MUMBAI, NEW DELHI, BENGALURU, KOLKATA, CHENNAI, AHMEDABAD, HYDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE*, LUCKNOW* VOL. 7 NO.

161

Friday, July 5, 2024

IOCL, HPCL, BPCL in talks Commerce ministry calls for

livemint.com with Petrobras for oil uP1 removing angel tax uP1
 Mumbai, new delhi, bengaluru, kolkata, chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, chaNdiGarh*, pune*, lucknow* VOL. 7 NO. 161

Friday, July 5, 2024

Think Ahead. Think Growth.

mint primer QUICK EDIT

SCO Summit: The Cup

What’s in it for is home
New Delhi?
Indian cricket team members
received a grand felicitation on
their return from Barbados as
they first met Prime Minister
BY ELIZABETH ROCHE Narendra Modi on Thursday in
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has skipped the 2024 Shanghai New Delhi and then joined a
Cooperation Organisation Summit meet in Astana, the capital of victory parade in Mumbai
Kazakhstan. Is India’s interest in this grouping fading? Mint examines where large street-side crowds
this question and more. cheered for the T20 World Cup
winners as they passed atop an
open bus in a procession. The
welcome was fitting, given that
this title win is only the second
for India and ended a 17-year
drought in this format of the
game, one that has lasted since
India’s win in the inaugural edi-
tion of the championship in
2007. The loss in the final of the
one-day-format World Cup in
November had left many hearts
broken. This time, however, the
team came good and stayed
unbeaten all the way to the final
Leaders at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Astana,
triumph. The team is now set
Kazakhstan, on Thursday. AP
for a major transition. Rohit
Sharma, the triumphant team’s
1 What is SCO and how
did it come about?
The Shanghai Cooperation
2 When and why did
India join the SCO?
India joined the SCO in 2017 along
captain, Virat Kohli, arguably
the best batsman in the world,
Organisation (SCO) was formed in with Pakistan. India’s interest and Ravindra Jadeja, one of the
2001. It evolved from an earlier stemmed from its belief in a world’s best all-rounders, have
avatar known as the Shanghai Five, multipolar world. India has long said they are retiring from the
comprising Russia, Kazakhstan, sought access to Central Asia given format. Coach Rahul Dravid’s
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and China. its natural resources but its efforts tenure has also come to an end.
The dissolution of the Soviet were blocked by decades of
Their exits will leave big shoes
Union in 1991 led to the birth of 15 tension with Pakistan. “The
independent nations in Central permanent membership of the to fill. But if there’s one thing
Asia that were concerned about SCO will offer India with some India’s bustling cricket econ-
religious extremism and ethnic unique opportunities to get omy has ensured, it’s that the
tensions. The Shanghai Five was constructively engaged with team is never short of aspirants.
formed in 1996 to mainly manage Eurasia,” says a 2017 government
cooperation on these matters. In note. New Delhi had plans for a gas
2001, with the addition of pipeline from Turkmenistan to
Uzbekistan, the Five became the India via Pakistan and Afghanistan
SCO and broadened the scope of
cooperation to include trade,
but security worries derailed them.
SCO was also seen as a platform to
MINT METRIC
connectivity, tourism, etc. push Pakistan to act against terror. by Bibek Debroy
AP

With Google Maps as aid,

3 Who are SCO’s current
members?
India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan,
From a Kasaragod hospital they strayed
Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan
And drove into a swollen river.
are full members. This year Belarus was Saved, with many a shiver.
admitted as a full member. Afghanistan
and Mongolia are observers. Azerbaijan,
Efficacy of apps does abrade.
Armenia, Bahrain, Cambodia, Egypt,
Kuwait, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Qatar,
Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Türkiye and the
UAE have dialogue partner status.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Just as the first industrial
4 How important is the
SCO for India?
One of the reasons India joined the
5 Which way are things
headed in SCO?
Speaking at the Munich Security
revolution gave birth to various
SCO was Russia’s primary role in it Conference earlier this year,
industries with the introduction
and its emergence as a ‘non -West’ external affairs minister S. of the steam engine, AI has the
platform. The Ukraine war and Jaishankar characterized India as
China overshadowing Russia non-West rather than anti-West. He
potential to revolutionise
could be why Modi skipped this stressed India’s desire to ensure multiple sectors in India.
year’s summit. Indian and Chinese multiple options for itself—which
troops are in the midst of a tense may mean continued engagement
standoff in Ladakh which began in in forums like SCO, BRICS and the
2020 and shows no signs of easing. Quad. But India would be
India’s ties with Pakistan too are uncomfortable with the SCO if it Amitabh Kant
frayed on the issue of terrorism. takes on an anti-West stance. Given INDIA’S G20 SHERPA
Having gained full membership, tensions between the West, and
India will certainly not abandon it China and Russia, this is a possibility.
but its level of participation in the Elizabeth Roche is associate
future is unclear. professor at Jindal Global University.

mint Data Bites

AI PREPAREDNESS INDEX:
INDIA AT 80TH SPOT, SINGAPORE ON TOP
Artificial Intelligence Preparedness Index (scale: 0-1)
Rank Country Score*

1 Singapore 0.801
2 Denmark 0.779
3 United States 0.771
4 Netherlands 0.766
5 Estonia 0.764
6 Finland 0.758
7 Switzerland 0.757
8 New Zealand 0.754
9 Germany 0.753
10 Sweden 0.748
80 India 0.493
*A higher score indicates more favourable environment for AI adoption. The index assesses the level of AI preparedness across 174 countries
based on several indicators across four dimensions: digital infrastructure, human capital, technological innovation, and legal framework.
Data: Shuja Asrar, Design: Satish Kumar Source: International Monetary Fund staff discussion notes (Cazzaniga et al, 2024)
 PLAIN FACTS

Data recap: Slowdown

in capex, GST gloom
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 Goods and Services Tax (GST) monthly collec-
tions grew at the slowest pace in three years in June, while capital expenditure plans slowed to a multi-year low in
Q1FY25. Meanwhile, higher funding for Indian startups offered a silver lining amid the funding winter.

GST Gloom Startups’ Silver Lining

Year-on-year growth in GST collections (in %) VC Investments in India for the month of June
60
Amount (in $ billion) No. of deals
50
Jun 2021 1.8 100
40

30 Jun 2022 2.5 116

20 7.7
Jun 2023 0.7 64
10

0 1.6 62
Jun 2021 Jun 2024 Jun 2024
June 2024 data is based on the figure reported in media
Source: Venture Intelligence
Source: CMIE, media reports

IN A departure from the usual, the central government JUNE HAS been a good month for startups in terms of
did not release the GST monthly collection data on the funding and deals, amid the ongoing funding winter.
first day of the month. However, the number reported Private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) firms
in the media painted a gloomy picture. GST collections pumped in $1.6 billion in June, which was more than
grew 7.7% to ₹1.74 trillion in June, which is the slowest double of that from the year-ago period, Mint reported.
pace of growth since June 2021. The growth in May was The higher funding came from fewer deals (62 in June
10%. The rise in GST collections has been lucklustre in 2024 as opposed to 64 in June 2023). While June data
the past two months when compared with the average provides a silver lining, the funding in January-June
growth of 11.7% recorded in 2023-24. 2024 was still down 24.3% from the year-ago period.

Negating Notes

97.9%
THIS IS the share of ₹2,000 notes in circulation that has
been returned to the Reserve Bank of India so far. The
central bank had announced the withdrawal of the
banknotes of this denomination in May last year, nearly
seven years after these notes were introduced to replace
demonetized currency to meet the cash requirements of
the economy. The printing of the notes was stopped in
2018-19.

Capex Blues Investment Boom

Value of new projects announced, quarterly (₹ trillion) SIP contribution (in ₹ crore) New demat accounts (in million)
Government Private 25,000 5
Q1FY23
Q2FY23 20,000 4
Q3FY23
Q4FY23 15,000 3
Q1FY24 10,000 2
Q2FY24
Q3FY24 5,000 1
Q4FY24
0 0
Q1FY25 Jun 2023 May 2024
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Source: Securities and Exchange Board of India, Association of Mutual Funds in India
The numbers for the latest quarter are provisional. Source: CMIE CapEx

NEW PROJECT announcements dipped to multi-year INDIA’S EQUITY markets have been on an impressive
lows in Q1FY25, showed provisional data from the run: Sensex crossed the 80,000-mark on Wednesday.
Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, Mint reported. The stock markets’ allure reflects in the steady rise in the
Private firms led in Q1, too, with investments worth number of demat accounts being opened each month
₹35,206 crore, but it was below the ₹1 trillion mark for and growth in systematic investment plan contributions,
the first time since Q1FY20. Economists attributed the a Mint analysis showed. Meanwhile, bank deposits have
drop to the model code of conduct coming into effect lost charm, with the ratio of market valuation of BSE 500
during this year’s prolonged general elections, firms to aggregate bank deposits reaching 1.87 times, the
restricting much of government activity. highest since the peak of the 2007 bull run.

Wedding Bonanza
THIS IS the size of India’s wedding industry, according to

₹10 trillion
brokerage firm Jefferies. India, known for its opulent
weddings, spends the most on them. With an average
expenditure of $15,000 per wedding, the spending on
these events is twice the expenditure on education (pre-
primary to graduation). Given the scale of weddings, it is a
key driver for several industries in India from jewellery to
apparel and travel, the brokerage added.

Google Emissions Chart of the Week: Power Up

Total greenhouse gas emissions by Google (in million tCO2e)* Energy consumption in India during summer months (in billion kWh)
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
2019 9.7 180

2020 160
8.6
140
2021 10.8
120
2022 12.6 100

80
2023 14.3
tCO2e : tonne carbon dioxide equivalent 60
April May June July
Source: Google Environmental Report 2024 Source: CMIE

GOOGLE’S GREENHOUSE gas emissions shot up THE 2024 summer was one of the hottest in recent
nearly 50% in the past four years, the tech giant revealed times. As a result, power consumption in India grew in
in its annual environmental impact report. It attributed the April-June period. The power demand met was the
the rise to its reliance on energy-guzzling data centres highest in May in the country. However,
that power its artificial intelligence initiatives. Emissions the arrival of monsoon in some states
hit 14.3 million tonne carbon dioxide equivalent offered some relief in June.
(mtCO2e) as against 9.7 mtCO2e in 2019. While the aim is Follow our data stories on the“In
to reach net-zero emissions by 2030, the company said it Charts” and“Plain Facts” pages on the
was “an extremely ambitious goal” and “won’t be easy”. Mint website.
PARAS JAIN/MINT

TOP FIVE CHILDREN’S FILMS TOP FIVE ODIA FILMS

1 IF 3 WONKA 1 JAJABARA 2.0 3 CHARITRA
Platform: JioCinema Platform: Disney+ Hotstar Cast: Dipanwit
Language: English Dashmohapatra, Ananya Mishra

4 KUNG FU PANDA 4 4 BIDYARANA

Platform: BMS Stream (Rent) Platform: Prime Video (Rent) Platform: Disney+ Hotstar
Platform: AAO NXT Cast: Devesh
Language: English Language: English Ranjan, Prasanjeet Mohapatra Cast: Mihir Das, Abhishek Giri

2 LYLE, LYLE, CROCODILE 5 KURANGU PEDAL 2 ARDHA SATYA 5 2 CHOCOLATE

Platform: SonyLIV Platform: aha Tamil Platform: AAO NXT Platform: Kanccha Lannka
Language: English Language: Tamil Cast: Hara Rath, Rj Guddi Cast: Lohit, Chita Ranjan
 Mumbai, NEW DELHI, BENGALURU, KOLKATA, CHENNAI, AHMEDABAD, HYDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE*, LUCKNOW* VOL. 7 NO. 161 Rs. 10.00 18 PAGES

Friday, July 5, 2024

Upstart no more: Why Tiger Sebi chief Buch urges industry

livemint.com has gone quiet uP10 to report violations uP4

SENSEX 80,049.69 62.89 NIFTY 24,302.15 15.65 DOLLAR ₹83.50 ₹0.03 EURO ₹90.16 ₹0.32 OIL $87.34 $0.15 POUND ₹106.46 ₹0.41

Top oil PSUs in talks DPIIT floats end to

angel tax in likely
Centre plans
duty reforms,
DON’T MISS
HT

tax tweaks to
for Petrobras crude relief for startups aid local mfg
Gireesh Chandra Prasad &
IOCL, HPCL, BPCL officials visit Brazil; long-term deal likely Dhirendra Kumar Rhik Kundu
[email protected]
NEW DELHI NEW DELHI Consumption bounced back in
Rituraj Baruah FY23 but needs a stimulus
ENERGY HUNT
T T
[email protected] he ministry of com- he finance ministry is Households splurged on goods ranging from
NEW DELHI merce has recom- weighing several meas- cars to crockery after the pandemic, driving a
India has been trying to diversify its energy supplies, by accessing mended the removal of ures in the Union budget broad-based recovery of consumer demand,

S
non-traditional sources such as Russia and Brazil. but this growth has begun to moderate since,
tate-run Indian Oil Corp. the contentious ‘angel tax’, to ease business for domestic
Ltd (IOCL), Hindustan according to the top official of manufacturers, including eas- official data showed, prompting experts to
India's overall call for government stimulus to push it. >P2
Petroleum Corp. Ltd oil imports 1.9 1.5 the department for promotion ing procedural hurdles, rectify-
(HPCL) and Bharat Petro- Oil imports of industry and internal trade ing tax anomalies, and recali-
from Brazil
leum Corp. Ltd (BPCL) are 161.4 (DPIIT), in a move that could brating customs duties, accord- Govt plans awareness campaign
in talks with Brazilian energy major (in $ billion) 139.9 bring relief to both early-stage ing to two people familiar with on direct selling malpractices
Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) to 119 startups and their investors. the matter.
The Union consumer affairs ministry
secure guaranteed crude oil sup- DPIIT secretary R.K. Singh The larger plan is to reduce is planning to organize an awareness
plies over the long term, two people said on Thursday at a media The move can bring relief to import dependence and boost campaign for consumers aimed at
aware of the matter said. briefing that a proposal both early-stage startups and local manufacturing and value addressing direct sellers’ alleged unethical
India, the world’s third-largest oil FY22 FY23 FY24 received from the industry has their investors. MINT addition, the people added. business practices, said two people aware
importer, has been trying to diver- been forwarded to the finance Among the moves being of the development. >P2
sify its energy supplies, by accessing ministry suggesting the the move could foster a more planned are removal of irritants
non-traditional sources such as removal of the tax. conducive and positive envi- for merchants claiming tax GenAI may be hurting BPO units
Russia and Brazil. The country has “Based on consultations ronment for innovation and refunds, tweaking tariffs to
a growing energy partnership with Source: Ministry of Commerce And Industry with start-ups, we have recom- growth, and unlock greater make investments in critical
as clients seek automation
Brazil, the world’s seventh-largest mended the removal of the opportunities for entrepre- sectors more viable, and cor- The rise of generative artificial
crude oil producer and exporter. PIPE DREAMS angel tax,” Singh said. “The neurs. recting inverted duty structures intelligence (GenAI) led to the weakest
“Officials from the oil marketing decision is to be taken by the Utkarsh Sinha, in textiles, appar- revenue growth at the business process
India has a growing oil supply deals with The quantum of outsourcing (BPO) units of Infosys Ltd
companies (OMCs) visited Brazil in energy partnership the Indian companies supplies has not been ministry of finance; we have m a n a g i n g els, and engineer- and Tech Mahindra Ltd in at least six
April. A deal with BPCL was on the with Brazil to be finalized soon finalized as of now provided our inputs. It was not director of bou- ing goods, the first years in FY24, analysts said. >P3
table; the company is now testing raised during the pre-budget tique investment person cited
SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
the crude in its refineries. The con- consultations.” banking firm above said,
tracts are expected to be signed their Brazilian counterpart, the looking at long-term contracts. Early stage entrepreneurs Bexley Advisors, said that requesting not to be named. Axis Bank nearing integration
soon,” said one of the two persons terms would largely be the same, However, term contracts with are happy about the possibility removal of angel tax would Further, a periodic review of of Citi’s India retail assets
mentioned above, adding the quan- while the quantum would change, shorter duration, even for five years, of the tax going away. “This enhance ease of doing busi- import duty exemptions is Axis Bank Ltd expects to finish the integration
tum of supplies has not been final- the person added. The oil supply would be beneficial,” the second move will be a game-changer ness and attract additional underway, with only items of Citibank’s domestic retail assets with
ized as of now. deals with the Indian companies are person added. for both early-stage startups capital to India. “This move that benefit the domestic econ- its systems by the middle of July, 16 months
The three OMCs are holding talks expected to be finalized soon. Firms such as IndianOil, HPCL and investors,” said Bharat can help spur many sectors omy likely to be retained, the after it acquired the foreign lender’s India
as a consortium, and although sepa- “Brazil is being looked at among and BPCL, which import crude oil, Joshi, co-founder of Bengalu- actively seeking early-stage person added. consumer business. Axis Bank is the fourth-
rate contracts would be signed other countries for diversification ru-based fintech startup largest issuer of credit cards in India. >P4
between the Indian companies and of import sources. India is largely TURN TO PAGE 4 VuNet Systems, adding that TURN TO PAGE 6 TURN TO PAGE 6

More loans linked to Siemens CEO for

repo, treasury yields finalizing EU FTA
Shayan Ghosh Devina Sengupta
[email protected] [email protected]
MUMBAI MUMBAI

M F
onetary policy is or German multinational
working its way Siemens AG, India has
through the system always been the promised
faster than ever before, less market. And with political sta-
than five years after the bility and continuity at the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Centre, the engineering giant is
cracked the whip on banks convinced that business-
making interest rate changes at friendly policies will continue
their own pace. as before. However, Roland
Latest RBI data showed 58% Most banks have taken to repo Busch, the company’s global Siemens AG president and chief
of all floating rate loans were rate as external benchmark.MINT CEO, would like to see a executive officer Roland Busch.
pegged to such external bench- quicker conclusion of India’s
mark rates by the end of FY24, bill yields. This means that trade talks with the European an interview.
aiding transmission for millions whenever these external Union (EU). Siemens is betting on auto-
of retail and small business bor- benchmarks rose or fell, banks “If I turn back the clock may mation and artificial intelli-
rowers. This is an increase from would be compelled to make a be 10 years, India was always the gence-assisted industrial
50% at the end of FY23. corresponding change in their promised market. I was always machinery in manufacturing,
In September 2019, the regu- loan rates, quickly passing on wondering when it would take semiconductors and medium-
lator had directed banks to link changes in the central bank’s off. I think it is a good govern- and small-scale enterprises.
interest rates on retail loans and repo rate to borrowers. ment policy to invest in sustain- “So, we are just basically build-
loans to some small businesses able and future growth drivers
to the repo rate and the treasury TURN TO PAGE 6 of the economy,” Busch said in TURN TO PAGE 6

Pressure on Biden builds as Democrats

fear big election losses in November
Andrew Restuccia continue to do everything we
[email protected] can to make sure that we’re
WASHINGTON building a campaign apparatus
to reach voters,” said Quentin

P
resident Biden scrambled Fulks, the Biden campaign’s
to cement his place at the principal deputy campaign
top of the ticket amid manager, in an interview
deepening fissures in Demo- with CNN.
cratic unity, with some in the One day after the first Demo-
party raising alarms that stay- cratic member of Congress —
ing the course could ensure a Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett—
win for former President called on Biden to withdraw,
Donald Trump and lead to a other lawmakers were raising
spate of down-ballot GOP vic- concerns about the fallout of
tories in November. Democratic lawmakers continued to raise deep concerns in the president continuing to be
Biden was scheduled to meet private about Joe Biden remaining on the ticket. AFP the Democratic nominee. Two
in the West Wing with Demo- Democrats from Trump-lean-
cratic governors on Wednes- The president is making a longtime Biden ally who cur- ing districts, Reps. Jared
day night. His chief of staff, Jeff flurry of calls to Democrats to rently occupies the Senate seat Golden (Maine) and Marie
Zients, is holding an afternoon shore up support. He spoke on that Biden once held for more Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.),
all-staff call in a bid to boost Tuesday than three said they believed that Trump
flagging White House morale with House decades. would win the election if Biden
following the president’s disas- Minority “ T h e was the nominee. Former Rep.
trous debate against Trump. Leader president is Tim Ryan (D., Ohio) said Vice
The Biden campaign is also Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) and in this race to win it. He is the President Kamala Harris
holding an all-staff call on Sen. Chris Coons (D., Del.), the Democratic nominee and from
Wednesday afternoon. White House said. Coons is a our perspective we’re going to TURN TO PAGE 6
02 FRIDAY, 5 JULY 2024
MUMBAI ECONOMY & POLICY LIVEMINT.COM

Naidu talks state

matters with PM,
Consumption recovered in
Union ministers FY23, needs a stimulus now
HT Correspondent
[email protected]
NEW DELHI
Experts bat for plans to steer consumption, govt expenditure, private investment, and exports
A
ndhra Pradesh chief
minister N. Chandrab- Key rivers in Assam are flowing
abu Naidu, whose Tel- Rhik Kundu & Gireesh Chandra Prasad better monsoon this year could add fur- above the danger mark. AP
egu Desam Party (TDP) is part NEW DELHI ther momentum. But, they said, gov-
of the ruling National Demo- ernment measures will also be crucial.
N-E floods:
H
cratic Alliance, met Prime Min- ouseholds splurged on “Higher agricultural production and
ister Narendra Modi in the cap- goods ranging from cars downward trending inflation provide
ital on Thursday and held dis-
cussions on key issues
to crockery after the pan-
demic, driving a broad-
tailwinds to urban demand and resur-
gent rural demand. Government con-
48 dead,
concerning his state’s develop-
ment, people aware of the
details said.
Chandrababu Naidu, CM of
Andhra Pradesh, meets PM
Narendra Modi on Thursday. PTI
based recovery of con-
sumer demand, but this growth has
begun to moderate now, official data
sumption is also likely to rise though
the pace, sequence and composition of
government consumption is a matter of
rain to last
The chief minister also met
Union roads and highways state’s wish list being met.
showed, prompting experts to call for
government stimulus to push it.
some debate,” said Manoranjan
Sharma, chief economist-Infomerics for another
minister Nitin Gadkari, com- The TDP, which has been After the pandemic, demand for Ratings and former chief economist at
merce minister Piyush Goyal,
agriculture and rural develop-
accommodated in the Union
cabinet, has demanded an
goods and services grew in a wide range
of sectors, including in those that had
Canara Bank.
Sharma said high unemployment is
4–5 days
ment minister Shivraj Singh increase in financial assistance seen a sharp dip during the pandemic. a cause for concern. “Creating jobs is
Chauhan, civil aviation minis- to Andhra Pradesh in lieu of a These included education, transpor- After the pandemic, demand for goods and services grew in a wide range of critical to recovery, together with Puja Das
ter Ram Mohan Naidu Kin- special category status, people tation, dining out, recreation, automo- sectors, including in those that had seen a sharp dip during the pandemic. HT boosting demand,” he said , adding [email protected]
jarapu and minister of state for aware of the matter said. biles and household appliances and growth strategies were needed to steer NEW DELHI
rural development and com- The TDP, which has 16 law- semi-durable goods such as crockery, tion expenditure (PFCE) in national during the pandemic, recovered later. domestic consumption, government

M
munications Chandra Sekhar makers in the Lok Sabha, according to data available from the accounts, which had contracted over Spending on durable goods such as expenditure, private investment and ore than 1.6 million
Pemmasani. played a pivotal role in the statistics ministry. 18% in the pandemic year rebounded automobiles had seen a near 5% con- exports—the drivers of economic people have been dis-
In a post on X, Naidu said: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Each of these sectors reported more by over 24% in FY22 and by close to 12% traction in FY21, but witnessed a 31% growth. placed in unabated
“Today, I had a constructive return to power at the Centre than 10% expansion in FY23, according in FY23. Education, which had seen a growth in FY22 and a more than 14% D. K. Srivastava, EY’s chief policy flooding in the north-east, with
meeting with the Hon’ble for the third time in a row. The to a breakup of household con- 5.6% contraction in FY21, growth in FY23. adviser, said: “Private final con- Assam and Manipur the hard-
Prime Minister, Shri @naren- BJP, with 240 MPs in the lower sumption, which comes with rebounded by 11.7% in FY22 But it seems to be a slightly sumption expenditure est hit by incessant rainfall.
dramodi Ji, in Delhi to address house, did not have the num- a lag, showing that the and grew by close to 13% in different story when it should grow at least in line According to reports, the death
important matters concerning
the welfare and development of
bers to form a government on
its own.
story of consumption
recovery after the pan-
Expansion that
10% FY23. comes to estimates on
Spending on restau- whether this pace will
MoSPI’s projection
with real GDP growth or
marginally below it. If 4% toll in these two states reached
48 as of 3 July.
Andhra Pradesh. I am confi- Naidu visited Krishi Bhawan demic was robust. rants and hotels, which continue. real GDP growth is 7% The situation prompted the
dent that under his leadership, and held discussions with farm However, household sectors hit by covid also contracted by 52% in Overall, household of consumption and PFCE growth is India Meteorological Depart-
our state will re-emerge as a minister Chouhan on speedy consumption expendi- showed in FY23 FY21, had rebounded by consumption expendi- growth for FY24 something below that ment (IMD) to issue district-
powerhouse among states.” rural infrastructure develop- ture growth is showing 38% in FY22 and further ture, after a 5.2% contrac- level, then there is some wise red alerts for all north-
According to a person aware ment, a second person said. signs of moderation. Details expanded by 55% in FY23 as tion in FY21, grew 11.7% FY22 space for household savings eastern states on Thursday,
of the details, the TDP leader, Civil aviation minister Kin- of household consumption in people, who were forced indoors and 6.8% FY23. But For FY24, the to increase and which will allow especially for areas located near
who is pitching for more finan- jarapu and minister of state for FY24 by segments is only expected by one of the world’s strictest lock- ministry’s projection is more moderate the overall growth rate to be sus- the Brahmaputra river and its
cial aid from the Union govern- rural development Pemmas- next year. downs, began dining out and travelling, at 4%, even as economic growth is pro- tained,” said Srivastava. tributaries.
ment to build the state’s capital ani, both of who belong to the Data reviewed by Mint showed that data showed. jected at 8.2%. Experts pointed out that [email protected] The weather bureau said two
and other infrastructure pro- TDP, were also present in the household spending on transport, a Consumption of durable and non- pent-up demand fuelled the recovery For an extended version of this story, cyclonic circulations over
jects, was “hopeful” of the meeting. component of private final consump- durable goods, which also contracted in household consumption and that a go to livemint.com. north-east Rajasthan and a
trough running from north-
east Rajasthan to Bangladesh
and over west Jharkhand may

Drug makers eye tax breaks in Budget Govt plans awareness campaign cause widespread rainfall
accompanied by thunderstorm
and lightning over east and
Priyanka Sharma &
Gireesh Chandra Prasad
manufacturers, considering
the high dependence of the
on direct-selling malpractices north-east India, including
Gangetic West Bengal, Anda-
man & Nicobar Islands, Jhark-
Indian formulations industry hand, Odisha, Bihar, Sub-Him-
NEW DELHI on imports of such key starting Dhirendra Kumar “Such practices must stop. alayan West Bengal, Sikkim,
materials/APIs, it will help ease [email protected] There is no harm in conducting Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland,

D
rugmakers are pinning the input costs for the formula- NEW DELHI a direct-selling business, but it Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura,
hopes on the forthcom- tions manufacturers until the needs to be fair and transpar- Assam and Meghalaya during

T
ing Union budget for domestic production of such he Union consumer ent. Consumers should not the next four-five days.
more tax incentives for API ramps up,” said Kinjal affairs ministry is plan- have to run from pillar to post Extremely heavy rainfall is
research, import tariff reduc- Shah, senior vice president and ning to organize an to get their products returned expected over Arunachal Pra-
tion on raw materials and eas- co-group head - corporate rat- awareness campaign for con- or repaired,” the second person desh, Assam and Meghalaya on
ing of procedures for tax ings at Icra Ltd. sumers aimed at addressing added. Thursday and Friday.
refunds. India is a major importer of direct sellers’ alleged unethical Office-bearers of the Indian With heavy rain and over-
The Pharmaceuticals Export raw materials for drugs and an business practices, said two Direct Selling Association flowing rivers, Assam and
Promotion Council of India exporter of finished products. people aware of the develop- (IDSA) refused to comment on Arunachal Pradesh have been
(Pharmexcil), a trade promo- In FY24, bulk drugs and drug ment. the development. Queries reeling from severe flooding
tion agency set up by the com- Pharmexcil has sought a cut in basic customs duty on imported intermediates accounted for “It has come to note that emailed to the spokesperson of and the state administrations
merce ministry, has sought a raw materials for making antibiotics from 7.5% to 5%. BLOOMBERG over 55% of India’s total many direct-selling firms are the consumer affairs ministry are bracing themselves for a
reduction in basic customs pharma imports. not following the Consumer Direct selling firms have been remained unanswered until deterioration in the situation
duty (BCD) on imported raw prices of active pharmaceutical maceuticals, Cipla, Alkem Lab- Formulations and biologi- Protection (Direct Selling) barred from unfair practices. HT press time. over the next few days.
materials for making antibiot- ingredients (API, or raw mate- oratories, Macleods Pharma- cals account for nearly three- (Amendment) Rules, 2023 The Consumer Protection This has prompted the
ics from 7.5% to 5% and rials) is further impacting the ceuticals and Aristo Pharma- fourths of this. Pharmaceutical (notified in June last year),” the affairs (DoCA) was planning to Act of 2019 safeguards con- authorities in Assam to evacu-
enhanced tax incentives for cost competitiveness,” the ceuticals,” said a spokesperson imports grew marginally by first person said on the condi- scrutinize direct-selling firms’ sumers against defective prod- ate thousands to relief camps.
companies to invest in trade promotion agency said in for Crisil Market Intelligence 1.98% from $8.10 billion in tion of anonymity. regulatory compliance and ucts, unsatisfactory services The flood situation in Assam
research. its recommendations, seen by and Analytics. Decisions on FY23 to $8.26 billion in FY23. The rules mandate that prepare a list of rule violators. and unfair trade practices. The further deteriorated with major
The agency has pitched for Mint. import duty reduction are Pharma exports in FY24 was direct sellers provide consum- The report added that sev- primary goal of this law is to rivers flowing above the danger
allowing double the amount of Antibiotics are taken by weighing valued $27.85 billion showing ers with clear, accurate and eral measures were also being protect consumer rights by level across the state on 4 July,
research spending made by a key part of drug the interests of an annual growth of 9.66%. complete offer terms, includ- implemented to increase vigi- establishing authorities for the officials said. Eight people died
companies as a deduction makers’ product different seg- Incentivizing research and ing terms of payment, return lance against violation of timely and effective adminis- from drowning.
while computing their taxable portfolios. They ments of the hiring talent also figure promi- and guarantee, after-sales ser- direct-selling rules and the tration and resolution of con- The worst affected districts
income. Currently, 100% are part of the industry and the nently in the wishlist of drug vice, delivery with factual industry’s other unscrupulous sumer disputes. “Violating the in Assam are Nagaon and Dar-
deduction of research spend- anti-infectives market segment overall benefit to the industry. makers. V. S. Mani, executive descriptions, etc. practices. guidelines will result in action rang in central Assam and Kar-
ing is allowed. Pharmexcil also which also includes antifungal Where domestic producers are director and global chief Firms involved in direct sell- “Timely action is needed to according to the provisions imganj in the Barak Valley.
sought simpler procedures for and antiviral drugs. there, a reduction in the import finance officer at Glenmark ing are also barred from engag- protect the interests of con- specified in the law. The gov- Meanwhile, 17 wild animals,
claiming refund of extra taxes “The anti-infective seg- duty could reduce the tariff Pharmaceuticals Ltd, said poli- ing in any misleading, decep- sumers as direct-selling firms ernment is committed to acting including a rhino calf , drowned
paid on raw materials than on ment’s market size stood at protection available to them. cies encouraging skilled indi- tive or unfair trade practices to lure them with attractive against violators to safeguard in Kaziranga National Park,
finished products. about ₹251.3 billion for fiscal “While the duty cut on viduals of Indian origin from sell their products. offers,” said the second person, the interests of consumers,” while 72 were rescued by the
“The profit margin on sale of year 2024. Leading companies imports of APIs will only be det- around the world to return will Mint reported on 10 May that who also spoke on the condi- said Manish K. Shubhay, part- forest authorities; another 32
antibiotics is very low. Rising in the segment are Sun Phar- rimental to the domestic API be crucial. the department of consumer tion of anonymity. ner at The Precept Law Offices. are under treatment.

Cargo traffic at 12 major ports

m MINT SHORTS likely to slow as cooler weather due to monsoon rains
crimps electricity demand and increases in hydropower
crowd out expensive gas-fired generators. “Electricity
PM Modi to visit Russia,
Austria from 8 to 10 July rises 6.8% to 69 mt in June
CORRECTIONS AND
CLARIFICATIONS
demand won’t be as high as it was in May and June, REUTERS Mumbai: Cargo traffic across Mint welcomes comments,
India, UK to deepen synergies which is the prime driver of higher LNG imports,” said 12 major Indian ports rose suggestions or complaints
Ayush Agarwal, LNG analyst at S&P Global Commodity 6.8% to 69.08 million tonnes about errors.
on safe and robust cyberspace Insights. BLOOMBERG (mt) in June from 64.69mt in
Readers can alert the
New Delhi: India and the United Kingdom have agreed the year-ago month, with 10
newsroom to any errors in the
to deepen cooperation between their cyber agencies in ports showing positive gro- paper by emailing us, with your
ISTOCKPHOTO order to build a safe and MNRE issues funding norms wth. Jawaharlal Nehru Port in full name and address to
robust cyberspace, the minis- Maharashtra recorded the
try of external affairs (MEA)
for GH2 testing facilities, infra highest growth in cargo handling at 15.12% in June. PTI
[email protected].

said on Thursday. “Discus- New Delhi: The ministry of new & renewable energy It is our policy to promptly
respond to all complaints.
sions included cyber-threat (MNRE) on Thursday said it has issued scheme guide- Readers dissatisfied with the
assessment, internet govern- lines for funding testing facilities, infrastructure, and India’s solar output grows at response or concerned about
ance, data protection...and institutional support under the National Green Hydro- New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will
cooperation in multilateral BLOOMBERG gen Mission.The scheme pay a visit to Russia from 8 to 9 July to hold the
slowest pace in six years in H1 Mint’s journalistic integrity may
write directly to the editor by
fora,” MEA stated. PTI includes the development of 22nd India-Russia annual summit that will review Singapore: India’s solar power generation grew the sending an email to
robust quality and perform- the entire range of ties between the two countries, slowest in six years in the first half of 2024, an analysis of [email protected]
ance testing facilities to the ministry of external affairs on Thursday. After data from the federal grid regulator showed. Electricity Mint’s journalistic Code of
LNG imports set to slump as ensure the quality, sustaina- concluding the trip to Russia, Modi will travel to generated from coal grew 10.4% during six months Conduct that governs our
bility, and safety of Green Austria, which will be the first visit by an Indian ended 30 June, a review of daily load despatch data from
monsoon hits power demand Hydrogen (GH2) production PM to that country in 41 years, it said. PTI Grid-India showed, outpacing overall power generation
newsroom is available at
www.livemint.com
India’s booming liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports are and trade, MNRE said. PTI growth of 9.7% during the period. REUTERS

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First published in February 2007 to serve as an unbiased and clear-minded chronicler of the Indian Dream.

RAVI KRISHNAN (EDITOR); PUBLISHED/PRINTED BY MANHAR KAPOOR ON BEHALF OF HT MEDIA LTD, 9th Floor, Tower 3, Indiabulls Finance Centre, Senapati Bapat Marg, Elphinstone Road (West), Mumbai-400013
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LIVEMINT.COM DEALS, TECH & STARTUPS FRIDAY, 5 JULY 2024
MUMBAI 03

m MINT SHORTS
Freight brokerage platform Lobb
Will GenAI finish off BPO biz?
raises ₹24 crore funding
Bengaluru: TruckCentral Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which operates digi-
tal freight brokerage platform Lobb, has raised $2.9 million (₹24.2
crore) from investors, including Rajesh Voddiraju, Sharada Nanda- Across industries globally, companies are looking at this novel technology to replace mundane human tasks
kumar (Voya India), P. Shyama Raju (Divyasree Developers), Siva
Tanuku (JP Morgan), Ramana Reddy (Ensoftek) and Giri Pasuma-
mula (Intel Corp). The funds will be used to expand Lobb’s network Jas Bardia growth in BPO services to the diffi- Joshi didn't help matters,” said Phil
across new geographies. K. AMOGHAVARSHA [email protected] culty in scaling up an already large Fersht, chief executive of HfS
BENGALURU business. Research, an outsourcing-research
“As this successful business has firm in the US.

T
India among most active he rise of generative artifi- gained scale it becomes harder to grow Tech Mahindra earned about 36% of
cial intelligence (GenAI) led fast on a larger base,” said Peter Bend- revenue through communications,
countries for Meta’s Threads to the weakest revenue or-Samuel, chief executive of Everest media and entertainment business.
REUTERS
growth at the business pro- Group, a US consultancy that advises Joshi took over as CEO in 2023,
cess outsourcing (BPO) clients on outsourcing. replacing Gurnani, who
units of Infosys Ltd and Tech Mahin- “The customer experience growth was in the top spot for 14
dra Ltd in at least six years in FY24, market where TechM has pangs years. A Tech Mahindra
analysts said. most of its work is facing spokesperson said it’s look-
The advent of ChatGPT in Novem- significant uncertainty, There is an overall ing beyond business pro-
ber 2022 propelled GenAI to board- driven by the possibilities slowdown in BPO.
Contracts are being
cess services for growth.
room discussions in companies glo- offered by GenAI. As these renegotiated; firms “Our current focus is on
bally. Across industries, companies are issues get sorted out, we are automating ops. diversifying our business,
now looking at the technology disrup- The advent of ChatGPT propelled GenAI to boardroom discussions globally. AFP expect that this area will attracting new clients in
tor, which can create content in writ- regain momentum. How- AN analyst also high-margin industries,
attributes slow BPO
ten, audio and visual forms, to replace could almost finish the BPO business. Only Infosys and Tech Mahindra ever, at this time, the growth to difficulty and providing value-added
routine human work. Pune-based Tech Mahindra’s BPO disclose the revenue from their BPO uncertainty is creating a in scaling up an services beyond traditional
“We are seeing in general an overall division generated ₹7,712 crore ($930 businesses. drag on growth.” already big business. BPS offerings. We are also
New Delhi: India is one of the most active countries for slowdown in BPO. Contracts are being million) in revenue in FY24, which “My sense is that the BPO business In the case of Tech committed to upskilling
Threads, which has notched over 175 million monthly active renegotiated and companies are look- was about 15% of its overall revenue of is moving towards self-serve channels, Mahindra, another analyst our workforce to manage
users globally, according to social media giant Meta. The ing to automate BPO operations,” said $6.28 billion. Revenue growth at 7.12% conversational AI or automated or dig- said the BPO arm’s slowdown was due specialised tasks,” Birendra Sen, busi-
update assumes significance as it marks the completion of Ray Wang, CEO and founder of Con- was the slowest since FY18 and came itised systems, which do not require to weakening demand in its mainstay ness head, business process services at
nearly one year since Meta officially launched rival to Twitter stellation Research. after two consecutive years of growth much manpower, which is why the telecom business. Tech Mahindra, said.
(now X). “With a 175 million actives, we’re seeing Threads Two months ago, K. Krithivasan, exceeding 30%. demand from BPO businesses of IT “I would attribute slower growth in Queries sent to Infosys’s spokesper-
become a place where people feel comfortable sharing their CEO of Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys’s BPO unit did not fare well services companies might be slowing,” BPO due to the softening demand in son remained unanswered till press
thoughts and ideas. India is one of the most active countries India’s largest information technology either. Revenue at Infosys BPM was said Kshitij Saraf, equities associate at TechM's major vertical of telecom. time.
for Threads globally,” Meta said in a release. PTI services company, said in an interview $953 million as of March, a growth of Tusk Investments. Last year's protracted transition of Read a longer version of this story at
with the Financial Times that GenAI 2%, the slowest pace in six years. A third analyst attributed the slow leadership from C.P. Gurnani to Mohit livemint.com,

Wipro Consumer Care Ventures,

9Unicorns back Let’s Try
Bengaluru: Earth Crust Pvt. Ltd, which operates snacking brand
Let’s Try, has raised an undisclosed amount in a funding round
Good Glamm eyes ₹1,000 cr
from Wipro Consumer Care Ventures, the venture funding arm of
Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting, and existing investor 9Uni- Debjyoti Roy two people said. Additionally,
corns. The startup had earlier raised funds from 9Unicorns and [email protected] on the returns front, an Indian
angel investors at TV show Shark Tank. K. AMOGHAVARSHA NEW DELHI listing is a better outcome for
overseas investors as multiples

B
eauty and personal care here are 2-3x more than what
Fabrito raises pre-seed funding (BPC) company The they get in their respective
Good Glamm Group is in economies, they added.
from Green Trunk Ventures, others advanced stages of discussion The firm counts some big
Bengaluru: B2B fabric marketplace Fabrito has raised an undis- with multiple global and local private equity names like War-
closed amount in a pre-seed funding round, led by Green Trunk strategic players for Series E burg Pincus, Prosus, Bessemer
Ventures. Maninder Gulati (OYO), Krishna Kalyan T D (Laurus funding, in what could be its Venture Partners, Amazon and
Bio), Puja Jain (ex-McKinsey) also took part in the round. The firm last round before it applies to go The firm is in talks with global Accel on its cap table. The first
will use the funds towards technology stack, expansion of textile public, at least two people and local strategic players for two led Good Glamm’s Series D
manufacturer and seller network, and hiring. K. AMOGHAVARSHA aware of the development told Series E funding. ISTOCKPHOTO funding round.
VCCircle. It has also picked up debt
The company, which was in the upper level. from Alteria Capital, Trifecta
the market to raise ₹500 crore It is learnt that while some Capital and Stride Ventures
earlier this year, is now likely to pharma players are in the fray over the years. Good Glamm
fetch ₹1,000 crore (nearly $120 to pick up a stake in the per- has made about a dozen acqui-
million) in an upsized round, sonal care and hygiene portfo- sitions so far, including Mom’s
possibly led by strategics from lio of Good Glamm, large con- Co, Baby Chakra, St Botanica,
the FMCG and sumer and BPC Organic Harvest, Scoop-
pharma sectors, one names are eyeing a Whoop, MissMalini Entertain-
of the people men- big stake in core cate- ment and Sirona.
tioned above said, gories of the firm. The group houses four dif-
requesting anonymity. While Good Glamm gets ferent verticals. While Good
Good Glamm might, how- access to global distribution to Brands comprises BPC portfo-
ever, have a slightly different accelerate its international lios like St Botanica and
plan this time. According to the growth plans, overseas strate- Organic Harvest, The Good
second person, the deal can gic investors get a go-to-market Media Co takes care of the digi-
occur at both group and sub- opportunity in India with one tal media companies compris-
sidiary levels, with a higher of the largest direct-to-con- ing POPxo, ScoopWhoop,
Agrostar’s co-founder and chief executive officer Shardul probability of major infusion at sumer bases in the country, the MissMalini and BabyChakra.
Sheth. SHARDUL SHETH/LINKEDIN

Agritech cos retail

own labels to grow
as funding slows
Sowmya Ramasubramanian The recalibration comes at a
[email protected] moment of reckoning for
BENGALURU India’s agritech sector. Venture
capital funding for Indian agrit-

A
gritech companies are ech and food tech startups
increasingly banking on dropped 33% to $2.4 billion in
private labels to steer 2022, according to the Agri-
growth as the sector faces chal- FoodTech Investment report by
lenges in scaling-up amid a AgFunder and Omnivore last
slide in investments. Owned year. The sector continues to
brands now account for a big rely on government support.
portion of the revenue for top Valued at $24 billion, India’s
startups in the space, signalling agritech sector remains signifi-
a major shift in strategies. cantly untapped, with only 1.5%
Agrostar, which has carved a penetration, according to a
niche as a marketplace for agri- report by Ernst & Young.
cultural inputs such as seeds None of the startups in the
and fertilizers for farmers, gets sector has achieved unicorn
almost 80% of its status—a valua-
business from its Valued at $24 bn, tion of $1 billion or
private labels, India’s agritech more—or has
co-founder and sector remains listed publicly.
chief executive untapped, DeHaat, WayCool
officer Shardul Foods, and Nin-
with only 1.5%
Sheth told Mint. jacart are valued
The 11-year-old penetration, an in the range of
Pune-based com- E&Y report says $650 million to
pany introduced $800 million.
its first brand in Typically,
2020 and the contribution of agritech firms that run their
private labels to the topline has own brands cater to both farm-
grown to 70% from 5%, Sheth ers and consumers.
said. They offer high-quality
DeHaat, backed by Singa- seeds, pesticides, and farming
pore’s Temasek and Belgian equipment to farmers, while
investment company Sofina, consumers can get farm-to-
gets about 30% of its business fork products such as rice,
from its agri inputs private-la- pulses and condiments. The
bel vertical, according to biggest advantage of running a
co-founder Shyam Sundar house of brands is the high
Singh. It started the Honest margin due to the absence of
Farms brand to sell staples and intermediaries.
grains across e-commerce plat- Read a longer version of this
forms in April. story at livemint.com.
04 FRIDAY, 5 JULY 2024
MUMBAI 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

80,049.67 0.08 24,302.15 0.06 22,914.20 0.28 72,928.25 0.47 25,342.55 0.14 47,083.96 0.60 53,775.13 0.62
PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN

79,986.80 80,321.79 24,286.50 24,369.95 22,851.20 22,937.60 72,584.95 72,877.20 25,306.90 25,394.35 46,802.84 46,997.84 53,441.93 53,699.69
HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW

80,392.64 79,986.41 24,401.00 24,281.00 22,962.80 22,866.70 73,131.80 72,534.95 25,433.40 25,319.60 47,151.92 46,821.64 53,851.62 53,505.55

m MINT SHORTS
Soft Chinese demand clouds
Investors need to look past ‘55%’
global oil market outlook Manish Joshi
Technical relief Passive funds replicate the MSCI anticipating the weighting increase.
The global oil market faces soft spots in the outlook for [email protected] India Index, just like Nifty Index funds. Even after deducting the valuation of
Chinese demand this half, potentially adding a headwind HDFC Bank's foreign ownership fell Active funds use the index only as a subsidiaries at ₹250 a share from the

T
below 55% as on June-end, opening
for crude prices. Taken together, a slower-than-expected he long wait is over for benchmark, and their positions may be current market price, the bank’s
room for passive flows
return of refineries from seasonal maintenance, softer HDFC Bank’s investors. Its underweight or overweight on certain stock is priced at 2.6 times the
Foreign ownership in HDFC Bank (in %)
purchases from key suppliers in July, and a potential drop foreign shareholding finally 68 stocks. adjusted book value based on FY24
off in monthly import volumes suggest that there’s a lack dropped below 55% at the While passive funds will have to buy earnings, as compared to 3.1 times for
65.65
of vigour in the world’s largest crude importer. Global end of June—albeit slightly, 66 more if HDFC’s weighting increases, ICICI Bank.
crude prices have advanced more than 12% this year as to 54.83%. This triggered a technical active funds may or may not buy. ICICI Bank’s superior return on
the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries factor on the bank’s weighting in the 64 Active funds are in fact assets for FY24 (2.4% against
and allies curtailed supply to shore up the market, and MSCI India Index.
62
unlikely to buy HDFC INDEX HDFC Bank’s 2%) deserves a
traders bet that US monetary policy would ease. Against Once HDFC’s foreign shareholding Bank stock as their IMPACT valuation premium.
that backdrop, key metrics suggest tightness in the near drops below 55%, its weighting in the investments are driven Over the past year, HDFC
60
term, and US crude stockpiles just tumbled. Still, condi- index doubles—though not immedi- primarily by financial WHILE passive Bank’s shares have been
tions in China—which accounts for one barrel in six of ately. The official announcement is 58
performance. Recall that funds will have to
buy more if HDFC’s
flattish while ICICI Bank’s
global oil consumption—remain a point of concern. State expected on 13 August and the actual following the unimpress- weighting increases, have gained 30%.
refiners are expected to raise their daily processing vol- adjustment on 30 August. 56 ive net interest margin active funds may not It may be tempting to
umes by just 1.3% this month. BLOOMBERG To know why 55% foreign share- and deposit growth in Q3 consider investing in the
holding is the magic number for HDFC, 54
54.83 FY24, foreign institu- OVER the past year, underperforming stock,
Q1FY23 Q1FY25 HDFC Bank’s shares
it’s important to understand MSCI’s tional investors had have been flattish, but investors should note
Data at quarter-end; Q1FY24 data was updated
weighting methodology. post HDFC Bank's merger with HDFC on 14 July
reduced their stake in while ICICI Bank’s that the discount to ICICI
Under MSCI’s rules, the index HDFC Bank’s shares have been climbing Source: BSE India
HDFC Bank to 47.8%, shares gained 30% Bank’s valuation is likely to
assigns full weighting to a company over the past month. MINT from 52.3% during the persist unless return ratios
SHREEYA AGGARWAL/MINT
once the stock’s foreign shareholding March quarter, dragging improve substantially.
drops below 75% of its foreign owner- drops to half. With the bank’s foreign The bank’s foreign shareholding the stock down from its quarterly For now, there are two important
ship limit. shareholding now below 55%, its stood at 55.54% at the end of March and peak of ₹1,684 to a low of ₹1,364. events to watch out for–HDFC’s Q1
For HDFC Bank, 75% of the bank’s weighting in the index is expected to investors who had been hoping it Thus, the current stock price of FY25 earnings on 20 July and the
foreign ownership limit of 74% works double from 4% to about 8%. would drop below 55% by the end of ₹1,727 may not entice them. Union budget.
out to 55%. So if HDFC Bank’s foreign Investors seem to be excited about June saw their wish granted. In fact, the relative valuation of Apart from these two critical events,
shareholding is less than 55% it will this technical milestone—HDFC What does a higher weighting HDFC Bank is no longer appealing as the relative valuations of the two banks
have full weighting on the index, but Bank’s shares have been climbing over mean? There are two categories of for- some investors might have preempt- deserve more attention from investors
if it is 55% or higher, the weighting the past month. eign funds—active and passive. ively built positions in the stock, than the ‘magic’ 55% number.

The steelmaking ingredient is now above $110 a tonne

after trading below that threshold in June. BLOOMBERG Persistent Systems’ new acquisition is good but not enough
Iron ore hits highest in month Harsha Jethmalani scope for cross-selling. and demand outlook will be a revenue growth, largely driven
Stellar gains
on China demand hopes [email protected] Considering Starfish’s mar-
The Persistent Systems stock has handsomely beaten the Nifty IT
crucial near-term trigger. by deal ramp-ups in the health-
Iron ore touched its highest in nearly a month as traders gin profile, the acquisition may index so far in CY24 In Q4FY24, management care vertical. However, it

P
bet on a modest improvement for China’s steel market. ersistent Systems Ltd stock increase Persistent’s earnings Persistent Systems Ltd Nifty IT
had said the macro environ- expects the Ebit margin to con-
Futures in Singapore rose the previous four trading days was in focus on Thursday, per share, ICICI Securities Ltd ment continued to be challeng- tract 50 bps sequentially. Mar-
130
and are up more than 6% this week due to a tick-up in gaining 3.4% and hitting a said. The speed at which Star- 128.59 ing. Persistent aims to achieve a gins may stay under pressure on
demand and hopes for a stimulus boost at a major Chi- new 52-week high of ₹4,760. fish is integrated— and its actual 120 $2 billion revenue run-rate by initial high costs for large deals.
nese political gathering — known as the Third Plenum. This week, the IT company’s impact on earnings—need to be FY27. Management reiterated Persistent’s shares have ral-
110
The steelmaking ingredient is now solidly above $110 a wholly-owned subsidiary tracked. Persistent is no its aspirational earnings before lied 29% so far in 2024, outpac-
tonne after trading below that threshold for most of June. announced that it has signed a stranger to inorganic growth, 100 interest and tax (Ebit) margin ing the Nifty IT index, which has
Iron ore rebounded after the government unveiled a res- pact to acquire US-based Starfish having been on an acquisition 106.23 improvement guidance of 200- fetched single-digit returns. The
90
cue package for the property sector. But real estate pros- Associates LLC for $20.7 million. spree in recent years. “Persist- 300 basis points over the next stock trades at a P/E multiple of
pects are still murky and attention is focused on what pol- Starfish is a global software ent Systems has acquired eight 80 2-3 years. Investors should 43 times estimated FY26 earn-
29 Dec 2023 4 Jul 2024
icies emerge from the Third Plenum in mid-July, where company that provides enter- companies in the past five years, Values rebased to 100 Source: Bloomberg
track these numbers to check if ings, showed Bloomberg data.
China’s Communist Party elite will flesh out long-term prise communication solutions. including Starfish, spending a the targets are achieved. The stock has enjoyed a pre-
PRANAY BHARDWAJ/MINT
goals. Mills still have appetite for iron ore with their fur- The acquisition is expected to total of $260.5 million and In Q1FY25, Motilal Oswal mium over its tier-1 IT peers
nace run-rates at high levels and there has been a augment Persistent’s artificial acquiring revenues worth While the growing traction tion is small in the overall Financial Services expects Per- mainly due to its relatively better
rebound in steel demand, Chaos Ternary Research Insti- intelligence (AI) offerings and $123.13 million (at the point of on AI could be a sentiment- scheme of things. Against this sistent to lead the pack of mid- revenue growth trajectory. Still,
tute said in a note. Expectations for China’s economy are give it access to various Fortune acquisition),” said the ICICI booster for the stock, it should backdrop, the June quarter (Q1 tier IT companies with 5% a meaningful revival in demand
improving ahead of the July meeting. BLOOMBERG 500 clients, thus widening the report, dated 4 July. be noted that the latest acquisi- FY25) earnings performance sequential constant-currency is crucial for earnings upgrades.

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

Buch urges industry Market surge emphasizes Petrobras may sell oil to PSUs
to report violations importance of Sebi, SAT: CJI FROM PAGE 1 senior vice-president and The visit of the executives
co-group head, corporate rat- from the three oil marketing
refine and market them, pre- ings, ICRA Ltd. companies in April this year
Neha Joshi Neha Joshi up in just 58 sessions. fer term contracts as they offer The long-term contract also came in the backdrop of a
[email protected] [email protected] “It gives you a sense of the stability amid volatile energy negotiations come at a time sharp output cut by the Orga-
MUMBAI MUMBAI market sentiment,” justice markets. Long-term deals are when the crude oil prices have nization of the Petroleum
Chandrachud said, adding that usually signed for at least 10 been on an upward trajectory Exporting Countries (Opec)

I C
n a call to action, market hief Justice of India it also “emphasizes the impor- years. amid conflict in West Asia and Plus grouping. In April, an
regulator Securities and (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud tance of regulatory authorities Queries sent to IndianOil, Ukraine, and sup- OPEC+ ministe-
Exchange Board of India on Thursday empha- including Sebi and SAT; just HPCL, BPCL, Petrobras and ply concerns Russia emerged rial meeting
(Sebi) has urged industry sized the importance of market tells that we are into wins, but it the petroleum ministry around the Strait as India’s largest decided to keep
stakeholders to proactively regulator Securities and is equally important for others remained unanswered till of Hormuz. Brazil supplier in the its output policy
report any malpractices within Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to hold their balance and press time. is currently not a previous fiscal, steady.
their sectors. This, Sebi chair- and its appellate body Securi- nerves at such times.” “India has been trying to major supplier to Brazil’s oil pro-
surpassing the
person Madhabi Puri Buch ties Appellate Tribunal in view He was speaking at the inau- diversify its import basket. India, with its oil duction has been
emphasized, is crucial to of the relentless surge in stock Chief Justice of India D.Y. guration of a new office prem- This move also is on the same exports account- traditional increasing in the
maintaining investor trust—a Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri prices. Chandrachud. PTI ises of SAT at Mittal Court, Nar- lines. Due to distance and ing for only $1.46 suppliers past few years.
cornerstone for a growing Buch. PTI In May this year, the market iman Point area of Mumbai. logistics, West Asian countries billion in FY24, Data from the
market. capitalization of all the compa- This was followed by the his- Regulators like Sebi and have traditionally been out of India’s total B r a z i l i a n
The Indian stock market has tutional, and foreign investors nies listed on the National toric 80,000-mark which the appellate forums like SAT favoured. But when the com- oil import bill of $139.85 bil- National Agency of Petroleum,
been on a tear lately, with the in fostering market growth. Stock Exchange (NSE) 30-share BSE Sensex achieved assumed immense national panies negotiate as a consor- lion. Russia emerged as India’s Natural Gas and Biofuels
30-share BSE Sensex crossing She warned that any erosion of exceeded $5 trillion (₹416.57 for the first time on 3 July. importance for fostering stable tium, they have a better bar- largest supplier in the last fis- (ANP), showed that the coun-
the 80,000-mark for the first this trust due to industry mis- trillion), coinciding with the In the run up to this peak, and predictable investment gaining position and may get cal, surpassing the traditional try’s crude oil production
time on 3 July—driven by its chief could lead to more strin- Nifty 50 index reaching a the Sensex recorded its fastest environment, the chief justice attractive terms and credit suppliers like Saudi Arabia, jumped nearly 13% to over 3.4
fastest-ever 10,000-point rally gent regulations and a poten- record high of 22,993.60. 10,000-point rally, racking it of India said. lines,” said Prashant Vasisht, Iraq and others. million barrels per day in 2023.
in a record 58 sessions. Amid tial collapse of the ecosystem.
this surge, Sebi has imple- To prevent such scenarios,
mented stricter measures to Buch called on industry play-
ensure market integrity,
including stringent instruc-
tions to regulated entities on
ers to report unethical prac-
tices. “Bring forth to the regu-
lator what mischief is going on
Axis Bank may integrate Citi’s India retail assets by mid-July
collaborations with ‘finfluen- in the market to avoid our
cers’ and individuals claiming exploding into the system and Shayan Ghosh & payments and affluent banking 1­ 8 months. Axis Bank com- With 14.3 million outstand-
to be investor educators. coming up with a heavy hand. Gopika Gopakumar at Axis Bank, said in an inter- pleted its acquisition of Citi- ing cards at the end of May, Axis
This regulatory tightening Good players should come to view. “Phone banking won't bank’s India consumer busi- Bank is the fourth-largest
is part of Sebi's broader efforts us about the mischief in their MUMBAI change much because custom- ness for ₹ 11,603 crore in March issuer of credit cards in India.
to curb potential market own interest,” she asserted. ers are used to the same team 2023. The transaction included HDFC Bank leads the pack with

A
manipulation and ensure At the conference, the xis Bank Ltd expects to and the same number. The app credit cards, retail banking, 21.1 million, followed by State
transparent operations across chairperson also discussed complete the integra- and the website will change, wealth management and con- Bank of India (through its sub-
the financial ecosystem. Sebi’s initiative, the Pilot of tion of Citibank’s and I think customers will sumer loans, as well as the sidiary SBI Card) with 19.1 mil-
“Trust is the foundation of Industry Forums project, domestic retail assets with its really like the new app and transfer of about 3,200 Citi lion and ICICI Bank with 17.1
growth,” Buch said on Thurs- aimed at gathering ground- systems by the middle of July, website as they get used to employees. The bank will start million.
day at a conference organized level feedback from various 16 months after it acquired the them,” said Chowdhry. introducing new credit cards Chowdhry also said the
by the Association of the Port- industry stakeholders. foreign lender’s India con- “The other thing that we did and other products in mid-July, cohort of 3,200 consumer
folio Managers in India. “If the She noted that Sebi had sumer business. was create go-to products for Axis Bank has been operating under a transition services he said, adding that there will business employees from Citi
trust is belied, the edifice of the received a substantial amount “We are hoping the transi- customers and map all the erst- agreement with Citi since March 2023. MINT be almost no changes for Citi India has seen lower attrition
system will come down like a of constructive feedback from tion will get done in the middle while Citi products, creating credit card customers. “In fact, than the industry. “While we
pack of cards. It is important a brokers’ association, which of July. Obviously, that will lead equivalent products on the Axis since March 2023, which will lowing the asset sale last year. when Citi customers migrate to can’t quote a number for a sub
that everyone, including the had already filtered out 50 to a change for customers in side,” he said. conclude once the systems are Axis Bank had earlier said it Axis Bank, the pool of reward segment, it is significantly
regulators, maintain this potentially harmful sugges- terms of their access channels,” Axis Bank has been operat- integrated, said Chowdhry, would incur a pre-tax cost of points which they already have lower than the industry,” he
trust.” Buch highlighted the tions before presenting their Arjun Chowdhry, group execu- ing under a transition services who spent nearly three decades ₹2,000 crore for TSA services will remain evergreen and will said.
role of trust from retail, insti- recommendations to Sebi. tive and head of retail assets, agreement (TSA) with Citi at Citi before joining Axis fol- and integration expenses over not expire.” [email protected]
06 FRIDAY, 5 JULY 2024
MUMBAI CORPORATE LIVEMINT.COM

DPIIT
suggests Large GenAI deals propel m

MOVES
angel tax
removal
a revival in IT sector hiring A weekly list of C-Suiters who have moved up
the corporate ladder either within or outside
their companies.
Abhijeet Appointed as Chief Executive
FROM PAGE 1 Maheshwari Officer at Piramal Realty

capital,” he said. Experts say the worst may be over for India’s IT sector although geopolitical threats linger Abhinav Appointed as Chief Executive
Kapoor Officer at Del Monte Foods
Section 56(2)(viib) of the
Income-tax Act, commonly
referred to as the ‘angel tax’, Jas Bardia & Devina Sengupta ings cut cycle has bottomed out, but the
Alpesh Appointed as Chief Financial Officer
IT hiring: An AI-driven revival Porwal at Flair Writing instruments
was introduced in 2012 to pre- BENGALURU/MUMBAI pace of recovery remains uncertain,
vent unaccounted money Staffing firms highlight increased hiring in the three months ended June especially with lingering macro events Bhawna Appointed as Chief Marketing

E
from being used to invest in merging from a long spell of over the next couple of quarters,” the Sikka Officer at Adidas India
shares of private companies. declining revenue growth and Expected hiring increase (in %) Profiles in demand analysts added.
The tax, levied at a rate of high attrition, Indian informa- TeamLease 5-7 Gen AI, SAP, Java, Cyber security, TCS, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Devanshu Appointed as Asset Branding Head
30.6%, comes into effect when tion technology services com- AI/ML, Dot net/ Data and and Wipro reported revenues of $7.36 at Adani Enterprises
Adecco India 20 Analytics, Testing, Network
Bhatia
an unlisted company issues panies have embarked on a billion, $4.56 billion, $3.43 billion, and
25 (Network engineers, cloud ,
shares to an Indian investor at hiring spree, particularly in search of Quess
network testing)
$2.66 billion, respectively, for the three Inderniel Appointed as Head Strategy and
a price above what the tax engineers with AI chops. months ended March. Save for Infosys, Shivdasani Investor Relations at Pepperfry
Source: Mint Research
department says is its fair mar- The previous financial year, whose revenue declined 2.1% sequen-
ket value. 2023-24, marked a bleak phase in tially, the others reported revenue Kailash Appointed as Chief Financial
According to Section domestic IT services hiring, with head- growth, although not by much. Gupta Officer at The Phoenix Mills
56(2)(viib) of the Income Tax count and job offers declining amid TCS, HCLTech, and Wipro saw their
Act, when an unlisted com- muted global demand for software ser- revenues grow by 1.1%, 0.4%, and Magesh Appointed as Director Sales at
pany, like a start-up, gets vices and advances in artificial intelli- 0.05%, respectively. Results for the Swaminathan Putzmeister India
equity investment from a resi-
dent of India for issue of shares
that exceed their face value,
the excess amount is subject to
income tax under the head
‘income from other sources’
for that financial year.
In 2019, the government
gence.
But the tide appears to be turning in
terms of both business and recruit-
ments for India’s $245-billion IT servi-
ces industry, according to industry
analysts and recruitment firms. IT ser-
vices companies, however, have not
provided a clear indication of their hir-
April-June quarter are awaited.
“Our estimates indicate that hiring
has grown by 5-7% in Q1 (April-June
quarter) compared to the previous
quarter. This increase is mainly driven
by higher IT spending and investments
in AI capabilities,” said Krishna Vij,
vice-president and business head of IT
Neeraj
Sanghi
Nurjaha
Arora
Pankaj
Jathar
m Appointed as MD & Operating
Partner at Neo Asset Management

Appointed as Head Group

Communications at Skoda Auto

Appointed as Chief Executive

Officer at NIIT

MOVES
introduced an exemption for ing plans for this financial year, staffing at TeamLease Digital, a Benga-
PARAS JAIN/MINT
investors putting in money 2024-25. luru-based staffing firm. Appointed as EVP and Lead Public
into startups registered with “Some of our IT clients have inked a “The bench utilisation is high and, although elections in key markets such Despite volatile economic condi- Pooja Affairs - India & Philippines at
the DPIIT, so long as the few large deals, which in turn has led to therefore, IT firms are now hiring can- as the US and the UK could see changes tions and budgetary constraints, “we Thakran Wells Fargo
aggregate of the paid-up capi- a demand for more employees skilled didates with experience in larger num- in outsourcing policies, and the Israel- estimate further acceleration in hir-
Appointed as Managing Director -
tal and share premium of the in Generative AI,” said Vijay Sivaram, bers than in earlier quarters,” Sivaram Paliestine and Ukraine-Russia wars ing,” Vij added.
startup after issuing shares did chief executive of Quess IT Staffing, added. could still impact the deal pipeline. “We have commenced fresher hiring Ramakrishnan M Agriculture and Climate Practice
at Primus Partners
not exceed ₹25 crore. Also, adding that he expects hiring in the IT Utilisation rate refers to the propor- “IT sector (coverage universe) con- from campuses and continue to recali-
companies with turnover sector to increase by 25% in the three tion of staff actively involved in projects tinues to transition from a protracted brate our lateral hiring, focusing more Ratan Appointed as Chief Human Resources
higher than ₹100 crore were months ended June. on utilising the capacity that we Agrawal Officer at Moon Beverages
not considered startups. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, CHANGING GEARS have built over the prior years,”
While earlier the tax was India’s largest software exporter, in Milind Lakkad, TCS’s chief human Sajeev Appointed as Managing Director
applied only to investments by May said it had doubled its pipeline FY24 marked a bleak IN March quarter ESTIMATES indicate ALTHOUGH polls in resources officer, had said during Rajasekharan India at TPV Technology
resident investors, the Finance of generative artificial intelligence phase in domestic IT
services hiring, with
revenues of TCS,
HCLTech, Wipro
that hiring has grown key markets such as
by 5-7% in April-June the US and the UK
the company’s post-earnings con-
Act 2023 amended Section projects to $900 million in the headcount and job grew by 1.1%, 0.4%, quarter compared to could still impact the ference call on 12 April. Swati Appointed as Vice President
56(2)(viib) of the Income-tax March quarter. Infosys Ltd, India’s offers declining 0.05%, respectively the previous quarter deal pipeline His cross-country peer had given Rustagi Employee Experience at Adobe
Act to extend angel tax to non- second-largest IT services com- a tempered view on hiring, stating
resident investors as well. The pany, has said it is working on 225 that demand would dictate recruit- Varun Appointed as Chief Financial
exemption from tax, similar to GenAI projects. while ‘bench’ refers to employees yet to IT upgrade cycle and low discretionary ment. “We will look at hiring as the year Gupta Officer at Jubilant Ingrevia
resident investors, was intro- “There has been a 20% uptick in be assigned a project. Infosys and spending to some normalisation in (the goes through. We do not have a num-
duced for foreign investors mandates in the IT sector in the June- Wipro Ltd reported utilisation rates of second half of FY25), which is our ‘base’ ber to give at this point in time,” Jayesh Appointed as EVP - Chief Digital
from 1 April 2024. end quarter when compared sequen- 83.5% and 86.9%, respectively, as of case,” HDFC Securities analysts Apurva Sanghrajka, chief financial officer of
Vijay & Information Officer at Godrej
As per Startup India web- tially,” said Sunil Chemankotil, country March 2024. Prasad, Amit Chandra, and Vinesh Vala Infosys, had said during the company’s Balakrishnan & Boyce
site, there are 134,251 startups manager at recruitment firm Adecco Industry experts estimate the worst wrote in a note dated 3 July. post-earnings briefing on 18 April.
Source: Accord India, executive search worldwide
registered with DPIIT till date. India. may be over for India’s IT sector “We believe that the growth/earn- [email protected]

More bank loans Centre plans duty reforms Pressure on Biden builds as
now linked to repo, FROM PAGE 1 products is also being looked
forward to, specifically where
democrats fear big Nov losses
The second person, who also the rate of duty on import of
treasury yields requested anonymity, said that
customs duty changes are
expected for items related to
raw material is more than that
on import of finished goods.”
In the Union budget for
FROM PAGE 1

should replace Biden.

the age-related issues that the tour throughout the state.
president has allegedly been While he is in Wisconsin, the
grappling with behind the president will tape an interview
FROM PAGE 1 two key sectors—consumer FY24, the government simpli- Biden’s evening meeting is scenes. “Everyone I’ve talked to with ABC News’ George Steph-
electronic goods and medical fied the customs duty structure expected to include a number of is terrified. And very pissed at anopoulos, part of an effort by
The RBI action came after devices—to boost component by reducing the number of Democratic governors attend- the Biden team,” another Dem- Biden’s team to counter the
years of nudging banks which production in these sectors. applicable rates from 21 to 13. ing in person, including Califor- ocratic lawmaker said. contention that his mental acu-
were reluctant to pass on rate “For these sectors, the know- Further, the Centre is explor- nia Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illi- Meanwhile, Sabato’s Crystal ity is deteriorating.
cuts to borrowers but were how is not under patent protec- ing free trade agreements nois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, both of Ball, a nonpartisan political Since the debate, several
quicker to pass on rate hikes. tion, and all it may require to (FTAs) with various countries whom are said to have national analysis group run by the Uni- polls have shown a slight uptick
In the new External Bench- attract fresh investments is a lit- and blocs to boost exports and ambitions, along with other versity of Virginia Center for in Trump’s support, but the
mark based Lending Rate tle tariff support,” said the sec- The larger plan is to reduce facilitate trade. These pacts governors participating virtu- Politics, said on Wednesday contest is still tight. As of
(EBLR) regime, banks are free ond person. “A price arbitrage of import dependence. BLOOMBERG reduce tariffs and some non- ally. The meeting was organized that Biden’s Wednesday
to choose from the RBI policy 5% between imports and local tariff barriers, allowing trade by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, “debate perform- Since the debate, morning, Trump
repo rate, the three-month production on account of person for the finance ministry partners to get easier access to the chairman of the Democratic ance was so bad several polls have led Biden by 2.1%
treasury bill yield, six-month import duty, ocean freight and and to Central Board of Indirect one another’s markets. Governors Association. that it has forced shown a slight in the FiveThirty-
treasury bill yield or any other insurance can be a big incentive Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on India’s FTAs are now pivot- Democratic lawmakers con- us to reassess uptick in Trump’s Eight.com aver-
benchmark market interest for local production.” Tuesday seeking comments on ing towards markets in the tinued to raise deep concerns in some of our
Banks have raised fresh deposit
support, but the age of national
rate produced by the Financial rates by 245 bps between May The plan is to encourage the story remained unanswered West, including the UK, the private about Biden remaining assumptions polls.
Benchmarks India Pvt. Ltd. 2022 and April 2024. MINT more value addition in seg- at the time of publishing. EU, the UAE, Eurasia, and Aus- on the ticket, and they said about the race.” contest is In internal
Most banks have taken to the ments where local production Even as the government pri- tralia. These recent agreements their worries are only increas- The group projec- still tight memos reviewed
repo rate as their external with higher EMIs (equated is predominantly in the nature oritises improving ease of reflect an emphasis on specific ing. Three lawmakers said they ted that Michigan by The Wall Street
benchmark, though. monthly instalments),” the of assembling imported com- doing business and cutting red goods and services, with prom- were hunkering down and and Minnesota Journal, Biden’s
Among lenders, foreign and CFO said on the condition of ponents, the person added. tape in claiming tax refunds, ising prospects for sectors waiting for Biden to either are now more competitive for senior campaign officials
private banks lead the pack anonymity. The bank, he said, The government may also experts said that an amnesty such as gems and jewellery, change course or for polling to Republicans. played down the debate’s effect
with over 80% of floating rate tried to extend the repayment expand the authorised eco- scheme under customs is the plastics, engineering goods, come out that could make Biden is scheduled on Friday on public opinion. “Our inter-
loans on external benchmarks, period by keeping the EMI the nomic operator (AEO) scheme, need of the hour. agro-processed foods, textiles, sticking with the president to hold a campaign event in nal battleground toplines from
while state-run banks are lower same or giving them a mix of granting accredited merchants “This would go a long way in technology services, and finan- untenable. Madison, Wis. The state’s last night show a steady race: we
than the system average at 39%. longer tenure and higher EMI. and logistics players privileges resolving legacy litigation and cial services. According to the “People are getting more Democratic senator, Tammy estimate that we’re down just 1
In fact, foreign banks had 91% of For some borrowers, the longer at ports, including quicker in fostering certainty in doing latest data from the commerce worried,” one Democratic law- Baldwin, won’t join Biden at point in margin. All of this is
their floating rate loans pegged tenure became tricky too. Mint clearance and deferred duty business,” said Abhishek Jain, ministry, India’s merchandise maker said. Some have the Friday event, according to a well within the margin of error
to external benchmarks, while reported in March 2023 how payments, the second person indirect tax head and partner trade deficit widened to a sev- expressed anger at Biden’s spokesman for her campaign, and shows a steady race,” they
private banks were at 83%, home loan tenures got added. at KPMG. “Separately, rate en-month high in May, driven team for, in their view, not who said she would be on a pre- said in a memo sent to Capitol
showed data from RBI. significantly longer owing to An email sent to the spokes- rationalization for certain largely by a surge in imports. being more forthright about viously scheduled listening Hill allies on Wednesday.
Quicker transmission, while the rate hikes.
beneficial to borrowers in a fall- “The reason why PSU banks
ing interest rate scenario, hurts have lower EBLR loans than the
when the cycle reverses. But
even as a majority of floating
loans are under external
rest is because they have more
agriculture loans than others,
and such loans are still on the
Siemens CEO Busch for finalizing EU FTA early
benchmarks, transmission still MCLR or marginal cost of
lags changes in the repo. As funds-based lending rate,” the FROM PAGE 1 In May, Siemens announced between India and Europe are speed required.” However, he
against the 250 basis point (bps) banker said, adding that while a an investment of over ₹1,000 at the top of my list, and this has added that given the right time-
hike in repo rate by RBI majority of corporate loans are ing infrastructure first, energy crore to expand two of its 32 been going on for ages, and we line and level playing field, the
between May 2022 and Febru- on MCLR—an internal bench- infrastructure, and then manu- factories in India, in addition to have not come to a conclusion issue can be resolved.
ary 2023, the weighted average mark where transmission is facturing and high-tech manu- the capacity expansion at here. We should make it eas- “I do believe Europe should
lending rate on new loans rose slower—many have urged facturing,” he said. Kalwa and Goa in November ier... agree on cer- also pull back a lit-
204 bps between May 2022 banks to switch to external Busch spoke to Mint soon 2023. Siemens, which operates tain base princi- The formation of tle bit on our sys-
and April 2024. benchmarks. “We provide repo after a town hall with engineers in technology, manufacturing, ples, and not on a coalition temic require-
The chief financial officer of linked short-term loans at rates at Siemens Ltd, the conglomer- industrial automation and rail the full-fledged government at ments, put it that
a bank said that the lender had starting 7.15% to corporates too, ate’s Indian subsidiary. On transport, has invested over trade agreement, the Centre will way in free trade
not passed on the entire 250 but only to top-rated public sec- Thursday, Siemens shares €100 million in India in FY24, where every agreements and
bps hike to its borrowers, fear- tor undertakings (PSUs).” touched a lifetime high of and around €1 billion over the aspect is
not dent India’s focusing on
ing higher default rates. Quicker transmission is not ₹7,950, marking an 112.43% past 7-8 years, as the country reflected,” Busch growth trajectory, what’s important
According to him, the bank limited to lending rates, return on investment over the renews and expands its infra- said. Busch said and that’s some-
passed on about 180 bps and though. Banks have raised past year. structure. In May, Siemens announced an investment of over ₹1,000 crore One of the hur- thing that I
absorbed the rest. fresh deposit rates by 245 basis India’s economic growth The formation of a coalition to expand two of its 32 factories in India. BLOOMBERG dles to an FTA believe Europe
“This was done by adjusting points between May 2022 and rate of 6-7% significant and government at the Centre will could be the trend of “glocaliza- can do...may be requires com-
the spread on the loan. We April 2024, showed data from speaks for itself; however, if the not dent India’s growth trajec- same guys in place.” Agreement (FTA). The Sie- tion”, where the aim is to create promises on both ends,” he said.
were concerned that if the RBI. That said, banks were also share of industry in India’s GDP tory, Busch said. “ I do not see While Busch is optimistic mens boss pointed out that jobs locally, Busch observed. “I Busch also voiced concerns
entire rate hike was passed on forced to raise rates to lure grows from the current 17% to that this is a broken trend...I do about his company’s prospects both sides may have to relax speak now for Siemens, but also over extremist views across
immediately, then some depositors who were increas- 25%, this would add a potential believe it is great that the cur- in India, he’s concerned about their demands to strike a deal for other German or European Europe and their impact on the
weaker borrowers might not ingly finding other investment $1 trillion to the economy, he rent ministers as for the rele- the slow progress in finalizing quicker. companies; they are ready to do economy, democracies, and
have the wherewithal to deal avenues more attractive. added. vant ministries are still the the India-EU Free Trade “Free trade agreements that, but may be not in the innovation.
LIVEMINT.COM CORPORATE FRIDAY, 5 JULY 2024
MUMBAI 07

Tussle between
Govt to raise air cargo volume Tesla, Tesla Power
The govt is in talks with industry stakeholders to boost the volume of exports by air from the country
lands in mediation
Krishna Yadav
[email protected]
Anu Sharma cargo handled in FY24 was 7%. mately, the most critical and biggest NEW DELHI
[email protected] Queries sent to the civil aviation shareholder in the entire chain is the

T
NEW DELHI ministry were unanswered till press exporter. For now, the growth in air he Delhi High Court on
time. cargo demands much more capacity Thursday referred a

T
he Union government has As part of discussions with stake- than what Indian operators have. trademark infringement
begun talking to industry holders, the civil aviation ministry is Hence, a wider reach for foreign case involving Tesla Inc. and
stakeholders such as working on creating a smoother pro- freight operators will help in capacity Tesla Power India Pvt. Ltd for
Indian airlines, scheduled cess for foreign freight operators to generation, as a scenario of less sup- mediation after the two com-
and charter cargo opera- carry cargo to and from multiple ply and high demand could impact panies agreed to try and settle
tors to find ways to liberalize norms points in India, the first official the prices. their dispute through this
governing air cargo, in an attempt to said. Under the current “Indian carriers have to route.
boost the volume of exports by air framework, Indian boost their capacity to A senior mediator of the
from the country, two officials invol-
ved in the ongoing discussions said.
freighter operators are
allowed double dip- 7%
Growth rate seen
service the Indian busi-
ness demand," said
Delhi High Court Mediation Tesla Inc. sued Tesla Power
and Conciliation Centre will India, accusing the firm of
Among the steps being deliberated ping—when cargo is Sharma. "The entire air take up the matter starting 18 trademark infringement. AFP
are allowing foreign freighters to pick carried to and from in the air cargo cargo ecosystem needs July. If the mediation fails, a
and deliver cargo from multiple cities more than one city—but handled in FY24 to create facilities and bench of the court will hear sell e-scooters on IndiaMart.
in one run, and easing of paperwork The civil aviation ministry is working on creating a smoother process for foreign international freight ope- capacities backed by the case on 18 September. He also said that people had
and procedures for exporters and freight operators to carry cargo to and from multiple points in India. rators are approved double- effective regulatory frame- Chander Lall, a senior law- called him up personally,
shippers, among other things. dipping only on a case-by-case work for Indian shippers to cre- yer representing American alleging cheating by Tesla
“We are looking at ways to increase The second official said the gov- get in 2022 of handling 10 million basis. Double dipping happens when, ate India—the factory to the world.” electric carmaker Tesla Inc., Power.
participation of freighters, assessing ernment is working on ways to ease tonnes of air cargo per year by 2030. for example, a freight operator takes Separately, the second official cited told the court that mediation “They say they have been
cargo throughput of the top 20 the KYC (know your customer) proc- That’s a big jump from the 3.4 mil- cargo from Delhi, flies to Mumbai and earlier said that the civil aviation min- might not be effective because charged lakhs of rupees and
Indian airports, and other ways to ess for exporters as well as standardis- lion tonnes (mt) of freight handled picks up more cargo there, and then istry has held discussions with the Tesla Power would not relin- then abandoned,” Lall said.
improve efficiency and create a com- ing the e-invoice format for shippers last fiscal (FY24) by all of India’s oper- flies to its destination abroad. Directorate General of Foreign Trade quish its brand. According to Sai Deepak,
petitive market,” the first official cited for greater efficiencies. Both officials ational airports combined, which According to Yashpal Sharma, and the Central Board of Excise and “Mediation will not work Tesla is not a unique trade-
above said, adding that the govern- spoke on condition of anonymity. included 2mt of international freight, president of Air Cargo Forum India Customs to find ways to increase the when it comes to their brand— mark as there are many com-
ment hopes to make concrete prog- The development comes on the as per data from Airports Authority of (ACFI), Indian airlines are one of the efficiency of shipping procedures and they are not going to give it panies and registrations with
ress on these proposals within a year. back of the government setting a tar- India. The growth rate recorded in air stakeholders in the entire chain. Ulti- minimise the paperwork. up,” Lall said. this name in India, Taiwan and
In response, lawyer J. Sai other countries.
Deepak, repre- “Therefore, for
senting Tesla A senior mediator someone to come

HDFC Bank clocks fall in loan, deposit growth rates in Q1 Power, said, “We of the Delhi High out and say that
are open to medi-
ation.”
Court Mediation because of Elon
and Conciliation Musk, we are the
Tesla Inc., the only ones who are
Gopika Gopakumar Centre will take
ued shedding of low-yielding however, improved to 123% for ownership in the bank dropped Emkay Global Financial Servi- June. The CASA ratio US electric vehi- entitled to claim
[email protected] corporate book, including that the quarter compared to 115% in below 55%, which is expected ces Ltd. improved to 37.3% at the end of cle (EV) giant up the matter Tesla and a
MUMBAI of erstwhile HDFC Ltd. the previous quarter. to boost the stock’s weightage Other banks, too, have June 2024 compared to 35.2% co-founded by from 18 July monopoly over it,
The deposit growth also The bank’s shares fell 2% to in the MSCI index, leading to reported muted business in the previous quarter. Elon Musk, sued frankly speaking,

H
DFC Bank Ltd reported declined 0.03% quarter-on- ₹1,726.60 during higher passive updates. Bandhan Bank saw a Federal Bank, however, was Tesla Power doesn’t fly,” he
a sequential fall in both quarter to ₹23.79 trillion at the trade on Thurs- Advances inflows. 1.5% sequential decline in an outlier with advances grow- India Pvt. Ltd on 2 May, accus- said. On 30 May, Tesla Power
advances and deposit end of June. However, on a day, a day after growth declined “We believe deposits to ₹1.3 trillion and ing 5.4% sequentially to ₹2.24 ing the Gurugram company of informed the court that it had
growth at the end of the first year-on-year basis, the advan- the stock rallied 0.8% quarter-on- that nearly flattish 0.72% decline in advances to trillion and deposits up 5.4% to infringing its trademark and instructed its partners and
quarter, as per the pre-quarter ces showed a growth of 52.6% 3% to hit a record quarter to deposit growth ₹1.25 trillion. The CASA ratio ₹2.66 trillion at the end of June. misleading consumers by vendors to remove the Tesla
update of the bank released on and deposits grew by 24.4%. high on expecta- after a strong 4Q also was down to 33.4% at the Its CASA ratio, however, fell to implying an association with logo from their electric scoot-
₹24.87 trillion
Thursday. The private sector lender’s tions of high pas- coupled with end of the June quarter com- 29.28% compared to 29.38% in its EVs. Tesla Inc. claimed this ers to comply with a 2 May
Advances growth declined low-cost deposit current and sive fund inflows at the end slower credit pared to 37.1% in the previous the previous quarter. caused confusion among cus- Delhi High Court order pro-
0.8% quarter-on-quarter to savings accounts (CASA) ratio amid likely of June growth and possi- quarter. According to Suresh Ganap- tomers and potential damage hibiting the sale and promo-
₹24.87 trillion at the end of as a proportion of total deposits weight increase in bly higher slippa- RBL Bank also saw a 2% athy, head of financial services to its reputation as it looked to tion of products bearing the
June compared to ₹25.1 trillion was down at 36.3% at the end of MSCI index. ges could lead to sequential decline in deposits research, Macquarie Capital, enter the Indian market. Lall Tesla trademark. Tesla Power
at the end of March. The June compared to 38.2% at the The latest shareholding pat- some softness in the stock after to ₹1 trillion while it saw a 3% the first quarter is expected to reiterated that Tesla Power clarified that it had no inten-
sequential decline in the loan end of March. tern of HDFC Bank shows for- a sharp run-up recently,” said sequential growth in advances see weak deposit growth after a was not abiding by the court’s tion to market its electric scoo-
book is mainly due to contin- Liquidity coverage ratio, eign institutional investors’ Anand Dama, head BFSI, to ₹88,455 crore at the end of strong fourth quarter. orders and that it continued to ters under the Tesla brand.

BRIHANMUMBAI MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

No. Dy.Ch. Eng./ M&E / 5844 /W.S. Of 03.07.2024
e-TENDER NOTICE
The Municipal Commissioner of Greater Mumbai invites online
e-Tenders for the following works on “Percentage Rate Basis” from
the eligible bidders. The Bid Start Date & time and Bid End Date & time
is specified in the detailed tender notice on BMC’s website as well as on
NIC Portal under “Tenders” section.
BRIHANMUMBAI MUNICIPAL CORPORATION
e-Tender Notice
Department: Ch.Engg.(M&E)
Section: Dy.Ch. Engg.(M&E) W.S.
e-tender No.: 2024_MCGM_1047265_1
Subject: Repairing, Replacement & Refurbishment of
Mechanical Works at Dahisar Fire Station,
Dahisar (E). in RN ward.
The outlook for upcoming films like The Sabarmati Report and Bid Start: Date - 05.07.2024 Time - 11.00 am
Kangana Ranaut’s Emergency appears grim. PTI Bid End: Date - 11.07.2024 Time - 16.00 pm
Portal: Http://portaI.mcgm.gov.in

Propaganda films Contact Person :

a) Name:
b) Contact No.(Office)
E.E. (M&E) W.S.
Shri . J. D. Shirsath
022-29670343
c) Telephone No.: 022-29675862

in the soup as poll d) e-mail Address : [email protected]

The intending tenderers shall visit the Municipal website
http://portal.mcgm.gov.in/ or NIC Portal https://mahatenders.gov.in.

results shock for further detaiIs of the tender.

The tender documents will not be issued or received by post/courier.

PRO/369/ADV/2024-25
Sd/-
Ex. Engg. (M. & E.) W.S.-I
Lata Jha that success,” said Rahul Puri, Keep the terraces clean, remove odd articles/junk/scrap.
[email protected] managing director (MD),
NEW DELHI Mukta Arts and Mukta A2 Cin-
emas. In stark contrast to their
BRIHANMUMBAI MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

W
hen The Kashmir predecessors, recent films
Files achieved box have failed to replicate past TENDER NOTICE
office success in successes. The Kashmir Files, Tender Document No. 1. 2024_MCGM_1045319_1
2022, it seemed like hyper-na- released in 2022, grossed 2. 2024_MCGM_1047664_1
Name of Organization Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
tionalist, propaganda films over ₹240 crore at the box
Subject 1. Providing & fixing of various
had discovered a winning for- office, while The Kerala Story infrastructure works with other utility
mula. The subsequent success crossed the ₹220-crore mark at Municipal Printing Press
of The Kerala Story further last year. However, The Vac- 2. Work of Refurbishment of Locker
Cabinets at Mahatma Gandhi Smarak
cemented this belief. But that cine War, directed by Vivek Auditorium Swimming Pool, Dadar.
was then. Agnihotri of The Kashmir Files Cost of Tender/Scrutiny Fees 1. Rs. 3300/- + 18% (G.S.T.)
Now, the genre’s star fame, managed a mere ₹6 2. Rs. 660/- + 18% (G.S.T.)
appears to be fading, reflected crore in domestic earnings. Cost of E-Tender Item rate tender
in the lacklustre performance Similarly, Bastar, from the (Estimated Cost)
of recent releases such as same team as The Kerala Story, Bid Security Deposit/ EMD 1. Rs. 18,600/-
2. Rs.4,800/-
J a h a n g i r earned just ₹1.3 Date of issue of tender 05.07.2024 from 11:00 Hrs
National Univer- Experts attribute crore upon its Last date & time for Submission 11.07.2024 upto 16:00 Hrs
sity, which has this to change in mid-March of Bid Security Deposit/ EMD
earned only ₹48 audience views, release. Submission of Packet A, B & 11.07.2024 upto 16:00 Hrs
lakh since its Other films like Packet C (Online)
steering Pre-Bid Meeting Not Applicable
release last Main Atal Hoon, a
conversations Opening of Packet A 12.07.2024 on/ after 16:00 Hrs
month. biopic on former (Bid Opening)
Trade experts towards balanced prime minister
Address for communication Office of the:- E. E. Mech (South).
attribute this to a viewpoints Atal Bihari Vaj- BMC Municipal Workshop. R. S.
change in audi- payee, and Swat- Nimkar Marg, Byculla, Mumbai -
400 008
ence sentiment antrya Veer Sav-
Venue for opening of bid Online in E. E. Mech (South)’s office.
following the latest election arkar also fell short of expecta- Contact Person:
results, steering conversations tions, with theatrical runs A) Name Shri. S.S.Patil
towards more balanced view- ending at ₹8.65 crore and B) Telephone (Office) 022-23083051/52/53/54
points. For upcoming films ₹23.99 crore, respectively. C) Email Address Website [email protected]
like The Sabarmati Report and Barah by Barah, another con- Website http://portal.mcgm.gov.in/tenders.
Kangana Ranaut’s Emergency, troversial film, has earned only https://mahatenders.gov.in.
the outlook appears grim. ₹7 lakh in domestic collections This tender document is not transferable.
“Theatres have increasingly since its May release. The BMC reserves the rights to accept any of the application or reject
any or alI the application received for above subject without assigning
seen diminishing returns for Pranav Garg, MD at Maya any reason thereof.
films belonging to this genre. Palace, a two-screen cinema in Sd/-
The point is you can’t drum Muzaffarnagar, said films like PRO/371/ADV/2024-25 Executive Engineer Mechanical (South)
the same beat constantly. You Jahangir National University Fever? Act now, see your doctor for correct & complete treatment.
may be able to pull it off once and Barah by Barah had dis-
but it is difficult to replicate mal collections in his theatre.
08 FRIDAY, 5 JULY 2024
MUMBAI GLOBAL LIVEMINT.COM

China reopened to foreign students.

Americans are staying away.
U.S. students numbered 11,000 prepandemic; now there may be fewer than 1,000
The Fed raised rates at the fastest pace in 40 years in 2022 and Jazper Lu risks involved,” noting that U.S. citi-
2023 to fight inflation that also rose to a four-decade high. REUETRS [email protected] zens of all types were being blocked
from leaving China.

Federal Reserve
I
n the decade-plus that Wu Xinbo In June, Wu, who is dean of
has taught a class on China’s for- Fudan’s Institute of International
eign policy at Shanghai’s Fudan Studies and director of its Center for

officials signaled no University, Americans have typi-

cally made up a third of his class.
Then came Covid-19, which essen-
American Studies, traveled to Wash-
ington in part to lobby the State
Department to ease its travel warning
tially locked out most international for China.
hurry to cut rates students . But even as Fudan classes
returned to normal last year, none of
the 30 or so foreign students in Wu’s
Sending more American students
to China is in the U.S. interest, no
matter the political climate, Wu said.
Nick Timiraos their meeting later this month. class were from the U.S. “Even if you think of China as an
[email protected] Since last month’s meeting, “I miss them,” said Wu, who said enemy you have to have a better
Fed officials including Chair his American students lobbed lively understanding of your enemy,” he

M
inutes of their last Jerome Powell have signaled questions at him—and provided said, adding that such ties also “put a
meeting suggested they are broadly satisfied with insight into how Americans were human face on relations between
some are on alert for how inflation has resumed a looking at China. governments.”
signs of labor market deterio- downtrend after several hotter Across China, American students For Steven Zhang, an undergradu-
ration readings at the start of the have been slow to return since Beijing ate student at Yale, being one of the
With elevated inflation pre- year, suggesting the door ended its strict Covid restrictions in few Western students at Beijing’s
venting Federal Reserve offi- remains open to a cut in Sep- late 2022 . That is despite pledges by Tsinghua University last fall meant he
cials from feeling confident tember. both Beijing and Washington to was treated very well. “Chinese peo-
enough to cut interest rates, The Fed raised rates at the rebuild exchanges between ordinary ple, like all of us, are very curious to
some policymakers at their fastest pace in 40 years in 2022 Chinese and Americans, including understand what the U.S. is like,”
meeting last month called for and 2023 to combat inflation Chinese leader Xi Jinping expressing Zhang said. “To be an actual West-
careful attention to signs the that also rose to a four-decade hope at a November summit with erner there—it is a unique experience
labor market might weaken high. They have held their President Biden of attracting 50,000 Across China, American students have been slow to return since Beijing ended its strict Covid restrictions. BLOOMBERG for them to interact with you.”
faster than anticipated. benchmark rate in a range American students to China over the Around 60% of the around 800
“A number of participants between 5.25% and 5.5% since next five years. tensions and the tightening of con- invested a lot of time studying China. resumed travel to China despite the U.S. students in university-credit pro-
remarked that monetary pol- last July. In the last full academic year before trols on expression under Xi. A recent graduate of the University of advisory. The University of Pennsyl- grams in China were enrolled at New
icy should stand ready to Officials were surprised in the pandemic, over 11,000 Americans “What’s happening now is that Arizona, she had hoped to return to vania sent around 100 students to York University Shanghai, which was
respond to unexpected eco- the second half of last year by were studying in China, making it the after Covid and even after China China to study Mandarin through the China over the past year as it felt “rea- able to recover quickly from the
nomic weakness,” said the how rapidly price growth most popular non-European destina- opened up, the students didn’t come State Department’s Critical Language sonably confident” that China didn’t impact of Covid restrictions, includ-
minutes of the Fed’s June 11-12 slowed despite strong spend- tion for U.S. students abroad and the back,” he said. Scholarship Program, whose pro- pose a risk for students, said Amy ing by chartering a plane to fly in stu-
meeting , which were released ing and hiring, leading them to seventh overall, according to data from Academics like Moser and Wu say grams in China have remained virtu- Gadsden, executive director of Penn dents in 2022, according to Jeffrey
Wednesday with a customary shift their attention away from the Institute of International Educa- they see the decline as detrimental to al-only since the pandemic. Nkulu China Initiatives. Lehman, the school’s vice chancellor.
three-week delay. how high to raise rates and tion. As of June 2023, the IIE said, the broader U.S.-China relationship. has shifted gears and is now set to Neysun Mahboubi, director of the Before Covid, the campus hosted 3%
Officials also cataloged sev- toward how long to wait before China wasn’t even among the top 20. “We really need to have people at spend the next school year as an Penn Project on the Future of to 4% of China’s American students.
eral economic develop- cutting them. Inflation turned While there is no official tally of all levels of government, business, English teaching assistant in Taiwan U.S.-China Relations, said that the China program directors say other
ments—including a slow- around after that, derailing Americans currently studying in academia who are China-savvy,” with a Fulbright scholarship. warning has a “chilling effect” on aca- factors also dissuading Americans
down in wage growth, expectations by investors and China, Nicholas Burns , the U.S. Moser said. “I feel like we’ve already “Having Taiwan be the only option demic exchange, and should be mod- from studying in China include fewer
reduced pricing power by the Fed itself that the central ambassador to Beijing, put the num- lost a generation of those people.” where I can explore Mandarin on ified. and more expensive flights, the rela-
businesses and increased bank might have been able to ber at about 800 in a speech last A State Department spokesperson State Department programs—it does “As far as I know, there are no tive difficulty in getting a student visa
consumer sensitivity to price cut rates by month. A State said the department was “focused on feel a little limiting,” she said, adding American students and scholars who compared with other destinations and
increases—in support of their now. Department expanding people-to-people ties,” that her previous studies now feel less have been subject to either detention challenges like adapting to China’s
expectation that inflation T h e spokesperson but said the Chinese government relevant. or exit bans,” he said. digital ecosystem, including the ubiq-
would continue to decline whiplash clarified that this “does not consistently meet us half- Travel warning Burns, who has regularly called for uitous use of apps like WeChat .
over the coming year. from cooler and then hotter figure only represents those studying way in our efforts to build bridges One major factor slowing the more people-to-people exchanges, Potentially adding to concerns,
Some officials said they inflation has left the Fed in in university-credit programs. between the people of our two coun- return of American students is a State defended the travel advisory in a four college instructors affiliated with
thought higher immigration something of an awkward Henry Huiyao Wang, president of tries.” Department Level 3 travel warning recent interview with The Wall Street an American college were stabbed
was allowing the economy to holding pattern, where policy- Beijing think tank Center for China The spokesperson added that since recommending that Americans Journal. “There are complaints by last month in northeastern China , an
add more jobs while holding makers are looking for either and Globalization, estimates the the November summit more groups “reconsider travel” to China and business people—mainly long-term attack the Chinese Foreign Ministry
the unemployment rate several more months of con- number is closer to 3,000, though he of young Americans have visited Hong Kong “due to the arbitrary residents of China—that are being at the time characterized as an iso-
steady, easing imbalances in a vincingly benign inflation includes visiting nondegree students China on short, Beijing-sponsored enforcement of local laws, including subjected to exit bans, and we’re con- lated incident. Burns, the U.S. ambas-
labor market that had readings or evidence of a in his estimate. Liu Pengyu, a spokes- programs and that the U.S. hopes in relation to exit bans, and the risk of cerned about that,” he said. sador, told the Journal recently that
appeared quite overheated meaningful slowdown in hir- man for the Chinese Embassy in more will follow. “We need more U.S. wrongful detentions.” Liu, the Chinese Embassy spokes- he has asked for more information on
two years ago. Some thought a ing and economic activity Washington, said that there are cur- students going to [China] to learn The impetus for the travel warning man, called the warning “completely the motives of the assailant.
closely monitored survey of before lowering rates. rently “thousands” of American stu- Mandarin, study Chinese culture, and is China’s heightened use of exit bans reckless.” As to whether the presence of
monthly payroll growth might Economic projections dents in China, according to what he become our next generation of China to target bankers and executives . The “Almost everyone who has been to American students in China will
be overstating job gains, the released last month showed termed “incomplete statistics.” experts,” the spokesperson said. State Department also currently clas- China said that China is the safest eventually return to normal, Mah-
minutes said. most Fed officials expect to cut Meanwhile, around 290,000 Chi- Before the pandemic, the number sifies three Americans as “wrongfully country in the world,” he said. “If boubi, of the University of Pennsylva-
The minutes showed offi- interest rates once or twice nese students were in the U.S. during of U.S. students in China had already detained” in China. China is Level 3, then the United nia, says that the current moment is a
cials were broadly comfortable this year if inflation slows and the 2022-23 academic year, accord- dropped by more than one-fifth since Charles Laughlin, professor of East States is Level 5.” “delicate one” with voices in the U.S.
with their wait-and-see stance growth is solid but unspectac- ing to the most recent IIE data. the peak in 2012 , with many students Asian Studies at the University of Vir- Liu said China is taking various political environment that aren’t sup-
on changing interest rates and ular. Markets are focused on The fact that China ended Covid interested in China studies or Manda- ginia, said the advisory made his measures to encourage more stu- portive of American universities
highlighted a range of views whether officials at their July restrictions later than other countries rin going to Taiwan instead. school’s administration “skittish” dents to come “in accordance with engaging with China.
about what might prompt the 30-31 meeting might lay the is only part of the explanation, said In July 2020, then-President about restarting its China programs. the consensus reached by the two “The overall political environment
Fed to raise or lower rates. groundwork for a rate cut at David Moser, associate professor at Donald Trump ended the U.S. gov- A recent IIE report found that less presidents” in November. for this is still fraught,” Mahboubi
Together with more recent their subsequent gathering in Beijing Capital Normal University. He ernment’s Fulbright exchange pro- than 30% of U.S. colleges and univer- The State Department spokesper- said.
public communication by Fed September. said the number of Americans study- gram in China and Hong Kong . sities they surveyed planned to send son said the advisory was issued to — James T. Areddy and Jonathan
officials, the minutes indicated ©2024 DOW JONES & COMPANY, ing in China has been declining for Hanna Nkulu spent a summer in students to China last year. provide U.S. citizens wishing to go to Cheng contributed to this article.
they aren’t likely to cut rates at INC over a decade amid rising U.S.-China Chengdu in high school and has Some schools, however, have China “with full understanding of the ©2024 DOW JONES & COMPANY, INC

Hollywood enters a frugal new era

pay-TV in the latest quarter. the air in Hollywood,” says 21st Century Fox. But it tried stalking Hollywood. Stream- shows like “Sex and the City”
Streaming, the lifeboat that Robert Fishman of Moffett- (unsuccessfully) to stop AT&T ers lose about 5% of their and “Young Sheldon”. Para-
was supposed to rescue enter- Nathanson, a firm of analysts. buying Time Warner, a move American subscribers every mount said in June that it was
tainment companies from The result is that, like a bad which many attributed to Mr month, according to Antenna, exploring more licensing. The
these sinking legacy busi- movie in post-production, the Trump’s dislike of Warner’s a data company (see chart 2). ability to raid rivals’ archives is

W
ith sound-stage nesses, is still a money-loser industry is being trimmed and CNN news channel. A second This leaves them replacing allowing big spenders like
doors made big for everyone except Netflix. In edited back together. Will the Trump presidency could make more than half their customers Netflix to rely less on original
enough for per- the past two years subscrip- result be any more watchable? it hard for Comcast to do big each year—something the production. Acquired content
forming elephants, the centu- tions have levelled off at four There is certainly lots of deals: the company owns the older studios are not used to, made up nearly half of viewing
ry-old Paramount Pictures lot per household in America. action. In recent months Para- MSNBC news network, which having previously dealt with on Netflix in the second half of
on Melrose Avenue is a living Netflix, with 270m subscribers mount held fruitless merger Mr Trump despises as much as cable companies, which han- 2023, including 11 of its 20
museum of the film business. worldwide, is reliably among talks with Comcast, a cable CNN. dled customer acquisition. most-watched series, accord-
Now the studio, one of the them in most homes. Disney, giant with owns NBCUniver- In the meantime, entertain- Bundles make for “healthier ing to MoffettNathanson.
world’s first—and the last still which is closing in on 200m sal, as well as with WBD and ment companies are finding subs”, one executive says: With subscribers increas-
based in central Hollywood— subscriptions (and expects to Sony. In June Paramount was other ways to team up. Disney, more content means less quit- ingly being steered towards
is for sale. Paramount’s con- make a profit on streaming in on the verge of selling to Mr WBD and Fox will launch a ting. Antenna calculates that big bundles of content,
trolling shareholder, Shari the third quarter of this year), Ellison, who runs Skydance sport-focused streaming ser- last year monthly churn streaming is “just cable over
Redstone, is seeking a buyer also looks safe. Amazon gives Media, a production company, vice, Venu Sports (pro- among subscribers to Disney’s the internet now”, concludes
for the teetering empire she its video service away to 300m only for Ms Redstone to pull nounced “venue”), in the entertainment-and-sport an executive. That is an exag-
inherited from her father Prime subscribers around the out at the last minute. The deal Cinema is suffering from long covid; this year’s domestic box- autumn, if regulators allow it. bundle was 3-4%, versus 5% or geration: it is still much easier
Sumner, who died in 2020. world and is not going any- is now said to be back on office takings are forecast to be 30% lower than in 2019. REUTERS Paramount’s leaders told staff so among those who get only for viewers to flit between sub-
For six months suitors have where. Apple, likewise, can because Skydance improved on June 25th that they were in Disney+. scriptions, which is why the
come and gone. On July 2nd it afford to sink money into its its offer. Until Paramount’s been free to buy or sell assets undervalued relative to its talks with potential streaming Perhaps the starkest exam- profits even at Netflix are
was reported that David TV+ service for as long as it future is settled, other deals without being clobbered by asset mix, which includes a partners “that will signifi- ple of the grudging new co-op- nowhere near those of the
Ellison, a tech heir whose pre- likes. are up in the air. “People are tax penalties. Jason Kilar, studio lot in Century City, cantly transform the scale and eration is the return of licens- cable era. But the consumer
vious bid for Paramount was The rest are fighting a losing dying for Paramount to get its former head of Warner, said argues Mr Fishman. The great economics of the service” ing. In the early days of bonanza of a few years ago is
rebuffed only in June, had battle for attention. In the past mojo back,” says one frustrated recently that he did not expect unknown is what its 93-year- internationally. Paramount streaming studios kept their over. Prices are rising (Disney+
reached a preliminary agree- two years some studios have executive at a rival studio. it to be a standalone company old controlling shareholder, and NBCUniversal already run content to themselves. Bob costs twice what it did at its
ment to buy Ms Redstone’s shed more than half of their Another company in need of in 18 months’ time. Rupert Murdoch, and his a streaming joint venture in Iger, Disney’s boss, compared launch in 2019), commercials
stake in the company. market value (see chart 1). more heft is WBD, itself the One possible partner for heirs, want to do with Fox, par- Europe called SkyShowtime. licensing Disney shows to Net- are creeping in, content bud-
The turbulent picture at “There are a lot of players. result of a merger two years WBD is another subscale ticularly its fiery news opera- Former rivals are also pack- flix to “selling nuclear-weap- gets are tightening and com-
Paramount reflects the state of There are a lot of players that ago. Its Max streaming service streamer, NBCUniversal’s tion. aging their services. Disney ons technology to a third- petition is turning to co-opera-
Hollywood. Show business has are losing a lot of money,” is stuffed with Emmy-bait, Peacock. Some observers That may become clearer and WBD unveiled a dis- world country”. Now, as stu- tion. As show business shifts its
entered an age of austerity. David Zaslav, head of Warner from “Succession” to the wonder if WBD could do a deal after America’s presidential counted bundle of their dios strive to improve their focus from boosting growth to
Cinema is suffering from long Bros Discovery (WBD), expanding “Game of Thrones” with Fox, which sold its 21st election in November. The streamers in May. Weeks later cash flow, the arms trade is breaking even, the new Holly-
covid; this year’s domestic box- another troubled studio, universe. But it lacks scale and Century studio to Disney in potential return of Donald Comcast launched a “Stream- back in business. Disney titles wood will look a little better for
office takings are forecast to be summed up in May. The way to is thought to be losing money 2019 but retains television Trump, who leads in most Saver” bundle for its broad- such as “Lost” and “Home shareholders—but less fun for
30% lower than in 2019. Cable survive, Mr Zaslav intimated, on streaming (the firm does interests, including a quietly polls, complicates the regula- band customers, rolling Net- Improvement” are on Netflix. audiences.
subscriptions are falling faster was for studios that once bit- not break out the numbers). successful streamer called tory picture. His unpredictable flix, Peacock and Apple TV+ Play-it-again sums ©2024 THE ECONOMIST NEWS-
than ever, with a record 2.4m terly competed to come Since the second anniversary Tubi (which expanded into administration waved through together. The aim is to reduce WBD is renting out its back PAPER LIMITED. ALL RIGHTS
Americans cancelling their together. “M&A fervour is in of its formation in April, it has Britain on July 2nd). Fox is Disney’s $71bn acquisition of customer churn, a problem catalogue, too, including RESERVED.
LIVEMINT.COM NEWS WRAP FRIDAY, 5 JULY 2024
MUMBAI 09

NEWS
₹900 cr
THE AMOUNT Inox Wind Ltd raised
₹610 cr
THE GLOBAL box office collections of
25 mn
THE NUMBER of Amazon shares the
7.2%
THE PERCENTAGE of all recorded air
175 mn
THE NUMBER of monthly active users
IN from its promoter Inox Wind Energy Ltd Kalki 2898 AD, a sci-fi movie starring firm’s founder Jeff Bezos plans to sell, pollution-related deaths in India’s 10 Meta Platform’s Threads, a challenger to X
NUMBERS through an equity sale to pare
its term debt
Prabhas and Deepika Padukone, within
seven days since its release
which would bring his shareholding down
to 8.8% of the outstanding stock
largest cities, with Delhi accounting for
the most, according to a study
(formerly Twitter), has garnered in a year
since its launch

HOWINDIALIVES.COM

Financials witness TIDE OF TRIUMPH

record FPI inflows

F
oreigner portfolio investors (FPI) snapped
a two-month selling streak in India’s
financials and turned net buyers in June,
hitting a six-month high.
The heaviest-weighted sector, financials,
garnered FPI inflows worth ₹9,170 crore (about
$1.1 billion) during the month, the highest since
December 2023, according to data from the The move aims to harness growth potential in the
National Securities Depository (NSDL). Indian property market. MINT
The FPI buying in the sector came after two
months of outflows worth ₹18,200 crore,
boosting the financials index, private banks
Raymond to spin
and banking stocks 6.9%-8% higher in June.
“Once the concerns on the national off realty division
elections-related uncertainty were over, the

T
government was formed and ministries were extile major Raymond Ltd on Thursday
allocated, the FPIs were assured of policy said it will demerge the real estate
continuity,” said Ajit Banerjee, chief business to unlock the value for
investment officer at Shriram Life Insurance. shareholders and harness growth potential in
FPI outflows from domestic equities hit a the Indian property market.
record high on June 4. REUTERS In a regulatory filing, the company
informed that its board has approved the
scheme of arrangement of Raymond Ltd
(demerged company) and Raymond Realty Ltd
(resulting company) and their respective
shareholders.
As per the scheme of arrangement, each
Raymond Ltd shareholder will receive one
share of Raymond Realty for every one share
held in Raymond Ltd.
The standalone operational revenue of the
Fans gather at Mumbai’s Marine Drive seafront ahead of the arrival of the T20 World Cup-winning Indian cricket team on Thursday. The team was unable real estate division stood at ₹1,592.65 crore in
to return to India immediately after the title win over South Africa in last Saturday’s final in Barbados due to a shutdown forced by Hurricane Beryl. AFP the last fiscal, accounting for 24% of the total
revenue of Raymond Ltd. PTI

·FFSX°F ÀFSXIYFS Government of India

The leasing of office space grew 33% during
January-June this year across eight major cities. MINT
India calls for fair IYFS´FûSmXMX IYF¹FÊ ¸FaÂFF»F¹F
°½FdSX°F IYFG´FûÊSmXMX ÀF¸FF´F³F ´FiÀFaÀIYSX¯F IZÔYýi (ÀFe-´FZÀF)
Ministry of Corporate Affairs
Centre for Processing Accelerated
Housing sales up AFBÊX.AFBÊX.ÀFe.E. d¶Fd»OaX¦F, 7½Fe ¸FadªF»F, Corporate Exit (C-PACE)

11% during Jan-Jun trade, sovereignty ´»FFMX P-6, 7, 8, ÀFZ.-5, AFBÊX.E¸F.MXe. ¸FF³FZÀFSX,
¦FbOX¦FFh½F, WXdSX¹FF¯FF-122050 Y
Email: [email protected]
IICA Building, 7th Floor,
Plot P-6, 7, 8, Sector-5, IMT Manesar,
Gurgaon, Haryana - 122050
Email: [email protected]

I
ndian real estate market remained buoyant
in January-June this year, with housing sales
hitting an 11-year high at 1,73,241 units and
office demand at a record 34.7 million square
at SCO Summit FORM No. STK -- 6
PUBLIC NOTICE
feet across eight major cities, according to [Pursuant to sub-section (2) and sub-section (4) of section 248 of the Companies Act, 2013 and rule 7
Knight Frank. of the Companies (Removal of Names of Companies from the Register of Companies) Rules, 2016]
On an annual basis, housing sales rose 11%
to 1,73,241 units while leasing of office space New Delhi has reservations over the CPEC Public Notice No. ROC/C-PACE/STK-2/248(2)/2024-25/358 Date: 19.06.2024
grew 33% to 34.7 million square feet during Reference:
January-June this year across eight major (1) In the matter of striking off or removal of names of (43) Companies in State of Maharashtra (ROC-Mumbai) under section 248 of the
cities. HT Correspondent Since the Shanghai Cooperation Companies Act, 2013 in respect of:
Shishir Baijal, chairman and managing [email protected] Organisation is a principle-based
director, Knight Frank India, said, “India’s real NEW DELHI organization, focusing on consen- S. No. Work Item CIN Company Name
estate market has been buoyant in the last few sus building among member 1 AA8237313 U46109MH2023PTC407549 UNCHBHARARI MULTITRADE SERVICES PRIVATE LIMITED

I
quarters owing to the strong economic ndia on Thursday underscored states, it is “particularly noteworthy 2 AA7752451 U86904MH2023PTC401392 PHYSIOGENIX PRIVATE LIMITED
fundamentals and stable socio-political the importance of respecting that we are reiterating mutual 3 AA7664847 U65990MH2022PLN377661 MBV MUTUAL BENEFIT NIDHI LIMITED
conditions.”As a result, the residential and sovereignty, territorial integ- respect for sovereignty, independ- 4 AA8223644 U72900MH2020PTC344655 GOOD GAME TECHNOLOGIES PRIVATE LIMITED
office segments have recorded decadal-high rity, and non-discriminatory ence, territorial integrity, equality, 5 AA8251448 U72900MH2020OPC340506 YASHVARDHAN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES (OPC) PRIVATE LIMITED
numbers, he said in a virtual press conference trade rights in connectivity mutual benefit, non-interference 6 AA8194471 U74999MH2016PTC285136 PONYTAIL DESIGN PRIVATE LIMITED
on Thursday. projects, taking a veiled swipe at in internal affairs, non-use of
7 AA7177523 U01114MH2017PTC289309 PARINEETA AGRO AGENCIES PRIVATE LIMITED
He noted that premium housing formed 34% China, at the Shanghai Cooperation force or threat of use of force as a
of all sales in the first half of 2024. Organisation (SCO) Summit in the basis for our foreign policies”, it 8 AA8345471 U80301MH2013PTC245079 DUBEY TUTORIALS PRIVATE LIMITED
In Delhi-NCR, housing sales declined 4% to Kazakh capital of Astana. added. 9 AA7994323 U26990MH2011PTC216941 RATNATRAYA ENGINEERING COMPANY PRIVATE LIMITED
28,998 units, but office space demand grew Speaking on behalf of Prime In an apparent reference to Paki- 10 AA8020296 U17110MH1995PLC087114 SPUNTY FABRICS LIMITED
11.5% to 5.7 million square feet. PTI Minister Narendra Modi, external stan, India emphasized the threat 11 AA8241554 U92199MH2000PTC124829 VINAYAKA AMUSEMENTS PRIVATE LIMITED
affairs minister S. Jaishankar posed by cross-border terrorism 12 AA8173727 U28920MH1991 PTC063202 SANJARI ENGINEERING PRIVATE LIMITED
emphasized that the mutual and the need for a decisive global 13 AA8143687 U78100MH2023PTC408852 MAA DWARKA HR SOLUTION PRIVATE LIMITED
respect for these principles should response against terrorism financ- 14 AA8043644 U45200MH2023PTC405237 PARASON METAL FORMING PRIVATE LIMITED
Another bridge underpin the foreign policies of the ing and recruitment, which are
nine member among the SCO’s 15 AA8252105 U72900MH2022PTC394807 SPINOFF EDUTECH INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED
16 AA7993750 U27300MH2022PTC393054 VIDARBHA SPONGE AND ALLOYS PRIVATE LIMITED
collapses in Bihar states of the
Shanghai Coop-
“original goals”.
PM Modi’s statement “Many of us have 17 M8327617 U72900MH2022PTC384076 POUCH FINTECH PRIVATE LIMITED
eration Organi- stressed the role of had our experi- 18 AA8278683 U67190MH2022PTC378779 GRAYSTONE ADVISORY PRIVATE LIMITED

A
nother bridge collapsed in Bihar’s Saran sation. ences, often 19 M8095836 U70109MH2022PTC378999 R-TEK INNOVATIONS PRIVATE LIMITED
district on Thursday, the 10th such New Delhi has robust connectivity in originating 20 AA8195848 U80301 MH2021PTC369471 GURUJIFINDER PRIVATE LIMITED
incident in the state in just over a reservations fostering trust beyond our bor- 21 AA8195701 U01100MH2021PTC356656 DHARTARI FARMERS PRODUCER COMPANY LIMITED
fortnight. over the China- ders. Let us be
22 AA7887582 U74999MH2020PTC352164 DERISK SOLUTIONS PRIVATE LIMITED
According to district magistrate Aman Samir, Pakistan Eco- clear that if left
23 AA8347810 U01100MH2020PTC340223 ROYAL FARMER DAIRY AND AGRO PRIVATE LIMITED
the latest incident is the third such collapse in nomic Corridor (CPEC), which unchecked, it can become a major
Saran in the last 24 hours. “A high-level probe passes through Pakistan-occupied threat to regional and global 24 AA8095481 U74999MH2018PTC312165 DAYWORTH RETAIL SOLUTIONS INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED
has been ordered to find out reasons for the Kashmir (PoK), besides China’s Belt peace.” 25 AA6803524 U51909MH2016PTC282357 SYNERGYPHARMA FORMULATIONS (INDIA) PRIVATE LIMITED
collapse of these small bridges in the district,” he and Road Initiative (BRI). Indian The world community must iso- 26 AA8070892 U27310MH2012PTC226933 ORLOV METALS & ORES PRIVATE LIMITED
said. No casualty was reported after the officials have highlighted the dis- late and expose countries that har- 27 AA8139012 U74999MH2013PTC250306 PINNACLE PEOPLE SOLUTIONS PRIVATE LIMITED
structure, built 15 years ago by local authorities, parities in project participation bour terrorists, provide safe havens 28 AA8297298 U72200MH2007PTC174727 VENTUREINTELLECT SOLUTIONS PRIVATE LIMITED
collapsed this morning, he said. several times in the past. and condone terrorism, as terror 29 AA7722223 U86221MH2004PTC148017 AB IT EDUCATION PRIVATE LIMITED
The small bridge over the Gandaki river was Modi’s statement stressed the financing and recruitment require
30 M8304010 U92100MH2002PTC137499 CHARMI FILMS PRIVATE LIMITED
situated in the Baneyapur block and used to role of robust connectivity in fos- a “decisive response”.
31 AA8249759 U67120MH2005PTC155031 ALDAN SHARE TRADING PRIVATE LIMITED
connect several villages in Saran with the tering trust between nations. The speech also touched on chal-
neighbouring Siwan district. “Respect for sovereignty and terri- lenges like climate change and 32 AA8175959 U74120MH2012PTC234767 ELEGANT SHIP MANAGEMENT & CONSULTANCY SERVICES PRIVATE LIMITED
“The small bridge was constructed 15 years torial integrity is essential for con- responsible use of artificial intelli- 33 AA8169570 U28113MH2010PTC206296 FAIRDEAL TINS PRIVATE LIMITED
ago. I am going to the spot. Several other officials nectivity and infrastructure pro- gence (AI). 34 M8329165 U36999MH2010PTC200687 GWS LIFE SCIENCES PRIVATE LIMITED
of the district administration have already jects. So, too, are non-discrimina- India outlined its commitment to 35 AA8246845 U74999MH2008PTC178867 VARLAXMI AMUSEMENT PRIVATE LIMITED
reached there. The exact cause of the bridge tory trade rights and transit emission reduction, adoption of 36 AA6757167 U62013MH2007PTC167700 FLUENTECH TECHNOLOGIES PRIVATE LIMITED
collapse is yet to be ascertained but desilting regimes. The SCO needs to deliber- electric vehicles, and climate-resil- 37 M7002909 U92140MH1995PLC091749 MOVIE WORLD STUDIO LIMITED
work was recently undertaken,” the district ate seriously on these aspects,” the ient infrastructure, alongside its
38 AA8309864 U55101MH1991PTC064617 MAKANI HOTELS PVT LTD
magistrate said. PTI statement said. national AI strategy.
39 AA8380806 U45200MH1994PTC081538 NIRVANA LAKE RETREAT PRIVATE LIMITED
40 AA7924160 U01110MH1994PTC080278 VARIJ PLANTATIONS PRIVATE LIMITED
41 AA8102892 U24100MH1981PTC024909 OMNI POLYMERS AND CHEMICALS PRIVATE LIMITED

6 arrested in connection with Hathras stampede 42

43
AA8253669
AA8200070
U74999MH2018PTC311835
U24110MH2019PTC319294
AUSTIN ONCOLOGY SOLUTIONS PRIVATE LIMITED
YST SPECIALITIES PRIVATE LIMITED

(2) Notice is hereby given that the Registrar of companies had received applications from the above-mentioned Companies under section

T
he police said on Thursday they had arrested six people over a 248(2) of the Companies Act, 2013 for removal of its/their name(s) from the register of companies either on the ground that they have failed
stampede at a Hindu religious event in Uttar Pradesh this week in to Commence business within one year of their incorporation or on the ground that the Company(ies) is/are not carrying on any business or
which 121 people were killed. operation for a period of two immediately preceding financial years and has/have not made any application(s) within such period for obtaining
The incident occurred on Tuesday in the village of Phulrai Mughal the status of a dormant Company under section 455 of the Companies Act, 2013 or the Company(ies) have obtained the status of dormant
Company/subscribers to the memorandum have not paid the subscription which they had undertaken to pay at the time of incorporation of a
Garhi in Hathras district where about 250,000 people had gathered to Company and a declaration to this effect has not been filed within one hundred and eighty days of its incorporation under subsection (1) of
listen to preacher Suraj Pal Singh, also known as “bhole baba”. section 10A/ have not been carrying on any business or operations, as revealed after the physical verification carried out under sub-section
Organisers of the event had obtained permission for a gathering of (9) of section 12, but it/they do not wish to continue its/their registration as Companies and have, therefore, requested for removal/strike off
only 80,000 people, an initial police report said. of its/their names from the Register of Companies.
Baba blamed the stampede on “anti-social elements”, but did not (3) Accordingly, the Registrar of companies proposes to remove or strike off the names of the above-mentioned companies from the Register of
elaborate. Companies.
The four men and two women arrested were aides to Baba who were (4) Any person objecting to the proposed removal or striking off of name of the companies from the register of companies may send his or her
involved in organising the event but fled when the stampede broke out, objection to the office address mentioned here above within thirty days from the date of publication of this notice.
police said. Harihara Sahoo
Asked about Baba’s role, a senior police officer said the preacher was REGISTRAR
CBC 07123/11/0192/2425 Centre for Processing Accelerated Corporate Exit
not named in the case they had registered. People at Suraj Pal Singh aka bhole baba’s ‘ashram’ PTI
10 FRIDAY, 5 JULY 2024
MUMBAI LONG STORY LIVEMINT.COM

UPSTART NO MORE: WHY

TIGER HAS GONE QUIET
Tiger Global marked down its private markets portfolio, exiting many Indian companies. Did it give up too soon?

Ranjani Raghavan In some cases, it would pour money mint

[email protected] into a bunch of companies in the same SHORT
MUMBAI segment, with the intention of backing STORY
them through their public market debut.

P
erhaps its name was inspired by For instance, it bought into multiple
Luke Skywalker, the hero of edtech firms, including Byju’s, Unacad- BIG BETS
George Lucas’ Star Wars fran- emy, Classplus and Scaler. In the neo-
chise, a farmboy who became bank segment, it invested in Jupiter and Tiger Global has backed over
the galaxy’s greatest Jedi knight. Open. In payments, it is an investor in 160 companies in India, mostly
Or perhaps it wasn’t. But one thing was BharatPe, Razorpay, PhonePe and Cred. in the tech sector. Its biggest
clear: Skywalker Investment Advisors was In the broking segment, it is an investor bets include Flipkart, Just Dial,
looking to hitch its wagon to a star. And so, in both Upstox and Groww. Similarly, it MakemyTrip, Zomato, Ola Cabs
when Tiger Global was raising PIP 15 (Pri- has backed both Games24X7 and and Ola Electric.
vate Investment Partners), its largest Dream11 in the gaming segment. And in
global fund, back in 2021, the small family SaaS (software as a service), it has
office from Vadodara, which was testing invested in the likes of Chargebee and BEST EXIT
the global tech investing waters, was very Innovacer, among others.
keen to get on board. Tiger Global also backed companies Flipkart is Tiger Global’s biggest
With some help from an intermediary, that already had other marquee investors exit from India. It invested
Skywalker Investment Advisors, which is in place. This allowed it to rely on an initial $1.2 billion in the e-commerce
backed by the owners of Rubamin, a busi- layer of diligence done by those investors. platform and sold its stake
ness that is into metals and recycling of But the founders cited above said that the for $3.5 billion. It got an 18x
waste, subscribed to the fund. It would go firm also relied on its own diligence. return on Just Dial.
on to become Tiger Global’s largest-ever “They take a position on the sector before
fund, raising $12.7 billion. investing,” said one founder.
“We got an introduction through an “After they invested in us, we heard DUDS
investment banking relationship, as oth- from eight to nine people in our network
erwise, it is quite difficult to get through to that they had received a call from Tiger,” A $300 million or so
them,” Rammohan Padiyath, the family added a second founder. investment in Byju’s looks dead.
office’s director, told Mint. GoMechanic was hit by a fraud.
Skywalker’s investment in Tiger, dur- ENTERING AT THE PEAK Unacademy is on the ropes while
ing the highs of 2021, was driven by the
firm’s reputation as a prolific technology
investor, globally and in India. But as
T iger Global ended up flooding the
ecosystem with cheap money,
investing at high valuations at the peak of
Pharmeasy and ShareChat have
seen valuations hit.

things stand, that bet may take some time the cycle in 2020 and 2021. Apart from
to pay off. Because Tiger Global has been entering at the top, the tendency to not But under Fixel too, Tiger made some
on a wobbly trajectory of late. negotiate on valuations fuelled many poor investments in India, such as Quickr,
startups to new highs. Having raised three Shopclues and Hike Messenger. However,
PROLIFIC INVESTOR back-to-back funds in 2020 ($3.75 bil- there were no large blowups due to poor

F ounded in 2001 by Chase Coleman III,

Tiger Global found early success
through its hedge funds and its public
lion), 2021 ($6.67 billion) and 2022 ($12.7 corporate governance, as happened with
billion), it invested in several startups GoMechanic and Byju’s.
between 2020 and 2022 at their highest- Also, by 2017, Tiger had partially
market funds which invested in the US ever valuation. derisked its India portfolio, pulling out
technology stocks. For instance, Tiger Global invested in close to $1.7 billion after making partial
In emerging markets, it burnished its Byju’s in January 2020 and in subse- exits from Flipkart and Ola Cabs, a VCCir-
reputation in China where it made a kill- quent rounds. It is thought to have put in cle report from the time said.
ing through investments in JD.com, now close to $300 million in Byju’s, which it Even with Flipkart, it was “touch and
the country’s largest retailer by reve- is unlikely to recover, given the legal bat- go” for a while, with the startup going
nue, and Didi Global, a ride-hailing app tles the company is engaged in. Tiger is through three near-death experiences,
like Uber. According to a Wall Sreet not the only one to have burnt its fingers said the tech investor cited above, seek-
Journal article, Tiger made $5 billion in investing in Byjus; several marquee ing anonymity as he was speaking about
gains from its $200 million investment investors, such as Prosus, General Atlan- a peer. Tiger Global finally made its part-
into JD.com. tic, and Baron Capital, stand to lose their ner, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, the head of
In India, Tiger Global is known to capital in the edtech. Global investors Flipkart, pushing the company’s
have backed over 160 companies. Its put in over $5 billion in Byju’s, with only founders to the sidelines, before it was
biggest bets include Flipkart, Just Dial, early investors such as Lightspeed Ven- eventually sold to Walmart.
MakemyTrip, and more recently, tures or Peak XV Ventures seeing returns It could also be argued that Tiger’s bets
Zomato, Ola Cabs and Ola Electric. on their capital. in the post-Fixel era are
Tiger’s best exit from India is Flipkart, Apart from Byju’s, yet to play out. Investors
where it sold its stake for $3.5 billion, an back in 2020 and 2021, Tiger Global’s such as Tiger invest
almost 3x return on its total investment Tiger was also investing investment approach through funds that have
of $1.2 billion, according to financial in other startups such as a ten-year tenure.
website Institutional Investor. In addi- OfBusiness and its unit over the last year has Nevertheless, Insti-
tion, a Financial Express piece from Oxyzo Financial Servi- been tamer. It has restricted tutional Investor quotes
2015 said that it made an 18x return out ces, BharatPe, Deal- founder and current
of Just Dial. Share, Pharmeasy, Una- itself to modest boss Coleman as saying
Today, however, Tiger Global’s roar is cademy, ShareChat, he wished the firm had
gone and the aggressive beast is a pale Slice, Pristyn Care, follow-on investments. “invested a bit less” in
shadow of its former self. GoMechanic and Coin- 2020 and 2021, in a call
Switch Kuber. with the firm’s investors in January
A ROUGH PATCH Barring Ofbusiness and Oxyzo, many of 2024. “Every vintage year up through

I n the past two years, Tiger’s extraor-

dinary track record has taken a hit
after US tech stocks plummeted in the
these investments have turned into duds, 2020 was positive; 2021 and 2022 are
while others have struggled because of the tougher vintage years,” Coleman
valuation markdowns and subsequent said.
wake of a spike in interest rates, which pivots. A few of these companies are also
sucked sentiment out of the market. trying to grow into their valuations EARLY EXITS AHEAD?
Overvalued tech stocks saw their value
erode almost overnight. In many cases,
this also impacted the valuation of the
and are unlikely to be able to
raise more capital at previ-
ous valuations.
T he downturn in tech stocks trig-
gered redemption pressure from
Tiger Global’s investors. The fund exited
private market. Tiger Global’s multiple liquid positions to manage this
Since then, the investor has cooled off investments at peak pressure across 2022 and 2023. From
and has only been making small, fol- valuations in com- India, Tiger Global booked out at least
low-on investments at lower valuations. panies such as $3.25 billion during this period, accord-
To be fair, Tiger Global isn’t the only Pristyn Care, ing to news website VCCircle. This
investor to have taken a hit on its invest- BharatPe and included $1 billion to $1.4 billion each
ments. Softbank Group, for instance, saw ShareChat look from its residual stakes in Flipkart and
a huge wipeout in its Vision fund. especially weak. Freshworks, in addition to holdings in
Most tech investors, including Alphaw- valuations. Most Its investments other companies such as Delhivery, Poli-
ave Innovation, Accel Partners, Light- founders in the eco- across edtech are cybazaar and Zomato.
speed Ventures and Peak XV Ventures, system wanted to be also unlikely to Because they were made before 2015,
have also largely been quiet in late-stage on its radar. As a pay off, given the some of these investments still turned
investments and have switched their focus result, the fund has depressed senti- out to be profitable, despite the exit tak-
to early-stage investing. accumulated sig- ment in the sector. ing place in the middle of a downturn.
Tiger Global has already taken write- nificant good- Smaller investments For instance, the news website Arc said
downs in its PIP15 fund to the tune of at will among like GoMechanic have that Tiger made a 5x profit from its Poli-
least 18%, according to a Bloomberg report founders in sunk because of fraud. cybazaar exit.
on 1 December 2023. In April 2024, Tiger India, particu- “Most of Tiger’s invest- But some clearly were mistimed exits.
Global raised PIP 16 (its 16th fund), which larly because of ments after the Lee Fixel Tiger Global first entered Zomato
closed at $2.27 billion, well below its target its “light touch”, era have not done well,” directly ahead of its initial public offering
corpus of $6 billion and far lower than its “decisiveness” and back- said one investor, who has in 2020, when the food-delivery platform
earlier fund. ing of founders. And because tracked Tiger Global. was valued at around $3.25 billion, and
The investor’s portfolio downturn typically, Tiger Global does not take then invested again a few months down
played out more in 2022. It reported a 56% a board seat on companies in its portfolio. THE FIXEL ERA the line at a valuation of $3.9 billion,
hit to its hedge fund and a 69% hit on its
long-only fund, according to a Bloomberg
report last year. Tiger Global also marked
“Tiger had decided that its value was
in providing the most ‘frictionless’ pro-
cess for fundraising,” according to a uni-
L ee Fixel, who had a 13-year stint in according to VCCEdge, HT Media’s data
Tiger Global until 2019, was an evan- platform. It added to the investment in
gelist who helped put Indian startups on Zomato at around $5.4 billion in February
down its private funds portfolio. corn founder, who ended up raising cap- the global radar at a time when not many 2021. Tiger was also an early investor in
Last November, founder Coleman took ital from the fund in a couple of days. had heard of them. His best-known Blinkit, in 2015. After Zomato acquired
direct control of the private markets port- “Once they decide to back you, they are investments were in Flipkart, Ola and Del- Blinkit in February 2022, Tiger acquired
folio, after Scott Schleifer stepped down as unlikely to drag out of the negotiation or hivery. Numerous others also got funding additional shares in Zomato because of
head of the private equity fund. quibble about the valuation,” the thanks to his aggressive calls. the share swap at the time. However,
Mint reached out to Tiger Global but founder said. Fixel led Tiger’s investments in Flipkart when it began selling Zomato stock in
the US-based investor did not offer any This was especially visible when Tiger over 15 rounds, investing $1.2 billion from August 2022, the shares were trading at
comment. Global was investing in India in 2015 2011 till its complete exit from the e-com- around ₹46-52 apiece. It fully exited the
and 2016 when it was writing cheques at merce marketplace in 2023. firm at ₹91 a piece in August 2023. Tiger
AN EVANGELIST FOR INDIA a ferocious pace that would only Fixel left Tiger Global five years ago to Global’s multiple on its investments in

T iger Global’s drive into the Indian

tech ecosystem was driven by a sense
of exceptionalism. It made a flurry of
increase during the peak of 2021. A
2023 Forbes article said that Tiger
ended up backing one startup a day
start his own firm, Addition. In June 2023, Zomato is likely to be less than 1.5x,
tech-focused news website Techcrunch according to VCCircle.
reported that Addition was raising a $1.3
TARUN KUMAR SAHU/MINT
investments and set the benchmark for throughout 2021. billion fund, its fifth fund in four years. TURN TO PAGE 11
LIVEMINT.COM MINT MONEY FRIDAY, 5 JULY 2024
MUMBAI 11

How to navigate finances WHAT'S THE FOREX RATE?

Whether you are planning
overseas travel or want to

for a specially abled child

send money abroad, it is
always a good idea to shop
around for the best forex
exchange rate. From banks,
travel aggregators to money
changers, various small and
big players sell foreign
exchange. To simplify your
work, here is a list of INR to
USD forex rates offered by
With financial institutions failing specially abled families, it’s time for parents to take control some of the major banks
and travel aggregators. We
recommend that you also
check the commission being
Aprajita Sharma
charged by these players to
[email protected] A secure financial life ensure that you are getting
the best deal.

V
ikas Arya, 48, a resident of Most children with special needs require lifetime financial support for day-to-day expenses;
FOREX RATES (/$)
Delhi learnt a tough lesson estimate it today to accumulate it
in financial bureaucracy Bank/travel Wire transfer* Buy forex
when he attempted to aggregator inward Outward Forex/travel card Cash
open a bank account for
his 21-year-old daughter. Despite mul- SBI 83.12 83.97 84.14 84.45
tiple visits and over two months of con- Bank of Baroda 83.09 83.92 84.35 84.75
stant efforts, the account remains non-
operational. Canara Bank 83.19 83.91 84.11 NA
“I applied to open a joint bank
account for her and my wife. Even sen- IndusInd Bank 82.02 85.02 85.81 86.11
ior executives had no idea what process Kotak Bank 82.07 84.98 85.38 85.95
was to be followed,” he said. Arya, in
fact, has not even received the welcome HDFC 82.22 84.85 85.10 85.68
kit. “It seems bank officials are still try-
ing to figure out what should be done in ICICI 81.67 85.10 85.12 86.70
our case,” he added. Axis Bank 81.56 86.04 85.25 86.50
Arya’s situation is not unique. Ben- VIKAS ARYA (48), Delhi SUNIL KAWARIYA (36), Bengaluru AISHWARYA MAGESH (42), Chennai
galuru-based Sunil Kawariya faced a Has a 21-year-old specially-abled Has a 7-year-old specially-abled Has a 15-year-old specially-abled Yes Bank 82.06 84.96 85.88 85.88
similar situation when his insurer daughter daughter son
rejected a claim for his seven-year-old Thomas Cook 81.68 85.14 83.97 85.36
daughter, despite her being included in Bank executives could not Claims rejection due to Left job and moved from Note: Data collected from website of respective entities as on 3 July 2024; Rate mentioned in the table denotes INR/USD. The
the family floater policy since birth. help me in opening a bank autism being a congenital Mumbai to hometown to rate is as mentioned on the website of the Bank/FI and it may vary according to different amount slab; *Wire Transfer/TT
Buying is Inward Rem to receive Forex & Wire Transfer/TT Selling is Outward Rem to send forex
While rejecting the claim the insurer account for her. disease even as diagnosed later. give extra care to son.
Compiled by BankBazaar.com
said it was a congenital disease and is
not covered by the insurance, Kawariya Key financial tasks to do Tax benefits against expenses Smart tax tip
said. “Autism is visible medically only incurred for PwD Clubbing of income not applicable for
 Obtain a UDID* card if applicable
when the child turns two or three. By minors with special needs*
 Legal guardianship certificate
nature, it could be by birth, but we had
not hidden any of this information.”
Even being transparent and self-de-
when the child turns 18
 Power of attorney
Example:
Fixed deposit
Interest rate
50 lakh
8%
Upstart no more: Why Tiger
claring existing ailments may not guar-
antee that the claim will be settled.
Aishwarya Magesh, 42, experienced
 Get Niramaya health insurance, a
govt-backed scheme
 Buy a separate pvt health plan  75K-1.25 lakh u/s 80DD for
Annual interest income
Tax at 30% slab rate
4 lakh
1.20 lakh Global has gone quiet
the same frustration. Despite declaring exclusively designed for PwD parents/siblings  Transfer this FD to minor's name
her son’s cerebral palsy while purchas-  75K-1.25 lakh u/s 80U for the  Zero tax on minor's 4 lakh interest income FROM PAGE 10
 Create a financial plan to
ing a policy, the claim was denied due estimate the child's lifetime care PwD  Total tax saving 1.20 lakh
to it being a congenital condition. “It The quick exit also meant
*Unique Disability Identity  One of the above can be availed *It does for other minors
irked me how they accepted the policy PwD - persons with disabilities for one PwD Source: Anand Rathi Wealth Limited
that it completely missed out
proposal after the self-declaration and on Zomato’s revival. The food
PRANAY BHARDWAJ/MINT
collected the premium but did not set- delivery company has touched
tle the claim. I now invest to create a hi-based Securities and Exchange For life insurance, the popular ₹1 even after the child turns 18." its all-time high in 2024
healthcare fund for him.” Board of India (Sebi)-registered invest- crore term cover will be inadequate for One should accord legal guardian- (₹213.80 on the BSE) and is
Opening a bank account or process- ment advisor who specializes in finan- parents with specially-abled children. ship to a trusted person in will and trust currently trading at ₹207.30.
ing a claim settlement is often simple cial planning for families with children “We did calculations for an 18-year-old to ensure the child is cared for in their Nearly 50% of its valuation is
for most people, with bank executives with special needs, parents of special- child whose annual expenses would absence. Also consider power of attor- because of Blinkit, which
and insurers even offering doorstep ly-abled children have to plan for two cost his parents ₹6 lakh. We suggested ney, said Dutta."While they are alive, Tiger missed out on because of
services. However, for parents of autis- generations. “For themselves as well as to them to opt for a term cover of ₹2.5 the parents should gradually introduce its mistimed exit.
tic or specially-abled children, these their child. So, we suggest creating a crore," said Solanki. the legal guardian to not only the child
tasks can be a shocking ordeal due to a separate financial plan for the child and Checklist but also other stakeholders like banks, SILVER LININGS
lack of professionalism and empathy
from financial institutions.
Moreover, expenses for a child with
adding these expenses in the master
financial plan of the family," he said.
A “person with disability” is defined as
someone certified by a government-ap-
The first step is to estimate expenses proved medical authority to have a disa-
and financial institutions. This enables
a smooth transition from the parents to
legal guardians."
O n a brighter note, Tiger
still owns stakes in more
than a handful of decent-sized Flipkart’s chief executive officer Kalyan Krishnamurthy. BLOOMBERG
special needs can be substantial. For required to secure their sunset years bility of at least 40%, according to the Next, there are tax benefits to con- Indian unicorns. As compa-
instance, Sunita Singh, 34, a resident of and the child's lifetime care. If they are Persons with Disabilities (Equal Oppor- sider. Section 80DD of the Income Tax nies in its SaaS, gaming and and Games 24x7. the remaining unicorns will
Bengaluru spends ₹3 lakh annually on short of funds, factoring in future tunities, Protection of Rights, and Full Act allows resident individual taxpay- fintech portfolio begin to go Tiger Global’s investment go public after they grow
her child’s special education and nearly income, they could put in effort to Participation) Act of 1995. Every person ers and the Hindu Undivided Families public, these bets will start approach over the last year into their valuations. The
₹25,000 monthly on therapies. arrange for it and invest with a disability should (HUFs) to claim deductions of up to paying off. has been tamer. Because of family office has now moved
“I spend ₹3 lakh a year on his educa- the monthly surplus A key step is to obtain a Unique Disability ₹75,000 (₹1.25 lakh if disability exceeds Tiger Global’s tendency to the smaller size of the fund, on to focus on investing in
tion. The inclusive school or Montes- astutely to fetch good obtain a legal Identity (UDID) card. 80%) for expenses related to the sup- wait till a company’s IPO may and perhaps because of the energy transition, particu-
sori insists on appointing a shadow returns. Insurance will guardianship "UDID has succeeded port and maintenance of their depend- mean that over 18-24 paucity of assets in the mar- larly lithium-ion battery
teacher. They don't pick up and drop always play a key role certificate once a the disability certificate. ents. This provision includes insurance months, as these companies ket, it has largely restricted recycling. On whether this
off our child unless a shadow nanny is here, he added. Launched by the govern- premiums. Dependents, in this con- make their public debut, it itself to follow-on invest- s h i f t f r o m t e c h w a s
child, who can’t
hired due to safety concerns. Other- "People make a mistake ment with the objective of text, refer to the spouse, children, par- will see its gains from India ments. prompted by Tiger Global’s
wise, parents have to do it, which would of adding the child in their take independent creating a database for per- ents, siblings of the taxpayer, as well as improve. T h e disappointing performance,
only add to our costs,” said Singh. normal medical policy. decisions, turns 18 sons with disabilities members of the HUF. Some of the downturn in Padiyath, exuding confi-
“Therapies are also very expensive, Insurance companies across India, it can be Section 80U of the Income Tax Act larger start- Tiger Global’s extraordinary the market d e n c e , i n d i c a t e d h e
and costs are not regulated; every ther- have designed a separate issued by notified hospitals offers the same tax deduction directly ups, such as track record has taken has meant expected that investment to
apy centre is free to charge as they wish. product for people with disabilities, as in the home district as well as the hospi- to the specially abled persons, who are G r o w w , that it could pay off in time. “It is too early
I spend almost ₹25,000 every month,” per IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and tal where the person with disability is resident individuals. “If parents have Razorpay, a back seat after US tech make these to assess the fund’s perform-
she added. Development Authority) mandate, taking medical treatment," said Rajat already claimed it under 80DD, their PhonePe stocks plummeted i n v e s t - ance as it has only been three
Financial planning which is a standard product covering 21 Dutta, founder and initiator at Inherit- offspring cannot claim it under section and Gup- m e n t s a t years,” he told Mint.
Challenges abound. The financial disabilities," said Solanki. ance Needs Services Pvt. Ltd. 80U," Chintak Shah, vice president, shup, have in a high interest rate lower valua- Padiyath is counting on
planning of a family with a specially For instance, the Niramaya' Health The other crucial step is to obtain a Anand Rathi Wealth Ltd, said. already out- tions. For Tiger’s flair for finding moon-
abled child is different from a normal Insurance Scheme offers annual cover- legal guardianship certificate once the There’s one more tax benefit that not lined plans environment. i n s t a n c e , shots to pay off over the com-
family. A normal working professional age of ₹1 lakh to all families with spe- child turns 18 if they are medically unfit many people are aware of. "For normal to list in the T i g e r ing years. “Typically venture
considers retiring at 60, while charting cially abled children. "It is a govern- to make independent decisions. families, the income of a minor child is medium term. entered Meesho in March capital funds go through
a financial plan. However, parents of ment scheme that not only covers hos- Solanki advises parents like Arya to clubbed with the parent's income when Earlier this month, the GST 2024 when the e-commerce cycles. They will see all sorts
children with special needs may not be pitalization but also regular expenses open separate bank accounts for their filing taxes. However, clubbing provi- council recommended that platform raised capital at a of phases. This is one of those
in a position to work that long. More- including therapies. However, the lat- specially abled adult children, where sions do not apply to parents with a spe- the government overrule ret- discount to its 2021 valua- difficult times. Only people
over, they need a much higher emer- ter offers a cover only up to a certain one parent can act as the legal guardian cially abled child. Therefore, it would rospective tax demands tion. With Coleman back at who have got patient capital
gency corpus, which can last for at least amount, not the entire ₹1 lakh." to manage operations on their behalf. make sense to make some investments against real money gaming the helm, this may be a sign can get into venture funds,
nine to 13 months and allocating a good The scheme has no income bar. All "Parents are natural legal guardians in the child's name to reduce the fam- companies, giving much- of things to come. hence we are not worried too
amount for the healthcare fund. parents with a child with special needs for minors. The legal guardianship cer- ily's overall tax liability," said Shah (see needed relief to Tiger-backed For investors such as Sky- much,” he said. “Because we
According to Jitendra Solanki, a Del- are eligible for it, Solanki said. tificate ensures they continue being so graphic). companies such as Dream11 walker, this is the hope—that are patient investors.”

DEBT PMS DEMYSTIFIED: A TAILORED APPROACH TO FIXED-INCOME INVESTMENTS

tant for investors looking to maximise returns without much risk. Balancing risk and return: Debt PMS excels in creating portfo-
Debt PMS employs strategies to enhance yield, including: lios that balance risks and returns through a careful selection of
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bonds. AAA-rated bonds offer high security but lower yields, while
BBB-rated bonds provide higher yields but higher risk. By combin-
POINT It involves a thorough analysis of issuers' creditworthiness, market ing them, Debt PMS can create a portfolio to achieve a risk-return
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V I K A A S M . S AC H D E VA income securities with low credit ratings, issued by corporations, Is debt PMS right for you? Deciding whether debt PMS is
can offer higher yield compared to traditional fixed-income invest- right for you depends on your financial goals, risk tolerance, and
We welcome your views and comments at ments. The increased risk is compensated by higher interest rates. investment horizon. Here are a few con-
[email protected] Active management: Unlike passive investment vehicles, debt In high interest siderations:
PMS actively manages the portfolio, making adjustments as mar- rate scenario, Financial goals: If you are seeking

I
n today’s volatile financial landscape, investors are in a constant ket conditions evolve. This proactive approach helps capitalise on steady income with relatively low risk,
quest for higher yields without escalating risk. Traditional sav- emerging opportunities and mitigate potential risks. Skilled fund finding ways to debt PMS can be a suitable option. The
ings options, such as fixed deposits and government bonds, offer managers analyse market trends, interest rate movements, credit increase yields customised approach ensures that the
paltry returns, making it imperative to explore alternative invest- risks, and economic indicators to make informed decisions. while reducing portfolio is aligned with your income
ment avenues. Debt PMS has emerged as a promising solution, Credit spreads: By investing in a mix of higher-rated (AAA) and risks is crucial needs and long-term objectives.
providing a customised approach to fixed-income investments. lower-rated (BBB) bonds, managers can exploit credit spreads— Risk tolerance: Debt PMS accom-
But what exactly is debt PMS and how can it benefit investors in the the difference in yield between bonds of varying credit qualities— modates varying risk appetites through
current market scenario? to enhance overall portfolio yield while balancing risk. This its flexible investment strategies. Whether you prefer high security
What is debt PMS? Debt PMS involves the professional man- approach offers an attractive risk-return profile through thorough ments are working towards your personal financial aspirations. with moderate returns or are willing to take on more risk for higher
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individual financial goals and risk tolerances. Unlike mutual funds, Customisation: A standout feature of debt PMS is its ability to investing, and it holds particular significance in bond portfolios. Market conditions: In the current high-interest-rate environ-
debt PMS offers personalised investment strategies. offer customised investment solutions. Every investor has unique By spreading investments across various issuers, sectors, and credit ment, traditional fixed-income investments might still not provide
Yield enhancement strategies: In today's high-interest-rate goals and risk tolerances. Debt PMS accounts for these variations. qualities, debt PMS helps mitigate the impact of any single issuer's the desired returns over and above taxation and inflation. Debt
scenario, finding ways to increase yields without compromising Whether your goal is wealth preservation, income generation, or default or market downturn. This diversified approach not only PMS, with its active management and strategic bond selection, can
on risk is crucial. Yield enhancement strategies aim to boost the a combination of both, debt PMS can tailor a portfolio aligning with reduces risk, but also positions the portfolio to benefit from differ- offer a more effective solution for yield enhancement.
income generated from a fixed-income portfolio. They are impor- your objectives. This level of customisation ensures your invest- ent market cycles and interest rate environments. Sachdeva is managing director of Sundaram Alternate Assets.
12 FRIDAY, 5 JULY 2024
MUMBAI VIEWS LIVEMINT.COM

OUR VIEW MY VIEW | TECH WHISPERS

ISTOCKPHOTO

Deepfakes and Indian elections:

A case of much ado over nothing
Generative AI was mostly put to good use, exposing exaggerated fears of GenAI hurting democracy

ized and scalable manner, level the and some politicians leveraged the
playing field, and make voting access Bhashini AI platform to dub their
for the differently-abled voters easier. speeches. Voice clones of candidates
Most, however, tended to focus on the made millions of calls to voters, explain-
negatives and the supposed havoc that ing their promises. Even Prime Minister
GenAI could wreak on Indian elections. Narendra Modi got into the act when in
Now that Lok Sabha polling is over, it Tamil Nadu he asked his audience to
seems to be much ado about nothing. A put on earphones for his Hindi speech
post facto analysis done by two Harvard to be translated into Tamil in real time.
JASPREET BINDRA Kennedy School scholars Vandinika Political workers used GenAI and other
is a technology expert, author of ‘The Tech Shukla and Bruce Schneier technologies to flood social media with
Whisperer’, and a Masters in AI and Ethics (bit.ly/4er8ISi) concluded that AI was localized and contextualized memes.
from Cambridge University. mostly used constructively, rather than It was not all a bed of roses, though.
the destructive use that most of us There were many instances of the use

Let’s step up investment

expected. They estimated that political of deepfakes to impersonate candidates
parties spent $50 million on authorized spewing hatred and discord, saying

A
s the age of AI dawns upon us, it AI-generated content, and used it for things they had never said, and making
has brought excitement and targeted communication aimed at their it difficult for voters to understand what
trepidation in equal measure. constituency’s voters. In Tamil Nadu, was real and what was fake. But, as

in the wisdom of crowds The trepidation was mostly around

AI-generated deepfakes and how they
could change voter minds, influence
elections and thus subvert democracy.
for instance, both Karunanidhi, with his
trademark dark glasses, and Jayalalithaa
were resurrected to appeal to voters,
and this was openly authorized by their
James Thornhlll writes in Financial
Times (bit.ly/3RBLgI8): “[It] could well
be that the increasing use of AI tools
by millions of users is itself deepening
This was especially true in India, as respective political parties—an example public understanding of the technol-
almost a billion voters were electing a of ‘deepfakes without deception’. Party ogy, inoculating people against deep-
It’s a thesis on which democracy and markets rest, but every stampede should make us sit up new government. Many other countries workers at the lowest rung of the ladder fakes. The election did not appear to be
due for polling, including the US and frequented small tech companies that disfigured by the digital manipulation.”
and wonder, Hathras’s being the latest. Can India nudge people towards collective safety? UK, confront similar fears. created personalized ‘deepfake’ videos In a sense, the proof was in the pud-
While India is a developing economy, of them. These could then be distrib- ding. There were more concerns about
it has a digitally- and social media-savvy uted at scale. This created an unprece- the heatwave killing poll workers and
population. Political parties, too, have dented opportunity for young techies, reducing voter turnouts than of fake

D
emocracy and markets share a billion in all, but also have a vast landmass. It’s large IT and social media wings. Deep- who set up nimble outfits to serve such videos. The outcome of the election
belief in the ‘wisdom of crowds,’ a just that the lure of cities is so strong. But is fakes are not new, with AI technologies political parties. India has 25 official lan- revealed less IT-savvy parties winning
like Generative Adversarial Networks guages and thousands of local dialects, in many places. This showed that the
thesis presented well by James there more to it? Has the experience of crowds (GANs) churning them out since 2011. wise Indian voter not only saw through
Surowiecki in a book by that title also conditioned us not to get ruffled by over- However, the advent of GenAI and the the rhetoric of politicians, but also the
which offers various examples crowding? The typical queue we form doesn’t ubiquity of social media have made fake news that some of them generated.
of how numerous minds put have a gap of more than a foot. Taking public their creation, quality and spread at QUICK READ In the end, the dire forecasts of doom-
together are smarter than a few. The antithesis transport can be a struggle against suffocation. scale much cheaper and easier. This sayers did not come true, as AI was used
explains the concerns expressed by civil A digitally and social media savvy more for good than bad. Harvard
of it, though, glares out from every news report Milling together in close range occurs across society, governments and media. population has meant AI use has researchers Shukla and Steiner point
of a stampede. Can a clash of that crowd thesis the socio-economic pyramid. Even lifts in fancy In a few articles and comments on AI grown in India, but the just-ended out that “the technology’s ability to pro-
with its antithesis yield a synthesis? Say, the high-rises get stuffed beyond capacity, with and deepfakes, I had taken a contrarian elections have arguably shown duce non-consensual deepfakes of any-
‘common sense of crowds’? The question has little concern for anybody’s personal space. stance, arguing that AI, if used well, GenAI to be more of a help than one can make it harder to tell truth from
arisen again as India mourns the 120-plus lives Or take the poshest of streets. Even if we have could help the electoral process and a danger to democracy. fiction, but its consensual uses are likely
democracy. It can help detect fraud, to make democracy more accessible.”
lost to another crowd crush, this time in a slushy nothing but cars on them, crossings have them optimize the complex logistics of booth Political parties deployed AI to James Thornhill wisely noted that
field near Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, where an bumper-to-bumper, while the global norm is to and voter management, and build make memes with local contexts “we should worry more about politi-
estimated 250,000 devotees had turned up at a leave a gap long enough to see the wheels of the resource and cost efficiencies into the and recreated their ideologues cians spouting authentic nonsense than
religious gathering, although local authorities car ahead touching the road. As for covid-time vast machinery of Indian elections. digitally to strike a chord with fake AI avatars generating inauthentic
said approval had been given for just 80,000. caution, the habit of social distancing seems to GenAI can be used for politicians to voters. All this outweighed the gibberish.” Indian voters this summer
reach out to voters in a more personal- damage deepfakes caused. seemed to agree.
As reports say, too many tried to converge too have worn off almost entirely.
quickly upon the preacher who led that prayer Crowds can, of course, be calm and orderly.
session (for his blessings). High-toll tragedies of Whatever we are accustomed to, our mortality
this kind have befallen several places of worship risk can be lowered. At the administrative level,
in the past. Recall the 2013 Ratangarh temple we have crowd control guides, like the one
crush in Madhya Pradesh. Globally, the worst issued by the National Disaster Management
stampede on record took place in Saudi Arabia Authority. Authorities know how to decongest www.livemint.com
New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh*, Pune* Saturday, July 5, 2014 Vol.8 No.159 `10.00 in Delhi-NCR/`11.00 outside Delhi-NCR 12 PAGES
+ 20 PAGES LOUNGE

during Hajj, a pilgrimage of faith, on 24 Septem- spaces and maintain order. But then, well- Q&A:IIM-B’s Sushil Vachani
on his priorities >4
POLITICS: Opposition leader’s post is our
right, says Congress >3

ber 2015. Yet, the danger posed by crowd planned events with well-assigned roles are CONTENT PARTNER
WSJ: Stock market regulator rules against
France on Alstom deal >12
DÉJÀ VIEW: Writing new histories >11

motion has nothing to do with religion. The rarely a problem. What we need is not just to SENSEX 25,962.06 Æ 138.31 NIFTY 7,751.60 Æ36.80 DOLLAR `59.74 ® EURO `81.18 Æ `0.35 GOLD 27,950 æ `5 OIL $110.62 æ $0.38

A ruined planet cannot

FOOD PRICES
No shortage QUICK EDIT

Centre, states of candidates The Khilji

same could happen in a packed hall hosting a ‘manage’ crowds, but plug lapses in people’s team up to
to fill MCX
chief’s slot
effect
T he rulers of the Delhi
sultanate didn’t
understand formal

sustain human lives in

B Y A SHISH R UKHAIYAR macroeconomics. But

fight inflation
they knew one lesson

rock show, which is why the risk of “fire” being consciousness of crowds turning risky. Perhaps
[email protected]
························· very clearly: it was
MUMBAI
important to signal the

N early 60 candidates are

competing to become the
managing director and chief
government’s intent to
keep expectations in
check. Alauddin Khilji
executive officer (MD and personally inspected
State food ministers CEO) of the nation’s largest markets and it worked.
agree on need to set up Will 2014 be commodity bourse Multi Com- In the past few days,

yelled in such a space is often cited to argue we could revive some of the messaging we used
modity Exchange of India Ltd the Union government
price stabilization fund,

good health. A healthy planet

make case for more a drought (MCX), according to two peo-
ple familiar with the matter.
The commodities exchange
has followed these time-
tested lessons. Ministers
have publicly stated that
punitive measures
year? has to name a new chief by 10
July after former CEO Manoj
matters are under
control; that India has
B Y R AGINI V ERMA & Vaish resigned in May, adding sufficient quantity of
S AYANTAN B ERA B Y N IKITA M EHTA to the list of senior manage- onions and potatoes.
························· [email protected] ment exits from the firm since Bringing the two
·····················

why free speech mustn’t be an absolute right. during the pandemic and improve it. Witty
NEW DELHI the beginning of the year. The commodities under the

T
NEW DELHI
he Union government MD’s position cannot be left purview of the Essential
on Friday expanded its
T he likelihood of a vacant for more than 60 days, Commodities Act may be

and healthy people are two

fight against rising pric- drought in India has according to new guidelines is- of doubtful use—for
es of food articles including increased to 60% follow- sued by regulator Forward unlike sugar, another
onions, potatoes and pulses, ing the weakest June Markets Commission (FMC). “inflammable” item, they
by roping in states to evolve a monsoon rainfall in five Vaish left the company on 10 are perishable unless
common strategy to be rolled years, Skymet Weather May. The last day for submit- cold-stored—but it sends
out over the next six months. Services Pvt. Ltd said on ting applications was 30 June. a strong signal of intent.

Crowd-crush mortality is a universal worry. posters that grab eyeballs, for example, could
Immediately, the states will Friday. “In case a vacancy of manag- The last government
issue notifications to remove The private weather Returning home: Forty-six Indian nurses held captive in northern Iraq ing director arises due to un- did not understand this
fruits, vegetables and other forecaster has also cut its by Sunni militants have been set free. The nurses were being brought foreseen reasons, the exchange simple matter. Routine
perishable commodities from rainfall forecast for the back home in a special Air India plane, which left Friday evening for shall forward the new names to statements claiming that
the restrictive ambit of the Ag- June-September mon- Erbil, a non-conflict zone in Kurdistan. “The nurses will reach Kochi the Commission (FMC) within “prices will rise” often

sides of the same coin.

ricultural Produce Market soon season to 91% of the Saturday morning,” Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy (above) 60 days from the date of sub- started the inflationary
Committee Act—under which average rainfall in the said at a press conference in New Delhi. According to a spokesperson of mission of resignation or such spiral. That has been
state governments set up mar- past 50 years from the the ministry of external affairs, the nurses, most of them from Kerala, avoided now, happily.
keting boards that control sell- earlier projection of 94%, are safe and unharmed. See Page 3 TURN TO PAGE 12®

In India, over-population is sometimes work. Safe behaviour takes constant reminders.

ing of agricultural produce. both considered sub-nor-
In addition, a meeting of mal. Skymet had earlier
state food ministers gave its in- forecast that the likeli-
principle consent for the set-
ting up of a price stabilization
hood of a drought this
year was 25%.
SC reserves HOT SALES
fund and also made a case for
more punitive administrative
The worst-affected is
likely to be north-west In-
order on Sahara Aditya Birla’s World Cup cheer:
measures, including making
hoarding a non-bailable of-
dia with an 80% chance of
drought. The likelihood
group plea
sales of beverage cans up 15%
blamed for worsening our crowd risk. However, Ultimately, it’s for people at large to assume
fence. of a drought in central In-
On its part, the Bharatiya Ja- dia is 75% and 50% for B Y S HREEJA S EN
nata Party (BJP)-led National south India. Rainfall in [email protected]
Democratic Alliance (NDA) August, however, is ex- ························· MANU FERNANDEZ/AP
signalled its intent to use the pected to be better than NEW DELHI B Y R UCHIRA S INGH
existing National Food Security
Act (NFSA), put in place by the
Congress-led United Progres-
the other months.
“It’s not the only factor,
but the biggest factor con-
T he Supreme Court on Fri-
day reserved its order on a
Sahara group plea to release its
[email protected]
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MUMBAI

sive Alliance (UPA), as a meas- founder Subrata Roy for at

A few months ago, when

our population density is just 473 persons per responsibility for their collective well-being MA RGA R E T C HA N
ure to mitigate the inflationary TURN TO PAGE 2® least 40 days to help the group football players around
impact of rising food prices, es- sell assets to raise `10,000 the world had their minds set
pecially among the poor. crore for Roy’s bail. on scoring goals at the Fifa
The NDA’s view is that the increase in food prices, which The permission to allow the World Cup in Brazil, execu-
frequent spike in inflation of are already high. Food infla- sale of three international tives at the Aditya Birla Group
food articles was because of tion quickened to 9.5% in May properties owned by the Saha- had a different set of goals in
supply disruptions due to from 8.64% a month ago, led ra group will also be decided mind linked to the world’s
hoarding. Chairing the meet- by an increase in prices of po- by a bench of justices T.S. most popular spectator sport.
ing, finance minister Arun Jait- tatoes, fruits and protein-rich Thakur, Anil R. Dave and A.K. These top executives at the

square kilometre, according to 2021 World in the same way we expect an electorate to.
ley said as much. “It is not an items. Broader inflation, meas- Sikri. group’s flagship Hindalco In-
issue of scarcity, but it is an is- ured by the Wholesale Price Roy’s presence will help the dustries Ltd didn’t have their
sue of supply side. These com- Index, accelerated to 6.01% in group in selling its properties eye on goal posts or strikers. Soaring temperatures: The weather in Brazil is hotter than usual, which
modities are available in suffi- May, the quickest pace since to meet the bail amount re- Instead, they were watching leads to more demand for chilled beer in cans made out of Novelis’s
cient amount, but the normal December. quired, especially since he is the weather, wishing it would aluminium.
supply is disrupted by hoard- Monsoon rainfall this season chairman of the three overseas get really hot in Brazil—at least
ers anticipating higher prices,” has been deficient by 43% so properties, said lawyer Rajeev for the grand games. cold, they don’t go to the forced World Cup organizers
he said. far, according to latest data by Dhavan, who is representing The reason: the warmer the beach at all. It is possible that to call for drinks breaks in the
Allaying fears of a drought, the India Meteorological De- Roy. weather, the higher the sales of they consume it in the stadi- middle of matches. A Brazilian

Bank data, so the crowds we see around us, Crowds needn’t always be wise, but do have
Jaitley added,“Right now it is partment. A late onset in Kera- For this, Sahara sought the beer cans, much of them made um, but the major consump- labour court, too, ordered
not a panic situation.” la, along with a hiatus in the modification of the apex using aluminium from Hindal- tion of beer is on the beaches,” cooling breaks. According to
The delayed monsoon has advance of monsoon for 10 court’s orders of 4 March and co’s foreign unit Novelis Inc. he added. Bloomberg, Fifa uses as its in-
raised concerns of lower food days in June, have contributed 26 March, which sent Roy and “If the weather is cold, then Bhattacharya couldn’t have dicator the Wet Bulb Globe
production and a consequent to deficient rainfall across the two directors to judicial custo- it would be one thing. If the asked for more. With the Fifa Temperature—a composite
country. dy. weather is sunny, then it would World Cup now well under measurement used to estimate
NOTE TO READERS Worried, the government in-
itiated a slew of measures to
The modification sought was
for the release of Roy and two
be another thing,” Debu Bhat-
tacharya, managing director of
way, it is as if Hindalco was
awarded a goal kick. The
the effect of temperature, hu-
midity and wind speed. Should
fight inflation in mid-June, an- other Sahara group directors Hindalco and vice-chairman at weather in the South American the indicator exceed 32 de-

especially in urban spaces, only reveal a prob- common sense. Nudged towards their better
There is no Markets Watch with
today’s edition. nouncing minimum export for 40 days, with an undertak- US-based Novelis, said in an host country is hotter than usu- grees Celsius, drinks breaks
prices for onions and potatoes ing to surrender before the interview on 29 May when al, which means more demand would take place, Michel
to discourage exports and in- court on 1 September if the asked how many cans were ex- for chilled beer in cans made D’Hooghe, head of Fifa’s medi-
Mint is also available for R14.50 with pected to be sold. out of Novelis’s aluminium.
Hindustan Times in Delhi-NCR only TURN TO PAGE 2® TURN TO PAGE 12® “Sunny will help. When it is Soaring temperatures have TURN TO PAGE 2®

lem of poor dispersal. We may number over 1.4 selves, the toll taken by reckless mobs will drop.

GUEST VIEW

Let’s tackle the emerging climate-induced health crisis

ists in Jaipur. To tackle this common chal- was initially used for community-based with a close understanding of local risks and rupt daily life, but also strain our healthcare
ROHIT KUMAR SINGH lenge, we conducted daily meetings across covid symptom surveillance and later their driving factors. Additionally, the system. Vulnerable populations bear the
traditionally siloed government verticals. expanded to track comprehensive primary CHVI’s automated assessment capability brunt. Addressing this requires a proactive
Such a multi-stakeholder commitment is care in each village, reaching 45 million peo- allows us to track which interventions are and inclusive approach towards public
again the need of the hour. As the central ple across the state. This is an example of the making an impact, providing feedback from health and resilience.
government and states form their climate multi-stakeholder effort required. Similarly, those closest to the affected communities. Investing in climate-resilient healthcare

M
uch of north India has witnessed an action and One Health committees, the the Centre’s CoWin online platform facili- This index could be adopted by the entire infrastructure is no less crucial. Our health
intense heatwave in recent weeks, issues involved need to be addressed tated the world’s largest vaccination drive, country for this purpose. systems must be able to withstand climate
with several heatstroke-related through inter-sectoral collaboration. showcasing our ability to manage complex Beyond putting trackers in place, collabo- shocks so that service levels hold up during
deaths being reported. Monsoon rains could We must begin with a thorough assess- health challenges through technology. rative efforts must be made by government a crisis. The effort must include upgrading
not have arrived any sooner. ment of needs. Insights are crucial on which Building on these technological founda- agencies, NGOs, health professionals and facilities, training healthcare workers and
The effects of air pollution and climate regions face the most pressing climate-re- tions, with Khushi Baby leveraging CHIP local communities. We must break down ensuring adequate supplies of essential
change on human health are profound and lated health burden. This cannot be an data, Rajasthan developed a Climate-related silos and foster a culture of shared responsi- medicines and equipment.
increasingly palpable. Environmental epi- annual exercise limited to the district level. Health Vulnerability bility. The Bhilwara Public awareness and education also play
demiologists have highlighted associations Decision-makers need a real-time weather Index (CHVI) that incor- Model used during covid a crucial role. Empowering individuals with
is a former secretary to the between heat and heatstroke, kidney injury, map for climate-related health vulnerability. porates multiple data- QUICK READ exemplifies how local knowledge about climate-related health
Government of India. malnutrition and anaemia. Air quality has A vulnerability index should take into sets. Tens of thousands of on-the-ground collabo- risks and preventive measures can lead to
been linked to lung disease, cardiovascular account exposure levels, population sensi- ASHA workers in the Rising extreme-weather events ration and decentralized community-driven action. Grassroots
disease and neonatal mortality. Extreme tivity and adaptive capacity. While environ- state—who played front- have put our people at risk, decision-making can movements, supported by resources and
rainfall has been associated with mosquito- mental exposure data has been available in line roles during the especially the most vulnerable. help contain public accurate information, can drive behavioural
borne and diarrhoeal illnesses. More than real-time through geospatial sensors and covid pandemic—are We need a multi-stakeholder health threats. Such changes that reduce vulnerability.
four of every five Indians are exposed to satellites, we need data on sensitivity and acting as public health action plan that uses real-time models should be As climate change represents the largest
extreme weather events. Other challenges adaptive capacity, particularly as it relates to researchers in villages data to secure public health. adapted and scaled up. emerging public health crisis of our time, it
include exposure to unsafe levels of air qual- the health of India’s rural residents. and using digital tools to The stakes are high. demands immediate attention. To protect
ity and vulnerability to zoonotic diseases. During covid, technology played a crucial report socio-demo- Technology and vulnerability The increasing frequency communities and safeguard public health,
Given these challenges, we could be role in understanding and responding to the graphic and health con- indices can help us monitor and intensity of extreme we must leverage technology, foster collabo-
exposed to a silent pandemic, putting our pandemic. As health secretary in Rajasthan, ditions as they change. climate exposure and respond. weather events under- ration and build resilient health systems.
society’s health at stake. As health secretary I oversaw the launch of a Community Health The CHVI can be used Securing everyone is our score an urgent need for This is a collective responsibility and it’s
of Rajasthan in 2020, I witnessed the first Integrated Platform (CHIP) in collaboration to empower each block collective responsibility and action. Heatwaves, floods time to act. Together, we must confront this
reported cases of covid among Italian tour- with Khushi Baby, an NGO. This platform official on the ground the time to act on this is now. and storms not only dis- challenge to assure India a healthy future.
LIVEMINT.COM VIEWS FRIDAY, 5 JULY 2024
MUMBAI 13

MY VIEW | THE LAST WORD M I N T C U R AT O R

The new government should act GenAI’s brain fog will not stop
a reckoning for creative folks
to broaden India’s fiscal agenda The tech’s accuracy is in doubt but generative skills are being used

We urgently need fiscal support to fortify our public examination processes and address the ravages of global warming

PTI

PARMY OLSON
is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering
technology.

INDIRA RAJARAMAN
is an economist.

E
ver notice how science fiction gets
things wrong about future technol-
ogy? Instead of flying cars, we got viral

T
he final Union Budget for the ongoing tweets that fuelled culture wars. Instead of The advertising industry is among the first
fiscal year 2024-25 will be presented a fax machine on your wrist, we got memes. to be impacted by GenAI ISTOCKPHOTO
in the monsoon session of Parliament We’re having a similar reality check with
starting 22 July. It is expected to con- artificial intelligence (AI). Sci-fi painted a Last year Coca-Cola Company published
form to the interim budget presented future with computers that delivered relia- an advertisement on YouTube partially
before the elections by the same ble information in robotic parlance. Yet created with GenAI tools, while Toys ‘R’ Us
finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman. But there businesses that tried adopting Generative has developed an entire ad with OpenAI’s
have been some developments post the election AI tools have found, with some dismay, that video generation tool Sora, and to arguably
process which call for new initiatives. the tools “hallucinate” and make mistakes. bizarre effect. The saccharine video com-
Examination paper leaks have roiled India. They are hardly reliable. And the tools mercial features a young boy whose face
Public examination processes must have integrity themselves aren’t stiff and mechanistic makes subtle, alien-like contortions
in order to offer equality of opportunity, a key ele- either. They’re almost whimsical. throughout, a reminder of the flaws that
ment in the social contract between the individual “We thought AI’d be The Terminator but image generators are still ironing out.
and the almighty state. The issue found mention in it turned out to be Picasso,” says Neil Katz, Twitter users piled on the Toys ‘R’ Us
the President’s address to Parliament on the gov- founder of EyeLevel.ai, a startup that helps commercial to label it as creepy, which was
ernment’s agenda. Hopefully, it will find further companies get GenAI models to try and true, but they also called it highly ineffec-
mention in the budget speech, with a focus on work with 95% accuracy when plugged tive, which it wasn’t. AI-generated ads are
prevention. into their data. It will take another three to only just getting going and will likely find
Fiscal support for a selection and training centre five years of tinkering before that level of a willing audience.
for personnel inducted into examination adminis- reliability becomes widespread with AI, Consider that AI-generated images have
tering agencies is urgently needed. The idea would Katz predicts, meaning that the technology already been flooding Facebook with
be to ensure appointment of people fully trained in can be substantially useful to the core oper- bizarre renderings of ‘Shrimp Jesus’ and
standard operating procedures for setting and ations of finance or health-care companies. other similar detritus, suggesting that large
securing exams in a variety of forms—paper-based reduce agricultural productivity; can raise food cially contributed to by private individuals. The That doesn’t mean GenAI isn’t having an swathes of the public are forgiving (or per-
or computer-based. The new unit could be added prices and reduce real wages more than what Forbes-list billionaires residing in big Indian cities industry-transforming impact, though. It’s haps not seeing) the misshapen human
as a wing to the Union Public Service Commission seems apparent from an overall CPI index. It has could surely throw a few pennies into that hat, just not happening as once envisioned. hands of GenAI, but rather taking a shine to
(UPSC), which commands widespread trust and caused forest fires in a region where the major drawing inspiration from the famous 1975 rescue Even as firms rein in spending and inves- its vivid and slightly unreal aesthetic.
respect. river systems of the country originate. It has led, of the New York City municipality from bank- tors dampen AI expectations, the technol- In the meantime, businesses are grudg-
The surprising feature of the current scandals is exacerbated by decades of predatory exploitation, ruptcy by a financial vehicle formed by high-net- ogy’s creative strengths that are taking ingly accepting that AI has truth issues,
that they involved national agencies. At the state to severe water problems in major cities. In short, it worth residents. But project supervision must be hold in industries where hallucinations can something that should have been obvious
level, the problem recurs frequently. Most recently, has the power to destroy us. assigned to a board of engineers with professional be an advantage, and where there’s less risk from the start: The GenAI boom was
the written examination for the post of police con- Moody’s Ratings has said public failure to credibility, unrelated to the financiers. in getting things wrong. Think marketing, underpinned by language models that can
stable in Uttar Pradesh scheduled for February address water scarcity could The flooding during the mon- gaming and entertainment, or any job that predict the next most likely word in a sen-
2024 was cancelled because of paper leaks. lower the credit rating of India. soons of several large cities involves non-linear thinking. tence. Companies that are trying to plug
Fiscal provision for public examination pro- Maybe that will prod the finance QUICK READ with concomitant mixing of The impact is already clear on jobs. Con- these models into their data sets are strug-
cesses will not take a big bite out of the exchequer. ministry into placing climate sewage and drinking water is a tractors dominate in creative industries gling because the AI systems were trained
There is the overriding concern, of course, of warming front and centre. The full budget is expected to continuing health-hazard dis- and, since the launch of ChatGPT, there on text. The models struggle to make sense
whether the fiscal deficit committed to in the Short-term indicators like the be directionally in line with the grace. The annual flooding of has been a 21% drop in demand for digital of numbers, financial tables, charts or
interim budget, at 5.1% of GDP, will be achievable. Purchasing Managers’ Index do interim one, although exam the Minto Bridge underpass is so freelancers, according to a November 2023 handwriting. That is a solvable technical
The Cabinet has already taken a decision to hike not matter as much as frequent paper leaks and the climate crisis predictable that it has become study by researchers at Harvard Business problem, but it will take time, making hal-
minimum support prices for 14 crops, mostly in the disruptions to economic activity demand fiscal provisions for the signature of the monsoon in School and two other academic institu- lucinations a bump in the road to GenAI’s
range 5-8 % (with a few outliers), in accordance posed by climate forces, which tackling these challenges. Delhi. A major commercial cen- tions. The jobs most affected have been in path to wider adoption. For a while, AI will
with the recommendation of the Commission for can become more frequent and tre like Bhikaji Cama Place is writing. Yael Biran, an experienced anima- continue to be better at writing poetry than
Agricultural Costs and Prices . Without knowing disruptive over time. The time to Every budget move should be periodically assailed by the tor who had enjoyed a work flow of about 12 at solving math problems.
whether this increase was anticipated in the food act is now. evaluated against the backdrop stench of sewage overflow even projects annually, recently told me that her Perhaps that’s why OpenAI’s chief tech-
subsidy in the interim budget, pegged at ₹2.05 tril- There is need for a new Cen- of global warming, given the in non-monsoon months. activity had dwindled to just three in the nology officer, Mira Murati, was so brutal
lion, it is not possible to estimate how much higher tral government initiative with havoc this raging monster can What about the ambient past year. in her assessment of how her company’s
the food subsidy will be in the final budget. municipalities. Within that cause across almost every warming brought about by “Marketing is furthest in exploiting AI,” tools would upend creative skills in
Standard macroeconomic prudence gets umbrella, partnerships can be dimension of our lives. global forces? Air-conditioners according to a recent note by Enders Analy- humans. “Some creative jobs maybe will go
upended when confronting an economy with the taken up in sequence with cities to cool interior spaces pump hot sis, an industry research firm specializing in away, but maybe they shouldn’t have been
fingerprints of global warming all over it. The which put forward a viable programme for air into the exterior world, turning urban public technology, media and telecom, while there in the first place,” she said in a recent
present situation is that food (read vegetable) restoring underground aquifers. It can work like spaces into furnaces. Subsidies to incentivize smaller advertisers can use GenAI tools to interview.
prices are rising in the face of the scorching heat the Scheme for Special Assistance to States for retrofitting of air-conditioners with more efficient write marketing copy or generate posters The hallucination problem of artificial
wave that engulfed large tracts during the first Capital Investment, with the difference that cities motors at lower energy intensity and insulation and images. So far, one of the biggest obsta- intelligence could take a few years to solve
quarter of the current fiscal year. would be invited to come forward with financial of roofs and windows have been tried in other cles has been getting AI to produce accurate for the likes of banks, telecom service pro-
Every move in the budget has to be evaluated proposals for specific projects. countries. We need to study initiatives successfully depictions of company logos, one machine- viders and health-care companies.
against the backdrop of the warming monster that These city partnerships need not be fully funded implemented elsewhere, such as country schemes learning engineer at a marketing firm tells In the immediate short-term, however,
kills people (including staff on duty in the just con- by the Centre. There could be special purpose within the Green Deal of the European Union, me, but such technical issues are easy to rec- creative industries will be the ones that
cluded general election); that can drastically vehicles for each Centre-city partnership, finan- and build on them. tify with tools like Adobe Photoshop. face a major reckoning. ©BLOOMBERG

MY VIEW | PEN DRIVE

Action on diversity is more powerful than eloquence

company. As the Companies Act mandates Board interactions at different levels also set In a race to meet business targets, there is work environment. A clear understanding of
NEERA SAGGI that the board must decide its own composi- the tone. Is the board given to hearing often little patience with diversity, with women’s needs (safety has a psychological
tion, every board has an opportunity to diverse voices? Does what its members say boards doing little to assess the manage- aspect too) is critical to frame robust policies.
ensure its own diversity and lead by exam- reflect a quest for equality, or does it convey ment’s acceptance of diversity. Today, it is As an independent director, my interac-
ple. Very often, for inducting members, a condescending attitude? politically incorrect for CEOs not to portray tions with women employees have been an
boards rely on their own networks as this To increase diversity, most NRCs place themselves as DEI champions. However, eye-opener. Achieving diversity is one

A
six months’ grace period was some- provides comfort and continuity. However, the onus on the human resources (HR) team whether the talk is walked must be analysed. thing, fostering an inclusive culture, where
thing I learnt to negotiate in assign- known networks are not socially neutral and and its leader. Champions of diversity, how- One effective mechanism is to include DEI different voices are heard and valued, is
ments as one of the first women exclude diverse groups from legitimate ever, are needed at all levels. Organizations as a key responsibility area (KRA) for the another. Boards forget to assess if their
working in the infrastructure sector. When opportunities. As Abraham Maslow often omit to review specific cultural lean- performance evaluation of top managers. organization absorbs diverse employees
I was posted in the ports sub-sector, or in a observed, boards can either step forward ings that prevail within them. It is not just NRCs tend to overlook two key factors: well or suffers from a cultural bias that dis-
large infrastructure project, many would towards growth or step back into safety. formal processes that lead to targets being the cost of deficient diversity and the perse- courages assimilation. Dismissive attitudes
question my suitability as a woman officer Diversity assumes centre-stage in an met, but also unstruc- verance needed for it. to compliance requirements like POSH,
for a role in a male-dominated field. Inevita- organization once it goes beyond the stipu- tured conversations. Identifying diverse can- maternity leave, etc, can add to discord. Any
bly, I would ‘beg’ for six months before a lated mandate and has more than one An ‘affinity bias’ is at QUICK READ didates for various posi- talk of the alleged futility of such policies
is former president of decision was taken to re-post me to an woman as a board member. the root of an asymmet- tions can be complex and and criticism of ‘privileges’ can create disso-
Bombay Chamber of assignment considered more conducive for Nuances in interactions create percep- rical work force, and it An ‘affinity bias’ could explain time-consuming. This is nance. Lost in such conversations is how
Commerce and Industry. a woman officer. Things have somewhat tions and these weave an organizational cul- impacts recruitment, why so many organizations that costly, just as provisions diversity adds value and divergent views
changed today, and many women are con- ture. Often, women employees state that training, assignments, claim commitment to Diversity, like creches, security, form the basis of sound decision-making.
tributing at different levels in these ‘tough’ they are hardly aware of board agendas that promotions, halting the Equity and Inclusion fail to walk maternity leave and If replication of success is an important
sectors. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion include a diversity component. Similar con- career progression of their talk, as seen in the low childcare support are. part of any strategy, so should addressing
(DEI) is much propagated. Yet, once senses cerns led the Union Budget to include ‘gen- those who lack ‘affinity.’ priority it’s frequently given. Yet, these costs are out- what has been neglected. DEI should be pri-
some impatience with gender diversity. der budgeting’ in 2005-06. But corporates It also confines gender weighed eventually by oritized. Women can narrate innumerable
While organizations claim commitment rarely study the impact of their plans on dif- diversity to ‘soft jobs’. If Achieving diversity is one thing the cost of DEI failure. instances of patronizing attitudes and indif-
to DEI, only a few companies, boards and fering gender needs and priorities or discuss this bias is not weeded and fostering an inclusive culture, Organizations rarely ference to diversity. This needs to end.
nomination and renumeration committees it. This should be a board room issue, as the out, any DEI achieve- where different voices are heard have a formal consulta- Boards must demonstrate their commit-
(NRCs) prioritize what has long been board is a symbol of authority and govern- ment would be tempo- and valued, is another. Sound tion mechanism that ena- ment to DEI. Action is more powerful than
ignored. Who a board includes as member ance. If it does not insist on diverse view- rary at best, as attrition decisions emerge when diverse bles women to partici- eloquence, as it goes beyond tokenism and
is a strong leadership signal to others in the points, it unwittingly encourages exclusion. would soon set in. views are taken into account. pate in designing a safe testifies to that commitment.