MARKETS, P10 COMPANIES, P4 INTERNATIONAL, P3 EASE NRI INVETSMENTS IN IFSC 30 WIDE-BODY PLANES ORDER RARE FOR A NON-FOUNDER TECH EXEC Sebi norms to deter market abuses like frontrunning at MFs IndiGo CEO Elbers hints at new class beyond economy Google CEO Pichai nears billionaire status powered by AI boom KOLKATA, WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL 33 NO. 154, 18 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 SENSEX: 74,482.78 ▼ 188.50 NIFTY: 22,604.85 ▼ 38.55 NIKKEI 225: 38,405.66 ▲ 470.90 HANG SENG: 17,763.03 ▲ 16.12 `/$: 83.44 ▲ 0.04 `/€: 89.50 ▲ 0.06 BRENT: $87.56 ▼ $0.84 GOLD: `71,529 ▼ `699 IN THE NEWS CORE SECTOR GROWTH SLOWS TO 5.2% IN MARCH THE CORE SECTOR growth eased to 5.2% in March from 7.1% in February on account of the statistical effect of a high base, reports Priyansh Verma. Sequentially, however, it rose 9.9% in March, at the highest rate in 12 months. ■ PAGE 2 INDIAN OIL PROFIT HALVES ON WEAKER REFINING MARGINS INDIAN OIL HAS reported a steep 49% fall in its consolidated net profit for the fourth quarter to `5,487.9 crore from `10,841.2 crore a year ago. On a sequential basis too, the profit declined 41%, reports Arunima Bharadwaj. ■ PAGE 5 MANIAN RESIGNS AS JOINT MD OF KOTAK BANK KVS MANIAN, JOINT MD of Kotak Mahindra Bank, has resigned from his role with immediate effect, ending his three-decade-long association with the lender, reports Sachin Kumar. This come at a time when the bank is facing RBI's ire for outages in digital banking services. ■ PAGE 10 INTER-MINISTERIAL CONSULTATIONS ON Easier visa rules likely for skilled Chinese workers Move crucial for new-age TALENT HUNT industries like renewable energy, EV, ACC battery PRASANTA SAHU & MUKESH JAGOTA New Delhi, April 30 THE CENTRE IS considering easing the strict visa regime for Chinese technicians as it’s seen crucial for sustaining the investment tempo in frontier industries like renewable energy,electricvehicles and advanced chemistrycells. Since the 2020 border stand-off,business ties with China have been downgraded. Investments and imports from China have been put under greater scrutiny since the onset of the pandemic, along with severe curbs on the issuance of visa. What is being considered now,according to officialsources,istograntmorevisasforskilled Chinese nationals, subject to conditions and being fully cognizant of national safety concerns.Inter-ministerialconsultationsaregoing on and new rules are likely to be put in place immediately after a new government assumes power, the sources said.“Some relaxations to bringinskilledChineseworkersarerequiredtill such capacity in new-age industries such as solarare built locally,”an official said. Domesticfirmshavingorlookingattie-ups with Chinese manufactures of assorted devices like solar modules have made a pitch `1.07 trn invested by companies so far under 14 PLI schemes, or about 40% of the `3 trn committed ■ Big lags in investments under PLI scheme in many sectors like solar PV modules, auto, ACC batteries and textiles ■ Domestic companies seek easing of visa curbs given Chinese workers' expertise in capital-intensive sectors ■ Domestic companies largely import modules, cells, wafers and solar glass from China foreasing of the current curbs onvisas forChinese workers, given that their expertise is neededforcapital-intensive machineryinstallation and maintenance. Continued on Page 14 Cross-border insolvency plan may be put on the backburner Question of reciprocity as no adoption yet by the EU, Asean, China PRIYANSH VERMA New Delhi, April 30 THEGOVERNMENTISrethinkingaplanto usher in the cross-border insolvency regime,assomesectionsfeelthatenforcement may be challenging in the current circumstances,multipleofficial sources told FE. “It’slikelythatthegovernmentmaynot introduce the cross-border insolvency norms anytime soon,” a senior official told FE ontheconditionofanonymity.Onereason fortherethinkislearnttobetherealisation thatmanyimportantcountrieswithwhich India has strong investment relations haven’t adopted the relevant convention. So,reciprocity,whichiscrucialforrolloutof the regime,maybe foundwanting. Thegovernmenthasdrawnupaplanto ON THE TABLE ■ Currently, the IBC has no instrument to restructure companies involving cross-border jurisdictions ■ The insolvency law aims to ensure Indian lenders have access to overseas assets of stressed firms ■ Creditors can get support of foreign jurisdictions to bring defaulters’ assets there under the ambit of insolvency resolution ■ In cases where assets are situated in non-adoptive countries, the cross-border norms may not prove to be effective introduce cross-border and group insolvency as part of the series of amendments to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to be pushed after the elections.Currently,theIBChasnoinstrumenttorestructure firms involving cross-border jurisdictions.Cross-border insolvency law aims to Only 60 countries have adopted the convention so far ■ Reciprocity by important nations — crucial for roll out of the regime — may be found wanting ensure Indian lenders have access to overseas assets of stressed companies,and can getsupportofforeignjurisdictionstobring defaulters’assets there under the ambit of insolvencyresolution. Continued on Page 14 PharmEasy raises $216 mn at steep 90% valuation cut Court order pushes troubled Go First closer to liquidation ONLINE PHARMACY RETAILER PharmEasy has raised $216 million in a round led by Ranjan Pai’s Manipal Education and Medical Group and existing investors, reports Ayanti Bera. But the funding round has dragged down its valuation by 90% to $710 million, from the peak valuation of $5.6 billion in 2021.PharEasy allotted 186.4 million convertible preference shares at an issue price of `96.8 each,according to its RoC filings sourced from TheKredible. ■ Page 4 THE RECENT RULING by the Delhi High Court allowed lessors of Go First to get their aircraft back. But what happenstothebeleagueredairline now? Banasree Purkayastha delves into what this means for Go First’s creditors and how it will impact the troubled airline’s ability to find buyers, making its revival quite difficult. ■ Page 9 EXPLAINER Kolkata