OPINION, P2 MIND & GAMES Use of letterlocking techniques by Queen Elizabeth, among others P 10 The real and the surreal WELL BEING Discussions around mental health and the importance of failures take centre stage yet again Page 6 HOW EUROPEAN ROYALS ONCE SHARED THEIR MOST IMPORTANT SECRETS ACROSS THE AISLE, P CHIDAMBARAM VOL. XXI NO. 12 It’s okay to be not okay Follow us on Twitter & Facebook. App available on App Store & Play Store WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM WORDS WORTH BANKING BOSS Several brands, both global and homegrown, are tapping the sustainable footwear space to create products out of materials that are natural or recycled and help in reducing your carbon footprint ■ LEISURE, P5 Sound check To liberate entrepreneurship and innovation from the web of government processes, bureaucratic silos ❝ I BELIEVE THAT STARTUPS ARE GOING TO BE THE BACKBONE OF NEW INDIA —NARENDRA MODI, PRIME MINISTER CASE STUDY FE BUREAU New Delhi, January 15 QuickPicks Unilever says it wants to buy GSK’s consumer goods arm CONSUMER GOODS GIANT Unilever said it had approached Glaxosmithkline about buying the pharmaceutical group's consumer goods arm, after a newspaper reported that a 50 billionpound ($68.4 billion) bid it made had been rebuffed. Unilever, which has been under fire from some investors for the group's underperforming share price, confirmed the approach about a potential acquisition of the business in a statement on Saturday. “GSK Consumer Healthcare is a leader in the attractive consumer health space and would be a strong strategic fit as Unilever continues to re-shape its portfolio," it said. PAGE 11 Virat Kohli resigns as Test captain after SA series defeat VIRAT KOHLI ON Saturday dropped a bombshell by quitting Test captaincy following the unexpected series defeat against South Africa. "Every thing has to come to a halt at some stage and for me as Test captain of India, it's now. There have been many ups and also some downs along the journey but there has never been lack of effort or lack of belief," Kohli wrote in a statement which he posted on Twitter. The 33-year old had recently quit as T20 captain and was later sacked as ODI captain by the BCCI, reports PTI. PAGE 18 THE DEPARTMENTOF telecommunications (DoT) is once again going to push for withdrawal of the case relating to one-time spectrum charges (OTSC) amounting to `40,000 croreagainstthetelecomoperators, when the matter comes up for hearing in the Supreme Court on January18. The DoT’s case has been bolstered bya favourable opinion by the law ministry,which has flagged settling some related issues so that the matter does not lead to any other legal hassles,sources said. TheDoT’sstanceispartofits commitmenttosettlealllegacy issues with the operators out of court.InOctober2021,DoThad sought three weeks time from the apex court as it wanted to reconsiderthematterrelatingto OTSC as the telecom sectorwas passingthroughfinancialhardships. However, the court had said that DoT’s decision regarding withdrawing the matter must “satisfy the court” as it involves a question of “public money”.AfterthattheSChasnot been able to take up the matter. The OTSC case dates back to 2008andispendingbeforevar- In October 2021, DoT had sought three weeks from SC to reconsider matter relating to OTSC The decision to levy OTSC was taken by the UPA govt in aftermath of the 122 2G licences given by then telecom minister A Raja in January 2008 ious high courts besidethe SC. The charge has been levied by the DoT on the operators for holding excess spectrum — beyond 4.4 Mhz — which is referred to as OTSC. The decision to levy OTSC was taken by the United ProgressiveAlliancegovernmentin the aftermath of the 122 2G licences given by then telecom ministerARajainJanuary2008. The licences were cancelled in February 2012 by the Supreme Court but the furore it raised as these were given at 2001 rates of `1,658 crore made the government decide to charge for spectrumgiventotheoperators beyond the contracted amount through administrative orders. Prior to 2010 operators got 4.4Mhzspectrumbundledwith licences and subsequent tranchescameonachievingcertain subscriber levels.The government had contended that it wascontractuallyboundtogive only 4.4 Mhz which came bundledwiththelicencesandisfree tochargeforadditionalamount allocated. Around that time most operators held either 6.2 Mhz orbeyond,even 10 Mhz. 2,68,833 new cases, 402 deaths Continued on Page 11 2,68,833 new Covid infections in a daytaking the tally to 3,68,50,962, which includes 6,041 Omicron variant cases, according to the Union health ministry data on Saturday.With 402 more deaths, the number of people who have succumbed to the viral disease has risen to 4,85,752.The case fatality rate was 1.32%. The daily positivity rate was 16.66% while the weekly positivity rate was 12.84 %. —PTI Metro data DEATHS 20,718 30 Positivity rate MUMBAI DEATHS (` cr) Q3FY21 Total income *Net interest income Q3FY22 Chg (%) Other Provisions income 13 Net profit Gross NPA (%) 0.81 1.26 45 bps Net NPA (%) 0.09 0.37 9.9 Net interest margin (%) 4.2 4.1 12.3 28 bps 18.1 10 bps Source: BSE, Bank ACC PLI SCHEME ● COVID DELHI Continued on Page 11 Report card 8.3 Continued on Page 11 NEW DELHI, JANUARY 15: India registered The court had said DoT's decision to withdraw matter must satisfy court reported an 18% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in net profit for thequarterendedDecemberto `10,342 crore on the back of a 13% y-o-y rise in net interest income (NII) to `18,443.5 crore, with non-interest « DoT to push for taking back case, SC likely to hear matter on Jan 18 HDFC BANK ON Saturday « ONE-TIME SPECTRUM CHARGES scrapped more than 25,000 procedures to reduce compliance burden of start-ups. Government e-Marketplace platform is also promoting services renderedbystart-upstovarious ministries and departments. The defence forces have placed orders worth `500 crore to drone start-ups. Highlighting his government’s seriousness in fostering innovation in recent years, the Prime Minister said 28,000 patentswere granted last fiscal, against just 4,000 in 2013-14. FE BUREAU Mumbai, January 15 « gender disparity. “Don't just keep your dreams local, make them global. Remember this mantra,” he told the start-ups. At the same time,the Prime Ministeralsostressedtheraftof steps initiated by the government to make it easierforstartupstoflourish.Thegovernment hasrolledoutprogrammessuch as Start-up India and Stand-up India,addressedtheproblemof the so-called‘angel tax’,offered tax incentives and simplified procedures, extended official funding,allowed self-certificationprocessforninelabourand three environment laws and income growing 10% y-o-y. Thecorenetinterestmargin (NIM) in Q3 remained unchanged from the previous quarterat 4.1%. Total advances as on December 31, 2021, stood at `12.61 lakh crore, up 16.5% over December 31, 2020. Retail loans grew by 13.3%, commercial and rural banking loans grew by 29.4% and corporate and other wholesale loans grew by 7.5%. Overseas advances constituted 3.4% of total advances. TotaldepositsasonDecember 31 were `14.46 lakh crore, an increase of 13.8% over December31,2020. ● Profit at `10,342 crore; net interest income at `18,443.5 crore « turned into unicorns in 2021 alone,he said,hinting at limitless possibilities before newgeneration entrepreneurs. About 61,000 start-ups have already registered themselves withthegovernment,barelysix years after Start-Up India was launched in January2016. “Our start-ups are changing the rules of the game. I believe thatstart-upsaregoingtobethe backbone of New India,” Modi said, acknowledging the role these budding entrepreneurs playinnotjustspurringinnovation across sectors but generatingemploymentandnarrowing Handholding of young innovators and young enterprises P U N E HDFC Bank net jumps 18% on higher income « Modi on Saturday pledged to liberate entrepreneurship from the complex maze of red tape, as he exhorted start-ups to “innovate for India and innovate from India”. Addressing over 150 budding entrepreneurs through video conference, Modi declaredthatJanuary16would be celebrated as the National Start-upDayeveryyear“totake thestart-upculturetofar-flung areas of the country”. Hehighlightedthreecritical aspects of his government efforts to further bolster the start-up ecosystem: first,to liberate entrepreneurship and innovation from the bureaucratic silos; second,to create an institutionalmechanismtopromote innovation; and third, to handholdyoung innovators. A record 42 start-ups D E L H I , Q3 PERFORMANCE « ROHNIT PHORE PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA Creating institutional mechanism to promote innovation N E W « Some music platforms are coming out with novel initiatives to support the indie artistes of the country ODD & EVEN 3-STEP PLAN M U M B A I , « Innovate for India, from India: PM to start-ups FE BUREAU New Delhi, January 15 Feet & fine L U C K N O W , BOOSTING ENTREPRENEURS ● Says Jan 16 to be Start-up Day; vows freedom from red tape ■ SPOTLIGHT, P7 K O L K A T A , 8,758 10,342 K O C H I , 3,414 H Y D E R A B A D , 2,994 C H E N N A I , « WHAT'S INSIDE C H A N D I G A R H , 7,443 8,184 B E N G A L U R U , 18,444 F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , 16,318 P U B L I S H E D READ TO LEAD 40,652 SUNDAY, JANUARY 16, 2022, 18 PAGES, `10 (PATNA `10, RAIPUR `10) 37,523 FINANCIAL EXPRESS ON SUNDAY NEW DELHI Arundhati Bhattacharya looks back at her time as head of SBI in her autobiography Page 4 30.64% 10,661 11 Doubling rate 43 days Good response as key players rush to invest ● 10 companies propose to create 130 GWh capacity; 2.6 times of what is to be awarded FE BUREAU New Delhi, January 15 AS MANY AS 10 companies, including Reliance New Energy Solar, Hyundai Global Motors, Ola Electric Mobility, Larsen & ToubroandMahindra&Mahindra, have pledged to invest under the `18,100-crore production-linked incentive (PLI) schemeforadvancedchemistry cell (ACC) batterystorage. Together, these companies haveproposedtocreateacapacityof130gigawatthours(GWh), about 2.6 times of the capacity that is to be awarded under the scheme, the ministry of heavy industries said on Saturday, highlighting the “encouraging response” to the programme. THE APPLICANTS ■ Reliance New Energy Solar ■ Hyundai Global Motors ■ Ola Electric Mobility ■ Larsen & Toubro ■ Lucas-TVS ■ Mahindra & Mahindra ■ Amara Raja Batteries ■ Exide Industries ■ Rajesh Exports ■ India Power Corp TheothercontendersareLucasTVS,AmaraRajaBatteries,Exide Industries, Rajesh Exports and IndiaPowerCorp. Under the scheme, the government seeks to boost local manufacturing of advanced chemistry cell to bring down prices of battery in the country, which will reduce the cost of electric vehicles as well. It is expected to ultimately lead to a potential drop in crude oil importsandalsoraisetheshare of renewable energy at the national gridlevel. Continued on Page 11 STEADY GROWTH How a Nashik brand is sparking its own green revolution 2nd-hand mkt driving luxury dreams Affordable luxury Success tale ● From small grape farm to India’s largest FPC, Sahyadri Farms today has 13,500 farmers in its fold NANDA KASABE Pune, January 15 NEARLY 20 YEARS AGO, a gold medalistwithamaster’sdegree in agriculture engineering along with his five uncles was Over 1,000 tonne of fruits and vegetables are produced per day Company also has fruit processing plant worth `300 crore Produce being sorted at Sahyadri Farms struggling to keep his small grape farm afloat. Today, 47-year-old Vilas Shinde’s Sahyadri Farms symbolisesoneofthebiggestsuccess stories in the country’s agricul- tural scenario with over 13,500 farmers owning about 28,000 acres in Nashik region of Maharashtra coming togetherto produce over 1,000 tonne of fruits andvegetablesperday.Withrev- Around 60% produce exported to 42 nations, 40% sold in India enueof`525crore,Sahyadrihas become the country’s largest farmer-producercompany(FPC) andarolemodelforotherstofollow, besides the largest grape exporter.TheFPCisdevelopinga retail footprint across the state and is also building a pan-India presence through its e-commerce platform. Founder and chairman of Sahyadri Farms, Shinde says he is replicating the Amul model in vegetables and fruits.“Sahyadri’s journey as a farmer producer company began with barely 101 farmers in 2011.Now there are 25 FPCs under the umbrella of Sahaydri Farms. Itookmylearningsasan individualfarmeranddecidedto bring like-minded farmers together so our problems could besolvedasasingleunit. Continued on Page 11 VARUN SINGH New Delhi, January 15 THESECOND-HAND marketfor luxurycarsinthecountryiswitnessing steady growth with the rise in the numberof platforms and outlets retailing such vehicles,coupled with the drive of a section of consumers wanting to move up the value chain,but lacking the wherewithal to buy a brand newproduct. Big Boy Toyz founder and managing director Jatin Ahuja told FE that the Covid19 pandemic has accelerated the second-hand car business to the point of supplydemand imbalance. Platforms retailing luxury vehicles seeing a rise Sale of pre-owned luxury cars seeing growth of over 20%, as per Deloitte Mercedes-Benz India to augment pre-owned car sales by 1,000-1,200 units next year “The high-quality cars are available at affordable prices. Theinclinationtogetimported cars has changed the customer New Delhi 95% of Big Boy Toyz's overall business is from luxury models, in price range of `50 lakh-6 crore Audi India started 2021 with 7 facilities of pre-owned car business focus on the pre-owned car segment,”saidAhuja. Continued on Page 11