NEW DELHI, mumbAi, beNGALuru, kOLkAtA, cHeNNAi, AHmedAbAd, HyderAbAd, cHANdiGArH*, PuNe*, LuckNOw* VOL. 18 NO.

55

Monday, March 4, 2024

A slowing TCS aims big for the Apple, butter, 11 other items
livemint.com year ahead uP1 approved for derivatives uP1
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Monday, March 4, 2024

Consumer authority plans Friendship with Buffett that

livemint.com action against pesky calls uP1 led to a $1 bn donation uP1
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Monday, March 4, 2024

Think Ahead. Think Growth.

mint primer QUICK EDIT

What a scorcher: Pre-poll

Can this pace of
growth continue?
BY N. MADHAVAN
The Indian economy grew at a surprising 8.4% in the third quarter of
FY24. Will this pace of economic expansion continue in the fourth
quarter? What is the outlook for 2024-25? Mint looks deeper into the
third quarter performance and the prospects for the next few quarters.
Growth spurt
India’s post-covid economic recovery has been strong
GDP growth (in %)
2019-20
-5.8 2020-21
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24
* Revised estimate ** Second advance estimate
Why did the Q3 GDP
1 clip surprise many?
After strong growth in the first two
quarters of 2023-24 (8.2% in Q1
and 8.1% in Q2), it was expected
that the economic expansion will
moderate to 6.5% levels in the
third quarter. This was because
manufacturing, mining and
electricity sectors were showing
signs of weakness, and an uneven
monsoon was hurting agricultural
output. The government had also
revised downwards the 2022-23
GDP growth from 7.2% to 7%. But
the data released last week put the
third quarter GDP growth at 8.4%.
At the same time, economic
expansion measured by gross
value added (GVA) was just 6.5%,
an unusually wide gap.
HT
3.9
9.7
7.0*
7.6**
Source: MoSPI
SATISH KUMAR/MINT
What has contributed
2 to this growth?
Manufacturing, driven by strong
orders for plant and machinery,
grew at a fast 11.6% in comparison
to a negative growth of 4.8% in the
same quarter of FY23. Investment,
as measured by gross fixed capital
formation, grew by 10.6%,
indicating private investment in
the economy is beginning to pick
up. The mining sector too did well.
The performance of the services,
construction and electricity
generation sectors remained
steady. However, government
consumption and exports fell
sharply even as private
consumption continued to remain
tepid. As expected, agriculture
posted a negative growth.
AI alert
The government has mandated
that platforms and intermedia-
ries equipped with AI and gen-
erative AI capabilities that ena-
ble the creation of deepfakes
must obtain its approval before
they offer services in India. Plat-
forms have also been asked to
label themselves as “under test-
ing” and make explicit to users
the potential failures this tech-
nology is prone to. This regula-
tory tightening comes after
reports emerged globally of
scandalous shortcomings in
generative AI tools. In India,
Google’s Gemini drew flak for
an uproar-drawing response to
a question on Prime Minister
Narendra Modi. While it has
been speculated that this brou-
haha triggered India’s wider
clampdown, the threat such
technologies pose can’t be over-
stated, especially with national
elections up ahead. Deepfakes
have already begun to spread
misinformation that could dis-
tort electoral outcomes in other
countries. An advance warning
for AI toolmakers could contain
the risk of this menace material-
izing here. Meanwhile, eyes
have turned to Google, particu-
larly, which has been accused of
launching premature AI, to see
if its compliance with the orders
will show in the responses its
chatbot throws up.
MINT METRIC
by Bibek Debroy

After joining a tree throwing game,

3 Where does this place FY24
in terms of growth?
The first advance estimate had put the
Kamila Grabska lost her insurance claim.
2023-24 GDP growth at 7.3%. The second
She said a car accident grotesque
advance estimate has now revised it to Injured severely her back and neck.
7.6%. This comes on the back of a 7%
growth in FY23. India will continue to be
The Irish court found her excuses lame.
the fastest growing large economy in the
world in FY24. The International
Monetary Fund says China is expected to
grow by 4.6% and the US by 2.1%. QUOTE OF THE DAY
Can this pace continue What about the next
People who were earlier thinking
4 in the next quarter?
Unlikely. The economic
5 financial year?
India’s post-covid economic
when should we go to India or
should we go to India...now they
moderation expected in Q3 will recovery has been strong. In FY22, are asking how soon do we go to
now happen in Q4. Government it grew by 9.7%, followed by 7%
spending that fuelled growth in growth in FY23 and 7.6% India...practically every big player
the past three quarters has run its (expected) in FY24. Government would now like to reconsider
course. Patchy rain will continue spending on infrastructure, strong
to impact agriculture. Exports exports and reasonably good their investment plans and
have been impacted by subdued private consumption, especially in come to India.
demand from the West, which is urban areas, have made this
still battling inflation and has possible. In FY25, growth can be
tightened its monetary policy. faster than 6.5%—but only if
Geo-political flareups like the Red private investment, public
Sea crisis are adding to the consumption, exports and ASHWINI VAISHNAW
IT AND TELECOM
problem. It is estimated that the agriculture output all increase MINISTER
economy will expand by 5.9% in rapidly, even as the government
the fourth quarter. continues its capex focus.

THE WEEK AHEAD

KOTAK MF RESTRICTION SERVICES PMI
4 MAR

6 MAR

Joining Nippon and Tata, Kotak Mutual Fund to PMI services data for February to be released. It
restrict flows into its small cap scheme. had reached a six-month high in January.
5-8 MAR

EAM’S ‘LOOK EAST’ VISIT PM KASHMIR VISIT

7 MAR

External affairs minister S. Jaishankar to visit Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Kashmir
South Korea and Japan. and address a rally in Srinagar.

PUNJAB BUDGET ACCOUNTS CHECK

8 MAR
5 MAR

Punjab’s budget for 2024-25 will be presented. As The deadline set by finance ministry for ministries
farmers protests rage on, will MSP be discussed? to surrender FY24 unspent budgetary allocation.

ELECTORAL BONDS MISS WORLD FINALE

6 MAR

9 MAR

Supreme Court’s deadline for SBI to submit details India will host the Miss World finals after a
of electoral bonds to Election Commission of India. 28-year gap.
 PLAIN FACTS

Shades of pessimism
ahead of poll season
BY TANAY SUKUMAR

E
lection fever is set to grip the country in the next two months as the Election Commission of India prepares to announce
the schedule for the Lok Sabha polls soon. As many as 79% of urban Indians are planning to vote this time, showed the latest
YouGov-Mint-CPR Millennial Survey held in December. While voting is in many ways a symbol of hope, surprisingly, most
respondents don’t expect a turnaround in the next five years on some key issues the coun-
try faces. This negativity was in part driven by post-millennials (those born after 1996). YouGov-Mint-CPR
This age group was also relatively the least likely to see themselves voting this year, with Millennial Survey m
75% saying yes, as compared with 85% among those born before 1981. Part 6: It’s election time
Overall, no more than 31% of the respondents said they expected an improvement in
communal relations in the coming five years, only 38% saw poverty levels coming down, and 43% were hopeful of better jobs
for young Indians by 2029. Around 48% predicted that India would enter the list of the top three economies in the world by
2029. (Prime Minister Narendra Modi has claimed that India will enter the list in his “third term”.) On some other questions,
too, a majority weren’t hopeful, the survey showed.

Most urban Indians are keen to ...but most don't see much respite on
vote in the upcoming polls... poverty and jobs in the next five years
Share of respondents (%) who said they plan to vote Share of respondents (%) who see the following happening in
in the 2024 general elections the next five years, regardless of who wins the polls
By age group
Pre-millennials 85 Indian business will
expand abroad 48
Millennials 82
Post-millennials 75 India will be among the
48
world’s top 3 economies
By gender
Women 77 Every large city will have
45
better infrastructure
Men 82
Foreigners will give more
By city type 44
Tier-I respect to India and Indians
82
Tier-II 81 There will be better job 43
prospects for young Indians
Tier-III 76
Poverty levels will
By employment status reduce in India
38
Not working 73
Working Hindu-Muslim relations
83 31
will get better
The other options were: 'maybe/unsure right now', and 'no'. Post-millennials: born
after 1996; millennials: born in 1981-1996; pre-millennials: born before 1981. The
survey had 12,544 respondents. Source: YouGov-Mint-CPR Millennial Survey (Dec 2023)

Shades of Gloom
INTERESTINGLY, RESPONDENTS who identified themselves as Muslims (12% of the sample) were far more
likely (42%) to predict better communal relations within five years than Hindu respondents (31%). On some other
questions, the biggest stakeholders were the most pessimistic on what the next government holds for them: those in
smaller towns were less likely to predict improved urban infrastructure in the coming five years, the lowest earners
were less likely to see reduced poverty levels, and those without jobs were less likely to see an improvement in the
employment situation.
The results are based on an online survey of 12,544 participants across more than 200 cities and towns. Around 84%
of the respondents were millennials or younger. This was the 11th round of the biannual survey, which is a
collaboration between Mint, survey partner YouGov India, and the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), a think tank in
Delhi. Over the last three weeks, this series has reported on some of the other findings of the latest round, such as high
support for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, rising partisanship in India’s politics, and a widespread rejection of free
welfare benefits.

Covid vaccination seen as top success;

unemployment the biggest worry
Vox Populi
Share of respondents (%) who chose these among the top 3 THE SURVEY asked respondents to identify the current
achievements/areas of concern under the current government government’s biggest achievements. Given a list of items that
many of the ruling party’s supporters possibly see as
Biggest achievements
Covid-19 vaccination for all 43 achievements, India’s covid-19 vaccination drive was voted on
Improving India’s image globally 37
top: it was in the top three for 43% respondents. An improvement
in India’s global image and uptake of digital payments came next,
Uptake of UPI/digital economy 34
Ram Mandir construction
while handling of corruption in government and the free ration
32
Revocation of Article 370
programme featured at the bottom. On the flip side, jobs emerged
32
as the biggest area of concern, with 49% respondents naming it in
Biggest areas of concern the top three, more so in the eastern and northeastern states
Unemployment 49 (54%). Price rise and inflation were the biggest issues for 40% of
Price rise and inflation 40 the respondents, followed by corruption and
Corruption 34 women’s safety (34% each).
Safety of women 34 With voters’ priorities clear and politicians
Border issues with China 24 ready with their narratives, let the show begin!
The survey had 12,544 respondents. For the full list of options This concludes the six-part series about the
given to respondents, visit https://bit.ly/3YH0IoF.
survey’s findings. Scan QR code for more
Source: YouGov-Mint-CPR Millennial Survey (Dec 2023)
findings, full methodology details, and raw data. PARAS JAIN/MINT

DATA REWIND
Data Rewind is an occasional Plain Facts feature that brings you interesting statistics and charts from the yesteryear.
In 1987, Forbes listed the When Japan ruled the billionaire league tables
world's billionaires for Net worth in $ billion 1-2 2-5 5-10 10+ The sectors that had
the first time, in addition the most billionaires
Number of billionaires identified by Forbes in 1987, by country
to its existing annual list outside the US, 1987
of American billionaires. US 49
It found 96 billionaires in Japan
23 countries outside the
24
US. While the US had the Germany 12
highest count (49), Japan
was the capital in the
UK 6
Real estate
eastern hemisphere, Hong Kong 6 24
including having the RICHEST
world's richest person of
Italy 5
IN 1987
the time (Yoshiaki Saudi Arabia 5
Tsutsumi). There was
only one Indian name on Canada 4
the list: the Birla family, Brazil 3 Manufacturing
with businesses in 17
textiles, aluminium, and Switzerland 3
auto. Businesspersons Taiwan 3
from real estate,
Yoshiaki Tsutsumi
France 3 (Japanese businessman)
manufacturing and retail
had the biggest Lebanon 2
presence. Retail
India: rank 17* 1 15
Source: Forbes 0 10 20 30 40 50
Data by Tanay Sukumar *Eight countries had one billionaire each.

PEANUTS by Charles M. Schulz

 NeW DeLhI, MUMBAI, BENGALURU, kOLkATA, CHENNAI, AHMEDABAD, HYDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE*, LUCkNOw* VOL. 18 NO. 55 Rs. 10.00 . Price with Hindustan Times Rs. 15.50 20 PAGES

Monday, March 4, 2024

Will General Atlantic’s ship Bull mkt in small-caps out of

livemint.com survive the Byju’s hit? uP10 control: Shankar Sharma uP4

SENSEX 73,806.15 60.80 NIFTY 22,378.40 39.65 DOLLAR ₹82.90 ₹0.00 EURO ₹89.68 ₹0.00 OIL $83.55 $1.64 POUND ₹104.72 ₹0.00

A slowing TCS aims Derivatives in apple, Top govt, RBI DON’T MISS
officials to
ISTOCKPHOTO

butter, 11 others get discuss banks’

big for year ahead Centre’s go-ahead AIF exposure
Sneha Shah &
CEO calls on top execs for double-digit revenue growth in FY25 Ram Sahgal Ranjani Raghavan
ram.sahgal@livemint.com
MUMBAI MUMBAI Latin American banking giant
Varun Sood Itaú in talks to open India branch
fAST foRWARD
A T
varun.sood@livemint.com pples, cashews or the op officials of the govern- Latin America’s largest lender Itaú is looking
BENGALURU weather? You may ment and the central to open a branch in India, two people said.
soon be able to trade bank will meet on Mon- Representatives from Itaú Unibanco

I
ndia’s top IT services company
will grow at its slowest pace this
year, but for the year ahead, it
has nothing short of a growth
blitz in mind.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
chief executive K. Krithivasan and
Tata Sons chairman Natarajan
Chandrasekaran huddled with the
company’s top 800 executives last
week to sketch out a detailed plan
for the company’s future, two exec-
utives privy to the Abu Dhabi gath-
ering said.
First, the headline goals. At the
annual strategic retreat titled Blitz,
CEO Krithivasan said he wants TCS
to clock at least double-digit reve-
nue growth in 2024-25. That would
mean more than 10% growth, dou-
ble the 5.2% dollar growth it is
expected to report in 2023-24. Its
slowest growth since it went public
in 2004 was 5.3% in the year ended
March 2010.
Even as he urged each executive
to think of one bold idea that could
become a big business opportunity,
Chandrasekaran said he wants India
to become a $10-billion market for
TCS—a big (eventual) aspiration of
a more than seven-fold increase
on the prices of these and sev-
eral more on an exchange
platform, with the finance
ministry expanding the list of
commodity derivatives that
can be offered on national
stock exchanges.
The finance ministry has
notified 13 new commodities
for derivatives trading,
including manganese, freight
(road, shipping and airways),
weather, cement, bitumen,
apple, cashew, garlic,
skimmed milk powder, white
butter, timber, bamboo and
HEADLINE GOALS palladium. The move aims to
provide a more diversified
KRIThIvASAN wants NeW strategy: TCS wants to grow its
double-digit revenue Refresh, Realign share of business price risk management mech-
growth in FY25 and Reinvent or RRR from larger customers anism to Indian companies
and other participants.
Recognized national stock
from the current $1.4 billion. Reinvent or RRR, coincidentally exchanges such as MCX, NSE,
TCS clocked revenue of $27.9 bil- the name of a superhit Telugu NCDEX and BSE will need to
lion in 2022-23. The company does movie. Under TCS’s RRR, teams submit contract plans for
not give any revenue or profit were pressed to modernize the approval with Sebi before they
guidance, so these comments give company’s offerings in the infra- can launch derivatives trading
an insight into the management’s structure management and applica- in these new commodities.
thinking. tion development areas. Commodity market ana-
Next, the more specific goals. Kri- The management expects busi- lysts said if India is to become
thivasan outlined the firm’s strat- a manufacturing superpower,
egy, titled Refresh, Realign, and TURN TO PAGE 6 domestic companies need to
National exchanges will need
to submit contract plans. HT
be able to effectively hedge
their price risk on platforms
of f er ed b y dom es t i c
exchanges to become a global
price influencer.
“The entire infrastructure
for hedging—a nationalized
platform where actual users
can efficiently cover their
price risk and become price
influencers like China, for
industrial metals, for example
and funds to take contra calls
—should be put in place,” said
Kishore Narne, director,
Motilal Oswal Financial Servi-
ces. “If India is to become a
manufacturing superpower,
this is imperative and the
TURN TO PAGE 6
day to figure out a way forward
on the vexed issue of bank
exposure to alternative invest-
ment funds (AIFs), two people
aware of the matter said.
Officials from the department
of economic affairs, department
for promotion of industry and
internal trade (DPIIT), MSME
ministry, the Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) and banks will attend
the meeting, the people said on
the condition of anonymity.
The government stepped in
because apart from AIFs from
private firms, several AIFs have
been floated by central govern-
ment ministries and state gov-
ernments to pool funds from
state-owned banks. The central
bank’s 19 December circular
asked lenders to sell their
investments in AIFs linked to
their debtor companies, in a bid
to prevent evergreening, rat-
tling the entire sector.
For AIFs, the matter gains
urgency as funds need to sub-
mit annual audits on their pri-
vate placement memorandums
TURN TO PAGE 6
Holding SA’s retail, wholesale and asset
management divisions have held talks with
government officials in New Delhi. >P5
Centre rejigs plan for sale of
Bharat rice and wheat
Dismal sales of ‘Bharat’ rice have made the
Centre change its strategy. The
government’s new plan is to take subsidized
rice as well as wheat flour to markets where
their intake is high to increase their
consumption and cool prices. >P2
‘2024 is the year to scale up past
pilots, advance GenAI projects’
“Generative artificial intelligence (AI) had
been my hobby job last year. But since last
August, it has become my day job,” said IBM
Consulting’s global managing partner for
Generative AI, Matthew (Matt) Candy in an
interview with Mint. >P3
Reliance arm scouts for sites to
set up pumped storage projects
Reliance Industries Ltd is looking to enter
pumped storage projects (PSP) for hydro
power, two people aware of the plans said.
The company’s subsidiary Reliance New
Energy is scouting for sites for the projects,
the people said. >P7

Pvt investments need Pesky calls: CCPA

to gather more steam plans crackdown
Gireesh Chandra Prasad Dhirendra Kumar
& Rhik Kundu dhirendra.kumar@livemint.com
NEw DELHI
NEw DELHI

U
nwanted promotional

T
he growth in private
investments in fixed
assets cooled in 2022-23
after a rebound in the year
before when it recovered from
a pandemic-induced contrac-
tion, official data showed.
Unless exports revive and wage
growth fuels domestic con-
sumption, private investments
may not improve in the coming
year either.
Private investments in fixed
assets rose 6.4% in real terms in
2022-23 to ₹19.7 trillion at
2011-12 prices, after a 16.4%
growth in 2021-22. The
rebound in 2021-22 had come
after a contraction of 8.4% in
2020-21, when the economy
locked down after the covid
outbreak.
In FY23, private investments in
fixed assets rose 6.4%. HT
Data on investments—both
private and public—forms an
important component of the
country’s gross domestic prod-
uct (GDP) data, collectively
called gross fixed capital for-
mation (GFCF). While GFCF
data is released every quarter,
granular details on invest-
TURN TO PAGE 6
calls from unregistered
phone numbers may
attract stringent action in the
near future, with the Central
Consumer Protection Author-
ity (CCPA) preparing to crack
down on the practice.
The CCPA is meeting indus-
try stakeholders this week to The CCPA is meeting industry
finalize a mechanism to end stakeholders this week. MINT
unsolicited commercial calls
and messages, two people two people said on the condi-
aware of the matter said. At the tion of anonymity. “However,
meeting, the CCPA will there is no such rulebook for
present case studies from for- unwanted calls being made
eign countries that have suc- from 10-digit numbers regis-
cessfully controlled such calls. tered in the name of individu-
“The do-not-disturb (DND) als. It falls under unethical trade
facility of the telecom depart- practices, and the CCPA has the
ment covers only number mandate to act against it.”
series specifically allotted for
commercial calls,” one of the TURN TO PAGE 6

The friendship with Warren Buffett

that led to her $1 billion donation
Ben Cohen What she did captured the
feedback@livemint.com world’s attention. She decided
it would be right to donate $1

A
t his 60th birthday
party in a New York
City hotel, David Got-
tesman was surrounded by a
few dozen family members
and dear friends, the people
close enough to the Wall Street
investor to call him Sandy. By
his side that night was his wife,
Ruth, a pioneering researcher
at a Bronx medical school. A
highlight of the evening came
when the man who would be
responsible for much of their
wealth raised his glass.
“May you live till Berkshire
splits,” toasted Warren Buffett.
By then, Gottesman was not
just one of Buffett’s close
friends and confidants but a
significant shareholder in
Berkshire Hathaway. He
acquired his shares when an
Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway.
early business venture with
Buffett and partner Charlie
Munger merged with Berk-
shire in the
1970s. That
turned out
to be a bil-
lion-dollar development, as
Berkshire’s shares delivered a
fortune to early investors.
AP
Buffett never split Berk-
shire’s original Class A shares
and Gottesman lived until he
was 96
years old.
When he
died in
2022, he left stock to Ruth and
told her to do with it whatever
she thought was right.
billion to the Albert Einstein
College of Medicine to cover
the tuition of every student in
perpetuity, ensuring the
school’s future doctors will no
longer have to pay hundreds of
thousands of dollars for their
medical education.
Her extraordinary gift
announced this past week was
decades in the making. Ruth
Gottesman , 93, joined the
Einstein faculty in 1968, not
long after her late husband
met Buffett. Their friendship
led to a business partnership,
an epic investment and, now, a
tuition-free medical school.
“I’ve never seen anybody
behave better with a billion dol-
lars,” Buffett said when reached
TURN TO PAGE 8
02 MoNDay, 4 MaRch 2024
New Delhi ECONOMY & POLICY LIVEMINT.COM

STRAIGHT
F O R WA R D
Centre rejigs plan for sale ‘10 offshore
mineral
SHASHI SHEKHAR

Respond to this column at

feedback@livemint.com
of Bharat rice and wheat auctions by
mid-2024’
PTI
THE CONGRESS HAS Only 7.2% of Bharat rice lifted from govt warehouses was sold between February and 2 March
feedback@livemint.com
NEW DELHI

TO MEND ITS WAYS

T
he first tranche of off-
Puja Das nearly half the overall consumer price shore minerals auctions

TO STAY IN THE FRAY puja.das@livemint.com

NEW DELHI
basket, was 8.3%, down from 9.53% in
December 2023. However, rice inflation
was 13% in January against 12.3% in
is likely to kick off by
June-July this year, Union min-
ister Pralhad Joshi said. A total

T
he Centre plans to take subsi- December and 10.4% in January 2023. of 10 offshore mineral blocks

A
twin blow to the already enfeebled Congress party has dized rice and atta to markets Not everyone is impressed with the have been short-listed by the
come from Himachal Pradesh. First, the grand old party’s where their intake is high in government’s approach, with Ashok mines ministry, and inter-min-
official Rajya Sabha candidate, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, an attempt to increase con- Gulati, distinguished professor at the isterial consultations are
suffered a shocking defeat. Second, Vikramaditya Singh, son of sumption and cool prices, two Indian Council for Research on Interna- underway to seek necessary
former chief minister Virbhadra Singh who had long been the officials aware of the matter said, outlin- tional Economic Relations, saying it clearances for auctions at the
face of Congress in this hill state, resigned. Singh led the six MLAs ing a strategy prompted by dismal sales showed a clear bias toward consumers at earliest, the minister for coal
who crossed the floor in support of the Bharatiya Janata Party of the government’s Bharat rice. the cost of farmer. and mines said.
(BJP) candidate. For now, the party has persuaded Singh to with- Only 7.2% of Bharat rice lifted from “Often it costs farmers because when When asked about a timef-
draw his resignation, but the six MLAs who cross-voted have government warehouses was sold prices went up, growers of wheat, rice rame for the auction of offshore
been disqualified. Even if the Congress weathers this storm, it will between February and 2 March, the first and onion could not take full advantage minerals, he said the auctions
find no respite from the political forces that are hell-bent on of the two officials said on condition of of it. So, in a way you are transferring are likely to kick off by June-
proving that the party is now but a relic of the past. anonymity. resources from farmers to consumers, July of 2024.
They forget that politics is like a game of snakes and ladders, The three government agencies which is not great policy.” The blocks are located on the
not a fairy tale. responsible for selling the grains are the The agriculture ministry on Thursday estimated foodgrain production to be 6.1% “The real policy should be protecting East and West coast of India,
To make my point, let me rewind 40 years, to 1984. In the elec- National Agricultural Cooperative Mar- lower in the 2023-24 crop year (July-June). BLOOMBERG the most vulnerable and the remaining Joshi said without sharing any
tions held that year, Congress won 414 seats, while BJP won only keting Federation of India Ltd (NAFED), ones should be aligned to the market,” further information.
two. Had anyone predicted then that Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who National Cooperative Consumers’ Fed- where the consumption of these two the warehouses of the Food Corporation Gulati said. “Our plan is to launch more
faced criticism from all around, would become the country’s eration of India Ltd. (NCCF) and Ken- products is higher. As far as rice sales are of India (FCI) to Kendriya Bhandar, “If the government must enter, it tranches of auction of offshore
prime minister within 12 years, while Rajiv, who shone like a star, driya Bhandar fair price shops. concerned, we are trying to push it more NAFED and NCCF and sell flour as Bha- should be only a marginal intervention... minerals after concluding the
would lose his aura in just four? Morarji Desai and Chaudhary “Till 13 February, sales of Bharat in southern and eastern states such as rat atta at ₹29.50 per kg. The price was Farmers want higher prices, and that’s first one,” the minister added.
Charan Singh, who were pushed by Indira Gandhi to form a party chawal were only 1% of the allo- Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, slashed to ₹27.5 per kg in why there is a demand for raising The government amended
of their own, also got a chance to serve as prime ministers. cated quantity while those of Kerala, Odisha, Bihar and November amid poor offtake the minimum support price the Offshore Areas Mineral
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, who felt offended during Indira’s early wheat were around 80%,” West Bengal,” the second and sales. while consumers want (Development and Regulation)
days, became president of the country. Vishwanath Pratap Singh,
whom Rajiv had insulted and removed from the party, was
the second official
said, also requesting ano- ₹29
/ kg
has been decided
official said, adding that In the case of Bharat
for wheat, the Centre is rice, the government
of rice inflation was
everything at a very low
price or preferably every- 13% Act, 2002, to provide an auc-
tion route for awarding pro-
elected prime minister right after Rajiv. nymity. aiming more at northern announced a price point thing free. Balancing the duction leases for offshore
Now, let’s talk about the Congress. The party’s vote bank has “Therefore, the gov- as price point for states. of ₹29 a kg in February reported in January interest of producers and minerals. Offshore minerals are
been mostly dwindling since 1989, but it is still in power in three ernment had requested Bharat rice this Feb Queries sent to the con- this year. These prices are this year consumers is the job of the located deep in the earth’s crust
states. It is a stakeholder in the Jharkhand government and, until the three agencies to indi- sumer affairs, food and pub- lower than the market political masters.” and are more difficult to extract
two months back, had a say in the ruling alliance of Bihar. It is the cate if they were facing any lic distribution ministry price. The agriculture ministry on than onshore minerals.
largest opposition party in 13 states. Though the party is anti- difficulties. Accordingly, we remained unanswered at press While India’s food inflation has Thursday estimated foodgrain India’s offshore mineral
quated, its organization exists in every district of the country. The changed our strategy to enhance sales of time. moderated, rice is the only product in production to be 6.1% lower in the reserves include gold, dia-
party has more than 650 MLAs around the country, and about these two Bharat products and, in the The Centre announced a pilot sale of the cereal basket that continued to 2023-24 crop year (July-June), poten- mond, copper, nickel, cobalt,
120 million voters supported it in the previous Lok Sabha elec- last fortnight, sales have increased.” Bharat atta in February 2023 to offload weigh on the consumer price index. tially adding to inflationary pressures copper, manganese, and rare
tions. It ranked second in 196 Lok Sabha seats. “We are now targeting the regions about 300,000 tonnes of wheat from In January, food inflation, comprising ahead of the general elections. earth elements.
Do you still believe the Congress is out of the game?
As far as Rahul Gandhi is concerned,
If the Congress, he is still the most powerful and popu-
too, corrects its lar leader of the Congress. But if the
Congress’s run of defeats continues,
current flaws, it the party will either disintegrate or will ‘India to be on global Code of conduct period for road reports
may have better have to find a new leader. The Nehru-
days in the
future
Gandhi family will need to overcome
their historical vulnerabilities to avoid
stage of chip makers’ Subhash Narayan
subhash.narayan@livemint.com
extensively used during the
period of the model code of
this. They will have to find a fresh way NEW DELHI conduct to complete DPRs of
of communication and new messen- PT to Hyundai, computer makers road projects so that awards

T
gers. In Indira’s time, the Congress was a party of powerful feedback@livemint.com such as Dell, Apple suppliers he Union government could be given pace,” said one
satraps. It had powerful leaders in every state who could manage NEW DELHI and electronic makers like plans to use the Model of the two persons quoted
both power and organization. Her descendants are becoming vic- Samsung which produce TVs, Code of Conduct (MCC) above.

I
tims of the heroism Indira pioneered. ndia will, in the next five washing machines and fridges, period that comes into effect Queries sent to MoRTH
Rahul, like his father, was a hesitant entrant to politics. He was years, join the high-stake among others. in the run-up to general elec- remained unanswered at press
expected to make a serious attempt to fix this error. He couldn’t. global stage of semiconduc- Now, India is eyeing to step tions to complete the detailed time.
When the party won power in the Madhya Pradesh assembly tor manufacturing as it com- up the manufacturing value project reports (DPRs) of about Deepak Chowdhury, part-
elections, Jyotiraditya Scindia should have been appointed chief bines unparalleled design capa- chain with a high-stake semi- 10,000 km of highways. This is ner, IndusLaw, said the meas-
minister, but the elderly Kamal Nath got the position instead. He bilities with $10 billion of incen- conductor manufacturing. The aimed at speeding up contract ure to complete DPRs in
couldn’t finish his term. Rajasthan was in a similar state. Along tives to draw manufacturers to Prime Minister Narendra awards and construction as advance before the new gov-
with Madhya Pradesh, the Congress party won the elections in set up new fabs and units that Modi-led government’s soon as the new government ernment takes office would
Rajasthan. Sachin Pilot was the president of the state congress will cut the dominance of Tai- ₹76,000 crore of incentives takes charge. In FY24, by Jan-end, only 3,481 km of highway projects had been help projects take off and also
committee back then. He was marginalized, and power was wan, South Korea and China, have got four players including The model code of conduct awarded against 8,400 km in the same period last year. MINT attract private sector interest.
handed over to Ashok Gehlot, who was doing excellent work as said IT and tele- Micron and Tatas. kicks in as soon as elections are “But the issue of concern is
general secretary-organization in New Delhi. The tragedy did not com minister Ash- India’s “well- Vaishnaw said announced and runs until the worth of sanctioned projects only 3,481 km of highway pro- poor quality of DPRs in the
end here. The same two elders were made the party’s faces in wini Vaishnaw. crafted policies” the country elections are completed. Dur- are fast-tracked. jects had been awarded against country which lack proper
recent elections, and the party suffered a deadly blow shortly In an interview are attracting already has ing this period government Slow progress on DPRs has 8,400 km in the same period research, real-time data analy-
before the Lok Sabha elections. Rahul still has time to rid the to PTI, he said manufacturers to roughly one-third leaders are barred from been one of the reasons pro- of the previous year. Though sis and identification of con-
party of “old loyalists” and to appoint new commanders. India’s “well-
set up new fabs, of global design announcing any new pro- jects worth trillions of rupees the ministry of road transport struction risks. Faulty DPRs
BJP does this without hesitating. The saffron party’s guts com- crafted policies” talent. jects—a step aimed at ensuring have failed to move ahead and and highways (MoRTH) secre- have led to challenges at
pelled the former chief minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Phad- are attracting said IT minister His govern- a level playing field between get awarded. The tary Anurag Jain project execution stage result-
navis, to accept the position of deputy chief minister to gain manufacturers to Vaishnaw ment is leveraging government and opposition situation has The reports are said he’s confi- ing in cost overruns, delays, at
power. Nitish Kumar is the next in the series. The Congress set up new fabs this and India’s candidates. become particu- expected to be dent awards may times even faulty designs.
attempted a similar experiment in Telangana and was successful (semiconductor geopolitical clout The code, however, does larly alarming in completed over end at 10,000 km Hence, measures such as final-
in obtaining power. Why doesn’t Rahul bet on more leaders like fabrication plants) and pour to become an indispensable not cover the work of complet- the current finan- the next three in FY24, experts izing DPRs, improving their
Revanth Reddy (now chief minister of Telangana)? investment in related sectors. partner for tech ambitions of ing project feasibility reports, cial year, with
months using the put the number a quality and also obtaining or
As far as the coalition is concerned, the party will need to be Semiconductors are an the US, which like other west- two persons aware of the highway awards lot below that. easing the process of clearan-
flexible at times. BJP had a tradition of not appointing outsiders essential component of elec- ern economies, is looking to development said, and once falling way below PM Gati Shakti “PM Gati ces required for project con-
as chief ministers. Nonetheless, rather than sticking to this tradi- tronic devices, and are used in decouple their supply chains ready the move can save time the targeted platform Shakti platform struction would instil confi-
tion, the party backed Himanta Biswa Sarma and Eknath Shinde automobiles to computers, from China. Beijing’s draco- in rolling out new highways. 12,000 km—indi- has sharply dence in the private sector
when it needed to do so. If the Congress, too, corrects its current mobile phones and even wash- nian lockdowns had disrupted These DPRs are expected to cating a thinning reduced the time participants in submitting bids
flaws, it may have better days in the future. However, now it is too ing machines. global chip supply and sent be completed over the next of the pipeline for projects that for MoRTH to complete DPRs and the sector may see
late for the next Lok Sabha election. India already has factories of companies and governments three months using the PM would impact construction for highway projects from over increased participation as well
Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief, Hindustan. Views are per- best- known automobile com- on a hunt for alternative sour- Gati Shakti platform so that over a longer period. six months to just about 15 days as time bound delivery of pro-
sonal. panies—from Renault-Nissan ces of production. the awards of over ₹2 trillion In FY24, by January-end, in several cases. This would be jects,” he said.

PM meets council of ministers to make preparations for Modi 3.0 govt CORRECTIONS AND
CLARIFICATIONS
Mint welcomes comments,
Rajeev Jayaswal On the agenda were plans ance (NDA). areas, which has now been 2023-24. Driven by a push in suggestions or complaints
letters@hindustantimes.com and initiatives keeping three This person added that the completed, the person quoted investment and increase in about errors.
NEW DELHI timeframes in view: the first 100 core thrust is on the long-term above said. manufacturing and services
Readers can alert the
days of a Modi 3.0 government, Viksit Bharat objective, which These areas are rural and activities, the economy is pro-
newsroom to any errors in the

P
rime Minister Narendra
Modi on Sunday held an
all-hands meeting with
his council of ministers to dis-
cuss and plan crucial priority
work, including for the first 100
days of the new government,
officials aware of the day-long
exercise said.
The marathon meeting in
the national Capital lasted till
midnight in what is likely to be
the last such exercise before the
Election Commission announ-
ces the schedule for the general
elections due in April-May.
the growth path for the next five
years, and the long-term goal of
Viksit Bharat by 2047.
“PM wants that the general
election should not disrupt the
growth momentum India has
achieved so far, and develop-
ment works undertaken as on
date. In fact, he wants works on
the ground to continue as
envisaged while the govern-
ment must fully be prepared to
implement next-level of trans-
formational reforms from the
day-one of his third-term,” one
of the officials said, asking not
aims to put India on a path to
becoming a $30-trillion devel-
oped economy by the time it
completes 100 years as an inde-
pendent country in 2047.
The Viksit Bharat@2047
blueprint has been a two-year
exercise, drawing inputs from
During the party’s two-day national convention last month, national and international
PM Narendra Modi set a target of the BJP winning 370 seats. PTI experts and corporate hon-
chos. The process began in
to be named. day national convention last December, 2021, with 10 sec-
The PM and the Bharatiya month, Modi set a target of the toral group of secretaries
Janata Party are confident of BJP winning 370 seats and 400 (SGoS) being drawn up to pro-
victory in the Lok Sabha elec- seats with members of vide a template for a “future-
tions. During the party’s two- the National Democratic Alli- ready India” in their respective
agriculture; infrastructure;
resources; social vision; wel-
fare; finance and economy;
commerce and industry; tech-
nology; governance; and secu-
rity and foreign affairs.
“PM wants India to remain
the fastest-growing economy
in years to come,” he added.
According to the second
advance estimates data
released on Thursday by
National Statistical Office
(NSO), the Indian economy
recorded a robust 8.4% growth
during the third quarter of
jected to expand by 7.6% in the paper by emailing us, with your
current fiscal, faster than the full name and address to
7.3% forecast made in the first feedback@livemint.com.
advance estimates on January
5, 2024. It is our policy to promptly
respond to all complaints.
A second person aware of the Readers dissatisfied with the
development said the plan ini- response or concerned about
tially proposed to boost India’s Mint’s journalistic integrity may
gross domestic product (GDP) write directly to the editor by
to $6.69 trillion in 2030, $16.13 sending an email to
trillion by 2040 and $29.02 asktheeditor@livemint.com
trillion by 2047. “These bench- Mint’s journalistic Code of
marks could be changed later Conduct that governs our
based on external factors,” the newsroom is available at
person aware of the draft road- www.livemint.com
map said.

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First published in February 2007 to serve as an unbiased and clear-minded chronicler of the Indian Dream.
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LIVEMINT.COM
m THE MONDAY QUIZ
1) WhIch Indian IT
firm announced new
vertical organizational
structure last week?
3) WhOm did C-DOT partner with to facilitate organi-
zations scaling up R&D efforts in the telecom space?
4) WhIch industry
veteran did Snowflake
name as its new chief
executive officer?
GLOSSARY
In-App Purchase:
In-app purchase allows
users to buy services and
features directly within an
app without having to exit
it. It is one of most com-
mon app monetization
models which allows
developers to ‘sell’
upgrades even if the app is
free to download initially.
Diffusion Transformer:
In artificial intelligence
(AI) model architecture,
diffusion transformers,
combine two concepts of
machine learning—diffu-
sion and transformer.
AI-powered media gener-
ators use diffusion models
to output images, videos,
3) Qualcomm 4) Sridhar Ramaswamy 5) Gujarat, Assam
1) Happiest Minds Technologies 2) IBM Quantum Network
THE MONDAY QUIZ ANSWERS:
Steady flow
31 firms raised $597 mn last week.
Here are the biggest deals
Deal value ($ mn) Investors
Agro Tech
Foods Capillary
 Samara Technologies Investments
Capital,  Avataar
Convergent Ventures
Finance
100
122
Shadowfax*
 TPGNewQuest
*includes debt funding
Deals digest: PE, VC Pressure mounts on founders
investments surge amid seed investment boom
after month-long lull
K Amoghavarsha &
Priyal Mahtta
BENGALURU
P
rivate equity and venture
capital activity witnessed
a substantial jump last
week in terms of both volumes
and value, fuelled by increased
investments from PEs across
numerous growth-stage trans-
actions. Mergers and acquisi-
tions (M&A) volume remained
steady week-on-week, despite
some of the largest M&A deals
closing during the period.
Startups secured approxi-
mately $597 million last week,
marking a fourfold increase
from the previous
week’s $119 million.
Deal volumes also
rose, with 31 transac-
tions, compared to 24 the
week before. Notably, last
week saw an increase in
growth-stage transaction, that
is Series B and beyond.
In the week’s largest deal,
Agro Tech Foods Ltd, which
owns brands like ACT II pop-
corn and Sundrop edible oil
raised ₹650 crore from home-
grown PE firms Samara Capi-
tal and Convergent
Finance.The funds acquires a
nearly 52% stake in Agro Tech
Foods from parent Conagra
Brands and may invest
another $44 million (₹366
crore) to buy an additional 26%
stake through a mandatory
open offer, as per stock market
disclosure.
The week also saw logistics
2) WhIch global com-
munity did LTIMindtree
join for quantum com-
puting tech innovation?
5) WhIch states got
government approval
for three new semicon-
ductor units last week?
etc, which are built on
U-Net, a deep learning
architecture. Diffusion
transformers replace
U-Net with transformer
architecture that is better
at generating state-of-art
output.
Low-Earth Orbit: A low
Earth orbit is closer to
Earth’s surface, usually at
an altitude of less than
1,000 km which could go
as low as 160 km above
Earth’s surface. It is used
for satellite imaging and
houses the International
Space Station.
Zero Day Attack: When
an earlier unknown vul-
nerability is exploited by
an attacker, it is called a
zero day attack. Zero-day
refers to the number of
days the developer has had
to find fix. Since it is an
unknown vulnerability,
the reaction time is also
zero days, hence the name.
Mswipe
 Existing investors
Avail
20
 Peter Thiel's 25
Founders Fund,
SBL Energy Dragonfly 27
 Synergy
Capital, India 34.3
SME
39.2 Zeno Health
 STIC
52 Investments
95 Kushal’s Retail
 Lighthouse Funds
NewSpace*
 Cornerstone Venture
Partners, 360 ONE Asset, SIDBI
Source: VCCEdge, VCCircle, media reports
SATISH KUMAR/MINT
and delivery startup Shadow-
fax raise $100 million Series E
money led by TPG NewQuest,
the secondaries-focused arm
of PE firm TPG.
The round saw Shadowfax’s
first institutional investor
Eight Road Ventures exiting
partially from its nine-year-old
bet. Software-as-a-service
(SaaS) firm Capillary Technol-
ogies secured around $95 mil-
lion from existing investors led
by Avataar Ventures, extend-
ing its Series D funding round
to $140 million (₹1,160 crore).
Last week also saw a resur-
gence in mid-size deals such as
Nagpur-based explosive man-
ufacturer SBL Energy Ltd rais-
ing 39.2 million from
Dubai-based PE firm
Synergy Capital, mid
market PE firm India
SME Investments and investor
Mukul Agrawal.
India SME Investments
exited a portfolio firm partially
with Lighthouse Funds’ $34.3
million bet in silver jewellery
brand Kushal’s Retail.
Around 55% deals was
within the sub-$10 million
value bracket.
M&As remained stable, with
four transactions last week, in
line with the week before. One
of the largest M&As was Reli-
ance Industries and Walt Dis-
ney’s merger of their India TV
and streaming media assets.
Reliance will invest $1.4 billion
in the entity with RIL and affil-
iates, owning over 63% stake,
while Disney will own the rest.
k.amoghavarsha@livemint.com
DEALS, TECH & STARTUPS MoNDay, 4 March 2024
New Delhi 03
‘2024 is the year to scale up past
pilots, advance GenAI projects’
Leslie D'Monte egy. A barrier to scaling is skills and ming interface) and embed them into
leslie.d@livemint.com access to skills. It’s an area IBM and an application. It may be fine for a set
NEw DELHI other tech firms have got to continue of use cases, others may need smaller,
to focus on. A lot of work we’re doing domain-specific model that’s low on
G
enerative artificial intel- is helping create CoEs for clients, that compute and cost, because I want to
ligence (AI) had been my helps them introduce new skills and bring my enterprise data together
hobby job last year. But changes in their organizations. This is with that model for this use case.
since last August, it has 70% human and 20% tech challenge, For example, some banks are tak-
become my day job,” and 10% an algorithm issue. Funda- ing an open source LLM and training
said IBM Consulting’s global manag-
ing partner for Generative AI, Matt-
mentally, it is about change manage- and fine-tuning it around regulatory
ment, adoption, skill and enablement complaints’ framework of a market,
hew (Matt) Candy in an interview. within enterprises. that allows the model to classify com-
During his recent visit to India, Candy What should CXOs do to leverage plaints. It helps complaint handlers to
discussed how companies can lever- Gen AI, given some enterprises generate responses that they can then
age Gen AI responsibly, and the sig- are already mature users of AI? tweak to meet the regulatory require-
nificance of scaling up pilots. Edited Foundation models are the next ments and frameworks. Sometimes it
excerpts: evolution of a data strategy for a firm. may be run on a public cloud. At other
‘
What is IBM Consulting’s broad Enterprises will have to combine times, you may need an on-prem
Gen AI strategy? their unique data sets (on premises of a firm)
IBM Consulting has 160,000 staff, with foundation mod- data centre because the
including 21,000 data scientists and els to create new sour- AI needs to be data and workload need
AI professionals, and a gen AI CoE ces of value. Certainly, trusted, which is to be there for regula-
(centre of excellence) of over 1,000 some clients and indus- why it’s important tory reasons, etc.
employees. We’re working in three tries are more mature In this context, do
areas. One is customer care and cus- with traditional AI, like to responsibly you feel the need for a
tomer experience—applying gen AI important. Two, AI must be trusted, What must CXOs consider when banking. There’s a good introduce this tech Chief AI officer?
for contact centre agents to improve which is why it’s important to respon- building a responsible generative understanding around into organizations If we do so, functions
call handling times and deliver better sibly introduce this technology into AI framework? models, model govern- of chief AI officer could
Matthew Candy
customer experience. The second big organizations and govern it. Three, AI About 74% of Indian companies ance, and what needs to Global managing partner, overlap with those of
area is around digital labour—HR needs to be targeted at enterprise and have made significant investments in be done in the banking Gen AI, IBM Consulting chief information offi-
(human resources) and talent acquisi- business domains. And four, AI is for AI in the last couple of years, accord- space. For (other) orga- cer, chief technology
tion. About 94% of interactions that value creators, and not just users. ing to our recent global AI adoption nizations, there’s a lot officer, chief digital offi-
the 275,000-odd IBM staff have with Can you please share a few exam- study. But the barriers included lack they’re going to have to think about, cer, chief data officer, chief market-
the HR, takes place without human ples of meaningful business out- of strategy, company guidelines, and because Gen AI is being infused into ing officer and even that of the CEO.
intervention. It’s digital first, through comes for clients in these areas? lack of AI governance and manage- all enterprise applications. By the end At times, I see the CIO or CTO lead-
an AI chat interface, and AI that sits in In the customer ser- ment tools. This is pre- of 2024, 40% enterprise applications ing and driving (the AI function), and
over 79 different systems, 4,700 pol- vice space, we’re see- m INTERVIEW venting scaling up of will have infused gen AI, according to sometimes it’s the chief data officer
icy documents, and supports 2,500 ing customer queries pilots. It’s very impor- Gartner. So, there are decisions that performing this task. But I do think
processes. The third area is around being answered with tant for organizations enterprises will have to take, such as: we’re going to see more companies
application modernization where we about 95% accuracy. In marketing, we to put in place appropriate guardrails “Am I going to use the chat and natu- appointing chief AI officers, and the
use gen AI in the development lifecy- are seeing the ability to reduce con- for AI models they intend to use. The ral language conversational interface role may be like that of the CDO who
cle—from business analysis, design, tent creation cost by up to 40%. In the data foundation must address bias. within this platform, or do I layer a typically tries to unify business and IT
wire framing, coding, development, supply chain area, we’ve seen up to What must enterprises do to scale conversational interface and work- (information technology) to drive
testing, synthetic test, and data gen- 50% reduction in the cost per invoice. pilots and proof-of-concepts? flow atop the platform?” change and help companies adopt a
eration, etc. When you think about automating 2024 is for scaling up gen AI pro- How does it work? Please share digital mindset. However, organiza-
What’s the synergy with IBM’s processes and improving cycle times, jects. We have got to move away from some examples... tions that already have mature busi-
broader AI vision? it can result in 45% improvement in pilots. Scaling up will come from hav- I could use GPT or access Gemini nesses or IT functions will be per-
Our strategy ties in with IBM’s AI these areas. Also, asset intensive com- ing the right strategy and roadmap— from Google, and access these propri- fectly capable of leading and driving
approach based on four core beliefs. panies can reduce unplanned down- mapping everything back to business etary large language models (LLMs) change themselves (without appoint-
One, that open technologies are very time by about 43%. value and having a multi-cloud strat- through APIs (application program- ing a chief AI officer).
Flipkart partners with Axis Bank, launches UPI services
Samiksha Goel stone benefits, and brand to lower its over-reliance on a offering will enable smooth of UPI with the trusted effi- head for cards and payments,
samiksha.goel@livemint.com vouchers will be made availa- handful of players. onboarding and allow users to ciency customers expect from Axis Bank, said: “Our partner-
BENGALURU ble to its users. The new UPI offering comes conveniently avail the feature us. At Flipkart, we are commit- ship with Flipkart has come a
Flipkart had been testing its after Flipkart demerged with for both online and offline ted to delivering the best-in- long way from launching one
E
-commerce major Flip- UPI services for a while. It will PhonePe, the largest private merchant transactions within class commerce experience to of India's most successful
kart on Sunday launched allow users to make UPI pay- UPI operator, in late 2022. and outside the Flipkart mar- customers by offering safe and co-branded credit cards to
its Unified Payments ments without switching to “With UPI emerging as the ketplace,” the company said. convenient payment options now launching the Flipkart
Interface (UPI) services in col- other applications. preferred payment option, the Dheeraj Aneja, senior vice along with a wide array of UPI service.”
laboration with Axis Bank. The introduction of UPI ser- launch of Flipkart UPI will be president, fintech and pay- rewards and benefits such as “Customers can now regis-
Initially, Flipkart UPI will be vices by consumer internet offering unparalleled conve- ments group at Flipkart, said: Supercoins, and brand vouch- ter for UPI with @fkaxis han-
accessible to Android users. firms is significant given that nience and zero-cost solutions "The launch of Flipkart UPI ers, among others.” dle, and do all fund transfers
Loyalty features such as the National Payments Corp. democratising access to seam- seamlessly merges the conve- Commenting on the tie-up, and checkout payments using
Supercoin, cashback, mile- of India (NPCI) has been trying less payment options. The UPI nience and cost-effectiveness Sanjeev Moghe, president and the Flipkart app,” he added.
Samiksha Goel
samiksha.goel@livemint.com
SONA BLW PRECISION FORGINGS LIMITED
CIN: L27300HR1995PLC083037
BENGALURU
Registered and Corporate Office: Sona Enclave, Village Begumpur Khatola, Sector 35,
Gurugram, Haryana – 122004, India
T
he average seed funding Telephone: +91 0124 476 8200
amount has increased in E-mail: investor@sonacomstar.com, Website: www.sonacomstar.com
recent years, intensifying
the pressure on most founders
PUBLIC NOTICE
to achieve revenue targets and
secure more funding, accord-
ing to a survey of around 500
founders by pre-stage venture
fund Eximius Ventures.
This is to inform public that “SONA”, “SONA BLW”
Pearl Agarwal, founder and and “SONA COMSTAR” are registered trademarks
managing director at Eximius
Ventures, said the average seed
of M/s. Sona BLW Precision Forgings Limited.
round in 2014-2015, and 2017- An Eximius Ventures survey indicated that fintech, edtech and Promoter(s) of Sona Machinery Ltd. had filed for a
2018, was under $1 million, but healthtech may attract seed funding above $2 million. ISTOCKPHOTO
now, it is at $1.8-2.1 million. trademark “SONA” (Device) represented as herein
“A large part of this is hap- to raise the next round within will write a check of $300k to
pening as several homegrown 18 to 20 months at a $25 million $500k or $500k to $700k and
“ ” in Class 07. The said trademark has
funds have come up and are to $30 million valuation,” Agar- whether they will be a right fit been opposed by Sona BLW
consistently increasing their wal said. for their stage.”
fund size. Some large, well-per- About 70% of founders at the Agarwal said that a pre-seed Precision Forgings Limited.
forming funds have breached pre-seed stage feel the biggest round takes place at pre-prod-
By way of this public notice, we caution the public
the $200 million mark. And, challenge is knowing the right uct, early-traction stages, while
once somebody breaches that investor, as per the survey. seed rounds begin when start-
mark, it becomes difficult to
write smaller
“If you take today's bench- ups have some traction or there
marks, tech-ena- are early signs of a product- at large that there is no connection between
checks.” A pre-seed bled companies market fit. In India, there is a
Founders are round is required are trading at a 10x need for the seed rounds to be
Sona BLW Precision Forgings Limited and Sona
seeking to split to reduce risk revenue multiple, split into two parts, she added. Machinery Ltd. Both, Sona BLW Precision
large seed rounds which means that “In the US, the two rounds are
into two, opting
and provide
the right
in 18 to 24 months, typically clubbed together. But Forgings Limited and Sona Machinery Ltd. are
for pre-seed from a seed round here these two rounds need to
rounds, raising risk-reward ratio to a Series A be split.” separate independent entities having no
to investors
$700,000 to $1
million at valua-
round, these com- A large round puts pressure
panies have to on founders to go out and commonality of interest or promoters.
tions ranging build, test and deliver revenue metrics in 18
from $3 million to $5 million, market the product to get ini- months to raise the next round.
Agarwal added. tial customer feedback, and Agarwal said drip capital in the
“The minimum cheque size scale it to anywhere between form of a pre-seed round is For SONA BLW Precision Forgings Limited.
has become $2 million to $2.5 $2.5 million and $3 million, and required to reduce risk to pro-
million, which means that the that is a Herculean task,” Agar- vide the right risk-reward ratio Sd/-
companies have to raise at a val- wal said.
uation of $8-10 million, keep- “It happens because, today,
to investors.
The survey indicated that Place: Gurugram Group General Counsel &
ing in mind that they cannot we classify a lot of them as ear- fintech, edtech and healthtech
dilute more than 25%. This cre- ly-stage investors, so founders may attract seed funding above
Date: 2 March 2024 Company Secretary
ates more pressure on founders don’t necessarily know who $2 million.
04 MoNDay, 4 March 2024
New Delhi MARK TO MARKET LIVEMINT.COM

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

73806.15 0.91 22378.40 0.75 20421.35 0.53 59783.70 1.06 22915.70 0.80 39962.59 0.07 45852.48 -0.39
1-MONTH CHANGE (%) 3-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-MONTH CHANGE (%) 3-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-MONTH CHANGE (%) 3-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-MONTH CHANGE (%) 3-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-MONTH CHANGE (%) 3-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-MONTH CHANGE (%) 3-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-MONTH CHANGE (%) 3-MONTH CHANGE (%)

2.39 9.37 2.40 10.41 2.56 12.73 6.87 23.30 3.23 12.67 2.66 15.54 0.01 13.03
6-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-YEAR CHANGE (%) 6-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-YEAR CHANGE (%) 6-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-YEAR CHANGE (%) 6-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-YEAR CHANGE (%) 6-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-YEAR CHANGE (%) 6-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-YEAR CHANGE (%) 6-MONTH CHANGE (%) 1-YEAR CHANGE (%)

12.88 25.29 15.14 29.19 19.60 39.99 33.45 58.72 18.23 33.78 27.13 63.42 22.53 65.78

m MINT SHORTS
Asset managers are purging
GCPL’s making the right moves
their portfolios of tax risk Vineetha Sampath
Getting ahead Revamping segment—Indonesia is on the mend. is two times more effective than any
There’s a growing sense of unease among asset managers vineetha.s@livemint.com Analysts at Motilal Oswal Financial Ser- other registered molecule.
that companies with conspicuously small tax bills pose a GCPL's shares have surpassed the Nifty Restructuring activities and currency vices note that the consumer index in In the medium term, GCPL has exclu-

G
financial liability too big to ignore. Federated Hermes odrej Consumer Products
Inc., Robeco Institutional Asset Management, Van Lan- Ltd (GCPL) may see bet-
schot Kempen NV and Natixis Investment Managers unit ter-than-peers earnings
Mirova are among asset managers that have been sin- growth ahead, under chief
gling out stocks based on their tax history, a process that executive officer Sudhir
in some cases has even led to firms being excluded from Sitapati’s leadership.
portfolios. Tax payments that equal less than 15% of prof- The company is taking the right steps
its have become a red flag requiring that—at the very to improve the overseas and India port-
least—the companies’ accounts need to be reviewed, folio. It plans to bolster the financial
according to investment managers. It’s an issue that’s set position of the Gaum (Godrej Africa,
to grow in importance as governments seek to replenish USA, and Middle East) segment, which
revenues after the historic wave of emergency spending formed over 24% of GCPL’s consoli-
caused by the pandemic, said Eszter Vitorino, Van Lan- dated revenue in the nine months
schot Kempen’s lead expert for environmental, social and ended December (9MFY24). For this, it
governance advisory. BLOOMBERG is reorganizing its business model in
eastern Africa. It recently announced
the divestment of its stake in the wholly-
owned subsidiary—Godrej East Africa
Holdings Ltd, Mauritius along with its
step-down subsidiaries. Note that there
was negative sales growth and lower
profitability in the eastern Africa busi-
ness. The process is expected to dent
revenue to the tune of ₹500 crore per
year or about 4% of GCPL’s FY23 con-
solidated revenue. However, the net
profit would increase by ₹50 crore a
year. The deal is expected to be com-
pleted between March quarter
FMCG index this year led by a new
product launch
Godrej Consumer Products
150
140
130
120
110
100
90
2 Mar 2023
Note: Values rebased to 100 Source: Bloomberg
(Q4FY24) and Q1FY25.
Further, GCPL aims to improve prof-
itability in the USA and western Africa
businesses. But currency headwinds are
a roadblock. In the southern Africa and
Gaum export geographies, GCPL plans
to sustain the robust performance.
As a result, GCPL aims to clock Ebitda
headwinds may lead to a drop in Indonesia is showing a steady improve- sive rights for this molecule, which gives
revenue share of the Africa segment to
ment, reflecting demand recovery. “The it the upper hand thus helping it gain
less than 20% in FY25
Nifty FMCG Goodknight liquid vaporizer has a high- market share. Also, the agarbatti comes
Revenue share in the nine months ended December
growth opportunity as its market pene- at an affordable price point—₹10 for a
Others tration is only 1-2% in Indonesia versus pack of 10 sticks. To be sure, “GCPL’s
139.56 25% in India,” said Motilal Oswal’s ana- valuations are slightly on the premium
3 lysts in a report dated 29 side but the scope of contin-
13
Indonesia
February. This shows that WAY ued good performance and
there’s room for further AHEAD better earnings visibility
growth and expansion in brightens prospects,” said
in % margins. IT plans to bolster Ajay Thakur, an analyst at
24
121.49 Africa
60
India
Meanwhile, the India the financial position
of the Gaum (Godrej
Anand Rathi Institutional
business is on the growth Africa, USA, and Equities. He expects the new
path. In the December quar- Middle East) segment launches to see healthy trac-
ter, GCPL clocked volume tion . For now, investors are
growth of 5%, better than THE HI business sitting on handsome gains.
would get a boost
some of the FMCG peers. from the launch of In the past one year, GCPL’s
Note: Africa represents the Gaum segment -
2 Mar 2024 Further, the household Goodknight shares are up by about 40%,
Godrej Africa, USA, and Middle East
Source: Company data
insecticides (HI) business is agarbatti beating the Nifty FMCG
likely to get a boost from the index’s 21% gain. Softening
PRANAY BHARDWAJ/MINT
new launch—Goodknight palm oil price is one factor
margin of over 15% in the next two years Agarbatti or incense sticks. With this, that has aided investor sentiment and so
in Gaum versus the 9% levels seen his- the company is entering the ₹1,200 did the new launch in the HI category.
torically. However, the restructuring in crore incense stick market, which is pri- The GCPL stock trades at over 53 times
east Africa and the currency headwinds marily illegal or unorganized. The prod- its FY25 estimated earnings, showed
would mean that the revenue share of uct is India’s only government regis- Bloomberg data. In comparison, shares
this segment would drop to less than tered active based anti-mosquito legal of Hindustan Unilever Ltd and Dabur
20% in FY25. agarbatti, according to GCPL. The prod- India Ltd trade at about 49 and 44 times,
Another GCPL international business uct uses Renofluthrin molecule, which respectively.

Mixed economic data implies that the Federal Reserve

won’t have reason to hike rates further. BLOOMBERG Can Gujarat Gas’s massive price cut lead to volume growth?
Party rages on for corporate Dipti Sharma region comprise industrial PNG. just marginally in FY25. Nevertheless, valuations are
bond investors in US dipti.sharma@livemint.com The company has also bene-
Setting off As such, the competition from pricey with the stock trading at
Gujarat Gas volumes rose year-on-year in Q3FY24 but Ebitda per scm
For US credit markets now, the party is far from over, and fited from the recent dip in spot alternative fuels in Morbi might nearly 27 times estimated FY25
fell sharply

G
money keeps pouring in. Risk premiums have been ujarat Gas Ltd has under- LNG prices. So far in Q4, prices keep margins in check. In Q3, earnings. According to Nomura,
Volumes (in mscmd) Ebitda per standard cubic metre (in ) (right-hand scale)
shrinking for most of the year, even if they edged higher taken a significant 8% have declined to around $8 per Ebitda per standard cubic metre it is one of the most expensive
12 10
in the latest week. The extra yield that investors demand price cut to ₹41.70 per mBtu from the November peak (scm) was at ₹4.87 versus ₹5.92 in gas utilities globally despite
for buying junk bonds instead of high-grade debt has standard cubic metre for its of $12 mBtu, and could help the 8 Q2. Gujarat Gas plans to main- prevalent concerns on volume
8
been shrinking, signalling less fear of default. A key industrial piped natural gas company boost its industrial vol- 6 tain this within the range of ₹4.5 growth. Plus, rising electric vehi-
measure of that gap was just 1.02 percentage point on (PNG) supplies to the Morbi umes, according to Swarnendu 4
4 and ₹5.5 per scm in the long cle adoption poses a risk for the
Thursday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, cluster, from 1 March. This move Bhushan, an analyst at Prab- 2 term. It also aims to strike a bal- company’s high margin com-
close to the lowest in about two years. Investors have is expected to push up near-term hudas Lilladher. 0 0 ance between volumes and mar- pressed natural gas (CNG) busi-
found a series of reasons to buy corporate debt. Mixed volumes, especially considering However, this positive out- Q2FY22 Q3FY24 gins, the company had said in its ness.
economic data implies that the Federal Reserve won’t that the Morbi region contrib- look may be tempered by the Note: Mscmd is million standard cubic metres per day; Ebitda is earnings before interest, latest earnings call. Hereon, investors should
tax, depreciation, and amortization
have reason to hike further, even if hopes of rate cuts are uted to approximately 40% of potential decrease in propane Meanwhile, the shares of Guj- track propane prices given the
Source: Company, Prabhudas Lilladher
fading. Insurance companies that have sold annuities and Gujarat Gas’ total sales volumes, prices. In Morbi, customers arat Gas have seen a 26% competitive intensity in Morbi.
PRANAY BHARDWAJ/MINT
pension plans that are funding retirees are eager to lock which stood at 9.16 million stan- often opt for propane as an alter- increase over the past six Additionally, a delay in develop-
in high yields and buy company bonds. “What we are see- dard cubic metres per day native fuel when natural gas pri- ume recovery and expect limited Advisory and Securities (India). months, indicating that the mar- ing new geographical areas, and
ing is a general move toward a growing comfort with (mscmd) during the December ces surge. “As underlying pro- benefits from Gujarat Gas’ Moreover, overall weakness in ket has already priced in many of a sharp rise in spot LNG prices
risk,” said Richard Cheng, an investment-grade portfolio quarter (Q3FY24). Notably, the pane prices begin to decline move,” said Hemang Khanna, the ceramic industry could mean the company’s growth prospects could hurt the utility’s volume
manager at Nuveen. BLOOMBERG majority of volumes in the Morbi from May, we see risks to the vol- analyst at Nomura Financial that Morbi volumes may grow and risks. growth prospects.

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

BlackRock, Fidelity FPIs infuse ₹1,500 cr in Feb Mcap of seven of 10 most valued
lead Bitcoin ETFs PTI
feedback@livemint.com
their positive momentum, month, the compelling per-
potentially continuing to formance of companies justi-
companies climbs ₹65,302 cr
NEW DELHI attract foreign investment into fied their value, enticing FPIs to
Bloomberg Indian equities, Mayank Meh- re-enter the market, Mehraa PTI ance Industries, Infosys and

F
feedback@livemint.com oreign investors made a raa, smallcase manager and said. feedback@livemint.com Life Insurance Corp. of India
significant turnaround principal partner at Craving Himanshu Srivastava, asso- NEW DELHI faced erosion from their mar-

B
itcoin’s blistering rally and injected over ₹1,500 Alpha, said. ciate director-manager, ket capitalization (mcap).

produced record inflows
into spot Bitcoin ETFs—
and cemented the investor
favourites in this new asset
class.
BlackRock Inc.’s iShares Bit-
coin Trust (IBIT) and Fidelity
Investments’ Wise Origin Bit-
coin Fund (FBTC) have cap-
tured 79% of total inflows into
the “Newborn Nine”—a popu-
lar name for the group of new
exchange-traded funds that
invest directly in Bitcoin—
since the US Securities and
Exchange Commission
approved the assets on 10Janu-
ary.
Four of the remaining seven
funds have responded by cut-
ting fees below those of the two
leaders, according to a Bloom-
berg analysis of data from the
funds’ websites. Valkyrie
Investments nearly halved its
fee to 0.25% from the 0.49% it
imposed right before the SEC
Bitcoin has been on a tear this
year. ISTOCKPHOTO
research at Morningstar Inc.
“But others won’t go down
without a fight. Fee wars should
continue, which will keep pres-
sure on the leaders to maintain
their advantage.”
Grayscale Investment has
taken a different approach
since its Bitcoin trust converted
to an ETF, choosing to main-
tain a management fee higher
than its new rivals. Its fund
(GBTC) has seen outflows of
more than $8 billion since the
launch, Bloomberg data show.
T
crore into Indian equities in According to the data, FPIs research, Morningstar Invest- he combined market val- The market valuation of TCS
February, reversing the mas- invested a net sum ment Research uation of seven of the top climbed ₹19,881.39 crore to
sive outflows seen in the prece- of ₹1,539 crore in The influx can be India, said that 10 most valued compa- ₹14.85 trillion.
ding month, primarily due to the Indian equi- attributed to improvement in nies climbed ₹65,302.5 crore ICICI Bank added ₹15,672.82
robust corporate earnings and ties in February. robust corporate the global eco- last week, with Tata Consult- crore, taking its valuation to
positive economic growth. This came follow- earnings and nomic environ- ancy Services and ICICI Bank ₹7.6 trillion. The market valua-
Additionally, Foreign Port- ing a net with- ment would have emerging as the biggest gain- tion of State Bank of India
positive growth
folio Investors (FPIs) continued drawal of ₹25,743 prompted FPIs to ers. Last week, the BSE bench- jumped ₹12,182.1 crore to ₹6.9
to be bullish on the debt mar- crore in January. trends observed invest in high mark Sensex climbed 663.35 ICICI Bank emerged among trillion, and that of HDFC Bank
kets as they put in over ₹22,419 The latest in the Dec quarter growth-oriented points or 0.90%, and the Nifty the biggest gainers. HT rallied ₹7,178.03 crore to ₹10.86
crore during the month under influx can be markets like jumped 165.7 points or 0.74%. trillion.
review, data with the deposito- attributed to India. Globally, Leading stock exchanges ruption or failure at the pri- The mcap of Hindustan Uni-
ries showed. robust corporate earnings and the January inflation numbers BSE and National Stock mary site. lever went up by ₹5,051.63
Looking ahead to March, the positive economic growth in the US were in line with Exchange conducted a special From the top-ten pack, TCS, crore to ₹5.68 trillion, and that
outlook for FPI flow appears trends observed during the expectations. Though the pri- trading session in the equity HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State of Bharti Airtel climbed
promising, provided the cur- December quarter. ces moved up in January, the and equity derivative segments Bank of India, Bharti Airtel, ₹4,525.14 crore to ₹6.39 trillion.
rent economic trajectory and Despite perceived stretched annual increase in inflation was on Saturday to check their pre- Hindustan Unilever and ITC The valuation of ITC increased
corporate performance sustain valuations in the previous the lowest in nearly three years. paredness to handle major dis- were the gainers, while Reli- by ₹811.39 crore to ₹5.14 trillion.
‘Small caps’ returns have gone into a different planet’
Ram Sahgal right in sounding the alarm for Sensex from May 2014 up The more recent data become My simple advice to retail
ram.sahgal@livemint.com bells about the froth in the until the present day is just 13% larger than life and over- investors is that keep taking

‘
approval. Franklin Templeton “The Grayscale team antici- MUMBAI small-cap space , even as these CAGR! This is a full 2.5% pa shadow the complete data. money off the table at every
now offers a sector-low 0.19% pated GBTC’s diverse share- warnings are being cheerfully below long-term And the fact is 20-25% rise in your individual

after slashing its initial man-
agement charge by 10 basis
points. Only Bitwise has made
no change. Bitcoin has been on
a tear this year, topping
$63,000 as retail investors
wary of missing out snapped up
the new ETFs. With firms
pushing to lock down market
share in a burgeoning asset
class, this bifurcation among
fund managers looks set to con-
tinue. “I expect further con-
centration among the top
ETFs,” said Bryan Armour,
director of passive strategies
holder base would engage in
profit-taking and deploy
investment strategies that
would impact the Trust’s flows,
and we are pleased that out-
flows stabilized over time,” a
spokesperson for Grayscale
said in a statement. “We expect
GBTC will continue to be a pri-
mary capital markets risk trans-
fer tool for Bitcoin.”
The selling has broadly
eased, with daily outflows slow-
ing to a daily average of $138
million in February from Janu-
ary’s $403 million.
S
mall caps have become ignored by the market. Edited Sensex returns! that the emer- stocks. Investing is not an all or
the logical hunting excerpts: But that is There is a recency gence of the nothing game.
ground for the new -age Sebi has sounded off AMCs how the human bias. More recent small investors Do you feel a situation like
retail investor as large cap on concerns of froth in mid mind works: data becomes in India has in 2018 in smalls and mids
returns, barring a few instan- and small caps with low somehow all of made the small could recur when a famous
ces in recent free float. these data points larger than life and cap market the name in the fund industry
times, have m INTERVIEW Fr eu ns pd so n si ne have become overshadows logical hunting returned shares to inves-
been a sub-op- forgotten in the the rest ground for such tors in lieu of cash redemp-
timal 13% com- have started frenzy sur- investors. Hence tions?
Shankar Sharma
pounded over the past decade, restricting SIP and lump- rounding small Founder, GQuant there is a very I hope not! But, of course,
a fact being ignored by most of sum flows, the latest being The reality is that the data caps and all of us Investech good product old-timers like us have long
us, veteran investor Shankar Kotak MF. Your views? for long-term returns from have started market fit! memories and that is probably
Sharma tells Mint amid the There is absolutely no doubt large caps is extremely sober- believing that What’s your a barrier in such bold markets
frenzy in many of these stocks. that small caps have gone into ing and something that almost the entire market returns have advice to retail investors but the fact is that when the
The founder of GQuant a completely different planet every market participant is been superlative! who flock to mid and small tide turns in small caps there is
Investech believes that Sebi is in terms of returns. ignoring. The data of returns This is called recency bias. counters? absolutely no exit.
LIVEMINT.COM CORPORATE MoNDay, 4 March 2024
New Delhi 05

IFFCO wants
NCLT to bar Latin America’s Itaú eyes a Deal with Vi by ’25
may give Mavenir a
JV from loan
prepayment share of India’s banking pie pan-India presence
Gulveen Aulakh
PTI gulveen.aulakh@livemint.com
feedback@livemint.com BarceLoNa
New DeLhI Representatives from Itaú held preliminary talks with government officials in New Delhi
U
S-based open radio

I
FFCO has moved the NCLT
against Swan Energy Ltd
(SEL) and their joint venture
Triumph Offshore to restrain
access network or
Mihir Mishra & Shayan Ghosh $63.25 billion, compared with $80.53 OpenRAN provider
New DeLhI/MUMBaI billion of India’s largest lender State Mavenir expects to land a full
Bank of India (SBI) that came in at num- commercial deal from Voda-

their JV firm from passing any
resolution without its approval
and issuing any share/security
to the lenders against loans.
Seeking an injunction
against any such proposal,
IFFCO, in its petition filed
before the Ahmedabad bench
of the NCLT, alleged that Tri-
umph Offshore was prepaying
the debt, which may result in
“the dilution of its sharehold-
ing” in the joint venture firm
and was detrimental to its
interest. IFFCO has moved the
NCLT under sections 241 and
242 of the Companies Act 2013,
alleging oppression and mis-
management.
IFFCO owns 49% of Tri-
umph Offshore, the joint ven-
ture with Swan Energy, estab-
lished to set up a Floating Stor-
age and Regasification Unit
(FSRU). Swan Energy Ltd (SEL)
holds 51 %stake in the JV.
As per IFFCO, Triumph Off-
shore had tied up with banks to
get a term loan of ₹1,604 crore,
of which SBI sanctioned ₹500
crore. To secure the loan, the
entire equity share capital held
by IFFCO was mortgaged with
lenders.
IFFCO has alleged that Tri-
umph Offshore—via its nomi-
nee directors and two inde-
pendent directors—“has
worked in cohorts with R2
(SEL) to create a situation whe-
rein R1 (Triumph) has been
rendered in a state of financial
crisis by using all cash reserves
to hastily and needlessly pre-
pay lenders’ money”.
L
atin America’s largest lender ber 63, as per data from Bloomberg. fone Idea Ltd (Vi) for deploy-
Itaú is looking to open a branch According to Riaz Thingna, partner, ing 5G network by the end of
in India, two people aware of the Grant Thornton Bharat, India’s trade the year, top executives of the
development said. finance market is vast and growing, company said in an exclusive
Representatives from Itaú driven by increasing international trade interaction with Mint in Bar- Vi is the only carrier to look at
Unibanco Holding SA’s retail, wholesale activities and foreign banks, with their celona, on the sidelines of the deploying OpenRAN tech for
and asset management divisions held global expertise and networks, are sig- Mobile World Congress. The commercial purposes. MINT
preliminary talks with government offi- nificant players in this space. technology provider intends
cials in New Delhi and expressed their “As India continues to integrate into to meet the demand from from Nokia and Ericsson, Vi is
willingness to open shop in the country, the global economy, the demand for Indian as well as global carriers the only carrier to look at
the people cited above said on the con- trade finance services is expected to rise, from its India plant. deploying OpenRAN technol-
dition of anonymity. presenting an opportunity for foreign The pilot of the technology ogy for commercial purposes.
Foreign banks seeking to enter India banks to tap into this growing market by for Vi is being conducted in It is yet to launch 5G services
need to secure approval from the offering innovative products and solu- Jalandhar, Punjab, to test the commercially despite having
Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Approval for tions tailored to the needs of Indian equipment and functioning of tested out the service in Delhi
the São Paulo-based Itaú may be linked businesses engaged in international the network such that it meets and Pune. Kumar Mangalam
to Brazil allowing an Indian bank to open trade,” said Thingna. all the key performance indi- Birla, chairman of Aditya Birla
a branch there. For now, State Bank of Itaú’s India entry plans come at a time cators of the existing net- Group and one of the main
India is only Indian bank operating in when trade between India and Brazil are works, while in parallel they’re promoters of Vi, said in Nove-
Brazil through a representative office. Approval for the São Paulo-based Itaú may be linked to Brazil allowing an Indian at a record high. In 2021, India became scaling up the number of sites mber that the telco plans to
RBI allows foreign banks to open bank to open a branch there. ISTOCKPHOTO the fifth largest trading partner of Brazil to cover the entire state. launch 5G services this year.
branches, or wholly-owned subsidiar- and bilateral trade registered an “We have moved all the “We’re working with them,
ies, in India. Despite the regulator’s pref- an extremely competitive environment gence, Itaú retained its position as the increase of 63.5% to $ 11.53 billion, com- manufacturing of how do we take
erence for the latter, most foreign banks and foreign banks cannot really demon- largest Latin American bank in the pared with $7.05 billion in 2020. This all the radios to The pilot of the this to a larger
in India operate through the branch strate any particular unique selling annual rankings, leading an all-Brazilian further expanded by 32% in 2022 to India, from Mex- technology for Vi scale in the state
model. Itaú’s branch plans come two point that is distinctly different from top five. The lender grew assets 18.4% to $15.2 billion. While India’s exports in ico and Florida," is being run in of one particular
years after Brazil became India’s fifth- what the local banks have, be it technol- $439.50 billion in 2022, and was one of 2022 were at $8.8 billion, its imports said Mavenir Jalandhar to test circle and subse-
largest trading partner. ogy or even product designs. the biggest climbers in the world’s top stood at $6.4 billion. president and quently to the
the equipment
In an email response to a “The new phase right now has 100 banks by assets, rising 11 pla- The people cited earlier said chief executive other side also,
query, a spokesperson for seen that on account of factors ces to 73rd, S&P Global Mar- that GIFT City is also being officer Pradeep and functioning sometime later
Itaú said, “There are no such as geopolitics, a lot of ket Intelligence said in a considered as the entry Kohli. “They’re of the network this year, you will
negotiations for the
bank’s operation in India 203
Itaú’s global rank
jurisdictions under bilat- note on 26 April last year.
eral arrangements have A universal bank, 70 mn
Number of retail
point into India. “They
might look at opening a
manufactured by
Jabil in India, and
see a major roll-
out coming with
at the moment.” An email increased trade with present in 18 countries, branch at GIFT City too,” I will need six to nine months us, pre-condition that they
query sent to an RBI based on market India,” said Ashvin Itaú had 70 million retail and corporate said a government official, to scale up. But, we’re pre- need to raise funds,” said India
spokesperson remained capitalization Parekh, managing partner, and corporate clients, clients Itaú had one of the two people cited pared to deploy whenever the head Sanjay Bakaya.
unanswered. Ashvin Parekh Advisory Ser- 4,200 branches, and earlier. customer wants.” The third largest Indian car-
India had 45 foreign vices. “The attraction for a so-called client service bran- India is nudging foreign OpenRAN technology helps rier by subscribers Vi said last
banks—of which two have India bank from these nations that trade ches, 43,800 ATMs, according to banks and other multinational telecom operators to source week it had approved plans to
subsidiaries and the rest operate as with India is to be in the trade finance its latest available annual report of 2022. firms to have some presence at GIFT hardware and software from raise ₹45,000 crore in equity
branches—as of 31 January, showed data business. Then somewhere along the It is present in Argentina, Bahamas, Bra- City. The Centre is keen on having for- different suppliers, thus end- and debt. It will meet share-
from RBI. The world’s fifth largest econ- way, there could be a case for a rupee zil, Chile, Colombia, Spain, USA, France, eign banks and MNCs in India set up ing dependence on single ven- holders on 2 April to seek per-
omy has also seen a fair number of for- trade between the nations, although it is Cayman Islands, and UK, among others. global capability centres at GIFT City, dors. Unlike Reliance Jio and mission to raise ₹20,000 crore
eign banks shut shop in the past decade. just surmise at this point.” Globally, the bank is ranked 203 on counting on their ability to create jobs. Bharti Airtel, which opted for in equity, and close the process
Industry experts said India’s banking is As per S&P Global Market Intelli- the basis of market capitalization with mihir.mishra@livemint.com traditional 5G technologies by the end of the June quarter.

Lupin Digital targeting tenfold growth next year: CEO Srinivasan

Naman Suri across the country. improving treatment adher- next fiscal.
naman.suri@livemint.com “Post the trial phase for the ence. For this, it also provides There has been a staggering
New DeLhI platform—where we were able consultations with medical 12.5% increase in heart attack
to prove in an Indian context doctors, cardio therapists, cases in 2022 alone, according

Impressive post-listing returns from recent public offerings have
propelled the bustling IPO activity,.
L
upin Digital Health (LDH),
a digital therapeutics plat-
form for cardiac rehabili-
tation, plans to increase its cus-
tomer base 10 times over the
next year, as it expand its pres-
ence by entering new cities and
onboards new hospitals, Sid-
ISTOCKPHOTO harth Srinivasan, CEO of Lupin
Digital Health told Mint in an
that using digital therapeutics,
patients can have much better
outcomes even despite having
serious cardiac issues—and
within nine months, we have
onboarded about 5,000 paying
patients with over 2,000
patients in the trial period,”
added Srinivasan.
The main source of acquir-
nutritionists, yoga and medita-
tion experts, and ayurvedic
doctors, among others.
LDH, he said, is currently not
focusing on breaking even, but
rather on increasing its patient
base. “We are a contribution
margin positive business,
meaning we don’t lose money
Sidharth Srinivasan, CEO, Lupin Digital Health, says he expects on every sale, but we have to
to the National Crime Records
Bureau (NCRB). The NCRB's
latest data in the Accidental
Deaths and Suicides in India'
report, indicates that 32,457
individuals died due to heart
attacks in 2022, a significant
leap from the 28,413 deaths
recorded in the preceding year.
Srinivasan says India has

IPO craze sustains: interview.

The company has 5,000
paying patients and is confi-
ing patients for the company
remains through references
provided by cardiologists to the
the firm to have 1,500–2,000 prescribing cardiologists next year.

increase the number of paying that’s where our focus lies,” he

cover our fixed costs, which
gets covered by the scale. So,
the more patients we add, we
more than 300 million heart
patients, and every year there
are about 800,000 to 1 million

Three cos to raise dent of achieving it with the

help of an augmented pro-
gramme prescribing cardiolo-
programme. “We currently
have 700 prescribing cardiolo-
gists and in the next year, we
patients from 5,000 to 10 times
that, in just one year because
the problem is not the supply of
added.
The company, through its
digital clinic, combines the
will be able to cover the fixed
costs,” Srinivasan added.
Lupin, the parent company,
patients who are having an
angioplasty. “The potential is
huge, but what will drive the
gists as it prepares to expand its expect to have 1,500–2,000 patients. The problem is human intervention of clini- has already invested around adoption (of the programme) is
₹1,325 cr this week affiliation with 75 more hospi-
tals spanning 35–40 cities
prescribing cardiologists with
us. Once we get there, we can
acceptance of doctors and
acceptance of patients, so,
cians with technology, thereby
enabling easy monitoring and
₹100 crore and plans to further
infuse a similar amount in the
by making it more accessible
and affordable,” he said.
PTI included the ₹3,200-crore
feedback@livemint.com IPO of Nexus Select Trust Reit.
New DeLhI Market experts said that
March is anticipated to usher IG Drones eyes aggressive defence
T
he primary market will in a wave of IPOs, offering a
see a flurry of activity in plethora of opportunities for
March, with at least exploration and investment.
three companies, including Rajkot-based Gopal Snacks’
foray with production at Vadodara
Gopal Snacks, floating their ₹650-crore public issue is
initial public offerings (IPOs) entirely an offer for sale (OFS). Anu Sharma Sanghapriya added.
in the upcoming week to raise The issue, with a price band of anu.sharma@livemint.com In India, the drone industry
₹1,325 crore collectively. ₹381 to ₹401 per share, will New DeLhI received a major push with the liberal-
The other two companies open for subscription during ization of regulatory framework in the

I
that are set to launch their 6–11 March. The OFS com- n a bid to set up a large drone manu- form of Drone Rules 2021. To pro-
maiden public issues are—RK prises the sale of shares by facturing base with focus on mote the indigenous drone industry,
Swamy and JG Chemicals. Bipinbhai Vithalbhai Hadvani, defence, drone technology com- the government had also notified the
Additionally, Bengaluru- Gopal Agriproducts Pvt. Ltd pany IG Drones is eyeing aggressive Production Linked Incentive (PLI)
based luxury furniture brand and Harsh Sureshkumar Shah. expansion in the sector with its scheme for drones and drone compo-
Stanley Lifestyles The₹423.56 upcoming manufacturing facility in nents in September 2021 with a total
and Krystal Inte- So far this year, 16 crore initial share Vadodara, a top executive told Mint. incentive of ₹120 crore spread over
grated Services firms launched sale of integrated “For the upcoming years, we are three financial years. The industry is
are expected to IPOs to mobilize marketing servi- planning to go aggressive with the further optimistic of more incentives
float their initial ₹13,000 crore; last c e s f i r m R K manufacturing, particularly for the to promote exports.
share-sales later
year saw 58 initial Swamy will be defence sector. We are setting up a “We hope for more incentives, par-
this month, open for public large-scale manufacturing plant in ticularly in exports, which will help us
according to mer- share sales raking subscription dur- Gujarat in Vadodara at Vadodara air- compete at a better price on the global
chant bankers. in ₹52,637 crore ing 4–6 March. space park. So, per year, we are stage. There can also be more alloca-
Market experts Shares will be roughly targeting 1,000 drones to be IG Drones’ manufacturing plant is to tion and more relaxations under the
attributed the available for bid- manufactured from our facility,” come up in Vadodara airspace park. PLI, particularly in an evolving sector
bustling IPO activity to various ding in the price range of Bodhisattwa Sanghapriya, founder like drone,” he added.
factors, including impressive ₹270–288 apiece. and chief executive officer, IG Drones expected to be launched by June and The global geopolitical situation is
post-listing returns from The company’s IPO com- told Mint. will commence with a 30% capacity. also creating new requirements for
recent public offerings and the prises a fresh issue of shares Established in 2018, IG Drones cur- The company plans to reach 100% drones and the demand is being felt by
robust macroeconomic condi- aggregating up to ₹173 crore rently can produce 100 drones per capacity output of 1,000 drones the domestic industry as well. In antic-
tions. and an OFS of up to 8.7 million year. It also offers solutions in high- within a year of the launch. ipation of the demand, IG Drones
So far this year, 16 compa- equity shares by selling share- precision drone surveying, mapping, “This will be 90% for defence and expects to allocate 50% of the defence
nies launched their IPOs to holders worth ₹250.56 crore at and inspection across industries. It has the 10% will be for civilian applica- drones capacity towards exports.
mobilize ₹13,000 crore, while the upper end of the price also introduced 5G-enabled drones tions. We work with a long-term “There is a huge demand from
₹224-crore initial share-sale of band. Those offering shares in and an indigenously developed drone vision. Today, there is a huge demand Indian forces and because of the geo-
Mukka Proteins is slated to the OFS are Srinivasan K simulator. Last week, it secured a pro- for a drone as hardware. But, 10 years political scenario, there is also a huge
conclude on 4 March. Swamy, Narasimhan Krish- curement order from the defence down the line, drones will be com- demand from Middle East countries.
This came after 58 maiden naswamy, Evanston Pioneer ministry to provide drones for surveil- moditized. And, then drones will not So, we are seeing a huge opportunity
public issues initiated in 2023 Fund L.P, and Prem Marketing lance purposes. play a major role. The data (collected in exporting drones,” Sanghapriya
to garner ₹52,637 crore. This Ventures LLP. The manufacturing facility is via drones) will play the major role,” said.
06 MoNDay, 4 March 2024
New Delhi CORPORATE LIVEMINT.COM

‘Inbound foreign travel is the Private investments in fixed

assets enter slow lane in FY23
only sector which has lagged’ FROM PAGE 1

ments by specific types of insti-

Varuni Khosla tutions are only released annu-
varuni.k@livemint.com ally, and 2022-23 is the latest
New Delhi year for which the data was
released last week by the statis-
Gear shift
The slowdown comes after a rebound in 2021-22, which had come
after a contraction of 8.4% in 2020-21.
Year-on-year growth (%) in investments in Share of private
fixed assets, at 2011-12 prices sector in GFCF (%), at
Overall (GFCF)* Private sector 2011-12 prices
43
General government

O
nline travel agencies
have seen a huge
rebound in travel, report-
ing strong results quarter
after quarter. Today,
nearly all segments of travel have
rebounded from their pandemic lows.
MakeMyTrip, one of the largest travel
companies in India, has seen a signifi-
cant recovery in business travel, particu-
larly from offsites, conferences and
meetings.
MakeMyTrip’s co-founder and group
CEO Rajesh Magow told Mint in an
exclusive interview that celebration
travel has been growing consistently.
This trend is likely to continue in the
near future, with the March quarter and
subsequent ones expected to see strong
demand owing to several holidays and
long weekends, he said. In the Decem-
ber quarter the company reported an
increase in profit to $24.2 million from
just $0.2 million in the same quarter of
2022. Edited excerpts.
High airfares have caused heart-
burn for travellers. Do you see that and not just on our platform. However,
changing any time soon?
tries is still nowhere close to pre-
covid numbers. Are you seeing any
change in that?
Inbound is the only major laggard,
until now, we were not necessarily
tics ministry. The data may be 20
updated next year. 41
Experts said an improvement 10
in the external situation and a 39
resultant boost in exports can
NA NA
lift private investments. Also, an 0
2017-18 2023-24 37
improvement in real wages 36.9
could boost consumption 36.1
-10 35
demand and as a result, capacity 2012-13 2022-23
*Gross fixed capital formation; NA: Not available
utilization in factories and pri-
2022-23: First revised estimate; 2023-24: Second advance estimate
vate investments in the future. (estimate for private/government classification not available)
“Private investment has not Source: Ministry of statistics and programme implementation
been restored fully to its earlier
SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
levels and that is the effect of net
exports contributing nega- tom of the pyramid becoming private companies to lead the
tively. The outlook for invest- more robust can further boost way in expanding capital
ments would improve on two corporate capacity utilisation. expenditure. The corporate sec-
conditions. One is that global However, growth in real income tor must “get its act together” and
conditions improve and our of people at the bottom of the relieve the government of capex
exports improve. Second is that pyramid is either slow or is in the heavy-lifting, the bulletin said.
the government’s continued negative. Our analysis shows “Expectations for a fresh round
support for infrastructure etc., that a 1 percentage point rise in of capex by the corporate sector
would start having a crowd- real growth of wages, which can to take the baton from the gov-
team meetings have also picked up sig- Last year a large number of global ing-in effect,” said D.K. Srivas- come either from nominal wage ernment and fuel the next leg of
nificantly. events such as the G20 kept the tava, chief policy adviser, EY. increase or reduction in infla- growth are mounting,” an article
Within business travel, is any seg- industry abuzz. The tightening of interest tion, can lead to a 112 basis point titled State of the Economy said.
ment still lagging? Generally speaking, there is good rates in the West has hurt increase in consumption Private investments, which
The bus platform. Pre-pandemic, our momentum from a demand standpoint, India’s exports and invest- demand,” Pant began moderately
platform used to see a lot of bus book- and overall consumer sentiment has ments. Higher exports can lift said. Experts said an in 2023-24, have

‘
I don’t think we need to take an aggre- focusing too much on inbound travel. ings from a segment of office-goers, been positive in terms of wanting to investments; however, trade Over the years, improvement in picked up, as mar-
gate view on airfares. For a market like The main reason was that every big especially in south India. travel more. But within distortions and geopolitical cri- private and gov- the external kets have factored
Rajasthan, which is a wedding destina- domestic market or region in India was These were workers liv- overall travel, the emerg- ses may take a toll in exports in ernment invest- situation and a in the potential
tion, we continue to see very high rates. doing well. ing in satellite towns who For every long ing trend is to take many the next fiscal year as well. ments have
travelled to cities either weekend in recent short holidays, either on
resultant boost in downsides from
Maybe Goa as well. But some other des- Similarly, if we look at Europe, one of Private investments are tak- diverged, as com- the ongoing geo-
tinations may not be seeing such high the biggest regions for travel into India, every day or on weekends. quarters, we have weekends or long week- ing place in select sectors such panies held back exports can lift political risks,
rates. that itself has been only That is taking more time ends. as renewable energy, pharma while the govern- pvt investments w h i c h are
If we have more sup- been doing more How does March look?
ply coming in, we will see
m INTERVIEW growing as a domestic
market, with people
to come back.
Many companies, check-ins than our The subsequent quar-
etc., but an across-the-board
investment revival will take
ment picked up
the slack during
expected to con-
tinue, said N.R.
prices will come under travelling far less from including TCS, have now previous record. ter also has the general time, said Devendra Kumar covid years. Bhanumurthy, vice-chancel-
pressure. With fares—domestic or inter- overseas. That has caused a lag effect. made it mandatory for elections. Will that Pant, chief economist, India Addressing an industry lor, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar School
Rajesh Magow
national—we forget to factor in the three There have also been visa issues for people to come back to chief executive officer,
slow down travel? Ratings and Research (Fitch meeting last week, Union of Economics University, Ben-
or four years of inflation during the pan- travel into India, and some part of the work full-time in the next MakeMyTrip group March has five week- Group). “It is very difficult to finance minister Nirmala galuru.“Meanwhile, challenges
demic when there was little or no slowness is due to a low supply of air seat three months. Now, ends including a holiday, put a timeframe for a structural Sitharaman asked businesses to presented by inflation have
increase. It’s just during the last year that inventory and high airfares. This seg- maybe we will see bus which is good. For every revival of consumption “join in a big way” to push up seen some improvement glo-
rates have increased. So if we were to ment is coming back slowly now. travel come back too, since these long weekend in recent quarters, we demand. When the govern- India’s growth trajectory. She bally, with central banks in the
pick up the annualised CAGR of infla- Has business travel returned to pre- large companies have a lot of workers have been doing more check-ins than ment scales up capital expendi- also called for more joint ven- advanced countries now
tion, the higher fares would make sense. covid levels? living in satellite towns around Banga- our previous record. This gives us an ture, its effect of crowding in tures around the world, even as expected to reduce interest rest
The base is now set or settling at these Definitely. It is growing at a very lore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi, Mum- idea that this pattern of wanting to take private investment comes with more foreign investments in the coming quarters, which
fares and is not likely to be disturbed healthy rate year-on-year. Compared to bai, etc. short travel breaks has not gone away a lag because investors will look come into the country. will likely lead to more private
unless there is a slowdown. pre-covid levels, business travel is back. What are your expectations this after the pandemic and that it is not just for stability of demand. Con- The Reserve Bank of India’s investments into India,” Bha-
Inbound travel from foreign coun- Things like offsites, conferences and year in terms of domestic travel? a one-off thing. sumption by people at the bot- (RBI’s) February bulletin urged numurthy said.

CCPA plans Top govt officials to discuss AIF issue Derivatives in apple, butter, 11
penalties to FROM PAGE 1 ulatory bar as a means of others get Centre’s go-ahead
end menace to markets regulator Sebi at the
end of each financial year. This
excusal from the defaulting
provisions and would need to
modify their fund documents FROM PAGE 1

of pesky calls requires AIFs to submit details

FROM PAGE 1
Telecom service providers,
individuals and errant firms
responsible for unwanted calls
may face punitive action once
the new mechanism is rolled
out. This will be the first time
penalties are proposed against
telcos for violating privacy and
breaching consumer rights,
the second person added.
Queries emailed to the con-
sumer affairs secretary,
spokespersons of the con-
sumer affairs ministry, Reli-
ance Jio Infocomm, Bharti
Airtel, Vodafone Idea, HDFC
Bank and Bajaj Finance
remained unanswered.
The CCPA, which reports to
the consumer affairs ministry,
has already formed a commit-
tee to frame guidelines to end
unwanted commercial calls,
comprising officials from the
telecom and financial services
departments, housing minis-
try, banking, insurance and
telecom regulators, represent-
atives from the Cellular Opera-
tors Association of India, tele-
marketing companies and
consumer organizations.
Consumer rights activist
Arun Gupta said making unso-
licited promotional calls
should be made a criminal
offence. “The guidelines need
to be very stringent to deal
with pesky calls, as they violate
consumers’ basic rights. The
provisions for fines should be
hefty to discourage errant
firms from making unsolicited
calls,” Gupta said.
In response to an emailed
query, Bankbazaar.com chief
executive Adhil Shetty said,
“Rules that protect consum-
ers, thwarts bad actors and
frauds, and enhanced con-
sumer safety are good for the
industry. We have and will
adhere to regulations. We fol-
low Trai (Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India) guidelines
on calling. We only call
engaged customers who have
consented to a contact.”
of their private placements
each year, including potential
defaults. The implications of
being labelled a defaulter in an
AIF are immense as it could
jeopardize an investor’s (in this
case, a bank’s) existing invest-
ments, the two people said on
the condition of anonymity.
Further, most banks also
require one or two weeks to
respond to capital calls and may
find it hard to meet capital-call
timelines by the end of March,
they added.
A finance ministry spokes-
person did not respond to que-
ries.
Mint reported in February
that nearly 100 private equity
and venture capital funds have
been impacted by top banks
rejecting capital calls citing the
RBI circular.
According to the first person
cited above, no one realistically
believes that any fund manager
will label a large bank, let alone
a state-owned bank, as a
defaulter, bringing into ques-
tion how the AIFs will catego-
rize these commitments as
defaults within the current Sebi
A slowing TCS aims for a growth blitz next year and beyond
FROM PAGE 1
nesses to scale up in emerg-
ing industries like electric cars,
semiconductor designs and
digital currencies, especially in
light of the emergence of gen-
erative AI, according to some
of the slides of a presentation
that were reviewed by Mint.
On the geography front,
TCS is expected to strengthen
its offerings in European
countries such as Spain and
Italy, and in the Latin Ameri-
can continent as well.
“A leadership refresh across
the organization” was another
important subject of discus-
sion during the event,
although Mint could not inde-
pendently ascertain what it
for the same. As the financial
year comes to a close, clarity is expansion of the list is a step
urgently needed on this mat- in that direction.”
ter,” Pai added. The latest notification
There is expectation that dated 1 March, which Mint has
RBI might allow for a carve-out reviewed, takes the total
for certain funds, but it may number of commodity deriv-
need to be clearly defined, the atives to 104.
people cited above added. Commodity derivatives
Under an AIF structure, hedging enables a company to
RBI’s 19 December circular asked lenders to sell their investments vehicles of investments are protect itself from fluctua-
in AIFs linked to their debtor companies. MINT pooled from limited partners tions in input or final product
(LPs) or investors in these prices by locking in prices on
framework. investors, and also force trans- funds, to invest further in capi- exchanges like LME, Shang- The Union finance ministry has notified 13 new commodities for
The ‘defaulting investor’ fer of the units to third parties. tal seeking startups and firms. hai and home-grown ones like derivatives trading, including manganese and freight. MINT
clause in various fund PPMs “AIF managers do have some The RBI circular has wide- MCX and NCDEX, which
(private placement memoran- degree of discretion (on who spread implications because offer bullion products and products to corporates to NCDEX in farm products like
dums) is meant to be a deter- they can label as a defaulter) in several central government crude oil options. hedge their price risk and guar, cotton, castor and jeera.
rent to any inves- their application, ministries and departments According to Harish V., speculators to take informed MCX and NCDEX were
tor who may con- Nearly 100 PE and but will need to have floated thematic and sec- head of commodity research punts,” Harish said. “They can founded in 2003, while NSE
template a default VC funds have justify the same to tor-specific funds of funds to at Geojit Financial Services, replicate success in gold seen began its commodity segment
in drawdowns to been impacted by other Investors in help meet the capital needs of new products like freight in the past five years.” in 2018 and BSE last year.
AIFs. top banks the AIFs,” said companies in those sectors. indices can help corporates MCX is the country’s larg- Commodities like pulses,
While this dif- Siddarth Pai, Even states such as Karna- which have utilized domestic est commodity derivatives edible oils and sugar have been
fers from AIF to
rejecting capital
executive council taka, Gujarat and Maharashtra exchanges to hedge gold and platform with a 98.3% market banned for trading by Sebi.
AIF, normal calls citing the RBI member of the have their own AIFs to support silver price risk especially in share in January (Rs 30.28 The most popular commodity
inclusions in such circular PE/VC industry specific industries and startups, the past five years. Commodi- trillion turnover). The second derivatives are gold, silver,
a provision allow body Indian Ven- and most of them rely on gov- ties like MCX offer products biggest is NSE with 1.2% mar- crude and natural gas, copper,
AIFs to hold back ture and Alternate ernment banks, who are key like copper, nickel, lead and ket share (Rs 0.38 trillion), zinc and aluminium. An MCX
units of defaulting investors, Venture Capital Association. limited partners. aluminium where small users followed by NCDEX (0.5% or spokesperson said the newly
impose a penalty at a particular “Auditors may ask for these Mint reported last week on can hedge price risk. Rs 0.12 trillion). notified commodities will help
rate of interest, take legal action justifications and may report how several top banks have “The new items, if The MCX specializes in in “deepening and developing
against the defaulting investors, the same in their audit report. walked back on capital com- launched by the exchanges, metals and energy contracts, the Indian commodity deriva-
pause all distributions to such Many funds may not have a reg- mitments. will give a bigger bouquet of NSE in crude oil options and tives market.”
would entail. cent. He asked each of the the executive cited how ance on how the company will
Finally, TCS wants to fur- business units to think of one National Employment Savings do in the next financial year.”
ther grow its share of business audacious or bold idea that Trust first awarded a $1.8 bil- The renewed vigour at this
from some of its larger custom- could eventually become a big lion, 18-year contract to French year’s Blitz was in contrast to
ers, even as Chandrasekaran business opportunity for the IT firm Atos in 2021 only to the listless sentiment last year
and Krithivasan nudged the company,” the first executive cancel the deal two years later, when a fortnight after the stra-
teams to collaborate with other said on condition of anonym- eventually leading to TCS win- tegic event, incumbent CEO
group firms of the Tata group. ity as he is not the spokesper- ning the contract last year. Rajesh Gopinathan abruptly
But above all, TCS expects son of the company. “The digi- “TCS is expected to do bet- resigned, paving the way for the
faster growth next fiscal year, tal and platform story in India ter in FY25 than in the current appointment of Krithivasan.
according to the executives is one example which the year,” said a Mumbai-based For over two decades, TCS
cited above, because of a string chairman cited, saying how analyst at a foreign brokerage. has served as the Tata group’s
of large deals. Earlier this year, there is no reason why India “The problem is that the com- crown jewel and cash
TCS won a $2.5 billion deal should not become a $10 bil- pany does not give any gui- machine, spewing billions of
over 15 years from British Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman, Tata Sons. BLOOMBERG lion market for us (TCS),” said dance. So, it’s difficult to inter- dollars of cash, almost all of
insurance group Aviva, which the executive. pret if this double-digit growth which is returned to share-
was the third such mega deal $1.1-billion contract for 10 years by Tata Motors, awarded $1 bil- “Companies like Atos and is an aspiration or an internal holders. Tata Sons, which
(IT contracts valued at over $1 from the National Employ- lion for work over five years to Kyndryl are struggling for target. (But) the sales engine is owns 72.4%, has used that cash
billion) won by the company ment Savings Trust, one of the the IT company. growth and customers of these doing well and that shows up to fund the group’s new bold
under Krithivasan, who took UK’s largest workplace pen- “Chandra reminded us that companies is another area we in large deal wins. I guess we’ll bets, including building a digi-
over as the boss last June. sion schemes. And in Septem- as the market leader, we need to tap better,” said a sec- need to hear the management tal business under Tata Digital
In June itself, TCS bagged a ber, Jaguar Land Rover, owned should not become compla- ond executive. For instance, post the first quarter perform- and buying planes.
LIVEMINT.COM CORPORATE MoNDay, 4 March 2024
New Delhi 07

Sony India renews exclusive media Indie films hog the

spotlight through
rights deal with UEFA for 3 years festival premieres
Lata Jha
lata.j@htlive.com
NEw DELhI
The broadcaster will be airing over 1,600 football matches across its channels for three seasons, as per the deal
A
mid shifting dynamics
in the movie industry
Gaurav Laghate UEFA, told Mint that he sees huge post-covid, content-
gaurav.laghate@livemint.com potential in India. driven movies, lacking big
NEw DELhI UEFA has been with Sony for the budgets or star power, are stra-
last seven years. Before that, it was tegically leveraging interna-

S
ony Pictures Networks with Ten Sports, which was acquired tional film festivals to bolster
India (SPNI) has renewed its by Sony. The partnership between their marketing initiatives for
exclusive media rights deal the broadcaster and UEFA has been theatrical releases in India.
with the Union of European over 15 years. “If we look at audiences, In recent weeks, Zee Stu- Non-star driven films face
Football Associations and the commercial value compared dios’ Joram, Karan Johar’s Kill, challenges in attracting
(UEFA) for another three seasons to other markets, it is not massive, but and Aamir Khan-backed Laa- audiences to cinemas.
until 2026-2027. we can see a great opportunity if we pata Ladies, among others,
As part of the agreement, the can grow the interest. And for our have announced theatrical cinema, Sampat added.
broadcaster will be airing over 1,600 partners locally, I can tell you that our releases after touring the Industry experts said mar-
football matches, spanning the UEFA sponsors are very keen that we go international film festival cir- keting strategies for niche
Champions League, UEFA Europa strong in India because everybody cuit. This move is significant films revolve around harness-
League, UEFA Conference League, has India, in their mind. We have a considering that non-star ing social and digital media,
UEFA Super Cup, and UEFA Youth deal now until 2027, for the club driven films face challenges in capitalizing on the festival pre-
League, across its channels for three competitions, and within the next attracting audiences to cine- mieres and initiating discus-
seasons. three to four years, we hope to see a mas, as big-budget spectacles sions around them. Moreover,
Sony and UEFA did not disclose significant increase in our regional take the spotlight. the added allure stems from
the financial details of the agreement. audience in the market,” Guy-Lau- “Releasing films theatrically critics’ reviews and word-of-
However, they said that the idea is to rent Epstein, UEFA Events SA mar- post festive runs offers several mouth endorsements.
bolster the popularity of football, the keting director, UEFA, told Mint. advantages to both filmmakers Considering the niche and
third most watched sport in India, When asked about the impact of and theatres. First, it allows non-star nature of such films,
after cricket and kabaddi. cricket on the value and competitive- these films to traditional mar-
Following the renewal, Sony ness of other sports, Epstein said build a buzz and Industry experts keting initiatives
Sports Network now holds rights to The move aims to bolster the popularity of football, the third most watched sport in India. GETTY IMAGES cricket does not hinder commercial gain recognition say the marketing such as celebrity
most of the popular football events, success, and there were ample oppor- through festival strategies for endorsements or
excluding the English Premier Football’ in India, we eagerly antici- UEFA properties feature some of ing fans with more matches between tunities for all sports to thrive. “The screenings, gen- niche films often extensive adver-
League (EPL) and FIFA tournaments. pate showcasing over 1,600 highly the most popular European clubs, top teams. market is so big that there is opportu- erating anticipa- tising campaigns
revolve around
Media rights for the 2026 FIFA World competitive football matches across such as Real Madrid, Manchester Furthermore, UEFA’s leading club nity all across the subcontinent. The tion among peo- may yield limited
Cup is yet to be sold. these leagues to our viewers.” United, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, competitions will no longer feature a biggest challenge for us is to grow our ple who may be harnessing social results. Instead,
Rajesh Kaul, chief revenue officer, Between UEFA, Bundesliga, FA Manchester City and Liverpool. break in January, ensuring uninter- exposure, to grow our interest in the eager to experi- and digital media targeted promo-
distribution and international busi- Cup, Saudi Pro League, Durand Cup, In the upcoming season, the UEFA rupted European club football from competition, and to make sure that ence them on the tions on online
ness, and head, sports business, August to May. “There is a big people get into football for more. And big screen. Sec- platforms, engag-
SPNI, said the network has a ExpAndInG GoAlS vision in India for the develop- I can see that there is a willingness not ond, it caters to audiences ing with independent cinema
longstanding commitment to ment of football, going forward, only from us but from the local looking for unique and diverse enthusiasts, and collaborating
showcasing the finest football Sony Sports UEFA Champions UEFA properties Sony and and we should piggyback on authorities to make professional foot- content beyond mainstream with influencers who resonate
content. “Since 2020, UEFA Network now holds
rights to most of the
League viewership
in India has surged
feature some of the
most popular clubs,
UEFA did not
disclose the
that to grow our presence here. ball a major sport in the country.” releases, thereby expanding with a film’s themes are good
Champions League viewership popular football by over 51% such as Real Madrid, financial details of We can see that the size of the However, Epstein pointed out that the variety of offerings availa- strategies. Rahul Puri, manag-
in India has surged by over 51%, events post renewal since 2020 Manchester United the agreement market is huge. We are not the considering the size of India and its ble in theatres,” Devang Sam- ing director, Mukta Arts and
attributed largely to the intro- number one sport. I guess we FIFA ranking (117), the balance seems pat, chief executive, Cinepolis Mukta A2 Cinemas, said films’
duction of regional language are in the top three together unfavourable. “There is a big vision to India, said. success at prestigious film fes-
commentary. With the forthcoming and DFB Pokal (German Cup), Sony Champions League will adopt a new with cricket and Kabaddi. But we are ensure that because of the position of Moreover, it provides an tivals, awards or nominations,
transition to a new format, featuring Sports Network will live telecast and format, incorporating four additional looking okay in certain regions. And, India in the world, the performance, opportunity for theatres to give credibility and attract cin-
over 125 additional matches and up to stream over 1,000 football matches clubs, bringing the total to 36 partici- even if we were to reach 10% of the interest and the development of foot- attract niche audiences by ephiles interested in quality
38 early kickoff matches per season every year, added Kaul. “It also helps pating teams. This single-league population, it’s far more than any ball in India will grow. We want to showcasing exclusive and crit- cinema. “Creating engaging
tailored for Indian audiences, we are to get distribution and subscription structure will rank all competing country in Europe. So, it’s a huge help in this development and partici- ically-acclaimed films with the content, director interviews,
confident that this growth will gain revenues for linear TV and OTT ser- clubs together, enhancing the excite- opportunity,” Guy-Laurent Epstein, pate. Our partners like the Premier trend aligning with the grow- or insights into the filmmakin
momentum further. As the ‘Home of vice, SonyLIV.” ment of the tournament and provid- UEFA Events SA marketing director, League will be very helpful in this.” ing demand for independent helps build a connection.”

Reliance arm scouts for sites

for pumped storage projects
Rituraj Baruah
rituraj.baruah@livemint.com
NEw DELhI

R
eliance Industries Ltd
(RIL) is looking to enter
pumped storage projects
(PSP) for hydro power, increas-
ing its focus on clean energy,
two people aware of the matter
said.
Its subsidiary, Reliance New
Energy, is scouting for sites for
the projects, the people said on
the condition of anonymity.
PSPs use cheap green power The company’s subsidiary Reliance New Energy is scouting for
during off-peak hours to lift sites for the projects.
water to a height and release it
to a lower reservoir to turn tur- power generation capacity tion and shift from fossil fuel to
bines that generate electricity under its energy portfolio. RIL, renewable energy, green
when the demand for electric- under its decarbonization pro- energy needs to become des-
ity goes up. “RIL is looking for gramme, is already setting up patchable, and available round
PSP sites and will bid for these solar capacity. the clock. Between BESS and
projects in a big way,” one of the In its annual report for FY23, PSP, the latter is said to be more
people said. RIL said it has made invest- viable in the near term given its
RIL’s planned entry into ments and acquisitions worth cost-effectiveness. In terms of
PSPs may elevate competition ₹6,700 crore in the new energy longevity, with an estimated
in the segment, which has seen segment. The company aims to lifespan of 40 years, PSPs fare
keen interest from several invest a total of ₹75,000 crore better than battery storage,
renewable energy companies in the new energy ecosystem. which has a lifespan of about 10
and business houses. In Sep- Last month, Business Stan- years, according to experts.
tember 2023, Mint reported dard reported that the Union According to CareEdge, the
that NHPC, Tata Power, Adani environment ministry has levelized cost from pumped
Green Energy, Greenko and given the environment-related storage projects (PSP) is around
JSW Energy were among com- go-ahead to PSPs with a capac- ₹4.7 per unit compared to that
panies that have ity of 11.98 GW. from battery energy storage
proposed to build RIL has Pumped stor- system (BESS) at around ₹6.6
PSPs totalling made age projects are per unit, making the former
39GW in the investments gaining momen- more attractive.
country, poten- and acquisitions tum, with the gov- Last April, power ministry
tially attracting ernment’s ambi- issued guidelines on conces-
worth ₹6,700 cr
investments of tious net zero tar- sional climate finance and uni-
₹3.12 trillion. in the new energy g e t a n d t h e form environment clearances
Queries to RIL segment commitment to for pumped storage projects.
were unanswered install 500 GW of According to the Centre, states
till press time. renewable energy must ensure that no upfront
Reliance’s PSP ambitions capacity by 2030. Supply from premium is charged for project
closely align with its plans for renewable sources varies allocation.
solar module manufacturing, according to time, climate, sea- Besides, in a bid to ensure
green hydrogen production son and location, which leads to financing for these capital-in-
and battery energy storage. It is issues with grid balancing, as tensive projects, financial insti-
also constructing the Dhirub- solar power is available only tutions such as Power Finance
hai Ambani Green Energy Giga during the daytime and wind Corp., Rural Electrification
Complex over 5,000 acres in power is available during windy Corp. and Indian Renewable
Jamnagar, Gujarat with five days. Energy Development Agency
giga factories for photovoltaic Energy storage systems will treat PSPs on par with
panels, fuel cell systems, green (ESS) such as battery energy other renewable energy pro-
hydrogen, energy storage and storage systems (BESS) and PSP jects for extending long-term
power electronics, which it come into play in such cases as loans of 20-25 years, as per the
expects to complete in the sec- they can be used for storing norms. The debt-equity ratio of
ond half of this fiscal year. With energy from green sources and the projects can be up to 80:20
PSPs, RIL would take another supplying at other times of the in consultation with the finan-
step towards adding to the day. To achieve energy transi- cial institutions.
08 MoNDay, 4 March 2024
New Delhi GLOBAL LIVEMINT.COM

m MINT SHORTS
Japan govt to consider calling
Elon Musk vs. everyone: New
fight in artificial intelligence
official end to deflation
Japan is discussing officially stating that the country’s economy
has overcome deflation, Kyodo reported. The government will
consider making the statement after taking into account this
year’s wage negotiations to check if pay is increasing in accord-
ance with rising prices. The proposal includes Prime Minister
Fumio Kishida and other members of the cabinet publicly saying
that Japan has exited deflation at meetings, press conferences,
and economic reports, Kyodo said. BLOOMBERG The billionaire is taking aim at Microsoft, Google and Sam Altman—as he looks to build his nascent xAI
Hamas says Gaza truce possible Tim Higgins gle and Microsoft, his lawsuit reopens
feedback@livemint.com questions about Altman’s ambi-
soon if Israel accepts terms tions—questions that the company

T
Gaza Strip: A Hamas official on Sunday said a ceasefire in Gaza he AI wars have begun, and
may be secured “in 24 to 48 hours” if Israel accepts their the humans are throwing
demands. “If Israel agrees to Hamas demands, which include the the first punches.
return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza and increasing There are seemingly
humanitarian aid, that would pave the way for a truce within 24 countless artificial-intelli-
to 48 hours,” said the official. AFP gence startups in Silicon Valley vying
to own the future, but in the past
week or so Elon Musk has been work-
Shehbaz Sharif voted in as ing to make it all about his nascent
xAI against the Big Dogs.
Pakistan’s PM for second time In tweets and a blockbuster lawsuit
AFP
this past week against OpenAI, the
billionaire is framing his rivals as fun-
damentally flawed and unworthy:
Google is woke, Microsoft is over-
reaching and Sam Altman is two-
faced.
Musk, who learned how to throw a
punch on the tough streets of South
Africa, isn’t messing around when it
comes to what he has described as the
“civilizational risk” that AI carries if it
falls into the wrong hands—or the
potential fortunes it could create for
Islamabad: Shehbaz Sharif was voted in on Sunday as Pak- whoever cracks the coding to breathe
istan’s prime minister for a second time, presiding over a humanlike reasoning into machines.
shaky alliance that has shut out followers of jailed opposi- His 35-page complaint filed in a
tion leader Imran Khan. Newly sworn-in lawmakers in Pak- San Francisco court late Thursday is
istan’s National Assembly elected Sharif by 201 votes, three built on what he perceives as the
weeks after national elections marred by widespread alle- hypocrisy of Altman. According to
gations of rigging. AFP the lawsuit, when Altman and Musk
started OpenAI years ago they agreed
it would be a not-for-profit entity to
China, Russia say Moscow must counter the greed of Google—only to
have OpenAI, under Altman’s con-
take part in Ukraine talks trol, later pivot toward moneymaking
Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Galuzin and China’s ventures with Microsoft.
special representative for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, said it was The themes of betrayal and schem-
impossible to discuss a Ukraine settlement without Moscow’s ing alleged by Musk, who parted with
participation, the Russian foreign ministry said on Sunday. The OpenAI in 2018 after a dispute, could
Chinese envoy met with Galuzin during his second trip to Europe easily be plot points in HBO’s “West-
promoting a political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, a tour world,” a TV series about killer robots
that will also include Poland, Ukraine and Germany. REUTERS rising up against their morally broke
corporate masters.
The lawsuit claims that OpenAI
South Korea doctors rally as and Altman—by doing deals with
Microsoft—have chosen to use their
govt calls for end to walkout AI technology “not for the benefit of
South Korean doctors led thousands of protesters in Seoul on humanity, but as proprietary technol-
Sunday as a standoff with the government nears a third week. It ogy to maximize profits for literally
is one of the largest demonstrations yet for a labour action that the largest company in the world.”
has slowed the delivery of health care.Protesters wore masks and No mention was made in the law-
carried banners demanding the government scrap plan to suit of Musk’s own AI ambitions sepa-
increase enrolment in medical schools, footage from broadcaster rate from OpenAI, such as his found-
MBC showed. The Korean Medical Association said about ing of xAI last year as a rival or its
30,000 people are at the march. BLOOMBERG launch of its own chatbot called Grok
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (left) and Elon Musk, his counterpart at X (formerly Twitter.
to compete against Altman’s
ChatGPT. Or Musk’s work at Tesla,
where he is chief executive, to
develop humanoid robots.
When announcing xAI in July,
Musk said his preference, after years
of warning about the dangers of the
technology, would have been a pause
in developing advanced versions of AI
that seek to achieve—what he calls—
digital superintelligence. He
acknowledged that such hope
“doesn’t seem
realistic.”
Instead, Musk is
offering up xAI as
an alternative to rivals, which he has
accused of having liberal biases. He
describes his effort as seeking good
and being “maximally curious.”
“There’s some value to there being
multiple players in the AI space,”
Musk said last month during a public
event on his social-media platform, X.
“You don’t want it to be just a monop-
oly or duopoly.”
Think Coke vs. Pepsi but with
robot minds at stake.
And, in the days before the OpenAI
lawsuit, Musk was on X doing his best
to highlight weaknesses in both Goo-
gle and Microsoft.
He amplified criticisms that Goo-
gle’s AI chatbot, dubbed Gemini, was
giving responses around race and
ethnicity that seemed to some users
as overly politically correct and, in
some cases, laughably wrong when it
came to history, such as showing
Nazi-era German soldiers as being
racially diverse.
“Given that the Gemini AI will be at
the heart of every
Google product
and YouTube, this
is extremely
alarming!” Musk tweeted this past
week. That tweet was one of several
criticisms he posted that eventually,
according to Musk, brought a call
from a high-ranking Google execu-
tive to assure him steps were being
taken to fix things.
“My response to him was that I
doubted that Google’s woke bureau-
cratic blob would *allow* him to fix it,”
Musk said. “Unless those who caused
this are exited from Google, nothing
will change, except to make the bias
less obvious and more pernicious.”
AFP
Google Chief Executive Sundar
Pichai told his staff the chatbot’s
responses were unacceptable and
pledged to “fix it at scale.”
All of the attention was worse than
just bad headlines for Google.
“Gemini is not just a PR disaster—
worse, it’s a recruiting disaster,”
tweeted Lulu Cheng Meservey, a
longtime tech executive and former
chief communications officer at Acti-
vision Blizzard. “Imagine being a
researcher who worked long and
hard on Gemini Pro 1.5 to have the
technical accomplishment be over-
shadowed by this nonsense. Why
would new top talent accept a job
offer from a place like that?”
Around the same time, Musk was
also complaining in numerous tweets
about buying a new computer only to
find that he was being asked to create
a Microsoft account, which, he
claimed, “means giving their AI
access to my account.” He later added
that “since they now require that you
use their services just to use your
computer, @Microsoft can effectively
shut off your computer!”
As Musk casts aspersions on Goo-
had hoped to move past. Late last
year, Altman was briefly fired as CEO
by OpenAI’s board, which said it had
lost confidence in him, only to be
brought back amid pressure from
Microsoft.
Musk has also acknowledged the
spending war to fund AI companies’
development, saying recently it will
take “at least single digit billions in
hardware to have a seat at the adult
table rather than the kiddies’ table
and next year it’s probably in the tens
of billions of hardware to remain at
the adults’ table.”
The expense behind creating the
technology is what necessitated
OpenAI’s evolution as an organiza-
tion beyond being a simple not-for-
profit, Altman has said.
OpenAI concluded it wasn’t
equipped to operate as a not-for-
profit because it was becoming too
costly for the amounts of computer
power needed to train the software
that mimics the way humans think.
“No one wanted to fund this in any
way,” Altman told The Wall Street
Journal last year. “It was a really hard
time.”
The solution was to create a for-
profit arm. This structure allowed
Altman to raise the billions of dollars
he believed was needed to carry on
the mission, including commitments
for as much as $13 billion from Micro-
soft, giving the tech giant effectively
a 49% stake in the earnings of
OpenAI’s for-profit arm.
And Musk isn’t the only one claim-
ing the moral high ground. Altman
has also framed his efforts in a similar
way, worrying about what could hap-
pen if AI is deployed recklessly.
Neither man’s take, perhaps, is that
surprising. The burgeoning field of AI
is full of heady thoughts, including a
question that carries hues of godlike
hubris: Does an AI take on the image
of its maker?
It’s a debate Musk welcomes.
“If that is true, in whose image
would you want the AI to be made?”
Musk asked last month. “People
should think about that.”
© 2024 DOW JONES & CO. INC.

The friendship with Warren Buffett that led to her $1 bn donation

FROM PAGE 1
by phone this past week.
The Gottesmans were
among the friends and part-
ners of Buffett who watched
their early Berkshire invest-
ments compound over dec-
ades into millions and some-
times billions of dollars. Berk-
shire’s Class A shares now
trade above $600,000 apiece,
up from roughly $150 when
Gottesman acquired his stock
through a merger. The com-
pany’s Class B shares were
rolled out in 1996 and trade
around $400.
Buffett and Ruth Gottesman
remain in touch to this day,
and she told him of her plans to
make this $1 billion gift, which
instantly elevated a low-profile
nonagenarian educator into
the ranks of the world’s lead-
ing philanthropists.
Philanthropy in the family
Ruth Levy grew up in Balti-
more as one of four daughters.
Her father ran a family busi-
ness manufacturing straw hats
and built a monumental col-
lection of American sheet
music, including a rare first
edition of “The Star-Spangled
Banner.” Her mother was a
homemaker who also worked
for the city’s welfare depart-
ment and an adoption agency
for Black children. Philan-
thropy was in Ruth’s blood.
Before she was born, her par-
ents were among the founders
of a scholarship program for
Maryland high-school stu-
dents that still exists today.
One of the formative moments
of Ruth’s life came when she
was around 10 years old and
her family took in another
10-year-old girl fleeing Nazi
Germany during World War II.
“She never said goodbye to
her parents and she didn’t
know whether they would be
alive after the war,” Ruth Got-
tesman once said . “That began
a process of seeing others and
feeling their pain.”
When she graduated from
Barnard College in 1952, Ruth
had a hard time finding a job
that suited her. She briefly
worked as an assistant editor at
a food magazine and gave sec-
retarial school a whirl, but nei-
ther stuck. “I flunked short-
hand,” she said. She enrolled at
Columbia University’s Teach-
ers College, where she
received a master’s degree and
then a doctorate in educational
psychology. In 1968, she joined
the Children’s Evaluation and
Rehabilitation Center at Ein-
stein, where she developed
evaluation and treatment pro-
grams for children with learn-
ing disabilities and started a
program for adult literacy.
Meanwhile, she met Sandy
Gottesman in 1948 and they
married in 1950, when he
graduated from business
school and went to work on
Wall Street. Early in his career,
he began to hear about a guy in
Omaha, Neb., who was simi-
larly obsessed with buying
undervalued stocks.
His name was Warren Buf-
fett. They met in 1962 and kept
talking for the next 60 years.
“From then on,” Sandy Got-
tesman once said, “it was a
complete romance.”
During a visit Gottesman
made to Omaha to see Buffett,
they began chatting in the aft-
ernoon and holed up in Buf-
fett’s office until 3 a.m. When
they tried to leave, they dis-
covered that the building’s
elevator bank had been gated
off from its entrance. They
were locked in the building
until they found someone to
let them out. “It wouldn’t have
bothered us if we couldn’t
have gotten out,” Buffett says
today. When they couldn’t talk
Warren Buffett with Charlie Munger, vice chairman, Berkshire Hathaway.
in person, they spoke by
phone on Sundays. By the time
they hung up around mid-
night, Gottesman felt like he’d
chugged a double espresso. “I
was so stirred up and so
excited I didn’t go to sleep for a
couple of hours,” he said.
(Gottesman rarely spoke
with the media, but he made
an exception to discuss Buf-
fett. Most of his comments in
this article were taken from a
2016 interview with filmmaker
Peter Kunhardt , who directed
the HBO documentary
“Becoming Warren Buffett.”)
Their personal friendship
turned into a professional
relationship by 1966, when
Buffett was looking for com-
panies to buy and Gottesman
called him with an idea: What
about buying a department
store in Baltimore?
As it happened, the depart-
ment store Hochschild Kohn
was run by Ruth’s extended
family (her mother was a
Kohn), and Sandy knew they
were ready to sell. Buffett,
Munger and Gottesman
formed a company called
back gave out when he
reached for his wallet to pay
for gas on his way to the
course. He thought about can-
celing, but he kept driving to
meet Gottesman.
“Not only did I become a
good friend of Sandy’s, but our
wives became very good
friends, and the families
became friends with each
other,” Buffett says.
Buffett’s first wife, Susie,
was a singer. Ruth accompa-
nied her on piano. When the
Buffetts traveled to New York
after the Berkshire annual
meeting, they would end their
trip with a visit to the Gottes-
mans, who called the part of
their Rye, N.Y., house where
AP their guests from Nebraska
stayed “the Buffett wing.”
Diversified Retailing and stocks like Apple , Coca-Cola During one of those after-
bought it. It soon became clear and American Express , pro- noons at the Gottesman home,
they had made a big mistake. pelling Berkshire’s growth Ruth shyly mentioned that she
“We had a lemon on our into one of the most valuable had just received her doctor-
hands,” Buffett says. U.S. companies. ate. Buffett knew she was
Munger once put it another Since the Diversified “very, very, very bright,” he
way: “Buying Hochschild merger, Berkshire’s stock has says, but he was impressed by
Kohn was like the story of a soared more than 400,000%, her modesty. He told her that if
man who buys a yacht: The compared with the S&P 500’s he had gotten a doctorate, he
two happy days are the day he total return of roughly would have bought a full-page
buys it and the day he sells it.” 18,000%. ad in the newspaper. “Ruth
It was an espe- never wants to draw attention
cially happy day The Gottesmans ‘Very, very, very to herself,” he said. “She just
when Gottesman watched their bright’ isn’t that sort of person.”
was able to resell early Berkshire Gottesman and Sandy Gottesman was the
the department investments Buffett’s friend- same way. He was elected to
store for only a
compound over ship lasted much Berkshire’s board in 2003 and
minimal loss. longer than their remained a director until his
They eventually decades into ownership of the death in 2022. But he spent
turned a lemon millions department most of his life allergic to pub-
into lemonade. store. “We never licity, almost never speaking
The three part- had an argument with the press or explaining
ners merged Diversified, which or even a disagreement of any the decisions of First Manhat-
by then owned a separate chain kind, and we were in a lousy tan, the investment company
of women’s clothing stores, into business together to start,” he founded in 1964 that mana-
Berkshire at the end of 1978, Buffett says. The one area ges more than $20 billion
handing Diversified stockhold- where they couldn’t agree was today. He said there was a rea-
ers a golden ticket: shares of how they met. Gottesman son he chose to remain under
Berkshire. always said that a mutual the radar. “The only time a
Over the years, Buffett friend introduced them for whale gets harpooned is when
acquired businesses from lunch. Buffett insists they were he surfaces,” he said in an
See’s Candies to insurer Geico supposed to play golf, which interview for his New York
and placed successful bets on he remembers because his Times obituary.
‘The results have been
spectacular’
Ruth Gottesman kept busy
after she retired as a professor
emerita in 2001, joining Ein-
stein’s board of trustees, serv-
ing as chair from 2007 to 2014
and returning to that leader-
ship role in 2020.
She took some time after
Sandy’s death before she came
up with an idea for how to use
the Berkshire stock he left to
her: to make Einstein tuition-
free. Einstein charges more
than $60,000 a year in tuition,
but living expenses bring the
annual price of attending the
four-year medical school in
New York closer to $100,000.
By making it more affordable,
she’s hoping to make it more
accessible.
The Gottesmans were
already major donors whose
name can be found on institu-
tions from the American
Museum of Natural History to
the Israel Aquarium. Ruth and
Sandy also gave $25 million in
2008 to Einstein and had a
research institute and teaching
center named after them there.
But for one of the largest
philanthropic contributions in
the history of U.S. higher edu-
cation, Gottesman wished to
remain anonymous before she
was persuaded to attach her
name to the billion-dollar gift.
When she agreed to be recog-
nized, she made an unusual
request: She asked that Ein-
stein not be renamed in her
honor. Since then, Gottesman
has shied away from the spot-
light, turning down media
requests after granting an
interview to the New York
Times to explain her donation.
She declined to comment
for this article.
Her lone appearance was in
a packed auditorium on Mon-
day morning at Einstein,
where students assembled
with no idea why they had
been called to a mandatory
meeting. The future doctors
screamed, jumped out of their
seats and cried when Gottes-
man made her announcement.
Buffett wrote in a 2023 let-
ter to shareholders of the
pleasure that he and Munger,
who died in November , took
from watching “the vast flow of
Berkshire-generated funds” to
satisfying public needs, rather
than “look-at-me assets and
dynasty building.” Buffett
pledged in 2006 to donate all
of his Berkshire shares to phi-
lanthropy and said in 2021 that
he was halfway there. His
remaining shares, according
to a November filing, are now
worth around $130 billion.
In his letter, Buffett high-
lighted the Berkshire investors
who eventually give much of
their money to philanthropic
organizations which then
work to “improve the lives of a
great many people who are
unrelated to the original bene-
factor.”
“Sometimes,” he wrote, “the
results have been spectacular.”
Ruth Gottesman’s gift was
one of those times.
“She could change all these
people’s lives by giving up
something that wasn’t actually
important to her and would be
hugely important to thou-
sands of people over time,”
Buffett said this past week.
Ruth has said that she thinks
and hopes Sandy would be
pleased by her decision. He
once said that the Berkshire
investment allowed the Got-
tesmans to make charitable
gifts “that have brought joy to
the whole family,” for which he
owed Buffett more than a toast.
“He’s had an enormous
influence on my life,” he said,
“and my wife’s life.”
© 2024 DOW JONES & CO. INC.
LIVEMINT.COM
NEWS
4.1 cr
THE NUMBER of transactions processed
IN by the NEFT system on 29 February, the
NUMBERS highest ever in a day, according to the
Reserve Bank of India.
India, UAE eye $100
bn non-oil trade
T L
he target of $100 billion non-oil trade
between India and the UAE by 2030 is
ambitious but achievable as huge business
opportunities are there in both the nations for
sectors such as textiles, jewellery and pharma,
CII president R. Dinesh said on Sunday. He said
that the free trade agreement between India and
the UAE, which was implemented in May 2022,
has resulted in a surge in bilateral trade and
investments. Dinesh was here to participate in
global investors’ event ‘Investopia’ and various
bilateral meetings, including with many
participants at the WTO (World Trade
Organisation) Ministerial Conference.
He said that the agreement, officially dubbed
as comprehensive economic partnership
agreement, covers duty-free access to all labour-
intensive sectors such as gems and jewellery,
textiles and apparel, leather, pharmaceuticals,
medical devices, and many engineering
products. PTI
Union minister for railways, communications and
electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw.
‘1,000 Amrit Bharat
REUTERS
trains to be made’
I
ndia will manufacture at least 1,000 new-
generation Amrit Bharat trains in the
coming years while work is also underway
to make trains that can run at 250 kmph,
railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on
Saturday.
In an exclusive interview to PTI-Videos, he
also said the Railways has already started
F
working on the export of Vande Bharat trains
and the first export is expected within the
next five years.
While speaking on the transformational
initiatives taken by the Railways in the last 10
years of the Narendra Modi government, he
said the world’s highest railway bridge
(Chenab bridge) and the first under-river
water tunnel (for the Kolkata metro) are some
of the significant technological advancements
that happened in the rail sector.
Vaishnaw also spoke on the beginning of
the construction of India’s first under-sea
tunnel between Mumbai and Thane as part of
the ongoing Bullet train project and said there
are about only five countries in the world that
have such technologies. PTI
INS Jatayu to be
commissioned
T
he Indian Navy will commission Naval
Detachment Minicoy as INS Jatayu on
6 March, a move that seeks to
“incrementally augment” security
infrastructure at the strategically important
Lakshadweep Islands, according to officials.
The commissioning will take place in the
presence of navy chief admiral R. Hari Kumar,
they said on Saturday.
“The event marks an important milestone in
the Navy’s resolve to incrementally augment
security infrastructure at the strategically
important Lakshadweep Islands,” a senior
official said. Naval Detachment Minicoy was
setup in early 1980s under the operational
command of Naval Officer-in-Charge
(Lakshadweep). Minicoy is the southern most
island of Lakshadweep which straddles the vital
Sea Lines of Communications (SLOCs). Basing
of an independent naval unit with requisite
infrastructure and resources will enhance the
overall operational capability of the Indian Navy
in the islands, the official said. PTI
Indian navy to open strategic base near Maldives
I
ndia’s navy has said it is bolstering forces on “strategically important” islands
close to the Maldives, with a new base set to open just days before Male starts
sending home Indian forces.
Relations between India and the Maldives have soured since pro-China
President Mohamed Muizzu won elections last year after promising to expel
Indian forces. India is suspicious of China’s growing presence in the
archipelago nation, which straddles key east-west international shipping
routes, and the new base will extend New Delhi’s “operational surveillance” of
the area, the navy said in a statement late Saturday.
Muizzu has asked India to withdraw 89 security personnel based in the
Maldives to operate reconnaissance aircraft, with the first batch due to leave by
10 March and all to depart within two months.
The new base, opening 6 March on India’s Lakshadweep islands, will turn an
existing small detachment into an “independent naval unit”, according to the
navy’s statement.
3.79%
THE PERCENTAGE of expenditure on
paan, tobacco and intoxicants as a portion
of total household spending in rural India
in 2022-23, up from 3.21% in 2011-12.
TRAFFIC HURDLE
Vehicles stranded on Jammu-Srinagar national highway after it was closed for traffic early Saturday following landslides, mudslides and shooting
stones, triggered by heavy rainfall, in Srinagar, on Sunday.
Farmer leaders give a 4-hour
‘rail roko’ call for 10 March
The farmer leaders asserted that the farmers’ ongoing agitation will be intensified
PTI
feedback@livemint.com
CHANdIGARH
armer leaders Sarwan Singh Pandher and
Jagjit Singh Dallewal on Sunday gave a
call to the farmers across the nation to
reach Delhi on 6 March for a protest
while they also gave a four-hour ‘rail
roko’ countrywide call for 10 March in support of
their various demands.
The two farmer leaders asserted that the farm-
ers’ ongoing agitation will be intensified at the
existing protest points and will continue till their
demands are met by the government.
They were speaking in Bathinda district’s Bal-
loh village, the native village of a farmer who died
recently during clashes with the Haryana security
personnel in Khanauri.
Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) are spearhead-
ing the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march by the farmers to press
‘Bharat Tex to be an annual affair’
AEPC said that as many as 63 agreements
were announced during the expo. PTI
T via drones: Officials
he mega textile exhibition—Bharat
Tex 2024—will now be held every
year in the country as the first
event which concluded last week
witnessed participation of over 3,500
exhibitors and 3,000 buyers from 111
countries, Apparel Export Promotion
PTI The new base will open on 6 March on Lakshadweep islands.
NEWS WRAP MoNDay, 4 March 2024
New Delhi 09
$2 bn
THE WEALTH of Sam Altman, primarily
$6.4 bn
THE AVERAGE weekly inflows for
38,000
THE NUMBER of meals the US military
derived from his investments in various VC US investment-grade debt in February, airdropped in an emergency humanitarian
funds and startups, according to Bloomberg.
He does not hold shares in OpenAI.
up 10% from $5.8 billion in January,
according to JPMorgan Chase.
aid operation over Gaza, in what is
expected to be the 1st of such operations.
HOWINDIALIVES.COM
LIC Housing Fin to
issue green bonds
IC Housing Finance, the mortgage arm of
insurance behemoth LIC, plans to
mobilize funds through green bonds in
the coming financial year with an aim to
finance environmentally-sustainable housing
projects. “Green financing is something that
we will look at the next year and we would
deploy the fund for financing green housing
projects,” LIC Housing Finance MD and CEO
Tribhuwan Adhikari told PTI in an interaction.
LIC Housing Finance will have its board
meeting on 7 March to consider and approve
the borrowing plan for 2024-2025 through
loans or issue of redeemable non-convertible
debentures, zero couponed bonds,
subordinate debt, Tier II bonds or any other
means approved by the regulator.
The non-core businesses include Loan
Against Property (LAP) and affordable housing
finance, he said. PTI
PTI
Nasscom chairman Rajesh Nambiar stressed that
$48.9 bn BPM sector has evolved quite a bit. MINT
BPO sector faces AI
risk: Nasscom chair
W
orkers in the business process
outsourcing (BPO) sector are at the
maximum risk of getting impacted by
the influx of generative artificial intelligence, IT
industry body Nasscom’s chairman Rajesh
the government to accept their demands, which tractor trolleys,” Pandher said addressing the Nambiar has said. Nambiar, who is also the
includes that the Centre should give a legal guar- gathering at Balloh. chairman and managing director of global
antee of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for “At Shambhu and Khanauri, the agitation will technology major Cogniozant’s India unit, said
the crops. Both forums decided that while the continue like before and will be further intensi- workers in the software services industry, the
farmers from Punjab and Haryana will continue fied. Our agitation will continue till the demands Indian tech industry’s mainstay, do not have
to support the ongoing agitation at Shambhu and are met,” he added. Pandher said the two forums much to worry. “People who work on process
Khanauri border to spread this agita- related industry, which we traditionally used to
points, the farmers tion countrywide call as BPO...Some of that runs the risk of getting
and farm labourers They were speaking in Bathinda’s call upon the farm- replaced with an AI engine pretty quickly,” he
from other states Balloh village, the native village of a ers and labourers said at a seminar organized in Pune over the
should reach Delhi across the country weekend.
on 6 March for a farmer who died during clashes with that the ‘rail roko’ He stressed that the $48.9 billion BPM
protest in the the Haryana security personnel protest will be held (business process management) industry has
national capital in in the country from evolved quite a bit from merely managing
support of the farm- 12 pm to 4 pm on 10 simple business processes. PTI
ers’ demands. March to put pressure on the government to meet
“The farmers from far away states, who cannot the farmers’ demands.
reach on tractor trolleys, should head to Delhi by Pandher said that all Punjab panchayats should
trains and by other means of transport. It will also pass a resolution in support of the farmers’
become clear whether the government allows demands and from every village a tractor trolley
Godrej & Boyce up
those farmers to enter (Delhi) who go without reaches the protest border points.
focus on small cities
G
odrej & Boyce is aiming to invest about
₹40 crore over the next three years to
expand its distribution footprint for its
consumer brands in the tier-II and tier-III cities.
The fresh investments by the company,
Council said on Sunday. which sells interior solutions, furniture,
Apparel Export Promotion appliances and locks, will see its footprint
Council said that as many as 63 getting doubled to more than 400 towns by
agreements were announced during the FY27, a senior official has said.
expo with international institutions “G&B plans to spend around ₹10-15 crore
focusing on collaborations in research, every year on store expansion and renovation
innovation, entrepreneurship, new for the next three years,” a company
product development, skilling and spokesperson told PTI. The company is
sustainability. targeting to grow its topline by 15-20% per year,
“The Bharat Tex expo will be an and it hopes for the store expansion to be one
annual affair,” Apparel Export among several initiatives to realize its aim, the
Promotion Council chairman Sudhir The officials advocated the use of drones for spokesperson added. When asked if the
Sekhri said in a statement. surveillance along maritime borders. BLOOMBERG expansion activities will be franchisee-driven,
He said the industry is working on the spokesperson said the store expansion will
sustainable production practices as it
would help enhance the competitiveness
Maritime security be both “company and channel-driven”. PTI
of the sector in the international market.
He added that the mantra given by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi to boost
‘Used car mkt size
S
textiles exports through 5F—Farm to ecurity agencies are devising plans to
Fiber, Fiber to Factory, Factory to
Fashion, Fashion to Foreign—will
implement drone surveillance systems along
the coastal regions of Mumbai and Goa to to touch $100 bn’
energize the textiles export sector. PTI bolster maritime security, officials said on Sunday.
I
This comes in the wake of a recent incident ndian used car market is expected to touch
where three individuals from Kuwait reached the $100 billion-mark in the next ten years
the Gateway of India, underscoring on the back of rising disposable incomes
vulnerabilities in the current coastal security and a growing middle class, according to
setup, they said. The trio—Nitso Ditto (31), Vijay
Vinay Anthony (29) and J. Sahayatta Anish (29)
CARS24 co-founder and CEO Vikram Chopra.
As per the findings of the Gurugram-based
—had navigated Indian waters after absconding online used car marketplace, there are
with a boat from their employer in Kuwait, changes in market dynamics with customers
alleging mistreatment. Upon surrendering to opting for frequent upgrades when it comes to
the authorities, they were arrested for violating cars.
the Passport (Entry into India) Rules. The “According to our internal study, the
officials expressed concerns that the individuals anticipated growth of the Indian used car
could have easily blended into the local market is set to occur at a 15% CAGR,
populace undetected. increasing from $25 billion in 2023 to $100
A forensic analysis of their Global Positioning billion by 2034,” Chopra told PTI in an
System (GPS) had many missing patches, with interaction.
the trio claiming they had switched off the set to The growth trajectory is propelled by
save battery, the officials said. These, the various factors unique to the Indian market,
officials feel, could be misused by anti-national including urbanization and a growing middle
elements and advocated for use of drones class, which is changing consumer
extensively for maintaining surveillance along preferences and boosting the demand for
ISTOCKPHOTO the country’s maritime borders. PTI affordable mobility solutions, he added. PTI
10 MoNDay, 4 March 2024
New Delhi LONG STORY LIVEMINT.COM

WILL GENERAL ATLANTIC’S

ShIP SurvIvE thE Byju’S hIt?
The PE firm invested nearly $400 million in Byju’s. It may turn to dust

Ranjani Raghavan and Sneha Shah about $560 million—which is over 10% of Investors put money to work when out of the crowded affordable fashion their specific value.
mint
MUMBAI its total investment in India. they think they can make returns in the SHORT market. This could help the company sus-
Unacademy isn’t in great shape. The shortest time possible. A delay in the exit STORY tain profitability. Learning from Byju’S

T
O
n 27 January, Byju’s, once company made a string of acquisitions timeline typically reduces the returns his brings us back to how General
India’s largest edtech com- between 2018 and 2022—about 13 of percentage from that investment. “It is WhaT Worked Atlantic’s India strategy is likely to
WHAT
pany valued at $22 billion, them—and launched a series of new
launched a rights issue or products. Most of them are now dead, or
an issue where a company are operating on the sidelines, Mint had
clear that many of General Atlantic’s
tech investments will take a longer time
to yield results,” said an investment General Atlantic invested
O n the brighter side, General Atlantic shape up, going forward. One thing is
has booked several profitable exits, clear. After the Byju’s episode, the PE firm
especially over the past two-four years, will seek to invest in companies where it is
raises capital from only existing investors. reported on 22 February. Faced with a banker tracking the firm, who asked not $380 million in Byju’s. which could balance out its loss-making able to exert a greater influence. It has also
This put General Atlantic, a global pri- slowdown in online coaching, Unacad- to be identified. But since the PE firm did bets. It exited Capital Foods, which sells invested nearly $1 billion in two Reliance
vate-equity fund with $83 billion in assets emy has pivoted to offline classes, where not invest in the recent rights noodles and sauces under the brand entities—Jio Platforms and Reliance
under management, in a quandary—to it faces entrenched players such as Allen TrouBLe in non-Tech issue, its stake is likely to get Ching’s Secret, at close to 2.5 times its ini- Retail Ventures—for a fraction of a stake.
invest more or refuse. Career Institute and Aakash Educa-
Byju’s, run by its charismatic founder tional Services.
Byju Raveendran, has been struggling General Atlantic also invested around
I n the non-tech basket, General Atlantic
is struggling with its investment in PNB
Housing Finance.
severely diluted. tial investment, when the business was While most investors view investments in
sold to Tata Consumer Products this Jan- Reliance entities as safe, it is unlikely they
uary, two people cited above, with knowl- can influence the group’s strategy.
with bleeding acquisitions, governance $50 million in NoBroker, an online real Ahead of the housing finance com- AND edge of the development, said. “The firm wants to do larger deals than
slip-ups and lawsuits estate platform. The pany’s initial public offering (IPO) in General Atlantic also what it has done in the
filed by investors. Gen- company filed its 2016, the PE firm acquired shares at Some other tech and non-tech stands to make at least past and deals where it
eral Atlantic first
TOP INVESTMENTS 2021-22 financial state- around ₹750-775 apiece. Thereafter, it investments are shaky, too. On $750-775 million on its
TOP EXITS has higher influence,”
invested in the edtech General Atlantic’s edtech ments in December doubled its investment in subsequent the positive side, the firm has investment in deposi- General Atlantic has booked one of the persons cited
company in 2018 and portfolio looks shaky right now 2023, after a 15-month years, acquiring shares at a higher price booked several profitable exits, tory and registry services several profitable exits above said.
(in $ million) which could balance out its (in $ million)
then topped up its delay. It reported a 63% from the open market. In 2018, it paid company KFin Technol- This would mean tak-
investments in subse- jump in losses to ₹309 approximately ₹1,279 per share to acquire loss-making bets. ogies, which it partly KIMS 400* ing up 30-80% stake in
Jio Platforms 600
quent funding rounds crore though its revenue a tranche from Carlyle. In 2019, it paid sold in December 2023. investments, starting
to maintain its stake of PhonePe 460 also grew by 96% to ₹326 around ₹850 per share, according to data While it has booked $275 360 One
400* with $100 million deals.
about 6%. Overall, its crore. The 2022-23 platform VCCEdge. NOW million out of its invest- (IIFL Wealth) Over time, the firm can
investment in the com- Byju’s 380 statements are not avail- However, PNB Housing Finance is trad- ment, its balance shares invest up to $350 mil-
After the Byju’s experience, the CitiusTech 307
pany today total $380 able on the Registrar of ing lower now—on 1 March, its shares are worth over $500 mil- lion. Typically, investors
million. The invest- Reliance Companies. closed at 727.50 a piece. PE firm will seek to invest in lion, the people cited KFin take this approach so
350 275
ments were made at Retail Ventures None of the two tech Yet another star investment for General companies where it is able to above said. KFin Tech- Technologies that they are able to
various valuations but Acko 275 investments cited above Atlantic is Rubicon Research, a pharma- exert a greater influence. It may nologies could well turn monitor growth over
Capital
its cost averaged at a are expected to be a write ceutical company. It acquired about 54% also concentrate on capital out to be the PE firm’s Foods
166 time. This is exactly
valuation of under $3 Unacademy 180 off—certainly not at the in Rubicon in 2019 for around $100 mil- efficient companies. star investment out of what General Atlantic
Source: Mint Research; *VCCircle Research
billion, investors Mint scale of Byju’s—but Gen- lion. This investment, too, looks shaky. India. The firm also did with Byju’s too. But
spoke to said. eral Atlantic did have Rubicon reported double digit profits till made $800 million by from now on, portfolio
The rights issue, however, was dirt another stroke of bad luck, in October March 2021. Thereafter, it has reported upgrade the plant with all regulatory selling its stake in Kerala Institute of Medi- companies can expect more due diligence.
cheap. Byju’s was only valuing itself at $20 2022. It invested in BillDesk, a payments two consecutive years of losses—loss of approvals in place remains critical,” the cal Sciences and 360 One (previously IIFL In addition, General Atlantic will con-
million to raise $200 million, and General gateway business, first in 2016. South Afri- ₹67.81 crore in 2021-22 and a loss of ₹16.89 Care report stated about Rubicon. Wealth), according to news website centrate more on capital efficient compa-
Atlantic had to pump in only about $12 can investor Prosus NV-backed PayU was crore last year, according to VCCEdge. “General Atlantic chose to invest a sig- VCCircle. In addition, the firm exited data nies, the people quoted above said. This
million to maintain its stake. in talks to acquire BillDesk for $4.7 billion “The company incurred losses mainly nificant part of the company’s revenue analytics business MuSigma, health tech would mean eschewing companies that
“The question was whether it will be but the deal was called off. Prosus on account of expenses incurred towards back into R&D and that contributed to net firm CitiusTech and the National Stock are raising a lot of capital without any clar-
akin to throwing good money behind scrapped the acquisition saying that deal the initial set-up cost and employee cost in losses,” said one person with knowledge of Exchange between 2019-2022. The deals ity on the use of proceeds.
bad,” said a person familiar with the PE conditions were unmet, though people Advagen Pharma Ltd, which is a newly the firm’s thinking. He didn’t want to be fetched handsome returns. “Most of these
firm’s thinking in India. He didn’t want to familiar with the move told Mint at the formed company,” a Care Ratings report identified either. The firm, meanwhile, exits have returned 2.5X to 5X on invest- STiLL BuLLiSh?
be identified. time that it was because market condi-
General Atlantic’s senior India execu- tions had changed. An exit here could
tives, Sandeep Naik and Shantanu Ras- have added a $700-800 million payday
from 4 October 2023 stated. The report
added that the group’s research and
expenditure (R&D) expenditure had
dabbled in fashion, investing $50-60 mil-
lion in House of Anita Dongre in Novem-
ber 2013. The fashion company reported
ment,” one of the people cited above said.
Overall, in the past three-four years, W
General Atlantic would have made exits startup founders?
ill the Byju’s experience change the
nature of its relationship with

togi, would have debated this over and for General Atlantic. increased from 2018-19 to 2022-23. losses over the preceding four years till that total $2 billion. India, thereby, has We hear the PE firm still wants to be
over again. Investing at this throwaway BillDesk, meanwhile, lost the growth “Furthermore, the group faces intense 2021-22 though it reported a ₹40 lakh been a lucrative market for the firm, not- founder-friendly. In fact, the company has
valuation would have cut its losses. But a momentum as it was readying for the competition in the market with presence profit in 2022-23, according to VCCEdge. withstanding its current troubles with supported founders going through tur-
primary concern was that investors in merger. The company is rebuilding its from the organized and unorganized play- The people cited above said that the the edtech portfolio. General Atlantic moil in the past. CitiusTech is an example.
Byju’s have little to no rights in share pur- business and is aiming for a public listing ers operating in the industry. Hence, the women’s apparel company with its two did not respond to Mint’s questions on General Atlantic invested in Citius in
chase agreements. Raveendran is one of over the next couple of years. ability of the group to continuously brands—AND and Global Desi—is shifting the company’s investments, exits and 2013 and subsequently sold its stake to
the smartest dealmakers in India’s thriv- Baring Private Equity Asia in 2018. Rizwan
ing startup universe and he has learnt Koita, co-founder of CitiusTech, told Mint
from the experiences of entrepreneurs that the PE firm was always supportive.
who lost control of their companies “During the period when General Atlantic
because they gave away way too much was invested, there was a 18 months lull
stake too early. Think of Sachin and when the business did not grow as per tar-
Binny Bansal of Flipkart. By the time gets. General Atlantic was very involved
Walmart acquired the e-commerce and helped us figure things out,” he said.
company in 2018, the duo held around The other question: will the recent
5% stake each. Raveendran, as of now, spate of bad runs switch the firm off the
holds over a fifth of his company—22%. tech sector? Apart from edtech, the firm
Investors in Byju’s have little say on has made bets on fintech, healthtech and
corporate strategy, forget board con- software-as-a-service companies.
trol. General Atlantic finally decided A General Atlantic spokesperson
not to invest without securing more told Mint it remains bullish on tech
rights—say over management control and tech services. “As long-term
and visibility on the use of proceeds. investors in India, the digitization of
But that choice has punched a hole every sector—including telecom,
in its India ship, a country where it has healthcare, and financial services,
invested $5.1 billion since the late among others—has long been, and
1990s. The firm’s $380 million invest- will continue to remain, a consist-
ment in the edtech firm—one of its ent theme in our investment
larger bets in India—may turn to dust. approach as entrepreneurs focus
Why is that? Since Byju’s was issuing a on addressing the needs of the
lot of shares at a very low price, General local population and expanding
Atlantic’s non-participation means its access to key goods and services,”
stake is likely to get severely diluted. the spokesperson said.
The PE firm, and other investors, are In India, the firm has undergone a
digging in for a long stretched-out battle leadership change in the last two
with the founders of Byju’s in the years. After leading the firm’s invest-
courts. Meanwhile, the development ment thesis in India and south east
raises several questions. How deep is Asia, Sandeep Naik, the face of the
the hole in General Atlantic’s ship? company in India for long, is now
Writing off nearly $400 million will mostly building the PE firm’s south
surely be a hard bullet to bite and a east Asian portfolio.
blow it will take a long time to recover This leaves Shantanu Rastogi,
from. Can it stay afloat in the choppy a more media shy investment
sea? And how does it change the way professional, with the task of
it does business in India? shaping the firm’s investment
thesis in India.
Shaky Tech We got a glimpse of his think-

T urns out, Byju’s is not the only

investment that is shaky. A
clutch of other businesses General
ing during the recent Mumbai
Tech Week. On 18 February, a
Sunday, Rastogi was part of a dis-
Atlantic has invested in is either los- cussion rather positively titled
ing money or have shed value. In ‘Startup winter: The ice begins to
short, the payday is far away. melt’. He came dressed in casuals.
Other than Byju’s, the PE firm What would he have done dif-
made a second edtech bet—it invested ferently while making technology
about $180 million in Unacademy, investments in India, he was asked.
which was last valued at around $3.5 “Invested more,” he replied.
billion. Combined with Byju’s, General ranjani.raghavan@live-
Atlantic’s Indian edtech exposure is mint.com

TARUN KUMAR SAHU/MINT

LIVEMINT.COM MINT MONEY MoNDay, 4 March 2024
NeW Delhi 11

Why Mirae’s Swarup Mohanty has POWER

POINT
₹4 crore health cover for his family S I B I N PAU L

We welcome your views and comments at

mintmoney@livemint.com

INVESTMENTS: WHY
Mohanty says he has tried to take as much medical cover as possible after a family health crisis
MUTUAL FUNDS ARE
Jash Kriplani
jash.kriplani@livemint.com
Mohanty says between his wife and
himself, they run separate retirement
corpuses. “Essentially, if she is on her
SUPERIOR TO PMS
1 WHAT'S YOUR

S
warup Mohanty, 53, chief ASSET MIX? own, how much she would need as

M
executive officer of Mirae retirement corpus. And if I am on my utual funds (MFs) or Portfolio Management Services
Asset Mutual Fund (Mirae A Equities 70% own, how much would I need as (PMS)? It is a perpetual dilemma for investors keen on
Asset MF), says he is very Passive retirement corpus. Broadly, we have high equity exposure. If you dive deep, there are data
paranoid when it comes to funds 25% Active a target in mind. When I retire, if we points in favour of both the options and at times, the clutter of
medical insurance, especially after a funds broadly have this amount put information may confuse you further. However, to make an
family health crisis. 75% together, then we are adequately cov- informed choice, looking at key metrics such as your tax liability,
“I have seen ₹25 lakh of my savings ered to meet all our post-retirement asset allocation and overhead costs, among other things, can
just going for my father’s medical B Debt 20% goals,” Mohanty says. help.
expenditure. After this, I have tried to Insurance, contingency Multiple fund manager/fund house: When you create a
take as much medical insurance as I C Alternatives 10% Mohanty believes that life insur- portfolio using four to five MFs, you are exposed to multiple fund
can, for my family. I have got ₹4 crore ance should be enough to cover debt. managers/ fund houses; however in the case of PMS you stick
SWARUP MOHANTY
medical cover for my family; ₹3 crore CEO, Mirae Asset Mutual Fund So, he has three-times of his debt with a single fund manager or fund house, increasing your fund
for my wife and I and a separate, Art 5% 5% Startups (home loan: ₹3 crore, car loan: ₹40 manager risk considerably, especially while investing higher.
₹1-crore health cover, for my son,” lakh) for his term life cover, which is Multiple fund managers also help you experience different styles
says Mohanty in an interaction with WHAT WORKED WHAT'S YOUR WHAT ABOUT
about ₹12 crore. On his emergency of investment management.
Mint for the Guru Portfolio series. In 4 FOR YOU? 6 INTERNATIONAL 9 HEALTH COVER? fund, Mohanty says he has two-three Taxation: In both MF & PMS the fund manager engages in
this series, leaders in the financial ser- WHAT'S YOUR EXPOSURE? months of it in liquid funds. But he buying and selling of securities depending on the market condi-
2 EQUITY FUND SPLIT?  Passive fund in  After a family health
vices industry share how they man- mid-cap and says he now has a large medical insur- tions. However, in PMS, the investor is liable to pay yearly capital
 About 5–6% crisis, want to max it
age their own money. A Large-cap+ international side ance and large equity corpus, which gain taxes. In the case of MFs, this is exempt, and the investor is
Investments did well  Currently, ₹4 crore can be used in an emergency. liable to pay taxes only when they sell their holding. Second,
flexi-cap 40% family cover^
Mohanty shuffled his equity port- WHAT'S YOUR Money lessons at home when you receive dividends for the securities you invested in a
folio last year. He made most of his B Large & mid+mid-cap 7 EXPOSURE TO ^the cover is auto-restored after
any spend Mohanty says he has been able to PMS, it is taxable as per your tax slab, but in case of MFs the divi-
WHAT CHANGED
new equity investments in multi-cap +multi-cap 40% 5 IN YOUR MIRAE SCHEMES? ingrain the investing habit in his son dend goes to the fund houses’ account, and is reflected in your
and mid-cap funds. On the other C Thematics PORTFOLIO?  About 85–86% quite early. “I used to give pocket NAV; which is not part of your income and hence is not taxable.
hand, he made some new allocations (+ international) 20%  Non-Mirae schemes 10 HOW HAVE YOU
TAUGHT INVESTING money to him when he was young, Normally these cash outflows in the form of capital gain and tax
to passively-managed exchange  New money TO YOUR SON but would also ensure that part of this on dividends are paid from the investors’ present income, hence
Note: nominal investment in put in equity:debt in where no Mirae option
traded funds (ETFs) and international NFO of Mirae's 1st small-cap
50:50 mix to keep  Also, for diversifying pocket money goes towards invest- when PMS firms declare their performance, these outflows are
fund (multi-factor ETF)  Ensured early on that
funds. Being in the index helped, equity within 70% investment style part of his pocket money ments,” he says. not considered and their performance looks better in paper. So,
especially in the mid-cap and interna- gets invested His son, who is 24 now and works the actual investor returns differ with what you see in paper.
tional space last year.  Art: Added some in an IT company, has continued to Asset allocation convenience: Whenever markets are high
He says he prefers multi-caps over 3 WHAT WERE
YOUR RETURNS
pieces from the
masters 8 WHAT ABOUT invest in a disciplined way. He says you can decrease your equity position and increase your debt/
flexi-cap funds as there is more disci- IN THE LAST 12
LIFE COVER?
11 HOWYOU HAVE?
MUCH DEBT
between his wife, his son and himself, gold allocation and vice versa using the switch option. In the case
plined investing across all market MONTHS?  Startups: Invested in  Employer life cover is there is transparency on the-ir invest- of PMS, its only equities. So, your rebalancing strategies are com-
caps. He also plans to add multi-asset 2; healthtech & fintech sizeable + my life cover  About ₹3.4 crore ment portfolios. “We all know each plicated, Because of that, mostly you may skip doing it. It’s impor-
 Around 30%** (₹3 Cr home loan+
to his portfolio for a disciplined expo-  Total number of  Combined: it is 3x of my other’s passwords on mfcentral.com tant to keep your money in debt funds which offer the highest
**notional gains on alternatives
debt. So, around ₹12 crore ₹40L car loan)
sure across asset classes. not considered startups: 4 and can easily check and track each safety so that you will be able to pump back to equity during a
Mohanty says within his equity other’s portfolios,” he adds. bear market.
Each investor has their own preferences and risk appetite, do your own research before investing. Mint does not independently verify non-public data
investments, now around 20–25% is reported by interviewees.
Mohanty says he has also always It is not feasible for a small investor to do this, as there is a regu-
in passively-managed funds, while been very transparent in terms of his latory mandate of minimum ₹50 lakh in PMS.
PRANAY BHARDWAJ/MINT
the rest is in actively-managed funds. earnings with his son. “I learnt this Performance fee: PMS and MFs both charge approximately
Overall, Mohanty’s portfolio deliv- Mohanty’s mutual fund investments meaningfully increase his interna- which had run up to as much as 80% from my parents. They were always 1.5% per annum as management fees. The total assets under man-
ered 30% returns over the past 12 are through Mirae Asset MF’s tional exposure as share of his overall in the middle of the year. Hence, I very transparent with me. So, I knew agement being less in PMS, they usually go for performance fee
months. schemes. The rest of it is through portfolio due to international invest- needed to make that adjustment, that I could spend within a certain for better profitability. This is usually charged only for the addi-
He has stayed away from small- non-Mirae schemes. He also consid- ing limits for mutual funds. which meant moving larger part of boundary. This transparency has also tional returns generated. If the returns generated are above 10%,
caps so far as he says he wants to avoid ers non-Mirae schemes if he needs In January 2022, market regulator new investments to debt funds,” he helped to instil the same sense in my there will be a performance fee of 10%.
high volatility of small-caps in his style diversification in his portfolio. Securities and Exchange Board of points out. son, to spend within one’s means,” In a year like 2023, where investors made 40% of returns,
retirement-linked investments. Alternatives India (Sebi) asked mutual funds to He has made new investments in Mohanty says. which is above 30% in addition to the huddle rate mentioned by
However, he has made a nominal Mohanty continued to add alterna- stop accepting fresh flows into inter- equity:debt in 50:50 mix to keep his Advice for investors PMS firms, a 3% (10% of 30) fees would be charged by the PMS
investment recently in Mirae Asset tive investments to his portfolio. The national mutual fund schemes invest- equity exposure at 70%. “You choose a fund manager, and firm in addition to the regular management fee of 1.5%. Hence
Nifty Smallcap 250 Momentum Qual- art investments are largely driven by ing in overseas stocks, following He also made some of you have to take the you end up paying 4.5% fee in most good years. This is not appli-
ity 100 ETF, which is the fund house’s Mohanty’s wife, who plays the key directions from the banking regula- his new investments in journey with the man- cable in MFs, since AMCs are only allowed to charge fund man-
maiden small-cap offering. role of identifying the artists and the tor Reserve Bank of India. corporate bond funds. Mohanty believes ager. People play the agement fee.
What worked art pieces for investments. In June 2022, Sebi gave some “If rates come off, such that life insurance game of catching the Transaction costs: Though platform dependent, the transac-
Mohanty says Mohanty says headroom to international schemes funds could do well,” he should be enough best fund manager, but it tions costs are generally higher for PMS.
among his port- m GURU PORTFOLIO that now they to accept flows and invest in stocks says. to cover debt. So, never works,” Mohanty Regulations: Sebi has designed MFs as an investment option
folio, mid-cap have managed to listed on foreign exchanges, but only Mohanty says he is for commoners, HNIs and institutional investors; whereas PMS
A MINT SERIES he has 3-times of says.
funds did well buy art-pieces by up to the extent of the investments still holding back on He adds that investing has a minimum investment amount of ₹50 lakh, that makes it
over the last 12 months. Among inter- some iconic artists as well, “the mas- that were redeemed by investors making long duration his debt for his on the basis of past per- affordable to only those who can afford high amounts and those
national funds, Mirae Asset NYSE ters”, as he calls them. since the restrictions were imposed. investments. “There can term life cover formance also doesn’t who can understand the risk levels in such an investment option.
FANG+ ETF did well for Mohanty. Mohanty added two more startups Since Mohanty’s other invest- be an opportunity in work, as past perform- By design, the regulations laid out by Sebi are in favour of MFs
Mohanty also takes exposure to to his alternative investments ments have either grown or remained that space, but we are in ance belongs to inves- than PMS.
certain non-Mirae funds, where he recently. One of them is an OTT intact, the share of international wait-and-watch mode right now,” he tors who were in the fund at that point Probability of outperformance: PMS fund managers are
doesn’t find a Mirae product. (over-the-top) platform and the other exposures in his overall portfolio has says. He has also been holding target of time and doesn’t belong to you. allowed to take concentrated portfolios, letting marginal outper-
For example, he is now hopeful of one is a fintech. From his previous dipped from 10–11%, to 5–6% of his maturity funds, which had started to “When you start off, you think this formances compared to a MFs in short terms. In the long term the
IT sector doing well over the long-run startup investments, Mohanty has overall portfolio. invest in last year. is a process of return generation, but differences are minimal and the additional charges and disadvan-
and hence has taken some exposure investment in a healthtech company Debt investments Retirement goal over time, you realize that this is a tages in taxation usually offset a major part of it as depicted in the
in an IT fund of another fund house. and another fintech. Mohanty says a lot of his invest- Mohanty says he has crossed the process of risk-mitigation. When the above points. The marginal out-performance comes with a dis-
However, he cautions that theme- International exposure ments were made in ultra short debt minimum target for his retirement market is sitting on 40–50% small- proportionate increase in risk levels.
based investing is always an alloca- Mohanty’s exposure to interna- funds to ensure that his overall asset corpus, which can take care of his cap gains, I am not flustered. It is not MFs are a far superior avenue for investors to take equity expo-
tion towards the satellite part of the tional investments has remained in allocation is maintained. “I wanted to day-to-day expenses. But he says he a temptation to suddenly go large on sure.
portfolio. About 85–86% of 5–6% range. He has not been able to keep my equity allocation to 70%, has not yet reached his full target. small-caps,” he says. Sibin Paul is founder and CEO at Wealth Metrics and an MFD.

Lender
Bank of Maharashtra
Canara Bank
Central Bank of India
UCO Bank
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Bank of India
Indian Bank
Punjab National Bank
State Bank of India
CSB Bank
IDBI Bank Limited
Indian Overseas Bank
Punjab & Sind Bank
HDFC Bank
Banks that have not updated information on their websites are not included here. Data was taken from bank websites on 29 February 2024. The EMI range is
indicative and calculated on the basis of interest rate range. In an actual situation, it may include other fees and charges. Actual applicable interest rate may
vary based on the credit profile, loan amount, tenure and as per bank’s discretion. *50% waiver Retail Loan Festival from 01.02.2024 to 29.02.2024.
**Nil for Baroda Yoddha Loan Customer; ₹500 + GST for State/Central/PSU employees. ***NIL Processing Fees for loan facility up to ₹5 Lakh availed by Micro & Small
Enterprises subject to URC submission prior to disbursal.
PRANAY BHARDWAJ/MINT
What a car loan costs you Should NRE deposits be reported in ITR?
I t is tempting to buy a new car, be it an upgrade, a first car or another car for the family. Whatever
be the reason, a car loan makes the purchase easier. Car loans are usually of three to five years
but some lenders may offer loans for up to seven years too. A loan for longer may mean smaller
Parizad Sirwalla
ALFEXE
form. In case he holds only
NRE time deposits and not a
equated monthly instalments (EMIs), which makes the car seem more affordable, but overall, you My son was employed in the savings/ current account, the
pay more as interest. Don’t forget that a car is a depreciating asset, so taking a bigger loan US before moving back to same would not be required to
may not be the best thing to do. But if you take a car loan for a short duration, the EMIs India in October. He had be reported in this section.
will be heavy and non-payment will mean a blot on your credit report. Conditions invested in bank NRE The NRE deposits may, how-
apply to the loan amount also. For instance, some lenders give a loan for the full deposits with terms ran- ever, need to be reported in
ex-showroom price of the car, while others may offer a loan up to 80%. Apart from ging from one to three Schedule AL under “Financial
the interest rate on a car loan, also take a look at the applicable processing fee and years while he was in the Assets” (if the same is applica-
other charges. US. He is now working with ble). All the incomes from the
Loan amount = ₹1 lakh. Tenure = 5 years an Indian company. The NRE deposits (even if exempt
NRE deposits are yet to income) would be required to
Interest mature. Will the interest be reported appropriately in
EMI (₹) Processing fee
rate (%) accrued in each financial the relevant section of the tax
8.70-13.00 2,061-2,275 Nil year be taxable on matur- return form.
8.70-11.9 2,061-2,222 0.25% (Min ₹1,000 + GST and Max ₹5,000 + GST;*
ity? Does he need to report ASK MINT Timing of taxation, i.e., As per the provisions of
these accounts in his ITR m TA X AT I O N whether on yearly accrual or Fema, NRE accounts should
8.70-10.15 2,061-2,132 Completely waived till 31 March 2024 from next year? upon maturity, would depend be redesignated as resident
8.70-10.05 2,061-2,127 Nil —Name withheld on request. upon the method followed by accounts, or the funds held in
uncertain period or a person the individual (i.e. whether these accounts may be trans-
8.70-10.45 2,061-2,147 ₹1,000
As per the Income-tax Act , who comes to stay in India, cash or mercantile), on a regu- ferred to the RFC accounts at
8.75-12.05 2,064-2,227 ₹1,000 + GST for loans up to ₹10 Lakhs & ₹2,000 + GST for loans above ₹10 Lakhs** interest received from NRE otherwise than for above pur- lar basis for offering income the option of the account
8.75-10.75 2,064-2,162 Waiver of processing charges till 31 March 2024 account is exempt from taxes poses. Any person who does under the head “other sour- holder immediately upon
for an individual, till the time not qualify as PRII, is a PROI. ces”. A view prevails that inter- return to India for taking up
8.75-10.00 2,064-2,125 Nil
the individual qualifies as per- Further, as per Fema, NRE est earned till the period indi- employment. Hence, your son
8.75-9.60 2,064-2,105 0.25% (Mini ₹1,000 and Max ₹1,500) son resident outside India accounts should be redesig- vidual qualified as PROI shall would be required to notify the
8.75-9.80 2,064-2,115 ₹750 to ₹1,500 + GST; 50% concession for SBI GREEN CAR (EVs) (PROI) under the provisions of nated as resident accounts continue be exempt from tax bank and have the said
the Foreign Exchange Man- immediately upon the return even if the method of account- account/deposits redesig-
8.75-11.00 2,064-2,174 Not available on website
agement Act, 1999 (Fema) or is of the account holder to India ing is on cash basis, while liti- nated, as appropriate at the
8.80-9.60 2,066-2,100 Up to ₹2,500 a person who has been permit- for taking up employment. gation in this regard cannot be earliest.
8.85-10.35 2,069-2,142 As applicable ted by RBI to maintain the said Hence, subject to the above ruled out. Parizad Sirwalla is partner
account. rules, there is a view that once As for reporting accounts in and head, global mobility servi-
8.85-10.25 2,069-2,137 0.25% (Min ₹1,000 and Max ₹15,000); Up to 50% concession available As per Fema, person resi- a person returns to India for ITR, as per the requirements ces, tax, KPMG in India.
8.95 2,073 0.5%, min ₹3,500 and maximum ₹8,0000*** dent in India (PRII) means a employment, and becomes a of the ITR forms (as currently
person who was residing in PRII, the interest exemption applicable for Assessment Do you have a personal
India for more than 182 days under the IT Act may be avail- Year 2023-24), all savings/ finance query? Send in your
during the preceding financial able only till the time the indi- current accounts held by an queries at
year but excludes a person vidual was a PROI and/ or is individual are required to be mintmoney@livemint.com
and get them answered by
who stays outside India for permitted to maintain the said reported in the “Bank
Source: MyMoneyMantra.com industry experts.
employment/ business/ for deposit account as per Fema. accounts” section of the ITR
12 MONDay, 4 March 2024
NeW Delhi VIEWS LIVEMINT.COM

OUR VIEW THEIR VIEW

ISTOCKPHOTO

We balanced domestic interests

with our trade needs at the WTO
India successfully defended important interests at home while enhancing its global trade prospects

present, views differ among experts and
policymakers in India on a large-scale
investment agreement and its modali-
ties. India is engaged in negotiating
bilateral investment agreements with
major investing countries and trusted
trade partners.
The run-up to the MC-13 witnessed
farmer protests, and India did not yield
ARPITA MUKHERJEE ground on a permanent peace clause on
is an economist and professor at Indian the procurement of foodgrain for our
Council for Research on International public distribution system, giving the
Economic Relations. government freedom to buy as much as
it wants, regardless of a flawed limita-
I am delighted to see India softening
its stance on the current moratorium on
customs duty for e-commerce, which
got extended for another two years.
With the government supporting SME
exports through e-commerce—there is
a chapter dedicated to it in the recent
Foreign Trade Policy—this was the
right step. India is among the world’s
leading exporters of IT/ITeS services
and with the growing digitalization of
services, from education to audio-visual
media, and the global expansion of our
startups, it is important to understand

India’s microchip leap:

tion formula. India also defended its the full scope of the e-commerce sector
policy space for subsidies. In most WTO first. Without a clear picture of its

I
ndia being on a path to become the member countries, be it developed or coverage and data on trade flows, it is
world’s third largest economy, with developing, irrespective of the size of better to support business as usual, and
annual growth predicted at above 6% their agriculture sector and its contri- that is exactly the stand India took.

Now for the hard part (double the world average) for the next
two years, cannot be ignored in multi-
lateral trade discussions. At the same
time, our trade negotiators had a tough
bution to GDP, farmers play a key role
in trade negotiations and domestic poli-
tics, and India is no exception.
India was also successful in resisting
In a difficult global scenario, amid
pressure from some of its key trade part-
ners, India has been able to represent
the interests of the Global South, pro-
job balancing the interests of different the inclusion of environmental issues tect the interests of its domestic stake-
domestic stakeholders with the chang- and labour standards in WTO talks. holders and support fairness in the
A semiconductor ecosystem is coming up that’ll span the entire value chain and invest India ing dynamics of global trade and geo- While it may have hurt the sentiments global trade order, while emphasizing
politics, with India’s aim of playing a key of its trade partners like the EU, with issues like the immediate need to make
with strategic autonomy, but our technology ambitions are likely to prove more exacting role in resilient global value chains which a trade deal is under discussion, the WTO Dispute Settlement Mecha-
forming an important part of the con- India is willing to discuss these topics nism and Appellate body functional.
text. In the recently concluded 13th bilaterally. For example, on 14 Novem- The Indian trade negotiating team has
Ministerial Conference (MC-13) at Abu ber 2023, India along with 13 other ably defended the country’s interests at

I
ndia’s over-arching ambition to play in
the big league has found partial expression
with the government’s approval of three
semiconductor foundries to be set up by
the private sector. This will not only pitch-
fork the Indian economy’s global rankings,
but also help the country acquire strategic
autonomy in a key global technology supply
chain. The three investment proposals—all in
partnership with foreign companies—come on
top of US-based Micron’s project that broke
ground in 2023; the four units will hopefully
help establish a robust semiconductor ecosys-
tem in India, with the combined investment of
over ₹1.5 trillion providing the building blocks
for the critical semiconductor value chain of
design, fabrication, assembly, testing, marking
and packaging. Key among these proposals is
the partnership between Tata Electronics and
Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufac-
turing Corporation for a ₹91,000-crore fabrica-
tion plant with a capacity of 50,000 wafer starts
per month. This chip capacity will grant trac-
tion at last to India’s long-standing quest for
little longer: the new investments will manage Dhabi of the World Trade Organization countries signed the Indo-Pacific Eco- the MC-13 at a time when the country is
to make chips of only 28 nanometres (nm), (WTO), the Indian trade negotiating nomic Framework (IPEF) Supply Chain headed for national elections and we
team led by commerce minister Piyush Resilience Agreement, which has both face a difficult geo-political scenario.
while sophisticated plants globally have moved Goyal deserves a round of applause for these components. The IPEF Agree- India is expected to continue its leader-
on to 3nm. Also, it may be wrong to view these striking a delicate balance of protecting ment, for example, proposes to set up a ship role in creating policy platforms for
chip projects as likely catalysts for ending the the interests of domestic stakeholders, Labour Rights Advisory Board, to sup- collaborations, partnerships and discus-
private sector’s prolonged investment drought, supporting initiatives that can help pro- port member countries in the promo- sions on trade issues, for which it would
or as a solution for the endemic unemployment mote the exports of small and medium tion of labour rights in their supply engage academics, industry experts and
enterprises (SMEs) and making India’s chains, promote sustainable trade and other stakeholders to develop pro-ac-
crisis we face. According to a press release from voice heard at the WTO. While many investment, and facilitate opportunities tive strategies for future negotiations,
the Press Information Bureau, the three units delegates from member countries left for investment in businesses that multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral.
approved on 29 February will generate only after the conference’s scheduled end, respect labour rights as per ILO stan- Balancing the need to protect the
20,000 direct and 60,000 indirect jobs. This the Indian delegation stayed back till dards. Rather than try pushing the issue genuine interests of a vast swathe of
raises a related worry: Are there enough trained the actual end and contributed as a key at a multilateral platform, trade partners domestic pressure groups with the
player to the final MC-13 Declaration. like the EU and India can set up a mech- compulsions of India’s burgeoning
workers for such a specialized operation? Have The Indian team has successfully pro- anism for tripartite consultation across global trade ambitions was expected to
uninterrupted power and clean water supply tected our domestic policy space on government, worker organizations and be a tough task for Goyal in an election
been assured? In addition, legitimate questions industrial policy and blocked the employer organizations, as proposed in year at the WTO ministerial conference.
of political economy can be raised on the huge Investment Facilitation Development the IPEF Agreement. We need more He has again pulled a rabbit out of a hat
capital subsidy available for this sector. Agreement, for which more domestic domestic research, consultations and to strike a fine balance between India’s
consultations would be needed. At consensus-building on these issues. domestic and international needs.
Yet, both the idiosyncrasies of India’s political
economy and shifting geopolitical configura-
tions present another set of challenges to our
semiconductor aspirations. An immediate con-
cern arises from the US’s tightening of export
controls for semiconductors and high-powered
chips for artificial intelligence, ostensibly to www.livemint.com
New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh*, Pune* Tuesday, March 4, 2014 Vol.8 No.54 `4.00 in Delhi­NCR/`5.00 outside Delhi­NCR 24 PAGES

self-sufficiency in semiconductors, or near free- thwart China’s access; other nations have emu-
OSCARS: ‘12 Years a Slave’
wins best film >24

Free trade has been

INTERNATIONAL: Putin
tightens grip on Crimea >4

dom from reliance on overseas suppliers. Just as lated the US. Even though India has signed tech
CORPORATE: Jaypee seeks to
allay fears over cash flow >6
CONTENT PARTNER
VIEWS: The taper and the
outlook for gold >23

the US, China and other countries are betting, cooperation agreements with the US, in addi-
SENSEX 20,946.65 æ 173.47

LATE MOVE

Congress plan Is China’s loss India’s gain?

NIFTY 6,221.45 æ 55.50 DOLLAR `62.04 Æ `0.29

MANUFACTURING AND MARKETS

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QUICK EDIT
Dance of
proven, time and again,
local microchip-making can support and fuel tion to other plurilateral tech treaties, the
the yuan
to tackle graft INDIA VERSUS CHINA
comes unstuck T 104
Sensex 100.77
MARK TO MARKET
KRISHNA MERCHANT

he S&P BSE Sensex has

outperformed China’s
T he sharp decline in
the Chinese yuan
against the dollar over
the past two weeks is in
all probability an as a reliable path to
our advancement as a technology superpower. recent World Trade Organization conference
102 Shanghai Composite Index in attempt by the
100 the past three months, as you authorities of that
can see from the chart. The country to hit traders
98 Sensex has gained around 1% who have been looking

economic development.
K.T. Thomas, head of while the Shanghai Composite at the Chinese exchange
Lokpal Committee
Search Panel, opts out,
Coming 96

94 Shanghai Composite
93.37
has declined 6.6%. The trend
in equities mirrors underlying
rate as a one-way bet.
China had allowed its

says selection process decade is of 92

conditions in their respective
economies, as seen from a
currency to drift up
against the currencies of

It might, however, be advisable to temper the has again shown the intransigence of rich
comparison of their respective major trading partners
for ombudsman flawed
Dalits: Modi 90

88
3 Dec 2013 3 Mar 2014
manufacturing Purchasing
Managers’ Indices (PMIs).
as part of an overall
strategy of rebalancing.
B Y L IZ M ATHEW India’s HSBC PMI for Yet, Indian
Base value taken as 100
liz.m@livemint.com B Y G YAN V ARMA February continued to show policymakers need to
························· gyan.v@livemint.com strength for the third watch what is

It pushes the public and

NEW DELHI ····················· HSBC manufacturing PMI consecutive month, with happening there very

A
NEW DELHI China India
belated bid by the Con- 52.5 manufacturing activity closely. The rupee has
gress-led United Pro-
N arendra Modi, the
50.7 51.4 strongest in the past one year lost against the Chinese

celebrations. It is not that the proposed invest- nations. India’s reliance on high-tech imports
gressive Alliance (UPA)
to try and blunt the political
damage a series of corruption
scandals have caused it ended
prematurely on Monday after
the head of the Lokpal Com-
mittee Search Panel, former
Supreme Court judge K.T.
Bharatiya Janata 50.5 at 52.5 compared with 51.4 in yuan since July 2011,
Party’s (BJP) prime min-
49.5 January, (a score above 50 something that has
48.5
isterial candidate, on signifies expansion and below helped Indian exporters,
Monday predicted a com- 50 indicates contraction). In though it is still way
ing “decade of Dalits” contrast, activity in Chinese more expensive than it
and other weaker sec- factories contracted for the was in 2011.
tions as he shared a stage second consecutive month, The big worry is if the
with Ram Vilas Paswan, with the HSBC PMI for currency decline

private sectors alike toward

Thomas, opted out. the Dalit leader from Bi- Chinese manufacturing falling becomes a rout if the

ments are insignificant, given the post-pan- from advanced nations, including for security
Thomas’s exit came a day af-
ter the government had to
abandon its plans to promul-
gate some anti-corruption or-
dinances after President
Pranab Mukherjee signalled
his unwillingness to go along
with the move to bypass the le-
gitimate way to pass these
har who rejoined the BJP- to 48.5 in February. The Chinese central bank
led National Democratic Dec Jan Feb manufacturing data confirms does not manage the
Alliance (NDA) after quit- the fears of a slowdown in adjustment smoothly.
ting 12 years ago in pro- Source: HSBC Markit, Bloomberg
China. Remember: it was the
test against the commu- Foreign institutional big yuan devaluation in
VENKATESULU/MINT
nal riots in Gujarat, which investors have remained net 1994 that preceded the
happened under Modi’s ALSO >Global factory growth stumbles as demand falters >P3 Asian Crisis of 1997.
watch. SEE >US manufacturing growth picks up >P3 TURN TO PAGE 2®
Standing next to the

demic breakdown in critical tech supply chains purposes, leaves the nation vulnerable to all
laws—through Parliament. Lok Janshakti Party (LJP)

With the 16th general elec-
tion likely to be announced
later this week, this is effec-
tively the end of the strategy
orchestrated by Congress vice-
president Rahul Gandhi to
help the party establish its
commitment to fighting cor-
greater accountability
chief, Modi told support-
ers at a public meeting in
Muzaffarpur that the BJP
was wrongly described as Sahara: the
a party of upper castes
and traders.
Modi said he himself
big story
S ahara group chairman

which threatened the survival of varied facto- sorts of pressure. Domestic political flux could
ruption. TURN TO PAGE 5® Subrata Roy, 65, will be
India recently approved a produced before the Supreme
law to create the Lokpal, an Court by 2pm on Tuesday, after

anti-corruption watchdog, af-
ter six decades of trying, and
the Congress wanted to take
political credit for doing so, es-
pecially as it could be used to
blunt the growing criticism of
judge pointed out that the en-
tire process of selecting the
ombudsman was flawed. In a
letter addressed to V. Naraya-
nasamy, minister of state in
the Prime Minister’s office, he
and transparency.
being arrested for failing to turn
up before it on 26 February as
ordered. The nation’s top court
had issued a non­bailable arrest
warrant against him for contempt
of court.

ries and utility platforms. Yet, the four plants pose another obstacle, especially since our new
the UPA, which has been be-
sieged by corruption scandals
related to the organization of
the 2010 Commonwealth
Games, the allotment of spec-
trum to telcos, and the alloca-
tion of coal mines.
The rebuff by Thomas will
also rankle because the former
pointed out that instead of
searching for the best candi-
date, the committee was to
pick the members from a panel
of names handed over by the
government.
Thomas said that it’s not
“worthwhile to travel such a
long distance” from his home-
Roy was arrested by the Uttar
Pradesh police in Lucknow, where
he is based, on Friday.
Ironically, the Supreme Court
had asked Roy to appear before it
on 26 February in relation to a
case of contempt of court. The
capital market regulator had filed
the contempt petition against

should not be viewed as the answer to all of chip-making investments are concentrated in
town in Kerala to New Delhi to
select a panel from the list for-
warded by the department of
personnel and training of the
Union government.
“I withdraw my willingness
Sahara for failing to follow the
apex court’s earlier order in a case
on the legitimacy of money­
raising efforts by two of its firms.
Mint recaps the tortuous legal
proceedings in the case and takes

JON A H G OL D B E RG
to accept the office of the Chair an in­depth look at what it could
person of the Search Commit- mean for Roy, who

India’s chip requirements. They are likely to Gujarat, a state with no known technological
tee,” he added. started with an
The main opposition initial capital
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of `2,000
which had earlier accused the and built a
government of “cutting short financial
procedures” in its “terrible empire
hurry” to appoint members of with assets
the Lokpal ahead of the gener- worth `1.52
al election, was elated. Senior trillion. See

meet only the lower end of our chip demand base in either hardware or software. This
BJP leader Arun Jaitley had Pages 10, 11
previously written to the Prime
Minister condemning the “in-
Mint is also available for R8 with
Hindustan Times in Delhi-NCR only
TURN TO PAGE 2®

and the wait for high-end chips is likely to get a presents a business risk.

MY VIEW | moDERN tImEs

Do we really have any field of work that is lucrative?

writing, are struggling. Even most politicians,
MANU JOSEPH who are actually entrepreneurs if we stop
being humorous about what they really are,
are struggling. All supremely talented ath-
letes, barring a few at the very top in their dis-
cipline, are struggling. Take tennis. It appears
that they cannot earn zero or less. But there fail. When you look around society, don’t So an entrepreneur is only a person who
are very few professions where the salaried you get the feeling that everyone is in the has high standards for the meaning of
are paid well, and even there, most workers middle of a spoof? People are imitating what ‘remunerative.’ Entrepreneurs are actually
don’t survive the ever-tapering ladder to the they think the rich did to get rich, while the doing well and, incredibly, they may not be
top. Thus most salaried people, too, are fated actual reason they got rich is never clear. entirely aware of it.
to become ‘entrepreneurs’ in fields that are There is another reason entrepreneurs Something occurred to me when I was

E
very time farmers agitate in Delhi to cut
a deal with the government, I wait for a
slew of comments that say the “real
issue” is that “farming is unremunerative.”
This is said by those who have compassion
for farmers and also those who dismiss their
demands. What they mean, in modern par-
lance, is that farming has a bad revenue
to be lucrative, but players who are not in the ‘unremunerative.’ appear to struggle. Take agitating farmers. thinking about the hold of superstars on the
top 100 struggle to make money. Most of Why does the world They are middle-class film industry. I used to think of them as the
them make a loss, as they have to bear the appear to prosper while landholding entrepre- problem. They take away most of the bud-
costs of their own travel and stay. Like other entrepreneurs struggle? When you look neurs, and not farmhands get and profits, leaving little for the rest. But
entrepreneurs, they have to hustle for side Very few thrive and they on hire, who are salaried then I realized that the high fees of super-
jobs. Last year, ESPN ran a story on the finan- make capitalism’s averages around society, people. Most Indians seem stars increases the pay of others. A film pro-
cial struggle of tennis pros. It featured Kiran- look good. Is that all there to think of the typical ducer, ‘character actor’ or screenwriter
pal Pannu, who was ranked 664th in the is to it? Is the promise of
don’t you get farmer as an impoverished, earns more in commercial movies than in

is a journalist, novelist, and the

model. If the world’s most popular consumer
behaviour, eating, cannot make food pro-
creator of the Netflix series,
‘Decoupled’
duction “remunerative,” it makes me wonder
what exactly is lucrative. Is there a field of
human activity in which participants say,
“Our profession is remunerative”? Some
individuals do well in almost all professions,
but almost all of entrepreneurship appears to
be “unremunerative”. At least, at first glance.
Film producers are struggling. Almost all
retailers are struggling. Most startups are not
going to survive. There are venture capitalists
who say they are struggling. All actors, except
maybe a half a dozen, are struggling. Publish-
ing is “unremunerative” for publishers and
writers. Writers, in every form and genre of
world in 2022. That year, “Pannu earned
$6,771 in prize money. But his expenses, pre-
dominantly for travel, [were] $34,500.”
Unemployment or underemployment has
dignified names. One of them is “investing in
the market.” Kinder people would say that
amateur stock trading is a form of entrepre-
neurship. If that is true, most traders too are
struggling—the people who invest directly
in making money from money. Most of them
lose money, including those who read ‘tech-
nical charts.’ Speak to anyone who is not sal-
aried, chances are they believe they are
struggling. Even among the salaried, most
people do not see themselves as struggling
only because they know their incomes and
capitalism a myth?
There is a bit of doom in
the feeling that oppressed man. There are
some farmers who are this,
art cinema only because film stars have
inadvertently raised the bar for everyone.
the very idea of entrepre-
neurship. Every entrepre-
everyone is but the poor and oppressed
tillers are usually the land-
What film stars demonstrate is that many
professions are intrinsically ‘unremunera-
neur sets out to make in the middle less, whose immediate tive’ but can become more lucrative if the
money in a line of business oppressors are landholding field manufactures superstars. We can see
that has money in it. Yet, of a spoof? farmers. The struggle of the this phenomenon in many professions, like
the reason it is not lucra- landholding farmer is never all spectator sports, and even among heart
tive is that if profits were to stave off hunger. From surgeons. People are good at something,
guaranteed, then everyone would flock to it that low level, from that abyss of poverty, no and that something is not very lucrative,
and the finite bounty would have to be entrepreneurship is possible. Extreme pov- and remains so unless the field has super-
shared among an ever-expanding crowd of erty only makes one think small. The struggle stars. If the argument is not relevant to all
competitors until the guarantee falls apart. of the landholding farmer is always growth. streams of entrepreneurship, it is because
It would appear that capitalism oversells In any business, to be still is to perish, because some businesses do not have any super-
itself through a small number of successes, everything else around it is changing, and stars. Farming, for instance, does not have
whose success millions try to replicate and getting expensive. superstars.
LIVEMINT.COM VIEWS MoNDay, 4 MarcH 2024
New DelHi 13

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

India’s consumption numbers fit Starbucks has finally escaped

the shadow of Howard Schultz
into our big picture of progress The company has given up its rigid stance against a worker union

Its results show that Indian standards of living have risen and disparities have reduced over the decade-plus since 2011-12

ALAMY

BETh KOwITT
is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering
corporate America.

V. ANANThA NAGESwARAN,
ANuRADhA GuRu AND DEEKShA
SupyAAL BIShT
are, respectively, chief economic advisor at the
ministry of finance, Government of India;
advisor in the Indian Economic Service; and an

H
officer in the Indian Economic Service. oward Schultz officially stepped
down as chief executive officer of
Starbucks in March 2023. But with
Schultz [whose name has so closely been Former CEO Schultz was against an
associated with the Starbucks story], employee union at Starbucks AP

T
he much-awaited Household Con-
sumption Expenditure Survey (HCES)
2022-23 results have been released
within a short time frame, courtesy the
endeavours of India’s ministry of statis-
tics and programme implementation.
Further, the survey has undertaken many statisti-
cal refinements in terms of detailed question-
naires, multiple visits and computer-assisted per-
sonal interviews, etc—other feathers in the cap of
the National Sample Survey Office team.
The data release, which affords insights into the
monetary aspect of living standards, is particularly
significant considering the substantial rise in
non-income aspects of living standards between
2015-16 and 2019-21 noted by the multidimen-
sional poverty reports of the United Nations and
Niti Aayog. Some key trends in the HCES deserve
our attention. Since its release, many experts have
given their estimates of poverty derived from the
survey results, and a public discussion has begun,
as it should in a democracy. Further, the micro-
unit level data, to be released soon, would be a gold
mine for researchers informing our public dis-
course on the changing demand dynamics of the
economy. We will let that discussion continue and
dwell on the survey results.
The HCES offers many reassuring findings on
inclusive growth in the past decade. Monthly per
capita expenditure (MPCE) in 2022-23 increased
in real terms by 40% in rural and 33.5% in urban
areas over 2011-12. The rural-urban divide has also
declined considerably, as the difference between
rural and urban MPCE declined from 83.9% in
2011-12 to 71.2% in 2022-23. This is supported by
the recently released Annual Survey of Industries
data, which depicts faster growth in wages for
factory workers in rural areas compared to urban
areas (note that 42% of all factories and 45% of
workers were in rural areas as of 2021-22). Between
2014-15 and 2021-22, wages per worker in rural
areas grew at a 6.9% compounded annual growth
rate (CAGR) vis-à-vis a corresponding 6.1% rise in
urban areas.
Within rural and urban areas, the consumption
of the lowest 5% MPCE population grew at a faster
rate (a CAGR of 9.2% for rural and 10% for urban)
than the top 5% (a CAGR of 8% for rural and 6.6%
for urban) between 2011-12 and 2022-23, pointing
to a decline in economic inequality over the last
decade. Imputation of free-of-cost items provided
by government programmes leads to a further
progressive percentage rise in MPCE. Juxtaposing
the MPCE numbers with India’s per capita gross
national income (PCI) reveals an inclusive trend in
economic growth, where the MPCE/PCI ratio has
increased between 2011-12 and 2022-23 for all con-
sumption classes except the top 5% in rural India
and top 10% in urban India. Thus, the argument
that growth is benefitting the rich disproportion-
ately is not borne out by consumption data. Nota-
bly, this progress occurred despite the once-in-a-
century crisis of the covid pandemic.
The progress manifest in the 2022-23 HCES
results resonates with strides made in living stan-
dards through a gamut of thoughtfully crafted, evi-
dence-based and people-centric efforts. These
include, inter-alia, the strengthening of basic infra-
structure such as rural roads, water pipelines, elec-
tricity, housing, etc, which, besides ensuring dig-
nity of the individual, also empowers communities
to use economic opportunities and participate in
the growth process.
Compared to 2.75 million kilometres of rural
roads in 2010-11, the network had swelled to 4.5
million km by 2018-19. The diversification of rural
livelihoods has been a policy effort, exemplified by
a proliferation of women’s collectives across India,
from being limited to southern states a decade ago.
When 75 million women become self-help group
members over a decade, the results are bound to
show up in income and expenditure data. Similarly,
the remarkable evolution of work assignments
under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee scheme (MGNREGS),
directed at creating assets such as animal sheds,
farm ponds, horticulture plantations, vermi-com-
posting pits, etc, is another silent game-changer for
sustainable and equitable rural growth. These com-
prised more than 70% of the total MGNREGS
works completed in 2022-23, versus 16% in
2014-15. This also fits into the story of rising farm
and non-farm self-employment in rural India, as
the Periodic Labour Force Survey showed, driven
by females with more time freed from drudgery
and motivated by simpler credit availability. The
HCES’s monetary estimates thus confirm what the
non-monetary data has been indicating.
As we strive for prosperity, streamlining pro-
cesses and technology has played an instrumental
role. It has aided the identification of gaps and tar-
geting of resources (such as in the Aspirational Dis-
tricts Programme), collaborating with stakehold-
ers across levels, fixing accountability and real-
time monitoring of clearly defined indicators (like
the Jal Jeevan Mission dashboard). The ‘Pragati’
approach to programme implementation
(monthly stocktaking at the Prime Minister’s
Office, Union government and state government-
level), has oiled the wheels of public goods provi-
sioning and the results speak for themselves.
Also note that behind these numbers lie living
standards better than what they project. While the
HCES makes a good start by imputing values of
free-of-cost items received under welfare schemes,
the rising contribution of a range of public services
(which could not be imputed due to methodical
complexity) implies that the real ‘consumption’ of
households is better than what the data says. For
instance, sanitary napkins being available at ₹1
apiece at Jan Aushadhi Kendras imply a significant
rise in real living standards at relatively low house-
hold spending levels. Similarly, the impact of
prominent schemes such as the Swachh Bharat
Mission, Ayushman Bharat and PM-Awas Yojana
in directly improving the living standards of Indian
households could be interpreted as a (notional) rise
in consumption expenditure, especially for the
lower fractiles. This is well brought out in a 2022
research paper by Sridhar Kundu and Maynor
Cabrera that used 2011-12 survey data (shorturl.at/
EMVW0). The value imputations of education and
health schemes alone showed a decline in the Gini
Coefficient for 2011-12 by 0.08 percentage points.
Looking forward, the HCES release offers an
opportunity to update the consumer basket for the
construction of our price indices and also revise
the poverty line, given the changing aspirations of
citizens. Future surveys could be designed for
wider coverage of support received from govern-
ment schemes. The HCES 2022-23 has made a
good start on that.
Above all, the survey’s results are a vindication of
the government’s ‘growth through infrastructure
and inclusion through empowerment’ approach to
India’s socioeconomic priorities.
These are the authors’ personal views.
you’re never really sure that he’s gone.
Twice before has the coffee-chain’s long-
time CEO handed over the company’s
reins to a hand-picked successor. And
twice before has he boomeranged right
back into the CEO job, claiming he had
returned to fix the course of a company
that had lost its way.
But this week, we got the surest sign yet
that the Schultz era at Starbucks is now
officially over. The company and the
union representing its employees said
they had agreed to start discussions about
how to reach collective bargaining agree-
ments. It’s the first real indication of any
sort of thaw between the two parties,
which have been locked in a bitter battle
over workers’ efforts to organize.
These initial steps toward an agreement
were unlikely to ever have happened with
Schultz in charge. He’d been adamantly
opposed to a union at Starbucks; in fact,
labour organizing itself at the company
was one of the factors that precipitated his
2022 return.
Things had gotten nasty back then. Last
year, Schultz testified in a Senate commit-
tee meeting about the company’s alleged
labour law violations, prompting Vermont
Senator Bernie Sanders to describe Star-
bucks as waging “the most aggressive and
illegal union busting campaign in the
modern history of our country.” Schultz
said repeatedly during the hearing that
the company had not broken the law.
Seeing the company used as a proxy for
union busting and corporate greed was a
sharp turn for Starbucks, which has long
been a favourite of latte-loving liberals.
But Schultz’s position on the union always
seemed very much at odds with the kind of
company he had tried to build—one with
progressive benefits and progressive stan-
ces. The company was one of America’s
first corporate giants to take a clear public
stand on social issues like gun control and
Black Lives Matter.
Schultz didn’t start Starbucks, but he
built it into the company it is today. And in
him, we saw how the best and worst parts
of founders and long-time CEOs are often
one in the same: Everything is personal for
them. They inject a company with passion
and dedication, but that can also mean
they make decisions using emotion rather
than reason. It’s understandable, having
created a company in which its every fail-
ure and success is tied to their own iden-
tity. In Schultz’s case, he always said he
tried to make Starbucks the kind of
employer his father, who had once been
fired after injuring himself on the job as a
delivery driver, never got the chance to
work for.
So for Schultz, the arrival of the union
was deeply personal. He believed that only
badly behaved companies needed unions
to protect their workers; in his mind, Star-
bucks was not that kind of a company, and
he was not that kind of CEO.
When I wrote about the hearing last
year, Wilma Liebman, a chairman of the
National Labor Relations Board during
the Obama administration, told me that
Schultz was exhibiting the “reflexive anti-
unionism” often seen among company
founders. Because it’s a group that tends
to take worker activism so personally, it
makes them more prone to anti-union
behaviour. “It’s a huge disappointment,”
she said of Starbucks.
The coffee giant, however, has reached
a point where CEO Laxman Narasimhan
can no longer afford to uphold his prede-
cessor’s position on the union. When Star-
bucks reported earnings earlier this
month, posting its slowest sales growth in
a year, analysts in part blamed the impact
of consumer boycotts over the war in Gaza
and the company’s prolonged fight
against the union.
Perhaps most worrisome, Starbucks
had put itself at risk of losing its future cus-
tomer base. Gen-Z has been called “the
most pro-union generation” and has
shown a willingness to make sure its
spending aligns with its values in a way we
don’t see with other age cohorts. Last
week, for example, actions were planned
at 25 college and universities by students
who want Starbucks kicked off their cam-
puses for its alleged anti-union activities.
Schultz built Starbucks into the coffee-
house behemoth it is today by not only
keeping up with the cultural moment, but
by informing it, selling not just coffee but
also a set of values. His stance on unions—
which now have historic levels of support
in America—was a sign that he had fallen
out of step. It seems to have taken an out-
sider to realize that moving forward with
the union isn’t a personal failing but rather
a good business decision. ©BLOOMBERG

guEsT VIEW

Global digital gateway Google has policy lessons for us

The dispute is over a commercial agree-
SRINATH SRIDHARAN ment between Google and users of its app
store, and pending legal resolution, Google’s
delisting action was within the bounds of
law. However, the impacted entities and
other stakeholders look poised to weaponize
risk adverse implications to diplomatic and
trade negotiations, as reciprocity is a factor.
New Delhi has put its weight behind Indian
startups, stating that the delisting of apps
from Google PlayStore is not permissible.
Further, the Centre has initiated a meeting
Much can be done to reduce dependence
on foreign Big Tech firms. A longer-term
solution entails using an India-first digital
app store ecosystem. In 2023, the Center for
Development of Advanced Computing
(C-DAC), an autonomous body under the
dominance of global Big Tech giants. For
India to safeguard its digital sovereignty, it
must invest substantially in nurturing its
entrepreneurs and fostering innovation in
emerging fields of technology. Only by
channelling resources into these sectors and

G
oogle’s recent delisting of 23 Indian
apps from its PlayStore for non-com-
pliance with its billing policy under-
scores its market dominance. After protests
erupted and the government signalled its
reproach of its action, Google reinstated
some of these apps. Central to this conflict
lies the Google Play Billing System (GPBS)
it for political and policy discourse. Notably,
many of these entities have benefited from
their presence on the app store. Consider
startup pitches for funding that include
boasts of PlayStore app downloads.
If India’s technology sector is concerned
about such market dominance, with a for-
eign company acting as an app gateway to a
between Google and the affected startups to ministry of electronics and information actively participating in global discussions
address this dispute. How- technology (MeitY), on evolving regulations can India assert its
ever, the central challenge launched mSeva, a plat- influence and shape the trajectory of tech-
remains: Can the govern- A real escape form aimed at securing the nological development on a global scale.
ment compel tech giants Indian digital ecosystem A true transformation and the emergence
like Google to engage in from Big Tech’s from the effects of Android of globally competitive entities of Indian ori-
meaningful dialogue with- dominance. Expectations gin necessitate a robust foundation built on
out infringing their con-
clutches would arose of a mandate for the education, research and development. It will

is a policy researcher and

corporate advisor. @ssmumbai
and is rules that govern Android smart-
phone apps available at its app store, with
the Supreme Court looking into the matter.
It was only after an industry backlash and
order from the Competition Commission of
India (CCI) in October 2022, calling out its
practice as anti-competitive, that Google
begrudgingly permitted app developers in
India to use alternative billing systems. Its
revised PlayStore listing policy offered
developers three choices: Adhere to the
GPBS, adopt an alternative billing mecha-
nism, or opt for a consumption-only model
exempt from service fees. Critics, however,
contend that its continued imposition of fees
violates the CCI’s directives.
huge majority of smartphone users, it must
wake up to the reality of 21st century digital
warfare, both economic and geopolitical.
There is a lesson in this for policymakers.
While India lagged the West on Web1 and
Web2, it cannot afford to miss Web3 devel-
opments and the conversation on artificial
intelligence (AI). If India does not acquire a
seat at the global table to pursue its strategic
interests, it will lose commercial opportuni-
ties in these spheres and also find Western
narratives harder to counter when need be.
As for the Google PlayStore fiasco, India
has limited options. One option is stronger
government intervention in favour of
domestic businesses. However, such moves
tractual rights, given that
India is already seen as
demand that
weak in legal contractual
enforcement ?
India innovate
Another option involves its way to digital
urging the CCI to conduct
a thorough investigation. autonomy
It’s crucial to recognize,
though, that tech giants
like Google have weathered hefty penalties,
running in hundreds of millions of dollars, in
various countries without a significant
impact on their earnings or behaviour. This
serves as another lesson for our regulators.
Penalties don’t suffice. Ludicrously, lawyer
fees often exceed the actual penalties.
pre-installation of this local
app store on all Android
devices sold in India.
Despite this being an indig-
enous platform, it has not
attracted too many app
developers. They have con-
tinued to rely heavily on
Google App Store, instead
of mSeva. Other recent initiatives that aim to
enhance app-store competition, such as
Walmart-owned PhonePe’s Indus Appstore,
have not changed that scenario either.
While commercial laws and competition
rules are vital to shape the digital economy,
they alone are not sufficient to counter the
take investments in an education system
that can cultivate and sharpen students’ fac-
ulties of critical thinking and creativity, both
key to technological prowess, for India to
position itself as a formidable force in the
global digital landscape.
In a rapidly evolving digital environment,
the ability to commercialize and leverage
intellectual property is paramount. India
must not remain a provider of outsourced
grunge-work to the world, by and large, but
needs to instead cultivate an ecosystem that
encourages the development and protection
of intellectual property. If we must act to
protect our digital interests, we have to get
beyond cyber-coolie roles.
14 MoNDay, 4 March 2024
New Delhi BUSINESS OF LIFE WORKPLACE LIVEMINT.COM

The benefits of bonding

with a ‘bestie’ at work ISTOCKPHOTO

Those with close friends

at the workplace
experience lower levels MONDAY MOTIVATION
of stress and burnout
and are more motivated
to go the extra mile
Tarun Saini on
Geetika Sachdev the power of
meditation
M
umbai’s Suhana Prasad
doesn’t enjoy work the day
her “work bestie” is on leave.
“I have been working with the
same company for over a dec-
ade now, and honestly, it’s my work bestie who
Vidyakul’s CEO explains the challenges
has made it worth the while,” says the 36-year- students face at schools in rural India
old sales professional. “Especially during the
pandemic, when it was a struggle to manage
stress levels. We were ranting virtually about Shail Desai
work and life. It wasn’t the same, but at least we

knew we had each other’s support.”
Friendships in the office are often over-
looked. When you work in a high-stress envi-
ronment, where a big part of the job involves
going through hundreds of documents, answer-
ing emails, holding and attending meetings,
having someone to rant with, roll eyes or share
a quick laugh with, can make life a little more
bearable. Think Meredith and Cristina in Grey’s
Anatomy or Sutton, Kat and Jane in The Bold
Type—they may be fictional characters but their
relevance extends far beyond reel life.
Research, too, shows that having a “work
spouse” or an “office bestie”, essentially some-
one with whom you share a high level of trust,
loyalty, and respect, can have a positive impact
on performance in the office. And it makes
sense if you consider that an average person
spends over 80,000 hours at work, equivalent
to more than nine years.
A 2022 report, The Increasing Importance Of
A Best Friend At Work, from workplace consult-
ing and global research firm Gallup states:
“Best friends at work drive outcomes because
they’re more than a social connection or good
relationship. The importance of work friends
is having someone you can rely on through
thick and thin. Someone who has your back
and genuinely cares. These authentic friend-
ships deepen employees’ sense of ownership
for their work and enable employees to be
more effective and sustainable, regardless of
where or when they work.”
Vikas Suri, the chief executive offer (CEO)
and founder of Delhi-based gourmet popcorn
brand Popcorn & Company, agrees. When he
joined fast-food chain Wimpy as a group prod-
uct manager in 1996, he struggled to find his
place in the company. As he began working, he
formed close friendships with colleagues, find-
ing the support and encouragement required
to excel in his role. “My seniors and work
friends provided valuable mentorship, shared
industry insights, and offered emotional sup-
port during challenging projects, which went
on to enhance my job satisfaction and produc-
tivity,” he recalls.
BEYOND THE OFFICE
Having a close friend at work can also motivate
people to go the extra mile in getting projects
done, says Arun Vasudevan, co-founder and
CEO of MaxPetZ hospitals and clinics. He
explains his point with an instance, when he and
W
hile growing up in Ponti in Barara tehsil of Haryana
Tarun Saini found it a challenge to get the quality of
education he wanted. So, when he completed his
degree at Monash University, he decided to do something about
it. In 2019, the 34-year-old co-founded Vidyakul, an edtech plat-
form that works with students from grades 9 to 12. Since then,
Vidyakul has worked with government school students from
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat. Gurugram-based Saini says
they have impacted 75,000 families through their interactive
online classes and other resources. “The challenges faced at the
grassroots include absence of experienced teachers, insufficient
infrastructure, a lack of resources. It makes the discrepancy
his team worked tirelessly for consecutive days, mates, It was found that the “composition, friendships at work. between urban and rural education apparent. I too faced consid-
reaching a point of exhaustion. “The only rea- duration, and staffing of teams can trigger or “I have built my organization for the last nine erable challenges as a student, since my village had limited infra-
son we managed to persevere and complete the exacerbate feelings of social disconnection in years with a co-founder, with whom I have structure,” he says.
task at hand was because of the support and col- the workplace.” developed a close friendship. I have partnered Saini spent 11 years in Australia, initially studying on a scholar-
laboration offered by colleagues,” he Ajay Shetty, founder of Bengaluru-based professionally with organizations that my ship and then working in education. There, he gained under-
recalls.“The sense of accomplishment and joy ready-to-drink and craft spirits brand Salud, friends are leading. I believe there is an ease of standing of how the government took online education to remote
was palpable when we finally completed the believes it is essential to acknowledge that work if we are working with friends,” he adds. communities. He returned home with a mission to make quality
project. We even started to plan a holiday industry growth, company expansion, and There is no denying that complexity can education accessible for all Indian students. “Initially, the hiccup
together to celebrate this moment.” achieving business goals thrive on the founda- creep into work-based friendships, particularly was to build trust. The learning curve included understanding
Besides support and motivation, meaningful tion of camaraderie. “We’ve even cultivated if one climbs the ladder while the other doesn’t the nuances of the business administration processes, which
connections at work can also improve health friendships with our competitors, driven by a succeed as much. The differences in power may allowed me to navigate and operate effectively.”
and well-being. According to 2022 research by shared desire to learn and grow. At its core, it is be tricky terrain to navigate. For others, they Saini tells Mint why his students are still his biggest teachers.
BetterUp, a global coaching platform, those about nurturing a sense of community to build may find relationships at work rather superficial Who do you consider your mentor?
with workplace friends experience less loneli- a business and recognizing that success isn’t a to invest in. I truly believe the students are my
ness, stress, and burnout—a pattern that was 32 solo venture,” says Shetty. Diverse perspectives can lead to differences My idea of mentors. They impart valuable lessons
times stronger in One of the most between workmates, spilling into tasks that can unwinding is to on product development, marketing
workers with more impactful practices negatively impact your productivity, says Nira- strategies and various dos and don’ts.
friends. There’s no denying that they have imple- jita Banerjee, LinkedIn career expert. “Setting spend quality Secondly, I found mentors in a few of
“It’s been close to complexity can creep into such mented at Salud is to boundaries on the topics that you are comforta- time with my our early investors, who are have
two decades since I organize frequent ble to discuss and those where you want to draw friends and played a significant role in guiding me.
left my last job. But friendships, more so if one does travel and brain- the line, can help build a sustained relationship family What’s your morning schedule?
even today, I strongly well at work and one doesn’t storming sessions. at work with your co-workers. Being more I wake up around 6.30-7 am and go
believe that work- “Teams of all sizes intentional and using clear language such as ‘I for a walk. I meditate for about 45 min-
place friendships regularly travel, both am providing this feedback on work perform- utes, after which I note down important tasks, which allows me
help with mental health, as people can share for work-related purposes and for dedicated ance’ can help,” she suggests. to get things done. Meditation helps me visualise my day.
their problems with each other due to a greater strategy sessions, at least once every two Not everyone may like to put their energies What are some of the productivity principles you follow?
degree of familiarity and common understand- months. These focused conversations allow into a work friendship, though. Isha Sahay, a Visualise, write and get things done. My principle is to note
ing developed over a period of time,” says for deeper engagement and foster collabora- Noida-based independent career coach, sug- down 3-4 tasks everyday and focus on things that are important
Kumaar Bagrodia, founder of NeuroLeap, an tion. Beyond organized gatherings, we gests that in that case, organizations must step for personal growth.
applied neuroscience company. actively encourage informal interaction up their game to create systems and workflows Any book or podcast you would recommend about men-
through weekly team lunches and drinks. This that can encourage their employees to develop torship and growth?
COMPETITION HURTS helps colleagues connect on a personal level, real connections at work. Banerjee reiterates, I have been following Tony Robbins for the last 8-9 years. He
Making friends, especially at a competitive place builds friendships, and infuses a sense of “Being more active about participating in work has a podcast on personal growth. Zero to One, for those who are
like the office, doesn’t come naturally to every- camaraderie,” adds Shetty. events such as happy hours and team building beginning their reading journey.
one. Some, in fact, perceive competition to be a Sahil Aggarwal, chief executive officer and activities can help employees spend time with How do you unwind?
deterrent in making close friendships at work. co-founder of Rishihood University in Sonipat, their co-workers in a more informal setting.” Walking is my hobby as I like to keep moving all the time. My
According to a research piece in MIT Sloan Haryana, on the other hand, believes that genu- Having one genuine “work bestie” instead of idea of unwinding is to spend quality time with my friends and
Management Review titled Are Your Team ine work friendships can happen even amid several superficial relationships, makes navigat- family and occasionally cook to relieve day to day stress.
Members Lonely?, 76% of executives among the competition. As someone who does not con- ing a world as busy and tough as today’s work- Monday Motivation is a series in which business leaders and cre-
223 surveyed globally between December 2019 sider work and life as distinct zones, he is of the place easier, more fun, and enriching. ative individuals discuss their mentors and their work ethics.
and January 2020, said they had difficulty view that work enriches the meaning of life—
making connections with their work team- which is further enhanced by having deep Write to us at businessoflife@livemint.com Write to us at businessoflife@livemint.com

EXTRACT

Why we need to decouple work ethic and burnout ISTOCKPHOTO

The sense of “running on Emily Ballesteros
fumes” is the experience
H
ave you ever had the overwhelm-
of mismanaged stress ing sense that driving into a field
and screaming at the top of your
and anxiety for an lungs would be therapeutic? Have you
extended period of time pulled into your driveway, sat in your car,
and stared blankly out the window, not
wanting to go inside to your responsibili-
ties? Whether it’s because of overwhelm-
ing professional or personal responsibili-
ties, the bottom line is you’re running on
fumes. Burnout is living your life on fumes
for an extended period of time.
More commonly, this sense of “running
on fumes” is the experience of misman-
aged, prolonged stress. We know that a lit-
tle stress is good for us: It keeps us alert
and engaged. But significant stress for a
long or indefinite period does not suit our
physiology, and when we must endure it
for too long, it transforms into something
more sinister: burnout. When our bodies
are relentlessly combating stress hor-
mones, getting irregular sleep, experienc-
ing daily fatigue, we have no opportunity
to replenish our reserves. And it’s not just
a physical depletion; it’s also psychologi-
cal—we start to view our circumstances
negatively. Whereas short-term stress is
The Cure For Burnout perceived as a challenge that we can over-
By Emily Ballesteros, come with extra effort, burnout feels end-
Harper Collins India, less and insurmountable: We become
272 pages, ₹499 hopeless, fearing things will never change.
You don’t need me to tell you that
global causes of stress—the impacts of
Covid-19, inflation, political turmoil, and
“hustle culture,” just to name a few—are
on the rise. While most of us have long
been accustomed to some stress, more of
us than ever are reporting high amounts of
it in recent years. Increased, prolonged
stress means an increase in burnout.
As the pandemic bore on and as burn-
out continued to increase, the dam broke.
People reached a breaking point and were
forced to reassess what they were work-
ing—and burning out—for. As if we had a
collective near-death experience, every-
one reevaluated what they were spending
their precious time on. The reminder of
our finite time brought with it a renewed
indignation and motivation not to waste it
doing things that did not serve or fulfill us.
This widespread burnout reared its
head in movements like the Great Resig-
nation (mass exodus of workers from the
workforce), the Great Reshuffling (folks
who quit and “shuffled” into different
jobs), and quiet quitting (the decision to
no longer go “above and beyond” basic
duties). These trends, driven by worker
dissatisfaction, show millions of profes-
sionals’ desire for change. We are ready to
work for a living rather than live to work.
The 2021 Great Resignation was a
period during which a record number of
U.S. employees quit, hitting a twenty-year
high of 4.5 million in November of 2022.
The main reasons workers quit included
low pay, working too many hours, lacking
opportunities for advancement, and feel-
ing disrespected by their company. Those
who changed jobs were more likely to take
jobs that offered higher pay, more room
for advancement, and a better work-life
balance. Additionally, the increased flexi-
bility in remote work made many question
the need to work as rigidly as they had
been. Many quit in favour of remote posi-
tions that offered more freedom.
For the first time in modern history, the
nine-to-five structure was questioned by
employees who had achieved the same
work on a different schedule and in a dif-
ferent setting. When people’s jobs were
stripped of the office, many felt their roles
left something to be desired.
The quiet quitting trend—popularized
through 2022 and 2023—is further evi-
dence that professionals have been disil-
lusioned. While “going the extra mile” is
virtuous, many employees who felt they’d
been doing so realized they had merely
been “rewarded” with a lot of drain (and,
in many cases, being asked to take on the
work of a colleague who wasn’t doing their
job as well). A “promotion” in duties but
not in title or pay has become common.
It’s no wonder workers have essentially
gone on strike, mounting to a mass refusal
to “be a team player” to their detriment.
Indignation about these unfair expecta-
tions and the realization that many were
feeling the same, gave the quiet quitting
campaign the fuel it needed to catch fire.
Of course, not everyone is fist-pumping
in support of these movements. Often, the
response to these “do less” trends is the
assumption that “nobody wants to work
hard anymore.” Even when the recom-
mendation to scale back is to reduce burn-
out or boost mental health, many hesitate
to acknowledge they’re burned out for
fear that it will sound like they “don’t have
what it takes.” To anyone who has interna-
lized that: It is in your best interest to men-
tally decouple work ethic and burnout.
Excerpted with permission from The
Cure For Burnout: Build Better Habits,
Find Balance and Reclaim Your Life by
Emily Ballesteros, Harper Collins India
Write to us at businessoflife@livemint.com