BACK PAGE, P22 COMPANIES, P4 INTERNATIONAL, P12 Meet Devender Kumar, voice of Afghan cricket We will do away with ICE cars: Parth Jindal In fierce debate, Harris baits a defensive Trump CHENNAI, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2024 VOL NO. XLV 110, 22 PAGES, `12.00 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD 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: 81,523.19 ▼ 398.10 NIFTY: 24,918.45 ▼ 122.65 NIKKEI 225: 35,619.77 ▼ 539.39 HANG SENG: 17,108.71 ▼ 125.38 `/$: 83.98 < > 0.00 `/€: 92.73 ▼ 0.02 BRENT: $69.86 ▲ $0.67 GOLD: `71,698 ▲ `346 — IN THE NEWS CABINET NOD TO A HOST OF SCHEMES AND PROJECTS ● PM-E Drive, PM-E Bus approved in boost to EVs ● PMJAY: `5-lakh coverage to all senior citizens above 70 ● `12,461-crore outlay for hydel power capacity ● `2,000-crore 'Mission Mausam' to boost forecasts TO CREATE 6 MILLION JOBS Electronics sector When numbers become a passion to touch $500 bn by 2030, says PM SHOBHANA SUBRAMANIAN New Delhi, September 11 Right time to invest in India, Modi tells semicon companies ● Fourth leg of rural road scheme with `70K-cr outlay JATIN GROVER New Delhi, September 11 ■ REPORTS ON PAGE 2 PRESENTINGABULLISH outlookofthecountry’s electronics sector on the back of several initiatives rolled out to promote domestic manufacturing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the sector will grow totouch$500billionbytheendofthedecade, creating6millionjobs.Hefurthersaidthegovernment's goal is to ensure that 100% electronics manufacturing INSIDE happens in the country. Currently, India’s elecSEMICON 2.0 tronics sector is valued SCHEME IN at around $155 billion. 3-4 MONTHS: Delivering the inauVAISHNAW gural address at the ■ PAGE 4 three-daySemiconIndia event, Modi said, “You NXP TO are in the right place at INVEST $1 BN therighttime.Thechips are never down in 21st IN INDIA centuryIndia.Ourcoun■ PAGE 4 trytodaygivestheworld the affirmation that whenthechipsaredown,youcanbetonIndia.” ThePrimeMinister’s observationscomeat a time when the smartphone PLI scheme has emergedasthemostsuccessfulone,attracting globalmajorssuchasApple,whichismanufacturing iPhones in India through its contract manufacturers. BAJAJ HOUSING FINANCE BREAKS IPO RECORDS WITH STRONG DEMAND from both institutional and non-institutional HNI investors, Bajaj Housing Finance’s IPO has broken all records after getting bids of over `3.2 lakh crore, reports Kishor Kadam. ■ PAGE 6 BANGLADESH GOVT TO SCRUTINISE ADANI POWER DEAL THE INTERIM GOVERNMENT of Bangladesh, led by Muhammad Yunus, is set to scrutinise Indian businesses, including the Adani Group which exports power from its Jharkhand unit under a 2017 agreement, reports Shubhajit Roy. ■ P20 FE S P E C I A L S ‘Today’s CFO needs to be a strategist & a tech specialist’ Interview with Vijay Padmanabhan, CFO, UST ■ EFE, P9 Will Apple’s big bet on AI pay off? The iPhone 16 series will go on sale from September 20, but the AI features will be available only in October ■ EXPLAINER, P9 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: SUSHIL AGARWAL Continued on Page 7 NARENDRA MODI, PRIME MINISTER YOU ARE IN THE RIGHT PLACE ATTHE RIGHTTIME. THE CHIPS ARE NEVER DOWN IN 21ST CENTURY INDIA PREPARING A SEMICON WORKFORCE OF 85,000 TECHNICIANS, ENGINEERS AND R&D EXPERTS L&T arm to set up $300-mn project L&TSEMICONDUCTOR,Asubsidiaryof engineering and construction major L&T, will invest around $300 million over the next three years to set up a fabless semiconductor project in India. The company will get into designing the chipsandmakeitproduction-ready,whichcan thenbeoutsourcedtothesemiconductorfabs. Itislookingat15suchchipdesignproductsby the end of this year and start sales in 2027, Sandeep Kumar, head of L&T Semiconductor Technologies,said on Monday. ■ Page 4 Continued on Page 7 Continued on Page 7 ■ PortTalbot project inv- olves replacing blast furnaceswith electric arc ■ Seen to help cut UK’s industrial carbon emissions by 8% and PortTalbot’s by 90% ■ Around 2,500 jobs are expected to be made redundant ■ Tata Steel to offerworkers the option to opt for a paid retraining scheme when working with numbers. For the moment,he is focusing on the nitty-grittyof capital gains taxes and stamp duties as his boss looks to build and acquire new businesses in his quest for scale. And to stay fit, he is keeping up his yoga regimen and stays off his favourite jalebis. Agarwal recalls how both BK Birla and Aditya Birla always kept the interests of theirrespective businesses and shareholders’ in mind. Both would bargain to get the best possible price, and not give in easily, in any transaction between, say Indian Rayon and Century Textiles, even though they were father and son. It was a lesson on how not to mix family and business and ensure the companies didn’t lose out. Another interesting story relates tothetimewhenBKBirlawasrenouncing his rights shares inAB Nuvo. Continued on Page 7 Samsung to lay off 10% of workforce in India IN NUMBERS Job cuts across businesses as slowdown hits Korean major PRASANTA SAHU New Delhi, September 11 greensteelfacilityatPortTalbotwasmetwith fears of job losses as the new electric arc furnace is less labour-intensive. An estimated 2,500 jobs are expected to be made redundant because of the transition. Tata Steel addressed the job redundancy concerns in its statement, saying that it has finalised a memorandum ofunderstanding with the UK Steel Committee following extensive discussions with the employee representative. MOVING FORWARD FE BUREAU Mumbai, September 11 TATA STEEL HAS signed a £500-million grant funding agreement with the UK government to help speed up the £1.25-billion green steel project at the Port Talbot steelworks factory. The project involves replacing the blast furnaces with electric arc furnace and is expectedtohelpreducetheUK’sindustrialcarbonemissionsby8%andPortTalbot’sby90%. “With the UK government’s critical support, this complex and ambitious transformation of Port Talbot has the potential to make the plant one of Europe’s premier centres for green steelmaking,” TV Narendran, CEOandmanagingdirectorofTataSteel,said in a statement on Wednesday. Narendran added that the company will continue to work with the transition board andtheUKandWelshgovernmentsto enable economic regeneration and job creation in South Wales through the project. The announcement of the transition to a No plan to delist MTNL, says govt THEGOVERNMENTHASnoplansto delist the shares of the ailing Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL),aseniorgovernmentofficial told FE on Wednesday, adding that reports to the contraryare incorrect. The comment came in the wake of a fourfold surge in MTNL’s share pricein less than ayear,presumably because investors bet on the stock, in anticipation of delisting.This followed reports of an earlier plan of the government to merge the lossmaking company with Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL). After the merger plan was dropped, the MTNL board recently approved a service agreement with BSNL for a period of 10 years,under which the latter will function as a managementagencyfortheformer. “Probably, some people want to keep that share price (high) in anticipationthattheycanmakeagainfrom the company’s rumoured delisting. However,thereisnochanceofMTNL beingdelisted,”theofficialadded. The decision to make BSNL the management agencyforMTNLwas taken, given the complexities of a merger of the two state-run entities, which was earlier being considered as one of the options to salvage MTNL. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) allows companies to delist using a fixed price mechanism and the stock’s weighted average price is a determinant in the process. Tata Steel inks £500-mn grant deal with UK govt Funding support for £1.25-bn Port Talbot green steel project THREE-AND-A-HALF decades of managing money for the $66-billion Aditya Birla Group can be a tough job, but SushilAgarwal says he has enjoyed every moment of it.The group chief financial officer (CFO) of the $66-billion group says half in jest that he is looking for some “calm” and would love to be in Uttarakhand when he’s done with the hurly burly of the corporate world. But that’s still in the realm of “fantasy”, as he doesn’t intend to let that happen in a hurry. Agarwal, who is an Aditya Birla Group lifer, having joined the projects division at Grasim soon after completing his chartered accountancywayback in 1988, has overseen many complex transactions,mergers and acquisitions, including the restructuring ofAB Nuvo and more recently, the `20,000-crore fundraise by Vodafone Idea. The toughest deal so far, he says, has been the `20,000-crore mop-up by Vodafone Idea,a transaction done in difficult times for the companywhich took a lot of convincing to do. Recognisinghiscontribution not just to the Aditya Birla Group but to the world of Indian corporate finance,the FE CFO Awards jury chose Agarwal as the Lifetime Achievement Award winner. His felicity with numbers didn’t come as a surprise to his family. Agarwal, who spent his childhood in Jodhpur, decided very early in life that he wanted to work in the field of finance, unlike his sister who studied medicine. Although he believes he has a flair for “selling”, and made lots of pocket moneyworking at his grandfather’s general store and spent it on ice ROHNIT PHORE cream and coke, he’s happiest 2,000 JATIN GROVER New Delhi, September 11 SOUTH KOREAN CONSUMER electronics and appliances major Samsung is laying off around 200 employees at its India unit, which constitute nearly 10% of its workforce in the country, industry sources said. The layoffs are happening across sales, marketing and support staff in smartphones, home appliances, and consumer electronics divisions as part of the global restructuring plans and contain costs, sources said. In India, Samsung has about 2,000 people across managerial positions. Sources said the layoffs are not only happening in India but across Samsung’s operations globally. The layoffs can be attributed to a slowdown in its chip business, increasing competition in the smartphone business in India,aswell as a possible slowdown in the economies globally. The layoffs have come at a time when hundreds of workers at Samsung India’s number of people Samsung employs in India across managerial positions 12.9% Samsung’s market share in handset volumes in Jun qtr, down from 15.7% last year 24% its market share in terms of value, the highest manufacturing plant in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, are protesting near the factory, demanding recognition of a newly formed union, better wages, and improved working conditions. This is also affecting the company’s production. Continued on Page 7 MFs turn to large-cap Ford in talks with heavy NFOs again Tamil Nadu govt IT SEEMS THAT mutual fund (MF) managers are going back to the basics, that is, invest in goodlarge-capcompanieswithsolidmanagements.Manynewfundoffers(NFOs)inrecent months are focussed on large-cap stocks at reasonable valuations since the broader market stocks continue to trade at higher multiples,reports Vivek KumarM. ■ P6 FORDMOTORHELDtalkswiththeTamilNadu government to explore producing vehicles for export, chief minister MK Stalin said, potentially signalling the US carmaker could restart production in India after exiting the country threeyearsago,reportsReuters.It stoppedproducing cars in India for domestic sale in 2021 andpulled the plug on exports in 2022. ■ P16 Corporate India’s top 6 go long on profit, short on jobs India Inc’s biggest companies have shown a steady growth in profit and revenue, but that cheer is missing in employee addition. A four-part series looks at the reasons for this jobless growth SHRINKING HEADCOUNT PART- I JOYDEEP GHOSH Mumbai, September 11 LISTED ENTITIES OF India Inc’s top six groups are closing in fast on a significant milestone — `100 lakh crore in market capitalisation (`99.2 lakh crore as of September 10). They have been growing steadily in key metrics like revenues and profits as well. In FY24, the revenues of these groups grew 7.3%, profits by an impressive 22.3%,and market capitalisation by an astounding 43.8%. But their headcount growth,at -0.2%, is flat. India Inc’s top six groups that constitute69listedcompaniesemployed1.74 HEADCOUNTS AND FINANCIALS No. of firms Tata 23 Reliance 10 Adani 11 Bajaj 10 AV Birla 7 Mahindra 8 Employees (nos.) 412,130 367,507 34,944 35,991 124,259 156,834 133,808 146,477 212,436 207,667 ` lakh crore Revenue 824,389 824,344 FY23 FY24 million people in FY23,which marginally dipped to 1.73 million in FY24,according to data collated from annual reports,Capitaline and Bloomberg. The Tata Group’s 23 listed entities are 9.86 11.07 8.99 9.30 3.33 3.09 1.69 2.21 4.45 4.68 1.97 2.16 Profit Mcap 0.67 0.90 0.66 0.70 0.27 0.41 0.30 0.38 0.25 0.27 0.17 0.16 the biggest employers at 824,000, but their headcount growth is flat. The Reliance Group added 48,000 employees (total 412,000) in FY23 but it fell by 44,000 in FY24 (367,000), whereas the 20.58 29.96 16.16 20.52 9.16 15.93 7.39 10.86 4.85 6.40 2.96 Source: Bloomberg, Capitaline, 4.19 Company annual reports Adani Group’s 11 listed firms have added just 1,047 employees in FY24. In fact, the Adani Group’s employee numbers are quite interesting.With a total headcount of just 36,000, it employs the fewestnumberamongthetopsixgroupsin India;eachoftheresthaveatleast150,000 employees each.The number three group bymarketcapitalisation—thegroup’stotal revenue stands at a whopping `3.09 trillion—profits at `41,263 crore and market capitalisation at over`16 trillion. BajajGroup’s headcountisup26%,the highest, largely because of hiring by Bajaj Finance. However, in case of Bajaj Auto, it has steadily declined from 7,317 in FY22 to 6,192 in FY24. Of the other two, the Birla Group employed more people in FY24, whereas hiring by the Mahindra Group was down 2.2%, primarily as Tech Mahindra shed close to 7,000 employees. Butitisnotjustaboutthetopsixgroups. AstudybyBank of Baroda based on a larger sample of 1,196 companies revealed that growthinemploymentwasameagre1.5% in FY24 comparedwith 5.7% in FY23. Continued on Page 7 CHENNAI