MARKETS, P8 COMPANIES, P4 BACK PAGE, P18 THREE ISSUES UNDER PROBE 30-YEAR LONG ASSOCIATION MUKESH AMBANI AMONG 8,000 INVITEES Sebi red-flags inflated IPO subscription data; action soon, says Buch PepsiCo India elevates Jagrut Kotecha as CEO; to take over in March Devotees splurge on jets, gold idols as Ram Mandir opening nears CHENNAI/KOCHI, SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XLIV 217, 18 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: 71,683.23 ▲ 496.37 NIFTY: 21,622.40 ▲ 160.15 NIKKEI 225: 35,963.27 ▲ 497.10 HANG SENG: 15,308.69 ▼ 83.10 `/$: 83.07 ▲ 0.05 `/€: 90.40 ▲ 0.08 BRENT: $79.03 ▼ $0.07 GOLD: `62143 ▲ `431 Jaswant Singh Pranab Mukherjee 2014 2019 up 2.8% to `5,445 cr Piyush Goyal It isn't uncommon for interim Budgets to unveil major welfare schemes -- PM-Kisan in 2019 for instance. Ahead of the vote on account on Feb 1, FE reviews four such exercises over the past two decades. ■ PAGE 2 D-STREET OPEN TODAY, CLOSED ON MONDAY THE STOCK MARKET will have a full trading session on Saturday, an NSE spokesperson told Reuters. Stock exchanges will be closed on Monday on account of the Ram Temple consecration. Reliance Industries has also announced holiday for all its offices. ■ PAGE 8 Retail arm’s Q3 profit rises 32% ■ PAGE 4 Duringthequarter, revenue from O2C business declined 2.4% year-on-year to `1.41 trillion, on account of lowerprice realisation due to 5.3% y-o-y decline in average brent crude Revenue (` cr) 2,27,970 RELIANCE INDUSTRIES (RIL) on Friday reporteda9.3%riseinitsconsolidatednet profitat`17,265crore,missingBloomberg consensus estimate of `18,080 crore, draggeddownbyitsoil-to-chemicalsbusiness.However,consumerbusinesses comprising telecom (Jio) and retail performed INSIDE well and registered Jio Q3 profit growth. ■ PAGE 4 P Chidambaram Reliance Industries financials Q3 FY23 Net profit (` cr) 15,792 17,265 Ebitda margin (%) Q3 FY24 7.2 prices. The units also went through a planned shut down during the period which extended up to seven weeks.The O2C business constituted 62% of the company's consolidated revenue during thequarter. Consolidated revenues during the y-o-y % chg MUKESH AMBANI, CMD, RIL 9.3 Net profit margin (%) 15.9 17.8 3.5 7.6 ...YET ANOTHER QUARTER OF ROBUST OPERATING & FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE period rose 3.5% to `2.28 trillion,again below estimate of `2.32 trillion. Ebitda rose 16.1% to `40,656 crore,which was higher than Bloomberg estimate of `40,386crore. Continued on Page 9 Weak rural demand hurts HUL Q3 VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO Mumbai, January 19 THE COUNTRY'S LARGEST consumer goods company, Hindustan Unilever(HUL),saw its third-quarter profit rise by a marginal 1.1% to `2,509 crore,as the business grappled with sluggish rural demand. Even though the volume increase was barely 2% for the quarter, both profit, and revenue, which came in at `15,567 crore, missed analysts'projections. Bloomberg analysts had MARGINAL RISE Hindustan Unilever financials Q3 FY23 Q3-FY24 (` cr) y-o-y % chg -0.2 Revenue 1.4 2,509 2009 OIL BUSINESS DRAGS DOWN TOPLINE Mumbai, January 19 2,20,165 2004 RAJESH KURUP 2,474 INDIA’STRYSTWITH INTERIM BUDGETS Subdued quarter for RIL 15,567 NEWS PROFIT RISES 9.3% TO `17,265 CRORE, MISSES ESTIMATES 15,597 IN THE Net profit peggedQ3net profitat`2,665 crore, while revenue for the period was estimated at `15,642 crore. The revenue miss came as ROHIT JAWA, CEO & MD, HUL OUR FOCUS REMAINS ON DRIVING COMPETITIVE VOLUME GROWTH HUL cut prices of several products, including detergents and household care products,to pass on the benefit of easing commodity INSIDE UltraTech Cement Q3 profit grows 67% PAGE 4 Paytm net loss narrows; revenue up 38% PAGE 8 prices.This resulted in pricing growth tapering off. Analysts tracking the company said that the transition from an inflationary to a deflationary environment would hurt price growth. Continued on Page 9 In talks for new date to seal merger: Zee Company says unaware of Sony board meet NO BREAKTHROUGH YET ■ As per the scheme of arrangement, Sony was to hold 50.86% stake, Zee promoters (Goenka family) 3.99% and the rest 45.15% was to be held by public shareholders VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO Mumbai, January 19 A DAY BEFORE the deadline for the extension of the proposed Zee-Sony merger expires, Zee Entertainment on Friday said that it was unaware of any board meeting held or proposed to be held by Culver Max Entertainment (formerly Sony Pictures Networks India) to discuss merger-related issues. It said it was in discussion for an extension of the deadline beyond January 21. In an exchange filing on Friday,the media company said that it was engaged in good faith negotiations with Sony in this regard. “We cannot comment on any board meeting held or proposed to be held by Culver Max Entertainment,given that these are internal matters of Sony.We are engaged in good faith negotiations with Sony with a view to discuss the extension of the date ■ The combined entity could be listed by MarchApril of 2024 ■ The expected completion ofthe dealwas Dec 21, 2023,whichwas extended by a 30-day period ■ This merger was to create a $10-billion entertainment behemoth with a 25-28% share required to make the scheme of arrangement effective by a reasonable period of time,” the company said. Continued on Page 9 Govt may peg GDP growth at 10.7% THE INTERIM BUDGET for 2024-25 could peg India’s nominal GDP growth for the next financial year at 10.7% or thereabouts, going by the median of a poll of 15 economists, reports Priyansh Verma.The estimates for RUN-UP TO THE INTERIM BUDGET 2024-25 nominal GDP growth for the next fiscal range from 9.5% to 11.3%, with most economists expecting the figure at 10.5%."With the base effect propping up wholesale inflation, nominal GDP growth could be higherin FY25,"said Sakshi Gupta,principaleconomist, HDFC Bank. ■ Page 2 Fostering aerospace innovation in India As part of our commitment to India’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat vision, we are dedicated to driving aerospace innovation in India and the world. Our newly inaugurated Boeing India Engineering & Technology Center campus in Bengaluru will serve as a hub for innovation, research & development, and inspiring the next generation of aerospace pioneers. Join us at boeing.com/indiacareers CHENNAI/KOCHI