OPINION, P6 ECONOMY, P2 A BOSE & JJ NEDUMPARA Under Biden, expect continuation of status quo on trade policy INTERNATIONAL, P8 EDITORIAL GST COMPENSATION RED TAPE Pre-pack for insolvency resolution shouldn't erode IBC gains, must not give promoters the upper hand Finmin releases `6,000 crore as ninth instalment UK warns of 'bumpy' post-Brexit transition despite deal with EU NEW DELHI, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2020 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL. XLVI NO. 259, 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: 47,353.75 ▲ 380.21 NIFTY: 13,873.20 ▲ 123.95 NIKKEI 225: 26,854.03 ▲ 197.42 HANG SENG: 26,314.63 ▼ 71.93 `/$: 73.50 ▲ 0.05 `/€: 90.03 ▼ 0.36 BRENT: $51.77 ▲ $0.48 GOLD: `50,074 ▲ `287 Yet, the government’s letter reflected a more accommodative stance than earlier. The discussions would be “in the context of farmers’ explanations” of the issues, Agarwal wrote in the letter to the farmers. on electric vehicles and in due course of time, “you will get electric cars which will be equal to Tesla. I am confident and the cost will be very less”. Continued on Page 2 Contract farming won’t lead to farmers losing land: Gadkari AMID PROTESTS against the Centre’s new Acts governing agriculture and marketing of agriculture produce, transport and MSME minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday sought to allay fears that contract farmingwill lead tolargecorporationssnatching away farmers’ land, Continued on Page 2 reportsfeBureauinNewDelhi.SpeakingattheIdeaExchangeProgrammeof the Indian Express Group,he also suggestedmoreflexibilitiesinthe`3-lakhcrore loan guarantee programme for MSMEs,professionals and larger entities in 27 stressed sectors to improve slowing offtake. ■ Report on Page 2 Gold heads for 7-week high Tax tribunal restores as Trump signs stimulus BLOOMBERG GOLD RUSH exemptions December 28 given to GOLD HEADED FOR the highestcloseinsevenweeksafterUS PresidentDonaldTrumpsigned Tata Trusts a $900-billion coronavirus sti29.57 23.66 FE BUREAU New Delhi, December 28 0 -15 -30 -28.28 2010 2013 2020 Source: Bloomberg after a run of losses prompted by the development of effective coronavirus vaccines. Continued on Page 2 Special Feature Know when you should invest in liquid funds Investors who park their funds in savings bank accounts for lack of lowrisk options for the short term should instead go for liquid funds which can give a tad more higher returns ■ Personal Finance, P9 QuickPicks Maintaining 4% inflation appropriate for India: RBI paper MAINTAINING 4% inflation is appropriate for India as targeting a lower rate could impart deflationary bias to the monetary policy, said a Reserve Bank paper, reports PTI. Under the current dispensation, RBI has been mandated by the government to maintain retail inflation at 4% with a margin of 2% on either side. The paper, authored by RBI deputy governor Michael Debabrata Patra and another official Harendra Kumar Behera, has found a steady fall in trend inflation to 4.1-4.3% since 2014. PAGE 14 SK Maini, promoter of India’s first electric car Reva, dies at 87 THE FOUNDER of the Maini Group, Dr Sudarshan Kumar Maini, who encouraged his son Chetan Maini to commercialise India's first electric car Reva, has died, his family sources said on Monday, reports PTI. According to family members, Maini died in Bengaluru at his residence on December 26 after prolonged illness at the age of 87. He is survived by wife Reva and three sons, Chetan, Gautam and Sandeep. Maini established the Maini Group in 1973. PAGE 4 IN A RELIEF to three Tata Group trusts, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has upheld the tax exemptions given to them under Section 11 of the Income Tax Act. The tax department, in revised assessment orders, had sought to cancel the exemption. The I-T commissioner concerned had issued revised orders for the assessment year 2014-15 based on the additional materials received from Tata Sons’ former chairman Cyrus Mistry, some time after his ouster. Mistry had alleged that Trustees had exercised a lot of control over the business. Besides, Ratan Tata and R Venkatramanan were taking services and benefits from Tata Sons, the commissioner had noted, as information received from Mistry. However, the tribunal’s Mumbai bench has now noted that the revision of the orders was a tactic by the tax department to extend the time for scrutiny. Continued on Page 14 *includes equity capital raised through IPOs, FPOs, QIPs, IPPs, IDRs, InVITs/REITs Source: PRIME Database REUTERS Beijing, December 28 15 mulus package,pumping more state funds into the world’s top economy.Silvertoo surged. The haven built on a run of fourweeklygainsfollowingthe breakthrough on the package, which Trump had initially declinedtoendorseamidadispute on the size of checks to support households amid the pandemic.The dollar eased. Bullion is set to post the first monthly gain since July 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 China pushes Ant Group overhaul Return (%) 30 Total equity raised (` crore)* CRACKDOWN ● BREATHER ● RELIEF RALLY Continued on Page 2 1,77,468 for the repeal of the three Central Farm Acts ■ Mechanisms to be adopted to make “remunerative MSP into a legally guaranteed entitlement for all farmers and all agricultural commodities" assembly and manufacturing operations as well. “India is going to become a number one manufacturing hub for electric vehicles in five years”,Gadkari said. Gadkari added that Indian companies were also working 82,241 ■ Modalities to be adopted In Delhi, for instance, those buying electric two-wheelers, e-rickshaws or freightvehicles qualify for a benefit ofup to `30,000; for four-wheelers, the incentive goes up to `1.5 lakh 62,651 Farmers had mooted 4-point agenda, including: crore over five years, as it seeks to promote use of electricvehicles Over 10 states, including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, New Delhi and UP, have mooted policies to incentivise EVs THE PRIMARY MARKETS have all but eclipsed the stunning rally in the secondary markets in 2020 with companies having raised awhopping `1.77 lakh crore. That’s a 116% increase over last year’s `82,241 crore and topped the `1.6 lakh crore raised in 2017, data from Prime Database show. Moreover, the average listing gains from the top 15 IPOs (initial public offerings) have been a rewarding 35.5%, way above the 22.3% that investors got in 2017. In all, companies mopped up `26,611 crore through IPOs, 115% more than the `12,362 crore that compa- 1,60,032 THE GOVERNMENT ON Monday wrote to leaders of 40 farmer groups, expressing its willingness to discuss in detail the issues raised by them concerning the contentious new farm laws, with ‘pure intent’ and an ‘open mind,’ but sought to delay the talks by a day to Wednesday. While farmers had mooted a four-point specific agenda for the meeting, including “modalities for the repeal” of the three laws and mechanisms to make“remunerative MSP a legally guaranteed entitlement”, agriculture secretary Sanjay Agarwal’s letter referred to the two demands in more generic terms as “issues related to the three farm laws” and “system of procurement at MSP”. `18,100 NITIAayog has said India could cut its oil import bills by as much as $40 billion a year by 2030 ifEVswerewidely adopted 44,819 FE BUREAU New Delhi, December 28 THE WORLD’S MOST expensive automobile firm, Tesla, valued at more than double the combined value of Toyota, Ford and General Motors, will ‘start operations’in India early next year, road transport minister Nitin Gadkari said at the Express Group’s Idea Exchange. A day prior to this, in response to a question bya fan on whether Tesla would be in India in January, Tesla CEO Elon Musk had replied“No,but definitely this year”. Gadkari said Tesla would first start by selling its cars in India — the India price of the Tesla Model 3 should be in the `55-60 lakh range — and depending upon the response, maybe look at Under a productionlinked incentive scheme, the government offers companies setting up advanced battery manufacturing facilities nies had raised in 2019 but smaller than the `33,246 crore raised in 2018. PEs and VCs cashed in on the good sentiment and were able to sell equity worth `8,026 crore. As Pranav Haldea, managing director, Prime Database, pointed out, the increased global liquidity created by the accommodative stance of central banks, low interest rates and positive outlook on emerging markets like India had facilitated the large fund-raising. “The good quality paper at attractive valuations has also resulted in the record fund-raising,” Haldea said. 68,505 SERUM INSTITUTE will be ready with 300 million doses of the Covishield OxfordAstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine by July 2021, reports Geeta Nair in Pune. CEO Adar Poonawalla said they have a stockpile of 40-50 million doses already. Govt's latest letter to farmers says "issues related to three farm laws" and "system of procurement at MSPs" will be discussed FE BUREAU New Delhi, December 28 FE BUREAU Mumbai, December 28 39,078 Serum to make 300 m vaccine doses by July Govt proposes to hold next round of talkswith farmer unions onWednesday; they had suggestedTuesday Record `1.77L cr raised in 2020 45,440 ADANI INTERNATIONAL Container Terminal (AICTPL) on Monday said its maiden $300-million bond issuance witnessed 10 times oversubscription, reports PTI. AICTPL, a JV between Adani Ports and SEZ and Terminal Investment, is a container terminal operating firm based out of Mundra. Agri ministry’s letter leaves out demand for repeal of laws, legally guaranteed MSP; farmers say govt being ‘clever with words’ Tesla set to drive on Indian roads in 2021 PRIMARY MARKETS 36,253 Adani JV’s dollar bond issuance oversubscribed Govt cautious over agenda for talks ALL CHARGED UP 17,481 THE GOVERNMENT on Monday notified its decision to lift a ban on onion exports from January 1, as domestic supplies improved with fresh crop arrivals and prices remained steady, reports fe Bureau in New Delhi. The move comes as a New Year gift for farmers, who had called the ban “arbitrary”. FARMERS’ STIR 97,746 IN THE NEWS Govt lifts curbs on onion exports from January 1 SNOWFALL IN SHIMLA People walk on a snow-covered road in Shimla on Monday, a day after it received the season’s first snow Liquidity factor FE BUREAU Markets rally to new highs Strong global cues, the promise of abundant liquidity, big buying by FPIs and encouraging corporate news continue to drive up the indices to new highs. FPIs have bought stocks worth nearly $6 billion in December so far on the back of large purchases in the last few months. Sensex Intra-day, Dec 28 47,450 Nifty50 47,353.75 Intra-day, Dec 28 13,900 Bank Nifty 13,873.20 30,880.95 31,000 13,870 30,850 47,250 13,840 30,700 47,050 Previous close: 47,153.59 46,973.54 Open Close 13,810 13,780 Previous 13,815.15 close: 13,749.25 Open Close ■ Its Alipay app dominates digital payments in China, with more than 730 million monthly users ■ Itwas poised to bevalued at more than $300 billion in its stock market debut cialregulatoryviolations,including in its credit, insurance and wealth management businesses, and overhaul its credit rating business to protect personalinformation,People’sBank of China (PBOC) vice-governor PanGongshengsaidonSunday. Continued on Page 14 Intra-day, Dec 28 47,350 47,150 CHINA'S CENTRAL BANK has disclosedithadaskedthecountry’spaymentsgiantAntGroup to shake up its lending and otherconsumerfinance operations, the latest blow to its billionairefounderandcontrolling shareholderJack Ma. The announcement came more than a month after Chinese regulators abruptly suspended Ant’s blockbuster $37billion initial public offering in Shanghai and Hong Kong, and only days after the country’s antitrust authorities said they had launched a probe into Ma’s e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba Group Holding. ChineseregulatorsandCommunist Party officials have set about reining in Ma’s sprawling financial empire after he publiclycriticised the country’s regulatorysysteminOctoberforstifling innovation. Regulators have urged Ant to rectify finan- ■ Ant traces its beginnings to Alipay, which was launched in 2004 as a payment service, and is 33% owned by Alibaba 30,550 30,400 30,558.85 Open Previous close: 30,402.20 Close $10-bn buyback plan fails to halt stock slide ALIBABA SHARES slumped 9%totheirlowestsinceJune onMonday,asthecompany’s upsized$10-billionbuyback programme failed to ease concerns about a regulatory crackdown on co-founder Jack Ma’s e-commerce and financial empire, reports Reuters.Asharpsell-offover two sessions has knocked almost $116 billion off the tech giant’s Hong Konglisted shares. ■ Page 8 A GOOD RUN WonderWoman 1984 hits LISA RICHWINE Los Angeles, December 28 WONDER WOMAN 1984 pulled in $36.1 million at worldwide theatres over the Christmas holiday weekend and boosted streamingviewership on HBO Max,Warner Bros said on Sunday as it confirmed plans for a third film in the superhero franchise. An estimated $16.7 million of the box office total came fromUSandCanadiantheatres, theAT&TInc-ownedstudiosaid on Sunday.That ranked as the highestdomesticopeningsince the Covid pandemic shuttered theatres in March, though the numbers were a fraction of usual receipts for a big-budget action flick.The 2017 Wonder Woman film opened with $103.2 million domestically. With two-thirds of North American theatres closed, Warner Bros opted for an unusual arrangement, making WW84 available at the same time to US customers ofAT&T’s HBO Max streaming service. pandemic high in cinemas,streaming Millionswatchedthefilmon HBOMax,thecompanysaidina statement,but it did not specify how long they tuned in. Total viewing hours on the platform tripled on Friday compared with a typical day in the previous month,the statementsaid. The movie “exceeded our expectations across all of our key viewing and subscriber metrics in its first 24 hours on the service,” said Andy Forsell, executive vice-president and general manager of WarnerMedia Direct-to-Consumer. Warner Bros said it would accelerate development of a thirdWonderWomanmoviealso written and directed by Patty Jenkins and starring Gal Gadot as the lasso-wielding warrior. The studio did not announce a release date. Paul Dergarabedian,senior media analyst at research firm Comscore, said WW84 per- New Delhi formedwellintheatersgiven“an extremely challenging marketplace”.“Considering the availabilityofthisblockbusterfilmat home,the numbers for the theatrical debut of WW 1984 should actually be encouraging totheatricalexhibition,”hesaid. WW84 faced competition fromcriticallypraisedPixaranimated movie Soul,which Walt Disney Co delivered to the Disney+ streaming service and some theaters overseas. Continued on Page 2