COMPANIES, P5 MARKETS, P6 BACK PAGE, P16 DEALWINS PROVIDE SUPPORT FOCUS ON QUALITY, SAYS HDFC BANK CEO THE BIG PICTURE Indian ITfirms navigate workforce cuts, US slump,AI opportunities ‘We will be happy to grow slow amid irrational competition’ The need to de-risk its model top challenge for Bandhan Bank KOLKATA, MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL 33 NO. 146, 16 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 A TA , 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 India’s first semiconductor N E W S Govt weighs stake fabrication unit chips in GOVT HOLDING IN FOUR ABOVE 90% IN THE E-2Ws CHALLENGE ENTRY-LEVEL BIKES WITH PRICE CUTS THE INDIAN SUMMER will be hotter for entry level motorcycles as electric two-wheeler makers are readying a price war through new derivatives that undercut some of the country’s best-selling petrol-powered bikes, reports Swaraj Baggonkar. ■ PAGE 4 APPLE MAY EMPLOY 500K PEOPLE IN INDIA IN 3 YEARS IPHONE MAKER APPLE through its vendors is expected to employ over 500,000 people in India over the next three years, according to government sources, reports PTI. AGRITECH STARTUPS RIDE OUT OF FUNDING WINTER EVEN AS FUNDING winter continues for many sectors, agritech startups are seeing a resurgence in terms of investor interest, growth and expansion, reports S Shanthi. ■ PAGE 5 EXPLAINER A gold rush in the time of geopolitical ■ PAGE 6 crises sale in some PSBs Move to adhere to Sebi’s 25% public holding rule PRASANTA SAHU New Delhi, April 21 THE CENTRE MAYdisinvest minoritystakes in a few public sector banks (PSBs) if they fail to comply with the minimum public shareholding (MPS) norm by raising fresh capital from the market in a year,official sources told FE. According to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) rules, a company is required to have an MPS of 25% within three years after listing. The government last set a deadline of August 2024 for five PSBs – Central Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of Maharashtra,UCO Bank and Punjab & Sind Bank – to meettheMPS norm.Thegovernment’sstakein four of these banks is more than 90%. “With their strong balance sheets and better marketvaluationnow,someofthePSBshavebeen askedtoworkouttheirequitycapitalraisingplans to meet MPS.Extension to meet MPS can’t be for anindefiniteperiodasitsendsawrongmessageto themarket,”aseniorofficialsaid. The government may once again extend the timeline for these banks by another year to meet MPS, sources said. If any of these banks don't need capital, the government could sell a minority stake in them at an appropriate time. Currently, the public holding in Punjab & Sind Bank is as low as 1.75%, Indian Overseas Bank at 3.62%, UCO Bank at 4.61%, Central Bank of India at 6.92% and Bank of Maharashtra at 13.54%. The government’s stake in Punjab & Sind Punjab & Sind Bank 3.62 PA RT- I Indian Overseas Bank Mar 10, 2000 1.75 Dec 30, 2010 4.61 UCO Bank Oct 9, 2003 6.92 Central Bank of India Aug 21, 2007 13.54 Bank of Maharashtra Feb 8, 2004 Bankisat98.25%,followedbyIndianOverseas Bank (96.38%), UCO Bank (95.39%) and Central Bank of India (93.08%). So, it seems difficult for them to dilute 18-23% stake through qualified institutional placements (QIPs) to meet MPS on their own in a year going by their track record. Continued on Page 14 MAKEOVER OF SCL PSBs WITH PUBLIC HOLDING BELOW 25% Current public shareholding (%) Date of listing THE JATIN GROVER Mohali, April 21 NEARLY35YEARS afteramysteriousfire destroyed its facilities at the 51-acre campus at Mohali in Punjab, Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL) is fighting back to extinguish old memories and earn its place in the sun.That’s courtesy a generous `10,000 crore modernisation plan drawn up by the ministry of electronics and IT (MeitY),which wants India’s original semiconductor fabrication unit to not only continue its operations in the 180 nanometer(nm) technologyfab,but upgrade to 28 nm. It’sanironythatSCLfirststartedmanufacturingin1984,threeyearsbeforeTaiwan’s Semiconductor Manufacturing REVIVAL PATH ■ SCL has not only provided first-level training to the professionals working on Micron's Sanand project, but is busy doing the same for other such projects ■ SCLstarted manufacturing in 1984, three years before global chip leader Taiwan’s Semiconductor Manufacturing Company set up shop ■ A mysterious fire and slow decision-making stopped SCL in its tracks as it took nearly a decade to resume operations in 1995 ASHWINI VAISHNAW, COMMUNICATIONS & IT MINISTER THE GOVERNMENT HAS A CLEAR VISION TO MODERNISE SCLTHAT WILL BE AT PAR WITH GLOBAL STANDARDS Company (TSMC), which eventually became a global chip leader, set up shop. But the fire and slow decision-making, typicalofagovernment-ownedcompany, stopped SCL in its tracks as it took nearly a decade to resume operations in 1995. Manoj Wadhwa, group head at VLSI (very large scale integration) and MEMS (micro-electromechanical system) fabri- cation at SCL, says the whole team went toAMS,Austria fortwoyears.“Wewere at 2 micron at that time. There we developed 1.2 micron, which we ported in 1995,”he adds. All that seems like a distant memory now. Continued on Page 4 ITC plans big to expand food delivery business FY24 direct tax receipts cross RE by `13,000 cr DIVERSIFIED CONGLOMERATE ITC has big plans for its food tech or food delivery business, which began threeyears agowith one cloud kitchen at ITC Windsor Hotel in Bengaluru, reports Viveat Susan Pinto. The business, which has received an "encouraging response" in Bengaluru, according to the company, has been expanded to Chennai,with plans to take it to more cities such as Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai in the future. Plans include adding more meal options and cuisines to its menu. ■ Page 4 THECENTRE’SDIRECTtaxcollections(afterrefunds) in2023-24cameinat`19.58trillion,exceedingthe revisedestimate(RE)by`13,000crore,reportsPrasanta Sahu.The collections were up 17.7% on year. Personalincometaxsurged25.23%to`10.44trillionwhilecorporate taxes grew10.26% to `9.11 trillion in theyear,with the gap between the two being `1.33 trillion.Conventionally,corporate taxes used to be the single largest tax revenue source for theCentre.Inrecentyears,GSTemergedasthelargesttaxhead. ■ Page 2 Kolkata