VERDICT 2024, P7 COMPANIES, P4 INTERNATIONAL, P3 SLAMS MAMATA FOR OPPOSING CAA JOINING LIKELY BY AUGUST OVERSIGHT BOARD CREATED TMC snatched OBC rights to appease vote bank, says PM Sony appoints Disney's Gaurav Banerjee as new India CEO OpenAI begins training a new flagship AI model CHENNAI/KOCHI, WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XLV 19, 34 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: 75,170.44 ▼ 220.06 NIFTY: 22,888.15 ▼ 44.30 NIKKEI 225: 38,855.37 ▼ 44.65 HANG SENG: 18,821.16 ▼ 6.19 `/$: 83.18 ▼ 0.05 `/€: 90.47 ▼ 0.13 BRENT: $83.55 ▲ $0.45 GOLD: `71,973 ▲ `47 IN THE NEWS CENTRE LOOKS AT UNIFIED DATABASE TO CURB GST FRAUD THE CBIC IS mulling to merge its database of DG (Systems) with that of GSTN in order to expand its coverage of taxpayer activities and curb tax evasion, reports Priyansh Verma. ■ PAGE 2 RELIANCE TO BUY RUSSIAN CRUDE IN ROUBLES RELIANCE HAS SIGNED a one-year deal with Russia's Rosneft to buy at least 3 million barrels of oil a month in roubles, reports Reuters. A term deal with Rosneft will help Reliance to secure oil at discounted rates. ■ PAGE 5 NOVELIS FINALISES IPO PRICE BAND OF $18-21 PER SHARE NOVELIS, HINDALCO’S US arm, has finalised a price band of $18-21 per share for its proposed IPO and intends to raise $810-945 million, reports Rajesh Kurup. ■ PAGE 6 EXPLAINER Navigating UK’s student visa regulations ■ PAGE 9 INDUSTRY BODIES TO BE CONSULTED Ease of doing biz 2.0 on the anvil DPIIT readies draft framework to assess ‘cost of regulation’ MUKESH JAGOTA New Delhi, May 28 THEGOVERNMENTHASsettheballrollingon the second round of ease of doing business reforms as part of a multi-pronged strategy to catalyse the private investmentcycle. Accordingtoofficialsources,ithasprepared a draft framework to assess the cost of regulation (CoR),which is the fraction of the overall cost of doing business in the country that is attributable to compliance with various regulations and legal requirements.The estimate will be used as a critical input to another set of administrativereformsbeingplannedtobring thesecostsdown,thesourcessaid.Theideaisto notjustcurbthefinancialcosts,butalsocutthe procedural delays that contribute to these. Theframeworkhasbeenpreparedinconsultationwithstatesandunionterritories,andbusinesses.Wider talks will be held with industry chambers and institutions like Institute of CharteredAccountantsofIndia(ICAI)tofinaliseit. ICAIalongwithFederationofIndianChambers of Commerce and Industry,Federation of IndianMicroandSmall&MediumEnterprises have been working with the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) since the CoR framework was mooted to assess time and cost impact ofvarious regulationsforimportantareasacrossbusinesslifecycles.The framework pays attention to com- COST AND COMPETITION ■ Reforms are part of a multipronged strategy to catalyse the private investment cycle ■ Cost of regulation estimate to be used as a critical input to another set of reforms ■ The idea is to not just curb the financial costs, but also cut the procedural delays ■ Wider consultations to be held with industry chambers and institutions like ICAI to finalise it ■ First round of reforms led to a jump in India’s ease of doing business global rankings ■ India jumped to 63rd spot in 2020, from 142 in 2014, on World Bank's Doing Business Report plex information requirements, substantive compliance obligations, frequent un-coordinated changes, delayed approvals and over or underregulation. Continued on Page 18 Adani group plans foray into digital payments, e-comm KANJYIK GHOSH & HRITAM MUKHERJEE Bengaluru, May 28 THEADANI GROUP has been considering an application for a licence to operate on the country's public digital payments network and is in talks with banks to finalise plans for a co-branded credit card, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. The plans to dial up INSIDE consumer businesses came as the group AEL gets nod to raise mulled spending $84 billion in infrastructu`16,600 cr reoverthenextdecade. ■ PAGE 4 If approved, the group will enter the country’s burgeoning digital payments market and compete with incumbents GooglePayandWalmart-backedPhonePe. India’s payments market is expected to reach $814.43 billion in 2029, from $357.51 billion in 2024, a report by Mordor Intelligence showed. NEW VENTURES DIGITAL PAYMENTS ■ In talks with banks to finalise plans for a co-branded credit card ■ To compete with incumbents Google Pay and Walmart-backed PhonePe ■ India's payments market is expected to reach $814.43 bn in 2029, from $357.51 bn in 2024 With a 48.9% market share, PhonePe is the largest UPI app in the country,April data showed,followed by Google Paywith a 37.7% share. The Adani Group did not immediatelyrespond to a Reuters request for comment on the report. Telcos seek 6-year Govt needs holistic moratorium on new plan for reduction spectrum purchase in logistics cost BHARTI AIRTEL, JIO and VodafoneIdeahavesoughta5-6year interest-free payment gap or moratorium on the spectrum bought in auctions in 2025 and beyond, reportsJatinGrover.TheyhaveurgedTrai that such a moratorium is needed on spectrum bought in auctions from next year because they have incurred huge capexinrollingout5Gservices,whichthey areyet to monetise. ■ Page 4 KEEPING THE TEMPO of infrastructure investments and progressivecutinlogisticscostsshould be among the objectives of the post-poll government at the Centre, report Mukesh Jagota & Arunima Bharadwaj.Currently,the infrastructure sector is witnessing predominance of the public sector,theresultantheavyrelianceonbudget funds and heavy indebtedness of key state-run entitieslike NHAI. ■ Page 2 E-COMMERCE ■ To offer online shopping via ONDC, the governmentbacked public e-commerce platform ■ If finalised, the services will be available via Adani's consumer app Adani One The group is also in talks to offer online shoppingvisthegovernment-backedpublic e-commerce platform, Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC),the report said. Continued on Page 18 RBI launches PRAVAAH portal, retail direct app THE RBI ON Tuesday launched the PRAVAAH portal, a retail direct mobile app and a fintech repository, reports fe Bureau. The PRAVAAH portal will make it convenient for any individual or entity to apply onlineforvariousregulatoryapprovalsina seamless manner.The retail direct mobile appallowsretailinvestorstobuygiltsinthe primary auctions as well as buy and sell those in the secondarymarket. ■ Page 6 CHENNAI/KOCHI