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BENGALURU, NEW DELHI, MUMBAI, KOLKATA, CHENNAI, AHMEDABAD, HYDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE* VOL. 15 NO. 280

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

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BENGALURU, NEW DELHI, MUMBAI, KOLKATA, CHENNAI, AHMEDABAD, HYDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE* VOL. 15 NO. 280

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

livemint.com

mint primer QUICK EDIT

How can India Will Jio,

solve edible oil will it not?
After Bharti Airtel, Vodafone
production woes? Idea got into the act. On Tues-
day, Vodafone Idea raised pre-
paid mobile service tariffs by
BY SAYANTAN BERA 20-25%, matching Airtel’s hike.
India’s edible oil import bill touched a staggering ₹1.17 trillion between With two of our three big pri-
November 2020 and October 2021. However, India is doing little to vate players having set out to
promote native oils. Mint explains how the government can address normalize tariffs, compressed
the problem in a sustainable way. by a price-war of attrition that
followed Reliance Jio’s market
A hefty bill entry five years ago, all eyes
India’s edible oil import bill shot up 63% to ₹1.17 trillion during oil year* have now turned to Jio. Will it
2020-21 from ₹71,625 crore the year before. The volume of imports remained follow suit? For sufficient com-
the same at about 13 million tonnes. petition to prevail in India’s
Edible oil imports ( crore) Import basket (2020-21) long-battered telecom sector, it
(in %) would be best if it does. Jio has
2015-16 69,780
Palm Soybean already swept ahead of its two
2016-17 75,125 oil oil principal rivals, and gaining
21.8
2017-18 66,944 Total switch-overs on the lure of
63.4 13.13 mn Sunflower lower data and call charges may
2018-19 62,933 tonnes 14.4 oil not lend it much of an extra
2019-20 71,625 0.4 advantage now. Commensurate
Rapeseed price hikes on its part, instead,
2020-21 1,17,075 oil
would signal a sector-friendly
*Data is for Nov-Oct period every year Source: Solvent Extractors Association of India
policy and leave Airtel and
Vodafone Idea that much more
Why did the import bill What about domestic space to shore up their finances.
1 shoot up?
India’s edible oil import bill shot
2 production?
Less than half of India’s edible
Recall that Vodafone Idea till
recently was on the verge of col-
up 63% to ₹1.17 trillion during oil oil consumption is met by lapse. Telecom operators have
year 2020-21 from ₹71,625 crore domestic production of since got relief on government
the year before. The volume of oilseeds such as mustard, dues and seen investor interest
imports remained the same—at groundnut, and soybean. In the return. A crisis of low market
about 13 million tonnes—but the mid-1990s, India had achieved rivalry was averted, but India’s
value rose sharply due to a spike in self-sufficiency after production
average revenue per user is still
the international prices of palm nearly doubled between 1986 and
and soy oil. The global price surge 1995. But after it allowed cheap far too low. An industry that is as
was driven by the pandemic- imports of palm oil from Malaysia vital as this to digitization needs
+ must thrive sustainably for bet-
induced labour shortages, higher and Indonesia at negligible
demand from China, and the duties, domestic growers lost ter overall economic outcome.
diversion of oilseeds for biofuel interest. Now, poor farmers in
production. And despite repeated rain-fed regions are the ones
duty cuts, domestic retail prices growing oilseeds, hence the
rose 35% in October, burning a low productivity. Post-1995,
hole in the consumer’s pocket.
Thus India paid a heavy price for
the tepid increase in production
was unable to keep up with
MINT METRIC
its acute dependence on imports. growing demand. by Bibek Debroy

In Karamadai near Coimbatore,

3 What steps did the
government take?
To shield consumers from the price rise,
Cops can’t take it any more.
the government often reduces import
As stolen property they have a goat
duties. This year, it slashed the duty on Its owner untraceable and remote,
crude palm oil from 36% to 8%. The duty
on crude soybean oil was reduced from
Perhaps judicial custody for this herbivore.
39% to 5.5%. In August, the government
launched a national mission on oil palm
with a budget of ₹11,000 crore, to boost the
production of oils. QUOTE OF THE DAY
Scrapping is important for the
4 Would
help?
these steps

Very unlikely. Oil palm takes 5-7

years to achieve reasonable yields.
The national mission is targeting
to add about 2.5 million tonnes of
palm oil to the domestic basket by
2030. In the near future, even with
a modest increase in consumption
due to rising population, India will
continue to depend heavily on
imported oils. Besides, oil palm is a
water guzzler suited to Malaysia
where it rains through the year.
Growing it in Andhra Pradesh,
which is the largest producer,
using groundwater may not be
ecologically sustainable.
5 What else could the
government do?
India achieved self-sufficiency in
economy. We will get all raw
the mid-1990s by focusing on
materials at lower cost by which
native oilseeds like mustard and we can lower production cost
groundnut and promoting oil co-
operatives. It can repeat that
success. The Centre can incentivize
farmers to grow more oilseeds as
well as pulses where India is
deficient. It can be done by NITIN GADKARI,
ensuring a support price to UNION MINISTER
farmers who own irrigated lands,
but are currently growing crops
like rice, wheat, and sugarcane
where production is in surplus.
Such a strategy would also ensure
sustainable use of water and land.

S TO C K TA L K DOWNLOAD THE
MINT APP
CESC VRL LOGISTICS
Kolkata licence area With a demand
continues to be the pick-up and branch
key focus , and while additions in
BUY BUY
tariff order is untapped regions,
TARGET PRICE TARGET PRICE
awaited, CESC con- we expect VRL to
₹120 ₹540
tinues to optimise clock 19% revenue
CURRENT PRICE CURRENT PRICE
₹90 costs and maintain ₹462.05 C A G R over
profits. It aims to FY21–24E. VRL
expand adoption of technologies and would be able to maintain its Ebitda
is performing well on the ESG front. margin profile at 14–15%.
ICICI Securities (on 23 Nov) Motilal Oswal Financial Service (on 22 Nov)

BHARTI AIRTEL BLUE DART EXPRESS

Bharti Airtel has The firm is confi- SUBSCRIBE TO
announced a dent of strong OUR NEWSLETTER
20–25% tariff hike growth going for- TOP OF THE MORNING
BUY BUY
across its prepaid ward. The rise in
TARGET PRICE TARGET PRICE
data plans, which market share despite
₹866 ₹7,776
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CURRENT PRICE CURRENT PRICE
₹759.50 of revenue. While we ₹6,754.3 (approximately 25%
were building in tar- above the competi-
iff hikes for FY23, this hike removes tors) is expected to be driven by
an overhang earlier than expected. unbeatable record in reliability.
Edelweiss Securitie (on 22 Nov) Nirmal Bang Securities (on 23 Nov)

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PLAIN FACTS

Boeing, Airbus resume

their battle in the skies
BY HOWINDIALIVES.COM

A
s a prominent exhibition for the aviation industry, last week’s Dubai Airshow was significant in another context. It
was the first air show since the covid-19 pandemic made air travel anathema. It was business as usual, as the world’s
top two aircraft manufacturers announced new customer orders. Airbus amassed orders for 408 aircraft, led by 255
from private equity firm Indigo Partners and 111 from leasing company Air Lease Corporation. Boeing secured orders for
98 aircraft, including 72 from India’s newest airline, Akasa Air. Both said business was picking up, after nearly two years.
Investors tend to agree. The share price of European company Airbus has bounced back and is only 19% away from its
pre-pandemic high. Boeing is still 45% away from its pre-pandemic high, but the American manufacturer has had to deal
with the fallout of two fatal accidents involving the 737 Max, the model that it sees as its current mainstay. That seems behind
it now and aircraft of that make are flying again.
Gross orders of both companies have comfortably crossed 2020 levels. Gross orders include both firm orders and future
commitments. Further, as deliveries happen over several years, there can be cancellations and alterations. In fact, net orders,
a more accurate measure of actual orders, declined from 80-90% of gross orders between 2010 and 2015 to 60-70% just before
the pandemic. Net orders for 2021 are not available. Yet, gross orders have increased significantly, which should rekindle
a rivalry that has swung both ways over the past decade.

The Airbus stock has recovered better After the depths of 2020, both Airbus
than Boeing's from its covid-19 lows and Boeing are on the ascent
Share prices rebased to 100 (1 November 2011) to enable comparison Gross orders for new aircraft Airbus Boeing
800
Airbus
1,800

700
1,600

600 1,400

1,200
500

1,000
400
800

300
600

200 400
Boeing
200
100

0
2012 2021
0
Nov 19 Nov Gross orders include firm orders and commitments,
and don't always conclude in deliveries.
2011 2021
Source: Yahoo Finance, Company releases, news reports

+
Domestic Recovery Select leading domestic markets like
Russia and the US are recovering well
WORLDWIDE, THE domestic segment is leading the aviation Change in revenue passenger km in September 2021
over September 2019 (in %)
recovery. In September, international air passenger traffic,
measured in passenger kilometers, was about 31% of September Russia 29.3
2019 levels, while domestic was about 76%, according to the
International Air Transport Association (IATA). Barring the odd US -12.8
market such as Russia, domestic air traffic has not matched pre- Brazil -17.3
pandemic levels, but the signs are good.
In September, China and the US, which account for about one- China -26.2
third of all domestic air traffic, were about 74% and 87% of their
corresponding September 2019 levels. India, by comparison, was India -41.3
59%, according to IATA. Reflected in the US recovery is the new Japan -65.5
aircraft pipeline of United Airlines, one of the leaders in the US. In
2021, it has taken deliveries of 22 aircraft from Boeing, 19 of Australia -80.3
which are the 737 Max. This year, it has also ordered another 258 Revenue passenger km is the number of passengers
planes from Boeing, all of them 737 Max. multiplied by the total distance traveled.
Source: International Air Transport Association (IATA)

Airbus dominates Indian skies with

a two-thirds share of seat capacity
Indian Battle
Seat capacity in India by aircraft manufacturer IN THE Airbus-Boeing battle, much pivots around the 737 Max.
Airbus Boeing Others Launched in May 2017, it was grounded worldwide in March
0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 2019 after two accidents that killed 346 passengers. Following
IndiGo the payment of penalties and compensation and rectification of
issues, the US cleared the aircraft to fly in November 2020. Other
Air India countries have been following suit. SpiceJet, which has the
SpiceJet maximum 737 Max among Indian airlines, last week did a test
flight in a prelude to a re-introduction.
Go First
In India, Airbus has opened a big lead, largely due to IndiGo.
Vistara Airbus has a seat capacity of 68% and Boeing 26% of the 120,000
AirAsia
seats, according to data from the Directorate General of Civil
Aviation. However, Akasa has opted for Boeing. Further, the Tata
Air India Express group recently bought Air India, whose fleet is split equally. Tatas
Data as of 15 October 2021. also own AirAsia and Vistara, which are Airbus-dominated. If the
Source: Directorate General of Civil Aviation 737 Max does well, it will up the ante in the Boeing-Airbus rivalry.

Missing Bulge Demand for large passenger

planes has tailed off
IN MAY, Airbus said it expected the commercial aircraft market Net orders for A350 and A380 (includes current
year cancellations)
to recover to pre-covid levels between 2023 and 2025, led by the
single-aisle segment. Thus, it increased the production rate of the 272
A320, its single-aisle mainstay and the most popular aircraft in
Indian skies, from 40 in the September quarter to 45 this quarter.
It is looking at a production rate of 64 by mid-2023 and has asked
suppliers to prepare accordingly. Amid the pickup, one thing that
is missing is demand for larger aircraft like the A350 and A380, 95
which ply longer, international routes.
The action is expected to largely be in the single-aisle segment, 36 41 44
34
A320 for Airbus and 737 for Boeing. While Airbus is exuding -12 -19 -1 -38 -11
quiet confidence, Boeing has its tail up. Over the last decade,
Boeing has lost ground to Airbus. Its response, the 737 Max,
faltered in its first flight. How it fares in its second will shape the
battle in the commercial skies. 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Source: Airbus
www.howindialives.com is a database and search engine for
public data AHMED RAZA KHAN /MINT

PEANUTS by Charles M. Schulz

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02 WEDNESDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2021

BENGALURU ECONOMY & POLICY LIVEMINT.COM

m MINT SHORTS
NaBFID to begin lending ops with
Centre, states plan to revise FM launches
schemes to
boost J&K’s
190-200 big infrastructure projects
New Delhi: The National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and
Development (NaBFID) is likely to begin its lending operations
with about 190-200 big infrastructure projects in the railways,
GST slabs to raise extra ₹3 tn economy
Staff Writer
roads and energy sector, its newly appointed chairman K.V. feedback@livemint.com
Kamath said. Last month, the government had announced the NEW DELHI
appointment of the veteran banker as the chairperson of the
A GST council panel will examine proposals to raise the 5% slab to 7% and the 18% slab to 20%
F
newly set up development finance institution, aimed to catalyse inance minister Nirmala
investment in the fund-starved infrastructure sector. PTI Sitharaman on Tuesday
launched a number of
Gireesh Chandra Prasad financing schemes for individ-
Govt mulls more sops for those gireesh.p@livemint.com uals and businesses during the
second day of her visit in
who scrap old cars for new ones NEW DELHI
Jammu & Kashmir, said an

A
HT
top tax committee is set to official statement.
weigh an increase in India’s A ₹200 crore cluster devel-
goods and services tax opment fund of Small Indus-
(GST) slabs to raise an extra tries Development Bank of
₹3 trillion revenue annu- India (Sidbi), a J&K Bank
ally, a person aware of the plans said. scheme for ₹5 lakh financial
Proposals to increase the 5% slab to assistance to girls in the age
7% and the 18% slab to 20% will be exam- group of 18-35 years to start a
ined by a group of state ministers set up business and a Punjab
by the GST Council, the person cited National Bank scheme for
above said on condition of anonymity. meeting credit requirements
The additional tax revenue will be of up to ₹2 crore for hotel and
shared equally by the Centre and states. tourism industry are among
New Delhi: The government is considering a proposal to The tax hike will help stabilize tax rev- them, the statement said.
provide more tax-related concessions on vehicles that are enues for the Centre, which is facing a During her visit, Sitharaman
purchased after scrapping old vehicles under the recently shortfall after the recent fuel duty cuts also handed over sanction let-
launched National Automobile Scrappage Policy, Union and create space for spending on welfare ters to 145 beneficiaries of dif-
minister Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday. While inaugurat- schemes. Equally, it will save states from Both the central and state governments are facing revenue pressures owing to higher spending. BLOOMBERG ferent banks amounting to
ing Maruti Suzuki Toyotsu India’s first government-ap- the upcoming fiscal cliff when the GST ₹306 crore.
proved scrapping and recycling facility for end-of-life vehi- compensation from the central govern- income tax rates and taxes on petrol and essential items. made by a committee of state and cen- This included sanction let-
cles (ELVs), Gadkari also said the scrappage policy is going ment expires in June next year. diesel have already been reduced. What A second person, who is also privy to tral officials on Saturday. ters to credit-linked schemes
to reduce pollution. PTI Major state economies such as Guj- is left is only GST,” the person cited ear- the discussions in the Council, said a Other proposals include a revision in like the Pradhan Mantri
arat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharash- lier said. “If we raise the merit GST rate final decision is yet to be taken. “Talks the rates of compensation scheme Employment Generation Pro-
tra, Punjab, and Uttar Pra- on slab rationalization are meant for small businesses and the GST gramme (PMEGP) and the
World Bank to provide $250 mn desh are big recipients of SHORING UP REVENUES on, but there is a view that rate on precious metals. Some states are Mudra scheme.
GST compensation. more study is needed pitching for the slab revision from 1 April The PMEGP scheme offers
loan for school learning project Both the central and THE additional tax THE hike will help IT will also save states before we implement this. 2022, the first person cited above said. financial assistance to set up
New Delhi: The World Bank will provide $250 million loan for state governments are fac- revenue will be
shared equally by
stabilize tax revenues from the upcoming
for the Centre, which fiscal cliff when the
Major structural changes An email sent to the finance ministry on new enterprises, while the
a school education project in Andhra Pradesh, which will cover ing revenue pressures the Centre and is facing a shortfall GST compensation should not be made in a Tuesday remained unanswered at the Mudra loans are for non-cor-
over 5 million students in the southern state. “The Government owing to higher spending states after fuel duty cuts expires in June 2022 hurry,” said the person, time of publishing. After the introduc- porate, non-farm small and
of India, Government of Andhra Pradesh and the World Bank on needs and the economic who also spoke on the tion of GST in 2017, the GST Council has micro-enterprises.
18 November 2021 signed the legal agreements for $250 million impact of the second wave condition of not being announced several rounds of tax reduc- To accelerate economic
for a project which aims to improve quality of learning for over of the covid-19 pandemic in the first half from 5% to 6%, it could fetch about named because a ministerial panel is yet tions as the new tax regime brought growth, banks will also
5 million students in the state of Andhra Pradesh,” an official of the current fiscal. ₹40,000 crore to ₹50,000 crore a year,” to consider it. A group of ministers led transparency into the actual tax burden increase their ground-level
release said on Tuesday. PTI “Borrowing to meet the revenue gap said the person. Merit rate is the lowest by Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj on goods and services. However, this has credit in Jammu & Kashmir,
is not feasible. Corporate and personal slab above the zero-rate applicable on Bommai will examine the proposals led to an erosion of the indirect tax base. the statement said.

Centre may delay labour reform

roll-out to deter more backlash
PTI
What covid testing costs around the world Shimla tops NITI’s
As countries open up for fully vaccinated people and do away with quarantine norms, testing remains a key travel requirement—the
+ last bastion of mitigation efforts to prevent the spread of covid-19. However, the high price of testing and multiple testing require-
ments in some places remain an impediment to travel. In contrast to India, an RT-PCR test in other countries can range from $60 to
$161 (₹4,000 to ₹12,000). Here’s the global trend on the price of RT-PCR tests:
1st SDG Urban Index
Divya Rajagopal Gireesh Chandra Prasad Dhanbad, Meerut, Itanagar,
divya.rajagopal@htlive.com
gireesh.p@livemint.com Guwahati, Patna, Jodhpur,
NEW DELHI Kohima, Agra, Kolkata, and
Faridabad were the laggards

S
CANADA: The testing FRANCE: It has one UK: An RT-PCR test for GERMANY: If you are travelling from Frankfurt airport, himla has topped a rank- with Dhanbad as the lowest
requirement is the same of the cheapest travel purposes in the UK depending upon the urgency, the price of the test goes ing of 56 cities in India performer.
as the US. The cost of a prices of RT-PCR is between £59 and £120 up. A test result delivered after 24 hours costs €69 on sustainable develop- These cities scored between
test from the designated tests in the Schengen (₹5,883-₹13,462) (₹5,727), but it can go upwards of €235 (₹19,505) plus
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans to defer labs that Canada region, at €50 or VAT if you want the test results in 35 minutes. ment parameters such as elim- 52.43 (Dhanbad) and 58.57
the implementation of contentious labour reforms until recognizes is roughly ₹4,186 for a test. inating poverty, ensuring (Faridabad).
after Assembly elections in key states next year, according ₹4,000. Within Canada, Greece quality education, and gender Mint reported on 19 Novem-
it is free for individuals and Italy:
to people with knowledge of the matter, fearing a backlash €40 to €60 equality, federal policy think ber that NITI Aayog will rank
who want to get tested
similar to the one that forced him to reverse on some farm for medical reasons. But (₹3,320-4,980) tank NITI Aayog said on Tues- cities based on their SDG per-
laws last week. BLOOMBERG for travel purposes, the day. formance to fuel competition
cost is CAD 150 to CAD THE MALDIVES: Himachal Pradesh’s capital among them on welfare goals.
200 (₹8,800- ₹11,200). It requires was followed by Coimbatore, The SDG Urban Index ranks
Parle Products hikes biscuit prices travellers to get
tested when they Chandigarh, 56 urban areas on
Thiruvanantha- Coimbatore, 77 SDG indicators
by 5-10% as input cost increases board the flight to
the country and puram, Kochi, Chandigarh, across 46 targets
New Delhi: Leading food company Parle Products has increased also when they Panaji, Pune, of the SDG frame-
depart. The cost of Kochi, Panaji,
the prices between 5% and 10% across categories as the input cost an RT-PCR test is Tiruchirapalli, Pune, work. The idea is
has gone up substantially after the rise in prices of raw materials, US: The Centre for Disease Control insists Ahmedabad, and
that travellers entering the country get tested
approximately
Ahmedabad and to strengthen
such as sugar, wheat and edible oil, said a company official. In the 18 hours before their departure even if they
between Nagpur, accord- localization of the
biscuit segment, Parle, which owns popular brands such as Parle $65 and $90 ing to the first Nagpur were SDG framework
are vaccinated. These tests are to be taken in
S u s t a i n a b l e among the top 10 and ensure close
SWITZERLAND: At Zurich (₹4,810-₹6,660)
G, Hide & Seek and KrackJack, has increased the prices by 5-10% designated ICMR testing labs in India that
provide a QR code. The cost of an RT-PCR airport travellers must pay
and 7-8% in the rusk and cake segments, respectively. PTI between CHF 135 and 380 Development monitoring of
test in the US is anywhere between
$150 and $200 (₹11,200-14,000). (₹10,791-30,371) to get an Goals (SDG) progress at the
RT-PCR test done. It is one of
INDIA: The RT-PCR test in India
urban index developed by Niti city level.
Mondelez India’s FY21 net profit the most expensive places to
get tested.
costs between ₹900 and ₹4,000. Aayog in partnership with Cities are fast becoming
Germany’s federal ministry for engines of growth and the
jumps three-fold to ₹1,001 crore For travel to certain countries such
as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) economic cooperation and SDG urban index and dash-
UAE: The cost of the RT-PCR test in UAE is AED 150 or or Canada, the cost is ₹3,900. India
New Delhi: Confectionary major Mondelez India Foods Pvt. ₹3,000. But the UAE wants travellers from India to also requires all incoming travellers
development known as BMZ board will go a long way in set-
Ltd’s net profit surged over three-fold to ₹1,001.34 crore and its provide a negative report 72 hours prior to departure and to get an RT-PCR test done 72 hours and German development ting up a robust SDG monitor-
revenue from operation grew over 11% to ₹7,974.61 crore in the also a rapid RT-PCR test taken six hours before before the travel. The cost will agency GIZ. ing system in our cities and is a
pandemic hit FY21, as per regulatory documents. Mondelez had departure. The cost of a rapid RT-PCR test in Mumbai and depend on the country from where The top ten cities scored milestone in our SDG localiza-
Delhi airports is anywhere between ₹4,000 and ₹4,500. the traveller is visiting India.
logged a net profit of ₹251.96 crore in FY20, while its revenue between 75.5 and 69.79 out of tion journey, NITI Aayog vice
Source: Heathrow airport, Emirates Airlines, Frankfurt Airport, Zurich Airport, VFS Global, Maldives Immigration
from operation in that year was at ₹7,167.88 crore. PTI 100. chairman Rajiv Kumar said.
PARAS JAIN/MINT

India urges US to restore duty-free export benefits withdrawn in 2019 CORRECTIONS AND
CLARIFICATIONS
Mint welcomes comments,
Asit Ranjan Mishra ria determined by the US Con- allowing the import of cherries “The US and India also look for- request for table grapes access suggestions or complaints
asit.m@livemint.com gress. The US and India also and alfalfa hay from the US. ward to signing the Systems to the US, and India agreed to about errors.
NEW DELHI exchanged views on potential The US had withdrawn the Approach Operational Work work to finalize the mutually
Readers can alert the
targeted tariff reductions,” the GSP benefits, which allowed Plan for the export of pome- agreed export certificate to
newsroom to any errors in the

F
or the first time since the
Generalized System of
Preferences (GSP) was
withdrawn in June 2019, India
urged the US to restore the
export benefits.
“The ministers reviewed
their particular interests for
achieving progress in the area
of market access. India high-
lighted its interest in restora-
tion of its beneficiary status
under the US GSP programme;
the US noted that this could be
considered, as warranted, in
relation to the eligibility crite-
two countries said in a joint
statement after the Trade Pol-
icy Forum (TPF) meeting
co-chaired by trade minister
Piyush Goyal and US trade rep-
resentative (USTR) Katherine
Tai on Tuesday.
The TFP meeting was held
after four years.
In 2019, Goyal had said India
accepted the decision of the US
to withdraw the GSP to its
exporters as it is no more an
underdeveloped country.
Both sides projected bilateral
merchandise trade in 2021 to
USTR Katherine Tai and commerce and industry minister Piyush
Goyal co-chaired the TPF meeting on Tuesday.
surpass $100 billion, and
directed the TPF working
groups to develop plans of
action for making substantive
progress by March 2022 so that
specific trade outcomes could
REUTERS
be finalized in an inter-sessional
meet to be held in mid-2022.
While the US agreed to allow
market access for mangoes and
pomegranates arils from India,
New Delhi reciprocated by
duty-free entry of nearly 2,000 granate arils from allow the impor- paper by emailing us, with your
products worth $6 billion from India to the US. The GSP benefits tation of US pork full name and address to
India into the US, benefitting India intends to allowed and pork prod- feedback@livemint.com.
exporters of textiles, engineer- finalize phyto-san- duty-free entry ucts. “They also
ing, gems and jewellery and itary work to allow agreed to engage It is our policy to promptly
of nearly 2,000 respond to all complaints.
chemical products. “The minis- the importation of on US concerns
products worth Readers dissatisfied with the
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LIVEMINT.COM DEALS, TECH & STARTUPS WEDNESDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2021

BENGALURU 03

Blume Fund
m MINT SHORTS
Nothing raises $50 mn from Karan
NoBroker becomes India’s IV marks its
Johar, Yuvraj Singh and others
New Delhi: Consumer technology brand Nothing on Tuesday
said its $50 million funding round announced last month had
seen participation from film producer Karan Johar, cricketer
first realty startup unicorn first close at
$105 million
Yuvraj Singh and others. In October, Carl Pei-led Nothing had
announced the completion of a Series A extension of $50 million Joseph Rai
(around ₹376 crore) from strategic and private investors. TEAM TC joseph.rai@livemint.com
Proptech firm hits a valuation of $1.01 bn after raising $210 mn from General Atlantic, others NEW DELHI

Zebra Technologies appoints

B
lume Ventures, an inves-
Tarush Bhalla & Nikhil Patwardhan Currently, the NoBrokerHood plat- tor in startups such as
Rajnish Gupta as sales VP BENGALURU/MUMBAI form has close to 60 brand sellers. edtech unicorn Unacad-
The company has tied up with nearly emy, warehouse robotics firm

O
nline property lease and 40 financial institutions to provide GreyOrange and beauty mar-
purchase platform instant home loans for its customers. ketplace Purplle, has marked
NoBroker on Tuesday The average ticket size of these home the first close of its fourth fund
became India’s first loans stands at roughly ₹70 lakh. at $105 million.
proptech unicorn, after NoBroker claims to facilitate 4,000 The early-stage venture cap-
raising $210 million in a Series E fund- buy and sell transactions every month. ital firm is expected to make the
ing round led by General Atlantic, It claims to have 7.5 million properties final close at around $180 mil-
Tiger Global Management and Moore registered on its portal, with more than lion-$200 million by March
Strategic Ventures. 16 million individuals having used its next year, Blume said in a state-
NoBroker said the round was con- services. ment.
ducted at a valuation of $1.01 billion. “The buy-sell market has started The target corpus for the lat-
With this, the company has raised $361 doing very well. We will be making sig- est fund is nearly double the
New Delhi: Zebra Technologies Corporation has million across several equity rounds. nificant investment in that market over size of the third fund that had
appointed Rajnish Gupta as its sales vice president for India The company said it plans to use the the next 4-5 years. The segment was marked the final close at $102
and sub-continent business. Prior to joining Zebra Tech- money raised to enter 50 more cities pretty much stagnant for 6-7 years million last February.
nologies, Gupta held various leadership positions at IT over the next two years. It will also before covid because of multiple rea- The new fund—Blume Fund
companies like Hewlett Packard and Microsoft in India. He invest heavily in expanding its technol- sons, whether it is demonetization, or IV—will stick to its core strat-
will be based out of Gurugram. “We will continue to work ogy and product function. other issues. But we think the next 4-5 egy of betting on technology
closely with our local partners to introduce industry tai- NoBroker, which has close to 150 years will be very positive for buying startups at
lored solutions to help our customers intelligently connect workers across its technology and and selling points, for consumption as the pre-
their people, assets and data to make business-critical deci- product functions, said it plans to dou- well as investment,” said Saurabh Garg, seed to pre-
sions,” said Gupta. STAFF WRITER ble the count over the next year. NoBroker operates a brokerage-free real estate platform in six key metros. MINT co-founder and chief business officer, Series A
The seven-year-old startup operates NoBroker. “The second wave (of covid) funding stages. It will continue
a technology-based brokerage-free real for gated societies. It plans to scale its the future, NoBroker’s product stack wasn’t as bad when it comes to demand to invest in startups across con-
Haber raises $20 million in funding estate platform available in six key met- presence from 10,000 gated communi- will find relevance in several under- (for rentals),” he added. sumer internet, small and mid-
ros—Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Chen- ties to 100,000. regulated developing markets around Over the next two fiscal years, real size business (SMB) marketpla-
round led by Ascent Capital nai, Hyderabad and Delhi-NCR. “NoBroker’s digital-first approach to the world,” said Shantanu Rastogi, estate buying is expected to contribute ces and Indian founders-led
Mumbai: Industrial robot maker Haber on Tuesday announced “We are in a business in which you efficiently solve renting, buying, main- managing director, General Atlantic. to almost 60% of NoBroker’s overall software and enterprise tech-
raising $20 million (about ₹149 crore) in a funding round led by can’t multiply 10 times within a month tenance and related needs for real The company also provides value- revenues, owing to higher ticket sizes. nology companies that have
Ascent Capital. Accel, Elevation Capital, Beenext, Temasek part- by giving cashbacks, but once you have estate owners, tenants, buyers, resi- added services including arranging Home and financial service verticals the potential to go global.
ner Mukul Chawla and the founders of GreyOrange, another built something, nobody else can are expected to contribute 25%. Ashish Fafadia, partner at
robot as a service company, SamayKohli and Akash Gupta, also snatch it from you within a month. EXPANSION PLANS “NoBroker started as a real estate Blume, said the venture capital
participated in the round, according to a statement. PTI So, basically, it takes time to get platform. Over the last 2-3 years, firm’s existing anchor Limited
built, but once it is built, it’s a very THE company plans THE proptech firm IT claims to have THE company has we have become a one-stop shop Partners (LPs) helped in the
strong business,” Amit Kumar to use the money
raised to enter
will also invest 7.5 mn properties
heavily in expanding registered on its
tied up with nearly
40 financial
for everything relating to a cus- fund’s first close.
Indian IT industry to hire 450,000 Agarwal, co-founder and chief 50 more cities over its technology and portal and facilitates institutions to tomer’s real estate journey. This Blume’s LP base includes
executive, said in an interview. includes searching for a home, overseas institutional inves-
workers in the second half of FY22 “In terms of usage of funds, we
the next two years product functions 4,000 deals a month provide home loans
shifting, paying rent, home loans, tors, domestic wealth manage-
New Delhi: India’s IT services industry may witness a gross will be making our technology interiors or even managing your ment platforms, family offices
employee addition of 450,000 in the second half of financial year team much stronger, expanding to 50 dential societies and developers is par- home loans, packers and movers, entire society. Whatever customers as well as seasoned entrepre-
2022 (H2FY22), according to a study by market intelligence firm cities in the next 2-3 years and we are adigm-shifting. Focused execution essential home services, legal docu- need to do for real estate, they should neurs, Fafadia said without dis-
UnearthInsight. The report titled ‘IT Industry Q2 Insights & going to aggressively invest in our com- with a customer-first mindset of the mentation and online rent payments. It be able to do end to end at NoBroker,” closing their identities.
FY22 Forecast’ said that the IT industry is expected to have a net munity NoBrokerHood app,” he added. founders bodes well for NoBroker’s also allows direct-to-consumer (D2C) said Akhil Gupta, co-founder and chief Blume closed its debut fund
+ employee addition of 175,000 in H2FY22 as there will be an attri- NoBroker also offers apartment continued penetration in this market brands to sell to residents in gated com- tech and product officer, NoBroker. in 2011 at ₹100 crore (around
tion rate of around 17 to 19%. PTI management software NoBrokerHood solving for the toughest problems. In munities through NoBrokerHood. tarush.b@livemint.com $20 million).

GlobalBees adds 3 brands to its portfolio Biryani By Kilo prepares a war chest for
Debjyoti Roy
debjyoti.roy@livemint.com
acquisitions; eyes foreign joint ventures supplements, sports nutrition
and nutritional supplements
NEW DELHI for different age groups.
Its portfolio has over 250 Debjyoti Roy million funding commitments

G
lobalBees Brands Pvt. varieties of vitamins, minerals, debjyoti.roy@livemint.com from existing investors and
Ltd, a Thrasio-style amino, antioxidants, herbal NEW DELHI through inbound interest
direct-to-consumer extract, proteins and collagen- from potential investors.

(D2C) venture, which aggre-
gates and backs e-commerce
brands, has added three more
startups to its portfolio.
The company has picked up
majority stakes in dietary sup-
plements maker HealthyHey,
haircare brand Rey Naturals
and eyewear brand Intellilens
for undisclosed amounts.
GlobalBees was founded by
FirstCry founder Supam
Maheshwari and Nitin Agar-
wal, former executive of Edel-
weiss Financial Services, with
a corpus of $75 million. It has
acquired eight startups since
its launch earlier this year.
Agarwal, the chief executive
officer of GlobalBees, said the
startups have a promising
growth trajectory along with a
proven business model.
Earlier this month, Global-
Bees had added fashion jewel-
lery brand Yellow Chimes and
innovative home care brand
Absorbia to its portfolio. In
August, it had invested in mil-
lennial skincare brand Prolixr,
women’s health solutions firm
B
based supplements. iryani and kebab deliv- “Our investors won’t hesi-
Ahmedabad-based Rey Nat- ery chain Biryani By Kilo tate to invest more if we bring
urals sells natural hair care is planning to ramp up them right candidates for
products, such as cold pressed operations and exploring both acquisitions,” he added.
oils from nuts and seeds, and foreign joint ventures and Biryani By Kilo is also bull-
essential oils from plants, flow- inorganic growth to transform ish on expanding abroad
ers, fruits and root. The four- itself into a pan-India player. through the master franchisee
year-old firm caters to more Operating in a space that route. It is receiving a lot of
HealthyHey sells dietary and nutritional supplements. MINT than 1 million users. was impacted by the pandemic queries from West Asia and
Intellilens, a Mumbai-based for almost a full year, the com- South-East Asia, he said.
&ME and home care products consolidate brands and help eyewear brand founded by pany appears to have weath- Biryani By Kilo said on Monday that it has raised $35 million. ISTOCK “Lot of big master franchis-
company The Better Home. In them scale their digital foot- Robin Lobo in 2018, has ser- ered the storm and managed ees of world-class F&B brands
the next three years, it seeks to print. It plans to invest in at viced over 200,000 users, to grow at 70-80% com- quarter of the fund will be used and his company can help such as McDonald’s and KFC
invest in 100 companies. least 20 brands this financial protecting them against harm- pounded annual growth rate for acquisition of cloud- them with infrastructure and in those countries are looking
In July, GlobalBees raised year. It seeks to partner with ful UV rays while using smart- (CAGR) since July last year, kitchen brands. In this con- logistics support, among other to include biryani in their
$150 million in a digitally-native phones, laptops and Vishal Jindal, text, Biryani By Kilo is eyeing things. “We can help them menu. So, we are planning to
mix of equity and The company brands across other devices. co-founder of the smaller brands in with certain engage with them and cur-
debt. The round has picked up beauty and per- Thrasio-style ven- delivery focused the pizza, dessert, The company things in terms of rently a lot of those discussions
was led by First- majority stakes sonal care, home, tures in India, such as chain, said in an north Indian and expects to training standard is underway,” Jindal said.
Cry. Lightspeed in HealthyHey, kitchen, food, Myntra and Medlife executive interview on Tuesday. Asian food cate- generate ₹500 cr operating proce- The company expects to
Venture Partners,
Rey Naturals and nutrition, sports, On Monday, the company gories. Jindal said dures, HR prac-
Ananth Narayanan-owned in net sales generate ₹500 crore in net
Vikas Agnihotri and lifestyle, with announced that it had raised the brands to be
Intellilens for
Mensa Brands have also seen
from operations tices, supply sales from operations outside
of SoftBank, a revenue rate of investor interest. Mensa raised $35 million in a Series B round targeted would chain and logis- India through master franchis-
Harsha Kumar of undisclosed sums $1-20 million. $50 million as part of a Series A of funding led by US hedge be in the ₹15-20 outside India in tics. However, the ees in the next 2-3 years.
Lightspeed, Atul GlobalBees round led by American inves- fund Falcon Edge Capital. crore topline and the next 2-3 years brands should The company, which cur-
Gupta of Premji- aims to support tor Accel, Falcon Edge Capital People familiar with the should be one of have already rently has 60 units, is planning
Invest, Sudhir Sethi of Chira- its portfolio firms with product and Norwest Venture Partners development said on condi- the top three grown well and to launch 140 more outlets in
tae Ventures and Kshitij Sheth development, branding, ware- in May. In August, UpScalio tion of anonymity that the deal brands in its own category. penetrated deeper into the city next 2-3 years. “We are look-
of ChrysCapital also partici- housing and logistics. raised $42.5 million in a Series was struck at a valuation of He reasoned smaller brands that it is based out of,” he said. ing to enter nearly 55 cities
pated in the round. Founded by Rishi Modi in A round led by Presight Capi- nearly $125 million. do not have the muscle power Jindal added that the com- with more than 10 lakh popu-
GlobalBees seeks to buy and 2016, HealthyHey sells dietary tal and a global hedge fund. According to Jindal, one to scale up after a certain level, pany is likely to have $80-100 lation,” said Jindal.

Licious rolls out Esop scheme with anytime liquidation for employees
Beena Parmar Licious) will have their Esops this opportunity so that they hard work and contribution”. According to the company, FY20 from ₹54.8 crore loss in
beena.parmar@livemint.com vested daily,” the company can take complete advantage “At Licious, we have been this new initiative will not only the previous fiscal, according
MUMBAI said, calling it a first in the of this novel initiative,” it recording unprecedented build complete transparency to data intelligence platform
Indian startup ecosystem. added. growth and that too in a highly but give employees full control VCCEdge. Gupta expects the

O
nline meat and fish
seller Licious, which
turned a unicorn
recently, on Tuesday
announced a new employee
stock ownership plan, which
will allow all eligible employ-
ees to vest their options at any
time.
The scheme, called ‘Every-
day Vesting, Anytime Liquida-
tion’ starts next year, and will
benefit more than 1,000
employees who currently own
Esops, Delightful Gourmet
Pvt. Ltd which operates Lic-
ious, said in a statement.
“Starting 1st Jan 2022, all
eligible Licians (employees at
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The company will set aside a
pool of secondary funds every
year to enable anytime liqui-
dation.
“The employees will also
have the option of anytime liq-
uidation of Esops; no
terms and conditions
being associated
with the liquidation.
This opportunity can be
availed once the one-year
period, as mandated by com-
pany law, is over,” the com-
pany said.
“Furthermore, all new Lic-
ians who receive Esops will be
added to the pool. All Licians
will be actively guided about
Earlier this year, Licious
extended a buyback option
worth ₹30 crore (around $4
million), to benefit 600
employees.
Currently, Licious has more
than 3,500 staffers
across different dis-
ciplines and func-
tions.
Over the past few weeks,
several venture capital-backed
startups including Walmart-
owned digital payments plat-
form PhonePe; edtech startup
Teachmint Technologies Pvt.
Ltd; FMO-backed fintech firm
Innoviti Payment Solutions;
social e-commerce platform
Licious co-founders Vivek Gupta (left) and Abhay Hanjura.
Meesho and PB Fintech Ltd,
the owner of online platform
Policybazaar and Paisabazaar;
among others have launched
Esop programmes.
Vivek Gupta and Abhay
Hanjura, co-founders of Lic-
ious, said the pandemic has
taught them many lessons,
including one to “keep your
people closest to the organiza-
tion and reward them for their
unorganized mar- over their vested firm to swing to Ebitda profit
ket. Our employ- BIG SOPS Esops. in the next 18 months.
ees’ contribution FOR STAFF Licious, which It has aggressive expansion
in this growth tra- last month became plans on the back of the big
jectory has been THE scheme starts India’s 29th uni- fundraise this year and is also
enormous and next year, and will
benefit more than
corn this year after set to launch its offline stores
incentivizing them 1,000 staffers who raising $52 million by the end of this year starting
well is among our currently own Esops from new investor with Bengaluru and Delhi.
priorities. We are IIFL Asset Manage- Founded by Hanjura and
conscious of help- THE company will ment Company’s Gupta, Licious is India’s first
set aside a pool of
ing Licians meet secondary funds private equity direct-to-consumer (D2C) uni-
their personal and every year to enable fund, expects to corn, focused on delivering
financial goals anytime liquidation break even in the meat and meat products.
through wealth next 18 months and It is present in raw and fresh
creation as we aims to float an ini- meat and seafood, marinades
organize the market, and mak- tial public offering (IPO) only and ready-to-eat categories.
ing vesting and buying Esops after achieving profitability. It owns and controls the
daily, signifies the same,” both Licious’ Ebitda loss more entire supply chain of its 300-
said in a joint statement. than doubled to ₹131 crore in plus stock keeping units.
X X

04 WEDNESDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2021

BENGALURU 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

58,664.33 0.34 17,503.35 0.50 15,107.80 0.88 43,448.05 1.50 17,823.50 0.65 25,646.47 1.61 28,450.31 1.81
PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN

58,465.89 57,983.95 17,416.55 17,281.75 14,976.70 14,876.00 42,804.40 42,644.15 17,708.55 17,581.55 25,239.02 25,105.19 27,945.57 27,872.65
HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW

58,834.95 57,718.34 17,553.70 17,216.10 15,137.15 14,820.40 43,519.25 42,508.05 17,865.70 17,518.95 25,677.87 25,023.37 28,480.58 27,645.60

m MINT SHORTS
Gold is losing again, and it’s not
Cement makers ease Q3 Mind the gap
The gap between wholesale and retail inflation has widened
sharply in the recent months raising concerns.
Difference (left-hand scale) Retail inflation Wholesale inflation

because of cryptocurrencies
In the immediate aftermath of the news that US President
Joe Biden would be reappointing Jerome Powell for
another term atop the Fed, gold took a notable mover
path with hike in prices 12

4
(in %)
15

12

lower on Tuesday. If you zoom out, the story isn’t much Harsha Jethmalani 0 6

better. Here we are with CPI over 6%—the highest in over harsha.j@livemint.com On firm footing -4 3
30 years—and gold is actually down year-to-date in 2021. Cement prices across India have been on a rise in recent weeks.

T
Of course, it’s not just inflation that’s elevated this year. he first half of fiscal year 2022 was -8 0
Q3FY21 Q2FY22 Q3FY22 (till date in November) Price per 50 kg bag (in ₹) Oct 2020 Oct 2021
We have seen rapid growth of the Fed balance sheet and quite challenging for cement
Source: Bloomberg
deficits, and all the other figures that gold bulls like to manufacturers. However, some 400
SATISH KUMAR/MINT
cite. And yet the chart is extremely ho-hum. So, it’s at this bright spots point to an easier sec-
point that someone will inevitably blame crypto, and say
that bitcoin (and perhaps some other cryptos, too) are
stealing some of gold’s flows. And that if it weren’t for
ond half for the industry.
Cement producers face a hit on demand
owing to the second wave of covid-19 pan-
300 Gap between WPI
crypto, we’d be seeing more money pile into gold as a
hedge against all this supposed money printing. But evi-
dence for that is surprisingly scant. Yes, the coins are all
demic, heavy rainfall in many regions, and
local issues such as transporters’ strike. Ele-
vated cost of raw material such as petroleum
200 and CPI may shrink
up a lot in 2021, but is the money pouring into cryptos coke (pet coke) and increased freight
really coming at gold’s expense? Such things are hard to
prove. But one argument against it is that gold continues
to behave in line with historical patterns. BLOOMBERG
expenses also weighed on the performance
of the industry.
Prices of domestic pet coke surged by
100 when demand rises
around 90% year-on-year (y-o-y) and by 22% Aparna Iyer a direct outcome of supply
sequentially in Q2FY22, analysts said. Infla- 0 aparna.i@livemint.com chain disruptions. Manufac-
tion in imported coal prices was steeper with South East West North Central All-India tured goods prices, too, have
Valuation risk

I
a nearly 150% y-o-y jump and 45% quarter- Source: IIFL Securities Ltd ndian consumers have contributed to the rise in WPI.
Shares of profitless technology firms have dropped on-quarter (q-o-q) increase. This hit the begun to feel the familiar The upshot is that persistently
amid concern over rising interest rates.
many cement companies that import the SATISH KUMAR/MINT
pinch of inflation more high WPI inflation leaks into
10-year Treasury yield Basket of profitless fuel. Investors would reckon that cement industrial construction activities. This has Nirmal Bang said coal prices may not shoot acutely even as producers con- consumer prices soon enough
(Left-hand scale) tech stocks
1.8 450
companies have now opted for rationaliza- given cement companies the confidence of up again in the near-term. tinue to complain that rising through price hikes.
1.6 tion in employee and promotional costs to increasing prices. Housing is the biggest Meanwhile, an analysis by IIFL showed prices are eroding their profits. In the past, consumer price
protect margins. With economic activity driver of demand contributing to more than that volumes for 21 listed cement companies Mobile tariffs are being hiked, inflation has risen to meet WPI
1.5 400
resuming, the costs are also making a come- half of the overall cement sales. grew by around 6% y-o-y in Q2FY22, while cement prices are on an as companies have been eager
back with fixed overheads remaining high. What’s more is that in recent weeks, there marginally declining sequentially in a sea- upswing and most consumer to pass on the costs. Analysts
1.2 350
Cement makers have, however, begun has been some easing in prices of raw materi- sonally-weak September quarter. “Even on goods may only get more have already begun to warn of
0.9 increasing prices recently, following an als, which adds to the comfort. Analysts at a two-year CAGR basis, volumes grew by 6% expensive in the coming inflation in the coming months,
0.9 300 increase in demand. The latest dealers chan- Nirmal Bang Securities Ltd said the crack- per annum in Q2FY22, reflecting normalcy months. although retail inflation may
309.97 nel check by IIFL Securities Ltd showed down by the Chinese government on coal in economic activities post the pandemic,” At the macro level, this get some cooling effect from
297.78
0.6 250 cement prices have increased since early speculation has brought down the prices of said the IIFL report. CAGR is short for com- means that con- food prices. Even
23 Nov 2020 22 Nov 2021 October. “The all-India average pound annual growth rate. sumer price index Mobile tariffs are here, prices of
Source: Bloomberg cement price in Q3FY22 (till date) PROMISING SIGNS Furthermore, cement volumes (CPI) inflation being hiked, cereals, vegeta-
SATISH KUMAR/MINT increased by 4.6% q-o-q, or ₹15 in H1FY22 grew by around 24% would soon trend cement prices are bles and edible oil
per bag and by 7.5% compared ELEVATED raw MANAGEMENT WITH coal prices y-o-y aided by a low base due to up to narrow the rising, and most have already
with the price at the end of Sep- material costs and commentaries of key receding from the the lockdown impact, and around gap with whole-
Dollar surges to four-year high increased freight
tember,” the domestic brokerage expenses weighed
cement makers hint recent highs, a large consumer goods begun to climb.
at a rise in demand cost overhang will 3% on a two-year CAGR basis, sale price index The key differ-
+ against yen on faster hike bets house said in a report last week. on the industry from Q3FY22 also be removed including the impact of the sec- (WPI) inflation. As may get dearer in ence between
“Within regions, the price ond covid wave this year, added the adjoining coming months past high WPI
The dollar surged past a key level against the yen for the increase (from the Q2 average) is the IIFL report. Volumes are chart shows, the inflation which
first time since 2017, as the renomination of Jerome Pow- the highest in the South (+8.5%), followed by global coal, which is good for Indian cement expected to be robust, aided by a receding gap between the got transmitted to
ell as Federal Reserve chair fuelled bets that the US might the North (+6%), West (+5%) and the central firms. “Coal shortages were seen in India monsoon and an improvement in infrastruc- two indices has grown signifi- retail inflation and the present
tighten policy more quickly. The dollar-yen climbed as region (+4%). In the East, the average price is with reports of coal stocks hitting new lows ture- and housing-related activities, showed cantly in recent months with episode is weak demand.
much as 0.2% to 115.14. Treasury yields jumped over- still below the Q2 average by 2.5%. However, at power plants. With domestic coal unavail- the dealer checks. the WPI more than eight per- Indeed, companies have been
night, widening the gap with equivalent Japanese gov- it improved from end September by 3% (the able, imported coal expensive beyond limits, That said, after the recent up move in centage points higher than the careful with price hikes, mak-
ernment bonds across the curve. Japan’s markets were lowest increase among regions),” it said. A and pet coke being expensive with limited cement stocks, a meaningful upside would consumer index in October. ing them piecemeal so as to not
closed for a holiday on Tuesday. “We still think dollar- cement bag weighs 50 kg. availability, cement companies were staring depend on the movement in input prices and The WPI’s surge in recent hurt the fledgeling recovery in
yen has further to run and forecast it will hit 120.50 by The management commentaries of key at fuel shortages or astronomical increase in the pace at which cement companies are able months has been entirely demand. Demand is yet to show
December 2022,” said Commonwealth Bank of Australia cement manufacturers in the September costs,” it said in a report. to raise prices to negate the impact of cost driven by non-food inflation— signs of sustainability. The lack
strategist Kim Mundy. “US-Japan interest rate differen- quarter showed a demand pick up from With coal prices receding from the recent inflation. However, analysts caution that specifically price pressures in of it, though, won’t be a wedge
tials will also increasingly support the pair as the Fed Q3FY22, driven by the revival in housing, highs, a large cost overhang will be removed. price hikes need to be gradual and should not fuel due to the surge in global between wholesale and retail
starts its tightening cycle next year.” BLOOMBERG infrastructure projects and commercial and While the situation is still fluid, analysts at weigh on demand revival. commodity prices which were inflation for long.

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

Investors Crypto fund inflows defy bitcoin losses Star Health sets price band for
ditch pound Staff Writer
IPO at ₹870-900 per share The first bitcoin-based tive term to define cryptocur-

amid doubt feedback@livemint.com

NEW DELHI
ETF, called the ProShares Bit- rencies that came after bit-
coin Strategy (BITO), recently coin, for the first time in many
started trading in the US, months, saw minor outflows, Ravindra Sonavane Jhunjhunwala hold 14.98% and
on rate hike
I
nvestments into crypto marking a milestone for the such as cardano, which saw ravindra.s@livemint.com 3.23% stake, respectively, in the
funds totalled $154 million fledgling cryptocurrency outflows of $2.1 million. MUMBAI company. The proceeds from the
globally last week, as inves- market. Further, net inflows into issue will be deployed in the fiscal
Bloomberg

S
tors were unfazed by the Apart from crypto funds sug- tar Health and Allied year 2022 towards the augmenta-
feedback@livemint.com recent 12% correction in the BITO, there are The world’s gest that inves- Insurance Co. Ltd, owned tion of its capital base. According
price of bitcoin, according to two other bitcoin second largest tors favour by a consortium of inves- to IRDAI norms and regulations,

T
raders are taking an
increasingly negative
view on the pound, bet-
ting that the decline that’s
already left the currency near
its lowest this year has further
to run.
Hedge funds are at their
most bearish since December,
while institutional investors are
wagering against sterling at lev-
els last seen more than two
years ago, according to the lat-
est data from the Commodity
Futures Trading Commission.
The pessimism is down to a
cocktail of domestic and inter-
national challenges. The pound
is suffering from mounting
bullishness on the dollar amid
signs that the Federal Reserve
will accelerate the winding
down of its emergency stimu-
lus programme. Mixed in with
that are doubts about whether
the Bank of England (BoE)will
raise interest rates in Decem-
digital asset manager Coin-
Shares.
Notably, bitcoin accounted
for the most inflows, totalling
$114 million for the week that
ended 19 November.
“This has helped it retain an
assets under management
(AUM) share of 67% over the
last month among investment
products, although this has
not been reflected in market
prices, with bitcoin having
fallen 4% over the month ver-
sus ethereum, which rose 14%
over the same period,” Coin-
Shares said in a report.
China’s slowdown tests central bank amid debate over easing measures
Bloomberg
feedback@livemint.com
Bitcoin saw inflows of $114 mn
in the week ended 19 Nov. AP
According to the digital
asset manager, this disparity
may be due to the recently
launched bitcoin ETFs
(exchange-traded funds) in
the US where investments
into bitcoin-based digital
products accounted for 90%
of the total net inflows.
factory-gate inflation is soar-
ing, while the currency is rally-
ing on the back of record trade
futures-based crypto asset, Solana. “By tors, including Rakesh the insurer is required to maintain
ETFs in the US — ethereum, saw measure of total Jhunjhunwala and Westbridge a minimum solvency ratio of 1.5.
Valkyrie’s Bit- inflows over the Capital, has set the share’s price As of 31 March, its solvency ratio
inflows totalling
coin Futures ETF last month, band for its initial public offer- was 2.23x.The proposed IPO will
(ticker BTF) and $14 million last Solana has seen ing at ₹870-900 per share, val- make Star Health the fourth pri-
VanEck Bitcoin week inflows totalling uing the company at ₹49,796 vate sector insurance provider to
Strategy ETF $43 million over crore at the top end of the band. list on Indian stock exchanges.
(XBTF). the last month The share sale will open Star Health plans to list on the Kotak Investment Banking,
Meanwhile, the world’s versus cardano at $23 mil- between 30 November and 2 bourses on 10 December. ISTOCK Axis Capital, BofA Securities
second-largest crypto asset, lion,” CoinShares said. December. The company plans to India, Citigroup Global markets
ethereum, saw inflows totall- In terms of crypto fund pro- list on exchanges on 10 December. sale (OFS) of up to 58.32 million India, ICICI Securities, CLSA
ing $14 million last week, viders, the world’s biggest At the upper band of the price shares by its existing promoters India Pvt. ltd, Credit Suisse
marking its fourth consecu- digital asset manager, Gray- range, the firm plans to raise as and shareholders. Securities India, Jefferies India
tive week of inflows totalling scale, remained steady with much as ₹72,49.18 crore. Currently, Safecrop Invest- Pvt. Ltd, Ambit Pvt. Ltd, DAM
$80 million during the four- total assets under manage- The health insurer’s IPO ments India LLP has a 47.77% Capital Advisors, IIFL Securities
week period. ment (AUM) of $51.629 bil- consists of a fresh issue of stake, while Rakesh Jhunjhun- and SBI Capital Markets are
Some altcoins, a cumula- lion. ₹2,000 crore and an offer for wala and his wife Rekha managing the share sale.
timents Monday, saying the ment among analysts about Tuesday, and predicted no
economy faces “new down- how much pain Beijing will tol- property investment expansion
ward pressure” and the focus erate before stepping in. next year.

ber, and even concern about
tighter policy damaging the
economic recovery.
The bearishness “may signal
anxiety about the growth out-
look for the UK in light of covid
and Brexit uncertainty, and
given lingering concerns that a
near-term rate hike could be a
policy mistake”, said Jane
Foley, head of foreign-ex-
change strategy at Rabobank.
The BoE surprised markets
this month by leaving its
benchmark rate at 0.1%.
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C
hina’s marked eco-
nomic slowdown in the
second half of the year is
testing the central bank’s policy
mettle and dividing economists
over whether more aggressive
action is needed to avoid a
deeper downturn.
The People’s Bank of China
(PBOC) is having to juggle mul-
tiple economic risks, pulling
policy in different directions.
Growth is heading for lows not
seen since 1990—if last year’s
pandemic year is excluded—
surpluses. On top of that, the
US and Europe’s imminent
scaling back of pandemic stim-
ulus is squeezing China’s room
to loosen policy.
PBOC has refrained from
any significant easing measures
since its surprise cut in the
reserve requirement ratio
(RRR) in July. It has opted
instead for a targeted approach:
providing support to small
businesses and green sectors,
and relaxing some restrictions
on property financing and
should be on sup- Some econo- Many analysts, however,
porting small The central bank mists, such as Citi- argue the economy’s problems
firms. is now signalling group Inc.’s Liu are structural, and broad easing
The central an easing bias, Li-gang, see a would only inflate bubbles and
bank is now sig- highlighting strong case for harm the authorities’ effort to
nalling an easing aggressive action, correct the property market.
concerns about
bias again, high- including more Liu Peiqian, China econo-
lighting concerns domestic growth RRR cuts and a mist at NatWest Group Plc.
PBOC has opted for a targeted approach, providing support to about the domes- outlook reduction in pol- said, “Given the ongoing firm
small businesses and relaxing curbs on property financing. REUTERS tic growth out- icy interest rates stance on property sector
look in its latest to arrest the slow- deleveraging, I expect mone-
mortgage lending. tors should use various finan- quarterly monetary policy down and avoid a “hard land- tary policy easing to be more
The State Council, China’s cial tools to boost liquidity to report published on 19 Novem- ing” in the property sector. Citi targeted to support green
cabinet, said in a statement smaller businesses. Premier Li ber. trimmed its growth forecast for financing and small and medi-
Monday the PBOC and regula- Keqiang also echoed those sen- Yet there’s much disagree- 2022 to 4.7% from 4.9% on um-sized enterprises.”
X X

LIVEMINT.COM CORPORATE WEDNESDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2021

BENGALURU 05

MobiKwik
IndusInd Bank, Spandana spar Zee-Sony merger
to go public deal in final stages,
later than
planned
over executive appointments says Punit Goenka
Reuters Lata Jha
feedback@livemint.com lata.j@livemint.com
NEW DELHI IndusInd also said that both the executives cannot accept employment at a competitor NEW DELHI

I P
ndian payments firm MobiK- unit Goenka, managing
wik will carry out an initial Shayan Ghosh director and chief execu-
public offering (IPO) later shayan.g@livemint.com tive officer of Zee Enter-
than initially planned, its CEO MUMBAI tainment Enterprises Ltd on
said on Tuesday, following the Tuesday said his company’s

dismal market debut of larger
rival Paytm earlier this month.
In India’s largest-ever IPO,
digital payments startup Paytm
made one of the worst major
Indian stock market debuts as
its shares fell more than 27%.
“We did want to have it (the
IPO) around November,”
founder and CEO Bipin Preet
Singh told Reuters. “We have a
one-year window, from Octo-
ber, to list and obviously we will
do it when we feel that we are
going to have a successful IPO.”
“We don’t do it based on bra-
vado, based on being aggres-
sive and hopeful. You create
maximum opportunity for suc-
cess because you do this one
time in the history of the com-
pany so you want it to be suc-
cessful.”
MobiKwik, which counts
Bajaj Finance, Sequoia Capital
and Abu Dhabi Investment
Authority as its backers, in
October won the Indian capital
market regulator’s approval to
launch a $255 million IPO.
After Paytm’s dismal show-
ing, bankers and analysts had
warned that future offerings
could be affected, with some
specifying MobiKwik’s IPO in
particular.
Shares in Paytm plummeted
this month following their
debut and are down more than
35% below its issue price of
₹2,150 per share, as investors
have questioned both the com-
+ pany’s steep valuation and its
business model.
I
n a strange turn of events, Indus- proposed merger with Sony
Ind Bank Ltd on Tuesday said two Pictures Networks India, is “in
senior executives of its subsidiary the final stages of stitching up.”
Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd Speaking at the a Media Part-
(BFIL), whose appointments ners Asia (MPA) summit, Punit Goenka, MD and CEO,
microfinance lender Spandana Goenka said consolidation has Zee Entertainment. MINT
Sphoorty had announced a day ago, always benefited the media and
cannot be relieved immediately. entertainment industry. merged entity,” Goenka said,
Spandana Sphoorty Financial Ltd “I certainly believe that con- also addressing the speculation
had on Monday announced that Shal- solidation is going to benefit around the new entity bidding
abh Saxena, the head of BFIL, has the industry. Zee and Sony will for rights to the upcoming
accepted the position of managing form the largest media enter- Indian Premier League.
director and chief executive. The tainment player in the country. “But the decision for bidding
appointment became necessary after Our revenues on a standalone or not bidding, and bidding at
the exit of founder Padmaja G. Reddy basis combined will be close to what value etc., will be taken by
earlier this month. The second $2 billion, and the capital the board of the new merged
appointment was that of Ashish growth that Sony is going to company, and not by me indi-
Damani, chief financial officer of infuse in the merged entity will vidually,” he added.
BFIL, who was to join Spandana really give us the opportunity to Calling government regula-
Sphoorty as president and chief finan- invest in premium content and tion for the broadcast sector
cial officer. IndusInd Bank said that neither of the two employees have tendered their resignation. BLOOMBERG include sports,” “far from light-
However, neither Saxena nor Goenka said. Goenka added touch,” Goenka
Damani have tendered their resigna- ing failure at BFIL. The issue, it said, The lender also contended that with BFIL,” it said. Pointing out that businesses of said India will
tion at BFIL, IndusInd Bank informed was highlighted by the field staff according to their terms of employ- Spandana Sphoorty has also seen reasons for the the two remain both a TV
the exchanges. within two days and the technical ment, both executives are prohibited some controversy in the recent weeks merger, he added companies are and digital market
“As per the terms of their employ- glitch was rectified expeditiously. from accepting employment at a com- with Reddy being asked to resign from that businesses of
ment, once the resignation is ten- On Tuesday, IndusInd also referred petitor of BFIL, unless approved in the microlender following differences the two compa-
complementary in the foreseeable
future and that
dered, it is subject to acceptance by to these transactions and said as these writing by the board. with majority shareholder Kedaara nies are comple- in nature, with Zee will continue
the board of directors. Upon accept- are part of an ongoing review, the con- “As resignation from BFIL has not Capital over the company’s proposed mentary i n minimum overlap to invest in linear
ance by the board of BFIL, a speci- sale to Axis Bank Ltd, Mint nature, with mini- television while
fied notice period is also required TURF WAR reported on 4 November. In an mum overlap. For trying to grow its
to be served. However, as neither email to the employees and its instance Zee, that had sold Ten digital pie.
of them have tendered their resig- BFIL recently APPOINTMENT INDUSIND said that SPANDANA board, Reddy claimed she was Sports to Sony in 2017, will now To be sure, Zee’s founding
nations to BFIL, such due process admitted that nearly became necessary
84,000 loans were after Spandana
the continued
employment of the
Sphoorty has also
been in the midst of
forced to resign for objecting to see the sports genre come back family has been embroiled in a
has not been initiated,” the private disbursed without Sphoorty’s founder two executives is controversies after Kedaara’s attempt to sell the com- stronger for the merged entity. bitter battle with its largest
lender said. customer consent left earlier this month critical its founders’ exit pany at a depressed valuation. “I “The opportunity is great, shareholder Invesco, which has
BFIL is in the midst of a contro- opposed underselling of the com- because the digital landscape approached a division bench of
versy following its admission that pany to Axis Bank at a throwaway has opened up a new opportu- the Bombay high court to chal-
nearly 84,000 loans were disbursed tinued employment Saxena and been tendered to the board by Shalabh price. While other MFIs were acquired nity for monetization, which lenge an earlier order that
without customer consent, because of Damani at BFIL is critical to the clo- Saxena and/or Ashish Damani, any at 4.75x and 3.5x BV (book value) mul- did not exist five years ago. And restrained the US fund man-
a “technical glitch”. On 6 November, sure of the process. “Accordingly, they purported acceptance by them of tiples in the past few months, Kedaara the sector itself will see a lot ager from calling a special
the lender said an independent review cannot be relieved from the services of employment at Spandana Sphoorty wanted to sell Spandana at 1.6x, which more happening going for- shareholders’ meet to remove
has been initiated by the bank to see if BFIL until completion of the said Financial Ltd would be in contraven- is one-third of other companies’ valua- ward. So certainly, sports will Goenka and reconstitute the
there is any process lapse or account- review,” it said. tion of the terms of their employment tion,” she wrote. become an area of focus for the Zee board.

Ingka Group to invest ₹3,500 cr SpiceJet to expand 737Max fleet

in Gurugram retail destination Rhik Kundu
rhik.k@livemint.com
NEW DELHI
Suneera Tandon ing place for leisure, entertain-

L
suneera.t@livemint.com ment and retail in one of the ow-fare airline SpiceJet
NEW DELHI world’s fastest growing mar- Ltd on Tuesday said it will
kets,” the company said. induct 50 Boeing 737Max

I
ngka Group is planning to Ingka Group wants to reach planes by 2023, as it continues
set up its second large-for- out to more people through to phase out older Boeing 737-
mat shopping and enter- more developments in more 800 NG planes.
tainment complex, which will markets, said Cindy Andersen, The Max aircraft, known for
Yes Bank holds a 24.19% share in Dish TV. However, the Essel group house a range of brands, managing director, Ingka Cen- its fuel efficiency, was sus-
firm has claimed that its shareholding is under dispute. MIN including its flagship Ikea tres. “When it comes to retail pended in March 2019 follow-
store, in the national capital and leisure, change is the only ing two fatal crashes, after

Dish TV urges NCLT region, with an investment of

₹3,500 crore, the company
said on Tuesday.
The centre will be developed
constant. This is why our first
Livat meeting place in India
will be adaptable, with multi-
which Boeing made extensive
fixes. The US and Europe per-
mitted the plane in December
SpiceJet wants to induct the 737Max aircraft as soon as possible,
said the airline’s chairman and managing director Ajay Singh.

to dismiss Yes Bank’s Construction for the Ingka

Centre at Gurugram will start
in early 2022, and is expected
under the Livat brand.

brand. It will have hospitality,

petition to call EGM
PTI
feedback@livemint.com
Nagar district of Uttar Pra-
desh.
It has received a notice from
to be completed by 2023. In
February, it had announced its
entry into the Indian market
with a centre in Noida for an
investment of ₹5,500 crore.
Leiden, Netherlands-based
Ingka Group runs Ikea Retail
food and beverage and edu-
tainment learning spaces,
besides an Ikea anchor store.
“The development, with a
gross building area of around
130,000 sq. m, will comple-
ment Ingka Groups’s Noida
ple offerings to match con-
sumer lifestyles,” she added.
Livat expects over 20 mil-
lion consumers to shop, work,
eat, exercise, learn, socialize
and be inspired every year. It is
expected to create 2,500 jobs.
Ingka Centres works with
1,600 brands across its portfo-
lio of over 50 shopping centres
2020 and India followed this
August. Globally, the plane has
logged about 311,000 hours
since December last year.
“We want to induct 737Max
aircraft as quickly as possible.
At the moment, the airline has
13 737Max planes in its fleet,”
SpiceJet chairman and man-
aging director Ajay Singh said.
which includes 155 firm orders
and 50 options.
Upcoming low-fare airline
Akasa Air, backed by billion-
aire investor Rakesh
Jhunjhunwala, recently said it
has ordered 72 Boeing 737Max
jets earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Singh said that
SpiceJet hopes to complete
line, which recently restarted
flights to Dubai, plans to
expand its operations to Hong
Kong and Saudi Arabia.
At present, international
flight operations remain
banned and only special flights
under air bubble agreements
are allowed to operate. India
currently has bilateral agree-

D
ish TV has urged the under Section 102 of the Crim- and Ingka Investments. Ingka centre. Reflecting the local in 16 markets. The centres The airline will take delivery the carving-out of its cargo and ments with about 30 countries
National Company Law inal Procedure Code from the Centres is the group’s shop- community’s need for more appear under different trade- of its 14th 737Max by 10 logistic arm into a separate to operate such flights.
Tribunal (NCLT) to dis- office of the Crime Branch on ping centre business. It has than shopping, the new meet- marks, including MEGA in December, and take another entity by January. “We are hoping that the pas-
miss the petition filed by its 6 November 2021, stating that more than 50 sites globally. ing place will set the standard Russia and Livat in China, three deliveries in the coming SpiceJet plans to expand its senger demand (resurrection
largest shareholder Yes Bank there is a restriction on dealing The Ingka Centre at Guru- for the next generation of sus- anchored by an Ikea store. months, Singh added. international operations in the in passenger demand in the
India Ltd, which is seeking to in and/ or exercising any rights gram will be developed under tainable mixed-use destina- Ingka Centres serves over 370 SpiceJet had ordered 205 coming months with its Boe- past few months) is sustaina-
convene EGM of the Direct-to- in respect of 44,53,48,990 the Livat (‘spirited’ in Swedish) tion, acting as a lively gather- million visitors annually. Boeing 737Max planes in 2017, ing 737Max planes. The air- ble,” Singh added.
Home service provider. shares of Dish TV by YBL, till
Filing an application before the completion of the investi-
the Mumbai bench of the gation or until further orders,
NCLT, Dish TV has contended Dish TV contended.
Yes Bank Ltd (YBL) does not “Thus, the petitioner (YBL)
meet the statutory sharehold- does not meet the statutory
Myntra looks to target Gen-Z shoppers with new features
ing limit of 10% required under shareholding limit of 10% as
section 102 of the required under Suneera Tandon beauty, and lifestyle tips and the rapidly evolving content content creators pre-pan-
Companies Act to Dish TV said that the Companies suneera.t@livemint.com ideas. Myntra Fashion Super- consumption patterns and demic to more than 20 lakh
call for an Extra- Yes Bank does not Act for a mem- NEW DELHI star is an online reality show shopping preferences of con- now.
Ordinary General meet the ber/ shareholder that works as a talent platform sumers. As a part of this launch The challenge, however is

F
Meeting (EGM) of statutory to requisition an lipkart Group’s online to identify emerging fashion Myntra also unveiled M-Live, that it is still a broken value
the company.
shareholding limit EGM of the com- fashion portal Myntra on and beauty influencers. bringing a first-of-its-kind, chain because only a few crea-
Dish TV is fac- pany as the 4.45 Tuesday unveiled plans This combined social com- interactive, and real-time, live tors get the maximum share of
ing a notice from of 10% to call for crore shares held to engage more shoppers merce proposition is set to shopping experience to the the pie of the market, he
YBL to remove its an EGM by the petitioner using influencers and content help Myntra engage 50% of its fingertips of mil- explained. Myn-
m a n a g i n g which form the creators who will stream thou- monthly active users over the lions of shoppers This combined tra will work with
director Jawahar subject matter of sands of hours of video content next 3-4 years, it said. in the country,” social commerce a “few thousand”
Goel and four other directors investigation by the Office of every month, prompting “With Myntra Fashion the online fash- proposition is set monetizing them
from the board. It has moved the Crime Branch, and as such, shoppers to buy the fashion Superstar, Myntra Studio, and ion retailer said. to help Myntra for driving views
NCLT after the board of the the said 4.45 crore shares can- and beauty products on dis- now M-Live, an immersive live For this, Myn-
engage 50% of its and helping
Essel group firm rejected not be considered while deter- play. video shopping experience, tra will engage brands sell their
YBL’s requisition notice to mining whether petitioner Myntra announced the we are heralding a new age in with more influ- monthly active products, he said.
convene EGM to reconstitute meets the statutory require- launch of M-Live, a live video fashion and beauty, making encers across users The move
the board. ment of 10%. Hence, the appli- streaming and live commerce big strides in the social com- Myntra announced the launch of M-Live, a live video streaming multiple langua- comes as social
YBL holds a 24.19% share of cant is seeking the dismissal of section, on the retailer’s app merce landscape, with our and live commerce section, on the retailer’s app. MINT ges. It plans to commerce in
Dish TV, however, the Essel the petition with costs,” said that will build on Myntra’s path-breaking tech-pivoted churn out close to thousand India is expected rise tenfold
group firm, in the application, Dish TV. existing plank of content-led solutions,” said Achint Setia, interactive experiences, purchase decisions, swing hours of live video content per to touch $16-20 billion in gross
has claimed its shareholding in It has also informed the commerce initiatives such as vice president and business prompting platforms to brands in their favour and month, a move that could merchandise value (GMV)
the company is currently stock exchanges regarding the Myntra Studio and Myntra head, social commerce, Myn- sharpen creator=led engage- boost consumption in general. “exponentially” contribute to over the next five years from
“under dispute” and a criminal development, the Essel group Fashion Superstar. The former tra. ment. How influencers engage “As a pioneer in influencer- the creator economy, it said. the existing $1.5-2 billion,
investigation is being con- firm said in the application is a personalised content desti- Shoppers are moving from with consumers across social driven content, Myntra today The influencer ecosystem according to a 2020 report by
ducted by the office of Crime filed before the Mumbai nation and provides users text-based or catalogue-based media platforms, or on shop- announced its foray into social has grown rapidly after covid, Bain and Co. and Sequoia
Branch of the Gautam Buddha Bench of NCLT. access to over 20,000 fashion, shopping to influencer-guided ping apps could sway their commerce at scale, to cater to said Setia, growing from 2 lakh India.
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X X

06 WEDNESDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2021

BENGALURU CORPORATE LIVEMINT.COM

Ola Electric ready to sell its SC asks Amazon to keep main

challenge as separate matter
scooters abroad from 2022 Utkarsh Anand
letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI

T
he Supreme Court on
Tuesday asked Amazon
The firm’s factory at Pochampalli in Tamil Nadu will cater to production for its global supply not to mix up the matters
arising out of orders of other
courts and tribunals with the
Nikhil Patwardhan & Tarush Bhalla physical retail outlets in the future. main challenge pending before
MUMBAI/BENGALURU “Currently, our plan is very clear. We it on the proposed sale of
are taking the scooter to customers Future Group’s retail assets to

O
la Electric plans to start directly, whether it is test drives, Reliance Industries.
selling its electric scoot- whether it is delivery or service. Over A bench headed by Chief
ers in the international time, who can say, if the customer Justice of India N.V. Ramana
markets next year, a sen- comes back and tells us we want a observed that the companies The court said companies involved in the legal wrangle should
ior executive said. showroom, we will make showrooms involved in the legal wrangle pursue cases separately against different courts’ orders. HT
“The factory (at Pochampalli in and experience centres,” Dubey said. should institute cases sepa-
Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu) is an The company could look at opening rately against different orders will see separately. But that
investment we’re making, which is not
just for this range of scooters, it is for
experience centres where it will allow
customers to walk in and experience its
of the courts—not everything can’t be heard with these
related to Amazon and Future cases,” the bench told Subra-
FRL staff
the entire range of scooters and bikes,
and this factory will be not just for
scooters, especially in tier-II cities, in a
bid to penetrate further into the
would be heard in the same manium.
batch of cases. “Don’t bring It also observed that the apex seek asset
India, but even for global manufactur- world’s second-largest two-wheeler everything in this batch of court’s 9 September order ask-
ing. So, as we go to international mar- market. cases. You avail of your reme- ing the Delhi HC not to proceed sale nod
kets next year, this factory is going to Ola Electric is also investing in set- dies separately,” the bench, with the Amazon-Future case
cater to that as well,” Varun Dubey, ting up its electric vehicle charging net- which also included justices was confined to the proceed- from SC
chief marketing officer, Ola Electric, work ‘Ola Hypercharger Network’, to A.S. Bopanna and Hima Kohli, ings already initiated before it

E
said in an interview boost charging infrastructure in the told Amazon’s lawyer Gopal by the Future Group and Ama- m ployees of
on Tuesday. country. It plans to set up 100,000 two- Subramanium. It was hearing zon. “Read our order. It is being Future Retail have
The company is wheeler charging points across 400 the clutch of cases relating to treated as a gag order. Did we asked the Supreme
looking at the top cities. Future Group’s $3.4 billion sale ask the high court not to hear Court to allow the com-
two-wheeler markets in Europe, Ola Electric is looking at top two-wheeler markets in Europe for launch. “For us to be successful, we need to of retail assets to Mukesh anything? We only passed the pany to sell its retail
including France, Germany and Italy, think of the whole ecosystem. It’s not Ambani-led Reli- order confined to assets and rule against
for a potential launch as early as next makers in India. uation—even the best of people are not just the product, or the manufacturing ance Industries. The SC bench proceedings Amazon.com Inc. in an
year, a person aware of Ola Electric’s The first batch of customer deliver- able to predict it. But at least, we have and the manufacturing ecosystem, or Amazon had headed by CJI pending before ongoing dispute, citing
plans said on the condition of anonym- ies is now slated to happen in the last made all the efforts possible to ensure the supply chain and logistics ecosys- challenged a 16 N.V. Ramana said us. Will we hear all risks to 27,000 jobs,
ity. fortnight of December. The company that the delays are as minimal as possi- tem. We have to think about the charg- November order the companies Amazon cases according to a legal fil-
Earlier this year, Ola founder and had earlier planned to deliver the first ble,” said Dubey. ing infrastructure in that ecosystem. of the Delhi high here now? That ing seen by Reuters.
should avail their
chief executive Bhavish Agarwal dis- batch between 25 October and 25 According to estimates from the There is the product and the software court by moving was never the Future has failed to
closed the company’s plans to sell ecosystem, and the hardware sys- an application in remedies intent or language close its $3.4 billion deal
its electric scooters in international EXPANDING FOOTPRINT tem. We are doing this entire thing the main case. By separately of our order,” to sell its retail assets to
markets. vertically integrated,” said Dubey this order, the HC added the bench. market leader Reliance
Ola’s international expansion OLA founder and THE company plans OLA ELECTRIC is THE company has when asked about profitability expedited the At this, Subra- Industries due to suc-
plans come when it is expanding its chief executive to open the next
Bhavish Agarwal had round of bookings
also investing in said that it is not
setting up EV charging averse to the idea of
around Ola Electric’s business proceedings before the Com- manium apprised the bench cessful legal challenges
marketing initiatives and plans to disclosed plans to go for its scooters by network to boost the opening physical model. petition Commission of India that Amazon has also filed a by Amazon. If the deal
scale up customer test drives of its international late January infrastructure retail stores in future In October, Ola raised over $200 (CCI) that had in June issued a special leave petition sepa- fails, Future “will be
electric scooters to more than million in a funding round, led by show-cause notice to Amazon rately against the Delhi HC pushed into liquidation,
1,000 cities by mid-December. Falcon Edge and SoftBank. over the revocation of the order of 16 November. The law- resulting in its 27,000
Meanwhile, Dubey said the maker of November and had opened the final industry body Society of Indian Auto- The same month Mint reported that approval given to the company yer said he would withdraw the employees losing their
S1 and S1 Pro scooter models plans to payment window for the two scooters mobile Manufacturers (SIAM), vehicle Ola was in the final stages of raising an for the investment transaction application and would rather livelihoods. The families
open the next round of bookings for its on 10 November. wholesales or factory dispatches additional $200 million as a part of a with Future Coupons Pvt. Ltd. argue the substantial petition of employees will be on
scooters by late January. “If you actually look around in the declined 11% on an annualized basis as fresh fund-raise which could value the The SC bench said that this against the HC order. The the streets,” the FRL
Recently, the company had to push industry, most people are given 14 the global chip shortage weighed on startup at over $5 billion. issue required a separate hear- bench allowed Amazon to Employee Welfare
back deliveries of its electric scooters weeks to a year of delay. So, I think our production. Several US-based blue-chip funds ing. “CCI is a separate forum. withdraw the application and Association said in a 20
+ due to the global semiconductor chip ability to mitigate (delays) to just two to Meanwhile, as Ola Electric expands are expected to participate in the Some PIL, some petition (was) agreed to list the petition November filing.
shortage, which impacted its produc- three weeks is quite good... The situa- its test drive initiative to more cities, it round. filed and the high court passed against the Delhi HC order on REUTERS
tion just as it did for most other auto- tion is complicated; it is an evolving sit- is not averse to the idea of opening nikhil.patwardhan@livemint.com some order. Right or wrong, we Thursday.

Frenzy in IPO market likely to continue India to free up oil reserves to cool prices
FROM PAGE 1
market tracker. “Unless you see
a major trend reversal in the
secondary market, the primary
market activity shall continue.
The Paytm IPO should result in
some tempering of valuations,
especially for loss-making
startups that are in the IPO
pipeline. However, it is not that
investors have become averse
to all IPOs.”
Major companies that are
expected to launch IPOs in the
coming weeks include Star
Health and Allied Insurance
Co. Ltd, which wants to raise
₹7,500 crore; Adani Wilmar
Ltd, which plans to raise
₹4,500 crore; and Vedant
Fashions, the parent of Man-
yavar, which will raise
₹2,500-3,000 crore.
Other companies planning
to go ahead with their IPO
launch in December include
MapMyIndia, footwear retailer
Metro Brands, travel SaaS com-
pany RateGain Technologies,
Shri Bajrang Power and Ispat,
CMS Info Systems Ltd, Tracxn
Technologies and Tega Indus-
tries, the people cited above
said.
Some of these launches are
subject to receiving Sebi
approvals, which may happen
soon, the people said.
Market mania On Monday, the market saw its
The companies that are raring to go public by December aim steepest fall in seven months, FROM PAGE 1 India and other major oil con- members maintain emergency
to raise a combined ₹20,000 crore through their share sales. declining almost 2%. It rose sumers to release their strategic oil reserves equivalent to at
0.34% on Tuesday. statement on Tuesday. petroleum reserves to cool least 90 days of net imports. IEA
1,000 750 700
Metro Tega Industries Shri Bajrang Companies A second person cited above However, oil prices rose, eras- crude oil prices. This buyers’ countries hold 1.55 billion bar-
Brands Power & Ispat planning to said the strong listing of Latent ing an earlier loss, as the plan from response comes against the rels of public emergency oil
launch their IPOs View and the high subscrip- consumer nations to tap their backdrop of repeated requests stocks. In addition, 650 million
1,200 550 in December
MapMy Tracxn tion numbers seen for the strategic oil reserves was less of the US and India to the Orga- barrels are held by industry
Technologies
India IPO size recently concluded Go Fash- severe than markets expected. nization of the Petroleum under government obligations
(₹ crore) ion Ltd IPO indicate investor Futures in New York wiped Exporting Countries and can be released as needed.
1,200
Rategain 7,500 demand remains strong, albeit out losses to trade above $77 a (Opec)-plus grouping to up India is also drawing up a
Travel
Technologies Star Health & selective. barrel. The US committed to production being ignored, plan to counter the influence of
Allied Insurance The Go Fashion India Ltd releasing 50 million barrels as even as petroleum product pri- the Saudi Arabia-led cartel on
4,500 share sale, which ended on part of the plan. While the head- ces are at a record high. India global crude supplies as it seeks
2,000 Adani Monday, was subscribed over line size of the US release is large, has also been bilaterally raising to coordinate sourcing by state-
CMS Info Wilmar
Sytems 135 times. a significant chunk of the crude the issue with major oil-pro- India is dependent on imports run and private refiners before
2,500 “The impact is not the same will be borrowed—to be returned ducing countries such as Saudi to meet 85% of oil demand. AFP roping in other Asian oil
Vedant Fashions
Source: Company filings
(Manyavar)
and Mint Research across the board. But surely later—leaving traders expecting Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the importers such as Japan and
sectors such as fintech have tighter balances down the line. United Arab Emirates, Bahrain the high fiscal burden on the South Korea, as reported by
SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
taken a hit. Other listings from The decision to release and Russia. government, were taken to Mint earlier. An earlier attempt
This rush of IPO is coming limited,” said an investment the sector, too, haven’t done reserves puts major consumers Major oil consumers, includ- provide relief to citizens,” the to form a buyers’ collective
even as Paytm’s 37% decline in banker, one of the four people well for investors. So, that is one on a collision course with ing India, have been unsuccess- statement said. between China and India, the
two trading sessions since list- cited above. The person space that will see a slowdown Opec+, which views such a fully trying to persuade the Petrol and diesel were selling world’s second- and third-larg-
ing on Thursday has led to an sought anonymity as he is from a sentiment perspective. release as unjustified and may Opec-plus grouping, compris- at ₹103.97 and ₹86.67 per litre, est oil importers, failed to gain
uproar on social media over advising some of the compa- The other big tech IPOs, such reconsider plans to add more ing 23 countries, that rising respectively, in Delhi at Indian traction following border
the pricing of IPOs. Paytm, nies planning to launch IPOs. as Delhivery or Pharmeasy, supply at a meeting on 2 crude prices will have an Oil Corp. Ltd outlets on Tues- clashes last year.
however, surged nearly 10% on “Overall, stock markets, too, have just filed documents, so December. impact on global economic day. The cost of the Indian bas- India is dependent on
Tuesday, paring some of the have seen a correction. So, all they won’t be impacted much,” India has an existing crude recovery. Given high oil prices, ket of crude, comprising Oman, imports to meet 85% of oil
initial losses. of this has led to a marginal said a third person. storage capacity of 5.3 million countries such as India are also Dubai and Brent crude, was at demand and 55% of natural gas
On Tuesday, data analytics correction in pricing, and we Mint reported on Tuesday tonnes (mt), including 1.33 mt pushing for ethanol blending $79.16 per barrel on 22 Novem- requirements. Opec accounts
provider Latent View Analyt- see that investors are becom- that fintech firm Mobikwik had in Visakhapatnam, 1.5 mt in and electric vehicles. “In a bid ber. for a majority of India’s crude
ics surged 148% on market ing more selective on compa- seen a sharp correction in its Mangaluru and 2.5 mt in Padur. to control inflationary pres- Last year, India bought crude oil imports and around 40% of
debut, recording one of the nies they want to back. Com- share price in the unlisted mar- Built at a cost of $600 million, sures, the government reduced oil at $19 a barrel to fill up its 5.3 global production. India spent
highest listing-day gains. panies, too, are tempering ket, following the IPO of its big- these reserves are operational ‘central excise duty’ on petrol mt of strategic reserves, and in $62.71 billion on crude oil
“The primary market had expectations a bit,” he added. ger rival Paytm. and are sufficient to meet and diesel by ₹5 and ₹10, the process, saved $685.11 mil- imports in FY21, $101.4 billion
heated up a bit, and the Paytm The benchmark Sensex has The EconomicTimes also around nine-and-a-half days of respectively, on 3 November. It lion. India also plans to build an in FY20, and $111.9 billion in
listing did hurt sentiments. receded 3.1% in the past 10 ses- reported on Tuesday that Mob- India’s crude oil requirements. was followed by a reduction in additional 6.5 mt of strategic FY19.
But it has not derailed the sions, largely owing to consist- ikwik is likely to defer its IPO Mint reported on 18 Novem- VAT on fuel by many states. reserves. In comparison, Inter- Bloomberg contributed to the
entire market. So the impact is ent selling pressure from FIIs. plans. ber that the US reached out to These difficult steps, despite national Energy Agency (IEA) story.

Centre to move
bill to ban crypto Ambani looks to the Walton family playbook on succession
Bloomberg familiar with the matter say, alone. A generation of ageing combined market value of Kong University of Science
FROM PAGE 1 feedback@livemint.com and could provide the frame- tycoons across Asia is grap- about $5.8 trillion. The total and Technology. “The
work for one of the biggest pling with the transition from wealth of India’s family Ambanis are the richest family

crypto among each other
through wallets.
After a meeting of the parliamen-
tary standing panel on finance on
cryptocurrencies last week, the
chairman of the panel, Jayant Sinha,
had told CNBC TV18 that it is impor-
tant to balance innovation and regu-
lation. Citing crypto exchange rep-
resentatives who attended the meet-
ing, Sinha said various exchanges
together have 15 million KYC-ap-
proved users, with an investment
value of $6 billion. According to an
October report from research firm
Chainalysis, India ranks second glo-
bally in terms of “crypto adoption”.
Avijit Banerjee contributed to
the story.
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X X
F
or years, Mukesh Ambani
has studied the ways in
which billionaire fami-
lies, from the Waltons to the
Kochs, passed on what they
had built to the next genera-
tion. Recently, that process
has intensified, with Asia’s
richest man eyeing a blueprint
for the next stage of his $208
billion empire that seeks to
avert the succession warfare
that has torn apart so many
wealthy clans—including his
own.
The 64-year-old Indian
tycoon’s favoured plan shares
elements with that of Walmart
Inc.’s Walton family, people
transfers of wealth in recent
times. Ambani is considering
moving his family’s holdings
into a trust-like structure that
will control the Mumbai-listed
flagship Reliance Industries
Ltd, the people said, asking not
to be identified on a topic
they’re not authorized to dis-
cuss publicly.
Ambani, his wife Nita, and
three children will have stakes
in the new entity overseeing
Reliance and be on its board,
along with a few of Ambani’s
long-term confidantes as
advisers. Management,
though, will largely be
entrusted to outsiders, profes-
Ambani is considering moving his family’s holdings into a trust-like
structure to control RIL, people aware of the matter said.
sionals who will handle the
day-to-day operations of
India’s most influential com-
pany and its businesses that
span oil refining and petro-
REUTERS
chemicals to telecommunica-
tions, e-commerce and green
energy.
In his desire to manage the
next stage, Ambani is not
creating wealth to passing it empires is valued at some $1.5 in Asia—people will definitely
on. Products of the region’s trillion alone, fuelled by the look to them.”
explosive post-Second World opening up of the economy Ambani, who has a net
War growth, these empire- over the past 10 worth of $94 bil-
builders founded industries, years. Ambani, his wife lion, is still con-
turbo-charged development How Asia’s Nita, and three sidering his
and made unprecedented for- richest individual children will have options and is yet
tunes, with close to $1.3 trillion handles succes- stakes in the new to make a deci-
set to change hands between sion could inspire
entity overseeing sion, some of the
Asia’s first-generation others in the people said. Rep-
founders and their heirs over region to think Reliance and be resentatives for
the next decade, according to more carefully on its board Reliance and
Credit Suisse Group AG. about how they Ambani didn’t
The stakes are high. Of the transfer family respond to a
more than 1,000 publicly- wealth and power, says Win- detailed email requesting
listed, family-owned or nie Qian Peng, director of the comment for this story sent 27
founded companies tracked by Tanoto Center for Asian Fam- October, nor did they respond
Credit Suisse globally, the ily Business and Entrepre- to multiple follow-up phone
clans of Asia dominate, with a neurship Studies at the Hong calls from Bloomberg News.
X X
LIVEMINT.COM
Latent View
shares
zoom 148%
on debut
Ravindra Sonavane
ravindra.s@livemint.com
MUMBAI
S P
hares of Latent View Ana-
lytics Ltd made a stellar
debut on the Indian stock
exchanges on Tuesday. The
company’s initial public offer-
ing (IPO) was the most sub-
scribed issue of 2021, with bids
of over 338 times.
The stock opened at ₹530,
gaining 169%; it touched a high
of ₹548.75, before closing at
₹488.60 on the BSE, up 148%
from its issue price of ₹197.
“The company has a healthy
margin profile with three-year
average return on net worth of
21.15%. Considering its plan for
inorganic growth, longstand-
ing relationship with some of
the Fortune 500 companies, its
leadership position in the
industry we (are positive),”
Anand Rathi Research said in a
note to its investors.
The IPO comprised a fresh
issue of ₹474 crore and an offer
for sale of up to ₹126 crore by
shareholders and promoters.
IPO proceeds of ₹147.90 crore
will be used for funding inor-
ganic growth, ₹82.40 crore for
working capital requirements
of LatentView Analytics Corp.
and ₹130 crore will be invested
to increase its capital base for
future growth.
It is one of the leading pure-
play data analytics companies
in India, emerging as a trusted
partner to Fortune 500 compa-
nies. The company primarily
caters to technology, consumer
packaged good, retail, indus-
trials, banking, financial servi-
ces and insurance sectors.
Business News
Visit Website
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X X
CORPORATE WEDNESDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2021
BENGALURU 07
After Airtel, Vi raises mobile Parking solutions
platform Park+
call and data rates by 18-25% raises $25 million
Tarush Bhalla
tarush.b@livemint.com
Analysts say Jio could also raise mobile rates, but the firm has not revealed such a plan yet BENGALURU
arking solutions platform
PTI ces plans. Park+ has raised $25 mil-
feedback@livemint.com The tariff hike from VIL comes lion as part of its Series B
NEW DELHI despite it continuously losing its cus- funding round led by Sequoia
tomers. Capital India, Matrix Partners
D
ebt-ridden telecom opera- VIL had started making some tariff India, and Epiq Capital.
tor Vodafone Idea Ltd revisions in the July-September 2021 Existing and new investors,
(VIL) on Tuesday quarter but the company made a big including AdvantEdge, Fund
announced an increase in correction now with Bharti Airtel tak- II, and Motherson Lease Solu-
mobile call and data tariffs ing lead. tion Ltd, also participated in Park+ said it plans to increase
across plans by 18-25% for prepaid cus- Analysts in September had said that the round, which values Park+ use cases on the app. BLOOMBERG
tomers, with effect from 25 November. even after the government relief pack- at roughly $160 million.
The development comes a day after age, VIL will need to raise tariffs for sus- The company said it plans to Two-year old Park+ provides
Bharti Airtel announced a similar level taining its business in the country. increase use cases on the app, a comprehensive ecosystem for
of tariff hike in mobile prepaid users. The government has given a four- introduce financial services, car owners that solves daily
While analysts believe Jio will also year moratorium to telecom players to and expand to newer geo- challenges across parking,
increase the mobile rates, the Mukesh pay their spectrum and adjusted gross graphies. Its solutions are FASTag management, car
Ambani-led company has not revealed revenue-related dues, with an option to deployed in six Indian cities, insurance, among others.
its cards yet. convert the interest payable arising out including Bengaluru and Delhi It has deployed its solutions
Vodafone Idea Ltd has increased the of deferment of payments into equity. and Park+ plans to expand its across 1,500 societies, 30 malls
minimum value of recharge by 25.31% Credit Suisse in a report had said that footprint across 25 cities in the and 150 corporate buildings to
for 28 days to ₹99 from ₹79. despite the moratorium and equity next three months. allow users to find parking. It
With this, VIL customers have to pay conversion of interest during the “Post covid, there is a strong also issues FASTag to users and
a minimum of ₹99 for availing of period, VIL will need an Arpu (average shift away from public trans- allows vehicles to seamlessly
mobile services for about a month. revenue per user) of ₹240 by the finan- port and shared mobility, with cross entry gates through
In the popular unlimited category cial year 2026 to meet ₹33,000 crore of growing preference for per- deploying radio frequency
plans, Vodafone Idea has hiked the Vodafone Idea Ltd has increased the minimum value of recharge by 25.31% for 28 annual spectrum payments and AGR sonal vehicles. Park+ is com- identification (RFID) tags.
rates in the range of 20-23%. days to ₹99 from ₹79. MINT dues, which will need to be repaid over mitted to revolutionize how In addition to its partner-
The lowest plan bundled with a per- the remaining tenure. car-related services are offered ships with societies and corpo-
day 1 GB data limit with a 28-day valid- by about 20% to ₹1,799 from 25 Novem- ₹98 currently. VIL had posted a narrowing of its and managed in India. The rations, the company also offers
ity will cost ₹269 from 25 November. ber. The data top-up prices of 50 GB and consolidated loss to ₹7,144.6 crore and continued trust of our investors users more than 90,000 book-
Currently, it costs ₹219. The company has increased data 100 GB will now be ₹298 and ₹418, a decline in revenue of about 13% to will help us strengthen our ing slots on its app.
Further, the price of the 84-day top-up plans price in the range of respectively, instead of ₹251 and ₹351 ₹9,406.4 crore for the second quarter plans for expansion, hiring and “Park+ has quietly built a
validity plan with 1.5 GB per day ended 30 September 2021. to deploy skilled operational dominant position in the park-
data limit will cost ₹719 instead of DEARER COMMUNICATION VIL’s total gross debt (excluding teams, and build strong offer- ing, FASTag and access control
₹599. lease liabilities and including inter- ings on top of our existing servi- market and is now launching
The 365-day plan with 1.5 GB per IN popular unlimited TARIFF on lowest THE company has VODAFONE Idea est accrued but not due) as of 30 ces, providing a 360-degree various services and subscrip-
day data limit will go up by 20.8% to category plans,
Vodafone Idea has
plan bundled with
1GB per day for 28
also increased the
price of low-value
has hiked tariffs
although it has been
September 2021, stood at ₹194,780 experience for car owners tions for their user base. The
₹2,899. Currently, it is priced at hiked rates in the days has been hiked data top-up by about continuously losing crore, comprising deferred across the country,” said Amit company is focused on improv-
₹2,399. range of 20-23% from ₹219 to ₹269 20% customers spectrum payment obligations Lakhotia, founder and chief ing a user’s everyday car expe-
The company has also increased of ₹108,610 crore, an AGR executive officer (CEO), Park+. rience by leveraging automa-
the price of low-value data top-up liability of ₹63,400 crore that are Close to 450,000 cars go tion in areas that were so far
by about 20%. The ₹1,499 annual pre- 18-21%. The 3 GB and 12 GB data top-up currently. due to the government and debt from through solutions deployed by manual and tedious,” said
paid plan, which comes with a fixed plans’ prices will now be at ₹58 and The company has announced an banks and financial institutions of Park+ daily, Lakhotia told Mint Shailendra Singh, managing
data limit of 24 GB at 4G speed, will go ₹118, respectively, instead of ₹48 and increase in tariff across 16 mobile servi- ₹22,770 crore. in an interview. director, Sequoia India.
No.1
Has A
New DELHI JAL BOARD
(Govt. of N.C.T. of Delhi)
OFFICE OF EXECUTIVE ENGINEER (C) DR. III
Kanhaiya Nagar, Delhi-110035
Phone: 011-27394876, Email: eecdr3@gmail.com
“STOP CORONA; Wear Mask, Follow Physical Distancing, Maintain Hand Hygiene”
PRESS NIT No.-07 (2021-22)
S. Name of work Estimated Earnest Money (EMD) Tender processing Last date/
No. Contract Value (Rs.) Fee Non time of
(ECV)/Amount Refundable (Rs.) receipt of
put to tender tender
52 Million Readers 1. Providing house service sewer connections for 12,95,59,690/-
Samaipur group of colonies falling under Coronation
Pillar WWTPS catchment areas in Delhi.
Further details in this regard can be seen at https://govtprocurement.delhi.gov.in
Exempted
(Bid Declaration form to
be filled and attached)
22.11.2021/
2021_DJB_
211368_1
22.12.2021
upto
3.00 P.M.
put their trust in ISSUED BY P.R.O. (WATER)
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SPS NAJAFGARH, NEW DELHI-110043
Email: eecdrxiv@gmail.com
“STOP CORONA; Wear Mask, Follow Physical Distancing, Maintain Hand Hygiene”
SHORT NIT No. 02/EE(C) Dr-XIV/(2021-22)
Item Description Amount put to Earnest Money Tender Fee Last date/time for tender
India's No. 1
No. tender (in Rs.) (Non Refundable) download through
(in Rs.) e-procurement solution
1. Providing/Laying Sewer line in 2,41,42,172/- NIL Rs. 1500/- 13.12.2021 upto
B-Block Vasant Kunj Enclave in (declaration form 03.00 PM
Bijwasan Assembly Constituency. to be filled)
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Business News Site Further details in this regard can be seen at (https://govtprocurement.delhi.gov.in)
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STOP CORONA: “Wear Mask, Follow Physical Distancing, Maintain Hand Hygiene”
NIT No. 29/M-41/2021-22
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of tender in download & RTGS through
e-procurement solution e-procurement solution
1 Replacement of sewer line around Govt. Offices 1,25,58,860/- 2021_DJB_211249_ 10.12.2021
and adjoining area at Nehru Place District Centre 18.11.2021 upto 2.00 PM
under EE(S) II (AC-51 Kalkaji)
NIT No. 30/M-41/2021-22
Press Tender
S. Name of work Reserve Date of release Last date and time for
Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform, News/Information - No. price of tender in download & RTGS through
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Business/ Finance News, Unique Visitors, August 2021, India 1 Replacement of main sewer line from Red Light 1,89,05,571/- 2021_DJB_211348_1 15.12.2021
X-ing, Nehru Place to MTNL office at Outer Ring 22.11.2021 upto 2.00 PM
Road, Nehru Place under EE(S) II (AC-51 Kalkaji)
Further details in this regard can be seen at govtprocurement.delhi.gov.in
ISSUED BY P.R.O. (WATER)
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08 WEDNESDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2021

BENGALURU GLOBAL LIVEMINT.COM

Fed picks leave open questions

on how it will regulate Wall St
Renominated Fed chair says he will defer to the US president’s forthcoming nominee on financial regulation China had fined Taiwanese conglomerate Far Eastern Group for
its support to the ruling party led by president Tsai Ing-wen. AFP

Andrew Ackerman
feedback@livemint.com
Rohit Chopra, a former adviser to
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) and
Mr. Biden’s pick to head the Con-
China targets firms
P that back Taiwan’s
resident Joe Biden’s deci- sumer Financial Protection Agency,
sion to reappoint Jerome was confirmed on 30 September.
Powell as Federal Reserve If Mr. Powell and Ms. Brainard win
chairman and elevate gov- Senate approval for their posts, three
ernor Lael Brainard signals
continuity on monetary policy but
leaves open questions on the direc-
openings would remain on the Fed’s
seven member board: the position of
vice chairman for supervision and
ruling party DPP
tion the central bank will take in reg- two separate governors’ seats. Bloomberg spook companies with any
ulating Wall Street. The Fed’s recomposed board will feedback@livemint.com links to Taiwanese President
The extent to which the Fed will be tasked with approving or denying Tsai Ing-wen and her pro-inde-

spend the next several years tighten-
ing regulatory policy—after easing
rules under Trump-appointed offi-
cials—will depend on whom Mr.
Biden ultimately picks to succeed
Randal Quarles, the departing central
bank governor who served as its regu-
latory point man until last month.
Mr. Powell has said he would defer
to whoever fills that role in setting the
central bank’s approach to regula-
tion. Mr. Biden said on Monday that
he would soon nominate a new super-
visory chief.
“I respect that that’s the person
who will set the regulatory agenda
going forward,” Mr. Powell told
reporters in September. “It’s fully
appropriate to look at—for a new per-
son to come in and look at the current
state of regulation and supervision
and suggest appropriate changes.”
During Mr. Powell’s nearly four
years as head of the Fed, the central
bank has revamped big-bank stress
tests, including eliminating pass-fail
grades, tailored its rules for U.S. len-
ders based on their size, and simpli-
fied key post-crisis regulations such
as the Volcker rule prohibition on
proprietary trading.
Mr. Powell and supporters of those
+ changes have referred to them as a
tailoring of complex rules. Some
Democratic critics say that the
changes, while each modest individu-
US President Joe Biden speaks as Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell listens during an event in Washington, DC.
ally, have in their totality substan-
tially weakened the original over-
hauls.
Ms. Brainard, an important ally of
Mr. Powell on monetary policy, has
regularly dissented from his deci-
sions to ease bank regulations
enacted after the 2008-09 financial
crisis. Ms. Brain-
ard has said gener-
ally that the Fed’s
moves to soften
regulations have gone too far. If con-
firmed as vice chairman of the Fed
board, Ms. Brainard would have a
vote on regulatory matters before the
central bank but wouldn’t set its regu-
latory agenda.
Industry officials welcomed Mon-
day’s Fed nominations.
“We expect regulators will con-
tinue to hold the largest banks to the
high regulatory and supervisory stan-
dards that have remained in place to
support a resilient and essential part
of the U.S. financial system,” Kevin
Fromer, chief executive officer of the
Financial Services Forum, which rep-
resents the largest
U.S. banks, said in
a written state-
ment.
In addition to the Fed vacancies,
several top financial posts remain
unfilled. These include vice chairman
at the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corp. and a full-time director for the
Federal Housing Finance Agency,
which oversees government-con-
trolled mortgage giants Fannie Mae
AFP
and Freddie Mac.
Saule Omarova, Mr. Biden’s nomi-
nee to head the Office of the Comp-
troller of the Currency, which over-
sees national banks, faced bipartisan
skepticism at a hearing last week and
faces an uncertain path to confirma-
tion.
Another nominee, Rostin Behnam,
is awaiting confirmation to head the
Commodity Futures Trading Com-
mission, the top U.S. derivatives over-
seer. Mr. Behnam currently serves as
the CFTC’s acting chairman.
Gary Gensler, who as Mr. Biden’s
Securities and Exchange Commis-
sion chairman has outlined an
aggressive agenda that threatens to
squeeze the financial industry’s profit
margins, was confirmed in April.
a bevy of bank deals announced over
the past year. Bank mergers and
acquisitions are on pace in 2021 for
their biggest year since at least 2008,
when some large banks were forced
to sell in the face of collapse.
The vice chairman for supervision
could spearhead a review of the cen-
tral bank’s framework for reviewing
bank deals. That approach is more
likely if the nominee shares Ms.
Brainard’s view that the Fed should
more closely scrutinize bank merg-
ers.
“The Fed probably just won’t be in
a huge rush to approve mergers until
the new nominees get settled and
kind of develop a strategy on what
they want to do on bank mergers,”
said Jeremy Kress, an assistant pro-
fessor of business law at the Univer-
sity of Michigan who researches
financial regulation.
Mr. Biden in July issued an execu-
tive order asking bank regulators and
the Justice Department to deliver
“more robust scrutiny” of bank deals.
Also on the Fed’s regulatory
agenda is what steps should be taken
to address financial risks posed by cli-
mate change, the level of regulation
needed around cryptocurrencies and
how banks should treat Treasurys
and deposits they hold at the central
bank.
©2021 DOW JONES & COMPANY, INC
C
hina said it will punish
businesses and political
donors with links to
individuals supporting Taiwan
independence after it fined
Taiwanese conglomerate Far
Eastern Group.
“Businesses and financial
sponsors associated with sup-
porters of Taiwan independ-
ence will be penalized accord-
ing to law,” Taiwan Affairs
Office spokeswoman Zhu
Fenglian told reporters on
Monday, according to a state-
ment from her agency. Zhu
said that backers of independ-
ence undermine cross-strait
relations and risk instability in
the region.
Zhu made the remark as she
responded to a question about
whether the punishment Far
Eastern received earlier Mon-
day was connected to China’s
efforts to sanction Taiwanese
politicians who support inde-
pendence from the mainland.
While Zhu didn’t directly char-
acterize Far Eastern as an asso-
ciate of pro-independence pol-
iticians, she warned that China
will never allow individuals and
businesses with such views to
make profits in China.
The remarks threaten to
pendence Democratic Progres-
sive Party. Beijing has continu-
ously ratcheted up military,
economic and diplomatic pres-
sure on democratically run Tai-
wan Tsai’s election victory in
2016, moves that have only
increased her popularity.
Tsai’s government views
Taiwan as an already de facto
sovereign nation, although it
has stopped short of pushing
for a formal independence dec-
laration—a clear red line from
Beijing that could trigger an
invasion. China has sought to
raise the costs for Taiwan’s 24
million residents to support
Tsai’s party, with little success.
“The current sanction is
restricted to Far Eastern
Group, and its magnitude does
not seem overly costly,” said
Yongwook Ryu, assistant pro-
fessor of East Asian interna-
tional relations at the National
University of Singapore’s Lee
Kuan Yew School of Public Pol-
icy. “But what is important is its
signalling effect both to foreign
and Taiwanese businesses as
well as to the Chinese public
that the Chinese government
shall not tolerate any bit of Tai-
wanese independence move-
ment or support.”

A $12 bn gas project in Australia Deutsche Bank’s rising star has a change of fortune
is sparking a new climate debate Bloomberg
feedback@livemint.com
cesses, Woehrmann’s sustain-
able reboot went into over-
her firing, DWS published its
yearly results, labelling
drive. The 2018 annual report roughly half its assets under
Bloomberg

A
t the start of this year mentioned ESG 15 times; the management as “ESG inte-
feedback@livemint.com Asoka Woehrmann next year it was 65 times. It was grated.” According to the
was sitting pretty. The 712 mentions in 2020, when whistleblower, the figures

A
$12 billion liquefied
natural gas investment
approved in Australia
leads a wave of projects betting
demand will rise as the world
shuns more polluting alterna-
tives like coal.
The development of the
Scarborough field, Pluto
onshore processing facility
and a 430-kilometre subsea
pipeline led by Woodside
Petroleum Ltd will supply as
much as 8 million tonnes
annually for at least 20 years,
with first cargoes expected
from 2026.
It’s a project that cuts
straight to a key debate in the
energy transition: the role of
natural gas as nations aim to
both curb greenhouse gas
emissions and avoid supply
crunches that triggered recent
power shortages in Asia and
record prices in Europe.
“One of the quickest ways
for nations to reduce their
emissions is to switch their
energy system from coal to
gas-fired,” Woodside’s chief
executive officer Meg O’Neill
said on Tuesday in an inter-
view with Bloomberg Televi-
sion.
“We think the market for
LNG will be very robust for
decades into the future,” he
added.
Climate campaigners esti-
mate the project’s direct car-
bon dioxide emissions will be
about 4.4 million tonnes a year
and that figure swells to 56
million tonnes if the burning
of the gas by consumers, or
so-called scope 3 environmen-
tal impacts, are included, the
Australia Institute think tank
said in a June report.
“Gas is still needed,” and
particularly in industrializing
nations, said Henning
Gloystein, global director of
energy and natural resources
at Eurasia Group. Yet sanc-
tioning new spending on the
fuel will also stoke debate over
net zero commitments.
“Investing into the future
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The LNG boom in the past decade saw firms invest $200 billion
that transformed Australia into a key exporter.
extraction of hydrocarbons
certainly locks in future emis-
sions,” he said.
Woodside, which aims to
sell a stake in Scarborough and
retain about a 50% interest,
advanced 3.5% in Sydney trad-
ing on Tuesday, as BHP Group
gained 4%.
Australia’s LNG boom in the
past decade saw companies
from Chevron Corp. to Royal
Dutch Shell Plc pump about
$200 billion into mega-pro-
jects that transformed the
nation into a key exporter.
Now there’s a rising challenge
in the seaborne market from
Qatar and the US.
Emerging projects include
Cheniere Energy Inc.’s Stage 3
expansion of its Corpus Christi
export plant in Texas, Venture
Global LNG’s Plaquemines
project in Louisiana, Qatar’s
North Field South develop-
ment and Novatek PJSC’s Arc-
tic LNG-1 in Russia, according
to Wood Mackenzie senior
analyst Daniel Toleman.
“Woodside is not the only
LNG player looking to take
advantage of rising prices and
strong demand,” Toleman
said. “Over the next 12 months
we expect several low-cost
projects to move toward sanc-
tion.”
The outlook for natural gas
will depend on how quickly
national climate pledges are
put into action. Consumption
of natural gas would be about
25% higher by 2050 based on
a continuation of existing poli-
cies, while demand would
REUTERS
peak in 2025 and slowly
decline if nations follow
through on their promised
commitments, according to
the International Energy
Agency.
Key LNG consumers includ-
ing Japan and South Korea
have already flagged they’ll
need to curb imports in the
decades ahead to meet targets
to zero out emissions.
“Woodside is aggressively
progressing the Scarborough
project even while major trad-
ing partners such as Japan and
Korea are taking active steps to
decrease LNG demand, effec-
tively ignoring stranded asset
risk,” said Dan Gocher, a
director at the Australasian
Centre for Corporate Respon-
sibility, a shareholder activist
group.
BHP and Global Infrastruc-
ture Partners LP, which this
month agreed to buy a 49%
stake in the Pluto Train 2 part
of the development, are back-
ing the view that gas demand
will remain firm as the world
decarbonizes.
In a sharply criticized plan
on how it will achieve net zero
emissions, Australia’s govern-
ment also endorsed that out-
look, forecasting the nation’s
earnings from gas exports will
rise 13% by 2050.
The new Woodside project
is likely to continue into the
2050s and add at least A$125
billion ($90 billion) to gross
domestic product, Australia’s
Resources Minister Keith Pitt
said Tuesday in a statement.
boss of Deutsche Bank AG’s
asset-management arm, DWS
Group, had hitched his firm’s
wagon to the surge in investor
demand for all things ESG—
promising to make “sustaina-
bility the core of what we do”—
and his rebrand was paying off.
Client money was pouring in
and DWS’s share price was
rocketing. The hunt was on for
big acquisitions.
Behind the scenes, how-
ever, the green paint job was
already starting to fade.
On a February conference
call, DWS chief investment
officer Stefan Kreuzkamp
warned of a “frozen middle” at
the firm, referring to the many
fund managers who were
dubious about “environmen-
tal, social and governance”
investing and weren’t engaged
in doing it. DWS sustainability
head Desiree Fixler was voic-
ing similar concerns, prompt-
ing Woehrmann to tell her
angrily, “Everybody hates
you,” according to Fixler’s
recounting in an email to
DWS’s chairman.
It was the start of a chain of
events that included Fixler’s
March firing, her emergence
as a whistleblower and a three-
pronged investigation by the
US department of justice, the
Securities and Exchange Com-
mission and Germany’s BaFin
into her allegations that DWS
overstated its ESG capabilities.
Woehrmann’s future is likely
to be determined by where
these probes end up.
For fund managers every-
where—greedily eyeing an
ESG market that’s expected to
surpass $50 trillion of assets
under management by 2025—
this is the first real test of how
aggressively regulators will
crack down on any “green-
washing” accusations against
their industry.
For Deutsche Bank and
DWS, the stakes are higher
still: Anything that hinders
their involvement in the ESG
gold rush would be bad news
ESG products accounted for were ESG “propaganda.”
30% of DWS net money Woehrmann hired Fixler
inflows, and ESG assets under from New Jersey-based ZAIS
management swelled by a Group—an alternative credit
third. manager where she was head
Internally, though, not of ESG and impact investing—
everyone was persuaded by to make DWS a leader in sus-
the green tilt. After its chats tainable funds. It has indicated
with DWS fund managers late she was dismissed because she
Fund managers are eyeing an ESG market that’s expected to last year, Morningstar gave the wasn’t delivering on that man-
surpass $50 trillion of assets under management by 2025. REUTERS firm a “basic” ESG grade—in date. “The executive board has
the bottom half of its rankings taken the position that the
indeed. Woehrmann was para- —in part because of a call with firm needs to gain even more
DWS has said repeatedly chuted into the DWS job in one key portfolio manager traction in this space,” it said in
that it did nothing wrong, and 2018, soon after the asset man- who was dismissive of ESG. It a March memo on the sacking.
money is still flooding into its ager’s poorly received initial was a nasty surprise for DWS, Fixler, a New Yorker, subse-
funds, suggesting clients are public offering. With investors and sparked internal debate. quently took her claims to the
unfazed by the furore. But withdrawing billions of euros “DWS wasn’t among the first relevant authorities.
conversations with more than from its funds, the Deutsche to join the ESG party and, when Claire Peel, the DWS chief
a dozen current and former CEO needed someone who they got in, perhaps they made financial officer, says the firm
DWS and Deutsche Bank staff, could create a compelling some public statements that has been focused recently on
and other interested parties, growth story. Woehrmann embellished the reality,” says talking to clients to put its side
indicate it wasn’t only Fixler had been CIO of DWS until Hortense Bioy, global director of the story. Judging by flow
who was asking awkward 2015 before Sewing hired him of sustainability research at data, those talks are bearing
questions on ESG — as the to run Deutsche Bank’s Ger- Morningstar. “But DWS isn’t fruit. Last month DWS
Kreuzkamp comments show. man retail operations, where alone and until recently all reported a spike in new cus-
While her claims only he impressed. He seemed the large fund companies had port- tomer money. The greenwash-
became public in August, red perfect choice. folio managers who were reluc- ing accusations have left “no
flags on DWS employees’ Back at DWS, Woehrmann tant to embrace ESG consider- material impact” on its busi-
green commitment were quickly stemmed the outflows ations or even rejected them.” ness, Peel said on a recent con-
being raised at least a year ago. and morale improved. As part Alone or not, Fixler’s allega- ference call. Equity analysts are
Morningstar, a company that of his revamp he identified tions have put DWS squarely talking positively about the
rates investment funds, spoke ESG as a critical in the sights of firm again; Citigroup Inc.’s
with several DWS fund man- business: Given It’s been a rapid regulators. The point out that sustainability
agers in late 2020, leaving it the market’s vast change in fortunes former group rules are subjective, so they
unconvinced by the firm’s potential, any for Woehrmann, a s u s t a i n a b i l i t y “struggle to see how regulators
seriousness about ESG, people asset manager trusted lieutenant officer, whose can hold DWS to account” even
familiar with the situation say. with lofty ambi-
of Deutsche Bank DWS contract if it did something wrong. The
Apart from Fixler, everyone tions needed to only started six asset manager’s senior staff are
who spoke for this article be on that band- CEO Christian months before quietly optimistic that the firm
wanted to remain anonymous wagon. Share- Sewing Woehrmann will emerge relatively
when discussing private com- h o l d e r s sacked her, says unscathed.
pany matters. A DWS spokes- r e s p o n d e d the firm’s “ESG But some investors aren’t
person said: “We reject the alle- w a r m l y , a n d integration” process—a way of yet convinced. The share price
gations of our former employee DWS—80%-owned by Deut- screening investments —was still hasn’t recovered from its
and cannot comment further sche—became a source of sta- being ignored lower down the August plunge, and sits more
given the ongoing labour law bility for Sewing during his organization. than 12% below where it was
matter.” Fixler has sued the own turnaround job at the par- She also questions the firm’s before the probes became
firm for wrongful dismissal. ent bank. official screening tool, known public. In an industry where
It’s been a rapid change in Things went so well that as the DWS ESG Engine. DWS the biggest beasts are search-
fortunes for Woehrmann, a DWS got the green light to says the engine’s huge array of ing for juicy M&A targets, the
trusted lieutenant of Deutsche pursue transformative M&A. data lets all investment man- relative strength of your mar-
Bank chief executive officer Large rivals such as Amundi agers and analysts check ESG ket value matters.
Christian Sewing. The nega- SA and Goldman Sachs Group risk exposures at any time, but At DWS the strategy now is
tive news flow around the firm Inc. have been snapping up Fixler says the data are too to sit out the controversy, with
has annoyed the bank’s top European asset managers, and backward looking. As a result, Woehrmann largely keeping
brass, meaning the DWS boss Sewing wants DWS to be she claims the ESG integration out of the limelight. Every-
can ill afford another misstep, hunter rather than prey in a label attached to investment thing depends on whether the
according to people close to consolidating industry. products wasn’t reliable. DoJ, SEC and BaFin decide
the German lender. Heartened by his early suc- On 12 March, the day after there’s a case to answer.
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LIVEMINT.COM NEWS WRAP WEDNESDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2021

BENGALURU 09

TWEETS & QUOTES Girish Chandra Murmu Sivasubramanian Kumar Rajagopalan

Ajay Tyagi CAG of India Ramann RAI, CEO
Chairman, Sebi Huge funds are given to Chairman, SIDBI Rise in GST rates on textiles is
Investors need to be local bodies but little input Impact during second not in anybody’s interest due
careful while investing. is available on how expendi- wave has been less to its impact. It will add to the
They must not invest on tures are made. The plan severe than first financial burden of an already-
basis of rumours & must under Natural Resources wave, reflecting the stressed sector, especially
only deal with regis- Accounting is to strengthen resilience of the affect MSMEs which account
tered intermediaries. audits of local bodies. Microfinance sector. for 90 per cent of the industry.

ESR India eyes SUB-ZERO India’s video mkt to

acquisitions touch $18 bn by ‘26

E I
SR India, an industrial and logistics real ndia’s total video market, including
estate platform, is looking to step up land television and online platforms will reach
acquisitions to expand its portfolio, as well $18 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of
as build in-city distribution centres, prompted 9.5% from the $11.6 billion it is at currently,
by high demand from e-commerce and retail according to estimates by Media Partners Asia
companies, said a top company executive. (MPA) at its APOS India Summit on Tuesday.
“Many land acquisitions are in the pipeline, MPA is an independent provider of research,
given that there are not many Grade A advisory and consulting services in media,
portfolios to buy. Our focus is Tier 1 and some telecom, sports and entertainment for Asia-
Tier 2 cities,” Abhijit Malkani, country head, Pacific and the Middle East.
ESR India, said. Growth in future subscription revenues will
As an effect of the pandemic, e-commerce come largely from online video. As the market
did very well, but demand for industrial space expands, there will be more consolidation,
slowed down, he said. particularly in the traditional television sector,
However, there has been a sharp jump in but entry of new foreign players will continue
deal closure and demand for industrial side of to expand the video pie and the share of online
the business in recent months. Third party video.
logistics (3PL) providers are also coming back. By 2026, India will have more than 200
Overall business is back in a much stronger million direct SVoD (subscription video-on-
way, and both demand and leasing momentum demand) subscriptions. LATA JHA
are high now, he added. MADHURIMA NANDY

Shikaras docked on the Dal lake in Srinagar, where the minimum temperature fell to -2.3 degree Celsius, on Tuesday. PTI

Employees of IDBI AMC oppose TCS will help Swiss Re develop its future-ready,

Exports are expected to gain faster traction.

ICICI Bank aims to

HT
merger with LIC Mutual Fund cloud-based digital workplace.

TCS extends its

TCS

boost Exim trade deal with Swiss Re

T
ata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) has

T
+ he second-largest private sector lender
ICICI Bank has improved its market
share in Exim trade transactions this
fiscal and aims to grow it further as the exports
from the country rise, a senior official said on
Tuesday.
The bank’s market share in the Exim trade
increased to 7.5% of the overall flows in the
expanded its 18-year-long strategic
Document prepared by the employees claims that IDBI AMC is a profitable concern partnership with Swiss Re, a Switzerland-
based reinsurance company, to help the latter
build a more social and open digital workspace
Neil Borate & Anirudh Laskar finance ministry. Mint has seen a copy of the let- sell IDBI AMC to Muthoot Finance failed because leveraging the cloud, to drive greater
neil.b@livemint.com ter, which raised the possibility of legal action if of objections by the Reserve Bank of India. IDBI collaboration and innovation.
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI the demands of the employees are not met. AMC had average assets under management As part of this initiative, TCS said it will help
A separate document prepared by the employ- (AUM) of ₹4,120 crore for the quarter ended Swiss Re to further develop its future-ready,

September quarter, while it was 6% in FY21, the
lender’s executive director Vishakha Mulye
said.
Mulye said the country’s exports are
expected to gain faster traction going ahead on
the back of demand and the investments
happening under the production linked
incentive (PLI) scheme of the government.
She said the country’s exports touched $370
billion in the first seven months of this fiscal till
October, while imports were at $410 billion.
Investments under the PLI scheme are
estimated to touch $520 billion in the next five
years, she said, adding that many corporates
served by the bank are gearing up to invest.
The bank also launched ‘Trade Emerge’, a new
platform aimed at the Exim players. PTI
S
ome employees of IDBI Asset Manage-
ment Co. (AMC) have objected to the
merger of the AMC with LIC Mutual
Fund.
LIC completed the takeover of IDBI
Bank, the sponsor of IDBI Mutual Fund, in Janu-
ary 2019. However, LIC has its own asset manage-
ment company, LIC Mutual Fund. under the
Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)
rules, a single entity cannot be the sponsor of mul-
tiple asset management companies, and thus a
sale or a merger is necessary in this case.
However, the merger plans do not envisage the
transfer of the 130 employees on the rolls of IDBI
AMC to LIC Mutual Fund, the employees pointed
out in a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office
(PMO), IDBI’s board, the Sebi chairman and the
ees highlighted that IDBI AMC is a profitable con- March, whereas LIC AMC had ₹16,927 crore, cloud-based digital workplace using Microsoft
cern and is being merged with a loss-making asset according to data on the website of the Associa- technologies. “Adopting agile ways of working,
management com- tion of Mutual Swiss Re and TCS will work collaboratively to
pany. “Common Funds in India. deliver a persona-based, insights-driven user
sense would sug- Merger plans do not envisage the A Sebi circular in experience for over 18,000 end-users,” TCS
gest that IDBI AMC transfer of the 130 employees on the December 2020 said. TCS will help Swiss Re enhance
should have taken effectively allowed operational excellence through “state-of-the-
over LIC AMC and rolls of IDBI AMC to LIC Mutual Fund, fintechs to enter the art, lean processes across the end-to-end
not the other way they have said in a letter to the govt asset management workplace support function by bringing
round as the parent space by relaxing automation and implementing DevOps best
would remain the profitability condi- practices.” STAFF WRITER
same. Also, there is a lot of interest in the asset tions. A host of fintechs have since entered the
management business from players who have mutual fund industry. These include Navi Mutual
been keen to set up their AMC business. So for Fund and Groww, a mutual fund investment plat-
AMC’s such as IDBI AMC, open market sourcing form that acquired Indiabulls Mutual Fund in
would have given the exchequer higher valua- May 2021. In August, discount brokerage Zerodha
UST plans to hire
tion,” the document said. A previous attempt to got approval to launch a mutual fund.
6,000 employees

T
echnology company UST on Tuesday
TVS Motor plans to said it plans to double the number of
TV ad volumes see surge during Oct employees at its Bengaluru centre to
invest in EVs 12,000 in the next two years.
The company announced that it has crossed
The total number of advertisers stood at the 6,000 employees mark here.

T
wo and three-wheeler maker TVS Motor
would invest ₹1,200 crore in future
technologies and electric vehicles (EV)
over the next four years, the company said.
A memorandum of understanding with
signed in the presence of chief minister M. K.
Stalin during the Tamil Nadu Investment
Conclave in Coimbatore in this connection.
Accordingly, TVS Motor company chairman
Venu Srinivasan exchanged documents with
Guidance Tamil Nadu managing director and
chief executive Pooja Kulkarni.
“Under the MoU, TVS Motor Company will
invest ₹1,200 crore in Future Technologies and
Electric Vehicles in the next four years. The
The total number of advertisers stood at
2,851, with 4,624 brands.
2,851 and there were 4,624 brands, with
22% being new advertisers. These are
figures from a recent report by television
monitoring agency BARC (Broadcast
Audience Research Council).
“Backed by festivities and sporting
events, these (television advertising)
numbers have reinstated a strong positive
sentiment amongst marketers. New
advertisers and brands continue to ride
this growth wave and place their trust in
the medium given its reach. Ad volumes
for the Dussehra week grew by 13% over
GETTY IMAGES the previous four weeks and by 25% over
2019,” Aaditya Pathak, head, client
“In line with the company’s accelerated
growth strategy, UST Bengaluru centre plans
to double the number of employees to 12,000
by 2023”, it said in a statement.
In the next 18-24 months, the Bengaluru
centre will hire freshers (entry-level
engineering graduates) and experienced
engineers for various roles focusing on
products and services for healthcare,
technology, logistics, semiconductors, and
I launched my first NFT drop in March 2020, BFSI (Banking and Financial Services and
Hilton said. HT Insurance) clients, it said. Headquartered in
California, US, the company said it has over 35
Paris Hilton backs offices in 25 countries. PTI

A $300 mn NFT org

investment would mainly be for the design,
development and manufacturing of new
products and capacity expansion in the electric
vehicle spaces,” TVS Motor said. The
investment reflects TVS Motor Company’s
continued commitment towards the State’s
overall economic growth as a responsible
dvertising volumes on television
for October stood at 178 million
seconds, highest for 2021, 11%
higher than October 2020 and 23%
higher than October 2019, on the back of
sporting events and the ongoing festive
season.
partnership and revenue function, BARC
India said in a statement. Ad volumes
were highest for FMCG (fast moving
Tech Mahindra inks
P
consumer goods) category, e-commerce aris Hilton is “obsessed” with non-
and BFSI (banking, financial services and
insurance) sectors also saw a growth of
fungible tokens (NFT) and now she’s
backing a $300 million organization that deal with Tanzania
97% and 98%, respectively. LATA JHA is bidding to take the boom in digital art to the

corporate citizen, the statement said.
Coming soon to retail stores in Delhi, Mumbai: Victoria’s Secret
PTI next level. Origyn, a Swiss foundation that
offers smartphone users a way to authenticate
objects of value with digital certificates, has
raised $20 million from investors including
Hilton and Bill Ackman’s Table Management,
according to a statement Tuesday.
The technology offered by the non profit
T
ech Mahindra Ltd said on Tuesday it has
partnered with Tanzania Electric Supply
Company Ltd (TANESCO) for one of the
biggest utility transformations deals. The
financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
The deal is aimed at enabling digital
transformation for TANESCO in order to

A
merican intimate wear and beauty brand Victoria’s Secret along with foundation deploys recognition and support future ready applications including
its franchisee partner Major Brands (India) Pvt. Ltd, will build a full identification techniques created by experts. geo information system, IT infrastructure/
assortment of lingerie retail stores in Delhi and Mumbai by the “I launched my first NFT drop in March network, while improving agility and returns
summer of 2022, it said on Tuesday. 2020, and have been obsessed with NFTs and on investment through technology-led
The retailer also launched its online store for India on Monday to sell its the never-ending possibilities of this transformation. TANESCO is engaged in entire
collection of fragrances, body care, mist collections, accessories, and PINK technology ever since,” Hilton said. value chain of generation, transmission and
beauty collections. To be sure, in 2014, Victoria’s Secret had opened a small “NFTs are the future for creators, creatives distribution across Tanzania and is currently
format store at the Delhi International airport, but limited its collection to and collectors, and this is just the beginning.” transforming itself into a digital enterprise,
just beauty care and fragrances. The store was shuttered last year. The fundraising effort comes ahead of the deploying the full spectrum of technology.
Victoria’s Secret was part of erstwhile L Brands, Inc., a specialty retailer foundation’s public token release and will be As part of the collaboration, Tech Mahindra
based in Columbus, Ohio. On 2 August, L Brands completed the demerger of used for research and development. The will focus on delivering greater flexibility
the Victoria’s Secret business into an independent public company through a certification platform was founded in October across digital IT operations, which includes
spin-off to L Brands shareholders. The new entity, Victoria’s Secret and Co., 2020 on the blockchain internet computer to modernizing core operations and internal
retails Victoria’s Secret Lingerie, PINK and Victoria’s Secret Beauty products, generate digital value for art, collectibles, applications to accelerate TANESCO’s digital
across 1,400 stores worldwide. SUNEERA TANDON The retailer also launched its online store for India on Monday. digital media and luxury goods. BLOOMBERG transformation journey. STAFF WRITER

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10 WEDNESDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2021

BENGALURU LONG STORY LIVEMINT.COM

REPORTAGE | TALKING POINTS | IDEAS | INSIGHT | THE BOTTOMLINE

INSIDE THE MISSTEPS

AT AVAIL FINANCE
The startup is circumventing a key Reserve Bank of India rule that allows only banks and NBFCs to lend

JAYACHANDRAN

Arti Singh damentally shiny digital storefronts to
arti.singh@livemint.com
NEW DELHI
banks and shadow banks that possess a
lending licence from the banking regula-
tor, the Reserve Bank of India. Function-
lished banks, the fintech platforms offer rat. Rakhee is the daughter of former Yes A LARGER PHENOMENON
mint
guarantees to lenders. All fintechs follow
a so-called ‘first-loss default guarantee’
(FLDG) model, a way of protecting the
SHORT
STORY
Bank managing director and CEO Rana
Kapoor. S ome of the circumvention of norms
appears to be widespread. NBFC
But this is not the first time Avail has industry officials Mint spoke to did con-

T
he Paytm IPO debacle notwith- ing like online sales agents, they can interest of the lender in case of a default. made an attempt at acquiring the NBFC firm that fintech companies transferring
standing, India’s burgeoning acquire customers, pass on the creden- This means the fintech platform pays WHAT tag. Earlier, the company had applied for their own money into the disbursement
fintech sector is both a sunrise tials to a real lender and facilitate a loan. upfront to the NBFC a percentage of the a licence through its subsidiary, AF Capi- account is a clear violation of the regula-
industry and an investor darling According to Mint’s investigation, Avail total money the latter agrees to lend to the As a practice, fintech platforms tal Pvt Ltd. However, the application tion but is not surprising either.
that mopped up investments Finance, in some instances, has been former’s customers. As the action has who do not hold a NBFC licence didn’t go through. Over the last two years, “We have received such requests from
worth $2 billion in the first half of 2021. using its own money to lend, circumvent- heated up, many in the industry are work- cannot directly lend to their many fintech firms have applied for NBFC new fintechs coming to us for partner-
Gold rushes tend to spawn grey prac- ing a key RBI rule that allows only banks ing on an 80-100% FLDG model, effec- customers. Avail Finance, licences to save costs, cut the dependency ships,” a chief executive at an NBFC said.
tices and this one is turning out to be no and licensed non-banking financial com- tively underwriting the lending risk for however, has been directly on traditional lenders, and for better con- He, too, didn’t want to be identified. They
different. There were about 1,100 lending panies (NBFCs) to lend. the bank or NBFC. disbursing loans. trol over customers. admit that many fintechs are pushed into
apps available to Indian Android users As part of the investigation, Mint spoke Once a partnership between a fintech Meanwhile, Avail has added new prod- doing this since they want to raise bigger
between 1 January and 28 February 2021. to officials who are directly aware of the and NBFC is signed, two nodal/escrow ucts on the lending side. For instance, it venture rounds to survive and thrive in a
Of these, 600 were illegal, a recent report matter and reviewed evidence of transac- accounts are set up by the NBFC partner AND recently launched ‘Credit ATM’, where it competitive space.
by a Reserve Bank of India (RBI)working tions that showed the company directly and a payment gateway is deployed to gives ₹1,000-5,000 as credit line to blue- “FLDG is still a grey area and is not
group highlighted. The report underlined disbursing loans. Detailed queries sent to facilitate transactions. One escrow is for Avail has raised $21.6 million in collar workers. allowed by the regulator. But it is widely
other concerns on the business conduct Avail Finance last week and subsequent disbursement; the second for collections. equity funding and is now in the Just like a credit card, a borrower can prevalent in the industry. An unregulated
and customer protection issues arising reminders did not yield a response. The “If the fintech player is not big enough, process of raising another round withdraw cash from the account with an company directly transferring money into
from the spurt in digital lending. Aggres- RBI did not respond to a query on whether then there is just one escrow account. If of growth capital. Aggressive initial limit of ₹1,000. A bill is generated at the disbursement account is against the
sive lending and sharp recovery practices they were aware of such practices. the player is too small, then there is no lending practices do boost the the end of every month for the user to pay regulation,” he said.
in the space have been problems that reg- escrow account at all. Both the disburse- numbers it can show investors. back. A borrower using this product can In the report, ‘Working Group on Digi-
ulators have been concerned about. SHADES OF GREY ment and collection happen on the end up paying a substantial amount in fees tal Lending including Lending through
The report was said to be prompted by
an Enforcement Directorate probe on PC W hen it launched, lending was the
first product Avail Finance
Financial Services, which runs a micro- brought to the market. It partnered with
NBFC’s current account with its banking
partner,” explains a digital lending expert.
The ownership of the accounts remains
HOWEVER
annually. Avail charges ₹250 as annual Online Platforms and Mobile Apps’, the
servicing fee and 7.5% as processing fee. RBI highlighted its concerns over the
The 7.5% fee is recurring. For a month’s FLDG model. It recommended: “In order
loan mobile application called Cashbean. employers to offer loans to their employ- with the NBFC partner. As per regulation, The regulation is not stringent for credit line, if a customer borrows ₹1,000, to avoid creation of operational grey areas
The company is being probed for alleged ees. The firm also sourced its customers NBFCs are allowed to lend from its own smaller NBFCs and they can get then he pays ₹1,325 (₹1,000+₹250+₹75). in the process and for the sake of better
foreign exchange management act viola- directly. This lending business took a hit books, which means they send the money away with several audit and On an annualized basis, a borrower will transparency, all loan servicing, repay-
tion. during the pandemic, leading to the com- to the nodal account (disbursement) to be reporting requirements pay ₹1,150 in fees alone. ment, etc., should be executed directly in
A Mint investigation has now revealed pany laying off employees. disbursed to the customer of the fintech that the bigger companies are Many fintech platforms today focus on a bank account of the balance sheet len-
an egregious violation at a young and During the crisis, Avail stopped lending startup. required to follow. the short-term loan segment. In fact, the ders without any pass-through account/
ambitious startup. The violation while focusing on products such as insur- Avail Finance is not following, at least RBI’s Working Group report states that pool account of any third party. The dis-
amounts to lending by an entity that ance and savings. But it is back to the lend- in some cases, this standard operating around 87% of loans amounting to ₹0.98 bursements should always be made into
doesn’t possess a licence to lend. Worry- ing business now—and pushing aggres- procedure. It is instead paying out loans bank account. The NBFC would then trillion disbursed by banks have tenure of the bank account of the borrower. Any
ingly, some say the practice is not sively. from nodal accounts, opened by it for the transfer the money to the nodal account more than one year, while for NBFCs, only fees, etc., payable to lending service pro-
unheard of in the industry. In 2019-20, the company reported ₹6.8 purpose of disbursement, via payment (disbursement) managed by the payment 23% of the loans amounting to ₹0.05 tril- viders as per agreement with the lender,
Bangalore-based Avail Finance was crore in revenues as compared to ₹73 lakh gateways. Money from NBFC partners gateway partner,” an NBFC head, who lion fall under this bucket. On the con- should be paid by the lenders, and not
founded in 2016 by Ankush Agarwal, a a year ago. The losses jumped to ₹37.5 and Avail’s own funds are getting pooled lends to fintechs, said. He didn’t want to be trary, loans with tenure of less than 30 received by them directly from the bor-
former Ola executive. His brother Bha- crore in 2019-20 from ₹4.7 crore the pre- in these accounts. identified. days have maximum share in the case of rower.”
vish Agarwal, who is also a director on vious year. Last year, Avail claimed that it “Avail is transferring its own money This operating model is the source of NBFCs—37.5% amounting to ₹0.9 trillion. Meanwhile, the founder of a fintech
the board of Avail Finance, is the founder had disbursed ₹200 crore across its differ- directly into the account and using it for the problem, said the founder of another The aggressive strategies adopted by platform quoted earlier said that the regu-
of Ola and Ola Electric, together valued ent products. The latest number is not lending,” said an executive with direct fintech, who also owns an NBFC. “Many fintech platforms can lead to a high-pres- lation is not stringent for the older and
at more than $10 bil- known. Avail has thus far knowledge of the matter. He didn’t want players do not operate NBFC nodal sure work environment. smaller NBFCs and they
lion, going by the last raised $21.6 million in to be identified. accounts. Fintechs open a Razorpay/ And it can lead to senior do get away with several
reported funding There were about 1,100 equity funding and is There are two violations taking place Cashfree account in their own name and executives quitting. The aggressive strategies audit and reporting
rounds and the lending apps for Android now in the process of here. Firstly, lending should be happen- start disbursing,” he said. Avail has witnessed sen- adopted by fintech platforms requirements that the
reported valuation raising another round of ing from the accounts of the NBFC part- A payment gateway executive who ior exits over the last few new-age and bigger
being sought by the users in the country between capital. The need to ners and not from an account held by the didn’t want to be named clarified that the months across functions. can lead to a high-pressure NBFCs are required to
cab-hailing app in an 1 January and 28 February show rapid growth to fintech concerned. Secondly, the pooling gateways only act as a technology service Mint’s research on pro- work environment; they lead follow.
initial public offering of investors is one of the of funds is a serious violation. provider and manage the escrow account fessional networking site The bottom line is
shares. Ola invested in 2021. Of these, 600 were drivers of suboptimal Every month, Avail has been transfer- of the NBFC lender. Detailed queries sent LinkedIn revealed that to senior executives quitting that despite regulatory
Avail in 2019 and cur- practices in the space. ring a few crores of its own money, the to Liquiloans and payment gateways such Karan Punjabi (CFO), warnings on malpracti-
rently owns about 9% illegal Let’s first look at how executive added. “Since it offers short- as Razorpay and Cashfree did not elicit Ankita Sen (head HR), such companies ces by digital lending
equity stake in the firm. lending works in the fin- term loans, about 80% of the money any response at the time of filing this story. Vikalp Jambhulkar platforms, the operating
Matrix Partners, which owns 29% in tech world. A fintech platform ties up with comes back every month, which the com- (head of marketing), Gyan Chaudhary models employed by several startups raise
Avail, is also an investor in Ola. NBFCs to offer loans to its customer base pany rolls over,” he said. A majority of the NEW MOVES (finance controller), Ketan Anand (growth many questions. But it also points to the
The company is a so-called neo-bank because as we saw already, only banks and
aiming to serve credit products to blue NBFCs are allowed to lend from their
collar workers such as maids, cooks and books. In order to share the risk, as bor-
loans at Avail Finance is processed via Liq-
uiloans, a peer-to-peer NBFC.
“Ideally, Avail should transfer money to
A vail has made other aggressive
moves. It is in the process of acquir-
ing a Delhi-based NBFC, Art Climate
product manager) and Rajesh Pandey need for rules that keep pace with new
(compliance officer) have moved out of digital realities.
the company. “A fintech just can’t operate and scale if
drivers. rowers tend to be those who can’t get the NBFC partner in the form of a bank Finance (India), which is run by Rakhee Most of these exits came within six- it goes by the books,” the founder of a
Entities such as Avail Finance are fun- loans at better rates directly from estab- guarantee or cash directly into the NBFC’s Kapoor Tandon and Payal Sanghavi Bha- seven months of their joining. startup warily said.
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LIVEMINT.COM
Don’t miss out on these benefits
while filing income tax returns
If you are planning to file your tax return under the old regime, it would pay to look deeper into your finances
Shipra Singh
shipra.singh@livemint.com
I ‘India is moving in
n the current assessment year,
the newly introduced e-filing
portal is equipped with the facil-
ity of pre-filled forms. However,
that may also mean that a tax-
payer may miss out on claiming cer-
tain tax breaks that may not reflect on
his/her Form 26AS or Annual Infor-
mation Statement and thereby, not
get auto-populated on the ITR forms.
The new tax regime has done away
with 70-odd tax deductions and
exemptions. However, if you are
planning to file your tax return under
the old regime, it would pay to look
deeper into your finances from last
financial year and maximize the tax
benefits available to you.
Mint tells you four tax breaks that
you must avail in your ITR.
EXEMPTION ON HOUSE RENT
WITHOUT HRA
Salaried individuals who live in
rented accommodation can use the
House Rent Allowance (HRA) com-
ponent in their salary package to
lower their tax outgo. However, not
all employers offer HRA.
If HRA is not part of the salary com-
ponent, the taxpayer has an option
under Section 80GG of the Income
Tax Act to claim deduction on rent.
Ritesh Kumar, partner, IndusLaw,
explained, “The quantum of deduc-
tion under Section 80GG is the least
of the following: (a) actual rent paid
minus 10% of the taxpayer’s total
income; (b) ₹5,000 per month; (c)
25% of the total income.”
Vivek Jalan, partner, Tax Connect
Advisory Services LLP said there are
+ certain conditions under which tax
deduction under Section 80GG can
be claimed. “Only if HRA is not part of
the salary package, one can claim
deduction on rent. Further, the tax-
payer should not own a house in the
same city where he is living on rent,
nor should there be a house in the
name of the taxpayer’s spouse, minor
child or HUF of which the person is a
member of, in the city where his/her
If my brother-in-law
died intestate, who
will be the legal heir?
Rishabh Shroff
My brother-in-law passed
away suddenly and has not
left any Will. He has a house
in his name which is under
mortgage for a loan. He is
survived by his wife, a son
who is a major and his
mother. The house isn’t an
ancestral property. It is a
Hindu family. If the house
is sold after a few years of
the death of his mother,
who will be the legal heirs
for the money? Will it be
my sister and her son only
or will the legal heirs of the
mother (another son and
two daughters) also be a
part?
—Name withheld on request
Please note that intestate
succession for Hindus is gov-
erned by the provisions of the
Hindu Succession Act, 1956
(HSA). Accordingly, when a
Hindu male dies intestate (i.e.
without leaving behind a valid
Will), his or her assets would
be equally distributed among
his Class I heirs. Note that the
property of the deceased is dis-
tributed among the Class II
heirs only in the absence of
surviving Class I heirs.
Given that your brother-in-
law passed away, leaving
behind his widow, mother and
a son (i.e. Class I heirs), his sib-
lings and other relatives would
not be entitled to a share in the
property. Therefore, the title
in the house vests equally with
your brother-in-law’s mother,
his wife and his son. There-
fore, in case of any future sale
of the property, these 3 indi-
viduals would be the sellers,
and the sale proceeds received
would ordinarily vest in 3 of
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office is located or business is carried might choose to contest this,” said
out.”
The rule of owning a house in the
same city is not applicable if the tax- and had HRA as part of salary from
payer takes tax exemp-
tion on HRA.
There could be a sce- allows up to ₹50k exemption under Sec-
nario when a taxpayer deduction on the tion 10(13A) should be
switched jobs in the
financial year 2020 or
was employed with an
employer offering HRA
only for a certain part of
the year. Taxpayers have
two options in this case.
“If you are not employed for a part the first employer with the second
of the year and for the other part you employer, so that they can arrive at
have received HRA income from an the correct calculation of HRA. If the
employer, the taxpayer should have same is not available, then make the
the right to claim a more beneficial actual calculation as per section
deduction by foregoing another 10(13A) at the time of filing ROI and
exemption. So, the taxpayer can claim benefit of HRA on the total sal-
choose between 80GG exemption ary,” he added.
and HRA exemption and surrender
the other. However, the authorities DEDUCTION ON SAVINGS
ISTOCK
ASK MINT
m E S TAT E P L A N
them. Accordingly, if the
house is sold after the demise
of your brother-in-law’s
mother, and if a portion of the
sale proceeds were due to her
and she did not leave behind a
Will, her share would devolve
upon her Class I heirs (i.e. hus-
band, children, etc). In the
present case, the Class I heirs
of your brother-in-law’s
mother would be her children.
Her share would be distrib-
uted equally among her heirs.
But to avoid this situation and
to ensure that the proceeds
flow to a specified person, it is
advisable that she executes a
Will bequeathing the proceeds
to a specified family member.
Rishabh Shroff is partner,
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.
Do you have a personal
finance query? Send in your
queries at
mintmoney@livemint.com
and get them answered by
industry experts.
MINT MONEY WEDNESDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2021
BENGALURU 11
ISTOCK
health insurance. Insurance not only
helps tide over a medical emergency
but also gives tax breaks.
However, if you have senior citizen
parents who are not covered under an
insurance policy but took medical
treatment during the year, you can
still claim deduction on their medical
bills.
right direction on
Section 80D allows up to ₹ 50,000
deduction on the total amount spent
on medical treatment of dependent
parents aged 60 years and above.
financial planning’
Even money spent on buying medici-
nes for senior parents can be claimed Neil Borate To get CFP certification,
as deduction. neil.b@livemint.com you would have to do an edu-
Karan Batra, founder, chartered- cation course, complete your
N
club.com, said that most people easily oel Maye, CEO of the exams, meet several years of
spend ₹50,000 towards elder par- Financial Planning experience, agree to abide by
ents’ regular medicines and other Standards Board our code of ethics and then
check-ups and yet miss out on claim- (FPSB), speaks to Mint on the you obtain CFP certification.
ing deduction on it. status of the CFP certification To renew your CFP certifi-
Deduction on medical expenses in India and the state of the cation, you have to complete
can only be claimed for payments financial planning profession. continuing professional devel-
made in any payment mode other Edited excerpts: opment and requirements.
than cash. Though the taxpayer That’s FPSB’s requirement for
doesn’t have to furnish bills or receipt What is the FPSB’s goal? CFP certification. So, a re-ex-
at the time of filing ITR, they must My organization is a global amination requirement is not
keep the supporting transaction doc- non-profit standard setting part of our global require-
uments ready with them. body. Our mission is to estab- ments. But what NISM has said
lish professional standards for is that for CFP certifications
ACCOUNT INTEREST DEDUCTION ON DONATIONS financial plan- that an individ-
Jalan. Interest earned on a savings account 2020 also marked the year when peo- ning and our m INTERVIEW ual has used to
When the taxpayer switched jobs with a bank, post office or a co-opera- ple made large donations to various vision is to basi- obtain the
tive society conducting the business covid-19 relief funds. However, few cally have financial planning investment adviser licence;
both the employers, the of banking is added to the total know that the taxman rewards chari- recognized as a professional those individuals will have to
Section 80D amount to be claimed as income and taxed at slab rates. Tax- table services by offering tax deduc- practice that benefits consum- re-take an exam. So, CFP pro-
payers can claim a deduction of up to tion on donations. ers around the world. We hope fessionals in India using CFP
₹10,000 on interest income from sav- The degree of deduction allowed to finish the year with about certifications to get the invest-
medical calculated on total salary ings account under Section 80TTA of depends on where the donation is 200,000 certified financial ment adviser licence; they will
received from both the the I-T Act. made. Donations made to institutions planning professionals around have to be re-examined on
treatment of the world and 2,300 in India. every three-year cycle, to be
employers, said Maneet Once you report all the interest backed by the central government
senior citizen Pal Singh, partner, I.P. income earned in a financial year in are eligible for 100% deduction, while So, India will have an oppor- compliant with the NISM
parents Pasricha & Co. your ITR, you can claim a deduction only 50% of the total amount made to tunity of tremendous growth accreditation.
“An employee should of up to ₹10,000 on it. If the total a private institution can be claimed. when we look at the size of the What is the current state of
submit his Form 16 from amount falls below the threshold, the Donations made in kind, including in country’s population, and the financial planning pro-
entire amount will be tax-free. Take the form of clothes, ration, medicines what’s ahead of us. fession in India?
note that this deduction is not etc, cannot be claimed as deduction. There was a local FPSB We should have by the end
allowed on interest income from Further, cash donation can be board, but currently you of this year about 2,300 CFP
fixed, recurring or time deposits. claimed up to ₹10,000, provided the are directly present in professionals in India, and we
donor has receipts to back the dona- India through your office. have about 1,500 students in
‘
DEDUCTION ON MEDICAL tion, whereas donations made There has basically been our programme. We have
BILLS OF UNINSURED through all other payment methods a develop- something in
PARENTS are eligible for full deduction. To ment in the the range of
Covid-19 was a rude wake-up call to claim the deduction, you must also interest in Our vision is to have 600 people
the importance of buying adequate provide PAN of the donee. financial financial planning who have spe-
planning in recognized as a profes- cialty creden-
India for quite tials. We have
some time; for sional practice that 15 education
HOW MUCH TAX DO YOU PAY ON EQUITY INVESTMENTS?
Equity as an asset class is an important portion of an investor's portfolio. However, tax rules vary for different types of equity
probably 15+
years. But in
2 0 1 9, t he
benefits consumers
around the world
Noel Maye
providers
who are deliv-
ering training
instruments. For example, capital gains tax is based on the period of holding. So for stocks and equity-oriented mutual funds,
long term is defined as more than one year, but for Ulips this parameter doesn’t apply. Taxes reduce the overall returns that you
can get from a product. Given that different equity assets have different tax rules, an investor must take a careful look at the
global body
took over
direct admin-
CEO, FPSB
to those look-
ing to get into
financial
suitability of an investment in terms of taxes too. Here's a look at what the various taxes are. istration of the programme, advice and financial planning,
and we have been directly and then we have got this large
delivering that programme and growing community of
through the global entity since practitioners and their
LISTED EQUITY-ORIENTED UNIT-LINKED
STOCKS MUTUAL FUNDS INSURANCE PLANS April 2019. We use the existing employers who are coming
education providers, existing around the concept. We are
exam providers like the working with groups such as
(Long term: More than one year) (Long term: More than one year) (Long term: More than one year) National Stock Exchange ARIA (Association of Regis-
Academy and have added a tered Investment Advisors),
Securities transaction tax: few new ones as well. Network FP, FIFA (Founda-
Securities transaction tax: Securities transaction tax:
Delivery: 0.1% (buyer and seller pay); Following the segment tion of Independent Financial
0.001% Delivery: 0.001% (seller pay) about the direct adminis- Advisors) and lots of the asso-
Intraday: 0.025% (seller pays) tration of the programme ciations who are putting on
in India, there is the ques- conferences to try and move
Tax on Short-term Long-term Tax on Short-term Long-term Tax on Short-term Long-term tion of recognition by Sebi. our developed capacity among
dividend capital gains capital gains dividend capital gains capital gains dividend capital gains capital gains So as far as we understand those who are already in the
tax tax* tax tax* tax tax* it, the CFP programme is financial services marketplace.
Slab Slab NA
rate 15.6% 10.4% rate 15.6% 10.4% 15.6% 10.4% recognized by Sebi, but India is moving in the right
CFP candidates have to direction; one of the things we
From 1 February 2021, securities transaction tax is applicable on sale, surrender, or redemption of a unit of an equity-oriented fund to an insurance company on maturity or repeat the course every are looking to do as FPSB is to
partial withdrawal of unit-linked insurance policy (Ulip). Maturity proceeds from Ulips issued on or after 1 February, wherein the premium payable during any year of the term three years. And there was make sure that we can bring
of the policy exceeds ₹2.5 lakh, are taxable as capital gains. In case of more than one Ulip, the limit of ₹2.5 lakh will be considered on aggregate basis. Amount received on
death shall continue to remain exempt without any limit on the annual premium. a discussion between Sebi the learning and the ideas
*For gains in excess of ₹1 lakh Source: EY, Mint Research For further details on taxation, go to bit.ly/2pOeeH9 and you on this matter. Do from the US, from Canada,
you see any clarity on this? from South Africa, into India.
How is tax on rent on multiple house properties determined?
Shipra Singh ingly, the taxpayer has to family lives in it or if the owner to be let out will result in lesser
shipra.singh@livemint.com report notional rent in his/her Calculating notional rent or his/her family do not tax outgo between the three.
ITR on such properties. Deemed rent is arrived at by looking at fair rent, municipal occupy the property owing to Even if house B is vacant, you
value and standard rent.
W
hen a taxpayer owns Take note that in case of the owner’s work obligations can still declare house B as self-
multiple properties, multiple properties, rent from If house property A's… Higher of municipal value and in some other area and they occupied and report notional
the income tax (IT) different house properties has Fair rent is fair rent is compared with the live in a house not belonging to rent on the other house prop-
₹3 lakh
rules allow him/her to claim to be calculated and declared standard rent, from which the them. In the latter condition, erties.
Municipal rent is ₹2.5 lakh lower amount is taken to be
any two house properties as separately in the ITR form an additional caveat is that the Net annual value should be
Standard rent is ₹3.2 lakh notional rent
self-occupied, subject to some 2/3/4, as applicable to you, and property or a part of it should calculated after deducting
conditions. Rent income from not clubbed together. ₹3 lakh will be the annual value of property A for taxation purpose not have been let out at any municipal taxes from the gross
any other house property is How to calculate *municipal taxes paid by owner can be deducted to calculate net annual value time during which notional annual value. Municipal tax
taxable and needs to be notional rent rent is being considered. can only be claimed as deduc-
reported in the income tax Deemed rent is arrived at as When a taxpayer has vacant tion if it is paid by the house
return (ITR) under ‘income per Section 23(1)(a), which says area. Standard rent is deter- house properties owned by house properties apart from owner. In the case of a let-out
from house property’ head. that annual value of the house mined under the Rent Control them as self-occupied in place the one they live in, they have property where the owner
If any of the house property property is used for calculating Act and a landlord cannot of the previous rule of one. Tax the option to declare any of the pays the municipal taxes, he/
other than the two self-occu- income from it. Annual value is charge beyond it. Since stan- on notional rent on the second houses as self-occupied for she can deduct them from the
pied ones is vacant and doesn’t calculated by taking into dard rent is fixed, higher of house was exempted citing taxation. It is recommended gross rent while filing ITR.
actually earn rent, the tax- account standard rent, munic- municipal rent and fair rent is difficulty people face main- that you choose the house with In the case of jointly owned
payer still needs to pay tax on ipal rent and fair rent. compared with it and the taining two families at two lower annual value as deemed properties, the notional rent is
notional rent. Fair rent refers to the rent lower between the two is taken locations owing to their jobs, to be let out to reduce your tax split between the co-owners in
As per the I-T rules, any that a similar property in the as notional rent. children’s education or elder outgo. For instance, if the net proportion to their respective
vacant property apart from the same location as the property How to pick self-occu- parent’s care. annual value of house A, house shares in the property and
self-occupied ones is treated as in question can fetch. Munici- pied property As per Section 23(2), a prop- B and house C are ₹3 lakh, ₹ 2.5 taxed accordingly. Similarly,
‘deemed to be let out’ for the pal rent will be decided by the The 2019 Budget allowed erty can be treated as self-oc- lakh and ₹4 lakh, respectively, municipal taxes too are split
purpose of taxation. Accord- municipal authority of the taxpayers to claim any two cupied if the owner or his/her declaring house B as deemed between the co-owners.
X X

12 WEDNESDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2021

BENGALURU VIEWS LIVEMINT.COM

OUR VIEW MY VIEW | ON THE OTHER HAND

MINT

Dear ‘The Economist’, climate

change is a global predicament
An international media focus on just Indian and Chinese carbon emissions doesn’t help the cause

That, however, is a very simplistic
picture. There is no denying that China
is by far the biggest emitter of carbon
dioxide in the world. As per Our World
in Data, China emitted 10.67 billion
tonnes of this gas in 2020, through the
burning of fossil fuels. The US, Europe
and India emitted 4.71 billion tonnes,
4.95 billion tonnes and 2.44
VIVEK KAUL billion tonnes, respectively.
is the author of ‘Bad Money’. Hence, in 2020, in absolute terms,
China and India emitted more carbon
dioxide than the US and Europe. None-
theless, we also need to take into
Finally, as the old cliché goes, the
world’s developed nations have emitted
much more in the last few centuries
than India and China, and so it is now
our turn. This is not the right argument
to make, given what is at stake.
In the Indian case, we need to look at
structural changes. Take the case of
coal-based power. While the produc-
tion of solar power has been rising, coal-
based power continues to rule the roost.
In 2010-11, it formed 54% of the power
produced. By 2020-21, it had fallen
marginally to 53%. In absolute terms,

A simpler plan could be

account the per capita carbon dioxide coal-based power capacity has more
emissions of different countries, which than doubled in the past decade.

I
n journalism, the formula used to The Economist ignores. Further, the government has bet big
make a long and a complicated story In 2020, the per capita carbon dioxide on electric vehicles to reduce India’s
more readable is to humanize it, emission of the US was 1.9 times that of dependence on petrol and diesel, and

a model for future cases by starting with the example of some

individuals and how they fit into the
overall scheme of things. In a section of
a recent special report on the issue of
China and eight times that of India.
Clearly, an average American emits
more carbon dioxide through various
activities than an average Chinese or
reduce emissions in the process. The
trouble is that if the electric power used
to run these vehicles comes from coal,
we will just end up moving a large part
carbon emissions and global warming, Indian resident. It needs to be said here of the problem elsewhere. If solar-
The Economist (issue dated 30 October-5 that this ratio has been falling over the power capacity expands fast, as it needs
RBI’s proposal for PMC Bank rescue seems broadly fair, with retail depositors offered money November), starts with the story of Mihir years. In 2010, America’s per capita to, then many coal-based power plants
from Durgapur in West Bengal. Mihir emission was 2.9 times that of China will end up in further financial trouble
back, and others, shares in the bank bailing it out. A simplified version could act as a guide gathers “sacks of coal slipped to him and 13.5 times that of India, telling us than they already are, and this will cre-
illegally by conniving workers or secu- that the American figure has come down ate problems for banks which have lent
rity guards”. He then sells it illegally. whereas that of India and China has them money.
Later we are told how vested interests risen. But this comes with a corollary. In It has been argued that in order to

M
ore than two years after the
faltering Punjab and Maha-
rashtra Co-operative Bank
(PMC) was seized by the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
and PMC depositors lost
access to their money, a resolution of its crisis is
in sight. On Monday, RBI issued a draft plan for
its amalgamation with Unity Small Finance
Bank, under which retail depositors would get
their deposits back fully over 10 years. This
+ includes deposits of up to ₹5 lakh—the maxi-
mum insured by the Deposit Insurance and
Credit Guarantee Corp—to be given right away
and sums beyond that returned in increments
of ₹50,000, ₹1 lakh, ₹3 lakh and ₹5.5 lakh at the
end of the second, third, fourth and fifth years
respectively. With ₹15 lakh thus repaid by the
end of five years, any residual sum owed will
reach former PMC account holders at the end of
the tenth year. This way, some 96% of them are
expected to get all their money back upfront
and 99% by the fifth year; only 1% will have
to wait for a decade. Interest accruals up to
deposits into shares of Unity SFB. About half a that include millions like Mihir “whose 2020, per capita carbon emission in the bring down the consumption of fossil
decade ago, a legislative effort to enable such lives are mixed up in fossil fuels purely US was 14.2 tonnes. It was at 18.4 tonnes fuels, these need to be taxed at a higher
through force of circumstance” are in 2010. Nonetheless, a significant por- rate. As Tooze writes: “The British
bank rescues had encountered stiff resistance. likely to slow down the process of tion of this fall happened between 2019 economist Lord Nicholas Stern once
Equity issuance in lieu of debt, however, is a cutting down carbon emissions. and 2020. In 2019, its per capita emis- remarked that climate change results
standard tool of bankruptcy relief globally, In its weekly issue dated 6 November- sion was at 16 tonnes. The fall in 2020 from history’s greatest market failure—
and bank customers who are financially savvy 12 November, The Economist says, would have been primarily because of the failure to attach a price to the costs
should not resist it. In principle, it is arguably “Emerging markets belch out… much of the spread of the covid pandemic. of carbon dioxide emissions.”
the world’s greenhouse gases.” Green- Clearly, the energy guzzling ways of In India, the government already
a good idea for PMC’s institutional depositors to house gases like carbon dioxide, the an average American continue to be a taxes petrol and diesel at a very high
be given claims on its successor’s profits instead most common greenhouse gas, trap problem and need to be cut much more rate. So, the market failure argument
of what it sorely lacks—cash. The RBI proposal heat in the atmosphere and result in the rapidly. Labelling carbon emissions as doesn’t hold. Also, if electric vehicles
would have preference shares issued to them Earth’s temperature going up. a chiefly India-China problem does become popular, tax collections from
for 80% of what they are owed and equity If one were to believe much of The injustice to the truth and doesn’t help petrol and diesel are likely to come
Economist’s recent reports on green- solve it. Further, as Adam Tooze writes down. How does that the government
warrants for the rest that will entitle them to house gases, global warming and the in Shutdown: “In 2020 China was plan to make up for that? Clear answers
common shares at the lower end of the stock’s 26th United Nations Climate Change responsible for more carbon dioxide are needed for all these questions.
price band once Unity SFB goes public. Since Conference held in Glasgow, Scotland, emissions than the EU and the U.S. put To conclude, while Mihir and others
preferred stock delivers pre-set dividends (of 1% people like Mihir and countries like together, but it was also the world leader like him need to see value in doing other
per year in this case) before other shareholders China and India are responsible for in solar and wind power, EV cars, and things, they are still only a tiny part of a
much of the problem. high-speed rail transport.” huge global problem.
get any, it resembles debt—so long as the bank
survives and profits are made. This debt-like
risk profile makes it better suited than regular
equity as compensation for entities that had
effectively lent PMC money by placing deposits.
These entities may or may not wish to become
shareholders of the resurrected bank, of course, www.livemint.com New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh*, Pune* Thursday, November 24, 2011 Vol.5 No.279 `3.00 32
24 PAGES
PAGES
+ 4 MARKETS PAGES

31 March 2021 would be paid, with none for the but such a scheme beats imposing a major hair- MICROFINANCE: Vikram
Akula exits SKS >3
POLICY: Cabinet likely to clear
FDI in multi-brand retail >3

five years that follow and then at a rate of 2.75% cut on all big depositors. A simplified version of EXCLUSIVE PARTNER
CORPORATE: NTPC gets approval
to exit ICVL consortium >8
CAPITAL ACCOUNT: Interest rates
likely to remain high for a long time >17

thereafter. As individuals must not be left in the this plan may even serve as a model for future SENSEX 15,699.97 æ 365.45 NIFTY 4,706.45 æ 105.90 DOLLAR `52.36 Æ `0.06 EURO `70.06 æ `0.65 GOLD `28,665 æ `115 OIL $107.42 æ $0.91

Bankruptcy is about
CHANGE OF GUARD QUICK EDIT
BAIL FOR FIVE
After spending more than seven
months in judicial custody, five
Surprise pick Mistry The new

lurch, lest doubt spreads on the general safety cases of insolvent-bank bailouts. An 80:20 split
executives accused in the 2G spectrum
allocation case were granted bail by
the Supreme Court. This is the first
Tata boss
to succeed Ratan Tata
time any of the 14 accused in the case SANJAY CHANDRA
Former MD, Unitech Wireless
have been given bail by any court.
See Page 5 C yrus Mistry is 43
years old, younger
than what Ratan Tata was

financial death and

VINOD GOENKA when he took over at the
Promoter, Etisalat DB Teleservices helm of the Tata group in

of our banks, the payback schedule looks fairly between preference and ordinary shares, how-
Younger son of Pallonji when Tata took over, most of 1991. His appointment
Shapoorji Mistry to the group’s revenue came from
its Indian operations; in 2011,
will be part of a larger
generational shift in the
learn the ropes as 58% of its revenue came from Tata group, after leader-
deputy chairman till he global operations. The group’s ship changes in many of
companies have completed the operating companies.
GAUTAM DOSHI
Executive, Reliance Group
takes over next year several significant acquisitions Mistry’s record is not
in this period, including Tetley very well known. So he
B Y P .R . S ANJAI & Group in 2000; Corus Group will have time on his

reassuring. The proposal’s relative novelty is its ever, could be avoided to reduce complexity. financial rebirth.
J OHN S ATISH K UMAR Plc in 2007; and Land Rover side, but also the burden
SURENDRA PIPARA ························· and Jaguar in 2008. of high expectations.
Executive, Reliance Group MUMBAI Still, some of the surprise re- After all, he steps into

A fter an international
search and reports of
well-known global chief
executive officers (CEOs) be-
ing considered for the job, the
HARI NAIR Tata group decided to play it
Low profile: Cyrus Mistry.
garding Mistry’s appointment
may have to do with his low
profile within the group (he
became a director of Tata Sons
in 2006) and the fact that he is
the shoes of a man
who has transformed
the Tata group.
Ratan Tata globalized
the group and also cen-
almost unknown outside it. He tralized it, the latter only

differential treatment of institutional deposi- Once a firm precedent is set for turning a bank’s
Executive, Reliance Group
safe and picked a member of will also be the only second after bruising battles with
the family that has a signifi- tan Tata’s half-brother Noel person without the Tata sur- the men who ran large

Bankruptcy is the great

cant shareholding in holding Tata, who was often mentioned name to head the group (after Tata companies, all close
STILL IN JAIL company Tata Sons Ltd as the in media reports as a possible Naoroji Saklatvala in the associates of J.R.D. Tata.
Date of arrest successor to the group’s cur- successor to Tata. 1930s). One big question is
2 February A RAJA 8 February SHAHID USMAN BALWA rent chief Ratan Tata. Mistry was part of the com- To be sure, even Ratan Tata how Mistry will run the
Former telecom minister Promoter, Etisalat DB Cyrus P. Mistry, 43, will suc- mittee created by Tata Sons to was all but unknown when he group: A loose federation
Teleservices
20 May K KANIMOZHI ceed Tata in 2012, and until identify Ratan Tata’s succes- took over as chairman in 1991, in the J.R.D. style or more
ASIF BALWA then will learn the ropes from sor, but recused himself from although it was always clear centralized in the Ratan

tors. Under the circumstances, this part seems entire liability to other entities into assets of
MP, DMK 29 March
Director, Kusegaon Fruits him as deputy chairman of Tata deliberations involving his that he would succeed his un- style? Will Mistry focus
20 May SHARAD KUMAR and Vegetables
MD, Kalaignar TV
Sons. Mistry is the younger son own appointment. cle, the legendary J.R.D. Tata on capital allocation and
29 March RAJEEV AGRAWAL of Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry, The younger Mistry is a sur- (popularly referred to as JRD). group strategy, and stay
2 February RK CHANDOLIA Director, Kusegaon Fruits the reclusive construction ty- prise choice to head a con- Commenting on Mistry’s ap- hands-off at the level of

American story rewritten.

Raja’s private secretary
2 February SIDDHARTHA BEHURA
Former telecom secretary
and Vegetables coon who is the single largest glomerate whose complexion pointment, Ratan Tata said in individual companies?
30 March KARIM MORANI shareholder of Tata Sons with has changed in the past two a release that Mistry was a Investors will watch
Cineyug films an 18% stake in the company. decades in which Tata has what choice is made.
Source: PTI
His sister Aloo is married to Ra- been its chairman. In 1991, TURN TO BACK PAGE ®

fair, too, though its complexity disappoints. ownership offering a conditional-but-priority INSIDE
Market slump:
the fallout
SLOWDOWN FEARS

Sensex, Nifty plunge to

new lows for the year
While individuals would be pleased that they yield, say, client-creditors would be clear about
l The primary market for
IPOs has gone into a coma
and isn’t likely to stir any
time soon. B Y V YAS M OHAN &

l Finance firms that lent

>P4 A NIRUDH L ASKAR
························· German govt
money to companies against MUMBAI
bond auction
shares pledged by their
I ndia’s key equity indices lost

falls flat
E L I Z A B E TH WA R R E N
founders are being forced to more than 2% to close at

don’t have to take a big haircut, which is how it what to expect. Retail repayment schedules
sell them as the value of the
securities declined and the
borrowers are unable to top
up the collateral. >P4
l RBI has raised the interest
rate ceiling on foreign cur-
rency loans in an attempt to
ensure Indian firms can bor-
row more dollar loans. >P6
fresh lows for the year on
Wednesday, a day ahead of de-
rivative contracts’ expiry, as B Y E MESE B ARTHA,
fears of a global economic A RT P ATNAUDE &
slowdown worsened after data N ICK C AWLEY
showed that China’s manufac- The Wall Street Journal
turing sector shrank the most ····················
in 32 months in November. FRANKFURT
In a market weighed down
T he European debt cri-

should be, given the accumulated savings many should also be less jagged. All said, a simpler
by worries of a swelling cur- sis appeared to esca-
rent account deficit as import late after a failed German
bills rise on a weak rupee, a fi- government bond auc-
nance ministry official said the tion on Wednesday, in-
government had no plans to dicating that investors are
lower the securities transac- now demanding higher
tion tax, adding to weak senti- risk compensation even
ments. Political tension and at the heart of the curren-
concerns about policy stasis cy bloc’s debt market.

of them must have had in PMC’s custody, it is plan could shape people’s perceptions of how
were added to this mix, with German government
opposition protests leading to bonds, or bunds, carry
Parliament being disrupted. low yields, but are
BSE bellwether 30-share deemed the safest haven
Sensex lost 365.45 points, or in the euro zone bond
2.27%, to close at 15,699.97. market. Germany has fall-
The broader 50-share Nifty en short of a targeted bond
of the National Stock Exchange
TURN TO PAGE 2®

likely they would’ve been mostly appalled or money gets recovered from bust banks that are
TURN TO PAGE 2®
ALSO SEE
ALSO SEE >Euro zone heads for contraction >P19
Mint is also available for R6 with >MARK TO MARKET: Things >Banks ponder euro zone split >P19
Hindustan Times under a combo offer could get worse >P14

bewildered if offered a conversion of their taken over. This would boost public confidence.

GUEST VIEW

Savvy shareholders care about business sustainability

longer niche, but at scale and global. In each
HISHAM MUNDOL of these scenarios, investors are the alche-
mists pressuring managements to adapt, or
imposing exacting conditionalities on grants
of capital. What should investors, typically
untutored in judging non-financial disci-
cleaner substitute for other dirty fossils, and, house gas) of fundamental relevance to India. ment-social-governance (ESG) ecosystem.
by recycling this mass of ash particles, they The United Nations’ Intergovernmental The Securities and Exchange Board of India
are adopting sustainable practices that point Panel on Climate Change database now has mandated global standard ESG compli-
towards green cement. includes EDF’s study data. ance for the largest listed firms from mid-
Sustainability is not just about processes, Second, systemic transformation is evident 2022. The Reliance and Adani groups have
but also people. Take farming. As weather at multiple levels, most obviously in technol- announced spectacular clean-tech initiatives,

I
t was once said that when businesses think
green, they see red. So vast was the task, so
modest the means to decarbonize. We’ve
come far, most recently to Glasgow, where,
from my vantage, one idea stood out: Share-
holders must not just care about business sus-
tainability, they must demand it.
Sustainability and financial return is the
plines such as the environment, be looking
for? In my view, investors should:
One, quantify the risks of business as usual,
and the business case for sustainability.
Two, ensure they have adequate technical
depth to make technology choices.
Three, encourage leaderships to take cal-
culated but substantive bets on innovations.
patterns change, reducing emissions will ogy innovation but also in regulation. Con- which amounts to a declaration that there is
become even more critical, sider the humble light bulb, no other way but to do business sustainably.
not just for sustainable whose technology has Climate technology’s enabler is finance. In
farming but for its very sur- Operating barely changed in a century. asking rich ‘legacy emitters’ to compensate
vival. That is an important Yet, over the past decade, developing nations, Prime Minister Narendra
statement, given that about conditions are India has shifted largely to Modi made a moral as well as development
40% of all jobs in India are more-efficient LED bulbs. point at Glasgow. India needs an estimated $1
in agriculture. Scientists at
changing in This has happened with a trillion for its economic transition. Green

is chief adviser for India,

Environmental Defense Fund
This PDF was originally uploaded to Mint Newspaper - ePaper (https://t.me/mint_epaper). Subscribe now to get this edition before anyone else!! Backup channel: @news_backup
X X
new orthodoxy, and a groundswell of evi-
dence is its firepower. We are in a virtuous
cycle of capital enabling and following busi-
nesses with sustainability at the core of their
model of operation. In time, businesses that
protect our environment will be rewarded
with better valuations, which is what matters
to investors.
In India, whose dilemmas are shared by
many others countries, I see three broad
themes shaping the relationship of business
with the environment. First, there’s a quiet
revolution in ‘hard to abate’ corners of Indian
industry. Next, systemic business transfor-
mations such as digital pivots are underway.
And third, climate-technology capital is no
And four, facilitate the investments in
technology and innovation required for this
green transition.
In the first scenario, I’ve seen evidence of
climate mitigation activity that suggests even
the most conservative businesses are moving
(though not with speed). In north India,
cement manufacturers are voluntarily using
fly ash, a waste product from thermal power
plants, in their mix of materials. This is as
remarkable as it is surprising because there is
no obvious consumer, regulatory or even
investor pressure behind the adoption. But
cement manufacturers, hardly an advertise-
ment for progressive climate practices,
recognize that using fly ash is a cheaper and
the Environmental Defence
Fund (which I advise in
ways that will mix of political will and ena-
bling regulation leading to
financing may be growing sharply, but its
numbers, and the pledges behind them, still
India) support a project in
Bihar that secures farm
spell financial an aggregation of demand
and local manufacture. This
ring hollow. Recent bilateral initiatives
(UK-India) and multilateral/public private
incomes and is also climate rewards for is the route that electric partnerships, such as the Glasgow Financial
compliant. We call this ‘cli- vehicles and fintech players Alliance for Net Zero (which commits finan-
mate-smart’ agriculture. going green are taking, and both prom- cial intermediaries from 45 countries to lend,
More than 350,000 farm- ise a systemic impact on our invest and judge in line with UN climate tar-
ers are enrolled in a digital lives and environment. gets), are significant tests of our common
platform that gives them tips on better ways Third, climate technology is arguably the commitment to bind business and climate.
to farm. The results have been startling: only force that can ensure India achieves its For now, the pay-offs will go to investors
incomes increased by up to 50% and the pro- economic targets (sustained 9% output who in the near term see the long-term value
gramme is now expanding into Maharashtra. growth, implying an immense rise in carbon- of a portfolio bias towards sustainable busi-
Science is at the heart of EDF’s work, which emitting steel and cement) without doubling ness. As an EDF credo goes, sustainability is
makes our research on emissions from rice emissions. At the same time, regulation is no longer about emotions, it’s about business.
cultivation (notably methane, a potent green- maturing alongside a deepening environ- Investors would do well to pay attention.
X X

LIVEMINT.COM VIEWS WEDNESDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2021

BENGALURU 13

GUEST VIEW M I N T C U R AT O R

EVs for last-mile delivery could Why ‘dangerous man’ Powell

was a safe Fed pick for Biden
boost India’s e-commerce sector Retaining the Republican as Fed chief was politically pragmatic

Electrifying all delivery two-wheelers by 2025 could lower last-mile spends by $1 billion annually while reducing emissions

MINT

BRIAN CHAPPATTA
is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering
debt markets

HANISH YADAV
& NEELESH MUNDRA
are, respectively, partners in the Delhi
and Mumbai offices of McKinsey & Co

P
resident Joe Biden, dogged by weak-
ening approval ratings and coming off

I
n 2016, BigBasket became one of the first com-
panies in India to introduce electric vehicles
(EVs) for last-mile deliveries. By going electric,
the online supermarket successfully saved
costs while being kind to the environment,
and three years later, it added 1,000 more
e-vans and 2,000 e-bikes to its fleet.
BigBasket is not alone. Interest in EVs and their
use for logistical operations and last-mile delivery
is on the rise across the country. In the last two
years, some of the biggest e-commerce players in
the domestic market—including Amazon, Flip-
kart and BigBasket—have committed themselves
to electrifying at least a part of their delivery
fleets. Recently, NITI Aayog and close to 30
companies, including several e-commerce and
logistics firms, launched their Shoonya campaign
that calls for accelerated electrification of last-
mile delivery, underlining a significant shift in the
way both the government and private companies
view EVs.
This shift could be the result of rapid digital
adoption across India during the covid pandemic,
which put immense pressure on last-mile
logistics. A McKinsey analysis anticipates that as
more netizens order online and demand faster
+ deliveries, the volume of packages could grow
at a 30% compound annual growth rate, requiring
between 1 million and 1.5 million two-wheelers
(most commonly used in Indian last-mile fleets)
for delivery, by 2025. Companies seem to be real-
izing that electrifying these vehicles could not
only help reduce harmful emissions, but also
improve their bottom line by curbing costs.
Our analysis indicates that if e-commerce,
hyperlocal and logistics players were to electrify
100% of their two-wheeler fleets by 2025, they
could cut total last-mile costs by about 15% annu-
ally and last-mile fuel and maintenance costs by at
least 50%, which would translate to savings of
close to $1 billion as well as a 1.5-million-tonne
reduction in carbon dioxide emissions each year.
To be sure, complete electrification is a tall
order that requires complete commitment from a
variety of stakeholders, but McKinsey data paints
an accurate picture of the kind of savings these
industries could achieve even by taking smaller
steps in adopting EVs.
Systemic shifts will make EV adoption smoother:
While several companies in the country’s e-com-
merce sector have announced plans to adopt EVs
for their delivery fleets, the idea is yet to take off
on a larger scale. This could be explained by a
number of structural issues, including financing
limitations, lack of awareness and the limited
availability of EV models right now. Insurers, too,
lack sufficient data to accurately price risk while
providing cover for these vehicles.
The good news though is that the ecosystem is
changing, offering business-to-customer (B2C)
e-commerce and logistics players a clearly sub-
stantive value proposition to go electric. The rise
of mobility platforms gives companies an option
to lease vehicles instead of purchasing them.
Mobility player Zypp Electric and original equip-
ment manufacturer (OEM) Euler Motors are
leasing out electric two-wheelers to several
big-ticket clients, while the electric three-
wheeler maker ETO has formed partnerships
with Amazon and BigBasket.
Slowly but surely, the choice of manufacturers
and last-mile-ready models is also increasing. Ola
launched its first electric scooter in August and
many brands are coming up with newer models
with features such as higher top speeds, longer
ranges and better tech packages that are ideal for
last-mile delivery fleets. For instance, charging
these latest two-wheeler models overnight or
during downtime is sufficient to cover distances
close to 70-80km, thereby alleviating the fear of
their charge running out mid-delivery.
The Union government is also promising better
incentives to spur demand and supply in this
space. FAME-II incentives have been increased
from ₹10,000 per kWh to ₹15,000 per kWh,
which will encourage greater adoption of high-
speed EVs—often preferred for last-mile fleets on
account of their performance. Furthermore,
under the Centre’s Production Linked Incentive
(PLI) scheme for the automotive sector, a fungible
amount of about ₹26,000 crore over 5 years has
been earmarked for OEMs and component manu-
facturers of two, three and four-wheeler EVs and
hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. While the incentive
amounts are contingent on beneficiary manufac-
turers meeting certain criteria, like sales value
within a calendar year and exports, the initiative
could be instrumental in spurring EV production
in the country.
While the road ahead is not easy, the above-
mentioned shifts could enable EVs to potentially
disrupt last-mile delivery in India. Such a para-
digm shift in this booming market might help
India inch closer to broader electrification of
automobiles, especially two-wheelers, and usher
in a mobility revolution.
a hard-fought battle to pass his new
infrastructure law, didn’t have to make his
life more complicated with his pick to lead
the US Federal Reserve. That’s [probably]
why he nominated current Fed Chair Jer-
ome Powell for another term while tapping
Fed Governor Lael Brainard to succeed
Richard Clarida as vice-chair.
Opting for continuity and compromise
was always going to be the safest and easiest
route for Biden. Sure, Senator Elizabeth
Warren of Massachusetts called Powell a
“dangerous man” and opposed offering the
Republican another term. But he has won
praise on both sides of the aisle for how he
handled the economic fallout of the covid
pandemic. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen
reportedly favoured Powell as well. There’s
every reason to expect he will win over-
whelming bipartisan confirmation.
Contrast that with Brainard, the other top
contender for the job. A Democrat, she has
a background that veers into the political
arena. She was President Bill Clinton’s dep-
uty national economic adviser and part of
Barack Obama’s administration. Her hus-
band, Kurt Campbell, joined Biden’s team
this year as deputy assistant to the president
and coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs on
the National Security Council. In this hyper-
partisan environment, these ties would
have caused a wide swathe of Republicans
to oppose her nomination for the top spot.
Brainard could have advanced on a party-
line vote, depending on whether she could
win over Senator Joe Manchin of West Vir-
ginia. But was it really worth it for the White
House to expend such political capital?
In truth, Powell and Brainard are virtually
identical when it comes to monetary policy.
Powell has fully embraced his inner dove,
committing to keep interest rates near zero
until the US economy reaches “maximum
employment” even if it spurs a bout of ele-
vated inflation along the way. This isn’t far
off from Brainard’s vision of how the central
bank should function at the effective lower
bound of interest rates, which she articu-
lated in a November 2019 speech.
Either nominee would likely face ques-
tions from Republicans about taming infla-
tion after the sharpest increase in consumer
prices in three decades, but Powell may be
able to assuage these concerns.
The primary area where the two diverge
is bank supervision. In December 2020, the
Fed concluded that banks were in a strong
enough position to resume buying back
shares after restricting cash distributions in
the wake of the pandemic. Brainard was the
Powell was described as a ‘dangerous man’
by Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren AFP
only Fed official to vote against the decision.
“Prudence would call for more modest pay-
outs to preserve lending to households and
borrowers during an exceptionally chal-
lenging winter,” she said in her dissent
remarks, seemingly speaking straight to
Warren and other progressives within the
Democratic party.
Biden could have picked Brainard as vice-
chair for supervision, where she could more
directly influence banking regulation. But
as vice-chair, she will still have an important
voice on such matters while also ascending
to one of the three positions (along with
chair and president of the New York Fed)
that are widely considered to be the most
influential on monetary policy. The White
House said it plans to announce more nomi-
nations for open seats beginning in early
December.
Another upside of picking Powell is that
it starts re-strengthening perceptions of the
Fed’s independence after President Donald
Trump badgered Powell for years. Yellen
reportedly emphasized the importance of
continuity and avoiding the politicization of
the leadership role. It shows that the recent
trading scandal to hit the central bank,
which caused two regional Fed presidents
to leave their posts, was not a politically
motivated push to get the Republican out of
the top job.
Lastly, but perhaps most importantly,
Powell is the less-risky pick when it comes
to potential financial market volatility. It
took time for traders to come to understand
Powell and for him to learn how best to
communicate to markets. At this point, he
has fine-tuned his messaging enough that
he’s unlikely to create a meltdown himself.
By contrast, in October 2018, what appeared
to be a throwaway line that “we’re a long
way from neutral, probably” ended up set-
ting off a stock-market skid. With someone
new, there’s the risk that markets will be
more skittish—something that Biden can ill
afford with his popularity teetering.
In the final analysis, Biden had two paths:
One was the safe pick, the other was a big
political gamble for a relatively modest
reward. He wisely chose the former, even if
it took an agonizingly long time to reach the
decision. Jerome Powell’s reconfirmation
process should go about as smoothly as any-
thing the Biden administration has done in
its first year. ©BLOOMBERG

GUEST VIEW

Lessons from past sanitation policies for future efforts

household latrines’ (IHHLs), it offered finan-
PAYAL SETH & PALAKH JAIN cial assistance to below-poverty-line (BPL)
homes. The CRSP was criticized for slow con-
struction and lack of demand-led ‘behaviour
change communication’ (BCC), which is now
considered a critical aspect of any sanitation
was also infrastructure-focused rather than
demand-led. By Census data, we saw less than
a 10% increase in toilet coverage under the
programme (from 22% in 2001 to 31% in 2011).
Various studies estimated that its gains in
terms of toilet-use were even lower.
So, what can be done about the obstinate
issue of low sanitation adoption in India?
India’s evolution of sanitation policies
teaches us that BCC is critical to achieving the
dream of an OD-free India. Bangladesh is a
shining example, as it has used the commu-
number of installed toilets, but not their use.
To bring about a sustainable change in toilet
adoption in the country, both the Central and
state governments should forge partnerships
with village councils and schools, and go
beyond CLTS teachings. The information

T
he United Nations’ Sustainable Devel-
opment Goal (SDG) No. 6 aims to
“ensure availability and sustainable
management of water and sanitation for all”
by 2030. Its importance extends beyond this
mere objective, as it will help nations achieve
other SDG goals as well, such as SGD 1 (pov-
erty eradication), SDG 2 (improving nutri-
intervention in rural India, as open defeca-
tion (OD) has persisted despite the presence
of toilets. This stems from OD having been a
practice for centuries and perceptions of its
hygiene and health benefits.
In 1999, the CRSP was restructured as a
Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC; 1999-2011),
focused on driving up demand for toilet
After the TSC, the government introduced nity mobilization power of CLTS to reduce disseminated should not just induce disgust
the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan OD from 42% in 2003 to 1% over OD, but also explain the merits of using
(NBA) in 2012, which ran in 2016. Its government was toilets and having clean surroundings. Social
for 18 months. Soon after, Community committed to the cause of norms should be remoulded in such a man-
the government launched not just providing basic san- ner that toilets begin to be associated with the
its Swachh Bharat Mission shifts in actual itation facilities to all, but household’s dignity and social status.
(SBM) on 2 October 2014, also recognized early on To get women aboard as agents of change,
with the goal of achieving
behaviour led that a change in sanitation their presence must be mandated in any com-

are, respectively, an economics

researcher at Tata-Cornell
Institute, Cornell University,
and an associate professor at
Bennett University
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tion), SDG 3 (promotion of well-being) and
SDG 5 (gender equality), among others. And
yet, despite decades of national sanitation
policies, data from the fifth National Family
Health Survey (NFHS-5) indicates that India
is far from achieving it (bit.ly/3kWNRw4). It is
thus important to understand the evolution
of India’s sanitation policies and lessons that
will help India frame revised sanitation poli-
cies and achieve SDG 6 by 2030.
In 1981, the Census reported that only 1% of
rural households had sanitation coverage (i.e.
access to toilets). To address this, India’s gov-
ernment launched its Central Rural Sanita-
tion Programme (CRSP; 1986-1999). To
encourage the construction of ‘individual
adoption. Around 15% of its budget was dedi-
cated to educational activities, along with
continued financial assistance to BPL house-
holds. To effect behaviour change, the educa-
tional emphasis was primarily on achieving
community-led total sanitation (CLTS).
Developed in Bangladesh, this a multi-step
participatory process which acknowledges
that the mere provision of toilets does not
guarantee its usage, uses audio-visual aids to
arouse a sense of discomfort and disgust with
OD, and motivates local communities to end
the practice collectively. However, the TSC
was also criticized, as a study found that the
officials running it lacked the training needed
for educational activities. Like the CRSP, it
an OD-free India within
five years. The SBM was the
by women have
first to include urban (along
with rural) sanitation
the potential
guidelines. Along with to achieve the
financial assistance, the
SBM also purported to country’s goals
focus heavily on BCC, but
the rigour of its implemen-
tation is often questioned by independent
researchers. Under the SBM, India achieved
the construction of around 100 million toilets
and was declared an OD-free nation on 2
October 2019. However, many independent
studies, along with NFHS-5 data, have raised
questions over this claim.
attitudes was just as crucial.
It formed collaborations
with state and local govern-
ments along with national
and international NGOs,
which helped accelerate the
spread of the CLTS mes-
sage. Dhaka also recognized
that since women bear a dis-
proportionate burden of OD, their participa-
tion and leadership had to be encouraged for
Bangladesh to achieve the greater good of
social equality with higher toilet use.
New Delhi’s sanitation policies have had a
top-down approach with a focus on building
toilets. This has successfully led to a higher
munity-level sanitation intervention, along
with their participation in decisions over the
location and type of toilets planned. Their
endorsement of plans will ensure that invest-
ments in sanitation do not go waste.
Research has shown that even after suc-
cessful BCC and adoption of toilets, there is
always the possibility of a reversion to OD if
toilets are not kept structurally intact and
suitably clean. Hence, we need adequate
provisions for the upkeep of toilets in future
budgets to lower the chances of a slide-back.
Finally, linking our SDG 6 goal with the sani-
tation programmes of governments at all
levels—national, state and local—will allow
a unified approach towards that end.
X X

14 WEDNESDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2021

BENGALURU BUSINESS OF LIFE SPORTS LIVEMINT.COM

B-GIRL JO BREAKING
THE OLYMPIC MOULD
Joanna Rodrigues, a yoga
teacher from Bengaluru,
is aiming to become
the first Indian to qualify
for the new Olympic Rohit Sharma speaks to bowler Deepak Chahar. PTI

sport of breaking
Deepti Patwardhan
Rohit Sharma
feedback@livemint.com
proves himself as
A
t 17, Johanna Rodrigues had the
best year of her life. She had
passed 12th grade with 92%
marks. For most kids in Benga-
luru, the IT capital of India, it
T20 captain
would have been the ideal stepping stone for a
more conventional, academic path. But conven- The series win over New Zealand
tion never appealed to Rodrigues. Earlier that shows that the team is in good hands
year she had already discovered something that
would eventually see her drop out of the rat race
and carve her own path. Sumit Chakraberty
“I stumbled into a neighbourhood jam, feedback@livemint.com
known as Freeze and it was run by Black Ice

Crew. That’s the first time I saw breaking live,”
Rodrigues, now 25, says over the phone. “I had
seen all these movies. At that age, Step Up and
all was very attractive to me. I just loved the idea
of a group of kids having fun on their own. A lot
of other sports and arts you have to comply to
your teacher, you have to do it the way they say.
But as a teenager I really didn’t want to do any-
thing like that. I think breaking was one of those
things that gave me the freedom to do it the way
I want to do it.”
What started as rebellious fun soon became
her purpose. Rodrigues, who goes by the name
B-Girl Jo, is currently one of the best breakers in
the country. She won her second Red Bull BC
One India championship in September and rep-
resented India at the World Final in Gdansk,
Poland, earlier this month.
Born in the streets of the Bronx in New York
City in the 1970s, breaking is now a global phe-
+ nomenon. The International Olympic Commit-
tee, looking to find new ways to engage a
younger audience, first introduced the sport in
the Youth Olympic Games at the 2018 Buenos
Aires edition. Impressed by the response, they
decided to instate it as a sport at the Summer
Olympics, starting with Paris 2024. “Initially I
wasn’t sure how it will change, but I am already
seeing that dancers’ families are taking it a lot
more seriously and that’s really helpful for them
to grow,” says Rodrigues. “People are more will-
ing to fund it now that they know that it is recog-
nized as an Olympic sport. I also know that
schools are going to be more open to it being
taught. That opens up a whole space for break-
ers to teach,” she adds.
It is still a growing sport in India while nations
like the US, France, Russia and Japan are much
ahead of the curve. While it is popular in the
Indian media and a staple on reality TV shows,
it is still largely perceived as dance. Worse still,
as ‘breakdance.’ “We prefer calling it breaking,”
Rodrigues corrects politely. “Breakdance is a
term wrongly used by the media in the 1970s
and 80s for commercial reasons.”
“I think it lies somewhere in between per-
formance arts and sports. It’s definitely an art,
every performer brings something unique to
the art, but it is also very athletic,”she adds.
“Breaking is part of the culture of hip-hop and
I think wherever hip-hop resonates strongly is
going to be a good support for the breakers. Our
social and economic situation is quite relevant
to hip-hop. A lot of the breakers come from very
modest backgrounds.”
Like a lot of its practitioners, breaking is edgy
Joanna Rodrigues breaking, and (below) a breaker competes in Rotterdam, Netherlands, to pick up points for Olympic qualification.
and defiant. The signature swagger and freezes
are built on a foundation of incredible athleti-
cism and bursting creativity. For Rodrigues,
who has been practicing yoga since the age of 11
and dabbled in Bharatnatyam and Indian mar-
tial art Kalaripayattu, breaking is her vehicle of
expression. It not only gave her the freedom to
be herself once on the stage, but also helped her
cope. Her father died in a hit-and-run accident
when she was only six.
“Being raised by a single woman is quite chal-
lenging anywhere, but especially in a male dom-
inated country like ours,” Rodrigues says.
“There were several challenges. We faced a lot
of difficulty, even when we would travel alone,
it was unsafe for us. All the little things influ-
AFP
enced me and made me feel I had to be a very
strong in order to survive and thrive in this soci-
ety. That’s what pushed me to prove myself.”
It is the same attitude that she brought to her
craft. Rodrigues would practice moves for hours
on end, alone in her house. She won her first
solo competition in 2018, at Project Street Art in
New Delhi. While breaking is dynamic, it is also
deeply personal. Most breakers choreograph
their own routines and spend years developing
a style.
Even though she is a primary school teacher,
her mother allowed Rodrigues to drop out of
college. “After my 12th, I started to do my
degree at Mount Carmel College, but I didn’t
like it because I didn’t think there was enough
L
freedom. I was too rebellious at that point. My
mother allowed me to drop out because she
saw how unhappy I was,” she says. They were
doing okay financially, but leaving college
early also helped Rodrigues to contribute to
the family income. “I am a certified yoga
teacher and have been working since the age of
19,” she says.
When asked if breaking is a viable career path
for Indian youngsters, the 25-year-old, as
expected, has a unique take on it. “Very few pro-
fessions are financially viable in our country,”
she says. “You might get paid, but that’s proba-
bly at the cost of your entire lifestyle and well-
being. Considering that, being an artist or
dancer is on par with being a breaker now.
There are as many opportunities.”
Being a part of the Olympic charter has just
opened a whole new world of opportunities for
breakers. At the 2024 Paris Games, the top-16
B-Girls and top-16 B-Boys in the world will com-
pete in one-on-one battles. The qualification
events will begin next year. Even though India
doesn’t have a proper federation or structure in
place yet, there has been some progress since
the sport received IOC’s stamp of approval.
The very first national breaking competition
was held in Mumbai this October. “There were
30 B-boys and maybe 20 B-girls, which is the
largest number of B-girls who have ever come
together from all over the country, including
places like Chhattisgarh. So there are some
steps being taken in the right direction.”
To make it to Paris, Rodrigues will first have
to make sure she remains among the top two
B-Girls in India. While she still owns the crea-
tive rights to her routines, she now works with
a physiotherapist and strength and condition-
ing coach to make sure she gets in the best shape
for the biggest stage in her journey so far.
eg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, already under pressure after
being left out of India’s 2021 T20 World Cup squad, went for
16 runs in his second over, conceding two boundaries and a
soaring six by New Zealand’s hitman, Martin Guptill. Other cap-
tains may have taken Chahal off after that over. But not India’s
new T20 captain, Rohit Sharma. In Chahal’s next over, Guptill
went for him again, but this time skied a catch. That ended Kiwi
hopes of chasing the target of 185 in Kolkata on Sunday, making
it a 3-0 sweep for India in the T20 series. Rohit Sharma, known
as Hitman for his aggressive batting, showed that he’s also an
aggressive captain. He had seen Chahal drifting to the legside,
but knew the diminutive leggie could get Guptill if he steadied
his nerve to correct his line. The captain stuck to his wicket-tak-
ing option and backed his wrist-spinner, instead of switching to
a more defensive bowler after the 16-run 9th over.
The old cliche goes that a captain is only as good as his players,
but often it’s the other way round. The way Chahal bowled, with
the captain himself standing at first slip to back his wicket-taking
ability, had a lot to do with how he was handled. It’s no fluke that
Rohit Sharma has won an astounding five titles in nine seasons
of the Indian Premier League (IPL) since taking over the cap-
taincy of Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2013, when the former Austra-
lian skipper Ricky Ponting stood down
Rohit Sharma in his favour. Sharma is often
has shown described as a bowler’s captain. What
it means is that he gives his bowlers the
that he is an space to take the initiative, instead of
aggressive just following the captain’s script with-
captain in the out applying their own minds. At the
T20 format same time, he’s constantly passing on
strategic inputs.
Overall it works better when players
relish taking responsibility for fulfilling their roles in the team,
and feel free to make suggestions or even disagree. It helps that
Sharma is one of the boys, with no airs about him, because super-
stardom somehow eluded him despite his enormous talent.
It’s a fortuitous coincidence that the new coach, Rahul Dravid,
is equally unassuming. The Dravid-Sharma combination gives
India a good chance to end the drought in World Cup titles since
2011. The T20 series triumph over New Zealand gives the new
Indian team leadership the heft to prepare for the next T20
World Cup to be played in Australia next year. And if that goes
well, Sharma could also lead India in the ODI World Cup at home
in 2023, depending on his form and fitness.
Not all boxes were ticked in the short New Zealand series. Sur-
yakumar Yadav had one good knock but fell victim to his old pre-
dilection for showboating, which almost cost India the first game.
Ishan Kishan got a good start in the final game but failed to carry
on. Rishabh Pant continues to let himself down in T20s for India
by hitting across the line. Shreyas Iyer is yet to prove himself in
the middle order, and Venkatesh Iyer will need more time to
adjust to his new role of finisher.
Dravid and Sharma have the right idea: it’s better to give a few
players enough opportunity to prove themselves, instead of a
revolving door that doesn’t let anyone settle. India’s T20 cricket
is in good hands.

The charms of playing golf with ‘players’ irons’

Hand-forged player’s 3-D printed does not mean homogene- swing. Nothing wrong with that, you say? allows them to ‘work’ the ball in both
ous—these clubs have been built by Cobra You’re right, of course. The one single directions, and get creative in their shot-
irons have become specifically for DeChambeau who has had objective of every single golfer is to get making. A bit like road feedback to the
anachronisms in an active role to play in every step of devel- better at the game. And we’ll do whatever steering wheel being important for the
opment. The rest I don’t have to tell you: it takes: practice swings on the terrace, racecar driver and an irritation to the com-
modern golf. But are free of imperfections or variance that coaching clinics, battering golf balls at the muter.
inevitably creep into handmade objects, driving range. And most crucially, con- For someone who’s always played with
they obsolete? these clubs are like the kind of futuristic stantly upgrade equipment. blades, I find it near impossible to play
things a Marvel’s Avenger would bran- As anyone who grew up playing the with anything else. And I do believe that
Meraj Shah dish. And the larger-than-life DeCham- game in the 1990s in India will know; we blades force you to focus on a solid strike
feedback@livemint.com beau, frequently referred to as ‘The Scien- didn’t have the luxury of choosing golf first, and actually improve your golf swing.
tist,’ for his penchant with radical, tech- clubs. You were lucky to come across a Still this is an arguable notion, and I’m cer-

S
o here’s how this started. In a video
posted on his YouTube channel,
Bryson DeChambeau showed off the
prodigious ball speed he was getting from
a new set of prototype irons. With a Pitch-
ing Wedge, the big-hitter recorded a
swing speed of 138 mph—about 30 per-
cent quicker than the Tour average for
that club. DeChambeau then proceeded
to hit prodigious distances with these
clubs (well over 200 yards with a six-iron,
for example). Go have a look online, if this
sort of thing interests you.
I’m somewhat jaded with this entire
obsession with swing speed, ball speed,
and distance—the quest which the US
Open champion appears to be consumed
by. I watched not to see DeChambeau do
his thing, but rather, to have a look at the
kind of equipment we all might find our-
selves using in the not-so-distant future.
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nology-based overhaul of equipment and
swing technique, is the ideal model.
After a few minutes of watching
DeChambeau pulverise the golf ball, and
launch it depressingly long distances, I
switched back to my standard screen saver
on the channel—a compilation of Fred
Couples’ swings over the years. This, I
could watch all day. In any case, the
objects of interest, DeChambeau’s clubs—
were blurred out in the video—ostensibly
to obscure the design, but probably more
to create some hype around a new product
launch.
As you might be able to surmise by now,
I won’t be ordering a set anytime soon.
But, then, I’m clearly prejudiced. Given
that, it’s only right for me to lay out my
biases right at the outset. I don’t need to
elaborate: I like analogue music and
watches; will take craftsmanship over per-
retail set, and in that event, proceeded to
grab it with both hands. Most sets were
acquired either through people visiting
from overseas, or from pro shops that
would occasionally stock ‘Slazenger’-type
irons. If you haven’t heard of these then I
recommend you run an online search.
These were like knives, with small heads
and about as much forgiveness as a stick
with a stone attached at one end. Getting
an off-centre hit with one of these would
transmit so much ‘feedback’ that players
couldn’t feel their fingers for a bit.
Golfers like Bryson DeChambeau are leading a move away from players’ irons. AFP Ironically enough, it’s the same feed-
back in traditional blades that’s so valued
fection; and, ergo, love my old blades. And that, by all indications, is not going by professionals and better amateurs. Bet-
Brave New World? You’ll have to drag me to be forged by human endeavour. Sophis- ter known as ‘players’ irons,’ in modern
into it. But, for people with some common ticated AI software will be fed data points nomenclature, the finest blades are made
sense, the prototypes present an alluring of an individual’s golf swing. Lo presto! by hand; forged and hammered to provide
peep into what the future of golf equip- The connected hardware will regurgitate the densest metal that will allow better
ment might look like. the perfect club tailored for your golf players to feel the strike and the ball. This
tainly not proposing you dump your cur-
rent irons in favour of clubs you may find
unplayable. The game is hard enough.
I am, however, left with a sense of loss.
Yet another bastion, a preserve of time-
honoured craftsmanship, distilled over
years, appears to be on the verge of disap-
pearing in the face of an unstoppable,
ever-marauding technology blitzkrieg.
But it’s also an indication of the way the
game is going—one that clearly rewards
power and distance off the tee over finesse
and shotmaking.
The only saving grace is that there are
plenty of models in this world for things of
beauty being forever. And for those who
have had the opportunity, to hold a Japa-
nese hand-forged iron, perfectly ham-
mered and chiselled to a matte finish,
grooves matching to a tee, is quite un-3D
printable.