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APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL XLIX NO. 265, 16 PAGES, `12.00 (PATNA & RAIPUR `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: 71,847.57 ▲ 490.97 NIFTY: 21,658.60 ▲ 141.25 NIKKEI 225: 33,288.29 ▼ 175.88 HANG SENG: 16,645.98 ▼ 0.43 `/$: 83.23 ▲ 0.06 `/€: 91.30 ▼ 0.21 BRENT: $78.87 ▲ $0.62 GOLD: `62,548 ▼ `270 FY25 FIGURE MAY BE SET AT `30,000 CR IN THE NEWS Disinvestment target may be slashed 40% A few offers for sale likely by March GOING SLOW Disinvestment revenue (` crore) Budget estimate Achievement HIRING ACTIVITY is predicted to pick up in 2024 after a fall last year, driven by demand for artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science and cybersecurity professionals, shows a survey by online jobs platform Foundit, formerly Monster, reports Biswajiban Sharma. ■ PAGE 5 EXPLAINER Why truckers are against the new penal provisions ■ PAGE 9 (Likely) 20,000 51,000 13,531 35,293 1,75,000 65,000 50,299 FY20 32,845 INDIA INC MAY STEP UP HIRING THIS YEAR 1,05,000 THE CENTRE MAY aim for a modest disinvestment target of around `30,000 crore in 2024-25, 40% lower than the target of `51,000 crore for the current financial year, which is set to be missed by 60%, official sources said. This would represent a progressive lowering of the ambition on this front (see chart), though the sources said the target for the next fiscal is being kept at realistic levels, considering that elections and new government formation would make it difficult to conclude any big-ticket sale in the year even if the process is initiated. However,therewill be last-ditch efforts to bridge the gap between the disinvestment receipts for the current fiscal — `10,052 crore so far — and the budget estimate (`51,000 crore).The plan is to hit the buoyant markets with a few offers for sale, before the year draws to a close. Non-debt capital inflows through this route could be around `20,000 crore or 40% of the target in FY24.Theyearhas seen delays in the execution of most of the strategic disinvestment plans, including that of IDBI Bank, NMDC Steel and Container Corporation (Concor),partly due to a spate of state elections. According to the sources,a fewmore OFSes that are to be expected in the January-March Prime Minister Narendra Modi tries snorkelling at a Lakshadweep beach. Posting pictures of his undersea exploration on X, the PM called the experience ‘exhilarating’ ANI 2,10,000 PRASANTA SAHU New Delhi, January 4 FY21 FY23 8 54 Labour participation up during December RURAL RELIEF, URBAN WOES Unemployment rate (in %) 2023 URBAN June 8.09 PRIYANSH VERMA New Delhi, January 4 INDIA’S OVERALL UNEMPLOYMENT rate fell to a three-month low of 8.65% in December from 8.88% the previous month, due to a sharp drop in rural joblessness,data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) showed. During December, the rural unemployment rate fell to 7.97% from 8.68% in November, while the urban unemployment rate increased to a four-month high of 10.08% from 9.31%. The fall in rural joblessness is also reflected by a 5.8% decline in work demanded by households under the July 8.06 Aug 10.09 Sept 9.41 Oct 8.53 Nov 9.31 Dec 10.08 MahatmaGandhiNationalRuralEmployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The labour participation rate (LPR), an estimate of the active workforce in the economy, stood at a 45-month high of 41.88% in December, up from 40.92% in November. FY24 16 48 FY22 Joblessness at 3-month low 40 Achievement as % of target quarter are Indian Railway Finance Corporation, NLC India and Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders. These firms are in the pipeline because they haven’t met the market regulator’s norm that the minimum public shareholding in listed firms should be at least 25%. Of the transactions that the government could conclude next fiscal are that of the IDBI Bank disinvestment, wherein the Centre and LIC would together sell a 60.72% stake in the bank. Continued on Page 10 Realty index at 15-year high Invesco raises Swiggy valuation to $8.3 billion 400 300 353.92 BSE Sensex BSE Realty Base value=100 200 100 Jan 1, 2008 Jan 4, 2024 TOP 5 REALTY GAINERS (1-year % gain) 264.1 101.9 256.6 244.6 360.8 248.7 353.4 BSE Sensex BSE Realty Nifty Nifty Realty Return (%) 1-month 1-year As on January 4, 2024 5-year 10-year 170.3 Highest closing since June 3, 2008 599.2 122.8 104.8 103.5 189.2 177.9 593.9 Prestige Estates Anant Raj Sobha DLF D B Realty 169.6 0 50.96 4.3 13.6 4.7 14.0 18.4 94.4 20.0 96.7 101.3 Propelled by record residential sales in 2023, the BSE Realty index rose 6.61 % on Thursday, hitting a 15-year high. In CY23, it was the bestperforming index, rising 79.5% vis-a-vis the Sensex's rise of 18.7%, report Kishor Kadam & Raghavendra Kamath. Residential property sales touched a new decadal peak in 2023, registering a growth of 31% over 2022, according to Anarock Property Consultants. The sales momentum is expected to continue in 2024, with developers expecting 10-15% growth in sales. 15-year FE BUREAU Bengaluru, January 4 US-BASED ASSET MANAGEMENT company Invesco has marked up Swiggy’s fairvalue for the second time in a row,taking its latestvaluation to $8.3 billion. AccordingtodatafromTracxn,Invescoholds a 2% stake in the food tech aggregator,which was acquired at a cost of approximately$190.5 million. The total value of Invesco’s 28,844 sharesinthefirmstoodat$147.6million,aregulatory filing as on October 31, 2023, showed, reflecting a fairvalue of $8.3 billion. Invesco had marked up Swiggy’s valuation byaround42%to$7.85billionattheendofJuly 2023.It had acquired a stake in Swiggyin January 2022, leading a $700-million funding round,valuing the company at $10.7 billion. However,it subsequently slashed the valuation to $8 billion in September 2022 and further down to $5.5 billionbythe end ofApril 2023. Despite the second straight increase, Swiggy’s valuation continues to be lower than the $10.7-billionpeakof January2022. Swiggypostedaconsolidatedlossof`3,629 croreinFY22,whilerevenuesstoodat`5,704.9 crore.The firm is gearing up foran initial public offeringwith an issue size of $1 billion. ONLY 4 OF THE 12 FIRMS CURRENTLY PROFITABLE Over half of IPO-bound startups still in the red 6.5 35.5 MobiKwik and PayMate have also reported losses in their latest annual filings. While it isn’t mandatory for companies to report a net profit to list on the exchanges, National Stock Exchange (NSE) norms stipu- Go Digit Unicommerce MobiKwik FirstCry Oyo Ola Electric 83.8 486 1,286 1,472 FY23 net profit (` cr) 3.9 FY23 net loss (` cr) Profit-making companies 126* MORE THAN HALF of the startups looking to launch initial public offerings (IPOs) this year are still struggling to post profits. Of the 12 startups which have either filed their draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) or are looking to list this year, eight have incurred losses, showed latest annual filings by the companies.This includes unicorns such as FirstCry,MobiKwik and Ola Electric. A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that the combined loss of these eight startups stood at over `8,000 crore, largely led by Swiggy, Oyo and Ola Electric. Besides these, health tech startup Portea Medical, flexible workspace providerAwfis,babycare retailer FirstCry, and fintechs Loss-making companies Garuda Aerospace LISTING PLANS PayU India AYANTI BERA Bengaluru, January 4 *FY22 late that theyshould have operating profit or earnings before interest, depreciation and tax for at least any two of the three financial years preceding the application. Continued on Page 10 New Delhi RURAL 8.75 7.8 7.11 5.86 9.84 8.68 7.97 OVERALL 8.53 7.88 8.1 7.01 9.42 8.88 8.65 This was largelya result of the recordhigh (highest since January 2019) rural labour participation rate of 43.12%.The urban LPR stood at 39.48%, the highest in four months. Continued on Page 10