ECONOMY, P2 COMPANIES, P4 INTERNATIONAL, P5 Monetisation of NHAI assets via InVIT by Dec Urban slowdown hits India Inc growth plans Google can't shake off legal hurdles in Russia PUNE, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XV 246, 12 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: 79,389.06 ▼ 553.12 NIFTY: 24,205.35 ▼ 135.50 NIKKEI 225: 39,081.25 ▼ 196.14 HANG SENG: 20,317.33 ▼ 63.31 `/$: 84.08 < > 0.00 `/€: 91.39 ▼ 0.23 BRENT: $72.85 ▲ $0.30 GOLD: `79,269 ▼ `93 — TPG NAMBIAR, FOUNDER OF BPL, NO MORE BPL GROUP FOUNDER TP Gopalan Nambiar died on Thursday, family sources said, reports PTI. Popularly known as TPG, Nambiar, 94, was not keeping well for quite some time and passed away in the morning. ■ PAGE 5 CLAIMS UNDER FASAL BIMA CROSS `1.65 LAKH CR INSURANCE CLAIMS OF `1.65 lakh crore have been paid to farmers against `33,065 crore premium paid under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana since its launch in kharif 2016, data show, reports Sandip Das. ■ PAGE 2 FE S P E C I A L S ‘India brain behind global software development’ Interview with Sunil Mathur, MD & CEO, Siemens India ■ eFE, P9 Why the gold buying spree never stops Soaring prices are no dampener for the Indian consumer ■ EXPLAINER, P7 BULL RUN Returns in % Sensex Nifty Seven of top 10 investors beat benchmark returns 22.3 24.6 WITH DOMESTIC INVESTORS pumping in money by the fistful,Samvat 2080 was the second-best year for equity investors in a decade,as a strong economic momentum and a surge in the number of new local investors fuelled a strong rally. Theyearthat came to an end onThursday saw Sensex and Nifty give 22.3% and 24.6% returns, respectively. The broader market continued to be a step ahead with the BSE Midcap index surging 41.1% and the BSE Smallcap index posting INSIDE 43.3% gains. DIWALI PICKS “This was actually a very ■ PAGE 8 good year for investors. Across the board, all the asset classes—be it equities, fixed income, gold —created wealth. And equities were among the best ones with all categories making money for investors,” said Nikhil Rungta, co-chief investment officer- equityat LIC Mutual Fund. Among sectors,power,real estate,utilityand healthcarewere the hot favourites. Among Nifty 50 stocks, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone reaped the highest gains. Neeraj Chadawar, head of research–fundamentals and quant—at KISHOR KADAM Mumbai, October 30 SAMVAT 2080 ■ Top sectoral gainers 2076 Samvat Investor wealth gain (` lakh cr) year 2076 19.0 2077 94.7 2078 11.3 2079 45.9 2080 124.7 2077 2078 domestic liquidity. However, the results of the Lok Sabha elections in June created some volatility, but the formation of the governmentwith pre-poll allies soon gave investors the confidence of policy continuity. Continued on Page 5 Investment value (` crore) Nov 12, 2023 Oct 29, 2024 Continued on Page 5 2079 2080 % gain Power Utilities Healthcare Realty Industrials 70.8 65.2 51.9 49.0 47.0 ■ Top Sensex gainers % chg 12.7 56.3 4.3 16.7 38.9 Axis Securities said the outlook forIndian equities in the first half of Samvat 2080 was strengthened byfactors like continuous improvement in high-frequencyindicators,superiorgrowth outlook compared to other emerging market countries, sequential improvements in quarterly earnings,and sustained enhancements in SOARING WEALTH IT'S A CRACKER of a Diwali for top investors as their portfolios have shown remarkable growth over the past year. The portfolios of AkashBhansali,MadhusudanKela,andMukul MahavirAgarwalhaverisenbymorethan50% sincelastDiwali,whilethoseofAshishDhawan, RekhaRakeshJhunjhunwala,AnilKumarGoel andSunilSinghaniahaveincreasedby25-43% during the same period, outperforming the benchmark indices’return of 23%. In comparison, investments of Vijay Kedia andAshishKacholiagrewby18.5%and11.9%, respectively.ThevalueofNemishShah’sinvestments,however,declinedby28%comparedto lastDiwali,ashesoldhisentireholdingsinAsahi IndiaGlass.Thecombinedvalueofinvestments by these 10 investors surged by 34.3%, from `59,692 crore to `80,161 crore. A highlight of these investors’ performancewas that some individual investments resulted in gains exceeding 100%.For example, Akash Bhansali’s investment in Sudarshan Chemicals rose by 230%, from `169 crore to `560 crore. 9.4 10.5 COGNIZANT BEAT WALL Street estimates for third-quarter profit on Wednesday, helped by recovery in demand as more businesses turn to the IT services provider, reports Reuters. Adjusted profit per share came in at $1.25 in the quarter, compared with estimates of $1.15/share, according to LSEG data. "We are seeing a gradual rebound of spend cycles and gaining wallet share in financial services," CEO Ravi Kumar said on a post-earnings call. VIVEK KUMAR M Mumbai, October 31 -0.8 -1.4 COGNIZANT BEATS QUARTERLY PROFIT ESTIMATES IN Q3 Samvat 2080: A year of windfall gains 37.6 40.2 NEWS ● INVESTORS ADD RECORD `114-LAKH-CR WEALTH ● DIIs INVEST FIVE TIMES MORE THAN FPIs 11.2 9.8 IN THE % gain M&M Bharti Airtel Adani Ports NTPC Sun Pharma 78.9 72.3 70.3 68.1 56.8 Diwali fireworks missing for realty players this year RAGHAVENDRA KAMATH Mumbai, October 31 RESIDENTIAL SALES BOOKINGS have seen a 10-15% drop in the run-up to Diwali due to higher prices and lack of new launches in cities such as Mumbai, Hyderabad and others. At the beginning of the festive period, developers were expecting around 20-40% jump in festive sales.Now,salesgrowthinthefestive seasonisexpectedtobebetween8% and 10% in the top cities. “Current trends suggest that there is anywhere around 10-15% decline in sales compared to last year’s same festive period,” said Santosh Kumar, vice-chairman at Anarock Property Consultants. Kumarsaid the decline is largely because property prices have escalated significantlyoverthe past one yearacross the top 7 cities,and“it is becomingunaffordableformanyto buy a property today”. Residential prices have gone up 20-30% in the top cities in the last one year. Housing sales in the top seven citiesinthethirdquarterofCY2024 dropped 11% on a yearly basis to 107,000, owing to factors such as high prices and monsoon,Anarock said recently in a report. Property developers such as Dhaval Ajmera, director at Ajmera Realty& Infra,said sustenance sales (salesfromexistingprojects)arehappening but not many new launches have happened due to the elections in Maharashtra and National Green Tribunal (NGT) orders, which have 32.9 49,111 ■ Akash Bhanshali 3,952 75.3 6,928 ■ Mukul Mahavir Agrawal 4,048 62.6 6,581 ■ Ashish Dhawan 43.8 2,718 3,909 ■ Sunil Singhania (Abakkus) 2,336 24.5 2,909 DIWALI WITH JAWAANS Prime Minister Narendra Modi distributes sweets to Border Security Force (BSF) jawaans during Diwali celebrations at Lakki Nala in Sir Creek area of Kutch, Gujarat. Keeping up with his tradition of celebrating Diwali with personnel of the armed forces, the PM said India cannot compromise on even an "inch" of land on its borders, adding that the people believe in the strength of its armed forces for defending the country ■ Realtors expected 20-40% growth Diwali bookings down 36,953 ● PM’s ATALL ORDER ■ Pre- % chg ■ Rekha Rakesh Jhunjhunwala & Associates PTI ■ Experts expect 8-10% 10-15% growth in festive sales ■ Developers in south India seeing better sales ■ Launches down in Q2, may pick up in Q3, Q4 delayed approvals. Bookings in Q2 were hit due to delay in clearances and subsequent decline in launches,said Amit Bagri, chief executive, Kotak Mahindra Investments,whichprovidesloansto developers.Bagriexpectsagrowthof 8-10% in sales bookings in the festive season.“We expect approvals to comeinQ3andQ4.Aftertwoyearsof high growth, 8-10% growth is not bad,” Bagri said. However, he added thatbiglisteddevelopersaremeeting theirguidance. Continued on Page 5 Swiggy IPO: $15-bn bids from Fidelity, others ADITYA KALRA & INDRANIL SARKAR New Delhi, October 31 BIG INVESTORS, INCLUDING Norway’s sovereign wealth fund Norges and Fidelity, have placed bids worth over $15 billion in Swiggy IPO, 25 times the $605 million portion reserved for such investors,foursources told Reuters on Thursday. Swiggy,a SoftBank-backed food and grocery delivery giant, will next week launch its $1.35-billion IPO that will be the country’s second-biggest stock offering this year. The bidding process is ongoing. GLOBAL INTEREST ■ Swiggy to next Norway's sovereign wealth fund & US-based Capital Group among other investors ■ week launch its ■ Bids received said to be IPO; to be country's second-biggest stock offering this year ■ Firm reduced estimated valuation to $11.3 bn, 25% less than earlier estimation $1.35-bn After a recent correction in stock markets, the company has reduced its estimated valuation from the IPO to $11.3 billion, 25% less than an earlier estima- 25 times the $605-mn portion reserved for such investors tion of $15 billion. Signalling growing interest in India’s food delivery and quick commerce space—where goods are delivered in 10 minutes—the IPO anchor book reserved for big investors has already received bids worth more than $15 billion, said the sources, who declined to be named. Top investors include Norway’s sovereign wealth fund Norges Bank Investment Management, Fidelity International and USbased Capital Group, said three of the sources.The fourth source said BlackRock and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board are also among investors. None of the investors or Swiggy immediately responded to a request for comment. Continued on Page 5 MOVE ENABLES BRANDS TO HAVE MORE CONTROL, GET DIRECT FEEDBACK D2C firms hop on to q-comm bandwagon, launch direct deliveries S SHANTHI Bengaluru, October 31 THE QUICK COMMERCE bug seems to have bitten everyone.The latest to join the bandwagon are direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands such as NEWME, Snitch, DaMENSCH,Epigamia,Lenskart,Clinikally, Supertails, Ultrahuman, Sepoy & Co,Mondelez,Allter and Mymu. In addition to sellingvia q-commerce platforms such as Zepto, Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and BBNow, these brands are piloting direct rapid deliveries through their own websites. Helping them achieve these 90 minute-same day deliveries are logistics startups such as Zippie and Blitz. Fast fashion brand NEWME started 90-minute deliveries in September across 8-10 PIN codes in Gurugram.Today,it covers more than 18 PIN codes across DelhiNCR with plans to extend this service to more locations in Delhi and Noida. For other areas, it currently delivers within 12-24 hours. The startup claims that within 30 minutes of piloting 90-minute deliveries, the platform clocked over 100 orders,with several being delivered in under 25 minutes. Fashion startup Snitch also initiated 24-hour quick delivery services six months ago and has seen a 12% uptick in users.The startup plans to introduce two-hour deliveries by Q1FY26. D2C created a wave in India after the pandemic, when brands NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK ■ Brands such as NEWME, Lenskart, Snitch, DaMENSCH and Epigamia among those to pilot/launch direct deliveries ■ D2C brands often need to pay 30-45% commission on sales to list on q-comm platforms and also on marketing & deep discounting, say experts ■ Allows them to offer expanded catalogue, exclusive offers, personalised experiences started delivering directly from theirwebsites alongwith deliveries via online marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart. This is because direct deliveries from apps orcom- ■ At least 20% of around 600 D2C firms may have to start direct 10-20 minute deliveries by next year pany websites enable brands to have larger control and get direct feedback. It also allows them to offer an expanded catalogue, exclusive offers, and personalised experiences with consumers, which isn’t possible through thirdparty platforms. Asimilarshift is nowbeing seen in the quick deliveries space.“Addi- tionally, D2C brands are often required to pay 30-45% commission on sales to list on q-commerce platforms and also on marketing and deep discounting to boost visibility, while established FMCGs enjoy more favourable terms and conditions as they have brand leverage,” Madhav Kasturia, founderand CEO of Zippee,told FE. Zippee is a logistics startup that enables two-hour to same-day deliveries for over 140 D2C brands and marketplaces, including Epigamia, Lenskart, Rage Coffee, NOTO,NEEMAN’S,among others. Kasturia added that some of the brands have been experiencing triple-digit growth.RTOs (return to origin) have seen a cut by up to 90%, proving the demand for quick,reliable deliveries,he said. There are more than 600 D2C startups in India. Experts say that given the pace atwhich the q-commerce industry is growing, at least 20% of these brands will be forced to start direct 10-20 minute deliveries by next year. According to delivery services startup Blitz,its client DaMENSCH, a Bengaluru-based D2C menswear brand, faced significant obstacles due to it earlier average delivery turnaround time (TAT) of over 2 days. It led to an increased RTO for the company. But after it started delivering within 4 hours,the consumer net promoter score (NPS) shot up by 10 points. Continued on Page 5 Pune