POLITICS, P7 COMPANIES, P4 INTERNATIONAL, P10 Once reached, pacts must be respected: Jaishankar Focus on India food biz, says Unilever CEO Tesla logs strong Q3, upbeat for 2025 CHENNAI/KOCHI, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XLV 146, 22 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: 80,065.16 ▼ 16.82 NIFTY: 24,399.40 ▼ 36.10 NIKKEI 225: 38,143.29 ▲ 38.43 HANG SENG: 20,489.62 ▼ 270.53 `/$: 84.08 ▲ 0.01 `/€: 90.78 ▼ 0.12 BRENT: $75.44 ▲ $0.48 GOLD: `77,997 ▼ `390 DEAL WITH RIL THE BIGGEST IN THE Nvidia partners India Inc with ‘AI’ on future NEWS CABINET NOD TO `1,000-CR SPACE STARTUPS FUND THE CABINET ON Thursday approved the setting up of a `1,000crore dedicated venture capital fund focussed on the space sector under the aegis of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, reports Sandip Das. ■ PAGE 0 Launches Hindi-language TECH PACTS model to suit local needs ■ Nvidia is tying up MOST OF 2023's TOP MUHURAT PICKS DISAPPOINT with Reliance Industries to build AI infra in India URVI MALVANIA Mumbai, October 24 NVIDIA, THE WORLD'S largest chipmaker, on Thursday forged a series of partnerships with domestic technologyand telecom firms to build large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in the country. The tie-ups will be beneficial to both sides. ForNvidia,itopensupalargemarketlikeIndia for its graphics processing units (GPUs),which are key to building AI models.Similarly,firms suchasRelianceIndusINSIDE tries(RIL),TataConsulINDIATO TAKE tancy Services, Tata Communications, LEAD IN AI, Infosys, Wipro, and SAYS AMBANI Tech Mahindra—with ■ PAGE 4 whom partnerships have been announced orexpanded—willbeabletomakeseveralmodelssuitedfordomesticneedsforsectorsranging from agriculture to education. The biggest announcement made by the globalchipmakerwaswithRILtobuildoutanAI computinginfrastructureaswellasaninnovation centre in the country.A new major data centre by RILwill use the latest Nvidia’s Blackwell AI chips.The company also launched its Hindi-language AI model,which will produce AI using Indian infrastructure,data andworkforce.TechMwillbethefirstIndianfirmto use the Hindi language model. “Inthefuture,Indiaisgoingtobethecountry that will export AI.It has the fundamental THE TOP MUHURAT trading picks of 2023 have given an average return of around 6%, significantly underperforming the benchmarks, reports Vivek Kumar M. ■ PAGE 6 TELCOS’ BODY SEEKS CUT IN AGR LEVIES THE COAI, REPRESENTING telcos such as Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, said regulatory levies, currently set at 8% ofAGR, should be significantly reduced or abolished. ■ PAGE 11 RESULTS CORNER ITC misses Q2 estimates on high input costs PAGE 4 IndusInd Bank profit plunges 40% PAGE 6 NTPC net profit rises 14% PAGE 2 ■ It also announced pacts with IT majors, including Infosys, TCS, TechM & Wipro Politics takes over as Buch decides to skip PAC meet PRASANTA SAHU New Delhi, October 24 SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE Board of India (Sebi) chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch on Thursday skipped a meeting of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC),citing personal exigencies. Her absence, however, brought to the open,the sharp division between the government and the Opposition on the issue. While her last-minute decision prompted Congress leader KCVenugopal,who heads the panel, to postpone the sitting to another day,he said she informed the PAC “at the last minute”. Members of PAC from the ruling NationalDemocraticAlliance(NDA)accused Venugopaloftaking“unilateraldecisions”in the committee with regard to the selection of the“performance review”of the markets ever,said,citing precedent that PAC chairpersoncandecidewhichsubjecttotakeup. ■ Her absence high"The Sebi chairperson sought an ■ PAC chair & lighted the sharp exemption from appearing before the Cong leader committee,whichwedenied.Afterthat,she division between KCVenugopal confirmed(to attendThursday’s meeting). the govt and Oppn postponed the But, today morning, at 9.30 am, we got a sitting after ■ Sebi chiefhad earcommunicationfromthechairpersonand Buch skipped lier sought exemption other members of the Sebi that because of the meet on personal exigency, she is not in a position from appearance, Thursday to travel to Delhi,” Venugopal said, whichwas denied addingthatbecauseofthis,thePAC meeting was abruptly concluded. ■ Ruling party members in PAC “Considering that request (for alleged therewere 'political mopostponement of meeting) was tives' behind summoning Buch made by a woman,we thought it bettertopostponetoday’smeetregulator,and“walkingout”ofthe ing for another day,”he added. PAC meet in a huff. ExpertsinparliamenContinued on taryproceedings,howPage 7 AT LOGGERHEADS JENSEN HUANG, FOUNDER & CEO, NVIDIA INDIA IS VERY, VERY DEAR TO THE WORLD'S COMPUTER INDUSTRY... NVIDIA'S ECOSYSTEM IN INDIA IS VERY RICH ingredients…AI,dataandAIinfrastructure,and ithasalargepopulationofusersthatultimately creates the AI flywheel,” Jensen Huang,Nvidia founder& CEO,said at the NvidiaAI summit. Continued on Page 7 Bengaluru has best pay, hikes Swiggy slashes IPO valuation BENGALURUWAS INDIA'S top-paying city in FY24 for the second year in a row, and also gave out the biggest hikes, reports Manu Kaushik. target by 10-16% Across 9 cities surveyed byTeamLease, increments ranged from 4-10%, with average monthly pay between `21,300 & `29,500. Retail sector saw the steepest salary growth, followed by consumer durables and BFSI. City-wise Industry-wise 7.3 Average salary (in FY24) 6.8 4.2 7.5 23,400 24,500 24,700 y-o-y increment (%) 25,100 27,800 29,500 Average salary (in FY24) 9.3 4.5 Hyderabad Chennai Pune Mumbai Delhi y-o-y increment (%) Bengaluru ADITYA KALRA New Delhi, October 24 Source: Teamlease Services Automotive 2.3 Telecommunication 3.2 Mfg, engineering, & infrastructure Healthcare and pharma Construction and real estate Consumer durables 30,800 29,200 2.9 28,200 2.2 27,600 4.3 27,000 5.2 24,500 FOOD DELIVERY GIANT Swiggy is internally aimingforavaluationof$12.5billion-13.5billion for its upcoming IPO,cutting its target by 10-16% due to market volatility, two people with direct knowledge saidonThursday. Swiggy was earlier targeting a $15-billion valuation for its $1.4-billion November IPO, which will be the country’s second-biggest stockofferingthisyear,behindHyundaiIndia’s debutthisweek.Recentmarketvolatilityanda correctioninthestockmarketshaveprompted Swiggytoconsideralowervaluation,asitwants to ensure“a lot of value is left on the table”for investorswho bid,said the first source. ThebenchmarkNifty50indexisoncourse to log four straight weeks of losses, having dropped7.15%fromrecord-highlevelshiton September27,duetopersistentforeignselling. Continued on Page 7 GAP BETWEEN THE TWO FALLS TO LESS THAN 2,500 UNITS IN H1 Hybrids inch closer to EVs SWARAJ BAGGONKAR Mumbai, October 24 HIGH-SPEED CHASE HYBRIDVEHICLESARE fastcatching up with pure-play electric vehicles (EVs)despitefewerproductoptionsfor buyers.The shift in preference is evident from the narrowing of the gap— to just 2,419 units—between hybrid and EV sales in the first six months of the financialyear. Growingat a fastclipof23%yearon-year(y-o-y),hybridvehiclesclocked 77,824 units in the six months ended September,accordingtoJATODynamics, a global supplier of automotive business intelligence.In comparison, thepureEVsegmentclockedagrowth of 8% y-o-y to 80,243 units.In other words, sales of hybrids grew three times fasterthan pure EVs. Importantly, the sales of hybrids were dominated by five models, againstnineelectriccarones.Theprice points of both segments were around orbelow`25lakh (ex-showroom). Ravi Bhatia, president, JATO Dynamics,said:“Thedataindicatethat current policies are not delivering desired results. A pivot towards trip electrification could provide a more practical path to reducing emissions 77,824 units ■ Pure EVsegment clocked an ■ Hybrid vehicles clocked in April-Sept, growing 23% y-o-y 8% y-o-y growth to 80,243 units ■ Hybrid saleswere dominated by five models against nine electric car models ■ Price points of both were around or below `25 lakh (ex-showroom) and fuel dependency.” A ‘trip electrification’ strategy wouldmandateEVsfortaxis,replacing CNG, and incentivise plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) with a minimum 50 km range—sufficient for 90% of urban commutes. “This approach, successful in China, where new energy vehicles account for over 46% of sales, could accelerate electrification by targeting high-mileage vehicles and addressing range anxiety for personal users,”Bhatia added. A hybrid vehicle makes use of eitheraninternalcombustionengine (ICE)orabatteryforpoweringmobility. The mileage per litre of fuel is much higher in a hybridvehicle than in a normal ICE vehicle, making it a top choice among consumers. While EV makers led by Tata Motors have strongly opposed incentivising hybridvehicles,claiming that they do not meet the end objective of zero emissions, heavyweights like Maruti Suzuki and Toyota have pushedforhigherhybridpenetration. Continued on Page 7 CHENNAI/KOCHI