OPINION, P6 MARKETS, P10 MUKESH BUTANI & SHREYASH SHAH Taxpayer’s Charter will help develop taxpayer-taxman trust INTERNATIONAL, P8 EDITORIAL AUG MPC MINUTES ACCEPTANCE SPEECH Allowing T Rowe Price to buy 51% of UTI’s trustee firm lets the AMC be professionally run Technical considerations have shackled monetary policy: RBI DG Patra Kamala Harris says Trump costs American 'lives and livelihoods' NEW DELHI, FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 2020 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL. XLVI NO. 148, 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: 38220.39 ▼ 394.40 NIFTY: 11312.20 ▼ 96.20 NIKKEI 225: 22880.62 ▼ 229.99 HANG SENG: 24791.39 ▼ 387.52 `/$: 75.03 ▼ 0.21 `/€: 88.65 ▲ 0.65 BRENT: $44.97 ▼ 0.40 GOLD: `52352.00 ▼ `833.00 PRIVATISATION IN THE NEWS EPFO records 6.55L net new enrolments in June At least 6,including Lufthansa & Etihad, in race forAir India NET NEW enrolments with retirement fund body EPFO rose to 6.55 lakh in June from 1.72 lakh during May 2020, according to its latest payroll data, providing a perspective on employment in the formal sector amid the Covid-19 crisis, reports PTI. Plan to trim AI’s 9,400+ staff ASAP; this was seen as one of the deal-breakers the last time around IRCTC: Govt plans further stake sale PRASANTA SAHU New Delhi, August 20 THE GOVERNMENT is planning to sell part of its stake in Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp (IRCTC) in the current fiscal, and has invited bids from merchant bankers for managing the sale process, reports PTI. AT LEAST HALF a dozen entities including Hinduja Group, Germany’s Lufthansa, the UAE’s Etihad Airways, Singapore Airlines and the Tata Group may throw their hats in the ring, as the government has expedited the process to sell sick, state-owned airline Air India (AI), sources privy to matter said. Several steps are being takentolurethebuyersincluding putting in a place a plan to trim the airline’s 9,400-strong workforce expeditiously. Logistic issues due to travel restrictions imposed in the wake of Covid-18 have forced theDepartmentofInvestment and PublicAsset Management (DIPAM) to extend the expression of interest (EoI) submissiondeadlinemultipletimes.A callwould taken nextweek if it RBL Bank gets board nod to raise `1,566 cr THE BOARD of RBL Bank on Thursday cleared raising `1,566 crore through preference share sale, reports fe Bureau in Mumbai. The bank will allot 8.84 crore shares at a price of `177 a piece to six investors, including Baring Private Equity and ICICI Prudential. The funds will be used for creating a war chest. CONTEMPT SC gives Bhushan time to reconsider statement PRESS TRUST OF INDIA New Delhi, August 20 THE SUPREME COURT on Thursday granted two days to activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who has been held guilty of contempt, to reconsider his ‘defiant statement’ refusing to apologise for his contemptuous tweets against the judiciary. Bhushan told a bench headed byJusticeArun Mishra that he would consult his lawyers and think over the apex court’s suggestion.Attorney-general KK Venugopal urged the bench,also comprising Justices BR Gavai and Krishna Murari, not to award anypunishmenttoBhushanin 9,426 36% Permanent employees of AI as on November 1, 2019 of these people to retire by FY24 in normal course Strategic buyer won't retrench employees for a year; AI Board authorised CMD recently to send an unspecified number of employees on leave without pay for up to 5 years `85,000 crore Debt and liabilities ofAI as on March 31, 2019 Of which `52,000 cr Debt to be taken over by the government —PRASHANT BHUSHAN the contempt case saying he has already been convicted. Continued on Page 2 Special Features ‘Ad film budgets are shrinking by 20-30%’ Ram Madhvani, founder and director, Equinox Films, on what ad filmmaking in these times entails, safety protocols on set, and dwindling ad budgets ■ BrandWagon, P9 QuickPicks CV makers stare at `6,000-cr net loss in FY21 as sales crash THE COUNTRY’S commercial vehicle (CV) makers are in for big trouble, as a 30% decline in sales volume on an already weak base would lead to a nearly six-fold increase in net loss to `6,000 crore for this fiscal, reports fe Bureau in Chennai. A note by Crisil Ratings has painted a grim picture of the main pillar of the vehicle industry. PAGE 4 Railways plans 4 more dedicated freight corridors by 2030 TO CREATE robust infrastructure for the country's rail freight, the railways is planning four more dedicated freight corridors of a combined length of 4,000 km, at a cost of `1.8 lakh crore, reports fe Bureau in New Delhi. A detailed feasibility study is being undertaken and the report is expected to be prepared by December 2021. PAGE 2 Nearly 30% of capital infected: Sero survey This is higher than what daily testing data shows, making it clear conventional testing results don’t reveal true picture ISHAAN GERA New Delhi, August 20 ALITTLEOVER29%ofthecapital’s population — or 60 lakh persons—hasbeen,atonepoint or another, been infected with Covid-19,accordingtothelatest serosurvey.Thisisanincreaseof about 25% since the last one conducted in July indicated an infection level of 23.5%. Interestingly,theCaseInfection Rate (CIR) revealed by the dailytestingdatasuggestsinfection levels in the capital were a 33,000 cr Testing anomaly 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Sero survey (infection levels, %) Case infection rate, got from daily tests* 51.5 29.1 20.4 12.5 Delhi (Aug 7) Pune (Aug 5) 33.0 23.4 17.7 15.1 Mumbai Ahmedabad (July 19) (July 11) COVID-19 UPDATE 2898813 TOTAL CASES 54895 DEATHS SO FAR 69081 NEWCASES muchlower12.5%—1,42,723 persons were infected out of 11,43,703 tests done — at the timethesurveywasdone.While *Case infection rate (total cases upon total tests) as on the last day of sero survey the sero survey shows Delhi’s infection levels have risen since last month,the CIR shows a fall ininfectionlevels.Today’sCIRin Delhiis11.5%.Whatthismeans isthatDelhi’stestingstrategyisn’t very effective; this is,of course,worsenedbyextensiveuseof the Rapid Antigen Test — 62% of tests today are RAT ones — thatcapturelessinfectionsthan the standard RT-PCRtests do. Continued on Page 2 One in four Indians could have been infected: Thyrocare head needs to be extended further from August 31, the sources added. Continued on Page 2 Russia’s Sputnik Vvaccine to be tested on 40,000 people AT LEAST ONE in four people in India may have been infected with the coronavirus, a much higher number than official governmentfiguressuggest,theheadofprivatelaboratory Thyrocare Dr. A Velumani says, reports Reuters. ■ Page 14 Debt backed by assets to be taken over by the potential buyer MASS TESTING OF Russia’s first potential Covid-19 vaccine to get domestic regulatory approval will involve over 40,000 people, the TASS news agency cited the vaccine’s developer as saying on Thursday, reports Reuters. ■ Full report: Page 8 AGR DUES SC to examine if IBC applies to natural resources The apex court will redefine powers of IRP, NCLT and NCLAT in such matters FE BUREAU New Delhi, August 20 THE SUPREME COURT on Thursday indicated that it will be examining the jurisdiction and applicability of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) where natural resources are concerned. Continuing its hearing in the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) case,a bench led byJusticeArunMishraobserved that it will examine whether insolvency resolution professional (IRP),National Company Law Tribunal, and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) have the right to dealwithnatural resources. The issue has come up becauseinsolventtelecomoperatorslikeRelianceCommunications and Aircel have put up their spectrum for sale in the insolvencyprocess.Spectrumis not owned by the companies butgiventothemonleasebythe FUND-RAISING DREAM11 MAYBE in the business of fantasy sports, but there’s nothing imaginary about this unicorn’s valuations. The fantasy gaming platform, which has bagged the sponsorship rights for the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for `222 crore, is likely to announce a fresh round of funding of $235 million. ChrysCapital, TPG, Tiger Global and Footpath Ventures are among the marquee investors expected to participate in the fund-raise valuing the company at $2.5 billion, more than twice the valuation it commanded a year ago. The bulk of the transaction, of $200 million, will comprise the sale of shares in the secondary market ensuring the promoter’s stake will not be diluted significantly. The remaining $35 million will be a primary issuance and the money will be used to fund the IPL sponsorship. FE has learned that following the fund-raise, Chinese giant Tencent’s stake in Dream11 will fall from 10.9% to below 9.9%. ChrysCapital manages $4 billion of assets while Footpath Ventures is a New York registered investment fund. Founded by Bhavit Sheth and Harsh Jain, son of Anand Jain, chairman of Jai Corp, Dream 11 reported revenues of Rs 800 crore in 2018-19,up sharplyfrom the `230 crore in 2017-18. Continued on Page 2 What should be the powers of IRP, NCLTand NCLATin such cases Since natural resources belong to govt, can its dues be seen as operational If natural resources cannot be sold under IBC then will banks lend to companies which have them as security How do companies having natural resources as key raw material then raise funds government in lieu of payment of usage charges.If the firms go bankrupt and their spectrum is sold through the IBC,banks get first priority over the proceeds rather than government which ownsthespectrumandleasesit as it is an operational creditor. Continued on Page 2 CHIRAG MADIA Mumbai, August 20 He added,“If we have a successfuloutcomeitisgood,butif wedonothaveasuccessfuloutcome then we are also thinking throughouralternativeoptions. The intent is to find a solution which is lasting.” Tata Sons is reported to be seeking £900 million from the UK government’sProjectBirchfund,which was set up to provide state support for strategically important businesses hit byCovid-19. THE VALUE OF insurance claims from patients infected with novel coronavirus,across India, has hit `2,040 crore, with the number of claims having risen to1.29 lakh.As on August 19, insurers have settled over 81,000 claims amounting to `780 crore. Executives in insurance firms told FE, claims from semi-urban and rural areas in Maharashtra have been on the rise. Data from the General Insurance council shows insurers have received over 54,000 claims from Maharashtra amounting to `700 crore; Tamil Nadu and Delhi have reported around 15,500 and 11,200 claims, respectively. “In Maharashtra we have seen claims from places like Nashik and Solapur in the past few days. Earlier we were seeing claims from urban areas likeMumbai,ThaneandPune,” a senior officer from a leading insurance companysaid.As on August 19, Mumbai has seen 17,300 claims while those fromNashikandSolapurnumbered 1,281 and 1,170 respectively. Continued on Page 2 Continued on Page 2 IN REMEMBRANCE Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray pays tribute to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his birth anniversary on Thursday TATA STEEL Discussions with UK govt to revive operations on, says Chandrasekaran TATA STEEL CONTINUES to be in discussionswith the UK governmentforitsoperationsinthe countryandishopefulofasolution this financialyear,N Chandrasekaran, chairman, Tata Steel, said on Thursday. Speaking at the company’s 113th annual general meeting,Chandrasekaran said,“Tata Steel UK is not profitable and continues tobeadrag,soweareintalkswi- N Chandrasekaran, chairman, Tata Steel ththeUKgovernment.Thetalks are not over yet and that is all that I can tellyou at this point,”. ● MSME LOANS GMAIL You’ve (not) got mail! We’ll fix it soon PRESS TRUST OF INDIA New Delhi, August 20 GOOGLE ON THURSDAY said its Gmail service has been restored forsome users and the outage issuewill be resolved for all affected users “in the near future”,hours after the popular emailing service faced a global disruptionsince this morning. Some users faced issues like inability to log in, add attachments and receive messages, but the company is yet to specify a reason for the outage. On If natural resources are at stake can a call be taken under IBC as it is in other cases Corona insurance claims cross `2,000 cr FE BUREAU Mumbai, August 20 Dream11 founder Harsh Jain, FE’s Newsmaker of the Year for the 2019 IT Awards WHAT NEEDS RE-EXAMINATION: ● 1.3 LAKH CLAIMS Dream11 off to a dream jump in valuation FE BUREAU Mumbai, August 20 Statement I made was well thought out. It is unlikely that there will be any substantial change in my statement” COVID-19 was investigating reports of an issue with Gmail ■ Some users faced issues like ■ On Thursday morning, G inability to log in and add attachments Suite status dashboard — which provides performance information on various Google services — said the company ■ Google said the outage issue will be resolved for all affected users 'in the near future' Thursday morning,G Suite statusdashboard—whichprovides performance information on various Google services — said the companywas investigating reports of an issue with Gmail. In its latest update at 1510 hours,thecompanysaid:“Gmail service has already been restored for some users,and we expect a resolution for all users in the near future. Please note this time frame is an estimate and maychange”. The company has provided multiple updates on the matter inthepastfewhoursstatingitis investigating the issue and that thereisdisruptioninsendingemails,Meet recording,creating filesinDrive,postingmessagein Google Chat,among others. Continued on Page 2 Disbursements exceed `1 lakh crore: Finmin FE BUREAU New Delhi, August 20 BANKS’ LOAN DISBURSEMENT to mostlyMSMEs under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) exceeded`1lakhcroresinceits roll-out on June 1,while sanctioned credit stood at over`1.5 lakhcrore,thefinanceministry said on Thursday, highlighting the success of the programme. Continued on Page 2 New Delhi Helping hand State-run banks have sanctioned loans of `76,044 cr to mostly MSMEs, `56,483 cr disbursed Private banks have released `45,762 cr, of sanctioned loans of`74,715 cr 1.22 cr Kisan Credit Cards sanctioned,with credit limit of`1,02,065 crore