INTERNATIONAL, P7 ECONOMY, P3 BACK PAGE, P24 FURTHER HIT TO DELIVERIES COMING LOK SABHA POLLS ‘SHAKTI’ BEST GLOBAL MUSIC ALBUM Boeing finds more misdrilled holes on 737 in latest setback PM predicts at least 370 seats for BJP, over 400 for NDA Zakir Hussain bags three Grammys as 5 Indians win awards MUMBAI, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL LXIV NO. 31, 36 PAGES, `12.00 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: 71,731.42 ▼ 354.21 NIFTY: 21,771.70 ▼ 82.10 NIKKEI 225: 36,354.16 ▲ 196.14 HANG SENG: 15,510.01 ▼ 23.55 `/$: 83.06 ▼ 0.14 `/€: 89.33 ▲ 0.98 BRENT: $77.12 ▼ $0.21 GOLD: `62,247 ▼ `654 IN THE NEWS TATA MOTORS NOT LOOKING TO SELL STAKE IN EVARM TATA MOTORS IS not looking to sell a bigger stake in its recentlycreated arm, Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, as the environment is not conducive to raising funds, says PB Balaji, the company’s CFO, reports Swaraj Baggonkar. ■ PAGE 4 SERVICES PMI RISES TO 6-MONTH HIGH OF 61.8 IN JANUARY INDIA’S SERVICES EXPANDED sharply in January on account of buoyant domestic and external demand conditions. The HSBC India Services PMI rose to a six-month high of 61.8 in January from 59.0 in December, reports Priyansh Verma. ■ PAGE 2 RESULTS CORNER Airtel’s profit up 82% in Q3; Arpu rises to `208 PAGE 4 Ashok Leyland profit soars 61%, beats estimates PAGE 5 EXPLAINER Neuralink’s brain chip implant: Human-machine symbiosis ■ PAGE 9 WARY OF REPUTATIONAL RISK, QUALITY OF ACCOUNTS Banks to seek RBI comfort on partnering with Paytm Lenders unsure about taking over merchant accounts THE DIKTAT ■ RBI observed a complete disregard for regulatory standards and compliance requirements ■ Paytm Payments PIYUSH SHUKLA Mumbai, February 5 PAYTM MAY HAVE to face hurdles when it comes to forming partnerships for its Paytm Payments Bank (PPB) accounts as lenders are unsure about taking them over, senior bankers told FE. For most banks,it is a question of reputational risk besides being unsure about thequalityofaccounts.Theywouldrather wait for a green signal from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) or some other regulatory comfort before going forward. After the RBI last week barred it from undertaking any banking activities after February29,One97 Communication,the parent of Paytm, is looking to transfer all its PPB accounts to other banks. The fintech firm is also trying to ensure that while the back-end banker changes,merchants and customers continue to stay with the Paytm app. There is a catch here because bankers arequitewillingtotakeoverthemerchant and customer accounts, but they aren’t very comfortable with them transacting over the Paytm app. OnFebruary3,StateBankofIndia(SBI) chairman Dinesh Khara said while the lender is reaching out to PPB merchants Bank can't accept fresh deposits and undertake credit transactions after February 29 ■ In March 2022, ■ RBI says major irregularities in KYC, which exposed the customers, depositors and wallet holders to serious risk Staff advising merchants to move funds to other bank a/cs AYANTI BERA, ANEES HUSSAIN & SANDIP DAS Bengaluru/New Delhi, February 5 for onboarding them, going any further than that, like taking a stake in PPB, was not on the table. PAYTM HAS DIRECTED its field sales staff to migrate merchant QRcodeswith Paytm Payments Bank (PPB) to accounts with other banks. The process started over the weekend itself and Paytm is trying to sensitiseasmanymerchantsaspossiblebefore the deadline to ensure that their business transactionscancontinueunhindered.“We have been asked to migrate as many QR codes as possible to alternate bank accountsbythemonth-end,”saidareasales executives FE spoke to. Manoj Kumar,who works for the retail chain‘More’inIndirapuram,Ghaziabad,said thatPaytm’sfieldstaffadvisedthemtomove the store’s funds to other bank accounts before February 29.This comes against the backdropofthepanicthathasspreadamong a section of merchants.As per a survey of 5,000 retailers on Paytm by Kirana Club, 68% of the respondents said their trust in thefirmhastakenahitsincetheRBIdiktat. Continued on Page 7 Continued on Page 7 RBI had barred Paytm Payments Bank from onboarding new customers INSIDE ■ Mirae suffers the most among MFs as Paytm slide continues ■ Debacle puts spotlight on compliance: Fintech firms ■ Paytm stock tumbles over 42% in three sessions ■ PAGE 6 Vanguard cuts Ola’s valuation to $1.8 bn ANEES HUSSAIN Bengaluru, February 5 ASSET MANAGEMENT COMPANY Vanguard has marked down the fair value of Ola’s parent ANI Technologies by 29% to $1.88 billion as of November 2023, regulatory filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission reveal. The markdown comes nearly two months afterVanguardprunedthefairvalueoftheridehailingplatformtoapproximately$2.65billion. Vanguard holds 166,185 shares of ANI Technologies, translating into a stake of around 0.7%,according toTracxn data. Vanguard had lowered the fair value of its stakeinANITechnologiesby35%to$4.8billion in February last year, followed by anotherreduction to $3.5 billion in July. MARKDOWNS SO FAR 74% lower from Dec 2021 peak value of around $7.3 bn at which Ola last raised money ■ Currentvaluation by Vanguard is 29% lower from $2.65 bn as ofAug 31 ■ TheAMC had cut the fairvalue by 35% to $4.8 bn in Feb 2023 ■ Followed by another reduction to $3.5 bn inJuly 2023 Continued on Page 7 Direct spectrum allocation for pvt 5G being looked at JATIN GROVER New Delhi, February 5 THE DEPARTMENT OF telecommunications (DoT) is examining methodologies to directly allocate spectrum to enterprises like Infosys, Tejas Networks, TataCommunications,TataPower, Larsen & Toubro, GMR, Capgemini, etc. It has set up an internal study group to suggest ways to achieve the objective. Officialssaiddirectallocationofspectrum to these enterprises would enhance the adoption of 5G private networks. Currently, enterprises are dependent on telecom operators like BhartiAirtel,JioandVodafoneIdeafor buildingtheirprivatenetworks.However,many large enterprises want to deploy private network solutions for their campuses or to run specific infrastructure projects without going through the telcos due to securityand cost factors. Continued on Page 7