OPINION, P6 ECONOMY, P2 INTERNATIONAL, P8 TV MOHANDAS PAI & N HOLLA EDITORIAL PM-SPEAK RAISING THE BAR Farm Bills latest step India needs an export push Mandi infra being Jack Ma’sAnt Group to grow fast; even in the past, in sequential freeing exports, not consumption, given a boost, to help increases IPOvaluation up of farm sector pushed GDP & investment farmers earn more target to $280 billion PUNE, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2020 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM VOL. XI NO. 225, 18 PAGES, `10.00PUBLISHEDFROM:AHMEDABAD,BENGALURU,CHANDIGARH, CHENNAI,HYDERABAD,KOCHI,KOLKATA,LUCKNOW,MUMBAI, NEWDELHI,PUNE READ TO LEAD SENSEX: 39,982.98 ▲ 254.57 NIFTY: 11,762.45 ▲ 82.10 NIKKEI 225: 23,410.63 ▼ 96.60 HANG SENG: 24,386.79 ▲ 228.25 `/$: 73.35 ▲ 0.03 `/€: 85.91 ▲ 0.06 BRENT: $42.80 ▼ $0.36 GOLD: `50,796 ▲ `320 ● LABEL TROUBLE WELCOME U-TURN ● COVID-19 RECOVERY MODE Amazon, WHO says Flipkart get States’GSTgap to be remdesivir PV sales rise 26% in Sept notices for didn’t really but industry still cautious « not stating fullybridged,says FM help patients Higher sales due REPORT CARD Sept ‘19 Sept ‘20 (Units) Chg (%) Passenger Two- Three- REUTERS to low base and vehicles wheelers wheelers country Impasse seems to "Atotal of `2.16 lakh crore is Zurich/Geneva, October 16 end, dissenting unconditionally available to states low inventory with « « 26.45 11.64 « 71.91 of origin states soften stance under Option 1. This more than covers GILEAD SCIENCES' REMDE- dealers; volumes still the funds which would have been SIVIR had little or no effect on lower than 2016 PRESSTRUSTOF INDIA received by them in the current fiscal if Covid-19patients’lengthofhos- New Delhi, October 16 FE BUREAU ” pitalstayorchancesofsurvival,a New Delhi, October 16 total compensation were paid in full. clinical trial bytheWorld Health FE BUREAU THEGOVERNMENTONFriday —NIRMALA SITHARAMAN, FINANCE MINISTER Organization(WHO)hasfound. Chennai, October 16 issuednoticestoFlipkart,Ama- FINANCE MINISTER Nirmala The antiviral medication, 18,49,546 2,72,027 2,15,124 PASSENGER VEHICLE (PV) 16,56,658 zon and other e-commerce Sitharaman on Friday told 21 among the first to be used as a 66,362 “I welcome (the Centre’s decision 18,640 companiesfornotmandatorily states and 2 UTs, which have to borrow). But there is one issue treatmentforCovid-19,wasone salessawastrongdouble-digit displayinginformation,includ- chosen the incentivised Option — of the drugs recently used to growth in September as Quadricyclesdricycles ing country of origin,on prod- 1 to bridge their yawning GST yet to be resolved how much of treat US President Donald manufacturers pushed more uctssoldontheirplatforms. revenue shortfall in FY21 that, the compensation is to be deferred Trump’scoronavirusinfection. vehicles to the dealers who Thenoticeshavebeenissued they“won’tfaceanycashshort- to 2023? Negotiate this point and The results are fromWHO’s have depleted their stocks bythedepartmentofconsumer fall”intheyearduetothepaucity ” Solidaritytrial,whichevaluated afterthelockdownontheback reach a consensus. Source: Siam affairs, ministry of consumer ofrelevantcessproceeds. —THOMAS ISAAC, FINANCE MINISTER, KERALA theeffectsoffourpotentialdrug of pent-up demand. affairs,food and public distrib- She wrote to the finance regimens,includingremdesivir, Dealers have been stocking ution.Apart fromAmazon and ministersofthesestates:“Atotal hydroxychloroquine,anti-HIV sinceAugustinanticipationthat Despite the upswing in volumesinmostsegmentsare Flipkart,notices have also been of `2.16 lakh crore is uncondi- financialyeariftotalcompensa- ing.Itisalsoclearthecompen- drug combination lopinavir/ the upcoming festival season sales of PVs and two-wheelers still lowerthan those seen five sent to other ecommerce play- tionallyavailabletostatesunder tionwerepaidinfull.” sationcesswouldnotonlystay ritonavir and interferon, in would see good demand for (despatches from factories to years ago. We are expecting ers,sourcessaid. Option 1 (special window + With the Centre changing for a considerably long period 11,266 adult patients across vehicles. According to data dealers) since August, manu- strong demand for passenger The companies have been 0.5%extraOMBsansreforms). its stance and agreeing to bor- beyond July 2022,but would morethan30countries. released by Society of Indian facturersarekeepingtheirfin- vehicles and two-wheelers in asked to reply to the notices Thismorethancoversthefunds row on the states’behalf,the likelybe levied on more items. The study found the regi- Automobile Manufacturers gers crossed about sales fore- thefestiveseason.Beyondthat within15days. whichwouldhavebeenreceived impasse at the GST Council mens appeared to have little or (Siam)onFriday,passengervehi- cast.There are two reasons for it is difficult to predict how “It has been brought into by them during the current overtheissueseemstobeend- Continued on Page 2 noeffecton28-daymortalityor clesalesduringSeptemberstood this.One,the increased sales demandwillshapeup.Wehave notice that some of the e-com- the length of the in-hospital at 271,027 units, up 26.45% are on low base and second, to wait and see,”Siam presi- merce entities are not display- course among Covid patients comparedwiththesamemonth volumesinmostsegmentsare dentandMDofMarutiSuzuki ing the mandatory declaration RBI announces first`10,000-crore OMO for state bonds hospitalised,WHOsaid. lastyear.Two-wheelersalesalso stillbelowwhatwasseensome India KenichiAyukawa said. on digital platforms required RBI ON FRIDAY announced the first one,the central bank nataka, Kerala, Madhya rose 11.64%during the month five years ago.“Though we are under the Legal Metrology thefirstauctionofstatedevel- said.Therewillbe30different PradeshandMaharashtra. Continued on Page 2 onayear-on-yearbasis. seeing some green shoots,the Continued on Page 2 (PackagedCommodities)Rules, opment loans through the securities on sale from 15 RBI has not specified the 2011,”said one of the similarly states — Andhra Pradesh, amountofsecuritiesonsaleor OMOroute.Thepurchaseauc- ● REALTY wordednotices. tionwillbeheldonOctober22 Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, the amount it plans to pur- SEPT QUARTER The two companies, as per and the size of the auctions Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, chasefromeachstate. the notices,have not provided could be enhanced in future, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Blackstone the mandatorydeclaration and dependingontheresponseto Pradesh,J&K,Jharkhand,Kar- Report on Page 10 HCLTech to hire up to 9,000; contravenetheAct. nears $2-bn ● CHINA IMPACT profit rises 19% to `3,142 cr property PRESS TRUST OF INDIA Revenue grows 6.1% to under review from `17,528 New Delhi, October 16 `18,594 crore croreintheyear-agoperiod. deal with Digital media units to “Wedeliveredasolidperfor- IT FIRM HCL Technologies on Net profit 7.4% higher manceinQ2.Ourstellarperfor- Prestige be tightly regulated Friday posted an 18.5% rise in on sequential basis mance is broad-based across Septemberquarternetprofitat verticals,service lines,geogra- BAIJU KALESH FE BUREAU asitnotifiedrulesunderwhich `3,142crore,andsaiditislook- HCL Technologies phiesandMode1,2,3offerings. & SARITHA RAI New Delhi, October 16 Intra-day on BSE (`), Oct 16 October 16 up to 26% foreign direct ing at hiring up to 9,000 fresh- 900 Our new bookings remained investment (FDI) in such enti- ersinthesecondhalfofthisfis- very robust, it increased 35% THEGOVERNMENTONFriday ties will be permitted through calonthebackofstronggrowth 875 865 comparedtothelastquarter,we BLACKSTONEGROUPISnear- saidthechiefexecutiveofadig- officialapproval. momentum.The Noida-based 850 827.10 won15transformationaldeals,” ingadealtobuyPrestigeGroup’s italmediaoutletlocatedorreg- The move seems aimed at company had registered a net 825 HCLTechnologiespresidentand commercialpropertiesforabout isteredinIndiaandmajorityof curbing the influence of Chi- profit of `2,651 crore in the CEO C Vijayakumar told $2 billion,according to people 800 itsdirectorshavetobeIndians, nese or other foreign-owned year-ago period (as per US Previous close: 859.45 reportersinavirtualbriefing. withknowledgeofthematter. 775 digital media news entities GAAP).Itsrevenuegrew6.1%to Open Close TheUSprivateequitygroup that, the government thinks, `18,594 crore in the quarter Continued on Page 2 is in advanced talks to acquire maybehostiletothecountry’s Prestige Estates Projects’rent- interest.It alsofillsinanexist- ● yielding assets, including ingregulatoryvoidinthedigi- BID RIGGING INDIABULLS HOUSING officesandoperatingmalls,the tal media space, unlike the people said, asking not to be broadcast media sector that is JK Tyre, other identifiedasthediscussionsare Entities to be tightlyregulated. Additional stake sold in private. Terms haven’t been The department for the firms face finalised and negotiations covered under promotion of industry and could still be delayed or fall new rules internaltradeclarifiedthatthe CCI probe OakNorth for `220 cr apart,thepeoplesaid. ■ Those uploading/ 26% FDI in digital media A representative for Black- streaming news and rule will apply to entities THE COMPETITION COMMIS- FE BUREAU stone declined to comment.An ■ Dilutes 13% stake current affairs on uploading/streaming news SIONofIndia(CCI)isinvestigat- Mumbai, October 16 email to Prestigewasn’t imme- in OakNorth for websites, apps, other and current affairs on ingJKTyre&Industriesafterthe diately answered outside of `1,810 crore platforms; news websites, apps, other plat- Haryanagovernmentaccusedit INDIABULLS HOUSING