MUMBAI, FRIDAY, JANUARY 21, 2022 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE VOL. LXII NO. 18, 20 PAGES, `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 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD SENSEX: 59,464.62 ▼ 634.20 NIFTY: 17,757.00 ▼ 181.40 NIKKEI 225: 27,772.93 ▲ 305.70 HANG SENG: 24,952.35 ▲ 824.50 `/$: 74.51 ▼ 0.08 `/€: 84.56 ▼ 0.15 BRENT: $87.81 ▼ $0.63 GOLD: `48,535 ▲ `465 THE DRUGS Controller General of India (DCGI) will take a final decision on granting market approval to the two Covid-19 vaccines in the country, reports fe Bureau in Pune, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Thursday. EPFO new additions see a rise in Nov CREATION OF new formal jobs saw an uptick in November after falling to a fivemonth low in October, the latest payroll data of the EPFO showed, reports fe Bureau in New Delhi. Against 8.05 lakh in October, new formal jobs rose to nearly 8.28 lakh in November. RBI clears Vinod Rai's appointment as Unity SFB chief RBI HAS approved the appointment of former CAG Vinod Rai as the chairman of Unity Small Finance Bank, which began operations last November with its first branch in Mumbai, reports PTI. Rai, after his retirement as the CAG, headed the Banks Board Bureau, it said. Special Feature BENCHMARK INDICES ENDED lower for the third consecutive session on Thursday, weighed down by hectic selling in IT, energy and finance stocks amid a sell-off in European equities.A depreciating rupee and continued selling by foreign investors also affected the market sentiment,traders said. Sensexended634.20points or 1.06% lower at 59,464.62, while Nifty plunged 181.40 points or1.01% to 17,757. Bajaj Finserv was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding 4.57% after announcing a drop in quarterly profit, fol- `/$ 74.25 74.30 Intra-day, January 20 (Inverted scale) 74.43 74.51 74.35 Pawan Gadia of Ferns N Petals says the company will invest over `150 crore in the next fiscal in India. Building offline stores and expanding overseas are on its agenda ■ BrandWagon, P7 PRESS TRUST OF INDIA New Delhi, January 20 CALIFORNIA-BASED TECHNOLOGY company Pixis (formerly known as Pyxis One) on Thursday said it has raised $100 million (about `743.8 crore) in funding, led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The Series C round also saw participationfromnewinvestor General Atlantic, and existing investorsCelestaCapital,Premji Invest,andChirataeVentures,a statement said. This round has enabled Pixis’ early investor Exfinity VenturePartnerstomakeapartial exit,it added. In a separate statement, Exfinity Venture Partners announced the sale of 2.54% of its holding in Pixis to existing institutional investors. “Exfinity has earned a stellar multiple of 37x from Pixis and are returning close to 30% of the total corpus of their fund. With the partial exit, Exfinity will continue to maintain a significant holding in Pixis,”it added. Pixis, which had closed a $17-millionSeriesBroundfour monthsago,hasraisedatotalof $124 million to date. Sensex AGENCIES Mumbai, January 20 Intra-day, January 20 60,250 60,045.48 60,000 59,464.62 59,750 59,500 59,250 59,000 Previous close 60,098.82 58,750 Open Close lowed by Infosys, TCS, Sun Pharma, HUL, HCL Tech, Dr Reddy’s, HDFC and Reliance Industries (RIL). Continued on Page 2 Brent ($/bbl) Intra-day, January 20 88.8 88.4 87.89 88.09 88.0 74.40 87.6 74.45 87.2 74.50 Previous close 74.43 74.55 Open Close 86.8 Open Close Continued on Page 2 REPORT CARD HUL profit rises 17% in Q3, revenues grow 10.4% Slowdown seen in rural areas from volume & value perspective, says CMD Sanjiv Mehta FE BUREAU Mumbai, January 20 ‘We will soon launch baby care and pet care services’ Pixis pockets $100 m in funding led by SoftBank HINDUSTAN UNILEVER (HUL) on Thursday reported an increaseof17%year-on-yearin netprofitsat`2,243croreinthe December 2021 quarter. Revenue from operations grew 10.4% y-o-y to `12,900 crore. Volumes,however,grew at 2%, halving overQ3FY21. TheFMCGmajormademarket share gains in rural and urbanmarketsacrosscategories and price segments. Sanjiv Mehta, CMD, HUL, said 30% of the company’s businesscomesfromprice-sensitive packs and that had impactedvolumes.“Alargepart A large part of India is price-sensitive and consumes lower-priced packs. So, as we adjust pricing, we try to hold on to the price and tighten the volume, which impacts the overall volumes. —SANJIV MEHTA, CMD, HUL Report card (` crore) Q3FY21 Q3FY22 Revenue from operations Ebitda 10.4 Ebitda margin (%) HUL (Intra-day on BSE, `, Jan 20) % change 2,340 Net profit 2,320 2,324 2,300 2,261.60 2,280 15 25.4 24.4 1,921 2,243 DCGI to take final call on mkt nod to Covishield, Covaxin ● BIG BACKING Sensex sinks 634 pts to end below 60,000 2,850 3,277 BUDGETARYALLOCATION for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MGNREGS) will likely be around `80,000 crore in 2022-23, against `98,000 crore allocated so far for 2021-22, according to official sources, reports Surya Sarathi Ray in New Delhi. HECTIC SELLING 11,682 12,900 IN THE NEWS Rural jobs scheme: `80,000-cr outlay likely in 2022-23 100 bps of India is price-sensitive and consumes lower-priced packs. So,asweadjustpricing,wetryto hold on to the price and tighten the volume,which impacts the overallvolumes,” he said. Thehomecaresegmentsus- 17 2,260 2,240 2,220 Previous close: 2,310.85 Open Close tained its strong double-digit growth momentum, growing at 23%, led by double digit growth in fabricwash and high teens in household care. Continued on Page 2 QuickPicks Centre front-loads tax transfers to states Ola e-scooters: Final Digital lending: FACE payment window opens seeks SRO tag from RBI THE CENTRE on Thursday announced the release of an extra instalment of monthly tax devolution for January, the second such release in FY22, reports fe Bureau in New Delhi. This is intended to strengthen the hands of states to boost their capital and developmental spends and ameliorate the adverse effects of the pandemic. PAGE 2 OLA ELECTRIC on Thursday said it will open the final payment window on January 21 at 6 pm for customers who have booked their S1 and S1 Pro electric scooters, reports fe Bureau in Chennai. The EV maker, facing flak for its delayed deliveries, will open the window only for those who have already paid `20,000 for the scooters. PAGE 4 FINTECH ASSOCIATION for Consumer Empowerment (FACE) on Thursday said it has applied to the RBI to take on the role of a self-regulatory organisation (SRO) in the digital lending industry, reports fe Bureau in Mumbai. FACE’s member companies cater to over half of the consumer lending market volumes in India. PAGE 9
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