OPINION, P6 ECONOMY, P2 PRITHVI HALDEA Make CFO a top KMP to improve corp governance INTERNATIONAL, P8 EDITORIAL PRASAD-SPEAK INTO ‘HANDS OF GOD’ ‘Mediation for real-time tax dispute resolution' won't work if relief is questioned later, need new laws for this ‘Legal education needs to be in sync with technological changes’ Football legend Maradona dies of heart attack at 60 MUMBAI, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2020 VOL. LX NO. 277, 18 PAGES, `7.00 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD 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: 43,828.10 ▼ 694.92 NIFTY: 12,858.40 ▼ 196.75 NIKKEI 225: 26,296.86 ▲ 131.27 HANG SENG: 26,669.75 ▲ 81.55 `/$: 73.91 ▲ 0.09 `/€: 87.97 ▼ 0.03 BRENT: $48.21 ▲ $0.35 GOLD: `48,988 ▲ `30 IN THE NEWS FPI buying in 2020 nugding $15 billion FPIS HAVE bought equities worth a record $8 billion in November so far, encouraged by improving macroeconomic data and good corporate results for the September quarter, reports fe Bureau in Mumbai. With this, the total investment in 2020 so far is nudging $15 billion. Half of country’s workforce on strike today AROUND HALF of the country’s workforce from both public and private sectors is likely to take part in the day-long general strike on Thursday, organised by 10 CTUs, against the Centre’s “anti-people, antiworker, anti-national & destructive” policies, reports fe Bureau in New Delhi. Fake firms to avail `50-cr ITC: Mastermind held GST OFFICIALS in Vadodara have arrested an alleged mastermind who is charged with creating 115 fake firms to avail ITC worth `50.24 crore fraudulently by issuing fake invoices, sources said on Wednesday, reports PTI. STOCK-BUILDING China resorts to huge agri imports The purchases have contributed little to India’s exports China's buying spree (% rise, y-o-y, in import volume, Mar-Oct 2020) Wheat BANIKINKAR PATTANAYAK New Delhi, November 25 Pork BEATING THE COVID-19 blues, China has been importing farm products at a brisk pace this year in an apparent bidtotakeadvantage ofrelativelystableglobalprices and replenish its depleting food inventory. While China’s purchases are expected to continue unabated in the coming months, this massive import drive hasn’t quite benefited India. Between March and October, China’s imports of wheat shot up by almost 232% year on year to six million tonne, while those of pork jumped by 135% to three million tonne. Corn imports climbed by 102% to 6.9 million tonne, sugar by 23% to 3.3 million tonne and soyabean 18% to 69.7 million tonne, according to Bloomberg data. China had imposed several curbs on trade in January and February this year in the wake oftheCovid-19outbreakthere. Though locusts and erratic weather have hit China’s pro- Corn 232 135 102 Sugar 23 Soyabean 18 Total farm imports (In $ bn) 97.8 Mar-Oct 2019 113.7 Mar-Oct 2020 Curbs on trade were in place in Jan, Feb 2020 due to Covid-19 ductionofsomecrops,theoutput levels haven’t faltered much.In fact,while the output of wheat, rice, and corn has held steady,thatofoilseedshas dropped marginally. But this voracious appetite for agricultural products hasn’t quite contributed to India’s exports. Continued on Page 2 GOVT GO-AHEAD AMAZON DISPUTE LVB-DBS merger gets NSE warned Future over non-disclosure nod, effective Nov 27 All branches ofLVBwill function as branches ofDBS Bank India RBI says moratorium to be lifted after merger takes effect on Nov 27 DBS Bank to infuse `2.5k cr, LVB’s paid-up capital to be written off FE BUREAU New Delhi, November 25 AFTERTHECABINETapproved the amalgamation of Lakshmi VilasBank(LVB)withtheIndian armofSingapore’sDBSBankon Wednesday,theReserveBankof India(RBI)saidthemoratorium onthecrisis-riddenprivate-sector lender will be lifted as the merger takes effect on November 27,much before the scheduled date of December17. Consequently, the restriction on cash withdrawals by a depositor beyond `25,000 will also be lifted on Friday. LVB brancheswilloperateasthoseof DBS Bank India (DBIL) once the moratoriumends.Aspartofthe amalgamation,DBILwillinfuse fresh capital of `2,500 crore into LVB. ThebeleagueredLVB’spaidupsharecapitalwillbewritten- TO CATALYSE debt funding of infrastructure projects,theCabinetonWednesdayapproved a proposal to infuse `6,000 crore in the debt platform of the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) over two years, reports fe Bureau in NewDelhi. The capital infusion is expected to enable QuickPicks ADANI PROPERTIES, PIRAMAL Enterprises and Oaktree Capital now plan to bid for all the assets of Dewan Housing Finance (DHFL),FEhas learned from sources close to the development. These suitors have independently conveyed their decision to lenders after the CoC (committee of creditors) onTuesdaydecided to call for fresh bids. Duringthesecondroundof bidding on November 9, Oaktree Capital had submitted a bid of `31,000 crore for all assets while the three others, includingAdaniProperties,had expressed their intention to acquire parts of the business. Oct 19 Nov 9 ■ Oaktree bids for all assets, Piramal for retail assets ■ SC Lowy & Adani Properties bid for wholesale book ■ Four bidders revise bids in second round Nov 13 Nov 17 Nov 24 ■ Adani offers `31,250 cr forwhole company ■ Piramal, Oaktree, SC Lowy opposeAdani's last-minute bid; lenders decide not to open third round due to NCLT's stay order ■ Lenders resolve to call for fresh round Continued on Page 2 Restricted movement of vehicles continues to ● GST COMPENSATION hit CV loan collections Bengal, Kerala too pick AMID A spurt in coronavirus cases in some regions, the Centre on Wednesday said states and UTs can impose local restrictions like night curfew to check the spread of Covid-19 but made it clear they will have to consult it before imposing any lockdown outside the containment zones, reports PTI. While issuing guidelines for ‘Surveillance, Containment and Caution’ for December, the MHA also said the listing of contacts shall be carried out in respect of all persons found positive, along with their tracking, identification, quarantine and follow up for 14 days and 80% of contacts should be traced within 72 hours. PAGE 3 MOST MAJOR banks and NBFCs have reported collection efficiencies of over 90% for the September quarter, reports Shritama Bose in Mumbai. However, the commercial vehicle (CV) books of financiers continue to lag behind their overall collection numbers as the movement of some categories of vehicles remains restricted. Even the pick-up in collections seen so far could fail to sustain beyond the short-term, analysts said, as they could have come on the back of pentup demand and liquidity accumulated during the moratorium. PAGE 10 option mooted by Centre FE BUREAU New Delhi, November 25 THESTATEGOVERNMENTSof West Bengal and Kerala,which have been at loggerheads with theCentreoverhowtocompensatethestatesfortheirGSTrevenueshortfallinFY21,giventhe paucity of the designated cess funds, also have accepted Option-1mootedbythelatterto meet the shortfall. With this, 25 states and all threeUTswithlegislature,Delhi, J&KandPuducherry,havecome to accept the Option 1. Under the mechanism, the Centre envisages to borrow a totalof`1.1lakhcroreviaaspecialRBIwindowandtransferthe funds to states as back-to-back loanssansanyconsequentfiscal impact on states. Continued on Page 2 ‘AMERICA IS BACK’ Biden pushes past Trump era with nominees Dell Latitude 9510: This PC makes your work-life easier Dell Latitude 9510, though expensive at `1.49 lakhplus, is a nice-looking 15inch business laptop that comes with over 30 hours of battery life & new features that boost productivity ■ Gadgets, P9 ASSOCIATED PRESS Wilmington, November 25 DECLARING “AMERICA IS back”,President-elect Joe Biden introducedhisnationalsecurity team,hisfirstsubstantiveoffering of how he’ll shift from Trump-era“AmericaFirst”policies by relying on experts from the Democratic establishment to be some of his most important advisers.“Together, these public servants will restore Americaglobally,itsgloballead- (L-R) Antony Blinken (secretary of state),Alejandro Mayorkas (homeland security secretary), LindaThomas-Greenfield (US ambassador to UN), & John Kerry (special envoy on climate change) ershipanditsmoralleadership,” Biden said on Tuesday from a theaterinhislongtimehomeof Wilmington, Delaware. “It’s a team that reflects the fact that America is back, ready to lead theworld,not retreat from it.” The nominees are all Washington veterans with ties to the Obamaadministration,asignof THE NATIONAL STOCK Exchange (NSE) privately warned FutureRetailitriskedregulatory action for not making timely marketdisclosuresaboutefforts by Amazon.com to block a disputed asset sale,according to emails reviewed byReuters. Future Retail — one of the country’s top retailers — has been locked in a bitter dispute withAmazon overits $3.4-billion retail assets deal with Reliance Industries.Amazon is a business partner of Future and argues the Indian firm’s Raising questions ■ On Oct 27, NSE asked Future why it hadn't disclosed start of arbitration proceedings and not shared impact of order ■ In response, Future said it believed a disclosure wasn't required, an argument NSE rejected ■ NSE demanded series of disclosures within hours, warning of action if Future failed to do so asset sale breached some of theirpre-existing agreements. Continued on Page 2 Unacademy raises fresh funds at valuation of $2 billion UNACADEMY ON Wednesday said it has raised fresh funds from new investors Tiger Global Management and Dragoneer Investment Groupatavaluationof$2bil- lion, reports fe Bureau in New Delhi. Persons familiar with the transaction said the ed-tech firm has raised between $75 million and $100 million. ■ Page 4 ● AMARAVATI MHA allows night curfew; prior consultation with Centre must for lockdown Special Feature Continued on Page 2 thetwoNIIF-sponsoredincorporatedentities to raise `1 lakh crore in debt over five years. NIIFwill also try to rope in equity investors — domestic and global pension,insurance and sovereignwealthfunds—inthedebtplatform, whichcouldfurtheritsleveragingability. ■ Full report on Page 2 Piramal, Oaktree, Adani may bid for entire book Protesting farmers clash with police as they try to break barricades on GT Road near Ambala border on Wednesday EXPRESS PHOTO: AAGGARWAL off and the shares and debentures of the bankwill stand delisted upon the merger. Meanwhile, the number of DBILbranches in India is set to leap to about 600 from just about 33 now, as a result of the merger. Centre okays `6,000-crore infusion into NIIF ANKUR MISHRA Mumbai, November 25 Repeatedly told the company to submit details of arbitration order on RIL deal ADITYA KALRA & ABHIRUP ROY New Delhi/Mumbai, November 25 DHFL ASSETS UP IN ARMS Depositors can operate their accounts as customers of DBS Bank Biden’s effort to resume some form of normalcy after the tumult of President Donald Trump’s four years in office. Another sign that Biden will soon be in charge: He scheduled a Thanksgiving address to the nation, planning to focus his remarks on shared sacrifices during the holiday season and expressing confidence that Americans will get through the pandemictogether. Continued on Page 2 SC stays Andhra HC order gagging media FE BUREAU New Delhi, November 25 THE SUPREME COURT on Wednesday vacated the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s order that gagged media from reporting on a case related to the Amaravati land scam allegedly involving a former advocate general and two daughters of a seniorSC Judge. AbenchledbyJusticeAshok Bhushan, while seeking response from former Advocate General Dammalapati Srinivasandothers,alsostayed a part of the HC’s September 15 interim order that prohibited publication of news with regard to the registration of an FIR, in any electronic, print or social media. The apex court also requested the HC not to decide the former Advocate General’s writ petition finally till the disposal of the case by the top court. Continued on Page 2