COMPANIES, P4 VERDICT 2024, P6 INTERNATIONAL, P3 REVISED PAYMENT PLAN WITH TELCO IN THE RUN UP TO ELECTIONS ATTEMPT TO BUILD A LEANER TEAM: EXPERTS Indus Towers expects better cash flow with Vi clearing past dues Congress should guarantee it won’t give reservation based on religion: Modi Musk disbands Tesla EV charging team, leaving customers in the dark LUCKNOW, THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL 17 NO. 126, 28 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 *SENSEX: 74,482.78 ▼ 188.50 *NIFTY: 22,604.85 ▼ 38.55 NIKKEI 225: 38,274.05 ▼ 131.61 HANG SENG: 17,763.03 ▲ 16.12 *`/$: 83.44 ▲ 0.04 *`/€: 89.50 ▲ 0.06 BRENT: $83.81 ▼ $2.52 *GOLD: `71,529 ▼ `699 *Prv close IN THE NEWS RUSSIAN CRUDE FLOWS AT 9-MONTH HIGH IN APRIL CRUDE OIL IMPORTS from Russia rose to a 9-month high in April despite the US sanctions on some of the Russian vessels and shipping companies not adhering to the G7 price cap of $60 per barrel on its seaborne crude delivery, reports Arunima Bharadwaj. ■ PAGE 2 JINDAL STAINLESS TO INVEST `5,400 CR TO EXPAND CAPACITY JINDAL STAINLESS WILL invest `5,400 crore over the next two years for capacity expansion and acquisition to fuel growth, MD Abhyuday Jindal said on Wednesday, reports PTI. Around 90% of the investments will be made through internal accruals, Jindal said. ■ PAGE 4 PRIVATE BANKS’ NIMs STAY UNDER STRESS IN Q4 IMPACTED BY RISING cost of funds amid tight liquidity, private banks’ net interest margins remained under pressure during Q4, reports Sachin Kumar. HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC Bank and RBL Bank have reported 5 to 50 basis points y-o-y fall in NIM. ■ PAGE 10 BIG 5 AUDIT FIRMS PROTEST, ACCUSE ICAI OF ‘BIAS’ AWEEK AFTER the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India's action against SR Batliboi & Co and its network firms, large audit firms have accused it for being “biased towards the mid-, small-sized audit firms and individual auditors”, reports Manu Kaushik. ■ PAGE 2 OPPO FILES INSOLVENCY PLEA AGAINST BYJU'S OPPO HAS filed a petition in the NCLT, seeking initiation of insolvency proceedings against Byju's, reports Anees Hussain. The petition was accepted by the tribunal on Wednesday. Byju's has been granted two weeks to respond. The next hearing for the case is listed on May 28. FE S P E C I A L S ‘Defensive AI will keep firms a step ahead of threat actors’ Interview with Vaibhav Tare, chief information security officer, Fulcrum Digital GST collections top `2 trn PRIYANSH VERMA New Delhi, May 1 INDIA’S GROSS GOODS and servicestax(GST)collectionsrose12.4% on year to hit a record high of `2.1 trillioninApril,duetoavarietyoffactors, including streamlining of accountsbybusinessesforFY24,electoralexpensesbypoliticalpartiesand amodestrecoveryinruralconsumption.Previously,thehighest-everGST collection figure stood at `1.87 lakh crore inApril 2023. According to data released bythe financeministryonWednesday,GST collections during April (mostly for Marchtransactions)weredrivenbya stronger increase in domestic sales (up 13.4%) than imports (up 8.3%). Thistoocementsthenotionthatconsumption,which has remained subdued and skewed towards premium articles,maynowhave a tendencyto be more broad-based.But this,economists say,would still need to be borneoutbyotherhigh-frequencydata. 1.65 1.68 Nov 2023 After accounting for refunds,the net GST revenue for April stood at `1.92 trillion,up 15.5% onyear. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman posted on X: “GST collection crosses `2 trillion, thanks to the strong momentum in the economy and efficienttax collections.” TRANSACTIONS ONTHE unified payments interface (UPI) platform rose 50% in terms of volume and 40% in terms of value year-onyear in April, reports fe Bureau. However, on a sequential basis, transactions fell 0.7% in volume terms and 1% in value terms. UPI transactions stood at 13.3 billion in April, lower than the 13.4 billion in March.Transaction value was `19.6 trillion inApril,lower than the `19.8 trillion in March. ■ PAGE 5 Dec Experts say that while some part oftheincreasedcollectionsareattributable to the financial year end upswing,itisalsoreflectiveofthesignificant improvements in GST compliancebybusinesses. “The relentless focus on GST audits by both central and state GST 1.74 Jan 2024 1.68 Feb 2.1 1.78 RAJESH KURUP Mumbai, May 1 Mar Apr authoritiestogetherwiththeperiodic drivestostampoutevasionhasledto a large increase in the GST compliance focus of business across the country,” said MS Mani, partner, Deloitte India. Continued on Page 5 With around 2% rise, PV sales start new fiscal on a flat note DOMESTIC PASSENGER VEHICLE sales started on a flat note in the first month of the new fiscal, reports Rohit Vaid. At an estimated 338,341 units,the growth was just 1.76% up compared to the same month last year. While Maruti Suzuki’s sales were flat at 137,952 units, Hyundai Motor also saw domestic sales grow by a mere 1% at 50,201 units.Tata Motors reported a 2% increase in the domestic PV sales,including electric vehicles,at 47,883 units. ■ PAGE 4 Godrej & Boyce land has `3-trn sales potential RAGHAVENDRA KAMATH Mumbai, May 1 THE LAND HOLDINGS owned by Godrej&BoyceManufacturingCompany, part of Jamshyd Godrej-controlled Godrej Enterprises Group (GEG),inVikhroliareaofMumbaican generate sales of over `3 trillion if it goes for residential property development in the area. Residential properties are selling at upwards of `30,000 per sq ft in Godrej'sprojectsinthevicinity.About 100 million sq ft of real estate could be developed on the land owned by Godrej & Boyce, according to estimates of industryexperts. Of the 3,400 acres owned by Godrej & Boyce in Vikhroli, about 1,000 acres can be developed while 1,750 acres has mangroves and cannotbedevelopedbecauseofenvironmental concerns. The balance 300 acres has been encroachedupon. Oneacrecostsbetween`70crore and `80 crore inVikhroli.Hence,the landvalueoftheGodrej&Boyceland parcel comes to `80,000crore. The land parcel was acquired by theGodrejfamilyinearly1940sfrom the Bombay High Court receiver. It wasoriginallygivenbytheEastIndia CompanytoaParsimerchant,Framjee Banaji,in the 1830s and came up forsale in 1941-42. On Tuesday, the Godrej family announced the family settlement agreementbetweenfamilymembers CCI probes Pernod’s market Adi and Nadir practices A GOLD MINE ~100 mn sq ft of real estate could be developed ■ Godrej & Boyce owns 3,400 acres in Vikhroli ■ Of this, about 1,000 acres can be developed ■ Land value of the land parcel comes to Godrej family makes open offer for Astec FE BUREAU Mumbai, May 1 `80,000 crore ■ One acre in Vikhroli costs between `70 cr and `80 cr INSIDE Brand usage limited to current businesses PAGE 4 and division of assets and business between partriarch Adi Godrej and cousin Jamshyd Godrej. Continued on Page 13 THE ADI AND Nadir Godrej family and trusts have made an open offer to acquire an additional 26% stake in Astec Lifesciences, as part of the family settlement. The open offer for Astec Lifesciences is for up to 5.09 million shares at a price of `1,069.75 per share, totalling `545.47 crore. The open offer, on full acceptance, will cost `545 crore to the Adi/Nadir family,said a regulatory update. The offerwas triggered from the Adi/Nadir family’s plan to acquire 20.84% stake in Godrej Industries from the Jamshyd Godrej/Smita Crishna Godrej family. Followingthesettlementdeal,the total voting rights of the Adi/Nadir familyandAnamudiinGodrejIndustries will increase to 52.01%.Godrej Industries holds a 64.88% stake in Godrej Agrovet, a 23.7% stake in Godrej Consumer Products and 47.3%in Godrej Properties. ADITYA KALRA New Delhi, May 1 ANTITRUSTREGULATOR COMPETITION Commission of India (CCI) is reviewing accusations that France’s Pernod Ricard colluded with retailers in New Delhi to boost market share, the latest headache forthe spirits giant in a keymarket, legal papers seen by Reuters show. With brands such as Chivas Regal, Glenlivet and Absolut, Pernod has a share of 17% in a liquor market it says is its second biggestgloballybynetsales,butone where it is embroiled in licence,tax and antitrust difficulties. ThelatestchargesfigureinaconfidentialfilinginMarchonpractices in the liquor industry made by an individualidentifiedonlybythefirst nameMohit,whohasarecordoftaking up public interest litigations. The CCI is reviewing the case and can order a full investigation,or dismisstheaccusationsifnotborneout, saidasourcefamiliarwiththematter who spoke on condition of anonymity.Pernod is accused of gaining market share by asking retailers to stock more of its goods in return for helping them secure loans to bid for storelicences,accordingtothefiling. Continued on Page 5 ANIL AGARWAL, CHAIRMAN, VEDANTA GROUP BANKINGONTHEcountry’sgrowth potential,VedantaGroupisplanning to invest $20 billion in India in the next four years, said chairman Anil Agarwal.The investments will happen mostly in the technology, electronics, semiconductors and glass segments,he added. “Investments in electronics, technologyand glass are important to create a lot of industries and jobs. Semiconductors and glass – used in making smartphones and laptops screens – are very essential from a future perspective, and for both we have factoriesinTaiwanandKorea,” Agarwal said on the sidelines of an event in Mumbai. For its semiconductor business, Vedanta Group has bought land in Gujarat,while it is making progress on the glass business. “We are already making glass, but now we have to make that in India,”he said, adding that the group is keen on partnerships. The chairman said that some of the developed nations have exploited natural resources to become rich.He rued that there are concerns on the environmental impact of mining in India. “We cannot depend on imports; we have the best of gold and diamond here,”he added. Meanwhile, when asked about the steel business sale, which was supposed to be happen by March, Agarwal said a transaction depends WE ARE ALREADY MAKING GLASS, BUT NOW WE HAVE TO MAKE IN INDIA WE ARE COMMITTED TO THE STEEL BUSINESS SALE PLAN IF WE GET THE RIGHT PRICE on getting the right price. “We are committed... if we get the right price to divest it,” he said, adding that if the group doesn't get the right price,itwill choose to continuerunning thebusinessbyitself. On the closing of the copper smelterinTamil Nadu,Agarwal said it was just 0.3% of its business.“It was unfortunate, but we have moved on.” Continued on Page 13 Govt plans export zones for e-comm MUKESH JAGOTA New Delhi, May 1 TRADE WINDS THE CENTRE IS considering setting up specialised zones dedicated to promoting exports through ecommerce.The idea is to free businesses from most of the existing compliance requirements and provide them the flexibility for direct to consumer sales across the national border. According to a plan, which is a part of the commerce ministry’s 100-day agenda, the proposed zones are likely to be driven by private investments, but the governmentwould enable themvia necessary policy changes. Currently,export consignments sent through e-commerce have to comply with the same set of rules that business-to-business exporters are bound by, despite these consignments being relatively small and mostly meant for end consumers. This inflates costs,causes delays and restrictions on some of the activities, which sales to consumers require. The dedicated e-commerce export hubs, according to the plan, will have warehousing, customs ■ Commerce ministry drafts policy under ■ These agenda zones likely to be driven by private investments ■ Hubs to ■ Flexibility 100-day benefit from easier compliance, infrastructure for D2C sales across the national border clearance, returns processing, labelling, testing and repackaging, andrelatedfacilities.Thesewillbeon the lines of export-oriented units. Continued on Page 5 INVESCO LATEST TO REDUCE EXPOSURE WITH STAKE SALE TO HINDUJAS Most foreign fund houses miss India gravy train VIVEK KUMAR M Mumbai, May 1 Why merchandise exports fell in FY24 WHEN INVESCO DECIDED to sell a 60% stake to the Hinduja group earlierthis month,it didn’t surprise anyone.That’s because onlya handfulofforeignfundhouseshavebeen able to grow in the country even though the domestic mutual fund industry has already topped `50 trillion (`54 trillion in FY24). Sample this: Among the top 10 players, only two foreign fund houses — Nippon India and Mirae Asset — figure in the list.Worse still, among the top 20 players, only six make the cut.Besides,Nippon India and Mirae, the list includes HSBC, FranklinTempleton,CanaraRobeco and Invesco. In other words, while ■ EXPLAINER, P9 KICKING OFF FY25 WITH A BANG Gross GST collections (` trillion) UPI transactions surge 50% in volume and 40% in value y-o-y ■ EFE, P9 Fall in petroleum products exports were key even as electronics & engineering products found new markets Vedanta to invest $20 bn in 4 years in India: Agarwal STRONG MOMENTUM IN THE ECONOMY, SAYS FM Domestic MFs SBI Kotak Mahindra Aditya Birla Sun Life UTI 716,868 AUM in ` crore (as of March 31) Mirae Asset 614,665 HSBC Franklin Templeton 381,240 315,778 Invesco Canara Robeco 286,593 around `52 trillion is managed by the top 20 players,onlya fifth of the asset under management is with foreign players, with the exception of one joint venture, according to 438,277 Nippon India 919,520 ICICI Prudential HDFC International MFs EXIT WOUNDS data from Value Research. Over the last decade,the likes of Goldman Sachs, Nomura, Fidelity and many more have shut shop in India.In fact,the country’s first pri- vate sector fund house — Kothari Pioneer — was a joint venture between Pioneer of the US and Kothari.In less than a decade,itwas acquired by Franklin Templeton. 162,321 103,389 90,830 75,774 88,771 Fund houses that FE spoke with pointedtoseveralreasonsfortheforeignMFcompaniesexitingIndia.The reasons include the long gestation period,distribution capabilities and the need for customised domestic products.“The Indian MFindustryis mainly a domestic proposition wherein foreign asset managers need to adoptthepolicyofglobalperspective andlocalexpertise.Indiansaresavers ratherthaninvestorswithanassured returns mindset,” said Avinash Satwalekar, president at Franklin Templeton Asset Management (India), which is among the oldest foreign fund houses in India having been in the countryfornearly3 decades. Most domestic MFs are subsidiaries of large banks. Their vast networkofbranchesandcustomers help distribute the products efficiently. However, foreign fund houses do not have this luxury. Continued on Page 5 Lucknow