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APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL 33 NO. 139, 12 PAGES, `12.00 (NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN `13.00) 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: 74,244.90 ▼ 793.25 NIFTY: 22,519.40 ▼ 234.40 NIKKEI 225: 39,523.55 ▲ 80.92 HANG SENG: 16,721.69 ▼ 373.34 `/$: 83.42 ▼ 0.23 `/€: 88.93 ▲ 1.44 BRENT: $91.92 ▲ $2.18 GOLD: `72,931 ▲ `1,395 1.1 This won’t be applicable in organisations with exempted PF trusts ■ PERSONAL FINANCE, P8 Vodafone Idea 0.23% `3,260 crore for expanding capacity of 40,750 4G sites Apr 12 (close) 12.96 `2,175 crore to pay deferred spectrum dues to DoT Gross debt as of Dec-end: `2.15 trn April22,VodafoneIdea,which is the country’s third-largest telecom service provider,said in a stock exchange filing. This will be the country’s largest FPO, surpassing the `15,000-crore share sale byYes Bank in 2020. The fundraising comes close on the heels of a `2,075-crore capitalinfusion by promoter Aditya Birla Group via a preferential share issue lastweekend.Itwill help the company shore up its position in the domestic telecom market, where peers Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are miles ahead. The funds would also help the company arrest its subscriber churn owing to isweak 4G coverage,which is not available on a pan-India basis. Continued on Page 5 Inflation at 10-month low, IIP rises 5.7% THIS HAS BEEN A QUARTER OF STRONG DEALWINS AND EXECUTION FOR US HELPED BYA high base and falling prices of items other than food and fuel, retail inflation came in at a 10-month low of 4.85% in March, and factory output grew to a 4-month high of 5.7% in February, official data showed on Friday, reports Priyansh Verma. However, prices of cereals, vegetables (mainly potato), milk and meat rose on month, giving credence to the Reserve Bank of India's view that inflation trajectory would be guided by food prices. ■ Page 2 Headcount falls for first time in two decades FOR THE FIRST time in nearly two decades, TataConsultancyServices(TCS)sawayear-onyear decline in its total headcount during FY24, reports Padmini Dhruvaraj. The IT firm’s workforce numbers have consistently declined in the the last three quarters.As of March 31, the headcount stood at 601,546, a decrease of 13,249 employees compared to FY23.Thisisincontrastwiththepreviousyear, which saw an increase of 22,600 employees, and even more pronounced compared to the net 103,000 employees in FY22. ■ Page 4 IIP growth (% change, y-o-y) 4.6 5.7 Apr ‘23 May 12 10 8 6 CPI CPI core CPI food Jun (% change, y-o-y) 8.52 4.7 5.2 6.2 Jul 10.9 6.4 Aug 11.9 Oct 4. 4.85 Nov 4 2 4.0 Sep 2.5 Dec 4.2 3.3 3.3 Jan ’24 4.1 March 2024 Feb 3.84 84 April 2023 Source: Mospi 5.7 Markets feel the jitters on FII selling SBI knocks on RBI door,seeks cap on NBFC lender base 74,244.9 22,753.80 JSW Steel Close Titan & co Open Power Grid 1.06% Maruti Suzuki Intra-day, April 12 (% loss) Sun Pharma 74,889.64 Top Sensex losers (% loss) Services Apr 10, close Top sectoral losers Intra-day, April 12 the indices ended flat for the week,erasingall the gains seen during the week. Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said the rise in bond yields due to hotter-thanexpected US inflation data and amendment to the India-Mauritius tax treaty dampened sentiments. Theyield on the benchmark 10year US bonds rose to a five-month -2.22 -2.40 Close -2.57 1.03% 22,519.4 -3.17 22,677.4 Nifty Open - Apr 10, close -1.05 BENCHMARK INDICES HAD their worst day in nearly a month on Friday,afterhittingfreshlifetimehighs in the previous two sessions,as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net sellers in the market. What seemed to have spooked them is the uncertainty over the rate cut bythe Federal Reserve after the latest inflation data, and the removal of tax relief for Mauritiusbased foreign portfolio investors. FIIs net sold shares of `8,027 crore, while domestic institutional investors were net buyers of shares worth `6,341.53 crore, according to provisional data. The Nifty 50 and Sensex fell around 1% each to close at 22,519.40 points and 74,244.90 points, respectively. Consequently, FRIDAY FREEFALL 75,038.15 Sensex FMCG VIVEK KUMAR M Mumbai, April 12 highof4.5%afterdatashowedthat US annualised CPI was 3.5% for March.The monthly CPI was 0.4% vis-à-vis estimates of 0.3%. Continued on Page 5 Ashneer begins second innings in fintech ONE CAN’T KEEP Ashneer Grover away from fintech for too long.So it seems,goingbythefamous—orcontroversial — entrepreneur’s latest endeavour. Grover, the former cofounder and managing director of BharatPe,a firmwithwhich he had a bitter separation in 2022,is launching ZeroPe,an app formedical loans. The app is still in testing mode andasperitsGooglePlaystorelisting hasbeendevelopedbyThirdUnicorn, the tech startup co-founded by Grover last year. Third Unicorn launchedafantasygamingplatform called CrickPe in 2023. ZeroPe will offer instant preapproved loans of up to `5 lakh for to be used for 5G launch of proceeds to be use to buy equipment to set up 26,000 new 4G sites THIRD UNICORN TO LAUNCH MEDICAL LOAN APP, ZEROPE AJAY RAMANATHAN Mumbai, April 12 `5,720 crore `3,770 crore -4.01 PF balance transfers go automatic 18.3 20.3 -1.10 ■ MOTOBAHN, P7 Net profit margin (%) Healthcare G-Wagen (Geländewagen, German for SUV) isn’t your regular Mercedes-Benz. 12.4 26.0 K KRITHIVASAN, TCS MD & CEO Continued on Page 5 Mercedes-Benz G-Class: AWagen hitches to a Star 12.1 23.4 -1.23 FE S P E C I A L S Operating profit margin (%) Apr 10 (close) 12.93 VODAFONE IDEA,WHICHhasbeenstruggling tostayafloat,onFridaysaiditplansto raise up to `18,000 crore through a share sale in the country’s INSIDE biggestfollow-onpublic offer(FPO). FPO may The company’s keep stock price muted shares will be issued, under the FPO, in a ■ PAGE 8 price band of `10-11 apieceagainstFriday’s closing price of `12.96 on the BSE. The higher end of the price band of `11 is at a discount of 26%comparedto the recently approved preferential issue price to the promoter entity at `14.87. The share salewill open onApril 18 (for anchor investors onApril 16) and close on -1.28 DOMESTIC AIR PASSENGER traffic in FY24 beat the pre-pandemic levels to surge to an estimated 154 million, reports Swaraj Baggonkar. ■ PAGE 4 Q4FY24 WHAT’S AT STAKE JATIN GROVER New Delhi, April 12 Consumer durables Oil and gas AIR PASSENGER TRAFFIC SURGES TO ALL-TIME HIGH Q4FY23 Will spend `5,700 cr to launch 5G services - STATE-OWNED AIESL'S aircraft technicians' union on Friday withdrew its call for a strike on April 23 after reaching a settlement on their grievances, including on salary revision and promotion, reports PTI. (` cr) q-o-q chg (%) Voda Idea fixes `10-11 price band for `18,000-crore FPO -1.39 AIESL’S AIRCRAFT TECHNICIANS CALL OFF APRIL 23 STRIKE TCS consolidated financials WITH INCREASED DEAL wins across industries and geographies, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Friday posted a 12.4% sequential rise in its consolidated net profit at `12,434 crore during the January-March quarter,beating Street estimates. Revenue from operations during the period rose 1.1% to `61,237 crore,whichwas a tad below expectations. Ebitda at `17,164 crore was above estimates, while operating margins expanded to 26% from 23.4% posted in the preceding quarter. The company’s board also proposed a final dividend of `28 per share. “Thishasbeenaquarterofstrongdealwins and execution for us.Our continued focus on operational excellence helped us achieve an operating margin of 26%, representing a sequential expansion of 98 basis points over Q3,” TCS MD & CEO K Krithivasan said. The new growth markets of India, Asia Pacific, West Asia,Africa and Latin America had very strong growth “validating our approach of portfolio diversification,and especially India revenue from grew by 37.9% y-o-y”,he said. Geography-wise, the UK region grew by 6.2%, while North America fell by 2.3% and Europe was down 2%.“This reflects the overall uncertaintyin majormarkets,”Krithivasan said.Among theverticalsmanufacturing continued to post strong growth at 9.7% and energy resources and utilities grew by 7.3%. TCS’dealwins in the quarterwere at an alltimehigh,withanorderbookclosureof$13.2 billion, a year-on-year growth of 32%. The firm’s order book for the year was also at a record high of $42.7 billion. TCS COO N Ganapathy Subramaniam would be retiring in May,after40years of servicewith the company.TCS does not have any plan to appoint a COO, as now the responsibility is being shared by the leadership team. Subramaniam said the $13.2 billion deal wins came from across markets and industry, and was broad-based. 11,058 12,434 MITSUBISHI UFJ FINANCIAL Group is in talks to acquire a roughly $1.7 billion stake in HDFC Bank’s consumer lending unit, reports Bloomberg. ■ PAGE 8 STRONG SHOW Net profit JAPAN’S MUFG MAY BUY $1.7-BILLION STAKE IN HDFC ARM RAJESH KURUP Mumbai, April 12 14,197 15,918 INDIA'S ECONOMY WILL likely grow 6.1% in 2024, lower than 7.7% in 2023, Moody's Analytics projected on Friday. It said inflation outlook remained more uncertain. ■ PAGE 2 TCS beats Street estimates, profit up 12.4% in Q4 Operating profit 2024 GDP GROWTH MAY SLOWTO 6.1%: MOODY'S ANALYTICS 60,583 61,237 NEWS DEAL WINS AT ALL-TIME HIGH OF $13 BN Revenue IN THE FRESH FORAY ■ Instant pre-approved loans of up to `5 lakh ■ ZeroPe has tied up with Mukut Finvest as its lending partner for medical expenses ■ Customers will have to choose from a list of partner hospitals ■ App developed by Third Unicorn, founded by Ashneer Grover, wife Madhuri Jain Grover, and Aseem Ghavri ■ Third Unicorn had launched fantasy gaming platform CrickPe last year medical expenses. For this, it has partnered with Delhi-based nonbanking financial company Mukut Finvest.According to ZeroPe’s website, the loans can only be availed at partnerhospitals. Third Unicorn, which Grover launched jointly with wife Madhuri JainGroverandentrepreneurAseem Ghavri,says it wants to“usher a new eraforIndianstartupswhicharelean, capital efficient, have positive unit economicsand trulytech driven.” AtthetimeofCrickPe’slaunchlast year, Grover had said Third Unicorn wouldbesolvingfundamentalproblems, not incremental ones, and would be a multi-product startup.It raised$3.5millioninaseedroundled by ZNL Growth Fund along with the participation of Vevek Ventures Investments andRishaayu. The medical loan market is already crowded,with a host of startupsofferinginstantfinancingsolutionsforbillsandotherelectivetreatments. India’s digital healthcare marketcouldgenerate$37billionin revenue by 2030, a joint report by consulting firm Boston Consulting GroupandSingapore-basedventure capitalfirmBCapitalhassaid.Ofthis, healthcare financing alone is estimated to reach $5 billion. Observers, however, expect Grovertodisruptthenascentmarket if his track record is anyindication. Continued on Page 5 PIYUSH SHUKLA Mumbai, April 12 LENDING LIMITS STATE BANK OF India (SBI) has approached the Reserve Bank of India (RBI),requesting it to set a cap on the universe of lenders to nonbanking financial companies (NBFCs). Currently, many NBFCs simultaneously borrow from over 50-60 lenders. SBI believes the large number of lenders makes it harder to monitor NBFCs’loanbooks.“AlmostallNBFCs today have a large number of banks as theirlenders.In some cases,it can beupwardsof50-60intheirliability mixandthatcrimpsourabilitytodo due diligence,” a senior SBI official said. SBI did not respond to queries sent byFE till going to the press. The official said there are multiple banks who are lenders to a single NBFC,but theyseldom communicateorholdmeetingstogaugethe performance of the borrower. The worries also stem from the fact that though NBFCs’ non-performing assets (NPA) have come down substantially,they are still on thehigherside.Thatis,thegrossNPA ratio of NBFCs has declined from a high of 7.2% in December 2021 to 4.6%inSeptember2023,according to the RBI’s December 2023 financial stability report. Then, there are unlisted NBFCs, whosedataarenotavailableonaregular basis.“So if there is any stress buildingup,itwillbedifficultforanyonetoknow,”anothersourcesaid.He said cases like those involving Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) and erstwhile Dewan Housing Finance Corp (DHFL) have clearlyshowntherecouldbeaconta- simultaneously borrow from 50-60 lenders ■ Many NBFCs ■ SBI believes large lender base dilutes ability to monitor NBFCs’ loan books ■ It has proposed a consortium of lenders to make common lending decisions for large-sized NBFCs ■ Also suggested building mechanism to monitor performance of all NBFCs gion effect if theygo down. SBI has proposed that a consortium of lenders be formed to take common lending decisions for at least large-sized NBFCs. Further, a mechanismneedstobebuilttomonitorthe performance of all NBFCs. Last October, SIDBI did try to bring all small NBFCs on its growth acceleratorprogrammetobeeligible for bank funding, but the platform has not picked up. Proponentsargueajointplatform willonlypickupwhenallmajorbanks participate or the banking regulator puts its weight behind it.While the apex bank seems to be seized of the situation and has increased the risk weights of bank loans to NBFCs, manybelieve more can be done. Kolkata