BACK PAGE, P20 COMPANIES, P4 INTERNATIONAL, P7 Taj Hotels to add 120 properties: Chhatwal Expect 8-10% growth in H2: ALL’s Dheeraj Hinduja Powell signals readiness to defy Trump in Fed’s defence KOLKATA, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL 34 NO. 7, 32 PAGES, `12.00 (NORTH EAST STATES `13 & 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 SENSEX: 79,486.32 ▼ 55.47 NIFTY: 24,148.20 ▼ 51.15 NIKKEI 225: 39,500.37 ▲ 118.96 HANG SENG: 20,728.19 ▼ 225.15 `/$: 84.38 < > 0.00 `/€: 90.95 ▼ 0.27 BRENT: $74.71 ▼ $0.92 GOLD: `77,031 ▲ `528 — IN THE NEWS FINAL DAY: SWIGGY IPO SUBSCRIBED 3.59X LED BY QIBs FOLLOWING ATEPID start, food-tech unicorn Swiggy’s `11,327-crore initial public offer got fully subscribed on the final day of the share sale on Friday and ended with a 3.59 times subscription, largely thanks to qualified institutional buyers, reports Ayanti Bera. ■ PAGE 5 AIR INDIA GROUP REJIGS TOP ROLES AHEAD OF MERGER AIR INDIA GROUP has maded a number of management changes ahead of the merger with Vistara on Tuesday, reports Swaraj Baggonkar. Vinod Kannan, CEO, Vistara, who has also been holding the role of chief integration officer for the full-service airlines’ merger, will continue with the role. ■ PAGE 4 SAVES SOME OF THE FIRE POWER FOR TRUMP 2.0, SAY ANALYSTS China unveils $1.4-trn debt package, no direct stimulus KEVIN YAO & ELLEN ZHANG Beijing, November 8 BEIJING DIARIES CHINA UNVEILED A $1.4-trillion (10-trillion-yuan) debt package on Friday to ease local government financing strains and stabilise flagging economic growth, as it faces freshpressurefromDonaldTrump’s re-election as INSIDE US president. THE MISSING The steps confirmlastweBAZOOKA ek’sReutersrep■ PAGE 8 ort, and mark a departure from the all-out stimulus strategies to revive growth as deployed in the past.They aim to repair municipalbalancesheetsasalongerterm objective, rather than directly inject moneyinto the economy. Finance minister Lan Foan said more stimulus was coming, with someanalystssayingBeijingmaynot want to fire all its weapons before TrumptakesoverofficiallyinJanuary. from the all-out stimulus strategies in the past to revive growth ■ New funds to be used to repay 'hidden debts' of ■ The move is a departure 14.3 trillion yuan ■ China’s longer-term outlook is further clouded byTrump’s threat of tariffs in excess of 60% on all Chinese goods ■ IMF, VIVEK KUMAR M Mumbai, November 8 don’t see anything that exceeds expectations,” said Huang Xuefeng, researchdirectoratShanghaiAnfang PrivateFund.“It’snothugeifyoulook at the fiscal shortfalls.” THE LATEST STIMULUS measures announced by China to revive its economy are unlikely to spook Indian equities this time around due to the nature of the latest move and changes in international trade environment,according to experts. “This time it is more to do with substitution of debt, rather than getting new money into economy for productive capacity creating. The markets expected something more than that,” said UR Bhat, cofounder of Alphaniti Fintech. Continued on Page 10 Details on Page 6 ■ The package includes raising the local governments' debt quota by 6 trillion yuan over the next three years State media CCTV reported that China’s cabinet on Friday approved expanding coverage of export credit insuranceandwillstepupsupportfor trade firms. But for now, those investors who speculated on a fiscal bazooka may be disappointed. “I Latest measure may not spook Indian equities however, estimates hidden debts of 60 trillion yuan at the end of 2023 GOVT ADVANCES GDP DATA RELEASE TIME TO 4 PM ● LAST DAY ATWORK FOR THE CJI THE MINISTRY OF statistics and programme implementation has advanced the release time of the gross domestic product estimates to 4PM, from 5:30 PM earlier, to provide the public more time to analyse the national accounts data, reports Priyansh Verma. ■ PAGE 2 IRDAI CHAIRMAN PITCHES FOR 100% FDI IN INSURANCE FE S P E C I A L S In Mercedes-Benz’s best EV to the Taj Falaknuma Palace The EQS SUV is the pinnacle of luxury in EVs, and so is this jewel of Hyderabad. ■ MOTOBAHN, P9 Take pvt coverwith Ayushman Bharat To help senior citizens expand cover for expensive treatments; offers flexibility ■ PERSONAL FINANCE, P9 5.4 % change, y-o-y Gross NPAs 86,974 Net profit Q2FY25 Gross NPA (%) 27.9 2.13 2.55 83,369 Net interest income Q2FY24 18,331 (` crore) 14,330 STATE BANK OF India (SBI) on Friday reported a 28% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in standalone profit to `18,331 crore in the September quarter, beating by a wide margin Bloomberg’s estimates of `16,112 crore. However, the bank’s net interest margin (NIM) contracted by 16 basis points to 3.27% — partly due to higher provisions, double from a year ago. The bank has also received approval from the board to raise long-term bonds worth up to `20,000crorethroughapublicissue orprivate placement during FY25. Shares of SBI ended 1.86% lower at `843.25 on the BSE. The bank’s gross advances rose 14.93% y-o-y to `39.2 lakh crore, while the deposit growth was much lower at 9.13% y-o-y at `51.17 lakh crore — a new milestone,said chairman CS Setty in the post-earnings REPORT CARD 41,620 ANUPREKSHA JAIN Mumbai, November 8 39,500 INDIAWILL NOT travel to Pakistan for next year's Champions Trophy tournament, reports Sandeep Dwivedi. The BCCI, in a recent communication to the Pakistan Cricket Board, has cited security concerns behind its decision and expressed a desire to play all games in Dubai. ■ PAGE 24 SBI Q2 profit jumps 28% « INDIA WON’T TRAVEL TO PAKISTAN FOR CHAMPIONS TROPHY Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud being presented a memento by SCBA president Kapil Sibal, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Attorney General R Venkatramani and others during his farewell on Friday Net NPA (%) Deposits (` lakh crore) 46.89 51.17 4.1 9.1 Advances (` lakh crore) 34.11 39.21 SBI standalone financials conference. He added that the domestic credit-to-deposit ratiowas at 67.8% and the bank will focus on increasing the share of CASA. Creditcostsroseby16bpsy-o-yto 0.38%,comparedwith0.22%ayear ago.The state-owned lender registered robust credit growth across all 14.9 0.53 0.64 segments.Growth in domestic advanceswasdrivenbyan18.35%jump incorporateadvances,a17.67%rise in agri-loans, another 17.36% in small and medium enterprises and 12.32% in retail segments. Continued on Page 11 ANI RESULTS CORNER Tata Motors’ profit skids on JLR issues TATA MOTORS HAS reported a 10% drop in net profit in Q2FY25 on the back of reduced volumes of JLR, which faced major supply chain issues, reports Swaraj Baggonkar. ■ PAGE 4 Vedanta posts profit on lower tax costs VEDANTA HAS POSTED a consolidated net profit of `4,352 crore in Q2, from a net loss of `1,783 crore a year ago. Its tax expenses fell to `2,030 crore against `9,092 crore, reports PTI. ■ PAGE 5 LIC profit slips 4% on lower other income STATE-RUN LIC on Friday reported a 3.8% decline in net profit to `7,621 crore for Q2FY25 on lower other income and amortisation of `464 crore due to a rise in family pension, reports PTI. ■ PAGE 6 AKSHATA GORDE Mumbai, November 8 THE ONCE-THRIVING CURRENCY derivatives markets is on the death bed, with volumes slumping close to 98% in less than six months and most traders shifting to offshore exchange after the Reserve Bank of India moved in to curb speculative trading. In October, the average daily turnover for currency futures and options on the National Stock Exchange(NSE)droppedtojust`6,903.61 crorefrom`1.56lakhcroreinMarch. So farin November,the turnoverhas reached`3,570.26croreperday.The BSE saw an even sharper downturn, with its average daily volume nosediving nearly 99%,from `6,161.65 croreinMarchtoamere`68.88crore in October. So far this month, BSE’s currency derivatives have seen zero volume, mirroring the trend from August and September. In January, the RBI said that all rupee-denominated currency contracts should be backed byvalid and unhedged underlying exposure. Although traders could take positions of up to $100 million without presenting proof, they were still required to confirm the presence of an exposure.The regulation,which became effective in May, was intendedtocurbspeculativetrading. As a result, traders have largely exitedthemarket,leavingonlythose who need to hedge their import and export risks. Ritesh Bhansali, director at Mecklai Financial Services, CURRENCY DERIVATIVES Average daily turnover (` crore) 2024 NSE January February March April May June July August September October November* BSE 1,50,284 1,22,871 1,56,007 20,646 5,549 5,960 2,165 5,251 3,284 6,904 3,570 7,065 6,102 6,162 1,481 101 119 8 69 - *As of November 7; Source: NSE, BSE said,“A significant portion — over 60-70%—ofthevolumeincurrency futures was driven by speculative trading,which the regulator wasn’t comfortablewith.WhileRBI’sintention was to promote genuine hedging activity through these rules, the removal of speculators and jobbers has led to a liquidity crunch in the market.So it’s a dying market now.” Continued on Page 11 Zomato, Swiggy in breach of law: CCI ADITYA KALRA & ARPAN CHATURVEDI New Delhi, November 8 UNDER SCANNER AN INVESTIGATION BY the Competition Commission of India (CCI) found that food delivery giants Zomato and SoftBankbacked Swiggy breached competition laws,with their business practices favouring select restaurants listed on their platforms, documents show. Zomato entered into “exclusivity contracts” with partners in return for lower commissions, while Swiggy guaranteed business growth to certain players if they listed exclusively on its platform, accordingtonon-publicdocuments prepared by the antitrust body. Exclusivity arrangements between Swiggy, Zomato and their respectiverestaurantpartners“prevent the market from becoming more competitive”,the CCI’s investigation arm noted in its findings reviewed by Reuters on Friday. The antitrust investigation against Swiggy and its top rival Zomato began in 2022 after a complaint byNational RestaurantAssociationofIndiaabouttheimpacton food outlets of alleged anti-competitive practices of the platforms. The CCI documents are not public, in line with its confidentiality entered into exclusivity contracts with partners in return for lower commissions ■ Zomato ■ Swiggy guaranteed business growth to certain players ifthey listed exclusively on its platform ■ Probe against the two began in 2022 after NRAI flagged concerns ■ The case is mentioned as one ofthe 'internal risks' in Swiggy's IPO prospectus ■ Swiggy IPOvalues it at $11.3 billion, Zomato isvalued at $27 billion rules,andwere sharedwith Swiggy, Zomato and the complainant restaurant group in March this year. Their findings have not been previously reported. Zomato declined to comment, while Swiggy and the CCI did not respond to Reuters queries. Continued on Page 10 JIO, STARLINK CLASH AGAIN ON ADMINISTRATIVE ALLOCATION AND AUCTION Satcom spectrum pricing open house becomes free-for-all JATIN GROVER New Delhi, November 8 IT WAS THE clash between the local and the global as Elon Musk’s Starlink and Mukesh Ambani’s Jio sparred over issues relating to pricing of satellite spectrum. The open house discussions convened by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Friday saw Jio stating that it’s “not afraid of competition”but‘same services same rules’ must apply. Jio has made a case for the auction of satellite spectrum, while Starlink has maintained that since auction does not take place worldwide, and is technically infeasible, administrative allocation is the way forward. Starlink has found LOCALVS GLOBAL ■ AsksTrai to first Starlink ■ Same services, same test the feasibility of spectrum auctions rules must apply to satcom players ■ First-come firstserve policy of allocation 'flawed' and 'discriminatory' Jio IRDAI CHAIRMAN DEBASISH Panda on Friday pitched for 100% FDI in the insurance sector, saying a lot of capital is needed to achieve the goal of 'insurance for all' by 2027. Being a capital-intensive sector, there is a need for more players, he said. reports PTI. ■ PAGE 6 THERE IS no greater feeling for a judge than to be able to serve those in need, outgoing Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said on Friday as he bid goodbye to lawyers in Court Hall 1 of the Supreme Court. Friday was the last working day for the CJI. Sharing the ceremonial bench constituted in his honour, the CJI said, “It has been a great honour to be sitting in this court.” ■ PAGE 10 Trading volumes in currency F&O nosedive 98% ■ Spectrum should be given to telcos for up to 3-4 years initially ■ Flags concerns over predatory pricing by high capacity operators like Starlink support from another global player, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, which is also backing administrative allocation. Sharpening its attack, Jio charged operators like Starlink of possible predatorypricing,a charge vehementlydismissed bythe latter. “Weareworkinginahyper-competitive market.We are not afraid of ■ Predatory pricing charges false going by our operations in 113 markets ■ Spectrum cannot be auctioned as it is a shared spectrum ■ Satellite spectrum should be based on the percentage of AGR, which should be at less than 1% competition. It is the other way around. Actually, the entities who are wanting to be in this space via satellite, in the telecom space via satellite, are afraid of competition, ■ Spectrum allocation should be for at least 20 years and that’s why they want all this kind of protection,” Ravi Gandhi, president and chief of public policy, Reliance Jio,said. “I wanted to very quickly touch on an unfortunate and entirely false allegation of possible predatory pricing by next-generation systems. Debunking this is thankfully very easy. We encourage Trai and all interested participants to simplylook at Starlink's operations in any of the 113 markets we are live in today...we maintain absolute transparency on Starlink pricing and performance around the world,” Parnil Urdhwareshe, director, Starlink Satellite Communications, said. He said that Starlink prices for anycountryare readilyavailable on itswebsite foranyonetocrosscheck the overwhelming public evidence against these allegations. Continued on Page 10 Kolkata