OPINION, P6 COMPANIES, P4 INTERNATIONAL, P8 ASHOK GULATI EDITORIAL RECOVERY FROM COVID TECH KNOW Decentralise MSP RBI’s options narrow Oyo has close to $1 bn Canada plans digital tax as inflation and inflows procurement,PDS to both rise, will have to to fund regular ops: in 2022 on global giants deal with farm protests keep repo unchanged Agarwal to employees like Facebook, Google PUNE, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2020 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM VOL. XI NO. 261, 16 PAGES, `6.00PUBLISHEDFROM:AHMEDABAD,BENGALURU,CHANDIGARH, CHENNAI,HYDERABAD,KOCHI,KOLKATA,LUCKNOW,MUMBAI, NEWDELHI,PUNE READ TO LEAD SENSEX: 44,655.44 ▲ 505.72 NIFTY: 13,109.05 ▲ 140.10 NIKKEI 225: 26,787.54 ▲ 353.92 HANG SENG: 26,567.68 ▲ 226.19 `/$: 73.67 ▲ 0.38 `/€: 88.26 ▲ 0.02 BRENT: $47.84 ▼ $0.04 GOLD: `48,314 ▼ `464 IN THE NEWS ICICI BANK CASE GROWTH PANGS DULL DIWALI ‘Oxford vaccine SC rejects Kochhar’s safe, no co-relation Revival doubts rise No festive cheer with side-effects’ plea on termination SERUM INSTITUTE OF India in Nov car sales on Tuesday denied charges Apex court rules ORDER, ORDER that a Covid trial volunteer on weaker Oct-Nov Pent-up demand 2%onayear-on-yearbasis.The suffered serious side effects her services were ■ The apex court said it five-day period of Diwali sales from a vaccine developed not governed by 'won't interfere with the Core sectors, power Trends in GST collections Core sector Power demand phase seen to be forMarutithisyearwasaround by AstraZeneca and Oxford Bombay HC order' FY 2019-20 FY 2020-21 (% change, y-o-y, in (in bn units) slowly petering out 40,000 units compared to University, saying that the any statute but were demand, auto/fuel (in ` crore) output of 8 infra 2019 2020 around39,000lastyearduring ■ It said the issue falls industries) vaccine is safe and immuno- 135 the same festival (last year purely contractual within the realm of a 10 genic, reports PTI. "We sales barely enthuse; -2.5 105.2 FE BUREAU DiwalifellinOctober). private bank and employee 0 120 98.4 would want to assure every- in nature GST, PMI kosher; Mumbai, December 1 The commentary from the 98,202 95,480 95,379 1,05,155 1,04,963 -10 1,03,491 91,916 1,02,083 87,422 ■ 86,449 one that the vaccine won't On March 5, HC had rail freight up -20 105 players were mixed. While be released for mass use dismissed Chanda DIWALI WASN'T EXACTLY Maruti maintained its stance -30 90 unless it is proven immuno- INDU BHAN Kochhar's plea -40 -37.9 blockbuster for auto players that though the pent up dem- 101.2 95.1 genic, and safe,"it said. New Delhi, December 1 against FE BUREAU Apr-20 Oct-20 75 with most manufacturers and was slowly petering out, termination as New Delhi, December 1 July Aug Sept Oct Nov Source: Industry ministry Jan Nov reporting moderate growth in sales should be fine till Decem- Diesel sales fall THE SUPREME COURT on MD and CEO Manufacturing PMI Petrol/diesel sales sales during November and ber.Others like Mahindra exp- 60 Freight Freight (in thousand tonnes) Tuesday rejected Chanda ■ She stands AFTER THE POST-LOCK- 50 loading revenue that too on a lowbase of last ressedoptimismthatsinceeco- 7% in November, Kochhar's appeal against the to DOWN blip in transactions, 40 (m tonne) (` cr, RHS) 8,000 Diesel 6,853 year.Ifsalesofaround14play- nomic activities are showing lose her 54.1 BombayHigh Court’s March 5 pension- driven by release of pent-up 30 120 12,000 6,000 ers in the passenger vehicle signsofpickingupthedemand petrol sales up 5% 20 Oct 56.3 orderwhichhaddismissedher related demandandfestiveconsump- 4,000 2,684 segment is grossed up, then momentum could remain int- 10 Services PMI 80 8,000 INDIA'S DIESEL SALES fell 7% pleaagainstherterminationas benefits tion,asetofeconomicdatafor 0 2,000 the growth during the month actinthecomingmonths. Jan-20 Nov-20 year-on-year in November the managing director and the October-Novemberperiod 40 4,000 0 Petrol was around 9% compared to Autoplayershaddespatched after rising for the first time CEO of ICICI Bank, saying the signaled the direwarning that Note: Reading below 50 suggests Jan Nov* the same month lastyear. hugevolumesduringOctober— contraction and above it indicates 0 0 *extrapolated from in eight months in October, issuefallswithintherealmofa KaulwhiledismissingKochhar’s absent concrete and expedi- expansion Source: IHS Markit Feb Nov PSU retail sales The country’s largest pas- one of the highest in recent industry data showed on private bank and employee. appeal upheld the Bombay HC tiousstimuli,thefragilerecov- senger vehicle manufacturer, times—tostockdealershipsfor Tuesday, reports PTI. Sale of The ruling is a major set- orderthatheldthatherservices ery might be fizzling out.The Maruti Suzuki India saw its thefestivalperiod. diesel, the most used fuel in back for Kochhar who now were not governed by any economy might have con- efit of a more favourable base. ember (which are mainly due domestic sales (factory the country, was, however, stands to lose her pension- statute,“but it is a purely con- tractedintheOctober-Decem- According to official data to transactions in October) despatchestodealers)declining Continued on Page 2 8% higher month-on-month. related benefits, including tractualrelationshipwithICICI”. ber quarter, at a rate even releasedonTuesday,thegross was `1,04,963 crore. bonuses and stock options. sharper than 7.5% in the pre- goods and services tax (GST) Nov ‘19 Nov ‘20 « % Change y-o-y No charges on The Bench led by justice SK Continued on Page 2 viousquarter,despitetheben- revenue collected in Nov- Continued on Page 2 Paytm merchant transactions PMLAcase: Court refuses bail to Deepak Kochhar Rural jobs scheme: Demand for work falls in November A COURT ON Tuesday He was arrested by the PAYTMANNOUNCEDTHATit rejected a bail plea of busi- Enforcement Directorate THE DEMAND FOR work under the rural However, in November, the demand for has waived all charges on nessman Deepak Kochhar, (ED) in September 2020 employment scheme (MG-NREGS) jumped workbothatthehouseholdaswellastheindi- 2,07,775 1,98,933 5,75,957 1,41,400 merchant transactions, repo- husband of former ICICI under the Prevention of in May as the lock-down was eased,peaked viduallevelsfellincomparisontoOctober. 1,38,956 5,05,944 48,800 rts fe Bureau in New Delhi. It Bankchiefexecutiveofficer Money Laundering Act in June,but continued to remain at elevated Thismaybesignallinganimprovementin 44,600 22,066 21,230 8,508 is now enabling merchant Chanda Kochhar and an (PMLA) in the alleged ICICI levels through October, according to an theeconomy,aspartofthefallindemandmay 8,312 « « « « partners to accept payments accused in a money-laun- Bank-Videoconmoney-laun- official data, reports Surya Sarathi Ray in havebeenduetoapick-upinconstructionand « 1.7 9.4 4 2.4 14 « 4 from Paytm wallet, UPI apps, dering case,reports PTI. deringcase.■ Page 3 New Delhi. assortedserviceindustries. ■ Page 2 Maruti Hyundai M&M Toyota Hero Bajaj RuPay cards at zero charges. Suzuki Motor Kirloskar MotoCorp Auto ● Special Feature FARMERS’ AGITATION NUE PIE Unions reject govt Yes Bank in Sixways a highercredit score talks with can bringyou benefits offer to set up panel; Thosewith a credit score of So Hum ` Loan 750 and above are seen as talks to continue 300 Credit Score 900 financially more disciplined, Bharat to and are thus rewarded by PRESS TRUST OF INDIA endedwithoutanyresolution. lenderswith preferential New Delhi, December 1 The meeting at Vigyan take 9.99% treatment such as lower Bhawan remained inconclu- interst rates on loans THE GOVERNMENTON Tues- sive and the government has FE BUREAU ■ Personal Finance, P9 daysuggestedsettingupacom- calledforanotherroundofdis- Mumbai, December 1 mitteetolookintoissuesraised cussionsonThursday,Decem- by farmers protesting against ber 3,union leaders said.Gov- YES BANK IS in talks with the new farm laws, but it was ernment officials said the newly-foundedSoHumBharat rejected by representatives of dialogue would continue and Digital Payments for a 9.99% QuickPicks 35agitatingorganisationsdur- the next round of talks has equitystakeinaproposednew ing their marathon meeting been scheduled forThursday. umbrellaentity(NUE)forretail ‘Tier-II write-down positive for LVB withthreeunionministersthat However,another round of payments. So Hum and Yes meeting got underway later in VOX POPULI Bankwill jointlywork towards depositors,other senior creditors’ the evening at the Agriculture Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson holds a vial of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid the NUE’s product and busi- THE WRITE-DOWN of Lakshmi Vilas Bank’s (LVB) Ministrywith representatives vaccine candidate at Wockhardt's manufacturing facility in Wales ness strategy, the former said Basel III tier-II securities is credit negative for ofBharatiyaKisanUnion(BKU), in a statement onTuesday. holders of junior securities because they will lose the officials said. BKU leader PromoterInfibeamAvenues their investment, but is credit positive for bank NareshTikait also said another haspickedupa33.33%stakein depositors and senior creditors because of the loss- delegation of farmer leaders FE BUREAU So Hum, founded by Navin absorption capacity provided by tier-II, Moody’s said on wasmeetingthegovernmentat Stocking up Surya,chairman-emeritus,Pay- Tuesday, reports fe Bureau in Mumbai. This marks the first Farmers unions’ leaders at 7 pm.He said issues otherthan ments Council of India (PCI). time that an Indian bank has written down tier-II securities theVigyan Bhavan in New the recently enacted farm laws Foreign flows keep rupee strong Surya said Yes Bank has a fin- and follows Yes Bank’s write-down of its additional tier-I (AT- Delhi onTuesday are also likely to be discussed, tech-first strategy, much like I) securities earlier in the year for the same reason. PAGE 10 and mentioned power tariffs With FPIs lapping up Indian equities, portfolio flows in 2020 are nudging $15 billion.This that of So Hum.