NEWS, P18 COMPANIES, P4 INTERNATIONAL, P3 High gold prices dent pre-Diwali demand Zomato’s Goyal forays into health sector Harris, Trump scrap for undecided voters MUMBAI, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2024 VOL LXIV NO. 251, 20 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: 81,151.25 ▼ 73.50 NIFTY: 24,781.10 ▼ 72.95 NIKKEI 225: 38,954.60 ▼ 27.15 HANG SENG: 20,478.46 ▼ 325.65 `/$: 84.07 ▲ 0.01 `/€: 91.19 ▼ 0.02 BRENT: $74.33 ▲ $1.27 GOLD: `77,767 ▲ `603 THE AGGREGATE DEMAND is poised to shrug off the temporary slowdown in momentum in the second quarter of FY25, as festival demand picks up pace and consumer confidence improves, RBI’s October bulletin said on Monday. ■ P2 FINANCIAL BIDS FOR IDBI BANK LIKELY IN Q4 THE FINANCIAL BIDS for strategic sale of IDBI Bank are expected in Q4 of the current fiscal, sources said, adding that the disinvestment process is moving phase-wise and is on track, reports Prasanta Sahu. ■ PAGE 2 EXPLAINER How SOP can help get better trade terms ■ PAGE 9 FE BUREAU Mumbai, October 21 ■ Momentum of flows into Indiadedicated funds declines for the first time since 2022 WITH INVESTORS SHIFTING their focus to China, the momentum of flows into India-focused offshore funds has taken a sharp hit this month. Besides, weak domestic earnings growth also led global investors to rethink their short-term fund deployment strategy. The averageweeklyinflows into these funds in October have been $138 million, less than half of the $300 million per week seen in the previous two months,according to data from Elara Capital. “The momentum of flows into India-dedicated funds (flow as a % of free float market cap) has slowed down for the first time since 2022. 169 ■ Stimulus Oct 18 VIVEK KUMAR M Mumbai, October 21 Oct 11 -245 107 in $ million) Oct 4 RBI PAPER: GROWTH OUTLOOK BACKED BY DOMESTIC ENGINES Avg weekly flows at TRICKLING DOWN Flows into India$138 mn, less than dedicated offshore funds half of last 2 months (week ended; 554 FOUR-AND-A-half years after Chinese incursions in eastern Ladakh triggered a military standoff along the Line ofActual Control and sent bilateral ties south, India & China have reached an agreement on patrolling arrangements in border areas. ■ P7 Sept 27 INDIA-CHINA PACT ON PATROLLING ALONG LAC Tata Chem soars as buzz grows over Tata Sons IPO 425 NEWS Poonawalla’s India-focused funds see booster dose inflows dip in October for Dharma AMID RISING INVESTOR INTEREST IN CHINA Sept 20 IN THE 2024 Source - Elara Capital INSIDE FPIs NET SELLERS IN GOVT DEBT FOR SECOND WEEK ■ PAGE 6 This is after a crowded round of inflows since January 2023,” said Sunil Jain, vice-president at Elara Capital, adding that earlier, there were limited options for these investors, which led to UltraTech net profit down 36%, misses estimates ADITYA BIRLA GROUP firm UltraTech Cement on Mondaymissed Street estimates on all the keyfronts during the July-September quarter, primarily because of a slowdown in demand due to the monsoon and project delays which hit price realisations, reports Urvi Malvania.The company’s net profit fell 36% y-o-y to `820 crore,while revenue from operations was down 2.4% to `15,635 crore. ■ Page 4 measures, cheaper valuations making China attractive ■ Outflows from India may see further acceleration, say experts continued inflows into India despite high valuations. However, over the last few weeks, China has become an attractive proposition for several global investors on the back of stimulus measures announced by the government and relatively cheaper valuations compared to other emerging markets,particularly India. Continued on Page 7 Early-stage funding gap fuels rise of micro VCs LEADINGVENTURECAPITAL(VC)firmsareincreasingly opting for safer investment bets, creating significant opportunities for micro VCs, reports S Shanthi.These microVCs are stepping in to fill the gap in pre-seed and seed investments, often considered too risky by traditional investors.The corpus size of these micro VCs has alsogrownsignificantly,reachingupto$60millionfrom less than $10 million justa fewyears ago. ■ Page 15 Agreement values Karan Johar’s firm at `2,000 crore ALOKANANDA CHAKRABORTY New Delhi, October 21 SERUM INSTITUTE OF India CEO Adar Poonawalla will acquire a 50% stake in Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions and Dharmatic Entertainment for `1,000 crore. The deal clinched by Poonawalla’s Serene Entertainmentinhispersonalcapacityvaluesthefilmandtelevisionproductionanddistributioncompanyat `2,000 crore. Johar will retain the ownership of the remaining50%. For Serene, this deal offers a foothold in a `20,000-crore (2023; Statista) Indian film industry,while Dharma Productions gets crucial resources amid rising production costs. Unconfirmed reports earlier said that Johar was in talks with Reliance and Saregama for the stake sale. “TheIndianfilmindustryismoving through a phase wherein it’s a winner-takes-all market, as large budget films account for 85-90% of Hindiboxofficeinthepost-Covidera. We believe this deal is a longer-term equity-led partnership, wherein Dharma will continue to invest in large budget films,given the capital raise,”saidKaranTaurani,senioranalyst at Elara Capital. SCRIPTING A FORAY ■ Serum’s Adar Poonawalla to pick up a 50% stake in Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions for `1,000 crore ■ Film production firm’s total revenue plunged 50% from `1,044 crore in FY23 to `520.20 crore in FY24 SOUTHERN BONANZA Top 5 Sept releases (box office; ` cr) 337 Devara Part-1 The Greatest of all time A.R.M 76 293 Kishkindha Kaandam 49 46 Lubber Pandhu “Indiahasseenexit/scaledownby multiple global studios in the film content business in the past. The Serene-Dharma deal might trigger the entry of other large conglomerates with deep pockets in the film industry,”Taurani added. Dharma has had partnerships with studios such as Disney and Zee in the past to produce Hindi films. Continued on Page 7 SHARES OF SOME Tata Group companies, especially Tata Chemicals, gained on Monday as speculation over the listing of Tata Sons drove hopes of value unlocking for investors. Tata Chemicals, which holds a 3% stake in Tata Sons, was one of the biggest gainers as it rose over 9%. It could be the biggest beneficiary of the value-unlocking exercise if there is an IPO. Earlier estimates by brokerage firm Spark Capital showed that Tata Chemicals’ 3% stake in Tata Sons was worth around `19,850 crore or 80% of the market value of the company. Shares of Tata Investment Corp also rose more than 3%. A report by MoneyLife on Friday, based on an RTI reply by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), said that Tata Sons never sought any exemption from the mandatory listing requirement. Continued on Page 7 Tata Chemicals 9.24% Oct 18, 2024 (close) 1,087.95 Oct 21, (close) 1,188.45
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