COMPANIES, P4 COMPANIES, P4 INTERNATIONAL, P7 INDIA-BORN RIVAL TO GOOGLE ‘MAY CONSIDER INVESTORS LATER’ ASIF ALI ZARDARI TO BE PRESIDENT PhonePe launches Indus Appstore to take on Play Store We can help turn Go First into a successful airline: Sky One chairman Power-sharing deal sealed: Shehbaz Sharif to be Pakistan PM LUCKNOW, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL 17 NO. 68, 34 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: 72,623.09 ▼ 434.31 NIFTY: 22,055.05 ▼ 141.90 NIKKEI 225: 38,262.16 ▼ 101.45 HANG SENG: 16,503.10 ▲ 255.59 `/$: 82.97 < > 0.00 `/€: 89.62 ▼ 0.02 BRENT: $82.16 ▼ $0.18 GOLD: `61,953 ▲ `25 — IN THE NEWS ONE FARMER KIILED, AGITATION PUT ON HOLD FOR 2 DAYS THE PROTESTING FARMERS' groups on Wednesday decided to halt their march into Delhi for two days after a farmer was killed and few others were injured, reports Sandip Das. ■ PAGE 3 CCEAAPPROVES 8% HIKE IN FRP FOR SUGARCANE IN ONE OF the steepest hikes in years, the Centre on Wednesday approved an 8% hike in fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane to `340/a quintal for the 2024-25 season, reports Sandip Das. ■ PAGE 2 FALI SAM NARIMAN, THE EXCEPTIONAL JURIST, DIES AT 95 FALI SAM NARIMAN, the exceptional jurist, who helped secure many a landmark verdict in modern India, passed away in his sleep at his home in New Delhi an hour after midnight on Wednesday, reports Coomi Kapoor. ■ PAGE 20 AMEEN SAYANI, THE GOLDEN VOICE OF RADIO, FALLS SILENT AMEEN SAYANI, THE golden voice that revolutionised radio presentation in India, passed away on Tuesday night due to a cardiac arrest at his Mumbai home, reports Suanshu Khurana. He was 91. ■ PAGE 20 FE S P E C I A L What the row over ‘profiteering’ is all about A look at the ‘antiprofiteering norms in the CGSTAct, and the controversy around it ■ EXPLAINER, P9 STOCK CRASHES 15%, ZEE DENIES CHARGES Wider Sebi probe shadow over Zee VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO Mumbai, February 21 THE ZEE ENTERTAINMENT stock crashed 15% on the Bombay Stock Exchange,touching `164.50 at the endofWednesday’strade,following reports that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has widened the scope of its ongoing investigation into the company. Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Sebi had found a “hole” in the media company's accounts, which was 10 times more than the initially estimated amount of `200 crore by the investigators, who are probing alleged fund diversion at the firm. Zee refuted the allegations and said,“reports and rumours pertainingtoaccountingissuesinthecompany are incorrect and false.“Pursuant to the SAT order, which granted relief to the current key managerial personnel, the companyhas been in the process of providing all comments, information andexplanationsrequestedbySebi. We have extended complete cooperation on all aspects,” the spokesperson added. Othersources said the regulator has also asked former directors, including two erstwhile independent directors, at the company to appearbefore it inviewof the ongo- THE FULLPICTURE ZEE Entertainment Feb 20, 2024 193 set of transactions and entities ■ Sebi has asked former directors to appear before it, say sources ■ In 2023, Sebi said that promoters illegally withdrew `200 crore from the company overturned Sebi’s interim order barring Chandra and Goenka from key positions ■ The regulator Feb 21 (close) Karnataka HC gives HARD LESSON ■ US-based GlasTrust files interim relief to insolvency plea against Byju's, edtech firm fourth such petition in last ■ Sebi is also looking at a broader ■ In October 2023, SAT 14.8% Court breather for Byju’s ahead of EGM fireworks 164.5 ing investigation. It is also looking at a broader set of transactions and entities as part of itswidened probe into the company. In June last year, Sebi had barred Zee founders — Subhash Chandra and his son Punit Goenka — from holding directorships for a year in any listed company over alleged fund diversion. An August 14, 2023, confirmatory order by Sebi had reduced the scope to Zee group companies, including the Zee-Sony proposed combine, where Chandra and Goenka could is trying to ascertain if the directors knew about the transactions not hold directorships. Zee appealed against Sebi's confirmatory order in a higher appellate court(SAT) andhadgotapartial reprieve in October, which allowed Goenka, who is MD & CEO of the company,to hold an executive positionwhile the probewas underway. The case led to a leadership tussle between Sony and Zee, which prompted the Japanese major to call off the proposed merger deal in January. Continued on Page 13 ANEES HUSSAIN New Delhi, February 21 IN AN INTERIM relief for Byju's, the KarnatakaHighCourtonWednesday ruledthatanyresolutionproposedto be passed at the company's extraordinarygeneralmeeting(EGM)onFriday will not be valid till the edtech firm's petition is fully heard and disposed of bythe court. In another development,US-basedGlasTrustCompanyfiledaninsolvency plea against Byju’s,making it the fourth such plea against the edtech firm in the last six months.The plea by Glas Trust, which is a nonbank loan agency,is being admitted 6 months ■ GlasTrust represents foreign lenders,who collectively extended more than 85% of $1.2-bn term loan to Byju's ■ The other three petitioners are BCCI, France’s Teleperformance Business Services, digital marketing firm SurferTechnologies by the Bengaluru bench of the NationalCompanyLawTribunal(NCLT). Byju’s has moved the Karnataka HCunderSection9oftheArbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996,arguing thatcertaininvestorshadviolatedthe Investing money in Byju’s my duty, says Raveendran PAGE 4 articles of association (AoA), the shareholders’agreement (SHA) and the Companies Act,2013,by calling foran EGM on February23,2024. Continued on Page 13 FM: Need more checks on World Bank leads surge in offshore Re bond issuance unauthorised loan apps FINANCE MINISTER NIRMALA Sitharaman on Wednesday stressed the need to take more steps to the check the spread of unauthorisedlendingthroughonlineapps,reports feBureau.ChairingthemeetingoftheFinancialStability and Development Council (FSDC), the minister also urgedthemtosimplifyandcompletelydigitalisetheKYC process in the financial sector. The move come in the wake of the concerns over violation of KYC compliancebyfintechfirmsandtherestrictionsimposedbythe RBI on Paytm Payments Bank. ■ Page 6 THE WORLD BANK’S lending arm and other global institutions have issued $1.4 billion worthofoffshorerupee-denominatedbonds so far this year to meet strong demand spurred by India's inclusion in JP Morgan's widely tracked emerging market debt index, two banking sources said, reports Reuters.The bond issuance since January is almost half the $3.3 billion issued in all of 2023, said the sources,who actively trade these supranational bonds and who based their tally on data from several financial institutions. ■ Page 6 Intel Foundry clicks on Wipro for chip design FE BUREAU New Delhi, February 21 WIPRO ON WEDNESDAY announced an expanded partnership with Intel Foundry for chipdesign.Asthedesignservicesandalliance partner,WiprowillhelpIntelFoundrydevelop its most advanced process nodes, including the Intel18Aprocess node. The two companies are targeting sectors suchasheavyindustries,automotive,industrial andtelecommunicationstoleveragegenerative AI-drivendesignsandfoundryservicestodrive ongoinginnovation.Thedevelopmentassumes significance as demand for generative-AI enabledproductsbyenterprises,whichrequire advancedAI chips to perform tasks,is on a rise. According to Allied Market Research, the global AI chip market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38% annuallyfrom 2023 to 2032. “Together,wewill deliversilicon devices to our clients with proven industry-standard flows and process technologies from Intel Foundry,” said Atul Kapur, VP and business head-HiTech,Wipro.“Wewillbetargetingnew startup markets, especially in the Gen-AI space,helping our clients further shorten the time to market,”Kapur added. TECH IT FORWARD ■ Wipro to workwith Intel Foundry as key design services and alliance partner ■ To address the rising demand forAI chip manufacturing ■ To target new startup markets, especially in GenAI space ■ To help clients further shorten the time to market “Wipro will leverage Intel’s strong worldwide fabrication plants to ensure silicon availabilitybydelivering a geo-diverse and resilient semiconductor supply chain that enables clients across businesses and geographies to address their shortage problems,” said Harmeet Chauhan,globalhead,WiproEngineeringEdge. Continued on Page 13 DESI CHATGPT SERVICE BY RELIANCE AND 8 IITs Hanooman takes AI leap in March SARITHA RAI February 21 A CONSORTIUM BACKED by Reliance Industries and the country’s top engineering schools aim to launch its first ChatGPTstyle service next month, a big step in the India’s ambitions to become a player in the field of artificialintelligence(AI). The BharatGPT group, encompassing Reliance Jio Infocomm and eight Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) universities, offered a sneak peek of the large language modelonTuesdayduringatechnologyconferenceinMumbai.Inavideoplayedbefore delegates,amotorcyclemechanicinsouthern India queried an AI bot in his native Tamil, a banker conversed with the tool in Hindi,andadeveloperinHyderabadusedit towrite computercode. If successful, the model — dubbed Hanooman —will represent an advance for the country in the accelerating race to developpotentiallytransformativeAItechnology. BharatGPT envisions the model workingvia11locallanguagesinfourmain fields:Healthcare,governance,financialservicesandeducation.Itdevelopedthemodel incollaborationwithIITs,includinginBom- MADE IN INDIA ■ BharatGPT is developing the AI model in tie-up with ■ The model will work via 11 local languages in four fields: Healthcare, governance, financial services and education ■ It will also offer speechto-text capabilities, making it vastly more user-friendly eight IITs ■ The venture is backed by Reliance Jio Infocomm and the Centre bay, backed by Reliance Jio Infocomm and the central government. A swath of startups such as Sarvam and Krutrim,backedbyprominentVCinvestors suchasLightspeedVenturePartnersandbillionaireVinod Khosla’s fund,are also buildingopen-sourcedAImodelscustomisedfor India.While Silicon Valley companies like OpenAIarebuildingever-largerLLMs,those ■ Reliance Jio will build customised models for specific uses efforts involve workarounds because of computational constraints and simpler modelsaffordabletosmallerbusinessesand government departments.“It’s a different genreofLLMs,”saidGaneshRamakrishnan, chair of IIT Bombay’s department of computerscience and engineering. Continued on Page 13 Lucknow