Stung by US and European regulators finding fault with Indianplants, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization willsoon start surprise checks at manufacturing sites. A health

ministry official said the move is aimed at ensuring the local market isn’tflooded with substandard medicines, reports Prabha Raghavan.��8

Drugmakers to Face Surprise ChecksFOCUS ON GOOD MANUFACTURING PRACTICES

NEW DELHI | 22 PAGES | .̀ 3.00 OR .̀ 7.00 ALONG WITH THE TIMES OF INDIA MONDAY, 28 MARCH 2016

Kohli’s Virat Show HelpsIndia Crush AustraliaSPORTS��22

10 Keep-Safe Rules forthe Business TravellerETcetera��15

BENNETT, COLEMAN & CO. LTD.

THE ECONOMIC TIMESWWW.ECONOMICTIMES.COM

Heineken may Control More UBShares, But Mallya Holds the Aces

COMPANIES��21

65 Killed, Over 200 Injured in Pakistan Suicide Bombing Asuicide bomber killed at least 65 people,mostly women and children, at a public park inthe Pakistani city of Lahore on Sunday, govern-ment officials and police said. Over 200 peoplewere injured in the blast, officials said. No outfithas claimed responsibility for the explosion.Pure Politics��2

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Apple Faces Opposition in IndiaOver Second-Hand iPhone PlansApple’s attempt to import certified second-handiPhones into India is facing stiff opposition fromlocal manufacturers who say any go-ahead bythe government will defeat the purpose of Makein India and may lead to dumping of electronics. Companies��8

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Survey Launched to Collect Data onAll Business Enterprises for NBRThe government has launched a mammothenumeration exercise to collect data on all thebusiness enterprises in the country for theNational Business Register, a move aimed atstrengthening assessment of economic activity. Economy��13

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Up to Vodafone, Cairn to Opt forRetro Tax Settlement Offer: JaitleyThe government will not “coerce” companieslike Vodafone Group and Cairn Energy to availof its one-time offer to settle their retrospectivetax cases, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said onSunday. He said it was for companies to decidewhether they want to choose this option.Economy��13

Inside story

Will govt’s move to cut interest rate onsmall savings schemes hurt it politically?

www.economictimes.com

Do you expect Sensex to hit the 30,000mark in this financial year?

TODAY’S QUESTION

89%YES

4%NO

7%CAN’T SAY

Co to use cash forgovt collaboration,marketing & driversupply initiatives

Aditi.Shrivastava1@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru: Ride-hailing appUber plans to invest $500 million(.̀ 3,300 crore) in India by June —or .̀ 1,000 crore a month, on av-erage — as it challenges Ola forleadership in its third-biggestmarket, two people aware of thematter said.

Just nine months ago, theworld’s most valuable startupcommitted to invest $1billion inIndia, a market the company’sfounder Travis Kalanick has sa-id could surpass either the US orChina for Uber.

“We are doubling down our re-sources for India,” said a seniorexecutive at Uber while reques-ting anonymity.

The person added that the com-pany has not yet utilised all thecash from the first $1-billioncommitment.

Uber, Ola in Fierce Competition��20

AVERAGE INVESTMENT OF .̀ 1,000 CR/MONTH

Right Ride

Ola & Uber get over 70% of revenue from Benga-luru, Hydera-bad, Chennai, Delhi-NCR and Kolkata

Industry experts & investors say Ola has a 15-20% lead on Uber

But Uber has eaten into Ola’s market share in top cities, which Ola is now trying to defend

Expertsexpect more discounts for users and incentives for drivers

EXPECTED SIZE OFDOMESTIC ONLINE CAR RENTAL MARKET BY 2030(as per Goldman Sachs report)

$1.4BILLION

Uber to Drive in$500 m More toBoost India Play

Sagar.Malviya@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:Future Group CEO Kis-hore Biyani said the Twitter spatbetween India’s ecommerce pos-ter boys Sachin Bansal and KunalBahl could indicate a consolida-tion wave triggered by Alibaba’simminent entry into the space.

Biyani, who runs the country’slargest brick-and-mortar retailcompany and is known to dispara-ge ecommerce rivals, said socialmedia had become the medium ofengagement for many entrepre-neurs. “Very often I see conversa-tion as a precursor to hint somet-hing strategic or big. In this case,it could even be consolidation orsomething more,” he said.

Alibaba Looking at Options��20

Biyani SmellsConsolidationin Etail Space

FLIPKART-SNAPDEAL SPAT

The Start-Up India cam-paign aimed at boostingentrepreneurship will

get a rural avatar in the soon-to-be-launched Deendayal UpadhyayaSwaniyojan Yojana, reports Ruchika Chitravanshi.��13

Rural Avatar ofStart-Up India Soon

The exchange of barbsbetween Sachin Bansal andKunal Bahl wasn’t just a

spillover of their rivalry but emble-matic of the pressure they are underfrom investors, report BiswarupGooptu & Madhav Chanchani.��6

War of Words AmidInvestor Pressure

KishoreBiyani

CEO, FutureGroup

Very often I see conversation as a precursor to hint

something strategic or big. In this case, it could even be

consolidation or something more

Ravish Tiwari & Anubhuti Vishnoi

New Delhi: Breaking his silen-ce over the controversy thatbrought Jawaharlal Nehru Uni-versity (JNU) into national poli-tical spotlight, JNU Vice-Chan-cellor M Jagadesh Kumar toldEThe doesn’t “desire any exter-nal interference” on his cam-pus and wants all differences

“to be tackled in-tellectually”.

“Differencesof opinion needto be tackled in-tellectually. As ateacher and anadministrator, Iwould like tomoderate andsensitise the

students about this,” Kumartold ET in an exclusive intervi-ew. He also underlined the auto-nomy of his institution and as-sured that its internal mecha-nisms were capable of hand-ling the current episode.

‘Freedom of Expression Intact’��20

Kumar saidpolice werenot ‘invited’into thecampus

M Jagadesh Kumar stresses on varsity’s autonomy & saysaction will be taken against Kanhaiya for breach of rules

Differences of opinion need to be tackled intellectually…I would like to moderate & sensitise students about this

On Differences

JNU is an autonomous

organisation & it can solve its challenges using its internal mechanisms

On AutonomyFreedom of expression in JNU

is intact...I do not believe JNU to be so weak that one or two incidents would dent its image

On Free Speech

M JAGADESH KUMARJNU Vice-Chancellor

Government has not interfered at all. There is

absolutely no danger to our autonomy as a varsity

OnGovt’sRole

Arun.Kumar17@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: Private equity firmKKR plans to use its global poolof nearly $10 billion to fund ac-quisition of stressed assetsfrom Indian lenders, armedwith Foreign Investment Pro-motion Board (FIPB) approvalfor its plan to own a majoritystake in International Asset Re-construction Company (IARC).

New IARC Promoters at Work��20

KKR to Use $10B Pool for India AssetsArmed with FIPB nod for buying IARC stake, fund charts ambitious plan

While recommendingPresident’s rule inUttarakhand, the Cabi-

net relied on Governor KK Paul’sfourth report of March 26 whichreferred to the sting operation,reports Rahul Tripathi.��2

Guv Report SealedUttarakhand Fate

Differences betweenCong-led OommenChandy government

and state party unit led by VMSudheeran have not only dee-pened, but reached Delhi as well,reports Vasudha Venugopal.��3

Party-Govt SpatHits Kerala Cong

Big Biz in Stressed AssetsKKR’s Stake In IARC Will Allow It To

Infuse new capital into these cos from its$3.3 BILLIONglobal specialsituations fund and$6 BILLIONAsia PrivateEquity Fund

AGGREGATE DEBT FROM VARIOUS BANKS & RESTRUCTURE IT

IARC will lever-age experienced

professionals to turn around

stressed cos

IARC is in process of forming a turna-round management

company as its subsidiary

FULLINTERVIEW��PAGE 4

Don’t Want Interferenceon Campus: JNU V-C

CCI NG 3.5 Product: ETDelhiBS PubDate: 28-03-2016 Zone: DelhiCapital Edition: 2 Page: ETDCFP User: raj.kumar8 Time: 03-27-2016 23:39 Color: CMYK

Peaceful Protest a Right But Shouldn’t Paralyse The Normal Life, says India

GENEVA: Terming peaceful assembly as a “crucial tool” of public participation, India has told the UNHRC that while the right to peaceful protests cannot be taken away, any demonstration should also not be allowed to “paralyse”

the normal life. “The ability to protest peacefully is an essential enabler for other rights and freedoms,” India’s Permanent Repre-sentative to the UN in Geneva Ajit Kumar told the United Nations

Human Rights Council.—PTI

BJP MLA Vijender Gupta in Trouble for Seeking Abolition of Rajya Sabha

NEW DELHI: BJP MLA Vijender Gupta appears to be in trouble with Delhi Assembly Speaker RN Goel seeking an explanation from him following a communication from Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari to initiate necessary

action against him for allegedly favouring “abolition” of the Upper House. Ansari had asked the Delhi Speaker to take action against Gupta holding that “the matter seems to involve prima facie question of privilege” while acting on a complaint by JD(U) MP K C Tyagi.—PTI

NO ACCESS TO SENSITIVE AREAS

ALL INA DAY

NEW DELHI: Veteran BJP leader LK Advani on Sunday pulled out of an awards ceremony organised by the Arvind Kejriwal gov-ernment, ostensibly due to “political rea-sons”, where the former had agreed to share stage with the Delhi CM himself for

giving away awards to film artists from the Sin-dhi commu-nity. Adver-tisements in a section of newspapers and bro-

chures printed by the Delhi government’s Sindhi Academy prom-ised a grand ceremony at the Teen Murti Audi-torium on Sunday evening to be attended by former Deputy PM and BJP leader L K Ad-vani, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and bolly-wood actors Deepti Naval and Preeti Jhangiani. —OPB

JIT not to have access

to personnel who

handled terror attack

BhavnaVij.Aurora@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: India may have opened doors to the five-member Joint Investigation Team from Pakistan, including a senior ISI official, it is nei-ther going to allow the members ac-cess to critical areas of the Pathankot airbase nor to the security personnel of NSG, BSF or the Garud comman-does who handled the terror attack.

The JIT that landed on Sunday is led by Punjab counter-terrorism depart-ment’s Additional Inspector-General Muhammad Tahir Rai and includes Deputy Director-General (Lahore) of Pakistan’s Intelligence Bureau Mohammed Azim Arshad, military intelligence officer Lieutenant-Colonel Irfan Mirza and ISI official Lieutenant-Colonel Tanvir Ahmad.

“Pakistan JIT’s visit to the Pathankot airbase is the most low-profile part of its itinerary. Our main aim is to take the JIT to the point from where the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)

terrorists are believed to have infil-trated into India and to reiterate the fact that they appeared to have back-ing of authorities in their country,” a senior official in government’s secu-rity apparatus told ET.

Sources said that during the JIT’s visit to Pathankot on March 29, the airbase will be “visually barricaded” by NIA to prevent the JIT any view of the sensitive areas.

The Pakistani probe team will only be allowed access to the witnesses in-cluding Punjab Police SP Salwinder Singh, his jeweller friend Rajesh

Verma and cook Madan Gopal and 17 injured persons in the attack. They will be available for ques-tioning by JIT in Delhi.

For India, the big moment of the JIT’s

visit is on March 30, when the mem-bers will interact with NIA investiga-tors. “We will ask them about the sta-tus of the probe and arrests, if any, made by them. We are expecting some headway at their end based on the in-tercepts of call records provided by NSA Ajit Doval to his Pakistani coun-terpart...,” the official added.

On Monday, the JIT will be briefed at the NIA headquarters in the Capital.

Q&AEXCLUSIVE M JAGADESH KUMARJAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY VICE-CHANCELLOR

ifferences of opinion need to be tackledintellectually, saysM Jagadesh Kumar, while steering clear

of the charges of sedition slapped on some students who participated in a gathering in the university on February 9 against the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Kumar, who earlier taught electrical engineering at IIT Delhi, tells Ravish Tiwari and Anubhuti Vishnoiin an interview that the university will punish the culprits only for the violation of its norms. He says the university never called the police into the campus and dismisses sugges-tions that JNU’s image has taken a hit due to the incident. Excerpts:

Is it healthy for a university to be-come a battleground for political ideologies, as many allege JNU has become?Everyone has a right to have their political opinions. However, the primary function of a university is to provide high quality education to its students and make them vehicles of social change. Our individual politi-cal opinions should not come in the way of realising this primary func-tion and it (a university turning into a battleground of ideologies) is not desirable at all.

How do you plan to address the con-cern among some quarters that JNU has become a breeding ground for anti-national and Maoist elements?Our plan is to work harder in improv-ing our research output and teaching standards, by being inclusive in pro-viding high quality education to even the most disadvantaged sections of Indian society and by being an epi-centre of nation-building through our positive contributions to the society.

How do you see the sharp divisions among JNU students in the wake of the recent controversy?It is impossible to have a homogene-ous view on any given issue. There are bound to be multiple views. We should learn to listen and understand the other view even if we do not agree with it. Differences of opinion need to be tackled intellectually. As a teacher and an administrator, I would like to moderate and sensitise the students about this. This is a process and cannot be done overnight. When it comes to introducing changes, I prefer to do it gradually.

What is your view on the sedition

charges against some of your students? It is for the courts and the lawmakers to decide what sedition is. As the VC of JNU, I have no comments.

Do you think allowing the police into the campus for the February 9 event could have been avoided? Will you ask the government to let the university to handle the issue internally?The government has not interfered with us at all. There is absolutely no danger to our autonomy as a univer-sity. Freedom of expression in JNU is intact.

What action are you planning to take on the basis of the report of the university’s high-level enquiry committee? What is your view regarding internal handling of the matter versus external handling by the police?The high-level enquiry committee consisting of five senior JNU profes-sors has worked very assiduously based on the available evidence provided by JNU security section and the depositions presented to the committee. The enquiry committee has used the videos recorded by only the JNU security which in turn have been authenticated by foren-sic tests. Appropriate steps will be

taken based on these recommenda-tions. JNU is an autonomous organi-sation and it can solve its challenges using its internal mechanisms. Like any other university, we do not de-sire any external interference.

What action are you planning to take against the students?Punishment that we are going to give is on the basis of breach of university discipline, rules and norms. There are norms for it. Sedition or not is for the courts to decide.

We need to focus on academic ac-tivities to achieve excellence...I am a technology person who looks at any problem as a black box. Looking at any problem as a black box allows me not to be biased by the nature of the problem. Then we can find a solution dispassionately.

Do you think there has been overre-action to the incident of February 9? I stand by freedom of expression as enshrined in our constitution. As a university, we prefer to handle our issues using internal mechanisms. Too much of media exposure is not good for a university. We would like to quietly work and contribute to the nation.

Noam Chomsky, among others, has

faulted you for allowing police into the campus…We never invited or called the po-lice. It was a case filed outside JNU for which police had a right to enter (the campus).

Do you think JNU’s image has taken a hit due to this incident?

The image of JNU has been built dur-ing the last four decades by the dedi-cated efforts of the JNU community. I do not believe JNU to be so weak that one or two sporadic incidents would dent its image. The ambassadors of JNU are its students. They are shining not only within India but across the world through their contributions. At the same time, it does not mean that we should remain complacent.

What would you say to those who have demanded that the govern-ment funding to JNU be scrapped?Withdrawal of government funding to JNU will affect the lives of a large number of students who are genuine-ly interested in their education and in positively contributing to the society. The contributions made by the JNU alumni in different spheres speak for themselves in alleviating any such concerns. JNU will continue to pro-duce such well-trained students to serve the country.

What is your view on politically af-filiated student elections? BHU as a central university does not hold such elections…In JNU, student elections are held in a peaceful atmosphere. For student elections, we follow a well-established process which is fair and transparent. Student leaders who are elected through this proc-ess often help the administration by providing feedback from the student community. We often take them into confidence in deciding certain poli-cies which affect their academics and life on campus. As long as the elected student bodies proactively work in a responsible manner to help improve the functioning of the university, I am all for it.

D

Court Decides on Sedition, We On Breach of JNU Rules I look at a problem as a black box and that allows me not to be biased by nature of problem

Advani Backs Out of Awards Event Held By Kejriwal Govt

Delhi govt’s Sindhi Academy had given out ads claiming Advani’s presence at its event

Pakistan JIT will be briefed at the NIA headquarters in the Capital today

GRADUAL CHANGESDifferences of opinion need to be tackled

intellectually. ...I prefer to introduce changes gradually

NO BHU-LIKE BAN Till elected student bodies help improve

the functioning of the university, I am all for student polls

NO IMAGE PROBLEM I do not believe JNU to be so weak

that one or two sporadic incidents would dent its image

DIDN’T CALLPOLICEWe never invited or called the police. It was a case filed outside JNU for which police had a right to enter (the campus)

FIL

E P

HO

TO

Visual Barriers at Pathankot for Pak Team

ANXIOUS MOMENTS: Pakistani investigators at Indira Gandhi International Airport on Sunday. —AFP

FIL

E P

HO

TO

DipanjanRoy.Chaudhury@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: In what could be viewed as a snub to the Pakistan Army, Iran’s President, Hassan Rouhani, has denied discussing the role of Indian intelligence agency in Pakistan’s internal matters with General Raheel Sharif. The denial gains significance in the backdrop of Islamabad’s arrest of an alleged Indian agent Kulbhushan Jadhav in Balochistan.

Rouhani, who was a on a two-day visit to Pakistan, rejected claims made by Pakistan on Saturday that

the issue of Indian spy agency was discussed with President Rouhani.

Authoritative sources here de-scribed Pakistan’s action as an at-tempt to raise ‘B’ word ahead of

Indo-Pak PM-level meeting in the coming week in Washington and amid visit by Pakistan JIT to India.

Rouhani’s dismissal of Pakistan Army’s claim during a press confer-ence in Islamabad, following his meeting with the Gen Sharif, un-derscores the growing Indo-Iran strategic ties ahead of Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj’s trip to Tehran mid-April to kickstart coop-eration across sectors, from energy to connectivity. A visit by a top Indian leader to Tehran is also not ruled out later in the year.

Rouhani even denied having such a discussion and said, “Whenever Iran comes closer to Pakistan such rumours are spread.” Iran shares land boundary with Pakistan along the Balochistan province.

No RAW Talks With Pak: RouhaniSNUB TO PAK Iran Prez’s denial comes after Pak claimed discussions on India

Expert TakePak action an at-tempt to raise ‘B’ word ahead of PMs

meeting in Washington

LONG BATTLEMaharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and Nitin Gadkari inaugurating a police station in Nagpur.—Aniruddhasingh Dinore

HOME VISIT: BJP national President Amit Shah and Gujarat BJP president Vijay Rupani at a rally in Surat on Sunday.—PTI

4 �THE ECONOMIC TIMES | NEW DELHI | MONDAY | 28 MARCH 2016Pure Politics

20�THE ECONOMIC TIMES | NEW DELHI | MONDAY | 28 MARCH 2016Companies

While the Chinese ecommercegiant is a fringe player in its co-re business-to-business onlinetrade in India, it has an indi-rect presence in the country’secommerce segment. It inves-ted more than $500 million fora 40% stake in One97 Commu-nications, which runs Paytm,a wallet and ecommerce com-pany, while Snapdeal raised$500 million from a clutch ofinvestors including Alibabalast year.

Alibaba said recently it willmake a direct entry into India’sonline space and is said to be lo-oking at several options. Onecould be increasing its stake inPaytm and spinning off itsmarketplace into a separateventure. ET has also reportedthat it was talking to the Tatasfor a broader strategic alliancebesides deepening its rela-tionship with Snapdeal.

The consolidation buzz in theecommerce space has beenstrengthened by talks swirlingaround Flipkart. ET had repor-ted on failed talks between thecompany and Amazon. Flip-kart founders Sachin Bansaland Binny Bansal denied this.ET and a few other newspapershave also reported that Flip-kart was in funding talks withAlibaba. The founders of Flip-kart and Snapdeal had lashedout at each other on TwitterFriday night over Alibaba’sentry plans.

Bansal, executive chairmanof Flipkart, indirectly critici-sed the companies in whichAlibaba has invested. “Alibabadeciding to start operations di-rectly shows how badly theirIndian investments have doneso far,” he tweeted.

Bahl responded with.“Didn’t Morgan Stanley justflush $5 billion worth marketcap in Flipkart down the toi-let. Focus on ur business notcommentary :)”

The reference was to a mutual

fund managed by MorganStanley marking down the va-lue of Flipkart’s shares by27%, signalling that global in-vestors believe India’s largestInternet company may be over-valued. Flipkart had said in apress statement that it is valu-ed at $15.2 billion. A 27% dropwould put this at $11billion.

In comparison, stocks of Bi-yani-owned entities — FutureRetail, Future Consumer andFuture Lifestyle Fashions —have gained 14-80% on the BSEand have a combined marketcapitalisation of $1.5 billion.

Biyani had accused online re-tailers of adopting predatorypricing two years ago. Earlierthis month, he released a seriesof ads targeted at the three ma-in online marketplaces — Flip-kart, Amazon India and Snap-deal. Last month, investor Ra-kesh Jhunjhunwala saidecommerce companies wereattracting too much invest-ment without any meaningfulretail disruption and was be-arish on the business model. “Iwill consider buying Flip-kart’s stake if it is valued at$100 million,” he had joked.

The combined losses of thethree leading online retailingplatforms widened to .̀ 5,052crore in FY15 as they spent hea-vily on infrastructure and dis-counts to woo consumers.

China’s AlibabaLooking at Options��From Page 1

Kishore Biyani

“The plan is to spend each dollarmore efficiently than our competi-tors, and invest in building a team,technology solutions that are In-dia-focussed, and quality,” the se-nior Uber executive said.

Uber declined to comment.Uber and Ola are engaged in fierce

competition, sometimes bad-tempe-red, to dominate in India. Uber’s bu-siness head for Asia, Eric Alexander,said some 10 days ago that his compa-ny would overtake Ola for market le-adership in a month. The Indiancompany, which counts Japan’s Soft-Bank as its biggest investor, respon-ded by claiming that its newly laun-ched service called ‘Micro’ alone wo-uld overtake Uber, which is estima-ted to be valued at $62.5 billion,within a month in India.

According to industry expertsand investors ET spoke with, Olahas a 15-20% lead on Uber. “Howe-ver, Uber has eaten into Ola’s mar-ket share in top cities, which Ola isnow vigorously defending,” said aninvestor in Ola.

Both Ola and Uber get more than70% of their revenue from Bengalu-ru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi-Na-tional Capital Region and Kolkata.Ola has raised a total of about $1.2billion so far, including $500 millionin November from investors inclu-ding China’s biggest taxi aggrega-tor Didi Kuaidi that is building a glo-

bal alliance against Uber. At the ti-me, Ola was valued at $5 billion.

PITCHED BATTLESUber and Ola are also fighting pit-ched battles in the Delhi High Co-urt. The Bengaluru-based compa-ny has accused Uber of violatingrules and operating cabs that usediesel as fuel. Uber has denied thecharge. For its part, the US compa-ny has sued Ola, accusing it ofusing a range of dirty tricks, inclu-ding creating fake bookings. Olahas denied the allegation.

Uber will use the cash to invest ingovernment collaborations, busi-ness partnerships, strengthen itsdriver supply initiatives, marke-ting and expansion, sources said.

“(The additional investment in In-dia) is an interesting move as it willagain start the regime of heavy dis-counts for commuters and incenti-ves for drivers,” said Jaspal Singh,founder of transportation adviso-

ry Valoriser Consultants.According to a Goldman Sachs re-

port titled ‘India Rising Internet’,the domestic online car rental mar-ket is expected to reach $1.4 billion by2030. Ola is restructuring its busi-ness to focus on its core taxi busi-ness. Earlier this month, ET repor-ted that Ola would channelise all itsinvestments primarily into its taxibusiness in eight major cities whereit competes directly with Uber, withan increased focus on its low-costtaxis and ride-sharing services.

Over the past year, Uber has ex-panded to 26 cities, signed multiplepacts with state governments andgovernment bodies, including thegovernment of Telangana and theAutomotive Skills DevelopmentCouncil, to create thousands ofjobs and entrepreneurship oppor-tunities, train and certify individu-als, and make significant invest-ments to support innovation anddevelopment.

Uber, Ola in Fierce Competition ��From Page 1

“JNU is an autonomous organisa-tion and it can solve its challengesusing its internal mechanisms.Like any other university, we do notdesire any external interference,”Kumar said, suggesting that JNUStudents’ Union President Kanhai-ya Kumar and his colleagues will betaken to task for breaching discipli-ne by going ahead with the Februa-ry 9 event despite the authorities de-nying permission.

“Punishment that we are going togive is on the basis of breach of uni-versity discipline, rules and norms.There are norms for it,” Kumar said.

The JNU V-C, however, steered cle-ar of the charges of sedition againststudents saying it was for the courtsto adjudicate. He also clarified thatthe police were not ‘invited’ into the

varsity campus.“Sedition or not is for the courts to

decide,” Kumar said, adding, “Wenever invited or called the police. Itwas a case filed outside JNU forwhich police had a right to enter(the campus)”.

Kumar, who is still a PhD guide to10 students at IIT-Delhi, took chargeas JNU V-C barely weeks before thecontroversy and has chosen not tospeak much through this period.But he refuted all charges of anyclampdown on the campus, asser-ting that “freedom of expression inJNU is intact... I do not believe JNUto be so weak that one or two spora-dic incidents would dent its image”.

On the government’s role in theepisode, he said: “The governmenthas not interfered at all. There is ab-solutely no danger to our autonomyas a university.”

Freedom of ExpressionIntact, Says JNU VC ��From Page 1

FIPB, the agency that monitors fo-reign direct investments in the co-untry, approved KKR’s proposalearlier this month. As reported ear-lier in ET, Bharti Group veteranAkhil Gupta will be an investoralongside KKR.

US-based fund KKR and Gupta ha-ve committed to invest about .̀ 350crore through a structured trans-action. In the first stage, they willhave a stake of between 26% and30% each in IARC, said a personwith knowledge of this. The FIPBapproval names KKR as an investorand states that the deal worth .̀ 150crore (approximately $22.5 million)will raise total foreign holding inthe firm to 78.96% from 58.7%.

Without disclosing details of theequity structure, KKR India ChiefExecutive Officer Sanjay Nayar, sa-id: “We continue to be bullish on In-dia’s growth prospects in the medi-um to long term. We believe an in-teresting way to play this theme is

through the revival of stressed as-sets that are currently clogging thebanking system.”

India’s lenders are pushing hardto recover bad loans, even to the ex-tent of ousting managements anddisposing of assets to get their mo-ney back.

KKR has already bid for large,marqu-ee as-setssuch asLeelaHotel-ventu-res and

the Jaypee Group’s cement assets.IARC, with assets of around .̀ 1,500

crore under management, currentlyhas three sponsors — HDFC Bank,Tata Capital Finance Services andICICI Bank. Overseas investors in-clude FMO Netherlands and Stan-dard Bank of South Africa.

The new promoters of IARC ha-ve already started the process offorming a turnaround manage-ment company as a wholly ownedsubsidiary of IARC that will useexperienced professionals for thepurpose.

“Our stake in IARC would allowus to aggregate debt from variousbanks and restructure it to matchearnings power of the company,”Nayar said.

The target will be companies withgood assets that have hit bad times.In addition, KKR also has the abili-ty to infuse new capital into thesecompanies through its $3.3-billionglobal special situations fund and$6-billion Asia private equity fund,said Nayar.

“We believe the best way to resolvethese situations is to provide a ho-listic solution that is beneficial toall the stakeholders — banks (parti-cipate in equity upside), promoters(partner with them in running thecompanies and share equity upsi-de) and employees by way of emplo-yee stock option plans,” he said.

New IARC Promoters at Work��From Page 1

Sobia.Khan@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru: The promise of highgrowth in the country’s warehou-sing and logistics sector is luringnot only foreign investors but alsoprivate equity firms. According toreal estate consultancy firm JLL In-dia, in 2015 the sector received .̀ 1,438crore in investment through twomajor deals, topping the .̀ 1,350 croreinflow to the sector in 2012 throughfive deals.

“The year 2013 had seen a remar-kably low investment. However, go-vernment initiatives in making thepolicy environment-conducive andstrengthening of the ecommerce lo-gistics platform post-2014 seems tohave resulted in an investment co-meback — as seen in 2015,” said Ni-rav Kothary, head of industrial ser-vices at JLL India.

Some private equity funds that arelooking to invest or have already in-vested in the segment are IL&FS(Tara India Fund III), Fidelity Inter-national, Milestone Capital Advi-sors, Standard Chartered PrivateEquity, Everstone Capital and Kohl-berg Kravis Roberts (KKR).

Institutional players expect an in-ternal rate of return (IRR) of about16-20% from a warehouse develop-ment project. Experts say that poli-cies allowing 100% FDI in warehou-ses and food storage facilities underthe automatic route (where manu-facturers can sell their products on-line directly), as also declaring somezones to be tax-free (i.e. free trade wa-rehousing zones or FTWZs), has bro-ught the sector under the foreign PEinvestment radar.

Global private equity firm War-burg Pincus had entered into a jointventure with Embassy Group to in-vest .̀ 650 crore for setting up ware-houses across major cities in the co-untry. The New York-based privateequity has also committed .̀ 850 cro-re to Ecom Express, a logistics solu-tions providers to the Indian ecom-merce industry.

“We believe there is significant po-tential to make further investmentsin the Indian logistics space as thesector continues to evolve and deve-lop," said Viraj Sawhney, managingdirector of Warburg Pincus. Thefund has committed over $500 mil-

lion to the sector to date across anumber of investments spanningContinental Warehousing, EcomExpress, Embassy Industrial Parks,Gangavaram Port and IMC. “War-burg Pincus is investing from a glo-bal $12-billion fund. We have no pre-determined investment size andour equity investment typicallyranges from $50 million to $500 mil-lion,” said Sawhney.

Data shows that nearly 25% of allwarehousing absorption is drivenby the ecommerce segment, makingit the biggest demand driver for thesector, with Maharashtra, Gujaratand Andhra Pradesh been the front-runners in attracting industrial in-vestments. Under the ‘Make in In-dia’ initiative, states like Punjab,Haryana and Karnataka are also ta-king bold steps towards better in-dustrial policies.

“This segment is extremely impor-tant for us. We have already investedinto warehousing in the past and ha-ve experienced very healthy returns.Now, with the ‘Make in India’ initiati-ve, attractive investment opportuniti-es for NRIs into domestic AIF, risingyields from commercial assets etc.,makes it worthwhile for us to look atthis sector very seriously,” said RubiArya. Executive Vice Chairman atMilestone Capital Advisors

Experts say the biggest challengesare in aggregation of land and get-ting development permissions. Sin-ce warehousing is primarily allo-wed in urban zones, the cost of landis prohibitive. However, with therollout of GST, it is expected to getbetter and more transparent.

According to JLL India, warehou-sing is seeing higher supply of orga-nised Grade-A and B warehouses. In2015, the cumulative warehousingsupply (grades A and B) across eightcities stood at about 97 million sq ftcompared with 79 million sq ft in theprevious year. This supply is expectedto reach 116 million sq ft in 2016. Withindustrial corridors like Delhi-Mum-bai industrial corridor (DMIC) andthe expansion and improvement ofroad network, things are indeed loo-king up for the industrial and ware-housing sectors, they say.

Bullish PE FirmsInvest in India’sLogistics Story Investor-friendlypolicies, ecommerceboom a big draw