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XLV 33, 36 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 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD SENSEX: 76,810.90 ▲ 204.33 NIFTY: 23,398.90 ▲ 75.95 NIKKEI 225: 38,720.47 ▼ 156.24 HANG SENG: 18,112.63 ▲ 174.79 `/$: 83.55 < > 0.00 `/€: 90.25 ▼ 0.41 BRENT: $82.87 ▲ $0.27 GOLD: `71,384 ▲ `66 — Riding on star power Amazon has sharpened focus on creator partnerships ■ BRANDWAGON, P9 89* Shree Cement 49.9 Dalmia Cement (Bharat) 43.7 25 NuvocoVistas JSW India Cements ■ To add 14 MTPA production capacity for Adani Cement, holding firm of ACC andAmbuja ■ Deal to also helpAmbuja expand market presence in south India 19 16 *after the acquisition Kapur added. Of PCIL’s total 14 MTPA capacity, 10 MTPA is operational and the remaining is underconstruction—2MTPAatKrishnapatnam and 2 MTPA at Jodhpur — expected to be completed in the next 6-12 months. Further, its surplus clinker at the Jodhpur plant will support an additional 3 MTPA cement grinding capacity. Following the deal,the existing dealers of PCILwill move toAdani Cement. However, the deal will not upset the pecking order yet,with Aditya Birla group company UltraTech Cement still topping the charts with a production capacity of 152.7 MTPA.While Adani Cement (ACC & Ambuja Cement) comes in second, Shree Cement with 49.9 MTPA, Dalmia Cement (Bharat) with 43.7 MTPA, Nuvoco Vistas with (25 MTPA), JSW (19 MTPA) and India Cements (16 MTPA) are others in the list, according to companies’data. Continued on Page 10 Benchmarks on a high BENCHMARK INDICES TOP SECTORAL GAINERS (%) SENSEX SENSEX and Nifty hit Realty 2.2 their fresh record Capital goods 2.1 204.33 Consumer durables levels onThursday. 2.0 points Industrials 1.7 Positive cues from (0.27%) 1.1 IT global equities after the US Federal Jun 13 (close) Reserve meeting and 76,810.9 inflation data, and hopes of a stable political and policy environment back home aided the Jun 12 Jun 13 (close) investor sentiment. NIFTY (close) 23,398.9 The BSE Midcap and 76,606.57 Smallcap indices continued to Jun 12 (close) outperform the 75.95 points (0.33%) 23,322.95 benchmarks and registered their INVESTORS WEALTH (in ` trillion) seventh consecutive 430 session of gains. 420 Investor wealth rose 410 400 by `2.39 trillion to a 390 record `431.72 trillion. 380 —fe Bureau 370 3 4 5 6 7 10 11 12 13 431.7 FE S P E C I A L Adani Cement (ACC &Ambuja Cement) 429.3 THE GOVERNMENT ON Thursday ruled out reducing import duty on wheat by stating that there are “sufficient stocks” of the grain to meet the domestic requirement and undertake a market intervention, reports Sandip Das. ■ PAGE 3 152.7 UltraTech Cement 426.9 NO PLAN TO CUT IMPORT DUTY ON WHEAT, SAYS GOVT AMBUJA CEMENT HAS signed an agreement to acquire Penna Cement Industries (PCIL) for `10,422 crore as it targets a production capacity of 140 million tonne per annum (MTPA) by 2028, the Adani Group said on Thursday. The latest acquisition will add another 14 MTPA production capacity to Adani Cement—theholdingcompanyofACCand Ambuja Cement — taking its total capacity to 89 MTPA.The deal will also helpAmbuja expand its market presence in south India. Ambuja will acquire the entire stake of PCIL from its promoter group, P Pratap Reddy and family.The acquisition will be fullyfunded through internal accruals. “PCIL’s strategic location and sufficient limestone reserves provide an opportunity toincreasecementcapacitythroughdebottlenecking and additional investment. Importantly,thebulkcementterminalswill provetobeagamechangerbygivingaccess to the eastern and southern parts of peninsularIndia,apartfromanentrytoSriLanka, through the sea route,” Ambuja Cement chiefexecutiveofficer(CEO)AjayKapursaid. “Our aim is to make PCIL highly competitive on cost and productivity and improve its operating performance,” Production capacity (in MTPA) 425.2 QUICK COMMERCE UNICORN Zepto is planning to raise $650 million in a preIPO round, co-led by existing investors Nexus Venture Partners and US-based Glade Brook Capital, according to sources familiar with the matter, reports Ayanti Bera. ■ PAGE 4 FOR A STRONGER HOLD 423.5 ZEPTO LOOKS TO RAISE $650 MILLION IN PRE-IPO ROUND RAJESH KURUP Mumbai, June 13 415.9 VODAFONE IDEA ON Thursday approved the preferential allotment of nearly 1.7 billion equity shares worth `2,458 crore to its vendors, Nokia Solutions and Ericsson India. With this, Nokia will get a 1.5% stake in VIL amounting to `1,520 crore at the issue price. Ericsson will own 0.9% amounting to `938 crore. ■ PAGE 4 with `10,422-crore buy 408.1 VODA IDEATO RAISE `2,458 CRORE FROM NOKIA, ERICSSON Natural gas,ATF may Adani ups cement game come under GST net 394.8 NEWS GROUP FIRM AMBUJAACQUIRES SOUTH-BASED PENNA CEMENT 425.9 IN THE June 2024 SHARED RESOURCE MODEL HELPS PE, VC FIRMS OVERSEE MANAGEMENT Startups share ‘value-add’ mentors to drive growth S SHANTHI Bengaluru, June 13 INCREASING ADOPTION THEY ARE KNOWN as ‘value-add professionals’ for the expertise they offer in their respective fields.And a growing number of private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) firms are increasinglyturning to them as a “shared resource”to provide support to their portfolio companies. Under this model, these experts are being shared across the firms the PEs/VCshaveinvestedin sothatthey can suggest areas for improvements in their respective verticals such as tech, legal, training, human resources (HR), operations, and brand building,and execute optimal methodologies. Most of these professionals would have worked as chief finance officers, chief marketing officers or chief technology officersorheadedverticalssuchastraining, operations and legal for at least 15-20 years. AccordingtoTeamLeaseServices, India has around 1,700 VC and PE firms that manage portfolios of around 15,000 companies. Around 35-40% of these firms, that is 595680funds,leveragesharedresources. In this model, followed by firms like Motilal Oswal Alternates, Eximius Ventures, Elevation Capital, 1,700 VC ■ Around and PE firms in India managing portfolios of around 15,000 companies ■ Of these, 595-680 funds leveraging shared resources ■ BimaKavach, Dairy Classic, Simpolo, Asian Footwears, Symbiotec Pharma among some portfolio firms using shared resources Ajit Doval PK Mishra Doval gets third term as NSA; Mishra reappointed PM’s principal secretary FE BUREAU New Delhi, June 13 STICKING TO THE theme of continuity, the new government onThursdayreappointedAjit Doval as the National Security Adviser (NSA) and Pramod Kumar Mishra as the principal secretary to the Prime Minister. Both Doval and Mishra’s appointments were with effect from June 10 and would be coterminouswith the term of the Prime Ministeroruntil further orders, whichever was earlier, according to a government order. FormerIndianPoliceService(1968batch)officer Doval and former Indian Administrative Officer (1972 batch) Mishra are assigned the rank of Cabinet minister in the Table of Precedence. With the freshappointments,Doval hasbecome thefirstNSAtobeappointedtothekeypostforthree consecutive terms, while Mishra for the second consecutive term as principal secretary. In Prime MinisterNarendraModi’sfirstterm,Mishrawasthe additional principal secretary. Doval had retired as the Intelligence Bureau chief in 2005.During his stints,Doval is believed to have played a pivotal role in the surgical strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir afterthe Uri terrorattack and during the Balakot air strike after the Pulwama terror attack. Continued on Page 11 GST Council meet on June 22 may also review online gaming tax PRIYANSH VERMA & ARUNIMA BHARADWAJ New Delhi, June 13 THE GOODSAND ServicesTax (GST) Council will meet here on June 22, with a packed agenda, including proposals to bring natural gas and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) under the ambit of the GST, and a review of the way the tax on consumption is applied on online gaming,casinos and horse racing. The meeting, the first after the new NationalDemocraticAlliance (NDA)assumed office, is, however, unlikely to take up the long-pending agenda of an overhaul of the GSTslabs.Thatwould require more technical inputs,asanearlierministers’committeethat reviewed the matterwas disbanded. An ongoing process of correcting inverted duty structures may still be carried forward, with changes in tax rates for some products in the textile and fertiliservalue chains. The 53rd meeting of the council comes againstthebackdropofanelectoralverdictthat markedaslightshifttofederalism.Whilethese proposals would be placed before the Council, the decisions will have to be taken by consensus.The states mayraise revenue concerns. Natural gas is currently outside the ambit of GST,and legacytaxes — central excise duty, stateVAT,centralsalestax—applyon thefuel. VAT on natural gas varies from state to state, and is in the range of 14% to 24%. Currentlyon thestate level,theVATonATF varies from 5-18%, and basic excise duty ON AGENDA ■ Govt likely to consider review of 28% levy on full face value of bets of online gaming firms ■ Price pressures to ease for consumers across petrochem value chain if gas brought under GST ■ ONGC, Oil India and Reliance to be among beneficiaries as also GAIL, Petronet LNG & CGD entities ■ Bringing ATF under GST a positive for airline companies and travellers levied by the Centre stands at 11%, above which it also levies cesses. Any move to bring natural gas under GST would have implications for the gas producers, marketers, and the entire petrochemical value chain,from polymers to plastics.Bringing ATF under GST would be a positive for airline companies,and air travellers,with the extent of benefits to each to be determined by whether and how the resultant cost savings are passed through. Continued on Page 11 Jio gets green signal to launch satcom services With OneWeb, now ahead THE SATCOM BATTLE ■ Jio to provide satellite of Starlink & Amazon ■ Bhartiinternet in the country JATIN GROVER New Delhi, June 13 JIO PLATFORMS HAS received the approval of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe)—itsfinalgo-ahead—tolaunch satellite communication (satcom) services in the country. The approval comes even as global majors such as Elon Musk-owned Starlink and Amazon Project Kuiper await regulatory clearances to launch their services in the country. Bharti Enterprises-backed Eutelsat OneWeb is the only other company to have already received all necessary clearances. Once the spectrum allocation is done by the government,Jio Platformswill be providing the satellite internet serviceswith its joint venture partner,SES — a Luxembourg-based satcom company. According to officials, with global mobile personal communications by satellite (GMPCS) and internet service provider (ISP) licences, any activity related to space communication requires authorisation from INSPACe. The authorisation is required for a wide range of activities,including launching, operating satellites, establishing communication,space transportation systems,etc. Meanwhile,all majorsatcom firms such as OneWeb India,Nelco,Hughes,among others, through the Indian Space Association (ISpA), have urged the department of telecommunications (DoT) to expedite the spectrum allocation process. with JV partner SES, a Luxembourg-based company ■ Elon Muskowned Starlink, Amazon Project Kuiper awaiting regulatory clearance on their applications backed Eutelsat OneWeb has also got all the necessary approvals ■ Any activity related to space communication requires authorisation from IN-SPACe The telecom Act has cleared the way for allocation of spectrum for satellite communication services through the administrative route. However, allocation can still not be done as the rules governing it areyet to be framed. For framing of the rules, the DoT is expected to consult the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). Industry executives say there is an opportunity cost attached and the delay in spectrum allotment is affecting the operators. Continued on Page 10 ■ Motilal Oswal Alternates, Eximius Ventures, Elevation Capital, Prime Venture Partners among those following the mode Prime Venture Partners and Matrix Partners, the shared resources team collaboratescloselywiththepartners inthefundsandmanagementteams of portfolio companies. Some of the portfolio companies of these firms that engage shared resourcesincludeBimaKavach,Dairy Classic, Simpolo, Asian Footwears, Symbiotec Pharma, Ganesh Grains, Shuru,Vegapay and Finarkein. The concept of setting up a ‘shared resources’ team has been prevalent in developed startup ecosystemssuchas the US and China for many years. In India, the trend picked up pace in the recent past, especially after multiple corporate governance and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) issues came to the fore. “In this model, funds provide portfolio companies with access to expertise that they may not have inhouse ormaynot be able to afford on a full-time basis,”Vikram Ramasubramanian, partner, Inflection Point Ventures,told FE. Continued on Page 10 CHENNAI/KOCHI