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16

Thursday, January 18, 2024

Crack in HDFC; bloodbath on LIC books ₹3,816 crore profit

livemint.com Dalal Street uP1 in 3 Adani firms uP1
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Thursday, January 18, 2024

Think Ahead. Think Growth.

mint primer QUICK EDIT

250 million out of Chinese

poverty: How to shudders
read this headline For an economy already caught
in a slowdown, Wednesday’s
release of China’s population
data made it a double whammy.
BY TANAY SUKUMAR The official headcount fell for
In a new paper, the Niti Aayog said around 248 million Indians exited the second straight year in 2023.
‘multidimensional poverty’ (MDP) in the nine years from 2013-14 to The decline of 2.08 million,
2022-23. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has used the data to suggest a though small for a country of
reduction in poverty during his tenure. Mint explains how to read it: more than 1.4 billion, was twice
the fall in 2022, its first in six
The math of 'poverty' decades. Notably, the number of
India’s adaptation of a global MPI tries to assess poverty by looking at 12 aspects those aged 16-59 dropped by
beyond money—classed under education, health and living standards. 10.75 million, while those above
Share of Indians who are deprived 'multidimensionally' (in %) 60 increased by 16.93 million.
70 China’s covid toll was estimated
55.3
60 based on NFHS
2005-06 24.9 11.3 at about 11.1 million last year and
50 based on in 2022-23
(extrapolated)
10.4 million in 2022. It now
NFHS 2015-16
40 15 faces an adverse demographic
based on
30 NFHS 2019-21 turn, with fewer people who can
20 29.2 contribute to economic activity
in 2013-14
10 (interpolated) even as an elderly bulge adds to
0 its welfare burden. Beijing aban-
2005-06 2022-23
Note: Actual data is available for only three years, and for the rest, Niti Aayog has derived it by doned its misguided one-child
interpolation/extrapolation assuming uniform pace (compounded annually). The paper assumed the policy only in 2016, having
period between 2015-16 and 2019-21 to be 4.5 years for this calculation.
Source: Niti Aayog, Mint calculations found that prosperity tends to
PRANAY BHARDWAJ/MINT spell smaller families anyway. Its
What exactly is multi- What’s the data efforts since then to get people
1 dimensional poverty?
No measure of poverty is perfect.
2 source?
Household-level raw data comes
to have more children will take
time to work. While China’s
Traditionally, it’s measured in from the National Family Health economy grew 5.2% in 2023, it
monetary terms (you’re ‘poor’ if Survey (NFHS), and Niti Aayog was among its worst performan-
you earn or spend below a certain adds its MDP calculations. The last ces in over three decades. In dol-
threshold). India’s adaptation of a three NFHS rounds were in 2005- lar terms, its output actually
global multidimensional poverty 06 (NFHS-3), 2015-16 (NFHS-4) shrank. Beijing is betting on
index (MPI) tries to assess poverty and 2019-21 (NFHS-5). Niti Aayog
high-tech advances and domes-
by looking at 12 aspects of life had already updated its numbers
beyond money—classed under to reflect NFHS-5 findings in July tic consumption reshaping the
education, health and living 2023, estimating that 135 million economy, with “common pros-
standards. These are seen as real- Indians came out of MDP between perity” as a slogan. How it’ll pan
life indicators of poverty, making 2015-16 and 2019-21. Now, it’s gone out is anybody’s guess.
up for flaws in monetary measures. one step ahead. The three data
A household is first judged points (2005-06, 2015-16, 2019-21)
‘deprived’ separately on each of the have been used to derive the same
12 indicators, and based on each for 2013-14 and 2022-23 to BUDGET
weightage, if you turn out to be establish the progress made in this
‘deprived’ overall as well, you’re
‘multidimensionally poor’ (MDP).
nine-year period (i.e. “248 million
Indians” out of MDP status).
EXPECTATIONS
HT
We have always operated
3 Where did the data on these
two years come from?
For simplicity, let’s look at the share of
independently without
seeking government
multidimensionally poor Indians. It was assistance. Currently, we’re
55% in 2005-06 and 25% in 2015-16.
Assuming a uniform pace, the paper says it not looking for subsidies or
could be deduced to be 29% in 2013-14. incentives... Our focus is on
Since the share fell to 15% in 2019-21, it
could be said to have reduced further to creating an environment
11% by 2022-23, and will decline to 9% in where we can thrive,
2024-25, the paper says.
addressing minor procedural
and infrastructure issues
4 Just how healthy is this
assumption? 5
The choice of 2013-14 as the
So, what to make of
the numbers?
The choice, definition and
rather than major game-
starting point is vague, and is set to weightage of indicators in any
changing initiatives
serve as a poll pitch. Assuming a index can be debated. Yet, such that a budget
uniform pace in such a long period indices are useful as they offer a might cover.
(2005-06 to 2015-16) is tricky: the combined view of several
derived 2013-14 baseline would be indicators. But it shouldn’t distract
misleading if, say, a bulk of the us from the long-awaited
progress was in 2005–2010. Such a monetary poverty data. Nor should
claim should ideally be made for a it be confused with poverty itself, JAIRAM VARADARAJ
period where the start or end point as several political leaders have MD, ELGI EQUIPMENTS
had actual data. The ‘uniform’ pace done since July 2023. The NFHS-
assumption neglects the pandemic recorded progress is evident, and
impact. Assuming the same pace India is moving to its goals. Data
in 2022-23 and 2024-25 without interpolation and extrapolation to
taking into account the reversals of fit a government’s tenure could be
2020–2021 could be faulty. seen as selective math.

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 PLAIN FACTS

Tata Consumer’s big

appetite for M&As
BY HOWINDIALIVES.COM

F
or all their first impressions of adding a significant piece, corporate acquisitions don’t always work out in a pat manner.
Tata Consumer Products, which closed two acquisitions last week at a combined enterprise value of about half its
2022-23 turnover, would know well. In February 2000, when Tata Consumer was known as Tata Tea, it acquired UK
tea major Tetley—a company about twice its size. While it spent a good part of the next decade trying to make that work,
it also redefined its own boundaries of possibilities and how it would like to move towards them.
Three things stand out, each of which runs through last week’s big announcement. One, the company can handle big and
challenging acquisitions by playing the long game. Two, it could be a leader in the branded and packaged foods and beverages
(F&B) space. Three, more than global, India is the current engine of growth in this space.
But it learnt all this the hard way. Of the three five-year periods between 2000 and 2015, as it absorbed Tetley, its stock
barely beat the Sensex only in one. While Tetley was a respected global brand, it was laden with debt, its operating costs were
high and it was culturally different.
Further, Tata Tea did not stop there. Between 2005 and 2007, it made more acquisitions, especially abroad. While these
built its name and were value-accretive, it took a re-imagination in 2020 by the Tata Group on how to best ride the F&B space
that catapulted it to a higher trajectory.

Tata Consumer shot up on its expansion into foods

Average annual return* (%) Tata Consumer BSE
43 18.5
13.4 19.1 8.7 12.2 14.7 5.6
6.3 5.3
1,200 2000 to 2005 2005 to 2010 2010 to 2015 2015 to 2020 2020 to 2024

2024: Buys Capital

Share price of Tata Consumer Products (₹) Foods, Organic India
1,000
2021: Buys food
brands Soulfull
2015:
and Tata Q
Launches spices,
800 dal brand Tata
Sampann 2020: Tata
Consumer formed
2011: JV with
by merging the
2007: Buys Pepsico,
600 consumer
Himalayan mineral Nourishco
products business
water brand; Vitax, of Tata Chemicals
a Polish tea brand 2012:
JV with with Tata GB
2006: Buys Eight 2010: Tata Tea Starbucks
400 O’Clock Coffee in the rebranded Tata
US; stake in Joekels Global Beverages
Tea in South Africa (TGB)
2000:
200 Buys Tetley 2005:
Buys Good
Earth in the US

0
2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2024
*Data for 1 March for all years (Tata acquired Tetley on 28 February 2000). For 2024, the data is till 12 January.
Share prices adjusted for dividends and stock splits. Source: Yahoo Finance, Bombay Stock Exchange

Global Consolidation
BEFORE THAT, there was a period of consolidation, as Tetley and the other brands were integrated. Tetley was the
first of the three big global acquisitions that the Tatas would make that decade, the other two being Tata Steel
acquiring steelmaker Corus and Tata Motors buying auto company Jaguar Land Rover.
Tetley was also a watershed moment for corporate India—of an Indian company buying a global company, of a
smaller company using debt to buy a bigger one.
Shaped by R.K. Krishna Kumar, a Tata Group veteran who passed away last year, Tetley was intended to be a
pathway for Tata Tea to go global and lift the branding credentials of its product portfolio.
Even as it integrated Tetley, the company started diversifying beyond tea and coffee, into other beverages. In 2010,
it was renamed Tata Global Beverages. It focused on tightening its ship, crafting synergies and increasing profitability.
Thus, its consolidated debt-equity ratio, which was 1.53 in 2001-02, was gradually brought down to 0.11 in 2016-17.
Even as this happened, the company was seeing greater growth in its India business than the global business. While
the exact India-international mix is not available for all years, owing to the company’s choice to house acquisitions in
separate entities, its stand-alone numbers serve as a useful proxy for the India piece. In each of the five financial
periods that broadly coincide with the return periods outlined above, the stand-alone revenues of Tata Global
Beverages grew faster than its consolidated revenues, that too by some margin. The global market was not as easy and
enticing for an Indian company, and India was a good market for the company to be in.

The India Breakout Tata Consumer's India growth has been

faster—consistently
INDIA ALSO held more potential beyond the envelope Average growth in total income (%)
that Tata Global Beverages had drawn for itself till then. Standalone Consolidated
The company started making moves to shed its beverage
5.2
tag. In 2015, it launched spices and dal brand Tata 2000-01 to 2004-05
Sampann. Then, in 2020, came the clearest sign of what 0.1
it wanted to be.
14.1
The Tatas merged the consumer products business of 2004-05 to 2005-10
Tata Chemicals into Tata Global Beverages, to form Tata 13.7
Consumer Products. In came Tata Salt (the largest salt
9.4
brand in India) to sit alongside Tata Tea (second-largest 2005-10 to 2014-15
tea brand in India), Tetley (third-largest tea brand in UK 6.4
and largest in Canada), and others.
14.5
In 2021, it acquired food brands Soulfull and Tata Q 2014-15 to 2019-20
(from Tata Industries). And last week, it acquired Capital 3.8
Foods, the maker of Ching’s Secret and Smith & Jones,
14.5
for an enterprise value of about ₹5,100 crore and Organic 2019-20 to 2022-23
India for ₹1,900 crore. Both companies add to Tata 12.7
Consumer’s F&B product portfolio. Standalone financials can be seen as a proxy for Tata Consumer's India business.
Capital Foods gives it a presence in sauces, chutneys,
noodles, soups, and Chinese masalas and pastes. Organic Tata Consumer's operating margin has
India gives it a presence in organic tea, infusions and risen steadily
packaged food, and herbal supplements. Operating margin (%)
According to Tata Consumer, it is paying about 6.5 Standalone Consolidated
times their combined revenues for brands that are 15
known, fast-growing and high-margin. 14
13.8
This is expected to further improve the company’s 13
operating margin on a consolidated basis, which has 12
risen from 8% in 2013-14 to about 11% in 2022-23. It will 11
further increase the share of revenues from India (71% in 11.4
10
2022-23) and share of revenues from food (58% in 2022-
9
23).
8
Acquisitions are at the heart of this change, and Tata
Consumer will hope they are easier to absorb, and be 7

more productive, than Tetley. 6

2013-14 2022-23
www.howindialives.com is a database and search
Source: Tata Consumer Products annual reports
engine for public data. PARAS JAIN/MINT

PEANUTS by Charles M. Schulz

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 BEnGAluru, NEW DELHI, MUMBAI, kOLkATA, CHENNAI, AHMEDABAD, HYDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE*, LUCkNOW* VOL. 18 NO. 16 Rs. 15.00 18 PAGES

Thursday, January 18, 2024

How Esse cigarettes are Indian firms struggle to find

livemint.com smoking rivals uP10 suitable board directors uP5

SENSEX 71,500.76 1,628.01 NIFTY 21,571.95 460.35 DOLLAR ₹83.13 ₹0.06 EURO ₹90.44 ₹0.00 OIL $77.86 $1.90 POUND ₹105.43 ₹0.42

Crack in HDFC; blood on Street Shriram in talks to

sell home finance
Record single-day selling by foreign investors mauls HDFC Bank; indicators point to more volatility ahead
Ram Sahgal Sensex and Nifty have fallen below
unit for ₹5,000 cr
ram.sahgal@livemint.com wEDnESDAy wHIPlASH their 20-day simple moving averages Anirudh Laskar
MUMBAI of 71,827.26 and 21,628.76, while the anirudh.l@htlive.com
The Bank Nifty, which plunged by 4.28% to 46,064.45 points on Wednesday—its biggest single-day fall in 18 months Bank Nifty ended below its 50-day MUMBAI

A
collapse in the shares of —was the biggest loser among the NSE’s sectoral indices. simple moving average of 46,264.80.

HDFC Bank Ltd brought
the broader market to its
knees on Wednesday,
inflicting a ₹4.6 trillion
loss on investors as key indices fell the
most in 19 months. Provisional data
from BSE showed that foreign portfo-
lio investors (FPIs) sold ₹10,578.13
crore worth of shares, the highest in a
day, pulling down the Nifty and the
Sensex by over 2%.
HDFC Bank, India’s largest private
lender with the highest weight in the
indices, contributed to over a fifth of
the day’s total wealth erosion. The
bank’s shares plunged 8.46% on BSE,
erasing ₹1.07 trillion of value. The
decline, the lender’s biggest fall in
three years and 10 months, came after
a mixed bag of earnings the previous
day, with net interest income falling
below market expectations.
The steep fall pushed indices
below important technical levels;
unless indices cross their record
highs scaled recently, investors may
sell every time the market rises, ana-
lysts said.
Wednesday’s FPI selling was partly
absorbed by domestic institutional
investors, who purchased a provi-
sional ₹4,006.44 crore, and retail/
high net-worth investor buying of
₹34 crore till 12 noon, according to
BSE.
T
Two, the negative divergence in the he Shriram Group is in
HDFC BANK Top five contributors to the Sensex's
relative strength index (RSI)—a gauge talks with US-based
Largest single-day declines in the Nifty
Biggest single-day declines (in %) fall on Wednesday (in points)
50 since June 2022 of market weakness or strength— fund management
23 Mar 18 Mar 17 Jan 12 Mar 30 Mar
% change Nifty 50 2020 2020 2024 2020 2020 -944.1 HDFC Bank since mid-December. giants Warburg Pincus Llc
close
-176.8 ICICI Bank
The RSI is a technical indicator and Bain Capital LP to sell its
13 Jun 2022 -2.64 15,774.4
that measures the speed and change housing arm Shriram Hous-
16 Jun 2022 -2.11 15,360.6 -88.3 Axis Bank of price movements. An index is con- ing Finance Ltd for around
Kotak sidered overbought or oversold when ₹5,000 crore, two people
17 Jan 2024 -2.09 21,572.0
-8.46 -8.18 -7.96 -84.9 Mahindra Bank
it rises or falls above or below a cer- directly familiar with the
16 Sep 2022 -1.94 17,530.9
-9.92 Reliance
tain RSI level. Above 70 is overbought development said.
-75.1 Industries
-12.68 while below 30 is oversold. The Shriram Housing Finance Ravi Subramanian, MD and
26 Sep 2022 -1.80 17,016.3
140
divergence between the indices and is a midsize housing finance CEO, Shriram Housing Finance.
RSI arose in mid-December when the company with assets of over
Biggest declines in the Nifty Bank index
since July 2022
Nifty RSI, for instance, hit 85 when ₹10,000 crore. The sale is part crore and offers are still com-
Nifty Bank 119.15 the Nifty hit 21,492.3. Since then, RSI of the Chennai-headquar- ing. It’s a neat business and
% change 120
close Nifty 50 has fallen, while the Nifty rose on to a tered conglomerate’s plan to bidders are credible. So, eval-
3 Jul 2022 -4.47 32,871.3 record high of 22,115.55 on Monday, redesign its growth strategy. uation before a sale may not
107.16
Bank Nifty on which day it was at 73. A Shriram Group spokes- take much time,” the first of
17 Jan 2024 -4.28 46,064.3 100
Currently, the RSI of the Sensex is person declined to comment. the two people cited above
5 Dec 2022 -3.35 33,532.2 52.67, down from 69.81 on Tuesday, Over the past few weeks, said.
27 Jan 2023 -3.13 40,345.3
Rebased to 30 Dec 2022 = 100 and that of the Nifty is 54 (70.86) and the bankers appointed by the The Shriram Group has
80 Bank Nifty 38.18 (60.70). group’s listed flagship Shri- appointed investment bank-
30 Dec 2022 17 Jan 2024
13 Jun 2022 -3.13 33,405.9
Source: Bloomberg, Capitalmarket “The falling RSI since the middle of ram Finance Ltd, which holds ers from Barclays Bank Plc,
December, despite the rising Nifty, 85% in Shriram Housing JM Financial Ltd and Aven-
SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
indicated that the market was losing Finance as the promoter, dus Capital Pvt. Ltd to short-
The fall in banks, which coincided the Nifty fell 460.35 points or 2.09% which plunged by 4.28% to steam or topping out, and the fall of opened discussions with Bain list buyers, the two people
with the expiry of the weekly Bank to 21,571.95. HDFC Bank alone con- 46,064.45—its biggest single-day fall today spells some trouble, unless the Capital and Warburg Pincus, added.
Nifty options expiry on Wednesday, tributed to 944.11 points of the in 18 months—was the biggest loser market pulls back above the key lev- the people cited above said. If Spokespeople from JM
dealt a severe blow to those long on Sensex’s fall, followed by ICICI Bank among the National Stock Exchange’s els,” said Rohit Srivastava, founder of the negotiations conclude, a Financial and Barclays
banking stock futures and short on Ltd (176.75 points), Axis Bank Ltd (NSE) sectoral indices. All of NSE’s IndiaCharts. deal could be closed before declined to comment while
their options contracts, apart from (88.29 points) and Kotak Mahindra sectoral indices except Nifty IT ended Commenting on the outlook for the June quarter, they added. queries sent to Bain, Warburg
the notional losses for holders of Bank Ltd (84.85 points). Overall, in the red, underlining the all-around banking stocks, A. Balasubramanian, “(We) Have received a phe- Pincus and Avendus
banking shares. these banks contributed to almost weakness in the market. managing director and chief execu- nomenal interest from several remained unanswered.
The Sensex plunged by 1,628.01 four-fifths or 80% of the Sensex’s fall. There are already indications of suitors. There are buyers with
points or 2.23% to 71,500.76, while Not surprisingly, the Bank Nifty, more volatility ahead: One, both the TURN TO PAGE 4 bids of up to ₹5,000-5,500 TURN TO PAGE 6

DON’T MISS
LIC books FMCG firms prep for Ayodhya sales
Makers of packaged foods and beverages are
Alteria Capital eyes $100 mn funds
Venture debt fund Alteria Capital plans to raise
₹3,816 cr ramping up supplies in Ayodhya, ahead of the
Ram temple inauguration on 22 January. >P7
$80-100 million by next quarter, its co-founder
Vinod Murali said. >P3

profit in 3 Hybrid tax move miffs Tata Motors Investors worry over tax residency
Adani firms Any attempt to lower tax rates levied on hybrid
cars will confuse the industry, Shailesh Chandra,
The Indian tax department’s aggressive stance on
tax residency certificates (TRCs) has evoked
MD, Tata Motors PVs and passenger EVs, said.>P5 fresh concerns among offshore investors. >P6
Mayur Bhalerao
mayur.bhalerao@livemint.com
MUMBAI

L
ife Insurance Corp. of
India (LIC) sold shares in
three Adani group com-
panies totalling ₹3,816 crore
in the December quarter amid
volatility in the stocks of the
ports-to-renewable energy
conglomerate, data from
stock exchanges showed.
Despite this sale, the value
of LIC’s investment in Adani
group companies has risen
almost 54% from ₹36,470
crore on 30 January 2023 to
₹56,073.64 crore on 17 Janu-
ary 2024, as shares gained
during the period. During the A PLATFORM THAT HONOURS THE CHANGE
third quarter, LIC also bought
shares in Ambuja Cements
Ltd worth ₹20.3 lakh. ACCELERATORS OF INDIA'S GROWTH STORY
“This reduction in specific
stakes by LIC likely aligns
with a cautious approach in
anticipation of the uncertain
market conditions expected
during the Union elections,”
said Atul Parakh, chief execu-
tive officer (CEO) of Bigul, an
online investment and trad-
ing firm. “Additionally, the
subsequent recovery and
surge in Adani stock prices
post-crisis presented an
opportune moment for LIC to
realize profits.”
In Q3, LIC sold a little more
than 37 million shares across
flagship Adani Enterprises
Ltd, Adani Ports and Special
Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ)
and Adani Energy Solutions
Ltd (AESL). The insurer’s
stake dipped from 4.23% in Nominations
i i Now Open
the September quarter to
SCAN TO SUBMIT
3.93% in December in Adani YOUR ENTRIES
Enterprises, from 9.07% to
7.86% in APSEZ, and from
3.68% to 3% in AESL.
“The recent volatility in

 
 
   
TURN TO PAGE 6

Retail investors bought

into Adani during rout >P4

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 02 Thursday, 18 January 2024
Bengaluru ECONOMY & POLICY LIVEMINT.COM

m MINT SHORTS
India eyes $100 billion annual FDI
Viability gap funding eyed India to
grow 7% in
in coming years: IT min Vaishnaw
Davos: India is eyeing $100 billion in annual foreign direct invest-
ment (FDI) “in the next few years”, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw
said on Wednesday, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to
for offshore wind projects FY25: RBI
governor
attract investors ahead of a reelection bid. “We see 6-8% consistent
growth rate over the next full decade, and this is based on a very Gopika Gopakumar
clearly thought-out strategy. This strategy has four major engines,” gopika.g@htlive.com
the information technology minister told Reuters in an interview The ₹6,000-crore scheme will be aimed at boosting India’s offshore wind energy capacity MUMBAI
at the World Economic Forum in Davos. REUTERS

T
he Indian economy is
Rituraj Baruah of offshore wind projects could range likely to grow at 7% and
Govt committed to revive BOT rituraj.baruah@livemint.com from ₹20 crore to ₹25 crore per mega- inflation is likely to aver-
watt, depending on the technology, age 4.5% in fiscal year 2025,
model for highways: Gadkari NEW DELHI
marine conditions and distance from according to Reserve Bank of

T
HT
he upcoming interim budget
for FY25 is expected to pro-
pose a ₹6,000 crore viability
gap funding (VGF) scheme
for the offshore wind energy
sector, boosting India’s renewable
energy ambitions.
The initial allocation is specifically
aimed at supporting 1 GW of offshore
wind capacity, two people familiar with
the developments said, adding that the
ministry of new and renewable energy
(MNRE) has sent a proposal to the
New Delhi: The government is committed to reviving BOT finance ministry.
(build operate transfer) model in the highways sector and The renewable energy and finance
making it investment-friendly and attractive for private part- ministries didn’t immediately reply to
nerships, minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gad- queries on the funding proposal.
kari said on Wednesday. “This will not only strengthen the This proposed scheme aligns with
road infrastructure but will have a ripple effect that will help the government’s broader strategy for
to strengthen the economy, increase the employment poten- offshore wind projects, to be developed
tial and reduce the logistic cost,” he said. SUBHASH NARAYAN under three models. The first involves
VGF for two 0.5 GW sites off the coasts
of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. The other
India an extraordinary success models propose bidding processes for
sites exclusivity during the survey peri-
story: US secy of state Blinken ods, with or without seabed rights.
Davos: Describing India as an “extraordinary success story”, US Offshore wind offers higher quality
secretary of state Antony Blinken on Wednesday said the “remark- wind and more efficient energy con-
able achievements” of the Modi government have materially bene- version due to the absence of physical
fitted and positively impacted many Indian lives. Speaking at the obstructions at sea. The Centre had
World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2024, he also said US-In- notified the ‘National Offshore Wind
dia relations have reached a new high with efforts from both Prime Energy Policy’ in October 2015, but
Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden. PTI projects failed to take off due to the
high investments needed and lack of
economic viability.
GDP growth in most countries Given that offshore wind farms need
not sustainable, inclusive: WEF
AFP
the shore. India (RBI) governor Shaktik-
Acknowledging the financial chal- anta Das.
lenges, the committee recommended Speaking at an event orga-
VGF to ensure project viability and the nised by the Confederation of
necessary transmission infrastructure. Indian Industry at Davos, Das
It had added that the potential for said the economy is poised for
offshore wind projects should also be a long haul of higher growth.
explored in areas other than in Gujarat “At this stage, our expecta-
and Tamil Nadu along India’s 7,600 tion is that the CPI inflation
km-long coastline. will average around 4.5% in
The ministry’s estimates indicate a FY25. As regards growth, my
need for ₹14,212 crore in VGF to set up sense is that the GDP growth
3 GW of offshore wind energy capacity, in India will touch 7% in FY25.
along with an additional ₹13,500 crore I am saying this on the basis of
for transmission and power evacuation strong momentum of eco-
This proposed scheme aligns with the government’s broader strategy for offshore infrastructure. nomic activity seen in India.
wind projects, to be developed under three models. BLOOMBERG The September strategy paper for Consequently, growth would
offshore wind projects had, however, be 7% and above for four con-
to be set up on the seabed, the technol- onshore wind projects, offshore pro- recommended that VGF should be ini- secutive years starting from FY
ogy and infrastructure involved are jects would require at least four years tially provided for 1 GW capacity. 2021-22,” he said.
more complex, resulting in higher ges- from the award of the project,” he said. The renewed focus on this capital- As per RBI’s forecast, India
tation periods. Because of the capital-intensive intensive segment comes as India pur- is expected to clock in a
“The cost involved, technology, and nature of these projects, the MNRE’s sues ambitious renewable energy goals growth of 7% and consumer
the lack of manpower are some chal- revised strategy paper in September to be net-zero by 2070 and achieve price inflation of 5.4% this fis-
lenges for the growth last year had high- 500-GW installed capacity by 2030. As cal year.
of the sector. The lighted the need for part of this, the government aims to Das said the Indian econ-
VGF may help lower central financial sup- establish 10 GW of offshore wind omy presents a picture of con-
the cost and help port to bridge the gap capacity by 2030. fidence, positivity and opti-
(power distribution between actual tariffs As of now, India’s onshore wind mism amid an uncertain and
companies) take up power from these and designated power purchase rates. energy capacity stands at an estimated challenging global macroeco-
projects. Incentives would be required This is particularly crucial given the 44 GW. nomic environment.
for initial projects,” said Vikram V., vice high costs of setting up turbines on the Despite the higher costs of offshore On rupee volatility, Das said
president and co-group head of corpo- seabed and the associated power evac- turbines, the renewable energy minis- that excessive volatility has to
rate ratings, ICRA. uation expenses. try believes desirable tariffs are achiev- be checked through market
“Further, compared to the two years In 2022, the MNRE had informed a able with the development of a sup- interventions by the central
to two-and-half years required to set up parliamentary committee that the cost porting ecosystem. bank.

Fertilizer sop to fall Food subsidy bill for FY24 to breach ₹2 tn

to ₹1.8 tn in FY24 Rising expenses Puja Das
puja.das@livemint.com
Since PMGKAY scheme got
agencies for intra-state move-
ment of foodgrains is also
NEW DELHI extended, food subsidy bill expected to be revised to a lit-
Puja Das nium phosphate and other fer- may go up next year as well. tle over ₹8,500 crore from the

T
puja.das@livemint.com tilizers to protect farmers’ he government’s food Food subsidy bill (in ₹ trillion) budgeted estimate of ₹7,400
NEW DELHI interest,” Mandaviya added. subsidy bill for fiscal 6 crore, the official said.
On the ongoing Red Sea year 2024 is likely to About ₹23 crore is also likely

T
he government’s fertil- tension, Mandaviya said that overshoot the budgeted esti- to be allocated for the Scheme
Davos: Most economies are growing in ways that are neither izer subsidy bill in FY24 India has an adequate stock of mate of ₹1.97 trillion, prompt- 4 for Modernization and
sustainable nor inclusive and are limited in their ability to is expected to fall fertilizers to meet require- ing the food department to Reforms through Technology
absorb or generate innovation and minimize their contribu- 20-24% from the year before ments for the summer. seek additional funds prima- 1.97 in Public Distribution System
2
tion and susceptibility to global shocks, a new report said on to ₹1.7-1.8 trillion because of “The Red Sea crisis will not rily to support its flagship pro- 1.08
(SMART-PDS), which had not
Wednesday. The Future of Growth Report released by the lower international prices and have an impact on Indian trade, grammes. received any allocation in the
World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2024 called for a smaller urea imports, said including fertilizer imports as The revised allocation for Budget for 2023-24, the official
0
new approach to economic growth that balances efficiency chemicals and fertilizer minis- the government is intervening the ongoing fiscal year is 2019-20 2021-22 2023-24** said. The expenditure and the
with long-term sustainability and equity. PTI ter Mansukh Mandaviya on and the Indian Navy is provid- expected to go up by 3% to 2020-21 2022-23* food and public distribution
*Revised estimate; **Budgeted estimate
Wednesday. ing security to get vessels in the ₹2.02 trillion, a top official of Revised allocation for ongoing departments did not immedi-
Source: Budget documents
In FY23, the country safely. the department of food and fiscal year may go up by 3%. HT ately reply to queries on the
Ayushman Bharat health insurance Centre spent On the ongoing Indian fertilizer public distribution told Mint.
PRANAY BHARDWAJ/MINT
request for additional funds.
₹2.25 trillion on Red Sea tension, cargoes are now The department needs an curement and storage capacity and other incremental India runs its multi-billion-
cover likely to be doubled fertilizer subsi- coming via the extra ₹5,600 crore for decen- and a higher state-set mini- expenses, including the exten- dollar food welfare pro-
Mandaviya said
New Delhi: The government is working on finalizing a proposal d i e s , a s p e r India has enough Cape of Good tralized procurement of food- mum or guaranteed price for sion to the free food scheme, gramme, the world’s biggest,
to double the insurance cover under its flagship Ayushman Bha- revised estimates.
fertilizer stock to Hope that has grains under the Pradhan wheat and rice. the food subsidy bill is bound by buying rice and wheat from
rat health scheme to ₹10 lakh to ensure that serious diseases like The budgeted raised freight Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Containing spending on to increase,” the official men- millions of domestic farmers at
cancer and transplants that entail more expenditure are sup- estimates for the meet summer costs signifi- Yojana (PMGKAY) scheme, food subsidy is tioned above said. guaranteed prices and then
ported by it, officials said on Wednesday. An announcement to ongoing fiscal requirements cantly.” and sugar subsidy for families crucial for man- Additional ₹5,600 “Though the supplying the staples at subsi-
this effect is likely to be made in the interim budget. PTI year is ₹1.75 tril- “There will be covered under the Antyodaya aging India’s fis- crore is needed (budgeted esti- dized rates or for free to 800
lion. “The subsidy no shortage of Anna Yojana programme, this cal deficit, which for decentralized mate) is ₹1.97 tril- million Indians.
bill is estimated to be lower this fertilizers next Kharif season official said, declining to be the government procurement of lion for food sub- The government spends
Govt disburses ₹4,415 crore in year at around ₹1.7-1.8 trillion as we reserve stocks for one identified. is targeting at
foodgrains under sidy in FY24, we some part of the food subsidy
because of the fall in global pri- season in advance to avoid India’s food subsidy bill is 5.9% of gross require a slightly on maintenance and other
incentives for eight PLI schemes ces. We have not increased shortage,” Mandaviya said. likely to go up next year as domestic product the PMGKAY higher budget. administrative costs.
New Delhi: The government has disbursed just ₹4,415 crore in retail prices to reduce sub- Urea imports are at 4-5 mil- well, as the government (GDP) this finan- scheme We have given a “Food subsidy depends on
incentives for eight sectors out of a total 14 production-linked sidy,” Mandaviya said. lion tonnes this fiscal, lower recently extended the cial year, with proposal for addi- the quantum of offtake from
incentive (PLI) schemes, a senior government official said, adding “When the global rates sky- than 7.5 mt imported in the PMGKAY scheme, its flagship plans to lower it tional allocation, the central pool. As there is no
the target of disbursal was ₹11,000 crore till the end of the current rocketed in the last financial previous year, helped by food welfare programme, for by at least 50 basis points in and ₹2.02 trillion may be allo- additional allocation, food
fiscal. The PLI scheme had drawn investments of over ₹1.03 trillion year, the government higher domestic production another five years ahead of this fiscal year 2025. cated for food subsidy alone in subsidy will not rise much,”
till November 2023. The investments in PLI schemes created increased subsidy and kept the and increased use of nano-liq- year’s general election. “In view of a hike in (mini- the ongoing financial year.” said Siraj Hussain, former
678,000 jobs—direct and indirect. DHIRENDRA KUMAR retail prices of urea, di ammo- uid urea. This will require more pro- mum support price) of crops A fund for assistance to state Union agriculture secretary.

Budget may cite Vision 2047 to seek long-term allocations CORRECTIONS AND
CLARIFICATIONS
Mint welcomes comments,
Rhik Kundu & mented by requirements for “It is a matter of truth that the Experts believe 2024 will be safeguard India’s economic suggestions or complaints
Subhash Narayan ministries to execute schemes 1 February, 2024 budget will be a critical year for India, as it and financial stability as the about errors.
over a longer period. a vote-on-account because we faces multiple global head- future unfolds. Given this, I
Readers can alert the
NEW DELHI The government’s economic will be in election mode,” she winds while maintaining eco- expect a conservative budget to
newsroom to any errors in the
road map for the medium-to- said in December. nomic recovery. start with, focussed on areas paper by emailing us, with your

T
he upcoming Union bud-
get may integrate the
government’s Vision
2047 plan with allocations,
departing from tradition to lay
out longer term economic
plans, two people aware of the
matter told Mint.
Typically, an interim budget
sees the government seek per-
mission from Parliament to
meet its expenses in the short-
term leading up to the general
elections. However, this year
the exercise may be supple-
long-term is likely to be visible However, the budget could Sectors like agriculture, with high multiplier effects,” full name and address to
in the 1 February-budget, said declare the government’s automobiles, consumer elec- said Debopam Chaudhuri, feedback@livemint.com.
one of the intentions by tronics and pharmaceuticals chief economist at Piramal
people men- announcing could remain in focus though Enterprises Ltd. It is our policy to promptly
respond to all complaints.
t i o n e d funds and the overall announcements “The public capex momen- Readers dissatisfied with the
above. Both develop- could see only a marginal rise in tum will continue, albeit at a response or concerned about
spoke on the ment plans government borrowing com- slower pace with an outlay not Mint’s journalistic integrity may
condition of anonymity. for priority sectors and Sectors like agriculture, automobiles, consumer electronics and pared to FY24. more than 10%, higher than the write directly to the editor by
To be sure, finance minister groups—the poor, farmers, pharmaceuticals could remain in focus during the budget. MINT “Risks to global commodity previous year. Fiscal consolida- sending an email to
Nirmala Sitharaman has played women, youth, economy and prices, foreign inflows, export tion w ll be a core theme, with asktheeditor@livemint.com
down expectations of big pro- infrastructure. to accelerating economic various sectors and aligned demand, global growth and the finance minister likely tar- Mint’s journalistic Code of
posals in the budget, saying as a These could include alloca- growth, said the second person. goalposts. geopolitical balances will geting a fiscal deficit of 5.3% in Conduct that governs our
vote-on-account, it is unlikely tions and long-term plans for This would mean announc- A finance ministry spokes- remain heightened, requiring FY25, after meeting the FY24 newsroom is available at
to make any “spectacular key infrastructure, social and ing indicative figures of invest- person didn’t respond to the government to put on target of 5.9%,” he added. www.livemint.com
announcements”. agricultural sectors that are key ment over a 5-10 year period for emailed queries. reserve sufficient firepower to rhik.kundu@livemint.com

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 LIVEMINT.COM DEALS, TECH & STARTUPS Thursday, 18 January 2024
Bengaluru 03

m MINT SHORTS
Upswing gets pre-Series A funding
Alteria Capital eyes Funding slowdown
helped IPV strike
from Quona Capital, others
Bengaluru: Upswing Financial Technologies, which runs the
open finance platform Upswing, has secured $4.2 million (₹35
crore) in a pre-Series A funding round led by fintech-focused
funds up to $100 mn good deals in 2023
venture capital firm Quona Capital. The round also saw partici- Samiksha Goel
pation from QED Investors. The startup will use the funds to samiksha.goel@livemint.com
expand its offerings as well as for product development.“The NEW DELHI
funding will be used to expand the reach of our multi-bank The new fund aims to provide working capital solutions to startups
I
deposit product and also aid in the launch of new products t was a buyer’s market for
around deposits and lending,” said Anupam Bagchi, co-founder, angel investment company
Upswing. K. AMOGHAVARSHA Priyamvada C Inflection Point Ventures
priyamvada.c@livemint.com insofar as 2023 goes.
BENgALuru A funding slowdown for start-
RTP Global leads $35 million ups led to a correction in their

V
enture debt fund Alteria Cap- valuations.
funding round in battery maker ital plans to raise by next A subdued investor activity
ISTOCKPHOTO
quarter $80 million to $100 meant there was no fear of
million for the shorter dura- missing out (FOMO), helping
tion scheme of its third fund, the Gurugram-based company
in its bid to provide working capital to make better investment deci- Mitesh Shah, co-founder,
startups in some specific sectors, its sions at ease, its co-founder Inflection Point Ventures.
co-founder and managing partner Vinod Mitesh Shah said.
Murali said. Venture capital funds were should wait for some exits and
The fund will support fintech, con- on the fringes last year, Shah investor activity generally
sumer, and B2B platforms, especially said, adding that Series A slowed down.”
those with liquidity needs for inventory financing rounds that would “In terms of quantity, there
build-up, receivables, and book debts, usually take 3-4 months to was never a dearth. In terms of
Murali said. close, suddenly started taking quality, I am very happy that we
“By creating these two sleeves of debt 8-9 months. managed to grab some good
options for founders, we want to ensure “We started last year on a deals and the environment
Bengaluru: International Battery Company (IBC), which founders are able to meet their short-to- muted note on the external helped us because the valua-
manufactures rechargeable Lithium ion batteries, on medium-term needs to create strong environment. It seemed it will tions were much more sane,”
Thursday said it has raised $35 million in its pre-Series A enterprise value,” Murali told Mint. be a difficult year for startups to he said.
round led by early-stage venture capital firm RTP Global The third fund of Alteria consists of raise funds, and for our existing In 2020, the early-stage
in its first funding round since inception. Singapore-based two distinct schemes: a venture debt (L-R) Alteria Capital managing partners Ankit Agarwal, Punit Shah and co-founder and entities to raise follow-on investment platform looked at
venture capital firm Beenext, early-stage investor Veda VC, scheme with about $180 million to $200 managing partner Vinod Murali. rounds, and for us about 4,000
a few other strategic Korean and US investors also partici- million, and the shorter duration scheme to secure exits. It Series A financing startups and
pated in the round. “Our investment in International Bat- tailored to provide working capital solu- complements equity financing. investors to adopt a more cautious stance. also meant it rounds, that ended up invest-
tery Company underscores RTP Global’s steadfast and tions to startups. Alteria, currently the “The fundamental risk that we take for Earlier this week, Alteria invested ₹ 120 would be an would usually ing in about 57,
ongoing commitment to sustainable technology invest- largest venture debt fund in India, mana- traditional venture debt is: Will a startup crore in venture debt in FPL Technolo- investor’s market, take 3-4 months, according to
ments,” Nishit Garg, partner on RTP Global’s Asia invest- ges assets worth ₹4,250 crore in domes- that we fund be able to raise one more gies, the parent company of mobile-first as there would be
suddenly started Shah. In 2023,
ment team, said. “It reinforces our strategy of investing in tic capital. round of equity funding? If they do that in credit card startup OneCard. plenty of oppor- it looked at about
early-stage, innovative ventures and our long-term support “The two sleeves of capital will have dif- a reasonable period of time, our money is It has consistently focused on domestic tunity for us to taking 8-9 5,500 startups
for their visionary founders,” he said. MALVIKA MALOO ferent returns for investors as the shorter safe...hence the complementarity with consumption, with 40-45% of its portfolio invest at good val- months, Shah said and invested
duration scheme is intended to in the consumer, food and uations,” he said. in 57-58.
be cheaper for founders and, GROwTH CAPITAL beverages, and e-commerce The invest- “In 2022, we
Jeh Aerospace gets seed funding hence, will target 13-14% return sectors. ment deals took very long to did 15 exits and last year also we
for limited partners (LPs). THe fund ALTeRIA, currently In 2022, Alteria It has 35-40% of its invest- close, and this helped IPV in did 15 exits.”
from General Catalyst, others Hence, there are two different will support the largest venture announced the ments in other areas such as carefully finalizing its own The firm invested in startups
fintech, consumer, debt fund in India, first close of
Bengaluru: Aerospace and defence manufacturing startup Jeh schemes,” Alteria’s managing and B2B manages assets its third venture fintech, logistics, B2B plat- investment decisions, Shah like dairy-tech startup Happy
Aerospace has raised $2.75 million (₹22.8 crore) in a seed funding partner Punit Shah said. platforms worth ₹4,250 cr debt fund forms, and rural and agritech said, pointing out that there Nature, AI platform EaseMyAI
round led by San Francisco-based venture capital firm General In 2022, Alteria announced sectors. was no fear of missing out in the and frozen food startup FroGo
Catalyst. The round also saw participation from angel investors the first close of its third ven- Founded in 2017, Alteria market. among others.
Pratyush Kumar (ex-Boeing India) and Dwarakanath Srinivasan ture debt fund, which now stands at about equity capital,” he explained. has been a pioneer in venture debt capital “We were happy because Talking about valuations,
(ex-Airbus India). The company will utilize the funds for building ₹1,500 crore. The development comes at a time the in India, funding over 250 startups. FOMO destroys sanity. In Shah gave an example of cor-
infrastructure and hiring talent, according to the company’s The fund has been instrumental in Indian startup ecosystem is experiencing Its portfolio includes names like Rebel 2022, while there was quality rections in the D2C market.
statement. Founded by Vishal Sanghavi and Venkatesh Mudra- backing early and growth-stage startups, a funding downturn, influenced by mac- Foods, Dealshare, Spinny, Mensa Brands, deal flow, there were many new “While valuations skyrocketed
galla, Jeh Aerospace offers manufacturing, engineering, and sup- providing specialty debt solutions with roeconomic volatility and a broader eco- BharatPe, Cars24, Good Glamm Group, investors and much liquidity to six to eight times of revenue,
ply chain management solutions to the global aerospace and cheque sizes up to ₹150 crore. nomic uncertainty, fuelled, in particular, Niyo, Zepto, Lendingkart, and Portea, chasing few startups. In 2023, today they have corrected to
defence industry. K. AMOGHAVARSHA Murali emphasized that venture debt by geopolitical tensions. This has led among others. investors started realizing we two-three times .”

Hindustan Media Ventures Limited

CIN: L21090BR1918PLC000013
Registered Office: Budh Marg, Patna - 800001, India
Tel: +91 612 222 3434 Fax: +91 612 222 1545
Corporate Office: Hindustan Times House, 2nd Floor, 18-20, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi - 110001, India
Tel: +91 11 6656 1608 Fax: +91 11 6656 1445
Website: www.hmvl.in E-mail: hmvlinvestor@livehindustan.com
(INR in Lakhs except Earnings per share data)
Extract of Un-audited Consolidated Financial Results for the quarter and nine months ended December 31, 2023
Particulars Quarter Ended Nine Months Ended Year Ended
December 31, September December 31, December 31, December 31, March 31,
2023 30, 2023 2022 2023 2022 2023
Un-audited Un-audited Un-audited Un-audited Un-audited Audited
Revenue from operations 18,295 16,453 18,157 51,604 52,527 71,340
Loss for the period (before tax and/or exceptional items) (187) (1,451) (427) (613) (6,589) (5,642)
Loss for the period before tax (after exceptional items) (187) (1,451) (427) (613) (6,589) (5,642)
Loss for the period after tax and share of profit of joint venture (82) (633) (68) (79) (5,017) (3,809)
Total comprehensive income/(loss) for the period [comprising loss (61) (993) 146 (376) (8,585) (11,424)
for the period after tax and share of profit of joint venture and other
comprehensive income (after tax)]
Paid-up equity share capital (Face value - INR 10/- per share) 7,367 7,367 7,367 7,367 7,367 7,367
Other equity excluding revaluation reserves as per the balance sheet 1,40,196
Securities Premium Account 24,239 24,239 24,239 24,239 24,239 24,239
Net Worth (as per the Companies Act 2013) 1,52,240 1,52,299 1,50,980 1,52,240 1,50,980 1,52,276
Outstanding Debt@ 15,034 10,880 23,618 15,034 23,618 5,697
Debt Equity Ratio (in times) 0.10 0.07 0.16 0.10 0.16 0.04
Capital Redemption Reserve 1 1 1 1 1 1
Debt Service Coverage Ratio (in times) 0.01 (0.10) 0.01 0.02 (0.21) (0.57)
Interest Service Coverage Ratio (in times) 0.48 (2.89) 0.29 0.39 (3.66) (2.40)
Loss per share (of INR 10/- each) (not (not (not (not (not
annualised) annualised) annualised) annualised) annualised)
Basic & Diluted (0.11) (0.86) (0.09) (0.11) (6.81) (5.17)
@
Outstanding Debt comprises of current borrowings (including current maturities of long term borrowings) and non-current borrowings.
Notes:
1. The above is an extract of the detailed format of quarterly financial results filed with the Stock Exchanges under Regulation 33 and Regulation 52(4) of the SEBI
(Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (SEBI LODR), as amended. The full format of the quarterly financial results are available on
the Stock Exchange websites (www.bseindia.com and www.nseindia.com) and on the Company’s website (www.hmvl.in).
2. For the other line items referred in regulation 52(4) of the SEBI LODR, pertinent disclosures have been made to the Stock Exchanges (BSE and NSE) and can
be accessed on the Stock Exchange websites (www.bseindia.com and www.nseindia.com).
3. The above consolidated financial results for the quarter and nine months ended December 31, 2023 were reviewed and recommended by the Audit Committee
and approved by the Board of Directors at their respective meetings held on January 17, 2024. The Statutory Auditors have conducted a “Limited Review” of
the above results pursuant to Regulation 33 and Regulation 52(4) of the SEBI LODR, as amended and have issued an unmodified review opinion.
4. The consolidated financial results have been prepared in accordance with the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) prescribed under Section 133 of the
Companies Act, 2013 read with Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015, as amended from time to time.
5. Additional information on standalone financial results is as follows:- (INR in Lakhs)
Particulars Quarter Ended Nine Months Ended Year Ended
December 31, September December 31, December 31, December 31, March 31,
2023 30, 2023 2022 2023 2022 2023
Un-audited Un-audited Un-audited Un-audited Un-audited Audited
Revenue from Operations 18,295 16,453 18,157 51,604 52,527 71,340
Loss Before Tax (204) (1,467) (528) (793) (7,070) (6,339)
Loss After Tax (105) (696) (170) (312) (5,729) (4,749)
Total Comprehensive Income/(Loss) (84) (1,056) 44 (609) (9,297) (12,364)
For and on behalf of the Board of Directors
Place: New Delhi Shobhana Bhartia
Date: January 17, 2024 Chairperson

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 04 Thursday, 18 January 2024
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m MINT SHORTS Bold outlook of LTTS HDFC Bank stock

Traders see fewer BOE rate loses grip as Q3
cuts as inflation quickens
Traders significantly pared bets on interest-rate cuts
from the Bank of England and UK bonds tumbled after
data showed inflation picked up unexpectedly for the
warrants caution margin disappoints
first time in 10 months. Money markets are now pricing Harsha Jethmalani Vineetha Sampath
Lacking impetus A letdown
four quarter-point reductions and about a 65% chance of harsha.j@htlive.com vineetha.s@livemint.com
LTTS’s large deal wins have remained range-bound over the past 14 quarters HDFC Bank's net interest margin was
a fifth in 2024, according to swaps tied to the central bank flat sequentially in Q3FY24 bogged

L A
Number of large deal wins with TCV above $10 million
meetings. Yesterday, five cuts were fully priced and a &T Technology Services Ltd continued dull show on the down by higher funding costs
month ago, six such reductions were seen as a certainty. (LTTS) management commen- 8 margin front in the December Net interest margin on total assets (in %)
The repricing toward fewer monetary easing comes after tary may sound like music to the quarter (Q3FY24) caught 5
a report showing Britain’s consumer prices rose 4% in ears of investors in information HDFC Bank Ltd’s investors off-
December from a year earlier. It also follows a series of technology (IT) stocks. The win- 6 6 guard. Remember Q2’s muted mar- 4.1
speeches from policymakers around the world pushing ter for the general engineering R&D 6 gin was understandable as the quar- 4
back against market bets on aggressive rate cuts. The lat- (ER&D) space is over and spring may be ter was the first one after the merger 3.4
est UK data “has provided the mood music for the con- around the corner, LTTS said in its with HDFC Ltd and hence the bank
certed efforts by various central bankers to keep rate cut December quarter (Q3FY24) earnings had to keep surplus liquidity to man- 3
expectations in check,” said Jane Foley, head of FX strat- call. In fact, LTTS is of the view that this 4 age the merger.
egy at Rabobank. BLOOMBERG is likely to be the case for the entire In Q3, HDFC Bank had margin lev-
2
industry. Yes, potential interest rate cuts ers such as a fall in liquidity coverage
by the US Federal Reserve in 2024 is ratio (LCR) and no requirement to
2
fuelling hopes of revival for IT compa- maintain incremental cash reserve
1
nies. Nonetheless, amid the looming ratio (ICRR). Still, the bank clocked a
global macro uncertainty and with tier-1 net interest margin (NIM) of 3.4%,
IT firms still cautious about near-term flat sequentially. 0
0
demand, LTTS’ outlook appears bold. Q2FY21 Q3FY24 Thus, investors punished the Q3FY22 Q3FY24
In Q3, LTTS sequential constant cur- stock, taking it down by over 8% on Note: The Q2FY24 and Q3FY24 figures are
Note: TCV is total contract value; SWC deals included in the first three quarters of FY24 post the merger of HDFC with HDFC Bank
rency revenue growth at 0.9% missed Wednesday. This is on a day when
Source: Company, Kotak Institutional Equities Source: Company, Elara Securities
consensus estimate, impacted by fur- the benchmark Nifty 50 index was
PRANAY BHARDWAJ/MINT PRANAY BHARDWAJ/MINT
loughs. But the management has down 2%. Collectively, higher fund-
retained its FY24 CC revenue growth shows, the trend has been range-bound sequentially. Ebit is earnings before ing costs and slower pace of growth mainly outside Tier 1 centres (and
guidance of 17.5-18.5% year-on-year. In lately and LTTS needs to close more interest and tax. LTTS has maintained its in retail loans took a toll on the hence, with low deposit potential),”
contrast, larger peer Infosys tightened deals to meet its ambitious target. “Large FY24 Ebit margin guidance of 17%. Lev- bank’s margin. said analysts at Yes Securities (India)
its FY24 CC revenue growth guidance deals seem to be trending in the right ers such as revenue growth, cost optimi- The management expects NIM to in a report dated 16 January.
from 1.0-2.5% year-on-year to 1.5-2.0%. direction though, further impetus is zation and productivity measures would recover going ahead but this is likely Notably, the HDFC Bank has
HCL Technologies narrowed its overall required to change the growth trajectory aid margin outlook. It aims to get back to to be gradual at best. The upward tra- added only 270 branches in the nine
Aluminium output was boosted by strong operations in FY24 CC revenue growth guidance from and more disclosures will help to analyse the 18% level by H1FY26. “In the medium jectory is dependent on factors such months ended December versus
China’s main producing regions. 5-6% earlier to 5.0-5.5%. the trend with more granularity,” said term, higher offshoring (aims to improve as an uptick in retail loan growth and 840 branches over the same period
LTTS’ guidance implies a steep ask the Kotak Institutional Equities report to 60% from about 58.7% in end-Q3 ramp up in the current account sav- last year.
rate of 4-7% sequential growth for dated 16 January. FY24) would be a key element in margin ings account (CASA) ratio. After factoring in Wednesday’s
China 2023 aluminium output Q4FY24. The management seems fairly Geographically, growth in Europe improvement. We expect LTTS to Further, another drop, shares of HDFC
hits record high; growth slow confident to meet the lower deliver 17.2-18.7% Ebit mar- concern is HDFC Bank’s The management Bank are down by over
China’s primary aluminium output reached a record high end of revenue growth gui- aiMinG hiGh gin over FY24-26F,” said a elevated loan to deposit expects NIM 4% in the past one year.
in 2023 but the growth rate slowed, data showed on dance. This would be aided Nomura Financial Advi- ratio (LDR)—over 110% to recover Significant upsides
Wednesday, amid weather-related production curbs at by lower furloughs, sea- LTTS guidance ThE company is LEvERS such as sory and Securities (India) in Q3. In fact, the bank’s going ahead in the stock hinge on
smelters in the country’s southwest. The world’s biggest sonal strength in subsidiary implies a steep ask seeing a rise in cost revenue growth and report. deposits grew by a mere margin improvement.
rate of 4-7% takeout and strong cost optimization but this is likely
aluminium producer churned out 41.59 million metric company SWC in Q4 and sequential growth deal wins are would aid margin Meanwhile, reacting to 1.9% sequentially in Q3 “Given the regulator’s
tonnes of primary aluminium last year, according to data faster ramp-up of deals. for Q4FY24 anticipated in Q4 outlook its Q3 earnings, the stock lagging the 4.9% to be gradual focus on LDR and
from the National Bureau of Statistics. Output was Even so, meeting the gui- rose more than 3% on increase in loans. at best HDFC Bank already at
boosted by strong operations in China’s main producing dance would be challeng- Wednesday. It remains to The management 110%, with LCR of 110%,
regions, amid profitable conditions, and new projects ing. Note that the ER&D business— was driven by improving traction in be seen whether the management confi- expects the LDR to fall the bank has much to
that came online. However, the annual growth rate of LTTS’ forte—is discretionary in nature transportation and partially by industrial dence translates into higher revenue in the coming quarters. The com- balance (growth versus NIM conun-
3.7% marked a third consecutive year of slowing, the data and has a high sensitivity to macroeco- production and plant engineering. On growth and thus, meaningful earnings pany aims to tap the deposit opportu- drum),” said analysts at Elara Secu-
showed. Output in 2023 grew modestly as capacity nomic conditions. the other hand, the US was a laggard. upgrades. But valuations are expensive, nities by adding more branches. But rities (India) in a report on 17 Janu-
neared a government-imposed ceiling, and was affected The company is witnessing a rise in Further, while the headcount so investors should take the upbeat out- this would be a challenge at this time. ary. While one may argue on bot-
by power shortages in the country’s southwest, state- cost takeout and value engineering deals dropped, LTTS’ margin improvement look with a pinch of salt. “The bank’s intention of driving toming of earnings, Elara’s analysts
backed research house Antaike said in a report. China in and strong deal wins are anticipated in was unimpressive as utilization was low The stock trades at nearly 39 times deposit growth through branch addi- believe that recovery may take
2018 set a national capacity cap of 45 million tonnes for Q4. In Q3, LTTS saw six large deal wins due to furloughs and elevated selling, estimated earnings for FY25, showed tion is tough to execute given slow longer and the stock may see time
aluminium as part of its efforts to control energy con- which had total contract value over $10 general and administrative costs. In Q3, Bloomberg data. This is at a premium to pace of branch addition and new correction till investors find merit
sumption in the energy-intensive sector. REUTERS million. But as the alongside chart Ebit margin at 17.2%, rose 10 basis points other IT companies. branch locations being focused in execution.

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

Indians LTIMindtree Q3 operating margin dips Crack in HDFC; blood on Street

picked up Jas Bardia to $1.08 billion for the Decem- Europe sequentially, its rest of FROM PAGE 1

Adani stocks jas.bardia@livemint.com

BeNgALuru
ber quarter, and net profit the world region grew 14.6%
grew by a slim 10 basis points sequentially, which Chatterjee
to $140.5 million. Both reve- said was due to business in the
tive officer of Aditya Birla Sun
Life Asset Management Co.,
during rout
I
ndia’s sixth largest IT servi- nue and profit missed Street Middle East. said, “The banking pack could
ces company, LTIMindtree expectations—Bloomberg est- “LTIMindtree’s perform- experience consolidation in
Ltd, saw its operating mar- imates based on analyst polls ance was below expectations the near term as it is over-
Bloomberg gin drop further below its full- expected $1.09 because I expec- owned and some money could
feedback@livemint.com year guidance of 17-18% as billion in reve- The IT company ted higher gro- move from banking to infor-
higher than expected fur- nue, and $143.8 posted wth. It was a very mation technology stocks.

I
ndia’s retail investors piled
into Adani Group compa-
nies as their shares cratered
in the wake of the Hindenburg
Research’s scathing report last
January. A year later, they’re
still keeping the faith.
Individual holdings in nine
of the group’s 10 stocks at the
end of December are higher
than they were before the
short-seller’s attack on the
conglomerate, exchange data
compiled by Bloomberg show.
The group’s market value
has increased by more than
$60 billion since late Novem-
ber, and is just $50 billion away
from erasing the losses
spurred by Hindenburg’s
report. The recovery likely
rewarded retail investors who
used the selloff as a buying
opportunity.
“Many of the retail investors
came in after the crash,” said
loughs and less working days
in the December quarter
dented its profitability.
In its December quarter ear-
nings filed after market hours
on Wednesday, LTIMindtree
reported operating margin of
15.4%, down 60 basis points
from September quarter. In a
post-earnings call, CEO and
MD, Debashis Chatterjee, said
the drop was due to more holi-
days and less working days, as
well as unfavourable, and cau-
tious macro conditions.
Asian Paints Q3 net up 35% at ₹1,447 cr on fall in raw material prices
Naman Suri
naman.suri@livemint.com
New DeLhI
Debashis Chatterjee, CEO and
MD, LTIMindtree.
Yet, the company did not
revise its margin guidance for
FY24, and also reported
record quarterly order book-
ing of $1.5 billion—up 21% YoY.
The Mumbai-based IT com-
pany posted a 0.8% sequential
growth in operating revenue
the extended festive season,
though we saw some modera-
tion in demand in the latter
part of the quarter. Both our
million net profit. 0.8% sequential flattish growth in That said, for the long term,
Revenue from growth in dollar terms. Des- the banking sector remains HDFC Bank contributed to over a fifth of Wednesday’s total
its biggest reve- pite easing sup- integral to economic growth wealth erosion. MINT
operating
nue-generating ply side const- and will continue to perform.”
vertical—bank- revenue for the raints post covid The banking pack corrected average of 7.01 million shares, Despite the fall in HDFC
ing, financial ser- Dec quarter and a fall in head- on heavy delivery volumes, Kotak Mahindra Bank of 5.02 Bank, Saurabh Mukerjea,
vices, and insur- count this quar- which showed the intensity of million shares (2.14 million) founder of Marcellus Invest-
ance (BFSI), as ter, I was expect- Wednesday’s selling. On NSE, and Axis Bank of 11.6 million ment Managers sounded opti-
well as hi-tech, media and ing expansion of operating the HDFC Bank counter wit- shares (4.49 million). mistic: “The bank has posted
entertainment—dropped 1.6% margins but here it has decl- nessed delivery of 53 million HDFC Bank was the most solid results and is adding
and 3.1% sequentially, due to ined. Even the rise in net inc- shares against the six-month actively traded stock on the 1,400 branches a year, which is
spending pressure for clients. ome is because of higher other average delivery of 9.35 mil- derivatives counter, with out- as many as Federal Bank
While the company did not income,” said Omkar Tank- lion shares. ICICI Bank saw standing trader positions ris- counts as its own, and I would
report positive revenue gro- sale, equity research analyst at 41.9 million shares change ing a whopping 52.29% to continue to be sanguine about
wth from North America and Axis Securities. hands against the six-month 554,868 contracts. its growth.”
stood at ₹2,056.1 crore, while business saw growth in the cals under home decor
operating margin was 22.7%. Middle East and Africa and declined to ₹85.4 crore from
During the quarter, the firm registered increased profita- ₹89.8 crore, on the back of
witnessed 12% volume growth bility overall. It, however, con- weak industry demand. While

I
Chakri Lokapriya, managing
director at Mumbai-based
asset manager RedStrawBerry
LLP and former fund manager
at BNP Paribas Asset Manage-
ment. “They have exhibited a
sense of maturity to hold on
given that infrastructure com-
panies take longer to realize
their earnings potential.”
In 2023, the number of
retail investors—those with at
least ₹200,000 ($2,411) to
invest—jumped 42% to 6.7
million in Adani companies,
Bloomberg data show.
This PDF was uploade To Telegram channel_https://t.me/Magzines_latest_Newspaper(send Me Message telegram ya WhatsApp This number 8890050582)
ndia’s largest paints com-
pany Asian Paints Ltd
reported a consolidated net
profit of ₹1,447.98 crore for the
December quarter, up 35%
from ₹1,072.67 crore a year ago
on the back of softening raw
material prices and growth in
luxury products.
Revenue during the quarter
rose by 5.4% to ₹9,074.9 crore
primarily due to double-digit
growth in the industrial busi-
ness along with the extended
festive season.
“Growth was supported by
Auto OE and General Indus-
trial coating businesses
achieved sturdy revenue
growth and good profit mar-
gins...Our margins gained sig-
nificantly from growth in lux-
ury products and softening
raw material prices coupled
with operational, formulation,
and sourcing efficiencies in
Q3,” said Amit Syngle, manag-
ing director & CEO of Asian
Paints Ltd, in an exchange fil-
ing. “Moving forward, we will
maintain focus on driving
strong sales growth and con-
in the decorative paint busi- tinued to remain constrained the kitchen vertical remained
ness. It also repo- by macroecono- flat at ₹100.1 crore after four
rted double-digit The company’s mic headwinds, quarters of de-growth, the
revenue growth home décor inflationary pres- company added in the filing.
in the industrial business revenue sures in key geo- White Teak vertical saw an
business, while saw improvement graphies of South 18.3% rise in its revenue to
the coatings busi- Asia and Egypt,” ₹33.7 crore in the quarter
in Q3 as new
ness grew 6.1% in Syngle added. along with more than double
Revenue during the quarter rose by 5.4% primarily due to double- the third quarter categories made The paint com- sales for Weatherseal to ₹13.7
digit growth in the industrial business, and the festive season.MINT of the current fis- headway pany’s home crore. “We saw a better quarter
cal year. décor business’s in the Home Décor space, with
tinue to invest in multiple ini- material costs for Q3 rose mar- Revenue for its revenue saw new categories making head-
tiatives and solutions for our ginally to ₹3,837.04 crore. The international business improvement during the third way, as we made good progress
customers, building on our company’s earnings before remained flat at ₹779.1 crore quarter of FY24 as new catego- on integrating our offerings
leadership position.” interest, taxes, depreciation, due to certain macroeconomic ries made headway. The reve- within our Beautiful Homes
The paint manufacturer’s and amortization (Ebitda) challenges. “Our international nue from its bath fittings verti- stores and network,” he added.
 LIVEMINT.COM CORPORATE Thursday, 18 January 2024
Bengaluru 05

Tata Motors warns Indian firms struggle to find Chipmaker

against lower GST Synaptics
for hybrid vehicles suitable directors for boards eyes gains
in India biz
Alisha Sachdev
alisha.sachdev@livemint.com Gulveen Aulakh
New DelhI More than 1,400 independent directors are set to retire by 1 April, as per primeinfobase.com gulveen.aulakh@livemint.com
New DelhI

A
ny attempt to lower tax
Devina Sengupta

U
rates levied on hybrid Talent hunt S-based semiconductor
cars will confuse the devina.sengupta@livemint.com design major Synaptics
industry and “spread thin” the MUMbAI
Companies are looking for experts as board members who can help them is looking at a rapid
navigate global crises like wars and supply-chain disruptions.
government’s efforts to business upside from the Make

I
Share of respondents who cited the following challenges for companies in 2024. ( in %)
achieve its net-zero objectives, ndian companies scrambling to find in India initiative, specifically in
a senior official of Tata Motors, replacements for their boardrooms 50
Share of areas of continuous glucose
45 companies
the country’s leading passen- are struggling to find candidates 43 who said they monitors, smart meters, and
ger electric vehicle maker, with the right technology chops or 40
59% will hire a new wearables where demand for
director in
cautioned on Wednesday. expertise in handling the outcomes the next 12-18 locally-made devices is rising.
Shailesh Chandra, manag- Shailesh Chandra, MD, Tata of geopolitical uncertainties. months Synaptics president and
32 31
ing director, Tata Motors’ pas- Motors passenger vehicles According to a study by executive 30 Share of chief executive Michael Hurl-
companies
senger vehicles and passenger and passenger EV divisions. AFP search firm Heidrick & Struggles, three who cited ston told Mint in an interaction
EV divisions, said hybrid vehi- out of five respondents who participated retirement that a large opportunity has
20 74% of a director
cles use a small battery pack without the need for addi- in its survey are reshuffling their boards, as a reason emerged from local manufac-
for
and a motor that relies heavily tional incentives, highlighting and more than half of these firms are refreshing turers of these categories of
on a fossil-fuel engine, effec- the existing benefits for unable to find suitable talent. the board devices that were looking for
10
tively making them gasoline- hybrids in the form of a 2% The survey analysed responses from Share of providers of semiconductors
companies
run vehicles. He argued that lower cess on hybrid vehicles. about 150 managing directors, board who cited the and software to increase the
hybrids do not align with the India currently levies a chairs and chairs of subcommittees in 0
Geopolitical Economic New Incorporating
48% need to add
new skill-set as
scale of local manufacturing.
key objectives of achieving net goods and service tax (GST) of India to understand their business pri- uncertainty/ uncertainty technology AI a reason for “We see a big push in India
volatility challenges board revamp
carbon-zero, improving air 28% on hybrid vehicles, and orities for 2024, and their perception Companies are seeking independent now, particularly through the
quality levels, and cutting fos- 5% on EVs. around refreshing their boards. directors with niche talent in digital The survey covered 150 current managing directors, board chairs and chairs of subcommittees, medical distributors, who are
and was conducted at the end of 2023.
sil fuel imports. Efforts by the India units of More than 1,400 independent direct- and consumer behaviour, among Source: 2024 Heidrick & Struggles India CEO and Board Survey sourcing products from
These objections come Japanese carmakers Toyota ors are set to retire by 1 April, according others. ISTOCKPHOTO Europe or from US, they want
PRANAY BHARDWAJ/MINT
amid the Depart- Motor Corp. and to data research firm primeinfo- to have a Made-in-India
ment for Promo- Chandra Suzuki Motor base.com. The Companies Act, 2013, Mint. which is a rare skill-set,” Suresh Raina, company’s performance. While sitting approach to continuous glu-
tion of Industry dismissed the Corp., which are stipulates that firms cannot have direct- Heidrick & Struggles said three in five partner at Heidrick & Struggles India, fees are capped at ₹1 lakh, commissions cose monitoring and we are
and Internal idea of incentives global leaders in ors on their boards for longer than 10 respondents were seeking new directors told Mint. are expected to increase. now engaging on that initia-
Trade (DPIIT) for hybrids as a hybrid technolo- years. either to overhaul their board or as they Executive search firms have sought Currently, about 84% of a director’s tive,” Hurlston said.
and Ministry of gies and have Companies are seeking independent needed to hire a new director in 12–18 out expatriates living in India to join payments is in the form of commissions, “India sources almost all
“misguided been slow in
Heavy Industries’ directors with niche talent in digital and months. “About three quarters of the some of these boards, but such candi- with sitting fees accounting for the rest. meters that go on the sides of
move to seek the effort” by some developing and consumer behaviour, as well as respondents cite the retirement dates typically have high At banks and insurance compa- homes to measure electrical
auto industry’s OEMs adapting fully- an understanding of genera- of a director as the reason demands. Potential “senior nies, the commissions power consumption, water
consensus on electric vehicle tive artificial intelligence, they are undergoing a directors ask for $150,000– account for about 89% of a consumption, gasoline con-
rationalizing technologies, to
taxes on hybrid passenger persuade the government to
Heidrick & Struggles said
in its study titled 2024 10 yrs
Maximum tenure
refresh, and one in two
aim to infuse new skill-
$200,000 (₹1.25–1.7 crore
per annum) to be part of a ₹1
lakh
Ceiling on sitting
director’s payments.
Heidrick & Struggles
sumption, natural gas con-
sumption from overseas. We
vehicles. rationalize the GST levied on Heidrick & Struggles India sets into their boards,” board,” said Raina. said that 41% of the are seeing a big push now for
Chandra dismissed the idea hybrid vehicles have once CEO and Board Survey. of a board director stated the study. Commissions of inde- fees for board respondents in its survey local industries to make smart
of offering incentives for again split the industry into “With key areas such as as stipulated by law The hunt is proving pendent directors on the directors preferred experienced meters. And we are engaging
hybrids, calling it a “misguided two distinct, vociferous lob- cybersecurity risk and tougher than expected also boards of Nifty50 compa- executives when appointing because the smart meter man-
effort” by some Original bies—one, constituting incorporating AI being top because of global factors that nies have doubled over the new directors. “There are a ufacturers don’t have the semi-
Equipment Manufacturers domestic manufacturers Tata issues organizations are expected are weighing more heavily on previous five fiscal years, accord- number of new directors but firms conductor and software capa-
(OEMs). He pointed out that Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra to face in the new year, many recognize Indian companies. ing to a study by consulting firm are not keen to hire those who haven’t bility that we think we can
fossil fuel-based technologies, & South Korean carmakers the need to identify board members “Indian businesses are not isolated Deloitte. sat on boards before,” said K. Sudarshan, bring to the table,” he added.
such as Gasoline Direct Injec- Hyundai and Kia, and the who possess the skill-sets and capabili- anymore and global crises like wars are An independent director’s commis- managing partner at executive search Hurlston said Synaptics was
tion (GDI) and Compressed other consisting of Japanese ties relevant in navigating these new impacting supply chains. Companies sion is largely dependent on a mix of fees firm EMA Partners. “We are working on reducing costs of its solutions
Natural Gas (CNG), contribute carmakers Toyota, Suzuki and challenges,” the search firm said, shar- need experts who can offer strategies for attending board meetings, called sit- 7–8 open positions for tech, manufac- to corner a larger share of the
to improving fuel efficiency Honda. ing findings of the study exclusively with and guidance against these events, ting fees, and commissions linked to a turing and fintech firms.” global and Indian market.

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 06 Thursday, 18 January 2024
Bengaluru CORPORATE LIVEMINT.COM

Foreign funds fret over Foxconn, HCL in semiconductor duet Gulveen Aulakh & Shouvik Das information technology

tax residency dispute T New DelHI

aiwan’s Foxconn Tech-

nology Group and
India’s HCL Group will
form a joint venture (JV) to set
up a semiconductor out-
sourced assembly and testing
Apex court judgement in Blackstone case likely to set a precedent (OSAT) unit, where Foxconn
will hold 40% equity with an
investment of $37.2 million,
Krishna Yadav & Pavan Burugula the companies individually
New DelHI confirmed on Wednesday.
“HCL Group plans to part-
Rajeev Chandrasekhar said
the government has so far
received nine proposals for
setting up different kinds of
semiconductor fabrication
units as well as plants that will
test the semiconductors made
elsewhere in the world.
“After Micron’s successful
investment, there has been an
extremely robust pipeline of
proposals that have come.
There’s a lot more interest.
Foxconn will deploy its build-operate-localize model to support There are two very serious fab

T
he Indian tax department’s ner with Foxconn Group to local communities, the Taiwanese firm said. REUTERS proposals, four OSAT propos-
aggressive stance on tax resi- establish OSAT operations in als and three compound fab
dency certificates (TRCs) has India. HCL Group has a strong its BOL, or build-operate-lo- sideration with the India proposals,” he said on Tuesday
evoked fresh concerns among engineering and manufactur- calize, model to support local Semiconductor Mission. while briefing on the National
offshore investors. In a case ing heritage and this is an communities.” Industry insiders added that Startup Day. The minister did
pertaining to Blackstone Partners that opportunity that provides Foxconn Hon Hai Technol- since HCL has had semicon- not name the companies that
came up for hearing in the Supreme Court strategic adjacency to the ogy India Mega Development ductor design and testing soft- have submitted proposals.
last week, additional solicitor general Group portfolio,” an HCL Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of Fox- ware expertise for a long time, US-based Micron Technol-
(ASG) N. Venkataraman expressed con- Group spokesperson said in conn Technology Group, besides existing partnerships ogy Inc. had announced an
cerns that the Delhi High Court (HC) ver- response to queries. informed the Taiwan Stock with a number of top chip- $825 million investment into
dict in the matter could potentially set a A Foxconn spokesperson Exchange on Wednesday that makers, a partnership with its assembly, testing, monitor-
precedent and, hence, must be stayed. said: “Foxconn looks forward the JV was a non-binding Foxconn made sense for both ing and packaging plans in
The Delhi HC had ruled in favour of to jointly setting up OSAT memorandum of understand- parties. “What needs to be India, and started construction
Blackstone, saying TRCs were sufficient operations in India with HCL. ing and would be followed by seen is how the specifics of the of its first unit in September
for availing benefits from double tax Through this investment, the negotiations. project play out,” a second last year, with plans to produce
avoidance agreements (DTAAs). The rev- partners aim to build an eco- A senior industry veteran executive said. the first packaged chip by the
enue department challenged the verdict system and foster supply chain with knowledge of the matter The partnership announce- end of this year.
in the apex court, which stayed the order The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Delhi HC’s ruling in favour of Blackstone that resilience for the domestic told Mint that the proposal ment comes a day after minis- gulveen.aulakh@live-
on Friday. The case will soon come up for said TRCs were sufficient for availing benefits from double tax avoidance agreements. PTI industry. Foxconn will deploy currently remains under con- ter of state for electronics and mint.com
final judgement.
A TRC is a document issued by the tax Price Waterhouse & Co. Llp. judgment has to be ‘stay’ here (sic.)
department to non-resident investors that Experts say the tussle between Black- because this will replicate.”
mentions the jurisdiction where the fund stone and the revenue department will
is based out of, and acts like a proof for have an industry-wide impact.
availing DTAA benefits.
Offshore funds often route their India
investments through jurisdictions like
“The decision of the apex court to grant Singapore, Mauritius and Luxembourg.
Third fog-proof runway in Delhi in a week
At the crux of the dispute is whether a stay and look into the matter on the tax Such structuring is done to ensure both
TRCs alone are sufficient for foreign department’s plea may unfold new tax efficiency and operational efficiency. Anu Sharma completed by 15 December system helps with a precision being used one way, as cranes
funds to claim benefits under DTAAs. The dimensions to the issue and would be For instance, a US-based fund may set anu.sharma@livemint.com before the onset of the fog sea- approach and landing when for building the Dwarka
funds say they are, but the up an intermediary structure New DelHI son. However, due to pollution the runway falls to at least 15m Expressway were causing
revenue department says the TUSSLE ON in Singapore to invest in incidents and enforcement of and is at a visual range of interference in its landing path.

T
funds also need to prove they India. In such a case, the TRC he Indira Gandhi Inter- GRAP-IV in Delhi, the re-car- 50-200m. “In view of (the expressway
have proper establishment in EXPERTS say tussle IN the Blackstone DELHI HC had ruled from the tax department in national Airport in Delhi peting got At present, the construction’s) impact on the
the foreign country, and not between Blackstone
and the revenue
case, the revenue
dept has claimed
in favour of
Blackstone and final
India would note that the will soon increase its delayed, resulting The work was Delhi airport has runway, it has been decided
just produce a residence cer- dept will have an that the global fund judgement is fund is a resident of Singa- capacity to operate flights in in a delay of one delayed due to three run- that the crane operation shall
tificate. industry-wide impact underpaid tax expected soon pore. Now, the fund may low visibility due to fog, as it month in its com- enforcement of ways—27/9, 29R- be allowed only on non-fog
“Typically, in disputes with claim it is entitled to benefits moves to operationalize its missioning,” the Graded 11L, and 29L-11R. days. Thus, RWY 29L/11R is
tax authorities, the principal under the India-Singapore third CAT-III compliant run- Scindia said, add-
Response Action Of these, 29R-11L operational as CAT III as of
contention often hinges on the sufficiency keenly watched by investors who may DTAA, which provides for concessional way—28/10—this week after ing the runway and 29L-11R are yesterday,” Scindia added.
of a TRC as the definitive document for look forward to certainty on the position tax rates. finishing re-carpeting work. will turn opera- Plan to reduce air CAT-III compli- Meanwhile, India’s aviation
claiming benefits under tax treaties, sup- from the highest level,” said Kumarman- However, the tax department says that The work was delayed due tional this week. pollution ant. However, regulators have imposed fines
ported by established judicial precedents. glam Vijay, a partner at law firm JSA. the fund having a residency certificate of to enforcement of the Graded Category III, or 29R-11L is CAT- totalling ₹3 crore on IndiGo,
Should the Supreme Court revise this In the Blackstone case, the revenue Singapore is not enough to claim treaty Response Action Plan (GRAP) CAT-III, refers to III compliant just Air India, SpiceJet and the
stance, affirming that a TRC alone does department has claimed that the global benefits. It also needs to show that it has a in Delhi to reduce air pollu- a type of instrument landing from one end. Airport officials Mumbai airport following pas-
not suffice to secure tax treaty benefits, fund underpaid tax to the tune of ₹108 proper establishment in Singapore and tion, Union civil aviation min- system (ILS) approach that expect CAT-III certification senger inconvenience and vio-
this could embolden the tax office to scru- crore. “We are not interested in ₹108 crore the whole arrangement was not for tax ister Jyotiraditya Scindia said. allows for landing in very low for both sides next month. lation of security norms amid
tinize treaty benefit claims more rigor- immediately being protected,” the ASG avoidance. “The maintenance was visibility conditions, such as The other CAT-III compli- fog-related disruptions in air
ously,” said Suresh Swamy, a partner at emphasized in the Supreme Court. “The krishna.yadav@livemint.com taken as top priority to be fog, rain or snow. A CAT-III ant runway, 29L-11R, was also travel over the past few weeks.

Amicus hits Jet rescue plan unworkable, say lenders LIC books ₹3,816 crore profit in
first close of Krishna Yadav
three Adani firms in Dec quarter unpaid.

second fund krishna.yadav@livemint.com

New DelHI
Mehta said a comprehensive
examination of the facts and
JKC’s conduct over the past FROM PAGE 1 including Adani Enterprises
at $146 mn
T
he Jalan-Kalrock Consor- three years would reveal that (4.23% to 4.26%), Adani Green
tium (JKC) has not met the plan has become non-work- Adani stocks, coupled with Energy Ltd (1.28% to 1.36%),
various pre-conditions to able. He asserted that there was strategic portfolio adjust- Adani Total Gas Ltd (5.96% to
Priyamvada C. take over Jet Airways, lenders to never any intention to comply ments, could have prompted 6.02%) and Adani Transmis-
priyamvada.c@livemint.com the bankrupt airline said, add- with the plan, and the rosy pic- LIC to reduce its exposure in sion (3.65% to 3.68%).
BeNgaluru ing its rescue plan is unworka- ture painted by JKC led the the group,” said Kranthi Adani Transmission was
ble and liable to be set aside. Committee of Creditors to Bathini, director of equity renamed Adani Energy Solu-

I
ndia-focused growth capital
fund Amicus Capital on
Wednesday announced the
first close of its second fund at
$146 million (₹1,215 crore).
The fund plans to invest
$10-30 million each in 10-12
middle market companies
across five key sectors—finan-
cial services, consumer,
healthcare, technology & busi-
ness services, and specialty
manufacturing, a company
statement said.
European Investment Bank,
US International Develop-
ment Finance Corporation,
Self-Reliant India (SRI) Fund,
HDFC Fund of Funds, large
domestic insurance compa-
nies & financial institutions,
family offices and HNIs from
across the world are some
prominent investors that par-
ticipated in the second fund.
“Their participation will
catalyze Amicus Capital in
supporting middle market
companies in India,” Amicus
Capital’s co-founder and part-
ner Sunil Theckath Vasudevan
said in the statement.
With this closing, the sec-
ond fund will progress towards
a final close later in the year, as
per the statement. ‘Digitaliza-
tion’ and ‘market access’,
which refer to penetration
across tier II cities and beyond,
are key investment themes of
the fund.
“The fund is highly commit-
ted to ESG with the aim of
building resilient businesses
that generate long-term sus-
tainable returns for its stake-
holders,” said Mahesh Parasu-
raman, co-founder and part-
ner at Amicus Capital.
So far, Amicus Capital has a
portfolio of 12 companies
including RenewBuy.com,
Wonderchef, Altum Credo
Home Finance, Capital SFB,
and mCaffeine, among others.
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The lenders voiced their dis-
approval during a Supreme
Court hearing on several
appeals challenging JKC’s own-
ership of the airline before a
bench led by Chief Justice D.Y.
Chandrachud.
This was challenged by JKC’s
lawyers, who said the company
wants to restart the airline but
its plans have been delayed
since lenders have challenged it
despite JKC making the manda-
tory payments.
Lenders contended that the
plan is non-workable, citing
breaches of court orders and a
failure to comply with condi-
tions precedent, particularly in
relation to payments to the
workers.
Solicitor General Tushar
Mehta, representing the len-
Shriram Group in talks to sell housing finance unit for ₹5,000 crore
FROM PAGE 1
“The demand for affordable
housing finance firms is intact
in India, especially given the
potential in tier-II cities and
locations beyond them. Also,
the company’s (Shriram
Housing) financials and
growth rate are stronger than
others in the comparable seg-
ment. The interest rate cycle
is currently favourable and
retail investors may benefit
from that. The company has a
wide presence. The buyer can
leverage on these factors,”
said the second person.
The group will use the pro-
ceeds from a successful sale to
expand new businesses in the
financial services space and
strengthen its balance sheet.
The Shriram Group, which
is primarily in financial servi-
As the NCLT order has reached its finality, the resolution plan is
deemed to be in violation of the IBC and is liable to be set aside. PTI
ders, argued that the resolution
plan violates a previous National
Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)
order that had mandated JKC to
make a full payment of ₹272
crore for provident fund and
gratuity to the workers.
Mehta said not paying these
dues puts the resolution plan in
breach of the provisions of the
Insolvency and Bankruptcy
Code (IBC). As the NCLT order
has reached its finality, the reso-
lution plan is deemed to be in
violation of the IBC and is liable
to be set aside.
Mehta said that lenders,
ces, recently launched its own
asset reconstruction com-
pany and a super app called
Shriram One that provides a
one-stop solution to custom-
ers for financial planning,
investments, loans, insur-
ance, UPI money transfers,
mobile and DTH recharges,
and other bill payments.
According to the two per-
sons, apart from its core lend-
ing business done directly
through its main non-bank-
ing financial company (NBFC)
Shriram Finance, the group
intends to focus on the new
ventures and beef up the cash
component in its books,
which is one of the reasons
why it is looking to sell off the
housing finance arm that has
hitherto focused on the tough
business of affordable hous-
ing.
accept it.
The lenders also said that in
December, they received an
update from the Directorate
General of Civil Aviation
(DGCA) stating that the Air
including State Bank of India Operator Certificate (AOC)
and Punjab National Bank, are would not be reissued to JKC.
expected to recover a total of Without the AOC, the airline
₹7,800 crore. However, even cannot resume operations.
after two and a half years, JKC is Senior lawyer Mukul
yet to fulfil its obligation to Rohatgi, representing JKC,
make the scheduled payments argued that if their plan is set
in instalments. aside, the only option for the air-
Mehta added that the total line would be liquidation.
maintenance cost, including the According to Rohatgi, the issue
upkeep of aircraft, is ₹386.72 could have been resolved in
crore, and monthly payments of September when JKC fulfilled
₹22.26 crore are being made to its conditions precedent and
the airport for parking purposes handed over ₹350 crore,
by the lenders. Other dues, such including cash and encashing of
as those owed to the Airports a bank guarantee. However,
Authority of India, remain lenders challenged even this.
The business of affordable housing has become somewhat
challenging over the past year. HT
Shriram Housing’s loan from India’s western and
portfolio has grown at a steep southern states with an aver-
44% compound annual age loan size of ₹16.6 lakh.
growth rate over the last four However, the business of
years, and about three- affordable housing has
fourths of its business comes become somewhat challeng-
strategy at WealthMills Secu- tions in July last year.
rities, a stock market and According to a market par-
investment management ticipant, who spoke on condi-
firm. tion of anonymity, LIC’s stake
In terms of the number of hikes following the Hinden-
shares offloaded, LIC sold the burg crisis were viewed criti-
most shares—26 million—in In Q3, LIC sold a little more cally in certain market circles,
APSEZ, at a volume weighted than 37 million shares across but the recovery in Adani
average price (VWAP) of the three Adani companies. PTI shares and the Supreme
₹875.42, fetching ₹2,289.6 Court’s recent ruling that the
crore. Interestingly, foreign The least number of Securities and Exchange
portfolio investors (FPIs) shares—3.47 million—were Board of India (Sebi) was the
raised their stake in APSEZ offloaded in Adani Enter- competent authority to inves-
from 13.97% to 14.86% in the prises, at a VWAP of tigate the allegations by New
same period. ₹2,488.18, fetching LIC York-based short seller Hin-
The next highest was in ₹863.53 crore. Here, too, FPIs denburg Research have
AESL, where the insurer sold increased their stake from proved them wrong.
7.66 million shares at a VWAP 18.19% to 18.32% in the same Sebi has completed its
of ₹865.45, realizing ₹662.73 period. investigation in 22 out of 24
crore. FPIs also marginally In the March quarter of fis- matters pertaining to the alle-
reduced their stake in AESL cal year 2023 (Q4FY23), LIC gations, and said it has not
from 18.63% to 18.52% in the had hiked its stakes margin- found any evidence of wrong-
same period. ally in four group companies, doing.
ing over the past year, which executive officer (CEO), Shri- have had some impact on the
is another reason why the ram Housing Finance, on 2 consumer’s psyche and the
group is now planning to exit January, stated in a Mint market did see some degree
this business and redesign its report, “Within the affordable of postponement in pur-
growth strategy by increasing housing segment, we are wit- chases when the cycle was
focus on Shriram Finance’s nessing different trends in underway.
core lending business and the urban vs semi-urban seg- According to property con-
two insurance ments. On the sultant Anarock, real estate
ventures. The group will use urban side, high developers are now launching
“A major chal- the proceeds land costs and fewer affordable housing
lenge for the from a successful rising material units and more mid and luxu-
housing finance sale to expand costs make the ry-segment projects. The
company has
new businesses in affordable hous- share of affordable homes in
been its concen- ing segment the total new supply during
tration in the the financial unattractive for Q2FY24 fell to 18% in seven
southern and services space realtors. Conse- major cities, from 42% in
western states quently, the 2018. In the total launches,
and more than share of afforda- too, the share of affordable
two-thirds of the housing loan ble homes in the overall resi- homes has been falling stead-
business coming from dential realty market is ily since 2018. The urban
unbanked, self-employed shrinking rapidly.” labour market has not wit-
homebuyers,” said the second He said rate hikes totalling nessed a surge post-pandemic
person. 2.50 percentage points by the and that dealt another major
Ravi Subramanian, manag- Reserve Bank of India in a blow to the affordable hous-
ing director (MD) and chief short period of less than a year ing segment.
 LIVEMINT.COM CORPORATE Thursday, 18 January 2024
Bengaluru 07

FMCG cos stock up on

Regd Office: Unit 701 A, 7th Floor, Tower-2, Indiabulls Finance Centre, Senapati Bapat Marg,
Elphinstone Road, Mumbai - 400013
Email ID: investor.communication@radioone.in Website: www.nextmediaworks.com
CIN: L22100MH1981PLC024052 Tel No: 022-44104104
Statement of unaudited consolidated financial results for the quarter and nine months ended December 31, 2023
(INR in Lacs except Earnings per share data)

supplies in Ayodhya Revenue from operations

Particulars

Loss before exceptional items and tax

December
31, 2023
(Unaudited)
1,055
(588)
Quarter ended
September
30, 2023
(Unaudited)
809
(720)
December
31, 2022
(Unaudited)
1,035
(505)
Nine months ended
December 31,
2023
(Unaudited)
2,761
(1,988)
December 31,
2022
(Unaudited)
2,622
(1,833)
Year ended
March 31,
2023
(Audited)
3,625
(2,433)
Loss before tax after exceptional items (588) (1,156) (505) (2,424) (1,833) (2,433)
Loss after tax after Non- Controlling Interest for the period (after exceptional (358) (647) (303) (1,408) (1,049) (1,415)
items)

Firms ramp up marketing campaigns, get ready with new products Total Comprehensive loss after Non- Controlling Interest
Paid-up Equity Share Capital (Face Value - INR 10/- per share)
(356)
6,689
(641)
6,689
(303)
6,689
(1,402)
6,689
(1,050)
6,689
(1,424)
6,689
Other Equity excluding Revaluation Reserves as per the audited balance sheet (13,264)
Loss Per Share (of INR 10/- each) Not Not Not Not Not
Suneera Tandon Annualised Annualised Annualised Annualised Annualised
suneera.t@htlive.com Basic and Diluted (0.54) (0.97) (0.45) (2.10) (1.57) (2.12)
NEW DELHI Note: Above is an extract of the detailed format of quarterly Financial Results filed with the Stock Exchanges under Regulation 33 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure
Requirements) Regulations, 2015. The full format of the Quarterly Financials Results are available on the Stock Exchanges’ websites and Company’s website:
www.nseindia.com

M
akers of packaged foods www.bseindia.com
www.nextmediaworks.com
and beverages are ramping Notes:
up supplies of their prod- 1. The above un-audited consolidated financial results for the quarter and nine months ended December 31, 2023 were reviewed and recommended by the Audit Committee and were
ucts in Ayodhya, as well as approved by the Board of Directors at their respective meetings held on January 16, 2024. The Statutory Auditors of the Company have conducted “Limited Review” of these results
in terms of Regulation 33 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, “SEBI (LODR)” as amended and have
activating on-ground mar- issued an unmodified review opinion.
keting campaigns, to capitalize on the 2. The consolidated financial results have been prepared in accordance with the Indian Accounting Standards (‘Ind-AS’) prescribed under Section 133 of the Companies Act, 2013 read
with Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules as amended from time to time.
surge in footfalls the pilgrim town of
3. Additional Information on Standalone financial results is as follows :-
north India is expected to see ahead of the
(INR in Lacs except Earnings per share data)
temple inauguration on 22 January.
Particulars Quarter ended Nine months ended Year ended
Bottled water brand Bisleri is augment- December 31, September 30, December 31, December 31, December 31, March 31,
ing supplies across all road routes leading 2023 2023 2022 2023 2022 2023
to the city as well as key consumption cen- (Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Unaudited) (Audited)
Revenue from operations - - - - - -
tres in Ayodhya. The company is also set-
Loss before tax (114) (885) (90) (1,110) (223) (1,724)
ting up a plant in the city that is set to Loss after tax (114) (885) (90) (1,110) (223) (1,731)
become operational over the next few Total Comprehensive Loss (114) (885) (90) (1,110) (223) (1,731)
months. “We are ensuring responsible
consumption and disposal of used plastic For and on behalf of the Board of Directors

in collaboration with municipal authori- Praveen Someshwar

Place: New Delhi Chairman
ties. We have a new plant coming up in Ayodhya is expected to see huge footfalls ahead of the Ram temple inauguration. AFP Date: January 16, 2024 DIN: 01802656
Ayodhya which will be operational in a
few months,” said Angelo George, CEO, inauguration will be “massive”. the last two years.
Bisleri International. “We have significantly increased distri- Homegrown fast moving consumer
The seven-day religious rituals for the bution across biscuits, confectionery and goods company Dabur India is ramping
Ayodhya Ram Temple ‘Pran Pratistha’ snacks across touch-points. Not just in up distribution of its products in the city
ceremony that commenced on 16 January Ayodhya, but even in nearby towns and expecting a surge in demand for daily
and will continue till 22 January is cities. The company is also sampling essentials. The company is also investing
expected to draw huge crowds. Prime brands across its portfolio,” said Krish- in marketing activities on-ground such as
minister Narendra Modi is expected to narao Buddha, senior category head, setting up of experience zones in the city
inaugurate the temple next for its brands like Real juices,
week—that is likely to draw WELL PREPARED Dabur Amla hair oil and
lakhs of daily visitors by the Dabur Vedic Tea, said Mohit
end of the year. Companies COMPANIES said MAKERS of SUCH events give Malhotra, CEO, Dabur India
said they are expecting they are
expecting greater
packaged goods use
such occasions to
brands an
opportunity to drive
Ltd. Dabur has tied up with
greater religious tourism in religious tourism sample new on-ground brand dhabas and eateries on the
the city—that has seen an in the city products activation Lucknow, Gorakhpur and
infrastructure upgrade in Varanasi highways leading up
recent years with a swanky to Ayodhya. Dabur is brand-
new airport and wider roads. Parle Products. ing these dhabas with key brands like Haj-
Makers of packaged goods use such Buddha equated the intensity of the mola and Real, besides undertaking
occasions to sample new products as well event to the Kumbh Mela, among the larg- extensive sampling of its product range
as generate trials for existing brands. est religious congregations seen in India, here, said a company spokesperson.
These events also translate into high foot- though the latter stretches over a longer Beverage maker Coca-Cola and its bot-
falls, giving brands an opportunity to duration and sees a more consistent flow tling partners in the state, is increasing the
drive on-ground brand activations. of pilgrims. Parle has also been sponsor- availability of vending machines in the
Packaged foods maker Parle Products ing the “Ayodhya ki Ram Leela” a two- area and working with retailers to stock
said the days leading up to the 22 January hour play that stretches over 10 days over up its low unit packs.

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 08 Thursday, 18 January 2024
Bengaluru GLOBAL LIVEMINT.COM

Boeing sees
m MINT SHORTS
Apple to allow outside payments
Red Sea crisis: Biz heads progress
on 737 with
fear lasting bottlenecks
for apps after US decision
Apple Inc. is opening its US App Store to allow outside payment
options after the Supreme Court refused to consider the com-
pany’s appeal in an antitrust suit challenging its practices. The first checks
company plans to let all third-party apps sold in the US include
an outside link to a developer website to process payments for Bloomberg
in-app purchases. Apple shares slid as much as 2.7% after the feedback@livemint.com
court’s announcement before paring their decline.BLOOMBERG
Attacks by the Houthi militia on ships since Nov have slowed trade between Asia and Europe
O
perators of Boeing
Co.’s 737 Max 9 have
Quantum computing to spark completed inspections
Reuters on an initial batch of 40 planes,
‘Cybersecurity Armageddon,’ feedback@livemint.com a key step to eventually end the
ISTOCKPHOTO
DAVOS, SWITzerlAND grounding of the aircraft
ordered by US regulators in the

B
usiness chiefs warned on
Wednesday that disruption
to shipping in the Red Sea
caused by attacks by Yemen’s
Houthi militants could affect
supply chains for months and lead to a
shortage of tankers needed to transport
fuel.
Attacks by the Iran-allied Houthi
militia on ships in the region since
November have slowed trade between
Governments and businesses are not prepared for the Asia and Europe and alarmed major
havoc quantum computers will sow in cybersecurity by the powers—an escalation of Israel’s more
end of the decade, according to an International Business than three-month-old war with Pales-
Machines Corp. (IBM) executive. “Is quantum going to tinian Hamas militants in Gaza.
really create a cybersecurity Armageddon?” Ana Paula The Houthis say they are acting in sol-
Assis, IBM’s general manager of Europe, Middle East and idarity with Palestinians and have
Africa, said on a panel at the World Economic Forum in threatened to expand attacks to include
Davos on Wednesday. “It’s going to.” Businesses are not US ships in response to American and
equipped to utilize quantum machines or deal with the dis- British strikes on their sites in Yemen.
ruption they will cause, SandboxAQ CEO Jack Hidary said Iranian foreign minister Hossein
on the panel. BLOOMBERG Amirabdollahian, whose country backs
Hamas in its war with Israel, said an end
to the war in Gaza was needed to remove
SpaceX to launch 1st all-European the threat to shipping.
“The security of the Red Sea is tied to
commercial crew to Space Lab the developments in Gaza, and every-
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is set to launch the first all-European com- one will suffer if Israel’s crimes in Gaza
mercial crew to the International Space Station, a landmark mis- do not stop ... All the (resistance) fronts
sion for a region yearning for a better year of space exploration will remain active,” Amirabdollahian
following a series of setbacks. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is due to said at the World Economic Forum in
lift off at 5:11 pm local time on Wednesday from NASA’s Kennedy Davos.
Space Center in Florida. The Ax-3 mission is operated by Axiom India has held diplomatic talks with
Space Inc., a Houston-based company focused on developing pri- Iran and is taking other measures to help
vate space stations and human spaceflight. BLOOMBERG shield its exporters from the impact of
the attacks, a government source said on
Wednesday.
Opec sees robust oil demand Maersk and other large shipping lines
have instructed hundreds of commer-
next year in first look at 2025 cial vessels to stay clear of the Red Sea,
BLOOMBERG
sending them on a longer route around
Africa or pausing until the safety of ves-
sels can be assured.
“It’s one of the most important arter-
ies of global trade and global supply
wake of an accident earlier this
month.
The US Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) will now
review findings from those 40
checks to determine whether
the Boeing-drafted procedures
are appropriate to return the
fleet of 171 parked Max 9s to ser-
vice, the agency said in a state-
ment Wednesday.
The agency ordered the
grounding after a Max 9 oper-
ated by Alaska Airlines sud-
denly lost a fuselage section
shortly after takeoff on 5 Janu-
ary, sparking a crisis in confi-
The Houthis say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians and have threatened to expand attacks to include US ships in dence in Boeing’s manufactur-
response to American and British strikes on their sites in Yemen. REUTERS ing processes and a flurry of
investigations.
chains and it’s clogged up right now,” some cargoes in the Red Sea that were ships would lead to a shortage of tankers, “Once the FAA approves an
Maersk chief executive Vincent Clerc affected by the situation. the CEO of Saudi oil giant Aramco said. inspection and maintenance
told Reuters Global Markets Forum in “If it’s in the short term, tankers might process, it will be required on
Davos, adding that disruption would US Strikes be available ... But if it’s longer term, it every grounded 737-9 MAX
probably last at last a few months. The attacks are causing major disrup- might be a problem,” CEO Amin Nasser prior to future operation,” the
Banking executives are worried the tion to Italian ports and fuelling fears said in an interview in Davos. agency said. “The safety of the
crisis might create inflationary pres- that a prolonged crisis may force com- The US military carried out new flying public, not speed, will
sures that could ultimately delay or panies to move traffic away from the strikes in Yemen on Tuesday against determine the timeline for
reverse interest rate cuts. Mediterranean more per- anti-ship ballistic missiles in a Houthi- returning these aircraft to ser-
Freight rates have more The alternative manently. controlled part of the country as a mis- vice.”
than doubled since early shipping route Italy wants fellow Euro- sile hit a Greek-owned vessel in the Red Wrapping up the initial
December, according to around South pean Union members to Sea. round of checks is a sign of
maritime consultancy Africa’s Cape of agree next week to create In a bid to cut off their funding and much-needed progress for
Drewry’s world container an EU maritime security supply of weapons, US President Joe Boeing as it works to rebuild
Good Hope can
index, while insurance mission so that it can Biden’s administration plans to put trust with regulators, custom-
sources say war risk premi- add 10-14 days to become operational as Houthi rebels back on a US list of terror- ers and the flying public. Boe-
ums for shipments a journey soon as possible, Italian ist organizations, two US officials told ing rose 1% as of 9:53 am. in
through the Red Sea are Foreign Minister Antonio Reuters. New York following the FAA’s
also rising. Tajani said on Wednesday. In a sign of the tensions, a Malta- announcement, after rising
The attacks target a route that The alternative shipping route flagged container ship was approached much as 2.2% in earlier trading.
accounts for about 15% of the world’s around South Africa’s Cape of Good on Wednesday by three skiffs and a The shares had sunk 23% this
shipping traffic and acts as a vital con- Hope can add 10-14 days to a journey drone 10 miles southwest of Yemen’s year through Tuesday’s close,
duit between Europe and Asia. Japanese when compared to a passage via the Red Dhubab. No damage or casualties were by far the worst performer this
trading house Sumitomo Corp. was the Sea to the Suez Canal. reported, British maritime security firm year on the Dow Jones Indus-
latest company caught up, saying it had Prolonged attacks by the Houthis on Ambrey said in an advisory note. trial Average.

Iran strikes militants in Pakistan China posts 5.2% GDP growth

OPEC forecast that global oil demand will continue to
as regional tensions escalate amid slowdown concerns
increase strongly next year and exceed growth in supplies,
according to the group’s first detailed assessment of 2025. Bloomberg Middle East over the war PTI challenges remain for the Chi-
World consumption will swell by a “robust” 1.8 million bar- feedback@livemint.com between Israel and Iran- feedback@livemint.com nese economy, which is still
rels a day next year, driven by China and a recovering global backed Hamas, which has BeIjING struggling to recover from the

I
economy, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Coun- ran conducted a missile been raging in Gaza for more covid-19 lockdowns.

tries (Opec) said in its monthly market report. BLOOMBERG strike on a militant group in
Pakistan, sparking a diplo-
matic crisis between the
OpenAI is working with US military neighbouring countries at a
time of rising regional ten-
on cybersecurity tools sions.
OpenAI is working with the Pentagon on a number of projects Pakistan said it’s recalling an
including cybersecurity capabilities, a departure from the ambassador to Iran and bar-
startup’s earlier ban on providing its artificial intelligence to mili- ring Tehran’s envoy from
taries. Microsoft Corp., OpenAI’s largest investor, provides sev- re-entering the country over
eral software contracts to the US armed forces and other govern- the “unprovoked and blatant
ment branches. BLOOMBERG breach” of its sovereignty.
The attack marks a sharp
escalation of Iran’s campaign
Google to tweak search results to against Jaish al-Adl, a separa-
tist group based in Pakistan.
comply with EU tech rules Iran’s Tasnim news agency
Alphabet’s Google will tweak online search results to give com- said two bases belonging to the
parison sites more prominence, the company said in a blogpost militants in Balochestan prov-
on Wednesday, as it outlined efforts to comply with new EU tech ince were destroyed late on
rules that could hit revenues for some companies. It is also Tuesday with missiles and
required to allow business users to access the data that they gen- drones.
erate when using Google’s platform. REUTERS Jaish al-Adl is a Sunni group
The attack marks Iran’s stance
against Jaish al-Adl. AFP
that operates along predomi-
nantly Shiite Iran’s porous
border with nuclear-armed
Pakistan. It’s launched multi-
ple attacks on Iranian security
forces, most recently a Decem-
ber assault on a police station
that killed 11 people. Iran and
the US both consider it a ter-
rorist group. The strike came
as tension rippled through the
than 100 days. The Houthi
group in Yemen, also backed
by Iran, has been escalating
assaults on shipping in the Red
Sea, drawing counter attacks
from the US and its allies.
Pakistan, which said the
strike killed two children and
injured three others, became
the second of Iran’s neigh-
bours to complain of an attack
by the Islamic Republic on its
soil within 24 hours. Earlier
Tuesday, Iraq criticized a
deadly Iranian missile hit on
an alleged Israeli spy base in
Iraqi Kurdistan.
The attack on Pakistan came
hours after Iranian foreign
minister Hossein Amirabdol-
lahian met Pakistan’s Prime
Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq
Kakar in Davos on Tuesday.
C
hina’s gross domestic
product (GDP) grew by
5.2% last year, higher
than the government’s target of
5% amid mounting market
concerns, waning investor con-
fidence and a protracted prop-
erty market slump in the
world’s second largest econ-
omy, according to official data
released on Wednesday.
The country’s GDP
touched a record 126.06 trillion
yuan (about $17.71 trillion) in
2023, according data from
China’s National Bureau of Sta-
tistics (NBS).
Despite external pressure
and internal difficulties, China
has successfully achieved the
major targets set for 2023 and
recorded a rebound and
improvements in the economy,
China’s GDP touched a record
at about $17.71 tn in 2023. AFP
Kang Yi, head of the NBS, told
the media here.
Kang said at the same time,
the Chinese economy faced an
external environment that was
increasingly complex, severe,
and uncertain, and that eco-
nomic growth was still facing
difficulties and challenges.
Despite exceeding the 5%
target, analysts say that major
“On top of economic growth,
other requisites for a confi-
dence boost include a stable
property market, receding
deflationary pressure, as well as
less policy unpredictability,” Yu
Xiangrong, chief economist for
Greater China at Citigroup said.
Property investment, which
has been a major drag on the
post-covid recovery, fell by
9.6% in 2023 having dropped
by 9.4% in the first 11 months of
last year according to the data.
Significantly the NBS, which
stopped providing the unem-
ployment data for about half a
year amid concerns of shrink-
ing job market, reported on
Wednesday that the unemploy-
ment rate has dropped to 5.2%.
Unofficial data projected the
unemployment was above 21%.

Chinese lab mapped Corona two weeks before Beijing told the world
Warren P. Strobel viral pneumonia “of unknown wide were racing to understand genetic database, GenBank, wrote. Then, on Jan. 12, NIH seas research and other issues.
feedback@livemint.com cause” and had yet to close the the mystery disease eventually run by the U.S. National Insti- received and published a Ren is listed in contract doc-
WASHINGTON Huanan Seafood Wholesale named Covid-19 that would kill tutes of Health. SARS-CoV-2 sequence from uments as being a collaborator
Market, site of one of the initial millions and sicken many more. The first known publication another source. “The sequence on a U.S.-funded project to

C
hinese researchers iso-
lated and mapped the
virus that causes Cov-
id-19 in late December 2019, at
least two weeks before Beijing
revealed details of the deadly
virus to the world, congressio-
nal investigators said, raising
questions anew about what
China knew in the pandemic’s
crucial early days.
Documents obtained from
the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services by a
House committee and
reviewed by The Wall Street
Journal show that a Chinese
researcher in Beijing uploaded
a nearly complete sequence of
the virus’s structure to a U.S.
government-run database on
December 28, 2019. Chinese
officials at that time were still
publicly describing the disease
outbreak in Wuhan, China, as a
Covid-19 outbreaks.
China only shared the virus’s
sequence with the World
Health Organization on Jan. 11,
2020, according to U.S. govern-
ment timelines of the pandemic.
The new information
doesn’t shed light on the debate
over whether Covid emerged
from an
infected
animal or a
lab leak, but
it suggests that the world still
doesn’t have a full accounting
of the pandemic’s origin.
The extra two weeks could
have proved crucial in helping
the international medical com-
munity pinpoint how Covid-19
spread, develop medical
defenses and get started on an
eventual vaccine, specialists
have said. In late 2019, scien-
tists and governments world-
It “underscores how cau-
tious we have to be about the
accuracy of the information
that the Chinese government
has released,” said Jesse Bloom,
a virologist at the Fred Hutch-
inson Cancer Center in Seattle
who has reviewed the docu-
ments and the recently discov-
ered gene
sequence.
“It’s impor-
tant to keep
in mind how little we know.”
The Chinese researcher who
submitted the virus sequence,
Dr. Lili Ren of the Beijing-
based Institute of Pathogen
Biology, didn’t respond to an
email seeking comment. The
institute is part of the state-af-
filiated Chinese Academy of
Medical Sciences.
“China has kept refining our
COVID response based on sci-
A Chinese researcher uploaded a nearly complete sequence of the
virus’s structure to a US database on December 28, 2019. REUTERS
ence to make it more targeted,” a
Chinese Embassy spokesperson
said. “China’s COVID response
policies are science-based, effec-
tive, and consistent with China’s
national realities. They can stand
the test of history.”
The documents describing a
new timeline were obtained by
Republicans on the House
Energy and Commerce Com-
mittee after the committee
threatened to subpoena the
Department of Health and
Human Services.
Melanie Egorin, HHS Assist-
ant Secretary for Legislation,
wrote last month to the com-
mittee’s chair, Rep. Cathy
McMorris Rodgers (R., Wash.),
that Ren submitted the virus
sequence on Dec. 28, 2019, to a
of the sequence of the Covid published on January 12, 2020, study how coronaviruses can
virus, called SARS-CoV-2, was nearly identical to the be transferred from animals to
came on Jan. 11, 2020, after sequence that was submitted humans. The work, which
Chinese authorities shared the by Lili Ren,” Egorin told the included collecting bat samples
information with committee. in China, was overseen by the
the World Health The sequence The discovery nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance.
Organization. In that Ren provided that a researcher The Journal has previously
addition, the Cen- in Dec 2019 was in the state-affili- reported that Chinese special-
ters for Disease never published ated Chinese lab ists met with the World Health
Control and Pre- had isolated and Organization in Beijing on Jan.
and was
vention in Atlanta mapped the virus 3, 2020, but didn’t disclose that
says the virus deleted on well before Beijing the new disease was caused by
sequence was 16 Jan 2020 revealed publicly a coronavirus, a fact Chinese
shared with that it had done so officials already knew.
China’s equiva- shows the U.S. “This [database] submission
lent of the CDC on January 5 “cannot trust any of the shows that in fact, at least by
but not made known globally so-called ‘facts’ or data provided Dec. 28, 2019, scientists within
to scientists. by the CCP and calls into serious China did know this pneumo-
The sequence that Ren pro- question the legitimacy of any nia was being caused” by a new
vided in December 2019 was scientific theories based on such coronavirus, said Bloom, the
never published and was information,” McMorris Rodg- virologist at the Fred Hutchin-
deleted from the database on ers said in a statement. The son Cancer Center in Seattle.
Jan. 16, 2020, after NIH asked committee has spent months Michael R. Gordon contrib-
her for more technical details probing Covid’s origins, U.S. uted to this article.
and she didn’t respond, Egorin government funding of over- © 2024 DOW JONES & CO. INC.

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Bengaluru 09

NEWS
₹4,000 cr
THE SIZE of infrastructure projects
235 mn
THE NUMBER of iPhones shipped by
₹5.8 tn
LIFE INSURANCE Corporation of India’s
5.2%
CHINA’S GDP growth rate in 2023, higher
53%
THE INCREASE in price of extra neutral
IN inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Apple in ’23, the most by any smartphone mkt capitalization on Wednesday, than the 5% target set by the government, alcohol, used to make alcoholic
NUMBERS Modi at Kochi, including a new Dry Dock
and an international ship repair facility.
maker as it overtook Samsung, which
shipped 226.6 mn units during the year.
surpassing that of SBI to become the
most valuable PSU in the stock market.
without relying on ‘massive stimulus’,
according to Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
beverages, between ‘18 & ’23, even as
industry margins shrink.

HOWINDIALIVES.COM

Curb ‘unhealthy’ SHOWTIME IN AYODHYA Adani to invest in

loan growth: Khara projects in 2 states

I B
ndia’s recent clampdown on unsecured loans illionaire Gautam Adani’s apples-to-
is the right move to curtail “unhealthy airport conglomerate will invest ₹62,400
growth” in borrowing by individuals, crore in the next 10 years in setting up
according to the chairman of the nation’s data centres in Maharashtra and Telangana to
biggest bank. Strong expansion of retail loans, at provide infrastructure for the booming digital
an annual rate of about 30%, was a “sign of services demand in the country.
heating up,” State Bank of India’s Dinesh Khara The conglomerate’s flagship firm Adani
said in a Bloomberg Television interview at Davos Enterprises will invest ₹50,000 crore over the
on Tuesday. next 10 years in setting up a 1 gigawatt (GW)
Earnings at Indian banks have been bolstered hyperscale data centre in either Mumbai or
in recent quarters by an increase in demand for Navi Mumbai and Pune, and another ₹5,000
credit and lower bad loans, increasing the crore in setting up a 100 MW data centre in
regulator’s concerns over a potential buildup of Telangana, it said on Wednesday. Data centres
risks in the economy. are one of the newer businesses for the Adani
With unsecured lending rising almost twice group, which predominantly was a ports
as fast as overall credit, the RBI asked banks to operator and coal trader.
increase buffers for some consumer loans in Adani Enterprises Ltd and the Maharashtra
November. government signed a memorandum of
“I am sure it will go a long way in terms of understanding (MoU) for setting up the 1 GW
bringing orderliness and ensure the growth will hyperscale data infrastructure. PTI
remain healthy,” Khara said. BLOOMBERG

Devotees witness a laser show during a fair ahead of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya. PTI

The collaboration aims at making international

Drug regulator gives approval A delegation from the state, engaged in talks with
industry leaders during the WEF Meet. AFP
payments convenient for travellers from India. MINT

Google Pay, NPCI for FDCs licenced before 1988 ₹22,000 cr MoUs by
Karnataka at WEF
to globalize UPI
T
he Karnataka government said on

A
lphabet Inc.’s Google Pay will work with
India’s mobile-based payments system
that generates billions of transaction
every month to expand the services beyond the
South Asian nation. Google India Digital
Services Pvt Ltd and National Payments
Corporation of India (NPCI), the company
behind India’s Unified Payments Interface
Wednesday it has signed MoUs with
Govt banned 344 combinations on 10 March ’16, citing public interest and human risk investment proposals to the tune of
₹22,000 crore with seven companies at the
World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual
Somrita Ghosh asked for more data, including on safety and effi- depression, cough, and allergy. Meeting in Davos. As part of the MoUs signed
somrita.ghosh@partner.livemint.com cacy. The Central government, in June, 2023, issued on Tuesday, Web Werks proposes to set up a
NeW DeLhI The committee under the chairmanship of Dr notifications prohibiting manufacturing, sales ₹20,000 crore data centre park in the state,
Bhatia, professor and head, department of Psychi- and distribution of 14 fixed dose combinations while four other companies plan to invest a

T
(UPI), signed an accord to broaden the services
beyond India, according to a statement on
Wednesday. The collaboration aims at making
international payments convenient for
travellers from India. It will also assist in
establishing UPI-like digital payment systems
in other countries.
“This is in alignment with NPCI’s endeavour
of bolstering India’s position in the global
digital payment landscape,” the company said,
adding that the accord will also contribute to
simplifying remittances by cutting
dependence on conventional money transfer
channels. PM Modi’s government has been
vocal on its ambitions to take UPI global. India
and Singapore linked their systems last year to
enable real-time money transfers. BLOOMBERG
he Central Drugs Standard Control
Organization (CDSCO) has allowed
companies to manufacture and market
five fixed dose combinations (FDCs)
that were banned last year. The permis-
sion comes with certain conditions, as per a notice
issued by Dr Rajeev Raghuvanshi, Drugs Control-
ler General of India (DCGI).
The CDSCO order, dated 11 January, read that
in 2023, the Central Licencing Authority had
banned 14 FDCs out of a list of 19 drug cocktails
that were licenced before 1988 for manufacture
and sale in the country without requiring
approval.
An expert committee headed by Dr M.S. Bhatia
recommended two fixed FDCs as reasonable
under certain conditions. For the three others, it
atry, University College of Medical Sciences, New (FDCs) licensed prior to the year 1988, including total of ₹2,000 crore, according to a statement
Delhi, examined the 19 FDCs approved before cough syrups, anti allergy drugs and pain relief issued by the Karnataka minister for large and
1988 for their drugs with immedi- medium industries and infrastructure
rationality. ate effect, following development M.B. Patil. A delegation from the
The committee The CDSCO order, dated 11 Jan, advice from an state, headed by Patil, engaged in a series of
recommended for read that in ’23, the Central Licencing expert committee in deliberations with industry leaders during the
continued manu-
facturing and mar- Authority had banned 14 FDCs out aonreport submitted
April 1, 2022, that
WEF Meet 2024 in Switzerland, it said.
The Lulu Group is set to venture into food
keting of the Para- of a list of 19 drug cocktails these drugs may processing in Vijayapura district, with plans to
cetamol 500mg involve risk to invest ₹300 crore in a plant dedicated to
plus, Phenylephrine human beings. exports, the statement said. PTI
Hydrochloride 10mg plus, caffeine anhydrous IP According to the professor Kokate Commit-
32mg tablets, with the condition to generate tee’s recommendations, the Central government
safety and efficacy data by way of conducting banned 344 combinations on 10 March 2016, cit-
Phase IV clinical trial within time frame of one ing public interest and the possibility of human
year. The five formulations are, variously, for risk when using these FDCs in the absence of safer
Mineral production
treating common cold symptoms, headaches, alternatives.
index up 6.8%

T
he union ministry of mines has said that
NMDC’s export India’s mineral production index for
PFRDA simplifies PoP Regulations November 2023 was 6.8% higher on a y-o-
proposal rejected y basis. Citing provisional statistics from the
Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), it said cumulative
“With this notification, banks and non- growth for April-November was 9.1% year-on-

T
he government has turned down a
request from state-owned iron ore
miner NMDC Ltd to export its ore to
China, the world’s largest iron ore consumer,
three people with direct knowledge said.
The government has instead asked NMDC,
India’s largest state-owned iron ore miner, to
focus on domestic sales, said the people, who
didn’t wish to be named as they were not
authorized to talk to the media.
China accounts for around 80% of India’s
overall iron ore shipments. India primarily
exports low-grade iron ore—with iron content
below 58%—and most of India’s shipments go
to China.
PoPs are appointed by PFRDA for all citizens
to open & operate NPS accounts. ISTOCKPHOTO
banks can act as PoPs to on-board
National Pension System (NPS)
subscribers. Now, they require only single
registration for NPS, instead of multiple
registrations earlier, and can operate with
just one branch with wider digital
presence,” an official statement said. The
timeline for disposing of applications has
been reduced from 60 days to 30 days, it
added.
The simplification is in line with the
Union Budget 2023-24 announcement to
review regulations to reduce the cost of
compliance and enhance the ease of
doing business.
ASCI has observed that violations were coming
from every aspect of the advertising ecosystem.
Green claims under
year.
“The index of mineral production of mining
and quarrying sector for the month of
November, 2023 (Base: 2011-12=100) at 131.1, is
6.8 % higher as compared to the level in the
month of November, 2022,” said a statement
from the ministry.
Production of coal in November stood at 84.5
million tonnes, and that of lignite was 3.3 million
tonnes.
Increase in production on minerals including
exploration and mining of critical minerals is
key for the government with the focus on
becoming self-dependent. VAAGEESH THIRUMALAI

In 2023, China’s iron ore imports hit a
record high of 1.18 billion metric tonnes as
demand surged and steel exports picked up.
Although the government has stopped
NMDC from directly selling its ore to China,
the company continues to auction its ore
locally, with private exporters selling the ore
T
he Pension Fund Regulatory and
Development Authority (PFRDA)
on Wednesday notified the Point of
Presence (PoP) Regulations 2023,
simplifying the registration process with
the objective of ease of doing business and
greater usage of digital mode.
scrutiny by ASCI
The Point of Presence (PoPs) are
entities appointed by the PFRDA to
provide services to all the citizens of India
Oil, gas imports
U
to open and operate their NPS accounts. nsubstantiated ‘green’ or environmentally
They perform functions through their
network of branches called POP Service
friendly claims and misleading marketing
tactics of advertisers are likely to land them decline to $89.9 bn
Providers (POP-SPs). PTI in trouble going forward. These claims have come

to China. REUTERS under the scanner of the self-regulatory body, the
Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI)
which has now decided to put out stringent
guidelines on what constitutes environmentally
Vertex, Crispr get second FDA approval for gene therapy friendly and is a violation.
Interestingly, the body has observed that
violations were coming from every aspect of the
I
ndia’s oil and gas import bill has declined
about 21% to $89.9 billion in April-December
FY24, from $114.2 billion during the same
period of the last fiscal.
This fall in import bill comes on the back of a
fall in energy prices.
Data from the Petroleum Planning and

T
he US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first advertising ecosystem. “We have been seeing Analysis Cell (PPAC) showed that as of
Crispr-based treatment for a second condition, clearing the gene that increasingly consumers are looking for December, India imported a total of 172.9 mt
editing therapy for the blood disorder beta thalassemia. The drug, products and services that are environmentally crude oil, marginally higher than 172.3 mt
called Casgevy, is a collaboration between Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc and friendly. Oftentimes based on these claims, they during the April-December period of FY23.
Crispr Therapeutics AG. It was expected to be approved in March, but was take the decision to buy the product or pay a As oil prices have declined during the current
cleared early. Casgevy will compete with Zynteglo, a gene therapy for beta premium for it,” Manisha Kapoor, CEO and fiscal, the value of oil imported by India stood at
thalassemia sold by the biotech company Bluebird Bio Inc. secretary general of the organisation told Mint. $98.4 billion, against $124.9 billion during the
In December, the agency approved Casgevy to treat sickle cell disease. It She said that ‘greenwashing’ was a type of corresponding period of FY23.
was a historic milestone, marking the first time US regulators had approved misleading claim for which the body had been According to the data, India’s import
a therapy using Crispr technology. The treatment works by precisely receiving complaints. “This is the first time we dependency for crude oil in FY24 rose to 87.5%
targeting changes in DNA to repair flaws in patients’ genomes. Sickle cell are putting out these guidelines because these by the end of December, compared to 87% in the
disease presents the larger market opportunity. In December, Vertex and claims have been rampant across categories, year-ago period.
Crispr, which have a profit-sharing agreement, said about 16,000 patients including personal care, food products, The average price of the Indian crude basket
over 12 years old with severe sickle cell disease could eligible for its gene The treatment works by precisely targeting changes in DNA to repair beverages, automobiles, digital devices, and the in January 2024 stands at $77.85 per barrel,
editing treatment. BLOOMBERG flaws in patients’ genomes. AFP real estate industry,” she said. VARUNI KHOSLA against $83.76 in April 2023. RITURAJ BARUAH

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 10 Thursday, 18 January 2024
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HOW ESSE CIGARETTES

ArE SmOKInG rIvALS
Smuggled cigarettes made by South Korea’s KT&G account for a significant share of the Indian market

SMOKING IS INJURIOUS TO HEALTH

Many kirana stores selling cigarettes in large cities stock Esse, a brand of slim cigarettes from South Korea. Since Esse is smuggled in, it is not obliged to have gory pictorial warnings on the packet, which became mandatory in India in 2010. SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT

Sumant Banerji comprised a significant portion of the haul.
sumant.banerji@livemint.com According to industry estimates,
NeW DelHi around 120 billion sticks are consumed in
India every year and the share of smug-
a gap that ITC, despite its humongous 75% lion sticks to 126 counties around the
mint HOLY SMOKE!
market share, cannot bridge. SHORT globe. It currently has four cigarette facto-
“The mushrooming of illicit and smug- STORY Since the mid-2000s, smuggled ries outside South Korea—in Russia, Tur-
gled products not only causes a significant cigarette volumes have more than key, Indonesia and Kazakhstan, where it

S
ometime during the first few gled cigarettes has grown to a fifth of this revenue loss to the government exche- doubled in India started operations only last year. The com-
days of the covid pandemic-in- market, at roughly 30 billion sticks, up quer but exports jobs from the country WHat Illegal cigarette volume in India pany has three factories in South Korea.
duced lockdown in March 2020, from 11.1 billion in 2004 (see graphic). As across the entire value chain, which Smuggled cigarettes (sticks, in bn) KT&G has also announced plans to start
Vaibhav Gurang, who works for per a Ficci Cascade (committee against includes impacting the livelihoods of India is the world’s second a second factory in Indonesia and aims to
35
an advertising agency in Guru- smuggling and counterfeiting activities Indian tobacco farmers as inputs used in largest cigarette market, a 30.2 start operations in 2026 as part of its big-
gram, had his first taste of Esse Lights, a destroying the economy) report, the mar- smuggled cigarettes are not indigenous,” dubious distinction. According 30 ger vision of achieving sales of $7.5 billion
brand of slim cigarettes made by KT&G, a ket for illicit tobacco products in India in says Anil Rajput, president, corporate to industry estimates, around 25 by 2027 with overseas businesses
South Korean company. 2019-20 was valued at ₹22,930 crore. affairs and member, corporate manage- 120 billion sticks are consumed accounting for half of it.
in the country every year. 20
As the supply chain was disrupted and Esse is believed to have cornered at ment committee, ITC Ltd. To achieve that, it cannot possibly ignore
shops shut, Gurang’s friendly neighbour- least 25-28% of this smuggled pie. Which Indeed, smuggling impacts local tobacco 15 11.1 India, the world’s second largest cigarette
hood shopkeeper could only provide him means that while it can’t officially operate farmers and organized players such as ITC 10 market, three times the size of its home
with two packets of Marlboro Lights, his in India, it has managed to garner a rea- and Godfrey Phillips India. As the smuggled but 2004 2022 market, but one that is closed to outsiders.
preferred brand, but sold him a carton of sonable share of India’s overall cigarette cigarettes do not contain tobacco grown in Source: Euromonitor International However, there are always other means.
Esse as a backup. market. Inadvertently perhaps, India also India, they are a lost opportunity for farm- The share of smuggled cigarettes
Gurang exhausted the Marlboros in the accounts for a sizeable share of Esse’s near ers. For ITC and Godfrey Phillips India, this has grown to a fifth of the total The seizures by DRI are only a fraction of BacKdoor enTry
the overall number of cigarettes that
first week, and as the lockdown extended, 50 billion sticks per annum overseas sales.
began smoking the Esses. Since then, he “It (Esse) is without doubt the most pop-
has been hooked. The brand’s premium ular smuggled brand. Almost every sei-
poses a challenge in a market where
demand is slowing as young consumers are
more reluctant to take up smoking.
domestic market, at roughly
30 billion sticks. South Korea’s
KT&G accounts for a third of
are smuggled
Cigarette seizures
C igarettes are among the top items
smuggled into the country every year.
In 2022-23, the DRI seized 67.9 million
packaging and claim of low smell and tar zure has a sizeable proportion of the Esse “It (smuggling) has started to impact this contraband pie. Value Quantity (sticks, in mn) sticks of cigarettes worth ₹126.15 crore. The
(in  cr) (right hand scale)
content added to its appeal. “I was not a brand,” says a DRI official. “I doubt if they demand. In 2010-11, we were producing previous year, it had seized 72.5 million
150 75
big fan of slim cigarettes but started smok- would have done well if India allowed FDI 330 million kgs of tobacco for cigarettes sticks worth ₹92.72 crore. But these sei-
ing them out of compulsion. They cost less in this sector. Through the legal route every year. Now, it has come down to 270 aND 120 60 zures are only a fraction of the actual num-
and have significantly less bad odour. they wouldn’t be able to undercut com- million kgs,” says Murali Babu, general 90 45 ber of cigarettes smuggled into the country.
Since I got used to Esse, I have not missed petitors like this.” secretary, Federation of All India Farmers The government loses revenue 60 30 “The cost differential between legally
Classic or Marlboro,” he says. Besides Esse, some of the other brands Associations (FAIFA). “Thirty billion on every smuggled cigarette—a procured cigarettes and smuggled ciga-
30 15
What Gurang and that are widely smuggled sticks means 25 million kgs of tobacco FICCI Cascade report estimated rettes drives the demand,” DRI stated in
the loss of tax revenue to 0 0
possibly his trusted sup- into India are Gudang production. That is what we are losing out 2018-19 2022-23 its annual report for 2022-23. “Further,
plier do not know is that Evasion of tax makes Esse Garam, Paris, Peacock, on. In terms of business, it is almost the government at ₹13,331 crore the absence of gory pictorial health warn-
Source: Directorate of Revenue Intelligence
the cigarettes are smug- cheap. One stick of smuggled Dunhill, Mond, Win, ₹5,000-6,000 crore.” in 2019-20 alone. ing on the illicit cigarette packets makes it
gled into the country Ruili River and Djarum. Godfrey Phillips India declined to com- SATISH KUMAR/MINT
more attractive for the consumer, defeat-
through sometimes bra- Esse Lights costs ₹10, while ment when Mint reached out. Emails sent ing the legal intent.”
zen and, other times, a like-for-like slim Classic Tax revenue loST to Esse in South Korea remain unanswered. mation of the Office of Monopoly (OOM) in high-income economies, Koreans became Maritime smuggling is only one of the
highly sophisticated
methods. Earlier this
month, for instance, a
Connect stick costs ₹15 R ightly considered a
sin product, ciga-
rettes attract an overall
Since Esse is smuggled in, it is also not
obliged to have gory pictorial warnings on
the packet, which became mandatory in
1952. The policy not only survived but also
intensified during the Korean War of 1950-
1953. After World War II ended in 1945,
more health conscious from the 1990s. To
brace for the competition, the govern-
ment monopoly became a public corpora-
routes through which contraband ciga-
rettes enter the country. The number of
cases of seizures are far higher on land as
team from the Director- because of tax. tax of around 52%, which India in 2010. Introduced to spread Korea, which had been occupied by the tion in April 1987, and Korea Tobacco & smugglers use India’s porous border with
ate of Revenue Intelli- makes them lucrative for awareness on the ill-effects of smoking, all Japanese from 1910, was divided along the Ginseng Corporation was formed. Myanmar in the North-East to get goods
gence’s (DRI) Mumbai zonal unit inter- smuggling. The government loses reve- locally produced cigarettes need to have 38th parallel. This lasted until 1950, when From the outset, the strategy was more in. Almost 83% of cigarette seizures by the
cepted shipping containers at Navi Mum- nue on every smuggled cigarette—the health warnings covering 85% of the pack. hostilities broke out between the Soviet outward looking and the focus was on DRI are those smuggled through the land
bai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Port port in Nava Ficci Cascade report estimated the loss of Esse Lights only sports a warning in small Union-backed North and US-backed exports. This prompted the company to route; 13% are via the sea route and 4%, by
Sheva. They were arriving from Dubai’s tax revenue to the government at ₹13,331 font without any photograph, and thus has South. Eventually, with the South making change tack and focus on the external air. The value of seizures through the sea
Port of Jebel Ali, and supposed to contain crore in 2019-20. a cleaner, more premium appearance. small territorial gains, an armistice was market in the mid 1990s. In 1999, it was route is disproportionately high, at 44%,
Chinese viscose-woven carpets. Instead, This has not gone unnoticed by the gov- This is one of the reasons for its popularity signed in 1953 and the Military Demarca- privatized and listed on the South Korean versus 55.5% for the land route, as the cig-
the team found one of the containers was ernment. “...smuggled cigarettes … are with young smokers, as also women. tion Line has since marked the border stock market, and by the mid-2000s, it arette cartons are smuggled in containers.
stuffed with 6.72 million Esse Change ciga- coming in which we are not able to detect “To the naive smoker, it also gives the between the two countries. began to expand its overseas business fur- “Traditionally, cigarettes have enjoyed
rettes, worth ₹10.08 crore. The other con- successfully,” said finance minister Nir- impression that it’s less harmful than the For the next three decades, the OOM ther by building manufacturing facilities, high demand in India. Given that they are
tainer had 325 rolls of old, used carpets as mala Sitharaman at the investiture cere- others,” says P. C. Jha, former chairman, focused on the domestic market, which establishing strategic partnerships and hazardous to health, they have been taxed
cover cargo to hoodwink customs officials. mony of the Central Board of Indirect CBIC. was booming. By 1980, South Korea had acquiring companies. In December 2002, heavily to control usage and are a major rev-
In a similar case last month, another team Taxes and Customs (CBIC) in Guwahati on the highest rates of adult male smoking, at it adopted a new name (KT&G), logo and enue earner for the government. This
from the DRI held a 40ft refrigerated con- 21 July last year. “These smuggled ciga- SouTh Korean gianT 79.3%, and by 1987, its tobacco market was corporate identity. makes cigarettes very attractive for smug-
tainer that arrived at the Jawaharlal Nehru rettes are all around us in major cities such
Port at one of the Container Freight Sta- as New Delhi and Mumbai, where policing
tions (CFS). Upon examination they stum- should not be a problem.”
K orea Tobacco & Ginseng Corpora-
tion, the manufacturer of Esse as it
was known earlier, is a product of the
the 12th largest in the world, producing 81
billion sticks and consuming 85-87 billion
sticks annually. For context, India, with a
Today, KT&G is a $4.4 billion diversi-
fied group with a presence in various sec-
tors, including tea, food, real estate, cos-
gling as the margins are high,” says Najib
Shah, former chairman, CBIC. “It is impos-
sible to totally eliminate smuggling. The
bled upon cigarette cartons ingeniously Evasion of the tax net explains Esse’s low monopolistic strategy Korea adopted in its population almost 30 times that of Korea, metics and pharmaceuticals. Tobacco, aim is to make it difficult by putting controls
concealed within cardboard boxes contain- price. One stick of smuggled Esse Lights domestic tobacco industry from the late consumes an estimated 120 billion sticks however, remains its mainstay, account- in place and having enhanced intelligence
ing tamarind. The cartons had been placed costs ₹10, while a like-for-like slim Classic 19th century. In 1899, the Korean govern- annually today, nearly four decades later. ing for over 60% of sales. In 2022, KT&G driven enforcement. About 12 million con-
inside the boxes and covered on all sides Connect stick, manufactured by Indian ment formed the Ginseng Division to reg- In the late 1980s, under pressure from sold 41.1 billion sticks in the domestic mar- tainers reach our ports annually and it is not
with tamarind so as to render the cigarette conglomerate ITC Ltd, costs ₹15 because of ulate the industry and generate tax reve- the US to liberalize, South Korea gradually ket, commanding a 65.4% share. practical to check all of them,” he adds.
cartons indiscernible even upon opening the tax component. A pack of 20 cigarettes nue. Tobacco was identified as a key sec- began to relax norms for the entry of for- Thanks to its relentless overseas strat- Last heard, Gurang had converted his
the boxes. The smuggled cargo comprised of the Esse brand in Delhi is available for tor for the local industry, so FDI was eign players in the domestic market. This egy over the last 15 years, the company two flat mates in Gurugram to smoking
3.39 million cigarettes worth approxi- ₹180, against ₹340 for a pack of ITC’s Clas- banned and imports were discouraged. coincided with a general fall in consump- sells more cigarettes outside Korea than Esse as well. All remain oblivious to the
mately ₹5.77 crore. The Esse brand again sic Milds—India’s bestselling cigarette. It’s The growth of the industry led to the for- tion of cigarettes, as, like people in other within. In 2022, it shipped or sold 49.4 bil- fact that the cigarettes are contraband.
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 LIVEMINT.COM MINT MONEY ThuRsday, 18 JanuaRy 2024
BengaluRu 11

‘India has robust financials, MINT 20* MUTUAL FUND

SCHEMES TO INVEST IN
is on every investor’s radar’ 20
We have hand-picked 20 mutual funds for your portfolio that have jumped
through hoops of good returns, low risk, good portfolio hygiene and our own
qualitative research. We have restricted the choice universe to 10 categories out
of the total 37 and given you at least two options to pick from each.
Anil Poste
anilkumar.poste@livemint.com 3-years return 5-years return Corpus
EQUITY (%) (%) (₹ cr)

I
ndia, being the largest country with EYEING INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES LARGE-CAP
a steadily growing per capita UTI Nifty Index Fund - Growth 16.22 16.16 15,002
income, is on every investor’s Your AIF+PMS asset size? HDFC Index Fund - Nifty 50 Plan 16.08 15.93 11,887
radar. The country is a compelling ₹8,000 crore AUM Category average 15.42 15.71
destination for investment, says
Kenneth Andrade, founder of Old Where do you see opportunities? EQUITY FLEXICAP
Bridge Capital. B2B, manufacturing, construction; Canara Robeco Flexi Cap 16.60 17.38 11,491
In an interview with Mint, Andrade, cyclical opportunities. Parag Parikh Flexi Cap 23.00 23.20 52,007
shares his perspective on the firm’s Category average 17.82 17.30
Your view on mid- and small-caps?
upcoming new fund offer (NFO)—the
Overall positive, but cautious due to
Old Bridge Focused Equity Fund—and EQUITY SMALL AND MIDCAP
valuations
provides valuable insights into his Axis Midcap 19.46 20.03 24,564
investment approach and strategy. Your reading of FPIs’ interest in SBI Small Cap 25.69 23.98 23,717
With 27 years of experience in Indian India? Category average Midcap 25.55 21.53
capital markets, including a decade as Remains strong Category average Smallcap 31.49 24.46
chief information officer (CIO) at IDFC
Asset Management, he now serves as Your investment focus? EQUITY (TAXSAVER)
CIO at Old Bridge Asset Management Large, efficient businesses Canara Robeco Equity Tax Saver 17.82 19.04 7,033
Company.
Mirae Asset Tax Saver 18.97 19.60 20,431
Andrade, who recently established One investing lesson?
his own asset management company, Avoid value search in elevated markets Category average 19.26 17.49
says the firm concentrates on identify-
ing businesses early into a cycle. Our Advice to investors? HYBRID
stock selection process revolves Learn and adapt quickly, diversify BALANCED ADVANTAGE
around identifying large, debt-free Edelweiss Balanced Advantage 12.32 14.24 10,203
companies that survive market down- Your stock selection criteria? ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage 12.86 12.62 53,483
turns and use capital efficiently. The Large, debt-free companies with
Category average 12.19 12.09
underlying companies in the portfolio capital efficiency
would demonstrate leadership skills Outlook on mutual fund ARBITRAGE
and have financial discipline. Industry growth? Kotak Equity Arbitrage 5.43 5.32 34,593
Edited excerpts from the interview: Relevant as long as Indians Tata Arbitrage 5.11 5.30 8,740
save; our role persists with Category average 5.10 5.04
Could you highlight your move to ongoing savings.
alternative investment funds? Can Returns since Date of Corpus
you provide details on the AUM
OUT OF THE BOX launch launch (₹ cr)

(assets under management) under BHARAT Bond ETF - April 2031 4.90 23-Jul-20 13,061
your purview? Motilal Oswal S&P 500 Index Fund 16.77 28-Apr-20 2,996
Old Bridge Capital was founded in Returns as on 15 January 2024; Corpus data as of December 2023; Growth option in regular plans has been used
2015 and currently we are managing Absolute returns for 'Out of box', CAGR for the rest. For detailed methodology refer to:
assets of about ₹8,000 crore. Over the Keep a smart, flexible and minimalist MF portfolio
https://www.livemint.com/money/personal-finance/keep-a-smart-flexible-and-minimalist-mf-portfolio-11638378827521.html
last seven years, Old Bridge PMS has Download mint app for latest in Business News - https://bit.ly/32XEfFE
given an 18% annual return, compared *Debt funds can be viewed in the full table online
with 15.6% by the BSE 500 TRI (total Data and analysis by CRISIL Research Compiled by Neil Borate

return index) since inception. In the Do you anticipate a significant country with a steadily growing per investment journey?
last three years, Old Bridge PMS has resurgence? capita income, India is on every inves- New investors will make mistakes,
outperformed by a wide margin. Our FII interest in India remains strong tor’s radar. It’s a compelling destination and that’s okay. Learn from them, cor-
PMS has delivered 29.2% returns, despite some short-term challenges.
against 20.4% given by BSE 500 TRI. The overall trend favours India over
What sectors are you currently peer countries in the region. India’s
for investment. rect promptly, and start with a diversi-
How has your investment style fied portfolio. Adjustments can come
changed over these years? later based on risk appetite and goals.
What strategy should I follow to
bullish on and what is the strategic robust corporate financials, sup-
rationale behind these choices? ported by all-time low leverage, ena-
Old Bridge Capital Management has ble companies to invest in growth.
My investment style has not changed Could you share insights into the
much but it has evolved but remains upcoming NFO—Old Bridge
rooted in buying large, efficient busi- Focused Equity Fund?
build a ₹3 cr corpus in 10 years?
a consistent focus on identifying The government’s capital expendi- nesses at attractive prices. Capital effi- With this fund, we’re focusing on
opportunities in sectors undergoing ture and a stable macroeconomic ciency is key, and our philosophy is specific market segments, maintaining Harshad Chetanwala your career in the coming
cyclical troughs, with a specific empha- environment further enhance the always value-focused. a diversified portfolio of 25-30 busi- years. While some ideas on the
sis on B2B businesses, manufacturing, corporate growth story. How do you go about selecting nesses while concentrating in certain I am 35 years old with a funds you are investing in
and construction and infrastructure. What are some current market stocks? What’s the criteria? categories or sectors. More impor- monthly income of ₹1.6 would have been helpful to

‘
Our approach involves anticipating trends? What do you see as signifi- Our stock selection process tantly, our focus will also be on the lakh and expenses of nearly review the portfolio, here are
sectors that are poised to lead the next cant themes, both globally and revolves around identi- segment where we do not ₹1 lakh. I have a three-year- some funds that you can con-
market cycle. locally? fying large, debt-free want to focus which is a old son and my wife is a sider investing in:
We seek businesses at the early sta- Well, manufacturing seems to be companies that survive FII interest in significant part of the homemaker. I have close to • UTI Nifty Index Fund (15%)
ges of a cycle, prioritising those consol- taking the spotlight globally. Many market downturns and India continues market. ₹14 lakh in mutual funds • ICICI Prudential Bluechip
idating, with low debt, higher effi- countries are eyeing India for capacity use capital efficiently. to remain strong Our strategy revolves now. How do I build a Fund (15%)
ciency, and favourable relocation. To support We’re interested as long around a buy-and-hold. corpus of ₹3 crore in 10 • Parag Parikh Flexicap
despite some
financial leverage and
valuations.
m INTERVIEW this trend, there’s a
pressing need for
as they meet these crite-
ria and are reasonably short-term
We intend to invest in
mid-markets and main-
years to start my consult-
ancy?
Fund (15%)
• HDFC Flexi Cap Fund
With the recent enhanced infrastruc- priced. We focus on challenges tain a healthy margin of —Name withheld on request (15%)
surge in mid and small-cap stocks, ture. Additionally, the energy sector is companies that show safety in all that we do. • 360 One Focused Equity
Kenneth Andrade
what’s your perspective on the cur- emerging as a key theme, and these potential to be dominant CIO, Old Bridge Asset
The underlying compa- While the time horizon of 10 Fund (15%)
rent landscape? trends might influence inflation trends in their industry. We like Management nies in the portfolio years for your goal is good, the ASK MINT • Kotak Emerging Equity
The market environment has been globally. to be early in that transi- would meet the criteria corpus amount of ₹3 crore will m INVESTMENTS Fund (15%)
robust, offering opportunities across How do you think the global econ- tion. We concentrate on of capital efficiency, low certainly ask for a much higher • Nippon India Small Cap
the market cycle. While acknowledg- omy’s dynamics impact India’s identifying businesses early into a leverage and low valuation. investment. If we assign your Fund (10%)
ing existing valuation challenges, we growth story? cycle. We prioritize businesses that consol- present portfolio of ₹14 lakh ₹1.56-1.76 crore, which is far Along with this objective,
maintain a positive outlook, believing We’re not isolated from the global The underlying companies in the idate, gain market share efficiently, and for this goal, at 10% per annum below your goal. You need a you can also consider some
that every bull market lays the founda- economy, but a notable difference is portfolio would demonstrate leader- lead in cost-effectiveness. Market lead- growth, it has the potential to monthly investment of ₹1.15 planning for your retirement
tion for the next. Caution is exercised, that emerging markets like India are ship skills and have financial disci- ers, post-consolidation, often enjoy reach approximately ₹36 lakh lakh to reach your goal of ₹3 and your son’s education. You
especially in the small- and micro-cap reducing debt while developed mar- pline. The endeavour would be to increased market share and pricing at the end of 10 years. If we crore. While it is not easy to can try to work on a timeline
space where potential overvaluation kets are increasing theirs. This reduc- look for companies in industries that power. We favour companies improv- assume 12% p.a. returns, it reduce your expenses from ₹1 and amount, just like your
concerns arise. tion in debt is beneficial. Moreover, are consolidating. ing from a low RoE (return on equity), could reach ₹43.5 lakh. lakh to ₹45,000 per month, wealth creation goal, to start
Despite short-term challenges, the inflation rates and the cost of capital Learning from experiences is cru- emphasizing capital employed for posi- At present, your potential to you can consider another your consultancy.
overall trend favours India, which is between the West and developing cial in investing. What are some tive cash flow, and prefer those with invest is ₹60,000 per month, strategy. Harshad Chetanwala is
displaying higher growth potential rel- economies are merging, resulting in valuable lessons that you’ve learnt low gearing. and if you keep investing the You can increase the co-founder of MyWealth-
ative to peer countries. The market cap lower interest rates in India, which over the years? How do you see the mutual fund same amount every month for monthly investments every Growth.com.
to GDP ratio signals potential overvalu- benefits corporates and consumption There are a lot. A recent lesson is to industry’s growth? the coming 10 years, you will year by 20% to reach the
ation, prompting caution as the market sectors. avoid searching for value in elevated As long as people in India save, the be able to build a corpus of ₹1.2 desired goal amount. In such a Do you have a personal
may have priced itself ahead of the Moving on to investment trends, markets. Also, understanding that no mutual fund industry remains relevant. crore at 10% p.a. and ₹1.33 case, you need not compro- finance query? Send in your
curve. what do you believe are the upcom- company operates in isolation; if indus- We’re essentially in the savings busi- crore at 12% p.a. mise on your savings or queries at
Considering the evolving scenario, ing opportunities for investors? try profitability grows, so does the ness, and as long as people continue to Both the monthly and exist- expenses, and will get the mintmoney@livemint.com
and get them answered by
what is your outlook on FII (for- The most prominent trend I see is company’s profitability. save, we’ll have our place in the finan- ing investments have the opportunity to increase the
industry experts.
eign institutional investor) flows? India’s demographics. Being the largest Any advice for those starting their cial landscape. potential to help you reach investment as you grow in

A MATTER OF TRUST: CAN SYSTEMS OR TAX FORMS PREVAIL OVER TAX LAWS?
tax purposes, and therefore it was entitled to claim benefits availa- Court, as well as various high courts, is that the forms cannot
ble to an individual and to file its income tax return as an individ- travel beyond the scope of the law. There are many other such
B E YO N D T H E ual.
Since the last four years however, it had been unable to do so
instances where the forms are not in accordance with the law, or
where one has to compromise on certain legal fundamentals in
TA X B O O K because the format of the forms applicable to individuals did not order to file the return. For example, in case of a specific trust, the
permit electronic filing of such returns by a discretionary trust. Supreme Court has held that as per the law, the tax payable by the
G AU TA M N AYA K It had therefore been filing the returns manually, sending them trust on its income has to be the sum of the tax payable by all the
to the income tax department by post. beneficiaries put together if they had
Respond to this column at
feedback@livemint.com
The department’s argument was that the trust was to be taxed A taxpayer has directly received their shares of the
at the maximum marginal rate, and not at rates applicable to indi- no option but income of the trust directly. Such a
viduals. Besides, the Form ITR-2 contained functionalities which computation of tax is just not possible
to follow the

A
recent decision of the Madras High Court revealed one of
the many problems with the online filing system that con-
tinues to be faced by some taxpayers—where the tax
return or the online system does not permit a taxpayer to comply
with the law as has been laid down by the courts, which may be
favourable to a taxpayer, but forces a taxpayer to file his return in
accordance with the law as is being interpreted by the income tax
department.
In the case before the Madras High Court, the taxpayer was a
discretionary trust. It filed a writ petition requesting for a direc-
tion to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to modify the
income tax return ITR-2 (the tax return applicable to individuals)
to enable the trust to file its return electronically in the status of
“Individual”. It pointed out that, as held by the Supreme Court
and various high courts, since all the beneficiaries of the trust
were individuals, it was to be treated as “individual” for income
This PDF was uploade To Telegram channel_https://t.me/Magzines_latest_Newspaper(send Me Message telegram ya WhatsApp This number 8890050582)
were totally irrelevant to a trust. It claimed that the request for
modification of the form was unnecessary and redundant for
more than 20 million individuals and Hindu Undivided Families
who currently use those forms.
The Madras High Court took the view that the court did not
have the domain to structure the forms and their contents as
applicable to various categories of taxpayers. It was the CBDT
which had the power to prescribe forms under the income tax
rules, and it was therefore the appropriate authority to take note
of the grievances in that regard and do the needful, if found
appropriate. It therefore permitted the trust to file a representa-
tion to the CBDT in this regard, and pursue it to obtain a remedy.
The CBDT was directed to dispose of such representation within
a period of 12 weeks from receipt of the representation.
In the period before e-filing, taxpayers could file the return
taking a legal view that was in their favour, disclosing the fact that
they had taken such a view. Today, with e-filing, there is no such
flexibility possible—while there is no provision to make any dis-
closures of positions taken in the tax return, the tax return itself
incorporates certain functionalities which make it impossible to
deviate from. This is fine for the large majority of taxpayers who
are salaried employees—some taxpayers often find themselves
in a quandary as to what has to be done.
One of the fundamental principles upheld by the Supreme
today under the current e-filing system
view taken in and forms.
the format of Unfortunately, today, a taxpayer has
the form no option but to follow the view taken
in the format of the form if he wishes to
file his tax return, as otherwise the
online form will not be accepted by the system. The alternative
is to either default in filing the tax return, or to file a writ petition
to the high court (which most taxpayers cannot resort to, given
the high costs involved). The tax department’s helpline is only
able to resolve routine queries, and not such issues. Should there
not be an alternative mechanism set up, which taxpayers can use
to raise and resolve such grievances speedily and promptly? After
all, they are only seeking to comply with the law and their obliga-
tions, which the CBDT should be happy about.
Gautam Nayak is partner at CNK & Associates LLP.
 12 ThuRsday, 18 JanuaRy 2024
BengaluRu VIEWS LIVEMINT.COM

OUR VIEW GUEST VIEW

AP

Ramaswamy’s best shot at power

is as Trump’s campaign partner
His outlandish tactics may have led him out of the US presidential race more than racial rejection

bought and paid for.” Two months later,
he complained, “We’ve become a party
of losers. It’s a cancer in the Republican
establishment,” then called for the party
chairperson to resign on live television,
and attacked Haley as “Dick Cheney in
high heels” (referring to George Bush’s
vice-president from 2000 to 2009).
Such outlandish tactics would have
VIVEK MENEZES been unacceptable in any previous era
is a writer and photographer based in Goa. of American politics, but Trump
upturned all prevailing norms in the
course of his own wrecking-ball cam-
paign of 2016. The first former presi-
school valedictorian and Harvard grad-
uate who attended Yale Law School)?
I asked Vikram Patel, the Paul Farmer
professor and chair of the department
of global health and social medicine at
Harvard, who told me: “I haven’t heard
much talk about his Indian heritage
being an asset, but it is notable that two
of the four Republican candidates going
into the Iowa caucuses were full-
blooded desis. This is, of course, at odds
with the political leanings of Indian-
Americans at large, who are heavily
Democratic in orientation.” He thinks

Davos is a talk show: It’s

dent in US history to be criminally Ramaswamy’s run ended “because he is
indicted—he is charged with 91 criminal so far off the spectrum of acceptability

A
n absurdist scenario has played offences in 4 major cases—continues to even in a party which heavily supports
out for months in the bizarrely rewrite the rules of politics by ignoring Trump,” adding, “I don’t think we have
binary racial politics of the US, debates, and dominates opinion polls seen the end of the race for Indian-

voluble but not weighty with one Indian-American identifying

as “Black” in the vice-president’s office
(Kamala Harris generally downplays her
mother’s Tamil heritage) and another
despite barely ever getting off social
media to tour the US. Yet, he is favoured
to win against President Joe Biden if the
two face each other again, which means
Americans. Let’s not forget that the US
has had two Indian governors in recent
years, both Republican. If anything, I
think the star of Indian-Americans in
passing for “White” (Nikki Haley’s par- that Haley, Florida governor Ron DeS- politics is on the rise precisely because
ents are Punjabi Sikhs) in her quest for antis and Ramaswamy are left jockeying they are seen as a model minority who
The World Economic Forum’s annual gathering has been losing both weight and appeal in the Republican party’s presidential for a chance to be his running mate. embrace the core US value of hard work
nomination in a field of candidates that Will it happen for an Indian-Ameri- as a route to the American dream.”
a sharply divided world. Today, its lofty aims represent the triumph of hope over experience included Vivek Ramaswamy, the only can? At this point, it seems more likely That perception—and varying
undisguised Indian-American among for Haley, who avoids overtly attacking degrees of willingness to act out ‘the
the three, till he withdrew from the race Trump while keeping the Republican good immigrant’—is the crux of what
this week. This mercurial 38-year-old establishment in her corner, including Ramaswamy and Haley must navigate

T
he world’s biggest talk show is on:
the World Economic Forum’s
(WEF) 54th Annual Meeting at
Davos began this Monday and ends
on Friday. As in the past, this year
too, the WEF conclave in the Swiss
skiing resort, where they have been held for
half a century, is being attended by a veritable
who’s-who of business, politics and media. The
WEF website says more than 300 public figures
will participate, including more than 60 heads
of state and government, together with an esti-
mated 1,600 business leaders, apart from chiefs
of multilateral institutions like the Interna-
tional Monetary Fund, World Bank, World
Trade Organization, etc. But a careful perusal of
the list of attendees shows that the number of
notable absentees has grown over the years.
Sure, business leaders still flock to Davos, but
important politicians, who once made a beeline
for it and without whom grandiose ideas of
global cooperation remain a pipe-dream, are
noticeably absent. Among the G7, only France
and the EU are represented this year, the
throughout the year… [and] will serve as an entrepreneur splashed $17 million of his mega-funders like the Koch brothers. in a country that sees race in unhelpful
accelerator of that cooperation, deepening own money to garner only about 8,000 The former South Carolina governor binaries of “black” and “white.” The
votes in Monday’s Iowa caucuses, a could also help soften Trump’s image to system demands a kind of perverse
connections between leaders and between moment of truth that led him to drop win over women voters (on account of minstrelsy from them, because they
initiatives.” Really? To the discerning, this out in support of Donald Trump, with whom he had lost to Biden). She has also have no political future running as
year’s theme of ‘Rebuilding Trust’ (aimed at the controversial ex-president hinting worked to project an indeterminate themselves. In this context, it was espe-
“restoring collective agency, and reinforcing of a relationship: “It’s an honour to have “White-adjacent” ethnicity, even listing cially off-putting to watch Ramaswamy
the fundamental principles of transparency, his endorsement. He’s gonna be work- her own race as “white” in voting bend over backwards to please voters.
ing with us... for a long time.” records, and highlighting her conver- He even rapped Eminem’s classic Lose
consistency and accountability among leaders”) Ramaswamy rocketed to US attention sion to Methodist Christianity. As a Yourself at the Iowa state fair (which
seems ironic, coming as it does at a time when with an unconventional internet-first newcomer, Ramaswamy has had hard prompted the artist to complain). “It
the world is more fractured than it has been for strategy, relentless hard work and an lessons to learn in Iowa about these was embarrassing to me not only as an
decades. Geopolitical trust has broken down eagerness to break Republican ortho- basic requirements to win national Indian-American, but I take it person-
amid two raging conflicts—Russia-Ukraine and doxy. In the first televised debate last elections in the US. Earlier this week, a ally as a rapper,” says New York-based
September, he channelled former presi- voter told his wife Apoorva that he faces rap pioneer Himanshu Suri, who added
Israel-Gaza—and attacks by Houthi militia on dent Barack Obama—who remains resistance “because of his dark skin, and this pithy sign-off: “Of course, his race is
ships in the Red Sea that threaten to disrupt anathema to Republicans—by introduc- they think he’s Muslim.” an issue in this election and that party,
trade. Davos’s 2024 agenda focuses on four key ing himself as another “skinny guy with Is there a glass ceiling for Indian- but I’m sure his personality did him
areas: Achieving security and cooperation in a a funny last name” and quickly pivoted Americans in politics, even for those more damage. We’ve had a lot of Indian
fractured world, creating growth and jobs for a to slam his fellow candidates: “I’m the who have played to the establishment as American nerds in politics before, but
only person on this stage who isn’t assiduously as Ramaswamy (a high- this is our first dork.”
new era, artificial intelligence (AI) as a driving
force for the economy and society, and a long-
term strategy for climate, nature and energy. All
this is laudable. Except that the world has not
seen much progress on any of these fronts,
despite the existence of multilateral entities
dedicated to such aims with major powers at www.livemint.com
New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh*, Pune* Saturday, January 18, 2014 Vol.8 No.16 `10.00 in Delhi­NCR/`11.00 outside Delhi­NCR 16
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World leaders are functionally

former by President Emmanuel Macron and their top table: the United Nations for security,
MINT METRIC
Q&A:
illiterate, says John Ralston Saul >4
EARNINGS: HDFC Bank net profit up on interest income,
cost control >12

the latter by European Commission President the Bretton Woods twins for economic growth,
NATION: Sunanda Pushkar found dead in hotel >13
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CONTENT PARTNER

Ursula von der Leyen. The US is represented Unesco for AI and the UN Framework Conven- by Bibek Debroy
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HINDUSTAN TIMES
ELECTORAL STRATEGY
Treasury QUICK EDIT

Rahul sets income props

up RIL Q3 net
A Chinese
omen
by its Secretary of State Antony Blinken, while tion on Climate Change, among others. out blueprint B Y A VEEK D ATTA &
M ADHURA K ARNIK
·························
MUMBAI

H igher profit from the pet-

F ew remember today
that it was a small news
item on 9 August 2007 that
eventually led to panic in
the global money markets,

for 2014 polls

rochemical business and a little more than a year be-

India has sent a 100-member delegation led by The net result is that Davos has become little
investment income helped Re-
liance Industries Ltd (RIL)
maintain its profit for the
quarter ended 31 December at
the same level as in the year-
Rahul Gandhi identifies earlier period, belying ana-
women, youth among BJP plans to lysts’ expectation of a drop in
fore the world was rocked
by the financial crisis. It
was on that day that BNP
Paribas halted withdrawals
from three investment
funds it managed that had
invested in securities linked

Angrez Singh tried every trick,

its profit. to the US subprime market.
groups the Congress
advance its The company, which runs It is for this reason that

Smriti Irani, Union minister of women and more than a global talk show. A glitzy one, if you
party’s campaign the world’s biggest refining the news that the biggest
should focus on campaign complex at Jamnagar in Gu-
jarat, posted a net profit of
Chinese bank has refused
to bail out investors in an
`5,511 crore for the three investment trust should be
B Y L IZ M ATHEW & A NUJA B Y G YAN V ARMA months, a 0.2% increase from watched closely. Both what
························· gyan.v@livemint.com a year earlier and 0.4% higher happened in Europe then
NEW DELHI ····················· than in the September quarter. and in China now is linked

D rawing the battlelines NEW DELHI The Mukesh Ambani-led to the mess in the loosely

T
child development. will, but one that is not expected to achieve very
ahead of the nation’s o gain a head start, conglomerate, which has in- regulated shadow banking

Fake aadhaar, bindi and lipstick.

16th general election,
Congress vice-president Rahul
Gandhi on Friday admitted
that his party cannot ignore the
aspirations of the people and
handed it a blueprint to help
revive its electoral fortunes.
At the same time, addressing
the Bharatiya Janata terests in businesses ranging systems.
Party (BJP) is considering from oil, gas and yarn to retail China is addicted to
the possibility of an- and telecom, reported revenue credit for its growth. The
nouncing the names of its of `1.06 trillion for the period, government is trying to dis-
contestants early and the 10.5% higher from a year earli- cipline the regular banks
central election commit- er and 0.1% lower than in the but seems to have little
tee (CEC), which decides preceding quarter. control over the vast shad-
on the names of the can- The growth in net profit was ow banking system. It is not

“At a time when global challenges require much, not even grab the news headlines it once
a crucial meeting of the All In-
dia Congress Committee
(AICC) on his first day in office
as the party’s campaign chief,
Gandhi, for the first time, for-
mally—albeit implicitly—ac-
knowledged that the Bharatiya
Janata Party’s (BJP’s) prime
ministerial candidate Naren-
didates, is set to hold its the lowest reported by RIL in our case that we are about
first meeting a few days five quarters. Operating profit to see an exact repeat of
after the conclusion of or profit before depreciation, what happened in the de-
the ongoing three-day interest, tax and amortization, veloped world after 2007—
national executive and
council meeting in Delhi.
Most of the senior lead-
ers of the BJP are of the
opinion that an early list
Bengal’s sweetheart: Actress Suchitra Sen, often described as India’s
Greta Garbo after she quit acting at the height of her career to lead a
hermit­like existence, died on Friday. See Page 5
also fell 1.8% from a year earli-
er as lower demand for refined

TURN TO PAGE 12®

but the risk to the world
economy cannot be ig-
nored.

In a health worker examination,

urgent solutions, innovative public-private did. Nevertheless, it soldiers on—as an example,
dra Modi was the rival to beat.
He was addressing Congress
representatives from across In-
dia at the meeting called to
evolve the party’s electoral
strategy a day after the Con-
will give contestants suf-
ficient time to ready their
campaign. Top BJP lead- DISCRETIONARY SPENDS UP US-based Cognizant Technol-
ers in the 19-member ogy Solutions Corp. “The de-
CEC include party presi-
dent Rajnath Singh, L.K. Wipro CEO sees stronger FY15 mand environment is definite-
ly picking up and is up from

collaboration is necessary to convert ideas into perhaps, of the triumph of hope over experi-
gress Working Committee, the
apex decision-making body of
the party, decided not to de-
clare him as its prime ministe-
rial candidate.
In his speech, Gandhi identi-
fied three demographic groups
the Congress campaign should
focus on—women, youth and
the around 700 million-strong
Advani and the BJP’s

TURN TO PAGE 3®

the Talkatora Stadium.

group that occupies the space
“We have a tough battle. We
will go into this battle as warri-
ors. We will not look back, we
will go into this battle knowing
after Q3 earnings beat estimates
B Y A NIRBAN S EN
anirban.s@livemint.com
·························
BANGALORE
HEMANT MISHRA/MINT
last year.”
He also cautioned against
calling the latest performance
the beginning of a turnaround
and said Wipro still needed to
improve on several counts.
“There is a lot of work to be
done,” said Kurien, who took
over as CEO in January 2011
after the company ditched its
His girlfriend’s impersonation
who we are and what we fight
W ipro Ltd chief executive joint-CEO model. “We have to

Was caught out by wrong biometric.

between the middle class and for. We will not stop till the officer (CEO) T.K. Kurien get to secular growth rates of

action,” said Børge Brende, president of the ence. But then, to the extent every little effort
the poverty line.
He listed specific initiatives
and programmes, including
populist measures such as re-
laxing the ceiling on subsi-
dized cooking gas cylinders,
that he said the party will
launch for these groups.
As if on cue, within minutes
battle is won,” he said in an
uncharacteristically aggressive
speech.
Earlier, Congress president
Sonia Gandhi urged her party
workers to send out a message
that the Congress is “ready and
prepared” to fight the coming
Lok Sabha election, and at-
said he expected the company 4-4.5% (sequentially). Till
to perform better in the next then, we still believe we are a
fiscal year, after India’s third work in progress.”
largest software services ex- In dollars, the currency in
porter posted third quarter which Wipro generates most of
(Q3) earnings that beat ana- its income, revenue rose 6.4%
lysts’ estimates and forecast to $1.68 billion, which was in
healthy revenue growth for the line with its own forecast of
next three months, signalling $1.67-1.69 billion.

WEF since 2017, on the eve of this January’s counts in forging a better understanding of our
of Gandhi ending his address,
the Congress-led United Pro-
gressive Alliance launched the
process to raise the cap on
subsidized cooking gas cylin-
ders available to every house-
hold from nine to 12.
In line with his attempts to
democratize the country’s old-
tacked the opposition BJP, say-
ing it “breaks the society”.
“In struggle will be our vic-
tory,” she declared in the
opening speech to the day-
long AICC session.
Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh told the meeting the par-
ty can win the Lok Sabha elec-
that its top clients are now
willing to spend more on tech-
nology services.
Wipro, which is the only one
among India’s top five soft-
ware services companies to
provide quarterly forecasts, es-
timates revenue in the range of
$1.71-1.75 billion for the
A majority of this quarter’s
growth came because of im-
proved spending from its top
Growth trajectory: Kurien says Wipro also benefited from a stronger 10 clients, with revenue from
performance from its India business that grew at more than 5% y­o­y. the top 10 customers rising
3.8% from the September quar-
Bloomberg estimates. ence. ter, chief financial officer
Kurien, who completed Kurien, however, declined to Suresh Senapaty said.
three years at Wipro and has comment on when Wipro He also said that Wipro was

huddle. “The Forum provides the structure for common challenges across national borders, no
est political party, he said that
in the forthcoming Lok Sabha
polls, candidates to 15 constit-
uencies would be decided by
party workers.
Acknowledging that the party
faced a tough task in the gener-
al election due by May, Gandhi
sought to galvanize the 3,000-
tions if it prepares well and is
able to communicate to the
people the government’s
achievements.
In his speech, which politi-
cal observers commended for
its clarity, the 43-year-old
Gandhi sought to rouse the
cadre, telling them they should
March quarter, indicating a
growth in the range of 2-4%
from the preceding three
months.
For the December quarter,
Wipro said net profit rose
around 27% to `2,014 crore
from `1,589 crore a year earli-
er. Revenue rose 18% to
been attempting to engineer a
turnaround in its fortunes,
said the company also benefit-
ed from a stronger perform-
ance from its India business,
which grew at more than 5%
sequentially during the quar-
ter.
“Given the market sentiment
would be able to beat industry
growth rates. For the 2013-14
fiscal year, software services
industry lobby Nasscom had
forecast 12-14% revenue
growth for software exports.
“Customers, especially in
the US, who were in the previ-
ously challenged sectors, are
starting to see the benefits of
investments in the area of au-
tomation, which reflected in
improved margins.
The company said it will pay
shareholders an interim divi-
dend of `3 per share.
“As the global economy is
progressing towards stability,

developing research, alliances and frameworks one will dispute that Davos has a contribution
odd party workers present at
Mint is also available for R14.50 with
Hindustan Times in Delhi-NCR only
go into the hustings “as warri- `11,327 crore. Analysts on av- and given where we are, next now more amenable to making we see optimism amongst cli-
ors with the heads held high”. erage had expected a profit of year is going to be better than discretionary investments,” ents, especially in the West.
`2,005 crore on revenue of this year,” he told reporters Kurien said, echoing larger ri-
TURN TO PAGE 3® `11,315 crore, according to during a post-earnings confer- vals such as Infosys Ltd and TURN TO PAGE 2®

that promote mission-driven cooperation to make, no matter how tiny.

MY VIEW | MUSING MACRO

Multidimensional poverty data reopens a great debate

below the cut-off) on at least four of 12
AJIT RANADE dimensions. Measured thus, the proportion
of Indians below the poverty line fell from
29.17% in 2013-14 to 11.28% in 2022-23,
translating to roughly 248 million. That’s an
impressive achievement in a short period.
can continue. Is it a long-term solution? Is it by Nobel laureate Angus Deaton and pub- informality, the aggregate national accounts
affordable? What about perverse incentives? lished in 2005 called The Great Indian Pov- system needs to be triangulated with house-
In the light of many contrary indicators, erty Debate. Since then, the debate has only hold survey findings. Otherwise, the diver-
even if cherry picked, the latest Niti Aayog got more strident. Even if you ignore shrill gence is too huge and stretches credibility in
estimates will be disputed for sure. The declamations from blinkered ideologues or both directions.
measurement of poverty in India is a heavily political partisans, a consensus is elusive. Finally, there is something to be said

T
he Niti Aayog has published a discus-
sion paper titled ‘Multidimensional
Poverty in India since 2005-06.’ It is a
technical paper that examines our poverty
trend over the past two decades. It estimates
that nearly 250 million people escaped mul-
tidimensional poverty in the last nine years.
This estimation is done by interpolating
Is it credible? Didn’t covid interrupt the
education of more than 200 million chil-
dren with weak online access, setting them
back by two years? Did the government not
extend free foodgrains for another five years
for 800 million Indians? Aren’t many states
giving subsidies on gas cylinders, housing
and other amenities? Is India not slipping on
contested terrain. The first comprehensive Even the World Bank and International about the old-fashioned unidimensional
and definitive study that Monetary Fund estimates headcount ratio studied by Dandekar and
gave estimates of it came of Indian poverty differ by a Rath. Is there a unique indicator that gives us
not from the government Let’s identify and wide margin of 10 percent- most of what we need to know? Aren’t most
but from a private source, age points. Maybe this is a ingredients in the multidimensional poverty
the Gokhale Institute in focus on a single case of the blind men and measure correlated? Just like Project Tiger,
Pune. That pioneering the elephant, and each per- which focused on the protection and health
work of Professors V.M.
variable that son’s assessment is valid of the species on top of the food pyramid to

is a Pune-based economist.
poverty numbers for 2013-14 and 2022-23,
based on data extracted from National Fam-
ily Health Survey rounds 3, 4 and 5 (i.e. from
2005 till 2021). What does it mean to be mul-
tidimensionally poor? It means poverty as
measured not only by lack of income, as con-
ventionally understood, but also along other
dimensions of deprivation. These include
indicators like health, schooling, sanitation
and even bank accounts. The interpolation
is linear, weights for various dimensions are
equal and deprivation cut-offs are specified.
One can quibble about finer methodological
points, but let us leave that discussion for
another occasion. A multidimensionally
poor person is one who is deprived (i.e.
This PDF was uploade To Telegram channel_https://t.me/Magzines_latest_Newspaper(send Me Message telegram ya WhatsApp This number 8890050582)
hunger and nutrition rankings? How then
does this reconcile with an estimate of mas-
sive poverty reduction?
It is because the glass is technically both
half empty and half full. Indeed, welfare
spending on free foodgrains and cooking gas
subsidies is a policy instrument for poverty
reduction. It is quite possible that post wel-
fare transfers, deprivation on many dimen-
sions has considerably reduced. For the
ordinary citizen, poverty simply means lack
of income. If some lack of purchasing power
is compensated by welfare spending and
direct benefit transfers, then that should be
counted as income for the recipient. The
moot question is how long welfare support
Dandekar and N. Rath,
published in 1971, was
captures most of subject to their sensors.
The blind men metaphor
safeguard all flora and fauna in our forests,
what is that single variable which captures
based on the calorie norm
and set off a lively debate
what India needs is apt because current
research is blindfolded by
the totality of human development, depriva-
tion and poverty? This is an open question.
on concepts, methodology to track the absence of household There was the hint of an answer in a paper
and estimates. Is the head- consumption data. In a written by economist Partha Dasgupta in the
count ratio approach cor- deprivation country with a huge early 1970s. He concluded that if there is
rect? Should we not also informal sector, and a large only one thing we must focus on, it is life
look at depth of poverty? Is number of self-employed expectancy at age one. It captures quality of
it not incorrect to apply uniform calorie-re- persons, intensive and regular household pre- and post-natal care, healthcare status,
quirement norms to all? Should we not look surveys are essential not just to measure family income and well-being in general.
beyond food consumption? Some of these poverty, but to frame policy in general. Con- Going beyond measurement debates, we too
questions anticipate the development of sumption data is used not only to estimate must look for that one robust indicator that
multidimensional measures, now endorsed poverty prevalence, but also to gain insights simplifies and captures most of the informa-
by the United Nations too. But the debate into wages, inflation and other indicators. tion tracked by the more complex multidi-
refused to die. There is a famous book edited The surveys are important because with vast mensional poverty measure.
 LIVEMINT.COM VIEWS ThUrSday, 18 JanUary 2024
BengalUrU 13

my VIEW | STaTISTICally SpEakIng M I N T C U R AT O R

Our employment data generates Free speech at US universities

is falling prey to doublespeak
misconceptions and also puzzles Silencing rival ideas will bedevil inclusive collaborative learning

The narrative of jobs dwindling isn’t supported by data although findings like rising female work participation need study

GETTY IMAGES

MARy ELLEn KLAs

is a politics and policy columnist for
Bloomberg Opinion.

T.C.A. AnAnT
is a former chief statistician of India.

T
he opening sentence of the federal
court opinion was like none other: “It
was a bright cold day in April, and the

T
he recent release of the Periodic
Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for
2022-23 has generated a considerable
measure of interest and commentary,
some of which has appeared in this
newspaper. Reading these reveals
that improvements in data can only be useful if
they are accompanied by a better understanding of
statistics. To paraphrase an exchange from an old
British sitcom, with statistics you can prove any-
thing, even the truth.
In today’s column, we will explore some of the
common misconceptions which arise when
reporting on employment, as well as some puzzles
which would require deeper research.
There are three principal ratios which are used
in discussions of labour-market conditions,
namely the labour force participation rate (LFPR),
workforce participation rate (WPR) and the
unemployment Rate (UR). If during the specified
reference period, the person is working or other-
wise engaged in economic activity for most of the
time, then he is presumed to be employed. Fur-
ther, if not employed as above but still making
tangible efforts to seek work, then the person is
classified as unemployed. If not engaged in eco-
nomic activity (work) and also not available for
work, then s/he would be classified as not being in
the labour force. From these, we derive the work-
force participation rate, which is the number of
workers as a proportion of the total population.
The count of workers plus the unemployed
defines the labour force, which is also expressed
as a percentage of the population. The unemploy-
ment rate refers to the unemployed as a propor-
tion of the labour force.
In using these numbers, we need to keep in
mind that the absolute magnitude is determined
also by the population of the relevant group. Some
of the misconceptions arise when these basics are
not kept in mind. Since the last census, when our
population was approximately 1.2 billion, our pop-
ulation is estimated to have risen to a little over 1.4
billion in 2023. Thus, the denominator in both
WPR and LFPR has risen significantly.
One common misconception that arises as a
consequence is from the percentage of people with
a regular salary having declined from 22.8% in
2017-18 to 20.9% in 2022-23. This seems like a
drop, but when we combine this with population
numbers, we see that the number of workers in this
category increased by almost 15 million in the same
period. Thus, a decline in the share of regular-
wage jobs does not mean that the total number of
jobs in this category has fallen. As the numbers
cited show, it is the reverse.
Similarly, there has been some comment on
India’s high unemployment rate among the youth.
The PLFS 2022-23 shows an unemployment rate
Labour market dynamics
The worker participation rate has improved
after 2017-18, especially for rural women,
although some trends need deeper analysis.
Rural male Rural female
Urban male Urban female All person WPR (in %)
60
55.2
50
50.8
40 42.3
30 33.1
20
15.6
10
0 ment in women’s participation since 2017-18. The
1978 2004 2017
Source: NSS reports
SATISH KUMAR/MINT
of 10% in the age group of 15-29 years, as com-
pared to an unemployment rate of 3.2% across all
age groups. This, of course, is an important differ-
ence, but it should be noted that the unemploy-
ment rate in the age group of 15-29 has seen a very
sharp decline from 17.8% in 2017-18. Further, the
WPR in this age group has increased from 31.4% in
2017-18 to 40.1% in 2022-23. This implies an addi-
tional 35 million people have found work, even
though the population in that segment has
increased only by 17 million. The implied narra-
tive of dwindling job opportunities for the youth is
not borne out by the data. Instead, this age group
has seen the largest addition to the number of
workers relative to its population.
Another issue which comes up in many discus-
sions is a comparison of PLFS numbers with our
employment/unemployment data from 2011-12.
To put this criticism in perspective, it may be use-
ful to refer to the graph alongside, which shows the
WPR from 1978 till 2023. This representation of
WPR both puts the criticism in perspective and
also raises some interesting puzzles relating to the
employment situation in India.
55.6
While the WPR in 2017-18 is lower than in
54.0 2011-12, this simple comparison ignores a steady
decline since 2004-05. If we zoom out to look at a
41.1
longer time frame, the period between 1999-00 till
2004-05 itself marks a recovery in contrast to a
30.0 secular decline in this ratio since 1978.
An assumption is often made that 2017-18 was
the lowest point in the WPR, but it could have been
earlier. What is known, however, is that the PLFS
18.7
data thereafter shows a sustained increase in spite
of major disruptions caused by covid.
What is interesting is India’s steady improve-
2023
urban women’s WPR is at an all-time high of 18.7%
in 2022-23, having seen a sustained increase since
2018-19.
What is even more interesting in the long time
series is a striking change in rural women’s work-
force participation post-2017, compared to the
long decline seen since 1978. The rural female
WPR in 2022-23 is 30, which is comparable to this
ratio in 1999-00 (29.9) and slightly lower than the
figure in 2004-05 (32.7). There have been numer-
ous explanations for this secular decline, but the
reversal in trend after 2017 has not been ade-
quately analysed. A good place to start would be a
recent analysis by chief economic advisor V. Anan-
tha Nageswaran and Indian Economic Service
officer Deeksha Supyaal Bisht published in this
paper (bit.ly/3HkG1Y3). The different behaviour
between rural and urban women would also need
careful explanation.
clocks were striking thirteen.” US district
court Judge Mark Walker quoted the first
line of George Orwell’s classic novel 1984,
as he struck down parts of the Florida law
that prohibited colleges from teaching
eight topics related to race. The state’s
“argument is like the thirteenth chime of a
clock: you not only know it’s wrong, but it
causes you to wonder about everything you
heard before,” Walker explained in the
notes of his 2022 decision. He concluded
that Florida’s passage of its Individual
Freedom Act allowed professors to “enjoy
‘academic freedom’ so long as they express
only those viewpoints of which the State
approves.” Walker proclaimed the law
“positively dystopian” and declared it
Orwellian “doublespeak.”
But, as Florida goes, so goes the nation.
When three university presidents were
asked by a US congressional committee
whether calling for the genocide of Jews
would violate their varsity codes of con-
duct, their vague and inadequate answers
essentially told us that bigotry on campus is
unacceptable but punishment is selective.
Demographics are changing with more
minority and LGBTQ+ students enrolling
in higher education. Campuses that
encourage collaborative learning among
students of diverse backgrounds find their
students are more likely to engage, inno-
vate and open their minds. To make their
learning environments more inclusive,
many schools decided to adopt rules elimi-
nating toxic hate speech.
But there is growing perception that
overzealous administrators often use these
rules as tools to exert their power over fac-
ulty or promote a political agenda. Rather
than find ways to encourage discussions
about objectionable points of view, some
schools are silencing them.
Harvard rescinded admission offers to
ten students who posted sexually explicit
messages on social media in 2017. Several
colleges proposed guidelines on offensive
Halloween costumes in 2016. In 2013, two
students at Lewis & Clark College were pun-
ished for telling racially themed jokes at a
private party.
Many schools have adopted speech
codes, making it a violation to say things
that some groups find offensive. According
to the libertarian-leaning Foundation for
Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE),
94 of the 486 schools it monitors had
speech codes that “substantially restrict
free speech” and another 324 schools
American colleges have been impacted by
US political trends ISTOCKPHOTO
maintain policies “that impose vague regula-
tions on expression.”
Worried that diversity policies will lead
to left-leaning “indoctrination,” several
Republican-run states have passed bills to
restrict discussion of structural racism and
injustice, and to ban diversity, equity and
inclusion (DEI) programmes at colleges.
University speech codes and DEI bans
lead to ideological conformity. In his take-
down of the Florida law, Walker explained
that the state was engaged in “viewpoint
discrimination—in the name of combat-
ting ‘indoctrination’ of one perceived
orthodoxy, the State allows for ‘indoctrina-
tion’ in its preferred orthodoxy.”
Florida’s Governor DeSantis offered his
own example in his state-of-the-state
speech last week. He bragged that Florida
had “eliminated” DEI programmes and
scrubbed its public universities of “indoc-
trination,” and then announced that the
state university system had waived its rules
to make it easier for Jewish students “who
have a well-founded fear of antisemitic
persecution at their current postsecondary
institutions” to transfer to Florida colleges.
Helping Jewish students is a welcome
initiative, but in the light of DeSantis’ anti-
DEI laws, it smacks of hypocrisy. Although
Florida bans special treatment of some
subjugated groups, when it comes to a
constituency of voters that the governor is
courting, his ban on inclusionary pro-
grammes no longer applies, it would seem.
A debate not restricted to the states that
enacted divisive DEI bans, former presi-
dent Donald Trump said he will implement
many anti-DEI policies on a national scale
if elected a second time.
Walker suggested that the state could
“combat ‘woke’ ideas with countervailing
views in the ‘marketplace of ideas’...” rather
than attempting “to eliminate one side of
the debate.”
We undermine free speech and aca-
demic freedom when we silence rival ideas.
There is a role for university codes of con-
duct, no doubt, but the goal should be to
keep students physically safe while their
minds are subject to the kind of intellectual
rigour that makes them uncomfortable.
Institutions need divergent voices and
inclusive policies to thrive, but their pro-
grammes should not be used as a cudgel to
promote conformity. ©BLOOMBERG

thEIr VIEW

The line between finfluencing and free speech is blurry

actions. But, of late, the Securities and
MADAN SABNAVIS Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has stepped
in to protect small investors by proposing to
bring a class of “unregistered financial influ-
encers,” now termed ‘finfluencers,’ under
regulation. This move is welcome, as indi-
Bank of India has a campaign asking people
to be careful, one can still fall into the trap of
being duped through online links and calls.
Yet, the individual has to knock on legal
doors for redress. There is no way one can
control this. In pre-digitization days, there
story of Bitcoin and its mystery originator is
well documented. The name Satoshi Naka-
moto is associated with this cryptocurrency,
though no one is sure who this person is.
Finfluencers may also be using pseudo-
nyms and could be hard to identify. While
regulatory requirements without serving
the purpose of investor protection.
Sebi certainly needs to be complimented
for bringing up the subject, and given the
resolve it has shown in several areas over the
last couple of years, one can see more regula-

E
conomists are reputed not to have any
skin in the investment game. They
make projections and presentations
and talk to investors who invest in their sto-
ries. The government promotes digitization,
which involves commerce going online and
eases activity as well as audit trails. CEOs
give investors ‘forward guidance’ every
vidual investors who are not market-savvy
often depend on advice from ‘experts’ who
speak on TV or express views in newspapers
or on social media.
The crux of the issue is that they may all
have vested interests in making money by
enticing followers to take a particular action.
In these uncertain times, when inflation is
were no phone financial services or emails
with links that promised to
ease one’s life, and chances
of fraud were negligible. Merely offering
Here, while one is told that
caution has to be exer- a public opinion
cised, at the end of the day,
the onus is on the individ-
isn’t a crime and
the Sebi paper on the phenomenon asks reg-
istered entities not to have
any dealings with such fin-
fluencers, tracking them is
a challenge. But then,
remember that Sebi’s battle
on participatory notes is
still not over, although for
tion and discipline here. At the broader level,
other regulators too should examine closely
how to control unscrupulous entities from
exploiting the individual. The government
too could get involved in the project to mod-
erate how sundry other influencers affect
household consumption patterns.
A conundrum that arises is this: Where

is chief economist at Bank of

Baroda and author of
‘Corporate Quirks: The Darker
Side of the Sun’.
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quarter that generally says things will get
better; if they say anything else, their share
price takes a hit. Financial analysts make a
prognosis of how markets for stocks, curren-
cies or bonds will behave. Advertisements
talk of how healthy the personal-use product
is that they want us to buy. Nutritionists and
health experts prescribe diets and warn of
various diseases caused by indiscriminate
eating. Then, there is a flood of opinion in
the media on almost everything that seems
dominated by the social variety.
What is common to all of the above is that
someone is trying to influence everyone
who hears or reads what’s being said. There
has been no objection so far to any of these
high and one is unsure if the economy is
really booming, it is not easy to get better
returns on savings. Bank deposits are a safe
but unattractive option. Stocks make sense,
and this is why finfluencers matter.
Interesting issues come up. The first is
that all the characters described in this
drama are eyeing the individual’s wallet, as
all of them earn money by selling what they
do. Hence, Sebi’s concern of unscrupulous
people guiding the less knowledgeable
holds true for all these. If regulation is neces-
sary, then logically the regulated should not
deal with the unregulated.
Second, curiously, while digitization has
been given an official push and the Reserve
ual to stay alert and away
from scamsters. It is never
various fields decades it has sought to
stop Indians channelling
does free speech stand in this debate? Even
if motivated by money, offering a public
easy to tell a fake online
link apart from a genuine
have influencers unaccounted money back
into India through foreign
opinion cannot be a crime. Audiences have
to use their own judgement and cannot
one sent by an insurance with an interest investment units regis- expect to be hand-held all the time. Also,
company or a bank. tered overseas in places like where does financial inclusion stand, con-
Third, when it comes to in influencing us Mauritius. sidering that a major effort is underway not
social media, one knows Fourth, while protecting just to give more people deposit and credit
that it is very hard to con- investor interest is neces- facilities, but also access to other saving
trol what is circulated or consumed. Practi- sary, there is a lot of information formally instruments? Implicit in this is that someone
cally speaking, what goes around social presented by mutual funds and insurance will be guiding vulnerable classes on money
media platforms cannot be tracked even by companies that can be misleadingly influen- matters in ways that may not necessarily be
the authorities. It is almost impossible to tial. To what extent can our regulators really to their advantage; many such advisors may
check the credentials of finfluencers who are go to protect the non-savvy individual? have directly related annual targets to meet.
neither seen on TV nor featured with bio- There is often fine print that many people So where can one draw a fine line?
graphical details in newspapers. The entire cannot understand (or ignore) but still meets These are the author’s personal views.
 14 Thursday, 18 January 2024
Bengaluru BUSINESS OF LIFE CULTURE LIVEMINT.COM

Anoushka Shankar on
finding a simpler sound
Sitar virtuoso Anoushka
WIKIPEDIA

Shankar speaks to Mint

about her recent work
before touring this week, The watermelon has become a powerful protest symbol AP

including a set at
Lollapalooza in Mumbai Watermelons
Bhanuj Kappal
feedback@livemint.com
and solidarity
with Palestine
F
or almost three decades,
Anoushka Shankar has been one
of the most forward-thinking art-
ists in Hindustani classical music,
taking the sitar boldly into new
sonic territories. The daughter and protege of
The fruit has become a symbol of
Pandit Ravi Shankar—the world-famous sitar resistance for activists everywhere
maestro who is known as the “godfather of
world music”—she made her debut perform-
ance aged just 13, accompanied by none other AP
than Zakir Hussain at Delhi’s Siri Fort. She spent feedback@livemint.com
the next few years accompanying her father on

O
concerts all over the world, performing at some ver the past three months, on banners and T-shirts and
of the world’s most prestigious stages. balloons and social media posts, one piece of imagery has
By the time she was 18, she had already emerged around the world in protests against the Israel-
released her debut album Anoushka, a collec- Hamas war: the watermelon. The colours of sliced watermelon
tion of Hindustani classical ragas that estab- — with red pulp, green-white rind and black seeds — are the same
lished her as a sitar virtuoso in her own stead. In as those on the Palestinian flag. From New York and Tel Aviv to
the years since, Shankar has become almost as Dubai and Belgrade, the fruit has become a symbol of solidarity,
synonymous with the mediaeval stringed drawing together activists who don’t speak the same language or
instrument as her father, whose influence belong to the same culture but share a common cause.
remains central to her musical identity. After the 1967 Mideast war, the Israeli government cracked
“It’s so hard to talk about his influence, down on displays of the Palestinian flag in Gaza and the West
because he’s everywhere,” she says, talking over Bank. In Ramallah in 1980, the military shut down a gallery run
Zoom last December, on the 11th anniversary of by three artists because they showed political art and works in the
Pandit Ravi Shankar’s death. “Even as I grew up colours of the Palestinian flag — red, green, black and white.
and started finding more of my identity, I didn’t The trio was later summoned by an Israeli officer. According
lose anything that he taught me.” to artist and exhibit organizer Sliman Mansour, an Israeli officer
Much like her father, Shankar isn’t content told him, “It is forbidden to organise an exhibition without per-
just painting within the lines of the Hindustani mission from the military, and secondly, it is forbidden to paint
classical tradition. Starting with 2005’s Rise, in the colors of the Palestinian flag.” The officer mentioned a
she expanded her sonic palette to include jazz, watermelon as one example of art that would violate the army’s
pop, Asian Underground electronics, and even and I think that maybe comes from a burn handling production duties—and is set rules, Mansour told The Associated Press last week.
hip-hop. As she grew more confident and confidence that I didn’t have to the same to drop in early 2024. She says it’s more of In protest, people began to wave the fruit in public.
accomplished, she became more ambitious in degree before. I think it takes some kind a night-time record, leaning into the From the mid-90s, when Israelis and Palestinians reached
both sound and concept. 2011’s Traveller, pro- of confidence and trust to allow things to ambient space. For someone who has interim peace deals, until the current
duced by Javier Limón, explored the connec- be unadorned.” been making albums since 1998, this Young activists nationalist Israeli government took
tions and history between flamenco and Indian Recorded at Berlin’s famous Funkhaus change in process has been quite an have adopted office a year ago, raising the Palestin-
classical, while 2016’s Land Of Gold was a devas- complex at new label LEITER’s studio— exciting experiment.
tating yet hopeful response to the refugee crisis. run by German composer Nils Frahm, “There’s still an overarching connec- the watermelon ian flag receded as a major issue. Three
decades later, “it became a national
These were dense records with complex layers who also appears on the EP—Chapter I tion, she says. “It feels important to me emoji in calling symbol” again, Mansour said.
of sound, the sort of albums that critics love to exists within the sun-dappled memory of that once they’re all out, people can listen for a cease-fire A year ago, Israel’s far-right National
“unpack”. a summer afternoon spent in the garden to them in sequence and they make in Gaza Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir
And then Shankar took another left-field with her two young boys. sense. But they can have a different iden- banned Palestinian flags in public pla-
turn. Her 2020 EP Love Letters—written in the Shankar was playing the sitar, with one tity, a different feel. They can be stages ces. This effort was met with fervent
wake of her divorce—pulled back from the max- of her kids resting his head in her lap, when that connect with each other but exist opposition. In response, Zazim, an activist group of Arab and
imalism and the an old Carnatic on their own. I found that quite crea- Jewish Israelis, plastered taxis in Tel Aviv with large watermelon
grand concept in lullaby came to tively freeing, to think of a smaller stickers that read: “This is not a Palestinian flag.”
favour of a raw, inti- Much like her father, Shankar her, unbidden. nucleus of songs.” Watermelons have long been a staple of food in the region,
mate vulnerability. isn’t content just painting The EP is an For now, Shankar is on the road, hit- with some dishes, like a popular salad in southern Gaza, originat-
Last year, she attempt to cap- ting India for a short tour this week—including ing with Bedouin Arab tribes.
released Chapter I: within the lines of the ture the emo- Anousha Shankar performing in 2016; a set at the Lollapalooza Festival in Mumbai— Increasingly, young activists have adopted the watermelon
Forever, For Now, a Hindustani classical tradition tional resonance of her EP ‘Chapter I: Forever, For Now’ LEITER ahead of a string of European dates in spring. It emoji in calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. Emoji may confuse algo-
four-track EP—the that moment. can be challenging to find musicians who can do rithms that advocates say tech companies deploy to suppress
first in a planned tril- “I started playing it, Aftab socially for a long time, but the two first justice to the wide range of sounds and styles in posts with keywords like “Gaza” and even just “Palestinian.”
ogy—that almost sounds like she’s performing and first of all, remembered how much I’d collaborated in 2021 on the Pakistani-American Shankar’s ouvre, but she’s incredibly excited Watermelons are not the only symbol to catch on with activists.
next to you at a campfire, combining intimacy always loved this lullaby,” she says. “But I also musician’s track Udhero Na. with the new quintet she’s put together. Other signs of global Palestinian solidarity include keys, spoons,
with a sense of boundless space, her sitar paint- realised how much I enjoyed playing it and “In her own way, she does what I do in my “The irony is that sometimes when you stay olives, doves, poppies and the keffiyeh scarf. In November, to
ing the sky with gentle brush-strokes of vibrant hearing it on the sitar, which I’d never heard music,” says Shankar. “Bringing unexpected within one tradition, there can be more free- connect with the peaceful message of Armistice Day, when many
emotional colour. Is Shankar, to borrow a term before. So I kind of tucked that away, that’s the sound-worlds together in a way that makes dom, because everyone knows that one style,” Brits traditionally wear red poppy pins, protesters this year
from the Taylor Swift fandom, embarking on a only thing I came into the studio with. I knew I sense and feels authentic. But she does it with she says. “As soon as you move into the cross- passed out white poppy pins, to commemorate victims of all wars.
new era? wanted to create something in that peaceful more space than most of my music has.” over space, it sounds more free to the listener, On the holiday, scores of protesters wearing poppy pins marched
“The pandemic, personal life events, they all lullaby space.” Chapter I is only the first instalment in three but it’s usually more limited for the musicians. across London calling for an end to the war in Gaza.
meant that for a while I was writing from an Shankar credits producer Arooj Aftab— planned ‘mini-albums’, each created in a dif- What I love about this band is that it’s the closest Another reason the watermelon might resonate: It has seeds.
inner space again, rather than an external alongside Frahm, whom she calls a friend and an ferent space with different producers. The sec- I’ve come to where the sound-world exists in a There is a saying, often attributed to the Greek poet Dinos Chris-
space,” she says. “I do feel like I’ve been finding influence—for the record’s unique blend of inti- ond chapter has already been recorded—with genre-free space, but you still have a lot of crea- tianopoulos, that is popular among activists: “They wanted to
and enjoying a sound that’s simpler somehow, macy and expansiveness. Shankar has known award-winning British composer Peter Rae- tive freedom. It feels very fulfilling to me.” bury us; they didn’t know we were seeds.”

A food guide for culinary enthusiasts to explore east Asia

East Asia has a number BOKPYIN, MYANMAR’S BIRD’S most delicious soy sauce in all of Viet- dreds of kimchi-making units, factories
NEST PARADISE nam, Cu Da is an ancient, nondescript and even homes where fresh bouquets of
of places that proudly Once Myanmar’s leading producer of betel village located about 20 km from the napa cabbage are smeared with garlic,
pivot around a single nut, rubber and palm oil, the seaside town
of Bokpyin in the country’s southern pen-
capital Hanoi. Locals say that the craft of
making soy sauce in Cu Da has been
shrimp paste and the spicy gochujang
paste. Left to ferment for months, it takes
produce, from bird’s insular Tanintharyi region now has new around for centuries. And that it is still on a pungent, sour taste that defines it.
wings. Quite literally! It is the world’s made the same way with just four main The best place to get one’s fill and even
nest to soy sauce number one supplier of the prized bird’s ingredients: soybeans, glutinous rice, take back home tonnes of the stuff is at the
nest that goes into the infamous bird’s nest water and white salt. city’s Yangdong Market.
Raul Dias soup. As one of the most elusive, and thus The last important ingredient is one
feedback@livemint.com expensive, animal products consumed by that they claim gives the sauce its unique GARUT IN INDONESIA FOR DODOL
humans, the bird’s nests are made from mouthfeel and intoxicating aroma. This While it may have originated in faraway

M
athura peda, Madurai jigar-
thanda, Ratlami sev, Agra petha
and Bikaneri bhujia are names of
the many sweets, drinks and namkeens
that indicate the place of origin of these
beloved Indian food items.
These are cities, towns and villages
across the country have been recognised
with the geographic indication (GI) tag for
producing these famous foods. Driven by
curiosity, culinary enthusiasts like me
plan food-centric trips to each of these
places. The main idea for me being; to try
each of the goodies out at their source.
Apart from gastronomic travels within
India, I’ve often crossed the country’s bor-
ders on fascinating food pilgrimages.
Some of my most memorable trips have
been to far-flung places in east Asia to
sample unique dishes and ingredients,
and bear witness to the centuries-old tra-
ditions that shape them.
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the dried-up saliva produced by the male
white-nest swiftlet (Aerodramus fucipha-
gus). It’s a food that is said to have tremen-
dous health and beauty benefits when
consumed regularly. In the sleepy town,
one can find several buildings under con-
struction that are purposely left unfin-
ished. They allow the swiftlets a safe haven
to roost and thus produce the pearly white
nests. These are then harvested by a
whopping 80% majority of Bokpyin’s resi-
dents who are involved in the bird’s nest
trade. Today, there are at least 150 such
grey, concrete swiftlets’ apartment build-
ings scattered across the town. All of which
are festooned with speakers and boom
boxes installed in the nesting homes in a
bid to attract more winged tenants.
KAMPOT, CAMBODIA’S PEPPER
BASTION
The Kampot pepper is a type of black
Women sorting kampot pepper in Cambodia
peppercorn. Also known in the past as the
Indochinese pepper, it gets its modern
name from the province of Kampot in
south-west Cambodia. The Chinese
explorer Tcheou Ta Kouan recorded its
cultivation in the 13th century. Today,
tonnes of this pungent spice is sold in
auctions, wholesale and retail shops at
the city’s famous Kep Crab Market. This
pepper is a certified GI product of Cam-
bodia since 2010, and is grown at hun-
dreds of pepper farms across the city and
its suburbs. It’s widely believed that the
ISTOCKPHOTO
unique flavour of the pepper is due to the
rich soil of Kampot, and its location
between the mountains and the sea.
Speaking of which, Kampot is equally
famous as the exporter of two more prod-
ucts of the sea—a fish sauce called tik trei
and the fine, flaky Kampot salt. Vast pans
of the latter can be seen dotting the pic-
turesque coastline.
CU DA, VIETNAM’S SOY SAUCE
STRONGHOLD
Famous for making the sweetest and
is also because the soy sauce is made
every year from April to August, which
has the most favourable weather for its
production. But that’s not all, Cu Da is
also known for its traditional craft of
handmade vermicelli that locals say is a
dying art.
GWANGJU, SOUTH KOREA’S
KIMCHI CAPITAL
Thanks to the halyu wave that has now
transformed into a socio-cultural tsunami,
most of us are well aware of the ubiquitous
Korean condiment of kimchi. This pickle
is the very essence of the city of Gwangju
that’s located on the banks of the Yeong-
san River at the foot of the Sobaek Moun-
tains in the south-west corner of the
Korean Peninsula.
Gwangju—which means “city of light”,
also said to be the birthplace of democracy
in South Korea—is where one finds hun-
Indonesia, as a Goan kid, I’ve grown up
eating tonnes of this black, flabby coconut
milk, palm jaggery and rice flour sweet
called dodol. Though different iterations
of it were brought by the Portuguese colo-
nisers to places like Goa and Sri Lanka—
where it is called kalu dodol and made with
kithul palm (caryota urens)—dodol
remains a Javanese invention. Commonly
served during Eid, it is called jenang in
Javanese and is more toffee like here.
The town of Garut in west Java is the
main production centre of dodol in Indo-
nesia. Almost everywhere you look in
Garut, you one can see huge cauldrons
bubbling away with molten dodol with its
nutty fragrance permeating the air.
Today, Garut not only produces the origi-
nal dodol but also variants like the choco-
late one and the pungent durian-fla-
voured version called lempuk that’s not for
the faint of heart.
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