OPINION, P8 WELL BEING There could be more than just laziness behind a cluttered home or practicality behind a minimalist one Page 6 On the horns of a dilemma MIND & GAMES Besides innovation, AI could speed transition to cleaner power Page 9 Will AI ruin or save the planet instead? WHAT DOES YOUR HOME SAY ABOUT YOU ACROSS THE AISLE, P CHIDAMBARAM VOL. XXI, NO. 2 LEISURE Follow us on Twitter & Facebook. App available on App Store & Play Store WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM A SPARKLING AFFAIR KOLKATA SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2024, 16 Pages, `12 (NE States & Andaman `13) P U B L I S H E D F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , FINANCIAL EXPRESS ON SUNDAY B E N G A L U R U , C H A N D I G A R H , ● Hailed as ‘Netflix for games’; India to be market leader by 2033 KUNAL DOLEY New Delhi, August 31 YOU’VE ALWAYS DREAMED of playing the latest video games available in the market but were unable to do so for want of a highend PC or an expensive gaming console. Enter cloud gaming, also known as gaming on demand or game streaming.Now,all you need is high-speed Internet and a gamepad/ controller, and you can start ‘streaming’ your favourite ■ SPOTLIGHT, P5 Bloodbath on B-street Bollywood is on a downward spiral. Big-budget movies are sinking and theatre footfalls are at their lowest, even as star salaries and production costs are skyrocketing. Something’s gotta give if the film industry has to survive. Will it be changed rules of the money game? PRESS TRUST OF INDIA Bhubaneswar, August 31 Flawed over-dependence on one country as seen during Covid is a reality check THE SLOWING OF India’s eco- nomic growth to a 15-month low of 6.7% in the April-June quarter was due to ‘lower’ government spending in the wake of enforcement of the model code of conduct for the recent Lok Sabha polls, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said on Saturday.The RBI had projected a growth rate of 7.1% for theAprilJune quarter of this fiscal. “The Reserve Bank projected a growth rate of 7.1% for the first quarter.However,the first advance estimation data released by the National Statistical Office showed the growth rate at 6.7%,” Das told reporters at an event in Bhubaneswar. The components and main drivers responsible for GDP growth, like consumption, investment, manufacturing, services and construction have registered a growth of more than 7%, he said. Only two aspects have pulled the growth rate slightly down. Telecom stocks emerge top performers in YTD2024 150 140 130 120 110 100 90 80 Top 5 sectoral gainers 2024YTD return in % 46.6 43.3 41.5 39.8 38 Top performers Relative performance Base: Dec 29, 2023 = 100 130.2 106.2 88.4 79.5 77.6 57.7 53.8 51.6 FE BUREAU Bengaluru, August 31 RELIANCE RETAIL-BACKED Dunzo has executed another round of layoffs,reducingitsworkforcetojust 50 employees in its core supply and marketplace teams, accordingtosourcesfamiliarwiththesituation. This downsizing occursastheBengalurubasedonlinedelivery firmfacesasevere cash crunch while urgently seeking capital to 146.58 BSE Telecom 114.02 Sensex Dec 29, 2023 K O L K A T A , L U C K N O W , M U M B A I , Aug 30, 2024 Launched: Jan 2023 Subscription plan: 30-day free trial, followed by `199 per month ● Punch outsells 2 of HOWTHE NUMBERS STACK UP Exter Venue Korean competitor’s January 8,229 11,831 SUVs put together VIKRAM CHAUDHARY New Delhi, August 31 TATA'S PUNCH HAS not only emerged as the bestselling car in India during January-July 2024, but the sub-4 metre SUV has also outsold two of Hyundai’s vehicles in the segment put together by quite a margin. Sales data collated from the industry shows that during January-July 2024,Punch sold 126,429 units—6,190 more than Hyundai’s Venue (67,555 units) and Exter (52,684 units) put together (120,239 units). If Tata’s Nexon is added into the mix, the homegrown carmaker has 7,582 March 8,475 April D E L H I , P U N E Subscription plan: Starts from `199 per month (intro); `599 per month (advanced) Vodafone Idea Cloud Play OnePlay Launched: April 2024 Launched: 2019 Subscription plan: Free sample (introductory offer), followed by `100 per month (`104 recharge for prepaid) game titles on your laptop, PC, mobile or TV. Rather than running the highquality game on your own system, SHAKTIKANTA DAS, RBI GOVERNOR WE HAVE CONFIDENT EXPECTATIONS ANNUAL GROWTH RATE OF 7.2% WILL MATERIALISE IN COMING QUARTERS These are government (both central and state) expenditure and agriculture, the RBI governor pointed out. Continued on Page 2 sustainits operations. Sources, who requested anonymity,disclosedthatDunzohas laid off approximately 150 employees in this latestwave of job cuts. The move is part of a broader effort to curb costs and generate sufficient cash flow to address mounting liabilities, including overdue salaries to current and formeremployees and outstanding vendorpayments. In an email sent to employees on Friday, Subscription plan: Starts from `29 per month (hourly); `799 (monthly) which would need physical media or game installation prior to playing, cloud gaming allows you to ‘stream’ it remotely from a cloud Reforms, stable policies for investors: PM New Delhi: While people in most countries that went to polls this year voted for a change, Indians preferred continuity, political stability and economicgrowth,PMNarendra ModisaidonSaturday,asserting that a new neo-middle class is driving the country's progress. Addressing an event in Delhi, Modisaidthecountryiswriting a unique success story, and the impactofitsreformsisvisiblein theeconomy’sperformance.He said the world’s prosperity lies inIndia'sprosperity,addingthat his government wanted more companies to become global brands and the country to become a leaderin everysector. Continued on Page 2 Dunzo stated it would pay pending salaries, severance, leave encashment,andotherduestoaffectedstaff as soon as it secures the necessary funds. This latest communication adds to the company’s‘promise-goround’, following a string of emails over the past few months that highlighted its financialdistress. In mid-July, Dunzo informed its employees that it was in the “final stages”of closing a transaction,with expectations to settle dues within 10-15 days. on any device or platform, and even on multiple devices, without losing progress. No wonder, many are calling cloud gaming ‘the Net- Total 8,933 17,978 67,555 Nexon 1,26,429 17,182 18,438 14,395 9,614 17,547 7,756 9,120 19,158 11,168 May 7,697 9,327 18,949 11,457 June 6,908 9,890 18,238 12,066 July 6,037 8,840 16,121 13,902 94,228 14,058 52,684 gathered a huge margin over its South Korean competitor in sub-4 metre SUVs—while the Nexon sold 94,228 units during January-July 2024, Punch and Nexon put together (220,657 units) sold almost 100,000 units more than Venue and Exter put together (120,239 units). TataMotorsandHyundaiarethe only automakers to have two sub-4 metre SUVs in their portfolio—all others have one each. Sales of the Venue and the Exter aren’t poor by any yardstick—they have maintained a run rate of almost 17,000 permonth—but the Punch has performed exceedingly well, at 18,061 units every month this year. AutomotiveanalyststoldFEthat rising sales of the Hyundai Creta (a bigger SUV) possibly ate intoVenue and Exter sales. “Venue’s sales droppedfrom11,831unitsinJanuaryto8,840unitsinJuly,andExter’s sales from 8,229 units in Januaryto Continued on Page 2 IMD predicts ‘above normal’ rains in Sept With northwest, central and southern peninsular India receiving surplus to normal rainfall, especially during July and August, the overall precipitation since the onset of monsoon since June stood at the 'above normal' range at 6.8% above the benchmark ‘long period average’ (LPA) on Saturday. Of the 724 districts in the country, 75% have so far received rainfall in the range of surplus to normal. However, some states such as Bihar, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Nagaland have remained rain deficient. Meanwhile, the IMD on Saturday said rainfall during September, the last month of the southwest monsoon season, is 'mostly likely to be above normal at 9% above LPA'. Adequate monsoon has boosted sowing of kharif crops such as paddy, pulses, oilseeds and sugarcane. However, downpour in the past one week, which caused floods in the Gujarat region, may hit crop yield of oilseeds like groundnut and pulses. — Sandip Das Rainfall for June 1 – Aug 31 ALL INDIA AREA WEIGHTED RAINFALL Actual Normal % departure 748.9 700.7 (mm) 6.8 State-wise rainfall (%) against benchmark J&K Punjab -22 Ladakh 44 Deficient (-59 to -20%) Normal (-19 to 19%) Excess (20 to 59%) Large excess (60% or more) Himachal Pradesh -22 Meghalaya 1 Uttarakhand 1 Sikkim 23 UP -11 Bihar -24 Haryana -13 Rajasthan 50 Arunachal Pradesh -21 Assam -12 -25 Nagaland MP -28 11 Gujarat 48 Maharashtra -10 26 Jharkhand -9 Goa 46 Chhattisgarh 5 AP 34 Karnataka 24 Mizoram -15 Tripura 25 Gangetic West Bengal -4 Telangana 13 Tamil Nadu Lakshadweep 42 Manipur -27 Odisha 65 Kerala -11 Source: IMD. Benchmark: Long period average Andaman & Nicobar Islands 4 Continued on Page 2 (January-July 2024 sales) Punch flix for games’. In 2023, the number of cloud gaming users worldwide was estimated to be around 295.1 million, a significant increase from about 102.7 million in 2021,as per market research platform Market.us. As such, the market is also booming.According to Fortune Business Insights, the global cloud gaming market is expected to reach $84.97 billion by 2030,growing at a CAGR of 46.9% from $3.37 billion in 2022. Incidentally, India is one of the largest markets for cloud gaming and is expected to become the industryleaderby2033,asperanew reportfromBloombergIntelligence. Launched: June 2024 Tata delivers a dual ‘Punch’ to Hyundai in sub-4 metre SUVs February N E W AntCloud GAME ON JioGamesCloud Dunzo cuts workforce to 50 2024YTD return in % Sensex vs BSE Telecom Index K O C H I , Growth hit by low govt spend at poll time: Das When all eggs are in one basket Indus Towers GTL Infra Optiemus Infracom MTNL HFCL Avantel Bharti Airtel Tejas Networks H Y D E R A B A D , AGRI ALSO AFFECTED GDP NUMBER ■ WORDS WORTH, P4 Telecom Oil & gas Power Auto Energy READ TO LEAD Why cloud gaming is clicking with Indian gamers WHAT'S INSIDE INTHE FIRST eight months of 2024, the BSETelecom Index emerged as the top performer among all sectoral indices, delivering a return of 46.6%. During the same period, benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty gained up to 16%, while the broader BSE 500 Index returned 22%. Indus Towers and GTLInfrastructure saw their stock prices rising more than double, while Optiemus Infracom, MTNL, HFCL,Avantel, BhartiAirtel andTejas Networks gained over 50% from January to August. In a June report, ICRA had noted that tariff hikes indicate better profitability for the telecom industry moving forward. — Compiled by Kishor Kadam C H E N N A I , Why lab-grown diamonds are gaining popularity Page 7 Source: Industry 6,037unitsinJuly.Duringthesame time, sales of the new Creta— launchedonJanuary16—havebeen growing steadily (from 13,212 units in January to an all-time high of 17,350 units in July),”an analyst said. “Even though the Creta (`10.99-20.15lakh)issubstantially pricier than the Venue (`7.94- 13.48 lakh) and the Exter (`5.9910.43 lakh), there is overlap in certain variants—and the new Creta, parked next to the Venue and the Exter at Hyundai showrooms, possibly took away some sales because of its novelty factor.” On the otherhand,the PunchEV —launched just a day after the Creta, on January 17—added to overallPunchsales.FromJanuaryto July, Tata has sold 16,117 units of the Punch EV,which essentially are incremental numbers. During January-July 2024, the Punch also beat Maruti Suzuki Wagon R (115,859 units), which was India’s largest selling carforthe last three financial years, and the Creta (108,698 units). Going forward, the Punch is expected to maintain its lead, and can emerge as the country’s largest selling car of 2024. Continued on Page 2 Haryana polls rescheduled to October 5 PRESS TRUST OF INDIA New Delhi, August 31 THE ELECTION COMMISSION on Saturday deferred the Haryana assembly poll date to October 5 from October 1, keeping in mind a centuries-old festival of the Bishnoi community. The counting of votes for Jammu & Kashmir and Haryana assembly polls will now be held on October 8 instead of October 4. The decision was taken to honour both the voting rights and traditions of the Bishnoi community, which has upheld a 300-400-yearold practice in remembrance of their Guru Jambheshwar. The EC had received a representation from the national president of All India Bishnoi Mahasabha, Bikaner, Rajasthan for rescheduling the date for the Haryana assembly elections. Kolkata