OPINION, P2 MIND & GAMES Some are getting engaged. Others felt like they were living inside a pressure cooker Page 10 Slow death of liberal democracy FE LINES Is it okay to give negative reviews when the travel sector is trying to recover from its worst slump? Page 6 WHAT HAPPENED TO THOSE COUPLES WHO QUARANTINED TOGETHER? ACROSS THE AISLE , P CHIDAMBARAM The cost of a review SPOTLIGHT Follow us on Twitter & Facebook. App available on App Store & Play Store WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM VOL .XX NO. 1 IT'S (NOT)THE SAME OLD STORY FINANCIAL EXPRESS ON SUNDAY NEW DELHI SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2020, 20 Pages, `10 (Patna `11, Raipur `10) F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , B E N G A L U R U , WHAT'S INSIDE The private life With onboard social distancing and reduced touch points, private flying is proving invaluable for an increasing number of fliers today ■ WORDS WORTH, P4 Inspite of spite Excerpts from Spite by Simon McCarthy-Jones reveal the upside of our dark side C H E N N A I , READ TO LEAD H Y D E R A B A D , K O C H I , K O L K A T A , L U C K N O W , WEB MONITOR Govt mulling proposal for OTT self-censorship ● To regulate offensive content on such platforms, for which no provision currently exists ■ LEISURE, P5 GREY SCREEN ■ There's no law that lays down any kind of programming code for OTT players ■ Even films that get released on OTTs do not need a certification by CBFC RISHI RAJ New Delhi, October 31 A MOVE IS afoot in the govern- menttonudgetheover-the-top (OTT) players like Netflix and Prime to bring about a self-regulation code to check violence, pornography, explicit sexual scenes, etc, being depicted in webseriesorevenfilmsthatget released on this medium. Thisisbeingseenasessential inrecenttimes,withseveralweb ■ The existing IT acts have provisions for taking action against an OTT player for showing sexually explicit content or pornography ■ There's some talk that the content part of OTTs may be transferred to I&B ministry from Meity series released, and since the lockdown even films, on these platforms.There's a greyarea as far as OTTs are concerned and there's no act in the statute whereby the government lays down either a programming code,asinthecaseofTV,orhasa body like the Censor Board to accordpriorapprovaltomovies. For instance, films that get released in theatres need to have a certification from the Central Board of Film Certification under the Cinematograph Act, 1952. Similarly, TV content are governed under the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act, 1995, which lays down a programming code byway of dos and don’ts. These acts come under the purviewoftheinformationand broadcasting ministry. However, when it comes to OTTs there's no law that lays down anykind of programming code for them. Interestingly, even films that get released on OTTs do not need a certification by CBFC. Just to give an example, movies like Shakuntala Devi or Gunjan Saxena Kargil Girl, which got released on OTTs when theatres were closed, did notrequireaCBFCcertification. Continued on Page 11 AUTO SALES Passenger vehicles outrace two-wheelers ROHNIT PHORE ● A section of two-wheeler buyers may have shifted to entry-level cars Growth in sales (%, y-o-y) 40 Two-wheelers Passenger vehicle 20 3 0 -20 -40 -49.59 ODD & EVEN C H A N D I G A R H , -38.56 P U B L I S H E D Childhoods are up for an inclusive revolution, one classic at a time Page 7 June 2020 -15.24 14.16 11.64 26.45 -3.86 July 2020 VIKRAM CHAUDHARY New Delhi, October 31 -60 WHILESALESOF passengervehiclesseemtohaverevivedduring August and September on the back of pent-up demand as a resultofthelockdown,thesame level of revival is not seen in the sale of two-wheelers.According to dealers,during the nine-day Navaratri festival PV sales were brisk, but sale of two-wheelers were tepid and the industry is estimating that on a y-o-y basis Aug 2020 Sept 2020 Source: SIAM thefallisindouble-digit. Analysts tracking the auto sector feel this trend could be becausethetwo-wheelersector has not seen launches of new models orvariants,which gen- Raj govt introduces 3 bills to negate impact of farm laws THE RAJASTHAN government on Saturday introduced three bills in the assembly to negate the impact of the farm laws enacted by the Centre recently, reports PTI. The move comes after the Punjab assembly earlier this month adopted a resolution against the farm laws and unanimously passed four bills to counter the Centre’s contentious legislations. PAGE 3 Sean Connery dies aged 90 LEGENDARY SCOTTISH star Sean Connery, who became a global sensation as the first James Bond and featured in a string of cult hits in his five-decade-long career, has died, reports PTI. He was 90. According to BBC, the actor passed away overnight in his sleep while in the Bahamas. He had been unwell for quite some time. In the career spanning half a century, the actor featured in many critically-acclaimed and commercial blockbusters such as The Hunt for Red October, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Murder on the Orient Express and The Rock. Mangaluru airport handed to Adani group D E L H I , P U N E Q2 PERFORMANCE ICICI Bank profit up 549% y-o-y on higher income FE BUREAU Mumbai, October 31 PRIVATE-SECTOR LENDER ICICI Bank on Saturday reported a 549%year-on-year (y-o-y) jump in standalone net profit to `4,251 crore in the Septemberquarterof FY21 on the back of a 16% y-o-y rise in net interest income (NII). In the corresponding quarter of FY20, the bank had seen its profit figure slide because of a tax-related adjustment. The bank’s NII — the difference between interest earned and interest expended— stood at `9,366 crore in Q2.The net interest margin (NIM) — a key measure of profitability — stood at 3.57%,down 12 basis points (bps) from 3.69% in the previous quarter. The bank’s management attributed the shrinkage in margin to surplus liquidity and said they would rather focus on getting good customers than specificallyon margins.“It will be a function of how the credit growth pans out.We are reallynot targeting a credit growth. If growth comes and it meets our expectations, automatically the carry that we have on excess liquiditywill come down,”they said. ICICI’s total advances increased 6% y-o-y to `6.53 lakh crore from `6.13 lakh crore a year ago.The retail loan portfolio grew 13% y-o-y and constituted 65.8% of the total loan portfolio as on September 30, 2020. Total deposits increased 20% y-o-y to `8.33 lakh crore and the bank’s average current account savings account (CASA) ratio stood at 40.3%, down from 42.2%ayearago.Termdeposits increased 26% to `4.68 lakh crore. Provisions rose 19.5%y-oy to `2,995 crore. This includes provisions of `497 crore made on a prudent basis on loans aggregating `1,410 crore that were not classified as non-performing pursuant to a Supreme Court order. Continued on Page 11 REPORT CARD (` crore) Q2FY20 Q2FY21 Change ( %) Total income Net interest income Other income Net interest margin (%) Provisions Net profit Gross NPA (%) Net NPA (%) 22,760 8,057 4,194 3.64 2,507.0 655.0 6.37 1.6 23,651 9,366 4,028 3.57 2,995 4,251 5.17 1 3.9 16.2 -4.0 7 bps 19.5 549.0 120 bps 60 bps Source: BSE Continued on Page 11 Get festive with grocery too as heavy discounts on offer THE AIRPORTS AUTHORITY of India (AAI) on Friday midnight handedovertheMangaluruairport to theAdani group on lease for a period of 50 years,according to an official statement.The centralgovernmentinFebruary 2019hadprivatisedsixairports —Lucknow,Ahmedabad,Jaipur, Mangaluru,Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati. “In accordance to concession agreement executed on February14,2020, AAI handed over handling of Mangaluru @aaimlrairport to @AdaniOnline on lease for 50 yrs. Exchange of symbolic key held at midnight 00:00 hrs on October 30,2020,” the AAI said onTwitteronSaturday. —PTI N E W E-COMMERCE SALES 50-YEAR LEASE QuickPicks erallyspursconsumerinterest. A section of consumers may have graduated to smaller cars like Maruti Suzuki's Alto, sales of which have witnessed good growth. This section may also have moved to buy used cars. As per the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam)data,duringJuly-Septemberwhile PVsales grew 17.02% (7,26,232 units over 6,20,620 units in Q2FY20),those of twowheelersremainedalmostflatat 0.17% (46,90,565 units over 46,82,571 units),despite pentupdemandinboththesegments beingmoreorlesssimilar. M U M B A I , DEVIKA SINGH New Delhi, October 31 E-grocery market in India Others BigBasket E-COMMERCE FESTIVE sales PM Modi at Statue of Unity in Kevadiya on Saturday ANI Pulwama accepted in Pak: PM PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA Modi on Saturdaysaid the truth of last year's Pulwama terror attack,inwhich40CRPFpersonnelwerekilled,hasbeenaccepted inPakistanparliament.Hisstatement comes two days after Pakistan's science and technology minister Fawad Chaudhry admittedhiscountry'sroleinthe Pulwama attack. Speaking in Kevadiya on the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel, Modi said when the entire nation was mourning the brave soldiers' death in Pulwama attack,some peopleindulgedin“dirtypolitics” fortheirpoliticalgains. —PTI are no longer limited to the usual categories like fashion and smartphones this year; with online grocers, too, holding several sales events for daily essentials, all eyes are on whether the segment can finally clock in significant numbers. BigBasket is offering a minimum of 33% off in over 2,000 products on its platform, while Grofers has discounts up to 82% on grocery and staples,and up to 67% on 30 15 Market share (%) 20 Grofers Amazon In 2020 $3 bn (estimated) 35 Share in overall e-commerce market 5-6% Average order value `1,400-1,600 household items. Amazon offered as much as 70% discounts on groceries as it kicked off its annual festive sales event last month. The scale of these sales events is set to accelerate in the week leading up to Diwali. As per Forrester Research, grocerywill have a 5-6% share in this year’s overall festive period sales,estimated to be at $6.5 billion. Last year, as per the research firm,the category had contributed only 2-2.5% of the overall $4.8 billion in festive sales. Continued on Page 11 Reason to celebrate: With gifts galore, it’s home sweet home for buyers ●Flexible payment, maintenance waivers, penalty for late possession making homes cheaper RISHI RANJAN KALA New Delhi, October 31 HIT HARD BY THE pandemic, realestatedevelopersarelining up attractive offers like flexible paymentplans,assuredpenalty in case of delayed possession and maintenance waivers for overtwoyearstopushsalesduring the festival season. Another reason behind the promotions is a gradual uptick in demand.Apre-festive channel check report by Emkay Global Financial Services sug- gests residential sales recovering by50% of pre-Covidlevels, primarily driven by record low financing rates, upfront discountandreliefonstampduty. Besides, city-centric sales are driven largely by younger customers (32-38 years), an aspirational buyer class. Sensing some pent-up demand, Migsun Group launched ‘possession proof homes’ where it is offering an assured1%penaltyeverymonth in case of delay in possession. Homebuyers have to pay 10% BUILDING HOPE ■ Developers are giving offers to lower overall cost by 10-15% ■ Migsun Group offers an assured 1% penalty every month in case of delay in possession ■ Gaur Group offers include 10% down payment within 30 days, 40% within one year, and remaining 50% at delivery on its projects in Ghaziabad and Greater Noida West later, waiver of 25 months’ maintenance fee, 25% off on stamp duty and compensation of 25% in case of delay in project ■ Mahagun Group is offering discounts like 25 gram gold, pay 25% now and rest ■ In Bengaluru, builders are offering a discount of `100 per sq ft on basic cost initiallyand90%onpossession. It is applicable on projects in GhaziabadandGreaterNoida. Another developer, Gaur Group is offering a payment planwith 10% down payment within 30 days, 40% within one year, and remaining 50% at delivery on its projects in Ghaziabad and Greater Noida West. It is also offering gifts like laptop, washing machine, microwave and refrigerator. Mahagun Group is offering multitude discounts like 25 gram gold, pay 25% now and rest later,waiver of 25 months’ maintenance fee, 25% off on stamp duty and compensation of25%incaseofdelayinproject. Offers are valid on projects in Noida,GrNoidaandGhaziabad. Analysts said developers are giving offers to lowerover- all cost by10-15%.“Theyoffer 5-8% discount as soon as you come, then many offer to pay registration charges, waive maintenance costs, cover EMIs, etc,” a senior executive with a developer said. Anarock Property Consul- tants chairman,Anuj Puri said assuminga1,000sqftproperty in Bengaluru costs `80 lakh, including basic cost, parking, stamp duty and registration charges, plus an additional `5 lakhforwoodwork,theeffective total cost is `85 lakh. Builders are offering a discount of `100 per sq ft on basic cost (`1 lakh), waives car parking charges (`2 lakh),waives stamp duty& registrationcharges(around7%in Karnataka) and no EMI till possession (hypothetically three years), and modular kitchen (about `2 lakh). Here the buyer gets an instant discount of `5 lakh on basic cost, car park and kitchen.The benefit of waived stamp duty and registration is around `5.6 lakh. Cumulatively, the buyer’s cost is New Delhi reduced by around 10.6 lakh onapropertycosting`85lakh, roughly a 12.35% discount. Consultancies and listing sites, too, are coming out with attractive offers. For instance, Housing.com launched the ‘mega home utsav’, running fromOctober7-November14.It expectstoreachover25million buyersthroughtheevent,which would see participation from over100builders.Theportalhas also collaborated with over 1,000 channel partners along with banking partners. Bullmen Realty India introduced Bullmen Shield, under whichdevelopersareregistering theirproperties,whichwillthen be verified.It is assuring buyers double their stuck amount in caseofnon-deliverybydeveloperslistedwithitsprogramme.