MUMBAI, NEW DELHI, BENGALURU, KOLKATA, CHENNAI, AHMEDABAD, HYDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE* VOL. 3 NO.

135

THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2020

LIVEMINT.COM

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mint primer
QUICK EDIT
Move over G7, it’s Long
time for a new shadow
and improved G11 Our resumption of commercial
activity has been fitful so far, be
it manufacturing or services.
BY DHIRENDRA TRIPATHI Consider IHS Markit’s Purchas-
ing Managers’ Index for India’s
US President Donald Trump is keen to expand G7 to include India,
Russia, South Korea and Australia. He has invited PM Narendra Modi services sector. The reading for
to attend the G7 meeting in the US later this year. Mint explores the May, at 12.6, is more than twice
reasons behind Trump’s moves and whether India should play ball. that of April’s 5.4, but this is no
cause for cheer. Any figure
Calling for a revamp under 50 on this scale indicates
Not all countries that are part of the G7 are among the most advanced now. a contraction of service orders
For instance, India’s GDP (in PPP terms) is more than member nations like placed. It’s clear that the partial
Japan, Germany, the UK and France. So, an expansion of the group is called for. easing last month of clamps
27.31 2019 annual GDP imposed on the country to con-
GDP in PPP terms
tain covid-19 has not caused a
20.54 20.54 (in $ trillion)
bounce-back, as a few optimists
had hoped. The country’s man-
13.6 ufacturing PMI for May,
11.33 released earlier, was at 30.8,
registering only a slight uptick
4.97 5.75 from the previous month.
3.94 4.44 Given the stringency of our
2.85 3.04 2.77 2.96 2.71
lockdown, PMI readings under
US China Japan Germany UK France India 50 should not shock us. It was
*PPP stands for purchasing power parity Source: Bloomberg, Investopedia clear that very little business
PARAS JAIN/MINT
could get done in April and
What prompted US to What could be the May. The worry is that a fuller
1 call for an expansion?
The G7, formed in 1975-76,
2 other reasons?
The US goes to polls in November
lifting of restrictions this month
may not raise the two indices
comprises the US, Canada, the UK, to elect its next president and sufficiently to show an upward
France, Germany, Japan, and Italy. Trump faces a tough fight against trend that’s sharp enough to
Not all of these countries are the Democratic candidate Joe assure us of a return to pre-
among the most advanced now. Biden. The US and China have covid levels. The crisis might
India is both a military and been fighting a trade war for quite have altered the basic potential
economic giant but isn’t part of the a long time. Both have imposed
of demand and supply in the
G7. So, its expansion, just like that tariffs on imports of a long list of
of the United Nations Security goods from the other. Mentioning country. Social anxiety and a
Council, is called for. However, ‘Wuhan virus’ to provoke China spate of job losses are just a part
there is more than that to Trump’s and upping the rhetoric against it, of the long shadow cast by the
moves. China has emerged as the along with inviting four other virus on the economy.
new nemesis for the US and many countries to G7, help Trump sell
other countries, particularly after the promise of ‘Make America
the coronavirus outbreak in Great Again’ well to his audience.
Wuhan. Having India and others Trump hasn’t had the best of
in the G7 is Trump’s way of
countering the rising influence of
relations with few members of G7.
Expanding the group helps him
MINT METRIC
China on the world stage. accommodate friendly countries. by Bibek Debroy

Will Remove China apps

3 Does the Indian diaspora in
the US matter?
It does. The Democratic Party is pro-
Really plug some gaps?
immigration that goes well with Indians
TikTok and Xender
based there. However, the party has also Returned to sender.
been critical of India’s record on minority
rights, which doesn’t go well with most
But more knuckles need some raps.
Indians. The Republican Party, particularly
under Trump, is anti-immigration but the
President has often acknowledged Indians’
contribution to the US. QUOTE OF THE DAY
Racism is an abhorrence that
4 Why has Trump chosen
the four countries? 5
If there’s any country in Asia that
Should India play along
as US takes on China?
India has had a complex
we must all reject. Leaders in
comes anywhere close to China in relationship with China. China’s
all sectors of society must
population, economic and military past record—it fought a war with invest in social cohesion so
numbers, it is India. South Korea is India in 1962— makes it difficult
a tech and economic superpower for India to trust it. China and
every group feels valued.
and US is committed to defending India are in a standoff in Ladakh.
it against any enemy. Australia is a India and the US are natural allies.
natural ally for the US in the South One is the world’s largest
Pacific, a region where China has democracy and the other the
been expanding its influence. That oldest. There is an urgent need for ANTONIO GUTERRES
leaves Russia, a force to reckon democracies and rules-based UN SECRETARY GENERAL
with any day, given its military regimes that believe in fair trade
superiority. Trump has also usually and respect for intellectual
got along with Putin, its property rights to come together.
unpredictable leader. Russia also It may be time for India to play
shares a large border with China. hardball with China.

m MINT SHORT

Joe Biden closes in on presidential nomination

REUTERS
AP matically reduced the number of in-per-
[email protected] son voting sites to minimize the spread
WASHINGTON of the coronavirus outbreak.
Biden and President Donald Trump

J
oe Biden is on the cusp of formally easily swept their respective primary
securing the Democratic presiden- contests that ranged from Maryland to
tial nomination after winning hun- Montana and featured the night’s big-
dreds more delegates in primary gest prize: Pennsylvania. The two men
contests that tested the United States’ are certain to face each other on the
ability to run elections while balancing Joe Biden could clinch it within a week. presidential ballot in November, yet
a pandemic and sweeping social unrest. party rules require them first to accumu-
Biden could lock down the nomina- were forced to navigate curfews, health late a majority of delegates in the
tion within the next week as West Vir- concerns and National Guard troops — months-long state-by-state primary sea-
ginia and Georgia hold primaries. waiting in line hours after polls closed in son. Trump secured the Republican
On Tuesday, voters across America some cases —after election officials dra- presidential nomination in March.
 FLIP SIDE
T
U RA L E
O
Y SV
N E W m
Mint Lite
A daily wrap of news and views, opinions and talking points, to get you started on your day

A
bout 600 nurses around the world are known to have died of the novel coronavirus, which has infected about 450,000
healthcare workers globally. The covid-19 death toll among nurses has doubled in the past month, from 260 on 6 May,
the International Council of Nurses said on Wednesday. On average, 7% of all cases of covid-19 are among healthcare
workers. For a quick catch up on the news in five minutes, here’s Mint Lite.

INDIA EASES SOME FOREIGN TRAVEL

INDIA’S CORONAVIRUS infections crossed 207,000 on Wednes-
day. Infections are not yet at their peak as the country is set to emerge
from complete lockdown only on 8 June, four days away. Cases rose by
8,909 over the previous day in one of the highest single-day spikes,
taking the tally to 207,615, the health ministry said. Doctors from the
Indian Council of Medical Research told Reuters the country is “very
far away for the peak”. Cases could peak later this month, or even in
July, before numbers decline. Six countries, including the US, UK and
Brazil, have higher caseloads. In India, the mortality rate has been rela-
tively low at 2.82% against the global average of 6.13%. The covid death
toll is now at 5,815. The home ministry said foreign businessmen, engi-
neers and healthcare professionals could enter India if they get visas
revalidated and travel on chartered flights in a cautious step to restart-
ing the economy. International flights were suspended in March.

AIRLINES BRACE FOR STORMS

MUMBAI ESCAPED the brunt of Nisarga after winds changed
direction and the cyclone made landfall south of Alibag. Flight
operations were stopped at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji airport
till 7pm. Across Asia, airlines, airports and insurers, caught in the
whirl of coronavirus, are bracing for high damages as the tropical
storm season begins. Major airports in India, Hong Kong, Taiwan,
Japan, Philippines and Thailand are now effectively giant park-
ing lots due to covid-19 restrictions. Moving planes in the event of
a storm is no easy matter. In Mumbai, small private planes vulner-
able to strong winds had priority to be flown out. Taiwan has
asked airports to hold typhoon preparation meetings 36 hours in
advance this year, rather than the usual 24 hours. At Hong Kong
airport, where 150 planes are parked, typhoon preparation is
done. This includes fuelling planes to make them heavier, adding
weight in the cargo hold, and putting double chocks on wheels.

Trade restrictions since January 2019

ANTI-CHINA MOOD ON TRADE Number of net restrictive trade interventions against
GOOGLE PLAY STORE on Wednesday took down an 343 each country by other countries since January 2019.
app that deleted Chinese-made apps from phones. The
app was downloaded in India more than 5 million times 242
228 228 223
since late May as anti-China sentiment has been rising 206
not just among individuals but also governments. Bor-
der skirmishes have intensified India’s deep-rooted 144
mistrust of China, weeks after the Centre tightened
investment norms. Covid-19 has earned China the ire of
quite a few countries with Australia and US, among oth-
ers, calling for inquiries, but China is not new to trade
restrictions. It has faced more trade restrictions than
any other country since 2019 (see chart). Global backlash
China Germany Italy UK France US India
against China could tempt India too, but trade and
investment are essential to counter the economic crisis.
For more, read Plain Facts. Source: Global Trade Alert
PARAS JAIN/MINT

SUPPORT FOR US ACTIVISTS GROWS

SOFTBANK SAID it will launch a $100 million fund to invest in
“companies led by founders of colour” as protests against sys-
temic racism entered an eighth day in US. This new Opportunity
Growth Fund, however, is just a sliver of its global $100 billion
Vision Fund. Protests on Wednesday were largely peaceful with
sporadic reports of looting. From Vatican City, Pope Francis said
“we cannot tolerate... racism and exclusion in any form”. Marches
against police brutality were held in UK, France, Germany, Neth-
erlands, Kenya and Nigeria, putting pressure on US to ensure jus-
tice for George Floyd. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s
21-second pause before he answered a query on US’ Donald
Trump using tear gas on protesters is being seen as a comment
from a leader who has always been careful not to criticize US, on
which it depends for 75% of its exports.

ASIA PLANS TRAVEL BUBBLES

THAILAND SAID on Wednesday it plans to create ‘travel bubbles’
through bilateral agreements to check coronavirus when borders
reopen. Thailand, which depends on tourism, closed its borders in
March as part of a state of emergency that runs till 30 June. Foreign
tourist arrivals for the year are expected to drop 42%. Across southeast
Asia, which has had more success than US and India in bringing the
virus under control, the question now is how to restart international
travel and trade safely. Compulsory quarantines will not be feasible for
tourists and business travellers. One solution is travel bubbles or air
bridges, which allow travel between countries that trust one another’s
protocols. Japan is considering easing entry restrictions for Thailand,
Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand, with which it has strong business
ties. Singapore and China have discussed plans to reopen essential
travel for business between the two countries early next month.

For more short takes on the news, and

quick updates to bring you up to speed
before you start your day, follow our
daily podcast Mint Lite Morning Shot Curated by Shalini Umachandran. Have something to
on htsmartcast.com share with us? Write to us at [email protected]
or tweet to @shalinimb

PEANUTS by Charles M. Schulz

 MUMBAI, NEW DELHI, BENGALURU, KOLKATA, CHENNAI, AHMEDABAD, HYDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE* VOL. 3 NO. 135 Rs 6.00 16 PAGES

WEAKENED STORM HITS

COAST, MUMBAI ESCAPES
Cyclone Nisarga slammed the Maharashtra
coast with wind speeds of up to 120kmph on
Wednesday but spared Mumbai, already reeling
under the covid-19 pandemic, even as it uprooted
trees in nearby districts. Three people died and as
THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2020 many were injured in cyclone-related incidents >P9
LIVEMINT.COM

Govt Moves To Empower Farmers

Central govt issues a set of ordinances to create a national market for agri produce and allow contract farming to protect farmers from price risks
m MINT GRAPHITI
Sayantan Bera
[email protected]
ordinance aims to create an
environment of barrier-free FIELD OPERATION TN CASE COUNT Services activity
GOES PAST 25,000
NEW DELHI trade within and between
states, and allows farmers to sell PM Narendra Modi chairs a cabinet
picks up a little

T
he central govern- their produce to any buyer in
INDIA
ment on Wednesday the country, including on elec-
meet in New Delhi on Wednesday. PTI
from record low
introduced a set of tronic platforms.
ordinances to create Currently, farmers are
214,811 6,030 Asit Ranjan Mishra
Total cases Deaths
a national market for forced to sell their produce at [email protected]
farm produce and allow con- state-regulated market yards, 103,130 105,638 NEW DELHI
tract farming to protect farmers also known as Agriculture Pro- Recovered Active cases

S
from price risks with the aim of duce Market Committees ervices sector activity,
helping them (APMCs), where GLOBAL which makes up more
improve earn- trader cartels than half of India’s gross
ings and boost determine prices domestic product (GDP),
investments in in an opaque 6,425,284
Total cases
weathered a second month of
agriculture. manner. Fewer brutal contraction in May as the
The landmark
VIRUS EFFECT buyers and a stringent coronavirus lock-
steps are tightly regulated
expected to create borderless trade with too many entry bar-
ECA AMENDED TAKING MARKET TO FARMERS DE-RISKING FARMING
381,528 down brought the economy to
a near halt and left millions of
markets for millions of Indian riers often lead to farmers Deaths people jobless.
farmers and achieve the gov- receiving a lower price. Also, THE cabinet gave its nod to amend the THE Union cabinet approved the THE Centre also okayed the Farmers Still, activity picked up a
ernment’s goal of doubling restrictions imposed by states six-decade-old Essential Commodities Farming Produce Trade and (Empowerment and Protection) 2,758,161 3,285,595 shade in May with the services
Act (ECA) that empowers govt to impose Commerce (Facilitation and Agreement on Price Assurance and Recovered Active cases
farm incomes by 2022. had so far prevented seamless Purchasing Manager’s Index
curbs on stocking of farm produce Promotion) Ordinance, 2020 Farm Services Ordinance, 2020 Source: Union health ministry, states
As part of its plan, the cabinet movement of farm produce (PMI) reading at 12.6, slightly
approved the ‘Farming Pro- IMPLICATIONS
duce Trade and Commerce FULL COVERAGE INSIDE
TURN TO PAGE 11 THIS move frees storage and trading in NEW law frees barriers to farm trade, THIS law enables farmers to directly TURN TO PAGE 11
(Facilitation and Promotion) cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, promotes the idea of One Nation, One engage processors, wholesalers, large ˜ Plain Facts: Looking at India-
Ordinance, 2020’, which it said onion and potatoes. It also opens the Market. As a result, farmers no longer retailers, exporters for an assured price. China trade amid pandemic P2
See also, pages 7, 12 PMI data shows Unlock 1
will pave the way for ‘One India, and 14
door for private investments need to take produce to an APMC Market risks to be borne by the buyer ˜ Long Story: How soaring fiscal
has brought some relief >P4
one agriculture market’. The deficit affects our financial lives P8

DON’T MISS
TRUMP TO BAR CHINESE FLIGHTS BRENT NEARS $40 PER BARREL PIYUSH GOYAL SLAMS BUILDERS FRANKLIN FACES MORE TROUBLE PARLE’S THIRST FOR CHANGE GOODS MOVEMENT PICKS UP
The US issued an order suspending passenger With the world slowly opening up for business, Union minister Piyush Goyal criticized real Within a span of a week, Franklin Templeton Parle’s Nadia Chauhan Goods movement, which shrank in March and
flights from China-based airlines, saying it was oil is up again after April’s downward spiral, estate developers for holding on to high- India is battling a second court case, with the says the firm is eyeing April, picked up in May, in line with relaxations
retaliation for Beijing barring US carriers from when demand almost vanished. Brent was priced inventory despite several reminders to Gujarat HC staying the winding-up exercise emerging opportunities in the ‘in-home’ given for resuming economic activities as part
re-entering that market. >P11 trading at $38.94 a barrel on Wednesday. >P3 reduce prices to make them affordable. >P3 undertaken for six of its debt schemes. >P9 consumption of its brand of beverages. >P6 of India’s phased exit from the lockdown.>P14

RAMESH PATHANIA/MINT

Startups line up to RIL rights issue

subscribed 1.6
register as MSMEs times on last day
Romita Majumdar the centres running,” said Nasrin Sultana
[email protected] Moddhia. [email protected]
MUMBAI As financial distress of busi- MUMBAI
nesses across sectors contin-

S T
hashank Moddhia, chief ues to rise, many startups such he ₹53,125-crore rights
executive of The Renal as Moddhia’s are lining up to issue of Reliance Indus-
LIC may cut its equity Project, a startup that register as MSMEs as tradi- tries Ltd (RIL) was sub-
investment target to about runs a chain of dialysis centres tional sources of funding dry scribed 1.6 times as it closed on
₹30,000 crore for this year. in the suburbs of Mumbai and up. The government has intro- Wednesday, in a major boost
Pune, is working overtime to duced various schemes to to the oil-to-telecom conglom-
LIC may invest get a micro, small
and medium The govt has
address the finan-
cial crisis faced by
erate’s efforts to erase its debt.
“The public portion of the
less in stocks e n t e r p r i s e rolled out various MSMEs, by giving
(MSME) registra- schemes for them access to
rights issue was subscribed
1.22 times,” RIL said in a state-
tion for his busi- credit amid a ment on Wednesday. The
as premium ness since the
MSMEs and is
giving them access s q u e e z e on shares will be allotted on or
government liquidity. “With around 10 June and the rights
growth stalls announced a spe- to credit amid a the Atmanirbhar
liquidity squeeze package, MSME
shares are expected to be listed
cial package for on BSE and NSE on or around
small businesses registration for 12 June, RIL added.
Anirudh Laskar impacted by the many startups RIL’s rights issue, its first-
[email protected] covid-19 outbreak. has almost become a necessity ever in nearly three decades, is
MUMBAI “We need to ensure we have which apart from providing the largest such sale in India.
access to funds. We have easier access to liquidity also The issue opened for subscrip-

L
ife Insurance Corp. of applied for the MSME regis- allows benefits from measures tion on 20 May, along with a
India (LIC), the country’s tration so that we can avail col- such as MSME incubators,” simultaneous rights entitle-
largest buyer of stocks, lateral-free loans at a time said Sanjay Mehta, founder ment (RIL RE) platform,
may cut its equity investment when it is even more critical and partner 100X.VC, an early wherein for the first time in
target to about ₹30,000 crore for us to obtain expensive
for the current year, the lowest medical equipment to keep TURN TO PAGE 11 TURN TO PAGE 11
in a decade, as new premium
growth declined amid corona-
virus-related disruptions, two
people directly aware of the
insurer’s internal discussions
said.
LIC invested around
₹47,000 crore in stocks in the
In God’s own country, horror rules
year to March, a 21% decline
from the previous fiscal year, Nidheesh M.K. bomb exploded in her mouth.
according to official data. [email protected] The act of cruelty is one of
The state-owned insurer has ERNAKULAM many such horror stories sur-
been traditionally called upon rounding wild animals across

K
by the government to use its erala may be a great Kerala, one of India’s greenest
deep pockets to rescue privati- state to be born in as a states and home to a deepen-
zation plans and even support human—it’s turning out ing people versus parks con-
the stock markets during major to be a hellish place for ele- flict.
sell-offs. A sharp drop in new phants and other wildlife. On Wednesday, it emerged
premium collections because A recent gruesome killing of that another female elephant
of lockdown-related disrup- a pregnant wild elephant using met with a similar fate in April
tions has, however, left India’s a pineapple stuffed with fire- The body of the elephant being in Kollam district. Her jaw was
largest insurer with less investi- crackers has triggered retrieved from the Velliyar river smashed by a firecracker-
ble surplus. national outrage over how in Palakkad district of Kerala. AFP stuffed pineapple, killing her.
To be sure, growth in new wild animals are being treated Once at the heart of the
premium collections will likely in the state that calls itself Malappuram district on 27 state’s traditional economy
increase as India reopens its God’s own country. May. and culture, care of elephants
economy after the two-month Forest official Mohan Krish- She was hunched over on and other wildlife has become
stringent lockdown. But it is nan posted an emotional note the banks of the Velliyar river, a victim of prospering forest
uncertain whether premium on Facebook, recalling how he knees bent, head dipped in buffer zones.
collections will reach pre-covid and his colleagues found the water—the last desperate act “Such bombings have
elephant corpse near the of an animal rendered immo-
TURN TO PAGE 11 buffer zone of Silent Valley in bile by pain days after the TURN TO PAGE 11
02 THURSDAY, 4 JUNE 2020
MUMBAI
PLAIN
FACTS

INDIA-CHINA TRADE AMID PANDEMIC

The global backlash against China could tempt India too, but trade and investment are essential to see off the coronavirus-induced economic crisis
Nikita Kwatra m MINT GRAPHITI Chart 1b Chart 1b
Jabin T. Jacob, associate pro- Chart 1a
[email protected] fessor of international relations Many countries have enforced restrictions
China has been the biggest target of trade restrictions on foreign investments amid covid-19
MUMBAI at Shiv Nadar University, called
India’s step an “opportunistic globally since 2019

T
Number of net restrictive trade interventions against each country by other countries US Australia US India France
he covid-19 pan- move”. “Since China is being declares temporarily puts foreign mandates extends FDI
since January 2019. (The net figure is the difference between restrictive interventions Recent foreign
demic has earned accused of predatory action in and liberalizing ones) investment new rules tightens rules participation in the government nod for screening
China the ire of quite other countries, and justifiably restrictions on FDI on foreign telecom sector FDI from neighbouring regime
a few countries. so, India can do it too without India 144 enforced by screening takeovers under scrutiny countries
India has not yet drawing too much attention,” Canada 146 China 343
some of the G-20
complained openly, but the he said. “The fear of predatory Czech Republic 158 242 countries
deep-rooted mistrust towards investments in the wake of cov- Sweden
161 Germany 13 18 29 01 04 06 17 18 30 07
166 228
Brazil 167 FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY
the giant neighbour has been id-19 disruptions has made Italy
intensifying nonetheless. The India more alert, but analysts
focus may be on the military and diplomats have been
skirmishes in Ladakh, but the sounding alarm over it for a
Belgium 168
Japan
Russia
171

Austria
174

Turkey
175 179 183
203
206
210
223

Netherlands
228
UK
France
2020 Spain
mandates
Spain
extends
Italy
tightens scrutiny
Canada
enhances
Japan
tightens regulations
US
trade screws are also at work— very long time.” Poland South Spain government restrictions on FDI in scrutiny on on foreign investment in
Korea
nod for FDI on FDI to include strategic FDI listed Japanese
India has been tightening India’s FDI measure against Trade interventions are policy instruments used by governments to influence trade with other countries.
EU and EFTA sectors companies related
The Global Trade Alert classifies such interventions as "harmful" (restrictive interventions against another
investment norms for China. its neighbours came days after country) or "liberalizing" (favourable interventions). Data as of 2 June. members to national security
Just last month, India man- the Chinese central bank raised
Chart 2 Chart 3a Chart 3b
dated government approval for its stake in HDFC to over 1% in
foreign direct April. To be sure,
Investments from China account for a India depends most on Chinese Inputs from China have become increasingly
investment (FDI) Even as India China’s invest- small share of India's total FDI inflows imports for producing its own exports important in the production of Indian exports
from countries FDI equity inflows from April 2000 to December 2019 Foreign value-added Foreign value-added (FVA) in gross exports refer to the value added by
confronts China ments, even after (% share in total) (FVA) contribution of imported inputs in the total value of a country's gross exports
with which it militarily, the including Hong
each country to 34.1 34.1
shares land bor- need of the hour Kong, contribute China 11.8 India's exports (as a India's share 32.3
ders. The curbs only a tiny share in (including 1.5 Others % of total FVA in 35.5
34.1 in FVA of China's exports 28.7
is better 31.9
China
aimed to shield India’s total FDI Hong Kong)** France 1.6 Mauritius exports) in 2019 Others China's share
Indian companies economic inflow. This holds Cyprus 2.3
**According to China's in FVA of India's exports
from predatory cooperation true even if one official records, Germany 2.7
investments, par- goes by China’s cumulative outward
21.3 14.6 15.7
direct investment to UK 6.3 5.2 12.1 13.4 13.4 13.9
ticularly those numbers, which India was about $8 billion Singapore Switzerland 3 3
4.9 Germany
from China—a big hint that pol- are higher. Singapore and as of December 2019, 6.4 Saudi Arabia 3 3.6 4.4
which accounts for 2.8% US US
icymakers in New Delhi have Japan take up a bigger space in 6.9 UK 3.4
of India's total FDI inflow 7.4 Australia 1.8 1.9 1.9 1.9 2 2.1 2.1 2 2.1 2.3 2.3
(after including Netherlands Russia 0.3
become ever more cautious of FDI into India (See chart 2).
Hong Kong). Japan South Korea 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Beijing’s growing role in the Given the small FDI share,
Source: Global Trade Alert, UNCTAD Investment Policy Monitor, Horn, Sebastian, Carmen M. Reinhart, and Christoph Trebesch. 2019. "China's Overseas Lending." NBER Working Paper No. 26050, UNCTAD EORA GVC database, DIPP, Mint calculations
Indian economy. some of the fears may even be
India’s actions have possibly exaggerated because of the AHMED RAZA KHAN/MINT

been made easier by a recent growing mistrust towards Bei- than was earlier believe. Critics such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka and exports, data from the United this time of crisis after the coro- healthcare and farm sectors The economic relationship
global context. Backlash over jing, but not all of it. China’s call this the ‘Trojan Horse’ Nepal could be a strategic dis- Nations Conference on Trade navirus. A strengthening anti- need access to Chinese markets was earlier believed to be a
covid-19 is just weeks old, but dominating presence in strate- approach. They allege many advantage for India. However, and Development shows. In China sentiment and louder right now, he said. “balm” for geopolitical woes,
China is not a new trading tar- gic sectors such as telecom and loans to build infrastructure such concerns, may also be a bit 2009, this figure was just 1.8%. calls for self-reliance could Indeed, India has played it but now, problems in one
get. Latest data from Global e-commerce have also raised projects using Chinese con- overplayed, experts say. Foreign value-added refers actually go against India’s safe by only blocking the auto- aspect only appear to worsen
Trade Alert shows it has faced eyebrows. Chinese tech giant tractors in strategically located Moreover, India must to the value of imported goods interests and economic logic. matic route for investments problems in the other, said
more trade restrictions than Alibaba, for instance, holds a developing nations are a form remember that even though its used as inputs in producing For instance, to recover from and not tightening the limit Jacob. The solution may just be
any other country since 2019. significant stake in Paytm, of debt-trap diplomacy (See widening trade deficit with intermediate or final goods the demand shock, India needs itself. Nor has it named China to remember that China is a
Covid-19 is only making its case which produces huge volumes chart 3). China is accused of China remains an eyesore for meant for export. low prices that Chinese goods explicitly. This is a clever move neighbour India cannot wish
worse, with Germany and the of data. This has led to concerns extending excessive credit with policymakers, dependence on Over the last decade, India’s provide, said Nitin Pai, director and leaves India room for nego- away. There is no single policy
UK hesitating to let in tech of security of India’s data. the intention of extracting eco- Chinese products has only dependence on China for of Takshashila Institution. tiation, said Manoj Pant, to tackle the complex and mul-
giant Huawei, and Australia Opaque lending practices nomic or political concessions grown year after year. In 2019, inputs for the manufacture of Entrepreneurship and infra- director of Indian Institute of tifaceted relationship. Even as
and the US, among others, call- also lead to mistrust. Research when countries cannot honour Chinese imports alone drugs and consumer goods has structure development will also Foreign Trade. Any outright India confronts China milita-
ing for inquiries and repara- shows developing countries their debts. This raises fears accounted for 34% of all the for- shown a marked increase. All benefit from Chinese financ- FDI curbs could hamper trade rily, the need of the hour is bet-
tions (See charts 1a and 1b). owe much larger debts to China that China’s credit to countries eign value-added in India’s this will matter even more in ing, and the technology, overall, he said. ter economic cooperation.

m BRAND DASHBOARD Can autocracy help in the covid-19 battle?

The Mint-YouGov Brand Dashboard provides a glimpse into how different brands are perceived in the country Nikita Kwatra House to classify regimes.
based on a proprietary tool called BrandIndex developed by YouGov. BrandIndex continuously measures public [email protected] Based on the analysis, the
perception of brands among internet users spread across 180 cities within the country. MUMBAI authors argue that when
The Travel sites dashboard captures the public perception of democracies employed the
27.3
C
leading online travel companies. It offers the current perception BrandIndex Score hina’s success in tam- same restrictions as autocratic
% point change from a month ago ing covid-19 has given regimes, they experienced
metrics and the change in perception over the past few weeks. (▲▼) traction to the idea that steeper declines in public
autocratic regimes may be able movement.
to handle such pandemics bet- China’s strict lockdown has
Travel sites ter. However, a study in received the most media
Brands MakeMyTrip Trivago GoIbibo Yatra Booking.com ClearTrip VoxEU suggests that while attention, but other East Asian
such regimes have indeed countries have arguably Autocracies imposed stricter lockdowns, but could not reduce
imposed stricter mounted a more public movement as much as democracies did, says a study. AFP
lockdowns, they
OVERALL 35.2 19.7 19.9 12.8 8.2 7 have been less
m SNAP FACT eresponse f f e c t i v e
to cov- tural values of societies are good. Societies that emphasize
SCORE (▼ 1.5) (▼ 0.7) (▲ 2.1) (▲ 1.3) (▲ 0.1) (▼ 1.4) effective in id-19, they say. likely to have played a role in group loyalty, conformity and
reducing public movement. These results hold even determining how effective the obedience towards superiors
Researchers from Oxford after taking into account dis- mobility restrictions were. For find it easier to take collective
BY GENDER used the university’s covid-19 tinctive factors such as state instance, individualistic socie- action, the study says.
government response tracker capacity, GDP per capita and ties such as the US, Sweden, Collectivistic countries have
Male 32.7 (▼ 0.7) 17.9 (▲ 0.5) 20.3 (▲ 1.2) 9.3 (▼ 1.5) 7.1 (▲ 0) 6.7 (▼ 1.4) to measure the strictness of experience with past epidem- and the UK found collective mounted a more coordinated
lockdown policies in various ics. Besides, the lack of trans- action as a response to a pan- response to covid-19 in terms
Female 37.6 (▼ 2.7) 21.3 (▼ 2.2) 19.5 (▲ 3.2) 16.0 (▲ 3.7) 9.2 (▲ 0) 7.2 (▼ 1.4) countries. To estimate adher- parency in autocratic regimes demic more difficult, they say. of reducing movement and
ence, they used Google’s cov- has proved to be an indisputa- This is because people in travel, the authors added.
BY GENERATION id-19 mobility reports. The ble drawback in fighting the individualistic societies tend Also read: Covid-19 and the
researchers used the latest pandemic, the authors argue. to pursue their own interests future of democracy
democracy index of Freedom They also say that even cul- rather than the collective (bit.ly/2U2vAAc)
Generation X 39.0 (▲ 0.3) 22.7 (▲ 1.1) 19.0 (▼ 1.2) 13.2 (▲ 0.2) 7.6 (▲ 0) 7.2 (▼ 1.1)
Millennials 34.3 (▼ 2) 16.4 (▼ 5) 20.8 (▲ 1.4) 11.8 (▼ 1.2) 7.4 (▼ 2) 6.4 (▼ 4.3)
Generation Z 26.7 (▲ 2.3) 18.2 (▲ 0.8) 17.8 (▲ 5.5) 8.7 (▲ 4.2) 7.4 (▲ 2.1) 1.6 (▼ 2.2)

BY REGION m NEWS IN NUMBERS CORRECTIONS AND

CLARIFICATIONS
North 32.1 (▼ 5.5) 22.3 (▲ 3.5) 20.8 (▲ 4.7) 12.8 (▲ 2.7) 10.1 (▲ 3.4) 6.6 (▼ 1.8) AFP

South 28.4 (▼ 4.4) 19.2 (▲ 0,1) 17.6 (▼ 0.1) 15.0 (▲ 0.4) 8.2 (▲ 0.5) 10.0 (▲ 1.5)
6 8 Mint welcomes comments,
What is it? The number of confirmed What is it? The suggestions or complaints
East 42.6 (▲ 10) 14.7 (▼ 8.8) 16.3 (▼ 5) 8.2 (▼ 4.6) 3.0 (▼ 6.6) 3.0 (▼ 6.4) cases of Ebola in DR Congo in a fresh number of F1 races about errors.
outbreak in the country’s northwest. that will be held
West 40.2 (▼ 2.6) 21.4 (▼ 2.2) 21.6 (▲ 3.7) 10.2 (▲ 0.6) 8.6 (▼ 0.8) 5.1 (▼ 2.9) Why is it important? The virus has killed from July till the Readers can alert the
newsroom to any errors in the
four of them already, and two are under first week of paper by emailing us, with your
BRANDINDEX SCORE
treatment. The outbreak was recorded in September. full name and address to
The Index score is a composite metric derived as an average of Impression, Quality, Value, Reputation, Satisfaction and Mbandaka, capital of Équateur province. It Why is it [email protected].
Recommendation scores for the brands mentioned above, collected from close to 2000 respondents over 4 weeks by YouGov, had a previous outbreak in May-July 2018, important? All of
as part of their syndicated brand tracking solution. Sample sizes for various sub-groups reported above range between 185 – 1150 with 54 cases and 33 deaths. The prior these races will be It is our policy to promptly
respond to all complaints.
respondents. experience might help health officials held in Europe, in six venues and over 10 Readers dissatisfied with the
manage the outbreak better this time. weekends, starting with the Austrian GP response or concerned about
Generation X here refers to people born between 1965 and 1980. Millennials here refer to people born between 1981 and 1996 Tell me more: DR Congo has recorded on 3 July. The first 10 races were either Mint’s journalistic integrity may
Generation Z here refers to people born after 1996. Regions are defined as follows : North: Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, 3,406 Ebola cases and 2,243 Ebola deaths cancelled or postponed; upcoming ones write directly to the editor by
Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand; South: since August 2018. The country is also are likely to be held behind closed doors. sending an email to
Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and Telangana; East: [email protected]
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim, Tripura and West Bengal;
simultaneously fighting a measles Tell me more: For the first time, F1 is
West: Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, Goa, Gujarat and Maharashtra. epidemic, besides the coronavirus, which holding two consecutive races in the same Mint’s journalistic Code of
has infected 3,195 people and killed 72. circuit at Red Bull Ring and Silverstone. Conduct that governs our
Data from 30 April to 28 May 2020 Comparison date is 1 Apr to 30 April newsroom is available at
www.livemint.com
Data and text compiled by Howindialives howindialives.com is a search engine for public data
PARAS JAIN/MINT

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First published in February 2007 to serve as an unbiased and clear-minded chronicler of the Indian Dream.

VAMAN VASSUDEV KAMAT (EDITOR); PUBLISHED/PRINTED BY DINESH MITTAL (Interim) ON BEHALF OF HT MEDIA LTD, 9th Floor, Tower 3, Indiabulls Finance Centre, Senapati Bapat Marg, Elphinstone Road (West), Mumbai-400013
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 NEWS THURSDAY, 4 JUNE 2020
MUMBAI 03

MG Motor to
Banking system faces its
mint

SHORT TAKES increase India

EV investment
LG Polymers India has absolute
liability for gas leak, says NGT
New Delhi: South Korean company LG Polymers India has abso-
lute liability for the loss of life and public health in the gas leak
biggest recovery challenge from 2022
incident at its plant in Visakhapatnam, the NGT has said while Malyaban Ghosh
directing that the interim penalty of ₹50 crore would be spent on [email protected]
compensation to the victims and the restoration of environment. NEW DELHI
The National Green Tribunal directed that a restoration plan be Lenders fear that defaults may spike from Sept with 30% of retail loans in moratorium
M
prepared by a Committee comprising two representatives each G Motor India Pvt. Ltd
of the Environment Ministry and Central Pollution Control plans to make addi-
Board (CPCB) and three representatives of Andhra Pradesh gov- Shayan Ghosh tional investments in
ernment. The NGT also junked the company’s plea seeking [email protected] its electric vehicle business in
review of its 8 May order, while imposing a ₹50 crore interim MUMBAI two years when it hopes for
penalty saying that it is justified in taking suo motu cognizance normalcy to return to the

W
of the matter. It also directed Andhra Pradesh chief secretary to ith over 30% of Indian economy.
identify and take action against those responsible for permitting Twitter the retail book Rajeev Chaba, president,
appoints ex-
the company to operate without statutory clearances. PTI
Google CFO
under morato- MG Motor India, said zero-
as new rium across the emission vehicles will gain sig-
board banking system, nificant traction in the medium
‘Will open international travel chairman lenders may face a massive chal- to long term, which will help
lenge recovering retail loans on the the automobile company get a
ops when situation normalizes’ bit.ly/3csAZGX
expiry of moratorium on 31 August. head start.
MINT
The retail segment has long been In 2022, MG Motor plans to
considered a safer bet for banks and launch an affordable electric
non-banking financial companies vehicle in the ₹12-15 lakh price
(NBFCs) than the wholesale corpo- range to qualify for subsidy
rate segment, given the wider distri- under the government’s Faster
bution of risk. But the odds have Adoption and Manufacturing
changed significantly since the lock- of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehi-
down from 25 March. Lenders fear a cles (FAME) scheme, besides
spike in defaults may start from Sep- introducing a new variant of
tember due to a likely fall in house- the ZS electric sport-utility
hold incomes amid uncertainties. vehicle (SUV), which will have a
“A large number of retail borrow- A large number of retail borrowers are in financial distress following the lockdown extension from 25 March. MINT 500-km range on a full charge.
ers are in financial distress and col- The company also plans to
New Delhi: Civil aviation minister Hardeep Puri said on lections, especially for home loans, down in private consumption repayments by retail customers. moratorium and almost half of these source from local suppliers
Wednesday that India would open up skies for interna- are expected to be affected in a spending has imposed limits to this Ajay Sharma, executive director and borrowers have conveyed that they most of the parts for its electric
tional air travel once the situation normalises so that such major way because many borrowers growth strategy as the possibility of chief financial officer, IDBI Bank have surplus cash but have chosen vehicles, and also start assem-
cross-border travel will not pose any danger to citizens. In may find it tough to repay large defaults among retail segment rises. said that repayments dried up in to defer repayments out of caution. bling lithium-ion batteries and
a series of tweets, Puri sought to reassure a group of non- equated monthly instalments Some banks are already seeing March, especially in retail segment. “Small-ticket lending is linked to other critical parts in India.
resident Indians who are normally residents abroad but are (EMIs),” said a an executive risk pricing and risk adjusted “This is our mid-term to
currently stranded in India that they could fly out during director of a public sector CHANGING DYNAMICS returns. It’s been extremely long-term plan. We want to
the third phase of the Vande Bharat Mission that will oper- bank. difficult over the last 30-40 double our bets on electric
ate between 9 June to 30 June. For normal international Home loans, accounting RETAIL segment has HOWEVER a likely HOME loans, which RBI had cautioned days with the ability of col- vehicles and want to be the
operations, India has to take into account several factors for over half of all retail long been deemed a decline in household account for over half
safer bet for banks incomes may have a of all retail loans,
that a slowdown in
private spending has
lections. In that context, the leader (in the EV space). That’s
including the readiness of other countries as well as easing loans, stood at ₹13.3 trillion given the wider risk huge bearing on stood at ₹13.3 trillion increased the risk of true picture will come at the why we will come with a battery
of the domestic travel restrictions that are currently in place on 24 April. In its Report on distribution loan collections on 24 April retail loan defaults end of moratorium 2.0 on with 500km range to show our
in various Indian cities, the minister explained. “We are Trend and Progress of how the underlying loan intent,” said Chaba. “Our next
continuously monitoring the situation,” the minister said Banking in India in Decem- book will behave,” said Uday electric vehicle will be smaller
in the tweet. GIREESH CHANDRA PRASAD ber, the Reserve Bank of India has stress in their retail portfolios. Pri- Sharma said borrowers also seem Kotak, managing director, Kotak and will be in between ₹12-15
cautioned that while banks have ori- vate sector lender IDBI Bank which to be conserving cash instead of Mahindra Bank, speaking at the lakh with a range of 300km. It
ented their lending toward the rela- has traditionally tilted toward cor- choosing to repay. The bank has Confederation of Indian Industry will comply for the FAME
RBI says interest waiver would risk tively stress-free retail, the slow- porate loans is also seeing delays in 68% of its retail borrowers under (CII) Annual Session 2020 on 2 June. scheme if it continues.”
financial stability of banks
New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) while filing counter
affidavit in the Supreme Court on Wednesday stated that the plea
for waiver of interest during the moratorium period would risk
the financial stability of the bank and shall put the interests of the
depositors in jeopardy. The RBI had on 22 May extended morato-
rium on term loans till 31 August. In March, the central bank had
Goyal to builders: sell homes at realistic prices
allowed a three-month moratorium on payment of all term loans
due between 1 March and 31 May. RBI submitted in its reply that Madhurima Nandy the banks or you can choose (HDFC) told developers that
the circular’s objective was to mitigate the burden of debt servic- [email protected] to sell it even if you have liquidity will be key for com-
ing brought about by disruptions and to ensure the continuity of BENGALURU bought it at high prices and panies to survive in the post
viable businesses. “Therefore, the regulatory package is, in its move forward,” Goyal said. “If covid-19 world, where valua-

U
essence, in the nature of a moratorium/deferment and cannot be nion minister of com- any one of you feel that gov- tion models will undergo
construed to be a waiver,” said RBI in its reply. JAPNAM BINDRA merce and industry ernment will be able to drastic changes.
Piyush Goyal came finance in such a way that you Parekh had suggested a
down heavily on real estate can hold longer and wait for three-pronged approach for
PE firm Kedaara Capital invests developers on Wednesday, the market to improve— the real estate sector, where
telling them that many con- because market is not the Reserve Bank of India
₹567.3 crore in Religare Insurance tinue to hold on to high- improving in a hurry —Your (RBI) offers a one-time
New Delhi: Homegrown private equity firm, Kedaara Capital priced inventory despite sev- best bet is to sell and those restructuring of loans, state
Fund II LLP, completed the investment of ₹567.31 crore, includ- eral reminders. who have sold governments Indian Oil Corporation has said demand for petroleum products
ing primary capital infusion and purchase of 6.39% stake, in Rel- Goyal said builders have no and got rid of Goyal said govt is waive stamp duty is picking up in India, too. REUTERS
igare Health Insurance Co Ltd on 2 June, the insurer’s parent Rel- choice but to construct and Union minister Piyush Goyal their bank loans, trying to offer for a limited
igare Enterprises Ltd said in a stock exchange filing on Wednes-
day. “The capital infusion will help us to continue our
investments in making Religare Health Insurance a future-ena-
sell projects at reduced and
realistic prices, without wait-
ing for the market to improve.
should real estate builders
should not wait for market to
improve. RAMESH PATHANIA/MINT
have survived some concession p e r i o d ,
this downturn,” in ready reckoner developers cut
Goyal added.
rates, but urged
and

prices, selling
Brent price touches
bled organisation, committed to ensure the best customer expe-
rience. It is a matter of pride that Religare has attracted a marquee
investor even in such tough economic times,” said Rashmi Saluja,
“...You have to complete
your projects before you sell
because buyers will not buy
opers in a video conference
meeting organized by
Those who are

loans, who kept anyhow

inventory quickly
saddled with bad developers to sell even at a lower
price and com-
$40 per barrel mark
executive chairperson, Religare Enterprises, and non-executive under-construction projects. National Real Estate Develop- holding on to pleting opera-
chairperson of Religare Health Insurance. RIDHIMA SAXENA In my life, I wouldn’t buy an
under-construction flat from
anybody. Tons and tons of
ment Council (Naredco), an
industry body.
He said the government is
their price, have
suffered, he said.
tional projects
rather than launching new
The real estate sector was ones.
again after Black April
Management guru Pritam Singh builders have taken custom- trying to offer some conces- further hit by the covid-19 The government recently
ers for a ride. You will have to sion in ready reckoner rates, outbreak and the lockdowns, allowed six-month extension Utpal Bhaskar per barrel in FY18 and FY19,
dies of cardiac arrest complete your projects, bring also known as the circle rate, with sales getting deeply in completion timelines for [email protected] respectively. It was $19.90 in
HT
partners, get investors. But but urged developers to sell impacted and concerns over real estate projects and NEW DELHI April, according to data from
unless you complete your anyhow. liquidity. extended the credit linked the Petroleum Planning and

W
construction, sell at realistic “..You can choose to be In April, Deepak Parekh, subsidy scheme (CLSS) for ith the world slowly Analysis Cell. The price was
prices, there is no other stuck with your material chairman of Housing Devel- middle-income group by one opening up for busi- $38.66 a barrel on 2 June.
choice,” Goyal told top devel- (inventory), then default with opment Finance Corp. Ltd more year, until March, 2021. ness, oil prices are up India’s largest refiner, Indian
again after April’s downward Oil Corp. Ltd (IOC) said
spiral, when demand almost demand for petroleum prod-
vanished in a world under lock- ucts is picking up in India.
down. Energy consumption, espe-
The international bench- cially electricity and refinery

US initiates probe into digital services taxes mark Brent crude was trading products, is typically linked to
at $38.94 per barrel on overall demand in an economy.
Wednesday, and West Texas India’s power demand, which
New Delhi: Acclaimed management guru and Padma Shri Intermediate (WTI) was at had nosedived during the lock-
awardee, Pritam Singh, on Wednesday died following a car- Asit Ranjan Mishra target our companies,” said India in a statement said this $36.27 per barrel at the time of down, is slowly getting back to
diac arrest. He was 78. Singh served as an independent [email protected] USTR Robert Lighthizer. “We will pose immense practical going to press.Brent crude hit a pre-lockdown levels.
director in several private companies, and was a former NEW DELHI are prepared to take all appro- challenges to implement from 21-year low and US oil futures “Asia has also been hit hard
director of Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow priate action to defend our 1 April 2020, particularly con- slumped to nega- by the economic

T
and Management Development Institute, Gurgaon and he US on Tuesday initi- businesses and workers against sidering the extraordinary con- tive for the first Oil prices have slump despite the
director general at RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group-promoted ated investigations into any such discrimination.” straints arising out of measures time as the glut been up globally, opportunity to be
International Management Institute, New Delhi. He was digital services taxes that To expand its tax base and taken by countries around the overwhelmed the supported by a first in line to
also a former dean of IIM-Bangalore. He was a non-execu- have been either adopted or are address the challenges from world including India to con- world’s limited gradual recovery recover from the
tive director on the board of Hero MotoCorp Ltd and served being considered by 10 of its rapid digitalization of the econ- trol the covid-19 pandemic. storage facilities,
in fuel demand, as Covid-19 pan-
on the board of Godrej Properties Ltd and Parsvnath Devel- trading partners including omy, India introduced an A commerce ministry official triggering a wave demic among all
opers Ltd. Singh was awarded the Padma Shri in 2003 for India, a move that could invite equalization levy through said under condition of ano- of selling by trad- economies are major regions
his contributions in the field of management education, punitive tariff sanctions. It Finance Act 2016 on certain nymity that the announcement ers in April. The now reopening around the world.
both in India and abroad. PRASHANT K NANDA could worsen India-US trade non-resident businesses like of the USTR investigation prices have been India in particular
tensions which have delayed mobile phone apps, social against India’s equalization up, supported by saw the worst year
the signing of a limited trade media platforms, digital con- levy is merely a first-step initia- a gradual recovery in fuel on year demand destruction in
Veteran banker Uday Kotak takes deal between the two sides. tent streaming services with a The probe will be conducted by tion and is independent of demand, as the global economy history last month, bringing
The investigation will be customer base in India. The USTR Robert Lighthizer. other trade negotiations. began to reopen. Asia’s April demand down by 5
over as the president of CII conducted by the United States levy was applied at a rate of 6%
AP
“US law mandates consulta- “Dated Brent Prices may find million b/d year on year
New Delhi: Uday Kotak has assumed office as the president of Trade Representative (USTR) on online advertisements on effect on 1 April is what the tion with the alleged party – in pockets of support in June in together with demand destruc-
the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for 2020-21, the cham- under Section 301 of its Trade such platforms. USTR is seeking to investigate. this case the Government of the range of $35-40/bbl as sup- tion in Southeast Asia, before it
ber said on Wednesday. Kotak, managing director and CEO of Act that empowers the author- Through the Finance Act The levy came as a surprise to India – hence, India will have ply shut-ins peak, demand improved in May,” the report
Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited, takes over from Vikram Kirloskar, ity to respond to a foreign 2020, the government further e-commerce firms as the provi- the opportunity to defend its recovers, and OPEC+ maintains added.
chairman and managing director of Kirloskar Systems Ltd and country’s action considered to expanded the scope of the sion was not part of the finance taxation policy. Even if the discipline at their June 10 “However, risks of 2nd wave
vice chairman of Toyota Kirloskar Motor. T V Narendran, CEO be unfair or discriminatory and equalization levy to revenues bill. It was introduced as an USTR determines India’s pol- meeting,” S&P Global Platts hits of Covid-19 globally have
and managing director of Tata Steel Limited, is now the president that negatively affects US trade. generated by non-resident amendment at the last minute icy is an unfair trade practice, Analytics wrote in a report. also increased. It is particularly
designate of CII for 2020-21, it said. Sanjiv Bajaj takes over as CII “President Trump is con- e-commerce firms operating in before the Parliament passed India will have another oppor- The cost of the Indian basket challenging for Latin America,
vice president for 2020-21. He is the chairman and managing cerned that many of our trad- India with annual revenues in the bill. tunity to negotiate with the US of crude, which comprises the Middle East and Africa, and
director of Bajaj Finserv Limited. Kotak has been associated with ing partners are adopting tax excess of ₹2 crore. The 2% digi- After the bill was passed by and prevent the imposition of Oman, Dubai and Brent crude, to a lesser extent South Asia,”
CII for over two decades and has served in many capacities. PTI schemes designed to unfairly tal services tax which came into the Parliament in March, EY tariffs,” the official added. averaged $56.43 and $69.88 the S&P report added.
04 THURSDAY, 4 JUNE 2020
MUMBAI

S&P BSE Sensex Nifty 50 Nifty 500 Nifty Next 50 Nifty 100 S&P BSE Mid-cap S&P BSE Small Cap
CLOSE PERCENT CHANGE CLOSE PERCENT CHANGE CLOSE PERCENT CHANGE CLOSE PERCENT CHANGE CLOSE PERCENT CHANGE CLOSE PERCENT CHANGE CLOSE PERCENT CHANGE

34,109.54 0.84 10,078.10 0.99 8,216.75 0.97 24,799.85 0.81 10,237.85 0.97 12,340.65 0.31 11,570.65 1.24
PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN PREVIOUS CLOSE OPEN

33,825.53 34,185.41 9,979.10 10,108.30 8,137.45 8,241.60 24,600.00 24,844.35 10,139.75 10,266.90 12,302.69 12,425.71 11,428.41 11,562.93
HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW

34,488.69 34,027.50 10,176.20 10,063.60 8,295.35 8,208.75 25,065.95 24,760.05 10,336.65 10,223.20 12,499.54 12,301.51 11,686.37 11,538.47

Global liquidity drives Nifty 50,

mint

SHORT TAKES
World’s best bond market
fired up to go sub-zero
One central bank’s refusal to contemplate negative
interest rates is helping set it apart from developed
but risk-reward gets unfavourable
peers and stoke interest in its world-beating bond
market. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s reluctance Clifford Alvares they have begun opening their taps may have to rely on more stimulus
to contemplate life below zero is helping draw the [email protected] for Indian stocks lately. rather than an earnings growth to Over-optimism Nifty 50 S&P 500
110
likes of PGIM Inc. and JPMorgan Asset Manage- For now, it’s only investor senti- drive the markets forward. The US The S&P 500 has

I
ment to the nation’s sovereign bond market. Aus- t’s not hard to see why Indian ment that has changed. “It doesn’t Federal Reserve continues to aggres- outperformed the Nifty 105
tralia’s 10-year bond yield discount to Treasuries markets have been racing ahead take much time for sentiment to sively pump liquidity into the US 50 since 23 March, as US
100
flipped to a premium in March as the Federal Good kharif in the past few weeks. The rise of change in the markets. What one has economy, which has expanded its unveiled a huge stimulus 95.92
Reserve slashed borrowing costs. Australian bonds prospects
global markets and the positive to focus on is whether the economy is balance sheet significantly since package, while the latter 95
buoy Kaveri has covered some
are “competitively well supported and they repre- Seed assessment of the opening up of out of the woods. I feel the economic March. ground after Unlock 1. 90
sent a good storehouse of value that requires less of Company’s the economy has boosted sentiments. decline is the highest cyclically The decision to open up the Indian 85
a leap of faith than most developed markets” to stock The fact that the global markets are because of covid. The market often economy in a gradual manner has
Base value taken as 100 82.69
invest in right now, said Robert Tipp, head of global bit.ly/2zWKTU awash with liquidity also improved expecta- 80
bonds and chief investment strategist at PGIM 3 has also been a signifi- RISING RISK tions from businesses. 75
Fixed Income. BLOOMBERG cant influence in driv- But with social distanc-
70
ing the Nifty 50 past THE global markets, ONCE the June NIFTY target of 9,900 ing likely to be the new
the psychological awash with liquidity,
have driven Nifty 50
quarter results start
to trickle in, some of
for March-end 2021
implies unattractive
feature of the day for a 65
10,000-point mark. In past the 10,000- the ground reality will risk-reward, says UBS while at least, busi-
Recession looming the past week, the mark begin to sink in Securities nesses will find it diffi- Source: NSE, Bloomberg
60
31 Dec 2019 3 Jun 2020
Initial coronavirus shock saw the Australian Nifty has gained 8%. cult to operate at full
economy contract in Q1. Note that for some capacity. SATISH KUMAR/MINT

GDP (q-o-q %) time now, the Indian market has been runs ahead of itself. I would not say This will also increase operating But with social restrictions, the trickle in, some of the ground reality
1.6
slavishly following the lead of the US the market is wrong. But it is senti- costs for many businesses. As such, economy cannot get into the same will begin to sink in.
1.2 market. ment now, which can be very good at the return to pre-lockdown levels is a momentum that it was during pre- “Our Nifty target of 9,900 for
Since the US announced a massive times and quite bad during other distant prospect. covid. Growth will be very tough,” March-end 2021—with upside/
0.8 stimulus package in end-March, both times,” said Raamdeo Agrawal, joint “The economy has to do well for said Agrawal. downside scenarios of
the S&P 500 and the Nifty 50 have managing director, Motilal Oswal corporates to do well. Covid-19 has As such, the markets are seemingly 11,500/6,700—implies unattractive
0.4 gained 32-37%. Group. dealt a blow that is still unravelling. giving the feeling that a business risk-reward after the recent rally,”
And while foreign investors were Going by the current slowdown in The market is very optimistic that recovery is around the corner. But analysts at UBS Securities India Pvt.
0 sellers for the majority of this period, the economy, global equity markets some remedy will be found. once the June quarter results start to Ltd said in a note.
-0.3 -0.3
-0.4
31 Mar 2011 31 Mar 2020
Source: Bloomberg

SATISH KUMAR/MINT

Australia’s growth shrinks, Motherson Sumi’s profit margins Britannia Industries’ investors have a
ending 30-year expansion
Australia’s economy contracted in the first three
months of the year, setting up an end to a nearly
impress in Q4, but risks linger Good Day after Q4FY20 results
29-year run without a recession as an even deeper
slowdown looms for the current quarter. Gross
R. Sree Ram Pallavi Pengonda
domestic product fell 0.3% from the final three Steady earnings continue will be watched closely. nine months of moderate growth,
months of 2019, the first quarterly drop since 2011, [email protected]
Motherson Sumi reported better operating earnings despite [email protected] “Biscuits as a category seems to the company was witnessing a
brought down by a collapse in household spend- a notable fall in revenue. have clearly benefited from the shift growth revival in the first two

S S
ing, statistics bureau data showed. Economists had hares of Motherson Sumi Revenue (in  crore) Ebitda (right hand scale) hares of Britannia Industries in consumption from out-of-home months of the March quarter. This
forecast a 0.4% drop. From a year earlier, the econ- Systems Ltd have gained 20,000 1,355 1,600 Ltd touched record highs on to in-home,” said analysts from JM was hit by covid-19 and the lock-
omy expanded 1.4%, matching estimates. The 4.5% since the automo- 1,277 Wednesday after the com- Financial Institutional Securities down starting 25 March.
result sets up an end to Australia’s record run of bile components manufacturer 16,000
1,200
pany reported a better-than-ex- Ltd in a report on 2 June. Overall, Britannia’s March quar-
avoiding two consecutive quarters of shrinking announced its March quarter 14,870 pected profit for the March quarter. “Britannia would ter operating revenue
12,000 16,557
GDP, having dodged recessions during the 1997 results. While revenues Consolidated net profit of the also have gained Britannia’s sales increased by 1.6% to
800
Asian Financial Crisis, the Dot Com Bubble and the dropped 12% from a year ear- company, which owns the Good shares from other bounced back in ₹2,808 crore. Gross
8,000
2008 global financial crisis. BLOOMBERG lier, operating profit rose 7%, Day biscuits brand, was at ₹372 players (B-brands are April and May. If profit margin declined
thanks to cost-cutting meas- 400 crore, against the expected ₹322 likely less efficient in this good run by 152 basis points to
4,000
ures and a fall in raw material crore polled by Bloomberg analysts. dealing with complex-
continues, its high 39.67%. One basis
Wave of local debt in China prices. 0 0
However, management com- ities and challenges
valuations may
point is one-hun-
Considering sluggish auto Q1 FY20 Q4 FY20 mentary on how April and May has plus many local bakery dredth of a percentage
leaves foreigners wary sales and the pressure on reve-
Source: Company
panned out is the more heartening shops were shut dur- well sustain point.
SARVESH KUMAR SHARMA/MINT
China’s success in luring foreigners into its domes- nue, many analysts were bit. Britannia said its revenue ing lockdown)—not all The company said it
tic debt market, the world’s second largest, faces a expecting it to report a signifi- in production, the manage- expected to continue in the growth in April and May was 20% but some of these witnessed moderate
new test in coming months as officials try to drum cant fall in operating earnings. ment told analysts in a call. current fiscal, barring an and 28%, respectively, over the cor- gains could be for keeps.” B-brands inflation in prices of key raw materi-
up interest in a record wave of bonds from local “Motherson Sumi’s Q4FY20 “Management expects all its unforeseen acquisition or responding months last year. With refer to local bakery products. als. Nonetheless, a decline in other
authorities. International funds now hold 8.6% of operating performance was plants to operate at ~75% utilisa- investment. “The ramp-up of more people staying at home due to Coming back to the March quar- expenses helped earnings before
China’s central government bonds, several times driven by strong all-round per- tion level by June 2021-end new facilities and strong focus the covid-19 lockdown, in-home ter results, in keeping with the interest, tax, depreciation and
more than the share just several years ago, and not formance in India and margin (except India). It anticipates a on working capital manage- food consumption spiked and Bri- numbers of other companies, Bri- amortization (Ebitda) margins
terribly far from the 13% overseas stake in Japanese surprise in two overseas sub- strong bounce back in demand ment resulted on consolidated tannia has gained from this. tannia also saw covid-19’s adverse expand by 24 basis points to 15.8%.
sovereigns. Inflows continued through the corona- sidiaries,” Motilal Oswal Finan- to pre covid-19 level given the net debt falling ~11% YoY in Of course, whether these trends impact on its numbers. In fact, after This is despite higher employee
virus crisis, and the US trade war. Officials are hop- cial Services Ltd robust direct and FY20, and we expect further costs.
ing that interest might extend to local government said in a note. Some of its plants indirect support deleveraging in coming years, The good news is that sales
notes, where foreign ownership is merely 0.01%. Of course, the are in production by governments not considering any large sized Munching Consolidated revenues
(₹ crore) 3,022.91 bounced back in April and May after
Issuance will climb to 4.73 trillion yuan this year to covid-19 shut- ramp-up stage across regions,” acquisitions,” Jefferies India slowly the initial hiccup caused by the
help bolster economic growth that is expected to down w i l l and some are still Edelweiss Securi- Pvt. Ltd said in a note. Britannia Industries’ 2,935.98 lockdown. The Britannia stock
be the worst since the 1970s. BLOOMBERG adversely impact ties Ltd analysts While the focus on order revenue for Q4FY20 made a stunning recovery of about
facing
the company’s said in a note. book execution and liquidity was adversely 2,827.40 67% from its 52-week low seen on
financial per- profitability The company’s boost should help it withstand affected by the 2,807.78 23 March. Of course, valuations are
formance in the challenges overseas joint ven- the volatility better, stabiliza- covid-19 lockdown. 2,764.01 not cheap. Currently, the shares
Curve steepens current quarter. ture has a strong tion of the global auto industry trade at a pricey 48 times estimated
Japan’s 10- and 30-year bond spread climbs to 2,677.32
But social dis- order book of is also key. Some of its manufac- earnings for financial year 2022,
widest since November. tancing norms and preference ₹1.07 trillion and the focus is on turing plants are still in produc- according to Bloomberg. If the good
Japan sell 10-year and buy 30-year for personal vehicles are pro- execution. As the company cut tion ramp-up stage and some run of April and May continues, Bri-
65 bond yield spread (Basis points)
60
jected to drive demand for auto capital expenditure, cash flows are still facing profitability chal- tannia’s high valuations may well
54.4 parts. Most manufacturing from the business improved lenges. Weak operating lever- Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 sustain. After all, how many compa-
55
49.4 plants have restarted opera- last fiscal year. This helped it age at these plants can weigh on Source: Company FY19 FY20 nies have reported an increase in
50
tions and are seeing an increase lower net debt. The trend is overall profit margins. sales during the lockdown?
45
SATISH KUAMR/MINT
40
35
30
25
20
3 Jun 2019 2 Jun 2020
Source: Bloomberg Services PMI shows Unlock 1 brings some relief, but revival is far away
SATISH KUMAR/MINT
Aparna Iyer tions were eased during the sec- ment rate continues to be high at Bajoria, senior economist, Bar-
Lockdown to unlock?
Japan’s bond traders fret [email protected] ond and third phases.
Services PMI remained in deep contraction, but saw a minor uptick
23.48%. clays Bank Plc., wrote in a note.
Small shops and even malls Add the fact that the services Economists are expecting the
over long-end supply compared with April as lockdown rules were eased.

W
ith the lockdown hav- have now been allowed to open sector is labour-intensive and economy to contract 4.5-7.0% in
Manufacturing Services Composite PMI
Moves in Japanese government bonds are signal- ing relaxed considera- for business, provided they are 60
also requires more social interac- the current fiscal year. Most
ling concern among traders about the market’s bly in most parts of not located in containment tions than manufacturing. economists said without fiscal
50
ability to absorb an increase in supply of longer- India, barring the big cities, eco- zones. In fact, from June What’s more is that both the support, even a modest recovery
40
dated notes from July. Yields on the so-called nomic activity is slowly picking onwards, excluding big cities, ambit and demand for services expected in the second half
super-long maturities have risen faster even after up. businesses in most regions are 30 are far wider and stronger in cit- would become a challenge.
the government concentrated the bulk of the rise One sign of this is the uptick in expected to start operations. 20 ies than other regions. Since “There will be a need for the
in its record fiscal 2020 debt sales in shorter matu- purchasing manager’s indices Hence, the PMI is likely to show 10 most big cities are still under a government to step in again with
rities. That has sent Japan’s curve to its steepest (PMI) for services and manufac- sharp improvements in the com- 0 strict lockdown, the services seg- demand stimulus, because you
Jan 2020 Feb 2020 Mar 2020 Apr 2020 May 2020
since November, with the spread between the turing last month. ing months as well. Source: IHS Markit
ment is not likely to show a quick cannot expect the private sector
30-year yield and the 10-year yield climbing back The headline services PMI But before we get our hopes revival. to get up and start running
SATISH KUMAR/MINT
above 50 basis points. It was at 25 basis points number came in at 12.6 for May, up, there are some sombre signs “While we anticipate that June again,” said Sonal Varma, econo-
around mid-March. While the Japanese central up from the historic low of 5.4 too in the services PMI. forecasts of prolonged economic employment prospects as well. will see better performance on mist, Nomura Financial Advisory
bank has ramped up its purchases of short- and recorded in April. A reading Sentiment hasn’t perked up at weakness domestically and over- While the latest data from private account of the calibrated reopen- and Securities (India) Pvt. Ltd, in
medium-tenor securities to help mitigate the below 50 denotes contraction, all. “Output expectations for the seas,” said IHS in its release. think tank Centre for Monitoring ing and a return to normal for a webinar on Tuesday.
impact of the supply deluge, its purchases of bonds while above 50 shows expansion coming 12 months slumped to In other words, companies are India’s economy (CMIE) showed several parts of the country, Varma estimated a contraction
maturing over 10 years are largely unchanged so far in activity. This bounce was their most negative since records not hopeful of a recovery yet. that India added more jobs in underlying weakness is likely to of 5.2% in FY21, with at least two
in 2020. BLOOMBERG expected as lockdown restric- began in December 2005, amid This pessimism may dim May than in April, the unemploy- persist for some time,” Rahul quarters of deep contraction.

Mark to Market writers do not have positions in the companies they have discussed here
 CORPORATE THURSDAY, 4 JUNE 2020
MUMBAI 05
VIRUS EFFECT
Travel curbs on foreigners eased E-com firms expand
delivery network
Healthcare professionals, researchers and engineers working in Indian facilities come under ambit of the move Madhurima Nandy &
Tarush Bhalla
ping up to provide increased
support to their seller ecosys-
BENGALURU tem to ensure business conti-
Neetu Chandra Sharma a registered Indian business entity. active medical supervision. nuity, as the lockdown

E-
[email protected] These could be for equipment instal- The testing capacity has been commerce firms are impacted the operations of
NEW DELHI lation, or under warranty repairs, or increased in the country through seeing a surge in small businesses.
for after-sales servicing on commer- 480 government and 208 private demand from smaller Abhishek Rajan, COO,

I
ndia on Wednesday relaxed visa cial terms. laboratories. Cumulatively, towns and cities, for grocery, Paytm Mall, said since the gov-
and travel restrictions for for- The government said these cate- 4,103,233 samples have been tested essentials, as well as non-es- ernment allowed delivery of
eign healthcare professionals, gories of foreign nationals will have so far for covid-19, while 137,158 sential products, compelling non-essentials, it has wit-
health researchers, engineers to obtain a fresh business visa or samples were tested on Tuesday them to add more pincodes to nessed 2x increase in demand
and technicians working at employment visa, as applicable, alone. Meanwhile, the health minis- their delivery network. from Tier-2 and 3, as well as
Indian healthcare facilities, includ- from the Indian missions and posts try also issued guidelines for safe ear, Amazon Pantry, which rest of India. Paytm Mall has
ing laboratories and factories. abroad. “Foreign nation- nose, throat (ENT) prac- offers grocery witnessed a surge
It hopes the step will promote als holding a valid long- EXPANDING tice during the covid-19 and everyday Amazon Pantry in searches and
smooth functioning of healthcare term multiple entry busi- SCOPE pandemic, as it is a high- essentials, has has been the sale of
infrastructure and seamless research ness visa (other than B-3 risk speciality. The been witnessing witnessing a mobiles, masks,
work during the coronavirus pan- visa for sports) issued by GOVT also included guidelines seek to mini- a 2x increase in 2x increase in trimmers, laptops
demic. the Indian missions/posts more categories of mize the spread of the demand from and other con-
foreigners while demand from
The move came as India reported abroad would have to get relaxing visa infection among ENT Tier-2 and 3 cit- sumer electronics.
9,259 fresh cases of coronavirus, the business visa re-vali- restrictions doctors, nursing staff, ies, said an Ama- Tier-2 and 3 cities, With people
with 254 deaths. dated from the Indian support staff, patients zon India the firm said mostly staying at
The home ministry said this will, mission/post concerned. THESE include and their attendants. spokesperson. home during the
businessmen and
however, be subject to a letter of Such foreign nationals specialists coming to The guidelines said “...Demand from lockdown, there
invitation from a recognized and would not be permitted India on behalf of patients entering ENT cities such as Ambala, Ananta- has been a surge in the sale of
registered healthcare facility, regis- to travel to India on the foreign biz entities outpatient department pur, Bijapur, Kadapa and footwear, especially slip-ons
tered pharmaceutical company or an The govt said this will be subject to a letter of invitation from a recognized and strength of any electronic (OPD) should be Erode saw 5x increase. In May, and comfortable innerwear,
accredited university in India. While registered healthcare facility, registered pharmaceutical company or an visa obtained earlier,” the screened. The objective we expanded Amazon Pantry compared to sneakers, formal
relaxing the visa restrictions, the accredited university in India. REUTERS Union home ministry said in a state- of screening is to minimize exposure to over 200 cities and towns, shoes and fashion apparel.
ministry also included some more ment. to staff and to patients. adding Eluru, Prakasm and For Snapdeal, demand in
categories of foreign nationals. other specialists travelling to India ministry said. The health ministry on Wednes- According to the guidelines, Kurnool among others,” the non-metros has recovered
The categories include foreign on behalf of foreign business entities The ministry also relaxed norms day said that during the last 24 patients having symptoms suggest- spokesperson added. faster compared to metros.
businessmen coming to India on a located in India. This includes all for foreign technical specialists and hours, 4,776 covid-19 patients were ive of covid 19, whether ENT symp- As unlocking gains momen- Overall online sales have
business visa (other than on B-3 visa manufacturing units, design units, engineers travelling for installation, cured, taking the total to 100,303, toms or respiratory symptoms, tum, large e-commerce firms seen a boost as both essential
for sports) in non-scheduled com- software and IT units, as well as repair and maintenance of foreign- with a recovery rate of 48.31%. At should be seen in a separate “cov- are opening up inventory and non-essential items have
mercial or chartered flights, foreign financial sector companies (banking origin machinery and equipment present there are 101,497 active id-19 screening clinic” and not in the across categories. Amazon and now opened up for delivery.
engineering, managerial, design or and non-banking firms), the home facilities in India, on the invitation of patients, all of whom were under ENT OPD. Flipkart have also been step- [email protected]

Contractual hiring Multivitamin

sales surge in a
makes a comeback as bid to boost
firms seek to cut costs virus immunity
Leroy Leo
Kalpana Pathak & [email protected]
Romita Majumdar NEW DELHI

S
MUMBAI ales of multivitamins and
immunity boosters saw a

P
ummelled by the corona- jump in April and May,
virus outbreak, compa- especially on online pharmacy
nies across India, espe- platforms, as people rushed to
cially small and medium enter- shield themselves from cov-
prises, are looking to hire new id-19. “We saw an increase in
workers, but only on a tempo- demand for immunity boost-
rary basis, as they seek to keep Organization are looking for ers and multivitamins during
costs under control. contractual hires legal, finance the lockdown, especially dur-
According to human and IT functions. BLOOMBERG ing the first few weeks. We also
resource consultants, demand saw an increase in brands and
for temporary workers has less impact on costs over the distributors reaching out to us
risen as much as three to four long-term. Besides, resources to list their products,” said
times following business dis- are available within a shorter Pradeep Dadha, founder and
ruptions caused by the pan- response time and there is no chief executive officer, Net-
demic, and is set to surge fur- commitment to retain them. meds.com.
ther as employers are unlikely Most importantly, it lets the Netmeds saw 119% growth in
to commit to full-time workers, core team focus on the main sales of multivitamins during
at least over the next 12-18 product development, he said. April and May compared to
months. Also, while handling a partic- February and March, the two
Mohit Rampal, a consultant ular contract, a contract worker months preceding the lock-
at Ramognee Technologies, a cannot take on other projects down. Sales of other immunity
Gurugram-based mid-sized which may result in a conflict of boosters, including fish oil and
cybersecurity firm, recently interest with the employer. Ayurvedic products like Chya-
posted his requirement for “There is a clear trend in wanprash, witnessed about
developers on a job portal. In contract hiring now. For func- 47% growth in the same
other times, Rampal would tions like legal, finance and IT, period, Dadha said.
have preferred “hiring” these people are looking for contrac- Other online portals also
developers on a permanent tual hires which are between saw similar growth, with Net-
basis. But, this year, he could 6-12 months tenure. Mostly meds and 1mg creating dedi-
only afford them on a contrac- small and medium enterprises cated tabs for covid-19 supple-
tual basis. “Demand for solu- are hiring. Large organizations ments on their portals.
tions around CRM, data min-
ing, artificial intelligence,
remote cyber management,
cannot do away with critical
hires on a temporary basis, so
they are not doing it,” said
A spokesperson for 1mg said
they have seen strong demand
for Limcee, Zincovit, and
Business of Life
etc., has gone up and compa- Anshul Lodha, regional Revital on its platform, with
nies are looking for contractual director at Michael Page, a Ayurvedic products from
hiring,” said Rampal. UK-headquartered recruit- Dabur India, Swadeshi,
He said hiring for project- ment agency. Organic India and Purayati
only basis is affordable as it has [email protected] also seeing a surge.
Daily articles on the workplace,
and how it is evolving.

OTT firms keep content flowing

Lata Jha during the lockdown 11 origi- stay-at -home entertainment
[email protected] nal shows and movies that reality show, hosted by Bolly-
NEW DELHI were shot before the curbs wood actor Varun Dhawan
were imposed. It is also ready with an advertising campaign

V
ideo streaming com- with offerings such as Bhalla shot by him at home, and Kya
panies in India have Calling Bhalla, Never Kiss Bolti Public, an interactive
been innovating over Your Best Friend (Lockdown poll-based game show hosted
the more than two-month Special), and Kaalchakra shot by Maniesh Paul, an actor and
lockdown to continue the entirely in the homes of the television show host.
content pipeline for the actors. Lionsgate Play partnered
expanded audience universe Eros Now, another OTT with Facebook to stream new
as people stay indoors. platform owned by s owned Hollywood titles on the social
American companies such by the movie studio Eros network every week.
as Netflix and Amazon Prime International Plc., acquired A “OTT platforms already
Video have the advantage of Viral Wedding, an eight-epi- have a bank of content that
tapping into their global sode mini-series front-led by was created prior to the lock-
libraries, while local plat- actor Shreya Dhanwanthary, down, ensuring that we are
forms have acquired content, shot by the actors themselves able to offer fresh content to
shot shows remotely, and fin- on their phones and GoPro users. Our strategy of plan-
THE MOST AWESOME BUSINESS DAILY THERE IS.
ished post-production on cameras. It also came out with ning in advance has helped us
projects that have already a quarantine edition of its old ensure that our content pipe-
been shot. original, Metro Park. line for the year is ready,” said
Zee5, the OTT platform Flipkart Video introduced Siddhartha Roy, chief operat- To get your MINT copy, give a missed call on 7039035039 or visit
owned by Zee Entertainment two originals during the lock- ing officer, Hungama Digital www.mintreaders.com or write to us at [email protected]
Enterprises Ltd, launched down, Entertainer No 1, a Media.
06 THURSDAY, 4 JUNE 2020
MUMBAI CORPORATE
VIRUS EFFECT
REUTERS

Senior citizens find a

‘In-home use of beverages safe haven in elderly
will open up new avenues’ homes amid covid-19
Sohini Sen
chases are extremely planned and them, talking to them, taking their to health, will Parle Agro launch [email protected]
structured. It’s not as much on orders. new products in line with the NEW DELHI
impulse, it’s not at all on-the-go. It’s We changed our operating tim- trend?

J
more at the moment and in-home. ings—normally the market would It’s not something we would be in a D.N. Sharma and his wife
To a certain extent, it is hard to say open around 10am, we had our deliv- position to share at this point of time. had been planning to move
whether this will be the new normal. eries taking place as early as six in the All our products, even at the moment, into an assisted living facil-
Medical tourism in India was Things could eventually change as morning. When it started, we were are fruit-based beverage products. ity for seniors for almost a
expected to grow to $9 bn in Suneera Tandon life starts going back to normal. worried. Now, we are optimistic and Going forward, we will continue to year. They had even narrowed
2020 before covid struck. [email protected] For beverage companies, how we hope that we can close the year at keep building on products that have down their search to six institu-
NEW DELHI was business impacted? maybe 10% growth. nutritional value and health benefits. tions. With friends in Columbia
India’s health The biggest impact was on What have the learnings been? Pacific’s Serene Urbana facility

F
or India’s top beverage mak- on-the-go business. Travel is a big Often, through challenges, a lot of in Bengaluru, they decided to
ers, the sweltering summer consumption point, but there were new opportunities arise. The fact that stay there for some days as a Seniors with no immediate
tourism accounts for a chunk of sales no travellers.
marked by the launch of new Several stores were also shut.
FMCG products are being also con-
sumed a lot more in-home—that has
trial, when news started com- family are considering elderly
ing in that older adults were at homes since the outbreak.
sector to campaigns and products. As FMCG companies distribute to more
the country went into a than 9 million stores
opened up a massive opportunity,
especially for the beverage category.
greater risk of contracting cov-
id-19. Soon, the lockdown was Anxiety, sleeplessness, lack of
strict lockdown to con- m INTERVIEW across India; the bever- It’s not just the home consumption announced, and the couple was appetite and lack of physical
revive faster tain the spread of the age category reaches
novel coronavirus on 25 March, almost 3.5 million to 4 million stores.
packs that are going up, but it’s also
single-shelf packs that are going
stuck. activity was found to be the
“My son is in Canada, so liv- most critical health challenge.
bringing to halt the movement of In the initial phase of the lockdown, it inside homes because consumers are ing alone can be tiresome. But Himanshu Rath, founder-
than peers people, travel and eating out, bever- was challenging to reach even thou-
age companies saw demand shrink sands of stores. The entire store uni-
maybe having one pack a day.
It’s hard to say how long-term or
at Columbia, everything is chairperson of Agewell Foun-
taken care for us, from grocery dation, says: “We have been
overnight. Parle Agro, which sells verse shrunk overnight. short-term this change in shopper runs to medical care. I think getting calls from seniors who
Neetu Chandra Sharma Frooti and Appy Fizz brand of bevera- Out-of-home is a big segment and behaviour will be. this is the place I would want to have a very pessimistic outlook
[email protected] ges, says the closure of retail stores, it has been a washout. For a lot of But overall, this reliance on e-com- be in,” says Sharma, 75, who has on life right now. They believe
NEW DELHI airlines and eateries broke its links companies, the eating and dining out merce—because it’s a lot more conve- since booked a place in Colum- there is no tomorrow, they are
with several trade channels. In an segment contributes tremendously nient—still needs a lot of streamlin- bia Pacific Communities. asking for a draft to a will. These

I
ndia holds high hopes that interview, Nadia Chauhan, joint man- to their overall business—it’s ing. Even consumers who possibly Like the Sharmas, many sen- calls earlier would be limited to
its medical tourism industry aging director and chief marketing expected to continue to be a segment resisted the use of e-commerce have iors, with no immediate or maybe four or five in a day.
will revive faster than that of officer, Parle Agro, said the company that’s going to be hugely hit in the actually started adopting it. It will extended family around, INESS O But during the lock-
US
other countries, although this is mending those links and seeking long term. evolve and grow for many categories. are considering elderly down, has shot up to

F
may not be anytime soon. emerging opportunities in In the initial stages of the lock- Have you cut costs? homes, especially after
Life 80-100 daily.”

‘
“Indian medical tourism ‘in-home’ consumption of its down, many beverage businesses We have completely held back on the covid-19 outbreak. Silver Lining Old
industry is likely to revive brands. Edited would have come the entire advertising side and that Mohit Nirula, the CEO Age Home in Delhi,
faster than even some devel- excerpts: We had to reinvent our down to just a single- itself has led to a substantial cost of Columbia Pacific Com- too, has witnessed a
oped nations in Europe, as well
as USA, on account of compar-
What has the coro-
navirus-induced
approach. We adopted digit percentage of
their total business
reduction as we spend about ₹200
crore on advertising during the
munities, says enquiries for threefold jump in enquiries
houses have jumped from during the lockdown. Earlier,
atively better handling of the nationwide lock- different strategies to for that month com- summer. That’s where we have cut 70-80 in a week in January to bookings were made after look-
situation by India as compared down meant for service our retailers... pared to the previous costs mainly. I think by the time we about 450 a week now. “Earlier, ing at the facility, during the
to these nations,” said Piyush the FMCG indus- Tele-calling was a very year. Today, we have are in the second half of this the calls would be from chil- lockdown, three bookings were
Tiwari, director (commercial try reliant on recovered quite year, which is the sec- dren who stayed away from made without any visit.
and marketing), India Tourism physical network big part of what we did aggressively. ond summer sea- parents or seniors above the S.K. Jain, trustee and head of
Development Corp. (ITDC), of distributors, Nadia Chauhan What did you do to son for the bev- age of 70. But now, the enquir- medical unit, Silver Lining Old
under the tourism ministry. wholesalers and Joint MD & chief marketing ensure the availa- erage indus- ies are from all age groups.” Age Home, says the sudden
“Medical tourists will proba- consumers being officer, Parle Agro bility of your prod- try—August, In a recent nationwide sur- spike is because an old age
bly be much more aware of on the ground? ucts in the mar- September vey of 5,000 older people, Age- home is run by doctors. “Most
where they go and how ‘medi- The fast-moving ket? onwards—we well Foundation, which works seniors in India have associated
cally safe’ the country seems to consumer goods (FMCG) business We had to reinvent our approach. would really for the welfare and empower- illnesses—diabetes, hyperten-
be to them, and medical travel has been so much about touch and We adopted a lot of different strate- look at reallo- ment of older persons, found sion, blood pressure. The calls
destinations, like India, that feel where consumers pick up stuff on gies to service our retailers—tele-call- cating bud- that 70% of elderly were either we have got are usually from
have had a lower number of the spot. It is usually driven by ing was a very big part of what we did. gets. already facing health complica- children who live in a different
covid-19 cases and fewer impulse as well. Now, when you look We stayed in touch with every one As consumer tions or fearing to develop city or country, and are worried
deaths relating to the virus, are at how consumers are operating, pur- of our 2 million retailers by calling focus shifts some medical complications about their parents and want
likely to have a faster recov- due to the lockdown curbs. them to be someplace safe.”
ery,” he told Mint.
According to the ministry,
medical tourism in India was
valued at around $3 billion in
2015, and it was expected to
grow to $9 billion in 2020
before covid-19 struck.
According to Tiwari, the
Markets ride optimism wave, up 11% in 6 days Lancet flags study that paused
influx of tourists, including
WHO trial of HCQ for virus cure
REUTERS

medical tourists, is expected to Nasrin Sultana pandemic began to unravel in tractive risk-reward after the
remain subdued at least for a [email protected] India. Nifty had touched its all- recent rally. Labour shortages
good part of 2020. MUMBAI time high on 20 January and and the execution of long-term
“Hospitality, travel and then slipped nearly 40%. Nifty reforms remain key variables,” Leroy Leo issuing an expression of con- Hydroxychloroquine, and its

I
tourism sector is the worst hit ndian markets have surged has gradually climbed to they said. [email protected] cern to alert readers to the fact older form chloroquine, are
(by pandemic) in terms of more than 11% in the previ- 10,000 since then with the Favourable global cues, NEW DELHI that serious scientific questions widely used in India for treating
severity, as well as longer ous six sessions on a wave of index gaining 5.23%, the expectation of a good monsoon have been brought to our atten- malaria, which prompted the

T
recovery period, which will optimism as the country gradu- Sensex rose 4.25%. and the hope that things will he flip-flop over tion,” The Lancet’s editors said. Indian Council of Medical
also have an impact on medical ally eases the stringent restric- Heading into the gradual slowly get back to normal con- hydroxychloroquine The large-scale study, pub- Research to defend its use for
tourism to a large extent,” said tions put in place to contain the relaxation of restrictions from 1 tributed to the market rally, continued on Wednes- lished on 22 May, said that covid-19 amid safety concerns.
Tiwari. spread of coronavirus. June onward, activity trackers analysts said. “Technically, the day with The Lancet issuing an hydroxychloroquine or chloro- The ICMR has been providing
“While a patient needing Institutional investors con- suggest marked sequential Nifty has rallied more than “expression of concern” about quine, when used a weekly dose of
treatment cannot wait, medi- tinued to flush equities with improvement in some 1,000 points in a very short a study that prompted the alone or with cer- The ‘expression of hydroxychloro-
cal tourism will be affected abundant liquidity while global Sensex gained 3,500 points or demand-side indicators such as period of time and momentum World Health Organization to tain types of anti- concern’ was quine to its health-
mostly on account of travel markets also supported the 11.44% and Nifty gained retail auto sales and continued indicators suggest that the halt tests with the anti-malaria biotics, reduced issued following care workers
restrictions, as well as likely rally in the Indian markets. 1,032.50 or 11.44% in the last six progress in rural indicators, market is in the overbought sit- drug over claims that it risked the chances of several concerns treating covid-19,
increase in airfares,” he added. Sensex gained 3,500 points or said UBS Securities. uation and meaningful correc- the lives of covid-19 patients. in-hospital sur-
“As soon as the international
trading sessions. MINT
being raised over as prophylaxis, or
11.44% and Nifty gained However, analysts at UBS tion is not ruled out. The cur- The ‘expression of concern’, vival for covid-19 as a preventive
air travel restrictions are lifted; 1,032.50 or 11.44% in the last six cases, weak corporate earnings Securities still feel that the risk- rent rally is largely attributed to which was meant to alert read- patients as it Surgisphere’s measure.
Medical value travelers, after sessions. and a slowing economy, the reward is unattractive for the a sharp rally in banks and finan- ers about the integrity of the increases the risk dataset Indian pharma-
following due protocols On Wednesday, the Sensex ride to the 10,000 mark has not Indian markets following the cial services stocks and the tex- paper, was issued after several of cardiac arrest. ceutical compa-
including RT-PCR testing, will ended at 34,109.54, up 284.01 been easy for the 50-share latest rally. “Recently ture suggest these stocks may scientific questions were raised The publica- nies Ipca Labora-
flock to India simply for its points or 0.84%. The Nifty index. announced reforms are posi- outperform in near term. about data supplied by a com- tion prompted the WHO to tories and Zydus Cadila Ltd are
value proposition of outstand- touched the 10,000 mark dur- The Nifty charted the tive, although the impact of the Hence, any short-term correc- pany called Surgisphere. temporarily halt the solidarity also two of the world’s largest
ing value for money and excel- ing the day, for first time since 10,000-mark in 52 sessions stimulus measures is unclear. tions should be used to add “Although an independent trial for the repurposed anti- manufacturers of hydroxychlo-
lent clinical outcomes,” said 13 March, before ending at since 13 March. It had shaved Measures such as credit guar- quality BFSI stocks with the audit of the provenance and malaria drug, subject to a roquine, and the hype sur-
Dr Harish Pillai, chair-Federa- 10,061.55, up 82.45 points or off 26.07% to hit the lowest antees should help though. Our medium term time horizon,” validity of the data has been review of the collected data, rounding the repurposed drug
tion of Indian Chambers of 0.83%. point of the year at 7,511.10 on Nifty target of 9,900 for March- Shrikant Chouhan, executive commissioned by the authors which, in turn, drew criticism led the two companies to scale
Commerce and Industry Stock markets have been 24 March as investors started to end 2021—with upside/down- vice president, Equity Techni- not affiliated with Surgisphere from India, where companies up production to allow for suffi-
(Ficci)- medical value travel underplaying key risks such as dump equities to hoard cash as side scenarios of cal Research, Kotak Securities and is ongoing, with results had ramped hydroxychloro- cient inventories for both the
committee. rising number of covid-19 a safety measure as the deadly 11,500/6,700—implies unat- said. expected very shortly, we are quine production. domestic market and exports.

mint 30 June to contain the pandemic spread. The tribunal, in a circu-

Over ₹3,800 cr disbursed under Covid-19 plasma therapy safe, with
lar dated 2 June, said all new appeals, applications and affidavit
SHORT TAKES may be filed electronically by e-mailing a scanned copy of the
memorandum of appeal on the tribunal’s e-mail ID. Such appeals
should be complete in all aspects—affidavit and court fees, among
emergency credit line: FinMin
MINT
no adverse effects, shows study
Houston: The clinical adminis-
tration of blood component
AFP

Zoom booms as pandemic drives others. Physical copies of the memo of appeal, reply, rejoinder plasma from recovered covid-19
will be filed as and when the tribunal starts functioning. Besides, patients to those affected by the
millions to its video service the tribunal said it will schedule the hearing of matters by video- disease could be a safe option
RAMESH PATHANIA/MINT San Ramon: Zoom Video conference and pass appropriate order. PTI without adverse side effects, as
Communications is emerging per a study, published in The
as the latest internet gold mine American Journal of Pathology.
as people flock to its service to India Inc’s IT spends may fall 8% in The findings by researchers
see colleagues, friends and fam- from the Houston Methodist
ily while tethered to their
2020 to $83.5 billion amid crisis Hospital, US may lead to better treatment protocols. PTI
homes during the pandemic. Mumbai: The covid-19 pandemic will lead to an 8% decline in
Zoom’s revenue in the first- information technology spends in India in 2020 to $83.5 billion,
quarter more than doubled analysts at Gartner said on Wednesday. This will be the first time Commodity exports to China could
from last year to $328 million.AP in five years that the yearly spends will slip into the negative terri- New Delhi: State-owned lenders have sanctioned loans
BLOOMBERG tory. In a November, 2019 worth ₹10,362 crore as of June 1 under the recently
fall by $33.1 bn in 2020: UN study
report, the research house had announced emergency credit line guarantee scheme, out United Nations: The global commodity exports to China could
Fresh appeals can be filed through estimated a 6.6% growth in IT of which, little over than a third of the credit has already plunge up to 46% to $15.5 to $33.1 billion in 2020 due to the coro-
spends to $94 billion in 2020. been disbursed. “Public sector banks have already sanc- navirus crisis, according to research by the UN trade body. The
electronic means, says SAT Naveen Mishra, senior research tioned loans worth ₹10,361.75 crore under the 100% Emer- UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said that
New Delhi: The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has said director at Gartner said the fear gency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme. Out of this, the findings raise concerns for economies that rely on exports of
fresh appeals can be filed through electronic means, and matters, of a recession is forcing com- ₹3,892.78 crore has already been disbursed,” FM Nirmala primary goods, such as energy products, ores and grains. For
including the pending ones, will be heard through video- confer- pany chiefs to be very cautious Sitharaman’s office said in a tweet. SHREYA NANDI commodity-dependent developing countries, the drop is projec-
ence. This comes amid a few states extending the lockdown till on their IT spending. PTI ted to be between $2.9 billion and $7.9 billion. PTI
 NEWS THURSDAY, 4 JUNE 2020
MUMBAI 07

Govt okays amendment to Empowered group of secretaries

formed to facilitate investments
Essential Commodities Act Asit Ranjan Mishra
[email protected]
NEW DELHI
make India a more investor- will take four, Modi had said at
friendly destination. It will the annual session of the Con-
give a fillip to domestic indus- federation of Indian Industry
tries. It will bring synergies on Tuesday.

T
he Union cabinet on between ministries and Modi had urged the indus-
Wednesday decided to departments, among the Cen- try to take advantage of the
Change is among steps FM Nirmala Sitharaman announced as part of the ₹20 tn package form an empowered tre and state governments, in trust India has developed in
group of secretaries, chaired policy matters. It will give a the world. “The world is look-
by the cabinet secretary, to boost to the economy, and ing for a trusted and reliable
Utpal Bhaskar encourage both foreign and open up immense direct and partner. We have the poten-
[email protected] domestic investments in India. indirect employ- tial, strength and
NEW DELHI The development comes a day ment opportuni- In every ministry, ability. Countries
after Prime Minister Narendra ties.” there will be cells are also question-

T
he Union cabinet headed by Modi assured India Inc. that The virus out- that will handhold ing whether old
Prime Minister Narendra the country will look to be break and the projects related policies will
Modi on Wednesday gave its investor-friendly. o n g o i n g work. A churning
to the sector
approval to amend the “Industries plan to diversify US-China trade is taking place.
Essential Commodities Act their investments in different war has forced and facilitate Expectation from
(ECA). The more than six-decade-old localities. To ensure more many MNCs to land acquisition India has grown.
law that empowers the government to investments in India, an rethink their The confidence
impose curbs on stocking of farm pro- empowered group of secretar- investment strat- on India has
duce will now be amended to help ies has been formed. Simulta- egy. The Centre seeks to take grown. Indian industry should
farmers get better value for their pro- neously, in every ministry, advantage of the diversifying take advantage of it,” he added.
duce and help attract fresh investments there will be project develop- global and regional supply Modi also pledged to accel-
into the beleaguered farm sector. It will ment cells that will handhold chains by attracting more erate structural reforms to
also lead to removal of cereals, pulses, projects concerning their min- companies to Make in India for boost growth prospects with
oilseeds, edible oils, onion and potatoes istries and facilitate land domestic and global consum- the Indian economy likely to
from the list of essential commodities. acquisition,” information and ers. head into a recession that
This amendment comes against the broadcasting minister Prakash If the industry takes two some forecasts say will be the
backdrop of the government reaching Javadekar said. “This will steps forward, the government deepest since Independence.
out to financially weaker sections
including farmers amid growing criti-
cism that the lockdown, while neces-
sary to control the spread of covid-19,
was unplanned. This has forced a large
number of migrant workers to head
back to their villages from the cities.
“Today’s cabinet decisions will have
Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the landmark decision will transform the farm sector. MINT ‘We must shed protectionist stance’
a very positive impact on rural India, warehouses, processing and export as operations,” the statement said. after the NDA government completed
especially our industrious farmers,” the entrepreneurial spirit gets damp- Addressing reporters, agriculture its first year in office in its second term, Asit Ranjan Mishra through import substitution. with the debt-to-GDP ratio at
Modi said in a tweet and added, “Long- ened due to hanging sword of ECA,” and farmers welfare minister Narendra the cabinet on Monday approved an [email protected] “Unless India’s exports grow around 85% when the dust set-
pending agrarian reforms will enable the government said in a statement. Singh Tomar said the landmark deci- increase in the Minimum Support Pri- NEW DELHI at 15%, we won’t get 8% tles. There are very few bal-
the transformation of the sector.” Although agricultural products can sions will benefit farmers and trans- ces (MSPs) for 14 crops that are 50-83% growth. For that, we should ance sheets which are reasona-

I
The government, on its part, is hope- be regulated in emergency situations form the agriculture sector. higher than the cost of cultivation in an ndia must shed its protec- reverse some of the protec- bly robust to bear the brunt of
ful that an above normal monsoon effort to put more money in the tionist attitude and find a tionist measures. If we turn the pandemic.”
and an increase in crop prices will HELPING HAND hands of farmers. Also, an interest way to be internally com- protectionist, I don’t know Critiquing the “sweeping”
potentially lift farm incomes. A subvention scheme for farmers has petitive to become an export- how we can be an exporting labour reforms adopted by
boost to the agriculture sector is THE move comes in THE govt is hopeful A boost to the agri THE decision also been extended by another three ing economy in a challenging power. Self-sufficient export- many states by ignoring work-
crucial to double farm incomes by the backdrop of the
govt reaching out to
that an above
normal monsoon
sector is crucial to reflects the govt’s
double farm incomes strategy to use the
months to 31 August. post-covid world, considering ing powerhouse is an oxymo- ers’ welfare, Subramanian
2022, a stated goal of the Centre. financially weaker will potentially lift by 2022, a stated virus crisis to initiate Farm focus has been an import that self-sufficient exporting ron,” Subramanian said while said: “Such reforms under-
Amending the ECA of 1955 is sections hit by covid farm incomes goal of the Centre pending reforms part of the NDA’ lexicon and was power is an oxymoron, Arvind speaking at a webcast orga- mine the basic protection
among the measures finance min- evident in the first decision of its Subramanian, former chief nized by EY India. available to workers which is
ister Nirmala Sitharaman second term, when it extended the economic adviser to the He said India is looking at a absolutely critical. These
announced last month as part of the such as war, famine or extraordinary The decisions also reflect the gov- scope of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan finance minister, said on slow and patchy economic tweaks may not attract foreign
₹20 trillion stimulus package. price rise; any participant in the value ernment’s strategy to use the virus cri- Samman Nidhi, or PM-Kisan scheme, Wednesday. Subramanian’s recovery as it unlocks. “We investors as they may say if
“While India has become surplus in chain and exports will remain sis to initiate reforms, a case in point to include all the 145 million farmers comment follows the govern- should brace ourselves for a things can change so drasti-
most agri-commodities, farmers have exempted. “This will remove fears of being the reforming of the agricultural across the country. It also announced a ment’s move to launch a self- sharp decline in GDP. India’s cally in one direction, and so
been unable to get better prices due to private investors of excessive regula- produce market committees (APMCs). ₹3,000 monthly pension scheme for reliant India campaign to pro- fiscal deficit will be in double quickly, it may be reversed in
lack of investment in cold storage, tory interference in their business In the first meeting of the cabinet 125 million small and marginal farmers. mote domestic manufacturing digits if measured correctly the other direction as well.”

FMCG firms
see top line

PERSONAL FINANCE
erode as virus
batters sales
Suneera Tandon &
Shuchi Bansal
NEW DELHI You are important to us. That’s why our dedicated
section on promising investments will help point your
I
ndia’s top consumer goods
firms saw sales contract in
the March quarter as the
lockdown led to a disruption in
supply chain and closure of
wealth in the right direction–up.
stores. The extent of the con-
traction in sales, however,
depended on the products that
these firms sold.
The top fast-moving con-
sumer goods (FMCG) compa-
nies had achieved 50-100% of
sales that they did last year dur-
ing the first quarter, depending
on their product portfolio, said
Pinakiranjan Mishra, sector
leader, consumer products and
retail, EY. “Companies with a
portfolio of health and sanitiza-
tion products, food and other
essentials would definitely per-
form better.” Sales in April
were down by as much 65%,
while those in May were down
by 40% compared to the year-
ago period, said an executive of
a packaged-foods company.
June sales will likely be more
encouraging at 80-90% com-
pared to the year-ago period, as
the country moved into a more
liberal opening up of the econ-
omy, said the executive, who
spoke on condition of anonym- To get your MINT copy, give a missed call on
ity. Home-grown FMCG firm
Dabur India Ltd estimated the 7039035039 or visit www.mintreaders.com
impact of covid-19 in its March
quarter sales at ₹360 crore.
or write to us at [email protected]
“Food companies have done
particularly well as people
stayed indoors boosting
in-home food consumption,”
said Abneesh Roy, executive
vice-president, Edelweiss
Securities. Firms in the beauty
segment would see between
0-20% of the sales that they did
in the first quarter last year, said
market watchers. “Nobody can
give a number for it but the
beauty sector would see a nega-
tive impact,” said Roy.
[email protected]
08 THURSDAY, 4 JUNE 2020
MUMBAI

REPORTAGE | TALKING POINTS | IDEAS | INSIGHT | THE BOTTOMLINE

HOW SOARING FISCAL

DEFICIT AFFECTS YOU
A higher fiscal deficit is not just the government’s headache. It has an impact on all our financial lives

The central government’s decision to

not pay the increase in dearness
allowance and dearness relief due to its
employees would affect 11.5 million
people and help it save ₹37,530 crore. HT

Vivek Kaul respect to the US dollar. that the government would have had to food security. Take the case of the US. Between, end
mint
[email protected] Clearly, a higher fiscal deficit is not just borrow more to bridge the fiscal deficit. SHORT The total food subsidy that the FCI had February and end May, the Federal
MUMBAI something that the government has to When the government borrows more, it STORY claimed during the year stood at ₹3.18 tril- Reserve of the US has printed close to $3
deal with, but it also has an impact on our crowds out the private part of the econ- lion. Hence, more than ₹2 trillion of FCI’s trillion. Despite this huge money print-

I
n 2019-20, the central government financial lives. omy which is looking to borrow, pushing bill remained unpaid by the government. ing, investors haven’t left the US. The rea-
ran a fiscal deficit of 4.6% of gross up interest rates in turn for everyone. WHAT If the government had cleared FCI’s bill, son for that is other than being the major
domestic product (GDP) against the HOW IT AFFECTS SPENDING To take care of this and a slowing econ- its expenditure and fiscal deficit would international reserve currency, dollar is
Current estimates suggest
planned 3.5%. Fiscal deficit is the dif-
ference between what a government I n late April, the central government
decided that the increase in dearness
earns and what it spends and is expressed allowance and dearness relief that was
omy, RBI has been trying to drive down
interest rates. It has done so by cutting the
repo rate or the interest rate at which it
that the combined fiscal
deficit of the central and
have shot up. But that hasn’t happened.
The NSSF lends money to FCI to finance
a large part of the bill unpaid by the gov-
also deemed to be a safe haven currency.
Hence, investors like holding the dollar.
The same cannot be said about the
as a percentage of GDP. due to its employees and retirees (pen- lends to banks to 4% currently, from 5.15% state govts could cross ernment. By operating through NSSF, the Indian rupee. Even a hint of direct money
This huge jump in the fiscal deficit was sioners) won’t be paid. Further, it also in February 2020. It has also pumped 10% of the GDP during this government avoids a higher fiscal deficit printing by RBI can lead to international
because the government ended up with decided not to pay any increase due until money into the financial system by buy- year from the current 7-7.5% and manages to push the problem to a investors leaving India. First and fore-
gross tax revenue of ₹20.1 trillion against 1 July 2021. ing bonds. later date. most, the stock market will fall, hurting
the revised estimate of ₹21.63 trillion, a According to a report in Mint, the move As of 1 June, the excess liquidity in the For this to continue, it is necessary that retail investors, who invest through the
gap of more than ₹1.5 trillion. Also, any will impact 11.5 million employees and financial system stood at ₹4.02 lakh crore. WHY money keeps pouring into the small sav- SIP route, the most. Interestingly, the for-
government cannot cut expenditure pensioners of the central government and This is excess money which banks haven’t ings schemes. And for that to happen, the eign investors have kept the stock market
beyond a point. help it save ₹37,530 crore. State govern- been able to lend and hence, have depos- With the economy expected to interest rates on these schemes need to be going by net investing a total of ₹22,707
The current financial year, 2020-21, is ments have also implemented similar ited with RBI. In January, the government contract during the year, there is higher than those on banks fixed deposits. crore in it, from 1 May to 2 June.
expected to go the same way. With the measures and are expected to save was able to borrow for 10 years at a yield of a grave danger that the central If foreign investors exit the country,
economy expected to contract during the approximately ₹82,566 crore. 6.6%. By June, this had fallen to 6%. and state govts may not earn as HOW GOVT CAN FILL THE HOLE they will want to convert their rupees into
much tax as they had hoped to
year, there is a grave danger that the cen- Hence, government employees, both at
tral government and the state govern- the central and the state level, are already
ments may not earn as much tax as they bearing the cost of the higher fiscal defi-
With so much excess liquidity prevail-
ing in the financial system, interest rates
on deposits have gone down. Data from
at the beginning of the year T he government plans to bridge the dollars. This will lead to the demand for
fiscal deficit by borrowing more dollars going up and the value of the
money this year. Initially, it had planned rupee will go down against the dollar. Of
had hoped to, at the beginning of the year. cit. Typically, in any economic downturn, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy to borrow ₹7.8 trillion. On 8 May, it said it course, RBI can intervene by selling dol-
This will mean higher fiscal deficits for the purchasing power of government (CMIE) suggests that between the end of AND will now borrow ₹12 trillion to finance the lars and buying rupees, but it doesn’t have
the governments. Current estimates sug- employees remains intact. But that is not March and 22 May, the interest on fixed fiscal deficit. This is debt that someone an endless supply of dollars. So, there is a
gest that the combined fiscal deficit of the happening this time around. The indirect deposits is down around 50 basis points. The govt is trying to cut costs, will have to repay in the years to come. As limit to that. Further, a weaker rupee
central and the state governments could impact of this loss of income will mean One basis point is one hundredth of a per- and this is already having an the late Arun Jaitley said in his first speech would mean that everything from study-
cross 10% of the GDP during this year lesser spending from the government centage. impact on salaries of its as the finance minister: “We cannot leave ing abroad to holidaying abroad will
from the current 7-7.5%. employees and pensioners. This will hurt Lower fixed deposit interest rates is employees. Meanwhile, lower behind a legacy of debt for our future gen- become more expensive.
This is something which will impact incomes of many other individuals and another way how people will pay for a returns from bank FDs are a erations. We cannot go on spending today The flip side to not printing money is
you and I. In fact, it already has. businesses. huge slowdown in tax revenue collection. result of higher govt borrowings which would be financed by taxation at a the government borrowing more money.
The central as well as some state gov- What does not help is that several gov- One aspect that is often missed out on is future date.” Beyond a point, that can lead to a ratings
ernments have decided not to increase ernments (like Telangana, for instance) that deposits are a major form of savings The trouble is that even all this borrow- downgrade. Given that, the government
dearness allowance and dearness relief have been unable to pay a full salary to for a majority of Indians. If we look at data schemes pay from 5.5% (the one-year time ing may not be enough. Suggestions have is basically stuck between the devil and
that they pay to their employees and pen- their employees. Again, this means a cut- between 2011-12 and 2017-18, deposits deposit) to 7.6% (Sukanya Samridhi been made by several economists that the the deep sea. Having said that, currently,
sioners. That also explains why govern- down in spending which will impact oth- formed around half of household finan- Yojana scheme). The interest rates on government should monetize the deficit. the market feels comfortable with the idea
ments have increased the taxes on petrol ers. cial savings. offer on the small savings schemes are still In simple terms, this basically means that of the government borrowing more. This
and diesel; people are Desperate govern- If deposit rates go down, as they have higher than the interest rate on fixed RBI should print money can be seen in the fact
paying much per litre ments have been trying over the last few years, people need to deposits. and hand it over to the that the yield on the
than they should have Typically, in any economic to shore up their tax rev- save more in order to meet their broader While the interest rates on small sav- government to spend The government needs to 10-year treasury bond
given the massive col- downturn, the purchasing enues. Take petrol. saving goals of building a corpus for the ings schemes in the time to come are and meet its expendi- look at innovative ways—like has more or less stood
lapse in oil prices. Between 1 January and education and wedding of children, as likely to go down, the difference between ture. In fact, this was a steady at around 6%,
As the governments power of government now, while oil price is well as having sufficient money for retire- interest rates on these schemes and fixed norm until 1997, when selling land banks, cutting since May. Hence, bor-
borrow more to finance employees remains intact. 42.2% lower, the price of ment. This has an impact on current con- deposits is likely to be maintained. This an agreement between goods and services tax (GST) rowing clearly seems
their fiscal deficits and petrol in Delhi has sumption, which has an impact on means it still makes sense to have long- RBI and the government like a lesser evil than
accumulate more debt, But that is not happening barely fallen by 5.2%. incomes of others. term savings parked in these schemes. ended this. and income-tax rates—to printing money.
interest rates tend to go This is primarily Five years back in June 2015, the State Other than higher interest rates, some of Writing in The Indian To conclude, the gov-
up. The Reserve Bank of this time around because the union Bank of India paid an interest of 8% per these schemes also offer a tax deduction. Express on 28 May, the shore up tax revenues ernment needs to look
India (RBI) is trying to excise duty on petrol year on a 5-year fixed deposit. An amount The money raised under small savings former RBI governor D. at innovative ways—like
drive down interest rates and in the proc- charged by the central government has of ₹1 lakh over a period of five years would schemes goes to the National Small Sav- Subbarao, rightly observed: “Since the selling land banks, cutting goods and ser-
ess returns from bank fixed deposits (FDs) been increased dramatically. The sales tax have grown to around ₹1.47 lakh. Cur- ings Fund (NSSF). The NSSF helps the government started borrowing in the vices tax (GST) and income-tax rates—to
have gone down. charged by the state governments has also rently, the bank offers a 5.4% interest on government bring down its fiscal deficit. open market, interest rates went up which shore up tax revenues. Also, it needs to
At a larger level, a spike in government gone up. Ditto for diesel. a five year fixed deposit. At the end of five In 2019-20, the government spent ₹1.09 incentivised saving and thereby spurred prioritize its expenditure big time. As
borrowing increases the danger of rating years, ₹1 lakh invested will grow to ₹1.3 trillion towards food subsidy. A bulk of investment and growth.” On the flip side, things stand, it looks like the citizens will
agencies downgrading India’s credit rat- HOW IT AFFECTS SAVINGS lakh. Clearly, the difference is significant. this food subsidy would have gone to it can be argued that now is the time to have to bear the cost of falling tax reve-
ing even further. This will impact every-
thing from systematic investment plans T he slowdown in tax collections was
clear even before the last financial
(SIPs) to the value of the rupee with year ended on 31 March 2020. This meant
The interest rates on fixed deposits cur-
rently largely vary anywhere between
5-6%. In comparison, the small savings
compensate the Food Corporation of
India (FCI) for selling rice and wheat at
subsidized prices to meet the need for
incentivize lending and not bother much nues and a higher fiscal deficit.
about savers. The thing is there are other
problems with printing money as well.
Vivek Kaul is the author of the Easy
Money trilogy.
 NEWS THURSDAY, 4 JUNE 2020
MUMBAI 09

Mumbai slips through Nisarga’s ORDINARY

POST
clutches, two dead in Alibag SHUCHI BANSAL

Respond to this column at

[email protected]

The cyclonic storm made landfall further south than expected, thus minimizing damage in its path.
IF OTT IS UNABLE TO
Kalpana Pathak & Ridhima Saxena moved to their holding areas to
POLICE ITSELF, THE
MUMBAI avoid any damage from tree fall.
The zoo emergency response team NANNY STATE WILL
S
evere cyclonic storm Nis- of 20 people was also on alert.
arga made landfall south “While it is a great achievement

A
of Mumbai at Alibag on that human life loss has been Number of s the 100-day deadline given by the government to roll out
crorepati
Wednesday, flattening largely contained with early warn- employees
a self-regulation code draws to a close this month, the
houses, uprooting trees ing and evacuations, the loss to in Infosys pressure is mounting on video-on-demand (VoD) enter-
and snapping electric poles. The property and livelihoods is going to goes up tainment platforms such as Netflix, Zee5, Amazon Prime and Dis-
damage, however, was less than take a huge toll on the impacted bit.ly/2ABBIIu ney+Hotstar to come up with a solution. The over-the-top (OTT)
feared as the wind changed direc- communities,” said Dr Anshu video streaming companies have been sparring about the speci-
tion and the storm made landfall Sharma, co-founder, SEEDS, a dis- fics, unable to come to a uniform decision on the mechanism.
further south than expected. aster management organisation. Last month, in a meeting between officials of the information
A 58-year-old man died in Alibag Mumbai International Airport & broadcasting (I&B) ministry and heads of the OTT platforms,
when an electric pole fell on him, Ltd cancelled flight operations the government representatives clearly said that they were look-
authorities said. between 2.30pm and 7pm, affect- ing for an adjudication mechanism for addressing consumer
The cyclone, the first in nearly a ing 12 departures and eight arrivals. complaints. By this, they implied the two-tier system to look at
century for Mumbai, struck Alibag India’s largest container port, Jaw- complaints that have been endorsed only by five companies,
around 1 pm and took around three aharlal Nehru Port Trust, on the SonyLIV, Voot, Jio, Eros, and Disney+Hotstar. The rest have been
hours to complete the landfall, dur- outskirts of Mumbai, was shut for disregarding the mechanism, fearing it may curb their artistic
ing which it entered Mumbai and 24 hours. Goa reported very heavy freedom and impact the cutting-edge programmes they create.
Thane districts. rainfall of 127 mm in last 24 hours More companies were open to signing the first draft of a regu-
Heavy rain lashed the coastal before the landfall, as the cyclone latory code released in January 2019 under the aegis of the Inter-
areas, with winds of 100-110 kmph passed close to the coast. net and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), which defined VoD
gusting up to 120kmph. Surges Heavy rain lashed the coastal areas, with winds of 100-110 kmph gusting up to 120kmph. PTI The coastal districts of Mumbai, platforms as online curated content providers. The original draft
from the sea flooded some of the Sindhugurg, Ratnagiri and Raigad asked platforms to follow the laws of the land that disallow show-
low-lying areas from where people The Mumbai fire department management, at the Brihanmum- management, where representa- were also lashed by rain on ing child pornography, acts of terrorism and disrespect to
had been evacuated. had placed 93 lifeguards on bai Municipal Corporation (BMC). tives of all agencies were present Wednesday morning. Alibagh national symbols, among other things. It stipulated that they cat-
“Nearly one lakh people had beaches, along with 150 flood res- “Also, there are 96 squads deployed for coordination. experienced 51 mm rain till 5 pm, egorize their shows according to suitability for different age
been evacuated from the cyclone cue teams. “For now, it seems that in each high risk division to move The situation was also being while it was 38 mm in Ratnagiri. groups and carry content descriptors and create dedicated teams
spots in Maharashtra and monitored via more than “This year, both Arabian Sea and to address content-related complaints from consumers.
Gujarat and moved to the STORM TRACKER 5,000 cameras installed Bay of Bengal were about 1 degree However, the OTT sector had to revise its self-regulation code
relief camps,” said S.N. in the city. warmer than normal (in early May) based on feedback from the government, which was keen to have
Pradhan, director general, THE cyclone struck NEARLY one lakh THE BMC set up a THE Mumbai airport People were evacuated and hence the conditions were it set up an external body to resolve content-related issues raised
National Disaster Relief Alibag at around 1pm people have been
and took around 3 evacuated from
control room at its
headquarters, over
cancelled operations from Mumbai’s coastal
between 2.30-7pm,
conducive to increasing the by consumers. Thus, the revised code
Force (NDRF), adding that hours to complete spots in Maharashtra 5,000 cameras were affecting 8 arrivals settlements in Colaba, strength of cyclones,” said Dr Jay- Some OTT included the creation of a Digital Con-
more than 43 NDRF teams the landfall and Gujarat installed in the city and 12 departures Worli, Bandra, Dharavi, araman Srinivasan, distinguished firms fear the tent Complaints Council to be chaired
have begun relief and res- Versova and Lokhand- scientist, Divecha Centre for Cli- by a retired judge, in line with the com-
toration work in the two wala Complex, among mate Change, Indian Institute of self-regulation plaints mechanisms followed by the
states. Mumbai has escaped the clutch of trees uprooted by the storm,” he others. Those evacuated were also Science, Bangalore. mechanism broadcasting sector, for both enter-
Eight NDRF teams and five cyclone, but we are keeping guard,” said. checked for fever and oxygen satu- [email protected] may curb their tainment and news channels.
teams of the Indian Navy were said Prabhat Rahangdale, deputy A control room was set up at the ration levels. Srishti Choudhary contributed to artistic freedom Firms not in favour of an external
deployed in Mumbai. municipal commissioner, disaster BMC headquarters for cyclone Animals from the city’s zoo were this story. body for redressal feel that the broad-
casting sector is based on “push” con-
tent where the consumer has no choice and therefore may
require different rules, while OTT platforms are based on “pull”
content where the consumer exercises his/her choice and “pulls”
the content that he/she wants to see. They argue that OTT audi-

Tiger Global tax ruling to hit startup exits HC stays Franklin’s ences are more individualistic and watch content in a personal
space on a smartphone or laptop unlike TV, which is viewed with
the family. Besides, they feel they have taken steps to empower
Jayshree P Upadhyay
[email protected]
holding structures on a con-
tinuous basis, as it could even-
route and thus not eligible for
treaty benefits.
e-voting process the consumer to make a choice. These include content synopsis,
trailers, programming classification and guidance on sex and
nudity. Along with such precautions, they have added a parental
MUMBAI tually be relevant upon exit In another ruling in October Jayshree P Upadhyay & the operation and implementa- lock system for kids and prefer to deal with complaints internally.
(due to tax liability),” said Vai- 2019, the AAR had denied the Neil Borate tion of the notice dated Arguments against the two-tier complaints mechanism are

U
S private equity firm bhav Gupta, partner, Dhruva same treaty benefit in a case 28.05.2020 regarding e-voting based on the fear that the platforms may be asked to edit or take
Tiger Global’s capital Advisors. from a decade ago (the AAR MUMBAI and unit-holder’s meeting sent down shows, which could cripple their creativity.
gains tax setback on In 2018, Mauritius-based ruling did not mention the through email by respondent After the meeting with I&B ministry officials, the OTT firms

W
Tuesday is the latest in a series entities, which were part of name of the company). Here, ithin a span of one no.3 herein shall remain have gone back to IAMAI and the matter is now pending with its
of disappointments for foreign Tiger Global, had sold their too, the authority had agreed week, Franklin stayed,” said the court order. digital entertainment committee. For the moment, there seems
investors who have routed stakes in Flipkart Singapore to with the tax department that Templeton India is On 28 May, Franklin had to be no consensus on the issue, though there are murmurs of
money through Mauritius, a Luxembourg-based com- Mauritian entities were battling a second court case, issued e-voting notices to the OTT firms such as Hungama and Shemaroo veering towards
with the tax authorities deny- pany for over ₹14,500 crore, merely lending their name to with the Gujarat 300,000 inves- agreeing to the revised self-regulations code.
ing benefits under a tax treaty and, subsequently, had sought seek treaty benefit. high court staying The stay by the tors of its six debt It is important at this juncture for the streaming industry to
they suspect is being abused to AAR rejected Tiger Global’s an advance ruling for zero “The investor community the winding-up Gujarat high court funds, seeking bury the differences and show a united front because the sector
avoid tax. plea for capital gains tax withholding tax. The taxman had begun to believe that exercise under- puts the winding- authorization to is growing rapidly. A report by Media Partners Asia, a research
According to legal experts, exemption on its stake sale in objected that the transaction acquisition of Indian compa- taken by the asset down process in a monetize the and consulting firm, said that it sees India’s online video market
continued denial of treaty ben- purely for tax evasion, and nies made by Mauritius or manager for its six scaling to $4 billion in revenue by 2025 with SVoD (subscription
Flipkart to Walmart in 2018. MINT
limbo till 12 June, underlying secu-
efits, despite the new India- AAR accepted its view. Singapore entities prior to debt schemes. rities set aside. lead video-on-demand) contributing a greater share as it reaches
Mauritius tax treaty protecting from the 2018 sale of its Flip- While investments through April 1, 2017, were grandfa- In a plea filed when the matter The voting was to more than $1.5 billion, while advertising grows to $2.5 billion.
investments from Mauritius kart stake to Walmart. Tiger the Mauritius route and tax lit- thered and, therefore, would by promoters of will be heard next occur between 9 The immediate need to build a consensus on self-regulation
before 2017, is likely to have Global had claimed nil with- igation have always been a not suffer capital gains tax on the soft drink and 12 June. also stems from the fact that if the OTT sector does not roll out its
ramifications on future exits holding tax on the capital grey area in taxation matters, exit. However, this decision of brand Rasna Pvt. “We’re examin- own code, the government may be tempted to do so. At a recent
by startup investors who have gains, since its investment the recent cases are being AAR will have the effect of Ltd against Franklin alleging ing the matter and will take virtual roundtable with Hindi daily Dainik Jagran, I&B minister
routed money from well- firms that made the Flipkart viewed by investors as setting unsettling this understanding that the winding-up of six debt appropriate steps as may be Prakash Javadekar made his intent clear. He said that currently
known tax havens. investment were based in a precedent, which will make and could give fresh impetus schemes was illegal, the Gujarat required. We continue to fol- OTT is covered by IT and digital laws. However, while television
On Tuesday, the Authority Mauritius. them pay 21% tax on exits. to litigation based on bona high court stayed the e-voting low due process, both in mak- monitors content and receives complaints, there is no such
for Advance Rulings (AAR) “The AAR ruling is bound to At least four rulings by AAR, fides of the investments being process. The stay puts the ing investment decisions and in mechanism for OTT. Therefore, OTT must propose a mechanism
rejected a petition by US pri- create flutters in the PE indus- including the latest one routed through such jurisdic- winding down process in a the winding up of these for itself. If not, the government will consider a legal option.
vate equity firm Tiger Global try. For funds, it will be impor- against Tiger Global, have tions,” said Vivek Chandy, limbo till 12 June, when the schemes,” said a Franklin Tem- Shuchi Bansal is Mint’s media, marketing and advertising edi-
claiming an exemption from tant to assess the management labelled investments through joint managing partner of law matter will be heard next. pleton India spokesperson. tor. Ordinary Post will look at pressing issues related to all three. Or
tax on capital gains resulting and control aspects of their Mauritius as a tax avoidance firm J Sagar Associates. “By way of ad-interim relief, [email protected] just fun stuff.

Locusts pose threat to upcoming kharif season Facebook signs global licensing
Sayantan Bera soon.” swarms reached up to Jhansi in
deal with music label Saregama
[email protected] FAO has forecast that UP and beyond,” said Ajay Vir
NEW DELHI between 22 June and 19 July, Jakhar, chairman of Bharat Nandita Mathur music stickers, and other crea- and nearly 50% of all the music
locust swarms will travel to Krishak Samaj, who farms in an [email protected] tive content. Users will also be recorded in India.

O
ver the past month, India directly from their spring area close to the international NEW DELHI able to add songs to their Face- Saregama has also expanded
visuals of locust breeding habitats in East Africa border with Pakistan—in Pun- book profile. into other branches of enter-

S
swarms invading cities (Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya), jab’s Abohar district. ocial media giant Face- Starting Wednesday, people tainment such as publishing,
in Rajasthan and travelling as West Asia (Oman, Saudi Arabia, Scientists in the Indian book on Wednesday said will be able to listen to Sare- film production, and digital
far as Madhya Pradesh, Maha- Yemen, Iran), Afghanistan and Council of Agricultural it has signed a global gama’s rich catalogue of more content.
rashtra and Chhattisgarh have Pakistan. Summer breeding Research (ICAR), however, are licensing deal with India’s old- than 100,000 songs across Facebook has signed similar
unnerved many. While locust along the India- confident that est music label Saregama. many different genres, includ- deals with some of India’s top
incursions are common for Pakistan border is Farmers in desert locusts will The partnership with Face- ing film songs, devotional music labels, including T-Se-
border states like Rajasthan an added threat. Rajasthan, not have any sig- book comes soon after Swedish music, ghazals, and Indipop in ries, Yash Raj Films, and Zee
and Gujarat between the With effective Gujarat and nificant impact in audio streaming service Spotify more than 25 languages, mak- Music Co. It has also rolled out
months of July and October, control in India’s Punjab may pay a t h e coming signed a licensing partnership ing their experience on the its music products in the coun-
this year was unusual for the Several successive waves of locust invasions can be expected in border states, months. “In April with Saregama for Indian users. social media platform even try in September last year.
heavy price due
early arrival of the desert India in June and July. PTI locust swarms are and May, locusts The deal terms between more vibrant, personal, and “At Facebook, we believe
locusts which migrated from unlikely to pose a to localized losses arrived following Facebook and Saregama were engaging, the companies said. music is an integral part of self-
Pakistan. even before normal locust issued by the United Nations’ grave threat to by locust swarms conducive spring undisclosed. “We are pleased with this expression and bringing peo-
In 2019, over 150 swarms of arrivals begin in June-July. Food and Agriculture Organi- the rain-fed rains in east Africa, However, Saregama said that partnership as now millions of ple closer together and creating
desert locusts were recorded; Should Indian farmers be zation (FAO) on 27 May, “Sev- kharif crop sea- Baluchistan and it will license its music for video Facebook users will be able to memories that last. We are very
so far this year, about 25 worried about their kharif crop, eral successive waves of inva- son, and therefore unlikely to Iran (which aided breeding). and other experiences across add music from our vast cata- proud to partner with Sare-
swarms have been observed. planting for which is going to sions can be expected (in India) jeopardize foodgrain produc- The swarms moved beyond Facebook and its video sharing logue to stories and videos they gama that will allow people on
Since April, nearly 54,000 hec- begin shortly? Some locust until July in Rajasthan with tion. But farmers in states like India’s border areas in search of app Instagram. create and share,” said Vikram our platforms, globally, to use
tares of land in six states— swarms now moving in border eastward surges across north- Rajasthan, Gujarat and parts of food aided by westerly winds. The more than 2.6 billion Mehra, managing director, Sar- their favourite retro Indian
Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, districts of Rajasthan are as vast ern India as far as Bihar and Punjab may pay a heavy price That is unlikely to happen in people using Facebook every egama India. music to further enrich their
Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pra- as 6-km-long and 2-km-wide; Odisha followed by westward due to localized losses. June and July,” said S. N. Sushil, month can choose from a wide Formerly known as The content on our platforms,” said
desh, and Maharashtra—have they can travel up to 150km a movements and a return to “The unusual invasion in entomologist and former plant variety of music from Saregama Gramophone Co. of India Ltd, Manish Chopra, director and
been treated with insecticides day in search of food. Rajasthan on the changing April-May proved that we were protection advisor at the agri- to add to their social experien- Saregama claims to own the head of partnerships, Facebook
to control the pest. And this is According to a forecast winds associated with the mon- underprepared due to which culture ministry. ces such as videos, stories via largest music archive in India India.
10 THURSDAY, 4 JUNE 2020
MUMBAI PERSONAL FINANCE

Deferring EMIs may mean no new loans

Opting for RBI’s EMI moratorium facility may put your repayment capacity in doubt and banks may not be willing to sanction any new loans to you
ISTOCK
Renu Yadav crunch. Hence, banks would be cautious in due to the ongoing uncertainty and not likely that the borrower will need to ser-
[email protected] lending to such people immediately,” said due to cash crunch. Borrowers who are vice EMIs regularly for at least six months
Gaurav Gupta, CEO, MyLoanCare. not savvy may have failed to opt out of the before banks can start lending to them

I
t has been highlighted enough that In case of sanctioned loans, banks moratorium, a requirement by some again,” said Gupta.
the deferment of equated monthly re-evaluate the repayment capacity of banks. Also, there will be no impact on the
instalments (EMIs)—through the borrowers before disbursing them. “Any “Many people who didn’t need morato- credit score of borrowers. “We are work-
moratorium facility provided by the sanction is valid for a limited period and rium opted for it. The communication ing with the lenders to ensure that the data
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) till also under certain conditions. Sanctions coming through in the initial days after on moratorium is reported to us in line
August-end—will lead to an increase in get cancelled if the period expires or the the announcement was not very clear. with RBI guidelines,” said Sujata Ahlawat,
the total interest cost of the loan. How- conditions are not met. Common condi- Then, each lender came up with a differ- vice-president and head, direct to con-
ever, there is another unintended conse- tions include non-payment of an existing ent set of rules for morato- sumer interactive, TransUn-
quence of availing of the moratorium loan, adding a co-applicant as a co-owner rium. Coupled with the gen- To avoid risk, ion CIBIL.
facility: rejection of fresh loan applica- of the property and furnishing records eral high uncertainty and many banks have People who have enough
tions. In fact, in some cases, even loans showing receipt of certain income. In gen- anxiety levels in end-March, rejected loan liquidity should opt out of the
that were already sanctioned but not dis- eral, if some time has elapsed between it was difficult for clients to applications moratorium in accordance to
bursed have been cancelled for borrowers sanction and disbursement, lenders will decipher and make a judi- their banks’ rules. Also, it
where clients
who opted for the moratorium facility. run the entire sanction process at the time cious call. Many sought to makes sense to prepay as
“Some lenders have put borrowers with of disbursement. This is where they are preserve liquidity even opted for a much of the loan as possible.
moratorium in their negative list. This checking for moratoriums and pay cuts though they had the means moratorium Mishra suggests that borrow-
affects new applications as well as cases and revising sanction letters,” said Mishra. to repay,” said Khosla. ers could explain to the bank
sanctioned but not disbursed,” said Aditya why they opted for the mora-
Mishra, founder and chief executive offi- WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? underwriting loan applications. Availing THE UNINTENDED VICTIMS MINT’S TAKE torium even when they didn’t need it.
cer, Switchme.in, a platform that helps When a bank gives out a loan, it evaluates of moratorium impacts the clients ‘ability’ According to news reports, close to 20% of Experts say the rejection of loan applica- “They can show their salary slips and bank
borrowers shift their home loans to other the borrower’s repayment capability, factor. To avoid taking unnecessary risk in the borrowers of State Bank of India and tions of borrowers who have opted for account statements to show they had
financial institutions. besides looking at the credit score. A bor- these uncertain times, many banks have 90% of borrowers of Bank of Baroda have moratorium may be a temporary phe- funds to service the EMI,” said Mishra.
RBI, while announcing the morato- rower who opts for the moratorium facil- rejected applications where clients opted opted for the moratorium facility. IDBI nomenon. “Lenders would want to see the Ideally, you should stay away from debt
rium, had categorically stated that opting ity has actually agreed to the fact that he or for a moratorium,” said Raj Khosla, man- Bank said 65% of its customers haven’t borrower’s ability to service EMIs. As in these uncertain times. Remember that
for it will not have any impact on the credit she is facing a financial crisis and is not in aging director, MyMoneyMantra.com, a “opted out” of the moratorium facility. there are no precedents of a regulatory if you are unable to service your EMIs after
score of borrowers. So why are banks a position to repay his or her existing loan. financial services provider. There is no industry-wide data yet. moratorium, there may not be a clear pol- the moratorium period gets over, your
denying loans to the borrowers? We help “The ability and intention (of the bor- “Someone who has opted for a morato- But a lot of them may have opted for the icy on the cooling period as yet. However, credit score will get hit. So opt for it only if
you understand that and the way out. rower) are key criteria for banks while rium is probably facing near-term liquidity moratorium facility unintentionally or from a risk management standpoint, it is you have no other way out.

For direct investing, get guidance from ‘Digital payments saw monumental
advisers or recommendation websites revolution in the wake of covid-19’
ISTOCK
Srikanth Meenakshi

I invest ₹2,000 each in system-

atic investment plans (SIPs) of The pandemic is changing the way people live, work and transact. Porush
HDFC Top 100, Kotak Standard Singh, divisional president, South Asia, Mastercard, talks about what this
Multicap, Mirae Asset Large Cap
Fund Regular, Franklin India Avoid means for the digital payments industry and how new-age technologies
Equity, SBI Focused Equity, SBI investing in such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning can revolutionize
different
Magnum Global, SBI Small Cap funds of a the way security and accessibility are managed
Fund, ICICI Prudential Value single AMC
Discovery and Aditya Birla Sun as they
perform in
Life Frontline Equity Fund Reg- unison
ular. All are growth options. I
invest around ₹20,000 per
month and can increase it to
bit.ly/304wDU
2
MONEYGURU
₹25,000 per month. I want to
PORUSH SINGH
build a corpus of ₹50 lakh in the
Divisional president, South Asia, Mastercard
next five years when I am due for
retirement. Will SIPs of ₹25,000 ASK MINT can invest directly in funds?
per month be enough to build the m MUTUAL FUNDS —Karan
required corpus? Are the funds I There are several websites for both How much of a change do that all our staff is safe and well OFF TRACK tive solutions to the market.
invest in good or would you like direct and regular investing needs. you think covid-19 has equipped to work remotely. Last year, our global leader-
to suggest any changes? At At present, you have too many Websites such as Kuvera, Groww and brought about in how peo- We are maintaining the Your favourite ship announced promising
present, the market value of my funds, and no debt scheme. You Zerodha Coin cater to direct invest- ple transact? electronic payments ecosys- book investment plans for India. We
investment is around ₹3.30 lakh should restructure your SIPs as fol- ing, while sites such as FundsIndia There’s no denying that tem that provides critical Anything by P.G. are investing in providing peo-
and I can take moderate risk. lows. Stop SIPs in HDFC Top 100, and Scripbox facilitate regular covid-19 has changed the way infrastructure, security, prod- Wodehouse, ple new ways to pay. We
Also, how much return can one Franklin India Equity, ICICI Pruden- investing. we work, shop and communi- ucts and services to help busi- especially brought Mastercard Labs to
expect in the present context at tial Value Discovery, Aditya Birla Sun If you invest in regular plans, make cate. Notions of speed, conve- nesses and consumers manage the Jeeves India in 2017, which identifies
series
the end of five years? I also invest Life Frontline Equity and SBI Mag- sure you get advice on portfolio plan- nience and safety are being through the pandemic. Our and experiments with future
₹50,000 in National Pension num Global. Hold all investments ning and review the suggestions on a re-examined and redefined. network allows consumers technologies in key areas,
Scheme (NPS) to avail of tax ben- made so far. Increase the SIP amount periodic basis. For direct investing, Finding the balance between access necessities from the including digital payments,
efit. Will it be prudent to con- to ₹5,000 each in Kotak Standard ensure you get help and guidance the need to protect ourselves comfort and safety of their data solutions, financial inclu-
Gadgets you
tinue it? Multicap and Mirae Asset Large Cap; from a source such as a registered and the need to interact to homes or with minimal physi- can’t do
sion, alternative payments,
—R.S. Iyer to ₹4,000 in SBI Focused Equity; and investment adviser or online maintain our daily lives is a cal contact via contactless pay- without and safety and security. The
Your SIP amount of ₹25,000 a ₹3,000 in SBI Small Cap. Start an SIP research and recommendation web- challenge faced by everyone. ments. As a result, merchants A coffee lab also supports our flagship
month and annual NPS investment of ₹8,000 in Aditya Birla Sun Life sites. You can also follow the curated Achieving this balance have continued to operate. machine Start Path programme that
of ₹50,000 will not be enough to Corporate Bond fund. This will give Mint50 list to make your fund choi- means raising awareness Now, more than ever, small works with startups and sup-
reach your goal of ₹50 lakh in five you an equity: debt ratio 68:32, ces. One way or another, you should about the choices we have. merchants, MSMEs, and farm- ports them in developing
years. Assuming a moderate return which is prudent, given your time make sure that you get some help This includes how we choose ers cannot be overlooked. solutions. Through this, we
of 12% annually, you will most likely frame and risk appetite. and guidance with your investing to pay—by using cash, touch- have supported and grown
reach around ₹28 lakh-30 lakh by the and don’t just rely on self-research. ing a PoS (point of sale) Cash is still king for many technology startups like Ton-
time you retire. In order to reach Should I invest via a direct or reg- Srikanth Meenakshi is co-founder, machine when using a card, or Indians. Do you think the Favourite etag, Zeta and Fluid AI.
your goal, you will either have to ular mutual fund SIP? Are there PrimeInvestor.in. Queries and views going contactless with a card uncertainty will make peo- thing on your We are working towards
desk
increase your monthly investment to any websites through which I at [email protected] or mobile device. As many ple regress into hoarding bringing cutting-edge tech-
A picture of
₹45,000-48,000 or increase your countries imposed lockdowns, and using cash more? my wife and nologies facilitating AI to
horizon by another three years. the majority of consumers Although cash is deeply daughters assess behaviour patterns and
Continue with your investment in For more stories about how to manage your money turned to digital embedded in the avert online frauds. With an
NPS if you are paying less tax in the life, listen to the podcast Why Not Mint Money payments for nec- Indian consumers Indian payment aim to reduce response time
old tax regime. If your tax implication with Mint’s Personal Finance team on htsmart- essary purchases. are increasingly system, the per- and contain threats, we are
is lower in the new tax regime, con- cast.com. You’ve worked for it, now let your money This crisis has adopting and ception of cash as leveraging AI and machine
tribute only the minimum to NPS work for you. changed the pay- trusting the digital a vehicle for cov- adopt digital payments to con- learning-enabled systems that
and shift the remaining to your SIP. ments landscape id-19 has led to a tain the spread of covid-19. can easily predict any irregu-
technologies
and the industry marked shift What we are now seeing are larities in the payment process
has a critical role available to them from cash to digi- signs of further growth and and take swift preventive
to play in the cov- for payments tal payments. acceptance of digital payments measures at the right time.
id-19 contain- Various reports among a large population in
ment efforts. suggest that peo- India. While demonetization Do you anticipate any
According to a recent con- ple are adopting digital modes pushed India’s need to move to major shifts or innovations
TAX ON YOUR GOLD AND REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS sumer survey, the usage of dig- of payment to avoid potential digital, covid-19 will expedite emerging out of the
Real estate and gold have traditionally formed a large chunk of Indian investors' portfolios. However, over the past few years,
ital payments among Indian contamination issues around the transition into a less-cash present situation?
returns from real estate have been poor to negative. On the other hand, gold does not give attractive returns in the long term consumers in the current sce- handling currency notes. economy in the long term. In the wake of covid-19, the
and has high transaction cost. Apart from keeping gold or real estate for own use, investments in these two asset classes don’t nario was the highest around However, to further As digital becomes the new digital payments industry has
make much financial sense. But if you choose to reduce exposure to gold and real estate, do pay attention to the tax rules that the globe, at 75%. Further, strengthen the acceptance of normal, facilitators of digital witnessed a monumental rev-
will apply. Here is a look at the taxes that apply to short-term and long-term gains from these two asset classes. around 78% Indians said that digital payments, it is impor- platforms—providers and olution. Consumers are
they will adopt digital pay- tant to increase merchant retailers—will need to work increasingly adopting and
ments more actively over the involvement and make the together and invest in infra- trusting the technologies
next six to nine months. process of transaction easier structure to support the digital available to them.
GOLD SOVEREIGN REAL It is evident that the adop- and more secure. We have drive. Strengthening core Technological advance-
GOLD BOND ESTATE
tion of digital and contactless been working with the indus- infrastructure by investing in ment in digital security will
payments will grow, going for- try and the Reserve Bank of modern payment platforms also play a vital role in driving
What is long term? More than 3 years What is long term? More than 1 year, if What is long term? More than 2 years ward. It is imperative that India (RBI) to increase the and cloud-based infrastruc- digital and contactless pay-
listed; more than 3 years, if unlisted industries and governments limit for contactless “tap and ture to increase resilience, ment acceptance across India.
work together to maximize the PIN” transactions, which has security, scalability and mar- While new-age technologies
Short-term capital gains tax
Short-term capital gains tax Tax on interest Short-term capital gains tax adoption of digital commerce. been revised to over ₹2,000. ket agility is imperative. such as blockchain, big data,
Slab rate and AI will be shaping the
Slab rate Slab rate Slab rate How does Mastercard plan Will covid-19 give a push to There are already a num- future of digital payments, it
Long-term capital gains tax to ensure business continu- digital payments like ber of fintechs servicing would be equally critical for
Long-term capital gains tax Long-term capital gains tax
20.8% ity post-covid? demonetization did? the digital payments space. the industry to collaborate and
20.8% 20.8% with indexation (use Cost Our operations have contin- We have already adopted How does Mastercard plan offer solutions that are aligned
with indexation (use Cost with indexation (for unlisted bonds and Inflation Index to calculate) ued without disruption as we digital payments at a massive to navigate this market? to the customers’ needs.
Inflation Index to calculate) listed bonds transferred before maturity); swiftly shifted to flexible work rate. The government, regula- We have always partnered Nilanjana Chakraborty
no tax on maturity
arrangements across our offi- tors, banks and service provid- with fintechs to further digital nilanjana.chakra-
ces globally. We have ensured ers encouraged consumers to commerce and bring innova- [email protected]
SANTOSH SHARMA/MINT Tax rates include cess; For further details on taxation, go to bit.ly/2pOeeH9 Source: EY, Mint research
 NEWS THURSDAY, 4 JUNE 2020
MUMBAI 11

RIL rights issue

Trump order blocks flight Centre takes steps
subscribed 1.6
times on last day to bring the farmer
FROM PAGE 1

India shareholders could

access to Chinese airlines closer to the market
freely trade their rights enti-
tlement on a stock exchange. FROM PAGE 1
According to stock
exchange data, the rights The move comes after Chinese regulators halted US airlines from resuming services across the country.
priced at ₹1,257 per share In the new regime, the
received bids for 551.30 mil- farmer will have the freedom to
lion shares on BSE and 120.29 Bloomberg sell outside AMPCs, and any
million shares on NSE.
Shares of RIL rose 0.41% to
[email protected]
India engaged buyer can purchase directly at
the farmer’s doorstep. “There

T
₹1,542.45 on Wednesday.
Since the rights issue opened,
he Trump administra-
tion issued an order sus- with US on will be no tax on such trade and
buyers will not require a licence
the stock has risen 9.42% while pending passenger Hyundai (a PAN card will suffice),” agri-
it has gained only 2.79% this flights from China-based issue of H-1B introduces
upgraded
culture minister Narendra
calendar year so far. airlines, saying it was Singh Tomar said. The minister
The rights issue saw robust retaliation for Beijing barring US visas: Shringla online retail
platform
‘Click to
added that all disputes related
demand from both RIL pro- carriers from re-entering that mar- to such trade (relating to price, In the new regime, the farmer
moters and public sharehold- ket, in a continued escalation of Elizabeth Roche Buy’
payments and quality of pro- will have the freedom to sell
ers, said two people aware of tensions between the two nations. [email protected] bit.ly/307NyF5 duce) will be resolved by sub- outside AMPCs. HT
the development, requesting The order issued Wednesday NEW DELHI divisional magistrates and dis-
anonymity. goes into effect 16 June but Presi- trict collectors within a span of former agriculture secretary

I
“Most of the large public dent Donald Trump can act sooner ndia is constantly urging two months. and visiting senior fellow at the
shareholders of the company, if he chooses, the Department of the US to allow skilled To help farmers enter into Indian Council for Research on
including LIC, subscribed to Transportation said in a statement. Indian workers to stay on, contract-farming arrange- International Economic Rela-
the shares. Index funds, who The move ramps up tensions as they were engaged in the ments with processors, big tions, Delhi.
can’t hold partly paid-up between the US and China, adding fight against covid-19 in vari- retailers and exporters, the cab- However, since a copy of the
shares, had sold their rights to disputes over trade, the corona- ous fields, including medi- inet also approved ‘The Farm- ordinances is not available yet,
entitlement using the stock virus pandemic and the treatment cine, and developing solu- ers (Empowerment and Protec- it is difficult to say the extent to
exchange platform available to of Hong Kong. On Friday, Trump tions for firms fighting the tion) Agreement on Price which the farm sector has been
sell these entitlements,” said said that the US would “begin the The order is aimed at four Chinese carriers, including China Eastern. AFP epidemic, foreign secretary Assurance and Farm Services liberalized, added Hussain.
one of them. process” of eliminating the policy Harsh Vardhan Shringla said Ordinance, 2020.’ It also remains unclear how
“The success of RIL’s rights exemptions that allow America to came after the close of trading in on the action. China’s embassy in on Wednesday. The government expects the states will react to these ordi-
issue, seen in the context of the treat Hong Kong differently than Shanghai and Hong Kong, which Washington also didn’t immedi- Addressing the National new law will transfer the risk of nances since agriculture mar-
prolonged nationwide lock- the mainland. China’s leaders are major trading centres for pub- ately respond to an emailed request Association of Software and unpredictable prices from keting is a state subject as per
down necessitated by the cov- recently moved to impose sweep- licly held Chinese airlines. for comment. Service Companies (Nas- farmers to firms the Constitution.
id-19 pandemic, is also a vote of ing new national security legisla- It isn’t clear how the DOT order The department on 22 May said scom) in Delhi, Shringla said better equipped It is unclear how In the past, states
confidence, by both domestic tion on the Asian financial hub. could impact the burgeoning air China had violated a bilateral PM Narendra Modi had dis- to handle it. Con- states will react to h a v e often
investors, foreign investors Beijing has prevented US carri- cargo operations between the US agreement allowing airline service cussed the issue of H-1B visas tract farming, it these ordinances imposed restric-
and small retail shareholders, ers from restarting service there and China. between the two countries by fail- (non-immigrant visas that said, will help since agriculture tions on trade to
in the intrinsic strength of the while four of its airlines have main- Several US passenger airlines ing to respond to requests by Delta allow US firms to employ for- growers access protect consum-
Indian economy,” said Mukesh
marketing is a
tained flights to and from markets have begun flying cargo in empty and United. The department eign workers in speciality latest technology, ers, say, during a
Ambani, chairman of RIL. here this year as covid-19 erupted, passenger planes as they struggle accused China of unfairly blocking jobs such as IT professionals), reduce marketing state subject as per supply shortfall of
The rights issue marks according to the the carriers’ which the US plans to restrict. costs and improve the Constitution a particular com-
another milestone in the exten- statement. US air- TURBULENCE AHEAD attempts to resume The talks occurred during farm incomes. modity.
sive fundraising efforts of Reli- lines had asked to service in that US President Donald “In a situation Just enacting a
ance Industries despite the tur- resume service as THE order goes into THE move ramps up BEIJING’S failure to country. Trump’s visit to India. “In our where the contracted price is set of ordinances may not
moil in the capital markets from early as 1 June. effect on 16 June but tensions between the approve requests is a The DOT on engagements, we have lower than the market price change the pattern of trade,
President Donald US and China, adding violation of the Air
the coronavirus pandemic. “The Chinese Trump can act to disputes over the Transport Agreement, W e d n e s d a y emphasized that this has during delivery of produce, the said Himanshu, associate pro-
Ahead of the issue, Reliance government’s fail- sooner if he chooses virus, trade and HK US officials said accused the Civil been a mutually beneficial ordinance will ensure that fessor at Jawaharlal Nehru Uni-
Industries sold a 14% stake in ure to approve their Aviation Authority partnership which should be farmers receive a share of the versity, Delhi. “Farmers will
Jio Platforms to multiple requests is a viola- of China of being nurtured. The prime minister higher prices,” the agriculture need a marketplace to sell their
investors, including Facebook tion of our Air Transport Agree- for revenue during the downturn “unable to communicate defini- had also underlined that ‘the minister said, clarifying farm- produce, which has to be
Inc., in deals worth a com- ment,” the DOT said in an emailed caused by the coronavirus. tively” when it will allow US airlines most important foundations ers’ interests will be protected weighed, sorted and graded. If
bined ₹67,194.75 crore. statement. The order stops short of At the same time, air-freight to resume flights. of this special friendship in all circumstances. a private player is offering such
The initiatives are aimed at an outright ban, allowing Chinese haulers such as FedEx Corp. and Delta originally sought to between India and America “The ordinance to promote services, farmers will be made
helping RIL reach its ambi- carriers to operate one flight to the United Parcel Service Inc. have had resume China flights on 1 June but are our people-to-people barrier-free trade within and to pay for it.” Himanshu added
tious goal of becoming a zero US for each flight that nation grants to ramp up operations in China to has had to delay because the Chi- relations. Be it professionals outside state borders will that private trade may also find
net-debt company by March to American carriers. fulfil demand for medical supplies nese government hasn’t approved or students, the Indian dias- change the dynamics of agri- it difficult to purchase directly
2021. RIL had a net debt of The order is aimed at Air China and other equipment. its application. It’s currently seek- pora has been the biggest trade. Contract farming can from millions of small farmers,
₹1.53 trillion on 31 December. Ltd, China Eastern Airlines Corp., The trade group that represents ing to restart flights on 11 June contributor to this in the US’,” also go a long way to link farm- and the local bureaucracy may
Ashwin Ramarathinam con- China Southern Airlines Co. and large US carriers, Airlines for Amer- between Detroit and Shanghai and Shringla said. ers with large retailers, and not be equipped to resolve
tributed to this story. Xiamen Airlines Co. The news ica, didn’t immediately comment Seattle and Shanghai. exporters,” said Siraj Hussain, every dispute promptly.

In God’s own country, a horror story of wildlife killing unfolds Short of funds, startups line up to
FROM PAGE 1
register as MSMEs for govt sops the economy, not culture, he
said.
are now commonplace in
thickly forested and farm-
become a common practice to “The new-age farmers are tourism hotspots such as Way-
kill wild boars. It may be pur- rubber barons who purchase anad and Idukki.
posely used against the ele- land in fringe areas, because it Protests against wildlife FROM PAGE 1 Unicorn India Ventures, ing general partner, ITI
phant, or she may have is cheap. They are business- conservation have also grown another early-stage tech-fo- Growth Opportunities Ven-
become an accidental victim,” men first, farmers second. after the topic came to the stage VC and board member, cused VC. ture Fund, said startups that
said O.P. Nammeer, an expert They are not attached to the forefront with the Gadgil TiE Mumbai, which has The government has also are institutionally funded
on elephant conservation and forest buffer zone in any emo- Committee report in the last started programmes to guide approved the creation of a were told in advance to con-
professor of wildlife at Kerala tional way,” he said. decade. Kerala rejected ecolo- startups to register as MSMEs. ₹50,000-crore fund of funds serve capital and were also
Agricultural University. Conservationists cite the gist Madhav Gadgil’s 2011 There are stringent rules in to help select high-growth helped with reserves to last up
“The major reason for such examples of the Parambi- report for eco-restoration of place for businesses to qualify MSMEs with a good track to a year. It is the non-funded
cases is that the natural habitat kulam tiger reserve forest in the Western Ghats after raging as MSMEs, which include rev- record, and help them list on companies that are more likely
of wild animals is shrinking. Palakkad district. Close to it, protests that criticized it as enue and investment parame- the exchanges. Commerce to register at present for the
Kerala is robustly protecting some 200 tribal people are biased against development. ters. Industry experts said that minister Piyush Goyal said lack of backing, he said.
its reserve forests. But closer to Official data shows that man-animal conflicts increased in Kerala now cultivating rice, banana “The encroachment lobby while registering as MSMEs recently that most startups will “Registering startups as
buffer zones, encroachments from 6,022 cases to 7,229 between 2016 and 2018. and sugarcane, but without has acquired an ideological may not be a lasting solution be eligible for additional MSMEs can really hurt small-
are increasing, as farmers harming wildlife. upper hand in Kerala. When a for most startups, it will none- liquidity and funding under micro entrepreneurs because
extend their cultivation increased in Kerala from 6,022 build trenches, or become “In market-intensive farm- case like this comes up, people theless help them tide over the the credit support schemes for they compete with much
unchecked.” cases to 7,229 between 2016 more brutal and use a crude lands, every penny counts. will talk about conservation. current crisis. “Startups can- MSMEs under the Aatmanir- larger businesses for the same
Farmers in Kerala have and 2018, according to a 2019 bomb,” said Nammeer. “Cru- And a giant mammal is a stum- After that, everybody forgets. not be classified as MSMEs bhar Bharat Abhiyan package. bank loans. We don’t encour-
taken to cultivating on fields news report. elty apart, it is illegal. These bling block to their ease of Unless conservation becomes lifelong, but it would be in the However, not all venture age our startups for MSME
that have been traditionally “People are getting into are animals protected under doing business,” said Nam- part of the political agenda, interest of companies to regis- capital firms are finding it cru- registrations even if they are in
used by elephants for grazing. conflicts and they resort to dif- the Wildlife Protection Act of meer. our wildlife cannot be saved,” ter, keeping in mind the status cial for their investee compa- a position to do so, including
Official data shows that ferent mitigation methods— 1972.” Public protests and rallies said a wildlife expert and sen- can change over time,” said nies to register themselves as those in manufacturing
man-animal conflicts they put up electric fences, The deciding factor today is against tigers and elephants ior journalist K.A. Shaji. Anil Joshi, managing partner, MSMEs. Mohit Gulati, manag- space,” said Gulati.

LIC may revise equity portfolio Services PMI picks up a little from record low
as new premium growth stalls FROM PAGE 1 two-month lockdown to con- when compared to April, the expected a stronger services
tain the virus is likely to data analytics firm said. PMI number since several indi-
FROM PAGE 1 est insurers and has major Insurers are being squeezed better than the record 5.4 low improve the situation in the “In response to absent cators like Google Mobility,
investments in more than 100 as premium collections have reported in April, but still well coming months but the sever- demand pressures and low traffic congestion and electric-
levels as millions of people have publicly traded companies. In taken a hit, data showed. in below the 50-mark that sepa- ity of contraction in manufac- business requirements, ity data were indicating
been left jobless. 2018, LIC invested around April, LIC collected new busi- rates contraction from expan- turing and services sectors employment at service sector improvement, which should
“For April and May, the first ₹24,000 crore in IDBI Bank to ness premium of ₹3,581.65 sion, according to data released indicates that India is set to slip firms was reduced in the latest have technically translated into
year premium collections have rescue the distressed lender. crore, 32% less than the by IHS Markit. into a deep recession this year. survey period. The rate of job stronger PMI numbers.
been 25-30% lower than the “The downtrend is likely to ₹5,267.94 crore collected in the “Given the stringency of the Data released on Monday shedding remained strong by “We suspect most sales are
previous year. For LIC, almost continue for 2-3 quarters year-ago period. lockdown measures imposed showed manufacturing PMI historical comparisons, despite happening at nearest conve-
the entire sale of policies comes because of uncertain economic Premium collections for all in India, it is no surprise to see shrank sharply at 30.8 in May, easing since April,” it added. nience stores in addition to
from individual agents on the environment,” the person said. life insurers fell in March. Pri- the severity of the declines in though slightly better than the Lower staffing levels coincided Lower staffing levels also organized retail and, hence, the
ground. Due to social-distanc- “LIC is scheduled to have an vate life insurers collected a April and May. With economic 27.4 recorded in April, forcing with a deterioration in business coincided with a further deterio- delta improvement may not be
ing norms and the lockdown, investment strategy panel total first-year premium of output set to fall enormously in enterprises to slash headcount at sentiment. PRIYANKA PARASHAR/MINT ration in business sentiment. getting captured in services
these agents are not able to meeting by early July. The ₹8,342.73 crore in March, a the first half of 2020, it is clear the quickest pace in over 15 years. “Output expectations for the PMI. June PMIs should show
reach the public for selling poli- equity investment budget will 34% decline from a year ago, that the recovery to pre-covid “Spare capacity continued to of further challenging condi- coming 12 months slumped to much larger gain,” he added.
cies. Unless policies are sold, be decided then. If the lock- according to India’s insurance 19 levels of GDP is going to be rise, albeit to a far lesser degree tions,” IHS Markit said. their most negative since records Though the government has
the investible surplus will not down is lifted and commercial regulator. Typically, insurers very slow,” Joe Hayes, an econ- than in May as prolonged shut- New business from overseas began in December 2005 amid eased the lockdown, flight of
come, which in turn is impact- activities resume, LIC may be depend on a network of agents, omist at IHS Markit, said, add- downs led to a rise in incom- markets collapsed at an forecasts of prolonged economic migrant workers, restrictions
ing investments by LIC,” one of able to garner higher premium brokers and bank officials to ing services sector activity is plete work at some firms. unprecedented scale once weakness domestically and on inter-state movements and
the two people cited earlier inflows, which may result in a sell products. However, sales still effectively on hold. Meanwhile, employment con- again in May, with around 95% overseas,” it said. downbeat consumer sentiment
said, requesting anonymity. higher investment in equities targets have remained unmet The reopening of India’s tinued to fall in response to of surveyed companies report- Prithviraj Srinivas, an econo- are expected to drag down the
LIC is one of the world’s larg- by LIC for FY21.” due to mobility restrictions. economy after a more than weak demand and expectations ing a fall in foreign demand mist at Axis Capital Ltd, said he country’s economy.
12 THURSDAY, 4 JUNE 2020
MUMBAI VIEWS

OUR VIEW MY VIEW | OTHER SPHERE

PTI

The crisis farmers face today

will have repercussions later
They’re staring at a debt trap and are starved of the resources needed for the next agrarian cycle

than rice, and needed money quickly. have been completely shut. Almost all
He went away disappointed as we left. other small businesses, ranging from
About 100m from the farm, where the marriage party caterers and construc-
mud track joined the road, another tion contractors to traditional drama
farmer stopped us. He was trying to sell and dance troupes, have come to a
us papaya, our car marking us as people stand-still. Consequently, those
with some resources. It didn’t matter employed by these businesses are job-
that he had seen us leave a farm full of less. Daily-wage labourers have had no
ripe and rotting papaya; what’s the work. Trans-genders, rag-pickers and
ANURAG BEHAR harm in trying your luck when there sex-workers have zero income. The
is CEO of Azim Premji Foundation isn’t much else to try? pandemics’ economic effect is amplified
and also leads sustainability All of last week I spent in northeast by pre-existing levels of disadvantage

Self-reliant India needs

initiatives for Wipro Ltd Karnataka, in the districts of Bellary, and social exclusion.
Yadgir, and Gulbarga. One of India’s None of this is hearsay, I met these
first covid deaths was in Gulbarga. Now, people in their own milieus. Similar
Yadgir and Gulbarga districts are pictures of severe economic distress

R
ipe papayas hung on each tree, among three with the highest infection and human misery are what we have

a competitive economy with squishy rotting ones at the

base of many. We sat on the mud
in a big circle under the trees, shielded
partially from the summer sun. The
count in Karnataka. The population of
each of these districts has increased by
8-12 % in the past few weeks, with
migrants returning from across the
from almost 400 districts, where we
have ground-level presence; I will travel
to many of those places soon. There
won’t be any rapid improvement as the
farm’s owner explained the details of his country. They are expecting much lockdown is eased. The crisis of today
75% loss on the crop during the lock- more, as the influx continues unabated. has a cascading effect. Working capital,
As the Prime Minister’s call for a country that relies on itself finds wide resonance, India Inc down. His market is Hyderabad. With The ragged man next to me was one resources for investment and other
no transportation across states available of them, and like him, most of these inputs available are all a fraction of what
would be better placed to pursue this goal if our economy is kept open to the rest of the world to the average person, he could only sell people were remitting money to their is needed for the next agrarian cycle,
locally in the nearby towns of Surpur homes in the villages. That money flow without even accounting from the
and Yadgir. The offtake was a tiny frac- has vanished, populations have surged, looming debt trap, because of the last
tion of what it would have been in a big and local livelihoods are devastated. cycle’s loans.

E
ver since the Great Lockdown began, products for Indian-made ones, it could have city. Prices kept dropping each day. Till Estimates are that more than twice the Current projections of 1-4% growth in
the term “aatmanirbhar”, or self- adverse consequences. It may spell higher it made no sense to spend on labour to current numbers would eventually be the rural farm sector in 2020-21, with a
pick the papayas and transport them back. The local headcount could rise by normal monsoon, seem as disconnected
reliant, has gained salience in India input costs for local manufacturers, for exam- across 20km to either town. So, he was about 20% in a matter of weeks. from reality as were the projections
as an adjective for the country. It ple. Even for ready-to-sell products, reduced letting the crop rot. Those who grow crops like paddy and made by the same entities about 30 days
found mention in Prime Minister competition in our markets from stuff made The man next to me looked more lentils, which are not as perishable, are ago of the overall Indian economy
Narendra Modi’s speech of 24 March overseas could lower the value that consumers ragged than the other farmers there. He in no better state. That region grows growing 1-4% this fiscal year. Some of
sat outside the circle on his haunches. I both in plenty. With transportation and our analysts and economists seem to
announcing an interim closure of the economy derive for their money on purchases. Our big asked him to join the circle; he refused. market disruptions, prices have fallen have an inveterate faith in miracles.
to fight the covid-19 pandemic. For those stuck learning from our pre-1991 closed economy The others narrated their own stories of by 30-40%. Even at those prices, the The people and the economy are in
at home, the phrase had personal resonance, was that efficiency is hard to spur without the helplessness. All of them grow fruits, demand is meagre. There is no place to deep distress, and the pandemic situa-
though it was to be a national project, the con- prod of global rivalry. It is usually the threat of vegetables or flowers. Each had prob- store harvested crops and wait for prices tion is swiftly worsening. I shall discuss
tours of which have been getting clearer in the customers being lured away that pushes com- lems and losses, like the papaya farmer. to pick up. If farmers do find storage, this in detail in a later column. To act
The man on the haunches didn’t speak, they have no money to pay its rent. effectively, we need to listen to those at
weeks since. Addressing a Confederation of panies to raise quality, contain costs, invest in till we coaxed him to. He was not there Livestock farmers are in a similar situa- the stormfront and also in the storm.
Indian Industry session on Tuesday, the Prime research, innovate and perform better. We to participate in the discussion, but was tion. Bank loans are beyond the grasp of Dismissing them or attacking them as
Minister made a pitch for strengthening local saw this happen after we opened our markets looking for work. He had returned from farmer; they are not even allowed to “prophets of doom” or “vultures” is a
supply chains, boosting productivity, and to the rest of the world. This resulted in a far Bangalore ten days earlier, where he enter banks, as we heard often in many self-defeating tactic. The most impor-
worked at a construction site. From places. These banks seem not to have tant lesson from the Spanish Flu that
reducing import dependence. In the context of better allocation of private resources, by and being a provider of money to his family even heard of the economic package crushed the world in 1918 was not an
slowing globalization and supply disruptions large, an aspect of economic liberalization in the village, he had become depend- announced by the Union government. epidemiological one. It was to speak the
brought about by trade tensions and corona remains valid. Self-reliance is a worthy pursuit, ent on them, which was fine by him. But Weavers and other artisans are in truth and to have the courage to listen
seizures, this was prudential advice. What can but its implementation must not slide us back they were running out of food other worse condition, since their businesses to the truth.
be done well at home, should indeed be. To put to the old days of inefficiency.
the idea of enhanced import substitution in External trade need not be seen in us-versus-
play, the Centre has also identified a set of sec- them terms. Its benefits are usually mutual. As
tors, such as furniture, air-conditioners, foot- economist Arvind Panagariya argued on Tues-
wear and leather, where the quality of local day, openness to trade will continue to serve
output could be boosted for exports, even as the country well, regardless of de-globaliza- www.livemint.com New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Chandigarh*, Pune* Friday, June 4, 2010 Vol.4 No.132 Rs. 3.00 32 PAGES

India aims to lower imports of mobile phones tion. If India is to emerge as a global manufac- MARKETS: Markets advance
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pragmatic response to current circumstances, must assure foreign businesses that their
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DECLINING INTEREST BRANCHING OUT CORRUPTION FEARS QUICK EDIT

Rabobank Trademarks section to I’m OK,

Change in number of retail folios.

it will serve our interests. An apprehension, operations in India will not have to contend
569,283

you’re OK

Globalization will make

Sep 09- move out of IP office
to sell stake I T
Mar 10 Mar-Apr 10 wo developments on
Mar-Sep 09 -37,161
B Y C .H . U NNIKRISHNAN EYE ON REFORMS Wednesday proved
[email protected] that if you played your
························· THE NEWS cards right in Indian

though, is that efforts to maximize domestic with sudden tariff tweaks that ruin their cost
MUMBAI
The government plans to delink politics, everyone
-400,000
ndia plans to spin off the trademark registry from its could be a winner.

in Yes Bank
Source: Amfi
trademark registry from its intellectual property (IP) office. In West Bengal,
intellectual property (IP) of- Mamata Banerjee’s party
400,000

our societies more

fice, which currently deals THE BACKGROUND trounced the Congress
with trademarks, patents and In 2009, the government appointed and arch-rival Left in

accounts exit KAUSHIK CHAKRAVORTY/MINT

designs.
A government official and a
patent law expert said the
PH Kurian to the top post in the IP
office. He has tried to reform the
way the office works, and also
civic body elections.
Unfortunately, the
Communists can’t escape
MFs in April To meet Indian norms,

value generation could slip our economy calculations. Policy stability needs to be part of
move will bring more focus to transferred senior officials from the to Sanand in Gujarat.
the Dutch bank will both offices and help them deal
with complex issues, but critics
trademarks section to other posts. That is where the Tata
Nano project sought
B Y N . S UNDARESHA have to offload 15.9% if claim the change has been THE IMPLICATION haven. On the same
S UBRAMANIAN & it wants to operate its prompted by a desire to stop The move may bring more focus to day that the Trinamool
A NIRUDH L ASKAR reforms instituted by the IP of- both offices and help them deal Congress swept Kolkata,
························· own branch network with complex issues. Critics,

creative and prosperous,

fice’s new chief from changing Ratan Tata and Narendra
MUMBAI
the way trademarks are given. however, claim the step will Modi inaugurated a Tata
mean a return to the office’s
A s many as 400,000 inves- B Y A NITA B HOIR & To separate the two offices, Motors plant, which has

behind trade barriers that reduce its exposure the Make-in-India proposition for the country
tors in the Rs8 trillion In- B AIJU K ALESH the department of industrial bad old ways. a capacity of up to half a
dian mutual fund (MF) indus- ························· policy and promotion (DIPP), million Nanos a year.
try could have exited in April. MUMBAI the commerce ministry body Chasing away the
Distributors’ lack of interest in
selling MFs to investors and
profit-booking by retail inves-
tors and financial institutions
are the two reasons behind the
D utch bank Rabobank
International Holding
BV plans to sell its
15.9% stake in Yes Bank Ltd,
two investment bankers famil-
under which the IP office falls,
has already shifted some pow-
ers of the Controller General of
Patents, Designs and Trade-
marks related to trademarks to
cials, mostly from the trade-
marks section, to other posts.
He also made most informa-
tion related to the processing
of patents, designs and trade-
Nano from Singur won
Banerjee popularity
and votes, which she
celebrated.
Cutting his losses
exodus, say industry execu- iar with the development said. another officer. marks accessible online, re- and quickly switching

to the world and thus our competitiveness. to present itself to others as a “trustworthy but also more vulnerable.
tives and analysts. The 110-year-old food and In January 2009, the govern- ducing scope for corruption. loyalties helped Tata
While poor sales effort can agriculture bank, which has a ment appointed P.H. Kurian to A senior official at the trade- find a new home for
be attributed to the stock mar- triple-A rating, may exit Yes the top post in the IP office, the marks registry in Mumbai con- the same Nano, which
ket regulator’s August 2009 de- Bank because it wants to open controller general. He has firmed that the government he celebrated.
cision to scrap commissions on a branch in India. Under Indi- since tried to reform the way had already made the change. The lesson? There
the sale of funds, the profit- an banking regulations, a for- Investment decision: Yes Bank the office works and, in an at- “Part of the administrational are no good guys or bad
booking is a result of uncer- eign bank that holds a stake in CEO and MD Rana Kapoor. tempt to cleanse the system of powers of the trademark office guys in politics. Only
tainty in the market over the a domestic bank cannot simul- corrupt practices, transferred winners and losers.
sustainability of the global eco- taneously operate a branch this issue,” Kapoor told Mint in at least a dozen senior offi- TURN TO PAGE 2®

While India has been raising import tariffs partner” in progress, as Modi put it. India Inc
nomic recovery, especially giv- network in the country. an email response. “Rabobank
en the recent events in Europe. Yes Bank was promoted by as a financial investor in Yes
Investor accounts are folios two professionals—chief exec- Bank has the prerogative to re-
with unique numbers that utive officer and managing di- spond to their investment in
store details of the investment. rector Rana Kapoor and Ashok Yes Bank. Please be in contact
Each investor can have multi- Kapur, the then chairman who with them.”
ple investor accounts. To be later died. Rabobank currently Lim Tai Djoe, corporate
sure, the drop of 400,000 ac- operates in India through Rabo communications manager for
counts doesn’t necessarily India Finance Ltd, a non- Asia at Rabobank Internation-

on some items over the past three years or so, has a large role to play in achieving the Prime
mean there were fewer inves- banking financial company al, said in response to an
tors in MFs at the end of April (NBFC). email query that the bank nev-
than at the beginning of the Rabobank initially owned a er comments “on this kind of

LOR D ROB E RTSON

20% stake in the new genera- questions and rumour in the
TURN TO PAGE 2® tion private sector bank, but its market”.
stake fell to 15.9% after Yes Yes Bank shares rose 4.16%
Bank raised capital from the to close at Rs295.50 apiece on
market and other investors. It the Bombay Stock Exchange
has one director on the bank’s on Thursday.
Note to
these haven’t been raised to prohibitive levels. Minister’s objective of a country that succeeds
board, Sipko Schat. In January, the bank had
Among the promoters, Ka- raised Rs1,033 crore through a

readers poor now holds a 5.89% stake

in the bank and Madhu Kapur,
wife of the late Kapur, owns
qualified institutional place-
ment, which led to an equity
dilution of 11.3%.

D ear Reader,
From time to time, you will
see a page or a feature in Mint
10.34%.
The Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) gave a licence to Yes
The bank had a capital ade-
quacy ratio of 20.6% as of 31
March and an asset base of
clearly labelled as Media Market- Bank in May 2004 and the Rs36,382.5 crore. It posted a

Neither has there been an attempt to block the by virtue of its own ingenuity and endow-
ing Initiative. Such content is Dutch bank had committed to net profit of Rs477.7 crore for
entirely generated by an advertis- remain invested in the lender the fiscal ended March.
er or Mint’s marketing department for at least five years. It has “Rabobank can enter India
on behalf of an advertiser, and been free to sell its stake since as a bank through the direct
does not involve any editorial staff. March 2009. branch banking route, but the
Such pages/features also have According to the investment regulator has put a condition
a different font and style to help bankers, Rabobank has al- that it would be allowed to
you identify that they are not part ready started negotiations open a branch only if it sells its
of Mint’s editorial content. As with investors to sell its stake, stake in Yes Bank,” one of the

inflow of goods from elsewhere. Should this ments. Leaders of Indian enterprise have been
clearly stated in Mint’s journalistic but it may take some time for a investment bankers said.
Code of Conduct, available on our deal to be concluded. The sale RBI did not respond to a
website www.livemint.com, there may also take place in phases query from Mint.
is an inviolable line between as it will involve more than The Indian central bank will
news and advertising at Mint. one investor. allow new players, including
We thought it would be useful Since RBI’s norms do not al- NBFCs, to set up commercial
for us to reiterate this to you. low a single entity to hold banks, but it is unlikely that a
As always, feel free to contact more than 5% and a group foreign-owned NBFC will be
us at [email protected] more than 10% in a bank, allowed to do so. Rabobank,

begin to change, with policy tools rather than paying attention. Let’s rely on their determina-
R. Sukumar Rabobank will not be able to however, can always enter In-
Editor sell its stake to a single entity. dia through the branch route.
“I am unable to comment on [email protected]
Mint is also available for Rs5.50 with Hindustan Times under a combo offer

persuasion deployed to substitute foreign tion, rather than policy tools, to get there.

GUEST VIEW

Ignore the work week and reduce the work year instead
average hours per worker to share the work Almost all prominent politicians immedi- abated. The calls have been mostly for a interrupted stretches of time devoted—not
VIVEK MOORTHY and ease the burden of layoffs. Ironically, ately became supportive of a 30-hour work four-day workweek (8 or 10 hour days) and just emergency room doctors and nurses,
Keynes himself confessed in 1945, a year week. The Black-Connery Bill for a 30-hour a three-day weekend, but sometimes for but airline crew for long-distance flights,
before he died, that shorter hours, and not workweek cleared the US Senate by 53/30 in much less—a 4x5 or 20-hour week. computer maintenance and service, investi-
demand stimulus—his enduring legacy— April 1933. This was just a month after newly Two recent books that show up on Google gative journalism, and so on. Even for simple
was the sustainable way to reduce unem- elected US President Franklin D. Roosevelt are The Four Day Work Week by Robert jobs like those of shop assistants, waiters,

A
column of mine in Mint (‘Ban over- ployment. Non-economists, such as Martin launched the sweeping New Deal, on 6 Greene (2018) and The Four Day Week: How and hotel receptionists, there are monitor-
time premium to save manufacturing Ford (The Rise of the Robots, 2015), have also March 1933. However, the the Flexible Work Revolu- ing and other fixed costs borne by employers
jobs’, 14 May), highlighted the per- neglected this matter. 30-hour bill failed to clear tion Can Increase Produc- for changing them frequently. It is easier to
sistence since the 1950s of the slightly over To identify the hurdles to shorter hours at the House of Representa- What Keynes tivity, Profitability… by run a 24x7 neighbourhood pharmacy with
40 hour manufacturing workweek in the US, present requires first delving into some tives, and went into obliv- Andrew Barnes (2020). In three workers daily for eight hours each,
coupled with sharp rises in productivity due Depression-era history. A little patience is ion. Instead, the 8x5 week had expected Japan, Microsoft recently instead of six workers for four hours each,
to automation. This damaging combination required of the reader. During the 1920s, a as the basic template for introduced a four-day while switching them during the year.
has led to job losses and a voter backlash push towards shorter hours, and streamlin- work hours got embedded
of work hours workweek (Nicole Lyn In my opinion, the key to reducing work

is professor, economics and

against globalization, culminating in
Trump’s victory and trade wars with China,
ing it into a 40-hour workweek, was gather-
ing steam. The landmark event in the evolu-
by 1940 in America’s Fair
Labor Standards Act of
didn’t happen Pesce, marketwatch.com, 5
November 2019). Last
hours is to think outside the stultifying box
of the manufacturing-centric workday and
social sciences, Indian Institute
of Management Bangalore
well before covid-19 struck.
This damaging combination is present
tion of the modern, standard workweek was
Henry Ford giving Saturday off and adopting
1938, with its 50% pre-
mium for overtime hours.
but the broad week, New Zealand Prime
Minister Jacinda Ardern
workweek. We should instead implement
shorter hours per worker flexibly over
globally, although not as starkly as in the US the 8x5 week for his Ford Motor Company in This arrangement contin- logic of the idea called for a four-day week longer periods—at least a month, preferably
and Western Europe. While robots make 1926, along with good pay. By way of com- ues in the US to this day. To in response to the corona a quarter onwards, upto a full year. Indeed,
blue-collar jobs redundant, Artificial Intelli- parison, note that a 12x6, 72-hour workweek increase jobs, Keynesian holds good calamity (Mint, 25 May some airlines efficiently responded to the
gence is doing the same to white-collar jobs: was quite common in the US steel industry demand stimulus won out 2020). post-pandemic travel restrictions by making
accountants, computer programmers, some of the early 1920s. over shorter hours. To tackle unemploy- their crew work alternate fortnights.
legal services, etc. A cruel paradox of the The move toward shorter hours was tem- One cannot assess in detail here why the ment and job losses, hours per worker need In brief, governments should ignore the
world we live in is that labour-saving tech- porarily blunted by a roaring economy and 30-hour bill failed. The focus of this article to be reduced, especially wherever produc- workweek and focus on reducing the work
nology, meant to make life easier, is leading resultant strong labour market during the is on how best to reduce work hours at tivity is rapidly rising. The key for such poli- year. In 1930, Keynes predicted a 15-hour
to great hardship. Wall Street boom of 1928. But the political present. Although ignored by top econo- cies to succeed is for the ensuing working workweek a century later. Instead, his disci-
This burning issue has been inexcusably momentum for shorter hours resurfaced mists, demands for shorter hours and/or arrangements to prove convenient for firms ples, such as Lord Robert Skidelsky, should
neglected by all top economists since the with a vengeance during the Great Depres- fewer work days—for those with household and consumers, not a hindrance to them. aim for a 1,000-hour work year by 2030,
mid 1930s. The obvious solution is to reduce sion, which started in October 1929. duties, work/life balance gurus, etc—never Many service-sector jobs require long, roughly equal to a 20-hour week.
 VIEWS THURSDAY, 4 JUNE 2020
MUMBAI 13

MY VIEW | BEHAVIOUR BY BRAIN M I N T C U R AT O R

We need a better grasp of how

people behave to fight covid-19
Kerala treated the pandemic primarily as a social behaviour problem rather than a medical challenge and emerged ahead

PTI A makeshift village will let the filming of Mission: Impossible 7 resume. AFP

Tom Cruise plans to build a covid-free village

T om Cruise is reportedly building a makeshift village at an abandoned RAF site

in Oxfordshire so filming can resume for Mission: Impossible 7. The actor and
producer, 57, and his A-list cast will reportedly stay in VIP Winnebago trailers so
they can work through scenes in a bubble and protect the crew from catching coro-
navirus. Mission Impossible 7’s release has been delayed from July 2021 to Novem-
ber 19, 2021, after the coronavirus pandemic forced the film to relocate from Venice
BIJU DOMINIC to the UK, and eventually halt production indefinitely. A source told The Sun: ‘The
is the chief executive officer of Final Mile film has already been heavily delayed and there’s no sign of things going totally back
Consulting, a behaviour architecture firm to normal any time soon, so this is a way to try to get things up and moving again
quickly and safely.
Daily Mail, UK

Dead Sea Scrolls placed under a DNA scanner

A G
s the world slowly opens up after the enetic sampling of the Dead Sea Scrolls has tested understandings that the
covid-19 pandemic closed it down, it 2,000-year-old artefacts were the work of a fringe Jewish sect, and shed light
is pertinent to ask some important on the drafting of scripture around the time of Christianity’s birth. The research
questions. Why did we reach a stage —which indicated some of the parchments’ provenances by identifying animal
where the whole world had to be hides used—may also help safeguard against forgeries of the prized biblical relics.
shut down? Was it because the virus The Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of hundreds of manuscripts and thousands of
was unknown? In the past, the world has faced sev- fragments of ancient Jewish religious texts, were discovered in 1947 by local Bed-
eral other unknown viruses, some of them far more ouin in the... desert crags of Qumran, some 20 km east of Jerusalem. Many scholars
deadly and more contagious than coronavirus. But believed the scrolls originated with the reclusive Essenes, who had broken away
they were all contained with much less collateral from the Jewish mainstream. But some academics argue the Qumran trove had
damage. Where did we really go wrong? various authors and may have been brought from Jerusalem for safekeeping.
There is a belief that the outbreak could have Reuters
been managed better had China disclosed the
nature of the virus earlier. If this allegation is true,
why did Chinese authorities keep news of it under Grindr swipes ethnicity filter into rejection bin
wraps? Few weeks after the virus hit China, the
World Health Organization (WHO) and other
health authorities started warning of its potential
health threat. Leaders of countries that have access
G rindr plans to remove an ethnicity filter from the next version of its gay dating
app in a show of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Grindr said
the change, which critics have long called for in the spirit of the platform being
some of the best medical knowledge in the world neutral when it comes to race, was prompted by feedback from users. “We will not
ignored those warnings. Why? be silent and we will not be inactive,” Grindr said in a message posted by its official
In India, the authorities announced a national Twitter account. “We will continue to fight racism on Grindr, both through dia-
lockdown with just a few hours of notice. All trans- logue with our community and a zero-tolerance policy for racism and hate speech
port was stopped. Why couldn’t the authorities on our platform.” The move came as the internet was flooded with expressions of
foresee a scenario that crisis-hit people would want support for protests and demonstrations calling for an end to systemic racism in
to reach the safety of their homes, even if they had Hans IJzerman and others, are in the process of of terms like “zero patient” and “contact tracing”, the US.
to walk thousands of kilometres barefoot? writing a paper titled, Psychological Science Is Not and more significantly, the importance of meticu- AFP
There were many exhortations from health Yet a Crisis-Ready Discipline. This is an indication lous planning in epidemic management.
authorities to maintain physical distance and wear that behavioural science needs to work harder to The biggest factor in Kerala’s success was the
a mask in public places. Why did so many people, become an integral part of policymaking. broad understanding that individuals cannot Can granite keep nuclear waste safely stored?
even leaders of countries, refuse to abide by those The WHO, in its Outbreak Communications quite be trusted to behave in a rational way. The
instructions from experts?
So, while the beginning of the pandemic could
be attributed to coronavirus, the real villain is the
Planning Guide, suggests that behaviour changes
can reduce the spread of a pandemic by as much as
80%. But during the covid pandemic, behavioural
authorities knew, for example, that individuals will
display a tendency to hide their illness. Systems
were created to watch all entry points to the state
W e need to find somewhere safe to dispose of high-level nuclear waste; a place
where we can be confident it will be isolated and contained for hundreds of
thousands of years. And if we want to keep a lid on global warming then we may well
wrong behaviour of world leaders and ordinary scientists around the world failed to come up with in order to identify the infected and isolate them. need to find a similar place to store carbon dioxide too. But where? A new study
citizens. The collective inability to deal with these effective behaviour-change strategies. Govern- Local community groups were given the responsi- published in Scientific Reports reveals that crystalline rocks, such as granite, have
vagaries of human behaviour substantially con- ments had no option but to go for complete lock- bility to ensure that people in quarantine followed a natural self-sealing mechanism, capable of keeping fluids locked away for millions
tributed to making the covid-19 pandemic a global downs, a solution akin to burning the house down the right procedures. Possible consequences of the of years. Careful analysis of the chemistry and structure of granites from Japan and
catastrophe. The communication strategy adopted to kill a rat. In that process, behavioural sciences lockdown on the large migrant labour population the UK revealed that when fluid did enter the rock (via fractures), it travelled a few
seemed like a power-point slide with bullet points. lost a golden opportunity to prove that they can were envisioned as well. So community kitchens centimetres at most. The scientists believe that calcium in the rock reacted with
It was rational communication at its best. But even make significant policy contributions. were set up to feed them. The Kerala government carbonate in the fluid to create tiny crystals of calcite that plugged all the gaps and
in life and death situations, humans do not always But all is not lost for the future of behavioural did not treat the covid pandemic primarily as a prevented further flow.
act rationally. This pandemic offers us proof that sciences. The Kerala government showed that medical challenge. Rather, it treated it as a social The Guardian
humans, for the most part, are not rational beings. managing human behaviour is as or maybe more behaviour problem. By doing so, Kerala has shown
The pandemic exposed other weaknesses in our important than finding a vaccine for the virus. the difference that effective human behaviour
understanding of human behaviour, too. The authorities in Kerala faced the same behav- management can make to a health crisis. US senator compares Huawei to Soviet regime
As the pandemic began, there was an attempt by ioural problems as in other parts of the world. But Globally, as soon as the healthcare experts
Stanford psychology professor Robb Willer and
New York University social psychology professor
Jay Van Bavel to help in the understanding of
they managed it differently. The floods of 2018
and 2019 fad prepared the state not to ignore
never-before scenarios. The Ockhi cyclone had
realized that existing medicines were inadequate
to deal with covid-19, a large effort was set in
motion to find a vaccine against the illness. The
A Republican senator told MPs that using Huawei kit in 5G phone networks
would be akin to allowing Russia to build submarines for western nations dur-
ing the cold war, in a tense hearing that saw him clash with opposition MPs. Tom
human behaviour. They collated the best and most taught it the consequences of ignoring early warn- inability of behavioural science to play a significant Cotton, who represents Arkansas, said he had geopolitical and technical objections
relevant research from psychology, sociology, ings. The Nipah outbreak in its northern districts role in the management of this pandemic should, to Huawei and claimed that, if hacked, its equipment could track the movements
public health and other social sciences that could had helped the health authorities develop a stan- likewise, serve as a wake-up call for the world. It of key parts for F35 fighter jets. Deploying Huawei, the politician continued, “would
help manage the pandemic. They even published dard operating procedure to deal with a pandemic. should set off a search for a fundamental, multi- be as if we had relied on adversarial nations in the cold war to build our submarines,
this compilation in Nature Human Behaviour, a Also, it so happened that a commercial film in disciplinary approach to understanding human or to build our tanks. It’s just not something that we would have ever considered.”
journal, in record time. But there was widespread Malayalam titled Virus, based on real-life stories behaviour in all its complexity. Bubonic plague led The senator was speaking before a defence subcommittee inquiring into UK pro-
criticism that these were mostly academic studies around Nipah epidemic, was released in 2019. The to the discovery of antibiotics. Let’s hope covid-19 posals to allow Huawei to deploy up to 35% of 5G equipment.
and not robust enough to be applied directly to a box-office success of this film in Kerala made sure will lead to the discovery of a cure for most human The Guardian
real-life crisis. Another team of researchers, led by that even ordinary people in the state were aware behaviour problems.

MY VIEW | THE CORPORATE OUTSIDER

A boycott of Chinese goods won’t work to our advantage

low-cost Chinese machinery and capital countries, including China. Labelling a modities to as many as 128 countries. the punishment effect as mostly ineffective.”
SUNDEEP KHANNA goods, besides trading in many finished product clearly as “Chinese” would there- In 2014, economist Kilian Heilmann pub- The timing of any such move by India is
products from that country. Large Indian fore be almost impossible. What’s more, lished a study titled The Effectiveness of Inter- also questionable. China has been first off
companies like Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, given that country’s central role in global national Trade Boycotts, based on an analysis the mark in restarting industrial operations
Mahindra & Mahindra and Sundram Fasten- manufacturing, such labelling may render of the boycott of Danish goods by Muslim after its covid lockdown. It was the first to be
ers have manufacturing units in China that most critical products out-of-bounds for countries after a rupture over comic depic- hit by the outbreak, and thus also the first to

F
ollowing the border standoff in Ladakh, cater to markets abroad as well as in India. In Indian consumers. Xi’an Aircraft Industrial tions in 2005-06 and China’s boycott of Jap- recover. It will be looking for raw materials
there has been a clamour for Indians to several segments, the fate of an entire indus- Corp., for instance, is a key anese goods in response to to fuel its recovery, which gives Indian sup-
boycott products from China, which is try could be in jeopardy if its China links are supplier of components to the Senkaku/Diaoyu Island pliers a business opportunity. In fact, by
seen as the unreasonable aggressor. The severed. Commentators have also pointed Boeing, whose 737 Max Not only are conflict in 2012. “Product- April, China had begun importing finished
outrage has been particularly pronounced out how any such call to boycott Chinese and 747 aircraft are part of level analysis shows that and semi-finished steel from India.
on social media, with hashtags like #Boy- goods sits uncomfortably with the billions of Indian airlines’ fleets. Xi’an such moves the impact is concentrated It is significant that the call for a boycott of
cottChina and #BoycottChineseProducts dollars of Chinese investment in local start- is a Chinese company, so in consumer goods with Chinese goods did not come in response to
trending on Twitter. This comes just weeks ups that are routinely held up as role models will India boycott Boeing
ineffective, only minor effects for inter- the covid-19 pandemic, which is widely

is former executive
after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call
for atmanirbharta gave self-reliance the sta-
of Indian ingenuity.
Sure, India is a large market for Chinese
for its choice of sourcing?
It is also debatable how
a drop in trade mediates and capital goods,
being consistent with the
believed to have started in China, even if it
wasn’t actually manufactured there in a lab.
editor of Mint tus of a national mission.
But does a campaign for the economic
goods, accounting for 3% of China’s exports
and adding up to $75 billion in 2019. But
much effect a politically-
motivated boycott can
relations could notion that international
trade boycotts are mainly
This adheres to the general theory that most
such boycotts are related to non-trade issues
boycott of a country have any real hope of here’s the thing: India’s $17 billion of exports have. Iran, one of the most leave India carried out by consumers that are almost always geopolitical in nature.
success, and is it even a reasonable stance? to China account for a much-higher 5.3% of sanctioned countries in the and not by firms,” he Sensibly, India’s Defence Minister Rajnath
We live in a world which, despite many our total exports. Any trade war with China world, still managed for- worse off observed. “While the esti- Singh has been stressing the need to resolve
recent setbacks to globalization, is inextrica- would hurt India, too. eign trade worth $85.1 bil- mated disruption in the border issue through dialogue. After all,
bly interlinked, with the supply chains of That apart, there is also the more practical lion in the year ending imports from the boycotted India has border disputes as well as other
companies spanning various geographies. issue of whether it is at all possible for a March 2019, with exports adding up to country can be large, the fraction as total issues with several countries. Shunning
Products made by Indian firms contain com- country to boycott another in this age when nearly $41.4 billion and imports to a little exports of the boycotted country is very low their products or services is not an answer.
ponents that come from China or use Chi- global trade is such an intricate kaleidoscope over $43.7 billion, according to Tehran in both boycott cases (0.4% for Denmark and Instead of boycotting Chinese goods, we
nese machinery to make them. Small and of inputs from so many nations. Take apart Times. Nor was this thanks to the largesse of 0.8% for Japan). This suggests that even should negotiate with Beijing to open
medium businesses, the focus of attention any product today, whether it is a car, a a few countries favourably disposed to the though an individual firm of the boycotted China’s market further to Indian services as
currently for their fragility in the face of pan- phone or an aircraft, and you will find hun- country’s political dispensation. In spite of country might be hit hard, the overall effect well as more finished goods. That would
demic-induced lockdowns, extensively use dreds of components from several different US sanctions, Iran managed to export com- on the export sector is negligible, rendering help us raise our exports.
 MUMBAI, NEW DELHI, BENGALURU, KOLKATA, CHENNAI, AHMEDABAD, HYDERABAD, CHANDIGARH*, PUNE* VOL. 3 NO. 135 Rs 6.00

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Government turns its focus on TWITTERVERSE

rural economy as India unlocks

Ravi Shankar Prasad
@rsprasad
US begins probe #AatmaNirbharBharat
into India’s tax The Centre feels the move will help promote freedom to produce, hold, move, distribute and supply does not mean isolation
The US is probing digital of India.It means devel-
services taxes India has oping our capacities to
adopted and may Anuja and Gyan Varma reverse migration by lakhs of compete globally. India
impose punitive tariff migrants particularly in states will be an asset for the
NEW DELHI
sanctions. See Page 3
such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and global economy.

T
he Prime Minister Nar- Jharkhand triggering demand for
endra Modi-led Union more local employment.
Gujarat HC stays Are government on “The Union government is try-
Franklin’s e-voting asymptoma
Wednesday announced ing to open up the process for all
tic covid-19
Gujarat high court has patients the amendment of the farmers. After the push for One
stayed the winding-up safe or Essential Commodities Act (ECA), Nation, One Ration Card, the pro-
exercise of the six debt silent as part of a series of steps to revive posed amendments to ECA also
schemes of Franklin carriers?
the rural economy, which was point to the larger trend of creat-
Templeton. See Page 9 bit.ly/2XRioPC severely impacted by the corona- ing a unified approach towards
virus outbreak and the more than agriculture. Some of the propos- Piyush Goyal
two-month-long lockdown als, including allowing inter and @PiyushGoyal
imposed to control its spread. intra state trade, have been Railways deploys first
The move will help promote demanded for long, but there is set of isolation coaches
freedom to produce, hold, move, bound to be pushback from some for treating those with
distribute and supply and attract of state governments that have an COVID. The rake is
the private sector, as well as for- alternative point of view,” said equipped with medical
eign direct investment, in agricul- Amendments to ESA will promote barrier-free inter-state and intra-state trade in agriculture produce and allow Yatindra Singh Sisodia, director at facilities to comfortably
ture, the Union government feels. farmers to directly engage with processors, aggregators, wholesalers, large retailers and exporters. AP the Madhya Pradesh Institute of quarantine patients.
The move is politically signifi- Social Science Research, Ujjain,
cant not just because the Union the steps taken by the Union gov- stay. The APMC Act of states will press conference. and a political analyst.
Startups claiming government aims to address dis- ernment at the national level. stay but in areas outside of its pur- The amendments to the ESA “It is politically significant
benefits under lens tress in the rural sector by making These include Uttar Pradesh, Kar- view, even if it is a farmer’s house, will promote barrier-free inter- because the Union government is
Tax authorities have institutional changes, but also nataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pra- any company, organization, proc- state as well as intra-state trade in aware of the havoc that the pan-
increased scrutiny of because it could get a pushback desh, which have given farmers essing industry can go and buy agriculture produce and allow demic has created and is looking
startups claiming tax from states over agrarian distress, the freedom to sell farmers to directly for key interventions to tackle it,”
benefits under Mauritius
treaty. See Page 9
particularly those under opposi- their produce to PLOUGHSHARE PIVOT engage with proc- Sisodia said. State elections in
tion governments, experts said. an entity of their essors, aggrega- Bihar and West Bengal are also a
“Cabinet decisions will have a choice by amend- THE MOVE is STEPS taken now by MANDIS and APMC tors, wholesalers, key concern, Sisodia said. Donald J. Trump
very positive impact on rural ing the Agricul- politically significant the Centre have
as it may be resisted already been
Acts of states will
stay; but any firm can
large retailers and The decision is also significant @realDonaldTrump
Locusts may affect India, especially our industrious tural Produce by states ruled by exporters. because the BJP will also face
kharif crop season announced by a few buy produce outside
farmers. Long-pending agrarian Marketing Com- Opposition parties states under BJP rule without inviting tax The Union gov- Assembly election in Uttar Pra- Sleepy Joe has been in
Farmers in states such as reforms will enable the transfor- mittee (APMC) ernment’s push desh in 2022, which has consider- politics for 40 years,
Rajasthan, Gujarat and mation of the sector,” Modi Act. for “One India, able number of farmers. The party and did nothing. Weak-
parts of Punjab may pay tweeted soon after the decision. “Through this ordinance, the their produce at optimum One Agriculture Market” has has made an election promise of ness will never beat
a heavy price from locust anarchists and Joe has
attacks. See Page 9
A few states, which have Bharat- Union government’s attempt is to price…no tax will be imposed on come at a time when the rural doubling the income of farmers by
iya Janata Party (BJP) govern- free farmers from the regulations it,” Union agriculture minister economy has been hit not just by 2022. been politically weak.
ments, have already announced they were bound by. Mandis will Narendra Singh Tomar said at a pandemic, which has also led to a [email protected]

Eight universities Shadow of uncertainty persists over parliamentary panel meetings

get ranked among Gyan Varma & Anuja
NEW DELHI
mentary panel discussions.
Some members were hope-
on it,” said a second BJP parlia- where top bureaucrats were
mentarian who is also part of asked to place their findings
ful that the committee would the committee. before the committees to
best 100 in Asia W
hile the opposition
is keen on dissect-
ing the Centre’s
soon meet to discuss what the
opposition sees as the failure
of the government to tackle
“All such committees are apprise the lawmakers of the
non-partisan and in the cur- situation, and there were no
rent example, too, we are only political motives behind those
response to the economic and the covid-19 crisis, while oth- trying to assess the role of the moves. For instance, former
Prashant K. Nanda migrant crisis amid the cov- ers ruled out any ‘political government during the pan- Reserve Bank of India gover-
[email protected] id-19 outbreak, and hold it motive’ and, instead, said it demic. Several members, nor Urjit Patel had appeared
NEW DELHI accountable, ruling party was important to summon top including myself, expressed before the Parliamentary
members are not immediately officials to find out more about our inability to travel, given standing committee on

E
ight Indian universities interested in holding Parlia- current developments. the current cir- finance to brief
have found a place among mentary committee meetings, “The meeting has been cumstances. A meeting of the on the effects of
the best 100 varsities in citing travel restrictions and deferred or delayed and we are There is no ques- panel scheduled demonetisation
Asia, while some of the top var- quarantine rules, health con- The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats have not permitted hopeful that it will soon take tion of having any for Wednesday and non-per-
sities in the country improved cerns and ongoing relief work such meetings to be conducted via videoconferencing. HT place. If some members of the political motive in was deferred as forming assets
their performance signifi- in their constituencies. opposition see this as an either calling offi- (NPAs) situation
most members
cantly, shows the Times For the second time in just attend the session. who is part of the committee. opportunity to corner the gov- cials or express- in public sector
Higher Education Asia Univer- about a month, the meeting of “This is no time for analysis, Despite several attempts to ernment, then they are wel- ing difficulty in expressed banks, he added.
sity Rankings 2020 released on the Parliamentary standing but time for action. The entire convince the secretariats of come to do so. We are not attending the inability to attend “Such meetings
Wednesday. committee on home affairs, country is fighting covid-19, both Rajya Sabha and Lok scared, and they can go ahead meet,” a senior take place to pro-
The Indian Institutes of IISc is ranked best among scheduled for Wednesday, was what is the point of holding Sabha to hold such meetings and scrutinise the decisions of opposition vide suggestions
Technology (IITs) in Delhi and Indian institutions at 36. HT cancelled after National Dem- meetings now? All parliamen- over videoconferencing, or the government. The union leader, who is part of the panel, for better running of the coun-
Kharagpur made significant ocratic Alliance members, as tarians should collectively try any other means using tech- government under Prime said requesting anonymity. try. We are hopeful when the
improvement. IIT Ropar, a sec- “Both regionally and glo- well as a section of non-NDA to help migrant labourers. nology, the efforts have fallen Minister Narendra Modi has He added that there are situation improves the meet-
ond-generation IIT, made it to bally, it is clear that India’s party representatives, Analysis and scrutiny can hap- through, because of confiden- taken decisions to help people many examples of past parlia- ings will start taking place.”
the top 50 along with the higher education system has a expressed their inability to pen later,” said a BJP leader tiality clauses related to Parlia- and there should be no politics mentary panel meetings [email protected]
Indian Institute of Science lot to shout about. The
(IISc), Bangalore. improvements by some of
IIT Gandhinagar (114), and India’s older institutions in this
the Institute of Chemical Tech- year’s THE Asia Rankings
nology (ranked 97) made it to should be embraced, a positive
the Asia rankings for the first story that demonstrates a con-
time with considerable success. tinued and growing ability to
This was a recognition of the compete among the world’s
Goods movement pickup in May signals revival of economic activity
growing stature of Indian very best,” said Phil Baty, chief
schools at the international knowledge officer, THE. “The Shreya Nandi & greater relaxations in June, opened up the economy. The In terms of volume, 55.17
league tables. desire to cham- Gireesh Chandra Prasad except in containment zones, number of e-way bills raised by transactions were recorded in
IISc was ranked According to the pion India’s place could further help the manu- businesses in May is a notch May, which is a five-fold jump
the best in India the survey report, a m o n g the NEW DELHI facturing industry, which is below the half-way mark of the compared with the volume
with an Asian IIT Delhi climbed world’s greatest pinning hopes on a recovery in 57 million e-way bills raised in recorded in April. There were

G
rank of 36, while 24 places this research-led insti- oods movement, consumption. February. 84.55 million
IIT Ropar was tutions has been
year to be placed compounded by a which had contracted E-way bill generation rose Electronic toll Official data transactions in
ranked 47 among sharply in March and 196% in May to 25.5 million collection in shows e-way bills March.
all top varsities in at 67 among Asia record number of April, picked up noticeably in from 8.6 million in April when highways via and toll payments There has been
the continent. ranks Indian universi- May in line with the relaxa- the lockdown imposed to FASTag surged to a gradual increase
made by trucks
IISc’s rank was ties submitting for tions given for resuming eco- check the spread of coronavi- ₹1,142 crore in in the number of
seven notches our gold standard nomic activities as part of rus was more stringent, May, recovering
ferrying goods trucks plying on
below its 2019 ranking. IIT World University Rankings India’s phased exit from the showed data from Goods and from the ₹248 across states highways, with
Indore bagged the 55th posi- 2021, which will be released lockdown, which began on 25 Services Tax Network (GSTN), crore reported in rose in May the easing of
tion. this September,” he said in an March. the company that processes April. The May restrictions, said
IIT Kharagpur climbed 17 email. Across Asia, Tsinghua Electronic permits raised by GST. AIMTC officials claim 30-35% of trucks are back on the highways collection is still All India Motor
positions to get an Asian rank of University and Peking Univer- businesses for transportation India first eased the restric- nationally in the wake of easing of covid restrictions. PTI below the ₹1,421 crore of Transport Congress (AIMTC)
59 in 2020, while IIT Delhi sity (both in China), National of goods, or e-way bills, and tions on economic activities on March, data released by secretary general Naveen
climbed 24 places this year to University of Singapore, Uni- electronic toll payments made 4 May when it extended the activities, and limited move- freedom was given to other National Payments Corp. of Kumar Gupta. “At the
be placed at 67. However, some versity Hong Kong, and The by trucks ferrying goods lockdown a third time. Essen- ment were allowed even in areas, including for movement India (NPCI) showed. At moment, 30-35% of the trucks
others, such as IIT- Kanpur and Hong Kong University of Sci- across states jumped in May, tial activities, including pro- areas with a high incidence of of taxis subject to conditions. present, more than two-thirds are back on the highways,”
IIT-Roorkee lost their last ence and Technology were the official data showed. duction of pharmaceuticals, coronavirus infections, classi- The fourth phase that of toll revenue is collected Gupta said.
year’s ranking. top five varsities respectively. This indicates that the operation of export units, farm fied as red zones, while more started on 18 May further through via FASTag. [email protected]