THURSDAY, 27 FEBRUARY 2020 20 pages in 2 sections www.business-standard.com MUMBAI (CITY) ~9.00 VOLUME XXIV NUMBER 139 THE MARKETS ON WEDNESDAY Chg# Sensex 39,889.0 392.2 Nifty 11,678.5 119.4 ECONOMY & PUBLIC AFFAIRS P12 BACK PAGE P14 Nifty futures* 11,699.3 20.8 Dollar ~71.7 ~71.9** Euro ~78.0 ~77.9** FOUR IN 10 ‘VERY COMFORTABLE’ TENNIS STAR SHARAPOVA Brent crude ($/bbl)## 54.0## 54.3** Gold (10 gm)### ~42,484.0 ~153.0 WITH A WOMAN CEO: REPORT ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT *(Mar.) Premium on Nifty Spot; **Previous close; # Over previous close; ## At 9 pm IST; ### Market rate exclusive of VAT; Source: IBJA PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY FROM AHMEDABAD, BENGALURU, BHUBANESWAR, CHANDIGARH, CHENNAI, HYDERABAD, KOCHI, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI (ALSO PRINTED IN BHOPAL), NEW DELHI AND PUNE PM ASKS DOVAL TO MONITOR SITUATION Voda Idea to govt: FM warns banks against IN RIOT-HIT AREAS trusting raters blindly Set off GST credits Stresses the need to improve branch-level connect with customers SOMESH JHA New Delhi, 26 February ‘EASE’ OF BANKING Finance Minister Nirmala against AGR dues Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday told Sitharaman unveiled EASE 3.0, a state-owned banks to not reform agenda for PSBs to follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Telco has sent a list of demands, “blindly” trust the credit scores this year. Some of its features are: Minister Amit Shah have asked National DoT preparing a relief package of loan seekers, and to focus on | Digitally-enabled doorstep Security Advisor Ajit Doval (pictured) to monitor improving branch-level connect facility for retail and MSME closely the situation in the riot-hit areas of MEGHA MANCHANDA Communications Committee with customers. Her loans Delhi and ensure restoration of peace at the New Delhi, 26 February (DCC, earlier known as Telecom suggestions earliest, officials said. Doval, accompanied by Commission), headed by the came on a day | Analytics-based and Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik and inancially stressed tele- DoT secretary and having top PAGE 12 she launched a technology-enabled retail newly appointed Special Commissioner com operator Vodafone officials from other ministries, MERGER OF new set of and MSME credit outreach S N Shrivastava, undertook a late-night tour Idea, in a letter to the including finance, as members, PSBs ON reform | End-to-end digitised, of such areas on Tuesday. Later, he presented F Department of is expected to take up the COURSE: FM measures for time-bound retail and MSME his on-the-spot assessment to the Cabinet Telecommunications (DoT), has shortlisted proposals for AGR public sector lending by larger PSBs Committee on Security. sought the adjustment of goods relief in a meeting likely to be banks (PSBs), and services tax (GST) refund to held in a few days. Meanwhile, aimed at enhancing the role of | Integrated banking for large DELHI LIMPS TO A TENSE CALM 6 > the tune of ~8,000 crore against Finance Minister Nirmala technology. corporates; tech-enabled its dues linked to adjusted gross Sitharaman on Wednesday said “What I will say will not be agricultural lending ECONOMY & PUBLIC AFFAIRS P4 revenue (AGR), an official told she had held several meetings music to your ears…Go back to DPIIT notifies 100% FDI in Business Standard on and the DoT was working on branch banking. There is no Wednesday. Even as the letter the AGR matter. Vodafone Idea Chairman Kumar branch-level connect as much level, customers expect a little not take the ratings given by insurance intermediaries listed a number of demands, The Voda Idea letter stated Mangalam Birla recently had meetings as it was before. Though we personal touch from you,” credit rating agencies on the The Department for Promotion of including a moratorium of three that though the company was with top government functionaries, would want data analytics and Sitharaman said while address- credit worthiness of customers Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has years and a 15-year staggered not in a “sound financial state”, including telecom and finance big data because it is advanta- ing the brass of PSBs at an event. as an advisory, but only as an amended the Consolidated Foreign Direct payment of the AGR-linked it could settle the balance of its ministers, seeking relief over AGR dues geous nationally, at the branch The FM said banks should indicator. Turn to Page 13 > Investment Policy 2017 to allow 100 per dues besides asking the govern- self-assessed principal if a set- cent FDI in insurance intermediaries ment to set off its GST credit, off of approximately ~8,000 MOUNTING through the automatic route. Till now, the company’s chief executive crore worth of GST credits lying FDI up to 49 per cent was allowed in officer, Ravinder Takkar, called with the government was LOSSES 50,898 insurance intermediaries through the on DoT Secretary Anshu allowed. The company has also Net loss (~crore) Walmart-Flipkart deal: Foreign automatic route. Prakash again — making it his sought a staggered payment third visit in a week. method for paying the balance In a day of fast develop- amount of interest, penalty, and ECONOMY & PUBLIC AFFAIRS P12 shareholders seek clarity on taxes ments, the DoT also had an interest on penalty. 20,741 MCA’s new audit rules to internal meeting to work on a Both partners — UK-head- SHRIMI CHOUDHARY proposal that may provide relief quartered Vodafone as well as New Delhi, 26 February TAX COMPLEXITIES shield firms against fraud to Vodafone Idea and the tele- Kumar Mangalam Birla-led Idea 10,905 The government has asked auditors to com industry as a whole. — have maintained that the Tax-related issues are cropping up in the Walmart- ~10,000 cr Tax ~7,439 cr Walmart paid 6,453 4,908 provide details like loans given by a Deferred payment for future telecom joint venture would 4,100 Flipkart deal even almost two years after the trans- amount estimated to I-T dept in Sept 2018; company to reporting whistleblower spectrum was one of the find it tough to continue as a action was done. A clutch of foreign firms that on the Walmart- included the buyout shares complaints and assessing internal audit options on the table, a source going concern without any relief ‘16-17 ‘17-18 ‘18-19 Q1 Q2 Q3 were shareholders in Sachin Bansal and Binny Flipkart deal of 10 major shareholders mechanisms of firms. The corporate affairs pointed out. The Digital on the AGR front. Turn to Page 13 > FY20 Bansal-founded Flipkart have moved the Authority Source: Vodafone Idea | Most foreign ministry said it had notified the Companies of Advance Rulings (AAR) to seek clarity on the Shareholders, including (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2020, to enhance taxability of the capital gains arising out of the $16- 44 shareholders SoftBank, eBay, Naspers, sold due diligence and disclosures by auditors billion deal struck in May 2018. now opposing their holdings to Walmart and bring greater transparency into the The new game plan: ~3,000 smartphone AIRTEL HAS American retail major Walmart reportedly deduction of financial affairs of companies. Global and domestic mobile device pedal on more than doubling its monthly CAPACITY TO deducted taxes from Flipkart’s foreign shareholders, taxes by manufacturers are in discussions with acquisition of 2G customers from including SoftBank, Naspers and Accel Partners, to Walmart Reliance Jio to offer 4G smartphones in competing telecom companies and the WITHSTAND pay withholding tax to the government for capital Govt decides to lift ban substantial volumes at a price pegged obstacle is that good quality, 4G smart $5 BN PAYOUT, gains made by these entities. between ~2,000 and 3,000. According phones are priced over ~5,000 - a A withholding tax, or retention tax, is an income on onion exports to sources conversant with the talks, Jio is stumbling block in the way of 2G SAYS MOODY'S tax to be paid to the government by the payer of the The government on Wednesday decided looking at a ‘big bang’ migration of 2G consumers migrating to 4G, income rather than by the recipient. The tax is to lift the nearly six-month-old ban on consumers to 4G. It wants to push the SURAJEET DAS GUPTA writes 2 > PAGE 2 thus withheld or deducted from the income due to the export of onions in a bid to protect the recipient. Turn to Page 13 > the interests of farmers as prices are likely to fall sharply due to bumper rabi crop. Sources said the decision was taken at a meeting of a Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Home Minister Amit Shah. 12 > Sabharwal of Tata Capital ON in fray for IndusInd top job RAJIV SABHARWAL, RAGHU MOHAN Outsiders have moved into the corner THURSDAY Tata Capital MD Mumbai, 26 February offices in two private sector banks — Amitabh SPECIALS & CEO, is probably Chaudhry from HDFC Life Insurance suc- the first chief of The contest to succeed Romesh Sobti at ceeded Shikha Sharma at Axis Bank, and an NBFC to be IndusInd Bank has got a little more interesting Ravneet Gill from Deutsche Bank came into in contention with the lender considering Rajiv Sabharwal of YES Bank after Rana Kapoor’s removal. for the top job Tata Capital as a probable candidate. Sandeep Bakhshi, who replaced Chanda in a bank It is now a two-way race between Kochhar as ICICI Bank MD and CEO, was chief Sabharwal, Tata Capital’s managing director operating officer at the bank, and an ICICI (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO), group veteran of over three decades. PERSONAL FINANCE: and Sumant Kathpalia, head of consumer IndusInd Bank, however, doesn’t face any of P2P lending is for high banking at the Hindujas-promoted bank, the issues that cropped up ahead of the baton risk-takers 11 > according to sources in the know.