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XI NO. 237, 16 PAGES, `6.00PUBLISHEDFROM:AHMEDABAD,BENGALURU,CHANDIGARH ,CHENNAI,HYDERABAD,KOCHI,KOLKATA,LUCKNOW,MUMBA I,NEWDELHI,PUNE READ TO LEAD DEMAND REVIVAL Q2 PERFORMANCE ● AMAZON PLEA AUTO SALES RIL deal: Future At `1.05Lcrin Oct, asks exchanges Agood Navratri; Sales dull but cost to disregard GSTreceipts up 10% arbitration order Diwali spirit high FE BUREAU ‘Gross tax revenue cuts save the day FE BUREAU FE BUREAU Festive cheer New Delhi, November 1 in FY21 to be near New Delhi, November 1 Mumbai, November 1 (units) Oct ‘19 Oct ‘20 Construction Net sales Total expenditure OPM « THE GROSS GOODS and last year’s level’ (% chg y-o-y) (% chg y-o-y) (bps, chg y-o-y) FUTURE RETAIL(FRL) on Sun- THE FESTIVE SEASON of % change y-o-y services tax (GST) revenue for picking up; section dayaskedthestockexchangesto Navratri brought cheer « Maruti 1,41,550 October came in at `1,05,155 A POTEN- 478.45 nottakecognisanceofanorder to automakers, particularly 0.24 of India Inc to -1.99 Suzuki 1,66,825 17.8 1,088.55 crore, the highest level since TIALLY -6.42 by Emergency Arbitrator (EA) passenger vehicle (PVs) -21.24 -615.59 -183.74 ROBUST -7.17 February and up a solid 10% eco- benefit from rural -10.79 nominated by the Singapore manufacturers, with all of Hyundai 50,010 «« overthemop-upintheyear-ago nomic recovery InternationalArbitration Cen- them posting strong double- purchasing power -36.25 -34.89 Motor 56,605 12.5 month.Theincreaseinthecol- in the second Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 tre (SIAC) that barred the com- digit growth in October. 49,913 lectionsunderscoredapick-up halfofthefiscal FY20 FY21 FY20 FY21 FY20 FY21 pany from selling its assets to Though these are factory « inthespeedofdemandrevival Ajay Bhushan may help the FE BUREAU RelianceIndustries(RIL). despatchestodealers,industry M&M 42,338 15.2 PBT Tax RM to sales in September, which many Pandey government New Delhi, November 1 Thearbitrationhasbeenini- executives said retail sales (% chg y-o-y) (% chg y-o-y) (bps, chg y-o-y) Toyota 11,866 otherleadindicators,too,have reach the same tiated by Amazon.com NV must have kept pace with Kirloskar 12,373 4.3 shown signals of. level of gross tax collections as AFTERAGOODstart,theearn- InvestmentHolding,whichhad wholesales, otherwise dealer- GST collections in any achieved last year, despite a ings season is beginning to bought a 49% stake in Future shipswouldnothaveaccepted 1,710.67 « 13.61 18.07 Hero montharelargelyinrelationto 20% year-on-year decline in reflect the pain in corporate -100.11 Coupons, a promoter group higherinventories. 5,86,988 MotoCorp -339.02 7,91,137 34.7 the transactions in the econ- the April-September period, India. Worryingly, analysts -16.52 entityofFRL,inlate2019.Inlate The industry is quite 75.92 -87.98 -80.43 -589.32 -90.69 omyin the previous month. financesecretaryAjayBhushan believethatmuchofthespurtin -1,428.74 August, RIL announced the upbeat about good sales Bloomberg News reported Pandey, who also holds the demand for cars ortwo-wheel- Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 acquisition of the retail,whole- during the current month as recently five of the eight high- charge of revenue secretary, ers arising from the festive and FY20 FY21 FY20 FY21 FY20 FY21 sale,logistics and warehousing well when Diwali falls and Company executives said frequencyindicators,including toldSumitJhainNewDelhi. wedding seasons may subside Source: Capitaline Sample of 387 companies businesses of Future Group for even in December when sales inventorywith dealers is now exports,tracked byit improved The gross tax collection in by the end of December.How- (excluding banks & financials ) `24,713crore. are high due to manufactur- atnormallevelsoffourweeks. in September,while threewere the first half of the current ever,the revival in purchases of ers offering discounts to clear steady;bothdomesticandover- fiscal stood at `7.2 lakh crore, residential properties is good Continued on Page 2 the calendar year inventory. Continued on Page 15 seas demand helped the recov- whileitwas`20.8lakhcrorein newsandshouldcreatedemand eryinSeptember,itadded. thewhole of FY20. forasetofconsumerdurables. ● With the private sector PIPED WATER Continued on Page 2 Report on Page 2 unlikelytomakeanymeaning- ful greenfield investments for Over 50% jump in rural areas in 14 months at least two years, demand for somewhatdull,salesintheSep- Margins, therefore, are GST collections FY19-20 FY20-21 (` crore) 1,20,000 equipment could be dull. tember quarter have been sub- beingekedoutofsharpcutsin PRASANTASAHU official dashboard. This repre- 1,00,000 Nonetheless, the good show duedbarringacoupleofexcep- costs as companies conserve New Delhi, November 1 sents an impressive over 50% put up by cement companies tions; the 11% y-o-y fall in the cash and save on everything, jumpin14-andhalfmonths. Rural households 80,000 1,13,865 — especially UltraTech which aggregate revenues for 387 from promotional spends to PIPED DRINKING WATER Despite the Covid-19 pan- 99,939 98,202 1,05,155 95,379 95,480 1,02,083 with tap-water supply 1,00,289 turned in stellar numbers as companies (excluding banks staff.Whilebenigninputcosts reached about 5.74 crore rural demic, 1.67 crore new rural 91,916 90,917 87,422 60,000 86,449 volumesrose8%year-on-year andfinancials)wasdriven inter have no doubt helped — raw households or 30% of such 3.24 crore households, including 1.06 – suggests construction activ- alia by a 24% y-o-y fall in the materials to sales were down households as on lastThursday, As on August 15, 2019, crore under JJM, have been 40,000 62,151 32,172 ityispickingup.Agoodpartof revenuesatRelianceIndustries, a chunky 600 bps y-o-y — compared with 3.24 crore when JJM was launched added to functional household 20,000 the overall demand seems to a 12% y-o-y drop at Larsen & total expenditure fell a steep (17%) asonAugust15lastyear, tapconnection(FHTC)network be stemming from rural and Toubro,a 66%y-o-ydeclineat 21% y-o-y. when Prime MinisterNarendra 5.74 cr 19 cr inthecountrysofarinFY21. 0 small-town India. InterGlobeAviation,anda7%y- Modi unveiled the Jal Jeevan As on Total number Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Withbusinessinurbanareas o-yfallatBajajAuto. Continued on Page 2 Mission (JJM),according to the Oct 29 of rural households Continued on Page 2 MANDI ARRIVALS COVID-19 Seven key summer Cities gettingworse crops see big drop aswinter approaches ISHAAN GERA Serious concern PRABHUDATTAMISHRA New Delhi, November 1 (as a % of active cases) & NANDA KASABE All-India 4.4 end-Oct New Delhi/Pune, mandi arrivals* WHILE DELHI RECORDING 2.4 end-Sept November 1 (% change, y-o-y) over5,000 infections dailyfor 2.7 mid-Sept Bajra -52.5 four days in a row is certainly PUNE 6 3 AMIDTHE ROWoverthethree Cotton -34.3 worrying,anFEanalysisshows 2.5 newfederalfarmlawsaimedat Arhar -25.2 that the city’s problems had 8 giving unfettered market Soyabean -17.3 started long before the infec- 6.5 accesstofarmers,theproducers Urad -4.5 tions started rising. Since the 4.7 of various crops seem to have Paddy** -4.3 thirdweekofSeptember,Delhi 5 startedrelyingmuchlessonthe Maize -3.2 has witnessed an increase in 3.8 Moong 10 2.9 organisedAPMCmandis. caseswith serious conditions. Ventilator ICU Ventilator ICU According to data reviewed Jowar 33.1 On September 14, 2.6% 4.3 4.1 by FE, of the 10 major kharif Groundnut 56.4 of active cases in the citywere ICU 2.7 cropsnamelypaddy(common), *During October 2020 **common variety on ventilators, and another Source: Agmarknet jowar, bajra, maize, arhar, 2.7% were in the ICU.But on DELHI MUMBAI 2.7 2.6 moong, urad, soyabean, October 31, this proportion 2.6 groundnut and cotton,mandi had increased, as Delhi Ventilator arrivals have dropped in the fromtheyear-agoperiod. recorded 2.7% people on case of seven crops in the ventilatorsand 4.3% inICUs. Election fever: Bihar range of 3-53% in October Continued on Page 15 However, Delhi is not the reduces testing rate only city to experience this trend. Despite active cases IF IT ISN’T bad enough that so- State Bills on farm trade spark legal debate fallingfrom30,271onSeptem- cialdistancingnormshavebeen ber 14 to 18,438 on October flouted at political rallies with THE LAWS passed by the ity of the states’ move. Of 31, the proportion of serious little concern from the state Opposition-ruled states of course,some see a tenuous- cases in Mumbai has also administration,an analysis of Punjab,RajasthanandChhat- ness of the ground on which increased.While on September data byFE shows Biharhas also tisgarhtooverridethreeCen- the Central laws have been 14, only 2.9% of active cases dialleddownontesting,reports tral laws governing agricul- made in the first place,given requiredventilators and 4.7% IshaanGerainNewDelhi. turetradeandfooditemsmay that the Union government wereadmittedtoICUs,onOcto- The analysis of testing data stumble upon the hurdle of hasreliedon‘fooditems’that ber 31,this ratio had increased over the last two months Presidential assent, reports areinconcurrentlist,tolegis- to 5% and 8%,respectively.By reveals that as elections InduBhaninNewDelhi.The late,where the new laws also September end, only 3.8% of approached,insteadofincreas- opinionisalsodividedamong pertainto“agriculture”,which activecasesrequiredventilators ing its testing numbers,Bihar the legal fraternity over the isexclusivelyastatesubject.