OPINION, P8 WELL BEING Experts have consistently put spotlight on the use of digital devices & its impact on a good night’s rest Page 6 Look for things that you may not find MIND & GAMES A 2,200-year-old calculator could be world’s 1st analog computer Page 9 HOW SCREEN TIME IS AFFECTING YOUR SLEEP ACROSS THE AISLE, P CHIDAMBARAM A mysterious ancient computer’s purpose LEISURE Follow us on Twitter & Facebook. App available on App Store & Play Store WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM VOL XIX NO. 07 LIVING THE K-DREAM FINANCIAL EXPRESS ON SUNDAY B E N G A L U R U , C H E N N A I , H Y D E R A B A D , — Sonali Rani — Bhavik Sheth Continue funds to Startup India Seed Fund Scheme Require structured plan to reduce inflation for people earning less than `10 lakh pa Curbing dual tax on ESOPs could boost startups & incentivise professionals — Anuja Bhattacharjee — Aparna Dubey — Sarthak Bhadkamkar the government should continue to allocate funds to the Startup India SeedFundSchemetosupportearlystage startups, besides a decent budget allocation forinvestment in THE EPFO added 1.95 million net members in May, the highest since the first payroll data was issued in April 2018, a release issued by the labour ministry said, reports FE Bureau. ■ PAGE 3 Continued on Page 2 53 NIM ( in %) 4.1 3.5 Net NPA (in %) 0.3 0.39 9 bps 24 Net profit (` cr) -60 35 bps 11,952 16,175 Source: bank vasan Vaidyanathan, CFO, HDFC Bank, did not give any guidance on the NIM trajectory,going forward. The overall advances of the bank grew53%YoYto`24.86trillionason June, double than that of deposits, which grew 24% YoY to `23.79 trillion during the same period. The bank’s credit-deposit ratio (CD), 23.79 24.86 19.13 (` trn) therefore,was elevated at 103.5%104% in Q1. The CFO did not respond to a query on whether the lenderwill sell some of its loan portfolios, as indicated by some media reports,to trimdown the CD ratio. Continued on Page 2 Kotak Mahindra Bank net up 81% ■P3 290 shares deliver over 100% returns 113.2 110.7 107.2 105.5 101.1 Hitachi Energy NBCC IRFC Indus Towers Hindustan Zinc Compiled by Kishor Kadam 125.1 Continued on Page 2 Mazagon Dock statement on Saturday,theAssociation of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) said all the AMCs, their mutual funds and registrar and transferagents functionedwithout any impact. (YTD2024 return in %) 130.2 Continued on Page 2 Top gainers from BSE 500 Index Oil India While benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty have been creating new milestones in 2024 so far, 290 multibagger stocks have delivered returns of over 100%. The top gainers among the BSE 500 Index include Cochin Shipyard (up 276%), Rail Vikas Nigam (up 238%), and Oracle Financial Services (up 156%). While the benchmarks have gained up to 13% year-to-date in 2024, the broader indices BSE Midcap Index and BSE Smallcap Index have risen 25.6% and 23%, respectively. Realty (up 38.3%), telecom (up 37.6%), and oil & gas and auto (up 33.8% each) were the top sectoral gainers in YTD 2024. 142.4 cancelled any flights. Almost all flights were running one-three hours behind schedule on Friday. “We confirm that none of Air India flights on July 19 were cancelled on account of the worldwide outage of travel systems, though there were some delays due to the impact of the outage on airport services.Air India’s own IT infrastructure remained unaffected and continues to function as normal,”anAir India spokesperson said. 5 AMCs hit; bourses remain unaffected New Delhi: Mutual fund industry on Saturday said the outage in Microsoft services impacted five asset management companies (AMCs),which reported disruptions to some important functions but the issues were resolved during the day. In a Deposits 16.3 Bank on Saturday reported higherthan-expected net profit of `16,175 crore for the April-June quarter, up 35% on a year-on-year (YoY)basis.Thenetprofitwashigher than a Bloomberg consensus estimate of `15,652 crore.However,on a sequential basis it fell 2%. The bank’s profit-after-tax (PAT) was boosted by strong core income, andlowerprovisioning.Itsnetinterestincome—thedifferencebetween interestearnedandexpended—rose 26% YoY to `29,840 crore.The net interest margin (NIM),a key indicator of lenders’ profitability, was at 3.5% in the first quarter of FY25, lower than 4.1% a year ago. Srini- Aegis Logistics 2017 to encourage manufacturing and production of goods and services in India. As per the order,manufacturers making a product under the PLI schemewillbe deemed Class II local supplier of that item unless they have local content equal to or more than the Class I local supplier. This concession to PLI will be applicable for a limited period which will be specified by the ministry running a particular PLI scheme. Change (in %) (` trn) 152.9 ■ Supply of repackaged, refurbished, rebranded imported goods pegged as selling imported products Q1FY25 Advances Q1FY24 HUDCO royalties paid out ofIndia to be excluded Globally, aviation worst-hit; rush to restore normalcy ■ P16 Punch sold 193,373 units during thesameperiod—atamonthlyaverage of a whopping 16,114 units. Sales of the Exter aren’t poor by any yardstick—it sells more than most models in India—but the Punch has performed exceedingly well, and during January-June 2024, it was India’s largest selling car overall, having sold 110,308 units.Infact,inthepastfivemonths (February-June 2024), the Punch 2024 18,238 93,662 Jun 18,949 EXTER Total sales 6,908 7,697 May 19,158 7,756 Apr Mar 18,438 17,547 8,475 7,582 8,229 14,383 13,787 7,516 15,317 2023 Feb on July 7 last year—has failed to topple Tata’s Punch even a year after its launch.Infact,itssales haven’t even touched half of Punch’s numbers. Data sourced from the industry showed that in the past one year (July 2023 to June 2024), the Exter has sold 93,662 units (at a monthly average of 7,805 units), while the Dec HYUNDAI’S EXTER MICRO-SUV—launched Nov VIKRAM CHAUDHARY New Delhi, July 20 8,325 1,93,373 UNIT COMPARISON 8,097 PUNCH Sales (July ‘23-June ‘24) Oct ● Exter, launched in July 2023, sells less than half of Punch 17,978 A year later, Hyundai fails to overtake Tata in micro-SUVs Sep EPFO ADDS RECORD 1.95 MILLION NET MEMBERS IN MAY to be excluded in calculating local content ■ All fees, Continued on Page 2 PRIVATE SECTOR MAJOR HDFC INSIDE Aug UPSC CHAIRMAN Manoj Soni has resigned citing personal reasons before the expiry of his tenure in May 2029, official sources said on Saturday. His resignation is "not in any way connected to” the Puja Khedkar issue, they said. ■ Imported inputs concern for his generation.“I hope thebudgetwillprioritisethestartup ecosystem,”said Bhadkamkar (22). PIYUSH SHUKLA Mumbai, July 20 AIRLINES ENSURING TRAVEL READJUSTMENTS; REFUNDS BEING TAKEN CARE OF 7,000 12,019 7,430 14,523 8,647 13,036 UPSC CHAIRMAN SONI RESIGNS OVER 'PERSONALREASONS' REDEFINING LOCAL REPORT CARD ● In-principle board approval for NBFC arm IPO K RAMMOHAN NAIDU CIVILAVIATION MINISTER Jul IN AN EFFORT to further push the MakeinIndiainitiative,thegovernment has tightened public procurement norms byexcluding imported inputs while calculating the local content in its purchase orders. In the latest revision to its Public Procurement (preference to Make in India) Order 2017, the Department for Promotion of Industryand InternalTrade (DPIIT) has also clarified that procurement and supply of repackaged, refurbished, rebranded imported products shall be treated as selling imported products. Even licence fee, royalties and technical fee paid out of India will be excluded while calculating local content.The most visible impact of this order will be seen in the government buying of IT and other technology products. This order will help the recent efforts of the government to boost local manufacturing of high-technology items and IT products through tariff protection and sops like the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme. The purchase preference orderwas first issued in graduate from Manipal Institute of TechnologyinKarnataka,feelsthere have been significant improvements in digital infrastructure but sustained job creation remains a 156.4 MUKESH JAGOTA New Delhi, July 20 affected Friday due to the global tech outage due to a system crash at Microsoftwere back to nearnormal on Saturday, though the industry continued to face cancellation of scheduled flights. Ticket booking and web checkin services resumed, while Digi Yatra was still down at a few airports.On Friday airlines had asked flyers to avoid making multiple booking attempts online afterconsumers complained of unsuccessful transactions. As per aviation data provider Cirium, India witnessed 75 cancellations of a total of 3,612 scheduled flights till 5.30 pm on Saturday. A statement issued by civil aviation minister K Rammohan Naidu on Saturday said: “Since 3 am (Saturday), airline systems across airports have started working normally.Flight operations are going smoothly now. We are constantly monitoring the operations at our airports.” He added that the airlines are ensuring travel readjustments and refunds are being taken care of. While around 200 IndiGo flightswere cancelled between July 19 and July 20,Air India,Akasa Air and SpiceJet claimed to not have skill development.” The Guwahati resident started a digital marketing and consultancy firm in 2019 after failing to secure a government job. Sarthak Bhadkamkar, a tech HDFC Bank beats estimates, PAT up 35% to `16,175 cr AIRLINE AND AIRPORT services Public procurement rules revised to boost local manufacturing P U N E Escalate financial support for training in hospitality domain Flights near normal; only 75 cancelled SWARAJ BAGGONKAR Mumbai, July 20 How India can optimise its ties with neighbouring Nepal D E L H I , Stronger workplace laws for gender equality, support for working moms needed MICROSOFT OUTAGE Himalayan connection N E W — Ritesh Agarwal BUDDING ENTREPRENEUR ANUJA Bhattacharjee desires for an inclusive budget,onewherevoices of the young are heard and aspirations considered,along with a promising future forstartups in India.Sharing her wishlist to empower young entrepreneurs,the28-year-oldsaid: “There have been sustained efforts to addressyouth-specific needs but ■ WORDS WORTH, P4 M U M B A I , Rural tourism, still largely untapped, can stimulate local economic growth VAISHALI DAR New Delhi, July 20 Diversity of languages and storytelling has made literature festivals India’s latest cultural export L U C K N O W , VOICING EXPECTATIONS RUN-UP TO THE 2024-25 Words for the world K O L K A T A , Youth wishlist: Ease of biz,skilling,women power BUDGET ■ SPOTLIGHT, P5 K O C H I , 238.3 WHAT'S INSIDE C H A N D I G A R H , Rail Vikas Nigam Oracle Financial Services F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , Jan P U B L I S H E D READ TO LEAD 276.0 SUNDAY, JULY 21, 2024, 16 Pages, `12 Cochin Shipyard AHMEDABAD Indian youngsters are riding on Hallyu, or Korean wave, in more ways than one Page 7 sold 92,330 units, just 1,332 units shy of what the Exter sold in a year. “When the Exter was launched, the Punch was already a two-yearold product, so Hyundai had the novelty factor, and yet it couldn’t make the most of it,” an industry veteran told FE. “Maybe not many people liked its offbeat and polarising design.The Punch,on the other hand, looks like a mini Harrier/ Safari,and has good road presence. It’s easy on the eye—a design most people can relate well to, and that’s possiblya bigreason forits success.” Since the time Exter was launched, sales of Punch have beengrowing—from12,019 units in July 2023 to more than 17,000 units every month in 2024. What also helped the Punch was that its electric variant arrived in January, giving it incremental numbers of 3,0004,000 units each month. Automotive analysts, however, said that instead of looking at these numbers as a Punch-versus-Exter rivalry,whatboththesemodelshave doneismakingmicro-SUVspopular. Continued on Page 2 Ahmedabad