New Delhi, MUMBAI, BENGALURU, KOLKATA, CHENNAI, AHMEDABAD, HYDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE*, LUCKNOW* VOL. 18 NO.

149

Friday, June 21, 2024

Railways on track to add Sebi slams Religare for

livemint.com ₹50,000 cr lines this year uP1 violating rules uP1
 NEW DELHI, MUMBAI, BENGALURU, KOLKATA, CHENNAI, AHMEDABAD, HYDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE*, LUCKNOW* VOL. 18 NO. 149

Friday, June 21, 2024

Think Ahead. Think Growth.

mint primer QUICK EDIT

AI phones on the RBI’s

horizon: promises caution
and pitfalls
BY SHOUVIK DAS
Apple and Google have both entered the generative AI fray,
showcasing features that will bring AI features to all our smartphones.
While this means that you can probably do much more with your
upcoming phones, it also brings some risks to the table.
What can your phones
1 do with AI?
On 10 June, Apple unveiled ‘Apple
Intelligence’—a suite of features
that bring generative AI to
iPhones, iPads and Macs. As a user,
you can transcribe recorded calls,
generate emails and summarize
notes, erase objects from images,
create illustrations and animations
at will, and make emoticons. In
September last year, Google had
already unveiled similar features,
which also include live
transcription of audio recordings.
Samsung, too, is in the fray—the
Korean electronics firm offers a
native AI model running on its
flagship devices to process audio
recordings and phone calls, as well
as summarize webpages.
BLOOMBERG
Are all these features
2 running locally?
Not all of them so far. Apple
clarified that while Siri, its on-
device digital assistant, can
process basic queries on your
device, a broader query may need
to access OpenAI’s ChatGPT based
on the GPT-4o multimodal AI
model. Google’s Pixel phones rely
on an internet connection to
access large AI models hosted on
cloud servers for many of its
features. Samsung, too, does the
same—the company offers a
setting where users can choose to
only use local AI features such as
live transcribe a voice note, or
access an on-cloud AI model to
generate summaries of recorded
voice notes.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
governor Shaktikanta Das has
raised a cautionary flag over
banks engaging in a “mindless
pursuit of bottom lines”. Speak-
ing at an event of the College of
Supervisors on Thursday, Das
said that profitability must not
be pursued by taking unaccept-
able risks and that RBI tries to
sniff out a crisis before one
builds up. He further noted how
its timely action has helped mit-
igate vulnerabilities caused by
unsecured loans. While Indian
banking seems in the pink of
health, Das’s caution is under-
standable. It has taken a pro-
longed battle to extricate the
sector from a crisis of bad loans
that had spillover effects across
the economy. A part of this crisis
was a result of overexuberant
lending in times of economic
boom when risks tend to get
overlooked. As these accumu-
late, though, they can turn into
serious problems, threatening
to choke credit flow and eco-
nomic activity. Thankfully, bad
loans are now at multi-year lows
and bank balance sheets are
strong. Credit growth is also
booming, although retail rather
than corporate lending has led
the way. But then again, booms
are exactly when we need an
alert regulator. Follies of the
past must not be repeated.
MINT METRIC
by Bibek Debroy

Air India’s woes never cease,

3 Will all phones get
generative AI soon?
Apple’s AI features will come only to its
Blade in the food, if you please.
‘Pro’ iPhones for now, although all of
Cancelled flights, broken seats,
Google’s latest phones support its AI Meals that defy culinary feats.
chops. Samsung only has AI on its flagship
Galaxy S24 series, but may expand to new
Finally, fares that tend to fleece.
devices next month. It all depends on your
phone’s processor—for now, only flagship
ones by Qualcomm and MediaTek will
support local AI processing.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
So, what is the real Is privacy the only
India’s robust performance as the
4 trade-off here?
Privacy experts have raised
5 concern?
No. AI is prone to hallucinations
fourth-highest funded country in the
tech startup ecosystem is encouraging.
concerns around what could and even misinformation, while From emerging developments in retail
happen with all the personal data local ‘narrow’ AI models may not
that each local AI model can see on have the full context of
and enterprise applications to
any phone. Apple claims that no understanding, so texts and pioneering advancements in fintech,
personal ‘contextual data’ will be images generated by them could Indian startups are transforming
transferred online, and privacy will significantly vary. Local AI models industries and driving
be maintained on OpenAI’s don’t need the internet. But
servers. Google and Samsung without internet they could turn economic growth
claim they do not collect any into black boxes of unexplained
sensitive personally identifiable decision making. Equally, with
information from smartphones, internet, privacy would be a major
but they do take ‘anonymized concern. This is why most
metadata’. Audits are yet to take companies are playing safe with NEHA SINGH
place on whether all the personal the basic features, which may be CO-FOUNDER,
TRACXN
information is really local. of limited value.

mint Data Bites

12.3 4 6 8 10 12
SURVEY FINDS HIGH Haryana

INEQUALITY 11.4
Delhi

IN SPENDING
PATTERNS 5.7
5.2
Manipur

ACROSS INDIA 5.7

Mizoram

Tripura
Gap between per capita
10.8
consumption expenditure of top Odisha
5% and bottom 5% of the urban
population (in number of times)

11.4
E.g. in urban Kerala, the top 5% spend 11.4 times Kerala
what the bottom 5% spend per month.

Source: Household Consumption Expenditure

Data: Eshani Malik Survey (2022-23), National Sample Survey Office;
Design: Sarvesh Kumar Sharma Mint calculations
 PLAIN FACTS

Data recap: MSP hike,

IPO boom, LIC’s sale
CURATED BY NANDITA VENKATESAN
very Friday, Plain Facts publishes a compilation of data-based insights, complete with easy-to-read charts, to help you

E delve deeper into the stories reported by Mint in the week gone by. The government has announced hikes in minimum
support prices of kharif crops, while the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) plans to raise money from the sale
of its plots and commercial buildings. As many as 55 companies are expected to go public in the coming months.

Incentivizing Farmers Defence Exports

Minimum support price for select kharif crops (in ₹/quintal) Private sector
Defence exports (₹ crore) contribution (% share)
Paddy, common FY24 FY25
2016-17 1,522 13
Bajra 2017-18 4,682 68
Maize
2018-19 10,746 91
2019-20 9,116 88
Arhar
2020-21 8,435 86
Moong 2021-22 12,815 47
Urad 2022-23 15,918 57
0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 2023-24 21,083 62
Source: CMIE Source: Department of defence production

THE NEWLY formed cabinet has announced hikes in
minimum support price of 14 kharif crops for this year.
The move follows a bad year for agriculture due to poor
rains. Among major crops, MSP for arhar was raised by
7.9% to ₹7,550 per quintal. But, MSP hikes for paddy,
bajra, and moong were below last year’s. The expected
margin to farmers over their cost of production is
estimated to be the highest in the case of bajra (77%)
followed by tur (59%), maize (54%), and urad (52%).
THE GOVERNMENT plans to more than double
India’s annual military exports to ₹50,000 crore by
2028-29. In the past few years, military exports have
grown at 20–30% annually with a rise in defence
budgets and focus on indigenization, a Mint analysis has
shown. This development also bodes well for private
firms in the sector, which played a significant role in this
growth. In FY24, private sector’s share stood at 62% in
the country’s total defence exports of ₹21,083 crore.

LIC Realty Sale

7 billion
LIFE INSURANCE Corp. of India (LIC) is planning to
raise up to $7 billion by selling land and commercial

$ buildings it owns, Mint reported. LIC’s real estate assets

include premium properties such as Jeevan Bharti
building in Delhi’s Connaught Place. The insurer has
tasked an internal team to work out a sale plan. LIC’s real
estate assets are worth ₹50,000–60,000 crore, by
conservative estimates, the report says.

IPO Boom Unequal Benefits

Estimated issue amount ( cr) for select IPOs in the pipeline* Monthly spending and welfare impact, by social group of
Swiggy 8,000 household (₹ per capita per month)
Ola Electric Mobility Consumption spending Value of free goods availed*
5,500 Urban
Rural
National Securities Depository 4,500
ST 3,016 82 ST 5,414 58
SK Finance 2,200
Asirvad Micro Finance 1,500 SC 3,474 97 SC 5,307 79
Allied Blenders & Distillers 1,500 68
OBC 3,848 87 OBC 6,177
Belstar Microfinance 1,300
Stanley Lifestyles 1,200 Others 4,392 80 Others 7,333 49
Crizac 1,000 ST: scheduled tribes; SC: scheduled castes; OBC: other backward classes.
*Issues that have received or are awaiting Sebi's approval as of 7 June. *This is the imputed value of additional goods received from the government.
Source: Primedatabase.com Source: Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (2022-23)

DESPITE VOLATILITY in the market, as many as 55
companies are likely to raise more than ₹68,000 crore
through initial public offerings (IPO) over the next few
months, data from primedatabase.com showed. The
companies preparing for their initial share sale include
some big-ticket startups such as Swiggy and Ola Electric
Mobility. So far this financial year, seven issues have
mopped up ₹19,455 crore, while another five are set to hit
the markets in June.
THE INEQUALITY in India’s growth story is reflected
in the consumption expenditure data for 2022-23
released recently. As opposed to per-capita per month
spending of ₹16,612 by the top 10% Indians in urban
areas, the average spending was just ₹6,459, a Mint
analysis showed. While welfare programmes such as
free food and school uniforms helped bring inequality
down, the benefit went less to those from scheduled
tribes, despite their spending being low.

Musk’s Payday

$ 56 billion THAT’S THE amount Tesla shareholders have approved

as Elon Musk’s pay package. The pay package comprising
stock options was given the nod despite it being
invalidated earlier by a court in Delaware, where Tesla was
incorporated. The hefty pay has come amid plans of job
cuts in the company due to slow demand for electric
vehicles and tough competition from Chinese rivals,
raising questions over the decision.

Tax Kitty Chart of the Week: Power Peaks

Centre's net direct tax collections in Apr-Jun (in ₹ trillion) Peak demand met during April-June, by region (in gigawatt)
90
3.3 3.3 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024*
80
2.5 70
60
1.7 50
1.5 40
1.2
30
20
10
0
2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 North West South East North-east
Source: CMIE *Data until 17 June 2024 Source: Grid Controller of India

THE CENTRAL government’s direct tax kitty remains HEATWAVES HAVE hit all-time highs in 2024.
robust in FY25, with the net collections at ₹4.6 trillion Power usage data reflects this. Historically, June sees
until 17 June, provisional data shared by Central Board peak power demand during the summers. This year, it
of Direct Taxes (CBDT) showed. The full data will be touched at least a five-year high by early
released at July-end. The trend for net direct collections June, with the rest of the month to
in the first quarter in the past few years has been mixed: follow, a Mint analysis showed.
It was 0.1% lower in FY24 and 35% higher in FY23. The Follow our data stories on the “In
provisional data suggests a healthy growth this year in Charts” and “Plain Facts” pages on the
the first quarter. Mint website.
PARAS JAIN/MINT

TOP FIVE SPORTS DRAMAS TOP FIVE TURKISH SHOWS

1 THE IRON CLAW 3 BLUE STAR 1 A ROUND OF APPLAUSE 3 SISTERHOOD
Platform: Amazon Prime Video Platform: Disney+ Hotstar
Language: Tamil Cast: Ece Uslu, Özge Özacar

4 THE BEAUTIFUL GAME 4 DREAMS & REALITIES

Platform: Lionsgate Play Platform: Netflix Platform: Amazon miniTV
Platform: Netflix
Language: English Language: English Cast: Aslihan Gürbüz, Fatih Artman Cast: Özge Gürel, Aybüke Pusat

2 MAIDAAN 5 THE BOYS IN THE BOAT 2 THE TAILOR 5 LIFE OF SECRETS

Platform: Amazon Prime Video Platform: Amazon Prime Video Platform: Netflix Platform: Disney+ Hotstar
Language: Hindi Language: English Cast: Çağatay Ulusoy, Şifanur Gül Cast: Ekin Koç, Hazar Erguclu
 New Delhi, mumbai, bengaluru, kolkata, chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, chaNdiGarh*, pune*, lucknow*
Friday, June 21, 2024
SENSEX 77,478.94 141.35
Railways on track to add
₹50,000 cr lines this year
Investment to improve rail safety, expand rollout of Vande Bharat to more areas
Subhash Narayan
subhash.narayan@livemint.com
new delhi
I
ndia’s vast rail network may
see the addition of safer and
faster tracks this year with the
addition of fresh lines at a cost
of ₹50,000 crore, two people
aware of the matter said.
The central government, which
has been steadily increasing the
budget for new tracks over the
years, may boost allocation by a
sharp 39% from the figures in Feb-
ruary’s interim budget, the people
cited above said on condition of
anonymity. A higher allocation in
the Union budget in July will allow
the Railways to augment its net-
work, especially in congested
stretches and between cities that
have seen rapid growth.
The Railways had set aside
₹21,000 crore, ₹26,000 crore, and
₹34,500 crore for new tracks in
FY22, FY23, and FY24 (revised
estimates). The interim budget for
FY25 raised this further to
₹36,000 crore.
However, despite the steep rise
in allocation, the length of tracks
to be added may not be substan-
tially different from the previous
years, given the use of better-qual-
ity rails to run faster trains safer,
and higher cost of construction.
Faster development of new
The order may include a clause for makers of basic phones and
other devices to voluntarily incorporate Type C ports. ISTOCKPHOTO
Uniform charger
ports coming to
all smartphones
Dhirendra Kumar &
Gulveen Aulakh
new delhi
A
ll new smartphones and
tablets sold in India
from next June must
sport a standard charging port,
so that a single charger and
cable can be used to power
multiple devices. The rule will
come to laptops too from 2026,
but won’t apply to basic phones
and wearables for now, three
people aware of the matter said.
The Union IT ministry may
direct all device makers in the
coming weeks to use uniform
charging ports, said one of the
three people, all of whom spoke
on condition of anonymity.
“USB-C or Type C charging
port will be made mandatory for
smartphones and tablets from
June next year. Feature phones
or basic phones, hearables and
wearables will be kept out for
now,” the second person added.
The push for a standard
cable and charger for multiple
devices, initiated by the Euro-
pean Union in 2022, aims to
save costs and reduce the grow-
ing electronic waste.
For laptops, the USB-C port
mandate will kick in from the
end of 2026, the person added,
adding the deadlines were
decided after discussions with
the industry and manufactur-
livemint.com
NIFTY 23,567.00
fast track
Laying new tracks will be part of the Railways’ Vision 2047 document,
under which it expects to add 100,000 km tracks over 25 years
Indian Railways' expenditure on laying new lines (₹ crore)*
2020-21 1,058
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24 (RE)
2024-25 (BE)
*FY21 was Covid year. RE: revised estimates, BE: Interim budget estimates
RAIL CORRIDOR
tracks of better
quality, construction
costs raise spending
lines, including gauge conversion,
doubling, tripling and quadru-
pling of tracks is also required to
expand the coverage
of semi-high speed
trains such as Vande
Bharat that require
better and stronger
tracks to attain speeds over 200
kmph, one of the two people cited
above said on condition of ano-
ers. “India is adopting the same
standards as EU, but giving six
months’ additional time to
allow all players to ensure com-
pliance,” the first person said.
The proposal follows a simi-
lar playbook adopted by the
European Union, with the
Union consumer affairs minis-
try recommending Type-C
ports for all devices. “All phone
makers will be legally bound to
adhere to the norms, and any
flouting of these norms will
attract penalties as per the Con-
sumer Protection Act,” a third
person said. The IT ministry
order may include a clause for
makers of basic phones and
other devices to voluntarily
incorporate Type C ports, the
person added.
The Type C charging port
connects with a Type C cable
which has the same connector
at both ends, so it can be
plugged in from either side.
While consumers can save costs
by using a single cable and char-
ger for multiple devices, manu-
facturers will also gain as their
supplies and sourcing would
become streamlined to a single
component as opposed to mul-
tiple components, specific to
the charging port. The move
will also help slow the growth of
e-waste, the person added.
Leading phonemaker
TURN TO PAGE 6
VOL. 18 NO. 149 Rs. 10.00 . Price with Hindustan Times Rs. 15.50 18 pages
Why furniture rental firms Do stock tips on Instagram,
have remained small uP10 Telegram meet Sebi rules?uP11
51.00 DOLLAR ₹83.65 ₹0.19 EURO ₹89.73 ₹0.12 OIL $85.83 $0.12 POUND ₹106.29 ₹0.05
Sebi slams Religare
for breaching rules
DON’T MISS
AFP
on Burmans’ offer
Ranjani Raghavan & Neha Joshi
mumbai
Binance fined for not complying
T
25,000 km of new tracks over the he stock market regula- with money-laundering rules
next five years, with an investment tor stepped in to break a Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency
of over ₹3.5 trillion, while yearly nine-month impasse exchange, received a notice from India’s
goals would be laying over the billionaire Burman Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND), which
5,000-5,500 km of new lines family’s open offer for Religare fined it $2.25 million (₹18.8 crore) for
every year. Enterprises Ltd on Thursday, operating without complying with domestic
“The focus of Railways has been directing the Rashmi Saluja-led anti-money-laundering regulations. >P5
on increasing infrastructure, company to seek approvals for
which includes expanding the net- the high-profile transaction it
20,784 work by adding new lines. The has stonewalled so far. The Heatstroke toll rises to 110; rural
national transporter added 5,200 Securities and Exchange Board India bears the brunt
km of new tracks in FY23, 5,300 in of India (Sebi) dismissed the Religare Enterprises executive A total of 110 heatstroke-related deaths and
24,377 FY24 and would target 5,500 km financial conglomerate’s claim chairperson Rashmi Saluja. 40,272 suspected cases have been reported
in FY25 with higher investments,” that it was overstepping its jur- in India till 18 June, according health ministry
34,410 said a Railway ministry official, isdiction, stating the Religare ulatory and Development data, as temperatures continue to hover
one of the two people cited above. board has breached securities Authority of India—something around 50 Degrees Celsius, singeing vast
Railways, which added 14,985 laws, and must follow its orders it has not done so far. swathes of the country. >P2
36,091 km of tracks during 2004-14, within a week. “Target company has vio-
raised it to 31,180 km during After initially welcoming the lated provisions of Regulation
Source: Budget documents 2014-24. Burmans’ 25 September open 26 of SAST Regulations, 2011 Coming MSCI weightage change
Questions sent to a railway min- offer, the Religare board had and has failed to adhere to the attracts investors to HDFC Bank
istry spokesperson remained pushed back stating the offer underlying principles govern- HDFC Bank could test its record high over
at current costs, tracks added in unanswered till press time. was undervalued and that the ing the SAST Regulations,” the next few weeks if the momentum on the
laying 1 km of track 2014-24 more than “Strengthening infrastructure acquirer does not meet regula- Sebi said. Target company here counter sustains on anticipation that the
costs around ₹15 cr double in 2004-14 for facilitating movement across tors’ fit and proper criteria. The refers to Religare, and SAST is stock could attract MSCI inflows of $3.5-4
the country is a good initiative by open offer stalled as the Religare short for Sebi’s Substantial billion if the weight of the stock doubles on
SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
the Indian Railways but it should board did not take the Burmans’ Acquisition of Shares and the MSCI India Index in August. >P5
nymity. bring more clarity on its plan to proposal to regulators, even as Takeovers (SAST) regulations.
Laying new tracks will be part of prevent haphazard growth of the the dispute deteriorated into Religare incorrectly concluded
the Railways’ Vision 2047 docu- network. Railways is getting good charges and counter-charges. that Sebi has no jurisdiction Internet, mobile body asks SC
ment, under which it capital support from the Centre Under Sebi regulations, the over the matter, despite its pre- to reconsider new ad rules
expects to add through the budget, and this takeover target needs to vious instructions to seek regu-
The Internet and Mobile Association of India
100,000 km tracks should help it focus all its attention approach regulators for latory approvals, the notice (IAMAI) has asked the Supreme Court to
including some on augmenting infrastructure and approvals. Since Religare has said, asking the board to apply reconsider new regulations that require
replacements over take up projects that improve non-banking, insurance, and to the RBI for necessary advertisers to upload self-declaration
the next 25 years at a cost of ₹15-20 safety of travel,” said Subodh broking units, it needs to apply approvals within a week. certificates before putting out ads on TV, in
trillion. Broken down into five- to the Reserve Bank of India print, or online. >P7
year goals, this plan targets TURN TO PAGE 6 (RBI), Sebi, and Insurance Reg- TURN TO PAGE 6
A dividend bonanza unfolds at Indian firms Quick commerce in
By Mayur Bhalerao
mayur.bhalerao@livemint.com
Indian companies are loosening their purse strings for shareholders, increasingly handing out a larger chunk of their profits as
need of extra hands
dividend. The last financial year saw a 12% year-on-year rise with payouts reaching ₹2.2 trillion, the highest in at least six years. Devina Sengupta &
This generous trend spanned across industries, with sectors like metals, information technology (IT), banking, financial services
and insurance firms and consumer goods witnessing a significant surge in dividend distribution. A Mint analysis of 132 companies Priyamvada C
whose data for FY24 was available shows a steady increase in dividend payout ratios over the past six years. In FY24, the payout
ratio crossed 59%, exceeding the previous five-year average of 54.8%. Details on page 4 mumbai/Bengaluru
Q
India Inc's dividend shower hits at least a six-year high Public sector's payouts in the overall dividend uick commerce is get-
Dividend amount (in ₹ trillion) As a % of net profit pie has been steadily increasing ting bigger at a
Share (%) of dividends declared by public sector undertakings
sprightly pace, and
2018-19 0.65 52.8
in the overall payouts* companies such as
2019-20 0.85 61.2 Zomato, Swiggy, and Zepto
2020-21
2021-22
0.95
1.33
52.9
49.5
20.2 13.6 15.4 26.4 21.8 23 that promise to deliver grocer-
ies and other products at light-
ning speed to homes are scram-
2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 bling to lock in delivery execu- Rush for executives is resulting
2022-23 1.97 57.6 tives and dark store staff to in rampant poaching. MINT
Metals and IT firms have been bestowing service the orders from con-
2023-24 2.21 59.1
greater dividends on shareholders sumers. This is sending are among the peak times for
These generous payouts have been outpacing
profit growth of companies for the past two years
Dividend payouts (in ₹ crore)* by select sectors in 2023-24
Metals and mining 54,530
demand for the last-mile exec-
utives skyrocketing.
“There has been a 30%
this business, but the crunch
for delivery partners is signifi-
cantly tighter this time.
Year-on-year (%) change Aggregate dividends Aggregate net profit Information technology 49,062 increase in demand for delivery The sharp rise in demand is
BFSI* 32,772 executives and dark store exec- forcing quick commerce com-
50
FMCG 31,340 utives (those who work in ware- panies to poach these execu-
40
Oil & gas 15,745 houses) over the last two tives from one another, signal-
30 months,” said Kartik Narayan, ling a likely rise in the execu-
Power 10,791
20
Chemical 5,121 chief executive officer for staff- tives’ wages. Gig workers are
10 Automobile & ancillaries 4,891 ing at TeamLease Services, getting poached by staffing
0 Infrastructure & realty 4,819
BFSI: Banking, financial referring to the demand from firms, and larger companies are
2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 services and insurance
quick commerce companies. in turn hunting them out to
Amount includes proposed dividend. In some cases unaudited data was used. Analysis based on a sample of 132 companies whose data for 2023-24 was available Every year, summer and the
Source: Capitaline, BSE
accompanying holiday season TURN TO PAGE 4
PARAS JAIN/MINT
Companies are watering down diversity recruiting programs
Kailyn Rhone diversity, equity and inclusion Similar searches today yield candidates should possess for
feedback@livemint.com initiatives peaked in 2021, fewer results, said Fuselier, its sophomore summer busi-
sparked by the death of George now a second-year law student ness-analyst program.
W
hite-collar compa- Floyd and the height of the at the University of Florida. He McKinsey said the program
nies that once cham- Black Lives Matter movement has an internship at KPMG this is designed to expose histori-
pioned programs to a year earlier. In the years since, summer that wasn’t part of a cally underrepresented groups
recruit diverse employees are access to diversity programs diversity program. to management consulting and
now tiptoeing away from them. has been slowly declining, a Accounting firm PwC’s well- is one of many diversity recruit-
PricewaterhouseCoopers Glassdoor study in April found. known Start internship pro- ing programs it maintains.
and JPMor- Compa- gram, which accepted only Law firm Kirkland & Ellis
gan Chase nies have “traditionally underrepre- now clarifies that its diversity
are among made the sented” minority applicants for and inclusion fellowship is
those that changes years, removed that require- open to all second-year law stu-
recently removed or altered quietly, often by playing down ment last fall. The program’s dents, regardless of their back-
descriptions of their programs terminology such as “DEI” and Employers’ embrace of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives description now says it encour- grounds. JPMorgan Chase has
for underrepresented students. opening up programs once peaked in 2021, sparked by the death of George Floyd. HT ages students of diverse back- done the same for its Black and
The shift came after an “anti- reserved for diverse applicants grounds to apply. PwC Hispanic & Latino fellowship
woke” movement took aim at to everyone. Many stopped ref- cerned about what the cutback Glassdoor and LinkedIn for declined to comment. programs, adding that all soph-
U.S. companies and a Supreme erencing their DEI programs in means for their future in an postings that referenced Consulting firm McKinsey & omore students regardless of
Court decision overturned annual reports altogether, The already tight job market. “diversity programs” or “Black Co. in May removed “self-iden- their background are welcome
affirmative action in college Wall Street Journal has As an undergrad, Chad Fuse- students.” That helped him tify as a member of a histori- to apply.
admissions. reported. lier, 24 years old, remembers land an internship through a cally underrepresented group”
Employers’ embrace of Minority students are con- searching on job sites such as program at PwC. from a list of attributes ideal TURN TO PAGE 6
02 FRIDAY, 21 JUNE 2024
NEW DELHI
New draft rules
take aim at spam
calls and SMSes
Dhirendra Kumar
dhirendra.kumar@livemint.com
NEW DELHI
T
he consumer affairs min-
istry has released draftd
guidelines on business
communication that would
make it illegal for companies to
make unsolicited calls or to
send unwanted text messages
to promote their services, or
hire agents to do so on their
behalf from unregistered num-
bers.
The guidelines aim to tackle
spam calls and texts from busi-
nesses—especially banks, non-
bank lenders, insurance firms
and property dealers—which
have become a menace in
recent years.
Under the draft guidelines,
all unsolicited business com-
munication will be subject to
the Consumer Protection Act,
2019, and violations will attract
hefty penalties. The ministry
has invited public comments
on the draft until 21 July.
Mint first reported that the
government planned to intro-
duce guidelines to tackle spam
calls and messages on 4 March.
The proposed rules also bar
communications that violate
the Telecom Regulations
Authority of India’s (Trai’s)
rules on sending commercial
messages based on customer
preferences.
“While Trai’s 2018 rules have
been effective for registered
telemarketers, communica-
tions from unregistered mar-
keters using private 10-digit
Rollback of arbitration advisory sought Exempt state-run funds from
Manas Pimpalkhare
manas.pimpalkhare@hindustantime
s.com
AIF rules: Govt to central bank
NEW DELHI
T
he newly created Arbi-
tration Bar of India (ABI)
wants the finance minis-
try to roll back its advisory that
asked government agencies
and enterprises not to rely on
arbitration as the default
method for resolving disputes
around procurement con-
tracts.
The memo, issued by the
department of expenditure’s
procurement policy division in
the ministry of finance earlier
this month, had suggested that
government bodies and com-
panies focus on mediation, out-
of-court settlements, or even
litigation in matters related to
public procurement contracts
where the disputed amount
was above ₹10 crore, instead of
going for arbitration.
Further, the directive applies
only to government agencies
and public sector undertakings
(PSUs) in procurement con-
tracts, and not to private parties
engaging in such contracts.
ABI, created to promote out-
of-court dispute resolution
mechanisms in the country,
started resisting the govern-
ment’s policy suggestion days
m MINT SHORTS
Fossil fuel use, emissions hit
records in 2023, report says
London: Global fossil fuel consumption and energy
emissions hit records in 2023, even as fossil fuels’ share
BLOOMBERG in the global energy mix fell a
bit on the year, the industry’s
Statistical Review of World
Energy report said on Thurs-
day. Fossil fuel accounted for
almost all demand growth in
India in 2023, the report said,
while in China fossil fuel use
rose 6% to a new high.REUTERS
India, Cambodia in talks over
investment treaty, UPI tie-up
New Delhi: India and South-east Asian nation Cambo-
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f $27.9 bil- the name of a superhit
pany doesNew Delhi,movie. Under
MUMBAI, BENGALURU, TCS’s
KOLKATA, CHENNAI,
or profit were pressed to modern
company 4, 2024’s offerings in
comments give
Monday, March
gement’s structure management and
tion development areas.
The managem
goals. Kri-
rm’s strat-
align, and
livemint.com
Pesky calls: CCPA
plans crackdown
Dhirendra Kumar
dhirendra.kumar@livemint.com
NEW DELHI
nwanted promotional
U calls from unregistered
phone numbers may
WE BROKE
THE NEWS
mint DATED 4 MARCH 2024
numbers continue unabated,”
the ministry said in a statement.
“Telecom operators would
have to clearly show the iden-
tity of the calling entity and the
purpose of the call,” it added.
The draft guidelines—pre-
pared after consultations with
stakeholders—define “business
communication” as any com-
munication related to goods or
services, such as promotional
and service messages.
They classify any business
communication as unsolicited
if it does not have the recipi-
ent’s consent or comply with
their registered preferences. “If
a bank customer (for instance)
receives repeated calls for pre-
approved loans from various
phone numbers claiming to be
from the bank, and these calls
are made by the bank’s agents,
both the agent and the bank
will be held liable for making
the calls,” the draft rules state.
For a longer version of this
story, go to livemint.com.
Law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal promised to make India an
arbitration hub after taking charge a few weeks ago. .
after newly reappointed law ernment to seek the with-
minister Arjun Ram Meghwal drawal of the memorandum
promised to make India an and offer a consultation with
arbitration hub after taking experts for any course correc-
charge a few weeks ago.
“We are deeply
concerned about The government began operations
these guidelines advisory suggests in May to create a
as they do not take shutting the door pan-India entity
into account the on arbitration as of arbitration
success story of
an effective mode practitioners.
arbitration in
India, including of dispute
that for the gov- resolution
ernment of
India,” said Sha-
shank Garg, secretary, Arbitra- an effective mode of dispute
tion Bar of India.
ABI is in the process of send- mediation, Garg said. This
ing a representation to the gov- raises concerns about the
ECONOMY & POLICY LIVEMINT.COM
Heatstroke toll rises to 110;
Telugu NCDEX and BSE w
rural India bears the brunt
RRR,
AHMEDABAD, teams
HYDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE*, LUCKNOW* VOL.contract
submit
ize the approval with Sebi b
18 NO. 55
the infra- can launch derivati
applica- in these new comm
Commodity ma
ent expects busi- lysts said if India is
a manufacturing su
TURN TO PAGE 6 domestic compan
Official data shows 40,272 suspected heatstroke cases have been reported in India till 18 June
Trai is among 42 entities
EURO
DOLLAR ₹82.90 ₹0.00
whose recommendations were
Priyanka Sharma & Puja Das dedicated beds for heat stroke patients. sought by the I&B ministry. MINT
NEW DELHI Doctors in both public and private
sectors are reporting around 50%
Trai shares
A
total of 110 heatstroke-re- increase in patients complaining of gas-
lated deaths and 40,272 trointestinal disorders and respiratory
suspected cases have been illnesses. Patients are being reported suggestions
reported in India till 18 with heatstroke and heat cramps as
June, according health
ministry data, as temperatures continue
to hover around 50° Celsius, singeing
symptoms.
Meanwhile, three major central gov-
ernment hospitals in the national capital
on national
vast swathes of the country.
Most cases and deaths were reported
have recorded multiple deaths. Safdar-
jung Hospital reported six deaths from broadcast
from rural India, given the nature of 23 May till 19 June, the hospital spokes-
strenuous outdoor work associated with
agriculture. In addition, rural India con-
person said.
RML hospital reported 11 deaths due
policy
tinues to be blighted by poor health to heatstroke from 27 May till 9 am on
infrastructure in comparison with Wednesday. Lok Nayak Hospital Gaurav Laghate
towns and cities. recorded two deaths. gaurav.laghate@livemint.com
Heatwaves this year have been excep- Heatwaves this year have been exceptionally severe, with red alerts being issued Dr Atul Gogia, senior consultant at Sir NEW DELHI
tionally severe, with red alerts being in several parts of the country, in both urban and rural areas, in mid-May. Ganga Ram Hospital said, “We are see-
T
declared in several parts of the country ing many patients with heat-related he telecom regulator says
in mid-May, impacting both urban and number of heatstroke cases at 10,636, provide the best health care to the complications. This summer is harsh as a national broadcasting
rural areas. The intensity, frequency and followed by Rajasthan (6,546), Andhra affected. He has also directed special in the past we have not seen such an policy that is in the works
length of heatwaves have put immense Pradesh (3,994), Uttar Pradesh (3,590), heatwave units to be started in the cen- increase in patient numbers. We have should cater to the diverse
pressure on healthcare facilities, with an Odisha (3,574), Chhattisgarh (3,278) tral government hospitals,” the health admitted a few patients suspected to needs of consumers and pro-
increase in heat-related ill- Bihar (2,054). ministry said in a statement. The have suffered a heatstroke.” mote democratic values and
nesses. The highest number of 36 heatwave management advi- Climate experts say that cultural diversity.
The infrastructure in deaths were reported in sory has been issued to rural populations bear the In recommendations sub-
densely populated areas is
struggling to cope with 10,636
Number of
Uttar Pradesh, followed by states and Union territo-
Bihar (17), Rajasthan (16), ries, it added. 47°C
Record for highest
brunt of stress and health
problems because most of
mitted to the information and
broadcasting ministry, the Tel-
the high temperatures, Odisha (13), Telangana (7) Preparedness for pre- their work is outdoors— ecom Regulatory Authority of
according to experts. heatstroke cases and Madhya Pradesh (3), vention and management temperature in in the fields or in con- India (Trai) set ambitious goals
June set the record for reported in MP according to health minis- of severe heat-related ill- June in a decade struction—in the blazing to transform India’s broadcast-
the highest temperature try data seen by Mint. nesses includes procure- sun. ing sector, which it said should
registered in the month, a On Wednesday, health ment and supply of adequate Rural poverty is another also foster a competitive,
scorching 47°C, in a decade. By minister J. P. Nadda reviewed the quantities of ORS packs, essential major factor, as the poor can nei- affordable, and ubiquitous eco-
comparison, the highest June tempera- heatwave preparedness in central gov- medicines, IV fluids, ice-packs, and ther afford to build their homes out of system.
ture was 41.8°C in 2023, 44.2°C in 2022 ernment hospitals. equipment to support management of heat-resistant materials, nor access Trai is among 42 entities
and 43°C in 2021. “He has directed the officials to electrolyte imbalance, along with availa- good quality hospitals. from whom the ministry had
Madhya Pradesh reported the highest ensure that all hospitals are prepared to bility of sufficient drinking water and priyanka.sharma@livemint.com sought recommendations for a
national policy designed to
increase inclusivity and liter-
acy, attracting investments,
and developing indigenous
infrastructure and positioning
“Brand India” globally.
future of the fledgeling arbitra-
tion ecosystem in the country,
Among Trai's recommenda-
tions are propelling growth via
establishing a data-driven gov-
according to Garg. ernance framework to bolster
Arbitration, as well as other Reuters managed by SBICAP Ven- the broadcasting ecosystem;
methods of alternative dispute feedback@livemint.com tures, a wholly-owned subsidi- developing a resilient and tech-
resolution (ADR) are integral to NEW DELHI ary of the government-owned nology-adaptive infrastructure
the Indian legal system, as they State Bank of India. to encourage research and
T
help in reducing the pendency he government has SBI is also a large investor in development (R&D) and indig-
of cases in courts and promote asked the Reserve Bank the fund. enous manufacturing; and cre-
the ease of doing business. of India (RBI) to exempt The bank made provisions ating a level playing field to
The government memo, state-run funds from a recent of ₹1.2 billion ($14.37 million) stimulate economic growth
issued on 3 June, titled Guide- set of tightened rules concern- against its AIF investments in and make India an “Uplinking
lines for Arbitration and Media- ing investments in alternative the year ended 31 March 2024. Hub” for global television
tion in contracts of Domestic investment funds (AIFs), SBICAP Ventures did not channels.
Public Procurement, stated that according to two persons asso- immediately respond to Reu- To promote content, Trai
the government needs to re-ex- ciated with the government ters’ emails. has emphasized enhancing the
amine arbitration in the coun- and a fund official. These regulations could production and distribution of
PTI try after its experience in the In December, RBI had asked make banks wary of investing quality content across televi-
domain over the years. banks and non-banking finan- in SWAMIH as the banks sion, radio, and streaming plat-
“Arbitration as a method of cial companies to raise provi- RBI had tightened rules for AIF would have exposure to pro- forms.
dispute resolution should not sions for AIF investments— investing in December. REUTERS jects the fund is trying to res- On 13 July last year, the min-
be routinely or automatically under which state-run funds cue, the first person from the istry asked Trai for its recom-
included in procurement con- also fall—if they were also len- associated with the govern- government said. mendations. A detailed consul-
tion that is required, Garg tracts/ tenders, especially in ders to the projects in which ment cited earlier said. The RBI regulations “could tation paper was issued on 27
added. The body large contracts,” said the 3 June the AIFs were investing. A fund official confirmed lead to higher provisioning by April 2024, which identified
advisory. The government’s The rules, tightened to pre- the government’s communi- banks,” they added. key focus areas for the policy
experience with arbitration has vent the evergreening of loans, cation with the central bank, In discussions with the gov- and posed 20 critical questions
been unsatisfactory because it were partially eased later in but did not provide more ernment, RBI has conveyed to stakeholders.
takes too long and is very March. details. that exempting SWAMIH Input was sought from 42
expensive, it added. The government has writ- They requested anonymity from the AIF regulations entities, including service pro-
The advisory The government memo also ten to RBI seeking special dis- as they are not authorised to would require similar dispen- viders, industry associations,
issued by the gov- highlighted mediation as an pensation for state-run talk to the media. sation for foreign sovereign and consumer advocacy
ernment suggests alternative dispute resolution funds—including a fund called RBI and the finance minis- funds, the first person from the groups. An open house discus-
shutting the door mechanism. It encouraged Special Window for Afforda- try did not immediately government cited earlier said. sion (OHD) was conducted on
on arbitration as government departments, ble and Mid-Income Housing respond to Reuters’ emails Based on the government’s 15 May 2024, which got addi-
agencies and enterprises to lev- (SWAMIH) set up to rescue seeking comment. suggestion, the central bank tional comments contributing
resolution, while favouring erage the mediation mecha- stressed real estate projects, SWAMIH, set up in 2019 to may consider exempting sov- to the final recommendations.
nism under the Mediation Act, citing its “socio-economic provide debt financing for ereign funds on a “case-by- For a longer version of this
2023. purpose” -- the two persons stalled housing projects, is case basis”, they said. story, go to livemint.com.
Aviation regulator eases rules
dia are negotiating collaboration in UPI-based digital
payment to promote trade and tourism, the commerce
ministry said on Thursday. Both sides also deliberated
Indians’ funds in Swiss
banks hit four-year low for operation of seaplanes
CORRECTIONS AND
CLARIFICATIONS
upon diversification of the trade basket by identifying AFP Mumbai: The Directorate LINKEDIN/CAPT. JOHN S. GOULET A 20 June Plain Facts article,
new products, bilateral investment treaty, recognition General of Civil Aviation ‘Consumption data lays bare
of Indian pharmacopoeia and collaboration in the (DGCA) on Thursday said it India’s inequality’, should have
pharma sector. PTI has eased norms for seaplane said that the bottom 10% in
urban Kerala and Haryana
operations under the UDAAN
spend around one-eighth of
scheme.The new norms will what the top 10% spend. The
Jaishankar, Wickremesinghe streamline infrastructure error is regretted.
procedures, pilot training
open maritime rescue centre needs, and regulatory compliances, paving the way for Mint welcomes comments,
Colombo: External affairs minister S. Jaishankar and Sri seaplane services to remote areas, DGCA said. PTI suggestions or complaints
about errors.
Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe on Thursday
jointly commissioned the Maritime Rescue Coordina- Readers can alert the
tion Centre built with a $6 million grant from India. Jais- New Delhi/Zurich: Funds parked by Indian Financial sector leaders urge newsroom to any errors in the
hankar, said Wickremes- individuals and firms in Swiss banks, including
PTI
inghe discussed the way for- through local branches and other financial institu-
FM to pursue fiscal discipline paper by emailing us, with your
full name and address to
ward for the bilateral tions, fell sharply by 70% in 2023 to a four-year low New Delhi: The country’s top leaders from capital mar- feedback@livemint.com.
cooperation, in sectors such of 1.04 billion Swiss Francs (₹9,771 crore), annual kets, and financial sectors, which met the finance minis- Mint’s journalistic Code of
as power, connectivity, port data from Switzerland’s central bank showed on ter Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday for consultations Conduct that governs our
infrastructure, aviation, Thursday.The decline has continued for the sec- ahead of the upcoming annual budget, urged the gov-
health, food security, and ond consecutive year. PTI ernment to follow fiscal discipline, control inflation, and
newsroom is available at
www.livemint.com
education. PTI provide stable long-term tax policies. RHIK KUNDU
LIVEMINT.COM DEALS, TECH & STARTUPS FRIDAY, 21 JUNE 2024
NEW DELHI 03

OpenAI
m MINT SHORTS
OrbitShift raises $7 million seed
SoftBank-backed ElasticRun founder sets
funding from Peak XV, Stellaris
Bengaluru: OrbitShift has raised $7 million (₹ 58.4 crore) in a seed
funding round, co-led by Peak XV Partners’ early-stage accelerator
Surge and venture capital firm Stellaris Venture Partners. Orbit-
makes dash for profitability up new AI
company
Shift is an AI-native sales operating system. It serves large enter-
prise customers that have users based in the US, Europe and the AP
Asia Pacific region. K. AMOGHAVARSHA feedback@livemint.com
The unicorn shifts focus from large national brands to regional-focused consumer brands
I
lya Sutskever, one of the
Anthropic ‘most intelligent’ AI founders of OpenAI who was
Sowmya Ramasubramanian involved in a failed effort to
model to compete with OpenAI sowmya.r@livemint.com push out CEO Sam Altman, said
ISTOCKPHOTO
Bengaluru he is starting a safety-focused
artificial intelligence (AI) firm.

T
he past two years have been The boardroom shakeup,
critical for ElasticRun, a B2B which Sutskever later said he
e-commerce platform that regretted, also led to a period of
connects consumer brands internal turmoil centered on
to rural markets, as it imple- whether leaders at OpenAI
mented multiple strategy changes to were prioritizing business
drive better unit economics in a tough opportunities over AI safety.
macroeconomic landscape. Sutskever, a respected AI
The Pune-based unicorn, backed by researcher who left the
investors such as SoftBank and Prosus, ChatGPT maker last month,
has moved its focus away from large said in a social media post
Artificial intelligence (AI) startup Anthropic is releasing a national brands to regional-focused Wednesday that he has created
new AI model that it calls its fastest and most capable yet in consumer brands in a bid to build vol- Safe Superintelligence Inc.
a rivalry with OpenAI. It introduced Claude 3.5 Sonnet, an umes, its co-founder and chief execu- with two co-founders. The
updated version of its Claude 3 model that it just released in tive Sandeep Deshmukh told Mint. company’s only goal and focus
March. The company said Thursday that the new model — While the strategy shift has resulted is safely developing “superin-
the technology that underpins its popular chatbot Claude — in a slight drop in revenues in FY24 telligence”—a reference to AI
is twice as fast as its most powerful previous version. It added compared to the previous year, Desh- systems that are smarter than
that the model outperforms leading competitors like OpenAI mukh said the revamp has improved humans.
on several key intelligence capabilities, such as coding and the company’s margins (take rates) by The company vowed not to
text-based reasoning. BLOOMBERG three times and pushed it closer to A large chunk of capital raised still remains unused and the company has a runway of five years.. ISTOCKPHOTO be distracted by “management
profitability. overhead or product cycles,”
Working with multiple regional line last financial year,” Deshmukh food, general merchandise and pharma said. and under its business model,
Mitsui’s investment to back brands instead of a few national ones noted. firms to reach rural consumers through Last week, HSBC, in a research note, work on safety and security
has primarily helped the company In FY23, ElasticRun logged an oper- its nationwide network of 10 million halved ElasticRun’s valuation by 50% would be “insulated from
EKA’s expansion in EV sector multiply its ‘take rates’, a key metric ational revenue of ₹4,755 crore while stores. It also enables banks to extend as part of its evaluation of Prosus’s port- short-term commercial pres-
Mumbai: Electric vehicle maker EKA Mobility on Thursday said that shows how much money an losses stood at ₹618 crore. The com- financial services to consumers beyond folio. However, the note clarified that sures,” Sutskever and his
Mitsui Co & Ltd has executed a second tranche investment, as part e-commerce company is making from pany is yet to file its FY24 numbers. urban centres. the valuation cut was applied on all co-founders Daniel Gross and
of an initially announced phased investment. The capital will be each transaction. portfolio companies whose latest Daniel Levy said in a statement.
directed towards capital expenditures and working capital, sup- During FY23, the company also STRATEGIC SHIFT funding round was more than six The three said Safe Superintel-
porting EKA’s expansion and innovation in the EV sector. “Mitsui pulled out of some key markets like months old, to account for “recent ligence is an American com-
Co & Ltd has executed a second tranche investment as a part of the Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, THE past two years WHILE the strategy IN FY23, ElasticRun FIRM chose correction” in several sectors. pany with roots in Palo Alto,
initially announced phased investment, further solidifying their and West Bengal, anticipating were critical for the shift led to a drop in
platform that conne- revenues, revamp
logged operational
revenue of ₹4,755
profitability over
scale which brought
ElasticRun’s call to rework its California, and Tel Aviv,
commitment to the company,” the company said. PTI these regions to weigh on the firm’s cts consumer brands improved company’s crore, while losses about a slight dip in business strategy comes at a time “where we have deep roots and
overall profitability due to scaling to rural markets margins by 3 times. stood at ₹618 crore. the top line last FY. startups have seen the need to cut the ability to recruit top techni-
challenges, the chief executive costs and focus on improving their cal talent”.
Distil snags seed funding from explained. bottom lines. At OpenAI, Sutskever jointly
These regions typically offer low Founded in 2016 by Deshmukh, Shi- The company had secured $330 mil- With over $40 billion raised during led a team focused on safely
Jungle Ventures, India Quotient take rates, making it unprofitable to tiz Bansal and Saurabh Nigam, Elasti- lion from SoftBank, Prosus and Gold- the funding rush of 2021, India’s developing better-than-human
Bengaluru: Distil has raised $3.1 million (₹26 crore) in a seed fund- operate there, he said. cRun enables FMCG and grocery man Sachs, among others, at a valua- startup ecosystem has not only seen AI, known as artificial general
ing round co-led by venture capital firms Jungle Ventures and “We took the conscious call to pull brands to reach the remotest parts of tion of $1.5 billion, in February 2022. startups getting massively inflated val- intelligence. When he left, he
India Quotient. Other undisclosed investors also took part. The back and put our house back in order. the country and supports them with A “large chunk” of the capital raised uations but also witnessed many of said he had plans for a “very
firm will use the funds for team expansion, proprietary product We chose profitability over scale which larger scale and a wider audience. still remains unused and the company them burning cash way beyond their personally meaningful”
development and geographical expansion. K. AMOGHAVARSHA brought about a slight dip in the top It assists a host of clients including has a runway of five years, Deshmukh means. project.

Tynor Orthotics weighs IPO Capria raising $125 mn India fund

as talks with PEs hit stalemate Aman Rawat
aman.rawat@livemint.com
mate. It is looking to make the
first close of the fund by the
bengaluru second half of the ongoing cal-
Sreeja Biswas & Debjyoti Roy publishing this article. endar year, VCCircle has

U
Mumbai/New Delhi With the IPO, the firm may S-based venture capital learnt.
seek a valuation of 18-20 times firm Capria Ventures, It will invest in seed and pre-

A
medical devices maker
backed by mid-market
private equity firm
Lighthouse Funds is consider-
ing an initial public offering
(IPO) of shares in the current
fiscal itself, as talks in the pri-
vate equity markets have hit a
stalemate due to mismatch
over valuations, two persons
familiar with the matter told
VCCircle.
Tynor Orthotics Pvt. Ltd, a
manufacturer and exporter of
orthopedic aids, may opt for a
mix of primary and secondary
share sale in the IPO, providing
an exit to its investors--Light-
house Funds and Thuasne Par-
ticipations, according
to one the persons
mentioned above.
VCCircle previ-
Tynor Orthotics may opt for a
mix of primary and secondary
share sale in the IPO. MINT
These talks, however, are
now said to have stalled over
valuations.
Lighthouse Funds had led a
₹143-crore investment in
Tynor Orthotics in June 2018,
with Thuasne Partici-
pations, an initial
investor from 2010,
also participating in
its Ebitda (earnings before
interest, taxes, depreciation,
and amortization) buoyed by
the upbeat public equity mar-
ket, another person familiar
with the matter said.
Tynor Orthotics reported
consolidated Ebitda of ₹76.66
crore in FY23, up from ₹55.85
crore in the preceding year,
according to VCCEdge. Its net
sales rose to ₹390 crore in FY23
from ₹310 crore the previous
year.
The company’s net profit
also surged to ₹50 crore in
FY23 from ₹20 crore in FY22.
The company’s revenue is
anticipated to have topped
₹500 crore in the year ended
March 31, 2024, a source had
previously told VCCircle.
Founded in 1993, Tynor
which has invested in
homegrown startups such as
Betterplace, BharatAgri, Edu-
vanz and Edenfarm among
others, is likely to cross $200
million in asset under manage-
ment (AUM) for India with its
new investment vehicle.
Capria Ventures, which
operates a family of funds and
collectively manages assets
exceeding $207 million across
the globe, reported an AUM of
₹670 crore (around $80 mil-
lion) for India across three vin-
tages—2013, 2018 and 2023—
as of December 2023, VCCir-
cle has learnt.
With its latest India-fo-
cussed fund, Capria
India Fund III, the
VC firm is looking to
raise a total of $125
The firm may cross $200 mn in
AUM for India. ISTOCKPHOTO
“At Capria Ventures, we are
committed to the India growth
story and are planning to
launch an India-focused fund
within that range,” said Surya
Mantha, managing partner of
Capria Ventures.
It is currently in
the process of receiv-
ing the formal
in-principle approval
Series A stages and will look to
create a portfolio of 25-30
companies with 50% of the
total corpus. It will keep 50%
of the corpus to re-invest in
some of the portfolio compa-
nies. The new entity, General Catalyst India, will focus on early- and
Capria Ventures currently growth-stage investments in the country. ISTOCKPHOTO
manages five funds. Its limited
partners include SIDBI, the
Bill Gates Family Office,
Mohandas Pai’s Aarin Capital,
VC firm General
and the Michael & Susan Dell
Foundation, among others. It
currently manages more than
Catalyst acquires
40 investments across various
geographies.
It recently made the final
close of its India Opportunity
Venture Highway
Fund at ₹153 crore (around $19 Sowmya Ramasubramanian business officer at WhatsApp.
million). sowmya.r@livemint.com Priya Mohan joined the team
Originally announced as the Bengaluru in 2018 as co-founder.
Unitus Ventures India Oppor- General Catalyst, which has

ously reported that the
US-based private equity firm
KKR & Co, Warburg Pincus
and General Atlantic were in
the race to invest in Tynor.
that round.
Emails sent to Tynor Orthot-
ics, Lighthouse Funds, and
Thuasne Participations did not
elicit responses till the time of
Orthotics produces artificial
support devices and exports to
over 40 countries.
sreeja.biswas@live-
mint.com
million, including a $25 mil-
lion green-shoe option. This
will mean that the firm will
increase its AUM for India to
over $200 million.
for a category-II alternative
investment fund (AIF), which
will invest in sectors such as
jobtech, fintech, SaaS (soft-
ware-as-a-service) and cli-
tunity Fund, the India Oppor-
tunity Fund became part of the
unified brand Capria when
Capria and Unitus merged in
September last year.
G
eneral Catalyst has backed startups such as
acquired New Delhi- graphic design platform
based early-stage Canva, short-term home
investor Venture Highway, rental platform Airbnb, and
and plans to deploy $500 mil- fintech Stripe, manages assets
lion-$1 billion in India, the Sili- worth over $25 billion glo-
con Valley-based venture cap- bally.
ital firm said in a blogpost on In India, the firm has backed

Centre Court Capital invests in Quidich Innovation Labs its website. more than a dozen startups,
Following the acquisition, including fintech firm CRED
Venture Highway will be and used-car marketplace
rebranded as General Catalyst Spinny.
Gaurav Laghate aims to elevate live sports April. In a recent interview to board as investors. Beyond crit- India. It will focus on early- Recently, several VC firms
gaurav.laghate@livemint.com broadcasts. Mint, Ghouse said that the fund ical funding, they bring a legacy and growth-stage such as Accel and
Mumbai The funding is set to propel had evaluated over 350 poten- of sporting excellence and a investments in Firm says it is Nexus Venture
Quidich deeper into the sports tial investee firms and was in shared belief in the transforma- the country. inadequate to Partners have

C
entre Court Capital
(CCC) has led an undis-
closed Series A invest-
ment round in Quidich Innova-
tion Labs, the venture capital
firm backed by the Sajjan Jindal
Family Trust and specializing
in sports tech and gaming said
in a statement on Thursday.
Quidich, a sports broadcast
technology company founded
by Rahat Kulshreshtha and
Gaurav Mehta, has been focus-
ing exclusively on sports, espe-
cially cricket, since 2019.
Quidich will leverage the
fresh capital to enhance its
technology stack and expand
its reach into new sports and
geographies. Known for its
advanced camera systems,
computer vision, and aug-
mented reality, the company
media rights market, currently
valued at $56 billion and pro-
jected to more than double to
$114 billion by 2030. Quidich
has forged strong partnerships
with major sports entities,
including the Board of Control
for Cricket in India, the Inter-
national Cricket Council, and
global broadcasters like Sky
Sports, Sunset+Vine, Channel
7, and SuperSport.
“As sports broadcast tech-
nology undergoes a sector-
wide transformation, broad-
casters and leagues are search-
ing for partners to guide them
into a new era. We believe that
Quidich’s dedication and
unwavering commitment to
quality, demonstrated through
their consistent pursuit of
excellence in cricket broad-
talks with about 10 of them. tive power of technology in “The com- look at India as raised upwards of
Quidich’s latest product, sports. We are united in our bined capabilities yet another $500 million
HypeReality, developed in col- goal to redefine the global of the two firms each to invest in
investment
laboration with the ICC, is sports viewing experience and will allow us to be India.
poised to revolu- are confident that much more destination or a India’s eco-
tionize fan Quidich will use with Centre hands-on and vast geography nomic, political
engagement with fresh capital to Court Capital by effective going and strategic
sports. Leveraging enhance tech our side, the game forward in India. I agency in the
the technological stack, expand is about to change am especially excited about world is growing, supported
expertise of both in ways we’ve bringing our co-creation capa- by both macro and micro tail-
reach into new
partners, Hype- only dreamt of,” bilities to India,” said Hemant winds, said General Catalyst in
Reality aims to sports and said Rahat Kul- Taneja, chief executive of the blogpost.
The VC firm is backed by Sajjan Jindal Family Trust. MINT transform the geographies shreshtha, General Catalyst, in a post on X It added that it is inadequate
spectator experi- co-founder, Qui- on Thursday. to look at India as yet another
casting, positions them as the in Stupa Sports Analytics, a ence by bringing dich. Venture Highway, which “investment destination” or “a
leaders for this transforma- sports analytics company. the atmosphere of the ICC CCC is a ₹350-crore fund raised $78.6 million for its sec- vast geography”.
tion,” Mustafa Ghouse, general Founded by Ghouse, a Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 backed by prominent investors ond fund in 2020, has invest- “The country’s diverse cul-
partner at CCC, said in the former chief executive of JSW directly into homes worldwide including JSW, the Small ments in social-commerce ture, consumer psychology
statement. Sports and an Asian Games through Apple Vision Pro, Industries Development Bank startup Meesho, B2B e-com- and deep structural idiosyn-
This Series A funding aligns bronze medallist, CCC has Apple’s latest immersive con- of India (Sidbi), Premji Invest, merce platform Moglix and crasies need a level of under-
with CCC’s strategic focus on quickly emerged as a key player tent technology. USK Capital, and other major HR-tech startup BetterPlace. standing that numbers often
sports technology, comple- in the sports tech venture capi- “We are thrilled to have Cen- corporate sports investors like It was co-founded in 2014 by do not do justice to,” the firm
menting its initial investment tal space since its inception in tre Court Capital come on GMR Sports and SG Sports. Neeraj Arora, the former chief said.
04 FRIDAY, 21 JUNE 2024
NEW DELHI MARK TO MARKET LIVEMINT.COM

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

77,478.93 0.18 23,567.00 0.22 22,305.10 0.36 71,632.20 0.13 24,649.85 0.20 46,086.53 0.55 51,906.49 1.00
PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN

77,337.59 77,554.83 23,516.00 23,586.15 22,224.90 22,293.55 71,536.70 71,649.85 24,599.90 24,668.65 45,833.59 45,958.55 51,393.30 51,680.04
HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW

77,643.09 77,100.36 23,624.00 23,442.60 22,333.60 22,182.20 71,843.60 71,025.75 24,695.50 24,532.85 46,133.15 45,689.95 51,952.74 51,401.17

m MINT SHORTS
Stocks’ rally makes bears
Vedanta’s long road to lower costs
endangered on Wall Street Ashish Agrawal
Off the peak Motley Mix Consolidated Ebitda is likely to increase dend, monitoring the trajectory of net
The economy is growing, lower interest rates are on the feedback@livemint.com
Vedanta's ongoing Demerger of five businesses into separate
by 60% by FY26. In FY24, the company debt is important. Also, Vedanta had
horizon, artificial intelligence technology is set to create investments would protect it listed entities would ensure better synergies invested a total of ₹ 12,000 crore and has announced its plan to divest its iron ore

V
a utopia of corporate efficiency, and nothing can stop the edanta Ltd is betting on
soaring stock market. At least that’s how most of Wall structural cost reductions
Street’s soothsayers now see things. After being burned to drive the next phase of its
last year by doom-and-gloom calls that failed to material- earnings growth. The com-
ize, equities strategists can’t turn bullish fast enough, pany is heavily investing in
making bears a rarity as the S&P 500 Index keeps setting backward integration, operational effi-
new records. And to the few remaining skeptics, this kind ciencies, and captive power usage,
of halcyon-laced groupthink is a key reason to be cau- including renewables. These measures
tious about the stock market in this euphoric moment. are expected to lower production costs
“It’s not just the excessive valuation,” said David Rosen- and minimize exposure to input price
berg, founder and president of Rosenberg Research. “It’s fluctuations. Vedanta, a diversified met-
the market sentiment, the complacency, the extraordi- als and mining company, operates
nary popular delusions of maddening crowds.” The key across segments such as aluminium,
is earnings, according to Rosenberg, who correctly pre- zinc-lead-silver, iron ore, and steel.
dicted the 2008 crash. BLOOMBERG The company’s capital expenditure
projects are primarily directed at
enhancing backward integration for
aluminium rather than expanding
capacity. Aluminium, which contrib-
utes 34% to total revenue, holds the
greatest potential to boost profit. The
projects, entailing a total investment of
₹25,000 crore, aim to eliminate alu-
mina import dependency, reduce baux-
ite import dependency to 35%, and
increase the share of value-added prod-
ucts from 60% to 90%.
“A 100% captive alumina, 100% cap-
tive coal and 65% captive bauxite shall
from input price fluctuations
Consolidated Ebitda Margin (%)
40
30
20
10
0 India
FY19 FY24
Note: Ebitda is earnings before interest,
tax, depreciation and amortization
help Vedanta sustain Ebitda of
$800-1,155 per tonne on aluminium
price of $2,100-2,600 per tonne by
FY27, against FY19-24 average Ebitda of
$437 per tonne,” estimates Nuvama
Research.
The first phase of the alumina capac-
ity expansion was completed in Q4
for Vedanta lined up investments worth ₹16,000 & steel business to reduce the debt bur-
16,000
crore in FY25. den in early October 2023. There has
FY24 Ebitda (in  crore) Despite a reasonably profitable busi- been little progress on this, and the
ness and prospective gains from its company might be waiting for the
12,000 capex programme, Vedanta faces pres- demerger process to be complete before
sure from the debt servicing issues of its taking a call on the sale.
holding company, Vedanta Vedanta has a complex
8,000 Resources Ltd (VRL). VRL RISK business structure operat-
confronted the threat of MITIGATION ing through several subsidi-
default with a debt repay- aries and divisions. To sim-
4,000 ment obligation of $4.5 bil- THE company is plify the structure and
lion for FY25 and FY26 heavily investing in
backward integration,
unlock value, it announced
without sufficient cash operational its plan to split the company
0 inflows. It secured a efficiencies, etc into six separate entities in
reprieve from lenders by September last year. The
Zinc Oil & Power Steel Others
Gas restructuring $3.5 billion of THESE measures are process is expected to be
expected to lower
-4,000 debt in January. VRL has production costs completed by the end of
Aluminium Iron Ore Zinc
International
Copper also pledged 100% of its and minimize price FY25. Meanwhile, in this
holding in Vedanta. fluctuations risks calendar year so far,
Source: Company, JP Morgan
VRL’s financial stress has Vedanta’s stock price has
PRANAY BHARDWAJ/MINT
resulted in a push for higher risen 83%, outpacing the
FY24, and the second phase commis- dividends from Vedanta, totalling over Nifty50 index.
sioning is expected in Q2 FY25. Vedanta ₹11,000 crore in FY24. Vedanta’s net Timely execution of growth and
is also increasing its capacity for produc- debt at the end of FY24 stood at over backward integration projects, progress
ing value-added grades of aluminium. ₹56,000 crore, although lower than on strategic actions/demerger and
Vedanta’s aluminium segment Ebitda is ₹62,000 crore at the end of the Decem- headway towards deleveraging will
expected to double from current ₹ ber 2023 quarter. However, against the assume further importance for the stock
9,700 crore to ₹19,100 crore, according backdrop of a large capex plan and the performance, according to an Axis
to analysts at JP Morgan India Pvt. Ltd. holding company’s push for higher divi- Securities report.

New-car registrations in Europe fell to 1.09 million units

last month. AFP Capital expenditure to catch a breath at chemicals companies
European car sales drop as Harsha Jethmalani Capital Market said FY24 was However, the anticipated likely only in the second half of
Cooling-off
drivers wait for cheaper EVs harsha.j@htlive.com particularly weak, with compa- Chemical companies are expected to be less aggressive on
moderation in capex intensity FY25. Overseas demand, espe-
Automakers in Europe sold 2.6% fewer vehicles in May nies that they cover posting a capital expenditure in FY25-26 brings no good news for the sec- cially from Europe, is expected

C
than a year ago as buyers balked at the still-high prices of hemicals companies are decline in revenue/Ebitda for Capital expenditure (in  crore)
tor’s debt levels. The increase in to be muted due to elevated
electric models. New-car registrations fell to 1.09 million set to further moderate the first time in 10 years. Addi- 8,000
working capital needs is inflation. On the bright side,
units last month, the European Automobile Manufactur- their capital expenditure tionally, Ebitda margins slid to a expected to push net debt higher domestic demand is expected to
ers’ Association said Thursday. EV sales slumped 11% intensity, after having invested multi-year low. 5,900 in FY25 and it could remain ele- be on a better footing, aided by
6,000
amid declines in several major markets, and their share significantly in capacity building In this backdrop, chemicals vated. India Ratings & Research end-use industries such as paints
of the total also decreased. High borrowing costs and over the past three years. FY24 companies are expected to 4,000 Ltd expects the sector’s net debt and pharmaceuticals. That said,
muted growth across Europe are weighing on consumer was a tough year for the sector. realign their capital allocation 2,500 to rise to ₹18,000 crore in FY25 the sector’s margins and realiza-
sentiment. Automakers are grappling with slow EV sales Listed chemicals makers grap- requirements. Large companies 2,000 from ₹ 17,000 crore last year. tions are unlikely to recover
as drivers are turned off by high sticker prices and subpar pled with issues such as exces- in this sector have softened their The sector’s debt has been on the quickly in FY25.
charging infrastructure. The European Union’s move sive inventory and Chinese near-term stance on capex. SRF 0 rise since FY22 due to a contrac- Investors should temper their
FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24* FY25*
this month to impose additional tariffs on Chinese EVs dumping of excess produce, Ltd has targeted ₹2,000-2,100 tion in Ebitda margins and sus- expectations of the earnings per-
*Estimated Source: Dolat Capital
threatens to make imported alternatives more expensive. exported at low prices across crore of capex in FY25 after tained capex. It remains to be formance of chemical compa-
PRANAY BHARDWAJ/MINT
Market assumptions on EVs “have been too optimistic,” geographies. spending about ₹3,000 crore in seen whether net debt peaks in nies in FY25. Unless the key
Citi analysts led by Harald Hendrikse said in a note. High A demand slowdown and FY24. are largely done. In FY25 and flow generation. For now, com- FY25. parameters improve, the threat
prices have become a major obstacle to EV growth in pricing pressures severely hurt The managements of Atul Ltd FY26, the focus is likely to be on panies are not expected to bor- Meanwhile, the global of further downgrades to FY25/
Europe after countries including Germany and Sweden the earnings growth of Indian and Sudarshan Chemical Indus- ramping up production, operat- row more to invest in non-criti- demand environment remains FY26 earnings estimates
ceased or pared back subsidies. BLOOMBERG companies. Analysts at Dolat tries Ltd said their capex cycles ing leverage and improving cash cal projects. challenging, with a recovery remains.

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

Pvt banks, Staffing firms rising demand for gig workers in quick commerce
metals lift FROM PAGE 1 people to manage their ware- According to a report by electronics, beauty products, HR firms.

Nifty to bring them onto their payrolls.

All this is resulting in high attri-
houses and deliver the goods to
consumers’ doors.
“About two-third of our hires
Redseer Strategy Consultants
that was released last week, the
quick commerce market grew
even toys.
Most recently, Tata-backed
Bigbasket outlined plans to sell
But quick commerce com-
panies also want their execu-
tives as employees and try to
record close tion.
Staffing industry experts
for delivery executives is taking
place in tier-II and tier-III cit-
by 70-75% last year, which was
five times the e-commerce
electronics and appliances
through its association with sis-
get experienced delivery and
dark-store agents on their own
such as Manu Saigal, director, ies,” said Lohit Bhatia, presi- growth. ter company Croma. payroll. As a result, attrition can
Reuters general staffing, at recruitment dent of workforce manage- With a $2.8 billion current Then, Flipkart has been exceed 20% for non-gig work-
feedback@livemint.com firm Adecco India, said the ment at business services pro- market size, Redseer said aver- making gradual attempts to ers, staffing firms said.
BENGALURU demand for these executives vider Quess Corp. “Summer age order values for quick com- relaunch its quick commerce While gig workers are paid
will rise over the next few months, which bring in the merce platforms saw over 15% vehicle as a part of its larger per parcel/trip made, a delivery

S
hares recovered from a
muted start to log record
closing highs on Thurs-
day, led by private banks and
metals, while a dip in pharma
stocks capped gains.
The NSE Nifty 50 settled
0.22% higher at 23,567, while
the S&P BSE Sensex added
0.18% to 77,478.93.
The Nifty has logged record
closing highs in five out of six
sessions, while the Sensex has
ended at all-time highs for five
consecutive sessions.
Sector rotation towards
large-cap banking stocks will
likely continue due to their val-
uation comfort, keeping the
benchmarks buoyant, analysts
said. Heavyweight private
banks gained 1.16% after Mac-
quarie said it preferred them
over other financials, given
their stable earnings outlook.
months as the churn is
expected to increase.
According to TeamLease
Services, quick commerce
employs 200,000-250,000
employees in the form of gig
workers, those who are with
staffing firms, and those who
are permanently employed by
the companies.
Quick commerce caters to
delivery of items in less than 15
mins through a concentrated
network of dark stores, which
India Inc. turns gracious, dividend payout jumps to ₹2.2 tn in FY24
Mayur Bhalerao
mayur.bhalerao@livemint.com
MUMBAI
school holidays, have seen a increase in FY24 driven by cat- ambitions to sell everything agent on the payrolls of a
25% uptick in delivery hires.” egory diversification and and stay relevant. Its earlier recruitment firm or quick com-
While Flipkart and Zomato greater spending by users. brushes with the fast-paced merce company can earn
declined to comment on the Average order value excluding delivery system—with Nearby ₹18,000-25,000 a month.
The quick commerce business has practically surged in recent hiring spike, BigBasket, delivery fee but post discount in 2015 and Flipkart Quick in “The incentives will kick in
times, which explains the interest from new entrants. MINT Swiggy, Amazon, Uber and expanded to ₹480 in 2023 from 2020—had to be shut down for during the festive season
Zepto did not respond to ₹376 in 2022, according to the various reasons. (August-September onwards),
serve as warehouses in high-or- incumbents Swiggy’s Instam- requests for a comment. The consultancy firm. The rush for executives is but right now companies are
der neighbourhoods. art, Zepto, and Zomato-backed quick commerce business has The order values are resulting in rampant poaching. trying to engage them by talk-
The hyper-competitive Blinkit. practically surged in recent expected to continue to rise as Recruiters told Mint that exec- ing about the benefits, provi-
space has multiplied in recent As quick commerce gains times, which explains the inter- the companies, who were ini- utives who joined as gig work- dent fund details, if the agents
months with new players such traction, these companies are est from new entrants. Average tially focused on groceries, are ers are getting hired by staffing move from gig to a more per-
as Amazon, Flipkart and Big- spreading their wings to fara- order values have sharply now expanding to also offer firms to work for clients while manent role,” said Saigal of
Basket joining the fray with way places, seeding demand for increased in recent months. home improvement products, being on the payrolls of the Adecco India.
year, the growth in the largesse This was followed by TCS (₹ received dividends from Hin- goodies.“The revival in PSU
has outpaced the companies’ 26,486 crore), Infosys (₹19,093 dustan Zinc. The information and government owned com-
bottom line growth. While net crore) and ITC (₹17,163). technology (IT) and public sec- panies is real. The reason is
profits witnessed a modest sin- “This financial year (FY24), tor undertaking (PSU) sectors increase in capital efficiency

I
It upgraded Kotak Mahindra
Bank and City Union Bank to
“outperform” from “neutral”,
spurring a 1.12% and 5.86% rise,
respectively.
The banking sector remains
in good health, with expecta-
tions of robust loan growth and
healthy asset quality, said
Chandraprakash Padiyar, sen-
ior fund manager at Tata
Mutual Fund. Metals rose
1.82%, led by a 4.79% gain in
Vedanta after a report said
Vedanta Resources plans to
keep its stake in the miner.
ndian companies are shell-
ing out a larger chunk of
their profits than ever before
as dividends, with FY24 wit-
nessing a 12% year-on-year rise
in payouts to ₹2.2 trillion, the
highest in at least six years.
A Mint analysis of 132 com-
panies whose latest data was
available shows a steady
increase in dividend payout
ratios over the past six years. In
FY24, the ratio reached a little
over 59%, exceeding the previ-
ous five-year average of 54.8%.
For the second consecutive
gle-digit increase of 9.3%, divi-
dend payouts surged at a dou-
ble-digit rate, the data showed.
“The current trend of rising
dividend payouts is likely to
continue in the coming years.
With sustained economic
growth, improving corporate
profitability, and prudent
financial management by com-
panies, there remains a positive
outlook for shareholders bene-
fiting from increased dividend
distributions,” said Arvinder
Singh Nanda, senior vice presi-
dent, Master Capital Services
Some of the biggest dividend payers in 2023-24 include Vedanta,
TCS, and public sector firms such as ONGC.
Ltd.
Some of the biggest dividend
payers in FY24 were Vedanta,
Tata Consultancy Services, and
public sector firms such as Oil
companies with healthy profits should continue to deliver divi- along with optimal capacity
rewarded inves- dends this year as utilization. This has led to
tors by paying FY24 witnessed a well,” he added. higher profits from PSU sectors
dividends. The 12% year-on-year This under- with enough provision kept for
trend is expected rise in dividend scores the PSU future expansion,” said Anand
to be similar this payouts, reaching segment’s role in K. Rathi, co-founder of Mira
year, with no dividend payouts. Money.“This has also been led
a record high of
immediate While their con- by an increase in exports for a
increase antici- ₹2.2 trillion in at tribution dipped few industries. This trend will
REUTERS pated,” said Abhi- least six years slightly in continue till PSU takes the
lash Pagaria, 2019-20, it has mantle of expansion. The pri-
and Natural Gas Corp. and head, Nuvama steadily climbed vate sector had stayed conserv-
Power Grid Corp. of India. The Alternative and Quantitative since then. In FY24, PSUs con- ative both on expansion and
metal and mining major Research. tributed 23% to the total divi- holding up cash for future
Vedanta led the pack with a “Vedanta could pay higher dend pool, showcasing their expansion, hence lesser divi-
hefty ₹54,402 crore payout. dividends mainly because it unwavering efforts to share the dends,” he added.
LIVEMINT.COM CORPORATE FRIDAY, 21 JUNE 2024
NEW DELHI 05

Infosys McCamish reports

first revenue decline in 8 years
Binance told to follow Biocon eyes
partner to
Jas Bardia
jas.bardia@livemint.com
BENGALURU
What led to the dip?
The decline in revenue and margins in FY24 is a result of
rules, fined $2.25 mn test drugs
in China
muted demand & ransomware attack
Revenue reported by Infosys McCamish (in $ million)* Reuters

U
S-based Infosys McCa- 500
mish Systems LLC feedback@livemint.com
reported its first annual 400 Action seems to clear world’s largest crypto exchange to operate in India SHANGHAI
revenue decline in eight years,

B
300
hurt by a ransomware attack iocon is searching for a
and weak demand. Shouvik Das partner in China to test
200
Revenue at the wholly- shouvik.das@livemint.com generic versions of Novo
owned subsidiary of Infosys Ltd 100 NEW DELHI Nordisk’s hot-selling diabetes
fell 4.3% to $442 million in the drug Ozempic and weight loss

B
year ended December 2023, 0 inance, the world’s largest cryp- treatment Wegovy, a senior
FY2014 FY2023
according to the company’s tocurrency exchange, received a executive told Reuters.
*Financial year refers to year ended March till FY16 (e.g. FY16 means year ended March
annual report earlier this 2016), and calendar year (Jan-Dec) thereafter (e.g. FY17 means Jan-Dec 2017). The notice on Wednesday from Biocon, which aims to even-
month. company switched to calendar year in 2019, but reported corresponding retrospective India’s Financial Intelligence tually launch generic versions
figures for 2017 and 2018 as well.
“Revenue and margins of Unit (FIU-IND), which fined it of the injectible drugs globally,
Source: Mint research basis the subsidiaries' financials
McCamish declined in FY24 as $2.25 million (₹18.8 crore) for operating wants to find a Chinese partner
SHREEYA AGGARWAL/MINT
a result of muted demand envi- without complying with domestic anti- for clinical trials on 500-plus
ronment compounded by tems reported in November by the data breach at Infosys money-laundering regulations before patients so they can be sold in
impact of ransomware attack,” 2023. The incident rendered McCamish, which included December 2023. This means the exchange the world’s second-biggest
Kotak Institutional Equities services unavailable and led to their personal information and has now been cleared to operate in India, economy, said Amit Kaptain,
analysts Kawaljeet Saluja, Sat- unauthorised access to sensi- social security numbers. provided it pays the fine and complies with head of commercial active
ishkumar S., and Vamshi tive customer information. The ghost of the cybersecu- local regulations. pharmaceutical ingredients
Krishna said in a note dated 18 Infosys McCamish’s net rity incident has not stopped In its notice, FIU-IND said it imposed the business. “We will find it chal-
June. Another analyst also profit tumbled 69% to $10.7 haunting the Bengaluru-based fine “due to Binance’s ongoing provision of lenging to do it by ourselves
attributed the revenue decline million whereas operating Infosys as it now runs the risk of services to Indian clients and operations because it’s at least about a $12
to the ransomware attack. margins crashed 570 basis a class-action lawsuit. On 6 within India, without adhering to its statu- to $15 million investment,”
“Revenues have fallen points to 3.4% by the end of March, a class-action com- tory obligations under the Prevention of Kaptain said, referring to a clin-
because of the cyber attack as 2023. plaint was filed in a Georgia dis- Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002”. Binance operated without complying with anti-money-laundering norms. AFP ical trial required in China.
the company had to pay off While Infosys deployed a trict court against Infosys on The company was issued a notice under Biocon’s chief executive told
money to fix the damages,” a third-party cybersecurity behalf of individuals in the US Section 13 of the PMLA on 28 December and erstwhile chief executive Changpeng every crypto trade. Since then, daily aver- Reuters earlier that the firm was
Mumbai-based products provider whose data was leaked due to 2023. Zhao pleaded guilty to money laundering age trades on India’s largest exchanges, preparing to conduct a clinical
analyst said on Revenue at the to resolve the the cyber incident. The notice, a copy of which Mint has charges by the US Securities and Exchange WazirX and CoinDCX, have plummeted by trial next year, if needed. Bio-
condition of ano- wholly- owned issue, the incident The complainants accused seen, added, “Specific directions have been Commission. He subsequently stepped up to 90%. con’s generics would join at
nymity. subsidiary of cost the company Infosys McCamish of conceal- issued to Binance to ensure diligent com- down as chief executive and agreed to a A senior executive at one of India’s top least 15 other generics or bio-
This was Info- Infosys Ltd fell dearly. ing the existence and extent of pliance with the obligations outlined in $4.3-billion settlement. crypto firms, who did not wish to be named, similars in development by
sys McCamish’s “Loss of con- the data breach for an ‘unrea- Chapter IV of PMLA.” Entities that repre- In November 2019, Binance had said, “Given that Binance holds the world’s Chinese drugmakers ahead of
4.3% to $442 mn tracted revenues
first revenue sonable duration of time,’ and sented Binance before FIU-IND announced the acquisition of largest liquid reserves of crypto tokens and an expiry of patent protection
decline since the in the year ended a n d c o s t s for letting them believe their included its facilities in the Sey- Indian crypto exchange WazirX. the largest variety of token listings, many on semaglutide, a key ingredi-
year ended March December 2023 incurred with data was safe. The complain- chelles, Cayman Islands and Zhao said at the time, “The traders are likely to resume trading on the ent in both Ozempic and
2015. It switched
to calendar year
respect to remedi- ants sought a jury to look into
ations, restora- the matter. Infosys is yet to
Switzerland.
On 10 May, Mint reported 30%
Tax introduced by
acquisition of WazirX shows platform or move to it. This is likely to hurt
our commitment and dedi- homegrown exchanges’ growth this year.”
Wegovy, in early 2026 in
China. At least two local firms
reporting in 2019. Parent com- tion, communication efforts, respond to the suit. that Binance and fellow cation to the Indian people Other stakeholders said that if Binance have already applied to begin
pany Infosys follows an April- investigative processes and An email sent to Infosys cryptocurrency exchange the Centre on and strengthen the block- complies with the rules, India’s crypto mar- commercial sales. Huge
to-March financial year. analysis, legal services and oth- seeking comment remained Kucoin were set to be cleared crypto earnings chain ecosystem in India.” But ket will benefit from a major player's demand for Wegovy and
Infosys bought Atlanta, ers amounted to approximately unanswered till press time. to operate in India after being in August 2022, Zhao claimed return. Aggarwal, however, had said in May Ozempic, which is sometimes
Georgia-based McCamish Sys- $30 million,” according to Info- Infosys McCamish has more suspended by FIU-IND in his firm had never finalised a deal that taxes and fines “should not be consid- used unofficially as a weight-
tems, which provides insur- sys subsidiaries’ financials for than 680 employees. Richard December. Vivek Aggarwal, director to acquire WazirX, days after the ered proof of the legitimacy of the crypto- loss treatment, have helped to
ance process management the year ended March 2024. Magner took over as chief exec- of FIU-IND, told Mint last month that the homegrown platform was accused of evad- currency industry”. He said, “Whether turn Novo Nordisk into one of
solutions and services, through However, it was not known if utive officer in 2017 from Gor- exchange was under scrutiny and had ing oversight by local agencies. cryptocurrencies are legitimate or not Europe’s most valuable firms.
one of its six subsidiaries, Info- the parent company paid this don Beckham, who headed made representations to the unit, which is Binance’s potential return to the Indian should depend on dedicated regulations, The number of adults who
sys BPO, for $58 million in sum or if this amount came out McCamish Systems from the affiliated with the finance ministry. market could mean more trouble for which are yet to be taken up by Parliament are overweight or obese in
December 2009. of McCamish’s coffers. time it was taken over by Info- An email sent to Binance did not elicit an homegrown exchanges. India’s cryptocur- and policymakers. Adherence to laws is a China is projected to reach 540
The revenue decline for one Bank of America (BofA) sys BPO in 2009. The acquisi- immediate response. rency industry has been in the doldrums base requirement of all companies that are million and 150 million respec-
of Infosys’ first acquisitions informed the Maine Attorney tion came when Infosys was Binance, which has no designated global since 2022, when the Union government registered in India and offer services to tively in 2030, up 2.8 and 7.5
adds fuel to the fire left by the General in February that looking to scale up its business headquarters, has courted controversy introduced a 30% tax on crypto earnings Indian consumers. This has nothing to do times from 2000 levels, as per a
ransomware attack on its sys- 57,028 clients were impacted process outsourcing (BPO) unit. worldwide. In November 2023, its founder and a 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) on with legitimising the crypto industry.” 2020 study.

Eyes on HDFC stock over likely MSCI flow Jamie Beaton, Ivy League admissions
Ram Sahgal
On the rise foreign room to increase to tract has seen open interest expert shares winning strategies
I
ram.sahgal@livemint.com
The HDFC Bank stock has 25% (74%-55.5%)/74%. (OI)—outstanding positions—
MUMBAI risen this month on short “There is immense domes- falling from 196.9 million f you want to get accepted to
covering & fresh buying tic investor interest in HDFC shares on 30 May to 169 mil- the top 25 universities

H
DFC Bank could test its
record high over the
next few weeks if the
momentum on the counter
sustains on anticipation that
the stock could attract MSCI
inflows of $3.5-4 billion if the
weight of the stock doubles on
the MSCI India Index at the
upcoming quarterly review in
August, analysts said.
The stock’s life high stands
at ₹1,757.50 hit on 3 July last
year, following the merger of
mortgage lender HDFC with
the bank. The anticipation
among domestic investors is of
the so-called foreign room of
the stock widening to 25%
from March quarter’s 24.94%.
Foreign room refers to the
proportion of shares still avail-
able to foreign investors rela-
tive to the foreign ownership
limit, which is 74%. For the
weight on MSCI India Index to
HDFC Bank stock price movement (₹)
1750
1,669.35
1650
1,514.85
1550
1450
30 May 2024 20 Jun 2024
Source: Bloomberg
PRANAY BHARDWAJ/MINT
double from 3.93% to 7.9%, the
foreign room should hit 25%.
This threshold as at the end of
the March quarter was just 6
basis points short at 24.94%, as
per brokerage Nuvama.
The FII shareholding,
including the American
Depository Receipts listed on
US exchanges, was 55.54%,
and should fall to 55.5% by the
end of the June quarter for the
Bank,” said Abhilash Pagaria, lion shares as of Thursday. includingHarvard,Stanford,
head, Nuvama Alternative & Accompanied by this fall in
Quantitative Research. “FIIs OI, the spot price of HDFC
Yale, Princeton, Columbia,
might also hop on. Whether Bank has jumped 9.49% from University of Pennsylvania as
the MSCI weight increase hap- 30 May to ₹1,669.35 on Thurs- well as Cambridge here’s how.
pens in August or day. A rise in With 9 degrees to his credit by
not is anybody’s The stock’s record price along with the age of 29, this is CEO & co-
guess, but in the stands at ₹1,757.50 falling OI indi- founderofCrimsonEducation,
run-up to that, hit on 3 July last cates short cover- Jamie Beaton’s story in his own
until sharehold- year, post merger ing. To cover a words.
ing is declared in short, a bear or “At the age of 13, I had never
of mortgage
the first week of hedger must buy thought of studying in
July, sentiment lender HDFC with the stock back,
the bank America. I heard from a Yale
could move the which raises its
stock towards all- price. graduate who I happened to
time highs.” “Given the sit next to on the train that I
This expectation perked up momentum, I think the share should go for the world’s best Jamie Beaton, CEO & co-founder, Crimson Education speaking to Ivy League and Oxbridge aspirants
delivery-based buying on 19 could test (₹)1,757 levels in the universities. That moment at a Crimson seminar during his recent India visit
June to a four-month high of next two-odd weeks,” said triggered me to dig deep and
24.8 million shares, driving up Chandan Taparia, senior vice aim higher than I ever had policy at Oxford, studied crownedaunicorninmyhome strategist who brings in their
the stock 3% to ₹1,657.85 president and head—deriva- before. I worked relentlessly finance at Princeton, educa- country of New Zealand. local expertise, understanding
apiece. tives and technical research, on a variety of academics and tion at the University of Crimson is the most successful ofculturalnuancesandexperi-
Apart from this spurt, trad- Motilal Oswal. “Buying and extracurricularsaswellaslead- Pennsylvania and global affairs admissions consulting com- ence of working with Indian
ers have also been closing out short covering could accom-
ership, launching various ini- at Tsinghua. As of three weeks pany, due to the approach we studentsandfamilies,ensuring
bearish bets since 30 May. The plish this.” He pegs support for
27 June expiry futures con- the stock at ₹1,610. tiatives from start-up busi- ago, I have now finished 9 use to guide students. Each that we are aligned to the spe-
nesses to social enterprises. All degrees at the world’s best uni- student works with a custom- cific needs of Indian families.
of this hard work culminated versities and was admitted as ised team, including a strate- “Each of the hundreds of
in a terrifying moment when a New York attorney. gist, who oversees all aspects mentors come with a top of the

Sebi okays Ola Electric’s ₹5,500 cr IPO I hit submit on my Harvard

PTI
Ltd (OEML) plans to utilise
feedback@livemint.com ₹1,226.43 crore out of the pro-
NEW DELHI ceeds of its ₹5,500 crore pub-
lic issue on capacity expan-
application in November of
2012. I had no idea what to
expect. When the news came
back from Harvard that I had
been accepted, my head was
spinning. After Harvard,
results came in from Yale,
“In 2013, I launched of the narrative building for
Crimson to guide the world’s the student, helping carve out
most ambitious students to get a niche through a stand-out set
line degree (from an Ivy
League, or a top 20 college
degree from the US, top 5 uni-
into the best universities on of high impact projects, dem- versities in the UK), and a track
the planet. Leveraging my onstrating the student’s record of having sent students
first-hand experience getting authentic story. A writing spe- to the top colleges. “They are
intoallofthebestprogrammes cialist will work with the stu- seasonededucators,whocome
as a high school student and dent to ultimately help put this with a lens of helping students

E
lectric two-wheeler
company Ola Electric
Mobility’s proposed
₹5,500 crore initial public
offering (IPO) has received
the go-ahead from Securities
and Exchange Board of India
(Sebi), paving way for the
company to tap the market
with a significant part of the
proceeds to be used on capac-
ity expansion of its cell manu-
facturing plant and revving
up R&D.
Ola Electric as well as Bain
Capital-backed Emcure Phar-
maceuticals received Sebi’s
approval to raise funds
through IPOs, an update with
the markets regulator showed
on Thursday.
The two companies, which
filed their preliminary IPO
papers with Sebi in December
2023, obtained observations
Ola Electric plans to use the funds for capacity expansion of its
cell manufacturing plant and revving up R&D.
on 10 June, it added. In Sebi’s
parlance, its observations
means its go-ahead to float
the public issue.
Ola Electric’s proposed IPO
is a combination of fresh issue
of equity shares up to ₹5,500
crore and an offer for sale
(OFS) of 95.2 million equity
shares by promoters and
investors, according to the
REUTERS
draft red herring prospectus
(DRHP).
For Ola Electric, the IPO
will provide the much-
needed impetus to invest in
enhancing cell manufactur-
ing capacity and research and
development on future tech-
nologies and products.
According to its draft
papers, Ola Electric Mobility
sion of its cell manufacturing
plant to 6.4 GWh from 5
GWh.
The company is also look-
ing to use ₹1,600 crore from
the fresh fund on research
and product development,
while another ₹800 crore will
be deployed to repay debts.
In its DRHP, OEML said the
Phase 1 (a) and Phase 1 (b) of
the set up and expansion of
the Ola Gigafactory at Krish-
nagiri district in Tamil Nadu
will be funded from internal
accruals and long-term bor-
rowings availed by its arm Ola
Cell Technologies Pvt. Ltd
(OCT). The Phase 1 (a) is
expected to be completed by
March 2024 and the gigafac-
tory will have a capacity of 1.4
GWh. In the Phase 1 (b), the
capacity will be increased to 5
GWh by October 2024.
Princeton, Stanford, Wharton,
Columbia, Duke and more.
Incredibly,Ihadbeenaccepted
to all the universities!
“Going to Harvard trans-
formed every facet of my life.
I met tycoons of Wall Street
like Julian Robertson who
inspired me to dream bigger
than I ever thought possible
and leading academics like
Professor Larry Summers.
Harvard was the catalyst to an
academic adventure of epic
proportions. I finished my
Bachelor and Masters degrees
a t Ha r va r d i n Ap p l i e d
Mathematics in just three
years, and then went to
Stanford Business School, Yale
Law School, completed a
Rhodes Scholarship in public
my lived experience pursuing story on paper, in the most grow in this process. We lever-
many of the world’s most com- compelling essays and per- age artificial intelligence and
petitive degrees, we sonal statements. thelargestdatasetofsuccessful
have built one of the And an extracur- applications to assess our stu-
world’s most effec- ricular and leader- dents’ odds of success and
tive top universities ship mentor will more importantly, how to
training engine. work to help exe- improve them to compete and
This year, we hit a cute, taking the stu- win on the world stage.
world record of over dent’s ideas into “Inthepastweek,during my
280 Ivy League scalable projects. India visit, I’ve had the good
offers for Crimson CRIMSON Crimson students fortune of meeting hundreds
students in a single EDUCATION also get access to
of talented students in person
year and over 990 Former Admissions at our seminars in Chennai,
cumulatively since we began. Officers, who bring their insid- New Delhi and Mumbai. It has
In a single year, we had 39 stu- erknowledgeofhavingworked been an overwhelming experi-
dents gain admission into in the admissions offices to ence, to learn about their aspi-
Stanford. point out what our students rations and to share my les-
“Crimson is the world’s larg- can do to stand out to the sons, strategies and wisdom so
est education consulting firm admissions committees. that they too can live their own
raising more than $75 million “For our students in India, Ivy League dream.”
from top investors like Tiger the team of mentors also
Global. We were recently includes a country-based Created by Mint Brand Studio
06 FRIDAY, 21 JUNE 2024
NEW DELHI CORPORATE LIVEMINT.COM

Sebi bars
JMFL from Allied Blenders eyes global m

MOVES
debt issues
till Mar ‘25
brand tie-up, local startups A weekly list of C-Suiters who have moved up
the corporate ladder either within or outside
their companies.

Amit Appointed as Group CEO at

Neha Joshi
Golia Marketsmojo
neha.joshi@livemint.com
mUMBAI Company targets greater share in the premium end of the alcoholic beverages market
Avi Appointed as Chief Marketing

T
he Securities and
Exchange Board of India
(Sebi) on Thursday con-
firmed its interim order of 7
March barring JM Financial
Kumar Officer at FNP
Suneera Tandon whisky—making India one of the larg-
suneera.t@htlive.com est whisky markets in the world. IMFL
Mumbai sales by value is estimated at ₹1.74 tril-
Dipanjan Appointed as Chief Commercial
Banerjee Officer at Blue Dart
lion in fiscal 2022 and projected to

L
from acting as a lead manager
for any new public issue of debt
securities after the company
gave a voluntary undertaking
that it will not take up new
mandates as a lead manager till
31 May 2025.
Sebi’s interim order was
passed after the regulator
recorded serious lapses during
an instance where the com-
pany acted as a lead manager
for a public issue.
The voluntary undertaking
stated that JM will not take on
any new mandate as lead man-
ager in any public issue for a
period up to 31 March 2025 or a
date as Sebi may specify.
iquor company Allied Blend-
ers and Distillers (ABD) is eye-
ing a distribution tie-up to sell
foreign liquor brands in India
and also actively talking to
homegrown start-ups to invest in craft
spirits brands, as the company eyes a
greater share in the premium end of
the alcoholic beverages market.
“We spend reasonable time looking
at the whole startup space. There's a
lot of interest and current conversa-
tions that we are doing with a few
founders in the non-gin and non-
whisky space, the focus is on premium
dark spirits, for instance,” Alok Gupta,
managing director, Allied Blenders
and Distillers, said at the company’s ABD’s prominent brands include Officer’s Choice whisky, Sterling Reserve, Jolly
pre-IPO press meet Thursday.
reach ₹2.4 trillion by fiscal 2025.
Global connect Gaurav Appointed as Executive Vice
The company is “actively” looking Bhagowati President at Gnothi Seauton
to partner global liquor companies to
bring more international brands to
India as it expands its portfolio of pre- Joel Appointed as Senior Director CSR
mium spirits. Currently, it has no such Fernandez at MediBuddy India
tie-up.
“We are at a significant advanced Appointed as Head - Culture &
level of discussions. There is a great Manjith Transformation at India First Life
level of interest from brands all over Mohan Insurance
Roger rum, Zoya gin, among others. @ABDL_INDIA/X
the world, not just Europe, but, say,
tequila out of Mexico, it could be Japa-
nese whisky or a Taiwanese whiskey,
etc.,” he added.
The company could work out a
long-term partnership to build these
brands in India.
“The idea is to find that unique
Pradnya
Popade

Ravi
Vukkadala
m Appointed as Head Marketing at
Welspun Global Brands

Appointed as Country Manager

India at Community Investment
Management

The company assured that
its existing systems and pro-
cesses relating to mandates for
acting as lead manager for IPOs
of debt securities are further
augmented, so that any kind of
wrongdoing is prevented. JM
also assured that it has decided
to voluntarily discontinue IPO
financing business completely.
“The voluntary undertaking
substantially covers the restric-
tions imposed by the interim
order,” Sebi’s whole-time
member Ashwani Bhatia
recorded in the latest order.
In a statement, JM Financial
said the directions contained in
the order are limited to the
firm’s role as a lead manager to
public issue of debt securities
and do not relate to other activi-
ties of the company, including
acting as a lead manager to pub-
lic issue of equity instruments.
MOVES
The move comes as the company, white space where we have the right
which draws a bulk of its revenue from plough into new-age brands. brands include Officer’s Choice to play and right to win. There are
whisky, looks to expand to tap more New-age alcoholic brands such as whisky, Sterling Reserve, Jolly Roger some unique flavour-price combina- Sanath Appointed as Chief Marketing
premium consumers. Greater Than gin, Stranger & Sons gin rum, Zoya gin, among others. It sells tions that are undiscovered and try to R. Pulikkal Officer at Bajaj Consumer Care
In the past few years, it has diversi- or Bira91 beer have emerged in the 30 million cases a year across all its build a first-mover advantage there.
fied into selling gin. However, the past decade, offering a greater variety brands. Tequila could be one of them,” Gupta Sanjeev Appointed as Managing Director &
mainstay of its business continues to of spirits to Indian consumers. While ABD has been actively looking to said. Duggal CEO at Universal Biofuels
be Officer’s Choice whisky, a brand the market for such brands is still expand its presence in the premium The company's consolidated reve-
launched in 1988 that marked its entry small, they have challenged incum- spirits market and has created a verti- nue from operations for the year
into the mass premium whisky ended 31 March 2023 stood at Shailendra Appointed as Chief Business
segment. RAISING THE BAR ₹7,105.6 crore, down 1.2% year-on- Shetty Officer at RPSG Media
It sells 19 million cases of Offi- year. Its main competitors are
cer’s Choice whisky annually, and THE company’s ABD’S product ABD is looking to THE firm’s IPO United Spirits Limited, Pernod Sidharth Appointed as Senior VP and Head
draws nearly 95% of its sales from mainstay of portfolio comprises expand in the consists of fresh Ricard India Private Limited and Jio Games at Jio Platforms
whisky.
business continues over two dozen premium spirits issues of up to
Radico Khaitan Limited.
Kedia
to be Officer’s Indian made foreign market with its new ₹1,000 cr and OFS
Start-ups in alcohol Choice whisky liquor brands vertical, PremBrands of up to ₹500 cr ABD’s IPO (initial public offer-
Gupta said start-ups are tapping ing) is set to open on 25 June. The Sudhir Appointed as Chief Executive
into emerging consumer trends, IPO consists of fresh issues of up to officer at Guiltfree Industries
Langer
something incumbents have been bents with innovative packaging and cal called PremBrands for the same. ₹1,000 crore and an offer for sale
slow to catch-up on. speaking to a more discerning set of Apart from Zoya, PremBrands (OFS) of up to ₹500 crore by the pro-
“That nimbleness is what we like, so consumers. includes spirits such as Sterling moters. The proceeds will be utilized Tarun Appointed as Head Marketing at
the idea is we retain all of that and ABD’s product portfolio comprises Reserve B10, X&O, Srishti whiskies, to the extent of ₹720 crore for repay- Jha JSW Steel
open access to our distribution to over two dozen Indian made foreign and Kyron Brandy. ment of outstanding borrowings and
them,” he added. Gupta declined to liquor or IMFL brands across whisky, To be sure, nearly 70% of IMFL sales general corporate purposes, the com- Source: Accord India, executive search worldwide
share investments the company could brandy, rum, and vodka. Prominent in value terms in India are still pany said on Thursday.

Uniform charger ports coming Railways on track to add

Waste heap
FROM PAGE 1
₹50,000 cr lines this year
Xiaomi welcomed the develop-
ment. “This is a customer-cen-
tric and environmentally con-
scious move that reduces
e-waste. With a single charger
and cable, consumers can con-
veniently power multiple devi-
ces, reducing the hassle of car-
Some companies are no longer tracking demographic data. REUTERS rying separate chargers. This
uniform standard also stream-
E-waste generated in India
It was being discussed at the
highest level internationally for
(million tonnes)* more than a decade. It is a mat-
1.8 ter of relief that all mobile man- FROM PAGE 1
1.6 ufacturers have agreed to have
a uniform mobile charger,” said Kumar Jain, a former Railway
1.4
Ashim Sanyal, CEO of Con- Board member.
sumer VOICE, a non-govern- Jain said that the new line
ment organization. programme should capture
“When the world is dealing infrastructure growth in cities
1.0
with an e-waste crisis, switch- such as Bangalore, Pune, Jai-
ing to a uniform mobile charger pur, Indore, Chennai and

Cos watering down lines service and repair pro-

cesses for companies, eliminat-
ing complications arising from
0.6
0.7
FY18
*Includes e-waste from 21 types of
FY22
will help in cutting e-waste. It
will also help companies in cut-
ting costs besides reducing the
Mysore that have seen sharply
higher economic growth
higher than the national aver-

diversity recruiting diverse charging interfaces,”

said Muralikrishnan B, presi-
dent, Xiaomi India.
electrical and electronic equipment
Source: Central Pollution
Control Board
SHREEYA AGGARWAL/MINT
burden on consumers of buy-
ing chargers along with mobile
phones,” Sanyal added.
age. They require enhanced
connectivity, including that
from the Railways, he said. The Railways’ focus on expanding its network is in line with
“Oppo India is aligned with “Currently, devices use vari- Earlier, Union railway min- projected growth in rail traffic, both passenger and freight.

programs
MINT
the Indian government on which mitigates the harmful ous charging ports, requiring ister Ashwini Vaishnaw had
introduction of uniform charg- effects on our ecosystems. separate chargers for each, indicated that laying new budgetary it provided this year opment projects.
ing port for electronic devices. Standardisation also leads to making management and tracks would be a key to in the interim budget. For The Railways’ focus on
FROM PAGE 1 nies directly, many companies This uniformity can reduce more efficient recycling pro- maintenance problematic. The expanding railway infrastruc- FY24, the Centre provided a expanding its network is in
viewed it as a warning shot that costs for consumers and con- cesses, as fewer types of materi- government’s move will reduce ture to every part of the coun- record gross budgetary sup- line with projected growth in
JPMorgan said it remains they could be targeted next. tribute towards curtailing als need to be sorted and pro- the need to produce excessive try. At current costs, laying 1 port (GBS) of ₹2,40,200 crore, rail traffic, both passenger and
committed to a workforce with “They’re being a lot more avoidable e-waste,” said Savio cessed,” D’Souza added. chargers and cables, addressing km of tracks would cost around a 51% increase over gross bud- freight. A rail ministry study
diverse backgrounds and per- careful about how they say it and D’Souza, director of product Queries emailed to spokes- environmental concerns about ₹15 crore. This could vary getary support of ₹1,59,300 showed 800 crore trips by rail,
spectives. Kirkland & Ellis even if they say it,” said Steven communications, Oppo India. persons of the IT and consumer recycling,” said Dr. Suneel Pan- depending on the movement crore (revised estimates) in 200-250 crore by road and
declined to comment. Rothberg, founder of job-search “E-waste management affairs ministries, as well as dey, director of circular econ- of prices of basic inputs such as FY23. For FY25, the GBS has around 35 crore by air in India
Law firm King & Spalding no website College Recruiter, who aligns deeply with Oppo India’s device makers Vivo, Samsung, omy and waste management at steel as well as the availability been raised further to annually. The 800 crore figure
longer notes “the best talent is has seen a decline in companies green initiatives. As users dis- Apple, and the India Cellular The Energy and Resources of land for laying tracks. ₹2,52,000 crore, which the is projected to reach 1,000
diverse in many ways” on the saying their primary goal for card fewer incompatible char- and Electronics Association Institute (TERI). The Railways expects the Railways feels should be main- crore by 2030, which would
description of its diversity fel- recruitment is to support their gers, the amount of e-waste (ICEA) remained unanswered. dhirendra.kumar@live- Centre to maintain or slightly tained to enable it to carry out require significant capacity
lowships as it once did. The DEI efforts. entering landfills decreases, “This step was long overdue. mint.com enhance the level of gross various infrastructure devel- expansion.
firm didn’t respond to a request It is too early to measure the
for comment. impact, if any, of these retreats on
Some companies are no longer workplace diversity. Surveys sug-
tracking demographic data gest most companies aren’t mak-
related to diversity because they ing substantive changes to their
fear that it poses a litigation risk if diversity initiatives, even if they
Sebi asks Religare to seek approvals for Burmans’ open offer
they make hiring are modifying how
decisions based on Surveys suggest they describe FROM PAGE 1 delayed by 6 months. They are said Manendra Singh, a partner authorities, which would inde-
identity or race, most companies them. But some losing not only a timely exit but at Economic Laws Practice. pendently assess and process
said Jailany Thiaw, aren’t making minority job seek- “As per Sebi’s advisory, the also value of money which Singh explained that the them. “How the said applica-
founder and chief substantive ers worry they company shall be making appli- acquirer is supposed to pay on Takeover Code imposes a clear tion would be processed by the
executive of could erode a path cations to the concerned regu- conclusion of the takeover obligation on the acquirer to RBI, Sebi and Irdai falls entirely
changes to their for diverse candi-
upskill, a job-re- lators including RBI for decid- open offer. Another crucial procure statutory approvals, within the jurisdiction of RBI,
cruitment plat- diversity dates to find ing the fit and proper status of aspect is whether shareholders requiring listed entities to act as Sebi and Irdai. It goes without
form. initiatives internships and the acquirers to the open offer,” will be entitled for interest on facilitators. If the approvals saying that Sebi has no role in
Thiaw, whose entry-level roles. Religare said in a statement to account of this delay. Who will don’t come through, the offer processing of the said applica-
site specializes in Going into her the stock exchanges. The com- pay the interest? It will be inter- will fail. Singh said Sebi appears tion by RBI and Irdai,” the Sebi
helping companies hire under- final year at Drexel University, pany’s shares rose as much as esting to see if the aspect of justified in its stance, arguing order said.
represented students and Amanda Gonzalez noticed tech 5% during the day following the interest liability will also unfold that without this approach, Parina Muchhala, associate
recent graduates, worries firms companies were less vocal about Sebi directive, before closing here,” Prakash said. takeovers of such regulated at Nishith Desai Associates said
won’t be able to recruit or retain their diversity initiatives com- 3.87% higher on the BSE. Sebi had earlier advised the entities would be impossible. the Sebi order sheds light on
a diverse workforce if they don’t pared with when she started col- Ravi Prakash, associate part- Religare board to comply with “However, other regulators the critical aspect of absence of
track such information. lege in 2020. It has increased her ner at law firm Corporate Pro- its SAST regulations; however, The open offer stalled as the Religare board did not take the also need to now take cogni- cooperation of the target to
Many employment lawyers nervousness around finding a fessionals said the Sebi order is the company said Sebi was Burmans’ proposal to regulators. MINT zance of this lacuna in law, to procure target-led regulatory
attribute the retreat to anti-DEI job in an industry already known an attempt to speed up the exceeding its brief in doing so, clarify their positions on such approvals for an open offer.
advocates like Edward Blum fil- to struggle with diversity. takeover procedure which has the regulator’s Thursday order take appropriate step for mak- where the management is at takeovers. Primacy of sectoral While Sebi’s stance may likely
ing lawsuits in the past year “I have grown up not seeing been delayed in this case. “Usu- said. “The Target Company ing applications to regulators loggerheads with the acquirers regulators versus Sebi will be provide some immediate res-
against law firms with diversity a lot of Latino representation ally, a takeover should get com- cannot be allowed to impinge for statutory approvals, Sebi is and involves multiple regula- decided in this case,” he said. pite to the acquirers in this case,
fellowships. Blum spearheaded within the tech sector specifi- pleted in 120-180 days if it on the rights of the sharehold- left with no other option but to tors. This matter has definitely On Religare’s claim that Sebi the lawyer suggested regula-
the lawsuit that prompted the cally,” said Gonzalez, a 22-year- strictly follows the regime of ers and their fate cannot be left issue urgent directions to the opened a Pandora’s Box and will had exceeded its brief by asking tory amendments by the sec-
Supreme Court’s 2023 decision old from Philadelphia. “I’m def- SAST Regulations. But in this hanging in balance,” Sebi said. noticees to take appropriate surely give wings to target com- the board to comply with SAST, toral regulators to remedy such
to overturn affirmative action initely super worried about the case, 270 days have passed and “However, since the Target steps in this regard,” it added. panies to look for excuses where Sebi clarified that its role was roadblock.
in college admissions. Though job market.” the takeover has not material- Company, even after explicit “The case is a peculiar one they don’t want a takeover if var- merely advisory, asking REL to ranjani.raghavan@live-
the ruling didn’t affect compa- ©2024 DOW JONES & CO. INC. ized. The shareholders’ exit is advice from Sebi, has refused to since it seems a hostile situation ious regulators are involved,” submit applications to relevant mint.com
LIVEMINT.COM CORPORATE FRIDAY, 21 JUNE 2024
NEW DELHI 07

AI makes big push into Relook new rules on ads: Iamai to SC

Varuni Khosla company puts up 20 digital

advertising, marketing varuni.k@livemint.com

NEW DELHI
ads a day, it will need signifi-
cant resources to comply with
the self-declaration rule. The

T
he Internet and Mobile [benefits] of digital ads—speed
Association of India and quick calibration—will be
(Iamai) has asked the hampered. There is also the
Supreme Court to reconsider issue of what constitutes an
new regulations that require advertisement and what does
AI is revolutionizing advertising but is still nascent and challenges abound advertisers to upload self-dec- not. Many social media posts,
laration certificates before for instance, may not necessa-
putting out ads on TV, in print, rily be ads,” Dhruv Garg, a
Varuni Khosla & Gaurav Laghate or online. The new rules, tech policy and legal consult-
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI which took effect on 18 June, ant based in Delhi told Mint.
aim to curb misleading ads but The industry body added

L
ast Diwali, a big surprise was in Iamai argues they will ham- One of Iamai’s main concerns was that the new rules would slow that existing laws such as the
store for both consumers and small string the digital economy. down or even halt online ad campaigns. MINT Information Technology Act
shop owners. Movie superstar Iamai is a non-profit with and the Consumer Protection
Shah Rukh Khan appeared in an ad about 600 members from would slow down or even halt making online ads less effec- Rules already have robust
promoting the neighbourhood startups to multinational com- online ad campaigns. tive and hurting revenue. mechanisms to deal with mis-
kirana shop, or jeweller, or photo studio, panies. In its petition, which Online ads are crucial Small and mid-sized compa- leading online ads. Stronger
among many others. Mint has seen, it said that while because busi- nies will be hit the enforcement of these laws
How could the small business owners it supported efforts to prevent nesses can track Iamai has asked hardest as they would better protect consum-
afford it? They didn’t, actually. Cadbury false ads, the self-declaration their perform- SC to reconsider rely heavily on ers than the new rules.
Celebrations’ chocolate ad during Diwali requirement would severely ance in real time rules that require online advertis- The petition highlighted
leveraged artificial intelligence (AI) and disrupt online advertising. It and make quick advertisers ing and may not the significant role online
machine learning to make Khan appear in urged the court to reconsider adjustments if have the resour- advertising has played in cre-
the self-declaration rule, and
to upload
multiple versions of the same ad for differ- needed. This flex- ces to comply ating economic opportunities,
ent shops. To feature their businesses, called for consultations with ibility helps com- self-declaration with the new especially during the pan-
shop owners had to fill a form, and name the government to find a solu- panies target certificates rules, it said. demic, when many businesses
their shops and products. For Cadbury, it tion that protects consumers their audiences “The primary were forced to shift online. It
was a goodwill service for its vendors' bene- while supporting the growth more effectively issue is with digi- also cited a study by GroupM,
fit; shopowners only needed to give con- of the digital economy. and boost sales, Iamai said. tal ads as their frequency is far which estimated that digital
sent, and no fee was charged. One of Iamai’s main con- The new rules, it added, [higher] than TV, print or ads would account for 57% of
In a statement on its website, Wave- Cadbury’s Diwali ad used AI to feature Shah Rukh Khan in multiple versions for different cerns was that the new rules would hinder this process, radio ads. For instance, if a ad revenue in India in 2024.
maker Global, the agency behind the ad, shops. AFP
said it used AI to localize the campaign to
500 pincodes with 2,500 local business Vishal Jacob, chief transformation offi- functions in an agency—planning; how to
owners. “Working with our tech partners, cer at advertising agency Wavemaker reach out to the audience; optimize and
Rephrase.ai and DeltaX, we used machine India, said AI has made advertising far eas- measure effectiveness of a campaign—have
learning to recreate SRK's face and voice to ier than before. “If we were to manually been impacted in a positive way. Right
Indus eyes residual funds from Voda sale
take local store names in the ad. Every time produce a thousand different creatives for from the early stages of formulating an ad
a Celebrations ad was served, the user one company, it would take a massive num- plan, everything has now changed. Gulveen Aulakh or indirectly,” Indus Towers' of €1.8 billion secured against every month since January
would see and hear SRK encourage pur- ber of man hours,” said Jacob. “But now we AI sifts through massive data sets, learn- gulveen.aulakh@livemint.com chief financial officer Vikas Vodafone’s Indian assets. The 2023 and more than that in the
chases from specific stores that were in have a number of tools which can personal- ing consumer behaviours and preferences NEW DELHI Poddar told analysts at JP Mor- assets include Indus Towers third and fourth quarters of
close vicinity,” the agency said. on an unprecedented scale gan prior to the stake sale. The and Vodafone Idea. FY24, as a result of which
THE POWER OF AI
I
It’s early days yet, but AI has that can create hyper-person- ndus Towers would stand to comments were shared by the On 18 June, Indus Towers there was some unwinding in
begun to enable brands and ad alized advertising, where cam- receive residual funds, if brokerage to cli- released pledge provision for doubtful debts.
agencies to create individual- WAVEMAKER AI has clearly begun AI sifts through paigns seem almost clairvoy- any, from Vodafone Group ents in a note. On Wednesday, on 17.98% shares “Given that the equity raise
ized advertising campaigns Global said it used AI to enable brands
to localize the and ad agencies to
massive data sets,
learning consumer
ant in their accuracy. It can Plc's stake sale in the company, On Wednes- Vodafone Group held by Vodafone by Vodafone Idea can be used
that grab attention at planning Cadbury campaign create individualized behaviours and also study buying patterns to owing to the secondary pledge day, UK-based Plc sold 18% stake in the company, only for capex and not to clear
and execution stages. to 500 pincodes campaigns preferences make campaigns that hit it has on Vodafone's 21% stake Vodafone Group in India's largest for the sale to be vendor dues, Indus has been in
Typically, with digital closer home. in the telecom tower provider. Plc sold 18% stake executed. discussion with Vodafone Idea
telecom tower
advertising, companies strug- In an earlier conversation, “Indus has a secondary in India’s largest Poddar told the on a plan to clear its provided
gle to get the attention of users who are ize content to result in multiple permuta- Dheeraj Sinha, FCB Group chief executive pledge on Vodafone Plc’s 21% telecom tower provider for brokerage that for dues of ₹5,400 crore,” JP
more often than not trying to skip ads, tion combinations like say, ‘a model with a officer, India and South Asia told Mint that stake, and if the sale goes provider for ₹15,300 crore Indus was look- Morgan said, attributing the
especially on platforms that have live smiling face or one with a serious face’, when users see ads online for products they through, then Vodafone will ₹15,300 crore. It ing to recover comments to Poddar. It added
streaming or video games, unlike on televi- helping us decide what works best for us at recently searched for, it is personalisation. first clear the dues of the pri- said that pro- outstanding dues that Indus did not expect any
sion. So, when an ad announces a shop near the concept stage. Producing the campaign But today, companies need to do personali- mary pledgers and the residual ceeds will be used to substan- of up to ₹5,400 crore from issues in getting incremental
you that resonates with you, it becomes then at the actual shooting or production sation at scale or engage with users while amount should go towards tially repay Vodafone's exist- Vodafone Idea through pay- tenancy business from Voda-
easier to grab that 10-20 seconds of atten- level becomes faster and easier.” still being creative. Indus’s dues with a maximum ing lenders in relation to the ment plans. Indus has been fone Idea as the carrier starts to
tion, say advertisers. He added that across the three broad varuni.k@livemint.com limit of ₹4,250 crore, directly outstanding bank borrowings collecting 100% of receivables deploy 4G and 5G capex.

SO
ISSUE OUT
TOMORROW

LONG, MADHYA PRADESH INDUSTRIAL

NO.11
DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LTD.
(Government of M.P. Undertaking)
SECRETARIAT FOR SINGLE WINDOW SYSTEM
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MPIDC/CE/New Empanel/2024 Date : 20.06.2024

From a gifted young EMPANELMENT NOTICE

prodigy to a Connecting you to M.P. Industrial Development Corporation Ltd. (MPIDC Ltd.)
invites Applications for New Empanelment of Consultants/
statesman of Indian Architects and Category enhancement applications for already
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by the Leaders in Journalism

THINK: ‘Circles of FIRST: Why water FOCUS: The BUSINESS LOUNGE:

Freedom’ and a tale is more precious 1934 Nanda Meet Shiprocket’s
of love and politics than ever Devi expedition Saahil Goel
08 FRIDAY, 21 JUNE 2024
NEW DELHI GLOBAL LIVEMINT.COM

For Apple’s push into AI,

China is a missing piece
The astronauts are slated to return on June 26 due to problems ChatGPT isn’t available in China, prompting Apple to seek local partner for its artificial-intelligence services
with leaks and thrusters emerged after Starliner’s launch. AFP

Boeing sent two Raffaele Huang & Jiyoung Sohn reviews from Chinese internet users.
Some compared Google’s AI on the

A
pple ’s presentation on Galaxy S24 with Baidu’s and found

astronauts into artificial intelligence this

month offered examples
of how American iPhone
Google was able to identify car mod-
els and buildings from photographs
while Baidu couldn’t. Others praised
users could soon enjoy Baidu’s technology, saying its Chi-
space. Now it needs AI tools such as a custom emoji gen-
erator. No one mentioned China, the
second-largest market for iPhones.
nese-language translation was more
authentic and its search results were
more relevant to users in China.

to get them home. There is good reason for the

Micah Maidenberg
feedback@livemint.com
crew members to Earth in an
emergency, Stich said. He
added that teams want to ana-
omission.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other
A Samsung spokeswoman said the
company chose to collaborate with
Baidu because Samsung determined
Western AI models aren’t available in that Baidu offered the most competi-
China, and that is prompting Apple to tive commercialized large language
look for a Chinese partner to help AI model in the Chinese market.

B
oeing succeeded in get-
ting NASA astronauts to
the International Space
Station, following weeks of
delays. Returning them to
Earth on the same spacecraft is
proving another challenge.
Problems with leaks and
thrusters emerged after Boe-
ing’s Starliner vehicle
launched this month with the
astronauts Barry Wilmore and
Sunita Williams on board.
Officials from the aerospace
company and the National
Aeronautics and Space
Administration said Tuesday
that the astronauts are slated
to return June 26.
With the latest postpone-
ment, the astronauts would
spend about 20 days in space,
more than double the roughly
eight days originally planned.
Starliner has been pinned
down by two main issues: a
series of helium leaks in a pro-
pulsion system and problems
with several thrusters that are
used to maneuver the vehicle.
NASA and Boeing teams have
been study-
ing both
i s s u e s
before they
permit Starliner to attempt to
leave the station with Wilmore
and Williams, re-enter Earth’s
atmosphere and land under
parachutes.
“We’re taking a little bit of
extra time to work through
what we’ve seen and make
sure we have all the plans in
place to bring the crew home,”
Steve Stich , a NASA program
manager, said Tuesday.
The space station has at
lyze Starliner and its technical
challenges as much as possible
while it is at the station.
The press briefing
happened on the same day
Boeing Chief Executive
David Calhoun testified before
Congress and apologized for
ongoing quality issues at the
jet maker and to families who
lost relatives in a pair of 737
MAX crashes.
The Starliner delay is a fresh
setback for Boeing, which had
hoped to conduct its first
astronaut flight years ago.
Boeing is under contract with
NASA to conduct six more
crewed flights to the space sta-
tion if it secures agency certifi-
cation for the vehicle.
SpaceX has flown cargo
to the space station for
years and completed its inau-
gural astronaut mission for
NASA in 2020.
Mike Leinbach , a former
launch director for the
space shuttle at NASA’s Ken-
nedy Space Center, said mis-
sion managers won’t let Star-
liner return
to Earth
with the
astronauts
if the vehicle could pose any
risks to them.
“This one has a few more
issues than I would have
expected,” Leinbach, who isn’t
involved in the Starliner mis-
sion, said. “We hoped for a
clean flight, but we didn’t get
one, and we’re dealing with it.
They’ll figure this out.”
The Starliner crewed flight
has pulled off 77 of 87 test
objectives so far, Mark Nappi ,
offer its Apple Intelligence services, Samsung declined to comment on
said people in the industry. So far, no comparisons between the AI ver-
deal has been announced, with the sions, and Baidu didn’t respond to a
next iPhone model releases just request for comment.
months away. Samsung accounts for about 1% of
In China, Apple is falling behind China’s smartphone market, and
local rivals that have already incorpo- China isn’t a major contributor to the
rated AI functions into their phones. South Korean company’s profit.
The iPhone dropped to third place Adapting products and services to
by handset market share among Chinese rules is nothing new for tech
smartphone brands in China in the companies. In China, Apple’s iCloud
first quarter of this year behind In China, Apple is falling behind local rivals that have already incorporated AI functions into their phones. AFP service houses data on the servers of
two local brands, according to Coun- a government-owned company .
terpoint Research. opinion in a way the government companies. This year, Huawei is largest smartphone maker by ship- Apple is rolling out its Vision Pro
Apple has held talks with several doesn’t approve. expected to account for 17% of China’s ments. In January, Samsung intro- headset in China this month without
Chinese companies that make AI As of March, Beijing’s internet smartphone market, up from 13% last duced its Galaxy S24 smartphone its streaming service, Apple TV+,
models including search-engine watchdog, the Cyberspace Adminis- year, while Apple’s share is projected series , with generative AI features which isn’t available in the country.
company Baidu , e-commerce leader tration of China, had approved 117 to drop to 16% from 18%, according to such as real-time translation of calls Apple has long enjoyed a relatively
Alibaba Group and a Beijing-based generative AI products, none of Counterpoint. and text messages, AI-powered photo privileged place in the Chinese
startup called Baichuan AI, people which is foreign-developed. Apple said it remains well-placed editing, and Google searches trig- market because of its economic role
familiar with the matter said. Early this year, Apple explored the in China. “China is the most competi- gered by circling an image on the in the country. Most iPhones are
In the U.S., Apple is pursuing a two- possibility of obtaining approval for a tive market in the world, and we feel phone. assembled in China by Taiwanese or
pronged strategy to deliver AI servi- foreign large lan- confident about In the U.S. and most of the rest of Chinese contract manufacturers.
ces. It is building its own AI capabili- guage model to be our position,” the world, the services are powered Apple has said it has helped create
ties while also teaming up with used in its devices Chief Financial by Samsung’s own generative AI some five million jobs in China,
OpenAI. Anticipation over Apple’s in China, but it Officer Luca Mae- engine plus the AI capabilities of including in its supply chain and App
future AI-related offerings has helped found that Chinese regulators were stri told The Wall Street Journal in an Google, a longtime Samsung partner. Store ecosystem.
push the company’s market capitali- unlikely to approve it, people familiar interview last month . Because Google’s AI model, Gemini, Still, the rise of Chinese patriotism
zation back above $3 trillion . with the matter said. That realization In China, as in the U.S., smart- isn’t available in China, Samsung could affect Apple’s standing,
In China, companies must seek prompted Apple to step up talks with phone makers are using generative instead turned to two Chinese com- said Tom Kang, a research director at
Beijing’s approval before introducing potential local partners, they said. AI in their sales pitches to entice panies for the Galaxy S24 in China. Counterpoint. “China is increasingly
AI chatbots built on large language Apple said the region that includes users to upgrade because Baidu is handling “circle to search,” targeting U.S. companies one by
models trained with huge databases mainland China, Taiwan, Hong technology is advancing more text summation and other AI func- one. So it’s whether Apple becomes a
of text, images and video vacuumed Kong and Macau accounted for 18% of slowly in other features. tions, and software maker Meitu ena- target or not—that will be the key
up from the internet and other sour- its global revenue in the quarter The closest precedent for Apple bles AI-based photo editing. issue,” he said.
ces. Regulators vet the models to ended March 30. Intelligence in China comes from The capabilities of the Baidu-pow- ©2024 DOW JONES & CO. INC.
ensure they don’t influence public Its position is threatened by local Samsung Electronics , the world’s ered AI have drawn some unfavorable feedback@livemint.com
BOE keeps main interest rate at 16-year high despite inflation fall
AP opinion over the outlook for down restrictive policy from chain issues during the pan-
feedback@livemint.com inflation, with some clearly summer and deliver two rate demic and then because of
LONDON concerned over still-high cuts this year,” said Sanjay Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,
price rises in the services sec- Raja, chief UK economist at which pushed up energy costs.

least four months of reserves
for food and other consumable
items for astronauts on board,
NASA officials have said. Star-
liner could stay docked at the
station for a total of 45 days,
though ultimately it aims to
stay there for six-month mis-
sions, they said.
Extended stays at ISS
have happened before. In Sep-
tember, the NASA astronaut
Frank Rubio returned to Earth
after spending more than a
year at the facility, a record-
breaking flight for an Ameri-
can. His return was delayed
after a micrometeorite poked
a hole in his Russian-made
return vehicle and Russia sent
up another ship.
Starliner is able to ferry
a Boeing vice president over-
seeing the Starliner program,
said during the briefing.
NASA and Boeing are inves-
tigating five helium leaks
identified in the vehicle’s ser-
vice module—a propulsion
system that includes thrusters.
One was noted before the
flight began.
Starliner needs about seven
hours of helium on board to
finish the flight, and has about
70 hours remaining.
Five thrusters on Starliner
temporarily failed as the vehi-
cle made its final rendezvous
with the ISS, but four came
back online. Stich said one
thruster will be shut off for the
remainder of the mission.
©2024 DOW JONES & CO. INC.
T
he Bank of England
(BOE) on Thursday kept
its main interest rate at a
16-year high of 5.25% even
though inflation has fallen to its
target of 2%, with several poli-
cymakers warning that a pre-
mature cut could stoke another
bout of price rises.
Seven of the nine members
of the bank’s policymaking
Monetary Policy Committee
(MPC) voted for no change
while two backed a rate cut.
The vote was consistent with
that seen at the bank’s meeting
last month. Interest rates have
been unchanged since August
after a series of hikes.
It was clear in the statement
accompanying the decision
that there was a divergence of
tor, the primary motor of the
British economy.
“It’s good news that inflation
has returned to our 2% target,”
said Bank of England governer
Andrew Bailey. “We need to be
sure that inflation will stay low
and that’s why we’ve decided to
hold rates at 5.25% for now.”
The decision is likely to dis-
appoint the governing Con-
servative Party ahead of the
UK’s general election in two
weeks time. A cut would have
been seized upon by Prime
Minister Rishi Sunak as posi-
tive economic news, especially
as it would have been accompa-
nied by a fall in mortgage rates.
The panel insisted that the
imminent election, which the
main opposition Labour Party
Deutsche Bank.
The decline in the main
inflation measure to 2% in the
year to May does not mean that
prices are falling—they are just
rising at a slower rate than they
have for the past few years dur-
ing a cost of living crisis that has
seen living standards drop for
millions across Britain.
Several policymakers warned that a premature cut could stoke The fall in inflation follows
another bout of price rises. REUTERS nearly three years of above-
target inflation, which
led by Keir Starmer is widely bank’s next policymaking prompted central banks
expected to win, had no bear- meeting in August or the fol- around the world to dramati-
ing on its decision. It said the lowing one in September. They cally increase borrowing costs
decision was, as always, based expect there will be clear evi- from the lows seen during the
on achieving the 2% inflation dence by then that inflation is coronavirus pandemic.
target “sustainably in the set to remain around the target The last time inflation in the
medium term.” over the coming year or two. UK was at 2% was in July 2021
Economists believe that a cut “We continue to think that before prices started to shoot
is imminent, either at the the MPC will start dialling up, first as a result of supply
Higher interest rates—which
cool the economy by making it
more expensive to borrow—
have helped ease inflation, but
they’ve also weighed on the
British economy, which has
barely grown since the pan-
demic rebound.
Critics of the Bank of
England say it is being overly
cautious about inflation and
that keeping interest rates too
high for too long will unneces-
sarily weigh on the economy.
Some central banks, includ-
ing the European Central Bank
(ECB), have started to cut rates
as inflationary pressures have
eased. The Swiss National Bank
on Thursday reduced its main
rates by a quarter of a percent-
age point to 1.25%.

Europe’s plans for EV batteries fade on China price war, US aid

Bloomberg “As a European company we racy, and because carmakers But Europe looks increas- battery manufacturing since imported batteries, that prob-
feedback@livemint.com need to change our mindset— are looking to protect thin EV ingly unable to keep up. China, the start of 2022—a fraction of ably is a discussion that needs
we are changing from teachers profit margins. VW may push which has been developing the estimated $140 billion to be more thought about in

I
n 2019, France and Ger-
many agreed to pump bil-
lions of euros into a plan to
boost Europe’s battery indus-
try and try to catch up with
China. Five years later, that
effort is running out of steam.
As electric-vehicle (EV)
sales slow, companies includ-
ing Volkswagen, Stellantis and
Mercedes-Benz are scaling
back or refocusing battery
projects. Chinese manufactur-
ers are slashing costs and the
US is drawing away invest-
ment with lucrative subsidies.
China already has excess
battery-making capacity,
can make cells at a fraction of
the costs in Europe, and has a
head start on the next genera-
tion of cell technology. All of
this means the continent
risks falling further behind in
the race to build and power the
EVs of the future.
to become students because
we have to catch up on a
significant backlog of experi-
ence,” Sebastian Wolf, chief
operating officer of Volks-
wagen AG’s PowerCo battery
unit, said on the sidelines of a
conference in Stuttgart, Ger-
many. “We have to all focus on
becoming faster and becom-
ing more cost-efficient.”
Scaling up production in
Europe has been a challenge.
Northvolt AB, the continent’s
biggest and most promising
homegrown battery maker,
has had delays in ramping up
output, and according to a
report Thursday in Manager
Magazin, BMW has cancelled
a €2 billion ($2.2 billion) order
due to quality problems.
Companies may cut back
more on planned factories as
European Union subsidies are
hard to access due to bureauc-
out reaching full capacity for
its €20 billion battery behe-
moth. Automotive Cells Com-
pany, led by Stellantis and
Mercedes, has put on hold two
of its three sites to weigh mak-
ing lower-cost cells in light of
slowing demand for still-ex-
pensive EVs.
The backslide isn’t exclusive
to European players, with
China’s Svolt Energy Technol-
ogy Co. cancelling a project in
Germany because of uncer-
tainties on subsidies and after
a cornerstone customer fell
away. Disappointing EV
demand is raising the bar for
new entrants, who also face
competition from leading
Asian suppliers. China’s Con-
temporary Amperex Technol-
ogy Co., the world’s biggest
cell maker, has a site in Ger-
many and is adding another in
Hungary, while South Korea’s
As EV sales slow, companies including Volkswagen, Stellantis and
Mercedes-Benz are scaling back or refocusing battery projects. AP
LG Chem Ltd has been making
batteries in Poland for about
six years.
European suppliers still
have a role to play, even as they
struggle, ACC’s chief execu-
tive officer Yann Vincent said.
“It’s not to say that we are
immediately competitive,
there’s clearly an issue.”
The stakes are high: If the
region fails to establish its own
EV battery value chain, as cells
replace the combustion
engine, large parts of the auto-
motive industry—which
makes up about 7% of Europe’s
economy—will follow solar
panels, consumer electronics
and chips in shifting to Asia.
battery technology for dec- needed to reach the target of the current structure.”
ades, already controls more 1.4 terawatt (TW) hours of bat- The comment echoes
than 80% of the market, lead- tery-manufacturing capacity Europe’s energy crisis that hit
ing on cost by a wide margin. by 2030. The US will dole out Germany particularly hard
More recently, China man- an estimated $160 billion in tax after the invasion of Ukraine
aged to vastly credit spending largely cut of gas supplies from
improve the qual- If Europe fails before 2029 for Russia.
ity of a much to establish its solar and battery Developing self-sufficiency
cheaper battery own EV battery cells, according to will be difficult. China not only
cell that uses no value chain, large BloombergNEF. makes the most batteries, but
cobalt or nickel, Canada commit- also has a commanding grip on
parts of the
triggering ACC’s ted $25 billion in the industry’s supply chain,
review to con- auto industry will battery incentives especially the refining of key
sider shifting to shift to Asia last year, attract- minerals like lithium, nickel,
lithium iron ing investments cobalt and graphite, as well as
phosphate, or from companies the production of anode and
LFP, cells. including Volkswagen and cathode cell components.
Meanwhile, aggressive and Stellantis. So far, the bulk of Europe’s
immediately accessible subsi- “Europe really needs to investments have been
dies and tax breaks in the US wake up and provide a decent directed more toward cell
and Canada are luring compa- response,” Tom Einar Jensen, manufacturing than the min-
nies like Norway’s Freyr Bat- co-founder of Freyr Battery, ing and refining industries,
tery Inc. to move overseas. said at the BNEF event. “If said Ilka von Dalwigk, senior
The European Commission Europe wants to move from technology and policy expert
and the UK have approved less reliance on Russian gas to reli- at EIT InnoEnergy, a venture
than €7 billion in state aid for ance on only Chinese capital firm.
LIVEMINT.COM
NEWS
$2.25 mn
THE AMOUNT cryptocurrency exchange
IN Binance has to pay in fines to restart its
NUMBERS operations in India, after getting banned
over non-compliance
Direct flights to
China still a no go
C T
hina is pressing India to restart direct
passenger flights after a four-year
halt, but New Delhi is resisting as a
border dispute continues to weigh on ties
between the world’s two most populous
countries, officials said.
India-China relations have been tense since
the biggest military confrontation in decades
on their disputed Himalayan border killed 20
Indian and at least four Chinese soldiers in
June 2020. Thousands of troops remain
mobilized on each side. Since the clash, India
has made it difficult for Chinese firms to invest,
banned hundreds of popular apps and severed
passenger routes, although direct cargo flights
still operate between the Asian giants.
Direct flights would benefit both economies,
but the stakes are higher for China, where a
recovery in overseas travel after the covid-19
pandemic is lagging, while India’s aviation
sector booms. REUTERS
The rupee plunged 17 paise to settle at 83.61
(provisional) against the US dollar.
Rupee plunges to
AFP
two-month low
T
he rupee plunged 17 paise to settle at
over two-month low level of 83.61
(provisional) against the US dollar on
Thursday amid surging crude oil prices due to
renewed geopolitical tensions in the Middle
East, even though the domestic equity
markets hit fresh peaks.
According to forex traders, inflow of
foreign capital and positive momentum in
domestic equity markets failed to support
the local unit which gave in to the pressure
due to a firm American currency against
major rivals overseas.
At the interbank foreign exchange market,
the local unit opened at 83.43 and touched
the intra-day high of 83.42 against the
greenback. During the session, the currency
hit an all-time low of 83.68 against the dollar.
The rupee finally settled at 83.61 (provisional)
against the dollar, registering a steep fall of 17
paise from its previous close.
On Wednesday, the rupee settled 1 paisa
lower at 83.44 against the US dollar.
Earlier, the domestic currency closed at
83.61 against dollar on 16 April this year. PTI
‘Housing sales may
fall 2% in Apr-June’
H
ousing sales are estimated to decline 2%
to nearly 120,000 units in the current
quarter across nine major cities, mainly
due to lower demand in Hyderabad and Pune,
according to PropEquity.
Real estate data analytic firm PropEquity on
Thursday released housing sales data for April-
June, 10 days before the end of the quarter.
As per the data, housing sales in April-June
are estimated to fall at 119,901 units as against
121,856 units in the year-ago period. In Delhi
NCR, sales of residential properties are likely to
rise to 10,198 units during April-June this year
from 9,635 units in the year-ago period.
PropEquity said that sales in April-June
quarter are estimated to decline 18%
compared to the previous quarter which saw
sales of 146,1947 units.
PropEquity managing director and chief
executive officer Samir Jasuja said the
January-March period was an extraordinary
quarter with the highest absorption/sales ever
witnessed in India. PTI
Thailand eyes BRICS membership, begins OECD application
T
hailand hopes to become a member of the BRICS group of emerging
economies at the organisation’s next summit in Russia in October, a
foreign ministry official said Thursday. The Southeast Asian nation
submitted a formal request to join at a BRICS ministerial meeting a week ago,
foreign ministry spokesperson Nikorndej Balankura said.
“We hope to receive positive feedback and be accepted as BRICS member
as soon as the next summit to be held in Russia,” he said.
The BRICS group originally consisted of Brazil, Russia, India, China and
South Africa. The acronym is derived from those countries’ names.
Last year the group began expanding membership, looking to challenge a
Western-dominated world order, with Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt,
Argentina and the United Arab Emirates joining and more than 40 countries
expressing interest. Thailand is also looking to join the Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), after being invited by the
Paris-based group to open accession discussions.
₹18K cr
THE ESTIMATED net debt of Indian
chemical firms in FY25, up from ₹17,000
crore in FY24, even as the sector saw a fall
in Ebitda margins and capex since FY22
LIQUOR TRAGEDY
Funeral preparations on Thursday for people who died after consuming illicit liquor tainted with methanol in Tamil Nadu’s Kallakurichi district. At
least 34 people have died, while more than 100 people are being treated in various hospitals, according to a top district official.
Govt forms panel to improve
NTA as controversies rage
Minister clarifies that govt has not yet decided to cancel NEET, unlike the UGC-NET
Krishna Yadav
krishna.yadav@livemint.com
New Delhi
A
high-level committee will give rec-
ommendations for improving the
structure, processes, data manage-
ment, and security protocols of the
National Testing Agency (NTA), the
Union government announced on Thursday, after
two important national-level examinations ran
into trouble.
The committee will comprise technocrats, sci-
entists, educational administrators, academics and
psychologists.
Addressing a press conference, education minis-
ter Dharmendra Pradhan said, “We take responsi-
bility and are committed to refining the system.
Our government is fully dedicated to transparency
and to securing a better future for our students. I
assure you again that no malpractice or irregularity
EU states nod new Russia sanctions
EU imposes ban on re-exports of Russian
liquefied natural gas in EU waters. AFP
E
uropean Union (EU) countries
agreed on a 14th package of sanctions
against Russia over its war in
Ukraine, diplomats said on Thursday,
including a ban on re-exports of Russian
liquefied natural gas (LNG) in EU waters.
Belgium, which holds the rotating EU
Last year the group began expanding membership, looking to
REUTERS challenge a Western-dominated world order.
NEWS WRAP FRIDAY, 21 JUNE 2024
NEW DELHI 09
$0.5-1 bn
THE AMOUNT General Catalyst, a Silicon
887,000
THE NUMBER of new members who
18 mn
THE NUMBER of people who faced
Valley-based VC firm plans to invest in joined the EPFO in April, 55.5% of power cuts in Ecuador, after a
India, even as it acquired a Delhi-based
early-stage investor Venture Highway
them aged between 18 and 25,
according to labour ministry
massive outage hit the country, the
first of its kind in 20 years
HOWINDIALIVES.COM
ED carries out raids
in bank fraud case
he Enforcement Directorate (ED) on
Thursday searched about 35 premises in
Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Nagpur as part of
a money laundering probe against a firm and its
promoters accused of perpetrating an alleged
bank loan fraud of more than ₹20,000 crore,
officials said.
The raids are being carried out on the Amtek
Group and its directors, including Arvind Dham,
Gautam Malhotra and others. About 35 business
and residential premises in Delhi, Gurugram,
Noida, Mumbai and Nagpur have been raided
since this morning, the officials said.
The probe stems from a CBI FIR against a
group entity of Amtek—ACIL Ltd—on
allegations of a bank fraud of more than
₹20,000 crore in a number of listed firms which
were finally taken over in NCLT proceedings at
nominal price leaving the consortium of banks
with nominal recovery, they said. PTI
PTI
In the past two months, Vedanta’s board has
approved raising up to $300 million. REUTERS
Vedanta to raise
₹1K cr via debt issue
T
he metals-to-oil conglomerate Vedanta
will raise up to ₹1,000 crore (nearly $120
million) by issuing non-convertible
debentures through a private placement, the
company said on Thursday.
will be tolerated.” alleged involvement in a paper leak, have report- In the past two months, Vedanta’s board has
However, Pradhan clarified that the govern- edly confessed that the question paper was leaked approved raising up to $300 million through
ment has not yet decided to cancel NEET-UG on the eve of the 5 May exam. The gang allegedly debentures and a further up to $1 billion,
2024, unlike the UGC-NET exam, which is held to charged up to ₹32 lakh for the leaked material. The although it is yet to decide on the structure
determine eligibility for teaching jobs in universi- NEET fiasco has prompted a string of petitions and mode of that fundraise.
ties and colleges. He described issues related to across various courts, including at the Supreme The billionaire Anil Agarwal-led company
NEET as “isolated Court. is in the middle of splitting into six different
incidents” under Opinion was units in a move aimed at shoring up the
police investigation. The panel will give recommendations divided on the gov- group’s financial performance. Its net debt
Results of the to enhance the structure, processes, ernment move. rose 25% to ₹56,338 crore as of 31 March.
NEET-UG 2024 “We believe this The company aims to expand capacity for
have sparked data management, and security action is insufficient its steel and aluminium business and has
nationwide furore, protocols of the NTA and merely an proposed to set aside $1.90 billion as capital
after scores of aspi- attempt to cool expenditure for fiscal 2025, higher than the
rants achieved full down the issue. The $1.4 billion the year before. REUTERS
marks of 720, suggesting irregularities. SIO demands a thorough Special Investigation
The announcement followed the ministry’s Team probe under the guidance of the Supreme
decision on Wednesday to cancel the University Court to ensure a transparent and unbiased inves-
Grants Commission–National Eligibility Test after tigation...,” said Roshan Mohiddin, national secre-
concerns were raised about the exam’s integrity. tary of the Student Islamic Organisation (SIO), one
Delhi court grants
In Bihar, four NEET aspirants, arrested for their of the petitioners in the case.
bail to Kejriwal
I
n a huge relief to Delhi chief minister
Arvind Kejriwal, a court here on
Thursday granted him bail in a money
laundering case stemming from the alleged
excise scam.
presidency until 1 July, said on the X Special Judge Niyay Bindu also declined
platform that the package “maximizes the the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) prayer to
impact of existing sanctions by closing keep in abeyance the bail order for 48 hours
loopholes”. to allow the central agency to appeal against it
Countries debated the new measures in a superior court.
for over a month and ultimately watered The judge ordered Kejriwal’s release on a
down one of the Commission’s proposals, personal bond of ₹1 lakh. The court,
aimed at preventing even more however, imposed certain conditions on the
circumvention, at Germany’s prompting. Aaam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader before
The dropped measure would have forced granting him the relief, including that he will
subsidiaries of EU companies in third not try to hamper the investigation or
countries to contractually prohibit the re- The two nations intend to conduct joint training influence the witnesses.
exports of their goods to Russia. The EU is programmes for managing water resources AFP The judge also directed Kejriwal to appear
keen to stop the flow of dual-use before the court whenever required and to
technology such as washing machine
chips that could be used by Russia for
India and Singapore cooperate with the investigation. PTI
talk on water mgmt
military purposes.
An EU diplomat said Germany had
asked for an impact assessment, and
Case against IREO
I
the measure could be included at a later ndian and Singapore entities have initiated
date. The ban on trans-shipments is
the first restriction the bloc has applied
discussions for conducting joint training
programmes to prepare industry and Group MD stayed
to LNG. REUTERS municipalities on managing water resources.
T
The CII-Triveni Water Institute has initiated he Supreme Court (SC) has stayed criminal
discussions with Singapore’s Public Utilities proceedings against IREO Group
Board (PUB) in this regard. CII-Triveni Water managing director Lalit Goyal and Oberoi
Institute brings together government, industry Realty Ltd chairman and managing director
and community to work towards improving
water resource efficiencies across levels and
Vikas Oberoi over allegations of cheating,
criminal breach of trust and forgery.
scales i.e., plant, city, district, state, river basin. A vacation bench of Justices P.V. Sanjay
PUB is a statutory board under the ministry of Kumar and Augustine George Masih issued
sustainability and the environment (MSE). It is notice to the Haryana government on a plea
the national water agency, which manages filed against an order of the Punjab and Haryana
Singapore’s water supply, water catchment, and High Court. “The question as to whether the
used water in an integrated way. “We need to filing of the second complaint would amount to
have the industry and municipalities ready to an abuse of process and as to whether the
deal with climate extremes to make sure that complainant approached the court with unclean
water continue to remain in supply even during hands requires further examination. Issue
times of drought and floods,” said Dr Kapil notice to the respondents...In the meanwhile,
Kumar Narula, executive director and CEO CII- there shall be stay of further proceedings in
Triveni Water Institute of the Confederation of relation to FIR,” the bench said.
Indian Industry (CII). The top court was hearing a plea filed by IREO
The discussions on joint training programmes and the Oberoi groups challenging the 6 June
began this week at the Singapore International order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court
REUTERS Water Week (SIWW). PTI that upheld registration of FIR. PTI
10 FRIDAY, 21 JUNE 2024
NEW DELHI
WHY FURNITURE RENTAL
COS HAVE REMAINED SMALL
Firms like Rentomojo and Furlenco were expected to disrupt the furniture market. That didn’t play out
Priyamvada C.
priyamvada.c@livemint.com
BENGALURU
W
hen online furni-
ture retailer Pep-
perfry tested the
rental market back
in September
2017, it was a late mover. Several
furniture rental startups had
already set up shop, but Pepperfry
believed that the market could be a new
growth driver. After all, the sharing econ-
omy—from mobility to student living—was
quickly becoming mainstream. India’s
young, online savvy migrant population
could spend upwards of $1 billion a year on
rented furniture and related items, it had
estimated.
“They are at a stage where they value expe-
riences more than ownership of physical
assets,” Kashyap Vadapalli, the former chief
marketing officer of Pepperfry had said at
that time.
Even though the company saw great inter-
est that year—Pepperfry, at one point,
reported traffic of close to 5 million visits a
month, “10x-20x of the existing players’
monthly traffic”—the prospect of a billion-
dollar goldmine did not play out. It eventually
realized that the market was too narrow and
wound down the segment in February 2019.
“We did not see any great excitement about
the kind of products that we wanted to sell.
This is largely because the moment you want
to settle down, rental does not play a role,”
Hussaine Kesury, Pepperfry’s current chief
business officer, told Mint.
The growing popularity of equated
monthly instalments (EMIs), or the fixed sum
that a borrower must pay every month
towards a loan, has further dented the pros-
pects of rental companies. “Today, we have
affordable EMIs to buy furniture across all
price points,” he said.
Nonetheless, India still has startups with
rental as their core business model.
According to Tracxn, there are 157 compa-
nies in the segment across the world. Promi-
nent names in India include Rentomojo,
Furlenco, Cityfurnish and Rentickle. How
are they doing?
Turns out, they have been grappling
with the complexity of the market. And yes,
like Pepperfry, they also had overestimated
the market. Not just these companies, but
even market researchers were rather opti-
mistic at one point. In a report, ‘India’s furni-
ture rental industry on the upswing’, pub-
lished in 2021, consulting firm Grant Thorn-
ton stated that the estimated size of the
Indian furniture rental industry in 2020 was
around $4.1 billion. The firm saw the market
growing to $13 billion by 2025. Nonetheless,
Grant Thornton had a wider definition of the
Indian furniture rental market. Its estimate
included all revenue received annually
through the renting of furniture in homes,
offices and hotels as well as electrical appli-
ances. And apart from the organized players,
there is a huge unorganized market in every
nook and corner of India.
While furniture rental companies are
growing, they have remained small. Take
the case of Wakefit Innovations, which
started in 2016 as a mattress company. It
diversified into selling furniture later and
generated revenue of ₹813 crore in 2022-23.
The furniture seller nearly doubled its reve-
nue in two years.
Rentomojo, in comparison, was founded
two years earlier—in 2014. It only generated
revenue of ₹121 crore in 2022-23.
Pepperfry was founded in 2011. In
2022-23, the company generated revenue
of ₹272 crore. Furlenco, which started
around the same time, in 2012, reported
revenue of ₹155.7 crore in 2022-23. Sheela
Foam signed an agreement to acquire a 35%
stake in the company for ₹300 crore in July
last year.
What exactly are the prospects of furniture
rental companies, going ahead? And can they
ever become big enough to disrupt the furni-
ture market?
Before we try and answer these questions,
let’s look at what has constrained the sec-
tor’s growth.
LONG STORY LIVEMINT.COM
The market demand for rental furniture has been hard to predict—growth has come in fits and starts.
THE LONG WAIT mint The pandemic gave a boost to the rental
D iptarka Roy lives with his son and wife in
a 3BHK apartment in Bengaluru. He had
been using rented furniture from Furlenco.
SHORT
STORY
business, with work-from-home becoming
the norm. Office goers scrambled to rent work
desks and chairs at home. In fact, all rental
About three years back, he wanted to return companies struggled to meet the unexpected
them, as he decided to switch loyalties to WHAT surge in demand.
Rentomojo. But, he had to wait for six long “After covid-19, employees were either
months for the old furniture to be picked up Furniture rental firms came up a working from home or were given the
by Furlenco. few years back and promised to option of a hybrid work plan through rotat-
“The company kept delaying the furniture disrupt the market, targeting the ing shifts and roster-based attendance. An
pick-up and even charged me for it. Every young migrant population. While increased demand came from employees
month, I also raised complaints but never got the pandemic gave a boost, the looking at setting up a well-furnished
any response,” Roy said. “Eventually, I companies have remained small. workspace at home and also upgrading
stopped paying the rent. Next, I started their current homes,” Grant Thornton
receiving calls for missing bills. It really was wrote in its 2021 report cited earlier. That
a nightmare,” he added. “Because of the WHY demand fizzled out with back-to-office
delay, it also added to the clutter in the becoming the norm when things opened up
house, and it was really a messy situation,” Furniture rental firms struggled after the lockdowns.
Roy further said. with logistics, high returns and In 2021-22, Furlenco’s losses widened to
Furlenco acknowledges the problems it is quality issues. This resulted in ₹151 crores from ₹87.5 crores a year earlier.
grappling with when it comes to customer customer dissatisfaction. EMI These losses came on the back of the post-
experiences. options became popular and pandemic surge in revenue—the company’s
Another customer, who did not want to be made buying furniture easy. income from operations grew to ₹129 crore
identified, said he was able to rectify the from ₹84 crore the year before. To cater to
installation as well as the pick-up situation the demand, the company took on debt.
only after he made a public appeal (he posted NOW This led to a debt spiral when the funding
his ordeal on LinkedIn) to Rentomojo’s winter struck.
co-founder Geetansh Bamania. Rental firms are diversifying However, Furlenco raised funds from
The difficulty in returning the furniture, beyond furniture. They are Sheela Foam in July 2023 and since then, it
therefore, has led to customer dissatisfaction. renting out everything from air has been able to significantly reduce its
This, in turn, could have impacted growth. coolers to bikes. They are also losses, Karimpana said. Sheela Foam manu-
When we checked with Bamania on cus- working on streamlining logistics factures polyurethane foam and is better
tomer complaints, he said that every year, and customer experience. known for being the makers of Sleepwell
Rentomojo focuses “50% of its bandwidth” mattresses.
on improving the experience. “It’s a fiduci- Amit Kumar Gupta, the chief financial offi-
ary responsibility to reach out to the con- delays,” Sean Andrade, who is in his 30s cer of Sheela Foam has said that its investment
sumer and we really do our best to solve and teaches for a living in Mumbai, said. in Furlenco has helped the company pay off
(faulty cases). There have been countless “These rental services really need to its debt and even grow. “The company has
examples when we are not able to do improve the quality and update the prod- moved to its next level of growth and has
that...but every day, the rigour is to do better ucts they have. Most of it looks very tat- added to its subscriber base by more than
next time,” he said. tered and old,” he added. 50%,” he said in a post-earnings call with ana-
Andrade has used both Rentomojo and lysts in May.
WOBBLY TABLES Furlenco. He was also
P eople Mint spoke to also
complained about the
quality of furniture that is
Grant Thornton estimated
the size of the Indian
charged despite discontinu-
ing the service.
“The logistics of rental
BIKES AND AIR FRYERS
L et’s circle back to the important ques-
tion—do furniture rental companies have
rented out. Companies often business is different, and it a future in India?
promise furniture that is ‘as furniture rental industry has not been a smooth pro- Just renting out furniture will keep them
good as new’ but what in 2020 at $4.1 billion and cess yet,” Ajith Karimpana, small, companies have realized. They are
arrives is a different story, Furlenco’s founder, said. diversifying beyond beds, tables, chairs and
they said. Beds that have saw it growing to $13 billion But the company gets it bookshelves and into white goods.
scratches, tables that are right 90% of the time, he Rentomojo, for instance, expanded to rent-
wobbly, and chairs with by 2025. clarified. “The other 10% is ing out electronics and appliances, fitness
uncomfortable cushions. what we need to fix and in a gears and even e-scooters and motorbikes. In
About nine months ago, Nishant Badwal, year from now, all of these issues—at least 2022-23, the company turned profitable on
who identifies himself as a data scientist, from Furlenco’s side—are going to get fixed. the back of a 22% increase in revenue from
posted on LinkedIn: “I was delivered a sofa We are working very hard towards it,” he fur- operations (₹121 crore).
that was broken. Had sent multiple mails and ther said. However, this surge
photos to the call centre team (of Furlenco). comes after consecu-
No action was taken.” UP AND DOWN tive years of muted
“They always promise a good product
but end up giving substandard stuff that O ne reason why rental companies haven’t
been able to invest more in improving
does not work very well. I raised a com- customer experience is because the market
growth and losses.
Founder Geet-
ansh Bamania has
plaint with the folks to get it checked and demand has been hard to predict—growth has
it was an endless process of constant come in fits and starts. TURN TO PAGE 11
LIVEMINT.COM MINT MONEY FRIDAY, 21 JUNE 2024
NEW DELHI 11

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203,929 42,164
140,933 730
tions by Securities and Exchange Board Channel Axis Bank 81.39 85.86 85.05 86.30
of India (Sebi)-registered analysts (RAs). members
Motilal Oswal-Official TRADELIKEBERLIN Yes Bank 81.90 84.80 85.71 85.71
In fact, Instagram and Telegram 893,196 431,728
channels have emerged as the modern-  motilaloswalofficial  Btradelikeberlin
day saloons of the Wild West. Here, No disclaimer Thomas Cook 81.58 85.04 83.87 85.26
Channel members on individual Channel members
under the guise of Sebi-approved analy- 186,919 Note: Data collected from website of respective entities as on 19 Jun 2024; Rate mentioned in the table denotes INR/USD. The
40,860 posts; promotion 149,462 52,714 rate is as mentioned on the website of the Bank/FI and it may vary according to different amount slab; *Wire Transfer/TT
sis, registered and unregistered entities Buying is Inward Rem to receive Forex & Wire Transfer/TT Selling is Outward Rem to send forex.
boldly flaunt endorsements from celeb- of high-risk channel; posts on
No major issues Compiled by BankBazaar.com
lavish travel thanks to
rities with promises of overnight riches, VIJAY WEALTH ADVISOR™
“extraordinary profits”
all while sidestepping regulatory scru-
To-do list before you act on stock tips *Sebi regd research analyst having experience  vijaywealthofficial2020
tiny. of 29 years.
And this murky landscape, dotted Figure out owner of the channel and
Channel members

Why furniture rental firms

with tales of lavish vacations and prom-
ises of eye-popping returns, under-
scores a pressing question: Who polices
the pitfalls of financial advice in the digi-
tal age?
“In cases where unregistered entities
use celebrity endorsements to indirectly
promote Sebi-registered analysts, the
markets regulator will definitely pursue
action against the registered entity,”
warns Srikanth Meenakshi, co-founder
of Primeinvestor.in, a Sebi-registered
subscription-based research advisory
firm.
However, while the regulator indeed
takes a hands-on approach in ensuring
compliance, the digital space is besieged
by dubious practices. Take, for instance,
the case of “Gap up by Rigi” and its Tele-
gram channel, “gapup_channel_official”.
The platform’s homepage promi-
nently displays Dhoni announcing a
“big sale” and discount codes on all Gap
Up purchases. The subscription plans by
RAs pop up right below the Dhoni ad,
along with their images. The Telegram
and Insta channels, too, carry promo-
tional posts displaying Dhoni and Shiv-
aji Satam, aka ACP Pradyuman.
“In case an indirect promotion is hap-
pening of a registered entity, or an indi-
vidual, by an unregistered entity using a
celebrity or otherwise, Sebi will go after
the registered entity. Registered entities
should be careful about it,” Meenakshi
says.
However, Ananya Singhal,
co-founder, Gap Up, dismissed the pos-
sibility of any wrongdoing, saying brand
ambassadors were appointed to gener-
ate awareness about the platform and
were not in any way engaged in promot-
ing a particular RA. “Gap up by Rigi” has
363,000 followers on its Telegram
channel.
Telegram: Regulatory blind spots
Surat-based Chanchal Chakrach-
hatri, co-founder and chief executive of
tech platform Finosaurus, analysed over
50 trading-related Telegram channels
to help investors track, record and assess
their performance.
Mint scrutinized these channels,
including those operated by registered
and unregistered entities. One notable
example is the Telegram channel “3MP
- Safe Calls Minish Patel - SEBI Regd
Research Analyst with 29 years of expe-
rience,” boasting 893,000 members,
their Sebi registration number
Fetch their contact information from
the Sebi website
Contact them to verify the identiy
before taking services
Check if necessary disclosures are
being made.
See how feasible it will be for you to
replicate calls
the highest in the list shared by Fino-
saurus.
Patel’s other channel, “3MP - High
Risk Fast Calls,” holds the 15th spot with
66,000 subscribers. This “high risk”
channel features videos of its research
team vacationing in Switzerland and
Europe, with posts claiming future trips
to the US, Europe and Russia—a practice
potentially breaching Sebi rules.
Notably, these posts lack disclaimers.
An email seeking clarification from Patel
went unanswered.
In another case, Kavita Agrawal, an
RA, advertises portfolio management
services (PMS) prominently on her web-
site’s homepage. Clicking through
reveals a Google form where she explic-
itly states that she is not a registered
portfolio manager.
Agrawal was guarded in her response
to Mint’s queries: “While a PMS licence
is required for managing funds on behalf
of clients, I currently do not offer that
service. Instead, I provide a copy trading
service to personal acquaintances. I use
the term PMS for ease of understanding
for my acquaintances.”
Screenshots of past performance
Agrawal’s Telegram channel, with
6,693 members, features posts high-
lighting past performances, such as:
Screenshots of questionable activities by a few registered and unregistered
entities on social media
GAP UP
 gapup_channel_official
Channel members
363,109 16,811
Indirect celebrity endorsement
of registered analysts; upselling
premium channels
“Stock Idea: HAL. Exclusively in the
Exclusive Plan. Achieved 26.2% per-
formance in 13 days.”
“Sebi-registered analysts cannot
make boastful claims about past per-
formance to advertise their offerings,”
says Meenakshi. But who cares!
Agrawal argued that the message "is
not misleading, not false, and includes a
disclaimer in the attached link". "Fur-
thermore, this is shared within my own
Telegram channel, which is a curated
community of members who have cho-
sen to be part of it and are interested in
knowing about my activities," she says.
Stockpro Online, the fourth on the list
with about 274,000 members, is oper-
ated by Seema Jain, a Sebi-registered
analyst. Although Jain shared a dis-
claimer with her posts: "Please consult
your financial advisor before investing.
All research for educational purposes
only”, Mint's email seeking clarifications
on the lack of adequate disclosure on her
trading calls, did not elicit a response.
The unregistered world
That said, more harm is caused by
unregistered entities, often impersonat-
ing Sebi-registered firms or well-known
personalities. For instance, a Telegram
channel, named Sarvesh Gutti (SMI) ||
SEBI®, has multiple posts claiming “Get
88
119,606
Illegal handling of individual
trading accounts on
profit-sharing model.
Source: Finosaurus
Data as of 19 June 2024
PRANAY BHARDWAJ/MINT
Returns in 3-5 hours,” promising a profit
of ₹45,000 on an investment of
₹10,000.
An email inquiry to Gutti revealed it
to be a fraudulent account. “These are
fake accounts operated under my name.
I have lodged a complaint with the cyber
cell and informed Sebi about these
accounts,” Gutti claimed.
“EVERYDAY PROFITS”, “Trade-
LikeBerlin”, “Vijay wealth advisor” and
“BULLS VS BEARS” from the Fino-
saurus list are not registered with Sebi,
and they clearly say so on their channel
description. They claim to offer per-
sonal account handling for channel
members on a profit-sharing basis.
The channel owners request account
login and password details from mem-
bers and claim to trade on their behalf.
While the profits are shared, the losses
are not. To share an example, a post on
“vijaywealthofficial2020” says: “We
again rocked in our account handling
service like always, Jackpot Profits
Booked. 100% + profit, 100% consist-
ency & 100% satisfaction.”
Mint could not reach out to the own-
ers of these channels as their informa-
tion is not publicly available.
“TradeLikeBerlin” is run by Ujjwal
Pandey. His name search on the Sebi
website yielded no results. His Insta-
gram channel suggests he is a trader.
The non-registered entities tend to
hide behind the disclaimer ‘for educa-
tion purpose only’ when sharing stock
tips. Does it make them legal?
“It is completely illegal. What educa-
tional purpose does a stock recommen-
dation serve? You are not educating
about the stock. You are giving a call of
action. Sebi is in discussions with plat-
forms such as Facebook, Telegram and
WhatsApp to take action against non-
registered entities,” says Meenakshi of
Primeinvestor.in.
For an extended version of this story, go
to livemint.com/money.
have remained small
FROM PAGE 10
alluded the losses to the lack of
awareness about the market.
“Not many people understand
that this kind of service exists.
A great chunk of people still
think that buying and taking
on EMI is the only way to have/
own an asset,” he said.
Furlenco also rents out
treadmills, laptops, televi-
sion sets, water purifiers and
even microwave ovens. Simi-
larly, Cityfurnish stocks
appliances such as refrigera-
tors, washing machines, air
conditioners, air fryers and
induction cooktops among
other appliances.
KEY TO GROWTH
F urlenco, meanwhile, is
encouraging customers to
buy the furniture after having
rented it for some time. One
reason is that the furniture
rental business is heavy on
logistics. If not executed well,
the experience can be night-
mare-ish for customers, as
some of the examples cited
above show.
Companies are therefore
concentrating on streamlining
their logistics play, going
ahead. This could well be the
secret to future growth, mar-
ket watchers said.
Furlenco’s Karimpana said
his customers return about
500 sofas every day across
India. They need to be
stored, cleaned and refur-
bished before it is fit to be
rented again. “To handle and
maintain such vast amounts
of inventory, the company
has what we call a ‘sofa
microwave’, a baking oven-
like structure,” he said.
That’s a large house where
A file photo of Rentomojo’s founder Geetansh Bamania.
100 sofas can be accommo-
dated for cleaning, washing
and drying.
Before Neerav Jain started
Cityfurnish in 2016, he ran
another startup that offered
custom-made furniture for
buyers. However, the com-
pany had to shut down as it
was reliant on third party
logistics companies. At that
time, the startup saw nearly
38% returns from consum-
ers, making the business
unviable.
When he started the furni-
ture rental company, Jain
decided to sort out the logis-
tics piece first. The company
today runs in-house facilities
but setting up such opera-
tions in multiple cities has
proved difficult and slow.
Today, it has seven fulfilment
centres in key cities such as
Mumbai, Delhi NCR and Ben-
galuru, its largest market,
contributing nearly 38% of its
business. The company gen-
erated revenue of ₹25 crore
and a profit of ₹18 lakh in
2022-23. Last year was its
best—Jain says the company
clocked ₹40 crore in revenue.
On the positive side, the
focus on controlling the logis-
tics operations has meant less
returns—Cityfurnish says less
than 1% of the furniture it rents
out is returned in a month. In
addition, to control the entire
value chain, the company also
runs a manufacturing centre
in Jodhpur.
Most other rental compa-
nies, in contrast, have relied
on third party logistics com-
panies. But, they, too, appear
to be pivoting more and more
to in-house facilities. They
have all realized that cus-
tomer experience is the key
to growth.
“If you can’t control the cus-
tomer’s experience across all
pillars, then you cannot
deliver a good experience. If
you don’t do this, you cannot
be unit economics positive,”
Chaitanya Ramalingegowda,
Wakefit’s co-founder, said.
For the furniture rental
startups, it is a work in
progress.

WHAT MUTUAL FUND SIPs HAVE IN COMMON WITH WATCHING CRICKET IN A STADIUM
ISTOCKPHOTO

highest ever. Not all the money coming into MFs through the SIP High valuations
route is invested into equity MF schemes, but a bulk of it is. Indeed, in 2024-25, the price-to-book ratio—which measures
THE MONEY In fact, regular money coming in through the SIP route into
equity MF schemes clearly impacts the “mutual fund sahi hai”
valuation—for BSE 500 stocks, into which most of the MF money
is invested, was the highest since 2007-08. This explains why quite
MIND campaign run by the MF lobby, the Association of Mutual Funds a few fund managers have been talking about high valuations, both
in India, and the advertisement campaigns highlighting the impor- on and off the record, without being able to do much about it.
VIVEK KAUL tance of investing through the SIP route run by individual MFs. In fact, the flood of money coming in through SIPs also disturbs
And this is where an anomaly arises. But before we get into that, another point at the heart of the SIP process: cost averaging. Invest-
We welcome your views and comments at allow me to take a slight detour. Let’s say you’re at a stadium watch- ing a fixed amount of money every
mintmoney@livemint.com ing a cricket match. The people in front of you stand up to get a bet- At an individual month ensures investors buy fewer
ter view of the game. This leaves no choice for you but to stand up, level, it makes units when prices are high and more

T
here have been stories in the media recently about the huge
amount of cash that active equity mutual fund (MF) schemes
have been sitting on lately. As of May, in absolute terms, this
amounted to around ₹1.17 trillion against ₹95,969 crore in Decem-
ber 2023, according to data from the financial services platform
Fisdom. This sounds like a lot of money. But as a percentage of the
total assets under management of equity MF schemes, it was at 5.1%
in May and 4.9% in December, not materially very different.
So, active equity MF schemes continue to invest almost all the
fresh inflow of money that they are seeing through the systematic
investment plan (SIP) route and the one-time investment route
into stocks. In May, equity MF schemes saw a net inflow of ₹34,697
crore, the highest ever. Further, the total amount of money coming
into MFs through the SIP route stood at ₹20,904 crore—again, the
forcing the people sitting behind you to also get up. Ultimately, this
will force the people sitting in the last row to get up as well. immense sense when prices are low. In the process, they
can lower the cost of the average MF
Now, as it turns out, economists have also thought about such to invest unit they buy and benefit as prices go up
a situation. As Thomas Sowell writes in Basic Economics: A Common through the in the years to come.
Sense Guide to the Economy: “In a sports stadium, any given individ- SIP route Now, for something like this to hap-
ual can see the game better by standing up but if everybody stands pen, the stock markets also need to fall
up, everybody will not see better.” Such a situation is referred to as when valuations are excessive, ensuring
the fallacy of composition or the flawed assumption that some- equation, ensuring that investors drink stocks SIP by SIP. lower prices of MF units. But that hasn’t happened in the Indian mar-
thing good for a part is also good for the whole. So, while it made Nonetheless, so much money coming into equity MF schemes ket over the last few years, simply because whenever foreign inves-
sense to stand up at an individual level, on the whole, people through the SIP route makes things difficult for fund managers. tors have sold, retail money through SIP, Employees’ Provident
watching the game ended up with a not-so-pleasant experience. Every time they need to invest this money into stocks, chances that Fund, insurance companies and other routes has kept coming in.
A similar thing seems to be happening with SIPs into equity MF they end up driving up the prices of those stocks are very high. And So, what is the way out of this? None really. It is what it is, simply
schemes. At an individual level, it makes immense sense to invest that leads to stocks being overvalued, implying that their prices are because no one really knows the future.
through the SIP route. It essentially takes market timing out of the extremely high in comparison to their expected future earnings. Vivek Kaul is the author of Bad Money.
12 FRIDAY, 21 JUNE 2024
NEW DELHI VIEWS LIVEMINT.COM

OUR VIEW MY VIEW | TECH WHISPERS

AFP

India should look towards Japan

for an AI regulation framework
The Japanese approach aims for balanced AI development and could suit our societal orientation

G7 summit, where the Hiroshima AI Focused funding and investment:

process gave a clarion call for exploring
various frameworks to regulate AI. It
was no coincidence that the summit was
in Hiroshima, with its stark reminder on
what could happen if technology is mis-
used. Two basic approaches emerged: a
‘hard law-based’ approach with strict
obligations, as evidenced by the EU’s AI
JASPREET BINDRA Act and Chinese regulation, and a ‘soft
is a technology expert, author of ‘The Tech law-based’ one, which emphasizes non-
Whisperer’, and a Masters in AI and Ethics binding guidance and principles. Japan
from Cambridge University. leans towards the latter.
Inge Odendaal of Stellenbosch Uni-
Japan has created a large fund for Gen-
erative AI, domestic data centres and
local chip production. It offers incen-
tives and subsidies in partnership with
cloud computing providers and tech
companies. India has a similar fund, set
up as part of the India AI Mission. But
the difference is that much of the Indian
funding is being used to procure pro-
cessing units centrally rather than
decentralize innovation (like in Japan).
Effective government-academia-in-
dustry collaboration: The AI Japan R&D

Euro 2024: Boardrooms

versity describes the principles very Network works across universities,
well in her paper (bit.ly/3Volng1): research institutes, private sector and

I
n 1991, the Indian government articu- The government acts as a facilitator: AI global tech companies to recommend
lated a ‘Look East’ policy to build is a complex ecosystem of technologies, policies on AI research and companies.
extensive economic and strategic and the Japanese government prefers to India is doing something similar; we

must tune into football relations with its eastern neighbours

and Southeast Asia. This was different
from the traditional ‘West facing’ out-
look, in which we looked to learn from
be a facilitator rather than sole creator
of innovation. It acknowledges the pri-
vate sector as the primary driver and
activates its governance institutions to
already have the constituents, with our
IITs and IISc, a robust private sector and
a strong global tech presence.
Building domestic competence: Japan
Europe and North America. With the help them. Japan’s foreign affairs minis- is looking to build its own large lan-
age of AI upon us, India is considering try coordinated the Hiroshima process, guage model (LLM); India has a raft of
The Euro 2024 football competition holds lessons for companies on team creation and goal how it should both foster and regulate for example, and its cultural affairs min- them being built and they would benefit
this powerful new technology which istry is looking at copyright issues. This greatly from government support. We
orientation. Hint: Look at the age profile of key players and diversity of Europe’s top teams can reshape industry, society and geo- is a perfect template for India to adopt. also have expertise in building citizen-
politics. AI promises huge economic The government should place the pri- centric technology with initiatives like
and social benefits, but there are con- vate technology sector at the centre of Aadhaar and UPI. A similar model can
cerns around copyright, human rights Indian efforts, with enabling roles to be help build GenAI as a public good.

T
he market for HR professionals is
teeming with trainers, coaches,
life hack experts and motivational
gurus. Companies are keen to
imbue employees with diverse
skills, both hard and soft. Among
the capabilities that businesses want their staff
to acquire, a particularly hard-fought one is
team spirit. Crucial as teams are for enhancing
productivity, or accelerating learning, they also
play a pivotal role in achieving other corporate
aims, like better communication and coordina-
tion, crunched delivery timelines and reduced
errors. Companies often engage external
experts to conduct team-building workshops
who then deploy a various exercises to test and
expand people’s capacity for problem-solving.
Trainers borrow heavily from a variety of real-
life sources to enliven these sessions. This sum-
mer, managers and trainers would do well to
observe the Euro 2024 football tournament
being played in Germany for some key lessons
in team creation and goal orientation.
Euro 2024 showcases, even if involuntarily,
also acts as a source of inspiration for younger violations, privacy and fairness. For played by its ministries of electronics Philosophical argument: Western and
players. Croatia has Luka Modric, also 39, who instance, the issue of deepfakes clouded and information technology, law, and Eastern societies differ considerably in
the recent elections, with fears of information and broadcasting. their approach to fundamental societal
helped Real Madrid win this year’s Champions democracy being subverted. For regu- issues like privacy and data usage. In my
League. Corporate boardrooms also need to lating AI, should India look West research at Cambridge University, I
appreciate how age can encapsulate multiple towards the EU and its AI Act, or at the realized that the Western idea of pri-
facets needed for better performance: institu- US and UK, which are considering more QUICK READ vacy as being the ‘right to be left alone’
tional memory, an ability to deal with crises Big Tech-friendly regimes? was quite different from the Eastern
I believe that India should bring back The Japanese model of regulating notion of ‘collective or societal privacy.’
and the experience of having withstood the its Look East philosophy and learn from AI places the tech industry at the AI is both transformational and inevi-
vicissitudes of varied business cycles. another large democracy, Japan, which centre, with the government table. As it shapes industry, society,
There is another aspect of international foot- has been quietly building an AI regula- acting an enabler and Generative humanity and the global order, the
ball—and Euro 2024 in particular—that should tory regime that balances the need for AI treated as a public good that world’s most populous country cannot
guide corporate recruitment for leadership integrating AI safely in society with can serve collective interests. afford to be left behind. Other countries
building an environment for innova- are racing to set up frameworks, and
teams, especially those swearing allegiance to tion. It sees AI as a lever with which it The Eastern idea of collective Indian policymakers need to step up the
the credo of diversity, equity and inclusion can leapfrog decades of stagnation in its privacy, which differs from the urgency. As they do so, they would be
(DEI). The teams of Europe’s top footballing innovation and tech ecosystem. Simi- Western notion of individual well served by looking at Japan, which
countries today look very different from their larly, AI can offer India a strong impetus privacy, is another reason why has similar cultural traits, and taking a
earlier configurations. Germany has selected to become Viksit Bharat by 2047. India may be served well by a hard-nosed approach that balances
Japan effectively leveraged the 2023 ‘look east’ stance on AI rules. innovation and regulation.
Ilkay Gundoğan, son of Turkish migrants, to
lead its quest for the Euro 2024 trophy. France
has the gifted winger Kylian Mbappé, a first-
generation French national born to Algerian
and Cameroonian immigrants, as its captain.
Selectors have gone a step ahead and even
appointed foreigners as team coaches: Albania www.livemint.com
New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh*, Pune* Saturday, June 21, 2014 Vol.8 No.147 `10.00 in Delhi-NCR/`11.00 outside Delhi-NCR 12 PAGES
+ 20 PAGES LOUNGE

the willingness of national football associations has Sylvinho, a Spaniard, while Hungary hired Q&A:Kalpana Kannabiran on
crimes against women >4
CORPORATE: Essar Oil to seek delisting
approval on Monday >3

to shed stale ideas on eligibility. One of the most
Marco Rossi, an Italian. The idea is simple: Get CONTENT PARTNER
MARKETS: RBI removes checks on proprietary
trading by banks in forex derivatives >3
ADVERTISING: ‘New and improved’ to face ad
watchdog test >5

amazing aspects of it is their inclination to dis- the best professionals for the job, nationality
SENSEX 25,105.51 æ 96.29 NIFTY 7,511.45 æ 29.25 DOLLAR `60.19 Æ `0.10 EURO `81.77 æ `0.06 GOLD `28,150 Æ `580 OIL $114.73 æ $0.33

IMPROVING FINANCES
ASIA PACIFIC SET TO OUTPACE NORTH Jaypee-Taqa QUICK EDIT
deal hits state A long
Rail fares hiked AMERICA IN WEALTH CREATION
Asia Pacific has narrowed North America’s lead in the population of high net worth individuals

card the illogical practice of ageism. The com- and other factors be damned. Predictably, government battle
(HNIs) and is set to overtake it this year, according to the World Wealth Report 2014 from
Capgemini SA and RBC Wealth Management. Globally, the number of HNIs expanded by

asModirollsout
14.7%, but fell in India due to the economic slowdown. See Page 5

Countrywise ranking of HNIs (2013) Annual

growth(in %)
roadblock I nflation worries have re-
surfaced in the bond
markets. The yields on
2013 4,006 B Y M ALVIKA J OSHI & benchmark government

tough decisions
Football is played with
1 US 16.6 M ADHURA K ARNIK securities have been hard-
2012 3,436 ························· ening over the past two
MUMBAI

petition highlights how various national teams voices of resistance have arisen within Europe’s
BJP-led govt approves
hikes put on hold by
UPA; analysts say slight
inflationary impact
weeks after gradually de-
2,327
2 Japan
1,902
22.3
T he `10,320 crore deal be-
tween Jaypee Group and a
consortium led by Abu Dhabi
clining once it became
clear on 16 May that India
would have a stable gov-
8.59% in April, but it is still far
3 Germany
1,130
11.4
National Energy Co. PJSC, or ernment. The optimism
above the comfort zone of the Taqa, on the sale of two hydro- was also based on hopes
Reserve Bank of India, and
1,015
power plants owned by Jaypee that consumer price infla-
there are concerns that the 758 in Himachal Pradesh, appears tion is on the downward
sharp escalation in the Iraq 4 China 17.8 to have run into a snag. glide path charted by the

are relying on a clutch of ageing players who, growing right-wing politics. Some have even your head. Your feet are
civil war will further stoke oil 643 The Himachal Pradesh state Reserve Bank of India. The
seen in near term prices. government will not allow the credit default swaps market
Japanese securities house 527 sale because of “some local is- is also hinting at rising
B Y R AGINI V ERMA & Nomura said in a research 5 UK 13.4 sues”, a top government offi- bond yields.
465
A SIT R ANJAN M ISHRA note that the railway fare hikes cial said. The main concerns are
························· will add slightly to inflation in 156 “There were some devia- well-known: higher food
NEW DELHI the near term. 16 INDIA 2.0 tions in the plant and certain prices because of the risk

I n power for less than a “The rise in passenger fares 153 conditions under the memo- of a weak monsoon and
month, the Bharatiya Jana- will add around 10 basis points randum of understanding higher oil prices following

through their skills and gameplay, defy the suggested that a referendum be held to deter-
ta Party (BJP)-led govern- to CPI inflation, while there HNI wealth forecast, 2011–2016F (by region) (MoU) have not been met. the Iraq crisis. This is not
ment on Friday raised railway will be a limited indirect im- 75 Hence, the state government the first time since inflation

just the tools.

passenger fares and freight pact on the CPI from the (in US $ trillion) 64.3 1.6 has not given its approval for peaked in 2011 that reality
rates in a move that’s in line freight hike. WPI inflation is CAGR* the deal,” said S.K.B.S. Negi, has mugged such hopes.
60 52.6 2.6
with Prime Minister Narendra likely to see a marginally larger 2013-2016F principal secretary (power) to India continues to have
46.2 1.3 8.2
Modi’s warning of tough deci- impact as the cost of transport- 42.0 2.1 Global 6.9 the Himachal Pradesh govern- one of the highest rates of
1.3
HNI investable wealth

sions to improve the nation’s ing goods such as coal, ce- 45 1.1 1.8 7.7 15.2 Africa 6.0 ment. inflation among not just
financial health, but risks up- ment, oil, steel and food grains 1.7 7.5 West Asia 6.6 The MoU is the in-principle developed countries but
7.1 12.4
setting consumers and stoking will rise. However, the hikes 30 10.9 Latin America 2.3 agreement Jaypee Group also its emerging market
6.9%

notion that age can be a handicap. Defender mine who should play for the national team,
inflation. will improve the profitability of 10.1 17.9 signed with the Himachal peers.
Annualized Europe 7.1
State-run Indian Railways the railways and hence they 14.9 growth Pradesh government to devel- The battle against infla-
15 11.4 12.7 North America 6.4
increased passenger fares by are a move in the right direc- op the two hydropower tion is a long one, and the
14.3% and freight rates by 6.5% tion,” it said. 18.8 Asia Pacific 9.8 projects. Negi did not say what sort of temporary reverses
10.7 12.0 14.2
with effect from 25 June. D. V. One basis point is one-hun- 0 *Compound annual specific issues had been raised we have seen in the past
Sadananda Gowda, the new dredth of a percentage point. 2011 2012 2013 2016F growth rate by the state government. few days are only to be ex-
Note: Chart numbers and quoted percentages may not add up due to rounding
railway minister, approved the The UPA government in- pected.
Source: Capgemini Financial Services Analysis, 2014
hike that was put on hold by creased passenger fares across TURN TO PAGE 2®
the previous United Progres- the board for the first time in SARVESH SHARMA/MINT

Pepe, for example, is a regular in Portugal’s mindless of the irony of hard nationalism
sive Alliance (UPA) govern-
ment on 16 May, the day elec-
tion results showed the BJP-
led National Democratic Alli-
ance (NDA) had unseated the
UPA.
Both Modi and finance min-
ister Arun Jaitley have warned
that tough measures are nec-
10 years effective 21 January
2013. It also introduced a fuel
adjustment component (FAC)
in railway fares as a reform
Panel suggests DISPELLING MYTHS
measure in the railway budget
it presented on 26 February exempting NRIs’
Wolves of the wasteland
non-repatriable
A N D R E A P I R LO
2013. Since the adoption of
FAC, which indexes rates to
the price of fuel, railway fares
investments RAMKI SREENIVASAN/CONSERVATION INDIA

team, even though he turned 41 a few months within soft European borders. In the end, DEI
essary to improve government
finances and lift economic
growth that slumped to sub-5%
levels in the past two financial
years.
“It’s necessary to take steps
to improve financial discipline
and improve the economic
health of the country,” Modi
for passengers and freight have
seen six-monthly revisions.
The passenger fare hike an-
nounced on Friday, applicable
across all classes, was made up
of a flat 10% increase in fares
and 4.2% increase in FAC.
Freight rates saw a flat 5%
upward revision with 1.4%
B Y A NANDA B ANERJEE
from FDI limits ananda.b@livemint.com
·························
BANGALORE
B Y A SIT R ANJAN M ISHRA
asit.m@livemint.com
T hink of wolves. Chances
are you’d be hard-pressed
to come up with an image that
························· is positive, pleasing or happy.
NEW DELHI
You won’t be alone. In Eu-

ago, an age considered fit for retirement not should be put into practice and not remain just
said on 14 June in a speech in
Goa. “I know my popularity
might go down due to these
hard decisions, people might
be annoyed with me, but they
will appreciate it later.”
In the short term, the in-
crease in passenger fares and
freight rates, which precedes
added on account of an in-
crease in FAC for all major
commodities.
Additionally, the railways
withdrew a concession on
short lead freight traffic (for
short distances) upto 100 km
while increasing the minimum
distance for charge from
A
panel headed by finance rope, there’s the medieval leg-
secretary Arvind Mayaram end of the werewolf, the man
has suggested treating non-re- who turns into a wolf-like crea-
patriable investments by non- ture at night, with fangs and
resident Indians (NRIs) as do- claws.
mestic investment, exempting it In India, wolves are sup-
from foreign direct investment posed to steal unguarded ba-
(FDI)-related conditions, in an bies, who then grow up to be- Conservation hurdle: At present, there is no population estimate for
attempt to boost inflows of come wolf-boys. wolves anywhere in the Indian subcontinent.

only from national teams, but also from club a buzzword, like how infotech firms seem to
the presentation of the Union
budget next month, risks fuel-
ling inflation and burdening
households as companies pass
on higher transport costs to
consumers by raising prices.
Inflation measured by the
Wholesale Price Index (WPI)
accelerated 6.01% in May, the
100km to 125 km.
“The passenger fare increase
over last 7-8 years has not even
covered up for the inflationary
increase in expenditure,” said
Abhaya Agarwal, a partner at
EY Llp who oversees the infra-
structure practice at the con-
sultancy previously known as
funds. In the US, former stockbro-
If accepted, the recommenda-
tion would mean NRIs making
ker Jordan Belfort chose to title
his memoir chronicling his mint SERIES-II they record 100 different
howls. Later, in the next sea-
investments of non-repatriable dark financial raids The Wolf of son, another sample is record-
nature would not have to worry Wall Street. tute of India and an expert on ed, say now, the scientist gets
about sectoral restrictions and Not to forget that cliché of wolves. 150 wolf howls and among
caps as well as government ap- horror movies—a wolf in sil- This fact—about howling—is these, 50 are found to have
provals needed for foreign inves- houette, neck tilted up, howl- now set to aid Habib and his been previously recorded—
tors if they wish to invest in Indi- ing away at the full moon. team conduct a ‘sound capture then the total population size

football. His compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo, reflexively use the term “scrum” for meetings
quickest pace since December.
Consumer price index-based
(CPI-based) inflation slowed
to 8.28% in the month from
NOTE TO READERS
There is no Mint Markets
Ernst and Young.
“There is an accumulated
deficit of the past years which
was only partially offset by fare
increase last year. So I would
call this hike modest given the
investments required in rail-
ways for improving passenger
an companies. For all we know, the howling and recapture’ experiment, the is 300, using the following for-
The committee was set up last wolf could well be a mythical first of its kind in India to mula: Total = original number
year by then finance minister P. creature from a dark and dan- count the number of wolves. At tagged x total recaptured ÷
Chidambaram to rationalize the gerous world. present, there is no population number tagged on recapture.
definition of FDI and foreign in- But why does a wolf howl? estimate for wolves anywhere In 2003, genetic studies es-
stitutional investment (FII). The
panel’s report was made public
“A wolf will be wasting its
time howling at the moon. It
in the Indian subcontinent.
‘Capture and recapture’ is a
tablished that the Indian sub-
continent supports three dis-
on Friday evening. does so only to communicate method commonly used to es- tinct wolf lineages. Two are an-
Unlike an earlier draft version

aged over 39, is not only supremely athletic and with little appreciation for why it was borrowed
with today’s edition.
Mint is also available for R14.50 with
Hindustan Times in Delhi-NCR only
amenities and safety. On the
freight front, the railways can-
not hold on to fare increase
TURN TO PAGE 2®
with its pack. Every wolf howl timate the size of a species’ cient and unique to the sub-
reviewed by Mint, the report is unique, just like every tiger population. continent. The peninsular
does not talk about increasing has a unique stripe pattern on In this case, scientists will Indian wolf lineage (Canis lu-
its body,” says Bilal Habib, a record samples of wolf howls
TURN TO PAGE 2® scientist at the Wildlife Insti- in a habitat in one season. Say TURN TO BACK PAGE ®

in possession of a fantastic footballing brain, but from rugby in the first place.

GUEST VIEW

Rural-urban inflation gap: Can this puzzle be solved?

overall inflation would be lower by 30-40
DHIRAJ NIM basis points in May, falling below 4.5%.
A difference in energy consumption pat-
terns between rural and urban households
holds the key. While urban households
depend on electricity and liquified petro-
is rarely exhausted by rural households. This labour supply at farms in the pandemic’s Although rural-urban migration trends
is despite two LPG price cuts by the govern- aftermath, accompanied by a persistent are captured by the population census that
ment: ₹200 per cylinder in August 2023 and shortage of unskilled labour in urban cen- takes place once every 10 years, there are
₹100 in March 2024. Despite the cuts, it is tres. There has been anecdotal evidence of other indicators that can offer a picture. For
likely the LPG price shock induced by the rural labour being reluctant to relocate to instance, the post-pandemic recovery in
global energy price rise in 2022 made it cities on account of lower opportunity costs railway journeys has been lacklustre. As of

I
ndia’s inflation data has shown two
‘divides’ in recent times. The gap between
food and core inflation has got most atten-
tion. The unanimous opinion is that ade-
quate rain will support agricultural output
and cool food inflation, paving the way for
rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The most puzzling divide, however, is
India’s widening rural-urban inflation gap.
is an economist at ANZ Consumer price index (CPI) data for May
Research. confirmed that high rural inflation is keep-
ing the 4% inflation target elusive. At 4.2% in
May, urban inflation was relatively benign,
but the rural-urban gap has widened to an
average 1.3 percentage points in the last
three months. Why is rural inflation high
when rural demand is weak?
High rural inflation has deeper roots. The
component-wise CPI details show that ‘fuel
and light’ can explain a large part of the
rural-urban inflation gap. Rural ‘fuel and
light’ inflation has averaged 7.5 percentage
points above urban inflation in the last three
months. In fact, if it matched the urban print,
leum gas (LPG), the rural energy basket is
quite diversified, including unregulated,
locally available and low-calorific value fuels
such as coal, coke, charcoal, firewood and
dung cakes. Inflation has been quite stub-
born for these unregulated items.
According to the National Sample Survey,
in 2020-21, less than half of all rural house-
holds had access to LPG, compared to over
90% in urban areas. Rural LPG penetration
has increased since 2021, but it has not trans-
lated into a strong rise in LPG consumption.
As gas prices shot up on the back of the
global energy price shock in 2022, LPG con-
sumption growth weakened in India,
reflecting the price sensitivity of demand.
In response to a Right-to-Information
query in August 2023, India’s government
stated that one in four beneficiaries of the
PM Ujjwala Yojana (a scheme for providing
clean cooking fuel to rural and poor house-
holds) either did not buy any LPG cylinder
or took just one refill. Households can take
a maximum of 12 refills a year, but that limit
unaffordable for rural households. This led than before. September 2023, monthly journeys were
them to partially revert to cheaper locally There could be several reasons for this. lower by almost 100 million from the 700
available fuels, driving up their prices on the For instance, a slow recovery in low-end million pre-pandemic level. For the year
back of surging substitution demand. So, manufacturing. Industrial production data ended 31 March 2024, the number of railway
while the LPG price cuts helped lower urban show that sectors such as textiles, garments, journeys was 20% lower than the pre-covid
‘fuel and light’ inflation materially, their tobacco and leather have not yet reclaimed count. However, the Indian Railways
impact on rural energy inflation has been their pre-pandemic output levels, which recorded a healthy revenue growth of 7%,
underwhelming. typically form about 15% reflecting a crowding out of low-value ticket
The rural-urban infla- of manufacturing. These journeys, as tariffs for upper-class railway
tion gap is also wide for QUICK READ sectors together employ travel have been hiked. This seems like one
other retail items such as about one-third of India’s among other markers of a weakened steady-
vegetables, recreation Rural inflation has been higher industrial workforce, state migration dynamic for now.
and cereals. A probable than urban price escalation. This which has had a large A persistent post-pandemic contraction
reason could be an may be due to high ‘fuel and light’ number of migrants. in inflation-adjusted rural wage growth also
expanded rural con- prices in rural areas where LPG Other reasons include supports the ‘surplus labour’ argument.
sumer base that is bur- affordability was hit by the global rising housing costs in High rural inflation beyond the influence
dening supply chains. It energy price shock of 2022. cities and the govern- of RBI is impeding price stability in India.
is likely that the large- ment’s free-food scheme Balancing a hawkish stance with financial
scale urban-to-rural Also, migration to rural India for the poor in rural areas, conditions, so that monetary policy does not
migration that took place during the pandemic may not which has eased the bur- overly tighten and hurt economic growth,
during the pandemic has have reversed yet.Opportunities den on rural household will become increasingly important. For
not reversed yet. The in cities haven’t fully recovered budgets and reduced the that, liquidity management will remain
media has intermittently even as free food handouts have incentive to seek higher RBI’s playground. On policy rates of interest,
reported increased eased the rural cost of living. ‘city wages.’ patience will need to be exercised.
LIVEMINT.COM VIEWS FRIDAY, 21 JUNE 2024
NEW DELHI 13

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

This remains India’s decade as its Political turmoil in France isn’t

a prelude to another EU crisis
economic cycle promises growth Macron’s electoral gamble is a worry but this isn’t a 2012 redux

The economy’s expansion has more years to run and GDP growth could average 6.5% until 2030 on current policy trends

BLOOMBERG

MARCUS ASHWORTH
is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering
European markets.

UPASANA CHACHRA
is chief India economist at Morgan Stanley.

M
ark Twain’s aphorism that “his-
tory doesn’t repeat itself, but it
often rhymes” may be overused.

I
ndia’s economy has exhibited consistent
strength since the pandemic, and there is
growing optimism over its future growth path.
Despite a coalition government at the Centre,
compared with a single-party majority gov-
ernment in the previous two Lok Sabha terms,
we expect the policy direction to remain the same.
We maintain our constructive view on the econ-
omy and believe that this cycle has more years of
expansion. India is on track to become the world’s
third-largest economy by 2027, maintaining the
tag of ‘fastest-growing large economy’ for a few
more years. In this article, we delve into our frame-
work in some detail and answer four questions on
the country’s economic cycle.
Where are we in the growth cycle?: GDP growth
has surprised on the upside in the past five quar-
ters, with upgrades to growth forecasts. In other
words, the growth trajectory is moving higher
at a faster-than-expected pace. This is more com-
pelling if we consider that the recovery is rather
young when measured in number of years—two
years from March 2022, when the economy
opened completely after pandemic restrictions.
This robustness is reflected in high-frequency
data. Manufacturing and services PMI readings
have been tracking levels close to their 14-year
highs, credit growth has been at or above 15% for
the past nine months, and GST collections have
been above ₹1.5 trillion for the past 15 months.
However, there are concerns around a sluggish
trend in consumption, particularly in the low-in-
come segment, and a slow pick-up in private capex.
In our view, these are symptoms of an early-stage
expansion cycle, and growth will become broader
based as the economic expansion continues.
Indeed, incoming data suggests a pick-up in rural
demand in the March quarter of 2024, as reflected
in consumer products’ volume growth and an
improving trend in private investment, as reflected
in the order books of engineering companies.
How is this cycle different?: India has seen a rapid
transformation from a macro perspective in the
past ten years, driven by policy reforms. The
reforms implemented in this period addressed
three broad challenges: improving the supply-side
responsiveness of the economy, fostering macro
stability and improving India’s integration with the
rest of the world. These policy measures have
helped fortify the Indian economy, making the
growth cycle self-sustaining and less vulnerable to
global shocks than in the past. This is reflected in a
higher investment rate, systematically lower infla-
tion and a stronger external balance sheet. Indeed,
capex has risen to around 34% of GDP in 2023-24
from the trough of 28% of GDP in 2020-21, infla-
tion has tracked below 6% in seven of the past nine
years, the current account deficit has tracked
around or below 2% of GDP since 2013-14, and
But the market reaction to the political tur- France’s basic commitment to the EU
moil gripping France has distinct echoes of project is unlikely to weaken BLOOMBERG
the euro crisis more than a decade ago. As
talk of ‘Frexit’ surfaces, it’s important to So-called cohabitation between oppos-
note that there are significant differences ing parties holding the offices of president
between the current situation and the tra- and prime minister has happened three
vails suffered by the ‘PIGS’—Portugal, times before in the 66-year history of the
Italy, Greece and Spain—back in the day. Fifth Republic. If Marine Le Pen’s National
France is part of the bedrock of the Euro- Rally gets to lead the next government, it’s
pean Union (EU), not just a peripheral worth noting that her party has carefully
nation. Its economy is nowhere near as moderated its eurosceptic stance in recent
weak as Greece’s was in 2012. While both years, pushing instead for reform from
its budget deficit and debt burden are dete- within. Nonetheless, European Commis-
riorating, neither is as bad as those of Italy. sion concern about the increasing French
Moreover, the European Central Bank is budget deficit, which rose to 5.5% of GDP
now much more proficient at coming up last year, won’t be assuaged by a tense
with new tools to defend the common cur- domestic political scene.
rency project. The EU’s collective ability to During the euro debt crisis, it took then-
set aside differences, displayed during the ECB President Mario Draghi promising to
euro crisis and repeated in its €800 billion do “whatever it takes” in July 2012 to steady
($850 billion) NextGeneration pandemic the ship. Current incumbent Christine
fiscal programme, is its greatest strength. Lagarde doesn’t need to worry her speech-
Its willingness to compromise on even the writers yet, but it would be wise to have
thorniest of political and economic issues internal consultations on which tools from
means the risk of a ‘Frexit’ can be firmly its expanded arsenal the ECB might bring
India’s export market share for goods and services Budget in July will indicate that the government discounted at this juncture. to bear if the current market moves
has risen by 40 basis points to 2.5% since 2019. remains committed to its path of fiscal consolida- That said, fixing France’s finances also threaten to become dysfunctional.
What about policy direction in the next five years?: tion, improving job creation and sustaining capex looks unlikely. The political jockeying fol- The ECB’s Transmission Protection
We expect political stability and believe a stable growth. In our view, these areas will help the econ- lowing President Emmanuel Macron’s Instrument (TPI), for example, was
government will maintain the policy momentum omy cruise at 6.5-7% growth with macro stability decision to call a snap election has high- approved in July 2022. It helped to quell an
of the past few years. We expect policy measures to maintained. For growth to average 8-10%, decisive lighted the country’s intractable debt Italian political wobble, but it remains
continue under two broad segments: job creation and concrete steps will be needed to address factor problem; French bond spreads won’t magi- more of a conceptual tool than a real-life
and ensuring macro stability. On job creation, we markets (land and labour) and improve the pro- cally return to the previous narrow levels bazooka, with an explicit aim to “counter
believe that the playbook of focusing on expanding ductivity of the agriculture sector. compared with benchmark German yields unwarranted, disorderly market dynam-
infrastructure investment and What are the risks?: From a even after the political picture becomes ics.” We are far from that definition; “What
pushing the manufacturing base cyclical perspective, risks stem clearer by the second-round results on 7 we’re seeing is a repricing,” ECB Chief
higher are key to ensuring the QUICK READ from global factors, such as a July. A change in the rating outlook or a Economist Philip Lane pointed out earlier
country’s demographic divi- sharp deterioration in world- downgrade from Moody’s Investors Ser- this week. Still, policymakers in Europe
dend contributes positively to Policy continuity is expected wide growth, a rise in risk aver- vice, which ranks French government debt might want to remind market participants
growth. Indeed, with an annual under India’s new coalition sion that impacts capital flows, or at Aa2 with a stable outlook, is probably that the TPI exists.
average increase of nearly 9.5 government and its emphasis a sharp and sustained rise in already priced in. But further action from The central bank announced at its 6
million in the working age popu- on job creation, macro stability, commodity prices, particularly either Fitch Ratings or S&P Global Ratings, June meeting that it will commence run-
lation, India needs a broad- infrastructure and manufacturing oil. While India is less vulnerable which have the nation one notch lower at ning down its Pandemic Emergency Pur-
based strategy for creating non- is not expected to weaken. to such shocks, it isn’t com- AA-, would be unsettling. chasing Programme by €7.5 billion per
farm jobs. Since 2014, the gov- pletely immune, especially to In recent trading days, French 10-year month from July, by no longer fully rein-
ernment has expanded physical Achieving 8-10% GDP growth, sharp and sustained moves. On yields have barely budged, while German vesting maturing holdings. Pressing pause
infrastructure at a fast pace, with though, may require land and the structural side, the main risk bonds have tracked a sharp decline in US might be taken as a sign of panic; but
a 1.5x increase in roads (national labour reforms as well as raised is a change in policy mix that Treasury yields. The French Treasury has there’s plenty of inbuilt flexibility that
highways, i.e., measured in kilo- farm productivity. External focuses on aggressive redistribu- completed more than half of its €310 bil- would allow redemptions from other mar-
metres) and a doubling of air- shocks pose risks, although India tion, which could weigh on lion gross funding requirement this year, kets to be skewed toward reinvestment in
ports as well as railway routes is less vulnerable to them now. macro stability and thus the with sales going smoothly. Yields across French debt—a chunky €18 billion matures
electrified. This will help to growth outlook. the curve are in the 3% to 3.5% range, only in July, for example.
improve domestic competitiveness and create a Bottom-line: We believe that India’s expansion modestly above this year’s average levels. President Macron’s electoral gamble has
basis for the manufacturing base to expand. To cycle has more years to run, and we estimate that In 2012, the French yield premium to Ger- focused investor attention on the parlous
ensure macro stability, we expect policymakers to GDP growth will average 6.5% until 2030. With its many reached 128 basis points. This cur- state of French finances and opened the
maintain a policy framework favouring fiscal pru- economy compounding at a fast pace, India’s GDP rent wobble, which has seen the spread door to a new administration that may be
dence, an efficient expenditure mix in the form of is expected to expand to $8 trillion by 2032 from surpass 80 basis points, is more reminis- even less fiscally responsible. But still, we
higher capex, and improvements in the targeting $3.8 trillion in 2024, accounting for nearly a fifth of cent of the market move in the approach to are a long, long way from the turbulent
of welfare spending. It is likely that the upcoming global growth over the course of this decade. Macron first taking office in 2017. markets of 2012. ©BLOOMBERG

MY VIEW | PEN DRIVE

Is LGBTQIA+ acceptance just lip service in India Inc?

A single protest from the young and disil-
DEVINA SENGUPTA lusioned on social media could hurt a com-
pany’s brand image, impacting its employee
attraction ability and more. “It has taken
more than 50 years for society and thereby
companies to notice the impact women
employees could lead to questions on reli- company’s insurance policy, then so should their fairness yardstick. DEI standards are
gious beliefs on orientation, with morality the gender-related medical expenses of rising. Simply installing a gender-neutral
cropping up as a subject. employees who are transitioning but may washroom doesn’t make the cut.
There is curiosity about whether sexual not require surgery. Whether people protest what they iden-
and other forms of diversity can influence But can these measures stop the slurs? A tify as DEI violations, especially if someone
decision-making processes, while there is business house had to look into a harassment is victimized in office for orientation, can

writes on workplaces and
education at Mint.
A
born-male hotel executive who
identified as a woman had a request
of her HR head. She wanted to work
in the reception desk of the hotel in a sari.
The senior approved. Next morning, the
executive in a sari drew attention from
many guests, but the decision worked in the
hotel’s favour. That one nod upped ratings
from many guests and bolstered its brand
image of being an inclusive company.
Now, in an ideal world, an employee
being denied a role because of any orienta-
tion is unacceptable. But since we do not
reside in such a world, the letters
LGBTQIA+ (abbreviation for Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex,
Asexual and any other identities) could take
time to percolate through the layers of most
organizations. But time is not a luxury that
India Inc has. Today, different generations
huddled in the same office want the voices
of all genders and orientation, with any kind
of fluidity, to be heard pronto.
leaders bring to an organization. Getting
them to accept different orientations, which
are also evolving, will take a lot more years,”
observes a senior HR executive who con-
ducts DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion)
training sessions for business leaders of a
conglomerate. “We have to start now.”
The HR executive recounts how leaders
are getting trained not to react or form any
judgement, and also be acutely aware of
any subconscious bias kicking in when a
job seeking candidate discloses more about
oneself. “‘I am asexual’ cannot be met with
‘What does that mean?’ or ‘How will the
employee fit in,’ etc. No one asks personal
questions, but candidates in interviews
have opened up about their orientations
sometimes just to check if they and the firm
are a match.”
What does DEI training involve? Is it
taken seriously across all levels in India Inc,
or is it just a perfunctory checklist tick-off?
A consultant told me that explaining it to
also rejection of anything beyond hetero- case where an employee felt “threatened” by depend on how badly they need their jobs.
normative archetypes. People often ask if all a colleague who had come out of the closet. For many, calling out the bigotry displayed
employees must attend these programmes “Slurs, abusive words, snide remarks are by a senior, like opening up to colleagues,
if the likelihood of having LGBTQIA+ col- common, but rarely are they reported by can be a tricky decision if it risks being sin-
leagues is low. Some firms insist that all anyone, not even the person who was the tar- gled out and ridiculed. Yet, from insider
need to be sensitized, while others want get. Sometimes, senior executives are bored accounts, company cultures are changing as
their senior leadership in these sessions, but the younger generations move in. According to
to be trained every few hope is that with every a prominent DEI activist, there seems to be
months in the hope that QUICK READ step, the office becomes a more acceptance of diverse orientations
their understanding will safer place,” says a senior among general workers than their higher-
seep through the layers. Today, various generations executive. ups: “A transgender working in a plant is
The worry that they huddled in the same office want Unfortunately, as con- more easily accepted by workmen on the
may not be considered the voices of all genders and versations with office- floor, while MBA-degree holders in cabins
inclusive has pushed orientation with any kind of goers suggest, leaders in create more resistance.”
firms across sectors to fluidity to be heard as equals many places are still get- So, are DEI training investments turning
look at benefit packages. no different from anybody else. ting used to the new out to be mere lip service in India Inc? Is
While concepts like dynamics brought about June celebrated as Pride Month mostly for
adoption and paternity Businesses that care about by out-of-the-closet ori- brand projection purposes? I would like to
leave are available in a their brand image and reputation entations. In the mean- think that even if a single candidate opens
few firms, DEI teams are as employers have adopted DEI time, the younger lot are up about one’s sexuality in a job interview
working to ensure that if measures, but there still seems a scanning their employ- and the panel waves the candidate in as if
gender-affirming sur- long way to go for ideal levels of ment contracts to con- nothing extraordinary happened, then
gery is covered by the diversity, equity and inclusion. firm if the firm meets India Inc should feel relieved.
14 FRIDAY, 21 JUNE 2024
NEW DELHI BUSINESS OF LIFE LEISURE LIVEMINT.COM

The charm of curated A recent Candlelight

Concert in Mumbai

subscription boxes ISTOCKPHOTO

A number of platforms
are offering thoughtfully
put together gift box
sets with eco-conscious
cosmetics, books, pet
snacks and more
Avantika Bhuyan
avantika.bhuyan@htlive.com
I
magine a thoughtfully curated box, fea-
turing the best of fiction and poetry
books, gourmet snacks or clean beauty
products, landing at your doorstep at
regular intervals. All you need to do is
choose a subscription plan with a service that
matches your taste and interests, and a set of
curators will put together a box for you.
Such subscription box services are quite pop-
ular, both as a form of self-care and for thought-
ful gifting, internationally, particularly in the
US. A May article on The Strategist, a New York
Magazine site, states that “subscription boxes
land right in a good-gift sweet spot of being
thoughtful without requiring too much effort.
All you have to do is select the one that best
matches your recipient’s interests, and your gift
will continue to surprise and delight for several
weeks or months.” The boxes could range from
the regular and mainstream to the niche—there
are coffee boxes in which a service uses quizzes
to match the subscribers’ tastes with the offer-
ings by a diverse set of roasters, snack and tea
offerings sourced from family-owned busi-
nesses in Japan, and even a box set on the choic-
est sprinkles and decorations required by ama-
teur bakers. There are even kits available on
subscription, such as the Bitsbox Basic Box, for
budding coders.
In India too, in recent years, there has been
rising interest in subscription services. You
have a monthly box of 10 healthy snacks, and
more, on Snackible, for instance. Flower sub-
scriptions are available on Shades of Spring that
can be delivered at frequencies of every seven,
14 or 28 days. Another niche service is Woof
Box, a monthly surprise for your pet containing
treats, essentials and grooming products. The
service also features a special Meow Box for
your feline family members.
The latest addition to this growing segment
is the Boxwalla, which launched in India in
April. Described as a “discovery platform for
curious people”, it was founded in 2015 by Cali-
fornia-based duo Lavanya Krishnan and San-
deep Bethanabhotla to explore the “art of slow-
ness” via a subscription box service. In recent
years, they have created tasteful boxes on
beauty, books, artisanal food, film, fashion,
music and more, to be received every two
months. In India, the beauty boxes are outside
of the subscription model and are available as
limited edition ones.
In the US, Boxwalla caters to tens of thou-
sands of customers with a majority of women
aged between 30 to 55 years. These customers
come from all backgrounds and ethnicities from
all over the world, with most of them working
across various industries.
That’s the general age range of the people
opting for such services, more so after the pan-
demic, according to the founders of the sub-
scription box services we spoke with.
After covid, people, in general, have become
keener to get more personalised and custom-
unknown to them, and that’s where we come
in,” he says.
WoofBox, founded by Ritika Sharma four
years ago, too, has seen the market evolve. It
started from a personal need to find premium
products—toys, treats, accessories, food—for
her two German Shepherd dogs. Whenever she
and her husband would walk into a pet store,
they would end up purchasing a lot of things
that they either didn’t need or the quality was
not top notch. That is when they thought that it
would be a good idea to come up with a model
that could bring good quality premium prod-
ucts to people’s doorsteps.
“People love to spend a lot on pets but many
times they don’t know if it is good for them or
not. We know from experience about what
works for pets,” she adds.
The couple also looked closely at BarkBox, a
similar subscription service in the US. “How-
ever, their boxes are theme-based. Here, it is
important to be necessity-oriented. The model
of subscription boxes, while being popular for
beauty and wellness segments, is not entirely
well-known for pet products. But we feel that it
is important for us to continue” she says. Woof-
Box sends out many boxes every month.
“The consumer mindset is such that why
should I pay in advance for something I may or
may not like. So, we introduced a one-month
box, priced at ₹1,888, for those who want to try
it out. And then, they subscribe for longer three,
A Children’s Book Box by Boxwalla. six and 12-month subscriptions which deliver
value for money and customised products——
ised services. They don’t just want a curation writers, beyond the gatekeeping. Chee, also a the last three being for those who have tried the
that is tasteful or premium, but also one that fan of subscription boxes, had similar tastes as box and realise the value that we provide,” says
satiates their quest for discovery and explora- us, and his selections reflected the heteroge- Sharma.
tion. The rise in travel in the past three years to
nous fabric of the country,” adds Krishnan. No two boxes that are shipped across India
find new places or find fresh narratives in previ- For the India launch, Krishnan and Betha- are the same. They are curated based on the
ously visited places is being mirrored in the nabhotla focus on beauty, featuring brands like breed, size, age and allergies of the pet.
need among consumers to find a selection of African Botanics, Lovinah & Oio Labs that “Every dog is different and so are their needs.
product experiences that tell a story as well. showcase the range of luxury plant-based So, we have also introduced specialty boxes like
The average price points for such services is beauty, literary fiction for adults and children Chew Master, which is curated for extensive
₹1,000 and upwards, depending on what you and film boxes from The Criterion Collection. chewers, Trick2Treat containing mentally
desire inside the box. The book subscrip- stimulating toys that keep dogs engaged for
tion box is available at long, and a Birthday WoofBox, which is curated
DIFFERENT Post covid, people have ₹1,499 and comes to celebrate the pooches’ big day,” she elabo-
FLAVOURS become keener to get more with two books and a rates.
At Boxwalla, for Curation is key to such services. Krishnan
instance, most of the personalised services that also bookish gift.
For every box, the says she tries every product before including it.
curation comes from satiate their quest for discovery curators choose one “I have enough experience now about how a
Krishnan and Betha- book and the sub- certain product will work, say with different
nabhotla. They often scriber gets a choice skin types. I am able to extend that subjective
also collaborate with like-minded creative prac- of the second one out of three options such as experience to predict how it will work for a
titioners on boxes—both subscription-based The Door by Magda Szabo, Gazing Eastwards by range of people,” she elaborates.
and limited edition. Take, for example, the Romila Thapar and James by Percival Everett. The curation stems from a fundamental
American Fiction curation by Alexander Chee, While the concept of a subscription box is still question—what is your favourite versus what is
author of acclaimed novels such as The Queen Of relatively in India, Bethanabhotla believes the great? “It is completely okay to have a favourite
The Night and the collection of essays, How To consumers are discerning enough. “We all use that is not great, but you should know the differ-
Write An Autobiographical Novel. subscriptions—be it for Netflix, Prime Video, or ence.”
“We had been talking about reading diversely to access other kinds of media. So people are Whatever your interest, subscription boxes
for a while now, and so even within American already well-versed with the idea. Indian read- usher in an element of surprise and excitement.
Fiction we wanted to highlight great American ers want to discover authors and genres hitherto That’s perhaps their biggest pull.
For the weekend
Of art, poetry
and music
A Mint guide to what’s happening
in and around your city
DELHI
CANDLELIGHT CONCERTS
28 June
Enjoy a 60-minute concert by the New Delhi String Quar-
tet, which will present a range of film songs, surrounded by
over a thousand candles.
6:30pm/8:30pm. Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts,
Safdar Hashmi Marg, Todermal Road Area, Mandi House.
For tickets and other details, visit www.liveyourcity.com
BENGALURU
QUEERING POETRY IN TIMES OF STRIFE
23 June
To celebrate Pride month, MAP (Museum of Art and Pho-
tography), in collaboration with Piravi Art Community, is
hosting a free workshop for LGBTQIA+ individuals. Partici-
pants will be encouraged to share their life experiences
with the help of exercises like writing prompts and black-
out poetry. Following the workshop, there will be perform-
ances by published poets from the queer community in the
city. Workshop participants can also present their pieces.
2:30-8:30pm. MAP Bengaluru, HDFC Learning Centre,
lower ground floor. For registration and other details, visit
Map-india.org.
‘Mohabharat or Chobha (Mahabha
rat Sabha)’, by François
Baltazard Solvyns
COUR TESY DAG WORLD
MUMBAI
PEOPLE OF BENGAL: COLOURED ETCHINGS BY
F. BALTAZARD SOLVYNS
Till 29 June
Curated by Giles Tillotson, this exhibition by DAG includes
a series of etchings, made by artist François Baltazard Solv-
yns. The works offer an insight into “the manners, customs,
and dresses, of the Hindus”of eastern India at the end of the
18th century. Born and trained in Antwerp, Solvyns came
to Kolkata (then Calcutta) in 1791, hoping to make a fortune.
During his 10-year long stay, he focused on “ordinary peo-
ple and his images are often sombre in mood”, states the
press release.
10:00am-5:30pm (Wednesday closed). Dr Bhau Daji Lad
Mumbai City Museum, 91/A, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Road,
Byculla East. For details, visit www.bdlmuseum.org

How a 1215 market has become London’s top dining spot AFP INSTAGRAM/RAMBUTAN

the modern Greek restaurants Agora and bowl of fresh coriander chutney.
New multi-cuisine Omá from Manteca founder David Carter,
restaurants are turning there’s barely a railway arch or a Victorian AKARA
warehouse that hasn’t been repurposed as The outpost of Fitzrovia’s Michelin one-
Borough Market into a foodie destination. star Akoko takes its name from a black-
the city’s most diverse Borough Market has existed in one
form or another since 1215 due to its
eyed bean fritter, a popular West African
snack. The restaurant occupies one of
dining destination advantageous position at the southern Borough’s many repurposed railway
end of London Bridge —back then it was arches, handsomely decked out in blond
a direct connection to farmers, traders and wood and écru banquettes, with exposed
Bloomberg customers in southeast England. In the ducting (naturally) and a hidden mezza-
19th century it was an important whole- nine private dining room.

O
n a Saturday at noon, it’s hard to
find a more crowded place in
London than Borough Market.
Bomba Paella, which makes its specialty in
a pan the size of a Nasa-grade satellite
dish, now requires a “Queue Control”
employee to manage customer traffic. At
Bread Ahead, the lines for the highly
Instagrammable doughnuts keeps grow-
ing: In December 2022, the bakery sold
almost 180,000 of them, and one year
later that figure had skyrocketed
to over 286,250.
It’s easy to believe Jane Swift, chief
executive officer, when she says more
than 25 million people visit Borough Mar-
ket each year. But now, new restaurants
are grabbing the spotlight from the over-
the-top stalls to make Borough Market the
city’s best and most diverse dining area in
London. From the captivating French-
meets-British butcher food at Camille to
sale fruit and vegetable market (the live-
stock that clogged London’s main street
had proved to be not good for busi-
ness) that benefited from the new railways
next door at London Bridge station.
By the late 1990s, it had morphed into
a British “farmers’ market,” inspired
in part by the success of New York’s
Greenmarket in Union Square, with prod-
ucts sold by farmers, cheesemakers, fish-
mongers and butchers. But by 2010, many
of the market’s visitors were hotel-dwell-
ing tourists who weren’t shop-
ping for line-caught mackerel. That’s
around the time stalls began specializing
in social media-friendly takeaways. Still,
by 5pm stalls were closed and Borough
was deserted. Borough Market trustees
then focused on a new strategy: Boost the
area’s nighttime economy by bringing in
notable independent restaurants to com-
plement the handful of existing ones.
The Borough Market; and Rambutan’s Green Mango and Yoghurt Pachadi.
Here are six new places to sit down to
eat in Borough Market.
CAMILLE
One of year’s hottest openings is this
French(ish) bistro from Claire Lattin and
Tom Hill. Ex-St. John chef Elliot Hash-
troudi sends out plates of mustardy dev-
illed eggs topped with buttery smoked
eel, Jerusalem artichokes smothered in
garlicky aïoli buried under grated Lin-
colnshire Poacher cheese, and grilled
onglet (hanger steak) anointed with
piquant Café de Paris butter (£47 for two).
Camille’s décor is quintessential bistro:
bentwood stools and chairs, London bus-
red wood panels, mirrors scrawled with
cocktails and specials.
AGORA AND OMÁ
Serial restaurateur David Carter has put
two compelling Greek concepts in one
space. On the main floor, Agora boasts a
two-metre-long charcoal souvla (grill) to
produce dishes like oregano-dusted pork
souvlaki and lamb kebabs with sweet,
tangy sumac onions (both £4 a pop).
Upstairs at the more refined restaurant,
Omá, the spotlight is the impressively
stocked fish counter. The stunning, 450-
strong wine list focuses on maritime wines
from the Mediterranean.
RAMBUTAN
British-Sri Lankan chef Cynthia Shanmu-
galingam’s spot in the heart of Borough
Market checks a lot of boxes on the trendy
dining list: open-fire kitchen, industrial
design, sharing plates, suspended globe
lights. The dishes are as vibrant in colour
as they are in spice. Order the gundu dosa
(£5.30): a Jaffna specialty from the Tamil
north, fried spheres of dal and rice bat-
ter flecked with curry leaf and mustard
seed and excellent dipped into a fragrant
KOLAE
Set on three floors of a bare-bricked Victo-
rian coach house, southern Thai hotspot
Kolae is the second restaurant from Som
Saa chefs Mark Dobbie and Andy Oliver,
featuring a blend of open-fire grills, pun-
gent and fragrant soups and curries.
There’s a shatteringly crisp snack of gar-
lic-scented prawn heads (£5) and lime-
soured kolae mussel skewers (£6), grilled
over charcoal, wood and coconut husk.
The concise, sharp list of main courses
feature prawn and stone bass gati curry,
herb-flecked and turmeric-bright
(£16.50), and beef shin hot-and-sour soup,
perfumed with Thai cardamom. Asian
accented cocktails include a bargain £5
slug of pickled mango dirty martini and a
short-but-interesting 20-bin wine list.
Write to us at businessoflife@livemint.com