OPINION, P8 MIND & GAMES WELL BEING The FM spoke but did she listen? Mathematicians, here comes alphaproof COMMON SUMMER FOOD MYTHS YOU MUST KNOW Artificial intelligence is getting good at math, and how Page 9 Are there any food items that you should banish from your diet in hot weather, or some that you should incorporate? Page 6 ACROSS THE AISLE, P CHIDAMBARAM VOL. XX, NO. 49 LEISURE Follow us on Twitter & Facebook. App available on App Store & Play Store WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM 5 COURSE WITH... FINANCIAL EXPRESS ON SUNDAY KOLKATA SUNDAY, AUGUST 4, 2024, 16 Pages, `12 (NE States & Andaman `13) 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 A T A , L U C K N O W , BOUTIQUE BOUQUET ● Focus on small properties with niche IHCL: SeleQtions has 36 hotels; 14 more under development experiences, locations BLOOMBERG August 3 AMERICAN LENDERS ARE seeking F&O: Retail investors’ participation rises 3x during January-June 2024, compared to a net outflow of `7,300 crore in the corresponding period of 2023. Their net investments in equity options soared 57% to `37,265 crore in the same period. Compiled by Kishor Kadam 700 26,372 4,900 12,540 -3,900 April May 56,297 16,600 Total 1,601 March 2023 2024 -26,909 Feb -2,300 11,772 3,900 30,921 13,300 NSE F&O market: Retail investors' net investments (` cr) June NSE cash market: Retail investors' net investments (` cr) 2024 Jan March April May 15,004 -6,100 10,504 -11,500 13,769 -3,500 -8,862 25,047 Feb -4,600 -10,600 91,845 Total 5,700 36,383 9,400 2023 June to freeze the assets of Riju Ravindran,a suspended director of troubled educational tech firm Byju’s, arguing his cash should be used to pay them, and not debt owed to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). GLASTrustCompany,thetrustee for lenders owed $1.2 billion, has asked a US bankruptcy judge to block Riju Ravindran, brother of Byju’s founder-CEO Byju Raveendran,from paying the cricket board more than $19 million in order to clear an insolvency case in front of the National Company Law AppellateTribunal (NCLAT). “Too often, Ravindran, who chose to serve as a director in Delaware, has improperly attempted to use his residence abroadto avoidaccountabilityfrom theUScourts,”lawyersforGLASsaid in a court filing on Thursday night in Wilmington,Delaware. The lenders are on the cusp of winning a judgment against Ravindran, who has been accused of helping hide $533 million while he was a director of a Byju’s unit incorporated in Delaware. US bankruptcy judge John Dorsey has alreadyruled against Ravindran on a number of issues and concluded the Byju’s manager was either “untruthful” or “the most incompetent officer or director of a company in Delaware’s history”. Should the judge side with lenders, they could use the court order to demand that Ravindran's banks freeze his funds.The lenders also want Dorsey to order the cricket board to refuse to accept the money. ■ Lenders on cusp of winning judgment against Riju Ravindran ■ Riju accused of helping hide $533 mn while he was a director of Byju’s unit incorporated in Delaware ■ US bankruptcy judge has already ruled against Ravindran on a number of issues ■ Riju 'most incompetent officer or director of company in Delaware’s history', judge had concluded ArepresentativeofByju’sdidnot reply to a request for comment. GLAS tried unsuccessfully to convince the NCLATto block Ravindran from paying off the cricket board. That prompted the court earlier this week to ask Ravindran to reveal the source of the cash. Ravindran told the court onThursday that the money was from the sale of various assets. NCLAT sided with Ravindran and on Friday quashed an insolvency order issued bya lower court. Earlier this week, a judge in Delaware, where the main legal action against Byju’s is taking place, ordered Ravindran to pay $10,000 a day until he helps locate the $533 million. Ravindran has been at the centre of a nearly two-year-old fight over the missing cash, which lenders say should be returned to them after the company defaulted. Continued on Page 2 country’s largest lender, on Saturdayannouncedamarginal1%yearon-year(y-o-y) increaseinnetprofit to `17,035 crore for the June quarter, impacted by rise in provisions for non-performing assets (NPAs). The lender surpassed street expectations as Bloomberg estimates had peggedtheprofitsat`16,595crore. Total provisions of the bank rose 38%y-o-yto `3,449.42crorewhile loan loss provisions surged 70% to `4,518 crore during the quarter. “There was an increase in provisions due to ageing of loans.Wewill get to see improvement in interest margins from the second quarter onwards,” said chairman Dinesh Khara in an earnings call. Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and paid, rose 5.7% to `41,125.5 crore in the June quarter of the current fiscal from `38,905 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal. The net interest margin (NIM) of the lender shrunk to 3.35% in the ONTHE EVE of the biggest match of his life, the Olympic semifinal against World No. 2 Viktor Axelsen, Indian badminton starLakshya Sen has his entire family camped at an apartment close to Port de la ChapelleArena,with“home-cooked meals”andsmoothiesdispatchedto him everyday. The secret sauce for Lakshya,the firstIndianmantoreachthelast-four stage of the Olympics badminton competition,ishismotherNirmala’s cooking. This, surprisingly, isn’t always Indian food as Lakshya has borrowed ideas from what his contemporaries from the FarEast eat. Nirmala, coordinating with the nutritionist, has made the mildly D E L H I , P U N E spiced chicken noodle broth his staple lunch. Be it at Marseilles,where hewas based at for a fortnight before the Olympics, or now in Paris this last week, Lakshya has been able to have customised meals just like he does when in Bengaluru,thanks to his mother who has travelled with him for over a month along with father Dhirendra Kumar and brother Chirag. A training day back in Bengaluru typically sees him eat 6-7 moderate meals.“Lunchisnoodlesoup,chicken and vegetables cooked in stock. Sometimes,itwas chicken steak and sometimes pastawith chicken,” Lakshya had told The Indian Express before the Olympics.“My nutritionist,mymotherand Iwork together.” The diet is tweaked only for sup- Lakshya Sen is on the cusp of history as he faces World No. 2 Viktor Axelsen in the semi-finals of the men’s singles badminton on Sunday AP same intention.With two Mementoes properties in Jaipur and Udaipur, the idea is to offer luxury getaways that take guests away from the bustle of a big resort and extend curated offerings instead. Storii properties tap locations big brands usually skip, like Solan, Dharamsala and Sirmaur. With lower price points than Mementoes, Storii is affordable, yet offers travellers new locations and unique experiences with the ITC brand value. As Taljinder Singh, senior vicepresident,IHCL,toldFE:“Experienceled tourism is becoming the norm.” Continued on Page 2 Q1FY24 0.89 Q1FY25 4.6 4.5 5.7 Net interest margin (%) 3.47 3.35 firstquarterfrom3.47%inthesame quarterofthepreviousyear.“Effortis theretoprotectNIMasmuchaspossible. My expectation is that we should be in a position to operate between3.2%and3.4%,”Kharasaid. Khara, whose tenure as chairman is ending in a few weeks, said his wish was to see the bank generatingnetprofitof`1trillion."Ihope wewill get to see it bythe end of the 2024-25 financial year,"he said. “In the pastfouryears,wegenerated net profit of over `1.6 trillion, higher than the net profit of `1.4 trillion in the past 60years,"he said. Its advances grew by 15.39% year-on-yearto `38.12 trillion as of June-end, driven by a healthy growth in SME and agriculture loans. The deposits grew by 8.18% year-on-yearto `49.01 trillion as of June-end.The current account saving account (CASA) ratio fell to 40.70% as on June 30, from 42.88% a year ago and 41.11% sequentially. Non-interest income fell 7.5% to `11,162 crore in the June quarter. The asset quality of the country’s largest lender showed some improvement with its gross nonperforming assets (NPA) ratio of the bank at 2.21% of total loans as of June 30, as compared to 2.76% as of June 30, 2023, according to an SBI statement. Continued on Page 2 PM: Food-surplus India now aiding global food security SANDIP DAS New Delhi, August 3 PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA Modi onSaturdaysaidIndiahasbecomea food-surplus country and is now providing solutions for achieving globalfoodandnutritionalsecurity. “India’s food securitywas a matter of concern for the world but today India is providing solutions for global food and nutrition security,”Modi said atthe 32ndInternational Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE) in New Delhi. Modi said India is the largest producerof milk,pulses and spices, and the second-largest producer of foodgrain,fruit,vegetables,cotton, sugar,tea and farmed fish. He said when the conference was hosted for the first time in India,the countryhad just achieved Lakshya’s secret ingredient: Mother’s noodle soup SHIVANI NAIK & AMIT KAMATH Mumbai, August 3 (` cr) % chg y-o-y 6,625 6,922 How risky trading influenced by social media can be a major disruptive force FACING THE HEAT STATE BANK OF INDIA (SBI), the REPORT CARD Fee income ● US backers ask Riju’s money should be used to pay them SACHIN KUMAR Mumbai, August 3 25,297 26,449 Influencing the markets Jan N E W SBI net profit flat at 1% on higher provisions for NPAs Operating profit ■ WORDS WORTH, P4 include 14 resorts under its marketing and distribution network. ITC launched two brands, Mementoes and Storii, with the 41,125 How is the investor interest in the pilgrimage city six months after the grand opening of Ram Mandir Byju’s lenders seek to block BCCI payment hotelswith 14 moreunderdevelopment. IHCL also signed a strategic alliancewithboutiquebrandTreeof Life Resorts & Hotels in February to 38,905 Ayodhya shining? India’sbiggesthospitalitybrand, Indian Hotels Company launched the SeleQtions brand in 2019, which has grown to a size of 36 Marriott: One Tribute in Bengaluru, two in Kochi, with another signed for Ballard Estate in Mumbai 16,884 ■ SPOTLIGHT, P5 ITC: Mementoes: Jaipur, Udaipur IHCL: Alliance with boutique brand Tree of Life Resorts & Hotels for marketing 14 resorts IMMERSIVE, HYPERLOCAL, EXPERIENTIAL. That’s what discerning travellers want,and that’s what the hospitality industry is giving them in good measure with boutique hotels.Once a distinct and separate entity, small boutique properties are now an important part of the portfolio of big hotel brands too. ITC: Storii: Solan, Dharamsala, Sirmaur, Mandi, Goa, Kolkata Net profit IVINDER GILL New Delhi, August 3 Retail investors' participation in the NSE F&O segment rose over three-fold, with net investments jumping 239% y-o-y to `56,297 crore in the first six months of 2024. They bought net equity futures worth `19,032 crore M U M B A I , For big hotel brands,boutique is beautiful WHAT'S INSIDE Net interest income F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , READ TO LEAD 17,035 P U B L I S H E D Chef Kunal Kapur on his restaurants, new culinary trends, and more Page 7 plements,withhisphysiocheckingin hourlyon his hydration. Lakshya’s coach Vimal Kumar, upon reaching France ahead of the Olympics,hadsaid:“Wehaveensured that his mother is close by so that he feels comfortable.” Viren Rasquinha, head of Olympic Gold Quest (operations) which supports Lakshya, had saidearlierthisweek:“Hismotherhas travelled and has been cooking for him daily.Itwas important that duringabigevent,hewasinthebestpossible frame of mind.” Nirmala has ensured that his pre-and post-match meals have been on the dot,knowing that Lakshya tended to stay skinny and get injured because his intake didn't match his energy expended. Continued on Page 2 PM NARENDRA MODI 90% OF SMALL FARMERS OF INDIA OWN LITTLE LAND BUT ARE THE BIGGEST STRENGTH OF INDIA’S FOOD SECURITY independence, and it was a challenging time forthe country’s agriculture and food security.The conference returns to India after 65 years, with the 10th ICAE held in Mysore in 1958. Stating that agriculture is at the centre of India’s economic policies, Modi said 90% of the small farmers of India own little land but are the biggest strength of India’s food security. Continued on Page 2 GST BODY CLOSING `4,000-CR PRE-SHOW CAUSE NOTICE ON TAX EVASION: INFOSYS INFOSYS ON Saturday said the Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI) is closing the pre-show cause notice proceedings for the financial year 2017-2018 worth `3,898 crore, reports FE Bureau. On July 31, Infosys received a demand for alleged tax evasion of over `32,000 crore from the DGGI. “The company has received a communication from DGGI closing the preshow cause notice proceedings for the financial year 2017-2018. The GST amount as per the pre-show cause notice for this period was `3,898 crore,” Infosys said in an exchange filing. A DGGI report revealed non-payment of integrated goods and services tax on services received from the company's overseas branches between July 2017 and 2021-22. Therefore, an amount worth `28,000 crore pertaining to FY22 still remains under consideration by the authorities. On August 1, the IT major said Karnataka state authorities had withdrawn the pre-show cause notice it received a day earlier and directed the company to submit further responses to the DGGI related to the issue. YAMINI KRISHNAMURTHY DIES AT 83 YAMINI KRISHNAMURTHY, a pioneer in Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi, with equal proficiency in Odissi, passed away on Saturday afternoon following a prolonged illness. She was 83 and had been in and out of the hospital for the past year. ■ PAGE 16 Kolkata