OPINION, P10 WELL BEING ACROSS THE AISLE, P CHIDAMBARAM A massive rise in obesity levels among children is becoming a concerning reality. Know what is at stake Page 9 Pro-changers challenge the no-changers MIND & GAMES MANAGING A GROWING EPIDEMIC AMONG KIDS An ancient skull & Egyptian medicine New discovery shows how humans dealt with cancer ages ago Page 11 LEISURE Follow us on Twitter & Facebook. App available on App Store & Play Store WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM Vol. 17 No. 14 TIME FOR INNOVATION FINANCIAL EXPRESS ON SUNDAY MUMBAI SUNDAY, JUNE 2, 2024, 14 Pages, `12 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 , ■ SPOTLIGHT, P6-7 All in a (scorching) day’s work Toiling all day long, labourers, delivery people, vendors, traffic cops, cart pullers, etc, work in extreme weathers with little or no respite. We capture the lives of such workers eking out a living amid record-breaking temperatures and heatwaves ■ WORDS WORTH, P4 Eruptions of a‘reportepreneur’ An insider account projects Silicon Valley as a modern-day coliseum, bad guys in majority ● High base effect, general elections act as dampener DOMESTIC CAR SALES FE BUREAU New Delhi, June 1 Hyundai Motor Tata Motors PV* US President Joe Biden had a marginal 2 percentage point lead over Republican challenger Donald Trump in the race to win the November presidential poll, following Trump's historic conviction, as per a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Friday. ■ PAGE 3 L U C K N O W , M U M B A I , N E W EXIT POLLS ■ Total seats: 543 ■ Majority: 272 the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) a resounding victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections that concluded on Saturday. The BJP and its allies are expected to breach the 300-seat mark once again, with major gains in the southern states where the BJP gained not just vote share but also seats. In 2019, the BJP had won 303 seats. The NDA appears to be losing some seats in northern states, but this is being more than compensated with significant gains in the POLLING AGENCY NDA INDIA OTHERS 359 154 30 381 148 14 ABP-CVoter 368 167 8 News 18 362 134 47 News24-Chanakya 400 107 36 south for the BJP. Almost all exit polls predicted that BJP could open its account in Tamil Nadu and Kerala where it has historically never won a single seat. Jan Ki Baat estimated the NDA may win between 362 seats and 392 seats. The same exit poll estimated 141-161 seats for the INDIA bloc. INDIA News-D-Dynamics esti- mated 362-392 seats for NDA and 141-161 seats for INDIA alliance. Republic TV-P-Marq poll estimated 359 seats for NDA and 154 seats for the INDIA alliance. Another exit poll of Republic Bharat-Matrize estimated 371 seats for NDA and 125 seats for INDIA. News Nation predicted 342-378 for NDA, 153-169 for INDIA.AAJ Tak-Axis predicted 381 for NDA and 148 for INDIA. ABPCVoter said 368 for NDA and 167 for INDIA. News 18 said 362 for NDA,and 134 for INDIA.News24Chanakya predicted 400 for NDA and 107 for INDIA. The Poll of Polls by television channel NDTV estimated that the BJP-led NDA is getting 358 seats and INDIA alliance getting 148 seats; other parties are protected to get 37 seats. The trend is significant, with the BJP having made significant efforts in the past 10 years to make inroads in southern states, particularly Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also chose to meditate at the Vivekananda Rock in Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu. In Tamil Nadu, most exit polls also projected a steep fall in vote share of the AIADMK which could be helping the BJP. Units May 2024 May 2023 % change Maruti 144,002 Suzuki 143,708 M&M 0.2 49,151 48,601 1 46,697 45,878 2 32,886 43,218 31 18,766 19,500 Honda 4,822 Cars 4,660 Kia D E L H I , P U N E Continued on Page 2 OPPORTUNISTIC INDI ALLIANCE FAILED TO STRIKE A CHORD WITH VOTERS. PEOPLE OF INDIA HAVE VOTED TO REELECT THE NDA GOVERNMENT NARENDRA MODI, PRIME MINISTER THE MAN WHOSE EXIT IS CERTAIN ON JUNE 4TH HAS HAD THESE EXIT POLLS ORCHESTRATED JAIRAM RAMESH , CONGRESS GEN SECY ● PHASE 7 VOTER TURNOUT 59.86% At `1.73 trn, May GST mop-up up 10% on year PRIYANSH VERMA New Delhi, June 1 Passenger vehicle sales up by 4% BIDEN VS TRUMP: WHO IS LEADING THE ELECTIONS? K O L K A T A , AAJ Tak-Axis ALL MAJOR EXIT polls projected A court reserved for June 5 its order on an application moved by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal seeking interim bail in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam. ■ PAGE 14 K O C H I , Republic PMARQ EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, June 1 COURT RESERVES ORDER ON KEJRIWAL BAIL PLEA FOR JUNE 5 H Y D E R A B A D , Modi set for another big victory ● BJP likely to make major inroads into south India sales witnessed a marginal growth in May on account of high base effect and muted demand due to general elections. The overall passenger vehicle dispatchesfromcompaniestodealers stood at 350,257 units against 335,436 units during the same month a year back, registering a growth of 4%. The country’s largest passenger vehicle manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki India’s sales in the domestic market were marginally up 0.20% to 144,002 units against 143,708 units in the year-ago period. The company saw year-on-year dip in sales of entry level and compact cars during the month against May 2023. Utility vehicle sales, including that of Brezza, Grand Vitara,Ertiga,S-CrossandXL6,however, rose to 54,204 units against 46,243 units a year earlier. “It has been discussed that READ TO LEAD ALL EXIT POLLS PREDICT 350+ FOR NDA WHAT'S INSIDE DOMESTIC PASSENGER VEHICLE Luxury watch brands are betting on tech, storytelling for a lasting impact Page 5 3.9 3.5 *(including EV) growththisyearwillnotbeveryhigh. Itwillbeinsingledigitbecauseofthe highbaseeffect.Secondly,therewere electionsandthescorchingtemperatures also had an impact on the overall sales in May,” said Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer (marketing & sales),Maruti Suzuki. Continued on Page 2 (Bottom, left to right) Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath; Union minister Anurag Thakur with his wife; RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav with wife Rabri Devi and daughter Rohini Acharya; and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee after casting their votes on Saturday INDIA’S GROSS GOODS andServices Tax (GST) collections rose 10% on year to `1.73 trillion in May (relating to April transactions), data released by the finance ministry showed on Saturday.The gross collectionsduringthemonthweredrivenby15.3%on-yearriseindomestic transactions, even as collections fromimportssloweddownto4.3%, the data showed. The growth in mop-up recorded in May was the slowest in close to three years. In April, the gross GST collections stood at a record high of `2.1 trillion, up 12.4% on year. After accounting forrefunds,the net GST mop-up during Maystood at `1.44 trillion, up 6.9% from the same period last year. Saurabh Agarwal, tax partner, EY,said:“The combination of summer heatwaves and lower auto sales might lead to flat or lower GST collections in June compared to April's peak.” Domestic passenger vehicle sales only grew 4% on year in May, on account of high base effect and muted demand due to general elections. In the first two-months of FY25, the gross GST collections stood at `3.83 trillion, representing a 11.3% increase on year. During April-May, the collections were driven by a strong increase in domestic transactions (up 14.2%) and marginal increase in imports (up 1.4%), the finance ministry said.After accounting for refunds, the net GST revenue in April-May stood at `3.36 trillion, up 11.6% on year. Continued on Page 2 (Left) Voters wait in a queue to cast votes for the seventh and last phase of Lok Sabha polls at the world's highest polling station, Tashigang, Lahaul and Spiti, on Saturday PHOTOS: PTI Turnout in Jharkhand highest; Bihar lowest EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, June 1 AMID HEATWAVE conditions across largepartsofnorthIndia,pollingfor the Lok Sabha elections came to a closeonSaturday,withanestimated 59.86%voterturnoutat9.45pmin the seventh and final phase. Counting of votes for the elections to the Lok Sabha,Assembly in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha will start at 8 am on June 4.Counting of votes for Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim will start at 6 am Sunday. According to the Election Commission’s Voter Turnout app,which showsreal-timeapproximateturnout percentages,theoverallturnoutinthe 57 Lok Sabha constituencies across eight states and a Union Territory where polling was held on Saturday was59.86%at9.45pm. Continued on Page 2 INSIDE See also PAGE 16 CAPTURING THE NUMBERS ALL-INDIA TURNOUT*: 59.86% States Phase 7 seats Candidates Bihar 8 Chandigarh 1 Himachal Pradesh 4 Jharkhand 3 Odisha 6 Punjab 13 Uttar Pradesh 13 West Bengal 9 Total 57 134 19 37 52 66 328 144 124 904 Turnout* (%) 51.27 67.90 68.40 69.96 65.68 55.98 55.60 69.89 * Till 9.45 pm As Q-comm stretches itself, others play the patience game VAISHALI DAR New Delhi, June 1 QUICK COMMERCE SEEMS to be in a tearing hurry not only to deliver, but also to amass as many e-commerce customers as they can.With 10-minute deliveries now encompassing not just groceries,but gold coins and evenTV,ACs,and fridges, the categories and products on offer are expanding at a pace similar to their delivery periods. And,even as the Q-comm players are rushing to outdo the other, established online companies are watching by the side, offering same-day delivery instead. As Harsh Goyal, director, Amazon Grocery India told FE, “Prime members get free unlimited sameday delivery across 10 lakh prod- FAST FACTS ■ BigBasket's BBNow aims to deliver e-tailers not taking orders within 22 min in bait of 10-min delivery; prefer more 38 cities ■ Established sustainable model ■ After failed attempts with SuperMart and FlipkKart Quick, Flipkart now eyeing same-day delivery with 'Dawn to Dusk' campaign ■ Reliance Retail plans to launch 30-min delivery model JioMart Express across eight cities ■ 1 mn products eligible for same-day delivery, 4 mn for next-day on Amazon for Prime members ucts and next-day delivery across 40 lakh products on Amazon. Our offerings are well rounded and serve our customer needs—both at scale and with speed.” Flipkart’s earlier attempts at faster delivery failed when it launched SuperMart and FlipkKart Quick. It is currently eyeing sameday delivery under a new cam- paign,‘Dawn to Dusk’,where it will offer grocery and items like watches and air pods. BigBasket’s quick-commerce arm BBNow aims to deliver orders within 22 min- utes in 38 cities. BigBasket cofounder and CEO Hari Menon is on record saying,“Consumers did not want it, it was thrust upon them and they said why not.” Menon instead feels businesses should chase a more sustainable delivery within 15-30 minutes. Even Reliance Retail plans to launch a 30-minute delivery model, reportedly to be called JioMart Express, focusing on a wider assortment of products in June across eight cities, including Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata. The e-retailer will intensify its network of stores and kiranas connected through the JioMart partner initiative. It will not set up dark stores for tenminute delivery but will optimise delivery routes using tech platforms. The product portfolio will be restricted to grocery initially, and extend to apparel and electronics subsequently. Experts say this might be because quick commerce hasn’t been successful in western markets, and while quick commerce models in India have proved many wrong, will they be able to sustain theirmodelswith products beyond grocery is the big question. Kushal Bhatnagar, associate partner at Redseer Strategy Consultants says over75-80% of quick commerce gross merchandise value (GMV) comes from groceries, but the non-grocery share is increasing every quarter. Continued on Page 2