NATION, P17 COMPANIES, P4 BACK PAGE, P24 BEST IN THEIR FIELD TO BE PLACED BEFORE CoC IN BCCI’S COFFERS Sudha Murty, Kumar Mangalam Birla in Padma Bhushan list Future Retail’s Kishore Biyani resigns as executive chairman Women’s IPL fetches `4,699-crore bids; Adani arm gets Ahmedabad CHENNAI/KOCHI, THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2023 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL XLIV 223, 24 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: 60,205.06 ▼ 773.69 NIFTY: 17,891.95 ▼ 226.35 NIKKEI 225: 27,395.01 ▲ 95.82 HANG SENG: 22,044.65 ▲ 393.67 `/$: 81.59 ▲ 0.13 `/€: 88.78 ▲ 0.03 BRENT: $86.31 ▲ $0.18 GOLD: `56,903 ▲ `162 IN THE NEWS Markets slip amid monthly expiry & weak global cues THE BENCHMARK INDICES retreated more than 1% on Wednesday amid weak global cues and volatility on the monthly F&O expiry day, reports Ashley Coutinho. The BSE Sensex fell 773 points (1.27%) to close at 60,205 on Wednesday. ■ PAGE 9 Govt raises `8,000 cr in green bonds debut THE GOVERNMENT SOLD its maiden tranche of green bonds worth `8,000 crore on Wednesday, reports Ajay Ramanathan. The RBI auctioned `4,000 crore of five-year bonds at a coupon rate of 7.1% while it auctioned another `4,000 crore of 10-year bonds at 7.29%. ■ PAGE 9 RCap lenders take back NCLAT appeal LENDERS OF DEBTLADEN Reliance Capital (RCap), who had filed an appeal before NCLAT against the bankruptcy court’s ruling to maintain status quo, have withdrawn their plea, reports Rajesh Kurup. ■ PAGE 19 EXPLAINER An Android challenger in the offing ■ PAGE 17 GROUP FIRMS’ SHARES SLUMP Adanis dismiss US firm’s allegations Hindenburg cites RIPPLE EFFECT Adani Enterprises accounting fraud; malicious,sayAdanis 3,450 3,420 3,389.85 3,420 ASHLEY COUTINHO Mumbai, January 25 SHARES OF ADANI Group companies slumped by up to 8.1% on Wednesday, eroding the combined market capitalisation by nearly `87,000 crore,afterUS-based forensic financial research firm Hindenburg Research released a 103-page report alleging accounting fraud, stockmanipulationandimproperuse ofoffshoretaxhavensbythegroup. The Adanis, however, dismissed the report.“We are shocked that Hindenburg Research has published a report on 24 January 2023 without making any attempt to contact us or verifythefactualmatrix.Thereportis a malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations that have been tested and rejected by India’s highest courts,” Adani Group CFO JugeshinderSinghsaidinastatement Wednesdayafternoon. Adani Enterprises (AEL),the flagship entityofAdani Group,slid 1.5% on the day of commencement of its `20,000crorefollow-onoffering. Continued on Page 8 Adani Transmission 2,850 2,750 3,390 2,650 3,360 2,749.95 2,511.75 2,550 2,450 Prev close: 3,442.75 2,350 Prev close: 2,756.15 3,300 Open Close Open Close 3,330 Adani Ports & SEZ Ambuja Cement 765 510 750 735 753 495 712.90 720 705 690 498.40 460.10 480 465 Prev close: 760.85 Open Close Intra-day on BSE, Jan 25 (`) 450 435 Prev close: 498.55 Open Close `87,000 crore Market cap wiped off on Wednesday 819% Average appreciation in the group’s seven key listed companies in last three years FPO anchor book gets 1.5x bids THE ANCHOR book for the follow on public offering of Adani Enterprises was oversubscribed on Wednesday, with the company finalizing allocation of 18.26 million equity shares to 33 investors, aggregating to about `6,000 crore, reports fe Bureau. Foreign institutional investors including the likes of Abu Dhabi InvestmentAuthority,Maybank Asia, Goldman Sachs, Nomura, Societe Generale, Jupiter, BNP Paribas, Al Mehwar, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley bid for the offer. A number of Mauritiusbased funds were among the participants. ■ PAGE 9 Google rejigs Android policy Allows users to choose default search engine JATIN GROVER New Delhi, January 25 AFTER FAILING TO get a stay from the Supreme Court, Google on Wednesday introduced changes to its Android policy in the country, like allowing users to choose their default search engine on Androidbased smartphones. The changes are as perthe orderof the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and also include allowing original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) or smartphone makers the liberty to license individual Google apps for pre-installation on their devices. On January 19, while declining to stay CCI's order, which directed the tech major to make changes to its Android ecosystem, SC granted Google a week's extension for com- TOEING THE LINE ■ The tech giant will allow device makers to license individual Google apps for preinstallation, option for choice ofdefault search engine, user choice billing, among others The CCI’s recent directives for Android and Play require us to make significant changes for India, and today we have informed the CCI of how we will be complying with their directives pliance.Theextendeddeadlineends on January 26. In a blog post on its website on Wednesday, Google said that it has allowed device makers to license individual Google apps for preinstallation, option for choice of default search engine, user choice billing, among others."We take our commitment to comply with local laws and regulations in India seriously. The Competition Commission of India's recent directives for — STATEMENT BY GOOGLE ■ Itwill itwill continue to appeal certain aspects of the CCI's order AndroidandPlayrequireustomake significant changes for India, and today we have informed the CCI of howwewillbecomplyingwiththeir directives,"Google said. With regard to user choice of default search engine, Google will introduce a choice screen feature that will appearwhen a user sets up anewAndroidsmartphoneortablet in the country. Continued on Page 8 Tata Motors back in black after seven quarters TATA MOTORS was back in the black afterseven quarters,posting a consolidated net profit of `3,043 crore for the three months to December, on Wednesday, reports Swaraj Baggonkar. The performancewas buoyed bysales growth, richer product mix and better pricing,aided byeasing of supply-chain constraints. The profits beat the Bloomberg consensus estimates of `369 crore. The Mumbai-based company had reported a loss of `1,451 crore for the same quarter last year. The total consolidated revenue from operations grew23%y-o-yto `87,783 crore,sending the operatingprofitmargintoamulti-quarter high of 11.1%. The average retail selling price at JLR shot up by 20%, while for passenger vehicles, the same grew by 4% during the quarter. JLR achieved positive free cash flow, generating a profit before tax of £265 million. ■ PAGE 4 INSIDE Bajaj Auto posts 23% rise in Q3 profit PAGE 4 CHENNAI/KOCHI
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