BACK PAGE, P20 BACK PAGE, P20 INTERNATIONAL, P3 ‘SUITABLE CANDIDATE’ TAKING ON MICROSOFT BOOST TO DOMESTIC MANUFACTURING BCCI sounds out CSK head coach Fleming to succeed Dravid Ola to move beyond cloud; wants to build India tech stack Biden hikes US tariffs on Chinese imports, including chips, cars CHENNAI/KOCHI, WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XLIV 316, 24 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: 73,104.61 ▲ 328.48 NIFTY: 22,217.85 ▲ 113.80 NIKKEI 225: 38,356.06 ▲ 176.60 HANG SENG: 19,073.71 ▼ 41.35 `/$: 83.51 ▲ 0.02 `/€: 90.12 ▼ 0.06 BRENT: $83.12 ▼ $0.24 GOLD: `72,129 ▲ `134 AHEAD OF MSCI REJIG, 13 STOCKS RISE UP TO 6% INDUS Towers, Jindal Stainless, NHPC and several other companies rose as much as 6% on Tuesday ahead of MSCI's May index review announcement on Wednesday, reports Vivek Kumar M. India is expected to see inclusion of 13 stocks to the MSCI Global Standard index. ■ PAGE 10 VEDANTA BOARD MEETTO SEEK NOD FOR FUNDRAISING VEDANTA, a subsidiary ofVedanta Resources, has convened a board meet on May 16 to seek approval to raise funds through various modes, reports Rajesh Kurup. It is also seeking board nod for the first interim dividend for FY25. ■ PAGE 4 WPI INFLATION AT 13-MONTH HIGH OF 1.26% IN APRIL INDIA’S FACTORY GATE inflation, based on the Wholesale Price Index, rose to a 13-month high of 1.26% in April from 0.53% in March, primarily on account of a rise in food and fuel prices, commerce ministry data showed, reports Priyansh Verma. ■ PAGE 2 CLAIMS PAID UNDER FASAL BIMA CROSS `1.59 TRILLION THE CLAIMS PAID to the farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) against crop damage, since its launch 8 years ago, have crossed `1.59 trillion against the cumulative premium payment of `32,329 crore, according to an official note, reports Sandip Das. ■ PAGE 2 FE S P E C I A L S ‘Private brands contribute a third of Lifestyle’s revenue’ CEO, Lifestyle India, talks about the changes brought about by technology ■ BRANDWAGON, P9 matches 55 10 venues,to be held across Consumer products arm RAMPING UP PRESENCE ■ This means RCPL ■ Reliance Conaims tenfold rise in is looking to cover sumer Products’ merchant base in 5 years reach at over over 80% Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman with BSE MD & CEO S Ramamurthy (right) (in ` trillion) FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25* *up to May 13 Retail investors net turnover in NSE derivatives market (in ` crore) MANU KAUSHIK New Delhi, May 14 Continued on Page 18 12 mn ■ HUL, Nestle & Dabur have over 9 mn, 7.7 mn and 5.1 mn outlets outlets 60,000 ● PM FILES FY22 FY23 NOMINATION PAPERS FY24 Source: BSE & NSE domestic institutional investors have net bought sharesworth `26,500 crore,protecting the market from a free fall. Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Union home minister Amit Shah (far right), BJP president JP Nadda, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath (far left), and other NDA leaders, after filing his nomination papers for the Lok Sabha elections, in Varanasi on Tuesday. The PM declared assets amounting to a little over `3 crore in his election affidavit. ■ PAGE 6 Continued on Page 18 Sebi plans tighter rules for SME IPOs MARKETS REGULATOR SEBI and exchanges will tighten rules for public offers of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), according to two sources, after complaints of misuse of a separate listing platform introduced in 2012 to enable small businesses access the capi- Deadline for digital Bill may not be extended Continued on Page 18 ■ India’s kirana store base stands at of market 92,905 FY21 Continued on Page 18 sumer Products'(RCPL) plan is to widen both distribution and manufacturing capabilities of Campa and Independence as the firm looks to growretail coverage across the country, aiming to take on the big boys in consumer goods with a wide array of affordable FMCG products. RCPL currently depends mainly on copackers to manufacture its products, unlike rivals who have a mix of both in-house and contract manufacturing capabilities. outlets currently ACCELERATING ITS PUSH into the domestic FMCG market a year-and-a-half after launching operations, Reliance Consumer Products,a Reliance Retail subsidiary, is aiming to increase its merchant base from over 1 million currently to 10 million in the next five years. This is over 80% of the country’s mom-and-pop or kirana store base (12 million). Over 1 million retailers cumulatively are now selling the company’s Campa Cola and Independence brands in states such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat and parts of north India, persons in the know said. An email sent to Reliance Consumer Products did not elicit a response till the time of going to press. Hindustan Unilever (HUL), the country’s largest consumer goods company and which has been present here for over nine decades, currentlyreaches over9 million outlets.Nestle, which has been in the country for over a century, reaches around 5.1 million outlets. Dabur, which has a strong rural presence, reaches 7.7 million outlets in all, according to its FY23 annual report. Sources in the know said Reliance Con- digital reach of the IPLis also poised to beat the previous season's figure of 450 million. It touched 383 million forthe first 29 matches. Advertisers such as Coca-Cola, Amul and IndusInd Bank, who are global ICC partners, may sign up as advertisers on Disney Star for the T20 World Cup this year, industry sources said.The broadcasteris also talking to advertisers in categories such as fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), automotive, retail and durables, among others, to tap into the heightened interest in cricket at the moment. THE MINISTRY OF corporate affairs is unlikely to extend the deadline to providefeedbacktotheDraftDigital Competition Bill, 2024. “We have received significant inputs from stakeholders,and the responses will be evaluated to prepare the final draft,”saidanofficialonconditionof anonymity.The last date to submit theresponseisMay15(Wednesday), and the ministry has already extendedthedeadlineoncebyamonth. The draft of the proposed legislationthataimstotargetBigTechfirms for their anti-competitive conduct through ex-ante regulations was released on March 12. The ex-ante regulationswillsupplementtheexistingCompetitionActtoensurethatthe behaviourof large digital enterprises isproactivelymonitored,andthatthe Competition Commission of India (CCI) intervenes before instances of anti-competitiveconducttranspire. Last month,members of the civil society and industry associations, including Broadband India Forum, CUTS International, CCAOI and InternetFreedomFoundation,wrote a letterto thegovernmentasking for extension of the deadline by five months to October15. 1 mn VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO Mumbai, May 14 AKSHATA GORDE & VIVEK KUMAR M Mumbai, May 14 F&O avg daily turnover with 20 participating teams versus 16 teams in 2022 “The T20 World Cup this year is happening at a time when cricket viewershipisup.Thisisvisibleinthe ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) where both digital and TV viewership are breaking previous year's records.This trend will likely continue into the T20 World Cup this year,” said Sajal Gupta, chief executive officer of GurugrambasedKiaosMarketing,amediaand marketing consultancy. The TV reach of the IPL for the first51matchesthisyearhasalready crossed the previous season's audience reach of 505 million. It stands at 510 million viewers,according to Disney Star quoting BARC data.The Reliance plans mega push on distribution Says middle-class investors protected the market from ‘whimsical’ foreign investors 48,000 in ad money from the T20 World Cup the $3-bn ICC media rights deal the media network bagged in Aug 2022 for 2024-2027 cycle FM red-flags surge in retail options play 43,500 `1,000 cr ■ This is part of ‘THREAT TO HOUSEHOLD FINANCES’ FINANCE MINISTER NIRMALA SITHARAMAN on Tuesday highlighted the potential threat posed to household savings by the surge in retail trading in the futures and options (F&O) market. “Any unchecked explosion in retail trading in F&O can create future challenges not just forthe markets, but for investor sentiment and also for household finances,” Sitharaman said at an event at the BSE. The FM also spoke about the active role of household finances and participation from middle-class investors that have played an important role in protecting the market from fluctuations.She said therewas a need to protect the investors and their contributions. “Household finances have made a generationalshift,wewanttosafeguardthat,wewant to ensure that it is not going to be shattered.” She added that the inflows from retail investorswereprovidingacushiontothemarket from "whimsical" foreign institutional investors(FIIs),therebyreducingfluctuations. "Persistent flow of domestic savings to stock markets has played one very important role. Theyhavebecomethecounter-balancingforce when FPIs come and go,”she said. Since the beginning of the month, FIIs have net sold shares worth nearly `28,800 crore amidvolatilityin the market due to the ongoing general elections. Meanwhile, Disney Star garnered around Star has both digital and TV rights of the T20 World Cup 450.5 ANY COUNTRY HAVING business dealings with Iran runs the "potential risk of sanctions", the US has warned, noting that it is aware that Tehran and New Delhi have signed a deal concerning the Chabahar port. ■ PAGE 2 ■ In 2022, ■ Disney 359.7 CHABAHAR PORT DEAL: US WARNS OF SANCTIONS GAME ON! 154.9 THE CBI HAS arrested former DHFL director Dheeraj Wadhawan in connection with the alleged defrauding of a 17-member bank consortium to the tune of `34,000 crore, officials said on Tuesday. Wadhawan, arrested from Mumbai on Monday night, was produced before a special court in New Delhi, which remanded him in judicial custody on Tuesday. ■ PAGE 10 THE T20 WORLD CUP, which begins on June 1, will be played on fast-scoring pitches as faras advertising is concerned.The showpiece event, to be hosted by the US and West Indies, is expected to rake in `2,000 crore advertising money, which is double the amount in the 2022 edition. According to media agencyexecutivesandexperts,advertisers’interest has also grown on the back of the free-streaminginitiativethatbroadcaster Disney Star announced last weekfortheT20WorldCupthisyear. The media network has both the digital and television rights of the T20 tournament as part of the $3-billion (nearly `25,000 crore) International Cricket Council (ICC) media rights deal it bagged in August 2022 for the 2024-2027 cycle. In 2022, Disney Star had made around `1,000 crore in advertising money from the T20 World Cup. This year, some 55 matches will be held across 10 venues, with 20 participating teams versus 16 teams in the 2022 edition.England are the defending champions, having defeated Pakistan in the final of the previous edition. 71.0 DHFL SCAM: CBI ARRESTS DHEERAJ WADHAWAN VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO Mumbai, May 14 27.3 NEWS Big score: T20 World Cup ad money set to double to `2,000 cr 14.0 IN THE tal markets, reports Reuters. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is considering raising the minimum size of such public offers to `30 crore-`50 crore,said the two sources who are directly familiar with the discussions. ■ PAGE 10 PTI TO BE AVAILABLE FOR FREE ON SMARTPHONES & DESKTOPS OpenAI unveils new ChatGPT that listens, looks and talks CADE METZ May 14 AS APPLE AND Google transform their voice assistants into chatbots, OpenAI is transforming its chatbot into a voice assistant.The San Francisco artificial intelligence (AI) startup unveiled a newversion of its ChatGPT chatbot that can receive and respond to voice commands, images andvideos. The companysaid the newapp — based on anAI system called GPT-4o — juggles audio, images and video significantlyfasterthanpreviousversions of the technology. The app is available, free of charge, for both smartphones and desktop computers.“We are looking at the future of the interaction between ourselves andmachines,” saidMiraMurati,the TECH TALK ■ New app, based onAI system GPT-4o, juggles audio, images and video significantly faster than previous versions ■ Part of effort to combine conversational chatbots like ChatGPTwith voice assistants like GoogleAssistant,Apple’s Siri ■ This is the first time it has offered ChatGPT as a desktop application company’s chief technologyofficer. The new app is part of a wider effort to combine conversational chatbots like ChatGPT with voice assistants like the Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri. As Google ■ Google is merging Gemini chatbot with Assistant, while Apple is preparing new version of Siri that is more conversational merges its Gemini chatbot with the GoogleAssistant,Appleispreparing a new version of Siri that is more conversational. OpenAI said it would gradually sharethetechnologywithusers“over MIRA MURATI, CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, OPENAI WE ARE LOOKING AT THE FUTURE OF INTERACTION BETWEEN OURSELVES AND MACHINES the coming weeks”.This is the first timeithasofferedChatGPTasadesktop application. The company previously offered similartechnologiesfrominsidevarious free and paid products. Now, it EXPLAINER How GPT-4o makes ChatGPT smarter ■ PAGE 9 has rolled them into a single system thatisavailableacrossallitsproducts. During an event streamed on the internet, Murati and her colleagues showed off the new app as it responded to conversational voice commands,used a live video feed to analyse math problems written on a sheetofpaperandreadaloudplayful stories that it had written on the fly. The new app cannot generate video. But it can generate still images that represent frames of avideo. WiththedebutofChatGPTinlate 2022, OpenAI showed that machines can handle requests more like people.In response to conversational text prompts,it could answer questions, write term papers and even generate computercode. OpenAI previouslyoffered aversion of ChatGPT that could accept voice commands and respond with voice. But it was a patchwork of three differentAI technologies: one that converted voice to text, one that generated a text response and one that converted this text into a synthetic voice. ThenewappisbasedonasingleAI technology — GPT-4o — that can acceptandgeneratetext,soundsand images.Thismeansthatthetechnology is more efficient, and the companycanaffordtoofferittousersfor free,Murati said. —NYT CHENNAI/KOCHI