BACK PAGE, P20 COMPANIES, P4 INTERNATIONAL, P7 RIDING ON CRICKET FEVER FEBRUARY SALE AIMING FOR RECORD FOURTH TERM IPL 2024: Disney, Viacom ready separate ad plans amid merger talks Carmakers, dealers offer discounts on unsold 2023 inventory Nawaz Sharif-led govt likely in Pakistan after Bilawal Bhutto pulls out CHENNAI/KOCHI, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XLIV 238, 44 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: 71,555.19 ▲ 482.70 NIFTY: 21,743.25 ▲ 127.20 NIKKEI 225: 37,963.97 ▲ 1066.55 HANG SENG: 15,746.58 ▼ 131.49 `/$: 83.01 ▼ 0.01 `/€: 89.39 ▼ 0.01 BRENT: $82.67 ▲ $0.67 GOLD: `62,154.00 ▲ `111 CO-LOCATION CASE Sebi rejects NSE’s settlement plea FE BUREAU Mumbai, February 13 IN THE NEWS 60-DAY EXTENSION FOR GO FIRST RESOLUTION NCLT ON TUESDAY extended the deadline by another 60 days to complete the resolution process of grounded airline Go First. ■ PAGE 4 PAYTM AT NEW LOW AFTER MACQUARIE DOWNGRADE SHARES OF ONE97 Communications fell to a new low of `380.15 at the NSE on Tuesday after Macquarie downgraded the stock to ‘underperform’. ■ PAGE 10 EXPLAINER Composite licence for insurers can be a game-changer ■ PAGE 9 THE SECURITIES AND Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has rejected a settlement application by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in the co-location case.According to a report by moneycontrol.com, NSE filed the plea under the consent mechanism of the markets regulator.The mechanism allows market participants to settle any alleged violation by paying a fee and without admitting or denying guilt. However,in this case,the markets regulator has denied the exchange any relief under the mechanism.Instead,it is expected to proceed with the charges and issue a regulatory order soon. The case pertains to alleged collusion between NSE officials and OPG Securities – one of the brokers accused of getting preferential access to the exchange’s servers, therebyproviding them an undue advantage over other traders. ThereportsaidthatSebihad alsoprovided NSE a chance of personal hearing sometime last week. In 2019,Sebi had passed a series of orders in the co-location matter in which one of the key accusations was alleged collusion between NSE employees and OPG Securities. This order was challenged by both NSE and OPGSecuritiesin theSecuritiesAppellateTribunal (SAT). Last January, SAT referred the matter back to Sebi asking the regulator to consider the charge afresh. “SAT had observed Sebi’s 2019 order did not have sufficient evidence to link NSE and OPG employees. Sebi however is UNFAIR PRACTICE ■ The key charge in the co-location case was alleged collusion between NSE employees and OPG Securities ■ Last Jan, SAT referred the matter back to Sebi asking it to consider the charge afresh ■ The allegation against NSE is that it failed to take action despite being aware of the preferential access ■ NSE launched the facility in 2009 to allow traders to establish IT servers within its premises for a fee taking a view that there is enough evidence to link both,” the report said citing a source. The main question in the case is that whetherNSEemployeeswereworkingin tandemwith OPG orwas it a general case of negligence to take decisive action,said one of the sources cited in the story.Connivance charge needs stronger evidence like documents showing flow of money between parties or material indication tampering with the system,they said. Govt mulls component scheme Incentive plan to check imports and increase electronics exports PUSH FOR LOCAL incentive schemewill encourage the production ofelectronics parts JATIN GROVER New Delhi, February 13 AFTER ACHIEVING SUCCESS in domestic manufacturing of global electronics products like iPhones, the government is now working on a component-linked incentive scheme to make India both a product nation as well as a componentproducing destination. The component-linked incentive scheme will encourage the production of electronics parts besides semiconductors, SKrishnan,secretaryintheministryofelectronics and IT,said onTuesday. “We are looking to work towards two ■ China,Thailand etc are competing economies for India as far as electronics trade is concerned ■ The component-linked ■ Meanwhile, the made ■ The schemewill help and designed in India 4G education tablet, developed by EPIC Foundation, was launched on Tuesday India become a product aswell as a componentproducing nation aspects - one is on designing products in India, owning the IP (intellectual property) in India…and the second is to increase the number of components, which will get manufactured in India,” Krishnan said at the launch of the country's first designed,artificial intelligenceenabled education tablet. Krishnansaidthatwhiletherearebigtar- gets of increasing the overall electronics exports from the country,as exports go up, imports will also go up simply because the value addition which happens in the countryisstilllimited,andasignificantportionis imported,assembled and then re-exported orusedfordomesticconsumption. Continued on Page 7 RIL hits `20-trillion market cap milestone RELIANCE INDUSTRIES’ market capitalisation hit `20 trillion for the first time during intraday trading on Tuesday, with its share price rising to an all-time high of `2,957.80, reports Kishor Kadam. The m-cap fell to `19.8 trillion at the end of the session. RIL shares have outperformed the benchmark YTD, rising 13.3% compared to a 1% fall in Sensex. RIL had attained a market capitalisation of `1 trillion on August 31, 2005, while it surpassed the `10trillion mark in November 2019. 20 Reliance's m-cap milestones ` trillion 15 10 5 1 Aug 31 Jul 17 Nov 28 Sep 10 Feb 13 2005 2017 2019 2020 2024 Return (%) RIL Sensex YTD 13.31 2024 -0.95 1-year 38.41 18.41 3-year 57.50 38.82 5-year 160.81 98.58 10-year 703.88 254.35 Continued on Page 7 CHENNAI/KOCHI