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APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM VOL 33 NO. 305, 46 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 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: 80369.03 ▲ 363.99 NIFTY: 24,466.85 ▲ 127.70 NIKKEI 225: 38,903.68 ▲ 298.15 HANG SENG: 20,701.14 ▲ 101.78 `/$: 84.08 < > 0.00 `/€: 90.96 ▼ 0.05 BRENT: $71.58 ▲ $0.16 GOLD: `78,493 ▲ `576 — IN THE NEWS WITH NO NETGAINS, GOVTSETTO DEFER PILLAR 2TAX RULES THE GOVERNMENT MAY bide its time on implementation of the multilateral Pillar 2-tax regime, even though it is required to include an enabling provision for this in the Income Tax Act, as part of the proposed redrafting of the six-decade-old legislation, reports Priyansh Verma. ■ PAGE 2 PM RAISES ISSUE OF NOAYUSHMAN SCHEME IN STATES HITTING OUTAT the West Bengal & Delhi for not implementing Ayushman Bharat due to "political interests", PM Narendra Modi said he was "pained" that the elderly from these states for not being able to avail the scheme. PAGE 2 RESULTS CORNER Maruti misses estimates; profit down 18% PAGE 4 Adani Enterprises profit zooms sevenfold PAGE 4 Canara Bank Sept quarter profit rises 11% PAGE 6 EXPLAINER How domain name ownership works ■ PAGE 9 5 MTPA STEEL FACILITY PLANNED POSCO to make in India with JSW Green energy,battery materials also part of MoU SAJJAN JINDAL, CHAIRMAN, JSW GROUP CHANG IN-HWA, CHAIRMAN, POSCO URVI MALVANIA Mumbai, October 29 ...A SIGNIFICANT STEP FORWARD IN OUR JOURNEYTO CONTRIBUTE TO THE INDIAN STEEL INDUSTRY ...THIS WILL CONTRIBUTE SIGNIFICANTLY TO THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF KOREA AND INDIA AFTER MULTIPLE FAILED efforts to manufacture in India,South Korea’s POSCO Group onTuesdaysignedanagreementwiththeJSW Group to set up an integrated steel plant in India with an initial capacity of 5 million tonne per annum (MTPA). Thetwocompanieswillalsocollaboratefor greenenergyproductionandmanufactureof batterymaterials for electric vehicles (EVs). “This memorandum of understanding (MoU) with POSCO marks a significant step forward in our journey to contribute to the Indian steel industry. As one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, India presents tremendous opportunities for sustainable growth and our partnership with POSCO strengthens JSW’s commitment to drive that transformation,”Sajjan Jindal,chairman,JSW Group,said. India’ssteeldemandisforecasttogrow6% annuallythrough2035toreach240-260million tonne, according to McKinsey & Co, driven byinfrastructure construction,transport and consumer appliances. “This collaboration will contribute significantlytotheeconomicdevelopmentofKorea andIndiaanddriveourjointeffortstowardsa more eco-friendly and sustainable future,” Chang In-hwa, chairman of POSCO said.The MoUwas signed at the JSWGroup’s corporate headquarters in Mumbai, in the presence of Jindal,the POSCO chairman and senior executives from both the business houses. The JSW Group did not give details of the investment or location of the proposed steel Diwali deepens spending divide RETAIL TIGHTROPE PA RT- I STORY OF TWO INDIAS ANUPREKSHAJAIN, RAGHAVENDRA KAMATH, VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO, GARIMA SADHWANI & VAISHALI DAR Mumbai/New Delhi, October 29 IT'S SATURDAY EVENING, and at the Seasons apparel store in SantacruzWest,Mumbai,thequeueatthetrialroomsisintimidating. But shoppers are not deterred. It's the weekend just before Diwali,and traditional outfits,pricedupwardof`5,000,areingreat demand. A sales executive, Vinay Singh, observed:"Diwaliisatimewhenpeoplewant to look their best.Price is hardly a factor for these shoppers.The crowd will just increase astheeveningwearson.” AtVijaySales,apopularelectronicsretailer, withalargestoreinSantacruzWest,business duringtheweekendjumped20%versusthe previousweekend.OverallsalesthisDiwaliare BEST SELLERS ■ Traditional outfits, priced upward of `5,000, are in great demand ■ For gold and silver, majority buyers are opting for lightweight items and going for silver coins over gold ■ Sales of gifting items have decreased and so has the ticket price as the middle class is opting for value buying ■ In electronics, 55-inch or biggerTVs; two-door and bottom-mount refrigerators and high-end smartphones are most sought after up 7-8%,led by premium products,shared company director Nilesh Gupta.“We see a clear preference for 55-inch and biggerTVs; two-door and bottom-mount refrigerators andhigh-endsmartphones,"saidGupta. In contrast,the suburb of Santacruz East appears muted -- the geographical divide reflectiveofaneconomiconetoo-–andillustrative of the RBI governor Shaktikanta Das and finance ministry's acknowledgment of anurbanslowdownhurtingthemiddleclass, whoarepennypinchingevenasthewealthy spenduninhibited. Companiescorroboratethetrend."Inthe pre-festive period leading up to Dussehra, BSH saw a 40% year-on-year growth in ecommerce sales, primarily fuelled by an increaseddemandforpremiumsmartappliances,"saidSaifKhan,MD&CEO,BSHHome Appliances,which sells Bosch and Siemens products,addingthatthemomentumiscontinuingintherun-uptoDiwali. Continued on Page 7 New q-comm idiom: 10-minute return S SHANTHI Bengaluru, October 29 plant,or other details regarding the MoU. JSW had announced an investment of `18,000 crore in 2019 to ramp up the capacityat itsVijaynagarfacilityby6 MTPA.Industry estimates put the investment for the project with POSCO at `15000-20,000 crore accountingforinflationanddependingonthe location of the plant. While the JSWGroup did referto the association as joint venture, it did not clarify the nature of the partnership in terms of the equity infused byeach partner. The JSWGroup did not respond to queries on the matter till the time of going to press. Continued on Page 7 AFTER THE SUCCESS of 10-minute deliveries,quickcommerceplayersarenowplanning to latch on to one of the favourite pastimes of Indian shopperswho love to return agoodnumberofproductstheybuy.So,enter “10-minutereturn”,whichessentiallymeans the product to be returnedwill be picked up within 10 minutes of raising a request.The current industrypractice is one-hourto 48hour returns for perishable products and one-hourtooneweekforotheritems. Lastweek,Blinkitintroducedreturnsand exchanges forclothing and footwearwithin 10 minutes in select cities.“Customers can initiateareturn/exchangeincaseofasizeor fit issue with the delivered product. This solves a crucial problem of size anxiety for categories like clothing and footwear,” Albinder Dhindsa, CEO, Blinkit said on X. SwiggyInstamartandZeptoarealsoreportedlytestingthefeature. Accordingtoexperts,astopq-commerce players focus on category expansion, 10minute returns can give them an edge over e-commerce players who offer next-day to week-long return times.However,they also feel executing this may increase their logistics cost.“Returns and exchanges have long beenapainpointfortraditionale-commerce duetothehighcostsofreverselogistics,and 10-minutereturnsmayfurtherincreasethe burden,”said Param Patel,general partner, VoltVCtoldFE. Continued on Page 7 QUICK GETS QUICKER ■ It takes one hour to 48 hours to return perishable products and one hour to oneweek for other items ■ Lastweek, Blinkit introduced returns & exchanges for clothing, footwear within 10 minutes in select cities ■ According to experts, executing this may increase the logistics cost ■ Fashion, footwear and accessories see a high frequency ofreturns Kolkata