OPINION, P6 ECONOMY, P2 INTERNATIONAL, P8 EDITORIAL GST 'MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR' DEAL Borrowing for aid to states not a workable solution: Amit Mitra Priyanka Chopra Jonas inks TV deal with Amazon Draft EIA notification 2020 needs a relook Advertisers pulling out of Facebook shows balance on news delivery may be shifting back to news media NEW DELHI, THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2020 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL. XLVI NO. 105, 18 PAGES, `6.00 (PATNA `6.00, RAIPUR `7.00) P U B L I S H E D F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , B E N G A L U R U , C H A N D I G A R H , C H E N N A I , H Y D E R A B A D , K O C H I , K O L K ATA , L U C K N O W, M U M B A I , N E W D E L H I , P U N E SENSEX: 35414.45 ▲ 498.65 NIFTY: 10430.05 ▲ 127.95 NIKKEI 225: 22121.73 ▼ 166.41 HANG SENG: 24427.19 ▲ 125.91 `/$: 75.60 ▼ 0.09 `/€: 84.97 ▼ 0.19 BRENT: $41.81 ▲ $0.54 GOLD: `48730.00 ▲ `426.00 Special Features We want to be a tech trendsetter brand Realme’s vision is to be the most popular tech lifestyle brand in India, says Realme VP and CEO of India operations Madhav Sheth ■ eFE, P9 Kent Vegetable Cleaner: Eat safe,be healthy This device oxidises residual chemicals, bacteria and other pathogens from the surface of vegetables & other food products ■ Gadgets, P9 Continued on Page 2 We will not give permission to joint ventures that have Chinese partners for road construction. We have taken a firm stand that if they (Chinese companies) come via joint venture in our country, we will not allow it —NITIN GADKARI UNION MINISTER OF ROAD TRANSPORT & HIGHWAYS WHOLESALE DESPATCHES OF cars and two-wheelers picked up considerable pace in June driven by demand from rural and semi-urban markets. After a washout in April and a sluggish May when factories resumed production and showroomswerethrownopen, volumes in June suggest consumers are buying. While the drop in despatches inApril and May was 80% year-on-year, they were much improved in June with the drop at between 30% y-o-y and 60% y-o-y. Tractorsalestoohavebeenvery strong in June. However, volumes for commercial vehicles remained depressed as Ashok Leylandreportedan80%yearon-yearfallinJunedespatches. Hero MotoCorp which reported a fall of just 31%y-oy in June, selling 4.5 lakh twowheelers, said the fundamentals of the economy appeared to be robust. Pawan Munjal, LAST RING? One-time items raise Q4 loss at Voda-Idea to `11,643-cr FE BUREAU Mumbai, July 1 THOUGH VODAFONE IDEA performed well on the average revenueperuser(Arpu)andrevenue growth front during the January-March quarter,uncertaintyaboutitsviabilitycontinues to exist as the Supreme Court has so far not provided any relief on the payment of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues to the tune of `58,000 crore. The company acknowledged this fact, stating,“It is to be noted that ourabilityto continue as going concern is essentially dependent on a positive outcome of the application before the Hon'ble Supreme Courtforthepaymentininstalments and successful negotiationswith lenders.” Another concern for the company during the quarter is the inability to hold on to high paying users with churn rising by3.3% on a sequential basis. During the quarter, exceptionalitemsrelatedtoAGRdues and one-time spectrum charge led the companyto post awider consolidated net loss at `11,643.5 crore. Net loss was QuickPicks June: Manufacturing recovers partly, demand still subdued A CONTRACTION in manufacturing narrowed sharply in June, having recovered from a record fall in April, as lockdown-related curbs were lifted since June 1, reports fe Bureau in New Delhi. But the downturn continued to be driven by a fall in both output and new orders. The rate of workforce contraction remained among the quickest since data collection began in March 2005. P2 INS condemns Chinese govt’s restrictions on Indian media THE INDIAN Newspaper Society (INS) has urged the government to ban all access to Chinese media in India and call off Chinese collaborations or investments in Indian media companies with immediate effect, reports fe Bureau in New Delhi. In a statement, INS criticised the Chinese government's decision to restrict access to Indian newspapers and media websites. INS president Shailesh Gupta said the action of the Chinese government was uncalled for. Maruti Suzuki 4X -54 Telcos: Key performance indicators comparison (Q4FY20) VOICE DATA (Volume, million mins) (Volume, million MB) -49 *Includes export figures chairman & CEO – Hero MotoCorp, said a major part of the market demand is emanating from the rural and semi-urban markets, which have been helped to a large extent by the various stimulus packages rolled out by the government. “A combination of multiple factors, including the forecast of a normal monsoon, a bumper Rabi crop and the upcoming festive season are expected to keep the momentum going over the next few Carlyle to buy 25% of Bharti data centre PRESS TRUST OF INDIA New Delhi, July 1 higher compared to Bloomberg’s consensus estimates of `4,610 crore. The company’s performance on most parameters trailed Reliance Jio and BhartiAirtel barring data usage persubscriber,where it beat Jio. ThehikeintariffshelpedVIL grow revenues by 6% sequentially and Arpu by 11%, but Bharti Airtel scored better with sequential growth rates of 14.3% and 16% respectively. The company lost 13 million subscribers during the fourth quarter compared to average quarterlylossof8millioninthe secondand third quarters. Continued on Page 2 Continued on Page 2 ● $ 2.725-BN DEAL ● JOBS SCHEME FE BUREAU Kolkata, July 1 THE MAHATMA GANDHI National Rural Employment GuaranteeScheme(MGNREGS) produced 107.82 crore person days of work in the first three monthsofthecurrentfiscalyear 965 688 771 Vodafone Bharti Reliance Idea Airtel Jio 11,462 14,972 11,300 Vodafone Bharti Reliance Idea Airtel Jio BLENDED ARPU (`) Vodafone Idea Bharti Airtel Reliance Jio 121 131 154 Haldia Petro Jobs under MGNREGA takes over up 12% in April-June as against 96.49 crore during oiltech firm SURYA SARATHI1RAY New Delhi, July thecorrespondingperiodofthe HALDIA PETROCHEMICALS (HPL), a part of The Chatterjee Group,and Rhone Capital have acquiredtheUS-basedLummus Technology, at an enterprise value of $2.725 billion from McDermott International. Lummus is a leading masterlicensorofproprietarytechnologies in refining, petrochemicals, gas processing and coal gasification. It is also a supplierofproprietarycatalyst equipment and related engineering services. Continued on Page 2 Person days under MG-NREGS Growth (%, y-o-y) April-June (in crore) 2017-18 2018-19 93.09 79.81 3.24 14.26 2019-20 96.49 20.89 2020-21 107.81 11.73 Source: Ministry of Rural Development last fiscal,according to government data. The 12% year-onyear rise indicates that despite the lockdown, the Centre’s accelerated release of funds under the popular jobs scheme and the support provided by most states ensured that the schemeindeedprovidedtimely relief to the rural poor. Aftera lull inApril,when the person days of work created stood at 14.12 crore,the lowest since2016-17,therewasasudden surge in MGNREGS jobs since the first week of May.The easing of lockdown from the secondweekofMayhelpedgeneratingmore jobs. Continued on Page 2 4,50,744 Hero MotoCorp* 5X 2.5X 4X -53 -63.5 REVENUES AfterApril’s lows, GST trebles in June As compared to last year, GST revenues in the first quarter are down by 38%, signalling a recovery FE BUREAU New Delhi, July 1 % change (y-o-y) THE CARLYLE GROUP will acquire about 25% stake in Airtel’s data centre business, Nxtra Data, for $235 million (about `1,780 crore),the company said in a statement on Wednesday. This will peg the enterprise valuation of Nxtra at $1.2 billion,whichisover`9,084crore. On completion of the deal,Carlylewillholdabout25%stakein the businesswithAirtel continuingtoholdtheremainingstake ofabout75%.“BhartiAirteland ComfortInvestmentsII,anaffiliated entity of CAPV Mauritius Limited, an investment fund managed and advised by affiliated entities of the Carlyle Group, today announced an agreement under which Comfort Investments II will invest $235millioninNxtraDataLimited,a wholly owned subsidiary of Airtel engaged in the data centre business,” a Bharti Airtel statement said. Usage per customer/MB) Usage per customer/mins) /mins) 10,603 1,639 3,866 Hyundai M&M Toyota Motor Kirloskar India Motor Change (m-o-m) 3X 1,12,682 6,52,028 Jun-20 39,471 3,867 18,505 May-20 42,007 6,883 21,320 1,14,861 13,865 53,139 Jun-19 ● DEAL STREET 1,28,40,000 A BOILER exploded at NLC India's thermal plant here killing six people and leaving 17 others injured on Wednesday and it has been shut for safety audit, the company said, reports PTI. INDIA WILL NOT allow Chinese companies to participate in highway projects, including those through joint ventures, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday, amid a border standoff with China. Gadakri also said the government will ensure that Chinese investors are not entertained in various sectors like SHUBHRATANDON Mumbai, July 1 64,52,825 Six killed in NLC India's boiler explosion in TN PRESS TRUST OF INDIA New Delhi, July 1 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The senior minister’s assertions assume significance against the backdrop of border standoff between India and China in Ladakh that also saw the death of 20 Indian Army personnel last month. Amid escalating tensions, the government on Monday banned 59 apps, mostly having Chinese links, citing threats to national security. “We will not give permission to joint ventures that have Chinese partners for road construction. We have taken a firm stand that if they (Chinese companies) come via joint venture in our country, we will not allow it,” Gadkari told PTI in an interview. June sales at Maruti up 4 times since May; it was 3-fold for Hyundai and 2 times for M&M 40,90,337 THE RESOURCE-HUNGRY government has kept interest rates on various small savings schemes for the September quarter unchanged, despite falling interest rates on bank deposits, as it aims to encourage investors to park more funds in such schemes, reports fe Bureau in New Delhi. Nitin Gadkari says Chinese firms can’t bid in highway projects, even as JV partners 8,76,340 Small savings rates unchanged China faces Strong rural demand drives auto sales in June closed roads 8,21,900 BSNL HAS cancelled its `8,697-crore 4G tender which was floated in March, reports Kiran Rathee in New Delhi. Though the company has not given any reason for the cancellation, the move could have been a result of the heightened Indo-China border tension and also Niti Aayog’s suggestions to allow only locally designed and manufactured equipment for the 4G rollout. FIELD DAY NHAI BAN 6,15,684 IN THE NEWS BSNL cancels its `8,697-crore 4G tender -31 months,”Munjal said. Analysts at Nomura have gleanedfrominteractionswith dealers that retail sales have largely come back to preCovid-19 levels in June for tractors, 80-90% for twowheelers and to around 60% levels for passenger vehicles. “Given the production constraints due to Covid-19, wholesale in general may lag retail sales,”they noted. THE GOODS AND Services Tax (GST) collections nose-dived to arecordlowof`32,294crorein April,which was down 72% on year, but then recovered to `62,009 crore in May and further to a respectable `90,917 crore (down just 9% on year) in June,according to data released bythe government onWednesday.Thisindicatesarathersmart recovery of business activities afterthelockdownwaseased.Of course,theMayandJunecollectionsarealsoboostedbythefact Gross GST collections (` crore) Sept 2019 Oct Nov Dec Jan 2020 Feb Mar Apr May June Continued on Page 2 91,917 95,380 1,03,491 1,03,184 1,10,818 1,05,366 97,597 32,294 62,009 90,917 thatalargesectionofreturnsfor April and March and even Februarywas filed in June; the government had extended the filing deadlines due to the lockdown. GST collected in any month pertains largely to the transactions in the previous month; so the June GST collections being 91% of that in the year-ago monthimpliesthetransactions inmanysectorsoftheeconomy jumped in May, from the abysmally low levels in April. Pertinently, states like Punjab, Chhattisgarh,MP,Bihar,Assam, AndhraPradesh,Telanganaand Karnatakawitnessed growth in collection in June over last year. North-Eastern states like Sikkim, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh too witnessed increase in revenue during the month. Continued on Page 2 Growth in monthly average GST revenue (%, y-o-y) 6 3.8 FY19 FY20 Q1 FY21 -41 Assured annual S-GST growth rate for states 14% PLEA TO GOVT Hit badly by Covid-19, bankers want more WFH ANKUR MISHRA Mumbai, July 1 A STEADY RISE in the number of bankers becoming infected with Covid-19 and nearly 25 deathsisworryingthebanking community. All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA)haswrittentothechief secretary of Maharashtra, and IndianBanks’Association(IBA) to allow banks to function at 50% strength. The letter says: “The state level bankers’ committee (SLBC)Maharashtra has issued their compunction that banks should functional normally and with 100% of the staff. Requiring 100% of staff to attend is neither a physical possibility nor it is advisable given the SOP on social distancing requirements,etc.” CHVenkatachalam,general secretary, AIBEA, said: “We have lost at least 25 bank employeesandaround 400are infected byCovid-19 so far.We fear the numbers will increase further if employees continue to come in full strength.” AIBEA indicated to FE that SLBC(state level bankers’committee) has asked public sector banks to ensure that their branches are fully manned.At theheadoffices,employeesare allowed towork from home for some weeks of the month. StateBankofIndia(SBI)has been rotating the staff at its corporate office in Mumbai, after four employees tested positive. An SBI spokesperson India's total number ofconfirmed cases neared 6 lakh onWednesday No Lalbaugcha Ganpati this year Strict curbs to curb corona in Mumbai PRESS TRUST OF INDIA Mumbai, July 1 FE BUREAU Mumbai, July 1 THE LALBAUGCHA RAJA Ganesh Mandal, which installs Mumbai’s most famous Ganpati idol, on Wednesdayannounced cancellation of the Ganesh Chaturthi celebration this year in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER of Police (operations), Greater Mumbai, PranayaAshok has issued an order imposing Section 144 of the CrPC 1973 restricting the presence and movement of more than one or more persons in any public place. Full report on Page 13 Continued on Page 2 said:“Ourquickresponseteam headed by a general manager (GM) is continuouslymonitoring the situation in the entire countryand the protocol is followed in case of anyinfection.” Manyof the bank's staff members, who were infected, have recovered,he further added. Although local train ser- All that glitters... is gold viceshaveresumedinalimited manner, in Mumbai, AIBEA is of the view that banks should provide transportation services in cities like Mumbai. PSBs are offering compensation of `20 lakh-50 lakh to families of the deceased. Continued on Page 2 FE BUREAU Corona takes prices to near an 8-year high With investors favouring precious metals over other asset classes, the price for 10 grams gold on MCX hit fresh record highs on Wednesday. Gold prices have soared nearly 25% since January, propelled by increased haven demand due to Covid-19 outbreak and slowing economy. MCX Gold spot Index(`/10g) MCX Silver spot Index(`/Kg) 50,000 48,730 50000 45000 37,391 40000 35000 30000 New Delhi 33,549 July 1, 2019 July 1, 2020