BACK PAGE, P16 COMPANIES, P4 INTERNATIONAL, P3 HANGING UP HIS BOOTS OBITUARY ‘GOOD NEIGHBOUR’ As Sunil Chhetri retires, who will be the next No. 9? Vineet Nayyar, a corporate statesman who lived life on his own terms Xi tells Putin ties should last 'generations' CHENNAI/KOCHI, FRIDAY, MAY 17, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XLIV 318, 30 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: 73,663.75 ▲ 676.72 NIFTY: 22,403.85 ▲ 203.30 NIKKEI 225: 38,920.26 ▲ 534.53 HANG SENG: 19,376.53 ▲ 302.82 `/$: 83.50 < > 0.00 `/€: 90.77 ▼ 0.34 BRENT: $83.71 ▲ $0.96 GOLD: `73,155 ▲ `435 — IN THE NEWS GOVT’S THIRD BOND BUYBACK DESPITE TEPID INTEREST THE GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCED a third buyback of bonds this month after the first two attempts were met with a tepid response, reports Reuters. RBI said it would buy back `60,000-crore securities, maturing this fiscal, on May 21. ■ PAGE 12 VEDANTA GETS BOARD NOD TO RAISE `8,500 CR VEDANTA intends to raise up to `8,500 crore via various modes, including public offerings and rights issues in one or more tranches, reports Rajesh Kurup. Vedanta’s board approved the fundraise on Thursday. ■ PAGE 4 NORWAYWEALTH FUND BLACKLISTS ADANI PORTS NORWAY’S $1.7-TRILLION sovereign wealth fund has decided to exclude Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone from its portfolio, citing “unacceptable” risks that it is tied to human rights violations in war & conflict zones, reports Bloomberg. ■ PAGE 12 ZOHO PLANS FORAY INTO CHIPMAKING, TO INVEST $700 MN ZOHO IS PLANNING a foray into chipmaking and seeking incentives from the government, sources told Reuters, with one pegging the investment plan at $700 million. ■ PAGE 5 FE S P E C I A L STANCE IN CONTRAST TO RBI’S Sebi open to oversight of crypto trade Suggests shared VIEWPOINTS regulation of private ■ Govt has taken ■ RBI a tough stance remains in digital currencies against cryptofavour of currencies since 2018 NIKUNJ OHRI New Delhi, May 16 MARKETS WATCHDOG SEBI has recommendedthatseveralregulators oversee trade in cryptocurrencies, documentsshow,thestrongestsignal to date that at least some authorities in the country are open to allowing the use of private virtual assets. The position of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) contrasts with that of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which maintains that private digital currencies represent a macroeconomic risk, separate documents show. Both sets of documents, which have been seen byReuters,have been submitted to a government panel whichistaskedwithformulatingpolicy for the finance ministry to consider.Sebi’s stance has not previously been reported. The government has taken a tough stance against cryptocurrencies since 2018, when the central bank prohibited lenders and other financial intermediaries from dealing with crypto users or exchanges, though the move was later struck down by the Supreme Court. In 2021, the government prepared a Bill that would have banned a ban on stablecoins ■ Sebi wants different regulators to oversee activities that fall under their domain ■ Panel formed to formulate crypto policy likely to firm up report by June private cryptocurrencies, though it has not been introduced. Last year, when it was president of the G20, India called fora global framework to regulate such assets. RBI remains in favour of a ban on stablecoins, according to a person with direct knowledge of the panel’s discussions. Continued on Page 14 Benchmarks end on a high BENCHMARK INDICES REGISTERED their biggest single-day gains in over two weeks onThursday, thanks to the strong buying interest seen in the last hour of trading. ■ PAGE 12 May 16 (close) 73,663 676 points (0.93%) The language of market expansion How Airtel Xtream is banking on local languages to thrive ■ BRANDWAGON, P11 May 15 (close) 72,987 Not just calls, pesky WhatsApp messages also on govt radar THE GOVERNMENT IS planning to blocknotjustpeskycallsbutalsounsolicited messages via SMSes and social media platforms such as WhatsApp hard-selling anyproduct orservices. According to new regulations in the works, a fresh algorithm is being writtentorunacheckonphonenumbers and messages to see if these are being used formarketing purposes. As perthe current norms,promotional messages need to be sent via headers and not numbers. Through the ‘do not disturb’ (DND) registry, consumerscanblockthese.However, to bypass this, marketing agencies send such messages through phone numbers. Similarly, calls are made using different consumer phone numbers, instead of using telemarketing agencynumberswhich have a different series. Officials said the algorithm will now check how many calls or messages the identified numbers have made within, say 2-3 hours. If the same runs into high double digits, they will be identified as ‘pesky’, be blocked,and penaltywill be levied on the owners of these numbers. However, such offences will not STRICTER SCRUTINY ■ As per current norms, promo messages need to be sentvia headers; consumer can block thesevia the 'DND' registry ■ Marketing agencies have started sending such messages via phone numbers to bypass this be liable for criminal prosecution,as neither the Trai Act, nor the ConsumerProtectionAct provide forany criminal liability for such offences. While the initiative in this regard has been taken bythe department of consumeraffairs,which oversees the ConsumerProtectionAct,the implementation of the same will be done bytheTelecom RegulatoryAuthority of India (Trai). A joint discussion on such measures was carried out in a series of meetings, officials said. While checking spam calls falls under Trai’s jurisdiction, the CPA comes into play as such calls are also seen as unfair trade practices,which To explore hybrids if there’s demand SWARAJ BAGGONKAR Mumbai, May 16 MAHINDRA& MAHINDRA(M&M) has doubled its planned outlay for the electric vehicle business to `12,000 crore for threeyears ending FY27, as it gears up to take on market leader Tata Motors and other players. The company has approved an investment of `12,000 crore in Mahindra Electric Automobile (MEAL), its passenger electric vehicle company, between FY25 and FY27.This was earlier pegged to be `6,000 crore as per disclo- GREEN GOALS ■ M&M’s maiden ‘born-electric’ SUV launch to take place in Q4 ■ Launch part of 7 battery electric vehicles lined up by 2030 ■ Earlier plan was to invest `6,000 cr between FY25 & FY27 sure made last year. Apart from the electric vehicle push, the company is also watching the hybrid space, and said it can adapt if there is enough demand. ANISH SHAH, MANAGING DIRECTOR, M&M IF IT'S (HYBRIDS) REQUIRED, WE'LL BE READY FOR THAT...ATTHIS POINT IN TIME, WE FEEL GOOD ABOUTTHE FOCUS ON EVs “We view hybrids as an extension of ICE (internal combustion engine). If there are significant changes in hybrid technologythat cause it to be much more like an EV,that is somethingwewill move into much faster,” Anish Shah, managing director, M&M, said on Thursday in response to a query from FE. “There is really no material change in emission in hybrids.Yes, there is some benefit from the fuel efficiency standpoint, but that is still very marginal. “They are more expensive to build because there are two powertrains in the vehicle, which is also the reasonwhygovernments globallyhave stopped providing incentives on hybrids,”Shah added. M&M expects to generate sufficient operating cash to satisfyits capital investment needs and therefore is not looking to raise additional funds. Continued on Page 14 June spectrum auction: Jio’s deposit is 3x of Airtel’s JATIN GROVER New Delhi, May 16 THE GOVERNMENT WILL be able to mop up a maximum of `52,000 crore against spectrum worth `96,000 crore to be put up for auction in June, earnest money deposits (EMDs) submitted bythe three telecom operators show. RelianceJio’sdepositisthehighestat`3,000 crore. It is three times that of Bharti Airtel’s `1,050 crore and 10 times higher than Vodafone Idea’s `300 crore, taking the total to `4,350 crore. EMD indicates the bidding intensity of the operators concerned and the amount of spectrum they intend to acquire.Going by it,Jio has the option to spend up to `36,000 crore or 37.4% of the total value of spectrum on sale. Airtel can spend up to `12,500 crore or 13% of the total value of spectrum, whereas Vodafone Idea can spend up to `3,600 crore. On the basis of the EMD,Jio has got 21,363 eligibilitypoints,Airtel 7,613 eligibilitypoints, and Vodafone Idea 2,200 points. The EMD, BIDDING WAR however, does not mean a bidder has to com- earnest money pulsorily exhaust deposit by all its points in Reliance Jio, the auction. the highest A total of 10,523.15 MHz spectrum across the 800 MHz, submitted by 900 MHz, 1800 Bharti Airtel MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz bands, worth `96,317.65 crore will be put up for auction. In the 5G auc- deposited tions held in July by Vodafone 2022,the depart- Idea ment of telecom (DoT) received EMD worth `21,800 crore and the final mopup was over `1.5 trillion. In the upcoming auctions, a subdued responseisexpectedaspurchasesmaybelargely restrictedtoairwavesdueforrenewalinsomecircles.The government is not expecting anything beyond `10,000 crore,according to officials. In the last spectrum auction, Reliance Jio spent `88,078 crore towards 4G/5G spectrum, followed by Bharti Airtel at `43,084 crore, and Vodafone Idea at `18,799 crore. `3,000 crore `1,050 crore NEW ALGORITHM TO CHECK FREQUENCY TO BLOCK NUMBERS JATIN GROVER & SANDIP DAS New Delhi, May 16 M&M readies `12,000-cr EVwar chest ■ New algorithm to check how many calls/texts identified numbers have made ■ If in high double digits, will be identified as 'pesky', be blocked, and penalty to be levied on owners `300 crore ■ Such offences, however, to not be liable for criminal prosecution mislead consumers. Oncethenewguidelinesareissued andimplemented,itwouldbethefirst time that banks, fintech companies, realestatedevelopers,andothers,will be directly held liable for such spam communicationastheseentitiesoutsource their promotional sales to third-partyagencies. As per the draft guidelines, businesscommunicationhasbeendefined as communication related to any goodsorservices,includinganytransaction orservice communication,but excluding personal communication. Continued on Page 14 CHENNAI/KOCHI