BACK PAGE, P18 MARKETS, P6 BACK PAGE, P18 Time has come for interest rate cut, says Fed’s Powell Lower deposit growth not a challenge for SBI: Khara Harris accepts nomination, promises ‘new way forward’ CHENNAI/KOCHI, SATURDAY, AUGUST 24, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XLV 94, 18 PAGES, `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: 81,086.21 ▲ 33.02 NIFTY: 24,823.15 ▲ 11.65 NIKKEI 225: 38,364.27 ▲ 153.26 HANG SENG: 17,612.10 ▼ 28.90 `/$: 83.90 ▲ 0.05 `/€: 93.28 ▲ 0.24 BRENT: $78.68 ▲ $1.46 GOLD: `71,096 ▼ `283 IBC: AVERAGE TIME FOR RESOLUTION GETS LONGER THE AVERAGE TIME taken for the conclusion of the corporate insolvency resolution process has surged to 680 days, as of March, from 611 days a year ago, official data show, reports Priyansh Verma. This primarily reflects the huge backlog of cases that the NCLT is struggling to grapple with, say experts. ■ PAGE 2 20 YEARS OF IPO THE BEST CHAPTERS OFTHE TCS STORY YETTO BE WRITTEN, S RAMADORAI WRITES PAGE 4 FE S P E C I A L Why are we trying to slow the growth of electric vehicles? Ashok Jhunjhunwala of IIT Madras explains why hybrid argument doesn’t make sense in the age of EVs ■ MOTOBAHN, P9 Reliance Home Finance 4.69 Aug 22 (close) 4.9% 20 0 17.4 24.3 Q1FY20 Q1FY20 Q2FY24 Q1 Q2 Q3 FY23 While the inventory-to-sales ratio peaked at 113.8% in Q1FY21 during the heights of the Covid pandemic, it remained largely range-bound between 49% to 55% from FY08 to FY19, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s survey. Theratioremained above60% fornine 76.8 Q4 74.3 72.4 Q2 Q3 FY22 74.7 Q1 74.0 Q4 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 FY24 Q4 quarters in a rowtill Q4 last fiscal,indicatingthatmanycompaniesincriticalsectors may have to go slow on production and new investment projects,to ease inventories with dealers. Continued on Page 7 4.45 Aug 23 (close) ● INDIA LENDS COMFORT TO UKRAINE breakdownofgovernanceinalarge,listedcompany apparently orchestrated by and/or at the behest of the promoteraided bythe indulgent KMPs of the company,” Sebi said. Theregulatorfurthersaidthatthisisapeculiarcasewherethecompany’smanagementhas brazenlydefiedthediktatofitsownboardthat had raised concerns about GPCL (general purposeworking loans) lending. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy honour the memory of children at the ‘Martyrologist’ Exposition, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday. The Prime Minister urged Zelenskyy to sit down for talks with Russia to end the war and offered to act as a friend to help bring peace Continued on Page 7 PTI `1.5 lakh crore Capex loans to states in FY25, ofwhich `95,000 crore tied to reforms and specific projects and only `55,000 crore untied loans for projects identified by states crore on a first-cum-first-serve basis for states initiating reforms in building regulations for commercial purposes to stimulate industrial growth and livelihood-friendly cities. Accordingly, states have been mandated to undertake reforms, including amending building regulations to minimise groundfloorlossforstandalonefactoriesand encourage flatted factories’ development. Also,stateshave to encourageverticalgrowth of commercial buildings and allowing construction of hostels in industrial zones. Bangla crisis: Adani Power has $800-mn unpaid dues It’s raining bulk deals Multiple bulk deals took place this week, with over `27,000-crore equities sold by PE firms and promoters, exchange data show.Antfin Singapore’s `4,772-cr stake sale in Zomato was the biggest. Promoter Holderind Investments' `4,251-cr sale inAmbuja followed. ARUN DEVNATH & PR SANJAI August 23 Value (` crore) Shares (mn) Price (`) 185.4 257 4,772 Holderind Investments 68.0 626 4,251 Kalyan Jewellers Highdell Investment 66.5 539 3,584 Eris Lifesciences Emerald Investments 9.9 1,201 1,187 PNB Housing General Atlantic Singapore Fund 803 1,069 9.9 1,014 1,005 Company Sellers Zomato Antfin Singapore Holding Ambuja Cements Alpha TC Tata Technologies Holdings 13.3 Continued on Page 7 WOMAN POWER Rajkummar ■ Stree 2 starrer has was made on a already become budget of the biggest hit of this year ■ Stree2hasmadeawhopping `292crore ■ The Shraddha- attheboxofficeinjust8days ■ In last five years, only three women-led films have raked in over `100 cr at the box office `60 cr Stree 2 has made a whopping `291.65 crore at the box office in just eight days. Stree 2, which is a follow-up to Raj & DK’s (director duo Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK) 2016 flick Stree, throws light on women’s safety in the country — a topic relevant now more than ever. Not many recent films revolv- (% chg, y-o-y) -60 73.6 Q2 Q3 FY21 Stree 2 breaks stereotypes, set to enter `300-crore club HORROR-COMEDY STREE 2, which takes a fresh stab at subverting the traditional mindset that women are the weaker sex, is making Bollywood smile again. The Shraddha Kapoor-Rajkummar Rao starrer is close to crossing the `300-crore box-office (BO) collection figures, just nine days after its release. The film, which was made on a modest `60-crore budget, has already become the biggest hit this year. That spot was so far held by Fighter,which netted a BO figure of around `275 crore, of course with a much bigger star cast and cost. According to Sacnilk.com, -30 76.3 Q4 Q1 FY20 MOVIE ON TRACK TO ACHIEVE THE FEAT WITHIN JUST 9 DAYS OF ITS RELEASE PALLABI DEY PURKAYASTHA Mumbai, August 23 6.8 7.5 Capacity utilisation (%) THE BREAK-UP THE CENTRE'S CAPITAL expenditure loans to state governments in FY25will have much greater reliance on reforms to be undertaken bytheminassortedareas.Capexgrowth,steps to stimulate industrial growth,land reforms, and creation of farmers’ registry are among the several conditions to be attached to the release of these funds,with a total tied component of `95,000 crore in the year. According to the relevant guidelines seen by FE, the Centre has linked the release of `25,000 crore, or more than a fourth of the tiedpartoftheinterest-freeloans,tothestates in the current fiscal to capex-related achievements.Halfofthecorrespondingshareofeach state will be released to only those states that report own capex growth of 10% or more in FY24 and the other half will be linked to similar annual capex growth in H1FY25. The condition comes in the wake of an over 20% decline in states' capex growth in Q1FY25. This means to be eligible for the loanslinked to capexperformance,stateswill have to fast-track spending. Of the `1.5-trillion grant-like capex loans allocated for FY25,the untied component of `55,000 crore will be unconditional, and states can identifythe projects to spend it on. Funds would be allocated among states in proportion to their share of central taxes and duties as per the award of the 15th Finance Commission. The Centre has also earmarked `15,000 0 Q2FY24 `95K-cr capex loans to states linked to reforms PRASANTA SAHU New Delhi, August 23 30 26.6 68.3 CORPORATE INDIA’S INVENTORY levels are yet to fall to the relatively healthy levels reported before the pandemic,leave alone the still lower levels seen in the economy’s high growth phase during the first decade of the millennium. At 65.4%, the inventory-to-sales ratio among companies in Q4FY24 was even higherthantheyear-agolevelof64.1%;the year-on-year rise in the ratio was even steeper for the previous two quarters of the lastfiscal(seechart).Thissignalsthepersistingweakness of the consumption demand. Recently,in an articlewhichwas part of the Reserve Bank of India’s monthly bulletin for August 2024, the authors had citedhighcapacityutilisation,healthycorporate balance sheets and sustained credit demand as reflective of “conducive environment for private corporates to undertake investments going forward”. 33.5 74.0 5% 36.26 Aug 22 (close) 34.45 Aug 23 (close) 40 60 65.4 58.5 72.4 Reliance Power 60 90 75.3 THE SECURITIES AND Exchange Board of India (Sebi), which investigated an alleged funds diversion at Reliance Home Finance, has barred businessman Anil Ambani from the securities market for five years and imposed a `25-crore fine for orchestrating a fraudulent scheme with his associates. The regulatoralso barred 24 otherentities, includingthreeformerkeyofficialsofthecompany,from the securities market forfiveyears. SebihasalsorestrainedAmbaniandhisassociatesfrombeingassociatedwithanylistedcompanyas a directororkeymanagerial personnel (KMP) fora periodof fiveyears. As the next step, lawyers expect Ambani and others to approach the Securities AppellateTribunal (SAT) against the Sebi order. The 24 restrained entities include former key officials of RHFL — Amit Bapna,Ravindra Sudhalkar and Pinkesh R Shah.The regulator levied a fine of `27 crore on Bapna,`26 crore on Sudhalkar,and `21 crore on Shah. As a result of several complaints of alleged fundsdiversioninRelianceHomeFinanceduring FY18-19,Sebi investigated the matterand foundthatAmbani“isthemastermindbehind the fraudulent scheme by preponderance of probability”.“The facts of this case are particularly disturbing since they reveal a complete 10% SAIKAT NEOGI & PRIYANSH VERMA New Delhi, August 23 60.0 AKSHATA GORDE Mumbai, August 23 100 80 New order book 120 Inventory-to-sales Finished goods Raw material 120 Source: BSE and NSE GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP has lowered India’s growth forecast by 20 basis points each for this year and the next, citing a contraction in central government expenditure, reports Bloomberg. The bank now expects the nation’s economy to expand at 6.7% in calendar 2024, and 6.4% in 2025. Aug 22 (close) Aug 23 (close) Sales and inventories (%) 69.4 GOLDMAN SACHS LOWERS INDIA GROWTH FORECAST Sebi calls Ambani fraud’s FACING THE HEAT ‘mastermind’, also bars Reliance Infrastructure 211.7 24 other entities 235.4 KEY INDICATORS 66.6 US-BASED ASSET MANAGEMENT firm Baron Capital has valued Swiggy at $14.74 billion as of June, regulatory filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission show. This is 2.6% lower from its last valuation of $15.1 billion in March. The drop in June appears to be a result of rupee depreciation. ■ PAGE 4 Stock levels higher than pre-Covid period; recent quarters see y-o-y rise 63.3 BARON CAPITAL VALUES SWIGGY AT $14.7 BILLION Anil Ambani gets five-year market ban, fined `25 cr India Inc’s high inventory shows consumption demand weakness 47.3 NEWS FUNDS DIVERSION AT RELIANCE HOME FIN 69.9 IN THE ing around women have created such brouhaha. Case in point: Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies (2023) which, according to Sacnilk.com, made a mere `20.58 crore at the box office in 13 weeks. The film has an 8.4 rating on IMDb. The only women-centric movie to have crossed `100 crore this year is Kriti Sanon, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Tabu starrer heist-comedy Crew. The film made an impressive `151.63 crore worldwide. In the last five years, only three women-led have managed to rake in `100 crore-plus at the box office: Manikarnika -The Queen Of Jhansi (2019; `108.84 crore); Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022; `209.25 crore); and the controversial The Kerala Story (2023; `288.04 crore). Ashish Saksena, COO of movie ticketing platform BookMyShow, said, within a week, Stree 2 shattered recordswith 7 million tickets sold on its platform. “It has captivated audiences across India, with a tremendous response coming from cities like Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Pune, Bengaluru and Lucknow,” Saksena said. Apart from the strong content and performance of actors, the release of the film on a long week- end coinciding with the Independence Day helped the film. Film critic and trade analyst Taran Adarsh says it is a complete package. “The contribution has come from everyone — right from the writer to the creator and of course, the actors. Everyone deserves credit,” he adds. Will Stree 2 become the first women-focused film to enter the elite `500-crore club? Komal Nahta,trade analyst and editor-inchief of Film Information, thinks it’s only a matter of time. “By the end of week two or early week three, it will. By the end of week two, it will definitely touch the `400-crore mark.” Another `100 crore the following week is not improbable, he adds. ADANI POWER HAS raked up unpaidduesofasmuchas$800millionfromBangladesh,whereweeksof violent protests left hundreds dead andforcedoutthepreviousadministration earlierthis month. Bangladesh owes this sum to AdaniPower,partoftheAdaniGroup, for electricity supplied by its coalfiredplantinJharkhand'sGoddadistrict, Bangladesh Bank’s newlyappointedgovernorAhsanHMansur toldBloombergNewsinaninterview. “If we don’t pay them,they will stop providing electricity,” he said. Whilethepowerproducerhasno plans of cutting the supply lines as of now, it will come under pressure from lenders and coal suppliers if the payments remain unpaid, according to people familiar with the internal discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Adani Power is in talks with Bangladesh’s interim government to sort out this issue,they added. An Adani Group representative did not immediately respond to an email seeking a comment on the Bangladeshdues. Geopolitical risks The delayed payments underscore the financial and geopolitical risks Adani Group faces as it steadily expandsitsglobalfootprint,including in the neighbouring nations of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani shared a post on X in 2022 on the commissioning of the Godda power project and lauding the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s vision for Bangladesh.The plant started commercial operations inApril last year. Continued on Page 7 CHENNAI/KOCHI