WELL BEING OPINION, P10 MIND & GAMES DON’T LET STRESS GET UNDER YOUR SKIN The declaration of intent A total solar eclipse The moon will drift far enough from the Earth so that it no longer fully obstructs the sun Page 11 The complex relationship between mind and skin health and how it can have various implications on your overall well-being Page 9 ACROSS THE AISLE, P CHIDAMBARAM WORDS WORTH Follow us on Twitter & Facebook. App available on App Store & Play Store WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM VOL.NO.XIII SL.NO.69 NOTED! FINANCIAL EXPRESS ON SUNDAY CHENNAI/KOCHI SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 2024, 12 Pages, `12 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 , WHAT'S INSIDE C H A N D I G A R H , City in crisis ■ LEISURE, P5 ‘The key is to balance hi-tech with high-touch’ Interview with Anuraag Bhatnagar, CEO of The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts MARUTI SUZUKI, HYUNDAI Motor India and Mahindra & Mahindra rank among the automakerswhosebrandshave crossed the million-unit production mark. Maruti ranks at the top with 10 of its models having crossed the milestone, followed byHyundaiwith five. Mahindra has one model— Scorpio—featuring in the list. Honda Cars India is about to enter the list with its Honda City model, where the production currently stands at 980,000 units. In the case of Maruti, the company has also achieved a cumulative production target of 30 million cars in 40 years. At the top is the Alto— launched in 2000—which has cumulatively done 5.059 million units, followed by the Swift at 3.193 million units (it was launched in 2005). At the third position is the Wagon R, at 3.184 million units (launched in 1999), followed by the now-discontinued K O C H I , GLASS HALF-FULL OR HALF-EMPTY? ■ Ministry contends 'health drink' not defined under the country's laws ■ So e-tailers to remove all beverages from health drinks category E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS AMAZON, Flipkart, BigBasket, etc, will have to remove all drinks and beverages like Bournvita, Horlicks, Protinex, etc,fromthecategoryofhealth drinks following a commerce ministry advisory. The ministry, on April 10, directed the platforms to do so, saying there is no such thing as‘health drink’defined under the country’s food and safety standards laws.Accordingly, the government has asked all e-commerce companies to remove all such drinks and beverages from the health drinks category on their portals. “National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR),a statutorybodyconstituted under Section (3) of the Commission of Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act 2005, after its inquiry under Maruti,Hyundai,M&M cars cross million-unit mark VIKRAM CHAUDHARY New Delhi, April 13 H Y D E R A B A D , K O L K A T A , L U C K N O W , Drinks, beverage brands to lose health tag in e-retail AKANKSHA NAGAR New Delhi, April 13 Metros are bursting at the seams with rapid & haphazard expansion. As the fight for resources like water, power and space escalates, what are the solutions, or is this the new, accepted reality? READ TO LEAD NOTHING CALLED ‘HEALTH DRINKS', SAYS COMMERCE MINISTRY ● Analysts see no impact on brands such as Bournvita ■ SPOTLIGHT, P6-7 C H E N N A I , A central bank governor’s inspiring reminiscences on his journey and choices Page 4 Alto hatchback—its sales MILESTONE dropped 21.77% incalendaryear IN MOTION 2023—it will ■ Maruti at top remain at the with 10 models top as far as in list, followed cumulative nuMahindra & by Hyundai with mbers are concerned. Mahindra five models and “The difference between Scorpio M&M with one theAltoandthesecondhighest car is almost 2 Hyundai i10, Grand i10, million units,” an analyst said. “Even if the Santro, i20, sales of Alto reduce to a Creta trickle,itmightbeacouple of decades before anothermodelovertakes it. That’s too far into the future,and possibly Alto will go down in history as India’s largest selling car,ever.” At the fifth position is the Dzire compact sedan (launched in Maruti 2008,and has done 2.861 milAlto, Swift,Wagon R, lionunits),andatthesixthrank Maruti 800 (discontinued), is the now-discontinued Omni Dzire, Omni van(1984-2019,anddid2.022 (discontinued), Baleno, millionunits).Interestingly,the Eeco, Brezza, Ertiga Omni was called Maruti Van from 1984-88 before it was named Omni in 1988. Maruti 800 at 2.917 million At the seventh position is units—its production run was Baleno (launched in 2015) from 1983-2014. with 1.953 million units. Auto analysts said that despite the falling sales of the Continued on Page 2 ■ These include dairy-based, cereal-based and malt-based beverages Analysts say consumers look for product, not category, so sales not to be affected ■ Section 14 of CRPC Act 2005, concluded that there is no healthdrinkdefinedunderFSS Act 2006, rules and regulations submitted by FSSAI and Mondelez India Food,” the commerce and industry ministry’s advisory to all e-commerce companies,said. Analystssaymanufacturers of these brands will not get impacted, as they do not label theirproductsasahealthproduct in their packaging, but in case they have advertisement inventories showing their products as ‘healthy’ and ‘nutritional’, then they will have to withdraw them. However, since directions by the food safety standards regulator, Food Safety and FMCG sector worst performer in 2024YTD Intheyear-to-date(YTD)performanceof2024,the FMCGsectorexperiencedadeclineof5.54%, makingitoneoftheworstperformers.Conversely, theBSESensexrecordedagainof2.77%overthe sameperiod.Sectorssuchasoilandgas,energy, realty,powerandutilitiesperformedstrongly,with gainsexceeding20%.NotablelosersintheFMCG sectorincludedEmami,HUL,PatanjaliFoods, HatsunAgroandBritanniaIndustries. Compiled by Kishor Kadam Sensex Vs FMCG Index 104 102 100 98 96 94 92 Relative performance Base: December 29, 2023 = 100 102.77 94.46 Sensex BSE FMCG B S E F MCG Index Dec 29, 2023 Apr 12, 2024 Top losers from FMCG index in 2024YTD (in %) -19.7 -16.2 -14.6 -12.3 -11.0 -10.1 -9.9 -9.3 -7.7 -7.0 Emami HUL Patanjali Foods Hatsun Agro Products Britannia Inds Dabur India Honasa Consumer Jyothy Labs Procter & Gamble ITC Companies above `10,000 crore market cap considered Source: Bloomberg Standards Authority of India (FSSAI),alreadyexistforbranding and advertising, it is unlikelytherewould be any substantial inventory. Inthecaseofmarketplace platforms like Flipkart and Amazon,since theydo not hold inventories, it is the sellers on these platforms who will need to make the change in the category.This may take some time as it will need a change in technology solutions. Sellers will need to login into their accounts through which they listtheirproductsontheseplatforms,and make the change. However, Indian e-commerce platforms like BigBasket,which is an inventory-led firm, will need to implement the measure faster as the onus of making the change will fall on them. As on Saturday, all e-commerce platforms were still categorising these products as health and nutritional drinks. Company executives at both the manufacturers’ end and ecommerce firms said they don’tseeanyimpactintermsof salesoftheseproductsbecause of a change in the category. Continued on Page 2 M U M B A I , N E W D E L H I , P U N E Idling gas-based power plants told to operate ● Union power ministry invokes emergency clause ARUNIMA BHARADWAJ New Delhi, April 13 THE GOVERNMENT ON Saturday invoked an emergency provision to make it mandatoryforidlinggas-basedpower stations to operate for two months starting May1,as part of a series of steps being taken to avoid power outages during the summer months. This would mean that gasbased units with combined capacity of 25 gigawatt would be functional during MayJune.These units are grappling with high costs,and the operations could result in losses. A powerministrystatementwas silent onwhethertariff adjustments would be made for the units to avoid losses. Earlier,the power ministry had issued a similar fiat to imported coal based plants, asking them run at full capacity till October 15. The weather department has warned of more-than-usual OFFSETTING OUTAGES ■ Gas-based unitswith combined capacity of 25functional GW to be during May-June ■ Earlier, power ministry issued similar fiat to imported coal-based plants to run at full capacity till Oct 15 ■ Peak demand expected to reach a record 250 GW in summer months instances of heat weaves and above-normal maximum temperature during the current summer. Continued on Page 2 CBI files FIR against Megha Engg in alleged bribery case PRESS TRUST OF INDIA New Delhi, April 13 THE CBI HAS registered an FIR against Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure, which was the second-biggest buyer of electoral bonds worth `966 crore, in an alleged bribery case. Eight officialsof the NMDC Iron and Steel Plant (NISP) and NMDC and two officials of MECON were also named in the FIR for receiving alleged bribe of around `78 lakh in clearing bills of `174 crore of MeghaEngineeringinconnection with works related to Jagdalpur integrated steel plant, officials said on Saturday. Megha Engineering had emergedas thesecond-biggest IN TROUBLE ■ The Hyderabad-based company was the second-biggest buyer ofelectoral bondsworth `966 cr buyer of electoral bonds and donatedthehighestamountof about `586 crore to the BJP,as per data released by the ElectionCommissiononMarch21. The company also donated `195croretoBRS,`85croreto DMK, and `37 crore to YSRCP. ■ It also donated highest amount (about `586 cr) to BJP, as per EC data The TDP got about `25 crore from the company, while the Congressgot`17crore.TheJDS,Jana Sena Partyand the JD-U gotsmallersumsrangingfrom `5 crore to `10 crore. Continued on Page 2 OFFICIAL: DISCUSSION PAPER ON CROSS-BORDER INSOLVENCY SOON INDIA IN TOUCH WITH IRAN TO SECURE RELEASE OF 17 SAILORS ON SEIZED SHIP THE GOVERNMENT is trying to develop a framework on crossborder insolvency with a “cautious approach”, and is simultaneously working on the groupinsolvency framework as well, said Sudhaker Shukla, member, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) on Saturday, reports Priyansh Verma. ■ PAGE 3 INDIA IS in touch with Iran to secure the release of 17 Indians on board an Israeli-linked cargo ship that was seized by the Iranian military near the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday amid increasing fears of an Iranian attack on Israel. Sources said India has taken up the matter with Iranian authorities through diplomatic channels. ■ PAGE 12 With chutney, mango and kokum, beer brands brewing desi flavours KUNAL DOLEY New Delhi, April 13 BEER BRANDS ARE increas- ingly experimenting with unique, local ingredients to give a flavourful twist to the alcoholic beverage. Recently, homegrown craft beer company Bira 91 launched ChutneySour,alimited-releasebeer inspired by the flavours of Indian street food and brewed with tamarind, a key ingredient in chutneys. For the new beer variant, Bira 91 collaborated with USbased craft brewer New Belgium Brewing.“We couldn’t be more excited to collaborate with New Belgium Brewing. Colorado is at the centre of beer innovation in the world, and New Belgium is the most well-respected beer company in the United States,” said Ankur Jain, founder and CEO, Bira 91.“India is known for its exciting culinary flavours,and we’re excited to partner with Bira 91 on a beer that brings these flavours to life,”said New Belgium CEO Shaun Belongie. This is not the first time Bira 91 has released beerswith an Indian spin. In 2022, the company came out with four newflavours—‘Bollywood IPA’, ‘Kokum Sour’,‘Brown Ale’, and ‘Mango Lassi’.Launchedunder the‘Imagined in India’portfolio, the idea behind the new TASTE OF INDIA ■ Simba has Bira 91 recently launched Chutney Sour, a limited-release beer brewed with tamarind flavourswas to“bring together the manyflavours of India and its creative energy fuelled by emerging artists, entrepreneurs, and start-ups”, Jain had handcrafted variants like Simba Wit with hints of orange peel, coriander and lemongrass and Simba Stout with rich espresso, caramel and dark chocolate said during the launch event then.“Each beeris brewedwith unusual ingredients—local and seasonal—which make them unique and bursting with flavour. Each of these flavours is sure to elevate the beerexperience of Indian consumers,”he had said. Besides these, Bira 91 has ■ Earlier, Bira 91 came out with four flavours — Bollywood IPA, Kokum Sour, Brown Ale, and Mango Lassi ■ Kati Patang has Saffron Lager, Snappy Wheat, Zesty Amber and Bareilly Bold in its beer portfolio several other flavourful beers in its lineup, including the Malabar Stout, which is blended with locally sourced coffee from the Malabar hills, and the White wheat ale flavoured with orange peels fromLatinAmerica andIndian corianderseeds,givingita hint of sweetness, tart citrus flavours and a spicy finish. Similarly, Kati Patang, another Indian craft beverage brand,now has a beer portfolio comprising four brews—‘Saffron Lager’, ‘Snappy Wheat’, ‘ZestyAmber’and‘BareillyBold’. Kati Patang’s beers celebrate the many flavours that find inspiration in the country’s culinary roots. The Snappy Wheat beer, for instance, has organic Indian spices like peppercorn and coriander blending with ginger and turmeric to deliver an arresting punch. Bareilly Bold brings alive earthynotes of the spring flower,palash. Simba,an Indian craft beer brand, has also been making headlines with its delicious handcrafted variants since its launch in 2016. While its Simba Wit beer has a hint of orange peel, coriander and lemongrass, the Simba Stout boasts of bold, roasty flavours of rich espresso, caramel/ toffee and dark chocolate. The unique flavours come at a time when the Indian beer market has witnessed significantgrowthinrecentyearsand ispoisedforfurtherexpansion. Continued on Page 2 CHENNAI/KOCHI