COMPANIES | PAGE 4 MARKETS | PAGE 5 RecoveriesmaytopFY25goal of`5,000crore:YesBankMD INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 8 India Cements MD & CEO N Srinivasan steps down NEW DELHI, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2024 South Korean prez defies 2nd martial law summons FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE VOL. L NO. 255, 18 PAGES, `12 (PATNA & RAIPUR `12, SRINAGAR `15) 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 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD SENSEX: 78,472.87* ▼ 67.30 NIFTY: 23,727.65* ▼ 25.80 NIKKEI 225: 39,130.43 ▲ 93.58 HANG SENG: 20,098.29* ▲ 215.16 `/$: 85.20* ▼ 0.08 `/€: 88.56* ▲ 0.04 BRENT: $73.58 ▲ $0.95 GOLD: `75,640* ▼ `31 *As on Dec 24 POCKET`1 LAKH CRORE IN 2024 Investors get good exits in IPO frenzy PM inaugurates Ken-Betwa project PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA Modi on Wednesday laid the foundation stone of the Ken-Betwa river linking project in Madhya Pradesh, reports PTI. ■ PAGE 2 13,614 67,147 75,394 12,362 41,643 20,663 28,773 64,314 95,210 AN EMBRAER PASSENGER jet flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed near Aktau city in Kazakhstan on Wednesday with 62 passengers and 5 crew on board, Kazakh authorities announced, saying 32 survivors had been rescued, reports Reuters. ■ PAGE 8 INVESTORS AND PROMOTERS havetakenhomecloseto `1 lakh crore through the sale of shares in initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2024, the highest level in at least 10 years. The amount raised throughthesaleoffreshshares was around `64,300 crore. This is the continuation of a trend, seen over the past several years,in which smaller amounts are being raised via the issuance of fresh shares and used to grow the business or repay debt. Existing shareholders have been pocketing a larger share of the IPO proceeds. For instance, the IPO of Hyundai Motor India, which saw `27,860 crore being raised, was entirely a sale of shares bythe parent company. (` crore) 17,659 Many feared dead in Kazakh jet crash KISHOR KADAM Mumbai, December 25 7,444 23,515 2,960 9,402 3,531 23,082 43,329 IN THE NEWS Fresh capital Offers for sale Issue size 55,468 proceeds being used for business MAKING MONEY 6,540 7,074 9,176 17,318 11,680 ● Smaller share of 1,18,723 49,436 1,59,524 26,494 30,959 26,613 59,302 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Source: Primedatabase, FE Research Data shared by Prime Database reveal that `95,210 crore has been mopped up by promoters and investors via offersforsale(OFS)in2024.This is more than the `75,400 crore thatOFSfetchedthemin2021. Among the many startups that launched their IPOs this year, those of Unicommerce, Ixigo, Awfis, TBO Tek, Swiggy, and Brainbees Solutions had a large OFS component. The exits at attractive valuations have been possible, thanks to a huge investor appetite, especially among retail investors. Continued on Page 8 ● WINTERWONDERLAND ● BHAVISH AGGARWAL, CO-FOUNDER & CEO, OLA The angryyoung man RISHI RAJ New Delhi, December 25 B HAVISH AGGARWAL has already outlined his plans for 2025,which he has termed the“year of products”for Ola Electric.Reason: the 39-year-old co-founder and CEO of Ola wants to launch one product every month in the coming year.Aggarwal should keep his promise as the year going by has been unremarkable for a man who mostly made headlines for his avoidable controversial remarks,as well as the manufacturing defects and poor aftersales-service of his electric scooters. Itwas anunpleasantsurprise from a manwho has long been celebrated as one of the country’s most innovative entrepreneurs.In fact,2024had started well: in December2023,Aggarwal announced Krutrim,a‘made in India’ large language model (LLM)and generative artificialintelligence(AI) platform on the lines of OpenAI’s ChatGPTand Google’s Gemini.Within a month—byJanuary2024—Krutrim turned a unicorn byraising $50 million at avaluation of $1 billion,becoming not onlythe first unicornof theyearbut also the firstAI startup in the countryto achieve the milestone. But then,Aggarwal’s acerbic tongue seemed to have got the betterof his business sense.It all startedwhen in the middle of theyear,he entered into a spat with Microsoft-owned professional networking site LinkedIn.While domestic startupshave been having runinswith big-tech firms,in the case of NEWSMAKERS OF THE YEAR - III ● Instead of fighting all and sundry, he should get back to what he knows best — innovation »INSIDE« KEYTHEMES: QUICK GROWTH OF QUICK COMMERCE PAGE 18 Aggarwal,itwas overa trivial issue—his irewas overLinkedIn removing his post on‘pronoun illness’.Furious,he accused the platform of imposing a‘forced ideology’overgenderpronouns.In response,Aggarwal decided to move Ola’s entireworkload out of MicrosoftAzure to its own cloud platform,Krutrim. LinkedIn certainlywas at fault for removing the post underthe garb of its policies.However,Aggarwal’s reactionto turn the issue into a conflictbetween Indian andWesternvalue systemswas uncalled for.Itwould have been better had he moved Ola’sworkload from Microsoft to the cloud servicesof either Google orAmazon.Apart from protesting,hewould then have signalled the choices available globally.Turning such fights into local-versus-globalis superfluous,as the physical infrastructure — servers — of any domestic cloudservice provideris located overseas. Aggarwal again hit the headlineswith an uglyspatwith comedian Kunal Kamra.Kamra had taken a potshotat Aggarwal on social media platformXfor the poorafter-sales service of Ola’s electric scooters.Instead of taking it in stride and respondingwith humility, oreven ignoringsuch snide remarks, Aggarwal got into a slangingmatch, which led to a slide in the company’s share prices.Just afterthis,the consumer affairs ministrycharged Ola Electricwith failing to address over10,600 consumercomplaints overthe pastyear.It said that if the complaintswere not responded to satisfactorily,a class action suit maybe initiated against the firm underthe Central ConsumerProtection Act (CCPA). Continued on Page 8 SHYAM KUMAR PRASAD ArunishChawla namednew revenuesecy Tourists enjoy paragliding after fresh snowfall in Solang valley, Manali. North India continued to reel under severe cold wave conditions on Wednesday Debt funds to see gains EQUITIES HAVE OUTPERFORMED debt funds by a long marginforthelastfewyears,but things are looking brighter, as India is expected to enter a rate cut cycle, reports Akshata Gorde.While large economies have already started cutting rates,Indiaisexpectedtodothe same from February. ■ PAGE 5 PTI Expertswant More reverse PDS out ofCPI flipping ahead THE MINISTRY OF statistics & programme implementation hasfloatedadiscussionpaperto seek views on treatment of “free PDS items in the CPI compilation”, as it feels the current mechanism doesn’t properly capture the impact of free food distribution on inflation, reportsPriyanshVerma. ■PAGE2 THEREVERSEFLIPtrend,which involves startups relocating theirheadquartersbacktoIndia from abroad, is poised to gain significant traction in 2025, reports S Shanthi. Industry experts estimate that 10-12 startupswilleithercompletethe processornearitscompletionin the comingyear. ■ PAGE 4 THE GOVERNMENT ON WednesdayappointedArunish Chawla as the new revenue secretary, according to a personnel ministry order, reports fe Bureau. Chawla, a 1992 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officerof theBiharcadre,iscurrentlythe pharmaceuticals secretary. The post of revenue secretary fell vacant after incumbent Sanjay Malhotra was appointed the governorof the Reserve Bank of India earlier this month. Chawla,who holds a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics and had a stint at the IMF as senior economist, joins the key team in the finance ministry, as preparations for the Budget FY26 are underway. Fall in rupee good news for auto parts manufacturers too Gainsfordomesticcarmakers; marginpressureforluxuryplayers WIN SOME, LOSE SOME ■ Bajaj Auto, the THE RUPEE STORM-III SWARAJ BAGGONKAR Mumbai, December 25 THE DEPRECIATION OF the rupee against the dollar comes as a mixed bag for the automotive sector, benefiting export-driven domestic manufacturers while adversely affecting luxury carmakers reliant on imports. Domestic manufacturers such as Bajaj Auto and Maruti Suzuki are poised to capitalise on the rupee’s slide as their overseas sales, priced in dollars,yield bigger margins. country's largest 2W and 3W exporter, posted an 11% y-o-y growth in exports, selling 1.21 million units in April-November ■ Maruti Suzuki, largest exporter of PVs, recorded an 18% y-o-y surge in exports in same period ■ With majority of components imported, luxury players such as Mercedes & BMW have resorted to price hikes Bajaj Auto, the country’s largest exporter of two- and three-wheelers, recorded a robust 11%year-on-year(y-oy) growth in exports, selling 1.21 million units between April and November. The company’s key markets ■ Auto component exports rose 9% y-o-y to $3.67 bn in 6 months ended Sept; US alone accounts for 33% include Latin America, Asean, and Africa, where demand remains strong, and transactions are predominantly conducted in dollars. Similarly, Maruti Suzuki, thecountry’slargestpassenger vehicle (PV) exporter,reported an 18% y-o-y surge in exports during the same period, even as its domestic despatches dipped by nearly 3%. The company exports vehicles to regions, including Latin America,Africa,WestAsia,and South East Asia. The rupee’s decline also spells good news forauto component manufacturers, who derive a significant portion of their revenue from exports. TheUSaloneaccountsfor33% of India’s auto component exports, which grew by 9% yo-y to $3.67 billion in the six months ended September, according to the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association.“Auto component exporters historically benefit during periods of sustained rupee depreciation, as it boosts their margins,” said an analyst at Icra. Continued on Page 8 New Delhi