BACK PAGE | PAGE 24 INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 12 COMPANIES | PAGE 4 India becomes 4th nation to achieve space docking Oligarchy taking shape in US: Biden in his farewell speech EVs to steal the spotlight as auto expo begins today CHENNAI/KOCHI, FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 2025 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XLV 216, 24 PAGES, `12 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: 77,042.82 ▲ 318.74 NIFTY: 23,311.80 ▲ 98.60 NIKKEI 225: 38,572.60 ▲ 128.02 HANG SENG: 19,522.89 ▲ 236.82 `/$: 86.55 ▼ 0.19 `/€: 89.03 < > 0.00 BRENT: $81.65 ▼ $0.38 GOLD: `78,708 ▲ `610 — PM internship scheme: 81% firms want wider cover THE PM INTERNSHIP scheme has gained traction, with 81% of companies supporting the scheme to be extended to all corporates, a TeamLease EdTech survey shows, reports Manu Kaushik. ■ PAGE 3 FE S P E C I A L S From mud to the mat The Kho Kho Federation is sparing no effort to put the sport on the map ■ BRANDWAGON, P9 What’s holding back MSMEs? High collateral norms & lack of credit history make access to funds difficult ■ EXPLAINER, P9 RELIANCE INDUSTRIES (RIL) ON Thursday beat estimates on all fronts in its earnings for the October-December quarter.This came on the back of a strong performance by its digital and retail arms, and a recovery in its oil-tochemicals (O2C) business. Consolidatednet profitwas up 7.4% year-on-year at `18,540 crore, which was slightly higher than the Bloomberg consensus estimate of `18,337 crore. Revenues were up 7% to `2.43 lakh crore, higher than estimates of `2.42 lakh crore. Ebitda at `43,789 crore was up 7.7% year-on-year — again above estimates of `41,627 crore. RIL’s finance costs were up 6.7% to `6,179 crore and depreciation charges were also higher by 2.2 % on a yearly basis. Net debt was down by Consolidated financials Q3FY24 Q3FY25 (` cr ) Revenue 7.7 Ebitda y-o-y, % change 2,27,970 2,43,865 7.0 Ebitda margin (%) 17.8 18 Net profit margin (%) 7.6 7.6 Net profit 7.4 MUKESH AMBANI CHAIRMAN & MD, RIL We are geared up for the transformational growth that Reliance is set to experience in the near future 17,265 18,540 »INSIDE« RETAILARM POSTS 10% JUMP IN PROFIT JIO PROFIT RISES 4.9%; ARPU TOUCHES `203 PAGE 4 PAGE 4 `3,907 crore to `1.15 lakh crore. The company incurred capitalexpenditureof`32,259 crore during the quarter com- FE BUREAU Mumbai, January 16 HINDENBURG RESEARCH, WHICH set off a huge controversy in India in 2023 with stinging allegations against Adani Group »INSIDE« and SecuriTHE SELFties and PROCLAIMED Exchange MESSIAH Board of PAGE 7 India (Sebi) chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch has decided to shut shop. Nathan Anderson, who founded the research firm seven years ago, announced the closure on Thursday. The allegations of stock NATE ANDERSON, FOUNDER, HINDENBURG We shook some empires that we felt needed shaking manipulation and accounting fraud against theAdani Group had led to a massive fall in its market capitalisation in early 2023. It has gained the lost ground since then. In a statement on Thurs- JUGESHINDER SINGH, CFO, ADANI GROUP Kitne ghazi aaye, kitne ghazi gaye (Many invaders came, as many have perished) day, Anderson said: “The plan has been to wind up after we finished the pipeline of ideas we were working on. And as of the last Ponzi cases we just completed and are sharing with regulators, that day is today.” Adanis didn’t comment on the shutdown, except for a cryptic tweet by Jugeshinder ‘Robbie’Singh,chief financial officer of the group: “Kitne GhaziAaye,Kitne Ghazi Gaye (Many invaders have come and as many have perished),” Singh wrote, which appears to be a tongue-incheek response to the closure of the New York-headquartered company. Shares of Adani Group rose by up to 10% on Thursday and the group’s combined market capitalisation surged by `28,148 crore to `13.1 lakh crore. Continued on Page 12 Smart pared to `30,102 crore in the same period lastyear. Continued on Page 12 Infosys raises guidance forFY25,beatsestimates PADMINI DHRUVARAJ Bengaluru, January 16 REPORT CARD INFOSYS, THE COUNTRY'S second-largest IT services firm, on Thursday raised its revenue growth guidance for FY25, citingstrongdemandacrossfinancial services and otherverticals. The company now expects itsrevenuetogrowby4.5-5.0% in constant currency (CC), up from earlier projection of 3.754.5%.This is the seventh quarter in a row that the company hasraiseditsrevenueguidance. “We are seeing a clear change in discretionary activity in financial services, retail, andconsumerproducts,which gives us good confidence,”said MD & CEO Salil Parekh.He also highlightedimproveddemand intheUSandEurope—Infosys’ largest markets — as a key dri- Consolidated financials Q2FY25 Q3FY25 (` cr ) q-o-q % change 40,986 41,764 10,115 FOR THE FIRST time since launching iPhone sales in India, Apple entered the top five smartphone brands by volume, achieving a 10% market share in October-December, Counterpoint data show. ■ PAGE 6 REPORT CARD RAGHAVENDRA KAMATH Mumbai, January 16 9,809 Apple now among top 5 smartphone brands in India retail,telecomboost 43,789 PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA Modi on Thursday approved the setting up of the 8th Pay Commission to recommend the norms for pay and pension increments for 10 years beginning January 2026 for the Central government's staff and pensioners. ■ PAGE 2 40,656 Eighth pay panel to be set up; nearly 11.5 mn to benefit Adani-baiter Hindenburg RILprofit up 7.4% on Research downs shutters SURPASSES ESTIMATES; O2C BIZ SEES RECOVERY Revenue IN THE NEWS Net profit 6,506 6,806 4.6 Ebitda margin (%) 1.9 SALIL PAREKH MD & CEO, INFOSYS 3.1 Ebitda 23.9 24.2 Seeingaclearchangein discretionaryactivityin financialservices,retail,and consumerproducts,which givesusgoodconfidence ver of the upgraded outlook. The company maintained its operating margin guidance at 20-22% forFY25. In the October-December quarter, Infosys reported consolidated revenue of `41,764 crore, a sequential increase of 1.9%andabovetheBloomberg estimate of `41,354 crore. Continued on Page 12 ■ Over 20,000 freshers to be hired in FY26, Page 4 Axis Bank's net LTIMindtree profit rises 4% Q3 profit falls India growth continues:WEF AXIS BANK ON Thursday reported a lower-than-expected riseinitsquarterlyprofitasloan growth slowed and it set aside more funds against potential bad loans,reports Anupreksha Jain.Standalone net profit,excluding earnings of subsidiaries, rose 3.8% to `6,303.77crore. THEGLOBALECONOMICoutlook for 2025 remains “subdued”,butIndiaislikelytomaintaina“stronggrowth”,WEFsaid. AccordingtotheJanuaryedition ofWEF’sChiefEconomistsOutlook,a majority of chief economists expect the global economytoweaken overnextyear. ■ PAGE 7 IT SOLUTIONS PROVIDER LTIMindtree on Thursday reported a 7.14% decline in consolidated net profit to `1,085.4 crore in the December quarter of FY25. The Mumbai-based firm had reported a profit of `1,168.9 crore in the year-ago period. ■ PAGE 4 ■ PAGE 2 Appeal to deregister as NBFC under review: RBI TataSonslistinghangsinbalance SACHIN KUMAR Mumbai, January 16 TATA SONS REMAINS an upperlayer non-banking financial company (NBFC-UL), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said onThursday, adding that the company’s deregistration application is currently under review. “Inclusion of Tata Sons Private Limited in the list of NBFC-UL is without prejudice to the outcome of its application for deregistration, which is under examination,” the banking regulator said. Upper-layer NBFCs are subjected toenhancedregulatoryrequirements for at least five years. The RBI’s decision on Tata Sons’ application to deregister as an NBFC will playa crucial role in determining the timeline forthe company’s initial public offering (IPO). Tata Sonswas first classified as an NBFC-upper layer entity in September 2022,which means the deadline to list its shares on the bourses ends in September this year. THE TOP TEN NBFC upper layer 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 LIC Housing Finance Bajaj Finance Shriram Finance Tata Sons Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company L&T Finance Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Aditya Birla Finance Tata Capital Piramal Capital & Housing Finance »INSIDE« VRR: RBI GETS `30,760-CR BIDS P7 FEMA REGULATIONS RELAXED P7 As per the RBI regulations, an upper-layer NBFC has to be listed on the bourses within three years of ■ The other 5 on the list are PNB Housing Finance, HDB Financial Services, Sammaan Capital, Muthoot Finance, Bajaj Housing Finance ■ Piramal Ent not on the list because of ongoing reorganisation ■ Tata Sons filed application to surrender core investment company registration last year ■ Upper-layer NBFCs are subjected to enhanced regulatory requirement for at least 5 years being included in the list. According to reports, Tata Sons had submitted an application to surrender its core investment company registration last year after squaring off `30,000-crore outstanding loans. Continued on Page 12 CHENNAI/KOCHI
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