BRANDWAGON, P7 ECONOMY, P2 INTERNATIONAL, P9 THE OTT ONSLAUGHT BACKED BY SOLID INTERNAL RESOURCES ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE BOOM Multiplex chains look to script a comeback Private investment unfolding at a steady pace: CEA Nageswaran In a first for a chip firm, Nvidia closes in on trillion-dollar club BENGALURU, FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2023 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XXXV 343, 26 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: 61,872.62 ▲ 98.84 NIFTY: 18,321.15 ▲ 35.75 NIKKEI 225: 30,801.13 ▲ 118.45 HANG SENG: 18,746.92 ▼ 369.01 `/$: 82.74 ▼ 0.07 `/€: 88.79 ▲ 0.28 BRENT: $76.61 ▼ $1.75 GOLD: `60,133 ▼ `278 IN THE NEWS `75 coin to be minted for new Parliament building launch THE FINANCE MINISTRY on Thursday issued a notification for minting coins of `75 denomination to mark the inauguration of new Parliament building on Sunday, reports fe Bureau. The face of the coin would likely bear the image of Parliament complex with the year 2023 written below it. ` Go First gets 30 days to submit flight plan THE DGCA HAS asked Go First to submit a detailed plan for the revival of its operations, including details about the availability of operational planes and pilots, within 30 days, a source said on Thursday, reports Rohit Vaid. ■ PAGE 5 Foodgrain output hits record 330.5 MT INDIA’S FOODGRAIN PRODUCTION has risen by 5% on year to a new record of 330.5 MT for the 2022-23 crop year, according to the third advance estimate released by the agriculture ministry, reports Sandip Das. ■ PAGE 2 Pricol in HC against Minda's plea in CCI PRICOL HAS FILED a petition before the Madras HC challenging the validity of Minda's application to CCI for raising its stake the company by up to 24.5%, reports Sajan C Kumar. ■ PAGE 4 Ownership disclosures may see FPI pushback THE SEBI’S MOVE to direct foreign funds operating in India to identify their parent entity is being hailed by experts as a much-needed requirement, but will likely lead to some pushback owing to the long process and costs involved, reports Siddhant Mishra. ■ PAGE 8 Ad slowdown bites into Zee Q4 earnings ZEE ON THURSDAY posted a consolidated net loss of `196 crore for Q4FY23 on the back of an advertising slowdown, missing Street estimates by a wide margin, reports Viveat Susan Pinto. ■ PAGE 4 Vedanta pledges 95% HZL stake MINING MAJOR VEDANTA has pledged almost 95% of its holdings in Hindustan Zinc to raise funds as parent Vedanta Resources is seeking to shore up funds to trim debt, reports Rajesh Kurup. ■ PAGE 4 OIL, Tullow in talks for stake in Kenya OIL INDIA CHAIRMAN and MD Ranjit Rath on Thursday said the firm is in talks with Londonbased Tullow Oil for a potential stake in its oil block in Kenya, reports Manish Gupta. ■ PAGE 5 FE S P E C I A L Unclaimed deposits: Get back the money you forgot You can soon search for it at the new centralised web portal ■ PERSONAL FINANCE, P7 INVESTORS FROM 21 NATIONS EXEMPT Govt cushions angel tax blow No waiver for Mauritius, Singapore and the UAE SURABHI New Delhi, May 25 INVESTORS BASED OUT of low-tax countries like the Mauritius, Singapore, Luxembourg,TheBahamasandthosewithlargenetwork of tax treaties like The Netherlands will come under the ambit of the “angel tax” on funds received by unlisted companies from equity investors abroad, above the fair market value. Entities from the UAE and Saudi Arabia will also be subject to the tax, which was extended to foreign investors in Budget FY24,and came into effect on April 1. The income tax department on Thursday notified 21“While-Label”countries of which specifiedentitieswouldnotbesubjecttoangel taxinIndia.ThesecountriesincludeAustralia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark,Finland,France,Germany,Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway,Russia,Spain,Sweden,UK and the USA. The absence of the entities from “tax havens”on the exemption list means the government is serious about plugging the loopholes that allow non-genuine investors to misuse the liberal policy to attract capital inflows into Indian start-ups and MSMEs.At the same time, it is keen that genuine investors are not hampered by the tax. On May 19, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had named a board set of foreign investors, including government and government-relatedinvestorssuchas central banks,sovereign wealth funds,international or multilateral organisations or agencies wheredirectorindirectownershipofthegovernment is 75% or more as well as banks or insurance entities from the tax. The latest notificationrestrictsthe theseexemptionsto TAXING TIMES Lack ofentities from 'tax havens' on the exemption list means the govt is serious about plugging the loopholes These loopholes allow non-genuine investors to misuse liberal FDI policy No exemption to entities from countries like Mauritius, Singapore and the UAE This means the tax could indeed have an impact on fundraise by Indian unlisted firms Tax experts curious if 'broad-based funds' or fundswith more than 50 investorswill include pooling vehicles making investments in India through specific SPVs located in low tax jurisdictions They feel the condition of 50 investors is not in sync with Section 9A, which provides safe harbour benefits for funds with 25 investors such entities from the 21 countries. The board also proposed more sharevaluation methods for non-resident investors, apart from the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) and NetAssetValue (NAV) method applicable for resident investors, to make it easier for unlistedIndian companies issuing sharesata price above the FMV to foreign investors to justify the premium. Continued on Page 13 Vodafone Idea fund raise delay a concern: Vaishnaw JATIN GROVER New Delhi, May 25 ASHWINI VAISHNAW, communications and IT minister ASHWINIVAISHNAW, COMMUNICATIONS and IT minister, on Thursday said the government is concerned overthe delaybyVodafone Idea in raising funds.The ailing telecom operator has not been able to get either equity infusion by the promoters or funding through investors. Ofcourse,thereisaconcernbecauseinvestment is supposed to come. And only after investment,thecompanycanrevive.Everyone isconcerned,”VaishnawtoldFE,addingthatthe government is constantly encouraging the promoters to invest in the firm. ThegovernmenthadinFebruaryconverted Vodafone Idea’s interest dues worth `16,133 croreintoequity,followingassurancefromthe promoters that theywill bring in fresh investments.SuchhopeshadbrightenedwhenAditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla rejoinedthe company's board recently. However,VodafonePlc,whichholdsa32% stake inVodafone Idea,lastweek did not indicate anyfund infusion on its part in the ailing Indian venture in its FY23 earnings. This, according to analysts,has once again raised a questionmarkonthecompany'ssurvivalonce the government’s moratorium ends in FY26. Vodafone Plc said that the Group's carry- AI is something that will be regulated in a global manner. We will soon resolve issues regarding satellite spectrum allocation. CEO Delaporte and CFO SECTOR SHOCKS Dalal’s salaries cut too Executive SAMEER RANJAN BAKSHI Bengaluru, May 25 THE SALARY OF the top three Wipro executives fell in FY23 compared to the previous fiscal due to the IT firm's negative performance during the year. While the salary of executive chairman Rishad Premji fell almost 50% compared to the previous year, CEO Thierry Delaporte's was down 5%.Similarly,the salaryof CFO Jatin Dalal reduced 32%,Wipro said in its filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In FY23, Premji's salary stood at $951,353 against $1.81 million in FY22. He is entitled to a commission at the rate of 0.35% on incremental net profits of the company over the previous fiscal.“However,in light of the fact that the incremental consolidated net profit for FY23 was negative,thecompanydeterminedthatno commission was payable to Premji for INSIDE ing value of investment in Vodafone Idea is zero. It also said that the Group is recording no further losses related to VIL. chairman Rishad Premji's compensation fell nearly 50% to $951,353 in FY23, from CFO Jatin Dalal's fell 32% in FY23 to about $1.08 mn, against $1.6 mn a fall of 4.7% from $10.5 mn in FY22 in FY22 INSIDE Wipro merges govt biz with IT services segment PAGE 5 FY23,”the filing said. Wipro's net profit in FY23 was down 7% to `11,366 crore.The companysaid in the filing that gross profit as a percentage SWARAJ BAGGONKAR Mumbai, May 25 of revenue from the IT services segment decreased94basis points,primarilydueto the increase in employee compensation costs by `7,429.5 crore due to the impact of salary hikes. Delaporte,who is the highest paid executive inWipro,saw his salary reduce to $10 million from $10.5 million in FY22. Similarly,CFO Dalal's salary during FY23 was at $1.08million,against$1.6millioninFY22. IN THE FAST LANE ■ The balance sales WITHIN SEVEN MONTHS of its launch,Tata are a mix between Tiago’selectricversionhasoutpacedsalesofits CNG (33% share) and petrol peer — a first in the auto industry in the petrol (28% share) country.The hatchback’s electric version sales grabbed a 39% share, followed by the CNG at ■ Launched in Sept 33% and petrol at 28%. 2022,Tiago EV The Tiago EVwas introduced in September became the most last year and deliveries started from January.It affordable electric car becamethemostaffordableelectriccarinIndia at `8.49 lakh SHAILESH at prices starting `8.49 lakh. CHANDRA, MD, TalkingtoFE,ShaileshChandra,manTata Passenger Nearly ■ At `3 lakh, aging director,Tata Passenger Electric the premium EVs and Tata two in every Vehicles and Tata Motors Passenger Motors PVs fiveTiago onTiago Vehicles, said,“We sell about 3,300 EVis the sold is electric electric Tiagos out of the total of version narrowest We sell 8,500 permonth.” (39% share) among EVs TheTiago EVgot 20,000 bookabout 3,300 ings in three months after the electric bookingsopened,including10,000 in the first 24 hours. It is now Tiagos out among the only two electric of the total cars available under the `10 lakhpricerange.Thepremium of 8,500 per on the electric Tiago,which is month. around `3 lakh compared to its petrolvariant’s `5.6 lakh,is thenarrowestamongEVs,making it more attractive to buyers, andplanstohaveatleast10by2025. believe marketwatchers. During FY23, the electric PV industry, as per Tata Motors is the country’s third-largest Vahan, saw retail volumes of nearly 40,000 passenger vehicle (PV) manufacturer but has units,recordingagrowthof125%comparedto been the market leader in the electric PV seg- 17,600 unitssold in FY22. mentforthreeconsecutiveyearswithashareof around85%.Ithasthreeelectricmodelsonsale Continued on Page 13 Growth in demand to moderate in FY24: Tata Motors PAGE 5 Ola Electric targets IPO by 2023-end Ola Electric is planning a stock market listing by the end of 2023,and has appointed Goldman Sachs and Kotak to manage the share sale,a source told Reuters. Ola Electric is backed by investors such as SoftBank Group and Tiger Global Management,andwasvaluedat$5billioninits CEO Thierry Delaporte's FY23 salary was $10 mn, in FY22 $1.81 mn Tiago electric outpaces petrol variant in sales INSIDE Vodafone Idea’s loss narrows sharply in Q4, revenue falls PAGE 4 Continued on Page 13 Wipro’s Rishad Premji’s salary almost halves to under $1 mn last fundraise in 2022. Ithasnotfinalisedhowmuchitplansto raiseorwhatvaluationitwillseek,butitwill seek avaluation higherthan $5 billion,the source said. If it sells 10% in the IPO, this could be India’s biggest IPO this year amid tepid market conditions. ■ Page 4 Big Tech may lose sway as domestic players gain IAMAI control JATIN GROVER New Delhi, May 25 INDIAN DIGITAL ENTREPRENEURS on Thursday took full controloftheInternetandMobileAssociation of India (IAMAI) with Big Tech firms like Google, Meta,Amazon and Microsoft not finding a place in the new 24-member governing council for2023-25,following the recently held elections for new office bearers. This development, according to industry sources, would mark a major shift in the running of the association as Big Tech firms Meta and Google had a big say so far. Intherun-uptotheelections,the domesticdigitalplayerswerebitterly opposed to the policy stance being adopted by the Big Tech firms on issues like digital competition policy and ex-ante regulations for digital firms.The domestic players had allegedthatIAMAIwastoeingthelineof Big Tech firms who were opposed to these measures and the association was acting like theirrubberstamp. Analystsmaintain,however,this development does not mean that theywill lose their influence in policymatters as theyhave presence in other associations like US-India Chamber of Commerce and US India Business Council. Further,IAMAI mayfind it difficult to have a unified voice on severalpolicymatterswithout the consent of Big Tech firms. It is quite likelythatthegovernmentwillstart engaging with more than one association on digital matters if IAMAI fails to present a united front. Continued on Page 9 MOVE TO PROCURE MILK FROM THE STATE SEEN AS A THREAT TO LOCAL BRAND AAVIN Utterly bitterly fight over Amul, this time in Tamil Nadu SAJAN C KUMAR, ABHINAY KUMAR & VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO Chennai/Ahmedabad/Mumbai, May 25 IN THE EYE OF THE STORM AMUL, THE COUNTRY'S top dairy brand, is caught in the centre of a stormonceagain,followingitsmove to procure milk from Tamil Nadu (TN). Last month, Amul, which is marketed by the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), had stirred up a controversy after it entered the Bengaluru market,whichisdominatedbylocal brand Nandini from the Karnataka Milk Federation. While in TN,Amul has been selling its products for some time through local outlets, the move to procuremilkfromthestate,usingits ■ But the move to procure milk, using its multi-state co-operative licence, from the state is a first ■ Amul has been selling its products in Tamil Nadu for some time through local outlets multi-state co-operative licence is a first.FearingthatAmul’sentryinTN would be detrimental to localbrand Aavin, state’s chief minister MK Stalin on Thursday asked Union ■ TN CM MK Stalin says Amul's entry could hurt local brand Aavin as it would result in an unhealthy competition ■ Last month, Amul stirred up a storm after it entered Bengaluru, which is dominated by local brand Nandini ■ In a letter, Stalin urged Union ministerAmit Shah to ask dairy major to ease milk procurement in the state home ministerAmit Shah,who also holds the co-operative portfolio, to ask the dairy major to cease milk procurement in the state. “Ithascometoournoticethatthe Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers’Union (Amul) has utilised its multi-state co-operative licence to installchillingcentresandaprocessingplantintheKrishnagiridistrict.It hasplannedtoprocuremilkthrough farmer producer organisations (FPOs) and self-help groups in and aroundKrishnagiri,Dharmapuri,Vellore,Ranipet,Tirupathur,Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts in our state,” Stalin said in a letterto Shah. This,he said,could hurtAavin as itwouldresultinanunhealthycompetition between the co-operatives. “Regional co-operatives have been thebedrockofdairydevelopmentin the states.They are better equipped to interact with and support producers, as well as to protect consumers from arbitrary price increases,”hesaid,addingthatcrossprocurement was against the spirit of the co-operative movement. Jayen Mehta, MD, GCMMF, said there was no threat to local brands with their milk procurement in TN. “Idon’tknowwhattheissueisabout. But the idea is to co-exist, not competewith co-operatives,”he said. Speaking to FE,Ashwin Chaudhary,seniormanager,milk procurement, project and vigilance, Dudhsagar Dairy, which is one of the 21 district milk cooperatives of GCMMF, said there was no issue of unhealthy competition. “Howcantheincreasingnumber of players in an industry create unhealthy competition? Rather it willgivethefarmerstheopportunity to choose the cooperative which is giving them a better price.And as I get it, this is what is called healthy competition,”he said. Continued on Page 9 BENGALURU