INTERNATIONAL, P3 POLITICS, P7 INTERNATIONAL, P3 US may cap exports of chips from Nvidia, AMD SCO meet: Jaishankar first EAM in Pakistan in 9 years Boeing lines up $35 bn as strike hits finances CHENNAI/KOCHI, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2024 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XLV 138, 32 PAGES, `12.00 P U B L I S H E D F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , B E N G A L U R U , C H A N D I G A R H , C H E N N A I , H Y D E R A B A D , K O C H I , K O L K ATA , L U C K N O W, M U M B A I , N E W D E L H I , P U N E SENSEX: 81,820.13 ▼ 152.92 NIFTY: 25,057.35 ▼ 70.60 NIKKEI 225: 39,910.55 ▲ 304.75 HANG SENG: 20,318.79 ▼ 774.08 `/$: 84.04 ▲ 0.02 `/€: 91.71 ▲ 0.16 BRENT: $73.95 ▼ $3.51 GOLD: `75,690 ▼ `53 Stage finally set for N E W S Mittal joins Ambani call labour code rollout IN THE MAHATO VOTE ON NOV 20, JHARKHAND ON NOV 13 AND 20 THE ASSEMBLY elections in Jharkhand will be held in two phases on November 13 and November 20, while Maharashtra will go to polls in a single phase on November 20, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday, reports Express News Service. Counting of votes for both states will be on November 23. ■ PAGE 20 FRICTION WITH CANADA MAY NOT DENTTRADE TIES THE ESCALATION OF diplomatic row between India and Canada is unlikely to have any major impact on trade and investment relations between the two countries at least for the time being, a senior official said Tuesday, reports Mukesh Jagota. ■ PAGE 2 SPICEJET SETTLES THIRD DISPUTE IN LESS THAN A MONTH SPICEJET ON TUESDAY said it has successfully settled a $23.39million dispute with two aircraft lessors, Aircastle and Wilmington Trust, days after resolving a similar dispute with a US-based Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management, reports Raghav Aggarwal. ■ PAGE 5 CPI ATTARGET ON DURABLE BASIS BY FY26: RBI’S PATRA INDIA’S RETAIL INFLATION will likely move towards the 4% target on a “durable basis” in the coming fiscal, Reserve Bank of India’s deputy governor Michael Patra said on Tuesday, reports Bloomberg. ■ PAGE 2 EXPLAINER How NSE settled its case with Sebi ■ PAGE 9 FE S P E C I A L ‘We’re in the people business’ CEO of TATA Starbucks shares insights on the expansion plans ■ BRANDWAGON, P9 GOVTTO STICK TO ADMINISTRATIVE ROUTE: SCINDIA on satellite spectrum Allocation should be via auction in urban areas, says Bharti boss JATIN GROVER New Delhi, October 15 THE CONTENTIOUS ISSUE of spectrum allocation for satellite communication services took an interesting turn on Tuesday with Bharti Enterprises chairmanSunilBhartiMittalstatingthatauction should be the preferred mode for retail services in urban areas. Mittal’s statement,inthepresenceofPrimeMinister Narendra Modi at the India Mobile Congress, echoed what has long been Reliance Jio’s position. He earlier favoured administrative allocation of spectrum for satcom services. However, communications minister JyotiradityaScindiarejected thedemand to auction satcom spectrum.“Satellite spectrum across the world is administratively allocated.So,India is not doing anything different,”said Scindia. AnalystsviewedMittal'sstatementas Bharti and Jio closing ranks to ward off any potential threat from Elon Musk's Starlink, which has alsoappliedfor satellite services licences in India. Sunil Bharti Mittal and Akash Ambani at the India Mobile Congress in New Delhi Starlink,alongwith othertechnology firmslikeAmazon,is opposed to the auction route. Reacting to Jio lobbying for the auction route, Musk said “any decision to auction satellite spectrumwould be unprecedented”.“This spectrum was long designated by the ITU as a shared spectrum for satellites,”he posted on X. On his part, Mittal said, “Satellite companieswho have ambitions to come into urban areas serving elite retail customersjust needtotaketelecomlicences likeeverybodywiththesameconditions, and will have to buy the spectrum and paylicencefeessameastelecomplayers.” Continued on Page 7 ELON MUSK, CEO, STARLINK A MOVE TO AUCTION SATELLITE SPECTRUM, AND NOTALLOCATE, WOULD BE UNPRECEDENTED. THIS SPECTRUM WAS LONG DESIGNATED BYTHE ITU AS SHARED SPECTRUM FOR SATELLITES Global standards for AI needed: PM PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA Modi on Tuesday calledforglobalstandardsonAI and data privacy, reports fe Bureau.He said there needs to be a global set of dos and don’ts for the technology. ■ Page 4 Jio calls for local storage of data RELIANCEJIOCHAIRMANAkashAmbani onTuesdaypitchedforlocalstorageofdata generated in the country and urged the government for updating the 2020 draft of the Data Centre Policy, reports feBureau.HealsourgedtheCentretoembraceAIwith a strategydriven bydomestic creationof the technology. ■ Page 4 Samsung workers to call off 37-day strike Hyundai IPO subscribed 18% on Day 1 NARAYANAN V Chennai, October 15 FE BUREAU Mumbai, October 15 BRINGING AN END to a 37-day-long strike, the Samsung India Workers’ Union (SIWU) is set to officially call off the unrest at Samsung’s Chennai plant. The decision follows a conciliation talk held bytheTamil Nadu government through the labour welfare department on Tuesday, involving representatives from both Samsung India management and the striking workers. “The workers will return to work immediately,” said a press statement issued by the Tamil Nadu labour department. The Samsung management has assured that it will not not take action against those who participated in the strike, added the statement, noting that the workers will fully cooperate with the management and refrain from actions detrimental to the company’s interests. E Muthukumar, Kancheepuram district secretary of the Centre of Indian TradeUnions(CITU),confirmedtoFEthat there was a positive breakthrough in the talksheldonTuesday.“Unlikethegovernment,we can’t announce it immediately. We have a general body meeting of the SIWU tomorrow (Wednesday),where we ALL IN A DAY ■ The decision follows a conciliation talk held by theTamil Nadu government will seek approval from over 1,000 workerswhoarepartofthegeneralbodybefore officiallycalling off the strike,”he said. Muthukumar, who is also the president of the unrecognised SIWU,has been at the forefront of the workers’ strike at the Sriperumbudur plant. HYUNDAI MOTOR INDIA’S mega initial publicoffering(IPO)wassubscribed18% on the first day on Tuesday with bids for 17.8 million shares against 99.8 million on offer.The `27,870-crore IPO,which is thebiggestpublicissueinthecountry,will close forsubscription onThursday. Theportionsetasideforretailinvestors wassubscribed26%,whilethenon-institutional investors (NIIs) portion was subscribed13%.Ontheotherhand,qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) subscribed to 5% of the portion set asideforthem. Through the IPO,which is a complete offer for sale, Hyundai Motor plans to offload 17.5% stake in its Indian arm.At least 35% of the issue size (after anchor investments) is set aside for retail investors,15% forNIIs and up to 50% forQIBs. On Monday, the company allocated 42.4 million shares or 30% of the IPO to anchor investors, mobilising `8,315.3 crore,inoneofthebiggestpre-IPOrounds in the country.The shares were allocated at the upper end of the price band of `1,865-1,960apiece. Continued on Page 7 PRIYANSH VERMA New Delhi, October 15 STATUS UPDATE THE LONG-DELAYED IMPLEMENTATION of the four labour codes, passed by Parliament in 2019 and 2020,may finally see the light of day with 25 out of the country’s 28 states and all eight union territories having finalised the draft rules under these laws. According to official sources, the remaining three states, including West Bengal,which had earlier raised several concerns, have agreed to framethesubordinatelegislation,togiveeffect to the codes.The four labour codes are a judicious combination of reforms aimed at easing labour market rigidities,and reinforcingworkers’rights andwelfare. Asmanyas44labour-relatedActswere consolidatedintothefourcodeswiththeobjective of reinforcing trade and investment, facilitatingeaseofdoingbusinessandeasingcompliance.Severalminoroffencesweredecriminalised via the codes, while skill development and disputeresolutionhavebeenaccordedduepriority. Although the government has not yet announced any date for notifying the labour codes,it aims to do so bynextyear.“We’ve sensitised the states about the need for implementing the same set of labourrules across the country, and most of them are now on board,” an official told FE. Besides Bengal, Meghalaya and Nagaland areyet to frame theirrespective rules. “The regional meetings held in SeptemberOctober with different states have been beneficial in taking the views of all stakeholders. The states are ready to implement their 25 ■ Remaining three out of 28 states and all 8 UTs have finalised draft rules states, West Bengal, Meghalaya and Nagaland, agree to frame subordinate legislation ■ As many as 44 labour-related Acts have been consolidated into the four codes ■ No date announced yet, but the govt may notify the labour codes by next year ■ Tamil Nadu and Delhi are deficient in rules for one or more codes respective rules, within the framework of labour codes,to ensure uniformity and ease of compliance,” the official said. The four codes are: Code on Social Security 2020; Occupational Safety,Health andWorking Conditions Code 2020; Industrial Relations Code 2020; and Code on Wages 2019. Continued on Page 7 Tatas plan to create 500,000 manufacturing jobs in 5 yrs PRESS TRUST OF INDIA New Delhi, October 15 TATA GROUP WILL create 500,000 manufacturing jobs in the next five years across sectorssuchassemiconductor, electric vehicles, battery and related industries, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Tuesday. India cannot achieve the goals of being a developed nation if the countrycannot create manufacturing jobs, asserted Chandrasekaran at a sympo- N CHANDRASEKARAN , CHAIRMAN, TATA SONS WE CANNOT ACHIEVE VIKSIT BHARAT GOALS IF WE CAN’T CREATE MANUFACTURING JOBS sium of Indian Foundation for Quality Management. Citing the group’s upcoming semiconductor plant in Assam and other new manufacturing units for EVs and battery, he said,“we are setting up a number of plants”. Chandrasekaran saidbasedon“basic math”, these jobs will have multiplier effects. Continued on Page 7 Continued on Page 7 ■ CITU- backed Samsung India Workers' Union is set to officially call off its strike ■ Workers to return towork immediately at Samsung’s Sriperumbudur plant ■ Samsung to not take action againstworkers who took part in strike NO NEW DEADLINE ON OVERSIGHT OF INDIAN CLEARING HOUSES RBI-ESMA talks to go beyond October FE BUREAU New Delhi, October 15 EUROPEAN BANKS IN India will continue to transact withlocalclearinghousesevenafterthedeadlineforan agreement between the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) expires this month.ESMAhas not stipulated any fresh deadline for the agreement on the oversight of local clearing houses, and the discussions between ESMAand RBIwill continue. Theabsenceofanagreementhadearlierthreatened todisrupttheoperationsoftheEuropeanbank.TheRBI is expected to continue to prevail on ESMA,asking it to remove the ‘extra-territorial’ element from its laws. ESMA has been asking for powers to inspect Indian clearing corporations but this is not acceptable to the RBI and the regulator has so far resisted granting it thesesupervisorypowers.ESMAhadwithdrawnrecognitionfromsixIndiancentralcounterparties,effective May 2023.Government-level talks between the European Union and Indiawill also be pursued. Meanwhile, European banking entities operating in India — BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Deutsche Bank — need not make any special provisions with THE DEADLOCK ■ European banks in India will continue to transact with these clearing houses ■ The current deadline to reach an agreement expires by Oct-end ■ RBI may continue to ask ESMA to remove ‘extra-territorial’ element from its laws Indian custodians. These foreign banks will explore alternative arrangements and probably use local Indian banks as go-betweens although that will increase theircost of operations,experts believe.Such arrangements,withmultipleentities,wouldtaketime to be finalised,they pointed out. The domestic clearing houses that had been identified for de-recognition by ESMA include Clearing CorporationofIndia,IndianClearingCorp,IndiaInter- ■ ESMA has been asking for powers to inspect Indian clearing corporations ■ But RBI has so far resisted granting ESMA these supervisory powers ■ European banks may use local peers as go-betweens, but at increased costs: Experts ■ BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Deutsche Bank among European banking entities operating in India national Clearing Corp,NSE Clearing,NSE IFSC Clearing Corp and Multi Commodity Exchange Clearing Corp.Fouryearsaftertheglobalfinancialcrisisin2008, the EU rolled out the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) to improve transparency and reducerisksinover-the-counterderivatives.Underthe EMIR, central counterparties — also called clearing houses — servicing European banks in other jurisdictions must be approved by ESMA. CHENNAI/KOCHI