BACK PAGE, P12 COMPANIES, P4 BACK PAGE, P12 SECOND AFTER NASA PROFITABILITY PUSH JUDGEMENT TIME Isro rings in 2024 by launching satellite to study black holes On track to hit $1-bn run rate in annual sales value: Zepto CEO Should Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli play T20 World Cup? CHENNAI/KOCHI, TUESDAY, JANUARY 2, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XLIV 202, 12 PAGES, `12.00 P U B L I S H E D F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , B E N G A L U R U , C H A N D I G A R H , C H E N N A I , H Y D E R A B A D , K O C H I , K O L K ATA , L U C K N O W, M U M B A I , N E W D E L H I , P U N E SENSEX: 72,271.94 ▲ 31.68 NIFTY: 21,741.90 ▲ 10.50 NIKKEI 225: 33,464.17 ▼ 75.45 HANG SENG: 17,047.39 ▲ 3.86 `/$: 83.24 ▼ 0.03 `/€: 91.98 ▼ 0.03 BRENT: $77.04 ▼ $0.11 GOLD: `63,103 ▲ `164 INDIA INC is gearing up for the climate change journey, with COP28, held from November 30 to December 12 last year, taking stock of initiatives needed to contain global warming and deciding to end the fossil fuel era, report Raghavendra Kamath, Swaraj Baggonkar & Rajesh Kurup. ■ PAGE 4 MARKETS MAKE A MUTED START TO NEWYEAR THE EQUITY markets kicked off the new year on a flat note, with benchmark Sensex closing with modest gains of 31 points in a highlyvolatile trading session on Monday, helped by buying in energy, services and telecom shares. ■ PAGE 6 FE S P E C I A L S Tata Power: Optimistic growth outlook Company aims 15 GW renewable energy expansion by FY30 ■ INVESTOR, P9 Why NYT is suing ChatGPT-maker OpenAI & Microsoft News outlet first major US media firm that has sued AI developers over IP rights ■ EXPLAINER, P9 Maruti Suzuki -6 112,010 Hyundai Motor India 10 38,831 42,750 8 40,407 43,675 Tata Motors Mahindra & Mahindra 28,445 24 35,174 10,421 Toyota Kirloskar MG Motor India* 104,778 105 21,372 3,899 4,400 13 *Retail sales Source: Companies Continued on Page 10 At `1.65 trillion, GST mop-up slows in Dec PRIYANSH VERMA New Delhi, January 1 GROSS GST COLLECTIONS (in ` trillion) THE GROWTH IN the government’s goods and services tax (GST) collections slightly slowed in December, despite the mop-up largely belonging to transactions made in November,the month which saw several festivals,including Diwali. The gross GST mop-up came in at `1.65trillioninDecember,up10.3%onyear, as per data released by the finance ministry on Monday. However, the annual growth in monthly collections was lower than 15.2% reported in November and average of 11.7% so far in FY24. In November, the total numberof e-waybills generatedwas 87.6 million, the lowest in five months. December marked the seventh month in the current fiscal inwhich the gross GSTmopup crossed the `1.6-trillion mark. With the December mop-up,the GST collections in the first nine months of FY24 have averaged `1.66 trillion per month,representing a 12% risefromthecorrespondingperiodoflastyear. Of the total collections — Central GST (CGST) mop-up stood at `33,652 crore, State GST (SGST) at `37,935 crore, Integrated GST (IGST) at `84,255 crore,and collections from cess at `12,249 crore,in December. The Budget has projected CGST collec- FY23 FY24 1.68 1.87 Apr May Jun July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 1.41 1.57 1.45 1.61 1.49 1.65 1.44 1.59 1.48 1.63 1.52 1.72 1.46 1.68 1.50 1.65 tions to rise 12.9% on year, but in AprilDecember,its growth has been 16.4%,indicating CGST mop-up may surpass the BE (budget estimate) by a wide margin. Continued on Page 10 A car is trapped under a collapsed house after an earthquake, at Japan’s Ishikawa prefecture. The powerful quake struck on Monday, killing at least one, destroying buildings, knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and prompting residents in some coastal areas to flee to higher ground. Besides Japan, tsunami warnings were issued in Russia and North Korea ■ PAGE 7 REUTERS/KYODO Continued on Page 10 IT union accuses TCS of stopping pay to 900 staff SAMEER RANJAN BAKSHI Bengaluru, January 1 FACE-OFF JUSTA COUPLE of months after sending transfer notices to about 2,000 employees, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has allegedly stopped paying salaries to more than 900 of them for declining to abide by the company’s policies. The development has come to light in the wake of the Maharashtra labour department issuing a notice summoning the company’s officials over the ‘unexplained’ transfers. While mails to TCS didn’t elicit any response, IT employee union Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) said,“The companyhas unethically stopped salary of employees who are opposing these forced transfers. NITES stronglycondemnstheillegaltacticsofTCS forcing employees either to accept the forced transfers orresign from the job.The companyis ignoring all the financial hard- ■ Maharashtra labour department has issued notice summoning TCS officials over ‘unexplained’ transfers ■ Some of the ■ Nearly 2,000TCS employeeswere sent transfer notices a few months ago staff complain they weren't given any specific project in the new locations ■ ITemployee union alleges 900were not paid salaries for defying company policies ship, family disruption, stress and anxiety theseforcedtransferscausetoemployees.” FE spoke to about 30 employees from TCS on Google Meet, who complained they haven’t been given any specific project in the locations theywere suppose to move to. Some of the employees were paid only `6,000 for the month of December because they were not able to fill the time sheet on the company portal, Ultimatix. The firm had blocked their access to the portal, they said. Continued on Page 10 NEW CAPEX ANNOUNCEMENTS PLUNGE TO `1.9 TRN IN DEC QUARTER Private share rises but new projects down 78% in Q3 SAIKAT NEOGI New Delhi, January 1 THE SHARE OFtheprivatesectorin new investment projects rose amid a slowing pace of government investments in the Decemberquarter.Butthevalue ofnewinvestment projects declined sharply by 78% on year to `2.1 trillion. The Centre front-loaded its budget capex in the early part of the current financial year — growth in April-June was 59%. However, it subsequently curbed such spending,withApril-November growth of just 31%, as imminent elections necessitated expenditure reprioritisation. The private sector’s new projects announced dropped 77% to `1.9 trillion in Q3FY24,and that of the government sector fell 81% to `0.3 trillion, data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) revealed. New projects announced had touched an all-time high of `14.2 trillion in the three months to Marchthisyearonthebackofrobust private sector projects of `12.6 trillion. Subsequently, in the three months to June, project announcements more than halved to `6.8 trillionandthesefellfurtherto`1.9trillioninthequarterendedSeptember. However, there was a marginal uptick inthe quarterendedDecember this year, largely because of a sequential rise from `1.2 trillion to `1.9 trillion in project announcements by the private sector. Continued on Page 10 Projects completed New investment projects announced Pvt Govt (` trn, LHS) Aggregate % chg, y-o-y (RHS) 16 200 14 141.3 100 10 8 -77.5 6 2 0 8.1 1.4 0 0.6 Dec ’20 Dec ’21 Dec ‘22 50 Dec ‘23 -50 -100 Govt Pvt Dec 1.5 Mar 0.9 150 12 4 (` trn) Jun 0.5 Sep 1.0 Share of private sector Mar 1.3 87.4 0.7 0.4 Dec 2023 Dec 0.9 (` trn) 2.9 Govt 1.4 Mar Jun 1.4 0.9 0.4 2.1 0.3 2.4 4.4 2.8 0.9 3.6 2.2 Mar Jun 1.3 1.7 1.5 Dec 5.2 4.1 Dec 1.2 2.7 2.4 Sep 1.8 Sep Total 2.9 2.5 1.9 1.4 Pvt Dec 1.3 1.7 1.5 0.5 Jun 0.6 1 Sep 1.1 Total 1.3 0.6 Dec 1.3 100 (%) 90 80 70 66.9 60 50 40 Dec 2020 1.4 Investment projects dropped 2021 INDIA INC BEGINS EMBRACING GREEN ENERGY PLANS AFTER GROWING AT a fast clip in the past twoyears,the country’s top two carmakers — Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai — have warned of a low single-digit growth in 2024. While Hyundai has projected a growth of 3-4%, Maruti has indicated growth thisyearwill be in low single digits. In CY2023, both Maruti and Hyundai posted a sales growth of 8% year-on-year. The two carmakers control close to 55% of the domestic PV market. Thecautioncomesonthebackofarecordbreaking December performance in which sales of passenger vehicles grew 4.4% y-o-y, according to estimates by Maruti Suzuki. Tarun Garg, chief operating officer at Hyundai Motor India, said 2024 could be a challenging year. “There could be a low single-digit,3-4%,growth.But even thatwill be very good because we have had two good years,”he said. Shashank Srivastava,senior executive officer,marketing and sales,Maruti Suzuki, said 2024 will see muted single-digit growth because the huge pending bookings have been fulfilled and there are no supply constraints anymore. Srivastava also pointed out the high interest rates could stifle demand.There has already been a rise of 130 bps increase in auto loan interest rate and a further 120 bps increase is expected, if rates are left unchanged,he added. 2022 THE CENTRE’S dividend receipts from the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) stood at `43,843 crore as of January 1, crossing the 2023-24 budget estimate (BE) of `43,000 crore, giving further comfort on the fiscal front, reports Prasanta Sahu. ■ PAGE 2 % Change 2023 CPSE DIVIDENDS EXCEED FY24 BUDGETTARGET Dec 2023 Dec 2022 2021 ADANI GROUP’S Dharavi Redevelopment Project has appointed renowned architect Hafeez Contractor, US design firm Sasaki and UK-based consultancy firm Buro Happold to redevelop Dharavi in Mumbai, one of the largest slums in Asia, reports Raghavendra Kamath. ■ PAGE 4 ON THE MOVE 2022 ADANI HIRES GLOBAL TEAM FOR DHARAVI OVERHAUL PROJECT SWARAJ BAGGONKAR Mumbai, January 1 THE CENTRE HAS extendedthetenure oftheproduction-linkedincentive(PLI) scheme forautomobiles and auto components by a year to 2027-28, with some modifications aimed at giving some flexibility to companies for the rollout of investments. However, the overall investment quantum required for the benefit over the tenure of the scheme will remain unchanged. The release of incentives will now start from 2024-25,instead of the current fiscal,the ministryof heavyindustries said on Monday. The move follows the fact that companies other than Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra areyet to obtain thecertificates ofeligibilityforrelevant products.Thiswouldmeanthatthecurrentyear’sbudgetoutlayforthescheme would remain unspent. “Under the amended scheme, the incentivewill be applicable fora total of five consecutive financial years, starting from the financial year 2023-24. The disbursement of the incentive will take place in the following financial year 2024-25,” the ministry said. The scheme’s earlier tenure was between 2022-23 and 2026-27. “The scheme also specifies that an approved applicant will be eligible for benefits for five consecutive financial years,but not beyond the financialyear ending on March 31,2028.” Besides, the amendments state that if a company fails to meet the threshold for an increase in determined sales value over the first year’s threshold,itwill not receive anyincentive for that year. However, the company will still be eligible forbenefits in the nextyearif it meets the threshold calculated on the basis of a 10% year-on-year growth over the first year’s threshold. 2023 ■ PAGE 2 ● MASSIVE QUAKE, TSUNAMI JOLT JAPAN FE BUREAU New Delhi, January 1 1.9 THE PLANS to increase buoyancy in tax collections, widening the tax base and increasing the compliance by taxpayers seem to have been aided by the new income tax (I-T) regime in the current fiscal, reports Priyansh Verma. After two robust years, car firms see muted 2024 0.3 MORE THAN 60% TAXPAYERS ADOPT NEW I-T REGIME Govt extends PLI for auto, parts by a year to FY28 12.6 NEWS Dec a record month for PVs, but Maruti, Hyundai predict low single-digit growth 1.3 IN THE 2.8 2.9 1.2 2.1 1.2 3.2 4.2 4.0 3.3 Source: Economic Outlook CHENNAI/KOCHI