BACK PAGE, P18 COMPANIES, P4 INTERNATIONAL, P7 FAIR SHARE OF GROWTH TO TAKE ON CHATGPT, GEMINI BUFFETT SAYS ‘BUILT TO LAST’ Rising female student ratio key to ISB’s climb up the ladder Ola’s Krutrim AI chatbot now open for public Berkshire nears $1-trn valuation after record profit KOLKATA, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM VOL 33 NO. 100, 22 PAGES, `12.00 (NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN `12.00) P U B L I S H E D F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , B E N G A L U R U , C H A N D I G A R H , C H E N N A I , H Y D E R A B A D , K O C H I , K O L K ATA , L U C K N O W, M U M B A I , N E W D E L H I , P U N E READ TO LEAD SENSEX: 72,790.13 ▼ 352.67 NIFTY: 22,122.05 ▼ 90.65 NIKKEI 225: 39,233.71 ▲ 135.03 HANG SENG: 16,634.74 ▼ 91.12 `/$: 82.90 ▲ 0.05 `/€: 89.86 ▼ 0.13 BRENT: $81.37 ▼ $0.25 GOLD: `62,019 ▲ `287 IN THE NEWS PM LAUNCHES `41,000-CR RAILWAY INFRA PROJECTS AROUND 2,000 RAILWAY infrastructure projects worth `41,000 crore were launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, reports Manu Kaushik. They include redevelopment of 553 stations under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme at a cost of over `19,000 crore, and 1,500 road overbridges and underpasses at around `21,520 crore. ■ PAGE 2 GOLDMAN, MUBADALA INK $1-BN PACTFOR PVTCREDITINASIA GOLDMAN SACHS and Mubadala Investment Company on Monday said they have signed a $1-billion partnership deal in which they will co-invest in private credit in the Asia Pacific region with focus on India, reports Raghavendra Kamath. ■ PAGE 6 BYJU’S: NCLTTO HEAR INVESTORS’ PLEATODAY THE NATIONAL Company Law Tribunal’s Bengaluru bench will on Tuesday take the up the petition filed by four investors of Byju’s against the company’s management over oppression and mismanagement, reports Anees Hussain. ■ PAGE 4 ADANI UNVEILS `3K-CR AMMUNITION, MISSILES COMPLEX LOOKING TO consolidate its presence in defence manufacturing, Adani Group on Monday announced the opening of two mega facilities, largest such complex in South Asia, to make ammunition and missiles, reports Rohit Vaid. ■ PAGE 4 FE S P E C I A L S RBI’s UPI update positive for Paytm Smooth transition from PPBL to alternate partners underway ■ INVESTOR, P9 PROBE INTO ALLEGED FUND DIVERSION AT ZEE Chandra not cooperating, Sebi tells SAT Zee chairman emeritus denies charges; tribunal gives Sebi 10 days to reply THE SAGA SO FAR Jun 12, 2023 Sebi passes interim order barring Subhash Chandra, son Punit Goenka from holding directorships in Zee firms for 1 year VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO Mumbai, February 26 THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE Board of India(Sebi)hasaccusedZeechairmanemeritus Subhash Chandra of "not cooperating" with investigatorsin theallegedfunddiversioncase beingprobed bythe markets regulator. The submissionwas made on MondayduringahearingattheSecuritiesAppellateTribunal (SAT),whereChandra,whoisalsothechairman of the Essel Group, has filed an appeal against the August 14, 2023, confirmatory order that barred him and his son Punit Goenka from holding directorships in Zee group companies. While the tribunal had granted relief to Goenka,the managing directorand chief executiveofficerofZee,inthematteronOctober30, 2023,Chandra’s appeal is being heard now. Darius Khambata, the counsel arguing for Sebi,said that Chandra had continuallysought more time to submit documents requested by investigators despite repeated summons.The markets regulator had last sent summons on January12,2024,to Chandra,the counsel said, but was yet to get a response from the latter in the matter. OnbehalfofChandra,counselShyamMehta argued that none of the allegations bySebi had been proved and that the casewas causing rep- Aug 14 Sebi passes confirmatory order reducing scope ofban on promoters; says will take 8 months to complete probe Oct 30 SAT overturns ban on Goenka, but says Sebi probe to continue Jan 22, 2024 Sony terminates proposed merger with Zee; cites Sebi probe Feb 26 Chandra files plea in SAT; says Sebi charges causing damage to reputation utational damage to him. Chandra’s counsel further said that while the Sebi confirmatory order had barred Chandra from holding positionsinfourZeegroupfirms,Chandrahadactuallystepped down from Zeein 2018. FM,Jaishankar to contest LS polls EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE Bengaluru, February 26 UNION MINISTER PRALHAD JOSHI on Monday said that his Cabinet colleagues and RajyaSabhaMPsNirmalaSitharaman and S Jaishankar would contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, but the constituencies from where they would seek votes are yet to be decided. “More orless,it is certain that bothwill contest theupcomingLokSabhapolls.But fromwheretheywill contest,Karnataka or otherstates,isyettobedecided,”theUnion ministerof parliamentaryaffairs,coal and mines told reporters at Hubballi. There were rumours that one among finance ministerSitharaman and external affairs minister Jaishankar would contest fromaconstituencyinKarnataka’scoastal districts, and the other from one of the three constituencies in Bengaluru. Sitharaman was elected to the Rajya SabhafromKarnatakaforthesecondtimein 2022,andJaishankarfromGujaratin2019. On Mandya Independent MP The constituencies from where finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman (left) and external affairs minister S Jaishankar would seek votes are yet to be decided Sumalatha insisting that she would once again contest from the seat,Joshi said the national leaders of BJP will discuss and take a call on the same. Sumalatha,riding on a sympathywave followingheractor-turned-politicianhusband Ambareesh’s demise, won from Mandya in 2019. Though she is learnt to be inching towards the BJP, her candidature for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls has become complicated following the alliance between the BJP and the Janata Dal(Secular).JD(S)leadershavedemanded the Mandya seat for the party. Continued on Page 15 Sharma quits Paytm bank’s board FE BUREAU Mumbai, February 26 ONE97 COMMUNICATIONS FOUNDER and CEOVijayShekharSharma on Monday steppeddownfromtheboardofPaytmPaymentsBank,amovebeingseenaspromoters deciding to keep an arm’s length from the entity.Sharmaalsoresignedasitspart-time non-executive chairman. Followinghisresignation,One97Communicationswillnothaveanomineeon One97 Communications CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma the payments bank’s board. Sharma’sresignationcomesaheadofthe Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) March 15 deadline to the payments’ bank to close its keyoperations. Sharma is the founder and chief executive officer of One97 Communications, whichownsthePaytmbrand. Paytm Payments Bank is an associate of One97 Communications.Sharma owns a majority 51% stake inthebank,while One97 Com- municationsholdstherest. PaytmPaymentsBankhasalsoreconstituted its board of directors.The payments bank has appointed formerCentral Bank of India chairman Srinivasan Sridhar,retired IAS officer Debendranath Sarang, former Bank of Baroda executive director Ashok Kumar Garg, and retired IAS officer Rajni SekhriSibal,on its board. Additionally,thepaymentsbank’sboard comprises independent director Arvind KumarJainaswellasmanagingdirectorand chief executive officerSurinderChawla. Continued on Page 15 Continued on Page 15 Fintechs seek easier listing norms, low-cost finance FM asks regulators to address their concerns MEETING MINUTES FE BUREAU New Delhi, February 26 AMUCH-WATCHED meetingoffintechfirms with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman hereonMondayservedtoallayfearsofawider regulatory crackdown on them against the backdrop of the recent Reserve Bank of India (RBI) action on Paytm Payments Bank. At the meeting, the government is learnt to have agreed to consider the fintech community’s demand for greater access to lowcost funding for on-lending to the MSMEs and easier patenting. The firms asked for relaxation of the listing norms. Many of them with ownership traceable to India are listed abroad,and want to get listed here as well. The finance ministry, the department for promotion of industry and internal trade,and theRBIwould“lookatthechangeofownership ■ Top executives of fintech firms met finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman ■ Finance ministry, DPIIT, and RBI to ‘look at change of ownership holding/control of listed fintech firms’, says ministry ■ FM asks regulators to hold monthly meetings with startups and fintech firms ■ Also directs department of financial services to ensure simplification and digitisation of KYC norms for fintechs holding/control of listed fintech companies to enablethemtobein-syncwithregulatorycompliance”,the ministrysaid in a statement. Continued on Page 15 Developed world resorting to trade-distorting subsidies: Commerce secy Non-trade issues on agenda may unravel WTO, warns India MUKESH JAGOTA New Delhi, February 26 VIEWPOINTS INDIA ON MONDAY warned that the attemptsbythedevelopedworldtoinclude “non-trade issues” in the agenda of the WorldTradeOrganization (WTO) could lead to “fragmentation”ofthemultilateral trading system. In the second sessionontradeand inclusion at the world body’s 13th ministerial conference in Abu Dhabi, commercesecretary Sunil Barthwal said: “Bringing issues like gender and MSMEs in the realm of WTO discussionswasnotpracticalbecausethese issues were being discussed in other relevant international organisations already.” Hesaidinthenameofnon-tradeissues, gender and MSMEs in the realm ofWTO discussions not practical, says commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal ■ Bringing issues like ■ Development agenda to remain incomplete without permanent solution on pubic stock-holding for food security purposes, commerce minister Piyush Goyal said via video call ■ Barthwalwas speaking at theWTO’s 13th ministerial conference in Abu Dhabi several developed countries were already consideringadoptingtrade-distortivesubsidies and had erected non-trade barriers. Healsoexpressedconcernsaboutsuch“unilateralism”and its negative spillover effect on the trade interests of developing coun- tries. Barthwal highlighted the need for remaining“focused”(on easing trade). Continued on Page 15 ■ Abu Dhabi WTO meet: Key global trade issues, Explainer on Page 9 Kolkata