OPINION, P8 WELL BEING Know how to optimise food intake for maximum nutritional benefit Page 6 What has changed? Apparently nothing In our bid to humanise pets, have we gone too far? Page 9 VOL.NO.XIII SL.NO.80 SUNDAY, JUNE 30, 2024, 20 Pages, `12 F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , B E N G A L U R U , WHAT'S INSIDE C H A N D I G A R H , C H E N N A I , When decor meets dining Restaurants are betting big on design-centric ambiences, beyond culinary delights, to carve out a niche for themselves and offer an immersive experience to guests ■ WORDS WORTH, P4 A pandemic upon us SHUBHANGI SHAH New Delhi, June 29 Seven new companies from India have entered the list of the global top 500 firms by market cap.The companies are NTPC, Sun Pharma,Tata Motors, M&M, HAL, ONGC, and UltraTech Cement.The number of Indian companies in the global 500 mcap group has increased from 19 at the end of December to 24 as ofJune 28. However, two companies,Asian Paints andTitan Company, have dropped out of the list. Compiled by Kishor Kadam Global top 500 firms by mcap: New entrants 434 438 441 448 458 467 478 Company Mcap ($ bn) NTPC Sun Pharma Tata Motors M&M HAL ONGC UltraTech Cement 44.0 43.8 43.5 42.7 42.2 41.4 40.4 Top 5 Indian firms in global 500 by mcap Global rank 39 76 89 152 157 Company Reliance Inds TCS HDFC Bank Bharti Airtel ICICI Bank As on June 28, 2024 Mcap ($ bn) 254.0 169.4 153.6 103.5 101.2 Source: Bloomberg K O C H I , K O L K A T A , PRO-PLANET SHIFT export surplus items, clothes with minor defects discarded by factories of Hauz Khas Village in Delhi, one can spot several stores—ordinary lookingfromtheoutside,butatreasure trove of one-of-a-kind clothes, shoes and accessories. These are thrift stores, selling second-hand clothes, and export surplus from brandsbudgetandluxury—making fashion accessible to allwhile doing their bit for the environment. The rising numberof offline and online thrift stores are in consonance with the demand, as indicated byreports too.Arecent report by ThredUp, a global thrift retailer, saystheglobalsecond-handapparel market grew by 18% last year to reach $197 billion,and is projected to grow three-fold faster than the L U C K N O W , M U M B A I , ■ Thrift stores sell ■ In general, thrifting has also become a ‘cool’ thing because of its popularity on Instagram ■ Rising number of thrift stores signals demand among urban Gen Z, millennials ■ Thrifting reduces waste, greenhouse gas emissions associated with fashion industry overall apparel market to reach $350 billion by 2028. HuckleberryHangersisoneofthe most popular thrift spots in Hauz Khas.Stockedwithvariousgarments, italsosellsMaryJanes,chunkyloafers and cowboyboots.“I grewup in Darjeeling, where thrifting is a major thing. So my idea of a thrift storestemmedfromthere,and we eventually started during the Covid pandemic in 2020,” said Neha Butt,founderand curatorof Huckleberry Hangers,which operates both offline and online,with over 12,600 followersonInstagram.Itessentially THREE CANDIDATES WERE IN FRAY Global markets head Setty to be SBI chief THE RIGHT CHOICE ■ Centre to finalise appointment ■ Setty will turn 59 this September PIYUSH SHUKLA Mumbai, June 29 7 new Indian firms in global 500 mcap club Art workshops are now being held in relaxed spaces like cafes & restaurants Page 7 N E W D E L H I , P U N E Second to none,thrifting to outpace apparel market ● Bank veteran to replace Dinesh Khara, who retires in August A superbug threat hides amid us in plain sight, but little is being done to check it THE BIGGER PICTURE READ TO LEAD H Y D E R A B A D , SAUNTERING THROUGH THE lanes ■ SPOTLIGHT, P5 LEISURE Follow us on Twitter & Facebook. App available on App Store & Play Store WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM FINANCIAL EXPRESS ON SUNDAY CHENNAI/KOCHI Global rank Are we loving our pets to death? IS WHAT YOU ARE EATING ‘BIOAVAILABLE’? ACROSS THE AISLE, P CHIDAMBARAM P U B L I S H E D MIND & GAMES CS SETTY IS set to succeed Dinesh KharaasthechairmanofStateBank of India following a recommendation by the Financial Services Institution Bureau (FSIB) to the Centre on Saturday.Khara’s tenure ends on August 28 this year when he turns 63—SBI’s retirement age. “FSIBinterfacedwiththreecandidates on June 29 for the position of chairman in State Bank of India. Keepinginviewtheirperformancein theinterface,theiroverallexperience and the extant parameters, the bureau recommends Challa SreenivasuluSettyforthepositionofchairmaninSBI,”astatementbyFSIBsaid. Thethreecandidatesinterviewedfor thetopjobwereSetty,AshwiniTewari ■ He currently leads international banking, and technologywings ofbank too and Vinay Tonse— all serving as managing directors at SBI currently. Setty, who will turn 59 this September, joined the board of SBI as MD in January 2020 and currently leads international banking,global markets and technology wings of the bank. Prior to this, he headed the retail anddigitalbankingverticals.Hewas also headingvarious taskforces and committees formed by the Government of India. A bachelor of science in agriculture and a chartered accountant by training, Setty started his career with SBI in 1988 as a probationary officer. Before being appointed as MD in 2020, he held the post of deputy MD, and was in-charge of the stressed assets resolution group.Prior to that he was the chief general manager, corporate accounts group, and deputygeneralmanager in the midcorporate group. Continued on Page 2 Plan to overhaul macro data collection criteria ● 26-member panel set up to revise bases, diversify sourcing PRIYANSH VERMA New Delhi, June 29 THE GOVERNMENT HAS launched a major review of the existing system of macroeconomic data collection and computation methodology. The move comes amid criticism from several quarters, including leading statisti- INSIDE cians, economists and global agencies, about India’s economic data, including the national income accounts. As per a gazette notification dated June 27, a new 26-member advisory committee on national accounts statistics will not just undertake the customarybase-year revisions for different sets of data, but would also advise the governmentonthe“methodologyforcompilation and presentation of the National Accounts Statistics (Gross Domestic Product)”. BUILD DATA PORTAL FOR FINANCE COMMISSION TO BRING CONTINUITY: PANAGARIYA PAGE 3 Continued on Page 2 sells export surplus goods, Butt specified, clothes with minor defects that are discarded by factories.“We bringtheseclothesfromthefactories and do our bit by not letting these clothes go to the landfill,” she added. Afewmetres awayfrom Huckle- berry Hangers is Shop With Love, another multi-storied thrift store offering tops,jeans,dresses,jackets, trousers, and funky T-shirts.Along with the store, it has over 183,000 followers on Instagram and sells online as well. In Mumbai’s Bombay Closet Cleanse,runbysistersSanaandAlfiya Khan,the business stemmed from a garage sale.“I was a shopaholic and hadover700piecesinmyclosetgatheringdust—somestillwithtagsthatI had never used.It was in a conversation with a friend who enlightened me about the impact of fast fashion on the environment.So I thought of doing a small garage sale for my friends and family, the response to which was massive.And that’s how the businesswas born,” said Sana. Continued on Page 2 Zambian court allows Vedanta to reclaim mine BLOOMBERG June 29 VEDANTA RESOURCES CAN take back control of the Konkola copper project in Zambia after a court sanctioned a plan to settle debts owed to the mine’s creditors. A court in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, on Friday approved a scheme of arrangement that was supported by Konkola Copper Mines’ creditors,the southernAfrican country’s mines minister,Paul Kabuswe,said on Facebook. Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta has been trying to regain the major copper asset since 2019, when KCMwas put into provisional liquidation after the previous government accused its ownerof lying about expansion plans and paying too little tax. To get access to the mine again, Vedanta now needs to follow the court ruling by releasing $250 million to settle debts that KCM owes to contractors and suppliers. Vedanta told Bloomberg this week that it stands ready to start making the payments. Agarwal’s firm has also committed to investing $1 billion over five years to complete expansion projects. Although Konkola’s annual production capacity exceeds 300,000 tonneofcopper,outputofthemetal that’s key to the energy transition MONEY ISSUES ■ Court approves plan to settle debts owed to mine’s creditors ■ Vedanta has to release $250 mn to settle debts ■ Vedanta looking to sell minority stake in Konkola for finance and whose price rallied to a record last month slumped to less than 40,000 tonne in 2023. Theflagshipoperation—Konkola Deep—extendsalmostamileunderground. It is one of the world’s wettestmines,requiringtheequivalent of 140 Olympic-sized swimmingpoolstobepumpedtothesurface dailyin orderto function. Continued on Page 2 CONFIDENT OF OVER $800 BN EXPORTS THIS FISCAL: GOYAL RAVI AGRAWAL NAMED NEW CBDT CHAIRMAN INDIA'S GOODS AND services exports are expected to cross $800 billion this financial year despite global challenges, Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said on Saturday. In 2023-24, the shipments stood at $778.2 billion (goods $437.1 billion and services $341 billion). ■ PAGE 3 RAVI AGRAWAL HAS been named the new chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). Agrawal, a 1988-batch IRS officer, is currently a member in CBDT. As per an official notification, Agrawal will begin his tenure as chairman of CBDT from July 1, and will hold that position till June 30, 2025. Utility vehicle sales on a roll, new launches bolster market share VIKRAM CHAUDHARY New Delhi, June 29 UTILITY VEHICLES (UVs), led by sports utility vehicles (SUVs), have reached a newhigh in the passenger vehicle (PV) space.According to data sourced from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), during January-May 2024, UVs formed 60.62% of the market, up from 51.47% during January-May 2023—amountingtoalmost10percentage point increase in just ayear. The UV share is expected to further rise, backed by more launches —while Tata Motors will roll out Curvv, Citroen will drive in Basalt, both around the festive season. There is, however, no major MPV launch this year (MPVs and SUVs together form UVs, of which SUVs comprise over 90%). During January-May2023,as manyas 748,926 UVs were sold in the total market of 1,454,981 PVs, but in January-May 2024, this increased to 948,980 UVs in a total market of 1,565,477 PVs. Sales of passenger cars (hatchbacks and sedans put together), on the other hand, shrank from 647,387 units in January-May 2023 to just 557,292 units in Janu- ZOOMING AHEAD Passenger vehicles 1,454,981 1,565,477 Utility vehicles 748,926 Jan-May 2023 Jan-May 2024 948,980 Passenger cars Jan-May 2023 Jan-May 2024 647,387 Jan-May 2023 Jan-May 2024 557,292 NEW UV LAUNCHES SO FAR THIS YEAR ■ New Hyundai Creta ■ Tata ■ New Kia ■ Hyundai ■ New Mahindra ■ Mahindra ■ New Punch EV Seltos Creta N Line XUV700 XUV 3XO Force Gurkha ary-May 2024, and the market share of passengercars got reduced from 44.5% to just 35.6% during the period.Vans,meanwhile,maintained their share of about 4% of the PV market. Automotive analysts told FE that while SUVs were in any case doing well,the huge 10 percentage point jump in market share within a year can be attributed to new launches during this calendar year. “The year started with the launch of the allnew Hyundai Creta on January 16, which has demolished the entire midsize sedan segment, and has sold a whopping 75,055 units during January-May 2024, which is more than double the five sedans put together,” an industryveteran said.“Thiswas followed by the Punch EV launch, which energised the Punch brand, and thisSUVwasIndia’s largest sellingvehicle during March andApril. Along came the new Kia Seltos, Creta N Line, new Mahindra XUV700, new Force Gurkha, and then Mahindra’s XUV 3XO.” He added that in the hatchback/ sedan segment,there was only one launch—the all-newMaruti Suzuki Swift on May9.“It’s doingwell,and was India’s largest sellingvehicle in May 2024, but it will be too much to expect from the Swift to face the might of the entire SUV segment.” Hatchbacks and sedans are expected to remain under pressure —as the only launch this year will likely be the all-new Maruti Suzuki Dzire,a sub-4 metre sedan. CHENNAI/KOCHI