POLITICS, P7 COMPANIES, P4 BACK PAGE, P22 DEFEATS INDIA BLOC'S K SURESH ENTERPRISE AI ADOPTION TO BE GRADUAL SEMI-FINAL & FINAL MATCHES Om Birla elected Lok Sabha speaker for second term Infosys developing over 225 GenAI programs for its clients: Nilekani T20 World Cup spot ad rate hits `28 lakh per 10 second CHENNAI/KOCHI, THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XLV 44, 22 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: 78,674.25 ▲ 620.73 NIFTY: 23,868.80 ▲ 147.50 NIKKEI 225: 39,667.07 ▲ 493.92 HANG SENG: 18,089.93 ▲ 17.03 `/$: 83.58 ▼ 0.15 `/€: 89.35 ▲ 0.14 BRENT: $85.23 ▲ $0.22 GOLD: `71,077 ▼ `503 IN THE NEWS SPECTRUM AUCTION: AIRTEL BUYS MOST, JIO THE LEAST IN ONE OF the shortest spectrum auction, Bharti Airtel sprang a surprise by acquiring the maximum airwaves at `6,857 crore, reports Jatin Grover. Surprisingly, Jio acquired the least at `973 crore. ■ PAGE 4 TATA GROUP MOST VALUABLE BRAND FOR 15 YEARS WITH A BRAND value of $28.6 billion, Tata Group is India’s mostvaluable brand for the 15th year, new rankings by Brand Finance showed, reports Geetika Srivastava. ■ PAGE 4 HC TO CHANDRA: RESPOND TO SEBI'S MARCH SUMMONS THE BOMBAY HC has ordered Zee’s Subhash Chandra to furnish documents sought by the Sebi in its summons on March 27 in a fund diversion case, reports Akshata Gorde. ■ PAGE 6 NAIK STEPS DOWN FROM BOARD OF ALL L&T COMPANIES NEARLY NINE MONTHS after stepping down as L&T chairman, AM Naik has relinquished his board seat from the group’s two listed arms, also handing over the reins to successor SN Subrahmanyan, reports Rajesh Kurup. ■ PAGE 17 FE S P E C I A L Decoding capital gains tax regime How does the tax structure apply to investors and why has the industry sought simplicity, rationalisation? ■ EXPLAINER, P9 RUN-UP TO BUDGET FY25 Lower corp No chasing tax for new big stake units again sale targets PRIYANSH VERMA New Delhi, June 26 THE GOVERNMENT MAY announce a new scheme of concessionalcorporatetaxratefornew manufacturing units in the Budget as it wants the private capexcycletobeuninterrupted. The new scheme is likely to be similarto an earlierone that offeredaconcessionalrateof15% comparedwith 22% forothers, but ended on March 31,2024. Since the “old scheme has already ended”, it could not be extended,anofficialsourcesaid. However,“a new scheme might be announced”,the person said, adding that its “details are not yet finalised”. The concessional regime, withataxrateof15%,wasintroducedthroughanordinancein September 2019, with effect fromFY20,fordomesticmanufacturing companies, incorporated post October1,2019,and PRASANTA SAHU New Delhi, June 26 NEW SCHEME ■ The old ■ New scheme of concessional corp tax rate likely for new manufacturing units regime had a corp tax rate of 15%, but ended on March 31 ■ Now, new units set up from FY25 liable to pay 22% 1,244 firms 3,508 firms opted for the lower 15% tax rate in FY20 received tax relief in FY21 under old regime which commenced production before the extended sunset timeline of March 31,2024. Continued on Page 7 KEEPING IT REAL THE NEWNATIONAL Democratic Alliance (NDA) governmentwill have a realistic disinvestment strategy, devoid of chasing any specific target for privatisation of large firms, official sources told FE. It will, however,seek to keep the pace of minority stake sales in central public sector enterprises (CPSEs), as and when market throws up opportunities. In2021,theCentreunveiled theCPSEpolicyunderwhichthe government will have a minimum presence in the four strategic sectors,while the remaining ones could be privatised, merged or closed.The strategic sectorsareatomicenergy,space and defence; transport and telecommunications; power, petroleum,coal and other minerals; and banking, insurance and financial services. In the Disinvestment (` crore) Budget estimate Achievement FY20 FY21 105,000 50,299 FY22 13,531 65,000 FY23 35,293 51,000 FY24 30,000* FY25 210,000 32,845 175,000 50,000^ *Revised estimate as "miscellaneous capital receipts (MCR)" including monetisation; ^MCR non-strategic sector, all CPSEs will be privatised or closed in caseprivatisationisimpossible. Continued on Page 7 Electronics, chip firms line up `3-trillion kitty over five years PRIVATE CAPEX CHAMPIONS - IV JATIN GROVER New Delhi, June 26 ENCOURAGED BY THE government’s incentive schemes, manufacturers of electronics and semiconductors are set to commitcloseto`3trillionascapitalexpenditure overthe next fiveyears.Companies,big and small, are setting up shop to make everything from smartphones and laptops to wearables.Theyareeyeingahugemarketfor electronics,estimatedbytheConfederation of Indian Industry,at $500 billionby2030. AsAshokChandak,president,IndiaElectronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA), points out,“it is domestic demand and export potential that is driving the investmentin the sector”. Indeed,Indiaislookingtobecomeapart of the global value chain emulating other nations.Vietnam, for instance, caters to its domestic mobile phones and electronics ON THE ANVIL Announced investments (` cr) 160,000 Vedanta 22,500* 118,000* Micron Tata Group CG Power Foxconn Kaynes AMD Applied Materials Dixon Technologies Amber Enterprises 7,600* 12,500 4,000 3,300 3,300 1,500-1800 375 To come into effect after three months AKSHATA GORDE Mumbai, June 26 THE SECURITIES AND Exchange Board of India(Sebi)hasmadeitsignificantlyeasierfor insiders to trade in shares of their companies byamending the Prohibition of InsiderTrading (PIT) regulations. The amended norms provide flexibility in the 'trading plan’ of a company's keymanagerialpersonnelandwill come into effect after three months. These new norms include reduction in the cooling-off period, price limits of 20% at both upper and lower sides, and cancellation of the trading plan.Anyperson in a company who has access to unpublished pricesensitive information (UPSI) are considered insiders, which usually entail the senior management and officials. According to Sebi guidelines, these insiders have to get approval for the‘trading plan’, which specifies the share price, amount and transaction date in advance so as to not coincide with any news leaks. Earlier, the insider had to inform the board of his buy/sell decisionsixmonthsinadvance.Thistimelimithas now been reduced to four months. The regulator has also allowed insiders to set price limitswithin the price range of 20% limit between the closing price on the day of submissionofthe tradingplanandupperand lowerprice limits forbuying orselling shares. “To protect the insider from unexpected price movements, he may, at the time of formulation of trading plan,provide price limits within the range specified in these regulations,”Sebi said in a Gazette notification. SEBI BREATHER NEW NORMS ■ Reduction in the cooling-off period between disclosure and implementation of the trading plan ■ Price limits of 20% at both upper and lower sides for buying and selling shares Prohibition of Insider Trading rules amended FLEXIBILITY TO INSIDERS ■ Insiders have to specify the share price, amount and transaction date in advance ■ To not execute the trades if the execution price is outside the limit set by them Further,themarketregulatorhasprovided insiders the flexibility to not execute the trades if the execution price is outside the limit set by them in the trading plan. Continued on Page 7 $8 bn flows into bonds ahead of JPM inclusion SACHIN KUMAR Mumbai, June 26 acrossthevaluechaintocustomersseeking a resilient supplychain. Theproduction-linkedincentivescheme apart, SPECS or scheme for promotion of manufacturing of electronic components andsemiconductorshasalsoenthusedcompanies to set up production capacity. AHEADOFTHEmuch-awaitedinclusionofgovernmentsecuritiesintoJPMorganChase&Co’s emerging market index on Friday, foreign investors have already poured in nearly $8 billioninthebondmarketinthefirsthalfof2024. The inflows are significantly higher compared to last year, but this is just the beginning as experts expect the domestic bond market to attract nearly $30 billion inflows over the next 10months.Thenetinvestmentsbyforeignportfolioinvestors(FPIs)inthedomesticdebtmarket wasjust$2.1billioninthefirsthalfof2023. “Given the inflows of $11.2 billion since theannouncement,wecouldseeanother$30 billion spread over the next 10 months, or around $3 billion per month on an average,” analysts, including Danny Suwanapruti at Goldman Sachs,said in a note. Continued on Page 7 Continued on Page 7 *Total project cost inclusive of government subsidy market valued at $2 billion, but the bigger pickings are in the export opportunity pegged at $40 billion. India’s companies have a $33-billion market locally while the export opportunityis nudging$30 billion. Randhir Thakur, managing director & CEO,Tata Electronics, says the vision is to becometheworldleaderinelectronicsmanufacturing by offering integrated solutions Trading plan norms relaxed for insiders INFLOWS IN H1 OF 2024 FPIs net investment in debt ($ bn) 26.3 2014 7.6 2015 2016 -6.5 23 2017 2018 -6.7 3.5 2019 2020 -13.9 2021 -1.5 2022 -2 2023 8.4 2024* 7.9 *up to June 25 Source: NSDL CHENNAI/KOCHI