MARKETS, P9 COMPANIES, P4 INTERNATIONAL, P8 NEW AVENUE OF TRADE SCALING NEW HEIGHTS A SURPRISE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Mechanism for trade settlement in rupee in progress: PNB's Goel Patanjali plans to launch five IPOs in the next five years Russia values China’s balanced stand on Ukraine: Putin tells Xi NEW DELHI, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL XLVIII NO. 170, 26 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: 59,934.01 ▼ 412.96 NIFTY: 18,003.75 ▼ 66.30 NIKKEI 225: 17,877.40 ▼ 126.35 HANG SENG: 18,930.38 ▲ 83.38 `/$: 79.70 ▼ 0.26 `/€: 79.65 ▼ 0.11 BRENT: $91.22 ▼ $2.88 GOLD: `49,842 ▼ `289 IN THE NEWS SCO summit: PM at talks table with Xi and Putin PM Narendra Modi left for Samarkand in Uzbekistan Thursday for the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, reports Shubhajit Roy in New Delhi. At the summit, all eyes will be on PM’s possible meeting with China President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. ■ PAGE 22 Fitch cuts India’s FY23 growth forecast to 7% FITCH RATINGS ON Thursday slashed its forecast of India's economic growth to 7% for FY23 from 7.8% announced earlier, reports fe Bureau in New Delhi. ■ PAGE 2 2Ws could take 5 years to rescale 20m-sale peak THE TWOWHEELER INDUSTRY may be able to rescale the 20-million-sale milestone only in the next five years, raising the possibility of a slower-than-expected increase in demand, reports Swaraj Baggonkar in New Delhi. ■ PAGE 4 Saudi pips Russia to be India's No. 2 oil supplier in Aug SAUDI ARABIA EMERGED as the second-biggest oil supplier to India after a three-month gap, overtaking Russia by a thin margin in August, reports Reuters. ■ PAGE 2 Benchmark yield posts steepest rise in 6 weeks THE YIELD ON 10-year benchmark bonds posted its sharpest rise in six weeks on Thursday, as market participants priced in an aggressive rate hike from RBI, reports Reuters. ■ PAGE 9 FE SPECIAL Inter-city logistics: Food for thought As Zomato makes its debut in inter-city food delivery, players in that space share insights ■ BrandWagon, P7 INVESTORS ISSUED PENALTIES, NOTICES Depositary receipts trade hits a bump Foreign investors converting DRs to equity under the regulator’s radar ASHLEY COUTINHO Mumbai, September 15 FOREIGN INVESTORS WHO convert depositary receipts (DRs) into equity and sell it on the Indian exchanges are facing roadblocks,with several at the receiving end of penalties and compounding notices fromthecentralbank,twopeople familiar with the matter said.DRs are instruments used bydomesticcompaniestoraise capital outside the country. Foreign investors, who tradeinIndianshares,maybuy American DepositoryReceipts and Global Depository Receipts of Indian companies overseas. Many of them convert it back into shares and sell it on the Indian exchanges. These are classified as foreign direct investment (FDI) transactions and require investors to file form FC-TRS (Foreign Currency Transfer of Shares) with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on a portal called CAUGHT IN REGULATORY MAZE One-day change (%) HDFC Bank 67.82 3.9 ICICI Bank 23.38 2.5 Tata Motors 28.09 0.25 5.1 18.08 AIR INDIA ON Thursday outlinedafive-yearroadmapaimed at re-establishing itself as a world–classcarrierwhileachievingamarketshareof30%inthe domesticmarket. The Tata group-owned airline, which plans to induct 30 new wide-body and narrowbody aircraft, said the plan is HIGH FLIERS 4.6 code-namedVihaan.AI,whichin Sanskrit means dawn of a new era.The airline would focus on expandingitsfleet,addingroutes & revamping the customer proposition.Air India reported a marketshareof8.4%inJuly.The total number of passengers flying annually in the country is expected to hit 400 million in aboutsevenyearsfrom200millionannuallyatpresent. “Over the next five years,Air India will strive to increase its 8.4 IndiGo Vistara* Air India* Go First SpiceJet AirAsia India* Others * Tata Group airlines; source: DGCA FC-TRSforaparticularinvestor can take several days orweeks, and there is no mechanism at present to intimate or inform other investors that the access to the portal is open again. What's more, the RBI has restricted foreign IP addresses and systems from accessing its websitesandportalssince2020 in the wake of suspected cyberattacksoncentralbanksystems. Continued on Page 2 New law in the offing for online games ADITYA KALRA New Delhi, September 15 23, 2022,” the auditors mentioned in the financial statements.Blackstone Group and AESL founders, JC Chaudhry and Aakash Chaudhry, were also set to receive minority shares in Byju’s; the transaction is pending for approval in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT),according to financial statements. A GOVERNMENT PANEL has called for creation of a regulatory body to classify online games as based on skill or chance, introduce rules to block prohibited formats and take a stricter stance on gambling websites in the country. The panel of top government officials has, for months, been drafting regulations for the country's online gaming sector,where foreign investors suchasTigerGlobalandSequoia Capital have backed gaming startups Dream11 and Mobile PremierLeague,hugelypopular forfantasycricket. The much-awaited report, seen by Reuters,will shape the future of the mobile gaming industry in India, estimated to reach $5 billion by 2025, from $1.5 billion this year. It comes amid rising concerns over games causing addiction and ‘inconsistent state laws’ disrupting business. Simply defining games has been contentious.The Supreme Court says the card game rummy&certainfantasygames are skill-based and legal,but at least one state court classified games such as poker as chancebased, or akin to gambling, whichisbannedinmoststates. Continued on Page 8 Continued on Page 2 SALMAN S H Bengaluru, September 15 AAKASH DEAL UNDER A CLOUD ■ InApril 2021, Byju’s signed a deal to purchase Aakash ■ Byju’s is reported to be in talks with investors to raise over $500 million at a valuation of $23 billion ■ An amount of `1,983.49 crore is cash payment was due to be paid by June 2022, extended to Sept 23, 2022 Well served! Federer to retire MARTYN HERMAN September 15 ROGER FEDERER, REGARDED by many as the greatest male player to wield a tennis racket andwho took the sporttonewlevelsduringacareerspanningmorethantwodecades,willretire afternextweek'sLaverCupinLondon. The 41-year-old, who won 20 Grand Slam singles titles and redefined a sport with his artistry and grace,brokethenewstennisfansacross theworldhavelongfearedinalengthy statement on Thursday.A knee injury meanthehasnotplayedamatchsince losing at last year's Wimbledon, although many still hoped he could comebackforonelastgoldenfarewell. 58.8 10.4 Source: investing.com FIRMS (Foreign Investment Reporting and Management System),within 60 days. But there is a catch. At a point in time, there could be multiple foreign investors selling the shares of the same company. FIRMs allows only sequential access. This means as soon as one of the foreign investors initiates the process of filing FC-TRS, the portal blocks access to all otherinvestors.Processing the 1.6 8 8.2 2.6 Infosys CAMPBELL WILSON MD & CEO, AIR INDIA Market share of domestic airlines in July 2022 (%) 0.4 Wipro Byju’s has a week to pay Blackstone, others `1,983 cr EDTECH MAJOR BYJU’S is scheduled to settle cash dues to the tune of nearly `1,983.47 crore to Blackstone and other parties in about a week’s time. These relate to the acquisition of Aakash Educational Services (AESL), according to the FY21 financial statement. The company must also allocate equityshares to Blackstone and AESL worth `2,007.74 crore, once the mergerwithAESLiscompleted. Byju’s is reported to be in talks with investors,including Abu Dhabi’s Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) and QatarInvestment Authority (QIA) to raise over $500 million (about `3,900 crore) at a valuation of around $23 billion. A previous funding round in March this year, for a reported amount of $800 million,was not concluded. “As per the terms of the agreement for acquisition of Aakash Educational Services, consideration to the extent of `1,983 crore was due to be paid by the company to the sellers in June,2022.This has been deferred to September Code-named Vihaan.AI, the roadmap seeks to re-establish it as a world-class carrier FE BUREAU Mumbai, September 15 ADRs of Indian companies listed on NYSE CMP ($) AI unveils 30% market share plan GAME, SET, MATCH THE LAVER CUP NEXTWEEK IN LONDON WILL BE MY FINALATP EVENT. I WILL PLAY MORE TENNIS IN THE FUTURE, OF COURSE, BUT JUST NOT IN GRAND SLAMS OR ON THE TOUR ROGER FEDERER, TENNIS GREAT Continued on Page 10 New Delhi Vihaan.AI is our transformation plan to make AI the world class airline it once was, and that it deserves to be again market share to at least 30% in the domestic market while significantly growing the international routes from the present marketshare. Continued on Page 10