FE BUREAUNewDelhi, January 12

THE SUPREME COURT onTuesdaysuspendedthe imple-mentation of three controver-sial farmlawsthathavecauseda massive and prolongedprotest by farmers, mostlyfrom Punjab and Haryana, atthe Delhi’s borders, via an‘extraordinaryorder’,andsetupa four-member committee tobreak the deadlock betweenthe government and farmers,and facilitate resolution of therelevant issues.“Wearealsooftheviewthat

a stayof implementationof allthe three farmlaws forthepre-sent,mayassuagethehurtfeel-ingsofthefarmersandencour-age them to come to thenegotiating table with confi-

dence and good faith….The(threelaws)shallbestayeduntilfurthernotice,”a Bench led byChiefJusticeSABobdesaid.

ContinuedonPage2

FARMERS' STIR PLI TARGET

RISHI RAJNewDelhi, January 12

CONTRACT MANUFACTUR-ERS OFApple likeVistron andFoxcon,Samsung,aswellaslocaldevicemakerslikeLava,Macro-max,amongothers,haveurgedthegovernmenttoexpeditetheprocessofgrantingvisastoChi-neseengineersandtechnicianswhoare required in India to setuptheirunitsforhandsetman-ufacturing. This is crucial forthemtomeet theirproductiontargets under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme,whichwasrolledoutlastyear.Though the devicemakers

whohave been selected underthe PLI scheme are apprecia-tive of the efforts of IndianembassyinBeijing in tryingtofast-track such specific visarequestsbyChineseengineers,they said thematter needs tobe seen in a strategicmannerbypolicy-makersasit isforthesuccessof thePLI scheme.

UnderthePLI scheme,newunits need to be set up andwhile components and othermachinery, etc, have finallylanded after delays associatedwith the pandemic, they cannow be put together only byChineseengineers.

ContinuedonPage2

PRESSTRUSTOF INDIANewDelhi, January 12

WHATSAPPONTUESDAYsaidits latestpolicyupdatedoesnotaffecttheprivacyofmessagesasthe Facebook-owned companysought to address concernsaroundsecurityofuserdataonthe platform. In a blogpost,WhatsApp emphasised that itdoes not share users’ contactlistsordataofgroupswithFace-book foradspurposes,andthatneitherWhatsAppnorFacebookcan readmessages orhearcalls

betweenusersonWhatsApp.Last week, WhatsApp had

informedusers of anupdate initsTermsofServiceandprivacypolicy regarding how itprocessesuserdataandpartnerswithFacebook tooffer integra-tions across the social mediagiant’s products. It also statedthat userswill have to agree tothenewtermsandpolicybyFeb-ruary8,2021, in order to con-tinueusingWhatsApp’sservice.This kickstarted a spate of

conversations andmemes onthe internet overWhatsApp's

allegedsharingofuserinforma-tionwith Facebook,andmanyusers have started shifting torivalslikeTelegramandSignal.“Wewanttobeclearthatthe

update does not affect the pri-vacyofmessageswithfriendsorfamily in anyway.Instead,thisupdate includes changesrelatedtomessagingabusinessonWhatsApp,whichisoptional,and provides further trans-parency about howwe collectandusedata,”WhatsAppsaid.

ContinuedonPage14

POLICY UPDATE

PRESSTRUSTOF INDIANewDelhi, January 12

TOYOTAKIRLOSKARMOTORonTuesdaysaidithasliftedthelockout at its Karnataka(Bidadi)-basedmanufacturingplants.Due to the continuedstrike by Toyota KirloskarMotor (TKM) Employees’Union, the companymanage-menthadannouncedasecondlockout at the two facilities onNovember23,2020.Later, the company had

resumedproductionwithover1,200teammemberswhohadexpressed their intention toworkwith discipline, througha simple undertaking of goodbehaviour.“Inviewofarecentmeeting

held between Ashwath-narayan, deputy chief minis-ter, government of Karnatakawith the TKM managementandhavingobservedagradualimprovement in safety situa-tion, both inside and outsidethe company premises, thecompany management hasdecided towithdraw the lock-out,without any compromisetodisciplineandproductivity,”a TKM spokesperson said in astatement.

ContinuedonPage2

● BACK IN BUSINESS

Toyotawithdrawslockout atKarnatakaplants

IN THE NEWS

5%more incometax returns filedthis yearINCOMETAX RETURNS filedthis year have risen by about5% to nearly 6 crore asmorebusinesses and entities filedannual income statements,reports PTI. Over 5.95 croreITRs for the fiscal endingMarch 31were filed byJanuary 10, the income taxdepartment said.

Telcos seek clarityon 5G ahead ofspectrum auctionAHEADOFTHEnext roundofspectrumauction, telcoshave sought clarity if 5Gcanbe launchedon the airwavesboughtvia this sale, reportsKiranRathee inNewDelhi.Though spectrumassignedvia auction is tech-neutral asalso the unified licence, theomissionof5G in the noticeinviting application issuedbyDoTled some telcos to seeka clarificationonTuesday.

TCS to acquireGE's stake inTCSSaudiArabiaTCSONTUESDAYsaid itwillacquireGE's stake inTCSSaudiArabia for about `9.13lakh, reportsPTI. In 2013,TCSannounced the creationofanall-womenbusinessprocessservices centre in Riyadh inpartnershipwithGE.

Industry urges govtto expedite visa forChinese engineerswho are needed toset up newunits

BIDEN INAUGURATION

MARKHOSENBALLWashington, January 12

THEFBIHASwarnedofarmedprotests being planned forWashington and all 50 USstate capitals in the run-up toPresident-elect Joe Biden’sJanuary 20 inauguration, afederal law enforcementsource saidonMonday.Threatenedwithmorevio-

lence from outgoing Presi-dent Donald Trump’s sup-porters following lastWednesday’s storming of theUS Capitol, the FBI issuedwarnings for next weekendthat runat leastuntil Inaugu-rationDay,the source said.Inothersteps tosafeguard

the US capital, the NationalGuardwasauthorised to sendup to 15,000 troops toWash-ington, and tourists werebarred from visiting theWashingtonMonumentuntilJanuary24.

The chief of the NationalGuardBureau,GeneralDanielHokanson, told reporters heexpectedabout10,000 troopsinWashington by Saturday tohelpprovide security,logisticsandcommunications.

ContinuedonPage14

VAX POPULI

FE BUREAU/AGENCIESPune, January 12

NEARLYSIXTYLAKHdosesofCovishield — the Covid-19vaccine—onTuesday left theSerum Institute of India’sPune facilities as India kick-startedanationalvaccinationdrive.Around56.5 lakhdoseswere despatched by airwhiletheremainingconsignments,toMumbai and otherparts ofMaharashtra, were sent byroad accompanied by policeescorts. The refrigeratedtrucks and private planeswillfind their way to around 60different locations acrossIndia. These are consigneepoints fromwheretheywouldbe distributed to various vac-cination centres, officialsources said.The first lot of 1.1 crore

shots has been procured bythe government at `200 perdose and SII has seven croredoses ready foruse.

Adar Poonawalla,CEO,SII,said itwas a historical day forthe company. For now, onlythe government will haveaccess to the vaccines andthey will not be available inthe privatemarkets.

ContinuedonPage2

Orders continuationofMSP system,says farmers’lands are secured

QuickPicks

Byju’s to pay$1 billion forBlackstone-backedAakash

THECOUNTRY’Sbiggest online-education start-upByju’s has signedadeal tobuybrick&mortartest prep leaderAakash Educational Services for $1billion, according to apersonwith knowledgeof

the talks, reportsBloomberg.Thedeal forwhatwill beoneofthe largest edtech acquisitions in theworld should close in thenext twoor threemonths, said theperson,whodidn’twant tobe identified as the information is private. Byju’s isvalued at$12billion andhasbeenona fund-raising spree. PAGE 4

Cementmanufacturers allegecartelisation among builders

CEMENTMANUFACTURERSonTuesday sought theCentre's intervention toend the allegedcarteli-sationbybuilderswhowere adopting a 'profiteer-ing approach’, reportsPTI.They also alleged there

was a lobby amongbuilders and therewas noadministrationto rein them in and their profiteering approach.Thecomm-ents comedays after road transportministerNitinGadkari hadsaid thebigplayers in the steel andcement industrywereindulging in cartelisation to jack upprices. PAGE 3

SMA-2 ratio inwholesalesegment rose to 7.2% inNov

THE RATIO of accounts in the special mentionaccount (SMA)-2 category of the private sectornon-financialwholesale segment rose to 7.2%as on November 30, 2020, from 1.7% on

September 30, 2020, the Reserve Bank of India said in theDecember 2020 edition of its financial stability report,reports fe Bureau inMumbai. The sharp rise in SMA-2loans coincidedwith the SupremeCourt’s stay onrecognition of bad assets afterAugust 31. PAGE 10 IL

LUSTRATION:ROHNITPHORE

COMPANIES, P4

ONTHE ROAD

INTERNATIONAL, P8

SENSEX: 49,517.11 ▲ 247.79 NIFTY: 14,563.45 ▲ 78.70 NIKKEI 225: 28,164.34 ▲ 25.31 HANG SENG: 28,276.75 ▲ 368.53 `/$: 73.25 ▲ 0.13 `/€: 89.08 ▲ 0.18 BRENT: $56.64 ▲ $0.98 GOLD: `49,488 ▲ `144

PUNE, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2021

Teslamoves a stepcloser to India launch,registers company

BEIJING DIARY

China’s economysurges, its currencyjoins the ride too

OPINION, P6

U PRASAD & J PRIYANI SUNIL JAIN

Govtmust increasefunding fornutritionsecurityprogrammes

SC staying farm laws

erodes investor confidence

in India,will spur copycat

protests byother groups

VOL. XI NO. 297, 16 PAGES, `6.00 PUBL I SHED FROM : AHMEDABAD, B ENGALURU , CHAND IGARH , CHENNA I , HYDERABAD, KOCH I , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBA I , N EW DELH I , PUNE

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READ TO LEAD

No further bizwithTrump:DeutscheBank

DEUTSCHE BANK AG andSignatureBank,twoofDon-aldTrump’sfavouredlenders,are pulling away from himover thedeadlyriot at theUSCapitol,reportsBloomberg.Deutschehasdecidednot

to conduct any furtherbusi-

nesswithTrumpandhiscom-pany. Trump owes the Ger-man lendermore than$300million. Signature Bank,theNewYorklender,isclosingtwo personal accounts inwhich Trump held about$5.3million. ■Page8

Most farmer unionswon't acceptpanel, vow tocontinueprotest

SEVERALFARMERGROUPS said theywon’tparticipate in the4-memberexpert panel setup by the SupremeCourt onTuesdaywith aviewto creatinga“congenial atmosphere”forthe resolution of the vexed issue, reports feBureau inNewDelhi.Asmanyas32 farmerorganisationsfromPunjab,whoareprotestingatdifferententrypointsofthenationalcapital,

alsovowedtocontinuetheprotest,despitethecourt staying the laws for the timebeing.“Weare in principle against the formation of anycommitteeaswewantthegovernmenttotakebackthelawssinceithasbroughtthemout.Theorderof the apex court does not address ourdemand,”saidafarmerleaderafterameetingoftheunionspostthecourt’sorder. ■Page2

For now, vaccine recipientswill not getto choose from two options, says govtTHEGOVERNMENTHINTEDonTuesday that fornow,thevaccine recipients will nothave the option to choosefrom the two vaccinesrecently approved in India,reportsPTI.Health secretary

Rajesh Bhushan said, “Atmany places in the world,more than one vaccine isbeing administered,but pre-sently,inno country,vrecipi-entshavetheoptionofchoos-ingtheshots.” ■Page2

Signal seesmeteoric rise in daily installsas people look forWhatsApp alternativesTHENUMBEROFnewusersinstallingmessagingappSig-nal every day is on track tocross 1 million, putting itcloser to levels seenby largerrivalWhatsApp,followinganupdate to the Facebook-owned app’s privacy policy,reports Reuters. About810,000usersgloballyinstal-led Signal on Sunday,nearly

18-fold compared with thedownloadnumbers on Janu-ary 6, the day WhatsAppupdateditsprivacyterms.Privacy advocates have

questioned themove citingFacebook’s track record inhandlinguserdata,withma-ny suggesting users tomig-rate toplatforms suchasTel-gramandSignal.■Page8

Message privacy intact,change related to biz interaction:WhatsApp

FBI issues armedprotestwarning

HIGHALERT■National Guardauthorised to send upto 15,000 troops toWashington

■ Tourists barred fromvisitingWashingtonMonument untilJanuary 2

■ Trump saidlastweek hewould notattend theceremony

WhyChina iscrucial here:

■However,due to India-Chinaborder stand-off, theirvisas aregettingdelayed

■ If there aredelays incommissioningof the units,companiesmay findhard tomeetyearly production targets

■Theyhave already sought rollover of first year targets tosecondand third year

This isbecauseofdelays insuppliesandtravel restrictionsduetothepandemic

■Theseunitscanbeset upbyonlyChineseengineers

■UnderPLI,newproductionunitsneedtobesetup

■Thesenewunitsareshifting fromChinato India

Domesticmobileproduction needsa China hand

This is not an empty suspension of the laws(for an indefinite period)...Wewant you(agitating farmers) to tell the committeewhichpart of the lawneeds to be changed, etc.—SABOBDE, CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA

Setsupa4-memberexpertcommitteewhich ‘willlistentothe farmers'

grievances’and give its report in2months; first sittingtobeheldwithin10days

■SCsaysMSPsystemshallbemaintaineduntil furtherorders;farmers’ landholdingsshallbeprotected

SCexpectsthestaysofallthethreefarm

lawsfornow ‘mayassuagethehurtfeelingsofthe farmersandencouragethemtocometothenegotiatingtablewithconfidenceandgoodfaith’

SC stays farm laws,formspanel for talks

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-60

-50

-40

-30

-20

-10

0

10

Nov 2019 April ‘20 Nov 2020Nov 2019 April ‘20 Dec 2020

-57.3

7.2

4.59

2.1

5.54

-1.9

Consumer Price Index (% change, y-o-y) Index of Industrial Production (% change, y-o-y)

Source:MoSPI

3

4

5

6

7

8

Mixed signals

IIP shrinks, retail inflation hits 15-month lowRetail inflation sharply dropped to a 15-month low of 4.59% in December, mainlydue to lower food inflation and a favourable base. However, industrial outputreturned to the negative zone in November by contracting 1.9% from a year before,against an 8-month high of 4.2% rise in October.

FE BUREAU

■Remainingconsignments,toMumbai andother parts ofMaha, sent by road

■Refrigerated trucks, privateplanes enroute60differentlocations across India

Sixty lakhdosesofCovidshield leaveSerum'sPunefacilities

■Around56.5 lakhdosesdespatchedbyprivateplanes

BOOSTERDOSE

India kicks offvaccine drive

MISSIONVACCINATIONClockwise:Atruck carryingtheCovishieldvaccinebeingdirected to a storageunit, inAhmedabad;Workers unload theCovishieldvaccine at astorage facility inChennai;Delhi Police escort avehiclecarrying the first lot of thevaccine near IGI airport, inNewDelhi onTuesday

AHMEDABAD

DELHI

CHENNAI

EXPRESS PHOTO:TASHITOBGYAL

PTIEXPRESS PHOTO: NIRMALHARINDRAN

Pune

EconomyWEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2021

FINANCIALEXPRESS2

● FARM LAWIMPASSE

FEBUREAUNewDelhi, January 12

SEVERAL FARMER GROUPSsaidtheywon'tparticipateinthefour-memberexpertcommitteesetupbytheSupremeCourt(SC)onTuesdaytocreatea“congenialatmosphere”for the resolutionof thevexed issueofprolongedagitationbythousandsoffarm-ers at the borders of Delhi. Asmany as 32 farmer organisa-tions from Punjab, who areprotesting at different entrypoints to the national capital,also vowed to continue theprotest,despitethecourtstaying

thelawsforthetimebeing.“Weare inprinciple against

theformationofanycommitteeaswewant the government totake back the laws since it hasbrought themout.Theorderoftheapexcourtdoesnotaddressour demand,” said a farmerleader after a meeting of theunionspostthecourt’sorder.Askedwhethernon-cooper-

ationwiththeprocessinstalled

by the court order won’tamount to contempt of court,he said:“Wehave not sought acommittee.Wehavenotmovedthe court, still, some of ourorganisations have beenincludedinthecase.”“It isbeingdonetobuytime

andfarmerleadersarecommit-tedtolisteningtoeveryfarmer’svoice who wants nothing lessthan the repeal of the laws,”headded. The Samyukta KisanMorcha(UnitedFarmers’Front),anoutfitoffarmerorganisationsprotestingagainstthefarmlaws,will discuss the impact of thecourt’sorderonWednesdayandchalk out their next course ofaction. Several organisationswho are part of the SamyuktaKisanMorchahavealreadyspo-kenagainst thedecisionof theapexcourttoappointacommit-tee.“TheSChas formeda com-mitteeinitswisdomandfarmer

unionshavenothingmuch to.Farmer unions reiterate thattheywill not participate in anysuch committee process. Fur-ther,oneoftheirapprehensionsabout such a process got vali-dated (in theverycomposition)of the committee,”theAll IndiaKisanSangharshCoordinationCommittee (AIKSCC) said in astatement.“It is clear that the Court is

being misguided by variousforces even in its constitutionof the committee. These arepeoplewhoareknownfortheirsupport to the threeActs andhaveactivelyadvocatedforthesame. It is not out of place toremindthatthefarmerunionshave rejected a Committee-proposalfromthegovernmenttoo.Their dialogue is basicallywith an elected governmentabout its policy directions...,”thestatementsaid.

Protesting farmersagainst formationof SC panel, firm onrepeal of laws

From the Front Page

Farmers’ stir:SC stays farmlaws, formspanel for talksBobdeexpressedhope that thedecision will be taken in the‘right spirit’ and seen as “anattempt toarrive at a fair,equi-table and just solution to theproblems”.The court also ordered that

theminimumsupportpricesys-tem,whichisinexistencebeforetheenactmentofthefarmlaws,shallbemaintaineduntilfurtherorders (the government hasrepeatedlystated that theMSPsystemwon'tbeundermined).Inaddition, the court said thefarmers’landholdings shall beprotected.“No farmer shall bedispossessedordeprivedofhistitle as a result of any action

takenundertheFarmLaws,”thecourtsaidintheorder.“Bethatasitmay,thenegoti-

ationsbetweenthefarmers’bod-iesandthegovernmenthavenotyieldedanyresult so far.There-fore,weareof theviewthat theconstitutionof a committeeofexpertsinthefieldofagriculturetonegotiatebetween the farm-ers’bodiesandthegovernmentof Indiamaycreate a congenialatmosphere and improve thetrust and confidence of thefarmers,”theapexcourtstated.The four-membercommit-

tee, comprising BhupinderSinghMann,nationalpresident,Bhartiya Kisan Union and AllIndiaKisanCoordinationCom-mittee;DrParmodKumarJoshi,agriculturaleconomist,directorfor South Asia, InternationalFoodPolicyResearch Institute;AshokGulati,agriculturalecon-omist and former chairman,Commission for AgriculturalCostsandPrices;andAnilGhan-wat,president,Shetkari Sang-hatana,will“hearthegrievancesof the farmersonthe farmlawsandalsotheviewsofthegovern-ment to make recommenda-tions”.Therepresentativesofallthe farmers’ bodies, whethertheyareholdingaprotestornotand whether they support oropposethelawsshallparticipatein thedeliberationsof thecom-mitteeandput forth theirviewpoints, the order stated. Thecommittee has also beendirected to submit its reportalongwithitsrecommendationswithin two months from thedateofitsfirstsitting,whichwillbeheldwithintendays.The bench noted solicitor

generalTusharMehta'ssubmis-sions that therewere inherentsafeguards,in-built in theFarmLaws, for the protection of thelandof the farmers and that itwill be ensured thatno farmerwill losehis land.MehtaduringthehearinghadtoldtheSCthat

farmershave fallenpreyto the“basic misapprehension” thatthe laws would lead to loss ofagriculturalland.“Thelawisonlyforvoluntarycontract farmingof crops.Agricultural landwillremainimmune,”hehadreiter-ated. However, the top courtrejected attorney general KKVenugopal’s submissions thatnooneobjectingtothefarmlawshavepointedoutanysinglepro-visionwhich is detrimental tothe farmers and that the lawsenactedbyParliamentcannotbestayedbythis court,especiallywhenthere is apresumption infavouroftheconstitutionalityoflegislation.“…this court cannotbesaid tobecompletelypower-lesstograntstayofanyexecutiveactionundera statutoryenact-ment,”theCJI-ledBench statedinitsorder.Ateamoflawyersrepresent-

ing the agitating farmers,who

onMondaycontested theAG'sviewthatthereisathreatofdis-ruptionofRepublicDaycelebra-tionsduetotheongoingprotest,wereabsentinthecourtonTues-day.BothBhartiyaKisanSanghseniorVChitambareshandCon-sortiumofIndianFarmersAsso-ciationcounselSridharPotarajusubmitted that they were notaggrieved by the farm laws.Potaraju submitted that hisclient represented15 farmers’unionsacross15statesandthattheywill be badly affected if astayof the implementation ofthefarmlawswasordered.“Ifthereisavictoryatall,itis

thevictoryof fairplay,”the CJItoldseniorcounselHarishSalveduring thehearing.The seniorlawyer had apprehended thatthestayontheimplementationof the laws should not bemis-construedbysomeasa“politicalvictory”of sorts.Theapexcourtalso asked theCentre to file anaffidavitonpresenceofbannedentitiesintheprotests.Thishap-pened after Salve pointed outthatanoutlawedCanadianpolit-ical outfit Sikhs For Justice isoffering money to people forparticipatinginprotests.TheBenchalsoissuednotice

onanapplicationbytheCentre,through theDelhiPolice,foraninjunctionorderagainstfarmersholdinganytractor/trolley/vehi-clemarch thatmaydisrupt theRepublicDaycelebrations.

Toyotawithdrawslockout atKarnatakaplantsThiswillbeintheinterestofbothteammembers and their fami-lies as well as the company, itadded.“Consequenttotheliftingof the lockout, operationswill

enhancewitheffectfromsecondshiftofJanuary12,2021inboththe plants,” it said. Employeesreturningtoworkwillsignasim-ple undertaking for good con-ductandreporttowork,itadded.“The suspension pending

enquiry of 66 unionisedemployees for seriousmiscon-ductswill continueanddomes-tic enquirieswill be conductedadheringtotheprinciplesofnat-uraljustice,”thestatementread.TKM'sBidadifacilityhastwo

plants with a total installedcapacityof 3.10 lakhunits perannum.On November 10 lastyear,thecompanyhaddeclaredalockout in the facilityfollowingworkers'unionmembersresort-ing to a sit-in at the factorypremises toprotest against thesuspensionofaworker.

Covid-19: Indiakicks offvaccine drivePoonawalla said inan interviewwithatelevisionchannelhewashopefulofbeingabletosellCov-ishield in the private marketoncethefirstphaseofvaccinat-ingfrontlinehealthworkerswascompleted, in about twomonths. The vaccine will cost`1,000perdose in the privatemarket.Thedeliveryofthefirstbatch

ofvaccineswillbecompletedbyThursday,Union health secre-tary Rajesh Bhushan said.“Healthcareworkers (approxi-matelyonecrore)will beon thetoppriority,followedbyfront-lineworkers (approximately 2crore)andprioritisedagegroups(approximately 27 crore). Thecost of vaccinating healthcareworkers and frontlineworkerswillbebornebythecentralgov-ernment,”headded.AsofTues-day, India has reported nearly10.5 million infections and151,000deaths.

PLI target:DomesticmobileproductionneedsaChinahandThis is because most of theunits are shifting from China.Once set up by Chineseengineers,theycanbeoperatedby Indians who would be in aposition to take over the entiregamut of commissioning andoperations fully over the nexttwoyears.Almost 70% of production bythe contract manufacturers ofApple, for instance, takes placein China with the balancehappening in Taiwan. Theshiftingofunits is takingplacefrom China and not Taiwan,industry sources said.Stuck supplies of components,travel restrictions due tosuspension of internationalflights have anyway delayedproduction by the new unitsbecause of which the industryhas urged the government toroll over their first-yearproduction targets to secondand third year. This, theindustry has sought for onlythosemanufacturerswhohavemet their investment targetsfor the first fiscal. The requestis currently under the

consideration of thegovernment.“The PLI applicants are

working very furiously andwith everything possible attheir command to fulfill thetargets.Many of themwill beable to complete it but notbefore early FY2021-22; and ahandful will even be able tocomplete by March 2021.However, they are skating onthin ice because there could bemany slips in theseextraordinary circumstances.Most companies haveexhibitedsinceritybyensuringthat theyhaveeitheralreadyorwill try and complete theirinvestment targets byMarch2021. Clearly, if investmentsare completed, there is noreason for the companies tohold back production. Thisitself is sufficient ground toappreciate that all PLIparticipants have approachedthe scheme in good faith andthe shortfall in productiontargets for FY21 are purely aresult of supply constraint,”PankajMohindroochairmanofIndia Cellular ElectronicsAssociation (ICEA),wrote in alettertoAjayPrakashSawhney,secretary, ministry ofelectronics and informationtechnology(MeitY),lastmonth.The ICEA has written that

PLI applicants,who completethe investment target beforeMarch 31, 2021, would haveestablished their seriousnessand commitment andthereforemust be rewarded.Its proposal is that such

applicants who have metinvestment targets andachieved base productionshould be given the PLI onincremental production,irrespective of whether theyhave met the incrementalturnover target for FY21.Thiswillmeana loweroutflowfromthe Budget allocated for PLIduring thecurrentyear,andbyadjusting the target. “Webelieve this is well within thepowers of the empoweredcommittee,” Mohindroo haswritten.The PLI scheme has set

different targets for overseasmanufacturers like Apple andSamsung, and Indian playerslike Lava and Micromax. Theincentives range between 4%and 6% annually. In the firstyear– FY21– overseas playersare required to make aninvestment of `250 crore andmanufacture goods worth`4,000 crore more than theprevious year. The phonesmade by overseas playersshouldhavean invoicevalueofover `15,000. In the case ofIndian players, the investmenttarget is `50 crore& theyhaveto manufacture phones worth`500 crore in the first year.The formula suggested by

ICEA is thus: For FY21, against`4,000crore,saytheapplicanthasachievedonly`2,000croreand there is a shortfall of`2000 crore, as per thisrecommendation, then thecompany should be paid 6%on `2,000 crore and theapplicant can opt to add thebalance `2,000 crore in theincremental turnover criteriain either FY22 or FY23. Thiswill ensure that theproductiontargets over the five-yearperiod are not reduced.Therefore, the spirit of PLIremains intact.

Brickworkpegs FY22 realGDP at 11%THECOUNTRY'SREALgrossdomesticproduct(GDP)islikelytoexpandby11%inthenextfinancialyearduetoafastereconomicrecoveryandonalowbase,saysareportbyBrickworkRatings.

PlexconcilnamesnewchairmanThePlasticsExportPromotionCouncilofIndiaonTuesdayappointedArvindGoenka aschairmanofitsCommitteeOfAdministration.

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Rules under 3labour codes tobe finalised bymonth-end:Labour secyRULES UNDER CODES onindustrial relations, socialsecurity and occupationalsafety health &working con-ditions (OSH)will be finalisedbymonth-endpaving thewayfor implementation of fourlabour reform laws muchbeforeApril 1.The labour ministry has

envisaged implementing thefourlabourcodes fromApril1this year in one go."We will be ready with

rules under three codes onindustrial relations, socialsecurity and OSH bymonth-end. The four codes could beimplementedonnotificationof rulesunderthe fourcodes,"said labour secretary ApurvaChandra while talking toreporters. —PTI

Industrial productionshrinks1.9% inNovPRESSTRUSTOF INDIANewDelhi, January 12

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTIONCONTRACTED by 1.9% inNovember,entering the nega-tiveterritoryafteratwo-monthgap,mainlydue to poor show-ingbymanufacturingandmin-ingsectors,officialdatashowedonTuesday.Themanufacturingsector-

-which constitutes 77.63%ofthe indexof industrial produc-tion (IIP) -- recordedacontrac-tion of 1.7% in November2020,asperdatareleasedbytheNational Statistical Office(NSO).Miningsectoroutputtoowitnessed a decline,shrinking7.3%.However,powergenera-tion grew3.5% in themonthunderreview.TheIIPhadgrownby2.1%in

November2019.Industrialpro-ductionhadplunged18.7%in

March last year following theCovid-19 outbreak andremained in thenegative zonetillAugust2020.

CAG to improveaudit of local bodiesPRASANTASAHUNewDelhi, January 12

WITHSUBSTANTIALGRANTSbeingtransferredtolocalbodiessincethe14thFinanceCommis-sion award period, the Comp-troller and Auditor General ofIndia (CAG) is preparing anactionplantoimproveaccount-ing and auditing standards inthe local bodies tobring ineffi-ciencies in their functioning,CAG Girish Chandra MurmutoldFE.WhiletheCAGhasnoplanto

directlyaudit theseentities,thestatutoryauditorwants tobol-sterthemechanismsetupbythestategovernmentsforexamina-tionoffundflowsanduse.Itwillalsoassesshowthe74thConsti-tutional amendment, whichmandated states to devolve a

portionof tax revenues to localbodies and give them certaintaxation powers, have beenimplementedacrossstates.“We are working on a plan

howtostrengthenauditforlocalbodies.We receive little inputsfromthese entities althougha

lot of funds flowto themafter14th Finance Commissionaward,” Murmu said. Centralgrantstolocalbodies(urbanandrural) has increased from`26,917croreinFY16(firstyearfor14thFC)to`84,459croreinFY20 (revised estimate) and is

pegged at `99,925 crore forFY21(Firstyearof15thFC).Fif-teenthFinanceCommissionhassaid in its first report that fromFY22 onwards, the entry levelconditions forrural localbodiesgettingthesegrantsisthetimelysubmissionofauditedaccounts.Currently,these entities are

audited by state governmentappointed organisations/localfund examiners.“Acommitteehas been formed to look intohow auditing standards andstandardoperatingprocedurescanbe formed for local bodies.Wewould like to take the stategovernmentsonboard,so that,synergy is developed,”Murmusaid. CAG will help states incapacitybuildingaswellassup-plementwithmanpowerwhen-everannualaudittakesplaceforlocalbodies,headded.

Central grants to local bodies

26,917

45,868 47,042 49,464

84,459

99,925

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

1,00,000

1,20,000

FY16

*First year of 15th Finance Commission, other years belong to 14th FC

Source: Union Budget

FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20RE FY21BE*

(` crore)

Agame changer in the Budget could be an honest

attempt by the government to settle the cases

under tax litigation once and for all

—SBI economists

EXPERTVIEW

Dec retailinflation slipsto 4.59%DECLINING VEG-ETABLE prices broughtdownthe retail inflationto a 15-month low of4.59%inDecemberandwithin the comfort zoneoftheReserveBank,gov-ernmentdatashowedonTuesday.It is for the firsttime during the currentfiscal that theConsumerPrice Index based infla-tionprint isbelow6%.

—PTI

We have been informedthat there is a Khalistaniinfiltration in theprotests…There is high

security onJanuary 26.Once they(protestors)are allowedin the city,

wedon't knowwhere alltheywill be going—KKVENUGOPAL,ATTORNEY

GENERAL

Section 8 (of contractfarmingAct) says nofarming agreement shall beentered into (whichwill

result in)mortgage orsale land.That'swhyfarmers shouldnot fear loss

of land, agreement is onlyfor the crop—TUSHARMEHTA, SOLICITOR

GENERAL

Unionsvowtocontinueprotests

Pune

FEBUREAUPune, Jan 12

THE STATE GOVERNMENTofMaharashtrahasconfirmedthattest results of samples fromsomeoftheareasinthestatein-cludingParbhaniandLaturhavebeen found positive for theH5N1avianinfluenzainfection.Atotalof1839deathsofvariousbirdshavebeen recorded sinceJanuary8 thisyearand15,500birdswill be culled in the state,topofficialssaid.Atotalof13districtshavere-

porteddeathsofbirdsbetweenJanuary7and10andbirdshavetested positive for H5N1 inMumbai,Thane,Parbhani,DapoliandBeed,seniorofficialssaid.Ad-dressing a press conference inPune, Sachindra Pratap Singh,Commissioner, Animal Hus-bandry,Maharashtrasaidthatatotal of 214 poultry birds havebeenfounddead inthestateonTuesday.“Out of this,200havedied inYavatmal district,11 inAmravatidistrictand3inAkoladistrict.4crowshavebeenfounddead inAkoladistrict.Thesam-plesarebeingsenttotheNationalInstituteofHigh-SecurityAnimalDiseases(NIHSAD)inBhopalandDisease Investigation Section

(DIS),Pune.Itcantakearound48-72hourstogettheresultsoftheinvestigation,”hesaid.Some97sampleshavebeentestedinPuneofwhich18sampleshavetested

positive forH5N1 infection,hesaidTheresultsof the inspection

ofpreviouslysentsampleshavebeen recently received the Na-tional InstituteofHighSecurityAnimalDiseases,Bhopal,hesaid.The samples from Mumbai,Ghodbander(Thanedistrict)andDapoli forcrowsandheronsandsamples of poultry from Mu-ramba in Parbhani talukahavebeen found positive for H5N1strain,thecommissionersaid.

ECONOMY 3FINANCIALEXPRESS

WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2021

Cementmakers allege cartelisationamongbuilders,seekCentre’s interventionPRESSTRUSTOF INDIAChennai, January 12

CEMENT MANUFACTURERSONTuesdaysoughttheCentre’sintervention to end the allegedcartelisation by builders whowere adopting a ‘profiteeringapproach.’Themanufacturers also al-

leged therewas a lobbyamongbuilders and therewas no ad-ministration to rein them inandtheirprofiteeringapproach.The comments come days

after Union Road TransportMinisterNitinGadkarihadsaidthe big players in the steel andcementindustrywereindulgingincartelisationtojackupprices.Speaking at an event in

Mumbai recently,Gadkari hadsaid, “regarding steel and ce-ment,thisisreallyaproblemforall of us.Actually, I feel this is acartel by somebig peoplewhoaredoingcementandsteel.”Noted industrialistNSrini-

vasanonTuesdaysaidtheSouthIndia Cement ManufacturersAssociation representing thetradersfromthesouthernpartsof the country was formed in

December2020with anobjec-tive to act as an interface be-tween cementmanufacturersandthegovernment.Srinivasan, also the Vice

ChairmanandManagingDirec-torof city-basedThe India Ce-ments, said a memorandumhad been submitted to Prime

MinisterNarendraModiurgingthe government to take proac-tive measures to break thebuilder’s lobby.Briefing reporters,he said,

thecementindustrywasa‘shin-ing example’ of the Centre's‘Atma Nirbhar’ campaign aseverythinginindustrywasdonein India including technologyandmaybesomemachinesmaybe imported fromother coun-triesbuteverythingelsewasrunbyanIndian.Indiawas ranked second in

terms of cement capacity ac-counting to 500million afterChina’s2.6billion,hesaid.“The United States is a 70

million tonne industry and soIndiaisstreetsaheadincementproduction.Cementproductionin South India alone is threetimesoftheUS,”hesaid.Srinivasan said Andhra

Pradesh, Telangana and Kar-nataka account fornearlyone-third of India’s limestone de-posit andhave the potential tobecome a‘cement hub’ for fu-turedevelopment.Despite thehugepotential,

he said the industrywas ailing

due to the poor growth of thehousingsectorduetothe‘artifi-cially high prices of flats andhouses.’“Thereisaclearcartelwork-

ing among builders under thebannerofCREDAIandBuildersAssociation of India who areholding on to prices despitehaving amargin ofmore than100%.Unfortunately,no con-creteactionhasbeenbythead-ministration to rein them inand their profiteering ap-proach,”Srinivasan said in thememorandum.ConfederationofRealEstate

DevelopersAssociationofIndiaandBuilders’Associationof In-dia (BAI) are two associationsthat represent the real estatesectorinthecountry.Giving an example, Srini-

vasansaid,themajorcostofflatpricebeingland,theassociationmade a check on the guidelinerateforlandinhighendareasofChennai.“It is `10,000 per square

foot.GivenanFSIof2/2.4,thecost of land in a flatwould beapproximately `4,200 persquarefoot.Addingto it iscon-

struction cost approximately`2,000-`2,500 a square foot,the total cost of a completedflat works out to amaximumof `6,700 per square foot.However, the selling price isranging from `15,000-`20,000,”he said.Notingthattherewasahuge

unsoldinventoryinthehousingspace, he alleged that thebuilders’lobbywasnotallowingthepricestoslide.“Onlyifbuildershadcutthe

priceandsoldtheinventory,wewouldhave seen a total revivalofrealtydemand.Buildershavejustnot takenadvantageof thePrime Minister’s affordablehousing scheme. Thus, alsodenyingbenefit tothepublicatlarge,”hesaid.Srinivasan representing the

traders'bodyurged theCentreto take proactive measures tobreakthebuilders'lobby.“Ask each builder to come

clean on costing and ask themto reduce the price at least by50%.CREDAI andBuildersAs-sociation of India have a lot ofexplanation to do onbehalf oftheirmembers,”hesaid.

Themanufacturers also

alleged therewas a lobby

among builders and there

was no administration to

rein them in and their

profiteering approach

Mining sector reforms likelyto get Cabinet nod todayFE BUREAUNewDelhi, January 12

THE CABINET IS likely to con-sider and approve theminingsector reform proposals, an-nouncedonMay16byfinanceministerNirmalaSitharamanaspart of theAtmanirbharpack-age, in its next meeting onWednesday.Sitharamanhadannounced

a series of reformproposals forthemining sector.First,as op-posed to separate licenses forexploration and then for pro-duction—thisaddedtoconsid-erableuncertainty—acompre-hensivelicensewasproposedtobegiven.The second important pro-

posalwas to do awaywith thedistinctionbetweencaptiveandnon-captive mining. That ispositive for firmswith captiveminesastheycannowsell theiroutput intheopenmarket,andthiswill boost revenues aswellas augment supplies in thecountry; this also means thatthe old policyof giving prefer-ence to ‘captive’ users will goand, instead, all mines will beavailable foranyone,including

commercialminers.The finance minister had

also announced the concept ofjoint auctioningofbauxite andcoalmines for the aluminiumsector.Amongtheproposals,an-other important one was onamendingthecontentiouspro-visions of 10A(2)(b) and 10A(2)(c) to pave the way for auc-tioningofaround500potentialleasesblockedinlegacyissues.Section10A(2)(b)dealswith

leases where reconnaissancepermit or prospecting licencewere granted; while 10A(2)(c)relatestograntofminingleases(ML). The mines ministry hassought comments from thestakeholdersontheseproposalstillSeptember3.“These (blocks) canneither

be granted as the time tograntthem is already over, nor cantheybe brought to auction be-

causeofthelegalimpasse.Thesecasescomingundersection10A(2)(c) of theActwhich stoodex-tinguishedonJanuary12,2017,as per the law,but are still liti-gatedorpursuedunnecessarilyat various level, need to bebrought to a closure to end thepolicy stalemate,”minesmin-istryhad earlier said in the re-formsproposals seeking stake-holders’suggestion.Therewasalsoaproposal to

develop a comprehensive andbroad-basedmineral index fordetermination of levies andtaxes on the lines of recentlylaunchedNationalCoalIndex.Acommitteewill be set up tode-velop theNationalMineral In-dex inwhich representativesofthe state governmentwill alsobe inducted.TheNationalMin-eral Index will determine thevalue of the mineral that willform the basis for the calcula-tion of royalty and other suchleviesofselectedminerals.Theminesministryalsopro-

posed to seek amendment therelevantprovisionoftheActandrules tomakeNationalMineralExplorationTrust functioningfullyasanautonomousbody.

The financeminister had

also announced the

concept of joint

auctioning of bauxite and

coal mines for the

aluminium sector

5%more income taxreturns filed this yearPRESSTRUSTOF INDIANewDelhi, January 12

INCOME TAX RETURNS filedthisyearhaverisenbyabout5%tonearly6 crore asmore busi-nessesandentitiesfiledannualincomestatements.Over5.95 crore income tax

returns (ITRs) forthefiscalyearendedMarch31,2020 (2019-20)werefiledbyJanuary10,theIncomeTaxDepartmentsaid.The ITR filing deadline for

individuals ended on January10while forcompanies it is tillFebruary15.The tax department in a

tweet said 5.95 crore ITRs forAssessmentYear2020-21werefiled till January 10, 2021, ascompared to 5.67 crore ITRsfiled for the previous Assess-ment Year by September 10,2019. The total returns for2019-20are33.35lakhhigherthan the previousyearas totalITRsfiledstoodat5.61croreonthe last datewhichwasAugust31,2019.“We gratefully acknowl-

edge theeffortsofourtaxpay-ers& taxprofessionals,”it saidsharing the data of ITRs filedforAY2020-21 up to January10,2021.An analysis of the data

showedthatfilingoftaxreturnsbyindividuals for2019-20hasslowedinthecurrentyear,whilefiling bybusinesses and trustshasincreased.Over2.99 crore ITR-1were

filed till January 10 this year,lower than the3.11 crore filedtillSeptember10,2019.ITR-1 form is filed by resi-

dentindividualshavingincomeless than `50 lakh in a year.Over1.49croreITR-4werefiledtill January10,as compared to1.29 crore filed till September10,2019.Returns in ITR-1 Sahaj are

filedbyindividualswhosetotalincome does not exceed Rs 50lakh,while form ITR-4 Sugamismeantforindividuals,HinduUndividedFamilies (HUFs)andfirms (other than Limited Lia-bilityPartnership)havingato-tal income of up to `50 lakhand having presumptive in-come from business and pro-fession.Over46.12lakhITR-2(filed

bypeoplehaving income from

residential property, capitalgains and foreign assets)werefiledtill January10.ITR-5(filedbyLLPandAssociation of Per-sons)filingsstoodat10.50lakh,while ITR-6 (bybusinesses) fil-ingswereat4.72lakh.Last year, ITR-6 filings till

September 10, 2019, were49,398.ITR-5filingswere5.89lakh. ITR-7 (filed by personshaving income derived frompropertyheld under trust) fil-ingsstoodat1.46lakhtillJanu-ary 10, 2021, as compared to65,298lastyear.Due to difficulties faced by

taxpayers owing to the pan-demic,thegovernmentpushedthedeadlineforfilingITRthrice— first from thenormal dead-lineof July31 toNovember30,2020, and then to December31,2020.OnDecember30 lastyear,thegovernmentextendedthedeadlinetofileITRforindi-vidualsby10daystoJanuary10andforbusinesses till February15.The Income Tax Depart-

ment onMonday rejected de-mand for further extension ofthe deadline for filing returnswhereaudit is requiredbeyondFebruary15.“CBDTpassesorderu/s119

ofIncome-taxAct,1961inFNo.370153/39/2020-TPLdt11thJanuary,2021,disposingofftherepresentationsforextensionofduedate for filing ofAudit Re-port u/s 44AB, in compliancewith the order of hon'ble Gu-jaratHighCourtdt8thJanuary,2021,”thedepartmenthadsaidinatweet.Thiswas in response to the

GujaratHighCourtorderdatedJanuary8 in the case of theAllIndiaGujaratFederationofTaxConsultantsversusUnionofIn-dia directing the financemin-istrytolookintotheissueofex-tensionofduedatesforfilingofaudit report under Section44ABoftheITAct.

PMModi to lay foundation stone ofSuratmetro rail project on Jan18FE BUREAUAhmedabad January 12

EIGHT YEARS AFTER it wasformally proposed by SuratMunicipal Corporation(SMC), finally groundbreak-ing of the `1,12000-croreSurat metro rail project willbe performed on January 18by Prime Minister NarendraModi.On the same day Modi

would also perform e-groundbreaking ceremonyofphase-II of Ahmedabadmetro rail project whichwould link Gujarat's com-mercial capital and the state’sadministrative capital Gand-hinagar.SMC had proposed the

metro rail project in the year2012. Gujarat governmenttook fiveyears to approve theproject in 2017. In March2019, finally the Govern-ment of India too gave agreen single for themetro railin India’s diamond city. Gu-jarat Metro Rail CorporationLimited (GMRC),a 50:50 spe-cial purpose vehicle (SPV) ofgovernment of India andGu-jarat government is the im-plementing agency formetro

rail projects inAhmedabadaswell as Surat.Tendering process for the

40.35-km long Surat metroproject has been initiated af-ter the completion of Envi-ronmental Impact Assess-ment (EIA) and Social ImpactAssessment (SIA), said SSRathore,managing directorof GMRC, adding that theproject is expected to com-plete in next five years.Surat metro rail project

would be financed throughequity from Gujarat govern-ment and central govern-ment on50:50basis.Besides,the French DevelopmentAgency, a public financial in-stitution that implementsthe policy defined by theFrench government will alsolend 250 million euros oraround `2300 crore for theproject. Through two corri-dors, Surat metro rail would

cover 20 stations. Nearly 33km out of the 40 km routewould be elevated and sevenkm is proposed to be under-ground.According to Rathore the

28.3 km long Phase II ofAhmedabad metro rail pro-ject would connect the twincities ofAhmedabad-Gandhi-nagar. The work for the Rs.6000 crore second phase isexpected to be completed bythe end of year 2024. Secondphase of the project wouldcover 22 stations includingthat of Gujarat InternationalFinance-Tec City (GIFTCity).Work for the 40 km long

first phase of theAhmedabadmetro project is in full swingand it is expected to completeby September 2022. Out ofthe total 69 km Ahmedabadmetroproject,at present only6.5 kmstretch is operational.Originally the cost of thepro-jectwas estimated at `16000crore. However, delay in theproject due to Covid-19 andother reasons, it had esca-lated beyond `18000 crore.The Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) hasextended a soft loan of` 6,066 crore for the project.

SMC had proposed the

metro rail project in the

year 2012. Gujarat

government took five

years to approve the

project in 2017

Maharashtra confirms bird flucases; 15,500 birds to be culled

PRESSTRUSTOF INDIANewdelhi, January 12

UNION MINISTER NITIN Gad-karionTuesdaysaid initiativessuchas“KhadiPrakritikPaint”will strengthentherural econ-omy and has the potential tobecomea`6,000-crore indus-trysoon.Launchingtheeco-friendly

and non-toxic paint with an-tibacterial properties byKhadiand Village Industries Com-mission (KVIC), Micro, Smalland Medium Enterprises(MSMEs) Minister Gadkarisaid, initiatives such as KVICpaintcouldleadto‘Aatmanirb-harBharat’and arrest the exo-dus of rural population to-wardscities.At the same time, it will

strengthen the rural economyandprotect cows,he said.The“Khadi Prakritik Paint”

is a first-of-its-kind product

based on cowdung as itsmainingredient. It is cost-effectiveas well as odourless and hasbeencertifiedbytheBureauofIndianStandards.“Khadi Prakritik Paintwill

bea`6,000croreindustryafterbranding...The paint is betterthan the best available paintavailable in themarket and ispriced at `225 a litre as com-pared to paints by variousbrandswhich are `550 a litre,”Gadkarisaidduringthelaunch.OnMSMEs,hesaidtheidea

was to take its contribution toGDP to 50% from the current

30% and boost exports to60%,from48%.“The plan is also to take

KVIC’s turnover to `5 lakhcrore in the next five years,from `80,000 crore at pre-sent,”he said.Theminister saidwith cow

dung as the main ingredientbehindthispaint,cowswillbe-come a source of income evenif theyarenon-milchingcows.“Novillagerwill liketosend

cows to butchers...No cowwillgo to butchers,not by lawbutdue to economy,” he said andadded that this initiativewillstrengthen agriculture, ruraland tribal economy, besides115 aspirational districtswhere GDPgrowth is negligi-ble.Khadi Prakritik Paint is

available in two forms— dis-temperpaintandplasticemul-sionpaint.ProductionofKhadiPrakritik Paint is alignedwith

the PrimeMinister’s vision ofincreasing farmers'income.The paint,with antifungal

andantibacterial properties,isfree from heavy metals likelead,mercury, chromium,ar-senic,cadmiumandothers.It isexpected to boost localmanu-facturing and create sustain-able local employmentthroughtechnologytransfer.Thiswillboost socially,eco-

nomically and educationallybackward area’s developmentand arrest migration of ruralpopulace tometropolises likeDelhi,Mumbai,Chennai,Ban-galore,andKolkata,he said.Gadkari said the MSMEs

Ministrywill supportclinics invillages for production of in-digenous cows through ad-vanced scientific techniquesandplans to fund10,000suchclinicspanIndiabesidestrans-ferofpainttechnologyforlocalproductionofpaints.

‘KhadiPrakritikPaint toboost rural growth’

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari

PRESSTRUSTOF INDIANewDelhi, January 12

THEGOVERNMENTHINTEDonTuesday that for now, theCovid vaccine recipients willnot have the option to choosefromthetwovaccinesrecentlyapproved for restricted emer-gencyuse in India.Replying to a question at a

press conference here,Unionhealth secretary RajeshBhushan said,“Atmanyplacesin the world, more than onevaccine are being adminis-tered, but presently, in nocountry, vaccine recipientshave the option of choosingthe shots.”Indiahasrecentlyapproved

two vaccines for the viral dis-ease for restricted emergencyuse—Oxford University’s Co-vishield and Bharat Biotech’s

Covaxin.Bhushan said therewill be

a gap of 28 days between twodoses of the Covid-19 vaccineand its effectiveness can beseenonlyafter14days.“Sowe urge people to keep

following Covid appropriatebehaviour,”he said.Indiawill launch its Covid-

19vaccinationdrivefromJan-uary 16 with priority to be

given to nearly three crorehealthcareandfrontlinework-ers.Bhushansaid54.72lakhof

the entire stock of Covid-19vaccine doses ordered so farwere received by the desig-nated national and state-levelvaccine stores till Tuesday af-ternoon,with the coronavirusinoculation drive set to beginfromSaturday.

Fornow,Covidvaccine recipientswillnot get to choose from2options:Govt

Pune

● 5G SERVICES

KIRAN RATHEE

NewDelhi, January 12

AS THE GOVERNMENT gears up to con-duct thenext roundof spectrumauction,telecomfirmshavesoughtclarityif5Gcanbe launched on the airwaves boughtthrough this sale. Though spectrumassigned through auction is technology-neutral as also the unified licence, theomission of 5G in the notice invitingapplication(NIA)issuedbyDepartmentofTelecommunications (DoT) led some tel-cos to seekaclarificationonTuesday.Moreover,theNIAhasspecificallysaid

that operatorswanting to use new tech-nologyhave to seekpriorclearance.Biddingfortheauctionwillcommence

on March 1, and airwaves worth `3.92lakh crore will be up for sale. A total of2,251MHzspectruminsevenbandsrang-ing from 700MHz to 2500MHzwill beauctioned.Airwaves for 5G (3300MHz-3600MHz)won’tbeauctionedthis time.The DoT has asked the operators to

send theirwritten queries byFriday,afterwhichaclarificationwill be issued.As per theNIA,spectrumblocks in the

liberalised spectrumoracquired throughauctionsmaybe combined if required bytechnology and there are no restrictionson the technology to bedeployed forpro-vidingserviceswithinthescopeoftheser-vicelicence,provideditiscompatiblewithtechnologies already deployed in thelicensedservicearea (LSA).The successful bidder shall provide

details of the technology proposed to bedeployedforoperationofitsservicesusingthespectrumblockassignedthroughthisauctionwithin onemonth of obtaininglicence, if the technology happens to beGSM/WCDMA/LTE/CDMA. “In case ofswitching over to a different technology(other than GSM/WCDMA/LTE/CDMA),whilerollingoutthenetworksforcompli-

ance of roll out obligations, informationregarding the new technology should begiven at least one year before any newtechnologybase station site is offered fortesting,”theNIAsaid.The technology should be based on

standards approved by ITU/TEC or anyother international standards organisa-tion.Thetelcoswillbeallowedtouseaddi-tionalspectrumboughtthroughthisauc-tion to deploy any technology other thanGSM/CDMAafter converting their entireadministratively assigned spectrum intoliberalisedspectruminthesameband.TheNIAfurther said in case of change

of technology, the licenseesmust ensurecontinuity of coverage, provisioning,delivery,qualityofservicesinthenetworkdeployedwithearliertechnology.“Foruseof technology other than GSM, CDMA,WCDMA,and LTE,prior clearancewill berequired to ensure that harmful interfer-enceisnotcausedtothealreadyoperatingtechnologieseitherinthesamebandorintheadjacentbands,”theNIAsaid.Reliance Jio has said in the past that it

plans to roll out5Gservices in the secondhalf of 2021, but as 5G spectrum is notbeingauctioned,thetelcomayhavetousespectrum bought through this sale tolaunch5G.Theoperatorhasalreadydevel-opedanin-house5Gsolutionthatitplanstodeployto launchservices.

FE BUREAU

Kochi, January 12

ELEVEN INDIAN COMPANIES, led byReliance Industries worth $169 billion,feature in the 2020HurunGlobal 500, alist of the 500most valuable non-state-controlledcompanies in theworld.The2020HurunGlobal500areranked

according to their value,defined asmar-ketcapitalisationforlistedcompaniesandvaluations for non-listed companies.Thecut-offdatewasDecember1,2020.Appleisthe world’smostvaluablecom-

pany worth $2.1 trillion, followed byMicrosoft andAmazonwith $1.6 trillioneachandAlphabetworth$1.2 trillion.Theworld’sfourtrillion-dollarcompaniesadded

$2.6 trillion in theyear,equivalent to theGDPofIndia,totaketheirtotalvalueto$6.6trillion—13%oftheHurunGlobal500.RupertHoogewerf,chairmanandchief

researcher of Hurun Report, said, “Sur-prisingly,therehasbeennoslowdowninayear dominated byCovid-19.Far from it.Totalvalueroseby25%.HurunG500rep-resents themost powerful group of com-panies in the world. Together, they areworthamassive$50trillion,equivalenttothe GDPs of the world’s six largesteconomiesor60%ofglobalGDP.Theyhadcombined sales last year of $18 trillion,equivalent to the GDP of the USA, andemployed 43million staff, equivalent totheworkingpopulationofGermany.”The US contributes nearly half of the

companies in Hurun Global 500 and acombinedvalue of $29.6 trillion,equiva-lenttoathirdoftheglobalGDP.China,with51companies,comessecondinthe list.India stand at the tenth positionwith

11companies.RelianceisfollowedbyTataConsultancy Services with $139 billionandHDFCBankwith$108billion.Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and chief

researcher,Hurun India, said,“Althoughonly11 companies from Indiamade it tothe HurunGlobal 500, it is interesting tonotethatmorethanhalfofthenon-IndiancompaniesinHurunGlobal500havetheirregionalpresenceinIndia,demonstratingthe importanceof India intheglobal sup-ply chain and the country’s demographicdividend.”

FE BUREAU

New Delhi, January 12

BSES RAJDHANI POWER (BRPL) andBSES Yamuna Power (BYPL) have paidAravali Power (APCPL) `352.27 croreand `47.34 crore, respectively, onJanuary 11 as per demand, aspokesperson said, adding that theissue has been resolved.“BSES discoms are committed to

supply reliable and uninterruptedpower supply to around 46 lakhconsumers in Delhi,” the spokespersonadded.BRPL & BYPL are power distribution

companies and joint ventures (JVs)between Reliance Infrastructure andthe government of National CapitalTerritory of Delhi.On January 2, Aravali Power, a JV of

NTPC, HPGCL and IPGCL, had issuednotices to BRPL and BYPL towards thedefault in payment of dues of `352.27

crore in the case of BRPL and `47.34crore in the case of BYPL.The notice had directed the discoms

to make the payment within 10 days ofthe notice, failing which APCPL hadthreatened to initiate a corporateinsolvency resolution process againstthe discoms.

BSES discoms pay dues of`400 cr toAravali Power

PRESSTRUSTOF INDIA

NewDelhi, January 12

IT MAJOR TATA Consultancy Services(TCS) onTuesday said itwill acquire GE’sstake in Tata Consultancy Services SaudiArabia for$12,471 (about`9.13 lakh).In September 2013,TCS announced

the creation of an all-women businessprocess services centre in Riyadh (SaudiArabia) inpartnershipwithGE.“Given GE’s planned exit from this

partnership, the partners have enteredintoadefinitiveagreementsubjecttoclos-ingconditionsfortransferofGE’sstakeintheventuretoTCS,”aregulatoryfilingsaid.Oncompletionofrequiredgovernance

andbusinesschangestoeffectthistransi-tion,TCSwillassumefull responsibilityofthecentre,it added.Thiswill securethecentre’sviabilityin

thelongertermandallowittocontinuetoserveasa sourceofopportunityandskillsdevelopment forwomen in the country,

the statement said.Saudi Desert Rose Holding BV (wholly

owned subsidiary of General ElectricInternational (Benelux) BV) holds 24%share in TCS Saudi Arabia,while the bal-ance76%isheldbyTataConsultancySer-vicesNetherlandsBV(awhollyownedsub-sidiaryofTCS).TCSsaidthecentrehasexpandedfrom

20 to almost 1,000 women employeesoverthepast sevenyears,andwonseveralawards.Thefilingsaidanti-trustapprovalin Saudi Arabia is being sought for thetransaction,which is expected to be com-pleted in3-6months.

TCS to acquireGE’s stake inTCS SaudiArabia for`9 lakh

SARITHARAI

January 12

INDIA’S BIGGESTONLINE-EDUCATION

startupByju’s has signed a deal to acquirebrick & mortar test prep leader AakashEducationalServicesfor$1billion,accord-ingtoapersonwithknowledgeofthetalks.The deal for what will be one of the

largest ed-tech acquisitions in theworldshould close in the next two or threemonths,saidtheperson,whodidn’twanttobeidentifiedastheinformationisprivate.Bengaluru-headquarteredByju’sisval-

uedat$12billionandhasbeenonafund-raising spree as the pandemic has sentdemand for its online lessons soaring.India’s second-most valuable startup isbacked by the likes of Facebook founderMark Zuckerberg’s Chan Zuckerberg Ini-tiative, Tiger Global Management andBondCapital,co-foundedbySiliconValleyinvestorMaryMeeker.

A Byju’s spokeswoman declined tocomment,while emails and calls to NewDelhi-basedAakash Educational Servicesand its chief executive officer AakashChaudhrydidnotelicit a response.

BlackstoneGroup-backedAakashEdu-cational Services runs Aakash Institute,whichhasover200brickandmortarcen-tersandtutorsstudents togainentryintothe country’s elite engineering andmed-ical schools. Its student count is over250,000,according to itswebsite.While online learning startups have

thrived,offlinetutoringcentreshavebeenbadlyhitbythepandemic.

—BLOOMBERG

Byju’s to pay $1 bn to buyBlackstone-backedAakash

FE BUREAU

New Delhi, January 12

SNAPDEAL’S NET LOSSES increased bya little over 43%year-on-year at `270.2crore in the year to March 31, 2021, thecompany’s filings with the RoC sourcedfrom business intelligence platformTofler showed.Even as expenses rose to `1,168.3

crore in FY20 from `1,087.6 crore inFY19, revenue from operationsremained stagnant at `813.9 crore

during theyear.Snapdeal saidmore than27 million annual buyers and over380,000 registered sellers transact on itsplatform. The company claims to have

hosted more than 70 million uniquemonthly visitors during FY19-20.“With continuing focus on improving

user experience, we have seen anincrease in visitors and improvedconversion rate as against last year.Our operating revenue for FY19-20 is atpar compared to last year even withthe early impact of Covid-19 pandemic-related lockdowns,” the e-coomercecompany said in the filings.Competitors Amazon and Flipkart

that lead the e-commerce market also

reported an increase in losses. However,they recorded higher growth in revenuetoo.Amazon and Flipkart’s revenue fromoperations rose bynearly 43%and 40%to `1,0847.6 crore and `5,916.3 crorerespectively. For Amazon, lossesincreased onlymarginallywhile Flipkartposted a 19.21% rise in net losses.

With the entry of JioMart and deep-pocketed firms like Tata Group set tojoin list of the e-commerce players, themarket is only going to be increasinglycompetitive in the coming years.

Snapdeal net losses rise 43% in FY20; revenues stagnant

ADITI SHAH

NewDelhi, January 12

TESLA HAS MOVED a step closer to itslaunch in India later this yearby register-ingacompanyinthecountry,aregulatoryfilingshowedonTuesday.TeslaMotors India andEnergyPrivate

Limited was incorporated on January 8with its registeredoffice inBengaluru.The filing shows the Indian unit has

threedirectors,includingDavidFeinstein,currently a senior executive at Tesla,according tohisLinkedInprofile.TransportministerNitin Gadkari had

toldalocalnewspaperinDecembertheUSelectric carmakerwould startwith salesandthenmightlookatassemblyandman-ufacturing.TeslachiefexecutiveElonMuskhas tweeted several times in recent years,including as recently as October 2020,aboutanimpendingforayintoIndia.The move comes as Prime Minister

NarendraModi is promoting the produc-

tion and use of electric vehicles to reducethe country's oil dependence and cutdown on pollution.But efforts have beenstymiedbya lackof investment inmanu-facturing and infrastructure such aschargingstations.To boost investment, the government

plans to offer$4.6 billion in incentives tocompanies setting up advanced batterymanufacturing facilities, according to agovernmentproposal seenbyReuters.

—REUTERS

Tesla registers its Indiaunit based in Bengaluru

TechM to acquirePayments TechnologyServices for `66 crTECHMAHINDRAonTuesdaysaiditwillacquirePaymentsTechnologyServices,astep-downsubsidiaryoffin-techfirmFIS,for$9million(about`66crore).TheacquisitionwillgiveTechMahindraaccesstoIPsandlicencesfortwoproducts-OpenPaymentFramework(OPF)andMulti-BankSystem(MBS),aregulatoryfilingsaid.

GlobalwholesalesofTataMotorsup1%inDecqtrTATAMOTORSonTuesdayreporteda1%rise inglobalwholesales,including JaguarLandRover,to2,78,915units in the thirdquarterofthecurrent fiscal.Theautomajorhadsold2,76,127units in theOctober-Decemberperiodof2019-20.

RITESwins`68-crorecontract fromNHSRCLRITESONTUESDAYsaidithaswona`68crorecontractfromNationalHigh-SpeedRailCorporation(NHSRCL)forestablishmentandmaintenanceofcontinuouslyoperatingreferencestationsalongthe487-kmMumbai-AhmedabadHigh-SpeedRailCorridor,excluding21kmunderseatunnel.

CubeHighwaystakesover80-kmroadfromLancoSINGAPORE-BASEDCUBEHIGHWAYS&InfrastructureonTuesdaysignedanagreementwiththeNationalHighwaysAuthorityofIndia to takeoverNeelamangala-DevihallihighwayinKarnataka foranundisclosedamount.TheprojectwasbeingoperatedbythenowcrippledLanco Infrastructure,CubeHighwayssaid inastatementonTuesday.

PurpleTutorraises$300,000inseedroundMUMBAI-BASEDed-techstart-up,PurpleTutorhasraisedabout$300,000inaseedroundoffundingledbyIvy-CapVentures.Theroundsawparticipa-tionfromotherinvestors,includingSimplilearnCEOKrishnaKumar.

MorganStanleyappointsSanjayShahcountryheadAMERICANINVESTMENTbankMorganStanleyhasappointedSanjayShahasthecountryheadforitsIndiabusinessaspartofsenior-levelappoint-ments,officialssaidonTuesday.Shah,whohasbeenwiththecompanysince1996,wastheco-headsince2013.

SanjayKhannatoheadBPCLKochiRefinerySANJAYKHANNAHAStakenoverastheexecutivedirectorofBPCLKochiRefinery,BPCLsaidonTuesday.Priortothis,hewasheadingtheBPCLMumbaiRefinery. HeisachemicalengineeringgraduatefromNationalInstituteofTechnology,Tiruchirapalli,andpostgraduateinfinancemanagementfromMumbaiUniversity.

SunteckRealtyQ3salesbookings increase7%SUNTECKREALTYONTuesdaysaiditssalesbookingsincreased7%year-on-yearto`349croreintheOctober-Decemberquarterofthisfiscalonbetterdemand.Thefigurewas`325croreinthesameperiodofthepreviousfiscal.Onaquarter-on-quarterbasis,salesbookingsinQ3wereup75%.

Flipkartpicks8finalistsforstart-upprogrammeFLIPKARTONTuesdaysaidithasselectedeightfinalistsforthemaidencohortofitsstart-upacceleratorprog-rammethatwillundergoa16-weekmentorshipprogrammeandreceiveanequity-freegrantof$25,000.

Grofers toholdOrangeBagDaysale fromJan16-26GROFERSISBACKwiththelatesteditionofitssemi-annualsale–GrofersGrandOrangeBagDays(GOBD).Sche-duledfromJanuary16toJanuary26,GOBD5willofferthelowestpricesongroceriesandvariousotherdeals.

Got approvalsfor downstreaminvestmentsafter FDI nodfromDoT:Airtel

CompaniesFINANCIALEXPRESS4 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2021

Aheadof spectrumauction,telcosseek someclarity PRESSTRUSTOF INDIA

NewDelhi, January 12

BHARTI AIRTEL ON Tuesday said pur-suanttotheFDIapproval inJanuary2020granted to it bytheDoT,the companyhasreceived necessary approvals for its rele-vantdownstreaminvestments.BhartiAirtel furthersaidit is initiating

theprocesstoreviseitsforeigninvestmentlimit, as notified to its depositories, to100%with immediateeffect.“FurthertoourintimationdatedJanu-

ary 21,2020,wewish to informyou thatin compliance of the FDI approval datedJanuary20,2020,grantedtothecompany

by the Department of Telecommunica-tions,thecompanyhasreceivedapprovalsfor its relevantdownstreaminvestments.“Accordingly,thecompanyisinitiating

theprocesstoreviseitsforeigninvestmentlimit,asnotifiedtoitsdepositories,to100percentwithimmediateeffect,”AirtelsaidinaBSEfilingonTuesday.It ispertinenttomentionherethatAir-

telhadreceivedtheapprovalfromtheDoTon January 20, 2020, for increasing thelimitofforeigninvestmentupto100%ofthepaid-upcapital of thecompany.The approval received by subsidiary

entitiesnowwouldallowAirteltohavefor-eign investment up to 100%,without itsdownstreamentitiesbecomingnon-com-pliantwithanynorms.

TataChemicalsin advanced talksforArchean’sindustrial salt unitBLOOMBERGJanuary 12

TATACHEMICALS IS in advanced talks toacquire the industrial salt unit ofArcheanGroupthatcouldvaluethebusinessat`4.5billion($61million)ataminimum,accord-ingtopeople familiarwiththematter.The board of Tata Chemicals is set to

discuss the potential offer as soon as thismonth, said the people,who asked not tobeidentifiedastheinformationisprivate.Negotiations are ongoing and could stillfall apart,thepeople said.A representative forArchean declined

to comment,while a representative forTataChemicalsdidn’t provideanyimme-diate comment.Apotential deal could offer a reprieve

toArchean,which has been struggling toserviceitsdebtobligationsforthepasttwoyears. The Chennai-based company,foundedin1982,hasbusinessesspanningfrom industrial salt, fertilisers tomining,according to itswebsite.In2018,IndiaResurgenceFund,a joint

venturebetweenBainCapital andPiramalEnterprises, invested $156 million inArchean’smarine chemical business.Thecompanysaiditwouldusetheproceedsforrefinancing existing debt and providingcapitaltogrowitsmarketshareinIndiaandabroad. Icra upgradedArchean’s rating inOctober2019citingoperational improve-ments since the investment, but said itscapitalstructureremainshighlyleveraged.TheArcheanunitmakes industrial salt

used as an intermediary in themanufac-turingofproducts fromdetergents,textiledyestoplasticsandglass.

❝ ❝

PANDEMIC BOOSTHarshil Mathur, co-founder and CEO, Razorpay

Manymoved their business online for the first time

(in 2020), ushering in a new digital transformation.

2020was a year of great innovation, new

opportunities and thewin of a much-awaited

trust in digital payments.

Snapdeal said 27 million annual

buyers and 380,000 registered

sellers transact on its platform. The

company claims to have hosted

more than 70million unique

monthly visitors during FY19-20

On January 2, Aravali Power, a

JVof NTPC, HPGCLand IPGCL, had

issued notices to BRPLand BYPL

towards the default in payment

The deal, to be one of the largest

ed-tech acquisitions in theworld,

may close in the next

two or three months

Value % Main

Rank Company $bn chg City industry

54 Reliance Industries 168.8 20.5 Mumbai Telecommunications

73 TCS 139.0 29.9 Mumbai Software & Services

105 HDFC Bank 107.5 11.5 Mumbai Financial Services

190 Hindustan Unilever 68.2 3.3 Mumbai Consumer Goods

201 Infosys 66.0 56.6 Bengaluru Software & Services

249 HDFC 56.4 2.1 Mumbai Financial Services

284 Kotak Mahindra Bank 50.6 16.8 Mumbai Financial Services

316 ICICI Bank 45.6 -0.5 Mumbai Financial Services

440 Bharti Airtel 35.6 1.7 New Delhi Telecommunications

451 Bajaj Finance 35.0 5.4 Pune Financial Services

480 ITC 32.6 -22.0 Kolkata Consumer Goods

Source: Hurun Report

Indian companieswhichmade it to the list

11 Indian companies find place in Hurun’s Global 500 for 2020

Quick

View

Pune

�����������������

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2021

FINANCIALEXPRESS6 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM

❝ ❝

END POLITICALDYNASTYPrimeminister of India Narendra Modi

Political dynasty is a challenge that thecountry is

facedwith and it has tobe rootedout ...There are still

peoplewhose ideas, thoughts andgoals are all about

keeping their families inpolitics

IFONECOUNTRYapprovesacoro-navirus vaccine, should anotherjusttrust itandfollowsuit?Covid-19’s rapid global spread pushedlabsandmanufacturerstodevelop

vaccinesquickly.Several arenowinuseandmoreare invariousstagesofdevel-opment.Earlypredictionsthatavaccinewould take 12 to 18months to arriveseemedoptimistic.Handit tothephar-maceuticalcompanies;theysteppedupanddelivered.Now,thegreaterburdenisonregula-

torstodeployvaccinesintheircountries.Drugapproval processesvarybynationandthereisn’tauniversalone-stoppro-cedure, thoughvarious bodies tend tocommunicate.Thismeans timelines ofdeployment vary from place to place,oftendelayingshotsgoingintoarms.At one end of the spectrum South

Africa,whichbypasseditsregulatoralto-gether to hasten vaccinations. AtanotherisJapan,whichisn’texpectedtoapprove theModerna Inc jabuntilMaybecause of local clinical trial rules.Thevaccinehasbeengreen-lightedintheUSandbeeninusesincemid-December.InTokyo,primeministerYoshihide Sugahastakentheunusualmeasureofgoingaround his healthministrydirectly toPfizerInctospeeduptheUScompany’sapplication for approval in Japan.Thatcould mean the country will receiverequireddatathismonthinsteadofnextandcouldadministerthevaccinePfizerdevelopedwithBioNTechSEbytheendofFebruary.For everyone taking the vaccine

soonerorlater,alotridesontrustintheapprovalprocess.TheUSFoodandDrugAdministration is theoldest of its kindandhasdevelopedadeepwellofpublicconfidence.Sohaveregulators inotherplaces.Whototrustasexpertstrykeep-ing up with the way manufacturershaveacceleratedvaccinedevelopment?IntheUK,thePfizer-BioNTechshotwasgreen-lighted within days, using arolling reviewdeployed during publichealth emergencies.The topUS infec-

tious diseases expert,Anthony Fauci,initially bemoaned the UK’s rapidapproval,and laterapologised.Meanwhile, the Covid-19 vaccine

fromAstraZenecaPlcandtheUniversityofOxfordhas had its share of approvalissues in the US compared with asmootherprocess in theUK.A lotmoredatawas requested in theUS,a processthe company’s chief executive, PascalSoriot,saidinaNovemberinterview with the WallStreet Journalwas“nerve-racking in terms of thetimethatittook."National authorities

are faced with a gargan-tuan task—and risk. Thevaccine developmentprocess typically takesyears to decades (one ofthe fastest approval processeswas formumps in the1960s,which tookaboutfouryears,andmore recently,forEbola,which took the same amount of time),drawing inaroundadozenpeople (plusanimals) in the firstphase to thousandsbyphase3trials.Beforeitbegins,there’spre-clinicalworktounderstandthenutsand bolts of a disease. Human-studychallengesaddheapsofriskinspeedingthings up,and all those decisions havehadtohappenquickly.Different models of development

change how manufacturing getsunderway.ConsiderboththeModernaand Pfizer-BioNTech ones,which arebased on a genetic sequencingapproach that hasn’t previously beenused.Insteadoftriggeringanimmuneresponse like typical vaccines, these

messenger RNA-based (mRNA) ver-sionsdon’tuselivevirusesandinsteadteachourcellshowtorespond.Goodasthat is forthe futureofhealthcare,it’sharder for regulators to expeditebecause it’s new to them as well.They’ve had to squeeze timelines andstartapprovalprocessesbeforefinish-ing clinical trials.Canada has put in place an interim

order that allowsmanu-facturers to submit datafromtrialsastheyarecol-lected as opposed to sub-mitting completed stud-ies and data sets at thesame time.The aim is toreduce administrativeburdens in conducting aclinical trial while stillmaintaining patient

safetyandthevalidityofresults.HealthCanada said it would also introduce“flexibility by expanding the types ofhealthcareprofessionalswhocancon-ductaclinical trial.”Severalregulatorshaveexistingways

to go faster.For example, Japan’s Phar-maceuticalsandMedicalDevicesAgencyhas tools likepriorityreviewandcondi-tional approval, which can shorten atimeline to around six toninemonths.But the country has one of the lowestconfidence rates invaccination in theworldanditsapprovalprocessesareslow.In the late1980s,close to1,800peoplesuffered side effects like non-viralmeningitis from themumps,measlesandrubellavaccine.Thegovernmenthadto paydamages and thevaccineswerehaltedby1993.However,theUSCenters

for Disease Control and Prevention,alongwithmedicalregulatorselsewhere,stillrecommendit.That’s preciselywhy if onenational

regulatordeems avaccine ready touseotherswon’t necessarily followalong.Theycanalso approachproceduresdif-ferently.TheFDA,forinstance,getsalltheraw data and runs its own tests. InEurope,eachcountryhasitsownregula-torandacentral regional bodyrelies onmanufacturers’ analyses of their owndata.Itcandependonwhyagencieswereformed (for consumers or companies)andwhatthey’reresponsiblefor.Scientists worry expedited emer-

gencyapprovalswillposeproblemsforunderstanding long-term effects,according to a report in Nature. Andthere are other considerations,such asprecedents for future vaccines anddrugs. If itwas done forCovid-19,whynot for the next virus that looks like apandemic, even if it doesn’t end upbeing one? Slowing down the processonceit’salreadygoneintooverdrivewillbedifficult.Racial differences couldmean that

countries can’t take efficacy data forgranted.WithCovid-19,onedraftstudyshowedthatlessthanhalfofonepercentof white participants didn’t show animmune response to Covid vaccines,comparedwith around10%ofAsian-Americans. One of the authors notedtheirworkpointedtotheneedforclinicaltrials to“carefully considerancestry intheir studydesigns to ensure that effi-cacy ismeasured across anappropriatepopulation.”So what’s the way forward? Freely

exchangingdataonopenplatformshasbeensuggested.Monitoringhowpeoplereact over time will matter greatly tolearn lessons forthe future.Butwe’re inanexplosivepandemic,andwhilespeedmatters,sodosafetyandtrust.

Thiscolumndoesnotnecessarilyreflecttheopinionoftheeditorialboard

orBloombergLPanditsowners

●COUNTER JABTHE LEVELOFREDTAPE IS INTHE POWEROFNATIONALREGULATORS.

THEYDON’TALLSEETHINGSTHE SAMEWAY

ANJANITRIVEDI

Bloomberg

URVASHI PRASAD&JANAKPRIYANI

Prasad is public policy specialist andPriyani is youngprofessional, NITIAayog.Viewsarepersonal

THELATESTNATIONALFamilyHealthSurvey(NFHS-5)resultspaintaworryingpictureofnutritionoutcomesforseveralstates in India.Of course,wemustwaitfordata on other indicators to becomeavailable to formulateacomprehensiveview.It is also important to appreciatehealth and nutrition outcomes oftentake longer to showtangible improve-mentsthanotherdevelopmentparame-ters.Further,adeeperanalysisofthedif-ferencesbetweenthemethodologyandresults ofNFHS-5and theComprehen-siveNational Nutrition Survey (2016-18), iswarranted.Having said that,wemust notwait to intensify our effortsagainstmalnutrition,ascourgethatsig-nificantlyhampers the nation’s socialandeconomicprogress.Firstly,boththeCentreandthestates

mustprioritisespendingonnutritioninorder to invest in capacity building aswellastheprocurementofessentialsup-plies and technology tools, such assmartphones and growthmonitoringdevices. Data from RBI shows thatexpenditurebytheCentreonitsflagshipscheme,IntegratedChildrenDevelop-mentServices,grew,betweenFY16andFY20,ataCAGRof10.3%.In contrast, although the overall

expenditure on social services by stategovernmentshasbeenfairlyconsistent,thespendonnutritiondeceleratedafterFY14.WhiletheCAGRforstatespendingon nutrition during FY06-FY15 was19.8%,itreducedto4.9%duringFY15-FY19.Adjustingforinflation,thegrowthrate is, in fact,negative for some inter-mittent years. With the coverage of

schemes increasing,this translates intodecreasingper-capitaspendingonnutri-tionovertheseyears.AnotableexceptionisKarnataka,which increased its nutri-tionexpenditureduringtheNFHS-5sur-veyperiod.PostCovid-19,existing inequities in

individualhouseholdspendingonnutri-tion could worsen, and state financesmightbestretchedfurther,therebymak-ingacase fortheCentre toperhapsplayanevenbiggerroleinensuringadequatefundingforthiscrucialsector.Ofcourse,it is equally important that statesmakefulluseoffundsmadeavailabletothemthrough central government schemes,likethePOSHANAbhiyaan.Second,whileconvergenceisintegral

to the philosophy of the POSHANAbhiyaan,greater focus is required onputting in place institutional mecha-nismsinstatesanddistricts.It is criticalto enable convergence among min-istries,likehealth,nutrition,agriculture,education,drinkingwater and sanita-tion,and equally important to ensurethatmultiple interventionsconvergeatan individual household level. It isencouraging that the first round ofNFHS-5resultshaveshownasignificantimprovement inwater and sanitationindicators as well as considerableprogressonindicatorspertainingtotheeducationlevelsandageofmarriageforwomen. Additionally, the coverage ofinterventionsimpactingtheimmediateandunderlyingdeterminants of nutri-tion like early antenatal care and ironsupplementationduringpregnancyhasimproved in most states. However, if

states are todramatically improve theiroutcomesinnutrition,itisvitalthatmul-tiple interventions are concomitantlydeliveredtothesamehousehold,womanandchild.Third,inadditiontoequippinghealth

andnutritionworkerswith technologytools that enable real-timemonitoringof growthdata,training them in its useisalsocrucial.Supervisorycadresplayanespeciallyimportantrole inmakinguseofsuchdata.Therefore,itisessentialthatany vacancies in positions, includingthoseofchilddevelopmentprojectoffi-cers, district programme officers andladysupervisors,are filled onaprioritybasis.Anothercriticalaspect isensuringalignment between thedata collectionand monitoring systems of the min-istriesofhealthandnutritioninordertoeliminate duplication andbreakdownthesiloesinservicedelivery.Fourth, community involvement

andownershiparealsoof essence.Ini-tiativesliketheRashtriyaPoshanMaahand Poshan Pakhwada have undoubt-edlyhelped to increase thevisibilityofnutrition-relatedchallenges,includingatthegrassrootslevel,throughvariousactivities, such as community-basedeventsanddoor-to-doorcampaigns.Itisimperativethatthemomentumgen-erated from these efforts is sustainedthroughout the year in order to createawareness about the benefits of anutritious diet and perils of junk foodaswell as induce desirable behaviourchange,especiallywithrespecttoearlyinitiation of breastfeeding, timelyintroduction of complementary feed-ingand locallyfeasibledietarydiversi-fication. Several states have adoptedmodels for enhancing communityengagement innutrition,which couldbe scaled-up and replicated in otherareaswithnecessarycustomisation.InBihar,forinstance,feedingdemonstra-tionswerecarriedoutduringself-helpgroupmeetingsaspartof the JEEViKAproject.This interventionwas directlylinked to a two-fold improvement incomplementaryfeedingpracticesovera two-yearperiod.

SC on farm lawsWhile expressing its disappointmentover theway negotiations betweentheprotesting farmers and theUniongovernment have progressed, theapex court of India has not onlyasked theUnion government tokeep the newly enacted farm laws inabeyance till the expert panelconstitutedby it and submits areport, but alsowent further andasserted itwould stay theimplementation of the farm laws.The SupremeCourt of India cannotbe faulted for taking such a strongstance against theUniongovernment. Even after having eightroundofnegotiations, impasse overthe farm laws still remains unbroken.Thevery strategy of theUniongovernment to tire out protestingfarmers had not yielded anydesiredresults as farmers stood unrelentingdespite the crippling coldweatherconditions and its resultant toll ontheir physical andmental health.Asthe court appointedpanel sitting ona judgement on a lawpassedby theParliamentwill have its bothintended and unintendedconsequences, it is time thegovernmentmust strive itself to finda political solution rather thanleaving theball in the court ofhigher judiciary.—MJeyaram, Sholavandan

The longest battleThemarathonmatch-savingpartnership between HanumaVihariand RavichandranAshwin to keepthemaraudingAussie bowlers atbay in the third test match atSydneywill go down as one of thegreatest rescue acts ever. Comingtogether after India lost fivewicketsfor 272 and 42.7 overs remaining,the pair valiantly defendedeverything thrown at them,including sledging by theAustralians. Rishabh Pant’s brilliant97 and Cheteshwar Pujara’s gritty77 also deserve special mention.This is the longest India has everbatted in the 4th innings of aTest.—NJ Ravi Chander, Bengaluru

Post Covid-19,existing inequities in individualhousehold spending onnutrition couldworsen.Hence,the Centre needs to playan even bigger rolein ensuring adequate funding for this crucial sector

LETTERSTO

THE EDITOR

Howmuch shouldwe trusteach other onvaccines?

Getting support fornutrition right

Racial differences

could mean that

countries can’t

take efficacy data

for granted

●Write to us at feletters@expressindia.com

R.N.I. Reg. No.MAHENG/2010/34809 Printed and published byVaidehi ChintamanThakar on behalf ofThe Indian Express Private Limited and printed atThe Indian Express Private Limited Press, Survey No. 288, Plot 1 and 2, Raisoni Industrial Park,VillageMaan,Taluka Mulshi, District Pune-411027 and published atThe Indian Express Private Limited, Express House, Plot No. 1205/2/6, Shirole Road, Shivajinagar, Pune-411004. Phone: 67241000, Fax: 67241047.

Chairman of the Board: Viveck Goenka,Managing Editor: Sunil Jain, Resident Editor: Malini Bhupta* (*Responsible for selection ofnews under PRBAct) ©Copyright: The Indian Express Private Limited.All rights reserved. Reproduction in anymanner, electronic or otherwise, inwhole or in part,without priorwritten permission is prohibited. The Financial Express®

Opinion

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-20

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050100150200250300350

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Cumulative expenditure of state governments on nutrition

All State govts' expenditure on nutrition (` bn) LHS

% change y-o-y (RHS) Average inflation (FY14-FY20) Source: RBI

CryptoCODESelf-regulation bycrypto exchanges is good; investorswill remainsceptical till the time the govt takes a call on allowing such trade

BITCOIN SUDDENLY LOSINGvalueanderoding$113billionfromthemarketmayhaveraisedquestionsamonginvestorsabouttheinstrument’sstability,butIndiancryptocurrencyexchangesarestill bullishabout theoutlookontrade incryptocurrencies. To assure themarket that crypto-investments are safe and

thereisnoimpropriety,theyareimposingsomelimitsonwhocantradeontheseplatforms.OnMonday,theEconomicTimesreportedthatfiveexchangeshavesignedacodefortradeonexchangeswhichtheywillnowbeforwardingtotheministryoffinanceandthefinan-cialmarket regulator.Thenewmeasures includemandatoryKYCfor trading,monitoringbodiestotracksuspicioustransactionsandredresscomplaints,amongothermeasures.Thefutureoftheexchanges,however,dependsonwhetherthegovernmenteventually

allowsthemornot.WhiletheSupremeCourtstruckdownanRBIorderthatcircumscribedcrypto-tradelastyear,thegovernmentisyettotakeacall.Earlier,agovernment-appointedcommitteehadrecommendedthatcryptocurrency-tradebeallowed,butthentherewasacallforacompleteban.Inrecentmonths,therehavebeenconflictingmediareports-somehavesaidthatthegovernmentismullingabanwhileothershaveclaimedthatitistryingtobringcryptoexchangesunderGST.Self-regulationispromising,butsanstheapprovalcon-ventional investmentinstrumentsenjoy, investorswill remainsceptical. Indiamustcare-fullyexaminetheexamplesofSingaporeandtheUStodecidethefuturecourseofaction.

RationalExpectations

ALMOSTASSOONastheSupremeCourt(SC)hearingonthefarmlawsbeganonTuesday, itwasobviousSC’splantokeepthelawsinabeyance—whileacourt-appointedcommitteecameupwithasolution—wasgoingnowheresincethelawyersforthefarmerswerenotevenpresentatthehearing;DushyantDave,

ColinGonsalves,HSPhoolkaandPrashantBhushanwerethefarmers’lawyers.WhileDavelater toldCNBC-TV18 thathedidnotgotocourtsincethematterwas listed ‘fororders’—thatmeans thebenchwill pronounce its ruling/decision,nothearmorearguments—healsoaddedthat,inanycase,thefarmerunionshadmadeitclearonMondayitselfthattheywerenotgoingtoparticipateinthecommittee’sdeliberations.ThoughSC’s Tuesdayorder says “representatives of all the farmers’ bodies,whether

theyareholdingaprotest ornotandwhether they supportoroppose the laws shall par-ticipate in thedeliberations of theCommittee andput forth their view-points”, severalunionshavesaidtheywillnotcomply;asBKUspokespersonRakeshTikaitputit,“Billwapsinahintohgharwapsinahin”.Farmergroupshavealsoallegedthatsincethepanelispackedwith supporters of the farm laws—AshokGulati ofIcrier writes a fortnightly column in FinancialExpress—itsreportwillsupportthegovernment.This is casting aspersions on the professional

integrityofthemembersandtheirabilitytowriteanunbiased report ;most ofGulati’s pieces in FE, as ithappens, are critical of government policy on agri-culture.But,itiscleartheSChasnotjustdugitselfintoahole, ithasalsodealtabigblowtodecision-makingin the country. If a lawpassed byParliament can soeasilybeputinabeyance,whathappenstothosewhoareplanninginvestmentsandnewbusinessesbasedonnewlaws,andnotjustthoseonagriculture?Itwasalwaysclearthatthefarmerswantedatotal

repealofthelaws,a legislativeguaranteethatMSPwouldcontinue,andthatthegovern-mentwouldprocurethe23MSP cropseveryyear.So,farmerswerenevergoingtoacceptanySCcommittee. ItappearsSCdidnotseriouslyexamine—ordismissed itafterexami-nation—thepossibilitythatfarmerswouldnotparticipateinthedeliberations.Giventhatfarmer-governmenttalkshavefailedonthesecoredemands,SC’smyopiaisinexplicable.AcharitableexplanationforSC’sdecisionwasthatitwoulddiffusethetensionas,once

thepanelwassetup,thefarmerswouldgobackhome.Whilethatlookedlikeapipedreameventhen,thefarmershavemadeitcleartheywillnotgohometill theygettheirway.Ifthefarmersdon’tparticipateinthepanel’sdeliberations,ortheydisagreewithits

conclusions—right now, both possibilities appear plausible—what is SC’s game-plan?Will itallowthegovernmenttogoaheadwithitsnegotiationswithfarmersorwill itputthe laws inabeyanceonceagain?Theproblemwiththe latter is that it sendsoutaclearsignal to everyone that, if youwant a law changed and canmuster enough persons togherao the capital or some important building like Parliament, you can get the SC tokeepthe lawinabeyancewhileapaneldecidesonwhether the lawis rightorwrong.SC had one category of petitions, it says in its order, that challenged the constitu-

tionalvalidityofthethreefarmlaws;oneevenchallengedthethirdamendmenttotheConstitutionin1954(!)thatallowedtheCentretolegislateonasubjectintheStateList.The constitutional validity of the laws is really theonly sectionunderwhichSC is sup-posedtoact; itdidnotexaminethis,however,but felt itwasall right toholdthe laws inabeyance—an‘extraordinaryorder’, itadmits—sothatfarmerswouldparticipateinthemeetingsin‘acongenialatmosphere’andsothattheir‘hurtfeelings’wouldbe‘assuaged’.SCsayingthis is trulyextraordinaryandbetraysapoorunderstandingof the issues

at stake. Indeed, the impressionhas been spread—andSC seemed tohavebought intoit—thatthethree lawswererushedthrough,withoutadequateconsultationetc. Juxta-posedwiththisistheviewthatpoorfarmersarebeingshort-changed;indeed,thatiswhytheywerebravingthecold,andriskingCovid-19,bycampingonthecapital’s streets.A reading of the government affidavit (bit.ly/38B7hke), however, details how there

have been discussions, includingwith state governments, going back two decades atleast;thisnewspaperpointedoutthat,waybackin1986,theJohlcommitteehadflaggedtheneedtodiversifyPunjabagricultureawayfromriceandwheat. Indeed,SC failed tonote that the first inroads into theAPMCAct, toallowfarmers tosell fruitsandvegeta-bles inothermarketsother thantheAPMCones,weremadeduringtheUPAperiod.That is alsowhy the Congress party’s electionmanifesto had said it would abolish

theAPMCmonopoly;apointworthkeepinginmindisthatAPMCmarketsarenotbeingabolished, it is theirmonopoly that is being challenged by allowing farmers to sell inothermarkets,includingdirectlytoconsumers.ThisisimportantbecausetheargumentmadeisthatthefarmerswillhavetonowselltotheAmbanisandtheAdanis;thatisnottrue, all that happens is that, if theywant, farmers can sell to Ambani andAdani, or toWalmartorMotherDairyorPatanjalior to farmercooperatives, to justanyone.AnotherfactorthatprobablyinfluencedSCwastheviewthatsmallandmarginalfarm-

ers—andinverylargenumbers—werebeinghitbythenewlaws.That,however,isnottrueat all.While the farmer unions fromPunjab are agitating for a legislatively guaranteedMSP, just 5-6%of farmers across the country benefit fromthis today; the rest sell theircropsinmandisevenifthepricesthereare20-40%belowtheMSPannouncedforvariouscrops.Inanycase,forcropslikefruitsandvegetables,MSPsarenotevenannounced.Resolvingtheissue, it istrue, isnotgoingtobeeasy.LegislativelyguaranteeingMSPs

cancost lakhsofcrorerupeeseachyearandthemoneyismuchbetterspentoncreatingnewirrigationfacilitiesetc—farmsubsidiesarefourtimesthegovernmentcapexinthesector!—asthatwillbenefitallfarmers.Butresolvingtheissueisthegovernment’sprob-lem, not SC’s. SC has queered the pitch for the government by getting into its domain,and farmersarealready saying theSCstaymeans it feels the lawsareunconstitutional.Inaddition,SChasalsoerodeditsownauthority.BothaugurbadlyforIndia’s future.

SUNIL JAINsunil.jain@expressindia.com

@thesuniljain

Another reasonnotto invest in India

If a law passed by Parliament can be put in abeyance,whatdoes it say about the certainty of doing business in India?

SupremeCourt can

scrap laws if they are

unconstitutional, but it

has not hinted that this

was the casewith the

farm laws. SC actionwill

encourage other groups

to exert similar pressure

Pune

RUMOURS ARE RIFE that theCodeonWages,2019,is likelyto result in an exponentialincreaseinfinancialliabilityofemployers in a pandemic-

stricken economy.Perturbed employersarereachingouttoconsultantsforadvice.Sensing an opportunity,reputedCA/con-sultancy firms have come outwith newservice portfolios,which include transi-tioningintolabourcodes,restructuringofsalariesandstrategising forhiring.However, do we really need to be so

alarmed?TheCodeonWageshassubsumedfour

laws, some of whichwere from the pre-Independence era. These are the Mini-mumWages Act, the Payment of BonusAct, the Equal RemunerationAct and thePaymentofWagesAct.TheCodewasintro-duced in Parliament to simplify labourlawsandamendthemlargelywiththeaimof facilitatingeaseofdoingbusiness.In this context, a point to consider is

whethermanagerial and administrativeemployeeswho are drawing salarieswaybeyondminimumwageswould be enti-tled to benefits available under the Code?Thedefinitionof‘employee’isprovidedinSection2(k)anditcovers‘managerial’and‘administrative’employees, leading us tobelieve that all benefits under the Codewouldextendto thesaidemployees.However,theCodealsodefines‘worker’

inSection2(z),whichspecificallyexcludes’managerial’and‘administrative’.Mostofthe benefits afforded under the Code areto the ‘worker’. This is clear when weanalyse the provisions of the Draft CodeonWages (Central) Rules,2020,which is

under public scrutiny.Rule 5 and 6 readwithRule 4(3) andRule 6(6)(a) of the saidDraft Rules makes us conclude that thegovernment isgoingtofixminimumrateofwages only for ‘workers’who are cate-gorised as unskilled, skilled, semi-skilledand highly skilled. The Draft Rules alsoprovide a detailed list of jobs which areclassified into unskilled, semi-skilled,skilledandhighlyskilledcategories.Thereisnoreferencetomanagerial/administra-tivecategoryofemployeesdefinedinSec-tion2(k)of theCode inScheduleE.There-fore, it can be safely concluded thatprovisionsregardingfixationofminimumrates of wages are not applicable to thiscategoryofemployees.There is also amisapprehension that

managerial/administrative employeeswill now have to be paid ‘overtime’ foradditional work,which is paid at doublethe normal rates ofwages. Section 14 oftheCodespecificallyprovidesforovertimeto an employeewhose“minimum rate ofwages has been fixed under this Code bythe hour, by the day, or by such a longerwageperiodasmaybeprescribed.”TheschemeoftheCodeandRulesdoes

not provide for fixationofminimumrateofwages formanagerial/administrativecategory of employees. The nature ofwork/job rolesmentioned in Schedule Erefers to manual and menial nature ofwork.Therefore,overtimeisnotpayabletomanagerial/administrative employeesundertheCode.

Another issue pertains to the require-ment of payment ofwages to employeeswithintwodaysfromthedateofousterofan employee from the company, as pre-scribedunderSection72oftheCode.Sim-ilarprovisionsexistedundertheFactoriesAct,1948,and thePayment ofWagesAct,1936,whichhavebeenrepealed.Thiscan-not have amajor impact as the employerwas,inanycase,requiredtopaywagespostterminationof servicesofanemployee.Bonus, usually paid on Diwali,was a

mandate of the lawunder erstwhile Pay-ment of BonusAct,nowsubsumedundertheCodeonWages.ThePaymentofBonusAct has awage limit and only employeeswho earn up to `21,000 are eligible toreceive statutory bonus.The Code has a

similar provision and the government istaskedwithnotifying the threshold.Some articles have raised concern

about the new definition of wages, andespecially regarding the necessity to con-sider 50% of the gross salary (basic plusdearness allowance) while ascertainingwages.There isalsoaservice requirementthat is being pitched byvarious consul-tancies forrestructuringof salarytomin-imise the impactofdefinitionofwages.Section2(y) of theCodedefineswages

and includes onlybasic payplus dearnessallowance plus retaining allowance.Thedefinition excludes bonus, conveyanceallowance,PF/pension contribution,pay-menttowardsspecialexpensesbecauseofthe nature of the job,HRA,remunerationpayableundersettlementbetweenpartiesor the order of the Tribunal, overtimeallowance,commission,etc.ProvisototheSection states that if the total of the com-ponents that are excluded is more than50% of gross remuneration, then suchpercentage of remuneration that ismorethan50%will beaddedtowages.However,thetrue impactof thesepro-

visionswouldonlybeseenwithrespect tounskilled,semi-skilled,skilled andhighlyskilled category of employees forwhomthe government is going to lay down theminimum rates ofwages.Otherwise, foremployees who are highly paid, muchbeyond theminimumrates ofwages,thistreatment of considering 50% of grosssalarywouldnothaveanyimpact.Evenwith respect to PFcontributions,

theSupremeCourt,in its judgmentdatedFebruary 28, 2019, in the Surya Roshnimatter has laid down the broad parame-

ters regardingthekindofallowances thatcouldbeexcludedwhileconsideringbasicpay for calculating PF contribution.Thewrongful benefit that some employersmay have obtained by keeping the basiccomponent of the salary very low hasalready beenwiped off by the said judg-ment.Thus, the Code onWages does notrequireanemployertomodifythecurrentsalary structure forhighlypaidmanager-ial and administrative employees.Oncethe rate ofminimumwages is laid downby the government for workers, at thatpoint of time an employer may have toconsidermodifyingthestructureofwagesof suchworkerswhowill getaffected.Contractor labour for outsourcing of

work has proved to be another sensitivearea.TheCodeprovidesforcoverageofnotonly contractor supplying labour, but acontractorforcontractofworkisalsocov-ered.However,Section2(l)andsub-section(iii) provides for a contractor as anemployer.Therefore, financial implica-tions, if any,are placed on the contractor.Certainly, a contractorwill expect reim-bursementofadditionalcost,ifany.Look-ing at exploitationof contract labourbyacontractor, anymarginal increase cannotbe subjectmatter of debate or complaint.TheCodehasbeendraftedkeepingeaseofdoingbusiness inmind.Small creasescanbe ironedouteasilybythegovernment.Nowthe ball is in the court of the cen-

tralgovernmentandrespectivestategov-ernments to come up with appropriaterules,regulations,notificationsand,mostimportantly, deciding the national floorwage and minimum rates of wages.Tillthen,wewillhave towait andwatch.

OPINION 7FINANCIALEXPRESS

WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2021

RC

ACHARYA

The author is formermember, RailwayBoard; ram34034@gmail.com

ANEW ERA IN freight transport by railwaysdawned last month when the 351-km-longNewBhaupurtoNewKhurjasectionoftheeast-ern legof theDedicatedFreightCorridor(DFC)was declared open by the Prime Minister.

Reportedly,the58BOXNwagoncoalrakedestinedforather-mal power station up north completed the run at an aver-agespeedof70km/h.Comparedtothecurrentaverageof25km/h of freight trains on the 65,000-km network of theIndian Railways, thiswas a quantum jump in transport byrail that thewesternandeastern legsof theDFCpromise tousher inwhenfullycommissioned ina fewyears.Alarmbellshadbegunto ring inacoupleofdecadesago

whentheIndianRailways’marketshareoffreighttransporthaddropped fromapeakof70%in the1950s to just30%,with road transport luring away the businesswith fasterdoor-to-doorserviceandguaranteeddeliveryschedules.Conceptualisedadecadeago,theplantowinbackfreight

business beganwith the creationof a special purposevehi-cle,i.e.theDedicatedFreightCorridorCorporationof IndiaLtd(DFCCIL),inOctober2006.Theprojectwasapprovedforan estimated cost of `28,181 crore and contracts for con-structionoftwomajorbridgesawardedinDecember2008.Two corridors—1,504-kmwestern corridor and 1,856-

km eastern corridor—spanning 3,360 kmwere to be built,alongexistingtrackalignmentssoastoinvolveleastamountoflandacquisition,anonerousexercisethatcouldbogdowntheprojectwith itshighcostandattendantproblems.TheproposedwesterncorridorconnectingDadriinUttar

Pradesh toMumbai’s JNPTwould pass through Haryana,Rajasthan,GujaratandMaharashtra,while theeasterncor-ridor(originatingfromDankuniinWestBengal) isdesignedto pass through Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh andHaryana to terminate inLudhiana (Punjab).Partly funded by the World Bank with a soft loan of

`5,150crore,theeasterncorridorwasfirstoffthemarkwiththe commissioning in phases planned from 2017-18onwards. Simultaneously, the work on western corridorcommencedfromRewaritoVadodaraviaPhulera,whichtoowas beneficiary of a soft loan of `5,100 crore by the JapanInternationalCooperationAgency.Afewyearsdowntheline,theCabinetCommitteeonEco-

nomicAffairs approvedtherevisedcost thathadballoonedover the years to `81,459 crore, due to unforeseen delaysandcost escalationsmostlyonaccountof landacquisition,whicheventhoughminimalwascritical foralignment.As the name implies, the DFC is dedicated entirely to

carryfreight.Withadouble-linecorridor,itcancarry1500-metrelongloadsasagainstthecurrent686-metre,whichisrestrictedonaccountofitslooplengthatstations.Asaresult,13,000-tonneloadswith120wagonscanberun,asagainstthe current 5,000 tonneswith 58wagons,whichwill needmore powerful locomotives with 12,000 horsepoweragainst thecurrent6,000horsepower.Withnopassengerstobepickedup,stationsarealsofew,

almost50-kmapart,asagainstcurrent10kmorso.State-of-the-artradiocommunicationfacilitiesprovidethelocomo-tive pilot greater safety and speed potential.Mechanisedtrack-layingresulted innotonlyhigherproductivitybylay-ing1.5kmoftrackperday(asagainst100-150metreswhendonemanually), it also led tomuch better track geometry,whileheadhardenedrailsandflashbuttweldswouldresultin longer life andreducedwear-and-tearof rollingstock.Whiletheeasterncorridoristomainlyservethecoalcir-

cuit from coal fields in eastern India to thermal plants upnorth,thewestern corridorwould provide greater capacityfor carrying export-import traffic of industries in northIndia and also serve scores of logistics parks expected tocome up on the DelhiMumbai Industrial Corridor, a 150-kmwideswathofhinterlandall along thecorridor.Withnopassengertrainscrowdingthetracks,whichhad

tobegivenprecedence,theDFCwillheraldaneweraoffast,safeand timetabled running,guaranteeingdeliverysched-ulesof freight thathadso farbeenonlyapromiseonpaper.

From freight tosuper-freight

The DFCwill herald an era of fast, safeand timetabled running of freight trains

Decoding theCode onWages

ABHAY

NEVAGI

The author is an advocate

Now central and state

governmentsmust

decide the national floor

wage andminimum

rates of wages

ECONOMIC ACTIVITY HASbounced back after the bigslump during the lockdown,and green shoots of recoveryin terms of improvedmacro-

economic numbers, it appears, are visi-ble. There is a growing consensus thatGDPwill return to expansion mode asearlyasQ4of this fiscal and contractionin GDP growth for the full year will beonlyinsingledigits.However, the better-than-expected

improvementwasmainly through cost-cutting,whichwas also due tomassivefall inwage bill,mainly at smaller firms,down by 22%, vis-à-vis staff costsremaining flat for larger firms.Mean-while, sales volumes remain tepid. Forlistednon-financialfirms,revenuesweredown 8% inQ2,while operating profitssoaredbynearly50%.The recovery seen in select sectors

was mostly due to pent-up purchases(automobiles,oil refineries,cement,etc),temporarysupport to indigenousprod-ucts on account of import restrictions(steel, chemicals and tyres) andincreasedspendingduringrecent festi-vals. But this cannot be interpreted asbeingreflectiveof theunderlyingtrendin aggregate demand or supply condi-tions. The services sector, which con-tributed 78% to overall growth overpreceding two years, continues (exceptIT) to be deeply affected by the pan-demic. Even though railway freightmovementhasnormalised,thedemandfor contact-intensive services like hos-pitality, construction, real estate, tradeandseveral typesof transport is likelytoremain subdued for some time.The issue of sustained demand con-

tinues to remain.Producers are increas-ing output and shipping to dealers, butthey remain unsure of retail sales.Theyare increasing prices to take advantageof the temporary surge in demand aswellasrise inpriceofsomeinputs,whilecutting costs by reducing thewage bill,travel expenses and overheads, etc, anddeferring investments.However, a continued reduction in

employment andwage bill can lead toweakdemandinthecomingmonths.Pri-vateconsumptiondemand,contributingalmostthree-fifthsofourGDP,wasslow-ing even pre-Covid-19. Although thepace of contraction in private spending

has slowed to 11% in Q2 from 26% inQ1,wemustkeepinmindthatit isstill incontractionmode.Without sustained recovery of

demand,itwouldnot bepossible to con-tinue economic recovery.Anecdotal evi-dence suggests that shoppers haveretreatedafterspendingduringthefesti-vals.TheresurgenceofCovid-19inmajorcitiesafterthefestivalsalsobroughtbackthefearofdisruption.Andthisapprehen-sion amongst consumerswould remaintill effective vaccines are availablewithwide-enough reach.This is apparent inthe sharp jump in household financialsavingsto21.4%ofGDPinQ1ofthecur-rent fiscal,up from7.9% inQ1 last year

(2019-20)—postponement of spendingdrivingupprecautionarysavings.The weak consumer confidence as

noted by RBI would be exacerbated ifhigh inflationary trend is sustained.High prices of fuel, food and healthcareitems are constraining consumers’capacitytospendondiscretionaryitems.Consumer inflation is nearly 7% in thepast quarter, and even if it recedes tosub-5%levelasexpectedduringthefirsthalf of the next fiscal year, it would stillbehigh ina convalescingeconomy.Thepandemicwouldessentiallymean

alossoftwoyearsofgrowthinconsump-tion.Someestimates,likeCRISIL,expectapermanentoutputlossof9-10%ofGDP.

In such a scenario,private investment isunlikelytoperkupdespitetaxbreaksandlowinterestrates,asthefullutilisationofthe existing capacities is still far away.Capacity utilisation fell sharply from69.9% inQ4FY20 to 47.3% inQ1FY21.Although it has improved since then to62.6% inQ2,but itwell below the long-term average of 74%,highlighting sig-nificant unutilised capacity eitherbecause of supply constraints or lack ofdemand. It is still not enough to triggercapexasmostfirmswouldnotbekeenonbuilding newcapacities now,andwouldbefocusedmoreondeleveraging.Exportsmayoffer awayout if Covid-

19vaccinebecomesavailablearoundtheworld soon and people do not remainsceptical of its effectiveness.There is asurgeincapitalflowsfromsafehavenstothe emergingmarkets because of a newsenseofoptimism.Indianstockmarketsare booming because of the returningforeigninvestors,withFPI inflowscross-ing$20billionthisyear,foronlythethirdtime in the past 20 years.Thismayhelpthe investing public feel confident inspendingmore.This,alongwiththegov-ernment’s recent reformsandeffortsonease of doing business,can help compa-niesraisefundsandspendmore.Butthatis a medium- term process and India’seconomicrecoveryneedsrobustincreaseindemandrightnow.Thereisadownsidetoo,astoomuchliquiditywouldthreatento fuel inflation that is already aboveRBI’s target (over-tolerance level for thelast eight consecutivemonths).Whileproducershavebeensupported

by the government through both fiscalandmonetarymeasures,smallercompa-nies continue to face headwinds, eitherdue to supply chain disruptions or rela-tivelyhigherfinancecosts.AnanalysisbyCRISIL shows that less than 20%of thesmaller 400 companies logged revenuegrowth, as against 35% of the top 100companies.Thus,sequencingsupplyanddemand stimuli needs to be acted onurgently,as increasing output is gettingstockpiledasinventoriesandisnottrans-lating intoactual consumption.The government’smeasures for sup-

porting consumers have remained few.According to ILO estimates, the gapbetween theworking hours lost and theequivalent fiscal stimulus required tocompensatethatinIndiaisabout10%ofGDP.MGNREGA jobs initially took careof themassive reverse migration,withdemandup50%year-on-yearto28mil-lion in theApril-November2020period.However,asfundinghasdriedup,peoplearecomingbacktocities,butarenotget-tingjobs.KPMGhasprojectedalossof60lakh jobsduringFY21.The government’s finances are con-

strainedbywelfarecommitmentsandtaxreliefforbusinesses.Persistentlyweaktaxcollectioninadecliningeconomyhasnothelpedmatters.Yet the government hasno option but to take a calculated fiscalrisk in these exceptional circumstancesand support consumption.The govern-ment’sworries over fiscal deficit shouldbeleftbehindfornowandonemustthinkof funding throughmore borrowing asthemarket isawashwith liquidity.The government must leave more

money in the hands of the individual.More infrastructure investments as alsofast-tracking of projects nearing com-pletioncanprovideafilliptojob-creationand spurring demand.More funds needto be allocated for food processingschemesandincentivesforagri-exports.Spendingoftheagricultureinfrafundof`1 lakhcrore shouldbeexpedited.The government can make up its

losses through higher tax collection onexpansioninproductionandtradecatal-ysed byhigherdemand.Besides,there isaneed todisinvest aggressivelyas disin-vestment receipts even at a peak level inFY18 were less than 1% of GDP.Whatbettertimetoroll,whenthestockmarketisbooming.Ultimately,demand drives the econ-

omy.And if GDPdoes not bounce back,whichitcannotintheabsenceofdemandboost, then both deficit and debtwouldremainhigh,andwould onlyexacerbatethealreadyprecarious situation.

Demandrecovery keyto revivinggrowth

Governmentmeasures for supporting consumers have

remained few.According to ILO estimates, the gap

between theworking hours lost and the equivalent

fiscal stimulus required to compensate that in India is

about 10% of GDP.The pandemicwould essentially

mean a loss of two years of growth in consumption

● INDIAN RAILWAYS

ILLUSTRATION:ROHNITPHORE

The author is president,AIMA, andvice-chairman &MD, JK Paper

HARSH PATI

SINGHANIA

Pune

●OUSTERAVERTED?

BLOOMBERGJanuary 12

VICE PRESIDENTMIKE Pence signalledhe’ll spurndemands to immediatelyoustDonald Trump over a deadly riot by thepresident’ssupportersasthetwometandagreedtoworktogetherfortheremainderof the term,according to a senior admin-istrationofficial.Thediscussionaddstoindicationsthat

Trump has no plans to resign before JoeBiden’s January20 inauguration.Itwas the first timeTrump and Pence

have spoken since the president’s sup-porters stormed the Capitolwhile Pencewas presiding over formal affirmation ofhis re-election defeat, according to twopeople familiarwith thematter.The two men, meeting in the Oval

Office,agreed thatpeoplewhobroke intothe Capitol don’t represent Trump’s“AmericaFirst”movementandpledgedtocontinuetheirworkonbehalfofthecoun-try for the remainder of their term, the

official said.Itwasagoodconversation inwhich Trump and Pence discussed theweekaheadand reflectedon the last fouryears of the administration’s work, theofficialadded.HouseDemocratsareseek-ingtoholdTrumpaccountablefortheriotif Pence fails to act against the president.Lawmakers pushed forward onMondaywith their plans to impeachTrump for asecond time, introducing a resolutionaccusing Trump of “incitement of aninsurrection”.Pencewas initially furiousatTrumpafterhundredsofthepresident’ssupporters breached the Capitol lastWednesday.The episode raised the prospect that

Pence might act to invoke the 25thAmendment to the Constitution,whichallowsthevicepresidentandamajorityofthecabinet to remove thepresident fromoffice --amoveencouragedbyDemocra-ticmembersofCongress.But Pence has privatelydismissed the

idea asnot feasible,according tooneper-sonfamiliarwith thematter.

Twitter suspendsaccounts sharingQAnon content

The two agreed that peoplewho broke into the Capitoldidn’t represent Trump’s ‘America First’movement

Australian watchdogwarns Google lawsare just the startAUSTRALIA’SCOMPETITIONREGULATORhaswarnedthatplannedlawstomakethecountrythefirstintheworldtoforceGoogleandFacebooktopayfornewscontentwerelikelyjustthestartofmoreregulationfordigitalplatforms.TheAustraliangovernmentannouncedlegislationlastmonthafteraninvestigationitsaidshowedthetechgiantsheldtoomuchmarketpowerinthemediaindustry,asituationitsaidposedapotentialthreattoawell-functioningdemocracy.

Steris tobuyCantelMedical for$3.6billionMEDICALEQUIPMENTMAKERSteris is buying rival CantelMedicalforabout $3.6 billion to expand intodental care and add endoscopyequipment to its products, it said onTuesday.As part of the cash-and-stockdeal,Steriswill pay$84.66perCantel share,onparwithMonday’sclosingprice.Cantel stockholderswill get about $16.93 in cash and0.33787of Steris ordinaryshare.Under the code,Google andFacebookwill be subject tomandatoryprice arbitration if acommercial agreement onpaymentforAustralianmedia cannot bereached.

UKsaysTwitterentitledtobanTrumpSOCIALMEDIAFIRMSare entitled tomake theirowndecisions aboutcontentmoderationbutmustbeaccountable,BritishPrimeMinisterBoris Johnson’s spokesmansaidonTuesdaywhenaskedaboutDonaldTrump’s suspension fromTwitter.“Socialmedia companies are entitledtomake theirownmoderationdecisions,”the spokesmansaid,adding that the socialmediacompaniesmust alwaysbeheldaccountable.

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InternationalFINANCIALEXPRESS8 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2021

Trump,Pence sayPrezwon’t resignorbe removed

REUTERSJANUARY12

TWITTER SAID IT has suspendedmorethan 70,000 accounts since Friday thatwere primarily dedicated to sharingQAnoncontent after lastweek’sviolenceinwhen supporters of President DonaldTrumpstormedtheUSCapitol.“GiventheviolenteventsinWashing-

ton,DC, and increased risk of harm,webegan permanently suspending thou-sands of accounts that were primarilydedicated to sharing QAnon content onFriday afternoon”,Twitter said in a bloglateonMonday.“These accounts were engaged in

sharingharmfulQAnon-associated con-tentatscaleandwereprimarilydedicatedtothepropagationofthisconspiracythe-oryacross theservice”,thecompanysaid.QAnonbackershavepushedconspira-

ciesonsocialmediathatincludethebase-less claimthatTrumpsecretly is fightinga cabal of child-sex predators, amongthem prominent Democrats, figures inHollywoodand“deepstate”allies.

Signal sees rise indaily installs aspeople look forWhatsAppoptionsREUTERSJanuary 12

THE NUMBER OF new users installingmessagingappSignaleverydayisontracktocross1million,puttingitclosertolevelsseen by larger rivalWhatsApp, followingan update to the Facebook-owned app’sprivacypolicy.About810,000usersgloballyinstalled

Signal on Sunday, nearly 18-fold com-paredwiththedownloadnumbersonJan-uary6,thedayWhatsAppupdated itspri-vacy terms, according to data fromresearch firmApptopia.WhatsApp’snewprivacytermsreserve

therighttoshareuserdata,includingloca-tion and phone number,with its parentFacebookandunitssuchasInstagramandMessenger.Privacyadvocateshavequestionedthe

move citing Facebook’s track record inhandlinguserdata,withmanysuggestingusers to migrate to platforms such asTelegram and Signal. To cope with the

numberof newusers,Signal said on Sun-day it had addedmore servers to handlethe traffic. Up until recently, the non-profit appwas largely used by journalistsand human rights activists looking for amoresecureandencryptedmodeofcom-

munication.WhatsApp,which sawa 7%decline in

daily installs on Sunday comparedwithWednesday,wasdownloadedbynearly1.2million users on January10,according toApptopia.

Prez Trump issuesemergencydeclarationinWashingtonDCPRESSTRUSTOF INDIAJanuary 12

US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump hasissued an emergency declaration for thenational capital here aheadof his succes-sor Joe Biden’s inauguration on January20,amidst threat perception to the eventbyfederal agencies.In a statement on Monday, the WhiteHouse said the President’s action autho-rises theDepartment ofHomelandSecu-rity (DHS) and the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency (FEMA) to coordi-natereliefeffortstoalleviatethehardshipandsufferingcausedbytheemergencyonthe localpopulation.The emergency inWashingtonDCwill beeffective fromMondaytill January24.It comes in thewakeof lastweek’sviolentprotest,inwhichthousandsofpro-Trumpsupporters stormed the Capitol buildingand clashed with police, interrupting aconstitutional process by Congress toaffirmthevictoryofPresident-electBidenandVicePresident-electKamalaHarris intheelection.Fivepeople,includingaCapi-tolPoliceofficer,died in theprotests.

Privacy advocates have questioned themove citing Facebook’s trackrecord in handling user data,with many suggesting users to migrate to

platforms such as Telegram and Signal

Japan to expand emergencyamid calls for restraintBLOOMBERGJanuary 12

JAPANESEMINISTERSPLEADEDforpeo-pletorestricttheirmovementsduringthedaytime,with the country set to expandthe area under the coronavirus state ofemergencybeyondtheTokyoarea.PrimeMinisterYoshihideSugasaidhe

wasconsideringarequestfromthreepre-fectures in the Kansai region inwesternJapantodeclareastateofemergency.Sev-eralotherregionshaveeitheraskedforanemergency or are considering doing so.TogetherwithTokyoandthreenearbypre-fectures, that representsmore than halfthenation’s economy.Althoughtheemergencyisintendedto

send a strongmessage in a country thatcan’tlegallyenforcethetypeoflockdownsseen in other nations, themove is yet tohave the same level of impact onpeople’sbehaviour seen during the first declara-

tion last spring.“The number of peoplemoving about

hasnotgonedown,”YasutoshiNishimura,the minister in charge of Japan’s virusresponse, wrote on Twitter Mondayevening,the last dayof a longweekend inthecountry.“Pleaserefrainfromgoingoutnot just during the night,but at daytimealso.” Tokyo reported cases under 1,000for the first time inmore than aweek onTuesday, with 970 new infections,although testing is likely to have beenimpactedbythe longweekend.

CHANCELLORANGELAMERKELwarnedthat Germany may need to prolong itscoronavirus lockdownuntil Easterdue torisks posed by a fast-spreading variantfromtheUK.Europe’s largest economyhas already

seenitsoutbreakintensifyinrecentdays,despite tightening restrictions onmove-ment and contact. Now authorities arelooking with concern toward Ireland,where the new strain has contributed tooneof theworld’sworst contagionrates.DuringavideocallonTuesday,Merkel

said harsh curbsmight have to remain inplace for the next eight to 10 weeks tocombat themutation,according toaper-sononthecallwhoaskednottobeidenti-fied. Other officials quickly echoed herconcerns,andastrategymeetingcouldbecalled before the next planned gatheringon January 25. “If this virus really hitsharder, then the lockdownmeasureswillhave to be sharpened,”Ralph Brinkhaus,

the head ofMerkel’s parliamentary cau-cus,told reporters inBerlin.

“Nobodycan say right nowif thatwilltakeeightortenweeks”ofstringentcurbs,he said,adding that the rising numberoffatalities in care homes is “really tragic”and“incrediblysad.”Since the variantwas first detected in

southeast England in mid-December,infectionshave surgedandBritishhospi-tals have been swampedwith Covid-19patients.The strain,which could be over50% more transmissible, has beendetected inGermany,buttheextentof itsspreadremainsmurky.

—BLOOMBERG

Bitcoin reboundswhile leavingeveryone in dark on trueworth

Merkelwarns Germanymayneed strict curbs for 10weeks

BLOOMBERGJanuary 12

BITCOINREBOUNDEDAFTERMonday’ssteep plunge left investors grasping forcluesaboutwhatliesaheadfortheworld’slargest cryptocurrency.Thedigital coin rose4.9%to$35,616

as of 11.30 am in London, following yes-terday’s 11% slide. The latest bout ofroller-coastervolatility recalls past boomand bust cycles including the 2017 bub-ble, and has investors debatingwhetherthisisahealthycorrectionortheendofthelatestbull runforcryptocurrencies.Investorswhoboughtthedigitalcoina

year ago are still sitting on gains exceed-ing 300%. Pinpointing who is mainlyresponsiblefortherallyisoneofthemanycryptomysteries--Bitcoinfunds,momen-tumchasers,billionaires,daytraders,com-panies and even institutional investorshaveall beencited.Justashardisworkingoutwhatcaused

the recent two-day drop of as much as26%.Forsome,abounceinthedollarmaybeamong the reasons.Thegreenbackhas

snapped a prolonged losing streak afterrising US government bond yields bol-stered its allure.“There’s signs that retail investors are

taking profit,” said Ryan Rabaglia, theglobalheadoftradingatOSL.“Heightenedvolatilityisoftencorrelatedwithanuptickin retail participation.”At the same time, theworld remains

awashwithmonetaryandfiscalstimulus,and some of thatwall ofmoneycouldyetgravitate to crypto assets.Bitcoin believ-erscontinuetotoutthedigitalcurrencyasa viable hedge for inflation risk and thepotentialdebasementof fiat currencies.

NEWYORKTIMESHong Kong, January 12

CHINA’S ECONOMYHAS come roaringback from the depths of the coronaviruspandemic,and itscurrencyhas joinedtheride.The currency, knownvariously as the

yuan or the renminbi, has surged instrength in recent months against theAmerican dollar and othermajor curren-cies.ThroughMonday, the US dollarwasworth6.47renminbi,comparedwith7.16renminbi in late May and close to itsstrongest level in twoandhalfyears.Manycurrencies tend to jumparound

in value evenmore, but Beijing has longkept a leash onChina’s, so the renminbi’sleap looks likeapowermove.The stronger renminbi has implica-

tions for companies that make stuff inChina,whichisaprettybiggroup.Itcouldmake Chinese-made goodsmore expen-sivefortheworld’sconsumers,thoughtheeffect seemsmutedso far.Themost immediate impactmightbe

in Washington, where President-electJoseph R.Biden Jr. is set tomove into theWhite House next week. During pastadministrations, aweakening of China’scurrency led to anger inWashington.The

renminbi’s rise may not ease the tenserelationship between the two countries,but it could remove one potential issuefrom Biden’splate.The reason is simple: China is a rare

brightspotinanotherwiseravagedglobaleconomy.The coronavirus has been tamed

within itsborders,at least fornow.Its fac-tories are charging ahead full steam.Theworld’s shoppers -manyof themstuck athomeorunabletobuyplaneorcruiseshiptickets - are buying all the Chinese-madecomputers, televisions, selfie ring lights,swivel chairs, gardening tools and otheraccouterment of nesting that they can.China’s share of world exports rose to a

record14.3percentinSeptember,accord-ing todatacompiledbyJefferies.Investors are also keen to stash their

moneyinChina,orat least ininvestmentstied to the renminbi.With the economystronger,China’scentralbankhasroomtoleave interest rateshigher than inEuropeand the United States, where centralbankers arekeeping rateshistorically lowtoshoreupgrowth.Therenminbilooksparticularlystrong

against the dollar right nowbecause theUS currency hasweakened. Investors arebetting that the world economy willrecoverthisyear,somanyarebeginningtoshift theirmoney out of dollar-denomi-natedsafehavens,likeUSTreasurybonds,

and into riskierbets.Allofthathassentmoneyfloodinginto

China,which tends to bolster a country’scurrency.TheTrumpadministrationwillrecom-

mendvaccinatingallAmericansover65.Malaysia’s king declares a virus emer-

gency, and other news from around theworld.‘Thechallengeaheadisenormous’: Joe

Biden’spickforC.D.C.directorlooksahead.TheChinesegovernmenthaslongkept

afirmhandonthevalueof itscurrency,inpart by limitinghowmuchof it canmovepast the country’s borders. With thosetools, China’s leaders for years kept therenminbi weak against the dollar, evenwhen the Chinese currency should havebeen strengthening. A weak renminbihelps China’s factories keep their pricesdownwhentheysell goodsoverseas.Right now, it looks as if China’s facto-

ries don’t need that kind of help.China’sexports have continued to surge even asthe renminbihas strengthened.Many already price their business in

dollars rather than renminbi because theUnited States is such a big share of theircustomer base, said Shaun Roache, chiefeconomist forAsia-Pacific forS&PGlobal,the ratings firm.

China’seconomysurges, andsodoes itscurrency

Deutsche Bank topull back from bizwith TrumpDEUTSCHE BANKAND SignatureBank, two of Donald Trump’sfavoured lenders,arepullingawayfrom the billionaire president inthewake of lastweek’s deadly riotat the US Capitol.The German lender has decidednot to conduct any further busi-ness with Trump and his com-pany,said twopeoplewith knowl-edge of the matter, asking not tobe identified because the deliber-ationswere confidential.Trump owes the Frankfurt-basedlender more than $300 million.Signature Bank, the New Yorklender that’s long catered to hisfamily, is closing two personalaccounts in which Trump heldabout $5.3 million, a spokesper-son said. —BLOOMBERG

❝ ❝

MUTATEDVIRUSWILLHITHARD

Angela Merkel, GermanChancellor

Germanymay need to prolong its coronavirus lockdownuntil Easter due to risks posedby afast-spreadingvariant from theUK. Harsh curbsmight haveto remain in place for the next eight to 10weeks tocombat themutation.

A SECOND REPUBLICAN lawmaker fromWest Virginia whomarched to theUSCapitol to support overturningDemocrat JoeBiden’s presidentialwin saidin a radio interviewMonday that he hopes President Donald Trump“calls usback.”State Sen.MikeAzinger told the broadcast outlet that the crowds loyaltoTrumpwere“inspiringandpatriotic.”Azingerwasamongmore thanadozenlawmakers that joined crowds that descended onWashington —AP

Over a dozen lawmakers joined riot

OVERCOMINGVIRUS BLUES■ The renminbi has reached its strongest levelinmore than twoyears against theAmericandollar

■ This signals Chinese dominance inmanufacturing

■ The stronger renminbi could makeChinese-made goods more expensive fortheworld’s consumers

Cases top

91million

Deaths surpass

Recoveries

1.94million

64,874,124

MAPPINGTHEVIRUS

ChancellorAngelaMerkelwarned thatGermany faces hardlockdownmeasures into lateMarch if authorities fail tocontain a fast-spreadingvariant of the coronavirus.

London police chiefCressidaDick said PrimeMinister BorisJohnson’s cycle trip to a park 7miles fromDowning Streetwasnot against the law, adding that shewouldn’t comment furtheron an individual case.

TheTrump administration is expected to encourage states towiden access toCovid-19vaccines as part of an effort tospeed up a stumbling immunization campaign.

The EuropeanCommission said it aims to secure asmany as 60million Covid-19vaccine doses fromValneva for EU countries asawhole.The planneddeal -- the commission’s eighth supplypact --would allowEUgovernments to buy an initial 30milliondoses and include an option to purchase another 30million.

Singaporemay introduce a bill to legislate the use ofviruscontact tracing data in investigations of serious crimeswithinamonth.The parliament sitting to hear the proposedlegislation is scheduled for the firstweek of February.

The cities ofXingtai and Langfang in the northern province ofHebei are subject to lockdowndue to the latest virus outbreak,Xu Jianpei, vice governor of the province, said at a briefing.

��Uber, Moderna teamonvaccine awareness�MerkelWarns GermanyMayNeed Strict Curbs for10MoreWeeks�Temporarymorgues setup as UK hospitals run outof space�Patchwork of rules sowsconfusion in state-by-statevaccine rollout�Chinavaccine goingglobalwith four differentefficacy rates�BesiegedUK hospitalscarrywarning for EUlagging onvaccines�Whistle-blowing soarsto recordwithAmericansworking fromhome

Merkel said harsh curbs might haveto remain in place for the next eight

to 10weeks to combat themutation

Pune

PersonalFinance

RAJ KHOSLA

EVERYYEARANestimated15millionnewcreditcardsareissuedinIndia.Butmanyofthenewusers are unfamiliarwith the fea-tures and rules governing the2-inchby3-inchpieceofplasticintheirwallets.Thislackofawarenesscanleadtohighcharges,miss-ingout onbenefits andevendenting theircreditworthiness.Herearesomesmarttipsonhowtomakethemostofyourcreditcard.

Choose appropriate cardBanks and credit card companies are

reaching out to newcustomers.But don’tsign up for a new card without checkingwhether its features are relevant to yourspendingpattern.Ifyouuseavehicleexten-sively, go for a co-branded fuel card thatwaives the fuel surcharge andoffers bene-fitsonspends.Ifyoutravelalot,goforacardthat offersmaximumflexibilityof airportlounge facilities,alongwith frequent flyer

pointsthatcanbeaccumulatedwithoutanytime limit.Cards that offerhigher rewardpointsforonlineusagewillsuitpeoplewhodoa lot of digital transactions.Similarly, ifyou dine out often,pick a card that offersattractivediscountsondiningoptions.

Pay in full and on timeAcredit card is a sourceof free credit as

also the costliest borrowing option.Con-fused?Ifyouclearcreditcardduesinfullandas per schedule, there is no charge on thecreditextendedbythebank.Howeverifyoumiss the due date, you will not only be

slappedwithapenalty,but alsobe chargedan extremely high rate of interest on theunpaid amount.You can roll over the bal-ancebypayingaminimum5%ofthebilledamount,but be ready to shell out 3-4%amonthontheoutstandings.It’sagoodideato automate the payment for your creditcard bill so that even ifyou forget thepay-mentdeadline,yourbankdoesn’t.

Getmore than one cardIf credit cards make it easy to spend,

won’t toomanycards push theuser into adebt trap? Right and wrong because it

dependsonyourspendingdiscipline.Infact,youcanmanageexpensesbetter.Creditcardissuers tie up with retailers and serviceprovidersandmorethanonecardincreasesyourchancesofgrabbingsuchdeals.

Maximise free credit periodMultiple cards also helpmaximise the

interest-freeperiodonpurchases.Asarule,useacardwherethebillingcycleisfarthest.Suppose you have two cards with billingcycles ending on the15th and the30thofeverymonth.UsecardAforshoppingtillthe15th,andthenswitchtocardB.Switchback

to cardAafter the30th.Used smartly,thiscan fetchyouup to40-45days of interest-freecredit.Anotherpluspointisthatyoucantransfer the balance from one card toanotherifyouarefacingacashcrunch.Mostcardissuersletyoutransferunpaidbalanceandsomedon’tevenchargeforthefirst1-2months.Only,don’tmakebalance transferahabitbecauseitcouldbethestartofaper-ilousdescentintoadebttrap.

Convert to EMIs if facing a crunchPayingoffyourfullbillbytheduedateis

definitelythebestthingtodo.Butifyouarefacing a crunch,you can convertyourout-standingdues into easyEMIs.The interestcharged is 18-24%peryear,but that stillworksoutbetterthanthe3-4%youpaypermonthwhenyourolloverthebalance.

Protect your credit scoreHowyouuseyourcardandwhenyoupay

yourbills impactsyour credit score.Don’tsullyyour credit historybymissing a duedateorrackingupabillyoucan’tafford.Sticktoabudgetwhenyougoshopping.Workoutarepaymentplanbeforeyouuseyourcard,especiallyforhigh-valuepurchases.Inconclusion,meticulouslymatchcredit

cardfeatureswithyourpersonalusage,andkeepexpenseswithinyourserviceable lim-its.Mostimportantly,alwaysobservesafetyprotocolsasmandatedbytheissuingbank.

Thewriterismanagingdirector,MyMoneyMantra.com

● SMARTSPENDING

THEFINTECHSECTORisacombinationoffinance and technology.Since technologykeeps evolving at an exponential rate, thefintech sector follows close behind.So far,theclaimsoftechnologicaldisruptionhavebeen centeredon changes at the customerinteraction level, i.e.,digital account appli-cations,digital user interface,etc.Theyear2021promises to be“theyearof thevaluechain”forthefintechsector.Let us take a look at someof the trends

thatwillshapethefintechsectorin2021.

Robotic ProcessAutomation (RPA)TheRPAisaprocessthatutilisesrobots

and advanced technology to perform thetaskswhichwereotherwisecarriedoutbyhumans. In 2021,wewill witness moreorganisationsadoptingRPAtohandledif-ferent backend tasks like security checks,customer on-boarding, accountmainte-nance&closing,trialbalancing,creditcardandmortgage processing,among others.RPAallows fintechorganisations toman-age mundane yet necessary tasks effi-ciently, freeing up the human resourcesfor other important tasks like customerservice.

BlockchainBlockchain technology has brought a

level of transparency in financial transac-tionsthatoncewasunimaginable.Transac-tionshavebecomemuchmoresecuresinceblockchaintechnologycameintothepictureandthishasallowedthecustomerstotrustthe fintech companies thathave this tech-nologyinplace.Blockchaintechnologywillplayakeyrole intransformingthebankingsectorin2021.

AI andMLArtificial Intelligence (AI) andMachine

Learning (ML) blitzkrieg is unstoppable.According to expert estimates,AI technol-ogywillreducefintechorganisations’oper-ationalexpensesby22%bytheyear2030.AI can also play a huge role in getting

cybercrime under control by identifyingfinancial frauds and threats. It can alsoimprovecustomerexperienceas itcaneas-ily record all the interactions between thecustomers and the organisation and callupon the storeddata to offer just the rightdealstoindividualcustomers.Traditionalbankshave remainedrela-

tivelyrigid intheirapproachandhavenotmolded themselves according to cus-tomers’needs,can influencemorepeopletomigratetowardsfintechorganizations.Fintechcompanieswill improvefinancialinclusion in the year 2021 by offeringbanking facilities to theweakersectionofthe society and bymaking banking effi-cient,fast,andconvenient.

Biometric security systemsFintechhasmadebankingeasieraspeo-

ple can now perform all their banking-related tasksremotely fromanydevice thathasaninternetconnection.However, thishasalsocreateda wealth ofopportunitiesforcybercrimi-nals –who arealways lookingto exploit aweakness inthesystem.Thismeans that the fintech organisa-

tionswill have to relymore on biometricsecurity systems as they are reliable andfoolproof. However, biometrics industryitself is at a transformative stage,and con-tactless biometric solutions are going tobecomepopularsoon.Technological evolution is anever-end-

ingprocessthatmakesoursystemsandourworld a better,much easier place to live.Thesetrendswillshapethefintechindustryin 2021 andwillmake itmuchmore effi-cient,robust,andcustomer-friendly.

ThewriterisCEO&founder,FiwnayFSC

●YOURMONEYRACHITCHAWLA

Knowhowyoucanmaximisecredit cardbenefits

FINANCIALEXPRESS9 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2021

CREDITCARD

CREDITCARD

CREDITCARD

❝

❝

ONHOME INSURANCETapan Singhel, MD & CEO, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance

The government should provide tax exemption to

those opting for home insurance.Thismay be done by

providing a separate limit over and above the already

savings biased Section 80C limit.

●YOURQUERIES

Youcanport fromgrouphealthplanto family floaterfromsame insurer●Myfirmhasagrouphealthplanformyfamily.CanIport thatpolicypostretirementandcontinuewiththesameoranewinsuranceprovider?

—RajeevPathakAspertheguidelinesonPortability

andMigration,all group insurancepolicycustomersareeligible tomigrate intoaretail productofferedbythesameinsurer.Thismigration,however,wouldbesubject tounderwriting.YoushouldapproachyourHRteamandestablishcontactwithyourgroup insuranceproviderandprocuredetails at theearliest andcontinue to staysecured.

●Weareafamilyoffourcoveredunderanindividualhealthinsuranceplanwithhighestagemember(52years).Canweconvert it intoafamilyfloaterplan?

—VibhaGuptaThis ispossiblebut subject to the

productandunderwritingguidelinesofthe insurer.However,in thecurrentcircumstances,where there is a chanceofthewhole familygetting infected,continuewith the individualpoliciesasthecoverage shall beavailable foreverymember.In floaterplans thepremiumsarepayable,generallybasis theageofeldest insuredmember,which theyoungerinsuredmaynot findrelevant.

●CanIpaypremiumofthreeyears inone-go?Will Igetanydiscountonit?

—KRSrinivasYes,youcanpayyourhealth insurance

premiumfora three-yeartermatone-goprovided the insurancecompanyhasthat featureavailable in theirproduct.Whetherpaying fora two-orthree-yeartermmakesyoueligible foradiscountonpremiumdependsontheproductbut ingeneral,there is a long termdiscountavailable fortwoandthreeyearspolicytenure.

●Mysisterisasinglemotherandisdependentonmeandmywife.CanIincludeherandherminordaughterinourfamilyfloaterplanwhichincludesmywife,ourtwosonsandI?

Afamilyfloaterpolicygenerallyrefersto self,spouse,twoorthreedependentchildren-.Youcanopt fora floaterplanwhereyoursisterandherdaughterarecoveredas insuredmembersandyoursistercanbe theproposer.Youmayalsogo formulti-individualpolicywherespouse,children,brotherandsister,nieceandnephewcouldbecoveredunderthesamepolicywith individual suminsured.

Thewriter isMD&CEO,ManipalCignaHealth Insurance.Sendyourqueries tofepersonalfinance@expressindia.com

Prasun Sikdar

Fintech companieswill improve financialinclusion in the year2021 by offering

banking facilities totheweaker sectionof the society and bymaking bankingefficient, fast, and

convenient

Tech trendsthatwillshape fintechsector in 2021

Match credit card featureswith your personal usage,and keep expenseswithinyour serviceable limits.Andalways observe safetyprotocols asmandated bythe issuing bank

ILLUSTRATION: SHYAMKUMAR PRASAD

ILLUSTRATION: SHYAMKUMAR PRASAD

CREDITCARD PERKS

■Credit card issuers tie-upwith retailers, brands andservice providers. Havingmorethan one card increases yourchances of grabbing deals

■Withmultiple cards is thatyou can transfer the balancefrom one card to another if youare facing a cash crunch

■Multiple cards also helpmaximise the interest-freeperiod on purchases.As a rule,use a cardwhere the billingcycle is farthest

HEALTHINSURANCE

SANDHYAMICHU

THROUGHOUTTHE PANDEMIC, largeorganisationshavebeenannouncingper-manent work-from-home solutions orhaveputinplaceaplanforremoteworkingfor the immediate future. Several techcompanies were studying the pros andcons of remoteworkingwell before theonset of Covid-19.One such company isHPEnterprise(HPE);evenduringthepre-Covid days,asmanyas 60%of theHPEworkforceroutinelyworkedfromoutsidetheoffice.Thishighlightedtheteammem-bers’preferenceforflexibleyethighlypro-ductiveworking conditions.Nowonder,

the company has introduced Edge-to-Office,aninitiativethatboldlyreimaginesthewaywork is done in amore flexiblemanner,whilemaintaining focuson cul-ture,wellnessandinnovation.Sharingthekeycontoursofthisinitia-

tive SomSatsangi,MD,HPE India says,“It’s a newprogrammewe designed forour own organisation to reimagine thewaywework to bemore flexible,whilemaintaining our focus on culture,well-ness,and innovation.It’s a different takeonmanagingremotework—onedesignedtoemphasisethatteammembersarecon-nectednomatterwhere theirworkplaceis located.This initiative is ledbya cross-functionalworkinggrouptodrawontheexpertise of leaders fromevery functionthat impacts the teammember experi-ence.This includes real estateworkplaceservices,HR,communications,ITandoth-ers. Through this initiative, we aim todeeplyembedHPE'scompanycultureintothenewworkexperience.”

ThisinitiativewasdesignedforHPEtoimplementwithinitsownorganisationforits teammembers. Ifotherorganisationswant to adopt a similar Edge-to-Officeapproach,HPE recommends focusingonthefollowing—workstation,connectivity,collaboration & productivity, health &wellness,social&lifestyle,andsupport.Connectivityis themostessential ele-

ment of Edge-to-Office.Forwork-from-home initiatives,Aruba Remote AccessPointsprovideseamlessandsecureaccesstocorporateresourcesatscale.Arubaalsooffers an extensive portfolio of outdooraccesspointstobeusedinoutdoorpop-uplocations extending the corporate net-work. Additionally, the recentlyannouncednewHPEGreenLake forVDIcloudservicesprovidesorganisationswithaproven set of technologies to adapt to arapidlygrowing remote employeepopu-lation through simplifiedmanagement,fastertimetoproductivity,more securityandcontrol,andcostsavings.Commenting on productivity in

remoteworking Satsangi said,“Wehaveprovided clearexpectations andupdatedproductivitymeasuresthatbuildtrustandempowerment.This also requires a newstyle of leadership,one that builds con-nections in a hybridwork environmentwhile ensuring accountability and pro-ductivityonteams.”

SUDHIRCHOWDHARY

FISDOM, CO-FOUNDED BY AnandDalmia andSubramanyaSVin2015,is afast-growingwealthtechplatformprovid-ing solutions across investment,savingandprotection.Through its app,Fisdomprovidesanarrayofproducts/servicesthatinclude but are not limited to mutualfunds,National Pension Scheme,digitalgold, insurance, loans,etc.“We are a pio-neer in thepartnership-ledwealthman-agementmodel,”claimsSubramanyaSV,CEO, Fisdom. “Fisdom has built a B2Cproduct but reaches customers throughB2B2Cpartnerships.”Overthelastfouryears,Fisdomhastied

upwith several largebanks and financialinstitutions toofferwealthmanagementservices to their customers. KarnatakaBank, Indian Bank,SBMBank,OrientalBankofCommerce,CityUnionBank,anddigital platforms such as Bajaj FinservMarkets andTVS Saathi have partneredwithFisdom.Subramanyaadds that cus-tomers of these institutions canuse the

FisdommobileapportheFisdomSDKontheir respectivemobile app to access Fis-dom’ssolutions.These partnerships provide large,

exclusive access to customers.Together,Fisdomhasaccess tonearly20crore cus-tomerbase and20,000branches all overIndia.Banks also addanelement of trustto the end-customer in their decision-makingprocesstobuymutualfunds,pen-sionfunds,etc.Inaddition,Fisdomservesnearly 3 lakh customers, who activelytransact/buyfinancialproductsonitsplat-form.“Evenduringthepandemic,Fisdomsawmore than80%growth in itsAUM.The company is in the process of adding

severalmore partners that includemar-quee names in the Indian financial ser-viceslandscape,”saysSubramanya.Fisdom employs nearly 400 people

acrosstechnology,sales,andoperations.Ithasnearlya200-peoplesalesteamacrossthecountryin100-pluslocationsworkingwiththebankpartners.Talkingabouttheinitialyears,Subramanyasays,“Iwasasuc-cessfulventurecapitalinvestorandAnand,an investmentbankerwithexperience inhandlinglargeM&Adeals.AsAnandandIhadabackgroundinfinancialservices,ournatural choicewas to disrupt the Indianfinancial services.Whilewe intended tobuilda largediversified financial services

company,we chosewealthmanagementasthestartingpoint.”According to him, access to wealth

products in India then (and now) waslargelyunderpenetrated.Lessthan2croreIndianshave invested inmutual fundsorstockstocreatewealth.“Customersatlargewerestayingawayduetoavarietyofprob-lems like lackof access, inadequate trust,lackofknowledge,time,etc,”hesays.“Thisofferedalargemarketopportunitytopro-videatech-basedsolutionthatsolveseachof these consumerproblems.The idea ofFisdomwas tobe amobile-first platformthat would help customers invest inmutual funds in a paperless manner,underaguidedchoicemodelwithout theuseofanyjargon.”Fisdomhas beenbacked bymarquee

investors such as Saama Capital (seedround),QuonaCapital(SeriesA),andPayU(backedbyNaspers)(SeriesB).Atthetimeoffounding,itraisedanangelroundoffund-ingfromseveralindividualinvestorssuchasRaghunandanandAprameya(TaxiFor-Sure founders),RobChandra,RajeevChi-trabhanu,GauravGupta,etc.Financial products in India are still

severely underpenetrated, especially insmaller towns.Fisdom’s focus areashavebeenproviding access (making themostappropriate financial products accessibleto a largenumberof customers),simplic-ity (eliminating jargon and complexityfromfinancialdecisions),anddoingsoinatrustworthymanner.Itaimstobeafinan-cial services company that helps cus-tomers access solutions across invest-ments,savings,protection,andcredit.

Fisdom blends technologywith financial knowledgeto bring simplicity,accessibility and trust infinancial products for theunderserved populationin India

●NEWNORMAL

Embracingnewtools tostayagile&productiveHPE transforms thecompany’s culture into anew remoteworkexperience

●MONEYMATTERS

Aplatform to help people buildwealth

eFE

Fisdom co-founders (L-R): Subramanya SV&Anand Dalmia

❝ ❝In a highly connectedworld, it’s amisconceptionthat offsiteworkers are notas productive asworkers inoffices.

— SOMSATSANGI,MD,HPE INDIA

Pune

●YETANOTHER PEAK

FEBUREAU

Mumbai, January 12

INDIAN MARKETS RALLIED onTuesday,withthebenchmarkSensexjustkissingdis-tanceawayfromthe50,000mark.The30-share Sensex rallied by 247.79 points(0.50%) tocloseat49,517.11whereas,theNiftyralliedby78.7points(0.54%)tocloseat 14,563.45.Despite theReserveBankofIndia’s financial stability reportwarningaboutrisingbadloans,theNiftyBanksoaredtotoucha52-weekhigh.Indianmarkets’upwardmovewasledby

banking and automobile stocks.TheNiftyBank index ralliedby1.06%onTuesdaytoclose at 32,339.00. The index intradaytouched32,397.95,whichisa52-weekhighfortheindex.Adaybefore,theReserveBankof India’s financial stability reportwarnedthat the non-performing asset ratio isexpectedtoriseto13.5%bytheendofSep-temberfrom7.5%ayearago.AmbareeshBaliga,anindependentmar-

ketexpert,said,“TheNiftyBankmayberis-ing,butcautionneedstobetakenastheRBIhas stated thatNPAs could rise in Septem-berwhichcouldhurtthebankingstocks.”The broadermarket,which sawprofit

taking in theprevious trading session too,rallied onTuesday.TheNiftyMidcap 100andNifty Smallcap 100 rallied by0.67%and0.09%respectively.Just early in Janu-ary,theNiftyMidcapindexhadtoucheditsrecordhigh after threeyears of underper-formancetothebenchmarkindices.Thishas

beenmainlyonthebackofincreasedliquid-ityinthestockmarket,thestartofaneweco-nomic recoverycycle and the rush of newretail investors in themarket.According tomarketexperts,forthecurrentcalendaryear2021 aswell, themidcap stocks are set to

outperformthelargecapindices.Harshad Patwardhan, CIO-Equities,

EdelweissAssetManagement,inhis reportsaidthattherearehighoddsofmidcapsout-performing over three to fiveyear invest-menthorizon.“Onathreeyeardailyrollingreturnbasis,65%oftimesthemidcapindexhasoutperformedlargecapindex.Onafiveyeardailyrollingreturnbasis,77%oftimesthemidcap indexhas outperformed largecapindex,”saidPatwardhan.Theonlyrisksposedtothecurrentmid-

caprallyareglobalriskoffevents,globalcen-tral banks reversingbenignmonetarypol-icy due to inflation, Indian governmentgoingbackonkeyreformsamongothers.Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) on

Tuesdaybought stocksworth$76.19mil-lion whereas domestic institutionalinvestorssoldstocksworth$177.9million.Thebiggest gainers on theNiftywereTataMotors,GAIL,BhartiAirtel,State Bank ofIndia andCoal India upby7.52%,4.68%,3.95%,3.79%,and3.6%.

M-cap of BSE-listed companies atall-timehigh of `197.46 lakh crThe market capitalisation of all BSE-

listedcompaniesjumpedtoafreshall-timehighof`197.46lakhcroreonTuesday,dri-venbybullishmarketsentiment.Atcloseoftrade,themarketcapitalisationofBSE-listedcompaniesstoodat`1,97,46,939.57crore($2.6trillion).“Domesticequitiesremainedresilient and firm as it recovered sharplyfromday’slowandrecordedfreshhighs.Wecontinue to believe that fundamentals ofmarketremainintactconsideringsustainedreboundineconomicactivitiesandgovern-ment’scontinuousendeavourtobolstereco-nomic activities,”said BinodModi,head -strategyatRelianceSecurities. —PTI

FE BUREAU

Mumbai, January 12

THEAVERAGETIME taken for resolutionshas beenmuchmore than the outer limitprescribed in the Insolvency and Bank-ruptcyCode(IBC),evenasfinancialcreditorshave realised 43.56% of their claimsthroughtheprocess.As per the financial stability report

releasedbytheReserveBankofIndia (RBI),thecorporateinsolvencyresolutionprocess(CIRPs),whichyielded resolution,took anaverageof433daysasofSeptember2020.IBCprescribes amaximumperiod of 330days fora resolutionasperanamendmentintroducedin2019.Misha,partner at ShardulAmarchand

Mangaldas,saidthat the initialdelayintheprocesseswascausedonaccountofcertainunsettled issues of interpretation and theecosystem becoming familiar with theprocesses. “Several legal precedents,espe-ciallyattheleveloftheSupremeCourt,havesettledmost of theoutstanding issues andthestakeholdersinvolvedintheprocessare

morefamiliarwiththeprocesses,therefore,wecanexpecttheprescribedtimelinestobebetter achieved,” she added. Misha alsopointed that there is a need forprovidingbetter infrastructure support as well asincreaseinbenchstrengthforthetribunals.AshishPyasi,associatepartner,Dhirand

DhirAssociates, said,“In a fit case, if it isshown to the court that there is onlyshortperiod left or with some extension thedebtorcanbeputbackonitsfeet,insteadofliquidation,andthefactorsarebeyondcon-trol,thenfurtherextensionmaybegranted.”So,onlyinexceptional cases theperiodcanbemorethan330days,butthegeneralruleof330daystimelineremains,headded.SonamChandwani,managingpartnerat

KSLegal&Associates,saidthatakeyfactorinexpeditingcaseswouldbetheidentificationofcompaniesheadingforliquidation,whichwere earlierwith the Board for Industrialand Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) ordefunct.“Thepromotersshouldbegivenanopportunitytoparticipateintheresolutionfor liquidationprocess and timelydisposalofcases,”shesaid.

IBC took433days forresolutiononanaverage

The Nifty Bank soared totouch a 52-week high toclose at 32,339.00

Bajaj Allianz Life AUMgrows 79% in 10 yrsto cross `70,000 crPRIVATESECTORLIFEinsurerBajajAllianzLifeonTuesdaysaiditsassetsundermanagementhavecrossedthe`70,000-croremilestonebytheendofDecember.“Withvalue-addproductsandmeaningfulimprovementsacrosscustomerservices,ourAUMhasgrown79%inthepast10yearstotouch`70,295croreasofDecember31,”thecompanysaidinstatement.

PanseresignsasPNBHFLindependentdirectorPNBHousingFinanceonTuesdaysaiditsindependentdirectorShubhala-kshmiPansehasresignedfromherpositinthecompanytocontinuewithherroleatitscompetitorCanFinHom-es.ShubhalakshmiPanse,whohadserv-edasMDatAllahabadBankfromOcto-ber2012-January2014,wasappointedasindependentdirectorofPNBHousingFinance(PNBHFL)inJuly2017.

Quick

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MarketsFINANCIALEXPRESS10 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2021

Money Matters

January 12January 1

5.875

5.918

Thebenchmark yield roseunder sellingpressure

0.001%

G-SEC

January 12January 1

Inverted scale

73.25

73.12

The rupee ended higheron gains in equitiesand aweak dollar

0.179%

`/$

January 12January 1

1.2215

1.2154

The euro rose againstthe dollar

0.025%

C=/$

❝ ❝

HIGHGOLD IMPORTDUTYMPAhammed, chairman, Malabar Group

High import duty is the root cause of smuggling and

tax evasion.The governmentmust assess the

adverse impact of higher import duty on the

jewellery trade andpropose duty reduction tomake

both trade and consumption ofgold transparent...

ANALYSTCORNER

BhartiAirtel: Reiterate‘buy’,raiseTPby14%to`650

HSBCGLOBALRESEARCH

ARPUTO IMPROVE as companygainshigh-value subs,migrates subs from2Gto4Gandpotential tariff hikes in FY22e.Spectrumsupply is abundant in theupcomingauction;weexpect Bharti toinvest `98billion and industry to skip700MHz. Reiterate ‘buy' and raise targetpriceby14% to`650 (from`570). Keycatalystwouldbe rise inmobileArpu.Arpu is set to rise at 14%CAGRover

three years: IndiamobileArpu iswell-poised to rise drivenby acquisitionofhigh-value subscribers; subsmigrationfrom2G to4G; potential tariff hikesduri-ng FY22e. Bharti subs addition at 3.7million remained robust inOctober2020. Its post-paid subs additionwasrobust at 695k in 2QFY21 and4Gsubspenetration improved to52%asof2Q-FY21.Weexpect 4G subspenetrationto surge to c80%byFY23e,whichwou-ld support arpu increases.Thus,weexp-ect BhartiAirtel’s consolidated revenueandebitda to expandat 12%and15%CAGRs, respectively, over FY20-23e.Abundant spectrumsupplyduring

March 2021 auction is apositive;industry likely to skip 700MHz:OnJanuary6, 2020, theDepartment of

Telecommunications (DoT) announceditwould conduct spectrumauction acr-ossbandsonMarch1, 2021.Webelieveindustry is unlikely topurchase 700MHzas the reserveprice is peggedat `329billion ($4.5billion) per 5MHzblock, imp-lying$0.66perMHzper capita—wecompare this to spectrumprices seenacross the region.More importantly, the700MHz reserveprice is high in India.Industry likely to invest `256billion in

spectrum:Weestimate spectruminvestment of`98billionbyBhartiAirtel,`125billionbyRelianceJio and`33billionbyVodafone Idea in the upcom-ing auction.Wedon’t expect operatorstopurchase theentire spectrumcomingup for renewal as operators haveenhanced their spectrumholdingsoverthe last fewyears. In our base case,weforecast investment for spectrumcomingup for renewal. BhartiAirtel andRelianceJio couldbuy incrementalgrowth spectrum in sub-GHz and1800/2300MHz—whichwould thenreducenetwork capex forecasts.Reiterate 'buy'with revisedSOTP-basedTPof`650 (fromRs570):We raise ebitdaestimatesby1%-3.5%over FY21-23eandnetprofit by 30% for FY22e, drivenbyhigher India arpuestimates.

Banking,autostocks leadSensextonear50kmilestone

Financial Operational Corporate

Outcome Description Creditor Creditor Debtor Total

Status of ClosureCIRPs by Appeal/

Review/Settled 124 343 6 473

Closure byWithdrawalu/s 12A 88 198 5 291

Closure by Approvalof Resolution Plan 157 80 40 277

Closure by Commencementof Liquidation 444 438 143 1025

Ongoing 917 958 67 19 42

Total 1730 2017 261 4008

CIRPs yielding Realisation by FCsResolution (% of LiquidationPlans Value) 192.09 112.40 142.77 185.15

Realisation by FCs as% of their Claims 46.84 21.80 25.30 43.56

Average time taken forClosure of CIRP 444 406 443 433

CIRPs yielding Liquidation ValueLiquidations as % of Claims 6.35 9.19 9.89 7.20

Average time takenfor Closure of CIRP 336 304 306 318

Source: IBBI

Outcome of CIRPs initiated stakeholder-wiseas on September 30, 2020

FEBUREAUMumbai, January 12

THERATIOOFaccountsinthespecialmen-tionaccount(SMA)-2categoryoftheprivatesectornon-financialwholesalesegmentroseto 7.2% as on November 30, 2020, from1.7%onSeptember30,2020,theRBIsaidintheDecember2020editionof its financialstabilityreport(FSR).ThesharpriseinSMA-2loanscoincidedwiththeSC’sstayonrecog-nitionofbadassetsafterAugust31.SMA-2loansarethosewhererepayments

havebeenoverduebetween61and90daysand theirratioasa shareof advances signi-fiesthelevelofincipientstressinthesystem.Once an account remains irregular for90days,itisclassifiedasanonperformingasset(NPA)orabadloan.Anexaminationofthetransitionofacon-

stant sample of non-PSU non-financialwholesaleperformingexposurestoSMAsta-tus betweenAugust andNovember 2020reveals accumulation of outstanding inSMA-0/1/2categories,althoughtheaggre-gateoutstandinghasremainedflat,theRBI

said. Asimilaraccumulationof exposure isseenwhengrossoutstandingat everySMAcohort is compared between August andNovember2020.“Admittedly,theassetclas-sificationstandstill inhibits thetrueunder-lying economic categorisation of assets,although the incipient tilt is towardswors-eningasindicatedbythegrowthinbalancesinthenextworsecategoriesforeachcohort,”thereportsaid.

SMA-2 ratio inwholesale rose to7.2%inNovfrom1.7%inSept

11.8

3.3

1.7

7.5

3.3

7.2

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

(in %

SMA 0 SMA 1 SMA 2

Sept 30, 2020 Nov 30, 2020

Source: CRILC & RBI staff calculations

Rupeedarts up 15paise to 73.25vs $THERUPEE RECOUPED early lossesand closed 15paise higher at 73.25against the dollar on Tuesday, sup-portedbyweakness in thegreenbackoverseas and recovery in domesticequities.UnabatedFPI inflowsaddedtothemomentum,thoughgainswerecappedbyfirmcrudeoil prices,forextraders said.At the interbank forexmarket, the rupee opened weak at73.42andshuttledbetweenahighof73.24andalowof73.44.Itfinallyfin-ishedat73.25,up15paiseoveritspre-viousclose. —PTI

BAIJUKALESHJanuary 12

MORGAN STANLEYMADE several seniorappointments fromcountryhead tochiefsofinvestmentbankinginIndiaaftertheUSbankcementedmulti-billiondollardealsintheAsiancountryinthepastyear.SanjayShahwill be the bank’s country

head for India, effective immediately,according to a memo seen by BloombergNewsonTuesday.KamalYadavandSachinWaglewillbecomeco-headsofthecountry’sinvestmentbanking,whileSamarthJagnaniisthenewchiefforglobalcapitalmarketsinIndia,thememoshows.TheappointmentsalsocameafterAisha

deSequeira,MorganStanley’sco-chiefexec-utiveofficerandheadof investmentbank-inginIndia,diedlatelastyear.In2020,Mor-gan Stanleyworked on key deals such asFacebook andGoogle’s investments in JioPlatforms, the digital arm of MukeshAmbani’sRelianceIndustries.Shahwasthe

co-headforIndiaalongwithSequeira.Shah rose through the ranks after join-

ingMorganStanleyasanassociatein1996in the institutional equities division inMumbai.Hebecamemanagingdirector in2005andwasco-headofIndiafrom2013.Yadav andWagle, the new investment

bankingchiefs in India,havebeenwith thefirm formore than 20years. Jagnani,whojoinedin2007,hasbeenleadinginternationallistingsandnewinitiativesforthebankintheSouthAsiancountry. —BLOOMBERG

Morgan Stanley namesSanjay Shah as India head

In2020, Morgan Stanleyworked onkey deals such as Facebook andGoogle’s investments in Jio Platforms

PRESSTRUSTOF INDIANewDelhi, January 12

POWERFINANCECORPORATION (PFC),the nation’s biggest lender to the powersector,will raise `10,000 crore throughbonds in twotranches.The first tranche of `5,000 crorewill

open for subscription on January 15 andcloseonJanuary29,accordingtothecom-pany’sprospectus.PFChadpreviouslysold tax-free infra-

structurebondstoretail investorsandthiswould be its maiden taxable issuance toindividualbuyers.The proceeds of the issue would be

usedfor“onwardlending,financing/refi-nancing the existing indebtedness of ourcompany,and/ordebtservicing(paymentofinterestand/orrepayment/prepaymentof interest and principal of existing bor-rowingsofourcompany),andgeneralcor-poratepurposes,”PFCsaid.At least 75%of theproceedswouldgo

towards onward lending and financing/-refinancingofexistingdebt.Secured, redeemable non-convertible

debentures(NCD)offacevalue`1,000willbe available for subscription in lots of 10NCDs.Theissueisopenforfourcategoriesof investors— institutional,non-institu-tional, high net worth individuals, andretail individual investors.It,however,isnotopentominorswith-

out a guardian name, foreign nationals,person resident outside India, foreigninstitutional investors, foreign portfolioinvestors,NRIs, qualified foreign inves-tors, overseas corporate bodies, and for-eignventurecapital funds.The bonds are being offered in four

tenors— three years, five years, 10 yearsand15years.

PRESSTRUSTOF INDIANewDelhi, January 12

THE SECURITIES APPELLATE Tribunal(SAT) has set aside a Sebi order to impose`10-lakh fine each on three state-ownedfinancialinstitutions—SBI,BankofBarodaandLIC—inUTIAMC'sstakedilutioncase.The Securities and Exchange Board of

India (Sebi),inAugust2020,levied the fineonthree financial institutions forfailingtoreduce their stakes to below 10% in UTIAssetManagementCompany(AMC)withinthestipulatedtimeline.The three companieswere required to

bringdowntheirstake inUTIAMCto10%eachbyMarch2019.Theywereholdingan18.24%stakeeachinthefundhouse.The entitieswere non-compliantwith

the Sebi mutual fund (MF) Regulations.Under the norm,no sponsor of a mutualfund is allowed to hold over 10% of anyothermutualfundoratrusteefirm.LifeInsuranceCorporationofIndia(LIC),

StateBankofIndia(SBI)andBankofBaroda(BoB)arethesponsorsofLICMF,SBIMFandBarodaMFandat thesametime,theywereholdingover18%stakeinbothUTIMFandUTITrusteeCompany.Following theSebi’s order,SBI,BoBand

LIC had moved the tribunal. In an orderpassedon January7,theSATsaid it didnotfind any justifiable reason to impose anymonetarypenaltyinthepresentmatters,aseverytechnicalviolationneednotbevisitedwithamonetarypenalty.Inthesemattersawarning is sufficient.“All three appeals arepartlyallowedbysubstitutingthemonetarypenaltyof `10 lakh each imposed on theappellants (SBI,BoBandLIC)with that of awarning,” it added.According to the SAT,threeentitieswere facingexcruciating fac-tors inachievingtheirstakedilutioninUTIAMC.Though it is a fact that DIPAMwasapproachedonlyin January2019,theenti-ties were not free to approach DIPAMdirectlybuthadtogothroughotherdepart-mentsinthefinanceministry.The tribunal said it had noted corre-

spondence sinceMarch 2018 (when Sebicameoutwithnewnormsonmutualfunds)made bythe entities on theneed for com-plyingwiththemutualfundnormsandtheneedforexpeditiouslydoingso.

PRESSTRUSTOF INDIANewDelhi, January 12

SHARES OF KARNATAKABankonTuesdaygainednearly6% after the company rep-orted a 10% increase in netprofit for the Decemberquarter.Thestockjumped5.62%to

close at `67.70 on the BSE.Duringtheday,itgained11.31%to`71.35.On the NSE, it zoomed 5.14% to close at`67.45.Intradedvolumeterms,12.81lakhsharesweretradedattheBSEandover2.53

croreunitontheNSEduringtheday.Theprivate sector lender

onTuesdayreported a10%increase in net profit to`135.38 crore for theDece-mberquarteronaccountofadeclineinbadloans.The Mangalore-head-

quarteredbankhadreportedanetprofit of`123.14crorein theyear-agoperiod,it said

inaregulatoryfiling.However,total incomeofthebankdeclinedto`1,868.62crorefrom`1,993.68crore in the samequarterayearago.

PFC to raise`10,000crviabonds; 1st tranchetoopen Jan15

Karnataka Bank shares jumpnearly 6% afterQ3 earnings

The bank reported a

10% increase in net

profit to `135.38 crore

for the December

quarter on account of

a decline in bad loans

UTIAMCcase: SATsets aside Sebi fineonSBI,BoB,LIC

Sebi, inAugust 2020, levied the fine

on three financial institutions for

failing to reduce their stakes to

below 10% in UTI AMCwithin the

stipulated timeline

49,228.26

Open Close

Sensex Intra-day, January 12

49,517.11

49,000

49,100

49,200

49,300

49,400

49,500

49,600

GOLDJEWELLERYRETAILERMalabarGrouphasurgedthegovernmentthat taxrate,including importdutyongoldandGST,shouldbereducedto7%tocurblarge-scalegoldsmuggling inthecountry.Thiswouldalsoboostgoldtradeandstrengthenconsumerconfidenceanddemandforgold jewellery.MalabarGroupchairmanMPAhammedsaidthegovernmentshouldcreateanenablingenvironmentforthe jewelleryretail tradeto introduceMRPpricing inthesegmentwithoutanypricingbreak-upintermsofGSTorothertaxes. MRP-basedbilledtransactions,inaway,willmakethejewelleryretail tradetax-compliantandboost thegovernment’s taxcollection.“Atpresent,goldattracts12.5%

importdutyand3%GSTandtotaldutyandGSTimplicationworkoutat15.5%.Suchhigh taxeshave led to large-scalesmugglingandtaxevasion.Therefore,reducing importduty-GSTimplicationto7%isaneffectivemeasure topreventthose industrymalpractices,”he said.“High importdutyis the root causeof

smugglingandtaxevasion.Thegovernmentmustassess theadverseimpactofhigher importdutyonthejewellerytradeandproposedutyreduction tomakeboth tradeandconsumptionofgold transparent.SlashingdutyandGSTongold is in linewith thegovernment'smove tocurbunauthorised transactions in the trade.Bringing the jewelleryindustryunderthepurviewof thePreventionofMoneyLaunderingAct is aproofof thegovernment's effectivedecision-making.The tradeexpects similarswiftness fromtheministryconcernedto reduce importdutyongold,”headded.

—FEBUREAU

Malabar Groupurges govt toreduce tax rate

Pune

MARKETS 11FINANCIALEXPRESS

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PRESSTRUSTOF INDIAMumbai, January 12

THE RESERVE BANK on Tues-day imposed a penalty of `2crore on Deutsche BankAG fornon-compliance with certainprovisions of directions con-cerninginterestrateondeposits.The central bank said the

statutoryinspectionofDeutscheBank’s financial position as onMarch 31, 2019 and the RiskAssessmentReportrevealednon-compliance with the ‘ReserveBank of India (Interest Rate on

Deposits)Directions,2016’.Followingtheinspection,the

RBIissuedashowcausenoticetothe bank.“After considering thebank's reply to the notice, oralsubmissions made in the per-sonal hearing and examinationof additional submissions, RBIconcludedthatthechargeofnon-compliance with aforesaid RBIdirectionswassubstantiatedandwarranted imposition ofmone-tary penalty,” the central banksaid.Therefore,RBIbyanorderonTuesdayimposedapenaltyof`2croreonDeutscheBank.

ALEX LAWLERLondon, January 12

OILHITAN11-monthhigh justbelow$57abarrelonTuesdayastightersupplyandexpectationsfor a drop inUS inventories off-set concernsoverrisingcoronaviruscasesglob-ally.SaudiArabiaplansto cut output by anextra 1million barrelsper day (bpd) in Febru-ary andMarch to keepinventories in check.The latest US supply reports areexpected to show crude stocksfell fora fifth straightweek.Brentcrudewasup59cents,or

1.1%,at$56.25abarrelby1440GMT after touching its highestsince last Februaryat$56.75.US

West Texas Intermediate (WTI)gained 47 cents, or 0.9%, to$52.72.“SaudiArabia inparticu-lar is ensuring,through its addi-tionalvoluntaryproductioncuts,thatthemarket isundersuppliedifanything,”saidEugenWeinberg

ofCommerzbank.The Saudi cut is part

of an OPEC-led deal inwhich most producerswill hold output steadyinFebruary.RecordcutsbyOPECanditsallieslastyearhelpedoil torecover

fromhistoric lows inApril.Someanalystsseefurthergainsaslikely.“We advise investors with a

high risk tolerance to be longBrentortosell itsdownsidepricerisks,”saidGiovanni StaunovoofUBS. —REUTERS

RANJEETHAPAKIAM &EDDIE SPENCEJanuary 12

GOLD CLIMBED, SNAPPINGthe longest runofdailydeclinessince November, as the dollarweakened and investors turnedtheir focus to the next round ofmassiveUSstimulus.President-electJoeBidenisset

toreleaseplansforamultitrillion-dollarstimuluspackageonThurs-day,pavingthewayforanacceler-ationininflation.Thatcouldboosttheappealofgold,whichhasbeenweigheddowninrecentdaysbyareboundintheUScurrencyandasurgein10-yearTreasuryyields.Marketsappeartohavetem-

porarily ignored the prospectsfor higher inflation and freshstimulus,accordingtoMargaretYang, a strategist at DailyFX.“Thatmeans the selloff in gold

could be temporary, and thedownsidemaybe cushioned byfresh stimulus tobe announcedbyBiden,”shesaid.The preciousmetal has lost

groundin2021afterposting itsbiggest annual gain in a decadeon the back of the coronaviruscrisis,vast stimulus, and risinghaven demand. Now, FederalReserve officials are saying thatmore fiscal support and themass distribution of vaccinescould lead to a strong US eco-nomic recovery in the secondhalf, setting the stage for a dis-cussion about tapering of bondbuying before year-end, andevenanearlyratehike.“Thiswould be considerably

earlierthanpreviouslyexpected,further fueling the upswing inyields,”Carsten Fritsch, an ana-lyst at CommerzbankAG,wroteinanote. —BLOOMBERG

Gold snaps losing runas investorsweighdollar,Biden stimulus

Oil hits 11-monthhighnear$57

RBI slaps`2-cr fineonDeutscheBank

Losing run haltsGold advances after four days of declines

Source: Bloomberg

Spot gold ($/ounce, RHS)

US generic govt 10-year yield (%, LHS)

Mar2020

Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan2021

2,100

2,000

1,900

1,800

1,700

1,600

1,500

1.2

1.1

1.0

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

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NATION12 FINANCIALEXPRESS

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‘Online transactions grew80% in2020driven by stronguptake from tier II, III cities’ HC seeks FIU stand on PayPal plea against `96L fineONLINE TRANSACTIONS

GREW 80% in 2020 over theprevious years, driven by

strong adoption of digitaltransactions in tier II and IIIcities,according to a report by

fintech firmRazorpay.ThereportpointedthatUPI

transactions outgrew cards,

netbanking andwallets with120% growth in 2020 andbecame the most preferred

mode of payment, especiallyfortierII and III cities.

—PTI

THE DELHI HIGH Court onTuesday sought response oftheFinancialIntelligenceUnit

(FIU)IndiaonAmericanonlinepaymentgatewayPayPal’spleachallenging the `96 lakh

penalty imposed on it foralleged violation of anti-moneylaundering law. —PTI

Pune

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2021

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2021

From the Front Page

Biden inauguration:FBI issuesarmedprotestwarningHesaid thenumbercould rise to15,000 ifrequestedbylocal authorities.At least onelawmakeraskedthePentagontodomore.SenatorChrisMurphy,whosaidhewas

sending a letter to the acting secretaryofdefenses onMonday,said itwasunclear iftheNationalGuardwouldbe sufficient toprotectthenation’scapitalandthatactive-dutytroopsmaybeneededalso.“I’mnot afraid of taking theoathout-

side,” Biden told reporters in Newark,Delaware,referringtothetraditionalsettingforthe swearing-in ceremonyontheCapi-tol grounds. But he said it was criticallyimportant that people “who engaged insedition and threatened people’s lives,defacedpublicproperty,causedgreatdam-age”beheldaccountable.Biden’s inaugural committee said on

Mondaythe themeof the January20cere-monywouldbe“AmericaUnited”.Trump,whohas soughtunsuccessfully

tooverturntheNovember3electionresultswith false claimsofwidespread fraud,saidlastweekhewouldnotattendtheceremony,adecisionthepresident-electsupported.TheParkService said itwould suspend

tours of theWashington Monument, anobeliskhonouringthecountry’sfirstpresi-dent,duetosafetyconcernsfromthreatstodisrupttheinauguration.

WashingtonmayorMurielBowsercalledfor the US interior department to cancelpublic-gatheringpermits through January24.“This inaugural planningperiodhas tobeverydifferentthanalltheothers,”shetoldreportersonMonday. -Reuters

Policyupdate:WhatsAppsaysmessageprivacyintact,change relatedtobiz interaction:It added thatWhatsApp accesses only thephone numbers from the address book(after getting user's permission) to makemessaging fast and reliable, and that itdoesn't share contact lists with the otherapps Facebookoffers.“We use groupmembership to deliver

messages and to protect our service fromspam and abuse.We don't share this datawith Facebook for ads purposes. Again,these private chats are end-to-endencrypted sowecan't see theircontent,”itnoted. A report by internet securityresearcher Rajshekhar Rajaharia hadclaimed that at least 1,700 privateWhatsApp group links were visible onGoogle through a web search.WhatsAppnoted that users can choose to set theirmessages to disappear from chats “foradditional privacy”.The messaging giant - which has

about 400million users in India - said itwill always be clearwithin the appwhenusers are communicating with anybusiness thatuses its featuresdesignedforcommercial entities.WhatsApp explained that some large

businessesneed tousehosting services tomanage their communication,and that itprovides them the option to use securehostingservices fromFacebooktomanageWhatsApp chats with their customers,answer questions, and send informationlike purchase receipts.“Butwhetheryoucommunicatewitha

business byphone,email,orWhatsApp, it(business) can seewhat you're saying andmay use that information for its ownmarketing purposes,which may includeadvertising on Facebook. To make sureyou're informed, we clearly labelconversations with businesses that arechoosing to use hosting services fromFacebook,”WhatsApp added.WhatsAppsaid if users choose to interact with“Shops” (Facebook branded commercefeature), their shopping activity can beusedtopersonalise theirShopsexperienceand the ads users see on Facebook andInstagram.“Features like this are optional and

whenyou use themwewill tell you in theapp how your data is being shared withFacebook...IfyouhaveWhatsApp installedon your phone, you'll have the option tomessage that business.Facebookmayusethe way you interact with these ads topersonalise the ads you see on Facebook,”it added. Interestingly, a number ofbusiness leaders, including MahindraGroupchairmanAnandMahindra,Paytmfounder Vijay Shekhar Sharma andPhonePeCEOSameerNigam,havespokenof moving to rival platforms.Mahindrasaid he had installed Signal,while Nigamsaid he hadmoved 1,000-plus“PhonePe-rs” to Signal, and recreated all his workgroups andmoved familygroups.“...WhatsApp isbyfarandawaythebest

product I've ever seen in the social/commcategory.I trustedtheWAfounders.I lovedthe simplicity of their product. Neverimagined switching to another chat app.C'est la vie,”Nigam tweeted. Sharma alsoadvocated moving to Signal. “They say,market has power. We are the largestmarket.Here in IndiaWhatsApp/Facebookareabusingtheirmonopoly&takingawaymillions of users' privacy for granted.Weshouldmoveon to@signalappNOW.It isupto us to become victim or reject suchmoves,”he said in a tweet.

Shree Digvijay Cement Company LimitedCIN: L26940GJ1944PLC000749Digvijaygram, Jamnagar – 361 140 (Gujarat)

Email: investors.sdccl@digvijaycement.com Website: www.digvijaycement.com

Phone 0288-2344272-75, Fax No. 0288-2344092

NOTICE is hereby given pursuant to Regulation 29 read with the

Regulation 47 of the SEBI (Listing Obligation and Disclosure Requirement)

Regulations 2015, that a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company

will be held on Wednesday, 27th January , 2021, inter-alia, to consider and

approve the Un-audited Financial Results of the Company for the Quarter

ended 31st December, 2020.

This Notice is also available at Investors Section of the Company's website

www.digvijaycement.com and on the Stock Exchanges website at

www.bseindia.com and www.nseindia.com, where the shares of the

Company are listed. For Shree Digvijay Cement Co. Ltd.

Sd/-

Suresh Meher

VP (Legal) & Company Secretary

N O T I C E

Place : Digvijaygram

Date : 31st December, 2020

For NIPPON LIFE INDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED

(formerly known as Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Limited)(Asset Management Company for Nippon India Mutual Fund)

Sd/-Authorised Signatory

Mumbai

January 12, 2021

Make even idle money work! Invest in Mutual Funds

Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks,read all scheme related documents carefully.

Nippon Life India Asset Management Limited(formerly known as Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Limited)

(CIN - L65910MH1995PLC220793)

Registered O�ce: 4th Floor, Tower A, Peninsula Business Park,Ganapatrao KadamMarg, Lower Parel (W), Mumbai - 400 013.

Tel No. +91 22 6808 7000 • Fax No. +91 22 6808 7097 • mf.nipponindiaim.com

NOTICE CUM ADDENDUM NO. 100

Notice is hereby given that pursuant to SEBI Circular No. SEBI/HO/IMD/DF3/CIR/P/2020/197dated October 5, 2020 on “Product Labeling in Mutual Fund schemes – Risk-o-meter”, therevised Risk-o-meter of Nippon India Passive Flexicap FoF (“Scheme”) is as follows:

Scheme Name Revised Risk-o-meter

Nippon India Passive Flexicap FoF

Investors understand that their principalwill be at Very High risk

This addendum forms an integral part of Scheme Information Document and KeyInformation Memorandum of the Scheme of Nippon India Mutual Fund and all the otherterms and conditions of the aforesaid document(s) read with the addenda issued from timeto time will remain unchanged.

Pune

NATION 15FINANCIALEXPRESS

WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2021

Amrutanjan Health Care LimitedCIN: L24231TN1936PLC000017

Regd. Office: No103 (Old No.42-45), Luz Church Road, Mylapore, Chennai 600 004

Tel : 044-2499 4465 Fax 044-2499 4585 Website : www.amrutanjan.com

NOTICE

(For the attention of Equity shareholders of the Company)

Sub: Transfer of Equity Shares of Amrutanjan Healthcare Limited to the Investor

Education and Protection Fund (IEPF)

Ref: MCA notification dated 13.10.2017 and General Circulars dated 11.06.2017 &

16.10.2017Notice is hereby given to those shareholders of Amrutanjan Healthcare Limited, under Rule 6 (3) of the Investor

Education and Protection Fund (Authority, Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund) Rules, 2016, whose shares are

liable to be transferred to the Demat Account of the IEPF Authority Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), Government of

India, had notified the Investor Education and Protection Fund (Authority, Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund)

Rules, 2016 (‘the Rules”) providing for the transfer of the Equity Shares to the IEPF Authority in respect of which

dividend has remained unpaid / unclaimed for seven consecutive years or more. Accordingly, the equity shares held by

those shareholders, on which the Interim dividend declared during the financial year 2013-14 remains unpaid /

unclaimed for seven consecutive years, are due for transfer to the Demat Account of the IEPF Authority. In accordance

with Rule 6 (3), the Company has sent individual communication to those shareholders by informing them about the

transfer of their shares to the IEPF Authority. The names of the shareholders whose shares are liable to be transferred

to the demat account of the IEPF authority, along with their folio number or DP ID / Client ID and also the amount of

unclaimed shares are also placed on the website of the Company www.amrutanjan.com.

Shareholders, to whom the intimation has been sent (in case of non-receipt of intimation please see the website of the

Company for the names of the shareholders), may use this as their last opportunity and claim the dividend unclaimed

on their shares within the specified time viz., before 15th April 2021.

The MCA has issued General Circular No.11/06/2017-IEPF dated 16th October 2017 intimating the demat accounts of

the IEPF Authority for the purpose of transfer of shares to the IEPF Authority whether held in physical form or in demat

form. Shareholders, holding shares in physical form, may note that the Company would be issuing new Share

Certificates in lieu of the Original Share Certificates held by them for the purpose of its conversion into Demat Form and

subsequent transmission to the Demat account of the IEPF Authority. Upon such issue, the Original Share Certificates

which are registered in their name shall stand automatically cancelled and be deemed non-negotiable. In case of shares

held in demat form, the transfer of shares to the demat account of the IEPF Authority shall be effected by the Company

by informing the Depository by way of Corporate Action, where the shareholders have their demat account. Subsequent

dividends on such shares shall also be credited to the IEPF.

In case of queries on this subject matter, shareholders may please contact our Registrar and Share Transfer Agent M/s

Cameo Corporate Services Ltd., “Subramanian Building” No.1, Club House Road, Chennai 600002 Phone: 044

28460390 / Fax: 044 28460129 / e-mail: investor@cameoindia.com

For AMRUTANJAN HEALTH CARE LIMITED

Place: Chennai (M. Srinivasan)

Date : 12-01-2021 Company Secretary & Compliance Officer

DABUR INDIA LIMITED

CIN - L24230DL1975PLC007908

Tel. No. - 011-23253488, Fax No. - 011-23222051

Website - www.dabur.com; e-mail: investors@dabur.com

NOTICE

*shares of FV 10 each

1. Any person who has a claim or lien or interest in the above shares and having any objec�on to the issue of duplicate

share cer�ficates in lieu of the above, is requested to no�fy the same to the Company at its Registered Office latest

by 27.01.2021,indica�ng the nature of the claim, lien or interest of his/her objec�on to the said issue of duplicate

share cer�ficates through an affidavit duly a�ested.

2. In case company does not receive any objec�on within aforesaid period it shall proceed with the issue of new share

cer�ficates of the face value of Re.1 each in lieu of the old shares of the face value of Rs.10 or Re.1 each, as the case

may be, comprised in the above men�oned lost share cer�ficates without entertaining any claim /damages

whatsoever it may be.

3. The submission of documents by the members to the company shall be deemed to be completed on 27.01.2021

being last date of receipt of objec�on, if any, by the company on the above shares.

for DABUR INDIA LIMITED

New Delhi (A K JAIN)

12.01.2021 E.V.P.(Finance) & Company Secretary

SL.NO FOLIO NO. NAME CERTIFICATE NOs. SHARES DISTINCTIVE NOs.

1 DIL0065544 AJAY PAL SINGH

SHRUTI SINGH (Deceased)

75424

105660

2500

2500

37783681-37786180

902386047-902388546

2 S 0000113 SINGH SUNIL KUMAR 75423

85747

85748

91530

105662

1500

1000

500

1500

4500

37782181-37783680

603290005-603291004

603291005-603291504

607247254-607248753

902396047-902400546

3 DIL0902721 RAM ADHAR SINGH YADAV 84979 1000 602630495-602631494

4 DIL0066487 SHIRISH S SAMEL

KUNDAN H MHATRE

93532

106432

1000

1000

899019655-899020654

903889572-903890571

5 DIL0901255 UDAY GANAPATI DURGAKERI

(Deceased)

90717 1000 606459305-606460304

6 DIL0019086 SEEMA SETH

RAJESH KUMAR SETH

70114 1000

7 DIL0066598 MOHAN BADRINARAYANJI

MUNDHADA

93643

106752

500

500

899078385-899078884

904418014-904418513

8 DIL0031066 ARVIND SINGH

MALVINDER KAUR (Deceased)

87588 1000 605462678-605463677

9 DIL0903960 VIZHALIL ABRAHAMMATHEW 60709*

74875

108319

100*

1000

3000

28379751-28379850*

37094291-37095290

907823111-907826110

10 DIL0046066 SAMIR KUMAR 72795

88049

1000

1000

35019091-35020090

605917798-605918797

31937001-31938000

Authorandanalyst FareedZakaria is guest at Express e-Adda todayPAROMITACHAKRABARTI

NewDelhi, January 12

AS THE COVID-19 pandemicbroughttheworldtoastandstillin the first half of 2020,politi-cal analyst,news host on CNNand bestselling writer FareedZakariafoundhimselfwonder-ingaboutthelong-termimpactofwhatwasobviouslyoneofthemost defining events of the21st century.While he tried tomakesenseofthecrisisforhim-self,heusedhissharpanalyticalskills to unpack the far-reach-ing consequences of the pan-demic inhismost recent book,Ten Lessons For a Post-Pan-demic World (Allen Lane),releasedinOctoberlastyear.Zakaria,56,willbetheguest

at the Express e-Adda onWednesday.Hewill be in con-versationwithAnant Goenka,ExecutiveDirector,The IndianExpress Group, and VanditaMishra,National Opinion Edi-tor,TheIndianExpress.One of themost influential

internationalrelationsanalystsofourtimes,ZakariagrewupinMumbai,whereheattendedtheCathedral and John ConnonSchool.Afterwards,hemovedto

the US,where he got a bache-lor’s degree fromYale Univer-sity, and, later, a doctorate inpolitical science fromHarvardUniversity.Asthehostof'FareedZakaria

GPS',aweeklyinternationalanddomesticaffairsprogrammeonCNN since 2008, Zakaria’sinterviewswithglobal thoughtleadersandheadsofstateshaveoffered viewers deep insightsinto contemporary socio-poli-tics,including,mostrecently,ontheaftermathoftheCapitolHillviolence in theUS by the sup-porters of outgoing PresidentDonaldTrump.Apart from aweekly news

column, the New York-basedZakaria is also the author of'The Post-American World'(2008),'TheFutureofFreedom'(2007) and 'From Wealth toPower:TheUnusualOrigins ofAmerica'sWorld Role' (1999).Part of 'Foreign Policy'maga-

zine’s top10global thinkersofthelastdecadein2019,Zakariawas awarded the PadmaBhushan,oneofIndia’shighestcivilianhonours,in2010.In his latest book, Zakaria

writesabouthowtheworldissetto undergo significant behav-iouralchangesintheaftermathofwhathasbeenoneofthemostunsettlingevents since theendof the Cold War. He offersinsights into how we need torepurpose ourselves andmovebeyond populism tomeet theeconomic,political, social andtechnological challenges thatwill inevitablyfollow.“What the pandemic has

doneis that ithasshonea lighton the state of governance inthe world and what we haveseen is almost like a social sci-ence experiment. The pan-demic essentially is global and

yet you have these verydiffer-entnationalperformances,”hesaid,inapodcastwithNewYorkTimes’sPamelaPaulearlierthismonth.Andso,heopined,theolder

politicalorderwillhavetoyieldtoanewparadigmbasedonthequality of government,one inwhich“goodwell-functioninginstitutions staffed by tech-nocrats, systems that are notcorrupt,notdysfunctional”willmark the decisive distinctionbetween nations that meetcrises better and thosewhoseresponse is inadequate.TheExpressAddaisaseries

of informal interactionsorganised by The IndianExpress Group and featuresthose at the centre of change.PastguestsattheeventincludeFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman, the Dalai Lama,economists and Nobel laure-ates Amartya Sen, AbhijitBanerjee and Esther Duflo,world badminton championPV Sindhu and national bad-minton coach Pullela Gopic-hand,actorPankajTripathiandothers.During the pandemic,the event has moved to anonline format.

Fareed

Zakaria

RACETO IMMUNITY

CHRIS KAY

January 12

DRUGMAKER CADILA

HEALTHCARE,which iswork-ing to develop an indigenouscoronavirus vaccine, said itexpectstosupplybetween100million and150milliondosesof its candidate thisyear.The Ahmedabad-based

firm’s ZyCoV-D vaccine wasapproved to commence withfinal stage human trials inDecember,and it is recruiting30,000 volunteers for its

phase 3 tests, according to apresentation filed with thestock exchanges onTuesday.Cadila’splasmidDNAcandi-

date doesn’t use an infectious

agent, like othervaccines,andinstead introduces the DNAsequenceencodingtheantigen.India ispreparingto launch

its coronavirus inoculation

campaign on January16withtheaimofstemmingthespreadof the disease that has alreadyinfectedmore than10millionpeopleinthecountry.Thedrugregulator granted emergencyapproval for two vaccinesshortly after newyear’s day—onefromAstraZenecaaswellasa locally-developed one fromBharatBiotech—despitea lackof final test efficacydata fromthe latter,whichhaspromptedwidespread criticism fromsci-entists and public healthexperts. —BLOOMBERG

Cadilaaimstosupplyupto150mvaccinedoses in’21

SpiceJet inksMoUwithBrusselsAirportfor transportationofCovid-19vaccinesPRESS TRUSTOF INDIA

New Delhi, January 12

SPICEJET HAS SIGNED anagreementwithBelgium'sBrus-selsAirportforprovidingseam-less transportationofCovid-19vaccines,accordingtoanofficialstatementissuedonTuesday.As a part of thememoran-

dumofunderstanding(MoU),Brussels Airport would pro-vide assistance to SpiceJetwithregardstoslots,network-ing contracts etc for speedydeliveryofvaccines,it noted."The airline's cargo arm,

SpiceXpress,envisions topro-vide rapid and secure trans-portationofCovid-19vaccinefrom and to Europe andbeyondwithproper tempera-

ture-controlled mechanismundertheMoU,"theSpiceJet'sstatement said.As part of this association,

BrusselsAirportwill beSpice-Jet's first flight point forEurope, itmentioned.As strategic partners, both

SpiceJet and Brussels AirportCompanyNVwill jointlyworkwiththegovernment,pharmacompanies and forwarders toensureareliableecosystemforvaccinedeliveryina tempera-ture-controlledenvironment,it said.India started its vaccine

movement from Tuesdaymorningwhen SpiceJet flightSG8937flighttransportedthefirstconsignmentofCovid-19vaccine fromPunetoDelhi.

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