OPINION, P6 ECONOMY, P2 R GOPALAN Aluminium exports must be brought under the RoDTEP INTERNATIONAL, P8 EDITORIAL ICICI BANK-VIDEOCON CASE AMERICA FIRST Kamath panel's debt rejig template for Covidhit India Inc avoids the subjectivity of the past Deepak Kochhar in ED custody till Sept 19 in money-laundering probe Trump vows to sharply scale back US-China economic ties NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2020 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL. XLVI NO. 164, 26 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: 38,365.35 ▼ 51.88 NIFTY: 11,317.35 ▼ 37.70 NIKKEI 225: 23,274.13 ▲ 184.18 HANG SENG: 24,624.34 ▲ 34.69 `/$: 73.60 ▼ 0.26 `/€: 86.98 ▼ 0.10 BRENT: $40.37 ▼ $1.64 GOLD: `51,148 ▲ `140 INDIA’S ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING agency fined Standard Chartered `100 crore for breaking forex rules, marking one of the country’s biggest penalties imposed on an overseas lender, reports Bloomberg. An eight-year probe found that it violated the Foreign Exchange Management Act when it worked on the takeover ofTamilnad Mercantile Bank in 2007. ALL’s chairman emeritus passes away at 89 ASHOK LEYLAND ON Tuesday announced the passing away of its chairman-emeritus RJ Shahaney after a brief illness, reports fe Bureau in Chennai. He was 89. ANEWEXPERIMENTALCovid19 vaccine originating from the University of Oxford has begunhumantrialsinAustralia in partnership with the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. TheshotwasdevisedbySpyBiotech, a UK company spun outofOxfordin2017byresearchers who worked alongside AdrianHillandSarahGilbertat the university’s Jenner Institute.Theinstitutehasoneofthe mostadvancedCovidshotscurrently in final-stage trials in partnershipwithAstraZeneca. SpyBiotech’s experimental shot, one of several dozen vac- COVID-19 UPDATE 42,80,422 TOTAL CASES 72,775 DEATHS SO FAR 75,809 NEWCASES cinesinhumantrialsaroundthe world,hasbegungoingintovolunteers in a phase I/II trial in Australia run by the Serum Institute,which will eventually enroll several hundred participants, said Sumi Biswas, the company’s CEO and a professor at Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Medicine. Continued on Page 2 India weighing Russian offer for trial and manufacturing of Sputnik Vvaccine INDIA IS CONSIDERING Russia’srequestforconducting phase-3 clinical trial and manufacturing of its Covid19 vaccine Sputnik V by Indianfirms,officialssaidon Tuesday, noting there has been “significant movement” on both these fronts and specific outcomes are Shipments to neighbour rose 23.7% on year in July, while India’s overall exports shrank 10% BANIKINKAR PATTANAYAK New Delhi, September 8 THE INDIA-CHINA BORDER conflict has failed to dent bilateraltradesofar,withNewDelhi havingwitnessedanimpressive 23.7% year-on-year surge in exports to the neighbour to $1.74 billion in July even after the deadly clash at Galwan valleywas on June 15.In contrast, India’s overall merchandise exports declined by 9.9% in 45 30 15 0 -15 -30 -45 -60 Exports to China Total exports 23.7 30.7 -9.9 -30 July 2020 April-July 2020 July, reflecting the damage caused byCovid-19 pandemic. According to the latest data sourced from the directorate general of commercial intelligence, imports from the world’s second-largest economy dropped by only 9.8% yearonyearinJulyto$5.58billion, compared with a much April-July 2020 steeper 29.6% contraction in India’s total goods imports during the month. Similarly, between April and July, India’s shipments to China surged by 30.7% year-on-year, even though its overall exports contracted by as much as 30%. Continued on Page 2 Govt sources say Chinese troops carried rods, spears, clubs in aggressive approach towards Indian post expected soon,reports PTI. Niti Aayog member VK Paul, who also chairs the national expert group on Covid-19 vaccine administration,saidthegovernment attaches “great importance to this offer of partnership from a very special friend to this nation”. ■ Page 3 PRESS TRUST OF INDIA New Delhi, September 8 CHINESETROOPS CARRIED rods, spears, clubs and pole weapons called 'Guandao' in aggressively trying to close in on an Indian position in Mukhpari area of Rezang-La ridgelineineasternLadakhon Mondayevening, the governmentsourcessaidonTuesday. As tension escalated at the LineofActualControl,around 50-60soldiersofChinesePeople’s Liberation Army app- roachedtheIndianpostinthe southernbankofPangonlake area at around 6 PM but the IndianArmypersonnelposted there strongly confronted them,forcing theirretreat. Continued on Page 2 Edtech player raises around $500 m in new funding round led by US-based PE firm Silver Lake ASMITA DEY New Delhi, September 8 BYJU’S HAS RAISED around $500million in a newround of funding led by US-based private equity firm Silver Lake. The investment, which also saw participation from existing investors Tiger Global, General Atlantic and Owl Ventures,values the Edtech player at $10.8 billion. So far, in 2020, Byju’s pickings, over five fund-raises, are about$1billion;inall,investors havenowinfusedcloseto$2billion in the Bengaluru-headquartered companywhose revenues have grown at a compounded 125% over the past three years to approximately$400 million. Experts point out Edtech is growing on the back of changes in the approach to education and the rapid rise in the use of smart phones. It supplements schooleducationandgivenhow children have been confined to homes due to Covid, there has beenasurgeinsubscriptions.Of THE LEARNING CURVE 270m Total no. of K-12 students in India 235m Addressable number of K12 students* 90m Students taking supplementary tuitions** In 5 years Shift to online only High fee structure 2.5m students Either not online or Online users but not inclined to pay Complement online with offline 25m students K-12 EdTech market in 5-7 years = $5bn *Students without Internet and financial access **Current supplementary private spend: $16bn Source: HSBC the three broad categories — K12 supplementary teaching for grades 1-12, test-preparation and higher education — analysts at HSBC reckon K12 offers the most potential. Continued on Page 2 ● FINMIN CLARIFICATION 'We haven't delayed payments of `7 lakh cr’ PUBG says Tencent will no longer publish mobile game in India PUBG CORP, THE unit of a South Korean company behind PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG),will no longer give Tencent Games the rights to publishitspopularmobilegame in India, it said in a blog. The announcement came a week after India banned 118 apps, mostlyofChinese-origin,PUBG among them, to step up pressure on Beijing over a monthslong border standoff between the nuclear-armed rivals. “Moving forward, PUBG Corporationwilltakeonallpublishing responsibilities within thecountry,”thecompanysaid, adding that it was exploring waystoprovidegamingexperiences to Indian users in future. It was not immediately clear if the move would spur Indian authorities to revoke theirban. Tencent confirmed that PUBG would take on the July 2020 (% change, y-o-y, in goods trade) APP BAN REUTERS New Delhi, September 8 Imports from China Total imports -47.9 STEPHANIE BAKER September 8 Valued at $11 bn, Byju’s is a class act Clash fails to dent India-China trade -29.2 StanChart fined $13.6 million for 2007 deal New Oxford vaccine begins early-stage human trials EDTECH FUNDING LAC STAND-OFF -9.8 THE MINISTRY OF corporate affairs has amended the rules related to acceptance of deposits by companies, a move that offers more flexibility to start-ups for raising funds, reports fe Bureau in New Delhi. Start-ups can now raise funds via corporate bonds or other convertible instruments for 10 years. COVID-19 -29.6 IN THE NEWS Start-ups get more freedom to raise funds In response to the news report ‘Forget the stimulus, just clear yourdues’,writtenby Prasanta Sahu which appeared in the edition dated September 8, the finance ministry has responded with the following: GAME PLAN ■ Tencent Games will no longer have rights to publish its popular mobile game in India ■ PUBG will take on all publishing responsibilities within the country 169 arbitration cases involv- ing claims of contractors of `74,227croreasonDec2019 Comments: Out of `74,227 crore,majority of the claims (`52,945 crore) pertain to 4 contractors, who are not participating now in the highways sector. The claims are highlyexag- ■ It's not clear if move would spur India to revoke its ban ■ India banned 118 apps, including PUBG, last week to step up pressure on Beijing BULLET POINTS Chinese soldiers armed with stick-machetes along the LAC in eastern Ladakh on Tuesday. Indian Army said Chinese troops had fired shots in the air SOLAR PUSH Oil PSUs to contribute to global fund FE BUREAU New Delhi, September 8 responsibilities of publishing the mobile game in India. Continued on Page 2 QuickPicks Goldman Sachs: India worst hit, FY21 GDP to contract 14.8% THE INDIAN economy is the worst-hit among major economies, Goldman Sachs said on Tuesday sharply cutting its 2020-21 GDP forecast to a contraction of 14.8%, reports PTI. The brokerage had earlier estimated that the economy of the country, which is now home to the second-largest number of Covid-19 infections, to contract by 11.8%. “India's GDP (gross domestic product) hit from Covid-19, the highest across major economies,” the analysts at the American brokerage said. PAGE 2 SBI-led consortium rejects UBHL’s offer of settlement THE SBI-LED consortium of 14 banks have rejected the settlement offer of `14,518.02 crore given by Vijay Mallya’s firm United Breweries (Holding) (UBHL), saying the proposal is neither “bonafide” nor “genuine” and the liabilities are far in excess of its inflated assets, reports Indu Bhan in New Delhi. In a “malicious” attempt to inflate the valuation, the Mallya company has included the assets (under ED’s attachment) which have been already sold by the banks and duly accounted for, therefore, the calculation is “misleading and exaggerated,” SBI said in its response to the Supreme Court. PAGE 4 FIVE STATE-RUN OIL and natural gas PSUs will become corporate partners of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and will contribute to ISA’s corpus fund, Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Tuesday. It is not immediately clear how much these oil companieswouldcontributeto the ISA fund, but PSUs like NTPC,PGCIL,REC,PFC,CILand PFC had earlier contributed $1 million each to this corpus. Pradhan said the energy PSUs will be focusing more on RISING SUN ■ Five companies to contribute to ISA corpus are ONGC, IOCL, BPCL, HPCL and GAIL (India) ■ NTPC aims to piggyback ISA to expand solar footprint as it increases the share of renewable energy in its generation portfolio ■ By 2032, NTPC plans to have 1,30,000 MW capacity, 30% of which non-thermal energy green energy investments such as renewables, biofuels and hydrogen going forward. Continued on Page 2 PGCIL gets nod for asset monetisation FE BUREAU New Delhi, September 8 THE CABINET COMMITTEE on Economic Affairs has given its nod to PGCIL to monetise transmission linesworth`7,164 crore in the first phase via infrastructure investment trust inFY21,accordingtoagovernment statement. Continued on Page 2 NAFED INITIATIVE New e-kisan mandi model to aid farmers NANDA KASABE Pune, September 8 IF THE ELECTRONIC National Agricultural Market (eNAM) hasn’toverthelastfouryearsof its existence transformed the markets for farm goods and aided the farmers to reach the right buyers in a big way, the blame should be assigned to lackoflogisticsupportintransporting the commodities from onestatetoanother.eNAMhas beenreliantontheAPMCmandis for physical infrastructure. Trailblazer Nafed aims to set up 100- odd e-kisan mandis over 6-9 months Now that inter-state sales are easier and more legitimate under a new central law (Ordinance),multi-statecooperative Nafed has developed a new modelofe-kisanmandis,where ■ FPCs or other farmer groups will run the facility on Nafedowned lands; cooperative to also build storage infra ■ Each mandi to have a turnover of `100-150 cr a year ■ FPCs will charge 1-1.5% of the trade turnover as service charge this lacuna is sought to be addressed.The country’s first e-kisan mandi became operational in Pune last week. Continued on Page 2 New Delhi gerated. A majority of claims are usually settled at 20-25% of claimed amounts.NHAI has launched a drive of conciliations through Conciliation Committees of Independent Experts (CCIEs). Continued on Page 2