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SUNDAY, 15 DECEMBER 2019 WORLD P8 WORLD P9 12 pages in 1 section MUMBAI (CITY) ~10.00 CARRIE LAM HEADS FOR BEIJING AFTER INITIALCHINATRADE VOLUME XIII NUMBER 39 AS PRESSURE MOUNTS AT HOME DEAL, US STILLHAS CONCERNS

PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY FROM BENGALURU, KOLKATA, MUMBAI AND NEW DELHI INDIA’S STORYHAS JUST BEGUN: NITI Govt plans centralised Google wants Fed to CEO AMITABH KANT purchase forAyushman replicate UPI model HIMANI KOTHARI Medical devices to be available on GeM for procurement by hospitals New Delhi, 14 December

SOHINI DAS The US Federal Reserve, or the Fed, Mumbai, 14 December should replicate India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) model for its he central government may proposed interbank real-time gross set- soon start “collective bargain- tlement (RTGS) service , Google has rec- ing” for medical devices that ommended. The series of reforms undertaken by the Modi T are used by hospitals for pro- Launched in 2016, the UPI is the government in the last few years will make cedures covered under its flagship country’s flagship real-time payments India productively-efficient and a very Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan system, which allows users to transfer competitive economy in the long run, NITI Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY). money directly from their bank Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said. “There is a The idea is to procure essential med- accounts. Since it works across multiple UPI UNIVERSE great positivity about India. India’s story has ical devices such as cardiac stents at a bank accounts, without revealing the just begun,” he said. “You will see huge lower cost and put them on the details of one’s account to the other par- growth in the next three decades on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM), from ty, it makes paying someone as simple as foundation of the reforms that have been where the empanelled hospitals can buy. handing over cash. It clocked 1.2 billion carried out, “ Kant added. 12 > At present, PMJAY does not have transactions in November, valued at ~1.89 any system of centralised procurement trillion. Citing the UPI’s phenomenal of medicines or devices. The scheme success in India, Google, in a letter to BACKPAGE P12 has a defined annual benefit cover of FOR CHEAPER TREATMENT the Fed, said FedNow should be an Mandatory roll-out ~5 lakh per family for hospitalisation. It open system, like the UPI. follows an insurance model and aims to | Govt plans to | PMJAY-empanelled working closely “We’ve been pretty vocal that we of FASTag from today cover 10 million families, or roughly negotiate prices hospitals will be able with govt to reduce believe the right model for driving digi- FASTag will be rolled out mandatorily on all 40 per cent of the country’s popula- with medical to buy devices from procurement cost of tal payments is through partnership national highways starting Sunday. To tion based on the socio-economic and devices makers by GeM at lower rates medical devices between banks, governments and tech avoid inconvenience to citizens, up to 25 caste census database. assuring bulk | This will help | PMJAYalso companies through open and standard- per cent of the FASTag lanes at national According to a senior government volumes reduce costs for planning collective based infrastructures like UPI,” tweeted highway toll plazas will be converted into official, the plan is to do “collective bar- Caesar Sengupta, general manager & | Devices like stents procedures, thus procurement of hybrid lanes for a month, the governement gaining” for certain medical devices vice-president, payments and Next Note: As of November 2019, 143 banks were on the UPI said. Hybrid lanes will accept FASTag and and implants by assuring a bulk will be put on the enabling govt to cancer medicines at Billion Users at Google. platform Source: NPCI other modes of payment. requirement to the manufacturers. Government cover more patients rates lower than In August, the Fed announced that it “The requirement for these devices e-Marketplace | Industryassociation those fixed by NPPA would develop a “new interbank 24x7x365 through the Google Pay app, which cur- runs into millions. We assure them that RTGS with integrated clearing function- rently has 67 million monthly active COMPANIES P2 the requirement is going to be in bulk. ality to support faster payments in the users,” Google said in a white paper. Impending price hikes In return, they should offer us better There is no plans to do this for med- hospitals at lower rates,” said the official, United States”. The Fed Board asked for Google Pay has enabled more than 2.5 rates,” he said. icines because it is logistically difficult. who is closely working on the project. comments on FedNow by November. billion transactions, and now has an may drive up auto sales The official added that these However, the government plans to pro- The industry is happy about the In reply to this, Google mentioned its annual run rate of over $110 billion in Automobile manufacturers’ decision to devices could then be put on the GeM cure cancer medicines at prices lower move. “This sounds like a good idea. experience of launching Google Pay - transaction value. increase the price of their cars and and the empanelled hospitals could than those capped by the National This will reduce the cost of the govern- Google’s payments app which uses the This drove not only basic payment two-wheelers from January 2020 is expected procure them from there for PMJAY Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority ment in Ayushman Bharat, which will UPI -in India. services such as peer-to-peer and peer- to push the sales of passenger vehicles by patients. “Hospitals empanelled with (NPPA). “PMJAY rates could be lower give more room to them to treat more “Google partnered with regulators and to-merchant, but it also paved the way to 2-4 per cent in December. Besides, discounts PMJAY can thus procure these stents or than the prevalent rates by the NPPA. patients,” said the CEO of a leading the payments ecosystem to launch Google value-added services such as instant and other schemes being offered should also devices based on these lower rates.” We can provide these medicines to our domestic stent maker. Turn to Page 4 > Pay. This helped drive and scale UPI usage loans, it said. Turn to Page 4 > prod buyers to advance their car purchase, say dealers. T E NARASIMHAN reports Virtual reality tech on CONG TARGETS GOVT AT 'SAVE INDIA' RALLY Citizenship law the road to oblivion PHOTO:DALIP VR, or virtual reality, was supposed to be the stir spills over next big thing. Some even thought it would KUMAR replace mobile phones and TV screens. But cut to 2019, and VR has failed to become into Assam’s mainstream, still dangling around to find its rightful purpose. Outside of gaming, VR has failed to deliver any real economic value to tea industry its makers. YUVRAJ MALIK writes 2 > RAILWAYS TO FLOAT AVISHEK RAKSHIT GLOBAL TENDER Kolkata, 14 December ON The ongoing protests over the Citizenship FOR TRAIN 18 (Amendment) Act have severely hit the tea indus- SUNDAY The ambitious Train 18 project is likely to try in Assam, as nearly half of the tea estates have SPECIAL see a fresh global tendersoon. This remained closed for the past few days owing to a comes amid controversies looming over large number of workers joining the stir. IN DEPTH the decision by the Indian Railways to Although the Indian Tea Association (ITA) or stop production of Train 18 rakes at the the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS), the The digital school Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai largest tea workers’ union in India, could not and initiating probe against the top nine provide any official officials of India’s first semi-high speed estimates, sources in MORE THAN A train, also known as Vande Bharat the know suggested Express. As per sources, the government is that over 60 per cent STORM IN A likely to float a global tender for at least 30 of the tea workforce TEA CUP to 40 trains. A major reason that the in Assam, or railways had cited for the stoppage of ICF 660,000 of the total | An estimated 60% production was the higher weight, 1.1 million, has of the tea workers in resulting in increased energy joined the protest. Assam have joined The Congress launched an all-out attack on the Modi government over its alleged attempts to “divide” the people of consumption. “We are going for fresh This has led to the How an institute in Mumbai is creating the protest the country and its “failure” on the economic front, with party chief Sonia Gandhi claiming that the Citizenship global tenders of Train 18 now,” halting of work in influencers and preparing marketeers for a Amendment Act would “shred” India’s soul, at the party’s Bharat Bachao rally at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi 12 > officials said. SHINE JACOB reports 12 > around 50 per cent | Half of the tea brand new world. ANJULI BHARGAVA writes 7 > of the 800-odd tea estates have been gardens in the state. affected by this The effect on small | Labour shortage is tea growers (STG), leading to Cabfirmsjitteryoverproposedcommissioncaps numbering around overgrown bushes 85,000, is not known. in tea estates Claim that if govt fixes their commission at cost-effective. Assam accounts | Transportation of tea Thecabaggregatormodel,say for nearly 50 per cent also put on hold 10%, they will go out of business executives,ensuresthatdriversmake of the tea supply in 20percentmorethandrivingataxi. the country. | Protests within the SURAJEET DAS GUPTA — much more if they look at global Theycanearn~45,000grosspermonth According to estates have been New Delhi, 14 December margins in the business which are and~20,000-~25,000netafterpaying Paban Singh peaceful around 5 per cent net. allthebillsandfortheloanofthecab, Ghatowar, president Wrong.That’stheword cabaggregators Accordingto executives,these butthisdictatesthatheworksbetween of the Congress-affili- usefortheperceptionthatdriversand figuresexplainwhytheyarestillinthe 6-12hoursaday, sixdaysaweek. ated ACMS, which is customersgetaslightlyrawdealwhile redandlookingatexpandingthe Thefirmssaythedriversenjoy free opposing the citizen- theymakemoney.Withthe volumeofbusinessto paredowncosts. insuranceanddiscountson ship law, areas governmentthinkingofcappingthe Themessageto thegovernmentisloud maintenance(whichhave to bedone around Tinsukia, commissiontheygetfromdriversat10 andclear:ifyougoaheadwithyour everysevenweeks)thanksto thetie- Lakhimpur, Sunitpur, percent,cabaggregatorshave told newrulescappingthecommission,we upstheyarrange. TheyalsoofferEMI and Margharita were BusinessStandard thiswillputthem willhave to shutshop. The cab aggregator model, sayexecutives, ensures that drivers make supportforthefirstfewmonths,along worst-affected. outofbusiness. Thegovernmentisconsideringa 20 percent more than driving a taxi. Theycan earn ~45,000 gross per withincentivesbasedonthenumberof “We haven’t called Forevery~100thatacustomerpays proposalto capthecommissionpaidby month and ~20,000-~25,000 net afterpaying all the bills trips,inorderto cushiontheinitial a strike or protests, adriver, ~75goesto thedriver, ~5goesto driversat10percentandto stipulate burdenofbuyingacar. but individual workers’ unions have opted for thegovernmentasGST, andtheyget thatonly10percentofallridescan Ifdriversneedloans,thefirmshave strikes or some sort of protests. Some workers are what’sleft,sayexecutives. have asurgepricewhich,moreover, takenbetweenthetwodistances,and problem.“Forinstance,we provide tiedupwithmicrofinancecompanies siding with the local population against the Bill,” Asmuch as two-thirds of the 20 per cannotbemorethantwicethenormal theperkilometrefare. Oursurgeprice financialincentivesto driversbasedon to offerthemattractive rates.Allthese Ghatowar told Business Standard. cent commission they earn from a tariff.Theruleswillonlybefinalised isbasedonanincreasefromthe lowcancellationrates,highratingsby ‘extras’, theysay, comeoutoftheirshare December is usually a lean season for tea culti- driver’s revenue is ploughed back to afterdiscussionswithstakeholders. blendedfareforsixmonthsinanormal users,timelinessofarrival.Thisis ofthe20percentcommission. vation, but tea bushes need to be pruned and main- drivers and users in the form of Aggregatorsarguethatthebasisof demandcyclewithwhendemandgoes essentialto incentivisegooddriver Intermsoftechnology,cab tained to be readied for the harvest in March-April. incentives and benefits. Apart from calculatingacaponthesurgepriceof up,” saidasource. partners,”saidanexecutive withacar aggregatorssaytheyhave to spenda Industry officials said failure to do so could affect the incentives, 13 per cent of their 20 2xby thegovernmentisnotclear.They Sowhatarethebenefitsand hailingcompany. substantialamountonresearchand the quality of the forthcoming produce, pulling per cent is also spent on technology, saythesurgeprice,onaverage, is incentivesthatthecompaniesare Headdedthat,inorderto development,finetuningand down prices. “There have been some garden clo- services, and physical infrastructure. between30and40percentandthat ploughingbackmoneyfor? encouragemoreconsumersto optfor upgradingtheplatform,puttingin sures in Assam, but it is very difficult to arrive at a Given this break-up, they say they tooonlyforafewtrips. Executivessayitisessentialto carpooling,hiscompanyprovides securitymeasures,operatinga24x7 number. Protests over the law have affected the tea require around 20-23 per cent of a “A pricehasthreecomponents—a differentiatebetween“goodandbad discountedtariffsto consumerswhich helpdeskfordrivers,andphysical industry badly,” Vivek Goenka, chairman of the user’s revenue merely to break even baseprice,thepricebasedonthetime drivers”andweanaway thosewhoarea helpto maketheservice supportcentres. ITA, said. Turn to Page 4 > 2 COMPANIES MUMBAI | 15 DECEMBER 2019 >

IN BRIEF FITE to look at legal options if EdgeVerve’s RPA sees robust demand talks with IT companies fail Deal pipeline strong CUTTING EDGE AssistEdge is Infosys’ business The Forum for IT Employees (FITE) has process management (BPM) unit and as robotic automation | said that it may look at legal options, Clients spending aggressively we work on a lot of common deals,” including approaching the Labour segment registers on emerging technologies said Soneja. Court or the High Court, if talks with such as automation, artificial With increasing demand for the IT firms fail at the conciliation CAGR of 60-70% intelligence, and Cloud automation, pure play automation stage in the Labour Department of | EdgeVerve provides RPA companies such as UiPath and Tamil Nadu. A few complaints by the DEBASIS MOHAPATRA Automation Anywhere, among oth- individual employees against the Bengaluru, 14 December solutions under ‘AssistEdge’ ers, are witnessing sky high valua- alleged termination, along with complaint from FITE against platform and AI-based tions. However, intense competition various IT firms including Cognizant and others, are pending for dgeVerve, a subsidiary of solutions under ‘Infosys Nia’ has also led to pricing pressure in this conciliation with the department. The conciliation process is Infosys that builds software | EdgeVerve reported turnover segment. expected to be completed in two weeks, with a couple of hearings Eproducts and platforms, is “Though there is pricing pressure, scheduled. If the talks fail, the Forum will move legally, said Vinod hopeful of sustaining its high of ~2,538 crore in the last we have been able to balance it. AJ, general secretary of FITE. BS REPORTER< growth rate, given that clients are financial year, while its net Whenever cognitive elements come seen spending aggressively on profit stood at ~405 crore into play, there is a differential price emerging technologies such as point as compared to pure-play Alphabet seeks quiet Renault offers CEO automation, artificial intelligence RPA,” Soneja said. end to investor suits job to SEAT's Luca De (AI), and Cloud. than 60-70 per cent CAGR (com- progress in terms of our pipeline and clients across business portfolios According to Infosys’ annual According to Atul Soneja, global pound annual growth rate). When we growth curve.” with 100,000 live bots working on report, EdgeVerve Systems reported over harassment Meo: La Vanguardia head of Edge Products and Nia at look at our traction in the market and Infosys’ EdgeVerve provides RPA various processes. a turnover of ~2,538 crore in the last Infosys, the company is seeing wins in the last year or so, this (our solutions under its ‘AssistEdge’ plat- The services provided by financial year ended March, while its Alphabet Inc is pursuing French carmaker Renault has strong demand for its products and growth rate) is pretty much aligned form, while its AI-based solutions are AssistEdge and Nia are also widely net profit stood at ~405 crore. mediation to settle investor offered the chairman of platform across enterprises, and the to market growth rates,” said Soneja. offered under ‘Infosys Nia’. The com- used by Infosys internally, for Currently, a team of close to 400 litigation alleging the company Volkswagen's SEAT brand, Luca deal pipeline continues to stay “The RPA and cognitive automa- pany’s banking solutions include its automating processes in the human engineers based out of Bengaluru, let senior leaders at Google get de Meo, the job of chief robust. tion are very interesting and are hot core banking platform ‘Finacle’. resources, legal, finance and pro- Pune, and Chennai are engaged in away with sexual harassment executive, Spanish newspaper “The robotic process automation spaces as of now with a lot of At present, AssistEdge and curement departments. the product development activities and misconduct for years. La Vanguardia reported on (RPA) industry is growing at more demand. We are seeing good Infosys Nia have more than 300 “The major users of our for Infosys EdgeVerve. Company directors had, earlier Saturday, citing anonymous this year, set up a special sources. The report said De Meo committee to evaluate the would initially become CEO of claims after several Renault for two years before shareholder groups sued, taking over responsibility for UP Police arrests two alleging that the board failed in the group’s alliance with Discounts, impending price hikes its duties by allowing Nissan and Mitsubishi. harassment, approving big Reuters had reported more in DHFL scam payouts to departing previously that De Meo was a may drive up automobile sales executives and keeping the possible candidate for the top VIRENDRA SINGH RAWAT tious and were floated solely details under wraps. The job, along with interim Chief Lucknow, 14 December to earn commission by fix- T E NARASIMHAN Datsun India had announced committee recommended that Executive Clotilde Delbos and ing unscrupulous invest- Chennai, 14 December a 5 per cent price increase — the case go through private Patrick Koller, the Franco- The Uttar Pradesh Police has ment deals. from ~14,000 for Datsun mediation, a closed-door German CEO of car parts maker arrested two people for With these two arrests, Automobile manufacturers’ RediGO to ~68,000 for Nissan process, according to a filing Faurecia, who was also tipped allegedly operating bogus the number of accused decision, amid rising input Kicks. Mercedes-Benz said it in California state court in for the role. REUTERS< brokerage firms, and facilitat- arrested by the EOW so far costs, to increase the price of had revised the prices of its San Jose. BLOOMBERG< ing the investment of UP has risen to 14, including their cars and two-wheelers entire model range by up to Mother Dairy, Amul Power Corporation (UPPCL) three serving or suspended from January 2020 is expect- 3 per cent. Tata Tetley launches employees’ provident fund UPPCL officials. ed to push the sales of passen- “The discounts at present hike milk prices by (PF) in private mortgage The state has recom- ger vehicles by 2-4 per cent in are lower than those offered Indian-flavoured up to ~3 per litre lender Dewan Housing mended a Central Bureau of December. Besides, discounts during the festive season, but tea bags in UK Finance Corporation (DHFL). Investigation (CBI) probe, and other schemes being they will increase to the earli- Mother Dairy on Saturday The economic offences although the central agency offered should also prod buy- er level in the second half of The Tata Group-owned Tetley announced an increase in milk wing (EOW) of the police is is yet to take over the case. ers to advance their car pur- December as part of year-end tea brand has announced the prices by up to ~3 per litre in probing the case. On December 6, the EOW chase, say dealers. discounts,” said Shah. launch of a special ethnic range Delhi-NCR due to lower supply Close to ~4,122 crore of had arrested seven accused, Among the companies Some customers may also cars and two-wheelers. For example, Maruti will in the UK, targeted at the and rise in procurement cost. the PF corpus was parked including a senior DHFL offi- that have announced price have changed their mind and Generally, the prices rise by offer discounts of ~1 lakh, diaspora population. Tata Mother Dairy said that it was with scam-hit DHFL cial, a CA and alleged owners hikes from January are pushed their sales to one per cent every January. including corporate ones, Global Beverages, the brand compelled to raise prices in between March 2017 and of the bogus brokerage firms. Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, December from November. But the average price increase exchange offers and corporate owners of Britain's iconic tea Delhi-NCR with effect from December 2018, in violation Last month, the police Nissan, and BMW. We are cautiously optimistic this time will be slightly high- offers. Hyundai’s discounts brand Tetley Tea, said the range December 15. The new prices of norms. arrested then UPPCL man- Though it was not easy to of positive demand.” er, in order to cover future cost and other benefits will go up will offer three flavours of will be effective from Sunday, it The arrested have been aging director A P Mishra, predict by how much the sales Srivastava said discounts escalations due to BSVI roll- to ~2 lakh. Nissan has 'Masala', 'Elaichi' (Cardamom) said. Amul, too, raised milk identified as Manoj Goyal now retired, apart from sus- might increase this month, being offered were at an all- outs, according to Shah. announced discounts of up to and 'Ginger', already available prices by ~2 per litre in Gujarat, and Ishant Agarwal. They pended officials Praveen analysts, car companies and time high, and not sustain- The January hikes will be ~40,000, besides an exchange in India. The speciality Indian Delhi-NCR, West Bengal and were interrogated by the Kumar Gupta and dealers were expecting decent able. “So we want to tell our followed by another round of bonus of up to ~40,000 and flavours, aimed at the South Maharashtra. “Gujarat EOW on Friday. Sudhanshu Dwivedi, in the annual growth in passenger customers that the best time price increase the sales of BSVI corporate discounts of up to Asian Diaspora living in the UK Cooperative Milk Marketing Later, they were arrested high-profile case. car sales, said Ashish to buy a car is now.” vehicles begin before April ~10,000 on Nissan Kicks. as well as across Europe, are Federation (GCMMF), which when the investigators found While ~4,122 crore was Harsharaj Kale, president of Mitul Shah, an auto ana- 2020. Though Maruti Suzuki Fada numbers show that expected to address a gap in markets dairy products under gaps in their statements in invested in DHFL, about the Federation of Automobile lyst with Reliance Securities, had said prices of its vehicles passenger vehicle registrations the market for authentic Indian Amul brand, has decided to light of the documentary ~2,267 crore is yet to be repaid Dealers Association (Fada). views price hikes announced would increase from January, grew 1 per cent to 257,271 units "chai" tea bags. "This is the first revise the milk prices by ~2 per evidence already in the cus- by the company. Some analysts estimated by car makers as a sales strat- it had not clarified by how during November, compared time a mainstream tea brand is litre being sold in Ahmedabad tody of cops. It has already been barred this growth at 2-4 per cent. egy to clear their BSIV inven- much. Hyundai, the next to with 255,535 units in same disrupting the tea category by and Saurashtra markets of According to people in by the Bombay High Court Shashank Srivastava, execu- tory. The announcements announce, did not disclose month last year. Fada’s Kale offering an authentic desi Gujarat, Delhi-NCR, West the know, the arrested duo from making fresh repay- tive director (marketing & would certainly make buyers the extent of price rise. said automobile retailers had (local) chai experience in a tea Bengal, Mumbai and are chartered accountants ments owing to the ongoing sales), Maruti Suzuki, said: “It advance their decision and Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, seen a stronger demand dur- bag format," says Adil Ahmad, Maharashtra from December (CAs) and operate multiple Enforcement Directorate is possible. However, it is very push sales, he said. and Hero MotoCorp had ing November 2019, and some president (International 15, 2019,” the cooperative said brokerages. (ED) probe for alleged money difficult to quantify the mag- The price hikes are taking been the next in announcing of that would have spilled over Business), TGBL. PTI< in a statement. PTI< Many of these are ficti- laundering. nitude and place a number. place across a wide range for price hikes. Nissan and to post-festive season. VR: Started with promise, now on road to oblivion Adani Transmission in the world, had started VR-only wins Mumbai project Technology tipped to replace smartphones studios in 2015. and TV screens has failed to provide returns It invested millions of dollars opening locations from Los YUVRAJ MALIK off with the same offering, but Angeles to Bangkok. Bengaluru, 14 December later pivoted to ‘daily darshan’ Another US company called from religious sites. Its app Jaunt, which developed 3D apps Virtual Reality (VR) was supposed VRDevotee offers religious tours and content for VR, recently said to be the next big thing. Some had of Sabarimala to Vaishno Devi it pivoted to focus on AR instead. even thought that it would replace over VR. Over a dozen VR studios Jaunt had raised over $100 mobile phones and TV screens. were created in 2016. million from Disney and Google, However, the technology today VR became a popular tool for and laid off half of its staff last is still struggling to find its rightful property portals. In 2016, year. Google, too, pulled the plug purpose, let alone become Magicbricks’ experience studios on Daydream project in October. mainstream. had people ‘experience’ Of course, hardcore gamers properties over VR, while Shift to AR swear by VR, especially the new PropTiger went a step ahead and Many say VR is failing because the Sony Play Station VR, which is acquired VR start-up 3DPhy for clunky headset is unappealing probably the only area in which the same purpose. and cannot be used beyond a AMRITHA PILLAY bution business. The compa- the technology has had an impact. However, there has been no certain amount of time. This Mumbai, 14 December ny expects the Kharghar People have also tried to use VR in new investment in a VR tech problem is solved by AR. Vikhroli Transmission project flight stimulation, remote-tours company since 2017. AR, which basically juxtaposes Adani Transmission on to help carry more power into for real estate properties, and “There has to be a very strong virtual imagery on the real world Saturday said it has won a the city. entertainment (delivering movies use-case driving these seen through a camera, is project to develop a 400 kV “This project is critical to over VR). technologies. In this case, what replacing VR like wildfire. substation facility in Mumbai. Mumbai, as the existing But outside of gaming, VR has was happening was that the Be it the clunky head-mount, which seems anything but futuristic, high Hardware makers and creators are The project is likely to ease capacity of transmission cor- failed to deliver real economic technology was trying to drive the price of VR units, or the rise of augmented reality, VR has lost its sheen moving to AR. The shift was transmission congestion and ridor is not sufficient to carry value to its makers. Be it the use cases. VR obviously looks nice conclusively enabled by Pokemon carry more power to meet the further power into the city. clunky head-mount, which seems as a demo, but if you really look at and Samsung, which announced to expensive headsets to try VR. Go, that became a rage last year. city’s future electricity needs. This project will enable addi- anything but futuristic, high price it, the driving use-cases have been VR as the next biggest focus area. For this Google launched People from Shanghai to Toronto “Adani Transmission tional power to be brought of VR equipment, or the rise of far and few,” said Singhal. Daydream, a developer tool where were breathlessly chasing (ATL) has received a Letter of into Mumbai,” ATL said in its augmented reality or AR (as used Golden period anyone can create VR content. Pokemons on the streets on their Intent from the Maharashtra statement. in Pokemon Go), VR has lost its Tracing origins In 2014, Facebook bought Oculus Many creators signed up, leading phones. The game, which hit 90 State Electricity Transmission ATL’s newly won project is sheen. And here, the viral picture In 1968, Ivan Sutherland, a US VR, then a two-year old start-up, to a proliferation in VR content. million downloads at its peak, is a Company (MSETCL) to build, also expected to bring down of a cow wearing a VR headset at a computer scientist, created what for $3 billion. Facebook felt that classic example of AR. own, operate and maintain a Mumbai’s cost of power. “(The farm near Moscow, aptly was widely considered to be the VR was the future of content The drop Last year, Apple launched transmission project in project will)….also allow addi- describes the current state of the first head-mounted display for consumption, a message peddled VR was at its peak in 2015-17. ARKit, a suite of software that Maharashtra for 35 years,” the tional source of power and technology: experimental. use in immersive simulation by its peers at the time. Globally, VCs pumped $857 enables anyone to create AR company stated. bring down the cost of power “Virtual reality is still virtual applications. Albeit primitive, it This opened the floodgates, million into VR start-ups in 2016, experiences for mobile and The project involves devel- for the citizens of Mumbai,” reality,” said Manish Singhal, was a totally new way of with millions of dollars getting which dropped to $280 million in tablets. The tools, much like the oping Mumbai’s first ever 400 the statement said. founder of Pi Ventures, a deep- consuming content. poured into VR. 2018, according to SuperData. Adobe photoshop family, are kV substation facility. The Earlier this week, it agreed tech focused venture capitalist Between 1970 and 1990, the VR Mobile maker HTC launched Companies like Sony and being extensively used for gaming project has been awarded to sell 25.1 per cent stake in its firm based in Bengaluru. In the industry (mainly in the US) Vive, a consumer VR headset, in Facebook do not share annual and education purposes, through a tariff-based com- Mumbai power distribution four years of the firm, Singhal has shipped devices for medical, 2015 — followed in quick sales numbers, but it is widely according to reports. petitive bidding process. business to Qatar Investment backed a dozen technologists flight simulation, automobile succession by Sony, which reported that shipments have The next big thing people are The project — Kharghar Authority for ~3,200 crore. working on areas such as chat- industry design, and military announced PlayStation VR. Play fallen in the last two years. excited about is AR googles. Vikhroli Transmission — Part of the sale agreement also bots, AI in cancer diagnostics, and training purposes. NASA started Station is one of the top-selling Facebook said in September Think of it as regular googles comprises approximately 34 requires ATL to distribute 30 machine learning to reduce using the tech to train its pilots. games consoles of all times, and that it had, since buying Oculus, with the capability to project km of 400 kV and 220 kV per cent green power through energy leakage. However, he has After 1990, gaming companies teaming that with VR was an sold VR headsets worth $100 virtual images on the glass in a transmission lines, along with its Mumbai distribution busi- stayed away from VR. came in with products like Sega enticing proposition. In a year, million — a measly number. such a manner that it looks like its a 400kV GIS Substation at ness by 2023. The VR fad hit India in 2015, VR and Nintendo’s Virtual Boy. So Sony sold 1 million units of Play Sony, in March, said the total actual. Magic Leap, an ambitious Vikhroli. In less than two At present, ATL operates a when many start-ups set shop to did creators, who set up large Station VR. Play Station VR sales in five years US start-up, is creating googles years, ATL has created a sig- cumulative transmission net- create VR ‘experiences’, or studios to supply VR content for Google took a different stood at 4.2 million units, while that project images on the user’s nificant presence in Mumbai’s work of around 11,477 circuit content for this new medium. gaming to education and training. approach. It created a $5 fold-out only 1.3 million HTC Vive units retina to have this affect. power segment. kilometres (ckm) and has SmartVizX, which later raised The adoption was still mostly cardboard viewer, called Google were sold in 2018. All figures No surprise that it has raised In August last year, the another 3,261 ckm at various money from Indian Angel limited to B2B as the hardware Cardboard, into which a represent global sales. $2.6 billion from the who’s who, firm had bought Reliance stages of construction. Its Network and Yournest, is an was slow and clunky. smartphone can be placed (as a In comparison, Apple sold 46 including Google, Alibaba, and Infrastructure’s Mumbai pow- market share in Mumbai’s entiry creating 3D 360-degree In the early 2010s, as chips got viewing screen). million iPhones during Q3CY19 Microsoft, even before rolling out er distribution business for power distribution business is virtual tours of apartments to faster and smaller, VR began to It envisaged that smartphones alone. The downturn is seen a finished product. ~12,100 crore. At present, ATL approximately 87 per cent by excursion sites. look cool, part in thanks to tech will be able to play VR content, a beyond just devices. IMAX, one of If it works, it will change the caters to 3 million customers licence area, and 55 per cent Kalpnik, another firm, started giants Facebook, Sony, Google smart move to draw people averse the biggest movie cinema chains landscape of AR and VR. in Mumbai through its distri- by electricity supplied. MUMBAI | 15 DECEMBER 2019 ECONOMY & PUBLIC AFFAIRS 3 . < Plastics industry seeks hike How Sitharaman stacks up in duty to curb imports against her predecessors ARUP ROYCHOUDHURY Arun Jaitley According to the old series, real GDP New Delhi, 14 December When Jaitley took growth was 8.9 per cent in 2010-11, the DILIP KUMAR JHA office in May highest during Mukherjee’s tenure. Mumbai, 14 December It is not easy 2014, he promised However, the high spending also led to to be fiscal rectitude inflation issues, and fiscal deficit was aced with a sharp decline in Finance and stuck to it, as high as 5.9 per cent of GDP in 2011- exports and increase in imports, Minister despite missing 12. CPI inflation was as high as 9 per F India’s plastic manufacturers Nirmala his own targets cent that same year. have urged the government to increase Sitharaman twice. Fiscal For a number of reasons, while Customs duty, levy anti-dumping duty right now. deficit was India remained the fastest-growing and review free-trade agreements As she heads reduced to 3.4 per major economy during Mukherjee’s (FTAs) to restrict the supply of cheap into her cent in 2018-19 time, it was an unsustainable growth. and poor -quality products from over- second from 4 per cent in Apart from rising inflation, current seas markets. Budget, the 2014-15. He was also lucky as global account deficit and the widening Plastic producers, under the aegis of economy is growth was picking up and oil prices income gap, global slowdown and the All India Plastics Manufacturers facing its stayed below $70 a barrel for most of high commodity prices also played a Association (AIPMA), met with other worst his tenure. part.Mukherjee will be remembered players in the value chain to discuss slowdown in Jaitley will go down in history as most for setting up the Financial measures needed for revival of the plas- 26 quarters, inflation is inching up, the Finance Minister under whose Stability and Development Council tics industry in India. AIPMA, which rep- with the Reserve Bank of India watch demonetisation and the and for announcing the infamous resents around 22,000 industrial units of revising its forecast to 5.1-4.7 per cent implementation of goods and service general anti-avoidance rules. plastics and allied products, highlighted for the second half of 2019-20. It also tax were carried out, within six the need to bring the plastics industry on reduced its GDP growth forecast for months of each other. While the latter P Chidambaram a growth trajectory to prevent these the year to 5 per cent, from 6.1 per cent is still a work-in-progress, the Chidambaram manufacturing units from closure, and earlier. government’s narrative of the benefits took charge of the improve exports of plastic products. ($ mn) Meanwhile, all the available data of the former don’t cut much ice. The Finance Ministry “The plastics industry is currently EXPORT DATA: PLASTIC COMPONENTS for October and November so far economy went on a sustained for the fourth witnessing depression in the market. (Apr-Oct) FY19 FY20 % chg indicates that the October-December slowdown because of the effects the time. He had This has led manufacturing units to Plastic raw material 2,624.0 2,089.0 -20.4 quarter may not be that much better two policies had on the informal inherited an halt their expansion and investment Plastic sheet, film etc 855.5 879.4 2.8 than the previous two quarters. sector and micro, small and medium economy in a plans. There is a need for the govern- Moulded and extruded goods 644.1 734.4 14.0 The government expects a enterprises. mess, and his first ment to come out with clear plans and Packaging material 489.1 504.9 3.2 recovery in the second half of the year, During Jaitley’s time, the task was to a strategy on various fronts in order to but it may not be as sustained as the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code was gradually reduce spur the much needed growth,” said Optical items 276.9 261.2 -5.7 Centre expects. also passed and inflation was kept the fiscal deficit, Arvind Mehta, chairman (governing Other plastic items 212.6 258.8 21.7 The slowdown is visible across under control. However, it was also which was down to 4.5 per cent of GDP council), AIPMA. Stationery/office/school supply 143.6 136.7 -4.8 sectors, and is exacerbated by the during his tenure that the Reserve in 2013-14. In October, India exported plastics Human hair, products thereof 126.5 152.4 20.5 liquidity crisis in the NBFC sector. Bank of India finished its asset quality He spent most of his term worth $693 million, down 10.9 per cent Total 5,372.3 5,016.8 -6.6 Sitharaman has announced many review and the real extent of toxic firefighting and trying to save a from $778 million reported in the corre- sector-specific steps since August to assets in the banking system came sinking economy, as anger was rising Source :-https://plexconcil.org/ Compiled by BS Research Bureau sponding month of previous year. address the slowdown, and has also into light. against the Manmohan Singh Cumulative value of plastics exports because of cheap imports from China India at zero concessional duties, there- slashed corporation tax rates. But government for its mismanagement of from April – October 2019 stood at $5.02 and other South Asian countries. The by adversely affecting the competitive- these measures are on the supply side Pranab the economy and the corruption billion, as against $5.37 billion reported industry has demanded that a difference ness of the Indian plastics processing and do not address the lack of Mukherjee charges against it. Inflation peaked in in the corresponding period of the pre- of minimum 10 per cent should be main- industry. However, exports from India willingness to spend or invest on the Mukherjee 2013-14 and Chidambaram’s job was vious year. Jagat Killawala, president, tained between the Custom duty on raw to these countries have marginally demand side. became the not made any easier by sustained high AIPMA, believes that the plastic industry materials and finished plastics goods. grown, leading to huge trade imbalance. In some ways, Sitharaman’s second Finance Minister global oil prices and the taper tantrum is one of the major contributors to the The domestic industry claims that it The industry has demanded that all Budget will be more crucial than her for the second of 2013. economy, and is expected to play a key is suffering because of cheap products existing FTAs be reviewed, and polymers first. After repeated rollbacks and a time in January role in India becoming a being dumped by China and other coun- and products made of polymers be series of announcements to address 2009 and held $5-trillion economy. tries. The industry has demanded that to excluded from all FTAs. the slowdown, it is now clear that the charge till June Elaborating on the demands, prevent under-invoicing by foreign play- There is also a need for the govern- political leadership lost the narrative 2012, when he Killawala said that taking into account ers, a floor price should be established on ment to implement the standards laid out after the 2019-20 Budget. In the 2020- became the short-term as well as long-term finished goods. by the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS), to 21 Budget, it will try to stamp its vision President of growth of plastics processing units, the “There is a need for the Directorate prevent circulation of poor quality prod- and narrative. India. When he took charge, the world industry has urged the government not General of Trade to recommend anti- ucts in the market, says the industry. So, while the situation Sitharaman was reeling from the aftershocks of the to raise import duty on key raw materi- dumping duty on finished plastic goods “The industry demanded that finds herself in may not be that good, collapse of Lehman Brothers and the als, but certainly on finished products. originating in or imported from three Custom duty of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) how does it stack up against her three global financial crisis. Many The plastics processing industry major dumpers, including China, for a be brought down from 10 per cent to 7.5 immediate predecessors — the late commentators, including those in comprises over 50,000 micro and small period of at least five years,” said an per cent, as nearly 50 per cent of demand Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram and North Block, then believed that India units employing around 5 million work- expert. in India is being met through imports Pranab Mukherjee. Piyush Goyal is not would be relatively safe from global ers. It is a major contributor to the Indian Existing FTAs with various countries because of lack of domestic capacity. being considered because he took headwinds. It was not to be. In economy, manufacturing goods worth have failed to yield the desired results. It Any increase in Custom duty will affect charge for a very short time while subsequent Budgets, the government ~3.75 trillion annually. has resulted in massive imports of fin- the agriculture sector due to high use of Jaitley was recovering from various went on an expenditure spree in order However, it is under severe stress ished goods from FTA countries into PVC pipes and fittings,” Mehta added. health issues. to shore up economic growth. South Indian Bank needs ~1,000 crore in Tier-I capital

ABHIJIT LELE Indian geographies, the rat- Mumbai, 14 December ing agency said. SIB’s capitalisation has South Indian Bank (SIB) will weakened over the last 11 require ~1,000 crore capital quarters (Basel-III Tier-I cap- (Tier-I) in the next 15 months ital at 9.6 per cent in to improve its provision cov- September 2019) due to er for bad loans and main- decline in internal accruals. tain a growth rate above the Its credit costs have been banking sector. rising while the proportion of Its provision coverage ratio non-agri and SME gold loans (PCR) was at a low of 30 per has come down. cent in September against There could be further over 60 per cent for most pressure on the asset quality banks. owing to slippages from below Tier-I capital of the bank ‘BBB’-rated corporate bor- stood at 9.6 per cent at the end rowers and small mention of September 2019. accounts 2 (SMA2) accounts India Ratings and in the second half of FY20. Research (Ind-Ra) has revised It currently has adequate outlook for the lender from liquidity. SIB’s short-term “stable” to “negative” and (one year) asset-liability pro- affirmed its long-term issuer file remains matched. Also, rating at ‘A+’. the liquidity coverage ratio The outlook revision stood at 200 per cent in the reflects the Kerala-based first half of FY20. It is well lender’s higher proportion of above the regulatory require- stressed assets to net worth, ment of 100 per cent. subdued profitability along The bank’s pool of bonds with lower provision coverage over the statutory liquidity compared to peer banks. ratio (SLR) requirement was This has been exerting to the tune of ~1,200 crore additional pressure on the (around 1.4 per cent of bank’s already weakened cap- deposits) in the first half ital buffers, thereby increas- of FY20. ing the importance of raising SIB has a well-diversified Tier-1 capital in the medium business profile, with the term. retail (excluding gold) seg- The affirmation reflects ment at 26.7 per cent of the SIB’s stable liability and fund- overall book. ing franchise, improved diver- The share of corporate and sification of loan book, and SME accounts stood at 30.8 sizable presence in terms of per cent and 24.3 per cent, size and scale in key south respectively. 4 YOUR MONEY MUMBAI | 15 DECEMBER 2019 1 >

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ECONOMY & PUBLIC AFFAIRS 1 > FROM PAGE 1 >

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS BINAY SINHA PNB under-reported Govt plans centralised purchase for Ayushman He, however, highlighted that to take approval of their bad loans by ~2,617 cr hospitals which used to get 8 respective finance depart- per cent profit margins on ments," he said. stents may be reluctant to A timeline for the roll-out in FY19: RBI report adopt the new model, as they of such diagnostic centres has would lose control and some not been set, but the govern- PRESS TRUST OF INDIA profitability. ment is working to tie up with New Delhi, 14 December The Association of Indian partners or empanel diagnos- Medical Device Industry tic centres that would conduct Public sector lender Punjab (AIMED) said it was already tests for PMJAY patients at the National Bank (PNB) under- working closely with the gov- stipulated rates. reported its non-performing ernment to reduce the pro- So far, over 6.5 million assets (NPAs) by ~2,617 crore for curement costs of empanelled patients have been treated the financial year 2018-19, hospitals so that the packages under PMJAY, with treatment according to RBI's risk-assess- became more viable. worth ~9,549 crore. Of this, ment report. PMJAY is also working on treatment amounting to ~6,133 In a regulatory filing on its plans to roll out diagnostic for states where PMJAY runs Kerala, and Punjab run crore was provided through Saturday, PNB said the diver- centres under the public-pri- through an insurance model, through an insurance model. private hospitals. There are gence in gross NPAs assessed vate-partnership (PPP) model. the government will have to In states where the PMJAY 1,392 health benefit packages by the central bank stood at For states that have opted for wait till the contract runs out. operates through a trust and their rates have been ~2,617 crore in FY19. while according to RBI's an insurance model, there are The government may try to (Madhya Pradesh, Uttar defined for providing second- The divergence assessed by assessment the figure was ongoing contracts, and any negotiate new benefit pack- Pradesh, Haryana, ary and tertiary healthcare to the RBI in net NPAs was also ~81,089.70 crore. change in those contracts has ages,” said the official. States Uttarakhand, etc), it is easier to the beneficiaries at the empan- ~2,617 crore for the financial Similarly, it reported net implications for the cost. “So, like Jammu and Kashmir, implement. "These states have elled hospitals under PMJAY. year. NPAs of ~30,037.66 crore, com- Sanjiv Puri-led diversified consumer goods Also, the divergence in pro- pared to RBI's assessment of company ITC is taking the desi route in the visioning for bad loans in FY19 ~32,654.66 crore. Citizenship law stir spills over was to the tune of ~2,091 crore. Provisions for NPAs made Google wants Fed to ~7,500-crore packaged frozen-food Consequently, based on the by the bank in FY19 stood at into Assam’s tea industry category to take on market leaders divergence assessed by RBI in ~48,151.15 crore but it needed provisioning for bad loans, PNB to provide ~50,242.15 crore. replicate UPI model Venky’s and McCain said it would have reported a Recently, market regulator net loss of ~11,335.90 crore for Sebi made it mandatory for list- Google said it believes keeping FY19 as opposed to a net loss of ed banks to disclose bad loan the service free and welcoming ~9,975.49 crore. divergence within a day of all banks, merchants and third- The bank said it reported receiving the risk assessment party technology players is gross NPAs of ~78,472.70 crore, report from the RBI. what worked for the UPI. "First, the UPI is an inter- bank transfer system (there are now over 140 member banks, after initially launch- Farooq Abdullah’s detention ing with nine participating banks). Second, it is a real-time extended by 3 months system. Third, it is 'open' - Usually, 15-16 million kg the Goodricke Group, said. meaning technology compa- (mkg) of tea is produced An industry official said The detention of Farooq whom the stringent public safe- nies can build applications in December in Assam, that owing to the current state Abdullah, a three-term chief ty law was invoked, has a heart that help users directly man- Misback, secretary, board of accounting for only 2.15 per of affairs, potential buyers were minister of erstwhile state of pacemaker implanted and had age transfers into and out of governors of the Federal cent of the total produce from not risking coming to the state Jammu and Kashmir, was undergone a kidney transplant their accounts held at banks," Reserve System. this state. Assam produces to buy the produce, and that extended on Saturday by three a few years ago. Abdullah was Mark Isakowitz, vice-presi- Isakowitz concluded the let- more than 700 mkg of tea in a unless the situation was con- months and he would continue among a host of leaders and dent, government affairs and ter by saying the Fed should year. According to Goenka, tained, the stock of tea, esti- to remain at his residence that activists who were detained public policy, US and Canada, "support real-time low-value apart from lack of labourers in mated around 23 mkg, would has been declared a sub-jail, on August 5 when the centre Google, wrote in a November 7 and high-value payments, use the estates, curfew and increase. In December, auc- officials said here. abrogated Article 370 and letter. standardised messaging proto- various other measures taken tions are put on hold and most The case of Abdullah, also a divided the state into two Adoption of the system was cols with extended metadata, by the authorities to curb of the buyers come in either to five-term parliamentarian, was union territories — Ladakh, rapid, growing from 100,000 and provide clear standards for violence and protests procure the tea privately or sign reviewed by the advisory board and Jammu and Kashmir. monthly transactions, to 77 mil- an Application Programming had led to a complete forward contracts. In effect, the of the Home Department of the The PSA has two sections -- lion, to 480 million, to 1.15 bil- Interface layer that enables halt on tea trade. “Owing to the stockpile haemorrhages the Union Territory of Jammu and 'public order' and 'threat to lion monthly transactions in licensed curfew, there have been prob- prices in the auctions. Batting for the idea of three private Kashmir which recommended security of the state'. The for- the first four years. non-financial institution lems over logistics The Tea Board has also telcos, Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal extension of his detention mer allows detention without "After just three years, the third parties to access and and transportation as well”, he extended the garden closure has urged the Centre and judiciary to give under the PSA, they said. trial for three to one year and annual run rate of transactions submit requests into this pay- said. “Moreover, workers are date by a week, with the last His house, located at the latter for two years. flowing through UPI is about ment system". also refraining from work date of plucking being “sympathetic” consideration to the Gupkar Road, has been The PSA is applicable only 10 per cent of India' GDP (gross So far, at least 54 countries whenever a strike or bandh is December 19, the last date for telecom industry’s appeal for relief on declared a sub-jail by the union in Jammu and Kashmir. domestic product), including have rolled out real-time pay- declared. The condition is very sorting and packing the tea repayment of AGR dues territory's Home Department. Elsewhere in the country, the 800 million monthly transac- ments systems, and by 2020, bad and has affected being January 1 for the CTC Abdullah, who became the equivalent law is the National tions valued at $19 billion," said that number is projected to the functioning of estates,” Atul variant, and January 6 for the first chief minister against Security Act (NSA). the letter marked to Ann grow to 70. Asthana, managing director at Orthodox variant. MUMBAI | 15 DECEMBER 2019 ECONOMY & PUBLIC AFFAIRS 5 . < Coal Min allocates one World economy haunted by risk just got a double shot in the arm mine each to NMDC, RINL BLOOMBERG economy would stabilize into What economists say... said Simon Wells, chief European 14 December 2020 after a recession scare “A trade deal that takes tariffs economist at HSBC Holdings Plc. PRESS TRUST OF INDIA earlier this year. back to May 2019 levels (for the The twin developments come New Delhi, 14 December Two of the biggest hurdles But at a minimum, the U.S. that would mean 25% on $50 amid broader signs that demand constraining the world econ- agreement between President billion in China imports and 10% across much of the world is sta- he coal ministry on Saturday said omy have just been cleared. Donald Trump and President on another $200 billion) and low- bilizing as key manufacturing it has allocated one mine each to Dogged for most of 2019 by Xi Jinping means some of the ers uncertainty could boost glob- gauges trough. The International T state-run firms National Mineral trade tensions and political more dire scenarios being con- al GDP for 2020 by 0.6%. A break- Monetary Fund had flagged Development Corporation (NMDC) and risk that hammered business templated just a few months down in talks and higher tariffs -- upside risks to its recent outlook Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL). confidence, the outlook for ago now appear less likely. still a possibility given how past if major trade tensions were The mines, located in Jharkhand, global growth will enter 2020 Bloomberg Economics esti- agreements have broken down - resolved. will boost coking coal production and on a firmer footing after the mated in June that the cost of - would drag global output down Policy makers have also reduce the steel industry's dependence U.S. and China struck a partial the U.S.-China trade war could 0.1%,” said Tom Orlik, chief sounded more upbeat this week. on imported coal, it added. trade deal and outlook for reach $1.2 trillion by 2021, with Economist, Bloomberg European Central Bank "The Ministry of Coal has allotted two Brexit cleared somewhat. the impact spread across the Economics. President Christine Lagarde said Coking Coal mines, Rohne and Rabodih, “The China trade deal and Asian supply chain. That esti- As for Brexit, the sweeping the euro zone’s economic slow- to the Steel Central Public Sector U.K. election result have taken mate was based on 25% tariffs election victory by Prime Minister down was showing signs of bot- Enterprises (CPSEs)," it said in a statement. out a major tail risk overhang- on all U.S.-China trade and a Boris Johnson’s Conservative toming out and Federal Reserve Allocated under the Coal Mines ing markets and companies,” 10% drop in stock markets. Party means Britain is set to leave Chairman Jerome Powell said the (Special Provision) Act, 2015, these said Ben Emons, managing The phase one deal nev- the EU on Jan. 31. Bloomberg prognosis for the U.S. remains mines will increase coal production by director for global macro strat- ertheless leaves some com- Economics says the result puts a favorable. The Chinese govern- more than 10 MT (million tonnes) per egy at Medley Global Advisors plicated issues unresolved, growth rebound in play which, ment said it would improve the annum and boost the coking coal pro- in New York. “Business confi- paving the way for fresh coupled with looser fiscal policy, effectiveness of fiscal policy in duction in the country. dence should see a large boost clashes as Trump runs for means activity should accelerate 2020, while Japan is planning The ministry said this is a significant that could see a restart of glob- reelection next November. over 2019. new fiscal stimulus. step towards reducing the dependence production of iron and steel. to successful bidders and six mines al investment, inventory Still to be dealt with are U.S. At the same time, Johnson Morgan Stanley economists of the steel industry on imported coal. These mines will over their lifetime which have allotted to PSUs. rebuild and a resurgence of complaints over the vast web must now negotiate a new trade expect the global economy to The Rohne coal mine has been allot- generate about ~7,000 crore revenue for In all, the 13 mines will add more global trade volume.” of subsidies ranging from deal with the EU by the end of recover some momentum in ted to NMDC for sale of coal and will the state government, besides royalties than 35 MT per annum coal to domestic Like financial markets, cheap electricity to low-cost next year, meaning fresh uncer- 2020 with growth improving also serve the purpose of captive use of and other applicable taxes. production. Apart from the royalties most economists had factored loans that China has used to tainty could emerge. “Brexit from a trough of 2.9% in the coking coal for its upcoming steel plant Both NMDC and RINL would set up and applicable taxes, the mines are slat- in some kind of phase-one build its industrial might. could continue to weigh on eco- fourth quarter of this year to 3.4% at Nagarnar. their washeries for washing coal. ed to generate about ~31,000 crore rev- trade agreement between the Trump said talks over a nomic activity as the difficult task by the end of 2020 with that The Robodih OCP coal mine has This allotment is in addition to five enue over their lifetime for state gov- world’s largest economies Phase Two deal will start of forging the U.K.’s new trading uptick driven more by the rest of been allotted to RINL for captive use of coal mines which have been allocated ernments. when projecting the world immediately. relationships is just beginning,” the world than the U.S.

ACT OF BRAVERY ‘India among top 10 Delegation leaves for Aus for consumer summit PRESS TRUST OF INDIA protection. port from the Department of New Delhi, 14 December The delegation will take part Consumer Affairs, the Sydney nations on climate in phase two of the Australia- University has undertaken the A high-level delegation led by India Collaborative Consumer consumer protection project. Minister of State for Consumer Protection Project under The project will be imple- change performance’ Affairs, Food and Public Sydney University, an official mented in four stages -- work- Distribution Raosaheb Patil statement said. shops and round-table in New Danve on Saturday left for Under the funding from the Delhi (by Sydney University), Australia in pursuance of a col- Australia-India Council (AIC), followed by a high level delega- laborative project on consumer established in 1992, and the sup- tion from India to Australia.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA able energy, climate change New Delhi, 14 December and energy use," Singh said while addressing the 29th India is among the top 10 National Energy Conservation nations as per the Climate Awards ceremony in the cap- Change Performance Index ital. (CCPI) which is based param- The minister said 355 eters like renewable power industrial units and other and energy use efficiency, establishments have partici- Power Minster R K Singh said pated in the awards and have on Saturday. collectively achieved savings This assumes significance of ~5,283 crore by saving in view of India's resolve to 105.66 billion units of elec- reach 175 GW of clean energy tricity. capacity by 2022. The coun- This year, energy conser- try has already achieved vation was celebrated through around 84 GW of clean ener- week-long activities culmi- gy capacity, including 32 GW nating in the National Energy of solar and 37 GW of wind Conservation Day on energy. Saturday. At present, India's total Singh highlighted the installed power generation importance of energy conser- capacity is around 365 GW. vation in the country's sus- "I am happy to share that tainable development as per CCPI report, released approach. during COP 2019 at Madrid, He emphasised the need India is ranked among the top for taking measures in order Army personnel show their skill during a military event in Kolkata on Saturday PHOTO: PTI 10 countries in CCPI, which to reduce carbon dioxide was released after analysing emissions so as to minimise four parameters, that is green the adverse impact of climate house gases emission, renew- change. Pak, World Bank ink Khyber Pass economic agreement

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA Islamabad, 14 December

Pakistan and the World Bank have signed a project agree- ment worth $406.6 million for financing the Khyber Pass Economic Corridor (KPEC) project with an aim to pro- mote economic develop- ment. The signing ceremony was held on Friday at the Economic Affairs Division, Islamabad, The Express Tribune reported. The project is aimed at The project is aimed at constructing a four-lane, dual highway, constructing a 48km four- and access-controlled motorway from Peshawar to Torkham lane, dual carriageway, high- speed and access-controlled Pass, which has served as the The Peshawar-Torkham motorway from Peshawar to key node in trade for hun- expressway will reduce tran- Torkham border point with dreds of years. The express- sit time and costs for region- Afghanistan in a bid to pro- way between Peshawar and al and international trade, mote economic development Kabul through the Khyber transiting the Khyber Pass and ensure uplift of the areas Pass represents a section of and extend till Karachi- adjoining the expressway Corridors 5 and 6 of the Lahore-Islamabad-Peshawar and falling in Khyber- Central Asia Regional Trans-Pakistan Expressway Pakhtunkhwa. Economic Cooperation system. It will be developed The project envisages (Carec). as an integral part of the public-private partnership Corridor 5, which runs planned Peshawar-Kabul- and private financing for through Pakistan, has the Dushanbe motorway. developing clusters of eco- potential to provide the The improved regional nomic activity, economic shortest link between the connectivity through this zones and expressways. The landlocked countries of corridor would not only facil- connecting transport infra- Afghanistan, Tajikistan, itate commercial traffic and structure and economic Uzbekistan and the Arabian expand economic activities zones would provide a strong Sea. Corridor 6 provides between Pakistan and foundation for the private access to Europe, the Middle Afghanistan but will also pro- business to invest in these East and Russia. mote private-sector develop- zones. The KPEC will finance ment along the corridor. The global integration of the Peshawar-Torkham It is expected to generate South and Central Asia is expressway portion of the up to 100,000 new jobs in intertwined with the Khyber Corridor 5. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. 6 ECONOMY & PUBLIC AFFAIRS MUMBAI | 15 DECEMBER 2019 1 > Experts: Negative real interest no worry The consumer price index-based inflation is at a more-than-3-year high of 5.54%; policy repo rate at 5.15% ANUP ROY have to keep in mind how much low Mumbai, 14 December A ROLLER-COASTER RIDE it can go, keeping in mind the infla- Repo rateIndia CPI Real interest rate tion,” the governor had said. he real interest rate in the There are ample reasons for not economy has turned nega- 9 8 6 considering the real interest rate as 5.54 T tive, with the consumer price 8.00 8 6 3.72 4 something serious. “These are all index (CPI)-based inflation at a 5.15 technical terms, which are taken as more-than-three-year high of 5.54 7 4 2 proxies for other real-world things. per cent and the policy repo rate at 4.28 For example, nominal gross domes- 5.15 per cent. If this persists, it would 6 2 0 tic product is a proxy for cash flow of -0.39 be a disincentive for saving, at a 5 0 -2 the companies, and real interest rate Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kanpur to review the time when the interest rate for sav- Dec 31,’14 Nov 30,’19 Dec 31,’14 Nov 30,’19 Dec 31,’14 Nov 30,’19 an indication of cash flow relative to Namami Gange project, aimed at cleaning the Ganga PHOTO: PTI ings itself is on a decline. interest cost,” said a senior econo- However, this doesn’t indicate a mist with a bank. reason to despair as yet. The rise in soft in India. omist at Bloomberg. Governor Shaktikanta Das said that Consumer behaviour doesn’t CPI inflation is primarily on account Economists say it won’t be right “Unfortunately, the Reserve was not a consideration. change with interest rates turning PM takes boat of food prices, particularly onion, to say interest rates have turned Bank of India (RBI) is focusing on “I won't go into the issue of this negative, economists say, but a per- which recently surged to ~200 per negative just because the headline food inflation and its policy is being real interest rate…. because monetary sistent negative real interest rate kilogram, from the usual ~20-30 a kg. inflation has risen above the policy guided by onion prices, in the near policy cannot have multiple targets. I affects the generation of internal ride, reviews With fresh crops set to be har- repo rate. What matters is the com- term. We think the RBI will now wait had said this in the previous MPC returns for banks, which is happen- vested in January, prices should position of inflation. for inflation to peak before lower- press conference too. The Monetary ing in Europe. reduce and so should food inflation, “The core inflation, which is at ing rates,” which could come in Policy Committee cannot pursue mul- The RBI is expected to reduce its from February. Therefore, what 3.2-3.5 per cent (depending on what April, according to Gupta. tiple targets,” Das had said. policy rate to 4.5 per cent in this rate Namami Gange should matter is how core inflation measure is being considered), indi- In response to a query on whether “Target is price stability that is cycle, economists say. Inflation is — the rise in prices except food and cates real interest rates in India getting into a negative real interest inflation, keeping in mind the objec- expected to soften to 4.0-3.8 per PRESS TRUST OF INDIA pollution, and conserve and fuel — is working out. In this remain among the highest in the rate territory prevented the RBI from tive of growth. So naturally, when cent in H1, according to the Kanpur, 14 December rejuvenate the river. respect, core inflation has remained region,” said Abhishek Gupta, econ- further cutting rates in December, we adjust the policy rate, we will RBI’s forecast. According to officials, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government had made a com- chaired the first meeting of the mitment of providing ~20,000 National Ganga Council here crore for the period 2015-20 to on Saturday and said that reju- the five states through which GDP, IIP growth gap may widen to over 900 bps in Q3 venation of the river should be the Ganga passes, to ensure a shining example of coopera- adequate and uninterrupted tive federalism. flow. ~7,700 crore has already KRISHNA KANT IIP is calculated on monthly global financial crisis (see chart). prices, growth estimation could be He also reviewed the been spent, prominently for Mumbai, 14 December basis while GDP numbers are avail- Analysts said the contraction in as high as 400 basis points,” said an progress of works under the construction of sewage treat- able on quarterly basis IIP could make it difficult for the economist on condition of ambitious Namami Gange proj- ment plants, they said. The link between the country’s India’s headline GDP was up manufacturing sector to provide a anonymity. One basis point is one- ect in the stretch of the river According to the PMO state- headline economic growth and 4.5 per cent during the second quar- lift to the overall GDP during the hundredth of a per cent. that is considered the most pol- ment, Modi emphasised that pace of industrial production con- ter of FY20 against a contraction of second half of FY20. According to him, GDP is first luted, and deliberated on vari- an improvement in the frame- tinues to weaken. 0.3 per cent in IIP during Q2FY20 “The recent decline in IIP is calculated on nominal or at ous aspects of cleaning the riv- work for Nirmal Ganga would In fact, the gap between the two and a decline of 3.8 per cent during largely a reflection of pain in the current prices and we subtract price er with focus on ‘swachhta’, require the fullest cooperation macro variables is likely to reach October 2019. manufacturing and industrial deflator or inflation from it to get ‘aviralta’ and ‘nirmalta’. from the public at large and its highest level since the 2008 According to data by the sector. This will put a downward GDP at constant prices, which According to a statement generating greater awareness Lehman Brothers crisis if the gross Central Statistical Organisation pressure on overall GDP growth becomes the headline growth fig- from the Prime Minister’s through dissemination of best domestic product (GDP) estimates (CSO), IIP has now contracted for unless the government expands ure. For example, nominal GDP was Office, at the meeting Modi practices from cities situated for Q3FY20 and latest trend in the three consecutive months for the public spending, which estimated to be 6 per cent during observed that the Ganga is the on river banks. It said the meet- Index of Industrial Production (IIP) first time since June 2012. Such a incidentally was the largest con- Q2FY20 while price deflator was IIP AND GDP GAP AT holiest river in the sub-conti- ing was of the view that effi- are any indicator. divergent trend in the headline tributor to economic growth dur- assumed to be 1.5 per cent, giving a RECORD HIGH YoY Growth (%) nent and its rejuvenation ciency of District Ganga India’s headline GDP is expect- GDP and pace of industrial pro- ing the July-September 2019 quar- real GDP growth of 4.5 per cent. should embody a shining Committees should be ed to grow by 5.5 per cent during the duction is rare, and historically, ter,” said Dhananjay Sinha, chief GDP deflator is, however, example of cooperative feder- improved in all districts, in third quarter, according to esti- both move together. economist and head strategist, way lower than the retail inflation alism. Noting that the rejuve- order to provide an effective mates by rating agency Moody’s A large gap in the headline eco- IDFC Securities. of around 4.5 per cent during nation of the river has been a framework for expeditious while IIP contracted by 3.8 per cent nomic growth and the pace of IIP For others, such a large diver- Q2FY20 on average and nearly 5.5 long-pending challenge for the implementation of plans. during October 2019, the first was last witnessed during the June gence is a sign of an element of per cent now. country, he said a lot has been The government has set up month of the third quarter. 2015 quarter. In the last two decades, growth over estimation in the cal- “We assume GDP deflator to be accomplished since his gov- the Clean Ganga Fund (CGF) This suggests that the growth quarterly GDP growth has exceeded culation of GDP. around 4.9 per cent, giving a real ernment took up the Namami to facilitate contributions from in GDP at constant prices is nearly IIP growth by 900 basis points or “If you juxtapose the recent GDP growth of 1.1 per cent. So, in Gange project in 2014 as a com- people, NRIs and corporate 900-basis-point higher than the more only once (on a quarterly trend in industrial production and our model, GDP was over estimat- prehensive initiative integrat- entities for funding Ganga industrial expansion as captured basis). This was during the July- retail or consumer inflation with ed by around 340 basis points in Note: GDP estimates for Q3FY20 by Moody's; IIP for the month of ing various governmental rejuvenation projects, the by the IIP. September 2009 quarter after the GDP growth at nominal or current Q2FY20,” added the economist. October 2019 Source: CSO, BS Research Bureau efforts and activities to abate statement said.

HEALTH 1 > FIT & PROPER Social media use linked to GSK seeks licence for Your weekly health guide baby-friendly HIV pill

Revolution in cancer tech KATE KELLAND Healthcare, GSK’s HIV drugs disordered eating in teens 14 December division. She said she hoped Bladder Recirculation System the licence application would (BRS) which uses its propri- LISA RAPAPORT higher likelihood of eating- British drugmaker GSK has “enable approval of dolute- etary HIVEC (Hyperthermic 14 December related cognition issues. applied for a gravir across the pediatric Intra-Vesical Chemotherapy) Among boys, all four social licence to market its HIV drug spectrum”. technology. Through the esearchers surveyed 996 media platforms were associat- dolutegravir in a formulation ViiV’s CEO Deborah technology, the device pro- seventh- and eighth- ed with greater cognition issues. designed to be easier for Waterhouse added in a state- vides heated chemotherapy Rgraders, age 13 on aver- The increased risk ranged from babies and children who ment: “For parents living in to treat (NMIBC) patients. age, about their use of social 24 per cent for Snapchat to 53 are living with the virus to resource-poor countries, the Additionally, it uses clinical media platforms such as per cent for Tumblr. swallow. ability to give medicine to hyperthermia, which keeps Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat Compared to girls without About 1.7 million children children in a format that they YUVARAJA T B the temperature between 41- and Tumbler. They also asked social media accounts, girls have HIV, most of them in can swallow and tolerate can Head of robotic surgery 43 degrees, as per therapeutic kids about disordered eating with two or more were over sub-Saharan Africa, the mean the difference between & consultant of surgical requirements. behaviours like worrying about three times more likely to report United Nations agency life and death.” oncology (Uro-oncology) The HIVEC-driven BRS their weight or shape, binge eat- disordered eating behaviours. UNAIDS says. Dolutegravir is a Kokilaben Hospital, Mumbai device equally distributes the ing, skipping meals or strict Boys with three or four If approved by This pill will so-called integrase Mitomycin C (MMC) drug exercise regimens. accounts, meanwhile, were regulators, the be the first new inhibitor and was Cancerous tumours in the through a catheter. Research Overall, 75 per cent of girls more than five times as likely to medicine will be generation originally developed genito-urinary system are has shown that the drug is and 70 per cent of boys had at report disordered eating behav- the first new gen- HIV medicine by ViiV, in which amongst the most common more effective, and reaches least one social media account, to their peers and others, par- main issues related to disor- iours as boys without social eration HIV medi- available in Pfizer Inc and type of cancers occurring in an optimum level at 43°C. At and 52 per cent of girls reported ticularly on their dered eating: how media accounts. cine available in baby-friendly Shionogi & Co have patients diagnosed with the this temperature, the cyto- at least one disordered eating appearance, at an Girls with teens thought about The study wasn’t designed baby-friendly form small stakes. For the life-threatening disease. toxicity level of the MMC goes behaviour along with 45 per age where adoles- two or more their bodies and about to prove whether social media form. adult formulation, According to studies in up by 10 times, without hav- cent of the boys, according to cents are very vul- accounts were eating, and whether use directly contributes to body Doctors want- ViiV has already recent years, genito-urinary ing a negative impact on the the report in the International nerable to peer three times teens exhibited disor- image problems or eating dis- ing to use dolutegravir in chil- agreed licensing deals with cancers are common body. Additionally, the ther- Journal of Eating Disorders. influences,” said more likely dered eating behav- orders. “It is safe to say that dren with HIV have had no generic companies to sell l amongst Indian males and motherapy triggers the Compared to teens without study leader Simon to report iours like skipping social media use is complicated, licenced child formulations, ow-cost versions in poor females, accounting for Natural Killer Cells (NKC) of any social media accounts, Wilksch of Flinders disordered meals or exercising ever changing, and has not only meaning they often have to countries. nearly 21 per cent of all cases. the body's immunization sys- boys and girls on social media University in eating excessively. provided a new platform for prescribe older HIV medi- New HIV infections In males, 30.4 per cent of tem, which leads to the elim- were more likely to report dis- Adelaide, Australia. When it came to social interaction, but has like- cines that can be less potent, among children have fallen by genitourinary system malig- ination of the cancer cells. ordered eating behaviours. “Young people could be “cognition,” or how often teens ly changed teen social interac- harder for children to take, 41% since 2010, but there were nancies (17.50 per cent) con- The BRS doesn't require The frequency of these behav- taking on board the message worried about things like their tion,” said C Alix Timko, a psy- and have more side effects. 160,000 new cases in babies sisted of urinary bladder constant monitoring while iours increased along with the that ‘how I look is key to how shape or eating habits, girls who chologist at the Eating Disorder “Children in today’s world, and children in 2018, and malignancies. At a global functioning. Doctors and oper- number of social media worthwhile I am’ leading them used Snapchat were 39 per cent Assessment and Treatment still have fewer options in 100,000 children died scale, of 356,000 new cases ation theatre staff can focus on accounts teens had. to go to unhelpful lengths to more likely to report these Program at the Children’s terms of HIV therapies com- of AIDS last year, partly of urinary bladder cancer other patients and pressing “We suspect that social try to reach an ideal look,” issues than girls who didn’t use Hospital of Philadelphia, who pared to adults,” said due to lack of access to HIV diagnosed annually, the dis- medical duties within the media use is encouraging young Wilksch said by email. that platform. Tumblr was wasn’t involved in the study. Harmony Garges, chief med- medicines. ease results in the death of duration of the procedure. people to compare themselves The study focused on two associated with a 43 per cent REUTERS ical officer for ViiV REUTERS 145,000 patients. According to clinical evi- Currently, bladder cancer dence in a 2019 study con- in India is treated with Bacillus ducted amongst NMIBC Calmette-Guerin (BCG) intrav- patient groups, those who esical immunotherapy. It is a underwent BCG procedure Food labels with caloric costs may lead to healthier choices prevalent procedure in India had five recurrences of the as it is cost-effective. And, it is disease, while four cases pro- LINDA CARROLL activity calorie equivalent or Loughborough University in labels with just a calorie when PACE labelling was dis- emphasis on calories might a painful procedure. However, gressed to the next stage. The 14 December expenditure,” or PACE, were the UK. count or no calorie informa- played on foods, drinks and not be the best way to get peo- studies have shown a high- ones who underwent HIVEC illustrated with drawings of a “We know that the public tion at all. menus, people consumed an ple to eat healthier since recurrence of the disease in had no recurrences. Consumers might make runner and a walker, each underestimates the number The 14 studies they includ- average of 64.9 calories less there’s no information on non-muscle invasive bladder I too have been using healthier choices if food labels accompanied by an estimate of calories in food, so we need ed in the current analysis per meal than when only calo- food quality. cancer (NMIBC) patients post Combat BRS's HIVEC for showed how many minutes of of how many minutes would to find an easy method to “presented food or gave rie counts were displayed. “Certain foods are nutri- BCG treatment. some time now, and it is giv- walking or running was need- be needed in that activity to make it easier for the public menus of food options to par- The PACE labelling is “a ent dense and also calorie When procedures like ing really effective results. ed to burn off calories, instead burn off the calories in the to make healthier decisions ticipants with and without cool idea,” said Avigdor Arad, dense,” Arad said. “We don’t BCG and others fail, a cystec- HIVEC is surely the next best of just a calorie number, a new labelled food. about what they eat,” Daley PACE labelling, or director of the want people to develop a fear tomy (removal of the bladder) step for an efficient treat- study suggests. “The PACE food labelling, said in an email. “We think the studies present- PACE is an Mount Sinai of consuming things like has to be performed. This can ment to prevent recurrence Pooled data from 14 ran- where you show how many the public will understand ed PACE labelling estimate of how PhysioLab and an nuts, avocados, figs and cer- lead to social and psycholog- in superficial bladder cancer. domised trials showed that minutes of physical activity this better than telling them versus calories only many minutes it endocrinologist at tain legumes.” ical problems such as depres- The continuous develop- labels with activity times are required to expend the how many calories are in a or versus traffic would take to Mount Sinai St. Another potential problem sion, anxiety, shame, tension, ment and implementation of induced consumers to cut calories in a food may be a food item.” light labelling,” burn off the Luke’s in New York is that the estimates of time loss of interest in hobbies, these devices will result in back nearly 65 calories per good way of helping the pub- To determine if the type of Daley explained. calories in the City. “But we don’t running or walking might irritability, and loneliness. better accessibility, afford- meal more than labels that lic make healthier food deci- labelling makes a difference “And they asked labelled food really have enough seem unrealistic to some This is where solutions ability for providers' and effec- simply listed calories, sions and reduce overall calo- in consumer food choices, participants what evidence to say people because the rates at driven by new-age technolo- tive patient care at a large researchers reported in the rie consumption,” said the Daley and her colleagues they would like to eat for a whether it’s going to be effec- which calories are burned gy are proving to be extreme- scale. HIVEC is an embodi- Journal of Epidemiology & study’s lead author, Amanda scoured the medical litera- snack or for lunch or dinner tive. Certainly more trials are depend on a number of fac- ly effective. One example of ment of the best of what Community Health. Daley, a professor of behav- ture for trials that compared and so on.” needed.” tors, such as age, weight and this is Combat Medical's MedTech can offer. Labels with “physical ioural medicine at PACE labelling to standard Daley’s team found that Moreover, Arad said, the fitness, Arad said. REUTERS MUMBAI | 15 DECEMBER 2019 IN DEPTH 7 . < The digital school How an institute in Mumbai is creating influencers and preparing marketeers for a brand new world ANJULI BHARGAVA Along the way, the institute added weekend courses for those in aran Shah, 27, has the gift traditional marketing roles who found of the gab. It is when he their careers hitting a huge roadblock appears before a group of unless they learnt new skills. The students or is asked to courses are for anyone from 25-55 who address any audience that feels their career has begun to KShah is at his best. stagnate or who just wants to He was only 18 when he cottoned acquire new skills. on to this. To earn some extra money, “We have many mid-career Shah was working with a financial professionals who come in to upgrade services company in Mumbai where their skills as they find they can no his job was to sell demat accounts. longer manage without After two months of cold calling and understanding and being comfortable no new accounts being opened, Shah with the digital space,” he explains. decided to try a different strategy. He Most weekend students have seen a went to his college campus (NMIMS) jump in their take-home of 10-20 per and announced to the students that he cent post the course. So far, close to was offering a weekend course in 8,000 have completed the weekend cracking the stock markets. He roped courses. in an expert from the finance Currently, around 1,200 freshers company, someone who really knew (70 per cent) and professionals (30 per his stuff, and started charging ~1,000 cent) do the course every year at the from each student. In no time, 481 four campuses. Weekday students students signed on and almost all with no or little prior experience start opened a demat account as well. at ~25,000-30,000 a month and are Overnight, his tally went up from zero placed at a host of companies accounts to over 400. In fact, he ended including Kinnect, FoxyMoron, up with an award by the finance ToggleHead, WebShakers, Schbang, company for having opened the Socheers, Mumbai Foodie, Mindshift, maximum number of accounts! Admatazz, A&B, White Rivers Media, Shah was still at the time unsure of BigMouth, Gozoop, among others. where his future lay so he went on to do Students are reaching places even another internship with a digital without being hired. Shah cites the advertising firm founded and run by instance of Ranveer Ahlabadia, a his sister. His stint at Kinnect exposed student from his first batch, who is him to the digital world and now an Instagram influencer with introduced him to a wide range of 646K followers in India and earns his professionals in the space. He had living from posting on Instagram. understood Twitter and Facebook As IIDE grows, Shah is luring more more intimately at the age of 16 when experienced faculty. Meherzad he started working for a week every Karanjia, 38, who started his career month at Casino Royale in Goa, with e-Bay, designed Quikr and Pepper skipping school for it every month. Fry’s website and worked with a range After working for a few years, Shah of digital companies, was with IIDE as felt the need to get some more formal visiting faculty but is now chief education, so he left to study at learning officer with IIDE in a full-time Harvard, combining courses in private capacity. He brings his experience of 16 equity and e-commerce strategies, years in the digital space and a vast both of which could help him with his network. Karanjia curates the own career path at some stage he curriculum and taps into his network reckoned. in the space to find both teachers and In 2014, after returning to Mumbai, recruitment options for his students. he went back to the only space he felt Slowly, the menu of courses on he could deliver and looked at setting offer is being expanded and coding up an institute to teach students the courses have been added (see Subject basics, the ins and outs of the stock Matter ). In 2020, the institute is market since he already had a base of aiming to introduce a three-year 6,000 students who had done his course in digital marketing that will weekend courses during 2011-13. He act as an alternative to an was contemplating workshops in this Students at an IIDE campus in Mumbai month course and took up jobs in undergraduate degree. A degree will field when he met a competitor, a 30- SUBJECT MATTER digital marketing roles across be provided through a tie up for year-old who managed to scare him business to succeed, it needed four Course Duration Fees (~) companies. students and parents who feel the off, arguing that Shah was too young primary resources : Coders, designers, Full stack developer He started at a defunct school in official stamp remains imperative. and competition in the sphere was digital marketeers and analytics Khar but soon managed to find another Students enrolling for the course don’t already too fierce. Young and specialists. course—School of Code 6 months 85,000 defunct but larger school in Andheri, need to have studied any specific impressionable, Shah backed off. Moreover, companies were Web and graphic and borrowed some money to spruce up subject at the school or college level. Yet, he was clear he wanted to be in spending a larger proportion of their design— School of Design 6 months 95,000 the place in time to accommodate his “All they need is to be able to use social the education space. The only other funds on digital advertising than larger second batch. Cash flow, he says, media, which in any case, everyone Digital marketing— areas he’d had exposure to was digital through traditional media. has never been an issue as education is can,” explains Shah. Gen Next and social media and he decided to “Companies were beginning to see School of Digital Marketing 6 months 95,000 an industry where you first collect the typically uses Instagram or Facebook marry the two. Why not set up a digital how cost effective the medium was : Live Webinar course in digital fees and then deliver. for social purposes but IIDE teaches marketing training school to train the They can reach four times the marketing/ School of Digital Marketing 6 months 95,000 In a world growing increasingly them how to use it for business. next generation of marketeers who audience at one-fourth the cost of any digital and starved for talent, the Meanwhile, Shah, who is a visiting reach their audiences through new traditional medium,” explains Shah. Video on-demand courses on Udemy organisation has been growing by professor at ISB Hyderabad, NMIMS media? The way things were More and more companies want to leaps and bounds. Now, the institute and IIM Kashipur, focuses more on developing, it was clear television, reach out to millennials or Gen Z and sphere. He put together a five-day set up IIDE and registered it as a has four campuses of its own and runs IIDE’s strategy although selling runs in print, direct mailers and other in today’s world, the only way to tap course in digital marketing, private company. He hired a few digital marketing course in 14 colleges his veins. He often convinces students traditional ways of reaching the target them is digitally. By and large, their approached his 6,000-odd student base teachers and also started bringing in across Mumbai. So far, close to 30,000 who haven’t previously considered a audience would soon be a thing of the attention can be held only on their again and before he knew it, 1,000 visiting faculty — senior executives students and professionals have been career in this space to take a shot at it. past for most if not all brands. His mobile devices. students had enrolled! Shah knew he who were already on the job and could trained through its offline and online Fortunately, he doesn’t need a chief exposure to private equity space and Before taking a plunge this time, had identified a gap that needed filling. impart their knowledge. His first batch courses. The organisation has seven marketing officer to sell his own e-commerce at Harvard had made him Shah took a good look around and Things began to fall in place rather had 70 students, followed by 230 in the full-time experienced faculty, over 50 product. He just needs to stand before realise that for any e-commerce found very little competition in this quickly after that. By 2016, Shah had second year, who finished the six- visiting faculty and 70 employees. an audience and do what he does best.

IMO Nike’s shoes may give runners an unfair advantage was the need for any of this? Runners who wear data). What makes these shoes dif- UK ELECTION RESULTS ferent is, among other things, a car- Boris Johnson@BorisJohnson Nike’s fastest shoes bon-fibre plate in the midsole, which Thank you to everyone across our great country stores and releases energy with each who voted, who volunteered, who stood as may have a 4 to 5 per stride and is meant to act as a kind of candidates. We live in the greatest democracy in slingshot, or catapult, to propel run- the world. cent advantage over ners. The shoes also feature midsole others during races foam that researchers say contributes Chris Pramas@Pramas to increased running economy. Hard to look at elections in the UK, US and Whether the shoes violate rules Australia and not come to the conclusion that KEVIN QUEALY & JOSH KATZ from track’s governing body, World racism and xenophobia are far more popular than Athletics, depends on how one inter- people want to believe. Again and again, people Anyone who saw Eliud Kipchoge of prets this sentence from its rulebook: vote to cut their own throats as long as they can Kenya break the two-hour marathon “Shoes must not be constructed so as PROTESTS OVER CITIZENSHIP BILL stick it to immigrants and the marginalized. barrier in October very likely saw to give athletes any unfair assistance Audrey Truschke@AudreyTruschke something else, too: The thick-soled or advantage.” It does not specify India's #CitizenshipBill is (1) totally expected and Adrian McKinty@adrianmckinty Nike running shoes on his feet, and, what such an advantage might be. (2) totally devastating. This isn't the magical If you think your country is run by a clique consider in a blaze of pink, on the feet of the “We need evidence to say that moment when India embraced discrimination this...There have been 18 general elections in the pacers surrounding him. something is wrong with a shoe,” a and hate. That's been a process. But something United Kingdom since 1955. In 17 of them the These kinds of shoes from Nike — spokesman for the governing body, here seems to mark a new future where anything winner has been someone who was educated at which feature carbon plates and then called the IAAF, told The Times is possible, in all the worst ways. Oxford University. (The one exception was 1992.) springy midsole foam — have last year. “We’ve never had anyone to The UK has 106 universities. become an explosive issue among bring some evidence to convince us.” Prashant Bhushan@pbhushan1 runners, as professional and amateur The midsole of Nike shoes stores and releases energy with each stride and acts In an announcement earlier this Students of Jamia University peacefully protesting Neil Coyle@coyleneil racers alike debate whether the shoes as a kind of slingshot, or catapult, to propel runners year, the group said, “It is clear that against the unconstitutional Citizenship In 2005 Tony Blair won a third consecutive general save so much energy that they some forms of technology would Amendment Bill are being lathi charged, beaten election for Labour with a majority of 67. Jeremy amount to an unfair advantage. effects separately. We have combined even larger one, but most do not yet provide an athlete with assistance up & detained. This Nazi style quelling of peaceful Corbyn & John McDonnell called for him to resign. A new analysis by The New York them in our estimates.) appear in sufficient numbers in our that runs contrary to the values of protests is happening across the country now. Are In 2019 they helped hand Boris Johnson a majority Times, an update of the one conduct- This difference is not explained data to measure their effectiveness. the sport.” It has since appointed a we a democracy anymore? of 80 & still have not had the decency to go. A ed last summer, suggests that the by faster runners choosing to wear These findings are based on more technical committee to study the shameless insult to voters. advantage these shoes bestow is real the shoes, by runners choosing to than twice the data that produced our shoe question, and to make a report Rana Ayyub@RanaAyyub — and larger than previously esti- wear them in easier races or by run- previous estimates. Our data now with recommendations. (The report The protests in JNU , AMU and other universities FIRE IN DELHI FACTORY mated. At the moment, they appear to ners switching to the shoes after run- includes results from more than a mil- was originally intended to be against the Citizenship Amendment Bill is a sliver Asaduddin Owaisi@asadowaisi be among only a handful of popular ning more training miles. In a race lion marathons and half marathons released to the public by the end of of hope in this depressing time for the country. We My prayers are with the families of victims of the shoes that matter at all for race per- between two marathoners of the combined since 2014. the year; it will now reportedly be need to step out of the comforts of our living room Anaj Mandi fire in Delhi. I can only imagine how formance, and the gap between them same ability, a runner wearing these More important, nearly all of these released in 2020.) if we truly care for this democracy #CAB difficult a time it must be. Besides compensating and the next-fastest popular shoe has shoes would have a significant advan- new results take place in a world in When we asked Nike last year victims, it is time to improve fire safety norms & only widened. tage over a competitor not wearing which runners had begun to wear about whether its shoes might vio- Rupa Subramanya@rupasubramanya protect the public from such hazards in future We found that a runner wearing them. these shoes in large numbers. In this late IAAF rules, a spokesman said the Protests no longer confined to the north east. First the most popular versions of these The shoes, which retail for $250, period, an overwhelming share of shoe “meets all IAAF product require- Aligarh in UP, and now Delhi, with internet Vijay Prashad@vijayprashad shoes available to the public — the confer an advantage on all kinds of runners — particularly faster ones — ments and does not require any spe- blocked in Aligarh. Worrying. What exactly is the [Thread] A factory in Anaj Mandi (North Delhi) that Zoom Vaporfly 4 per cent or ZoomX runners: Men and women, fast run- reported switching to these shoes, cial inspection or approval.” plan @amitshah? Where are you taking us? makes handbags has an industrial fire at night. 45 Vaporfly Next% — ran 4 to 5 per cent ners and slower ones, hobbyists and presumably looking for any edge they On Thursday, the company said workers who slept there were burnt to death. They faster than a runner wearing an aver- frequent racers. Many other brands, could get on race day. in a statement, “We respect the IAAF Barkha Dutt@BDUTT are mostly migrant workers, many young. Their age shoe, and 2 to 3 per cent faster including Brooks, Saucony, New Consider that in the final months and the spirit of their rules, and we From #Aligarh to #Assam, Jamia to Jorhat student lives are sacrificed for capitalism (India's $40 billion than runners in the next-fastest pop- Balance, Hoka One One and Asics, of 2019, about 41 per cent of do not create any running shoes that protests against #CAB. I will ask every day: what textile industry). ular shoe. (There was no meaningful have introduced similar shoes to the marathons under three hours were return more energy than the runner difference between the Vaporfly and market or plan to. These shoes may reported to have been run in these expends.” Next% shoes when we measured their provide the same advantage or an shoes (for races in which we have ©2019 The New York Times News Service 8 WORLD MUMBAI | 15 DECEMBER 2019 1 > UK vote marks new China to target around 6% growth in 2020, step up state spending era for stock market KEVIN YAO Beijing has unveiled a raft of pro-growth Beijing, 14 December measures this year, cutting taxes and fees and letting localities issue 2.15 trillion yuan in special China plans to set a lower economic growth bonds, alongside cuts in reserve requirements target of around six per cent in 2020 from this and lending rates to boost credit. But top leaders that lost $100 billion year's 6-6.5 per cent, relying on increased state have ruled out aggressive stimulus for fear of infrastructure spending to ward off a sharper pushing up debt levels. KSENIA GALOUCHKO slowdown, policy sources said. A trade deal with the United States could ease 14 December Chinese leaders are trying to support growth pressure on Chinese exporters, but more policy to limit job losses that could affect social sta- steps are needed to underpin weak demand at oris Johnson’s decisive victory may prove to be a bility, but are facing pressure to tackle debt home and abroad, policy insiders said. The United Bturning point not just for the UK but for the entire risks caused by pump-priming policies. States and China cooled their trade war on Friday, scorned European stock market. The proposed target, to be unveiled at China's announcing an agreement that reduces some US The Conservative Party’s win filled investors with annual parliamentary session in early March Local governments could be allowed to issue tariffs in exchange for what US officials said would optimism that a major political risk related to Brexit will 2020, was endorsed by top leaders at the annual special bonds worth some three trillion yuan be more Chinese purchases of American farm soon be removed, sending the European equity closed-door Central Economic Work Conference ($426.20 bn) in 2020 to fund infrastructure projects products and other goods. benchmark near a record high. Goldman Sachs Group this month, according to three sources with lifted its forecasts for both European and UK indexes knowledge of the meeting's outcome. Fiscal boost Financial risks following the election results. "We aim to keep next year's growth within a The government aims to boost infrastructure Top leaders at the meeting listed preventing finan- Fears that the UK might crash out of the European The UK stock market, which has been among the reasonable range, or around six per cent," said investment by allowing local governments to issue cial risks as a key priority for 2020 and called for Union without a deal have been a significant driver of world’s strongest underweight positions in the years a source who requested anonymity. more special bonds next year, but there is less keeping the debt-to-GDP ratio largely stable. $100 billion in outflows from European stock funds this after the Brexit referendum, according to a Bank of Top leaders pledged to keep economic poli- room for tax cuts, the sources said. They also pledged to prepare "contingency year, the largest among major regions. And with the US- America’s fund manager survey, surged on Friday cies stable while making them more effective to The annual budget deficit could rise from this plans" to cope with growing global volatility China trade deal providing additional risk-on fuel, now achieve growth targets in 2020, state media year's 2.8 per cent of GDP, but is likely to be kept and risks. could be a transformative moment for European equi- Christmas seemed to come early for some European said on Thursday. within three per cent, they said. But any sharper slowdown could put more pres- ties, say the likes of Colombo Wealth and Bank of New stock traders. Next year will be crucial for the ruling Local governments could be allowed to issue sure on small firms, which could in turn hit small- York Mellon. “If trade headlines remain muted next year, Europe Communist Party to fulfill its goal of doubling special bonds worth some three trillion yuan er banks — the most vulnerable part of the bank- “We are setting up the basis for a new Europe — it should outperform the US,” said Ulrich Urbahn, head, gross domestic product (GDP) and incomes in ($426.20 billion) in 2020 to fund infrastructure ing sector, policy insiders said. is a major game changer,” said Alberto Tocchio, chief multi-asset strategy and research, Joh Berenberg the decade to 2020. Economic growth of near- projects, including 1 trillion yuan front-loaded to Private companies have defaulted on bond pay- investment officer at Colombo Wealth in Lugano, Gossler & Co. Not all market participants agree. The ly six per cent next year could be enough to this year, they said. "Fiscal policy will provide a key ments at a record rate this year, while capital invest- Switzerland. “Most investors are still severely un- prospect of Europe beating the US next year is far- meet that goal given the economy is expected support for the economy," said one source. ment has slowed. A rare state seizure of a regional derweight UK. This has to change quickly and this will fetched because equity valuations aren’t as attractive to expand about 6.2 per cent this year, policy The central bank is likely to ease policy further bank earlier this year and state rescues of lenders also be beneficial to Europe for a global re-rating.” as a year ago and the economic outlook has yet to insiders said. to encourage lending and lower corporate funding have also sharpened concerns about the health of Though European equities have rallied more than improve, said Andrew Milligan, head of global strate- Officials at the National Development and costs, but it wants to avoid fanning property spec- small banks. 20 per cent this year, many fund managers recoiled gy at Aberdeen Standard Investments. Reform Commission and the Ministry of ulation and inflation expectations after consumer "Small firms will continue to face big pressure from a market plagued by political and economic con- “Taking away a negative is not the same as creating Finance were not immediately available for inflation hit a near eight-year high in November, next year, and that could affect the financial sec- cerns. However, in mid-October the mood started to a positive,” Milligan said by email. “Europe still faces an comment. the sources said. tor," said one insider. REUTERS shift and outflows turned into tepid inflows after environment of weak growth and low inflation and Johnson gained parliamentary support for the princi- there is considerable uncertainty about what the U.K.- ples of his deal with the EU. EU trading relationship looks like post-Brexit.” The UK stock market, which has been among the European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde world’s strongest underweight positions in the years struck an optimistic note during her policy debut on Lam visits Beijing as pressure mounts at home after the Brexit referendum, according to a Bank of Thursday by saying that the euro area’s economic slow- America’s fund manager survey, surged on Friday after down is showing signs of bottoming out. Just like her the election results. The FTSE 250 Index of mid-cap predecessor, she called on governments to help spur CLARE JIM & FELIX TAM by daily and sometimes violent with citizens has not changed," Lam Kong's affairs. In an editorial this shares hit a record high. growth with fiscal stimulus and structural reforms. Hong Kong, 14 December protests for the last six months as said in a Facebook post on Saturday. week, the official China Daily news- Political clarity “may well lead to the UK no longer According to Goldman strategists led by Sharon demonstrations against a now-with- She said her governing team would paper called on Hong Kong's govern- being ‘uninvestible’ and one would expect to see in- Bell, the passage of Brexit and a pick-up in UK growth Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam visited drawn extradition bill broadened continue to pursue "different formats ment to uphold the rule of law. ternational investors close their underweights to the UK would have an important effect on the rest of Europe Beijing on Saturday for her first trip to into demands for greater demo- of dialogue to listen to citizens sin- Separately, three men were and Europe as risk appetite increases”, said Paul Flood, as the prolonged withdrawal has been a significant the Chinese capital since her govern- cratic freedom. cerely." This week Lam said a cabinet arrested on Saturday and charged a multi-asset portfolio manager at BNY Mellon’s drag on euro-area growth. They raised their forecast on ment was handed a crushing defeat in Hundreds of thousands of people reshuffle was not an "immediate task" with testing remote-controlled Newton Investment Management unit that oversees Friday for Stoxx Europe 600’s 12-month target by 4.8 local elections last month, prompt- marched last Sunday to protest and she would focus her efforts on explosives, police said. Police also about ^50 billion ($67 bn). per cent to 440. ing speculation about changes to her against what is seen as Beijing under- restoring law and order to Hong Kong. found body armour, shields and gas Credit Suisse Group, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Investors will need to see “dynamism” in policy and leadership team. mining freedoms guaranteed when Still there are doubts about how long masks, they said. Stanley are among the brokers that recommended a stronger economic recovery for the positioning in During a four-day visit, Lam is due the former British colony was handed Beijing is willing to back her, espe- Police also arrested five teenagers buying euro-area equities over the past few months, European equities to turn fully overweight, according to discuss the political and economic back to China in 1997. Many young cially after pro-democracy candidates in connection with the murder of a 70- betting that the near-record valuation discount and the to Chris Bailey, a European strategist at Raymond situation in China-ruled Hong Kong protesters are also angry at Lam's gov- won nearly 90 per cent of the seats in year-old man last month and on riot- region’s macro recovery would lead them to beat US James. “More immediately plausible are flows that take with Chinese officials. She will meet ernment, charging it with failing to district elections last month. ing charges, the government said. The peers. And after President Donald Trump signed off on underweights back to neutral,” he said by email. “This Chinese President Xi Jinping on address social inequality issues in one China has condemned the unrest man had been hit with bricks and lat- a phase-one trade deal with China, averting the easier catch-up is more than sufficient for the UK and Monday. of the world's most expensive cities. and blamed foreign interference. It er died in hospital, the government December 15 introduction of a new wave of US tariffs, Europe to outperform the US in 2020.” BLOOMBERG Hong Kong has been convulsed "Our sincerity to have dialogue denies that it is meddling in Hong said in a statement. REUTERS

Cries of abuse in Catholic Church TEAMING UP US open to dialogue begin to be heard in Japan with Iran: PRESS TRUST OF INDIA heavily Catholic countries, such closed, and it's unclear when Tokyo, 14 December as Ireland, the US and now, they might be ready. Similar special envoy many nations in Latin America. studies have been carried out During Pope Francis' recent vis- All of which could explain by the US, German and Dutch BLOOMBERG it to Japan, Harumi Suzuki why the Catholic hierarchy in churches, with the findings 14 December stood where his motorcade Japan has been slow to respond made public, and government- passed by holding a sign that to the scandal, which involves mandated inquiries have dev- The US is open to dialogue read: “I am a survivor.” Katsumi not only children being sexual- astated the church's credibility with Iran even as Washington Takenaka stood at another spot, ly abused but adults in spiritu- in countries like Australia and enforces sanctions against on another day, holding up his al direction — an increasingly Ireland. the Islamic Republic, Brian banner that read, “Catholic common phenomenon being The Japanese bishops' con- Hook, the US special repre- child sexual abuse in Japan, denounced in the #MeToo era. ference has said it carried out sentative for Iran, said in a too.” The two are among a In a recent case, police were various investigations since Bloomberg TV interview. handful of people who have investigating allegations by a 2002, but the names of the Iran remains a threat to gone public as survivors of woman in Nagasaki, the region accused, the nature of the alle- international peace and secu- Catholic clergy sexual abuse in with the greatest concentration gations or any other details have rity, Hook said in Doha. It’s Japan, where values of confor- of Catholics in Japan, that a never been released. widely known that Iran was mity and harmony have result- priest touched her inappropri- Broadcaster Japan News behind the attack on Saudi ed in a strong code of silence. ately last year. Network said 21 cases were fou- Arabian oil facilities in Sep- But as in other parts of the Japanese media reports said nd in the latest investigation. tember, and the Saudi gov- world, from Pennsylvania to the woman had been hospi- The conference declined to con- ernment at some point will Chile, Takenaka and Suzuki are talised for PTSD. Police confir- firm the number. It's unclear if present evidence of Iran’s co- starting to feel less alone as oth- med a probe was underway but that includes decades-old cases mplicity to the United Nations er victims have come forward the church declined to provide like Takenaka's and Suzuki's. Security Council, he said. despite the ostracism they and details, citing privacy concerns. In a rare case of the church Iranian Foreign Minister their family members often face The Catholic Bishops' Con- taking action, Takenaka recei- Mohammad Javad Zarif is for speaking out. ference of Japan began a nati- ved a public apology earlier this also in the Qatari capital, Their public denunciation onwide investigation into sexu- year from Nagasaki Archbishop though he has no permis- is all the more remarkable, giv- al abuse of women and children Joseph Mitsuaki Takami for the sion from Iran’s Supreme en Catholics make up less than this year, responding to the sexual abuse he suffered as a Leader Ayatollah Ali 0.5 per cent of Japan's popula- Vatican's demand for an urgent child at the Salesian Boys' Khamenei to talk with tion. To date, the global abuse response to the global crisis. Home in Tokyo, where he was US presidential candidate and senator Bernie Sanders is joined by Democratic representative Ilhan Omar at a campaign Americans, Hook said. scandal has concentrated on The results haven't been dis- placed after his parents' divorce. event in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Friday REUTERS The US has imposed sanc- tions on Iran for what it consi- ders the Persian Gulf nation’s aggressive and destabilising policies in the region, such as the proxy war with US ally Olive oil makers want to go gourmet, but shoppers aren’t buying Saudi Arabia in Yemen. Iran denies responsibility for the JOAO LIMA different from the world of wine,” are twofold: escape the crushing wine, the most common thing is to September 14 aerial strikes on 14 December Baptista said, paging through his price pressure and hope the upscale ask for a designation-of-origin Saudi installations. glossy brochure, including an oil shift radiates across the industry. wine,” such as Spanish Rioja, French Widespread protests in In the rugged Tras-os-Montes region promising a sweet entry and a spicy “It’s important in terms of strate- Beaujolais or Italian Gavi, Carneros Iran in recent weeks are “anti- of northern Portugal, Vitor Baptista finish. “We bet on image and other gic value,” said Gabriel Trenzado, said. “In the case of olive oil, that regime” in nature even if they braves frosty mornings and long factors that can add value,” he said, technical director at Spain’s Agro- hasn’t happened. It’s coming along aren’t evidence of pro-US sen- drives from his home near Lisbon to acknowledging that he couldn’t cov- Alimentarias Cooperative, which re- much more slowly.” timent, Hook said. US sanc- pursue the sentimental goal of trans- er production costs at the prices set presents hundreds of olive growers, Nuno Rodrigues, a researcher tions do not restrict imports forming olive oil into something for the world market from vast adding that better packaging and who some call an enologist of olive of medical supplies into Iran more than a condiment. hedge-like groves in Spain and marketing helps sales in countries oil, estimates it will take 20 years to and are not causing a human- The 46-year-old construction Portugal. like the US and Japan. “We would educate consumers. “There’s still a itarian crisis there, he said. manager started the Arvolea brand There’s a romantic element to the like it if it were not a commodity.” long road ahead,” he said. Hook said he sees a posit- in 2016 and hopes to one day devote gold-green oil, conjuring up images The physical manifestation of the In Germany, supermarket chain ive trend among Arab nations himself full time to creating oils with of sun-drenched landscapes and trend is Sovena Group’s sleek mill at Rewe offers high-end varieties at its of the Gulf Cooperation Cou- almond notes and balanced acidity deep blue Mediterranean waters. Its Spain accounts for about half of all olive-oil output, and the price of the its giant Marmelo grove, the largest big stores, but the bulk of demand is ncil over the healing of a rift from his small grove of Santulhana traditions date back thousands of country’s extra-virgin variety dropped 33 per cent below its five-year in Portugal. The smooth white struc- for affordable blends costing less over Qatar. The US is hopeful olive trees, some of which are more years, and the fruit is still harvested average this fall REUTERS ture — designed as a destination for than 10 euros a liter. “There is no real of a reconciliation between than 100 years old. But his dream of in rocky environs by whacking it off tours and tastings for its Oliveira da willingness to pay for higher-quality Qatar and three of its neighb- breathing new life into his family’s trees with long poles. But in the nuances. And there’s of course no after the harvest. Serra brand — emerges like a mod- oils,” said Raimund Esser, a ours — Saudi Arabia, the UAE tradition risks colliding with the cold modern era, it’s a big business, ship- intoxicating effect. The upscale shift Commodification is well advan- ernist sculpture from the tidy rows spokesman for the retailer. and Bahrain — which severed realities of market dynamics. ped in tankers and sold by the ton. is further complicated by past allega- ced. Glencore opened a trading desk of squat green trees near Ferreira do That’s bad news for producers diplomatic and economic ties Healthy-living trends were touted European Union countries exported tions of the industry illicitly blend- in Madrid in 2015 and now handles Alentejo. like Fabrizio Pini. The Italian grower with Doha over its alleged to effect a boom, but reality has fallen more than $6 billion worth of olive ing in cheaper oils. about 12,000 tons a year, quadruple In the last several years, there’s grew up playing in his grandfather’s support for pro-Iranian ter- short. Prices are tumbling as supply oil in 2018. Spain accounts for about half of initial volumes. To support the oper- been a surge in terroir labels for olive oil mill and now runs a facility near rorism. Qatar has denied the exceeds demand. And big producers Unlike wine, olive oil doesn’t age all olive-oil output, and the price of ation, the world’s largest commodi- oil — such as Portuguese Moura, Rome. He presses olives less than 12 accusation. A decision to end are joining family farms in trying to well and starts turning bitter after the country’s extra-virgin variety ties trader recently completed a stor- Spanish Lucena and French Nyons. hours after they’ve been picked to be the dispute lies with leaders transform olive oil into a gourmet about a year. That means producers dropped 33 per cent below its five- age facility in southern Spain. But among buyers, the effort hasn’t able to sell at a premium. The price in the GCC, but the US has product, with protected-origin race against the clock to harvest, year average this fall. That prompted While big producers sell most of gotten much traction in Europe or increases significantly when the pro- made it clear that it’s easier to labelling, fancy bottles and tasting refine and market their wares. Also the EU to intervene to address the their olive oil in bulk, more are dedi- elsewhere, says Esteban Carneros, duct is exported to markets like the confront Iran if the six-mem- ateliers. That could give the trend working against the effort is the fact “serious market imbalance” by offer- cating a portion of their output to head of communications at the large United Arab Emirates and the US, ber regional group — which more momentum or overwhelm it. that the oil is seldom consumed on ing subsidies to store oil for the short select varieties that are bottled and olive producers’ cooperative Dcoop where some oils can fetch as much includes Kuwait and Oman — “The world of olive oil isn’t very its own, marginalising taste term rather than flood the market labelled for a gourmet feel. The aims in Spain. “When consumers ask for a as ^120 a litre, he said. BLOOMBERG is unified, Hook said. MUMBAI | 15 DECEMBER 2019 WORLD 9 . < Korea held another Anger erupts at UN climate summit

MATTHEW GREEN & agreeing a "strong message" on VALERIE VOLCOVICI the need to redouble pledges to Madrid, 14 December cut emissions next year. vital test at satellite Tina Steger, climate envoy Major economies resisted calls of the Marshall Islands, echoed for bolder climate commit- the call, telling delegates: "It ments as a UN summit in Mad- appears we are going back- rid limped towards a delayed wards on the issue of ambition launch site: KCNA conclusion on Saturday, dim- when in fact we should be call- ming hopes that nations will ing for a quantum leap in the act in time to stop rising tem- other direction." peratures devastating people Ministers broke into groups and the natural world. on Saturday for eleventh-hour With the two-week gather- negotiations on a tangle of ing spilling into the weekend, issues, including finance for campaigners and many climate-vulnerable countries, nations slammed Chile, pre- carbon markets, and the all- siding over the talks, for draft- important issue of the strength ing a summit text that they of the summit's final text. said risked throwing the 2015 The Paris process has been Paris Agreement to tackle glob- weakened by a move by US al warming into reverse. Campaigners and many nations slammed Chile, presiding over the talks, for drafting a summit text President Donald Trump to "At a time when scientists that they said risked throwing the 2015 Paris Agreement to tackle global warming into reverse REUTERS begin withdrawing the world's are queuing up to warn about largest historical emitter from terrifying consequences if failed to stem the upward march process will submit more ature rises will all but vanish. the agreement last month, emissions keep rising, and of global carbon emissions. ambitious pledges to cut emis- making it easier for other big school children are taking to Long-time participants in sions next year. ‘Strong message’ countries to backslide. the streets in their millions, the talks were outraged at the The agreement enters a cru- Although no advanced econo- Chile became the target of what we have here in Madrid is unwillingness of major pol- cial implementation phase in my is yet on track for the kind of anger among campaigners, who a betrayal of people across the luters to show ambition com- 2020, when countries are sup- action scientists say is needed said the draft text circulating on world," said Mohamed Adow, mensurate with the gravity of posed to ratchet up their ambi- to steer the climate onto a safer Saturday was among the worst director of Power Shift Africa, a the climate crisis, after a year tions ahead of the next major path, all the EU's 28 member they had seen in many years of climate and energy think-tank of wildfires, cyclones, droughts round of talks in Glasgow. states, bar Poland, agreed in UN climate negotiations. in Nairobi. and floods. If big polluters such as Brussels on Thursday to target "The approach Chile has The annual climate mara- The European Union, small China, India, Japan, Brazil, net zero emissions by 2050. taken on this text shows how it thon had been due to conclude island states and many other Australia and others fail to Krista Mikkonen, Finland's has listened to the polluters and on Friday, but dragged on with nations had been calling for agree more meaningful cli- environment minister, speak- not to the people," said Jennifer The reported tests come ahead of a year-end deadline North Korea has put forth for the United delegates mired in multiple dis- the Madrid decision to signal mate action soon, then scien- ing on behalf of the EU, told Morgan, executive director of States to drop its insistence on unilateral denuclearisation. Pyongyang has warned it could take putes over implementing the that the more than 190 coun- tists say already slim hopes of the talks that it would be Greenpeace International. a ‘new path’ amid the stalled talks with the US REUTERS Paris deal, which has so far tries participating in the Paris averting catastrophic temper- "impossible to leave" without REUTERS

HEEKYONG YANG & JOSH SMITH could help North Korea build istry said in a statement. Seoul, 14 December more reliable intercontinental Biegun will also travel to ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Tokyo and meet with his IN BRIEF orth Korea said it had "The point seems to be to Japanese counterpart, the US Nconducted another test at remind the United States that State Department said. DOJ glare on Google’s a satellite launch site on Friday North Korea still has space to Biegun's trip led to specula- Ex-Sudan president sentenced to bolster its strategic nuclear qualitatively advance its pro- tion he might try to salvage deterrence, North Korean state gramme," said Ankit Panda, a negotiations by reaching out to shopping comparison A Sudanese court on Saturday convicted media outlet KCNA reported senior fellow at the US-based North Korea, or by publicly former president Omar al-Bashir (pictured) on Saturday. Federation of American sending a message. BEN BRODY & NAOMI NIX on corruption charges and sentenced him The test was conducted at Scientists. North Korea has vowed to 14 December to two years of detention in a reform the Sohae satellite launch site, "We had a good hint that take an unspecified "new path" facility, the first ruling against the ex- KCNA said, citing a whatever they were doing at if the United States fails to US antitrust enforcers are leader ousted by mass unrest. spokesman for North Korea's Sohae was military in nature address its demands before the examining Google’s conduct in The presiding judge said Bashir, 75, who Academy of Defence Science, when the Academy of Defence end of the year. the online shopping compari- was deposed by the military in April without specifying what sort Science took charge of the On Thursday, it said Wash- son market as they continue following months of street protests against of testing occurred. announcement, as opposed to ington had "nothing to offer" their probe of the search giant. his three-decade rule, was being sent to the It was the second such test NADA, their space agency," even if talks were to reopen, and Richard Stables, chief exec- reform facility, rather than a prison, owing at the facility in a week. Panda added. the US warned against any utive officer of the shopping to his age. He also ordered the confiscation KCNA on Sunday said that Tension has been rising in resumption of "unfortunate ill- comparison site Kelkoo Group, of millions of euros and Sudanese pounds found in Bashir’s residence North Korea had carried out a recent weeks as Pyongyang advised behaviour". "In any said he spent more than an when he was toppled. The charges, which included possession of illicit "very important" test on has conducted weapons tests case, Biegun would try to give hour with Justice Department In 2017, the European Union fined Google 2.4 billion euros and foreign currency, carried a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. December 7 at the Sohae satel- and waged a war of words with an impression that they won't officials on Thursday to discuss ordered the company to stop promoting its own shopping search Bashir’s prosecution is a test of how fast and how far military and lite launch site, a rocket-test- US President Donald Trump, be manipulated by the North how Alphabet allegedly hurt results over those of competitors ISTOCK civilian authorities now sharing power in Sudan will act to overturn ing facility that US officials stoking fears that tensions Koreans, while making clear his European-based business. his legacy. Bashir is also wanted by the International Criminal Court, once said North Korea had between the two countries that they want to keep talking," The meetings show that the own shopping search results was willing to help enforcers in which issued arrest warrants against him in 2009 and 2010. REUTERS promised to close. could return. a diplomatic source in Seoul Justice Department, which ope- over those of competitors. Washington understand the That KCNA report called Stephen Biegun, US special said, requesting anonymity due ned its investigation of Google Stables, who has been trying to market because the political Insider attack kills Deforestation spike the December 7 event a "suc- envoy for North Korea, will to the sensitivity of the matter. with a document seeking a wide convince the EU to toughen its moment made him more opti- cessful test of great signifi- arrive in South Korea on North Korean leader Kim swathe of information on the remedy, outlined to the US mistic about getting a remedy. 9 Afghan militia record in Amazon cance". South Korea's defence Sunday, Seoul and Washington Jong Un and Trump met three company, has an interest in at antitrust enforcers what he said In addition to the Justice De- At least one member of an Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon minister Jeong Keong-doo said on Friday. times since last year to negotiate least one of three landmark was harm to consumers stem- partment and Congress, 48 Afghan militia opened fire on jumped to the highest level for said it was an engine test. an end to Pyongyang's nuclear European antitrust cases. ming from Google’s practices. state attorneys general are prob- his fellow militiamen early the month of November since The reported tests come Deadline looms for and missile programmes, but A Justice Department Google’s practice of elevat- ing Google, and some Demo- Saturday, killing nine, in what record-keeping began in 2015, ahead of a year-end deadline stalled talks there has been scant progress, spokesman said the depart- ing its own services raises cratic presidential candidates the country’s interior ministry according to preliminary North Korea has put forth for Biegun will be in Seoul for a with working-level talks in ment has had numerous pro- prices for consumers by limit- have ramped up their rhetoric called an insider attack. The government data published on the United States to drop its three-day stay and consult Stockholm led by Biegun in ductive meetings with third ing access to rival shopping on the dominance of tech Taliban, however, claimed Friday. Destruction of the world’s insistence on unilateral denu- with his counterpart Lee Do- October breaking down. parties, but declined to com- comparison sites, Stables said. giants. The states began their the attack was actually a largest tropical rainforest clearisation. hoon and other officials, South US officials came to that ment on specific discussions. In the meetings, Stables said investigation by focusing on coordinated insurgent assault totalled 563 sq km (217.38 sq Pyongyang has warned it Korea's foreign ministry said meeting seeking a "complete, Stables said he also met he raised concerns that Google Google’s position in online ads, on the checkpoint where the miles) in November, 103 per cent could take a "new path" amid on Friday. verifiable and irreversible with congressional staff mem- could squash not just other but some states have recently shooting took place, killing over more than in the same month the stalled talks with the "The two sides will exchange denuclearisation", and a mora- bers for lawmakers on antitrust European comparison sites, but broadened their focus. two dozen militiamen, last year, according Brazil’s space United States. The top US extensive views on the recent torium on weapons tests as a committees in the House and also travel companies, searches Google spokesman Jose according to Taliban spokesman research agency INPE. That envoy for North Korea is set to situation on the Korean penin- first step, while a North Senate earlier this week. for local businesses and servic- Castaneda directed reporters Zabihullah Mujahid. There was would bring total deforestation arrive in Seoul on Sunday for sula and discuss ways to bring Korean negotiator accused In 2017, the European Union es, and other firms in the US. to a September blog post when no immediate explanation for from January to November to meetings with South Korean substantial progress on achiev- them of sticking to their "old fined Google 2.4 billion euros US companies that fear Google Chief Legal Officer Kent the discrepancy, but the Taliban 8,934 square km, 83 per cent officials. ing a complete denuclearisation viewpoint and attitude". ($2.8 billion) and ordered the Google have been reluctant to Walker pledged to work with often exaggerate their claims. more than in the same period Analysts said such tests and enduring peace," the min- REUTERS company to stop promoting its speak out, he said, but he was antitrust officials. BLOOMBERG REUTERS in 2018. REUTERS Initial China trade deal defuses tensions, but US still has concerns ALAN RAPPEPORT, ANA SWANSON, scrap existing deals and imposing more later. He acknowledged that future phases Evan S Medeiros, a Georgetown KEITH BRADSHER & CHRIS BUCKLEY tariffs than any other president in modern of negotiations, which would entail some University professor who was senior Asia Washington, 14 December history. The United States now has the of the bigger structural changes the director at the National Security Council highest tariff rate of any advanced nation, United States has been seeking from under President Barack Obama, said the When President Trump and China con- higher than even China, India and Turkey. China, could still prove challenging to only thing of substance that had been firmed on Friday that they had reached an Whether that approach has achieved accomplish. During the negotiations, the negotiated — agricultural purchases for initial trade deal, it helped defuse tensions Trump’s goal of putting “America First” is United States repeatedly pressed China to tariff relief — was shallow compared with in a 19-month trade war and avoided an open question. While many credit his make more transformative changes to its Trump’s earlier, much grander promises. another round of punishing tariffs sched- tough tactics with bringing trading part- economy, only to be rebuffed and have the The other elements thrown into an uled for this weekend. ners to the table, others say it has failed to talks nearly collapse. announcement — currency, enforcement But a trade deal that took nearly two produce bigger gains than those achieved “There are still a lot of outstanding of intellectual property rights and greater years to reach and inflicted global eco- through traditional trade negotiations, issues that you’re all aware of between the access by American companies to China’s nomic damage in the process does little to and destabilised the global economy in United States and China, which are very financial services sector — were changes resolve the United States’ biggest concerns the process. serious issues,” Lighthizer said. “Our sense that Beijing had decided to push through about China’s trade practices, including its “Pardon me if I don’t pop champagne, is that we’re better off doing this in phases regardless and had been working on use of industrial subsidies and state- but aside from a cessation of continued than to sit and make no progress at all.” already. Their inclusion was “window owned enterprises to dominate global escalation, there is not much worth cheer- “I’m not Pollyanna,” he added. “This is dressing”, he said. industries like steel and solar panels. ing,” said Scott Kennedy, a China expert at going to be a very long term issue.” “The real issues we want addressed are If signed, the deal would increase the Center for Strategic and International Wang Shouwen, China’s vice com- structural barriers”, none of which are Chinese purchases of American farm and Studies. “There is still significant ambigui- The trade war has taken a major toll on America’s farmers, who have seen Chinese sales of merce minister, said at a news conference mentioned in the deal, he said. energy products, place limits on Beijing’s ty about what is in the deal, but based on soybeans, pork and other products dry up, and Trump has consistently promised that in Beijing that the two sides had made Investors greeted Friday’s announce- ability to weaken its currency and provide what we can surmise, it is unclear if the Beijing will commit to buying $50 billion worth of farm goods as part of a trade pact REUTERS “significant progress” and that the ment somewhat skeptically. The S&P 500 greater protections to American compa- struggles of the past two and a half years United States would remove tariffs barely budged and yields on government nies operating in China. It would also have been worth it. The costs have been The president had threatened to withdraw Robert Lighthizer, Trump’s top trade “phase by phase”, suggesting that the bonds fell, suggesting slightly more pes- reduce some of Trump’s tariffs and fore- substantial and far-reaching, the benefits from NAFTA entirely if his trade pact was negotiator and one of the administration’s countries had agreed to roll back more simism on the outlook for growth and stall new tariffs slated for Sunday. narrow and ephemeral.” not advanced. biggest China hawks, said in a briefing tariffs in the future when additional inflation. Prices of key agricultural com- Yet its main benefit may be to help The China deal was Trump’s second “The principal commercial benefit of that China had made substantial commit- agreements are reached. modities such as hogs and soybeans rose. Trump politically — allowing him to pro- trade victory of the week, after Democrats both agreements appears to be the avoid- ments to increase purchases of American Wang said that both sides had agreed Hog futures rose more than one per cent. mote large gains to American farmers dev- agreed to support a revised North ance of what would have been self-inflict- agriculture, energy, manufacturing and to complete legal reviews as quickly as Soybeans jumped on news of the trade astated by the trade war, calming anxious American Free Trade Agreement, moving ed harm — tariff escalation with China services products. possible and that an official signing was deal but later pared their gains, settling investors and convincing voters before the it closer to becoming law. Businesses wel- and termination of NAFTA,” said Michael China’s farm purchases are expected to still being worked out. about one per cent higher on the day. 2020 election that he has lived up to his comed the update of the 25-year trade J Smart, a managing director at Rock grow to at least $40 billion annually over a The Chinese government did not echo Stephen Moore, the Heritage promise to get tough on China. pact, and tech companies in particular Creek Global Advisors, an advisory firm. period of two years, while total exports of American assertions that it would buy $50 Foundation economist who advised “It’s a phenomenal deal,” Trump said have praised the agreement’s strong pro- The China deal also averts what would food, energy, manufactured goods and billion of farm goods a year, saying only Trump’s 2016 campaign, said that the on Friday at the White House. “The China tections for technology. have been an economically damaging services to China will increase by a total of that purchases would increase by a “con- agreement should be helpful for Trump’s deal covers tremendous manufacturing, The pact broke ground politically, gain- escalation of the trade war before the holi- $200 billion, he said. The deal would inc- siderable margin” to meet China’s needs re-election prospects because the farming, a lot of rules, regulations, a lot of ing the support of Democratic lawmakers day season and the 2020 campaign. Mr. rease protections for American intellectu- for goods like soybean and pork. onslaught of more tariffs next year would things it covers. It’s a Phase 1 deal, but a lot and unions that have long derided exist- Trump had planned to slap 15 per cent tar- al property and end China’s practice of The trade war has taken a major toll on have been a drag on the economy. of big things are covered. And I say affec- ing trade agreements and perhaps forging iffs on shoes, laptops, toys and other forcing American companies to transfer America’s farmers, who have seen Chinese “It’s not a huge victory for Trump in tionately: The farmers are going to have to a new bipartisan consensus on trade. But goods on Sunday — a move that would technology to Chinese partners. It would sales of soybeans, pork and other products the sense of the content of the deal,” said go out and buy much larger tractors, as with the China deal, the United-States- have resulted in the US taxing nearly every also open Chinese markets for financial dry up, and Trump has consistently prom- Moore, whom the president considered because it means a lot of business, a Mexico-Canada Agreement is more a Chinese import and most likely inciting services and American exports of beef, ised that Beijing will commit to buying this year for a seat on the Federal Reserve tremendous amount of business.” modest improvement than a transforma- more retaliation from Beijing. poultry, seafood, infant formula and pet $50 billion worth of farm goods as part of a board. “If this is real, and the Chinese Trump, who campaigned on rewriting tive overhaul to the economy. The United States has now collected food. Tariffs could go back in place if trade pact. China has resumed buying don’t pull back again, it sets Trump up the rules of global trade in America’s In a note to clients, Gregory Daco, an more than $39 billion from the tariffs China fails to live up to its commitments, some American products, in part because nicely for 2020. The best thing about this favour, has spent the past two years economist at Oxford Economics, called placed on $360 billion worth of Chinese he said. an epidemic is ravaging the country’s is, if it happens, that it prevents a trade upending diplomatic processes that have the net economic benefits of USMCA goods, which Trump says China pays but Lighthizer said he expected the deal to hogs, sending pork prices soaring. war escalation.” long governed trade policy. He has pres- “negligible”, but praised the deal for pre- economists say falls heavily on American be signed in Washington during the first “I think they’ll hit $50 billion,” he said sured trading partners by threatening to venting a potential hit to the economy. businesses and consumers. week of January and take effect 30 days on Friday. “They’ve already stepped it up.” © The New York Times 2019 10 DEMOCRACY AT WORK MUMBAI | 15 DECEMBER 2019 >

Position vacant DID THEY REALLY SAY THAT? CHECKLIST Is the Tamil Nadu unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) going to get a chief anytime THE COMPLEXITIES OF THE CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT BILL soon? Or is the state so unimportant to the party that it really doesn’t matter whether there is a chief in place or not? The position has been vacant since Tamilisai n Chairman, North East Students Organisation, are part of NESO”. Soundararajan was appointed governor of Telangana in September. Former Union Samuel Jyrwa: "We have already been facing a n Ninoto Awomi, president of Naga Students minister and the BJP’s former chief of the Tamil Nadu unit, Pon Radhakrishnan and problem of illegal migration from Bangladesh Federation: "Even if a small portion in the BJP state unit’s vice president and former state minister Nainar Nagenthiran flew to in border states like Meghalaya, Assam and northeast comes under the bill, the entire CHATTERBOX Delhi last week to hold consultations after they were summoned. From reports in local Tripura. Now instead of protecting us, they region will be affected because of our porous media, it seems that instead of having one president, the party might decide to have want to legalise all these infiltrators." borders," four working presidents who will be responsible for four regions in the state to beef up n Kabindra Chetia Phukan, president of Veer n Ningthouja Lancha of Manipur People the BJP’s prospects. The party’s vice-president, B T Arasakumar, (one of many vice Lachit Sena Assam:"If this entire fiasco ends Against Citizenship Amendment Bill:"It is a presidents) who earned the wrath of the leadership for praising M K Stalin’s leadership up hurting the rights of the indigenous misunderstanding to think that ILP will skills earlier this month, joined the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) last week. people, we will intensify our protests. We are protect influx of foreigners. If that was the ready to appeal in the Supreme Court also." case, why do we have a Chakma Autonomous Problem of plenty n Lalhmachhuana, vice president of Young Council in Mizoram?" (referring to Chakma And if the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit is headless, the Congress seems to have many generals Mizo Association (YMA):"We were primarily refugees from Bangladesh living in the region “It is a witch hunt. It is a sham. It is a hoax. Nothing and no soldiers. The party’s Bihar unit, for instance, not only has a President but four was done wrong. Zero was done wrong. I think it is a against CAB but since Mizoram has been kept for decades.) working presidents. The Chhattisgarh unit has a president and a working president horrible thing to be using the tool of impeachment, out, we're fine with it." Baichung Bhutia, Hamro Sikkim Party: "We are (which begs the question as to what the president actually does, if it is the working which is supposed to be used in an emergency. And it n Hawa Bagang, president of All Arunachal very close to Bangladesh and there are a lot of president who does all the work). The Delhi unit has a president and three working would seem many, many, many years apart” Pradesh Students Union: “We are happy with issues in Bengal and other Northeast states. So presidents. The Gujarat unit has a president and two working presidents. And the US President Donald Trump after the impeachment against the exemption to Inner Line Permit (ILP) in the long run even Sikkim can get affected. Jharkhand unit has a president and five working presidents. Amazing! him moved to the House of Representatives, December 13 states, but we are obligated to oppose it as we We do not support CAB"

cancer care so that the right amount of treat- working with ESI to consolidate those workers. OPINION ment is given--not over or under treatment. If the person needs chemotherapy, radiation, or Since PMJAY has the advantage of having P CHIDAMBARAM surgery, that should be decided by qualified a big pool, has it brought down the cost of treatment provider. Similarly in cardiovascu- medicines? lar disease, we have a system where they could About the medicine cost, I don't know. In scrutinise whether the person needs a stent India, the medicine cost is quite low anyway. We are wrecking or if the hospital has prescribed a stent to earn Medicines comprise a bigger share of out money. of pocket expenditure. For example, 70% of Next is the detection and prevention of household cost on health is on medicines. the Constitution fraud and abuse. For that we are strengthening Now, instead of the beneficiary paying of our IT system and when we find some patterns it, we are paying for that. But we have not con- [of malpractice and fraud], we come down ducted a study to show that the costs have from within heavily on that. come down but hopefully as the scheme Every week we share with states, the poten- becomes deeper, the cost will come down. Not ir, I will take less than ten minutes. My colleague, Mr. tial fraud cases based on our analysis of the only the cost of drugs and pharmaceuticals Sibal, will take the rest of the time. We have a data. We are also finalising a company which but also that of implants and devices should S Citizenship Act in this country. It recognises citizen- will help us with forensic analysis and big data come down. ship by birth, citizenship by descent, citizenship by regis- analysis and give us alerts that An October 2019 Federation tration, citizenship by naturalisation and citizenship by we can share with states. We are of Indian Chambers of incorporation of territory. These are universal principles. developing the capacity with Commerce and Industry report Now, this Government is introducing a new category the states so that they could do said that the rates are not called ‘citizenship by arbitrary executive fiat’ and asking it themselves. Finally, we are viable for private hospitals to this Parliament to support the Government in passing what improving our IT system and make a profit or even survive is patently an unconstitutional law. My friends have spoken have come up with a tool called and they are going through a about it; others will speak about it. We are elected repre- ‘Zero’, which will be more INDU BHUSHAN slump. sentatives of the people. The Constitution has asked us, in robust, more user-friendly, Chief executive officer, We have revised the rate the first instance, to judge the constitutionality of a Bill. more secure and interoperable. Ayushman Bharat and and we have taken into

We cannot pronounce on the constitutionality. But, we have ILLUSTRATION BY BINAY SINHA We provide those triggers, National Health Authority account all the inputs that we a responsibility to pass what is constitutional. Not all of us and many of the fraud cases have received from various are lawyers. In fact, not all of us should be lawyers. We The ambitious Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) was first launched in have been detected. Till now, industry associations. should be from every walk of life. And, from every walk of September, 2018 in Ranchi, Jharkhand. The scheme provided an insurance cover of ~5 lakh to 100 300 hospitals have been suspended, we have life, we must bring our collective wisdom and commonsense million ‘poor and vulnerable’ families identified by the socio-economic caste census of 2011. By claimed the money back and FIRs [first infor- Do you have insights about how it has to say is this constitutional or not. What are we doing in December 2, 2019, PMJAY had covered over 6.8 million hospitalisations worth ~7,160 crore and has mation reports] have been launched. improved care in rural areas? this House? What we did in the other House and what we issued over 67 million e-cards to beneficiaries. Indu Bhushan, CEO, AB-PMJAY and the National It's been only one year so we can't expect a are doing in this House is abdicating our primary responsi- Health Authority (NHA), tells Swagata Yadavar what has worked and what hasn’t. Edited Excerpts: At an event in November 2019, Alok huge change. We are seeing some develop- bility in favour of another of the three entities/end organs Kumar, senior advisor to Niti Aayog, ment in that direction and many district hos- of the Constitution. What we are doing is: You are pushing spoke about a plan for health systems to pitals are getting more money. They are the issue to the lap of the Judges. Do you think it will stop cater to the middle class--which is improving their infrastructure, they are bridg- here? It will not stop here. It will eventually go before the currently not covered in any scheme. Are ing the gap. Judges. And, the Judges are respectable people. But, they there any plans to broaden this pool of We are also seeing that many private play- ‘Before expanding, beneficiaries? are unelected Judges. Unelected Judges and unelected ers are planning to expand their operations in lawyers will ultimately decide what we do is constitutional We are only one year old and right now we tier-2 and tier-3 cities which may help in fur- or not! This is a slap on the face of Parliament. have to consolidate what we are doing before ther expansion. Parliamentarians are being asked to do something uncon- expanding. Our aim is to strengthen the Are the funds for the scheme enough? In stitutional and then the baby is passed on to the judiciary need to consolidate’ ecosystem for providing services for health 2019-20, ~6,500 was allocated to the scheme and, in the judiciary, lawyers and Judges will decide what insurance. while it is estimated that ~10,000 crore is need- you have done is constitutional or not. Knowing this is Also, our database is very old. It is a 2011 ed. unconstitutional, I am afraid, this Government is ramming How has the first year of PMJAY been? new hospitals to come out in these places. In database so we have to clean it up and exactly They are more than enough — since the through this Bill in order to What has been working, and what has some cases, for states which are far away like identify the people still left out and how to uptake of the scheme was not that much. We advance its Hindutva agenda. not? North-East and some of the islands like make them part of the scheme. had not used the entire amount, so I think The Constitution has This is a sad day. Thankfully, we In the first year, the momentum has been Andaman and Lakshadweep, we are working Once we have covered all the poor people, money has never been a problem for this asked us, in the first are not amending the quite good and we are quite pleased with the to provide transport cost to the mainland-- the call has to be taken by the government scheme. instance, to judge the Constitution; we are only making way the scheme has rolled out. We have to because it is the major cost component in whether they want to expand and bring in [the constitutionality of a a law. And, I am absolutely con- expand it; there is huge disparity amongst the these places. middle class]. So the vision document that Mr What are the challenges that you foresee? Bill. We cannot fident and I am absolutely clear states, because some states have started the We are trying to improve awareness in gen- Alok Kumar had shared recently shows the There are huge number of challenges: How to pronounce on the in my mind that this law will be scheme for the first time. When you have to eral, as well as provision and quality of servic- long-term vision. But when we go to them, we reach the last mile, how to ensure the quality constitutionality. But, struck off. create an ecosystem to start a new scheme, it es. We are also trying to get more and more want to be sure that we have a system and an of services, how to ensure that no frauds take we have a Sir, I have a few questions and takes time. This is what is happening in Uttar hospitals on board. ecosystem ready. place and how to ensure IT system continues responsibility to pass I wanted to know who in the Pradesh (UP) and Bihar. Also, these states have We have now also revised our packages. to work and there are no glitches. what is constitutional Government found answers to poorer infrastructure to provide services. Earlier, some providers had indicated that Is the addition of new beneficiaries being We work on all these every day. We get feed- these questions. If the Law The portability feature has proved to be rates were low and so we are working on that. done by the NHA or through various back that due to connectivity, the services are Department has advised answers quite handy. [Portability allows patients seek Our aim is to get all the big hospitals to our government departments? not available in some places. We need to to these questions, please ask the hon. Home Minister to healthcare in any empanelled hospital any- scheme. We are not adding new beneficiaries, we are respond to that. In general, we get the feed- lay the opinion of the Law Ministry on the Table of the where in the country]. For example, 10,000 To ensure quality of services, we are work- only identifying beneficiaries who have been back that many poor people are being missed House. If it is a Home Ministry itself, in its wisdom, found people have gone outside UP to Uttarakhand- ing with the department of health research at left out. That call [of adding beneficiaries], the out. Those are always there. answers to questions, let us see the final note placed by the -most of them to Rishikesh AIIMS [All India ICMR [Indian Council of Medical Research] to government has to take. This scheme takes care of tertiary care, but Secretary before the hon. Home Minister. If it is the Attorney Institute of Medical Sciences]. Many people develop standard treatment workflow. Our IT what about secondary and primary care General who has been consulted – the Constitution has a are going to Delhi. Similarly, Bihar is sending systems will ensure that those workflows are So is a list being enumerated? because that is where more people are affect- provision to invite the Attorney General – please call the people outside because they don't have health followed. I would not say enumerated, but we are looking ed? Catastrophic expenditure is for tertiary Attorney General to this House. We will ask him these ques- infrastructure. at the group of people who are being left out. care, but a lot of it is paid out of pocket at the tions. But, somebody has to take responsibility for answers In terms of recipient states, Delhi is the Does this take care of unnecessary For example, we are working with other secondary and primary level. to these questions. national healthcare provider and Gujarat and treatments that happen in the private ministries: Like the ministry of labour is pre- We are hoping that once we have very These questions are well-known. Let me read it very rap- Maharashtra are other recipients in bigger sector? Around 3,000 cases of fraud pared to pay for all the construction workers strong health and wellness centres, they will idly. How do you group three countries – Afghanistan, states. We need to improve the performance worth Rs 4.5 crore were discovered and bidi workers, so we will include them. take care of much of the primary and second- Pakistan and Bangladesh – and leave out the other neigh- of the scheme in the green-field states. We during audits, said AB-PMJAY annual Similarly, we are looking to include workers ary care. The government system has to be bours? How do you identify only six religious groups – need to work on awareness generation and report 2019. of micro, small and medium enterprises stronger to provide free drugs and diagnostics. Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian – and leave strengthen the supply of services in these We are building some checks and balances-- [MSMEs] in collaboration with the MSME min- For tertiary and for catastrophic expenditure, out others like Ahmadis, Hazaras and Rohingyas? states. For that we are working with NITI like in hip replacement, we are putting in place istry. We have also signed an MOU [memoran- we have PMJAY services. Ibrahamic religions are three – Christianity, Judaism Aayog [the Centre’s policy think-tank] to boards that will examine whether those pro- dum of understanding] with the ESI and Islam. Why have you included Christianity and left the understand how we can provide incentives for cedures are required. We are also working on [Employees’ State Insurance], and we are Source: Indiaspend other two? Why have you excluded Sri Lankan Hindus and Bhutan’s Christians? Look at the exclusionary, inclusionary hyphenation. Sri Lanka is excluded, Hindus are included! Bhutan is excluded, Christians are included! When you hyphenate the effectives, Sri Lankan Hindus are excluded, Bhutan’s Christians are excluded. This exclusionary, inclu- Chasing the stars sionary hyphenation is beyond commonsense and logic. Why only religious persecution? Are people not persecuted for political reasons? Are people not persecuted on linguistic A 19-year-old physics undergrad student has started a venture that helps schools set grounds? Are people not persecuted by unleashing internal wars against them? Why only religious persecution? Why up their own astronomy labs, writes Sneha Bhattacharjee not every kind of persecution? Six, does or does not the Bill violate the three fundamen- f you’ve the passion to do something big, etc to know whether our venture has tasted Mishra has learnt to do what he is doing now. tal elements of Article 14 of the Constitution? First, equality you’ll pursue it with all your might. success. Meanwhile I started worrying about Not many approved of his desire to learn more before law; unequals cannot be treated as equals. Second, I Nineteen year old Aryan Mishra believes how I would pay my friends back,” says Mishra. about astronomy. His parents and friends unreasonable or irrational classification. And, there is a third in this wholeheartedly. Son of a newspaper He realised in order to have a beginning, it was hardly paid attention until at the age of 14 element, which most people forget, Judge-made laws are vendor, Mishra has achieved what many at his necessary to offer some incentives to the when Mishra was awarded for discovering an the third element. Even if unequals are not treated as equals age might not dare to — From discovering an school. “So, I gave almost ~25,000 discount to asteroid as part of an outreach programme or equals are treated unequally, even if the classification is asteroid at 14 to setting up his venture at 18, the first school on the entire cost,” he adds. hosted by the Astronomical Society of India reasonable, it can be struck down on the ground that it is and also being a TEDX speaker. His love for Mishra and his team of two approach various (ASI) in 2014. “It is not everyday that the son arbitrary. Arbitrariness is writ large on the face of this Bill. the cosmos began in class 5. Often gazing at schools to raise awareness about the impor- of a newspaper vendor figures on the front Now, I want to know who will give answer to these ques- the night sky, he’d be keen to know in depth tance of astronomy labs and pitch their offer pages,” he recalls. tions. Please let us have the answers. Why are about the tiny white shining of helping them set it up. Once the pro- From being able to give lectures alongside Parliamentarians being told that you will not give answers objects and beyond. His desire posal is accepted, they tie up with interior former NASA Astronaut Nicole Stott to having to these questions and they can go to court and find to buy a telescope and study designers to assemble things and also aid his idol Rakesh Sharma write a message to him, answers? Let’s have answers to the questions. Let somebody astronomy didn’t really bode in the purchasing of equipment, books, Mishra has taken it upon himself to spread his take responsibility for answers saying, "Yes, the Attorney well with his parents who as well as, other resources such as tele- love for the cosmos and its discovery. He holds General of India has answered these questions. These are could hardly manage to fund scopes, planispheres, and lunar maps. skype sessions and classes with students across our answers and, therefore, this Bill is here". his schooling. So, Mishra The venture charges ~3 lakh from schools the length and breadth of the country as well One of the astronomy labs set up by Mishra I dare the Government to lay the opinion of the Law saved up on his pocket money for his offering. Most schools recover this as across the globe. “I don’t want any child to and his team from Spark Astronomy Department; I dare the Government to invite the Attorney for over a year and half and from students by collecting an average feel leftout. I remember how my friends would General to this House to answer our questions. So, what we bought his first telescope at THE OTHER minimal sum of ~60 every year. ridicule me for dreams. I want every child to and interiors of these labs, but also instal are doing today is wrecking the Constitution from within. the age of 13. Since then, there “Many private schools have astrono- explore the unknown and harbour bigger equipments,” says Mishra. His venture is A small part of the Constitution is sought to be wrecked was no looking back. While INDIA my clubs and charge a whopping ~10,000 dreams,” says. the 19-year-old who’s pursuing already in talks with the central government and demolished by this insidious Bill. Fortunately, we are pursuing his Class XII, Mishra or above from students who’re willing to a BSc in physics from Ashoka University. to set up over 500 such labs across all the three organs of the State. The Executive is complicit; the set up a venture by the name be a part of the club. Now that is a sum Astronomy as a subject is not well integrat- Kendriya and Navodaya Vidyalayas. He has Legislature is being invited to collaborate; hopefully, the of Spark Astronomy after borrowing money not every child can afford. I want every child ed in the education system today. Thereby, also been approached by the NITI Ayog for a Judiciary will strike it down and will save India. December. from his friends. The venture helps school set to have accessibility to these labs so that they very few students are exposed to the know- collaboration with Atal Tinkering Labs. up astronomy labs for children. too can observe the sky and aim for the stars,” hows and opportunities within the field. “The “Had I not seen hardships myself, I don’t Edited excerpts from a speech by Congress I MP, P Chidambaram, on “At first, it was extremely difficult to con- he says. idea of starting a venture was to bridge this think I would have been able to follow my pas- The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Rajya Sabha, 11 December vince schools. They all wanted testimonials It is from his own personal hardships that gap. We not only help schools build the layout sion so well,” he rues. OPINION 11 > Volume XIII Number 39 MUMBAI | 15 DECEMBER 2019

Johnson to make good on his campaign tem, applying the EU’s common external tar- his problems. That he understands this — promise is challenging. He has until January iff on any goods entering Northern Ireland but including the fact that his party gained less Boris’ electoral bonanza 31, 2020 — a thrice-extended deadline — to destined for the EU. This would require addi- than 2 per cent of the vote share — was clear secure Parliamentary approval for a with- tional border checks and barriers to trade in his post-victory speech in which he stressed But how he will ‘Get Brexit Done’ is an open question drawal deal (the treaty that will govern the between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. the need for unity. terms of the UK’s exit from the EU). The prin- The rest of the UK would exit the EU customs Finally, even assuming the withdrawal here can be little doubt that the decades. This authoritative performance cipal sticking point here remains the Northern union, leaving it free to negotiate trade agree- deal is ratified by both Parliament and the Conservative Party’s emphatic frees Mr Johnson of the party's reliance on an Irish border, the UK’s only land border with ments with other non-EU countries (the US EU, Mr Johnson will have till December 2020 electoral victory underlines the Irish unionist party to get a withdrawal deal the EU (via the Republic of Ireland). His pred- and India, for instance). This agreement actu- to negotiate and ratify a full agreement on T electorate’s hopes that the govern- through Parliament. No surprise, the pound ecessor, Theresa May, sought to satisfy Irish ally passed a second reading but lawmakers — the future relationship. Given that the with- ment would finally “Get Brexit Done”, just as staged its biggest rally in almost three years unionist allies by avoiding a “hard border” including Conservatives — rejected a fast- drawal agreement has taken more than three Boris Johnson has promised. The and the FTSE 250 rocketed to a record high as and keeping the whole of the UK (including track timetable to vote it into law. The party’s years and is still to be ratified, a new EU-UK Conservatives won a decisive majority (365 house-builder, bank and utility stocks surged Northern Ireland) in the EU until the new manifesto did not offer details on how any trade deal, which involves issues of far greater seats in the 650-seat House of Commons) after the election results (as did Tata Motors relationship is negotiated, a programme that subsequent withdrawal deal would be differ- complexity, is unlikely by that time. Mr that the party has not seen since 1987, thanks in India, since its subsidiary JLR derives a pleased nobody because it weakened the UK’s ent. In fact, Mr Johnson is now likely to face Johnson then has the option of extending, to an unequivocal messaging (including its fifth of its sales from the UK). position in the interim. Mr Johnson’s scheme the prospect of recurring tensions with just once, the transition period by one or two subliminal promises of keeping out job- The mandate ends the possibility of sought to make a distinction by drawing a Northern Ireland, with whom a peace agree- years, and the deadline for that is July 2020. snatching immigrants) that resonated strong- reversing Brexit via a referendum or revoking border in the Irish Sea. Northern Ireland ment was signed only 21 years ago. The sig- The prospect of the UK exiting the EU without ly in the unemployment-ridden Midlands, Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which out- would continue to follow EU single market nificant electoral gains for the anti-Brexit sep- a deal and all the uncertainties that this might which have been Labour strongholds for lines the exit process, but the timetable for Mr rules on goods and operate a dual tariff sys- aratist Scottish National Party will compound entail remains a very real possibility still. Fixing the power sector How to transform The electricity sector’s ills call for sustained intervention by the Central government, which should engage an organisation with the states to draw up turnaround strategies ALPESH CHADDHA & ANANT KASIBHATIA holistically, capability-building is often an AJAY SHANKAR afterthought during a transformation, or is ith disruptions fast becoming the limited to training people on new systems he financial health of the power sector is causing new normal, a “business as usu- and processes introduced as part of the anxiety, with even the Reserve Bank of India W al” approach is no longer suffi- transformation. T drawing attention to the risk it poses to state cient for 21st century organisations to com- government finances. The last bailout package, UDAY pete and thrive. This has prompted many to KEY ELEMENTS DURING (Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana), was put in place by embrace what has become one of the most TRANSFORMATIONS the central government in 2015. Under it, the state gov- commonly used terms in business: Set the direction at the start: Our research ernments took over 75 per cent of the debt of the dis- Transformation. shows that a clear and compelling aspira- tribution companies (or discoms), and the rest they We believe true transformation is a fun- tion from the outset of the transformation could service with lower-interest bonds. damental, enterprise-wide shift in the way journey increases the chances of success The states’ ratio of gross fiscal deficit to gross an organisation operates, with equal focus threefold. When deeply rooted in the case domestic product went up by as much as 0.7 percent- on both performance and organisational for change, this aspiration also inspires con- age points, as a result. There were commitments to health. Such transformations are difficult to viction across the organisation. reduce aggregate technical and commercial losses as achieve and harder to sustain. Clearly communicating the aspiration as well as raise tariffs. These commitments have not Surveys have shown that 70 per cent of part of the change story is just as important been fulfilled by many states and an UDAY-2 is in the executives say their companies’ transfor- as defining the aspiration. Chief executive pipeline. Overall debt levels of the discoms are creep- mations failed to deliver and sustain impact. officers (CEOs) who drive successful trans- ing up to pre-UDAY levels. With over 100 successful case examples in formations do not merely communicate Power sector reforms should have restored the the past decade, we have identified typical plans to employees, they share a story that financial health of the sector years back. The failure modes, as well as strategic choices engages the entire organisation. According Electricity Act 2003 provided for the setting up of that improve the odds of success. Let us to data from Quantified Communications, independent Central and State Regulatory start by looking at the major pitfalls. a platform for communication skills, mes- Commissions. The Regulatory Commissions had to sages that include well-crafted stories are 21 determine tariffs, which were to lead to “recovery of LACK OF A BURNING PLATFORM per cent more memorable and 35 per cent cost of electricity in a reasonable manner”. The Transformations require a compelling case more persuasive. Commissions were to also reduce cross-subsidies. for change, to shift underlying mindsets Energise the organisation: Our experi- The Tariff Policy of 2005 mandated that the State and behaviours. The purpose needs to be ence has shown that a transformation can Regulatory Commission would notify a roadmap clear in the minds of the leadership, to help only be achieved when at least 40 per cent of within six months, according to which, latest by the create a buy-in across the organisation. the organisation actively supports the end of 2010-11, tariffs would be within +/- 20 per cent Without this purpose and urgency, organi- change. A CEO must ensure the entire lead- of the average cost of supply. The state governments sations are unable to move to a ership is not only supporting were required under the Act to “pay in advance” the new way of working. Our experience the transformation agenda, but subsidy to the discom if they wanted any class of Good-to-great transforma- shows that a also role modeling the expected consumers to have a tariff lower than what the tion journeys need to go a step transformation behavioural change. This Regulatory Commission determined. further and require leaders to can only be requires deep discussions with The key premise of the Electricity Act was that articulate the “why” to ener- achieved when at each leader to align personal state governments would “let go”. Tariffs would be gise the organisation. If not least 40 per cent aspirations with those of the determined by the independent Regulatory done properly, momentum of the organisation. Commissions, which would also protect consumers’ could fizzle out, intensity is organisation The next stage is to devel- interests. State governments could give farmers free lost, initiatives are not moni- actively supports op a critical mass of change electricity, but had to pay for it from the budget. In tored, people move on, and the change agents and focus on building reality, however, the political leadership across states Reforms would have restored the financial health of the power sector years back. The overall debt levels of the challenges continue to mount. their capabilities. In one of has yet to fully accept the spirit of the Act. The dis- distribution companies are creeping up to levels that prevailed before the 2015 bailout One such case study is of a our transformations for a coms continue to be owned and micro-managed by global logistics organisation where employ- major power sector player, the CEO man- state governments. They seek tariff increases only irrigation, but only when they needed it. However, leadership in a state can set the sector financially ees faced a new transformation agenda dated the setting up of a capability build- after clearance by the political leadership. they got uninterrupted supply of electricity in their right and put it on a sustainable trajectory of com- each year. The leadership failed to create an ing academy with a dean and trainers to The Independent Regulators raise tariffs only homes in the villages, and paid for it fully. mercial viability. Avoidable losses can be reduced impetus for change — one that would force ensure all best practices were codified and within the band that they sense is acceptable politi- Excluding agriculture, the sector became finan- through better governance, which has been made the organisation to pause and rethink its adopted across the organisation as part of cally. Being retired civil servants and technocrats, cially viable, with tariffs reflecting costs, with easier by technology, smart grids, smart pre-paid way of operating. Only after creating a com- a training calendar. they have a finely honed sense of what would be improved governance. For agriculture, supply was meters and real time effective energy audit. Where pelling change story could the organisa- Link “talent to value” in staffing: This acceptable. So, the expectation that tariffs would effectively rationed and the subsidy for free supply sustainable governance improvement is unlikely in tion start to make meaningful progress on is done by identifying the roles that drive result in recovery of cost of supply has been belied. As contained to manageable levels. The state’s power the short term in states such as UP and Bihar, varying its transformation initiatives. significant value creation, staffing them state governments are perennially short of fiscal sector became commercially viable and provides qual- degrees of private sector participation — ranging with the best talent, and then upgrading resources, their payment of subsidies to the discoms ity supply to all consumers. Its from outright privatisation, to franchisee arrange- NOT INVOLVING A CRITICAL MASS OF their capabilities. These roles can rest is usually in arrears, notwithstanding the provision in Focused political power companies consistently ments, to outsourcing of metering, billing and col- PEOPLE anywhere in the organisation and are not the law of advance payment. leadership in a get the highest ratings. lection — would be the way forward. Several transformations launch with a necessarily at the highest levels. There The Electricity Act provides for open access to all state can set the Sheila Dixit, as chief minister Franchisee arrangements in Uttar Pradesh (in Agra small task force, and the rest of the organi- needs to be greater focus on the develop- consumers above 1 Mw, separating content from car- power sector of Delhi, brought in the private and Kanpur) have shown encouraging results. Tariff sation gets involved only to help execute ment of people in these roles, to ensure riage for them, with a cross-subsidy surcharge to financially right sector to run electricity distri- increases are, however, unavoidable to get revenue to changes in their areas of expertise. Studies they are put through a structured leader- compensate the discom for its loss of a subsidising and put it on a bution in 2001 with the full sup- go above cost per unit. And increasing tariffs should in neuroscience suggest that people are ship development journey. The perform- consumer. Cross-subsidies have hardly come down sustainable port of the then NDA govern- not be politically difficult if farmers are excluded and more likely to accept something if they are ance metrics of these roles need to be and, as a result, the surcharge for open access is still trajectory of ment at the centre. She the lifeline consumption tariff for the first 100 units is involved in decision-making rather than if tightly tied to the transformation too high. The use of open access remains a margin- commercial recognised that only the private not raised. After all, consumers do pay for increased it is forced upon them. People need to have outcomes and their incentives linked to al phenomenon. There is hardly any point in now viability sector with independent regu- petrol and diesel prices and have, as voters, not a sense of agency, to change. the success. contemplating further legislative changes for sepa- lation could set the sector right imposed real costs on their political leaders. CEOs shifting focus to these critical ele- ration of carriage from content for all consumers, in the then prevailing commer- The situation is really grave in a few states. This IGNORING CULTURE, MINDSETS, AND ments, along with monitoring outcome met- before getting better implementation of cial, administrative and political culture of Delhi. needs the political attention of the central leader- CAPABILITIES rics, can see change scaling and cascading to existing provisions. Losses in distribution, then around 50 per cent, have ship and engagement with the political leadership in While building employee capabilities, it is day-to-day working — which is the true test The situation, however, varies considerably across come down to under 10 per cent, and the quality of sup- the weak states. This alone can result in a state-spe- critical to understand the culture and mind- of success of a transformation. states. Gujarat turned around when Prime Minister ply and service is getting better. The sector is no longer cific turnaround strategy that could be implemented sets that need to shift to enable them to Narendra Modi was chief minister. Separation of a financial drain on the Delhi government. So much so in a time bound-manner with the help of the centre. perform at peak potential. Our research Chaddha is a partner at McKinsey & Company, feeders, which took electricity for irrigation from that it can now afford to offer a subsidy from the budg- shows that 70 per cent of transformations and leader of the transformation practice in those that went to village settlements, was a creative et for free consumption of 200 units per month. The writer is distinguished fellow, Teri, and former fail because of insufficient focus on culture India. Kasibhatla is an expert in McKinsey’s solution. Farmers got practically free electricity for These examples illustrate that focused political secretary, DIPP and capabilities. Rather than treating it organisation & leadership practice

> OTHER VIEWS Modi 2.0 is fulfilling its stated Action at last against LeT chief Banks must disclose NPAs goals, but there are big risks FATF must stay the course with Pakistan Else, it endangers the entire system It will fuel unrest in key regions, divert The framing of charges against that country’s own investiga- Even four years after the could stem from differences Hafiz Saeed by an anti-terror- tors for planning and carrying Reserve Bank directed all of opinion on when a loan is attention from economic concerns ism court in Lahore is the out the 2008 Mumbai terrorist banks to come clean on their bad, it will have material direct result of actions that the attacks. The Pakistan military financial health by declaring impact on bank profits. For The Narendra Modi-led government in its first term had an international anti-terror has used these groups as a bad loans and making ade- instance, if SBI correctly incremental approach to its core ideological issues. But in its watchdog, the Financial hedge in the region. quate provisions, nine banks, declared its bad loans at the second term, riding on a second consecutive majority, the Action Task Force, has taken On July 3, Pakistan’s including the nation’s largest, end of 2018-19, it would have to Modi government is firmly focused on fulfilling its domestic and further threatens to take Counter Terrorism State Bank of India, have set aside ~12,036 crores for ideological agenda. In the first session of the 17th Lok Sabha, against Pakistan if it does not Department booked Saeed admitted to under-reporting provisioning — resulting in a it passed the triple talaq legislation; it strengthened the legal crack down on terror. Pakistan and a dozen other leaders bad loans to the extent of over loss of ~6,968 crores, instead framework governing the National Investigative Agency, and is on the FATF “grey list”, and under terror financing and ~20,000 crores in the financial of a profit after tax of ~862 widened the scope of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) even if it is never moved to the money-laundering clauses of year 2018-19. This under- crores as reported earlier. Act. It, most significantly, effectively abrogated Article 370 and blacklist, the possibility is dire. the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), reporting or divergence (as Banks, however, must under- reorganised Jammu and Kashmir. In this session, the gov- A blacklisting by the FATF, an 1997. Saeed, now, has to described by banks) was dis- stand that hiding such market ernment has pushed through the Citizenship (Amendment) organisation de facto run by appear at a trial that will be covered during an RBI assess- sensitive information from Bill. Home minister Amit Shah, who has piloted all these leg- the US Treasury department, held every day. It is important ment. The errant banks, which investors amounts to fraud. At islations, has now promised a nationwide National Register would be ruinous for Pakistan. for India that the FATF stays disclosed this information to the macro level, the under- of Citizens. This is why it is now seen to be the course with Pakistan stock exchanges in compliance reporting of financial stress — Put it all together and it is clear that Mr Modi and Mr Shah approach relying on the State's coercive arms will lead to order. taking action it previously because it is the only body with Sebi regulations, include like a government’s practice of have interpreted the 2019 mandate as a mandate to fulfil their It runs the risk of alienating minorities, creating unrest in dragged its feet on — acting that has had a demonstrable SBI, Central Bank of India, hiding uncomfortable reports key ideological goals. Two features of this project are apparent. regions, such as Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast, where against terrorist groups with effect on the country’s Union Bank of India, Bank of — shows that nobody has any The first is a clear focus in ensuring that the Indian State India has already witnessed strife, and taking away attention an address in the country, approach to terror groups India, Indian Overseas Bank, idea about the country’s real reflects the priorities and concerns of the Hindu majority as from core economic and development concerns. including the head of the based on its soil. UCO Bank, Indian Bank, Yes financial health. represented by the BJP. And the second is a national security Lashkar-e-Toiba/Jamat ud Bank and Lakshmi Vilas Bank. push, where the government believes a strong security-centric Hindustan Times, December 13 Dawa, found responsible by The Indian Express, December 15 Though the divergence The Asian Age, December 13 12 MUMBAI | 15 DECEMBER 2019 1 > Rlys to float global Sowing the seeds of success Stanford Graduate Business School’s SEED is training entrepreneurs with a view to end global poverty tender forTrain 18 ANJULI BHARGAVA What he liked about the SEED pro- New Delhi, 14 December gramme is how the facilitators, who con- duct the workshops for the manage- African cashews and macadamia nuts ment, came “into the company to help Alstom, Siemens, Bombardier & CAF may take part in bidding are popular the world over but are often push the transformation from within,” unaffordable to many as prices tend to something few would do. SHINE JACOB be steep. Ten Senses Africa managing Cygnus currently has 12 hospitals in New Delhi, 14 December director Frank Omondi had worked for four states of North India and is hoping over a decade in the tourism sector, trav- to reach 20 hospitals in the next three he ambitious Train 18 elled extensively and could see an years. It plans to provide high-quality project is likely to get a opportunity here. tertiary health care at affordable rates to T fresh impetus soon If he could cut out the middlemen, Tier-2 and 3 cities where it is currently with the government planning offer the small farmers a fair price and not available. to float a fresh global tender export a good product, he would have a Naandi Water founder Divya for 30 to 40 trains. good thing going. Yachamaneni, from the 2018 batch, says This comes amid contro- He set up his business and was grow- that strategy means “nothing” without a versies looming over the deci- ing gradually. However, in 2016, Omondi team aligned and inspired to execute. sion by the railways to stop enrolled for Stanford’s SEED pro- Her safe and clean drinking water solu- production of Train 18 rakes gramme in Kenya, a comprehensive pro- 44 entrepreneurs followed by 57 in the ship team on board. tion has touched 700 villages across sev- at the Integral Coach Factory gramme that includes 12 months of second. The enterprises usually have a This makes the entire top manage- en states in India, impacting 700,000 (ICF) in Chennai and initiat- immersive management training in East turnover of between ~1 crore and ~100 ment take a fresh look at the business lives so far. The for-profit social enter- ing probe against top nine offi- Africa, designed specifically for busi- crore, with the median revenue at ~25-30 and redefine goals, making the new prise has an ambitious plan to scale up in cials of India’s first semi-high ness owners and their teams. crore. These firms have a management vision more inclusive and imple- view of India’s ranking of 120 out of 122 speed train, also known as The programme is led by Stanford team of at least 3-4 key people and are in mentable. “For any change to succeed, countries in terms of water quality. Vande Bharat Express. Graduate School of Business (GBS) fac- business for at least three years. The it needs to have everyone on board. The Guns reels off many other examples. A major reason why the ulty, other practitioners, and supported enterprises are from Mumbai to new vision and plan adopted by a com- A traditionally family-owned enterprise, railways had called for pro- by trained local facilitators. The goal is to Guwahati and encompass diverse sec- pany had to be more inclusive”, says P R Hyderabad-based Almond House, post duction to be stopped at the create and activate a detailed action plan tors from cyber security to selling nuts. Ganapathy, aka Guns. SEED, redefined itself and added new ICF was because of the heavy to help people grow and scale up their Above all, the programme seeks Prior to SEED, Ganpathy, who now product lines. A chain of boutique rakes, which resulted in high- company. SEED helped Omondi reor- founders with a “hunger for growth”. leads the Stanford SEED programme in hotels based out of Mumbai has er energy consumption. ON GROWTH TRACK the initial launch, the train ganise his affairs at Ten Senses. He Participants are required Chennai, helped shape designed a transformative growth strat- “We are going for fresh was certified by RDSO after began to provide cashew seedlings to to pay a heavily subsidised Villgro, one of India’s lead- egy after the programme. Planned number of coaches global tenders of Train 18 now. safety oscillation trials and support small farmers and decided to fee (~5 lakh for a programme The programme ing social impact incuba- Mumbai-headquartered Pocket Aces per year This is after the Research the Commissioner of Railway set up his own large farms in Tanzania that costs four times that is led by Stanford tors. A third aspect that is Pictures, a creator of digital content that Designs and Standards 240 240 Safety (CRS) had also cleared and Ethiopia. amount to deliver). For Graduate School appreciated by entrepre- helps brands connect to millennials, has Organisation (RDSO), the the train for commercial Since then, sales have doubled, a women-led and social enter- of Business neurs is the leadership labs. rejigged its strategy, scaled up opera- research arm of the railways, 160 operations. Dutch private equity firm has taken a prises — two segments the faculty, other Small groups of entrepre- tions, raised more rounds of funding changed the criteria for the “When the train had gone stake and his staff count rose from 38 to programme is keen to practitioners, neurs, who have completed and drawn up a very ambitious plan for trainset,” said a senior rail- through the entire clearance 600 in five years. Omondi feels SEED encourage — the fee can be and supported the programme, meet at an the future. “I see many baby Infosys in ways official. process, a change in criteria was like a full-time MBA done in a short- lowered even further. by trained local offsite location and present the IT companies that have attended According to industry will only delay the launch of er period, the learnings from which have The programme has facilitators the challenges each of them our programme” says Guns, who has experts, major global players new trains,” said a person helped him organise and scale up his four weeks of classroom ses- are facing with their enter- also been executive assistant to that are likely to be a part of close to the development. enterprise many times over. sions, focused on the big prises and growth plans. Narayana Murthy in Infosys early days. the bidding include Alstom, ‘19-20 ‘20-21 ‘21-22 Based on comparative data That in a nutshell is the goal of the picture. These are followed by work- Brainstorming and inputs from each He adds that “like we saw with Infosys, Siemens, Bombardier and available with industry sources, SEED programme. It is an opportunity shops that look at the nuts and bolts of other’s experience often help resolve the sky is the limit once companies Spanish major CAF. Indian the energy consumption of for entrepreneurs to attend a year-long the business and then follow the lead- issues while bringing the group much embark on their journey with enough companies like Bharat Heavy Goyal had informed the Lok Rajdhani trains was seen at training conducted by the GBS staff but ership labs that help see the growth strat- closer. Entrepreneurship can often be a hunger to power them ahead.” Electricals (BHEL), too, may Sabha on November 27 that 10,340 kwh for 447 km. For the on their own home ground to help them egy with a fresh perspective. lonely journey and this helps develop Some of the African companies have join the fray. the plan is to produce 160 Shatabdi, it is 8,396 kwh and pause, reflect and plan the next 10x India has been offered a new networks and friendships for life. “You listed on NASDAQ and other stock Prime Minister Narendra coaches in 2019-20, 240 coach- Train 18 it is 8,983 kwh for the growth in their businesses. improved version of Africa. The lessons realise you are not alone; others are strug- exchanges after their SEED transforma- Modi had touted it as an icon- es in 2020-21 and 240 coaches same distance. The entrepreneurs may not make it learnt from Africa have been incorpo- gling too,” explains Guns, who usually tions. The numerous examples, both in ic Make-in-India initiative on in 2021-22 at the ICF. However, in terms of ener- to Silicon Valley to figure it out but the rated here. Consequently, the pro- accompanies the cohort to the offsite Africa and India, would gladden the February 15, launching the This was after the cancel- gy regeneration, Train 18 has SEED programme brings all Silicon gramme length has been increased locations. heart of Robert (Bob) King, a 1960 alum- first Vande Bharat train from lation of two bulk tenders for an edge with the coaches Valley lessons and insights into one’s from six months to a year as the African He says he finds that many of the nus of Stanford GBS, who is the force New Delhi to Varanasi. propulsion systems of Train regenerating 12.9 per cent of doorstep. Barring the cost, anyone run- experience showed that six months was entrepreneurs keep in touch with each behind SEED. Some years ago, King “If a new company is com- 18 earlier this year. A first one the total energy consumed, ning a business usually cannot afford not enough. Also, the African experi- other well after the programme. came back to his alma mater and donat- ing to make the train through for the 43 propulsion systems compared to 12.3 per cent by the luxury of a year off and disappear to ence showed that while it was easy to The programme is already bearing ed $150 million to be used to end the a fresh tendering process, it and a second tender for 37 sys- the Rajdhanis and 11 per cent do a course far away. train the founder and expect him to fruit for entrepreneurs. Cygnus cycle of global poverty by helping entre- will take an additional two- tems got cancelled due to lack by the Shatabdis. After Africa, the SEED programme lead the change, it was equally critical to Hospitals founder Shuchin Bajaj, who preneurs in developing countries scale and-a-half years for the next of interest. Regeneration is the power — after a few key adjustments — made a have the senior management on board. completed the programme last year, says up, an audacious but noble goal. Train 18 to see light of the day,” Around 35 per cent of the to send energy back to the quiet entry into India, which is now Workshops are now conducted in the that the management is so stuck in the How far it succeeds in its lofty ambi- said a former railways official. cost of the train is because of grid, when the train is in brak- working with its third cohort of 62, begin- company by locally sourced and trained “nitty-gritties of every day”that the big- tions is not yet known but the seed of Railways Minister Piyush its propulsion system. Before ing mode. ning this December. The first cohort had facilitators to bring the entire leader- ger picture is often missed by many. the idea has certainly been sown. India’s storyhasjustbegun:Kant

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA adding, “This goal is very much Washington, 14 December “Our process of achievable.” Earlier in the day, urbanisation, Kant formally released the India The series of pathbreaking and infrastructure creation, Innovation Index in the United ambitious reforms unleashed using technology to States at an event organised by by the Modi government in the leapfrog has just the US India Business Council, past few years will make India a begun and you will see along with Google. India, under very competitive and produc- a huge growth in the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, tively efficient economy in the next three decades on was moving fast on the track of long run, said NITI Aayog CEO the foundation of the ease of doing business, the NITI Amitabh Kant. reforms that have Aayog CEO said. “There is a great positivity been carried out” The prime minister, he said, about India,” Kant told PTI in AMITABH KANT, had given the bureaucracy the an interview in Washington as challenge to crack India into the NITI Aayog CEO he wound up his three-city US top 50 of the ease of doing busi- tour for a series of interaction ness index in the next one year with academicians, innovators, cient economy in the long run,” recent years, Kant said these and into the top 25 in the next start-ups, corporate leaders and Kant said. “India’s story has just were short-term indicators and three years, he said, adding, “He government officials in Boston, begun,” he added. that India was on track to be a has asked us to make India very New York and Washington DC. “Our process of urbanisa- $5-trillion economy. “The goal very easy and simple.” “We are a People here believe that the tion, infrastructure creation, of the government is to make it great believer that India neces- fundamental reforms that have using technology to leapfrog a $5-trillion economy by 2025. sarily has to be an integral part been gathered out in India has just begun and you will see We are all working towards that. of the global supply chain. And across the economy, including a huge growth in the next three We will deliver that and make therefore, India has opened up GST, in terms of ending crony decades on the foundation of India one of the easiest and sim- its foreign direct investment capitalism with the bankrupt- the reforms that have been car- plest countries in the world. regime across sectors,” Kant cy code, in terms of real estate ried out,” the NITI Aayog CEO “We are determined to reach said, adding that India’s FDI reforms through RERA and in asserted. the top 50 in the next year on had grown significantly in the terms of direct benefit transfer, Replying to a question on World Bank’s ease of doing busi- last five years, as against the “will make India a very com- the economic growth figures, ness index and in the top 25 in across-the-board downfall in petitive and productively effi- which are among the lowest in the next three years,” he said, FDI in other parts of the world.

25% FASTag lanes to be Modi dividing people, converted into hybrid ruining economy: Cong

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA sary corrective action,” it said. PRESS TRUST OF INDIA leader Rahul Gandhi accused New Delhi, 14 December It should be ensured that New Delhi, 14 December the Prime Minister of “burning the least possible number of the the Northeast” and working To avert inconvenience to citi- declared FASTag lanes are con- The Congress leadership on towards weakening the coun- zens, the government on verted into hybrid lanes and at Saturday launched an all-out try. He alleged that Modi was Saturday announced to convert least 75 per cent lanes of every attack on the Modi government only interested in grabbing up to 25 per cent of FASTag fee plaza should remain opera- over alleged attempts to “divi- power and doing politics. lanes at national highway toll tional as FASTag lanes, it de” the people of the country Refusing to apologise for plazas into hybrid lanes for a added. The ministry clarified and “failures” on the economic his ‘rape in India’ remark, month. The hybrid lanes will that it is a temporary measure front, with party chief Sonia Rahul hit out at the ruling par- accept FASTag and other to be adopted for 30 days only Gandhi claiming that the Citiz- ty, saying “my name is not modes of payment. to facilitate smooth flow of traf- enship Amendment Act would Rahul Savarkar, my name is The government earlier had fic so that no inconvenience is “shred” India’s soul and vow- Rahul Gandhi. I will die, but I announced rollout of manda- caused to the citizens. ing to fight till the last breath to will not apologise for speaking tory FASTag under electronic The government had earlier protect the country, its democ- the truth and nor will any toll collection from December 1, extended the date to December racy and the Constitution. Congressman do so. which was later extended to 15 for making FASTag manda- Gandhi was speaking at the The BJP had demanded an December 15. tory for toll payments on party’s mega ‘Bharat Bachao apology from Rahul Gandhi “Considering the request of national highways. Rally’ at the Ramlila grounds after he had said at a Jharkhand NHAI and further the citizens The National Electronic Toll in the heart of the national cap- rally that ‘Make in India’ has are not put to inconvenience... Collection programme, the ital, which was also addressed become ‘rape in India’ under it is decided that depending on flagship initiative of the min- by other top leaders including Modi rule. “It is Narendra Modi the traffic pile up at high traffic istry, has been implemented on Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka and his assistant Amit Shah volume fee plazas, not more a pan-India basis in order to Gandhi Vadra, Manmohan who have to apologise to the than 25 per cent ‘FASTag lane remove bottlenecks and ensure Singh, P Chidambaram, Ashok country for destroying India’s of fee plaza’ may be temporar- seamless movement of traffic Gehlot and Kamal Nath. economy,” he asserted. ily converted to hybrid lanes,” and collection of user fee as per The leaders hit out at Prime Congress chief Sonia Gand- the Ministry of Road Transport the notified rates, using passive Minister Narendra Modi over hi said there is an atmosphere and Highways said. radio frequency identification the new citizenship law, situa- of “andher nagri chaupat raja This is to be considered on a technology. After announce- tion in Kashmir, state of econ- (confused leader, chaotic case to case basis, it added. ment of waiver of tag cost from omy, escalating prices, “rising” State)” in the country and the “A daily evolution of such November 21, there has been a crime against women and job- entire nation is asking where is cases be made to take neces- growth in FASTag issuance. lessness. A combative Congress “sabka saath sabka vikaas”.