocala-
to be satisfactory. The project will com- mus strictus) is part of the Yamuna flood-
mence production from the end of 2021. plain species along with Arjuna
The recent slump in prices of petro-fuel (Terminalia arjuna), Jamun (Syzyzium
(with which ethanol is blended) has not cumunii) and so on.
New Delhi
 8 FINANCIAL EXPRESS
International
THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2020
● CORONAVIRUS CRISIS
Global economy to slump 6%: OECD
OECD sees US shrinking
more than 7% in 2020 in
the ‘single-hit scenario’
while the euro area suffers
a 9% contraction
BLOOMBERG
Paris, June 10
THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC is splin-
teringtheworldeconomy,andpolicymak-
ers can’t risk a premature withdrawal of
lifelines to businesses and the most vul-
nerable people,the OECD warned.
It made the grim assessment as it fore-
cast a global slump of 6% this year, more
than the World Bank earlier this week.
That’s based on ascenario ofthevirus con-
tinuingtorecede.Asecondwave,whichthe
OECD said is an equally likely scenario,
could mean a 7.6% contraction.
In the outlook, the OECD sees the US
shrinking more than 7% in 2020 in the
“single-hit scenario” while the euro area
suffers a 9% contraction.
As authorities relax restrictions on
movement and activity, some numbers
suggest economies are through the worst
of the slump. But the OECD said with-
drawing support for workers and busi-
Stop the pain: George Floyd’s brother
implores House for police reforms
BLOOMBERG
Washington , June 10
THE BROTHER OF George Floyd, the
African American man whose death in
police custodyset off nationwide protests
and inspired demands for reform, called
on Congress Wednesday to “make it stop”
and ensure his brother’s killing leads to
positive change.
“I’m tired of pain. The pain you feel
when you watch something like that.
Whenyouwatchyourbig brotherwhoyou
lookeduptoforyourwholelifedie,diebeg-
ging forhis mom,”Philonise Floyd told the
House JudiciaryCommittee as lawmakers
consider legislation to change policing
practices in the US.“I’m here to ask you to
make it stop.Stop the pain.”
In opening the hearing, committee
Chairman Jerrold Nadlerof NewYork said,
“Every day African Americans and other
people of color live in fear of harassment
and violence at the hands of some law
enforcement officers.”He said“the nation
Quick
View
EU ban on travel to
bloc to end July 1
THE EUROPEAN UNION plans a
“gradual and partial”easing of a ban
on most travel to the bloc as of July 1,
a top official said.A curb on non-
essential travel to the EU is due to
lapse on June 15 after being
introduced in mid-March for 30 days
and extended twice as Europe
stepped up the fight against the
coronavirus pandemic.
Pakistan panel approves
firing 9,000 workers
PAKISTAN WILLTERMINATE the
services of as many as 9,000 workers
at the nation’s biggest steel mill to
plug a drain on resources in the midst
of the coronavirus pandemic.A
ministerial panel of Prime Minister
Imran Khan’s government approved
the decision to fire workers of
Pakistan Steel Mills,according to a
statement from the premier’s office.
Mizuho: Virus-related
loan requests at $155 bn
MIZUHO HAS SEEN coronavirus-
related loan requests reach 17 trillion
yen ($155 billion) since the outbreak,
and is bracing for further demand
from companies battling to revive
their operations,its chief executive
said.“As clients face liquidity
problems,we will help with financing
as appropriate,”Chief Executive
Tatsufumi Sakai said.
Ford,VW target 8 million
vehicles in van alliance
FORD AND VOLKSWAGEN said on
Wednesday theywould make up to 8
million units of medium pickup
trucks and commercial vans over the
lifecycle of the vehicles as part of an
alliance announced last year.The
alliance was forged in January 2019
and expanded later.
Pandemic fallout
European economies are likely to be among the
worst hit this year
2020 GDP: Single-hit scenario (%)
2020 Double-hit scenario (%)
World Japan Germany Italy France
China US Canada UK
0
-5
-10
-20
Source: Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development, Bloomberg
nesses risks prolonging the economic and
social damage from the pandemic. In the
US, some Republicans are already ques-
tioning the need formore stimulus aftera
surprise jump in payrolls in May.
“May be now is not the best time. I am
is demanding that we enact meaningful
change. This is a systemic problem that
requires a comprehensive solution.”
Representative Jim Jordan, the com-
mittee’stopRepublican,said“thereisabig
difference between peaceful protests and
rioting” and the “vast majority” of police
officers are heroic public servants.
Tesla shares top $1000 for first time Pompeo chides HSBC
BLOOMBERG
Shanghai, June 10
China executive for 'corporate kowtow'
TESLA SHARES ECLIPSED $1,000 for the
first time ever on Wednesday as ramping
demandforthecompany’sModel3inChina
ledWedbushanalyststotoutthe“massive”’
marketopportunityanditsongoingbattery
efforts.
Analyst Daniel Ives called the demand
outofChina“arayofshininglightforTeslain
a dark global macro”setting,with the com-
pany appearing to be on track to reach
100,000deliveriesfromitslocalplantinthe
firstyear.
Ives maintained his neutral rating but
boostedhispricetargetto$1,000from$800
andsaidhisnewbullcaseimpliessharescould
beworth$1,500from$1,350previously.
Further demand for electric vehicles in
China paired with the easing of lockdowns
inboththeU.S.andmuchofEuropeandthe
potential for “game-changing” battery
developments at a companyevent planned
for this month signal shares can move
ECB prepares 'bad bank' Sweden says 34-year mystery of
plan for Covid-19 debt Olof Palme’s assassination is solved
REUTERS
London/Frankfurt, June 10
EUROPEAN CENTRALBANK officials are
drawing up a scheme to cope with poten-
tially hundreds of billions of euros of
unpaid loans in the wake of the coron-
avirus outbreak, two people familiar with
the matter told Reuters.
The project, which comes as Europe
mobilises trillions of euros to bolster the
region’s economy, is aimed at shielding
commercial banks from any second fall-
out from the crisis, if rising unemploy-
ment chokes off the income needed to
repay loans.
One of the people familiar with the
plan said the ECB had set up a task force to
look at the idea of a “bad bank” to
warehouse unpaid euro debt and that
work on the scheme had accelerated in
recent weeks.
The ECB declined to comment on
Firm support
Governments are attempting to keep
companies viable
Loans, guarantees and other contingent liabilities
Tax and social security contribution deferrals
40 (%)
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Australia US S Korea
Development, Bloomberg
UK Japan Italy
Switzerland Netherlands France Spain Germany
Source: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Note: shows official estimates, when available,
of indirect financial help included in emergency packages
announced by governments in response to the Covid-19
crisis, as of June 4. In many cases, estimates are highly
uncertain due to an unknown duration of the crisis and
take-up of various programs by the private sector, and
may not be comparable across countries
not saying we shouldn’t do one ever, but it
may be too soon to do it effectively,” Mick
Mulvaney,formeractingWhiteHousechief
of staff,told Bloomberg Television.“A better
plan now is to take a deep breath and see
what happens in the next 30,60,90 days.”
HBO Max pulls
Gone With the
Wind over racism
HBO MAX HAS removed from its cat-
alog“Gone With the Wind,”the 1939
movie long considered a triumph of
American cinema but one that
romanticizes the Civil War-era South
while glossing over its racial sins.
The streaming service pledged to
eventually bring the film back“with a
discussion of its historical context”
while denouncing its racial missteps,a
spokesperson said in a statement on
Tuesday. The film had won multiple
Academy Awards, including best pic-
ture and best supporting actress for
Hattie McDaniel, the first African-
American towinan Oscar. —NYT
Tesla CEO Elon Musk
higher,Iveswrote.
Shares of the PaloAlto,California-based
electric-vehicle maker rallied as much as
6.8%Wednesdayto toucha record $1,005.
Theshareshavenearlyquintupledinthe
past year as its market valued ballooned to
$185 billion.
whether it was working on a bad
bank scheme.
The amount of debt in the eurozone
that is considered unlikely to ever be fully
repaid already stands at more than half a
trillion euros, including credit cards, car
loans and mortgages, according to
official statistics.
US Fed holds
rates, offers
grim outlook
THEUSFEDERALReserveleftinterest
rates unchanged and near zero on
Wednesday as the central bank pro-
jected a gradual economic recovery
fromthepandemic-inducedrecession.
In theirfirst economic projections
this year, Fed officials indicated that
theyexpectedtheunemploymentrate
to end 2020 at 9.3% and remain ele-
vated for years, coming in at 5.5% in
2022. Output is expected to be 6.5%
lowerattheendofthisyearthanitwas
in the final quarterof 2019.
The new forecasts predict a much
slowerpathbacktoeconomicstrength
thantheTrumpadministration—and
perhaps the stock market — seems to
expect as the economyclimbs out of a
downturn.The Fed skipped its quar-
terly economic summary in March as
the pandemic gripped the US,sowing
uncertainty as business activity came
to a nearstandstill. —NYT
CrossFit CEO
resigns after
insensitive tweet
sparks outrage
ASSOCIATED PRESS
June 10
THE CEO OF CrossFit is stepping down
afterhistweetaboutGeorgeFloydsparked
a social media backlash and led to affili-
ated gyms and Reebok cutting ties with
the exercise brand.
Greg Glassman said in a statement
posted on CrossFit’s website late Tuesday
thathedecidedtoretire.Glassmanhadapol-
ogisedearlierfortweetsthatsparkedonline
outrage by connecting Floyd, a black man
whodiedatthehandsofMinneapolispolice,
and the coronavirus pandemic. He said he
had made a mistake and should have been
more sensitive,but denied being racist.
“On Saturday I created a rift in the
CrossFit community and unintentionally
hurt manyof its members,”he said.“I can-
not let my behavior stand in the way of
HQ’s or affiliates’missions.”
leaves amid
management
shake-up
TESLALOSTAN executivewho helped
spearhead its expansion in China over
the past fewyears,the latest in a string
of management changes at the US
electric carmaker.
The departure of Robin Ren, who
joined the automaker in 2015 and
mostrecentlyheldthetitleofvicepres-
ident of business development, was
confirmed by a company representa-
tive in China on Wednesday.
The representative called the exit a
normal personnel change, without
elaborating. —BLOOMBERG
REUTERS
Stockholm, June 10
A SWEDISH PROSECUTOR closed the
case of the assassination of Prime Minis-
ter Olof Palme after 34 years on Wednes-
day,accusing a graphic designerwho died
two decades ago of the country’s most
notorious unsolved crime.
Palme, who led Sweden’s Social
Democrats for decades and served two
periods as prime minister, was one of the
architects of Scandinavia’s model of a
strongwelfare state,and a fierce ColdWar-
era critic of both the United States and
Soviet Union.
Hewas shot dead in central Stockholm
in 1986 afteravisit to the cinemawith his
wife and son, and the failure of the police
to find a killersparked decades of conspir-
acy theories.
“It is my sincere hope that this wound
can now be allowed to heal,”Prime Minis-
WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM
SHINING LIGHT
❝
Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder
The horrifying killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud
Arbery, Breonna Taylor and far too many other
Black people—and the protests they sparked—are
❝
shining a light on the brutal injustices that Black
people experience every day.
Pandemic is far from
over: Anthony Fauci
BLOOMBERG
June 10
THE TOP US infectious disease specialist
called the coronavirus pandemic his
“worst nightmare” and warned that the
deadly outbreak is far from over.
Injustafewmonths,Covid-19hasdev-
astated countries around the world,
Anthony Fauci, director of the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Dis-
eases,saidTuesdayin online comments to
the Biotechnology Innovation Organiza-
❝
tion,an industry group.
Societies, businesses and economies
haveallsufferedaspeoplehavesequestered
themselves to prevent the spread of the We’re going to need a
virus and inundation of health systems
with severely ill patients. Now that some
nationsandstatesareemergingfromlock-
downs,there’s still a risk that the virus will
also return,Fauci said.
The infection won’t “burn itself out
vaccine for the entire
world, billions and
billions of doses
— ANTHONY FAUCI, TOP AMERICAN
❝
with mere public health measures,” he EXPERT ON INFECTIOUS DISEASES
said.“We’re going to need avaccine forthe
entireworld,billionsandbillionsofdoses.”
TheUS federalgovernmentisplanning
to fund and undertake the studies of three Thephasethreetrialsareduetoinvolve
experimental coronavirus vaccines start- tens of thousands of people at dozens of
ing this summer,Dow Jones reported,cit- sites around the US, Mascola said. They
ing an interviewwith John Mascola,direc- wouldmarkthefinalstageoftestingofthe
torofthevaccine researchcenteratNIAID. vaccine’s safety and effectiveness.
MAPPING THE VIRUS
Cases pass Deaths exceed Recoveries
7.2 million 411,800 3.16
Germany has agreed to a set of social-distancing rules for
seasonal farm workers to stem the potential spread of the
coronavirus among the vulnerable group after entry
restrictions are lifted on June 15.
People with HIV are almost three times more likely to die if
they contract the coronavirus than those with no co-
morbidities, irrespective of whether they are taking anti-
Tokyo Olympics
AIDS drugs, an analysis of South African data shows.
Pictet Wealth Management is betting that a vaccine for the
Committee to scale
back games
coronavirus will arrive this year, with the asset manager’s
base case for the global economy to bounce back by almost
In Africa, virus fall out 6% next year, after contracting by about 4% this year.
threatens debt crisis
Pandemic has The World Health Organization hopes to work “side by
everyone ditching coal -- side” with the United States to contain Congo’s Ebola
except Asia outbreak, its chief said on Wednesday, even after the Trump
administration said the United States would end their
Virus pushes nations to relationship over the UN agency’s handling of the
solve global food problem
coronavirus pandemic.
China, Russia are
spreading virus China is offering workers at some large state-run companies
misinformation, EU says the option of being inoculated with two coronavirus vaccines
Iran Warns Public on
currently in development, illustrating how quickly authorities
Letting Guard Down are moving to test the viability of the shots.
Singapore approves The World Health Organization has recommended Pakistani
remdesivir drug authorities reimpose “intermittent lockdowns” of targeted
for emergency areas to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, stating
Covid-19 treatment the country did not meet the global body’s conditions for
lifting restrictions.
REUTERS
Washington, June 9
CEO, Peter Wong, signing a petition sup-
porting Beijing’s plans to impose new
securitylegislation on Hong Kong.He said
US SECRETARYOFStateMikePompeoon the “browbeating” of HSBC by China’s
Tuesday chided British bank HSBC for communist leadership “should serve as a
backing moves by China to end Hong
Kong’s autonomy, saying such “corporate
cautionary tale”.
“That show of fealty seems to have
kowtows”got little in return from Beijing. earned HSBC little respect in Beijing,
Pompeo said the United States stood which continues to use the bank’s busi-
ready to help Britain with alternatives ness in China as political leverage against
afterBeijingreportedlythreatenedtopun- London,”he said.
ishHSBCandbreakcommitmentstobuild China's foreign ministryspokeswoman
nuclearpowerplantsinthecountryunless HuaChunyingtoldreportersduringadaily
the British government allowed China’s briefing on Wednesday that Beijing hopes
Huawei Technologies to participate in theUnitedStateswillstopusingHongKong
building a 5G network. tostokefiresandinterfereinChina’saffairs.
“The United States stands with our Sino-UStieshavedeterioratedrapidlysince
allies and partners against the Chinese the start of the year over the coronavirus
Communist Party’s coercive bullying tac- pandemicandHongKong.Washingtonsees
tics,” Pompeo said in a statement, his lat- HuaweiasanextensionoftheChinesegov-
est swipe at China’s ruling party. ernment and urges European allies to
Pompeoreferred toHSBC’sAsia-Pacific exclude it from mobile networks.
ter Stefan Lofven told reporters at a news
conference, describing the murder as a
national trauma.
But the suspicion of many Swedes is
unlikely to be satisfied by Wednesday’s
accusation, against a long dead suspect
withnopoliticalprofile,basedonevidence
the prosecutor acknowledged would have
been too thin to secure a conviction.
“The Palme investigation concluded in
the manner that has defined it since the
very beginning: a great anticlimax,” daily
newspaper Dagens Nyheter said.
“Instead of clarity concerning the
issue of guilt, we got a monument to a
Palme was shot dead in central policing fiasco.”
Stockholm in 1986 after a visit to Prosecutor Krister Petersson, who has
the cinema with his wife and son, led an investigation into the case since
and the failure of the police to find 2017, said the killer was Stig Engstrom, a
suspect long known to Swedes as“Skandia
a killer sparked decades of
man” after the insurance firm where he
conspiracy theories worked as a graphic designer,with offices
near the scene of the shooting.
New Delhi
 9 FINANCIAL EXPRESS
Gadgets
THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2020
● ONEPLUS 8
One up on competition,yet again
OnePlus 8 is a beautiful,
classy device with a sleek
design and top-notch
performance
SUDHIR CHOWDHARY
THERE IS ALWAYS a high degree of excite-
ment (among consumers) and anxiety
(among rival handset makers) whenever
OnePlusintroducesanewflagshipdevicein
the marketplace. Having strategically
entrencheditselfinauniqueposition,what
industry watchers term as the “premium
smartphone segment”, this Shenzhen,
China-based handset device maker has
debuteditsnewestlineupofpremium,flag-
ship smartphones—the OnePlus 8 series—
whichincludestheultra-premiumOnePlus
8 Pro and the compact flagship OnePlus 8,
bothwith5Gconnectivity.Ihavebeenusing
the OnePlus 8 for a week now and can say
that its sleek design and compact form fac-
tor will entice those who want easy-to-use
phones that are minimalist in design but
mega powerhouseswhen theycome to life.
TheOnePlus8comesinOnyxBlackand
Glacial Green,aswell as a brand newcolour
variant—Interstellar Glow. It retails at
`41,999 for Glacial Green (6+128 GB),
`44,999 for Onyx Black and Glacial Green
(8+128GB) and `49,999 for Onyx Black,
GlacialGreenandInterstellarGlow(12+256
Anupam Trehan, director, People and
Communities, Cisco India & Saarc
● PEOPLE FIRST
Keeping
employees
engaged and
motivated
Salesforce, Cisco pledge
community upliftment
amidst Covid-19
RIYA SETHI
ASTHE GOVERNMENT proceedswithvar-
ious programmes to mitigate the effect of
Covid-19 on businesses and citizens, the
technologyindustryisalsonotfarbehindin
doingtheirbit.CompaniessuchasCiscoand
Salesforcearerapidlyintensifyinginitiatives
tosupportthecommunityduringCovid-19.
“In unprecedented times like this, our
focus at Cisco continues to be keeping our
employees’healthandsafetyatthecentreof
everything we do and to help and support
them through these times,” says Anupam
Trehan,director,People and Communities,
Cisco India & Saarc. “Be it through our
weekly Q&A sessions, consultation with
medicalexperts,awebsitethathasresources
employees can leverage as we turn educa-
tors at home, or even having fun with our
teams,atCiscowearedoingeverythingthat
we canto keepouremployees excited.”
With enough back-end infrastructure
available that helped Cisco to switch to the
new working style quickly, the IT giant is
nowmorefocusedonkeepingitsworkforce
happyandproductive.Forthis,thecompany
has launched an Employee Assistance Pro-
gram and a #LifeOnWebex social media
campaign to showcase how creatively the
employees are using Cisco Webex.In addi-
tion,Cisco has enabled virtual onboarding
for its new hires and interns and has com-
mitted to payits hourlyworkers full pay.
Meanwhile,Salesforce has announced a
‘workfromhome’policyfortherestof2020
for all its employees.“We are continuing to
helpourcustomers,partners,communities
and employees by providing opportunities
to connect and come together at this time.
OurSalesforceCareSolutionsarebeingused
by nearly 2,000 companies and organisa-
tionsfrom47countries,”saysShwetaRajpal
Kohli, Director, government affairs, Sales-
force India.It has launched a newlivewebi-
nar series‘B-Well Together’,wherein indus-
try luminaries come together to interact
withtheemployees,alongwithanewonline
freeresource,WideOpenSchool.org,tosup-
portfamiliesandeducatorsmakeasmooth
transition to remote learning. Also,it has
introduced a global benefit programme
calledThrivingMindtohelpstrengthenthe
emotional health of the people.
GB). Our trial unit was the Onyx Black,
12+256GB device.
At first look,OnePlus 8 is beautiful and
functional in equal measure.Itweighs only
180g and just 8mm thick.The phone’s spa-
cious6.55-inchFluidDisplaydeliversacin-
ematic viewing experience with a 90Hz
refresh rate for smooth viewing and
improved response time for snappy touch
feedback.
Switched on, the screen features very
goodbrightnessandcolourbalance.Photos
looknatural,videoscometolifewithstriking
SPECIFICATIONS
■ Display: 6.55-inch Fluid Display
(1080 x 2400)
■ Processor: Qualcomm
Snapdragon 865
■ Operating system:
Oxygen OS, Android 10
■ Memory & storage: 6/8/12GB
RAM, 128/256GM internal storage
■ Camera: 48MP + 16MP + 2MP
(rear), 16MP front camera
■ Battery: 4300mAh,
Wrap Charge 30T
■ Estimated street price: `41,999
(6+128GB), `44,999 (8+128GB),
`49,999 (12+256GB)
eFE
Logitech is a household name when it
comes to PC accessories—webcams,mice,
keyboards,noise cancellation headphones
and more. With the changing ecosystem
around PC peripherals, this Swiss com-
pany has constantly updated its product
portfolio withergonomicdesignsthattar-
getprofessionalsaswellaseverydayusers.
With work-from-home (WFH) becoming a
more acceptable concept, Ashok Jangra,
Cluster Category Head, South West Asia,
Logitech,talks about the company’s strat-
egy in India and its latest offerings, in an
interview with Sudhir Chowdhary.
Excerpts:
WFH is the newnormal forbusinesses.
How is Logitech ensuring a connected
world?
We are currently living amidst the
most dramatic disruption of all times.
Organisations and their employees are
not only embracing but adapting to the
remote work culture or as some might
say, stress-testing a concept of working
from home to its most extreme.And this
has been an industry-agnostic,and pro-
fession-agnostic change.
We at Logitech, feel that the right
workplace set-up is a must-have forpro-
fessionalstoensuretheirefficienciesand
productivity levels. And to make sure
that your WFH experience is as close to
yourofficeexperience,Logitechoffersan
elaborate product portfolio with web-
cams, mice, keyboards, noise cancella-
tion headphones and more.
How does Logitech help professionals
bridge the WFH gap?
Wehaveawiderangeofproductsthat
individually or packaged together can
increase work-from-home efficiency.
Our range of mice,keyboards,webcams,
headphones are designed to increase
efficiency and are dedicated to making
tools that make your workspace more
comfortable, especially when working
long hours. Our range of mice and key-
boards comes with different designs,
● WORKPLACE WOES
Why learning to use new
digital tools matters
New study finds 86% of
workers demand new skills
training from their
employers
FE BUREAU
ENTERPRISE ROBOTIC PROCESS
automation (RPA) software company,
UiPath, surveyed office workers from
around the world and uncovered that
nearly half worry they will be out of a job
withinfiveyearsbecausetheirskillswillbe
outdated.Because of this,86% of respon-
dentssaytheywishtheiremployeroffered
opportunities to acquire new skills
graphics. You can effortlessly switch
betweenmultipleappsrunningatthesame
time without any lag. It is powered by the
Snapdragon 865with the SnapdragonX55
5GModem-RFSystem,whichissupposedto
deliver staggering multi-gigabit 5G con-
nectivity(thoughmeaninglessintheIndian
● INTERVIEW: ASHOK JANGRA,
Cluster Category Head South West Asia, Logitech
Our products are built
to deliver better work-
from-home efficiency
colours and shapes to suit needs of dif-
ferentindividuals,forinstance,ourK380
keyboard and the Pebble mice bundle
together well for an elegant and mini-
malistic workspace and are suitable for
young professionals,while the MX Mas-
ter 3 range of mice is targeted at profes-
sionals looking for precision and in-
depth accuracy in their work, such as
architects, graphic designers, etc. iPad
users can get a true laptop experience
with the Logitech SLIM FOLIO range of
products which is easy to access and has
(reskilling) and 83% say they wish their
employer gave them more opportunities
toenhancetheircurrentskills(upskilling).
The UiPath survey was designed to
understandhowofficeworkersaroundthe
world believe technologyis changingval-
ued skillsets,whether they have opportu-
nitiestoupskillandreskill,andhowtrain-
ing opportunities impact job satisfaction
and perceived job security.The survey of
4,500 office workers across the US, UK,
France, Germany, India, and Singapore,
uncovered that nearly all (91%) of office
workersbelievetheiremployersshouldbe
more willing to invest in digital and tech-
nologyskills trainingfortheiremployees.
A full third of office workers globally
fear their current roles will advance past
their current skills,and 25% worry about
context). With its 12GB of boosted RAM,
users can experience powerful gaming and
snappiermultitasking.Italsocomeswithup
to 256GB of UFS 3.0 storage foramong the
fastest storage speeds in the industry.
ThankstoHDR10and10+support,photos
andvideoslook quite sharp andvibrant.
The OnePlus 8 boasts an upgraded
4300mAh battery, providing 13% more
batterylife.Onthesoftwareside,OxygenOS
ontheOnePlus8pairstheseamlessAndroid
experience offered by OnePlus with more
refinedvisualsandusabilityenhancements.
On the camera front,we are looking at a
versatilesetupthatcomprisesthreepower-
ful cameras to capture every moment in
splendid detail.The main camera features
Sony’s 48MP IMX586 sensor for capturing
imageswith superiorclarity.With a Spectra
480 Image Signal Processor, which
processes four times more pixels than
before,the OnePlus 8 can take even clearer
shots with advanced image processing like
HDR. Completing the camera setup is a
16MP ultra-wide angle lens with a 116-
degreeexpansiveviewtoeasilyfitsweeping
landscapes into the frame for a striking
panoramic effect.
The OnePlus 8 is the company’s most
sophisticatedhandsettodate;inmyoverall
experience, the new device left a lasting
impression.Itisagoodbalanceofpowerand
design. The phone looks sharp, performs
well, has a solid battery life and provides a
great userexperience.Astrong recommen-
dation forthis sure-shot eyeball grabber.
a high productivity rate.
For professionals who spend a large
part of their day in meetings, Logitech
offers H600 and H390 headsets along
with the C920 and C922 webcams.Log-
itech devices are builtwith a single point
focus on ensuring work efficiency while
improving comfort.
Howwillthepost-CovideradefineLog-
itech’s market? What are the trends
you foresee?
With the ongoing lockdown,most of
losing their job due to automation.Most
office workers (83%) globally would feel
more secure in their job if their employer
offered opportunities to learn new skills.
Formal training could help lessen
employee anxiety about learning to use
new digital tools on their own.According
to the survey, 58% of respondents feel
“somewhat” to “strongly” intimidated
when theyneed to learn howto use a new
technology, and in the US that number
jumpsto68%.Surprisingly,theyoungera
WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM
NEW DIMENSION
❝
Debjani Ghosh, president, Nasscom
As cyber risks have gone up significantly, one thing
that will make a business difference today is cyber
security; it is going to be the foundation on which
the post-Covid IT industry will be built.
● ONEPLUS BULLETS WIRELESS Z
Music to your ears
A single 10-minute
charge gives you 10 hours
of music and movies
SUDHIR CHOWDHARY
CHARGE FOR 10minutes,enjoyfor10
hours—that’s one of the many USPs of
OnePlus’BulletsWireless Z earphones,
available for a modest `1,999. These
wireless earphones are available in
threecolours—Black,BlueandOat.Bul-
letsWirelessZ,launchedalongwiththe
brand’s latest flagships, the OnePlus 8
Series,is OnePlus’newtake
on the popular
wireless ear-
phones
designed to
satisfy musi-
cal cravings
and simplify the listening
experience. With a quick 10-
minute charge, these light-
weight (28g) and compact ear-
buds provide music playback
for upto 10 hours, while a full
charge provides up to 20 hours
of battery life.
Bullets Wireless Z offers a
host of convenient features
suchasQuickSwitch,QuickPair
the organisations have now adopted the
work-from-home model.Andwe are see-
ing the workplace of the future transi-
tioning to this new normal at a rapid
pace.We believe that the once the world
returns to normality, remote working
will no longer be unusual,and we’ll see a
movementtowards‘flexibleasstandard’,
owingtotheacknowledgedproductivity
benefits.Remoteworking is touted to be
more productive compared to an office
workspace and as per a Gartner study,
41% of employees are likely to work
remotely for a certain period even after
the Covid-19.
Remoteworking is allowing employ-
eestoworksmarter—notharder—andbe
much more productive as a result,
quashing the scourge of ‘presenteeism’.
We believe that once people get more
acquainted to this new normal,theywill
be able to achieve a superior work-life
balance and better manage domestic
responsibilities or spend more time
doing what they love.
What is the kind of product innova-
tions Logitech is focusing on to ensure
ease-of-use?
OurfocusatLogitechhasalwaysbeen
on providing consumers with ease-of-
use products which helps give an
ergonomic experience. In the current
scenario where the majority of our time
is spent working, using products and
technologythat is comfortable results in
better productivity.We ensure to incor-
porate ergonomic design thinking in all
our products that makes them easy to
use in long hours and increases produc-
tivity. For all our mice across segments,
we ensure these are crafted to fit per-
fectly in the user’s hand and the effort
put in to navigate is as less as possible.
Since most of our time is spent at our
work stations these days, our range of
keyboards,miceandheadsetsarecrafted
with the intention of reducing the wrist
bending too much while ensuring good
support for the wrist as well.
worker is, the more intimidated they are
about learningto use newtechnologies.
Eighty percent of workers globally
believe they would be more productive if
they learned new skills. In addition to
drivinggreaterbusinessoutputs,employ-
ees who receive skills training are gener-
ally more inclined to stay at their jobs;
88% of workers say they would be more
willingtocontinueworkingatacompany
that offered upskilling and reskilling
opportunities.
New Delhi
❝
and Magnetic Control. Pairing your
earphones is as easy as separating the
earbuds and tapping “Connect”. Quick
Switch lets you switch between two
paired devices,such asyourphone and
laptop. Simply press the function but-
tontwicetoswitch.Youcansimplysep-
arate the earbuds to start listening,and
when you are ready to pause, just clip
the earbuds together.
With a 9.2mm dynamic driver and
super bass tone fitted in each earbud,
you get to experience rich sound and
superior tonality every time you press
play. Bullets Wireless Z’s reinforced
sweat andwater-resistant design gives
you the freedom to take your ear-
phones anywhere. Its Low Latency
Mode enables an immersive real-time
audioexperience.Withlatencyreduced
to 110ms, your audio stays in sync.
There is plenty of freedom to move
around.Bluetoothrangeisupto33feet
for these earphones so you
no longer have to
worry about
the distance
between you
and your
device.
Put simply, listening to your
musichasneverbeenthissimple.
■ Estimated street price:
`1,999
● CONNECTED FARMING
Putting tech to
meaningful use
HPE Centre enables AP
farmers to increase crop
yield, nutritional value and
revenue
FE BUREAU
HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE (HPE)
has said that its Centre of Excellence (CoE)
forIoT-based agriculture in Gudipalli,Chit-
toordistrict,AndhraPradesh,hasgenerated
significant benefits for local farmers by
enablingthemtoincreasecropyields,nutri-
tionalvalue,andrevenuefromtheirproduce
byapplyingtechnology.TheCoEannounced
in July last year,was designed and imple-
mented by HPE Pointnext Services Global
CustomerSolution Center,Bengaluru.
The CoE is focused on upskilling stu-
dentsinareasofInternetofThings(IoT)and
programming to improve their employ-
ment prospects and also supports local
farmers to help them achieve higher food
production from finite land resources.As
part of this initiative,students from nearby
colleges have had the opportunity to work
with IoT experts from the HPE Pointnext
Services Global Centre and certified agron-
omists on edge-to-cloud technology.
“TheAI and MLwork achieved as part of
this initiative has immensely helped the
local students and farming community,”
said Ramji Raghavan, founder and chair-
man,Agastya International Foundation.
The solutions included edge compute
(HPE Edgeline EL300),onsite IoT modules,
droneimagingandanalysis,auserinterface
and dashboard for monitoring and report-
ing of various on-ground parameters and
activities at the fields.Images from drones
and satellites are used to plot NDVI (nor-
malised difference vegetation index) to
demonstrate how it can be applied when
scaled to largerfarms.
Thetechnologyanddeeplearningana-
lyticswere deployed to improve the farm-
ers’ decision-making capabilities by pro-
viding them visibility into the current
conditions of soil and by modelling possi-
ble future trends. The machine learning
algorithms were used to test the soil con-
ditions resulting in approximately 40%
savings inwaterconsumptionwhen com-
pared to traditional methods.
The CoE, which currently covers 2.5
acres of land, also helped the farmers
during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown
by enabling them to remotely monitor
the crops and make decisions related to
the irrigation, soil treatment, nutrition
and harvesting without the need to visit
the fields.
 10 FINANCIAL EXPRESS
Markets
THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2020
Money Matters
G-SEC
Benchmark yield fell 0.005%
due to buying support
5.771
5.750
May 28 Jun 10
`/$
Rupee ended flat ahead 0.028%
of the Fed’s monetary
policy decision
75.59
75.76
Inverted scale
May 28 Jun 10
=C/$
The euro rose against 0.317%
the dollar
1.1376
1.1077
May 28 Jun 10
Quick
View
Manappuram Fin to
raise up to `250 cr
via debentures
MANAPPURAM FINANCE on
Wednesdaysaid that it plans to raise
up to `250 crore through non-
convertible debentures.In a regulatory
filing,Manappuram Finance informed
stock exchanges that the“financial
resources and management
committee of its board of directors has
approved the issuance of the private
placement of rated,secured,
redeemable non-convertible
debentures up to `250 crore”.Shares of
the lenderwere trading at Rs 141.90 a
piece on BSE in morning trade,up
2.09% from theirprevious close.
BSE to change expiry of
weekly contracts
BSEONWEDNESDAYannouncedthat
itwouldchangetheexpiryofweekly
contractsfromexistingThursdayexpiry
toMondayexpiryandthischange
wouldbeeffectivefromJune29,2020.
Itstatedthatthechangewouldbe
applicabletotheequityderivatives
segment.Allothercontractswould
continuetoexpireonthelastThursday
ofeverymonth. Additionally,thebourse
alsoannouncedthatitwouldintroduce
aliquidityenhancementscheme(LES)
foritsequityderivativessegmentfor
S&PBSESENSEX50.
Angel Broking’s client
additions at all-time high
ANGELBROKING,Afull-servicedigital
brokingfirm,announcedthatithas
reachedalifetimehighofaverage
monthlynewaccountadditionsofone
lakhsincethelockdownstartedin
March2020.Thishasacceleratedthe
brokingfirm’stradingvolumes,which
hastouched2milliontradesperdayon
itsplatform.Thebrokeragestatedthatit
currentlywitnessed2.2timesgrowthin
averagemonthlygrossclientadditionin
2monthsforFY21overFY20.
IEX to launch gas trading
platform on June 15
INDIAN ENERGY EXCHANGE,which
runs the country’s largest power
exchange,will launch a gas-trading
platform on June 15,it said in an
emailed invite.The venture,named
Indian Gas Exchange,will be a 100%
subsidiary of IEX,it had earlier said.
B K Manjunath becomes
non-exec director of LVB
LAKSHMI VILAS BANK (LVB) on
Wednesday said it has appointed B K
Manjunath as its non-executive and
independent director.The bank’s
board of directors at its meeting on
Wednesday co-opted B K Manjunath
as additional director,LVB said in a
regulatory filing.Manjunath has been
classified as non-executive and
independent director,it said.
● PANDEMIC PAIN
‘Moderation in growth,asset
quality pressures to hit AHFCs’
The total portfolio of new
HFCs in the affordable
housing space stood at
`52,350 cr as on Dec 31,
2019, registering a lower
y-o-y growth of 18%
FE BUREAU
Mumbai, June 10
MODERATION IN GROWTH and pres-
sures on the asset quality may have an
impact on affordable housing finance
companies’ (AHFC) near-term perfor-
mance, Icra said in a note on Wednesday.
The Covid pandemic could take a severe
toll on HFCs’borrowers,the note added.
AsperIcra’sestimates,thetotalportfolio
of the new HFCs in the affordable housing
space stood at `52,350 crore as on Decem-
ber 31, 2019, registering a lower year-on-
year(y-o-y)growthof18%,which,although
higherthantheindustryaverageof7%,has
significantlymoderatedfromthethree-year
compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of
State Bank of India to hold virtual AGM on June 17
FE BUREAU
Mumbai, June 10
STATEBANKOFIndia(SBI)issettohostavir-
tual general meeting for its shareholders on
June 17 in view of social-distancing norms
amid the Covid-19 outbreak.The agenda of
the meeting is to elect four directors to the
bank’sboardfromalistoffivecandidates,the
bankinformedthestockexchanges.SBIisalso
keepingtheoptionofaphysicalmeetingopen
andthiswillbesubjecttoclearancefromthe
concernedauthorities.
“ln view of the outbreak of the Covid-
19 pandemic,social distancingnorm tobe
followedandthecontinuingrestrictionon
HDFC Bank, BoB, Union
Bank of India cut MCLR
FE BUREAU
Mumbai, June 10
PRIVATE LENDER HDFC Bank along
with the state-owned Bank of Baroda
(BoB) and Union Bank of India on
Wednesday announced reduction in
marginal cost of funds-based lending
rate (MCLR) across tenors.
While HDFC Bank has reduced MCLR
by5basispoints(bps),BoBandUnionBank
of India have cut MCLR by 15 and 10 bps,
respectively.Themovecomesamidsimilar
steps taken bythe peers aftertwo rate cuts
by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The
banking regulatorhas cut repo rateby115
bps since March,2020.
As per details on the website of HDFC
Bank, the lender has reduced its MCLR by
5bpsacrosstenors.Theratecutiseffective
from June 8, 2020. HDFC Bank said its
overnight MCLR stands reduced to 7.3%
and one month MCLR stands at 7.35%.
The one-year MCLR,to which many of the
consumer loans are tied, will now be
7.65%,whilethree-yearMCLRhasbeenset
at 7.85%. ICICI Bank had earlier lowered
MCLRby5bps,effectivefromJune1,2020.
The state lenders Bank of Baroda and
Union Bank of India on Wednesday
announced reduction in MCLR through
separate releases. While Bank of Baroda’s
15 bps MCLRcut is effective from June 12,
Union Bank of India’s 10 bps revision
wouldcomeintoforcefromJune11,2020.
Shriram Transport Finance Q4 profit
slumps 70% on Covid provisioning
FE BUREAU
Mumbai, June 10
THE COMMERCIAL VEHICLE financier
ShriramTransport Finance’s net profit for
the March quarter fell 70% year-on-year
(y-o-y) to `223 crore due to provisions of
`910 crore related to Covid-19.The com-
pany said that the negative impact of
Covid-19pandemicwill bereflectedin the
turnoverand profitabilityof the company
forthe financialyear(FY) 2021. “The level
of the same cannot be ascertained at pre-
sent,”the company further said.
Shriram Transport Finance, however,
warned of an increase in the expected
credit losses (ECL) on its lending business.
“Thecompanyexpects increase in ECLdue
to extension of moratorium granted to its
borrowers based on the regulatory
requirements and impact of Covid-19 on
the overall economy,”the company said.
Shriram Transport’s total income in
over35% during FY17-FY19.
The current challenges in the operat-
ing environment have impacted the oper-
ationsoftheseentities,giventherelatively
high customer connect required in this
business,even as operations are gradually
moving towards normalcy. At the same
time,the debt servicing ability of borrow-
ers could have been impacted as target
borrowers are largely self-employed and
middle-to-low-income borrowers.
ManushreeSaggar,vice-president,finan-
cialsectorratings,Icra,saidthatwhiletheloan
bookgrowthoftheseentitiescouldbeinthe
range of 16-20% in FY20,the growth num-
movement of persons at several places in
the country, the Board of Directors of the
bank has decided to adopt the guidelines
issued byministryof corporate affairs and
Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of
India) in respect of conducting general
meeting of the bank through VC/OAVM
(video-conferencing/other audi-visual
means) and providing e-voting facility to
the shareholders in addition to the exist-
ing provisions of the SBI Act and SBI Gen-
eral Regulations, 1955,” SBI said in the
communication to the exchanges.
The five candidates for the director-
ships are Ganesh Natarajan, Ketan S
Vikamsey, B Venugopal, Mrugank M
MCLR
(in %) MCLR Tenor
1 3 6 1
month month month year
HDFC Bank 7.35 7.4 7.5 7.65
BoB 7.2 7.35 7.5 7.65
Union Bank 7.15 7.3 7.45 7.6
SBI 6.7 6.75 6.95 7 annual maintenance charges (AMC) on
ICICI Bank 7.45 7.5 7.65 7.7
While HDFC Bank has reduced
MCLR by 5 basis points (bps),
BoB and Union Bank of India have
cut lending rates by 15 and 10 bps,
respectively. The move comes
amid similar steps taken by the
peers after two rate cuts by
the Reserve Bank of India. The
banking regulator has cut repo rate
by 115 bps since March 2020
BankofBarodahasrevisedone-yearMCLR
to 7.65% from 7.8%,the lenderinformed
in the release. Similarly, Union Bank of
India said that it has reduced one-year
MCLR to 7.6% from 7.7%.
The largest bank State Bank of India
(SBI) had earlier announced 25 bps cut in
MCLR, effective June 10.The one-year
MCLR of SBI came down to 7% rom
7.25% earlier.
Report card
` crore Q4FY20 Q4FY19
Total income 4,173
Net interest income 1,918
Provisions 3,188
Net profit 223
Source: BSE
the March quarter stood at `4,173 crore,
up 7% from `3,883 crore in the same
period last year.
The net interest income (NII) for the
March quarter in financial year 2020
remained flat at `1,918 crore, against
`1,902croreinthesameperiodofthepre-
vious year. The company’s finance costs
were at `2,159 crore,compared to `1,888
crore in the same period last year.
Totalassetsundermanagement(AUM)
as on March 31,2020 stood at `1,09,749
bersforFY21couldbemuchlowerandwould
depend on how long this situation persists
and the time it takes for the companies and
endborrowerstorecoverfromtheimpact.
The segment’s asset quality indicators
remained largely stable over the past two
quarters,withthegrossNPAratioat4.1%as
on December 31,2019,even though this is
weaker than the industry level of 2.2% and
reflects the inherent weakness associated
with the segment.However,excluding two
playersinthesegment,thenumberwaslower
at 1.6% as on December 31,2019,which is
higherthanthegrossNPAratioof2.1%forall
HFCs,butcomparabletothegrossNPAratioin
homeloansforallHFCs(1.4%).
This is partly attributable to relatively
lower portfolio seasoning and a higher
share of home loans in the portfolio of
AHFCs as compared with the larger peers.
Icra expects the impact of the pandemic
on the livelihood of the end borrowers to
be severe, leading to asset quality-related
issues for these players.According to esti-
mates,theasset qualityindicators of these
entities could deteriorate by 50-100% in
FY21, though the reported numbers
would start showing up only from the
results of Q3FY21,Icra said.
Paranjape and Vinod Kumar.
Shareholders can participate in the
ensuing general meeting for the election
ofdirectorsthroughVC/OAVM,whichmay
not require physical presence of members
at a common venue.The “deemed venue”
for the meeting shall be State Bank Audi-
torium, Corporate Centre of the bank.“lf
the conditions are conducive and the local
authoritiespermitforconductingthegen-
eral meeting, then physical meeting may
take place,”the notice added.
Companies like Tata Consultancy Ser-
vices in India and Bombardier in Canada
have announced plans to hold virtual
meetings of their shareholders.
PNB collected `268 cr as
ATM, maintenance fee
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
New Delhi, June 10
PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK collected
around `268 crore as ATM transaction
charges and annual maintenance fee on
debit cards during 2019-20 fiscal,accord-
ing to an RTI reply.
The public sector lender collected
`152.88 crore from customers by levying
debit cards.
While `115.21 crore was garnered by
way of levying a fee on ATM transactions,
the bank said in a response to a Right to
Information(RTI)filedbyMadhyaPradesh-
based RTI activist Chandra ShekharGaur.
InresponsetoaqueryabouttheAMCon
debitcards,NewDelhi-basedPNBsaid,“AMC
for Punjab National Bank is `150 per year
plustaxes(forclassic,platinumandinterna-
tional debit cards). AMC for Kisan Credit
Cards,Mudra,PMJDYandcardsissuedunder
othergovernmentschemesisnil.”
To a query about the amount that was
collected in 2019-20 from customers for
not maintaining minimum average bal-
ance,the lendersaid that there is no provi-
sionforchargingpenaltyonthenon-main-
tenance monthlyaverage balance in PNB.
However, the bank denied any infor-
mation on the positions vacant and how
many positions were sanctioned as on
April-end 2020.“The information sought
is not specific which does not come under
the definition of'information'as provided
u/s 2 (f) of RTI Act,2005,”PNB said.
Change (%) Q3FY20 Change (%)
3,883 7.5 4,222 -1.2
1,902 0.8 2,037 -5.8
2,967 7.4 3,017 5.7
746 -70.0 879 -74.6
crore, compared to `1,04,482 crore as on
March 31,2019.
“Our liquidity position has been
adversely impacted, as,we have extended
moratorium to our borrowers based on
notification issued by Reserve Bank of
India (RBI),” the company said in its
release.In spite of tight liquidityposition,
our ability to service debts and other
financial debt commitment has not been
affected as our financial leveraging is low,
the company further said.
WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM
TRYING TIMES
❝
Renu Sud Karnad, HDFC managing director
The last two months have been very difficult
world over. But what has been reassuring in
these trying times is the safety and security
that one felt in one's home.
FCY bond spreads coming
back to pre-Covid levels
FCY bond issuances from India
$ million Jan-March
12,000
10,000
5,589
8,000
4,306
3,839
6,000
2,411
1,890
4,000
2,000
0
2015 2016
FCY: foreign currency
BHAVIK NAIR
Mumbai, June 10
SPREADS ON FOREIGN currency bonds
(FCY) out of India are gradually coming
back to the pre-Covid 19 crisis levelswhile
foreign investor interest continues to
remainstronginIndianpapersdespitethe
sovereign downgrade by Moody’s.
According to information provided by
bankers, spreads on papers have come
down by at least 100 bps in recent times
compared toAprilwhen therewas signifi-
cant widening in spreads.
For example, dollar bonds of SBI that
were trading at a spread of 390 bps over
corresponding benchmark in mid-April
were recently trading at a spread of 260
bps. Similarly, bonds of IRFC that were
trading at a spread of 350 bps earlier have
beentradingataspreadofaround245bps
in recent times.
Aditya Bagree, head, Asia Local Cur-
rencyCreditTrading at Citi India,said that
inlinewith the globalrallyin riskassetson
the back of liquidity infusions by central
banks, spreads for Indian FCY bonds have
tightened over the last few weeks at an
extreme pace.“While investment grade
bond spreads widened 350-500 bps
between February and March, they tight-
ened 250-300bps betweenApril andnow.
The swing has been even more for high-
yield bonds,”Bagree said.
Bagree further noted that foreign
investorsarecomfortablelendingfundsto
Indian companies at the right pricing.
“Investment grade bonds and some high
ANALYST CORNER
GSPL: ‘Sell’ stays with
revised fair value of `210
KOTAK INSTITUTIONAL EQUITIES
GSPL’S STANDALONE earnings peaked
out in FY2020 boosted by lower tax,
while EBITDA increased modestly by
2% despite a healthy 9% growth in
volumes. We expect earnings to
decline meaningfully hereon led by
tax-related 11% cut in tariffs in
FY2021, lower volumes due to Covid-
19 impact in near term and reduction
in LNG off-take by RIL in medium term
and sharp 20%+ cut in tariffs in FY2023
in lieu of volume-led-profit surplus for
FY2019-22. ‘Sell’ stays with a revised
FV of `210.
The company may face headwinds
to industrial volumes, particularly in
Morbi region, from imminent
slowdown in domestic demand as well
as exports for ceramic products.
We cut GSPL’s standalone EPS
estimates by ~10% to `12.8 in FY2021
and `11.8 in FY2022 factoring in
modestly lower volumes and tariffs
versus our earlier assumptions. Lower
HDFC hosting online
property show
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
New Delhi, June 10
THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK and subse-
quent lockdown reaffirmed the impor-
tance of home ownership, and there is a
growing need for apartments with larger
spaces with work from home becoming a
new normal, HDFC managing director
Renu Sud Karnad said on Wednesday.
Aiming to capture this demand, HDFC,
thecountry’sleadinghousingfinancecom-
pany, said it is hosting an online property
showfeaturingover150projectsfrommore
than75developersintheDelhiNCRregion.
The company plans to extend this to
properties in the Mumbai Region next
week,HDFC said in a statement.
HDFC’s online fair is an end-to-end
technology platform, providing home
seekers real-time information and con-
necting every phase of the home buying
process at one place.
Starting on June 10, 2020, the Delhi
online property showcase is a month long
event.HDFCwillprovidehomeloanfacility
to those homebuyers who move forward
with their decision to own a home,it said.
“The last two months have been very
New Delhi
❝
11,155
Jan-May
8,458
7,957
7,135
5,682
4,108
4,109
2017 2018 2019 2020
Source: Barclays Bank India
qualityhighyield issuerswill be able totap
the dollar bond markets — the primary
markets are normalising fast and are now
open for business,”Bagree said.
Despite the sovereign rating down-
grade by Moody’s, foreign investor
appetite for Indian FCY bonds remains
strong.Bankers saythat the response seen
by bonds of REC and UPL indicates that
foreign investors are still looking out for
Indian papers. Indian issuers have so far
raisedabout$8.5billionfromtheoverseas
bond market between January and May
2020. Last year, Indian issuers picked up
over $11 billion in the same period,
according to data provided by Barclays
Bank India. The pace of fund raising was
strong in the first three months of 2020
when Indian firms raised a record $8 bil-
lion from the overseas bond market.How-
ever,the Covid-19 crisis applied brakes to
fund-raising activitywithlast twomonths
witnessing almost negligible activity.
Arun Saigal, managing director and
head of DCM at Barclays Bank, India said
that post Covid-19,investorappetite took
a nosedivewhichwas furtherimpacted by
the widening in borrowing costs for
issuers in offshore markets.
"Investorappetite has returned forthe
Indian high grade issuers. We expect
Indian high grade issuers to tap the mar-
ket opportunisticallyin nearfuture.How-
ever, the investor appetite is expected to
remain constrained for Indian high yield
issuers given the RBI’s external commer-
cial borrowing (ECB) pricing caps and lack
of investor appetite at levels within the
pricing caps,"Saigal said.
earnings estimates for FY2021-22
versus FY2020 reflect our expectation
of 11% cut in pipeline tariffs due to
alignment of lower tax rate by PNGRB
in its calculation to ensure post-tax IRR
remains unchanged at 12%, lower
volumes in FY2021 impacted by
lockdown and slowdown due to
Covid-19 outbreak and gradual
reduction in volume off-take by RIL
during FY2021-22 as it substitutes LNG
with ramp-up of petcoke gasification.
We expect tariffs to fall further by over
20% in FY2023, as PNGRB will
prospectively adjust the surplus profits
being realized by GSPL during FY2019-
22E period, due to volumes being
substantially higher than PNGRB’s
assumption of 29 mcm/d in FY2019
and 26 mcm/d during the remaining
life of pipeline; regulatory review is
due in September 2021. Our SoTP-
based fair value reduces to `210 from
`225 earlier due to a reduction in value
of Gujarat pipeline network as we
build in lower tariffs in the long run.
HDFC’s online fair is an end-to-end
technology platform, providing
home seekers real-time information
and connecting every phase of the
home buying process at one place
difficult world over. But what has been
reassuring in these trying times is the
safety and security that one felt in one's
home,” Karnad said, referring to the lock-
down imposed on March 25 to curb the
spread of the coronavirus infections.
“Also with work from home being the
new normal, particularly for working cou-
ples and young professionals, the need for
homes with larger spaces is on the rise.We
believe that all this has not onlyreaffirmed
theimportanceofahome,buthasalsobuilt
asenseofurgencytoownahome,”shesaid.
In view of this heightened feeling for
home ownership,the companyhas decided
tohostaseriesofonlinepropertyshows,with
information,projectsandpropertiesfocused
onspecificcitiesorregions,Karnadsaid.
HDFC said it has assisted more than 77
Lakh customers in acquiring their own
home over the last 4 decades.
WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM
FINANCIAL EXPRESS
Sebi opposes builders’plea Markets see modest
to freeze debt payments gain; all eyes on Fed
Sebi is said to have
urged the Supreme
Court to dismiss the
petition by CREDAI
UPMANYU TRIVEDI
New Delhi, June 10
MARKETS REGULATOR SEBI
has opposed a petition to
freeze debt repayments,
including those on bond bor-
rowings, according to people
with knowledge of the matter.
Securities and Exchange
Board of India (Sebi) has urged
the Supreme Court to dismiss
the petition by the Confedera-
tion of Real Estate Developers’
Associations of India, the peo-
plesaid,askingnottobeidenti-
fied as Sebi’s filing isn’t public.
The builders’ body had
sought a pause on loan repay-
Maha traders urge state govt
to do away with APMC Act
NANDA KASABE
Pune, June 10
TRADERS IN MAHARASHTRA
have urged the state govern-
ment to either do away with
the Agriculture Produce Mar-
ket Committee (APMC) Act or
amend the Act to provide level
playing field to traders with
the farmers who now have the
freedom to sell their produce
outside mandis without pay-
ing any taxes.
Traders who operate
within the environs of market
yards have to paya market cess
of 0.5% o 1% of the trade
value of the transaction.
Traders feel the APMC Act has
now outlived its utility in the
present form.
Mohan Gurnani,president,
Chamber of Associations of
WayCool secures $5.5 m from
IndusInd Bank guaranteed by DFC
FE BUREAU
Chennai, June 10
CHENNAI-BASEDAGRI-TECH
start-up WayCool Foods has
received $ 5.5 million in debt
financing from IndusInd Bank
guaranteed by US Interna-
tional Development Finance
Corporation (DFC).
In a statement,WayCool on
Wednesday said that DFC has
extended a 100% guarantee to
the company’s latest round of
fund raise of $ 5.5 million
through debt financing from
IndusInd Bank. It follows the
SeriesCroundof$32millionled
by Lightbox earlier this year.
SetukaPartnersLLPwastheadvi-
sortothecurrenttransaction.
The loan is to be deployed
through IndusInd Bank’s
SEBI SAYS
■ Mutual funds held
`9.66 lakh crore ($128
billion) in money
market and debt
securities as of April 30
■ Of this, `3.68 lakh
crore matures
before August
■ Another `32.53
lakh crore of
non-convertible
debentures are held
by investors other
than mutual funds
ments along with accruing
interest, and a six-month
freeze on all repayments for
securities such as commercial
paper and bonds.
Sebi,which regulates some
financial instruments such as
Traders feel the APMC Act
has now outlived its utility
in the present form
Maharashtra Industries and
Trade ( CAMIT), said that the
central government’s ‘The
Farming Produce Trade and
Commerce (Promotion and
Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020'
permittingfarmerstoselltheir
products directly to anyone
even without a valid APMC
licence made APMC markets
redundant.
“Westronglyfeelthere isan
urgent need to revisit the util-
ity of the APMC Act in the
changed circumstances,” Gur-
nani said. “The government
has clarified that it would not
like to do away with the APMC
Impact Investing division,
which will support WayCool
Foods’ expansion plans. Way-
Cool Foods plans to use the
funds to introduce advanced
technology, implement strict
hygienemeasuresandincrease
transportation efficiency to
reduce food spoilage.
Karthik Jayaraman, co-
founder and CEO, WayCool
Foods said,“WayCool has been
steadily building necessary
technology and operational
capabilities to operate robust
agrifood supply chains from
soil to sale. We welcome DFC
and IndusInd Bank as partners
in this journeyand believe that
this partnership is an
endorsement of WayCool’s
ability to lead transformation
within the sector.”
listed non-convertible deben-
tures,said anysuch freeze may
push mutual funds — which
hold$128billionofthesecuri-
ties — to dishonor redemption
requests from their investors.
Stress in India’s credit mar-
kets worsened during a two-
month lockdown that halted
almost all economic activity to
stop the spread of the coron-
avirus. Franklin Templeton’s
localunitinAprilsuspendedsix
of its debt mutual funds,worth
$4.1 billion,and has said it may
take over five years for some
investorstorecouptheirmoney.
The real estate body had
petitioned the Supreme Court
last month,seeking protection
from any coercive action on
non-payment of dues and rat-
ing downgrades. The next
hearingisscheduledforFriday.
An email to Sebi’s
spokesperson was unan-
swered. —BLOOMBERG
Act. We are also aware of the
fact that the government of
Maharashtra too would not
like to disturb the said Act.But
keeping the Act in the present
form under the changed cir-
cumstanceswould be injustice
to the traders,”he said.
The chamber that has
around 750 trade associations
in the state ( including 50,000
APMC traders) feartheywould
be hit hard and deprived of
their livelihood.
Theyreckontradersinmar-
ket yard will not survive if the
goods were to go directly from
farmers to consuming centres
withoutanymarketfeeandare
sold at cheaper rate.
Significantly, the Uttar
Pradesh government has
scrapped the market cess, he
pointed out.
FE BUREAU
Mumbai, June 10
INDIAN EQUITIES ENDED the
day with modest gains on
Wednesdayasthebenchmarks
remained range-bound ahead
of the US Federal Reserve’s
meeting onWednesdayto give
projections on economic
growth for 2020.
Market experts expect the
Federal Reserve to holdrates at
current levels. Lacking any
fresh triggers, the Sensex
ended the day with gains of
290.36 points or 0.86% to
close at 34,247.05. The 50-
share index Nifty rose 69.5
points or 0.69% to close at
10,116.15.
Thebenchmarksroseonlast
minutebuyinginheavyweights
such as Axis Bank, ICICI Bank,
Bajaj Finance, State Bank of
India and Kotak Mahindra
Bank, erasing the some losses
made on Tuesday.The futures
and options segment are wit-
nessingvolumesworth `16.69
lakh crore against the six
month average of `13.9 lakh
crore,accordingtodataonNSE.
Thecashmarketsawaturnover
worth `52,954.14 crore
against the six month average
of`43,047.1crore,accordingto
NSE. Similarly, Indian markets
have found strong support due
to funds pumped in by foreign
portfolioinvestors(FPIs),which
inJunehasreached$2.8billion
in total.
On Wednesday, according
to provisional data on the
exchanges, FPIs sold stocks
worth $121.74 million.
Domestic institutional
investors bought equities
worth $66.28 million.
The market is awaiting the
outcome of the US Federal
Reserve’s meeting. Deepak
Jasani, head - retail research,
HDFC Securities, said, “The
whole world is awaiting the
outcomeoftheUSFedmeeting
expected later on Wednesday.
There is hope that the US Fed
would continue to take mea-
sures to help the US economy
and hence the global economy
THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2020
MARKETS 11
NR incubator offers tech support to 4,000 MSMEs
FE BUREAU holding to 4,000 MSMEs upgradeand competitiveness.
Thiruvananthapuram, June 10 (micro, small and medium “The facilitywill act as a hub
enterprises) innon-tyre sector. forconvertingideasandinnova-
THE INNOVATION incubation Although the non-tyre rub- tionsofentrepreneursintoqual-
Sensex centre at Rubber Research berMSMEs ploughsup`11,740 ityrubberproducts.Innovations
Intra-day, Jun 10 Institute of India (RRII) in Kot- crore peryear,astudybyRubber can be in the areas of rubber
34,400 34,029.14 tayam has gone live and is Board of India has found that farming, processing, product
slated to become the country’s many of these MSMEs lack in- development,recyclingofprod-
34,280
first rubber incubation centre house research and develop- ucts and pollution control,” said
in the non-tyre segment. ment facilities. This has been KN Raghavan,executive direc-
34,160
This will give tech hand- stumbling blocks to their tor,whoinauguratedthecentre.
34,040
34,247.05
33,920
Open Close
whichledtoaminorhoperally.
However, since the markets
globally have risen quite well
overthe past one to twoweeks,
theyareseeingsomeprofittak-
ingwhichisthecasewithsome
European markets.”
The European stock markets
atthetimeofpressweretrading
flatwithboursesinGermanyand
theUnitedKingdomupbetween
0.03% to 0.1%.France’s Cac 40
wasdownby0.1%.Ontheother
hand,the benchmark indices in
Asia too traded mixed on
Wednesdaywith the stock mar-
kets in Hong Kong and China
endingtheirdaylowerby0.03%
and 0.4%, whereas bourses in
SouthKoreaandTaiwanwereup
by0.3%and0.7%.
According to foreign bro-
kerage Jefferies, ‘value’ has
once again become an impor-
tant theme when it comes to
investing globally and there
are some value picks in India,
too.In its report,the brokerage
said that 71% of Nifty 50 and
68% of the Nifty Next 50
stocks are below their 10-year
average trading histories.
Moreover,14stocksoffermore
than 4% dividend yields for
fiscal 2021.The sectors where
stocks are still trading signifi-
cantlybelowlongtermaverage
valuations include financials,
materials or metals, capital
goods and real estate.
“Better than expected eco-
nomic recovery supports that
trade in the Indian context as
well. Our base case is that the
pace of recoverywill slow once
pent-up demand fades and
pre-monsoon activities slow
down. If the Covid-19 curve
flattens out sooner in key
cities, outlook will improve,”
said Jefferies in its report.
New Delhi
THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2020 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM

12 FINANCIAL EXPRESS

New Delhi
THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2020 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM

13 FINANCIAL EXPRESS

GUJARAT PIPAVAV PORT LIMITED

Registered Office: Pipavav Port, At Post Rampara-2, Tal. Rajula, Dist. Amreli 365560
CIN: L63010GJ1992PLC018106 Tel: 02794 302400 Fax: 02794 302413
Website: www.pipavav.com Email: investorrelationinppv@apmterminals.com
STATEMENT OF STANDALONE AND CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE QUARTER AND
YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2020
(Amt. in Rs. Mn)
STANDALONE
Particulars 3 months Preceding Corresponding Year Year
ended 3 months 3 months ended ended
ended ended in the
previous year
31/03/2020 31/12/2019 31/03/2019 31/03/2020 31/03/2019
(Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Audited) (Audited)
Total Income from Operations (Net) 1,619.42 1,965.81 1,801.34 7,353.69 7,019.80
Net Profit/(Loss) from Ordinary activities after Tax 478.98 1,203.54 509.26 2,924.04 2,056.26
Net Profit/(Loss) from Ordinary activities after Tax
(after extraordinary items) 478.98 1,203.54 509.26 2,924.04 2,056.26
Paid-up equity share capital (Face value Rs. 10 per share) 4,834.40 4,834.40 4,834.40 4,834.40 4,834.40
Other Equity as per the Balance Sheet of previous
accounting year -- -- -- 16,014.08 15,375.72
Earnings per share (Before and after extraordinary items)
(of Rs. 10 each) (not annualized)
Basic: 0.99 2.49 1.05 6.05 4.24
Diluted: 0.99 2.49 1.05 6.05 4.24
(Amt. in Rs. Mn)
CONSOLIDATED
Particulars 3 months Preceding Corresponding Year Year
ended 3 months 3 months ended ended
ended ended in the
previous year
31/03/2020 31/12/2019 31/03/2019 31/03/2020 31/03/2019
(Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Audited) (Audited)
Total Income from Operations (Net) 1,619.42 1,965.81 1,801.34 7,353.69 7,019.80
Net Profit/(Loss) from Ordinary activities after Tax 541.37 1,340.07 595.68 3,194.42 2,366.80
Net Profit/(Loss) from Ordinary activities after Tax
(after extraordinary items) 541.37 1,340.07 595.68 3,194.42 2,366.80
Paid-up equity share capital (Face value Rs. 10 per share) 4,834.40 4,834.40 4,834.40 4,834.40 4,834.40
Other Equity as per the Balance Sheet of previous
accounting year -- -- -- 18,048.19 17,139.90
Earnings per share (Before and after extraordinary items)
(of Rs. 10 each) (not annualized)
Basic: 1.12 2.77 1.23 6.61 4.88
Diluted: 1.12 2.77 1.23 6.61 4.88
Note: The above is an extract of the detailed format of Quarter/Annual Financial Results filed with Stock Exchanges under
Regulation 33 of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015. The full format of the
Quarter/Annual Financial Results is available on the Stock Exchange websites (www.besindia.com and www.nseindia.com)
and on the Company's website www.pipavav.com
For Gujarat Pipavav Port Limited
Jakob Friis Sorensen
Place: Mumbai Managing Director
Date : 9th June 2020 New Delhi DIN:08593830
THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2020

14 FINANCIAL EXPRESS WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM

QUANTUM BUILD-TECH LIMITED

Reg Office: 8-1-405/A/66, Dream Valley, Shaikpet, Hyderabad – 500 104
Tel: 040 23568766, 040 23568990, Website:www.quantumbuild.com
E-mail: info@quantumbuild.com CIN:L72200TG1998PLC030071
EXTRACT OF AUDITED FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE QUARTER AND
YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH, 2020 Rs. in Lakhs
QUARTER ENDED YEAR
ENDED
Particulars
31-03-2020 31-03-2019 31-03-2020
(Audited) (Audited) (Audited)
Total Income from Operations (Net) (27.03) 143.16 17.03
Net Profit /(Loss) for the period (before tax, Exceptional (41.82) (2.64) (57.80)
and/or Extraordinary items# )
Net Profit /(Loss) for the period before tax (after (1301.81) 89.54 (1286.61)
Exceptional and/or Extraordinary items#)
Net Profit /(Loss) for the period after tax (after (1301.81) 89.54 (1286.61)
Exceptional and/or Extraordinary items #)
Total Comprehensive Income for the period (Comprising (1301.81) 89.54 (1286.61)
Profit/(Loss) for the period (after tax) and other
comprehensive income (after tax)
Equity Share Capital 2506.56 1261.56 2506.56
Earnings per share (of Rs.10/-each) (for continuing and
discontinued operations)
1.Basic and Diluted (Rs) (5.19) 0.71 (5.13)
# - Exceptional and /or Extraordinary items adjusted in the statement of Profit and Loss in accordance
with Ind AS Rules / AS Rules, whichever is applicable
Notes :
The above is an extract of the detailed format of Audited Financial Results for the Quarter and
Year ended March 31, 2020 filed with the Stock Exchanges under Regulation 33 of the SEBI
(Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015. The full format of Audited
Financial Results for the Quarter and Year ended March 31, 2020 are available on the website of
BSE (www.bseindia.com) and the Company's website (www.quantumbuild.com)
By Order of the Board
For Quantum Build-Tech Limited
Sd/-
G.Satyanarayana
Place : Hyderabad Managing Director
Date : 10-06-2020 DIN No.02051710

New Delhi
WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2020

FINANCIAL EXPRESS 15

CHANGE OF NAME
I , Kazim Sher/ Md Kazim
Sher/ Mohammad Kazim
Sher / Mohd Kazim
Sher S/o M.A. Qasim R/o
B-11/83-B, DDA Flasts ,
Inder Lok, Delhi- 110035
have changed my name
to Mohd. Kazim Sher
permanently
0040539051-1
I, Sudesh W/o Sunil
Kumar R/o WZ-3555/2/59
Raja Park Shakur Basti
Delhi have changed my
name to Sudesh Behl
permanently.
0040539053-1

New Delhi
THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2020
16 BACK PAGE
● KNIGHT FRANK INDIA REPORT
PE investment in realty
falls 93% in Jan-May
FE BUREAU
Mumbai, June 10:
PRIVATE EQUITY INVEST-
MENTS in real estate dropped
93% to $238 million in 2020
till May compared to last year,
as only five deals concluded
during this period.
The drop can largely be
attributedtotheCovid-19pan-
demic, which has affected
investor sentiments, as well as
the economic slowdown in
Indiain2019.Thisyearhasalso
recorded 80% drop in the
number of deals concluded in
thefirstfivemonths,compared
to the same period last year,
revealed the latest report by
Knight Frank India.
“Sharp slowdown in the
domestic economy and specif-
icallyrealestatesectorwillkeep
the investors cautious. More-
over,with international funds
reorienting themselves to
attractive opportunities in the
developed economies on
account of drop in valuations
due to recession, this would
cast its shadow on the PE
investments in Indian real
estatein2020,”thereportsaid.
After rising between 2015
and 2018, the PE investments
in office assets declined in
2019. Lack of mature office
assetskepttheinvestorsatbay.
However, some interests have
been there in under-construc-
tion and greenfield develop-
ments.So farin 2020,onlytwo
deals,amounting to $141 mil-
lion,havebeenconcluded,with
PE investments in debt and equity
($ million)
Real estate
asset class 2019
Office 2,946
Retail 922
Warehousing 1,895
Residential 717
Grand total 6,480
Source: Knight Frank Research, Venture intelligence
transactions for 2.9 million
square feet of office space.
The retail sector has not
seenanyinvestmentssofarthis
year. Due to the pandemic,
many tenants in India have
invoked the 'force majeure'
clause in their rental agree-
ments and are demanding
rent-free periods and other
concessions to compensate for
theshutdown.Retailoccupiers
are likely to push for greater
revenue share arrangements
instead of existing model of
minimum guarantee plus rev-
enue share.
Warehousing has seen only
twodeals,suggestinganoverall
investment volume decline in
warehousing space due to the
lockdown.However,theadverse
impact of the pandemic on
warehousing segment will be
relatively less compared to
otherasset classes.
The residential sector has
been theworst-affected forthe
past few years, and investors'
interesthasshiftedfromequity
to debt or structured-debt
instruments. This year, there
Jan-May Jan-May 5-month
2019 2020 % change (Y-o-Y)
1,009 141 -86
397 0 -100
1,508 57 -96
469 40 -91
3,383 238 -93
was only one PE investment in
the residential sector worth
$40 million. The beleaguered
residentialsectorhasbeenfur-
therimpactedduetoCovid-19.
Residential sales were already
slow and the demand from
homebuyers is expected to
dwindle this year, the report
observed.
ShishirBaijal,chairmanand
managing director, Knight
Frank India, said,“The decline
inPEinvestmentsinrealestate
hadstartedin2019,whenitfell
by23%y-o-yto$6.8billion.We
are operating in uncertain
times. Having enforced one of
the most stringent lockdown
measuresglobally,2020would
beachallengingyearforIndian
businesses.The recall of unde-
ployed capital by sponsors,
emergenceofattractiveoppor-
tunities globally, increase in
risk premiums, contraction in
Indian GDP and Covid-19
related uncertainties would
castitsshadowoninvestorsen-
timents and we expect the
investor activity to be subdued
in 2020.”
● INTERVIEW: N VIJAYAGOPAL, director-finance, BPCL
‘Fuel sales may reach normal level by July’
State-run oil refiner-cum-mar-
keter BPCL suffered both high
inventory and forex losses in
Q4FY20 amid a gloomy demand
scenario.While the lockdown hit
saleshardinApril,therehasbeen
asteadyimprovementindemand
for auto fuels since early May.N
Vijayagopal,director-finance at
BPCL,told Vikas Srivastava the
company expects sales to reach
normallevelsbyJuly,withthepro-
gressive easing of the lockdown.
Editedexcerpts:
Was the inventory loss for
Q4FY20animpactofsix-seven
days’ lockdown or was it
alreadyinthemaking?
Ourindustryhasacertainwork-
ingcapitalcycle.Wehavetocon-
tract for buying crude oil, that
has to be voyaged for seven-21
days depending on the destina-
tions.Thecrudehastobestored,
processed and converted to
products andtransportedtoter-
minalsandvariousplacesacross
the country. So it is an almost
two-anda-halfmonths’working
capitalcycle.
The slowdown happened by
March10itself,butwecouldnot
stop the crude oil contracts that
hadalreadysailedafterthelock-
downwasannounced.Weman-
agedtodeferandcancelsomeof
themand transferredaportion
ofthecrudesourcedtotheGov-
ernment of India’s strategic
reserve,forwhich it paid subse-
quently.
Thevolumeofinventorywas
abnormallyhighthistimedueto
subsequent drop in demand.
Our sales had dropped to one-
third of the average monthly
salesinApril,androughlyhalfof
the average sales in May. So all
these inventories had to be val-
uedatthepriceatwhichwewere
actually selling in the month of
April and May. The crude and
productpricescollapsedleading
todrasticreductioninthediffer-
entials between the crude and
the product prices. We had to
recognise the value of all this
huge inventory as if we were to
sell in the month of April and
May; we had to do it till the sec-
ondquartetofMay.
The inventory losses in the
January-March quarterof 2020
was`1,937crore,againstagain
of `272 crore a year ago. Simi-
larly, the US dollar that was
steady at the `70-72 range till
February-end collapsed in
March,whichresultedinaforex
lossof`1,211croreinthefourth
quarter. So these two alone —
inventory and forex losses —
resulted in over `3,000-crore
loss. On the refinery side, the
dropinproductspreadsandthe
crude prices resulted into an
abysmally low gross refining
marginsof$0.75/bblfortheJan-
uary-March quarter of 2020,
while for the FY20 it was
$2.5/bbl. However, despite all
thechallenges,wehavedonewell
to have over `2,000 crore net
profit in FY20,though our esti-
mation before the Covid-19
spreadwasfull-yearnetprofitof
over`7,500crore.
Whatistheexceptionalitemof
`1,310 crore shown in
Q4FY20?
The exceptional item is part of
the inventory losses.We gener-
ally write down or reduce the
prices with the cost, when the
pricesarereducedtothenetreal-
isation value (NRV), up to that
limititisgenerallyconsideredas
part of the normal expenditure.
Any further reduction has to be
shownasanexceptionalitemas
per the accounting standard.
Around `600 crore of the
WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM
FINANCIAL EXPRESS
now we are at 70-72% of nor-
mal sales in June compared to
still not happening. The third
product, LPG mostly a cooking
Juneof2019.Ifthingscontinue fuel,hasseenhugedemanddue
to improve like this,we expect to focus by the government on
the sales to reach the normal the Ujjwala scheme.
level byJuly.
Do we see inventory gains in
Which segments have shown Q1FY21 due to higherbuilt up
growthinsalesforBPCL? ofinventorynow?
Our major products are diesel Crude is not revalued again.We
and petrol, which are mainly only take into account the
transport fuel and have seen reduction in value, we do not
`1,937croreinventorylossisan improvement due to opening recognise the upward move-
exceptional item.Besides reval- upofrailways,inter-statemove- ment,sincewedonotgetinven-
uation of `400 crore on the mentsandmovementoftrucks. tory gains by revaluing the
refinerysideisshownasanexce- Althoughindustrialsales,which inventoryaspotentialgains.We
ptional item.Any reduction in constitutes18%oftotalsales,is are not permitted to do that.
crude price beyond the cost to
the net realisation value is con-
sidered as an exceptional item.
Around `1,081 crore was the
differencebetweenthecostand
theNRV.
How do you see the product
pricinginQ1FY21?
It mostly depends on demand
andsupplyintheglobalmarket.
The gross refining margins
(GRMs) and crackswere poorin
Q4FY20,buttodayweareseeing
negative cracks for petrol and
diesel.They are very low in the
range of $3-$4/ bbl for diesel,
whichusedtobe$16/bblandat
least$8-10/bblforPetrol,sothe
crackspreadsareextremelylow.
But as we end this quarter we
don’t expect this kind of inven-
tory loss. So unless something
untoward happens we expect
our Q1FY20 to be directionally
betterthan Q4FY20.
How do you see the sales for
Q1FY20?
Thesaleshavealreadyimproved
month-on-month. It was
around one-third of normal
sales inApril compared to aver-
ageofApril2019.Itimprovedto
50% of sales in May 2019,and
New Delhi