POLITICS, P7 BRANDWAGON, P9 INTERNATIONAL, P18 Modi, Biden to meet on the sidelines of Quad The options before HUL for its ice cream business EU warns Apple to open up its operating system FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM VOL 33 NO. 274, 24 PAGES, `12.00 (NORTH EAST STATES 12 & ANDAMAN `17.00) 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 A TA , L U C K N O W, MU M B A I , N E W D E L H I , P U N E READ TO LEAD KOLKATA, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2024 SENSEX: 83,184.80 ▲ 236.57 NIFTY: 25,415.80 ▲ 38.25 NIKKEI 225: 37155.33 ▲ 775.16 HANG SENG: 18,013.16 ▲ 353.14 `/$: 83.69 ▲ 0.07 `/€: 93.54 ▼ 0.25 BRENT: $74.22 ▲ $0.57 GOLD: `73,282 ▲ `427 IN THE NEWS LABOUR MINISTRY TO INVESTIGATE EY STAFFER DEATH THE UNION LABOUR ministry is investigating the work environment at accounting firm EY after the death of a 26-year-old staffer was blamed on “stress” by her mother who demanded accountability. FATF COMMENDS INDIA PROGRESS, SEES MORE SCOPE INDIA HAS ACHIEVED a ‘high-level of technical compliance’ under the Financial Action Task Force's mandate to launch a frontal assault on money laundering, while also taking ‘significant steps’ to tackle illicit finance, the organisation said on Thursday. ■ PAGE 2 INSIDE 100 D AY S O F GOVT Farm price support but no ‘legal MSP’ yet ■ PAGE 2 EXPLAINER Can MoUs help India in the semicon race? ■ PAGE 9 US FED’S SURPRISE 50BPS CUT Bond yields slump to 31-month low ANUPREKSHA JAIN Mumbai, September 19 THE US FEDERAL Reserve’s biggerthan-expected 50 basis point rate cut led to a sharp fall in the yields of 10-year government bonds (G-Sec) to 6.7577% -- the lowest in 31 months. Yields across the other tenures also fell with five-year benchmarkclosingat6.6710%,the lowest sinceApril 2022 at 6.6950. Theratecutalsoledtohightrading volumes INSIDE in the Indian G-secmarket. EDITORIAL: The total volOVERTO RBI umesstoodat ■ PAGE 8 `1.06 lakh crore – the highest since June 4 –withvolumes seen mostly in the 10-year and 15year segments. Late Wednesday, the US FOMC kickedofftheratecutcyclebringing it down to 4.75-5.00% after keeping it at a two-decade high of 5.255.75%. The cut, which came after over4years,came against the backdrop of easing inflation and moderation in the US labour market. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said the aggressive action on Wednesday was intended to make sure that high borrowing costs, put in place to fight inflation,would not end up hurting the US economy. "The labour market is in a strong place - we want to keep it there," Powell said. “That's what we’re doing,”he added. Continued on Page 7 FED FACTORED IN How global indices reacted (in % gain) Sept 18 (close) CAC 40 2.13 Euro Stoxx 50 Pr 2.14 Hang Seng 6.758 Sept 19 (close) 1.8 Taiwan Taiex Ta (%) 2.00 S& S&P 500* 10-yr govt bond yield 1.68 Dow Jones* Sensex Se *At 10 pm IST 1.36 0.29 Source: Bloomberg No significant Will not spur impact on India capital inflows inflows: Seth to India: Wood THEUSFED’Soutsizedratecut“will not significantly impact foreign inflows” into India, economic affairs secretary Ajay Seth said on Thursday.The Fed has done what it assesses was good for the US economy and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will decide on interest rate cutskeepingthe Indianeconomyin mind,he said.Separately,chief economic advisor V Anantha Nageswaran also said the impact of the US Fedrate cutwill be muted for India as it was mostly priced in. ■ PAGE 6 Telcos’ plea sought correction in arithmetical errors STOCKSTAKEAHIT BSE 3,234.31 Telecom Index Sept 18 (close) 3.89% JATIN GROVER New Delhi, September 19 2.18 Nikkei 225 6.781 Big blow to telcos as SC denies any relief on AGR The rate cut by US Federal Reserve has opened the way for similar actionsbyAsiancountriesincluding India, Chris Wood, Global Head of Equity Strategy, Jefferies, said on Thursday,but added that a“conservative” Reserve Bank of India (RBI) might still not start easing rates in 2024,reportsPrasantaSahu.Wood added that the Fed's decision was unlikely to lead to any additional capital inflows to India,while other emerging markets like Brazil and Indonesiamightseeariseininflows. ■ PAGE 6 TELECOM OPERATORS VODAFONE Idea and Bharti Airtel suffered a big blow on Thursday with the Supreme Court rejecting their curative plea seeking correction in arithmetical errors by the department of telecommunications (DoT) in computing the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues arising out of a 2019 order. A curative petition is filed by petitionersasalastresortiftheyfeel that there has been an errorin judgment bythe court. Though the order came as a set- Telecom stocks performance (% change) Bharti Indus Airtel Tower 0.8 -8.9 Vodafone Idea -19.6 Source: BSE Sept 19 (close) 3,108.53 back for both the operators, the adverse impact is much higher for Vodafone Idea as Bharti, with its strongbalancesheetandcashflow,is inafinepositiontopaythedues.This gotreflectedinthemannertheshare pricesofboththecompaniesreacted aftertheorder.WhileVodafoneIdea's shares closed down 19.6% at `10.4 on the BSE, Bharti’s shares closed 0.8% higher,at `1,665. Another company which got adversely impacted is Indus Towers, which has leased telecom towers to VodafoneIdea,withitssharesclosing 8.9%lowerat `390. Continued on Page 7 Axis arm barred from debt issues FE BUREAU Mumbai, September 19 THE SECURITIES AND Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Thursday barred Axis Capital (ACL) from acting as merchant banker, arranger or underwriter for any new debt issues.The interim order is applicable immediately till further orders. The restriction comes as an interim measure after the markets regulator found that Axis Capital had extended itself beyond activitiespermittedtoamerchantbanker in the matterof listed non-convert- BREACH OF RULES ■ Axis Capital was taking credit risk exposure, thereby entering the 'realm of banking', said Sebi Axis Capital has 21 days to file its reply or object, if any, to the order ■ ible debentures (NCDs) of Sojo Infotel – the holding company floated by the promoters of Lava Group. “ACL provided guarantee/indemnity towards redemption of NCDs in the guise of underwriting,which itwas not permitted to do underthe existing regulatory framework. Such activity poses risk to the financial system as itcanpotentiallydisrupttheorderly functioning of the market,” states the interim order passed by Sebi's whole-time member (WTM) Ashwani Bhatia. ACL has 21 days to file its reply orobject,if any,to the orderand can also avail an opportunity of personal hearing on anyfixed date and time. Continued on Page 7 Kolkata