COMPANIES | PAGE 4 INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 7 Ukraine agrees to critical rare minerals deal with US INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 7 Data localisation: OpenAI may seek Microsoft help NEW DELHI, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2025 Apple fixes dictation bug that replaces 'racist'with 'Trump' WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE READ TO LEAD VOL. L NO. 309, 22 PAGES, `12 (PATNA & RAIPUR `12, SRINAGAR `15) 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: 74,602.12* ▲ 147.71 NIFTY: 22,547.55* ▼ 5.80 NIKKEI 225: 38,142.37 ▼ 95.42 HANG SENG: 23,787.93 ▲ 753.91 `/$: 87.20* ▼ 0.50 `/€: 91.35* ▼ 0.55 BRENT: $72.82 ▼ $0.20 GOLD: `86,275* ▲ `189 *As on Feb 25 SMALLER SELLERS CRYFOUL IN THE NEWS Flipkart's zero commission sparks row ● No discrimination, no violation,says FY25 CPSE dividends e-commerce firm set to beat target RAGHAVAGGARWAL by `10,000 crore New Delhi, February 26 THE CENTRE’S DIVIDEND receipts from the companies it owns have exceeded the revised estimate of `55,000 crore for FY25 by `5,000 crore and may well reach `65,000 crore by the end of the financial year, according to official sources, reports Prasanta Sahu. ■ PAGE 2 Bharti Airtel in talks with Tata Play for merger BHARTI AIRTEL AND Tata Play, the country’s largest privately held directto-home service provider, are in talks for a merger, the telecom service provider said in a filing on Wednesday, reports Urvi Malvania. ■ PAGE 4 Religare board seeks RBI nod to appoint four directors THE BOARD OF directors of Religare Enterprises has sought approvals from RBI and shareholders to appoint Abhay K Agarwal, Arjun Lamba, Gurumurthy Ramanathan and Suresh Mahalingam on its board as additional directors. ■ PAGE 6 SEVERAL SELLERS OF Flipkart are up in arms over a recent practice adopted by the e-commerce major, whichtheyallegeofferspreferential treatment to a group of big sellers, referred to as alpha sellers,in terms of pricing of their products and commission rates. The sellers have alleged that the practice, which in trade terms is referred to as ‘Pareto Flattening’, is a gross violation of the government’s Press Note 2, which prohibits marketplace e-commerce platforms from influencing product prices. According to them, for its alpha sellers, Flipkart has rolled out a scheme under which it will waive the listing commission if they adjust their product prices according to its preference. The listing commissionistypicallyintherange of 2-5% of the product price. Further, once the product is sold, the sellers would not have to pay any commission charge to Flipkart.The commission charge in the latter case ranges from 8-15% of the product price. In short, for such alpha sellers,the platformwould be waiving off allcommissioncharges. When contacted, a Flipkart spokesperson said: “To offer sellers on our marketplace platform more value,we have reduced the commissions charged on certain categories”. Denying any discriminatory practice, or violation of regulatory norms, it said that the pricing of products is CURRENT REGULATIONS US PRESIDENT Donald Trump has floated the idea of replacing a visa programme for foreign investors withaso-called“goldcard”thatcould beboughtfor$5millionasarouteto Americancitizenship. Trump told reporters he will replacethe‘EB-5’immigrantinvestor visaprogramme,whichallowsforeign investorsoflargesumsofmoneythat create or preserve US jobs to become permanentresidents,withaso-called “gold card”. The EB-5 programme grants “green cards” to foreigners promisingtoinvestinUSbusinesses. “We are going to be selling a gold card,”Trumpsaid.“Wearegoingtobe putting a price on that card of about $5 million,” he added. “It’s going to give you green card 25% returns despite weakermarkets FAIR SHARE Year No of IPOs Issue size (` crore) 16,659 26 22,377 H2-FY2024 50 39,545 H1-FY2025 38 110,637 H2-FY2025* 39 9.8 9.1 35,456 23 H1-FY2024 STOCK MARKETS HAVE taken a beating in the second half of the financial year, but the average listing gains from 39 initial public offerings(IPOs)sincethebeginning of October continue to be impressive at 25% — only 7 percentage points down from 31.9% in the first half of the financial year. The gain is just marginallylower 14 H2-FY2023 ANANYA GROVER & KISHOR KADAM Mumbai, February 26 H1-FY2023 Average listing gain (in %) 50,891 28.8 26.4 31.9 25.0 Source: Primedatabase.com *Up to Feb 25, 2025 than 28% in the last 10 quarters.It also comes at a time when the broadermarketshavefallen21%in the second half of the financialyear (till February 25). The benchmark indices have fallen 13% during the same period. A total of 38 companies got listed betweenApril and September and they cumulatively raised `50,891 crore through IPOs with the average listing gains being 31.9%. This compares to 39 companies raising `1.1 lakh crore between October and February. According to Naveen Kulkarni, chiefinvestmentofficeratAxisSecuritiesPMS,theslightdipinaverageis due to more supply with big issues absorbing most of the demand. Moreover, selling in the secondary market has made stocks cheaper. In September, when the secondary market was at its all-time high, Bajaj Housing Finance and Premier Energies got listed at more than100%premiumovertheirIPO price and PN Gadgil Jewellers was listed at 73% premium. Continued on Page 6 PAGweighs ■ Marketplaces cannot dictate prices or indirectly fund discounts through select sellers ■ Platforms cannot control or own inventory of any seller or have a dominant stake in their business ■ Sellers must be free to sell on multiple platforms, preventing anti-competitive exclusive deals decided by the sellers. Industry sources said that the gain for Flipkart is threefold. One, the volume of products sold on its platform would increase manifold as it would be in a position to offer higher discounts. Secondly, it would be able to position itself as a platform which maximises consumer benefit,and thirdly, since it’s looking at an initial public offering (IPO), higher volumes would be viewed favourably by the investors. However,analystssaidthatifthe matterisescalated bythe sellersleft out,Flipkartmaygetintoregulatory trouble. Continued on Page 6 DONALD TRUMP, US PRESIDENT It’s going to give you green card privileges plus its going to be a route to (US) citizenship Wealthy people would be coming into our country by buying this card privileges plus its going to be a route to(American)citizenship,andwealthy people would be coming into our country by buying this card,” Trump said, adding that details about the schemewillcomeoutintwoweeks. Trump added it is possible Russian oligarchs could qualify for the gold cards, when asked by a journalist.“Yeah, possibly. Hey. I know some Russian oligarchs that are ● Investors get average 1 in 4 stocks down 50-92% from 1-yrhigh sale of$1.2-bn Trump floats $5-mn‘gold card’ as a route to US citizenship STEVE HOLLAND & KANISHKA SINGH Washington, February 26 Listing gains slow but steady very nice people,”he said. The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, administered by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, was created by Congress in 1990 to“stimulate the US economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors”, according to the USCISwebsite. Continued on Page 6 WITHTHE CURRENT market correction, around 1,006 shares—or 27%—of the 3,700 actively traded companies have seen their prices drop by 50-92% from 52-week highs. Most of these belong to the mid- and small-cap segments, which had seen a stunning rise earlier.While Sensex and Nifty are down up to 14% from record highs in Sept, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices have fallen by up to 21%. —Kishor Kadam TOP LOSERS Company 52-wk high price (`) Price (`) as on Feb 25, 2025 % fall Ola Electric 158 2,174 19 2,977 260 593 1,198 767 1,348 354 310 807 59 840 8 1,305 114 272 578 372 670 178 156 407 -62 -61 -59 -56 -56 -54 -52 -51 -50 -50 -50 -50 Adani Green Vodafone Idea Cochin Shipyard MRPL ITI Adani Total Gas Oil India Adani Energy Sol HUDCO New India Assurance Hindustan Zinc Companies with market cap of over `20,000 cr were considered Source: Capitaline EU trade talks: India to flag carbon tax,data privacy RAVI DUTTA MISHRA New Delhi, February 26 ON THE TABLE INDIA IS SET to raise concerns over the European Union’s controversial carbon tax, which seeks to impose tariffs as high as 30% on imports of carbon-intensive products such as steelandaluminiumfromnextyear, duringthetwo-dayvisitbyEuropean Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, and 21 EU commissioners,beginningThursday. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal have, on multiple occasions, called the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) or carbon tax an“unfair”measure and aviolation of the “common but differentiated responsibilities” (CBDR) provision of multilateral climate negotiations. This stipulates that all countries share responsibility for mitigating climate change but “not equally”,as economic development levels differ across countries. “NegotiationswiththeEUareprimarily taking place under the Trade andTechnologyCouncil(TTC).There is a separate track where we have ■ India has termed Carbon Border Adjust- ment Mechanism (CBAM) or carbon tax an ‘unfair’ measure, violation of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ provision of multilateral climate negotitations ■ Domestic exporters have raised privacy concerns, as the EU demands over 1,000 data points as part of CBAM compliance ■ While countries, including China, Russia, Brazil, and South Africa, have taken the EU to the WTO, India is yet to formally file a case agreed to discuss the challenges posed by CBAM. One of India’s key concerns is that CBAM violates the CBDR principle,as our stance is that environmental issues should not be linked to trade. Secondly, Indian exporters have raised privacy concerns,astheEUdemandsover1,000 data points as part of CBAM compliance.Many small manufacturers do not even have that kind of data,” an official said. While several countries, includ- ■ India is also seeking concessions for its micro, small and medium enterprises ing China,Russia,Brazil,and South Africa, have taken the EU to the WTO, India is yet to formally file a case as both sides are actively discussing a free trade agreement (FTA), investment pact, and geographical indication (GI) treaty. In the FTA negotiations, India is also seeking concessions for its micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Continued on Page 5 Nuvama stake BAIJU KALESH & MANUEL BAIGORRI February 26 ASIAN PRIVATE EQUITYfirmPAGis consideringoptionsthatmayleadto a sale of its majority stake in Mumbai-listed Nuvama Wealth Management,according to sources. Blackstone-backed PAG is working with financial advisers on a strategicreviewofitsover54%stake in the wealth manager, the people said.That could result in a partial or full sale,the sources said. Nuvama shares have dropped about19%thisyear,givingthecompany a market value of $2.3 billion. Still,thestockhassurged114%since thefirm’slistinginSeptember2023. Considerations are at a preliminary stage and PAG may decide against a sale,the people said.Other financial services firms, including global asset managers, have expressed preliminary interest in Nuvama,the people said. ArepresentativeforPAGdeclined to comment, while Nuvama didn’t immediately respond to a request seeking commentduring a holiday. Nuvama provides wealth, asset management, capital markets and advisory services. Its clients include entrepreneurs,promoters,high-and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, corporateandinstitutionalinvestors. PAGinvestedabout$325millionfor a controlling stake in Nuvama, formerly known as Edelweiss Wealth Management,in 2021. —BLOOMBERG RCap: March 12 deadline for ownership transfer THE NATIONALCOMPANYLawTribunal (NCLT) has directed lenders and the monitoring committee to complete all procedural issues by March12fortheownershiptransfer of debt-ridden Reliance Capital (RCap) to IndusInd International Holdings (IIHL),reports PTI. The Mumbai bench of the NCLT on Wednesday heard the matter related to the resolution process of RCap and asked all parties to complete all pending procedural aspects before the next hearing on March 12. ■ PAGE 6 Frontier manufacturing sectors get priority, laggard states turn aggressive Summitseasonseesnearly`100L-crinvestmentpledgesbyIndiaInc PRASANTA SAHU New Delhi, February 26 ON TUESDAY, MADHYA Pradesh concluded a two-day global investors’ summit and proudly announced investment pledges worth `26.61 lakh crore by global and domestic companies. That is precisely double the size of the state’s gross domestic product (GDP). Late January, Odisha, one of the mineral-rich states in the country that is betting big on its emergent manufacturing sector, boasted of investment commitments worth `12.89 lakh crore (1.4 times its economy) after its Utkarsh Odisha conclave. In just the first two months of 2025, as many as six states — Kar- nataka, West Bengal, Kerala and Assam being the other four — have organised such events and witnessed aggregate investment proposals worth a staggering `60.5 lakh crore (see chart). In December 2024, potential investors had huddled together in Rajasthan and Bihar. The eight states together saw pledges worth over `97 lakh crore in just three months. Such events have been in vogue since economic liberalisation, but the size and pomp have grown manifold in the last two decades. What is remarkable about the latest season is the heightened focus on frontierareasofmanufacturinglike solar modules, wind turbines, hydrogen electrolysers,lithium ion STATE INVESTMENT SUMMITS IN JAN-FEB 2025 Investment commitment Top investor commitment (` lakh crore) 4.78 2 (NTPC) 0.5 (each 26.61 12.89 10.27 2.3 (Adani) 1.2 (JSW group) by Adani & Reliance) 4.4 0.5 1.53 (Reliance) Madhya Pradesh storage and semiconductorwafers. The startup ecosystem is being given a big push, and patient capital is wooed as vigorously as the global tech giants and domestic conglomerates. Besides, the states Odisha Karnataka havealso becomemoreresponsible, as is evident from the fact that the assorted incentives beingoffered to investors are less of fiscal nature. Instead, easier approvals are being offered, with promise of a cordial Assam West Bengal 0.3 (Adani) Kerala frontline bureaucracy. Commitments are being made to make land and skilled manpower available. Another interesting feature is that traditional manufacturing states are being given a tough com- petition by the states with largely consumption-driven/servicesdominated economies. This could signal a harmony with the volatile global supply chains. In fact, large commitments in investorevents are not new: In February2023,UttarPradesh flaunted investment promises to the tune of `33.5 trillion, or 1.6 times the size of its economy,aftera similarmeet. Experience suggests that only a fraction of these promises are actually fulfilled. Yet the scale of ambition is only tending to be big, and rightly so.The trend is in sync with the country’s goal to become a $3035-trillion economy by 2047. The investment commitments are in diverse sectors putting states in direct competition with one New Delhi anothertoattractdomesticandforeign investments. The Centre is actively nudging states to improve the business climate to attract private investment to make India a global manufacturing hub and make it a more integral part of supply chains.Prime minister Narendra Modi and his colleagues are seen addressing these investment conclaves to support the states’efforts. Investment commitments by India Inc and global investors in these conclaves also saw commitments from traditional areas like petrochemicals, automotive, steel, mining and cement manufacturing,inadditiontoemergingsectors. Continued on Page 6