Bengaluru Chennai Coimbatore Hubballi Hyderabad Kochi ...

SURABHI

Mumbai, April 14

Covidrelated health insuranceclaims are rising for generaland standalone health insurers, amid a surge in infections. Some players are nowthinking of increasing thepremium to meet the demand.

“The number of claims is increasing very rapidly as Covidinfections rise. Claims are veryhigh and are aff��ecting the industry badly,” said MN Sarma,Secretary General, industrybody General Insurance Council, adding that some hospitalscontinue to charge high feesfor treatment.

According to GIC data, asmany as 10.26lakh Covidrelated claims worth ₹��14,849.53crore were fi��led as on April 12this year. Of this, 8.81lakhclaims amounting to ₹��8,029.33crore have already beensettled.

“Claims are increasing. Weare getting numbers like in August and September last year.The important thing is thatthere are more defi��ned protocols for home isolation andhospitalisation,” said AnandRoy, Managing Director, StarHealth and Allied Insurance.

The insurer has been getting600700 Covidspecifi��c claimsa day of late, which had fallento 100 to 150 a day in Decemberand January, he said. The insurer paid out 1.31lakh Covidclaims last year amounting to₹��1,326 crore.

Roy said Star Health is evaluating and may go for repricing

premium depending on howthe second wave pans out. Theinsurer did not go for repricing last year when a numberof insurers increasedpremium for health cover.

Bhabatosh Mishra, Director,Underwriting, Claims andProduct, Max Bupa Health Insurance, said Covid claims dented the insurer’s loss ratios during the fi��rst wave itself.

Cashless claims double“At Max Bupa, in the last sevendays, Covid claims in the formof “cashless claims” have morethan doubled and are rising ata very fast pace. Initially, in thesecond wave, the number ofCovid claims did not match thenumber of cases. But now, thepace at which the cases are increasing is fast catching upwith the trends seen in the fi��rstwave,” he said.

Covid infections have seen asharp surge in recent weeks,overtaking the peak of lastyear. However, some insurersare still on a waitandwatchmode.

“Yes, there has been a rise inCovid claims, but it being onetime may not result in price increase for many companies,”said Rakesh Jain, ED and CEO,Reliance General Insurance.

Triggers rethink

among players onpremium repricing

General insurers see Covidclaims rise amid surging cases

According to data with the GIC,

by April 12 this year, 10.26 lakh

Covid- related health claims

were filed

................CMYK

Bengaluru Chennai Coimbatore Hubballi Hyderabad Kochi Kolkata Madurai Malappuram Mangaluru Mumbai Noida Thiruvananthapuram Tiruchirapalli Tirupati Vijayawada Visakhapatnam

THURSDAY • APRIL 15, 2021

CHENNAI

₹��10 • Pages 10 • Volume 28 • Number 104

TECHNOPHILE

Galaxy S20FE 5G: Samsung

is relaunching with a

thing or two that users want p7

RENAULT RURAL DRIVE

Carmaker Renault India

ups rural sales drive with

CSC Grameen eStore tieup p2

MAHA SHOOTING BAN

Film releases and fresh TV content to

take a hit. Escalation of costs too worry

fi��lmmakers, content producers p10

OUR BUREAU

New Delhi, April 14

After a highlevel meetingchaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Education Ministry on Wednesday decided topostpone the CBSE Class 12 exams and cancel the Class 10 exams.

This decision was taken in thelight of rising demand frompoliticians and students forcancellation of the exams thisyear due to rise in Covid19cases.

This move will impact over 35lakh students — 21.5 lakh registered for CBSE Class 10 examsand 14.30 lakh for Class 12 exams.

Ater the Prime Ministerchaired the meeting, the Education Ministry said in a statement that the situation will bereviewed on June 1 for Class 12exams that were to be held fromMay 4 to June 14. A notice of atleast 15 days will be given beforethe start of the examinations.

“Looking at the present pandemic situation and schoolclosures and taking into account the safety and wellbeingof the students, it is decided topostpone the Class 12 examsand cancel the Class 10 exams”,the statement said.

Board exam optionThe Education Ministry said theresults for Class 10 will be prepared on the basis of an objective criterion to be developed bythe Board. Any candidate who isnot satisfi��ed with the marks allocated to him/her on this basiswill be given an opportunity tosit for an exam as and when theconditions are conducive tohold the exams, the Ministrystatement added.

CBSE postponesexams for Class XII,cancels for Class X

OUR BUREAU

New Delhi, April 14

To combat the surge in Covid19 cases, the Centre has given its approval to ramp up the production of drug Remdesivir to around78 lakh vials a month. Manufacturers of the lifesaving drug havealso volunteered to reduce the price to less than ₹��3,500 by theend of this week, the government said in a release on Wednesday.

The issue of availability of Remdesivir was reviewed by Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of State for Chemical and Fertilisers, in meetings with the manufacturers of Remdesivir andother stakeholders between April 12 and 13, when it was decidedto increase production/supply and reduce prices of the drug, therelease said.

Govt nod to ramp up Remdesivir supply

RUTAM VORAMONIKA YADAVTE RAJASIMHAN Ahmedabad/Delhi/Chennai, April 14

If the steady rise in Covid casesover the last few weeks is alarming, the infrastructure bottleneck that the country is facing inits fi��ght against the pandemic isnothing short of a nightmare.From Patna (Bihar) to Pune (Maharashtra) to Rajkot (Gujarat),the situation is the same everywhere with shortage of beds,lack of oxygen cylinders andscarcity of medicine remainingthe common complaint.

“Patients are being brought ina critical condition, requiringoxygen or ventilator support.The number of new cases are sointense that most of the Staterun hospitals have run out ofbeds. Some patients are being referred to private hospitals,wherever there is a bed available,” informed a doctor who ispart of the Covid managementteam at Ahmedabad’s Civil Hospital. Over a dozen ambulanceswith Covid patients were queuedup at Gate no.8 of Ahmedabad’sCivil Hospital close to midnighton Tuesday waiting for the hospital to arrange beds.

Says Dilip Jose, Managing Director and Chief Executive ofManipal Hospitals: “While we expect the drugs situation to improve shortly, the shortage ofbeds is likely to persist for severalweeks.” The surge in Covid caseshas put the hospital network under much stress in terms of availability of beds, including thosein ICUs, as well as on maintaining essential medical supplies,he added.

In Pune, which is one of theworst aff��ected in the country, thelocal administration hasstepped up eff��orts to increasebed capacity and facilitate earlydetection of positive cases to prevent hospitalisation with timelymedication. Pune divisionalcommissioner Saurabh Rao saidthat younger kids are getting infected in big numbers.

Full Covid-19 hospitalsAware of the gravity of the situation, authorities are scramblingto boost the infrastructure.

In fact, in Maharashtra – wherehospitals and supplies like oxygen are in short supply – Mumbaialone is set to get three jumbofi��eld hospitals.

In the national capital, theKejriwalgovernment had declared 14 private hospitals including Sir Ganga Ram Hospital,St Stephens Hospital and Tis Hazari as “full Covid19” hospitalsand instructed them not to admit any nonCovid patients tillfurther orders. Another 19 otherprivate hospitals have beenasked to reserve at least 80 percent of their ICU beds for Covidrelated treatment. Further, 82private hospitals have also beenasked to set aside at least 60 percent of their ICU beds forCovid19 patients, while 101private hospitals have been directed to reserve at least 60 percent of their ward bed capacityfor Covidrelated treatment.

When BusinessLine’s correspondent contacted Sri GangaRam Hospital for admission, shewas told the Covid beds were fulland was asked to enquire in themorning about the availability.They noted down the name andage of the patient along with thecontact number for whom theadmission is being sought.

In Tamil Nadu, currently80,284 beds are available, ofwhich 32,102 are with oxygen facility; 6,997 are with ICU; and6,517 are with ventilators. InChennai, the entire PresidencyCollege’s men’s hostel has beenconverted into a Covid carecentre.

The Gujarat government isadding 900 bed capacities inAhmedabad with the help of theDefence Research and Development Organisation. Religioustrusts and organisations toohave come forward to converttheir premises into wards forCovid patients.

The Andhra Pradesh government has made arrangements toensure full functionality of medical infrastructure, put in placelast year during the peak of pandemic. About 66 Covid hospitalsand 22 Covid care centres havebeen set up across Andhra Pradesh.

In Kolkata, Alok Roy, ChairFICCI Health Services Committeeand Chairman of Medica Groupof Hospitals, said: “Given the experience of last year, most hospitals have been quick to rampup facilities at a short notice.Medica has increased the number of Covid beds to 160 fromaround 20 over the last threeweeks.”

(Inputs from G Naga Sridhar(Hyderabad), Anil Urs(Bengaluru), RadheshyamJadhav (Pune), Shobha Roy(Kolkata))

Unable to take on

caseload, authorities

scramble to boost bed

capacity, supplies

After surging cases comes the infra shiver

OUR BUREAU

Bengaluru, April 14

Software services giant Infosys brought the curtainsdown on FY21, terming it asan exceptional year for thecompany on the back of largedeal wins and the pandemicinduced digital accelerationamong its clients.

On a yearonyear basis, theIT giant posted a 17.5 per centincrease in net profi��t to₹��5,076 crore while revenuesgrew 13 per cent to ₹��26,311crore. On a quarteronquarter basis, however, itfailed to beat analyst expectations by reporting a declineof 2.3 per cent in net profi��t forthe fourth quarter of FY21.Revenues for the same periodwere higher by 1.5 per cent.During FY21, Infosys won itslargestever deal worth about$3 billion from Daimler for atechnologydriven IT infrastructure transformation.

The company also announced a capital return of₹��15,600 crore, including a fi��nal dividend of ₹��6,400 croreand an open market buybackof shares of ₹��9,200 crore at₹��1,750 per share. With thiscurrent buyback option, Infosys would be able to returnto shareholders 83 per cent ofthe 85 per cent cash. The company’s board also approved afi��nal dividend of ₹��15 pershare.

Infosys posted an alltimehigh deal win for FY21 of $14.1billion with 66 per cent beingnet new wins. The deal winsduring the fourth quarterwere $2.1 billion.

Q4 comment p10

Infosys net up17.5% in Q4;announcesbuyback

Regd. TN/ARD/14/2012-2014, RNI No. 55320/94

................CMYK

CHENNAI

2 BusinessLine THURSDAY • APRIL 15 • 2021NEWS

OUR BUREAU

Mumbai, April 14

The Directorate General ofCivil Aviation is looking intocomplaints against some airlines selling tickets at acheaper rate than the fl��oorfi��xed by the Government.

Fare controls were put inplace after the domestic airoperations were allowed toresume by the government inMay last year following twomonths of grounding offl��ight operations to containthe Covid19 pandemic.

Flight tickets are currentlyclassifi��ed under several farebands (A to G), which arebased on the duration offl��ights, according to whichmaximum or minimum faresare charged. According to industry sources, there havebeen instances where airlineswere off��ering lower tariff��s tofi��ll seats.

“The issue was discussed at

a meeting between seniorCivil Aviation Ministry offi��cials and the airline industryrecently. There was a demandfor strict enforcement byDGCA of the lower fare limitfi��xed by the government asthere are many instances oftickets being sold at muchcheaper rates,” said an industry source.

Hit by the second wave ofCovid19 and a dip in airtravel, airlines have also demanded fi��nancial assistancefrom the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Multiple requestsA source said that representatives from various airlinesmet the Secretary at the Ministry of Civil Aviation onMonday, and pointed outthat, despite multiple requests, there has been absolutely no fi��nancial assistancefrom the government for air

lines since the Covid outbreak. According to ratingagency ICRA, there has been a63 per cent decline in domestic air passenger traffi��c inFY21. On the other hand, theATF prices were three per centhigher in March 2021 on a yoy basis, and April 2021 priceshave been higher still by awhopping 59.8 per cent on ayoy basis.

Loss set to widenThe rating agency, in December, had said the Indian aviation industry was expectedto report a net loss of ₹��21,000crore in FY21 as opposed to anet loss of ₹��12,700 crore inFY20. ICRA said this was dueto lower revenues and high

fi��xed costs. Over the past oneyear, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has increasedthe capacity to 45 per cent,with eff��ect from June 27, 2020post the initial recommencement of operations of thescheduled domestic fl��ights. Itfurther permitted increasingthe capacity to 60 per cent,with eff��ect from September 2,2020 to 70 per cent, with effect from November 11, 2020;and further to 80 per centwith eff��ect from December 3,2020.

Sources said that airlineshave requested the Ministryto reduce the capacity from80 per cent to 60 per cent asbookings have fallen by asmuch as 50 per cent.

Fare controls were put in place after

flights resumed in May last year, two

months after grounding due to Covid-19

Airlines have also demanded financial assistance from the Centre

DGCA looking into plaints against airlines selling tickets at cheaper rate

G BALACHANDAR

Chennai, April 14

BSElisted constructionequipment manufacturerAction Construction Equipment (ACE) has chalked outplans for stronger focus onthree segments — agriequipment, defence and exports — due to favourablegrowth outlook and as partof business derisk plans.

Multi-pronged strategyIn agri equipment business,the company plans a multipronged strategy to growthe share and revenue. Ithas been selling tractors (in3590 HP range), harvestercombines and rotavators,among others and has a capacity to make 9,000 agriequipment.

The business has beenwitnessing good momentum and the revenuefrom it is pegged at ₹��180200 crore for FY21 against₹��143 crore in FY20.

“We will focus on tractorsand other agri products like

track harvester combineswhere we are already at No.2position in India.

“We have a strong experienced leadership teamwhich is focussing on driving the growth in this segment. With a strategic approach, we expect toincrease our presence andshare in the coming years inthis segment,” Sorab Agarwal, Executive Director, ACE,told BusinessLine.

Distribution channelIt has about 200 dealers fortractors across northern,western and eastern parts ofthe country and will bestrengthening the distribution channel further.

In Assam, it claims tohave garnered 10 per centmarket share in tractors.

It will be rolling out Orchard Special Tractor (26 HP, 4WD) and nextgen lightweight harvesters fordeeper market penetration.Harvester segment is thesecondlargest application

segment after tractors, withthe market in India projected to register a CAGR of10.6 per cent during 20202025, owing to the rise inagricultural activities andincreased mechanisation.The company has alsoforged tieups with leadingbanks and top NBFCs toprovide fi��nancing supportto end users.

Good potentialThe company sees growthopportunities in defenceand export segments. “In exports, we especially seegood potential for African,

Middle East and SouthEastAsian countries for cranes,backhoes and tractors. Weare targeting to reacharound 1520 per cent ofsales through exports incoming years,” he said.

In the defence segment,the company is developingunique products like customised cranes, forklifts,skid steer loaders, multipurpose tractors, telehandlers and special mobileequipment wherein it seesa strong growth potentialin coming years with thegovernment push on Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Revenue earningsDuring the ninemonthperiod of FY21, cranes contributed about 61 per centto the company’s revenuesof ₹��770 crore, while construction equipment, material handling productsand agri equipment accounted for 11 per cent, 9per cent and 14 per centrespectively.

Sorab Agarwal,

Executive Director, ACE

Action Construction Equipment for stronger thrust on agri, defence and export business

OUR BUREAU

Chennai, April 14

French carmaker Renault hasentered into a partnershipwith CSC Grameen eStore, asubsidiary of CSC eGovernanceServices India Ltd (CSCSPV), tostrengthen its rural presenceand move closer to customersin remote areas.

As part of the partnership,Renault India’s leadingproduct range will be listed onthe CSC Grameen eStore andmade available to potentialcustomers in the hinterlandsthrough villagelevel entrepreneurs (VLEs), according to astatement.

CSC Grameen eStore is an ecommerce initiative by CSC(under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) to promote digital ordering and delivery in rural

areas. “We see tremendous potential in the rural marketsand are aggressively pursuingan innovative and comprehensive strategy to amplifyand grow our presence inRural India. We curated the‘sons of the soil’ strategy,wherein we recruited 500 educated youngsters from ruraland small towns, trained themand put them as rural sales engineers to market Renaultcars.

Strong network“This is yet another initiative toenhance our reach within thecountry and create a strongnetwork in the rural market,”said Venkatram Mamillapalle,Country CEO & Managing Director, Renault India Operations. To facilitate smooth

rural ecommerce, Renault willbuild a mechanism that will facilitate the supply of itsproducts to VLEs, who will helplist the products on select CSCGrameen eStores. The VLEs willfurther promote, generate enquiries, and facilitate sale toendcustomers in rural areasthrough the support of respective Renaultauthoriseddealerships.

“Through this initiative,VLEs are playing a critical rolein connecting producers andcompanies with rural consumers right at their doorsteps. Partnering with Renaultwill allow the Grameen eStoreto have its fi��rst fourwheelerbrand, while providing customers in rural areas easy access to its great products andservices,” said Dinesh Tyagi –CEO, CSC SPV.

Renault India recentlylaunched a new initiative‘Rural Float’, a fully functionalmobile showroom, that aimsto provide the completeRenault experience to existingand potential customers inmore than 360 towns acrossthe country, especially in therural markets across India.

Renault India ups rural sales drive with CSC Grameen eStore tie-up

Venkatram Mamillapalle,

Country CEO & MD

500 educated

youngsters from

rural and small

towns recruited

under ‘sons of the

soil’ strategy

OUR BUREAU

New Delhi, April 14

Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) onWednesday said it has soldover 1.57 lakh factoryfi��tted SCNG vehicles in the fi��scal year202021.

This is the highestever SCNG car sales by the company,it said in a statement. MSIL offers a wide range of factoryfi��tted CNG cars including Alto,Celerio, WagonR, SPresso,Eeco, Ertiga, Tour S and SuperCarry.

“We see CNG asa technology thathas set a newbenchmark ingreen fuel mobility. Maruti Suzukioff��ers its customers the widest options of factoryfi��tted CNGpowered cars. Atthe same time, CNG is becoming one of the most preferredalternative fuels due to its economic cost of running (as compared with the high prices ofpetrol and diesel) and improved CNG fi��lling infrastructure," Shashank Srivastava, Executive Director (Marketing &Sales), MSIL said.

With the government’s clear

focus on expansion of CNG outlets in the country, the company was confi��dent of greateracceptance of factoryfi��ttedCNG vehicles, even in challenging times, he said.

BenefitsSome of the benefi��ts of the SCNG vehicles include intelligent injection system thatprovides an optimum airfuelratio during combustion,thereby ensuring optimal and

consistent performance alongwith high fuel effi��ciency; and retuned chassis suspension and braking system.

From safety aspects, Maruti Suzuki SCNG

vehicles are evaluated andtested for crashworthinessand durability with entire CNGSystem in place. It puts stainless steel pipes and joints withferrule joints for corrosion resistance and a leakproof designto the entire CNG system, thecompany explained.

The CNG vehicles also havewarranty benefi��ts which areextendable up to fi��ve years.

Maruti sells over 1.57 lakhCNG vehicles in FY21

OUR BUREAU

Mumbai, April 14

JSW Steel has acquired the remaining 30 per cent stake inGSI Lucchini S.p.A for a cashconsideration of €1 million(about ₹��9 crore).

The balance share capital ofGSI is already held by JSWSteel Italy Srl, a subsidiary ofJSW Steel. The manufacturingunit of GSI is located at theport city of Piombino inTuscany region, providingeasy access to export markets.

Last December, JSW SteelItaly Srl had signed an agreement with Industrial Development Corporation, SouthAfrica for acquisition of 30.73 percent in GSIprovided that thecompany meetscertain performance criteria.

“Pursuant to fulfi��lment of conditions precedentmentioned in theSPA (share purchase agreement), our subsidiary JSW Steel Italy S.r.l hason April 13 completed the acquisition of 30.73 per centequity share capital of GSI,”said JSW Steel in a statementon Wednesday.

The plant allows specifi��c advantages in terms of leadtime, service level and logistics cost in its target markets.

The portbased facility alsogives GSI the fl��exibility and access to import raw material’sbars/blooms and billets tosupplement supplies as whenrequired.

GSI is a producer of forgedsteel balls used in grindingmills with predominant application in mining processing. The brand is widelyrecognised in Europe andAfrica and is among the prominent supplier in Africanmines.

The proposed transactionprovides an opportunity forJSW to consolidate its stake inGSI.

JSW Steel acquisition spreeEarly this month, JSW Steelhas entered into agreementto acquire the highgradesteel plates and coil business

of Welspun Groupfor ₹��848 crore.

JSW Steel alsothrough itswhollyownedsubsidiary Piombino Steel, haspaid ₹��19,350 croreto acquire 2.5mtpa (milliontonnes per annum) production

capacity of Bhushan Powerand Steel at Jharsuguda inOdisha and downstream facilities in Kolkata and Chandigarh late March.

Besides making fresh acquisition, JSW Steel hasdoubled its production to 10mtpa at its Dolvi plant in Maharashtra.

JSW has invested ₹��15,000crore in doubling the capacityalong with 1.5 mtpa coke ovenplant. The supporting facilities are to be commissionedprogressively in the comingdays.

JSW Steel Italy acquires30.73% in GSI Lucchini

WXGSI is a producer

of forged steel

balls used in

grinding mills

and the brand is

widely

recognised in

Europe and Africa

OUR BUREAU

Hyderabad, April 14

Following the launch of itscomprehensive passengervehicle tyre range in the USand Canada, Apollo Tyres hasnow entered the truckbustyre segment in the twocountries.

While the PV range waslaunched under thepremium European brand,Vredestein, the commercialvehicle range was introducedunder the Apollo brand.

Manufacturing unitsApollo’s North Americanrange of truckbus tyres willbe produced at its manufacturing units in Hungary andChennai in India. The Apollotruck tyre lineup will encompass a full range of regional, superregional,coach/urban and mixeduseapplications with fi��tmentsfor rims ranging from 17.5inches to 24.5 inches. 13 SKUsare planned for this year,which will be expanded to 23SKUs by the second half of2022, and a total of 45 SKUs,covering 90 per cent of themarketplace by 2024.

“Apollo may be a newname in the US and Canada,but we are not a new company. Our market entry inNorth America is precededby decades of global commercial vehicle tyre manufacturing and distributionexpertise,” Abhishek Bisht,Assistant Vice President,Americas, Apollo Tyres, saidin a statement.

Apollo Tyres enters truck-bus segmentin US, Canada

VINAY KAMATH

RUTAM VORA

Chennai, April 14

Mein tumhe apni beti de rahahoon’. This is what Anil Kapoorsaid to Rohit Ohri , GroupChairman & CEO, FCB India,when he was taking over in2016 from Kapoor. “Ulka wasthe daughter he had loved andnurtured for almost three decades,” says Ohri.

Legendary ad man andformer Chairman of FCB Ulka,Anil ‘Billy’ (a moniker he got atSt Stephen’s College) Kapoorpassed away at the age of 74 onSunday. In over three decadesat the helm, he transformedan ailing Ulka Advertising intoa fl��ourishing agency thatworked closely at the strategiclevel with a host of brands.Amul, Santoor, Tata Indica aresome of the brands that Ulkahas a longstanding relationship with. He also oversaw themerger of Ulka with Foote,Cone & Belding (FCB) whilealso ensuring the globalagency retained the Ulka(shooting star in Sanskrit)

name. “His razor sharp mindwould fi��rst interrogate thebusiness model and productdelivery before thinking ofcommunication, gettingmany a client to reevaluatetheir marketing strategies,”says Ohri.

Ambi Parameswaran,former CEO, FCB Ulka, says Kapoor believed very strongly inthe need for agencies to partner with CXOlevel people.

“We were taught to engagewith the seniormost level inan organisation as advertisingis not to be left to the discretion of junior brand managers. His whole philosophywas you should know the client’s brand better than the client themselves which meansyou got to do enough spadework so you can guide the cli

ent on what to do with thebrand,” he says.

Amul, which has been Ulka’sclient since 1988, honoured Kapoor in an ad with its typicalpunch line: ‘you will always bepart of our Famuly!’ Kapoor’sengagement with Amul started in 1988, when Dr VergheseKurien asked him to reenergise Amulya, a dairy whitener,which faced stiff�� competitionfrom Nestle’s EveryDay. Kapoor had just taken over thereins of Ulka from the founder,Bal Mundkur.

Engagement with AmulRecalling Kapoor's engagement with the dairy cooperative, RS Sodhi, Managing Director, Gujarat CooperativeMilk Marketing Federation,says, “There was a clear diff��erence between Kapoor and anyother advertising head. Inthose days, agencies wereheaded by people from creative areas. But, Kapoor was theman who had come from marketing and sales to advertising.” It was during Kapoor’stime that Amul’s iconic tagline ‘Amul: The Taste of India’was given and endures even

today. While Kapoor was a verydemanding boss and brookedno fools, he was also largehearted and had a great senseof humour. Ramesh Narayan,founder of the erstwhileCanco Advertising and formerPresident of AAAI, recalls thathe became the president ofthe ad agencies’ association ata very young age.

“All the heavyweights of thead industry would be there forthe meetings with their jackets on and looking very formaland I was in my usual fullsleeve shirt and pants. Aniltowered over me in one meeting and asked why don’t I havea jacket? I replied, ‘jackets arefor potatoes and suits are formen and I only have suits!’ Hestared at me a while and burstout laughing and hugged meand we became lifelongfriends after that,” he says.

While Rohit Ohri takes FCBUlka to further heights, he stillremembers his conversationwith Kapoor, as he says,“Thank you Anil. For sharingwith me the ‘secret sauce’ thatmade Ulka what it is. And, fortrusting me with your daughter!”

Remembering legendary adman Anil Kapoor

Anil Kapoor (1947-2021)

OBITUARY

OUR BUREAU

Mumbai, April 14

For the fourth time in threemonths, Future EnterprisesLimited has defaulted on interest payment on NonConvertible Debentures due onApril 12.

The principal amount ofthe NCD was ₹��300 crore andthe interest due amountingto ₹��15,16,48.248.

FEL has been under fi��nancial stress post the pandemic.In addition, it has been in alegal tussle with ecommercegiant Amazon over a sale of assets of Future Retail toMukesh Ambaniowned Reliance Retail.

This fi��rst default of 2021 wasin February followed by twoin March. As of December2020, FEL has reported a netloss of ₹��279 crore comparedto a loss of ₹��257.88 crore thequarter that ended in September 2020.

Meanwhile, Amazon hasfi��led a special leave petitionbefore the Supreme Court ofIndia against the captionedorder dated March 22, 2021passed by the Division Benchof the High Court of Delhi.

Future Enterprises defaults on interestpayment, yet again

SURESH P IYENGAR

Mumbai, April 14

Ruiasowned Essar Oil UK, oneof the largest suppliers of fuelin the UK, has run into fi��nancialcrisis due to a sharp fall in demand amid disruption causedby the pandemic.

The trouble in the company

has led to series of top levelexits, including the promoters’representative Rewant Ruia,who resigned as director earlythis month.

Another director, StephenWelch, resigned on Wednesday,the company said in a fi��ling.

Stein Ivar Bye, Chief Executive of Essar, resigned last monthafter fi��ve months in the role.

Despite the turbulence, Essaris confi��dent of sailing throughand is looking for government

support. Reacting to the development, an Essar Oil UK spokesperson said, historically, thebusiness has been very profi��table and has attracted over $1billion in investment since itsacquisition in 2011. It is a longstanding private companywithout public shareholders,he said in response to a Busi-nessLine query. The globalCovid pandemic has aff��ected allrefi��ners, with repeated lockdowns leading to reduced

product demand and depressed refi��ning margins, hesaid. “We have successfullytraded through a very diffi��cult12 months and are now seeingincreased demand for roadtransport fuels and improvingrefi��ning margins, which hasresulted in increased throughput at the Stanlow Manufacturing Complex,” said the company’s spokesperson.

“We are not a levered business and currently we do not

have any shortterm or longterm bank debt on the company, other than working capital lines. Prior to coronavirus,we were generating EBITDA inexcess of $300 million a year.We remain confi��dent that wecan manage through thisperiod and come out strongeras the economy clearly continues to recover,” he said.

Essar offi��cials are expected tomeet the UK government offi��cials later this week.

The company looking

for Govt support

to sail through

Essar Oil UK faces financial woes, top-level exits amid Covid-19

WTO DG sets July target for pact;India insists on special treatmentAMITI SEN

New Delhi, April 14

World Trade Organization(WTO) DirectorGeneralNgozi OkonjoIweala has setan ambitious target of July2021 for member countriesto reach an agreement onpruning harmful fi��sheriessubsidies.

However, India and someother member countries insist that untangling of special and diff��erential treatment for developingnations has to be a priority.

“There is a cluster of meetings ongoing at the WTOnegotiating group on ruleswhere members are tryingto narrow gaps in variousareas of the fi��sheries negotiations. India is keen for thetalks to progress but has indicated that it will not com

promise on the subsidyneeds of its small and artisanal farmers,” an offi��cialtracking the meetings toldBusinessLine.

The talks have reached aconsiderable degree of maturity, and members shouldmake the compromises necessary to get to the fi��nishline, the WTO DG said in her

remarks to open the clusterof weeklong meetings.

“Please keep the date ofJuly in mind as when weneed to fi��nally close thesenegotiations,”" she added.

While India appreciatesthe need to conclude thefi��sheries talks early, it has toget substantial concessionsfor its fi��shers under the special & diff��erential treatmentpackage before it agrees toany pact, the offi��cial said.

Subsidy cutsIndia and some others havesought exemption from subsidy cuts for artisanal fi��shersin developing countrieswho fi��sh in territorial waters.

This would mean thatwhile developed countrieswould need to do away with

subsidies for buying boats,fuels, fi��shing gear, etc, Indiacan continue such subsidyprogrammes as long as itsfi��shers stay within territorial waters. Several developed countries areagainst extending suchbroad exemptions.

OkonjoIweala asked allmembers, and in particularall Heads of Delegation, toprioritise the fi��sheries subsidies negotiations over thecoming months, and to remain fl��exible and availableas and when needed.

An agreement on prohibiting ‘harmful’ fi��sheries subsidies could lead to elimination of an estimated $14billion$20.5 billion of subsidies annually that lead tooverfi��shing and depletion offi��sh stocks worldwide.

FISHERIES TALKS

Ngozi OkonjoIweala,

DirectorGeneral of WTO

................CMYK

CHENNAI

BusinessLineTHURSDAY • APRIL 15 • 2021 3NEWS

BusinessLineDisclaimer: Readers are requested to verify& make appropriate enquiries to satisfythemselves about the veracity of anadvertisement before responding to anypublished in this newspaper. THGPUBLISHING PVT LTD., the Publisher &Owner of this newspaper, does not vouchfor the authenticity of any advertisementor advertiser or for any of the advertiser’sproducts and/or services. In no event canthe Owner, Publisher, Printer, Editor,Director/s, Employees of this newspaper/company be held responsible/liable in anymanner whatsoever for any claims and/ordamages for advertisements in thisnewspaper.

MAULIK MADHU

BL Research Bureau

Franklin Templeton MF has announced the distribution of₹��2,962 crore to investors of itssix shut debt mutual fundschemes in the week beginning April 12. This is the secondtranche of distribution by theAMC after it had shut its sixdebt schemes on April 23, 2020.Following the Supreme Court’searlier direction, Franklin Templeton MF had distributed₹��9,122 crore to investors of itswound up debt MF schemes inFebruary 2021.

SBI MF will handle the disbursement. Investors with KYC(know your customer) compliant accounts will be paid off�� aportion of their investment ineach of the six schemes, thisweek.

Franklin India (FI) UltraShort Bond Fund investors willget 28.42 per cent of their investment. Those invested inFranklin Templeton’s Low Duration Fund, Short Term Income

Plan, Income OpportunitiesFund, Credit Risk Fund and Dynamic Accrual Fund will receive 14.18 per cent, 13.37 percent, 6.67 per cent, 11.22 percent and 11.23 per cent, respectively, of their investment.

This is the fi��rst time that investors in the FI Income Opportunities Fund will be receivingpayment. In February, cashfl��ows received by the schemehad to be used for paying off��the borrowers fi��rst. After that,no cash was left for distribution to investors.

The shut debt schemes havereceived infl��ows by way of ma

turities, part payments, prepayment and coupons on thedebt securities in their portfolio since their closure in April2020.

How much so far After the second payout ismade, investors in the FranklinIndia (FI) Ultra Short BondFund and FI Low DurationFund would have received atotal of 68 per cent and 75 percent, respectively, of their investment in the scheme as ofApril 9, 2021. Those in the FIShort Term Income Fund, FICredit Risk Fund and FI Dy

namic Accrual Fund wouldhave got 21 per cent, 36 per centand 48 per cent, respectively, oftheir investment.

What remains According to the maturity profi��le of the schemes, as of March31, 2021 (as disclosed by Franklin Templeton) the Ultra ShortBond Fund and the Low Duration Fund should be able to encash all their assets by April2025. Three schemes, ShortTerm Income Plan, DynamicAccrual Fund and Credit RiskFund are expected to encashup to 95 per cent, 92 per centand 84 per cent, respectively oftheir assets by April 2025 andthe rest after that.

In case of the Income Opportunities Fund, only 53 per centof the scheme assets are expected to be encashed until April2025. It could, therefore, bequite a wait for investors in thisscheme before they recouptheir entire investment. Thematurity profi��les of theschemes assume that all securities will be held until maturityand all interest payments andprincipal repayments will bemade in full.

Income Opportunities

Fund investors will be

paid for the first time

Following the Supreme Court’s earlier direction, Franklin

Templeton MF had distributed ₹��9,122 crore to investors of its

wound up debt MF schemes in February

Who will receive how much in the secondpayout from Franklin’s shut schemes

OUR BUREAU

New Delhi, April 14

AYUSH Ministry’s manufacturing unit Indian MedicinesPharmaceutical CorporationLimited (IMPCL) registered analltime high profi��t for thefi��scal year 202021 at about ₹��12crore, the government said ina statement on Wednesday.

It recorded a turnover of₹��164.33 crore for the fi��nancialyear 202021 as comparedwith the revenue of ₹��97 crorein the previous year. “Thisgrowth is refl��ective of the fastgrowing adoption of AYUSHproducts and services by thepublic in the wake of Covid19pandemic,” the governmentsaid.

According to the release,the World Health Organization (WHO) recently recommended IMPCl’s 18 Ayurvedicproducts for WHOGMP/COPPcertifi��cation subject to certainobservations in March 2021.“WHO provides ‘World HealthOrganization, Good Manufacturing Practices / Certifi��cate ofPharmaceutical Product’ certifi��cation to companies afterconducting an inspection.This certifi��cation is an endorsement of the quality ofIMPCL’s products. It will helpIMPCL commence export operation of quality medicinesat a global level.”

immuno boosting kit During the pandemic, thecompany provided immunoboosting medicines as AurakshaImmuno Boosting Kit. At₹��350, it is one of the lowestpriced such kits and is alsoavailable on Amazon. Nearly 2lakh such kits have been soldin the last two months, the release said.

Indian Medicinesposts ₹��12crore profi��t in FY21

OUR BUREAU

New Delhi, April 14

EU President Charles Michelhas made a strong case for openand resilient supply chains forCovid19 vaccines emphasisingthat countries needed eachother at this time of crisis.

“We all know that rampingup the production of vaccinesis an enormous challenge. Weall need each other: for components, equipment, and fi��llandfi��nish vials, for instance.This is why we must make surethat our supply chains remainopen and resilient,” Michel saidat the Raisina Dialogue onWednesday.

The Raisina Dialogue, jointlyorganised by the Ministry of External Aff��airs and the ObserverResearch Foundation, is beingheld virtually this year.

Both India and Europe aremajor producers of vaccines,

Michel pointed out, addingthat together, through Covax,the two have also supportedlow and middle income countries in their vaccination efforts. “Thanks to our joint efforts, Covax has delivered morethan 38 million doses to 100countries across the globe,” theEU President said.

Due to a surge in Covid19cases in India, several Stateshave been complaining about ashortage in vaccines. This hasforced the Centre to go slow onexports although a ban has notbeen imposed on outboundshipments.

On Tuesday, Minister of External Aff��airs S Jaishankar defended countries seeking to focus on their citizens’ needs forvaccines by arguing that if acountry was under stress andthe numbers of those infectedwas going up, like in India, itwas legitimate to repurposeproduction to where the immediate challenge lay.

Investment opportunitiesMichel pointed out that it wasin India and the EU’s mutual interest to maximise the untapped potential of trade andinvestment between our twomajor economies. “Concretely,we propose to focus on fourstrands of cooperation:Covid19; climate change; economic cooperation; and security and peace,” he said.

As checking climate changeneeded the cooperation of allmajor economies, the bloc wasstriving for a joint EUIndiacommitment to green growth,circular economy and clean energy, Michel said. These will beneeded all over the world andwill create jobs and economicopportunities, he added.

Through India-EU

joint effort, Covax

has delivered over

38 million doses

to 100 countries

Vaccine supply chains must stayopen, resilient: EU President

European Council President

Charles Michel REUTERS

SHISHIR SINHA

New Delhi, April 14

With the Expenditure Department of Ministry of Financenow deciding to directly control Public Financial Management System (PFMS), the cashmanagement system of thegovernment has undergone amajor change after almostfourandahalf decades.

Set up in 2009, the PFMS is awebbased online software application developed and implemented by the ControllerGeneral of Accounts (CGA). Itwas set up with an objective totrack funds released under allPlan schemes of the Centre,and for realtime reporting ofexpenditure at all levels of programme implementation.Subsequently, its scope was enlarged to cover direct payment to benefi��ciaries underall schemes.

The latest order issued bythe Expenditure Department

said that it has been decided tocreate a dedicated PFMS Division within the CGA to exclusively look after the work ofdesign, development and implementation of the system.

Dedicated division“The Division will be under theadministrative control of theCGA. However, it will be givenfunctional autonomy backedby adequate administrativeand fi��nancial powers,” it said.

Further, it said that an Additional CGA rank offi��cer willhead the division. Though theoffi��cer will report to the CGAadministratively, for PFMS related matters, the offi��cer willreport functionally to the Expenditure Secretary, it added.

The order highlighted thatthe PMFS was being revampedto enable it to reach its full potential. “There is need tostreamline processes, improve cash management, re

duce fl��oat, operationalise ‘justin time’ release of funds anduse PFMS as an eff��ective decision support system. Public/agency interface of PFMSneeds transformation andcompliance burden of usersneed to be reduced. The Department of Expenditure,which has considerable interface with the Central Ministries and State Governments,also needs to play a more active role,” it said.

A senior government offi��cial told BusinessLine that the

carefully drafted order clearlytalked about the change. “Itappears that Expenditure Department is not very happywith the functioning of CGAand which is why there ischange,” the offi��cial said. Infact, the Department hasalready issued an order for appointment of 28 offi��cers (including one additional CGArank offi��cer along with fi��vejoint CGA rank, four DeputyCGA rank and 18 Assistant CGArank offi��cers) for the newDivision.

The offi��cer said that this isone major development after1976, when the Comptroller &Auditor General of Accounts(C&AG) was removed as theCentral Authority for compilation of accounts for variousCentral Government Ministries and Departments. Sincethen, the CGA and a dedicatedcivil service cadre, the IndianCivil Account Service (ICAS) offi��cers, have been entrustedwith the task of taking care ofexpenditure and account ofvarious Ministries and Departments except Defence andRailways. ICAS offi��cers are appointed in various ministriesand departments as Controller of Account. These offi��cersalso man PFMS under the CGA.

One more changeThere is one more change. Under the new system, all Statesand UTs have been clubbedinto three Regional Directorate, each one headed by aDeputy CGA. Presently, each ofState/UT is under one ICASoffi��cer.

Division will be under the administrative

control of CGA, but will get full autonomy

The PFMS is a webbased online software application developed

and implemented by the Controller General of Accounts ISTOCK.COM

Expenditure Dept gets direct control overPublic Financial Management System

OUR BUREAU

New Delhi, April 14

The pandemic does not seemto have aff��ected fund mobilisation through capital market as fi��nancial year 202021(FY 21) saw resources raisedthrough public issue morethan double. The mutual fundand corporate bond marketsalso registered good growth,a Finance Ministry statementreleased on Wednesday said.

“Despite the uncertaintyprevailing in FY 202021 owingto the Covid19 pandemic, fundraising in FY 202021 was better than that in FY 201920 forboth public issues and rightsissues,” the statement said.

According to data compiledby the Ministry, fundraisingthrough public issue jumped115 per cent during FY 21, whilethe growth was 15 per cent forrights issues. Similarly, thenumber of unique investorsacross diff��erent kind of mutual fund grew 10 per cent,while the number of issues in

the corporate bond marketincreased 10 per cent in FY202021.

Mutual fundsAssets under management(AUM) of the mutual fund industry increased 41 per centto ₹��31.43lakh crore as onMarch 31 of FY 21 from ₹��22.26lakh crore as on March 31, FY20. During this period, thenumber of unique investorsacross mutual fund schemesalso increased 10 per cent to2.28 crore from 2.08 crore.

With increasing expansionof the MF industry in smallercities, the AUM from belowtop 30 cities increased 54 percent to over ₹��5.35 lakh crore

from ₹��3.48 lakh crore. Investors in the MF industrymay choose to invest in any ofthe 1,735 mutual fundschemes across categories asper their investment objective as on March 31, 2021.

Corporate bond marketSimilarly, around 2,003 issuesof corporate bonds for anamount of over ₹��7.82lakhcrore happened in FY 21, surpassing the amount raised inthe previous year (around₹��6.90lakh crore). While thenumber of issues increasedby 10 per cent during FY 21, theamount raised was up by 13.5per cent compared to the previous fi��nancial year.

Rights issues see

an increase of 15%

Unfazed by Covid19, fundraising via public issues jumps 115% in FY21

SHISHIR SINHA

New Delhi, April 14

Flavoured milk has found diff��erent fl��avours with diff��erent Authorities for Advance Rulings(AARs). While Gujarat AAR followed its counterparts in TamilNadu and Andhra Pradesh tohold GST at the rate of 12 per cent,the Karnataka AAR went for 5 percent.

Latest rulings from Gujaratare related to two famous milkproduct brands, Amul andVadilal. Gujarat CoOperativeMilk Marketing Federation Ltd,owner of Amul brand, approached the AAR to get rulingregarding its fl��avoured milkproduct sold under the tradename of ‘Amul Kool/Amul KoolCafe’. Another application wasmoved with a similar questionby Vadilal for its fl��avoured milkproduct being sold under thetrade name of ‘Power Sip’.

Production processGujarat Cooperative submittedthat the process of the fl��avouredmilk is standardisation of freshmilk according to the fat contents and then heating at certaintemperature followed by fi��ltra

tion, pasteurisation and homogenisation and then mixing ofsugar and various fl��avours andfi��nally bottling. Highlightingthe fact that since the commodity milk and milk products areenumerated in Chapter 4 of thetariff�� list and fl��avoured milk willbe covered under tariff�� item/HSN (Harmonised System of Nomenclature, a globally acceptedsystem for application of tariff��under custom duty and GST),‘04029990’ which means GSTrate would be 5 per cent.

Giving similar arguments,Vadilal said in its applicationthat the National Diary ResearchInstitute, Bangalore has alsoconfi��rmed that fl��avoured milkfalls, under Dairy produce as perthe FSSAI regulation. The applicant also highlighted ruling byKarnataka AAR which held that‘fl��avoured milk’ is classifi��ed under the Tariff�� heading 04029990which means GST at the rate of 5per cent. The said Advance Ruling Authority has also taken

note of the judgment renderedby Allahabad High Court in Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation where it was specifi��cally observed that ‘fl��avouredmilk’ is a form of milk, and it isneither a derivative of milk nor amilk product.

After going through all the arguments and facts, Gujarat AARnoted that this matter was represented before GST Council forits meeting on December 12.Companies requested to shiftthe classifi��cation so that ratecould be lowered to 5 per centfrom 12 per cent. However, Fitment Committee (the committee of tax offi��cials recommendrate classifi��cation which is thenconsidered by GST Council) didnot favour which was acceptedby GST Council.

AAR also took note of rulingsby Tamil Nadu’s AAR (in the mat

ter of Britannia Industries) andAndhra Pradesh’s AAR (in matters of Tirumala Milk and SriChakra Milk) and accordinglyheld “‘fl��avoured milk’ is classifi��able under Tariff�� Item 2202 99 30of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff�� Act, 1975 as a ‘beverage containing milk’.” Thismeans GST rate would be 12 percent.

Diverse tax positions According to Harpreet Singh,Partner at KPMG, this is anotherinstance of diverse tax positionsbeing adopted by States. Whilethree AARs have held fl��avouredmilk to be taxable at 12 per cent,Karnataka AAR has held it to beliable at 5 per cent. “There cannot be a more compellingreason for constituting a National level Advance ruling authority, for providing tax certainty,” he said.

AARs of Gujarat, TN

and AP rule 12%,

Karnataka goes for 5%

GST rate tussle over fl��avoured milk

OUR BUREAU

New Delhi, April 14

Domestic production offi��nished steel fell by 10.3 percent on a yearonyear basisto 85.6 million tonnes duringthe fi��rst 11 months of the justconcluded fi��nancial year, according to data provided bythe Ministry of Steel’s JointPlant Committee.

Consumption during the

same period too fell by 9.9per cent to 84.7 milliontonnes.

Steel producers have maderapid gains after producinghalf their usual volume during the initial months of thepandemic. Production during February rose 7.4 per centon a yearonyear basis to 9.2million tonnes. The scaleupcomes amid a sharp rise indomestic and global steelprices.

Domestic prices are expected to rise further on theback of higher internationalprices. “Domestic steelprices, which remained fi��rm

in March, trades at an ₹��6,000discount to prices fromKorea, indicative of a furtherupside in prices,” Motilal Oswal Financial Services said ina note on Monday. “Spreadson steel prices remain fi��rmdespite a rise in iron oreprices.”

Exports for the 11monthperiod have also risen 22 percent on a yearonyear basisto 9.5 million tonnes. On theother hand, imports aredown 9 per cent to 4.3 million tonnes.

Domestic prices

likely to rise further

Steel production down 10% in 11 months of FY21

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

United Nations, April 14

The 46member grouping ofthe Least Developed Countries (LDCs) has said it supports a request made by Indiaand South Africa to the WTOto temporarily suspend intellectual property rights for theCovid19 vaccines to increase

their access in thesecountries.

India, which has been at theforefront of the global fi��ghtagainst COVID19, told the UNGeneral Assembly last monththat vaccine inequity will defeat the collective global resolve to contain thecoronavirus as the disparity

in the accessibility of vaccineswill aff��ect the poorest nationsthe most.

India and South Africa havecalled for the WTO to suspendintellectual property rightsrelated to Covid19 for a limited period of time, to ensurerapid scalingup of manufacturing of vaccines.

LDCs support India, South Africa onCovid vaccinerelated IPRs waiver

................CMYK

CHENNAI

4 BusinessLine THURSDAY • APRIL 15 • 2021THINK

Published by N. Ravi at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002 on behalf of THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD., and Printed by D. Rajkumar at Plot B-6 & B-7, CMDA Industrial Complex, Maraimalai Nagar, Chengleput Taluk, Kancheepuram Dist., Pin: 603209. Editor: Raghuvir Srinivasan (Editor responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act). ISSN 0971 - 7528

Responding to the pleas of lakhs ofanxious students and their harried parents amidst a raging pandemic, theCentre has decided to postpone the Class

12 exams and cancelled the Class 10 exam. Theywere scheduled to be held through the nextmonth. Though the decision looks like an openandshut case, it obviously was trickier than that.By pushing the decision on holding Class 12 examsto June 1, the powers that be have only postponedthe moment of reckoning in the hope that the pandemic situation will ease by then. But the diffi��cultquestion is: what if it doesn’t? There is a view thatthe Centre could have cancelled the Class 12 examstraightaway sparing students the uncertainty andallowing them to focus on the competitive entrance exams which decide entry to professionalcourses and to elite arts and science colleges. Internal assessment through the year can be used tograde the Class 12 students. The problem with thisargument is that it assumes that all students haveequal digital access and could participate in classes

through the last academic year.This is far from the reality — digital divide in education is astark reality and those on thewrong side of this divide wouldbe clearly disadvantaged.

Epidemiologists have suggested that the pandemic will peak in May. With somemobility curbs in place and vaccinations hopefullycrossing a critical threshold, a dip in Covid casesseems a distinct possibility by the end of May. Public health experts have pointed out that the secondwave in the rest of the world peaked and subsidedmore rapidly than the fi��rst. Hence, the administration should work towards orderly conduct of theexaminations in JuneJuly. A staggered academiccalendar is the norm the world over now. Unlikelast year, it is important that the exams are actuallyheld this time, with students getting a good opportunity to perform to the best of their potential.They have had a disruptive year, dominated by online classes which discriminate against the digitalhavenots, besides being no substitute for the physical classroom. They are distraught and disorientedafter a year of isolation and familial and social anxiety. The preboards, held in stressful circumstancesthis year, should not be considered for evaluation.If indeed the board exams cannot be held in full,the average of the papers held should be used to determine the marks of those for which students areunable to appear — a formula adopted last year.

The pandemic has been an education in itself. Ithas tested the physical and temperamental limitsof young and old, alike. The education system mustbuild counselling and crisis management into itspedagogy in the coming years. This includes responsible behaviour at all levels. The mainstreaming of online instruction will have to be accompanied by serious eff��orts to breach the digital divide.This will have to be a publicprivate partnership.Education and digital inclusion are two sides of thesame coin now.

Testing times Class 12 exam has been rightly postponed. But

digital divide in education is a concern

0xy z

thursday, april 15, 2021

Here’s a quick quiz question: In what way has thegovernment’s responseto the second wave of

the Covid pandemic been meaningfully diff��erent from its response tothe crisis of surging infections andsoaring deaths that happened thefi��rst time around?

The answer, as we all know, isnothing. The sequence of eventshas followed exactly the same depressing pattern as the fi��rst wave’s.A brief period of seeming successlulling everybody into complacence, quickly followed by acts ofdownright criminal negligence —allowing mass gatherings with zerosafety protocols in “essential” activities like cricket matches and election rallies, followed by panickyand heavy handed orders converting hospitals into “fullCovid” hospitalsovernight as beds andventilators ran out, nevermind those already inthese hospitals for nonCorona reasons (nobodyis keeping a tally of thenonCovid dead anyway),followed by the usual SOP of shutting schools and colleges, cancelling or postponing exams and,when all else fails, imposing lockdowns again.

Lockdown worriesOh, there is one thing the government is doing diff��erently this timearound — it is not calling the lockdowns as lockdowns — since thatsets off�� mass panic — but is callingthem “restrictions” instead. Nevertheless, everyone knows a lock

down when they see one and as afresh round of stringent lockdownsrolls inexorably near, everybody isonce again preparing for the worst.Migrant workers, who faced thebrunt of the disruptions last year,have already sensed this and thousands are already camped at railway stations and bus stands tryingto get back home before yet another disastrous clampdown descends on their heads.

India Inc knows this too. It hasbeen quick to urge the governmentagainst going in for lockdownssince lockdowns, as we all know,really hurt business. In a statement,CII President Uday Kotak, who reallyhas the pulse of India’s top businesshouses, fi��rst ticked the boxes withthe government — “At this juncture,CII calls for quick action to be takenby the Government on ‘whatever ittakes’ to ramp up production, supply and distribution of vaccines.Strict following and enforcement ofsafety and hygiene protocols by allsections of society is absolutely critical” — before getting down to business, emphasising that “lockdownis not a solution in the presenttimes” and requested for “maintaining stringent Covidrelated protocols for public places andworkplaces.”

FICCI, the other bigbusiness body, has beenmaking similar noises.While the offi��cial statement called for a “PLItypescheme” (the productionlinked incentive schemerolled out for manufacturing in some key sec

tors) to ramp up vaccine manufacturing, it quickly got down tobusiness by urging the governmentto widen the scope of vaccinations.“With the current strategy and vaccination rate, we would be missingvaccinating our superspreaders ofthe age group 1845 years, who alsoform the majority of our workforceneeded for sustaining economicactivities.”

Yes indeed. The demographic dividend means a young workforce,and without vaccinations, they

stand at high risk of infection — andspreading the infection. FICCI wasalso as worried about the “restrictions” (remember, the ‘L’ word isout!) as CII. Moneycontrol.comquoted FICCI President UdayShankar as saying that the new restrictions imposed in “industriallyimportant” States were “concerning”. “Restrictions imposed byStates will hurt (businesses),”Shankar is said to have stated,adding that “the government'scomplacency” was the reason behind surging cases.

The trouble is, that apart frommaking such statements and calling for action on the part of everyone else (the government, the public et al) but themselves, andmaking wellpublicised donationsto the PMCARES fund, India Inc hasnot meaningfully contributed inany way to the fi��ght against Covid.That needs to change. After all, as India Inc has made amply clear, businesses pay a price for the government’s failure to mount a coherentstrategy to tackle the Covid pandemic. Why not then, take a few preemptive measures — and spendsome real money — to save muchmore in the long run?

For starters, why not help the vaccine manufacturing companiesovercome their immediate problem — lack of adequate funds to

ramp up capacity and poor cashfl��ows, caused by government imposing a price cap on vaccines andalso issuing purchase orders indribs and drabs, which is also preventing a scaleup.

It could do this by say helpingvaccine makers like Bharat Biotechand Serum Institute to raise lowcost funds by subscribing to subPLR bonds issued by these companies, with the interest diff��erentialbetween the coupon and the market rate being their “contribution”to the Covid fi��ght. The governmentcan even help this by allowing allsuch purchases as permissible CSRexpense!

India Inc can also use its considerable clout with the governmentto allow it to take over the vaccination drive, at least where it concerns itself. It can preorder(thereby sorting the cashfl��ow issuefor vaccine makers to an extent)and buy vaccines to cover its workforce, immediate vendor and saleschains and their dependents(there’s no point inoculating anemployee if his family continues tobe at risk). This can take a lot ofstress off�� the government’s vaccineinfrastructure, allowing it to concentrate on the informal and ruralsector workers who can only turn tothe government for succour.

It can also contribute meaning

fully with money, material andequipment. All those well publicised eff��orts to build cheap ventilators and convert manufacturinglines into making hospital equipment were clearly dumped after theinitial panic subsided, since everyState is reporting shortage of lifesupport equipment like ventilators,critical consumables like oxygen aswell as other medicines (the shortage of the antiviral drug Remdesivir springs to mind).

Here again, businesses can helpby specifi��cally picking target areasand companies in the healthcarespectrum for cooperation and collaboration. Will it cost money? Ofcourse, and lots of it. But these expenses should be seen as insuranceexpenses — necessary outgoesagainst a greater calamity like acatastrophic closure of businessactivity.

There is no point issuing statements and expecting others to dothe work of protecting you.Whether as individuals or businesses, the biggest learning fromthe Covid pandemic has been thatthe virus, like truth, involves us all.The fi��ght against the virus will haveto involve us all too — including India Inc.

The writer is former Editor,

BusinessLine

From helping vaccine makers raise funds to taking over the vaccination drive for its workforce, there’s a lot India Inc can do

A worried India Inc Migrant workers returning home will deal a crippling blow to businesses EMMANUAL YOGINI

Time to move beyond statements

ABHINAV KUMAR / SEEMA SINGH

On the occasion of the130th Birth Anniversaryof Dr BR Ambedkar, itwould be pertinent to

discuss a few anecdotes from theConstituent Assembly Debates.

While inaugurating the HighCourt Building in Goa recently, ChiefJustice of India SA Bobde said, “Iwould request all those intellectualsto simply come here and watch theadministration of justice to knowwhat it turns out to be.” And furtherstated “Goa has what the constitutional framers envisaged for India —a Uniform Civil Code, and I have hadthe great privilege of administeringjustice under that code”.

The Uniform Civil Code is not anew topic of debate as it has beencontinuing since the time theframers of the Constitution deliberated upon it. Ambedkar, who is often called the ‘Father of the Constitution’, as the Chairman of theDrafting committee, was clearly infavour of the Uniform Civil Code inthe Constituent assembly debates.

According to Article 44 of the Constitution of India, 1950 , “State shallendeavour to provide for its citizens

a Uniform Civil Code (UCC)throughout the territory of India.” AUniform Civil Code aims to replacepersonal laws based on the scriptures and customs of various religious communities, with a common set of rules governing everycitizen of the country. Till today, thisidea has elicited mixed reactions.The Muslim community seems tohave deep reservations against theUCC.

Ambedkar along with many political stalwarts were proponents of aUniform Civil Code. Many membersincluding Nazirrudin Ahmad wereagainst it claiming that the religious laws of diff��erent communities should not be aff��ected withouttheir consent. The resistanceagainst the UCC also came from orthodox Hindus who felt that thatthe UCC will aff��ect their personallaws, which they believe are governed by the shastras. Ambedkarwas of the view that the laws weregrossly discriminatory in naturewhere women were given little tono rights.

During the Assembly debates, KMMunshi, Alladi Krishnawamy andAmbedkar defended the UCC, whileMuslim leaders contended that it

would promote disharmony. However, Alladi was of the view that itwould create amity amongst thepeople and also a sense of unity.Munshi while supporting the UCCalso said that it is important to uphold the social credentials of thenation.

While supporting Alladi’s views,during Constituent Assembly debates, Ambedkar said that, “Therewas nothing new about the Uniform Civil Code. There already existed a common civil code in the country except for the areas of marriage,inheritance — which are the maintargets for the Uniform Civil Code inthe Draft Constitution.”

However, Ambedkar also felt that

the UCC should be optional. Crucially Ambedkar argued that the absence of a UCC would hinder thegovernment’s attempts at social reforms.

In Volume 7 of the CAD (7.65.178)he said that, “I personally do not understand why religion should begiven this vast, expansive jurisdiction so as to cover the whole of lifeand to prevent the legislature fromencroaching upon that fi��eld. Afterall, what are we having this libertyfor? We are having this liberty in order to reform our social system,which is so full of inequities, so fullof inequalities, discriminations andother things, which confl��ict withour fundamental rights. It is, therefore, quite impossible for anybodyto conceive that the personal lawshall be excluded from the jurisdiction of the State.”

The Hindu Code BillAmbedkar’s vision of the UCC canalso be seen in his demand for theHindu Code Bill. The Hindu CodeBill was intended to provide a civilcode in place of the body of Hindupersonal law, which had beenamended only to a limited extent bythe British authorities. Many lead

ers, mostly upper class Hindus,vehemently opposed the Bill. Parliament stalled the draft of the Bill,seeking equality in marriage, inheritance etc., as a result of whichAmbedkar resigned from the Cabinet in 1951.

Summing up, Ambedkar was always a staunch supporter of theUCC. Despite the strong resistancein the assembly, Ambedkar wasquite fi��rm in his views.

UCC was earlier imbibed in Article 35 however it was renumberedto Article 44 of the Constitution.Ambedkar believed that the widejurisdiction given to religion wouldprevent the legislature from bringing about social justice.

For this reason, civil code wasgiven the status under DPSP andhence it could not be made enforceable. Moreover, the idea of UCC canalso be seen in the Hindu Code Billpresented by Ambedkar. However, itis high time we debate and explorethe options for UCC as suggested bythe Chief Justice to fulfi��lAmbedkar’s dream.

Kumar is law and policy expert and

Singh is Assistant Professor of Law, Delhi

University. Views expressed are personal

Why Ambedkar supported Uniform Civil CodeAnecdotes from the Constituent Assembly debates throw up fascinating insights into this contentious issue

BR Ambedkar Maker of modern India

Monsoon blessings

With reference to new report ‘Pvtforecaster Skymet sees a healthynormal monsoon this year’ (April14), it is heartening to note that2021 will be a normal monsoonyear.

Nevertheless water has becomea precious commodity and has tobe used prudently. Interlinking ofrivers is the best way to beat waterscarcity.

Like minded people/NGO sshould start visiting schools, colleges, housing societies to createawareness on conserving water.

Water bills/charges should beincreased to deter people fromwasting water. Government needsto spend extensively on advertisements, fi��lms, televisions, roping inpopular actors to spread the message of saving water. Veena ShenoyThane

Covid measures

With reference to Viewsroomcolumn ‘Callous and irresponsible’, at a time when Indian government has done away withbridging trials for foreign madevaccines to facilitate the vaccination drive, it should seriouslythink about taking drastic steps.We can not aff��ord to have religiousgatherings at Kumbh Mela andthousands of people in electionrallies while we expect other common people to follow strict Covidguidelines. This is nothing butdouble standards. All politicalparties seem to turn a blind eye towards norms during elections. TheCentre should have requestedKumbh mela organisers to postpone it in view of the secondsurge. Nothing can be more critical than the safety of our citizens. Bal GovindNoida

Will the ‘split’ work?

This refers to ‘It’s countdown tosplitting CMD posts’ by R Anand(April 14). In spite of the advantages of having a separate CEO andChairperson for large companies(from corporate governance pointof view) SEBI had to extend thecompliance date for the 500 toplisted companies by another twoyears to April 2022 from 2020 ithad fi��xed earlier.

Only about half of the 500 companies had complied with thenorms.

Among defaulters were familyowned companies, statecontrolled entities and even big corporations like Reliance Industriesand Bharti Airtel and public sectorbehemoths like ONGC.

While familyowned organisations may have some diffi��culty inadopting the mandate becauseSEBI rules also debar relatives

from occupying key positions inthe set up, there is no reason whyPSUs should have any problem inadhering to the norm.

Though the extension is wellintended, one is still not surewhether all eligible companieswill have split two positions by thenew deadline given their state ofpreparedness. YG Chouksey Pune

Fastracking foreign vaccines

This refers to new report ‘Centreset to fasttrack approval for foreignmade Covid19 vaccines’.Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the Centre has been reactive be it in the case of hapless migrant workers, abrupt lockdownor easing of restrictions.

Evidently after the waning ofthe fi��rst wave the authorities became complacent. Now with the

second wave raging the government is now fast tracking approvalof a string of vaccines from foreigncountries.

Hopefully the government haschecked with the approved companies about their readiness withsuffi��cient stocks of vaccines to beexported immediately.

Moreover, the Centre is claimingto have supplied vaccines to over80 countries.

Is this magnanimity required atthis juncture when our own citizens are deprived of a jab?

Lastly the government is tryingto bite more that it can chew.

It is high time to involve privateplayers from sourcing to administering vaccines in a time boundmanner. The misplaced strategy of‘wait and watch’ ought to beshunned.Deepak SinghalNoida

LET TERS TO THE EDITOR Send your letters by email to [email protected] or by post to ‘Letters to the Editor’, The Hindu Business Line, Kasturi Buildings, 859-860, Anna Salai, Chennai 600002.

Pausing the J&J Vaccine Makes Sense

Administration and the Centers for Disease Control andPrevention did what they have promised to do, and what theynearly always do, in such situations: They advised doctors andpharmacists to temporarily halt use of the vaccine while theyinvestigate the matter. The pause is expected to last just a fewdays. The risk of developing this potential side eff��ect isexpected to be very small relative to the risks associated withthe coronavirus for unvaccinated people. NEW YORK, APRIL 13

Africa and coronavirus: ending vaccine apartheid

The biggest surgetesting operation yet is under way in southLondon. The measures are prompted by a cluster of cases ofthe variant fi��rst detected in South Africa, against which severalvaccines have shown reduced effi��cacy. They cast a shadow overthe UK’s successful inoculation campaign. The urgency issensible. But it stands in striking contrast to the fact that thevariant is being allowed to circulate largely unhindered inSouth Africa itself, and more broadly on the African continent,thanks to low levels of immunisation. LONDON, APRIL 13

Push back against China’s attempts

China is accelerating moves to expand its maritime interestsin the South China Sea. Its eff��orts to push ahead withunilaterally changing the status quo under the facade offi��shing activities violate international law and cannot beaccepted. Many Chinese fi��shing boats have massed around theSpratly Islands in the South China Sea — where China, thePhilippines and other countries are competing for sovereignty— and have been moored there for one month. The Philippinemilitary said it has also spotted structures that have beenconstructed in the waters. TOKYO, APRIL 14

OTHER VOICES

Scan & Share

Scan & Share

R. SRINIVASAN

ON THE OTHER HAND

................CMYK

CHENNAI

BusinessLineTHURSDAY • APRIL 15 • 2021 5THINK

ACROSS

01. Untrue (5) 04. Greedy eater (7) 08. Astonished (9) 9. Not to be fast (dye) (3) 10. Gunholder (7) 12. Container for winter feed (4) 14. Sanguine (7) 17. Small freshwater duck (4) 18. Snake (7) 20. Sailor (3) 21. Produced in one’s garden (45) 23. Produced chicks from eggs (7) 24. Biblical weeds (5)

DOWN

01. Zigzag line of sewing (76) 02. Small (6) 03. Chemical formula (8) 04. Deity (3) 05. Cancel, annul (4) 06. Intensely passionate (6) 07. Those not engaged in

contest (310) 11. Smells of smoke (5) 13. All at once (8) 15. Root vegetable (6) 16. Eat (6) 19. Former king of Persia (4) 22. Demented (3)

ACROSS01. Fails to drop one, going east?

That’s not true! (5) 04. The market fl��ooded, and not

returning, he eats a lot (7) 08. As to nude turnout, fi��rst of

dimples was astonishing (9) 09. Go for offi��ce, at a pace unlike

Shakespearean schoolboy’s (3) 10. Gun housing for Lt with Horse,

perhaps (7) 12. Winter feedmaker uses

compound of oils (4) 14. Thinking it may be all right,

dance, careful to leave car (7) 17. Duck for meal in the afternoon,

and starter for lunch (4) 18. Inhabitant of the Garden of

Eden got blown in old band(7)

20. Thanks to the right viscousmaterial being produced (3)

21. Is not imported by househaving had extension added(45)

23. Brought plot into the light ofday, or shelled out! (7)

24. Weeds? Yes but not beginningafter 20 (5)

DOWN

01. With which to sew part of wingon? (76)

02. Thus by itself, Eric was booked(6)

03 A formula that’s not quite equal,not one that’s diff��erent (8)

04. One worshipped by such asPluto having been overturned(3)

05. Resolve knot for a French party(4)

06. Very hot rubbishtip to get shotof (6)

07. Those among the fi��ghting menwho don’t! (310)

11. Smells a lot like smoke (5) 13. Dexter dismissed fi��rst, all at once

(8) 15. Some encouragement for

donkey, or get overturned inwagon (6)

16. In Red revolution, you Frenchendlessly swallow it up (6)

19. Former monarch has turned upholding fi��rst of honours (4)

22. Cross American mother hasbeen upset (3)

easy not so easy

ACROSS 2. Ruled 5. Bust 7. Grab 8. Referred 9. Fourteen 11. Find 12. Procrastinate 15. Aver 17. Mingling 19. Armchair 21. Plum 22. Keep 23. Dwell DOWN 1. Fervour 2. Rub 3. Large 4. Defunct 5. Bar 6. Sheen 10. Recur 11. Final 13. Armband 14. Tonsure 16. Verge 18. Nurse 20. Cup 21. Pal

bl two-way crossword 1849

SOLUTION: BL Two-way Crossword 1848

VEDAM RAMPRASAD

Tuberculosis (TB) is a communicable disease that is a major cause of ill health andone of the top 10 causes of

death worldwide. According to WHO,in 2019, a total of 1.5 million peopledied worldwide because of TB. It is amajor concern for the UN, which aimsto end the TB epidemic by 2030.

Drugresistant TB is a growingthreat and poses another serious challenge to controlling the spread of thedisease. WHO data show that India accounts for a quarter of all global andmultidrugresistant TB (MDRTB)cases. In many cases, the patient goesundiagnosed due to lack of properscreening tests and infrastructureand, in some cases, even if they are diagnosed, the patients do not get theright treatment or proper counsellingwith respect to the medication process. Unfortunately, only 58 per cent ofoverall estimated new andrelapsing TB cases are notifi��ed in India.

According to the latestWHO report, the number ofpeople who were providedwith TB preventive treatment had increased fourfold, from one million in2015 to over four million in2019. However, the Covid19 pandemicthreatens to negate the gains madeover recent years. The impact of thepandemic on TB services has beensevere since there is sharp decrease inTB notifi��cations in 2020 in India.

Missing patientsThe ‘India TB Report 2020’, issued bythe Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), , reveals that up to fourlakh TB patients went missing or unreported. This is a large number and is amatter of grave concern given that thegovernment wants to implement theplan of eradicating TB from India by2025. There is an urgent need for bothprivate and public healthcare sectorsto collaborate and build a strong surveillance system with a proper framework for notifying new, existing, missing and relapsed patients.

Early diagnosis followed by promptand appropriate treatment are vitalfor ending TB. Although smear re

mains the mainstay for diagnosis inresource poor countries, it cannot easily diff��erentiate between Mycobacterial species. Culturebased identifi��cation, although the gold standard, istimeconsuming, requiring 2–6 weeksto produce results.

The WHO recommends the use ofNucleic Acid Amplifi��cation Tests(NAATs) as the initial diagnostic testfor TB. Among the currently availableNAATs, the Xpert MTB/RIF Assay (CBNAAT), the LINE Probe Assay (LPA) andthe LoopMediated Isothermal Amplifi��cation (LAMP) are endorsed by theWHO for in vitro diagnosis of TB.These tests are excellent for rapid detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and screening of drug resistance.

However, there is still a gap in themarket that accurately profi��les drugresistance mechanism for the causative organism in a TB patient, whichcan help the treating clinician take informed decision on which treatment

regimen to be prescribed.While phenotypic drugsusceptibility testprovides physical proof ofwhether the drug will actor not on a culture grownfrom the patient’s sample,sophisticated moleculartechniques provide amuch more detailed view

of the infection. This has led to the development of a

test called SPITSEQ. It sequences theentire genome of the causative organism from the sputum sample directlyand performs drug resistance profi��ling. In a country with a signifi��cantnumber of MDRTB patients, SPIT SEQis an ideal solution.

Just like many other infectious diseases, TB has also been sidelined dueto the Covid pandemic. However, thepandemic did teach us the importance and need for faster and accuratemolecular diagnostics and the infrastructure required for it. This pandemic has also shown how governments, public and private healthcareorganisations and professionals havecome together in the battle againstthe virus. Thus the lessons learnt fromthe pandemic should be applied to TBas well.

The writer is CEO, MedGenome Labs

Grip on TB is slippingThe focus on Covid is undoing the gains made so far

SRIRAM VEDIRE

Water is not only anessential resource for agriculture and in

dustrial sectors, but also is abasic necessity for all living beings. Changing patterns of climate, intensity of precipitation,and rates of discharge of rivers,show that it can no longer be assumed that the water cycle operates within an invariant range ofpredictability. With water tablesfalling and water quality deteriorating, a radical change isneeded in the approach to watermanagement. In this context,rainwater during the monsoonperiods, which is the primarysource of water in India, has to beconserved.

Prime Minister Narendra Modilaunched ‘Jal Shakti AbhiyanPhaseII’ on March 22, 2021, theWorld Water Day.

On this occasion, he addressedall the District Magistrates andsarpanches of the country. Hemade a call to all to make the jal-sanchay (water conservation) endeavour a jan-andolan (people’smovement).

PhaseI of ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan’(JSA) was a timebound, missionmode water conservation campaign, implemented in JulyNovember 2019 , in 1,592 blocksof the 256 waterstressed districts of the country. These blocksfell under critical or overexploited groundwater category,where groundwater was beingexploited faster than it could bereplenished. JSA was a collaborative eff��ort of various ministries ofthe Central and StateGovernments.

JSA focussed on fi��ve aspects —water conservation and rainwater harvesting, renovation of traditional and other water bodies,reuse of water and recharging ofstructures, watershed development, and intensive aff��orestation. Teams of technical offi��cersfrom the Central government,

led by Additional/Joint Secretaries, were mapped to the 256 JSAdistricts.

The teams made three visits totheir allotted districts/blocks.The district administrationprovided the baseline data for allthe interventions and continuesto update data on progress under the key interventions. Withthis campaign, huge awarenesswas generated among variousstakeholders — government departments, agencies, NGOs, offi��cials, panchayats, individuals,etc. — in these 256 districts.About 3.3 lakh water harvestingand watershed developmentstructures were constructed,about 16,000 traditional waterbodies were restored, and 228districts developed district waterconservation plans under thisJSA phaseI campaign.

In JSA phaseII, “Catch theRain” campaign with the tagline. “Catch the rain, where itfalls, when it falls” will be takenup by all the States and all stakeholders to create rain water harvesting structures (RWHS) suitable to the climatic conditionsand subsoil strata, with people’sactive participation before theonset of monsoon to ensure storage of rainwater.

Under this campaign, drives tomake RWHS like ponds, waterharvesting pits, check dams,rooftop RWHS, etc., enumerationand geotagging of all water bodies in the districts, removal of encroachments and desilting oftanks, etc., will be taken up in all729 districts (rural as well asurban areas) of the country.

Phase-II planMentioned below are a few newand innovative things plannedin JSA PhaseII.

To be implemented in all districts in the country: Water conservation needs to become a partof the community’s ethos. Therefore, it is now proposed to takeup JSA phaseII in the premonsoon and monsoon periods of

2021, covering both urban andrural areas of all districts in thecountry.

Preparation of scientific water conservation plans usinglatest technologies: Under JSAphaseII campaign, each districtin the country will prepare scientifi��c water conservation planswith the help of remote sensingimages from NRSA and GIS mapping technology for identifi��cation of existing water bodies/water harvesting structures (WHS),and for planning future WHS.

The second component of thepreparation of the scientifi��cplanning would be the identifi��cation of the works to be taken upfor new WHS. These could be thebasis for the preparation of theshelf of projects for water conservation works under MGNREGA.Based on a checklist, district magistrates will certify the completion of these scientifi��c water conservation plans. A mobileapplication has been developedto plan and implement the structures and to provide feedback, including the geotagging of assetscreated. A portal, through whichdistricts can report this progress,has been developed.

Convergence of all water conservation related schemes andprogrammes of both Central and

State governments: So far, various water conservation programmes of both Central/Stategovernments are implementedin silos. JSA focusses on converging the fi��nancial, administrative and technological aspects ofall these various schemes andprogrammes.

Making it a people’s movement: Not just conservation ofrain water, but improving awareness to do so amongst all thestakeholders and ensuring theirparticipation is the primary objective of phaseII of JSA. It is notpossible for only governmentprogrammes and schemes toachieve the full objectives of water conservation and groundwater recharge.

Apart from NGOs, CSR and social organisations, it is the participation of public at large, involving mass mobilisation ofdiff��erent groups of people, including farmers, school and college students, selfhelp groups,Panchayati Raj institution members and youth groups (NSS/NYKS/NCC), among various others which would make JSA tomanifest into a largescalecampaign.

Financial grant by Ministryof Jal Shakti: The Ministry of JalShakti will give incentivebased

fi��nancial grant amounting up to₹��2 lakh to each district for GISmapping.

Way forward It is necessary to build on the momentum that will be created bythe Jal Shakti Abhiyan and to consolidate gains already made inphaseI and to be made duringphaseII. The digital inventory ofall the water bodies/resourcesshould be completed and sharedwith all stakeholders.

The list of water bodies thatwere renovated, rejuvenated orones in which encroachmentswere removed should be documented and recorded in the revenue records so that they do notfall into disuse/abuse/encroached again. Such water bodies should be linked to people’slivelihood so that the people’seconomic interest can protectthem.

For example, fi��sheries can beencouraged, and water bodiesleased so that they can be maintained by communities that benefi��ted from them.

Voluntary shramdan must beincorporated to build awarenessas well as to complete variousworks. Capacity building offarmers on water conservationshould go on simultaneously.The focus should be on microirrigation techniques for waterguzzling plants. A plan must bemade under the current JSA to include maintenance of structures.

All government buildingsmust have RWH structures. Manygovernment schools do havestructures for rainwater harvesting but are mostly nonfunctional. These can be made functional with minor repairs. Adedicated JSA cell must be created at district level, post Abhiyan period to complete the followup activities under Jal ShaktiAbhiyan.

The writer is Adviser, Ministry of Jal

Shakti, and Chairman, Task Force

on Interlinking of Rivers, GoI

A holistic approach to conserving waterApart from using innovative methods, Jal Shakti Abhiyan-II will seek active participation of the people in saving water

Quenching India’s thirst Storing rainwater during the monsoon is vital

April 15, 2001

Maran quits ‘active’ politicsThe senior DMK leader and Union Minister, Mr MurasoliMaran, announced that he was quitting active politics. MrMaran’s announcement came after he made telephonecalls to news agencies citing health reasons for hisdecision. He is, however, not quitting as the Minister forCommerce and Industry. Mr Maran’s announcement camehours before the DMK released its list of candidates for theensuing Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu.

RBI asks GTB to clean up actThe Reserve Bank of India has asked Global Trust Bank(GTB) to clean up its operations in the wake of allegation ofprice rigging in its scrip, according to Mr R.S. Hugar, thenewlyappointed Managing Director. “The RBI has askedme to clean up the bank’s working and assured all support,including eligible refi��nance, to make the bank work onprofessional lines,” Mr Hugar told PTI. He, however,declined to comment on the alleged involvement of GTBdirectors into rigging of the bank's scrip and fi��nancialassistance to broking entities of Ketan Parekh.

Rlys neglecting passenger amenities, says panelA parliamentary committee has criticised the RailwayMinistry for not providing adequate passenger amenities,and even underutilising the funds allocated for thepurpose. In its fourth action taken report, concerning thedemands for grants (199899), the Standing Committee onRailways has said that it is a matter of “concern” thatagainst the allocation of ₹��120 crore for passengeramenities in 199697, the Railways spent only ₹��87.86 crore.Again in 199798, ₹��80.47 crore were spent against anallocation of ₹��100 crore for this purpose, it said.

TWENTY YEARS AGO TODAY

BusinessLine

I thought monetary policy

meetings were all about

adjusting policy rates to ensure

that inflation behaved itself.

But lately, India’s monetary

policy meetings are going all

over the place with TLTRO,

Operation Twist, G-SAP 1.0 and

what not. Where exactly are

they going with all this?

No central bank or ratesettingauthority in a country can aff��ordto watch just one variable. In India, though the Monetary PolicyCommittee’s mandate is supposed to be infl��ation targeting, itdoes keep an eye out for growthand how the currency is behaving. Since the economy is recuperating from the pandemic, theRBI has been announcing additional liquidity measures to ensure that the banks loosen theirpurse strings and needy segments of the economy get creditat reasonable rates.

The TLTRO or Targeted LongTerm Repo Operation, for in

stance, allowed banks to borrowmoney from the RBI at the reporate to lend to companies andNBFCs. Operation Twist saw theRBI buying up longterm government bonds and selling shortterm ones so that borrowingcosts didn’t go up.

With GSAP 1.0 or the new Government Securities AcquisitionProgramme, the RBI has announced an advance calendar forpurchasing Gsecs. It hopes thatwith this purchase,yields on long term Gsecs, which had spikedbeyond 6 per cent in thelast couple of months,will cool down.

You make it sound as if

the RBI is doing all this

out of altruism. But

there’s a tiny vested interest

too, isn’t it? When the RBI buys

G-secs and calls it Operation

Twist or G-SAP 1.0 or whatever,

this helps the government

borrow cheap.

That’s right. When the RBI promises to take older Gsecs off�� thehands of bond market participants, it does two things. It cre

ates room for these players to buynew bonds in future auctions. It isalso telling the market that ifbond prices fall (and yields rise),it will step in to support them.

Apart from being the key ratesetting authority, the RBI alsohappens to be incharge of ensuring that government borrowingsgo through smoothly. With theCentral government looking toborrow over ₹��12 lakh crore in FY22to meet the economy’s special

needs postCovid, theRBI seems to be giving ita bit of a helping hand.

There’s conflict of

interest there, isn’t it?

After all, all this G-sec

buying pumps a lot of

liquidity into the

market and that can

fuel inflation. But the RBI is also

supposed to be the economy’s

watchdog on inflation. When

there’s too much money

sloshing around causing price

rise, it’s supposed to quell it by

hiking interest rates.

Spot on. Expert committees andcentral bankers have in fact pointed out this confl��ict between the

RBI’s role as infl��ation warrior andthat as enabler of governmentborrowings. But the RBI is also incharge of fi��nancial stability. So itsoffi��cial line is that the GSAP programme is meant to ensurethere’s an ‘orderly evolution ofthe yield curve’, whatever thatmeans.

That’s just euphemism for the

RBI wanting to keep

government borrowing costs in

a desired band.

Hmm, it’s true that a taper tantrumlike situation, where market interest rates suddenly jumpup by 200 basis points, threatensfi��nancial stability. But then, recent Gsec auctions have been devolving because buyers are bidding at higher yields which theRBI doesn’t want to concede. So,it’s a mix of the two.

How I wish I had someone to

keep my interest rates in check,

as I run up big credit card bills!

That’s one of the special privileges of being the sovereign.

A weekly column that helps you ask

the right questions

What’s behind G-SAP 1.0

AARATI KRISHNAN

THE CHEAT SHEET

China’s rectifi��ed internet will befairer, safer, duller, and prob

ably less lucrative. Having fi��ned ecommerce giant Alibaba $2.8 billion, President Xi Jinping is widening his net to include other hottechnology names. Entrepreneursand investors must start pricing inthe risk of an unfocussed, indefi��nitecrackdown.

The consumer internet boompaid off�� in spades for capitalistswho funded entrepreneurs like JackMa, a former English teacher fromHangzhou. In 1999 Goldman Sachsand SoftBank put $25 million intohis startup Alibaba; it is now worthover $600 billion. Increasingly overexcited valuations and trading popsfollowed — Meituan, JD.com, Pinduoduo and so on — and onlyseemed to validate traders’excitement.

Beijing, however, was worried bysigns of an investment bubble. Andwhat some entrepreneurs pitchedas “disruption” looked rather moredisturbing. In its announcementjustifying Alibaba’s fi��ne, the competition regulator noted the fi��rm’sshare of domestic online retail service revenue comprised over 70 percent of that generated by the top 10platforms between 2015 and 2019.Yet the company still tried to forcemerchants into exclusive agreements. In March, Xi signalled he willgo after other internet fi��rms whichabuse their market positions anduser data.

Anticompetitive behaviour is areal problem; so too are startup revenue models that rely entirely ontrawling smartphones for personaldata. But in Alibaba’s case, the pushto rein in the company is concurrent with a political campaignagainst its founder; around thesame time offi��cials fi��ned Alibaba,they froze enrolment at Ma’s business academy. Policy uncertainty isChina’s harshest recurring business expense. Alibaba’s Hong Kongshares have risen roughly 8 per centin a relief rally this week as the company sought to draw a line under itsregulatory headaches. But those fordelivery app Meituan, widely expected to be targeted next, havedropped around a tenth.

Foreign investment into Chineseequities via Hong Kong slowed inMarch. Consumers may be betteroff�� with a fairer internet, but investors may miss the Wild West.

REUTERS

China’s revampedinternet will befairer, duller

SHORT TAKE

................CMYK

CHENNAI


AKHIL NALLAMUTHU

BL Research Bureau

The stock of Ipca laboratoriesrecently broke out of a consolidation range and the psychological hurdle at ₹��2,000 whichbrought back the bullish momentum. Therefore, the stockseems to have aligned with themajor uptrend and it is likelyto appreciate further.

The uptrend in the stockreally began from about ₹��400levels in mid2017 and has beengaining steadily since then. Interestingly, while the broadermarket witnessed sharp selloff��in March 2020, the scripshowed substantial resilience.

That is, although the pricedropped, it was comparatively

much smaller than the overallmarket, indicating the innatestrength of the stock. So, thejourney upwards continuedwhere it marked a fresh lifetime high of ₹��2,460 in October.

However, unable to extendthe rally, the stock started tomoderate in the followingmonths. But in February thedecline was arrested on theback of the support at ₹��1,800.After a brief consolidation, thestock has seen a fresh breakout. Hence, traders can buy thestock with stoploss at ₹��2,115 fora target of ₹��2,250.

The recommendations are based

on technical analysis. There is a

risk of loss in trading

TODAY'S PICK

Ipca Laboratories (₹��2,159): Buy

14541 • Nifty 50 FuturesS1 S2 R1 R2 COMMENT

14500 14450 14635 14700 Intraday declines can be used to

initiate fresh long positions in the

contract; place tight stoploss

S1, S2: Support 1 & 2; R1, R2: Resistance 1 & 2.

₹��1400 • HDFC BankS1 S2 R1 R2 COMMENT

1383 1362 1415 1435 Fresh long positions can be initiated

if the stock sustains above ₹��1,400.

Maintain tight stoploss

₹��1397 • InfosysS1 S2 R1 R2 COMMENT

1388 1375 1420 1435 Go long in the stock with a tight

stoploss if the stock decisively

breaks out of ₹��1,400

₹��209 • ITCS1 S2 R1 R2 COMMENT

208 205 210 213 Short the stock of ITC with stoploss

at ₹��210 if the price falls below the

support of ₹��208

₹��102 • ONGCS1 S2 R1 R2 COMMENT

100 97.7 103 105 Consider going long in the stock

with stoploss at ₹��100 if the price

rallies past the hurdle at ₹��103

₹��1931 • Reliance Ind. S1 S2 R1 R2 COMMENT

1900 1865 1945 1970 Buy the stock of RIL with stoploss

at ₹��1,900 if it breaches the

resistance at ₹��1,945

₹��341 • SBIS1 S2 R1 R2 COMMENT

335 325 345 350 Fresh long positions can be

initiated if the stock moves above

₹��344; stoploss can be at ₹��335

₹��3104 • TCSS1 S2 R1 R2 COMMENT

3074 3046 3150 3200 Sell the stock of TCS with stoploss

at ₹��3,150 if the price tumbles

below the support at ₹��3,100

DAY TRADING GUIDE

K RAM KUMAR

Mumbai, April 14

Potential buyers will needclarity visavis the pensionliabilities of the two publicsector banks (PSBs) the government intends to privatiseas they may not be willing totake over these liabilities.

To attract investors, industry experts say the government may have to hiveoff�� the pension funds of thetwo yettobeidentifi��ed PSBsthat will be put on the block.

A huge burden CVR Rajendran, MD and CEO,CSB Bank, underscored thatpension is a huge burden forPSBs. While the Thrissurheadquartered private sector bank has made an internal assessment of 34 PSBs

for possibly acquiring one ofthem, Rajendran said thebank is now redoing the calculations visavis the pension liability.

“Out of our bank’s wagebill, more than onethirdgoes towards pension….theoutgo on account of pensionalone amounts to almost₹��100 crore a year. This liability is very high in the case ofPSBs. For example, a midsized PSB is having about32,000 retired employees.

“So, we are redoing the calculations as to whether it isworth bidding for PSBs. Wemay not show much interest(in bidding),” said the CSBBank chief.

Rajendran said the bank isconfi��dent of growing itsbusiness organically by minimum 25 per cent every year.

Actuarial valuation Banking expert VViswanathan observed thatbefore the government setsthe ball rolling on the privat

isation of two PSBs, actuarialvaluation of their pensionfunds should be done and,shortfall, if any, in respect ofretired and serving employees, should be provided beforehand.

Further, the pension fundshould be hived off�� so that itis independently managedby agencies such as the LifeInsurance Corporation of In

dia or other pension fundmanagers, who will guarantee monthly pension payments and commutation ofpension on retirement,among others.

“The acquiring bankshould continue to remit 10per cent of pay as hitherto inrespect of serving employees. It should also undertaketo pay additional obligations arising out ofpromotions.

“The government shouldguarantee continuation ofthe pension scheme, its im

plementation and all payments due to employeescovered under the schemetill the fi��nal payment ismade (they were absorbedas PSB employees and thegovernment has the obligation),” said Viswanathan

PrivatisationIn her Budget speech on February 1, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman saidthat besides IDBI Bank, thegovernment propose to takeup the privatisation of twoPSBs and one general insurance company in the year202122.

CARE Ratings, in a reportin February, said the government could raise between₹��6,400 crore and ₹��12,800crore if it cuts its stake to 51per cent in two of the fourPSBs – Indian Overseas Bank(IOB), Bank of Maharashtra(BoM), Bank of India (BoI)and Central Bank of India(CBoI) – said to be the candidates for disinvestment.

Buyers will need clarity on pension liabilities Govt may have to hive off thepension funds toattract investors

PRIVATISATION OF 2 PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS

WXBefore the govt sets

the ball rolling on

privatisation, actuarial

valuation of pension

funds should be done

and, shortfall, if any, in

respect of retired and

serving employees,

should be

provided beforehand

KR SRIVATS

New Delhi, April 14

The Centre will subscribe toequity shares worth ₹��4,100crore in stateowned IndianOverseas Bank (IOB). Theequity shares are proposed tobe issued to the Centre on apreferential basis for the capital infusion of ₹��4,100 crore received by the bank in FY21,sources said.

The transaction should beseen as one where the Centrewas enabling regulatory capital for the public sector bankas of Marchend 2021. To enablethis, government issues bondsto be subscribed by the bankand, the Centre, in turn, makesequity capital contribution inthe bank for the same amount.

This will be a cashneutralexercise with no outgo for theCentre, while at the same timebeefi��ng up the capital of thepublic sector bank, sources ad

ded. There is no benefi��t for thebank except the colour of thecapital and the fact that bankwill be in conformance to regulatory requirements.

The Centre has done a similar exercise to support a fewother weak banks such as Bankof India and UCO Bank, it islearnt. Currently, the Centreholds little over 95 per centstake in IOB.

EGM on May 12An extraordinary generalmeeting of the shareholdershas been convened on May 12through VC/OAVM mode to approve the preferential allotment of equity shares to theCentre, sources said.

For the preferential allotment, IOB proposes to allot246.54 equity shares of facevalue of ₹��10 each at issue priceof ₹��16.63 per equity share (including premium of ₹��6.63 per

equity share) to the Centralgovernment.

Similarly, the Centre proposes to subscribe to 42.14crore equity shares worth₹��3,000 crore in Bank of Indiathrough preferential allotment route at a price of ₹��71.23per equity share. The virtualEGM of shareholders has beenconvened for May 5, sourcessaid. Currently, the Centre has89.10 per cent shareholding inBank of India.

In the case of UCO Bank, theCentre will subscribe throughpreferential allotment asmany as 203.76 crore equityshares worth ₹��2,600 crore at aprice of ₹��12.76 per share,sources said. The virtual EGMof shareholders has been convened for May 7. The Centrecurrently holds 94.44 per centstake in UCO Bank.

The capital raised by thesebanks through this routewould be utilised for the purpose of shoring up of commonequity and TierI capital of thebank, sources said.

Centre also steps in to provide capitalsupport to Bank of India and UCO Bank

Indian Overseas Bank to issue equityshares worth ₹��4,100 crore to Centre

BLOOMBERG

April 14

The European Union set outits blueprint to raise nearly $1trillion of debt over fi��ve yearsas it seeks to fund its recoveryfrom the coronaviruspandemic.

Green bondsThe bloc is aiming to issuethe fi��rst debt under its NextGenerationEU stimulus inJune, and will use a stateoftheart platform to beginselling bonds and bills via anetwork of primary bankdealers by September, according to the bloc’s executive branch.

Almost a third of the €806billion ($964 billion) will be

in green bonds, using aframework of rules to be published in early summer.

“The Commission willneed to execute fi��nancing operations up to €150200 billion per year over the periodto 2026end,” said the EU executive Wednesday. “By June2021, the Commission will beready to begin mobilisingthe funds.”

It highlights the ambitionof the EU’s fi��rst meaningfulentry into bond markets,which will see the total ofoutstanding bonds closing inon that of Spain’s this decade.It also lays the foundation tochallenge US Treasuries incoming years as a haven asset, providing a boost to in

tegration in the region andfor its common currency.

Bonds will be issued andregularly sold across a rangeof maturities from betweenthree and 30 years, whilethere will also be shortdatedbills, according to the Commission.

It highlighted the latter asa quick way to raise money, atleast in the initial phase ofthe program. The program is€56 billion more than initial

plans outlined last year thatwere predicated on 2018prices.

Investors are likely to bekeen. The bloc began sellingsocial bonds tied to the funding of a jobs program lastyear, and those sales havebroken global demand records. The EU will begin to issue debt via auction for thefi��rst time, as well as syndications via banks. The new platform will be provided by a national central bank that isalready used by one of the“large sovereign issuers”, according to the document.

Grants and loans The NGEU package includesgrants and loans to memberstates. The loans will have 30year maturities, with a graceperiod of 10 years as nationsemerge from the crisis.

Aims to sell bonds and bills through anetwork of primary bank dealers by Sept

EU’s $1t debt plan to challenge treasuries

OUR BUREAU

Mumbai, April 14

The resurgence of theCovid19 pandemic is likely toimpact the performance ofassets under management ofretail NBFCs in 202122, saidrating agency ICRA.

“Domestic RetailNBFCAUM are facing asset qualityheadwinds which will moderate growth in 202021, andis also likely to aff��ect theirperformance in 202122 following the resurgence of thepandemic,” it said in astatement.

Higher loan losses seenAsset quality pressureswould play out fully in thisfi��scal as the level of economicactivities are yet to substantially pick up over the preCovid levels, with risks further compounded by recentrise in infection rate, it further said.

While NBFCs can proceedwith the overdue recoveriespost lifting of the SupremeCourt order on the NPA classifi��cation in March 2021, ICRAnotes that the performance

of most of the key target asset and borrower segmentscontinues to be suboptimal,which would impact realisations leading to higher loanlosses.

“Entities have augmentedtheir provisions steadilysince the fourth quarter of201920, and are currentlycarrying provisions of morethan 50 per cent of the preCovid levels; the same is expected to be maintained atleast for a few more quartersin view of the current uncertainties,” it said.

AM Karthik, VicePresident,SectorHead Financial SectorRatings, ICRA, said: “Restructuring expectation averagesaround 2.6 per cent (ICRAsample of large NBFCs)presently, and we expect reported Gross Stage 3 to in

crease steadily by about 50100 basis points (over December 2020 levels) by March2022 as a base case; this couldinchup further if the impactof the pandemic continuesfor longer period leading tolockdowns or other tighterrestrictions.”

Revival in growthICRA expects the RetailNBFCAUM, which is estimated tobe about ₹��10lakh crore as ofDecember 2020, to havegrown by three to fi��ve percent in 202021 as pentup demand, post the lockdown,led to some revival in segments such as namely gold,microfi��nance, twowheelersand tractors.

In 202122, growth is expected to revive to about eightper cent to 10 per cent drivenby improvement in demandfrom all key target segmentscompared to last fi��scal.

Growth, however, wouldbe contingent upon access toadequate funding lines, itfurther said, adding that thecapital structure is expectedto remain adequate.

Rise in Covid19 cases likely tocompound NBFC woes: ICRA

OUR BUREAU

Mumbai, April 14

5paisa.com, a listed pureplaydiscount broker, plans toraise ₹��251 crore through preferential issue of equity sharesand warrants at ₹��500 pershare, which is a premium ofover 70 per cent to Tuesday’sclosing price of ₹��293 pershare on the NSE.

Global investors will subscribe to equity shares worth₹��191 crore, while the promoters will pump in ₹��60crore by subscribing to thewarrants issued.

Proposed investorsThe proposed investors forpreferential allotment areWard Ferry, Fairfax andRIMCO and warrants are being subscribed by the pro

moters, including NirmalJain, Madhu Jain and R Venkataraman.

The notice of postal ballotfor the preferential issue wasissued on Wednesday. The evoting shall commence onThursday and end on May 14.

Prakarsh Gagdani, CEO,5paisa.com, said the businesshas been witnessing rapidgrowth and managed to carveout robust customer baseamid growing number ofplayers.

The availability of equityfunds will help the companyaccelerate its investment incustomercentric technologyand sustain the pace ofgrowth, he said.

5paisa.com has over 1.3 million customers and 6.5 million mobile app users.

5paisa.com to raise ₹��251 crthrough preferential issue

OUR BUREAU

New Delhi, April 14

National Housing Bank (NHB)has rolled out a ₹��10,000crore‘Special Refi��nance Facility2021’ (SRF2021) to provideshortterm refi��nance supportto housing fi��nance companies (HFCs) and other eligiblePrimary Lending Institutions(PLIs).

This facility is expected tomeet the shortterm liquidityrequirements of PLIs, and willalso support them for onwardlending to individuals tomaintain steady growth inthe housing fi��nance sector, according to NHB. This NHB ini

tiative comes on the heels ofthe Reserve Bank of India(RBI) extending fresh support(in the recent monetarypolicy review) under anotherSpecial Liquidity Facility2(SLF2) of ₹��10,000 crore toNHB for one year to supportthe housing sector.

Post Covid19, the housing

fi��nance sector has revived andshowed steady improvementin sanctions and disbursements since the secondquarter of FY21.

It may be recalled that lastyear during MayAugust, NHBhad provided refi��nance support of ₹��14,000 crore underthe Special Refi��nance Facility(SRF) and Additional SpecialRefi��nance Facility (ASRF).

This shortterm liquiditysupport for a year was part ofSpecial Liquidity Facility (SLF)granted by the RBI at repo rateto NHB under Aatma NirbharBharat Abhiyaan announcedby the Finance Minister.

NHB launches ₹��10,000crspecial refi��nance facility

OUR BUREAU

Mumbai, April 14

NSEL Investors’ Forum and itschief Sharad Saraf havetendered an unconditionalapology to 63 moons and itspromoter Jignesh Shah.

The forum has also agreed inthe Delhi High Court to withdraw the defamatory tweet andmaligning documents.

Earlier, Shah had fi��led a civilsuit in Delhi High Court againstSharad Saraf, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief in theDelhi High Court.

While the matter waspending, Saraf and NIF approached Shah to settle thematter. Shah insisted that the

truth should be on record, demanded unconditional apology and withdrawal of defamatory tweets and maligningdocuments unconditionally,which was agreed and accepted by Saraf and NIF. He wasalso asked to apologise on apublic forum, which he didthrough Twitter.

Earlier this month, the petition of Ketan Shah, who headsNSEL Investors Action Group,was dismissed by the BombayHigh Court and subsequentlyin Supreme Court, where hewanted to block payment to6,445 small traders out of the13,000 ‘questionable’ traders ofNSEL. The NSEL crisis was cre

ated, fuelled and kept unsolvedfor eight years. Various investors attacked 63 moons andJignesh Shah, instead of defaulters and brokers.

NSEL, in a press release, appealed to genuine traderclaimants and bonafi��detraders’ group to join handswith it to pursue recovery fromthe 22 defaulting entities.

The exchange eff��ort has resulted in obtaining the decree of₹��3,365 crore and crystallisationof liability by the High CourtCommittee to the tune of over₹��900 crore, which is pendingconfi��rmation by the BombayHigh Court and an injunctionof ₹��4,515 crore.

NSEL Investors’ Forum, chief tender‘unconditional’ apology to 63 moons

OUR BUREAU

Bengaluru, April 14

CreditAccess Grameen, anNBFCMFI, said its collection effi��ciency (loan EMIs collectedfrom women borrowers) andyearonyear and quarteronquarter loan disbursement(microfi��nance loans given towomen borrowers) have improved in the January to March2021 quarter.

The company, in a release,said its yoy and qoq consolidated disbursement has risen by42 per cent and 3 per cent to₹��4,726 crore, respectively, inthe January to March 2021quarter.

The collection effi��ciency forCAGL has risen from 91 per centin December 2020 to 94 percent in March 2021; and for itssubsidiary, Madura Microfi��nance, collection effi��ciency increased from 86 per cent inDecember 2020 to 90 per centin March 2021.

The number of women customers fully paying their loaninstalments has risen to 92.4per cent in March 2021, compared to 88.1 per cent in December 2020. The percentage of women customers not paying

their EMIs has come down to4.4 per cent in March 2021 compared to 5.1 per cent in December 2020.

Active borrowersThe performance is on the backof a number of active borrowers rising to 29.63 lakhs for thecompany and 10.98 lakh for itssubsidiary. The new borroweraddition in the January toMarch 2021 quarter, too, hasseen a healthy rise to 2.88 lakhon a consolidated basis. Theconsolidated Gross Loan Portfolio, too, has increased yoy by16 per cent and qoq by 13 percent.

Owing to improved performance, the overall portfolio atrisk for 30 days, 60 days and 90days, has seen gradual declineto 6.6 per cent, 5.9 per cent and5.4 per cent, respectively for thecompany as on March 31, 2021.

CreditAccess collectionefficiency improves to 94%

OUR BUREAU

Mumbai, April 14

The All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA)wants bank managements,the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and the government to bring back measuresrelating to relaxation in attendance, reduced businesshours, and work from home,among others, in view of thesecond wave of the Covid19pandemic.

“In recent weeks we haveobserved that there is asecond wave of virus infection and this time the spreadof the infection is muchfaster. “The problem is get

ting repeated and manypeople are getting infectednow. In some branches, allemployees got infected. Insome head offi��ces, zonal offi��ces, most of the staff�� havebeen infected,” said CH Venkatachalam, General Secretary, AIBEA, in a statement.

He said the association willtake up with bank managements, IBA and the government the importance ofrestoring the relaxation inworkrelated norms (broughtout when the fi��rst nationwidelockdown was imposed fromMarch 25 till Mayend 2020),so that there is some relief forthe employees.

AIBEA wants relaxation inattendance for bank staff

SECOND WAVE OF COVID

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Wellington, April 14

New Zealand will force banks toreveal the impact their investments have on climate changeunder worldfi��rst legislation intended to make the fi��nancialsector’s environmental recordtransparent, offi��cials said.

Commerce Minister DavidClark said the law would makeclimate reporting mandatoryfor banks, insurance companies and investment fi��rms.

“Becoming the fi��rst countryin the world to introduce a lawlike this means we have an opportunity to show real leadership and pave the way for othercountries to make climaterelated disclosures mandatory,”he said.

Clark said it would force fi��nancial institutions to considerthe realworld impact their investments have on the climateand allow the public to gaugetheir performance.

“It is important that everypart of New Zealand’s economyis helping us cut emissions andtransition to a lowcarbon future,” he said.

New Zealand tomake banksreport impact onclimate change

MALA BHARGAVA

Samsung has been busy carpeting theplanet with phone after phone. The everfamiliar experience of these smartphones gives users — or fans, if you will

— what they expect. Last year, their‘fan edition’ phone, theS20FE was popularenough, but nowneeds to include achecklist of features toremain relevant. Whichmeans another phonelaunch. So Samsungbrought in the S20FE 5G,updating the device with athing or two that will makeusers happy.

Ready for 5G

The fi��rst big update is obvious: 5G.I can’t see information on whichbands will be supported, but thenew device is a 5G phone. Whileeveryone knows high speed connectivity is still far from being rolledout across India, our techsavvy usershave decided they must have futureproofi��ng with 5G, even if they can’t use itfor now. They feel they’re paying goodenough money for it to begin with and arebeginning to be annoyed at it’s being left out.

Lately there’s been much talk about whetherSamsung’s own Exynos chips are really as goodas the Snapdragon roughlyequivalent, and sothere’s been a bit of grumbling about not havinga Qualcomm chip in expensive phones for whichcustomers believe they should get more thanjust fundamentals. Exynos 990 is very capablebut it’s now a bee in the bonnet for those whohave fi��gured the Exynos can run a little warmeror eat up battery life a little more. So the S20FE5G now comes with Snapdragon 865, our old

friend from 2020, the fl��agship processor thatcame to other phones but not a Samsung in India. It pairs up with 8GB of RAM as before and has128GB of storage with a card slot option in a hybrid SIM tray.

Water resistanceThese two things aside, practically everything

else about the S20 FE 5G is the same as it waswith the S20 FE of September 2020. It’s got

the same Samsunggorgeous SuperAMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate

and HDR readiness. It has a 4,500mAhbattery with the same underpowered

charger in the box and no other extras,it has wireless charging, reverse char

ging and fast charging, it has IP68water resistance, it weighs the

same, etc. It has the same prettydecent camera — except the wide

angle — and an indisplay fi��ngerprint sensor. It has moved up to

Android 11, of course.Launching as it does at this

time, the S20FE 5G feels somuch like a catchup to the

OnePlus 9 series, speciallythe OnePlus 9 and 9R. Butoverall, it’s a nice phone,

even though it has aplastic back — which happily

doesn’t show fi��ngerprints and looksquite nice in its diff��erent colours. We got the

Mint to check out.

Samsung is re-launching itsSeptember phone with a

thing or two that users want

Galaxy S20FE 5G: It’stime for a refresh

Price: ₹��55,999 but available at lowerwith dealsPros: Relatively light, fast and smooth,great screen, plastic done right, goodmain camera, wireless charging, IP68,now more future readyCons: Stingy inclusion of underpoweredcharger and no extras, expensive if notwith deals

................CMYK

CHENNAI

BusinessLineTHURSDAY • APRIL 15 • 2021 7TECHNOPHILETECHNOPHILE

MALA BHARGAVA

For anyone who balksat the price of theOnePlus 9 Pro(₹��64,999) or even the

regular OnePlus 9 (49,999)there’s another option. It’s an Indiaonly model called theOnePlus 9R and it’s the least expensive of the series with itsstarting price of ₹��39,999. But it’sironic that not too long ago, thisprice point would have been the‘fl��agship killer’ that off��ered aboutas good value as phones that hadno business costing as much asthey do.

One can see that OnePlus has leftits original antiestablishmentpromise far behind in the distantpast and no longer lives by itscatchy tagline, Never Settle. Instead it’s creeping up the price ladder to try and join the phones itused to want to beat.

But the consolation is, no matterwhat, a OnePlus phone performswell and lasts long. But back to theOnePlus 9R. On this phone, gone isthe $1.5 million Hasselblad branding. There’s no sign of it anywhereon the packaging or the phone itself when on the 9 Pro and regular9, it’s being proudly displayed.

Cool system for gamingYou want Hasselblad branding,pay more. OnePlus is positioningthe 9R instead as a phone for casual and hardcore gamers. It isn’t inthe style of phones that are outright gaming devices, like the AsusROG for example, but it doeshandle popular heavyweightgames well and sometimes impressively. It also has a revampedcooling system to encourage gaming. I still found it a bit warm onlong sessions of intensive play, butit’s within limits. In other respects,the 9R is very close to the OnePlus8T of last year. You could even sayit’s the 8TT.

Coming to reviewers in a tranquil ‘Lake Blue’ colour, the 9R looksvery much a OnePlus phone andpart of the 9 series. There’s a an

other colour variant which is blackbecause no lineup can be complete without a black. It’s got aglossy glass back panel that curveson the sides to make it look moreelegant and make it easier to hold,but ever so happily, it doesn’t showup ugly fi��nger smudges at all andwhatever coating has been usedmakes it look nice and clean. It’s anaveragely heavy and broad phoneand you’ll probably need a case because it’s somewhat slippery. Youdo get one in the box. It’s a phonethat looks and feels premium —and at the ₹��40,000 mark, it hadbetter.

The biggest claim to fame for the9R is that it’s working on the Snapdragon 870 SoC, thought to be therefreshed 865 for the most part.You could well get the OnePlus 8Tif there’s a signifi��cant deal, in fact.

With the Snapdragon 870 get 8GBand 12GB variants and the storageaccordingly is either 128GB or256GB. I checked out the 12GB version and with these specs, where’sthe chance that there would beanything the matter with thatperformance?

The software is the much appreciated OxygenOS on top of Android 11 and the experience is asOnePluslike as ever. The screen is a6.55inch fullHD+ (1080 x 2400pixels) AMOLED display, It doesn’tlack the 120Hz refresh rate and alsohas a 240Hz touch sampling rate.Also adequate brightness. Soundwise, it is loud enough though itcould have had better depth.

Nice displayThe display is very nice and there’sno problem either with content

consumption or with gamingthough I believe hardcoregamers will actually want theirmore specialised devices whichcan be used with various accessories.

You don’t get a 3.5mm jack ormemory card slot but that’sbeen the norm for a while now.There’s also no wireless charging at this price point but youdo get 65W fast charging for the4,500mAh battery.

I found the battery life to bespecially good in daily usage. Infact, these days I’ve been watching the trial of Derek Chawin,the US police offi��cer involved inthe death of George Floyd andI’ve used the 9R for hours forthis. It holds up pretty well. Thisis also a 5G phone, for when 5Gcomes along.

Camera featuresThe main camera, like theOnePlus 8T, is a 48MP using theSony IMX586. I’ve lived with thiscamera for a year on the 8T andfound it just fi��ne for everydayshots. I’ve often got very goodsharp, clear, results with it. Accompanying it are a 16MP ultrawide lens, a 5MP macro and a2MP monochrome.

There’s optical image stabilisation for video. On the front,there’s a 16MP Sony IMX481 lens.

It does a bit of a smoothing jobbut it’s otherwise good. Thenightscape feature works well.

Although the OnePlus 9R is theleast expensive of the lineup, it isby no means a compromisedphone.

You get the untiring topspeedperformance a OnePlus phone isknown for (borne out by benchmark scores as well) and you canrely on it to last you several years.After a point, I haven’t reallyknown a OnePlus phone to slowdown.

Fast, powerful and

built around a great

software experience

Price: ₹��39,999, ₹��43,999Pros: As speedy as ever,excellent softwareexperience, looks and feelspremium, pretty goodcamera setCons: Still expensive even asthe runt of the litter

OnePlus 9R: India-only budget variant

NEWS

V RISHI KUMAR

Hyderabad, April 14

SR Batliboi & Associates LLP,Chartered Accountants ofMumbai International Airport, which is part of GVKAirport Holdings, a stepdown subsidiary of GVKPower and Infrastructure,have informed that theyhave resigned as the statutory auditors of the fi��rm.

‘Another member firm’The audit fi��rm stated, “Wehave enquired and observed

that there are certain nonaudit services which are being provided by anothermember fi��rm to Adani Airport Holdings (AAHL) andAdani Enterprises (AEL), because of which we regret toinform you of our inabilityto continue as the statutoryauditors of GVK AirportHoldings under our internalindependence requirementsup to the conclusion of the18th Annual General Meetingof your company and request you to treat this as ourletter of resignation withimmediate eff��ect.”

Change in shareholdingSR Batliboi indicated thatbased on its discussionswith the management of

GVKAHL and reading of theminutes of the 84th Boardmeeting of the companyheld on August 26, 2020, itunderstands that the shareholding of the company

would undergo a changepursuant to an agreementbetween the company, AdaniAirports Holding (AAHL) andcertain other group companies of the company andAAHL.

“Following this, the company will become a subsidiary of Adani Airport Holdings Ltd, which in turn is asubsidiary of Adani Enterprises (AEL),” it said.

The audit fi��rm furtherstated, “We have audited thefi��nancial statements of thecompany for the year endedMarch 31, 2020 and issuedaudit report dated March 31,2021 thereon. Further, wehave not commenced theaudit of the company for theyear ending March 31,2021.”

Firm says certain

non-audit services

are being provided

by another firm

SR Batliboi & Associates resigns as statutoryauditor for Mumbai International Airport

SR Batliboi has informed of its

inability to continue as

statutory auditors of GVK

Airport Holdings ISTOCK.COM/

NICOELNINO

OUR BUREAU

New Delhi, April 14

Senior executives are likely tosee a six per cent hike in salaryin 2021 in India, according tothe latest survey released byAon plc. In fact, the pandemichas had a signifi��cantly less impact on senior executive paythan the 200809 global fi��nancial crisis, according to Aon’s 10th Annual Executive RewardSurvey.

“At six per cent, the 2021 projected salary increase for seniorexecutives is down by 1.4 percent from 2020. The Covid19pandemic had less of an impactthan the 20082009 Global Financial Crisis, when projectedsalary hikes for senior executives had dropped by almost 5%,”said Nitin Sethi, Partner andCEO of Aon’s performance andrewards business in India.

The survey analysed dataacross 504 companies frommore than 20 industries. Ac

cording to survey fi��ndings, excluding longterm incentives(LTI), the median CEO compensation in India ranges from₹��15 crore for ownerpromoter CEOs to ₹��3.63 crore atIndian private companies.

CFOs earn the mostApart from CEOs, thehighestpaid executives in202021 are the chief operating offi��cers and chief fi��nancial offi��cers, followed by thesales heads and chief humanresources offi��cers. The headof legal and IT wings areamong the lowestpaid executives, the survey added.

Ray Everett, CEO of Aon’sHuman Capital & RewardsSolutions across Asia Pacifi��c,Middle East & Africa said, “Executive pay practices in India

are catching up with those ofUS and European companies.Over half of the total compensation for CEOs in India today islinked with business performance. Performance Shares andRestricted Stock Options are becoming more prevalent asmore companies are movingaway from basic StockOptions.”

Strategy and fi��nance continue to be the top remunerative functions for executives.

Effect of pandemic

muted compared to

global financial crisis

Top executives may see 6 per cent hike in salaries: Aon Survey

OUR BUREAU

New Delhi, April 14

Airbus, in association withits valueadded resellerArubaito India, has been selected to supply its TactilonAgnet 500 communicationand collaboration platformto Bharat Sanchar Nigam(BSNL).

Airbus’ Tactilon Agnet 500is a fl��exible and scalablegroup collaboration solutionwhich allows effi��cient teamcommunication, the company said. “It is fully part ofour strategy to approachmobile network operatorssuch as BSNL to off��er ourstateoftheart technology tobusinesses that may notneed to invest in a secureTetra network and the related infrastructure,” said Se

lim Bouri, Head of WestAsia, North Africa and AsiaPacifi��c regions for SecureLand Communications atAirbus.

In the context of this contract, BSNL will off��er Airbus’sTactilon Agnet 500 platformfor use on its mobile broadband networks. This will allow sectors such as defence,police and other law enforcement agencies, transport, healthcare, power utility, airports, ports, mining,oil & gas, disaster management, and other businessesto benefi��t from secure voice,text, and data communications solutions, from peer topeer, or in a group, while using BSNL’s public operatortelecom network, the company added.

Airbus to supply communicationplatform to BSNL network

FORUM GANDHI

Mumbai, April 14

BLADE India, an aggregatorfor helicopter services, is setto expand its presence to Goa,Uttarakhand and Karnatakaamong other regions. Thefi��rm will also add fi��ve morehelicopters to its services inthis fi��scal year.

Amit Dutta, Managing Director of BLADE India said thatthe fi��rm, which had to temporarily shutdown its operations due to Covid19 in 2020,was able to restart its servicesin November. It has then witnessed a 60 per cent rise inleisure travel compared topreCovid levels.

Speaking to BusinessLine

about the company’s plan forthe fi��scal, Dutta said: “We aremaking aggressive plans, andspreading across India usingthe shorthaul segments andtourism. Over the next 12months, apart from the expansion in Maharashtra, weare looking to operate in at

least three new states including Karnataka, Goa and Uttarakhand.” Routes inKarnataka are likely to startservices by June 2021.

Last month, the companyalso announced the signing ofan MoU with Airbus to spreadawareness about helicopterrides and expand BLADE’sfl��eet. Currently, BLADE operates with eight helicopters.Dutta said that for the fi��scal, itplans to add at least four morehelicopters to its operations.

Speaking about otherplans, Dutta pointed out thatthe fi��rm is aggressively partnering with fi��ve star and luxury hotel chains to off��er packages. In the next fi��scal, it alsoplans to off��er air ambulanceservices.

Post Covid19, there hasbeen a rise in air ambulanceservices in India. Recently,Civil Aviation ministerHardeep Singh Puri said thatIndia has a lot of potential, especially in the helicopter segment, which was underutilised. The government has alsomade policy reforms in orderto make the services better.

Firm to add five

more helicopters

BLADE India set to expandpresence, increase fleet

OUR BUREAU

New Delhi, April 14

Bharti Airtel, on Wednesday,has announced a new corporate structure which it believeswill sharpen the focus of thecompany in driving the rapidlyunfolding digital opportunityin India while enabling it to unlock value. Airtel Digital Limited will now fold into the listedentity Bharti Airtel, which willnow house all of the digital assets spanning Wynk Music, Airtel X stream, AirtelThanks, Mitra Payments, Airtel Ads,Airtel IQ, Airtel Secure, Airtel Cloudand all future digital products andservices.

The Board in itsmeeting held on Wednesdayapproved the scheme enablingthe company to fi��le for all statutory approvals to give eff��ect tothe proposed rearrangement.

However, Airtel PaymentsBank will remain a separate entity under Bharti Airtel andwork closely with the growingcustomer base to play a pivotalrole in realising the digital opportunity that payments andfi��nancial services provides, itsaid.

Separate entitiesAirtel further said that all of thecompany’s infrastructure businesses such as Nxtra and Indus

Towers willcontinue to remain in separate entities asthey are currently, and sowill its international subsidiaries and affi��li

ates. “The new structure sets theexciting future course forBharti Airtel and provides focuson the four distinct businesses –Digital, India, International

and Infrastructure, each, in arazor sharp way. We believe thiswill provide agility, expertiseand operational rigour to serveour customers brilliantly whileproviding fl��exibility to unlockvalue for our shareholders,”Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman,Airtel, said.

This structure will serve wellover the coming years and is awinwin for all stakeholders, headded.

The digital ambition ofBharti Airtel is closely intertwined with the spine that connectivity provides across thecountry. It is therefore intendedto house all the telecom businesses in a newly created entity,Airtel Limited – a wholly ownedsubsidiary of Bharti Airtel Limited, the company said.

Bharti Telemedia, the 100 percent arm operating DTH services will sit alongside AirtelLimited for now. It is intendedto eventually fold the DTH business into Airtel Limited to movetowards the NDCP vision of converged services to customers.

Payments Bank and Tower business will

continue to remain separate entities

Bharti Airtel to now house all digital assets of group

CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING

anytime soon now standdashed because the negotiations between the US and Iranon nuclear dispute are notmaking much headway. Sanctions are still in place. Yet, Irancontinues to supply oil toChina at the rate of one mbd.

Admittedly, Iran could beone single factor that can signifi��cantly add to the global supplies and thwart any major upward movement in oil prices.

Asian importsAt the same time, imports intoAsia – mainly China and India –are rising. Chinese import datashow that the Asian major imported 49.7 million tons ofcrude oil in March which isover 10 percent more than February import and up 21 percentyearonyear. In the fi��rstquarter this year, China’s imports surged by 9.4 percentyearonyear. On a daily basis,China’s imports are an estimated 11.7 mbd.

Looking ahead, it is clear, the

to recover as economic activities gather pace around theworld under the lead of Chinafollowed by the US, supply isexpected to remain constrained over the next twoquarters. This is sure to encourage speculative capital to fl��owinto the market and exert an

exaggerated impact.In the US, the weakpace of drilling

activity suggeststhat productionwill be slow torecover. Fromthe peak level of

13 million barrels a day (mbd)

in 2019, the US output currently stands

at less than eight mbd. Producers are looking at sustainable production rather thanexplosive growth in output. Ifcurrent price levels hold in themonths ahead, production issure to accelerate further.

What’s more, any hope ofsupplies from Iran resuming

G CHANDRASHEKHAR

Despite the decision of OPECand its allies to gradually increase production in the coming months, crude oil priceshave ruled fi��rm above $60a barrel. On Tuesday,Brent climbed to$63.8, while WTIbreached $60 abarrel.

Brent hadbriefl��y touched$70 a barrel inMarch. Demandconcerns, especiallyin Europe, combinedwith high supply prospectson account of OPEC+ decisionsurely played a part in the pricecorrection.

US suppliesOn current reckoning, the oilmarket outlook is ominous.While demand will continue

emerging global supplydemand fundamentals point to asmall defi��cit in 2021, with theassumption that Iran will notenter the market. With investor interest in oil remaining constructive, it should beno surprise if Brent tradesbetween $65 and $70 a barrelthis quarter.

This is not good news for amajor importer like India.While our appetite for consumption of energy productsis ravenous, higher oil pricesare sure to fan infl��ationarytendencies as oil is a universalintermediate. Worse, the Rupee has fallen below 75 to a dollar and more weakness is expected. A depreciated rupeewill raise the landed cost ofcrude oil. New Delhi would bewell advised to take cognizance of the emerging situation.

The author is a policy com-mentator and commoditiesmarket specialist. Views arepersonal

Outlook for crude oil turns positiveCOMMENTARY

................CMYK

CHENNAI

8 BusinessLine THURSDAY • APRIL 15 • 2021COMMODITIES/AGRI-BUSINESS

VINSON KURIAN

Thiruvananthapuram, April 14

The Indian monsoon has gota way of its own that manifests in the most unpredictable way it has behaved fromtime to time. It continues tobeat the best predictionsmade by the choicest of models, forcing the protagoniststo go back to the drawingboard, hoping for the bestnext time.

The almostmythical June1timeline for its onset getsbreached with impunitysince the movement of theparent InterTropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ, or theequatorial band of lowpressure area moving into theNorthern Hemisphere alongwith the sun) and associatedcloud formation defypredictions.

Sheer unpredictabilityThe sheer unpredictabilitythat clouds it seems to haveendured a lot more than themonsoon itself, which continues to be among the mostresearched climatic phenomenon.

Barely understood in thebest of times, it is complicated further by climatechange, says The Economist.Why is this so?

For one, numerous physical forcings are interactingon a monsoon simultaneously (not just the El NinoLa Nina or the Indian OceanDipole), but their linear/nonlinear impact on the systemhas been mostly cyclic.

These are not yet fully understood nor assimilated inpredictive monsoon models.

The monsoon also chooses toplay in its dynamics, notesGP Sharma, President, Meteorology and ClimateChange at Skymet Weather,leading private forecaster,which came out with an outlook for a ‘healthy normalmonsoon’ this year assessedat 103 per cent of the longperiod average.

Plays to own dynamics “For instance, we have givena forecast for all four monsoon months. This is whatour predictions are. Invariably, it need not turn out exactly as per the script. Themonsoon shouldn’t obligeus and behave in all the fourmonths, norshould it failus irrespective of a LaNina or ElNino,”Sharma toldBusinessLine.

But if it behaves theway we forecast now, itwill mean itwill act in allfourmonths, heexplained.

The lasttime when it behaved in allmonths was in 2007. All four(June, July, August andSeptember) were good. Ortake 1975 or 1956 when allthese were on the positiveside of 100 per cent.

Case of exceptional 1997 Sharma singled out the exceptional 1997 when, despite

a strong El Nino, the monsoon had beat all conventions and emerged abovenormal.

El Nino is usually knownmonsoon killer.

“Surprisingly, all fourmonths were good…the lowest was in the core Julymonth which was at 95 percent of the longperiod average that year.”

“I still consider it okay inan El Nino year,” saysSharma. July is the rainiest ofall four monsoon monthsand very crucial to the farmeconomy. But 95 per cent inJuly in an El Nino year is justas good. All the rest threemonths in 1997 wereplus100 per cent, Sharmasaid.

Good monsoons on a trot“We have had three years of

good monsoon on a trotbut not allthree abovenormal. 1996,1997, 1998were all normal within 101to 103 percent. Beforethat, we had1986, 1987 and1988, with onebeing abovenormal. Butwe haven’thad all threeyears statist

ically above normal for threeyears in a row. We shouldwait to see if this happenswhen the 2021 monsoonruns its course.”

Pointing to the expectedgood June forecast this year,he said that it is signifi��cantwhen seen against the recordin the recent past.

But whatever the strength

of the monsoon, the rainsenter North India only byJuneend.

So, it is mostly the otherparts of the country that benefi��t from a good June,Sharma said.

Significance of June rainsGood June rainfall is best forcountry’s central parts and agood signal for Kharif sowing. But the northern parts ofthe country do not directlybenefi��t here. Punjab, Haryana, West Uttar Pradesh andthe rest of the northern farmbelt do not wait for the rainssince they are wellirrigatedotherwise.

Asked about the projectedshortfall in North InteriorKarnataka, Sharma said thatany good monsoon leaves 1015 per cent of the total areawith a shortfall. It is onlyNorth Interior Karnataka’sturn now (apart from NorthEast India, which seems to bea ‘perpetual defi��cit case'

though for diff��erent reasons).

Difficult to decode“We do not have any clue asto which area might comeunder the shortfall area sinceno two monsoons are thesame. Nor for that matterdoes an El Nino strike a specifi��c pocket twice. The pattern keeps shifting, and decoding that is very diffi��cult.But this is what the modelprojects for that part ofKarnataka this year,” Sharmasaid.

One thing worth mentionhere is that North Interiorand adjoining CoastalKarnataka have huge rainfallnormals. Places such as Karwar and Mangaluru havemore than 1,000 mm of annual rainfall.

“So, any deviation will beprojected as defi��cient although it may not make asbig an impact on the groundas on statistics.”

There is no clue as to which area might come

under the shortfall since no two monsoons are

the same, says top official of Skymet Weather

GP Sharma, President,

Meteorology and Climate

Change, Skymet Weather

‘Monsoon has a way of its own, can beat the best models at any given time’

SUBRAMANI RA MANCOMBU

Chennai, April 14

An “unusual” movement in soyabean futures on the NationalCommodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) has led to a hueand cry being raised with oilseedcrushers complaining to theCentre.

The current movement has resulted in Indian futures prices ruling at least 40 per cent higherthan Chicago Board of Trade(CBOT) soyabean futures.

On Tuesday, soyabean for delivery this month ended at ₹��6,910 aquintal, while May and June futures closed at ₹��6,727 and ₹��6,570,respectively. NCDEX spot soyabean (Indore delivery) wasquoted at 7,070 a quintal.

On CBOT, soyabean is currentlyruling at $13.91 a bushel (₹��38,400a tonne) after having hit a sevenyear high of $14.44 (₹��39,900) onMarch 8. On NCDEX, April futureswere quoted at ₹�� 5,168 then.

Global prices According to Trading Economicswebsite, CBOT soyabean futureshave gained 6.94 per cent sincethe beginning of the year butthey have dropped about two percent in the past month. This, however, has not happened in Indiawith prices heading only in onedirection – north.

Particularly on NCDEX, soybean futures have been hittingthe upper ceiling of six per centover the last few sessions resulting in The Soyabean ProcessorsAssociation of India (SOPA) seeking Government action.

The reason cited for this increase by players in the futuresmarket is nonavailability of soyabean stocks. The tweet had an immediate eff��ect on the market asprices slid below ₹��7,000 on Tues

day. On Tuesday evening, NCDEXissued a circular raising the preexpiry margins to three per centfrom 2.5 per cent and that of leanperiod margin for July contractsto four per cent from two percent.

User industries upsetThe abnormal rise in soyabean futures has resulted the poultryand aquaculture sectors protesting against the increase in soyameal prices. The poultry sector,especially, has demanded that itbe allowed to import 12 lakhtonnes of soyameal dutyfree totame the rising prices. It has alsosought to bring in soymeal derived from geneticallymodifi��essoyabean.

“The futures market is in thegrip of speculators which is directly aff��ecting physical trade. Thecurrent bull run on NCDEX is irrational as it is without any fundamentals. We have ample stocks ofsoyabean in the country,” saidDavish Jain, SOPA Chairman.

Crop figuresAccording to Jain, soyabean production for the current season(October 2020September 2021)has been projected at 104.55 lakhtonnes (lt), besides an openingstock of 5.16 lt. This is against lastyear’s production of 93.06 lt andopening stock of 1.70 lakh tonnes.

The Ministry of Agricultureand Farmers Welfare, in itssecond advance estimates of agricultural production, had pegged

soyabean output at 137.1 lt.The SOPA Chairman said that

out the total projected soyabeanproduction, nearly 75 lt had arrived by Marchend with 58.5 ltbeing crushed. Farmers could beholding 36.64 lt stocks.

“The Centre has pegged thesoyabean crop higher at over 130lt and SOPA at over 100 lt. So, thehuge rise in soyabean pricesseem unjustifi��ed based on speculation over supplies,” said SolventExtractors Association ExecutiveDirector BV Mehta.

A few farmers now have stocksand most of them are only havingsoyabean for seed purpose, heclaimed. “The huge hiddenstocks and those with farmerswill come out soon. Currently,farmers seem to be holdingstocks expecting prices to rise further,” Jain said.

SEA President Atul Chaturveditold CNBC that the soyabeanspike had resulted in soyamealprices rising higher than thelanded price of imported soyameal.

According to SEA, soyabeanprices are about ₹��27,500 a tonnehigher than the same period yearago. Jain said that the poultry andaquaculture sectors require 50 ltof soyameal annually and itwould require 65 lt of soyabean.However, demand has droppedthis year due to high meal prices.“I do not agree with the demandof the poultry and aquaculturesectors to import soyameal,” Jainsaid. The SOPA President calledfor a strict vigilance by NCDEXand SEBI, besides the Union Government. SEA’s Chaturvedi concurred with the view.

When contacted, NCDEX Executive VicePresident and agribusiness head Kapil Dev said theexchange had imposed additional margins on soyabean futures. “We keep on reviewing andlook for anything alarming,” hesaid. He also urged market participants to hedge their positionsin such volatile markets.

Oilseed crushers

say trend is

‘unnatural’, seek

SEBI action

Soyabean futures on NCDEXruling 40% higher than CBOT

The poultry and aquaculture

sectors have protested against

the abnormal increase in futures

RUTAM VORA

Ahmedabad, April 14

Agricultural Produce MarketingCommittee (APMC) yards in Gujarat have suspended tradingactivities following a sharp risein Covid19 positives, leavingfarmers in the State sitting on apile of harvested winter cropsand a worried lot.

The Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) at Rajkot,one of the largest market yardsin Saurashtra region, on Tuesdayannounced suspension of trading activities till further notice.The yard is a major place of tradefor jeera (cumin seed), cotton,pulses, groundnut, castor,wheat, onion and potato.

Blow to farmersThis has come as a setback tofarmers. “We were waiting forgovernment to procure wheat. Ihave about 50 quintals of unsoldharvested wheat laying on myfi��elds. We are in need of money,but the markets are closed tillfurther notice. It is very uncer

tain scenario, and we are clueless what to do,” TarshibhaiVekariya from Khamta village ofRajkot district told BusinessLine.

Vekariya has tested positivefor Covid19 and is under homeisolation as on Wednesday.

On the lines of Rajkot APMC,many other APMCs from theState suspended trading activities to avoid gatherings at theyard and prevent further spreadof the pandemic.

In North Gujarat, another major APMC yard, Unjha, announced voluntary lockdownfor seven days with infectionsrising in the region. In a publicnotice on Monday, Unjha APMCsaid, “In view of the current outbreak situation, a meeting wasconvened by the civic authorityof Unjha town with Unjhatraders’ association and marketyard agents’ association. It wascollectively decided to voluntarily shut down the APMC yardfrom April 14 to April 21.”

Price & supply dynamics Unjha is the largest market forseed spices including cuminseed, corianderseed, fennel seedand fenugreek, besides othercommodities.

The suspension of trading at atime when the harvest season isat the peak could result into ablow to farmers. On the onehand, several commodities haveshown downtrend in prices overthe past one week amidst fears ofa possible lockdown causing demand destruction. On the other,the suspended trading wouldcreate a supply glut. As a result,farmers will fl��ood the marketswith their produces when theyresume trading. This could further squeeze the prices following a sharp jump in supplieswithin a relatively short time.

An onion producer fromMorbi, Hussain Ali Khorjiya, informed that red onion off��takehas come to a halt as markets are

not functional. The last tradedprice was ₹��700 800 a quintal.“But with consuming marketslike hotels, restaurants closed inmany big cities, prices have started declining. I am sitting on ahuge pile of unsold onions. I harvested about 2,400 quintals ofonions on 20 acres. I have soldsome over the past couple ofweeks, but still I am left with ahuge unsold quantity.” He fearsthe prices to correct after markets open and get fl��ooded. “Wemay have to face losses from theremaining crop,” he added.

Among the districts where APMCs are shut include Jamnagar,Bhavnagar, Junagadh, Amreli,Mehsana, besides Morbi andRajkot.

Growers worried as

Rabi crops harvest

is on, stocks pile up

The suspension of trading at a time when the harvest season is at a

peak could result in a blow to farmers

Gujarat APMC yards suspend trading tobring Covid second wave under control

A J VINAYAK

Mangaluru, April 14

Imports of palm group of oils byIndia increased 7.10 per cent butthose of soft oils declined by14.38 per cent in the fi��rst fi��vemonths of the oil year 202021.

The Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA) of India, the apexbody of oil crushers, exportsthat the record mustard production in India would help reducethe import of vegetable oils inthe coming months.

SEA , which released the vegetable oil import data for the fi��rstfi��ve months of the oil year 202021, said that the country imported 30.90 lakh tonnes of palmgroup of oils crude palm oil,RBD palmolein, and crude palmkernel oil during November2020 to March 2021 against28.85 lakh tonnes in the sameperiod a year ago. The import ofcrude palm oil (CPO) increased

to 29.9 lakh tonnes during theperiod from 24.6 lakh tonnes.

The import of soft oils such assoybean and sunfl��ower decreased to 21.49 lakh tonnesfrom 25.10 lakh tonnes.

On the reduction in the import of soft oils during theperiod, BV Mehta, Executive Director of SEA of India, said in astatement that high price ofsunfl��ower oil discouraged theimport, while the import of soyabean oil maintained at samelevel. The country imported 9.17lakh tonnes (12.84 lakh tonnes)of sunfl��ower oil, and 12.32 lakhtonnes (12.08 lakh tonnes) ofsoyabean oil during the fi��rst fi��vemonths of the oil year.

“With record crop of mustardto the tune of 8590 lakh tonnesand heavy demand for ‘kachi ghani’ and refi��ned mustard oil,crushing is at the peak level,” hesaid, adding this will checkmatethe import of edible oils in thecoming months.

Veg oil importAccording to the SEA data, the

overall import of vegetable oils(which includes both edible andnonedible oils) was 9.80 lakhtonnes in March 2021 against9.55 lakh tonnes in March 2020,recording a growth of 2.61 percent. This included 9.57 lakhtonnes of edible oils and 22,610tonnes of nonedible oils.

However, the overall importof vegetable oils stood at 53.75lakh tonnes during NovemberMarch 202021 compared with55.19 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period of the previousyear.

Major suppliersMalaysia was the major supplierof CPO to India. The country imported 16.80 lakh tonnes of CPOfrom Malaysia during the fi��rstfi��ve months of oil year 202021,followed by Indonesia at 12.95lakh tonnes.

India imported 11.24 lakhtonnes of crude soybeandegummed oil from Argentina,and 8.08 lakh tonnes of crudesunfl��ower oil from Ukraine during the period.

Palm oils import rises 7% during NovMarchRecord mustard

output may help

bridge demand gap

RADHESHYAM JADHAV

Pune, April 14

Farmers of Balawadi village inMaharashtra’s Sangli districtare actively trying to enhancetheir income by experimenting in fodder cultivation,even as the Centre haslaunched various schemes todouble farmers’ income by2022,

“The National Commissionon Farmers has insisted thatthere is a need for multiplesources of income to augment farmers’ income. Forpast many years we have beenworking on fodder farmingmodel in droughtproneareas of Sangli district andthe experiment is gainingmomentum,” said farmer activist Sampatrao Pawar.

This year farmers inBalawadi have planted maizeon 10 acres of land as a fi��rststep to create a fodder bank.They will be cultivating fod

der in over 25 hectares tocater to the need of farmers inKhanapur taluka (block).

Pawar says that the past experiments have yielded goodresults. Over the last fi��veyears, fodder cultivationhas yielded good returns for farmers.Farmers here saythat cultivatingfodder is less expensive compared to sugarcaneand vegetables as itrequires lower amount ofwater, pesticides and fertilisers. Sangli district in SouthMaharashtra is one of theleading districts in the dairysector and quality fodder is always in demand throughoutthe year.

In 2019, Balawadi villagerscultivated fodder and createdfodder bank for needy farmers. Ashok Jadhav, a farmer,says that government startsfodder camps duringdroughts where farmers cantake their cattle but thesecamps have a negative impact on the health of cattle

and milk production. “Thequality of fodder provided atthese camps is not up to themark. Many fodder camps arerun by local politicians whofeed sugarcane to the cattle to

earn profi��t from the grantprovided by the govern

ment to run foddercamps. Farmersmust take care oftheir cattle by creating fodder banks,” he

said. Sandesh Pawar of

Ugam Foundation, which isworking with farmers, saidthat the government must fi��xminimum support price forfodder and procure it. It canthen provide it to the cattle atthe fodder camps. “Also, thegovernment must encouragefarmers to grow fodder by giving concessions and grants.Excess sugarcane cultivationhas destroyed the fertility ofthe land in many parts of Maharashtra and we haveproved that fodder could be agood option to improve thesoil fertility and increase thefarmers’ income,” he said.

How growing fodder is helpingsome farmers in Maharashtra‘Cultivation of

animal feed helps

augment income’

AKHIL NALLAMUTHU

BL Research Bureau

The continuous futures contract of natural gas on theMulti Commodity Exchange(MCX), which hit a fresh 52week high of ₹��251.3 in earlyNovember, reversed the direction abruptly and startedto depreciate. The declinecontinued where it marked alow of ₹��165 in the ensuingmonth. Nevertheless, thislevel acted as a supportagainst which the futuresrebounded.

There has been considerable volatility since November and even as the contractmoved in a particular direction, it faced signifi��cant pullbacks. This sort of price behaviour makes trading diffi��cultbecause in one hand a deeperstoploss and on the other itincreases the probability ofthe stoploss being hit. Theprice action continues to remain the same way even now.

As regards the direction ofthe next leg of trend, chancesare that the bulls are gainingcontrol potentially lifting thecontract in the coming sessions. Reasons are that thecontract has bounced off�� thesupport at ₹��181 in the ensuingmonth twice in the past onemonth, making it a doublebottom pattern and as a confi��rmation, the contractclosed at ₹��197.6 on Tuesdayi.e., above the neck level of₹��195.

Corroborating the same,indicators like the daily relative strength index and the average directional index areshowing that the uptrend isgaining momentum. Also,the moving average convergence divergence on the dailychart is trading a positive trajectory. Hence, traders can bebullish and buy April seriesMCX natural gas futures withstoploss at ₹��190. Potentialnearterm target is ₹��212.

Buy MCX naturalgas April series withstop loss at ₹��190

COMMODITY CALL

................CMYK

CHENNAI

BusinessLineTHURSDAY • APRIL 15 • 2021 9NEWS

OUR BUREAU

New Delhi, April 14

To create a new line of communication for itself, theCongress launched its ownplatform, INC Television,here on Wednesday.

The platform will be fullyoperational for eight hoursfrom April 24. The partysaid the intention is to todevelop content that is “unbiased, fearless and critical”of the authorities.

‘Spread ideology’The party decided to launchthe platform on the birthday of BR Ambedkar andsaid that a team of committed journalists and conscious citizens will work forit to “report facts accurately, precisely and honestly”.

Inaugurating the platform, Opposition leader inRajya Sabha MallikarjunKharge said the newproduct will help in spreading the ideology of theparty. He added that theNarendra Modi government is trying to unsettle

the ideology proposed byBR Ambedkar through ourConstitution. “It is Modi’sroutine to scare people.They have created fearamong journalists, politicalleaders and social activists.On one side, they create fearand on the other side attacks against Dailts andminorities are on the rise.Constitutional institutionsare also not spared,” hesaid.

Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala said that India’s atmosphere is now of individualworship, mental slaveryand lack of logical thinking.“This government promotes only content thatpraises it. INC Televisionwill be diff��erent here,” heclaimed.

Congress launches INC TV, a new channel for communication

Mallikarjun Kharge addresses

mediapersons after launching

INC TV, in New Delhi PTI

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, April 14

Access to professional education is not a “governmentallargesse” and the State is obliged to facilitate its reach atall levels, the Supreme Courthas said.

A bench of Justices DYChandrachud and MR Shahmade these observations in averdict on separate pleas fi��ledby two students from Ladakhwho were not admitted toMBBS degree course in medical colleges here despite duenomination by the Union Territory and in terms of the seatsnotifi��ed by the Centre.

‘Affirmative obligation’“While the right to pursuehigher (professional) education has not been spelt out as afundamental right in Part III ofthe Constitution, it bears emphasis that access to professional education is not a governmental largesse. Instead,the State has an affi��rmative obligation to facilitate access toeducation, at all levels,” thebench said in its judgementdelivered on April 9.

“This obligation assumes far

greater importance for students whose background (byvirtue of such characteristicsas caste, class, gender, religion,disability and geographical region) imposes formidableobstacles in their path to accessing quality education,” itsaid.

While allowing the petitions fi��led by the two students,the top court directed that theadmission formalities be completed immediately and, inany event, within a week.

“We have been constrainedto take up the issue under Article 32, since the fundamentalrights of students fromLadakh to pursue professional

education are implicated,” itsaid.

“We will in the course of thisjudgment deal, of course, withthe grievance of the two students. But we intend to dealwith the issue on a systemicbasis so that other studentswho may lack resources, orsimply the knowledge aboutlegal remedies, are not deprived of education,” thebench said.

The bench noted in its verdict that through a communication dated February 19this year issued by the UT administration, the Director ofHealth Services Ladakh (DHSL)had forwarded the list of selected candidates from Ladakh tobe admitted in the centralpool medical seats for the year20202021.

State has an affirmative

obligation to facilitate access to

education, at all levels, said

the Apex Court

Access to professional educationno governmental largesse: SC

OUR BUREAU

Ahmedabad, April 14

With the launch of a new promotion campaign and an expanded range, Vadilal IceCreams hopes to put therough patch in 2020 behind itand is targetting growth inthe current year.

After facing a steep declinein icecream revenues, VadilalIndustries has set an ambitious goal of crossing ₹��800crore in sales during the current year. The company sellsice cream and frozen foodproducts under the Vadilalbrand.

“The year 2020 was a disturbed one for all ice creamplayers. But we now see con

sumption picking up aspeople have started to livewith the pandemic,” saidAkanksha Gandhi, brand director for Vadilal Ice cream.

Covid-19 impact“Our sales revenues from icecream segment was about₹��650 crore in 201920. We arehoping to cross ₹��800 crorethis year,” said Gandhi in amedia interaction for thelaunch of a new ice creammarketing campaign, ‘WaahVadilal’.

In 202021 revenues slid toabout ₹��400 crore.

“Last year, the marketingcampaigns were aff��ected andthere were constraints onmarketing budgets. Normally, we spend about six percent of our overall revenueson marketing campaigns. Butthis year, we have earmarkedeight per cent of our total revenues,” said Gandhi, adding

that the focus for marketingwill be more on digital space.

The company has roped inLowe Lintas for brand promotions and marketing strategy.Sagar Kapoor, Chief CreativeOffi��cer at Lowe Lintas said,“Vadilal Ice Cream’s brandingpromotion tries to tap thechanging taste of consumerswith focus on the youth – whowant to experiment and trynew tastes. Vadilal’s portfolioof 200 fl��avours is a big advantage.” It has launched 12new products for the summer.

Meanwhile, despite thevolatility in raw materialprices like Skimmed MilkPowder, Vadilal’s MarketingHead, Niraj Presswala saidthat there will be no price revision in ice creams. .

On exports, the companysaid that it has witnessed an‘extremely well’ performanceat ₹��250 crore for 202021.

Company bets big

on ‘Waah Vadilal’

marketing campaign,

new products

After meltdown due to Covid in 2020, Vadilalhopes to double ice cream sales to ₹��800 crore

OUR BUREAU

Pune, April 14

The Maharashtra governmentassured industry representatives that it will take steps to ensure the smooth functioningof industrial units during thecoming fortnight when stringent curbs, excepting on essential services, have been announced to control the spreadof Covid19

Following the lockdownlike restrictions announcedfrom April 14 to May 1, the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) organised adiscussion with the government offi��cials on the functioning of industries during themini lockdown.

The industry representatives sought selfcertifi��cationpermission for Stategovernment clearances that may beneeded.

Sadashiv Survase, Joint Dir

ector, Industries Departmentsaid that the government willtake all possible steps to facilitate the functioning of industries.

‘Ensure smooth functioning’“Pharma, agrofood processing and the dairy sectorhave been allowed to functionat full capacity in related supply chains and ancillaries. Thegovernment will come outwith guidelines for exportoriented units,” he said.

Suravase added industriescan function if their staff�� is inurban areas and asked companies to arrange for theircommute.

MCCIA President Mehta saidthat the industries are taking alead in the vaccination drive,with Pune leading the drive.MCCIA DirectorGeneralPrashant Girbane said that theindustries will fully complywith the government norms.

Industry seeks self-certificationnod during 15-day lockdown

TE RAJA SIMHAN

Chennai, April 14

While the Covid19 vaccinationdrive is focussed on those over45, the coronavirus infectiondata indicates those youngerare aff��ected as much, particularly in the second wave.

For instance, in Chennai onApril 12, out of the 15,877 persons infected, nearly 35 percent were between 20 and 49.This has been the trend acrossthe State.

Recently, the Tamil NaduHealth Secretary J Radhakrishnan said that persons between18 and 45 years accounted forover 50 per cent of the Covid19cases in the State. Health experts feel, this means, there is agreater urgency to lower theage limit for vaccination. to

less than 45 years. When asked,based on the data, whether theyoungsters could be majorvirus spreaders, Radhakrishnan replied in the affi��rmative.

“The government, depending on the vaccine availabilityand the mortality trends, comeup with the decisions throughthe National Expert Group on

Vaccine Administration forCovid19,” he told BusinessLineon reducing the age limit. “InTamil Nadu, we are yet to vaccinate 1.85 crore persons above45 years,” he added.

T Jacob John, former Professor of Clinical Virology, CMCVellore, said while reducingthe age limit to less than 45

years for vaccination makessense, it is equally importantthat the youngsters wearmasks and maintain social distancing to avoid getting infected. “Vaccinated people tend toslow down the spread,” headded.

Chennai’s vaccine statsMeanwhile, about 1 millionpeople have been vaccinated inChennai. The Covid19 vaccination is available in 412 centresacross the city, said a tweet byAlby John, Regional DeputyCommissioner, South Region,Greater Chennai Corporation.

Reacting to the milestone,Prabhdeep Kaur, ICMR scientist, tweeted, “Remarkableachievement of @chennaicorp; vaccines are safe andeff��ective and easily accessibleat all urban PHC across the cityin addition to private hospitalsand Govt medical colleges. Vaccines protect from severe illness and death. Please walk inand take the shot if eligible.”

Say those below 45

are getting infected

faster in the second

wave of Covid-19

J Radhakrishnan, TN Health Secretary, launching a campaign for the

Tika Ustav-Vaccination Festival in Chennai on Wednesday BIJOY GHOSH

Health experts for reducingvaccination age threshold

PALAK SHAH

Mumbai, April 14

SEBI may ask Franklin TempletonMutual Fund (FTMF) to explainthe gap of ₹��304 crore in the maturity profi��le document of thenow shut six debt schemes thatwas released by the fund recently.

This will be part of SEBI’s ongoing investigations against FTMFfor alleged fraudulent and unfairtrading practices after it woundthe six schemes abruptly lastyear.

Disclosures by FTMF show thatit received ₹��15,776 crore as onMarch 31, 2021. Of this, it claims tohave repaid the borrowers₹��4,476 crore and has shown₹��9,122 crore as cash distributedto its investors (the job has been

entrusted to SBI MF as per courtorder). Another ₹��1,884 has beenshown by FTMF as surplus cashavailable for distribution as onMarch end. Subtracting the outfl��ow amount from the infl��ows received by FTMF shows a gap of₹��304 crore, which has come tothe notice of SEBI, sources said.FTMF has nowhere explained inits disclosure documents as towhere and how it spent ₹��304crore, the sources said.

Unexplained fund flowsUsually, MFs have two main ex

penses including running thescheme and distributing thecost. An interest cost is involved ifthere are borrowings. However,FTMF shut down the six debtschemes in April 2020. Hence,FTMF cannot claim largeamounts as distribution orscheme running charges; thiscould generate controversy. Still,it has provisioned around ₹��85crore as distribution charges andwould be seeking around ₹��15crore for running the scheme forthe past one year, sources say.Even after that, around ₹��200

crore worth of fund fl��ows remainunexplained.

“Why should investors bear interest cost on loans incurred byFTMF to meet redemptions,weeks before shutting itsschemes. It is a controversial issue as SEBI is probing FTMF forfraud and allowing redemptionsto associates,” sources close tothe regulator said.

FTMF allowed redemptions ofover ₹��20,000 crore few weeksprior to the suspension of theschemes and even after that. Thefund house borrowed15 per cent

or ₹��4,000 crore of the grossvalue of the six schemes as ofApril 2020 to meet redemptions.It even marked down the net asset value of its six debt schemesby 54 per cent to just ₹��24,631crore by the end of April 2020compared to ₹��53,399 crore inSeptember 2019.

SEBI did not respond to anemail query on the matter. Whencontacted, FTMF said, “The expenses charged are in accordance with the scheme information documents and applicableregulations. The books of theschemes are duly audited by statutory auditors and the amountsdistributed to investors were arrived at after providing for expenses chargeable to theschemes in accordance with theapplicable regulations. The AMChas not charged investmentmanagement fees to theschemes under winding up sinceApril 23, 2020.”

Regulator already

probing fund house

for alleged fraud,

unfair trade practices

SEBI may question Franklin MF on ‘missing’ ₹��304 cr

RADHESHYAM JADHAV

Pune, April 14

The king of mangoes – Alphonso – is at the centre of abattle between Maharashtra and Karnataka.After getting complaintsfrom mango growers in Maharashtra that Alphonsolike produce from the bordering State are eating intotheir margins, Maharashtra’s Agriculture Minister Dada Bhuse has steppedinto the fray.

He said stringent legal action would be taken againstthose involved in selling‘fake’ Alphonsos in themarket.

The Minister has askedAgriculture Produce MarketCommittees (APMC) markets to keep a watch on

traders passing off�� othervarieties of mangoes as Alphonso. Vaibhav Naik, MLAfrom the Konkan region recently approached the Agriculture Minister with acomplaint that Maharashtra’s Alphonso growerswere suff��ering heavy lossesbecause of “fake” Alphonsosfrom the neighbouringState.

Unique GI tagAlphonso mangoes fromKonkan have a GI (geographical indications) tagfor their unique taste,aroma and colour. Violationof GI of Goods (Registrationand Protection) Act, 1999,attracts a jail term of sixmonths and ₹��50,000 inpenalty.

Even as some scientistsbelieve that the Portuguesebrought Alphonso toKonkan, researchers andfarmers in the region assertthat it is a local product andthe Portuguese took it tothe world market.

The king of mangoes isone of the major sources of

income for the Konkanfarmers. Devesh Deodhar, atrader, who got Alphonsosto sell in the Pune market,said he tried to retail themfor ₹��1,200 (small size) and₹��1,500 ( big size) per dozen.“But some consumers saidthat they were getting it at₹��500 per dozen. Any grower

of Alphonso cannot aff��ordto sell the fruit at this rate.Obviously, there are othervarieties of mangoes whichare being sold as Alphonso,”he points out.

Varieties grownIndia is home to about1,000 varieties of mango.However, only a few varieties are commercially cultivated throughout India. Maharashtra farmers mainlygrow Alphonso, Kesar andPairi while Karnataka farmers grow Alphonso, Totapuri, Banganapalli, Pairi,Neelum and Mulgoa.

According to APEDA, themajor mangogrowingStates are Andhra Pradesh,Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka,Bihar, Gujarat and TamilNadu. Uttar Pradesh ranksfi��rst in mango productionwith a share of 23.47 percent and the highestproductivity.

Now, Maharashtra and Karnataka lock horns over mangoesSale of ‘fake’ Alphonsos from

neighbouring Karnataka eating

into margins of Konkan growers

Alphonso mangoes from Konkan have a GI tag for their unique

taste, aroma and colour

OUR BUREAU

Hyderabad, April 14

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd,which has partnered withRussian Direct InvestmentFund (RDIF) for clinical trials, regulatory aspects andmarketing, on Wednesdaysaid Russian Covid19 vaccine, Sputnik V, will beavailable in India thisquarter.

According to GV Prasad,Cochairman and ManagingDirector, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, the company willinitially receive doses of thevaccine from Russia. However, from the secondquarter, it will be manufactured by partners of RDIF inthe country, he added.

Prasad said, discussionswere on with diff��erentstakeholders on pricingand availability and conclusions will be reached overthe next few weeks.

Dr Reddy’s has a contract

with RDIF for the supply of125 million people doses(250 million vaccines units)as part of a comprehensivecollaboration it hadentered into with RDIF lastSeptember. The companyhad already made arrangements for safe transportation of the vaccine at the required temperature levelsof 18°C.

, K Satish Reddy, Chairman, Dr Reddy’s said:“There should be a framework for discussion on pricing. The discussions willcommence shortly”.

According to DeepakSapra, Chief Executive Offi��cer, API and Services, Sputnik V’s immunogenicitydata, as shown in the trialswith 1,600 subjects in India,was in line with that of Russia.

Production partnersIndia will be a hub for Sputnik V’s production, asRDIF’s partners that includeHetero, Gland Pharma,Stelis Pharma, Virchow andPanacea Biotech, will be

producing 6070 per cent ofits global volume.

Sapra said the vaccineproduced in India will be

initially used to inoculatethe country’s citizens; itwill cater to the RDIF’sglobal requirements asvolumes rise.

No serious safety concernsThere are no serious safetyconcerns other than thecommonly encounteredsideeff��ects of intramuslcarvaccines,” Sapra said.

The Russian agency willreportedly have a combined production capacityof over 1,000 million dosesof Sputnik V in India. Its effi��cacy is 91.6 per cent, asconfi��rmed by the data published in The Lancet, headded.

With a shelf life of sixmonths, Sputnik has to beadministered in two separate doses with a gap ofthree weeks.

With its approval foremergency use in India bythe Government, the Russian vaccine now has approvals in 60 countriesreaching three billionpeople or 40 per cent of theworld's population.

Dr Reddy’s says

price discussions

with govt on

‘Sputnik V to be available this quarter’

OUR BUREAU

Chennai, April 14

The 10yearold IIT Alumni Industry Interaction Center(AIIC) in its new abode coined,‘Hub in the Sky’ was inaugurated on Wednesday by Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IITMadras, in the presence ofAshok Jhunjhunwala, Professor inCharge, IITM Research Park and Mahesh Panchagnula, Dean, Alumni &Corporate Relations, IITMadras.

The ‘Hub in the Sky’ situatedon the 10th fl��oor of phase 2 ofthe IIT Madras Research Park,Taramani, will serve as a meeting ground for corporate R&D,industry professionals, faculty

and students and enable collaborative work in a relaxed yetprofessional ambience.

The facility will help in catalysing industryacademia engagement through its IndustryRound Table, an initiative of theIIT AIIC. It will also help in organising national and international meetings, says a pressrelease.

The IIT AIIC has over 650members, including facultyand alumni, from diff��erent IITs.and selected alumni from IIMs,ISB, XLRI and IISc, and designated senior employees fromselect corporates and exoffi��ciomembers such as directorsfrom all the IITs, the releasesaid.

IIT Alumni Interaction Centergets new facility in Chennai

................CMYK

CHENNAI


KS BADRI NARAYANAN

KUMAR SHANKAR ROY

Chennai, April 14

The biggest domestic institutional investor LIC has uppedholdings in at least 15 companies by buying shares worth₹��3,000 crore during JanuaryMarch quarter even as markets rose nearly 4 per cent.

LIC has hiked stakes in oldeconomy sector companiessuch as those involved in manufacture of cement, auto ancillaries, chemicals, energy andpaints. However, it also appears to have booked profi��tspartly in select PSU bankstocks, Tata Steel and TCS etc.,many of whom had seen ahealthy rise in price duringthe aforementioned quarter.

One per cent stakeThe data pertains to companies with at least ₹��20,000 croremarket capitalisation whereLIC holds at least one per centstake. So far, only 35 companies have disclosed JanuaryMarch 2021 quarter under thecategory.

IPObound LIC, which isknown to take a value investing approach, has trimmedholdings worth over ₹��4,000crore in 10 companies whilemaintaining status quo in 5stocks including Divi's Lab, P &G Hygiene, General Insurance,Aditya Birla Capital and Cummins India.

LIC has purchased maximum shares in Bank of Baroda, IOC, Ambuja Cements,Cadila Healthcare, Nippon LifeIndia Asset, Berger Paints,Lupin and Hindustan Zinc inthe JanuaryMarch 2021quarter compared to OctoberDecember 2020 quarter. Interms of quarteronquarterpercentage rise, LIC's shareholding has gone up the mostin Aarti Industries, Lupin,IRCTC and Atul, with Aarti and

IRCTC appearing to be freshentries in LIC portfolio.

Onus on PLIAccording to analysts, investors are betting big on theimpact of Production LinkedIncentive (PLI) scheme announced by the Governmentto drive local manufacturingin being 'Aatmanirbhar'. TheGovernment, which in March2020 had introduced the PLIscheme to boost domesticmanufacturing and cut downimport bills, has been expanding the scope of the scheme toa wide range of sectors including auto ancillaries, solar PVmodules and chemicals.

During the JanuaryMarchquarter, domestic institutional investors sold sharesworth ₹��23,124 crore even asforeign institutional investorspumped in ₹��52,270 crore. Mirroring this activity, LIC appears to have offl��oaded partholdings in Punjab NationalBank, Axis Bank, Bank of India,Tata Steel, HDFC, Canara Bank,Havells India, TCS, Bharat Electronics and ONGC. Some ofthese stocks rose 1020 percent in JanuaryMarch 2021quarter.

Market watchers say LICgenerally adopts a 'contrarian'investment strategy i.e. whenthe general mood is bullish,the insurance behemoth bookprofi��ts while it 'buys' when thegeneral mood is bearish. According to prime infobase,LIC’s holding (across 290 companies where its holding isover 1 per cent each) hadslipped to an alltime low of3.70 per cent as on December31, 2020, down from 3.91 percent as on September 30,2020.

Buys shares worth

₹��3,000 crore in at

least 15 companies

LIC betting on oldeconomy stocks

HARI VISWANATH

BL Research Bureau

In the quarterended March2021, Infosys’ revenue of₹��26,311 crore and EPS of ₹��11.96was about 1 per cent and 2 percent below consensus expectations, respectively. Operating margin was at 24.5 percent (vs TCS’ industry leading26.8 per cent), roughly in linewith expectations. Overall,the results closed a solid yearfor Infosys in the midst of thepandemic with FY21 constantcurrency revenue growth at 5per cent (vs TCS’ negative 1 percent). The company also announced a buyback of up to₹��9,200 crore (1.5 per cent ofmarket cap).

For FY22, the company hasguided for constant currencyrevenue growth of 1214 percent and operating margin of

2224 per cent. Givenheightened expectationsdriven by Infosys’ betterthanindustry performance in FY21,this may not go down wellwith markets. Consensus expectation for operating margin was at around 24 per cent.Following the results, theADRs of Infosys listed in US exchanges were trading downby about 5 per cent at the timeof writing this piece.

Mixed performance The performance was goodacross verticals and geographies. The largest segment

— Financial Services — whichaccounts for around 33 percent of revenue, reported asolid near 16 per cent year onyear(yoy) growth in CCterms. Digital business grew34 per cent yoy in CC termsand now represents 51.5 percent of total revenue.

There are a few metrics thatare a tad disappointingthough. One, the fourthquarter witnessed slowdownin large deal sign ups at $2.1billion vs $7.13 billion in thethird quarterended December 2020. Two, employee attrition rate saw a big jump to 15.2

per cent now vs 10 per cent inthe third quarter. That TCS atthe same time reported an alltime low attrition rate of just7.2 per cent for the fourthquarter raises some concerns.

Stock view Given heightened expectations at an industrylevel andmore so in the case of Infosysdue to its outperformance vspeers in revenue growth inFY21, over all the results arelikely to cause some disappointment to investors. Thestock currently trades at closeto 27 times its FY22 EPS — notcheap for a company with 5year (FY17 actuals FY 22Bloomberg consensus estimate) EPS CAGR of around 11 percent.

While it trades at discountto TCS PE of near 30 times, itneeds to be noted that TCS hasalways commanded apremium valuation as industry leader with more consistent execution in the lastdecade. The Infosys stock appears fully priced at this juncture.

FY22 margin

guidance may

disappoint markets

Overall, the results marke d the close of a solid year for Infosys in

the midst of the pandemic REUTERS

Infosys Q4 results present a mixed bag

Q4 COMMENT

MAHARASHTRA SHOOTING BAN

BLOOMBERG

April 14

Egypt seized ‘Ever Given’, the giant container vessel thatblocked the Suez Canal lastmonth, on Wednesday as partof an eff��ort to get more than$900 million in compensation.

A court in the city of Ismailiagranted a seizure request regarding the vessel at the behestof the Suez Canal Authority,staterun Ahram Gate reportedon Tuesday.

Egypt’s move underscoresthe legal complications following the container vessel’sgrounding on March 23, whichclosed the canal for six days androiled shipping markets.

The 25 Indian crew membersremain on board the ship,which is in the Great Bitter Lake,about halfway along the canal.

To cover lossesThe SCA has said compensation

is needed to cover losses oftransit fees, damage to the waterway during the dredgingand salvage eff��orts, and the costof equipment and labour. It hascalculated that it missed out onabout $15 million of transit feeseach day. The SCA’s chief executive offi��cer, Osama Rabie, told anEgyptian TV channel that negotiations with the ship’s owner —Japanbased Shoei Kisen KaishaLtd — and insurers were takinglonger than expected.

DisappointedThe ship’s insurer for thirdparty losses, the UK P&I Club,said in a statement that theowner received a claim for $916million. “Despite the magnitude of the claim, which waslargely unsupported, the owners and their insurers havebeen negotiating in good faithwith the SCA,” the statement onTuesday said.

The UK P&I Club also said itwas “disappointed at comments by the SCA that the shipwill be held in Egypt until compensation is paid.

Ship’s insurer

says size of claim

‘largely unsupported’

Egypt seizes Ever Givenover unpaid compensation

MEENAKSHI VERMA AMBWANI

New Delhi, April 14

The Hindi entertainment industry has suff��ered a freshjolt with Maharashtra suspending shooting of fi��lmsand TV serials till April 30, ina bid to contain the massiverise in the Covid19 cases. Industry observers said thiswill adversely impact Hindimovie releases as well asavailability of fresh contenton television and OTT platforms and also escalate costsfor fi��lmmakers and contentproducers.

Gautam Jain, Partner, Ormax Media said, “The partial

lockdown and halt on fi��lmshooting in Maharashtrawill impact the entire valuechain for the fi��lm industryas well as TV and OTT platforms. Films getting postponed will result in multiple clash releases as andwhen theatres open, asHindi, Hollywood and PanIndia fi��lms vie for audiences’attention.

“Additionally, fi��lms whichhave held on for more thana year have the additionalworry that they may startlooking old."

Film producer, trade andexhibition expert Girish Johar said the decision hasbrought the Hindi fi��lm industry to a standstill. “Somefi��lm makers may look atshifting shooting locations

to other States but that requires a lot of planning interms of crew, locations, logistics as well as safety andtravel protocols,” he added.

Content pipelineSources said that the broadcasters will now be relyingon their content pipeline es

pecially for daily TV soaps.But it all depends on thekind of bank they have offresh content and that mayvary signifi��cantly fromabout 3 days to 10 days depending on the format ofthe TV series and shootingschedules.

Jehil Thakkar, Partner, Deloitte India, said, “Films thatare underproduction willbe more impacted as theirdelivery costs will escalate.This could also impact availability of fresh content onTV channels as broadcastersmay start running out offresh content in the next fewdays. If the restriction onshooting extends beyondApril 30, then it will have aneven more signifi��cant impact on the entertainment

industry.” Nitin Tej Ahuja,CEO of Producers Guild ofIndia stated, “The suspension of shooting will obviously have an adverse impact for content producers,not just fi��nancially but alsoin terms of meeting deliverycommitments. However, weappreciate that the Covidsituation in Mumbai andMaharashtra is very grave indeed and we will of courseabide by the restrictions imposed by the HonourableChief Minister.”

To seek relaxationsIndustry associations arealso planning to approachthe Maharashtra government to petition for somerelaxations for resumptionof shooting activities and re

lief especially for the workers in the industry that arepaid on a daily basis. J.D. Majethia, Chairman of the Indian Film and TV ProducersCouncil said, “We are chalking out plans for stringentsafety measures, such as setting up a biobubble, thatthe industry can adopt tocontinue shooting in thepandemic times and will approach the state government in the next few days.”

As per a FICCIEY report,the Indian Media and Entertainment sector declined by24 per cent to ₹��1.38 lakhcrore ($19 billion) in 2020.The TV industry alone declined by 13 per cent as advertising revenues werebadly hit during the national lockdown last year.

Escalation of costs

too worry fi��lmmakers,

content producers

Blow to film releases, fresh content for TV

Holding back releases also

exposes producers to the risk of

films appearing ‘old’

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