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APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM VOL 33 NO. 249, 28 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 READ TO LEAD SENSEX: 80,905.30 ▲ 102.44 NIFTY: 24,770.20 ▲ 71.35 NIKKEI 225: 37,951.80 ▼ 111.12 HANG SENG: 17,391.01 ▼ 120.07 `/$: 83.93 ▼ 0.14 `/€: 93.31 ▼ 0.51 BRENT: $77.52 ▲ $0.32 GOLD: `71,417 ▼ `259 IN THE NEWS ENFORCEMENTSTEPS SHOULD BETHE LAST RESORT: FMTO I-T FINANCE MINISTER NIRMALA Sitharaman on Wednesday told income tax officials that enforcement measures should be “a last resort” and there should not be any action against taxpayers that is “disproportionate” to the issue concerned. Speaking at an event to mark the 165th Income Tax Day, she also asked officials to keep the language of I-T notices ‘simple’. ■ PAGE 2 JULY E-WAY BILLS AT RECORD HIGH OF NEARLY 105 MN E-WAY BILLS GENERATED in July by businesses for the movement of goods touched a record high of 104.86 million, surpassing the previous high of 103.55 million achieved in March this year, reports Saikat Neogi. ■ PAGE 2 DEBENTURE TRUSTEE REGULATIONS: SEBI MOOTS CHANGES SEBI ON WEDNESDAY proposed certain changes to norms related to debenture trustees. A consultation paper has been issued to provide clarity on the term 'pecuniary relationship' of debenture trustee with the issuer. Stakeholders can submit comments till September 11. ■ PAGE 14 FE S P E C I A L S DISBURSALS MAY MORE THAN DOUBLE `15K-cr PLI sops likely this fiscal PRASANTA SAHU New Delhi, August 21 THE GOVERNMENT MAY double the disbursements under production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes in this fiscal to nearly `15,000 crore. This would be more than double the amount of `6,800 crore disbursed to various sectors in FY24. The combined investments under the PLI schemes had hit `1.3 lakh crore at the end of May,according to official estimates. The PLI schemes were launched in 2021, covering as many as 14 sectors.However,only `9,721 crore or 5% of the `1.95-lakh-crore incentives earmarked for them was disbursed till March 2024. The government is undertaking a revamp of the PLI schemes by relaxing the norms for the release of funds by accepting applications for the release of incentives every quarter, compared to the earlier norm of annual releases of the funds. Of the `14,837 crore estimated release of incentives in FY25,the large-scale electronics manufacturing sector, mainly mobile manufacturers, will account for a lion’s share of `6,044 crore or 41% of the total disbursals. Telecom andnetworking productfirms are estimated to get `3,434 crore or 23%, followed by pharma firms at about `2,000 crore or 13%.Four sectors — automobiles and auto components, advance chemistry cell, textile products, and speciality steel — may receive some incentives for the first time in FY25. Under PLI, firms would have to meet multiple criteria like investment, production, localisation and incremental sales to qualify for the incentives. Another issue that is hurting the PLI schemes is the cumbersome procedure to claim incentives.For example,in the auto and The story-driven game allows players to collect clues and solve cases ■ EFE, P11 Why the IPO journey needs to be smoother The IPO filing process can be made more efficient without compromising on the essentials ■ EXPLAINER, P11 Minister accuses Amazon, others of predatory pricing MUKESH JAGOTA New Delhi, August 21 PLI incentive disbursements (` crore) 2,921 14,837 6,800 FY23 FY25 Estimate FY24 Performance of PLI schemes (` lakh crore) Investment Direct employment 1.28 547,769 10.81 Production/sales (Till May 2024) COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday questioned the business practices of global e-commerce giants like Amazon in India, accusing them of using corporate structures to circumvent rules and indulging in predatory pricing while taking on huge losses. “WhenAmazon sayswewill be investing $1 billion in India and we celebrate, Continued on Page 9 "WE WILL END UP BECOMING A COUNTRY OF COUCH POTATOES, WATCHING OTT AND HAVING FOOD AT HOME EVERY DAY" we forget the underlying story.Those billion dollars are not coming for any great service or investment to support the Indian economy. They made a billion-dollarloss in theirbalance sheet thatyear.Theyhave to fill in the loss (from discounted sales),”the ministersaid at the release of a report called Net Impact of e-commerce on Employment and ConsumerWelfare in India. “The loss of `6,000 crore ayearsmells of predatory pricing,”Goyal said. “And how did that loss get caused? Theypaid `1,000 crore to professionals.I do not know who these professionals are...I would love to know which chartered accountants, professionals or lawyers get `1,000 crore unless you are paying all the top lawyers to block them so that nobody can fight a case against you,”the Union minister added. Continued on Page 9 iPhones ring in record mobile exports $6.49-bn phones shipped from India in April-July RISHI RAJ New Delhi, August 21 telecom equipment PLIs, the products will be tested against mandatory benchmarks by the administrative departments, which are illequipped to handle these issues,officials said. Experts at Crisil observed that sectors with a higher incentive-to-sales ratio and relatively straightforward rules for payouts such as mobile handsets may see the most payouts byfiscal 2028.However,at least eight sectors would see incentive payouts stretch until fiscal 2030. PIYUSH GOYAL, COMMERCE & INDUSTRY MINISTER MOBILE PHONE EXPORTS from India continue to grow at a rapid pace. Led by iPhones,mobilephoneexportsforthefirst four months of the current fiscal —AprilJuly — have touched $6.49 billion,a jump of 39% over the same period last fiscal. Mobile phone exports also saw an increase of 159% over FY23, showing a steady growth after the announcement of the smartphone PLI scheme. In FY23, mobile exports for the first four months totalled $2.5 billion, while in FY24, they reached $4.67 billion. RAPID RISE ■ iPhone exports ■ Apr-July $1 billion mobile phone exports surge 159% exceeded for fourth straight month this fiscal over same period in FY23 ■ InJuly, total exports crossed $1.6 bn, a 68% growth over last year ■ Samsung contributed nearly 23%; remaining 7% from other sources For July, the total exports crossed $1.6 billion, registering a 68% growth over the same month last year, when mobile exports clocked in $951 million for the month. Apple’s iPhone exports exceeded $1 billion for the fourth month running in the current fiscal. This is the first time since the launch of the PLI scheme that Apple’s iPhone exports have continuouslycrossed the $1-billion mark each month. With total iPhone exports from India for the first four months hitting $4.5 billion, iPhone exports alone constitute close to 70% of the total mobile exports from India during the four-month period. According to industry figures, Samsung has contributed close to 23% and the remaining 7% is from other sources, including a small fraction from Padget. Continued on Page 9 Alcohol,gambling ads on Meta from Aug 27 PALLABI DEY PURKAYASTHA Mumbai, August 21 Detective Dotson: Can it be India’s 1st video game hit? E-commerce boom in India a matter of concern: Goyal ALCOHOL COMPANIES AND real money gambling operators have a reason to cheer. Meta has announced that starting August 27, itwill permit the promotion and marketing of alcoholandreal-moneygambling on itsWhatsApp Business platform. “We are excited to announce that starting August 27, 2024, businesses in India,APAC (Asia Pacific), and LATAM (Latin America) can onboard the WhatsApp platform for messaging in the following verticals: a) alcohol; b) over-thecounter products (prescription drugs and medical devices are still prohibited); c)realmoneygambling,”read a company statement being circulated on social media. While Meta is yet to announce the details, industry experts say most of communication will happen one-on-one between brands and their audiences. Meta’s move is surprising, given that the government is preparing to introduce sweeping rules thatwill expand the ban on surrogate advertising that liquor brands have used to market their products. Advertising alcoholic beverages is banned in India as per the Cable Television Network (Regulation)Amendment Bill, which came into effect in the year 2000. In June 2022, the Central Consumer Protection Authority of India banned surrogate advertising under its Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements,2022. Also, the transparency section on the Meta website states: “Ads that promote orreference alcohol must comply with all applicable local laws, required or established industry codes,guidelines,licences and approvals, and include age and countrytargetingcriteriaconsistentwith Meta’s targeting requirements and applicable local laws. Note that our policies prohibit ads promoting or referencing alcohol in some countries,based on local law.” Effortsto contact multipleofficialsat Meta did not receive a response till the time of going to the press. Continued on Page 9 Size of online market less than 1% of total meat & seafood business Meat startups take slow-cooking route to expand offline presence S SHANTHI Bengaluru, August 21 ENCOURAGED BYTHE massive size of the wet market in India, online meat and seafood delivery startups have started taking the offline route. But just like slow-cooked meat which tastes better,the online players are adopting a slow and steady approach for their offline foray. Accordingtoindustryestimates,thesize of the online meat and seafood industry at `2,500-3,000 crore is less than 1% of the overallmeatandseafoodmarket.Theoverall mood among online players seems to be that while an offline foray is inevitable, cracking a highly unorganised market would be a time-consuming process. The leaderin the segment,Licious,currently has one offline store and will be opening the second store bythe end of this month. However, it is looking to scale that up to 25 offline stores by the end of FY25, mostly in Bengaluru.“The objective to do offline is not to do it very fast. We want to go slow and steady and ride on consumer experience,” co-founder Vivek Gupta told FE. As of today, over 80% of Licious’ sales A MEATY CHALLENGE ■ Gurugram-based Meatigo to only have the online format ■ Venturing into offline retail has several challenges, say online meat & seafood firms ■ Licious currently has 1 offline store, to open the second byAug end ■ It’s aiming to have 25 offline stores by FY25 end, mostly in Bengaluru happen on its company-owned D2C channel and the rest come from marketplaces and quick commerce platforms. Additionally,the companybelieves that the offline category comes with certain nuances such as selection, cold chain, service experience,customer experience,and inventory management, among others, that they need to master first. “It has taken eight years to perfect onlineandgettoastagewhereweareready todecentralise.So,webelieveweneed todo ■ FreshToHome opened 5 stores in Bengaluru in 2021 ■ FreshToHome currently has over 45 stores across the country, as per reports this for a long time ourselves,”Abhay Hanjura,co-founder,Licious,added. Licious’ competitor FreshToHome made an offline foray in 2021 with five stores in Bengaluru. According to reports, it currently has more than 45 stores across the country.It has raised over $290 million to date, including its $104million Series D round led by Amazon SambhavVenture Fund last year. Continued on Page 9 Kolkata