EFE, P10 ECONOMY, P2 COMPANIES, P4 PASSWORDLESS AUTHENTICATION EFFECTIVE ENFORCEMENT IN FOCUS FUTURE TENSE Remembering passwords may well be a thing of the past E-commerce policy to streamline regulation, boost exports Cafe Coffee Day cuts store count by 73% to manage debt CHENNAI, MONDAY, JUNE 5, 2023 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XLIV 25, 16 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 WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY Reliance Retail, 6 others DoT panel for more give EoIs for Future firm 75% INCENTIVE PROPOSED FROM 50% NOW sops to chip firms JATIN GROVER New Delhi, June 4 IN THE NEWS Airbus closes in on 500-jet order from IndiGo AIRBUS IS CLOSING towards a potentially record deal to sell 500 narrow-body A320family jets to India's largest carrier IndiGo, industry sources said on Sunday. ■ PAGE 4 `1.4 trn raised in asset monetisation MONETISATION OF PUBLIC-SECTOR brownfield assets unlocked capital worth Rs 1.4 trillion in FY23, up 44% on year, reports Prasanta Sahu. The achievement was against the target of `1.62 trillion. ■ PAGE 2 Midcaps in sweet spot as valuations fall MIDCAPS HAVE BEEN on a good run of late, with the BSE MidCap index hitting an all-time high last week, reports Siddhant Mishra. ■ PAGE 7 Opec+ producers weigh more cuts TOP OIL-PRODUCING countries led by Saudi Arabia and Russia are wrestling with whether to make another cut in supply to the global economy. The 23-member group is meeting Sunday at OPEC headquarters in Vienna after sending mixed signals about possible moves. FE S P E C I A L Arbitrage funds are back in favour Market volatility and decent posttax returns make them attractive ■ PERSONAL FINANCE, P7 SEMICONDUCTOR ROADMAP The task force on telecom chipsets was headed by Tejas Networks co-founder Sanjay Nayak, and included industry, academia, & govt representatives ■ Currently, the government is providing a fiscal support of ADEPARTMENTOFtelecommunications (DoT) task force has recommendedthatthegovernmentprovide incentives up to 75% for domestic designandmanufacturingoftelecom chipsets. Currently, under the `76,000crore incentive scheme for development of semiconductors and display manufacturing ecosystem in the country,thegovernmentisproviding a fiscal support of 50% of the project cost,which is uniform across all technology nodes. Semiconductors are used in manufacturing all kind of products,rangingfrommobilephones &electronicproductstoautomobiles. Thoughthesemiconductorincentive policy has been drafted by the ministry of electronics and informationtechnology(MeitY),whichisalso the implementing agency, DoT had set up several task forces to suggest measures to boost domestic telecom manufacturing.One of the terms of reference was to recommend measures to manufacture high volume telecomchipsetsinthecountry. Thetaskforceontelecomchipsets was headed by Tejas Networks cofounder Sanjay Nayak,and included representatives from industry,academia and various government departments.Itsubmitteditsrecommendations to the government on Saturday. Among the other recommendations,thetaskforceontelecom 50% The task force also recommended identifying original equipment makers (OEMs) in India to support development of Indian chipsets of project cost, which is uniform across all technology nodes Global telecom spends and out of that India spends are are estimated at estimated to be $260 bn $16 bn by 2025 chipsetdevelopmenthassaidthatthe governmentneedstosupportfabless chip design of telecom chips in order to increase domestic value addition. Initially,the focus can be on six types of telecom chipsets – three used in consumerpremisesequipment(CPE) andthreeusedinnetworkcommunicationmodules. “There is a $4 billion (around `32,000 crore) domestic market for telecomchipsetsandweneedtosubstitute it with Indian chips across fixed wireless access (FWA), routers, 5Gnetworks,etc,”agovernmentoffi- cial said, adding that the task force alsorecommendedidentifyingoriginal equipment makers (OEMs) in India to support development of Indian chipsets. Some of the other taskforcesunderthedomesticmanufacturing mission,which also submitted their recommendations on June3,relatetotelecomcomponents manufacturing, efficient customs andlogisticssupport,telecomexport promotion,and newtelecom equipment opportunities. Continued on Page 2 Firm managed group’s logistics, warehousing ops RAJESH KURUP Mumbai, June 4 RELIANCE RETAIL AND six other prospectivebiddershavesubmitted expressions of interest (EoIs) for Future Supply Chain Solutions (FSCS), a Future Group firm that is under insolvency proceedings. One City Infrastructure, Globe Ecologistics, Shanti GD Ispat & Power,CamionsLogisticsSolutions, Tatkal Loan Indiaand Sugna Metals are the other firms in the fray. The resolution professional is verifying the EoIs, FSCS said in a stock exchange update. The resolution professional will submit the final list of the prospective resolution applicants on June 14,itadded.FSCS,whichwasadmitted to bankruptcy proceedings by the National Company Law Tribunal’s Mumbai bench earlier this RESOLUTION ROAD ■ One City Infra, Globe Ecologistics, Shanti GD Ispat & Power among those who have submitted EoIs ■ The resolution professional is verifying the EoIs and will submit the final list of applicants on June 14 ■ Future Supply Chain Solutions was admitted to bankruptcy proceedings by the NCLT’s Mumbai bench earlier this year year,usedtomanageFutureGroup’s warehousing and logistics requirements.The company was admitted to bankruptcy on a petition filed by DHL Ecommerce (India), alleging default in payments. Two other operational creditors – Best Roadways and Leap India – had also moved the National Company LawTribunal. Earlier on June 2, Future Lifestyle Fashions (FLFL), another Future Group firm that is under insolvency proceedings, received claims totalling `2,155.53 crore from 12 financial creditors including from the State Bank of India.Of the total, `2,117 crore have been admitted,while claimsworth `38.5 crore are underverification. Apart from SBI,Centbank FinancialServices,BankofIndia(BoI),Bank ofBaroda(BoB),IDBIBank,HSBCand HDFCBankareamongthe12financialcreditorswhohavestakedclaims, it said in a stock update. On May 4, NCLT’s Mumbai bench had admitted FLFL for a corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) following a petition filed by Bank of India after payment defaults. The tribunal also appointed Ravi Sethia as the resolution professional. Continued on Page 2 Store additions continue despite slowing spends FAST-FOODCHAINSandapparel firms are feeling the pressure of a discretionary slowdown but few are cutting down on store additionsasmanybankonacomeback in discretionary spending in the second half of FY24, reports Viveat Susan Pinto. BarringPantaloons,partofAditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL), which has cut store guidance from 60-70 outlets to 40-50 storesinFY24,peerssuchasTrent and Shopper's Stop remain bullish about expansion. The same goes for quick-service restaurant (QSR) majors such as JubilantFoodWorks,WestlifeFoodWorldandRestaurantBrandsAsia. None of these firms are slowing down their pace of expansion, despite posting weak Q4 results on the back of a cut in discre■ PAGE 12 tionaryspends. Railways seeks CBI probe into accident AVISHEK DASTIDAR New Delhi, June 4 UNION RAILWAY MINISTER Ashwini Vaishnaw Sunday said the Railway Board has decided to recommend that furtherprobe on the train accident in Odisha that has left 275 dead be undertaken by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The announcement came hours after Vaishnaw had in the morning told Doordarshan in an interview that INSIDE the root cause of the accident and the people Need for responsible for the accisafety denthavebeenidentified. upgrade “Keeping in mind the ■ PAGE 2 situation and circumstances under which the accident took place,and the administrative information gathered so far, the Railway Board is recommending that further inquiry and investigation into the case be undertaken by the CBI,” Vaishnaw said in Bhubaneswar later in the evening. In the interview to Doordarshan in the morning, he had said, “Whoever has done this, has done such a change – on the point machine, the configuration of the track – ASHWINI VAISHNAW, RAILWAY MINISTER Whoever has done this, has done such a change – on the point machine, the configuration of the track – based on which everything runs… There has been a change in that configuration, because of which this painful accident has happened. based on which everything runs…There has been a change in that configuration,because ofwhich this painful accident has happened. ButIwillcommentonthatonlyafterthereport of the independent agencyis submitted.” Continued on Page 2 OPERATING MARGIN MAY EXPAND AS INPUT PRICES SOFTEN Street sees modest growth of India Inc’s topline in FY24 FE BUREAU New Delhi, June 4 WITH CONSUMER DEMAND expected to stay muted, analysts expect India Inc to reportamodesttoplinegrowthinFY24driven by the good performance of banks and the automobile sector.Operating margins, however, are tipped to expand as prices of key commodities soften.Analysts at Kotak InstitutionalEquitiesexpectthenetprofits of the Nifty-50 Index to grow at an estimated 12.6% inFY24 and 15.2% inFY25. Softer prices of key inputs are expected to boost corporate India’s margins in the current year even as demand,especially for consumer products remains sluggish, impacting the topline.Analysts at Jefferies noted that consumption demand trends remain weak overall, including in rural India.Whilesomecompaniessawapick-up involumesinQ4FY23,formanythegrowth wassimilartothatseeninpreviousquarters. “Commentaryandconfidenceonpickupin growthwas mixed,” Jefferieswrote. The subdued consumption demand is EASING INFLATION TO AID RURAL DEMAND Net sales (` trn) 121.34 OPM % FY23 % chg 24 Bps 13 -292.6 Net profit (` trn) % chg 6.95 Private final consumption expenditure (% chg, y-o-y) 25 15 10 5 0 1.6 2.8 4.7 Q1 FY22 Q3 FY21 -10.02 Sample of 3,345 companies (Excluding Banks & Financials) Source: Capitaline 19.8 17.6 20 Q4 Q1 FY22 FY23 Q4 FY23 EARNINGS OUTLOOK P/E (X) Nifty (%) 11.5 2023 12.6 2024E corroboratedbytheanaemic2.8%year-onyearincrease in Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE) in Q4FY23 on the back of a2.2%y-o-ygrowth in Q3FY23. Easing inflation, analysts said, should 15.2 2025E 22.9 2023 20.3 2024E 17.6 2025E help sustain the current level of demand in urbanareasandrevivedemandinruralIndia unlessthemonsoonsturnouttobeweak. Continued on Page 2 CHENNAI