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APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL LXIV NO. 106, 18 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: 73,878.15 ▼ 732.96 NIFTY: 22,475.85 ▼ 172.35 NIKKEI 225: 38,236.07 ▼ 37.98 HANG SENG: 18,475.92 ▲ 268.79 `/$: 83.43 ▲ 0.04 `/€: 89.63 ▲ 0.28 BRENT: $83.13 ▼ $0.54 GOLD: `70,941 ▼ `56 FREE HOSPITAL CARE UNDER PM-JAY HITS `86,000 CRORE FREE HOSPITALISATION BENEFITS worth `86,000 crore have been provided to beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana since its rollout in September 2018, reports fe Bureau. More than 65 million people have so far benfited from the scheme. ■ PAGE 2 CD ISSUANCES BY BANKS DECLINE 74% IN APRIL FUNDRAISING BY BANKS via certificates of deposits fell 74% to `32,860 crore in April compared to `1.27 trillion in March as liquidity tightness in the banking system eased and demand for loans moderated, reports Sachin Kumar. ■ PAGE 6 PIYUSH SHUKLA Mumbai, May 3 THE RESERVE BANK of India (RBI) on Friday said lenders should maintain a provision of 5% for loans extended to under-construction projects, according to draft guidelines posted on the central bank's website. The provisions can be made gradually in phases till FY27. Once the project enters the operational phase, the provisions can be reduced to 2.5% of the funded loans. The provisions can further be reduced to 1% of the funded outstanding, provided that the project has — i) posted positive net operating cash flow that is sufficient to cover current repayment obligation to all lenders; and, ii) total long-term debt of the project with the lenders has declined by at least 20% from the outstanding at the time of achieving date of commencement of commercial operations. Lenders were earlier reportedly directed to maintain 0.4% provisions for FE BUREAU New Delhi, May 3 REAL RURALWAGES have contracted in 25 of the 27 months to February 2024, suggesting that the recovery in the hinterland could take longer than expected. February saw a big contraction of 3.1%; before this, the highest contraction was 2.9% in September 2022. Thediphasbeenparticularlysharpinthe fourmonthstoFebruarywithruralinflation going up.Inflation faced by rural labourers rangedbetween7.1and7.5%intheNovember2023-February2024 period. Theweaknessinruralconsumptionhas been evident for some time now. Wholesale dispatches of tractors, for instance, were virtually flat in 2023 compared with 2022. The trend has worsened in recent months; in the January-March quarter, they fell by about 23% over the corresponding quarter in 2023. Again,sales of two-wheelers, especially thoseoflow-endmodels,havebeensubdued forsometime.AtHeroMotocorp,whichsells big numbers in the rural market, the fouryear CAGR or compounded annual growth rate in wholesale volumes,was negative in everymonth in theyearto February2024. Rural consumption went up by just 0.5% y-o-y in the second quarter of FY24, the slowest pace recorded in eight quarters,an analysis by Motilal Oswal showed. Continued on Page 6 JIO EXPLORES BUILD ● OPERATE MODEL FOR RAILWAY SPECTRUM STATE OF THE MATTER -0.2 -1.3 -1.2 -1.9 -2.1 -2.3 -1.9 -1.8 -2.1 -2.7 -1.4 -0.6 -0.3 -0.5 -0.9 -1.2 -0.8 Real rural wage growth -1.2 (%, y-o-y) Source: CMIE -3.1 -0.3 -0.4 -0.9 -1.3 -1.3 -1.1 Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr 0.4 May Jun Jul Aug 0 Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb 2021 THE SKEWED NATURE of grain procurement has been the main reason why support prices for farmers produced lessthan-optimal results in boosting farmers' income, reports Sandip Das. This malaise has come to the fore again with a recent inspection done in Bihar. ■ PAGE 2 Pain increases on rural wages 2022 FOOD MIN REVIEW IN BIHAR SHOWS MSP RULE VIOLATIONS RBI proposes tighter project finance norms for lenders Apple reports new revenue record in India, says CEO Cook 2023 NEWS 3.1% CONTRACTION IN FEBRUARY FE BUREAU New Delhi, May 3 2024 IN THE APPLECEOTIMCookonFridaysaidthatthe March quarter revenue in India was a new record for the tech giant. The company recorded a strong double-digit growth in India for the eighth straight quarter on robustiPhone15demandowingtopromotionaloffers.Analystssaidthegrowthcanbe attributedtoabetterproductmixandchannel expansion bythe company. “IseeIndiaasanincrediblyexcitingmarket and a major focus for us.In terms of the operationalorsupplychainside,weareproducingthere,fromapragmaticpointofview, you need to produce there to be competitive,” Cook said at the earnings call. The growth in India INSIDE isdespitea4%year-onyeardeclineintheover- Biggest all global revenue to buyback at $90.75billionowingto $110 bn afalliniPhonesalesdue ■ PAGE 3 toweaknessinmarkets like China, Taiwan, Hong Kong,Singapore,among others. iPhones are made in India through Apple’scontractmanufacturers—Foxconn, Pegatron and Tata-owned Wistron.These firmsareamongthebeneficiariesoftheproduction-linkedincentiveschemeforsmartphones. In FY24, the company produced smartphonesworth $14 billion – double of that in FY23. One in seven iPhones in the world are nowassembled in India. iPhones contributed 65%,orabout $10 billion (around `83,000 crore) to India’s smartphones exports in FY24. This was higherthan$5billion(`40,000crore)worth exports in the previousyear. “We’re involved in the entire ecosystem — from developer to the market to operations.Icouldnotbemoreenthusiasticabout it,” Cook said, adding that the company is continuing to expand its channels in India. Accordingtoanalysts,thecompanyhasbeen banking on the premiumisation wave with nocostEMIs,financingoffersandtrade-ins. FAMILY TIME IN THE PARTY BASTION RELIANCE JIO HAS proposed to build and operate a common 4G/5G network for safety and security applications of railways and for public protection and disaster reliefrelated services, using the 700 MHz band assigned by the government to Railways, reports Jatin Grover. ■ PAGE 2 GAUTAM SINGHANIA REAPPONTED AS RAYMOND MD RAYMOND’S BOARD HAS decided to reappoint Gautam Singhania, who is embroiled in a bitter divorce battle with estranged wife Nawaz Modi Singhania, as its managing director for five years, effective July 1, 2024, reports Rajesh Kurup. ■ PAGE 5 FE S P E C I A L S Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra before filing his nomination from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh on Friday Mahindra XUV 3XO: The iPhone Mini among SUVs It’s compact, it’s spacious, it’s fast, but that ivory-white cabin can easily get dirty. ■ MOTOBAHN, P9 Get regular income with potential capital gains These funds have lower volatility compared to growth-oriented funds ■ PERSONAL FINANCE, P9 PTI Continued on Page 6 ON THE CARDS ■ Provisions can be made gradually in phases till FY27 ■ Once project 5% provision for loans to underconstuction projects in the offing further cut to 1% in certain cases ■ Lenders were earlier reportedly directed to maintain 0.4% provisions project loans which were standard. Further, for projects financed under lenders’ consortium arrangements, where the aggregate exposure of the participant lenders to the project is up to `1,500 crore,no individual lendershould have an exposure less than 10% of the aggregate exposure, the guidelines posted on the website said. Continued on Page 6 ■ It can be is operational phase, it can be reduced to 2.5% Centre to buy back bonds worth `40k cr THE CENTREWILLbuyback `40,000 croreworth of securities,the RBI said. There is no notifiedamount forindividual securitiesand the auctionwill be held using the multipleprice method. Volatility index rises 9%, markets fall 1% VIVEK KUMAR M Mumbai, May 3 market is anticipating a third term for the rulingparty,expectationsaregettingbuiltuponthenumberofseatsitwillwin,which FEAR GAUGE INDIA VIX spiked around is important for policy continuity. 9% on Friday, rising for the seventh conWhile India VIX rose, benchmark secutive session, as build-up of expecta- indices skidded around 1% on profittions for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections booking. Nifty hit a record high level of propelled volatile swings. In seven ses- 22,794.70 points intraday, before shedsions, the volatility ding its gains and index has soared 43% falling 0.8% to to 14.62. This comes 22,475.85 points.Even NIRMALA SITHARAMAN, just after it crashed Sensex fell over 1,200 FINANCE MINISTER 20% on April 23 in its points from its day's biggest single-day high and closed the sesWONDER WHERE slump in 5 years. sion 1% lower at THIS (REPORT OF Earlier in the day, 73,878.15 points. there were rumours “There is no major SWEEPING CHANGES after a news report negative factor in the IN TAXATION) IS said that there will be market given that earnCOMING FROM. PURE “sweeping changes”in ings have also been taxation after the rullargelyin line and crude SPECULATION ing party comes back price has also fallen,” to power. This could said Sunny Agrawal, have triggered some head of fundamental panic selling.However, equity research at SBIin a post on X after the CAPS Securities. market hours, finance India VIX is usually minister Nirmala Sitharaman higher ahead of key major said thiswas pure speculation. events like general elections or “Wonder where this (report Union Budget. However, the of sweeping changes in taxapast two weeks has seen sharp tion) is coming from.Was not even volatile swings,which has caught double checked with @Finsome market participants MinIndia.Pure specuby surprise. lation,”she said. Experts said Continued on though the Page 6 SPIKE IN INDIA VIX FOR 7TH SESSION 1 14.62 May 3, 2024 Intra-day SENSEX 75,500 75,017.82 75,000 74,500 INDIA VIX Previous close: 74,611.11 73,878.15 74,000 11.37 April 3, 2024 73,500 73,000 732.96 Points 0.98% Open Close ROLLS OUT PULSAR NS400Z AT AFFORDABLE `1.85 LAKH TO TAKE ON RIVALS Bajaj cranks up the heat in premium bike market GEETA NAIR & VIKRAM CHAUDHARY Pune/New Delhi, May 3 BAJAJ AUTO ON Friday disrupted thepremium350-500ccmotorcycle segment by launching the Pulsar NS400Z, priced at `1.85 lakh (exshowroom).With this launch, Bajaj has not only expanded the Pulsar family — 11 models from 125 cc to 373 cc — but has also taken on Hero Mavrick,whichwastillnowthemost affordable 350-500 cc bike. The 350-500 cc premium bikes are niche but a growing segment. According to FY24 SIAM sales data, this segment grew a whopping 76.3% – from 53,525 units to 94,359 units – compared to 13.9% for overall motorcycles. IN TOP GEAR KTM 390 DUKE 399 cc `3.11 lakh HERO MAVRICK 440 cc `1.99 lakh TRIUMPH SPEED 400 398 cc `2.35 lakh BAJAJ DOMINAR 400 BAJAJ PULSAR NS400Z 373 cc `2.31 lakh 373 cc,`1.85 lakh “This growth came despite the average ticket size in this segment at a high of `2.5 lakh,” an automotive analyst told FE. “Now with a solid brand such as the Pulsaravail- able for just `1.85 lakh, expect this segment to explode.” ThePulsaristheseventhbrandin this segment, and the most affordable. Others are Hero Mavrick (440 HARLEYDAVIDSON X440 440 cc `2.39 lakh RE HIMALAYAN 450 452 cc `2.85 lakh cc, `1.99 lakh), Bajaj Dominar 400 (373 cc,`2.31 lakh),Triumph Speed 400 (398 cc, `2.35 lakh), HarleyDavidsonX440 (440 cc,`2.39 lakh), Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 (452 cc, `2.85 lakh) and KTM 390 Duke (399 cc,`3.11 lakh). In fact, both Bajaj and Hero helped this segment grow in FY24. While Bajaj got the UK’sTriumph to India, Hero brought America’s Harley-Davidson. Triumph’s Speed 400 and Scrambler400 X are manufactured at Bajaj’s Chakan plant near Pune, and Harley-Davidson X440 is made at Hero’s Neemrana Garden Factory in Rajasthan. Riding on Triumph, Bajaj saw a 159% growth in the 350-500 cc segment in FY24 – from 16,150 units to 41,750 units. Hero’s sales went up from nil in FY23 to 14,837 units in FY24. Bajaj also benefited from rising sales of KTM — theAustriancompanypartiallyownedbyit. SalesofRoyalEnfieldHimalayan marginally dropped – from 37,108 units to 37,073 units. AsfarasthePulsarNS400Zisconcerned, it’s available in four colours (red, black, metallic white, and grey) and can be booked for `5,000.The bike has advanced features like LED headlamp, digital instrument console and Bluetooth connectivity. It’s high on style, with champagne gold suspension and carbon fibre graphics. It’s also the most powerful and fastest Pulsarever(40 PS power and 35 Nm torque),and is high on technology (gets aircraftinspired ride-by-wire technology for precise throttle response and smoother handling). Continued on Page 6