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APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL XLVIII NO. 85, 24 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: 54,892.49 ▼ 214.85 NIFTY: 16,356.25 ▼ 60.10 NIKKEI 225: 28,234.29 ▲ 290.34 HANG SENG: 22,014.59 ▲ 482.92 `/$: 77.74 ▼ 0.03 `/€: 83.20 ▼ 0.22 BRENT: $122.03 ▲ $1.46 GOLD: `50,868 ▲ `11 RBI RAISES REPO RATE BY 50 BPs TO 4.9% TO TAME INFLATION Rate hike II done, more coming Focus now on withdrawal of accommodation IN THE NEWS GST collections may be around `1.35 trn in June E-WAY BILLS generated by businesses for interstate commerce in May was marginally down from April, but significantly higher than the year-ago month, suggesting that June GST collections will likely be around `1.35 trillion, reports Prasanta Sahu in New Delhi. Govt's proactive steps helped deal with Covid: FM FINANCE MINISTER Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the Centre’s proactive policies and timely interventions helped the country deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, reports fe Bureau in New Delhi. Unacademy to launch 15 offline centres in a month EDTECH startup Unacademy, which has laid off more than 600 of its employees so far this calendar year, now plans to launch offline centres, reports Tushar Goenka in Bengaluru. Special Feature Indian creators find meme path to Reels success Instagram is witnessing growing meme culture, with creative memes getting millions of views ■ eFE, P7 SHRITAMA BOSE Mumbai, June 8 THE RESERVE BANK of India’s monetarypolicycommittee(MPC) in its June meeting hiked the repo rate for a second straight month and stated that itwould nowfocus on withdrawal of accommodation while dropping all mention of an accommodative stance from its script. The MPC unanimously raised the repo rate by 50 basis points to 4.9% — the biggest increase in more than a decade. RBIgovernorShaktikanta Das admitted that the ratesetting panel was set to fail in its mandate,withinflationovershooting the upper bound of its target range of 2-6% forthree quarters in a row.“Inflationary pressures have become broad-based and remain largely driven by adverse supply shocks.Therearegrowingsignsofa higher pass-through of input costs to selling prices,” Das said on Wednesday, adding: “The MPC noted that inflation is likely to remain above the upper tolerance band of 6% through the first three quarters of 2022-23.” TheMPCraiseditsinflationpro- MITHALI RAJ, WHO called time on her 23-year cricketing career onWednesday,had a big hand in the growing prominenceofwomensportspersons in the country. In the process, she was among the handful of sportswomen sought out by brands to be theirendorser. Among the brands she promoted during her career are Australian wine brand Jacob’s Creek,NewZealand-basedbatmaker Laver and Wood, cosmetics brand L’Oreal, American Tourister, and, more recently,AssociationofMutual Funds in India (Amfi). ExpertssayRaj’sbrandvalue maygodownafewnotchesafter her retirement as it happens EXPERIENCE TEACHES US THAT PRESERVING PRICE STABILITY IS THE BEST GUARANTEE TO ENSURE LASTING GROWTH AND PROSPERITY” —SHAKTIKANTA DAS RBI GOVERNOR MONETARY POLICY Continued on Page 2 Demand may take a knock SHUBHRATANDON Mumbai, June 8 markordepositcosts,interestrates are likely to go up,” Dinesh Khara, chairman,SBI,told aTVchannel. THE JUMP IN interest costs for As of December 2021, nearly retail households and micro,small 40%of allfloating rateloansin the and medium enterprises (MSMEs) banking system were linked to could lead to contraction in external benchmarks, 53% to the demand of as much as `45,000 MCLs and a little over 5% was crore.According to Soumya Kanti linked to the base rate. ApproxiGhosh, chief economately, 60% of housmist, State Bank of RELATED REPORTS ing loans were linked India (SBI), every 1 to external bench■ Yields fall as RBI basispointincreasein marks, including the promises smooth the repo has an repo rate. conduct of govt impact of around RC Bhargava, borrowing, P8 `305croreoninterest chairman, Maruti costs for retail & Suzuki India, told FE ■ Linking credit MSME consumers. that costlier loans cards to UPI to “Should the terminal would adversely drive higher reporategoto5.75%, impact two-wheelers acceptance, P8 this would add up to where demand was an annualised weak, though for pas`45,000 crore. If incomes senger vehicles it might not make don’tgoup,thismeansacon- much of a difference. traction in demand of a simCostlier loans,coupled with risilar amount,”he said. ing home prices, could upset the Both corporate and con- momentumintherealestatespace. sumer loans will become Rohit Gera, MD, Gera Developpricier after the Reserve ments, said the higher borrowing Bank of India (RBI) on costs will hurt developers who are Wednesday hiked the repo already facing severe margin presrate by50 bps to 4.9%. sure on account of inflation in raw “Givenabout75%of material prices. the book is linked to eitheranexternalbench- Continued on Page 2 DoT TO REVISE CABINET NOTE ON 5G Govt favours airwaves for private enterprises KIRAN RATHEE New Delhi, June 8 THE DEPARTMENT OF Telecommunications (DoT) is revising its proposal on allowing enterprises to build their own 5G private networks for captive needs. According to official sources, the revised proposal will have the provision that the government can directly allocate spectrum to enterprises to build such networks. In its earlier proposal, sources said, the DoT had recommended that enterprises take spectrum either on lease from the telecom operators or get their networks built by them. Trai had also recommended direct allocation to enterprises.However,since the DigitalCommunicationsCom- Brand Mithali Raj can still keep the scoreboard ticking CHRISTINA MONIZ & ALOKANANDA CHAKRABORTY Mumbai/New Delhi, June 8 jectionforFY23to6.7%from5.7% earlier. Das took care to highlight that around 75% of the increase in inflation projections can be attributed to the food group which, in turn,isbeinginfluencedbyexternal factors.“Further,thebaselineinflation projection of 6.7% for 202223 does not take into account the impact of monetary policy actions taken today,”he said. The MPC held on to its April assessment of economic growth for FY23 and retained its projection for real gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 7.2%,with Q1 at 16.2%, Q2 at 6.2%, Q3 at 4.1% and Q4 at 4%. Surplus liquidity in the system remains above pre-pandemic levels, Das said. He sought to assuage concerns about the pace of liquiditywithdrawal,saying that the process will be a calibrated one,taking care of the credit needs of the economy. “Given the elevated uncertainties of the current period, we have remained dynamic and pragmatic rather than being bound by stereotypes and conventions,”he added. Many experts expect rate hikes to continue in the months ahead, with the RBI keen on shoring up its credentials as an inflation fighter. with most retired sportspersons,but there areways she can keepitgoingasherpersonarepresents consistency, dependability, versatility, among some otherattributes. Rahul Trehan, chief operating officer, IOS Sports & Entertainment, says, “Upon retirement, the endorsement value of any sportsperson goes down — irrespective of the gender or sport. Our estimate is, it erodes by 25-30% and that’s going to happen with Raj too. That said, she is a legend and has tremendous recall in the country and even internationally. mission (DCC) — the highest policymaking body in the sector—hadruledthisout,theDoT had not incorporated it in its draft Cabinet note. Some sections of the government were also of the view that the direct allocation route should be madeavailableandtheDoTwas Valuable player advised to considerthe same. It is understood that for a broader consensus to emerge on this issue among different wings of the government, 5G spectrum pricing and other related issues have not been taken up by the Union Cabinet so far. Once these changes are incorporated, the matter may be taken up by the Cabinet at its next meeting. The inclusion of this clause is likely to upset the telecom operators who may then rework their entire bidding strategy.As reported by FE earlier, the three telecom operators — Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea — have put up joint opposition on any move to allow enterprises to directlybuildprivatenetworks. Continued on Page 10 BRAND ENDORSEMENTS ■ Jacob's Creek ■ Royal Challenge ■ So Good ■ AmericanTourister ■ L'Oréal ■ Allen Solly ■ Laver and ■ Association Wood ■ Uber ■ Joyalukkas ■ NexGen Fitness Studio 7,805 runs by Raj in 232 ODIs, most in the format of Mutual Funds in India ■ RioTinto’s American Diamonds ■ Fast&Up India On the other hand,we have up and comingwomen cricketers like Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur who are in great demand these days.” So,the estimate is, if Raj takes home `50 lakh per endorsement currently,itwould be in the range of `30-35 lakh post retirement. In anycase,at an estimated `50 lakh per endorsement, Raj’s fees have been significantly lower than many other women sporting legends, not to mention her male counterparts. Continued on Page 10 New Delhi Moderate hike in MSPs amid inflation worries SANDIP DAS New Delhi, June 8 THE GOVERNMENT ON Wednesday announced a 5-9% increase in minimum support prices (MSPs) for summer-sown crops in the 2022-23 season. These rates, the highest since 2018-19,were still lower than expected, given the big spike in prices of assorted farming inputs — from seeds and fertilisers to electricity and transportation. TheCabinetCommitteeonEconomicAffairs (CCEA),which cleared the recommendations of theCommitteeofAgriculturalCostsandPrices, struck a balance between the twin objectives of providing income support to farmers and reining in the runawayfood inflation. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which met in Mumbai overthe last three days, notedthat“continuingshockstofoodinflation could sustain pressures on headline inflation”. Among the increases in MSP announced, the sharpest was for soyabean (yellow) at 9%, while paddy MSP was raised by 5% to `2,040 per quintal. Continued on Page 10 Annual increase in MSP for kharif crops (%) 4 - 28 2018-19 2-9 2019-20 2020-21 3-5 2021-22 1-5 5-9 2022-23 0 Source: CACP 5 10 15 20 25 30