OPINION, P6 ECONOMY, P12 SIDDHARTH PAI NFTs capitalise on the need to own things and bragging rights BACK PAGE, P24 EDITORIAL BID TO IMPROVE TRANSPARENCY CONCERNS ON COMPETITIVE CONDUCT The government has shown pragmatism on LIC offer, but disinvestment needs step-up Piyush Goyal pushes for self-regulatory standards for start-ups Parliamentary panel to summon Google, other Big Tech firms NEW DELHI, FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2022 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE READ TO LEAD VOL XLVIII NO. 50, 28 PAGES, `10.00 (PATNA & RAIPUR `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 SENSEX: 57,521.06 ▲ 701.67 NIFTY: 17245.05 ▲ 206.65 NIKKEI 225: 26,847.90 ▲ 461.27 HANG SENG: 20,276.17 ▲ 329.81 `/$: 76.49 ▲ 0.04 `/€: 80.48 ▲ 0.76 BRENT: $105.18 ▼ $0.14 GOLD: `51,276.00 ▼ `187.00 PE FIRMS, BANKS GIVE FUND ASSURANCE FPIS HOLD 25.6% IN TOP 75 STOCKS VS 24.8% OF DOMESTIC INVESTORS Domestic investors set to pip JSW ready with FPIs in ownership of stocks $11-bn war chest 6.9 for Holcim India 9 MALINI BHUPTA Mumbai, April 28 IN THE NEWS Sebi halves listing time for REITs, InvITs to 6 days THE SECURITIES & Exchange Board of India on Thursday said that the time taken for allotment and listing of REITs and InvITs after issue closure would be cut to six working days, reports Ruchit Purohit in Mumbai. The requirement now is 12 working days. Panel to discuss Trai suggestions on 5G auction THE DIGITAL Communications Commission will discuss the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai) recommendations on the 5G spectrum auction on Friday, reports Kiran Rathee in New Delhi. Tata Motors aims to build 80,000 EVs in FY23 TATA MOTORS expects to ramp up annual production of electric vehicles (EVs) to over 80,000 units this financial year, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Special Features ‘Spotify India has maximum pricing plans’ There’s a pricing option for every kind of user, says Spotify’s Amarjit Singh Batra ■ BrandWagon, P7 ■ An array ofIndian and foreign RAJESH KURUP Mumbai, April 28 THE RACE FOR theacquisition of a controlling stake in Holcim Group’s cement businesses in India is becoming intense,with SajjanJindal-ledJSWGroupliningupanarrayofprivateequity firms and lenders to fund the deal.Themovefollowsasimilar arrangement by the Adani Group, helmed by billionaire Gautam Adani,which is also in discussions with a number of global lenders. Sources familiar with the developments said JSW Group has got assurances for funds of up to $11 billion from PE firms andlenders.TheyincludeAmerican PE major Carlyle Group, AdventInternationalandApollo Private Equity Investment, amongothers,whohadevinced interest to jointly bid for Holcim’s twin assets, Ambuja Cements andACC. Further, an array of Indian and foreign lenders has also promised support by way of loans,ifrequired,thesourcessaid. lenders has also promised their support byway ofloans, ifrequired ■ Holcim’s assets ■ JSWGroup's move follows a similar arrangement by the Adani Group,which is also in discussions with a number of global lenders ■ Carlyle Group, Advent International, Apollo PE Investment have given assurances for funds toJSW in India include Ambuja Cements andACC ■ JSWGroup has an installed capacity of16 mtpa as ofMarchend,with plans to increase it to 25 mtpa by FY24 “About five PE majors have extended their support to the deal, while assurances from seven-eightbanksandfinancial institutions are also on the table,” a source in the banking circle said. “Teams of many of the biddersarealreadyinZurich,asthey expect the final contours of the ■ Ambuja Cements has an installed capacity of 31.45 mtpa, while ACC has a production capacity of 34.45 mtpa of cement proposaltobetabledsoon.Talks have further hardened and moved up from the initial stages, and at present, the deal size is pegged at about $10 billion, but with many suitors in thefray,itcouldevenriseto$13 billion,” anothersource said. Indian retailers have long contended that Amazon and Flipkart’s platforms benefit a few big sellers via predatory pricing The firms, Amazon has however, say an indirect they comply equity stake with all Indian in both the laws sellers raided were not public. Two other sources said some sellers on Walmart’s Flipkart platform were also Top 75 companies (in %) 45.1 Controlling stakeholders FE BUREAUS New Delhi/Mumbai, April 28 Continued on Page 2 Continued on Page 2 ● SINGH BLAMES STATES AS CRISIS WORSENS Centre-state divide, now on power FE BUREAUS New Delhi/Mumbai, April 28 UNION POWER MINISTERRKSingh on Thursday came down heavily on some state governments who he felt were not taking adequate steps to address aworsening electricitycrisis in the country.Several states,he said, were not lifting domestic coal on a warfooting,steppingupfuelimports and allowing pass-through of high fuel costs. Attributing the acute power shortage in the countryto a big jump in consumption, the minister said: “There will be some shortages because there are states which have not made the payments to gencos.In other places, they could not lift coal Energy shortage 200 (million units) Power consumption 198.51 150 100 127 100 82 50 50 0 (billion units) 150 109.8 0 Oct 12, 2021 April 27, 2022 (even the fuel was made available). Part of the crisis is because of their (states’) wrong planning.” The country’s electricityshortage widened to an unprecedentedlyhigh level of 198.5 million units (mu) on Thursday. Power consumption, Financial institutions Domestic mutual funds NCLT to hear Future case on May 12 being raided by officers of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), but there were no immediate details. “This is a significant development as generallyCCI doesn’t do searches in non-cartel cases,” a former official of the competition regulator told Reuters. “Doing dawn raids to unearth complex economic activities is a new domain for the regulator.” Amazon, which has an indirect equity stake in both the sellers raided, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did Flipkart. Cloudtail,Appario and the regulator also did not immediately respond to emailed queries. Continued on Page 2 CCI raids top domestic sellers of Amazon,Flipkart THE COUNTRY’SANTITRUST body launched raids early on Thursday against two top domestic sellers of online retail giant Amazon.com Inc, and some on Walmart’s Flipkart, following accusations of competition law violations, sources told Reuters. Indian retailers, key supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have long contended that Amazon and Flipkart’s platforms benefit a few big sellers via predatory pricing, though the companies say they comply with all Indian laws. The two Amazon sellers figuring in Thursday’s raids were Cloudtail and Appario, two sources said on condition of anonymity, as the details Continued on Page 2 Ownership pattern for March 2022 THE MUMBAI BENCH of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Thursday sought responses from Future Retail (FRL) on a petition by Bank of India (BoI), seeking initiation of insolvency proceedings against the ailing retail chain. The tribunal’s bench, comprising Justice PN Deshmukh and member SB Gautam, will hear the case on May 12. The tribunal will initially consider whetherto admitthispetition, andonceitadmitsthepetition, all ongoing court proceedings involving the company would be suspended. A moratorium is also imposed on the company on alienation of assets. BoI,which has an exposure of `1,441.62 crore to the Kishore Biyani-led FRL, had moved the NCLT in mid-April to recover the debt.The lender has also sought appointment of Vijaykumar Iyer, partner at Deloitte,as the insolvencyprofessional. BoI was represented by senior counsel Ravi Kadam. The total exposure of banks to FRL is estimated to be at about `17,000 crore and the figure could climb to as high as `25,000 crore,if debt defaults continue,some of its creditors said in a court proceeding in a separate matter. BoI is also the lead lenderin the banks’consortium. CLOUDTAIL AND APPARIO UNDER LENS ADITYA KALRA New Delhi, April 28 INDIA’S OUTPERFORMANCE COMPARED to other markets intheMarchquarterisbecause of persistent buying by retail investors. From being price takers,“domestic investors are now marginal price setters with their persistent bid,” says Morgan Stanley Research. Support for India’s stock market has come from retail investors as they continued to stock up on equities quarter- on-quarter, as other financial instruments fetch relatively muted returns,the report said. The combined holdings of mutual funds and retail investors in direct equities has risen by 600 basis points (bps) since 2015 while the share of foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) is down 150 bps. Retailinvestorshavecontinuedtoraisetheirholdingsinthe top75listedfirmsby81bpssequentiallyintheMarchquarter. Jan 2021 April 2022* * Data till April 27, extrapolated Source: CEA which has been on an upswing after the pandemic abated, has accelerated furtheramid a pick-up inindustrial activity and a sweltering summer. Continued on Page 2 New Delhi 9 public 4.5 NRI & others 25.6 FPIs Indian
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