AHMEDABAD, NEW DELHI, MUMBAI, BENGALURU, KOLKATA, CHENNAI, HYDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE*, LUCKNOW*
129
Wednesday, May 29, 2024
Think Ahead. Think Growth.
mint primer
Our daily bread’s
getting hot. Can
imports help?
BY SAYANTAN BERA
Despite a record harvest, wheat prices are on the rise. That’s because
of lower production in some states, which in turn means the Centre is
unlikely to meet its purchase target. Will prices rise further, and push
India to allow imports, currently banned? Mint looks at the scenario:
Harvest highs
Tepid increase in wheat production Production (in million tonnes)
115
3.7 4.1
112
109
106
103
100
2018-19 2019-20
How is the wheat
1 harvest this year?
The agriculture ministry said in
February that it expects a harvest
of 112 million tonnes (mt) in
2024.That’s a record. However,
this is only a tad higher than the
2021 crop, estimated at 110 mt. In
2022 and 2023, climate shocks—
including heatwaves and untimely
rains—impacted production,
leading to a drawdown of public
stocks. Harvest in the current year
was impacted in some states—
notably Madhya Pradesh—due to a
warmer winter. Data from the
consumer affairs department
shows that wholesale wheat prices
are currently 5.3% higher year-on-
year while consumer prices are up
6.5% (as of 27 May).
PTI
4 What about farmer
prices?
Farmers get a minimum support
price (MSP) of ₹2,275 per quintal
from the government. But market
prices of premium wheat varieties
are significantly higher than MSP
(₹2,600-₹3,200 per quintal).
Market prices are also higher
because some states like Madhya
Pradesh and Rajasthan are paying
a bonus of ₹125 per quintal in
addition to the MSP, partly
honouring a promise made to
farmers before state elections last
year. So, farmers are holding on to
their harvest, expecting higher
prices in coming months.
mint Election Bites
GOOGLE TRENDS SHOW SURGE
IN MODI'S POPULARITY
WITH RAHUL TRAILING BEHIND
Popularity of the words 'Narendra Modi' and 'Rahul Gandhi' on Google search
120
100
80
60
40 35
20
0
Annual growth (in %)
-1.6
1.6 2.6 1.4
2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24
Source: Ministry of agriculture
PRANAY BHARDWAJ/MINT
What about public
2 stocks?
Government agencies purchase
wheat from farmers for three
purposes—supply under the free
foodgrain scheme to over 810
million beneficiaries, maintain a
strategic stock and use a portion of
that to intervene in markets to
tame prices. Till 24 May,
government agencies purchased
26 mt of wheat, marginally more
than last year. However, this is
likely to fall short of the target (30-
32 mt), for the third year in a row.
Procurement is lower than target
due to a sharp drop in purchase in
Madhya Pradesh. Farmers are
selling to private traders instead as
premium varieties are fetching
them a higher price.
3 Will India be pushed into
allowing wheat imports?
It depends on buffer stocks and how prices
move in the coming months. Wheat
imports have been banned since 2022. But
the US department of agriculture says
India may end up having to import 2 mt of
wheat due to domestic demand, a decline
in government stocks and weak global
prices. If India does decide to import
wheat, it would be after a gap of six years.
5 How are retail food
prices moving?
Data from the consumer affairs
department shows retail wheat
inflation, at 6.5% year-on-year, is
still benign compared with rice
(13.3%), tur dal (29%), and potato,
tomato and onions (between 43%
and 49%). When compared with
overall food inflation of 8.7% seen
in April, wheat prices have risen
moderately. But prices also tend to
be lower during the harvest season
(March to May) when farmers
bring their produce to the market.
So, wheat prices may firm up in
the coming months as the surge in
supplies dries up.
Narendra Modi Rahul Gandhi
11
28 May 2023
A search interest score of 100 corresponds to the week with the highest search volumes
during the period, and scores for other weeks are scaled down relative to that.
Data: Niti Kiran, Design: Sarvesh Kumar Sharma
VOL. 18 NO.
QUICK EDIT
The great
FPI exit
May marks another month with
a stark contrast in the interest
shown by foreign and domestic
investors in Indian equities. So
far this month, foreign portfolio
investors (FPIs) have sold a net
₹35,527 crore worth of Indian
shares, extending their selling
to a second month. Meanwhile,
domestic investors pumped in
₹41,720 crore. Strong domestic
buying support has meant mar-
kets haven’t tumbled the way
they once would at the faintest
indication of foreign investors
making their way out. But our
stock indices haven’t risen
much lately either, even as vola-
tility has spiked. With elections
underway, FPI selling is being
linked to the risk of a power
shift. Is that prospect being
over-estimated? Unlike domes-
tic investors, foreign investors
have a bigger play-field, with
other markets competing for
their money. India’s capital
inflows often depend on inter-
est rate conditions and risk dis-
positions in the West, not to
mention our rupee policy. By
global comparison, though,
Indian shares look overpriced
for their earnings. Whichever
way the Lok Sabha polls go,
Indian equities may need an
earnings catch-up and the boost
of fresh economic reforms for
bigger inflows from abroad.
MINT METRIC
by Bibek Debroy
One can quite understand,
This roasting of papad in the sand.
In Bikaner, a jawan’s act
Was very matter of fact,
With temperatures in the sweltering band.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
We are living in a competitive
world and China is asserting itself,
and India has also focused on
manufacturing to make the
country self-reliant, generate
employment and self employment
avenues for the overall
development.
S. JAISHANKAR
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
MINISTER
For more election-based
66 charts and historical
analysis, visit the
infographics section on
the Mint app.
21
26 May 2024
Source: Google Trends
 PLAIN FACTS

Can India keep up with

vagaries in power use?
BY HOWINDIALIVES.COM

A
t 3.42 pm on 22 May, Delhi’s demand for electricity from the power grid broke all records, hitting 8,000 megawatts
(MW). Already by 9 am that day, average temperatures tracked by the government’s weather stations across the city
had crossed 42 degrees Celsius in some areas. Along with relative humidity of 35–40%, the actual weather “felt” much
hotter—close to 50 degrees in parts of the city. While Delhi is an extreme, it’s still a microcosm of the electricity-related chal-
lenges that several parts of India face in peak summers. Temperatures are a good predictor of power demand. But they can
vary sharply in a 24-hour span.
In Delhi, on 22 May, as people headed to work, air-conditioners in offices were switched on, and demand for power picked
up. As the day became increasingly hotter, shops and houses, too, switched on ACs. Power demand peaked around early
evening, dropped for a couple of hours, and then rose again, as households switched on ACs in the night.
The gradual increase in temperatures after February causes power demand to soar across North India every year. But even
by its own standards, this year is looking particularly grim. As of 22 May, demand for power was already 50% above the average
demand for the last week of February and early-March. Against that benchmark, demand rose in earlier years, too, but by
much less. For example, in 2023, also a very warm year, demand had risen by about 36% from the baseline of late February
and early March.

Delhi sees a large variance in power A warmer 2024 is causing a spike in

demand even on an average summer day power demand in north India
Demand for power in Delhi on 22 May 2024 by time of day (MW) North India power demand, rebased (100 = average of peak demand
in last week of February to early March for respective year)
8,000 160 2023 2024

7,000
140

6,000

5,000 120

4,000
100

3,000

2,000 80

1,000
60
26 Feb 22 May 14 Aug
0 North India comprises six states (Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan,
00:00 06:00 12:00 18:00 24:00 Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand) and four Union territories (Chandigarh, Delhi,
Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh).
Source: Delhi State Load Despatch Center Source: Grid India

Sectoral Variation
IN INDIA, the demand for power principally comes from four types of consumers: industrial units, households
(termed “domestic” in industry parlance), the agriculture sector and commercial establishments (shops, hotels, malls,
etc.). Industry leads in electricity consumption. It accounted for about 42% of consumption in 2022-23. It is followed
by domestic connections, which accounted for 26% of energy consumption in 2022-23. Agriculture is a big driver of
power demand in rural areas; it accounts for 17% of the total energy consumption.
All these consumer types have their individual patterns. Household demand for power varies sharply over the
course of the day and across seasons, depending on the weather. Agricultural demand for power varies sharply across
cropping seasons. Demand from industrial units and commercial establishments is much more stable than these two
categories, remaining far less variable across the year. Further, demand from industrial consumers is significantly less
on weekends and public holidays, when offices are closed.
Differences in demand for power over the course of the day, or across the year, between various types of consumers
shows up in the way different parts of the country draw power from the grid. The western part of the country, with
major industrial states such as Maharashtra and Gujarat, show far less variation in demand for power across the year
than northern India. That’s because states in western India have a higher proportion of power demand coming from
industrial consumers, whose patterns of consumption are much more stable over the course of the year.

Regional Variation Industry and households are the

leading power consumers
IN FACT, the north, which has an balanced mix of Share of power consumption in 2022-23 (%)
domestic and agricultural consumers, shows greater
Others
variation in demand over the course of the year than the 7
rest of the country. Commercial
7
Grid India, which manages the national power grid,
has analysed demand patterns across the country and
says in its report based on the analysis : “Even within a Agriculture 17 42
Industrial
day, the demand variation pattern of each region is quite
unique. The demand of western region attains a peak
mostly during the day time, whereas that of northern
region almost in the late evening or at night.”
Domestic 26
Why do such sharp variations in demand, over a year,
or even over the course of a single day or week matter?
A power grid cannot “store” electricity the way that a Source: Central Electricity Regulatory Commission
mobile phone can, in its battery, and draw on that power
Power demand fluctuates the most
when it’s needed.
Supply has to meet demand in a power grid, and has to in north India
Monthly power demand (MW)
rise or fall as that demand rises or falls.
A “base” level of demand for power in a grid, which is 2,500,000 North West South
East North-east
always present, is met by making use of the electricity
generated by thermal or nuclear plants.
The problem, however, is that thermal plants cannot 2,000,000
ramp up their supply of electricity at the pace at which
demand spikes during the course of a hot day. So,
engineers who run the grid have to call upon nimbler 1,500,000
sources of energy, such as that from renewable energy
plants based on wind or solar, that can quickly increase
their power supply to meet sudden jumps in demand 1,000,000
from consumers.
A well-functioning grid, therefore, has to plan to have a
good mix of “baseload” plants (from thermal or nuclear 500,000
plants) and of “peaking” plants (based on renewable
energy or other sources).
As this summer intensifies, this balancing act will be 0
crucial. Jan Jan Jan Apr
www.howindialives.com is a database and search 2021 2022 2023 2024
Source: Grid India
engine for public data.
PARAS JAIN/MINT

PEANUTS by Charles M. Schulz

 Ahmedabad, new delhi, mumbai, bengaluru, kolkata, chennai, Hyderabad, chaNdiGarh*, pune*, lucknow*
Wednesday, May 29, 2024
SENSEX 75,170.44 220.06
Dealers wilt as car
buyers shun heat
Discounts rise as potential customers avoid stepping out
Alisha Sachdev
alisha.sachdev@livemint.com
NEW DELHI
D
windling footfall and
deserted dealerships
point to a summer of
discontent for India’s
automobile industry, as
blistering heat takes its toll on show-
room visits, test drives and pur-
chases.
Sales in May are sharply down
from the previous month as well as
the same period a year ago, dealers
said, adding they are rolling out dis-
counts on popular models and offer-
ing doorstep service for test drives.
What has also hurt sales is the focus
on ongoing elections, as well as the
lack of auspicious wedding dates
that typically fuel car purchases
in May.
“During the peak heat hours from
12 pm to 4 pm, it feels like the show-
room is closed. Only customers with
planned deliveries are coming in,”
said Vinkesh Gulati, director of
United Automobiles, which runs 12
passenger vehicle and two-wheeler
showrooms in the National Capital
Region and Eastern Uttar Pradesh.
“Footfall is 30-35% less compared
to April, and even after 5 pm, there
are few people who show up. Peak
activity now only happens around
6pm, which has always been the
case, but we are unable to cover up
The stake in Tata Play is outside the proposed $8.5-billion merger
between Viacom18 and Disney’s local business.
The curious case
of Disney’s 30%
stake in Tata Play
Gaurav Laghate
gaurav.laghate@livemint.com
mumbai
F
or the Walt Disney Co., a
30% stake in Indian DTH
(direct-to-home) operator
Tata Play, which it inherited as
part of its global purchase of
Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century
Fox assets, has become an alba-
tross around its neck.
Disney has been keen to sell
its stake in Tata Play (erstwhile
Tata Sky) to joint venture part-
ner Tata Group. But there was
one problem: the Tatas refused
to buy.
Last week, Bloomberg
reported that the Tata Group
had agreed to buy Disney’s
stake in the DTH arm at a $1-bil-
lion valuation. However, two
people aware of the matter said
neither the Tata group, nor
Reliance Industries Ltd, with
which Disney is merging its
local unit Disney Star, has
shown interest in buying out
Disney’s stake.
“The fact is that Disney
doesn’t want anything to do
with the distribution business.
That’s not their core, and they
have been seeking an exit since
they acquired the stake follow-
ing the purchase of the Fox
assets,” said one of the persons
on condition of anonymity.
“While they have approached
livemint.com
NIFTY 22,888.15
thermal effect
LOW GEAR
dealers expect
sales to rise in the
second half of 2024
for the slow periods,” he added.
On Monday, temperatures at 17
locations in India crossed 48
degrees, including parts of the
national capital. The government’s
weather office on Tuesday issued a
‘Red Alert’ for Wednesday and
Thursday for Rajasthan, Punjab,
Haryana, Delhi-NCR, Western UP
and Madhya Pradesh. Some relief is
expected after three days due to a
western disturbance, the India
REUTERS
the Tata Group multiple times,
there is no interest to invest or
buy back from this side.”
Walt Disney, a global enter-
tainment behemoth with oper-
ations spanning films, TV net-
works, theme parks, consumer
products, and video streaming,
does not possess stakes or
financial interests in any distri-
bution company elsewhere.
Email queries sent to the
Tata Group, Tata Play, Reliance
Industries and Disney Star
remained unanswered till press
time.
The stake in Tata Play is out-
side the proposed $8.5-billion
merger between Reliance
Industries-owned Viacom18
and Disney’s local business,
announced in February this
year.
As part of the deal, Disney
will transfer all its India assets
and employees—except its
stake in Tata Play, its consumer
products business, and VFX
studio Industrial Light & Magic
(ILM)—to its wholly owned
subsidiary Star India.
Post the merger, Reliance
will effectively control the JV. It
will have a direct stake of
16.34% in the company, while
its step-down subsidiary Via-
com18 will have 46.82%. Dis-
ney will own 36.84% of the JV.
TURN TO PAGE 6
44.3 DOLLAR ₹83.18
Discounts on some Dealers now
popular models are expect vehicle stocks
up by 15-30% in May to swell in June
Meteorological Department said.
“Inquiries are fewer due to the
elections, heat, and lack of marriage
events. May retail is down by 10% so
far, and we don’t see a very positive
overall outlook,” Gulati of United
Automobiles added. “We are not
seeing a lot of customers interested
in buying cars right now. The
extreme heat is a significant deter-
TURN TO PAGE 6
Global consultancies grow India Esops back in favour as
teams for retail, consumer boom IPOs rise, valuations reset
Suneera Tandon
suneera.t@htlive.com
new delhi
M
ajor consulting firms
are expanding their
consumer practice in
India in anticipation of a surge
in mergers and acquisitions
(M&A) and as growing prosper-
ity in the world’s fifth-largest
economy fuels demand for
consumer goods.
PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, and
Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) are
actively hiring to bolster their
consumer and retail practice,
said top executives at these
global consulting firms.
The executives cited
increased activity in the
domestic sector, with both
regional players expanding
nationally and established
companies continuing to
acquire smaller firms. Estab-
lished companies, meanwhile,
are also seeking to improve
their technology capabilities as
well as expand their scope of
business.
Wall Street’s favorite recession indicator is in slump of its own
Sam Goldfarb
feedback@livemint.com
O
ne of Wall Street’s
favorite recession
indicators looks bro-
ken.
An anomaly known as an
inverted yield curve, in which
yields on
short-term
Treasurys
exceed
those of longer-term govern-
ment debt, has long been taken
as a nearly surefire signal that
an economic pullback looms.
In each of the previous eight
U.S. downturns, that has hap-
pened before the economy
sputtered. There haven’t been
any glaring false alarms.
Now, though, that streak is
VOL. 18 NO. 129 Rs. 15.00 18 pages
Why political parties are Rich sports lovers pad up for
wooing women uP12 matches abroad uP9
₹0.04 EURO ₹90.47 ₹0.13 OIL $82.77 $0.83 POUND ₹106.26 ₹0.22
Measuring India’s growing
DON’T MISS
MINT
urban heat stress
By Manjul Paul
manjul.paul@livemint.com
‘Heat stress’, which captures both high temperature and humidity levels in one metric, has
grown significantly this month as compared to May 2023 in some of India’s largest cities, a new
report shows. Ten of India’s 65 million-plus-population cities saw more than 100 hours of heat
stress—or dangerous levels of both heat and humidity—in May, in the midst of India’s longest
MINT
election season, data from climate tech startup Respirer Living Sciences showed. Novelis files for $945 million IPO
in US at $12.6 billion valuation
Ten of India's largest cities had over
100 hours of 'heat stress' in May
Coastal cities saw worst humid heat
stress, but got relief by month-end
Novelis Inc., a unit of Kumar Mangalam Birla-
led Hindalco Industries, is seeking to raise as
Total number of heat stress hours observed in Top cities that witnessed the highest number of much as $945 million in a US IPO that could
India's largest cities in May 2024 hours with humid heat stress in May 2024 be another test for the resurgent market for
0 96 first-time share sales. Hindalco will own
25 50 75 1st week 4th week about 92.5% of Novelis after the IPO. >P4
Visakhapatnam 64 35
Total hours
Chennai 90 17
200 Adani group plans e-commerce,
50 Vijayawada 60 23
Delhi
47
Varanasi payments ventures: Report
78 Bhubaneswar 41 26
Jodhpur Adani group has been considering an
57 Puducherry 96 16 application for a licence to operate on the
country’s public digital payments network
Lower humidity did little to relieve and is in talks with banks to finalise plans for
heat stress in drier regions a co-branded credit card, the Financial
Top cities that witnessed the highest number of Times reported on Tuesday. >P3
hours with dry heat stress in May 2024
Kolkata
1st week 4th week
Mumbai
126
Vadodara 13 46
104 Avendus launches ₹3,000 crore
Ahmedabad 11 46
Vijayawada fund to invest in tech, health
196 Surat 5 25 Avendus Capital Pvt. Ltd, a financial
Kochi Varanasi 3 35 services company, said it has launched
27
Prayagraj a third Future Leaders Fund (FLF) for
4 40
which it aims to raise about ₹3,000 crore,
including a greenshoe option to raise
Nearly 85% of cities analysed saw a rise in the heat stress from a year ago up to ₹1,500 crore more. >P3
Top cities that Vadodara
witnessed the highest Mumbai
increase in heat stress Surat Security shortfall at key airports,
from a year ago Ahmedabad
situation to ease by 2024-end
Total heat stress hours in Varanasi
May 2023 May 2024 Raipur Key airports including Delhi, Mumbai,
Prayagraj Chennai and Kolkata have a shortage of
0 30 60 90 120 150 more than 4,000 security personnel, as per
Heat stress refers to the situation when the heat index (or the apparent temperature, which takes into account both temperature a government study. The study shows
and humidity) exceeds 41°C. Humid heat stress occurs when heat stress is accompanied by a relative humidity is more than 50%, that there is a shortage of over 1,300 CISF
and dry heat stress otherwise. *All data until 26 May, for cities with an estimated population of more than a million.
personnel at the Delhi airport alone. >P11
Source: Respirer Living Sciences
PARAS JAIN/MINT
retail, digital, apparel and Devina Sengupta &
accessories, and consumer
Back in vogue
Sneha Shah ESOP issuance year-to-date in 2024 compared to the same
technology,” Jain added. period last year.
“This growth is likely to ben- mumbai
Companies Shares (in million) Number of IPOs
efit from the growing Indian Amount raised (₹ crore)
340.5 253.9
S
consumption story across cities tock options are back in
881
and income segments.” vogue, especially for mid- FY2023
Large consumer goods firms dle and senior manage- 37 52,116
544
as well as retailers are hungry to ment positions in both startups 461
chase India’s middle-class and traditional companies. As 382
shoppers, prompting them to organizations realign their FY2024
Large consumer goods firms as
either buy out small firms or
partner with others in a bid to
grab a larger share of the con-
strategies, conclude their busi-
ness reshuffles and transforma-
tion, and markets calibrate Jan-May
2024
Jan-May
2023
2023
76 61,915
Source: Capitaline & Primedatabase
well as retailers want to chase sumption market. their share values, employee
SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
India’s middle-class shoppers.HT This trend has also led to stock options or Esops are
over $2.5 billion in private increasingly being seen as a notable issuances include Eco well as nearly all technology
New York-headquartered equity funding and acquisitions lucrative perk for those being Hotels with 20.4 million Esops companies, along with the
A&M is aiming to grow its con-
sumer practice in India fivefold
over the next few years.
in the fast-moving consumer
goods sector over the past three
years, Mint reported earlier cit-
hired in top positions.
The period January-May
2024 has seen 340.5 million
on 10 February, CMS Info Sys-
tems with 6.25 million Esops
granted between 3 January and
upcoming revival in the startup
ecosystem, have reignited
interest in startup Esops,” said
“A&M India’s consumer and ing data from Avendus. shares being allotted through 28 February, Infibeam Avenues Anirudh Damani, managing
retail practice is poised to grow Retailers are following suit, Esops by 461 listed companies, with 3.6 million Esops issued partner at Artha Venture Fund,
fivefold over the next 3-4 with established brands snap- according to a Mint analysis of on 20 March, and Home First which has invested in startups
years,” said Rishav Jain, man- ping up smaller players in a bid data from Capitaline database. Finance with 3.1 million Esops like LenDenClub, Agnikul, Fan-
aging director, Alvarez & Mar- to dominate a market flooded The same period last year had granted between 18 January tasy Trading League, Onsite,
sal. “This is on the back of sig- with new online competitors. seen 253.9 million Esop alloca- and 8 May. StepSetGo, among others.
nificant opportunity that we Consumers are increasingly tions by 382 companies. Multiple factors have con- The rise in initial public
foresee in multiple segments flocking online, prompting Zomato led the way with 116 tributed to the increased inter- offerings or IPOs is another fac-
such as food and beverage, million Esops granted between est in Esops. “The recent surge
home improvement, food TURN TO PAGE 6 8 February and 8 May. Other in the stock market for SMEs, as TURN TO PAGE 4
threatened. The yield curve has recession could be just a little recessions was Campbell Har-
been inverted for a record late in arriving this time. vey, now a finance professor at
stretch—around 400 trading Earning its reputation Duke University, who pub-
sessions or more by some There is a reason yield-curve lished a dissertation on the sub-
measures—with no signs of a inversions precede recessions. ject in 1986.
major slowdown. U.S. employ- Yields on Treasurys largely Inverted yield curves were
ers added a solid 175,000 jobs reflect investors’ expectations discussed on Wall Street and at
last month, and economic for what short-term interest the Fed in the 1990s but
growth this quarter is expected rates set by the Federal Reserve remained a relatively niche
to pick up will average over the life of a subject until after the 2008
from earlier bond. When longer-term financial crisis, Harvey said.
in the year. yields fall below short-term Then people started taking
If a reces- yields, it is a sign that investors stock of warning signs they had
sion doesn’t materialize soon, it expect the Fed to cut interest initially played down.
could do lasting damage to the rates—something it often does Data from Factiva supports
yield curve’s status as a warning The yield curve has been inverted for a record stretch with no to jump-start a faltering econ- that narrative, showing a huge
system, providing one of the signs of a major slowdown. BLOOMBERG omy. increase in the number of news
most significant examples of The near-mythical status of articles mentioning the yield
how the fallout from the Cov- Even if the past couple of years “It’s not working,” said Ed the inverted yield curve as a curve when it inverted in 2019
id-19 pandemic has upended have been unusual, investors Hyman, chairman of Evercore harbinger of downturns took compared with previous inver-
longstanding assumptions on likely wouldn’t be as worried ISI. time to develop. One of the first sions.
Wall Street about how markets when another inversion occurs “So far, the economy is doing to put a spotlight on the link
and the economy function. in the future. fine,” though he added that a between inverted curves and TURN TO PAGE 6
02 WEDNESDAY, 29 MAY 2024
AHMEDABAD ECONOMY & POLICY LIVEMINT.COM

m MINT SHORTS
India, Singapore set to firm up key
Shell pushes LNG mobility Modi plans
to meditate
agreements in emerging areas
New Delhi: India and Singapore are looking at firming up agree-
ments to shore up cooperation in green economy, digitalization,
energy, food security, health care and skill development in the
to displace diesel in India at TN rock
memorial
next few months in line with their strategic ties, persons from
diplomatic circles said on Tuesday. The pacts may be finalized PTI
around September-October as both sides identified the “priority feedback@livemint.com
areas” after a series of extensive deliberations, they said. PTI The firm also plans to foray to compressed biogas, says country head of Shell Energy India NEW DELHI/CHENNAI

P
rime Minister Narendra
Nawaz Sharif says Pak ‘violated’ Rituraj Baruah hover in the range of $10-12 per mmBtu Modi will meditate at
rituraj.baruah@livemint.com (million metric British thermal units), Rock Memorial, a monu-
1999 pact signed with India NEW DELHI compared with about $18–19 per mmBtu ment built in tribute to Swami
REUTERS
a year ago. Going ahead, in the next year Vivekananda, in Kanyakumari

S
hell India is seeking to play a or two prices may ease further with sup- following the culmination of
major role in attempts to build plies coming in from LNG capacities the Lok Sabha polls campaign
a green transport ecosystem in coming up in the US and Qatar. on 30 May, BJP leaders said on
the country by displacing die- To expand its portfolio of offerings in Tuesday.
sel—one of the dirtiest fuels— India’s gas ecosystem, Shell is also look- He will meditate from the
with liquified natural gas, or LNG. ing at entering the compressed biogas evening of 30 May to the even-
In addition, alongside its conven- (CBG) space. “We are also tracking devel- ing of 1 June at Dhyan Manda-
tional focus on LNG, it may also make a opments in the compressed biogas space pam, the place where Viveka-
foray into compressed biogas as it looks or renewable natural gas to see how we nanda—a spiritual icon
to expand its footprint in India’s clean can add that to our portfolio as well and admired by Modi—is believed
energy ecosystem. have our gas customers look to further to have had a divine vision
In an interview, Nakul Raheja, coun- decarbonize their gas supply chain how about ‘Bharat Mata’, they said.
Lahore: Former Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif on Tues- try head, Shell Energy India said that could we introduce CBG as part of that. The prime minister had
day admitted that Islamabad had “violated” an agreement easing LNG prices over the past several A lot of our customers are switching gone on a similar meditation
with India signed by him and ex-prime minister Atal Bihari months have led to a greater interest Easing LNG prices over the past several months have led to a greater interest from to gas as it makes both economic sense exercise in a Kedarnath cave
Vajpayee in 1999, in an apparent reference to the Kargil from all stakeholders for increasing the stakeholders for increasing the network of LNG suppliers for transport. BLOOMBERG and helps reduce their carbon footprint. after the 2019 poll campaign.
misadventure by Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Sharif and Vaj- network of LNG suppliers for transport. As they go forward they make look for Party functionaries said
payee signed the Lahore Declaration on 21 February 1999, “We are very excited by the opportu- “And we see this as a multi-million there has been increasing interest in the solutions which may help in further Modi’s decision to pick the spot
after a historic summit in that city. PTI nities emerging in the gas market in the dollar market over the next 10 years and entire ecosystem, including investors, reduction in their carbon footprint and in Kanyakumari for his spiritual
next few years. We were one of the early that requires more import of LNG and LNG stations, OEMs (original equip- CBG plays a role in that space,” he said. sojourn underscores his com-
movers in the gas market by taking up a the creation of downstream infrastruc- ment manufacturers) who would manu- He noted that Shell is already a major mitment to bringing to fruition
Fire engulfs forest in Shimla; 991 position in Hazira (Gujarat) and setting ture to dispense that LNG as well as the facture LNG-fuelled vehicles, retrofit- player in the CBG space after its acquisi- Vivekananda’s vision for the
up the Hazira LNG termi- ters who would convert tion of Natured Energy, a CBG producer country.
incidents reported this summer nal nearly 20 years ago Green option diesel-fuelled trucks into in Europe in February last year. He has been sounding confi-
Shimla/ Hamirpur: Himachal Pradesh has witnessed 991 forest now. Three-and-a-half LNG-fuelled ones, LNG “As the needs of the Indian customers dent about returning to power
fires since the onset of summer and two incidents were reported years ago we added a Shell Energy India the company sees Availability of suppliers and the govern- evolve we want to be ready with offer- for a third term after results on
from Shimla and Hamirpur district on Tuesday, officials said. A truck loading unit at country head sees
scope to replace
a multi-million dollar
LNG market in India
trucks running on
LNG and an enabling
ment. ings in this space as well for our custom- 4 June. The last phase of polling
forest fire broke out in Shimla’s Tutikandi around 11.30 am and Hazira which allows us to diesel with LNG in over the next 10 ecosystem will help “A big driver for this is ers. So, its basically its a strategy that's is scheduled for 1 June. Cam-
reached a government building, officials said. In Hamirpur, the send out LNG which heavy vehicles years the market that the LNG prices are driven sure by customer’s needs, and paigning for polls ends two
drinking water supply to the town was disrupted as the main serves not only industrial now back in the range making sure we have got something days before elections. The rock,
pump house was damaged by a forest fire, they said. PTI customers but feeds into where they make sense that's relevant to them when they need where the prime minister will
the network which is coming up for availability of trucks that can run on for the customer. There is a lot of energy it,” Raheja said. meditate, had a major impact
LNG as a transport fuel,” Raheja said. LNG and that entire ecosystem is now being put into this space. More and On the plans for the firm to expand on Vivekananda’s life and holds
CJI to decide on listing Kejriwal’s He said there was an “incredible working at pace to make that opportu- more sites are getting commissioned capacity of the Hazira LNG terminal, at a similar significance in the
opportunity” in India to displace diesel nity happen over the next few years.” which can dispense LNG,” he said. Hazira port in Gujarat, Raheja said that monk’s life as Sarnath for
plea for bail extension, says SC with LNG in heavy duty vehicles. He noted that in the past few months Spot Asian prices of LNG current there are no concrete plans as yet. Gautam Buddha, they said.
PTI

MoRTH may rework Talks held for trade negotiation SOP

note on highway plan
Subhash Narayan
Dhirendra Kumar
dhirendra.kumar@livemint.com
tion process,” said a senior offi-
cial, who wished not to be
NEW DELHI named.
50,000km of access-con- In an important session on

C
subhash.narayan@livemint.com trolled highways or express- ommerce ministry offi- capacity building and FTA
NEW DELHI ways, one of the two persons cials held a two-day resource management,' experts
New Delhi: The Chief Justice of India will take a decision said on the condition of ano- brainstorming session underscored the critical role

T
on the urgent listing of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejri- he roads ministry may nymity. As of now, about to discuss strategies for negoti- that FTAs play in enhancing
wal’s plea seeking extension of his interim bail by seven rework a cabinet note for 4,000km of centrally funded ating free trade deals (FTAs) national security by establish-
days for undergoing medical tests as the verdict in the main an expansive highway access-controlled highways with partner countries to ing robust economic ties and
case is already reserved, the Supreme Court said on Tues- construction plan to present to have been built. achieve positive outcomes. frameworks for regulatory
day. A vacation bench comprising justices J. K. Maheshwari the new government after the Queries sent to MoRTH The discussions were held cooperation.
and K. V. Viswanathan refused to list the plea on its own. PTI elections, two persons aware of remained unanswered till press with experts, former officials Experts stressed the need for
the development said. The time. and senior civil servants from interdisciplinary expertise in
original cabinet note was sub- Apart from long-term goals several departments on fram- law, economics, data analytics,
Banks’ credit growth in current mitted to the cabinet secretar- for MoRTH, the plan will also ing standard operating proce- and industry knowledge to
iat late last year, but approval break down the target into five- dures (SOPs) for FTAs and Commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal steered the discussion, with ensure successful negotiations.
fiscal to slow down to 14%: Crisil did not come year and one-year related issues under these former secretaries from various ministries in attendance. PIB.GOV.IN As per the ministry’s state-
Mumbai: Domestic rating agency Crisil on Tuesday said the through before Early approval of targets, and spec- agreements. ment, participants in the eco-
banking system’s credit growth will drop by 2 percentage points the elections got the Vision 2047 ify the kind of They also talked about stake- “The aim was to develop Australia in 2022. Negotiations nomic assessment session
to 14% in FY25. The slowdown will be due to lower GDP growth under way, the plan is key for work to be done holder consultations, capacity effective negotiation tech- for a trade agreement with highlighted detailed economic
at 6.8% in FY25, as against 7.6% in FY24, RBI measures like persons added. construction each year and the building and FTA resource niques and identify key areas of Oman are final, while discus- studies, including models such
higher risk weights on unsecured loans and also a high base, the Early approval
activities to begin likely investments management. focus to ensure that the FTAs sions with the UK and the EU as computable general equilib-
agency said. Slower deposit accretion can keep a check on credit of the Vision 2047 required. The importance of leverag- benefit India economically and are in advanced stages. rium and stressed on its impor-
growth, Crisil said, admitting that the differential between plan of the minis- on new-age The Vision ing trade agreements to strategically,” the “During the tance in FTA negotiations.
deposit and credit growth has shrunk over the past year. PTI try of road trans- highways 2047 plan would address emerging areas such as ministry said in a The discussions brainstorming On the digital trade issue, the
port and high- set specific targets the European Union’s Carbon statement. involved experts, session, young experts and officials discussed
ways (MoRTH) is for developing Border Adjustment Mecha- India con- former officials negotiators challenges of data sovereignty,
GIC Re net profit rises by 3% in key for construction activities green highways with infra- nism (CBAM), supply chain dis- cluded a trade and senior civil received training consumer protection and
to begin on new-age highways structure that would support ruptions, critical minerals, and agreement with on various aspects cybersecurity. “Participants
March quarter to ₹2,642 crore that would connect every part green mobility on Indian roads. artificial intelligence were also the European
servants from
of negotiating free discussed the challenge of
New Delhi: GIC Re on Tuesday posted a 3% increase in net profit of the country, providing com- The first such initiative is being discussed during the 16–17 May Free Trade Asso- several trade agreements. on-the-spot drafting requiring
to ₹2,642 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2024 com- muters access to faster express- introduced in the Delhi-Mum- sessions at Neemrana in Rajast- ciation (EFTA), departments They were mechanisms to draft agree-
pared with ₹2,564 crore in the same quarter a year earlier. During ways placed at 100-125km from bai expressway project. A green han. which comprises instructed on key ments real-time during negoti-
the quarter, the company collected a gross premium of ₹8,724 any point. highway would have EV charg- Commerce secretary Sunil Switzerland, Ice- issues to consider ations to ensure clarity and
against ₹7,370 crore in the year-ago period, GIC Re said in a regu- The ₹20 trillion plan envisa- ing points, battery swapping Barthwal steered the discus- land, Norway, and Liechten- when negotiating chapters immediate consensus, and how
latory filing. Total income of the re-insurer, however, declined ges construction of more than stations, tree lining on both sion, with former secretaries stein, on 10 February. with partner countries, ensur- negotiators can ensure that
to ₹9,157 crore in the March quarter compared with ₹9,259 crore 75,000km of highways over sides of the highway, and from various ministries in Additionally, a partial trade ing they are well-prepared for commitments are pre-ap-
in the same quarter a year ago. PTI the next 15 years, including shrubs in the median. attendance. agreement was signed with the complexities of the negotia- proved,” the ministry said.

Govt proposes dormitories for workers near manufacturing clusters CORRECTIONS AND
CLARIFICATIONS
Mint welcomes comments,
Dhirendra Kumar year 2023 from a year ago, stakeholders’ consultation,” “Labour is indeed a major ance from the Centre’s scheme suggestions or complaints
dhirendra.kumar@livemint.com according to estimates being the second person said. challenge, and providing hous- to support construction efforts. about errors.
NEW DELHI prepared by the Reserve Bank “The government is actively ing facilities in and around Such housing facilities are
Readers can alert the
of India (RBI). India has added promoting improved residen- logistics centres can be a key indeed being planned in and
newsroom to any errors in the

T
he government will ask
states to establish dormi-
tories for workers close
to manufacturing clusters, spe-
cifically targeting textile parks,
logistics and other manufactur-
ing units, two people aware of
the matter said.
The key objective behind the
initiative is to retain workers at
manufacturing units for longer
periods, thereby maintaining
steady production levels, the
first person said.
This follows a 5% rise in jobs
to 580 million in the financial
110 million jobs over the last
five years, starting from 470
million in 2017-18.
A stakeholder consultation
involving states and other part-
ners is planned to develop a
road map for this initiative.
This consultation will take
place after the new govern-
ment is formed at the Centre.
The agenda of the brain-
storming session includes giv-
ing improved residential facili-
ties, such as clean drinking
water and toilets, to workers
and supporting production.
tial facilities for workers,
encouraging states and indus-
tries to prioritize this aspect.
Several states have already
incorporated provisions for
worker housing in their indus-
trial policies,” said the person
cited above. This initiative will
ensure better job prospects for
The key objective behind the initiative is to retain workers at workers, the person added.e
manufacturing units for longer periods. AFP “Our goal is to raise aware-
ness and foster collaboration
The key beneficiaries of the “The stakeholders will be between states and industries
proposed plan include manu- asked to share their best prac- to enhance living conditions
facturing firms in textiles, logis- tices in providing better living for workers across the coun-
tics and heavy industries. facilities for workers during the try,” the person said.
strategy to attract workers to
stay with companies for longer
periods,” said Ajay Rao, CEO of
Emiza Inc., a leading ware-
housing company providing
third-party logistics services.
“Longer stays can lead to
increased productivity, as
workers become more familiar
with their roles and surround-
ings. Conversely, high turnover
rates can decrease productiv-
ity,” Rao said.
States will collaborate with
industries to create these facili-
ties, utilizing financial assist-
around the seven mega paper by emailing us, with your
PM-MITRA parks (PM Mega full name and address to
Integrated Textile Regions and feedback@livemint.com.
Apparel parks). The PM-MI-
TRA parks scheme is a flagship It is our policy to promptly
respond to all complaints.
initiative of the textiles minis- Readers dissatisfied with the
try, aiming to attract invest- response or concerned about
ments worth ₹95,000 crore. Mint’s journalistic integrity may
This expected fund flow is write directly to the editor by
projected to create about 2.25 sending an email to
million new job opportunities asktheeditor@livemint.com
in the next 4-6 years. Mint’s journalistic Code of
Queries sent to spokesper- Conduct that governs our
sons of the ministries of textiles, newsroom is available at
labour and commerce remai- www.livemint.com
ned unanswered till press time.

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LIVEMINT.COM DEALS, TECH & STARTUPS WEDNESDAY, 29 MAY 2024
AHMEDABAD 03

Building
m MINT SHORTS
Global tech firm Zoho invests in
360 One launches fund with materials
drone startup Yali Aerospace
Chennai: Global technology company Zoho Corp has invested in
Tamil Nadu-based drone startup Yali Aerospace, which is engaged
in medical supply delivery to hospitals in remote areas, a top official
₹4,000 crore target corpus maker bags
$50 million
said on Tuesday. Yali Aerospace, a drone startup set up in 2022 by
Dinesh Baluraj and Anugraha, says its mission is “to deliver easy-to- Samiksha Goel
use technology for civil and military use purposes”. PTI samiksha.goel@livemint.com
The asset manager is also in talks to raise a healthcare-focused private equity fund Bengaluru

Google, Amazon, Apple oppose

C
onstruction materials
Ranjani Raghavan looked at other options too to generate platform Infra.Market
India’s EU-like antitrust proposal ranjani.raghavan@livemint.com liquidity for their limited partners, or has raised an additional
MINT
mumbai investors. Mint reported on Tuesday $50 million from Mars Unicorn
that multiple investors such as India Fund, a joint venture of global

A
sset manager 360 One Quotient and Multiples PE were look- asset manager Liquidity Group
WAM Ltd is in talks with ing to raise continuation funds to pro- and Japanese bank MUFG.
investors to raise a ₹4,000- vide exits to their investors while also The fund had previously
crore secondaries fund—a retaining some stake in their winning invested $50 million in
vehicle typically used to portfolios. Infra.Market in 2022. The lat-
buy stakes in companies from other 360 One expects to structure its sec- est investment is in the Singa-
investors or replace another investor in ondaries fund so that it can generate pore entity of Infra.Market.
multiple firms. liquidity within 3 years for its portfolio. The company’s parent entity
The alternatives asset manager is also As such, up to half of the corpus is in was last valued at about $2.5 bil-
in talks to raise a healthcare-focussed invested in pre-IPO companies. lion two years ago.
private equity fund, Sameer Nath, chief “We are not investing in any compa- Infra.Market, announcing
investment officer and head of 360 One nies where we don't have visibility into the fundraise on Tuesday, said
New Delhi: A US lobby representing Google, Amazon and Asset’s venture capital and private liquidity within three years,” Nath said. it plans to use the new invest-
Apple has asked India to rethink its proposed EU-like com- equity business, said at a press briefing “We have the first-mover advantage, but ment to expand its global oper-
petition law, arguing regulations against data use and pref- on Tuesday. we don't expect to be the last.” ations and increase its product
erential treatment of partners could raise user costs, a letter 360 One WAM, which handles nearly As for 360 One’s plans to raise a categories.
shows. Citing increasing market power of a few big digital $2.9 billion in assets under management healthcare-focussed fund, Nath said “We are seeing growth
companies in India, a government panel in February pro- under its alternatives strategies, also about half the targeted corpus had been opportunities as we are rapidly
posed imposing obligations on them under a new antitrust plans to launch an early-stage venture raised, without providing more details. expanding our product portfo-
law which will complement existing regulations whose capital fund as well as a fourth pre-IPO Sameer Nath, CIO & head, venture capital & private equity, 360 One Asset. He added that one of the investments lio and market presence, and
enforcement the panel said is “time-consuming”. REUTERS fund over the next year, Nath said. from the healthcare fund was in Hydera- the launch of new verticals will
“We are halfway through the fun- greenshoe option to raise a larger fund. have an M&A or a strategic outcome, but bad-based audiology chain Hearing help us seed newer markets...,”
draise and have made five investments,” A greenshoe option allows a fund man- there will still be a lot of capital seeking Solution. said co-founder Souvik Sen-
TCS, IIT to build India’s 1st quantum Nath said about the secondaries fund, ager to raise more capital than planned liquidity and that's where we come in,” The advisory board for the healthcare gupta.
declining to name the investments. if it sees greater demand. Nath said, explaining the rationale for fund includes Manipal Group founder The announcement comes
diamond microchip imager Typical investments will be in the range Nath said that over the last decade, the secondaries fund. Ranjan Pai as well as Ashutosh Taparia, amid an ongoing increase in
New Delhi: IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and IIT- of ₹150 crore to ₹200 crore, he said, add- private equity and venture capital funds The secondaries market also stands to one of the founders of women’s health- allocation for infrastructure
Bombay have joined hands to build India’ first advanced sensing ing that the fund will be sector-agnostic. had invested over $250 billion in India benefit from a regulatory tailwind, he care-focussed Famy Care Pvt. Ltd. projects under India's National
tool for semiconductor chips which is expected to reduce chances This is 360 One Asset’s first sec- In August last year, Mint reported Infrastructure Pipeline, which
of chip failures and improve the efficiency of electronic devices, the ondaries fund. Several foreign What’s on offer? that 360 One planned to launch sec- has planned projects worth $2
company said on Tuesday. This collaboration to develop a quan- investors such as TR Capital, Foun- tor-specific funds, starting with a trillion to be deployed over the
tum imaging platform for the non-destructive examination of dation Private Equity, and New Besides a base Investments will 360 One WAM plans The firm can offer healthcare fund, and then subse- next few years, the company
chips is the first such initiative in India, the company said. PTI Quest Capital have launched sec- corpus of ₹4,000 cr, range from ₹150 cr to to launch early-stage more options to
secondaries fund will ₹200 cr, and the venture capital fund Indian investors and
quently launch funds in financial said in a statement.
ondaries-only funds that operate in have a greenshoe secondaries fund will and a fourth pre-IPO firms in ₹200 cr- services, consumer, and technology. Founded by Sengupta and
India. Large private equity firms option to raise more. be sector-agnostic. fund next year. ₹300 cr range. “I don’t think we are set up to Aaditya Sharda in 2016,
Apple’s China iPhone shipments such as KKR and Blackstone also compete as a generalist (on the pri- Infra.Market supplies products
acquire secondary stakes in India. vate-equity side). On the PE side, such as concrete, steel, pipes
up 52% as rebound gains steam 360 One Asset will be able to offer but had realised only $160 billion in said. The Securities and Exchange our right to win an edge will be industry- and fittings, plywood, lami-
Apple Inc.’s iPhone staged a rebound in China last month with more options to Indian companies and exits, or share sales. Board of India has declined extensions focused thematic funds,” Nath said at nates and tiles to both institu-
shipments rising 52% amid a flurry of discounts from retail part- investors in the ₹200 crore to ₹300 “There is a big pool of capital that is as several Indian investors near the end the time. 360 One has not yet decided a tional customers and retail out-
ners. The latest figures from the China Academy of Information crore range, Nath said. relatively illiquid, which will be seeking of their fund duration. “There are doz- corpus for its early-stage venture capital lets. The firm supplies products
and Communications Technology showed smartphone shipments In addition to the base corpus of liquidity in some shape or form in the ens of investors in this situation who will fund, which will be run by former Light- under own brand names—
surging in the country, of which roughly 3.5 million units came ₹4,000 crore ($480 million), 360 One coming years. Some of it will find its way require liquidity solutions,” Nath said. speed Venture Partners executive Infra.Market, IVAS, Shalimar
from foreign brands, according to Bloomberg. BLOOMBERG Asset’s secondaries fund will have a into the public market. Some of it will In recent months, investors have Abhishek Nag. Paints, and RDC.

Adani plans e-payment venture OpenAI creates oversight

Reuters
feedback@livemint.com
board featuring CEO Altman
Bloomberg

A
dani Group has been lignment team, which focused
considering an appli- feedback@livemint.com on long-term threats of super-
cation for a licence to human AI. Leike, who

operate on the country’s pub-
lic digital payments network
and is in talks with banks to
finalise plans for a co-branded
credit card, the Financial
Times reported on Tuesday.
The plans to dial up con-
sumer businesses came as bil-
lionaire Gautam Adani’s
ports-to-power conglomerate
mulled spending $84 billion
in infrastructure over the next
decade.
If approved, the group will
enter India’s burgeoning digi-
O
penAI has created a resigned, wrote that his divi-
board committee to sion was “struggling” for com-
evaluate the safety puting resources within
and security of its artificial OpenAI. Other departing
intelligence models, a govern- employees echoed his criti-
ance change made weeks after cism.
its top executive on the subject Following Sutskever’s Ritesh Chandra, managing partner, Avendus Future
resigned and the company departure, OpenAI dissolved Leaders Fund.
The group is also in talks to offer online shopping through ONDC.AP effectively disbanded his his team. The company said on
Pay with a 37.7% share.
The Adani Group did not
The conglomerate has been
making efforts to recover
internal team.
The new committee will
spend 90 days evaluating the
The panel will take 90 days to
evaluate safeguards of models
Tuesday that this particular
work would continue under its
research unit and John Schul-
Avendus launches
immediately respond to a
Reuters request for comment
on the report.
from a January 2023 report by
US short-seller Hindenburg
that triggered a sell-off in the
safeguards in OpenAI’s tech-
nology before giving a report.
“Following the full board’s
before filing a report.

potential dangers. Those wor-

tal payments market and
compete with incumbents
Google Pay and Walmart
-backed PhonePe.
India’s payments market is
expected to reach $814.43 bil-
lion in 2029, from $357.51 bil-
lion in 2024, a report by Mor-
The group is also in talks to
offer online shopping through
India’s government-backed
public e-commerce platform,
Open Network for Digital
Commerce (ONDC), the report
said.
If finalised, the services will
group’s listed shares.
The report accused the
group of stock manipulation
and improper use of tax
havens - allegations that the
group has refuted.
A court-appointed panel
said in May 2023 that India’s
review, OpenAI will publicly
share an update on adopted
recommendations in a manner
that is consistent with safety
and security,” the company
said in a blog post on Tuesday.
OpenAI also said that it has
recently started to train its lat-
AP
ries intensified last fall when
chief executive officer Sam
Altman was briefly ousted in a
boardroom coup after clashing
with co-founder and chief sci-
entist Ilya Sutskever over how
quickly to develop AI products
and the steps to limit harms.
man, a co-founder with the
new title of Head of Alignment
Science.
₹3,000 cr fund; to
The startup has at times
struggled to manage staff
departures. Last week,
OpenAI nixed a policy that
invest in tech, health
cancelled the equity from Priyamvada C. ity,” Chandra added.
former staffers if they spoke priyamvada.c@livemint.com The fund’s investments
out against the company. Bengaluru will include both primary as
A spokesperson said well as secondary transac-

dor Intelligence showed.
With a 48.9% market share,
PhonePe is the largest UPI
app in India, April data
showed, followed by Google
be available through Adani’s
consumer app Adani One,
which was launched in
December 2022, the report
added.
markets watchdog “drew a
blank” on the case, while the
country’s top court said in Jan-
uary this year that no further
scrutiny was needed.
est AI model.
The private firm’s recent
rapid advances in AI have
raised concerns about how it
manages the technology’s
Those concerns returned
this month after Sutskever and
a key deputy, Jan Leike, left
the company. The scientists
ran OpenAI’s so-called supera-
OpenAI was aware of criticism
from ex-employees and antici-
pated more, adding that the
company was working to
address concerns.
A
vendus, a financial ser- tions, in companies that have
vices firm, said it has disaggregated institutional
launched a third Future investor shareholding. These
Leaders Fund (FLF) for which it companies will need to have a
aims to raise about ₹3,000 strategic competitive edge,
crore, including a greenshoe execution capabilities across
option to raise up to ₹1,500 market cycles, and strong
crore more. operating metrics with domi-

India’s top EV ride-hailer seeks $300 mn to expand car fleet The late-stage fund, which nant market positions, the
will focus on large-cap invest- statement added.
ments in private markets, Through its extensive net-
intends to make 10-12 invest- work and expertise in the
Bloomberg launch in Dubai next month add 25,000 electric vehicles to also plays a complicated role: a ments, with an average ticket investor ecosystem, Avendus’
feedback@livemint.com with about 100 Audi EVs, and its platform in India, though non-pooled ride-hailing trip size of ₹200-300 crore each, third fund aims to leverage dif-
plans to run 300 Audi and didn’t specify a timeline, and produces about 47% more Avendus said in a ferentiated

B
luSmart, India’s biggest
electric cab operator,
wants to raise more than
$300 million in three years to
add thousands of cars to its fleet
in its push to take on the likes of
Uber Technologies Inc. in the
fast-growing market.
The company will increase
its Indian fleet of electric vehi-
cles — supplied by Tata Motors
Ltd., BYD Co., SAIC Motor
Corp.’s MG Motor and Stellan-
tis NV’s Citroën — to 13,000 by
March from 7,500 currently,
Punit Goyal, co-founder of the
BP Ventures-backed startup,
said in an interview. In three
years, it aims to have 25,000
cars, he said.
Part of the funding it raises
will go toward the company’s
expansion beyond Delhi and
Bengaluru. BluSmart will
Tesla Inc. vehicles there by Ola began deploying 10,000 emissions than a private car statement. The company opportunities
December, Goyal said. electric scooters earlier this trip, though taking a journey in The fund will says the and multiple exit
While Uber and SoftBank year. an EV can cut emissions by target sectors late-stage fund options including
Group Corp.-backed Ola domi- Road transport is estimated about half, according to such as financial will focus on secondary exits
nate India’s ride-sharing mar- to account for as much as 30% US-based nonprofit Union of services, con- and sale through
large-cap
ket, both companies have of the air pollution Concerned Sci- sumption, digital public markets to
struggled to make profit con- that can shroud entists. & technology, investments in provide periodic
The company
sistently and face a slew of com- India’s biggest says it will almost BluSmart, healthcare, and private markets liquidity to back-
plaints about deteriorating ser- urban centers, double revenue which has manufacturing. ers.
vice. That’s fueling BluSmart’s according to the to $110 mn by secured $200 “With Aven- At a broader
ambitious bet that customers in International million in equity dus Future Leaders Fund III, level, this has become increas-
March 2025,
major cities are willing to pay a Energy Agency, and long-term our approach remains ingly important as investors
premium for a better experi- causing danger- based on current growth debt so straightforward - harnessing struggle to get returns or exits
ence, which the startup says it BluSmart will increase its Indian fleet of EVs to 13,000 by March, ous long-term performance far, is currently the vast potential of late-stage in the aftermath of overvalued
can deliver because it exclu- and 25,000 in three years. REUTERS health impacts raising $25 mil- private opportunities while investments made during the
sively operates its fleet of cars and even prema- lion that Goyal co-opting the existing finan- pandemic.
on long-term leases whereas quality, cheap service and ance. Goyal didn’t say when he ture deaths. said includes investment from cial sponsor ecosystem,” said Some recent exits from FLF’s
the drivers who work for its cheap pricing are not our expects the company would Electrification is a core pillar its founders, existing investors, Ritesh Chandra, managing first fund include Lenskart
rivals must own their own vehi- forte.” make a profit. to the country’s pledge to reach family offices and founders of partner, Avendus Future Solutions Private Limited and
cles. The company estimates it While BluSmart has consist- net zero carbon emissions by other startups. Leaders Fund. “We continue the National Stock Exchange of
“We don’t want to go to small will almost double annual reve- ently maintained an all-electric 2070, but efforts have been sty- The funding round, which is to back differentiated, high- India Limited, with “both gen-
cities because that’s not where nue to $110 million by March fleet, its rivals are also rolling mied by the high cost of buying part of its three-year $300-mil- quality businesses with sus- erating nearly 4x returns for
the revenue comes from,” said 2025, based on its current out greener options to custom- an EV and limited charging lion plan, will close by late June, tainable competitive moats the investors within four
Goyal. “Cheap rides, cheap monthly financial perform- ers. Uber last year said it will infrastructure. Ride-hailing he said. and a clear roadmap to liquid- years”, Avendus claimed.
04 WEDNESDAY, 29 MAY 2024
AHMEDABAD MARK TO MARKET LIVEMINT.COM

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

75170.45 -0.29 22888.15 -0.19 21387.35 -0.49 68545.60 -0.85 23873.90 -0.36 43515.72 -0.63 47433.23 -1.09
PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN

75390.5 75585.40 22932.45 22977.15 21493 21542.5 69136.3 69343.65 23959.85 24011.45 43793.64 43947.6 47954.9 48150.92
HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW

75585.4 75083.22 22998.55 22858.5 21558.15 21345.35 69453.8 68032.2 24028.15 23840.05 43980.48 43233.68 48175.42 47283.04

m MINT SHORTS
Emerging markets edge lower
Why LIC is available at a discount
as investors await poll results Manish Joshi
Falling behind SBI Life Insurance Co (28%). LIC also from 4% to 5-6%. Management allevi-
Emerging-market assets were mildly weaker on Tuesday feedback@livemint.com has the lowest operating return on ated some concerns during the earn-
as investors look to election results from South Africa, LIC lags its peers on key parameters of margin and return ratio embedded value (RoEV) among peers ings call, clarifying the company may

A
Mexico and India in the coming days for new trades. The n impressive highlight of
benchmark MSCI EM equity index has held on to the best Life Insurance Corpora-
monthly gains since February with 4.1% so far in May in tion of India’s (LIC’s) FY24
its fourth month of gains. After swings in earlier sessions performance was the big
on US and China economic data, the index was down 0.1% 330 basis points (bps)
in the London morning as traders’ focus may shift to the jump in the individual segment net
three upcoming election results. Yields on South Africa’s value of new business (VNB) margin to
benchmark bonds were steady at elevated levels ahead 18.8%, even as the segment’s annual-
of the last weekly government debt sale before Wednes- ized premium equivalent (APE)
day’s general election. South African bonds offer some of remained almost flat at ₹38,433 crore.
the highest yields in emerging markets with those on This was possible because non-par-
10-year notes exceeding 12%. Investors have been betting ticipating business as a percentage of
that local assets will rise after the vote as record-hitting total individual APE doubled year-on-
commodity prices boost the exports that South Africa’s year to 18% in FY24. For insurance
economy relies on. BLOOMBERG companies, APE is a measure of sales
growth and VNB a profitability param-
eter. Non-participating policies are
more profitable for life insurance com-
panies, as these policy holders do not
enjoy any benefits in terms of divi-
dend/bonus from the company’s prof-
its. The far-superior profitability of
non-participating policies is evident
from its net VNB margin of 60.7% as
against 9.4% for participating policies
during FY24. Notably, participating
policies still accounted for 82% of the
individual business, which meant at an
aggregate level, the gain in VNB mar-
Price-to-embedded value (in times) at 11.5%, against 17.5% for HDFC Life only enter the health-insurance seg-
LIC 0.9 Insurance, 14.1% for ICICI Prudential ment of general insurance as there are
Life Insurance and 21.8% for SBI Life synergies in life insurance and health
HDFC Life 2.6 Insurance. LIC, therefore, has a mar- insurance. They added, though, that
ket-capitalization-to-embedded- the move is still at a preliminary stage.
ICICI Pru Life 2.0 value (P/EV) of just 0.9x as against 2 to Management also ruled out a merger
SBI Life 2.4
2.6 for the other three com- with any public-sector gen-
panies. RoEV for insurance LUKEWARM eral insurance company,
companies can be seen as RESPONSE but said LIC could pick up a
VNB margin (in %) RoEV (in %) similar to RoE for compa- strategic stake in a general
26.3 28.1 nies. Going by this, LIC’s LIC’S stock has insurance company.
24.6
17.5
21.8 valuation discount seems gained just 7%
since it was
The other overhang for
16.8
14.1 rather steep, notwithstand- listed almost two LIC’s stock was the addi-
11.5
ing the lower VNB margin years ago tional supply of shares
and RoEV. owing to a likely sale by the
With a gradual recovery DESPITE the government of India that
LIC HDFC ICICI SBI Life LIC HDFC ICICI SBI Life undemanding
Life Pru Life Life Pru Life in margin in FY24, aided by valuation, investors would reduce its stake from
Note: VNB is value of new business; RoEV is return on embedded value the shift towards more don’t seem to be in a 96.5% to 90% or less. How-
(RoEV is operating RoEV and not total RoEV) Source: Company presentations profitable products, there is hurry to buy the stock ever, Sebi clarified this
scope for the valuation dis- month it would give the
PRANAY BHARDWAJ/MINT
count to narrow, but this government another three
gin was only 60 bps to 16.8%. despite its dominant position in the process could be gradual at best. years to reduce its shareholding.
The other reason for the diluted business with a 72% market share. Con- Note that agents account for over Unfortunately for investors, LIC’s
growth in aggregate VNB was a sharp sequently, the VNB margin of group 90% of LIC’s new business premium stock has gained just 7% since it was
deterioration in the profitability of the schemes crashed from 17.6% to 12.6%. but less than 30% at private companies. listed almost two years ago. Despite the
group insurance business. During the LIC’s overall VNB margin is much LIC is keen on increasing its focus on undemanding valuation, investors
earnings call, concerns were raised lower than those of its key rivals such as bancassurance, but it’s unlikely to be don’t seem to be in a hurry to buy the
about LIC’s decision to increase the HDFC Life Insurance Co (26%), ICICI material in the context of overall mix in stock, going by the subdued post-re-
benefits payable under group schemes Prudential Life Insurance Co (25%) and the near future and might increase sults reaction on Tuesday.

Younger respondents continued to report lower inflation

expectations, the ECB said in a statement.
Euro zone consumers lower
inflation expectations: survey
Euro zone consumers lowered their inflation expecta-
AFP Metro Brands is treading on soft demand track after dull Q4
Manvi Agarwal realizing higher-than-carrying preparing to launch 225 more 29.7%. Cost-control measures
feedback@livemint.com value from this inventory. Stumbling blocks over two years across brands. and rising share of sales of prod-
As such, Metro has been Metro Brands saw revenue growth of 7% year-on-year in Q4FY24, Leveraging its exclusive rights ucts priced above ₹3,000, along
despite lower revenue per sq. ft

M
tions last month, a fresh European Central Bank (ECB) etro Brands Ltd is grap- trimming the fat, shuttering to operate Foot Locker stores in with a growing contribution
survey showed on Tuesday, just as the bank was making pling with persistent many Fila stores, with just three Consolidated revenue (in  crore) Revenue per sq. ft (in ) (right-hand scale) India, it aims to begin store from own-brand products,
plans to start rolling back a record string of interest rate challenges, making it exclusive brand outlets (EBOs) 800 8,000 additions from Q3FY25, in helped margins. The manage-
hikes. Expectations for inflation in the next 12 months difficult for the footwear maker operational as of March-end. It order to capture the growing ment has guided for a long-term
eased to 2.9% from 3.0% a month earlier to hit their low- to navigate out of uncertainty. expects to close one more Fila 600 6,000 athleisure and athletic market. Ebitda margin target of 30%.
est level since September 2021. Meanwhile expectations The delayed implementation EBO in Q1FY25 and reintroduce To some extent, store addi- Against this backdrop, Metro’s
400 4,000
for inflation three years out slipped to 2.4% from 2.5%, of Bureau of Indian Standards the brand through the existing tions aided the modest 7% shares have declined almost 9%
still far above the ECB’s 2% target. Inflation has come (BIS) regulations is particularly Metro/Mochi network. 200 2,000 growth seen in the recent so far in 2024, but are still up
down quickly in the past year to hit 2.4% last month but impacting the repositioning of The management anticipates March quarter given that stan- about 20% over the last one year.
the ECB now sees it oscillating around its current level the Fila brand. This delay is demand softness in Q1FY25, 0 0 dalone revenue per sq ft contin- Valuations are steep. The stock
Q1FY23 Q4FY24
for the rest of the year before disinflation kicks in again likely to continue for another due to fewer wedding dates this ued to fall, down 5% y-o-y to trades at about 72x FY25 esti-
Source: Company, Motilal Oswal Financial Services
and the target is reached in 2025. “Younger respon- two quarters. This has led to ele- year and store closures amid ₹4,800. mated earnings, as per Bloom-
PRANAY BHARDWAJ/MINT
dents continued to report lower inflation expectations vated inventory levels, currently general elections. Remember, Ebitda margin in Q4 was a bit berg data. Competition and
than older respondents, although there was a conver- at ₹17 crore, which the company the base is relatively high now. pandemic demand. In FY24, haven’t prevented Metro from of a bright spot, expanding by potential delays in store addi-
gence of inflation perceptions across age groups,” the aims to clear via the end-of-sea- Metro’s FY23 was marked by revenue growth slowed to store expansion. After a net 83 basis points (bps) y-o-y to tions are key risks. Also, should
ECB said in a statement. The ECB has all but promised son sale in the September quar- strong consolidated revenue 10.8%. addition of 97 stores in FY24, 27.2% even as the parameter for the demand weakness prolong,
a rate cut on 6 June. REUTERS ter. Metro is optimistic about growth of 58% y-o-y led by post- To be sure, these issues taking the total to 836, Metro is the full year FY24 fell 223 bps to there is a threat to growth.

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

Novelis seeks up to Blue-chips stocks end lower Sebi allows privately placed
$945 million in IPO Reuters
feedback@livemint.com
with the mid-cap index’s all- Traders are positioning
time high recorded in the pre- their portfolios slightly more
InvITs to issue subordinate units
BENGALURU vious session. defensively with names that
Bloomberg “Mid-caps and small-caps have not participated in the PTI project. It also said that InvIT

I
feedback@livemint.com ndian blue-chip stocks are very stretched in terms of recent run-up as they antici- feedback@livemint.com would not raise funds through
dropped for a third straight valuation. There is some profit pate national general election NEW DELHI public issues if any subordinate

A
luminium producer day on Tuesday, while mid- booking in some of the leading results, Dasgupta said. units have been issued and are

Novelis Inc. is seeking
to raise as much as
$945 million in a US initial
public offering (IPO) that
could be another test for the
resurgent market for first-
time share sales.
Novelis, owned by billion-
aire Kumar Mangalam Birla’s
Hindalco Industries Ltd,
plans to sell 45 million shares
for $18 to $21 each, according
to a filing on Tuesday.
Hindalco will own about
92.5% of the company after
the IPO.
At the top of the indicated
range, Novelis would have a
market value of about $12.6
billion, based on the out-
standing shares listed in its fil-
ing with the US Securities and
Exchange Commission.
Novelis has been on a dec-
ade-long drive to boost pro-
duction capacity and is the
world’s largest aluminium
recycler, operating 14 scrap-
processing plants across
North America, Europe, Asia
and South America. The
world’s biggest maker of flat-
rolled aluminium products
ranging from cars to soda
cans, said in February it had
filed confidentially for the
listing with regulators.
Hindalco purchased Nov-
elis in 2007 at about a $6 bil-
lion valuation including debt,
a filing from the time shows.
About 42% of Atlanta-based
Novelis’s global net sales
come from North America,
according to its IPO filing.
Hindalco will own about 92.5%
of the firm after the IPO. REUTERS
The company made $600
million in net income in the
year to March, down 9.5%
year on year, the company
said in a filing earlier this
month. Competitors includ-
ing Norsk Hydro ASA and
Alcoa Corp. have reported
lower earnings too.
The decline came as ele-
vated interest rates, inflation
and geopolitical tensions
weighed on demand for some
of its products, particularly in
areas like building and con-
struction.
It has put cost-control
measures in place across its
business in response higher
energy, freight and labor pri-
ces, but warned that it may
not be able to mitigate the
impact of higher input prices
indefinitely.
Novelis is working with
Morgan Stanley, Bank of
America Corp., Citigroup Inc.,
Wells Fargo, Deutsche Bank
AG and Bank of Montreal as
underwriters on the listing.
The company plans for its
shares to trade on the New
York Stock Exchange.
cap stocks snapped an 11-ses-
sion rally, pulled down by
profit-taking in another vola-
tile session.
The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50
closed 0.2% lower at 22,888.15
points, while the S&P BSE
Sensex declined 0.3% to
75,170.45.
The more domestically-fo-
cussed mid-caps and small-
cap ended about 0.9% lower
each, with the latter posting its
biggest one-day drop in over
two weeks.
Both the blue-chips and
their smaller peers have hit
record highs over the month,
Esops regain lost lustre as IPOs rise, valuations reset
FROM PAGE 1
tor. According to Primedata-
base, 76 Indian corporates
raised ₹61,915 crore through
main board IPOs in financial
year 2023-24, 19% higher than
the ₹52,116 crore mobilized by
37 IPOs in 2022-23.
“The IPOs have helped
employees regain trust in
Esops, although some still own
shares that have notional val-
ues,” said Bharath Reddy, part-
ner at law firm Cyril Amarchand
Mangaldas who works on com-
pensation and benefits. “Earlier
success stories via IPOs of the
likes of Infosys and, later, start-
ups like Zomato are being used
C
names,” said Samrat Dasgupta, Among sectors, energy apital markets regulator outstanding. To give this effect
CEO at Esquire fared the worst, Securities and Sebi has amended the InvITs
Capital Invest- The NSE’s Nifty 50 sliding by 1.2%, Exchange Board of rule. InvITs are a new concept
ment Advisors. closed 0.2% lower while banks India (Sebi) on Tuesday noti- in the Indian market but a pop-
The Nifty vola- at 22,888.15 closed 0.3% fied a framework for issuance of ular choice globally for their
tility is near two- points, while the l o w e r . A d ani subordinate units by privately lucrative returns and capital
year highs due to Green and Adani placed infrastructure invest- appreciation. An InVIT consists
S&P BSE Sensex
nerves about the Energy dropped ment trusts (InvITs). of a portfolio of infrastructure
outcome of the declined 0.3% 1.9% and 1.5%, The issuance of subordinate Sebi has amended the InvITs assets like highways.
ongoing general to 75,170.45 respectively, the units is primarily intended to rule. MINT Sebi said “the subordinate
elections that end most among bridge the valuation gaps that units shall be issued only to the
on Saturday. energy stocks. may arise as a result of the dif- to include risk mitigation sponsor, its associates and the
While Prime Minister Nar- The few gainers included ference in the valuation of an measures in respect of such sponsor group and shall be
endra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Sumitomo Chemical India, asset assessed by the Sponsor units. In its notification on deemed to be a part of the con-
Party is expected to return to which climbed 9%, and 3M (in its capacity of the asset Monday, Sebi said subordinate sideration for the acquisition of
power, there is some uncer- India, which ended 10% seller) and the InvIT (in capac- units would only be issued by a the infrastructure project from
tainty over the margin of vic- higher, both after posting ity of the asset buyer). Also, the privately placed InvIT upon such sponsor, its associates and
tory. upbeat quarterly results. framework has been designed acquisition of an infrastructure the sponsor group”.
to attract employees as ways of nology firm The Sleep Com- An RSU is typically a certain
sharing the firm’s success.” pany, new-age FM services number of company shares
Buybacks are another reason provider Pocket FM, e-com- allotted to an employee as an
why Esops are regaining popu- merce startup Meesho, and incentive after completing a
larity. New-age omnichannel Astrotalk, among others. specified tenure. In perform-
furniture startup Wakefit said In fact, India Inc. is begin- ance stocks, on the other hand,
that it had three successful buy- ning to juggle with different the shares are allotted only if
back rounds, which have kinds of stock options as the employee meets certain
allowed many of its employees attracting and retaining top tal- goals, stays a specific time at the
to benefit from their Esops. ent over a long period becomes company, and the firm also
“Over the last 18-24 months, tougher. meets its target in the sector.
as company valuations have Companies are creating For firms, these kinds of stocks
been reassessed, people’s Companies are creating hybrid forms of stock options instead of hybrid forms of stock options are “less dilutive”.
expectations have become plain-vanilla ones. MINT instead of plain-vanilla ones. However, the lure of stock
more realistic. There is now a And consultants say many of options in startups—where the
genuine belief that Esops can The latest buyback round valuation than its previous their clients are moving shares are more volatile—is
offer real financial benefits,” happened in March 2023, two round. Other recent buybacks towards stricter forms of per- attracting talent for a couple of
said Chaitanya Ramalinge- months after the company of Esops came from startups formance and restricted stocks years only.
gowda, co-founder and raised $40 million from inves- such as D2C innerwear brand (also called restricted stock (With inputs from Mayur
director, Wakefit. tors led by Investcorp at a lower XYXX, mattress and sleep tech- units or RSUs). Bhalerao)
LIVEMINT.COM CORPORATE WEDNESDAY, 29 MAY 2024
AHMEDABAD 05

Honasa hungry for acquisitions

The Mamaearth parent has already snapped up a few firms to bolster its presence in beauty and personal care
Suneera Tandon beauty and personal care companies brand Dr. Sheth’s. More recently,
suneera.t@htlive.com for ₹4 crore. Honasa completed its acquisition of
The deal helps RIL to secure oil at discounted rates at a time when MUMBAI As part of the transaction, Honasa Dr. Sheth’s, by purchasing the remain-
Opec+ is likely to extend supply cuts beyond June. AFP will acquire, apart from formulation ing 34.51% stake for ₹30 crore.

H
onasa Consumer Ltd, the expertise, the R&D labs as well as Cos- Honasa sells beauty and personal

RIL signs one-year holding company of

Mamaearth, The Derma
Co., Aqualogica, and Dr.
moGenesis’ nano-manufacturing care products under seven brands.
facility. The company has a portfolio of digital-
“This is something that further first consumer brands like Mamae-

deal to buy Russian Sheth’s, continues to

have the appetite and capital for fresh
acquisitions, said Varun Alagh,
co-founder, chairman and chief exec-
crude oil in roubles utive officer.
The company may expand into fra-
grances and feminine hygiene catego-
Reuters gest oil importer and con- ries going ahead to capture the
feedback@livemint.com sumer, has become the biggest broader beauty and personal care
NEW DELHI buyer of seaborne Russian market that’s growing, Alagh told
crude since the West halted Mint.
strengthens our ability to innovate and arth, The Derma Co., Aqualogica,
bring the right kind of prod-
ucts to the consumers.
Ayuga and Staze. Apart from
the owned brands, it has
Rohini Manoj (founder) acquired BBlunt and Dr.
will be joining us as vice
president of research
and development. This
$30 bn
The expected size
Sheth’s.
India’s beauty and
personal care
deal is likely to be closed of India’s beauty (BPC) market is projec-
in the next four to six market in 2027 ted to touch $30 billion
weeks,” Alagh said during by 2027, consulting firm
Honasa Consumer co-founder and CEO Varun Alagh. VARUN ALAGH/LINKEDIN the company’s post-earn- Redseer said in a September

R
eliance Industries Ltd purchases and imposed curbs “The fact that we have launched and ings call Thursday. report.
(RIL), operator of the against Moscow in the after- built four brands and acquired two, tion targets” on the table currently, play in that space,” Alagh said. In February 2022, Honasa acquired On per capita BPC spending, while
world’s biggest refining math of Russia’s 2022 invasion our first objective is to always see we Alagh said, “We are still not in some Apart from building its own brands, BBlunt, a hair care, hair colour and the US leads at $313, and China at
complex, has signed a one- of Ukraine. India has also paid can craft and launch a brand,” he said. other spaces—like fragrances, we are Honasa has acquired a few firms to styling products brand from Godrej $38, India lags significantly at just $14.
year deal with Russia’s Rosneft for Russian crude in rupees, “If we don’t find the capability not present in feminine hygiene. Some consolidate its presence in the beauty Consumer Products Limited (GCPL), Online is a significant channel
to buy at least 3 million barrels dirhams and Chinese yuan. required to do it or the gestation of those spaces remain strategically and personal care market. while also acquiring BBlunt salons for BPC in India as it is projected to
of oil a month in roubles, four State-owned Indian refin- period of building (a brand) is too long, open for the company.” Last week, the company announced operated by Bhabani Blunt Hair become a $10 billion market by 2027,
people aware of the matter ers, meanwhile, have been and hence, buying is better, that is “We just entered the coloured cos- the acquisition of CosmoGenesis Dressing Pvt. Ltd. accounting for roughly 33% of
told Reuters. tapping spot mar- when we look at buying.” metics space which is a new space for Labs—a business-to-business enter- In May of that year, the company the market then, according to the
The shift to The shift to kets for Russian While the company has “no acquisi- us, and we are going to sort of scale our prise that makes formulations for acquired a majority stake in skincare report.
rouble payments rouble payments oil because they
follows Russian follows President were unable to
President Vlad- Putin’s push to finalise term sup-
imir Putin’s push
for Moscow and
its trading part- to the Western
plies for this year.
find alternatives “India is a strate-
gic partner for
Studios resurrect old hits, actor-director combos to woo audiences
ners to find alter- financial system Rosneft oil com-
natives to the pany,” the Rus- Lata Jha recast of the 2007 film Life..in a worked together extensively in and 'Metro' hold a special place tive and a compelling story to ing shared experiences across
Western financial sian firm said in lata.j@htlive.com Metro, will arrive in November. the 1990s. in the hearts of audiences. justify the revival,” Kumar Tau- generations. At the same time,
system to facilitate trade an emailed response to ques- NEW DELHI A sequel to the 1997 war drama Trade experts say there is There's a natural desire to see rani, managing director, TIPS they are likely to be successful
despite US and European curbs. tions from Reuters, adding that Border is also in the works. business sense in building on how those stories translate to a Industries, said. on streaming platforms, where

F
A term deal with Rosneft it does not comment on confi- ilm producers and stu- Kamal Haasan is working recall value and new generation. For Ishq Vishk Rebound, the a vast and diverse audience is
also helps privately run RIL to dential pacts with partners. dios are looking to resur- with directors like Mani Rat- tapping fran- There is business It's also about the company is focused on a new available.
secure oil at discounted rates “Cooperation with Indian rect old hits, albeit with a nam and Shankar with whom chises or partner- sense in building value of estab- narrative that captures the To be sure, given that they
at a time when the Opec+ companies includes projects new star cast and contempo- he has delivered blockbusters ships that have on recall value lished brands. essence of the original while are reboots, audiences are
group of oil producers is in the field of production, oil rary storyline, and bring years ago. Indian 2, a sequel to worked in the and tapping When you have a appealing to contemporary likely to have a sense of the
expected to extend voluntary refining and trading of oil and together successful actor-di- his 1996 hit directed by past, especially at successful for- audiences, Taurani added. template of the film even
supply cuts beyond June. petroleum products.”
franchises that
rector combos, as they seek to Shankar, is slated for release a time audiences mula, strong Film trade experts and pro- before release.
The Opec+ group compris- Rosneft said commercial tap into a reservoir of nostalgia this July, followed by a third are finding little have worked director-actor ducers believe a lot of these “The recall value helps sell
ing the Organisation of the approaches to determining to drive audiences to the cine- instalment scheduled to value in going to in the past relationships, or films can appeal to a broader the film better. And names like
Petroleum Exporting Coun- the value of sold crude are the mas. release next year. the cinemas for beloved film fran- range of viewers. Kamal Haasan and Mani Rat-
tries (Opec) and allies includ- same for all firms, regardless of For instance, TIPS Indus- Meanwhile, Sunny Deol will what’s on offer. chises, they create They offer an opportunity nam coming together defi-
ing Russia is due to discuss the whether they are private or tries is releasing a reboot of its collaborate with director Raj- “Reboots and collaborations a base of viewers who are likely for older audiences to revisit nitely creates excitement and
output cuts on 2 June. state-run. RIL did not respond 2003 hit Ishq Vishk next kumar Santoshi on a film titled tap into a powerful sense of to be interested. Of course, it's their favourite stories with chil- curiosity,” independent trade
India, the world’s third-big- to a request for comment. month, while Metro…In Dino, a Lahore 1947; the two have nostalgia. Films like 'Ishq Vishk' crucial to have a fresh perspec- dren or grandchildren, creat- analyst Sreedhar Pillai said.

Navigating the future of work with Slack

A
s more workplaces opt
for hybrid or flexible
work models, busi-
nesses are evolving to untether
work from a physical location.
With the current remote and
hybrid work environments, it
has become essential for
organisations to tailor their
approaches to technology
adoption to increase produc-
tivity, which not only helps to
drive profits, but supports
work-life balance and job sat-
isfaction for employees as well.
And Artificial Intelligence (AI)
is fast becoming one of the
leading tools for businesses to
increase productivity.
Salesforce’sinternalanalysis
reveals the profound impact
of AI, particularly through
AI-powered platforms like
Slack, where users can save
significanttime—upto97min-
utes per week. Moreover,
Slack’s State of Work report
unveils that desk workers
using AI today are 90% more
likely to report higher levels
of productivity than those who
have not adopted AI.
Rahul Sharma, AVP -
Platform, Service Cloud,
Heroku, and Slack, shares his
insights on the dynamics of
current productivity trends
and how they are shaping the
way we work - today and over
the years to come.
STREAMLINING WORK
WITH AI
By leveraging AI, businesses
can streamline workflows,
automate repetitive tasks and
facilitate seamless communi-
cation and collaboration
among remote teams. This not
only enhances efficiency but
frees up time for employees to
spend on deeper, more valu-
ablework.Moreover,AI-driven
insights enable organisations
to make data-informed deci-
sions, leading to more agile
and responsive operations.
Recent Salesforce research
of desk workers around the
world has found AI has a trust
problem. By prioritising
transparency and data protec- EMPOWERING ment,” said Sharma.
tion,organisationscanharness EMPLOYEES THROUGH As organisations navigate
the full potential of AI while EMPOWERED thecomplexitiesofremoteand
safeguarding user trust and LEADERSHIP hybrid work, embracing AI
confidence. While sharing his During his interview, Sharma and empowering teams with
views on how to overcome emphasised the need for lead- effective leadership are imper-
these challenges, Sharma said, ers to identify areas where AI ative for driving productivity
“Any organisation that is trying can assist with better collabo- andfosteringacultureofinno-
to build a data model for AI ration within their teams, as vation and collaboration. The
using elements of large learn- wellasprovideemployeeswith convergence of AI, hybrid
ing models wants to make sure necessary support and guid- work and empowered leader-
thattheycanrelyon ance to effectively ship represents a transforma-
the source of the leverage platforms tiveopportunityforbusinesses
data that they are likeSlack—andspe- to thrive in the digital age.
using and that it’s cificallyAItoolslike
n o t go i n g i n to Slack AI. SAVING TIME AND
hands where it can Research con- ENERGY AT WORK
be used for some ducted by “Thereisaconceptthatwetalk
o t h e r p u r p o s e. Salesforce, based about at Slack which is deep
Private company on a sur vey of work versus quick work. Now
datashouldstaypri-
Slack 10,000 global desk thinkaboutunitingthosetasks
vate to the compa-
Technologies workers, found that with AI and the real power of
ny, and this is an 43% of the respon- transformation starts unlock-
essential part of building trust dents had little to no guidance ing itself,” shared Sharma. The
among users.” from their leaders on how to synergy between AI and tasks
use AI tools. “So clearly the of varying complexities
ENABLING DIVERSE priority for leaders is to work enables organisations to
TEAMS TO with their teams to identify streamline operations, auto-
COLLABORATE areas that AI can assist and, in mate repetitive processes and
The story of the origin of that process, think about the derive valuable insights from
Slack adds context as it was types of AI they want to imple- data. This integration not only
first a communication plat- enhances efficiency but also
form that has now evolved into empowers employees to allo-
an AI-powered home of work. cate their time and energy
Initially conceived by globally more strategically.
dispersed founders for a mul-
tiplayer gaming app, Slack
emerged as a solution for team
members to connect and col-
laborate effectively. Although
the gaming app never took off,
Slack was born out of the idea Rahul Sharma, AVP - Platform,
of establishing connections Service Cloud, Heroku, and
between remote employees. Slack
Slack has grown into a
widely used
AI-powered platform
for work across indus-
triesaroundtheworld
over the past 10 years,
reshaping the way
teams collaborate and
communicate in
remoteanddistributed
work environments.
This story of Slack’s
evolution highlights the
importance of adaptability
and innovation in respond-
ingtochangingmarketneeds
and challenges. Created by Mint Brand Studio
06 WEDNESDAY, 29 MAY 2024
AHMEDABAD CORPORATE LIVEMINT.COM

The curious case Vietnamese steel, shoes get

of Disney’s 30%
stake in Tata Play stuck in India quality checks
FROM PAGE 1

Earlier, Disney hoped to exit

Tata Play through a public list- Hanoi has written to New Delhi for expediting BIS certification for 26 companies
ing of the company’s shares and The carmaker making progress
a partial stake sale to strategic on developing smaller, more
investors. In fact, Tata Play had Nehal Chaliawala free trade agreement with Asean (Associ- efficient engines. AFP
in 2020 appointed corporate nehal.chaliawala@livemint.com ation of Southeast Asian Nations) coun-
law firm Cyril Amarchand
Mangaldas (CAM) to advise on
MUMBAI tries, so tariffs can’t be levied to balance
the trade. In that scenario, QCOs are an Toyota

M
the initial public offering (IPO) ore than two dozen Viet- effective non-tariff barrier that can be
and subsequent listing.
It was only in November
namese companies have
been awaiting certifica-
used for the benefit of the Indian indus-
try to restrict at least the cheap and sub-
Motor
2022 that the company made a
confidential pre-filing of the Earlier, Disney hoped to exit
offer document for its IPO with Tata Play via a public listing of
tion from the Bureau of
Indian Standards (BIS)
for several months now, prompting
standard quality imports,” Sapra added.
QCOs are issued by different line
ministries and standards of products are
bets on
market regulator Sebi, under the company’s shares.
the new rules. However, there
AP Hanoi to raise the issue with the Indian
government multiple times, according
prepared by BIS, an arm of the ministry
of consumer affairs. alternate
has been no movement on it However, in 2009-10, DIPP to two officials aware of the develop- The number of applicable QCOs has
since then as the company’s issued a press note, where it
valuation has dropped to defined Indian ownership and
ment.
Vietnam’s trade ministry has written
increased sharply in recent years—from
14 such orders covering 106 products in
fuel engines
around $1 billion from $3 bil- control regulations in a way to New Delhi for expediting BIS certifi- 2014 to 156 QCOs covering 672 products
lion in 2019. that if a foreign company cation for 26 companies, stating that the currently, India’s commerce and industry Bloomberg
A second person said there invests through an investor delays are hurting business, according minister Piyush Goyal said in January. feedback@livemint.com
were at least three instances — company that has Indian own- to the officials. Most of these fare Recently issued QCOs include those for

T
in 2013, 2016, and 2019—when ership, the investment will be engaged in the trade of shoes or steel. footwear, chemicals, toys, tyres and syn- oyota Motor Corp.
the Tata Play promoters had considered as Indian. The delays in issuing BIS certification thetic fibres, apart from steel. The QCO for revealed prototypes of
considered IPO plans before Using the new regulation, to Vietnamese companies come at a the footwear industry will be applicable internal combustion
shelving them. Fox and Tata Group formed a time when Indian manufacturers, espe- from 1 August after multiple extensions. engines capable of running on
The Tata Group and Mur- new investor company, TS cially steelmakers, have raised concerns India recorded a surge in steel hydrogen, along with gasoline
doch-owned Fox first entered Investments, which acquired a of increasing imports from the South- India recorded a surge in steel imports to 8.3 million tonnes in 2023-24, surpassing imports to 8.3 million tonnes in and other fuels, seeking to pop-
into an 80:20 joint venture in 20% stake in Tata Sky. As Tata East Asian country. the country’s exports of 7.5 million tonnes. 2023-24, surpassing the country’s ularize alternate technologies
2004 to launch Sons owned a 51% To be sure, manufacturers from other exports of 7.5 million tonnes. A tenth of to reduce carbon emissions.
the DTH com- Tata Play controlling inter- countries too are facing delays in secur- chiefly include manufacturers and trad- Delhi aimed at curbing substandard the steel imports came from Vietnam, The world’s biggest car-
pany. Later, in promoters had est in TS Invest- ing BIS certification, especially Chinese ers of steel and footwear, and one com- imports as well as boosting domestic making it the fourth-largest exporter of maker, alongside Mazda Motor
2008, Singapore’s considered IPO ments, it was con- companies. Although country-wise data pany each in the polyester, tyres, chemi- production. the alloy to India, behind South Korea, Corp. and Subaru Corp., said
Temasek Hold- plans in 2013, sidered an Indian wasn’t available, Vietnam accounts for cals, toys, batteries and MDF plywood The QCOs require Indian traders to China and Japan. they are making progress on
ings acquired a company, and Fox the second highest number of appli- sectors. While about half the applica- produce BIS certificates of the manufac- “Vietnam exported nearly 1 million developing smaller, more effi-
10% stake in Tata
2016, and 2019,
obtained an addi- cants for BIS certification, after China, tions are for renewal of certification, the turing facility while importing goods, or tonnes of steel to India in FY24. Before cient engines that can work
Sky from the Tata before shelving tional indirect according to the officials mentioned that, exports were negligible,” said with electric-vehicle manufac-
Group for around them stake of 9.8%. earlier. RISING CONCERNS Dhruv Goel, the chief executive of turing platforms and capable of
₹250 crore. Though the India-Vietnam bilateral trade market intelligence firm BigMint. meeting strict emission regula-
Fox, interest- press note or the reached $14.70 billion in 2022-23, as THE delays come at THE Indian govt has BILATERAL trade VIETNAM’S exports Steel shipments from Vietnam tions in the future.
ingly, had picked up only a 20% policy nowhere mentioned per data from the Indian embassy in afirms time when Indian
have raised
asked BIS for the reached $14.70 bn in
reasons for the delay 2022-23, as per data
to India were $8.8 bn
in 2023-24; imports
to India, however, slowed after the Emboldened by robust
stake in Tata Sky, because the that the foreign company could Hanoi. Of this, Vietnam’s exports to concerns of rising in issuing certificates from the Indian from the country steel ministry last year issued a hybrid-car sales, Toyota and its
FDI policy at the time capped increase its stake in DTH, as India were $8.8 billion, while about Vietnamese imports to the companies embassy in Hanoi amounted to $5.9 bn QCO for Vietnamese steelmakers, partners say fuel-burning
foreign holding in the sector. Fox received approvals from $5.9 billion worth of goods moved in effective October. Of the 26 Viet- engines have a role to play even
While Indian government reg- the I&B ministry, it was never the other direction. namese companies seeking BIS as the industry shifts to battery
ulations now allow for 100% challenged. However, the addi- The Indian government has asked rest are for fresh certificates. face penalties. certification, 10 deal in steel or stain- EVs in a global push to decar-
foreign direct investment (FDI) tional 9.8% stake has been an BIS for the reasons for the delay in issu- The Vietnam embassy in New Delhi “Vietnam is becoming a major global less steel. bonize. The Japanese manu-
in the DTH sector, they restrict issue as several legal experts ing certificates to the Vietnamese com- and BIS did not respond to Mint’s que- supplier with whom even India has a When BIS issued certification to Viet- facturers have long been criti-
shareholding by a broadcaster argue it may breach the cross- panies, the officials said, asking not to be ries. trade deficit despite the large disparity namese steelmaker Formosa Ha Tinh cized for hesitating to fully
entity/broadcaster (in this case, media ownership norms stipu- identified as the discussions are not Applications for BIS certification in the size of the two economies,” said earlier this month, several Indian steel- embrace electrification, while
Disney) into a DTH company lated in the DTH licensing public. have gone up following an increase in Bipin Sapra, indirect tax partner at EY. makers raised concerns of a resurgence BYD Co. and Elon Musk’s Tesla
(in this case, Tata Play) to 20%. guidelines. The 26 Vietnamese companies quality control orders (QOCs) by New “Vietnam also benefits from India's in imports from the country. Inc. take the lead in battery-
based EVs.
“To become carbon neutral,
what’s most important is to

Dealers wilt as car buyers shun heat Global consultancies see M&As reduce emissions,” Toyota
chief executive officer Koji Sato
said at a joint briefing with the

FROM PAGE 1
rent,” Gulati noted.
Last May had several dates
considered auspicious for wed-
ding, leading to passenger
vehicle dispatches and retails at
nearly 335,000 units and
306,000 units respectively, the
highest for any month of May.
“Our sense is right now
inquiries have dropped 15% on
average in May due to the
extreme temperature,” Manish
Raj Singhania, president, Fed-
eration of Auto Dealers Associ-
ation (FADA) said. However,
both Singhania and Gulati
added that new launches like
Mahindra’s XUV3XO are see-
ing strong interest.
“We clearly see that the
industry will moderate and
grow less than 5% in FY25,
given that the pent-up demand
has got exhausted, the channel
inventory is high and in the first
quarter, we will face certain fac-
tors like that of elections, heat
wave which might dampen the
demand temporarily for
Q1FY25,” Shailesh Chandra,
managing director, Tata
Motors Passenger Vehicles,
said in an investor call earlier
this month.
Dealers and manufacturers
are fighting back, offering
Cautious move
Tata Motors, Hyundai Motor India, Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra
have raised discounts on several models and variants.
Apr/Mar May Discount on selected models of passenger vehicles (in )
Mahindra Scorpio N
Maruti Suzuki WagonR
Hyundai i20 Nios
Hyundai Venue
20,000
Tata Punch (diesel)
No discount
10,000
Maruti Suzuki Brezza
No discount
Maruti Suzuki Baleno CNG 10,000
No discount
Hyundai Exter No discount
10,000
higher discounts and doorstep
test drives. Discounts on some
popular models are up by
15-30% in May compared to
March and April, data gathered
by Mint shows. However, these
measures have still not fully
made up for the fall in footfall.
“We book test drives over the
phone and send vehicles to cus-
tomers’ homes, but there are
limitations in terms of available
vehicles and time,” explained
Fada’s Singhania, who is based
40,000-100,000
40,000-100,000
40,000-66,000
40,000-62,000
20,000-35,0000
35,000-45,000
15,000-30,000
15,000-30,000
Source: Mint research, dealers
SATISH KUMAR/MINT
in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur, a city
gripped by high heat.
While some dealers expect
May passenger sales to be the
lowest in two years, for some, it
was a better month than April
in terms of inquires.
“Showroom footfall for us
accounts for only about 17-18%
of the total inquiries we get.
The rest of them come via
referrals, digital, and print—we
haven’t seen a slowdown here
and as long as fresh inquiries
from other channels are strong,
we are assured of demand in
the future. Although what’s
happening right now is lead
conversion is taking time,” a
Mumbai-based dealer said,
agreeing that discounts for
fast-moving models have gone
up in May from two months
ago.
Dealers now expect vehicle
stocks to swell in June. “We are
seeing a build-up in inventory,
especially for entry-level SUVs
and some other models for
which we usually expect high
demand ,” a dealer said on con-
dition of anonymity.
Tata Motors, Hyundai Motor
India, Maruti Suzuki and
Mahindra have raised dis-
counts on several models and
variants, the dealer cited above
added. “All brands have
increased discounts in May
compared to March. Discounts
have gone up by as much as
30% in some cases,” the dealer
said.
“Discounts on our top-sell-
ing models are up versus
March. The net effect of OEM
discounts as a contribution to
sales is up by 5% approxi-
mately,” a Maruti Suzuki dealer
said, adding discounts on some
slow-moving models have been
dialled down.
brewing in retail, consumer biz
FROM PAGE 1
retail giants like Amazon, Tata,
and Reliance Industries to
scramble for a larger footprint.
Nikhil Sethi, partner and
national leader, FMCG, at
KPMG in India, said the firm
plans to expand the consumer
and retail practice, currently at
around ₹800 crore.
“India is a growing economy.
While there are many incum-
bent players, there is a lot of
investment flowing in as well
(both domestic and foreign).
This is increasing the competi-
tiveness in the market and busi-
nesses need to be able to differ-
entiate in proposition and ser-
vice—essentially deliver better
experience. This is true for both
B2C and B2B businesses,” Sethi
said. “Hence, many of the levers
typically seen in consumer
businesses (e.g. customer expe-
rience) are becoming increas-
ingly relevant in other busi-
nesses,” he said.
India’s growth is linked to
consumption, hence most
industry will be driven by this
theme. Companies will, of
course, try to get closer to con-
sumers to deliver better experi-
Established cos are seeking to
improve tech capabilities. MINT
ence. Hence, the consumer
opportunity is likely to grow
manifold, Sethi added. The
firm will grow across “all areas”
within the consumer vertical,
he said.
Last month, Deloitte opened
an innovation centre in Banga-
lore that offers cutting-edge
retail technologies to help cus-
tom-design strategies for con-
sumer products and retail
brands.
“Deloitte’s consumer Indus-
try is one of our strategic prior-
ity businesses that is fast grow-
ing and aggressive with a mix of
domain experts as well as tech-
nical leaders,” said Anand
Ramanathan, partner and con-
sumer products and retail sec-
tor leader, Deloitte India.
PwC, too, is strengthening its
presence in the sector by
investing in building retail and
consumer industry-specific
solutions, acquiring talent and
nurturing both domestic and
global alliances.
“Retail and consumer (R&C)
is one of the ‘go long’ sectors for
PwC. In each of these sectors,
PwC has consciously invested
over the past few years to domi-
nate and expand its presence
with not only domestic
accounts but also India opera-
tions of global MNCs, and even
with global capability centres
operating in the sector,” said
Ravi Kapoor, retail and con-
sumer sector leader, India, PwC.
“The sector has historically
grown at rates ranging from
1.5-1.8 times of GDP growth.
These growth rates have and
will continue to spawn new
players and brands, enhance
the share of formalized and
organized players and drive
innovation. PwC intends to be
at the forefront of this opportu-
nity,” he added.
CEOs of Mazda and Subaru on
Tuesday. “What we need is an
engine that can efficiently use
various types of fuel.”
Hiroki Nakajima, Toyota’s
chief technology officer,
declined to give a timeframe for
when Toyota’s new engines
would show up in its vehicles,
but said the carmaker will make
sure to have them in the market
before stricter emission rules
are enforced. He didn’t specify
any geographies.
Toyota said Monday it’s con-
ducting a study with petroleum
company Idemitsu Kosan Co.,
heavy machinery maker Mit-
subishi Heavy Industries Ltd
and oil refiner Eneos Holdings
Inc. to roll out carbon neutral
fuels in Japan by 2030.
Still, a banner year marked
by record-breaking output,
operating income and share
prices have given Toyota the
momentum and cash it will
need to make good on prom-
ises to roll out millions of bat-
tery EVs within the next few
years.
Last year, Sato vowed Toyota
would sell 1.5 millions battery
EVs annually by 2026, and 3.5
million by 2030.
At the same time, Toyota has
long argued that mutiple
options will be needed to navi-
gate the shift to electrification.

Wall Street’s favorite recession indicator is in a slump of its own

FROM PAGE 1
Reasons for doubt
Still, there have always been
limitations to the yield curve as
a forecasting tool.
An inverted curve indicates
that investors expect rate cuts,
but it doesn’t explain why they
are making those wagers.
Bets on cuts could reflect
some chance of a recession but
also some probability of a
benign scenario, with the Fed
trimming rates as a precaution-
ary measure even as growth
remains stable.
Inversions have reflected
differing circumstances over
the years. In the early 1980s,
the Fed was hardly trying to
avoid a recession when it raised
rates to nearly 20% to fight
double-digit inflation.
In other cases, some econo-
mists believe that a recession
could have been avoided had it
not been for external shocks,
such as the surge in oil prices
when Iraq invaded Kuwait in
1990 or the Covid-19 pandemic
in 2020.
In the current situation, a
recession has at times seemed
likely. Forecasts for a downturn
surged in 2022 as inflation kept
climbing and the Fed started
raising rates aggressively.
Still, some economists
remained confident that a
recession could be avoided.
Inflation, they argued, could
fall at least part of the way to the
Fed’s 2% target on its own as
businesses recovered from the
pandemic and were able to
boost output to meet customer
demand again. Interest-rate
increases were still needed but
could be reversed before the
economy slowed too much.
Since then, inflation has
fallen sharply with only a small
uptick in the unemployment
rate. The prospect of rate cuts
without a recession has
cheered investors, helping lift
the S&P 500 24% last year and
a further 11% this year.
Harvey, the economist per-
haps most associated with the
inverted yield curve, has him-
self argued that the economy
could avoid a recession this
time.
“It is naive to think that you
Forecasts for a downturn surged in 2022 as inflation kept
climbing and the Fed started raising rates aggressively.
can just forecast the complex
U.S. economy with a single
measure from the bond mar-
ket,” he said.
Pushing boundaries
AP
There is no one definition of
an inverted curve.
Investors on Wall Street tend
to focus on the 2-year Treasury
note and the 10-year note
because those bonds get traded the start of an inversion in rate cuts from the Fed came
often. Some economists prefer which the 10-year yield fell closer into view, leading to a big
to measure the 10-year yield below the 1-year yield for at decline in short-term Treasury
against the 3-month or 1-year least one month. yields.
yield. By that definition, the latest A few recent economic
There is also the question of inversion is about to end its reports haven’t been as strong
when to start a 23rd month. Yet as expected. But it will take a lot
recession watch: If a recession from the start of more for investors to seriously
Should it be when doesn’t the inversion bet on the yield curve un-in-
a part of the yield materialize soon, through April, the verting, given how poorly that
curve inverts for a it could do lasting economy has wager has worked out over the
day, or for longer added far more past year-and-a-half, said
damage to yield
than that? jobs than any Michael Lorizio, senior fixed-
By several curve’s status as a c o m p a r a b l e income trader at Manulife
measures, the warning system period that fol- Investment Management.
current wait for a lowed an inver- “The curve inversion, espe-
downturn is sion. cially earlier on in the cycle,
already pushing up against, or Growing acceptance played a major role in the psy-
surpassing, any in recent his- There is little indication that che for investors,” he said. “But
tory. Since 1968, it has taken the inversion will end soon. I do think now this has become
from nine to 24 months for a Inversions have often ended kind of the new normal.”
recession to materialize after shortly before recessions when ©2024 DOW JONES & CO. INC.
LIVEMINT.COM
WEDNESDAY, 29 MAY 2024
AHMEDABAD 07

MAKE YOUR
MONDAY MORNING
PLAYFUL
Catch the latest section of

to solve a set of intriguing puzzles.

hindustantimes htTweets www.hindustantimes.com

08 WEDNESDAY, 29 MAY 2024
AHMEDABAD
LIVEMINT.COM

Campus Activewear Limited

(formerly known as Campus Activewear Private Limited)
CIN: L74120DL2008PLC183629

STATEMENT OF AUDITED FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE QUARTER AND YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

For the quarter

(All amounts are in INR crores except per share data or as otherwise stated)

For the quarter For the quarter For the year For the year
Have fun
S.
No.

1
Particulars

Total income from operations

ended
31 March 2024
Audited
366.39
ended
31 December 2023
Unaudited
473.37
ended
31 March 2023
Audited
348.33
ended
31 March 2024
Audited
1,452.83
ended
31 March 2023
Audited
1,487.00
with facts
2

3
Net profit for the period (before tax, exceptional and/or
extraordinary items)
Net profit for the period before tax (after exceptional and/
43.79

43.79
33.47

33.47
29.91

29.91
120.03

120.03
156.60

156.60
on Sundays
or extraordinary items)
4 Net profit for the period after tax (after exceptional and/or Catch the latest column of
32.75 24.89 22.94 89.44 117.12
extraordinary items)
5

6
Total comprehensive Income for the period [comprising
profit for the period (after tax) and other comprehensive
Income (after tax)]
Equity Share Capital (face value of INR 5 each)
32.59

152.63
24.94

152.63
23.07

152.34
89.43

152.63
117.15

152.34
A
7 Reserves (excluding revaluation reserve) as shown in the
- - - 499.03 399.78 A quiz on the week’s development.
audited Balance Sheet of the previous year
8 Earnings Per Share (face value of INR. 5 each) (for
continuing and discontinued operations)*
1. Basic (INR) : 1.07 0.82 0.75 2.93 3.85
2. Diluted (INR) : 1.07 0.81 0.75 2.93 3.84
*Basic and Diluted EPS is not annualised except for yearly figures.
See accompanying notes to the financial results.
Notes:
1. The above financial results of the Company as published in accordance with Regulation 33 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations,
2015 as amended (‘Listing Regulations’) have been reviewed and recommended by the Audit Committee and approved by the Board of Directors in their respective
meetings held on 28 May 2024. These financial results have been prepared in accordance with recognition and measurement principles of Indian Accounting Standards
(“Ind AS”) prescribed under Section 133 of the Companies Act, 2013 read with the relevant rules issued thereunder and the other accounting principles generally accepted
in India. The auditors have expressed an unmodified report on the Financial Results of the Company. For more details on results, visit investors section of our website at
www.campusactivewear.com and Financial Results at Corporate Section of www.nseindia.com and www.bseindia.com.
2. The Company completed its Initial Public Offer (IPO) through an offer for sale of 47,950,000 Equity Shares of the face value of INR. 5/- each at an issue price of INR.
292/- per Equity Share. The Equity Shares of the Company were listed on BSE Limited (BSE) and National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) on 9 May 2022.
3. The figures for the quarter ended 31 March 2024, included in above statement, are the balancing figures between audited figures in respect of the full financial year
and the unaudited published year to date figures up to 31 December 2023, being the end of the third quarter of the financial year. The figures for the quarter ended 31
March 2023, included in above statement, are the balancing figures between audited figures in respect of the full financial year ended 31 March 2023 and the unaudited
published year to date figures up to 31 December 2022, being the end of the third quarter of the previous finanical year.
4. Based on guiding principles given in Ind AS 108 “Operating Segments”, the Company’s business activity falls within a single operating segment namely “Footwear and
its related products”, hence the disclosure requirements relating to “Operating Segments” as per Ind AS 108 are not applicable.
For and on behalf of the Board of Directors of
Campus Activewear Limited
(formerly known as Campus Activewear Private Limited)
Sd/-
Hari Krishan Agarwal
Place: Gurugram Chairman and Managing Director
Date: 28 May, 2024 DIN : 00172467

D-1, Udyog Nagar, Main Rohtak Road, New Delhi – 110041, Delhi, India, Telephone: +91 11 4327 2500; Email: investors@campusshoes.com, Website: www.campusactivewear.com hindustantimes htTweets www.hindustantimes.com
LIVEMINT.COM CORPORATE WEDNESDAY, 29 MAY 2024
AHMEDABAD 09

Rich sports lovers pad

up for matches abroad
Connecting you to
India-Pak cricket match in US, other sporting events aid sports tourism
Varuni Khosla & Naman Suri

Global Insights!
NEW DELHI

M
ohit Gupta, a wealthy indi-
vidual in his mid-40s in
Gurugram, is packing his
bags for the India-Pakistan
cricket match in New York
city in June. Never before has any interna-
tional-level cricket tournament been
played on American soil, home to a vast
diaspora from the two Asian neighbours.
Fanatic Sports Pvt. Ltd, a Mumbai- Discover comprehensive business news
& perspectives curated by the
based sports hospitality company, has
curated a pretty package for Gupta that
includes a three-night stay at a Taj Hotels
5-star property, the match ticket, visit to a
practice game, a tour with select cricket- Leaders in Journalism
ers, and meals with retired players—all for
$4,000, or about ₹3.3 lakh.
The India-Pakistan clash on 9 June at
the upcoming ICC Men’s Cricket World
Cup in New York is the most-anticipated
match Indians are looking forward to, as
with any meeting involving the two teams. One travel company’s exclusive package also includes a meet-and-greet with former
India will also be battling Ireland, the US, India captain Sourav Ganguly. AFP
and Canada, none of which are teams of
much reckoning. races wherever they are held. for Indians, even as they are increasingly
Fanatic Sports is among official sellers “This year, we have noticed a 36% shedding the traditional aversion to
of tickets for the World Cup matches. increase in interest for big-ticket global spending big money on global travel
DreamSetGo, another Mumbai-based sporting events,” said Rajeev Kale, presi- (which can turn out to be quite expensive
sports travel company and an official part- dent and country head for holidays, MICE as the rupee continues depreciating
ner for the International Cricket Council (meetings, incentives, conferences, and against the dollar).
(ICC) T20 World Cup, has sold out its exhibitions tourism), and visa, at Thomas According to US-based research firm
packages for the India-Pakistan clash. The Cook (India) Ltd. “Topping the list are Grand View, the global sports tourism
company didn’t disclose the number of international cricket matches, the Wim- industry registered about $587.87 billion
packages sold. Apart from the match bledon in June, the Olympics in July, and in revenue in 2022, the latest year for
ticket, DreamSetGo’s exclusive package F1 at Bahrain, Singapore, Yas Island, etc.” which data was available. But India
includes a meet-and-greet with former For the India-Pakistan match in New doesn’t feature on the firm’s list, possibly
India captain Sourav Ganguly, stay in a York, the travel agency has received about because the country accounts for a mere
5-star hotel for four days, pri- fraction of the industry.
vate luxury transfers, and a CRICKET FEVER Indian appetite for sports
meal at a Michelin-star res- travel, though, is evidently
taurant. The tag: ₹2-15 lakh THE India-Pakistan INDIA will also be ONE package for the increasing, even if for domes-
per person. clash on 9 June at the battling Ireland, the Olympics is priced tic events to begin with.
ICC Men’s Cricket US, Canada—none upwards of ₹11 lakh
To be sure, at those prices, World Cup is fuelling of which are teams per person for a Amsterdam-based travel
global sports travel is still a visitor interest of much reckoning group of about 50 major Booking.com observed
luxury in India that few can that 76% of Indian respon-
afford. dents in a recent survey said
“We mainly target HNIs (high-net- 200 traveller requests so far, including they were willing to travel for sports
worth individuals) and corporate travel- from groups of people, Kale said, adding events such as the Indian Premier League
lers. From the corporate standpoint, the that about a fourth of its consumers have (cricket), Pro Kabaddi, and the Indian
average package ranges from ₹2-2.5 lakh, global sporting events in mind when Super League (football) within their city or
unless they plan to take their top person- selecting their travel destinations. state.That said, there is also a spike in
nel like CXOs and opt for top hospitality. “There are undeniable braggable rights searches on Booking.com for Paris, Lon-
That ranges between ₹10-15 lakh per per- when people attend such premium sport- don and New York ahead of major sport-
son,” said DreamSetGo’s founder Monish ing engagements,” Kale said. ing events, said Santosh Kumar, the com-
Shah. “For HNIs, the average package ran- Thomas Cook’s sports-based packages pany’s country manager for India.“With
ges from ₹4-5 lakh per person.” typically include meet-and-greets and the Wimbledon Championship scheduled
DreamSetGo is also a travel partner for dining with sports stars and autographed for July, London is on top of the list for
the 2024 Paris Olympics, which begins on merchandise. One of its packages for the Indians travelling globally this July, with
26 July. Indians aren’t just crazy about Olympics is priced upwards of ₹11 lakh per a 10% increase in searches as compared to
cricket. The uber-rich are also keen on person for a group of about 50 customers. last year,” Kumar said.
tennis Grand Slams and Formula One Sports tourism is still a nascent concept varuni.k@livemint.com

Care Ratings downgrades

SP group co’s high-yield debt
Gopika Gopakumar
gopika.g@htlive.com
mumbai

F
inancing plans of Shap-
oorji Pallonji group have
received a setback with
Care Ratings cutting the credit
rating of group company Gos-
wami Infratech Pvt. Ltd's
(GIPL) non-convertible
debentures (NCDs). Rating on
these NCDs, issued last year,
has been downgraded from
Care BBB- to Care BB with Given the refinancing risk, the long-term rating outlook has been
negative outlook, Care Ratings revised from Stable to Negative, Care Ratings said. HT
said on 24 May.
“The NCDs outstanding are nominated NCDs mature in market value of direct and
not backed by cashflow and is April 2026 at a redemption indirect investments of credit
thus dependent on timely refi- premium of 18.75%. option provider,” added Care.
nancing in the short term and Investors like Cerberus The funds were raised with
support from promoter enti- Capital, Varde Partners, Can- the aim to refinance the matu-
ties. Given the refinancing yon Capital, Davidson Kemp- rities of CIPL’s debt, prepay
risk, the long-term rating out- ner, as well as existing lenders Sterling Investment Corp Pvt
look has been revised from Deutsche Bank, Edelweiss Ltd’s (SICPL) debt amounting
Stable to Negative. The out- Special Opportunities Fund to ₹3,327 crore and also use
look may be revised to ‘Stable’ and Ares SSG had subscribed ₹3,000 crore to fund the other
in case of com- to these bonds. group debt obligations.
pletion of the The rating on the The bonds The rating revision comes
refinancing exer- NCDs, issued last were issued after Goswami Infratech
cise at the group year, has been against the collat- extended the deadline for
level within the downgraded from eral of pledged meeting certain covenants on
timelines,” said shares of Tata the ₹14,300 crore bonds from
Care BBB- to
Care. Sons and Afcons, 26 May to 30 September 2024,
A banker Care BB with a the engineering, which has been approved by
familiar with the negative outlook procurement and the investors through Deben-
matter said SP c o n s t r u c t i o n ture Trustee, ahead of the pay-
group had (EPC) arm of SP ment date.
breached covenants on these group. According to the Economic
bonds twice this year—first in “The rating continues to Times, SP group is offering
January and then in April— remain tempered by the low ₹400 crore more to the bond-
before seeking an extension operating cash flows of GIPL, holders of GIPL in exchange
on deadline for meeting cer- with the entity being holding for the extension.
tain covenants this month. company and no major cash- The company, which has to
Queries emailed to SP group flow in form of interest/divi- pay ₹1,400 crore in interest
went unanswered. dend either received in past or this month, has sought a four-
The SP group had issued expected in the period going month window to allow it to
these NCDs last June to raise forward and inherent market sell some assets and ensure the
₹14,300 crore. The rupee-de- related risk impacting the payment.
10 WEDNESDAY, 29 MAY 2024
AHMEDABAD GLOBAL LIVEMINT.COM

Another roadblock to the electric

vehicle transition: Personal politics
As automakers look to push their electric vehicles, some consumers are resisting for political reasons
Mike Colias people who identified themselves billions of dollars in federal funding administration to include
feedback@livemint.com as conservative said they had a for battery factories and other EV plug-in hybrid models, which
favorable view of EVs, compared projects. travel in electric mode for some dis-

O
n paper, Robert
Olson is a prime can-
didate to buy an
electric vehicle.
The retired Ari-
zona engineer loves cars, has
owned hybrid vehicles and has the
means to pay the premium for an
EV. And he owns two gas-powered
cars, including a Porsche, that he
could use for longer road trips.
But Olson is turned off by electric
cars. He thinks their potential to
help the climate is overstated, and
he resents the Biden administra-
tion’s pro-EV policies.
“It is being pushed down our
throats,” said Olson, who says he is
a Republican.
Automakers
are fixated on
easing the prac-
tical concerns around electric-ve-
hicle ownership, primarily high
prices and charging hassles. But in
the industry’s quest to persuade
more Americans to consider EVs, a
swath of the buying public could
prove tough to convince: those
opposed to EVs for political or ideo-
logical reasons.
In a recent Morning Consult poll
of about 2,200 American adults
conducted for The Wall Street Jour-
nal, about four in 10 said they had
an unfavorable view of EVs. Of
those who are opposed to them,
38% said their political views were
a factor. Even more of those with
unfavorable views—63%—cited
China’s dominance of the EV sup-
ply chain as a reason.
As for party affiliation, 31% of
with 66% of liberals.
Conservatives tend to criticize
public subsidies to support electric
cars and dislike regulations that
attempt to steer consumers toward
certain products. Liberals are more
likely to drive EVs for environmen-
tal reasons and tend to favor public
investment in green energy.
Still, the subject of EVs doesn’t
fall neatly along party lines. Tesla is
the world’s top-selling EV com-
pany, but some Democrats have
moved away from the brand, as
Chief Executive Elon Musk has
expressed conservative views on
contentious social topics.
Steven Center, head of U.S. oper-
ations for Kia,
said he is aware
that electric cars
have become a
hot-button political issue lately.
“You know that old saying, ‘Don’t
talk about religion or politics?’ I
think you can add EVs to that,” he
said.
‘Hearts-and-minds resist-
ance’
The political divide poses a chal-
lenge for car executives as they
grapple with a deceleration in the
pace of U.S. EV sales. Automakers
are betting hundreds of billions of
dollars on moving consumers to
EVs and are planning dozens of new
electric models in the U.S.
Also, meeting tougher U.S. tail-
pipe-emissions regulations
approved this spring by the Biden
administration will hinge largely on
carmakers’ ability to warm up many
more Americans to the idea of plug-
Democrats have moved away from Tesla, as Elon Musk has expressed conservative views on certain topics.
ging in their cars. By early next dec-
ade, more than 60% of new vehicles
sold would need to be a combina-
tion of EVs and plug-in hybrids for
the industry to comply.
The fact that millions of Ameri-
cans are ideologically dug in against
electric cars will make it harder for
automakers to comply with those
rules, said Mike Murphy, a Republi-
can strategist who has been frus-
trated by his own party’s bashing of
EVs. The Detroit native formed a
nonprofit to ease the political
divide on EVs and consult with
carmakers on ways to tamp down
the negativity.
“There is a hearts-and-minds
resistance to EVs, mostly on the
Republican side,” Murphy said. “If
you can’t break down that tribalism,
the industry isn’t going to sell
enough EVs” to meet the rules.
Green cars long ago became
swept up in the culture wars. In
the early 2000s, many conservative
commentators maligned Toyota’s
Prius hybrid, which became a
hit with liberals and Hollywood
celebrities.
REUTERS
In 2012, then-Republican presi-
dential hopeful Newt Gingrich crit-
icized General Motors’ Chevrolet
Volt plug-in hybrid for not being
able to fit a gun rack. During a con-
gressional hearing around that
time, then GM Chief Executive Dan
Akerson told lawmakers: “We did
not engineer the Volt to be a politi-
cal punching bag.”
In the run-up to the November
election, some Republican candi-
dates have criticized Biden for try-
ing to force EV sales. Democrats,
meanwhile, have touted the tens of
Automakers not only have to tance before a gas engine kicks on,
win over conservative car buyers. in its calculation of the Environ-
Some of their own dealers have a mental Protection Agency’s new
dim view of battery-powered cars emissions standards.
due to ideological reasons. Dealer “Political persuasion is a pretty
David Ferraez said he thinks the good indicator of a willingness to
media and government espouse purchase an EV right now,” Bozz-
an inflated view of the risks of car- ella said. “I don’t think that is a for-
bon emissions to push more EVs ever situation.”
into the market. South Florida car dealer Bill Wal-
Nonetheless, Ferraez, who sells lace has noticed that more custom-
GM’s Buick, GMC and Chevrolet ers have been expressing a sour
brands in New Jersey, has spent view of EVs over the past year.
more than $300,000 to install elec- His company sells several
tric-car chargers at his brands that have rel-
stores. The political atively popular elec-
“I do want to sell divide poses a tric models, includ-
what the customer challenge for car ing Ford, Hyundai,
wants,” he said. executives as they Kia and Cadillac, and
Giving buyers a EVs account for
grapple with a
choice about 5% of his total
At Kia, Center said deceleration in sales. But he esti-
the brand has empha- U.S. EV sales mates about one-
sized an array of third of the custom-
options—straight gas- ers he speaks with
engine models, hybrids, plug-in about EVs express adamant
hybrids and full electrics—to make opposition.
clear it isn’t trying to force anyone “They are angry,” Wallace said.
into an electric vehicle. But Kia is “They feel like it’s the government
also heavily advertising its EVs. trying to control their lives.”
“We’re talking to the broader Wallace said he broached the
part of the market that has an open subject during a conversation with
mind about EVs, rather than trying GM Chief Executive Mary Barra at
to convince the part that has their a private luncheon in Florida late
heels dug in,” he said. last year. GM, more than many
John Bozzella, president of the other car companies, has bet its
Alliance for Automotive Innova- future on EVs and is marketing
tion, which represents most major them aggressively.
car companies, said the group has “I said, ‘Mary, you have to under-
stressed to regulators that consum- stand the red-state mentality.
ers should have choices even as These people want no part of it,’”
emissions rules are tightened. he said.
The group lobbied the Biden ©2024 DOW JONES & CO. INC.

Sneaker rivals race to find the next super foam PayPal is planning an ad business
Inti Pacheco
feedback@livemint.com
generally use one of several
basic chemical compounds.
using data on its millions of users
While the components of a
Patrick Coffee

T
he New Balance 990 running shoe are generally the
running sneaker had same, variations in stack feedback@livemint.com
earned mass appeal in its height, the rocker angle,

four decades on the market. So
when designers at the Boston
footwear company considered
injecting the shoe with a
squishy foam that boosted the
midsole by about 2 millime-
ters, they faced resistance.
“Hotly debated,” New Bal-
ance vice president of global
footwear design Brad Lacey
said of the late 2022 move,
which some inside the com-
pany feared would alienate the
running shoe’s devoted follow-
ing of people who don’t run.
It didn’t. Cushioning tech-
nologies such as New Bal-
ance’s FuelCell—a high
rebound foam built for racing
that will be worn by athletes at
the Paris Olympics this sum-
mer—have fueled record sales
at New Balance and seeped
into every corner of the run-
ning sneaker market.
Executives across the foot-
wear industry say postpan-
demic shoppers are more con-
cerned with comfort, even
now that many of them are
back in the office. Companies
from upstarts such as On and
Hoka to more established
names such as New Balance
and Under Armour are fight-
ing for supremacy in a new era
of bulky running shoes.
The battle has been playing
out inside research laborato-
ries where scientists use
machinery to test and tinker
with foam compounds devel-
oped by chemical companies
that are better known for cre-
ating plexiglass, working with
NASA or making car seats.
“You’ve had a couple of
sparks and now the whole
market has moved there,” said
Kyle Blakely, vice president of
innovation at Under Armour.
Cushioning was always a
priority for running shoes. But
in the past companies balanced
it against factors like stability,
durability or weight. That
changed about a decade ago
when Hoka went all in on foam.
The Deckers Outdoor-owned
company gradually built a fol-
lowing of avid runners. Then
something clicked. Everyday
sneaker wearers took to the
P
geometry and other factors ayPal hopes to boost its
make each model its own growth by starting an ad
unique system. network juiced with
“You can start with the same something it already owns: data
eggs, and you can make lots of on its millions of users.
different omelets,” said Tony The digital payments company
Bignell, Nike’s vice president plans to build an ad sales business
of running footwear. “Other- around the reams of data it gener-
wise all shoes would feel the ates from tracking the purchases
same way.” as well as the broader spending
Nike recently unveiled a behaviors of millions of consum-
host of new products for the ers who use its services, which PayPal now aims to sell ads not only to its own customers, but to
Paris Olympics featuring a include the more socially-enabled those that don’t sell products or services through PayPal. REUTERS
combination of its proprietary Venmo app.
Cushioning technologies have fueled record sales at New Balance and seeped into every corner of air bubble technology, Zoom PayPal has hired Mark Gre- PayPal credit card would also bottom lines, since their core
the running sneaker market. Air, with a PEBA-based foam. ther, who formerly led Uber ’s provide the company with data businesses have higher profit
Chemical companies can advertising business, to lead from real-world bricks-and- margins than those of retail
chunky look. Sales of Hoka is an amazing side effect,” said different vendors, controlling tweak the compounds and the effort as senior vice presi- mortar stores, he added. chains, he said.
reached $1.8 billion for the year Ilmarin Heitz, On’s senior for climate and other condi- manufacturing processes to dent and general manager of its Shoppers would by default PayPal’s announcement fol-
ended March 31, compared with director of innovation. tions, before choosing a beaded get similar results. If one inno- newly-created PayPal Ads divi- have their data included in the lows last month’s news that JP
$352 million in 2020. Shoppers want perform- foam for the company’s new vates, the rest can soon follow. sion. In his new role, he will be new network, but they can opt Morgan Chase would begin
As companies warmed to ance features along with versa- Infinite Elite running shoe. Zotefoams was among the first responsible for developing new out, according to the PayPal allowing advertisers to target
the idea that they didn’t have tility, said Kevin Fitzpatrick, The idea for the Infinite to infuse a foam with nitrogen ad formats, overseeing sales spokesman. users of its website and banking
to sacrifice fashion for foam, New Balance’s vice president Elite was to create a shoe that and helped Nike develop its and hiring staff to fill out the Apart from its data-driven app based on their transac-
the race was on. Zurich-based of running. “Very few people would be all about sustained ZoomX foam technology. Now division, he said. ads, PayPal has also begun tional histories . A cascade of
On teamed up with Arkema, a are actually buying that shoe comfort for long runs. Run- other companies such as PayPal in January intro- running some untargeted financial companies are likely
French chemical conglomer- to just go out and run in it,” he ners training for a marathon Under Armour and New Bal- duced Advanced Offers, its first merchant offers on Venmo, to follow these brands’ entry
ate that developed a com- said about the 990. can typically wear out a pair of ance have also used nitrogen ad product, which uses AI and the spokesman said. The com- into the crowded retail media
pound known as PEBAX that is Executives say the current running shoes in just over a in their own way. The brands the company’s data to help pany, however, wants to avoid marketplace, said Lipsman.
used in the brand’s Helion change in midsole thickness is month. At about $160 a pair, it say their scientists will work merchants target PayPal users alienating younger users The news comes as PayPal’s
foam. Nike has leaned on Brit- part of a common, though is a big investment for the con- with the chemical companies with discounts and other per- who see Venmo as a sort of fortunes have fallen far from
ish Zotefoams, which pro- largely unacknowledged, effort sumer and a big opportunity and request adjustments to the sonalized promotions. social-media network by over- their pandemic highs. In Janu-
vided the material used for the by shoe makers to straddle the for the brand, said Bradford foams, making the cushioning Advanced Offers only char- whelming them with promo- ary, the company said it would
midsole of one of the first line between performance Eagan, Under Armour’s mate- proprietary in the process. ges advertisers when consum- tions, he added. lay off 9% of its global workforce
super shoes, Nike’s Vaporfly. products and everyday wear. rials engineering lab manager. “Most of the brands, they use ers make a purchase. Online Many companies have built, in a cost-cutting effort. The fol-
Dow Chemical is behind the To meet rising consumer inter- “If you can get the trust of just foam but tweak it as much marketplaces eBay and Zazzle or are beginning to build, ad lowing month its stock dropped
foam used in est in trail run- that athlete you’re going to as they can,” said On’s Heitz. have begun testing it, accord- networks that lev- after executives
Under Armour’s Executives across ning, companies have a buddy for life,” said “Our winning piece is basically ing to a PayPal spokesman. erage data they PayPal has hired said they weren’t
Flow technology, the footwear are releasing new Eagan, who ran track for Mar- how we put it together.” But PayPal now aims to sell already have on Mark Grether, the expecting much
used by NBA star industry say versions of their quette University. Execu- ads not only their customers to former head of profit growth this
Stephen Curry. postpandemic hiking and trail Eagan and his team devel- tives know to its own target ads for out- Uber’s advertising year.
Super shoes, footwear. The oped different methodologies that some customers, side marketers. PayPal’s profit
shoppers are business, to lead
designed mostly trend has already to quantify the fatigue and foams don’t but to PayPal, like rose in the first
to maximize per- more concerned crossed over to durability of the foam to make have a long shelf life. Runners so-called non-endemic adver- other businesses its newly-created quarter , however,
formance in races, with comfort fashion as part of sure the material feels the can tear through a pair of tisers, or those that don’t sell that process trans- ads division and the company
were popularized an increasingly same way throughout the shoes quickly, and some foams products or services through actions of all sorts, raised its outlook
in 2017 after popular style entire run. Scientists take don’t feel the same way after a PayPal. Those companies might eventually for the year.
Nike’s attempt to stage a sub- known as gorpcore—said to be foam slabs that measure about few hundred miles. There is might use PayPal data to target demand higher ad rates than In addition to Grether, PayPal
two-hour marathon. The shoes named after the acronym for 4 inches and put them through still a lot of room for improve- consumers with ads that could some retailers’ ad networks do, also hired John Anderson ,
are usually made up of a thick trail mix that is short for “good a gravity-driven impact atten- ment in terms of durability and be displayed elsewhere, for because it can provide a more formerly head of product and
layer of super light foam and a ol’ raisins and peanuts.” uation instrument, a hydraulic sustainability, but at some instance, on other websites or detailed picture of the people payments at fintech company
rigid plate, often made of car- Under Armour’s Proving press-like machine that can hit point everyone is going to be connected TV sets. advertisers are targeting, Plaid, as senior vice president
bon fiber. Most companies now Grounds is filled with ex-ath- the foam with the force of a squeezing blood from a stone, PayPal processed 6.5 billion according to Andrew Lipsman , and general manager of the com-
have a super shoe that runners letes who wear white lab coats. 155-pound athlete running a Under Armour’s Blakely said. payments by approximately founder of consulting firm pany’s consumer group. Both
will wear for road races and In the climate controlled- seven-minute mile. Most com- Under Armour is looking for 400 million customers in the Media, Ads + Commerce. For executives report to Diego Scotti
other tiers of running shoes room, inside the company’s panies in the footwear indus- new polymer sets for new first quarter, according to its instance, PayPal might group , who left his longtime role as
that are worn for training. 35,000-square foot innovation try use similar machines. foams, new methods of mak- most recent earnings report. consumers by their relative chief marketing officer at
Industry executives say they and manufacturing center in The foams used for running ing the foams and new shape “If you’re someone who’s affluence, or their status as busi- Verizon last year and is now Pay-
are driven by athletic perform- Baltimore, scientists test the shoes act as a pillowy spring, modifications. buying products on the web, ness travelers, he said. Pal’s executive vice president,
ance, not on catering to the limits of materials that might soft on the feet and returning They are also looking we know who is buying the At the same time, financial general manager of the con-
fashion tastes of the masses. “If make it onto its latest products. energy with every stride. beyond foam. “That’s the real products where, and we can services companies need higher sumer group and global market-
we see that there’s a use case in The athletic company tried When it comes down to cush- frontier,” Blakely said. leverage the data,” Grether growth in ad sales for them to ing and communications.
other communities, then this about a dozen compounds from ioning, footwear companies ©2024 DOW JONES & CO. INC. said. Consumers who use the have a significant effect on the ©2024 DOW JONES & CO. INC.
LIVEMINT.COM NEWS WRAP WEDNESDAY, 29 MAY 2024
AHMEDABAD 11

NEWS
$12.6 bn
THE VALUATION Kumar Mangalam
₹50K cr
THE SIZE of the deal involving 26 Rafale
$50 mn
THE AMOUNT Infra.Market raised
$1 mn
THE RELIEF assistance India is giving to
330MW
THE TOTAL capacity of a nuclear plant
IN Birla’s Hindalco is targeting for its Marine fighter jets for which the Indian from Mars Unicorn Fund, to expand its Papua New Guinea to support its that Russia is to build in Uzbekistan, the
NUMBERS subsidiary Novelis in its initial public
offering in the United States
and French governments are set to
commence contract negotiations
global operations and increase its
product categories
recovery after a landslide killed over
2,000 people in the Pacific island nation
first in Central Asia, according to an
accord signed by the two countries

HOWINDIALIVES.COM

SPNI hires Star’s ON ALERT Modenik Lifestyle

Banerjee as CEO taps new exec chair

S I
ony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) has nnerwear maker Modenik Lifestyle Pvt Ltd,
appointed Disney Star’s Gaurav Banerjee backed by Advent International, has
as its new chief executive officer, replacing announced the appointment of L.V.
N.P. Singh, two people familiar with the Vaidyanathan, former chief executive and
development told Mint. Singh had announced managing director at P&G India, as its
his intention to step down after 25 years at Sony executive chairman effective July.
last week. At Disney Star, Banerjee oversaw Vaidyanathan will succeed Sunil Sethi as
content for Hindi entertainment and Disney+ executive chairman following Sethi’s
Hotstar, and served as business head for Star retirement on 31 July. An alumnus of IIM
Bharat, as well as Hindi and English movies, kids Ahmedabad, Vaidyanathan began his career at
and infotainment, and regional (east) channels. P&G and has over 25 years of experience across
He was not immediately available for comment. markets including India, Vietnam, Thailand,
A former journalist, Banerjee began his career the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore.
at Aaj Tak before joining Star News in 2004 as a “These leadership changes mark a new
prime-time anchor and senior producer. In chapter for Modenik Lifestyle… The board is
2005, he was instrumental in launching the confident that with these appointments,
Bengali news channel Star Ananda. Modenik will continue to strengthen its market
In 2008 he transitioned to Star India to lead position and drive forward its strategic
content strategy for the network’s regional objectives,” the company said in a press
entertainment channels, helping the company statement. SUNEERA TANDON
expand into new markets. GAURAV LAGHATE

Vehicles manoeuvre a flooded street in Kochi on Tuesday. Heavy rains accompanied by gusty winds pounded several parts of central and south
Kerala on Tuesday, causing landslides, waterlogging and the destruction of homes. With the rain intensifying, the India Meteorological Department
placed the districts of Kottayam and Ernakulam—under which Kochi falls—under red alert. PTI

Inox Wind Energy sold a total of 6 crore shares on

Security shortfall of 4,000 at KAL Airways and Maran said they will seek more
than ₹1,323 core in damages from SpiceJet. MINT
the bourses for ₹904 crore.

IWEL divests 4.6% key airports; situation to ease ‘Maran’s claims are
legally untenable’
stake in Inox Wind
I
n an escalation of the ongoing dispute,

D
omestic Inox Wind Energy, one of the
promoters of Inox Wind Ltd, on
Tuesday divested a 4.6% stake in the
company for ₹904 crore through open market
transactions. Inox Wind is India’s leading wind
energy solutions provider. It is a subsidiary of
Inox Wind Energy Ltd (IWEL).
According to the bulk deal data available on
SpiceJet on Tuesday said the claims made
The need for security is in line with growing air traffic that is set to hit new records by KAL Airways and Kalanithi Maran for
more than ₹1,323 crore in damages are
baseless and legally untenable.
Anu Sharma than 150 personnel for Mumbai airport, which has ble income in the country. On Monday, KAL Airways and Kalanithi
anu.sharma@livemint.com a sanctioned strength of more than 4,100, com- As per data from the Directorate General of Civil Maran said they will seek more than ₹1,323
NEW DELHI plete the picture. The shortfall not only raises secu- Aviation (DGCA), Indian airlines carried a record core in damages from SpiceJet and its chief
rity concerns but also causes inconvenience to 152 million passengers in 2023. That's 23% more Ajay Singh as well as challenge the recent

the NSE and the BSE, Inox Wind Energy sold a
total of 6 crore shares on the bourses,
amounting to a 4.6% stake in Noida-based Inox
Wind Ltd. Shares of Inox Wind tumbled 10%
each to close at ₹147.65 and ₹147.75 per piece
on the BSE and NSE, respectively.
IWEL offloaded 5.50 crore shares of Inox
Wind on the NSE and the promoter entity sold
50 lakh shares of the company on the BSE.
The shares were disposed of in the range of
₹150.58-₹152.52 apiece, taking the transaction
value to ₹904.45 crore.
After the stake sale, shareholding of Inox
Wind Energy declined to 33.83% from 38.43%
in Inox Wind. Also, the combined stakeholding
of promoters declined to 48.27% from 52.87%
in the company.
K
ey airports including Delhi, Mumbai, travellers in terms of delays due to long queues at than in 2022 and 5% higher than the pre-covid year Delhi High Court order in the ongoing
Chennai and Kolkata have a shortage of entry gates and at security checks. of 2019, which was the record year till 2023. dispute between the two sides.
more than 4,000 security personnel, an The need for such “We are hoping to In a regulatory filing, SpiceJet said it
internal government study has shown. assessments was felt add a significant strongly refutes the claims made by KAL
This is set to add to delays for air pas- by the government The shortfall not only raises security number of security Airways and Maran regarding seeking
sengers for the rest of the year as government after passengers concerns but also causes personnel before the damages of ₹1,323 crore.
agencies expect the situation to ease only by the complained of
end of 2024. As per the study, conducted by the delays at security inconvenience to travellers in terms peak season of Octo-
ber-December com-
“These assertions are not only legally
untenable but also a regurgitation of
aviation ministry, there is a shortage of over 1,300 counters during the of delays due to long queues mences. We have previously rejected claims by the arbitral
Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel peak summer travel also been in touch tribunal and then the Delhi High Court,” the
at Delhi airport alone, against a sanctioned season, and during with the home min- airline said in the filing on Tuesday. PTI
strength of around 6,200, and a gap of over 1,000 the winter travel season too last year. istry and discussions are underway to augment the
CISF against a sanctioned strength of more than Overall, the study also estimates a need for more immigration officer capacity too,” an official aware
3,700 for Bengaluru airport. than 5,000 CISF personnel across 15 major airports of the development told Mint.
A shortfall of over 800 each for Chennai and
Kolkata airports—against a sanctioned strength of
by the end of 2024, in line with the growing air traf- Airport companies did not comment on
fic that is set to hit new records on the back of air- the story, as airport security is a government
MedPlus Health Q4
PTI over 2,000 personnel each—and a gap of more craft addition plans by airlines and rising disposa- responsibility.
profit up over 25%

M
edPlus Health Services reported a rise
ABFRL net loss at in fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday,
RBI launches mobile app for G-Secs driven by retail sales.
₹266 crore in Q4 MedPlus, which sells online and in retail
stores, said consolidated net profit climbed
to apply online for various regulatory 25.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 33.39 crore ($4

A
ditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd
(ABFRL) has reported a consolidated
net loss of ₹266.35 crore for the fourth
quarter ended March 2024.
The company had posted a net loss of
₹194.54 crore during the January-March
quarter a year ago, according to a regulatory
filing from Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail
Ltd. Its revenue from operations was at
₹3,406.65 during the quarter under review
against ₹2,879.73 crore in the year-ago
period. According to the Aditya Birla group
firm, the consolidated financial results for the
quarter that ended 31 March 2024, are “not
comparable with previous quarters” pursuant
RBI launched Pravaah portal to apply online
for various regulatory approvals. REUTERS
approvals in a seamless manner.
This portal will also enhance the
efficiency of various processes related to
granting of regulatory approvals and
clearances by the Reserve Bank, the central
bank said in a statement.
The third initiative Fintech Repository,
launched by RBI governor Shaktikanta
Das, will be a data storehouse of Indian
Fintech firms for a better understanding of
the sector from a regulatory perspective
and facilitate in designing appropriate
policy approaches.
‘Pravaah’ (Platform for Regulatory
Application, VAlidation and
Fortis Healthcare is investing up to ₹1,300 crore
to add 2,200 beds over the next few years. MINT
Fortis lines up capex
million) for the three months to 31 March.
Analysts expect the retail pharmaceutical
sector to see strong growth in the near
term and an increasing market share for
organized players such as MedPlus. Store
network expansion and an uptick in
branded prescription medicines are expected
to boost sales further.
New drug launches and improving
medical infrastructure have also improved
access to these medicines, driving sales of
retail pharmacies.
MedPlus said revenue from operations rose
nearly 19% to ₹1,490 crore. REUTERS

R
to the acquisition of TCNS Clothing and
Styleverse Lifestyle.Its total expenses were at
₹3,813.87 crore in the March quarter.
“The established businesses continue to
navigate market headwinds while
maintaining a sharp focus on profitability
enhancement,” said Aditya Birla Fashion and
eserve Bank of India (RBI) on
Tuesday launched three major
initiatives, including a mobile app, to
enable retail investors to participate in the
government securities (G-Secs) market.
Besides, the central bank launched the
Pravaah portal for any individual or entity
to expand hospitals
AutHorisation) portal is a secure and
centralized web-based portal for any
individual or entity to seek authorization,
Office leasing to set
F
licence or regulatory approval on any ortis Healthcare is investing up to ₹1,300
reference made by it to the RBI. More
application forms would be made available
crore in expanding capacities at existing
hospitals over the next few years, according to up GCCs rises 17%
as may be required, the statement said. PTI a senior company executive. Fortis provider aims

Retail in an earning statement.
At least 22 dead as rain, landslides wreak havoc in Mizoram
PTI to add around 2,200 beds over the next few years.
“So, some of the capex has already been
incurred in that (addition of bed capacity).
Additional capex will be somewhere around
₹1,200 crore to ₹1,300 crore, which includes
equipment also, everything put together,” Fortis
Healthcare CFO Vivek Goyal said in an analyst
L
easing of office space by foreign firms for
setting up Global Capability Centres
(GCCs) rose 17% last fiscal year, according
to CBRE. Real estate consultant CBRE said the
leasing of office space meant for setting up of
GCCs stood at 22.5 million square feet in FY24
as compared to 19.2 million square feet in the

A
t least 22 people, including 13 in a collapsed stone quarry, were killed call. He noted that the healthcare provider is preceding year.
in Mizoram on Tuesday due to landslides and incessant rain in the looking to add bed capacity at various existing Anshuman Magazine, chairman and CEO—
aftermath of cyclone ‘Remal’, officials said. facilities, including hospitals in Faridabad and India, South-East Asia, Middle East & Africa,
In a massive landslide, at least 13 people, including two minors, were killed Anandpur Sahib. CBRE, said, “With projections indicating
and eight others were missing as a stone quarry collapsed in Aizawl district, a “At Faridabad, there is space available, and we significant leasing by GCCs at 40-45 million
report of the Mizoram State Disaster Management Authority (MSDMA) said. have planned to further expand..in regard to square feet between 2024 and 2025, India’s
The incident happened around 6 am in an area between Melthum and Anandpur, we have acquired a company with a strategic emphasis on digital technology,
Hlimen on the southern outskirts of the Aizawl town, an official said. different land parcel. So, we want to combined with its competitive costs for talent
The report stated that several houses and worker camps caved in due to the operationalize that also. Post expansion of and rentals, remains instrumental in
impact of the landslide, burying at least 21 people beneath the debris. these 100 beds, we will be adding maybe propelling the growth.”
“So far, 13 bodies have been recovered and eight people are still missing. another 50 beds in the next financial year in The gradual upskilling of talent in existing as
Among the deceased in the stone quarry collapse are a four-year-old boy and that unit,” Goyal said. At Shalimar Bagh, well as new roles and greater synergies
a six-year-old girl,” a police officer said. Fortis is building another tower in the adjacent between the private sector and educational
Aizawl’s Deputy Commissioner Nazuk Kumar told PTI that the search Rescue work underway after a stone quarry collapsed amid heavy rain plot and that should give us another 200-plus institutions would continue to drive value
operations will continue till the entire site is cleared. PTI in the aftermath of Cyclone Remal, in Aizawl district on Tuesday. PTI beds, he said. PTI creation in India, he added. PTI
12 WEDNESDAY, 29 MAY 2024
AHMEDABAD LONG STORY LIVEMINT.COM

WHY POLITICAL PARTIES

ARE WOOING WOMEN
Loyalty to their benefactors and discipline in voting have made politicians court women

Clockwise from left: Supporters gather at an election rally addressed by Prime

Minister Narendra Modi in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, on 21 May; BJP supporters
during an election campaign rally in New Delhi on 22 May; TMC supporters
take part in a rally in Kolkata on 15 May. REUTERS/AP/PTI

Romita Datta itics,” the SBI report observed. Out of 373 scheme is looking for an unconditional the expenses of their child’s education,
mint UPWARD SWING
feedback@livemint.com constituencies, 270 saw increased partici- annual cash transfer of ₹1 lakh to every SHORT buying medicines and also taking care of
KOLKATA pation, it added. poor Indian family. Beside this, the party STORY More women are registering as voters personal needs.
has promised reservation for women in Women Men Voters (in million) The rich dividends in the 2021 Assem-

A
s they huddled over a game of LOYALTY FACTOR 50% of Central government jobs. bly results, which saw Trinamool Con-
WHAT
cards at a popular eating joint
in Bhowanipore, Kolkata, a T he other reason for politicians betting
big on women is their discipline in
motley group of cabbies from exercising their franchise and perceived
The choices are many. “Women are not
only feeling pampered but for the first
time they are feeling blessed to have been Women have become the 397
437 431
465 471
497 gress slightly increase its seat count in the
state Assembly, made the government
double the allowance components for the
Bihar, Punjab and West Ben- loyalty to their benefactors. born as women. While the UP govern- sunrise segment in Indian general caste just before election dates
gal turned to discussing politics. One of An analysis of the 2019 general election ment is paying ₹25,000 on the birth of a politics. The days of caste and were announced.
them, from Chhapra in Bihar, com- results by CSDS-Lokniti revealed that baby girl to end discrimination between sub-caste politics are passe. As expected, the move has created waves
plained, “My wife no longer listens to me. women held the key for the huge mandate sons and daughters, the Centre is paying Gender is the new kid on of excitement and interest among women.
She has ears only for (Narendra) Modi. in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party ₹6,000 to stop female foeticide,” said the block. Such has been the craze for Lakshmir
Because Modi gives her money.” The oth- (BJP) in 2019. Prime Minister Narendra social scientist Prasanta Ray of Presidency 2014 2019 2024 Bhandar that the BJP’s top leadership,
ers nodded in agreement, noting that Modi and the central government’s three University. “Both the UP and Bengal gov- including Modi and Amit Shah, had to take
wives, daughters and sisters had become women-centric schemes—Ujjwala Yojana ernments are paying a lump sum to WHY Giant leap
Women voters will outstrip men from
a leaf out of Banerjee’s book and promise
impudent with family patriarchs. (free gas connection and LPG cylinder women for their marriage. Rural house- an enhanced alternative, Annapurnar
The blame for this state of affairs, in the subsidy), Matru Vandana Yojana (a mater- holds celebrate and do not mourn their The number of women voters 2029 onwards Bhandar, on similar lines, if voted to power.
is projected to surpass men Voter turnout of women vs men in Lok Sabha
cabbies’ minds, lies with various women- nity support scheme for pregnant and lac- advent (any longer).” elections (in millions)
“Mamata didi says that if BJP comes to
centric welfare schemes. Thanks to tating mothers) and Awas Yojana (house But economists aren’t impressed. “It is from 2029 onwards. After Men Women power, it will stop the programme. BJP is
receiving cash from these schemes, both ownership in the name of female mem- very sad that we are looking at short-term a decade or so, the ratio of 230 not going to stop any scheme. We will
2009
from the Centre and the states, women in bers)—have been a runaway hit among gains through distribution of freebies and female to male voters is 190 increase the benefit of Lakshmir Bhan-
rural and semi-urban India have become women, helping the saffron party win by social welfare schemes. Forget about expected to be 55 to 45. dar,” Shah assured the audience at an
2014 290
economically independent, empowered securing 46% of the female vote, against long-term development, asset creation 260 election campaign in Uluberia.
and emancipated. And that has embold- 44% of the male vote share. and infrastructural development is worst The budgeted estimate for the
ened them to stand up for themselves. While the Centre has budgeted ₹12,000 hit,” said Swapnendu Bandyopadhyay, NOW 2019 320
300
Lakshmir Bhandar scheme for 2024-25
In other words, women have become crore for the more than 102 million benefi- professor of economics, Jadavpur Univer- was ₹14,400 crore and the promised hike
the sunrise segment in ciaries of the Ujjwala sity. “What is scary is that this culture is Out of 373 seats in the first 2024* 350 will cause an additional burden of ₹12,000
Indian politics. The days scheme in 2024-25, the causing a huge impact on the human psy- four phases, 270 saw increased 330 crore. But the government is determined
of caste and sub-caste In 2019, BJP secured 46% of budget for Matru Van- che. It is giving rise to a parasitic mental- participation by women, a study to see it through even at the expense of
2029* 360
politics are passe. Gen- the female vote share, dana, which caters to 32 ity, living off another. There’s no employ- found. Their net incremental 370 some of its not-so-populist schemes, such
der is the new kid on the million pregnant women, ment generation and the political parties share was 9.36 million, against as old-age pensions and some educational
block. Naturally, politi- against 44% of the male stood at ₹14,427 crore. are aiming to mitigate anger and frustra- 8.47 million for men. * Projections Source: SBI Research
scholarships.
SATISH KUMAR/MINT
cal players are excited vote share, thanks to This apart, the SBI tion by giving people allowances. It’s a Maharashtra, too, has a bountiful basket
about tapping this report points out that vicious chain for governments, because for women, including the Manodhairya
cohort. And they are Narendra Modi and his women have significant these schemes and doles will need that the BJP would come nowhere close to 63.31% in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assem- Scheme, which provides financial assist-
ready to invest in shares in some central enhancement from time to time.” BJD’s electoral prospects unless it breaks bly to 67.18% in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll. ance from ₹1 lakh to ₹10 lakh to rape vic-
women because they see welfare schemes. schemes, such as into Patnaik’s women cheerleaders. tims, and the Majhi Kanya Bhagyashree
huge returns ahead— MUDRA(68%), the Atal STATE-LEVEL COURTING In Uttar Pradesh, a Hindi heartland BENGAL’S LAKSHMIR BHANDAR Scheme, which has an annual grant of
the numbers make that clear.

WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

Pension Yojana for workers in unorganized
sectors (44%) and Stand-Up India (81%).
A t the state level, too, ruling parties
have been going all out to capitalize
on women voters. “It’s a good thing that
state known for celebrating machismo,
the government is politically sympathetic
to the cause of women and chief minister
B engal chief minister Mamata Baner-
jee’s basket of a dozen schemes for
women, taking care of everything from the
₹50,000 for a girl child up to 18 years.
These and several other schemes, includ-
ing the Matrutva Sahayog Scheme, the Kis-

W omen make up 48.9% of India’s BJP, CONGRESS PROMISES

total electorate of 969 million, and
political parties have been vying with each B uoyed by the impact of such schemes,
both the BJP and Congress have gone
women are being seen as individuals and
entities, with a mind of their own. In the
age of competitive populism, having
Yogi Adityanath’s popularity is on the
ascent. This is because he is perceived as
a protector and saviour. The abolition of
birth of a girl child to education, empower-
ment, marriage, pocket money and widow
pension, fetched her 50% of the women’s
hori Shakti Scheme and financial assist-
ance for marriage of girls in orphanages,
among others, which were responsible for
other to tap this vast base with all kinds of overboard in their 2024 election mani- exhausted all existing constituencies, it is Triple Talaq and reining in of roadside eve vote both in the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 an expenditure of ₹3,000 crore from the
goodies. festo, either by introducing new schemes only natural that new areas will be teasers won wide appreciation. Assembly elections—13 percentage points ₹9,000 crore budget of the women and
The number of female voters per 1,000 for women or expanding the purview of tapped,” said Kingshuk Chatterjee, pro- The CSDS-Lokniti post-poll survey in more than its principal rival BJP. child department’s budget, said a senior
males is seeing a steady rise. Out of the 263 old ones. While the BJP has plans for fessor of history at Calcutta University. Uttar Pradesh after the 2022 assembly poll The biggest cash incentive for the secretary of the department, requesting
million new voters aged between 18-29 financial empowerment of women, the In assembly elections, female voters attributed the BJP’s comfortable majority women of Bengal is Lakhshmir Bhandar, a anonymity.
years, 141 million are women. Indeed, Congress is talking of direct doles and largely prefer the party that has been able to women voters. The BJP’s women’s vote basic monthly allowance scheme, which Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin,
according to a projection by SBI’s eco- ensuring an equitable work environment. to create a credible base of beneficiaries share was 13 percentage points higher started out with a payout of ₹500 and who touts himself as the custodian of the
nomic research team, the number of The BJP manifesto talks of expansion of among them. Odisha began empowering than Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party ₹1,000 for general caste and SC/ST Dravidian model of social reform, has
women voters is projected to surpass men the government’s Lakhpati Didi self-help women through its Mission Shakti Self (SP). As for the male vote share, the differ- women, respectively. It was launched a few rolled out a slew of projects to help women
from 2029 onwards. After a decade or so, group initiative, building more toilets for Help Groups back in 2001, immediately ence between the BJP and SP was only 5%. months before the 2021 state Assembly get financial assistance and have a better
the ratio of female to male voters is women in public areas, health services for after Naveen Patnaik became chief minis- Yogi’s success lies not just in women- election to blunt the rising tide of anti-in- standard of living. “This is not assistance
expected to be 55 to 45. reduction of breast and cervical cancer, ter. Over the years, Mission Shakti has related schemes but also in creating a cumbency and allegations of corruption. but your right,” he declared last year while
According to the SBI economic integrating self-help groups with the ser- empowered 7 million women by provid- women-friendly environment, infrastruc- The scheme turned out to be a game announcing a monthly assistance scheme
research wing, the first four phases of the vice sector, market-linked access, and cre- ing them seed money, credit linkages, ture and work culture. For instance, the changer as it covered 21 million women out of ₹1,000 for women. In addition, the Drav-
2024 election have already seen a growth ating hostels and creches to enable more market linkages and other benefits such as Mission Shakti scheme is training women of the total 37 million female electorate. ida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) govern-
in the turnout of women voters. “For every women to participate in the workforce. interest subsections. in self-defence, besides sensitising them According to Pratichi Trust, founded by ment in the state subsidizes free bus travel
100 incremental male voters, there are 110 The Lakhpati Didi scheme, which was In 2023-24, Mission Shakti received a to crime and atrocities. Under the Muk- Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, the for all women, a widow remarriage assist-
incremental female voters voting at any introduced in December 2023, offers hefty allocation of 41.57% from the state’s hyamantri Samuhik Vivah Yojana, the Lakshmir Bhandar cash incentive had ance scheme and marriage assistance for
point of time in the first four phases. The interest-free loans of ₹5 lakh to women, gender budget. Interestingly, Odisha Uttar Pradesh government spends empowered 85.6% of the women sur- daughters of poor widows. In Andhra Pra-
net incremental share of women voters to help them upgrade skills and earn at stands out, with 43% of its startups being ₹51,000 per wedding, with ₹35,000 going veyed, with 61.1% admitting that the cash desh, chief minister Jaganmohan Reddy,
comes to 9.36 million, way above the 8.47 least a lakh per household annually. It led by women. The seats that have gone to straight to the bride’s account and the rest had enhanced their position in the house- too, has launched multiple welfare
million increase in their male counter- aims to benefit 30 million women, as per the polls so far in Odisha have shown a being used for a gift and arranging the cer- hold and given them financial security. As schemes, of which some key initiatives are
parts, hinting at the cementing of women the party manifesto. 76% turnout by women and 75% by men. emony. This helps explain why the per- many as 75.9% said they were supple-
as the new centre of gravity for Indian pol- In contrast, Congress’s Mahalaxmi A Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader declared centage of women voters increased from menting the family income and meeting TURN TO PAGE 13
LIVEMINT.COM
Ensuring your new property
isn’t stuck in a legal wrangle
Although banks do their own due diligence, taking extra precautions is advisable
Sashind Ningthoukhongjam
sashindnj@livemint.com
K
amal Kishore Khosla, a mid-
dle-class man residing in
Delhi, invests the hard-
earned savings from his
provident fund account to
buy land on the outskirts of the national
capital. Later, when he visits the site to
plan the construction of a new house,
he is greeted by a wall. The struggle he
faces to get back his property is the plot
of the 2006 Anupam Kher-starrer,
Khosla ka Ghosla.
In real life, too, it’s not uncommon to
uncover issues related to properties
after you’ve seemingly made a rightful
purchase. Sometimes a property is sold
twice, to different parties, or the title
deed is not clear, or relatives might
come into the picture. In fact, National
Crime Records Bureau data shows that
more than 7,000 such cases relating to
‘land issues’ were recorded in India in
2022 alone.
Such problems can get compounded
when buying land in an area you’re less
familiar with, say, for example, some-
place 200km from where you’re stay-
ing. You’re greatly increasing the chan-
ces of your getting cheated as well.
Amrit Kabra, a 30-year-old char-
tered accountant residing with his fam-
ily in Kolkata, invested in property in
Bengaluru’s Whitefield area. To avoid
the usual legal hassles, he used an easy
fix. His family applied for a loan of ₹25
lakh from HDFC Bank even though
they were ready to pay the full amount
upfront. The logic was simple: banks do
their due diligence on the property
before sanctioning a loan, and he would
get to know of any pending issues
beforehand. He also structured the
loan such that he could claim the maxi-
mum tax deductions on the home loan.
“Even if you don’t need to, you can
get a small loan so that the headache is
lifted,” said Kabra, who now lives in
Mumbai. To be sure, while the family
eventually didn’t end up taking the
loan as the bank wanted a personal
guarantee, it had done its due diligence
and was willing to sanction the loan,
thereby assuring Kabra that there were
no pending litigation issues. The prop-
erty was bought in the name of the fam-
ily office along with other associates.
Swapnil Gholap, 37, did something
similar. He wanted a bigger house for
his family and so bought land in Maha-
rashtra, for which he took a ₹50 lakh
loan in 2015. “Rather than you running
for due diligence, the banks can help
you understand if there is any pending
issue with the plot,” said Gholap.
But is that enough? Banks have their
incentives, say experts. Apart from due
diligence, they also need to worry
about meeting their loan targets in a
cut-throat industry. This makes them
more willing to issue loans if the basic
requirements are met. After all, the
onus of paying the equated monthly
instalments (EMIs) remains on the bor-
rower even if the property goes into
contention.
“Banks want to catch borrowers as
they need to fulfil their targets,” said a
public sector banker, requesting ano-
nymity. “No one wants to reject a loan
if the basic due diligence is met, given
they don’t already have too many pend-
ing loans.”
In the case of under-construction
apartments, banks can partner with the
developer and sanction loans in bulk.
Banks aim to give out more loans, while
YET TO FILE YOUR INCOME TAX RETURN FOR FY24? A FEW THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR
POWER
POINT
PRAKASH HEGDE
We welcome your views and comments at
mintmoney@livemint.com
A
s the tax filing season kicks off again, many individuals
are questioning whether they need to file their income
tax return (ITR) for financial year 2024 (FY24). This
uncertainty often arises because employers have already
deducted tax on salaries or banks have deducted tax at source
(TDS) on interest or pensions. Others may believe their income
is too low to require filing. However, these assumptions need
re-evaluation.
Mandatory filing of returns
Both resident and non-resident individuals must file an ITR
in India if their total income in a fiscal year exceeds the basic
exemption limit.
“Total income” refers to taxable income before applying tax
exemptions on capital gains and various deductions for insur-
ance, investments, home loans and contributions to the
MINT MONEY WEDNESDAY, 29 MAY 2024
AHMEDABAD 13
Compare your bank FD rates
B ank fixed deposits (FDs) continue to be popular investment products not just
among senior citizens, who are looking for guaranteed income, but also among
investors who can’t stomach risk. But overexposure to FDs is not good, and you need
to assess your asset allocation and goals to decide how much money you should
park in them. For instance, saving for your child’s
higher education that’s 15 years away through FDs
may not be effective as the post-tax interest rate
of an FD may not give you a real return (return
that’s above the rate of inflation). But if you plan to
take a holiday in two years, an FD can help. Before
choosing an FD, you should compare the interest
rates on offer. Here is a list of banks that offer the
highest FD rates for deposits up to 1 crore over
various tenures.
Can banks be trusted with property due diligence? Interest rates (%) for fixed deposits up to 1 crore
The scope of the bank’s advocate while undertaking due diligence would be limited to minimizing
its risk and ensuring that the property serves as adequate collateral. 6 months 1 to < 2 2 to < 3 3 to < 5 5 years
to < 1 year years years years and above
How it works
Checklist
DCB Bank 6.20-7.25 7.10-8.05 7.50-7.55 7.40-7.75 7.25-7.65
Find a house/property to buy
Title vertification
Axis Bank 5.75-6.00 6.70-7.20 7.10 7.10 7.00
Encumbrance certificate
Sign the sale agreement HDFC Bank 4.50-6.00 6.60-7.25 7.00-7.15 7.00-7.20 7.00
Nature of property
Zoning verification IndusInd Bank 5.00-6.50 7.75 7.25-7.75 7.25 7.00-7.25
Apply for a loan from a bank
Development/ IDFC First Bank 4.50-5.75 6.50-7.90 7.25-7.75 7.00-7.25 7.00
construction
Due diligence of the property RBL Bank 4.75-6.05 7.50-8.00 7.50-8.00 7.10-7.50 7.00-7.10
by the bank* Statutory dues
YES Bank 5.00-6.35 7.25-7.75 7.25 7.25 7.00-7.25
Review of agreements
Identify pending issues and contracts ICICI Bank 4.75-6.00 6.70-7.20 7.00-7.20 7.00 6.90-7.00
early with bank’s help
Revenue records
Canara Bank 6.15-6.25 6.85-7.25 6.85 6.80 6.70
Go ahead with the purchase Stamp duty
Source: Kunal Sharma, partner, Dhanlaxmi Bank 6.50 6.75-7.25 6.50-6.75 6.50-7.25 6.60-7.25
Singhania & Co.
*Taking the service of an advocate and valuer Federal Bank 5.00-6.00 6.80-7.40 7.05 7.00 6.60
Different experiences Why still opt for an independent advocate? Bank of Baroda 5.60-7.10 6.85-7.15 7.25 6.50-7.25 6.50
An advocate hired by banks will work for them, not you Bank of Maharashtra 5.25-6.90 6.50-7.10 6.50 6.50 6.50
Amrit Kabra, Rahul
30 Lakshmanan, BANKS have sales targets; might be lax in due diligence Indian Overseas Bank 5.75 6.90-7.30 6.80 6.50 6.50
33
Loan amount BANKS’ adovcates are focused on minimizing banks’ risk^ State Bank of India 6.00-6.25 6.80-7.10 7.00 6.75 6.50
25 lakh* Loan amount INDEPENDENT advocates have a fiduciary duty towards
30 lakh clients Union Bank of India 4.90-5.75 6.50-7.25 6.40-6.50 6.50 6.50
Property value
THEY can explain the complex process better to buyers. Jammu & Kashmir Bank 4.75-6.00 7.05 7.00 6.50 6.50
1.58 Property value
crore 50 lakh ^ensuring property serves as collateral
Data taken from respective bank's website as on 23 May 2024; Only main entity of the merged banks are taken. Banks which merged
with its main entity are removed from the table; The list of 15 banks is based on highest fixed deposit rates available for 5 years and above
I intentionally applied There was an issue Mint’s take: Better to get an independent advocate Source: www.Bankbazaar.com
for a loan from the with land records but I even when a bank is involved because they will not be
bank to verify documents. still had to pay the EMIs. held accountable for the wrong due diligence while
borrowers will be expected to pay EMIs.
*Didn't end up taking the loan; due diligence done
borrowers don’t want to run around time of undertaking due diligence
branches trying to get one. So, a bank would be to secure the loan repayment.
PRANAY BHARDWAJ/MINT
jurisdiction, and they would know
about it. For commercial properties, it’s
Why political parties are
and a developer can enter an agree- Therefore, the scope of the bank’s
ment where the former does the due advocate while undertaking it would be
diligence on the overall property, limited to minimizing the bank’s risk
advisable to get the services of a law
firm as the matter can get compli-
cated.”
wooing women
thereby ensuring it doesn’t need to be and ensuring that the property serves Vyas added that if you are buying an
done every time a loan is sanctioned, as adequate collateral, whereas an apartment from a builder, you can FROM PAGE 12 bies. It has to be seen if West
said the banker. independent advocate will undertake check the developer’s registration and Bengal becomes an aberration
Not foolproof legal due diligence with the primary details on the RERA website. If you’re targeted at women. They to the national trends,” said
Rahul Lakshmanan took a loan from intent of securing their client’s interest. buying land on the outskirts or in a include Amma Vodi, under Bose. “One must remember that
a public sector bank in 2018 to buy an Therefore, an independent advocate’s small district, you can check with the which ₹15,000 is paid to moth- disbursement under MNREGA
under-construction apartment in scope of work will be much wider, and local municipal corporation or the rele- ers of schoolgoing children to has been suspended in West
Mumbai. After getting the loan, it it will focus on ensuring there is a clear vant authority and ask for documents encourage education, and YSR Bengal for two years. This, cou-
turned out there was an issue with the title, the property is free from encum- like utility bills. The lawyers can then Cheyutha, which supports pled with the scam in school
land ownership and the buyers did not brances, and there are no legal issues easily do their due diligence based on women aged 45–60 from recruitment, has impacted both
receive the occupation that could impact your the documents. That said, the due dili- weaker socioeconomic back- men and women.”
certificates. Although the ownership in the future.” gence ultimately depends on the kind grounds by providing them However, Trinamool Con-
land was registered in the Buying a house In India, the process of of land and for what purpose. “Each ₹75,000 over four years. gress Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar
builder’s name, the gov- is a once-in-a- acquiring property is one will have their unique require- Sircar has a different take. He
ernment had marked the lifetime exercise strenuous and compli- ment,” said Vyas. THE DIVIDENDS West Bengal Chief Minister thinks Banerjee is a feminist in
land as reserved for ‘play-
grounds.’ Next, the gov-
erning body for the area
for many, and
usually takes
cated due to the involve-
ment of various regulatory
authorities, state-specific
In terms of costs for doing simple
due diligence on a home or an apart-
ment in the Delhi-National Capital
M adhya Pradesh’s Ladli
Behna Scheme, which
provides ₹1,000 per month to
Mamata Banerjee.
(Mamata Banerjee) because in
PTI letter and spirit, and under-
stands and feels for women in a
way no other chief minister did
changed from a jila pari- up the bulk of laws and judicial prece- Region (NCR), Vyas says the typical women aged between 23 and the absence of a job, my house- or can possibly do. “She has sin-
shad to a municipality. one’s savings dents. Also, such transac- charge would be ₹40,000 to ₹50,000. 60, bleeds the state of ₹8,000 hold is getting the benefits of gle-handedly led the empower-
The matter of the land tions usually involve intri- He added that it varies from lawyer to crore annually, but has earned Lakshmir Bhandar for my two ment of women with innovative
ownership is now pending cate legal documentation., lawyer, and from place to place. “Chen- rich dividends for the BJP. unemployed daughters and and out-of-the box schemes,
before the high court, while in which case an independent advocate nai and Mumbai might be 20% Anti-incumbency will soon Kanyashree (₹2,000 a year) for which have really helped in
Lakshmanan has to keep repaying the can help explain the legal implications cheaper, but it depends on case to become a thing of the past, feel my schoolgoing girl.” establishing women’s space in
loan. of the sale agreement, loan documents case.” party leaders, because women Indeed, women in Bengal politics and the economy. She
“I am not very optimistic about ever and other contracts, and ensure that Penny-wise, pound-foolish will ensure continuity of a gov- attend chief minister Baner- has ensured 35-45% representa-
getting the apartment,” said the interest of the client is secured, said Buying a house is a once-in-a-life- ernment in order to enjoy conti- jee’s rallies in huge numbers, tion of women in numerous
Lakshmanan. “I think the bank saw that Sharma. time exercise for many, and usually nuity of benefits. A glimpse of filling the front rows to signal decision making bodies, far
the land was registered in the devel- Legal due diligence by an independ- takes up the bulk of one’s savings. Try- this loyalty is visible in Bengal. their support for her. In a ahead of others,” he said.
oper’s name and hence did not foresee ent advocate will, thus, help uncover ing to save money by not taking an “My son is sitting at the Espla- reciprocal gesture, Banerjee But could the showering of
an issue.” potential risks such as outstanding independent advocate and relying on nade dharna in protest against begins her speech by singing such boundless bounties lead to
Kunal Sharma, a partner at Singha- liens and zoning restrictions, he added. the bank for due diligence is not advisa- the school recruitment scam, paeans to women and how friction within families? Profes-
nia & Co., said an advocate should Finding a good advocate ble. Although banks do their checks, which gave jobs to many ineligi- they form the backbone of sor Chatterjee doesn’t think so.
ensure that the building plan is Vidhan Vyas, the founder of Vyas taking extra precautions is advisable as ble candidates. My son had family, society and country. “Maybe a particular generation,
approved by the local municipal corpo- Legal, said buyers can approach law- the amount involved in real estate passed his Master’s with a good But according to political ana- say, the patriarchy of 60-plus,
ration per the Real Estate (Regulation yers in the local/district courts whose transactions can be huge. Don’t miss percentage and believes he had lyst Pratim Ranjan Bose of Ira- might feel threatened about los-
and Development) Act, 2016, or RERA. offices are on the premises of the sub- out on the big picture to save on the lit- done well in the job entrance vati Research and Communica- ing their social control. But I am
“Even if a bank conducts its due dili- registrar, adding that they are well- tle costs. To borrow a phrase from the exam, but somehow he couldn’t tion Centre, such a simplistic optimistic about the slightly
gence through its lawyers, the need to versed with land records and have their 16-17th century Oxford scholar Robert make it to the merit list,” said T. correlation of freebies and sup- younger age group. They’ll
get an independent advocate is indis- connections in the registry to help sort Burton in his book The Anatomy of Mel- Jana of Kanthi in East Midnap- port doesn’t always hold. “Con- adjust to the idea of women
pensable,” he added. out any issues. “Any land dispute would ancholy: avoid being ‘penny-wise, ore. “However, my wife thinks gress lost Rajasthan and Chattis- bringing in resources and hav-
“The bank’s primary concern at the be instituted in the court of the local pound-foolish.’ we should vote for Didi garh despite offering huge free- ing a say in the household.”
National Pension Scheme (NPS). case of queries from tax authorities.
For FY24, the basic exemption limit is ₹2.5 lakh under the old There have been numerous instances where non-resident
tax regime, ₹3 lakh for resident senior citizens and ₹5 lakh for
resident super-senior citizens. Under the new regime, the
Indians (NRIs) received notices from income tax authorities for
interest earned on non-resident external (NRE) account depos-
exemption limit is ₹3 lakh, regardless of age. its in India. Although this interest is exempt, authorities have
Individual taxpayers are also required to file an ITR in a year issued notices due to the lack of required data to determine the
they: taxability of such interest. Regular filing of ITRs could have pre-
• Have deposited ₹50 lakh or more in savings bank accounts. vented these notices, even if the taxable income in India is
• Have deposited more than ₹1 crore in one or more current below the exemption limit.
accounts in a bank, including cooperative banks. If verification is The deadline for filing ITR for the
• Have spent more than ₹2 lakh on foreign travel for them- done after 30 current assessment year is 31 July.
selves or others. However, for partners in firms subject
• Have spent more than ₹1 lakh on electricity consumption. days, the date of to audit or those in business/profes-
• Are engaged in any business with total sales/turnover verification will sions subject to audit, the deadline is
exceeding ₹60 lakh. be treated as the 31 October.
• Are engaged in any profession with gross receipts exceeding date of filing After filing the ITR, ensure its veri-
₹10 lakh. fication within 30 days through net
• Have been subjected to TDS or tax collected at source (TCS) ISTOCKPHOTO banking, Aadhaar-OTP, a hard copy
of ₹25,000 or more. For senior citizens aged 60 years and file an ITR for several reasons: of the signed ITR acknowledgment, electronic verification code
above, the threshold is ₹50,000 or more. • To claim a refund of TDS/TCS. or digital signature.
Additionally, a resident individual, other than not ordinarily • To carry forward losses to the next year. Without verification, the ITR will not be considered valid. If
resident, must file an ITR if they hold any foreign assets, have • To maintain continuity of filing and keep Indian tax records verification is done after 30 days, the date of verification will be
signing authority in any foreign account, or are beneficiaries of updated. treated as the date of filing, potentially resulting in late filing
any foreign assets. • As a record of income, which may be required for loans, sub- consequences.
Optional filing sidies, visas, etc. Prakash Hegde is a chartered accountant at Acer Tax & Corpo-
Even if none of the above conditions apply, it is advisable to • To declare exempt income or gifts, which can be useful in rate Services Llp, Bengaluru.
14 WEDNESDAY, 29 MAY 2024
AHMEDABAD VIEWS LIVEMINT.COM

OUR VIEW MY VIEW | ON THE OTHER HAND

BLOOMBERG

The rise of quick commerce has

left us with a bagful of questions
We should study the impact of its success on the retail sector’s evolution as well as broader economy

is all about second-order effects. So,
will the rise of quick commerce lead to
expansion of India’s economic output,
or will it simply take away business from
traditional players that were servicing
this demand? Or will it be a bit of both?
How will it impact street-corner kirana
stores and supermarkets?
This point isn’t just important in the
VIVEK KAUL context of quick commerce companies,
is the author of ‘Bad Money’. but applies to e-commerce as a whole
too. In their book, Breaking the Mould:
Reimagining India’s Economic Future,
Raghuram G. Rajan and Rohit Lamba,
ering non-grocery products like elec-
tronic gadgets, lipsticks, toys and even
gold and silver coins. Of course, this
expansion will need continued innova-
tion at the supply-chain level to manage
the higher inventory that selling more
products necessitates. On the flip side,
nothing stops larger general e-com-
merce companies from making bigger
bets on quick commerce, as Flipkart
plans, making success tougher for
everyone.
Third, will quick commerce turn out
to be a pan-India phenomenon, or will it

Climate: Clean energy

mention that Lenskart, which is in the be limited to our bigger cities as it cur-
spectacles business, sells 50,000 rently is? As the Zomato letter referred

T
he stock price of Zomato has ral- frames a day. How is this impacting to earlier pointed out: “While we have a
lied big time in the last one year. India’s 50,000 eyewear shops. Is Len- presence in 26 cities, the focus from an
As of Friday, 24 May, it had gone skart taking away business from tradi- expansion standpoint is the top eight

needs a carbon market up 184% since 24 May 2023, though it

must be said that the closing price as of
Friday was more than 9% lower than its
all-time high of ₹201.4 on 10 May. The
tional eyewear shops?
Another interesting example here is
that of India’s increasing ghost malls. A
recent Reuters report points out that
cities in India.” This is where the money
is, and hence, in a way, it’s low-hanging
fruit for quick commerce companies.
Nonetheless, as the country’s digital
recent fall notwithstanding, a major smaller malls are increasingly turning penetration keeps increasing, there is
reason for the rise lies in the very fast into ghost malls as customers gravitate enough reason to believe that these
A buyers’ market is emerging in India for clean-energy assets. As private incentives to drive growth of the company’s quick com- towards bigger malls and shop online. companies will focus on non-metros as
merce business, which delivers vegeta- Hence, as quick commerce companies well and that will mean more pressure
a transition away from fossil fuels remain weak, we should go well beyond green subsidies bles, groceries and other products— grow bigger, whether they will end up on traditional kirana stores.
from lipsticks and pen drives to floral expanding India’s broader economic Fourth, it will be interesting to see
bouquets and branded kurtas—in a output is an important question in need how the relationship of quick com-
matter of minutes. of more thought and research. merce companies evolves with other

I
ndia is seeing a buyers’ market emerge for
clean-energy assets, as Mint reported, with
a rise in businesses vying to attract inves-
tors for stakes big and small in renewable
power projects. Among others, Siemens
Energy is looking to sell the wind-turbines
unit of its local subsidiary, Shell is scouting for
investors in Sprng Energy and Renew is in
talks to hawk some of its solar assets. An over-
supply of climate-friendly generators of elec-
tricity suggests that deals will be struck at
weaker valuations than sellers would like, with
saleability likely to hinge on project viability,
market conditions and the risk-return profile.
Meanwhile, project tenders issued in 2023-24
indicate that greenfield investor interest in
clean gigs ran at 69 gigawatts (GW) of capacity,
well above the rate of 50GW per year needed
for India to meet its 2030 goal of 500GW from
renewables. Some companies are in the busi-
ness of setting up and selling off generators
to re-invest in new ones. Unless secondary
demand for these assets picks up, however, we
risk the financial equivalent of a power cut.
air of a seasonal routine. In spite of a big policy In 2023-24, the adjusted revenue of Typically, a technological innovation companies, like those in the fast moving
push for emission-free power and related gains the company’s quick commerce busi- leads to the destruction of existing eco- consumer goods sector or even those
ness grew by 186% to ₹2,302 crore. In nomic activities and jobs as well as the selling electronic products. Will the
in renewable capacity, the power we use today comparison, the adjusted revenue of creation of new ones, although those quick commerce businesses launch
broadly remains the same. Our decarbonized the company’s mainstay food-delivery who get hurt by it do not necessarily their own private labels, like large gen-
facilities are either off-grid or unable to plug business grew by a significantly lower benefit from the new opportunities eral e-commerce companies have? And
supply gaps to meet overall demand for other 27% to ₹7,792 crore. thrown up. As Daron Acemoglu and will that then lead to quick commerce
reasons. What keeps supply and demand apart Swiggy and Zepto are the other major Simon Johnson write in Power and companies limiting the presence of
players in the field of quick commerce. Progress: “Technology doesn’t have a products made by other companies on
in this key infra sector needs an updated study, Swiggy recently filed for an initial pub- preordained direction, and nothing their platforms?
but state-run distributors that don’t charge lic offering. Experts and analysts believe about it is inevitable.” Of course, we are getting into the
users enough to profitably pay power suppliers that the company’s success as a listed Second, will quick commerce busi- realm of speculation here, but it is
are part of a statist legacy. Reform attempts so entity will depend on how well its quick nesses reach a point where they start worth remembering something that
far have failed to empower price signals, power commerce business does. Further, a resembling large e-commerce firms Kaushik Basu writes in Reason To Be
Mint Long Story published on 22 May like Amazon and Flipkart? As the letter Happy: “In traditional economics, buy-
handouts retain their role as political freebies, points out that the e-commerce major accompanying Zomato’s financial ers and sellers were brought together by
and we’re stuck with a creaky grid-work that Flipkart “after failing in 2015 and results for the period January to March the invisible hand of the market... With
can hardly pay for itself, let alone respond to an 2020… is attempting a quick commerce pointed out: “We will be adding more the arrival of the digital platform, the
online cry for electricity free of snap-offs. Since venture yet again”. use cases,” meaning the platform will [invisible hand] is no longer imaginary
reliable supply is what users need, solar and This rise of quick commerce raises a sell a greater variety of products. Quick but an actual corporation, with an eye
few interesting points. First, economics commerce companies are already deliv- on little other than its own profit.”
wind sources have a particular drawback. The
sun and wind do not shine and blow at anyone’s
command. So, barring captive use, the energy
they generate needs to be stored for this supply
to be effective. Storage is very costly, and while
batteries can get cheaper, renewable generators
can’t beat carbon-heavy plants on affordability. www.livemint.com
New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh*, Pune* Thursday, May 29, 2014 Vol.8 No.127 `4.00 in Delhi-NCR/`5.00 outside Delhi-NCR 24
32 PAGES
36
+ MINT MONEY BOOKLET

Memoirist, poet
For all the buzz of action in our power sector, As an emerging economy with rising low-end
OBITUARY:
Maya Angelou dies at 86 >11
INFRASTRUCTURE: Modi government to bring
new scheme in place of JNNURM >4

it still presents a dismal picture overall. The
demand, India doesn’t yet plan to quit coal-fired
CNBC-TV18: Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi
says retrospective tax law dampener for FDI >24
CONTENT PARTNER
VIEWS: Pakistan—Fragile, handle with care >30

power ministry’s website says that India has power. Relative costs explain why. This is also
SENSEX 24,556.09 Æ 6.58 NIFTY 7,329.65 Æ 11.65 DOLLAR `59.03 æ `0.01 EURO `80.23 æ `0.29 GOLD `27,175 æ `360 OIL $109.66 æ $0.36

FRESH IMPETUS Srei firm in talks QUICK EDIT

THE INFOSYS CONUNDRUM
Govt likely The resignation of Infosys Ltd president B.G. Srinivas, who was seen as one of
the top contenders to take over as the company’s first non-founder CEO, is the
to buy Abhijeet
Group’s project
Middle
class angst
418GW of installed capacity. About 237GW of it why private players need the lure of subsidy
latest in the line of top-level departures at the firm since co-founder N. R.
Narayana Murthy returned as executive chairman in June 2013.

The nation that leads the

See Page 3
in Jharkhand

to make H ere is an inequality

B Y U TPAL B HASKAR paradox: inequality
utpal.b@livemint.com within nations is growing,
B.G. ························· while the world as a whole
SRINIVAS, NEW DELHI has become less unequal
board member
I ndia Power Corp. Ltd, a thanks to rapid economic

is housed in thermal plants that burn fossil fuels support—and state purchase mandates, etc—to GST priority
and president, was with group firm of Kolkata-based growth in countries like
Infosys since 1999 non-banking finance company China and India. The latter
Srei Infrastructure Finance is good but the former is

clean energy economy will

Finance minister Jaitley
may meet state finance
Ltd, plans to acquire Abhijeet political dynamite.
Group’s 1,080 megawatt (MW) New research by econo-
Jharkhand power project, val- mists Christoph Lakner
ued at around `9,000 crore, in and Branko Milanovic
the indirect tax regime. The
Apr 2014
what could be the first of sev- shows the fastest income
presentation will be made to Chandrashekar Kakal, Nithyanandan eral acquisitions in India’s growth since 1988 has been

(mainly coal) to create steam and drive turbines, invest in clean energy. Clearly, to meet climate
ministers soon to sort
out differences, ensure
early rollout of GST
the finance minister on Thurs- head of business Radhakrishnan, power sector. for those around the global
day. Mar 2014
IT services Chief compliance officer Lenders to the Abhijeet median income and the
The finance minister is also project, including state-owned super rich. Income growth
expected to soon meet state fi- Rural Electrification Corp. Ltd has been negligible around
nance ministers to sort out dif- Feb 2014
Subu Goparaju, (REC) and State Bank of India the 85th-90th global per-
head of Infosys

be the nation that leads the

ferences and ensure an early
B Y R EMYA N AIR rollout of GST, India’s most
remya.n@livemint.com ambitious tax reform, aimed at
························· making India a common, uni-
Labs (SBI), have been looking to re- centiles, a group largely
cover or restructure their populated by the develop-
Jan 2014 loans. The Abhijeet group, ing world’s middle class.
V. Balakrishnan , Stephen Pratt,
promoted by Manoj Jayaswal, The rapid rise in in-

almost 47GW is from watermills in dams, and goals, the state has no option but to play a big
board member and head former head of utilities
NEW DELHI fied market and ensure seam- of India and BPO business in North is one of the alleged benefici- comes in Asia has been ac-
Dec 2013

T he National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) govern-
ment is likely to make
implementation of the goods
and services tax (GST) a priori-
ty as it gets down to work, pav-
less movement of goods and businesses, now with America aries of the previous govern- companied by stagnation
services, making it easier to do Aam Aadmi Party ment’s irregular allotment of in the Western middle
business Nov 2013 coal mines. The Central Bu- class. So the overall global
Adi Godrej, chairman of the Sudhir reau of Investigation (CBI) is trend is towards better in-
Godrej Group, has estimated Chaturvedi, probing the allotments. come distribution but it
that implementation of GST Oct 2013 head of US Jayaswal has been in talks could have come at the
financial

global economy.
ing the way for the creation of would add up to two percent- Humberto Kartik with Srei Infrastructure, which cost of the middle class in
Andrade, Jayaraman, services
a unified market of 1.2 billion age points to India’s gross do- has approached lenders with a the developed countries.

nearly 110GW of the total is attributed to wind- role. While subsidies can be stepped up to fund
people and easing the move-
ment of cargo across state
boundaries.
But the direct taxes code
(DTC)—aimed at widening the
tax net and plugging loopholes
in the current income tax
laws—may be put on the back-
mestic product (GDP). Sep 2013 Latin America BPO sales head buyout plan, said a person fa- That could create local po-
BPO head in Australia Ashok Vemuri,
Initially planned to be board member and miliar with the development litical angst.
launched on 1 April 2010, it head of Americas, now who asked not be identified. Is the rise of nationalist
Aug 2013 CEO of iGate
has been delayed because of a “We have given our Expres- parties in recent European
lack of consensus between the sion of Interest to the Bankers elections one manifesta-
Basab Pradhan,
centre and the states. Jul 2013 global sales head Source: Mint research
tion of this trend?
In its manifesto in the run- TURN TO PAGE 2®
MOHSIN SHAIKH/MINT
up to the general elections, the

mills and solar panels. Yet, as seen in recent a clean-up, the Centre may also need to play the
burner for now, according to
government officials who did
not wish to be identified.
Finance minister Arun Jait-
ley held a meeting with offi-
cials in the revenue depart-
ment and the direct tax and in-
direct tax arms of the govern-
ment on Wednesday to get an
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
had promised to bring on
board all state governments EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
and address their concerns in
adopting GST.
The BJP-led National Demo-
cratic Alliance government at
In US, a few CEOs dominate pay ranking
the centre may have a better
chance of forging a consensus, B Y T HEO F RANCIS & very top, and that their pay a total of $188 million, more and salaries for US private-sec-

years, the Centre begins to huff and puff over prime mover (as a direct investor). For market
overview of the main taxation given that a majority of dis- J OANN S . L UBLIN doesn’t necessarily correlate to than the combined pay of the tor workers rose an average of
issues. senting states, Gujarat, Mad- The Wall Street Journal their company’s size or results. 50 CEOs at the bottom of the 1.8% in 2013, according to the
The revenue department has hya Pradesh and Punjab ························· This year’s survey looked at same list. labour department.

been asked to prepare a pres-
entation for the new finance
minister, detailing the features
and architecture of GST, the
areas of disagreement with
state governments and other
among them, are ruled by the
BJP or its allies, which won
power in the April-May Lok
Sabha elections.
The government may be able
to move the official amend-
F
or most CEOs at big com-
panies, pay is rising mod-
erately and awards are in-
creasingly tied to future finan-
cial performance. But that
doesn’t apply to everybody.
2013 compensation for CEOs
at 300 large, US-traded public
companies. It found the top
10% by pay earned 23% of the
total compensation, while the
bottom 30% accounted for just
Pay across the survey rose by
a median 5.5% to $11.4 million,
nearly two-thirds of which was
tied to performance.
The increase trailed the
companies’ median profit rise
BA R AC K OBA MA
The survey results come
from an analysis of proxy state-
ments by the Journal and con-
sulting firm Hay Group.
The top ranks were dominat-
ed by many of the same names

coal supplies to prevent power cuts as soon as forces to help, though, we’ll also need a parallel
issues like compensation for
loss of revenue that have de-
layed the implementation of
Mint is also available for R8 with
Hindustan Times in Delhi-NCR only
ments to the Constitution
amendment Bill, key to the im-
plementation of GST as early
as in the monsoon session of
TURN TO PAGE 4®
The Wall Street Journal’s an-
nual compensation survey
found that, for all the debate
around high CEO pay, the big-
gest rewards go to a relative
handful of executives at the
13% of the total. of 8% and median total share- that regularly appear among
The three highest-paid holder return of 34%, which in- the highest-paid executives.
CEOs— Oracle Corp.’s Larry cludes stock gains and divi- Ellison, last year’s best-paid
Ellison, CBS Corp.’s Leslie dends. It did, however, out- CEO, with $76.9 million in to-
Moonves and Liberty Global strip growth in compensation
Plc.’s Michael T. Fries —made for ordinary employees. Wages TURN TO PAGE 2®

peak demand reaches the level of our thermal carbon market to incentivize an overall tilt away
capacity. Last summer, demand peaked at an from emissions. Carbon pricing could close the
estimated 221GW. This year, it may exceed cost gap, draw private money into clean power
240GW. Coal wagons doing extra runs bear the and give our climate plan the boost it needs.

GUEST VIEW

Digital tools must be used as shields and not weapons

banking services through electronic KYC.
ARVIND GUPTA & AAKASH GUGLANI Digilocker has simplified document man-
agement for citizens and reduced reliance
on physical copies. UPI has transformed dig-
ital payments, making transactions easier
and faster. Fastag has eased congestion at
The rise of social media has had its own used memes to reach out to young voters. solicit votes from voters. On the other hand,
impact. During the 2014 elections, India had While technology has empowered politi- some candidates have willingly circulated
over 243 million internet users. In 2019, we cal campaigns, it has also amplified the deepfake videos with special voice-overs to
had over 450 million, a large portion of spread of misinformation and deepfakes. In reach multi-lingual constituents and thus
whom were active on social media platforms previous elections, misinformation was seen optimize their use of limited resources for
like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, mak- to spread rapidly through WhatsApp and campaigning.

A
s India’s democracy nears the end of
the world’s largest electoral exercise,
it is evident that digital technologies
have changed the whole landscape of Indian
policymaking, reshaping governance, citi-
zen engagement, political campaigning and
elections. This transformation has not only
streamlined bureaucratic processes, but also
toll plazas and improved traffic flows. The
GSTN has modernized India’s taxation sys-
tem. The DBT system ensures the targeted
delivery of subsidies and benefits directly
into the bank accounts of beneficiaries, min-
imizing leakages and corruption. Jeevan
Pramaan, a biometric-enabled digital life
certificate, has simplified pension disburse-
ing these political battlegrounds. Over the other messaging platforms. However, in Both the ministry of electronics and infor-
past decade, social media 2024, the use of AI has mation technology (MeitY) and the EC have
has come to be dominated combined with social taken proactive measures to mitigate these
by memes, AI-generated As they are an media algorithms to make risks and secure India’s elections. MeitY
content and synthetic vid- misinformation more chal- issued guidelines under its IT Rules to social
eos. While earlier elections integral part of lenging to combat. media intermediaries that are aimed at pre-
saw mostly text-based con- Deepfake videos, in par- venting users from posting harmful or pro-
tent, hashtags and image-
our democracy ticular, pose a significant hibited content. The EC has leveraged tech-

are, respectively, head and

brought services closer to the people, foster-
ing financial inclusion and digital empower-
policy manager, Digital India
Foundation.
ment. Ministries and government depart-
ments have embraced digital tools to raise
transparency, efficiency and accountability.
Performance dashboards, social media han-
dles and grievance redressal mechanisms
like Twitter Seva have become standard fea-
tures of governance, allowing citizens to
interact directly with the government and
monitor its performance.
The success of tech-led governance is visi-
ble in various innovative schemes and digital
platforms. Jan Dhan Yojana accounts have
enabled financial inclusion by giving over
500 million unbanked citizens access to
ment for retired government employees.
MyGov has emerged as a key platform for
the government to reach out to citizens far
and wide with information. It has facilitated
direct interaction between citizens and poli-
cymakers, allowing feedback, suggestions
and participation in policy and law formula-
tion. Leveraging AI tools and even memes,
such platforms have engaged citizens in the
policymaking process, making governance
more responsive to people’s needs.
India’s election machinery has also been
upgraded. Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail
(VVPAT) machines to go with Electronic Vot-
ing Machines marked a significant develop-
ment for free-and-fair elections in India.
based campaigns, today’s
839 million internet users
and public life threat to election integrity.
AI-generated videos can
nology to combat the same threats. To
uphold the integrity of Indian elections, the
in India are confronted
with memes, deepfakes
now, it’s vital to manipulate speeches, alter
facial expressions and cre-
poll panel deployed educational campaigns,
AI algorithms and partnerships with social
and AI-generated content. reduce the risk ate entirely fabricated sce- media platforms.
Memes have become a narios, making it difficult Clearly, digital technologies have become
particularly powerful tool of their misuse for viewers to discern truth an integral part of Indian policymaking in a
for political communica- from falsehood. Political variety of ways, and this digital adoption is
tion, conveying complex parties and malicious shaping governance, citizen engagement
messages in an easily digestible format. actors exploit deepfakes to discredit oppo- and electoral processes. While various initi-
AI-generated content, including deepfake nents and manipulate public opinion. Other atives have delivered numerous benefits to
videos, has further blurred the line between than politicians, sportspersons and film people, including efficiency, empowerment
reality and fiction. These technologies are actors have also become victims of deep- and inclusivity, we also face steep digital
being leveraged to create campaign narra- fakes made with mala fide intent. challenges. As we move ahead, we must aim
tives and influence voter perceptions. Even Recently, in Tamil Nadu, political parties to ensure that digital tools work as shields
the Election Commission of India (EC) has used deepfake videos of deceased leaders to rather than weapons.
LIVEMINT.COM VIEWS WEDNESDAY, 29 MAY 2024
AHMEDABAD 15

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

Commanding heights: Only the India’s state sector is thriving

but not helping the economy
public sector can save the world State-run firms in old sectors can’t lead a modernization project

Evidence has piled up that private capital isn’t up to the task and governments will have to lead transitions to clean energy

BLOOMBERG

MIHIR SHARMA
is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist.

V. ANANTHA NAGESWARAN
is the chief economic advisor to the
Government of India.

T
en years ago, when Narendra Modi
rode an electoral wave to power in
New Delhi, many expected that he

I
n October last year, Gulzar Natarajan and I
wrote (tinyurl.com/4favy895) that nations may
be ill-advised to rely on private capital for the
investments they need to make to deal with
climate change. However, Brett Christophers
takes this argument further in his book, The
Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won’t Save the
Planet. He delves into why private capital, despite
its potential, will not invest enough in renewable-
energy generation capacity for the planet to
achieve its goal of limiting temperature increase
to 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
First, Christophers marshals a lot of evidence to
make his case, and second, he does not absolve the
West of its historical responsibilities and its conse-
quent current responsibility to support developing
countries with technological, material and finan-
cial resources to combat climate change. For
example, he cites Derek Browers of the Financial
Times: “The Western nations that did so much of
the damage will have to finance the transition in
the developing world—it is astonishing that this
idea is still debated (tinyurl.com/4yty6v52).” He
does not blame developing economies, particu-
larly India and China, for continuing to rely on
fossil fuels for electricity generation. He also
acknowledges the substantial investments
these two countries make in renewable energy
generation capacity.
He questions the belief that private capital will
create adequate renewable energy capacity
because private capital is rightly about profits. In
another age, he says, private capital had turned to
coal to power cotton production because it was
profitable. Private capital would get invested if
energy generated through renewable sources
could be priced and sold profitably. Otherwise,
not. The record is not encouraging. Whenever
state support—in terms of subsidies, guarantees,
land concessions or tax reliefs—was withdrawn,
investment in additional capacity came down,
or the price of capital equipment required for
renewable energy went up. One of the reasons for
this that Christophers does not mention but Ed
Conway points out is that renewables are so much
less energy-dense than fossil fuels.
Christophers does not condemn private capital.
After all, private capital is about property rights
and profits. His take on various seemingly compli-
ant but devious methods adopted by financiers-
investors-suppliers to profit from electricity
prices is interesting. He says that it is wrong to
cast these transgressions in moral terms because
it gives rise to the impression that, but for some
deviant market participants which includes
reputable names, the market for electricity would
function efficiently. That is, there will be efficient
price discovery which is fair to the consumer and
profitable to suppliers. He questions that premise.
He calls it the wrong model and, based on the
available global evidence, concludes that private
capital is not designed to do the job.
A very insightful quote attributed to Meredith
Angwin is worth repeating here: “They are not
markets as we know markets. They are complex
systems, with new regulations constantly tweaking
and trying to improve existing regulations. They
are a bureaucratic thicket, not a market. It’s Orwel-
lian. [Electricity is] ‘deregulated’ only if ‘deregu-
lated’ means ‘lots more regulation’. ‘War is peace.’
‘Deregulation’ is ‘lots more regulation.’ Orwell
would be amused.”
Christophers invokes Karl Polanyi to argue that
electricity is a ‘fictitious’ commodity, like land and
labour. He writes, “…electricity essentially was and
is not a suitable object for marketisation and profit
generation in the first place.” In liberalized mar-
kets for electricity, as in Europe, renewable-energy
developers take all possible steps to avoid selling at
the market price. That is a negation of the market
mechanism.
If so, the insistence by Western governments and
multilateral bodies that, with de-risking, a wave of
private capital is ready to be deployed is baffling at
one level. But, at another level, it looks like a case
of passing the hat to the private sector. Suppose
private capital does not flow to emerging economies
for their energy transition. It would be easy then
to blame these countries for failing fitness tests
required to receive that capital. Even so, given the
interest costs in developing countries, utility-scale
renewable energy generation will take a long time,
if ever, to be profitable enough for private capital to
be invested in large sums. The upshot is that an
energy transition on the scale required to keep
warming within reasonable limits will not take
place. Christophers suggests the solution is for the
state to undertake the task, instead of de-risking pri-
vate capital. “Extensive public ownership of renew-
able energy assets appears the most viable model.”
In countries like India, this means that we will
be back to a full circle. In the past, our state-owned
generation and distribution companies were not
economically viable partly because we had not
gotten prices right, apart from other interventions.
That resulted in the unbundling of generation and
distribution and some privatization of generation
and distribution, and the results have been mixed.
If the state took over ownership of renewable
energy assets, as it once did with fossil-fuel-based
electricity generation and distribution assets,
would the same problems plague the endeavour?
Is retaining ‘extensive public ownership’ and also
ensuring investment accountability, production
efficiency and accountability possible?
The imperative of an energy transition, which
is as difficult as it is desirable, and the compelling
evidence that Christophers has shared with us
make it necessary that we confront these
questions sooner rather than later.
These are the author’s personal views.
would be far more supportive of the private
sector than previous Indian leaders. As a
candidate, Modi was quoted as saying: “I
believe government has no business to do
business,” and one of the many slogans of
that 2014 campaign was “minimum gov-
ernment, maximum governance.” That
seemed as close to laissez-faire Thatcher-
ism as one could expect in India.
Few who looked closely at Modi’s tenure
as CM of Gujarat, however, believed this
narrative. His proudest achievement there
was turning around the state government’s
own public-sector companies, particularly
in the energy sector. And that’s been his
focus in national office as well. In a recent
interview, when asked to cite an example of
how markets should react to his expected
re-election, he pointed specifically and
solely to how he had revived the stock pri-
ces of public-sector companies.
Modi wasn’t wrong. State firms have
done better than India’s benchmark
Sensex index for three years straight and
look likely to do so again this year. They
have regularly traded at a premium to their
private peers. Government officials attrib-
ute this success to administrative shifts
within these creaking old behemoths. The
minister in charge of India’s state petro-
leum companies, for example, says that the
Modi administration has introduced a
“new era of governance characterized by
professionalism, strategic foresight and
unwavering commitment to national inter-
ests.” Most analysts are similarly optimis-
tic, if less effusive.
But what does this public-sector outper-
formance say about India’s real economy?
Is such vibrancy worth bragging about?
Two bits of context are worth noting. First,
most of India’s state-owned enterprises are
in legacy sectors—fossil fuels, old trans-
port, 20th-century capital goods. And sec-
ond, private-sector investment in India
remains anaemic. Consider these three
points together, and the macro picture
begins to look a little worrying. If public-
sector undertakings are doing well, is that
because the private sector is under-per-
forming on growth and investment? And is
it good news if the best-performing com-
panies in an economy are those that hold
near-monopolies in sunset industries?
Analysts at Kotak Institutional Equities
have argued the latter is a real problem.
“Continued large re-investment of cash
flows by PSUs into their extant businesses
(mostly sunset industries) may constrain
India’s public sector has performed well in
recent times BLOOMBERG
their ability to invest in more future-proof
businesses—key to their longer-term via-
bility.” A cycle, whether virtuous or
vicious, is at work here. State-owned firms
dominate certain older sectors. They see
decent cash surpluses. But, being state-
controlled, they can’t channel their profits
into the broader financial system to find
the most effective new projects. Instead,
they must follow directions from New
Delhi to re-invest in their own industries.
Meanwhile, private firms in India are
struggling. New investment plans from the
private sector shrunk by over 15% in
2023-24. Manufacturing suffered the big-
gest hit, as fresh proposals fell by 40% in
value terms, from ₹20 trillion ($240 billion)
in 2022-23 to ₹12 trillion ($144 billion) in
2023-24.
Economists have come up with various
explanations for the declines. Some argue
that domestic demand is still not robust
enough for the private sector to make a
business case for new investment. Others
point out that productivity in manufactur-
ing has barely increased, so fresh capital
has not been drawn into the sector. And
pretty much everyone agrees that busi-
ness-friendly reforms have not gone far
enough.
A more fundamental problem is that
Modi has developed a battle-plan for eco-
nomic growth over his past two terms—
and the private sector isn’t meant to lead
the charge. The government actively mops
up household financial savings and routes
all investment through the state sector. As
a share of GDP, government expenditure
has increased sharply, as has India’s debt.
The finance ministry’s think tank estimates
growth in the coming year will be an opti-
mistic 7.1%-7.4%, essentially thanks to pub-
lic-sector capital expenditure.
This strategy is, to put it mildly, not
Thatcherite. It certainly won’t modernize
India’s economy away from sunset indus-
tries. Nor will it increase productivity—
that’s asking too much of the public sector.
Above all, it is fiscally unsustainable.
Government investment has risen in every
federal budget; how long can India keep
that up? If Modi returns to power after the
ongoing election, his administration must
adopt a different strategy. State-owned
companies can’t be the basis of a modern,
productive economy. ©BLOOMBERG

THEIR VIEW

The unit of change targeted can make or break reforms

sets the stage for the depth, scale and scope
SUPRIYA SANKARAN & RAHUL MATTHAN of transformation.
Consider, for example, reforming the jus-
tice system. The Supreme Court’s e-Courts
Project, which aims to transform the Indian
judiciary through technology, has, from
user experience but resulted in vast duplica-
tion of efforts as physical filings had to be
scanned and uploaded and orders had to first
be printed before being scanned and
uploaded.
However, when the e-Courts Project
So, it is critical to evaluate what the most
appropriate unit of change is in a given con-
text. Here are some questions:
Does the unit of change align with the
overarching goals of the proposed reform?
If the objective is to improve well-being in
tive journey of discovery, innovation and
collaboration.
While there may not be a one-size-fits-all
answer, determining the unit of change
must become an essential part of the process
of any transformation. When we determine

O
ne of the most critical yet often
overlooked parts of the reform pro-
cess is determining what should be
the ideal ‘unit of change’ of the proposed
transformation. What do we mean by this?
A ‘unit of change’ is a component of a system
that’s the focal point for transformation
efforts. It could be a geography, a function,
time to time, adopted different units of
change. In some instances, it has treated its
‘function’ as the unit of change, looking to
digitize filings and summons, or implement
video conferencing as an alternative to per-
sonal presence in the courtroom. In other
instances, it has treated the ‘court’ as the unit
of change, looking to invest time and resour-
chose ‘dispute type’ as the unit of change society, are we aligned with this goal if we the unit of change, we set the compass direc-
when it set up virtual treat ‘disease,’ say, as the tion before embarking on our transforma-
courts for traffic challans, it unit of change and track tion journey. It also helps us target our inter-
re-engineered all the pro- As seen with progress around it? ventions, directing our efforts with precision
cesses involved in the dis- Is the unit of change fea- towards the areas where change will yield
pute, right from the courts, clarity sible and practical? Does it the greatest dividends. This not only con-
moment the traffic viola- take into account factors serves resources, but also amplifies the
tion happened. As a result,
on what we are like resource availability, effectiveness of the reform.

are, respectively, co-founder of

Agami and Public Collective for
Avoidance and Resolution of
Disputes (PUCAR), and a
partner at Trilegal who also has
a podcast by the name Ex
Machina.
a process, an institution, a policy or any
other distinctly identifiable element that,
when modified, is capable of catalysing
broad systemic improvements. By way of
example, consider reform efforts in educa-
tion. One approach could be to target the
‘school’ as the ‘unit of change.’ When this is
the case, the reform agenda could include
developing new curricula, different peda-
gogy or making changes in the administra-
tive processes of the school. On the other
hand, if the ‘unit of change’ is the child,
reform efforts would focus on improving
learning and development outcomes.
Identifying the correct unit of change is
crucial for the success of a given reform, as it
ces in making courts paperless. When it set
up ‘virtual courts challans,’ it treated the
‘dispute type’ (in this case traffic disputes) as
the unit of change.
The impact and potential of each of these
approaches has been drastically different.
When ‘function’ was the unit of change,
people were able to file or argue matters
remotely. While this is a critical value propo-
sition for users, because it merely layered a
digital process over existing analog pro-
cesses without carrying out proper process-
re-engineering, the new system inherited
the shortcomings of its analog predecessor.
When the unit of change was a ‘court,’
going paperless significantly improved the
these virtual courts can
receive digital challans
trying to fix
directly from cameras of
the traffic police. They can
makes a major
generate digital summons difference to
to send violators’ phones,
offering an option to pay a outcomes
fine online or contest the
case. We found that most
of the cases in the Delhi Virtual Traffic chal-
lan courts are settled at this stage itself,
hugely simplifying the process for litigants.
Choosing the correct unit of change also
creates a cascade effect on subsequent choi-
ces and strategies. It also helps orient efforts
and improves efficiency by focusing them.
stakeholder capacity, ease
of adoption, etc?
Does the chosen unit of
change give us the most
bang for our buck? What is
the point of intervention
that holds the most signifi-
cant influence over the
functioning and outcomes
of the broader system or organization?
Identifying the appropriate unit of change
is not easy and often fiercely contested by
stakeholders, particularly when they have
divergent incentives. The choice also needs
to be constantly revisited to ensure that it
remains relevant. This is, therefore, an itera-
It is also important to collect data and evi-
dence to help us analyse which unit of
change is more practical and feasible in
terms of governance, change management,
resource availability and political space. We
must attempt to foresee the risks of each unit
of change and ways we can mitigate them or
even creatively flip them around to serve
instead as advantages.
When we make these determinations col-
laboratively with decision-makers and
change-makers, we foster community par-
ticipation in reform efforts from the very
beginning. It can help break down a large
amorphous vision into a practical roadmap
that everyone can contribute to.
16 WEDNESDAY, 29 MAY 2024
AHMEDABAD
IPL 2024: 5 decisions
that defined the season
Sumit Chakraberty
feedback@livemint.com
I
PL 2024 brought into sharp relief
the decisions of managers that
shaped the destiny of their teams.
From reinstating Sunil Narine as
opener of Kolkata Knight Riders
(KKR) to replacing Rohit Sharma as cap-
tain of Mumbai Indians (MI), they took
their teams to opposite ends of the table.
Here’s a rundown of five back room moves
that defined IPL 2024.
THE RETURN OF GG
Months before the season got under way,
KKR owner Shah Rukh Khan persuaded
Gautam Gambhir to return to the fran-
chise as a mentor. Gambhir had led KKR
to two titles in 2012 and 2014. More
recently, he mentored the new franchise
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to the play-
offs in 2022 and 2023.
Gambhir rarely gets his due although
his contributions to Indian cricket are
immense. He was the top scorer with 75
in the final of the inaugural T20 World
Cup in 2007, where every other bats-
man failed against Pakistan. The next
highest scorer for India, Rohit Sharma,
got 30. Gambhir was also the top-scorer
in the final of the 2011 ODI World Cup
India won.
The first move he made on being
appointed the KKR mentor was to call
Sunil Narine. He wasn’t worried about
Narine’s bowling. He told him to dust off
his bat because he would open the
innings.
After languishing down the order for
years, Narine scored at an average of 35
and strike rate of 181 in IPL 2024. He had
come prepared for bouncers, which he
swatted with aplomb. This made him
much more consistent in his new avatar
than his initial foray as a pinch-hitter
seven seasons ago. By the time bowlers
figured out yorkers on his feet were his
Achilles’ Heel, it was too late.
Gambhir is as smart and aggressive a
cricketer as they come. This was also
apparent in the auction when he went all
in with a record bid of ₹24.75 crore to
acquire Mitchell Starc. After a poor start
to the season, the Aussie speedster
turned out match-winning performances
when it mattered the most: the qualifier
and final.
ISL: How Jayesh Rane made history with Mumbai City FC
Rane became the only
Indian footballer to win
the ISL with three
different clubs when he
triumphed with Mumbai
Shail Desai
feedback@livemint.com
A
t the start of the 2023-24 Indian
Super League (ISL) season, Jayesh
Rane was uncertain about his
upcoming loan spell with Mumbai City
FC. Game time had been hard to come by
at his parent club, Bengaluru FC, the pre-
vious season and he figured it would be
more of the same at Mumbai City.
“The previous coach, Des Buckingham,
made the switch easier for me. He told me
that I fit into his game plan, since I was the
kind of attacking player he was looking
for. But he had his set of players who had
been working with him for a while. So I
knew it would be difficult to get opportu-
nities to play, but I took it as a challenge,”
Rane, 31, recalls.
The gamble paid off. By the end of the
season (earlier this month), Mumbai City
FC became ISL champions after they beat
BUSINESS OF LIFE
IPL 2024
IPL 2024 TABLE
u KKR (20 points, 1.428 NRR)
u SRH (17 points, 0.414 NRR)
u RR (17 points, 0.273 NRR)
u RCB (14 points, 0.459 NRR)
u CSK (14 points, 0.392 NRR)
u DC (14 points, -0.377 NRR)
u LSG (14 points, -0.667 NRR)
u GT (12 points, -1.063 NRR)
u PBKS (10 points, -0.353 NRR)
u MI (8 points, -0.318 NRR)
IPL 2024 AWARDS
u Champions: KKR
u Orange Cap: Virat Kohli
u Purple Cap: Harshal Patel
u Most Valuable Player
Sunil Narine
u Emerging Player
Nitish Kumar Reddy
THE POACHING OF PANDYA
Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians (MI)
to five IPL titles after taking over the cap-
taincy from Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky
Ponting in 2013. But the franchise own-
ers, the Ambanis, lost patience after
three dry years from 2021, culminating
in a loss to Gujarat Titans (GT) in the IPL
2023 qualifier.
GT’s captain was MI discard Hardik
Pandya, who had led the new franchise
to the title in the previous year against
all odds. So, in a deal whose full details
are unknown, MI brought Pandya back,
not just as a player but the captain in
place of Sharma.
Fans vented their ire at the perceived
shoddy treatment of Sharma. Pandya’s
poor form with bat and ball compounded
matters. Most of all, his captaincy was
nothing like what it was in GT where he
had Ashish Nehra and Gary Kirsten advis-
ing him.
MI finished last. The decline of this rich
franchise has a lot to do with the outland-
Mohun Bagan Super Giant in the final. It
was the third time Rane picked up the glit-
tering ISL trophy, becoming the only
Indian player to have won it with three dif-
ferent clubs.
“This trophy was for Mumbai, my
home, my city, so it will always be special,”
he says. “It’s even more special for my
wife, Shraddha. She was there when I lost
the ISL final last season with Bengaluru
and again when we (Mumbai City) lost the
ISL Shield this year. So she’s glad to have
finally broken the jinx,” he quips.
Though he was signed by Bengaluru FC
to play his favoured position as an attack-
ing midfielder, Rane found limited game
time with just one start through all of last
year. Buckingham’s departure in Novem-
ber 2023 brought in Petr Kratky as his
replacement. It’s when things got better
for Rane.
“It’s hard for any footballer to sit on the
bench, especially since I had experienced
a similar season the previous year. So the
hunger was immense and that translated
on the training ground. The coach was
quick to spot it and handed me my chan-
ces,” Rane says.
His loan stint will be best remembered
for a moment that is now part of Mumbai
City folklore and which changed the
course of their season that would have
Clockwise from above: Kolkata Knight Riders players celebrate winning IPL 2024, Sunil Narine in action and Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins (right) in the final.
ish moves it made even before the poach-
ing of Pandya. In the 2022 auction, they
splurged ₹15.25 crore on Ishan Kishan and
₹8 crore on Jofra Archer, who wasn’t even
going to be available, weakening their
bowling attack in the process.
CALLING CAPTAIN CUMMINS
Like MI, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)
had a poor run of seasons from 2021
onward, after qualifying for the playoffs
for five consecutive seasons, starting
from 2016. Then there was a falling out
with David Warner who had to hand
over his captaincy to Kane Williamson
midway in 2021, despite leading the
franchise to a title in 2016. They hit rock
bottom in 2023.
The critical move came in the auction
for IPL 2024. They outbid Royal Challen-
gers Bengaluru (RCB) to get Australian
captain Pat Cummins for ₹20.50 crore,
second only to Starc in price.
Cummins had won the World Test
Championship title and the ODI World
Cup for Australia in 2023. More than his
bowling, SRH needed a calm and astute
captain. They also got opener Travis Head,
Australia’s hero in the ODI World Cup
final, for a bargain price of ₹6.80 crore,
outbidding Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
They started the season with Mayank
Agarwal as opener, using Marco Jansen as
a foreign bowler. Then they replaced Jan-
sen with Head in the second game and set
a new benchmark in T20 cricket with
three scores above 250.
However, Cummins blundered in the
final, choosing to bat first on a red soil
wicket in Chennai which had enough
Jayesh Rane in action.
otherwise ended without silverware.
During their semi-final first leg at the
Fatorda Stadium in Margao, the scoreline
read 2-0 in FC Goa’s favour in the 89th
minute. A few had settled for putting up a
better performance in the second leg back
home in Mumbai the following week. But
Rane, who had come on as a substitute in
SPORTS
bounce and grip for KKR’s pacers and
spinners. He was fooled by the qualifier in
which RR chose to bowl first on a black
soil wicket that had sharp turn in the sec-
ond half. Nevertheless, to take SRH from
bottom to second on his debut as IPL cap-
tain was another feather in Cummins’ cap.
STRIKE RATE GOES BERSERK
Delhi Capitals’ Aussie coach Ricky Pon-
ting made a move that came out of left
field, while replacing the unavailable
Lungi Ngidi. Instead of a foreign pace
bowler, he got Jake Fraser-McGurk. The
COURTESY MUMBAI CITY FC
the 64th minute, had other ideas.
“Coach asked me to do what I did best
and not hesitate when it came to taking
risks,” Rane recalls. He received the ball
in the centre of the pitch and sensed a run
being made by his teammate, Lallianzu-
ala Chhangte. Two deft touches later,
Rane released a timely ball that bisected
From the hiring of
Gautam Gambhir to
the captaincy of Pat
Cummins, here are five
things that decided
the fate of the IPL
AFP
22-year-old top order batsman, who had
turned heads in the Big Bash league in
Australia, came into the playing 11 after DC
lost four out of their first five games.
Fraser-McGurk began with 55 in 35
balls in a run chase of 170 against Lucknow
Super Giants (LSG), which was sedate by
his standards. Then he went berserk,
which became his nickname by the end of
the season. His strike rate of 234 was the
best in IPL 2024 for batsmen who had
scored above 100 runs. It also came at a
healthy average of 36.66.
The induction of Fraser-McGurk
Goa’s two central defenders and landed
at Chhangte’s feet. Chhangte kept his
cool to skip past Goa goalkeeper, Dhiraj
Singh, and brought Mumbai City back in
the game.
“The pass is something that I’ve seen
multiple times since then. That game
did wonders for my confidence and it’s
only increased my hunger for success,”
Rane says.
A minute later, Vikram Pratap Singh
scored the equaliser and by the full-time
whistle, Rane had another assist to seal the
tie 3-2 in Mumbai City’s favour. The shock
turnaround seemed to have an adverse
effect on FC Goa, with Mumbai City FC
winning the return leg 2-0.
“We went through so many things this
season. The coach left, a few foreign play-
ers left mid-season. Any other side would
have struggled. But everyone stuck it out
together, which makes this team really
special,” he says.
Rane’s football journey came full circle
with the triumph. As a junior, he started
out at Mumbai FC that competed in the
I-League and disbanded in 2017. It was
where he first found a mentor in Khalid
Jamil, under whom he played for over
four years.
“Khalidbhai essentially gave me the
football sense and shaped me into the
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ALL PHOTOGRAPHS PTI
turned DC’s fortunes around, although
they were pipped at the post by RCB who
got into the playoffs with a higher net run
rate (NRR).
ENDING WITH A WHIMPER
RR had the most balanced side in IPL
2024 and won eight out of their first nine
games. Their retention and auction strat-
egy were smart, with value-for-money
acquisitions. Coach Kumar Sangakkara’s
smartest move was to switch Riyan Parag
from his finisher role in earlier seasons to
the No.4 position, where he became the
season’s third highest run-scorer.
But, in the end, Sangakkara and skipper
Sanju Samson lacked the gumption to
think out of the box when opener Jos But-
tler left to play for England. His replace-
ment, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, who has
been plying his trade on the franchise cir-
cuit, was out of his depth as an IPL opener.
Despite an unimpressive 18 in 23 balls
against Punjab Kings (PBKS) and 20 in 15
balls against RCB, RR persisted with him.
This bit them hard in the qualifier
against SRH in Chennai. Kohler-Cad-
more wasted the powerplay with 10 runs
in 16 balls on a pitch that made SRH’s left-
arm spinners hard to negotiate later in
the innings.
RR had the world class South African
left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj on the
bench. Maharaj would have been ideal for
the Chepauk pitch, but his inclusion
required RR to take a punt on Rovman
Powell as opener. The lack of a left-arm
spinner allowed SRH to escape from
120/6 to reach 175. RR’s season ended
with a whimper.
player I am today. I’ll always be thankful to
him and Mumbai FC’s academy set up,”
Rane says.
“I spoke to him after the final and he
simply asked me to come join him at Jam-
shedpur FC (an ISL club where Jamil is
currently the coach) next season,” he says,
laughing.
After eight long years at Mumbai FC,
he made his ISL debut with Chennaiyin
FC in 2014-15, where he won his first ISL
crown. He reunited with Jamil at Aizawl
FC to lift the I-League in 2016-17 and
three years later, picked up his second
ISL with ATK.
“The opportunity to play different posi-
tions under so many coaches has been an
incredible learning experience. It’s been
difficult at times because every coach
comes with different ideas. But it’s made
me mature as a player and has given me
the ability to read the game better. And I
know there’s a lot more I have to give in
the time ahead,” Rane says.
That said, there’s a sense of disappoint-
ment in having missed out on making the
India squad for the Fifa World Cup qualifi-
ers against Kuwait and Qatar in June. “It
only means I have to work harder, get bet-
ter and hope that I get the call in the time
ahead. Playing for the national team is a
dream I want to fulfil,” Rane says.