BACK PAGE, P20 VERDICT 2024, P7 INTERNATIONAL, P3 JAANE JAAN MOST WATCHED BATTLE OF BENGAL THIRD ORDER THIS YEAR Indian movies, shows clock over 1 bn views on Netflix in 2023 Mamata, not Modi, seems to be battling anti-incumbency ICJ orders Israel to immediately halt Rafah offensive KOLKATA, SATURDAY, MAY 25, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL 33 NO. 174, 28 PAGES, `12.00 (NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN `13.00) 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: 75,410.38 ▼ 7.66 NIFTY: 22,957.10 ▼ 10.55 NIKKEI 225: 38,646.11 ▼ 457.11 HANG SENG: 18,608.94 ▼ 259.77 `/$: 83.10 ▲ 0.18 `/€: 89.99 ▲ 0.33 BRENT: $81.64 ▲ $0.28 GOLD: `71,754 ▼ `803 Made-in-India Range Rovers N E W S Google deal values by Aug at upto `54 lakh less IN THE GDP GROWTH LIKELY SLOWED TO 6.8% IN Q4: POLL INDIA’S GDP GROWTH in Q4 of FY24 likely slowed to a fourquarter low of 6.8% from 8.4% in Q3, on account of slowdown in manufacturing and services sectors growth, according to the median of a poll of 19 economists, reports Priyansh Verma. ■ PAGE 2 BSE REJIG: ADANI PORTS TO REPLACE WIPRO IN SENSEX ADANI PORTS AND Special Economic Zone is set to replace Wipro from S&P BSE Sensex on June 24, making it the first company from the Adani Group to enter the benchmark 30-stock index. ■ PAGE 6 HINDALCO SETS `6K CRORE CAPEX FOR FY25 HINDALCO INDUSTRIES, THE metal flagship company of Aditya Birla Group, has earmarked a capex of `6,000 crore for FY25, reports Rajesh Kurup. The aluminium and copper manufacturer has posted a 31.6% rise in consolidated net profit at `3,174 crore in Q4. ■ PAGE 4 FOREX KITTY REACHES NEW HIGH OF $648.7 BN FOREX RESERVES ROSE $4.5 billion to an all-time high of $648.7 billion in the week ended May 17, data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed. US TECH GIANT PICKS UP $350-MN STAKE Flipkart at $36 bn Part of $1-bn fundraise plan by e-tailer in Dec STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP AYANTI BERA Bengaluru, May 24 $33 ■ Flipkart was last valued at billion TECH MAJOR GOOGLE is investing around $350milliontopickupaminoritystakeinWalmart-ownede-commercemajorFlipkart,inthe latest funding round led by its US parent. Accordingtosources,thisvaluesFlipkartat$36 billion compared to the earlier$33 billion. Sources saidwith this Flipkart has closed its $1billionfundraiseplan,initiatedinDecember 2023,wherein Walmart had pumped in $600 million in the company.Flipkart had then said that a few external investors will be putting in the balance$400 million. Flipkartwill use the moneyto expand operations,strengthen its supply chain and bolster tech capabilities. WhileFlipkartannouncedinastatementon Friday about the latest funding round led by Walmart, and coming on board of Google as a minorityinvestor,it did not disclose anyfinancial details.The company said that the investmentproposalissubjecttoreceiptofregulatory andothercustomaryapprovalsbybothparties. “Google’sproposedinvestmentanditscloud collaborationwillhelpFlipkartexpanditsbusinessandadvancethemodernisationofitsdigitalinfrastructuretoserve customers acrossthe country,” the statementsaid. Google has been making strategic investmentsinanumberofIndianfirmsoperatingin the tech field. ■ It will use the money to expand operations, strengthen supply chain and bolster tech capabilities ■ Walmart raised its stake in Flipkart to 80% in July 2023 ■ Google has been making strategic investments in a number of Indian firms operating in the tech field In 2022,it had made a strategic investment of $1 billion in telecom major Bharti Airtel, where $700 million was spent to acquire a 1.28%stakeinthefirm,andtherest$300million was intended for multi-year investments related to making more affordable mobile devices,boostingcloudadoptionandotherprogrammesaround digital inclusion. Continued on Page 18 Price of the two iconic models will come down by 18-20% VIKRAM CHAUDHARY New Delhi, May 24 JAGUAR LAND ROVER, which is part of Tata Motors,will start manufacturing its marquee brands,Range Rover and Range RoverSport in India,RajanAmba,managing director,JLR India,told FE.Thiswill be the first time in its 54-year-long history that the iconic models will be rolled out from a countryoutside of the UK.Till now, the two models were only produced in Jaguar Land Rover’s Solihull plant in the UKandthenexportedtoaround121markets globally,including India. The two brands will join Range Rover Velar,Range RoverEvoque,JaguarF-PACE and Discovery Sport which are already GLOBAL GOES LOCAL ■ Range Rover Sport's price would come down to ■ Till now, the two Range Rover models were only produced in Jaguar Land Rover's Solihull plant in the UK `1.4 crore from `1.9 crore currently ■ JLR India reported ■ Range Rover Autobiography version will cost `2.6 crore from current price of `3.16 crore locally manufactured at JLR’s facility in Pune. JLR currently has an installed production capacity of around 10,000 units per annum at the plant. Deliveries are expected to begin August this year. “Local assembly means we have been able to reduce prices of these models by 18-20%,” Amba said. “These are being an 81% increase in retail sales last fiscal in India at 4,436 units assembled at our Pune facility from completelyknocked-down (CKD) kits,”he said. Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran lauded Ratan Tata for bringing the JLR brand to the Tata family 15 years ago. Continued on Page 18 N P Singh announces exit from Sony Pictures India Jio Financial plans `36K-cr deal with Reliance Retail SONY PICTURES Networks India managing directorand CEO NPSingh on Fridaysaid he has decided to move on butwill continue to be in his current role till a successoris found,reports PTI. In a statement, Singh who has had a 25-year tenure at Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI), said after nearly 44 years in his career, he is "ready to focus on social change and shift from operational roles to advisoryones". "I will continue to lead SPNI until we find the right person to take over.We have begun a structured succession planning process for my successor and hope to have exciting news to share in the near future,"Singhsaid. ■ THE MARATHON MAN, PAGE 4 JIO FINANCIAL Services (JFS) is seeking shareholder approval for its unit to acquire equipment worth `36,000 crore from the retail arm of Reliance Industries as the financial services provider plans to enter the device leasing business, a postal ballot notice said,reports Reuters.Under the proposed deal, the JFS unit called Jio Leasing Services will buy telecom equipment and devices that usually include routers and cell phones. The JFS subsidiary will rent out the equipment it buys to customers of Reliance Jio Infocomm - Reliance's telecommunications arm - the financial services company further said. LOK SABHA ELECTIONS: PHASE 6 POLL CALL SEATS 58 ■ PAGE 6 Including Uttar Pradesh (14), Haryana (10), Bihar (8) and NCT of Delhi (7) SOMNATH BHARTI (AAP), New Delhi BANSURI SWARAJ (BJP), New Delhi KANHAIYA KUMAR (INC), North East Delhi MANOJ TIWARI (BJP), North East Delhi MEHBOOBA MUFTI (PDP), Anantnag-Rajouri, J&K MANEKA GANDHI (BJP), Sultanpur, UP CANDIDATES 889 FE S P E C I A L * Adjourned poll Anantnag-Rajouri of J&K from phase 3 to phase 6 180 (21%) candidates with criminal cases 141 (16%) candidates with serious criminal cases Mumbai to Nashik: In wine,there is truth,and beauty 338 (39%) crorepati candidates Wine is bad for health, but a visit to a wine country can definitely add years to life. ■ MOTOBAHN, P9 `6.21 crore average assets of candidates Source: Association of Democratic Reforms OTHERS MANOHAR LAL KHATTAR (BJP), Karnal, Haryana NAVEEN JINDAL (BJP), Kurukshetra, Haryana RAJ BABBAR (INC), Gurgaon, Haryana UDIT RAJ (INC), North West Delhi P/E VALUATIONS CLOSE TO 10-YEAR AVERAGE Investors cautious in costly market VIVEK KUMAR M Mumbai, May 24 WITH THE SENSEX regularly hitting new all-time highs, its valuations has reached close to 10-yearaverage price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple.This comes at a time when India added $1 trillion market capitalisation in the last six months – the fastest ever – hitting the $5-trillion milestone earlier this week. The combined valuation of Sensex companies is currently at 24.15 times the trailing 12 month (TTM) earnings,just shy of its 10-year average P/E multiple of 24.45x,according to data from BSE.However, it is still short of five-year average of 26.33x. The index has risen 22% in the last 1 year and hit lifetime high of 75,636.50 points intraday, before closing at 75,410.39 points, on Friday. Comparatively, the BSE Midcap index has skyrocketed 64% and the BSE Smallcap index has surged60%.The gains in the broadermarket segment has been driven by sustained inflows from domestic investors. Expertsfeelthattheriseinthevaluations maymake,investors,especiallyforeigninstitutionsmorecircumspect.InhislatestGreed and Fearreport,ChrisWood of Jefferies said thatcontinuedoutperformanceofIndiaand HIGHER HIGHS ■ The combined valuation of Sensex companies is currently at 24.15 times their trailing 12 month (TTM) earnings ■ ChrisWood says FIIs may no longer choose to be overweight on India 40 35 5 year average 26.33 10 year average 24.45 30 25 19.38 20 15 focus on China could propel dedicated emerging market foreign investors to no longerbe overweight on India. Wood pointed that while foreign investors have net sold $4.7 billion worth of shares in India so far this quarter, the impact has been more than offset by the domestic investors.As per the data, domestic institutional investors have net bought shares worth `84,984 crore (approximately $10 billion) so far since April. In the six months when Indian listed companies market capitalisation soared Sensex P/E Apr 01, 2015 24.18 May 24, 2024 by $1 trillion, the valuation of BSE Smallcapindexhasjumpedfrom29xto33x,and thatofBSEMidcapindexhasjumpedfrom 24x to 30x. “The sharp run up of prices is a reflection of resilience and strong earnings expectations,” said Ashish Chaturmohta, executive director at JM Financial.He said the growth runwayforsome of the sectors like power and defence is so strong that it is higher than the cumulative growth of the last several years. Continued on Page 18 Kolkata