THE ECONOMIC TIMES

WWW.ECONOMICTIMES.COM

BENNETT, COLEMAN & CO. LTD. MUMBAI | 12 PAGES | .` 4.00 OR .` 7.00 ALONG WITH THE TIMES OF INDIA WEDNESDAY, 27 MAY 2020

States With Most Cases 5 Worst-Hit Cities Samples Tested TOTAL CASES

GLOBAL COUNT
Active Case Count Total Active
80,722 (+3,619)
CORONA
METER Deaths
1m If cases had
100k doubled every...
Week M’rashtra 52,667
Tamil Nadu 17,082
Mumbai 31,972
Delhi Share
14,053 In Total
Total* 3.15 Million
In Past 24 Positive
5.64 Million
DEATHS
100,000 Set to Return
4,167 (+146 )
Cured
10k
1k
9 days Gujarat 14,460 Share
In Total Chennai 11,641 50.34% Hours*
92,528 4.57%
Cases^ 349,232 to India Before June 13
TOTAL CASES 145,380 60,491 (+2,770) March 29 May 26 Delhi 14,053 72.61% Ahmedabad 10,841 Recovered PURE POLITICS2
Source: Source: ICMR *As of 9am,
IN INDIA (+6,535) Source: MoHFW, 8am 147,505: PTI estimate of Covid-19 cases as of 9:30pm Rajasthan 7,300 Thane 6,958 covid19india May 26 ^3-day average 2.40 Million
To order your favourite newspaper, call 1800 1200 004 toll free or visit subscribe.timesgroup.com. To advertise with us, call 1800 120 5474

PRELIMINARY TALKS GOING ON ‘GDP TO SHRINK 6.8% IN FY21 AFTER SMART RECOVERY IN Q2 AND MUCH BETTER Q3, Q4’
At 47.6 Deg C, Delhi
Hottest in a Decade
The temperature in New Delhi
Carlyle Weighs Economy may Contract by
Billion Dollar Bet
soared to 47.6 degrees Celsius,
the hottest for May in a dec-
ade, as the heat wave intensified across
northern India. The searing heat will
continue for two more days before a
western disturbance brings some thun-
dershowers, the Met office said.9
on Axis Bank Over 40% in Q1: SBI Research May Sees 20 m Back
Expects another stimulus Matter Of Loss
Capital Account in Employment: CMIE
package later in the year; SBI and Crisil see deep losses for the economy in the first quarter
About 20 million came
CHASING FUNDS AXIS BANK FINANCIALS* CRISIL SBI RESEARCH
Balance sheet Net profit Crisil predicts 25% 25% contraction in Over 40% decline States’ total loss back into employment
Bharti Telecom `9,15,165 cr `1,627 cr
(14% Y-O-Y growth) (down 65%)
contraction in quarter
April-June quarter in Q1 FY21 GDP pegged at `30 L cr in May as the govern-
5% contraction in full FY21 Red & orange zones ment eased the nationwide lock-
Raises `8,433 cr Gross NPAs `30,234 cr Our Bureau 10% of real GDP
account for 90% of this loss down to counter the Covid-19
Bharti Telecom Ltd, the lost permanently FY21 growth projected at -6.8% outbreak, according to an update
SHAREHOLDING
promoter company of New Delhi: The Indian economy by the Centre for Monitoring
SUUTI + State- FIIs CARLYLE FACTOID faces a “humongous” loss in the India’s fourth recession since Independence, first since
Bharti Airtel, has raised Owned 45.49% Manages In India since liberalisation, and perhaps the worst to date is here CRISIL Indian Economy (CMIE). 9
June quarter and gross domestic
`8,433 crore ($1.15 billion) by selling Insurers $127 billion 2000; has product (GDP) could contract by
a 2.75% stake in the telecom operator 16% of assets invested over more than 40% during the period, fourth quarters. “We now believe cession. It sees GDP contracting SBI Research expects Covid-19 in-
to a clutch of overseas investors and Others
globally $2.5 billion State Bank of India (SBI) Research Q1GDP FY21loss will be humongo- 5% in FY21. International rating fections to peak in the last week of
MFs said in a note. It expects another us and could even exceed 40%,” it agency Fitch also downgraded In- June. “The good news is that
local fund houses.4 2.22% stimulus package later in the year said on Tuesday, estimating se- dia’s growth forecast. “Biggest fo- Q2GDP growth in FY21could see a
20.51% KEY INVESTMENTS
to help shore up the economy. cond-quarter growth at 7.1% if de- recast cut was to India where we bump up because of a significant
Non-institutional 13.56% HDFC, SBI Life, SBI Card,
Kotak Bank (*Data as on Mar 31, 2020) India Infoline, Delhivery,
SBI Research estimates the eco-
nomy will contract by 6.8% in FY21
mand recovers.
The first quarter will suffer a
now anticipate a 5% decline in the
current financial year in contrast
contraction in Q1GDP,” said SBI
group chief economic adviser So-
PNB Housing Finance, after a “smart recovery” in the se-
Launches QIP Axis Bank stock down
54% in past 3 months
Sequent, Medanta cond quarter and “much better”
contraction of 25%, ratings agen-
cy Crisil said in a note on Tuesday,
to an earlier forecast of growth of
0.8%,” the agency said in a state-
umya Kanti Ghosh.

growth numbers in the third and predicting India’s worst-ever re- ment late Tuesday. ‘``30.03 Lakh Cr Total Loss to States’6
Kotak Mahindra Bank
launched a qualified in- structure used by Bain in No- ET GRAPHICS
stitutional placement (QIP) Deal likely to be in vember 2017, said the people .
Tuesday to raise up to `7,500 crore,
and set a floor price of `1,147.75 per
share, at half a per cent discount to
the form of primary
issuance of shares;
The promoters own 16.35%
while foreign institutional or
portfolio investors, including
the Government of Singapore
Create Demand, Rescue Economy
The latest projections, like those by SBI, show catastrophic economic contraction in FY21. There’s still time to avoid or largely
Investment Corp, Fidelity and
the closing price.6 mitigate this – through an avalanche of government spending aimed squarely at creating demand. The argument is simple.
PE fund may end up Vanguard hold 45.49%. Foreign
investors can automatically
OLA FINANCIAL SERVICES owning 5-8% of bank
RAISES `205 CRORE 8
own up to 5% in a bank in India,
which can rise to 10% with Re-
serve Bank of India (RBI) appro-
D emand is consumption and investment. Sixty percent of GDP is private consumption. Investment
has been anaemic much before Covid. The pre-Covid slowdown happened principally because
consumption growth slowed down. The Covid crisis has savaged consumption further. It has also
Arijit.Barman val. The promoters are Specifi- made investment even more risky because businesses will produce more only if there’s consumption
@timesgroup.com ed Undertaking of Unit Trust of demand. The govt is the only economic agent that can create demand on a massive scale.
PURE India (SUUTI) and state-owned
POLITICS Mumbai: Almost three years
after it got a $1.8 billion “confi-
insurers such as Life Insurance
Corp of India (LIC), as per BSE P ut it this way — without higher demand, guaranteed loans for MSMEs will be of little use to them.
Why will they take on debt when there are no customers? Plus, businesses need direct support,
like the government buying corporate bonds. Only then will investment, jobs, incomes pick up.
dence capital” boost, Axis Bank data.
Monsoon Session: RS & might see a rerun. Private equi-
ty group Carlyle has initiated
In November
Talks going on 2017, Boston-he- SO, HOW DOES GOVERNMENT CREATE DEMAND? MANY EXPERTS HAVE DONE ROUGH CALCULATIONS.
LS to Sit Alternate Days discussions with the country’s
third-largest private lender for a
for almost a
month have
adquartered
Bain led a con-
1] Forget fiscal prudence. Aim 3] Here are some numbers
The government is likely to for extra spend of 9-10% of a] Direct support: Income transfer d] Corporate bond buying:
fund infusion as rising systemic gathered sortium to in-
momentum
GDP. Go for debt monetisation through DBT of `2 lakh crore + wage Govt sets up SPVs that issues
hold the monsoon session of level stress and the economic vest $1.8 billion
slowdown are forcing banks and recently (.̀ 11,626 crore) support for informal sectors of bonds. RBI buys those bonds.
Parliament in the Central `1.5 lakh crore = `3.5 lakh crore With that cash, SPVs buy
shadow lenders to build provi- in the private
Hall, holding Lok Sabha and Rajya sion buffers to tackle future as- lender — the largest private b] Infrastructure spend: `4 lakh cr corporate bonds and create a
Sabha sittings on alternate days, re- set slippages. The investment equity transaction in India sin- budgeted capital expenditure + liquid market for them. This
ports Nidhi Sharma. Due to the pan- could be around a billion dol- ce the 1991 liberalisation — to `50,000 crore for new healthcare will definitely attract other
lars, according to people with help shore up Axis Bank’s capi- facilities = `4.5 lakh crore buyers. Experts estimate
demic, the government is planning to knowledge of the matter. tal base after a string of disappo- 2] Big heads of this spend bonds of `10-12 lakh crore
hold the session in August-end.2 c] Asset and corporate equity
The fund-raising is likely to be inting earnings. In September should be direct income can be bought & traded
buying: `2 lakh crore for buying
in the form of a primary issuan- 2019, Axis raised another .̀ 12,500 transfer, wage support, e] Housing help: `25,000 cr
NBFC/bank assets + NIIF buying
ce of shares through a preferen- crore through qualified institu- infrastructure spend, buying for NBCC to finish projects
Rajnath Holds Review tial allotment route that may le- tional placements (QIP) . even larger scale of NBFC/
equity of `2 lakh cr = `4 lakh crore.
ad to the PE fund owning up to bank assets, buying of
Meeting on Ladakh 5-8% of the bank, similar to the Stock Has Lost 22% in a Month6 corporate bonds
4] Smart tax cuts. Lower GST on products like autos may boost demand.
Small income tax cuts will likely just be saved by taxpayers
Defence minister Rajnath
Singh reviewed national ASSETS VALUED AT ` 450-500 CRORE RISKS?
security Tuesday amid the
standoff in Ladakh, where thousands Petronas Eyes Acme Solar Assets 1] Risk of economic
catastrophe now
2] ECONOMIST SAJJID CHINOY MADE THIS ARGUMENT BY ANALYSING DEBT/GDP RATIOS:
a] Agreeing to sharply higher debt/GDP ratio, b] Conversely, lower fiscal spend and therefore
of troops have been deployed along Malaysia’s state-run oil and gas company Petronas is in higher than risk of meaning a higher fiscal spend now, will lower debt/GDP ratio will produce lower nominal
Line of Actual Control after a series of talks to buy about 100 MW of solar assets from India’s Acme economic instability produce higher nominal growth in near future growth, which is much worse for
Solar, report Reghu Balakrishnan & Indulal PM.4 in future & that will reduce debt/GDP ratio over time debt mgmt in medium term
intrusions by Chinese forces over the
past month.3 Imaging: ANIRBAN BORA

QUARANTINE A HURDLE: IATA

Govt Releases Source
Code of Aarogya Setu App
Out of Legal Options, Mallya
SANTOSH KUMAR GANGWAR
The government has released the
source code of its Covid-19 con- may Seek Asylum in UK MINISTER FOR LABOUR & EMPLOYMENT

‘Abolition of Worker
tact tracing app, Aarogya Setu, on te as a last resort, if his appeal
software development platform GitHub, in challenging the extradition pro-
Move last-ditch bid ceedings were rejected, said le-
line with India’s policy on Open Source
to block extradition gal sources in the UK.

Protection by Some
Software. The release of the source code has These sources further added
been a key demand of privacy experts.8 that the request for asylum has
Kala Vijayraghavan already been sent to the office of
& Rashmi Rajput UK home secretary Priti Patel.
Market Tracker
Indices/Currency Close Chg(Abs)
Mumbai: Beleaguered busi-
nessman Vijay Mallya is under-
On May 14, the UK High court —
which had ruled in April that
Mallya could be extradited to In-
Day 2: Airline States won’t be OKed’
Nifty 9,029.05 -0.11 stood to have recently filed an
application seeking political
dia — declined to grant him leave
to approach the Supreme Court.
Ops Smoother, Govt looking to create
Sensex 30,609.30 -0.21 asylum in the UK, said top legal It’s not clear if the asylum requ-
BSE Midcap 11,406.58 1.21
sources close to the develop-
ment. His team of lawyers had
est was filed before or after that
date. “At this point we can only
But AI Faces Ire electronic database of
BSE Smallcap 10,590.42 0.63 been working on the asylum rou- confirm he has moved the UK ho-
me secretary’s office seeking po- More flights and all migrant workers
Re/US $ 75.67 0.38
Vijay Mallya’s IF ASYLUM IS REFUSED BY HOME SECY
litical asylum,” said a legal ex-
pert privy to the development.
destinations added Yogima.Sharma
IBJA Gold 995* 46,617.00 -0.63 lawyers had been Mallya has Then Entire process Mallya did not respond to an @timesgroup.com
working on move as the right to there will could take email from ET. Emails sent to Pa- Our Bureaus
IBJA Silver 999^ 47,625.00 1.23
last resort if appeal challenge be an 18 months to tel and her office remained unans- New Delhi: Labour minister
Brent ($) 35.53 1.54 wered till press time Tuesday. New Delhi | Mumbai: Opera- Santosh Kumar Gangwar said The complete
challenging extradition decision before appeals two years, say
order was rejected a tribunal process legal experts tions at India’s airports were the abolition of worker protec- suspension of
*(`/10gm) ^(`/kg) Compiled by ETIG Database
Process Involves Multiple Appeals6 smoother on the second day af- tions by some states aimed at at- labour rights, as
ter the chaos that marked the tracting investment won’t be
resumption of domestic flights approved by the Centre in the done by some states,
cannot be termed
Credit in Quarantine, Distributors Deal in Cash
on Monday. The number of current form. “The complete
flights increased, more people suspension of labour rights, as
flew and additional destina- done by some states, cannot be
as labour reforms
tions opened up. Airlines got termed as labour reforms and of confidence-building measu-
better at managing travellers, would not be accepted in the res are being undertaken to get
Distributors supply goods to retailers only against cash to prevent default, affecting goods movement across chain although there were compla- current form,” Gangwar told them back to work, Gangwar sa-
smartphones and cooking oils have This has hit movement of goods deputy chief executive of Adani ints about state-run carrier Air ET in an interview. id. The Centre will provide an
Writankar Mukherjee started dealing only in cash instead across the chain as retailers are Wilmar, said. Distributors were India. Flights were cancelled States such as UP, MP and Gu- “amicable environment where a
& Sutanuka Ghosal of the usual practice of offering up short of cash because of low sales. scared that retailers many not be on Tuesday as well, leaving tra- jarat have issued ordinances to balance is created between the
to three weeks of credit as they fear The problem is more acute in small able to pay, or may wind up comple- vellers stranded. exempt new establishments rights of workers and the de-
Kolkata | New Delhi: Distributors defaults by small retailers during towns where neighbourhood shops tely, he said. “As a result, our pro- Carriers operated 325 depar- from all but a few labour rules mands for doing business”, he
of consumer goods, electronics, the business downturn. often provide goods to regular ducts are reaching about 50% of tures and carried more than for three years as they seek to said, outlining his vision for ma-
customers on credit — the pande- the retail stores.” 41,500 passengers until 5 pm on drum up investments in the wa- king India an investor- and labo-
mic has pushed many buyers in- Retailers are struggling to make Tuesday, the aviation ministry ke of the Covid-19 crisis. ur-friendly nation for firms loo-
Corona Crimps Credit Cash-starved
cluding migrant workers to default.
Companies said the problem is
payments. For rice, retailers in
Bengal, Bihar, Tripura, Jhark-
said. Domestic airlines opera-
ted 438 flights and carried
The government is looking to
create an electronic database of
king to relocate from China.
Retail sales plummet in retailers reduce more pronounced in packaged hand and Odisha have pending 30,000 passengers until mid- all migrant workers and a series ‘Protecting Lives & Livelihood’6
lockdown, outlook weak bulk purchases snacks, edible oil, biscuits, dairy payments of `. 1,500 crore to dis- night on Monday, the first day of
Retailers have no Bulk suppliers products, sanitisers, room cleaners tributors, said Subroto Mondol, a flight operations after two
and phones below .̀ 15,000 because rice trader in Bengal. The amount months, the government said.
AFFECTED STAFF TO RECEIVE PAYOUT FOR MINIMUM 10 WEEKS
money to buy bulk, reduce purchases
want credit from manufacturer these products have pent-up de-
mand. Sales of wheat, rice and
across other parts of the country
and other products would be signi-
A senior airline executive said
faster turnarounds facilitated Uber Lays Off 600 in India
Distributors fear Factory- flour are also suffering. ficantly higher, industry executi- the progressive addition in ca- Uber laid off 600 people in India Tuesday, part of a global
default, will supply distributor-retailer “We have become cautious about ves said. pacity on day two.
giving products on credit to our retrenchment announced on May 18. All affected employ-
only for cash chain slows down
distributors,” Angshu Mallick, Some Cos Haven’t Changed Biz Terms6 Mumbai Maintains Departure Cap6 ees will receive payouts for a minimum 10 weeks.8
Illustration: ANIRBAN BORA
 2  Pure Politics
GOVERNMENT PLANS TO HOLD PARLIAMENT SESSION IN AUGUST-END
Parliament has to be convened once in six months; both the Houses were adjourned on March 23
Monsoon Session likely in Central
Hall; LS, RS to Sit on Alternate Days
Govt considering possibility of remote attendance where MPs can watch proceedings, raise questions, participate online
Nidhi.Sharma@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: In keeping with social
distancing norms, the government
is likely to hold the monsoon session
of Parliament in the Central Hall,
holding Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha
sittings on alternate days.
The government is seriously con-
sidering holding the monsoon ses-
sion of Parliament even as Co-
vid-19 numbers are increasing.
However, the government might
push the session by a few weeks.
Usually, the month-long monsoon
session begins in July-end. Due to
the pandemic, the government is
planning to hold it in August-end.
According to sources, the govern-
ment is looking at holding the sit-
tings in the Central Hall, which
has a capacity to seat 776 members
of Parliament. With the need to fol-
low social distancing norms and
maintain a double arms distance
between two MPs, the Central Hall
could hold members of one House.
A senior official of the parliamen-
tary affairs ministry, who did not
wish to be identified, told ET, “We
could alternate between the Rajya
Sabha and Lok Sabha.”
According to the rules, Parlia-
ment has to be convened once in six
months. Both the Houses were ad-
journed on March 23 before the
scheduled date of April 3 as India
implemented a complete lock-
ParlMin Lays Pitch for Work from Home
to Deal with Task for Upcoming Session
Seeks universal virtual private network access for all employees to ensure things run smoothly
Anubhuti.Vishnoi
@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: The parliamentary affa-
irs ministry has pitched for ‘work
from home’ to ensure work is not held
up in any way, it is learnt. The mini-
stry is also learnt to have sought uni-
versal virtual private network (VPN)
access for all employees to ensure
things run smoothly in the next ses-
sion. At the inter-ministerial discus-
sions on WFH last week, the ministry
emphasised on clear protocols at the
earliest, keeping in mind the need for
timely replies to Parliament ques-
tions that MPs would give notice for,
RAMPING UP THE SCALE OF VBM
Over 1 Lakh Indians to Rouse Avenue District Court
Return Before June 13 Prepares Staff for Video Meet
Our Political Bureau
New Delhi: The Centre expects to
facilitate the return of more than
one lakh Indians in 60 nations before
June 13 and external affairs mini-
ster S Jaishankar held a review mee-
ting of Vande Bharat Mission on Tu-
esday to ramp up the scale of repat-
riation and enhance its efficiency.
“Concluded a detailed review mee-
ting of Vande Bharat Mission... The
focus of the meeting was to ramp up
the scale of VBM and enhance its effi-
ciency. Arrangements being made for
amnesty beneficiaries in the Gulf and
naval evacuation of our fishermen in
Iran will happen in June,” Jaishan-
kar tweeted after the meeting. He also
said that Air India will
shortly shift to direct
ticketing to facilitate
bookings abroad. The
Centre is working
with state govern-
ments for more effici-
ent use of cumulative
quarantine capacity.
YSRCP MP, Ex-MLA, Others get HC Contempt Notices
Comments allegedly attributed motives to judges who had passed orders against state govt’s decisions
Our Political Bureau
Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh
High Court on Tuesday served no-
tices on 49 activists of the ruling
YSR Congress Party, including a
Lok Sabha member, for comments
allegedly attributing motives to
judges who had passed orders aga-
inst the government’s decisions.
Nandigam Suresh from Bapatla is
the MP who was served the notice.
He had recently found fault with the
Unprecedented Times
While the proceedings are telecast live, so far there
has been no technical intervention where members
can participate from another venue in live proceedings.
But these are unprecedented times, so we are looking at
software which could help us in remote attendance
AN OFFICIAL
Once a larger call is taken, the government would also put
in place common measures, including checking temperature
with hand-held devices, giving a facility to MPs to partici-
pate in proceedings even from parliamentary party offices
and not asking them to be physically present in the House
down. Though the government has
time till September 23, it is explo-
ring different possibilities to hold
the monsoon session. “At a time of
pandemic, MPs want to ask ques-
tions and seek explanations from
the government. This is why the
government is exploring different
possibilities,” the official said.
Holding a monsoon session is al-
so a part of a larger strategy of
the Modi government to convey
the “new normal” to people. The
government has been increa-
singly pushing the idea that peo-
ple would have to live with the vi-
rus and scrupulously follow soci-
al distancing norms. Holding a
Additional Effort Needed
Ministry usually starts
work on answering ques-
tions and govt assurances
related to questions a fortnight
before the session begins
Preparing for session with a Work From Home system
will require considerable additional effort
before the beginning of a session.
The ministry usually starts work
on answering questions and govern-
ment assurances related to ques-
tions a fortnight before the session
begins. The exercise is intensive, co-
MHA asks States
to Ensure Refunds
After Rule Change
NEW DELHI: MHA
asked states and
UTs to ensure that
Indian nationals,
who made advance payments,
should get refunds as the 14-day
institutional quarantine has been
reduced to seven days. In a letter,
Union home secretary Ajay
Bhalla said: “Indian nationals
who were quarantined in hotels
after their return from abroad
were made to pay advance for 14
days. Since they can now leave
for home quarantine after 7 days,
the amount...for remaining 7
days needs to be refunded.” — OPB
court’s orders and alleged that oppo-
sition leader N Chandrababu Naidu
was accessing the judgements much
before they were pronounced. He al-
so had alleged that Naidu was “ma-
naging the judiciary”.
Amanchi Krishna Mohan, a for-
mer legislator from Cheerala, was
another leader who was served a
notice. He had allegedly said in a
public meeting that the party cad-
res would have organised protests
before the high court if there were
no lockdown regulations.
session, especially when the go-
vernment had carried on with
sittings in March despite the op-
position, becomes vital.
The government is also conside-
ring the possibility of remote at-
tendance where the MPs could
watch the proceedings and raise
their questions or participate in a
discussion online. “While the pro-
ceedings are telecast live, so far
there has been no technical inter-
vention where members can par-
ticipate from another venue in li-
ve proceedings. But these are un-
precedented times, so we are loo-
king at software which could help
us in remote attendance,” said
Exercise covers
several ministries
and involves
considerable paperwork
and manpower
vers several ministries and involves
considerably paperwork and man-
power. Preparing for the session
with a WFH system will require con-
siderable additional effort.
“We have to make all arrange-
FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF SUPREME COURT AND HIGH COURTs
Raghav.Ohri@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: The Rouse Avenue
District Court, where high-profile
trials including the VVIP chopper
scandal, Aircel Maxis and INX Me-
dia cases are being conducted, is
preparing its staff to carry out pro-
ceedings via videoconferencing,
following in the footsteps of the Su-
preme Court and high courts.
These prominent cases, allegedly
also involving former finance mi-
nister P Chidambaram, are being
pursued by the Central Bureau of
Investigation and Enforcement Di-
rectorate. In fact, all corruption-re-
lated cases hanging fire in various
city courts were transferred to the
Rouse Avenue court last year to ex-
pedite the anti-graft trials.
In separate circulars issued earli-
er this month, court officials have
been asked to get acquainted with a
web application for videoconferen-
cing. On May 22, the readers of jud-
ges at the Rouse Avenue Court we-
re given training on the use of the
AP Govt Suspends TTD’s Asset Disposal Proposal
HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh government ordered sus-
pension of the proposal of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams
(TTD) to dispose of the assets donated by devotees, following
the opposition’s call for a people’s movement and day-long
fast protests as well as appeals by Hindu religious leaders.
Although the government issued the order late evening on
Monday, the opposition decided to go ahead with the planned
day-long fast protests on Tuesday. — OPB
UK PARLIAMENT
MODEL
Government is also
looking at the UK
Parliament where
the House of Com-
mons was function-
ing in April. There,
the number of MPs
physically present
in the House was a
bare minimum and
a majority would
remotely attend
the House
another official. Once a larger
call is taken, the government wo-
uld also put in place common mea-
sures, including checking tempe-
rature with hand-held devices, gi-
ving a facility to MPs to participa-
te in the proceedings even from
parliamentary party offices and
not asking them to be physically
present in the House.
The government is also looking
at the UK Parliament where the
House of Commons was functio-
ning in April. There, the number
of MPs physically present in the
House was a bare minimum and
a majority would remotely at-
tend the House.
ments to function smoothly amid
the pandemic. Discussions are on
with the Department of Admini-
strative Reforms and Department of
Personnel and Training to ensure
that work from home format are ef-
fective,” a senior official told ET.
Meanwhile, several other ministri-
es too have sought universal VPN ac-
cess for their personnel. The rural
development ministry is learnt to
have even sought VPN access for
even consultants, saying that it is a
consultant-driven ministry. Many
ministries have sought laptops for
section officers and above. Current-
ly only deputy secretary and those
above get laptops.
Ready for Virtual Court
On May 22, readers of
judges at the Rouse Avenue
Court were given training
on the use of meeting App,
while ahlmads (execution
clerks) were
trained on
May 23
Cisco WebEx meeting App, while
the ahlmads (execution clerks) we-
re trained on May 23. Similar trai-
ning programmes were scheduled
for personal assistants and senior
personal assistants on Tuesday.
According to the circular issu-
ed on May 23, the court officials
have been directed to install the
meeting app on their mobile pho-
nes/laptops to join the training.
“Given the current situation, it is
imperative that the lower Courts
which conduct trials are geared up
to carry out proceedings through vi-
wing a complaint filed by advocate
VV Lakshminarayana, who brought
to the notice of the court various spe-
eches and social media postings of
YSRCP leaders and followers.
Shakar viewed the alleged attack
on the judiciary as defamation
and contempt of court, pointing
out that most of the social media
posts were aimed at the high court
chief justice, which he said was
“sheer intimidation”.
THE ECONOMIC TIMES | MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | 27 MAY 2020 | WWW.ECONOMICTIMES.COM
Holding monsoon
session part of
a larger govt
strategy to convey
‘new normal’
to people
Now, Allow
House Panels
to Meet: BJD’s
Mahtab to Birla
‘Can be convened at
halls in Parl House,
Library Building and
Parl House Annexe’
Our Political Bureau
New Delhi: Chairman of the
Parliamentary Standing Commit-
tee, Bhartruhari Mahtab, has told
the Lok Sabha Speaker that with
the resumption of services of pas-
senger airlines and trains, it is ti-
me to allow the convening of the
House Panels to take up matters
pending long due to the lockdown-
enforced non-functioning of these
committees. He said such mee-
tings can be convened at the halls
in Parliament House, Parliamen-
tary Library Building and Parlia-
ment House Annexe.
The suggestions, which were le-
arnt to have made in a letter to the
Speaker on Tuesday by Mahtab,
who had earlier sought the Cha-
ir’s permission to convene the
meetings of the Standing Com-
mittees via videoconference due
to the lockdown, also signals that
the discourse/demand is now cle-
arly shifting towards convening
early normal meetings of the
committees after the resumption
of air/train services.
Recalling how no decision was
taken on his earlier demand for
virtual meetings, Mahtab told
Om Birla that convening nor-
mal meetings of committees
without further delay is impor-
tant in view of the pending bu-
sinesses such as examining the
Social Security Code, 2019.
According to the
circular issued on
May 23, the court
officials have been
directed to install the
meeting app on their
mobile phones/laptops
to join the training
deoconferencing. For this purpose,
not only judges but their support
staff also need to be trained on use of
app(s),” said a senior court official.
“With social distancing to be the
new norm even in court rooms, it
will be prudent to hold proceedings
via videoconferencing in routine ca-
ses, especially the appearance of ac-
cused from jail(s),” he added. Rest-
rictions are in place on the functio-
ning of the Delhi HC and district co-
urts till May 31to prevent the spread
of the Covid-19 virus outbreak. Only
urgent matters are being heard.
The court took up the matter follo-
Senior advocate Jandhya Ravi
MODI GOVT TO COMPLETE 1 YEAR IN OFFICE ON SAT
BJP to Highlight
Achievements
Amid Pandemic
‘Not more than 2 party
workers would go in a
group; workers of Yuva
Morcha to distribute
face masks, sanitisers’
Kumar.Anshuman
@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: With Prime Minister
Narendra Modi due to complete the
first year of his second term in office
on May 30, the BJP has planned a de-
tailed outreach programme to high-
light the achievements of the central
government in the last one year.
BJP general secretary, Arun Singh,
on Monday wrote to all state presidents
and incharges regarding the program-
me. “Some historic decisions have be-
en taken by the government over the
last one year. Be it the withdrawal of
Article 370 or Ram temple or CAA, the
programme would highlight the Cent-
re’s achievements,” Singh told ET. FOCUS ON PM’S LEADERSHIP
“Even initiatives during the times of
Covid-19, the Gareeb Kalyan Yojana, fi- ‘PM would be
nancial package and the commitment
for Atma Nirbhar Bharat, all would be
at the centre of
part of the outreach programme.”
In a three-page letter, Singh wrote in
programme
detail about three layers of the outre-
ach programme. The first part would
and progress made un-
be a personal contact programme in
which BJP workers would be distribu-
der his leadership would
ting PM Modi’s letter to 10 crore house-
holds. The letter would mention the
be talked about’
commitment to Atma Nirbhar Bharat, across the country, amid Covid-19
the role of India in global welfare and crisis, will also be shared.
safety instructions to prevent Covid-19. Virtual connect is going to be the
“Not more than two party workers wo- third part. BJP is planning to hold vir-
uld go in a group following social dis- tual rallies in all states. At least two
tancing norms and workers of Yuva rallies in a large state and one rally in
Morcha would be distributing face a smaller state have been planned.
masks and sanitisers,” Singh told ET. These rallies would be conducted
The second part would be a digital through video conferencing and the
outreach programme beginning party has sought at least 750 partici-
with a Facebook live session by natio- pants. “We would try to make a virtu-
nal president JP Nadda on May 30. al gathering of people and would re-
Apart from this, information on the ach them in their homes,” said Singh.
achievements of the Centre would be BJP also plans to hold 1,000 press con-
spread by activating old WhatsApp ferences by national and state leaders
groups up to booth levels and crea- across the country. “PM Modi would
ting new groups for three days, star-
ting May 27. A video on how the BJP
created a digital contact system and
got in touch with party workers from
be at the centre of this entire pro-
gramme and the progress made un-
der his able leadership would be tal-
ked about,” said Singh.
AHEAD OF NEXT ROUND OF PM-CMs MEET
Lockdown Strategy has
Failed to Stem Spread
of Covid-19: Rahul
Urges PM Modi to spell
out a plan to curb the
disease amid the easing
of restrictions
Our Political Bureau
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi alleged that the lockdown
strategy had failed to stem the spre-
ad of Covid-19 and urged Prime Mi-
nister Narendra Modi to spell out a
plan to curb the disease amid the ea-
sing of restrictions. The comments
come ahead of the next round of
We are only support-
ing govt and are not a
‘key player’ in the state.
PM’s expected interaction with chief
ministers before the ongoing fourth
Maharashtra is struggling
round of lockdown ends on May 31. because of its nature of
“It is now over 60 days since the count- connectivity. Maharashtra
ry was put under lockdown. At that ti-
me the prime minister had said the war
is fighting a tough battle
against the coronavirus would be won and it requires full support
in 21 days. It is now clear that the lock- from the central govt
down has not been able to defeat the vi-
rus,” Gandhi said at a virtual briefing RAHUL GANDHI
on Tuesday. “The number of new cases Congress Leader
in many areas around the country are
increasing exponentially. Clearly, the
PM and his advisors had underestima- HITTING OUT
ted the scale of battle India had to
launch to defeat the coronavirus.”
Gandhi said: “The PM was quick to Criticism a
take centre stage in the early stages of
this battle. But now, when his leaders- Bunch of Lies,
hip is most needed, the PM has gone on
back foot. I request him to play on the says BJP
front foot.” He said India was the only
NEW DELHI: For-
major country to relax the lockdown
when the disease was spiralling. mer Congress
“What is the central govern- president Rahul
ment’s plan to go forward as the di-
Gandhi’s criticism of the
sease is growing exponentially in
the country? What is the strategy government on the lockdown
regarding opening India?” said were a “bunch of lies” and
Gandhi. “What precautions will
they take to now curb the disease?
Congress was engaged in
How will they support migrants? politics of negativism when
How will they support the state go-
vernments and MSMEs (micro,
small and medium enterprises)?”
Maintaining that Congress-led states
the country was facing a
pandemic, BJP has alleged. “At
a time when the whole count-
were doing their best to tackle the situ- ry is fighting a decisive battle
ation, Gandhi said financial backing
and logistical assistance from the against Covid-19 pandemic,
Centre were key to combating Co- the Congress party has cros-
vid-19. On Maharashtra, Gandhi said: sed all boundaries of negative
“We are only supporting the govern-
ment and are not a ‘key player’ in the politics. Rahul Gandhi’s press
state. Maharashtra is struggling be- interaction was another
cause of its nature of connectivity. Ma- example of this kind of politics.
harashtra is fighting a tough battle
and it requires full support from the Moreover, what he has said is
central government.” nothing but a bunch of lies,”
Gandhi once again warned of an eco- I&B minister Prakash Javade-
nomic disaster if government did not
provide adequate financial assistance kar alleged. — OPB
and an adequate stimulus package.
THE ECONOMIC TIMES | MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | 27 MAY 2020 | WWW.ECONOMICTIMES.COM
Pure Politics  3 Ab boardingpaas hai!
Defence Min apprises PMO of China border situation
SC Intervenes, after meeting Army brass, officials, diplomats
g
F

Takes Note of Top-Level Security Review

Migrants’ Plight of LAC; Status Quo Remains
In suo motu action,
SC asks govt for
an account of the
relief work
Samanwaya.Rautray
@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: The Supreme Court as-
ked the central and state govern-
ments to provide adequate food, shel-
ter and transport free of cost to the
migrants who are still stuck on high-
ways for lack of transport.
Taking suo motu cognisance of the
plight of migrants, who were left
stranded when the Centre imposed
the nationwide lockdown from
March 25, the court on Tuesday cited
lapses and inadequacies in dealing
with migrants and asked the central
and state governments to give an ac-
count of all that they have done for
the workers so far.
“We are of the view that effective
concentrated efforts are required to
redeem the situation,” said a bench
led by Justice Ashok Bhushan while
giving the Centre and state govern-
ments two days to respond to the co-
urt’s notices.
The top court has been facing se-
vere criticism in recent days for re-
fusing to deal with the issue. SC
Bar Association president Dushy-
ant Dave and senior advocate Ra-
kesh Dwivedi, among others, had
criticised the court for abdicating
its constitutional responsibility to
step in and review executive ac-
tion during a pandemic.
On Tuesday, the bench, compri-
sing justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul
and MR Shah as well, took suo motu
cognisance of the miseries of mig-
rant workers and said this section
needed succour in this hour. The
same bench had earlier sides-
tepped the issue saying
it could not monitor tho-
se who were walking
back to their homes.
POINTING TO LAPSES
Though the
Enhance Amul
Centre, states Airport snack
have taken Combat
measures there have Readiness,
been certain inade- Xi tells PLA ¦
quacies and lapses: SC We understand your world
Press Trust of India
THURSDAY HEARING HDFC Bank Limited
Beijing: Chinese President Regd . Office: HDFC Bank House, Senapati Bapat Marg,
Lower Pare] (West), Mumbal400013
The Centre and state Xi Jinping on Tuesday orde-
red the military to scale up
[Corporate Identification Number-L65920MH1994PLCO80618j
[e-mail: shareholdecgrlevances@hdfcbank.com] [Website: www.hdfcbank.com )
governments have ANIRBAN BORA the battle preparedness, [Tel Nos. 022 - 39760001 / 0012)
visualising worst-case scena- PUBLIC NOTICE
been given two days to Our Political Bureau
both sides maintaining troop levels
in what has resulted in a military rios and asked them to resolu-
tely defend the country's FOR THE ATTENTION OF SHAREHOLDERS OF HDFC BANK LIMITED
respond to the court’s New Delhi: The government has un-
stalemate.
While there have been efforts not to sovereignty. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and the Securities and
Xi, 66 who is also the General Exchange Board of India (SEBI) have permitted the listed companies
notices dertaken a top-level security review
of the situation along the China bor-
escalate the matter militarily, sour-
ces believe that a Doklam like appro- Secretary of the ruling Com- to send the Notice of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and the
der, where tensions have flared up ach could be maintained to resolve munist Party of China (CPC) Annual Report during the calendar year 2020 to shareholders by email
RETHINK BY SC over the past month after PLA troops the crisis. In the Doklam crisis on the and head of the two-million- only in view of prevailing COVID-19 pandemic situation and difficulties
marched across the Line of Actual Sikkim-Bhutan boundary in 2017, strong military with prospects involved in despatch of physical cop ies.
Sidestepping Control in the Galwan valley and India maintained a steady ground of lifelong tenure in power, In order to send Annual Report , Notice and other communication
along the Pangong Tso lake in La- presence of troops, while diplomatic made the remarks while
the issue ear- dakh in a breach of talks were underta- attending a plenary meeting of
to shareholders in electronic form, we request the Members of
border agreements. ken at the top-level HDFC Bank Limited ("the Bank"), who have not yet registered their
lier, SC had A comprehensive DOKALAM APPROACH to ensure that a
the delegation of the People's
Liberation Army (PLA) and proper and correct email address and mobile number,to register the
same immediatel y in respect of shares held in electronic form with
said it cannot monitor review of the bo-
undary situation While there have tipping point was
not reached.
People's Armed Police Force
during the current parliament their Depository Participant(s) and in respect of shares held in physical
those who are walking at the senior-most
levels involved the
been efforts not to As first reported
by ET, Chinese
session being held here. form by communicating to the Bank's Registrars & Share Transfer
Xi ordered the military to Agent , Datamatics Business Solutions Limited, having address at
back to their homes top military lea-
dership, diplomats
escalate the matter troops have pou-
red into the Gal-
think about worst-case scena- Plot No B-5, Part B Crosslane, MIDC, Andheri (East), Mumbai 400093,
rios, scale up training and Email: hdinvestors@datamaticsbpm.com ("the RTA").
amid the and the National militarily, sources wan valley in Eas-
battle preparedness, pro- Pursuant to the General Circular No. 20/2020 dated 51" May, 2020
Security Council tern Ladakh over
lockdown Secretariat and believe that a Doka- the past few we- mptly and effectively deal
with all sorts of complex
issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the Bank has also
the ground situa- eks and have laid alternatively enabled a process for the limited purpose of receiving
tion in Ladakh was lam like approach claim to what has situations and resolutely the Bank's Annual Report and Notice of the Annual General Meeting
discussed, as well been Indian terri- safeguard national sovere- with our Registrars to allow such shareholders to update / modify and
as ongoing efforts could be maintained tory. The incur- ignty, security and develop-
change their email address and the mobile number on a temporary
ment interests, state-run
to resolve the cri-
sis through diplo- to resolve the crisis sion seems to ha-
ve been provoked Xinhua news agency repor-
basis by providing the basic credentials which may be asked for
verification during the process.
matic channels. by border infrast- ted. His comments came in
Sources said the meeting was prece- ructure being built by India and is the backdrop of the nearly The link for updating email address and mobile number
ded by a series of consultations wit- not limited to the Galwan area, with 20-day standoff between electronically on a temporary basis is available at:
hin the Defence Ministry and a detai- Chinese troops also occupying a sec- India and China at the LAC. https:Hhbemailregistration.datamaticsbpm.com/
led analysis was presented to the Pri- tion of the Finger area, along the Several areas along the LAC For HDFC Bank Limited
me Minister’s Office (PMO). The situ- Pangong Tso. China, no doubt, rema- in Ladakh and North Sikkim Sd/-
ation on the border, where Chinese ins a significant threat, but India has have witnessed major milita-
troops have intruded into Indian ter- to balance its approach and ensure Santosh Haldankar
ry build-up by the Indian and
ritory at four separate points, has not not to be carried away by emotionsn, Place: Mumbai Senior Vice President - Legal
Chinese armies recently.
changed over the past few days, with a senior expert said. Date: 26-May-2020 & Company Secretary

Mumbaiites
Rent Oxygen BLUE . . - . :711
Cylinders Statement of Audited Standalone and Consolidated Financial Results for the Quarter and Year Ended March 31 , 2020
(Z In Lakhs)
Amid Scarce Sr.
STANDALONE CONSOLIDATED
Quarter Ended Quarter Ended Quarter Ended Year Ended Year Ended Quarter Ended Quarter Ended Quarter Ended Year Ended Year Ended
No, Particulars
ICU Beds 31/03/2020
(Audited Note 4)
31 / 12/2019
(Unaudited )
3110312019
(Audited)
31 10312020
(Audited )
31 /0312019
(Audited)
31/03/2020
(Audited Note 4)
31 / 1212019
(Unaudited)
31 /03/2019
(Unaudited)
31 / 03/2020
(Audited)
31/03/2019
(Audited)
I. Total Income from Operations 72,413 85,564 77,932 316 ,639 316 ,546 72,630 85,786 78 , 155 317 ,513 317 ,440
Krishna.Thevar 2. Net (Loss) I Profit for the period
@timesgroup.com (before Tax Exceptional and/or Extraordinary items) (3, 333) 2,434 1 ,689 1 , 691 12,835 (3, 1 38) 2,658 1 ,840 2,499 13,414
3. Net (Loss) / Profit for the period before tax
(after Exceptional and/or Extraordinary items) (3, 333) (3 ,977) 1 ,689 (4,720) 12,835 (3 ,138) (3 ,753) 1 ,840 (3,912 ) 13 ,414
Mumbai: Several people and ho- 4. Net (Loss) / Profit for the period after tax
using societies in Mumbai are (after Exceptional and/or Extraordinary items) (2,379) (3 , 308) 1 .286 (3,829) 8,760 (3 ,057) (3 ,192) 1,224 (4,1 86) 8,976
5. Total comprehensive (loss) / income for the period
renting oxygen cylinders for use (Comprising Profit /Loss for the period and
in an health emergency. This is Other Comprehensive (loss) / Income, net of income tax) (2,546) (3 .863) 1 .403 (4,551 ) 8,245 (3,429) (3.747) 1,364 (S, 1 13) 8, 484
happening simply because of a 6. Paid-up equity share cap ital (Face value ?10/- per share) 2,373 2,373 2,373 2,373 2,373 2,373 2,373 2,373 2,373 2,373
lack of ICU beds in the city and re- 7. Paid up Debt (Non convertible debentures ) - 7, 1 18 - 7, 118
sidents don’t want to be caught on 8. Reserves excluding Revaluation Reserve 55 ,974 64,101 46 ,707 55,396
9. Net worth 58,350 66,477 49,083 57,772
the wrong foot.
10. Debenture Redemption Reserve(DRR)
“We have got two oxygen cylin- (included in Reserves above) - I,S72 - 1,572
ders in our society, we decided to II . Earnings per share (of ZIO/ - each) (not annualised)
get it after seeing how people are 1. Basic (10.03) (13 .94) 5.42 (16.14) 36. 92 (12.89 ) (13.45) 5.16 (17.64) 37.83
being turned away from hospitals 2.Diluted (10.03) (13 .94) 5.42 (16.14) 36.92 (12.89) (13.45) 5.16 (17.64) 37.83
due to lack of beds. We have a doc- 12. Debt Equity Ratio - - 0.62
13. Debt Service Coverage Ratio - 1.30 - 1.29
tor in our complex and we have le-
14. Interest Se rv ice Coverage Ratio - 9.36 - 4.14
arnt how to operate it,” said Sa-
lim Motorwala a resident of Or- Notes:
chid Towers in Mumbai Central. I. The above is an extract of the detailed format of financial results for the quarter and year ended M a r ch 31 , 2020 filed with the Stock Exchanges under Regulation 33 and Regulati on 52 of the SEBI (Li sting and Other Disclosure R e q u i re m e n t s ) Regulations , 2015, as applicable .The full format of the Financial
Results are available on the Stock Exchange websites (www.bseindia .com and www.nseindia .com) and on Company's website (www.bluedartcom).
Motorwala’s housing complex is
2. World Health Organisation (WHO) declared outbreak of Coronavirus Disease (COVID- 19) a global pandemic on Marc h I I ,2020. Consequent to this,The Ministry of Home Affairs vide order No.40-3/2020 dated 24.03.2020 notified first ever nation-wide lockdown in India to contain the outbreak of
not the only one doing this accor- COVID 19 which impacted the overall economy and the business activities of the Company.The Company's performance for the month of March 2020 has been partially impacted .The impact on our business will depend on future developments that cannot be reliably predicted .The impact of global health
ding to Mumbadevi MLA Amin pandemic might be different from that estimated as at the date of approval of these financial results and the Company will closely monitor any material changes to future economic conditions.
Patel. There are several people 3. EffectiveApril 01 . 2019, the Company adopted Ind AS 1 1 6 "Leases " usi ng the modified retrospective approach .T he Ri ght-of-use asset (ROU asset) and lease liability has been recognised based on the remaining lease period and payments discounted using the incremental borrowing rate as of the date of initial
and housing societies renting app lication .The prepaid rent and lease equalisation liability recognised in earlier periods / years have been adjusted against the balance of ROU asset.
oxygen cylinders. “I am myself Reconciliation for the above effect on statement of profitand loss for the current quarter and for the year ended March 31 , 2020 is as follows :
working to set up a 200 oxygen cy-
linder bank in the city that would STANDALONE (Z Lakhs) CONSOLIDATED (Z Lakhs)
cater to patients Comparable basis Ind-AS 1 1 6 effect As reported Comparable basis Ind-AS 1 1 6 effect As reported
who are not able to
(Loss) / Profit before exceptional items and tax for the quart er ended March 31 , 2020 (1 , 1 16) (2, 217) (3,333) (975) (2 , 163) (3, 1 38)
get beds in the ci-
ty,” said Patel. Exceptional items
There is an acute (Loss) / Profit before tax and after exceptional items for the quart er ended March 31 , 2020 (1 , 1 16) (2, 217) (3,333) (975) (2, 163) (3, 1 38)
shortage of ICU
In Mumbai beds in private ho- Profit before exceptional items and tax for the year ended March 31 , 2020 8,353 (6 . 662) 1 ,691 9, 018 (6,519) 2 ,499
hospitals, spitals and the situ- Exceptional items 6,4 11 6,4 11 6 ,411 6 ,4 1 1
there are ation is such that
often 50 Profit / (Loss) before tax and aft er exceptional items for the year ended March 31 , 2020 1 ,942 (6.662) (4,720) 2, 607 (6,519) (3, 912)
many private ho-
patients in 4. Result s for the quarter ended March 31 . 2020 are the balancing figures between audited figures in respect of the full financial year ended March 31 , 2020 and the unaudited published year to date figures up to December 31 , 2019.
wait line
spitals tell patients
5. The above results were rev iewed by the Audit Committee and were thereafter approved by the Board at its meeting held on May 26 , 2020.There are no qualifi cations in the Auditors Report issued on the financial statements as at and for the financial year ended March 31 , 2020.
that there is a wai-
ting period. The waiting period By Order of the Board
stretches to 30- 50 patients in For Blue Dart Express Limited
Mumbai's private hospitals. sd /-
A prominent hospital in South Balfour Manuel
Date : May 26, 2020
Mumbai had a waiting period of 30 Manag ing Director
Place : Murnbai
patients on Monday. “We have seen DIN :08416666
a lot of people die due to lack of ICU 1 0Ir
?
1

beds. By the time they get admis-

sion, its too late. One of our own vo-
lunteer’s husband unfortunately
succumbed as he could not get a
bed in time,” said Zohair Diwan.
Diwan has formed a group with
several like minded people, doc-
tors and nurses and has arranged BLUE
for ten oxygen cylinders. Y a 1
Zohra Morbiwala, who is also in
the group, said that unlike other BLUE DART )
ailments Covid-19 patients can’t
be kept in a waiting list. “ By the
time we arrange a bed for a pati- w •v
ent after the waiting period, it
gets too late. So, we have decided
to arrange for oxygen cylinders.”
With several people buying and BLUE
renting the oxygen cylinders the- BLUE DART'S UNIQUE DIFFERENTIATORS
re is also a shortage of oxygen cy-

(
linders in the city. O W N D ED I CAT E D SOLUTIO NS EXTE N S V E B ES T I N O NNI.
E O E IND IA 'S I
II A l- 1 & HIShL!

1
AVIATION & F R O VA DELIVER Y tO CLA , T LA E T HIGHSERVIC E R S?ON SVE
GRO ND DOCUMENT OVER FASTEST W O R K. QUALIT Y I &CUSTOM ER
INFRASTRUCTURE TOA 34 .800 TRANSIT PASSIONATE & TIME BOUN D CENTRI C
O
CHARTER LOCATIONS 3 TIME COMMITTED DELIVERY
O O
LOAD TEAM

MOST ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS - PIONEERS & INNOVATORS

1S+DI GITAL INDIA 'S FIRS T MOBILE PARCEL SMART INTELLIGENT POWERFUL CUSTOMIS ED ELECTRC REVERSE & SLOTTED / GPS ENABLED PRE-DELIVERY . "' "
I H u° Isola, Best tnm [nnics .F
PAYMENT PARCEL SERVCE SHOPS MOBILE DASHBO ARDS CONSIGNEE A P I / ED I VEHICLES - OPEN REVERSE CONVENIENT DEVICES FOR SMS _ ?. ... .,? To WOrt FOr ?9
OPTIONS LOCKER CENTRES COURIER CONNECT SOLUTIONS ZERO CARBON PICK-UP DELIVERY CUSTO MER /COURIER INTIMATION 'LnaarnxnI I, lIv r
• I I DEVICES I PROCESSES EMISSION OPTIONS INTERACTION
'\

Reg i s t e r e d Office : Blue Dart C e n t r e , Sahar A i r p o r t Road , A n d h e r i ( E a s t ) , Mumbai 400 099.

BCCL PHOTO Tel: 0 2 2 - 2 8 3 9 6 4 4 4 • F a x : 0 2 2 - 2 8 2 4 4 1 3 1 • E m a i l : c o m m u n i c a t i o n s @ b l u e d a r t . com • W e b s i t e: w w w . b l u e d a r t . com C I N : L 6 I 0 7 4 M H 1 9 9 1 P L C 0 6 1 0 7 4
 4  Covid-19 Impact: Companies THE ECONOMIC TIMES | MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | 27 MAY 2020 | WWW.ECONOMICTIMES.COM *

POWER SECTOR DEAL AMID UNCERTAINTY

Auto Cos Stare at Bleak Bharti Telecom
Petronas in Talks Raises `8,433 Cr,
to Acquire Assets Wholesale Nos in May Sells 2.75% in Airtel
of Acme Solar Maruti, Hero, Tata, M&M,
others may just manage
Sale Concerns
Entire production May will not
RETAIL SALES
numbers could
help industry in
Proceeds from sale Raising Funds
ecosystem is yet have zero to foreign, domestic BTL stake in Bharti Airtel
100 MW of assets a tenth of their average to fall in place sales like
managing high
falls to 36% after deal
inventory levels,
located in Karnataka with limited April but if companies investors make BTL Sale proceeds
wholesale monthly sales support from retail manufacture will be used to
will be valued at suppliers, numbers will overshadow based on orders to a zero-debt company fully repay debt
Lijee.Philip@timesgroup.com vendors, dealers wholesale as dealers will avoid stockpiling
`450-500 crore and financiers clear stocks Our Bureau Bharti Airtel’s
Mumbai: After zero sales in April,
credit profile
Reghu Balakrishnan & Indulal PM auto companies are going through a Kolkata: Bharti Telecom Limi- too will be
augmented
Mumbai: Malaysia’s state-run
dull May.
Early indications show this month Dealers Seek Higher Margins to ted (BTL), promoter company of
Bharti Airtel, has raised `8,433
BTL’s 2.75% sale in
oil and gas company, Petroliam could be a washout, with auto majors crore ($1.15 billion) by selling
Nasional Bhd (Petronas), is in
talks to buy about 100 MW of so-
such as Maruti Suzuki, Hero Moto-
corp, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Tata
Offset Slump in Sales, Save Jobs 2.75% stake in the operator to a
clutch of overseas investors
Airtel is mainly to
delever its balance sheet
lar assets from India’s Acme So- Motors likely to manage just one- such as Blackrock, Fidelity, Se- as dividend payments
14% in most of Europe, it said.
lar, two people aware of the deve- tenth of average monthly wholesale Sharmistha.M@timesgroup.com gantii Capital, Norges Bank and from the telco are
FADA also highlighted the need
ANIRBAN BORA

lopment said. The assets located
in Karnataka will be valued at
`450-500 crore. In February, Ac-
me had sold about 600 MW assets
to UK-based private equity fund
Actis for `3,000 crore.
Petronas is likely to acquire
the assets through its Indian
unit, Amplus Energy Solutions.
An Acme spokesperson decli-
ned to comment, while mails
sent to a Petronas spokesperson
and Amplus chief executive
Sanjeev Aggarwal did not elicit
response till press time Tuesday.
One of the largest solar power
developers in India, Acme Solar
has a portfolio of 5.5 GW with an
operational capacity of 2.9 GW
and 2.6 GW of projects under dif-
ferent stages of development.
Petronas had acquired Amplus
in April 2019 from New York-ba-
sed I Squared Capital. The com-
pany, which provides clean ener-
gy to its clients by setting up
both on-site solar projects (roof-
top and ground-mounted) and
off-site solar farms, owns and
manages a portfolio of 650 MW
of operational and under-const-
ruction solar assets in India. It
has about 180 commercial and
industrial customers including
sale numbers, and experts warn of a
prolonged crisis due to economic slow-
down and poor consumer sentiment.
While most auto manufacturers
have opened their plants after lock-
Yamaha, Cisco, Reckitt Bencki- down, the entire production ecosys-
ser, Shlumberger, Carlsberg, tem is yet to fall in place as support
ABB, TVS, and government en- from their suppliers, vendors, deal-
tities such as Indian Railways, ers and financiers remains limited,
Delhi Metro, CPWD and HAL. industry insiders said.
Petronas was among the con- “With banks tightening credit norms
tenders for acquiring a 20% sta- and customer evaluation getting
ke in Hero Future Energies — tough, banks are not yet forthcoming
the renewable energy arm of to offer finance,” said Shashank Sri-
the Hero Group. vastava, executive director for market-
The stake was sold to Abu Dha- ing and sales at Maruti Suzuki.
bi-based energy company Mas- He, however, said retail numbers
dar Clean Energy last year. will be much better than those of
Another solar power producer, wholesale this month “as dealers
Azure Power Global, has kept its are clearing stocks”.
400 MW of projects in Rajasthan Veejay Nakra, chief executive of Ma-
and Assam up for sale. KKR, Ac- hindra’s automotive business, said it
tis, Edelweiss Infrastructure would be incorrect to say either de-
and Ayana Renewable Power are mand is back or billings are lower this
in early talks to acquire the as- month because the pace of ramping up
sets, ET reported on May 16. “was different all across”.
India has a target of having 450 “While May will not have zero sales
GW of renewable energy by like April, clearly retail will over-
2030. As of December 2019, 86 shadow wholesale numbers,” he said.
GW of this has been achieved. Tarun Garg, director, sales & mar-
Moody's Investors Service no- keting, at Hyundai Motor India, said
ted that India’s power demand there are some positive signs, but the
would contract significantly in industry is far from normalcy. "Since
fiscal 2021. the last few days we have been getting
New Delhi: Automobile dealers
have written to manufacturers to
increase their margins to offset an
expected slump in sales volume
this fiscal and sustain their opera-
tions in the aftermath of the coro-
navirus outbreak and the natio-
nal lockdown to contain it.
Federation of Automobile Dealers’
Association (FADA) has urged auto-
makers to fix minimum dealer mar-
gin at 7% on selling price of the vehi-
cle to help restrict job losses in the
sector that employs four million per-
sonnel directly and indirectly, and
make “this business model more
sustainable, shockproof and compa-
rable to international standards”.
Average dealer margin in the
country is among the lowest in
the world at 4-5% of the selling
price of vehicles, against 8-10%
in the US, 9-11% in China and 13-
850-900 bookings a day, which was at
1,500 during pre-Covid days,” he said,
adding that the company has so far re-
tailed 5,600 units this month.
A leading dealer of Tata Motors’
passenger vehicles in the north, how-
ever, said there is hardly any retail
sales, as RTOs are not registering ve-
for automakers and dealers to
cut costs at dealerships by at le-
ast 20% on an immediate basis.
Industry insiders estimate
800,000 jobs could be lost over the
next two months. Unless revenues
increase, this number could ballo-
on to 1.2-1.4 million, they said.
Ina letter to Society of In-
dian Automobile Manu-
facturers (SIAM), FADA
president Ashish Kale sa-
id a hike in dealer margins
will make “this business model mo-
re sustainable, shockproof and com-
parable to international standards”.
Any variable dealer margin lin-
ked to target achievement, proces-
ses, quality parameters should con-
tinue and be over and above the fix-
ed margin based on respective cor-
porate cultures and businesses
goals of each OEM (original equip-
ment manufacturer), he said.
hicles and finance companies are not
giving finance. The dealer said it's yet
to get delivery of the vehicles ordered
for in March from the company.
Hero Motocorp is expected to sell
less than 100,000 units this month
against its normal monthly average
of 550,000, dealer sources told ET.
Key Square Capital, and local
fund houses including HDFC
Mutual Fund and SBI MF.
“On the back of such a strong
demand from international and
domestic investors, the amount
raised was increased to around
$1.15 billion (compared with $1
billion initially planned),” Har-
jeet Kohli, group director, Bhar-
ti Enterprises, said in a state-
ment on Tuesday.
Other overseas buyers include
Jane Street and Marshall Wace,
and local fund houses such as
Birla Mutual Fund and Axis Mu-
tual Fund, said a person aware of
the matter. “With the proceeds,
BTL will become a zero-debt
company, providing an even
stronger financial flexibility
and capacity to provide any ad-
ditional shareholder support as
may be desired by Bharti Airtel
from time to time,” said Kohli.
Allocation was to more than 50
accounts, with the top 10 getting
two-thirds of overall allocation,
BTL said in the statement.
The deal was announced after
market hours. Bharti Airtel sha-
res closed 5.71% lower on the
Bombay Stock Exchange at
`559.15, after plunging 6% in in-
insufficient to service its
`8,500 crore debt
Jeffries
traday trade, in the run-up to the
official deal announcement. Sa-
le floor price was `558 a share.
BTL’s stake in Bharti Airtel fell
to around 36% after the deal.
Correspondingly, the combined
58.98% holding of Bharti Air-
tel’s promoter group – Sunil Mit-
tal-owned entities and Singtel –
came down to 56.23%. Sunil Mit-
tal’s Bharti Enterprises and
Singtel own 50.56% and 49.44%,
respectively, in BTL. In addition
to BTL, the other promoter com-
panies of Bharti Airtel are Indi-
an Continent Investment Ltd,
Viridian Ltd and Pastel Ltd.
The BTL stake sale also lowe-
red the effective shareholding of
Bharti Airtel’s promoter group
entities, SingTel and the Mittal
family, to under 32% from 33.3%
and to about 24% from 25.7%, re-
spectively. GIC of Singapore has
a 2.79% stake in Bharti Airtel.
“Bharti Group and Singtel, as
Bharti Airtel’s largest sharehol-
ders remain committed to the
business and the long-term pro-
spects of Bharti Airtel,” it said.

Realtors Join Hands to Source Anant Ambani Joins Rana Kapoor Laundering Case Morgan Credit, RAB Enterprises,
Yes Capital and subsidiaries used to allegedly divert `5,050 cr

Supplies in Bulk at Lower Rates Jio Platforms Board He was appointed as additional director Three Family-owned
Cos likely to get up to on March 16, according to filing with RoC
7% cost benefit; some
cement, steel players
Our Bureau

Mumbai: Anant Ambani,

allege cartelisation
Kailash.Babar
@timesgroup.com
Mumbai: Amid allegations of
cartelisation by some steel and
cement companies, real estate
developers are joining hands to
source raw materials in bulk
from manufacturers at prefer-
red rates as a cost saving measu-
re to tide over the crisis.
Developers estimate collective
orders to get supplies will fetch
at least 5-7% cost benefit. Apart
from large developers who alre-
ady reap scale benefits, even
smaller and mid-size entities
will be able to get cost efficiency
once this collective bargaining
initiative rolls-on.
“We are planning to execute
this at city and region level as
each of these pockets will have
different challenges to deal
with in terms of payment
terms, brand preferences, cre-
dibility of both material suppli-
ers and developers. We will be
passing on the cost benefit to ho-
mebuyers,” said Satish Magar,
president of realty developers’
body CREDAI National.
According to him, initial efforts
by developers in Pune to secure
material in bulk have received
Cos Used: ED Plaint clude Doit Retail Brands
Rashmi.Rajput
the youngest son of Reliance
Industries chairman Mu- @timesgroup.com
(India) Pvt Ltd — in the bu-
siness of master franchi-
kesh Ambani, has joined the see for global brands — Dry
board of Jio Platforms as an Mumbai: Morgan Credit cleaning and Laundry Pvt
additional director. Pvt Ltd (MCPL), RAB En- Ltd, DICE Acceleration &
He was appointed on terprises India Pvt Ltd and Edutech Services (India)
March 16, according to fi- Yes Capital Pvt Ltd (YCPL) Pvt Ltd — operating a de-
ling with the Registrar of and over 100 subsidiaries sign school in tie-up with
Companies. were used by Yes Bank co- Parson Institute of Design,
A Brown University founder Rana Kapoor and New York — among others.
good response and they are now alumnus, Anant Ambani his family members to alle-
looking to expand this initiative NCR Companies joins Jio Platforms when gedly divert `5,050 crore, as YES CAPITAL
to more than 200 cities across In-
dia. This bulk procurement me-
Seek Clarity on Reliance is transitioning
from an energy-centric Anant Ambani is youngest son
per a prosecution compla-
int, equivalent to charges-
The probe has revealed
YCPL is one of the “promo-
chanism will be used initially for Covid Protocol conglomerate to one focus- of RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani heet, filed by the Enforce- ters companies of Yes
most input ma- sing increasingly on con- ment Directorate (ED). Bank” and diversified into
terials inclu- New Delhi: As businesses start sumer technology. comprises mostly its telecom The allegedly diverted new business by establis-
This bulk ding tiles, bath- reopening in NCR, work space Anant Ambani, 25, is the business under Reliance Jio sum of `5,050 crore is “pro- hing a 100% subholding
procurement room fittings, operators in Noida, Gurugram and youngest of the three Amba- Infocomm, the largest in the ceeds of crime,” according subsidiary, Art Capital (In-
mechanism elevators, pipes, ni siblings. Twins Akash country with more than 388 to ED, which is probing mo- tors on board of many of dia) Pvt Ltd. “...YCPL is ow-
Delhi are seeking clarity from
will be used cable and elec- and Isha Ambani had joined million sub- ney-laundering charges these companies,” it said. ned by his (Kpoor’s) three
initially for trical fittings. state governments on how to the boards of the telecom scribers. against Kapoor and his fa- ED said the private lender daughters in equal propor-
most input Cement and address Covid-19 at office after and retail ventures — Reli- Anant Ambani Other digi- mily members. had assumed a very high tion, and the objective of
materials steel manufactu- the local administrations adopted ance Jio Infocomm and Reli- joins Jio tal properti- Kapoor and his wife, Bin- exposure ( relative to its YCPL is solely to invest in-
rers who have different stances. Gurugram will ance Retail — in 2014 and ha- Platforms es such as du, gifted the ownership of networth) in many entities to its group companies,”
bulk supply arrangements with not treat the office as contain- ve also joined the board of when RIL is Jio Cinema, MCPL and YCPL to their which were facing stress the chargesheet states.
developers will be out of this ar- Jio Platforms. Jio Plat- transitioning Jio Saavn three daughters, each hol- and illiquidity. “Kapoor
ment zone but will instead saniti-
rangement for now. “The idea is forms has attracted global from an and Haap- ding 33.33%. RAB Enter- perpetrated RAB ENTERPRISES
to connect the disconnected and se the building in case a confirmed investors over the past few energy-centric tik are also prises (India) was owned the scam by The chargesheet said RAB
derive benefits for all. This will ul- case is found. South Delhi said the weeks. The company has conglomerate housed in by his wife and established ED describes firstly ta- is mainly an investment
timately help in pushing demand area will be declared as contain- signed pacts for invest- to one focused Jio Plat- with an objective for pur- Kapoor as king money company. “Funding for
and the economy as a whole due to ment zone, and if more than three ments of ` 78,562 crore from on consumer forms. Reli- suing investment in family ‘prima out of Yes share capital amounting to
the multiplier effect real estate cases are found, the office will be Facebook and private equi- technology ance has household companies/ se- donna’ and Bank under `87 crore was from tax-free
has on over 250 sectors and ancil- sealed for 28 days. And at Noida, ty funds Silver Lake, Vista consistent- lective financial invest- architect of the garb of dividend income from Ka-
lary businesses,” said Niranjan Equity Partners, General ly talked about building Jio ments. Kapoor has alleged- the alleged debentures poor’s personal sharehol-
Hiranandani, president, Nared- there has been sealing of the Atlantic and KKR for a sha- Platforms into a digital enti- ly told ED that these are fa- scam and loans, ding in shares of Yes Bank
co, that is also encouraging sha- entire floor if a single confirmed reholding of 17.12%. ty along the lines of Alpha- mily group companies. by abusing Ltd, which he gave to his
ring of resources and materials. case is found.— Faizan Haidar. Jio Platforms, a unit of RIL, bet and Tencent. Describing Kapoor as the his position at the bank wife. Under RAB, there are
“prima donna,” chief cons- and secondly receiving around 10 property owning
pirator and architect of the kickbacks and gratifica- companies, with an aggre-
alleged scam, ED in its tion for the same,” the gate loan of `2,550 crore
Cognizant Offers its US Staff chargesheet said, “... Rana
Kapoor with an intent to
create an elaborate ecosys-
chargesheet claims.

MORGAN CREDIT
from Indiabulls against
mortgage of properties as
security held by these 10,”

BSE Listed Company for

Sale/Joint Venture Call:
Voluntary Separation Package
7010311971
Reeling under Covid impact,
✔ organized
FINANCE in crores
for Builders,
Corporate companies,
co is laying off employees
Hospitals, Educational
Institutions, take over loans
above 10 crores onwards.
Immediate disbursement. No
without active projects
processing fee. Ct: Shivara-
man (Ex -banker) 08678962726
Anandi.C@timesgroup.com
Mumbai: Cognizant has announced a vo-
luntary separation package (VSP) for its
US employees.
Due to the slowdown in demand and fewer
contracts caused by Covid-19, the New Jer-
sey-based company is laying off employees
without active projects.
ET has accessed an email sent to employe-
es earlier this month which said, “The Co-
vid-19 pandemic has caused a decrease in
demand across a number of functions
which has reduced the number of open po-
sitions available for associates in the Asso-
ciate Deployable Pool (ADP).”
“To manage costs and provide associates
with an alternative to ADP, we are introdu-
cing a voluntary separation package option
for all US associates who move into the ADP
between May 1 and August 31, 2020,” the
company said.
The package will include eight weeks of
pay and other benefits up to three months.
Employees currently not employed in ong-
oing technology projects and who do not
wish to opt for the VSP can remain in the as-
sociate deployable pool, colloquially known
tem for diversion and laun-
dering of funds, had crea-
ted multiple entities in In-
The chargesheet said,
“MCPL is a promoter com-
pany of Yes Bank. A few ye-
it noted. The company also
purchased MF Hussain’s
painting of Rajiv Gandhi.
as the 'bench,' according to the company. dia and abroad. These com- ars ago, it diversified into The agency said the
Staffers unable to get deployed on projects panies were acting as a sunrise business segments daughters were “hand in
in the given period from May 1 to August 31 vehicle of money launde- by establishing four 100% glove” with their father,
will have to leave the company without se- ring and placement of owned subholding subsidi- who allegedly used acco-
paration packages. funds and the family mem- aries. MCPL has equity ca- unts of their companies for
Employees will have a two-week period
starting on the first day of their ADP pro-
bers and close associates
were put in as directors in
pital of `2 lakh, it is origi-
nal shareholder of Yes
laundering of proceeds of
crime and siphoning them
gramme to decide if they want to opt for the these firms.” “Many of the- Bank Ltd and was holding through multiple subsidia-
VSP or continue on the bench. se companies are non-ope- 7.02 crore shares of Yes ry accounts that were pro-
rative and used for sipho- Bank, source of funding jected as untainted. In the-
THE OTHER OPTION ning of illegally obtained were largely dividends re- ir statement to ED, the
money, ie proceeds of cri- ceived by it from Yes Bank daughters revealed that
Staff currently not employed me, by Rana Kapoor who and borrowings.” their father managed the
appointed dummy direc- Subsidiaries created in- affairs of their companies.
in ongoing tech projects and
who don’t wish to opt for Trai Issues Paper on Tatas Partner CMC,
VSP can remain in associate Roaming Bill Shock CIHS for Training
deployable pool, says co NEW DELHI The Telecom Regula- MUMBAI: Tata Trusts and the
Responding to queries on the matter, a
spokesperson for Cognizant said, “In a tory Authority of India (Trai) on Tata Group have tied up with
people-intensive business like ours, ef- Tuesday issued a consultation Christian Medical College (CMC),
fectively managing workforce utilisation paper to discuss regulations for pro- Vellore, and Care Institute of Health
is a key element of aligning our cost
structure with revenue. We routinely ma- tection of consumers against bill shock Sciences (CIHS), Hyderabad, to provide
nage supply and demand with a bench of while using international mobile roaming free online training to healthcare profes-
unutilised employees. We are enhancing (IMR) services. It suggested IMR remain sionals in Covid-19 critical care. Tata Sons
our bench policy by offering additional
cash and extended health benefits to tho- inactive by default while roaming abroad, chairman emeritus Ratan N Tata had said,
se who are or will become unutilised and unless a user selects a tariff plan. This will “urgent emergency resources need to be
for whom we unfortunately do not foresee prevent background apps from using deployed to cope with Covid-19 crisis,
future opportunities. As always, we will
treat any employees exiting the business data, and also force the user to make an which is one of the toughest challenges
with fairness and dignity.” informed decision . — Our Bureau human race will face.” — Our Bureau
 ETMarkets
SMART
INVESTING
Bosch
Sees Auto
on a Slow
Road to
Recovery
Beating Volatility WWW.ETMARKETS.COM
MUMBAI, WEDNESDAY, 27 MAY 2020

NIFTY METAL INDEX UP 2.7% despite fall in Nifty as hopes of demand TARGETS LOWERED BY 2-32% POST Q4 EARNINGS
S&P 500 Crosses
3,000 for First revival in China and positive commentaries by cos cheer investors
Brokerages Cut HDFC Price
Time Since March
Metal Stocks Regain Shine the likelihood of a Beijing-led revi- about 4% in April, reversing do- Targets, but Remain Bullish
Sanam Mirchandani val in manufacturing and infrast- uble-digit declines in earlier
& Jwalit Vyas ructure industries across Asia. months as vast swathes of the
Analysts at Edelweiss Securities Chinese industrial hubs remai- Asset quality and Prices & Views After Q4 Numbers
Mumbai: Metals shone in a dull said China’s trade data and macro- ned shut through the first quarter
Mumbai market even as equity economic indicators for April indi- of the calendar year. growth slowdown Target (`) Ratings
Brokerage
gauges across Asia’s industrial po- cate that the worst seems to be over. Back home, production is slowly After Before After Before
werhouses climbed Tuesday, shor- “While April-20 has been reaso- reviving. JSW Steel and JSPL have are key concerns Kotak 2,150 2,200 Buy Buy
tening the odds on a V-shaped reco- nably better for reported rising demand from over-
Our Bureau Investec 1,660 2,415 Hold Buy
very in China after the latest aggre- China, indicating seas. With more than half their re-
gate data from the ‘factory to the that economic acti- venue generated overseas, these Edelweiss 1,850 2,745 Buy Buy
world’ signalled revival in demand. vity after the Co- companies now operate at 85% of Mumbai: Brokerages have cut pri- IDBI Cap 1,725 1,860 Accumulate Accumulate
Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL), vid-19 lockdown is capacity, and output could reach ce targets on Housing Development Jefferies 2,000 2,060 Buy Buy
REUTERS

Wall Street stocks surged early
Tuesday on optimism about
coronavirus vaccines as the New
York Stock Exchange resumed
physical floor trading. S&P 500
rose above the 3,000 level for the
first time since March 5, continuing
a rally that has pushed the bench-
mark index up nearly 35% from its
March 23 closing low.
JSW Steel, NMDC, Tata Steel and
Coal India powered the Nifty Metal
index to gains of 2.7% on a day the
50-share benchmark ended lower.
Jindal Steel surged 14% at `109.95
after the company reported a con-
solidated net profit of `305.62 crore
in the March quarter, compared
with a net loss of `2,713.34 crore in
the year-ago period.
Positive commentaries by JSW
Steel and Jindal Steel have offset
the impact of recent rating down-
grades, with investors looking at
resuming, it rema- 100% from June. Finance Corp (HDFC) stock by 2-
Prabhudas L 1,992 2,201 Accumulate Accumulate
Back home, ins to be seen if do- At the current pace, JSW ex- 32% after its fourth quarter ear-
production is mestic SOURCE: Research Reports
demand pects sales volume of 15 million nings, which were below analyst es-
slowly sustains in subse- tonnes (MT) and production of 16 timates. Deterioration in asset qua-
reviving. JSW quent months,” sa- MT for FY21, assuming no pro- lity and growth slowdown are the sav Gogirwar in a note. March quarter. Kotak said HDFC
Steel and JSPL id Edelweiss. duction decline in the coming qu- key takeaways from the results tho- HDFC shares fell 0.95% to close at reported a sharp rise in gross non-
have reported After falling by arters. With the current capacity ugh most analysts have maintained `1,502.15 on Tuesday. performing loans in its developer
rising demand
over 10% in the past of 18 MT, its production was 16 MT bullish ratings on the stock. Edelweiss Securities cut its ear- books to 4.7% from 2.9%.
from overseas
two months, inter- in FY20. JSPL has guided for sales “While we believe HDFC is the nings per share (EPS) estimates by “A challenging macro environ-
national steel prices have recove- volume of 7.25 MT, a 15% on-year best HFC franchise with discipli- 21% in FY21 and by 35% in FY22 to ment for the developers prompted
red in the past week by 3%. In- expected jump. JSW Steel’s reali- ned underwriting and strong ba- factor in the cut in growth and as- HDFC to go slow for the past seve-
dustrial output in the world’s big- sation improved 7% sequentially lance sheet, we are concerned abo- set quality estimates. ral quarters and create large buf-
gest consumer of steel, alumini- in the March quarter, while volu- ut its growth outlook,” said Inves- Bad loans to both individuals and fers,” said Kotak’s analysts led by
um, zinc and cement climbed mes dropped 5%. tec’s analysts Nidhesh Jain and Ut- real estate companies rose in the Nischint Chawathe.

Shree Cement is committed to developing products after
deep understanding of the market needs and months of
extensive research. With two new premium products ,
ROOFON Cement and Bangur Power Cement, Shree has
again foreseen the future demand of its consumers.
On strength of these new products along with the existing
range of successful brands like Shree Jung Rodhak Cement,
Bangur Cement and Rockstrong Cement, Shree has marked yet
another year of consistent value creation for its stakeholders .
At Shree Cement we are proud to deliver on our
commitments to our customers , investors , partners , associates
and society at large , year-on-year. Of course, nothing of this
would have been possible without the core philosop hy of
delivering nothing but the best; always.

(Z in Crore)

Sr. Particulars Standalone Consolidated

No. Quarter ended Corresponding Year ended Quarter ended Corresponding Year ended
31 st March , quarter ended 3 1st March , 31 st March , quarter ended 31 st March ,
2020 31st March , 2019 2020 2020 31st March , 2019 2020
I Total Income from Operations (Net) 3,315.33 3,329.96 12,175.62 3,513.31 3,538.00 13,142.79
2 Profit / (Loss) for the Period (before Tax , Exceptional and 667.82 402.63 1 ,960.21 616.36 423.94 1,934.26
Extraordinary Items)
3 Profit / (Loss) for the Period (after Tax , Exceptional and 588 .15 320.95 1,570.18 536.65 342.09 1,544.06
Extraordinary Items)
4 Total Comprehensive Income for the Period 576.83 286.30 1 ,583.12 656.65 287.69 1 ,756.53
5 Paid-up Equity Share Capital (Face Value of Z 1 0/- each) 36.08 34.84 36.08 36.08 34.84 36.08
6 Other Equity excluding Revaluation Reserve - - 1 2,900.34 - - 13,133.35
7 Earnings Per Share (EPS) (of ' 10/- each)
(Not Annualised for the Quarter)
- Basic and Diluted (In 163.01 92.13 445.08 148.54 97.61 435.35
- Cash (In Z) 276.88 211.27 888.58 270.11 224.54 908.87

The above is an extract of the detailed format of financial results for the Quarter and Year ended 31st March , 2020 filed with stock exchanges under Regulations 33 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations , 2015. The full format of the
Standalone and Consolidated Financial Results for the Quarter and Year ended 3 1 st March .2020 are available on the Stock Exchanges websites www.nseindia .com and www .bseindia.com and on the website of the Company at www.shreecement.com.

Cement

IPI 1 00 Z
0 ?
LLI

LAm
eka
.0 !
NT , .A

rr.
I I + -' $F
L r }? a z
f l ?
r••
r
y •
?C1
f-• ^?
S_
J - }•

g
r = pSiY r4a i s
' t _ ?? 1 i 1,

..
ago 46 ,
L
-
el
?
?, ?., ' rn •? -?6fr' 1f? ' f S !` .
l i?1.'WS. .r?,. 9?i? ? l Y : ,

Sh ree
Regd. Office:
Shree Cement Ltd., Bangur Nagar , Beawar - 305 901 , District - Ajmer , Rajasthan

ROO FON
Phone: EPABX +9 1 - 1 462-228101-06, Fax +91 -1462-228 117 / 2281 19
D? nG ? R
Cement
E-mail: shreebwr @shreecement.com I Cl N: L26943RJ 1979PL000 1935
www.shreecement.com CEMENT
C E M E N T
 6  Smart Investing
COLLATERAL LOSES VALUE
HDFC AMC
Marks Down
Essel’s NCDs
by `120 cr
Our Bureau
Mumbai: HDFC Asset Mana-
gement marked down the va-
lue of its holdings in Essel
Group’s non-convertible de-
bentures (NCDs) by `120 cro-
re during the quarter ended
March 2020.
The country’s second largest
mutual fund has taken the los-
ses in its books as it had bo-
ught out Essel Group’s papers
worth ` 500 crore in June 2019
from its debt schemes in an at-
tempt to shield unitholders.
But the move drew the ire of
the company’s shareholders.
The asset manager has recei-
ved ` 375 crore out of the ` 500
crore that Essel owed it after
the group sold shares to a fore-
ign investor.
Essel Group owes HDFC AMC
about `149 crore, which inclu-
des interest. With the share pri-
ces of Zee Enterprises and Dish
TV — which Essel had put up
with lenders as collateral — fal-
ling, HDFC has marked down
`120 crore out of
the `149 crore
that Essel has to
repay, said a per-
Essel Group
son familiar
with the matter.
An email query
owes `149 cr to HDFC Asset
and the mark Management
down is
was unanswered
reflected in
losses in the till press time.
‘other income’ Zee shares fell
head in Q4 from `431 on
April 1, 2019 to
`124 on March 31, 2020. Dish TV
fell from `39.9 to `4.1 in the
same period.
The mark down reflected in los-
ses under the ‘other income’
component of `26.5 crore in Ja-
nuary-March as against gains of
`61.2 crore in the year ago period.
For the remaining `29 crore of
Essel paper, HDFC Asset Mana-
gement has collateral worth
`35.8 crore. In a presentation to
investors, the fund house said,
“The carrying value of these
NCDs as at March 31, 2020 was
`29.4 crore. The value of the col-
lateral as at March 31, 2020 is
`35.8 crore.”
In late January, mutual funds
including HDFC AMC had ag-
reed not to sell shares of Zee,
which they held as collateral
and gave time to Essel till Sep-
tember to repay their debts.
Mutual funds then collectively
held over `7,000 crore worth of
Essel papers.
Some Cos Haven’t
Changed Biz Terms
From Page 1
Category head of India’s lar-
gest food company Parle Pro-
ducts, B Krishna Rao, said seve-
ral distributors have burnt the-
ir fingers when the lockdown
started with payments stuck
from smaller stores. “Hence,
they are only doing cash sales
and have even started to accept
digital payments, including
credit cards,” he said.
Retailers in small towns said
their customers have defaul-
ted. “Generally local people
open a ‘khata’ or a credit note
and they take goods, and pay
when they have money. Some-
times the payment stretches to
two to three months. I am yet to
get the money back from my
customers as either they have
left or they are in crisis,” said
Mukesh Singh, a shop owner
in Akola in Maharashtra.
In smartphones and electro-
nics, retailers said distribu-
tors of brands such as Sam-
sung, Xiaomi, Oppo, Voltas
and Godrej Appliances have
moved to cash payments.
Arvinder Khurana, presi-
dent of neighbourhood cellp-
hone retailers body, All India
Mobile Retailers Association,
said most distributors have
switched to cash-only or much
lower credit, which has redu-
ced supplies to a trickle.
Consumer Electronics and
Appliances Manufacturers
Association president and
Godrej Appliances business
head Kamal Nandi said every-
body faced a challenge with
cash flow, making cash in hand
the preferred way of business.
Some companies have conti-
nued giving credit, but they
are reviewing their strategy.
“We are now monitoring the
credit given and aggressively
trying to get it. We are also ex-
ploring to change our payment
system and reduce the credit
given to wholesalers and dis-
tributors,” said Udit Jain, di-
rector, Rajdhani group.
Several companies, however,
have not changed their business
and payment terms. For instan-
ce, Xiaomi India said its policy
for credit to distributors has not
changed and it has in fact exten-
ded the period to support their
liquidity during the lockdown.
Many rice mills extended the
credit period for distributors.
“We had to increase the credit pe-
riod of our wholesalers and dis-
tributors by two to three weeks as
we know that sales were low and
they too are anxious,” said San-
jay Puri, president, Roller Flour
Millers Federation of India.
(Inputs from Madhvi Sally)
CO EXPECTS return to peak volume levels of 2018 only in 4-6 years, which will impact
industry output and its own financials; stock has lost 30% over the past three months
Bosch Sees Auto on a Slow Road to
Recovery, Faces Valuation Pressure
Ashutosh.Shyam
@timesgroup.com
ET Intelligence Group: The mana-
gement of the Indian subsidiary of
German auto ancillary major Bosch
expects the automobile industry to ta-
ke four to six years to reach the peak
volumes of 2018.
This gloomy outlook which the
company shared with investors after
declaring its March quarter results
could weigh on its valuations.
The Bosch stock has lost 30% in the
past three months with its value
premium over the BSE Auto Index
getting eroded to 49% from an avera-
ge of 68% during this
period.
Even before Co-
vid-19 struck, the
ANALYSIS
company had projec-
ted a shorter turnaround of three
years at a time when automobile sa-
les volumes were slowing in India.
The pandemic has extended it by
another year or perhaps two.
CALL FOR benchmarking with SBI savings
Kotak Bank Launches
rate in the current falling interest regime
Insurers Plead Inability to QIP, Targets `7,500 cr
Pay 4% on Ulips Stopped Move to help bolster Time for a Trim
During Lock-in Period the balance sheet and
dilute promoter stake
Ashwin.Manikandan
@timesgroup.com
Mumbai: If you bought insurance
as an investment, you would likely
get the equivalent of State Bank of
India (SBI) savings deposit rates as
returns on discontinued plans.
That’s the gist of the request top
life insurers have made to the regu-
lator Irdai. In the current rate regi-
me, they can’t afford to pay the
mandated 4% as interest, three pe-
ople aware of the matter told ET.
They believe that a rate bench-
marked with the short-term sa-
vings rate of SBI would lead to a fai-
rer transmission of interest rates
onto their guaranteed liabilities
paid on investment-linked policies
surrendered before maturity. Irdai
didn’t respond to mailed queries.
Discontinued funds are unit-linked
investment plans (ULIPs) where a po-
licyholder may have surrendered the
policy before the mandatory five-ye-
ar lock-in period. As per the current
regulation, insurers are mandated to
pay a fixed minimum return of 4%
on all such accumulated funds before
the full payout to policyholders at the
end of the fifth year.
“Insurers have to pay a guaranteed
4% for accumulated money in their
respective discontinued funds,” said
‘Protecting Lives and Livelihood’
From Page 1
The move by the three BJP-ruled sta-
tes has irked existing businesses and
trade unions, with the latter filing a jo-
int complaint at the International La-
bour Organisation. The ILO has told
the unions that its director general
has taken up the issue with Prime Mi-
nister Narendra Modi and appealed to
him to ensure that the states and the
Centre uphold India’s international
commitments.
The current situation is unprece-
dented in India and across the world,
Gangwar said. “The notifications to
increase work hours or certain ex-
emptions to the provisions of the Fac-
tory Act and the Industrial Disputes
Act have been done by the state go-
vernments as per the powers given to
them in the existing statute,” he said.
Such notifications are temporary and
have been issued in the light of the ur-
gent situation created by Covid-19.
The relationship between labour
and industry is symbiotic, Gangwar
said. “We visualise true labour re-
forms where on one hand we provide
wage security, safety and social secu-
rity to our workers and on the other
hand provide a simple, transparent
compliance mechanism to industry
Multiple Appeals in
Asylum Process
From Page 1
Sources close to Mallya, however, con-
firmed the development.
According to sources, this is one of the
two legal remedies available before the
beleaguered businessman, whose pleas
to challenge the December 2018 extradi-
tion order issued by a Westminster Ma-
gistrates’ Court have been unsuccessful.
The asylum process involves multiple
appeals and can help Mallya delay the
extradition by a few months or longer,
experts said.
“If the asylum request is refused by
the home secretary, Mallya has the right
to challenge the decision before a tribu-
nal and then there will be an appeals
process. This could easily take 18
months to two years,” said a senior UK-
based lawyer.
“This is a classic delaying tactic emp-
loyed by Mallya and his team. It’s a
smart legal move to buy time, and could
further delay the attempts by Indian
Valuation Gap Narrows
48
40.03 BSE AUTO
P/E RATIO
40
32
24.24
24
16
8
JAN 1, 2020 MAY 22, 2020
Source: NSE, ETIG
Bosch’s guidance implies a 12-47%
drop in production for FY21 across
various segments of the domestic
automobile sector. The highest decli-
ne is likely in the
light commercial ve-
hicles (LCV) seg-
ment followed by pas-
senger vehicles. This
is harsher than most analyst projec-
tions of industry growth.
According to Bloomberg consen-
sus estimates, analysts have pencil-
led in a decline of 1.2% and 16% in
a person aware of the matter. “With a
falling interest rate regime, the payo-
ut of a fixed 4% rate is going to be
challenging. Stakeholders have as-
ked regulators to reconsider the mi-
nimum guarantee payout and possib-
ly link it to a benchmark.”
The representation was made thro-
ugh Life Insurance Council — an in-
dustry body with members from pub-
lic and private insurers.
The benefits paid on discontinued
funds accounted for about `35,000
crore for private sec-
tor insurers in FY19
and `4,000 crore for
LIC. The benefit pay-
outs for the industry
for all surrendered
and withdrawn policies amounted
to `1.1 lakh crore in this period, of
which `69,000 crore was borne by
the LIC and the rest by private play-
ers, data showed.
“In the previous era, the rates were
high and hence the guaranteed re-
turns were fixed at 4% with the argu-
ment that these discontinued funds
will be treated somewhat like a low-
yielding deposit,” said the CEO of a
life insurance company. “The cur-
rent representation is to find fair pri-
cing and transparency. Benchmar-
king will ensure that when rates go
up, the rates offered on discontinued
funds will also increase.”
so that it is a win-win situation for
both workers and industry,” he said.
UNORGANISED SECTOR
Gangwar said a series of measures is
being taken by the government and in-
dustry to bring people back to their
workplaces and a database of such
workers is on the cards. The nationwi-
de lockdown that began on March 25
forced many to trek thousands of kilo-
metres home as they were left with ze-
ro income and all public transport
was stopped.
“We are deliberating upon creation
of an electronic database of all the
migrant workers along with informa-
tion on their skill set so that industry
can approach them with ease and wit-
hout contractors or middlemen,”
Gangwar said. This can be part of the
proposed National Career Service
Project and the database can be deve-
loped in coordination with various
state governments.
He said the government had initia-
ted the exercise of creating a database
through the Unorganised Workers
Identification Number (UWIN),
which will be stepped up.
“Almost all the current labour laws
cater to about 8-10 crore organised
workers only. We need to focus on the
authorities to bring the fugitive busi-
nessman to justice,” a source privy to
the development told ET.
OTHER OPTION
Besides the asylum request, Mallya has
the option of approaching the Europe-
an Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
“The other option was to appeal before
the ECHR claiming that he would not re-
ceive a fair trial back home. Although
the UK is a signatory, the home secretary
could overlook this while signing Mally-
a’s extradition order if Indian agencies
are able to convince her that the said is-
sue has been dealt in detail during the co-
urse of the trial. India could also men-
tion that courts in the UK are satisfied on
the specific issue of human rights viola-
tion,” added the source.
Indian agencies had provided a detai-
led video recording of Barrack 12 at
Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail where Mal-
lya is likely to be detained, after the busi-
nessman alleged the barrack had no ac-
cess to natural sunlight or ventilation.
“However, Mallya has the option of app-
roaching the ECHR before the extradi-
tion request is signed by the UK home of-
fice,” said the source.
BOSCH
28.68
19.16
Bosch’s revenue and operating pro-
fit, respectively for FY21. This is an
ambitious estimate and would put
pressure on stock valuations.
A few brokerages, though, have
downgraded their earnings estima-
tes by 10-12% for FY21 and FY22.
The impact of declining auto de-
mand is evident in the company’s fi-
nancials. Auto segment revenue,
which makes up 85% of Bosch’s to-
tal revenues, has fallen in each of
the past six quarters.
In FY20, it fell 19% to `8,335 crore
FLOOR PRICE SET AT `1,147.75 PER SHARE
to comply with norms
Our Bureau
Mumbai: Kotak Mahindra Bank
has launched a qualified institutio-
nal placement (QIP) on Tuesday to
raise up to `7,500 crore and set a flo-
or price of `1,147.75 per share, at
about half a percent discount to the
closing price.
The stock, which lost 31% so far this
year, ended flat at `1,152.45 on Tuesday.
The fundraising will help the lender
dilute promoter shareholding to
comply with regulatory norms and
strengthen the balance sheet. Most of
the banks require capital to fend off
worries of an escalation in bad loans
after the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Our bank intends to use the net pro-
ceeds to augment its capital base and
strengthen its balance sheet, which
would assist our bank in dealing with
contingencies or financing business
opportunities (which may be organic
or inorganic), or both, which may ari-
se pursuant to the economic events
driven by the outbreak of Covid-19, or
otherwise,” the bank said in its draft
offer document.
Kotak Mahindra Capital, Goldman
Sachs, SBI Capital Market and Mor-
gan Stanley are managing the share
40 crore unorganised workers. This
asymmetrical situation has to be rec-
tified,” he said. The government has
announced several relief measures
under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhi-
yaan package for MSMEs and more
steps could be taken, if required.
“We have believed in making our in-
dustry and establishments self-reli-
ant. Other measures may also be con-
sidered as and when required in the
changing scenario,” he said.
The minister said coordinated ef-
forts had been made by the central and
state governments to arrange shelter,
food, health facilities and provide fi-
nancial assistance to migrant wor-
kers.
“However, when restlessness among
the migrant workers increased sub-
stantially with increase in the lock-
down period, we had arranged safe
transport through Shramik Special
trains and buses,” he said.
“The Centre has been working com-
prehensively on protecting both life
and livelihood and has tried to re-
spond effectively to mitigate the issu-
es arising on a day-to-day basis.”
ON LABOUR CODES
Gangwar said the government has be-
en working on labour reforms since
‘`
`30.03 Lakh cr Loss to States’
From Page 1
However, he said that such a
second-quarter bump due to
pent-up demand can “rapidly
degenerate in a low equilibri-
um with income and job losses
acting as a drag on consump-
tion”.
“We thus believe the govern-
ment might be looking at the
data more closely to prevent
such loss in momentum in Q3
and Q4 and even come up with
another targeted package later
in the year,” SBI Research said.
The government has anno-
unced a `20 lakh crore revival
package for the economy but
some experts have said the fi-
scal stimulus is only about `2
lakh crore, or 1% of GDP.
SBI Research has taken a bot-
tom-up approach toward esti-
mating GDP, reasoning states
are now restarting economic
activities in a staggered man-
THE ECONOMIC TIMES | MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | 27 MAY 2020 | WWW.ECONOMICTIMES.COM
compared to 1.2% growth in the pre-
vious year. The company has been
operating plants in single shifts with
utilisation at 15-20%. This trend may
continue in June as well and may
drag margins down.
The one segment that works for
the company is the BS-VI emission
regime that kicked in April, which
offers scope for incremental reve-
nue growth. It has an order backlog
worth ` 24,000 crore for vehicular
components needed to achieve the
emissions standards.
Analysts, however, are concerned
about a potential loss in CV segment
market share during the BS-VI
transition. The potential downside
in overall earnings due to this can be
mitigated if Bosch improves ear-
nings in the two-wheelers segment.
At Tuesday’s closing price of
`9,399.1, the stock traded at 28.6 times
trailing 12-month earnings compa-
red with an average of 34 since the
beginning of the year. The compa-
ny’s bleaker outlook is likely to af-
fect this in the near term.
Floor price of `1,147.75 per
share at about half percent
discount to Tuesday’s closing
On Feb 18, RBI had given the
bank 6 months to bring down
promoter holding to 26%
Promoter Uday Kotak
held 29.92 % stake as
on March 31, 2020
QIP expected to lead
to dilution of around
3.4% of bank’s
equity, lower
Uday Kotak’s
shareholding
to 28.94%
sale. ET on Tuesday reported that
the bank is set to launch a share sale
to institutional investors, aimed at
raising as much as $2 billion in mul-
tiple tranches.
On February 18, the Reserve Bank
of India had given the bank six
months to bring down promoter hol-
ding to 26%. Promoter Uday Kotak
held a 29.92% stake as on March 31.
The QIP issuance is expected to lead
to dilution of around 3.4% of the
bank’s equity and lower Uday Ko-
tak’s shareholding to 28.94%. The
promoter will also likely sell about 57
million shares to public investors on-
ce the QIP offering completes. The
sale of 57 million shares will lower
this holding to 26%.
2014 and all existing central labour
laws had been amalgamated into four
codes. “The first one, i.e. wage code,
has already been passed by Parlia-
ment and the other three labour codes
are at different stages of parliamenta-
ry procedure,” he said.
The labour ministry is examining
the recommendations of the parlia-
mentary standing committee on the
industrial relations code and that on
occupational safety in the backdrop of
the Covid-19 crisis.
“The report of the committee is awa-
ited with respect to the social security
code,” he said. “We have also been deli-
berating on certain modifications in
the code like strengthening the legal
provisions with respect to migrant
workers and enhancing the ambit of
social security for workers.”
MORE RELIEF
Ruling out any cash payments to mig-
rant workers as demanded by some
parties and experts, Gangwar said the
intent of the government is to provide
measures for growth and a self-reliant
India that turns the current adversity
into advantage and builds on the co-
untry’s strengths.
“As far as financial assistance is
concerned, we started the relief me-
asures by providing financial bene-
fits to various vulnerable target gro-
ups in PMGKY (Pradhan Mantri
Garib Kalyan Yojana),” he said.
ner. It estimated the total loss
to states due to Covid-19 at
`30.03 lakh crore, of which
90% was accounted for by red
and orange zones, which ma-
inly included urban areas.
On the state losses, it said the
top 10 contributed to 75% of
the total, with Maharashtra’s
share at 15.6%, followed by Ta-
mil Nadu at 9.4% and Gujarat
at 8.6%. These states also had
the highest number of Co-
vid-19 cases.
Infection numbers should
drop after they peak in late Ju-
ne, it said.
“We believe that new cases
are likely to peak somewhere
anytime in the last week of Ju-
ne, beginning June 20,” SBI
Research said. “Following
that the new cases are expec-
ted to witness steep fall till the
beginning of August after
which it is expected to flatten
by mid-September.”
Reliance said to Be
Working on Plans
to List Jio Overseas
Bloomberg
Reliance Industries is wor-
king with banks on early pre-
parations for an overseas lis-
ting of its digital and wireless
business, people with know-
ledge of the matter said, after
the unit attracted more than
$10 billion of investment in a
month.
The conglomerate backed by
Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s ri-
chest man, is preparing Jio
Platforms for an initial public
offering outside of India, the
people said.
The offering could happen
in the next 12 to 24 months
and the company hasn’t deci-
ded on a listing venue, one of
the people said. There’s also
no final decision on timeline
and size, according to the pe-
ople, who asked not to be
identified as the discussions
are private.
KKR & Co last week became
the latest investor piling into
Jio Platforms after Ambani
sealed deals with Facebook,
Silver Lake Partners and Ge-
neral Atlantic recently. An
overseas listing could potenti-
ally give the digital business a
higher valuation and allow
existing investors to exit, the
people said.
A representative for Relian-
Mumbai
Maintains
Departure Cap
From Page 1
While departures at Delhi airport
rose to 137 from 112 on Monday,
Mumbai maintained its cap of 25
departures per day, said spokesper-
sons at India’s two busiest airports.
Vistara added eight flights to its 20
departures on Monday and IndiGo
also added an unspecified number.
IndiGo and other carriers also
deployed more staff to take care
of passengers. Many had arrived
at airports Monday without
checking in online, mandatory
under revised rules, or having
downloaded the Aarogya Setu
app or updated their information
on it. Some airlines are insisting
that passengers should have the
contact-tracing app on their pho-
nes although the government has
said it isn’t mandatory and a self-
declaration will also suffice.
“IndiGo, which deploys 670 peo-
ple at Mumbai airport on normal
days, deployed 20% of that on
Monday and kept the rest on
standby. Today, the airline increa-
sed it by 20 odd people,” said Char-
nel D’Souza, head of airports,
western region, IndiGo.
Airports in Andhra Pradesh
saw operation resume on Tues-
day. West Bengal is expected to al-
low the resumption of flights on
Thursday.
Government officials are moni-
toring the increase in flights and
said the number will rise over a
period of time.
“The envisaged schedule had to be
compressed to suit all stakeholders.
Later on account of load issues also
flights were merged and curtailed.
Things hereon are expected to im-
Stock Has Lost
22% in a Mth
From Page 1
At current prices, a 5-8% stake
would translate to `4,820-7,712
crore. A 5-10% premium over
that would mean `5,302-9,641
crore.
However, talks are prelimina-
ry and may not lead to a deal, sa-
id the executives cited above.
The discussions are also belie-
ved to be bilateral and not part of
any formal sale process as yet.
Axis Bank and Carlyle decli-
ned to comment.
“The conversation has been
ongoing for almost a month. The
Axis stock has been volatile. The
brass seems to be warming up to
the idea of another deep-pocket
marquee investor in recent we-
eks,” said one of the persons.
The Axis stock has fallen 22%
in the past month and almost
54% in the last three.
In recent months, lenders such
as IndusInd, RBL, IDFC First
and Yes Bank have all sought li-
quidity from institutional and
strategic investors. Kotak Ma-
hindra Bank is looking to raise
as much as `14,500-15,000 crore
($2 billion) through the primary
and secondary sale of shares,
ET reported May 26.
BANKING ON BANKS
While Carlyle has delivered go-
od returns investing in non-ban-
king financial companies
(NBFCs), it has had a mixed ex-
perience with deposit-taking in-
stitutions. Its successful bank
investments were made during
financial crises, often backstop-
ped by government support.
This includes the acquisition of
Koram Bank in partnership
with JP Morgan during the 1997
Asian financial crisis, its debut
deal in South Korea, and the ac-
quisition of Florida-based Bank
United in partnership with
ce Industries declined to
comment.
Jio Platforms combines Reli-
ance’s digital assets with its
wireless carrier, Reliance Jio
Infocomm, into a holding
company aimed at becoming
a top e-commerce and pay-
ments operator in India’s vast
consumer market.
Investors are betting on Jio’s
access to India’s huge consu-
mer market, and its potential
to shake up traditional indu-
stries in the country – from re-
tail to education and pay-
ments – with its technology.
India is the only major open
internet market where fore-
ign technology giants such as
Amazon, Walmart and Goog-
le’s parent Alphabet can com-
pete for market share.
prove. Time will tell,” said a senior
government official.
The International Air Transport
Association (IATA) said quaranti-
ne for air travellers flying between
states was an obstacle to the smooth
operation of flights.
“We think we should avoid... We
will advocate to states or govern-
ments to not put (travellers on) qua-
rantine if they want air travel to
restart,” Alexandre de Juniac, IA-
TA director general, said during a
conference call with global media.
Air India customers complai-
ned about last-minute cancella-
tions on Tuesday.
“Inability of Air India to manage
the current situation has added to
the angst of passengers with Air In-
dia receiving highest complaints
even with least number of domes-
tic flights,” said Nishant Pitti, CEO
of Easemytrip.com. “Over 70% of
the complaints received today on
EaseMyTrip.com’s customer care
is regarding Air India alone.”
He added that the national carrier
doesn't have a policy of refunds,
even if it cancels flights due to ope-
rational reasons. Pitti added that
sales and back office teams of other
carriers were seeking to ensure
that proper support was provided
to travellers round the clock.
“Air India personnel are not
even taking calls post 6 pm,” he sa-
id. Air India couldn’t be reached
for comment.
A passenger who flew to Coimba-
tore from Chennai on Monday tes-
ted Covid positive after landing. All
those landing in Coimbatore are
tested. He was hospitalised and the
other passengers, all negative, were
confined to institutional quaranti-
ne for a day. Following that, they as-
ked to quarantine themselves at ho-
me for two weeks.
In a statement, IndiGo confirmed
the incident and said the aircraft
crew has been grounded for 14 days
and it is notifying other passengers
about the same.
Blackstone in 2008.
But its purchase of 100% of Ta
Chong Bank in 2007 in Taiwan
did not fare well. Carlyle sold the
bank nine years later at a loss.
Similarly, it lost most of its capi-
tal on the 2014 investment in Dia-
mond Bank in Nigeria.
In India, the PE firm has been
an active investor in financial
services to the tune of about $2
billion backing companies such
as Housing Development Finan-
ce Corp, PNB Housing, SBI Life
Insurance and SBI Cards.
Investment banking sources
believe that, unlike IndusInd,
there is no single promoter-sha-
reholder in Axis and therefore,
with Bain already in the bank,
the chances of steering the com-
pany could be higher. Bain has
its representatives on the Axis
board as well.
STRESS TEST
Axis under CEO Amitabh
Chaudhry has been undergoing
a business transformation with
a greater emphasis on retail and
digital. Chaudhry has said this
is part of the plan to expand the
balance sheet and acquire cus-
tomers.
Overall growth is expected to
slow in the near term in retail-
—where the focus will be on secu-
red lending—and in wholesale,
where predominantly higher-ra-
ted corporate will be targeted.
“But the bank’s aspirational
growth and ROE targets are lik-
ely to take a back seat over the
next few quarters,” said Anand
Swaminathan and Nidhi Singh,
analysts with Bank of America
Merrill Lynch in a May 5 report.
“The bank’s relatively higher
exposure to SME and mid corpo-
rate segment (although de-ris-
ked to some extent) is our key
concern over the next 6-12
months.”
Earlier this month, Axis Bank
posted a net loss of `1,387 crore
in the March quarter against a
profit of `1,505.6 crore in the
same period last year.
THE ECONOMIC TIMES
MUMBAI
WEDNESDAY | 27 MAY 2020
WWW.ECONOMICTIMES.COM
Patients Taking HCQ Should
Complete the Course: WHO
In India, 1,500 patients are undergoing an HCQ trial halted by the health body on May 25
Divya Rajagopal & Teena Thacker
Mumbai | New Delhi: The World Health
Organization (WHO) clarified that patients
of its now-suspended trials of hydroxychlo-
roquine (HCQ) as a treatment for Covid-19
should continue to take the drug until they
finish their course of treatment. It also said
usage of HCQ has been found safe in pati-
ents of autoimmune disease.
The WHO clarification on Tuesday came a
day after saying it halted studies of HCQ un-
der its Solidarity Trial following observatio-
nal data published in The Lancet that said a
higher mortality rate was estimated for cri-
tically ill patients who received the drug
when used alone or with an antibiotic drug.
India is part of the trial along with 13
other countries and there are currently
1,500 patients enrolled across 15 centres
across the country. There was no immedi-
ate comment from the Indian Council of
Medical Research on the matter.
WHO’s statement came as UK resear-
chers working on the largest randomised
HCQ trial called the Recovery Trial deci-
ded to go ahead with their study.
“We saw no cogent reason to suspend re-
cruitment for safety reasons,” said Peter
Sandercock, chairman of the Recovery
Trial. He said the hazard ratio for 28-day
mortality in the trial’s current data, the
trial’s primary outcome, varied signifi-
cantly from that in the non-randomised
assessment reported in The Lancet.
The chief investigators of the Recovery
Trial, Peter Hornby and Martin Landray,
STORY OF A COVID-19 SURVIVOR
‘I Know I Have Got a New life and
Now I Only Want to Look Ahead’
Prerna.Katiyar@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: Faiyaz Ahmad, a 29-year-old
Railways maintenance employee posted
in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, reached his
home in Patna on March 9 . He visits
home every year for Holi and this year
was no different. Within days, however,
he developed cough and a sore throat.
On March 22— the day the PM called
for a junta curfew — he felt difficulty
breathing. He went to a clinic and the
doctor there called for an ambulance
and sent him to Nalanda Medical Col-
lege & Hospital.
“For the first 24 hours, I was kept in a
ward dedicated for Covid patients. I was
Patient No. 3 from Bihar and there were
hardly any facilities. The beds had no
mattresses. There were no mosquito nets
or fans. And there were no doctors in
sight. A common washroom was to be
used that was outside the ward. We were
served meals on time but it had to be
picked up from a table kept outside the
room. We were treated like kaidis (pris-
Alcohol on Tap with Apps, Shops
Fear Losing Customers, Margins
Retailers displeased as
Zomato, Swiggy start
delivering alcohol in
Jharkhand, Odisha
Anumeha.Chaturvedi
@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: Food delivery platforms
Zomato and Swiggy said on Tuesday
that they started delivering alcohol in
Odisha besides Jharkhand through a
new ‘wine shops’ category on their
apps. Liquor retailers, however, are
not happy with the move.
Retailers in states such as Maharash-
tra, Odisha and Jharkhand don’t want
food delivery apps entering the highly
state-centric and excise-regulated li-
quor space. Previous run-ins of food
delivery apps with standalone restau-
rants, the need to share the margins
that they say are fixed and a possible
loss of their database are among the
major concerns of the retailers.
In Mumbai, the municipal corpora-
tion on Friday issued an order allo-
wing home delivery of alcohol by liqu-
or shops outside of containment zones.
It said they could utilise ecommerce
platforms to do home delivery.
Sumeet Chawla, the vice president of
the Association of Progressive Retail
In a Nutshell
 First Wave of Pandemic’s
Not Over: WHO Top Exec
BANGKOK As Brazil and India struggle with
surging coronavirus, a top health expert is war-
ning the world is still smack in the middle of the
pandemic, dampening hopes for a speedy global
economic rebound and renewed international
travel. “Right now, we're not in the second wave.
We’re right in the middle of the first wave global-
ly,” said Dr. Mike Ryan, the WHO’s executive
director. “We’re still very much in a phase where
the disease is actually on the way up.”
 Britain to Provide
Remdesivir to Patients
LONDON Britain will provide anti-viral drug
remdesivir to certain Covid-19 patients that it
Under Scrutiny
Trails halted after a report said
higher mortality rate was esti-
mated for critically ill
patients who received HCQ
13
countries
including
India, Norway,
Canada,
Germany,
Brazil and
Indonesia
have started
HCQ trials
Drugs under Solidarity
Trials: Lopinavir
ritonavir, Remdesivir &
Interferon- beta- 1a
who have data on 10,000 patients of HCQ so
far, said in a letter dated May 24 that given
the additional review by the Data Monito-
ring Committee and its recommendation
to continue without interruption, any
pause in recruitment would be unjustifi-
ed and would not be in the interests of tri-
al participants or public health.
“The Recovery Trial therefore continues
as planned, with no alteration to the pro-
tocol, and all treatment arms remain open
Faiyaz Ahmad
oners). But I don’t blame the nurses as
this disease has made everyone scared
for their lives.”
Ahmad recalls his sample was taken 48
hours after his admission. When the
(positive) results came, his father was
Liquor Vendors in Mumbai, said liqu-
or shops in Mumbai and other cities in
the state were capable of delivering al-
cohol themselves.
“How will we ensure safeguards if
these external apps take orders and do
last-mile deliveries? There will be no
control. There are trust issues with
these apps because of what happened
with restaurants. We think initially
they were okay with everything that
the restaurant owners were saying,
but once they had the hold and scale,
they were dictating terms," he said.
Meanwhile Rakesh Ranjan, a vice
president at Zomato, said the company
was in advanced stages of discussions
with more state governments to offer
home delivery of alcohol. “Alcohol de-
livery has multiple complexities and
intricacies, unique to this category.
ANIRBAN
is most likely to benefit as part of a collabora-
tion with manufacturer Gilead Sciences, the
health ministry said on Tuesday. The depart-
ment of health said that early data from clinical
trials around the world, including the UK,
showed that the drug could shorten the recove-
ry time of Covid-19 patients by 4 days.
 Trump Fumes on Twitter
Over Pandemic Golf Outing
WASHINGTON US President
Donald Trump on Monday fumed
at negative media coverage of
him playing golf over Memorial
Day weekend, as the US death
count from the coronavirus pandemic neared
100,000. “The Fake and Totally Corrupt News
makes it sound like a mortal sin!” the golf-loving
president said on Twitter, noting that the game at
his own course in Virginia was the first time he
had played since early March.
Covid-19 Impact: Pharma & Companies
to enrolment,” the investigators said.
The Solidarity Trial is an international
clinical trial to help find an effective treat-
ment for Covid-19 launched by WHO and
its partners. Apart from HCQ, which has
been stalled, the drugs being studied
are Lopinavir/Ritonavir, Remdesivir
and Interferon beta-1a.
In India, HCQ is being used as a prophy-
laxis for Covid-19. The ICMR expanded
its use for all frontline workers last
week after some observational studi-
es showed the drug helped prevent a
few healthcare workers from contac-
ting the coronavirus.
“India is using the drug for pro-
phylaxis, which means it is given to
healthy people. This will have a diffe-
rent risk-benefit profile in very sick and
healthy people,” Soumya Swaminat-
han, chief scientist of WHO, told ET.
ICMR chief Balram Bhargava said HCQ
is being administered as prophylaxis loo-
king at biological plausibility, invitro da-
ta and safety of the drug.
“We got some data in India, mainly obser-
vational studies, where we found that it
may be working. Looking at risk-benefit
factors, we found that we should not deny
our healthcare workers this drug,” Bharga-
va said at a press conference on Tuesday.
On prophylaxis, WHO said even though
world experts agree that the potential exists
for prophylaxis, far more studies are ur-
gently needed to determine if existing anti-
viral drugs can be effective to treat Covid-19.
If these treatments prove to be effective,
they could reduce the burden of the disease.
asked to purchase medicines from a
pharmacy outside. These included Gri-
linctus syrup, Levocetirizine, Azithro-
mycin and Paracetamol.
His breathing would invariably dete-
riorate in the wee hours, but incredibly,
he says no doctor attended to him during
his hospital stay. He never received ox-
ygen support, either. “I would keep pray-
ing for me and my family.” With stress
and fear of the unknown, a day came
when he started hallucinating. “I would
see an apparition of mine standing
right in front me—only that figure was
healthier and happier. Somehow I felt
better each time that happened.”
Ahmad was discharged on the seventh
day and was asked to buy Pantop 40 tablet
and paracetamol if needed. “That one
week feels like a lifetime to me now. I still
don’t know how I got the virus. Why did
no doctor visit me? Why do people look at
me the way they do? I seriously want to
forget all that, as if it was all a bad dream.
Though I still feel a little weak, I know I
have got a new life. And now I only want
to look ahead.”
While there have been a few hiccups in
launching it, we are working closely
with the excise departments and retai-
lers and retailer associations to solve
these,” he said.
Swiggy said it had partnered with ar-
tificial intelligence company Hyper-
Verge to enable in-face recognition for
mandatory age verification and user
authentication for these deliveries.
But Yogesh Sahu, a liquor retailer in
Odisha who has stores in Bhubanesh-
war, Bhawanipatna, Nabarangpur and
Sundargarh and is also a member of
the state’s liquor vendors association,
said retailers were apprehensive.
“In Odisha, wholesale liquor supply
is controlled by the government. We
buy from the government and have ve-
ry fixed margins. We fear these delive-
ry apps will destroy our margins and
we will lose our data,” he said.
Tiplur Beverage Technology Enabler,
a startup founded by former SABMil-
ler India executive Rakshat Chopra, is
also in talks with various state govern-
ments and has filed an application
with the Odisha government on Tues-
day to obtain a no-objection certificate
for online deliveries.
Chopra said retailers seemed to be okay
with his model as his app let them deliver.
“Our platform ensures all excise-manda-
ted rules of consumption and retailing
are inbuilt as per user location. The data
will stay with retailers and they will do
home delivery so our app will guard their
captive business,” he said.
EAST COAST RAILWAY
E-AUCTION PROGRAMME FOR
JUNE- 2020 FOR
DEPOT & DIVISIONS
SCHEDULE OF E-AUCTION
Headquarter/
Month
Divisions
Depot 03.06.2020 (Wednesday), 12.06.2020 (Friday)
Mancheswar
JUNE Khurda Road 05.06.2020 (Friday ), 16.06.2020 (Tuesday)
2020 Division
Waltair 08.06.2020 (Monday ), 17.06.2020 (Wednesday)
Division
Sambalpur 09.06.2020 (Tuesday ), 19.06.2020 (Friday)
Division
The complete details of materials and terms and conditions will be as per
Auction Catalogue , which shall be available with the respective auction
conducting authority of East Coast Railway or from our website:
www.ireps .gov.in within 07 (seven) days prior to the date of auction.
PR-6311.120-21 Princi pal Chief Materials Manager , Bhubaneswar
vedanta
~1
-`
y Q
, / rl
-'+- ma
SUSTAINABLE
RESPONSIBLE DEVELOPMENT
ALUMINIUM SMELTER
OPERATIONAND
MAINTENANCE
/
EXCELLENCE
Expression of Interest to be submitted by 27th June 2020 to:
Chief Commercial Officer, PMO Building, Vedanta Limited, Jharsuguda, Odisha - 768201, India
For f urt her informati on, bidders can login to: http:// vedantaal uminium.com/vedanta-aluminium-tender.htm
Talk to Labs to
Cut Test Costs:
Centre to States
Teena.Thacker@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: The central government
has asked state governments to nego-
tiate with private laboratories to re-
duce the price of Covid-19 test given
the availability of indigenous testing
kits and supplies.
In a letter written to the chief secretar-
ies of states and Union Territories on
Monday, ICMR director general Balram
Bhargava said state governments “are
advised to negotiate with private labs
and fix up mutually agreeable prices for
samples being sent by the government
and also for private individuals desir-
ous of testing by these labs”.
“Now, testing supplies are also stabiliz-
ing and many of you have started pro-
curing such kits from local market. Due
to varied options of testing materials/
kits including indigenous
ones, the prices are be-
coming competitive and
are undergoing reduc-
tion,” Bhargava wrote.
“ICMR continuously ad-
vocates aggressive testing of lLl symp-
tomatic persons for which RT-PCR test
is considered as gold standard. ln this
backdrop and keeping in view the evolv-
ing prices of the testing commodities,
the earlier suggested upper ceiling of
`4,500 vide letter dated 17/3/2020 may not
be applicable now
and therefore all
state governments/
UT administrations
are advised to nego-
tiate with private
(1) Notice No: eT-West-WAT- 10.2020
labs and fix up mu-
tually agreeable
prices for samples UNLOADING PLATFORM , WITH CROSS
being sent by the gov- BARRIER AT BODEARPUR STATION AND
ernment and also for EXTENSION OF SHUNTING NECK WITH
D E A D E N D , B U F F E R S T O P AT
private individuals
BODEARPUR & DILIMILI STATIONS
desirous of testing
UNDER DEPOSIT TERMS IN CONNECTION
by these labs,” the WITH DOUBLING WORKS UNDER SENIOR
letter read. DIVISIONAL ENGINEER/WEST /WALTAIR.
'
1
CLEANING AND SANITATION WORKS
1
(1) Tender No.: eT-M-KUR-EnHM-RS-104-20
MISCELLANEOUS
MAINTENANCE WORKS OF MECHANIZED
C L E A N I N G AND S A N I T A T I O N (UP
KEEPING) OF EAST COAST RAILWAY
HEADQUARTERS BUILDING AND ITS
PREMISES AT CHANDRASEKHARPUR ,
BHUBANESWAR.
Lam 2 1 ,40 ,13,391.27. E6'I:
2,20,1001-, Tender document cost: t 5 ,900',
Period of completion : 24 months .
Bidding s:art date : 27.05.2020 . LUMEEZI
at 1530 hrs. of 10.06.2020.
(2) Tender No.: eT-M-KUR-EnHM-
CC-105-2020
EXECUTION OF
S A N I T A T I O N / C L E A N L I N E S S WORK:
SURFACE SWEEPING OF ROADS, OPEN
SPACE SWEEPING/RAG PICKING , DRAINS
CLEANING , SOLID WASTE COLLECTION
AND DISPOSAL , MAINTENANCE OF
SEWERAGE SYSTEM, ANTI-MALARIAL
WORK , REMOVAUDISPOSAL OF DEAD
A N I M A L OF O L D M A N C H E S W A R
(SECTOR -A ,B,C,D) RAILWAY COLONY
DAILY, RAIL KUNJ, RAIL KUTIR , RAIL
AWAS & NEW MANCHESWAR (MCS)
COLONIES ALONG WITH DOOR TO DOOR
GARBAGE COLLECTION OF RAIL KUNJ
AND RAIL KUTIR COLONIES AND RAIL
VIHAR COLONY FOR A PERIOD OF ONE
YEAR.
F_T,-ffM= 471911111
, Z 2,16,18,844.25, ENC
T 2, 58,1001-, Tender document cost
11,8001- , Period of completion : 12 months.
Biddin sad date : 27.05.2020.
at 1545 hrs. of 10. 06.2020.
Manual offers are not allowed against 1H s
tender and any such manual offer receives
shall be ignored.
Complete details & tender documents a I be
available atwebsite www.ireps .gov.in
Sr. Divisional Mechanical Engineer ,
PR-6211J20.21 Khurda Road
Date
& 25.06 .2020 (Thursday)
& 26.06.2020 (Friday)
& 29.06.2020 (Monday)
& 30.06 .2020 (Tuesday)
 7
ALUMINIUM SMELTER OPERATION &
MAINTENANCE PARTNER
EXPRESSION OF INTEREST
Vedanta Limited is the world's 6th largest diversified natural resources conglomerate
with business operations in India, South Africa, Namibia and Australia. It is a leading
producer of Oil & Gas, Zinc, Lead, Silver, Copper, Iron Ore, Steel, Aluminium & Power.
Vedanta contributes 1% towards India's GDP, as per IFC. We are investing 9 BnS in
cap ital projects over the next 2 - 3 years to double our revenues from current levels
o f 15 Bn$.
Vedanta's Aluminium & Power Business is India 's largest primary aluminium producer
having an installed smelting capacity of -2.2 MTPA. It operates a 1.6 MTPA aluminium
& smelter and 3615 MW thermal power generation facility at Jharsuguda in Odisha. To
unleash the next phase of operational excellence, we intend to outsource the complete
operation & maintenance of our smelter. Vedanta invites Expression of Interest (Eol)
from competent Indian and international partners with relevant experience for end to
end operation & maintenance of:
SixpoNines along with rectifiers and switchyards
Three cast houses
.nro carbon p lants
Vehicles, utilities and other assets
Consumer Cos Seek GST
Cut to Help Push Sales
Ratna.Bhushan@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: Consumer-facing compa-
nies including makers of biscuits, ayur-
veda products, soaps and shampoos ha-
ve asked the government to reduce the
goods and services tax rates to help revi-
ve demand as the lockdown eases.
“With constraints of disposable in-
come, reduction in GST would spur
demand of essential categories,” said
Arup Chauhan, executive director of
Parle Products, the country’s biggest
biscuit company and maker of Mona-
co, Hide & Seek and Marie cookies. Bi-
scuits under `100 a kg are taxed at 18% mulus package had focused more on pro-
and are price-sensitive categories, pping up the supply-side with long-term
FILE PHOTO
contributing 40% by volume and 30% results rather than spurring demand in
by value of the overall category.
The GST Council, which is expected
the short term, industry officials said.
Companies making ayurveda-based
to meet next month, had slashed tax products such as Dabur and Baidya-
rates on 200 products including choco- nath have sought a GST reduction to 5%
lates, toothpastes, shampoos, was- from 12%, given that the government it-
hing powders and shaving creams to self is pushing the consumption of ay-
18% from 28% in November 2017. In- urveda-based foods to boost immunity.
dustry executives said a further re- Dabur’s chief executive Mohit Mal-
duction is needed to trigger demand. hotra said a uniform 5% GST for the en-
“Reduction in GST for basic categori- tire ayurveda product and medicine
es from 18% would create a demand range would spur much-needed de-
stimulus, which is critical to revive mand. “A uniform 5% GST would help
the economy,” said Arvind Mediratta, popularise ayurvedic products, which
managing director of wholesale retail are gaining acceptance among consu-
chain Metro Cash & Carry. mers because of their immunity-buil-
The government’s `20 lakh crore sti- ding properties,” Malhotra said.
1
1 M V .
1114 11111
1:1 is
IIK
ENGINEERING WORKS Ph: 1 0471- 2315893
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL UNDER SWISS CHALLENGE METHOD
Dt.: 20.05.2020 Proposals are invited from eli gible applicants for Development of
E X T E N S I O N OF Integrated Solid Waste Management Project with a Waste to Energy
plant of minimum 300 TPD Processing capacity on Design, Build,
Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) basis at Vizhinjam for
Thiruvananthapuram Cluster under Public Private Partnership mode.
Detailed RFP d o c u m e n t is available in the w e b s i t e s :
www. etenders .kerala ov in & www .ksidc.ora
For more details :
Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd.
66,13 ,557.01, Keston Road , Kowdiar , Thiruvananthapuram 695003 ,
EMD ?1 ,32 , 3001-, Cost of Tender docur nent :
Z 5,900/ - . Com petio n period of the work : 06
Months,
18.06.2020.
T-Tt at 1330 hrs. of
Tel - 0471-2318922
26/05/2020
Sd/-
MANAGING DIRECTOR
MUMBAI METROPOLITAN REGION
(2) Notice No: eT-Central -WAT-09-2020
Dt.: 20.05.2020
PER IO DICAL
MAINTENANCE WORKS OF CIVIL ZONAL
WORKS FROM KM 3111 TO 10710 FOR THE
DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
(A Government of ldaha,asht'a Urdertak ng)
511 floor, Engineering Division , Plot Nos . R-5 , R-6 & R-12 , Bandra-Kula Complex
Bandra (E), klu mbai - 400 051.Tel. 26594000 1022- 26594104 , Fax: 26594179.
YEAR 2020-21 BETWEEN KOTTAVALASA Website
(EX) TO ARAKU ( IN) ON KK LINE OF
WALTAIR DIVISION FOR THE PERIOD e-TENDER NOTICE
E N D I N G 30 . 06 . 2021 U N D E R THE
J U R I S D I C T I O N OF A S S I S T A N T
Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) invites
bids from eligible Bidders through e-Tendering for work of filling
DIVISIONAL ENGINEERIARAKU.
potholes during monsoon on Eastern & Western Express Highway.
93,88 ,591.20,
E NID : 71 ,87, 8001-, Cost o`Ten der docum ent : Sr no. (Ch. in. Km) Estimated cost (C) EMD (t`)
5,9001- . Comp etion oeiod of the work : 12 Eastern Express Highway
Months. 1. 561/200 to 5661000 91 ,91 ,283/- 92 , 000/-
(3) Notice No: eT-Central-WAT- 10.2020
2. 579/500 to 575/000 86 ,61 ,557/- 86 ,700/-
Dt.: 20.05.2020
3. 584/750 to 579/500 85 ,75,753/- 85 ,800/-
PER IOD ICAL
MAINTENANCE WORKS OF CIVIL ZONAL 4. 5711000 to 566/000 80,75,817/- 80 , 800/-
WORKS FROM KM 10710TO218 14FORTHE
5. 575/000 to 5711000 79 ,16,855/- 79,200/-
YEAR 2020 -21 BETWEEN ARAKU (EX) TO
Western Express Hi ghway
MALLIGURA( IN) ON KK LINE OF WALTAIR
DIVISION FOR THE PERIOD ENDING 6. 1 5221600 to 5271680 6044 4531- 60 500/-
30.06.2021 UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF Contact Details :-
ASSISTANT DIVISIONAL ENGINEER/ Shri. S, S. Gangurde , Executive Engineer, (Sr. No. 1, 4 , 5 & 6)
KORAPUT.
Email id : sham .gangurde@mailmmrda .maharashtra.gov.in &
Z 88 ,84 ,878.30,
EMD Z 1,77,7001- , Cost of Tender document:
Shri.I.AAnsari , Executive Engineer, (Sr. No . 2 & 3)
Z 5, 900/ -, Completion period of the work : 12 Email id : ansari .ahmed@mailmmrda.maharashtra .gov .in
Months. Tel. No.022-26594104
(4) Notice No : eT.Central -WAT-11-2020 Bid documents download , rime & Date From
Dt.: 20.05.2020 27.05,2020 (17.00 Hr.) to 03.06.2020 (15.00 Hr.).
C R U S H I N G OF The detailed e-tender notice and e-tender forms are also available on
CONTRACTOR' S HARD STONE USING MMRDA' s official web site. "https://etendermmrda .maharashtra .gov.in"
M E C H A N I Z E D CRUSHER TO 50MM
GAUGE OF 39 , 860 CUM (AS PER Date :23/05/2020 Sd/-
SPECIFICATIONS), TRANSPORTING THE Place : Mumbai Executive En gineer, MMRDA
SAME TO SRUNGAVARAPUKOTA (SUP)
STATION DEPOT, UNLOADING , STACKING
AND LOADING THE SAME INTO RAILWAY
WAGONS AT SRUNGAVARAPUKOTA
(SUP) STATION DEPOT UNDER
MUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF GREATER MUMBAI
ASSISTANT DIVISIONAL ENGINEER/ No. Dy.Ch.EJO&M/eT 11 & 12 /SWD Dt. 20.05.2020
ARAKU ON KOTTAVALASA -KIRANDUL
LINE OF WALTAIR DIVISION.
MUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF GREATER MUMBAI
5,73,98, 400/- ,
EMD Z 4, 37,000/., Cost of Tender docume nt e-Tender Notice
Z 11, 8001- , Completion period of the work 18 Department : Chief Engineer (SWD)
Months,
Sub Department : Deputy Chief Engineer (O&M) SWD
(5) Notice No: eT-Central -WAT-12-2020
Dt.: 20 .05.2020 Subject: 7100177435
SUPPLY AND
T R A N S P O R T A T I O N OF W E L D I N G
PORTIONS FOR 60 KG . 90 UTS RAILS BY
1) eT11- Providing services for comprehensive opera-
tion and maintenance of Power Bucket Machine P.M.
No. 487 (01 Pair) for desifting the Storm Water Dra ns
ALUMINUM THERMIC / SKV PROCESS
WITH THE USE OF AUTOMATIC TAPPING in City areas of MCGM.
T H I M B L E S ONLY UNDER THE 2) el12--The Work of supply and laying of PVC flex-
JURISDICTION OF SENIOR DIVISIONAL
ENGINEER (CENTRAL) / WALTAIR OF
ible rubber pipe and MS pipe of 300 mm dia capac ty
of pressure 1.5 Kg/sq.cm. inside 1000 mm dia , 2 to
WALTAIR DIVISION.
Z 2,33,50,660.56 , 6 mts, existing SWD line and along the railway track
E M D Z 2 ,66,8001., Cost of Tender document Shanmukhanand Hal to Wadala culvert in F/N ward.
Z 11,8001-, Comp etion perod of the work . 12
e-tender Sale Date- 20.05.2020 from Time-11.00 Hrs .
Months,
3 0 h s . of Date- 26.05.2020 upto Time 13.00 Hrs.
23.06 .2020 (for SI. No. 2,3 ,4 & 5). Website http://portal.mcgm.gov.in
No manual offers sent by Post/Courier/Fax or
in person shall be accepted against sj ch
Concerned Officer Shri P.K.Tayshete
e-tenders even if these are submitted on firm s Name Executive Engineer (O&M) Mech. SWD
letter head and received in time. All sj ch Telephone Number 022-24309817
manual offers shall be rejected summariy
(Office ) 022-24309472
without any consideration.
Complete information including e-tender Mobile Number 9869068796
documents of the above e-tender is availao e E-mail Address mcgmswdom@yahoo.com
in website : http:/Iwww. ireps.gov. in
Note : The prospective tenderers are advised Sdi-
to revisit the website 10 (Ten) days before the Ex- Eng. (0 &M) Mech. S1'JD
dale of closing of lender to note any changes
corrigenda issued forthis tender.
Divisional Railway Manager ( Engg.), , _,
PR-60/LJ20-21 Waltair
.- , 7
3 PRO/136 /ADV/2 0-21
8  Covid-19 Impact: Disruption & Tech
For comprehensive and
insightful stories about all
things startups and technology,
log on to www.ettech.com
Tweet OF THE DAY
ELAD GIL @ELADGIL
A number of down
rounds are coming
this year and that is
OK. The key is bridg-
ing the next 18-24
months through
COVID and out the
other side. Valuation
is temporary, compa-
ny building ongoing
Tech Buzz
Giphy Out
from Zoom
Chat for Now
WASHINGTON DC Zoom
has decided to temporari-
ly disable the integration
of GIF platform Giphy in
its chat feature, the com-
pany confirmed in a blog
post. “Once additional
technical and security
measures have been de-
ployed, we will re-enable
the feature.” the compa-
ny said. —ANI
Quick Byte ANIRBAN BORA
$ 72 billion
Revenue of Alibaba
Group for FY20
Apps Will Now
Deliver Liquor
in Odisha
BENGALURU Swiggy
and Zomato have
launched alcohol deliv-
ery in Odisha, days after
first launching the ser-
vice in Jharkhand. While
both companies have
launched services in
Bhubaneswar, other cit-
ies like Rourkela, Balas-
ore, Balangir, Sambal-
pur, Berhampur and
Cuttack are next. “We
are working closely with
excise departments to
ensure end-to-end com-
pliance of guidelines and
are also introducing con-
sumption and identity
verification protocols,”
said Rakesh Ranjan, VP,
Zomato. —Our Bureau
Jargon Buster
Betamaxed
A slang term for when
a superior product los-
es out to an inferior
product. It refers to the
adoption of VHS over
superior Betamax in
the 1970s and ‘80s
ADDING IT UP Co valued at $250m; Harish Abhichandani named interim CEO after Nitin Gupta quits
Micro VCs Fight
Ola Financial Gets `205cr from for Relevance as
Falcon Edge, Matrix Partners Big Funds Dig in
Aditi.Shrivastava1
@timesgroup.com
Bengaluru: Ola Financial Servi-
ces has picked up about Rs 205 cro-
re from investment fund Falcon
Edge and venture firm Matrix
Partners as part of its first institu-
tional financing round, regulatory
filings show. Apoletto Managers,
and Vodafone former CEO Arun
Sarin's family office also partici-
pated in the round.
This deal closed at a valuation of
$250 million, according to two peo-
ple directly aware of the matter.
The fundraising, part of its first
institutional financing round, co-
mes after the company separately
raised $20 million in working capi-
tal debt, people in the know of the
matter said, as the firm looks to bet
on financial services in an attempt
to diversify beyond its core ride-
hailing business.
“The financial services space in
Uber India Lays off 600
as Covid Punctures Biz
END OF THE ROAD Affected staff to receive a payout for minimum 10 weeks
Our Bureau
Bengaluru: Uber laid off 600 peo-
ple in India on Tuesday due to the
adverse effect of the Covid-19 out-
break on its business.
The job cuts, which will impact a
fourth of its 2,600 employees
across teams and designations,
are part of a global retrenchment
that the ride-hailing company an-
nounced on May 18, which will see
another 3,000 employees being let
go, and a total of 6,700 this month.
“The impact of Covid-19 and the
unpredictable nature of the reco-
very has left Uber India with no
choice but to reduce the size of its
workforce,” said Pradeep Para-
meswaran, president of Uber In-
dia and South Asia.
All affected employees will recei-
ve payouts for a minimum 10 we-
eks, along with medical insurance
coverage for the next six months,
outplacement support, and will be
allowed to retain their laptops
along with the option to join the
Uber talent directory.
“I want to apologize to departing
Trai Says Floor
Pricing Talks
Only after
Lockdown Ends
Muntazir.Abbas
@timesinternet.in
New Delhi: Telecom
Regulatory Authority
of India has rejected
the telcos’ latest de-
mand to expedite setting of a flo-
or for tariffs by holding the open
house discussions online, with
chairman RS Sharma saying the
watchdog needs to look after con-
sumers who are currently in dis-
tress, a view which dealt a huge
setback for operators.
“It may be a better option that
any further discussion on the is-
sue (floor tariff) is held after the
lockdown is completely lifted and
normalcy is restored,” Sharma
told ET, virtually ruling out an
online open house discussion on
the issue, and thus, an early deci-
sion on the contentious issue.
He added that the authority is
conscious of its mandate, which
is to protect the interests of con-
sumers as well as to promote or-
derly growth of the sector.
Telecom carriers Bharti Airtel,
Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea
last week once again pushed the
regulator to accelerate the pro-
cess of fixing floor for service ta-
riffs, saying in the absence of any
government relief, this step was
key to long-term sustainability of
the sector and for carriers to ab-
sorb the adjusted gross revenue
(AGR) dues.
Last week, Bharti Airtel’s CEO
(India & SA) Gopal Vittal also sa-
id that tariffs remained unsustai-
nably low, and called on the in-
dustry watchdog to swiftly ring
in a floor price for data services.
CLEAR MANDATE
RS Sharma said the aut-
hority is conscious of its
mandate: pro-
tect interests
of consumers
and promote
orderly grow-
th of the
sector
India and in our global markets is
significantly underserved due to
weak distribution, low trust and
complicated products,” Bhavish
Aggarwal, CEO of Ola told employ-
ees in an email on Tuesday. “We ha-
ve a once in a lifetime opportunity
to change this with the reach and
capabilities of our core ride-sha-
ring platform,” he said.
ET has seen Aggarwal’s email.
The crisis wrought by the Co-
vid-19 pandemic has meant there
was a need for product innovation
in the financial services spa-
ce that were consumer and
digital-first, Aggarwal added.
Short-term credit, mobile
wallet, insurance, and utility
bill payments are some of the
existing services housed un-
der Ola Money.
In November, ET reported that
Ola had moved its financial servi-
ces business out of parent ANI
Technologies to raise capital sepa-
rately for the independent entity.
IN THE MIDDLE
6,700 LAYOFFS BY THE
COMPANY GLOBALLY
AFFECTED EMPLOYEES TO GET
∙Payouts for ∙Medical insur-
a minimum ance for next
10 weeks six months
∙Outplacement support
GUSTAVE COURBET The Desperate Man
colleagues and extend my heart-
felt thanks to them for their contri-
butions to Uber and the riders and
driver-partners we serve in India,”
Mitron! Local TikTok Rivals are
Getting Vocal about their Roots
A bunch of ‘Made in
India’ short-video
platforms are vying
to replace TikTok
Megha.Mandavia
@timesgroup.com
Bengaluru: Several ‘Made in In-
dia’ short video platforms have
made their debut on Google Play
Store, vying to replace TikTok,
the widely popular Chinese app
that has faced a backlash of sorts
from users of late.
Apps such as Mitron TV, Tik Kik
and Bolo Indya are gaining in
EU Privacy Body Flagged for Slow FB Probe
SAN FRANCISCO Silicon Valley's
main data-protection watchdog in
Europe came under attack from one
of the region's leading privacy
advocates for taking too long to
wrap up probes into Facebook Inc.
and its Instagram and WhatsApp
units.
Max Schrems’ group Noyb in an
open letter on Monday called on
European Union authorities to
“take action” against the Irish Data
Protection Commission, which has
Experts Green Flag Mumbai Local with 30% Capacity
TIFR, IISc researchers say Mumbai can handle spurt in cases with current medical infrastructure, based on projections
Ayan.Pramanik@timesgroup.com
Bengaluru: A group of resear-
chers from Tata Institute of
Fundamental Research (TIFR)
and Indian Institute of Science
(IISc) has recommended the
resumption of local trains in
Mumbai from June with 30%
capacity, based on a model that
predicts measures for the city to
handle a spurt in Covid-19 positive
cases with the existing health
infrastructure.
The City-Scale Epidemic Simu-
lator, which uses SAP’s tech-
nology platform, has been model-
ling datasets – such as number of
cases in April and percentage of
In the Fast Lane
As part of po- At a time
tential funding, when the
Vikram market is
Vaidyanathan, expected to
MD at Matrix see a very
Partners, is slow recovery,
expected to Ola is planning
be appointed financial
to the board services
of OFS offerings
Parameswaran said.
The layoffs come a week after ho-
megrown rival Ola slashed head-
count by a third, affecting 1,400
employees, as the company saw a
95% hit to revenue as people stayed
indoors during the nationwide
lockdown.
“Employees in the core mobility
and head office have been impac-
ted with little impact on the global
technology teams,” said a person
in the know.
This is the second major downsi-
zing exercise at the San Francisco-
based company this year.
Uber let go 245 employees when it
sold its food delivery business in
India to Zomato in February.
Two people told ET that employe-
es across teams, including custo-
mer and driver support, business
development, legal, finance, poli-
cy and marketing have been im-
pacted. A part of the company’s
global technology centre team
has also been affected, but these
were primarily employees in roles
catering to the international mar-
ket which are redundant, sources
in the know said.
downloads, with many riding on
PM Narendra Modi’s call to be ‘At-
ma Nirbhar’ (self-reliant) and be
‘Vocal for Local’. Mitron TV, an al-
most exact replica of TikTok, has
been downloaded 5 million times
within a month of launch and has
a rating of 4.7 stars. Another simi-
lar app, Tik Kik, has already gar-
yet to issue any significant fines
exactly two years
after strict EU
Noyb in an rules empowered
open letter the regulator to
called on EU levy hefty penal-
authorities to ties for serious
“take action”
privacy vio-
against the
Irish Data lations.
Protection The letter comes
Commission just days after the
Irish authority
said it's edging closer to delivering
death; cases in slums and non-
slums etc in Mumbai and Benga-
luru.
Once the information and prac-
tices are modelled across diffe-
rent locations in a city, the
simulator would be able to
predict the number of
hospital beds or ICUs
required.
“Nearly 7.5 million
people travel by (local)
train in Mumbai in nor-
mal times. There is a
massive amount of
interactions and we don't
know how bad it can get.
So, you have to start slow,
with 20-30% of the occu-
pancy initially,” Sandeep
THE ECONOMIC TIMES | MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | 27 MAY 2020 | WWW.ECONOMICTIMES.COM
As part of the potential funding,
Vikram Vaidyanathan, MD at Mat-
rix Partners has joined the board
of Ola Financial Services.
Ola’s ride-hailing business reve-
nue dipped 95% over the past two
months amid a nationwide lock-
down to prevent the spread of the
Covid-19 virus.
At a time when the market is ex-
pected to recover only gradually,
Ola is sharpening its financial ser-
vices offerings. Ola will fight in-
cumbents like Pa-
ytm, PhonePe, Ama-
zonPay and Google
Pay and the yet to be
launched WhatsApp
Pay.
In a separate develop-
ment, Nitin Gupta, CEO of Ola
Financial Services, has resig-
ned after more than two years
at the company. Harish Abhi-
chandani, Group CFO at Ola,
will take over from Gupta as inte-
rim CEO, according to the email.
CoinDCX
Adds $2.5m
to the Kitty
Anandi.C@timesgroup.com
Mumbai: Crypto-
currency exchange
CoinDCX has raised
`18.98 crore (about
$2.5 million) in a follow-on in-
vestment round led by Polycha-
in Capital and Coinbase Ventu-
res, the investment arm of
American cryptocurrency ma-
jor Coinbase. The fresh round
of funds are intended to help
the startup drive crypto adop-
tion in India and support its
plan of increasing crypto in-
vestors/traders in India to 50
million. Funds will also be de-
ployed towards a blockchain
and cryptocurrency learning
programme aimed at first-time
cryptocurrency traders.
“The recent months have
shown that the cryptocurrency
industry in India is finally get-
ting the recogni-
tion it deser-
ves from
global cor-
porations
and investors,”
said Sumit
Gupta, CEO of
CoinDCX.
nered 1 million downloads before
its official launch in June, while
Bolo Indya downloads have cros-
sed the 100,000-mark.
Mitron (friends in Hindi) is how
Modi popularly greets the count-
ry in public speeches. On the Play
Store, Mitron TV describes itself
as a short video and social plat-
form designed for people to show-
case videos online with light hu-
mour. The app wants to build a
platform where people entertain
themselves with videos posted by
others across the globe and create
a social incentive for them to sha-
re and create their own videos.
ET could not ascertain the iden-
tity of the founder of Mitron TV
and Tik Kik apps.
The companies did not respond
to ET’s emails seeking comment.
its first major sanctions under the
EU's General Data Protection
Regulation after finalising a draft
decision in a probe concerning
Twitter and completing a further
procedural step in a separate probe
concerning WhatsApp.
“With about 10,000 complaints in
two years and no fines at all against
private actors, it is obvious that
Ireland does not effectively imple-
ment EU law.” Schrems's group said
in the letter. — Bloomberg
Juneja, Professor and Dean,
School of Technology and Com-
puter Science at TIFR told ET.
“Then, you see the experience
ANIRBAN BORA
Emergence of marque VC-backed programmes
have made the landscape trickier to navigate
Biswarup Gooptu &
Alnoor Peermohamed
New Delhi | Bengaluru: India’s
micro venture capital firms are at
a crossroads a decade after first
bursting onto the scene, as they
fight for deals with larger inves-
tors who have increasingly gone
deeper and earlier in a hyper-com-
petitive startup ecosystem.
Micro VC funds such as Artha In-
dia Ventures, Unicorn India Ven-
tures, GrowX Ventures and
100X.VC have typically operated in
the space just above the angel in-
vestors and below that of early-sta-
ge venture capital firms, usually
coming in as the first institutional
cheques in early-stage startups
that have gone past the ideation
stage and are beginning to record
early revenue.
The definition of micro VC funds
remains fluid. In the United States,
they are defined as funds managed
by a single, or at best, a couple of
general partners, with a small bou-
tique investment thesis, and rarely
charging management fees. In In-
dia, however, domestic micro VCs
have typically raised between $30
million and $50 million.
The lines have blurred further
over the last two years in India
with the emergence of super an-
gels and angel syndicates and as
blue-chip venture capital funds
such as Sequoia Capital, Accel
Partners, Lightspeed Ventures,
SAIF Partners and Orios Venture
Partners have set up their respecti-
ve seed-stage vehicles to get on to
the cap tables of promising ventu-
res before their valuations sky-
rocket.
“There has definitely been an in-
crease in competition, because of
programmes such as Surge, and
others. We might lose out on the
Govt Opens Aarogya
Setu Source Code, Bug
Bounty Programme
Our Bureau
New Delhi: The government
has released the source code of
its Covid-19 contact-tracing app,
Aarogya Setu, on software devel-
opment platform GitHub, in line
with India’s policy on Open
Source Software.
The government hopes to lever-
age the expertise of top techni-
cal brains in the country to im-
prove the platform by releasing
the source code, which has been
a key demand of privacy experts.
The platform has been aiding
frontline workers in the
fight against the pan-
demic.
Principal Scientif-
ic Adviser Prof K
VijayRaghavan
said that contact-
tracing histori-
cally has been
done manual-
ly during
times of conta-
gion, but this
usually takes
weeks. “...This al-
lows us to effec-
tively battle the disease,”
and in three-four weeks how
many infections (cases of Co-
vid-19) are coming from local
trains and then you can project
how soon you can increase from
25% to say 50%, and whether
the city is adequately prepa-
red,” he added.
A detailed report with
various recommenda-
tions should be out in one
or two weeks, he said.
India put in place a
nationwide lockdown for
more than two months to
reduce the spread of the
pandemic and delay the
burden on its healthcare
facilities.
In the fourth phase of
Out of Place
WHAT ARE MICRO VC FUNDS?
ANIRBAN BORA
∙ India Fund size is
$30-50 million
∙ Average cheque
size $500,000-1m
∙ Typically writes a
startup’s first in-
stitutional cheque
∙ Looks to get in
around pre-seed
or seed round
∙ Exits by Series C
or D round
chance to invest because entrepre-
neurs may have the inclination to
go to those funds,” Anil Joshi, fo-
under and managing partner of
Unicorn India Ventures, told ET.
While Sequoia launched its rapid
scale-up programme Surge in ear-
ly 2019, Accel, which already opera-
tes an incubator programme
LaunchPad, also kicked off ReBo-
und, focused on second and third-
time entrepreneurs in the same ye-
ar. Home-grown investor Orios
Venture Partners also launched
Misfits last year, which invests
$50,000-1.5 million.
A number of micro VC fund ma-
nagers admit that the emergence
of marque VC-backed program-
mes over the last two years have
made the startup landscape tricki-
er to navigate, which has therefore
seen them adopt niche investment
strategies, and also to scout for op-
portunities outside the metros.
For example, Unicorn India Ven-
tures, which is currently investing
out of its third fund – a `400 crore
vehicle and its largest till date – has
backed two ventures that have
emerged out of Kochi, while Delhi-
based GrowX Ventures focuses pri-
marily on the deep-tech space.
“The amount of work may have
increased, but we have also been
able to get better deals and better
terms,” Joshi said.
The idea is to create a differentia-
ted strategy, by betting on specific
emerging segments, or even sub-
segments, while simultaneously
building a brand.
“Which means, when you back a
particular enterprise in our target
domain, we’re fairly well equipped
to help them scale up. And, an ent-
repreneur likes that. That’s how
they tend to pick people – Who is
the best fit for me? That is our co-
re,” said Ashish Taneja, partner at
GrowX Ventures.
he said.
The government has also
launched a Bug Bounty Pro-
gramme so that security re-
searchers and the Indian devel-
oper community can test the ef-
fectiveness of Aargoya Setu and
improve or enhance its security
as well as build user trust.
“Transparency, privacy and se-
curity have been the core design
principles of Aarogya Setu since
its inception and opening the
Source Code to the developer
community signifies the govern-
ment's continued commitment
to these principles,” said
Amitabh Kant, CEO of
Niti Aayog.
The source code
for the Android
version of the ap-
plication is
available for re-
view and collab-
oration, while
the iOS version
will be released as
open source within
the next two weeks.
Almost 98% of Aaro-
gya Setu users are on
the Android plat-
form.
lockdown, states have been advi-
sed to observe strict guidelines
and closure of containment
zones.
Sindhu Gangadharan, mana-
ging director of SAP Labs India,
said the simulator would empo-
wer local authorities to improve
preparation for health, logistics,
demand and supply situations.
“It is important that we look at
such interventions to slow down
the spread of the virus and help
the government authorities to
take the right measures,” said
Gangadharan.
The simulator also factors in the
age of citizens across different
locations in a city, said Rahul
Lodhe, senior director, SAP Labs.

THE ECONOMIC TIMES | MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | 27 MAY 2020 | WWW.ECONOMICTIMES.COM
Delhi Hottest in a
Decade, Touches
47.6 Degrees
New Delhi: The temperature in New
Delhi soared to 47.6 degrees Celsius,
the hottest for May in a decade, as the
heat wave intensified across nort-
hern India. The national capital was
India’s second-hottest
Churu in
place, trailing Churu in
Rajasthan, where the
Rajasthan
was India’s temperature touched
50 degrees. The sea-
hottest place
with
ring heat will continue
temperature for another two days
soaring to
before a western
50 degrees
disturbance brings
some thundershowers in northern
India, the weather office said. In New
Delhi, the highest temperature was
recorded at Palam in the airport area.
The India Meteorological Department
said the weather would improve later
in the week. “These conditions are
likely to continue till Wednesday and
then start receding from May 28.
Major respite is expected from May
29,” said an official. —Our Bureau
Brace for More
Extreme Weather
Events: Experts
Shashwat.Mohanty@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: India should brace for more ex-
treme weather events as the adverse impact
of global warming is increasing, as seen by
the recent cyclone, which was one of the
most fierce storms to strike the eastern co-
ast, and swarms of locusts that are ravaging
vegetation, top scientists
and officials said.
The national On the heels of the super
forecaster cyclone Amphan, the natio-
also issued nal forecaster issued a war-
a warning ning about a severe heatwa-
about a ve for northern and central
severe India. Scientists said that
heatwave for climate change due to glo-
northern and bal warming remains the
central India main culprit for the rise in
extreme weather events
across the country.
M Rajeevan, secretary for the ministry and
earth sciences and a meteorologist himself,
said recent trends indicate that India will
see extreme weather events with higher in-
tensity than before. "Certainly, global war-
ming has been a big factor in this," he said.
Standing crop across northern India has
also been affected due to locust attacks. Sci-
entists say that higher temperatures and in-
tense rainfall due to cyclones have increased
breeding of these pests.
Land Acquisition for Road Projects Takes a Pasting
Buying of land down drastically in areas with a large number of Covid-19 cases, states too are facing financial crunch
Bumpy
Ride
Land acquisition has
slowed down since March
Districts with District
high no of officials busy
Covid cases on Covid The
affected duty Repercussions
Good time to acquire Liquidity crunch
land, say experts in the market
Land owners to not squat Slow project
on assets for better price award activity
Round-the-Clock
Green Energy
Tenders Worry
Developers
Kaavya.Chandrasekaran
@timesgroup.com
Bengaluru: Renewable energy deve-
lopers are uneasy about the govern-
ment’s recent focus on round-the-
clock solar and wind tenders, as they
feel this may not be practical.
The ministry of new and renewable
energy recently conducted a round-
the-clock (RTC) auction for 400 MW of
projects where the levelised tariff
emerged at `3.60 per unit. Renew Po-
wer was the sole winner.
Developers say tender conditions do
not require supplying power throug-
hout the day, it could be called round-
the-clock only in theory. "The RTC
tender is not dispatchable. It doesn't
state on a day to day basis how much
power is needed, it only gives a
monthly quota,” a developer said.
The tender also does not state how
much storage capacity is required to be
set up. "I don't think the winner will ac-
tually set up any storage," the person
said. “This tender is neither RTC or dis-
patchable nor does it have any storage.
MNRE is only looking at their 175GW
goal and making a travesty of bids.”
The Centre has set a target of 175GW
of renewable energy capacity by 2022.
“Round-the-clock should mean po-
wer supply through the day but there
is no requirement in this tender to
supply power evenly or on a schedu-
led basis,” said Vinay Rustagi, mana-
ging director of renewable energy
consultancy firm Bridge To India.
“The project developer has freedom
to dispatch power subject to compli-
ance with a 70% monthly and 80% an-
nual requirement.”
20 M Back in the Job in
May as Lockdown Eases
Employment rate up
at 29% in May from
27% in April: CMIE
Our Bureau
New Delhi: About 20 million wor-
kers came back into employment
in May as the government eased
the nationwide lockdown to coun-
ter Covid19 outbreak, according to
an update by the Centre for Moni-
toring Indian Economy or CMIE.
CMIE report said India's employ-
ment rate was up 2% in May to
29% from 27% in April.
CMIE had estimated 122 million
people had lost their jobs due to
nationwide lockdown since
March 25.
“This two percentage point in-
crease implies that about 20 mil-
lion people may have been added
to the count of those that are
employed,” CMIE said, adding
implicitly that the loss of 122 mil-
lion in April may have narrowed
down to 102 million in May.
“If 20 million jobs have indeed
been repaired, we have made sig-
nificant progress. But, the rema-
ining challenge is five times lar-
ger at 102 million,” it added.
Official Jobs Survey May Add Migration
Kirtika.Suneja
@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: India could add new
parameters to the national emplo-
yment-unemployment survey to
assess the large-scale reverse mig-
ration taking place due to the lock-
down.
The ministry of statistics and
programme implementation is
examining changes that may ne-
ed to be carried out to assess the
extent of unemployment post the
reverse-migration in the Periodic
Labour Force Survey (PLFS).
“We may have to expand the sco-
pe of questionnaire. The PLFS de-
sign already caters for this but we
will need to see the extent to which
this gets captured post migra-
tion,” said an official.
The idea is to get a better sense
of employment as migration
from cities, post-Covid pande-
New Delhi: Land acquisition for
road projects has taken a hit, as dis-
trict officials who carry out the acti-
vity are busy on Covid-19 duty.
While this affects the govern-
ment’s efforts to expedite road
construction, it also chokes a source
of liquidity in the market. Govern-
ment pays higher-than-market pri-
ces for land acquired for public pro-
jects. With the economy in distress,
continuing with land acquisition
would offer an effective way to incre-
ase the supply of money in the mar-
ket. But land acquisition has come
Firms may Get ITC for Masks, PPEs
Gulveen.Aulakh
@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: The government co-
uld allow companies to claim in-
put tax credit for personal protec-
tive equipment (PPE) kits, saniti-
sers, masks and other such goods
distributed free for battling Co-
vid-19. Officials in Central Board
of Indirect Taxes and Customs
(CBIC) aware of the development
said the issue was being examined
and a decision is expected shortly.
One of the officials quoted above
said the government had received
several representations seeking re-
laxation in Sec 17(5)(h) of CGST Act
2017, which does not permit credit
on goods given for free or as a gift, or
New Laws on Agri Trade and Contract Farming in the Works
Major role for farmer producer organisations, but without dislodging existing mandis; the bill to be placed before the Cabinet for approval soon
Rituraj Tiwari@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: The Centre is creating
a new law that will help farmers in
physical and electronic trade across
the country, involving a major role
for Farmer Producer Organiza-
tions (FPO) but without dislodging
existing mandis that dominate the
wholesale business in farm output.
The government is simultaneo-
usly working on a new law on cont-
ract farming, a piece of legisla-
tion that seeks to supplement and
complement this proposed agri-
trade law.
“Rules are being drafted for the
agri-trade law. It will not abolish
According to CMIE, increasing
labour participation rate (LPR)
week after week in May, touching
38.8% for the week ended May 17,
shows that a fairly large number
that had technically left the labour
market in April is returning back.
LPR had fallen to 35.6% in April
from 41.9% in March after which
it gained ground in May.
WORKERS COMING BACK
CMIE’s Consumer
Pyramids House-
hold Survey
shows that whi-
le the count of
employed
shrunk by 122
million in
April, the
number of pe-
ople willing to
work but not
actively see-
king jobs swel-
led by 77 million
to 89 million in
April from 12 million
in 2019-20.
"These are the potentially
unemployed but technically not
considered unemployed,” it said,
adding that since these people
are willing to work, they can ea-
sily join the labour force and
start looking for jobs if employ-
Moving Survey
MoSPI mulls ways to
capture migration
in employment-
unemployment
survey
Lockdown
impacted
almost 40M
migrants:
World Bank
mic and lockdown, has been in
large numbers.
PLFS is India’s first computer-
based survey, which gives estima-
tes of key employment and
unemployment indicators like
the labour force participation ra-
tes, worker population ratio, pro-
portion unemployed and unemp-
Nishtha.Saluja
@timesgroup.com
Relaxing Rules
Govt considering
ways to allow ITC
on free goods
Options
include
allowing
relaxation
via CSR
Covid-related CSR
spend allowed as
expenditure
Final call yet to be taken
state mandis, rather would pro-
mote inclusive development of
agricultural trade,” a senior ag-
riculture ministry official told
ET. “There will be a major role of
FPOs, registered farmer unions
and cooperatives in bringing al-
ternative trading channels for
farmers outside the mandi pre-
mises. The bill would be first pla-
ced before the cabinet for appro-
val soon,”
Currently, mandis monopolise
the trade as APMC regulations
force farmers to sell to licensed
middlemen in notified markets.
“All kinds of agri trades happe-
ning outside the APMC market
yards will be governed by the new
Economy: Macro, Micro & More
Back At Job
Employment rate up
2% to 29% in May
from 27% in April
WHAT THIS MEANS
Loss of
20 million
people are 122 million jobs
back into in Apr down to
employment 102 million in May
ment
condi-
tions im-
prove even
marginally.
According to CMIE, the week-
ly estimates of May suggest that
there is a migration of labour
from the ‘willing but not loo-
king for jobs’ category to the
‘willing and looking for jobs ca-
tegory’.
“The discouraged workers
seem to be coming back to look
FINER DETAILS
PLFS survey
questionnaire
may be tweaked
More details, more
households may
get captured
Idea to capture
extent of movement
loyment rate in rural households
annually and the urban ones on a
quarterly basis.
The PLFS results give the dis-
tribution of educated and
unemployed persons across the
country, which in turn can be
used as a basis for skilling of yo-
uth to make them more employ-
down drastically in areas with a lar-
ge number of Covid-19 cases, three
officials aware of the matter said.
“Land acquisition is turning out
to be the biggest bottleneck at this
point,” one of them told ET. “Dis-
trict-level officials are busy on Co-
vid-19 duty.”
The National Highways Authority
of India has asked state govern-
ments to expedite the process, anot-
her official said.
While the shortage of officials is a
major issue, another is the financi-
al crunch of states, which have to
bear a part of the acquisition cost.
Most states are facing a shortage of
funds due to a fall in their revenue
and enhanced spending on health-
lost, stolen, destroyed or written off.
One of the ways being conside-
red is to allow the relaxation thro-
ugh corporate social responsibili-
ty (CSR) rules, which have already
allowed for companies’ spend on
Covid-related activities to be co-
unted as CSR expenditure, inclu-
ding services being offered free of
charge, for instance providing
free lodging for Covid frontline
workers in hotels.
“If services are given by the com-
pany as part of CSR then there is no
need of such reversal of input tax
credit… If such restriction is not
there for services, then for goods al-
so such restriction could be consi-
dered for removal,” a second official
said, asking not to be named.
Experts said that clarity from the
New Order
Cabinet likely to consider new agri bill soon
Proposed law will help New trading
farmers sell directly; environment
mandis will also exist to increase
role of FPOs,
It will
cooperatives
facilitate and farmer
interstate
unions
trading
law. This law will help in facilita-
ting farmers sell their produce to
anyone who is offering a better
price – whether on an electronic
BUT, CHALLENGES
REMAIN...
102 million
still need to be
back at jobs
Unemployment
rate continues
to be high
Workers Stood at over
may be 24% for week
getting ended May 24
back
for jobs. This is good
news,” CMIE said, adding
that weekly data also suggests
that this influx into the labour
markets is succeeding in fin-
ding jobs.
CMIE, in the normal course,
conducts a multi-stratified sur-
vey using a monthly sample size
of 1,17,000 individuals who are
visited in person and intervie-
wed. However, since the lock-
down, the sample size has been
reduced to 11,000-12,000 indivi-
duals and people are being in-
terviewed over phone.
able by industry.
“While it will be easy to capture
the data on number of people who
have travelled by rail and flight
but those who have taken roads or
walked back to their hometown
would take a huge amount of gu-
esswork,” said a statistician, re-
questing anonymity.
As per the World Bank, 50-60,000
people had moved from urban are-
as to their homes in rural areas
last month due to the nationwide
lockdown that began March 25.
Seeking more details or adding
more households in the survey co-
uld be explored as the extant PLFS
questionnaire covers new people
entering the households.
“However, everything is on hold
now. We will have to see if we can
start a sample survey when the
lockdown ends,” the official added.
PLFS was launched in April 2017.
The first Annual Report was rele-
ased in May 2019.
care amid the pandemic.
As of the last week of April, state go-
vernments were to clear `25,000 cro-
re of payments towards land already
acquired.
“This is a time that even state go-
vernments are cash-strapped, so
the question of disbursing money
on account of land acquired takes
the back seat,” said Arindam Guha,
partner and lead-government and
public sector, Deloitte India.
This, however, would be a good ti-
me for the government to push land
acquisition for infrastructure pro-
jects as people would not want to
hold on to a piece of land in expecta-
tion of a better offer as the “econo-
my softens”, Guha said.
government would go a long way in
giving corporates room to do more
on the CSR front. “There’s always
been a debate whether CSR spend
like this would be eligible for input
credit and whether it is for 'business
purposes' but if it is clarified, it wo-
uld encourage businesses to take
these initiatives,” said Pratik Jain,
partner at PwC India. He added the
move would also align India’s pro-
visions with global principles.
“In today’s environment, purcha-
se of sanitisers, masks or gloves wo-
uld be an essential business expen-
se and hence, irrespective of whet-
her they are being used for personal
well being of employees, input GST
should be available to all compani-
es,” said Harpreet Singh, partner-
indirect tax at KPMG India.
ILLUSTRATION ANIRBAN
platform or in physical trade,” he
said.
The new law will not hit APMC
revenue, said the official.
 9
NO RESTRICTIONS ON DEBT
China Cos’ India
Arms Raise ECBs
to Scale FDI Wall
Three-four Chinese Debt Escape
ECB route gaining
MNCs in the process traction after FDI curbs
of issuing ECBs to Cos with China connection
issuing ECBs instead of shares
parent companies ECB & NCD investments not
covered under new FDI
Pavan.Burugula Hence, no govt approval
@timesgroup.com
needed even if a Chinese
investor is involved
Mumbai: Several companies
NO NEED FOR CURBS
with China connections are rai-
ON ECBs AND NCDs,
sing funds through the external
commercial borrowing (ECB) SAY EXPERTS
route after the government tigh-
A Chinese entity cannot
tened foreign direct investment
(FDI) norms, said people with obtain control of a company
knowledge of the matter. These through ECBs or NCDs
curbs don’t apply to debt.
At least three-four Chinese mul- MNC or doesn’t have any China
tinational companies (MNCs) connection but wants to rope in
are in the process of issuing ECB new investors from the region, it
instruments to parent firms ba- can do so by issuing unlisted cor-
sed in China and more will follow, porate bonds, experts said. Howe-
said the people cited earlier.
Any investment from countries
ver, the Chinese investor will have
to register with the Securities &
sharing a land border with India,
including the China and Hong
Exchange Board of India (Sebi) as
a foreign portfolio investor (FPI).
Kong region, will need special “The restrictions do not apply
pre-approval, the government sa-
id last month. If a company needs
to foreign loans as well as invest-
ments under the FPI route,” sa-
emergency funding from China, id Rajesh Gandhi, partner, Delo-
the ECB is the best route since the itte India. “Investors from such
transaction can be closed within land border countries can there-
a week, legal experts said. fore lend money to their Indian
“A couple of companies that
approached us were in dire need
of cash. We advised them to issue
ECBs to their Chinese parent
entities without the need to app-
roach the government for speci-
fic approval.”
Currently, there are no restric-
company,” said a Big Four tax tions on Chinese entities using
consultant. “Subsequently, if the the FPI route. If the target compa-
parent company wants, it can ny is listed, any FPI can own up to
convert this debt into equity. Ho- 9.99% equity. However, if the com-
wever, such a conversion will ne- pany is unlisted or if the Chinese
ed government approval since investor wants to take a bigger ex-
equity is part of FDI norms.” posure, then unlisted nonconver-
The ECB route has restrictions. tible debentures (NCDs) are the
The foreign entity should hold at preferred option, experts said.
least 25% of the Indian company. The government had tightened
In other words, this route can the rules for Chinese funds due to
only be used by Indian subsidia- concerns over distressed takeo-
ries and joint ventures of Chine- vers. The valuations of several
se companies. Indian companies have plumme-
“As long as the company meets ted since the Covid-19 outbreak
the requirements specified under halted economic activity. Experts
ECB route, funding can be recei- said the government doesn’t have
ved by the Indian entity from Chi- to impose restrictions on Chinese
na with an option to later convert funds using the ECB or NCD rou-
the borrowing into equity with re- te since they cannot take control
quisite government approval and of a company through debt in-
other compliances being in pla- struments. If the company wants
ce,” said Tejesh Chitlangi, part- to convert the debt into equity, go-
ner, IC Universal Legal. vernment approval will be nee-
If the target company is not an ded in any case.
GOVT
Growth Breaker
India’s statistics office will
release the national income
ESTIMATE
FY20
5% (Second
data for the fourth quarter advance estimates
released on
of FY20 and the full fiscal on Feb 28)
May 29. The Covid-19 and
lockdown that began on Q4FY20
March 25 dampened an
already weak year. ET
4.7%
(implied growth
reviews the expert forecasts from full year
estimate)
INDEPENDENT ESTIMATES
Q4FY20 FY20
GDP (%) GVA (%) GDP (%) GVA (%)
HDFC Bank 2.5 2.3 4.3 4.3
Kotak Mahindra 3.4 — 4.3 —
Dun & Bradstreet 3.5 3.4 4.5 4.4
India Ratings 3.6 3.4 4.7 —
ICRA 1.9 1.7 4.3 4.1
CARE 3.6 3.5 4.7 4.6
Crisil 0.5 — 4 —
IDFC First 2.5 2.4 4.5 4.3
Axis Bank
NCAER
Barclays
—
3
2
—
3
—
4
—
4.4
3.9
4.4
—
WHY GROWTH SLOWED
Economic activity
stalledpost March
25 when lockdown
imposed
Manufacturing
slowdown probably
slowed earlier as
Travel, tourism,
lockdown looked
hospitality
imminent
impacted since
Feb on global Bank credit was
restrictions
already slowing
Illustration: ANIRBAN BORA
“States will continue to earn ak cartelisation in APMCs, giving
`6,000-7,000 crore annually thro-
ugh the government’s procure-
more bargaining power to far-
mers,” Pattanayak said.
ment process. The revenue of Experts, however, are concerned
APMC from trading outside the about opposition from some sta-
mandi premises is minuscule and tes. BJP-ruled states such as Kar-
unaccounted,” the official said. nataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar
The Constitution empowers the Pradesh and Gujarat have already
Centre to legislate in farm trade, amended their APMC laws to al-
including inter-state movement of low farmers to sell their output
products. anywhere.
S K Pattanayak, former agricul- “The Centre will persuade states
ture secretary, said the central law to implement this central law in ag-
would help double farmer income. ri trade. We don’t want any conflict
“If APMCs want farmers in their as both states and the Centre are
yards, they must become competi- working toward the welfare of far-
tive and efficient - offer them bet- mers. We will apprise states about
ter facilities, better prices and the benefits of the new Act while
comfort. The central law will bre- implementation,” the official said.
 10 THE ECONOMIC TIMES The Edit Page THE ECONOMIC TIMES | MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | 27 MAY 2020 | WWW.ECONOMICTIMES.COM

Stimulus Calls for CURSOR Think through how to allocate the Covid vaccine, when it materialises, among claimants

A Bond Market
A corporate bond market is an imperative
The Centre needs to provide focused policy attention for
an active and vibrant corporate bond market, so as to rai-
se long-term funds for an infrastructure-led investment
boom, to generate demand in the economy. The recent
`75,000 crore funding package for non-banking financial
companies (NBFCs), housing finance companies (HFCs)
and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) helps
create a thriving debt market, and would need it to take off.
Corporate debt remains privately placed, almost 98%
of the total corpus raised. That makes for opacity and
worse; top AAA-rated bonds held to maturity can well
turn out to be duds, as happened with IL&FS. The way for-
Distributing the Vaccine
T K Arun
oming up with an effective
C vaccine against Sars-Cov-2,
the virus causing Covid-19,
is a big challenge, taken on
by many agencies around
the world. Manufacturing it in large
the rest of the world would have to vaccines administered in the world.
wait till every single last potential Indian vaccine producers are good at
voter gets her shot. In India, the poli- low-cost, large volume and still good-
tical class would appropriate what-
ever is available. Imagine doctors and
quality output.
Whoever comes up with the vacci- You Too Can
nurses tending to Covid patients go- ne would do well to licence major In-
ing without the vaccine while the
neta log make themselves impervio-
dian vaccine producers to mass prod-
uce the stuff. Should that body refuse
Be Happy
us to the virus and move around, dis- or dither, the government should is-
tributing sympathy, slogans and gol- sue compulsory licences to multiple
NARAYANI GANESH
den words of encouragement. Indian companies. If there is a pub- Comparison kills happiness,
The guiding principle should be lic health emergency that warrants a says Tibetan Buddhist monk
that all lives matter equally, in the
sense in which all are equal before
the law: in their innate humanity
and citizenship, all are equal, wheth-
er talented artiste, scientist or school
compulsory licence, this is one.
Countries that do not have their
own vaccine production facilities,
but are empowered to issue compul-
sory licences, should issue licences
Matthieu Ricard, often descri-
bed — much to his embarrass-
ment — as the world’s happiest
person. He got this title after a
12-year-long University of

ward clearly is for the government to policy-induce insu-
rance and pension funds to invest bonds issued to fund vi-
able infrastructure projects. The government will have to
take the lead in creating a corporate bond market. Issue
fresh equity in existing and new vehicles. These can raise
funds by issuing bonds that RBI can purchase. With this
money in hand, these State-owned ve-
hicles can invest in corporate and
NBFC bonds to finance infrastructure
bonds. Once such a large supply of
bonds start trading, investors, inclu-
ding foreign ones, would join in, provi-
ded credit, interest and currency deri-
vatives of the requisite kinds are avai-
lable to hedge against risk. Transaction taxes should go
and the burden of stamp duty be minimal and uniform
across states, with an overall cap. We do need to discoura-
ge bank funding for long-gestation projects, as it inevitab-
ly leads to routine asset-liability mismatches. Outstan-
ding bank credit to the infrastructure sector has declined
to 12% of non-food credit from 16% in 2016.
The Centre needs to operationalise the Credit Guaran-
tee Enhancement Corporation, announced last fiscal,
without delay — most infrastructure loan assets typical-
ly are rated BBB– or lower. The assets managed by pen-
sion and insurance funds exceed `55 lakh crore. The esti-
mate is that institutional credit guarantee can purpose-
fully free up about `3.5 lakh crore of bank exposure to the
enough quantities to supply the enti-
re world population of 7.8 billion is
another. Since all the needed doses
cannot be made all at once, the ques-
tion will arise as to how the initial
batches should be allocated amongst
alternate claimants — across nati-
ons, within a nation, among its regi-
ons, among different sections of soci-
ety categorised by occupation, age,
infection risk, value to society.
The normal, simple method of us-
ing price to distribute a scarce good
would, obviously, not do. Imagine the
backlash if all the plutocrats, safe and
secure in their gilded homes, get the
vaccine, but doctors, nurses, hospital
technicians and sanitary workers,
confronting lethal viral loads every
day as part of their work, do not.
Might Cannot Dictate Right
Nor can might be allowed to prevail
in the distribution of vaccines. The
US would get the vaccine first, that is,
if it is developed outside China, and
Protecting health workers, including sanitary staff,
first would save not only them but also the great
many their efforts would save
dropout. What this means is that we
should not make a utilitarian calcu-
lation on how much economic value
a life saved is going to produce to de-
cide whom to vaccinate first. Maxi-
mising the number of lives saved
should be the goal, since all lives are
of equal value.
Does this mean a lottery to allot the
vaccine among a population larger
than the number of doses available?
Not at all. Protecting health workers,
including sanitary staff, first would
save not only them but also the great
many their efforts would save. Law
enforcement personnel should get a
similar priority for the same reason.
Medical researchers and those work-
ing at pharmaceutical companies co-
uld claim similar benefits.
The rest of society can be divided
into those who are vulnerable becau-
se of age/comorbidity and those who
are young and more likely to survive
an infection. Prioritising the vulner-
able for vaccination would save more
FILE PHOTO
Till happy hours come…
lives than treating those likely to sur-
vive an infection on par with the vul-
nerable in allocation of vaccines.
But what is rational might be ethi-
cally or morally difficult to swallow.
Hospitals in Lombardy had to carry
out triage, the process of prioritising
who, among those in need of treat-
ment, should receive the scarce ICU
beds with ventilators and opted for
the young, who are likely to have a
long, productive life should they sur-
vive, over the old, with fewer years of
productive life.
The Queue That’s Perfect
Prioritising treatment beneficiaries
is different from prioritising who
should get the vaccine. In any case, li-
fe would be far simpler and political-
ly more defensible if the supply of
vaccines moved fast and furious and
proved large enough to make pro-
tracted rationing unnecessary.
How can the supply of vaccines be
escalated? By manufacturing as ma-
ny doses as possible in India. India
produces about half the number of
to Indian producers. Indian pharma
companies, led by Cipla, saved the
world from HIV-AIDS by supplying
the anti-retroviral drugs needed at
affordable prices that compelled drug
multinationals to drop their prices
and objections.
This would take care of allocation
of the vaccine among nations and of
adequate volumes.
Apart from issuing compulsory li-
cences, the government must ensure
two things. Those who try to make a
fast buck by compromising quality
should be bankrupted for the next
five generations through monstrous
penalties. This would be India’s big
chance to serve the world and serve
itself, and those who spoil that chan-
ce should not be spared.
Two, the transport, storage and
customs clearance of vaccine expor-
ts should be as smooth as silk.
There remains how to distribute
the vaccines among India’s states.
Ideally, it should be based on popula-
tion, weighted for the different fac-
tors of priority discussed above.
It would be useful to develop clari-
ty on these questions before the vac-
cines start arriving.
tk.arun@timesgroup.com
Wisconsin study that hooked
him up to sensors that tracked
his state of mind as he medita-
ted on compassion.
The French renunciate and
environmentalist, who lives in a
monastery in Nepal, is articula-
te and talks a great deal about
what could bring us happiness.
Mostly, according to him, it is
benevolence and altruism. Once
you practise these regularly, you
are bound to get that happy feel-
ing that lasts so long as you prac-
tise kindness and selflessness.
But once you start engaging in
comparisons with others,
you’ve had it, according to him.
That makes sense, since it has
also been said that the intensity
and nature of what you feel,
think and experience, are all
really relative. These are subjec-
tive states and so are bound to
change when you try to measure
yourself against the achieve-
ments and failures of others.
Once you wrap your head
around basic values and attri-
butes like empathy, compassion
and being helpful, there are less
chances of feeling low and sad.
Selfish people are seldom happy,
whereas those who are giving
and caring, always extending
themselves, are usually of a

Covid-Hit Biz, a Licence to Skill

happy disposition and less likely
infrastructure sector. to indulge in negative thoughts
and feelings. Also, when kind-
ness is extended to other species,
including to crops and vege-
operating model. development brings in a ‘variety’ tables, it is bound to yield a

No Case to Stop Unlike a typical IT project, digital

skills tend to touch several aspects
of business and IT functions. The
key here is to leverage exponential
flavour, but also adds to the enormi-
ty of skills to be acquired.
While the same community pro-
vides enough enablement material
harvest rich in goodness, which
is what we seek all our lives.

Voluntary Insolvency Subram Natarajan

technologies like AI and Internet of
Things (IoT) to quickly come up
with solutions. For example, using a
and mechanisms, it still is a daun-
ting task for anyone who specialises
in a technology area — e.g., cloud
Chat Room
The move to hold the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) virtual assistant (AI technology) app development, UI/UX (user
in abeyance for one year on account of Covid-19 has an unin-
In the wake of the Covid-19 pande-
real-time to keep employees updated
about critical business policy up-
interface/user experience) design,
etc. On the positive side, the learning Deficit Financing:
tended consequence. The suspension is across-the-board and,
therefore, disallows companies from filing for voluntary in-
mic, companies have, overnight,
been forced to perform a large-scale
dates, health and safety policies,
travel management and authorisa-
curve is short, so the learning modu-
les will usually help to ramp up.
Beware the Riches
solvency, apart from barring financial creditors and operatio- transition of their workforce from tion, and extending this to AI-driven A good digital transformation Apropos ‘Deficit Monetisation: Is
nal creditors from initiating insolvency resolution against a the office to remote/home locations. alerts and insights via mobile, So Q, this’ll put me ahead of the game? project will always have a data It Really as Simple as RBI Prin-
This, while employees in the ‘essen- website and HR portals. platform element to it. Here, the ting More Money?’ by Deepthi
corporate debtor. There is no logic in preventing a company tial industries’ are in short supply Similarly, on the infrastructure possess the necessary domain skills challenge is that of technology Mary Mathew (May 26), deficit
that cannot be run as a going concern from moving for volun- and the workforce can’t ramp up fast services side, the notion of business within themselves. A more struc- adjacency. For example, if you are a financing may make it easy to
tary bankruptcy. Timely resolution will ensure rapid deploy- enough. continuity practices, infrastructure tured set of skills that will need to data platform engineer, it’s just not extricate the economy from
ment of resources that are trapped in the insolvent company. These changes are happening with management and monitoring will complement the in-house domain enough to have an understanding of extant near-zero or negative
no room for business disruption, require more focused skills on skills would be (1) business modelling tools to establish a strong data growth rate, but its likely fallout
This is vital as companies with reserves are on the lookout for while addressing employee ques- designing solutions. This could be and using techniques such as the pipeline, enable transformation, should not be lost sight of. Prin-
acquisitions and to restrain willing targets makes no sense. tions and security paramount du- as simple as assessing the right component business model (CBM) cataloguing and preparation of data ting of more currency by RBI
The government should restore the pro- ring this time of uncertainty. The response, such as backup and auto- framework; (2) to design thinking- for further advanced analytics. The has to be mandatorily supple-
vision for voluntary insolvency instead concept of microlearning, online mated recovery solutions. Cloud is based behavioural modelling and whole development needs to occur mented by the creation of addi-
coaching, and virtual on-the-job an important element in this mix. continuous development; and (3) in a cloud context, securely, and be tional gold reserves and compli-
suspending the IBC across the board. support has become more relevant Remote management of systems garage methodologies that will help open enough for upstream toolset ance of other requirements.
Voluntary insolvency petitions accoun- with appropriate digital content for and automation of workflow will co-create, co-execute and cooperate consumption. Moreover, higher inflation-
ted for about 10% of the total corporate in- technologies like artificial intel- become an essential skill in the with the right stakeholders. As traditional business models linked issues are also bound to
ligence (AI), cloud and automation to infrastructure services space. IT skill-sets need to be fairly multi- give way to platform models, work- crop up. Despite RBI’s liquidity
solvencies admitted by the courts. Sec-
accelerate skills in certain sectors. It is in situations like these when disciplinary and continuously force expectations are also shifting. support, enough incentives are
tion 10 of the IBC gives the defaulting Enterprises are starting to review teams no longer work within the evolving. From modernising in- While learning and skilling conti- required for boosting invest-
company the right to file an insolvency their digital presence and security confines of the enterprise’s premi- frastructure, working on data nue to be an individual choice, ments in manufacturing.
petition with the National Company Law Tribunal. Of course, posture more closely. Skills needed ses and when security control is architecture, to creating a develop- adopting best practices enhances
to ramp up on digital products and from a single point that cybersecuri- ment environment that will help the learning culture in an organisa- S K GUPTA
the onus lies on the corporate debtor to prove that her busi-
services, infrastructure services ty skills to help protect mobile with digitising application lands- tion. Because it defines survival, the New Delhi
ness is unviable, and has suffered losses in the previous finan- and cybersecurity are all geared devices and data, safeguard users cape, require expertise in various step before one thrives.
cial years. There are many conditions to prevent misuse. Cor-
porate debtors, who are financially stressed because of the Co-
towards sustaining and building
communication, collaboration
and access, and secure expanding
environments become high priority.
areas. Open source-based develop-
ment is the mantra to accelerate The writer is chief technology officer,
Set Up Plants in
vid pandemic, must be legally allowed to use this route.
capabilities and culture in a virtual For the large part, organisations innovation. Community-based IBM India/South Asia The Backyard
Rightly, the government has exempted all Covid-related debt This refers to ‘Strategic Que
from the definition of default under the IBC, and fortified Sera Que Sera’ by N Venkatram
small enterprises by raising the threshold for invoking insol- (May 26). The coronavirus crisis
vency from `1 lakh to `1 crore. The code has helped recoveries LETTER FROM WASHINGTON has shown how limited employ-
ment opportunities are in quite
and brought in a behavioural change in debtors. The govern- a few of our vastly populated

Let’s Not Get Too Vocal on This Local

ment must allow fresh insolvency resolution that will also
help revive the economy.
of a month are alarming even
considering the usual explanations
Though it emits nitrous oxide, better — differing perception of the LoAC,
known as laughing gas, it is dangerous summertime grabs by China as the
snow melts, Chinese overreaction to
any infrastructure improvement by
haviour’ in South China Sea and
elsewhere.
The intrusions show that Chinese
aggression is not always ‘just rheto-
rical’. At a later interaction the
same day with the Atlantic Council,
states, which has led to the
serious migrant labour problem.
Till now, these states have been
content with the labour working
in other states
quiet at India’s urging save two and the money
routine expressions of concern by they remitted.
the State and Defence Department Developing
spokespersons. India doesn’t want labour-in-
the boundary issue to become, in the tensive indu-
words of Brookings Institute senior stries such as

Now, Penguin Poop is Seema Sirohi

India, etc.
Good news is that both sides are
keeping their statements relatively
mellow, and Chinese State organs
Wells reiterated that the US recogni-
sed the McMahon Line, and Aruna-
chal Pradesh as an Indian state,
while urging the two sides to engage
fellow Tanvi Madan, a ‘geo-political
football’ and get caught up in US-
China competition. A public US
intervention can be seen as US
food pro-
cessing and
garment manufacturing, in
collaboration with the Centre,

No Laughing Matter Should the current Chinese intrusi-

ons into undisputed Indian territo-
ry be seen as a local and bilateral
are not doing the ‘needful’ by crea-
ting patently racist memes as they
did during the Dokalam crisis. Not
diplomatically.
Thanks, but no thanks, New Delhi
clapped back, and let it be known
mischief by China.
Professor of international politics,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi,
can help these states overcome
this problem to a large extent.

As recent research on King Penguins on the sub-Antarctic
island of South Georgia has revealed that the birds’ poop
produces extremely high levels of nitrous oxide — collo-
quially known as laughing gas — it appears the Joker and
the Penguin — arch enemies of Batman in the DC Comics
universe — had their weapons of choice mixed up. The av-
ian villain has been depicted as preferring deadly umbrel-
las while it was the menacing comedian who developed ‘Jo-
ker venom’ that made victims laugh uncontrollably. So, in
retrospect, the former need not have looked beyond his bath-
room for a sustainable, low-cost weapon and his favoured
partner-in-crime could have saved himself a lot of time in
the laboratory.
That penguins can retain their characteristic deadpan de-
meanour amid piles of farcical faeces is commendable inde-
ed, as researchers reported were being driven ‘completely
cuckoo’ while trawling guano for their survey. But it must be
noted that their emissions are not inherently cachinnatio-
us: only when penguin guano — redolent of their nitrogen-
rich meals of krill and fish — melds with soil bacteria does it
become giggle-inducing nitrous oxide. But considering this
greenhouse gas contributes significantly to climate change,
problem? Or as part of Beijing’s op-
portunism and exertions all around
to show it’s not Covid-damaged but,
in fact, Covid-enabled?
Describing what’s going on, or what
triggered the multiple incursions, or
how to read them, is hotly disputed
territory. It’s where an incursion
goes by every other name and the
delicacy of description is an art. The
important question: is it better for
India to have vocal support from
other countries? Or does it complica-
te matters for New Delhi as it tries to
restore ‘peace and tranquillity’ —
itself a very ‘win-win’ formulation
from the lexicon deployed for Sino-
Indian matters.
So far, five meetings have reported-
ly been held between local comman-
ders, with little progress on resto-
ring status quo. Hundreds of Chine-
se soldiers are 3-4 km into India’s
side of the line of actual control
(LoAC) in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley
with heavy vehicles. They are said
to be building bunkers. It’s more
than patrolling mischief. Incursions
yet. No surprise then that com-
ments from US State Department’s
top South Asia official Alice Wells
created a bit of a stir. When asked
about the tense border situation
during her farewell press con-
ference on May 20, she connected
the Chinese incursions to Beijing’s
‘provocations and disturbing be-
that it prefers to find its own solu-
tion despite close relations with
Washington. India clearly doesn’t
want to be drawn into a united front
with other countries currently
having serious problems with
China. But as Indrani Bagchi in ToI
wrote (bit.ly/3dg6PYV), ‘this time
India will not be unhappy if the US
openly takes up cudgels on its be-
half ’, although it could complicate
things. Perhaps New Delhi is multi-
messaging.
Here’s the thing. What Wells said
was careful and necessary. But as US
expert on South Asia Ashley J Tellis
told me, ‘What she did was correct —
she laid down the baseline for how the
US judges these events, not just in In-
dia’s case.’ The reason: ‘China’s stan-
dard operating procedure is to claim
every single issue in which it’s impli-
cated is unique and there are specific
provocations to which it’s respon-
ding. She deflated that argument.’
The Donald Trump administra-
tion is unlikely to say more, unless
the situation spirals. During the
Rajesh Rajagopalan had a different
view. ‘Beijing cannot constantly
dictate who India’s friends should
be, nor should New Delhi be wal-
king on eggshells, considering
China’s actions on the LoAC are a
lot more harmful to [India-China]
relations than ambassador Wells’
words,’ he told me.
Besides, the Chinese react strongly
to anything the US says, especially in
their ‘wolf warrior’ avatar. True to
form, a Chinese spokesman called
Wells’ comments ‘nonsense’. The
US-China ideological divide has sh-
arpened, and almost anything a third
country does with either will be seen
as adversarial by the other, according
to fellow, Institute of Chinese Studi-
es, Delhi, Jabin T Jacob. But countri-
es like India cannot be ‘too sensitive
to this, else we will get nothing done’,
he added. But Jacob firmly believes
the events in Ladakh should be seen
‘as an entirely localised issue and
will be resolved eventually on local
give-and-take’.
The question is, who will give,
NIRUPAM HALDAR
Kolkata
Stage Set for
Auto-Reverse?
Apropos ‘FMCG Looks to Close
Gaps with Automation’ by Sagar
Malviya and Writankar Muk-
herjee (May 26), switching to
automation to stabilise the
temporary disruption could turn
out to be permanent disruption
for the nation. At a time when
the unemployment levels are at
peak, automation will further
reduce the demand for labour
force. Widespread automation
will, thus, result in more unemp-
loyment and further inequitable
distribution of income. There is
acase for GoI to intervene.
MAYANK KHATRI
Ujjain
Letters to the editor may be addressed to

it is obviously not a laughing matter. in Ladakh and Sikkim within a span More smoke and mirrors Dokalam crisis, the US largely kept where, and how much? editet@timesgroup.com
 Hard times
arouse an
instinctive
desire for
authenticity
– Coco Chanel

THE ECONOMIC TIMES MAY 27-JUNE 02, 2020

BE PIXELATE

THE RESURGENCE OF Marketing commentary in colour

by industry insiders

A GUIDE TO COVID-19
PATRIOTIC BRANDS MARKETING PHRASES
By Ryan Wallman
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANIRBAN BORA

Brands are answering We’re all

the ‘vocal for local’ call in this
with swadeshi-themed together.
campaigns. But will and Indian heritage, and our strong
Our executive team
is in this together.
sense of pride about ‘Made in India,
consumers ring back? by Indians, for Indians’,” Dabur India
You guys are on
your own.
By Prerna Katiyar CEO, Mohit Malhotra, tells BE.

A
rush Chopra, the CEO
and co-founder of home-
grown herbal cosmetics
and personal care brand
Just Herbs is busier than usual. At
the company’s women-led Mohali
manufacturing unit they are gearing
up for the launch of its first crowd-
sourced lipstick made of local
ingredients such as desi ghee and
til ka tel (sesame oil). “But it is our
ad campaigns around the ‘Vocal for
Local’ theme that is keeping us busier.
Being vocal for local is in our DNA.
Following the PM’s call, we have
been touching upon various aspects
of the #vocalforlocal discourse and
why supporting small and local
business can help India get out of
the economic downturn spiral,” says
Chopra. He adds that ‘imported is
better’ has been a commonly held
belief, especially for beauty products.
But, is it? “The current scenario
has also made this question very
relevant,” avers Chopra.
PM Narendra Modi had on May 12
emphasised on the importance of
local manufacturing, calling Indian
companies to be ‘vocal’ about ‘local’
before turning global.
For desi milk cooperative, Amul,
that has given many videshi dairy
product companies a run for their
money, the call was a reaffirmation
of what it has been doing for the
last 40-odd years. “Our products are
second to none,” says Dr RS Sodhi,
MD, Amul India. In no time, the Amul
moppet -- that has for decades been a
social observer -- was out in an utterly
timely “Local bhi, global bhi” topical
ad. But Sodhi is quick to add a word
of caution. “No consumer will buy a
brand just because it’s local. It has to
achieve excellence in terms of quality,
affordability and use of technology.”
As most companies across the
globe look inwards, so are Indian
ones with hope and ads that talk
about their local connection. Dabur,
for instance, had come up with ad
campaigns for all of its products
with #SupportVocalForLocal tagline.
“Our brand communications around
#Vocal4Local reflect our ayurvedic
A poster-brand of the swadeshi
marketing movement Patanjali’s
Baba Ramdev says, “It has been our
tradition to cater to and take pride in
our local roots. When we achieve that,
as exhorted by the PM, we will see
prosperity till the grassroots level.”
He adds, “We must be vocal for local
to make it global; each Indian must be
a brand ambassador of swadeshi.”
With affordability, agile supply
chain and deep penetration on their
side, can the locals of today become
the neighbours’ envy, tomorrow?
Lotus Herbals’ recently launched
campaigns ‘Made Locally, Loved
Globally’ and ‘Beautifully
Indian’, are now moving
into retail stores as the
market gradually opens
up. “The fact that we are
exporting our products to
the developed nations speaks
for itself,” says Nitin Passi, joint
MD, Lotus Herbals. But he adds a
rider. “There are brands that are part
of our lives. No one will prefer a local
cola over Coke and Pepsi.” He says
that the impact of PM’s call will be
felt favourably in the short to medium
term by Indian companies. “It is a big
realisation at the top management
level of most companies that we need
to be competitive not just in quantity
but also quality,” adds Passi.
In the beauty space packed with
brands from Paris to Seoul, another
homegrown brand, Biotique, has
swadeshi-themed campaigns in
the works. “Gone is the British-era
thinking that West is the best. Our
marketing department is on it and
the ads should be out soon,” Biotique
chairman Vinita Jain tells BE.
Parle Agro was among the first
to come up with ‘Vocal for Local’
themed brand creatives such as
‘Proudly Indian. Support Swadeshi
Businesses.’ “The new ads are
in sync with our Indian roots.
They showcase our national
brand ambassadors supporting
the swadeshi business. Our
campaign will surely inspire
consumers about indigenous
consumption,” says Nadia
Chauhan, joint MD and chief
This is the ‘new
normal’.
Get used to our higher
prices and worse service.
Expert Take marketing officer at Parle Agro, It’s time
WITHOUT WORK ON THE GROUND,
who feels it has the potential to for our
influence purchase decisions.
“It offers Indian brands a company to
IT IS JUST A SLOGAN
louder voice and greater do the right
considerations so as to
Dheeraj Sinha, MD
and chief strategy
To make his point clear,
Jitender Dabas, chief jointly build India.”
thing.
But while companies are We’ve hired a PR
officer - South Asia, operating officer of agency.
Leo Burnett, says McCann Worldgroup, seeing all green, brands
companies and brands says he like most of experts see mixed signals.
Santosh Desai, brand strategist We’re here for you.
must help in upgrading us grew up thinking that Our laundry detergent will definitely see you through this
and CEO of brand management
the whole ecosystem, Bata is an Indian brand. (It's once-in-a-generation dystopian nightmare.
consultancy Future Brands (part
citing Amul as an example, Czech by birth.) “More than of Future Group) feels the PM’s
only then such declarations the company’s place of origin exhortation has more to do with
have credibility: “Are you it is the brand’s ability to the intention of limiting import
These are
working with local communicate that I belong than stoking a swadeshi movement. unprecedented
supply chain? Are you to their place.” He adds “The call might help brands that are times.
working with local that making a change overtly Indian like Patanjali. As for
No sh*t.
entrepreneurs or in the livelihood consumers, the line between what is
artisans? Are you in of the people and local and what is global is too blurred.
any way investing empowering them For instance, people may feel Nestle’s
in them to deliver in the process of Maggi to be local. Then there is
better? All the making the product Colgate, which has been part of our
sloganeering is more important than lives for generations. On the other Our brand purpose has never been
sounds good the local tag. It’s also hand, there are Indian companies like more important.
Britannia which sound more foreign Avoiding tax has never been more important.
only when you about showing that
but are Indian. So it is not an easy
do something you understand
distinction to make for consumers,”
on the ground the social fabric
says Desai. Other foreign brands in Everyone
in terms of the country.
of backward “Just saying that
India that may sound Indian include is having
Bata and HUL’s Kissan or Vim Bar.
integration and you are 'Made in While the jury is still out on the
to make
supplying India' will not do." impact of such campaigns in sacrifices.
technical Though it worked changing consumers’ behaviour, Our CEO’s Lamborghini
know- for '90s Indian pop the theme has curiously added zing delivery has been
how.” music star Alisha Chinai. to companies’ sales pitches in an delayed because of an
But that was in another otherwise dull market. “Companies outbreak at the factory.
consumer era, at a time leveraging this statement is
when Indians had far fewer understandable as in times like these, By staying apart, we stay
choices. For 'vocal for local' to you use whatever you get (hold of). It
together.
work today it must work for is useful as a communication peg but Even we don’t know what this means,
the people first. Says Dabas, to think that this will translate into but it sounds good.
changing consumer preference will
"You have to prove that you
be a bit of stretch,” says Desai.
have changed people’s lives The writer is creative director at
prerna.katiyar@timesgroup.com
for the better." Australian agency Wellmark.

Crossword
THE PANDEMIC SHOPPER
7731

1 2 3 4 5 6 27 Washington city’s main name

one’s forgotten (7)
A mayor in Japan recently said men are better suited for shopping during lockdown as women 28 Being green, Scotsman goes
7 8
take too long and cause overcrowding. The sexist stereotypical statement drew major flak on social round to check energy (7)
29 Shortage of water outside
media as it should but also triggered the thought of how shopping has changed and will change 9 10 Aden crippled warship (11)
with the pandemic blow. Stereotypes and ancient ideas may not hold water anymore. BE finds out 11 DOWN
what’s the shopping playbook in a pandemic. By Harsh Vardhan 1 Imagine PC that’s sent home
12 13 when on holiday! (7,8)
2 Glowing, a medic put in fast
time (7)
THE STEREOTYPES 3 Change over, absorbing Latin
accent in Spain (5)
14 15 16 17
4 Kite races interfered with glid-
Researchers say men have a er on edge? (3-6)
utilitarian approach towards 5 Her suit is out of condition,
shopping. They shop to covered with hair (7)
get a task done. Women, 18 19 20 21 22 23 6 It may need tightening in hard
however, have a more times in Weybridge, say (11,4)
intrinsic and emotional 7 A spinner in club occasionally
response to upset balance (6)
24 25 8 Weak spot in desert (6)
shopping.
16 See noble beaten up by duke —
According to WINDS OF CHANGE 26 with this outcome? (9)
research by 18 Relax on set (6)
Shoppercentric, Shop Local: According to 27 28 19 Item of regalia that’s carried
a UK-based shopping research reports, many shoppers out of respect (7)
are likely to continue 21 Excited, like workers around
company, women are more queen? (7)
likely to spend time researching shopping at local kiranas
even after the lockdown 23 German guy who’s losing
and mulling over whether to 29 weight? (6)
ends.
buy a product or not at a store 25 Robin Goodfellow’s numbers
than men. Discretionary Spends: game (5)
Shoppers are likely to ACROSS course (3) LEADER BOARD
focus on stocking their 1 Guide journeys by air without fol- 15 View males leaving residence (5) SOLUTION TO No 7730.
homes with essentials lowing electric indicators (5,6) 17 Revolting detergent protects white ACROSS: 6 Non-restrictive. HIDATO 7 LITTLE WORDS
THE SHOPPER’S PLAYBOOK: HOW IT’S DONE IN A PANDEMIC and groceries instead of 9 Sort of currency that’s claimed to be bird (5) 9 Fresco. 10 Clothing. 11 Off- Praniti Vivek Mahajan
splurging on things that widespread (7) 18 SA capital’s quelling tense distur- stage. 13 Abacus. 15 Shaggy. Chennai Chandigarh
Don’t hoard but be ahead To start with, shopping for me, was limited might not be so relevant 10 Peer given medal and somewhere bances (5) 17 Beagle. 19 Linear. 20 Ratio- Deepti Attal P Uma Ramana Rao
of your needs. Don’t be to essentials until a few weeks ago, which I to their daily lives. personal to hang it? (7) 20 Abandon boat going round Costa nal. 22 Enormous. 24 Antrim. Hyderabad Srikakulam
heartbroken if you don’t get slots accessed from a neighbourhood store. I made a list of 11 Take over piece of ground for par- Rica (5) 26 Claustrophobia.
Brand Loyalty: Experts ties (3) 22 Anonymous warmhearted young- DOWN: 1 Unprofessional.
for online deliveries what was required, and navigated the store to finish say consumers are going
immediately. The slots my shopping as fast and efficiently as possible. My 12 After university, Luke played the ster (3) 2 Onus. 3 Verona. 4 Pilotage.
to be looking to buy French instrument (7) 24 Lead round different sage perhaps (7) 5 Etch. 7 Ticket. 8 Venture
open up suddenly choice of brands was limited in some categories from brands that are 13 Close to work, uncle managed to ob- 25 Weird souk, as some might say (7) capital. 12 Scale. 14 Aggro.
and you need to like snacks, packaged foods, Ready To Cook/ sensitive to the crisis. tain kilogram joint (7) 26 European money found in Algeria 16 Garrotte. 18 Presto.
have your list ready. Eat, and I had to substitute those for what 14 Occasionally there’s a place on now and then (3) 21 Trashy. 23 Rout. 25 Tuba.
Fill your cart, order was available. Availability came before
and pay within five brand preference in these cases. FACT FILE ©The Daily Mail

minutes or you could What I did not compromise on EARLIER PRIORITIES

lose your slot. If you are
stepping out for shopping,
be well prepared. Wear a mask.
Do not feel guilty about ordering
things that are essential to your
soul. For me, that is coffee, chocolate
and creamy body washes. Send
necessities and goodies to relatives.
Take weekly lists from family members preference of rating first. I have been conscious of
who are not comfortable with online
shopping and order for them. Quietly
add a couple of things that would
surprise and delight them. Order for
humanity. Buy an extra bread. Make
sandwiches for your security guard.
Kainaz Karmakar,
Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy & Mather
where brands relative to safety WHILE SHOPPING
and hygiene - also because they 48% - Quality
were accessible. I opted for home 47% - Price
delivery from food delivery brands 24% - Brand
occasionally, where my choice
was determined by the sanitisation, CURRENT PRIORITIES Dilbert by S Adams
temperature check, Aarogya Setu app 49% - Availability
download of staff etc checklist, unlike my usual 36% - Price
34% - Quality
spending, without compromising the happiness and
togetherness that we have as a family in a lockdown,
as much as possible.
To me, women are prudent shoppers because of this Yesterday’s Answers:
balance of needs and wants to meet the household
spend budget, which comes into play in most ET will carry the names of winners for
harsh.vardhan1 @timesgroup.com
shopping behaviour. Hidato and 7 Little Words every day.
Sources: Please whatsapp your solutions for both
Babita Baruah, Managing Partner, GTB Bloomberg, MarketingWeek to 79 01010174 with your name and city.
 Legal
tangle
Georgian tennis
THE ECONOMIC TIMES
star Nikoloz
Basilashvili has
been charged
with physically
assaulting
his ex-wife
quote
unquote
Hidden camera at hotel tells
“Malice is part of
football, so I wouldn’t
call it illegitimate. To
the tale of warring billionaires
get past a rival you Multi-billionaire Barclay twins Sir David and Sir Frederick’s family
have to be smart... I feud was exposed over the sale of the Ritz Hotel in central London
T
admire his cunning. If he
he secretive world of British
lost it, he’d become an billionaire twins Frederick
ordinary player.” and David Barclay started to
unravel with a hidden camera
— Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini,
and a discrete taping system.
looking back at the Luis Suarez
In a video released by F rederick
‘teeth-sinking’ incident during the
recently, one of David’s sons, Alistair
2014 World Cup. Chiellini has said
Barclay, is allegedly shown hiding a
that he bears no grudge against
listening device in the conservatory
the Uruguay striker for the act
of the Ritz Hotel to capture private
— Daily Mirror discussions between Frederick and
PICS : GETTY IMAGES, ACTION IMAGES
hi s d aug hter, A ma nd a, who were
negotiating the sale of the historic hotel
near Buckingham Palace.
But Frederick was worried that someone
had been listening to their conversations
and got hotel security to install a hidden
camera that captured the footage.
Broken bonds
T he brot hers, who sp ent dec ades
avoiding media attention by isolating
themselves on an island in the middle of
the English Channel, are now front-page
news due to the latest part of the family’s
multi-generational legal dispute over the
Luis
Suarez bit
sale of the Ritz.
Chiellini They handed the family business to the
in the 2014 next generation, but Frederick’s lawyers
World Cup told a London court that David’s three sons
are freezing out Amanda. The case offers
a glimpse into the divisions
PUBLISHED FOR THE PROPRIETORS, Bennett, in one of the country’s
Coleman & Co. Ltd. by R. Krishnamurthy at The Times of
India Building, Dr. D. N. Road, Mumbai 400001Tel. No
r iche s t c l a n s , wh ich
(022) 6635 3535, 2273 3535, Fax (022) 2273-1144 and owns the Daily Telegraph
printed by him at (1) The Times of India Suburban Press,
Akurli Road, Western Express Highway, Kandivli (E), newspaper and other
Mumbai - 400 101. Tel. No. (022) 28872324, 28872930,
Fax (022) 28874230, (2) Elegant Offset Printers, Shed No. businesses at the
D2-31, Thivim Industrial Estate, Karaswada, Mapusa Goa
- 403526. Tel No. (0832)-3045100, Fax - (0832)-
heart of the UK
3045102. EDITOR Mr. R. Sriram. (Responsible for the establishment.
selection of news under PRB Act). © All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without the written While the
permission of the publisher is prohibited. TN/Chief
PMG/400/2002. RNI NO. 6252/1961 VOLUME 60 NO. case has been
83 AIR CHARGE Chennai & via Rs. 3.00, Ahmedabad,
Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mangalore & via Rs. 4.00, Delhi,
Kolkata & via Rs. 5.00. NOT FOR SALE OUTSIDE
INDIA. SUBSCRIPTION RATES US $ 500 (annual), US $
250 (half yearly) US $ 125 (Quarterly).
winding its
way t h rou g h
David and Frederick Barclay after receiving
t h e L o n d o n their knighthoods from the Queen in 2000
A colour decoder will help look for life in other galaxies
Astronomers are
trying to figure
out climates
of potentially
habitable planets
A st r onomer s a r e one
s t ep c lo s e r t o f i nd i n g
p ot ent i a l ly h abit able
An artistic rendering of different kinds of suns
interacting with various Earth-like surfaces
planets in other galaxies,
thanks to an environmental
colour ‘decoder’ developed
PIC:JACK MADDEN-CORNELL
5 reasons Okra, also known as lady’s
fingers on account of its long
and tapering shape, has been
to eat lady’s a staple of Indian, African and
Caribbean food. Here are five
reasons why you need to eat
fingers 1
more lady’s fingers:
It is rich in fibres, which
are essential for a healthy
The humble vegetable has digestive system and regular
bowel movements.
health benefits galore.
Ensure you make this a 2 It cont ai ns c a lciu m a nd
magnesium, which the body
needs for a healthy heart, strong
regular part of your diet bones, good blood pressure, and
to lower cholesterol levels.
3 It contains Vitamin K, which
helps strengthen bones and
prevent fractures.
4 It’s a good source of Vitamin
A and betacarotene, both
of which are important for
healthy eyes.
5 It also contains antioxidants
of developing cancer .
that may help reduce the risk
— Daily Mirror
PIC: GETTY IMAGES
:::::: parent thesis
4 WAYS TO HELP YOUR TEENAGER DURING LOCKDOWN
This is how you can make lack of concentration and focus,
low motivational drive, and
your adolescent process irritability. They’re getting into
emotions positively scraps with their parents over
during a difficult phase home chores. Their use of social
media and gaming have gone
shannon.tellis@timesgroup.com up. And unfortunately, even
pornography,” says Dr Zirak
Social distancing can be hard, Marker, senior psychiatrist and
especially for teenagers used to advisor at Mpower - The Centre.
spending most of their waking Experts share how to help young
hours with friends. Now, during adults deal with the situation: like the house? Sit down and
this lockdown, several teenagers figure out what you can do to
a r e st r u g g l i n g w it h b ei n g Find the trigger make it easier for them.”
confined to the home. “F i rst, f ig u re out why t he
“Most teenagers are lockdown is difficult for them,” Set a firm schedule
experiencing insomnia or sleep s ays cl i n ic a l p sycholo g i st Dr Marker believes setting
pattern disruptions. They’re
sleeping at 5 or 6 am and getting
up in the afternoon. There is a
Priyanka Kartari. “Is it because
they don’t have access to their
friends? Is it because they don’t
a proper routine with fixed
timings for meals with the family,
exercise, socialising with friends,
MUMBAI
WEDNESDAY
27 MAY 2020
www.etpanache.com
ADVERTORIAL &
PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
COMING SOON: A
platform that will take
you closer to the stars
South African startup myFanPark, which allows
celebrities to send messages to their fans, is coming to
India, in partnership with entrepreneur Shailendra Singh
PICS: GETTY IMAGES
courts since Frederick and Amanda sued
David’s three sons, Alistair, Aidan and
Howard, and Aidan’s son Andrew in
January, the CCTV footage has given it a
new prominence.
A l i st a i r, c a su a l i n h i s H a r va r d
sweatshirt, is seen allegedly searching
for a place for an electric plug adapter
which is said to hold the bug. He leans
down and allegedly plugs it in next to a
cream-coloured chair where Frederick
would frequently sit to smoke a cigar
while talking business with Amanda.
The recording device captured 94 (Front row, from left) Nicole Sottung, myFanPark India, Shailendra Singh, The
hours of audio recordings and 1,000 Inceptor, Joy Des Fountain, co-founder and CEO, and Iain Banner, chairman
separate conversations over several (Back row, from left) Kaustubh Bhardwaj, myFanPark India, Wouter Lombard,
mont h s, i ncludi ng F rederick a nd co-founder, Jean de Villiers, co-founder, and Dylan Des Fountain, co-founder
Amanda’s private conversations with The Ritz Hotel was bought by the brothers
their lawyers, trustees, bankers and for 75 million pounds ($92 million) in 1995 etpanache@timesgroup.com way that the world’s admired engage
businesspeople, as well as negotiations with their fans,” said Singh.
with prospective buyers of the Ritz, the dispute about family members and I n a m ajor de a l st r uck w it h Joy Des Fountain, co-founder and
pair’s lawyers said in court filings. from the defendants’ point of view Shailendra Singh (The Inceptor), CEO of myFanPark and the former
The family was already divided over it is unfortunate that they are being S o u t h A f r i c a n s t a r t u p a p p financial director of Saatchi and
the sale of the five-star hotel, which the canvassed in public rather than resolved myFanPark will soon launch in India, Saatchi, said, “Shailendra has
identical twins bought for 75 million in the family,” she said at the remote Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Dubai. incredible access to talent. This,
pounds ($92 million) in 1995. court hearing earlier this month. Awarded as one of South coupled with the sheer size
When Alistair allegedly planted the Africa’s Top 5 startups in myFanPark was of the youth population,
device in January, the two sides were Humble beginnings 2019, and recently launched awarded one of means that the opportunity
conducting separate negotiations. T he 8 5 -ye a r- old t wi n s a re a mon g in Germany, Switzerland, South Africa’s Top presented by this market
Because of the recordings, the cousins Britain’s most discreet billionaires, Austria and West Africa, is enormous.”
were able to learn that Saudi Arabia- known for a family compound on a tiny myFanPark is leading the 5 startups in 2019, Iain Banner, chairman,
ba s e d Sid r a C apit a l h ad island off the UK’s southern coast. e-entertainment trend of and launched myF a n Pa rk a nd c o -
made an initial offer of 1.3 Born to Scottish parents — just 10 delivering personalised in Germany, founder of Laureus Sports
billion pounds to Frederick minutes apart — they grew up in a west v i d e o s h o u t - o u t s o f Switzerland, Academy, said, “America
and Amanda as well as an London household so close to a railroad motivation, inspiration h a s a l r e ady se en t he
and joy from celebrities to Austria and
unnamed acquisition that trains would rattle the windows. success with Chicago -
b ei n g d i s c u s s e d After leaving school at 16, the twins their fans. West Africa based Cameo, a similar
between Frederick, joined the accounts depar tment of Si ng h h a s rec ent ly platform that includes
Amanda and General Electric Co. returned after signing the deal in 18,000 celebrities and famous faces
a Russian They teamed up in the 1960s to turn old South Africa. The innovative app from predominantly American pop
businessman, the boarding houses into hotels and moved technology will unlock additional culture, sport and social influencers.
p a i r ’s l aw y e r s
said.
“This is a
into breweries and casinos, marking the
beginning of their business empire .
— Bloomberg
revenue streams for celebrities
and deeper experiences for fans.
“myFanPark will revolutionise the of Cameo.”
We believe the scale and opportunity
for myFanPark India will exceed that
.
PIC: INSTAGRAM/ PRANNOY H S
BIG SHOT
by C or nel l Un ive r sit y director of Cornell’s Carl cools down. A planet with
astronomers that teases out Sagan Institute. vegetation and circling a
climate clues. In their research, they reddish K-star will have cool
“We looked at how The researchers combined details temperatures because of how
different planetary combined details of a planet’s surface those surfaces reflect their
s u r f a c e s i n t h e of a planet’s colour and the light Suns’ light.
h a b i t a b l e z o n e s surface colour from its host star to “ W h at m a k e s u p t h e
o f d i s t a n t s o l a r and the light calculate climate. surface of an exoplanet,
s y s t e m s c o u l d from its host For i nst a nce, a how many clouds surround
affect the climate star to calculate rocky, black basalt it, and the colour of the
o n e x o p l a n e t s ,” a climate planet will absorb Sun can change the
said Jack Madden,
who wo rk s i n t h e l ab
l i g ht wel l a nd
would be hot, but add sand
o f L i s a K a l t e n e g g e r, or clouds, and the planet
Kaltenegger said .
cl i m ate si g n i f ic a nt ly,”
— ANI
26 all-out: The score that NZ
cricket would like to forget
PIC: DON NEELY - TE ARA ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NEW ZEALAND
Badminton player Travel makes one modest.
It’s been 65 years, but the
ignominy of having the lowest
Prannoy Kumar recently
shared a throwback
picture of a trip to Kerala
You see what a tiny place
you occupy in the world
score in Test history is something
the Kiwis can’t shake off
New Zealand cricket had its darkest day on
March 25, 1955, when the team was skittled out The big debate: Face
for the lowest score in Test history: 26 runs.
In 1955, England was the heavyweight team
of the world, while the Kiwis hadn’t played any
cricket for over a year. Even so, they made the
masks vs face shields
Five New Zealanders made ducks, while only
visitors toil for victory in the opening Test and Bert Sutcliffe crossed double figures The debate over whether
had conceded only a 46-run deficit in the first
innings. But that’s when the dominoes fell. Five
players ended the session with ducks, while
close two years ago. Poetically enough, on the
same Auckland pitch, almost exactly 63 years
we should wear face masks
to control coronavirus
transmission has been settled.
only Bert Sutcliffe touched double digits. to the day, New Zealand had England down to Governments and businesses
The reaction back home was ferocious, 23 for nine, with five ducks. However, Craig now require or at least
PIC: GETTY IMAGES
but captain Geoff Rabone continued to defend
his men.
Though the record still stands, it came very
Overton dragged England past the mark, and
the record books remained unaltered . — AFP
recommend them in many
public settings. But as countries
reopen, some doctors want you
to consider another layer of
personal protective equipment:
Clear plastic face shields.
Dr Eli Perencevich, an Surgical masks and N95s,
infectious disease physician on the other hand, are meant
at the University of Iowa and to be disposed after each use.
sleeping, etc. will help teenagers “Engage t hem i n decision- the Iowa City Veterans Affairs Also, many people wear masks
get back on track. “None of us m a k i n g a nd pr ov ide t hem Health Care System, incorrectly, letting them
has fixed a time for exercise or with opportunities to make and his two colleagues
An alcohol dangle off the tips of their
socialising with friends online. choices, not just for themselves, argued in an opinion wipe or rinse noses or concealing just
It’s important for parents to but for what activities the family piece recently that with soap and their mouths.
PIC: GETTY IMAGES
bring everyone together for can do together.” simple, clear plastic hot water is all However, in close range,
basic interaction — whether it’s face shields could there can be scenarios
breakfast/lunch/dinner.” Don’t overwhelm them help reduce the
it takes for the where face shields are not
“It is critic a l t hat pa rents transmission of shields to be as effective as masks like
Give them freedom themselves remain calm and infections since they contaminant- N95s that create a seal
Now that they’re confined to relaxed,” points out Chhibber. protect the entire face, free again around one’s face.
the house, many teenagers are She says that parents should including the eyes, and There is also no
s t r u g g l i n g w it h a l ack o f hold back on sharing troubles prevent people from touching research on how well one
independence and the ability to and challenges with their kids, their faces or inadvertently person’s face shield protects
make decisions for themselves. who can get overwhelmed. Focus exposing themselves to the other people from viral
According to Kamna Chhibber, on helping them express what coronavirus. transmission, the concept
H O D, M e n t a l H e a l t h a n d they are going through. “Give A simple alcohol wipe or rinse called source control that is a
Behavioral Sciences, Fortis
Memorial Research Institute,
adolescents need reassurance.
them the space to share their
thoughts and keep giving them
reassurance,” says Chhibber .
with soap and hot water is all
it takes for the shields to be
contaminant-free again.
cloth masks .
primary benefit of surgical and
— The New York Times