BENGALURU, THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2022 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM VOL XXXIV NO. 231, 18 PAGES, `6.00 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: 60,098.82 ▼ 656.04 NIFTY: 17,938.40 ▼ 174.65 NIKKEI 225: 27,467.23 ▼ 790.02 HANG SENG: 24,127.85 ▲ 15.07 `/$: 74.43 ▲ 0.15 `/€: 84.40 ▲ 0.58 BRENT: $87.97 ▲ $0.46 GOLD: `48,070 ▲ `127 GLOBAL CUES ● KOTAK CASE Sensex loses over 1,000 pts in two days IN THE NEWS Covishield, Covaxin get regular market nod from panel AN EXPERT panel of the central drug authority on Wednesday recommended granting regular market approval to Covid vaccines Covishield and Covaxin, which are currently only authorised for emergency use in the country, subject to certain conditions, official sources said, reports PTI. Finmin asks for final supplementary demands by Feb 10 THE FINANCE ministry has asked various ministries and departments to submit by February 10 the third and final batch of supplementary demands for grants, if any, for the current fiscal, which will be taken up in the Budget session of Parliament, reports fe Bureau in New Delhi. Ex-gratia payment: Cabinet sanctions `974 crore to SBI THE GOVERNMENT on Wednesday approved sanction of `973.74 crore to State Bank of India (SBI) as reimbursement related to loan moratorium that was implemented in 2020 amid the pandemic, reports PTI. This amount is for the payment of claims submitted by lending institutions under the scheme for grant of exgratia to borrowers in specified loan accounts during the moratorium period announced by RBI in March 2020, reports PTI. RJio now largest provider of fixed line broadband IN ABOUT two years of commercial roll-out of its fixed-line broadband services, Reliance Jio has toppled 20-year-old staterun telecom company BSNL as top service provider in the segment, reports PTI. According to a Trai report, Jio now leads the fixed-line broadband segment with 4.34 million customers. BharatPe’s Ashneer Grover goes on leave till March-end AGENCIES Mumbai, January 19 Sensex (Intra-day, Jan 19) MARKETS FELL FOR the second consecutive day on Wednesday as a global market rout cast a shadow.Sensex gave up its early gains and briefly slipped below the 60,000-barrierbeforeclosingat60,098.82, tumbling 656.04 points or 1.08%—itsweakestlevelsince January 7. Nifty plunged 174.65pointsor0.96%toclose belowthe key18,000-mark. A global technology stock sell-offovernightspookedAsia’s sharemarkets,asinvestorsworried about inflation and braced fortighterUS monetarypolicy. Meanwhile,oilpricesrosefor the fourth day. Brent crude futures touched $89.05, its highestsinceOctober13,2014, 60,750 BHARATPE CO-FOUNDER AND MD Ashneer Grover,who wasrecentlyembroiledinacontroversy over the use of alleged abusive language against an employee of Kotak Mahindra Bank,has takenvoluntaryleave till March-end, a statement from the company on Wednesdaysaid.BharatPewillcontinue to be led by its existing CEO Suhail Sameer and the rest of the management team will remain intact. “Ashneer has co-built BharatPe from scratch and his decision is consistent with his passionate commitment to the future success of the company. Fornow,theBoardhasaccepted Ashneer’s decision which we agree is in the best interests of the company, our employees and investors,and the millions of merchants we support each day,” the statement added. Grover’s decision comes weeksafteranallegedaudiorecording surfaced on Twitter, in which he can be heard hurling verbalabusesatanemployee of Kotak Wealth Management for missingoutonfinancingforthe IPO of FSN E-Commerce Ventures,which owns online fashion andwellnessfirm Nykaa. 1,060 1,040 61,000 60,500 60,098.82 60,250 60,000 59,750 59,500 Previous close: 60,754.86 Open Close during the session.The rupee, however,settled14paisehigher. SharesofOne97Communications, the owner of Paytm, plunged to a record low,closing below`1,000. Continued on Page 2 One 97 Communications 89.5 1,045.10 89.0 (Intra-day on BSE, `, Jan 19) 88.5 1,020 997.35 1,000 980 60,845.59 Brent ($/bbl) (Intra-day, Jan 19) 88.65 88.0 88.22 87.5 Previous close: 1,042.50 Open Close 87.0 Previous close: 87.51 Open IST@6.08 PM FE BUREAU Bengaluru, January 19 Continued on Page 2 BUDGET FOR FY23 Tax-saving option likely for three-year fixed deposits BANIKINKAR PATTANAYAK & PRASANTA SAHU New Delhi, January 19 THE GOVERNMENT IS considering a proposal to reduce the mandatory lock-in period for tax-saving fixed deposits in banks from the current five years to three years to make them more attractive to customers in a low-interest rate regime,sourcestoldFE.Thiswill likely feature in the Budget for 2022-23, which will be presented on February1. Itisalsoweighingtheoption of making the tax slabs under theregimewithoutexemptions ■ Tax-saving FDs losing out to ELSS that offers better returns and has only a 3-year lock-in ■ Five-year fixed deposits fetch up to 6.2% per year but several ELSS mutual funds have offered returns of over 20% more graded to make it more attractive to taxpayers under different brackets, especially thosewith lowerincomes. The review of the regime, introducedasanoptionfortaxpayers last year along with the ■ New PIT regime hasn't drawn many, Most taxlikely promppayers ting govt to finding incentivise deductions & taxpayers exemptions under the old regime more attractive conventional one that allows various exemptions but with relatively higher rates,is necessitated by the lukewarm responseto the newregime. Vikram Chaudhary in New Delhi. “With petrol prices rising, entry-level car-buyers whose key purchase decision is low running costs are moving towards CNG,” Shailesh Chandra,MD,Tata Motors PVs &Tata PassengerElectric Mobility,said. ■ Page 4 ON TIME Special Feature What makes Indian SaaS firms big winners Driven by smart founders, the Indian SaaS business model is set to redefine the global startup ecosystem, with investment expected to reach $4.5 billion in 2021, says Bain & Company ■ eFE, P7 QuickPicks Bajaj Auto consolidated PAT falls 17% at `1,430 crore in Q3 BAJAJ AUTO on Wednesday reported a 17% decline in consolidated profit after tax (PAT) at `1,430 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2021, on account of lower sales, reports PTI. The company had posted a consolidated PAT of `1,716 crore in the October-December period of 2020-21. Total revenue from operations, however, rose to `9,022 crore. PAGE 4 Credit card utilisation stays lower than pre-Covid levels THE LEVEL of utilisation of credit card limits by consumers remains below pre-Covid levels as worries around successive waves keep them on the edge, reports Shritama Bose in Mumbai. According to a report by Kotak Institutional Equities (KIE), utilisation stood at 21% in FY21, down from 24% before the outbreak of Covid-19. PAGE 9 Jio prepays `30K cr of spectrum dues KIRAN RATHEE New Delhi, January 19 WITH RELIANCE JIO paying `30,791 crore to clear its past spectrum auction liabilities and Bharti Airtel’s earlier payment of `15,519 crore towards clearing spectrum dues for the 2014 auction, the government is set to exceed its revenue target fromtelecommunicationsservices for FY22. This would be only the third instance in the last seven-eight years when the government would have achieved the budgetary estimate from telecom revenues. Telecom revenue target for FY22 Likely receipts for FY22 Reliance Jio paid Bharti Airtel paid LF and SUC (expected) Diversifying your investments across asset classes helps to mitigate the impact of market fluctuations. In a world of uncertainties, asset allocation is critical. Thankfully, various categories of hybrid schemes - investing in a combination of asset classes, provide a convenient route to asset allocation and keep your tension away! Continued on Page 2 Tata Motors drives in CNG models of Tiago, Tigor TATA MOTORS on Wednesday entered the CNG segment bylaunching its iCNG technology in two models: the Tiago (`6.1 lakh to `7.65 lakh) and the Tigor (`7.7 lakh to `8.42 lakh),becomingthethirdcarmakerinIndiato offer factory-fitted CNG kits in cars, reports Stay relaxed and tension free The government had fixed a revenue receipt target of `53,986.72 crore from telecommunications services for FY22. Apart from auctionrelated receipts, every year it receives licence fee and spectrum usage charges by the operators. For FY22, the two would add up to around `25,000-28,000 crore, which would enable it to exceed the target comfortably. However, for FY23, a very modest revenue target from telecom services is likely to be fixed, relying only on licence fee and SUC. Continued on Page 2 (` crore) 53,987 Choose from asset allocation solutions and start your SIP today! • Conservative Hybrid Fund • Equity Savings Fund • Multi Asset Allocation Fund • Balanced Advantage Fund • Aggressive Hybrid Fund Contact your MFD/RIA. SIP - Systematic Investment Plan 71,310 to 74,310 30,791 15,519 Total prepayment 46,310 25,000 to 28,000 An Investor Education Initiative by HDFC Mutual Fund For KYC, change of address, investor complaints redressal, etc. visit, https://www.hdfcfund.com/information/key-know-how. Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully. 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