ECONOMY, P2 BACK PAGE, P20 COMPANIES, P5 31.5 MN NEW ACCOUNTS IN FY24 UPTICK IN PAY PACKAGES IT RULES VIOLATION Nine years on, Jan Dhan going strong; average balance at all-time high IIM placements stable, early trend shows fewer consulting positions GenAI bias: Google’s Gemini gets a second warning from MeitY CHENNAI/KOCHI, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XLIV 247, 20 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: 73,142.80 ▼ 15.44 NIFTY: 22,212.70 ▼ 4.75 NIKKEI 225: 39,098.68 ▲ 836.52 HANG SENG: 16,725.86 ▼ 17.09 `/$: 82.95 ▼ 82.95 `/€: 89.73 ▲ 0.18 BRENT: $82.19 ▼ $1.48 GOLD: `61,732 ▼ `198 IN THE NEWS ZEE FORMS PANEL TO SHORE UP CONFIDENCE ZEE ENTERTAINMENT ENTERPRISES on Friday announced a three-member independent advisory committee headed by Satish Chandra, retired judge of the Allahabad High Court, to restore shareholders' confidence. ■ PAGE 4 ZURICH INSURANCE TO ACQUIRE 70% IN KOTAK GENERAL ZURICH INSURANCE COMPANY will acquire a 70% stake in Kotak Mahindra General Insurance Company for `5,560 crore in a single tranche, the private lender said on Friday. Under the original deal, Zurich was to buy a 51% stake. ■ PAGE 8 NOD TO DIGITAL PAYMENTS FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORT THE RESERVE BANK of India (RBI) on Friday allowed authorised bank and non-bank Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) issuers to issue PPIs for public transport payments, reports Sachin Kumar. ■ PAGE 8 STANCHART UNVEILS PLANS FOR $ 1-BN BUYBACK STANDARD CHARTERED CHIEF executive Bill Winters on Friday bluntly acknowledged the bank's underwhelming share price and vowed to fix it as the lender announced increased dividends, a fresh $1-billion buyback and an 18% increase in annual profit, reports Reuters. ■ PAGE 7 FE S P E C I A L Make the most of cashbacks A card that aligns with your spending habits gets you more benefits ■ PERSONAL FINANCE, P8 OUSTER OF BOARD SOUGHT, NCLT MOVED Investors vote for new chapter without Byju Company says all resolutions invalid ANEES HUSSAIN Bengaluru, February 23 BYJU’S SHAREHOLDERS ON Friday escalated the battle with promoters by voting to remove co-founder Byju Raveendran as CEO and change the board. The group of investors, which includes Prosus, General Atlantic, and Peak XV, said a resolution for a forensic probe into governance breaches by the firm was also passed at the extraordinary general meeting. Investor sources said shareholders who voted and passed the resolutions hold about 60% stake in Byju’s.The founderand his family hold around 25%. The company’s board comprises Raveendran, his wife, Divya Gokulnath,and brother Riju Raveendran. Separately, four investors also filed an oppression and mismanagement suit against the management at the Bengaluru bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). The company’s management, in a statement, termed the resolutions at the EGM invalid and ineffective. “Byju’s firmly declares that the resolutions passed during the recently concluded EGM, attended by a small cohort of select shareholders,are invalid and ineffective.The passing of the unenforceable resolutions challenges the rule of law at worst,”the company said. Raveendran,Gokulnath,and Riju BATTLE LINES DRAWN ■ Investors say unanimous vote on resolution of outstanding governance, financial mismanagement and compliance issues at Byju’s Reconstitution of board so it is no longer controlled by founders ofThink and Learn, change in leadership also included, as per Prosus ■ Phishing attack, impersonation: EGM sees it all ANEES HUSSAIN New Delhi, February 23 Raveendran did not attend the meeting. Aspokesperson from Prosus,the investor that led the EGM, said shareholders “unanimously”passed all resolutions put to vote. BYJU’S EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL meeting (EGM) on Friday got off to a rocky start with unknown people allegedly trying to disrupt and sabotage it, according to investor sources. It took over an hour to complete the roll call and verify attendees, the sources said,as hundreds of individuals attempted to join the Zoom videoconferencing link for the EGM. The joinees entered with all kinds of names — Sir Michael Knight, Natalia Cruz, Kevin Pietersen are some of the instances. Unidentified people also joined in impersonating the company’s investors. “The day started with a phishing attack to attempt to disrupt the meeting. Attendees received a random notification from an unidentified source that the meeting is cancelled. However, the EGM kicked off as per schedule at 9 am IST,” sources said. Continued on Page 12 Continued on Page 12 Byju’s CEO Byju Raveendran ■ Byju's says resolutions by a "small cohort of select shareholders" invalid and ineffective ■ As per the ■ Says passing the "unenforceable resolutions challenges the rule oflaw at worst” Karnataka HC's earlier ruling, resolutions cannot be implemented till March 13 RBI looks to ensure @paytm migration Asks NPCI to consider PAYMENT ROAD MAP fintech firm’s request to ■ TPAPlicence would allow be third-party provider Paytm to continue AJAY RAMANATHAN Mumbai, February 23 THE RESERVE BANK of India (RBI) has asked the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to examine Paytm parent One97 Communications’ request to be a third-party application provider (TPAP). If approved, this would allow Paytm to continue processing payments via the Unified Payment Interface (UPI). However, it will need a set of newly identified banks to back the app. “In the event of NPCI grantingTPAPstatus to One97 Communications, it may be stipulated that ‘@paytm’ handles must be migrated in a seamless mannerfrom Paytm Payments Bank to a set of newly identified banks to avoid any disruption,” the central bank said in the notification. It furtherstated that no newuserswill be added by the third-party application until all existing users are migrated satisfactorily to a new handle. “TheRBI’smoveisonexpectedlines.With the TPAP licence,Paytm will become exactly the same as Google Pay or PhonePe.Like any otherTPAPtheyrequire a licence from NPCI. Theywillhavetoworkwithmultiplesponsor banks,”saidRanadurjayTalukdar,partnerand payments sectorleader,EYIndia. The central bank has asked NPCI to facilitate the certification of four to five banks who must demonstrate capabilities to process high volume transactions, in line processing UPI payments ■ This would require ‘@paytm’ handles to be migrated to a set of newly identified banks ■ RBI has asked NPCI to facilitate certification offourfive banks for this ■ Axis Bank, HDFC Bank andYes Bank said to be among applicants ■ For merchants using Paytm QR codes, it can open settlement accounts with payment service provider banks with NPCI norms to minimise concentration risks. According to reports, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and Yes Bank have applied for TPAP application for Paytm’s UPI business. “For the merchants using Paytm QR codes, OCL (One97 Communications) may open the settlement accounts with one or more PSP banks (other than Paytm Payments Bank),”the notification said. Further,RBI has clarified that the migrationofUPIhandlesisapplicableonlytosuch customers and merchants who have a ‘@paytm’ UPI handle.No action is required for customers who have a UPI address or handles other than‘@paytm’. Continued on Page 12 Investment pact may dent WTO consensus MUKESH JAGOTA New Delhi, February 23 BONE OF CONTENTION India to oppose China-led Investment Facilitation for Development, backed by at least 120 countries ■ THE 13TH MINISTERIALconference (MC 13) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Abu Dhabi next week could dent the singleundertaking rule or consensus-based decision making at the multilateral body, sources here warned. New Delhi plans to oppose the China-led Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD), even as a plurilateral pact, it has asserted. But it has expressed the apprehension that the pact could still be adopted by the trade body. Government sources say IFD,which is backed by at least 120 countries but opposed by India, the US, Brazil and SouthAfrica,could undermine the autonomous domestic policy space on foreign direct investments. According to the sources, India is opposing bringing investment facilitation to the WTO because it is a non-trade matter which the global body should not be involved in. ■ New Delhi feels it is a non-trade matter and should not involve the global trade body Continued on Page 12 Govt fears it could undermine autonomous domestic policy space on FDI ■ India’s stance on data spooks chip giants THE WORLD SEMICONDUCTOR Council has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconsiderIndia’s plan to push for dutiesoncross-borderdigitale-commerce and data transfers at the WTO. It has warnedIndia’sstancewillstifleitsownchip designindustry,reportsReuters. ■ Page 2 CHIPMAKER’S STOCK GAINED `22 TRN ON THURSDAY Nvidia stock’s single-day gain surpasses Reliance’s m-cap FE BUREAU & AGENCIES New Delhi, February 23 THE MARKET CAPITALISATION of Reliance Industries (RIL) at the end of Friday’s trading was `20.2 trillion. That’s humongous,considering that the gapwith the second-largest Indian company—Tata ConsultancyServices —isover`5.5trillion. But RIL’s total m-cap was less than whatNvidia’ssharesgainedinjustoneday. The heavyweight chipmaker added $277 billion (`22 trillion) in stock market value onThursday,afterthecompany’squarterly report beat expectations and reignited a rally fuelled by optimism about artificial intelligence.In dollarterms,RIL’s m-cap is less than $250 billion. The one-dayincrease in the stock market value of Nvidia, which controls about 80% of the high-end AI chip market, was alsothelargest inWall Street’s history,easily beating a record $196 billion gain by RUNAWAY RALLY ■ Huang climbs to Reliance Industries' m-cap at Friday's close Billionaire Index from 128th just last year `20.2 trn `22 trn One-day gain in Nvidia’s shares on Thursday $9.6 bn Jump in Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's wealth, up to $69.2 billion Meta Platforms on February 2 after the Facebookparentdeclareditsfirstdividend and posted robust results. Thursday’s dizzying rise of the stock catapulted Nvidia’s chief executive officer Jensen Huang to the 21st position on the 21st on the Bloomberg ■ Nvidia now the US stock market’s third-most valuable company, pulling ahead ofAmazon andAlphabet Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His wealth jumped $9.6 billion to $69.2 billion. As recently as early last year, he was ranked 128th with a net worth of $13.5 billion. Continued on Page 12 CHENNAI/KOCHI