MARKETS, P7 COMPANIES, P4 INTERNATIONAL, P8 MORE CLARITY NEEDED ON ARMS' TREATMENT PROFITABLE MODELS PRIORITY ELON MUSK TEASES NEW PLAN HDFC-HDFC Bank merger likely to be completed in 8-10 months: Jagdishan JLR plans to cut production as chip crisis drags on Twitter's verified service with colours begins next week KOCHI, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2022 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL XLIV 172, 12 PAGES, `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: 62,293.64 ▲ 20.96 NIFTY: 18,512.75 ▲ 28.65 NIKKEI 225: 28,283.03 ▼ 100.06 HANG SENG: 17,573.58 ▼ 87.32 `/$: 81.68 ▼ 0.05 `/€: 84.90 ▼ 0.14 BRENT: $86.26 ▲ $0.83 GOLD: `52,444 ▼ `111 IN THE NEWS Sebi brings buying, selling of MFs under insider trading rules SEBI HAS BROUGHT mutual funds under the ambit of the insider trading regulations through a gazette notification on Thursday, reports Ashley Coutinho. Until now, such rules applied only to securities of listed companies or those proposed to be listed. ■ PAGE 7 GST Council to hold its next meeting on December 17 THE GOODS AND Services Tax (GST) Council will hold its next meeting on December 17, reports fe Bureau. "The 48th Meeting will be held on December 17 by video conference," said a tweet by GST Council. Its last meeting was held in June this year. Irdai board approves sweeping changes in regulations IRDAI ON FRIDAY approved major changes in rules concerning registration of insurance companies, raising the maximum limit of tie-ups for corporate agents and insurance marketing firms and facilitating ease of raising capital by insurers, reports Mithun Dasgupta. ■ PAGE 12 Railways to seek `1.5 trn as Budget support for FY24 THE RAILWAYS WILL likely seek a gross budgetary support of around `1.5 trillion for 2023-24, up from the outlay of `1.37 trillion for the current financial year, according to an official source, reports Surabhi. ■ PAGE 3 FE S P E C I A L Move over Nandi Hills, Gudibande Fort is far serene Driving the Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder from Bengaluru to Gudibande Fort, via NH44. ■ Motobahn, P8 TO FUND GREEN & DIGITAL BUSINESS FORAY ● RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR, minister of state for IT & electronics Adani to raise `20k cr ‘Platforms will have to in India’s biggest FPO delete all past user data’ FE BUREAU Mumbai, November 25 THE BOARD OF Adani Enterprises (AEL)onFridayapprovedtheraising of `20,000 crore in the country’s largest follow-on public offering (FPO) of new shares, beating Yes Bank’s`15,000-croreissuein2020. The proposed fund raise comes as the group led by Gautam Adani aggressively expands into sectors such as cement and healthcare, amid some concerns about its elevated debt levels and large promoter shareholding. In a stock exchange filing, the company also declared that the approval of shareholders will be sought through a postal ballot. Accordingtoreports,theproceedsof the FPO will be used to fund the group's forayinto the green and digital businesses.Additionally, it will also provide a bulk of the equity FRESH SHARE ISSUE ■ Adani's FPO to Adani Enterprises Intra-day on NSE ■ Promoters beatYes Bank's `15,000-cr issue in 2020 3,960 currently hold 72.63% shares of Adani Enterprises 3,901.1 3,910 3,860 3,929 3,810 Previous close: 3,921.1 3,760 Open Close ■ AELstock has jumped 133% in the last 12 months, giving it a market value of ■ Of the remaining 27.37%, almost 20% is held by insurers and FPIs requiredforitsaggressiveexpansion plans overthe next three-fiveyears. Overthelastseveralquarters,the Adani group made public a series of aggressive growth plans across sectors to be executed through expansions and acquisitions. `4.46 trillion INSIDE Adani wants to build a global news brand PAGE 4 Continued on Page 2 Govt to sell 5-10% in five PSUs to raise `16,500 cr the matter,reports Bloomberg. The government is looking to sell 5-10% through the offer-forsale mechanism, the people said, asking not to be identified as the detailsaren’tyetpublic.Atcurrent prices,sales at the lowerend of the rangecouldfetchthegovernment THEGOVERNMENTPLANStosell small stakes in five state-run firms, including Coal India, Hindustan Zinc, Rashtriya Chemicals andFertilisers,torideastockmarketboomandboostrevenueinthe final quarter of the financial year, according to people familiar with some `16,500 crore. Local stocks are at a record high, supported by a healthy pace of economic growth,and the cash raised will the Union government fund its subsidy bill that has surgedpartlybecauseofthewarin Ukraine. ■ Page 3 Firms will have to collect data afresh, tell users purpose JATIN GROVER & RISHI RAJ New Delhi, November 25 ONCE THE DATA Protection Bill becomes a law after Parliament passes it during the Budget session, citizens can intimate to all digital platforms to delete their past data, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for information technology and electronics (MoS for IT & electronics),told FE on Friday. The minister said the Big Tech firms’ power, which is a result of them sitting on huge amount of consumer data, will thus get minimised. “No more can they monetise consumer data by using it for any purpose,”he said. The companies concerned will need to collect data afresh from users and spell out clearly the purpose and usage. They will be booked for data breach if they depart from the purpose forwhich it was collected, he said. Further, the onus of data breach as a result of theft by employees will lie with the company concerned and the Data Protection Board will levy the penalty on the company, the maximum amount of which has been fixed at `500 crore. Speaking about how the Bill is consumer-friendly, Chandrasekhar said that such provisions will empower the users who will decide how their data is used. “We have takencaretoseethatthere'snoloophole wherein firms dealing with data say that data residing with thembeforethelawcameintoforce, can be used the way they want as it predates the law,”the minister said. Chandrasekhar said that firms like Zomato, Swiggy, Ola, Uber, Flipkart, Amazon and the likes have been there for years and, therefore, sitting on a lot of consumer data, which was collected and used all these years without the consumers having any rights and the companies any responsibility. All this is going to change after the Bill becomes a law. “Once the Bill becomes a law,consumerscanaskthemastowhatinformation they have regarding them. Andiftheydon’tliketheinformation thattheyhaveofthemortheamount ofinformation,theycanaskthefirms to delete them,” the minister said. “This Bill will create a significant behavioural change for all those who collect data because this Billhas,forthefirsttime,asection called obligations of a data fiduciary,” he added. No more can they (digital platforms) monetise consumer data by using it for any purpose." "Once the (data protection) Bill becomes a law, consumers can ask them (platforms) as to what information they have regarding them." Continued on Page 2 Panel set up to give rural jobs scheme a facelift SANDIP DAS New Delhi, November 25 WITH THE DEMAND for work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) continuing to be above the pre-pandemic level, the governmenthasformedapaneltoreviewthepopularschemewith theintenttoimproveitsefficacy in addressing poverty. The panel would examine expenditure trends across various states and identify reasons for variations in expenditure and would also redesign work opportunities available underthis scheme,Nagendra Nath Sinha,secretary,ministryof rural development,told FE. “It will also recommend institutional mechanisms,including governance and administrative structures, for more effective utilisation of the funds,”he added. The nine-memberexpert panel,headed by Amarjeet Sinha, former secretary in the ministry,will give its report in three months. In 2021-22, `0.98 trillion was spent under MG-NREGS and in the current year, `0.73 trillion has been budgetted for the job guarantee scheme. The government had spent a record `1.1 trillion under NREGS in FY21 as it used it to address the rural distress caused by the pandemic. Though the fiscal cost of the scheme is THE ALLOCATION (` trillion) 0.61 2018-19 0.71 2019-20 1.11 2020-21 0.98 2021-22 0.73 2022-23* *Budget Estimate, an additional amount of `25,000 crore to be sought by the rural development ministry huge,thegovernmenthasbeenliberalwiththe outlayforthe scheme,but concerns have been expressed by some quarters about the scheme’s alleged misuse in certain pockets of the country. Continued on Page 2 After edtech,Amazon to shut food unit FE BUREAU New Delhi, November 25 A LITTLE OVER two years after starting it, Amazon is shutting down its food delivery service from December 29, according to a communicationsentbytheUSe-commerce giant to its restaurant partners in the country.“This decision means that you will no longer get orders from customers via AmazonFoodafterthisdate.Youwillcontinueto receive orders till then andwe expectyou to continue fulfilling those orders,” a mail sent byAmazon to its restaurant partners,said. Amazon had launched the food delivery business in India in May 2020 in parts of Bengaluru and later expanded the service acrossthecity,butitneverheavilymarketed orpromoted the platform. ThedevelopmentcomesadayafterAmazon said that it is shutting down its edtech platform in the country. Globally, the company plans to lay off thousands of employees.Other digital platforms like Twitter and Meta have also recentlyfired thousands. Amazonhastolditsrestaurantspartners thatitiscommittedtomeetallitspayments and other contractual obligations. RestaurantswillhaveaccesstoallAmazontoolsand reports till January 31,2023,and it will also provide support till March 31 for any com- OFFTHE MENU ■ Amazon had launched the food delivery business in India in May 2020 in parts of Bengaluru Restaurants will have access to all Amazon tools and reports till January 31, 2023 ■ ■ It later expanded across the city, but never heavily marketed or promoted the platform pliance-related issues. “Aspartofourannualoperatingplanning reviewprocess,wehavemadethedecisionto discontinue Amazon Food, our pilot food delivery business in Bengaluru,” Amazon said.“We don’t take these decisions lightly. We are discontinuing these programmes in aphasedmannertotakecareofcurrentcustomers andpartners,andwearesupporting our affected employees during this transition,” it added. The company said that it remains committed to the Indian market and will continue to invest across grocery,smartphones ■ It will also provide support till March 31 for any compliancerelated issues ■ Comes a day after the US giant said it is shutting down its edtech platform and consumer electronics, fashion and beauty,aswellasB2BofferingssuchasAmazon Business. Even after making investmentsof$6.5billioninIndiainthelasteight years,Amazon has not been able to become profitable in the country with negative Ebitda margins of 5-10%. OnThursday,Amazonsaiditwillbeshutting its online learning platform,Amazon Academy, where it prepared students for competitive exams, in India. It will begin winding down the unit in a phased manner beginningAugust2023andwillinitiateafull refund of the fees. KOCHI