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APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL 17 NO. 152, 40 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: 73,961.31 ▲ 75.71 NIFTY: 22,530.70 ▲ 42.05 NIKKEI 225: 38,487.90 ▲ 433.77 HANG SENG: 18,079.61 ▼ 150.58 `/$: 83.47 ▼ 0.15 `/€: 90.53 ▼ 0.45 BRENT: $81.96 ▲ $0.10 GOLD: `72,127 ▲ `376 CRUDE IMPORTS FROM RUSSIA HIT NEW PEAK RUSSIAN CRUDE OIL imports to India touched a new high of 1.96 million barrels per day, highest since July last year when the imports stood at 2.06 million barrels per day, according to the latest ship tracking data from Kpler, reports Arunima Bharadwaj. ■ PAGE 2 MERCEDES WANTS NEW INDIA GOVTTO FORGE MORE FTAs GERMAN CARMAKER MERCEDES-BENZ wants India's next government to forge more free trade agreements and reduce trade barriers to help boost luxury car sales in one of the world's biggest auto markets, reports Reuters. ■ PAGE 4 However, consumption GROWTH CURVE Real GDP remains subdued and Nominal GDP capex cycle stays weak (% chg, y-o-y) Quarterly data INDIA'S GROSS DOMESTIC product (GDP)grewatahigher-than-expectedrate of 7.8% in the final quarter of last fiscal, pushing the economic expansion in the wholeofFY24toarobust8.2%,according totheprovisionalestimatesreleasedbythe NationalStatisticalOffice(NSO)onFriday. For the record,this could give a shot in thearmtotheNarendraModigovernment ahead of the last phase of general election on Saturday. However, many analysts reckon enough evidence wasn't available yet of broad-based economic revival, and cited the tepid consumption scenario and statisticaldiscrepancies. As per the NSO,the FY24 GDP growth came in sharply higher than 7% in FY23, driven by a resurgent manufacturing and steady growth in the construction (both sectors grew at 9.9%), and surge inminingactivities(7.1%),evenastheprimary sectors faltered and the key services slowed.To be sure, the FY24 growth was lowerthan9.8%seeninFY22,butthatwas onshrunkenbasecausedbythepandemic. A higher growth rate than that of last fiscal, shorn of such statistical obfuscation, was last seen in FY17 (8.3%). ThelatestheadlineGDPnumbersgota big boost from buoyant indirect taxes 8 7 WATER LEVELS FALL 23% IN 150 MAJOR RESERVOIRS WATER LEVELS IN the country’s 150 major reservoirs fell sharply to 23% below the previous year's level, due to deficient monsoon last season, scanty rainfall in winter months and prolonged heat waves in several parts of the country in the last two months, reports Sandip Das. ■ PAGE 2 FE S P E C I A L 5 13.8 8.2 9.7 9.8 6 4 7 4 *Provisional estimates THE GOVERNMENT'S FISCAL deficit for the last financial year came in at 5.6%ofGDP,lowerthantheREof5.8%, on the back of better than anticipated revenues and some expenditure compression, reports Mukesh Jagota.The (GST receipts) and lower subsidy outgo. Thegrossvalueadded(GVA),amoreaccurate gauge of the economy grew at substantiallylowerratesthantheGDPinboth Q3 (difference of 1.8 percentage points) and Q4 (1.5 pps) of FY24, because of this factor.Also,the national income datawas fraught with certain incongruities, like Including Uttar Pradesh (13), Bihar (8), Punjab (13), West Bengal (9) NARENDRA MODI (BJP), VARANASI, UP ■ MOTOBAHN, P9 Q1 6.3 Q2 Q3 Q4 FY24 1.4 9.9 9.9 8.4 7.8 7.5 7.1 subdued consumption (private final consumption expenditure or PFCE grew just 4% on year in both Q3 and Q4 of FY24), and a sequential slowing of GVA through the year (from 8.3% in Q1 to 7.7% in Q2, 6.8% in Q3 and 6.3% in Q4). 904 KANGANA RANAUT (BJP), MANDI, HIMACHAL PRADESH 199 (22%) to Air India for 20-hour flight delay R K SINGH (BJP), ARRAH, BIHAR FE BUREAU New Delhi, May 31 ANAND SHARMA (INC), KANGRA, HIMACHAL PRADESH ABHISHEK BANERJEE MISA BHARTI (RJD), (TMC), DIAMOND PATALIPUTRA, HARBOUR, WEST BENGAL BIHAR 299 (33%) OTHERS SUDIP BANDYOPADHYAY (TMC), KOLKATA NORTH `3.27 crore SAUGATA ROY (TMC), DUM DUM, WEST BENGAL RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD (BJP), PATNA SAHIB, BIHAR AVERAGE ASSETS OF CANDIDATES HARSIMRAT KAUR BADAL (SAD), BATHINDA, PUNJAB ANURAG THAKUR (BJP), HAMIRPUR, HP Source: Association of Democratic Reforms BENCHMARKINDICESREGISTEREDtheirworst week in over two months ahead of the counting of votes of the Lok Sabha elections as investors took risk off the table.The Sensex and the Nifty ended the week nearly 2% lower even as they snappedafive-daylosingstreakonFriday.Meanwhile, the BSE MidCap ended the week 1.53% lower.Not surprisingly,India VIX,the indicator of volatility in the market in the next 30 days, rose 1.8% to fresh two-yearhigh of 24.60 level. The Sensex ended at 73,961.31 points, up 75.71 points or0.1%,on Friday,while the Nifty rose 42.05 points or0.2% to 22,530.70 points. However, the benchmark indices had risen nearly 1% intraday and gave up much of the gains in the last couple of hours of trading. “The market has fallen in last few sessions because people are cutting down positions and keeping some cash ready in case market falls sharply,” said UR Bhat, co-founder of Alphaniti Fintech. Bhat said in a base case scenario where theincumbentgovernmentgetssamenumberof seats as in 2019, there could be a huge fall in impliedvolatilityandmarginalbuyinginthemarket.However,hesaidifthereisastrongwinforthe ruling party,the market could see a 3-4%rise. Provisional data showed that both foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and domestic institutional investors (DIIs)were net buyers on Friday. While FPIs net bought shares worth `1,613.24 crore,DIIsnetbought`2,114.17croreofshares. However, the market breadth was negative with 2,099 stocks ending lower on the BSE, compared to 1,732 stocks rising.The BSE Mid- Leo Burnett wins top DGCA notice award this year too CANDIDATES WITH CRIMINAL CASES CROREPATI CANDIDATES VIVEK KUMAR M Mumbai, May 31 Continued on Page 18 CANDIDATES CANDIDATES WITH SERIOUS CRIMINAL CASES We drove Tata Punch and Hyundai Exter to figure out which is a better SUV. 4. 4.3 Q3 Q4 FY23 At constant prices; % chg, y-o-y Budget estimate (BE) for the deficit in FY24 was 5.9%. In absolute terms the deficit stood at `16.5 trillion against the RE of `17.3 trillion and BE of `17.8 trillion. For FY25, the fiscal deficit target has been set at 5.1%. ■ Page 2 151 (17%) Micro-SUVs: One is the Punch,another packs a punch 4.8 FY24 fiscal deficit lower than RE POLL CALL 57 GVA 7.8 Manufacturing Construction Financial, real estate, etc Public administration Electricity, gas, etc Mining Agriculture LOK SABHA ELECTIONS: PHASE 7 SEATS Sensex and Nifty end the week nearly 2% lower Key performers in FY24 (GVA, % chg, y-o-y) FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24* Source: MoSPI GDP 9 18.9 PRIYANSH VERMA New Delhi, May 31 6.4 DUE TO THE government’s policy response to recognition of stress, resolution of stressed accounts and recapitalisation, the financial health of public sector banks has improved significantly since 2014, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday, reports fe Bureau. ■ PAGE 2 -5.8 -1.2 FM: MODI GOVT TURNED AROUND BANKING SECTOR At robust 8.2%, FY24 GDP beats estimates 10.6 NEWS Stocks log their worst week in two months Q4 GROWTH AT HIGHER-THAN-EXPECTED 7.8% 6.5 IN THE CHARANJIT CHANNI (INC), JALANDHAR, PUNJAB ON THE FINAL day of the Abbys,Leo Burnett walked away as the biggest winnerafterpicking up the Creative AgencyoftheYeartitleforthesecond year in a row, reports Christina Moniz. The agency took home a haul of 24 metals on the lastday,includingoneGrandPrixandfourgold. At number two on the list with 20 metals was VMLIndia,followed by FCB Group India with a tally of 13 metals. ■ Page 22 POLL JITTERS 75,410.39 SENSEX May 24, 2024 5-day loss -1,449.08 73,961.31 May 31 points % chg: -1.92 22,957.10 May 24, 2024 NIFTY 22,530.70 May 31 5-day loss -426.40 points % chg: -1.86 May 24, 2024 43,519.44 BSE MIDCAP 42,852.69 May 31 5-day loss -666.75 points % chg: -1.53 cap index rose 0.1%, while the BSE Smallcap index ended 0.8% higher. “The exit poll outcomewill be keytriggerfor the market and could lead to large swings.The market will also react to domestic GDP data along with the US core PCE data, which could furtherheighten thevolatilityon Monday,”said Siddhartha Khemka, head - retail research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Continued on Page 18 Vedanta parent sees highest-ever Ebitda VEDANTA RESOURCES, THE parent company of mining major Vedanta, expects to post an Ebitda of $6.5 billion in FY25, buoyant on volume growth from ongoing projects, reports Rajesh Kurup.Thiswouldbethehighest-everEbitdato be recorded by the firm.The firm has also earmarkedacapexof$6billiontoexpandcapacities across businesses. However, the timeframe for the capexwas not disclosed. ■ Page 5 THE DIRECTORATE GENERAL of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday issued a show-cause notice to Air India after inordinate delays of at least two international flights and failure to take due care of passengers.A DelhiSanFranciscoflightonThursday was delayed by20 hours. “It has come to the notice thatflightAI-179onMay24and flight AI-183 on May 30 were inordinately delayed and passengers were put to discomfort duetoinsufficientcoolinginthe cabin,” the notice said. Passengers on the delayed Delhi-San Francisco flight on Thursdayweremadetositinside the aircraft without air-conditioning in the Capital’s searing heat.Whilesomeallegedlyfainted,others pleaded to be allowed to alight.Some passengers took to social media complaining about the delay and pointing to the the air-conditioningissue. Continued on Page 18 FIRST FORMER US PRESIDENT TO BE CONVICTED OF A CRIME Billionaires back Trump,verdict be damned AMANDA L GORDON & SRIDHAR NATARAJAN New York, May 31 BEFORE 12 NEWYorkers branded DonaldTrumpafelon,averydifferentkindof jury — one assembled at the sumptuous Pierre hotel on Fifth Avenue — had reached averdict of its own. Evenifthecourtroomjuryfoundhim guilty as charged, the wealthy Wall StreetersatthePierreconcluded,he’dstill be theirchoice fortheWhite House.That meeting,16dayspriortoThursday’shistoric verdict, laid bare the cool calculus nowat playinAmerican finance. From longtime supporters to reluctant fellow travelers,a growing number ofprominentfiguresinUSbusinessand finance are embracing the possibilityof aTrump restoration — criminal conviction be damned. THE ROAD AHEAD Verdict: Found guilty on all 34 counts offalsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to a porn star WHAT HAPPENS NOW? ■ Sentencing set forJuly 11 ■ The crime carries a maximum 4-year prison sentence ■ Trump could be placed under home confinement or subjected to curfew ■ Secret Service detail remains as former US prez “This verdict will have less than zero impact on my support,” Omeed Malik, president of 1789 Capital and a co-host ofthePierrefundraiserforTrump,saidas heprocessedthenewsonThursday.EchoingTrumpandRepublicanleaders,Malik COULD TRUMP STILL BE PRESIDENT? ■ Yes.The Constitution WILLTRUMP GO TO PRISON? ■ Punishments like fines or probation are more common in this kind of crime CAN TRUMPAPPEALTHE CONVICTION? Yes. Trump is likely to make arguments that the charges themselves were legally improper Donald Trump requires presidents to be at least 35 years old and natural-born US citizens who have lived in the country for 14 years characterisedtheentirehush-moneytrial as a“weaponisation of the legal system” and“jurisdictional justice”. Thismuchiscertain:Somefinanciers who abandoned Trump after his supporters stormed the US Capitol on Janu- ■ In theory,Trump could be sworn in from jail or prison on Inauguration Day,January 20, 2025, ifhewere to unseat Biden ary 6,2021 — and kept their distance as he continued to claim falsely that the 2020 election was stolen — are now throwingtheirweightbehindhimagain. Continued on Page 18 Lucknow