FRIDAY, 2 DECEMBER 2022

18 pages in 1 section www.business-standard.com

NEW DELHI
~12.00
VOLUME XXIX NUMBER 164

THE MARKETS ON THURSDAY chg#

Sensex 63,284.2 p 184.5

Nifty 18,812.5 p 54.2
Nifty Futures* 18,948.3 p 135.8 THE SMART INVESTOR P10 COMPANIES P2
Dollar
Euro
Brent crude ($/bbl)
~81.2
~84.8
87.4##
~81.4 **
~84.4 **
86.6 **
TATA PLAY FIRST TO TAKE SERUM, BYJU’S TOP UNLISTED FIRMS
Gold (10 gm)### ~52,968.0
*(December) Premium on Nifty Spot; **Previous close;
# Over previous close; ## At 9 pm IST;
p ~402.0
PRE-FILING ROUTE TO IPO IN BURGUNDY-HURUN 2022 LIST
### Market rate exclusive of VAT; Source: IBJA P U B L I S HE D S I MU L T A N E OUSL Y F R O M AH M E D AB AD , B E NG AL UR U, B H UB ANE SW AR , CH AND I G AR H , CH E NNAI , H Y D E R AB AD , K OCHI, K OL K ATA, L UCK N OW , MUMBA I (AL SO P R IN TE D IN BHOP AL ), N E W DE L HI AN D P UN E

RBI ISSUES ~1.71 CR OF

DIGITAL RUPEE FOR
RETAIL PILOT DAY 1
Govt proposes Resolution, distribution
The pilot project for central bank digital
currency (CBDC) in the retail segment went
live on Thursday with the Reserve Bank of 1 licence for all may be separated in IBC
India (RBI) issuing ~1.71 crore to four RUCHIKA CHITRAVANSHI
STATUS CHECK Total IBC
31,203
insurance biz
participating banks based on their indents. New Delhi, 1 December cases
The central bank had identified four banks As on December 1
for the first phase of the pilot — State Bank The government is considering an Cases pending
of India, ICICI Bank, YES Bank and IDFC First amendment to the Insolvency and 22,443 (post-admission)
Bank — in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to separate the
and Bhubaneswar. 4>
Suggests allowing process of resolution of a bankrupt
Cases disposed 7,175
firm from the distribution of Cases pending
insurers to sell other funds received from the successful (pre-admission) 3,369
BACK PAGE P18 bidder to enable a faster takeover of
At ~2.4 cr, IIT Guwahati financial products the distressed company, a senior Note: NCLT is working to reconcile minor discrepancies Source: NCLT
government official told
bags highest int’l offer SUBRATA PANDA & NIKESH SINGH Business Standard.
In a year marked by layoffs and hiring freezes, Mumbai/ New Delhi, 1 December “In many cases the suc-
the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), cessful bidder is unable to 54% CIRPs
(till Sep

T
Guwahati, bagged the highest international he finance ministry has pro-
offer at ~2.4 crore on the first day of final posed a host of amendments to
placements. The process kicked off on the insurance laws — from grant-
Thursday at some of the leading older IITs. The
highest international offer at IIT Guwahati
ing insurers a composite licence
to allowing them to sell different financial
was 17 per cent more than last year. products, and increasing the retirement
age of the chairman and whole-time
members of the Insurance Regulatory and
ECONOMY & PUBLIC AFFAIRS P6 Development Authority of India (Irdai).
Axis MD: Citi deal may The Department of Financial Services
has also suggested allowing insurers to
be completed by May operate in multiple lines of business —
Axis Bank is trying to ensure the completion general, life, and health — without having
of its purchase of Citibank’s retail business to seek separate licences from the regulator
by March 1 next year, but there is a possibility for each business, provided they meet the
that the process could spill over to May, the minimum capital requirements. This
domestic private lender’s MD & CEO Amitabh would require an amendment to the
Chaudhry said. “(The) only thing that’ll come Insurance Act, 1938.
in the way is not the legal side of it, but more If an applicant meets the eligibility crit-
getting the IT things in place,” he said. eria for different classes and sub-classes
of business, the regulator may register the
applicant as an insurer and grant it a cer-
ECONOMY & PUBLIC AFFAIRS P6 tificate of registration for such classes or
IMD forecasts warm sub-classes.
“Where the insurer carries on business
winter, may hurt crops of more than one class or sub-class of
The India Meteorological Department insurance, [they] shall keep a separate
(IMD) forecast that the minimum and account of all receipts and payments in
maximum temperatures could remain respect of each such class or sub-class, as
‘normal’ to ‘above normal’ over most parts may be specified by the regulations,” the
of Northwest and Northeast India. This
could have a negative impact on the
standing rabi crops.
take over the company Appealed/
because of disputes regard- withdrawn/ 2022)
ing the distribution of funds. settled/ 46%
ON THE CARDS Right now the whole plan goes
as one but it is being suggested
resolved Liquidated
Relaxing Opening up Note: CIRP: Corporate insolvency resolution process Source: IBBI
that we look at it in two parts,” the
minimum capital registration to official said.
requirement various classes, The corporate affairs ministry is ernment should also get something out India (IBBI) and Reserve Bank of India,
to set up sub-classes and rethinking the lower priority currently of the resolution process, which is not resolution professionals (RPs), bankers
insurance firms types of insurers given to government dues in the IBC
under the waterfall mechanism. The
happening now. We are looking into it,”
the official added.
and judges of the National Company
Law Tribunal. The amendment Bill is
Altering composition of life and IBC places secured lenders at the top of The amendments needed to the IBC likely to be placed before Parliament
general insurance councils the waterfall mechanism, followed by were discussed in a meeting of a collo- next year in the Budget Session. Some
employees and operational creditors. quium earlier this week. The meeting of the changes, however, may be made
Raising retirement Introducing Fourth come government dues. was attended by officials of the through alterations in rules as well.
age of Irdai chairperson concept of “There is a suggestion that the gov- Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of Turn to Page 6 >
and whole-time captive
members to 65 insurers
DFS said in the proposed amendments,
RCAP BIDS LOWER THAN INDEPENDENT VALUATIONS
which were released earlier this week. It The auction of bankrupt Reliance Capital These reports were submitted to the
has opened the document to public com- (RCap) has hit a roadblock with the committee of creditors on Wednesday after
ment till December 15. Class of insurance
business refers to life, general, health, or
independent valuation reports by Duff and
Phelps and RBSA Advisors valuing the
the bidders submitted their offers on
Monday. In November last year, the Reserve
reinsurance. And, sub-class of insurance company 70 per cent higher than the offers Bank of India had sent the company to debt
refers to fire, marine and miscellaneous received from potential acquirers. While Duff resolution after it defaulted on loans worth
business general insurance; personal acci- and Phelps estimated RCap’s valuation at ~24,000 crore. As many as 55 firms, including
dent and travel sub-classes of health insur- ~12,500 crore, RBSA has pegged the the Tata, Birla, and Adani groups, had
ance business. Turn to Page 6 > company’s liquidation value at ~13,200 crore. submitted expressions of interest for RCap. 2 >

TODAY 8.30 PM November car sales

zoom to record high
SOUTH KOREA PORTUGAL
VS
GHANA URUGUAY
SHALLY SETH MOHILE
VS
Mumbai, 1 December
TOMORROW 12:30 AM
SERBIA SWITZERLAND This was the best November ever for carmakers,
with cumulative despatches at India’s top 10 pas-
VS senger vehicle makers jumping 31.7 per cent year-
CAMEROON BRAZIL on-year (YoY) to 310,807 units last month as better
VS availability of semiconductors enabled them to
produce more. It was also the sixth straight
month when domestic car sales zipped past
RELATED REPORTS P18 300,000 units. Auto firms in India count des- CHIP BOOST
patches to dealers as sales. Car sales figures
The world’s fourth largest passenger vehicle Companies Nov ‘22 % chg YoY
market is well on its course to breach peak sales Maruti Suzuki 132,395 20.6
of calendar year 2018 and conclude the year end-
ing December 31 with an estimated 3.8 million
Hyundai Motor 48,003 29.7
units, Shashank Srivastava, senior executive Tata Motors 46,425 55.0
officer (marketing and sales) at Maruti Suzuki M&M 30,238 56.0
India told reporters. The previous highest was Kia India 24,025 69.0
3.3 million units in 2018.


Carmakers' confidence of ending the year Toyota 11,765 -9.5
with record sales stems from a robust order book Honda 7,052 29.0
of 750,000 units for the industry, with Maruti’s Škoda 4,433 102.0

 share at 375,000 units. Turn to Page 3 >
MG Motor 4,071 64.08

CAD LIKELY TO WIDEN MANUFACTURING Nissan 2,400 -9.4
  

  
             
             
AS NET EXPORTS PMI HITS 3-MNTH Total 310,807 31.7
        TOUCH 9-YR HIGH 4 HIGH AT 55.7 4 Source: Companies

‘Considering options on Electrosteel;

it cannot be a small capacity plant’
Metals and mining giant Vedanta entered You entered the steel sector with the
the steel sector in 2018 with the acquisition Electrosteel acquisition four years ago.
of Electrosteel Steels, one of the early cases But you are now looking to sell it. What
to be resolved under the Insolvency and led to this decision?
Bankruptcy Code (IBC). In a conversation, We have not arrived at a decision. In any
ANIL AGARWAL, founder and chairman of business, I tell my CEOs that we have to be
Vedanta Resources, tells Ishita Ayan Dutt in the top three. We have to have a vision.
that he wants Electrosteel’s capacity to Increase the capacity because we are in a
increase to 15-20 mt from 3 mt at present. beautiful state, Jharkhand, which is my
Edited excerpts: home state.
But it has to have world-class
capacity, and cannot be a small
plant. We have a capacity of about
3 million tonnes (mt)... we are
contemplating. We have to take it ANIL AGARWAL
to 15-20 mt. We are either in that Founder & chairman, manufactured in Odisha as a
business or we are not. Vedanta Resources
So, you will either take the capacity to
15-20 mt or you will not be in it?
I have never sold any business. This is
the plan…at the moment we are looking
to expand this capacity.
But you are running a process for it?
It’s like selling shares. If
somebody comes, we will see.
There are some environmental
issues with the steel plant…
We have to protect our environment.
Today, we have to have the world’s best
environmental policy and make sure that
we do better than anybody else. And all
our plants are in the process of doing that.
As part of your proposed investment in
Odisha, you mentioned setting up a NAVAL GROUP DESIGNS, BUILDS AND MAINTAINS SUBMARINES
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Naval Group India (100% subsidiary of Naval Group) shares
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This will be a huge cluster — an a continued commitment towards Indian Navy, Indian shipyards
ecosystem will be created. And it has to and industry in providing modern technologies through the
be around Bhubaneswar. We are looking creation of sustainable indigenous ecosystem while fostering
at where we can do this. Turn to Page 6 >
“Atmanirbhar Bharat“ spirit.
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PAGE 3