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APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL 33 NO. 239, 38 PAGES, `12.00 (NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN `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: 78,886.22 ▼ 581.79 NIFTY: 24,117 ▼ 180.50 NIKKEI 225: 34,831.15 ▼ 258.47 HANG SENG: 16,891.83 ▲ 13.97 `/$: 83.96 ▼ 0.01 `/€: 91.75 ▼ 0.13 BRENT: $79 ▲ $0.67 GOLD: `68656 ▲ `17 SEBI PUTS LIMIT ON LARGE VALUE FUNDS’ TENURE EXTENSION MARKETS REGULATOR SEBI has amended alternative investment funds (AIF) norms specifying maximum permissible limit for extension of tenure by 'Large Value Funds', reports PTI In a notification, Sebi said a large value fund for accredited investors may be permitted to extend its tenure up to five years. ■ PAGE 7 PLEATO RESTRAIN BCCI SETTLEMENT WITH BYJU’S NIXED A US COURT has rejected GLAS Trust Company's application for a temporary restraining order aimed at blocking the BCCI settlement, edtech firm Byju's said on Thursday, reports PTI. ■ PAGE 4 IBBI ISSUES NEW GUIDELINES FOR CREDITOR PANELS THE INSOLVENCYAND Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has issued guidelines to be followed by the committee of creditors, which the aims to facilitate timely resolution and maximise the value of the corporate debtor's assets, reports Priyansh Verma. ■ PAGE 2 LIC Q1 NET PROFIT RISES 9% TO `10,461 CRORE LIFE INSURANCE CORPORATION on Thursday reported a 9% increase in standalone net profit for the June quarter at `10,461 crore beating Bloomberg estimates of `10,212 crore. ■ PAGE 7 FE S P E C I A L S Playing with a straight bat New advertising rules will hinder the industry’s growth in the short-term ■ BRANDWAGON, P9 Why Google Search is in the dock Despite losing the anti-trust case in the US, Google is very likely to retain its default status as the only meaningful search engine ■ EXPLAINER, P9 IS UNEVEN, SLOW: DAS Wait for pivot gets longer SACHIN KUMAR Mumbai, August 8 UPI tax payment now up to `5 lakh SHAKTIKANTA DAS, RBI GOVERNOR ITWAS A no-change monetary policy on Thursday, but the underlying messagefromReserveBankofIndia governor Shaktikanta Das was loud andclear:Themonetarypolicycommittee,hesaid,hastoremainvigilant topreventspilloversorsecondround effectsfrompersistentfoodinflation and “preserve the gains made so far in policycredibility.” This, in effect, means a pivot is still a long way off. “We can’t and should not become complacent merely because core inflation has fallen considerably,” Das said in his bi-monthlypolicystatement. Apart from a passing mention of “globalfinancialmarkets exhibiting volatility," Das chose to focus on domestic factors and getting headlineinflationtothe4%target.Inflationismoderating,but,asDasputit, thepaceofdisinflationisunevenand slow and there is still some distance before it aligns with the 4% target. “We need to be patient to finish the job at hand,”said Das. Continued on Page 7 THETAXPAYMENTlimitvia UPI has been raised from `1 lakh to `5 lakh pertransaction.It also allowed delegated payments through UPI. Delegated paymentswould allow an individual to set a UPI transaction limit foranotherindividual (secondaryuser) on the primary user’s bank account. “WE NEED TO BE PATIENT TO FINISH THE JOB (4% INFLATION TARGET) AT HAND” Cheque clearance within a few hours GROWTH, INFLATION FORECASTS UNCHANGED CPI inflation (in %) 7 GDP growth (in %) 5.4 6 8.2 8.1 8.6 7.8 7.1 Q1 4.5 FY24 6.4 FY25 (P) Q2 Q3 Q4 INSIDE Editorial: Buying time PAGE 8 Reading between the lines PAGE 8 Keeping tabs on global PAGE 8 events 4.9 5 4.4 4 IN A DEVELOPMENT which can be seen as a setback for the Hinduja Group, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Thursday directed IndusInd International Holdings (IIHL), a Hinduja Group entity, to deposit `2,750 crore in a special escrow account within 48 hours as part of Reliance Capital's resolution plan. The NCLT Mumbai bench passed the order while hearing a petition filed by the Hindujas seeking modification of the tribunal's July23 order and an extension to complete the obligations for implementing the resolution plan. As is known,IIHLwas the highest bidder for RCap, with an offer of `9,561 crore. On July 23, the NCLT directed IIHL to pay `2,750 crore of the offerbyJuly31.However,IIHLdid not pay the lenders on the ground that lenders should first meet some pre-conditions relating to the escrow account. For instance, IIHL had maintained that what is being referred to as escrow account, is actually not such an account. It's an account which has been opened by the committee of creditors (CoC). IIHL had maintained that byitsverybasic definition, an escrow account is an account where funds are held in a trustwhilst two ormore parties complete a transaction. This means a trusted third party will secure the Q2 7.2 7.3 7.2 7.2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 FY24 Source: RBI Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 FY25 NCLTgives 48-hour deadline to Hindujas forRCap deposit FE BUREAU Mumbai, August 8 Q1 4.4 4.6 3 (Projected) DIFFERENCES OVER ESCROWACCOUNT ■ IIHLwas the highest bidder for RCap, with an offer of `9,561 crore ■ The NCLT had directed IIHLto pay `2,750 crore ofthe offer by July 31 in a special escrow account ■ IIHLsought pre-conditions related to the escrow account to be met first ■ NCLT also said that the interest on the money in the escrow account will belong to the CoC ■ IIHL has also been asked to disclose the term sheet for `7,300 crore fundraising to the monitoring committee funds in a trust account. According to IIHL,in this case,the so called escrow account opened by CoC is nothing but a unilaterally ownedbankaccountwhichcannotbe calledanescrowaccountasitdoesnot satisfy any of the conditions required for opening such an account which is a bilateral/joint effort. FY26 Q1 (Projected) INDIA’S TOPTHREE family business’ interests valued at $460 billion, run by the second generation and beyond, is equivalent to the gross domestic product of Singapore, according to Barclays Private Clients Hurun India Most Valuable Family Businesses list, reports Swaraj Baggonkar. STANCE UNCHANGED FY24 VALUE OF TOP 3 BIZ FAMILIES ABOVE SINGAPORE GDP ● PACE OF DISINFLATION FY25 NEWS ● MPC KEEPS REPO RATE, FY26 IN THE 8.2 7.2 FY24 FY25 (P) THE RBIANNOUNCED measures forfast cheque clearance – bringing down the time taken to a few hours from two business days.It will implement continuous clearing of cheques underthe cheque truncation system,which currently operates in a clearing cycle of up to twoworking days. Public repository of lending apps cleared THECENTRALBANKhasproposeda publicrepositoryofdigitallending appstokeepacheckonunauthorisedentities.Therepository,which willbeavailableontheRBIwebsite, willaidborrowersinverifyingthe claimofdigitallendingapps'associationwithregulatedentities(REs). ■ Reports, Page 6 & 7 CCI dithers on final verdict in major cases No new probe initiated in over six months now MANU KAUSHIK New Delhi, August 8 THE COMPETITION COMMISSION of India (CCI) is yet to issue final orders in over 20 cases for over a year,even though anti-trust investigations are complete and the reports are available with the regulator. The commission has also not referred any new case to its probe division in the last more than six months, people privy to the regulator's operations told FE. In some cases where the Directorate General-Investigation at the CCI has submitted its reports, the regulator's board has sought more information from it, and in some other cases, it is seeking comments from the respective companies/associations, said an official. The official said that the pending cases with CCI include alleged antitrust misconduct of Apple, Amazon,Flipkart,Google,pharma associations, as also cement and tyre companies. The official said that in some cases, parties have moved courts. CCI members were not available for comments on the story. For several months till May 2023, when the CCI’s current chairperson Ravneet Kaur assumed charge,the regulator had SLOW MOVER ■ CCI is yet to issue its final orders in over 20 cases including highprofile ones ■ For several months till May 2023, the regulator had been sitting on probe reports, for lack of quorum ■ Pending caseswith CCI include alleged antitrust misconduct ofApple, Amazon and Flipkart ■ CCI has passed 43 orders in the past year & in most of these, the complaints have been dismissed been sitting on investigation reports, for lack of requisite quorum. However, the pace of decision-making hasn't made any major headway ever since, even though the commission currently consists of four members including the chairperson,which is more than the required strength to pass orders. To be sure, the regulator has passed as many as 43 orders in the past year; however, in most of these cases, the complaints have been dismissed, and very few are of large economic value. Continued on Page 7 REUTERS ● A NEW CHAPTER IN BANGLA POLITICS Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who was sworn in as the head of the caretaker government in Bangladesh on Thursday, on his arrival at the Hazarat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka."The country has the possibility of becoming a very beautiful nation," he said at the airport. ■ PAGE 16 Sharp fall in FMCG volume growth in June qtr, rural tops urban: Report THE `5-TRILLION domestic fast-moving consumergoods (FMCG) market sawa sharp decline in overall volume growth in the June quarter to 3.8% versus 7.5% a year ago and 6.5% in the March quarter as a consumption slowdown in food and non-food categories hurt demand, research agency NielsenIQ (NIQ) said on Thursday,reports Viveat Susan Pinto. Food,whichcontributes60%totheFMCGconsumption basket,sawavolume growth of 2.4% in the June quarterversus 8.5% reported a year ago and4.8%seenintheMarchquarter,NielsenIQsaid. Non-foodcategoriessloweddowntolevelsof7.6% in terms ofvolume growth in the June quarterversus5.3%ayearagoand11.1%sequentially. Overall,FMCGvaluegrowth,whichincludesvolume growth (3.8%) and price-led growth (0.2%), cameinat4%fortheJunequarter,thelowestinsix quarters. While rural volume growth outpaced urban forthe second quarterin a rowduringAprilJune,itwaslowerthantheMarch2024quarterdue tomacro-economicheadwinds,statedthereport. FMCG companies in general say that a high base effect is kicking in, prompting numbers to look optically lower in the June quarter this year versus last year. ■ PAGE 4 Continued on Page 7 Centre to treat capex loans to states as grants, says FM IN A goodwill gesture to states, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman onThursdaysaid the Centre may convert trillions of rupees given by the Centre to states may be converted into a‘grant’.Since the Centre launched the ‘Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure’ to help states post-Covid, it has released `2.17 trillion and is estimated to give another`1.5 trillion FY25,taking the total to `3.7 trillion during FY21-FY25. Unlike loans, grants are not repaid. ■ PAGE 2 Kolkata