BRANDWAGON, P9 BACK PAGE, P16 INTERNATIONAL, P13 BUILDING GUARDRAILS THE BIG PICTURE 2020 REMATCH LOOMS Why taming influencers selling online gambling is proving difficult Google vs homegrown startups: Local app store still elusive Biden, Trump clash in duelling visits to swing state Georgia CHENNAI/KOCHI, MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XLIV 260, 16 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 RIL-DISNEY DEAL MAY NEED TWEAKS FOR CCI NOD THE PROPOSED MERGER of Reliance Industries' Viacom18 and Walt Disney's Star India may need to be modified for approval by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), reports Manu Kaushik. The combined entity may need to divest stakes in many TV channels, say experts. ■ PAGE 4 TWO ECs LIKELY TO BE APPOINTED BY MARCH 15 TWO ELECTION COMMISSIONERS are likely to be appointed by March 15 to fill the vacancies created by the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey and the surprise resignation of Arun Goel, sources said on Sunday, reports PTI. JIO, Vi OPPOSE 5G BAND ALLOCATION TO RAILWAYS AHEAD OF THE auctions in May, telecom operators, especially Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea, have opposed the government's decision to allocate additional 5 MHz spectrum worth over `19,000 crore to Indian Railways in the 700 MHz band, reports Jatin Grover. ■ PAGE 4 IIFL FINANCE FILES COMPLIANCE REPORTWITH RBI IIFL FINANCE HAS filed a compliance report with the Reserve Bank of India on Friday after making some key systemic changes in its operating processes, said sources close to the development, reports Piyush Shukla. The regulator on March 4 had barred the NBFC from offering gold loans due to norm violations. ■ PAGE 6 FE S P E C I A L ■ EXPLAINER, P6 Why have regulators turned the heat on JM Financial A look at the practices at JM Financial that prompted action by Sebi and RBI `1-trillion leg-up for deep tech Centre’s tech fund to offer capital support to encourage localistion TECH TONIC ■ Scheme aims cut reliance on imported technology PRASANTA SAHU New Delhi, March 10 THE CENTRE ISconsideringacomprehensive scheme to provide concessional capital support of `1 trillion to the private sector to encourage adoption of indigenous deep tech and cutting-edge technologies in defence, energy and electronics. The scheme, to be run for more than five years, may be operated by a state-run agency like National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) or National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF),a senior official told FE. Consultations are under way among the government departments concerned and scientificdepartmentsandinstitutions,theofficial added.“The idea is to encourage Indian technology in emerging areas, and cut reliance on imported technology.” Indian research institutions come upwith various technologies with their research and development (R&D). Some of these technologies may already be available abroad. Normally, Indian firms use tested foreign technology as they don’t explore untested local technology with the same enthusiasm, the official said. With the concessional window of financing,companies can adopt the Indian technology for product development with less risk, because theycould get long-term loans at low or nil rates of interest with a moratorium. ■ Indian India inks trade pact with four-nation bloc MUKESH JAGOTA New Delhi, March 10 INDIA ON SUNDAY signed a trade and economic partnership agreement (TEPA) with the European FreeTradeAssociation (EFTA), with includes a first-of-its-kind binding investment commitment of $100 billion from the four-nation bloc over 15 years. No major tariff reduction for goods by the European side are built into the pact, as these countries — Switzerland,Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein — already maintain very low tariffs. However, the agreement, according to a senior official, has a provision for are included in the pact,while a few“sensitive”items like dairy,soya,coal and certain agricultural products are excluded. The tariff reductions would be carried out in phases over manyyears.It will thus take anywhere between INSIDE seven and 10 years for Swiss watches and chocolates to be cheaper Services in India. For wines, trade, the concessions are sim- migration ilar to those given to to ease Australia. ■ PAGE 2 Among the fourEFTA members,Switzerland is India’s largest trading partner, and India runs a large trade deficit with it. The investment form the four rich European countries is seen as a precursor to a much larger deal with the European Union. INDIA’S TRADE WITH EFTA 1,039 16,376 Switzerland Norway Iceland 9.12 4.84 Liechtenstein 0.19 7.4 295 564 2023-24 (Apr-Dec, $ mn) Export Import Switzerland 9,946 Norway 721 ($ mn, since Apr 2000) Lichenstein 105.2 Iceland 29.26 FDI from EFTA countries in suspension of tariff concessions by India if the promised investments do not materialise. Most of the tariff lines from both sides Continued on Page 12 FMCG firms see price hikes in FY25 ■ Firms institutions come up with various technologies, which may already be available abroad EFTA to invest $100 bn in 15 yrs prefer tested foreign technology over untested local technology ■ Concessional financing window can encourage companies to adopt Indian technology with less risk “The government will promote indigenous technology to be adopted by the private sector in cutting-edge areas. These would be technologies of the future in energy,and electronics,among others,”the official added. Continued on Page 12 VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO Mumbai, March 10 FAST-MOVING CONSUMER GOODS (FMCG) companies may hike prices by 2-3% by the second half of 2024-25, led by volatile commodity prices, notably of food and crude oil,and wage inflation. Small, calibrated price hikes may also boost price-led growth, which has been flat to negative for most firms through FY24. “As we are in the process of preparing ourbudgets forFY25,we find that there is likely to be some amount of inflation in the next financial year. Some amount of price increases therefore will come back, to the tune of 2-3%. So, even as the emphasis is on volume growth within FMCG, small price hikes will be there,” Mohit Malhotra,chief executive officerat FMCG: PRICE vs VOLUME GROWTH (in %, U+R) 2022 NEWS NABFID OR NIIF MAY BE NODAL AGENCY Volume growth Price growth Oct-Dec -0.3 Apr-Jun 4.5 Jul-Sep Oct-Dec 0.4 -0.4 Value growth 7.6 7.9 3.1 Jan-Mar 2023 IN THE 10 6.9 7.5 12 8.6 6.4 9 6 U+R = urban + rural markets; Value growth = volume + price growth Ghaziabad-based Dabur India,said. Harsh Agarwal, vice-chairman & managing director at Kolkata-based Emami, said there could be price hikes of Source: NielsenIQ 1.5-3% nextyearin the personal care and healthcare categories. Continued on Page 12 Markets jittery over some Tata stocks Exuberance over IPO by Tata Sons may fade out GROUP RALLY Top gainers from Tata group (%) 31.2 Tata Chemicals RAJESH KURUP Mumbai, March 10 Auto. Corp. of Goa INVESTORSINSEVERALTatagroupstocksare keepingtheirfingerscrossed,followingreports thatTata Sons,the conglomerate’s investment holdingcompany,islookingatoptionstoavoid taking the initial public offer (IPO) route as mandated bythe Reserve Bank of India. TheRBIrulethatTataSonswouldhavetoget listed by September 2025 as it has been classified as an upper-layer NBFC,was known for a long time. But investors started buying Tata stocks,TataChemicalsinparticular,afterinvestmentbankerSparkCapitalreleasedareportlast MondayidentifyingTataChemicalsastheonly potentialplayintheIPO.TataChemicalsrallied 31%inthelastthreesessionsasitwasbelieved tobethebiggestbeneficiaryofthemegalisting. Spark had identified Tata Chemicals as the only realistic way to get exposure to the potential value unlocking of Tata Sons’stake. CalculationsbySparkshowTataChemicals’3%stake in Tata Sons is worth around `19,850 crore or 80% of the marketvalue of the company. 26.8 15.8 Tata Inv.Corpn. 9.9 Rallis India 8.5 Tata Power Tata Motors 5.3 Tata Technologies 5.0 Tata Consumer 4.9 Tata Motors-DVR 4.3 Tata Teleservices 3.8 *between March 4 and 7 INSIDE Edit: Don’t skirt IPO, Tata Sons PAGE 8 Six ‘upper layer’ NBFCs must list in the next year PAGE 6 Continued on Page 12 TREBLE FROM FY21 LEVEL OF `34,000 CR Realty bookings home in on `1 trn 3,430 4,387 1,604 7,583 Rustomjee Signature Global 1,602 1,692 Sunteck Realty 11,837 18,000 Prestige Estates Projects 2,332 2,825 Kolte Patil Developers 4,231 5,877 Sobha Total 73,661 1,03,473 12,065 13,710 FY23 FY24 (estimate) Macrotech Developers 12,232 18,728 Godrej Properties 15,058 22,363 DLF 5,163 3,015 Oberoi Realty Sales booking (in ` cr) 4,107 5,293 RESIDENTIAL SALES BOOKINGS of top listedrealestatecompaniesaresettocross `1trillionthisfiscal,morethanthreetimes the FY21 figure,as per analyst estimates. The top 11 listed developers clocked cumulative sales bookings of `71,766 crore in the first nine months of FY24, according to TruBoard Partners.They had postedbookingsof`34,010croreinFY21. “Ourinitialfindingsindicatethatlisted developers have surpassed their full-year FY23 sales bookings within the first three quarters of FY24. Historically, the last quarteraccounts for30-40% of total sales bookings,”said Sangram Baviskar, founding memberand managing director– real estate at TruBoard Partners. Many developers have revised their targets due the jump in the bookings. Leading the race is DLF, the country’s largest listed developer, with bookings of `13,315 crore till the December quarter. GOING NORTH Brigade Enterprises RAGHAVENDRA KAMATH MUMBAI, March 10 Source: TruBoard Partners Itisexpectingtoachieveatotalof`22,363 crore in FY24. DLF is followed by Godrej Properties with sales booking of `13,008 croreinthelastquarterandexpectedtohit `18,728 crore in FY24,as perTruBoard. DLFcrossed its FY24 booking target of `13,000 crore in the December quarter. Bengaluru-based Prestige Estates Pro- jects had initially given a guidance of achieving `16,000 crore worth of sales bookings in FY24. It is now confident of crossing the `20,000 crore mark for the year,saidIrfanRazack,chairmanandmanaging directorof Prestige Estates Projects. Continued on Page 12 CHENNAI/KOCHI