OPINION, P6 MADAN SABNAVIS MARKETS, P11 Better to have moderate expectations from the upcoming Budget INTERNATIONAL, P8 S SUBRAMANIAN NORMS COMPLIANCE AMERICAN DREAM India seeing K-shaped recovery, with the formal sector doing well while the informal one lags Sebi extends relaxations given for rights issues Biden to propose 8-year citizenship path for immigrants KOLKATA, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2021 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM VOL. 30 NO. 69, 18 PAGES, `6.00 (NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN `10.00) 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 READ TO LEAD SENSEX: 49,398.29 ▲ 834.02 NIFTY: 14,521.15 ▲ 239.85 NIKKEI 225: 28,633.46 ▲ 391.25 HANG SENG: 29,642.28 ▲ 779.51 `/$: 73.17 ▲ 0.11 `/€: 88.68 ▼ 0.28 BRENT: $55.39 ▲ $0.64 GOLD: `48,977 ▲ `165 IN THE NEWS SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank still 'too big to fail': RBI RBI ON Tuesday said stateowned SBI, along with private sector lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank continue to be Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs) or institutions which are 'too big to fail', reports PTI. SIBs are subjected to higher levels of supervision so as to prevent disruption in financial services in the event of any failure. Govt to sell entire 26.12% stake in VSNL this fiscal THE GOVERNMENT will sell its entire 26.12% stake in Tata Communications (TCL), erstwhile VSNL, through offer for sale and strategic sale route in the current fiscal, reports PTI. The transaction is to be completed by March 20, 2021, DIPAM said. E-comm exports: Amazon partners Startup India AMAZON ON Tuesday said it has partnered Startup India, Sequoia Capital India and Fireside Ventures to launch an accelerator programme to help early-stage start-ups take their brands to global audiences, reports PTI. DATA PRIVACY Withdraw new policy: Centre to WhatsApp Says new policy raises grave concerns over implications for choice & autonomy of Indians Buy 52-Week Low 52-Week High Exit ADITYA KALRA & KRISHNA N DAS New Delhi, January 19 TERMING ITS NEW privacy policy unilateral, unfair and unacceptable, the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) on Tuesday asked WhatsApp to withdraw it and reconsider its approach to information privacy, Centre’s freedom of choice and instructions data security. In a strongly-worded toWhatsApp letter to CEO Will CathProvide details cart, the ministry has ofservices in also sought a detailed India, categories of information about its data collected and data sharing protocols permissions sought and business practices. Explain if conducting MeitY has also raised profiling of Indian objections to the differusers, explain ential treatment difference accorded by WhatsApp between privacy policy in India to its users in India compared with those in the and other countries European Union. WhatsApp’s new privacy policy was to be implemented from February 8 but has been put on hold till May 15 due to user backlash; the policy aims to share commercial user data with parent Facebook. EXPRESSING CONCERN over WhatsApp’s new privacy policy on sharing commercial user data with parent Facebook, communications and IT ministerRaviShankarPrasadonTuesdaycategoricallysaid sanctityand privilege of personal communicationsneedto be maintained. Be it WhatsApp, Responding to be it Facebook, be a question by Indian it any digital platExpress Group’s executive director form, you are free AnantGoenkaatthe to do business in 15th India Digital India but do it Summit organised without impinging by IAMAI,he said all upon the rights digital firms are free of Indians. to operate in India butwithoutimping—RAVI ing upon the rights SHANKAR PRASAD, ofIndians.“Thisisan IT MINISTER issuethatmydepartment is working on...it will not be properformetomakecomments,excepttoflagone thing very clearly,be it WhatsApp,be it Facebook, beitanydigitalplatform,youarefreetodobusiness in India but do it without impinging upon the rightsofIndianswhooperatehere,”hesaid. Continued on Page 2 Continued on Page 2 Continued on Page 12 FE BUREAU New Delhi, January 19 KIRAN RATHEE New Delhi, January 19 ● CASH TRANSFER Three behavioural biases to avoid when investing Hold Govt plans changes to norms on FDI in e-comm THE GOVERNMENTIS considering revising its foreign investment rules for e-commerce,threesourcesandagovernment spokesperson told Reuters, a move that could compel players, including Amazon, to restructure their ties with some major sellers. The government discussions coincide with a growing number of complaints from bricks-and-mortar retailers, which have for years accused Amazon and Walmart-controlled Flipkart of creating complex structures to bypass rules, allegations the US companies deny. India only allows foreign ecommerce players to operate as a marketplace to connect buyers and sellers. It prohibits themfromholdinginventories of goods and directly selling them on their platforms. Amazon and Walmart’s FlipkartwerelasthitinDecember 2018 by investment rule changes that barred foreign ecommerce players from offering products from sellers in whichtheyhaveanequitystake. Special Features ` ‘Sanctity of personal communications must be maintained’ ● IN THE OFFING Portfolio performance tends to be poor when a majority of the buy and sell decisions are suboptimal because of irrational investing behaviour. Avoid such biases when investing to prevent losses ■ Personal Finance, P9 Hope to see reforms that drive consumption: Panasonic Manish Sharma, president & CEO, Panasonic India & South Asia, says Budget 2021 should offer manufacturers incentives to make energy-efficient products along with reforms to improve consumer demand ■ eFE, P9 QuickPicks India starts supplying vaccines to neighbouring countries today INDIAWILL start the supply of Covid-19 vaccines under grant assistance to Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles from Wednesday, reports fe Bureau in New Delhi. This is in keeping with India’s stated commitment to use indigenous vaccine production and delivery capacity to help humanity fight the Covid pandemic. In respect of Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Mauritius, confirmation of their necessary regulatory clearances is awaited. PAGE 16 SC upholds 10% threshold for homebuyers to move NCLT THE SUPREME Court on Tuesday upheld the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Act, 2020, that mandates a threshold of at least 10% of homebuyers in a project or 100 of the total allottees for initiating insolvency proceedings against the real estate developer, reports fe Bureau in New Delhi. This means a single homebuyer is barred from approaching the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under Section 7 of the IBC to initiate insolvency proceedings against the builder. PAGE 2 PMC Bank admin sets Feb 1 deadline for final rescue plans THE ADMINISTRATOR for Punjab & Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank has set February 1 as the deadline for prospective investors to submit final offers for the reconstruction of the bank, reports Shritama Bose in Mumbai. The due diligence process is currently being carried out by three interested parties, administrator AK Dixit told depositors in a letter. The bank had issued an EoI on November 3, 2020, inviting investors for a revival or reconstruction of PMC Bank. PAGE 10 DBT scheme for fertiliser subsidy may be rolled out in FY22 PRASANTA SAHU New Delhi, January 19 ENDING YEARS OF dithering, the Centre may finally shift to the direct benefit transfer (DBT) for delivering fertiliser subsidy to farmers effective FY22. The department of fertilisers and the ministry of agriculture are working out the details of the DBT scheme, which may be announced in the Budget for FY22, sources told FE. According to an estimate by the fertiliser department, on an average, a lump sum of `5,000-6,000 is required to be transferred to each farmer annually as fertiliser subsidy. This would be in addition to income support of `6,000 annually being given to farmers under PM-KISAN. The Centre’s annual subsidy on fertilisers is a little over `70,000 crore.Over 14.6 crore farmers with average farm size of 1.08 hectare are the intended beneficiaries. Continued on Page 2 FIN-TECH TALK Payments space to mature: Sharma FE BUREAU New Delhi, January 19 PAYTM FOUNDER & CEOVijay Shekhar Sharma on Tuesday said competition in the payments spacewill become more mature.“In the next twoyears, every payments business in this country will talk sustainability, profitability,” Sharma said in a conversation with Anant Goenka, executive director,The Indian Express,at the India Digital Summit. Commenting on the competitive scenario in payments, Sharma observed that much like in other industries there arealwaysseveralstartersafter which there will be a period of rationalisation. “When we startedasapaymentsbusiness, ourchallengerswere different, todaytheydon’texist.AndIcan We at Paytm believe that we would stand for an opportunity that India creates. A company, a set of people that India creates that can go out there and rule the world. We want to be the one that can take India’s flag to places and say that here is an Indian company. YOUNG GUNS CONQUER GABBA Man of the Match Rishabh Pant carries the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as he celebrates with teammates after a historic Test series win against Australia at the Gabba, Brisbane GROWTH CAPITAL Dunzo raises $40 m from Google, Lightbox & others FE BUREAU New Delhi, January 19 ONLINE DELIVERY START-UP Dunzo on Tuesday said it has raised a fresh $40 million from new and existing investors.The investment, part of the company’s ongoing Series E financial round, saw participation from Google, Lightbox, Evolvence, Hana Financial Investment, LGT Lightstone Aspada andAlteria,among others. Thefreshcapitalwillbeused to expand in Mumbai,Chennai and Pune, its fastest growing ■ Dunzo offers a full-stack of services across commerce, courier and commute ■ The company said it is now about $100-m annualised GMVbusiness ■ So far, the company has raised nearly $135 million in funding markets,the firm said. Continued on Page 12 Salesforce invests in Darwinbox SALESFORCE.COM IS making its first investment in an Indian company, a developer of human resources software that serves several of Asia’s largest tech start-ups,reports Bloomberg. The US giant’s venture arm is leading a $15million financing round for Darwinbox, its first in India anditsonlyinvestmentinAsia outside of Japan. ■ Page 4 Agri-tech firm DeHaat gets Prosus backing PROSUS NV IS investing in agritech company DeHaat in a bet on India’s $350-billion farming industry, reports Bloomberg. The Dutch ecommerce group with assets all round the globe led a Series C funding round of $30 million that DeHaat will use to hire more staff, develop new technology and improve its supply chain, the head of Prosus Ventures India, Ashutosh Sharma,said in an interview. The DeHaat platform uses artificial intelligence to help around 350,000 farmers source raw materials, find advisory and credit services and sell their crops. Report on Page 4 —VIJAY SHEKHAR SHARMA, PAYTM FOUNDER & CEO say that two years ahead our challengers will be different from those today,”he said. Continued on Page 2 EMI bounces ease a little in December THE FAILURE rates of autodebit transactions on the NationalAutomatedClearing House (NACH) platform, many of which are EMI requests,eased in December, showed data released by the National Payments Corpora- tion of India (NPCI), reports Shritama Bose in Mumbai. The share of unsuccessful auto-debit requests in volume terms stood at 38.09% in December against 40.5% in November. ■ Report on Page 10 CAUTION People with fever, pregnant women should avoid Covaxin PRESS TRUST OF INDIA Hyderabad, January 19 BHARAT BIOTECH'S FACT sheet on Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin has advised pregnant or breastfeeding women, besides people with high fever or bleeding disorders, not to take the antidote. The vaccine maker in the fact sheet on Covaxin, posted in its website, said the clinical efficacy of the vaccine is yet to be established and is being studied in Phase 3 clinical trial and hence it is important to appreciate that Serum: Don’t take shots if allergic to ingredients receiving the vaccine does not mean other precautions related to Covid-19 need not be followed. Continued on Page 12 PEOPLESEVERELYallergic to any ingredient of Covishield are advised not to take it, Serum Institute of India said, reports PTI. According to the fact sheet for the vaccine recipient by Serum, one should not get theCovishieldvaccineifthe personhadasevereallergic reaction after a previous dose of thisvaccine. ■ P4 Kolkata