NEW DELHI, MUMBAI, BENGALURU, KOLKATA, CHENNAI, AHMEDABAD, HYDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE* VOL. 15 NO.

156

Friday, July 2, 2021

livemint.com

mint primer QUICK EDIT

All you need to A surprise

know about covid
vaccine ZyCoV-D
BY NEETU CHANDRA SHARMA
Ahmadabad-based drugmaker Zydus Cadila has applied for an
emergency-use authorization for its three-dose covid-19 vaccine
ZyCoV-D. With a “primary efficacy” of 66.6%, the jab, if approved, will
be the world’s first DNA vaccine. Mint explains:
Needle-free vaccine
ZyCoV-D is a plasmid DNA vaccine. It is also an intradermal vaccine, applied
using a ‘needle-free injector’. The company claims the needle-free system can
lead to a significant reduction in side effects.
3 DOSES: ZyCoV-D is a three-dose
vaccine
28 DAYS: Time gap between the
doses
66.6%: Primary efficacy attained
in an interim analysis
DELTA VARIANT: The vaccine
works against the coronavirus
variant said to be behind the
second wave
What kind of vaccine is
1 ZyCoV-D?
ZyCoV-D is a three-dose, plasmid
DNA vaccine that produces the
spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2
and elicits an immune response
mediated by the cellular (T
lymphocytes immunity) and
humoral (antibody-mediated
immunity) arms of the human
immune system. It is also an
intradermal vaccine, applied using
a ‘needle-free injector’. Zydus
claims the needle-free system can
lead to a significant reduction in
side effects. The vaccine uses a
‘plug and play’ technology on
which the plasmid DNA platform
is based. It also means that a new
form of the vaccine can be rapidly
generated against any variant.
REUTERS
12-18 AGE GROUP: The company
claims the vaccine is safe and very
well tolerated in the age group
100-120 MILLION DOSES: Annual
production planned by the
company
400-500 CRORE: The
investment on the vaccine
45-60 DAYS: Time needed by the
company for the vaccine roll-out
after the approval
What is a plasmid DNA
2 vaccine?
Plasmids are DNA molecules that
replicate independently from the
host’s chromosomal DNA. They are
mainly found in bacteria. A plasmid
DNA vaccine involves injecting into
the appropriate tissues a plasmid
containing the DNA sequence
encoding of the antigen against
which an immune response is
sought, and relies on the in-situ
(original) production of the target
antigen. This approach offers a
number of potential advantages
over traditional approaches,
including the stimulation of both
B- and T-cell responses, improved
vaccine stability, the absence of any
infectious agent and the relative
ease of large-scale production.
downturn
The last quarter ended on a
sobering note, with India’s
manufacturing output slipping
into a contraction, according to
a survey released on Thursday.
The manufacturing purchasing
managers’ index (PMI) fell to
48.1 in June from 50.8 in May.
This is the first time in almost a
year that it has slid below the 50
mark, which separates contrac-
tion from expansion.
That the reading fell despite
several states easing restrictions
last month is a surprise. Core-
sector output data put out by
the government on Wednesday
had shown a 16.8% expansion,
though on last year’s low base,
in key infrastructure industries
in May. The lifting of curbs was
expected to allow greater busi-
ness activity, but the PMI has no
sign of that. As the index tracks
order books, which can display
lags, maybe the unlock spring
will show up in July. However, it
could also be a case of our sec-
ond wave, which came as a rude
shock, having cast a shadow on
commercial projections in some
industries, resulting in cut-
backs. Its unforeseen distress
had prompted analysts to raise
the uncertainty assigned to our
economic prospects. The weak
PMI could be a signal that we
can’t rely on an automatic
bounce back to pre-covid form.
MINT METRIC
by Bibek Debroy

News from Melbourne downright crappy.

3 What are the storage
requirements for ZyCoV-D?
ZyCoV-D is stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius,
Before changing a baby’s nappy,
but it has shown good stability at
Parents need informed consent
temperatures of 25 degrees Celsius for at A suggestion bizarre in intent.
least three months. The company said the
thermostability of the vaccine will help in
What if a filthy infant is happy?
easy transportation and storage and reduce
any cold chain breakdown challenges. The
vaccine is easy to manufacture with
minimal biosafety requirements (BSL-1). QUOTE OF THE DAY
Data and demographic dividend
4 What is ZyCoV-D’s
efficacy against covid? 5
Zydus claimed to have conducted
How many doses can
Zydus produce?
Zydus Cadila has said it plans to
present a massive opportunity
the largest clinical trial for a manufacture 100-120 million for India... together, we will be
covid-19 vaccine in India in over doses of ZyCoV-D annually. Zydus successful in making this
50 centres. This was also the will also be partnering with
first time that any covid-19 contract manufacturing decade, ‘India’s techade’.
vaccine had been tested in the organizations where it could
12-18-year age group in the potentially transfer its technology
country. Around 1,000 subjects to produce another 50-70
were enrolled in this age group million doses of the vaccine. The
and the vaccine was found to be pharma company will be NARENDRA MODI
safe. The tolerability profile was manufacturing the vaccine at its PRIME MINISTER
similar to that seen in the adult plant at the Zydus Biotech Park in
population. Primary efficacy of Ahmedabad, Gujarat. It has
66.6% has been attained for invested ₹400-500 crore on
symptomatic RT-PCR positive clinical trials and scaling up
cases in an “interim analysis”. manufacturing capacity.

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 PLAIN FACTS

Most states may fail to

vaccinate all by 2021
BY RASHMI KUNDU, HOWINDIALIVES.COM

M
ost Indian states saw vaccination rates drop in May. The first 20 days of June were better. The last 10 days of June,
when the Centre finally took charge, even better. Yet, even if they maintain their latest pace, 10 of the 15 most popu-
lous states will take three to nine months to give the equivalent of one dose to their entire population above the age
of 18 years. As many as 13 of them will take six to 19 months to complete two doses.
The daily average of covid-19 vaccine doses has climbed from 1.9 million in May to 3.2 million in the first period of June
to 5.6 million in the second period of June (post 20 June). In the first period, all 15 of the most populous states registered an
increase. In the second period, even on a rising base, 14 showed an increase, with Andhra Pradesh being the exception.
Among this set of 15 states, there is wide variance both in terms of current vaccine coverage and current pace. As a result,
even maintaining their respective latest 10-day average will lead to vastly different outcomes.
At the top end, only five states can deliver the equivalent of one dose to their adult population in three months: Karnataka,
Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala and Rajasthan. Kerala, Gujarat and Rajasthan have led in vaccine coverage all along, while
Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka have picked up pace more recently. At the bottom end, three states will need more than
six months to complete even one dose. These are Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. They will take 14-19 months to
complete both doses.

Even at latest pace, only 5 major states

can complete one dose in 3 months Estimated time to vaccinate 18+ population
(months) **
Change in pace of covid-19 vaccination (in %) * One dose Two doses
Between 01-20 June Between 21-30 June
State and 1-31 May and 1-20 June Nov 2021 Apr 2022 Sep 2022 Feb 2023
Madhya Pradesh 93 176
Karnataka 85 76
Kerala 110 42
Gujarat 66 45
Rajasthan 64 66
Telangana 275 24
Odisha 54 120
Assam 14 174
Maharashtra 24 85
Tamil Nadu 77 65
Andhra Pradesh 92 -13
Jharkhand 127 37
West Bengal 78 35
Uttar Pradesh 95 57
Bihar 56 32

* Change in daily average covid-19 vaccine doses administered during stated periods. ** Assuming the state maintains its daily average for 21-30 June.
1. Data for top 15 states by population, arranged in ascending order of time taken to complete one dose. 2. Data as of 1 July, 7am.

Source: Ministry of health and family welfare, National Commission on Population

Olympic Deadline Three weeks to the Olympics, host

Japan is far from vaccinating its people
AMONG THE 10 most populous countries, India has maintained Weekly change in covid-19 Cumulative covid-19
vaccine doses vaccinations
its fourth place in terms of weekly growth in covid-19 vaccine per 100 people (in %) per 100 people
coverage. Japan, China, and Indonesia raised their vaccination Japan 15 34.4
pace faster than India. On cumulative doses given, India ranks Indonesia 14 15.4
seventh among the 10 most populous countries, with doses per China 12 85.2
100 persons at 24. China continues to make great strides, India 12 23.7
increasing doses per 100 persons from 75 to 85 during the week, Russia 9 27
according to data portal Our World in Data. Brazil 8 46.5
Philippines 7 9.3
For the 11th straight week, Japan registered the highest weekly
Mexico 5 34.4
growth in doses administered per 100 persons in this set. Its US 2 97.2
capital Tokyo is scheduled to host the Olympics, postponed from Bangladesh 0 6.1
last year, from 23 July to 8 August. The country has been racing 1. Data for 10 most-populous countries, arranged in descending order of
against time to vaccinate its population. However, since it started weekly change in doses. Pakistan, Nigeria and Ethiopia excluded due to
inadequate data. 2. Data as of 29 June or latest available. 3. Number of doses
late, Japan has been able to vaccinate only 23% of its population may not indicate full vaccination since many vaccines require multiple doses.
with one dose and 11.5% with both doses. Source: Our World in Data, World Bank

A Maharashtra district registered the

highest new cases after 12 weeks
Third Watch
New confirmed cases in each district in the last seven days IN INDIA, even as total new cases trend lower, there are
<100 NA numbers emerging that need to be watched in the context of a
100–500 possible third wave. In Maharashtra, a close second to Kerala in
500–1,000
1,000–5,000 new cases, weekly new cases have crept up from 60,893 two
>5,000 weeks ago to 62,748 last week and 63,817 this week. The rise is,
so far, limited to five of its 35 districts, including Thane,
Raigarh, Gadchiroli, Kolhapur, and Mumbai. Thane’s weekly
Thane count of new cases has surged from 2,671 two weeks ago to 6,814
6,814
this week.
Kolhapur Kolhapur registered the highest weekly cases this week. It is
11,831 East Godavari
5,370 after 12 weeks that a district from Maharashtra leads in weekly
Bengaluru Urban cases. Elsewhere, 14 districts across six northeastern states have
5,455 reported a steady increase in new cases in the past two weeks,
Latest data as of
Thiruvananthapuram 7.30pm on 30 June. albeit on a lower base. For example, new cases in Golaghat in
9,287
Source: howindialives.com Assam increased from 1,314 last week to 1,791 this week.

Death Respite Covid-19 deaths continue to trend lower

in all 10 states leading in new cases
THIS WEEK, all-India covid-19 deaths were 7,461, which is Rolling 7-day average of deaths
Maharashtra
about one-third of the 22,234 deaths two weeks ago. Most states 377
are trending lower. Only 15 districts have reported higher deaths Tamil Nadu
1,000
for each of the last two weeks. Three districts stand out. These are
Karnataka
Dakshina Kannada in Karnataka, Khordha in Odisha, and Kerala
Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. Dakshina Kannada reported 102 100 Odisha
deaths in the past week, its highest-ever weekly tally. In the first Andhra
Pradesh
three weeks of June, it averaged 38 weekly deaths. In Khordha, West Bengal
weekly deaths have risen from 36 two weeks ago to 40 last week 10 Assam
to 59 this week. In the last one month, Allahabad has registered Manipur
Telangana
215 deaths, with 121 in the last 10 days. 9
Such instances of mounting deaths also underscore the need to 1
Data for top 10 states by cases
as on 30 June. The vertical axis
increase the pace of vaccination. This week, Moderna became the uses a logarithmic scale, which
makes the scale appear smaller
fourth covid-19 vaccine to be approved by India. However, its than it actually is.
supply will be limited. For now, Covishield and Covaxin remain 0.1
the supply mainstays. 6 Jan 2021 30 Jun
www.howindialives.com is a database and search engine for Source: Ministry of health and family welfare

public data. AHMED RAZA KHAN/MINT

PEANUTS by Charles M. Schulz

 NEW DELHI, MUMBAI, BENGALURU, KOLKATA, CHENNAI, AHMEDABAD, HYDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE* VOL. 15 NO. 156 Rs 5.00 IN DELHI-NCR; Rs 6.00 OUTSIDE DELHI-NCR. PRICE WITH HINDUSTAN TIMES Rs 9.50 (FOR DELHI & NCR) 16 PAGES

Friday, July 2, 2021

How India Inc hobbled The fashion runway is

livemint.com through 2020 uP10 back on fire uP14

SENSEX 52,318.60 164.11 NIFTY 15,680.00 41.50 DOLLAR ₹74.56 ₹0.23 EURO ₹88.37 ₹0.20 OIL $75.47 $0.34 GOLD ₹47,075 ₹571

Capex plans hit as 2nd Pressure point

The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the manufacturing
sector dropped to 48.1 in June from 50.8 in May.
Manufacturing PMI
Indian banks
better placed
DON’T MISS

to withstand
wave derails recovery
60
51.8
50
shocks: Das
48.1
40 Gopika Gopakumar
But covid’s impact on investment decisions in Q1 was lower than last year 30
gopika.g@livemint.com
MUMBAI
Automakers increase dispatches
Niti Kiran

T
20 he impact of the pan- as dealerships resume their ops
niti.k@livemint.com INVESTMENT APPETITE Apr 2019
A figure below 50 indicates contraction.
Jun 2021
Source: IHS Markit
demic’s second wave on
the balance sheet of
India’s leading passenger vehicle
manufacturers sharply increased production

I
ndian companies’ investment India Inc’s eagerness to start new projects weakened again after improving SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
banks is far more modest than and dispatches to dealerships in June,
in the March quarter when covid’s first wave appeared to be ebbing.
appetite got a fresh jolt in the
quarter to 30 June as the pan-
demic’s second wave and state-
8
New project announcements (in ₹ trillion) Private Government

Q1 FY22:
Manufacturing PMI expected, and their capital and
liquidity buffers are strong
enough to weather any
compared to the preceding month, as states
continued to ease lockdown restrictions
following a dip in covid-19 cases. >P5
wide lockdowns sapped busi-
ness confidence.
New project investments by com-
6
Year-on-year change: 44%
Quarter-on-quarter change: 13% shrinks for first time unforeseen surprises, said
Reserve Bank of India gover-
nor Shaktikanta Das. 8 million people regained jobs
panies in the June quarter fell 13% to “The dent on balance sheets in June as states relaxed curbs
₹1.6 trillion from the preceding three
months, the latest data from the
4

2
2.4
1.2
in 11 months in June and performance of financial
institutions has been much
Around 8 million people rejoined work in
June as lockdowns in the states eased and
project-tracking database of the less than what was projected, economic activities picked up pace across
Centre for Monitoring Indian Econ- Asit Ranjan Mishra chases. With business opti- although a clearer picture will India. This comes after almost 23 million jobs
1 0.3 were lost in April and May during the second
omy (CMIE) showed. Still, the impact 0
Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1
asit.m@livemint.com mism fading over the month, emerge as the effects of regula-
of the second wave on investment NEW DELHI job shedding also continued. tory reliefs fully work their wave of the covid-19 pandemic. >P2
FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22
decisions was much less pronounced Source: CMIE CapEx Demand weakness prompted way through. Yet, capital and

than last year, when the sequential
decline was a steeper 73%.
The latest numbers show compa-
nies’ eagerness to start new projects
weakened again after improving in
the preceding March quarter when
the pandemic’s first wave appeared
to be ebbing. However, the March
quarter number was still much lower
than levels prevailing before the out-
break of covid infections in India.
Government-run firms were more
tight-fisted in the June quarter than
their private-sector counterparts,
who announced projects worth ₹1.2
trillion. Their investments, however,
declined 9% from the preceding
three months. In comparison, new
investments announced by public
sector firms fell a steeper 26%.
FAST FACTS
GOVT-RUN firms were
more tight-fisted than
private companies
While central government projects
witnessed a 12% decline, state govern-
ment projects shrank 48% in the June
quarter. Three projects accounted for
70% of fresh central government pro-
jects: a grid-connected solar power
project by NTPC Ltd in Rajasthan, the
integrated Barsua-Taldih-Kalta iron
ore mine expansion project by Steel
Authority of India, and the 11th tran-
che of a 1,200MW ISTS-connected
wind power project by Solar Energy
Corp. of India.
M
CENTRAL govt projects INVESTMENTS may
saw a 12% decline; state gather steam gradually as
govt projects shrank 48% the economy recovers
SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
With capacity utilization in manu-
facturing still low and the second
wave creating demand uncertainties,
private sector investment is likely to
remain subdued, said a 7 June Crisil
note. That said, governments—
largely the Centre—did the heavy
lifting on the investment front after
the pandemic situation improved
last fiscal. This trend may continue
this fiscal as well, the note added.
TURN TO PAGE 6
anufacturing activity
surprisingly con-
tracted in June for the
first time in 11 months despite
states easing lockdown curbs as
cautious consumer sentiment
after two months of a brutal
second wave forced producers
to cut output.
The purchasing managers’
index (PMI) for the manufactur-
ing sector dropped to 48.1 in
June from 50.8 in May, accord-
ing to data released by analytics
firm IHS Markit. A figure below
50 indicates contraction.
The latest results high-
lighted renewed contractions
in factory orders, production,
exports and quantities of pur-
firms to slash purchases of
inputs in June. Buying levels
marked one of the steepest
declines since PMI data collec-
tion started in March 2005.
The dip in June PMI is some-
what at odds with the mostly pos-
itive high-frequency data availa-
ble so far, said Aditi Nayar, chief
economist at credit rating agency
Icra. “Following the phased
unlocking, GST e-way bills, vehi-
cle registration, electricity
demand and petrol consumption
have all reported a sequential
improvement over May and a
year-on-year growth in June.
While diesel consumption has
TURN TO PAGE 6
liquidity buffers are reasona-
bly resilient to withstand
future shocks, as the stress
tests presented in this report
demonstrate,” said Das in his
foreword to the Financial Sta-
bility Report (FSR) released by
the central bank on Thursday.
FSR is a bi-annual report that
reflects the collective assessment
of the sub-committee of the
Financial Stability and Develop-
ment Council (FSDC) on risks to
financial stability and the resil-
TURN TO PAGE 6
Covid 2.0 dented consumer
credit demand, says RBI >P5
Higher GST receipts should now
be the new normal: Sitharaman
India should be able to sustain robust
collections of goods and services tax (GST)
with steps taken by the government to make
it easier to do business and enforce tax
compliance, finance minister Nirmala
Sitharaman said on Thursday. >P2
Cleantech Solar promoters ready
to sell their controlling stake
The promoters of Cleantech Solar Energy
aim to sell their controlling stake in the green
energy firm backed by Royal Dutch Shell,
said two people aware of the development.
Standard Chartered has been hired to find a
buyer for the potential transaction. >P6

BLOOMBERG

Zydus Cadila jab shows 66.6% Sebi to review superior

efficacy, seeks regulatory nod voting rights framework
MINT
Neetu Chandra Sharma plasmid DNA vaccine, which Swaraj Singh Dhanjal more than ₹500 crore is too
neetu.s@livemint.com produces the SARS-CoV-2 swaraj.d@livemint.com onerous to comply and is
NEW DELHI virus’s spike protein in the MUMBAI keeping prospective SR share-
body, triggering an immune holders away from utilizing

D T
rugmaker Zydus Cadila response. If it gets emergency he markets regulator on the SR shares framework,”
on Thursday applied approval, ZyCoV-D will be Thursday put out a con- said the consultation paper.
for regulatory approval India’s fifth vaccine in the fight sultation paper seeking The regulator has also
for ZyCoV-D, India’s second against covid-19, after Covis- comments on its superior vot- sought comments on the issu-
The Oxford-AstraZeneca developed Covishield, made in India by indigenously developed cov- hield, Covaxin, Sputnik V and ing rights (SR) framework after ance of SR shares to trusts or
Serum Institute, and India’s Covaxin are yet to get EMA clearance. id-19 vaccine after Bharat Bio- Moderna’s mRNA-1273 vac- market participants high- entities on behalf of founders
tech’s Covaxin. cine. lighted several concerns. and/or promoters in executive

9 European nations Early analysis showed an

efficacy of 66.6% for the three-
dose vaccine, the Ahmedabad-
Zydus Cadila has invested
₹400-500 crore in developing
its vaccine candidate. It is not
The Securities and Exchange
Board of India (Sebi) intro-
duced the framework in 2019 to
Sebi has also sought views on
issuance of SR shares to trusts or
positions.
“The rationale for granting
SR shares only to promoters/

add SII’s Covishield based company said, adding it

is “safe and very well toler-
ated” among 12-18-year-olds
Zydus Cadila managing
director Sharvil Patel. REUTERS
looking at exports in the near
term as it does not have suffi-
cient quantities to supply
enable technology startup
founders who typically own
small shares in their companies
entities on behalf of founders.

by venture capital, are gearing

founders was to reflect on
these individuals’ unique and
significant contribution to the

to travel pass list and works against the delta

Elizabeth Roche ing commercial passenger ser-
elizabeth.r@livemint.com vices when regular interna-
NEW DELHI tional flights were suspended
because of covid. India’s avia-
variant of SARS-CoV-2.
The company said if the vac-
cine gets emergency use
authorization from the Drugs
Controller General of India, it
could begin manufacturing in
45-60 days and scale produc-
in a year. We can start from
mid-August to have a run rate
of around 10 million doses per
month. A new facility to manu-
facture this vaccine will come
up by the end of July, which
will start producing ZyCoV-D
other countries.
The company did not dis-
close the price of its vaccine.
“We are only currently focus-
ing our efforts on making sure
we can make these doses avail-
able for India. It is too early to
talk about pricing. We have
because raising large sums of
capital is needed to scale up and
results in the founders stake
getting reduced substantially.
The framework was aimed to
allow founders of these tech
startups to retain control of
their companies after they
up to go public, and many
more are expected to follow
suit. Among the companies
that are planning to go public
are Zomato, Paytm, Flipkart
and Byju’s.
“Sebi has received feedback
from market participants on
present and future prospects
of a business. In the prospec-
tive issuer companies, the
shareholding of founders/pro-
moters may be structured
through either holding com-
panies or family trusts or lim-
ited liability partnerships

N
ine European countries
said that they will allow
Indian travellers inocu-
lated with Serum Institute of
India’s Covishield vaccine to
enter their territory without
facing mandatory quarantine, a
person familiar with the devel-
opment said.
One of the nine—Estonia—
said it will recognize all the vac-
cines that the government of
India considers valid for travel
by Indians, including the Rus-
sian Sputnik and the US’s Mod-
erna covid vaccine, the person
said on condition of anonymity
on Thursday.
Austria, Germany, Iceland,
Greece, Slovenia, Ireland,
Spain and Switzerland also said
they will permit Indians inocu-
lated with Covishield to travel
to their countries.
This comes on the day that
the European Union (EU) Digi-
tal Covid Certificate framework
to facilitate free movement
during the covid pandemic
comes into effect.
Most of the travel till now was
taking place between countries
through so-called “bubbles”
where two countries agreed to
open borders on a bilateral
basis. This was aimed at restart-
tion ministry website lists
almost 30 countries with which
India had such arrangements
after the first pandemic’s first
wave receded. However, with a
devastating second wave hitting
the country in April-May, many
countries suspended travel
from India.
With inoculations picking
up—276 million Indians have
received at least one dose of a
vaccine—New Delhi is hopeful
that its vaccinated people will
be able to travel without
restrictions like those from
other countries.
The European Parliament
last month mandated that all
member states must accept
vaccination certificates issued
in other EU countries for vacci-
nes authorized by the Euro-
pean Medicines Agency (EMA).
Presently, these include those
vaccines manufactured by
Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca
and Johnson and Johnson. The
Oxford-AstraZeneca devel-
oped Covishield, manufac-
tured in India by Serum Insti-
tute, and India’s Covaxin are yet
to get the EMA clearance.
According to a second per-
TURN TO PAGE 6
tion up to 10 million doses a
month later.
“Our target is to produce
100-120 million vaccine doses
Trump Organization, CFO Weisselberg indicted on tax charges
Corinne Ramey
feedback@livemint.com
A
New York grand jury
has indicted the Trump
Organization and its
chief financial officer with tax-
related crimes that will be
made public Thursday in
court, people familiar with the
matter said, marking the first
criminal charges against the
former president’s company
since prosecutors began inves-
tigating it three years ago.
The charges against the
company and longtime CFO
Allen Weisselberg are a blow
to former President Donald
Trump, who has fended off
multiple criminal and civil
probes during and after his
presidency. But the initial
charges won’t implicate Mr.
Trump himself, his lawyer
at scale,” managing director
Sharvil Patel said in a virtual
press conference.
ZyCoV-D is the world’s first
said, falling short of expecta-
tions about the high-profile
probe that included a battle
over his tax returns decided by
the U.S. Supreme Court in the
prosecutors’ favor.
The defendants are expected
Thursday to appear in court,
where the charges will be dis-
closed, the
people said.
T h e
Trump
Organization and Mr. Weissel-
berg are expected to face char-
ges related to allegedly evad-
ing taxes on fringe benefits,
the people said. For months,
the Manhattan district attor-
ney’s office and New York
state attorney general’s office
have been investigating
whether Mr. Weisselberg and
other employees illegally
avoided paying taxes on
not stockpiled any doses cur-
rently, and we will announce it
TURN TO PAGE 6
perks—such as cars, apart-
ments and private-school tui-
tion—that they received from
the Trump Organization.
A sole focus on fringe bene-
fits would be unusual, former
prosecutors said. It is rare to
charge an individual or com-
pany for failure to pay taxes on
employee
benefits
a l o n e ,
though
such charges are used as part
of larger cases. Some lawyers
said if prosecutors were going
after the Trump Organization
for fringe benefits alone, when
few other companies face such
charges, it would risk making
the probe look biased.
Others said charges could be
a tactic to further pressure Mr.
Weisselberg, who has rejected
prosecutors’ efforts to gain his
started trading publicly.
The plan to review these
norms comes as many Indian
technology startups, backed
Top exec
surrenders
New York: The Trump
Organization’s longtime
chief financial officer,
Allen Weisselberg, has
surrendered to authori-
ties in New York, facing
tax-related charges in
the most direct attack on
Donald Trump and his
business to emerge from
Manhattan District
Attorney Cyrus Vance
Jr.’s years-long criminal
probe. BLOOMBERG
cooperation, the people said.
Mr. Trump, a Republican,
has denied wrongdoing and
said the investigations, con-
the current requirement that
an SR shareholder shall not be
part of the promoter group
whose collective net worth is
ducted by offices led by Demo-
crats, are politically motivated.
Earlier this week, he said in a
statement that the case is com-
posed of “things that are stan-
dard practice throughout the
U.S. business community, and
in no way a crime.”
In recent virtual meetings,
lawyers for Mr. Trump and his
company tried to persuade
prosecutors not to charge the
Trump Organization, arguing
that charging a company over
fringe benefits or employee
compensation was unheard of,
The Wall Street Journal and
others reported this week.
Mr. Weisselberg and his
lawyers haven’t commented
on the investigation or
impending charges.
The charges could be the
first in a series of charges in the
future, particularly if prosecu-
(LLPs). It is argued that this is
done mostly for the purposes
TURN TO PAGE 6
tors are able to gain the cooper-
ation of Mr. Weisselberg to bol-
ster their broader investiga-
tion, former prosecutors said.
It isn’t unusual for individu-
als to resist an invitation to
cooperate until they face the
reality of felony charges and
the possibility of prison,
former prosecutors said.
“Once charges are filed, the
defendant faces a concrete
decision: He can fight the char-
ges at trial, plead guilty or agree
to cooperate,” said Jeremy
Temkin, a former federal pros-
ecutor and white-collar defense
attorney. “Many defendants
will choose the last option as a
means of minimizing their risk
of spending time in jail.”
If convicted of a low-level
tax crime, Mr. Weisselberg
TURN TO PAGE 6
02 FRIDAY, 2 JULY 2021
NEW DELHI ECONOMY & POLICY LIVEMINT.COM

m MINT SHORTS
India’s drug regulator refuses EUA
8 mn people regained jobs in Domestic
cooking gas
to covid-19 vaccine Sputnik-Light
New Delhi: India’s drug regulator, the Drugs Controller General
of India (DCGI), has refused to grant emergency-use authorization
(EUA) to single-dose covid-19 vaccine Sputnik-Light, while also
June as states relaxed curbs price hiked
by ₹25.50
ruling out the need to conduct its phase-3 trial in the country. The
subject expert committee (SEC) of Central Drugs Standard Control Staff Writer
Organisation (CDSCO) , which deliberated on the application, feedback@livemint.com
noted that Sputnik-Light is the same as the component-1 of Sput- The number of employed people jumped to 383.28 million, up from 375.48 million in May NEW DELHI
nik V. PTI

S
tate-run fuel retailers
Prashant K. Nanda it averaged at 40%... with this India have raised India’s
Scientists identify 200 drugs that prashant.k@livemint.com Silver lining has not recovered its pre-covid LPR domestic cooking gas
The national unemployment rate fell to 9.17% by end of June from 11.9% in May. levels,” the CMIE said on its website. prices. Effective 1 July, the
can be effective against covid NEW DELHI
The June LPR was 39.57%, the low- price of a 14.2kg non-subsi-
Employment scenario in 2021

A
BLOOMBERG
round 8 million people Number of employed people (In mn) National unemployment rate, in % (right-hand scale) est in 13 months, according to fresh dized Indane liquefied petro-
re-joined work in June as 410 16 data. The last time labour participation leum gas (LPG) cylinder in
provincial lockdowns rate was lower than this was in May Delhi has been increased by
eased and economic activ- 400.7 2020 when it had dropped to 38.57% ₹25.50 to ₹834.50.
400
ities picked up across 12 amid a national lockdown imposed to This price increase comes
India. This comes after almost 23 mil- 390
9.17 contain the spread of coronavirus. after LPG cylinder prices
lion jobs were lost in April and May. 8
“The impact on the employment rate remained stable for April, May
By the end of June, the number of 383.3
(ER) follows…The ER continues to and June.
380
people employed in salaried and non- remain lower than in pre-covid times. Fuel retailers revise prices
salaried jobs in India went up to 383.28 4 In 2019-20, ER was 39.5%. This fell to of LPG cylinders, which is pri-
370
million up from 375.48 million 27% in April 2020 and was at 30% in marily dependent on the inter-
recorded in May, according to fresh 6.52 May 2020. The recovery helped it national benchmark rate of
360 0
data from the Centre for Monitoring Jan Jun touch 38% in September 2020. How- LPG and the US dollar and
New Delhi: A team of scientists led by researchers from the Indian Economy (CMIE). Source: CMIE ever, the gap with pre-covid levels rupee exchange rate.
University of Cambridge’s Milner Therapeutics Institute and There are several inherent pain remained in excess of 1.5 percentage This increase in the LPG
SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
Gurdon Institute have identified 200 drugs that are likely to points in the labour market even after points,” CMIE said. The second wave price comes against the back-
work in treating covid-19. Of these, clinical trials are being the second wave of the pandemic. The pain in the job market seems to market and the lack of decent jobs are has widened this gap substantially, it drop of the finance ministry
conducted for only 40 medicines so far, according to the However, the silver lining is that the have lasted long with both the size of keeping people away from the labour said. slashing the allocation for
study published in the Science Advances journal. The scien- national unemployment rate fell to the labour market and the labour force market. “Low LFPR and relatively low ER are petroleum subsidy by two-
tists used computer modelling to conduct a virtual screening 9.17% by end of June from 11.9% in May, participation rate (LFPR), a key indica- “The average LPR in 2019-20 was not good indications and shows that thirds to ₹12,995 crore for
of 2,000 approved drugs and identified 200 that could be and urban joblessness dropped to tor of the labour market’s health, 42.7%. It fell to 35.6% in April 2020 people are staying away from work FY22. It also comes at a time of
effective in treating covid-19. 10.07%, down by 4.66 percentage remaining much lower than pre-cov- and recovered to touch 41% in August even when situation has improved transportation fuel prices
NEETU CHANDRA SHARMA points compared with May. somewhat on the coronavirus being at record highs. Diesel
However, the national unemploy- PAIN POINTS front because of lack of decent and petrol prices have already
ment rate and urban unemploy- opportunities,” said Arup Mitra, a breached the ₹100 mark in
ED says Nirav Modi’s sister has sent ment rate in June this year is still the THE national SIZE of the labour THE June labour LOW LFPR shows professor of economics at Institute several parts of India.
highest since June 2020 with the unemployment rate market and labour force participation that people are of Economic Growth in New India has 287.4 million LPG
₹17.25 crore to Indian govt account exception of only May 2021.
in June this year is force participation rate was 39.57%, the staying away from
Delhi. consumers as on 1 January
still the highest since rate have stayed lower lowest in 13 months, work due to lack of
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said Experts and economists con- June 2020 than pre-covid levels according to data good opportunities While the national and urban 2021, with the Pradhan Mantri
fugitive businessman Nirav Modi’s sister, Purvi Mehta, has “remit- tended that the job market is still unemployment rates have fallen Ujjwala Yojana, a government
ted” ₹17.25 crore from a UK bank account to that of the Indian gov- stretched and the recovery in June is in June, several states and Union programme that aims to pro-
ernment following her turning approver in the over ₹13,000 crore because of the reopening of informal id-19 levels. 2020. However, it never crossed 41% territories are still showing a very high vide free cooking gas connec-
Punjab National Bank loan fraud case. Purvi and her husband Mai- businesses in urban India and picking Besides, LFPR and the employment after the first covid-19 wave. So, the joblessness rate. According to CMIE tions to poor families, increas-
ank were granted the “tender of pardon” in the case by a special up of activities in mining, real estate, rate (ER) are still low. The low LFPR or LPR has lost and never recovered data, unemployment rate in June was ing India’s LPG coverage to
Mumbai PMLA court in January. PTI and segments of the manufacturing LPR (labour participation rate) and ER about 1.7 percentage points from its at 27.9% in Haryana, 26.2% in Rajast- 99.5% on 1 January this year
sector. show that the system weakness in the pre-covid 19 levels. In April-May 2021 han and 22.1% in West Bengal. from 61.9 % on 1 April 2016.

HUL’s Geetika Mehta joins

Hershey India as its MD
School enrolment up by 4.2 mn in FY20 Higher GST receipts
Prashant K. Nanda
prashant.n@livemint.com
the new normal: FM “PTR for primary has
reached 26.5 in 2019-20. It was
NEW DELHI 34 in 2012-13. The maximum
improvement can be observed Gireesh Chandra Prasad have used technology to bal-

I
ndian schools taught 265 in the PTR of the higher sec- gireesh.p@livemint.com ance taxpayer convenience and
million students in 2019-20, ondary level, which has NEW DELHI deterrence to tax evasion.
at least 4.2 million more improved to 26.1 in 2019-20 GST collections remained

than the previous year, the
Union education ministry said
in its Unified District Informa-
New Delhi: Local arm of American chocolate company The tion System for Education
Hershey Company on Thursday announced the appoint- (UDISE) report 2019-20 on
ment of Hindustan Unilever Ltd’s (HUL’s) Geetika Mehta as Thursday.
the company’s managing director, India, effective 1 July. The number of teachers
Mehta succeeds Herjit Bhalla, vice president, India and went up by 250,000 during
AEMEA at The Hershey Company who was recently elevated the same period, the education
to the global role. Mehta will report to Bhalla. ministry said.
SUNEERA TANDON Including pre-primary stu-
dents enrolled in formal
schools, the “total enrolment
VIL seeks 1-yr moratorium on of all the schools in the
UDISE+ system has crossed
spectrum instalment due in 2022 26.45 crore in 2019-20, which
New Delhi: Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) has approached the govern- is an increase of more than 42
ment to seek one-year moratorium on payment of spectrum instal- lakh over the previous year
ment due. VIL, in a letter to the telecom secretary on 25 June, has 2018-19,” the annual school
said it will be “unable to pay the instalment of ₹8,292 crore due on education report said.
9 April 2022” due to “cash being used for payment of AGR The Indian school educa-
(adjusted gross revenue) dues”. PTI tion system is one of the largest
in the world with more than 1.5
million schools, of which
RBI extends interest subsidy almost two-thirds are run by
the government. Almost
scheme for exporters till Sep 421,861 of all the schools are
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday said a either run privately or are pri-
scheme providing interest subsidy for post and pre-shipment vate aided, the UDISE data
export credit has been extended by three months till September, showed.
a move that will provide relief to exporters. Earlier in April, the Enrolment at the primary
scheme was extended till 30 June. PTI level has fallen from 135 mil-
I
from 39.2 in 2012-13,” the ndia should be able to sustain above ₹1 trillion since last Octo-
Union government said. robust collections of goods ber on the back of a revival in
Nearly two-thirds of the and services tax (GST) with the economy. However, there
total number of schools are steps taken by the government might be a temporary blip in
run by the government, and to make it easier to do business collections in June due to the
around 50% of the total num- and enforce tax compliance, pandemic’s devastating second
ber of teachers work in these finance minister Nirmala wave before tax receipts
schools, the report said. Sitharaman said on Thursday. recover in the coming months.
The gender parity index “Commendable work has Thakur said in his message
(GPI) at both the secondary been done in the year gone by that instances of fake input tax
The number of teachers went up by 250,000 in 2019-20. MINT and higher secondary levels both in the area of facilitation credit and tax evasion of more
has improved between 2012-13 and enforcement than ₹29,000
lion in 2012-13 to 122 million in have declined in 2020-21 and 2019-20, the education with numerous India should be crore have been
2019-20, according to the because of reverse migration, ministry said. cases of fraudu- able to sustain detected since last
report. “At all the levels above closure of schools, and the The improvement of GPI lent dealers and robust collections November as part
primary, such as upper pri- fragile economic condition of has been most pronounced at input tax credit of GST with steps of an enforcement
mary, secondary, families. The the higher secondary level, being registered. drive by the Cen-
taken by the
and higher sec- Enrolment at the 2020-21 data is wherein it has gone up to 1.04 The enhanced tral Board of Indi-
ondary, school primary level has expected to be in 2019-20 from 0.97 in revenue collec- government, said rect Taxes and
enrolment has released in 2022. 2012-13. This means that the tion in recent Sitharaman Customs (CBIC).
fallen from
increased, show- 135 million in The total num- gross enrolment of girls at the months should “The one dis-
ing an improve- ber of teachers in higher secondary level is more now be the new tinctive feature of
2012-13 to 122
ment in the abil- 2019-20 was 9.68 than that of boys. normal,” Sitharaman said in a the year that has been passed is
ity of the system million students m i l l i o n , an The overall gross enrolment statement on the fourth anni- the balance that we have struck
to retain more in 2019-20 increase of more ratio (GER) has improved versary of rolling out the his- between trade facilitation or
and more chil- than 250,000 across school segments in toric indirect tax reform that ease of doing business on the
dren in the sys- over the 2018-19 2019-20 over the year-ago subsumed most indirect taxes one hand and enforcement on
tem of school education over number, the annual govern- period. GER has improved by in the country. the other. It has been a year
time,” the report said. ment estimate showed. This a little more than 9 percentage In separate messages, Sithar- when technology has been
The report is for the year growth is a positive sign as it points at the secondary school aman and minister of state for deployed successfully to fulfil
before the coronavirus out- helps increase the pupil- level between 2012-13 (68.7%) finance Anurag Thakur both the objectives,” Thakur
break. These numbers may teacher ratio (PTR). and 2019-20. explained how the authorities said.

Doctors’ experience in tackling covid must be documented, says Modi CORRECTIONS AND
CLARIFICATIONS
Mint welcomes comments,
Neetu Chandra Sharma noted. “The world can take tating virus on the basis of ₹2 trillion. doctors. Along with this, a free suggestions or complaints
neetu.s@livemint.com benefit from these scientific their experience and expert- “₹50,000 crore have been insurance scheme has been about errors.
NEW DELHI studies. The covid pandemic ise. Despite the limitations of allocated for credit guarantee launched for covid warriors.
Readers can alert the
can be a good starting point for long-neglected medical infra- scheme to develop health He called upon the doctors
newsroom to any errors in the

E
xperience of doctors in
tackling the covid-19
pandemic, patients’
symptoms, and treatment
plans needs to be documented
in great detail so that it can
later be taken up as a research
study, Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi said.
Addressing an event orga-
nized by the Indian Medical
Association (IMA) via video
conference, Modi said the doc-
umentation may be studied in
future where effects of various
medicines and treatments are
this. We could also study more
deeply how vaccines are help-
ing us, how early diagnosis
helps. There is no documenta-
tion available about the last
century’s pandemic, but now
we have technology and our
documentation about how we
faced covid will help the
humanity,” Modi said.
The prime minister also
greeted the doctors’ commu-
nity on Doctors’ Day on Thurs-
day, celebrated in the memory
of Dr. B.C. Roy. Acknowledg-
ing the contribution of doc-
structure and pressure of pop-
ulation, India’s per lakh popu-
lation rate of infection and
death rate is still manageable
compared to even developed
countries. Loss of lives is
always painful, but many lives
have been saved too,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid homage to doctors who lost The prime minister under-
their lives due to covid on Thursday. PTI lined the focus of the govern-
ment on strengthening
tors, Modi recalled their heroic He said India’s scientists and healthcare. During the first
efforts during the pandemic doctors have found solutions wave, about ₹15,000 crore was
and paid homage to those who for all the challenges thrown allocated for healthcare and
laid down their lives in the ser- by covid-19. “Our doctors are this year, health sector budget
vice of humanity. facing this new and fast-mu- has been doubled to more than
infrastructure in the under-
served area. New AIIMS, medi-
cal colleges are being estab-
lished. Work has been initi-
ated on 15 AIIMS as opposed to
total six AIIMS that existed in
2014. Number of Medical col-
leges have increased one and a
half times. Undergraduate
medical seats have increased
one and a half times and PG
seats have grown by 80%,” the
prime minister said.
Modi said stringent laws
that have been brought in for
preventing violence against
to continue to inspire the peo- paper by emailing us, with your
ple to get vaccinated and adopt full name and address to
covid-appropriate behaviour. feedback@livemint.com.
He also commended the medi-
cal fraternity for spreading It is our policy to promptly
respond to all complaints.
awareness about yoga. Work Readers dissatisfied with the
for propagating yoga, that response or concerned about
should have been done in the Mint’s journalistic integrity may
last century after Independ- write directly to the editor by
ence, is being done now, said sending an email to
the prime minister. asktheeditor@livemint.com
He praised doctors for giv- Mint’s journalistic Code of
ing their time to the evidence- Conduct that governs our
based studies on the benefits newsroom is available at
of yoga for dealing with post- www.livemint.com
covid complications.

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First published in February 2007 to serve as an unbiased and clear-minded chronicler of the Indian Dream.
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LIVEMINT.COM
ION’s flagship offering is a
smart battery management
platform for EVs. BLOOMBERG
Amazon’s
I
green fund
invests in
ION Energy
Tarush Bhalla
tarush.b@livemint.com
BENGALURU
A
mazon’s Climate
Pledge Fund has made
its first investment in
India through energy-tech
startup ION Energy and par-
ticipated as a part of the
startup’s Pre-Series A round
worth $3.6 million.
Amazon was joined by Sili-
con Valley-based Climate Cap-
ital, early-stage investor Your-
Nest Venture Capital, Riso
Capital and Venture Catalysts,
among other angel investors.
The funds will be used to
bolster the team as the startup
looks to double its headcount,
according to ION Energy. It is
also expected to use the pro-
ceeds from the round for prod-
uct development and expand
its software business across
North America and Europe.
As part of the round, Anup
Menon, head of strategy and
emerging technology at Bank
of America, will join ION’s
board of directors.
“Globally, we believe 2021
will be the inflection point for
the new energy transition as
companies and governments
come together towards reduc-
ing carbon emissions. At ION,
we’re confident that advanced
electronics and software that
help enterprises accelerate
this transition will become
mission-critical to meet our
goals of a zero-carbon future,”
said Akhil Aryan, co-founder
and CEO, ION Energy.
The five-year-old startup is
headquartered in India, with
operations in France and the
US. ION’s flagship offering is a
smart battery management
platform that leverages pro-
prietary algorithms to improve
battery life and performance.
The platform is typically
sold as a product or a technol-
ogy licence to original equip-
ment manufacturers that are
developing lithium-ion batter-
ies or electric vehicles.
“We are inspired by ION’s
mission to build technologies
that improve the life and per-
formance of lithium-ion bat-
teries that power electric vehi-
cles and energy storage sys-
tems,” said Kara Hurst, vice
president and head of world-
wide sustainability at Amazon.
Amazon launched the $2
billion Climate Pledge Fund in
2020 to support firms devel-
oping sustainable technolo-
gies for a zero-carbon future.
“ION’s offering of battery
management, electronics,
intelligence and analytics is
helping more than 75 custom-
ers,” said Dr Vivek Mansingh,
general partner, YourNest.
m MINT SHORTS
French firm Assystem acquires
STUP Consultants for €22 million
New Delhi: Eyeing Indian infrastructure projects, French
engineering group Assystem
S.A. has acquired Mumbai-
based engineering consultancy
STUP Consultants Pvt. Ltd,
Assystem said on Thursday.
The acquisition of 99% stake in
STUP cost about €22 million
(about ₹195 crore), Ashish Tan-
don, managing director, Assys-
tem STUP India, told Mint.
Rural technology startup Hesa
raises $2 million in seed funding
New Delhi: Rural technology startup Hesa, on Thursday, said
it has raised $2 million (about ₹15 crore) as a part of its seed fund-
ing round led by Venture Catalysts. Startup accelerator fund,
DEALS, TECH & STARTUPS FRIDAY, 2 JULY 2021
NEW DELHI 03
Digit Insurance’s value soars Supply chain deficit
set to raise prices of
to $3.5 bn after fresh funding electronic products
Prasid Banerjee
prasid.b@livemint.com
NEW DELHI
The insurance tech startup is set to raise $200 million from investors such as Faering, Sequoia
E
lectronics manufacturers,
including Chinese firms,
Tarush Bhalla such as Xiaomi, Realme,
tarush.b@livemint.com Racing ahead Tecnno and Oppo, have
BENGALURU The $3.5 billion valuation makes Digit Insurance India’s third most valuable
fintech, surpassing payment providers Razorpay and Pine Labs.
increased prices of affordable
products, such as 4G smart-
nsurance technology startup Digit phone, following crippling
Insurance is raising $200 million
from existing and new investors,
Gross premiums clocked (in ₹ crore)
FY19 1,205
Valuation (in $ billion) shortages in the supply chain.
Industry executives said pri-
founder and chairman Kamesh
Goyal said. Existing investor Faer-
ing Capital, as well as new investors
FY20 2,252 1.9
(Jan 2021)
3.5
(Jun 2021)
ces of smartphones in India
could go up by ₹100-1,000, Industry executives said prices
while Xiaomi expects 3-6% of smartphones in India could
FY21 3,243
Sequoia Capital India and IIFL Alter-
nate Asset Managers are participating
increase in prices of smart TVs go up by ₹100-1,000.
from 1 July. In a Twitter post,
MINT
in this fundraise, which is subject to
Key insurance categories* 20 mn 400,000 Mumbai-based Mahesh Tele- spokesperson from Xiaomi
approval from the Insurance Regula- Total customers Total claims com said Oppo has announced said.
tory and Development Authority since inception processed a price hike of ₹500-1,000 for “This, coupled with an
13 Fire
(Irdai). Valuation of Indian fintech unicorns Oppo A11, A15, A15s and A53s unprecedented increase in
Once the funding is completed, 7 Health (in $ billion) models. Realme’s site show the shipping charges, had an effect
(in %)
Digit’s valuation will almost double to 5 One97 company has increased prices on almost all technology play-
Digit Pine
$3.5 billion from $1.9 billion previ- Communications of its C11, C20, and C25s models ers, including us. While we ried
75 Insurance Labs
Ltd (Paytm)
ously, Goyal said over phone. The Motor Miscellaneous PhonePe Razorpay CRED by ₹200 to ₹500. to absorb the increasing costs,
company had raised $18.5 million from (travel, An industry executive, seek- some of our products have wit-
existing investors including Faering, electronics) 16 ing anonymity, said the price nessed a price hike,” the
5.5 3.5 3 3 2.2
A91 Partners, and TVS Capital in Janu- Digit Insurance founder and chairman correction will affect all afford- spokesperson added.
(*in terms of premiums registered on Digit) Source: Mint Research, Digit Insurance
ary. Kamesh Goyal. able products, including 4G According to Prachir Singh,
PARAS JAIN/MINT
The valuation makes Digit India’s smartphones. Since 5G smart- senior research analyst, at
third most valuable fintech, surpas- The company clocked ₹3,243 crore Indian geographies this year,” said ers sold on the platform are purchased phones have a higher average Counterpoint Research, the
sing payments provider Razorpay and in gross premiums in FY21, up 44% Goyal. by corporate clients for their employ- selling price price hike was
Pine Labs, which were valued at $3 bil- from the previous fiscal’s ₹2,252 crore. Digit said that over the past one year ees. (ASP), the seg- An industry expected for a
lion each earlier this year. “In the first quarter of this year, we it has provided covid-related insur- “It was a difficult year for economies ment may remain executive said while. “Compo-
The company is raising the funds to grew by 60% (in terms of gross premi- ance to almost 3.6 million employees the world over but I am glad to see unaffected. the price nent shortage
maintain solvency, with an equity ums) compared to the same period last across 32,000 corporates. Digit continuing to stick to its mission “The bill of correction will hasn’t just been
dilution of 5% undertaken as a part of year, and this is largely coming from Since its inception, the platform has of simplicity and growing ahead of the materials (BOM) increasing for the
affect all
this fundraise, Goyal said. Digit has so the health insurance business. Fur- provided insurance to more than 20 industry. Their relevant products, cost of devices will India market, but
far raised $442 million in equity fund- ther, we overall grew 70% in April and million customers and processed tech-enabled, simple processes, and increase, so this affordable globally as well,”
ing. customer-centric approach sets will be an industry products he said. “I think
The Fairfax-backed company GROWTH TRAJECTORY them apart,” Prem Watsa, chair- norm,” he said, other brands will
provides insurance in motor, man of Fairfax Financial Holdings, adding that flag- also follow, but
health, corporate, and travel cate- DIGIT wants to IT had raised $18.5 THE firm clocked MOTOR insurance is the first investor in Digit Insurance ship phones from Apple and the quantum (of price change)
gories. It was founded four years maintain solvency,
with an equity
million from existing
investors including
₹3,243 crore in gross
premiums in FY21, up
the largest category,
accounting for 75%
said in a statement. Samsung may not be affected. will differ across brands.”
ago with insurance covers for dilution of 5% in the Faering and TVS 44% from last fiscal’s of gross premiums Digit is also backed by cricketer “Since the last one year, we The global shortage in semi-
electronic gadgets and mobile recent fundraise Capital in January ₹2,252 crore clocked by Digit Virat Kohli, who also serves as its witnessed shortages across the conductors since the covid-led
phones. brand ambassador. supply chain. Due to massive lockdown was lifted last year, is
Motor insurance is Digit’s larg- Currently, the firm has an off- demand-supply mismatch, the expected to continue well into
est category, bringing 75% of gross May versus the industry growth of 17%. 400,000 claims. line distribution network of around majority of components used in 2022.
premiums. Fire-related insurance For health, the growth is primarily Total policy renewal rates for the 5,000 on-ground insurance agents smartphones, Smart TVs and “The scenario will be similar
(13%) and health covers (7%) together driven by covid-related insurance platform stand at 60% for private car and dealers. other electronic gadgets (chip- to what happened last year,
contribute 20%. With the impact of products. Now, we will look to offer insurance, 75% for its retail health The company aims to increase this sets, display panels, display when the government
covid-19, the share of travel insurance newer health cover products during insurance category, and 90% for number in the coming months. driver, back panels, battery, increased the GST (goods and
fell below 0.5% last year from 2% pre- this financial year as we look to expand insurance covers provided by corpo- Almost 37% of its customers are in etc.) have seen constant services tax) on mobile
viously. our on-ground coverage to newer rates. Further, 20% of insurance cov- tier-2 and tier-3 towns. upward movement in prices,” a phones,” he added.
M&A deal volumes spike but
IPOs fetch better value
Despite the pandemic, M&A deal volumes spiked in the first half of this year as compared to the
same period last year, driven mostly by technology startup acquisitions and distressed deals. PE
deal volumes were also robust in H12021 as compared to H12020 though total PE deal value
dipped marginally in the first half of this year from almost $16.2 billion to about $15.3 billion when
compared with the same period last year. M&A deal value also dropped from $26 billion worth of
transactions in H12020 to $20.1 billion this half year, shows an analysis of data from VCCEdge.
By Samantha Machado, Ankit Agarwal
feedback@livemint.com
DEALMAKING TRACKER TOP DEALS IN H1 2021
A look at PE and M&A activity across The biggest deal saw Dewan Housing
the first six-month periods Finance being bought by Piramal
Number of PE deals Total deal value ($ mn) Capital for over $5 bn
Deal size ($ mn)
H1 2019 14,783.8 380 Buyer
Dewan Housing Finance 5,106
H1 2020 16,275.1 269
Corporation Ltd
H1 2021 15,287.7 299  Piramal Capital and
Housing Finance Ltd
Number of M&As Total deal value ($ mn)
SB Energy Holdings Ltd
 Adani Green Energy Ltd 3,500
H1 2019 25,577.1 485
H1 2020 26,458.1 282 The Capital Markets
Company NV
H1 2021 22,434.7 336  Wipro Ltd 1,450
Think and Learn Pvt. Ltd
PE/M&A deals with Average value of disclosed
 Investor Consortium
undisclosed value PE/M&A deals ($ mn)
Supermarket Grocery 1,343
242
158 163 64.8 Supplies Pvt. Ltd
108.7  Tata Digital Ltd, Mirae
H1 2020
H1 2019
Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund 1,217
Aakash Educational
79.9
H1 H1 H1 H1 2021 Services Ltd 1,000
2019 2020 2021  Think and Learn Pvt. Ltd
PE deals include venture capital, private equity, and pre-IPO transactions Source: VCCEdge
PARAS JAIN/MINT
9Unicorns, also participated as a part of the round. Founded in
2019, Hesa unifies value chains in rural India by enabling local
brands and businesses to come together as a community. It pro-
vides these businesses a tech-led platform that empowers busi-
nesses to reach, showcase, demonstrate, and transact with their
customer base across remote and rural regions in the country.
STAFF WRITER
Global IaaS public cloud services
mkt grew 40.7% in 2020: Gartner
New Delhi: The global infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) mar-
ket grew 40.7% in 2020 to total $64.3 billion, up from $45.7 bil-
lion in 2019, according to research firm Gartner. Amazon
retained the No. 1 position in the IaaS market in 2020, followed
by Microsoft, Alibaba, Google and Huawei. “Hyperscale provid-
ers are continuing to build distributed cloud and edge solutions
GIREESH CHANDRA PRASAD AFP that extend the public cloud’s
reach into private and
on-premise locations, address-
ing the needs of organizations
relating to data sovereignty,
workload portability and net-
work latency,” said Sid Nag,
research vice president at
Gartner. STAFF WRITER
04 FRIDAY, 2 JULY 2021
NEW DELHI MARK TO MARKET LIVEMINT.COM

S&P BSE Sensex Nifty 50 Nifty 500 Nifty Next 50 Nifty 100 S&P BSE Mid-cap S&P BSE Small Cap
CLOSE PERCENT CHANGE CLOSE PERCENT CHANGE CLOSE PERCENT CHANGE CLOSE PERCENT CHANGE CLOSE PERCENT CHANGE CLOSE PERCENT CHANGE CLOSE PERCENT CHANGE

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52,638.50 52,281.01 15,755.55 15,667.05 13,505.05 13,441.55 38,727.00 38,524.55 15,992.75 15,913.30 22,607.48 22,475.75 25,350.48 25,244.90

m MINT SHORTS
US crude oil stocks see record
Vodafone Idea may be strapped for
slump amid surging demand
Crude inventories in the US are falling at the fastest rate in
decades as demand continues to rebound, prompting a
rally in the oil futures market. Over the past four weeks,
cash, but it is putting up a hard fight
total stockpiles, including the Strategic Petroleum Harsha Jethmalani & Mobis Philipose total traffic growth exceeding the nue market share in the March quarter,
Reserve, have fallen at a rate of 1.15 million barrels a day harsha.j@livemint.com growth of Reliance Jio, according to taking its cumulative share loss to 630
Data mining
marking the largest four-week decline on a rolling basis in data collated by Jefferies India Pvt. Ltd.
basis points over the past 12 months. Vodafone Idea grew its 4G subscriber base by 4 million for the second straight

V
Energy Information Administration data going back to odafone Idea Ltd (Vi) share- Vodafone Idea is clearly punching One basis point is one-hundredth of a quarter; it also gained data traffic market share in Q4.
1982. Meanwhile, Nymex calendar spreads rallied on holders are an interesting above its weight. It is weighed down by percentage point. 4G subscriber base (in million) Data traffic market share (in %) (right-hand scale)

Wednesday, with the September West Texas Intermediate lot. The telecom company’s extremely high debt, and its cash levels And thanks to the regulator’s decision 120 20
futures contract rising to $1 a barrel premium over October losses and debt are higher have nearly entirely depleted. But it hasto abolish the interconnection usage 106
114
for the second time this month, pointing to expectations than ever before, but its somehow managed to grow subscribers charge (IUC), the firm’s revenues fell by
90 18
for ongoing supply tightness through the summer. The stock trades more than 40% higher in the key 4G segment and drive data 12% sequentially, leading to higher-
record rate of drawdowns underscore the strength of the compared to pre-covid highs. traffic growth. “Post-merger, the com- than-usual losses. The telecom pro-
US oil demand recovery just ahead of a critical meeting While investors are somehow sus- pany was quick to derive cost synergies. vider’s net loss in the March quarter rose 60 16
17
between Opec and its allies on Thursday to debate a poten- taining hopes of a fightback by the firm Now, the network integration is com- to ₹6,985 crore from ₹4,540 crore in the
tial output increase. BLOOMBERG despite the odds, Voda- previous quarter. On a 16
fone Idea, on its part, is TOUGH FIGHT like-to-like basis, its total 30 14

doing the best it can with revenues and average

its meagre resources. THE rise in Vi’s data BUT its ability to THE firm is facing a revenues per user were
Low yield allure Its gross subscriber traffic market share continue as a going financial crisis with a flat, analysts said.
0
Q4FY20 Q1FY21 Q2FY21 Q3FY21 Q4FY21
12

South Korea sees record bond inflows, while India shows that the firm concern depends cash balance of ₹350
additions of 22 million is punching above its entirely on its ability crore and operations However, for all its Source: Jefferies, company data
sees net outflows. were at a multi-quarter weight heroics, the fact remains
to raise funds still burning cash
SATISH KUMAR/MINT
2.6 Second quarter foreign flows (z-score) high. And, while it contin- that Vodafone Idea is star-
ued to lose subscribers on ing at a bleak future. Its June to announce March quarter repayment. Even if it manages to refi-
a net basis, subscriber losses have been plete and is bolstering subscriber num- ability to continue as a going concern results, the Street was assuming the nance them, there is a large deferred
0.6 contained at 2 million in the past two bers,” said an analyst at a domestic insti- depends entirely on its ability to raise delay was to make room for an spectrum payout of ₹8,211 crore due in
quarters, compared to losses of as high tutional brokerage, requesting ano- additional funds and refinance debt. It announcement on the fund-raising April 2022. And, unless the Supreme
0.4 as 8 million, 11 million and 13 million in nymity. has been nine months since the com- aspect,” the analyst added. Court provides relief, there will be pay-
India the preceding three quarters. Of course, it continues to lose sub- pany’s board approved fund-raising Analysts said the firm is headed for a outs related to the AGR dues as well.
What’s more, in the premium 4G seg- scriber and revenue market share, as its worth ₹25,000 crore. But there is still financial crisis when large payments Vodafone Idea’s fightback may seem
ment, the company has added 4 million competitors are growing at a much no news on this front, leading to disap- come due. Its current cash balance is impressive, but what really counts is
South Korea Thailand Indonesia -0.2 subscribers in each of the past two quar- faster pace. Analysts at Goldman Sachs pointment on the Street. The com- merely ₹350 crore and its operations are that potential investors are impressed,
Note: Standard deviation of second quarter inflows are relative to the ters. It has also gained data traffic mar- pointed out that the company has lost pany’s shares fell 8.5% on Thursday. still burning cash. In the second half of and are willing to provide the cash it
average of 60 previous quarters. A higher z-score equals larger inflows. ket share in the March quarter, with its another 130 basis points (bps) of reve- “With the company waiting till 30 FY22, some borrowings are due for badly needs to survive.
Source: Bloomberg
SATISH KUMAR/MINT

S. Korea’s low-yield bonds are

a favourite among investors
SpiceJet’s Q4 was turbulent Speciality chemicals stocks are in
and outlook remains cloudy demand as prices continue to rise
A Bloomberg study of two of Asia’s lowest-yielding mar-
kets—South Korea and Thailand—and two of the highest—
Indonesia and India—reveal the former lured in vastly
more funds last quarter, and they also offered wider
spreads over US Treasuries compared with their historical Pallavi Pengonda that in order to increase focus Ujjval Jauhari tion since early June, leading to a one year, while Gujarat Fluoro-
Landing troubles
averages. The preference makes sense given that the Fed- pallavi.p@livemint.com on the cargo segment and ujjval.j@livemint.com jump in container freight costs, chemicals Ltd, Navin Fluorine
SpiceJet’s shares are trading
eral Reserve has flagged it is on the road towards cutting raise additional capital, it will said analysts at Emkay Global International Ltd and Galaxy Sur-
lower than their pre-covid

S D
back on bond purchases in the coming months, a move piceJet Ltd’s March hive-off the cargo business as emand for speciality Financial Services Ltd. factants Ltd have seen their stock
highs amid a decline in
that threatens to have a greater impact on riskier, higher- quarter results had all a separate entity. Note that chemicals had continued Price increases in June for most prices almost double.
passenger traffic demand
yielding debt in places such as India and Indonesia. the signs of turbulence the performance of cargo to rise regularly in the past of the chemical products were The Indian speciality chemicals
during the pandemic.
Emerging Asia’s favourite in the second quarter was South airlines are facing due to business has been strong with one year, driving prices up in the only in single digits, but continu- industry is expected to deliver a
Korea, which saw net inflows climb to a record $33 billion, covid. The company’s SpiceJet Nifty 500 FY21 revenues and net profit process. The easing of lockdown ing logistics issues are going to compound annual growth rate
140
boosting this year’s total to $62 billion. Thailand attracted reported standalone net loss 136.06 at around ₹1,120 crore and restrictions around the world has push the prices (CAGR) of 12.4% over
over $2.4 billion, the most since the third quarter of 2018. of ₹235 crore is more than ₹131 crore, respectively. In improved the outlook for the sec- northward in the The Indian the next five years,
Indonesia saw net inflows of $2.5 billion, while India was what analysts expected. For 120 FY20, the cargo business net tor. The winter storm that dis- coming months, speciality on a higher base,
hit by outflows of $1.1 billion. BLOOMBERG perspective: Centrum Brok- loss stood at ₹134 crore. rupted chemical supplies from they said. chemicals reaching $64 billion
ing Ltd had predicted the 100 Separately, the compensa- Texas, Louisiana and other parts Among the chem- industry is likely by calendar year
budget airline’s March quar- tion from Boeing for of the US and rising crude prices, icals that have seen 2025, which is dou-
to clock a CAGR
European gas crunch sends UK ter loss at ₹140 crore.
80
grounded Max planes in FY21 thereafter, also caused a surge in m a j o r price ble the current level,
of 12.4% over the analysts at Motilal
The pandemic’s adverse 68.73 and FY20 stands at ₹560 prices. increases during
prices soaring to a 15-year high impact on demand meant Spi- crore and ₹672 crore, respec- Indian manufacturers have also June are butadiene, next five years Oswal Financial Ser-
A gas crunch plaguing Europe has sent prices in the UK to ceJet’s revenue fell almost 60 tively. Going ahead, investors benefited from a rise in demand ammonia and ben- vices Ltd (MOFSL)
the highest in 15 years, fuelling concerns about inflation 35% year-on-year to ₹1877 will watch how the fundrais- from global customers who aim to zene. Some chemi- said.
just as economies emerge from the global pandemic. Natu- crore. Note that profitability 40 ing shapes up and the time- reduce dependence on China. cals such as acetonitrile, aniline Apart from the global factors
ral gas futures on the UK’s National Balancing Point hub for the March quarter got lines for receiving the Boeing The recent spike in covid-19 and acetone have also seen nor- mentioned above, the industry in
closed at the highest since January 2006 on Wednesday. immense support from the compensation. cases in South China has led to malizations in prices. India is also being supported by
20
They have surged more than 50% this year after a colder sharp jump in other income, 1 Jan 2020 1 Jul 2021 In the near-term though, strict containment measures and Not surprisingly, stocks of most strong domestic consumption
and longer-than-usual winter left storages sites depleted, which increased 64% year- Values rebased to 100
the June quarter results are impacted port movement, ana- Indian speciality chemical manu- being led by a young population.
while more of the fuel is being used to generate electricity. on-year to ₹317 crore. Other Source: Capitaline and Bloomberg
expected to be a washout lysts said. Yantian port, one of the facturers have rallied. Deepak Favourable labour costs, which is
Energy prices are climbing in US, Europe and Asia as eco- income includes compensa- given the second covid wave. largest container handling ports Nitrite Ltd has seen its stock pri- one-third that of China and half
SATISH KUMAR/MINT
nomic activity picks up amid vaccine roll-outs, boosting tion of ₹141 crore for the Also, fuel costs are high and in China, has been facing conges- ces rise more than three-fold in that of Vietnam, and government
demand for everything from power to petrol. Consumers grounded Boeing 737 Max times, SpiceJet’s plans to raise this is generally detrimental impetus are few other favourable
are set to face hefty bills this coming winter, with the UK’s aircraft and ₹68 crore of funds up to ₹2,500 crore for all airlines. Note that Spi- factors, said analysts at MOFSL.
energy market regulator raising the price cap for how rental concession booked. through a qualified institu- ceJet’s absolute fuel costs in Robust outlook Other growth drivers for Indian
much utilities can charge consumers by 9.2%.BLOOMBERG Meanwhile, at tional placement. the March quarter rose 56% The potential market size of some of the chemicals indicates huge manufacturers include the capac-
the end of FY21, The pandemic’s Note that Spice- versus the December quarter. growth opportunities for most Indian manufacturers. ity expansions being undertaken.
SpiceJet had adverse impact Jet’s latest market In the foreseeable future, (in $ billion)
Capex spends of ₹3,800 crore in
consolidated on demand capitalization is demand is expected to stay 18.2 the past three years and almost
Uphill climb cash (including Current market size Potential market size
Outstanding conventional meant SpiceJet’s around ₹4,800 muted due to the coronavirus 12.4 similar spends that are likely to be
bank balances) crore. This means pandemic. As such, it could be made over the next three years is
bonds in Europe tower revenue fell 9.2
worth around that if the airline a while before air passenger a key growth driver, according to
above ESG debt. ₹35.5 crore and almost 35% y-o-y raises fresh traffic reaches pre-covid lev-
7.0
analysts.
its negative net- to ₹1,877 crore equity for the els. To be sure, investors have 3.5 3.7 A strong balance sheet that has
1.3 2.3
(in € trillion) 1.8 2.0
worth stood at entire ₹2500 taken note of the troubles. As continued to be supported by the
All European ₹2,600 crore. In crore at the cur- things stand, shares of Spice- rising free cash flows has also
currency bonds Dyes, pigments Agro Polymer Textile Homecare
ESG-labelled
short, the balance sheet is del- rent prices, it would entail sig- Jet are more than 30% lower and coatings chemicals additives chemicals surfactants helped companies reduce their
15.4 icate. nificant dilution. than their pre-covid highs debt and many of them are now
bonds in European Source: Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd
currencies To cope with these trying Further, SpiceJet also said seen in January 2020. debt-free.
0.9 SATISH KUMAR/MINT

Note: ESG refers to environmental, social and governance metrics

Source: Bloomberg
A widening current account deficit is both good news and bad
SATISH KUMAR/MINT
Aparna Iyer numbers indicate that recovery in key global commodity prices. faster rise in the consumer price
Looking up
aparna.i@livemint.com has gained strength after From crude oil to steel, prices of index (CPI) inflation momen-
Cos scrub dirty bonds off their restrictions imposed in the India’s current account deficit widened in the March quarter,
most commodities have gal- tum compared to wholesale
books in quest for ESG goals signalling a pick up in growth recovery.

I
ndia’s widening current
A new trend is emerging in the world of ESG as companies account deficit (CAD) brings
turn their attention to cleaning up old debt. They are either relief on the economic
buying back conventional notes, which could finance just growth front, especially since it
about anything, or transforming old securities to green. was led by imports growth. But
Italian utility company Enel SpA is leading the charge in the increase in imports comes
buybacks with the largest one to date: about €1 billion ($1.19 along with a global commodity
billion). French real estate group Gecina SA in May trans- price surge, a sure path towards
formed billions of existing notes to green bonds, the first inflationary pressures.
deal of its kind. It’s not much compared to the trillions of The CAD stood at $8.2 billion
euros of outstanding so-called brown debt, but it’s another for the March quarter, or 1% of
step towards Europe’s attempt to become the world’s first gross domestic product (GDP),
climate-neutral continent by 2050. So far, only a few com- according to the latest data. The
panies have purged, at least partly, their finances of normal key factor was the 19% growth in
bonds. Still, the transition is gathering momentum. “Most imports. An increase in imports,
companies are moving into the direction of making their especially non-oil and non-
capital structures more sustainable,” said Daniel Ender, a gold, points to a pick-up in
credit analyst at Actiam NV, which oversees €57.2 billion. domestic economic growth.
BLOOMBERG Indeed, the fourth quarter
wake of the pandemic were
eased.
Analysts at IDFC First Bank
said imports, excluding oil and
gold, were higher at $5.5 billion.
“This is reflective of improve-
ment in domestic demand con-
ditions as restriction had eased
and covid-19 cases had
reduced,” they wrote in a note.
Analysts are hopeful that with
faster vaccination, growth
recovery would gain traction
and this would reflect in the
CAD through increase in
imports. “Going forward, with
vaccinations gaining critical
mass in H2 (we expect 60% of
the population to get inoculated
loped in the past few months. price index (WPI) inflation,
Current account surplus/deficit (in $ billion) CAD as a % of gross domestic product
(right-hand scale) 4
This would only add to domes- likely led by more pass-through
20
tic inflationary pressures of higher input costs, higher oil
through the import route. prices and logistical disruptions
10 2
The situation complicates the due to the lockdowns,” they
Q1FY20 Q4FY21 Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) wrote in a note.
0 0
policy response to growth. As This will challenge an already
-1.04 such, retail inflation has surged complicated situation for the
-10 -8.13 -2
-2.08 to over 6% in April. Input cost Reserve Bank. The central
-14.98 pressures are already visible bank’s forex policy would per-
-20 -4
Source: CMIE
and producers may soon begin haps be at the centre stage, as it
to pass this on once they see manages imported inflation
SATISH KUMAR/MINT demand coming back. Analysts with a desired CAD. In all proba-
with a single dose before the nomic research firm. at HSBC said the faster increase bility, RBI will tone down its
end of 21 December), the pace of Rising imports may mean in retail inflation compared to forex interventions given the
normalization in economic recovery, but they also spell wholesale prices shows that widening of CAD. The
activity would gather momen- trouble on the inflation front. producers have begun to pass exchange rate’s gains would
tum,” wrote analysts at Quan- The increase in imports comes on their costs to consumers. somewhat dull the inflation
tEco Ltd, an independent eco- along with a broad-based surge “A closer look revealed a stemming from imports.

Mark to Market writers do not have positions in the companies they have discussed here
LIVEMINT.COM CORPORATE FRIDAY, 2 JULY 2021
NEW DELHI 05

SAT stays
Automakers hike dispatches Covid 2.0 dented
Sebi ban on consumer credit
former FT
head Kudva
as dealerships get functional demand, says RBI
Staff Writer Shayan Ghosh
feedback@livemint.com shayan.g@livemint.com
NEW DELHI With most dealerships resuming ops, manufacturers now race to fill depleting vehicle stocks MUMBAI

T T
he Securities Appellate he pandemic’s second
Tribunal (SAT) on Thurs- Malyaban Ghosh wave severely dented
day stayed a ban on the malyaban.g@livemint.com Road to recovery demand for consumer
former head of Franklin Tem- NEW DELHI In Q4, most PV manufacturers reported sustained recovery in retail sales, credit with a steep fall in
pleton Asia Pacific (APAC), while supply constraints led to high waiting periods for certain vehicles. inquiries across product cate-

Vivek Kudva, imposed by the
Securities and Exchange Board
of India (Sebi) for unfair trade
practices.
Last month, the capital mar-
kets regulator had barred
Kudva and his wife Rupa from
accessing the securities market
for one year and fined them a
total of ₹7 crore. It had also
instructed them to transfer
₹30.70 crore of redeemed FT
units to escrow account within
45 days.
Sebi said the husband-wife
duo and Vivek Kudva’s late
mother Vasanthi redeemed
their investments from the
beleaguered six debt schemes
of Franklin Templeton Mutual
Fund based on confidential and
non-public information.
Vivek Kudva had argued that
the regulator had “over-
stepped” its powers by banning
him from the securities market,
according to a Reuters report.
Despite the stay on the ban,
Kudva will need to deposit half
of the penalty imposed on him,
the report said.
Franklin Templeton Mutual
Fund had shut six debt schemes
with assets of around ₹26,000
crore on 23 April 2020 when
they faced unprecedented
redemptions.
Earlier, this week, SAT had
stayed the Sebi order that
barred the fund house from
launching debt schemes for
two years. The Sebi ban had
come after an investigation
found that FT committed seri-
ous lapses or violations in man-
aging the shut debt schemes.
I
ndia’s leading passenger vehicle Vehicle sales in June (month-on-month) May June % change gories in April, the Reserve
manufacturers sharply increased Bank of India (RBI) said on
35,293
production and dispatches to deal- Maruti Suzuki 252.1 Thursday.
124,280
erships in June, compared to the Consumer credit includes
preceding month, as states contin- 25,001 home loans, loans against
Hyundai 62.0
ued to ease lockdown restrictions. With 40,496 property, auto loans, two- Consumer credit deteriorated
most of the dealerships now functional 15,181 wheeler loans, commercial after the loan moratorium
Tata Motors (PV) 58.8
across the country, manufacturers raced 24,110 vehicle loans, construction came to an end, RBI said. MINT
to fill depleting stocks. 8,002 equipment loans, personal
Mahindra 111.4
In the March quarter, most of the pas- 16,913 loans, credit cards, business covid-19 wave receded,” the
senger vehicle manufacturers reported 9,371 loans, consumer durable RBI said in its financial stabil-
Tata Motors (CV) 109.1
sustained recovery in retail sales, while 19,594 loans, education loans and ity report.
supply constraints due to a shortage of gold loans. Loan approval rates, the
Ashok Leyland 2,738 113.7
semi-conductors led to high waiting 5,851 A credit inquiry is created banking regulator said, remain
periods for certain vehicles and 60,342 when a borrower applies for a healthy as the risk tier compo-
depleted inventory. This caused leading Bajaj Auto 157.9 loan and permits the lender to sition of inquiries showed a
155,640
manufacturers to start production in all scrutinize the credit record, distinct tilt towards better-
Hero MotoCorp 159,561 174.8
three shifts from this month and set high and it is among the first credit rated customers.
438,514
production targets for July as well. Auto industry came under pressure in market measures to show any A risk tier comparison is the
Source: Companies
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd—the coun- April when states announced curbs. HT change in credit data in segregation of risk brackets
try’s largest car maker—more than tri- response to shifts based on Cibil
pled its domestic dispatches on a Tata Motors. rooms, as the government imposed a motorcycle manufacturer—on Thurs- in economic Consumer credit scores as: super
sequential basis to 124,280 units com- The auto industry came under pres- stringent lockdown. Subsequently, day reported a substantial increase in activity. portfolios of prime (791-900),
pared to 35,293 units in May. The sec- sure from the first week of April when operations remained suspended till the domestic wholesale dispatches to The central those other than prime plus (771-
ond largest manufacturer, Hyundai states announced strict lockdown meas- first week of May and returned to nor- 155,640 units in June, on a sequential bank also said public sector 790), prime (731-
Motor India Ltd, reported a 61.8% ures. Automakers either stopped pro- mal production only from July. basis, compared to 60,342 in May. that consumer 770), near-prime
m-o-m increase in wholesales to 40,496 duction or reduced output significantly. With economic activity picking up According to analysts at Emkay credit portfolios
lenders are (681-730) and
units in June, compared to just 25,001 Some like Bajaj Auto Ltd, however, due to revival in construction and man- Global, lockdowns impacted volume of those other showing incipient sub-prime (300-
units the month before. continued to operate with limited ufacturing, wholesales at Tata Motors performance in May, but channel than public sec- signs of stress 680).
Tata Motors Ltd saw passenger checks indicate positive growth in tor lenders are However, the
vehicle wholesales jump 58.8% to SHIFTING GEARS June. Customer sentiments have showing incipi- growth in credit-
24,110 units and Mahindra and been supported due to enhanced ent signs of stress. active consumers or those
Mahindra also more than doubled PV industry is seeing SUPPLY constraints THIS caused leading AS per analysts, crop procurement by government, For instance, while con- with at least one outstanding
its dispatches to 16,913 units. strong customer due to a shortage of manufacturers to curbs hit volume expectations of good monsoon and sumer loan delinquency rate credit account and outstand-
interest in product semi-conductors start production in all performance in May,
“The PV industry continues to offerings, resulting in caused the inventory three shifts from June but channel checks moderate hikes in minimum sup- in state-run banks declined ing balances, however,
witness uncertainty on account of a high order book levels to decline and set high targets indicate growth in Jun port price for kharif crops. from 2.8% in September 2020 remained sluggish.
global semi-conductor shortage and “The PV industry volumes should to 1.8% in January, it has “Consumer credit deterio-
rising commodity prices, while the improve due to a healthy order- increased by 100 basis points rated after the loan morato-
demand is on a progressive recovery capacity to meet export orders. With a also jumped by 109% to 19,594 units, book and lower dealer inventories (2-3 (bps) for private banks and 130 rium programme came to an
path. We continue to see strong cus- steady drop in infections, most auto- while Ashok Leyland’s dispatches rose weeks vs. normal level of 4 weeks). The bps for non-bank financiers. end in September 2020. Cus-
tomer interest in our product offerings, makers resumed operations from the 113% to 5,851 units. research team compared volumes with “The overall demand for tomer risk distribution of the
resulting in a strong order book and we middle of May. In the two-wheeler segment, Hero June 2019 numbers. Two-year CAGR consumer credit, as reflected credit-active population
aim to fulfil those to the best of our abili- Vehicle sales are usually compared on MotoCorp Ltd increased its vehicle dis- for domestic PV volume is estimated to in inquiry volumes, had stabi- underwent a marginal shift
ties in this supply constrained environ- a corresponding basis but in March last patches to 438,541 units in June com- be 31% for Tata Motors and 1% for Maruti lized in Q4 of FY21 after a towards the high-risk segment
ment,” said Shailesh Chandra, presi- year, automakers had to close down pared to 159,561 units in May. Bajaj Suzuki, while M&M could see a 5% sharp rebound during the fes- in January 2021 relative to Jan-
dent, passenger vehicles business unit, their respective factories and show- Auto—the country’s second largest decline,” added the analysts in a note. tive season in Q3, after the first uary 2020,” the RBI said.

Tariffs need to go up to ease Retailers shake off covid blues; line up ₹6,000-cr IPOs
telecom sector stress: Mittal Swaraj Singh Dhanjal
swaraj.d@livemint.com
IPO, which will be used to return metrics,” the rating
expand its retail presence as agency report said.
MUMBAI well as for working capital ICRA noted that the com-
PTI requirements. The investors pany’s asset-light business

W
feedback@livemint.com omen’s wear brand will also sell part of the shares model with the entire manu-
NEW DELHI GoColors is prepar- through the IPO. The share facturing outsourced to ven-
ing to go public to sale is expected to happen in dors on a job-work basis has

T
elecom czar Sunil Mittal
on Thursday said the
industry is under tre-
mendous stress and hoped the
government will ensure that
India’s digital dream remains
intact through the provision of
at least three operators.
Mittal acknowledged that
telecom tariffs need to go up
and that Airtel would “not hes-
itate” in this regard, but was
quick to add that it cannot be
done “unilaterally”.
“To say the telecom indus-
try is in a bit of trouble is actu-
ally an understatement. It is in
a tremendous amount of
stress. I hope the government,
the authorities and the tele-
com department focus on this
issue and ensure India’s digital
dream remains intact through
the provision of at least three
operators,” Bharti Airtel chair-
man Mittal said. He was speak-
ing at a virtual event of One-
Web, a satellite communica-
tions firm led by Bharti Global
and the UK government.
Mittal said Bharti Airtel had
Bharti Airtel can’t raise tariffs unilaterally, said Sunil Mittal.
raised funds timely and ade-
quately through equity and
bonds, and asserted that the
company is strongly posi-
tioned to serve the market in
the coming years.
“We never went into the
woods at all. We are a strong
company; many a time, we are
underestimated in our
resolve,” Mittal added.
He conceded that the past
five-six years had been brutal
and pointed out that the
results are for all to see.
“Ten operators gone out of
business, two merged
together... gasping for breath
MINT
right now,” he said.
The industry needs to be
healthy for embarking on 5G
services and to deliver on
India’s digital dream, he said.
Asked if Airtel will look at
raising tariffs, he said, “We will
not hesitate to do it, but it can’t
be done unilaterally.”
“How long can you keep on
killing each other? The point
is, when you have a return on
capital, even by the best opera-
tor, at low single digit and most
of them struggling... I’m not
saying... raising tariffs always
sounds bad... just bring it back
to where it was,” he said.
raise ₹800-1,000 crore, join-
ing apparel retailers such as
Manyavar and FabIndia,
which have lined up their ini-
tial share sales to bolster their
balance sheets, provide an
exit to investors, and tap mar-
ket appetite for such stocks,
two people familiar with the
development said.
Mint reported on Wednes-
day that Fabindia Overseas
may hit the markets with its
IPO as early as the end of this
year to raise as much as
₹3,000 crore. On 14 June,
Mint reported that ethnic
wear brand Manyavar, owned
by Vedant Fashions Pvt. Ltd,
has started working on a pro-
posed initial public offering
(IPO) to raise ₹2,000-2,500-
crore. The Manyavar IPO is
also slated for later this finan-
cial year.
“While business has been
subdued to these retailers due
to covid, investor belief in the
India consumption theme
remains strong. There is a lot
of optimism that as unlocking
Mint reported on Wednesday that Fabindia Overseas may hit the
markets with its IPO by this year-end to raise ₹3,000 crore. MINT
happens and we gradually get
out of the pandemic, there
will be a sharp rise in con-
sumer demand and that opti-
mism can be seen in some of
the top listed companies in
the space. So companies
believe that going to the pub-
lic markets is a good idea to
raise capital and provide an
exit route to their private
equity investors,” a banker
closely aware of the IPO plans
of the companies said on con-
dition of anonymity.
GoColors, owned by Go
Fashion (India) Pvt. Ltd and
founded in 2010 by Vinod
the second half of the fiscal,” allowed it to maintain healthy
he said. margins and return ratios.
Queries sent to GoColors “The absence of in-house
and Sequoia did not elicit a manufacturing operations,
response. along with the lower capital
The company reported a expenditure requirement for
revenue of ₹393.6 crore in fis- store expansion (given the use
cal 2020, an increase of 19% of the leased model for self-
from the ₹285.2 crore reve- managed stores) supported its
nue posted in the significant
previous fiscal, There is a lot expansion
according to a 20
of optimism that over the past
January note by five years.
Saraogi and Prakash Saraogi, credit rating agency as unlocking With the
is involved in retailing ICRA. Profit happens, increase in the
women’s bottom-wear prod- jumped to ₹52.6 consumer scale of opera-
ucts. Sequoia and private crore in fiscal 2020 demand may tions, the
equity firm ICICI Ventures from ₹36.5 crore in sharply rise firm’s adjusted
own 42-43% stake in the com- the previous year. operating
pany. “Driven by sus- m a r g i n s
“GoColors started working tained store additions and improved year-on-year to
on the IPO a few weeks ago. increasing brand presence, 22.3% in FY2020 from 13.7%
They have hired investment the company’s revenue wit- in FY2017 due to better
banks JM Financial, DAM nessed a compound annual absorption of overhead cost.
Capital, and ICICI Securities,” growth rate (CAGR) of 57% Improvement in profitabil-
said a second person, also during the last five years. Fur- ity combined with low capex
requesting anonymity as he is ther, ICRA notes that its asset- requirement resulted in a
not authorized to speak to light manufacturing model healthy adjusted return on
reporters. and sales focus through com- capital employed, which
“The company will raise pany-managed retail outlets improved to 31.7% in FY2020
some fresh capital from the supports scalability and from 18.6% in FY2017,” it said.

Office space absorption falls 16% in Jun quarter due to second wave
Madhurima Nandy Bengaluru and Pune coming quarters, vacancy is shift back to office premises space in India. that we had seen in Q2 (April-
madhurima.n@livemint.com accounted for nearly 60% of likely to return to sub-15% lev- will be more feasible and sus- Office rentals remained sta- June) 2020 due to the first
BENGALURU the absorption in the first half els, JLL said. tainable, JLL noted. ble across the major office wave, the market showed
(H1) of 2021. “It is important to note that Physical occupancy in offi- markets in Q2 2021. However, more resilience in Q2 2021

I
ndia’s net office absorption
stood at 4.39 million sq. ft in
the April-June period, down
16% from the preceding quar-
ter as regional lockdowns
amid the second covid wave
prompted most workplaces to
remain shut.
The overall commercial
office market witnessed net
absorption of 9.63 million sq.
ft between January and June
2021, down 19% compared to
the corresponding period in
2020, according to property
advisory JLL’s Office Market
Update - Q2 2021.
These two markets, along
with Kolkata, were the only
ones that saw a growth in net
absorption in H1 2021, com-
pared to H1 2020.
Due to a steady pipeline of
office assets, the demand-sup-
ply gap has also widened.
Vacancy levels across the
top seven markets in the coun-
try rose to nearly 16% at the
end of the April-June quarter,
breaching the comfort zone of
13-14% for the first time since
2017.
Nevertheless, with demand
expected to pick up in the
pre-leasing commitments
have been largely intact and
there have been limited down-
sizing activities by larger cor-
porates,” said Rahul Arora,
head of office leasing advisory,
JLL India.
“Corporate occupiers are
holding on to office spaces in
the belief that as vaccination
drives accelerate, occupancy
at offices will start to improve,”
he said.
Project completions during
the first half of 2021 were
recorded at 25.11 million sq. ft,
up 75% year-on-year, showing
ces has been sig- landlords con- when hit by the second wave,”
nificantly low tinue to be said Dr Samantak Das, chief
since the out- Vacancy levels accommodative economist and head research
break of the pan- across the top to the demands of and REIS, JLL.
demic last year, seven markets in occupiers and “IT/ITeS (information tech-
but was inching the country rose support deal clo- nology and IT-enabled servi-
towards normalcy sures. With ces) occupiers continued to
to nearly 16%
in the beginning vacancy levels account for a majority of the
of this year. at the end of the already hovering office-leasing activity in 2020
The second June quarter at around 16%, at around 50%,” he said.
Bengaluru and Pune accounted for nearly 60% of the absorption wave has once the next few “In 2021, we expect the IT/
in the first half of 2021, according to property advisory JLL. MINT again created quarters will be ITeS sector to remain the key
uncertainty not only in the critical in terms of pick-up in occupier group, while demand
developers are confident of a In the second half of the demand for office space, but demand while maintaining the from emerging sectors such as
strong revival in office leasing year, if the country can ensure also the sentiment of large market buoyancy as planned e-commerce, manufacturing
once business as usual is rein- that most of the active work- multinational occupiers and supply enters the market. and healthcare is likely to
stated, Arora said. force gets fully vaccinated, the their keenness to take up new “Compared to the big dip increase further,” he added.
06 FRIDAY, 2 JULY 2021
NEW DELHI CORPORATE LIVEMINT.COM

Capex plans
hit as 2nd Cleantech Solar promoters m
MOVES
A weekly list of C-Suiters who have moved up
wave derails
recovery ready to sell majority stake the corporate ladder either within or outside
their companies.
Arup
Das
Appointed as chief technology
officer at Octo Inc.
FROM PAGE 1
Dharmender Appointed as chief business
Dabral officer at Boddess
Capex announcements in The firm has a 500MW portfolio under various stages of development in India, Southeast Asia
real estate (down 77%) and ser- Appointed as senior vice
Karan
vices (62%) contracted the most president-strategy and analytics at
Utpal Bhaskar Punjabi WOW Skin Science
during the June quarter. Manu-
facturing fared well (7% growth) utpal.b@livemint.com
Kishore Appointed as chief executive
despite purchasing managers’ NEW DELHI
index data showing significant Kumar Yedam officer at Federal Soft Systems

loss of momentum. However,
this was driven by two pro-
jects—Jamnagar Dhirubhai
Ambani Green Energy Giga
Complex by Reliance Industries
and the Vandh and Tunda coal-
to-PVC manufacturing plant
project by Adani Enterprises—
making up 78% of the value in
the manufacturing sector.
These two also made up 73%
share in private sector projects.
Project stalling rates, calcu-
lated as the value of stalled
projects as a proportion of
total projects under imple-
mentation, were on a down-
ward trajectory of late. But in
the June quarter, the stalling
rate inched upwards for gov-
ernment projects, as states
resorted to localized lock-
downs. Private sector stalling
rates reduced by over one per-
centage point but still remains
high. Lack of funds continues
to be the main cause of pro-
jects getting stalled, with a 15%
share in the list of reasons.
Most analysts believe the eco-
nomic impact of the second
wave may not be felt beyond the
June quarter. As the second
wave subsides, states are cau-
tiously easing restrictions. This
has helped high-frequency eco-
nomic indicators show
improvement through the
month of June. As a result, the
investment appetite of compa-
nies is largely expected to start
picking up, and investments
could gather steam gradually.
Manufacturing PMI shrinks
T
he promoters of Cleantech
Solar Energy aim to sell their
Manoj Appointed as vice president-supply
Kothari chain at Zydus Wellness
controlling stake in the
green energy firm backed by Appointed as chief financial officer
Royal Dutch Shell, said two
Mohit
Donter at Shalimar Paints
people aware of the development.
Standard Chartered has been hired
to find a buyer for the potential transac-
Nikhil Appointed as country corporate
Sahni officer at Mastercard
tion that could rank among the largest
so far in India’s solar rooftop space.
Cleantech Solar has a 500-megawatt Parth Appointed as chief marketing
(MW) portfolio under various stages of Joshi officer at BharatPe
development across India, Indonesia, Appointed as managing director at
Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Viet- Rajesh
ThyssenKrupp industrial Solutions
nam and Singapore. Kamath India
In January 2019, Shell Eastern Petro-
leum (Pte) Ltd acquired a 49% stake in Ravi Appointed as group chief human
Singapore-headquartered Cleantech Chopra resources officer at Hero Motors
Solar. The remaining 51% stake is held The potential deal comes against the backdrop of growing consolidation in the commercial and industrial segment. REUTERS
by the founders’ holding company, Ricky Appointed as head of Asia Pacific at
which has promoters including chair- Rise Fund announced their $100 mil- is among the few foreign oil firms to funds, India’s distributed renewable Kapur Zoom Video Communications
man Raju Shukla as stakeholders. lion and $25 million investment, have a fuel retail licence in the country. energy generation space is attracting Appointed as head-marketing,
“The founders’ holding company led respectively, in Hyderabad-based The investors’ interest also stems strong investor interest as the market Ryan branding and communications at
by chairman Raju Shukla, which has a Fourth Partner Energy on Wednesday. from India’s growing demand for elec- has few developers with large portfo- Fernandes Aster DM Healthcare
51% stake in Cleantech Solar Energy, is Raju Shukla did not comment. A tricity and the focus on green energy lios. C&I projects are generally insu-
looking to exit. Shell is likely to con- Standard Chartered Bank spokesper- sources. India aims to achieve 175 giga- lated from risks such as power procure- Sameer Appointed as partner TMT at
tinue as a partner,” said one of the two son also did not comment. watts (GW) of renewable capacity, ment curtailment and tariff shopping Chugh Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas
people mentioned above requesting “Shell continues to be a shareholder including 100GW of solar power, by by state-owned distribution compa- Appointed as managing
anonymity. nies. They supply electricity to
Siddharth
Banerjee director-India and Asia at Pearson
The potential deal comes against POWER PLAY third-party and captive consumers
the backdrop of growing consoli- who buy power from them, instead
dation in the commercial and STANDARD THE transaction INVESTORS’ interest INDIA aims to of depending on an expensive grid. Vaibhav Appointed as head of marketing
Mehrotra at Cashfree
industrial (C&I) segment, given the Chartered has been
hired to find a buyer
could rank among
the largest so far
stems from India’s
growing demand for
achieve 175GW of
renewable capacity,
India’s C&I segment has been
lower regulatory risks over green for the potential in the Indian solar electricity & focus on including 100GW of attracting global energy majors and Vikas Appointed as vice president of
energy contracts and enforcement. transaction rooftop space green energy sources solar power, by 2022 investors. Firms such as Malaysia’s Khoria global operations at Few¢ents
A case in point is Singaporean state-run oil and gas firm Petroliam
conglomerate Keppel Corp. being Nasional Bhd’s Amplus Energy Source: Accord India, executive search worldwide
among the suitors for Warburg Pincus in Cleantech and we have no further 2022. India’s power requirement Solutions and Netherlands Develop-
LLC’s majority stake in rooftop solar comment,” a Shell spokesperson said. would touch 817GW by 2030, more ment Finance Co.-backed Avaada
power producer CleanMax Enviro Shell had set up its new energies divi- than half of which would be clean Energy Pvt. Ltd are in this space. Actis
Energy Solutions Pvt. Ltd as reported sion in 2016. The Anglo-Dutch com- energy, according to the Central Elec- plans to invest $850 million to build
by Mint earlier. Also, Norway’s state- pany runs a liquefied natural gas termi- tricity Authority.
owned Norfund and TPG Capital’s The nal at Hazira on India’s west coast and
two green energy platforms, one of
Given the growing focus of ESG which will be focused on the segment.
Regulator to review
superior voting
Zydus Cadila seeks nod for jab rights framework
AP

FROM PAGE 1
contracted on a year-on-year
basis in June, this is likely to be
on account of high prices divert-
ing some freight to the railways,”
she added.
Pollyanna De Lima, econom-
ics associate director at IHS
Markit, said the intensification
of the covid crisis had a detri-
mental impact on the manufac-
turing economy. “Companies
became increasingly worried
about when the pandemic will
end, which resulted in down-
ward revisions to output
growth projections. As a result
of subdued optimism, jobs
were shed again in June. Out of
the three broad areas of the
manufacturing sector moni-
tored by the survey, capital
goods was the worst affected
area in June,” she said.
The stretch of new order
growth that started in August
2020 came to an end in June,
with firms linking the deterio-
ration in demand to the pan-
demic. Covid restrictions also
curtailed overseas demand.
New export orders decreased
for the first time in 10 months,
albeit modestly.
Covid curbs also curtailed
overseas demand. BLOOMBERG
“Falling new orders, busi-
ness closures and the covid cri-
sis triggered a reduction in out-
put among Indian manufactur-
ers. The decline was moderate
relative to those seen in the first
half of 2020 but ended a
10-month sequence of growth,”
the data analytics firm said.
Most economic forecasters cut
their GDP projections for FY22 to
single digit as the second wave is
expected to have a lingering
impact on consumer sentiment
and hurt rural demand. The
World Bank earlier this week
pared its growth forecast for India
to 8.3% for FY22 from 10.1% esti-
mated in April.
India’s economic recovery is
expected to be “less steep” than
the bounceback in late 2020 and
early 2021 because households
that are eating into their savings
could hold back spends on con-
sumption as the economy
reopens, S&P Global Ratings said
last week. The rating agency,
which projects the economy to
grow at 9.5% in FY22, said a grad-
ual revival is underway after the
severe second covid outbreak in
April and May led to lockdowns
and to a sharp contraction in eco-
nomic activity.
“The economy has turned a
corner now. New covid cases
have been falling consistently,
and mobility is recovering. We
expect this recovery to be less
steep compared with the
bounce in late 2020 and early
2021. Households are running
down saving buffers to support
consumption, and a desire to
rebuild savings could hold back
spending,” it said.
Household savings fell for the
second consecutive quarter to
8.2% of GDP in the December
quarter from 10.4% in the Sep-
tember quarter and a peak of 21%
in the June quarter last year,
according to Reserve Bank of
India’s preliminary estimates.
FROM PAGE 1
before the commercial
launch,” Patel said.
The company said it submit-
ted all the required data to the
authorities.
“No moderate case of cov-
id-19 was observed in the vac-
cine arm post-administration
of the third dose, suggesting
100% efficacy for moderate
disease. No severe cases or
deaths due to covid-19
occurred in the vaccine arm
after administration of the sec-
ond dose of the vaccine,” the
company said in a statement.
Zydus Cadila claimed to
have conducted the largest
clinical trial for its covid-19
vaccine in India so far in more
than 50 centres.
This was also the first time
that any covid-19 vaccine had
been tested in the 12-18 years
age group in India, the com-
pany said.
Around 1,000 subjects were
enrolled in this age group, and
the vaccine was found to be
safe and very well-tolerated.
The tolerability profile was
similar to that seen in the adult
population, the company said.
ZyCoV-D will be India’s fifth shot,
after Covishield, Covaxin, Sputnik
V and Moderna’s mRNA-1273.
“As the first-ever plasmid
DNA vaccine for human use,
ZyCoV-D has proven its safety
and efficacy profile in our fight
against covid-19. The vaccine,
when approved, will help not
only adults but also adoles-
cents in the 12-18 years age
group,” Patel said.
The company has also eval-
uated a two-dose regimen for
ZyCoV-D vaccine using a 3mg
dose per visit, and the immu-
nogenicity results had been
found to be equivalent to the
current three-dose regimen.
This will further help in
reducing the full-course dura-
tion of vaccination while
maintaining the high safety
profile of the vaccine in the
future.
Zydus Cadila acknowledged
the support of the National
Biopharma Mission, Biotech-
nology Industry Research
Assistance Council, the
Department of Biotechnology,
the National Institute of Virol-
ogy, the Indian Council of
Medical Research and Phar-
maJet in the development of
ZyCoV-D.
“ZyCoV-D had already
exhibited robust immuno-
genicity and tolerability and
safety profile in the adaptive
phase I/II clinical trials car-
ried out earlier. Both the
phase I/II and phase III clini-
cal trials have been monitored
by an independent Data
Safety Monitoring Board,” the
company said, adding that the
plug-and-play technology on
which the plasmid DNA plat-
form is based is ideally suited
for dealing with covid-19 as it
can be easily adapted to deal
with mutations in the virus,
such as those already occur-
ring.
FROM PAGE 1
of operational efficiencies,
long-term succession plan-
ning and tax planning,” the
paper said.
However, the current regu-
lations would require the
unwinding of such structures
to enable direct holding of SR
shares by founders, Sebi
noted.
This may have various
implications, including from
a taxation perspective, and
may even impact the ability of
the issuer company to make
an offer for sale in the share
sale, it said. The plan to review the norms
In the consultation paper, comes as some tech startups
Sebi noted that allowing trusts, are gearing to go public. HT
limited liability partnerships,
and holding companies to also sought comments on
hold SR shares raises concerns whether the requirement of
as such vehicles may have inel- holding superior voting rights
igible non-SR shareholders as shares for six months prior to
beneficiaries or as sharehold- the date of red herring pro-
ers. spectus should be deleted as it
“Some of these structures received feedback from mar-
such as trusts are opaque in ket participants that the
nature and make it difficult to requirement is onerous and
identify wherein the voting delays such issuer companies
power arises,” it said. from raising funds from the
The markets regulator has capital market.

Trump Organization, CFO indicted Parts of Europe approve Covishield Banks’ liquidity
buffers strong,
REUTERS

FROM PAGE 1
could face a maximum of one
year in jail, lawyers said. While
the sentence would ultimately
be determined by a judge,
prosecutors could threaten
potential jail time in an effort
to gain his cooperation. Many
defendants with no criminal
records could be sentenced to
probation, lawyers said.
Prosecutors begin turning
over their evidence to the
defense after an indictment is
returned. These materials may
help Mr. Weisselberg assess
the strength of the case against
him, defense lawyers said.
If prosecutors could show
the Trump Organization and
its executives systematically
avoided paying taxes, they
could file more serious char-
ges alleging a scheme, lawyers
said.
Prosecutors have investi-
gated whether the Trump leased through the Trump
Organization provided apart- Organization, the Journal has
reported. The criminal probe,
led by the Manhattan district
FROM PAGE 1 taken covid-19 vaccines in
India, i.e. Covishield and
says RBI’s Das
ments to Mr. Weisselberg and reported. attorney’s office, and civil son familiar with the matter, Covaxin, and accept the vacci- FROM PAGE 1
other Trump executives and This spring, the district probe, by the New York attor- New Delhi is hopeful that nation certificate issued
illegally avoided paying taxes attorney’s office subpoenaed a ney general, have looked at France, considered a key stra- through the CoWIN portal,” ience of the financial system.
on them as a form of compen- Manhattan private school financial dealings around tegic partner within Europe, the person said. “The genuine- To be sure, RBI also noted
sation. where Mr. Weisselberg’s some of the same properties, will also give its green signal to ness of such vaccination certifi- that banks should brace them-
In addition to grandchildren are including Mr. Trump’s Seven vaccinated Indians to enter cation can be authenticated on selves for another wave of
Mr. Weisselberg, Mr. Trump students, the Springs estate, in Westchester, without restrictions. The the CoWin portal,” the second stress as bad loans may touch
prosecutors have has denied Journal has N.Y., and the Trump Interna- EMA’s approval for Covishield person had said. 9.8% of their loan books by the
examined apart- wrongdoing reported. Jenni- tional Hotel and Tower in was expected, the second per- The European Parliament last “We have also conveyed to end of this fiscal from 7.5% in
ments where and said the fer Weisselberg, Chicago, the Journal has son said. month said all member states the EU member states that FY21, according to excerpts
Matthew Cala- his former daugh- reported. On Thursday, India must accept vaccine certificates India will institute a reciprocal from the report published in
investigations
mari, a former ter-in-law, said The investigations by both requested countries in the EU issued in other EU countries. policy for recognition of the EU Mint on Thursday.
bodyguard to Mr. are politically tuition payments offices remain open. The dis- to allow those Indian travellers Digital Covid Certificate. Upon RBI’s latest forecast is, how-
Trump who now motivated were made with trict attorney’s office is who produce a vaccination cer- tions within the EU. Individual notification of Covishield and ever, lower than its projection
serves as chief checks signed by expected to continue pursuing tificate issued by the Indian member states have the flexi- Covaxin for inclusion in the EU of 13.5% for banks’ bad loans by
operating officer, Mr. Weisselberg the broader investigation, and government’s CoWIN portal to bility to also accept vaccines Digital Covid Certificate and September. Within banking
and his son lived, the Journal and Mr. Trump. any charges filed Thursday be exempted from restrictions that have been authorized at recognition of Indian CoWIN categories, RBI stress tests
has reported. Nicholas Gra- The tax-related investiga- wouldn’t preclude future like mandatory quarantine or the national level or by the vaccination certificates, Indian showed public sector banks’
vante, a lawyer for Mr. Cala- tion is part of a broader crimi- action. It is fairly common for self-isolation after arriving at World Health Organization,” health authorities would recip- gross non-performing ratio of
mari, has said his client isn’t nal probe into whether the prosecutors to bring addi- their destination. the second person cited above rocally exempt the concerned 9.54% in March could rise to
expected to be charged at this Trump Organization and its tional charges and either “Under this (EU Digital had said on Thursday. EU member state for exemp- 12.52% within a year. Private
time. officers overvalued and under- supersede or join indictments. Covid Certificate) framework, “India has requested EU tion from mandatory quaran- banks could see bad loans
Prosecutors have also scru- valued its assets on loan, tax ©2021 DOW JONES & COMPANY, INC people vaccinated with vacci- member states to individually tine all those persons carrying touching 5.82%, and foreign
tinized whether taxes were and insurance documents for Rebecca Ballhaus contrib- nes authorized by the EMA will consider extending similar EU Digital Covid Certificate,” banks could see bad loans at
appropriately paid on cars financial gain, the Journal has uted to this article. be exempt from travel restric- exemptions to those who have the second person had added. 4.9% by March 2022.
LIVEMINT.COM CORPORATE FRIDAY, 2 JULY 2021
NEW DELHI 07

Discretionary packaged TO ‘P’ OR ‘NP’, THAT IS THE QUESTION

• “NP” problems, which we may not know of any way to solve

goods sales revive in Jun A M AT T E R

OF NUMBERS
quickly, even in polynomial time; but if we have a solution, we can
verify its correctness in polynomial time. (”NP” stands for “non-
deterministic polynomial time”). Take a map at random and ask:
if I want to paint this map so that no countries that share a border
have the same colour, are three colours enough? That’s an “NP”
DILIP D’SOUZA problem.
Think about it a bit and you will see that P problems are all NP
Respond to this column at by definition. For if we can solve a problem in polynomial time,
Easing of curbs boosts sales in categories such as confectionery, beverages feedback@livemint.com then we can also verify its solution in polynomial time— by solv-
ing it.

T
he big mathematics news of the week was, of course, Kumar
Suneera Tandon Eswaran’s claim to have proved the Riemann Hypothesis.
suneera.t@livemint.com No doubt his paper supporting the claim will be examined
NEW DELHI minutely, as it must be. After all, proving the Hypothesis is widely
considered one of the most difficult tasks in mathematics. If
But we don’t know if all NP problems are P. So the great debate
in mathematics and computer science circles is, is P the same as
NP? (Ask a mathematician “Is P = NP?” and you may impress her.)
That is, can we show that all NP problems can be solved in poly-
nomial time? Or, contrariwise, can we prove that at least one NP

E
asing lockdowns, longer store Eswaran is right, it will be earthshaking news, at least in mathe- problem absolutely cannot be solved in polynomial time?
hours and rising mobility matical circles. There is a general sense that, if we ever prove P = NP, this would
boosted June sales of more dis- But while we wait to hear one way or another, remember that be a quite different world. Scott Aaronson of the University of
cretionary and impulse purchase mathematics is filled with plenty of other unsolved problems and Texas puts it this way: if P = NP, “there would be no special value
categories such as confectionery, hypotheses and conjectures. in ‘creative leaps,’ no fundamental gap between solving a prob-
beverages and personal care. In May 2000, the Clay Mathematics Institute selected seven lem and recognizing the solution once it’s found.”
Data compiled by Bizom, a retail intelli- such as their “Millennium Prize Problems”: the Riemann True. Except, we don’t know if P = NP.
gence platform tracking sales at 7.5 mil- Hypothesis, the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture, the Now most mathematicians and CS people actually believe that
lion retail stores, showed the positive Poincaré Conjecture, the Hodge Conjecture, the Navier–Stokes P is not equal to NP. This is because there are a few thousand
impact of loosening restrictions after the Equation, the Yang-Mills and Mass Gap, and the P versus NP known NP problems for which nobody has yet found a polynomi-
severe second wave of the pandemic wave problem. To anyone who solves any of these, the Institute offered al-time solution. Yet even a few thousand examples doth not a
ebbed. Industry executives confirmed the a remarkable prize: one million dollars. proof make. What doth indeed a proof make is a sequence of logi-
recovery. In the two decades since, one of the seven has actually been cal steps that start from some axioms and lead inexorably to an
“Discretionary categories that saw the solved: the Poincaré Conjecture. Famously, the man who solved irrefutable conclusion.
biggest impact on sales in previous it, a reclusive Russian mathematician called Grigori Perelman, For the P vs NP question, we don’t have that.
months, that is, personal care and confec- refused the Clay Prize, or even any felicitation for his achieve- But it’s not for lack of trying. In my column here two days ago
tionery, are showing the highest jump in ment. The other six, though, remain open questions. So if you can (“Why I’m sceptical about the claim
sales growth month-on-month,” said use a million dollars before taxes, this may be your chance. The big debate that Riemann Hypothesis has been
Akshay D’Souza, chief marketing officer at According to Hector Beverages, which sells Paper Boat drinks, business in June was 85% I don’t know much about most of those six problems. But in my is, can all NP proven”, bit.ly/3jLp4eT), I mentioned
Bizom. of pre-covid level, while it was 50% in May. It expects the level to reach 100% in July. MINT days as a student of computer science, we studied and talked a fair Vinay Deolalikar, a researcher at HP
D’Souza said that beverage manufac- amount about P versus NP. Here’s a broadbrush explanation of problems be Labs. In August 2010, he posted a
turers are reporting a strong end to the be back to 100% this week.” recovery for several categories. what that’s about. solved in paper online claiming he had
quarter—with sales for the month of June, Confectionery maker Perfetti Van “There was some stress on demand When you programme a computer to tackle a particular prob- polynomial answered the P vs NP question— by
significantly higher than the previous Melle’s products such as Alpenliebe can- from April till the end of May. But with lem, one concern is how long it will take. For example, if you have time? proving that P was, in fact, not the
month. “Trade schemes coupled with dies fall under the impulse purchase cate- June, and things opening up, we are see- to sort a list of names into alphabetical order, you may not expect same as NP.
unlock across most parts of India are help- gory, and gained from rising street mobil- ing good revival in demand,” said Mayank it to be done instantaneously, but you also don’t want the com- Interested people the world over
ing to liquidate stock lying at retail ity that helps consumers pick the products Shah, category head at biscuit-maker puter to take a year, or even a week, to do the job. More to the immediately started poring over Deolalikar’s paper, exactly as he
shelves,” he said. on the move. Parle Products. point, you probably want to know how the time to sort depends must have expected and wanted. In one such examination, the
Bizom data showed that in the first “In June, we are pretty close to 90% of Shah said normal store-operating on the number of names in the list. Does a list ten times as long computer scientist Richard Lipton wrote: “[Deolalikar] uses the
three weeks of June, personal care sales numbers compared to last June,” manag- hours, which had earlier been restricted to take ten times as long to be sorted? beautiful result of Moshe Vardi (1982) and Neil Immerman (1986):
grew 50% month-on-month, while con- ing director Rajesh Ramakrishnan said. a few hours daily, helped lift demand. Computer scientists characterize algorithms by measures like On ordered structures, a relation is defined by a first order for-
fectionery saw growth of 41%; sales growth “The second half of April and May was a Modern trade sales are also on an these. If there’s a linear relationship between the number count mula plus the Least Fixed Point (LFP) operator if and only if it is
in beverages, which are skewed towards washout for us. In our case, while the sales upswing, he added. and the time the algorithm takes, we say it’s an O(n) (”Order of n”) computable in polynomial time.”
the summer season, was up Bizom’s data suggest that algorithm. Meaning, if n is the number of items we’re looking at, Never mind what all that means (but please note the “beauti-
31%. Sales in home care and POSITIVE SIGNS the second wave of the pan- the time is a linear function of n. ful”). I quote Lipton only to show how minutely Deolalikar’s
packaged foods categories demic and subsequent lock- Think of a spectacularly bone-headed way of cleaning up after result was being studied. Within days, the mathematician Ter-
grew 18% and 15%, respec- IN the first three CONFECTIONERY SALES in home care downs saw fast-moving con- dropping rice all over the floor: pick up one grain at a time and ence Tao left this comment on Lipton’s blog: “it appears that Deo-
tively, the data showed. weeks of June, saw growth of 41%; and packaged foods sumer goods (FMCG) sales toss it in the trash. As you can imagine, it’s not just that you will lalikar has accidentally (and incorrectly) amplified the power of
personal care sales while the sales categories grew 18%
A beverage industry execu- grew 50% m-o-m, growth in beverages and 15%, respectively, decline significantly month- take a long time to finish, it’s also that how much time you take [certain] tools from something that is too weak to establish [a par-
tive said that demand for according to Bizom was up by 31% the data showed on-month. In April, sales is directly related to the number of grains on the floor: 2,000 will ticular] claim, to something that is far too strong for establishing
packaged drinks in June was were down 16% compared to need twice as long as 1,000. This stupid algorithm is O(n), this claim. As a consequence, he proves statements ... that are too
upwards of 85% of pre-covid March; numbers in May because it depends on the number of grains you’ve upended. strong to really be believable (and in particular, appears to estab-
levels. This, he said, was led by in-home dip is big, so is the bounceback. That’s declined further. Naturally, you prefer the far more sensible method of sweeping lish the incorrect claim that k-XORSAT is not in P).”
consumption of drinks. because we are very dependent on people “However, in June, the tide has turned. the whole pile of rice onto a dustpan—a few swipes of the broom Again, never mind what all that means, except that this was
“Things are improving fast,” said Neeraj going out on streets (so lockdowns trans- Sales are up by 23% month-on-month in will most likely do the trick. Possibly this is an “Order of the how Deolalikar’s claim began to unravel. Yet even so, he had
Kakkar, co-founder and chief executive late to lower sales), and also because we the first three weeks. Almost all categories square root of n” algorithm. raised questions some mathematicians found intriguing. As
officer of Hector Beverages, which sells a are predominantly at a lower price point, are up (except commodities),” D’Souza Researchers who study algorithms have long divided problems Milos Hasan wrote: “I wonder if [his] idea of defining random dis-
range of Indian beverages under the Paper which means people can buy without said. into two categories: tributions over SAT variables could inspire an interesting com-
Boat brand. “Business in June was 85% of thinking too much,” he added. Commodities seem to be the only cate- • “P” problems, which an algorithm can provide a solution for plexity class.”
pre-covid plan, while May was 50%. From Most companies reported a healthy gory under pressure even in June. Edible in what’s called “polynomial time” (thus “P”). These might be There’s a hint of how science often progresses. Even in failure,
July, we could be back to 100%. In-home March quarter with demand normalizing oil and sugar have seen a surge in input O(n), or O(n2), or O(n3 - 4n)— that is, a time related to a polynomial you find nuggets to ruminate over and explore.
consumption is almost 100% and out-of- across categories, despite rising costs of costs that have driven up the price signifi- involving n. The point is, we know such an algorithm will give us I think that’s beautiful.
home is around 75%. Hopefully, out-of- key commodities. The second wave in the cantly over the past three quarters, an answer in some finite time. The grain-by-grain rigmarole Once a computer scientist, Dilip D’Souza now lives in Mumbai
home consumption of beverages should June quarter, however, derailed the D’Souza added. above is a “P” algorithm. and writes for his dinners. His Twitter handle is @DeathEndsFun

TPG looking
at options to
go public
Bloomberg

THE ART
feedback@livemint.com
ISSUE OUT
TOMORROW

A
lternative asset man-
ager TPG is looking at a

SPECIAL
plan to go public
through a conventional initial
public offering (IPO) or a trans-
action with a special purpose
acquisition company, a person From the rise of digital art as a
familiar with the matter said. worthy collectible to folk
The San Francisco-based artists telling tales of the
firm, a closely held partnership, pandemic, Lounge explores
is more likely to choose an IPO, the spectrum of changes in the
said the person, asking not to be art world over the past year
identified because the matter is
private. The company could be
valued at around $10 billion,
the person said. No decision
has been finalized and the firm,
which has explored options
over the years, could again
decide to remain private.
“As we have consistently
stated, we evaluate various stra-
tegic alternatives from time to
time,” a TPG spokesperson said
in an emailed statement to
Bloomberg News. “No deci-
sions have been made and we
have nothing to announce at
this time.”
TPG was founded as Texas
Pacific Group in 1992 by Jim
Coulter and David Bonderman.
The firm’s willingness to take
massive bets on unloved or
risky companies has often paid
FIRST: Artist Orijit Sen CULTURE: THINK: When artists
off. It was an early investor in on self-censorship Instagram and the use food to address
Uber Technologies Inc. and and his new comics museum in your issues of politics,
Airbnb Inc. for young adults palm cultural identity
The firm, which makes bets
in private equity, real estate and
hedge funds, also has its own
SPAC platform. Last year, it
ended a partnership with credit
platform Sixth Street. TPG has Growth is
$91 billion in assets under man- not just about business.
agement, according to its web-
It’s also about the business of life.
site. Its closest peers, including
Blackstone Group Inc., Carlyle Growth is...On.
Group Inc., Apollo Global Man-
agement Inc. and KKR & Co., Follow us: mint.live livemint live_mint livemint www.livemint.com
are publicly traded.
08 FRIDAY, 2 JULY 2021
NEW DELHI GLOBAL LIVEMINT.COM

Delta variant’s spread hobbles Xi warns China

won’t be bullied as
global efforts to lift covid curbs party marks 100 yrs
Chun Han Wong
feedback@livemint.com

C
hinese leader Xi Jinping
Vaccines that reduce hospitalizations and deaths are tempering economic concerns—but not in poorer nations marked his ruling Com-
munist Party’s 100th
anniversary with rousing
Paul Hannon France. Cases are at the lowest level appeals for national unity and
feedback@livemint.com since summer and 95% down from the defiance against foreign pres-
most recent peak in April. sure, a rallying cry for one-

T
he fast spread of the Delta
variant of the coronavirus in
much of the world is thwart-
ing plans in many countries
to lift lockdowns and
reopen economies, a major setback to
efforts to contain the global covid-19
pandemic.
The variant’s spread has heightened
a likely feature of an extended global
pandemic: the contrast between
poorer unvaccinated countries where
hospitalizations and death rates are
surging and highly vaccinated popula-
tions where the link between rising
case rates and serious illness has been
largely broken.
Delta, which swept through India in
May, is estimated to be at least twice as
contagious as the original version of
the virus. It is now present in 85 coun-
tries and is the most common variant
in the US. Only in South America,
where another highly contagious ver-
sion of the virus is prevalent, does
Delta not seem to be making inroads.
In parts of Asia, Australia and
Europe, governments are reintroduc-
ing travel restrictions and delaying the
lifting of lockdowns as health authori-
ties find that restrictive measures that
kept earlier lineages of the virus in
check aren’t curbing Delta.
In the UK, where the variant
accounts for 97% of recent cases, and
other places with high rates of vaccina-
tion, concern is tempered by evidence
that the shots are reducing hospitali-
zations and deaths. But in largely
unvaccinated parts of the world,
including some countries of Africa,
hospitals are overwhelmed. In Indo-
nesia, caseloads are at the highest level
since the start of the pandemic.
Even where the number of cases is
low, Delta is generating concerns,
including in Japan, which is preparing
to host the Summer Olympics in three
weeks. A simulation by government
researchers this week estimated that
the share of the Delta variant among
new cases in the greater Tokyo area
was about 30% as of the end of June.
Delta is expected to account for half of
all Tokyo-area cases by mid-July.
In Australia, the Sydney metro area
has been locked down for the first time
in a year as the virus spread faster than
the authorities could trace and isolate
people at risk of infection. Early infec-
tions suggest it can spread via fleeting
In Africa, at least 21 of the continent’s 54 countries are seeing a new surge in infections.
interactions, health officials say, which
limits the effectiveness of contact trac-
ing. Just 5.8% of the population has
been fully vaccinated, according to
Our World in Data.
In China, authorities are building
huge quarantine facilities for interna-
tional travellers in two southern cities
to deal with the threat posed by the
Delta variant, after relying on hotels
up to now.
The first will cover 250,000 square
meters and provide rooms for 5,000
travellers and another 2,000 beds for
logistics personnel, according to a
notice by the local government. It is
expected to open in September, a local
official said Monday.
China has also expanded its defini-
tion of close con-
tacts and now
requires quaran-
tine for anyone
who has been in the same building
four days before or after someone who
tests positive or develops symptoms,
up from two, according to Zhong
Nanshan, one of the country’s top epi-
demiologists, Chinese state media
reported Friday.
Based on data gathered from an out-
break in the southern city of Guang-
dong, Mr. Zhong said the incubation
period for Delta was shorter and the
length of infection longer, compared
with the version identified last year in
Wuhan.
The variant is driving a covid-19
surge in Indonesia, the world’s fourth
most populous country, with daily
reported infections at their highest
levels since the start of the pandemic
and average deaths over the past week
doubling since early June to more
than 400 a day.
With only about 5% of the country
fully vaccinated, public-health experts
and doctors warn caseloads could con-
tinue to rise. The Indonesian govern-
ment, which had resisted tighter
restrictions that could further hurt the
country’s economy, said Thursday
that it would put in place additional
curbs in hard-hit areas, such as requir-
ing all employees in non-essential sec-
tors to work from home and tempora-
rily closing places of worship.
Delta’s emergence in South Korea
has delayed a
relaxation of
social-distancing
measures in the
area around Seoul after officials had
laid out plans to ease the measures
from Thursday, which would have
allowed six instead of four people to
gather privately and extended closing
hours for restaurants and cafes until
midnight. Infections rose to a two-
month high Wednesday as the num-
ber of infected people in their 20s
increased by 20% in the past week.
The country reported 794 new cases
and one additional death Wednesday.
Israel has reimposed an indoor
mask requirement, as the number of
daily new covid-19 cases has risen to an
average of about 200 in the past week
AFP
from about 10 a day in early June. As of
Monday, children under 18, most of
whom haven’t been vaccinated,
accounted for more than half of those
infected.
In Europe, German authorities are
trying to slow the spread of the virus by
limiting travel. Passengers arriving
from so-called “variant territories”—
including the UK, Portugal, Russia and
India among others—must quarantine
for 14 days, whether or not they are
vaccinated or have tested negative for
an infection.
Experts think the mutant will
account for a majority of new infec-
tions between now and the end of July
in Germany, though overall cases have
continued to fall and are currently at
their lowest since late July last year.
In France, Delta now represents
roughly 20% of all new covid-19 infec-
tions, up from 10% a week ago.
French officials pushed back the
lifting of some of the country’s last cor-
onavirus restrictions in a part of the
country’s southwest, where the vari-
ant has become dominant. In the
Landes area, where a mutation associ-
ated with the Delta represented 74% of
positive results surveyed in a report
last week, the government said it is
keeping in place capacity restrictions
for indoor dining, cinemas and stores
until at least 6 July.
But Gabriel Attal, the French gov-
ernment spokesman, said those
restrictions were lifted as scheduled
on Wednesday elsewhere in mainland
Delta has delayed the lifting of final
covid-19 restrictions in the UK by a
month, but government ministers are
expressing confidence that most of the
remaining curbs can be lifted on 19
July. There, and elsewhere in Europe
and in the US, high vaccination rates
appear to have broken the link
between rising case numbers—up 70%
week-over-week in the UK, according
to the most recent figures—and hospi-
talizations and deaths, which are way
lower than earlier in the pandemic.
Globally, restrictions on travel in
response to the new variant have wor-
sened an already dire outlook for tour-
ism-based economies.
In new estimates published
Wednesday, the United Nations said
the global economy could suffer a loss
in output this year close to the $2.4 tril-
lion hit recorded in 2020 as a result of
the pandemic’s impact on tourism and
related sectors. Some 60% of that loss
will be felt in developing economies,
reflecting slower progress of vaccina-
tions. The UN said it expects any
recovery in tourism to be led by rich
countries with higher vaccination
rates, including France, Germany,
Switzerland, the UK and the U.S.
In Africa, at least 21 of the conti-
nent’s 54 countries are seeing a new
surge in infections, which in most
cases has surpassed or is on track to
exceed previous covid-19 waves. Only
about 1.1% of Africa’s 1.3 billion people
are fully vaccinated.
Hospitals in Uganda, South Africa,
Zambia and parts of the Democratic
Republic of Congo have been over-
whelmed and several governments
have reimposed lockdowns.
New covid-19 cases have doubled in
hard-hit Mexico in the past month due
to the spread of Delta. The variant is
now responsible for more than two-
thirds of samples tested in Mexico
City, authorities said. Cases are still
well below what they were early this
year, but epidemiologists warn that
Mexico could see a third wave of infec-
tions in coming weeks and months.
South America, however, has
largely been spared infection from the
Delta variant, for an unusual reason: It
has been coping with its own highly
infectious Gamma variant, which is
believed to have emerged in the Ama-
zonian city of Manaus.
©2021 DOW JONES & COMPANY, INC
party rule aimed at reinforcing
his authority for years to come.
Addressing a crowd of thou-
sands gathered Thursday at Bei-
jing’s Tiananmen Square, Mr. Xi
struck strident tones in recount-
ing the party’s successes in sur-
mounting challenges at home
and abroad—from eliminating
rural poverty to resisting impe-
rialist aggression. He insisted
that China has irreversibly
emerged from past humiliation
by foreign powers into an era of
pride and prosperity.
The Chinese people “will
never allow any foreign force to
bully, oppress, or enslave us,”
Mr. Xi said, dressed in a gray
Mao suit atop the Gate of Heav-
enly Peace. “Anyone who tries
to do so shall be battered and
bloodied from colliding with a
great wall of steel forged by
more than 1.4 billion Chinese
people using flesh and blood,”
he said, drawing cheers and
applause.
The centennial celebrations
help Mr. Xi showcase his
achievements as he confronts a
sluggish domestic economy,
frosty ties with the U.S. and
other Western powers, and
China’s souring international
image. Officials have also used
the grandiose festivities to
underscore Mr. Xi’s clout as he
prepares
for a twice-
a-decade
party con-
gress next year where he is
expected to claim a third term
as party chief and pick new
lieutenants.
State media have echoed Mr.
Xi’s messaging while saturating
airwaves and newsprint with
pro-party publicity. In a Thurs-
day editorial, the party’s official
mouthpiece, People’s Daily,
called on the party’s 95 million
members and the Chinese peo-
ple to unite more closely
around Mr. Xi’s leadership in
striving to make China a rich,
advanced and truly global
power by 2049, the 100th anni-
versary of Communist rule.
In his speech, Mr. Xi offered
little in the way of new policies
and mainly restated his priori-
ties, such as fighting corrup-
Xi Jinping at Beijing’s
Tiananmen Square on
Thursday. AP
all helpful suggestions and con-
structive criticism,” Mr. Xi said.
“But we won’t accept sanctimo-
nious lectures from self-styled
preachers.”
In the months before July 1,
the party’s designated anniver-
sary date, Mr. Xi directed a
nationwide campaign to pro-
mote the party’s past glories.
Patriotic slogans and floral
arrangements have sprung up
around Beijing and other cities,
and authorities are releasing
new movies and television
series that dramatize the party’s
revolutionary history.
The celebrations culminated
in Thursday’s ceremony,
where honor guards, military
musicians, youthful chorists
and thousands of flag-waving
guests provided pomp and cir-
cumstance for the occasion.
The proceedings, which
stretched close to two hours,
kicked off with choral rendi-
tions of patriotic songs such as
“Without the Communist
Party, There Would be No New
China” and featured a flypast by
military helicopters and jets,
including China’s J-20 stealth
fighter. A phalanx of 56 artillery
guns, a nod
to China’s
56 officially
recognized
ethnic groups, fired a 100-shot
salute to the party.
Former leader Hu Jintao and
other retired party elders
attended the ceremony,
though Jiang Zemin, 94, who
was the party’s general secre-
tary from 1989 to 2002, was
absent. The health of Mr.
Jiang’s health has long been the
subject of speculation in China.
The festivities spilled onto
Chinese social media, where
only one of the top 50 trending
topics on the Twitter-like Weibo
platform on Thursday morning
wasn’t related to the party cen-
tenary. On the video-streaming
site Douyin, a video showing a
girl who used red chili peppers
to form a party flag drew nearly
seven million views.

Robinhood to pay $70 million for causing harm to its clients tion, strengthening the military
and seeking unification with
the democratically self-ruled
Leading Chinese entrepre-
neurs also took the opportunity
to showcase their loyalty to the
island of Taiwan. party amid government efforts
Reuters (FINRA), the regulator said. In one instance, a Robin- ment regulators, Robinhood He also offered assurances to rein in some of the countries’
feedback@livemint.com The online startup, which hood customer took his life said in a statement. that China wants to be a peace- largest tech companies.
has been credited with help- after becoming confused by “We are glad to put this ful and positive contributor to Wang Xing, the chief execu-

O
nline broker Robin-
hood Financial LLC
has been ordered to
pay $70 million for ‘systemic
supervisory failures’ and
causing ‘significant harm’ to
millions of customers with
misleading or false informa-
tion and outages, an industry
regulator said on Wednesday.
The firm will pay $12.6 mil-
lion in restitution to thou-
sands of consumers as well as
a $57 million fine, the largest
financial penalty ever issued
by the Financial Industry
Regulatory Authority
ing popularize trading among
millennials, has been the sub-
ject of scrutiny from regula-
tors over its practices. It has
also been seen as helping to
fuel the “meme stock” craze as
some retail investors who talk
up stocks on social media also
utilize the Robinhood app.
The resolution on Wednes-
day deals with Robinhood
issues dating as far back as
September 2016, FINRA said.
Its investigation found that
Robinhood negligently com-
municated false and mislead-
ing information to customers
Online broker Robinhood negligently communicated false info
to customers at times.
at certain times, exposed
them to excessively risky
trading tools such as options,
BLOOMBERG
and failed users when its ser-
vices suffered multiple outa-
ges.
messages on the matter behind us the global order, countering tive of delivery giant Meituan,
platform and see- The online and look forward criticism of what Western gov- who sparked a social-media
ing an inaccurate startup has been to continuing to ernments have called Beijing’s furor in May by posting an
negative cash the subject of focus on our cus- abrasive diplomacy. ancient poem that some read-
balance in his scrutiny from tomers and dem- While Mr. Xi made no men- ers interpreted as criticism of
account, FINRA
regulators over its o c r a t i z i n g tion of US-led denunciations of Mr. Xi, appeared in state-media
said. finance for all,” a Beijing’s industrial policies and footage showing the crowd on
Since 2020, supervisory company spokes- suppression of civil liberties in Tiananmen Square. China
Robinhood has practices person said. Hong Kong and Xinjiang, he sig- launched an antitrust investi-
overhauled its In a separate naled his defiance to such criti- gation into Meituan in April.
supervisory and resolution in cism by invoking patriotic lan- The Chinese Communist
communications procedures. December, Robinhood guage from past speeches. He Party “always represents the
That has included conducting agreed to pay $65 million to insisted that China alone would fundamental interests of the
monthly account reviews, the Securities and Exchange decide its path and brook no for- overwhelming majority of the
providing more customer Commission (SEC) to settle eign meddling in its affairs. people,” Mr. Xi said, not privi-
support and hiring attorneys charges it misled customers The Communist Party and leged groups or special interests.
who have worked as govern- about its revenue sources. the Chinese people “welcome ©2021 DOW JONES & COMPANY, INC

Amazon seeks recusal of FTC head in antitrust investigations

Brent Kendall Wednesday with the FTC. review Amazon’s proposed ges” to commissioner partici- created the appearance that he Amazon’s recusal petition judgment must show that a dis-
feedback@livemint.com An FTC spokeswoman acquisition of Hollywood stu- pation in recent times. How- had prejudged the issue. said Ms. Khan had made interested observer could con-
WASHINGTON declined to comment. dio MGM. ever, he added, some important Ms. Khan’s career took off “numerous and highly detailed clude that a commissioner—or
Ms. Khan has been a leading The five-member FTC cur- government ethics cases have after she wrote a widely read public pronouncements” about the entire commission—had

A
mazon.com Inc. filed a
request with the Fed-
eral Trade Commission
(FTC) seeking the recusal of
new chairwoman Lina Khan
from antitrust investigations of
the company, in light of her
extensive past criticisms of the
online giant.
“Given her long track record
of detailed pronouncements
about Amazon, and her
repeated proclamations that
Amazon has violated the anti-
trust laws, a reasonable
observer would conclude that
she no longer can consider the
company’s antitrust defenses
with an open mind,” Amazon
said in a 25-page motion filed
critic of dominant technology
companies—especially Ama-
zon—and a central figure in a
movement that favours sweep-
ing changes to antitrust
enforcement to take on the
nation’s most powerful firms.
The Senate confirmed her ear-
lier this month for the FTC, and
President Biden immediately
installed her as the head of the
agency. Amazon’s recusal
request comes at a pivotal time
both for the company and the
FTC.
The commission has an
open, wide-ranging antitrust
investigation into Amazon’s
business practices, and it
recently secured the right to
rently has a 3-2 Democratic
majority. The commissioners
have found bipartisan agree-
ment on a range of matters but
have split in some high-profile
antitrust cases, and the com-
mission’s two Republicans hold
views that diverge from Ms.
Khan’s.
Ms. Khan gets the first
opportunity to address the
request for her disqualification,
but past FTC practices suggest
the rest of the commissioners
would likely have a say.
Under FTC rules, if the com-
mission brings an enforcement
or rule-making proceeding
involving Amazon and Ms.
Khan chooses to participate,
Federal Trade Commission
chairwoman Lina Khan. REUTERS
the other commissioners
would decide on Amazon’s
motion.
Wayne State University law
professor Stephen Calkins, a
former general counsel of the
FTC, said there is “very little
history of successful challen-
involved court rulings that
vacated FTC enforcement
actions on the grounds that a
commissioner should have
been disqualified.
In a 1966
case, one
court said
an FTC
chairman shouldn’t have par-
ticipated in a pharmaceutical-
industry matter because he had
investigated many of the same
facts and issues previously as a
congressional staffer. And in a
1970 ruling, another court said
the same chairman shouldn’t
have participated in a false-ad-
vertising case because a speech
he had given while chairman
law-review article while a stu-
dent at Yale Law School that
argued that antitrust law had
failed to restrain Amazon. She
also worked for a progressive
antitrust
g r o u p
where she
advocated
enforcement action against
Amazon and warned that the
company had grown too big.
Before her nomination to the
FTC, Ms. Khan worked as a key
staffer on a congressional anti-
trust panel that conducted a
16-month investigation of large
online platforms and last year
recommended that lawmakers
take steps to rein them in.
the company. “Indeed, she has
on numerous occasions argued
that Amazon is guilty of anti-
trust violations and should be
broken up,” it said.
During Ms. Khan’s confirma-
tion proceedings in April, Sen.
Mike Lee of Utah, a leading
Republican on antitrust issues,
asked her whether she would
have to recuse herself from Big
Tech cases because of her work
on the House online-platform
investigation. Ms. Khan said at
the time she would consult
with FTC ethics officials if recu-
sal questions arose.
Under the governing legal
standards, a company seeking
recusal on the grounds of pre-
already judged both the facts
and the law in advance of a pro-
ceeding.
Among failed disqualifica-
tion requests in more modern
times, the FTC in 2010 rejected
a bid by Intel Corp. to bar a
commissioner’s participation
because he previously did out-
side legal work for the chip
maker. In 2007, the commis-
sion rejected a request that its
chairwoman not participate in
its review of Google’s acquisi-
tion of ad-tech firm Double-
Click because of her husband’s
employment at a top legal firm
that was involved with the mat-
ter in Europe.
©2021 DOW JONES & COMPANY, INC
LIVEMINT.COM NEWS WRAP FRIDAY, 2 JULY 2021
NEW DELHI 09

TWEETS OF THE DAY CP Gurnani Kris Gopalakrishnan Sridhar Vembu

Nithin Kamath @C_P_Gurnani @kris_sg @svembu
@Nithin0dha One of the challenges of Investment vehicles Recognizing when we our-
~80% of all open buy working remotely in the past operated by billion- selves have become part of
option positions at the two years has been isolation. aires...to contribute the problem we complain
end of every day are in In the long run it can make around 30% of the... about is critical to solving
losses. Buying options the employee feel left out $100 billion to be most problems. The enemy is
ruins most retail trad- and aloof from the organisa- raised by startups in us. Inner spiritual awareness is
ers. tion. India by 2025. vital.

Sebi affirms ban in CHINESE CHECKERS FK rolls out app for

front-running case e-entrepreneurs

T W
he Securities and Exchange Board of almart-owned Flipkart has launched
India (Sebi) has passed a confirmatory an app to help individuals start online
order barring 19 entities, including businesses without any investment.
individuals, from the securities market till With the newly launched Shopsy app, the online
further orders in a case of front-running retailer plans to deepen its e-commerce
activities related to Reliance Securities Ltd. In penetration, particularly in non-metros.
August 2020, the watchdog had passed an Flipkart said the new platform aims at providing
interim order barring a number of individuals digital commerce consumers access to products
and entities from the capital market after it by simplifying the process through interactions
unearthed a major case of front-running by with a trusted person. Users can register on the
some dealers of Reliance Securities and their app using their phone numbers and begin their
connected entities by using their prior access online entrepreneurial journey, Flipkart said.
to sell and buy orders by Tata Absolute Return Following the registration, users will be able to
Fund. The latest order, dated 30 June, has been share catalogues of 1.5 million products offered
issued after assessing whether its directions by Flipkart sellers across categories such as
passed against a number of entities in August fashion, beauty, mobiles, electronics and home
2020 need to be confirmed, revoked or with potential customers through social media
modified during the pendency of investigation and messaging apps. By 2023, Flipkart aims to
in the matter. In the latest order, Sebi said the enable over 25 million online entrepreneurs in
findings are “prima facie” and that a detailed the e-commerce space. MADHURIMA NANDY
investigation is in progress. PTI

Police officers detain a Tibetan demonstrator during a protest against Chinese Communist Party’s 100-year anniversary celebrations, in Delhi. REUTERS

RBI identifies probable related The merger of Bank of Baroda, erstwhile Vijaya
Online gaming platform Mobile Premier League
says it has 5 million users in Indonesia.

MPL floats new app

ALAMY
party loans given by Srei group Bank and Dena Bank came into effect in 2019. MINT

BoB to issue new

for gamers in the US cheque books

M
obile Premier League (MPL) is entering
the US market with the official launch of
the MPL app, which will be available on
the Android and Apple app store, the e-sports
and skill gaming platform said on Thursday.
Headquartered in New York, the firm decided to
enter the US after successfully completing two
S
tate-owned Bank of Baroda said it will
The lender said that total exposure to such loans were at ₹8,576 cr in the last fiscal year
discontinue cheque books of former Vijaya
Bank and Dena Bank, effective Thursday.
“Customers have been advised to replace the old
Shayan Ghosh priate disclosures were made. “In view of the obser- tions with the borrowers and all other borrowers, cheque books with the new one. The
shayan.g@livemint.com vations and directions of RBI as stated in the who have been granted loans with a moratorium discontinuation of old cheque books is as per a
MUMBAI inspection report and risk assessment report, the period and at an interest rate which is linked with directive from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
parent company and SEFL has been advised to the cashfow of the project, while ensuring that the that has mandated public sector banks that have

T
years in the Indonesian market. MPL claims to
have hit 5 million registered users in Indonesia
where it offers over 30 games on its platform.
“With our proven success in India and
Indonesia, combined with the soaring
popularity of casual real-money skill gaming in
the US, we look forward to providing millions of
players in the US with a safe, fair and incredible
gaming experience,” said MPL co-founder and
chief executive officer Sai Srinivas. MPL will
provide US-based gamers the opportunity to
compete in a variety of formats including head-
to-head matches and tournament play. It will
also allow its users to participate in free
competitions at low charges, ranging from 60
cents to $6. The first slate of games includes
Baseball Star, Block Puzzle, Bowling and 21
Puzzle, among others. SAUMYA TEWARI
he Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has iden-
tified probable related-party lending
activity by the Srei group during
2019-20, the lender said in a regulatory
disclosure on Thursday. The central
bank had initiated an audit of Srei’s books in
November. The non-bank financier said that the
total exposure to such loans were at ₹8,576 crore in
the last fiscal year. “RBI, in its inspection report
and risk assessment report for the year ended 31
March 2020, has identified certain parties as prob-
able connected or related companies,” it said.
RBI has directed Srei Infrastructure Finance
Ltd, the parent company, and Srei Equipment
Finance Ltd (SEFL), a subsidiary, to reassess and
factor in the impact of certain parties during the
finalization of the balance sheet for FY21, and to
ensure relevant accounting treatment and appro-
reassess and re-evaluate the relationship with the overall yield is maintained,” Srei said. amalgamated to discontinue with old cheque
said parties to assess whether they are related par- Srei Infrastructure Finance said its board of books from 1 July,” the bank said in a statement.
ties to the parent firm or to SEFL and also whether directors has passed a resolution to raise up to The three-way amalgamation of Bank of Baroda,
these are on an arm’s ₹2,500 crore. SEFL erstwhile Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank came into
length basis.” also received a term effect on 1 April 2019. Announced in 2018, it was
The group said it Reserve Bank has directed the Srei sheet from Makara the third major restructuring in the public
had consulted legal group to ensure relevant accounting Capital Partners for sector banking industry. While the erstwhile
experts to deter- an investment of Dena Bank was placed under the prompt
mine whether such treatment and appropriate ₹2,200 crore, corrective action framework by RBI, with
parties were related, disclosures were made besides ₹2,000 crore restrictions on lending, Vijaya Bank was among
and, based on the from Arena Investors the only two lenders to have reported a profit in
opinion , they have LP. That apart, SEFL 2017-18. SHAYAN GHOSH
come to the conclusion that the two companies did has received expressions of interest from private
not have direct or indirect control or significant investors such as Cerberus Global Investments,
influence over such parties. Charlestown Capital Advisors and Maystone Capi-
“Further, in view or the directions, in line with tal. While Srei Infrastructure Finance owes
arm’s length principles, SEFL is in the process or ₹11,117.71 crore to banks, SEFL owes ₹16,912.21
H&M reports 30%
reassessing and renegotiating terms and condi- crore, according to data from CARE Ratings.
jump in net sales

S
wedish fashion retailer H&M reported a
GR Infra IPO share 30% jump in net sales in India for the six-
Adani targets carbon negative biz month period ended 31 May, the retailer
price set at ₹828-837 said in its global earnings release on Thursday.
H&M Group’s financial year runs from 1
energy technologies, such as green December to 30 November. The retailer

G
R Infraproject Ltd has fixed a price band
of ₹828-837 a share for its initial public
offering (IPO). The firm had said its issue
will open for subscription on 7 July and close on
9 July. The issue consists of an offer for sale
(OFS) of 11.51 million shares by existing
promoters and shareholders. The OFS includes
up to 1.14 million shares by Lokesh Builders, up
to 6.41 million shares by India Business
Excellence Fund 1, up to 3.16 million shares by
India Business Excellence Fund, and up to
486,000 shares by Pradeep Kumar Agarwal. On
the upper end issue price, the firm will raise
nearly ₹963.39 crore from the IPO. HDFC Bank
Ltd, ICICI Securities Ltd, Kotak Mahindra
Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani plans
to invest in clean energy technologies. MINT
hydrogen and renewables-powered data
centres to fulfil the group’s environment,
sustainability and governance, or ESG,
goals, Adani, chairman of his namesake
group, said at the India Global Forum on
Wednesday. “We will do so by carefully
balancing our energy migration from
carbon positive to carbon neutral, and
further on to carbon negative.” Adani
Group’s green push is spearheaded by its
most valuable company Adani Green
Energy Ltd. “This sustainable investment
route has certainly paid off for our
stakeholders,” Adani said. “Since January
2020, the value of our renewables business
Vacation and business travel were the other key
reasons for which people travelled by air in June.
Delhi airport sees
operates 50 stores in the country—apart from its
own e-commerce channel as well sales on e-
commerce marketplace Myntra. For the six-
month period, net sales in India rose from
₹645.86 crore in the previous year to ₹836.6
crore in the first half of the year. Globally, sales
rose in the first half of the year, compared to the
year-ago period. “The H&M group’s net sales in
local currencies increased by 12% in the first half
of 2021 compared with corresponding period
last year,” it said. In India, during the second
HT quarter (1 March-31 May), the retailer reported
over 200% jump in net sales to ₹307 crore, albeit
on a lower base. SUNEERA TANDON

I high VFR traffic

Capital, Motilal Oswal Investment Advisor, SBI
Capital Markets, Enquires Capital are the lead
book running managers to the issue. For FY20,
the company had reported a total income of
₹6,421.06 crore against ₹5,323.11 crore a year
ago. Net profit for the period stood at ₹799.23
crore versus ₹714.51 crore in the previous year.
ndian billionaire Gautam Adani wants to
make his ports-to-power business
conglomerate carbon negative, aiding
India’s goal to expand its renewable power
capacity almost fivefold by 2030 to meet its
climate commitments. Adani Group
intends to continue investing in clean
has increased over 600 times, thereby
yielding one of the best returns across all
stock markets.” While advocating for a
Apparel retailers to
M
transition to clean energy, Adani said India umbai, Patna, Bengaluru, Pune,
should be conscious that the shift away
from fossil fuels doesn’t become
Hyderabad, Leh, Chennai, Ahmedabad,
Kolkata and Jammu and Kashmir have see demand in Q2
unaffordable for its citizens. BLOOMBERG emerged as top 10 destinations from Delhi during

RAVINDRA N. SONAVANE May and June, though most air passenger traffic
at the capital continues to fall under VFR (visiting
friends and relatives) category as corporate and
vacation travelling have taken a back seat during
BCCC issues advisory on gender-based violence shown on TV the pandemic, Delhi International Airport Ltd
(DIAL) said in a statement on Thursday. “After a
significant drop in traffic due to lockdown and
A
ffected by temporary store closures,
limited mobility and a general slump in
discretionary spending in the June
quarter, apparel retailers are expected to report
a 15-20% growth in revenue this fiscal, down
from the earlier projection of 35%, rating agency
Crisil said in a note. The growth will be on a

T
he Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC) has issued an
advisory on the portrayal of gender-based violence in television
programmes to ensure the same does not acquire vulgar forms for
purposes of titillation or to propagate further subjugation. BCCC is an
independent self-regulatory body established in 2011 by the Indian
Broadcasting Foundation to deal with complaints related to content. Apart
from exercising self-moderation in framing plot lines and ensuring that their
depiction is subtle and nuanced, television channels have been asked that
any portrayal of violence on television be accompanied with an on-screen
disclaimer, in English, Hindi and other regional languages, which states that
gender-based violence is a penal offence and the concerned channel does not
support or endorse any form of abuse. “Channels must exercise necessary
prudence and caution while scripting, filming and editing such scenes. They
should ensure that explicit visualisation of violence against such persons is
minimized,” the body said. LATA JHA
BCCC wants gender violence portrayal to not acquire vulgar forms.
travel restrictions imposed by many states during
the second wave of covid-19 pandemic, Delhi
airport has started witnessing growth in
passenger numbers slowly but steadily in June.
Most people who flew were in the [VFR]
category (48 %) which was followed by vacation
(25%) and business travellers (19%),” DIAL said in
the white paper. “Delhi Airport has witnessed
over three times rise in domestic passenger
numbers from around 18,000 per day in mid of
May 2021 to over 62,000 per day at the end of
June 2021. Similarly, the number of international
travellers grew from around 4,500 per day in mid
of May to nearly 7,500 per day in June end,” it
HT added. RHIK KUNDU
significantly lower base of 2020, when apparel
retailers witnessed a 35% decline in revenue
growth. Crisil has pegged demand recovery for
the organized apparel segment to pick up from
Q2FY22. This will depend on moderation of the
second wave as well as the vaccination drive.
“Reopening from June is likely to ignite a
gradual recovery,” it said in a note released on
Wednesday. Meanwhile, it expects the share of
online sales to touch 8-9% of overall sales of
apparel retailers this fiscal compared with 4-5%
reported by companies pre-pandemic.
Revenues in the current fiscal will touch 70-75%
of pre-pandemic levels for organized apparel
retailers, the ratings firm said. SUNEERA TANDON
10 FRIDAY, 2 JULY 2021
NEW DELHI LONG STORY LIVEMINT.COM

REPORTAGE | TALKING POINTS | IDEAS | INSIGHT | THE BOTTOMLINE

HOW INDIA INC

HOBBLED THROUGH 2020
An in-depth analysis of the FY2020-21 financial results of over 1,100 listed firms reveals some interesting trends.

The documented experience of the just concluded fiscal year offers important clues about what lies ahead; on the levers that India Inc may once again pull, as it recovers from a second wave of covid-19 and prepares for a likely third wave. BLOOMBERG

Arjun Srinivas SWEEP OF IMPACT PVR (-94%) and UFO Moviez (-83%); travel previous year, indicating a greater pile up
mint FLAGGING FORTUNES
feedback@livemint.com
BENGALURU I n aggregate terms, net sales of this set of
1,130 companies contracted 6% in
2020-21. Yet, as many as 560, or nearly
services majors Thomas Cook (-88%) and
International Travel House (-72%); hotel
companies EIH (-69%) and Indian Hotels
SHORT
STORY Chart 1: Pharma, agriculture and IT did well,
while industrials and other services suffered.
of unsold items.
Consider the plight of real estate devel-
opers, who are all carrying high levels of

R
eal estate developer Mahindra 50%, recorded a year-on-year increase in (-65%); and real estate companies Mahin- Share of companies that reported an increase in net unsold houses and have that much cash
Lifespaces entered financial net sales. In fact, this was a marginal dra Lifespaces (-73%) and Godrej Proper- WHAT sales in FY21 compared to previous year (%) locked in. With fewer houses being sold
year 2020-21 with a modest 3% increase over the 531 firms that registered ties (-69%). Pharma (82) during the pandemic, this metric wor-
growth in net sales. It exited higher net sales in 2019-20. With millions With intense pressure on revenues, An analysis of the corporate 74 sened for them. As many as 13 of the 15
2020-21 with a steep 73% drop of Indians homebound for a majority of many Indian firms took a hard look at their results of over 1,130 firms shows Agriculture (48) companies with the highest inventory-to-
in net sales. The pandemic compelled the year, niche and high-tech sectors ben- costs. For example, a cinema chain like that even as aggregate revenues 69
sales ratio in 2020-21 were real estate
people to stay indoors, but they bought efitted from the disruption. For instance, INOX Leisure bought the screening rights fell by 6%, the operating profit of IT and related services (78) companies.
fewer new homes. Mahindra’s stock of Angel Broking, an online stock trading to fewer films and incurred lower this representative set of India 67
Similarly, companies also sold goods on
unsold houses rocketed from two times its platform, saw its revenues rise 74%. expenses to keep its theatres running. Inc shot up by 30% Consumer goods (54)
easier terms. Trade receivables represent
65
net sales to six times. In spite of similar strike rates, one dif- While its revenues fell 94%, its total money that a company’s customers owe it.
Consumer durables (21)
As the annual balance sheets of India’s ference between the two years for the set expenditure too fell 95%. Still, there were And the trade receivables-to-sales ratio
listed firms begin to trickle out, the dra- of companies that faced a shrinkage in 32 firms that spent more despite a fall in AND Industrials (567)
48
indicates what percentage of sales the
matic upheavals of the pandemic year are business was the sweep of the impact. In their net sales. As many as 17 of these were 46 company is yet to realize. For 824 compa-
starting to get a bit more tangible and 2019-20, the decline was seen more at a industrials, including Tata Chemicals (net Of the 560 companies whose nies with a trade receivables-to-sales ratio
clearer. There were some unlikely win- company level than at a sector level. That sales down 1.5%, but expenses up 3.4%) revenues increased, 461 also Other services (242)
of above 10%, 513 (62%) have seen this ratio
36
ners and many understandable losers. is, some companies in a sector fared well, and Bosch (-1.3%, 2.4%). Also, in this list showed an increase in expenses. increase, representing more unpaid dues.
Note: Figures in brackets show total number of
For instance, if Mahindra Lifespaces while others faltered. In 2020-21, how- was cigarette and consumer goods major Interestingly, there were 96 firms companies in the sector; Other services includes real Companies are hoping that as economic
estate, hospitality and entertainment.
was at one extreme end of India Inc’s for- ever, the pandemic added a significant ITC (-0.1%, 6.6%). For most of them, unlike whose expenses fell despite an activity picks up, they will sell these
tunes in 2020-21, Nazara Technologies sectoral factor to a firm’s performance. the pandemic-stricken businesses, the increase in revenues Chart 2: Companies most impacted by covid-19
unsold goods and realize pending pay-
were more likely to cut employee cost.
was at the other. As people stayed inside We classified the 1,130 companies drop in revenues was in low single digits. Share of companies that reported a
ments. There is some evidence to back
their homes, more logged into the com- under eight broad sectoral categories, In other words, they were still incurring 62 decrease in employee cost (%) this expectation.
pany’s suite of online games and sports keeping in mind the nature of the busi- variable costs calibrated to similar levels of MOREOVER 51
56 52
Average
In every subsequent quarter after June
media offerings and gave its revenues an nesses and how the pandemic impacted revenue, plus sizeable fixed costs. 2020, economic recovery was steady and
83% boost. them. ‘Industrials’ comprise the largest Then, there were firms that saw an One major area of cost-cutting 31 sustained. In the September 2020 quar-
A broad-based analysis of the corporate sector in our data set, with 567 companies, increase in revenues, which potentially was compensation to 20 ter, for instance, the quarter-on-quarter
results of over 1,100 companies (1,130 to be or around 50% of the total. This is the gave them greater latitude on their spend- employees, whether in the form increase in aggregate revenues was 35%.
precise) shows that even as revenues, at heart of manufacturing. Further, we sepa- ing choices. Of the 560 firms whose reve- of laying off staff, employing The positive trend then continued in the
Other Industrials Consumer Consumer Pharma
the aggregate level, fell by 6%, the operat- rated services into IT services (which was nues increased, 461 also showed an contract labour for fewer days, or services durables goods
December 2020 and the March 2021
ing profit of this representative set of India less impacted) and other services (like real increase in expenses. Interestingly, there by pruning salaries Source: Capitaline
quarters, with a quarter-on-quarter
SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
Inc shot up by 30% and net profit climbed estate, hospitality, entertainment, which were 96 firms, or 17%, whose expenses fell (q-o-q) increase in net sales of 15% and 12%,
by 48%. In marked contrast, in the US, were more impacted). Pharma, consumer despite an increase in revenues. Among respectively. About 52% companies have
aggregate net profit decreased by 6% in goods and agriculture were three sectors them were 46 firms from the industrials firms under ‘other services’—mostly in the the 570 companies whose net sales fell, reported a q-o-q increase in revenues for
2020, according to the US Department of that acquired greater relevance during the category including the likes of Vedanta, travel, leisure and hospitality sectors—cut there were 229 that still reported higher each of the last three quarters.
Commerce. The revenue-profit dichot- pandemic, and, hence, were considered Tata Steel and JSW Steel; and 17 from the staff costs (see Chart 2). operating profits. These included compa- The strongest rebound is being seen in
omy within corporate India suggests that separately. IT services sector including Wipro, Tech Notably, for 127 companies, both sales nies that went from an operating loss in the sectors that suffered the most—
companies went on a massive cost-cutting In 2020-21, close to two-thirds of com- Mahindra, Mindtree and NIIT. and profit after tax have risen, but 2019-20 to an operating profit in namely industrials and other services.
spree, which was at an order of magnitude panies in agriculture, consumer goods, employee expenses have fallen. In other 2020-21—such as JCT, Quess and Venkys. However, this is partly also due to a lower
different from what unfolded in other pharma and IT services recorded an THE STAFF COSTS words, these are firms that fared better base effect. Ultimately, even in one of the
countries. Thus, the documented experi- increase in net sales (see Chart 1). In each
ence of the just concluded fiscal year of these four sectors, the strike rate is simi-
offers important clues lar to what they managed
O ne major area of cost-cutting was
compensation to employees,
whether in the form of laying off staff,
during the pandemic year, yet they dialled
down on compensation to employees. For
example, steel major JSW reduced
FUTURE RISK

S
most uniquely troublesome years in cor-
ome of the increase in revenues and porate India’s history, many firms man-
operating profits aged to keep their head
about what lies ahead; in 2019-20. Even in employing contract labour for fewer days, employee expenses by 12% even though it reported by the compa- well above water.
on the levers that India The revenue-profit industrials, the share of or by pruning salaries. In aggregate terms, comprises merely 4% of its total expendi- nies last year is a future Companies are hoping that as In fact, about half of
Inc may once again pull, dichotomy within corporate firms reporting an for our set of 1,130 companies, total ture. Others in this set included Reliance risk. In general, nearly economic activity picks up the 1,130 companies
as it recovers from a sec- increase in revenues employee expenses increased, but at a Jio, chemicals major BASF India, and tyre two-thirds of India Inc is fared better during the
ond wave of covid-19 India suggests that firms went actually went up—from much slower pace. The year-on-year manufacturers JK Tyre & Industries and carrying greater levels of across the country, they will pandemic year, strictly
and prepares for a likely on a massive cost-cutting 34% to 46%. Two compa- increase in employee expenses halved Apollo Tyres. Adani Green Energy unsold goods and be able to sell their unsold from a sales and profit
third wave. nies that went from a from 7.4% in 2019-20 to 3.8% in 2020-21. reduced employee costs by 64% amid a greater levels of pending point of view. That result
To capture how the spree at a scale that was decline in 2019-20 to an Within this, though, companies took very 20% increase in net sales. payments. Both these goods and realize pending of course came at a steep
pandemic affected cor- increase in 2020-21 are different approaches. About 51% of the Thanks to such cost management, firms indicate increased finan- cost, to those within the
porate India, and the different from other countries Borosil Renewables, companies cut employee expenses in fared better in the profit from operations cial stress. payments firms and also those
choices that it made, we which makes glass for 2020-21, with the aggregate decrease column than revenues. Overall, 64% of the Inventories represent around.
analyzed the financial statements of 1,130 solar panels, and Hindustan Zinc, which amounting to 10%. companies reported higher operating finished goods that were produced by a As the corporate earnings for the cur-
companies over the past three years. mines zinc. The carnage really happened Among the firms whose net sales profits (difference between net sales and company, but not yet sold. The inventory- rent quarter begin to roll out, it will not
These are companies whose latest annual in ‘other services’, where firms saw busi- increased, about 28% still cut staff costs. total expenses). The pandemic saw several to-sales ratio indicates what percentage of only capture the impact of the second
revenues exceeded ₹10 crore and whose ness stall in significant degrees. The share This number increased to 74% among companies being forced to operate at a sales the company is carrying on its books. wave of covid-19 but will also reveal
results for the year ended March 2021 are of companies here that reported an companies whose net sales fell. Firms in smaller scale. For a sizeable number of For the 750 companies whose inventory- whether more companies have learnt to
available. This analysis covers four broad increase in net sales fell from 56% to 36%. sectors that were most affected by the them, though their revenues fell, they to-sales ratio was greater than 10% in live with the pandemic better.
prisms: growth, profitability, cost man- Leading the decline were cinema chains pandemic were also the most active in pruned costs to a great degree, and still 2020-21, as many as 474 companies (63%) Arjun Srinivas is associated with howin-
agement and financial management. INOX Leisure (-94% change in net sales), reducing employee costs. About 62% of managed to report an operating profit. Of saw this ratio increase compared to the dialives.com
LIVEMINT.COM MINT MONEY FRIDAY, 2 JULY 2021
NEW DELHI 11

Credit risk funds forgo high How much a house costs in Hyderabad
A house is probably the biggest spend for most Indians. And
with urban population increasing manifold, buying a house

yield as fear reigns supreme

in a large city, which is where most jobs are likely to be, has
become difficult—the main obstacle being cost. Determining a
property’s value is difficult. Our compilation of property prices of
prominent localities in major cities and surrounding areas across
India may help you compare and make an informed decision.
Here are the prices of some properties across three bands.

No. of Average unit Average price Approximate

Location
The stance could cause investors to shift focus to fintechs and alternative investment funds bedrooms size (sq. ft) (₹/sq. ft) price (₹ lakh)

Under ₹50 lakh

Neil Borate
neil.b@livemint.com
Shamshabad 1 BHK 800-900 3,000-3,200 24-29

A
Pocharam 2 BHK 1,000-1,100 3,100-3,500 31-39
year after the shock freez-
ing of six schemes of Frank-
Nizampet 1 BHK 700-800 4,200-4,600 29-37
lin Templeton Mutual
Fund, the pendulum has
Miyapur 1 BHK 650-750 4,600-5,000 30-38
swung in the diametrically
opposite direction. Credit risk funds are Holding back
Sainikpuri 2 BHK 1,100-1,300 3,600-4,300 40-56
shying from credit risk, despite a Sebi Fund managers are
mandate to invest at least 65% of their taking lot less risk
in the current ₹50 lakh-₹75 lakh
assets in paper rated below AA+. Indus-
try executives point to a lack of environment and are
demand—corporates simply aren’t bor- holding more cash. Bachupally 2 BHK 13,00-1,500 4,000-4,300 52-65
rowing enough. A lingering sense of Average
anxiety following the Franklin episode maturity YTM Net assets Nizampet 2 BHK 1,200-1,400 4,300-4,700 52-66
Percentage in SOV,
is likely to also be in play. A direct result Fund (in years) (in %) (₹ crore) Scheme cash, and AAA
Manikonda 2 BHK 1,200-1,400 5,000-5,400 60-76
of the risk aversion is low yields and a HDFC Credit Risk Debt Fund 2.89 6.98 7,631 Invesco India Credit Risk Fund - Regular Plan 100
steady migration of customers to fin- ICICI Pru Credit Risk 2.72 7.23 7,443 PGIM India Credit Risk Fund - Regular Plan 72.55 Sanath Nagar 2 BHK 1,200-1,400 5,000-5,400 60-76
techs offering direct debt to investors.
Data from Value Research for May for SBI Credit Risk 2.2 6.74 3,497 BOI AXA Credit Risk Fund - Regular Plan 70.16
the credit risk category show that on Nalagandla 2 BHK 1,150-1,350 5,100-5,700 59-77
Kotak Credit Risk 2.87 6.33 1,787 Baroda Credit Risk Fund- Plan A 62.16
average 48% of the category’s assets sit
in sovereign, AAA-rated debt and cash, ABSL Credit Risk 2.51 6.86 1,492 IDFC Credit Risk Fund - Regular Plan 62.11 Above ₹75 lakh
Category average 48
above the 35% that markets regulator
Sebi allows in such assets (see table). Data as of 31 May 2021 YTM is yield-to-maturity; SOV is sovereign rating Source: Value Research Gachibowli 2 BHK 1,200-1,500 6,500-6,800 78-102
PARAS JAIN/MINT
According to Sebi, at least 65% of the
assets of credit risk funds must be A bias towards safety has also brought “The spread compression seen in AA shorter term paper in the credit risk cat- Madhapur 2 BHK 1,200-1,500 7,000-7,500 84-113
invested in paper rated below AA+. down the yield-to-maturity, or YTM, of and below rated issuances is a function egory.” said Radhakrishnan.
Some of this is down to tweaks in how such funds. A Mint analysis of the YTMs of both lack of supply led by deleverag- The low yields in credit risk have Kukatpally 3 BHK 16,00-1,800 5,700-6,600 91-119
the percentage is calculated with Sebi of the five largest funds in the credit risk ing, as well as their ability to access prompted fintechs and non-banking
clarifying that the mandatory 10% that category shows that average YTM is just cheaper funds under the TLTRO win- financial companies to launch platforms Narsingi 3 BHK 1,900-2,200 5,800-6,400 110-141
debt funds must hold in cash is to be 6.82%, which is only slightly higher than dow. We will always seek adequate risk aimed directly at retail investors selling
excluded while calculating the 65%. the 10-year government securities based pricing while considering these high-yield debt. For instance, True Kokapet (outer ring road) 3 BHK 1,900-2,200 5,600-6,500 106-143
This effectively brings down the thresh- (G-secs) yield at around 6%. investments, which we North targets launched AltiFi high-yield Look out for real estate data in this space for cities such as Delhi and NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune
old to 58.5%. “Mutual funds exclude the The latter, though, con- Low yields in believe will improve as debt rated AA to BBB with yields of and Hyderabad. The list is not exhaustive. Data as on 28 June 2021.
The average price is the base rate on saleable area, and excludes infrastructure charges and government taxes.
liquid component while calculating the tains a lot more duration credit risk funds supply gathers pace with 8-12%. Wint Wealth focuses on covered
Source: Cushman and Wakefield Research India
65% threshold to below AA papers. Also, risk compared with the low have prompted activity normalization.” bonds at high yields with focus on the
if the issuer is rated below AA on long- maturity papers targeted fintechs and says Amit Tripathi, CIO, space between low-yield, low-risk debt
term ratings, the fund can invest in by credit risk funds.
NBFCs to launch fixed income investments, and high-risk equity.
money market securities that could be “As far as YTMs of debt Nippon India Mutual Experts, however, remain cautious
platforms aimed Fund. TLTRO is targeted
highest rated on the short-term ratings
scale. That may be the other reason why
industry holding of high rated papers is
funds go, the yields look
similar to high-duration at retail investors long-term repo operations.
government securities “On the demand side,
and see little need for high-yield debt
given the buoyant equity market.
“I would not recommend credit risk at
Interest paid on student loans
large,” said Rajeev Radhakrishnan, CIO
- fixed income, SBI Mutual Fund.
“The IL&FS crisis highlighted credit
funds simply because the there is polarization with
yield curve is so steep,” said Sivakumar. the larger and certain selected issuers
With average maturity of such funds getting competitive funding from banks
this juncture. For those who want
higher returns, I suggest that they invest
gains from their existing fixed income
is eligible for tax deduction
risk and the issue last year in a fund in the 2-3 year range, a comparison can including through the bond markets, investments into equity,” said Vijai Man-
house where schemes had to be wound be made with the Bharat Bond ETF making their spreads unattractive for tri, co-founder and chief investment ISTOCKPHOTO

up highlighted liquidity risk. So yes,
fund managers are taking a lot lower risk
in the present environment and holding
more cash,” said R. Sivakumar, head,
fixed income, Axis Mutual Fund.
which is mandated to invest in AAA mutual funds. There is also an appre- strategist, JRL Money. Surya Bhatia accruing interest from the
rated PSU bonds. The YTM of the 2023 hension that spreads will widen when “Investors who want high yields may date of first withdrawal,
Bharat Bond ETF is at 4.82% (as of 30 RBI starts to unwind the crisis period move to alternative platforms for this, I aspire to study abroad and also implications for
June), but the difference of 2% may not liquidity and eventually tightens mone- but they need to be very conscious of the (Germany) and might need tax exemptions on interest
be significant for some. tary policy. Hence, funds prefer to buy risks involved,” said Sivakumar. a student loan for the pur- payments. Kindly advise.
pose. I have a master’s —Shashank
degree in biotechnology
from a reputed institution The key factor for you is the

Banks can deduct higher TDS for these customers
Renu Yadav
renu.yadav@livemint.com
F
rom 1 July, new rules for
tax deduction at source
(TDS) under Section
206AB have come in effect.
Under this new section of the
Income Tax Act, non-filers of
income tax return (ITR) will be
subject to higher TDS rates in
case TDS in the previous two
years was ₹50,000 or more.
So, if you did not file ITR for
the past two years, your bank
may deduct TDS at double the
applicable rate now. For exam-
ple, if a person has earned an
interest income of ₹5 lakh in
both the preceding years on
fixed deposits with banks and
TDS of ₹50,000 has been made
in each year. If he/she has not
filed return in each of the two
years, tax will now be deducted
at double the rate, that is, 20%.
“The tax shall be deducted at
twice the applicable TDS rate
or at the rate of 5%, whichever is
higher,” said Tarun Kumar, a
New Delhi-based chartered
accountant.
“At times, some taxpayers
don’t want to get into the hassle
of filing an ITR as they may not
have any tax liability. But, they
may have earned an interest on
₹5 lakh and their bank may
ISTOCKPHOTO
have deducted TDS of
₹50,000. The taxpayer may
not have claimed a refund by
filing ITR thinking that it is the
tax to be paid to the govern-
ment,” said Prakash Hegde, a
Bengaluru-based chartered
accountant. In such cases, the
bank may deduct TDS at higher
rates now, he added.
“Also, it may happen in case
and have a constant GPA of
8+. What is the procedure
to apply for a student loan
cost of borrowing and conve-
nience when you compare
both the options, i.e. overdraft
to pursue a PhD in Ger- facility and an education loan.
of housewives who may not has filed ITR in the previous many? The cost in the overdraft facil-
have a regular business or pro- years or not and the amount of —Gurleen Singh ity comes to 6.5% (5.5%+1%).
fession but may have received TDS deducted. ASK MINT And in the case of education
m
some payment for any job they “The provisions of Section You need to apply to your FINANCIAL PLANNING
loan, the cost is 9.5%. As the
have done in the previous 206AB override all other provi- bank or any financial institu- interest is allowed as deduc-
financial years. If the payor had sions of the Income Tax Act. It tion for an education loan. The tion under Section 80E of the
deducted TDS (of will apply even if loan application can be sub- I want an education loan to Income Tax Act, the tax bene-
more than Under the new the assessee has mitted for pre-approval even pursue a master’s pro- fit will reduce the cost of bor-
₹50,000), and she provisions, higher lower or nil TDS before you apply to your gramme in the US. I have rowing. Assuming a tax rate at
didn’t file ITR and TDS is applicable certificate or he desired university. The loan is two options. The first is to 30%, the net cost of borrowing
now, if she has even in cases has filed a decla- disbursed in and must be use my fixed deposit (FD) comes to 6.65%. In case both
earned interest ration in Form repaid only in Indian rupees. and use an overdraft on it. are more or less equal, you
where an
income this year, 15G/15H for non- Your application is to be sub- The bank has agreed to 1% have to look at convenience.
the bank may assessee has filed deduction of tax mitted along with an earning interest on overdraft (OD). Education loan requires an
deduct TDS at a tax returns late or is otherwise co-applicant who will also be The current rate on FD is earning co-applicant and col-
higher rate,” said not liable to file required to provide a collateral close to 5.5%. The second lateral, while overdraft facility
Hegde. the return of to protect the loan and will also option is an education loan has an easier process and does
Banks need to ensure that income,” said Kumar. be the guarantor of loan. The on which I will be charged not require a co-applicant.
the person to whom the inter- Therefore, it is important co-applicant’s income will be a close to 9.5% reducing rate. Surya Bhatia is managing
est is paid is not a non-filer of that if you are liable to file ITR, criterion in deciding the I am leaning towards the partner of Asset Managers.
ITR. Therefore, taxpayers you should, as there will be approved loan amount. first option, but want to be
should file their return of consequences in case of non- Interest paid on the loan sure there are no caveats Do you have a personal
income to avoid TDS at a filing of ITR. “Even if a person gets deduction under Section for using OD limit, such as finance query? Send in your
higher rate. The tax depart- has filed a belated return, he or 80E of the Income Tax Act. net interest payment being queries at
ment has made a compliance she will be subject to higher The deduction can be claimed higher than traditional mintmoney@livemint.com
and get them answered by
portal where banks and other TDS under the new provi- for eight years from the date of loans as unlike a normal
industry experts.
entities can check if the person sions,” said Hegde. repayment. education loan, one starts

TAX IMPLICATIONS FOR INDIVIDUALS WORKING FROM INDIA DUE TO COVID PANDEMIC
India comes on a visit to India, will qualify as NOR (not ordinarily •Salary is taxable in the country in which employment is exer-
resident) in India, if he/she spends more than 120 days and less New liability cised and an exemption may be claimed in India if the necessary
POWER than 182 days in India in the relevant financial year and has India-
sourced income of more than ₹15 lakh in the relevant financial
Taxability depends on residential status of individuals. conditions are met.
•The individuals are eligible for foreign tax credit in India on
POINT year.
Stay of 182 Stay of 60 days or more in
days or more the relevant fiscal year and
during the 365 days or more during the
the taxes paid abroad.
A non-resident/NOR individual is taxable only on his/her After taking into consideration the practices adopted by coun-
A M A R PA L C H A D H A India-sourced income, while a resident individual is taxable on Category of Residential relevant immediately preceding four
tries such as the US, the UK, Australia and Germany, the CBDT
individuals status fiscal year fiscal years
his/her worldwide income in India. This means that for resident had decided that individuals facing double taxation after consid-
All Not relevant as stay is more
We welcome your views and comments at individuals, in addition to the salary earned by them for the servi- individuals
Resident Yes than 182 days ering the tax treaty reliefs should file
mintmoney@livemint.com ces rendered in India, they will also be taxable on their other Indian citizen/ Not relevant as only the 182
A non-resident an application in Form NR by 31 March
sources of income such as rental income, interest income, capital person of Non-resident No days condition is applicable or NOR 2021 to examine whether a relaxation

I
t has been more than a year since the pandemic began to rage gains, etc., which may have been earned and received from out- Indian origin is to be provided to that individual or a
across the world. During this period, travel restrictions were side India. Indian citizen/ Not-ordinarily Yes Not relevant as stay is more
individual is class of individuals. It offered relief to
person of
imposed, and borders were closed by countries to contain the This could lead to a situation of double taxation of income in Indian origin
resident (NOR) than 182 days taxable only on individuals who inadvertently trig-
virus. This phase saw many individuals returning and working India and the foreign country. However, resident individuals may Foreign Resident No Yes
his/her India- gered residency in India due to the
national
from India, although they were employed with a foreign com- be eligible for tax relief according to the relevant tax treaty to sourced income pandemic.
pany. Also, there have been instances of foreigners extending avoid double taxation. Foreign NOR Yes In case an individual becomes taxa-
national No
their assignment or stay in India due to the pandemic. Also, they will be required to disclose the foreign assets held ble in India, he/she needs to ensure the
PARAS JAIN/MINT
Working from India while being employed abroad can trigger by them in their India tax return. following to avoid/minimize double taxation:
various implications for both employees and employers from Keeping in view the above aspects, and the genuine hardship under Income Tax Act, 1961”. •Determine residential status accurately.
immigration, tax, social security, etc. depending on the employ- caused to individuals who were stuck in India due to the pan- According to this circular, the CBDT determined the follow- •Evaluate appropriate taxability in India.
ment arrangement. Let us delve into the India income tax impli- demic during the financial year 2020-21, several representations ing: •Claim exemption as per the tax treaty, if the prescribed condi-
cations for individuals who are working from India due to the were made to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to relax • Short duration of stay of less than 182 days will not trigger res- tions are met.
pandemic. the rules to determine the residential status of such individuals, idency in India. •In case the income is taxable in the other country as well,
Taxability of an individual is determined by his/ her residential who unintentionally overstayed in India. • In case a general relaxation is given to the rule of 182 days, claim appropriate tax credit.
status in India (see table). The CBDT, after examining the matter, has issued a circular there could be a possibility of dual non-residence resulting in the Amarpal Chadha is tax partner and India mobility leader, EY
An Indian citizen or person of Indian origin who, being outside dated 3 March 2021 on “Residential status of certain individuals individuals not being taxed in any country. India.
12 FRIDAY, 2 JULY 2021
NEW DELHI VIEWS LIVEMINT.COM

OUR VIEW MY VIEW | FARM TRUTHS

HT

The country needs a framework

for a universal social security net
Everyone should have access to all welfare provisions but our coverage leaves out too many people

The court had also ordered an update of
the list of beneficiaries under the Act.
The current one is based on population
estimates of 2011 and needs to take into
account India’s increase in population.
Based on Census 2011, the total number
of eligible beneficiaries should be 813.5
million. However, actual beneficiaries
stood at 805.5 million in May 2017,
HIMANSHU declining to 793.9 million by May 2021.
is associate professor at Jawaharlal Nehru That is 20 million less than the eligible
University and visiting fellow at the Centre count even by the Census 2011 esti-
de Sciences Humaines, New Delhi mates. A back-of-the-envelope calcula-
tion using population projections for
Its original design required the SECC
to be updated at regular intervals with
full-scale surveys every five years. But
given the government’s track record
on statistical data and surveys, there is
little likelihood of this happening. The
resultant absence of updated survey
data makes it impossible to identify
beneficiaries accurately. Since most
migrants are in urban metropolitan
areas, large exclusions can be expected
in big cities. Given the complexities
involved, a simpler solution would be
to universalize NFSA benefits for the

It is the least we can do

2021 suggests that around 100 million next one year.
beneficiaries have been excluded. As the Supreme Court order has high-

E
arlier this week, India’s Supreme This is a large number of people lighted in detail, the problem is not the
Court passed several orders on being denied NFSA rations. One prob- absence of legislation, but the way our
a suo moto writ petition on the lem is that there’s no mechanism to schemes are implemented. While the

for our covid bereaved misery of migrant labourers. It took up

the case following the mass exodus of
migrant labourers amid the lockdown
during the first wave of covid. That many
identify beneficiaries. The existing list
has largely been derived from the Socio-
Economic Caste Census (SECC) survey
conducted during 2011-12. While this
NFSA and ONOR are good examples,
the situation is no different with the
various provisions enacted to safeguard
the interests and welfare of migrant
migrants left without livelihood and survey is a better source than the earlier labourers. Despite multiple laws and
food had to walk back to their villages Below Poverty Line (BPL) census of numerous judicial orders, a majority of
We must do as asked by our top court to offer compensation for lives lost to the pandemic and had moved the court, but their plight 2002, its quality varies across regions. It unorganized-sector workers have got
failed to elicit a similar response from the is generally more robust in rural areas, excluded from schemes meant to pro-
quibble no further on our disaster law. It will serve our conscience well and also the economy government. The court’s anguish was but unreliable in urban precincts. This tect them. The database of unorganized-
apparent, more so after the tragedy that is particularly true for large metropoli- sector workers and migrants has seen
unfolded during the second wave. tan cities like Delhi and Mumbai. To be little updation, so far, as revealed by the
While an order on implementing the sure, even the survey is not without affidavits of various states.

T
he devastation wrought by covid
shall rival the pain of other great
tragedies in history books that are
yet to be written. This much can be
said with certainty. What cannot,
sadly, is whether the record will
show that it nudged the Indian state into a
more caring and generous avataar. In the rich
world, the blow was mitigated by the existence
of widely laid out social-safety nets, topped up
with special payouts and income-gap money.
But in India, not only do we lack fallback
options beyond the subsistence support of
rural jobs and free food, we have seen one
family after another hurled into acute financial
misery by the loss of a sole earner. On Wednes-
day, the Supreme Court held out hope. It said
that the kin of those who succumbed to covid
were entitled to state compensation. It also
slammed the National Disaster Management
Authority (NDMA) for having “failed to per-
form its statutory duty” by not putting in place
a scheme for ex-gratia payments to covid-
bereaved families. Our apex court directed the
While the petitioners had cited the DMA to ask One Nation One Ration Card (ONOR) fault. Its methodology of beneficiary The Supreme Court order is a posi-
for ₹4 lakh per bereavement, the court left this scheme by 31 July 2021 received media identification in urban areas is ambigu- tive step towards recognizing the need
attention, various other important ous and has large errors of exclusion. for better systems and implementation
part to the Centre, which sought to wriggle out orders have gone relatively unnoticed. mechanisms to ensure the protection
of paying any money at all by arguing that this ONOR has been a flagship scheme of and welfare of unorganized-sector
law’s relief was meant for one-time events such the government from before the pan- workers. The manner in which various
as cyclones and quakes and not for a prolonged demic. Despite claims of success, its QUICK READ legislated provisions and schemes are
pandemic. In a brazen attempt to twist not just operationalization has been riddled implemented tends to exclude a signifi-
with problems, resulting in the exclu- The implementation of our cant section of India’s population. The
the spirit but also the letter of the Act, the gov- sion of beneficiaries and hardship for One Nation One Ration Card larger message from the court is the
ernment tried to have the word “shall” in its those exercising their entitlement scheme under a court order is need for laws on social protection that
Section 12 interpreted as “may”, which would under the National Food Security Act welcome but we need welfare are universal and accessible to every
have allowed it the option of using public (NFSA). From the failure of biometric schemes that aren’t hamstrung worker, irrespective of place of resi-
funds for aid offered in kind—such as grain identification to the absence of e-Point by operational shortcomings. dence or work. Such a framework for
of Sale machines and the ambiguity in universal social protection should not
rations—instead of cash. Since the pandemic entitlement across states, the scheme Too many Indians still don’t just comprise a set of legislations, but
had already been notified as a “disaster” under has not enthused its beneficiaries. have a social security shield also have the requisite flexibility and
the DMA, ruled the court, there was no escape Following the top court’s order, some and we should universalize the political will to be of aid to every citizen
from a monetary obligation to its victims. of these issues are likely to be resolved, coverage of our National Food of the country at all times. Especially so
The Centre should give up its quibbles and but that may not be enough for the Security Act so that no one in during and after a pandemic of the scale
many poor excluded from the NFSA. need of help slips through its net. that the country is witnessing.
get down to the task. Even at ₹4 lakh each for
almost 400,000 homes, going by India’s offi-
cial covid toll so far, its fiscal bill would work
out to under ₹16,000 crore, which is just a
fraction of its other outlays for pandemic aid.
The cost of the package is likely to rise over
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it added that lives lost within 2-3 months of covid deaths. Our current total is very probably India rejects firms asked Unhappy
to be ‘fair’ numbers on the principle that you
clause on to the poor I t’s a well-known fact
that the US economy is
in trouble. A rising

care about other people.

B Y D INESH U NNIKRISHNAN mountain of debt has
dinesh.n@livemint.com consumers and markets

testing covid-positive should be included. an undercount, with some states showing

························· spooked alike. The

litigation
MUMBAI medium-term growth

I t’s back to basics for the

`20,000 crore Indian micro-
finance sector as industry lob-
by group Sa-Dhan, which
counts at least 250 microfi-
nance institutions (MFIs) as
The clause allows Hong Kong-based Philip members, has asked all such
prospects of the US
economy, too, look dim.
The International
Monetary Fund recently
estimated that the US
economy will grow by
only 2.7% in 2012. Even

This was not an instance of judicial activism. mortality denial even in the face of nameless
European businesses
investing in India to
take international legal
action against the govt
B Y A SIT R ANJAN M ISHRA
asit.m@livemint.com
You care whether
Morris Asia Ltd, owner of Aus-
tralian affiliate Philip Morris
firms to deal “fairly” with debt-
ors and avoid coercion in col-
by 2016, growth will be
only 2.8%. This is a sad
Ltd, recently threatened to sue lecting dues. state of affairs for the
Australia at a global forum on The association will in the world’s biggest economy.
the government’s cigarette next few weeks discuss compli- The cumulative burden
packaging norms, which the ance issues with individual of weakness in the
firm said would violate that MFIs, Sa-Dhan executive di- housing market and fiscal
country’s obligations under a rector Mathew Titus said. “The risks add to this dismal
bilateral investment treaty with effort is to move towards a new outlook.

Our Disaster Management Act (DMA) of 2005 bodies spotted at random, but the scale of it is
························· Hong Kong. regulatory regime,” he added. This has consequences
NEW DELHI An Australian draft legisla- Sa-Dhan’s proposed code of for the world, India

D
espite a demand by the
European Union (EU),
India is unlikely to al-
low a clause in a proposed
trade pact with the bloc that
permits an overseas investor to
sue a host country at an inter-
the widow across town,
tion that aims to make tobacco conduct, which has been cir- included. The US is no
products less attractive to con- culated among members, says longer the consumption
sumers would prohibit all log- recovery officers of MFIs engine that powers
os, along with different colour- should avoid “confronting the global growth. The
ing and layout, on cigarette clients or their family mem- danger from this
packs. It would also require bers under any situation” and situation is that in the
that health warnings cover a the staff should “not enter the garb of “rebalancing”, the

has such a relief transfer among its provisions, hard to estimate. Indian death records have
national dispute settlement
agency.
EU wanted the inclusion of
such a clause, known as an in-
vestor to state dispute settle-
substantial portion of each
package, the International Cen-
tre for Trade and Sustainable
Development said on 29 June.
Although other countries, in-
house of the client for recovery
of loans”. MFIs should also not
insist on repayment “in case
there is severe illness in the
A new era? Serbia’s Novak Djokovic kisses the trophy after defeating family of the clients”.
world is turning into a
protectionist place. At
the moment, the world is
in a crisis-avoiding
mood, but it soon needs

ment mechanism, in a draft in-
vestment chapter under the
proposed trade and investment
agreement, negotiations for
cluding New Zealand, the UK
and Uruguay, have previously
attempted to adopt similarly
strict requirements for cigarette
a disabled widow,
Spain’s Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon men’s singles final on Sunday. The code needs to be ap- to awaken to this much
Djokovic is the first player other than Nadal and Roger Federer of bigger problem.
Switzerland to win the title since 2002. TURN TO PAGE 2®

and the court’s order was in response to a always been riddled with gaps, especially on
which started in 2007. Mint has packaging, Australia would be
reviewed a copy of the draft. the first country to actually im-
India has rejected the EU’s
demand on the contentious is-
plement such measures. Losing
the case, however, could cost Shipbuilders TREASURE TENSIONS
sue, as a result of which negoti-
ations on the investment chap-
ter of the pact have not moved
Australia billions in unexpected
public spending, the centre
said.
eye defence UDF looks at new law to prevent

forward, according to two per-
sons outside the Indian govern-
clutch of petitions asking for it to be fulfilled. It the ‘cause’ assigned, and a reluctance to note
ment with knowledge of the de-
velopment. They requested an-
onymity.
Commerce secretary Rahul
Khullar declined to comment
on the matter. “As a matter of
is going to be able
The Australian government
has announced it will not in- orders to tide change in temple administration
over slump
clude a clause that allows an
overseas investor to sue the REUTERS
country at any global arbitra- B Y A PPU E STHOSE S URESH
tion body in any of its future bi- appu.s@livemint.com
lateral trade agreements. B Y P .R . S ANJAI & P . M ANOJ ·························
The EU-India draft invest- ························· THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

principle, India does not nego-

tiate through the media,” he
said.
ment chapter also seeks to cov-
er intellectual property in the
definition of investment, which
MUMBAI/BANGALORE

S ecuring contracts to build

warships has emerged as
T o avoid taking sides on an is-
sue that could become polit-
ically controversial, the Con-

was thus a matter of the rule of law, which, as ‘covid’ has been reported in some places.
The controversial clause, if
agreed upon, would allow Eu-
ropean businesses investing in
India to take international legal
action against the government
for damages over policies such
as banning of dangerous chem-
icals, domestic health policies
civil rights groups say could
drag the government to inter-
national arbitration if a foreign
rights holder says the value of
its intellectual property is im-
pacted by government regula-
tion.
Such provisions could pose a
an option for local shipyards
seeking to sail through a global
downturn in the industry.
ABG Shipyard Ltd, India’s
largest shipbuilder outside
state control, entered defence
production last week by sign-
ing a contract with the Indian
to have food to eat.
gress-led United Democratic
Front (UDF) government in Ker-
ala is considering legislation to
preserve the right of an erstwhile
royal family to oversee the ad-
ministration of a centuries-old
temple in the state capital.
The dispute over the adminis-

Chief Justice N.V. Ramana said separately in a All this could leave a trail of disgruntlement,
such as tobacco control legisla-
tion and measures to reduce
prices of essential medicines.
While customary interna-
tional law requires foreign in-
vestors to sue governments in
domestic courts for any claims,
or at the World Trade Organiza-
tion dispute panel, such bilat-
national risk and may put pub-
lic policymaking in jeopardy,
the groups said.
India should reject the EU’s
demand for inclusion of intel-
lectual property in the defini-
tion of investment and the so-
called investor to state arbitra-
tion clause, according to Leena
navy to build two cadet train-
ing ships together valued at
`970 crore.
“There is ample scope for
defence contracts,” said
Dhananjay Datar, ABG’s chief
financial officer. “There will be
a positive impact on valuations
with defence portfolio in the
tration of the Sree Padmanab-
haswamy temple took a fresh
twist after gold, silver and pre-
cious stones—valued over
`50,000 crore according to news
reports citing unoffcial sourc-
es—were discovered in under-
ground vaults in the course of a
Supreme Court-ordered audit.
Centre of attention: The Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple.
helm of affairs at the temple. the state, to let the administra-
Therefore, the UDF, which has tive control be vested with the
a narrow majority of two seats in palace,” a minister in the state
an assembly of 140 seats, is read- government said on the condi-
ying to deal with any judgement tion of anonymity.
by the Supreme Court, which is The government is alert be-

lecture on that subject, “would become illu- perhaps even law suits, but no anxiety of this
eral agreements on investment
allow foreign investors to seek
legal action at international ar-
bitration bodies such as the
Menghaney, public health law- order book.” The exact value of the trove hearing a claim that the state cause the lower courts as well as
yer and India campaign coor- The navy and the Indian will emerge once the ongoing government should take over the the Kerala high court had earlier
dinator for non-profit Me- coast guard have lined up pro- audit is complete. The inventory administration from the erst- ruled against any continuation of
decins Sans Frontieres. jects worth at least `50,000 in all but one of the six storage while royal family. the erstwhile royal family in the

United Nations Commission on
International Trade Law or at
the World Bank-affiliated Inter-
national Centre for Settlement
of Investment Dispute for al-
“The health ministry’s meas-
ures to make patented drugs
more affordable, tobacco con-
trol measures such as bigger
pictorial warning on cigarette
crore in the next 10-15 years to
patrol the country’s coastline
that stretches over 7,400km,
according to the defence min-
istry. The government is also
chambers in the temple is sched-
uled to be completed by Mon-
day.
The government is fearful of
being drawn into an issue that
“The royal family was fully
aware of the treasure and it is to
be appreciated that they did not
misuse it. It is an exemplary ex-
ample of honesty and integrity.
N OA M C HOMSKY
administration. The matter is
next expected to come up before
the apex court in August.
The genesis of the controversy
is a circular issued on 2 August

sory” without a judiciary that had the freedom nature offers an excuse to sidestep the law.
leged breaches of treaty obliga-
tions.
Mint is also available for R5.50 with
Hindustan Times under a combo offer
packets, or banning a carcino-
genic chemical could trigger
claims of compensation worth
TURN TO PAGE 2®
focusing on enhancing local has the potential to be religiously
defence production with pri- divisive. It is rapidly gaining
vate participation. public attention with a vocal sec-
tion favouring the continuance
TURN TO PAGE 3® of the former royal family at the
In a goodwill gesture, the state
government may pass an ordi-
nance, in case the Supreme
Court rules that the administra-
tion needs to be taken over by
2007 by the then executive ad-
ministrator Sashidharan R., that
permitted the vaults to be
TURN TO BACK PAGE ®

to “apply checks on government power”. What’s due is due. Let’s not dither over it.

GUEST VIEW

We must plan ahead to escape the middle-income trap

labour from low-productivity agriculture to
JAHANWI SINGH high-productivity sectors, such as manufac-
turing, has been a primary channel through
which today’s advanced economies raised
their living standards.
In India, growth in labour productivity has
power) to avoid coming under the Factories Technology-intensive manufacturing: India ufacturing exports in 2019, only a marginal
Act. As per the Annual Survey of Industries must also focus on improving ‘within sector’ improvement over its share of 9.7% in 2009 .
2017-18, nearly 47% companies in India productivity through, inter alia, research and Rival countries had a much higher share of
employed less than 20 workers. These labour development (R&D) investments, better man- the same: 31% in China, 13% in Brazil, 40% in
laws created incentives for firms to remain agement practices and adoption of new tech- Vietnam and 24% in Thailand. Low R&D
small and uncompetitive, thereby affecting nologies. The experience of several countries spending in India, ranging from a mere 0.64%

is an economist with India Exim
Bank
I
ndia has a nearly 34-year window of oppor-
tunity to leverage its human resources and
realize its growth potential before a phase
of demographic burden sets in. This period
will coincide with another important part of
India’s growth story: the pursuit of high-in-
come status. Too many countries have failed
to make the leap from the middle-income to
high-income group, afflicted by a malady
now commonly referred to as ‘the middle-in-
come trap’. This trap was first conceived by
World Bank economists who found that of
the 101 developing economies that could be
classified as ‘middle income’ in 1960, only 13
managed to become rich nations by 2008.
India could use its demographic dividend to
avoid this predicament and achieve the criti-
cal velocity needed to move into the high-in-
come bracket.
Improvement in productivity: There is little
consensus on why some countries succeed in
making the transition to high-income status,
but a distinctive attribute of those that do is
productivity improvement. Re-allocation of
consistently declined over the past decade.
The annual growth rate of output per worker
has dipped from 7.9% in 2010 to 3.5% in 2019,
as per International Labour Organization esti-
mates. This was also a period of frail growth in
India’s manufacturing sector. In 2020-21, it
accounted for only 14.5% of India’s gross value
added, down from 17.4% in 2011-12. An essen-
tial first step in improving productivity would
be strengthening this sector. With over 42.5%
of the work force still engaged in agriculture,
the move of workers from farms to factory
jobs could be a source of economy-wide pro-
ductivity growth. A mosaic of strategies are
required to revitalize India’s manufacturing
sector, of which industrial labour relations is
among the most critical elements, especially
in the context of labour productivity.
Labour laws in India are rigid, complex and
archaic. Currently, industrial establishments
try to employ less than 100 individuals to
avoid falling under the purview of the Indus-
trial Disputes Act, 1947, and factories keep
their worker count below 20 (10 without
productivity. India has undertaken reforms that have fallen into the middle-income trap to 0.86% of gross domestic product over the
to simplify the labyrinthine laws. The new bears testimony to the need for a gradual past two decades, has held the country back.
code, once implemented, would increase the strengthening of tech-intensive sectors. Recognizing the need for tech-intensive
threshold relating to layoffs and retrench- There comes a point for an economy in its manufacturing, the government has intro-
ment in industrial establishments to 300 development path when labour stops being duced a production-linked incentive scheme
workers. But individual and collective dis- cheap, requiring it to transform itself in some to ensure a greater share of local value addi-
missals by companies above this threshold other way to continue its upward trajectory. tion. While this would attract foreign invest-
would still require prior Engendering innovation ments in tech-intensive manufacturing,
permission of the appro- in higher value-added, there is also a need for greater incentives for
priate government. Note QUICK READ tech-intensive activities is R&D investments by firms in India. A first
that other countries, such important for economies step in this direction could be reinstating the
as China, Vietnam and We must move right now to avert before they reach that tax exemption on R&D under Section 35
Bangladesh, with whom the ‘middle-income trap’ that juncture. If exports are (2AB), even for companies opting for the
India competes for for- India’s economy risks falling into taken as a proxy for the lower corporate tax rate of 22%.
eign investment and once our demographic dividend manufacturing capabili- “Productivity isn’t everything, but in the
export markets do not of youth begins to wane ties and competitiveness long run, it is almost everything.” This apho-
require the approval of some three decades hence. of an economy, the rism by Paul Krugman should be the guiding
administrative or judicial present status of tech-in- principle for the Indian growth story. We
bodies for dismissals. The global experience shows tensive manufacturing in need appropriate interventions to improve
Therefore, in spite of that it calls for productivity leaps India leaves a lot to be productivity—both economy-wide and
recent reforms, India’s which can be achieved through desired. As per World within sector. And we must do it now. After
labour laws stay rigid in an economic transformation Bank data, high-tech all, 34 years is a short period in the larger arc
comparison with those of powered by R&D-led technology exports accounted for of a country’s economic history.
its competitor countries. that can lend a competitive edge. only 10.3% of India’s man- These are the author’s personal views.
LIVEMINT.COM VIEWS FRIDAY, 2 JULY 2021
NEW DELHI 13

GUEST VIEW

Let’s not recast New Delhi Our national capital must

in any party’s own image have the capacity to awe
HT HT

SHASHI THAROOR SWAPAN DASGUPTA

is a Congress member is a Bharatiya Janata Party
of the Lok Sabha member of the Rajya Sabha

I T
f there is a physical space in the
country that embodies the
character of Indian democracy,
it is undoubtedly the two-mile
stretch between India Gate and
Rashtrapati Bhavan in the heart
of New Delhi. The embodiment of
state power at one end and a monu-
ment to sacrifice at the other; in
between, the Parliament, ministries
and government offices, National
Archives and Museum, but also vast
stretches of lawn where families can
stroll, play, consume ice-cream, and
wander. A seat of government, yes, but
situated amongst the people and freely
accessible to them, encapsulating their
past and present and allowing them to
dream of the future.
This is the area now sought to be
remade by the government in its gran-
diose Central Vista Project, at a cost of
₹20,000 crore to the national exche-
quer. A new Parliament building is to
be built, existing structures razed to
accommodate a series of identical-
looking ministries, a new residence
constructed for the Vice President
and, of course, a new prime ministerial
enclave erected, in an unabashed
expression of the government’s
‘edifice complex’. The barriers have
gone up and the earth-movers are
rumbling in an enterprise shamelessly
deemed an “essential service” even
when the nation reels under the sec-
ond wave of the covid pandemic.
This is a colossal misallocation of
national priorities in the context of a
national calamity. The ₹20,000 crore
budgeted for this pharaonic ‘Modi-
fication’ may not seem outrageous in
and of itself, but it is being allocated
by a government that is enduring a
farmers’ siege rather than paying
minimum support prices for grain,
that could not find the money to order
adequate supplies of vaccines before
the second wave and failed to pur-
chase oxygen supplies for citizens
gasping for air, that refused to find
funds during last year’s lockdown to
transport migrant labourers (forcing
them to trudge hundreds of kilome-
tres home) and that has offered
the most meagre fiscal stimulus of
any major economy in the face of
an economic crisis and record
unemployment.
No one contemplates renovating
their bedroom when family members
are dying in the main hall, but that
is exactly what this callous and irre-
sponsible government has arrogantly
chosen to do at a time of national
catastrophe.
The Central Vista
project puts
into concrete a
Mussolinian taste
for the grandiose
that characterizes
the ‘New India’ of
this government’s
fantasies
The irony of conducting a ground-
breaking ceremony for a new Parlia-
ment building during the pandemic,
while suspending the work that should
have been taking place in the old one
(two of Parliament’s regular sessions
were abandoned or truncated), was
lost on the government. I had been one
of the Members of Parliament (MPs)
who called for an extensive renovation
of the present Parliament building,
including relocating the Lok Sabha
in the old Central Hall, rather than
building a new one. I stand by that
view. Nor do I object to the bulldozing
of characterless 1960s monstrosities
like Shastri Bhavan, nor to the con-
struction of new offices for MPs. But
the wholesale destruction being
planned, including of perfectly ser-
viceable buildings like the National
Museum and the recently-completed
Jawahar Bhavan, all in the pursuit of
uniformity among banal and repetitive
sarkari offices, is both unnecessary and
extravagant. Many of the present
structures could have been upgraded
without the environmental impact of
destroying and rebuilding them.
But who was consulted before
making these wasteful decisions?
In overriding environmental and
heritage laws, disregarding the Delhi
master-plan and expediting clearan-
ces, the authorities neither took the
views of architects, environmentalists
or parliamentarians into account, nor
held any public hearings. The option
of preserving the newer buildings,
archives and museums with their
contents intact was ignored. Scholars
and museum experts around the
world have expressed concern about
the grave risks involved in rehousing
ancient works of art and fragile manu-
scripts from the buildings to be
demolished.
And what about the people? Rajpath
will no longer be a grand space for the
public, since it will be lined exclusively
by faceless government buildings on
both sides. As architect William J.R.
Curtis observes: “The overall effect of
this symmetrical and regimented
array of banal boxes is curiously dicta-
torial.” The presence of the PM’s resi-
dence will import the nightmares of
security and movement restrictions to
the Vista, limiting public access.
‘Lutyens’ Delhi’, in the
Moditva rendering, is a
metonym for corruption
and elitism; replacing it
THE
with standardized infra-
structure will render it
merely a symbol of govern-
mint
mentalism. Nor will it gift
the nation a great urban DEBATE
legacy. A leading interna-
tional architectural maga-
zine describes the project as “a retro-
grade and anti-ecological urban plan”
which could “turn an entire stretch of
the Rajpath, once so free and easy, into
a surveyed security zone” laden with
“outmoded architecture”.
In its desire to recast the national
capital in its own image, the Bharatiya
Janata Party government is behaving
like those husbands of Aryavrata who
change not only their wives’ surnames,
but even their first names, to signify
that their identities have been irrevo-
cably subsumed in their new lord and
master’s. Changing the physical face of
Lutyens’s Delhi is essentially a show of
power, a desire to stamp the national
capital with the chhaap of Moditva.
The Central Vista project puts into
concrete a Mussolinian taste for the
grandiose that characterizes the “New
India” of this government’s fantasies.
It is not the imperial legacy of Lutyens
that is being dismantled—that hap-
pened decades ago—but the idea of
democratic India itself.
he din surrounding the
ongoing Central Vista
project in New Delhi has
risen and subsided in
direct proportion to the
covid pandemic curve in
India. At the height of the devastating
second wave, Sir Anish Kapoor—one
of the most vocal critics of the project,
if not of its chief architect Bimal Patel
he regards as “third rate”—fulminated
that (Narendra) “Modi is building a
vulgar monument to himself on the
corpses of invisible and unnamed
citizens.” As India’s vaccination
programme gathered momentum
and even surpassed expectations,
the contrived horror of bulldozers
breaking down the iconic Parliament
building and uprooting jamun trees
on Rajpath yielded way to esoteric
objections. The redevelopment of the
Central Vista has now been dubbed
an assault on ‘memory’ and the Prime
Minister charged with not knowing
“the difference between Parliament
and plumbing.”
While the carping prose of the
aesthetes who have reinvented them-
selves as ‘dissidents’ in a
‘Hindu Taliban’ raj has
certainly enhanced interest
in a project that was ini-
tially greeted with media
indifference, it has also
had an unintended conse-
quence: the rehabilitation
of Sir Edwin Lutyens, and,
by association, Sir Herbert
Baker.
For the seven decades after Inde-
pendence, a curious ambivalence
surrounded the British Raj’s final
show of monumentalism. The grand
boulevard stretching from the gates
of Rashtrapati Bhavan on Raisina Hill
to India Gate was the venue of the
Republic’s annual show of pageantry;
the circular Parliament building
competed with the Ashokan lions as
the symbol of the Indian state; and
India Gate became the site to com-
memorate valour and sacrifice in
defence of the nation. At the same
time, or until Khan Market entered
the competition, Lutyens became a
byword for political privilege and
entitlement. Worse still, as the years
went by, the initial nod to at least the
spirit of monumentalism—in, say,
Udyog Bhavan and Ashok Hotel—was
junked in favour of the monumental
ugliness of Shastri Bhavan and Hotel
Janpath. Jawaharlal Nehru had nur-
tured the fond hope that Lutyens
would be subsumed by Le Corbusier
The project serves
functional purposes
of efficiency in
governance while
giving the grandeur
of the city’s Lutyens
zone a contemporary
touch with a nod to
stylistic continuity
and the rejection of all classicism.
Alas, never mind a new modernism,
Le Corbusier’s Chandigarh evolved
into the shoddiness of DDA flats.
The derailment of the official imag-
ination was a function of the times.
The British left behind a New Delhi
that was incomplete. Lutyens may
have had his master plan, but by the
time Lord Irwin greeted Mahatma
Gandhi on the steps of the Viceroy’s
House in 1931, the countdown to the
end of British rule had begun. The
economies of World War II ensured
that the dream of showcasing an
Empire that had moved from con-
quest to consent and co-option
remained half done.
The corresponding problem was
that the new Republic was also
engulfed by an existential dilemma.
There was somewhere a confusion
that prevented it from either reject-
ing its inheritance or evolving an
alternative paradigm. This was best
symbolized by the empty canopy
behind India Gate that, until 1968,
hosted a marble statue of the King-
Emperor in his coronation robes.
More than 50 years after the statue
was relocated to the imperial necrop-
olis, successive governments have
dithered over what should replace it.
The national philosophy that
replaced the Raj was a blend of
democracy and muddle, post-colonial
prickliness and cringe. It is not that all
decisions were kept in abeyance. Pur-
posefulness was invariably driven by
(international) events, and decisions
were, consequently, ad hoc or based
on individual choices. Never one for
collegiate decision-making, Nehru, in
particular, had a profound belief in his
own aesthetic infallibility. Subse-
quently, dodgy choices were justified
on the ground that a poor country
couldn’t afford to splurge on tasteful
government buildings. Povertarian-
ism became a justification for shoddi-
ness, bad construction, dangling
wires and stinking toilets. Like railway
stations of the pre-Modi era, govern-
ment offices were places to best avoid.
With such inhospitable workplaces,
the productivity and self-esteem of
babudom was predictably low.
The Central Vista project involves
the building of a new Parliament
House and offices for its members, the
relocation of all ministries and the
archives in the 10 buildings on both
sides of Rajpath, and the construction
of a residence-cum-office for the Vice
President and Prime Minister. It is
aimed at completing the unfinished
work of Lutyens and incorporates the
demands posed by a vastly expanded
government and also the demands of
modern technology. It seeks to clear
the clutter of decades of ad hoc-ism,
create a wholesome work environ-
ment for government functionaries
and provide work space and, by impli-
cation, a dignity of purpose to mem-
bers of Parliament. These
objectives are sought to be met by
enhancing the grandeur and majesty
at the heart of the Lutyens zone,
giving it a contemporary touch but
with a nod to stylistic continuity.
These are important functional
objectives centred on enhancing effi-
ciency in governance. There is, how-
ever, an unstated national objective
that goes beyond partisan politics.
For decades, independent India has
struggled to come into its own. The
initial challenges of preserving
national unity and strengthening
democracy have been largely met. At
the same time, the majesty and aura
of the Indian state was only patchily
established. When free India cele-
brates its 75th year, its capital must
have the capacity to awe.

MY VIEW | PEN DRIVE

A vaccine hallucination amid our unlock confusion

dings before they opened parks. This is a
RAHUL JACOB global benchmark of illogic: Nearly anyone
who reads a newspaper should know by now
that the agile Sars-CoV-2 virus struggles to
pass from one person to another outdoors,
except in crowds, but thrives indoors in
year’s lockdown, Bloomberg columnist Andy cine certificates to passports, could become “trying too many times”. Yet, when I arrived
Mukherjee, who last month won the Society a global paradigm. But, as many have at a well-ventilated and gigantic marriage
of Publishers in Asia award for opinion writ- pointed out, it is almost too far ahead of hall in south Bengaluru last Friday, a vision
ing, coined the brilliant term ‘RWA uncles’ India, circa 2021, where connectivity is often of paradise appeared. Big-tent shaamianas
to describe this localized despotism. From slow and digital literacy limited, which per- shielded us from the afternoon sun as we
New Delhi to Kanyakumari, India is gov- haps explains why our vaccination rate shot waited outside. We then marched to the vac-

A
is a Mint columnist and a
former Financial Times
foreign correspondent.
s India’s states have relaxed their
lockdowns over the past few weeks,
making sense of the conflicting and
confusing regulations has seemed like an
Indian Administrative Service exam full of
trick questions. Consider the rule in Mumbai
as it was opening up again that stores on the
left side of the street could open on alternate
days while those on the right could do busi-
ness on other week days. Of course, deter-
mining what is on your right and what is on
your left depends on which direction you are
coming from. A store selling upmarket lug-
gage devised a workaround: if questioned by
the police, they would say that half their staff
came from one end of Mumbai, while the
other staff members approached from the
other. The store pulled its shutters down
anyway, but pasted a mobile phone number
for customers to call.
Memes have been created and editorials
written about several state governments’
decision to open restaurants and allow wed-
inadequately ventilated and air-conditioned
settings. Besides, walking in parks is good for
the lungs, and also lowers the risk of diabe-
tes, both nationally mission-critical now. In
Mumbai, nightclubs were allowed to reopen
in January while schools remained closed.
What these random decisions add up to,
says Yamini Aiyar, who heads the Centre for
Policy Research, is the Indian bureaucracy’s
“command and control approach to dealing
with a pandemic”. “There is little application
of evidence to decision-making,” she says,
“It’s completely arbitrary.” Last weekend,
she and her husband and children were in
their car with their masks below their chins
when they were photographed by citizen
volunteers seeking evidence of non-compli-
ance with the government’s bizarre rule that
even families seated in their own car must
wear masks.
The puzzling prohibitions extend well
beyond the bureaucracy to resident welfare
associations (RWAs) and clubs. During last
erned by the mindset of RWA uncles, both in up from under 2 million a day in May to cination room in an uncrowded hall. It was
and out of government. This is a cohort of about 5.8 million daily from 21 June through over in a matter of minutes. As so often in
mostly privileged men, usually in their 60s 28 June after walk in registrations were India, this picture of efficiency was probably
and 70s—except for those in the civil service. allowed for all age groups. Four-fifths of because this vaccine centre was run by
Used to giving orders, they are less accus- those vaccinated thus far did not use CoWin. women, who were business-like yet caring.
tomed to listening. My apartment complex As for the claim of a vaccine certificate acting If only women could be in charge more often
has an admirably calm as a de facto vaccine pass- in India, I thought. But, that hope could have
and capable president, port, a friend visiting been a hallucinatory reaction to my Astra-
but, like so many, one QUICK READ Switzerland recently Zeneca jab, developed by an Oxford team led
inoculated against the tried to pull his up and by a woman scientist, Sarah Gilbert.
logic of US’s Centers for Complying with the perplexing received this message: My delusions continue, alas. On 1 July, a
Disease Control and Pre- bunch of rules put patchily in “This website is currently group of fluid mechanics researchers out-
vention advice. It states place as India goes about easing not available in your lined in the Indian Express how to safely
definitively that pools covid lockdown restrictions country or region.” manage indoor air-flow as restaurants and
full of chlorinated water can be like taking an IAS exam When he used a device to offices reopen—by, for instance, ensuring
are safe so long as they full of trick questions. mask his location, he was that windows are kept open and using large
are not over-crowded. able to access his certifi- pedestal fans. Reading its eminently sensible
When the government Could visions of an efficient cate—but only if he used advice, I fantasized about issuing a firman:
allowed pools to reopen vax programme be just a his wife’s mobile number Memorizing it by Monday morning should
several months ago, ours hallucinatory reaction to a jab? rather than his own. be required of all senior decision-makers
remained an eyesore. Such delusions, it would seem, I had my own share of across India. This wasn’t a case of vaccine
Our CoWin website, can extend to making everyone being scolded and overdose. The trouble is, I am just a few years
with its linking of vac- follow sensible safety advice. bounced by CoWin for from reaching RWA uncle status myself.
14 FRIDAY, 2 JULY 2021
NEW DELHI BUSINESS OF LIFE INDULGE LIVEMINT.COM

RIA MORT

The runway is back on fire

As economies across the world reopen, luxury brands return to showcasing in
front of live audiences, reminding the world we will dress up once again

The Echo Show 10 uses Amazon’s new AZ1 Neural Edge processor.

AMAZON ECHO SHOW 10 REVIEW

A speaker
that knows
Ó
where to look
Team Lounge DIOR SPEAKS PERFECT GREEK
Presented at the site of the first modern
Echo Show 10 is a display attached to a
speaker, which can follow you around

L
et’s face it. Following a fash-
ion show via a laptop or a
mobile phone screen is as
satisfying as eating a bean
sprout salad while a chef cre-
ates a gooey chocolate hazelnut cake.
Olympic Games, with Greek President Katerina
Sakellaropoulou in attendance, the collection
showcased designs inspired by antiquity and
the traditional Greek dress. Mostly in black, Prasid Banerjee
white, gold and blue, the garments combined prasid.b@htlive.com
heritage and contemporary inventiveness.

E
Fashion is an emotion, best experienced commerce giant Amazon has been slowly expanding what
live. More than 15 months after the pan- AFP its Echo smart speakers can do. The company started with
demic hit the fashion industry, luxury voice-enabled speakers, moved its focus to audio, and even-
houses are slowly returning to the cat- tually added screens. The Echo Show 10 takes things a step fur-
walk. Over the past two weeks, three of 47 ther by adding motion to those screens.
brands that participated in the Milan fash- The Echo Show 10 is a display attached to a speaker, mounted
ion week—Dolce & Gabbana, Etro and on a motorized unit that allows the screen to follow you around.
Armani—offered live events for their It uses Amazon’s new AZ1 Neural Edge processor, which takes
spring/summer 2022 shows. Dior, too, inputs from the device’s camera and your voice to triangulate
returned to a live audience showcase, with your location and have the screen turn towards you. It means the
a firework-punctuated presentation of its Echo Show 10 will follow you around when you’re on a video call,
2022 Cruise collection in Athens at the swivel as you settle into your favourite chair, or move with you in
Panathenaic stadium. Whether we return the kitchen as you read recipes and cook. But before you expect
to the traditional fashion week calendar too much, its movement is limited to the horizontal. The move-
remains to be seen, given the increased ment also means the Echo Show 10 requires more space. You’d
conversation on seasonless fashion, for probably have to dedicate an entire bedside table or a large part
now let’s relive the live shows. of your desk to it. You can turn the motion off, limit its range, or
set it to follow you only for certain activities. Amazon doesn’t use
Ó Write to us at businessoflife@livemint.com facial recognition software on this device; it employs artificial
intelligence (AI)-based software to track human movement and
ETRO GOES decide how to move.
Ñ The movement may be the new show trick, but it also has a bet-
RETRO DOLCE & GABBANA’S ter screen than its predecessors, including the Echo Show 8. The
Exploring the theme of nomadism, 10.1-inch screen isn’t as good as an iPad, but it’s a decent device
Kean Etro presented his retro ‘LIGHT THERAPY’ to stream Netflix shows or watch the news. Should you expect a
spring-summer collection as a Inspired by southern Italy’s better screen at ₹24,999? Probably, but this one does what it’s
tribute to the late Franco Battiato, lighting installations, the Ò meant to. The display adapts colour and brightness to the room,
one of Italy’s most prominent designers’ first live show which makes the viewing more natural. It also has a 13-megapixel
singers. The show, featuring shiny since pandemic at Milan camera on the front, with a physical shutter to cover the lens.
hip-huggers and louche was all about bright ARMANI With two tweeters and a woofer built in, the audio is also shot
blouses, was staged in a colours. Their GOES EASY in your direction, but it’s a tad tough to call this a device meant for
disused Milanese train signature black suits, At the recently concluded Milan music. It focuses on loudness over balance and richness. Speakers
station. sheer tops, fashion week, Giorgio Armani like Apple’s HomePod Mini and Google’s Nest Audio are much
distressed jeans, presented “Back To Where It better for music.
knitwear and silky Started”, his spring-summer 2022 The idea of putting screens on smart speakers isn’t particularly
bomber jackets collection. It was full of easy-going new, but the Echo Show 10 does take things a step forward by
were either looks, in navy, white and sand, adding motion to the mix. That novelty feature may justify the
bedecked with best fit for casual get- premium pricing, if you consider hotels and corporates as the tar-
colourful stones or togethers at the seaside or get market. It’s not difficult to imagine corporate execs walking
embroidered in gold a garden party. around conference rooms, while running a team video call, hav-
thread for a baroque ing the speaker following them. But it may be a tad too much for
touch, challenging the regular Indian smart home user, who is still getting used to
gender norms. having smart devices at home.
Find more stories on tech you can use at mintlounge.in

HANDWOUND

Do we really need mechanical watches in 2021?

You can tell the time aan Huygens and the Swiss Abraham- human ingenuity, art and creativity. time resumes. If it’s a handwound watch,
Louis Breguet. Here’s a thought experiment. Imagine an then you spend a few minutes everyday
by glancing at your By the latter half of the 19th century, the immensely complicated machine, made turning the crown and adding power to
phone or your smart technology of mechanical watches was up of a hundred individual moving parts, the mainspring.
already in place. In the century and a bit somehow working together in perfect You are what animates your watch, you
watch. So why do we more since, apart from George Daniels’s sync, powered by nothing more than the are its battery. By interacting with your
coaxial movement (patented in 1980 and natural movement of your hand, to tell watch, you are also interacting with
need watches? found in Omega watches since), and you the time. Now imagine that this humankind’s fascination with time, with
Grand Seiko’s 9SA5 movement from machine is small enough to fit comforta- the eternal attempt of our species to order
Bibek Bhattacharya 2020, there have been no “advances” in bly on your wrist. cosmic forces, to catch lightning in a bot-
bibek.b@htlive.com watchmaking technology. What has See, the one characteristic that defines tle. A mechanical watch, like all watches,
improved is the finishing of watches and time is the fact that it passes. It’s an active is a tool, but it transcends the purely utili-

H
uman beings have always needed
to be able to tell the time. That’s
why the ancient Egyptians com-
pressed time from its larger, seasonal scale
and started measuring it according to the
24-hour day. A need to give some context
to the passing of sunlight hours gave birth
to sundials, and sticks planted in the
ground. The ancient Chinese created
water clocks, or clepsydras as the Greek
called them, and later someone, it’s not
clear who, created the hourglass.
Between the 14th and the 18th centu-
ries, watchmakers continued to refine the
basic mechanism of the timepiece,
designing increasingly more efficient
movements, while also miniaturising
them. By the early 1800s, the use of pocket
watches was widespread, driven by the
inventions and innovations of legendary
figures in horology like the Dutch Christi-
movements; designs have become more
innovative; and the materials used in con-
structing watches have also undergone a
sea change. But the basic “tech” is the
same as it was 150 years ago.
So, in 2021, for all practical purposes, a
mechanical watch (and by that I mean
both handwound and automatic watches)
is obsolete. That comes down to two rea-
sons. First of all, mechanical watches
aren’t accurate. Even the COSC certified
chronometer movements that you’d find
in high end Swiss watches like Rolex or
Omega, will give you an accuracy of within
+2 to -2 seconds per day. Even the cheap-
est quartz watch would be accurate to
within 4 seconds a month.
Then there is the ubiquity of the smart
phone and the smart watch. Both devices
will give you the time, the accurate time,
at all times. A smart watch like the Apple
The Seiko SPB159J1 “Baby” Alpinist, released in 2020.
watch will give you much else besides,
from health apps to emails, at the tap of
your finger. Simply put, they represent
the cutting edge of technology, and
mechanical watches can seem hopelessly
quaint in comparison. Though I’ll person-
ally never own a smart watch, I can totally
see why it’s a useful tool. And I love quartz
watches, having grown up with cheap and
stylish Timex and Casio timepieces. If I go
on a trek, or when I work out or go run-
ning, I would, without hesitation, strap on
COURTESY @WHISKY-SITH ON INSTAGRAM
my G-Shock DW5600. That watch is a
classic of design and utility: it has multiple
alarms, has a day-date-month complica-
tion, and functions as a chronograph, a
countdown timer and a stopwatch. It’s
200m water resistant and is so tough it
would survive a fall from a three storey
building without a scratch.
Mechanical watches can’t provide you
email updates, and although some are
tough as nails, they’re not G-Shocks. But
these tiny machines represent a peak of
force that animates our world, and we are
just passive recipients of its dictates. We
mostly flail impotently against its constant
flow, either “racing against time” to get
things done, or “wasting time” by letting
it take full control by slowing down or
speeding up as it wishes. The more adven-
turous amongst us try to step outside time
entirely, either through meditation or by
other means. But only a mechanical watch
allows you to participate in time. To see
the mainspring ticking away, nestled
inside a movement that’s a miniature sea
of gears and wheels and bridges, is the
closest you will come to actually picturing
time.
Thus, a mechanical watch invites you to
have a more intimate relationship with
time. You pull out the crown, stopping
your watch and time. You move the hands
and set the time, push in the crown and
tarian to move into the realms of beauty
and wonder. With proper care and main-
tenance, a mechanical watch will last gen-
erations, and will still tell the time.
The oldest watch I own is a handwound
Favre Leuba tank from the 1940s, which I
bought from a vintage watch dealer in
Delhi earlier this year for the princely sum
of ₹3,000. After over seven decades of
existence, it gives me the time accurately,
to within half a minute every 24 hours. But
it also connects me to a different era, and
not a day goes by when I don’t wonder
about the things it must have seen in all
this time. Would an Apple watch from
2020 still function in 2100? What I do
know is that if human beings survive cli-
mate change, you bet my Seiko 5 will still
be ticking 80 years from now.
Handwound is a fortnightly column on
watches and watchmaking.