BACK PAGE, P20 COMPANIES, P5 INTERNATIONAL, P6 IIM-A RANKED BEST B-SCHOOL OPTIMISED PRICING PUSH TESLA STILL LOBBIES FOR BENEFITS IIT Madras is the top institute, IISc best university Air India eyes 50% growth in ancillary revenue in FY25 Musk embraces Trump, a candidate who vows to end EV mandate KOLKATA, TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL 33 NO. 242, 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: 79,648.92 ▼ 56.99 NIFTY: 24,347 ▼ 20.50 NIKKEI 225: 35,025 ▲ 193.85 HANG SENG: 17,111.65 ▲ 21.42 `/$: 83.97 ▼ 0.02 `/€: 91.75 ▼ 0.08 BRENT: $80.66 ▲ $1.00 GOLD: `69,677 ▲ `441 Funds linked to Buchs part of N E W S Broadcasting Bill structure under Sebi probe IN THE STAKEHOLDERS TOLD TO RETURN COPIES BHARTI TO PICK UP 24.5% IN BT WORTH $4 BN to go back to the drawing board BHARTI GLOBAL, THE international investment arm of Bharti Enterprises, will pick up a 24.5% stake in BT Group, Britain’s largest broadband and mobile company, from Altice UK, reports Jatin Grover. Though Bharti did not disclose the transaction size, the deal at the current market price is likely to be valued around $4 billion, making it one of the biggest outbound deals struck by an Indian company. “I think it's a very attractive buy. Given the cash flows from BT, we believe it's going to be a good and a long-term investment,” said Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal. ■ PAGE 4 VODA IDEA'S LOSS NARROWS, ARPU FLATAT `146 VODAFONE IDEA'S NET loss for the AprilJune quarter narrowed to `6,432 crore from `7,674 crore in the preceding quarter, owing to the fall in expenses, reports Jatin Grover. Arpu remained flat at `146 due to the absence of tariff hikes. ■ PAGE 4 INDIA SETTO CLOSE IN ON CHINAAS EM STOCK ANCHOR INDIA IS POISED to narrow the gap with China in MSCI’s gauge for developing nations, reports Bloomberg. Analysts expect India’s weight in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index to rise by at least one percentage point to bring the country almost on par with China. ■ PAGE 7 GUIDELINES FOR DEPOSIT-TAKING HFCs TIGHTENED THE RBI ON Monday released revised rules for deposit-taking housing finance companies, requiring them to maintain 15% liquid assets against public deposits held by them in a phased manner, up from 13% at present, reports Sachin Kumar. ■ PAGE 10 Concerns over bringing social media creators under regulatory ambit JATIN GROVER New Delhi, August 12 THE MINISTRY OF information and broadcasting (I&B) on Monday withdrew the latest draftoftheBroadcastingServices(Regulation) Bill,2024,which had attracted a fair degree of criticism for reportedly proposing to bring online content creators under the purview of licensing or registration,if their reach crossed a particularthreshold. The latest draft Bill was so far not put in publicdomain,butwassharedwithstakeholders seeking theircomments.The draftwas in a watermarkedformattopreventanyleakageof the copy. Sources said that stakeholders were supposedtosendtheirresponsesbyAugust28. However,nowtheyhave been informed to return the draft and not send in theirsuggestions.Though the draft Bill sought to re-look at the entire broadcasting space afresh, the aspect which was seen as government overreach was the provisions relating to online content creators, influencers, etc, on social mediaplatformslikeYouTube,Instagram,etc, if their viewership crossed a certain threshold. In such caseS, these creators and influencerswouldhave topre-certifytheircontent through a content evaluation committee. This was seen as a kind of censorship by ana- ■ The Bill proposes to designate news influencers as digital news broadcaster, and other creators as OTTBroadcasting Service ■ Sparked concerns over freedom of speech given the govtwill get to regulate the independent creators ■ There have also been concerns over theway consultationwas being conducted on the draft Bill ■ The govt had not shared the draft publicly but with some stakeholders in a watermarked format MAURITIUS-BASED IPE PLUS Fund 1, whichisatthecentreofthecontroversysurrounding Madhabi Puri Buch and her husbandDhavalBuchnotonlyhadinvestments by Vinod Adani, but was also part of the investment structure used bytwo of the 13 overseas funds being probed bythe Sebi for opaque fund flows into Adani Group companies since 2016-17. Information from multiple sources, includingcorporaterecords,theconsortium ofOrganizedCrimeandCorruptionReporting Project (OCCRP) and additional information made available by Hindenburg Research, show that the investments by Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband in 2015 are clearly linked to the fund which hadsignificantinvestmentsbyVinodAdani. Ascrutinyoftheweboffundsandinvestments also reveals that the parent fund (GlobalOpportunitiesFund)ofthesub-fund (Global Dynamic Opportunities Fund) where Buch invested,was administered by TridentTrust Company(Mauritius). THE WEB OF TRANSACTIONS SEBI PROBING Investors in Adani stocks Emerging India Focus Fund EM Resurgent Fund Declared beneficial owner TridentTrust company (Mauritius) Administered by VINODADANI MADHABI PURI BUCH & DHAVALBUCH Set up in 2010 AssentTrade and Investment Pvt Ltd Subscribes to inAug 2013 By May 2012 moved $100 mn Global Opportunities Fund Invested in 2015 Global Dynamic Opportunities Fund Operated by IIFLCapital Pte Ltd Sub-fund IPE Plus Fund 1 Continued on Page 10 Agora Advisory earned Nothing to add to what Sebi and Buch said: Seth `2.4 cr in three years lysts and media observers. According to sources, the I&B ministry is nowlikelytoconsultinternallyandinformally withtheindustryovercertainclausesandthen maycome upwith a revisedversion of the Bill. AGORA ADVISORY, IN which Sebi chairperson MadhabiPuriBuchheldastakeof99%tillMarchend, has shown revenues from operation of `2.4 crore in the past three years, reports Akshata Gorde.The firm and its Singapore affiliate have been caught in the crossfire between US short-seller Hindenburg Research and Adani Group. However, the revenues of Agora Advisory have been on the decline. PAGE 7 A DAY AFTER the Sebi and its chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch defended themselves in separate statements amid allegations by Hindenburg, a seniorgovernment official said it had“nothing to add on the matter”, reports fe Bureau.“Both of them,the concerned person aswell as the regulator,have made the statements and there is nothing further to be added by the government,” economic affairs secretaryAjaySeth said. PAGE 7 INSIDE Buch response raises new questions, says Hindenburg PAGE 7 Adani Group m-cap falls by over $15 bn, recovers later PAGE 7 Bid to discredit markets: BJP PAGE 7 Continued on Page 10 Retail inflation cools, IIP falls RETAILINFLATION FELLto a 59-month low of 3.54% in July, due to high base, even as it sequentially inched up. Core inflation rose to a five-month high of 3.4%.Analysts see headline print staying comparatively lower in Q2, in tune with the RBI's projection of 4.4%.The RBI is widely expected to hold rates in the next two policy reviews too. Factory output growth, as measured by the IIP, moderated to a five-month low of 4.2% in June from 6.2% in May. Food share in CPI basket may fall by little over 5 percentage points ■ Page 2 (% change, y-o-y) 12 CPI CPI core IIP CPI food 8 11.51 The need for small modular reactors 4.2 Feb 5.6 5.42 Mar 7.44 5.5 6 4 (% change, y-o-y) Jan 2024 10 EXPLAINER ■ PAGE 9 CONTENT CONTROL JAY MAZOOMDAR & SANDEEP SINGH New Delhi/Mumbai, August 12 3.54 Apr 3.4 4.9 May 2 July 2023 July 2024 Source: Mospi Jun 5.0 6.2 4.2 BRANDS QUEUE UP FOR 21-YEAR-OLD AMAN SEHRAWAT This ‘underdog’ is having his day ALOKANANDA CHAKRABORTY New Delhi, August 12 AMAN SEHRAWAT, THE only one among India's six-memberwrestling team in Paris to clinch a medal, is grappling with a new challenge back home — choosing the best fitfromthequeueofbrandsathisdoorstep. Fromcategoriesasdiverseaspainrelief, insurance,dairy,apparel&footwear,energy drinks and PVC pipes,a dozen brands have already reached out to IOS Sports & Entertainment (IOSSE),the talent management outfit that signed up Sehrawat just three months before his Olympic campaign. IOSSErefusedtocommentonthedeals in the works but said what the 21-year-old brings to the table is “strength,youth and a tremendous backstory”. “Sehrawatofferstheperfectblendof inspiration and relatability for brands,” says Ramya Chatterjee, CEO & director of Prointek GlobalInnovations. Interestingly,Sehrawat didn’t have a single brand endorsement dealbeforeAugust9. Now he stands to rakein`50-60lakhperendorsementdeal, as per the industry estimates. “Fans are moreengagedwithathleteswhoareonthe ■ Adozen brands rise,especiallyyoungeraudienceswhofolreach out to the low the athlete and root for him/her,”says bronze medal AnjaliChopraassociateprofessor,Marketwinner's talent management outfit ingandInternationalBusiness,KJSomaiya Institute of Management. By focusing on building a genuine and ■ The wrestler long-term partnership with Sehrawat, stands to rake in brands can position themselves as sup`50-60 lakh per portive allies in his athletic journey, says endorsement deal Chaaya Baradhwaaj, founder & MD, BC Web Wise.“This approach not onlycapitalises on the BRAND EXPERTS SAY current wave of enthusiMARKETERS LOVE AN asm but also demonstrates UNDERDOG STORY — THEY a commitment to the athARE PRE-PROGRAMMED lete beyond the spotlight.” TO HAVE ALLTHE Associatingwith a potential endorser early on is a ELEMENTS punt,well worth it.As medals TO GRAB multiply the athlete endorses ATTENTION many brands thereby limiting the impact,says Hemant Misra, founder, Magic Circle, and former CEO, Publicis Capital. THE GAMES EFFECT ■ Sehrawat didn't have a single brand endorsement contract before August 9 Continued on Page 10 Kolkata