OPINION, P2 MIND & GAMES Every child needs a narrative. Here’s what several pediatricians are talking about with their children Way to Depsang or Doklam? FE LINES Hybrid meetings, with a mix of in-person and virtual audience, could become the new norm Page 9 HOW ARE YOU TELLING CHILDREN THE STORY OF THE PANDEMIC? ACROSS THE AISLE , P CHIDAMBARAM A meeting makeover Page 10 LEISURE Follow us on Twitter & Facebook. App available on App Store & Play Store WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM VOL .XVIII NO. 90 CHEF VIKAS KHANNA ● This takes its total payment to an aggregate `7,854 crore ■ SPOTLIGHT, P7 The double-edged tech sword As the world settles into the work-fromhome mode, there’s been a new challenge to contend with: cyber security ■ WORDS WORTH, P4 Amish’s latest book voices the biases that continue in Indian society Vodafone Idea Tata Teleservices 18,000 6,854 1,000 4,197 ■ Can't give fresh bank guarantees ■ Parent company has written off investment ■ Over `10,000 crore of bank guarantees with the DoT should be considered as security ■ Assets worth `42,000 crore have been charged as securities to secure borrowing of over `1 lakh crore before it could consider their plea for a staggered payment.It had also asked the telcos to file audited balance sheets of the past10yearsandaskedtheDoT toexaminetheirpaymentplan, securities,and guarantees. On additional guarantees sought by the court, like bank guarantees or personal guarantees by the directors, both the companies had said that the DoTalreadyhas theirbank guarantees against licence and spectrum. Vodafone Idea had said the companyis not in a position to give anyfreshbankguarantees as the parent company has written off investments in the firm. The company had said it has assets worth `42,000 crore,whichhavebeencharged as securities to secure borrowing of over `1 lakh crore. Vodafone Idea had also said that its over `10,000 crore of bank guarantees are lyingwith the DoT,which should be considered as security. The SC had observed that since all the assets of the company are charged, and it is a foreign company, what happens if it walks away, leaving the assets here? smartphone to be key for Google revenues FE BUREAU New Delhi, July 18 THE RELIANCE Jio-Google col- Covid patients at a care centre in New Delhi on Saturday ASTHA SAXENA & AMITABH SINHA Delhi/Pune, July 18 including 11 in a row now,the number of people recovering from Covid in Delhi has remained higher than newly detected infections — no other state has come close to such a trend. If the trend holds for at least two consecutive weeks, which is the normal recovery time for an infected person, it could be an indication that the disease is reaching its peak and that a decline is around the corner, according to top experts and doctors. PTI COVID-19 UPDATE 10,38,716 TOTAL CASES 26,273 DEATHS SO FAR 34,885 NEWCASES But there are important caveats. Speaking to The Indian Express, members of the Delhi government’s Covid panel said the next few weeks will be crucial in determining whether the National Capital has actually crossed the peak. Continued on Page 16 ● Boom in production of anti-microbial products, from clothes to shoes to household items SHRIYA ROY New Delhi, July 18 demand for them skyrocketing during the initial days of the pandemic.Companiesthatwere noteveninthehygienebusiness scrambled to manufacture bot- tlesafterbottles.Thefocusthen expanded to encompass antimicrobial products. Anything that could be germ-free promised to be a lucrative business idea. After all, the deadly reporteda19.6%year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in net profit for the quarter ended June to `6,659 crore on the back of a 17.8%y-o-yriseinnetinterest income (NII) to `15,665 crore. In a statement,HDFC Bank saidprovisionsandcontingencies for the quarter were `3,891.5 crore, up 49% y-o-y, and consisting of specific loan loss provisions of `2,739.8 crore and general provisions and other provisions of `1,151.7 crore. In the same quarter a year ago, provisions stood at `2,613.7 crore, including specific loan loss Continued on Page 16 (` cr) Q1FY20 Q1FY21 Chg (%) Total Net Other Provisions income interest income income 6.5 Net profit 17.8 Net interest margin (%) 4.3 4.3 Gross NPA (%) 18.0 48.9 1.4 4 bps Net NPA (%) 0.43 19.6 1.36 0.33 10 bps Source: Bank MEGA DEAL laboration is not only beneficial for the Indian company by enabling it to on-board the nearly 350 million 2G subscribers to its 4G network fold, the deal, for which Google is investing `33,737 crore into the Jio Platforms for a 7.77% stake,will also lead to big gains for the tech giant. As is known, as part of the tie-up Jio will manufacture affordable, entry-level 4G smartphones. Since Google would be developing the software for these affordable smartphones,it stands to gain revenue-wise, as 2G users moving to 4G will buy several apps and updates from its Playstore overa period of time. The payment for buying apps and their updates are directly made by the consumers to Germ fighting the new industrial mantra FIRST IT WAS sanitisers, with HDFC BANK ON Saturday Delhi: Hope of peak How Google stands to gain from Jio with recovery trend ● Low-cost 4G FOR 17 OF the last 20 days, ROHNIT PHORE 16,798 FE BUREAU Mumbai, July 18 provisions of `2,248 crore and general provisions and other provisions of `365.7 crore. “Total provisions for the current quarter included contingent provisions of approximately `1,000 crore. The core credit cost ratio was 1.08%,as compared to 0.77% in the quarter ending March 31 and 1.07% in the quarter ending June 30,2019,”the bank said. The net interest margin (NIM) in Q1 stood unchanged on a sequential basis at 4.3%. Pre-provision operating profit (PPOP) at `12,829.3 crore grew by 15.1% over the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Asset quality performance wasamixedbag,withthegross non performing asset (NPA) ratio rising 10 basis points (bps) sequentially to 1.36% and the net NPA ratio down by three bps to 0.33%. « ODD & EVEN (paid on July 17, 2020) What Vodafone Idea had said Twitter says several employees were manipulated by hackers TWITTER SAID several of its employees were manipulated by hackers into providing credentials for internal systems, and 130 Twitter accounts were targeted including those of Joe Biden, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, reports Bloomberg. The hackers were able to reset passwords for 45 users, while eight had their data, including private messages, downloaded entirely, Twitter said in a blog. The hackers may have also tried to sell the user names of some of the accounts, it said. 43,980 58,254 INDIA'S CYBERSECURITY nodal agency CERT-In has issued a notice to Twitter asking the micro-blogging platform for full details of the recent global hack targeting high-profile users, as it sought complete information on number of Indian users affected as well as impact on data,a source said. The source said CERT-In has also asked Twitter for information on number of users from Indiawho havevisited the malicious tweets and links,andwhetherthe affected users have been informed by the platform about unauthorised access to their Twitter accounts.The government has also demanded information of vulnerability exploited by attackers and modus operandi of the attack and sought details of remedial actions taken by Twitter to mitigate the impact of the hacking incident.Twitterwas not immediately available for comments. Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERTIn) swung into action after reports that hackers gained access to Twitter’s systems to hack accounts of many global corporate leaders, politicians, celebrities and businesses. ● Profit touches `6,659 cr on back of higher income « THE NEW and comprehensive Form 26AS, which provides taxpayers with certain details used in filing returns, is a form of faceless handhold for them to e-file their income tax returns quickly and correctly, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said on Saturday, reports Fe bureau. The new form would debut this year and carry additional details of taxpayers’ financial transactions as specified statement of financial transactions (SFT) in various categories. PAGE 3 Bharti Airtel Total AGR dues as per DoT (` cr) HDFC Bank net rises 19.6% y-o-y « Taxpayers to receive more info in Form 26AS for quick e-filing COVID-19 AGR dues paid (` cr) P U N E Q1 NUMBERS « QuickPicks AHEAD OFTHE Supreme Court hearing in the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) matter on July 20,Vodafone Idea on Saturday said it has paid an additional `1,000 crore, taking its total payment to `7,854 crore, against the total due amount of around `58,000 crore. “In line with the above, the company has on July 17 paid a furthersum of `1,000 crore to the department of telecom towards the AGR dues. The companyhadearlierdeposited `6,854 crore in three tranches,” Vodafone Idea said in a regulatory filing. In the last hearing on June 18,the Supreme Court had said that companies like Vodafone IdeaandBhartiAirtel,whichhad AGRduesbutwereseekingstaggered payment over a 20-year period,shouldpayupfrontareasonableamountofdues,backed by securities and guarantees Company PRESS TRUST OF INDIA New Delhi, July 18 D E L H I , « The battle that continues FE BUREAU New Delhi, July 18 DoT demand & payments made by telcos Govt notice to Twitter for info on Indian users N E W « Voda Idea pays `1,000 cr more ACCOUNT HACKING M U M B A I , « WHAT'S INSIDE L U C K N O W , 6,659 AGR DUES K O L K A T A , 5,568 K O C H I , 3,892 H Y D E R A B A D , 2,614 C H E N N A I , « C H A N D I G A R H , 15,665 B E N G A L U R U , 4,970 4,075 F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , 13,294 P U B L I S H E D READ TO LEAD 34,453 SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2020, 16 Pages, `10 (Patna `11, Raipur `10) 32,362 FINANCIAL EXPRESS ON SUNDAY NEW DELHI ‘You can’t stereotype a nation just because you watched Slumdog Millionaire’ Page 6 virus could be anywhere — on clothes,shoes,fruit,vegetables, grocerypackets andso on. Not surprisingly,the industry has seen a sudden boom in demand and production of anti-microbial products. One of India’s oldest footwearbrands,Bata,hascome up with products like foot sanitisers,wipesandfacemasksinits portfolio to a curated collection of ‘washable shoes’. Bata India hasalsolaunchedacollectionof anti-bacterialshoesforchildren. Said Matteo Lambert,the chief collection manager,Bata India, “We are looking to extend the sameanti-bacterialpropertiesto more of our products.Everyone is now extra cautious about the kind of risks they are exposing themselves to, and nobody wants the virus to enter their houses through unsuspecting carrierslikeshoes.Therefore,itis now imperative to also sanitise footwear.”HesaidalthoughBata had an anti-bacterial range in placeevenbeforethepandemic, itwasonlyforschoolchildren. Continued on Page 16 PLANET OF THE APPS Payment for buying apps on Jio phone to be directly made to Google With the launch of affordable smartphone, around 100 million existing Jio users can migrate to it and enhance Google's revenue companies like Google. This broadening of the revenue base will be a big gain for Google,analysts maintain. The other major gain for the tech majorwould be that it can effectively compete and protect its turf in the app domain at a timewhenFacebookhasalsotied up with Jio and would use the opportunitytoenhanceitsapps. For instance, Facebook’s armWhatsAppisintheprocess of getting into the payments businessandwantstoscalethis big time in India. Google already has Google Pay, and Reliance Retail has plans to broaden Jio Mart by getting into other consumer segments too With its existing payment app Google Pay, Google will have an edge with increasing number of users once WhatsApp gets into this business,therewould be major competition between the two. This competition is going to be challenging since WhatsApp hastiedupwithJioMart,which is an e-commerce venture that brings neighbourhood grocery stores into its fold. If consumersbuyfromJioMartusing aWhatsApp button,chances of using WhatsApp pay would be higher. Since Reliance Retail has plans to broaden Jio Mart bygettingintootherconsumer segments also, the WhatsApp payment business has the potential of a huge leg-up with time. It is here that Google needs to protect its turf. The challenge would exist for Jio too to balance the interestsofthesetwotechmajors,as thereishardlyanyprecedentof thetwobeingpresentunderthe samecorporatefoldbeforethis. The gain for Jio is that once the affordable smartphone is ready and commercially launched, the low-paying JioPhone users can migrate to it and enhance its average revenue per user (Arpu).Way back in 2018, Jio had launched the low-end JioPhone aimed at low-paying subscribers who could not afford smartphones. Though JioPhone is a 4G phone, it does not have features like downloading apps, etc, so apps like Facebook or WhatsApp needto bebuiltinto them at the manufacturing stage itself. The consumers using these phones barely use such apps, which is why Arpu and data usage do not see a surge. There are around 100 million JioPhone users. ThoughJiohasahighersubscriberbasethanBhartiAirtel,if onelooksattheJanuary-March numbers, its Arpu at `131 was muchlowerthanBharti’s`154. SMARTPHONE MARKET Top brands at second-hand prices is India’s love story KIRAN RATHEE New Delhi, July 18 INDIA IS THE second-biggest market for smartphones, but thankstobrand-consciousIndianswhoarealsoprice-conscious at the same time, India is the fastest-growingmarketforrefurbishedorusedsmartphones. Wanting to flaunt brands likeAppleandSamsung,butnot wanting to shell out the obscene sums associated with thesebrands,smartphoneusers opt forsecond-hand devices. For instance, the minimum price for a brand new iPhone is around `40,000 but a used iPhonecanbeboughtforaslow as`7,000.Thesamestandstrue forotherpremium devices. New Delhi No wonder, second-hand devices below `10,000 registered a growth rate of 9%yearon-year in 2019. The entire pre-owned smartphone market is expected to almost double its sales to 48 million this year from 26 million in 2016. Xiaomi retains its leadership position in the secondhand smartphone market. As per Cashify, in 2019-20, Xiaomi had a market share of 27% in the used-smartphone marketplace,followed by16% each forApple and Samsung. Continued on Page 16