Vaccine Race

OPINION, P6 ECONOMY, P2 MARKETS, P10 T NANDA KUMAR EDITORIAL AMID FARMER PROTESTS REVIVAL MODE Mandatory MSP will TheAnilVij episode shows PM's pitch on reforms: SBI to accelerate awareness drives on vaccines hit the agri economy needed; ensure proper Cannot build new retail loans; sees at multiple fronts mask use and distancing century with old laws better earnings

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VOL. XI NO. 266, 14 PAGES,`6.00PUBLISHEDFROM:AHMEDABAD,BENGALURU,CHANDIGARH, CHENNAI,HYDERABAD,KOCHI,KOLKATA,LUCKNOW,MUMBAI, NEWDELHI,PUNE READ TO LEAD

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IN THE NEWS COVID COMBAT ● CENTRAL VISTA FLIGHT PLAN From Jan, quarterly SC allows GSTreturns to ease stone-laying Jet to take off in summer of 2021 Astra,Pfizervaccines: ■ RAGINI SAXENA Consortium led by Dubai- compliance burden Jet Airways (NSE) but no work December 7 80 based entrepreneur Murari Lal Jalan and Kalrock Capital has THE GOODS and services tax 71.45 (GST) payers with a turnover FE BUREAU BANKRUPT CARRIER Jet Air- set a revival plan for JetAirways of up to `5 crore will have Govt speeds up review New Delhi, December 7 ways India, once the nation’s 60 the option to ease their biggestairlinebymarketvalue, ■ ■ compliance burden from NEHAARORA & The Serum Serum THE SUPREME COURT on is planning to restart opera- 40 January 1, as the facility to NIVEDITABHATTACHARJEE vaccine is logis- Institute has Molnupiravir: Monday allowed the govern- tionsasafull-servicecarrierby tically feasible collaborated file GSTR-3B only on a New Delhi/Bengaluru, ment to go ahead with the the summer of 2021, its new 30.5 for distribution with quarterly basis kicks in, December 7 Human trials in both urban & AstraZeneca ground-breaking ceremony ownersannounced. 20 ■ Plan includes dedicated reports fe Bureau in New rural parts as it and Oxford may start soon foritsprestigiousCentralVista Aconsortium led byDubai- freighter service and hubs in Delhi. Currently, GSTR-3B is INDIA IS ACCELERATING its can be stored at University project onThursday. based entrepreneur Murari small cities beyond Delhi, 0 filed on a monthly basis. reviewofcoronavirusvaccines to make the ANURADHA The apex court, however, LalJalanandKalrockCapitalhas Jan 1, 2020 Dec 7, 2020 Mumbai, and Bengaluru developed by Pfizer and 2-8 vaccine MASCARENHAS restrained the government set a revival plan for Jet,which RIL, others now AstraZeneca for emergency degree Pune, December 7 from undertaking any includes a dedicated freighter ' use,a senior government offi- Celsius SII has construction or demolition service and hubs in small cities from regulators and the bank- tiumtoputJetbackintheskies don t need govt cial said on Monday, as the already ADECISIONONconduct- work on the site, till it decides beyond Delhi, Mumbai, and ruptcy tribunal,according to a at earliest opportunity,”Manoj nod for gas pricing world’s second-most affected manufactured ing human clinical trials on a batch of petitions on Bengaluru.Jetwilloperateallits statement on Monday.“JetAir- N Madnani,board member of country struggles to contain 40 million with a new promising the matter. historic domestic slots in India ways has been a brand with a JalanKalrockconsortium,said. RELIANCE INDUSTRIES and the outbreak. doses, according antiviral drug, Molnupi- andrestartinternationalopera- glorioushistoryofover25years, other producers of natural Thegovernmentispinning to ICMR ravir,will be taken at the Continued on Page 2 tions after it receives approval anditisthevisionoftheconsor- Continued on Page 2 gas will no longer need the itshopesformasssupplyofthe strategicgroupmeetingof ■ government approval for vaccine on Serum Institute Pfizer had the Council of Scientific the gas price if it is arrived of India, the world’s largest applied for emer- and Industrial Research gency use app- at using the new guidelines vaccine producer by volume, (CSIR) soon. roval for its vac- for the discovery of market which on Monday lodged cine in India over A study published in price, an official order said, the first formal application the weekend Nature Microbiology reports PTI. for emergency use approval shows how this repur- for AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 posed drug suppresses HDFC Bank's digi vaccine. weekend, the official said, SARS-CoV2 transmission Pfizer had already applied declining to be identified. within 24 hours. outages credit foremergencyuseapprovalfor ■ Report on Page 4 negative: Moody’s its vaccine in India over the Continued on Page 2 THE RBI’S action against HDFC Bank in response to Founder’s wife appointed new Coffee Day CEO weaknesses in its digital COFFEE DAY Enterprises,the reports Reuters. In July last infrastructure and opera- owner of the Cafe Coffee Day year, Coffee Day Enterprises tional resilience is credit chain,appointed founderand named independent board negative, Moody’s said on ex-chairmanVG Siddhartha’s member SV Ranganath as Monday,reports fe Bureau in wife as its CEO on Monday, interimchairman,afterauthor- Mumbai.This is because the more than ayearafterthe cof- ities recovered Siddhartha’s bank is increasingly relying fee baronwas found dead in a body floating in a river near on digital channels to source river in an apparent suicide, Mangaluru. ■ Page 4 and service its customers.

● MAN OF ACTION Festive cheer VENKATA SUSMITA BISWAS New CEO Television ad volumes spike in Sept-Nov drives Wipro After going through Festival ad volumes Dussehra a lull for several (in seconds) up 70% months due to 67.88 75.05 economic uncer- Diwali million million Ganesh Chaturthi tainty induced by Covid-19, television 67.68 74.22 201911% 2020 59.15 63.26 advertising has Thierry million million million million shown mild signs of Delaporte, revival during the CEO, 2019 2020 2019 2020 festive season, 7% Wipro between the 10% months of growth Source: September and Barc India SARITHA RAI November. December 7 ■ Page 4 IN THE FIVE months since he tookoverasthechiefexecutive officer (CEO)of Wipro, BHARAT BANDH TODAY Thierry Delaporte has yet to visitthecompany’sBengaluru headquarters once. Instead, BJP, Congress in war of words the 53-year-old has been on avirtualtourfromhishomein EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE Paris,meetingwithmanagers, New Delhi, December 7 They (the Oppn) are opposing workers and customers around the globe. ADAY AFTER a united what they had been working He’s trying to turn around Oppositionextendedsupportto to do when in power. This the struggling business the December 8 Bharat Bandh exposes their shameful double without letting the Covid-19 called by protesting farmer pandemic slowhim. groups,the ruling BJPon Mon- standards. This is opposition Delaporte slashed the top dayhitoutatthepoliticalparties for the sake of opposition. ranks of leadership from 25 for opposing the farm reform —RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD, UNION MINISTER people to four. He stepped up laws and cited theirearliersup- acquisitions, with more on porttomanyoftheprovisionsto theway. accuse them of“shameful dou- Mostly, he focused his blestandards”. andhandingitovertoits“crony the grip of a few people with attentiononcustomers,meet- The Congress hit back, capitalistfriends”. “vested interests”,while assert- ing with 130 overvideo con- saying the BJP,by launching a The BJP fielded senior ing that the government was ference and helping to land “senseless”and“mindless”anti- partyleaderandUnionminister working to address their mis- newmulti-yearcontractswith Congress tirade,was trying to Ravi Shankar Prasad to take on givingsaboutthereforms. clients in the US and Europe. hide the“sin”of attempting to the Opposition.He alleged that snatchthelivelihoodoffarmers asectionoffarmershadfallenin Continued on Page 2 Continued on Page 2

BIG SCREEN BLUES No box-office dhamaka anytime soon ASMITADEY dayreleases.Indeed,theattendanceat pick-up at the box office yet,”Viacom New Delhi, December 7 theatresremainsverythin.“Therelease 18StudiosCOOAjitAndharetoldFE. of films would depend on the kind of Viacom18 Studios has already AFTER RECORD REVENUES of over audiences that the theatres see.Pro- delayedthereleaseofAamirKhanstar- `4,000 crore in 2019,box office col- duction has resumed but there’s no rerLaalSinghChaddhabyayearandit lections for 2020 may barely touch is nowexpected to hit the theatres in `500crore.However,withchancesof December2021.Work on theTaapsee a vaccine by May-June, the pickings Pannu-led Shabaash Mithu isyet to be forBollywoodcouldbebetterin2021. completed,Andhare said,but should As of now, however, see a 2021 launch if the shoots and there are few releases post-production get done on lined up. Production time. Producer Vipul Shah houses have been unable saidthepandemichasnec- tosetuptoomanyshoot- essitatedatotalrejigofthe ing schedules and, firm’scalendarwithapro- thoughahandfuloffilms ject comprising 12 short has gone on the floors,it filmsnowpostponedto2021. could be a long time beforeweseeregularFri- Continued on Page 2

Pune 2 FINANCIAL EXPRESS WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM FOREIGN TRADE Piyush Goyal @PiyushGoyal Received insightful suggestions for making the new Foreign Trade Policy more export-oriented, in an interaction with representatives from various Industry Associations& Chambers of Commerce. Govt is committed to making India EconomyTUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2020 a global exports hub for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Quick ● PM ON REFORMS Quarterly GSTRs ‘Can’t build new centurywith old laws’ to ease compliance View PRESS TRUSTOFINDIA is carrying out “holistic Lucknow, December 7 PM kicks off construction work of`8,400-cr Agra Metro reforms”.“Earlier,reformsused tohappeninapiecemealman- from January AMID THE ROW over laws PRIME MINISTER NAREN- stands and would not only ner, or keeping in mind some meanttobringamajorchange DRA Modi on Monday inau- provide an environment- sectors and departments,”the FE BUREAU in the agri-marketing sector, gurated the construction of friendly mass rapid transit prime ministersaid. New Delhi, December 7 PrimeMinisterNarendraModi phase-1 of the Agra Metro system to Agra’s population He said the reforms carried on Monday said reforms are project via video conferenc- of 26 lakh but also cater to outinrecentpasthaveinfused THE GOODSANDservicestax needed for development and ing. The `8,379.62-crore more than 60 lakh tourists self-confidenceinthecountry, (GST) taxpayers with a some laws from the past cen- project is expected to be whovisit the cityeveryyear. adding that people will be sat- turnover of up to `5 crore will DGGI uncovers tury have become a burden completed in fiveyears. Modi said the govern- isfied when they go through have the option to ease their now.Launching the metro rail The Agra Metro project, ment’s focus is on making the“finer details”.“This confi- compliance burden from Jan- fraudulent GST project inAgra through video comprising of two corridors smaller cities the axis of self- dence has been seen in every uary 1, as the facility to file conference, Modi said the with a total length of 29.4 reliant India and the metro election in the recent past. A GSTR-3B only on a quarterly transactions reformscarriedoutbyhisgov- km, will connect major Mahal and Agra Fort with project in Agra reflects this glimpse of this confidence is basiskicksin.Currently,GSTR- THEDIRECTORATEGEN- ernment are also getting tourist attractions like Taj railway stations and bus intention. — FE BUREAU seen in the election results in 3B is filed on a monthly basis ERALofGSTIntelligence reflected in election results. every part of the country, alongwith payment of taxes. (DGGI),Nagpur,hascome His pitch on the impor- including UP,”he said. The Quarterly filing of option to either discharge the acrossfraudulenttrans- tance of reforms comes ahead ministermade no direct refer- foraneworderandtogivenew good in the past century have ThePMsaidin recentyears Returnwith MonthlyPayment actual liability via the cash actionsof`290.70crore, of Tuesday’s Bharat Bandh ence to the new laws or the facilities.We cannot build the becomeaburdeninthepresent the poor and the middle class (QRMP) scheme, which was ledger or through a pre-filled includingfakeITCof over the three new farm laws farmers’protests.“Reformsare next century with the laws of century.Reforms should be a haveshoweredtheir“unprece- approvedbytheGSTCouncilin challan amounting to 35% of `25.22crore,after enactedattheCentre. Butdur- needed for development. the previous century,”he said. continuousprocess,”hesaid. dented blessings” on the October,meansthatinsteadofa the cash paid as taxes in the searchesataprivatefirm inghisbriefaddress,theprime Reformsareverymuchneeded “Some laws that used to be Modi said his government efforts of the government. mandatory 16 returns that previousquarter. andonepersonhasbeen needtobefiled ayear(12GSTR- “This may also reduce his arrested,anofficialsaid. 3Band4GSTR-1),thenewsys- tribulations of late fee, as the Searcheswereconducted temwouldprovidefor8returns pre-filledchallanwillallowtax- onaMumbai-basedfirm, New e-bidding norms: DoT to seek Cabinet nod on PLI (4GSTR-3Band4GSTR-1). payerstodepositmonthly35% M&MAdvisorsandCons- The schemewill cover92% ofthecashpaidintheprevious ultants,asfollow-upofthe or 94 lakh GST-registered tax- quarter in the electronic cash detectionofanon-existent RIL, others don't need guidelines for telecom gears payers.Currently, there are ledger,”asourcesaid. advertisingfirminDhule. about 1.2 crore registered tax- The sources said that the govt nod for gas pricing PRESS TRUSTOFINDIA payers,including17lakhcom- scheme was aimed at cutting FHRAI seeks loan New Delhi, December 7 Modi to address virtual India position dealers. However, an down compliance cost of recast plan for PRESS TRUST OF INDIA willcontinuetodeviseapricing assesseeoptingforthescheme smaller taxpayers who are New Delhi, December 7 formula, but will now have to THE DEPARTMENTOF Mobile Congress today will need to pay tax on a forced to engage professional hospitalitysector seekbidsontheelectronic-plat- telecommunications(DoT)will monthlybasisbutwillhavethe help forfiling returns. INDUSTRYBODYFHRAI RELIANCE INDUSTRIES AND form of five pre-selected agen- approach the Union Cabinet PRIME MINISTER NAREN- said in a statement. onMondaysaiditisseek- otherproducers of natural gas cies,thenotificationsaid. forapprovalofthestructureof DRA Modi will deliver the Modi will give the inau- ingahospitalitysector- willnolongerneedthegovern- TheagenciesareSBICapital production-linkincentivesfor inauguraladdressatthevir- gural address at the virtual specificloanrestructuring mentapprovalforthegasprice Markets, mjunction Services, telecom gear makers in India, tual India Mobile Congress IMC2020onDecember8at MSME taxpayers may file GST planfromthegovernment. if it is arrived at using the new RITES,MSTCandCrisilRiskand accordingtoanofficialsource. (IMC) 2020 on Tuesday,the 10:45am,itsaid.Thetheme Thisistheneedofthehour guidelines for the discovery of InfrastructureSolution. In November, the Cabinet PrimeMinister’sOfficesaid. for IMC 2020 is “Inclusive return via SMS: CBITC chief forsavingthehospitality market price, an official order ThisfollowstheUnionCab- approved an incentive of IMC 2020 is being Innovation - Smart,Secure, industryfromanalmost said. The ministry of inet in October allowing `12,195croretointroducethe organised by the Depart- Sustainable”and it aims to FE BUREAU charged on receipt of pay- imminentcollapse,itsaid. petroleum and nat- marketing freedom (PLI) scheme for telecom and ment of Telecommunica- aligntotheprimeminister’s Kolkata, December 7 ment instead of the tax liabil- ural gas last week for blocks where network products.The Digital tions,GovernmentofIndia, visiontopromoteatmanirb- ity coming to them on the SJVN signs MoU notified guidelines pricing freedom CommunicationsCommission and the Cellular Operators harBharat,“digital inclusiv- THEMSMETAXPAYERSwillno date of issuance of invoice or with IREDAfor forthe discoveryof already existed. on December 1 approved the AssociationofIndia(COAI). ity”,and“sustainable devel- longer require to log on to the receiptofpayment,whichever market prices for Alongside, it proposal for the scheme.“The Itwill be held from Decem- opment,entrepreneurship GST portal to file their return. isearlier.Thiscausesblockage green energy domestically pro- approved standard- DoTwillgototheCabinettoget ber 8-10, 2020, the PMO andinnovation”. — PTI Instead they can file their of working capital, puts pres- SJVNhasinkedanMoU duced natural gas ised bidding for price approval of the guidelines and returnthroughanSMStohelp sure on liquidity. withIndianRenewable through e-bidding. discovery.The compa- structure of the PLI scheme.It reduce theircompliance cost. Though Kumar remained EnergyDevelopment The government has since nies “shall design the tender/ willbeinplacewithinamonth. ofthings(IoT)accessdevicesand tor where the government Ajit Kumar,chairman,Cen- non-commitaltotheproposal, Agency(IREDA),whichwill 2017givenpricingfreedomfor bidoffer,includingtheeligibil- Everything is going on with otherwireless equipment; and announced sops of around tral Board of Indirect Taxes & he said the customs depart- provideitservicesforgreen natural gas produced from all itycriteria,bidparameters,eval- positive momentum,” the enterpriseequipmentincluding `50,000 crore. Custom, said at a session of ment rolled out the nation- energyprojects.Itwillalso fields other than the old fields uation criteria, tender fee, sourcetoldPTI. switchesandrouters. The scheme attracted BharatChamberofCommerce, wide faceless assessment sys- assistSJVNindeveloping of state-owned ONGC and Oil salienttermsandconditionsof The product lines that have The Cabinet had approved iPhonemakerApple’scontract “MSME taxpayers,with nil lia- temforshipmentclearancesat anactionplantocreateand Indiainnominationblocks. Gas Sales Agreement and any been specified include core PLI schemes for10 keysectors manufacturers,aswellasfirms bility, can file GST return by every port from October 31, acquirerenewableenergy Firms such as RIL-BP com- otherrelevantinformation,etc, transmission equipment; including automobiles, phar- like Samsung,Lava and Dixon SMS.Thiswillimprovetheease providing maximum benefit projectsforthenext5years. bine as well as ONGC (for non- with aviewto encouragewider 4G/5G,next-generation radio maceuticals, food products whocumulativelyproposedto of doing business,particularly totheindustry,onceagainsav- TheMoUwassignedby nomination blocks) have been participation from prospective access network and wireless and solarmodules. produce mobile devices and duringtheCovidonslaught.” ing their costs of compliance. NandLalSharma,CMD, auctioning gas to users. They buyers,promote competition equipment;andaccessandcus- The approval followed the components of over `11 lakh There have been demands GST mop-up in the last two SJVN,andPradipKumar wouldtypicallydeviseaformula andmaximisethevalueofnat- tomer premises equipment success of the scheme in the crore in the next five years from the taxpayers,mostly in months has shown a positive Das,CMD,IREDA,virtually. and seek bids from users.They uralgasoffered,”itsaid. (CPE).Theyalsoincludeinternet electronicmanufacturingsec- underthe PLI scheme the MSME sector,that GST be trend,a 10%y-o-yrise.

From the Front Page

Central Vista: when the countrywill be cele- Wipro up 70% hadtokeepitslandacquisition And it is an irony that it is bratingits75thIndependence Billincoldstoragein2015due blaming the Congress forit.” SC allows Day.The government plans to The company’s stock has to protests from different Asked about Prasad’s spe- conserve the existing Parlia- AstraZeneca,Pfizer vaccines: rallied about 70% since his quarters,hasbeenfacingcriti- cific charges, he said, “The stone-laying ment building, claiming it to appointment, most among cism for the farm laws it got UPAand Congress gave maxi- be an archaeological asset of India’s four largest outsourc- passed during the Monsoon mum MSP to farmers and but no work the country. Govt speeds up review ing firms during that period. session of Parliament. upheld the APMC system as Rebuking the government The construction is It’s a rarevictoryforWipro, Prasad said the BJP's rival also the MSP system.So what for "moving forward aggres- expected to be completed by “We are in the process of butonetheveteranofFrance’s parties have jumped into the are the obnoxious comments sively" on the project, a bench 2022 at an estimated cost of reviewing.Itisanaccelerated Capgemini SE is determined protest in a bid to save their that he is making? What he is ledbyjusticesAMKhanwilkar, around Rs 1,000 crore. reviewing process,which is won’t be its last. He hopes to existence after being repeat- saying neither makes any DineshMaaheshwariandSan- Abatchof10petitionswere thereforSerumtoo,”thegov- get Wipro back on track after edly rejected by people in dif- sense nor has any reason jivKhannasaidtherewillbeno filed against how the Central ernment official said.“It is yearsoftumultandstagnating ferent elections across the behind it.The Congress man- construction or demolition or Vistaprojectinvolvingrenova- theneedofthehour.Wehave financials.“There’saparticular country.Theministerpointed ifesto clearly states that fellingoftreesfortheproposed tion and redevelopment of to reviewat the earliest.” momentum in the industry out that many of the parties APMC will be renamed as mega project even after Prime approximately 86 acre of land Thecountryhas9.68mil- just now, and I want to drive that have declared their sup- farmer markets and multi- Minister Narendra Modi lays in the heart of Lutyens Delhi, lion infections, while more thaturgencytoputWiproback port to the farmers' protest plied in thousands.” the foundation stone for the marked by structures like Par- than 140,000 people have where it belongs,” said Dela- had suggested similar Opposition parties,includ- newParliamentbuildinginthe liament, Rashtrapati Bhavan, diedofCovid-19.Lockdowns porte, speaking from Paris in reformsintheirmanifestosin ing many regional outfits, on heart of national capital. India Gate, North Block and imposed to contain the hisfirstinterviewsinceassum- the past.He read out from the Sunday came out in strong Citing a press release that SouthBlockamongothers,got spread of the virus have ing the CEO post.“I know I’m Congress's manifesto for the support of the 'Bharat Bandh' indicatedconstructionworkto various clearances.The peti- plunged the economy into good at one thing — getting 2019 general election to note on December 8 called by start soon, the top court told tionsalsoclaimedthatthepro- oneofitsworstdownturnsin things done.” that it had promised to farmer unions who have been solicitorgeneralTusharMehta ject had been planned by decades. called“Covishield”bySerum fidence after experts raised Wipro needs more than "repeal" the APMC Act and protesting at Delhi's borders : “The fact that we have not destroying heritage buildings SerumInstituteCEOAdar Institute, has less stringent questions about trial data. enthusiasm.The firm, major- also said that Rahul Gandhi for 11 days demanding the granted stay does not mean and giving unified building Poonawallatweetedthatthe storage requirements and is AstraZeneca said two ity owned by billionaire Azim had asked Congress-ruled repealoftheCentre'snewagri- that you can do every- bye-laws a go by. movetoapplyforemergency expected to be easier to dis- weeks ago that it could Premji,has lagged its peers for states in 2013 to take mea- marketing laws. thing...We expected that you use“willsavecountlesslives”, tribute and fasterto scale up launch an additional trial to years. In the fiscal ended in sures to allow farmers to sell LeadersincludingCongress will continuewith paperwork, No box-office but did not give any other in low-income countries. evaluatethelowerdoseregi- March, revenues rose 3.9% in their produce directly. presidentSoniaGandhi,NCP's etc but not move forward so details. The company But it is also facing men,butSerumInstitutehas constantcurrencyterms,com- Prasad said NCP leader Pawar, CPI(M) general secre- aggressivelythatyouwill start dhamaka declined to reply to Reuters’ queries from scientists over saiditwouldcontinuetotest paredwith9.8%atInfosysand Sharad Pawar,who was agri- tary Sitaram Yechury, DMK construction". follow-up questions about itstrialdata,whichshoweda only the two full doses as it 7.1% atTata ConsultancySer- culture minister in the UPA chief M K Stalin and PAGD The Bench was holding a anytime soon the process. 1.5 dose regimen delivered would delaytrials. vices — even though both are government, had asked states chairman Farooq Abdullah special hearing on the matter Shah is, however, hoping AstraZeneca, Pfizer and more than 90% efficacyand Poonawalla has said the far larger. HCL Technologies, to amend the APMC Act and have issued a joint statement after having reserved its ver- his Sanak, for which shooting Moderna are among the a full two-dose regimen just company will first focus on which displaced Wipro as the hadevenwarnedthemthatthe backingtheproposedday-long dict on November5. begins this month, can be drugmakers seeking 62%, both administered supplying the vaccine in third-largest in the industry Centre would not provide strike and pressed the Centre When Mehta sought time screenedinmid-2021.Healso advancedapprovalsfortheir overtwo stages. Indiabeforedistributingitto twoyears ago,grew17%. financial assistance in the to meet the legitimate torespondtotheSC'sdirection hopes to begin work on Com- vaccines,which are increas- Britain and some other other countries,pricing it at Delaporte’s predecessor, absence of the three reforms. demands of the protesters. that no constructionordemo- mando 4 nextyear.“Two more ingly being seen by govern- nationshavepressedonwith `1,000 perdose ($13.50) for Abidali Neemuchwala, took He, however, praised the litioncouldcontinue,thecourt filmsareintheworksandifall mentsastheonlywaytostop plans to roll out the privatemarkets.SerumInsti- over in 2016 with similar protesting farmer unions for JetAirways to asked him to “respond in five goes well they should go into a pandemic that will soon AstraZeneca vaccine, while tute has also said an emer- ambitions.He departed aftera not associating their stir with minutes or we will pass this production soon,”Shah said. complete a year since it was thePhilippinesandThailand gency use approval could turbulent four years and political parties. take off in order”. ProducerAnandPanditwho first reported in China. secured millions of doses, preface a full rollout by Feb- falling well short of a target to Reacting to Prasad's Mehta then undertook on optedforanOTT(over-the-top) AstraZeneca’s vaccine, givingtheshotavoteofcon- ruaryorMarch.— REUTERS build Wipro into a $15 billion remarks, Congress’s commu- summer of 2021 behalf of the Centre that there launchforTheBigBullisintwo companyby2020.(Itsrevenue nication department in- Once,India’slargestcarrier won't be any construction, minds about the release of the for the year ended in March charge Randeep Surjewala, by number of passengers, Jet demolition or shifting of trees thriller Chehre starring was $8.1 billion.) “Thierry while insisting on a repeal of Airwayswent into bankruptcy in the Central Vista till Amitabh Bachchan and Emran Movies is working on a crop of have postponed screenings to only be around 50% levels, seems to have thevision and thethreelaws,said,“Itwasthe in 2019 after it failed to repay Supreme Court delivered its Hashmi.SaregamaIndiaissav- 7-8 films of which some could 2021 and the makers are thoseprojectionsmaybehighly the commitment,but he has Modi government that mountingdebt.JetAirwayshas judgment. He told the judges ingitsbig-budgetMarathihor- premiere on OTT platforms understood to be considering optimistic. Jariwala expects an absolutely daunting task,” brought the three black laws almost 21,000 creditors seek- that construction was yet to ror comedy Zombivli for the while two maybe shown in the theJanuary-Marchwindow. footfalls to bounce back only said Vasupradha Srinivasan, a through a midnight ordi- ingclaimsofaround$6billion commence and trees were theatresbutonlyoncefootfalls theatres.That would of course Rakesh Jariwala,partner at once normalcy is restored. senior analyst at Forrester nance. It was the BJP govern- andhashadmostofitslanding being trans-located to a nurs- normalise.“Whatwearecertain depend on whether the audi- EYsaidtheprojectedboxoffice Exhibitors, however, believe Research.— BLOOMBERG ment that forcibly passed the slots confiscated. eryand no demolition activity of is that it will not be a sub- ences are large enough.So far, collection of `200-300 crore that if the surge in infections threeblacklawsbyavoicevote The consortium had evalu- was being carried out. optimal release,both in terms therearenocrowds.Althougha for big budget films looking at subsides (before there is a vac- Bharat Bandh denigratingParliamentproce- ated the option of starting a The revamp, which was of theatre occupancy or mar- Diwali release Suraj Pe Mangal release is based on a normal cine),some producers will stay dures and practice.The Modi new airline but Jet Airways’ announced in September last keting.Zombivli does look set Bhari managed an opening of occupancyoroccupancyunder with a theatrical launch.India today: BJP, governmentisactingasasub- optimal flight slots, brand year,envisages a new triangu- foratheatricalreleaseasofnow just about `60-65 lakh at the a business-as-usual scenario. released about 1,833 films servient and subjugated ser- value and reputation for in- lar Parliament building,with butwewon'tknowuntilithap- box office. Big-budget films Giventheatresatpresentdonot acrosslanguagesin2019ledby Congress in vant of a handful of crony flight service and safety will seating capacity for 900 to pens,”vice-presidentSiddharth Sooryavanshi and 83 thatwere have the luxury of increasing Hindimovies. war of words industrialiststohandoverthe give the carrier“an edge over 1,200 MPs, that is targeted to AnandKumar,said. earlier looking at Diwali and ticket prices and the occupan- 25 lakh crore agriculture others,”accordingtothestate- beconstructedbyAugust2022 Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP Christmasreleasesrespectively cies due to restrictions could New CEO drives TheBJPgovernment,which product trade to its friends. ment.— BLOOMBERG

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● FIRMING UP Govt needs to Sena MLA’s aide: ED gets cus- leged aide of Shiv Sena MLA India’s active Covid caseload todytillDec8:Aspecialcourt on Pratap Sarnaik, arrested in a implement Mondaygranted the ED one-day moneylaunderingcase. — More support pours below 4 lakh after 140 days diversified custody ofAmit Chandole,an al- PTI PRESS TRUST OF INDIA in,2 railway unions to New Delhi, December 7 ‘Govt supporting projects in food basket

THE COVID-19 ACTIVE case- fight against Covid-19’ schemes observe Bharat Bandh load in the country has fallen THE CENTRAL GOVERN- below the 4 lakh-mark at THE GOVERNMENTISsupportinghundredsofprojectsin MENT needs to implement PRESS TRUST OF INDIA demonstrationsandralliesdur- 3,96,729,the lowest after 140 its fight against the coronavirus and more than 100 start- schemes that encourage a di- New Delhi, December 7 ing lunch hour against anti- days,comprising just 4.1% of upshavedevelopedinnovativeproductstodealwithCovid- versified food basket by map- farmer policies of the Govern- total infections reported so far, 19, Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan said. ping the food consumption TWO OF THE biggest railway mentofIndia. the Union Health Ministrysaid Speaking at the India-PortugalTech Summit,organised by patternsandnutrition,astudy unions on Monday pledged “I hope that the govern- onMonday. the Department of Science and Technology and the CII, byICRIERsaid. their support to the Bharat ment will give cognizance to The total active cases were Vardhan said the centre has announced a $120 million The trade-off between pro- Bandh on December 8 called the genuine demands of the 3,90,459 on July 20,the min- grant forCovid-19vaccine research. motingagriculturalproduction by farmer unions which have farmers and redress the same istry said.Continuing with the —PTI and nutrition must be con- beenprotestingonDelhi’sbor- at the earliest,”he said. trend of the last 10 days,India fronted and leveraging agricul- ders against the Centre’s new NFIR general secretary M has reported more daily recov- tural policies and programmes agri-marketing laws. Raghavaiah, in a statement, eries than daily new cases in a totalactivecaseloadinaspanof India’scasepermillionis6,988 tobemore“nutrition-sensitive” TheAllIndiaRailwaymen’s appealed to Prime Minister spanof24hours. 24 hours,”the ministry under- against the world average of andreinforcingdietdiversifica- Federation (AIRF) and the Na- Narendra Modi to accept the While 32,981 new positive lined. 8,438,”itsaid. tionwillhelpfocus onbothnu- tional Federation of Indian demands of the farmers. He caseswerefoundinthecountry Newcasespermillionpopu- The total recoveries have tritionanddevelopment,itsaid. Railwaymen (NFIR) extended said the railway families are in a day,39,109 newrecoveries lation in India recorded in the surged to 91,39,901.“The gap Accordingtothestudy,agri- their support to the agitating withthe“annadata”(food-giv- wereregisteredduringthesame pastsevendaysareamongstthe between recoveries and active cultural programmes and poli- farmers by calling on their ing) in their struggle against period. lowest in the world; the figure cases has crossed 87 lakhs cies should focus on improving members to hold rallies and the anti-farm laws which are “Thedifferenceof6,128be- forthelastsevendaysis182. (87,43,172) as on date,” the diet diversityand access to mi- demonstrations on December “detrimental to the farmer tweennewCovid-19recoveries “The number of cases per ministrysaid.Ofthenewrecov- cro-nutrient rich diets to im- 8 in a show of solidarity with communityof the nation”. and new cases has led to a net million population has also eredcases,81.20%arefrom10 provenutritionaloutcomes. the farmers. “The NFIR general secre- decline of 6,519 cases from the been historically low for India. statesandUTs. —FE BUREAU AIRFgeneralsecretaryShiva tary advised all its affiliate GopalMishramettheagitating unions throughout the Indian farmers at Singhu border and Railways to conduct dharnas, assured them that members of rallies and demonstrations in Maha farmer bodies urge govt Deloitte set to ready the railway union are with solidarity with the farmers’ them in their fight against the struggle and against anti- UP’s $1-trn strategy newagriculturelaws. farmerdecisionsofthecentral to lift ban on onion export GLOBAL PROFESSIONAL SERVICES firm, De- “Wehavewrittentoouraffil- government,” the statement NANDA KASABE ture Market Produce Committee (APMC), loitte Touche Tohmatsu India has beaten Boston iatesallovertheIndianRailways said. Pune, December 7 and former chairman, Lasalgaon APMC, ConsultingGroup,GrandThortonandiSAARC-UP to extend support to the farm- Thetwounionscomprising saidthegovernmentwasquicktoissueor- IT consortium to emerge as the selected consul- ers in their struggle to achieve 13lakhrailwayemployeesand FARMER BODIES ACROSS Maharashtra ders to ban exports when prices had tancyfirmthatwouldhelptheUttarPradeshgov- theirgenuine demands,on De- around 20 lakh retired em- have urged the Centre to lift the ban on touched`5,000perquintal,butiskeeping ernmentinthe‘herculeantask’ofshapingitsstrat- cember 8,2020 during‘Bharat ployees, according to the onion export as prices have started declin- mum now when prices have dropped to egy to become a $1-trillion economy in the next Bandh’.I have already advised union leaders,are the latest to ing.On Monday,wholesale onion at Lasal- `2,000.Holkarhaswarnedthatifonionex- five years.Ahigh-powered committee under the AIRFaffiliatestoorganiseagita- show solidaritywith the agi- gaonwereavailableataminimumpriceof ports do not open immediately,the Mum- chiefsecretaryhasrecommendedDeloitteTouche tion programmes, dharna, tating farmers. `1,000perquintalandthemaximumprice baiAPMCwillcontactthemarketcommit- TohmatsuIndiaforthejobandthestatecabinetis of `3,600, with modal prices touching tees across the state and decide to shut likelytoputitsstampofapprovalonitsoon. `2,500 per quintal for red and `1,400 for market committees indefinitely until the Speakingto FE oncondition of anonymity,ase- Farmer leaders: Nobody should be the Golti (old) variety. Daily arrivals are demandismet. niorstategovernmentofficialsaidthatwhileDeloitte around2,500quintal. “Prices of onion went up to `5,000 on ToucheTohmatsuIndia,alongwithBostonConsult- forced, emergency services allowed President of the Maharashtra State September14,andtheCentreimmediately ing Group,GrandThorton and iSAARC-UPITcon- Onion ProducersAssociation Bharat Dig- imposed an export ban.After that,the in- sortium qualified in the technical round,Deloitte FARMER LEADERS ON saidthattheCentralgovern- holesaidtheassociationhassubmittedrep- cometaxdepartmentraidedtraderstopre- emergedasthewinner,asitscompositetechnicaland Mondaysaidthatemergency mentwill have to accept the resentations to several government au- ventthepriceofonionfromincreasing.The financialscorewasthebest. —DEEPAJAINA serviceswill be allowed dur- demandsoffarmerstoscrap thoritiesseekingresumptionofexport. government also decided to import onion ing ‘Bharat Bandh’ on De- the newlawswhose passage In a notification issued on September toreduceprices,”hesaid. cember 8, and appealed to hassparkedprotests.Theag- 14,theDirectorateGeneralofForeignTrade Onionpriceshavedroppedto`15-25per their affiliates to not force itating farmers have already said export of onions in forms other than kgfrom`30-40perkgafewdaysagoatthe anyone to observe the shut announced that theywould cut,sliced orpowderwas banned.“The ex- Navi Mumbai APMC wholesale market. A down. Addressing a press occupy toll plazas between port on allvarieties of onions is prohibited surgeinarrivalsfromlocalproducersandim- conference here, farmer 11 am to 3 pm during the withimmediateeffect,”saidthenotification. portsfromTurkey,IranandEgypthaveeased leader Balbir Singh Rajewal ‘BharatBandh’. — PTI JayduttaHolkar,director,VashiAgricul- prices.Thefreshcrophasstartedarriving.

23 groups in Gujarat M.P. STATE COOPERATIVE DAIRY FEDERATION LTD. Dugdha Bhavan, Habibganj, Bhopal-462024 (M.P) form umbrella body to Phone : 0755-2601517, e-mail : [email protected], website www.mpcdf.nic.in support farmers’ protest E-TENDER NOTICE MP State Cooperative Dairy Federation Ltd. (MPCDF), Dugdha Bhavan, Habibganj, Bhopal, FE BUREAU An apex cooperative organization in Madhya Pradesh, invites tender for rate contract from Ahmedabad December 7 reputed manufactures/suppliers/their authorized representatives/dealers for Rate contract/ Installation/commissioning of Approximate 500 numbers of Tea & Coffee Vending Machines in EVENASTHE MODI government’s unrelenting at- the working/marketing area of MPCDF unions namely Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain, Gwalior, Jabalpur tempts to resolves the farmers’ agitation through and Sagar (Bundelkhand) F.O.R. destination. dialogues is making little headway with agitating Premix powder for Tea/Coffee mix will be supplied by the milk unions while the installation, peasants are adamant on their demands, as many supply, and maintenance will be done by the supplier adhering to the quality benchmarks and as23farmersandagriculturetrade-related organ- technical specifications strictly adhering to the terms and conditions prescribed in the tender isationsinthePrimeMinister’shome-stateGujarat document. have come together on a common platform ‘Gu- The cost of tender document is Rs. 500/- (Rupees Five Hundred Only). jaratKhedutSangharshSamiti’andpledgedtoback The tender document can be obtained and Uploaded on the site of MP e-portal protesting farmers. www.mptenders.gov.in on remitting online payment of the cost. TospreadtheagitationacrossGujaratamarathon The details relating to the tender can also be referred at MPCDF website www.mpcdf.nic.in meetingoftherepresentativesoftheseorganisations Key Information including that ofAkhil Bharatiya Kisan Samiti,Gu- jarat Kisan Congress,Gujarat Khedut Samaj (GKS), Last date and Last date, time and Date, time & Date & Time EMD required MarketingYardEktaVyapaariSangathan,DhartiPu- time of purchase submission of technical place of opening of Opening to be submitted tra KisanTrust and others from across the statewas of tender form and financial bid online technical bid Financial Bid online only held atAhmedabad,said Jayesh Patel of GKS adding 2:00 PM 3:00 PM 3:30 PM 03:30 PM Rs. 100000/- thatinthemeetingitwasdecidedtowholeheartedly 29.12.2020 29.12.2020 30.12.2020 05.01.2021 support the agitating brethren near Delhi and back Bandhcallgivenforthe8thDecember2020. M.P. Madhyam/99141/2020 MANAGINGDIRECTOR V…§… i…EÚ EÚ…‰Æ˙…‰x…… EÚ“ n˘¥……<« x…Ω˛”, i…§… i…EÚ f¯±……<« x…Ω˛”*

Pune 4 FINANCIAL EXPRESS WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM VACCINE RACE Adar Poonawalla, CEO, Serum Institute of India @adarpoonawalla As promised, before the end of 2020, @SerumInstIndia has applied for emergency use authorisation for the first made-in-India vaccine, CompaniesTUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2020 COVISHIELD. Quick ● BULLISH Coffee Day gets new CEO View Hindalcorevives`7k-crgrowth a year after founder’s planaseconomyrecovers death in apparent suicide REUTERS SWANSY AFONSO Bengaluru, December 7 Mumbai, December 7 COFFEE DAYENTERPRISES, the owner HINDALCO INDUSTRIES HAS revived a of the Cafe Coffee Day chain, appointed $947 million plan to make more value- founder and former chairman VG Sid- addedaluminumproductsastheeconomy dhartha’swife as its chief executive offi- recoversfromthecoronaviruspandemic. ceronMonday,more thanayearafterthe NTPC offers to buy Billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla’s coffee baronwas found dead in a riverin aluminum major will invest `70 billion Southern India in an apparent suicide. back masala bonds to double its capacity to more than In July last year,Coffee Day Enter- worth `4,000 crore 600,000 tonne annually over the next prises named independent board mem- few years, the company said in an ber SVRanganath as interim chairman, STATE-RUN POWER GIANT NTPC exchange statement on Monday. after authorities here recovered Sid- has made an offer to buy back its dhartha's bodyfloating in a rivernearthe masala bonds worth `4,000 crore 34,000-tonne aluminium port cityof Mangaluru,two days afterhis Bengaluru-based Cafe Coffee Day from bondholders or lenders.Masala extrusion plant in Silvassa disappearance sparked speculation that runs hundreds of coffee shops bonds are issued outside India but The company will kick off its long- he was under intense financial strain. across India that brew cappuccinos denominated in Indian rupees, term downstream investment plan by Malavika Hegdewas appointed as the and lattes for India’s booming rather than the local currency.NTPC setting up a 34,000-tonne aluminum CEO with immediate effect, the com- moneyed class and compete with has launched a cash tender offer to extrusion project in Silvassa, with pro- pany said in a filing to exchanges. the likes of Starbucks, Barista and buy the masala bonds worth totaling duction expected to start in two years. The company will kick off its long-term downstream investment plan by Bengaluru-based Cafe Coffee Day `4,000 crore.According to company “We are seeing a revival in the econ- setting up a 34,000-tonne aluminum extrusion project in Silvassa at an runs hundreds of coffee shops across Coca-Cola Co-owned Costa Coffee statement,the offer include the omy,with demand picking in the build- investment of `730 crore. Production is expected to start in two years India that brew cappuccinos and lattes rupee denominated `2,000-crore ing and construction and automotive for India’s booming moneyed class and 7.375% notes issued onAugust 10, sectors,” managing director Satish Pai compete with the likes of Starbucks, earlyventure capital investors. 2016,payable in USD and due on said in the statement.“This has given us India’s economy contracted a record thegradualscalingbackofrestrictionsand Barista and Coca-Cola Co-owned His death plunged the company into August 10,2021 (''2021 notes''). the confidence to move forward.” 24% in the quarter ended June,after a apickupinmanufacturingactivity. Costa Coffee. an uncertain future,and saw Coffee Day That’s a reversal from June,when the nationwide lockdown brought busi- Hindalco said it expects India’s Siddhartha, 59, was widely recog- Enterprises shares crash as news of his Xiaomi ramps up smartTV company said it would be slowing down nesses and mobility to a standstill. demand for such products to jump to nised forhaving brought the coffee shop death unfolded,before eventually being its expansion plans due to the impact of It improved in the July-September 850,000 tonne by 2030 from 373,000 culture to a largely tea-loving country, suspended from trading since production in India Covid-relatedlockdownsontheeconomy. period,declining7.5%fromayearago,with tonne currently. —BLOOMBERG while also being hailed as one of India’s February 3. CHINESETECHMAJORXiaomionMon- daysaidithaspartneredwithHyderabad- basedRadiantAppliancesasitrampsup productionofitssmartTVsinthecoun- CSIR to decide on human clinical SC asks govt,Vodafone to maintain status try.The move comes ahead of Xiaomi's foray into the premium QLED TV seg- trials of Molnupiravir,a drug that ment in India. Xiaomi India Category quo on OTSC demands,final hearing in Feb Lead(SmartTV)EashwarNilakantansaid when the company had launched its blocks SARS-CoV-2 in 24 hours INDU BHAN mentpoliciesinthefastchangingtelecom smart TVs in 2018,there were two key ANURADHA MASCARENHAS New Delhi, December 7 and technology sectors are adopted and trends — Internet tariffs were getting Pune, December 7 tailoredfromtimetotimebaseduponthe cheaperand speedwas faster,and there THE SUPREME COURT on Monday circumstances and these policies were wasaproliferationofcontent. ADECISION ON conducting human clin- accepted the government’s suggestion to sometime recommended by an indepen- ical trials with a new promising antiviral maintain status quo on fresh demands or dent and specialised regulatory bodyTrai L&Tto supplyKomatsu drug, Molnupiravir, will be taken at the recoveries between it and Vodafone Idea after open consultations with stakehold- strategic group meeting of the Council of till the one-time spectrum charge (OTSC) ers.“Thattherespondentshadnotpaidfor Mining Equipment Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) case is finallydecided in February. theintrinsicvalueofthespectrum,avalu- INFRASTRUCTUREMAJORLARSEN& shortly.AstudypublishedinNatureMicro- Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sug- able natural resource held by the State in Toubro(L&T)hasreceivedordersfor biology, shows how this repurposed drug gestedbeforeabenchledbyJusticeAshok trust forthe people of India(as heldin the supplyof90unitsofKomatsuMining suppresses SARS-CoV2 transmission Molnupiravirisbeingdevelopedbythe Bhushanthatthegovernmentneedstore- 2GJudgement).Assuch,suchvaluehadto Equipment."Theconstructionand within 24 hours. biotechnology firm Ridgeback Biothera- compute the demands and in the mean- be recovered in the public interest,” the miningequipmentbusinessofLarsen Dr Shekhar Mande, Director General peuticsincollaborationwithpharmaceu- timestatusquoordersbepassed“withno oftheTDSAT’sJuly4,2019orderthatheld appeal said. aToubrohassecuredmultipleorders CSIRtoldTheIndianExpressthatthisisan ticalfirmMerck.Bytakingthedrugorally, fresh demands or payments by any side as unsustainable the DoT demands for DoT had levied the OTSC retrospec- forsupplyof90unitsofKomatsu excitingdevelopment.“Researchersinthe treatment can be initiated early for pre- either”till the disposal of the case. OTSC on spectrum allotted beyond start- tively from July 1,2008 and raised a total MiningEquipmentfromCoalIndia US have shown how the transmission is venting the condition of the patient from Senior Harish Salve, appearing for up spectrum and up to the contracted demand of around`25,000 crore on nine subsidiaries,leadinginfracompanies blocked in ferrets.It is like anyother anti- becoming severe. Vodafone Idea, accepted the suggestion, limitof6.2MHz.Besides,settingasidethe telcos in 2013 for spectrum held beyond engagedwiththecoalsectorand flu drug and was on our list of drugs to go Dr Mande explained that the drug is terming it“fair”. DoTdemandsforOTSConspectrumallot- 6.2MHz.VodafoneIdeahadmovedthetri- customersfromthecementandiron into clinical trials.We will take it up soon. basically an inhibitor of RNA in cells and Theapexcourtnotedthegovernment’s tedbetween4.4-6.2MHz,theTDSAThad bunal against the government for raising oresectors,"L&TsaidinaBSEfiling. A meeting will be held this evening to does not allow it to make copies of the proposal and posted the matter for final alsoruledthatthegovernmentcancharge a demand for`3,599.4 crore as the OSTC. decide,”DrMande said. virus.“Otherdrugsalsodosomethingsim- hearing in February. OTSC only prospectively from January 1, The decision to levy OTSC was taken FreshToHome attracts Thestudy,publishedbyresearchersat ilar but it is exciting to see that transmis- However, the judges rejected the SG’s 2013 (the date on which the government by the UPA government in the wake of the Institute for Biomedical Sciences, sion being blocked in ferrets.” request to stay the TDSAT judgement as notifiedthisdecision)andthattooonlyon the SC in February 2012 cancelling 122 ADIO funding Georgia State University, claims that a There is a basket of drugs which are was done in the case of Reliance Commu- administratively allocated airwaves telecom 2G licences given by the then BENGALURU-BASEDFRESHTOHOME, new antiviral drug has been designed under consideration.There are several on nicationsandLoopMobile(bothundergo- beyond 6.2 Mhz. telecom minister ARaja. While the SC an integratedonlinebrandinfresh which successfullysuppresses the SARS- the priority list — for instance, the drug ing insolvencyproceedings). AftertheTDSAT’sdecisionlastyear,the cancelled the licenses, because of the fish,poultryandmeate-commerce, CoV-2 virus and inhibits transmission umifenovirwhichismainlyusedfortreat- Mehta said that“even the present case burden of OTSC for operators like Bharti furore it created as these were given at saidonMondayitwouldreceive within 24 hours. According to the mentofinfluenzahaspotentialtobeused regardingliabilitytopayOTSCisthesame Airtel and Vodafone Idea had come down 2001 rates of `1,658 crore,that a charge financialandnon-financialincentives researchers,this is the first oral antiviral againstCovid-19andisundergoingclini- as that in the RComm and Loop Mobile.” bymore than 60%. was levied on spectrum allocated beyond fromtheAbuDhabiInvestmentOffice drug to quickly block SARS-CoV 2. cal trials,DrMande said. Thegovernmenthaschallengedapart According to the appeal, the govern- the contracted amount. (ADIO)todevelopprojectsindesert agricultureandaquacultureinAbu Dhabi.FreshToHomesaidina Nissan Magnite gets Vedantu appoints Ranjan Sakalley as head statementitwouldexpandfarming, Hiring activity stabilising, supplychainandprocessing 5k bookings in 5 days of engg & tech; to hire 80 people by Mar’21 capabilitiesacrossprecisionagriculture andaquacultureinAbuDhabi. NISSAN INDIAHAS received over50,000 ONLINELIVETUTORING company "The hires will happen at multiple November data show enquiries and 5,000 bookings for the Vedantu on Monday said it has levels including senior as well as sup- KTMlaunchesMY21KTM newly launched compact SUV Magnite appointed Ranjan Sakalley as head of porting roles.The teamwill drive further SHUBHRATANDON within five days of its launch. engineering and technology, and plans innovation to increase accessibility, 125bikeat`1.50lakh Mumbai, December 7 TheSUVisavailableacrossthecountry to expand its engineering team to 200 affordability, and predictability in LIVE AUSTRIANPREMIUMBIKEmaker at Nissan showrooms for booking at spe- people by March 2021. online learning,"the statement said. KTM,apartoftheBajajAutogroup,on HIRING MOMENTUM SEEMStobestabil- cial introductory price of `4.99 lakh Based in Bengaluru, Sakalley will Krishna said Sakalley is an industry MondaylaunchedtheallnewMY21 ising with the overall job openings in onwards (ex-showroom,Delhi)withmore report to Vedantu CEO and co-founder veteran and engineering leader adept at KTM125Dukemotorcycle,pricedat November remaining largely the same as than20variantswithtopvariantat`9.59 Vamsi Krishna,and will spearhead the solving complex and real-time business `1.50lakh(ex-showroomDelhi). The inOctoberat1,00,000openings.However, lakh.The specialintroductorypriceisvalid expansion of the company's tech and challenges. upgradedbike,whichisavailable the contribution of full-time opportuni- forallbookingsuntilDecember31,2020. engineering team to 200 members by "Owing to his eclectic experience he acrossallKTMdealerships,comeswith tiesdroppedto90%from95%inOctober Customers have been appreciative of the end of this financial year,it said in brings the best of both worlds with multipleenhancementssuchasan 2020,as contract hiring picked up during the revolutionarypricing foran SUVthat a statement. startup and enterprise-led thinking. As updatedsuspensionsystemanda the month. is great on style,safety,technology and In his new role, Sakalley will oversee Ranjan partners in our journey to create modifiedandlargerfueltank,among The count of jobs that were active, quality with first in segment features all product engineering decisions, impact at scale,we endeavourto create a others,thecompanysaidinarelease. refreshed and accepting applicants in like aroundviewmonitor,full 7-inchTFT including design, delivery, and reliabil- service where a child feels loved, cared November 2020 marginally dropped to instrument cluster, CVT automatic ity of products. and inspired,and technologyhas always Voda Idea CSRarm,Nokia 2,70,000 mark, as against 2,75,000 in wasalsowitnessedduringthemonth.Full- transmission, the company said in a Currently,thecompanyhasabout120 been central to creating that experience October,datacompiledbyBengaluru-based timeremotejobopeningsroseto5,000in statement.—FE BUREAU people in its tech and engineering team. and impact,"Krishna added. —PTI pact forSmartAgri solution specialiststaffingfirmXpheno,shows. November, as against 3,000 in October VODAFONEINDIAFOUNDATION,the “The 2,70,000 numbers registered in and 2,000 in September2020. CSRarmofVi,inpartnershipwith NovembersustainstheV-shapedrecovery The recovery in hiring activity is Nokiahasdeployedasmart witnessed in the job market.June 2020 becoming broad-based with the job mar- TV ad volumes spike during festive season agriculturesolutionthataimsto can nowwell be declared the lowest point ketinthenon-techsectorsalsolookingup, enhancefarmingpracticesand of dip in theV-shaped drop and recovery,” LinkedIn said in a recent survey. VENKATA SUSMITA BISWAS Unlike other years, advertising lion’s share of the pie,”says Deep Drona, improveproductivityoffarmersin Kamal Karanth, co-founder, Xpheno Nicolas Dumolin, MD, Michael Page Mumbai, December 7 during the last few months was COO,Enterr10 Television. India.VodafoneIdeaCSRhasdeployed observed.There were 1,67,000 openings India had recently toldFE employment dominated by ed-tech, gaming, and Unlike otheryears,advertising during Nokia'sWorldwideIoTNetworkGrid recorded in June 2020. levels have moved back all the way to AFTER GOING THROUGH a lull for sev- fintech brands such as Byju's, White the last few months was dominated by (WING)solutiontoequipfarmersin Despite the overall stable counts, a 75% of pre-Covid levels as companies eral months due to economic uncer- ed-tech, gaming, and fintech brands thecountrywithpreciseandpractical redistribution of jobs across different job are re-aligning themselveswith the new tainty induced by the Covid-19 pan- Hat Jr, Dream 11, MPL, and CRED such as Byju's,White Hat Jr,Dream 11, datatohelpthemachievebetter types was witnessed in November.Full- normal and there has been a need for demic,television advertising has shown MPL, and CRED. “These companies, yields,accordingtoarelease. time opportunities in November 2020 newtalent.Also,companies have under- mild signs of revival during the festive which are possiblyflushwith fresh fund- droppedto2,42,000fromtheOctoberfig- stood the current conditions will con- season,between the months of Septem- and advertisers spending on GECs fell ing, will continue to advertise for the Veranda acquires Chennai ures of 2,60,000.The size of the full-time tinue for some time.“There’s less uncer- ber and November. during the festive period.The number of next few months to acquire new cus- opportunitieshasmarginallyshrunk,after tainty and that has led to more hiring,” As per BARC India,advertising vol- advertisercategoriesdroppedfrommore tomers and build theirbrands,”observes Race for`100 crore registeringagradualincreaseoverthelast Dumoulin explained. umes grewby10-11% over2019 during than 375 in 2018 to about 330 in 2020. Kishan Kumar, chief growth officer, KALPATHIGROUP-OWNED,ed-tech fourmonths. Entry-level openings shrunk by 2% in Dussehra and Diwali 2020.Ad volume In 2020, there were about 280 fewer Wavemaker. ventureVerandaLearningSolutionson “The percentage points shed by the November to reach the 98,000 mark as for Ganesh Chaturthi was up 7% over advertisers on GECs as opposed to 2018. Ashift in consumerhabits towards e- Mondayannouncedtheacquisitionof full-timeopportunitiesslice,hasbeendis- against 1,05,000 in October 2020. Over last year.The industry is now counting The spike in advertisingvolumes tells commerce and a rebound in demand for ChennaiRace,acoachinginstitutefor tributed among the contract jobs. The 36% of active openings are for the entry- on sustaining this momentum until the only half the story.Advertising revenue FMCG products will keep kitchen fires banking,SSCandPSCexams.The gradualgrowthinnumberofcontractand levelopportunitiesfollowedbymid-junior end of the current financial year. for leading broadcaster Zee Entertain- burning for broadcasters. For instance, transaction,valuedatover`100crore part-timeopenings,isanindicationofsea- and mid-senior categories at 30% and Another study, by TAM, found that mentEnterpriseswasdown26%y-o-yin India’s largest advertiser Hindustan thatincludesstockandearnout,now sonal workforce augmentation for man- 11%,respectively. therewere655newadvertiserswhomade Q2 of FY21 at `902.8 crore for the quar- Unilever spent `1,936 crore in the July- leadstothelaunchofanewbrand, agingbusinessspikes,”Karanthsaid.Con- AfternearlydoublinginOctober,senior an appearance on general entertainment ter.InQ1FY21,though,thecompany’sad September quarter, 17% less than what calledVerandaRace.VerandaRacewill tractual hiring generally increases level openings remained at same levels in channels in 2020 versus 2018 and 2019 revenue had fallen by 66% y-o-y. it spent during the same quarter last initiallyofferresultorientedonline between Julyand Septemberahead of the November 2020.“As hiring and onboard- duringthemonthsofSeptember-Novem- Not surprisingly, a large chunk of ad year. Marico MD and CEO, Saugata trainingprogramsforbanking,SSCand festive season, lasts till December and ingactivityatthetophasbeenregistering ber. These new advertisers were led by spendswent into IPL2020.Advolume in Gupta,stated in the company’s earnings TNPSC. ByDecember2021Veranda starts to taperdown post that. notablemovements,thetopupofnewjobs Facebook, Airtel Payments Bank and the sports genre was up by 86% over callthat investmentin advertisingspend Raceisplanningtolaunchcourse With work-from-home being the new inthislevelisseentobehealthycompared Whitehat EducationTechnology. 2018.“This festive season was anchored is at 9.5% of sales which is almost close contentin11Indianlanguages. normal,increaseinfull-timeremoteroles to previous months,”Karanth said. However, the number of categories around IPL and as expected,it took the to pre-Covid levels for the company.

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THEORISSAMINERALSDEVELOPMENTCOMPANYLIMITED (A Government of India Enterprise) CIN: L51430OR1918GOI034390 REGISTEREDOFFICE:C/O“SAILOFFICE,GROUNDFLOOR, 271, BIDYUT MARG, UNIT - IV, SASTRI NAGAR, BHUBANESWAR - 751001, ODISHA, Tel: 0674-2391595, Fax: 0674-2391495 E-mail: info.birdgroup@ birdgroup.co.in , Website: www.birdgroup.co.in

NOTICE OF 102nd ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, REMOTE E-VOTINGINFORMATIONANDBOOKCLOSURE The notice is hereby given that: 1. The 102nd Annual General Meeting of the company will be held on Wednesday 16th December 2020at 11.00 AM through Video Conferencing (“VC”)/Other Audio Visual Means (“OAVM”) to transact ordinary and special business as set out in the Notice of AGM; 2. In view of the massive outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing is a norm to be followed and pursuant to the Circular No. 14/2020 dated April 08, 2020, Circular No.17/2020 dated April 13, 2020 issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs followed by Circular No. 20/2020 dated May 05, 2020, physical attendance of the Members to the AGM venue is not required and annual general meeting (AGM) be held through video conferencing (VC) or other audio visual means (OAVM). Hence, Members can attend and participate in the ensuing AGM through VC/OAVM. indianexpress.com 3. Electronic copies of the Notice of AGM and Annual Report for 2019-20 has been sent to all the members whose email IDs are registered with the Company/Depository Participant(s). The same is also available in the Company’s website www.birdgroup.co.in. 4. The cut-off date is 9th December, 2020, may cast their vote electronically on the Ordinary and Special Business as set out in the notice of AGM through electronic voting system of National Securities Depository Limited from a place other than venue of AGM (remote e-voting). All the members are informed that: � The remote e-voting shall commerce on 13th December, 2020 at 9.00 AM � The remote e – voting shall end on 15th December 2020 at 5.00 PM � Cut off date for determining the eligibility to vote by electronic means at the AGM is 9th December 2020 5. Any person, who acquires share of the company and become member of the company after email sent of the notice of AGM and Holding shares as on the cut off date i.e 9th December 2020 may obtain the login ID and password by sending a request at [email protected]. However, if a person is already registered with NSDL for e-voting then existing user ID and password can be used for casting vote. 6. Members may note that : � The remote e-voting module shall be disabled by NSDL after the aforesaid date and time for voting and once the vote on a resolution is cast by the member, the member shall not be allowed to change it subsequently; � The facility for voting through ballot paper shall be made available at the AGM; � The member who have cast their vote by remote e-voting prior to the AGM may also attend the AGM but shall not be entitled to cast their vote again; and � A person whose name is recorded in the register of Members or in the register of beneficial owner maintained by the

oka vr iebfr aigaside. a taking before side every at look I Depositories as on the cut off date only shall be entitled to nomyu pno ihisgtu observations. insightful with opinion your Inform avail the facility of remote e-voting as well as voting at the AGM through ballot paper. 7. The Notice of AGM is available on the Company’s Website www.birdgroup.co.in and also in the NSDL’s website https:- www.evoting.nsdl.com and 8. In case of queries/grievances connected with e-voting, members may Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) and e-voting user manual fro member available at the download section of www.evoting.nsdl.com or call on toll free nos 1800-22-2990or contact NSDL at Trade World, A Wing 4th Floor Kamala Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg Lower Parel, Mumbai- 400013 at the designated E-mail ID [email protected]. 9. The Register of members and the share transfer books of the Company will remain closed from Thursday, 10th December 2020 to Wednesday 16th December, 2020 (both days inclusive) for annual closing. 10. The Company has appointed M/s. MR & Associates., Practicing Company Secretary as the scrutinizer for conducting the remote e-voting process in a fair and transparent manner. For The Orissa Minerals Development Company Limited SD/- Date: 08.12.2020 ANUSINGH o h ninIntelligent. Indian the For Express. Indian The Place: Bhubaneshwar (COMPANYSECRETARY)

Pune 6 FINANCIAL EXPRESS WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM REFORMS ARE A MUST

Prime minister of India Narendra Modi

For new facilities and systems, reforms are necessary. ❝Wecannot build the coming century with laws of the❝ last century OpinionTUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2020

Lessons from the ● AGRARIAN REFORMS IFMSPGETS MANDATED,WEARE STARINGATDISAPPEARING EXPORTMARKETS,ADISRUPTED Anil Vij controversy DOMESTIC SUPPLYCHAIN, UNMANAGEABLE SURPLUSESANDAN UNAFFORDABLE SUBSIDYBURDEN Awareness drives on vaccines must to fight off scepticism, importance of masking,distancing underscored by the episode Mandatory MSP: HE CONTROVERSY OVER Haryana ministerAnil Vij testing positive for Covid-19daysafterparticipatingintheclinicaltrialsforBharatBiotech’sCov- axinunderscorestheneedforthegovernmentandcivilsocietytocreatebasic T vaccine-awareness among the masses.This will not only help battle vaccine scepticism but also prevent riskybehaviourbytrial participants/vaccine recipients.Vij Watering a dangerous idea testingpositivewasbreathlesslycoveredbythemedia—hisvolunteeringforthetrialhad beencoveredextensivelytoo—withoutaccompanyingexplainersonhowhecouldhave LAWTO ensure Mini- dated MSP.The private sector (and that contractedthevirus.Therathersimplisticnarrativeofvaccinefailureintheimmediate mumSupportPrice(MSP) includes all small traders) will have no aftermathmakesforadangerouscocktailalongwith‘pandemicfatigue’andconfusion isthenewslogan.Different option but to stay out of the market or oversome othervaccine-trials (the Oxfordvaccine results announcement/unintended groups,politicians,farm- T NANDA cheatontheprice.Thestateagencieswill ‘mis-dosing’).Itiscorrosiveforpublictrustintherobustnessofvaccine-science. ers, activists and others end up buying almost everything and Vijparticipatedinadouble-blindtrial—neitherhenorthepersonadministeringthe Asupportthis.Thefarmershavearightto KUMAR willneedtoresortto‘OpenMarketSales’ shotknewwhethertheshotcontainedthevaccineoraplacebo.IfVijreceivedtheplacebo, demand what they think is good for Former secretary Food &Agriculture, Govt of tomeetconsumerdemand.Traderscan thenhewouldnothavehadanyprotectionagainstthevirustobeginwith.However,ifhe them, but there are dangers ahead. A India. Views are personal sit back,buyfrom FCI,and make a neat receivedthevaccine,hissubsequentlycontractingCovid-19needstobeseenagainstfac- mandatedsupportpriceimpliesthatno profit,whilethegovernmentloseshuge tors such as the trial-dose-regimen andvaccine efficacy.Covaxin is a two-dosevaccine, private tradercan buybelowsuch price. sumsofmoney. withtheseconddoseadministered28daysafterthefirst,andBharatBiotechsaysthatthe Typically,violatorswillbeprosecutedin Distribution System (PDS).Till a decade went up to about 90 million tonnes Tounderstandthisscenariobetter, antibody build-up for an effective response against SARS-CoV-2 occurs onlyafter two suchalegalframework! ago,thequestionbeforethepolicymak- (51mt rice and 39 mt wheat) this year, let me examine the case of sugar.Sug- weeks from the second dose.So,even ifVij received thevaccine in the first shot,there is What are the implications of such ers was ‘will the MSP give us enough which is about 50% more than the arcane,unlikeothercommodities,has alwaysachancethathecouldhavebeensusceptibletoCovid-19—givenhereceivedthe an idea? grains to meet the PDS requirement?’ requirement (a surplus of about 25-30 astatutoryminimumprice(calledFair shotonNovember20,heisstillintheintervalbetweenthetwodoses.Thatsaid,he,orany Letmestateupfrontthatcontinued There were prolonged discussions mt).Procurement,asapercentageofpro- and Remunerative Price, or FRP), that financial support to farmers is essen- (mostlyduring2006-08)aboutprocure- duction,isrisingwhileproductionisalso sugar mills are mandated to pay.In othertrial participant—oreventually,vaccine-recipient—could still sufferfrom Covid- tial. One should not forget that farm- ment price being kept higher than the rising(seegraphic). addition, states like UP have a state 19afterreceivingthecompletedoseofavaccine.Howmanyvaccinerecipientsstillrisk ers,withsupportfromtheMSPsystem, MSP.Things changed later, mainly on With non-traditional states like advised price, often higher than the thediseasewilldependonthevaccineefficacy,whichwillonlybeclearatalaterstagein have fed millions of Indians and account of increased production and MadhyaPradesh,Odisha,Chhattisgarh FRP.Duringthelastsugarseason,pro- atrial.Fordeterminingthis,athresholdnumberofparticipantsinatrialwillhavetocon- ensured food security.Highly input- three important decisions: (i) to keep a steppingup,procurementhastouched duction of sugar (thanks to the tractthedisease,andbasedonacomparisonoftherelativeriskofparticipantsinthevac- intensive agriculture supported by strategicreserveof5-6milliontonnesin 43%oftheproductionofriceand37% increase in productivity),in spite of cinatedandtheplaceboarms,thevaccineefficacywillbedetermined. public procurement continues to be addition to buffer stocks,a result of the ofwheat.When UPand Biharcatch up, adverse weather conditions in Maha- GivenIndiahasseta50%efficacythreshold—asrecommendedbytheWorldHealth ourstrategyforfood security. seriousshortageofpublicstocksin2006 procurement could reach 50% of pro- rashtra and Tamil Nadu, stood at 31 Organization—foranyvaccinethatistobeauthorisedforpublicuse,therewillalwaysbe Over time, however, demand has followed by a global food shortage in duction.Apart from the huge logistical mt, at least 25% more than the somewithinthevaccinatedpopulationwhowillstillcontractthedisease.Thisshould- changed; the climate has become vari- 2008,(ii)theenactmentoftheNational challenges,foodsubsidywillballoonto domestic requirement. The govern- n’tmeanthatavaccineortheentiregamutofvaccinesrolledoutaredismissedasinef- able,andtheaspirationsoffarmershave Food SecurityAct guaranteeing highly unsustainablelevels.Whatwillhappen ment was compelled to (i) announce a fectiveinthefightagainstCovid-19.Tocountersuchaperception—vaccinescepticism risen. It is time to focus on farmers’ subsidised food to almost two-thirds of totheprivatemarketandfoodinflation pre-determined price and buy sub- in the context of Covid-19 is a significant threat,some studies have determined—sci- incomes,sustainability and nutrition. the population,resulting in increased whenthegovernmentisforcedtositon stantialquantitiesofethanolthrough entificconceptsmustbeexplainedinadigestiblemanner,andthegovernmentandthe Some of this has happened already. pressures on procurement,and (iii) the suchhugestocksisanyone’sguess.Add PSU oil companies, (ii) announce a civilsocietyhavetoseethisasintegraltotherollingoutofCovid-19vaccines.Thenar- Changesinmarketsandproductionare decision to calculate the MSP at cost to this the calls to expand the basket of ‘nudged and incentivised’ export of 6 rativecan’tbeleftonauto-pilot.Thatsaid,theVijepisodehasimportantlessonsforthe reflectedinthecompositionofthegross (A2+FL)plus50%(2018).TheCommis- 23 commodities.There was a demand mt of sugarwith a subsidy of about massestoo.Itunderscorestheimportanceofdistancingandproperuseofmasks,even valueofoutputinagricultureandallied sion on Agricultural Costs and Prices toincludemilkafewyearsago.TheKer- `10/kg of sugar (`6,000 crore), and bypeoplewho have receivedvaccines; bear in mind,a systemicvaccine can trainyour sectors.The‘MSPcrops’(mainly,cereals, (whichwas constituted to advise on the alagovernmenthasannouncedanMSP (iii) fix a minimum ex-factory sale immunesystemtofightoffthevirusonceitentersthebody,butitwon’tblockthevirus’s oilseeds,pulsesandfibres)adduptoonly price policy for selected commodities, for selected vegetables (interestingly, price of `31/kg of sugar,imposing an entry (though there are specific nasally-administered vaccine candidates that have 25% of the value (2018-19). Farmers withaviewtoevolveabalancedandinte- prices fixed are A2+FL plus 20%).The involuntary burden on the consumer. whoproducetheother75%(mostlyper- grated price structure against the per- demand for C2 costs as the basis for Consumers paid more and taxpayers claimedtoprovidetopicalprotection). ishables) are dependent on the market spectiveoftheoverallneedsoftheecon- MSP (about 30% more) can get paid `6,000 crore because cane price anditspricefluctuations. omyandwithdueregardtotheinterests stronger.The economic cost of wheat got fixed at about 75% above cost Currently, 23 crops are under the of the producer and the consumer)was andrice,atpresent,isabout40%more (A2+FL) in 2018-19. Our sugar prices MSP regime, the most seminal being reduced to doing simple tasks of calcu- thanMSPcosts.Imaginethesizeofthe rule far above international prices. Where’s the autonomy? paddy and wheat.The procurement of latingthecostofproductionandadding foodsubsidybill! This subsidy regime is subject to a these crops is supported by the Public 50%.Theprocurementofriceandwheat Add to this the scenario of a man- challengeintheWTO,andifnon-com- Govt seeking to retain control of IIMs shortchanges NEP patible,we will have serious problems Fibres Procuremet as % of production inourhands.Thisyearalso,wearestar- HE GOVERNMENT SEEKING a backdoor to have its sayin the Indian Insti- 50 ingatalargesurplus.Clearly,thisisnot Pulses 2 Livestock tutesofManagement(IIM)showshowresistantitistograntingautonomyto thewayforward! 3 32 the premierinstitutes,all its talkofeducationreformsandtheNationalEdu- Suger Open-endedMSPitselfisabigchal- lenge at present.If it is decided forany cationPolicy(NEP)2020notwithstanding.TheIndianExpress(IE)reportsthat 3 T Oilseeds reasonto‘mandate’MSP,wearestaring theministryofeducationhassharedadraftexecutiveorderwiththelawministrywhich 40 4 at disappearing export markets,a dis- empowersittoorderaninquiryagainsttheBoardofGovernorsofanIIMifthegovern- 2018-19 Fishery Wheat rupteddomesticsupplychain,unman- mentbelievestheinstituteisinviolationoftheIIMAct,2017(whichcameintoeffecton (%) ageablesurplusesandanunaffordable 7 F&V January31,2018).Ironically,whenthisActwaspassed,thegovernmenthadtom-tomed subsidyburden.Inthecurrentscenario 16 theautonomyitwouldgivetheinstitutes.However,therathervaguely-wordedSection Forestry 30 of complex demands in a surcharged 38 of theAct,which empowers the government to interfere to remove“anydifficulty” 7 atmosphere,atectonicshifttoahighly arisingingivingeffecttotheAct,isbeinginvokedinthepresentinstance,IEreports. Other Cereals crops Rice decentralised food and agriculture The backdrop to this move is the turf-war between the University Grants Com- 10 16 management, giving more legal mission(UGC)andtheIIMs,oversomeoftheIIMsdecidingtoconverttheirone-year 20 authority, financial support and executive management diploma into a one-year MBA.The UGC,which says post- 2011-12 2019-20 responsibilities to states may be an graduate degrees must be of a two-year duration,had immediately challenged this, optionworth considering. and the ministry of education had written to the IIMs saying that they must act in “conformitywith the UGCAct 1956”.Thiswas a clearattempt bythe government to make the IIMs fall in line,despite having promised them academic,administrative and even financial freedom.However,this is not the first such instance of interven- LETTERS TO tion since the newIIMAct came into effect—in 2018,it attempted to get the IIMs to No-deal Brexit will hurt Europe too THE EDITOR impose a fee cap,while it has simply not removed the yoke of reservation from the premierinstitutes.While the UGC’s contentionwas that the UGCAct supersedes the IIMAct,theHigherEducationCommissionofIndia(HECI)Bill,oncepassed,willcause Much of the no-deal focus has On Covid-19 vaccine theUGCActtolapse.Thefactisthat,insomeofthemostadvancedjurisdictions,there stayed on the UK. However, the Over the weekend, Haryana’s health are one-year postgraduate degree programmes, including in management educa- EU too is also under pressure. LIONEL ministerAnilVij announced that he tion. If the IIMs are not to have even the basic freedom to decide on programmes, tested positive for Covid-19, leading what autonomyis the government talking about,really? If no deal can be found, it will LAURENT many to draw connections with his TheNEP2020talksofnear-completeautonomyfortop-notchinstitutesinthecoun- participation in the trials of one of the be a huge test for the bloc Bloomberg try—and if autonomyforthe IIMs is a sort of pilot forthis,the government’s intent on vaccine candidate.The immediate implementation of the NEPvision seems questionable.If the government arrogates to media coverage and the social itselfpowerstointerfereintheIIMs,whatstopsitfromdoingthisforotherinstitutes/uni- EUROPEANS SEEM MORE sanguine look in aggregate, it would fall very take logistical and political decisions to media conversations that followed versities?As this newspaper has pointed out manytimes,autonomy—in all aspects of about Brexit than the British. More unevenly and make some businesses protectitssinglemarketfromaUKthat conflatedAnilVij’s diagnosis with the functioning,academic,administrativeandfinancial—arecentraltocreatingworld-class French column inches were filled with unviable.Irelandisparticularlyexposed willprobablybepullingallleverstocom- trial in a way that suggests that the institutions.The fact that Indian universities/highereducation institutions are largely thedeathofformerpresidentValeryGis- to newagricultural levies; around 40% pete head to head.Nobody knows how inoculation of Covaxin from Bharat missing from the global rankings—more pronouncedly,in the top ranks—shows how card d’Estaing last week than with the of its agri-food exports are destined for destabilising a Boris Johnson govern- biotech is ineffective. In reality,it isn’t decades of bureaucratic control of highereducation has choked theirgrowth.Stanford risksofamessyendtodecadesofunfet- the UK, its biggest trading partner. A mentwouldbeinthisscenario.Adereg- known whether the minister was researchersfoundthatIndiansconstitutejust0.57%ofthetop-10,000researchersglob- tered trade between the UK and the messyno-dealBrexitcouldcostit6%of ulating UK could open a back door into given a placebo or the actual ally,againstChinaaccountingfor4%,andtheUSfor40%.AsignificantreasonfortheUS EuropeanUnion(EU). long-termoutput. the single marketvia Northern Ireland, inoculation.As per medical experts, faringsowellisthedegreeofcontrolitsinstitutionshave.Aslongasvisionisheldhostage The late president’s own view of Germany’s beloved automakers, with the Irish borderseen as a potential even if he did get a shot of Covaxin, it toimplementation,NEP2020willremainamerepolicydocument. Brexit—that it will be a bigger problem which rely on“just-in-time”manufac- “smugglers’paradise”ifJohnsondecides isn’t meant to be protective until he for the 66 million departing Brits than turing and whose parts crisscross the nottochecktheflowofgoodsacrossthe gets atleast two doses (he got only for the EU’s 450 million citizens— English Channel several times per car, Irish Sea as previously agreed.The EU one) and his immunity has had 14 echoed broader public confidence that would also be hit hard.The cost forGer- would have to findways to check goods days after that to build the necessary thebloc’s27memberscanabsorbshocks manycouldbe8.2billioneurosinannual somehow,while avoiding a return to a protection against Covid-19.This is FightingMALNUTRITION better as a group than the UK alone.It exports,accordingtoEulerHermes.And hardlandborderinIreland. not the first instance in which alsospoketoeconomicforecastslikethe France,beyondfreshtariffsonwineand Thiswouldallrequiredeftdiplomacy inadequate information or improper Govt must focus on nutrient security,apart from determinants one from the International Monetary food exports to the UK,would face the forablocthatshouldbealignedwiththe understanding of a scientific process Fund,whichestimatesaworst-casesce- problemofitsfishingfleetsbeingdenied UKonmanyissuesyethaslosttrustover as complex as vaccine development such as maternal age and mother’s education,among others nario could knock almost 0.5% off the access to Britishwaters.While the trade the years.On the Iran nuclear deal,on has gained traction.Alittle earlier, the REPORTBYresearchersatNabardandIcriertalksofhowfocusingonfacetslike EU’s long-term potential output but at risk is onlyworth about 650 million digital taxes and on climate change the coverage of a volunteer participating in the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine maternalage,mother’seducation,householdwealth,etc,couldhaveasignif- almost 3% off Britain’s. Yet there is euros,thelivelihoodsofcoastalcommu- UKisinthesamecampasFrance.Indeed, unlikely to be much schadenfreude on nitiescarrysymbolicweightandMacron insecuritymatters,Franco-Britishcoop- trial in Chennai amplified allegations icantbearingonthenutritionalwell-beingofchildrenandhelpachievecrucial anyone’s partif ongoingtradetalks end haspromisedtohelpthem.Itwouldbea erationisembeddedinbilateraltreaties that were later disproved. Helped by SustainableDevelopmentGoals.DespiteIndiabeingself-sufficientingrains, A without a deal—an outcomewith a 50- politicalfailureifthesejobswerecrushed that would ideally survive a no-deal misleading semantics and a lack of ithad194.4millionundernourishedin2017-18.Globally,ithasthelargestnumberof 50 chance of happening,according to byaBrexittheydidn’twant. Brexit.Yet if there is no deal,it is hard to awareness, such conversations undernourishedpeople.Despitetheworld’slargestfoodsubsidyprogramme,suchdeep Ireland’sheadofstate. Therippleeffectswouldalsobefeltin seehowbothsidescouldshareinforma- around vaccine are prone to andwidespreadmalnourishmentisevidenceofthefailureofthecurrentpolicyapproach. “Nodeal”wouldbeahugetestofthe Eastern Europe, where Slovakia and tion on criminals or law enforcement. misinformation.This problem has Theresearchersrecommendthatpolicybecomemorenutrition-sensitive,withdietdiver- EU’s ability to manage crises.Whereas Hungary’s exports to the UK count for The tortuous Brexit negotiations and been particularly pronounced in the sification.Tothisend,itrecommendsstepssuchasroll-backofthePDSandinsteadadopt- Giscard and his German counterpart 1.5%to3%ofgrossdomesticproduct. anti-EU rhetoric have already eroded west—recent polls showed only 60% ingDBTtohelphouseholdsdiversifytheirfoodbasket,bio-fortificationofcereals,etc. HelmutSchmidtinthe1970srevvedup NoneofthiswouldhelptheUKpros- trust.Theacrimonyaroundnodealcould ofAmericans are willing to take One of the key takeaways from the report and experience of other developing deepermonetaryandeconomicintegra- per.Still,managing no deal would also corrodebroaderpoliticalties. vaccine. But Indians are not less nations,suchasChinaandBrazil,isthatinvestmentinwomen’seducation,especially tiontopullEuropeoutofafunk,thecur- test Macron and Merkel’s ability to Understandably,muchoftheno-deal susceptible to the misinformation on highereducation,hasadirectcorrelationwiththenutritionalsecurityofhouseholds. rent Franco-German duo of Emmanuel unlock economic support to keep the focus has stayed on the UK,where the an issue where a difference between The report suggests that nutritional education programme must be incorporated Macron and Angela Merkel would be uniontogether.Irelandisalreadyinline political and economic stakes are high a headline and nuance could often into the curriculum while the distance between schools and households must be managingthedisintegrationoftieswith to receive reallocated natural-disaster enoughtoimagineapossiblebreakupof be the line dividing fact and myth. reduced to prevent female drop-out,etc.Also,higher education forwomen must be theEU’sthird-biggesttradingpartner. relief funds from the EU to help with the country itself. But the EU is also Therefore, it is important that in promoted via modes such as targeted scholarships.Another recommendation that Itwould mean tariffs on 512 billion Brexit,butthesepalebycomparisonwith underpressure.Ifnodealcanbefound,it these days, we must listen to experts needs immediate intervention is maternal health and child-care practices.A large euros ($621 billion) of annual goods the scale of the problem.Judging bythe willbeahugetestforthebloc—andGis- first, before not just voicing but also number of underweight women—low BMI in the reproductive stage—is one of the flows,as well as potential delays from reaction to the EU Covid-19 stimulus card’shopefulforecast. forming our own opinions. — leadingfactorsofmalnutritioninchildren.Apartfromthisinequitableaccesstoante- customs checks, after the transition package,itisnoteasytoget27countries This column does not necessarily N Sadhasiva Reddy,Bengaluru natalcare,earlychild-bearing,lowinstitutionaldeliveries,andhigherbirthorderare periodendsDecember31.Asmodestas toagreeonborrowingsprees. reflect the opinion ofthe editorial the estimated economic impact might Beyondmoney,theEUwouldhaveto board orBloomberg LPand its owners ●Write to us at [email protected] some of the areas that need immediate attention.

R.N.I. Reg. No. MAHENG/2010/34809 Printed and published by Vaidehi Chintaman Thakar on behalf ofThe Indian Express Private Limited and printed at The Indian Express Private Limited Press, Survey No. 288, Plot 1 and 2, Raisoni Industrial Park, Village Maan, Taluka Mulshi, District Pune-411027 and published at The Indian Express Private Limited, Express House, Plot No. 1205/2/6, Shirole Road, Shivajinagar, Pune-411004. Phone: 67241000, Fax: 67241047. Chairman of the Board: Viveck Goenka, Managing Editor: Sunil Jain, Resident Editor: Malini Bhupta* (*Responsible for selection of news under PRBAct)© Copyright: The Indian Express Private Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner, electronic or otherwise, in whole or in part, without prior written permission is prohibited. The Financial Express®

Pune WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2020 FINANCIAL EXPRESS OPINION 7

resolve to galvanise the state/local bureaucracy and efficiently leverage ● TELEMEDICINE both soft and hard medical infrastructure coupled with stepped-up health expenditure. Bane or bliss? In other words, the availability of hospital beds/doctors is essential to take care of the Covid-19 case load,but to detect and prevent the spread of Covid-19,mass scale testing and trac- V SRIDHAR, ing is required,which is not possible without active,elaborate and sustained DEEP INDER MOHAN & administrative support and additional healthcare expenditure undertaken by ARJUN PILIKUDALE state governments.Any relaxation on Sridhar is professor, Mohan & Pilikudale are students, IIIT Bangalore this account means reoccurrence and spread of Covid-19. ILLUSTRATION: ROHNITPHORE And,indeed,this has been the case in many states in India and also glob- EVELOPMENTS IN telecommunication and N INDIA, BOTH central and state ally.That iswhy,there are mixed results broadbandconnectivityhaveenabledtelemed- SUNIL KUMAR SINHA & governments spend on health and and no one-to-one correspondence has icine—it allows remote consultation, diagno- health infrastructure. However, been witnessed/observed between sis, treatment, follow-up, monitoring and DEVENDRA KUMAR PANT the Seventh Schedule of the Con- state-level health expenditure/infra- supervisedtreatmentofpatientsortrainingof stitution puts the primaryonus of structure and Covid-19-related out- physicians,D and is primarily used to deliver healthcare ser- Authors are principal economist and chief economist, healthcareI delivery on state govern- comes (see graphics). vices to remote regions. India recently launched the Digi- respectively, at India Ratings and Research. Views are personal ments. As per the constitutional Yet the Covid-19 pandemic has Gaon—to make telemedicine accessible invillages. arrangement,public health and hospi- brought healthcare expenditure, par- Covid-19 has accelerated deployment of telemedicine. tals are under the State List, and popu- ticularly public expenditure, on the In a recent issue of the‘New England Journal of Medicine’,it lation control,familyplanning,medical centre-stage due to its unprecedented wasarguedwhetherin-personvisitsshouldbecomethesec- education, prevention of communica- impact on lives and livelihood across ond,thirdoreventhelastoptionformeetingpatientneeds. The true state ble disease,etc,are in the Concurrent the globe.The International Monetary The pandemic has forced the use of tech such as telemedi- List. As a result, states account for Fund in its latestWorld Economic Out- cine to enable ‘forward triaging’that allows patients to be nearly 70% of the government spend- look October 2020 has advocated all efficientlyscreenedwithoutface-to-facecontact,asthefirst ing on healthcare,and the actual battle major economies to allocate adequate step.It also enables self-quarantine of patients who do not against the Covid-19 pandemic and the resources for healthcare as the near- needhospitalisation—throughtheprovisionofcontinuous of healthcare associated expenditure are being term policy priority. However, health- monitoring and support. It not only protects patients, but incurred by state governments.If we care in India will have to be both near- also clinicians, hospital staff and the community at large include the moneytransferred to states term and long-term priority as the from thevirus.It can allowphysicians and patients to com- under a centrally-sponsored scheme, country’s total health expenditure of municate 24x7, using smartphones or webcam-enabled then the share of states in the total gov- 3.8% of GDP in FY17 is much lower computers,to monitorsymptoms on a regularbasis. ernment spending on health would go than both advanced economies and The Medical Council of India, in partnership with the expenditure up to 87%. emerging economies that are consid- NITI Aayog, has released the Telemedicine Practice Guide- Since healthcare infrastructure such ered to be its peers such as Brazil,China, lines,2020.Butthereisamissingpiece—protectingprivacy as hospital beds and availabilityof doc- Russia,Argentina and South Africa. andconfidentialityofpatients.Consultingsessionsbetween The fight against Covid-19 requires more than just tors and paramedical professionals is a At one end of the spectrum are patients and physicians can be digitally recorded and prerequisite for providing quality Delhi, north-eastern states (excluding processed. Digitally-captured sessions are prone to breach the healthcare infrastructure, as the final outcome healthcare facilities, it is believed that Assam),Himachal Pradesh,and Jammu ofpatientconfidentialityandcanhaveanegativeimpacton is also dependent on the state-level political states scoring high on this account are and Kashmir, followed by Andhra thealreadysomewhatsocially- likelyto score high in theirfight against Pradesh, Kerala, Assam and Uttarak- relegated Covid-19 patients. leadership’s resolve to galvanise the state/local the Covid-19 pandemic as well. How- hand,having high per capita govern- Most data protection regu- bureaucracy and efficiently leverage both soft and ever, soon it was realised that the fight ment expenditure on health,and on the lations take care of privacy India’s telemedicine against Covid-19 required more than otherend are Bihar,West Bengal,Jhark- issues byenacting appropriate guidelines need to hard medical infrastructure coupled with just the healthcare infrastructure, as hand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh rules. The Health Insurance the final outcome is also dependent on and Maharashtra having lowpercapita Portability and Accountability be revised to be on stepped-up health expenditure the state-level political leadership’s government expenditure on health. Act (HIPAA) of the US states a par with global The rest are in between.Delhi being a onlyauthorisedentitiesshould health data city state also scores high on govern- have access to e-Personal protection rules ment health spending as a proportion Health Information (e-PHI) State-wise healthcare expenditure/infrastructure and Covid-19 outcome of state revenue expenditure. Besides captured through telemedi- Delhi,the only state to have achieved cine sessions. It mandates Health expenditure (FY20 BE) Public+private (per 10,000 COVID-19 outcome as on the National Health Policy 2017 target secure communication during the session.A major clause population) Registered November 26, 2020 (per 10,000 of spending 8% of revenue expenditure included in HIPAAguidelines is with respect to third-party Per capita Per % of total doctors population) GSDP Capita % of revenue (per 10,000 on health is Assam. service providers (intermediaries) who facilitate telemedi- States (`) (`) GSDP expenditure Hospital beds Ventilators population) Cases Recovered Deaths According to the National Health cinesessions,suchasWhatsApp,Facebook,FaceTime,Skype Andhra Pradesh 1,68,083 2,261 1.3 6.4 15.4 0.39 11.2 160.5 156.8 1.3 Accounts FY17 (Ministryof Health and andMicrosoftTeams.Ifthehistoryofthesessionisstoredby Assam 94,385 2,053 2.2 8.8 7.3 0.18 7.2 59.5 58.4 0.3 Family Welfare), the government (Cen- a third party, the healthcare provider is required to have a Bihar 47,541 781 1.6 5.9 2.9 0.07 3.8 18.6 18.0 0.1 tre plus state plus local) spending business associate agreement (BAA) with the third party accounted for only 1.2% of GDP in storingthedata.ThisBAAmustincludemethodsusedbythe Chhattisgarh 1,08,058 1,711 1.6 6.3 6.6 0.16 3.3 77.8 68.6 0.9 FY17.This implies that a significant third party to ensure protection of data,and provisions for Delhi 3,94,216 3,808 1.0 16.7 17.5 0.44 9.5 291.8 266.7 4.7 part of the healthcare cost in India has regular auditing of the data’s security. For example, if a Gujarat 2,24,896 1,610 0.7 7.1 22.2 0.56 10.4 31.6 28.8 0.6 to be borne bynon-governmental enti- telemedicinesessionusesSkypeorZoom,thenaccordingto Haryana 2,60,286 1,778 0.7 5.3 10.1 0.25 2.0 79.4 71.3 0.8 ties,ofwhich out-of-pocket expenses of the HIPAA the healthcare provider/hospital providing Himachal Pradesh 2,11,325 3,780 1.8 7.6 12.8 0.32 4.2 49.1 37.7 0.8 households (including medical insur- telemedicineconsultationsshouldhaveabindingBAAwith Jammu & Kashmir 1,09,769 3,163 2.9 7.7 22.3 0.56 11.9 79.4 74.2 1.2 ance) accounted for 2.2% of the GDP these intermediaries to protect the personally identifiable Jharkhand 82,430 1,111 1.3 6.3 6.3 0.16 1.7 28.0 27.2 0.2 and the remaining 0.4%was accounted information of patients. If an intermediary does not enter Karnataka 2,32,874 1,462 0.6 5.3 7.7 0.19 19.0 130.0 124.5 1.7 for by non-governmental organisa- into BAAs with a healthcare provider for these services,the Kerala 2,25,484 2,085 0.9 5.8 41.3 1.03 16.5 161.9 143.1 0.6 tions/external donors/local bodies. healthcare provider is liable for fines or civil action should Madhya Pradesh 99,025 1,284 1.3 5.9 27.5 0.69 4.8 23.2 21.2 0.4 Out-of-pocket expenses of house- an unauthorised disclosure of e-PHI occur due to the third Maharashtra 2,16,169 1,295 0.6 4.8 8.1 0.20 14.1 146.2 129.9 3.8 holds in India are way too high. The party’s lack of HIPAA-compliant securitymeasures. NE states (ex-Assam) 1,26,715 3,717 2.9 7.5 18.9 0.47 3.2 63.2 57.7 0.5 share of the government in the current But such BAA clauses are absent in India’s telemedicine Odisha 1,09,416 1,501 1.4 6.3 13.6 0.34 5.2 68.2 66.4 0.4 expenditure on health in India is only guidelines.ThoughtheguidelinespointtotheITAct,2000, Punjab 1,72,149 1,357 0.8 4.6 5.9 0.15 16.3 49.1 45.5 1.6 27.1%.An overwhelmingly large share it requires only registered medical practitioners to comply Rajasthan 1,23,343 1,706 1.4 6.8 20.6 0.51 5.8 31.3 27.8 0.3 of 62.4% is borne by households.It is withtheActinprotectingprivacyofpatients.Theguidelines Tamil Nadu 2,15,049 1,602 0.7 5.8 12.4 0.31 19.1 99.6 96.6 1.5 well-known that such a high share of are silent about the responsibility and liability of interme- Telangana 2,25,047 1,534 0.7 5.3 22.2 0.55 1.3 67.8 64.8 0.4 out-of-pocket expenses imposes a diaries(inIndia,inadditiontoplatformssuchasWhatsApp financial hardship on household bud- orSkype,there are intermediaries including Practo,Protea, Uttar Pradesh 74,402 1,065 1.4 6.6 25.4 0.63 3.4 22.4 21.1 0.3 gets and more than often pushes vul- 1mg and Lybrate).While the IT Act provides immunity to Uttarakhand 2,20,257 2,367 1.1 6.8 12.5 0.31 7.6 64.6 59.4 1.1 nerable households into debt and intermediaries, the Draft IT Act Intermediary Guidelines West Bengal 1,19,637 988 0.8 5.9 21.9 0.55 7.6 46.9 43.6 0.8 poverty. In fact, debt related to out-of- (Amendment) Rules, 2018, make intermediaries account- India 1,45,491 1,482 1.0 6.3 11.4 0.28 8.9 67.6 63.3 1.0 pocket expenses on health can be more able and necessitate them to deploy measures to provide Source: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI),National Health Profile 2019 - MoH&FW,CDDEP - Princeton University, Census of India and India Ratings and Research damaging than other types of house- security and privacy of the information they carry,but it is hold debt. These expenses generally yet to be notified bythe government.Acontroversial clause Total health expenditure as % of GDP 2007 2017 occur during illness/injury,which lim- in this draft that requires intermediaries to deploy auto- 20 17.1 its one’s ability to work, leading to matedtechnologiestodoproactivemonitoringisoneofthe 16 14.9 depletion of household savings and reasons it has been stalled for two years.The Personal Data 10.6 11.2 10.9 unanticipated economic shocks. Protection Bill provides adequate privacyrights to citizens, 12 9.5 10 9.6 8.1 9.1 8.2 9.4 8.9 Over60% of rural households and 40% but with it yet to be enacted, patients who consult via 8 7.6 7.8 7.4 7.9 6.4 5.3 5.2 of urban households with hospitalised telemedicine do not have protection if theire-PHI is shared 4.8 3.8 3.7 4 3.5 2.9 3 cases borrow,sell their assets (includ- ordisclosed.It’stimetelemedicineguidelinesarerevisedto 0 ing gold) or rely on contributions be on a parwith global health data protection rules. S. Africa Argentina Brazil Canada USA Germany Russia Spain UK India Indonesia China Japan from friends and relatives to pay for Source:WHO Global Health Expenditure Database and National Health Accounts 2016-17 inpatient care.

LICENCE TO DO business is investment due to the discriminatory US alsoawaytorestrictbusiness. SEC Rule 17f-5.This rule prohibits non- A banking licence is amongst banking foreign institutions to be the last vestiges of con- Banking needs appointedascustodiansforUSfunds.FPIs tentious control; banks con- donotwanttoappointIndianPSBsascus- Atrol access and leverage of capital,the pri- todians as they are not comfortable with mary building block for enterprises or the high NPAs and the risk it entails their economy, and hence control and regula- new thinking assets.Custodianbankshaveverylowrisk tion remains.Whenever there is a debate profile,withNPAsoflessthan0.2%asthey on new licences—like the one that is now donotlendlongterm.FPIs,mutualfunds, onentryofbusinesshousesinbanking—it India needs differentiated bank licences—new segments insurance companies,local or global,pre- leads to heated discussions from incum- need to be opened for capital creation and growth of credit fer custodian banks for their require- bents and expectants. ments.Theydo not get this in India. But expansion of capital formation is As a result, almost 90% of the custo- theonlywaytokick-startaneconomythat dianmarketofFPIsiscorneredbyoverseas has come to an abrupt stop due to Covid- K YATISH custodians. This also affects intra-day 19.Indiahasapoorcredit-to-GDPratioof funding needs of FPIs and reduces their just 56%; in most developed countries RAJAWAT flexibility and increases their transaction and even in China it is more than 150%. costsforIndianmarkets.Itpreventsdiver- The author is a senior journalist and public policy expert During 2010-20,domestic bank credit to sificationofFPIsbasebeyondUSinvestors private sector as a percentage of GDPwas as theydo not find a private sectorIndian stagnant at a lowly50%,affecting capital to the Banking RegulationAct,1949.This have not surrendered their licences are ments banks, “The limited operational abankinglicencecanprovide.Thereare19 custodian banking service provider. formation and economic growth. is a bold reform, but not enough to meet exploring ways to convert into SFBs.The space available to them and the large ini- custodians in India,but the bulk of the RBI needs to consider custodian bank Current banking players cannot dou- the objective of credit expansion.The last Aditya Birla Vodafone Idea Payments tial cost involved in setting up prevents assets are controlled bya fewMNCs.India licensing.Thesespecialisedbankswillnot blethecredit-to-GDPratiobecauseofgap- two licences granted were years ago, to Bank,when filing forliquidation in 2019, them from breaking even.”The learning does not allow specialised custodian compete against PSBs,universal banks or ing holes in their balance sheets due to IDFCFirstBankandBandhanBank.There said the business model was ‘unviable’. from the payments banks is that deposit banks, and as a result Indian custodians SFBsfordepositsorlending.Thesewilltar- scams and NPAs. The expansion from are several categories in banking that Paymentsbankscannotcompetewithtra- restriction is not a way to grow credit; it’s are at a severe disadvantage to MNC play- get the FPI segment for both services and 1990 to 2010 happened because of the haven’t yet been explored due to foreign ditionalcommercialbanks.Therestriction impossibleforanybankingentitytocom- ers.Accordingtoareport,theassetsunder deposits,and deepen the capital flows. entry of new private players.Therefore, pressure,and these need to be opened up on deposits up to `1 lakh per person pete, grow or create a sustainable model custody(AUC) have increased by36 times TheAUCoftheIndiancustodymarket, besides allowing new entrants, new seg- forIndian entrepreneurs. makes these banks unviable; they cannot without access to deposits. Instead of between 2002 and 2020. This growth as of May 2020,stands at `97 lakh crore. ments forbanking also need to be opened RBI’s experiment with differentiated offer loans,and their income comes from putting safeguards on deposit collection wouldhavebeenhigherwithaspecialised It’s still 2% of the world GDP and has the up for capital creation, expansion, access banklicencesin2015didnotworkdueto interest on government securities and or size, risks on investment, lending and custodian banking licence. potentialtodoubleoverthenextfewyears, and growth of credit. too many restrictions and did little to offering niche services like insurance and leverageofdepositscanbedone.Differen- Acustodian bank licence can double and indicates the potential for future RBI’s Internal Working Group (IWG) expand credit. Differentiated licences mutual funds. Even the share of deposits tiated banking licences are sorely needed the AUC as it strengthens a crucial finan- growth.Thiswilldirectlyhelpinincreased report on allowing business groups to allowbankstooperateinspecificsub-sec- is limited to 12.4%, and it fails to meet forcustodianbanking.Indianeedstohave cial infrastructure link in the market.The capitalformationthroughequitymarkets enter banking opens up the debate for tors of the bankingvertical.Small finance operational costs.According to RBI, the specialised custodian banking if it has to biggest flowofAUCs is from foreign port- andhighercapitalflowsinthecountry.By expansion and new segments for credit banks (SFBs) and payments banks fall in consolidated net loss for payments banks remainattractiveforforeigncapitalflows. folioinvestments(FPIs),andtheUSmakes allowing specialised custodian banks, growth.The IWG report wants the inclu- this category. Payments bank licences was `515.6 crore in March 2018, and The Indian custodian market has up 33% of these investments. Currently, integrated services can be more lucrative sion of large corporates in banking were granted to 11 players, but only six increasedto`626.8crore in March2019. `45,000croreofdeposits,buttheseassets Indian non-bank custodians cannot be forFPIs;itwillalsoprovidealevel-playing licences, after the required amendments banks are now operational. Those who According to RBI’s analysis of pay- donothavetheflexibilityandsecuritythat appointed as custodians for American field against hurdles like SEC Rule 17f-5.

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Emmanuel Macron, French President

I will not condition matters of defence and economic cooperation❝ on disagreements (over human rights)❝ ... International It is more effective to have a policy of dialogue than a boycott which would only reduce the effectiveness TUESDAY,DECEMBER 8, 2020 of one our partners in the fight against terrorism. Quick ● FIGHTING CONSPIRACYTHEORIES China’s trade surplus View As UK prepares to roll out reaches record $75 bn

ASSOCIATED PRESS vaccine,scepticism remains Beijing, December 7 China’s foreign CHINA’S POLITICALLYSENSITIVE trade reserves highest NATALIE THOMAS founder Bill Gates wanted to use vaccines surplus soared to a record $75.4 billion in London, December 7 toinserttrackablemicrochipsintopeople. Novemberasexportssurged21.1%overa since 2016 At a recent protest in central London, year earlier, propelled by American con- ASIZEABLE MINORITY of people believe hundreds of people shouted slogans sumerdemand. CHINA’S FOREIGN exchange conspiracytheoriesaboutthecoronavirus againstCovid-19lockdownmeasuresand Exports to the United States rose 46% reserves rose by more than $50 bil- andCovid-19vaccines,someexpertshave vaccinations.Onedemonstrator,Michelle, despitelingeringtariffhikesinatradewar lion in November to the highest warned,justascountriespreparetolaunch calledthepandemica“hoax”.“It’sacover- with Washington, customs data showed sinceAugust2016,likelyboostedby mass inoculations to get the pandemic up while they reset the whole economy,” on Monday. theweakerdollarandatradesurplus undercontrol. she shouted. Total exports rose to $268 billion, at record highs.Reserves gained for Britain begins its vaccine programme Leila Hay, a university student in the accelerating from October’s 11.4% thefirsttimeinthreemonths,reach- EU asks Google, this week and others are likely to follow northern English city of Hull, said she growth.Importsgained5%to$192.6bil- ing $3.1785 trillion at the end of soon,so governments are seeking to reas- mates a 65-70% vaccine coverage rate as endedupbelievingsomeofwhatsheread lion,up from the previous month’s 4.7%. November, the People’s Bank of platforms to explain surepeopleofvaccines’safetyandefficacy necessary to reach population immunity online about vaccines and the pandemic, Chineseexportershavebenefitedfrom China said on Monday.The value of search rankings inordertogetacriticalmasstotakethem. through vaccination, though the idea of eventhoughshenowsaysithasnobasisin the economy’s relatively early reopening gold assets declined to $110.4 bil- IntheUnitedStates,President-electJoe herd immunity assumes a vaccine pre- truth.“Iwaslookingatalotofgroups,and after the Communist Party declared the lion.China’s foreign exchange mar- INTERNETFIRMS SUCH as Google, Biden said he would have a coronavirus vents transmission, not just the disease theywere just there foranyone to go into, coronavirus pandemic under control in ketisexpectedtobebasicallystable, Amazon.com and travelwebsites vaccinepubliclytodemonstrateitssafety, itself. theywere very public and had a lot of fol- March,while foreign competitors are still the State Administration of Foreign should explain howtheyrank search and referred to people losing faith in the Asurvey in Britain last month showed lowers,”the 19-year-old recalled. hampered byanti-disease controls. Exchange said in a separate results on theirplatforms,according vaccine’s abilitytowork. thatalmosttwo-thirdsofpeoplewouldget Someofthetheoriessheonceespoused “Exports were much stronger than statement. —BLOOMBERG to European Union guidelines “What we’re finding is, in the wake of vaccinated forthe disease.But manyhave came via QAnon, a platform that has expectedinNovember,'”saidJulianEvans- published on Mondaythat could help thepandemic,thatconspiracybeliefsmay expressed unease at the speed at which become a “big tent” conspiracy theory PritchardofCapitalEconomicsinareport. businesses increase theironline have gone mainstream, that they’re no companies have developed the drugs to encompassingmisinformationabouttop- Forecasterssaythatsurgeisunlikelyto exportsaspartofthe“Phase1'”agreement visibility.The guidelines“set the longer confined to the fringes,”Daniel tackle it,and about possible side effects. icsrangingfromalienlandingstovaccine last into 2021 once coronavirus vaccines signed in January and aimed at ending a standard foralgorithmic ranking Freeman,professorof clinical psychology Based on published vaccines trial data safety. are rolled out. costly tariff battle over Chinese technol- transparency,”MargretheVestager, at Oxford University,told Reuters. generatedsofarthisyearbyModerna,the Tom Phillips, editor at fact-checking “We expect export performance to be ogyambitions.Chinafellbehindonmeet- the EU’s digital chief,said in a “Around a quarter(of Britain’s popula- BioNTech-Pfizer partnership and charity Full Fact, said rumours and false lessimpressive,”'saidLouisKuijsofOxford ingthosecommitmentsearlierintheyear statement on the European tion) are entertaining such thoughts. AstraZeneca,side effects have not been informationduringpandemicshavebeen Economics in a report. but is catching up as demand rebounds. Commissionwebsite. Anotherquarterareconsistentlythinking serious orlong lasting. around for centuries.“What technology China’sglobaltradesurplusforthefirst The two governments agreed to post- intermsofconspiracybeliefs,andaround Some also believe unfounded claims has done is it’s enabled them to spread 11 months of 2020 is $460 billion, up pone further planned tariff hikes on each Iran denies rumours over one in 10 people seem to have averyhigh spreadovertheInternet,includingthatthe far more quickly and far more interna- 21.4%fromthistimelastyear,alreadyone other’s goods but most penalties already rateofendorsementofconspiracybeliefs.” pandemicwas fabricated bygovernments tionally in a way that is fairly unprece- of the highest everrecorded. imposed on billions of dollars of imports supreme leader’s health The World Health Organization esti- to control people or that Microsoft co- dented,”he said. — REUTERS Exports to the United States rose to stayed in place. AN OFFICIALCLOSE to Iran’s $51.9 billion while imports of American Chinese imports are growing faster by Supreme LeaderAyatollahAli goods gained 33% to $14.6 billion. volumethanbyvaluebecausedemandhas Khamenei denied rumours on social The trade surplus with the United beenchilledbytheshutdownoftraveland media on Mondaythat the 81-year- States swelled 52% over a year earlier to industry,driving prices lower.China is on old's healthwas deteriorating.“Bythe Scarcity fears: Water futures to trade $37.3 billion. track to become the only major economy grace of God andwith the good Beijing promised to buy more Ameri- to grow this year while activity in the US, prayers of devotees,the gentleman can soybeans, natural gas and other Europe and Japan falls. (Ayatollah Khamenei) is in good on Wall Street starting this week health and is busyvigorouslycarrying out his plan according to his routine,” the official,Mehdi Fazaeli,said on KIM CHIPMAN wateriscertainlyincreasedinimportance.” Hong Kong: US planning new Twitter.Fazaeli hasworked in an December 7 Thefutureswillbefinanciallysettled,as office publishing Khamenei’swork. opposed to requiring the actual physical His tweetwas also reported byIran’s WATER IS JOINING gold, oil and other deliveryofwater,andarebasedontheNas- sanctions on Chinese officials semi-official Fars news agency. commodities traded on Wall Street,high- daqVelesCaliforniaWaterIndexstartedtwo lightingworriesthatthelife-sustainingnat- years ago.The index sets a weekly bench- MonclerBuys Stone ural resource may become scarce across markspotpriceofwaterrightsinCalifornia, REUTERS The State Department and the White moreoftheworld. underpinnedbythevolume-weightedaver- Washington, December 6 House did not immediately respond to Island for$1.4 bn Farmers,hedgefundsandmunicipalities age of the transaction prices in the state’s requests forcomment. MONCLERAGREEDTO buyStone alike will be able to hedge against — or bet five largest and most activelytradedwater THE UNITED STATES is preparing to Up to 14 people, including officials of Island,a rival makerof high-end on — potential water scarcity starting this “Climate change,droughts,population markets. impose sanctions on at least a China’s parliament, or sportswear,for1.15 billion euros week,whenCMEGrouplaunchescontracts growth, and pollution are likely to make Contracts will include quarterly ones dozen Chinese officials over The move, which NationalPeople’sCongress, ($1.4 billion) in cash and shares, linked to the $1.1-billion California spot waterscarcityissuesandpricingahottopic through 2022,with each representing 10 their alleged role in Beijing’s could come as and members of the CCP, investing in a newplatform for watermarket. foryearstocome,”saidRBCCapitalMarkets acre-feetofwater,equaltoroughly3.26mil- disqualification of elected soon as Monday, would likely be targeted by growth as the pandemic erodes According to Chicago-based CME,the MDandanalystDeaneDray. liongallons. opposition legislators in Hong will target officials measures such as asset demand forluxury.Monclersaid on futures will help water users manage risk “We are definitely going to watch how Currently,ifafarmerwantstoknowwhat Kong, according to three from the Chinese freezes and financial sanc- Mondayitwill purchase 70% of Stone andbetteralignsupplyanddemand. thisnewwaterfuturescontractdevelops.” waterwillcostinCaliforniasixmonthsfrom sources,including a US official Communist Party tions,two sources said. Island’s parent companySPWfrom The contracts,a first of theirkind in the Two billion people now live in nations now,it’skindofa“bestguess,”PatrickWolf, familiarwiththematter. TheUSofficial,speaking chief executive officerCarlo Rivetti US,were announced in September as heat plaguedbywaterproblems,andalmosttwo- seniormanagerandheadofproductdevel- The move, which could on the condition of and othermembers of his family.The and wildfires ravaged the US West Coast. thirds of the world could face water short- opmentatNasdaq,saidinaninterview. come as soon as Monday,will anonymity, said multiple skiwearmakerwill then buythe Theyaremeanttoservebothasahedgefor ages in just fouryears,Tim McCourt,global The futures will allow market partici- targetofficialsfromtheChineseCommu- individualswouldbesanctioned.Aperson remaining 30% from Singapore’s California’s biggest water consumers headofequityindexandalternativeinvest- pantstosee“whatiseverybody’sbestguess,” nist Party (CCP) as President Donald familiar with the matter said the group state investorTemasek.Moncler against skyrocketing prices and a scarcity mentproductsatCME,saidinaninterview. he said.CME declined to identifypotential Trump’sadministrationkeepsuppressure would likely include officials from Hong shares rose as much as 6.5%. gaugeforinvestorsworldwide. “The idea of managing risks associated to marketparticipants.— BLOOMBERG on Beijing in his finalweeks in office. Kong aswell as the mainland.

MAPPING THE VIRUS Brexit crunch Cases exceed � HHS chief sees vaccine for all Americans by second Trump tweets Giuliani has Covid-19 quarter time: stand-off 67 million � New York City Reopens Elementary Schools amid PRESS TRUSTOFINDIA worsening outbreak Washington, December 7 Biden to pick Deaths top � Fauci Warns Christmas May Top Thanksgiving in puts trade deal Covid Infections RUDY GIULIANI, THE personal lawyer to Becerra for 1.53 million � Pandemic relief details set for release as US Donald Trump, has tested positive for on a knife edge Congress seeks deal Covid-19, becoming the latest person in health secretary Recoveries � Paris air show canceled for 2021 due to pandemic the US president’s inner circle to be REUTERS � US hospitals see nearly 2,000 Covid patients a day infected bythe deadlyvirus. PRESIDENT-ELECTJOEBidenplans Brussels /London, December 7 46,594,335 Giuliani, 76, has been taken to the to nominate California Attorney Medstar Georgetown University Hospital General Xavier Becerra as secretary POST-BREXIT TRADE TALKS hung in Global coronavirus cases surpassed 67 million, inWashingtonDC,accordingtoUSmedia of health and human services, the balance on Monday as Britain and with record infections sweeping across US reports.The news of the former mayor of ers for their messages, and said he was two sources said on Sunday, the European Union made a last-ditch states and hospitalizations rising by almost 2,000 a day. NewYorktestingpositivewasfirsttweeted “recovering quickly”. placingtheLatinoformercongress- attempt to bridge significant differences Germany aims to vaccinate 10 million people in byPresidentTrump on Sunday. Giulianiisconsideredathighriskfor man in a critical role battling the and reach a deal that would avoid a the first quarter of 2021, Bild reported, citing a The president and his team have been complications from the coronavirus due coronaviruspandemic.Thechoiceof disorderly exit in just 24 days. draft of the federal government’s vaccination criticised for shunning Covid-19 safety to his age,CNN reported. Becerra,62,who also had been con- With fears of“no-deal”chaos after the plan. At two vaccinations per person, this would guidelines.Trump,74,hadtestedpositive He has spent recent weeks traveling sidered a candidate for US attorney UK leaves the EU’s orbit on December 31, translate to 20 million doses. Italy may receive first 3.4 million doses of the in October. extensively to lead Trump’s failed legal general, came as Biden faced talks will resume in Brussels before Brazil’s leader Jair Bolsonaro is moving to vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE as Trump,aRepublican,whoisyettocon- challenges in an attempt to overturn the morepressuretoadddiversitytohis British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and assert control of the nation’s independent soon as Jan. 15, one week earlier than cede defeat in the November 3 presiden- results of the presidential election. Cabinet appointments. Becerra will European Commission President Ursula health regulator,Anvisa, a move some health expected, Il Messaggero daily reported. tial election, tweeted: “Get better soon On Wednesday, he was in Lansing, leadthehealthagencyasitstruggles von der Leyen review the situation on experts fear will politicize the agency France probably won’t meet a target for an Rudy,wewill carryon!” Michigan,where he did not wear a mask tohandlearesurgenceofthecoron- Monday evening. Iran reported 284 fatalities from Covid-19 in the average of 5,000 daily Covid cases by mid- Giuliani has been leading the Trump while speaking to lawmakers in the key avirus and prepares a mammoth Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin last 24 hours, its lowest number of daily deaths December, set by President Emmanuel Macron in seven weeks, taking the total to 50,594. The as a condition to lift lockdown measures, said campaign’s legal challenges to the 2020 battleground state at a hearing lasting effort to vaccinate Americans said on Sunday the chances of a deal number of daily new infections fell for a fourth Professor Eric Caumes, head of infectious election won by formervice president Joe morethanfourhours.OnThursday,hewas against thevirus. were 50-50. Investment bank JPMorgan day in a row to 10,827, the lowest in four weeks. diseases at Paris hospital Pitie-Salpetriere. Biden,a Democrat. inAtlanta,wherehetalkedtoGeorgiastate — REUTERS said odds of a no-trade deal exit had Inatweet,Giulianithankedwell-wish- senatorswithout a mask. risen to one third from 20%. The British pound tumbled on concerns that there would be no agreement covering annual trade worth With next Mac chips,Apple aims to outclass PCs Nokia will lead 6G wireless nearly $1 trillion. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier MARK GURMAN AND IAN KING istakingdecisivestepstodesignIntelcom- was“rather downbeat as to the prospects December 7 ponents out of its devices. The next two network project for EU of agreement”when he spoke to national lines of Apple chips are also planned to be envoys over orange juice and pastries in APPLE IS PLANNING a series of new Mac moreambitiousthansomeindustrywatch- Brussels on Monday morning, according processors for introduction as early as ers expected for next year.The company BLOOMBERG The group includes wireless to one diplomat who took part in the 2021 that are aimed at outperforming saiditexpectstofinishthetransitionaway December 7 gearmaking-peer Ericsson, mobile meeting. “EU-UK negotiations have Intel’s fastest. fromIntelandtoitsownsiliconin2022. carriers Orange and Telefonica, and entered the endgame, time is running Chip engineers at the technology giant WhileIntelgetslessthan10%ofitsrev- NOKIA OYJ IS leading a group of compa- technology companies including out quickly,” another EU diplomat said. areworkingonseveralsuccessorstotheM1 enue from furnishing Apple with Mac niesanduniversitiesinaEuropeanUnion Intel and Siemens. “It is for the UK to choose between... a customchip,Apple’sfirstMacmainproces- chips,the rest of its PC business is liable to funded wireless project called Hexa-X to positive outcome or a no deal outcome.” sor that debuted in November.If they live refreshed Mac mini desktop and across faceturbulenceiftheiPhonemakerisable help jump-start a new generation of In London, a Conservative Party up to expectations,theywill significantly the MacBook Air range.The company’s todeliverdemonstrablybetter-performing mobile technology that’s already being lawmaker said France would have to outpace the performance of the latest next series of chips,planned forrelease as computers.Itcouldaccelerateashakeupin called 6G. in its infancy,with 100 wireless carriers make concessions on fishing, and the EU machinesrunningIntelchips,accordingto earlyas the spring and laterin the fall,are an industrythat has long been dependent The group includes wireless gearmak- worldwide offering the service in limited would have to drop what he said were people familiarwith the matterwho asked destinedtobeplacedacrossupgradedver- onIntel’spaceofinnovation.ForApple,the ing-peerEricsson,mobile carriers Orange areas,thepreparationfor6Gdevelopment new demands on fair competition nottobenamedbecausetheplansaren’tyet sionsoftheMacBookPro,bothentry-level move sheds that dependency,deepens its andTelefonica,andtechnologycompanies isgettingstartedinseveralregionsaround known as the level playing field. public.Intel’ssharesslid1.7%inearlytrad- and high-end iMac desktops, and later a distinction from the rest of the PC market including Intel and Siemens. They’re theworld. The Sun newspaper reported that inginNewYorkonMondayafterthenews. newMacProworkstation,thepeoplesaid. andgivesitachancetoaddtoitssmall,but joined by the University of Oulu and the In addition to Nokia-led Hexa-X in Johnson, a figurehead for Britain’s Appleshareswerelittlechanged. The road map indicates Apple’s confi- growingshareinPCs. Universityof Pisa,according to the mem- Europe,there’sNextGAllianceandO-RAN campaign to leave the EU, was ready to Apple’s M1 chipwas unveiled in a new dence that it can differentiate its products An Apple spokesman declined to bership list. AllianceintheUS.TheChinesegovernment pull out of the talks within hours unless entry-level MacBook Pro laptop, a onthestrengthofitsownengineeringand comment. — BLOOMBERG While 5G network deployment is still isalsofundinga6Gdevelopmentgroup. the EU changed its demands.

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ON STOCK MARKETS Ajit Mishra, VP, Research, Religare Broking Since the overall trend is up, we recommend ❝ PersonalFinance avoiding contrarian trades and utilising the ❝corrective phase to accumulate quality stocks. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2020

● MUTUAL FUNDS ● YOUR MONEY SUNIL K. PARAMESWARAN Index funds are good forfirst-time investors Identifying portfolio at a lowcost. If you are new to investing INDEX MATTERS Most of the index funds are also avail- market in equity and risk-averse, able as exchange traded funds.The advan- ■ Index funds are generally tage of investing in an index fundwhich is then investing in index suited for investors who are anexchangetradedfund(ETF)isthatthese instruments funds is a good idea as it risk-averse and expect ETFs are listed on the stock exchanges like stocks.This makes it easy for buying and will provide you an predictable returns sellingofthesame.Investorsshouldprefer via ISIN code exposure to a broad-based ■ Choose a broad-based index thoseindexfundsthathavelowertracking ` fund which helps you cover the errors. This is basically the different MANYOFUS trade on the stock exchange portfolio at a low cost Expense majority of the actively traded between the performance delivered by an andplacemarketandlimitordersonarou- Ratio stocks in the market indexfundandtheindexitreplicates.Obvi- tinebasis.Specifyingthestocktobebought PSARAVANAN BSE SENSEX ously,higherthetrackingerror,thelesseffi- or sold is a relatively easy task,since most ■ The advantage of investing cientistheindexfundinconsideration. companies issue only one type of equity THE BSE-SENSEX HAS TOUCHED an all- in an index fund which is an shares.Thus,allwe need to do is to specify time high of 45,000, motivating many exchange traded fund (ETF) is Other advantages thestocksymbol. active equity investors to consider invest- that these ETFs are listed on Astheportfolioisbasedontheparticu- Attimes,acompanymayhavemultiple inginindexfunds.Investinginsuchfunds the stock exchanges larindex,thereislesschurningoftheport- share classes that are outstanding. For ensures performance identical to that of folio.Hence,significant costs are saved on instance,Tata Motors has issued regular the indexwhich is being tracked,and gen- Index fund ■ You can buy and sell index brokeragethusleadingtolessexpenseratio equity shares and shares with differential erally such funds have low expense ratio. funds any day at the price comparedtoactivelymanagedfunds.With votingrights(DVR)shares.Whileordinary Letuslookatthesameindetail. prevailing at that time index funds,one can buyand sell anytime equitysharescarryonevotepershareheld, during the day at the price prevailing at a DVRsharewill have a lowervoting right, ■ Mechanics of index funds Go for those index funds that that time.Hence,one can take the advan- say,onevoteforevery10sharesheld.Con- Index funds are mutual funds with a have lower tracking errors tage of the price not available otherwise. sequently,ifoneisplacinganorderforTata portfolio made to manage or track the Empirically, none of the index funds has Motors equity,the trader needs to specify components of a specific market index. ILLUSTRATION: SHYAM KUMAR PRASAD shown negative results on a long term whether he wants to trade the regular Such funds provide broad market and low For whom it is suitable investors who have a long-term invest- an investment.It is always a good idea to basis.Thisshowsthatindexfundscanlimit shares,ortheDVRshares. portfolioexposurewithcomparativelower Index funds are generally suitable for ment horizon. However, if one wishes to choose a broad-based index fund which thelossesoftheinvestors. operatingcosts.Thesefundsfollowspecific investors who are risk-averse and expect earn market-beating returns, then one helpsyoucoverthemajorityoftheactively Toconclude,theinvestmentdecisionin Buy or sell bonds rules and standards irrespective of the predictable returns. One of the major shouldnotchooseindexfunds. traded stocks in the market.For instance, an index fund solely depends upon indi- Bonds, however, are more complex.A ongoingstatusofthemarket.Forinstance, advantagesofthistypeoffundsisthatthey you may choose the Nifty top 100 index vidual investors’ risk preferences and company may issue bonds maturing in when an index fund tracks a benchmark do not require extensive tracking.These Consider the following fund.Ifyou are newto investing in equity investmentgoals. 2025 or 2030 or 2035.Each is a different index like Niftythen its portfoliowill have funds generate returns matching the If the idea of investing in index funds and risk-averse, then investing in index security.In 2030,for an issuer,there may the 50 stocks that comprise Nifty, in the upside that the particular index sees.Fur- suits your risk appetite and investment funds is a good idea to start with as it will Thewriterisaprofessoroffinance& bebondsmaturinginMarchorinSeptem- sameproportions. ther,these funds are best suited for those goals,followthetipsbelowbeforemaking provide an exposure to a broad-based accounting,IIMTiruchirappalli ber.Thetwoconstitutedifferentsecurities. ForbondswithaMarch2030maturity,the companymayhaveissuedbondswitha6% ● YOUR QUERIES coupon and an 8% coupon.These two are Investor obviouslydifferent.

Dhaval Kapadia DVR Normal Shares Shares Mutual funds ideal ● ULTRATECH CEMENT RATING: BUY forinvestors as Capacity expansion to increase mkt share Bonds fund managers do Mgmt expects IRR of 15% UTCEM positioned to outperform ISIN the homework Capacity ROCE Net debt/ on new capacity; company (million tonne) (%) Ebitda ● Is it betterto invest in stocks orgo (No. of times) formutual fund SIP? In mutual funds, likely to be debt-free by 160 there is expense ratiobut direct FY23e; ‘Buy’ retained with 15.0 investment in stocks is almost free of 130.9 1.7 cost through some apps. target price of `5,725 111.4 —SameerDhanjal 11.5 Direct investments require professional expertise on global and ULTRATECH CEMENT(UTCEM) Net cash domestic macro environment,sectors, announced expansion of 12.8mnte ILLUSTRATION: SHYAM KUMAR PRASAD stock research,management quality,etc., capacities(12%ofcurrentcapacities)in forasset allocation and securityselect- thefast-growingmarketsofEast,Central Consequently,atraderwhowishestobuy FY23 FY30 FY20 FY23 ion.Mutual funds meet these key and North regions on the back of recent FY20 FY20 orsellbondsmustspecifytheidentityofthe

requirements at reasonable costs, demand optimism.Given that >70% of projects issuer; the year of maturity; the month of Expansion offering exposure towell-diversified theseexpansionsarebrownfieldexpan- Increased Rising Stronger maturity;andthecouponrate.Forinstance, portfolios,which an individual investor sionswith average capex cost of $60/te, capacity ROCE balance sheet apersonmayplaceabuyorderfor100Tata maynot be able to achieve given a low mgmt expects healthy RoCE of 15% (vs Source: Company data, I-Sec research Motors Debentures with a coupon of investment corpus.The 11.5% in FY20) led by better profitabil- 7.50%,maturinginOctober2028.Ininter- portfolio manager ity.Despite these expansions,it expects national markets, there can be securities positions the portfolio UTCEM to be net debt free byFY23e.We 12.8mnte capacities in these regions. power needs for these would be met demand growth over past fewyears and whichareidenti- based on his expect UTCEM to continue to gain mar- Management now expects positive vol- through WHRS.And coupled with low that got accelerated over past 2-3 cal in terms of All Indian securities assessment of the ket share with improved profitability/ ume growth in FY21. average capex cost of $60/te and better months. 2/3rd of 60-70mnte industry the year and the have an ISIN that macro-environ-ment/ RoCEs. Maintain Buy with unchanged Market share gains to continue: profitability,mgmt expects IRR of 15% capacity additions over next three years month of matu- begins with IN. sector/security,and TPof `5,725/share (13x Sep’22e EV/E). Overall, UTCEM plans to add 11.4mnte on these expansions. areplannedintheseregions.Accordingly, rity, and the MUTUAL The ISIN is a monitors and churns Recentdemandoptimismdriving clinkerand19.5mntecementcapacities We already factor in capex of `75 bn utilisationsareunlikelytofallbelow85% coupon rate,but 12 character FUNDS the portfolio according expansion plans: UTCEM likely regis- atacapexof`65bnbyFY23E.Hence,its overFY22-23efortheseexpansionsand inNorthandCentralregions,andalsoled whichdifferwith alphanumeric code. to developments in the tered highest-ever monthly volumes in total domestic capacity will increase to maintenance/operational efficiencies by higher consolidation,prices are likely respect to the market and the economy.Hence,mutual Oct’20 with 80-85% utilisation imply- 131mnte,whichwillexpanditscapacity capex. We expect UTCEM to generate to remain firm. However, prices in East currencyofissue. In the US and funds are ideal forinvestorswho need to ing strong 88-90% utilisation in East, share from the current 22.3%. healthy OCF of `190 bn over FY22-23e may continue to remain under pressure For instance,the Canada they use focus theirtime and resources in their Central and North regions.Accordingly, Focusonprofitablegrowth:Grind- and turn net debt free in FY23e. and companies may improve cost struc- same issuermay an identification primaryprofession. companyfeareditmayfacecapacitycon- ingunitadditionsinEastwouldprovide Wouldindustrypricing/profitabil- turetosustaincurrentprofitability. have issued number called Individuals have to paycapital gains straint in peak periods over next few logistic savings of `300-400/te and ity be impacted? East and Central bonds with a CUSIP or the ICICI SECURITIES taxwhen shares are soldwhile churning years and announced expansion of improveprofitabilityinEast.40%ofthe regions have been registering strong coupon of 4% Committee on his/herportfolio.Investors are not maturinginSep- subject to capital gains taxwhen the tember 2030,in Uniform Securities portfolio managersells securities.Also, Financials snapshot (` bn) presence in the Healthcare vertical as it both US Dollars Identification Procedures direct equityinvestors are subject to Y/E Mar FY20 FY21E FY22E is seeing new business overlap between and in Euros. annual maintenance charges of the itscoreverticalsofCPG,RetailandTech- Consequently,in demat account,which is needed to invest Sales 77.6 79.2 90.4 nologyintoareaslikePayer,Providerand such cases, in via the direct route and brokerage EBIT Margin (%) 10.5 16.4 16.5 Device Manufacturing. It plans to grow addition to the coupon rate,the maturity charges as applicable.Mutual fund PAT 6.3 9.9 11.5 thisgradually,usingcurrentcapabilities year,andtheexpirationmonth,thecurrency investors do not require a demat account EPS (`) 38.3 60.1 69.6 and has no plans for significant invest- alsoneedstobespecified. and do not have to shell out anyother EPS Gr. (%) (16.4) 56.8 15.9 ments to increase its presence rapidly. costs otherthan the expense ratio. BV/Sh. (`) 192 238 285 New strategy would need invest- Identification number Hence,investing through equitymutual Ratios ments: We see the new strategy of In India,securities are identified using funds is betterthan direct stock RoE (%) 20.0 25.2 24.5 expanded regional focus and planned ISIN orthe International Securities Identi- investing unless one is a professional RoCE (%) 32.0 19.6 19.4 expansion into Healthcare as potential fication Number.All Indian securities have investorand aligned to above criteria. Payout (%) 33.9 37.4 28.7 additions to its medium-term revenue anISINthatbeginswithIN.TheISINisa12- Valuations aspiration of growing above industry characteralphanumericcode.IntheUSand ● Iinvest `10,000 everymonthin a P/E (x) 37.6 24.0 20.7 growth.ButincreasingpresenceinConti- Canada theyuse an identification number large cap fund.The cost of investment P/BV (x) 7.5 6.0 5.1 nental Europe and APAC would require calledCUSIPortheCommitteeonUniform is `4 lakh and the currentvalue is EV/Ebitda (x) 21.2 14.4 12.1 upfront investment,which can impact SecuritiesIdentificationProcedures.CUSIP `4.68 lakh.What is the rate of return Div Yield (%) 0.9 1.6 1.4 near-termprofitability.Wewouldwaitfor isa9-characteralphanumericcode. myfund is generating? Source: Company data, MOFSL further progress on new strategy before ACUSIPnumbercanbeconvertedtoan —Nitin Kumar bakinginanyimpactintoourestimates. ISINasfollows.IfitisaUSsecurity,weneed The realised return (yield) can be ● MINDTREE RATING: NEUTRAL toprefixtheCUSIPwith‘US’andaddacheck computed byplotting the cash flows (SIP Valuation andview digit at the end.If it is a Canadian security, amount) against respective dates in an Since Jul’19,afterthe disruption pertain- we need to prefix the CUSIPwith‘CA’,and Excel spreadsheet; and using the‘XIRR’ New strategy would require spend ing to ownership change,MTCLhas been add a check digit at the end. Some other formula.Assuming investment on the taking steps toward achieving stabilityin majormarketshavetheirownsecurityiden- 1st of each month forpast 40 months, its client and employee count.Persistent tification codes.For instance,the UK has a and current marketvalue as of November Weakness in top 2-10 client bucket a concern; positives factored in; ‘Neutral’ retained weakness in the Top 2-10 client bucket system called SEDOL,which stands forthe 20,2020; the fund has donewell as it has (-3.5%q-o-q,8-quarterCQGRof-2%)isa StockExchangeDailyOfficialList.SEDOLis outperformed its categorybenchmark concern.High exposure to Travel,Trans- a7character-alphanumericsecurityidenti- (S&PBSE 100TRI) and peers delivering WE ATTENDED MINDTREE’S (MTCL’s) industrygroupsareinitsexistingareasof land,ContinentalEuropeandAsia-Pacific port,andHospitalityisalsoexpectedto be ficationcode.ItcanbeconvertedtoanISIN, annualised growth of 9.54%,compared Analyst Day, where the management operations,the changes in service lines andRoW)tosellindustrycapabilitiestoa adragonoverallrecovery.Thestockiscur- by adding two zeros at the outset,and the to 8.43% bycategorybench-mark and shareditsnew4x4x4strategyandoppor- (CustomerSuccess,DataandIntelligence, wider client base.Mgmt also announced rently trading at 21x FY22e EPS. We countrycodeafterthat.Likeinthecaseofthe 7.36% bylarge-cap peers on average. tunities in digital trends.Here are the key Cloud and Enterprise IT) point to an ele- strengthening of its Consulting practice believe keypositives are alreadycaptured CUSIP,an ISIN check digit is added at the highlights from the meet: MTCL vatedfocusonDigital(threeoutofthefour tobettercross-sellitsnewservicelines. andseelimitedupside.OurTPimplies22x end.Germany has a system calledWKN or The writeris director,Investment announced its new 4x4x4 strategy,with servicelinesareintheDigitaldomain). Healthcare a potential future FY22EPS.MaintainNeutral. Wertpapierkennnummer. Advisory,MorningstarInvestmentAdviser four industry groups,four service lines, Itplanstocreatelocalteamsandlead- addition to industry verticals: MTCL (India).Send yourqueries to and four geographies. While the four ershipinnon-USgeographies(UKandIre- announced it is looking to expand its MOTILAL OSWAL ThewriterisCEO, [email protected] TarheelConsultancyServices

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Nitin Chugh, MD & CEO, Ujjivan SFB

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● Money Matters VACCINE HOPE SBI to boost retail book, G-SEC Markets close at fresh record sees better earnings The benchmark yield rose 0.027% under selling pressure SUVASHREE GHOSH December 7 5.926 highs; FMCG,banks spurt STATE BANK OFIndia(SBI)willaccelerate FE BUREAU retail loans and expects most lenders to 5.887 Mumbai, December 7 Sensex Intra-day, December 7 Nifty50 Intra-day, December 7 poststronger-than-anticipatedearningsas 45,426.97 13,355.75 45,500 13,375 theeconomyrevivesfasterthanexpected, BENCHMARK INDICES HIT new highs accordingtochairmanDineshKhara. again on Monday, with the Nifty rising 45,400 13,350 “The banks were expecting worse, so November 25 December 7 45,099.92 97.2 points (0.73%) to close at 13355.75 13,264.85 they strengthened risk management sig- and the Sensex gaining 347.42 points 45,300 13,325 nificantly,”Khara,whotookchargeashead `/$ (0.77%) to end at 45426.97.Robust buy- of the country’s largest lenderin October, 45,200 ing in finance, FMCG and banking coun- 13,300 said in an interview with Bloomberg Tele-

The rupee ended lower tersoffsetweakglobalcuesandadepreci- vision on Monday. “That’s why we are 0.152% 45,100 The banks were expecting amid strength in the ating rupee. Positive news on the Covid 13,275 expected to see much better results than worse, so they strengthened

dollar vaccine front also lifted the sentiment. 45,000 at the beginning of the pandemic.” Siddhartha Khemka, head – retail 13,250 SBI’sbadloanratiofellto5.28%atthe ❝risk management Inverted scale research,MotilalOswalFinancialServices, 44,900 end of September from 5.44% three 13,225 significantly.That’s why we 73.90 said,“On the domestic side, progress on Open Close Open Close months earlier,but the bank warned that ❝ 73.91 the Covid-19vaccine led to the extension it expects a further `20,000 crore ($2.7 are expected to see much of the rallydespiteweak global cues.” billion) of loans to sour over the next six better results than at the Market experts believe the broader Foreign portfolio investors equitieswith a slightlylonger-termview.” monthsasthepandemichurtsborrowers. market continues to offer opportunities. on Monday bought stocks worth ForeignportfolioinvestorsonMonday However, the bank has provided for its beginning of the pandemic. TheBSEMidcapandBSESmallcaproseby $512 million, according to boughtstocksworth$512million,accord- potential bad loans in advance,whichwill November 25 December 7 — DINESH KHARA , CHAIRMAN, SBI 0.95%and1.3%,respectively,onMonday. provisional data on the exchanges ing to provisional data on the exchanges. prevent significant pressure from build- In November, mid-cap and small-cap Big gainers on the Sensex were Hin- ing,Khara said last month. C=/$ indices outperformed the Sensex. dustan Unilever,Bharti Airtel,HDFC,ITC, SBIisnotinahurrytodiveststakeinits ambition,with ourdigitisation.” On a year-to-date basis, their perfor- andTech Mahindra,up by3.09%,3.05%, home-grown digital application Yono, SBIhasraised$900millionofdeposits The Euro fell against 0.082% mance is much better compared to the QuantumMutualFund,said,“Thebench- 2.54%, 2.5%, and 2.41%, respectively. which has 28.5 million registered users, and extended $400 million of loans the dollar Sensex, with the BSE Midcap rising by mark indices look richly valued, after the SignificantloserswereNestleIndia,Kotak Kharasaid.Hispredecessorhadestimated through the app, Khara said.Yono con- 14.3% and the BSE Small Cap rising by sharp November rally, but the broader Mahindra Bank,Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance that it could beworth $40 billion a few tributed`200croretothebank’sprofitas 1.2111 24.5%. market still offers significant opportuni- and HDFC Bank,down by 1.49%,1.37%, months ago.“At some stage we will con- ofJulyandisexpectedtoadd`1,000crore Sorbh Gupta,associate fund manager, ties.We remain optimistic about Indian 1.3%,1% and 0.94%,respectively. sider this aspect,” Khara said. “We had forthefullfinancialyear,accordingtothe introduced Yono as a delivery platform bank’s latest investorpresentation. 1.1917 within the bank. It was in sync with our —BLOOMBERG MOODY’S VIEW Franklin India November 25 December 7 says investors ICICI Bank launches interoperable banking app HDFC Bank’s multiple digital THE SECOND LARGEST private sector ordigitalwallets;orbillpaymentsandonline may lose money lender ICICI Bank on Monday launched a recharges,amongothers,ICICIBanksaid. new version of its mobile payment app Theappalsooffersinstantbankingser- Quick outages credit negative if plan spurned which is interoperable and allows pay- vices such as savings account, investments and other banking services to cus- ments, loans, credit cards, gift cards and RAHUL SATIJA tomers of anyotherbank. travel cards,among others. View HDFC Bank is the market leader by value of digital transactions December 7 The latest version of the bank’s mobile Claiming it to be a first-of-its-kind processed for April to September 2020 banking app is called iMobile Pay,through facility,thebanksaidtheappalsoprovides 25% FRANKLINTEMPLETONASSETManage- which customers of other banks can link interoperability as customers no longer Value Volume ment(India)warnedinvestorsofpotential their bank account,generate a UPI ID and havetoremembertheUPIIDsoftheircon- 20% losses if theyvote against its plan to wind startpaying,shopping,transferfundstoany tacts,and can transfer money across pay- Rupee settles 10 paise 15% up more than $4 billion of debt funds it bankaccountortoanyotherpaymentapps ment apps andwallets.—PTI froze earlierthisyear. 10% lower at 73.90 vs dollar Electronic voting will take place THERUPEEDROPPEDby10paiseto 5% December26to28ontheassetmanager’s settleat73.90(provisional)againstthe plan, according to a statement from the ANALYST CORNER 0% UScurrencyonMondayduetoastron- HDFC SBIICICI Axis Standard PNB Kotak UBI IDBI Canara companyon Monday. gerdollarinoverseasmarkets.Atthe Bank Bank Bank Chartered Mahindra Bank Bank Franklin is seeking a simple-majority interbankforexmarket,rupeewitne- Market share is based on transactions conducted via National Electronic Fund Transfer, mobile banking consent of unitholders on its proposal to Maintain‘buy’on Adani Ports ssedavolatiletradingsession.Itopened customer transaction using Real Time Gross Settlement system and point of sale transactions completed windupsixplansithadshutteredinApril, at73.79androsetoanintra-dayhighof using debit and credit cards; Source: Reserve Bank of India which locked in `30,800 crore ($4.2 bil- 73.70anddroppedtoalowof73.96.It lion) in the biggest forced fund closure with target price of `530 finallyclosedat73.90adollar. FE BUREAU On December 3, HDFC Bank everin India. NOMURA declining by 20% y/y in FY21Fand Mumbai, December 7 announced that the RBI had asked Thecountry’stopcourtaskedtheasset further 16% y/y in FY22F.This cost DCBBankcutsone-year the bank to temporarily stop all manager on December 3 to initiate steps OVERALLVOLUME OUTLOOK strong rationalization coupledwith ~12-15% THERESERVEBANKofIndia’s(RBI)action tomeetunitholdersinaweek,asitagreed with momentum continuing into 3QFY- price hike leads us to estimate 73.5% MCLRbyupto0.18% against HDFC Bank in response to weak- launches under its Digital 2.0 to hear Franklin’s appeal against a lower 21; acquisition significantly value-accre- EBITDAmargin in FY22Fand sustainable DCB BANKONMondaysaidithas nesses in its digital infrastructure and initiative and sourcing new credit courtverdictthathadblockedwindingup tive Raise EBITDAestimates by 3-4% ov- margin of75% from FY23F(estimating reducedmarginalcostoffunds-based operational resilience is credit negative, card customers the debt fundswithout investorconsent. er FY21-23F on strong operational that mechanization levelswill rise from lendingrates(MCLRs)byupto0.18% rating agency Moody’s said on Monday. If the investors vote down the resolu- turnaround at KPCLacquisition; raiseTP 55% at present to 85-90%).Thus,we acrossvarioustenors.Thebenchmark This is because the bank is increasingly tion,the shut funds“would be required to to `530; maintain Buy with 17% upside increase our EBITDAmargin estimate for one-yearMCLRhasbeencutto9.67%, relying on digital channels to source and has the potential to increase spending to reopen immediately and may need an ADSEZ has risen 19% YTD, vs the Nifty KPCLby 600bp for FY21Fand 900bp for thebanksaid.Itwas9.85%earlier.The serviceitscustomers. improve the bank’s digital infrastructure, emergency liquidation of securities, if a 50’s rise of 9%.This outperformance is FY22F.We estimatevalue accretion of one-yearMCLRistherateagainstwhich The recurring outages also risk hurting which would strain its profitability,they high volume of redemption is received,” underpinned by strong volume growth INR60/sh from the turnaround ofKPCL. mostoftheconsumerloansarepriced. thebank’sbrandperceptionamongagrow- added. On December 3, HDFC Bank Franklin said in the statement.“This may in 1HFY21, which beat our estimates. We estimateADSEZ can deliver 12%+ Newrateswillcometoeffectfrom ing and increasingly digitally-savvy cus- announcedthattheRBIhadaskedthebank entail distress sales of securities in order Based on the strong turnaround of new ROCE on its acquisitions.We expect new December8,2020,DCBBanksaid. tomerbase,andincreasesthepotentialthat to temporarily stop all launches under its to meet the redemptions received.” acquisitions (KPCLand Dhamra) and assets like Dhamra and KPCLto exceed clients switch to otherbanks,whichwould Digital 2.0 initiative and sourcing new The Supreme Court is scheduled to volume momentum, we continue to be 12% ROCE by FY21Fand FY22Frespec- UjjivanSFBlaunches leadtoareductioninrevenueandlow-cost creditcardcustomers. hearthecasenextonDecember9,andhas positive. tively. In the future, ifnew assets are turn- retailfunding. Theannouncementcameafterthebank asked Franklin to give an update then ADSEZ has turned around its ed around like Dhamra and KPCLto achi- newbankingchannel “Wedonotexpecttheregulators’ action experiencedmultipleoutagesinitsinternet aboutitsstepstogetunitholderapproval. Krishnapatnam (KPCL) acquisition eve steady-state ROCE ofc.16% UJJIVANSMALLFINANCE BankonMo- tomateriallyaffectthebank’sexistingbusi- banking,mobilebankingandpaymentutil- Market participants are closely track- significantly ahead ofour previous (management target for KPCLis 20% on ndaysaidithasintroducedanewchan- nessandfinancialprofile.Nevertheless,the ity services over the past two years.HDFC ing the case,where even the markets reg- estimates, leading to earnings upgrade: a steady state), the stock has potential neltomakebankingservicesaccessible RBI action will delay the launch of HDFC Bank is the second-largest bank in India by ulator Securities & Exchange Board of ADSEZ has turned around the operations valuation range of`540-560, in ourview. tocustomersintheirneighbourhood. Bank’s Digital 2.0 initiative,underwhich deposits and is a leader in terms of digital Indiaearlierfacedacourt’sire.InOctober, more efficiently than anticipated.We 3QFY21 also appears promisingwith Thechannel-MoneyMitra-willfacilit- thebankaimstoconsolidateallcustomers’ transactionsprocessed.Inthefiscalyearthat the lowercourt said in its orders that Sebi estimate that cost measures and strongvolume momentum in Oct/No- ateentrepreneursrunninglocalbusi- digital transactions,including payments, ended in March 2020, about 95% of the failed to protect investors’ interest and operational efficiencies amounting to v’20. Excluding the KPCLacquisition, nesseslikekirana,pharmaciesandinsu- savings, investments, shopping, trade, bank’s retail transactions were conducted remaineda“silentspectator.”Thetopcourt INR2.4bn highlighted by the ADSEZ’s underlying portvolume growth ranceagenciestoofferretailbankingto insurance and advisory services,into one digitally,upfromabout85%infiscal2018, will also take up an appeal bySebi against management appear sustainable.This in has been robust at 22% and 10% y/yfor thebank’scustomersexclusively. platform,”analysts at Moody’s wrote.This Moody’ssaid. that order.—BLOOMBERG ourview leads to opex/t (ex-royalty) Oct’20 and Nov’20, respectively. ● INTERVIEW: ALBERT KWOK, MD, PGIM Jennison Associates Maintain‘buy/SO’on ICICI ‘We remain focused on secular growth firms’ Bank; CASAremains strong Thenewnormalwillcreateanenvironment We think the new normal will create a utility, especially in times of unprece- EDELWEISS SECURITIES improvements likevideo KYC or pre- for active investors to generate alpha, says great environment for active investors to denteddisruptionandrestrictedmobility, approved lending to the domain ofindi- Albert Kwok, managing director, PGIM generatealpha.Weremainfocusedonsec- demandforandadoptionoftheirservices KEYTAKEAWAYFROM ICICI Bank’s vidual risk assessment and pricing. Mana- Jennison Associates. In an interview with ular growth companies that are mostly andproductsaresettoaccelerate,leading (ICICIB)Analyst Day 2020 was of an gement is confident ofthe bank’s Urvashi Valecha, Kwok says the worst of found in the consumer, technology and to greater penetration and market share organisation that has achieved near- proprietary credit filters and scorecards, the Covid-19 pandemic seems to be behind healthcaresectors.Webelievethatoppor- gains.Theearningsgrowthweexpectfrom term goals of stabilisation and is now communicating that its 100-parameter India.Excerpts: tunitieswillemergeregardlessoftheeco- our holdings is well above market aver- looking to build further.The event was scorecardswere ~80% accurate in pred- nomic orpolitical backdrop. ages. not just some low-resolution promise of icting defaults. India,barring China at $8 billion,has higher aggregate growth, but a blow- We’ve alwaysvouched for ICICIB as receivedthehighestinflowsamongEMs Global markets have risen quite a lot India has introduced a number of by-blow enunciation of its favoured one ofthe CASAchampions ofIndian inNovember.WhydoesIndiastandout? fromtheircrashandvaluationsaresoar- reforms. How have these changed the approach to deepening the moats of its banking.This and the balance sheet com- In India,wealth accumulation and rising.What kind of returns do you expect perception of the Indian markets? existing business lines through dual forts ofhigh provisioning/capitalisation ingdiscretionaryspendinghavebeencat- from equities in this scenario? The direction is positive and the mar- levers of analytics and digitisation. has undeniably played a role in our selec- alysts for growth. Lifestyle changes and Despite strong year-to-date perfor- ket should view the reforms construc- Hard knocks from the past form the tion ofit as our sector top pick, rendered urbanisation have driven up consump- mance,we remain comfortablewith port- tively,particularly those on labour laws sub-text of this plan, revealed only in further attractive byvaluation-driven (1.4- tion, increasing demand in areas such as folio level valuations and the reasons and the agricultural sector.However,exe- its finer texture (eco-system approach x FY22E core BVPS) margin ofsafety.On educationalandfinancialservices,health- behind their expansion.The growth pro- acceleration in many secular trends that cution and implementation are keys. to tracking risk/opportunity in rural & the asset front, however,we have not as- care products, and leisure. Companies files of the companies we own remain werealreadytakingplacebeforeCovid-19. business banking, early warning sumed much beyond low cost offunds offeringtheseserviceshavealongrunway attractive, especially the secular growth What isyouroutlook forIndia as a mar- analytics, etc.). ICICIB continues as our driven benefits ofpositive rate selection for secular growth.One of the reasons for stocksinwhichweinvest,versusotherseg- Investment banks are saying this is the ket for2021? top ‘BUY’. andwide reach backed broad credit ma- the inflows is that the worst of the Covid- ments of the market.We are also comfort- start of strong corporate earnings for In early 2020,we reduced our weight ICICIB’s retail focuswas in ample rket prominence.The latest strategy pro- 19 pandemic seems to be behind India. ablewith portfoliovaluations becauseour EMs.Yourviewon the same. aggressively due to the impact Covid-19 evidence. Management made it clear mises the leap from “Good to Great”.We Daily new cases have been on the decline fundamental research suggests that the Webelievethatmanyofthewinnersof was having on ourIndian holdings.As the that hyper- personalised and targeted take note ofitsvastwealth ofdata and d- and mortality rates remain low. Many businessesofmanyholdingsareaccelerat- the last fewyears offer differentiated and highfrequencyeconomicdataimprovein meeting ofcustomer needs, bothwithin eep franchise moats on liabilities to surm- pockets of the economy have been recov- ing during the pandemic. We are very disruptive business models that are even India,we are more encouraged about the and beyond banking, christened ‘Custo- ise that, ifindeed, execution can happen ering back to the pre-Covid-19 levels. mindfulofvaluationandweaddressitone more compelling in the current period of pace of the recovery and future invest- mer 360’,remains the credo ofits digital on the lines articulated in the bank’s pre- stock at a time; however,we believe that economic turmoil and social distancing. ment opportunities in India.We recently initiative.Alevel ofservice made possible sentation, success & therefore re-rating to WhatisyourviewonEMsandtherever- priceearnings(PE)arenotanaccuratepre- E-commercecompanies,healthcareinno- increased our exposure to India by re- only through deep embedding of sector leadershipvaluations is possible. sal of the globalisation trend? dictoroffuturereturns;futureearningsare vators and digital payments systems are establishing a position in HDFC Bank and technology and alignment ofon-ground However,we cannot take the leap of The world is indeed becoming more whatdrivestockpriceperformance.While among companies positioned for contin- adding to our existing holdings. Overall, business capabilitieswith data-driven faith that it is already probable.The best inward looking. Localisation and supply near-term PEs might look rich,we believe uedgrowth.Ascompaniesandindividuals Indiaisoneofthefewtrueemergingmar- individualised insights.This becomes part ofany re-rating to our core multiple chain diversification will create opportu- that earnings are depressed due to the indevelopingcountriesgainanenhanced ketsleftandweareoptimisticinthelong- especially relevant in the domain ofretail will await hard evidence ofexecution. nities formanycountries and companies. Covid-19disruption.Wearealsoseeingan appreciation of their distinct value and term outlook forIndia. loanswhen it moves past mere efficiency Wemaintain ‘BUY/SO’.

Pune WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2020 FINANCIAL EXPRESS MARKETS 11

Companies garner AMCs launch new funds with `73,215 crore from overseas exposure to cut risk capital mkts in Oct COMPANIES RAISED `73,215 crore from the URVASHI VALECHA whichofferdiversification.One overseas markets are more capital markets in October,with private place- Mumbai, December 7 can get an exposure to a differ- suitable formatured investors mentofdebtinstrumentscontinuingtobethe enteconomywhichhaslowcor- whohaveasizableexposureto most-preferred route forfunding. AS THEEQUITY markets relation with the Indian econ- domestic equities and are Funds have been mopped up mainly for continue to hit new highs omyandcandiversifyrisks.” looking to further diversify businessexpansionplans,loanrepaymentsand every week, mutual fund These funds are being their portfolios. G Pradeepku- working capital requirements. houses are looking forways pitchedasthematicfundshav- mar, CEO, Union AMC, said, Accordingtomonthlybulletinpublishedby to diversify risk.One of the ing the potential to generate “These kind of funds which SebionMonday,firmsraisedatotalof`73,215 strategies adopted by the better returns because of invest in foreign equityare for croreinOctober,comparedwith`75,232crore industry is to invest in global Investing in foreign equities diversification.Therearemany investors who have a sizable in September, through issuance of equity and markets.Two newfund offers not only helps investors fundhousesthatarelaunching exposure to the Indian mar- debtsecurities.Outofthecumulative`73,215 (NFOs) that opened for sub- generate better returns multi-asset funds and funds ketsandwanttodiversifytheir crore garnered in October, `62,331 crore was scription lastweekwill invest over a period of time, but that invest in both Indian and portfolio.They should be sub- mopped up from private placement of debt a part of the investible corpus also gives them access to foreign equities. This could scribed to more from the view securities and `4,144 crore through private in overseas stocks. become mainstream. of diversification and de-risk- placement of equity. PTI global companies and Axis Special Situations The compounded annual ing rather than from the view Fund and the Aditya Birla Sun growth stories growth rate (CAGR) returns of generating higherreturns.” Life ESG Fund,which opened from domestic equities have Most funds that diversify for subscription last week, been9.4%forthelastoneyear, their investments by putting would be investing up to 30% notonlyhelpsinvestorsgener- 9.05% over three years and capital into foreign equities as and 35% of corpus in foreign atebetterreturnsoveraperiod 11.07%overfiveyears.Market anassetclasshavemanagedto equity markets.According to of time, but also gives them experts believe that investors beattheCAGRreturnsthatthe the fund houses, global equi- accesstoglobalcompaniesand needtotonedowntheirexpec- benchmarks have given over a ties as an asset class will help growth stories. tations from the market period of one year,but when investors diversify their expo- AshishNaik,fundmanager– despite the sharp rise in mar- compared to CAGR returns sure to equities and help de- equity,AxisAMC,said,“Foreign kets since March. over three- and five-year peri- risktheportfolio.Additionally, equitiesshouldbelookedatasa Accordingtoexperts,prod- ods, they have underper- investing in foreign equities different asset class altogether ucts that offer exposure to formed the indices. Suitorsigns binding term sheet forReligare Finvest

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA adding the deal investment at this juncture given the con- Once the proposed deal New Delhi, December 7 could be higher than that of fidentialityandimportanceof gets RBI and other regulatory Purnendu Chatterjee-con- these matters.” approvals following clearance DEBT-RIDDEN RELIGARE trolledTCG,whichfailedtoget The development comes from lenders on RFL's debt ENTERPRISES' (REL) search clearance from the Reserve against the backdrop of the restructuring, REL will forasuitortosellitsNBFCarm BankfortheacquisitionofRFL Delhi High Court issuing a approach the central bank as part of corporate debt in March. notice to DBS Bank India on seeking its removal from the restructuring seems to have Whencontactedonsigning the RFL's plea to substitute corrective action plan (CAP) come to an end with U GRO of the binding term-sheet, refundclaimsoffixeddeposits framework and the progress Capitalbelievedtohavesigned number of aspirants who did of`750crorealongwithinter- appearsinlinewithRELexecu- a binding term-sheet, and a theduediligenceandthetime- est from Lakshmi Vilas Bank tive chairperson Rashmi deal is likely to be clinched in line, an REL representative takenoverbytheforeignbank. Saluja's target. Saluja in an coming months,sources said. said,“Religare Group and RFL The HC had said that the interaction with PTI had said U GRO was among the areworkingwithallstakehold- replybefiledtotheapplication that she hoped that the debt three potential suitors which ers towards its business and within five weeks and listed restructuring will be com- did the due diligence for Reli- financial revival of RFL.We do the matter for further hearing pleted by December and open gareFinvest(RFL),sourcessaid, notwishtocommentanything on February25,2021. newvistas forthe group.

‘Insurance industry acted as shock absorber during Covid’

FE BUREAU Pune, December 7

TL ALAMELU, A whole time member(non-life)attheInsur- ance Regulatoryand Develop- mentAuthorityofIndia(Irdai), said the insurance industry in India and across the globe has shown resilience during this pandemic. Unlike the 2008 financial crisis, the industry has acted more as a shock absorber,and not as an ampli- fierof the shock. Covid has exposed existing vulnerabilities and the risks hitherto lurking in the back- ground have shown up and these could no longer be ignored, she said. The pandemic has acted as a catalyst fortheinsuranceindustryand prompted it to spur it into actiononmanyfrontstomain- �� TLAlamelu, whole time �� member at Irdai �� tainoperationalresilience, she �� said.“We still don't knowwhat �� thelong-termconsequencesof �� what we are going through �� right today,”Alamelu said.Pol- �� icyholders, too, had not �� thought of the potential risk �� theywould face,she added. �� Alemelu was speaking at �� theannualinsurancesummit, �� organised by the National �� Insurance Academy, Pune, on �� changing dimension of insur- �� ance risks and strategies to �� combat emerging challenges. �� The pandemic has exposed �� weaknessinthehealthsystem �� and there is not only a huge �� protection gap, but also there �� isnoprotectionforalargesec- �� tionofthepopulation,shesaid. �� TheIrdaihascomeoutwith �� three standardised health �� plans to address the issue of �� trustdeficitinhealthinsurance �� and make it simpler for policy �� holders and purchase health �� insurance without hassles,she �� said.“We are coming out with �� some more standard products �� whichwill be useful to the pol- �� icyholdersandtheinsurers.” �� Speakingonthemajorrisks �� theinsuranceindustryfaces,G �� Srinivasan, director, NIA, said �� riskwasevolvingandchanging �� dramaticallyfromclimaterisk, �� cyberrisk to the pandemic. ��

Pune TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2020 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM 12 NATION FINANCIAL EXPRESS

Average spot power price falls 4% to `2.73 per unit at IEX in Nov ● INTERVIEW: N VIJAYAGOPAL, director-finance, BPCL PRESS TRUST OF INDIA paredtotheyear-agoperiodat inNovember.TheDAMmarket maintainanattractiveaverage Energy Exchange (IEX) said in ‘Our throughput at pre-Covid levels’ New Delhi, December 7 the Indian EnergyExchange. continuedto seehighsell-side market clearing price at `2.73 a statement. The day-ahead market liquidity with total sell bids at per unit during November, a Further,IEXtradedelectric- State-run oil refiner BPCL’s covid level as far as refining THE AVERAGE SPOT power (DAM) volume at 4,860 MUs 9,778 MU being twice that of 4%y-o-ydeclineovertheprice ity volume of 6,164 MU in throughput has reached 100% throughput is concerned, price dropped by 4% to `2.73 (millionunits)recorded43per the clearedvolume (sales). of `2.85 during the same November 2020 registered a ofthepre-Covidlevelsbackedby buoyed by the pickup in per unit in November com- centYoY(year-on-year)growth This enabled the market to period last year, the Indian 61%y-o-ygrowth. higher demand during festive demand for petrol and diesel season and is likely to sustain, during the festive season. given that the impact of Covid- Going ahead,we believe this Pimpri Chinchwad New Town Development Authority 19 has abated and the oil sector level of production will be New Administrative Building, Akurdi, Pune - 44, is back to near normal. sustained. NVijayagopal,director-finance However, pricing is a con- Phone No. 020-27652934/35 at BPCL,told Vikas Srivastava cern and we will have to con- in an interview that the com- tend with an impact on prof- Tender Notice pany is likely to end the current itabilitydue to Covid-19. Online Tendersare invited from eligible Contractors having relevant experience for following fiscalwithacapitalexpenditure What is the level of through- work. of `8,500 crore against the ini- put at your refineries Is there any improvement in tial projection of `7,700 crore. right now? grossrefiningmargins(GRM) Sr. No. Name of Work Call No. Editedexcerpts: We have reached the pre- in the third quarter? 1 Development of Infrastructure of Commercial Plots of PIECC in sector 5 & 8 First The refining margins are at Moshi, Pune - 412105. still subdued due to lower pricedifferentialbetweenthe 2 Managing and Promoting, Exhibitions, Conferences, corporate events etc in Second refined products and crude Outdoor Exhibition Centre Facility in sector 5 & 8, Moshi Pune 412 105 oil. However, our GRMs are (Herein after mentioned as Open Exhibition Centre (OEC)') slightly higher than the Sin- 3 Project Management Consultancy Services for the work of Construction of Second gapore GRM as they are a MS Pune International Exhibition and Convention Centre, Moshi, Pune. (MotorSpirit)basedeconomy. TheMSmarginsarecompara- (Phase II) tively lower than diesel mar- Note:- 1) Format of Tender is available from 08/12/2020 on "http://mahatenders.gov.in" for gins,sowewillhavedirection- downloading. ally better GRM than them. 2) Detailed Notice is available on www.pcntda.org.in The normalised margins for Sd/- diesel should be around $15 (Bansi Gavali) and forMS it should be $12 Advt. No.16/2020-21 Chief Executive Of�ce but it has dropped to $2 for MSand$3fordiesel,whichis Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Limited abnormally low. (A Government of Gujarat Enterprise) However, we see an Registered Office: Khanij Bhavan”, 132 Ft. Ring Road, Near University Ground, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad-380 052 (Gujarat) improvement in demand Phone : 279127913200 / 27913501 Tele Fax : 079 - 2791 1151 E-mail : [email protected], Website : www.gmdcltd.com which has picked up in India CIN : L14100GJ1963SGC001206 onanyear-on-yearbasisasof NOTICE OF 57th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, BOOK CLOSURE DATES AND E-VOTING INFORMTATION November 2020. Notice is hereby given that the 57th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Members of the Company will be held on Thursday, 31st December, 2020, through Video Conferencing / Other Audio Visual Mode How do you explain the rise (VC/OAVM) to transact the business as set out in the Notice of AGM. in petroleum product In view of massive outbreak of Covid-19 Pandemic and pursuant to the Circulars issued by the Ministry of prices? Corporate Affairs vide its General Circular No. 14/2020 dated 8th April 2020, 17/2020 dated 13th April 2020 The Indian petroleum and 20/2020 dated 5th May 2020, and SEBI Circular No. SEBI/HO/CFD/CMD1/CIR/P/2020/79 dated 12th May prices are high because of 2020, Companies are allowed to hold AGM through Video Conference / Other Audio Visual means. higher excise dutywhich also Pursuant to the aforesaid circulars issued by MCA & SEBI and owing to the difficulties involved in dis- hasacascadingeffectonstate patching physical copies of the Annual Report 2019-20, the Notice of AGM and the Annual Report for the sales tax.Unless the economy financial year 2019-20 have been sent in electronic mode to the members whose e-mail IDs are registered normalises to past levels, the with the Company or with the Depository participant(s). These documents are also available on the capacity to reduce the excise Company's website viz. www.gmdcltd.com. duty will not be there (with Notice is further given that pursuant to Section 91 of the Companies Act, 2013 and the Rules made there- the government).On an aver- under and the relevant Regulation of Listing Regulations, the Register of Members and Share Transfer age, the sales tax is around Books of the Company shall remain closed from Thursday, 24th December, 2020 to Thursday, 31st 27% in states and is charged December, 2020(both days inclusive) for the purpose of 57th Annual General Meeting of the Company and over and above the price of payment of annual dividend. products and the excise duty. Notice is further given that pursuant to the provisions of Section 108 of the Companies Act, 2013 ad Rules made thereunder and also Regulation 44 of the Listing Regulations, the Company is pleased to provide BPCLhadinitiallyplannedto remote e-voting facility to its members, Members holding shares in physical or dematerialized form as on reduce the capex for FY21, the cut-off date of Thursday, 24th December,2020 may cast their vote electronically on the business as set whatisthecurrentstatuson out in the Notice to the 57th AGM of the Company through e-voting platform of Central Depository Services that? (India) Limited (CDSL). The Company has appointed M/s Gaudana & Gaudana, Practicing Company Wehadestimatedacapital Secretaries as the Scrutinizer to scrutinize the e-voting process in a fair and transparent manner. The expenditure of `7,700 crore detailed procedure / instructions for e-voting are contained in the Notice of the 57th AGM. Any person, who during the current fiscal. acquires shares of the Company and becomes member of the Company after dispatch of the notice and However,we are expecting to have a capex of `8,500 crore holding shares as on 24th December 2020, (cut-off date) may obtain the login ID and password by send- thisyear,whichishigherthan ing a request at [email protected]. If a member is already registered with CDSL e-voting projected. We are trying to platform, then he can use his existing user ID and password for casting the vote through remote e-voting. catch up on some of the The e-voting period ("remote e-voting") begins on Monday, the 28th December, 2020 at 9.00 a.m. (IST) and important expansion pro- ends on Wednesday 30th December, 2020 at 5.00 p.m. (IST). During this period shareholders' of the jects. The Kochi refinery Company, holding shares either in physical form or in dematerialized form, as on the cut-off date may cast expansion faced some delays their vote electronically. The e-voting module shall be disabled by CDSL for voting thereafter. duetothehurdlesinsecuring The facility for electronic voting shall also be made available during the 57th Annual General Meeting con- the licences for some of the ducted through VC/OAVM. The members attending the meeting, who have not already cast their vote facilities. through remote e-voting shall be able to exercise their voting rights at the meeting. For Details relating to remote e-voting, please refer to the Notice of the AGM. In case of any queries relat- What is BPCL’s inventory ing to voting by electronic means, please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and e- voting positionduringthequarter? user manual for Shareholders available at the Help section of www.evotingindia.com or contact at toll free Inventories are slightly No. 1800-200-5533. In case of any grievances connected with facility for voting by electronic means, higheron the marketing side please contact Mr Rakesh Dalvi, Manager, CDSL, 25th Floor, A Wing, Marathon Futurex, Mafatlal Mills but otherwise are manage- Compound, NM Joshi Marg, Lower Parel (E), Mumbai - 400 013. Email : [email protected] able.Unlessthepricesdropin Tel : 1800225533. the next 23 days –which is As the meeting is being held through VC/OAVM, there is no provision for appointment of proxy for this meeting. unlikely – we do not expect For, Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Limited major deviation in invento- Date :7 th December, 2020 Joel Evans ries in the near future. Place: Ahmedabad Company Secretary

Pune WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2020 FINANCIAL EXPRESS 13

MOVE ahead with Every Monday & EXPRESS Thursday in Careers The Indian EXPRESS& LOKSATTA For Advtg. details contact: 67241000

Pune TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2020 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM 14 FINANCIAL EXPRESS

ADITRI INDUSTRIES LIMITED (Formerly known as Anshu’s Clothing Limited) GBL INDUSTRIES LIMITED REGD. OFFICE : G.F-012- Satyam Mall, opp. Saman Complex, CIN: L24117GJ1985PLC007985 Near Vishweshwar Mahadev Mandir, Satellite, Ahmedabad-380015 Regd. Off: 801, SAFAL PRELUDE, 8th Floor, B/h. Pinnacle Business Park, CORP. OFFI CE: Flat No. 505 along with CPS No. Lb-23, Corporate Road, Prahladnagar, Ahmedabad-380015 Tel.:91-8160162721 Antriksh Bhawan 22, K.G Marg, New Delhi 110001 DL IN E-mail: [email protected] •web: www.gujaratbitumen.com CIN: L36999GJ1995PLC025177,Tel: +91 9331852424 Email : [email protected], •Web: www.aditriindustries.co.in NOTICE TO MEMBERSOF THE COMPANY ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (“AGM”) OF THE COMPANY NOTICE TO MEMBERS OF THE COMPANY Members are hereby informed that pursuant to the provisions of Section 110 & NOTICE is hereby given that the 34th AGM of the Members of the Company other applicable provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Companies will be held on Thursday 31st December, 2020 at 12.00 Noon through Video (Management and Administration) Rules, 2014 (Cumulative “Act”), SEBI Conferencing (“VC”) / Other Audio Visual Means (“OAVM”), to transact the (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (“Listing business as set out in Notice of the AGM which will be circulated through Regulations”) and other applicable laws and regulations if any, including and email only to those members whose email addresses are registered with statutory modification(s) or re-enactment(s) thereof for the time being in force, the Company/ Depositories Participant (“DP”) / Registrar and Share Transfer Aditri Industries Limited(“The Company”) is seeking approval from its Members Agent (“RTA”). This is in accordance with applicable provisions of the by way of Ordinary Resolution for “Reclassification of promoter/promoter group Companies Act, 2013 & in compliance with General Circular No. 20/2020 category to the Public Category” as set out in the Postal Ballot Notice dated dated May 5, 2020 read with General Circular No. 14/2020 dated April 8, 7th December, 2020 by way of Electronic Voting (e-voting). In terms of relevant provisions of theAct and in accordance with the guidelines 2020 & General Circular No. 17/2020 dated April 13, 2020 issued by the issued by Ministry of Corporate Affairs (“MCA”) for holding General Meetings/ Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Circular No.SEBI/HO/CFD/CMDl/CIR/P/2020/79 conducting Postal Ballot process through e-voting vide General Circular No. dated May 12, 2020 issued by the SEBI and SEBI (Listing Obligations and 14/2020 dated April 8, 2020 read with General Circular Nos 17/2020 dated Disclosures Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (Listing Regulations). April 13, 2020, 22/2020 dated June 15, 2020 and 33/2020 dated September The Company is pleased to provide the facility to attend AGM through VC / 28, 2020 (“MCA Circulars”) the Postal Ballot Notice along with the instruction OAVM, right to vote at the AGM by electronic mode and the business will be regarding e-voting will be sent only through email on 12th December, 2020 to transacted through remote e-voting prior to the AGM.The Instructions for all those Members whose email address is registered with the Company or joining the AGM through VC / OAVM and the manner of taking part in the with the Depositaries / Depositary Participants or Cameo Corporate Services e-voting process will be provided along with the Notice and Annual Report. Limited (R&T) and whose names appears in the Register of Members/List of Beneficiary Owners as on December 4, 2020 (Cut-off Date). PROCESS TO REGISTER / UPDATE EMAIL ID / PROCESS TO REGISTER / UPDATE EMAIL ID / BANK DETAILS WITH THE COMPANY / RTA / DP BANK DETAILS WITH THE COMPANY / RTA / DP The members who have not registered / updated their e-mail id / bank details The members who have not registered / updated their e-mail id / bank details with the Company / RTA / DP are requested to register / update them with the with the Company / RTA/ DP are requested to register / update them with the Company / RTA/ DP to receive e-communications / dividend,as and when Company / RTA/ DP to receive e-communications / dividend, as & when declared by the Company, directly in their bank account through electronic declared by the Company, directly in their bank account through electronic mode. The members are requested to follow below mentioned steps: mode. The members are requested to follow below mentioned steps: Members holding equity sharesin Physical Mode: Members holding equity sharesin Physical Mode: Members are requested to provide name, folio no., mobile number, Members are requested toprovide Folio No., Name of shareholder, scanned scanned copies of share certificate(s) (both sides), self-attested ID copy of the share certificate (front and back), PAN (self attested scanned address proof and e-mail id / cancelled cheque through an e-mail at / copy of PAN card),AADHAR (self attested scanned copy ofAadhar Card) by [email protected] or [email protected]. email to [email protected]. Members holding equity shares in Dematerialized Mode: Members holding equity shares in Dematerialized Mode: Members are requested to update their e-mail id / Bank details through Members are requested to Provide DPID-CLID (16 digit DPID + CLID or 16 digit beneficiary ID), Name, client master or copy of Consolidated Account their depository participants. statement, PAN (self attested scanned copy of PAN card), AADHAR (self NOTICE OF BOOK CLOSURE attested scanned copy ofAadhar Card) to [email protected]. NOTICE is hereby given pursuant to Section 91 of the Companies Act, 2013 For, ADITRI INDUSTRIES LIMITED & Regulation 42 of Listing Regulationsthat the register of members and Date : 07-12-2020 Sd/- share transfer book of the Company will remain closed from Friday 25th Place : Ahmedabad MANAGING DIRECTOR December, 2020 to Thursday 31st December, 2020 (both days inclusive)for the purpose of AGM. This information and further details in this regard alongwith Annual Report including notice of AGM will also be available on the website of the Company at www.gujaratbitumen.com & at website of stock exchange i.e. www.bseindia.com. For, GBL INDUSTRIES LIMITED Date : 07-12-2020 Sd/- Place : Ahmedabad Managing Director

PARAMONE CONCEPTS LIMITED CIN: L45400MH1992PLC070070 Registered office: 12 A, Narayan Plaza, Near Boomerang Building, Chandivali, Mumbai - 400072 Email: [email protected] Website: http://paramoneconcepts.com/ NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, E-VOTING AND BOOK CLOSURE DATES Notice is hereby given that the 28th Annual General Meeting ("AGM") of the members of Paramone Concepts Limited will be held on Monday, December 28, 2020 at 11.00A.M. through Video Conference / OtherAudio Visual Means to transact the business as set out in the Notice of 28th Annual General Meeting of the Company. In view of the massive outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs vide general circular No. 14/2020 dated April 08, 2020, Circular No. 17/2020 dated April 13, 2020 followed by Circular No. 20/2020 dated May 05, 2020, and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) vide its Circular No. SEBI/HO/CFD/CMD1/CIR/P/2020/79 dated May 12, 2020, allowed conducting of Annual General Meeting (AGM) through video conferencing (VC) or other audio visual means (OAVM). Hence, Members can attend and participate in the ensuing AGM through VC/OAVM without the physical presence of members at a common venue. The said Notice ofAGM along with theAnnual Report, for the financial year 2019-2020 have been sent through email on December 05, 2020 to all the members whose email address are registered with Depository Participant /Company /RTA. Please note that requirement of sending physical copy of Annual Report to members have been dispensed with vide MCA circulars and SEBI circulars. The Annual Report including Notice of AGM is also available on the Company's website at http://paramoneconcepts.com/. Pursuant to Section 91 of the Companies Act, 2013 (the 'Act') and Rule 10 of Companies (Management and Administration) Rules, 2014, it is hereby informed that the Register of Members and Share Transfer Books of the Company will remain closed from December 22, 2020 to December 28, CLASSIFIEDS 2020 (both days inclusive) for the purpose ofAnnual General Meeting. Pursuant to Section 108 of the Act read with Rule 20 of the Companies (Management & administration) Amendment Rules, 2015 and Regulation BUSINESS 44 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, the Company is pleased to provide the remote e- BUSINESS OFFERS voting facility to its members holding shares, in physical or dematerialised form, as on the cut-off date, i.e. December 21, 2020. The Company has BUY your own Poclain, engaged the services of CDSL for providing remote e-voting facilities, Truck, JCB, Car, Tempo participation in AGM through VC and e-voting during AGM. M/s. Nidhi & earn 40000/- to Bajaj & Associates, Practising Company Secretaries, has been appointed 400000/- PM or earn as the scrutinizer for conducting the voting process in a fair and 24% to 36% PA. On your transparent manner. investment. 9594430111. The details pursuant to the provisions of the Act and the said Rules are 0070722203-1 provided herein below: 1. Date and time of Commencement of remote e-voting: Friday, ''IMPORTANT'' December 25, 2020 at 09.00 a.m. Whilst care is taken prior to acceptance of advertising copy, 2. Date and time of end of remote e-voting: Sunday, December 27, 2020 it is not possible to verify its contents. The Indian Express at 05.00 p.m. (P.) Limited cannot be held responsible for such contents, 3. The e-voting facility will not be provided beyond December 27, 2020 nor for any loss or damage after 05.00 p.m. incurred as a result of transactions with companies, 4. Cut-off date as on which the right of voting of members shall be reckoned: associations or individuals advertising in its newspapers December 21, 2020. or Publications. We therefore recommend that readers make 5. In case a person has become the member of the Company after dispatch necessary inquiries before sending any monies or of the Notice but on or before the cut- off date i.e, December 21, 2020 entering into any agreements with advertisers or otherwise may write to CDSL. acting on an advertisement in 6. The member who cast his/her vote through remote e-voting can attend any manner whatsoever. AGM but will not be allowed to vote again during the AGM. Only the members who have not cast their vote through remote e-voting may cast their vote duringAGM by attending theAGM through VC. 7. If you have any queries or issues regarding attending AGM and e-Voting from the e-Voting System provided by CDSL, you may refer the FrequentlyAsked Questions ("FAQs") and e-voting manual available at www.evotingindia.com, under help section or write an e-mail to [email protected] or contact Mr. Nitin Kunder (022- 23058738) or Mr. Mehboob Lakhani (022-23058543) or Mr. Rakesh Dalvi (022-23058542). By order of the Board of Directors For Paramone Concepts Limited Place: Mumbai Sd/- �� Date: December 05, 2020 Amit Soni �� Company Secretary & Compliance Officer ��

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