FE BUREAUNewDelhi,April 21

THE CABINET WILL likelyclear the next round of reliefmeasures on Wednesday topropup an economybatteredby the Covid-19 pandemic,with a focus on saving bothlives and livelihood.

Critical sectors, includingMSMEs, exports, aviation,construction and some otherlabour-intensive segments,will likelybeamongthemanyto get the succour.

Thegovernment’stotal fis-cal response over an extendedperiodcouldbeworth3-4%ofGDP(roughly`6-8lakhcrore),on top of themonetarymea-sures initiated by the centralbank to ease liquidity to criti-cal sectors.

However,theCentrewillcal-ibrate its responses andannounce several rounds ofmeasures over the next fewweeks, while refraining fromdeclaring just a one-time,big-bangstimuluspackage.

Theideaistosavesomefis-cal fire-power to dealwith the‘unknown unknowns’ later.Last week, Prime Minister

Narendra Modi held amarathon meeting withfinance minister NirmalaSitharamanandtopofficialstogivea shape to thepackage.

Given the collapse in eco-nomic activity, the govern-ment will, for the moment,focus on addressing medicalemergencyandpreventing joblosses inbothformalandinfor-mal sectors.To that extent, itsimmediate interventions willbeaimedathelpingbusinessesprepare for a gradual return to

normalcy,byeasingflowof liq-uidity, as and when the lock-down is lifted completely.

Official sources have indi-cated that the Centre willfront-load expenditure andcould borrowmore from themarketthanthebudgetedlev-els to finance productivespending, given the revenueshortfall (tax collections areexpected to be downby1%ofGDPinFY21).

ContinuedonPage2

BANIKINKAR PATTANAYAKNewDelhi,April 21

THEGOVERNMENTISconsid-ering a proposal to create a`10,000-crore fund to buyupto15%equityincrisis-hit,butotherwisewell-rated,MSMEsthatwilllistonbourses,anoffi-cial source told FE.TheMSMEministry has submitted thisplanwiththefinanceministry.

Separately,theCentreisalsoweighing another proposal tocreate a`10,000-crore fundoffunds for small businesses, liketheonemeantforstart-ups.Thisfundoffundsmaymakedown-stream investments inventurecapital and alternative invest-ment funds that will, in turn,invest in MSMEs with AAA orAA-ratedratings.“Variousideasare being debated to helpMSMEstideoverthepandemicimpact.Adecisionwill soonbeannounced,”saidthesource.

The National Small Indus-tries Corporation under theMSMEministryorSIDBImaybetasked to control the funds.Already,theMSMEministry iscontemplating a scheme forcreditratingtothesebusinesses,basedontheirannual turnover,exportsandGSTpayments.

ABANTIKAGHOSHNewDelhi,April 21

FOLLOWING COMPLAINTSthat the rapid antibody testkitsareshowingvaryinglevelsofaccuracy,theIndianCouncilof Medical Research (ICMR)has asked all states not to usethe serological Covid-19 testsfor thenext twodays,pendingfieldvalidationbyits teams.

“Wehavebeengettingcom-plaints thatwhen the serologi-cal tests are being done on theblood samples of those whohave already tested positive inthe RT-PCR test, the accuracyrangesfrom6%to71%.This isnotagoodthinganditneedstobeprobed,”DrRRGangakhed-kar,head of epidemiologyandinfectiousdiseases,ICMR,said.

“This is a first generationtest developed in just three-and-a-halfmonths and needsrefinement,yet the variationscannotbeignored.Wewillsendpersonnelfromeightinstitutesto the field tovalidate the kits.Meanwhile, we have advisedthe states not to use the testsfor the next two days till wecomeoutwithanadvisory.”

ContinuedonPage2

ABANTIKAGHOSHNewDelhi,April 21

INTHE FIRST clear indicationfrom a senior governmentfunctionary of how long theroad ahead is,VK Paul,mem-ber (health), NITI Aayog, hassaid India’s resolve in thebat-tleagainstcoronaviruswillbetested in the months of JuneandJuly,afterlockdowncurbshave been eased.

“De-escalation of lock-down ispotentiallyanoppor-tunity for the virus to resur-face and spread, and this isbound to happen to an

extent,” Paul told The IndianExpress in an interview.“There could be new clusterswhen life and activitiesbecomemore normal.”

The spread of the virus,hesaid,would be“inversely pro-portional to our collectivecompliancewiththebestprac-tices.We cannot afford to frit-ter away the lockdown gainsmade at a phenomenal eco-nomiccostandhardship”.

ContinuedonPage2

FIGHTING PANDEMIC TRACKING COVID-19 CASES

RAVIK BHATTACHARYA&ATRI MITRAKolkata,April 21

FROSTY TIES BETWEEN theCentreandWestBengalgovern-ment were on full display onTuesdayasthetwoInter-Minis-terialCentralTeamsthatlandedin the state to assesses its han-dlingof theCovid-19 situationallegednon-cooperationbythestate administration, afterwhich Union home secretaryAjayBhallashotoffalettertothestate government,asking it tocomplywiththeMHAorder.

Citing frequent lockdownviolationsincertainstates,theUnion homeministry had onSunday said teams would besent to West Bengal, Maha-rashtra, Rajasthan andMad-hya Pradesh. The two teamsassigned to West BengalarrivedinthestateonMonday.While the north Bengal teamcould notmove out the entireday on Tuesday, the team inKolkata stepped out in themorning only to be told bypolice tomakeaU-turn.

Sources said the teamwasscheduled to hold a meetingwithchiefsecretaryRajivaSinhaat11am,whichwascancelled.

Finally, it was only around4.30pm,afterSinhahelda30-minutemeetingwith the cen-tral team at the BSF guest-house at Gurusaday Road,where they have been put up,that the teammemberswereable tomake the roundsof thecity,withpoliceandBSFescort-ing them.

ContinuedonPage2

FE BUREAUMumbai,April 21

THEBOMBAYHIGHCourt(HC)onTuesday quashed prosecu-tion againstDeloitteHaskin&Sells andBSR&Associates,theformer auditors of IL&FSFinancialServices (IFIN).

The ruling comesas ahugerelief for the two audit firmswhich moved court last yearagainst the government’smoves to ban them fromauditing activities for fiveyearsandinitiatecriminalpro-ceedingsagainst them.

Trouble for Deloitte andBSR began last year after theSerious Fraud InvestigationOffice’s (SFIO) investigationinto IFIN’s financial affairsfoundthattheauditorsdidnotfulfil theirrole inhighlightingmaterialfactsandinformationwhich was concealed frominvestorsandcreditors.

ContinuedonPage2

● IL&FS CASE

HCquashesgovtmoveto ban BSR,Deloitte

Everyone busy, can’tleave everything andmove aroundwiththem: Chief secy

Total fiscalresponse couldbeworth 3-4%of GDP (roughly`6-8 lakh crore)

COMPANIES, P4

CORONACRISIS

COMPANIES, P4

SENSEX: 30,636.71 ▼ 1011.29 NIFTY: 8,981.45 ▼ 280.40 NIKKEI 225: 19,280.78 ▼ 388.34 HANG SENG: 23,793.55 ▼ 536.47 `/$: 76.83 ▼ 0.30 `/€: 83.19 ▼ 0.04 BRENT: $20.85 ▼ $4.72 GOLD: `45,325 ▼ `389

KOLKATA, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

Sweeping lockdown notgoing to be long-termanswer: Rajiv Bajaj

COVID DISRUPTION

Swiggy to downsize pvtbrand kitchens;movemay hit 900 jobs

OPINION, P6

MOHAMEDAEL-ERIAN EDITORIAL

Covid-19will fuel spurtinmigration fromlow-income nations

Centremust oversee

states lagging in Covid

efforts; local spread

has national import

VOL.29 NO. 147, 16 PAGES, `6.00 (NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN `10.00) PUBL I SHED FROM : AHMEDABAD, B ENGALURU , CHAND IGARH , CHENNA I , HYDERABAD, KOCH I , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBA I , N EW DELH I , PUNE

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM

READ TO LEAD

Faulty results:ICMR tells statesnot to use rapidtests for 2 days

Equity supporttoMSMEs:`10,000-crorefund soon

‘June, Julywill test India’s resolve’

Atraffic jam at the Delhi-Ghaziabad border after local authorities stopped vehicular movement,except for essential services, during the extended lockdown, in NewDelhi onTuesday

PRABHUDATTAMISHRANewDelhi,April 21

THECENTRE’SAPRIL4direc-tive to states, asking them tofacilitate direct purchase offarm produce, includinggrains, pulses and fruits andvegetables, by big retailers,aggregators and food proces-sors hasn’t produced anyimmediate results.

ExceptMadhyaPradesh,noother state has so far acted

upon the Centre’s advisory,leaving farmers, the intendedbeneficiariesofthemove,highanddry.

Also,big FMCG companieslike ITCwhichFE spoke todis-counted the feasibility of themove to address the currentplightof farmers.

Transport facilities fromfields to theirwarehouses arehardtosetupbynewplayersatthis point of time and quicklyenough tomakeameaningfuldifference to farmers’marketaccess,theysay.

ContinuedonPage2

PRESSTRUSTOF INDIANewDelhi/Mumbai,April 21

CRUDE OIL FUTURES con-tract pricemay have plungedinto negative territory in theinternational market, butIndia’s leading commodityexchange MCX has fixed aninterimsettlementpriceof`1per barrel — a move some

traders said would help bigbrokers avert losses amount-ing to hundreds of crores ofrupees at the cost of othershaving takenashortposition.

Officials said Sebi is awareof the situation and is activelylookingintotheissue,whilethematterhasreachedthegovern-ment authorities aswell, andtheywantanimmediateaction

if the exchange has actedagainst regulations orwas try-ing to benefit any particulartraderat thecostofothers.

Last night,theNYMEXWTICrude futuresMay2020 con-tract settled at an unprece-dented$(-)37.63abarrel,afterslippingintothenegativezone.

ContinuedonPage2

LOGISTIC CONSTRAINTS

18,985TOTALCASES

603DEATHSSOFAR 1,329NEWCASES

COVID-19 UPDATE

Bengal visit off to rocky start: Centralteams say state govt not cooperating

BENIGN CRUDE

ANUPAMCHATTERJEENewDelhi,April 21

ASTHEUSoilfuturescontinuedto trade in a historic sub-zerolevelforthesecondconsecutivedayonTuesdayamidaloomingstorage crisis and a demandslumpcausingtheglobalbench-mark Brent crude to hoveraround$20/barrel,analystsseeaggregate gains for the Indianeconomy and the country’sstressedgovernmentfinances.

India’s crude import billmaydecline by amassive $57billion or57%year-on-year inFY21 if the Indianbasket priceremains subdued at around$25/barrelthroughthecurrentfiscal, inwhat could give a bigrelief to the country’s currentaccount.ThepriceoftheIndiancrudeoilbasket,whichstoodatanaverageof$64/barrelinJan-uary,isnowaround$20.

ContinuedonPage2

India expectsmacrogains but ONGC-OILto takemassive hit

Few takers among retail biggiesfor direct purchase from farmers

LALITK JHAWashington,April 21

PRESIDENTDONALDTRUMPhas said that he will sign anexecutiveorder to temporarilysuspendallimmigrationtotheUS to “protect” the jobs ofAmericans and to fight the“invisible attack”on the coun-try by the coronavirus,amovethatwaswidelycriticisedbytheDemocrats, including Indian-originsenatorKamalaHarris.

Coronavirushaskilledmorethan 42,094 people in theUS,thecountrywiththemostfatal-itiesinthepandemic,accordingto Johns Hopkins University,andmore than 750,000 cases

have been confirmed.“In lightof theattack fromthe InvisibleEnemy, as well as the need toprotect the jobs of ourGREATAmerican Citizens, I will besigning an ExecutiveOrder totemporarilysuspendimmigra-tion into the United States!”

Trump,a Republican, seekingreelection in the Novemberpresidentialpoll,saidinatweetlateonMonday.

Details of Trump’s execu-tive order were not immedi-ately known.He also did notindicate when hewould sign

suchanorder.Thepresident’sannounce-

ment comes as his adminis-tration seeks to reopen partsof the US from the cripplingCovid-19shutdown.However,the NBC News reported thatthemove“hadbeenundercon-siderationforawhile”,asenioradministration official wasquotedassayingbythereport.

The official said the detailsabout how the plan would beimplemented and how manycountrieswouldbeaffected“willbe forthcoming”, the reportadded. Immigration has longbeenan issueofTrump.Hehasbeen calling for amerit-basedimmigrationsystem. —PTI

AMERICAFIRST

RITIKACHOPRANewDelhi,April 21

HAMMERED BYTHE globaldrop in oil demand due toCovid shutdowns and an oilprice war, a premiumrecruiterworking in oilfieldservices has withdrawn itsjob offers to graduating stu-dentsacrosstheIndianInsti-tutesofTechnology(IITs).

Schlumberger, theworld’s largest oil-field-ser-vices company,wrote to theIITs on April 6 that it had

decidedto“reduceandwith-draw some internship andgraduate jobopportunities”inabid toadjust to the“sud-den reduction” in “cus-tomers spend”.

“Wewill personallycom-municate our decision toeachstudentwhoisaffectedbythisdecision,”saidthe let-ter by Gautam Reddy,man-aging director, India andBangladesh,Schlumberger.

Schlumberger is the sec-ondmultinationalcompanytorevoke its IITjoboffers.As

first reported by The IndianExpress on April 4, GartnerInc, US-based research andadvisory firm,was the firstto rescind itsofferto11stu-dents across IIT-Delhi, IIT-Kanpurand IIT-Madras.

Gartner’s withdrawal,communicatedonMarch30,was seenas anearlywarningsign across campuses,withIITsfearingmanymorefirmswould rethink their place-mentoffers.

ContinuedonPage2

Sebi looking intoMCX`1-a-barrelmove● OIL FUTURES PLUNGE INTO NEGATIVE

FE BUREAUMumbai,April 21

WITH BANKS GETTING abreather on priority sectorlending against the fundsinvested via TLTRO 2.0, theresponse to the auction onApril23couldbebetter.

Typically, for every rupeelentbybanks,40paisemustbelent to the priority sector onwhich the yields are lower byabout60-80basispoints.How-ever,RBIhassparedbanksfromconsidering theHTM(held-to-maturity) bonds as part of theadjustednetbankcredit.

ContinuedonPage2

● NO RESPITE

KIRAN RATHEENewDelhi,April 21

VODAFONE IDEAONTuesdaypaid around `1,367 crore toDoTtowards its licence fee andspectrumusage charge for theJanuary-Marchquarter.Opera-tors generallypay their licencefeeandSUConaquarterlybasisandthispaymentwassupposedto be paid betweenMarch20-25.Whileothers likeBhartiAir-tel andReliance Jiohadpaidontime,VodafoneIdeahadsoughtmoretimecitingthedisruptionduetocoronavirusbutthegov-ernmentdidnot agree tomakeanexceptionforaanyoperator.

ContinuedonPage2

Voda Ideapays fee of`1,367 cr

Revenue

Q3FY20 (` crore)REPORT CARD

Loss

Ebitda

Cash andequivalent

6,453

3,421

12,815

11,089

LIKELYSTEPS

Govtguaranteeon loans tocritical sectors,

subject to a cap

Interestsubsidyof2-4%on

soft loans toMSMEs,exporters, etc

Contributionto EPFObygovt for firms

withover 100employees aswell

Extensionofpre-and-post-shipment credit

by 90daysonmaturity

Increase inRoSCTLbenefits for

garment exporters from4-6%ofFoBvalue

Temporaryhike in overdraftfacility for

JanDhanA/Choldersfrom`10,000

Deferment ofGSTpaymentbyMSMEs, fuel tax

paymentbyairlines

Speedyclearanceofduesowedbygovt

depts&PSUs toMSMEs

Crude oil pricesIndian basket ($/bbl)

Crude oilimports

`/$

0

20

40

60

80

Jan 2,2020

65.99

71.22567.96

75.14 69.59

62.29 76.538

20.42

Apr 20,2020

Jan 1,2020

Apr 20,2020Jan 1, 2020 Apr 21, 2020

69

71

73

75

77

7955

60

65

70

75

80

Diesel

(Prices have remainedunchanged fromMarch 16 to April 21)

Petrol

Delhi retail price (`/liter)

($ bn)

FY19

FY20*

FY21^

Source:FE Analysis, PPAC

*Based on fullyear imports of225 mn tonne;

^ AssumingIndian basketwill avg $25/barrel & demandvolume willgrow 3%, asestimated bygovt.

114

100

43E

■ 75,000 INTER-STATETRUCKSADDEDTORUNNING FLEETINADAY PAGE 2

● APRIL 23 AUCTION

PSLbreatherforTLTRO 2.0

Another set of IIT job offers arewithdrawn

■ ITCwill start buyingwheat from farmers inUttar Pradesh soon

■ Adani, somebulk tradershavebeenbuyingdirectlyfroma section of farmers inthe state sinceApril 15

■USPresidentwants to'protect' jobsofAmericans

■ Immigration has longbeenan issue forTrump

■Hehasbeencalling for amerit-based system

■Hedidn't indicatewhenhewould sign suchanorder

Trump to temporarily suspend immigration

EIILMKOLKATA

VK Paul,member (health),NITIAayog

Government may roll outfiscal package 2.0 today

EconomyWEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

FINANCIALEXPRESS2

● SUPPLYCHAIN BOOST

FE BUREAUNewDelhi, April 21

AS MANY AS 2.25 lakhnational-permit trucks pliedonIndianroadsonTuesday,upfrom1.5 lakh on the previousdayand1.2 lakhaweekago,inwhat indicates a steadyimprovement in inter-statecommerce.However,only15%ofthenational-permitvehiclesare on the roads evennowanditwould be a long road aheadbefore the plying rate returnstoover10lakhvehiclesor70%of the NP-registered that pre-vailed before the outbreak ofCovid-19 pandemic,All IndiaTransportersWelfareAssocia-tion (AITWA) joint secretaryAbhishekGupta toldFE.

“Vehicles which are beingunloadedthankstorelaxationsin lockdown guidelines insome areas are being madeavailable in an efficientman-ner,” Gupta said. Maximumeffort is being made by thetransporters togiveprioritytotransport of pharmaceuticals,essentials and important rawmaterials,headded.

“Wearehopeful that the e-pass facility,started byAITWAin association with IRIS,willprove to be a good tool fordri-vers to return to the strandedvehicles,”Gupta said.

The truckers’ body haddeveloped an app to help dri-vers return to trucks strandedat different locations in thecountry. About 275 trans-

porters across the country arealready using the app.Hyder-abad Goods TransportAssoci-ation (HGTA) and KarnatakaGoods Transport Association(KGTA)have also joined this e-platformtohelpdrivers.About1,500e-passeshavesofarbeenissuedtotruckdriversaftertheappwas launched.

Truckdriversarepermittedtomovewithlicensebutgivingthem an e-pass adds to theirconfidencewhile dealingwithauthorities,includingpolice.E-passcanbegeneratedbyareg-istered transporter and can besent to drivers throughWhat-sApp.Transportershavetoreg-ister on epass.irisgst.com,which is developed andmain-tained by Iris Business Ser-

vices.AITWA has also sought a

`50 lakh health insurancecoverforeachtruckdriverrisk-ing his life in the pandemic tohelp keep supply chains run-ning.Thegovernmentcanalsouse the details of the passesissued to drivers as proof ofbeing at the job for givinginsurance.

TheApril15MHAorderhasstressed on themovement oftrucks from April 20 to clearthe logistics logjam to easesupply of daily staples andotheressential suppliesacrossthe country. Before the lock-downwas enforced onMarch24, trucks runningwith loadhad to be stopped as driverswerenotgetting food.

HCasksKerala to file statementondealwithUS ITfirmforCoviddataFE BUREAUKochi, April 21

KERALA HIGH COURT onTuesdayraisedconcerns atthestategovernment'sITcontractwith a US firm for processingdata related to Covid-19patients. The court directedthe Kerala government to filea statement byApril 24on thedetailsof thedeal.

Kerala had entered into acontract with a US-based ITfirmSprinklr,whereinthedataof suspected and actualpatients of Covid-19 will becollected using governmentmachinery and uploaded tothe foreign firm's web serveron a daily basis. The IT com-pany, in turn, will provideactual data to the statemachinery after analysis, forbetter understanding andtreatment of thepandemic.The company is

owned by a non-residentIndian fromKerala.

Considering a plea seekingquashing of the state govern-ment'scontractwiththe firm,thehighcourt sought toknowas towhy foreign jurisdictionwas includedas a clause in thedeal for adjudication of possi-ble disputes. Expressing con-cernovertheconfidentialityofthe citizen's data processedbya third party, a division benchcomprising Justices DevanRamachandran and T R Ravialso sought to knowwhy the

sanction of the law depart-ment was not taken beforefinalising theagreement.

The court hailed the stategovernment'sfightagainstthepandemic but said itwas con-cerned about the data confi-dentiality. It also directed thegovernmenttoexplaintherea-sonforengagingaforeignfirmfor suchworkswhen there aregovernment IT wings to dosuch jobs.Noting thatacitizenis not privy to the deal signedbetweenthestategovernmentand the foreign company,thecourt observed that the stategovernment will be held asresponsible, if the firm mis-used thedata.

The state governmentcounsel said the agreementwith Sprinklr has safeguardsfor data protection in accor-dancewith the standard prac-tices of software as a servicemodel.

From the Front Page

FightingCovid-19:Governmentmay roll outfiscal package2.0 todayIT HAS BUDGETED grossmarket borrowing at `7.8lakh crore for FY21 and aimsto borrow 62.5% of it in thefirst half itself. The full-yearnet borrowing is budgeted at`5.36 lakh crore.

The governmentmay evenask the RBI to monetise thedeficit by printing moremoney, after gauging infla-tionary pressure and broaderimpact on the economy.How-ever, any such decisionwill betaken only around October-November when it starts toreview its finances for therevisedestimateforthis fiscal,according to thesources.

Sinceamassivecreditpushis required toget theeconomyback on its feet, the govern-ment will likely considerextending guarantee on loansextended by both banks andNBFCsthathadalreadyturnedrisk-averse even before thepandemic spread its tentaclesin India.

To help MSMEs andexporters, the governmentwill likely announce interestsubsidyof2-4%andexpeditethe release of any tax refundsor other dues to them.Withkeymarkets— theUSand theEU—bruisedbytheCovid-19and over a half of their orderscancelled, Indian exportersare facing an unprecedentedcrisis.

Already, it has extended a`1.7lakhcrorepackagetohelpthepoorandthevulnerable.Ofcourse, over a half of it is tocome from funds meant forstatesandexistingschemes.Ithas also announced another`15,000 crore to bolster thehealth networks over the nextfouryears.

Nevertheless, as many as69%ofrespondents inaFicci-commissioned survey haveindicated thatmeasures initi-ated so far by the governmentare inadequate and called formore steps. About 72% ofthem believe the Covid-19impact on business will beeitherhighorveryhigh.

The finance ministry hasalready held a meeting withtop executives of state-runbankstoreviewliquidityinthesystem and the lenders’ pre-paredness to support thecreditappetiteoftheeconomywith the lifting of lockdownfor certain segments onApril20. A drop in public-sectorbanks’ capital position due toanexpectedspike inbad loansfollowingtheliftingofathree-month repayment morato-riumisalsogoing tobeacriti-cal issue for thegovernment.

Having risen at a double-digit pace in FY19, non-foodcredit growth faltered this fis-cal. Even before the Covid-19started to spread, non-foodcredit growth crashed to just6.3%year-on-year in the fort-nightthroughFebruary14,thelowest since May 2017,mir-roring a broader economicslowdown and risk aversion

among bankers. The creditgrowth plunged further to6.07%forthefortnightendedMarch 13, as the pandemicimpact started tobite.

IL&FS case: HCquashes govtmove to banBSR,DeloitteA DIVISION BENCH of ChiefJustice Bhushan Dharmad-hikari and justiceNitinBorkaronTuesdayruled that thepro-visions underwhich the gov-ernmentsoughttobanthetwofirms can only be applied toexistingauditorsofacompany.

Oil futuresplunges into -ve:Sebi toactasMCXfixes`1abarrelITSLIPPEDINTOthenegativezone on fears of fast-fillingstorage facilities globally andan unprecedented plunge indemandduetothenovelcoro-naviruspandemic.

Multi-CommodityExchange(MCX) of India,whichuses theNYMEXpricefordeterminingitsown settlement price and theavailableRBI’sreferencerateforUSD-INRforconversion,how-ever,saidinacircularthatduetotheunprecedentedpricefluctu-ation in the internationalmar-ketsincrudeoil,theduedateratefor Crude Oil futures contractexpiring on April 20, 2020, isunderfinalisation.

Logisticconstraints:Few takersamong retailbiggies fordirect purchasefrom farmersTHE IDEA BEHIND the Cen-tre’s move was to unshacklethe farmer community hithard by the current lockdownfrom the fetters of theAPMCsthat controlmandis.

While most states havealready de-listed fruits andvegetablesfromthepurviewofAPMCs,thesebodiesarestill inexclusive control of trade inmostothercrops.

Of course,a fair amount ofdirect buying from farmershad been happening evenbefore the Centre's order insome localities in UttarPradesh and Gujarat.The twostates had evenmanymonthsbeforetheCentre’slatestdirec-tive,issued‘unifiedlicences’toretail companies and bulktradersfor‘directmarketing’offarmproduce.

“The main challenge (forbig retailers who nowplan toget unified licences to pur-chase crops directly fromfarmers) is to set up the trans-port logistics betweenvillagesto thewarehouses.Before thelockdown,farmerswerebring-ingtheircropstomandisusingtheirowntransport–eitherintractors or carts.Traders used

to collect the goods from themandis and deliver at thedoorsteps of the companieslike us. Now, when there is aproblem of availability oftrucks and labour, setting upalternative logistics overnightmayprove to bedifficult,”saidRajnikant Rai, chief operatingofficer of ITC’s agri-businessdivision.

“Since hiring people forsetting up own network topurchaseroundtheyearatvil-lage levels costs higher,manycompanies prefer to buy fromthe (APMC) traders,”Rai said.Since this (creating own net-work for purchase) has juststarted, it will take time to bestreamlined and for morecompanies to setuptheirownnetworks, he said.The labourshortage in this segment isaround60%atpresent.

Uttar Pradesh,where chiefministerYogiAdityanathhim-self is in charge of the agricul-ture department, had issuedabout 300‘unified licences’tocompanies, bulk traders priorto the lockdown under anexistingpolicy.Thislicencewasmeant to allowbulk buyers todirectly purchase crops fromfarmers by setting up theirown collection centres aswellas from anymandiwithin thestate,saidDeveshChaturvedi,state’sprincipalsecretary,agri-culture. “We have asked attaanddalmills toget theunifiedlicences and start buyingdirectly from farmers but thiswould commence in a largescaleonlyafterthelockdownislifted,”headded.

Sincewheatisthemainrabicrop, private companies havebeen told by the UP govern-ment to ensure there are nodistresssalesbyfarmersofthiscrop.After the imposition oflockdown,thestatehaswaivedthemandi fee (about 2%) forfarmers’ producers organisa-tions (FPOs).

While ITCwill start buyingwheatfromUPfarmersinafewdays, Adani Group and somebulktradershavealreadystartedbuying the cereal directly fromfarmers fromApril 15 inUttarPradesh.Harvestingofwheat is75% complete in the state’swesternregion,35-40%incen-tral and about 15% in easternparts, traders said.DiversifiedFMCGmajor ITChas been onemajor purchaser of farm pro-duce in Uttar Pradesh andGujarat,butitspurchasesareyetto start for the standing rabiwheatcropasthelockdownhashitharvesting.

PSLbreatherforTLTRO2.0THETLTRO 2.0 bonds— for atotalamountof`50,000crore— are to be invested in NBFCsandinstitutions likeMFIs,RBIsaid lastFriday.

AsKamalMahajan,headoftreasury and global markets,BankofBaroda,pointedout,ifthe HTM bonds under theTLTRO2.0aresparedfromthemandatory loans to prioritysectoritwouldbemoreattrac-tive for banks.”The yields onpriority sector loans are lowerso itwould be less attractive ifwe needed to lend to that sec-tor,”Mahajanexplained.

Nonetheless, market par-ticipants believe the responseto the TLTRO might be rela-

tively less enthusiastic thanthe response to TLTRO 1.0because of the lack of goodquality assets in the NBFCspace.AnanthNarayan,profes-sor-financeatSPJIMR,pointedout thatwhile the RBI ismak-ing it easier forbanks,the coreissue is still not gettingaddressed.“Thecredit-riskfearis still not being taken care of.ThoseNBFCswho are not get-ting funds because banks arenotcomfortablewiththeirbal-ance-sheets will continue to

face funding issues.That coreissueofcreditriskaversionhastobeaddressed,'Narayansaid.

RBI has also increased thetime available for deployingthe funds under TLTRO 2.0from 30 to 45 working dayssaying the penalty for notdoing so would be interest attheprevailingpolicyreporateplus 200 bps for the numberof days such funds remainundeployed.

Vydianathan Ramaswamy,director, ratings at BrickworkRatings, said that the exten-sion of deployment period to45 days gives banks a betterlead time to lend toawidersetof non-banks. “It eases thepressure on banks to quicklylend. Removing the 10%investment cap withoutextending the deploymentperiod could have resulted inbanks investinga largerquan-tum in a limited few entities,”Ramaswamysaid.

Benign crude:India expectsmacro gainsbut ONGC-OILto take big hitTHOUGHNOTIMMEDIATELYand necessarily to the samedegree, benign crude priceswill over time reflect on theretail prices of decontrolledautofuelsdieselandpetrolandexert a sobering effect on thecountry’s fuel inflation andtherebyoverall inflation.For acountry that depends onimports to meet 85% of itscrude oil requirement, thebenignpricesof the commod-itywillalsohaveanotherbene-ficialoutcomeasreducedsub-sidybills.

While oil subsidy has beencontainedabit—itisbudgetedto be `40,915 crore in FY21against`60,269croreinFY15— the subsidy on nitrogenousfertiliserurea (forwhichrefin-eryoutputnapthaandnaturalgasarefeedstock)continuestobe a heavy burden on the fisc(FY21ureasubsidyisbudgetedat`47,805crore).

Also, a big fall in crudepricesmaypromptaresource-hungry government to again

resort to fuel excisedutyhikesto somewhat salvage itsweaktax revenues. Taking advan-tageofbenigncrude,onMarch14, the Centre hiked the taxes(SED and road and infra cess)ondieselandpetrolby`3/litreeach and later, it used theFinance Bill 2020 to createroomfor increasing the taxontheautofuels byupto`8/litre.Everyone-rupeedutyonpetroland diesel translates into rev-enue of about `14,000 croreannually for theCentre.Stateswillalsobenefitfromthesetaxhikesastheylevysalestax/VATon the fuels on an ad valorembasis on the price inclusive ofCentral taxes.

While that is the big pic-ture, individually, the fall incrudepriceswillhitafewcom-panies in India, includingstate-run oil producers ONGCand Oil India. ONGC, whichproduces about 65% ofdomesticcrudeoil,islikelyfaceunder-recoveriestothetuneof$1.8 billion in FY21, if theIndian basket of crude aver-ages in the year at $25/barrel.This assumes that ONGC pro-duces and sells 24 milliontonnes (MT) of crudeoil in thecurrent fiscal, roughly thesameas lastyear.

ONGCmayaskforasubsidyto partly cover its rising costs;if thegovernmentaccepts thisrequest, then that will have anegative bearing on the Cen-tre’s finances.Given the extrafiscal stress that theeconomicslowdown (which hit tax col-lections) and the Covid-19expenseshavecaused,theCen-tre may not pay heed toONGC’sdemand.

ONGC’sper-barrel produc-tioncostisintherangeof$35-$40. The Brent crude has adirect bearingwith the rate atwhich ONGC sells crude toIndian refiners.ONGC is alsofacing under recoveries fromselling gas after the govern-mentrecentlyslashedthepriceof domestic gas by 26% to$2.39permillionBritishther-mal units (mmBtu), whereasthe firm’s output cost isaround$3.8-$6.6/mmBtu.

In the light of the recentslide in global crude prices,ONGC is set to “adopt a bal-anced approach towards capi-tal spending,”and expects thegovernmenttotakefavourablepolicymeasures to boost thecompany’s performance.“Thedecline in crude prices hasadditionallycreatedaneedforus to carryout detailed reviewof activities to look for oppor-tunities to optimise operatingcoststopreserve liquidity,”thecompany said in a statement.ONGC is understood to havealready started making adetailed strategy“to get overthis situation if the crisis pro-longs”.

Of course, the retail pricesof petroleumproducts arenotlinked directly to crude oilprice but are determined onthe basis of a formula of tradeparity pricing (80%weight tolandedcostofnotional importof petroleum products and20% to export price of petro-leumproducts).

No respite:Voda Idea paysfee of `1,367 cr

OPERATORS PAY 8% of theiradjusted gross revenue aslicence fee while SUC rangesbetween 3-5%.

The current payment andthe dueswhich are before theSupreme Court are different.While for the latter thecompanies, includingVodafone Idea, have soughtthe facility to pay ininstallments spread oversome 20 years which iscurrently before the SC,there's been no such demandfor current payments.

Vodafone Idea posted anet loss of `6,453 croreduring the October-December quarter on arevenue of `11,089 crore.Last month, of its `58,254crore AGR dues, it paid`6,854 crore to thegovernment.This moneywasdrawn on the company's cashreserves of around `12,815crore at the end of Q3 andsome proceeds remaining ofits rights issue. Its cashreserves is now estimated tohave come down to below`3,000 crore.

Analysts at Credit Suissehave estimated narrowing ofits net loss to ` 5,816 crorefor the January-Marchquarter. They expect thecompany’s consolidatedrevenue to growby3.3%q-o-q to`11,457 crore and theEbitda by 11% q-o-q to`3,800 crore.

Bengal visit offto rocky start,central teamssay state govt isnot cooperatingON MONDAY, THE day theteamlanded,themembershadvisited the office of theNational Institute of Choleraand Enteric Diseases in thecity’s Beleghata area and heldameetingwith the Chief Sec-retary at Nabanna, the statesecretariat.

Apurva Chandra, Addi-tional Secretary,Departmentof Defence and leader of thefive-member team inKolkata,told ANI, “We met the ChiefSecretary last evening ataround 6 pm in Nabanna.Wewereassuredthatwewillagainhave ameeting today andwewillbetakenaround.Buttodaywewere informed that therearesomeissuesandwewillnotbegoingout,”saidChandra.

“The order of deploymentsays the state governmentshall provide logistic supporttous.Ihavebeenintouchwiththe chief secretary since yes-terday seeking support fromthe state government to visitareas. In fact,wemade it veryclear that we will go aroundonly with state governmentliaison officers.Wewould liketoaddthatteamshavegonetoother places like MadhyaPradesh, Maharashtra andRajasthanandtheyaregettingfull support from the stategovernments and all theteams areworking.They havealso been given the samenotice as the state govern-mentofWestBengal.But theyare active and have not facedproblems,”he added.

Meanwhile,chiefminister

Mamata Banerjee hit thestreets of Kolkata Tuesdayafternoon, speaking into aloudspeaker and asking peo-plenot toventureoutof theirhomes.

‘June, Julywilltest India’sresolve’HEADDED:“WE have to keepthe virus transmission undercheck and ensure that no newpeaksappear.JuneandJulywilltestourresolve.”

The liftingof the lockdownafterMay3wouldbea“phasedandnuancedaffair”,he said.

DrPaul,a formerprofessorof paediatrics atAIIMS, is oneof themost important peoplein theplanningandexecutionof the government’s Covidmanagementplan.Apartfromhis position in the Niti Aayog,he chairs the EmpoweredGroupconstitutedbythemin-istry of home affairs on themedical emergencymanage-mentplan,and is amemberofthe Empowered Group onstrategic issues related to thelockdown,which is headed byHome SecretaryAjayBhalla—theonlypersonwhoisapartofthe twoEmpoweredGroups.

Dr Paul is also co-chair —alongwithPrincipalScientificAdviser to the PrimeMinisterKVijay Raghavan — of a taskforce that coordinatingamong science agencies, sci-entists,industries,andregula-tory bodies to take speedydecisions on research anddevelopment related to theSARS-CoV-2 virus and theCovid-19disease.

“An empowered task forceismaking sure that all effortsare made to develop anindigenous vaccine in thenear future. India will notmiss any opportunity to bethe global hub for vaccinedevelopment and manufac-turing,”DrPaul said.

“ICMRhascreatedaclinicalresearch network and a reg-istry to serve as a platform fortrials on various therapeuticmodalities. These includestudying the use of convales-centplasma,plasmaexchange,and drugs such as redemsiviretc.,whenavailable.ICMRlab-oratories are also examiningthe potential of novel drugmolecules for their effect onthevirus,”headded.

Faulty results:ICMR tellsstates not touse rapid testsfor 2 daysJOINT SECRETARY, HEALTHministry, LavAgarwal reiter-ated that the RT-PCR is thegold standard for Covid-19diagnosis.

Aheadofthegradualliftingof the lockdown, the serologi-cal tests were to be used inhotspots, to test the popula-tion levelexposure.OnApril4,the ICMRhad issued an advi-sorytostart rapid tests inhighdensitysettings.

The rapid test,which usesblood samples instead ofswabs, checks for the novelcoronavirus (SARS-CoV2) by

ascertaining whether theperson has developed anti-bodies against it. It takes lessthan 30 minutes. The swabtest, on the other hand, com-prises two steps - a screeningtest anda confirmatorytest -and takes 8-9 hours. How-ever, there have been con-cerns about the accuracy ofrapid tests.

Whilemostoftherapidtestkits are part of the batchreceived by the Centre fromChina last week, some statesalso procured these kits ontheirown.

Gangakhedkar said that ifmostofthekitswerefaulty,theICMRwould ask for replace-ments.

Another set ofIIT job offersarewithdrawnHRD MINISTER RAMESHPokhriyalandIIT-DelhiDirec-tor Ramgopal Rao had evenpublicly appealed to compa-nies in the first week of Aprilnot towithdrawoffers.

Schlumberger’s decisionhas affected at least one stu-dent at IIT-Delhi, who wasoffered a junior field engi-neer role, and one at IIT-Bombay.The IIT-Kanpur stu-dent, who had secured a jobat Schlumberger Pune Tech-nology Centre (PUTC), hasbeenoffered a similarprofileat SchlumbergerPune IndianTechnologyCentre (PITC) at alower pay package. A similaroffer is learned to have beenmade to a student at IIT-Madras.

Parag Deshpande, vice-chairperson of the CareerDevelopment Centre at IIT-Kharagpur, said, “We weremadesomeoffers (bySchlum-berger).Asondate,noneof theoffers were revoked.” Whenasked if IIT-Kharagpur hadreceived the April 6 letter, headded, “That was a genericemail.We haven’t heard backfromthem.”

Speaking to The IndianExpress Tuesday, Reddy con-firmed that offers made tostudents at IITs stand can-celled.“Last Friday,ourglobalCEO (while announcing thefirst quarter 2020 results)had clearly said in NorthAmerica we expect our cus-tomer spend to go down by40%andgloballyby15%.It’sunprecedented.”

“We have a longstandingrelationship with the IITs. Iam from IIT-Bombay.Recruiting fromIITs is a con-tinuousprocess forus.At thispoint in time, when we aredoing business restructur-ing, it’s just not fair for ourcurrent employees (to hiremorepeople).Wehave to takecare of them first. It’s as sim-ple as this. Everyone startingfrom the top managementhas takenapaycutwithin thecompany,”he added.

Askedwhat thismeans forjoboffersmadetoIITstudentsthisyear,hesaid,“Asofnowwehave withdrawn them. If thebusiness climate changes,wewill be the first to reach out to(students) who have been fil-tered through the whole(recruitment)process.”

Schlumberger cut itsshareholder dividend 75%

G-20 nationsto ensure foodsecurityTHEG-20NATIONSonTuesdayagreed forinternational co-operation toensure foodandnutritional securityaswell asmaintaining thefoodsupplychainacrossbordersamid thecoronavirusoutbreak.Theyalsoagreed todevelopscience-basedinternationalguidelinesonstrictersafetyandhygienicmeasures forzoonosis control.AgricultureministerNarendraSinghTomarparticipated in thevirtualmeetingonIndia’sbehalf.

Quick

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WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM

75k inter-state trucks addedto running fleet in aday

❝ ❝

COVID RUMOURRaghuram Rajan, former RBI governor

Wesee in India some allegation that thiswas aMuslimplot (Covid-19 outbreak). I mean, that kind ofbehaviour can explode andmakemuch harder forher communities to get togetherwithin the country

3-yr bond yield(%)

4.0Feb 14, 2020

Source: BloombergApr 21, 2020

4.4

4.8

5.2

5.6

6.05.775

4.875

NANDAKASABEPune, April 21

THECOTTONCORPORATIONof India (CCI)has resumedpro-curement of the commodityand it has bought around25,000quintal of cotton fromfarmers in the last 10days,topofficialsofthecorporationsaid.

CCI chairperson andman-aging director PAlli Rani saidthat the quantumof procure-

menthasnotbeenmuchduetothelockdownperiodandfearofcoronavirus infection amongfarmers. She said that with80%of arrivals already in themarket,thecorporationisbuy-ing cotton in a controlledway,andmaintainingsocialdistanc-ing. Procurement is takingplace but at a very small scale,shesaid.Thecottonseasonusu-allylasts till September30.

She said that the corpora-

tionhas askeddistrict officialstoissuepassesonanhourlyba-sis,wherein 5-6 farmerswhowant to sell and do not havetransportation problem cancome to the centre.CCI is thegovernment’snodalagencyforpurchasesundertheminimumsupportprice scheme.

Buyinghas sloweddownaf-terMarch as the peak harvestseason is almost over,she said,adding that the thirdor fourth

pickingsnormallydonotyieldmuch.TilldateCCIhasprocured85lakhbales.

Most of the cotton in the2019-20seasonhasbeenpur-chased fromTelanganawhereCCI purchased 82% of the92%of arrivals in themarket,Alli Rani said. InMaharashtra,however, the agency has pur-chased just 30% of the 82%arrivals in the market, sheadded. Of the remaining ar-

rivals that is expected to cometo the market, around 50%maycometoCCI,she said.

Theminimumsupportprice

for themedium-staplevarietyof cotton is `5,255perquintalandthat forthe longstapleoneis`5,550perquintalthisyear.

ECONOMY 3FINANCIALEXPRESS

WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

Govt to reviewFY21disinvestment plan

PRASANTA SAHUNew Delhi, April 21

THE DEPARTMENT OF in-vestment and public assetmanagement (DIPAM) willreview the FY21 Budget planto raise an ambitious `2.1lakh crore via sale of govern-ment stakes in companies inlight of the cornonaviruspandemic. It feels the feasi-bility of many proposedtransactions arenowsuspect.

Among the mega deals inthedisinvestmentpipeline,thegovernment had planned togarner `70,000-80,000 crorebyselling53.3%stakeinanoilretailer-cum-marketer inFY21. A plan was also an-nouncedtosell30.8%inCon-Cor to a strategic buyer. Fur-ther,asubstantialamountwasplanned tobe raisedbysellingup to 10% stake in state-runinsurerLIC through its listing.

Officials admit that thedisinvestment target is irrele-vant post Covid-19 as no oneknowswhen economic activ-ities will become normal.While listingof the insurancebehemoth LIC is unlikely inFY21 due to volatile marketconditions, big ticket strate-

gic sales such asBPCLare alsofacing headwinds.

With lockdown imposedbymanycountriesworldwideincluding India,DIPAM is ex-pected to extend for the sec-ondtimethedeadline forsub-mission of expression ofinterest (EoI) forstrategic saleof theCentre’s 100%stake inAir India (AI). In the wake ofthe coronavirus pandemic,the Centre had recently ex-tended the last date of EoI forAI by 45 days to April 30.De-spite amassive contraction inthe aviation sector sinceMarch last week, there issomeflickerofhopeaspoten-tial bidders are still enquiringabout the debt-ridden na-tional carrier, sources said.

Similarly, if lockdowncontinues beyond May 3 inIndia, the deadline forEoI forthe government’s 53.3%stake in BPCL (excluding itsstake in Numaligarh Refin-ery) may also need to be ex-tended further.

TheBPCLEoIdeadlinewasearlier extended fromMay 2to June 13. In line with stockmarket slump, the marketvalue of the Centre’s stake inBPCL was about `41,000crore (BSE) onTuesday.

The drastic fall in globalcrude prices also hurt disin-

vestment prospects ofBPCL.The West Texas Inter-mediate (WTI),benchmarkUScrude, was pushed to below$0abarrel forthe first time inhistory on Monday due to aglut inenergymarket,paucityof storage capacity and a lackof demand in the aftermathof the pandemic.

“This will not be goodnews for the disinvestmentplan of BPCL. This may haveto wait till the prospects ofthe industry improve,” CareRatings said onTuesday.

Among the possibilities,the government could garnersome revenues from sale ofthe BPCL’s 61% stake sale inNumaligarh Refinery,whichwill be sold to state-runfirms. It would also garner,though difficult to quantify,some revenues frombuybackbycentral public sectorenter-prises (CPSEs).

With valuation slump of50% or thereabout in manyCPSEs in the past six monthsmeans,offer for sales (OFS) ofminority stakes in CPSEssuch as Indian Oil or Coal In-dia will be possible if stockprices recover in time.

Due to Covid-19 impact,the FY20 disinvestment re-ceipts were `50,300 crore or23% lower than the revisedestimate (RE) of `65,000crore.The government couldnot execute some of theplanned transactions,includ-ing sales ofminoritystakes inhalf a dozenCPSEs,as a resultof themarket turmoil.

Officials admit thatthe target to raise`2.1 lakh cr isirrelevant postCovid-19 pandemic

Toll collectionsresume atmost of562 plazas: NHAISURYA SARATHI RAYNew Delhi, April 21

THE NATIONAL HIGHWAYSAuthority of India (NHAI) onTuesday said toll collectionshave resumed at almost all562operational plazas acrossthe country. The authority’schairman, S S Sandhu, saidconstruction has also startedon more than 90% ofstretches where work had tobe halted in view of theCovid-19 pandemic.

“Toll collection has re-sumed at almost all tollplazas in the country,barringin hotspot areas; the numberof such areas,however, isverysmall,”Sandhu said.

Hotspots are areas withlarge Covid-19 outbreaks orclusters with a significantspread.

In 2018-19, a total of`24,396 crore was collectedas tolls, at a monthly averageof `2,033 crore or `67 crorea day. Of all the toll receipts,NHAI’s share is roughly29%.The private developers whocollect toll include IRB Infra,DilipBuildcon,AshokaBuild-con andWelspun.

The ministry of roadtransport and highways(MoRTH) had on April 17granted NHAI permission tocollect toll fromApril 20mid-night.Inviewof theCovid-19pandemic, toll collection onnational highways was tem-porarily suspended with ef-fect fromMarch 25.

In a note on April 17,

CARE Ratings said it expectstoll collections to witness adecline of 2.5% in FY’20 onyear-on-year basis and con-tinue to be dismal in FY’21.

It expects decline in tollcollectionbyaround10-12%inFY'21 evenondeclined tollbase of FY’20 due to re-stricted vehicle movement,global economic slowdownand subdued pick up in inconstruction and mining ac-tivity post monsoon, consid-ering prolonged lockdownduration and intensity ofCovid-19.

NHAI constructed 3,979km highways in 2019-20, itshighest-ever.Ithas11,426kmproject length under imple-mentation atvarious stages.

Maximum of the projectsare being awarded in recenttimes through the engineer-ing, procurement and con-struction (EPC) route, inwhich government bears allexpenses.

I-Tdept sends e-mails to 1.72 lakhassessees over outstanding tax duesPRESS TRUSTOF INDIANew Delhi, April 21

THE INCOME TAX depart-ment has sent e-mails to1.72 lakh assessees, includ-ing start-ups,companies andindividuals, who have out-standing tax demands aswellas tax refunds asking themto provide as update onthe payment.

Since April 8, the CentralBoard of Direct Taxes (CBDT)has been fast-tracking refundpayments to help taxpayersin the Covid-19 pandemicsituation and has till date is-sued nearly 14 lakh refundsinvolving an amount of over`9,000 crore to various tax-payers including individuals,Hindu Undivided Families(HUFs), proprietors, firms,corporate, start-ups, and mi-cro,small andmediumenter-prises (MSMEs).

The CBDT in a statementsaid its e-mail seeking clarifi-cation from all thosewho areentitled to get tax refund butalso have outstanding tax topay cannot be misconstruedas harassment.

“An opportunity is pro-vided by the department tothe assessee to either clearthe demand or intimate thestatus of said demand to theI-Tdepartment.

“Invariably, such commu-nication is made by the de-partment by sending an e-mail to the assesseeinforming it of the quantumof outstanding demand andproviding an opportunity topay the demand or respondwith evidence regardingpay-ment of the same if already

made,or update the status ofanyotheractionon it," it said.

TheCBDTsaid that the as-sessees are required to fur-nish details of the pendingdemand,whether it has beenpaid or has been stayed byanyappellate/competent au-thority so that the depart-ment could keep the same inabeyance and do not deductthis amount from refund.

“Thus,following the exist-ing procedure of recupera-tion of outstanding demand,similar mails have also beensent to 1.72 lakh assesseesincluding start-ups to inti-mate to the I-T department,

the status of thedemandout-standing and whether it hasbeen stayedbythe competentauthority so that appropriateaction can be taken for re-lease of refunds without de-lay to the start-up,” it added.

The CBDT said these e-mails are part of the facelesscommunication and areauto-generated under Sec-tion 245 of the I-T Act in re-fund caseswhere there is anyoutstandingdemandpayableby the assessee.

“In case the outstandingdemand has already beenpaid by the taxpayer or it hasbeen stayed by the higher taxauthorities,the taxpayers arerequested through thesemails to provide the statusupdate so that while issuingthe refund, these amountsare not held back and theirrefunds are released forth-with,” it said.

Withreports incertainsec-tionsofsocialmedia,theCBDTsaid that such communica-tions are just a request forseeking an update responsefrom the assessee for the pro-posed adjustment of refundwith theoutstandingdemandand cannot be misconstruedas a notice of recovery or beperceived as so-called arm-twistingbytheI-Tdepartmentbecause the department isduty bound to protect publicmoney by adjusting the out-standing demand before re-leasing the refund.

“Many refunds are pend-ing for the want of responsefrom the taxpayers and willbe issued at the earliest pos-sible once the information isupdated,” the CBDTadded.

Over11.37 lakh trucks,2.3 lakh transporterslinked on e-NAMPRESSTRUSTOF INDIANewDelhi, April 21

MORETHAN11.37lakhtrucksand2.3 lakh transportershaveregisteredontheelectronicNa-tional Agriculture Market (e-NAM)platformtoensurefastermovement of farm producefrommandistootherlocationsduring the Covid-19 inducedlockdown, the Union agricul-tureministrysaidonTuesday.

Theyhaveregisteredunderthemodule of uberisation oflogistics aggregators, recentlylaunched on e-NAMplatformto help traders find out trans-porters in their vicinity forquick movement of the sup-plies fromthemandis,it said.

“More than 11.37 lakhtrucks and 2.3 lakh trans-porters are already linked tothismodule,”theministrysaidin a statement.

Atpresent,585mandis(agri-markets) across 16 states andtwounion territorieshavebeenintegratedone-NAMplatform,withauserbaseof16.6millionfarmers,1,28,000 traders and70,934commissionagents.

Theministry also said thatit has launched amobile appcalled ‘Kisan Rath’ to helpfarmers provide transporta-tion facility formovement ofproduce from farm tomandisduring the lockdownperiod.

Themobileapphasbeende-signed forusersofbothe-NAMandnon-e-NAMplatforms.

To reduce crowd inmandisduring the lockdown period,the ministry is encouragingfarmers to use e-NAM plat-form,forwhichtwoadditionalfeatureswere added recently.

One of the feature is awarehouse-based tradingmodule that enables farmersto sell their produce from theWarehousing Developmentand Regulatory Authority(WDRA)-registered ware-

houses notified as deemedmarkets.

The other trading moduleenablesfarmerproducerorgan-isations (FPOs) to upload theirproducefromcollectioncentreswithpicture/qualityparametersfor online bidding withoutphysicallyreachingthemandis.

“Sofar,FPOsfrom12states(Punjab,Odisha,Gujarat, Ra-jasthan,West Bengal, Maha-rashtra, Haryana, AndhraPradesh,TamilNadu,Uttarak-hand,Uttar Pradesh & Jhark-hand) haveparticipated in thetrade,”theministrysaid.

Statingthate-NAMhasbe-come a tool for social distanc-ingduring lockdown,themin-istry said that states arepromoting virtual tradingplatforms like e-NAM therebyreducinghuman interventioninhandlingof theproduce.

States like Jharkhand haveinitiated farm-gate tradingthrough e-NAM platformwherebyfarmersareuploadingthedetailsoftheirproducealongwithpicture foronlinebiddingwithoutreachingtheAPMC.

Similarly,FPOsarealsoup-loading their produce fromtheir collection centers fortradingundere-NAM,it said.

Besides, an advisory hasbeen issued to the state gov-ernments to encourage farm-ers,FPOs and cooperatives fordirectmarketing of their pro-duce by limiting regulationunderAPMCAct.

As a result, FPOs are alsosupplyingvegetables innearbycities and towns. States havealreadytakendecisionto issuepasses/e-passes toFPOs.

Onmovementoffruitsandvegetable produce tomandis,theministry said it has opera-tionalised inter-state trans-portationof fruitsandvegeta-bles round the clock aftercoordination with the statemandi boards.

CCIresumescottonprocurement;25,000quintalprocuredin10days

The CBDT said that the

assessees are required to

furnish details of the

pending demand,

whether it has been paid

or has been stayed by any

appellate/competent

authority so that the

department could keep

the same in abeyance and

do not deduct this

amount from refund

Delhi govt to use pvt discomsubsidies to clear genco billsFE BUREAUNewDelhi, April 21

DELHIPOWERDEPARTMENThas decided to use 50%of thesubsidy that it owes to the na-tional capital’s private powerdistribution companies (dis-coms)toclearthelatters’duetothestate-runpowerstations.

In a recent order issued bythe Delhi government, thepowerdepartment said that it“shall release 50%of the firstquarter of subsidy directly todiscoms and remaining 50%subsidywill be credited to theaccountofIPGL,PPCLandDTL(state-run utilities) to the ex-

tent of outstanding dues todiscoms to these companies”.

The discomswould receivelower subsidies from the gov-ernment even after the powerdepartmentacknowledgedthatcash flow of the discoms hasbeenimpactedbythelockdownimposed to control the coron-avirus outbreak.The subsidiesthatthesediscomsreceivefromthegovernmentincludetheun-paid powerbills of householdsconsuming less than200unitsin Delhi. On top of that, resi-dences using200–400units amonthalso get`800discount,which are paid for by the gov-ernmentthroughsubsidies.

R RAVICHANDRANChennai, April 21

AMID LACK OF export orders due to theCovid-19lockdownglobally,cancellationofsomeoftheexistingordersbymajorbuyersintheUSandEuropecoupledwithliquiditycrisis,Tirupur’s knitwear/readymadegar-mentscluster,thelargestinIndia,seeshugeopportunityinmakingPPEs (personalpro-tective equipment) and facemasks of dif-ferenttypes,asitsmemberunitsstartedget-ting huge orders from a number of stategovernments thataregoingthroughCoro-naviruschallenges.

Having decades-old experience andexpertise in making garments for bothdomesticandexportmarkets,theunitshaveseizedthisemergingopportunityinnotonlycapitalising on the domestic demandbutalsoseesorderspouringinfromtheUSandEurope once theyare back tonormal posttheCovid-19imbroglio.

“Thoughit is tooearlyforustoquantifythesizeofordersandtherevenuewegener-ateovertheaperiodoftime,giventhenatureof thecurrent calamityandtheemergenceof a ‘new normal’ across the globe, thereseems tobebillions of dollars opportunityemerging for us to tap in a big way,” saidTirupurExporters’Association (TEA)presi-dentRajaMShanmugham.

“We are much competitive vis-a-vis

China aswehave the capacityand capabil-itytomakePPEkitsatonethirdofthecost.These PPE kits can be produced at a costbetween`200and`600orlittlemore(fromordinary to advancedkits) as compared toChina’s`1,500akit,”hesaid.

“Startedwith a small order froma localdistrictinTamilNadu,theclusterisnowget-ting increasing orders for both PPEs andmasks fromnot onlyTamil Nadu govern-ment but also from neighbouring statessuchasAndhraPradesh,Telangana,Kerala,andevennowfromAssamandMeghalayagovernments to supply in lakhs of suchunits,”he said,adding the orders theyaregettingarethroughagentswhowonthebid-dingsofrespectivestategovernments.

Speaking to FE,he said:“Currently100unitsareengagedinmakingPPEs,masksofdifferentnaturetomeetstategovernments’requirements.Sofartheyhavesuppliedover2millionpiecesofmasksand500,000unitsofPPEs,whicharegiventohealthcarework-ers,hospitalsstaff,surgeons/seniordoctors,frontlineworkers apart fromotherpeoplewho are involved in fighting Covid-19 intheirrespectivestates.Withmoreandmoreorderspouringin,weseemoreunitsgettingintomakingthesemedicalneeds.”All theseunits are making ordinary facemasks toN95 respirators to N95 usermanual andcomplete disposable full-cover PPE kits,which are completely sterilised andwith

antimicrobial treatment. Fabrics used inmakingthesekitsensurethattheviruscan-notpenetrate.

“This is the finestmoment forus as theCovid-19pandemicgaveanopportunitytoenter into technical textiles in a bigwayashasbeenadvisedbytheUniongovernment,but also enabling us to earn additionalincomeasweseedemandforPPEkits,maskswill be on the lines of garments aswehaveexportedtoglobalmajorsovertheyears.Ourmemberunits are getting enquiries fromourbuyers(includingbrandssuchasMarks&Spencer) fromtheUS,Europeonsupply-

ingthesemedicalkits.Sincethegovernmenthasbannedexportof thesekitsandmasks,weareunabletotapatthispointoftime.Wehope once exports been allowed,Tirupurunitswillseeorderscomingfromacrosstheglobe,” Shanmugham pointed out. Sincethesekitscanbeusedonlyforafewhours(asthese are disposable in nature),orders forsuchkitswill be inmillions going forward,particularly fromtheoverseasmarkets,headded.

Toaquestion,hesaid:“AllthesePPEsandmaskshavebeenmadeofnon-wovenfabricof different nature — an ordinary non-woven fabric to three-layer fabric to lami-natednon-woven fabric to five-layernon-wovenfabricmaterial,whichisapprovedbythegovernment accreditednational labo-ratoryinTirupurcalled-SouthIndiaTextileResearchAssociation(SITRA),oneofthefourlabsinIndia—allowedtotestthequalityoffabrics used formaking these kits by thegovernment. These kits are certified bySITRA.Moreover,all theseunits havebeengiven permission tomake as PPEs,masksnowcomeunderessentialcommoditieslist.”

Oneof themainchallenge is toprocurethe fabrics,as currently themovement oftransportation is restricted.Departmentslike DRDO, Ordinance Factory shouldensure themgetting fabrics as desired,hesaid.

According toAARajkumar,managing

director,Best Corporation,one of the gar-ment units nowengaged inmaking thesemedical items, said: “We have received amajororderof50,000PPEkits fromapub-licsectorcompany,whichhasbeenaskedbytheuniongovernmenttoprocuresuchkits.Itisforhigh-endmulti-layerPPEkitsandwehavestartedsupplytothem.Inaddition,wehavebeenmakingkitsandmasksofdiffer-entnature toTamilNadugovernment.Weseehugepotential fromtheglobalmarketsaswehave received enquiries fromourUSandEurope customers.We arewaiting forthegovernmenttoallowexportofsuchkits.Itsnotonlyabigopportunityforusbutalsoenable us to get into technical textile seg-mentinabigway.”

SaysTDBharaniDaran,managingdirec-tor,Shaaraa ClothingCompany,“Wehavestartedoffwith50machines andhasnowincreasedto100.Wehavesupplied25,000PPEkitsand400,000masksasofnowsincethedemandforthesamebeguntwoweeksago.Weseedemandforthesekitswillbethatofgarmentsastheworldwillundergo‘newnormal’postCovid-19.Unlikeearlier,everyotherdepartment in thehealthcare sectorwillstartprescribingusageofthesekitsasabasic needgoing forward as fearpsychosiscaughtthepeopleglobally.Thedemandforthese kits couldwell becomeapermanentone,particularly fromthebuyers of theUSandEurope.”

CompaniesFINANCIALEXPRESS4 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

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DAIRYPRODUCTSDEMANDRS Sodhi, MD, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation

Covid-19will not have any impact on demand for foodproducts.Our sales in value terms during thismonth are at parwith thesamemonth last year.The demand for someproducts has comedownbut at the same time sales ofmany products have risen...We expect our turnover to growby 15% (this fiscal year)

FE BUREAUPune, April 21

COMINGOUTSTRONGLYagainstthelock-down,BajajAutoMDandCEORajivBajajtold aTVchannel it did notmake sense toresumeproductionwitharbitraryanddra-conianmeasuresinplace.“Don’tknowwhatthe government is thinking. It has burieditself in ahole.The solutionwasunlockingthe country andnot imposing draconianmeasures,”he said,adding theneed of thehourwastoactsensiblyandlogicallyandnotoutoffear.

Whilethenewguidelinespermitcertainactivities to restart fromApril 20,the autosector is choosingnot to restart operationsas the finishedvehicleswill find it hard toreachmarkets as the dealerships are notopen.Eveninthegreenzones,thesituationis so arbitrary and erratic that people areafraid to open up and there is completechaos,Bajajsaid.Accordingtohim,thecon-ditionsputbythecentralandstategovern-mentsarepreposterous.

If a companystarts operations and if asinglepositivecaseisdetected,thentheunitwill have to cease operations for threemonths.If sucha sword isheldonpeople’sneck,nomanufacturingunitwill openup.BajajAuto had resumed production at itsRudrapurplant but itwas difficult to getpeopleandsuppliestotheplant.Thingsareopaqueanduntil dealership and transportopens there is no point producing, Bajajadded.Ifavaccineistwoyearsaway,immu-nity is the only option.Locking people athome is not necessarily the answer to thiscrisis.“Thisproblemisbeingpropagatedbygovernmentinaction,”saidBajaj.

Attacking the government,Bajaj said,“Weare just lockinguppeople hoping theviruswill disappear,”Bajaj said.The sweep-ing lockdownisnotgoingtobea longtermanswertothemedicalcrisisortheeconomiccrisis,he said.Bajaj saidheknewofcompa-niesthathadstartedwereforcedtoshutandthingswerearbitraryandthegovernment’slefthanddidnotknowwhattherighthandisdoing.

Bajaj said the lockdown was makingthingsworse andhewarned that job losseswerealreadyhappeningatthesupplierendand at dealerships, which accounted for90% of the headcount. “Job losses arealreadysignificantandalreadyaffected.Thegovernmentis justnotacting.It ispretend-ingthattherearenosalarycutsorjoblosses,”Bajaj said.Hedrewattention to actions bygovernments across theglobe tohelppeo-ple and companies.InAustria,the govern-mentwaspaying85%ofKTM’semployeeswages, in theUS everyhouseholdwas get-ting $3,000, Japan was giving citizens$1,000 per person every month, evenIndonesia and Kenya were giving tax

exemption to people,while Indiawas notdoinganythingotherthanthelockdown.

Bajajsaidtheobviousexitstrategywouldbe to allowpracticallyall industries in thegreen andyellowzones to go towork andeven the working population in the redzonesshouldbeallowedtoreturntowork.“Ithinkthereareseveralreasonsthatdemandwould comerushingbackand therewouldbe somestructural changes.InEurope,40-50%higherdemandisexpectedformotor-cycles as a lotmore peoplewant tomoveawayfrompublictransport,”Bajajadded.

Goingforward,Bajajsaidtheywillnotbeaffecting job cuts at Bajaj Auto but theywouldbelookingatsalaryandwagecutsanda spectrum of benefits associated withemployees and wages,which would save`100 crore to `150 crore annually. BajajAuto employees andworkers have alreadyvolunteeredtohavea10%cutforthelock-downperiod fromApril15 toMay3.Othercost reduction planned at Bajaj Autoincludes cuttingmarketingbudget,whichwas at around`200crore aquarter is nowhas been cut to zeronow.“Wehave frozencapexandthatwillremain soforthequarterandrestoftheyear,”Bajajsaid.

On demand prospects, Bajaj saiddemandwas going to come rushing backafter twomonths of suppressed demandandhalf theirmarketswere exports,whichcouldbeginiftheportsopenedup.“Wedon’thave ademandproblem.Wehave a gover-nanceproblem,”hesaid.

Theyoungandhealthyneed togobacktoworkandonlytheoldandvulnerableneedtobesecure,hesaid.Bajajsaidtheonlysolu-tionwas to developherd immunityas thevaccinewastwoyearsaway.

Will continuewithwork from home:HCLTechnologiesITSERVICESmajorHCLTechnologiesonTuesdaysaid itwill continue tooperatewithonlycritical staffbeingpresentonpremises toensure safetyofemployeeamidthenationwidelockdown.Whilehomeministryguidelineshadallowed IT-ITeScompanies tooperatewithupto50%strength fromApril20,manystatesincludingKarnatakaandUttarPradeshhavecontinued impositionof full lockdown.“HCLwill continueits critical operationswithamuchlesserpercentageofworkforce toaidsocialdistancingandensuringasafeworkingenvironment forbusinesscritical employeeswhoneedtobeonsite,”aHCLTechnologiesspokespersontoldPTI.

PE,VC investments inIndiamaydip60%:EYPRIVATEEQUITYandventurecapitalinvestments in Indiamaydeclineupto60%in2020dueto theCovid-19pandemic,according toa reportbyconsulting firmEY.Fund-raisingactivity,which typically influencesfuture investments,hasalsogone“cold”,if onewere to lookatMarch’sdataofprivateequity(PE) andventurecapital (VC) fundshavingraisedonly$85million,EYsaid inastatement.

FitnessfirmFITTRcrosses`100-crgrossrevenueONLINEFITNESScompanyFITTRhascrossed`100crore ingross revenueonthebackof impressivebusinessgrowth inFY2019-2020.Thestart-upachievedanannualisedrevenuerunrateof close to`40croreduring thelatest financialyear,markingastrongyear-on-yeargrowthofnearly30%.

SpiceJet flightcarriessupplies toMyanmar

AMIDTHEcoronavirusoutbreak,SpiceJet said itoperated itsmaidenfreighterflight carryingmedicalsuppliesbetweenDelhi andMyanmaronTuesday.While theaircraft carried“medical supplies”in its first leg,itwill carry“medical equipment”on itsreturn journey,thebudget carriersaidin itspress release.Theairline said italsoconducted itsmaiden“cargo-on-seat international flight”fromMumbai toAbuDhabi,carrying15tonneof fresh fruits andvegetables,onTuesday.

BritishAirways flyingoutUKnationals

BRITISHAIRWAYSonTuesdaysaid itisoperatingspecial flights from11Indianairports tobringbackthousandsofUKnationals strandedin Indiadue to thecoronaviruscrisis.These special flights to theUKstartedonApril13andwouldendonApril27.

Huawei IndiaappointsDavidLiasCEO

HUAWEITELECOMMUNICATIONSIndiaonTuesdaysaid ithasappointedDavidLi as itsCEO.Hereplaces JayChen,whohasbeenpromoted tohandleAsiaPacific levelbusiness role.Li joinedHuawei in2002andhasexperienceofworkingin the Indiamarket,including in roleslikevice-president salesandvicepresidentHRduringdifferentphasesofhis career.HewasservingasCEOofHuaweiCambodiabefore returning toIndia to takeonhisnewrole.“I amveryexcited tobegiven theopportunityto leadHuaweiTelecommunications in India,”Li saidinastatement.

Kiaannouncesmeasurestosupport itsdealersKIAMOTORSIndiaonTuesdayannouncedsupportmeasures for itsdealers.These includesupportoninventory,reversalof inventoryfundingamount,warrantyandNVIclaimsandextendedwarrantypayments.

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View Sweeping lockdownwon’t belong-termanswer: RajivBajaj

The cluster’s units see orders

pouring in from the US and Europe

once they are back to normal after

the Covid-19 crisis

FE BUREAUMumbai, April 21

S&PGLOBALRATINGS onMonday low-ered its long-term and short-term issuercredit ratings onHero FinCorp to ‘BB+/B’from‘BBB-/A-3’.

Thedowngradewasbecause the ratingagencybelievesthatthefinanciallystrongerparentHeroMotoCorp’s ability to supporttheratingonHeroFinCorphasdiminished,thoughitswillingnessremainsunchanged.

Data fromCapitaline showstandaloneloan funds of Hero FinCorp stood at`16,322.87croreasonFY19.

Hero FinCorp is an India-based non-banking financial companies (NBFC) andoutlook on the long-term rating is stable,S&Psaid.

“HeroMotoCorp’sautomotivesalesandrevenueshavedeclinedbecauseofnegativemacroeconomic factors over the past 12months. We expect the decline and thetough operating conditions to continueoverthenextfewquartersgiventheimpactof theCovid-19outbreak.We expectHeroFinCorp’sbusinesstoremainreliantonthebrand,reputation,andcustomerbaseofthewider HeroMotoCorp group,” the ratingagencysaidinapressrelease.

On a standalone basis, S&P Globalexpects Hero FinCorp to face increasingrisks from challenging operating condi-tionsstemmingfromthenovelcoronavirusoutbreak.“If economic risks sufficientlyincrease across India's banking and finan-cialsystem,wemaylowerthestartingpointfor finance company ratings.ThiswouldweighonHeroFinCorp'sstand-alonecred-itworthiness, although group support

wouldoffsetthedeterioration,”itsaid.Last week,Moody’s Investors Service

had taken rating actions on three IndianNBFCs — Hero FinCorp, India InfolineFinance andMuthoot Finance.Accordingto the rating agency, the Indian NBFCindustryhas been affected,given disrup-tions to India’seconomicactivityfromtheCovid-19 pandemic, which will weakenthese companies’credit profiles.Moody’shadplacedHeroFinCorp’slocalandforeigncurrencyBaa3 issuer rating under reviewfordowngrade.

According to S&P, the stable outlookreflectsitsviewthatHeroFinCorpislikelytoremain strategically important and sup-portedbythestrongergroup.“WenotethatHeroFinCorpisnotimmunetoheightenedeconomic risks affecting India's financialsystemoverthenext12-18months,buttheeffectsofadeteriorationintheseconditionswould be offset by group support,” theagencysaid.

S&Pdowngrades HeroFinCorp over parent’sability to support rating

Covid-hitTirupurgarments cluster sees opportunity in PPEs,masks

BajajAutoMD andCEORajiv Bajaj

ASMITADEYNewDelhi, April 21

AS BOLLYWOOD STARES at big losses,small-budget filmswhose release in the-atres has been delayed by the lockdowncouldsoonbereleasedonvideostreamingplatforms.

Over-the-top (OTT) companies areexpectedtoonlywelcomethemovebytheproducers,asshootingfortheirownserieshave stopped and so they are unable tooffer new content.MX Playe CEO KaranBeditoldFEthatdiscussionswithproduc-tion houses on acquiring unreleasedmovies are on. Ferzad Palia, head-VootSelect, Viacom18, said a considerablenumber of small films have the potentialforadigitalpremiere,thoughitwouldbeachallenge for big-ticket movies as theydependmainlyonbox-office collections.

Shemaroo Entertainment CEOHirenGada said the company is looking to

streamfilms that couldnotmake it to thetheatres due to the lockdown.Makers ofsmall-budgetmovies are quite keen on adirect-to-digital premiere in the currentenvironment,Gadasaid.

Neeraj Roy, founder and CEO atHungamaDigitalMedia,saidthecompanyis lookingatall content formats includingbringingunreleasedfilmson itsplatform.To retainviewers’ interest,Hungama Playis continuing to releasenewmovies,shortfilmsandshort-formatcontent.

OTT is a good alternative for smallmovies as it will fetchmore, say experts,although the revenue structure varies.Netflixtypicallyacquiresamovieforthreeyears and makes the payment in 12monthly instalments.Others pay25%ofthe agreed amount when the deal issigned,50%oncethecontent isdeliveredand the rest before the content isstreamed,saysAtulMohan,editoratCom-pleteCinema.

Mohansaysonanaverage,twotothreesmall-sizedmovies (made on a budget of`3-5 crore, are released in theatres everyweekwhileabout threemid-budget filmscosting anywhere `15-20 crore arereleasedeverymonth.

FilmexpertKomalNahtaestimatesthefilm industry (Hindi) to have lost close to`1,500 crore in revenues in the last onemonth; of this, revenue loss from boxoffice collections would be anywherebetween `600 crore and `700 crore.Theholdingcostofamoviecanrunintocrores,saysNahta.

For instance, Akshay Kumar-starrerSooryavanshi has beenmade on a budgetof nearly `200 crore.“Amonth’s intereston `200 crore would be phenomenal,”Nahta adds. Bollywood’s revenues frombox-office collections stood over `4,000crorein2019withjust170releases.That’sway more than the pickings of some`3,300crore in2018from180releases.

Lockdown:Video-streamingplatformsmaybail out small-budget films

■OTTcompanies in discussionwith production houses to getunreleasedmovies on theplatforms

■Makers of small-ticket movieskeen on direct-to-digitalpremiere as uncertainty loomsover opening of theatres

■ Bollywoodestimated to havelost nearly `1,500 crore in revenuein last onemonth: Experts

■Of the `1,500 crore, revenuelost from box-office collectionswould total `600-700 crore

■On an average, 2-3 small-sizedmovies released in theatreseveryweek; OTT launch to fetchthemmore pay

●COVID CRISIS

Onastandalonebasis, S&PGlobal

expectsHeroFinCorp to face

increasing risks fromchallenging

operatingconditions stemming from

thenovel coronavirusoutbreak

FE BUREAUMumbai, April 21

THE IMPACT OF the coronavirus pan-demicwas visible inACC’s financial per-formance in theMarchquarter.The com-pany’s consolidated net profit for thequarter endedMarch 31,2020 declined6.6% on a year-on-year basis to `323crore,whilethenetsalesfortheperiodfellnearly 11%y-o-y to `3,433 crore on thebackofa steep fall involumes.

The company’s cement volumes dur-ing the threemonthsof JanuarytoMarchcame in at 6.56 million tonne, a sharpdecline of 12%onay-o-ybasis,while the

readymixconcretevolumesremainedflatat 0.93 million tonne, as the pandemicimpacted thesalesvolumeforMarch.

However,until February, cement andreadymixconcretevolumebenefitedfromhealthygrowth.Growthsupportedbysig-nificant focus on premium products,increase invalue-addedsolutions inreadymix business,and cost-reduction exerciseinmanufacturingandlogisticsaidedoper-ating income in the quarter. Input cost ofrawmaterialswereloweronaccountofbet-termaterial sourcemix optimisation andsupplychainefficiencies.

Consequently,company’sEbitda(earn-ingsbefore interest,tax,depreciationand

amortisation) for the first quarterincreased10%y-o-yto`586crore.

The company said that value-addedsolutions (VAS) grew significantly duringthe quarter in ready mix concrete. Twonewplantswerecommissionedduringthequarterbringingthetotalnumberofreadymixconcreteplants to92.

Intermsofoutlook,SridharBalakrish-nan,managing director&CEO,ACC,said,“Webelievethatwithhigherprobabilityofnormal monsoon, growth in rural econ-omywill reviveandstaystrong.Weexpectcement demand to increase in themedium term once the pandemic sub-sidesandbusinessoperationscommence”.

ACC’s consolidatednet profit forMarchquarterdeclines 6.6%

The company’s cementvolumes

during January-March came in at 6.56

million tonne, a decline of 12%y-o-y

Swiggytodownsizepvt brand kitchens;move could hit900 employeesPRESSTRUSTOF INDIANewDelhi, April 21

FOODORDERINGANDdeliveryplatformSwiggyisplanning todownsizeoperationsof its private brand kitchens due to theCovid-19 pandemic,which could impactaround 900 employees, according tosources.As per the sources in knowof thematter, around 900 employeeswould beaffectedbythedecisionofthecompany.

The company,however,refrained fromsharing any details about the number ofemployeeslikelytobeimpacted.

“AsCOVID-19disrupts daily life acrossthe country, the hospitality industry hascome under severe pressure.As the lock-downgetsfurtherextended,weareevaluat-ing various means to stay nimble andfocusedongrowthandprofitabilityacrossour private brand kitchens,” a Swiggyspokespersonsaidinastatement.

These include renegotiating contractswith landlords, relocation of certainkitchenstomoreoptimallocationsanddis-continuingoperationsatafewkitchensthathavebeenseverelyimpactedsincethelock-downcameintoeffect,itadded.

“Thiswillunfortunatelyhaveanimpactonacertainnumberofkitchenstaffwhowillbe fully supportedduring this transition,”thestatementsaid.

Other stepsbeingevaluated include

renegotiatingcontractswith landlords

and relocationofcertainkitchens

BUSTING CORONAMYTHS

FBworkingwith8 third-party fact-checkers to flagmisinformation

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Stock rises to 10-monthhigh after USFDAgrantsVAI classification for itsHyderabad unit

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Aurobindo Pharma

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340

328.25

346.3

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Shares decline on $100-mexposure to troubledSingaporean oil traderHin Leong

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Stock hits upper circuitas billionaire investorJhunjhunwala hikesstake in the company

4.56%

Jubilant Life Sciences

'More than half ofIndian cos expectmoderate impact'ABOUT57%OForganisationsinIndiaexpectamoderatetolargenegativeimpactontheirbusinessesinthenextsixmonthswhile46%expecttheeffectsofCovid-19pandemictolastover12months,accordingtoasurveybyglobaladvisoryfirmWillisTowersWatson.Thesurveyfurthersaid83%organisationsplantoreviewtheirwork-from-homepolicy.

RECreachesout to76kinlockdownwithfood

STATE-RUNREChasreachedouttoover76,000peoplewithfoodandrationduringthelockdowntocontainCovid-19,statedapowerministrystatement.TheREChastiedupwithDelhiPolicetoprovide500foodpacketsondailybasis,itsaid.Concer-nedovertheirplight,theRECFound-ation,theCSRarmofREC,isdistribut-ingcookedfood,ration,utilitypackets,masks,sanitisersandevenprovidingshelterduringthelockdown,itnoted.

Panchshil,ForceMotorstodonate15kPPEkits

PANCHSHILREALTYONTuesdaysaiditsCSRarmhas tiedupwithForceMotors todistribute15,000personalprotectiveequipment (PPE)kits tohospitals engaged in treatingcoronaviruspatients inPune.Panchshil FoundationhaspartneredwithForceMotors toprovidevitalPPEkits tohospitalshandlingCovid-19patients inPune.

DaimlerIndiaextendswarrantysupport

INTHELIGHTof thenationwidelockdown,DaimlerIndiaCommercialVehicles (DICV)hasannounceda two-monthextension forwarrantiesandextendedwarrantyrepairs.Bharat-Benzvehicleswithwarranty/-extendedwarrantycontracts endingbetweenMarch15,2020,andMay15,2020,orhaving theirnext servicescheduleduring thisperiod,nowhaveanextra twomonths leeway.Thiswill alsobeofgreatbenefit tocustomerswithvehicles lying idleduring the lockdown.

Quick

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● FINANCIALWOES

PRESS TRUSTOF INDIAMumbai, April 21

THE COUNTRY'S LARGEST airlineIndiGo is working with aircraft lessorsfordeferring lease rentalpaymentsbyatleast six months, a source said on Tues-day as suspension of flight services isadversely impacting its financial posi-tion.

IndiGo has 259 planes in its fleetcomprising A320s, A320Neos, A321sandATRs.

Airlines are grappling with acutefinancial woes as commercial servicesremain suspended in the wake of thenationwide lockdown to curb spreadingof coronavirus infections.

Against thisbackdrop,thesourcesaidIndiGowas looking to defer payment ofaircraft lease rentals to lessors.

The Gurugram-based carrier largelyfinances its aircraft through sale-and-lease back mode. Under this arrange-ment, an aircraft is sold and then takenbackon leasebyanairline.Generally,thearrangement helps in reducingmainte-nance costs related to an aircraft.

“IndiGo has been seeking to deferpayment of aircraft lease rentals by atleast six months. It is working towardsthiswith its lessors,”the source toldPTI.

When contacted, an airlinespokesperson said,“we don’t comment

on speculation.”According to IndiGo’s December

quarter earnings presentation, the netoutgo towardsaircraft andengine rentalpayments during the three monthsstood at `134.30 crore.

Lease rentals and maintenanceexpenses, among others, are part of anairline’s fixedcosts.Thesecostsaccumu-late irrespective of whether flights areoperating ornot.

At theendofDecember2019,IndiGohad a total of 257 planes.

On March 26, aviation consultancyCentre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA)estimated $3-3.6 billion losses for theIndian aviation industry in the firstquarterof this fiscal.CAPA’s report cameadayafterthenationwide lockdownwasimplemented.The lockdown,whichwasto initially end on April 14, has beenextended tillMay3.

Commercial flight services remainsuspended sinceMarch25andonlycer-tain flight operations, including thosefor ferrying cargo,are allowed.

PRESSTRUSTOF INDIANewDelhi,April 21

FMCGMAJORS HUL andNestle India onTuesday said all of their manufacturingplants have resumed operations but areunabletoutilisefullcapacitiesduetorestric-tions on themovementofworkers by localauthoritiesinvariousstatesandlesserstaffdeploymentatfactories.

Boththecompaniessaidtheyarework-ingwithlocalauthoritiesandthestategov-ernments to ease the restrictions so thatplantscanoperateinfullcapacity.

“Most of our factories,manyof ourdis-tribution centres andmajorityof our sup-pliers are operating,but in general,not attheirfullcapacity,”aHULspokespersontoldPTIwhenasked about the status of opera-tionsatthecompany’splants.

Explainingwhytheplants arenot fullyfunctioning, the spokesperson said, “Wecontinuetofacelocalorstaterestrictionsinthemovementofourpeoplewhoarework-ingintheessentialgoodssupplychain.”

“We continue to work with local andstate government authorities to get ouroperations towards the required capacitythat thepeople inourcountryexpect fromus.”Nestle India,whichmanufacturespop-ular instantnoodlesMaggi,Nescafecoffee,Cereal infant cereal andKitKat chocolate,alsosaiditsplantshavebecomeoperationalbutatascaleddownlevelduetorestrictionsimposedbylocalauthoritiesandstategov-ernments.

The companysaid it had received per-mission tooperate all units alongwithdis-tribution centre,warehouse and suppliers,butallwereonscaleddownoperations.

“The scaleddownoperations atvariouslocations are essentially on account ofapplicable socialdistancingnormsandthelesserdeploymentofpeople.

“Thescalingup,scalingdownorsuspen-sion of operations at various locations isdependenton thedirectionsof theCentraland StateGovernments and authorities,”NestleIndiasaidinaregulatoryfiling.

Nestle India said it is,“closelymonitor-ingthesituationandwill takeallnecessarymeasures as directed by the Central andStateGovernments and authorities, fromtimetotime.”However,thecompanysaiditcan not access the impact of coronaviruspandemic and the lockdownon the com-panyatthistime.

Nestle India,a subsidiaryofNESTLESAof Switzerland,operates eight factories inIndia.

HULsaid to optimise its availablemanpowerresources,ithasshiftedtolargerordersizesanddirectshippingfromfactoriesbutthatisnotsufficienttomeetdemand.

HUL,Nestle India sayplants operating atreduced capacity

SALE-AND-LEASEBACKMODE■ IndiGo has 259 planes in its fleetcomprisingA320s,A320Neos,A321s andATRs

■ TheGurugram-based carrierlargely finances its aircraft throughsale-and-lease backmode

■Under this arrangement, anaircraft is sold and then taken backon lease by an airline

■Generally, the arrangement helpsin reducingmaintenance costsrelated to an aircraft

■According to IndiGo’s Decemberquarter earnings presentation, thenet outgo towards aircraft andengine rental payments during thethreemonths stood at`134.30 crore

PRESSTRUSTOF INDIANewDelhi,April 21

FACEBOOKISWORKINGwitheightinde-pendentthird-partyfact-checkingentities,covering 11 Indian languages, to identifymisinformationaroundCovid-19,itsIndiamanagingdirectorAjitMohansaid.

Besides, the socialmedia giant is alsoimparting training to local governmentsand emergency health organisations ondesigningimpactfulhealthcampaignsandaccuratemessagingwith special focus oncoronavirus.

“We are deeply committed to being anallyforIndiaasthecountryfightstheCoro-navirusoutbreakandaddressesextraordi-narychallengesonboththehealthcareandeconomicfronts,”Mohansaidinablogpost.

Headded that thecompanyis focussedonconnectingpeopletoaccurateinforma-

tionfromhealthexperts,curbmisinforma-tion and support local communities andbusinesses.

“Wehaveeightindependentthird-partyfact-checkingpartnerscovering11Indianlanguages aswell as English.OnFacebookand Instagram,we reduce thedistributionofcontentthatthesepartnerslabelasfalse,”hesaid.

Mohan added that if users still see thiscontent appear on their news feed, itattachesalabelwarningofmisinformationalongwithalinktoafact-checkedarticle.

Facebookisalsoenablinggreatercollab-orationbetweenits fact-checkersandoffi-cial state andnational governments in itsefforts tonotifythepublic ofmisinforma-tion.

Internet companies like Facebook,Google and ShareChat have stepped upeffortstotacklethespreadofrumoursand

fakenewsontheirplatformsamidthecoro-navirus pandemic that has seen cases riseto almost 19,000 and claimed over 600lives inthecountry.

Mohan said Facebook’s teams are alsoimparting training to local governmentsandemergencyhealthorganisations,giventheincreasingneedtogettimelyandaccu-rate informationtolocalcommunities.

“WehavesofartrainedtheUnionHealthMinistry,stateunitsoftheNationalHealthMission, State Governments of Kerala,Delhi,Karnataka,Telangana,Maharashtra,Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab andOdisha,”hesaid.

Mohan added that the company wasalsomakingeffortstoensuresomeofthesestates used the power of the platform toamplifytheirefforts throughadcredits,aswell as strategicmarketing support for ascaledcoronavirusresponse.

It has also banned advertisements andcommerce listings formasks,hand sani-tiser,surfacedisinfectingwipesandcoron-avirus testing kits in order to help protectagainst inflated prices and predatorybehaviour.

“Andifweseepeoplesellingtheseprod-ucts inorganicpostsonFacebookorInsta-gram, we remove them. We have alsobanned ads and commerce listings thatimplya product guarantees a cure orpre-vents people fromcontracting the Coron-avirus,”Mohansaid.

InIndia,thecompanyisrunningacoro-navirus information centre on FacebookandaWhatsAppCoronavirus InformationHub.

WhatsApp also has partnershipswiththe Centre and state governments,whileMessengerhas a partnershipwithMyGovIndiaandthehealthministry.

In India, the company is running a

coronavirus information centre on

Facebook and aWhatsApp

Coronavirus Information Hub

Nestle India says it has received

permission to operate all units

alongwith distribution centre,

warehouse and suppliers, but all are

on scaled-down operations

PRESSTRUSTOF INDIANewDelhi, April 21

GCMMF,WHICH MARKETS dairy prod-ucts under Amul brand, expects itsturnovertogrow15%thisfiscalyearfrom`38,550crore inFY2019-20despiteeco-nomic slowdown caused by the nation-widelockdowntocontrolcoronavirusout-break.

The household consumption of milkandotherdairyproductsisexpectedtoriseandwillcompensateanytemporarylossofsales caused by closure of hotels, restau-rants and cafeterias (HoReCA segment)duringtheongoinglockdownperiod,saidRSSodhi,MDofGujaratCooperativeMilkMarketingFederation (GCMMF).

“Covid-19will nothaveanyimpactondemandof the foodproducts.Oursales invalue terms during thismonth are at parwith the same month last year. Thedemandofsomeproductshascomedownbut at the same time sales ofmanyprod-uctshaverisen,”SodhitoldPTI inaninter-view.Asked about the outlook for this fis-cal year,he said: “We expect our turnoverto grow by 15%.”GCMMF clocked 17%growth in its turnover at `38,550 crore

duringtheFY2019-20.Onthecurrentsit-uation of its milk operation, Sodhi said,“Graduallythingsare settlingdown.”

Regardingsales,hesaidthedemandforfreshmilk had declined by 8% as hotelsand restaurants are closed.“HoReCa seg-ment contributes 12-15% of the totaldemand.But,fall is lessashouseholdcon-

sumption of freshmilk and buttermilkhas increased.”

Sodhi noted that sales of butter, ghee,paneer,cheeseandmilkpowderhavegoneup in the range of 20-35% as people areconsumingmore.However,hepointedoutthe demand of ice-cream has fallensharply by85%,while sales of cream and

mozzarella cheese are down by70% and50%,respectively.

Sodhi said the company has divertedtheidlesupplychainofice-creamintodis-tribution of other dairy products. “Ourmilk procurement from farmers hasincreasedby15%asunorganisedplayersarenotbuying,”hesaid.

The surplusmilk is beingprocessed tomanufacture skimmed milk powder(SMP),whose price has crashed to `250per kg from `320 before lockdown, hesaid.

“Ourcapital isgettingblockedbecauseof highermilk procurement.Butweneedto support farmers during this period,”Sodhisaid.TheGCMMFhasnotincreasedordecreased themilk procurement rates,he said,but added that prices have fallenby `7-10 per litre across various states.Sodhi said the fall in procurement rate ismore in states like Uttar Pradeshwheretherearenocooperativesinthedairybusi-ness.Amulsells140lakhlitremilkperdaymainly in Gujarat, Delhi-NCR, UttarPradesh.

Its dairy products are sold across thecountry. It hasmilk processing plants inmanystates.

Amul eyes 15%growth in turnover this fiscaldespite Covid-19, from over `38k cr in FY20

Amul sells 140 lakh litremilk per daymainly in Gujarat, Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh

BAIJU KALESH &ANTOANTONYMumbai, April 21

CARLYLE GROUP HAS kicked off itssearch for a newseniormanager in India,wheretheprivateequityfirmhasinvestedabout $2.5 billion, according to peoplefamiliarwith thematter.

Thebuyoutfirmisworkingwithhead-hunting company Egon Zehnder to lookfor a newmanaging directorwho couldlead or co-lead its business in India, thepeople said.VikramNirula,who joined in2018 asmanaging director,will soon beleavingthecompany,saidthepeople,whoaskednot tobe identified as the informa-tion isprivate.

ArepresentativeforCarlyledeclinedtocomment,whileNirula and a representa-tive forEgonZehnderdidn’t immediatelyrespondto requests forcomment.

Carlyle, which opened its Mumbaioffice in 2005,made its first investmentin India a year later and has since backed22 local companies,according to itsweb-site.MetropolisHealthcare,PNBHousingFinanceandSBILifeInsuranceareamongcompanies that it is still invested in.Lastmonth,theprivateequityfirmsolda10%stake in SBI Cards & Payment Servicesthrough an initial public offering.Carlylestill holds 16% in the country’s second-largest card issuer.

Nirula and Neeraj Bharadwaj are Car-lyle’s two managing directors in India.Bharadwaj joined the firm in 2012 afterworking atAccel Partners andApax Part-ners.Nirula spent 18 years at True NorthManagers,a local private equity firmthathehelpedfound,beforehetookupthejobatCarlyle in2018. —BLOOMBERG

FE BUREAUAhmedabad,Aril 21

INDIA’SLARGESTCERAMICindustryclus-ter,situated in and aroundMorbi town inthewesternpartofGujarat,wouldn’tbeableto start operations for at least a couple ofmonths following severeworking capitalcrunchandotherissues,evenafteravailingpermission from the state government tostartmanufacturingactivities.

“Nearly900units inandaroundMorbitownareclosedevenbeforetheannounce-ment of first phase of lockdown.Nowthegovernmentisencouragingustostartpro-duction.Butmostof theseunits are facingscarcity ofworking capital as more than`1,200 crore have been stuck sincemid-March.Wedon’t seeanypossibilityofpay-ment fromdifferent stakeholders in nearfuture even if lockdownwould be lifted,”says Nilesh Jetparia, president of MorbiCeramicAssociation,adding that in suchcritical situation, the industry wouldrequiresomesortofpackagefrombankstoaddresstheissue.

Moreover, there has been no demand

fromdomesticaswellasinternationalmar-ketsandhenceitwouldtakeatleastcoupleofmonths tostartproduction,hesays.Theceramic industryofMorbi and elsewherewillhavetowaitfortherevivalofreal-estatesector and only after that some demandwouldbegenerated,headded.

Many export-oriented units inMorbihadproducedtilesandothersanitaryitems

aftertheyreceivedexportorders,butduetoCovid-19outbreaktheyarenotabletosup-plygoodswhichhave alreadybeenmanu-factured for shipments in different coun-tries, says Dinesh Sadsania, a leadingexporter in Morbi. Nobody knows whenthese expensive products speciallymanu-factured for export markets would beshippedtodifferentcountries,helamented.

Nearly 25% to 30% of the Morbiceramic cluster’s total production is beingexported to over170 countries across theworld.Ofthetotalexport,nearly35-40%isbeing exported toMiddle-East countries.According to Sadsadia,due to holymonthofRamzan,marketsinMuslim-dominatedcountrieswould remain close tillMay25,2020. Against the annual turnover ofaround`45,000 crore, the cluster’s valuewise exports stands at approximately`13,000crores.

“Indomesticmarketceramicunitsgiveup to fivemonths credit to dealers.Hugeamount ofMorbi based units stuckwithdealers.Looking toyears of business rela-tions, we can’t pressurise dealers to paymoney instantly as they are also facingfinancial crunch in current situation,”headded.Sourcesintheindustryalsoforesee-ingissuesrelatedtotransportationsaswellasmigrantlabourerswhohavegonetotheirhome-statefollowinglockdown.

Owners of ceramic units are givingration to thoseworkers and their familieswhodecidednot to return to theirnativesandinsteadpreferredtostayatMorbi.

Working capital crunch hits Gujarat ceramic cluster

Carlyle ropes inhead-huntingfirm to find newMD for India

The private equity firm has investedabout $2.5 billion in India

IndiGofordeferringaircraftlease rentalsbysixmonths

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

FINANCIALEXPRESS6 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM

❝ ❝

DOMESTICHARMONYUnionminority affairs minister MukhtarAbbas Naqvi

India is heaven forMuslims; their social, economic and

religious rights are secure...Thosepeople trying to

vitiate this atmosphereofprosperity, they

cannotbe friendsof IndianMuslims

DECLINING CORON-AVIRUS INFECTIONrates,and plans to begineasing lockdown mea-sures insomepartsofthe

developedworldhaveprovideda rayofhopeafterweeksofunrelentinggloom.But,formanydevelopingcountries,thecrisismaybarely have begun,and thehuman toll of a major Covid-19 out-break would be orders of magnitudelarger than in anyadvanced economy.With theUnited States having recentlyrecordedmore than 2,000 deaths in asingleday,thisisnotrivialnumber.Iftheinternational community doesn’t actnow,theresultscouldbecatastrophic.

Sub-Saharan Africa is a case inpoint. Several countries there wouldfacesignificantchallengesinenforcingsocial-distancingrules,andothermea-sures to flatten the contagion curve.The region’s already-weak healthcaresystems could thus quickly becomeoverwhelmed by an outbreak, espe-cially inahigh-densityarea.

Africa has long suffered from asevere shortageofhealthcareworkers,withonly2.2workersper1,000people(compared to 14 per 1,000 in Europe)in 2013. And, few African countrieshave ameaningful supply of ventila-tors, a crucial tool for treating seriouscases of Covid-19.Nigeria is reportedto have fewer than 500 in total,whiletheCentralAfricanRepublicmayhavenomore thanthree.

Moreover, Sub-Saharan Africangovernments have little fiscal andmonetaryspace (oroperational capac-ity)tofollowtheadvancedcountriesincounteringthemassiveimpactofcon-tainment measures on employmentand livelihoods. Spillovers fromAsia,Europe, and the US—includingdepressedcommodityrevenues(duetodeclining demand and prices), risingimport costs, a collapse in tourism,reducedavailabilityofbasicgoods,lackof foreign direct investment, and asharp reversal in portfolio financialflows—havealreadyexacerbatedtheseconstraints. For thosewho had access

tointernationalcapitalmarkets,termshavebecomenotablymoreonerous.

While Sub-Saharan Africa is notwithout some defences—includingstrong family networks and culturalresilience, as well as lessons learnedfrom the Ebola crisis—there is a realrisk that this Covid-19 shock wouldlockit inaracebetweendeadlyhungerand deadly infections. Some states,already rendered fragile bydecades ofweak political leadership or corruptauthoritarianism,mayevenfail,whichcould fuel violent unrest, and createfertilegroundforextremistgroups.

Therisksarenot limitedtotheshortterm.Countries are also vulnerable tomajorfutureproductivitylosses,viabothlabourandcapital.Prolongedschoolclo-suresandjoblessnesscouldcontributetoincreases indomesticviolence,teenagepregnancies,and childmarriage,espe-cially in countries that lack basic infra-structureforremoteschooling.

Simplyput,Sub-SaharanAfricamaybeabouttoconfrontahumantragedysoprofoundthatitcouldleaveagenerationadrift in some countries,with conse-quences that extend far beyond theregion’sborders.Twoexamplesperfectlyillustratethemultifacetedspilloverrisks.

First, by drastically reducingAfricans’currentandfutureeconomicprospects, the Covid-19 crisis couldeventually fuel evenmoremigrationthan current forecasts anticipate.Sec-ond,bytriggeringaseriesofcorporate-andsovereign-debtdefaults,anuncon-trolledCovid-19outbreak could exac-erbatethefinancial-marketinstabilitythat the US Federal Reserve and theEuropean Central Bank have takensuch strong action to repress. This

increases the chances of reverse-cont-amination fromthe financial sectortothe real economy.

Thescaleof the threat isnot lostonthe International Monetary Fund,which,through an enormous ongoingeffort,hasmovedquicklyandboldlytoincrease emergency funding. Morethan 90 developingcountries have alreadyapproached the IMF forfinancial assistance.Togetherwith theWorldBank, the Fund has alsocalledforofficialbilateralcreditors, includingChina,whichhasbecomeamajorcreditorinrecentyears, to suspend debtpayments by the poorestdeveloping countries.Leadingthewayheretoo,the IMF is providingimmediatedebtrelieffor25 of its low-incomemembercountries,usinggrant resources to covertheirmultilateraldebt-servicingoblig-ations forsixmonths.

Meanwhile, some countries, suchas China, have offered large in-kindmedical donations (what less charita-ble observers have described as“face-maskdiplomacy”).

But,to staveoff disaster invulnera-ble regions, the international commu-nity must do a lot more. Advancedeconomies, in particular, should sup-plementthehomebiasthathas(under-standably) characterised theirresponses so farwith a broader assess-ment of the global effects, includingspilloversto,andspillbacksfromAfrica.

They should expand official fundingassistance,facilitatebroaderdebtrelief,andurgentlyestablishaninternationalsolidarityfundthatothercountriesandtheprivatesectorcould join.

Furthermore,developed countriesshould domore to share best practicesfor containment andmitigationof thepandemic.Tofacilitatethisprocess,theWorldHealthOrganizationneedstodoabetterjobofcentralising,anddissem-inatingrelevantinformation.Advancedeconomies’ leadership,one hopes,willsoon extend to the universal deploy-ment ofmore effectivemedical treat-ments,orevenavaccine.

Finally,theinternationalcommunitymustdoa lotmore to crowd inprivate-

sectorresources.Muchasitdidinthedevelopedcoun-tries,theprivatesectorcanplayan important role inthe crisis response invul-nerable regions, bothdirectly,and throughpro-liferating public-privatepartnerships.While phar-maceutical and tech com-panieswill do a lot of theheavylifting,privatecred-itors canhelp byworkingonorderlyways to reducethe immediate debt bur-den on more challengeddevelopingcountries.

But, again, this willrequiregreateremphasis

on enabling mechanisms. A biggershift inmindset on the part ofmulti-lateral lendersandotherinternationalbodies (includingtheWorldBank)willbeneeded.

The Covid-19 pandemic threatenstodevastatelargepartsofthedevelop-ingworld.Onlywithaconcerted,coop-erative, and holistic approach can theinternational community avoid alarge-scale humanitarian tragedy—and protect the rest of theworld fromdestabilisingblowback.

Copyright:ProjectSyndicate,2020.www.project-syndicate.org

●CRISIS MANAGEMENTTHECORONA-CRISISCOULDFUELMOREMIGRATIONFROMLOW-INCOMEDEVELOPINGCOUNTRIES

THANCURRENTFORECASTSPREDICT,ANDEXACERBATEFINANCIAL-MARKETINSTABILITY

MOHAMEDA EL-ERIANChief EconomicAdvisor,Allianz

Viewsare personal

Saving the developingworld fromCovid-19

Developedcountries shouldnot only share best

practices forcontainment andmitigation of thepandemic but alsouniversally deployeffective medicaltreatments, or even

a vaccine

Letmigrantworkers go home

Clusterswill allow easier pooled testing;with diligent testingand quarantining, chances of spread can beminimised

Central teamsagood idea

MoonRAKERThe US should not have rushed toward declaring privateinterest in space exploration. It sets a dangerous precedent

THE EXTENDED LOCKDOWN,while desirable from the point of viewofIndiatryingtoflattenthecurveofCovid19-transmissionsothatitshealth-caresystemisnotoverwhelmed,hasunderscoredjusthowvulnerablemil-lionsofmigrant,unorganisedsectorworkersinthecountrycontinuetobe.

If itwas themigrants’homewardmarch overhundreds of kilometres thatmarkedthe first phase of the lockdown,thevisuals of thousands ofmigrants protesting infrontoftherailwaystationinBandra,Mumbai,despitelathichargebythepolice,markitsextension.Theplightofthemigrants,intheshortrun,mustbetreatedasahuman-itarian crisis needing urgent attention.To be sure,states did tryearlyon to relievethemofthepainbroughtaboutbythelockdowndecision—eventhistemporaryces-sationofwageflowimpactstheirandtheirfamilies’survival.TheDelhigovernment,andsomeNGOsstartedproviding fooddailyathomeless shelterswhileMaharash-tra,armedwitharosterofnearly30,000migrantworkersstrandedinMumbai,cre-atedtemporarysheltersthatalsoprovidedfood.WhiletheSupremeCourthasorderedadequatemedicalfacilitiesapartfromfood,drinkingwater,andsanitationtobepro-videdatreliefcampsformigrants,andtheCentrehasdirectedallstatesandunionter-ritories to take suchwelfaremeasures,there ismanya slip twixt intent and imple-mentation.There have been reports fromDelhi-NCR,Surat,Mumbai, etc,of thenecessaryreliefeitherbeinginshortsupplyornotavailableatall.Addtothisthefactthatsocialdistancingandadvisedhygienemeasureswouldbepracticallyimpossibletofollowincamps,significantlyraisingtransmissionrisk,citiesseeinghighmigrantlabourinflowaretickingCovid-19time-bombs.

Against such a backdrop,states like Rajasthan have urged the Centre to allowmigrantstotravelbacktotheirvillages—indeed,asFEhasreported,Maharashtrahasallowed1.3lakhsugarcaneworkerstoreturntotheirnativevillageswithinthestate—withthehopethatoncethetransmissioncurveisreasonablyflattened,themigrantscanreturntowork inthecities.Thatcouldbeasolutionworthexploring,butonlyifthereisastrategytoensurerigoroustesting,quarantining,andsocialdistancingdur-ingtravel.Whiletestingmaynotproveapanaceaatthepopulationlevel,orevenatavery large scale—as argued byeminent public health expertDrKSrinathReddy inthesepages (bit.ly/2Vrqo9O)—the fact is,pooled testing inaclustercouldbeused toidentifyinfectionorexposure.Itwouldbeeasiertodealwiththeproblemoffalsepos-itives(associatedwithahighsensitivitytestlikeRTPCR),orfalsenegatives(associatedwiththerapidantibodytests)inclustersofmigrantworkersgiventheabsolutenum-berswill be low.Thosewho testpositive can thenbequarantined in the cityof theirwork,while the rest are allowed to travel back to their states;withmost states nowinsistingonquarantiningallwhoarrivefromotherstates,anycasemissedearliercanalso be identified.Alternatively,amandatoryquarantiningnear the arrival stationcouldbeorderedtocheckforanyinfectionthatwasmissedearlier.Given incidencein rural areas,ashasbeen reportedbystates,hasbeenabsent toquite low,there is aneedtoensurethaturbantoruraltransmissiondoesn’ttakeplace.But,giventheCen-tre,asperanApril19notification,deemsit fit toallowmigrantworkers to travel forworkwithinthestatetheymigratedto,itishardtoseewhy,withduetestingandquar-antiningdiligence,theycan’tbeallowedtogobackhome.

THEUSCANeasilyclaimthat itsexclusionfromtheMoonTreatyin1979gives itanadvantagetostartcommercialminingonthemoonandaster-oids.Andthatonly18ofthe95nationsthattodayformapartoftheCom-mitteeonthePeacefulUsesofOuterSpaceundertheUnitedNationsOffice

of Outer Space affairswere signatories to the treaty.Still, the unilateralAmericanmovetoallowspaceminingsmacksofadisregardforglobalconsensus,andaexcep-tionalistic approach,especially against the backdrop of a raging pandemic takingup nearly all the policymindspace across the globe. Ideally,US president DonaldTrump shouldhave discussed the issue of spacemining in amultilateral orglobalforumwhere lawsapplicable toallnationswouldhavebeenframedbeforepassinganexecutiveorderdeclaringspaceopenforAmericanprivate interests.

TheUSCongress,in2015,hadpassed theUSCommercial SpaceLaunchCom-petitivenessAct, allowing private entities to sell goodsmined in space—puttingthe consultative process that the UNwas trying to establish in danger. It is likelythatthe1967OuterSpaceTreaty,thensignedbetweentheUSandtheformerUSSR,and laterratifiedby109countries,hasbeenviolated.As theworld inchesclosertoprivateinterestslaunchingventuresthatcanexploitabundantresourcesavailablein space, the need for collaboration for sustainable and equitable development isgiventheshortshrift.OthernationsdecidingtofollowtheAmericanexamplewillalso lead toweaponisation of space programmes.Populistworld leaders flirtingwithdeglobalisationcouldwell blowup in theworld’s face.

Corona spreading in a state has an all-India implication

THECENTRALGOVERNMENTsendingteamstomonitorcertainhotspotdistricts infourstates—WestBengal,Rajasthan,Maharashtra,andMad-hyaPradesh—has,unsurprisingly,raisedthehacklesofsomewhoseethisasoppositionpolitics;thefirstthreestatesareallnon-BJPones.WestBen-

galCMMamataBanerjeewas the first to sayshewanted toknowthecriteriausedtoselect thestates,andthat themovemaynotbe inkeepingwiththespiritof fed-eralism.Theopticsmaylookbad,buttherehasbeennoteamsenttotheCPM-ruledKeralasince it isobviousthestatehasdoneagreat jobincontrollingthevirus; thisisnotsointheotherstates.Infectionlevels inMaharashtrahavegrownfasterthantheall-India average in the last fivedays,and the state’s death rateof5%—versusthenationalaverageof3.2%—suggeststhestate’s infectionsarestillunderstated.Whatmakes thingsmuchworse is the large numberof cases discovered in popu-lous slums likeDharavi,where socialdistancing isnext to impossible.

ThefatalityrateinMaharashtrawasahigh7.5onApril13,andfellto5onApril21onlybecause thenumberof those infected rose from1,985 to 4,666; high fatalityratessuggesthighinfectionlevelsand,soonerorlater,thatshowsupinthenumbers.

Something similarwas observed in Gujarat,where the fatality ratewas 9.5%onApril 4,and fell to 3.7%onApril 21 as thenumberof those infected rose from105 to 1,939; indeed,givenGujarat has had the fastest growth over the last fivedays, it should be included in the stateswhere teams are being sent.WhileWestBengal’s infectiongrowth ishigherthantheall-Indiaaverage,anadditionalprob-lemisthat,at55permillion,ithasverylowtestingratesascomparedto557forKer-ala,and1,400forDelhi.UttarPradeshisanotherstatethatistestingtoolittle(147tests permillion people) and, likeWest Bengal (3.9 persons infected permillionpopulation),italsohasanunbelievablylowinfectionrate(5.5);Biharisworse,with99testsand0.9 infectedpersonspermillion.

Once the teamscomeback,both theCentreandthestatesneedtodiscusshowbesttotackletheproblem.Thiscouldbemorepooledcommunitytests,moredronesurveillancetoensuresocialdistancing,moredeploymentofpoliceandvolunteers(as inAndhraPradesh) for intense trackingof those the infectedpeoplehavemet,moreprotectionequipmentformedicalteams,etc.Undernocircumstancesshouldanyone connectedwith the government,or the ruling partypoint fingers at howoppositionstatesare faringwhendealingwith thevirus; thishashappened in thepast,andit is importanttokeepinmindthatthebattle isa jointone,withnoplaceforeitherthecentralorstatepoliticians’egos.Normally,healthissuesaretobedealtwith by the states,but in this case,a runaway infection can spread across bordersjustasquicklysince,whileICMRhasnotyetdeclaredthatcommunitytransmissionisoccurring,this isboundtohappen.

●Write to us at feletters@expressindia.com

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Opinion

YOGESH SURI &SATWIKMISHRA

Suri is SeniorAdvisor, & Mishra is YoungProfessional, NITI Aayog.Views are personal

THE UNION GOVERNMENT hasadaptedquickly,buildinganewwelfaremoduletodealwiththeCovid-19pan-demic. A substantive relief packageannounced under Pradhan MantriGarib KalyanYojana (PMGKY)was thestartofthismodule.However,thereareunintended consequences of themuch-required lockdown that have tobe concurrently addressed. One oftheseisthefoodsecuritychallengefac-ingmigrantworkers.ThecurrentPublicDistributionSystem(PDS) structure comes from theNational Food SecurityAct,2013.TheAct covers 81 crore citizens, identifiedbystatesandunionterritoriestoobtainrice,wheat,andcoarsecerealsathighlysubsidised prices of `3/2/1 per kg,respectively.PDSbenefitsareavailedoflocally,atoverfive lakhfairprice shopsalloverthecountry.Theseare linkedtothebeneficiary’s rationcards.Theben-efit under the actwere augmented inthePMGKYreliefpackagebyallocatinganadditional5kgoffoodgrainsperper-son,and1kgofpulsesperfamilyfreeofcost forthenext threemonths.According to the Economic Survey ofFY17,thereareapproximately100mil-lionmigrantworkersinIndia.Migrantsdon’t have geographical access to theirlocal fair price shops,or to their rationcards,the latterpresumablyleftbehindwiththeirfamilies.Thegovernmenthadtaken cognisance of this anomalyevenbeforethepandemichit.Over12stateswere already in the pilot phase of the“OneNationOneCard”scheme,whichwould allowmigrants to avail of thisbenefitwherever theyordinarily residefortheirwork.Thispilot is scheduledtobe scaled across the country by June2020.However,present circumstancescall for immediate roll-out of access tobenefitsunderthis schemewithproac-tivesupportfromstates/UTs.Asopposedtothemarketpriceforwheatandrice,whichrangesbetween`32and

`45,respectively,theCentrehasallowedNGOs and state governments to buyextrastocksfromFCIat`20and`22forthe same.Earlier, any sale outside thePDSnetworkwasavailableonlytobulkpurchasers and states through onlinebidding. Allowing for this additionalprocurementwillensurethatstatesandNGOsareable todistribute it tobenefi-ciaries (includingmigrants) for free,orathighlysubsidisedrates.Alongwith the Centre’s efforts, therehave been substantive efforts bymanystates/UTs to cover a largernet of citi-zensforPDSbenefits.Atthestates’level,delinking the need for ration cards toavail of PDSbenefits,and reaching outto specificmarginalised beneficiaries,hasbeenakeycomponentof this strat-egy.DelhihasbolsteredPDSbenefitsby50%,and has decided to extend thesebenefits to non-ration card holdersalongwiththeusualbeneficiaries,ben-efitting over 7 million people. UttarPradeshisproviding20kgofwheatand10 kg of rice per household to a list ofbeneficiaries,which includes 16.5mil-lion construction workers and dailywage labourers. The state has alsoannounceduniversalisationofPDS.Thisuniversalisationstrategyfortheinterimperiod has been announced byChhat-tisgarh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan andTelenganaaswell.Kerala,whichisbeinglauded for its control of the pandemic,has undertaken a substantive effort toreach out to migrants,with the chiefminister having spoken of extendingfull assistance in the form of food,proper shelter, and healthcare to allmigrantworkers.Giventhat identifica-tion of beneficiaries under PDS is thestate government’s prerogative, thesemodelsmaybe emulated across statestoreachouttomigrants.Beyond thesemeasures,there is aneedtobuildanimmediateframeworkatthestatelevelforreachingouttodistressedmigrants. Firstly, state governments

mustaggressivelybuildcapacityforself-identificationofmigrantsforaugment-ingthebeneficiarylistunderPDS.Theymustsetupanimmediateinstitutionalmechanismthatmigrants canapply tofor accessing PDS benefits.Given theextraordinary circumstances, in theimmediateterm,statesmayevenerronthesideofover-inclusion.Secondly,PDSbenefits can be temporarily de-linkedfromrationcards,whilerelyingonotherIDdocumentssuchasAadhaarcardstogive out benefits.Thirdly, there shouldbecontinuationofcalibratedcashtrans-fers.Thiswill ensure thatmigrants canaccess themarketwhere PDS fairpriceshops aren’t available.For instance,theBihar government has enabled down-loadingofaweblinkforregistrationonlybyworkers outside the state.Thiswasfollowed by transferring money to10.11 lakh workers. Fourthly, publicspaceslikegovernmentschools,angan-wadis,andvolunteered private spacesmay be allocated to NGOs to set uprationdistributioncentrestomaximisescale. Fifthly, large-scale communitykitchens shouldbe setupwith thehelpof philanthropic organisations.Here,care needs to be takenwhile distribut-ingfoodto thedistressed,bymaintain-ing adequate safeguards likewearingmasks,andfollowingnormsofhygiene,social distancing, etc. Finally, a massawareness campaign must be immi-nently envisaged to reach out tomigrants regarding anymeasures thatthestateandcentralgovernmentshaveenvisionedfortheirrelief.The Iranian-American novelist DinaNayeri oncewrote,“It is the obligationof everypersonborn ina saferroomtoopen the doorwhen someone in dan-ger knocks.” For the marginalisedmigrants,that“saferroom”todayisthewelfarenetofthestate.Newdoorsneedto be built, and kept open to ensuremigrants’accessibilityandavailabilityto food in thesedifficult times.

Working from homeThe lockdowns in many parts of theworld have already forcedmillionstowork from their homes. Theextent towhich the pandemicwillaccelerate teleworking and theemergence of a digital worldremains to be seen. It must,however, be askedwhether allkinds ofwork are really amenableto being done remotely. A lot ofcore economic activities arebeyond “apps” and “videoconferencing”, AI, robots, and thelike. The range ofwork humanshave evolved to do cannot becontracted to the internet, mostlyrelied on forWFH. The expenditureof human labour in the ‘widerworld’, as against homeworking, iswhat sustains human populations.We are biologically so constructedthatwe cannot rely on laptops andsmartphones for sustenance. Thenature ofwork decides leverageand limitation, andwhere and howwework. Home cannot beconverted into awork area to do allkinds ofwork, for instance, thatdone in factories and agriculturalfields. It is just not feasible tomanufacture or mass-producegoods or grow crops from homes.Home is too small a place formanufacturing involving processes.Agriculture needs on-the-fieldwork. Similarly, streets and sanitaryfacilities cannot be cleaned online.No technology exists to buildbuildings, roads, bridges, ports anddams from home. Perhaps, home isa ‘suitable’workplace for creativepeople like poets, artists andmusicians as solitude is said toheighten creativity. But then for‘rawmaterial’ and inspiration theytoomay have to come outdoors asoften as they could.We are in themiddle of a relentless pandemic(andmonths away from a vaccine,thankfully Covid-19 is a vaccinablevirus) to predict its impact onworkandworkplaces, and by extension,on our lives and lifestyles.—G David Milton

Statesmust build an immediateframework for reaching out todistressedmigrants, apart fromextending PDS benefits tostrandedwage labourers

LETTERSTOTHE EDITORThemigrant knock

IAM NOT a regularuserof digitalpayments. I use my debit cardsonly for cash withdrawal fromATM.HowcanImigratetomobilepaymentduringlockdown?

If you have a smart phone and yourphone number is already linkedwith thebank account, you can easily migrate tomobilebanking.Lockdownornolockdown,adoptingdigitalpayments isthewaytogo.Stepsinvolvedaresimple—download,acti-vateandstartusing—inflatfiveminutes,ifnottwominutesas isclaimedbymany.Fordownloading themobile bankingpackageofyourbank,go to PlayStore/App Store inyourphone.Asyou open the app, itwouldleadyou to activate yourmobile bankingandaskafewquestionstovalidatewhetheryouare the right customer.Itmayalso askyou to create a user ID and password.Youwill find various functionalities in themobilebankingapp—includingpaymentsthroughIMPSandNEFT.ManybankshaveintegratedUPI,bill payments and e-com-mercelinksinthebankappitself.Thus,youwould have all three digital paymentoptions. They are available 24x7. Makesmall transfers of `5-10 to your familymembersorfriendsusingallthreeoptions,andchoosetheonethatsuitsyoubest.Per-sonally, I would suggest using the UPIoptionbecauseofitssimplicityandvarietyofusecasesandonlinegrievancehandlingprocedure.Youcanmeetmostofyourpay-

ment transaction needs via UPI—likemoney transfers,payment of utility bills,school/collegefees,orderinghomedeliveryof food itemsorbuying frome-commercemarketplaces,andeventaxpayments.

■CanInotusethird-partyUPI/adig-italpaymentapplikeBHIM?

Yes,you can.But,withmobile bankingappofyourbank,you canmanagevarioustypes of banking transactions includingpayments. SBI has positioned its YONOapplicationas“YouOnlyNeedOne”app,andso is the casewithmanyleadingbanks.Myrecommendation is thatyouuseyourownbank’smobile app,and supplementwithoneof the thirdpartypackages likeBHIM,

GPay,PhonePeorPayTM.BHIMismanagedbyNPCI—theoperatorforUPIsystemitself.Ifyouare a frequentuserofAmazon,it hasAmazonPay—theirUPIoffering.AlmostallmobilebankingpackagesandallUPIpack-agesmandatorilyhaveQRcodefeatures.Atsmall kirana stores,you can open theUPIappandpaybytheQRcode.

■ I have a credit card.But, I use thesameonly inphysical stores at thePOSdeviceandtofundmywallet.Isitsafetousethiscreditcardontheinternet?

Absolutely safe. Make sure that yourmobilephone is linkedwith thecredit cardso thatyouget themobile alert.Whenyoumake payments on the internet, at the

checkout stage,opt for credit card optionand provide the details required.You cansave thedetails in the e-commerce app forfuture purchases.Most secure aspect of acredit card is CVV.It is not savedanywhereexceptthecard-issuingbank/non-bank.

■Myusageofdigitalpaymentis lim-itedtouseofawallet,andIfunditfrommycredit card.Should I surrendermywallet and completelymove tomobilebankingapporthirdpartyUPI?

YoucancontinuetohaveawalletandatthesametimehavethemobilebankingappofyourbankorathirdpartyUPIapp.Ifyoubankwithmultiple banks,you can link allyouraccountsinasingleUPIappandtoggle

betweenthebankswithsameUPIid.■ I used topayallmybills andother

institutional payments by cheques. Iusedtowrite thereasonforissuing it inthe record slip.With restrictedmove-ment,Iamforcedtoadoptdigitalmeans.Iamworriedabouthowtokeeparecord.

Not toworry.Digital equivalent is avail-ableinmobilebankingapps.Fulltransactionhistorycanbeseenatanymoment.Anyway,usage of cheque as a paymentmethod isdecliningveryfastwithincreasedadoptionof digital payments.Credit cardpaymentscan also be done digitally, if auto debit toyourbankaccounthasnotbeenchosen.

■ I am worried about cyber fraud.

Howcan Ibe sure thatmyaccounts aresafe?

Followthe tips regularlybeing sent byyourbankthroughbroadcastmessages.Keyrecommendation is not to shareyouruserId, password, UPI/ATM PIN, OTP andaccount details with any one. Keep yourmobile passwordprotected so that noonemisuses it. Look for SMS alerts for everytransactionmade.Ifyoufollowthebankpre-scribedprecautions,youwouldnotbeliableeven if there is a cyber-attack on youraccount.RBIhas comeoutwith zero liabil-ity circular to protect the customers,pro-vided complaint is lodgedwith the bankwithin72hoursoffraudulenttransaction.

■ShouldIusedebitcardorcreditcardformypurchases? Can I linkmycreditcardforUPItransactions?

If you are a prudent userof credit cardand make 100% payment in auto debitmodeattheendofthebillingcycle,Iwouldrecommend credit card.But, if liquidity isnotan issue,youcanopt fordebit card.Thepayment gateways in India are reasonablysecure,and there isnodistinctionbetweencredit anddebit card so farasdata securityof transactions are concerned. Backendfraudmanagementpractices at banks andcreditcardcompaniesareequallygood.But,forUPI linkage,currentlyRBI allows onlybankaccounts possibly for the reason thatcreditcarddataprocessingisnot100%in-houseinbanks.It isonlyamatteroftime.

OPINION 7FINANCIALEXPRESS

WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

CONTACTLESS PAYMENTS

ABHIJITDAS

Head, Centre forWTOStudies, IIFTViewsare personal

MARTIN KHOR, AN iconof theGlobal South,passed away inMalaysia onApril 1.Talk totrade negotiators at the WTO, or thoseengaged inclimatechangenegotiations,andthe reverence inwhichhewasheldbecomes

evident.AlthoughhewasatruefriendofIndia,hisnamemightnotbefamiliar.

Martin,ashewaspopularlycalled,combinedmultiplerolesas an economist, journalist,strategic thinkerandactivist.Hewasalsoanevangelist,butforthecauseofpromotingtheinter-ests of developing countries atmanymultilateral forums.“Reformthesystem,sothat it respondspositivelytotheaspi-rationsofdevelopingcountries”,washissimplemantra.

Foralmosttwodecades,heworkedasadirectorattheThirdWorldNetwork,aninternationalresearchandadvocacyorgan-isation.His sphere of activityexpanded substantiallyas theexecutivedirectorof theSouthCentre,aGeneva-based inter-governmentalorganisation,during2009-2018.

Hiswritingstookmanyofthecontemporaryissueshead-onand sought to exploredifferent options formakingdevelop-ingcountriesandtheircitizenslessdisadvantagedinapower-dominatedglobalorder.

Martin’s deep insights,and the ability to explain the eco-nomicandlegal implicationsofcomplexnegotiatingtexts inconcise and simple language to sleep-deprivednegotiators,withextremelyshortattentionspan,was incredible.Empow-eringdeveloping countries’negotiatorswith facts,analysis,argumentsandstrategiesbecameahabitwithMartin.

Atatimewhendevelopingcountrieswithseeminglydiver-gentinterestswerepursuingtheirnarrowdomesticagendainWTOnegotiations,Martinhad theunique ability to identifycommonground.ItisnowonderthatMartinbecamepivotalinshaping the approachofmanydeveloping countries during

theDohaRound.Martinwouldalwaysbeready

withnewideasonhowdevelop-ing countries could be moreeffectiveinprotectingtheirinter-estsinfuturenegotiations.

Whilepursuinghislife’smis-sion,Martinwouldnot hesitateinknockingat thedoorsofmin-isters andevenheadsofgovern-ments.Not onlywould he havetheirear,butmanytimesheeven

gotthemtoloosentheirpursestringsforhisprojects.Thishigh-lightsthetrustthatmanyreposedinhisanalysisandjudgment.

MartinperceivedIndiatobeoneof theveryfewcountriesthatcouldtakeupcudgelsonbehalfofotherdevelopingcoun-tries andnegotiatehard for their commongood.Hebelievedthat,if India succeeded innegotiations,itwould also benefitothers.Asaresult,hesupportedIndiainWTOnegotiations.

AttheBaliMinisterialConferenceoftheWTOin2013,Indiawas waging a determined battle to insulate its scheme ofprocuringfoodgrainsforfoodsecurityreasonsfromlegalchal-lenges.Despitemanycountries facingsimilarproblems,theychosetoremainsilent.AnimpressionwentaroundthatIndia’spositionhadlittlesupportfromotherdevelopingcountries.

SensingthatthissituationwouldbedamagingforIndiaandalsoforotherdevelopingcountries,Martinquicklyswungintoaction.Heorganised a luncheonmeeting inwhich themainitemon themenuwaspublic stockholding for food securitypurposes.Heencouragedtheinvitedcountriestofranklyartic-ulate theproblemstheyfaced in implementingfoodsecurityschemes.At leastadozencountriescameoutstronglyinsup-portofIndia’sposition.MartinhadhelpedbustthemyththatIndiawasfightingonlyforitsowncause.Thisaddedconsider-ablepoliticalhefttoIndia’snegotiatingapproach.

India’s achievementwas also beneficial formanyotherdeveloping countries including Indonesia,Turkey,Pakistan,Jordan,Tunisia,ZambiaandZimbabwe.

AnyreflectiononMartin’slifewouldbeincompletewithoutamentionofhowheinspiredscoresofnegotiators,researchersandactivists to strive forsolidarityamongdeveloping coun-triesforestablishingajustandfairglobalorder.Hispassionforvariouscauseswasincrediblyinfectious.

Martinmotivated a largenumberof people across conti-nents,inbothdevelopedanddevelopingcountries.

Mayyoursoulrestinpeace,Martin.

RememberingMartinKhor

People across continents,whomMartinmotivated,will resolutely take forwardthemission of his life

Staying safewithdigital payments

APHOTA

FormerCGMRBI, & formerMD&CEO,NPCI.Viewsare personal

E-payments canhelp fight

Covid-19.Here are a fewFAQs

answered forbeginners

Hewas anevangelist

promoting theinterests ofdevelopingcountries

THE COVID-19 PANDEMIChasgivenrisetoa lotofspec-ulationonhowitspreadsandcan be cured, with varioustheories being espoused,

whichhasledtoavirtuallockdownoftheentireworld.While the implementationwillvaryacross regions,ingeneral,it canbesaidthatmostpeopleareathomeandthat countries are progressively testingmore people for the virus.The carrierscouldbeprimaryorsecondaryandsoon,and it is logical that theprimaryset con-sisted of peoplewhohad a travel historyandcameintouchwiththosewhocarriedthe virus.Therewould bemanywho gotawayand then spread it to others,whichis somethingnoone is sureof.

What is attempted here is to look atdata as on April 20, and see if there areany trends that emerge on how thisvirus has affected countries. India ispast the ‘we are monitoring closely’phase. The accompanying graphicshows the total number of cases thatexist as on April 20, and looks at threeratios.Thefirst is thenumberofcasesasaproportionof thenumberof tests car-riedout.This tellsushowmanypatientsweredetectedbythetests.Thesecondisthe mortality rate as the number ofdeaths as per cases detected.The last isthe recovery rate of patients who havebeen deemed to be out of this disease.Thesenumberscanthrowsomelightonhow one can interpret India’s positionstatistically,which is not backed byanymedical thought, but purely as a resultof data interpretation.

Data shouldbe interpretedwith cau-tion as different countries are at differ-ent stages of being affected by the pan-demic, and testing operations havebegun in a staggered manner. The US,

GermanyandRussiahavetestedasmanyas3.9million,1.7millionand2.1millionpeople, respectively, while India hastested around 400,000, which is thehighest amongst developing countries.India’s effortsneed tobe lauded.

Now,based on the cases detected tothe numbers tested, India does well at4.4%, comparedwith all the countriesthat have higher number of cases. Indiaranks 14th in the top-24 list in terms ofnumber of cases, but this ratio signifiesthatoutof thosetested,the infectedrateisvery low,which is heartening.Asmen-tionedearlier,thiscanbebecausewehavetestedmore of the primary carriers andnot the secondary ones,which can hap-pen only as local authorities intensifytesting. As our numbers have beenincreasing quite sharply by the daywithtests being carried out, this proportioncan increase,especiallyso,as these casesarebeingdetectedinareasofhighpopu-lationdensity.But,thepaceoftestinghasincreased in the last 10 days and hasmore thandoubled.

Themortalityrate is lowinIndiaasofnow,at3.2%,which is againhearteningand compareswell with Germany, Por-tugal andAustria. It is lower forTurkeyand Russia.This ratio is again low com-paredwithdouble-digit rates in theUK,Italy, France, Spain, Belgium and theNetherlands.As on date, the number isnot alarming, and can also be partlyattributed to better immunity in ourcountry. In fact, all the countries withhigher infected people tend to be fromthe developedworld,with only Turkeyand Iran being developing nations.But,climaticconditionsareclosertothewestthan the east.

South Korea,Germany,Austria, Iran,Peru,Spain,Brazil and Switzerland haveimpressive recoveryratesof above40%,withSouthKorea,AustriaandIrangoingpast the 70%mark.Again, as our num-bers have been increasing of late, theresultwill be known only in the future,and is currently lowat16%.

Hence, even globally, the progress ofpatients is quite unsteady,and it is grimin the sense that recoveries are still low,even though some of them have beenthrough a fullmonth’s cycle of the pan-demic affliction. China has the mostimpressiveresults,withrecoveriesofover90%anddeathrateof just4%.

The above data gives an idea of howcountrieshavefaredastheykeeptestingmore people and taking action of quar-antine or hospitalisation.But, the ques-tiononeveryone’smindsis:Whenwillallthisstop?Is thereanythingthatdatacantellusaboutthecourseofthevirusafflic-tion?There is reallynowayinwhichdataonafflictions,whichisbasedonprogres-sive testing, can be extrapolated forfuture scenarios, like done with eco-nomicdata.Yet,there are some interest-ing trends that canbe seen in themove-ment of new cases being detected indifferent countries.

The accompanying graphic looks atthe last seven days’ data on new casesbeing reported, and then checks if thistrend (if at all) is above what was thepeakearlier.If therewasnopeakearlier,then itmeans onemustwait andwatchas the current trendmay ormaynot bethe peak level. Some countries do showthattheworstcouldbeoverasthe incre-mental cases are much lower than thepeak established over a period of sevendays earlier.

Therefore, the next seven days forIndiawill be crucial, and it is absolutelynecessary to keep testingmore peoplewho showsymptoms—foronlythencanweknowwhetherithasspreadorisundercontrol. The current range of 1,200-2,000hasbeenduetomoretestingbeingdone,andasit isstill intheinitialphases,themortality and recovery rates are notas firm as those of European countriesthathavebeenthroughawholemonthofspread.The US looks convincing, giventhelargenumbersthathavebeentested.

The clue is to identify and isolate thecases so as to treat the patients andensurethatthevirusdoesnotspread.Theproactive steps of the government havehelped a lot in controlling the spread inIndia,butthenextsevendayswillbecru-cial as itwill set anewtrend.

● ICONOFTHE GLOBALSOUTH

Country What canwe say about the last 7 days?

India There have been 1,200-2,000 cases a day,which cannot still beascertained to be the peak. Need towait andwatch.

US Peak not yet achievedwith lastweek having 30,000 additions a day,which is higher than in the past. But last two days slightly lower.

UK Detecting around 5,000 a day,whichmay be the peak plateau.

Germany 2,000-4,000 a day, andmuch lower than the peaks reached earlier.

Switzerland Less than 400 now, off peak. Looks to be tapering off.

Spain Off peaks of 7,500 and between 3,500-6,500 a day.

Iran 7 days of continuous decline from peak of around 1,600. Could beon decline now; 1,200-1,300 a day.

France Daily volatile between 1,000 and 12,000.

Total Cases/tests

World cases carried out Death/cases Recovery/cases

US 7,65,128 19.8 5.3 9.3

Spain 2,00,210 21.5 10.4 40.3

Italy 1,78,972 13.2 13.2 26.3

France 1,52,894 33.0 12.9 23.9

Germany 1,45,743 8.4 3.2 62.8

UK 1,20,067 24.9 13.4 n.a.

Turkey 86,306 13.6 2.3 13.9

Iran 83,505 23.7 6.2 71.0

China 82,747 n.a. 5.6 93.2

Russia 47,121 2.3 0.9 7.3

Belgium 39,983 24.7 14.6 22.2

Brazil 39,144 62.1 6.3 56.5

Canada 35,056 6.4 4.5 33.8

Netherlands 33,405 19.5 11.2 0.7

Switzerland 27,944 12.5 5.0 63.7

Portugal 20,863 8.8 3.5 2.9

India 17,615 4.4 3.2 16.2

Peru 15,628 10.9 2.6 43.6

Ireland 15,251 16.8 4.0 0.5

Austria 14,795 8.1 3.2 71.9

Sweden 14,777 19.8 10.7 3.7

Israel 13,654 5.7 1.3 28.4

Japan 10,797 9.6 2.2 10.7

S. Korea 10,674 1.9 2.2 76.0

Source:Worldometer; data updated till April 20

Italy 2,600-3,800 a day.May have comeoff the peak.

What theCovid-19numbers tell us

The next seven days for Indiawill be crucial.Need to test more andmore peoplewhoshow symptoms—for only then canwe knowwhether it has spread or is under control

MADANSABNAVIS

Chief economist, CARERatingsViewsare personal

● SPREAD & SPREADSHEETS

ILLUSTRATION: ROHNITPHORE

OIL, ITHAS been said, is the blood cours-ing through the veins of theworld econ-omy.In2020theeconomyisbleedingred.As Covid-19 keepsworkers at home andplanes on the ground,demand for oil hasfallen fasterandfurtherthanatanypointinitshistory.Amplifyingtheshock,afuri-ous rowbetweenSaudiArabia andRussiaset off a price war in early March. Lastmonth oil prices fell bymore than half,leavingagiant industryreeling.

OnApril12ththeworld’senergysuper-powers broke bread and reached a newdealtotrytopropupprices.TheOrganisa-tionofthePetroleumExportingCountries(Opec)anditsallies,includingRussia,said

theywouldslashproductionby9.7mbar-rels a day fromMay to the end of June, arecord,and restrain output for twoyears.Inthe20thcenturyUncleSamwaskeentoundermine Opec, but in 2018 Americabecame thebiggest oil producer,aheadofSaudiArabiaandRussia.PresidentDonaldTrump’s re-electiondependson the shalestatesofTexas,PennsylvaniaandOhio.Heargued for the pact and said the industrywould recover“farfaster”thanexpected.

Infactprivateoilfirms,state-controlledcompaniesandcountriesthatrelyonenergyexports shouldbrace themselves fora longperiodofpain,andusethecrisistobegintherestructuring thatwill have to takeplace iftheplanetistodealwithclimatechange.

Thisweek’sgrandbargainisunlikelytowork. For a start the sums don’t add up.Global demandmay fall by29mbarrels adaythismonth,threetimestheopecdeal’spromised cuts. Private firms outside thealliance may reduce output, too, but byhowmuchisuncertain.Andnooneknows

when demandwill pick up.Oil stockpilesare rising and storage capacity could beexhaustedwithinweeks.

Theallianceisshaky.Russia,theworld’ssecond-biggest producer,hasworkedwithopec since2016but routinely ignored theterms of deals. It is unlikely thatAmericawillpermanentlyjoinopecincreatinganewenergyorder.Thenewpact involves assur-ances that outputwill fall inAmerica butTexanfrackersrespondtopricesignalsand

theprofitmotive,notgovernmentquotas.The deal almost fell apart when Mexicorefused SaudiArabia’s terms, illustratinghowone country can prompt an unravel-ling.And SaudiArabia continues to offerdeep discounts on crude bound forAsia,asignof itseagernesstodefenditspowerfulpositioninoil’smost importantmarket.

A last reason for scepticism is that thecovid-19 crisis could further dampenlong-term oil demand.Hundreds ofmil-

lions of people are living through anexperiment with home-working, fewerflightsandlessurbanpollution.Thiscouldhelp change public opinion about thedesirabilityof a fastershift fromanecon-omybuilt on fossil fuels.

Rather than stability, then,oil produc-ers face volatile demand and production.Iran andVenezuela, already squeezed byAmerican sanctions,will seemore unrest.Countrieswithhighcosts andpoorgover-

nance,suchasNigeriaandAngola,facecap-italflightandbalance-of-paymentscrises.LastyearbankruptciesamongAmericanoilproducers jumped by50%. In 2020 thatfigurewill soar.Beyond this year a deeperadjustment awaits.Volatilitywill dampeninvestors’ appetite for new projects. Oilcompanies have already slashed capitalspending by about 25% this year. Somepriceyoilwillbeleftundergroundforgood.Shale’s frenetic growthwill abate.Big oilexporters,includingSaudiArabia,willhavetocutpublic spendinganddiversify.

Foryears theoil industryhas faced thepossibilitythatdemandmightfall,asgov-ernmentsmoved to limit climate change.That threatened toheap chaos onoil pro-ducers,as capitaldriedupandcompaniesbattledfortheirshareofadwindlingmar-ket.A peak in demandmay still be yearsaway. But oil producers should seeCovid-19’s turmoil forwhat it is: not anaberration,buta signofwhat is tocome.¦

©TheEconomistNewspaperLimited

●CORONACRISIS

ASSOCIATED PRESSCopenhagen, April 21

SPAINWILLBEGIN allowingchildrenoutoftheirhomesforbriefperiodsnextMon-day.DenmarkannouncedplanstoreopenTivoli Gardens, the Copenhagen amuse-mentpark that inspiredWaltDisney.AndAustralia said doctors can resume non-urgent surgerynextweek.

CountriesacrossEuropeandbeyond—joined in the US by a cascade of states —movedtograduallyreopenamidwarningsthat acting too quickly could enable thevirus tocomebackwithavengeance.

IntheUS,somestates,includingGeor-gia,Tennessee,WestVirginiaandColorado,announced plans to gradually reopen inthe coming days,despite the concerns ofhealth officials. Boeing and at least oneotherAmerican heavy equipmentmanu-facturerresumedproduction.

Meanwhile, UN leaders called foreffortstoensurethatallpeoplehaveaccessto testing, medical supplies, drugs andfuture vaccines, especially in developingcountries.Africanofficialshavebeenout-spoken about the need formedical sup-plies across the 54-nation continent,where health care systems areweak andcouldbecomeoverwhelmed.

Evenunderabest-casescenario,Africawill need $44billion for testing,personalprotective equipment and treatment ofcoronavirus, according to a report lastweekbytheUNEconomicCommissionforAfrica.Theworst-case scenario estimates$446billionwouldbeneeded.

TheWorld Health Organization said

thenumberofbedsinintensivecareunitsavailable to treat Covid-19 patients in 43Africancountries is less than5,000.

That is about five beds per 1 millionpeople, comparedwith 4,000 beds per 1million inEurope.

Africahasmorethan23,000infectionsacrossthecontinent,includingmorethan1,100deaths.

Authorities are trying to expand test-ing rapidly,with the goal of testing1mil-lionpeopleoverthenext fourweeks.

Many countries have been grapplingwiththeinequalitythevirushasoftenlaidbare, and how to ensure everyone has

access to protective equipment andotherproducts.

InSpain,which isamongtheworst-hitcountries, authorities are deciding onprice caps for face masks, gloves, handsanitisersandotherprotectiveequipmentthathasbeeninshortsupply.Thegovern-ment published an order Sunday sayingprices cannotbe“exploitative.”

Meanwhile,Denmark,Austria, Spainand Germany began allowing some peo-ple back towork, including hairdressers,dentists andconstructionworkers.

Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens said itwill reopenonMay11.

REUTERSGeneva, April 21

THENUMBEROFpeoplefacingacutefoodinsecuritycouldnearlydoublethisyearto265millionduetotheeconomicfalloutofCovid-19,theUnitedNations’WorldFoodProgramme(WFP) saidonTuesday.

The impact of lost tourism revenues,falling remittances and travel and otherrestrictionslinkedtothecoronaviruspan-demicareexpectedtoleavesome130mil-lion people acutely hungry this year,adding to around 135million already inthat category.

“Covid-19 is potentially catastrophicformillionswho are alreadyhanging byathread,”saidArif Husain,chief economistand director of research,assessment andmonitoringattheWorldFoodProgramme.

“We all need to come together to dealwith this because ifwe don’t the costwillbe too high— the global cost will be toohigh: many lost lives and many, manymore lost livelihoods,”hetoldreportersatavirtualbriefing inGeneva.

Husainsaiditwascriticaltoactquicklyin order to prevent people already living

hand-to-mouth, such as food vendorsin Kenya, from selling their assets as itcould take them years to become selfreliantagain.

In some cases, such aswhen farmerssell their ploughs or oxen, it could haveknock-on effects for food production foryears tocome,headded.

“Thesewere the peoplewewere con-cernedabout– thosewhowereOKbeforeCovid and now they are not,” he said,addinghewas“reallyworried”aboutpeo-plelivingincountrieswithlittleornogov-ernment safetynets.

Global hungercoulddouble:UN

Huawei’s growth slows asvirus compundsUSwoes

WHO saysAfrica hasfive beds per 1millionpeople, comparedwith4,000 in Europe

Amazonmakes $10mgreen commitmentAMAZONSAIDITwill contribute$10million tohelpconserve forests in thenortheasternUS inaneffort captureplanet-warmingcarbondioxide.Amazonsaid its contributionwillhelpconserve some4millionacresofforest landadjacent to theAppalachianMountains,whichstretch fromAlabamato theCanadianborder.

SmokersathigherriskofCovid-19,saysUSFDATheUSFoodandDrugAdministrationmadeasecondrevisiononitsstanceabouttherisksofCovid-19andnicotine,sayingthatcigarettesalsoincreasethechancesofcatchingthedisease.“Peoplewhosmokecigarettesmaybeat increasedriskof infectionwiththevirus thatcausesCovid-19,andmayhaveworseoutcomesfromCovid-19,”theagencysaid.

Applepolicyisblockingvirus tracker:FranceFranceisaskingAppletoremoveatechnicalobstaclethatitsaysisdelayingagovernmentcontact-tracingapplicationdesignedtocontainthecoronavirusspread.Apple’sOSpreventscontact-tracingappsusingitsBluetoothfromrunningconstantlyinthebackgroundifthatdataisgoingtobemovedoffofthedevice.

Quick

View

Coronavirusvery likely ofanimal origin,saysWHO

InternationalFINANCIALEXPRESS8 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

BLOOMBERGApril 21

MYSTERYSURROUNDED KIM JongUn’shealth afterUS andSouthKoreanofficialsgavedifferingaccountsoftheNorthKoreanleader’s condition following his unusualabsencefromrecentholidaycelebrations.

Kim was in critical condition afterundergoing cardiovascular surgery lastweek and theTrumpadministrationwas-n’t sure of his current health,saidUS offi-cials,whoaskednottobeidentified.Oneoftheofficials said theWhiteHousewas toldthatKimtookaturnfortheworseaftertheprocedure,whileCNNearliercitedaUSoffi-cialwith direct knowledge saying the 36-year-oldleadermaybein“gravedanger.”

Meanwhile, South Korean PresidentMoonJae-in’sofficesaidthatKimwascon-ducting“normal activities”in a rural partof the country assisted by close aides andno special movements were detected.Moon spokesman Kang Min-seok saidearliertherewasnothingtoconfirmonthespeculationoverKim’shealth.

North Korea’s state-run news broad-cast at 6:30 pm local timemade nomen-tionofKim,andtheofficialKoreanCentralNewsAgency didn’t provide an update onhis condition. Kim Min-ki, head of theintelligence committee in South Korea’sparliament, toldYonhapNewsAgencyhebelieves there’s no unusual signs regard-ingKim’shealthafterhewasbriefedbythecountry’s spyagency.

ThenewsaroundKim’shealthspurredthe benchmark Kospi gauge to extendlossestoasmuchas3%whilethewonslidasmuchas1.7%against thedollar.

The health of Kim, overweight and a

heavysmoker,isoneofNorthKorea’smostclosely guarded secrets, typically onlyknownbyahandfulofpeople inthe innercircleofleadership.WhileNorthKoreahadscaleddownmajorevents as it battles thecoronaviruspandemic,speculationaboutKimhadbeengrowing sincehisunprece-dentedabsencefromApril15celebrationsfor the birthday of his grandfather andstate founder Kim Il Sung, one of thebiggestdaysonthecountry’s calendar.

Even the most well-informed NorthKorea experts find it hard to tell what’shappeninginthesecretivestate.TheDailyNK, a Seoul-based website that gathersinformation from informants inside theisolated nation, separately reported thatKimunderwenta“cardiovascularsurgicalprocedure”andwasnowmostlyrecovered.

BLOOMBERGLondon, April 21

HUAWEI’S RAPID GROWTH slowed to acrawl in the first quarter after Covid-19depressed demand for smartphones andnetworkinggeararoundtheglobe.

Huawei reported amere 1.4%gain inrevenue to 182.2 billion yuan ($25.7 bil-lion) in the period,down from19%overallof2019.Itsnetprofitmarginshrankto7.3%from8%ayearearlier,thecompanytold reporters.

The novel coronavirus has hammereddemand for the smartphones Huaweirelies on to competewithApple Inc. anddrive growth, especially now the globalrollout of 5G networks has decelerated.The pandemic came on top of a difficult2019,when the Trump administrationblacklisted China’s largest technologycompany -- cutting off access to crucial

American components -- and waged acampaign to get allies to exclude its tele-comequipment.

Huawei has warned of a challengingyearwith theUSbringingunprecedentedscrutinytobearonacompanyitconsidersa threat to national security, a claim theChinesecompanyhasconsistentlydenied.

SELECTIONSFROM

REUTERSGeneva, April 21

THE WORLD HEALTH Organization(WHO) said onTuesday that all availableevidence suggests the novel coronavirusoriginated in animals in China late lastyearandwasnotmanipulatedorproducedina laboratory.

US President Donald Trump said lastweek that his governmentwas trying todeterminewhether the virus emanatedfrom a lab in the central Chinese city ofWuhan,where the coronavirus pandemicemerged inDecember.

“All available evidence suggests thevirus has an animal origin and is notmanipulated or constructed in a lab orsomewhere else,” WHO spokeswomanFadela Chaib told aGenevanews briefing.“Itisprobable,likely,thatthevirusisofani-mal origin.” Itwas not clear,Chaib added,howthevirushad jumpedthespeciesbar-rier to humans but there had“certainly”beenanintermediateanimalhost.“Itmostlikelyhasitsecologicalreservoirinbatsbuthowtheviruscamefrombatstohumansisstill tobeseenanddiscovered.”

Shedidnotrespondtoarequesttoelab-orate onwhether itwas possible thevirusmayhaveinadvertentlyescapedfromalab.

LEADERSTHE OPEC OIL DEAL

The oil slump is a glimpse ofwhat is to come

The futureoftheoil industry

❝ ❝

FUTURETENSEGiuseppe Conte, Italian primeminister

Iwould like to be able to say:wewill openeverything. Immediately. Tomorrowmorning. But adecision like thatwould be irresponsible...jeopardise all the effortswe’vemade until now

CocaCola’svolume plunges25% inApril

BLOOMBERGApril 21

GOOGLEWILLmakeproductlistingsonitsShoppingservicefree,partofabroaderpushtoexpandine-commerceandmountabig-ger challenge toAmazon as the Covid-19pandemicdrivesmoreconsumersonline.

TheAlphabetunitwillletmerchantsposttheir wares on Google Shopping for freeregardless ofwhether theypay forGoogleads.Before,theselistingswereallsponsored,meaningmerchantspaidGoogleeverytimesomeone clicked through to theirwebsitefromaGoogleproductlisting.

Themovemayreduceadvertisingrev-enueinitially,butitcouldalsoenticemoremerchants touseGoogleShopping inthelong term.The company turned the ser-vice into a paid product in 2012 and itgrewintoahugebusiness,generatingbil-lions of dollars in highly profitable rev-enueeachquarter.

Google is returning to its original freeapproach for shopping,with some impor-tantcaveats.ThecompanywillstillsellShop-ping ads, which will give merchants theoptiontoappearinpaidslotsabovethefreelistings.Product adswill also continue toappearon themainGoogle search resultspage,whilethefreelistingswillonlyshowupintheless-popularShoppingsearchtab.

“For retailers, this change means freeexposuretomillionsofpeoplewhocometoGoogleeverydayfortheirshoppingneeds,”Google said in ablogpost onTuesday.“For

shoppers, it means more products frommore stores, discoverable through theGoogle Shopping tab.Foradvertisers, thismeans paid campaigns can now be aug-mentedwithfreelistings.”

Googlehaslongwaveredonitsapproachtocommerce.Thecompanyisfirstandfore-most an advertisingplatform,designed tomakemoneywheneverconsumers searchforthingstobuyonline.

ASSOCIATED PRESSApril 21

COCA-COLA’S GLOBAL volume hastumbled 25% inApril as the coronaviruspandemic gripped large swaths of theworldpopulation.

The year began strongly at Coke,withvolumesup3%throughFebruaryexclud-ingChina,where theoutbreakhad lockeddownmajor cities, and the companywasontrack to reach its financial targets.

The deterioration,however,was rapid.Within a month the Tokyo Olympics, ofwhichCokeisamajorsponsor,wereoff.The-atersandrestaurantsclosedfromEuropetoAmericaandpeopleshelteredinplace.

Almost half of Coke’s sales come fromtheaters,vendingmachines,shows,musi-cal andotherevents.Almost all of thevol-ume decline to-date in April came fromsalesat suchevents.

FREEMIUMMODEL

■ The tech giant is returning toits original free approach forshopping,with some caveats

■Google turned the service intoa paid product in 2012 and itgrew into a huge business

■ The companywill still sellShopping adsfor paid slotsabove the free listings

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un

was in critical condition after

undergoing cardiovascular surgery

lastweek and US isn’t sure

of his current health

Googlemakes listingonitsShoppingservice free

Major exporterspledge to avoiddisrupting keyfood suppliesSOMEOFTHEworld’s largestagricul-turalexportersaregrowingconcernedthat the coronavirus pandemic hascaused a worrisome rash of govern-mentpolicies that threatentodisrupttheglobal supplyof food.

In order to prevent a food crisis, agroup of nearly 50 governments ispreparing to sign a pledge aimed atensuringsupplychainsremainorderlyand that officials exercise restraintwithanytrade restrictions.

Theinitiativeiscriticalbecausethethreatofsuccessiveexportbansaimedat protecting domestic food produc-tion could lead to soaring prices andshortages. —BLOOMBERG

Mystery shrouds Kim’shealth after surgery

Global cases

2.5millionDeaths exceed

171,000

MAPPINGTHEVIRUS

Governments in the EuropeanUnionmust not

be complacent even if the number of

infections is stabilising, EUHealth

Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said, urging

caution in easing lockdownmeasures

EuropeanUnion industrial-policy chiefThierry

Bretonpainted ableak outlook for the EU

tourism sector, saying itwas hit early by the

coronavirus outbreak andwill suffer longer.

PhilipMorris International Inc. abandoned its

2020 earnings guidance as the coronavirus

outbreakweighs onduty-free tobacco sales,

while Coca-ColaCo. said the impact of the

Covid-19 pandemic on the secondquarter

will be “material”

Serbia easedoneofEurope’s strictest

coronavirus lockdown regimes, allowing small

businesses to reopen and relaxing a daily

curfew that had keptmost citizens indoors

sincemid-March

Confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia rose by

5,642 overnight to to 52,763 as the number of

newdaily cases stayed above 4,000 for the

fifth consecutive day.The death toll reached

456,with 51 people dying overnight

Italywill present a plan thisweek to ease its

lockdown, said PrimeMinister GiuseppeConte

in a post on Facebook. “Areasonable forecast”

is that a detailed restart programwill be

applied fromMay 4, Conte said

UStreasuryhandsout$2.9billion toairlines

Europe tries toease lockdownswitheyeonnewcases

Viruswipesoutmore than90%of international flights

Pandemic sendsEnglandandWalesdeaths to20-yearhigh

Singaporepledgesextra$2.7billion

Countriesmove to reopenamidUNhealthwarnings

WORKING REMOTELYCAN be hugelysatisfying andproductive,but also chal-lenging at times.For first-time telecom-muters,BhavinTurakhia,CEO&founder,Flock (a team communication app andonline collaboration platform) recom-mendsafewtricksandtipstomakework-ingfromhomeproductive.

Prepare formultipledistractionsFamily, kids, OTT platforms, neigh-

boursetc–youcan’tavoidalldistractions.So, be prepared for distractions and setcommon-sense boundaries. Set aside

majorchunksofyourdayforwork,andtellyour familywhy it’s important that youstay focused.Keepyourphone on silentandfaraway,unlessit’syourworkdevice.

Startyourdayearly,comparativelyBeattherushofdistractionslaterinthe

dayby startingwork as early asyou can.Simply getting started on a task in themorningkeepsmotivationlevelshighandhelpsyoustayfocusedthroughouttheday.

Pretendyou’re inyourofficePretendingtobeintheofficehelpsyou

start or continue productive habits, likedaily to-dos,and keepsyou focused.Setdedicated hours forwork,connectwithteammates on collaborative platforms,scheduleandconductvideocalls,doevery-thingyoudointheoffice–asmuchasyoucan.Soonyouwillfindalotmoretime.

Planyourday–create a to-do listSimplythinkof thehoursyouwant to

set aside forwork.Thenyouwant a list ofthingstodointhosechunksoftime.Doitattheendofthedayforthenextone.

TakemultiplebreaksSetanalarmtoeatontime,getacupof

coffee,orjuststretchyourlegs,soyoucanstay active throughout the day. Set

reminderstotakeashortbreakeveryhour.Youwill probably ignore it sometimes ifyou’re in themiddle of something thatneedstobefinishedoronacall,butithelpsensureyoudon’tjustsitinacornerallday.

Savemeetings formid-dayEarly mornings should be saved for

your best work. Setting up meetingstowards themiddleof thedaymeansyoucancontinuebeingproductivefortherestoftheday.Also,whenyoutakemeetingsinthemiddleoftheday,youcantakeapowernapimmediatelyafterwards.

Make time forvideocallsWorking fromhomemeansmissing

office banter and post-work parties, orwater cooler conversations.Connectingoveraquickvideocallwithateammate(ortwo)everydaytotalkaboutyourrespectivedays canbe a bighelp.Maybe amorningcall helps tounderstandhowyour teamsareplacedthroughouttheday.

RIYASETHI

THEUNIONHOMEministryhas flaggedvideo conferencing software Zoom asunsafeandvulnerabletocybercrimes.Theministry’s notification comes at a timewhen the platform has gained promi-nence with most people working fromhome and children attending onlineclasses in thewakeof the lockdown trig-geredbytheCovid-19outbreak,globally.After the government advisory, manyschoolsaresaidtohaveaskedtheirteach-erstostopusingtheapp.

ReputationinthemarketplacemattersandMicrosoftismakingaconcertedeffortto help working professionals and stu-dents stay connected today.The saviourhere isMicrosoftTeams,a unified com-munication and collaboration platformthatcombinespersistentworkplacechat,videomeetings,file storage,andapplica-tionintegration.Inrecenttimes,theRed-mond,Washington-basedfirmhas intro-ducedawidearrayofproductinnovationsacrossMicrosoftTeams.

During this pandemic outbreak,edu-cators across the countryaremoving tovirtual classes on Microsoft Teams toensure learning never stops.Teams not

onlyenablesteachersandstudentstocon-nect over video-enabled remote class-roomsbutalsoprovidesahostof interac-tive and collaborative tools on a singleplatform. Schools such as The BritishSchool in NewDelhi, The DPS Interna-tional, the chain ofAmity InternationalSchoolsaswellasAmityUniversity,amongothers,havemovedtoMicrosoftTeamstoenable their teachers and students inter-actinremotelearningscenarios.

“Ourmissionhas been to ensure thatlearningwillneverbeinterrupted,nomat-terwhat,”saysRashimaVVarma,headofTheArdee School inNewFriendsColony.Last November,when the city grappledwithunprecedentedlevelsofairpollution,

ithadmoveditsclassestoMicrosoftTeamsto ensure that its students do not fallbehind.The earlyexperience enabled theschool to swiftlydeployTeamsfor its stu-dentsinthecurrentCovid-19situation.

Fortheuninitiated,MicrosoftTeamsisyourhub for teamwork inOffice 365. Itbrings togethervirtual face-to-face con-nections,assignments,files,andconversa-tions into one single platformaccessibleonamobile device,tablet,PC,orbrowser.Put simply,Teamsprovides the studentswithanactualfeelofaclassroom.Itallowseducators to create their own class,addselected students, share lessons, createassignments,collaboratevirtuallyinreal-time,andprovidepersonalised feedback

all in one hub.Teams has also created a‘Remote LearningGuide’tohelpparentsandguardianssupporttheirchildren.

RimaSingh,HeadofSchool,DPSInter-national,informs:“TheteachersareusingMicrosoft Teams to deliver lessons andshare instructionalmaterials to commu-nicateandcollaboratewithstudents,col-leaguesandalsowithparents.”

Samik Roy, country head, ModernWorkplace, Microsoft India, says, “Oursolution ofMicrosoftTeamswithOffice365Academic SKU free,alongwith tech-nicalsupportisenablingeducationalinsti-tutions to conduct online classes,admis-sions,bring in experts and connectwithparentsinasecureenvironment.”

Teams enables teachersand students to connectovervideo-enabledremote classrooms,offering a host ofinteractive and collabora-tive tools on one platform

●HOMEOFFICE

7 tips and tricks towork fromhome like a pro

●ONLINE CLASSES

Learning remotelywithMicrosoftTeams

eFE

BhavinTurakhia

❝ ❝

Weare committed toenabling learningcontinuity and providingtransformative learningexperiences.

—SAMIKROY,COUNTRYHEAD,

MODERNWORKPLACE,

MICROSOFTINDIA

PersonalFinance

SAIKATNEOGI

AHEADOFAkshayaTritiya,adaywhenpeo-ple in India consider it auspicious to buygold,thegovernmenthaslaunchedthefirsttranche of Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme(SGB)forthecurrentfinancialyear.Thesub-scriptionisopentillApril24,2020.Thevalueofthebondis`4,639pergramofgold,andinvestorswhoapplyonlineandpayviadigi-talmodewillgetadiscountof`50pergramonthevalue.

While the stock markets have seen asharp fall since the outbreak of Covid-19pandemic—the 30-share BSE Sensex hasfallen26%sinceJanuarythisyear,goldhasgenerated 20% returns (in rupee terms)during the same period. Analysts sayinvestors should buy small amounts ofbonds in each tranches and hold on tillmaturitytogettax-efficientreturns.

Aresearchnote byValidusWealth says

thatgoldprovidesdiversification inaport-folio and is often correlatedwith the stockmarket during risk-on periods, while itdecouplesandbecomesinverselycorrelatedduring periods of stress. “This is uniqueamongstmost hedges in themarketplace,because it ensures investors get thebest of

bothworlds,”itunderlines.

Invest in SovereignGold BondsTheminimuminvestmentinSGBwillbe

one gramand themaximum limit of sub-scription per fiscal yearwill be four kilo-gramsforindividualsandHinduUndivided

Family, while for trusts it is 20 kg. Forinvestors,SGBsareabetterwayto invest inthemetalastheinvestmentearnsaninter-estof2.5%perannumpayablesemi-annu-allyapartfromtheappreciationinthevalueof theyellowmetal.As SGBs pay interest,returnsarehigherthangoldETFsorphysicalgold.Golf ETFs deduct fundmanagementcharges (0.5-1%) and physical gold levymakingcharges.

The tenorof thebond is eightyears andthebuyerwill have anexit option fromthefifth year which can be exercised on theinterestpaymentdays.Aninvestordoesnothave to payanycharge forbuying SGBs inthe primarymarket.However, if one buysthese bonds from the secondarymarket,thenonehastopayone-timebrokerage.

Regardingtaxation,if theSGBsareheldtillmaturity,thentheinvestorwillnothavetopayanycapitalgainstax.However,iftheyare tradedbeforematurity,short-termandlong-termcapital gains taxwill be applica-ble.The interest onSGBs is taxable.InbothphysicalgoldandGoldETFs,short-termandlong-termcapital gains tax are applicable.Thebondscanbeusedascollateralforloans.

The other tranches during the first half ofthis financialyearwill be fromMay11-15,June8-12,July6-10,August3-7andAugust31-September4 and thenominalvalue ofthesetrancheswillbefixedaccordingly.

Why invest in gold?Gold is a natural hedge against uncer-

taintyandhelps an investor’s portfolio getthrough a recession.ChiragMehta,seniorfund manager, Alternative Investments,QuantumAMC,says that unlike equities,gold does not require a business to keep itafloat.“Gold’svalueisnotdependentonrev-enuesandprofits.Thismakesholdinggoldimperativeduring aneconomicdownturnwhenstocksarehitbylossesduetoadeteri-oratingeconomy,”hesays.

Anindividualcanchoosefromdifferenttypes of gold investmentproducts such asphysicalgold(barandcoin),digitalgold,GoldETFs,GoldFundsandSGBs.WhileGoldETFsscoreoverSGBsintermsofliquidity,thefor-meristradingatapremiumtonetassetval-uesnowbecauseofsupplydisruptionduetothelockdown.

While investment in gold is a usefuldiversification tool, analysts suggest aninvestorshouldnotallocatemorethan10to15%ofhistotalportfoliotothemetal.WhilemostIndiansprefertoinvestinthepreciousmetal in thephysical form,SGB is a conve-nient option to purchase gold during thelockdownperiod fromthe comfort ofyourhomeforAkshayaTritiyaorAkhaTeej,whenbuyinggoldissaidtobringgoodfortune.

● SOVEREIGN GOLD BOND

THEMAGNITUDEAND spread of COVID-19acrosstheglobeiskeepingusworriedontwofronts.Oneisaboutourandourfamily’shealth and the second is the impact of anysuchpotential illness onour finances.Anycritical illness canhave a great impact onyoursavings.Oftenpeopleworryabout thelengthofillness,healthcarecostandpoten-tial impactontheirincome.

Heregoessomeimmediatefinancialandpracticalprecautions thateveryoneshouldtakenoteofinthecurrentuncertaintimes.

Health insuranceOften,manypeople think that health

insurance is anunwarranted expenditure,which is not true. If you have adequatehealth insurance which covers major ill-nesses which are prevalent, then at leastsomepartof cashoutflowfromyourend isrestrictedbecauseinsurancecoversthebulkofmedicalexpensesasdictatedintheinsur-ancecontract.Fortheuninsured,thefinan-cial consequences of illness arepotentiallyfarreaching.

Reviseyour financial plan

Theessentialelementsofyourfinancialplan should be the following.Tohave ade-quate life insurance coverage,well-estab-lishedemergencyfund,welldiversifiedport-folio within your risk tolerance level,participating incompanysponsoredgrouplinkedinsuranceschemes,etc.Duringapro-longed leave of absence from work, oneshould get outof long-termassetslikeequi-ties or realestate andinvest intomore liquidassets such asbank fixeddeposits or liq-uid funds topay for treat-ment or evenfor livingexpenses incase of nosalaryor job loss.One shouldnotdelaythisprocessas illiquidassets like real estatecantakeasignificanttimetosell.Ifyourmoneyisstuckinrealestate,itmaynotbeavailablewhenyouneed it. In comparison,you canredeemfromopen-endedmutualfundsonanyworkingdayandgetcasheasily.

Assess fromwhereyou can accessfunds

Anyextendedleaveowingtohealthcon-ditionisastrainonyourfinancial situationandyouneedtoconservecashandtherearemultipleoptionsavailable.Forinstance,youcanthinkofsurrenderingyourlifeinsuranceandget liquidcash.Ifyouhavealreadypaidsignificant portion of yourhousing loan,consider availing additional leverage byusingthesameproperty.Useyourcreditcardonneedbasis but amount spent shouldbewithinyourrepaymentcapacityandmain-tainasmanyliquidassets asyoucan in theshort-term.

Whomto call in distressMake sure that you have the contact

informationofyourreportingmangerandHR department in a dairy or phone or aplace where your spouse can access thesame easily. It is important to keep yourinsurance cards handy.Nowadays,manyinsurance companies offer smartphone-based apps,and it is always a good idea todownload all relevant information andkeep your documents in your phone’sdigitalwallet.

To conclude,when illness strikesmanyof us tap into accumulated assets that areintended forotherpurposes suchas retire-ment or children education, etc. Currentenvironmentisagoodopportunitytoreflectandunderstandhowtoincorporateprotec-tivemeasures intoyourportfolio to avoidanyhealth induced financial difficulties inthefuture.

Thewriterisaprofessoroffinance&accounting,IIMTiruchirappalli

● SMARTPLANSPSARAVANAN

Applyonline to buygold bonds this season

FINANCIALEXPRESS9 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

2020-21

`

❝❝

❝❝

ONGOLDDEMANDRavindra Rao, VP, head of Commodity Research,

Kotak Securities

AkshayaTritiya is usually a high demand period forgold.This yearwe are in a different situation as India isin a lockdown. So physical demand is likely to be low.

●YOURQUERIES

Interestwill bechargedon loanmoratoriumperiod●Iwanttooptfortwo-monthmoratoriumformyhomeloan.CanIpaythetwomonth’sEMIstogetheraftertwomonthswithoutpayinganyinterestontheperiodofmoratorium?

—VKSinghalIfyouare facingcash flowissues,yes,

it ispossible topaythe twoEMIsafterthemoratoriumperiod,but interestwill becharged fortheunpaidperiod.Ifyoudonotcleartheadditional interest amount,itwill goonaccruing interestover it,tillyoupayitoff.It isbettertopaytheadditional interest amountaswell,afterthemoratorium.Backof theenvelopecalculations showtheadditional interestquantumwill be2-2.5%ofyourEMIamount forthese twomonths.

●DoIhavetotell the bankIwanttopayEMIanddon’twantmoratorium?

—AgrimSaksenaAll thebankshave

announcedtheirindividualprocess foravailingmoratorium.Checkyourbank’swebsite/ call theircustomersupport,forupdated information.

●MyhousingloanapplicationwasrejectedayearagoasIhadshiftedmyhomeanddidnothaveanyaddressproof.CanIapplyforthe loannow?

—AlokKumarRanjanIfyouhaveavalidaddressproofnow

andsatisfytheothercriteriaofhomeloaneligibility,youapplicationwilldefinitelybeconsidered.

●SinceIcan’goout todropmychequeformycreditcardbill,canIaskthebanktocollect it frommyhouse?

—PavanDaveThebankwillnotbe inaposition to

collectyourcheque.Call thehelplinenumberandask forcredit cardpaymentaccountdetails.Makeapaymentonline.

●Ihave`7lakhoutstandingonmyhomeloanwhichIhavetopayin24months.Iwanttoprepay.HowcanIdothatwithoutgoingtothebranch?

—PrashantKumarClosingahome loanaccount involves

outstanding loanrepayment,signingsomeforms,request forreturnoforiginaldocuments,collectingno-duescertificateaswell as the final interestpaymentcertificate.Suchpaperworkwillbepossibleonlyafterthe lockdown.However,youcanpayoff thebulkof theoutstandingamount,`6 lakhor`6.5lakhnow,so that the interest componentis reducedconsiderably.Dothispaymentonline.Afterthe lockdown,youmaycomplete thepaperworkandpaytheremainingsmall amount.

Thewriter is founder,AZUKEPersonalFinanceAdvisory (www.azukefinance.

com).Sendyourqueries tofepersonalfinance@expressindia.com

Chaitali Dutta

LOANS

The current

environment is a

good opportunity to

reflect and

understand how to

incorporate

protectivemeasures

into your portfolio to

avoid any health

induced financial

difficulties in the

future

Gold provides diversification in a

portfolio and is often correlated

with the stockmarket during risk-

on periods,while it decouples and

becomes inversely correlated

during periods of stress

Four tips toensure you areready for theseuncertaintimes

The first tranche ofSovereign Gold Bond (SGB)this financial year is on tillApril 24, and investorswhoapply and pay digitally geta `50 per gram discount onthe `4639 per gm price ofeach bond

ILLUSTRATION: SHYAMKUMAR PRASAD

ILLUSTRATION: SHYAMKUMAR PRASAD

●MARCHQUARTER OUTFLOW

YOOSEFKPMumbai, April 21

FOREIGN PORTFOLIO INVESTORS(FPIs),thesecond-largestownersofIndianequitiesafterpromotergroups,haveparedstakes in several leading companies thatare part of the Nifty50 during theMarchquarter.

Interestingly, the banking and finan-cial stocks saw ownership coming downthemost asmajority of foreign investorsexpect the impending economic slow-down due to the Covid-19 pandemic tohaveagreater impactonthesector.

Of the17Niftycompanies thathave sofar declared their shareholding data forQ4FY20,16 sawoverseas investors trim-mingtheirstakesinthem,withWiprobeingtheonlyexception,datacompiledfromCap-italine show.While the overseas investorscut their stake in Axis Bank by 2.6% to44.6% in March 2020, their holdings inHDFC and State Bank of India (SBI) camedownby1.9%and1.4%,respectively.For-eignholdings inHDFCBank—the largestlenderbymarketcapitalisation—hascomeoffby1%to29.8%duringthequarter.

Thecombinedforeignholdingsinthese16 stockswhere FPIs reduced their stakeduring thequarter stoodat22.08%at theendofMarch2020against23%inDecem-ber2019.Thatcompareswiththepromoterholdingof28.5%asofMarch2020.

DaltonCapitalAdvisors (India)directorURBhatsaid“FPIspulledoutmorefromthefinancial sectoras it is quite apparent thattheeconomicfalloutfromthecoronaviruspandemicwill have a direct impact on thesector.Moreover, the extended lockdown

has caused a significant slowdown in eco-nomic activity, thatwill reduce the repay-ment capacity of borrowers and therebyweakeningthehealthofbalancesheets”

The intensified selling in the financialspaceduring thequarterhaddragged theNifty50indexdownby29.3%.Incontrast,the Bank Nifty,which tracks both state-ownedandprivate-sectorlenders,hadlost40.5% during the same period.At about37%, the financial services sector com-mands the highest weightage on theNifty50 index.

Overseas investors had pulled out arecord $6.6 billion from Indian equitiesin three months to March 2020.WithFPIs offloading both equities and debt,the rupee plunged to record lows anddepreciated5.6%against thedollardur-ing the quarter.

S&P Global Ratings, which slashedIndia growth forecast for FY21 to 1.8%from the earlier estimate of 3.5%, said:“We expect Indian banks’asset quality todeteriorate, credit costs to rise, and prof-itability to decline.We have revised theeconomic risk trend for the banking sys-temtonegative fromstable.”

FE BUREAUMumbai, April 21

MOST RETAIL BORROWERS whoapplied for the loan moratorium did soout of caution and not any real financialstress,HDFCBanktoldanalystsonapost-resultsconferencecall.Italsosaidaseriesof stress tests on its loan portfolioshelped it arrive at the figure of `1,550crore that it has set aside as contingencyprovisions forCovid-19.

BankchiefriskofficerJimmyTatasaid:“Whenwedidananalysisofthepeoplewhohaveapplied forthemoratorium,inretail,particularly, around 95-98%of the cus-tomerswere not in default at the point oftimeofapplying.Wehavesurveyedaround1,000 customers and the feedback hasbeen that themoratorium is being takenmoreoutofcautionthanoutofstress.”

The percentage of applicants is in lowsingledigit asa shareof the loanbook,thebanksaid,butthiscouldgoupasithasnotput a deadline or a cut-off for people toapply.“Whenyouseetheir(theapplicants’)account balances and salary credit, itwasquite amazing because the salary creditsare happening but theywant to still availthemoratoriumasacautionarymeasure,”themanagementsaid.

Most applied formoratoriumoutofcaution,not stress,saysHDFCBank

Insider trading: Sebijunks charges againstKotak Life Insurance

SEBIONTuesdaydisposedofinsidertradingchargesagainstKotakMahindraLifeInsuranceCompanyinthematterofManappuramFinance.ItwasallegedthatKotakMahindraLifeInsuranceCompany(earlierknownasKotakMahindraOldMutualLifeInsurance)soldsharesofManappuramFinance(MFL)whileinpossessionofunpublishedprice-sensitiveinfor-mation(UPSI)aboutthecompanyandtherebyviolatedinsidertradingnorms.SebisaidKotakwasnotinapositiontoknowthattheinformationthatwasdistributedinaresearchreportordiscussedintheconferencecallorbeingcoveredbythemediaisUPSI.

FederalBanktoraisestakeinlifeinsuranceJVwithIDBIFEDERALBANKonTuesdaysaiditsboardhasinprincipleapprovedpurchaseofadditionalstakeofupto4%intheequitycapitalofIDBIFederalLifeInsurance(IFLIC)fromIDBIBank.FederalBankcurrentlyholdsa26%stakeinIFLIC,makingitanAssociat,thebanksaidinaregulatoryfiling.Afterthepurchase,thebank’stotalstakeinIFLICmayriseupto30%.

CityUnionBankMD&CEOgetsthree-yearextensionRESERVEBANKofIndia(RBI)hasapprovedthereappointmentofCityUnionBankMD&CEONKamakodiforaperiodofthreeyearsfromMay1,2020to April30,2023,adisclosurebythebanktothestockexchangessaid.

Quick

View

MarketsFINANCIALEXPRESS10 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

FPI holdingDec 2019 Mar 2020 % change(%)

Axis Bank

Tata Steel

HDFC

State Bank of India

Shree Cement

UltraTech Cem.

Britannia Inds.

Hero Motocorp

HDFC Bank

Infosys

Titan Company

ITC

JSW Steel

Power Grid Corpn

Nestle India

Hind. Unilever

Wipro

44.6

13.22

70.88

9.47

11.9

16.48

14.71

34.27

29.8

31.01

17.74

14.63

17.13

26.95

11.81

12.1

8.45

47.24

15.34

72.75

10.84

13.2

17.6

15.8

35.29

30.8

31.76

18.31

15.15

17.64

27.28

12.07

12.32

8.42

-2.64

-2.12

-1.87

-1.37

-1.30

-1.12

-1.09

-1.02-1.00

-0.75

-0.57

-0.52-0.51

-0.33

-0.26

-0.22

0.03

FE BUREAUMumbai,April 21

THECRASH IN crudepricesgloballyanda series of downgrades by sell-side bro-kerages dragged the equity marketsdown on Tuesday. Tracking the globalequitymarkets,whichreactednegativelytowards the crash in crude oil prices inthe US, the 50-share Nifty gave up the9,000-point mark to decline by280.4 points or 3.03% to end the dayat 8,981.45. The benchmark Sensexfell 1,011.2 points or 3.2% to closeat 30,636.71.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) soldequitiesworth$272.6milliononTuesday,whiledomestic institutionssold$8.9-mil-lionstocks.FPIshavepulledout$386.4mil-lionsofarinApril.Thecashmarketvolumesstood at `46,977.52 crore against the six-

monthaverageof`39,134crore.Following the crash in crude prices,

NymexWTIcontractsweretradingbelow$0onexpirydayintheUS.WTIoilcontractforJune,however,wastradingat$16perbarrel.Brentcrudewastradingat$21perbarrel.

KRChoksey InvestmentManagersMDDevenChokseysaid:“As of nownothing ischanging. The volumes will continue toremain lowdueto lowerparticipation.TheIndianmarket plays a lot onglobalmoneywhich has not been coming due to theuncertainty in the oil market. Domesticinstitutionalmoneycoming throughMFsis strong but not enough to competewiththeglobalmoney,”hesaid.

ThevolumesintheF&Osegmentstoodat `7.7 lakh crore against the six-monthaverageof`14.42lakhcrore.

TheNiftyBankindexrecordeditssingle-biggestdayfallinApril,declining5.4%.The

biggestlosersonNiftyBankwereIndusIndBank,BandhanBank,RBLBank,ICICIBankandAxis Bank— down by 12.2%,9.6%,8.8%, 8.7% and 7.9%, respectively. Thebanks remainedunderpressuredue to the

anticipation ofmoreNPAs coming out ofthesectorafterthesentimentturnedsom-breonICICIBank’sexposuretoabankruptSingapore-basedoiltradingcompany.BajajFinance also remained under pressure

declining by 9% and closed at `2,099 apieceafterbeingdowngradedbyUBS.

Stocks ofmostNBFCs remainedunderpressure afterUBS cut the target prices ofNBFCsbetween18%and65%.Theforeignbrokerage is of theviewthat the lockdownmayextendbeyondMay3forurbanareas,the economic recoverywould be gradualandthattherewouldbealossof loandisci-pline,given themoratorium.“We cut ourloanestimates8-22%inFY21,EPSby11-65% in FY21-22E and price targets 18-66%.OurpricetargetsforNBFCsarebasedon the residual incomemodel and reflectEPScutsandrisksonassetquality,”itsaid.

Geojit Financial Services researchheadVinodNair said: “Post-earningsmanage-mentguidancehasalsonotgivenclearindi-cation about the recoverypath.Earningsresultswillbeinfocusforthefuturecourseofthecompanybusiness.”

Money Matters

Apr 3 Apr 21

6.2086.305

The benchmark yieldfell due to buyingsupport

0.001%

G-SEC

Inverted scaleApr 3 Apr 21

76.195

76.833

The rupee depreciatedon global cues

0.39%

`/$

Apr 3 Apr 21

1.0801.083

The euro fell againstthe dollar

0.26%

C=/$

ANALYSTCORNER

Infosys canovercomeCovidchallenges; retain‘buy’

MOTILALOSWAL

DESPITETHECOVID-19 impact onutilisation, Infosyswas able to defendits grossmargins (q-o-q, 33.4%),whichis comforting. Large deal signings inMarch 2020 (~$1.7 billion v/s $1.8billion in December 2019)wereimpacted. But it is important to notethat the run rate of newdealwinsshowed ameaningful increase (~50%q-o-q).We expect supply-side aspectsto ease off even aswork from home(WFH)may outlast lockdowns for asignificant share of theworkforce. Inlight of the heightened uncertainty inthe near term,wewere not takenaback by the cautious outlook. Beyondnear-term challenges, Infosys shouldbe a key beneficiary ofdigital IT spendsby enterprises.We havemarginally cutour FY21/FY22E EPS estimates aswebuild in heavier pricing pressure, theimpact ofwhich is partially offset bythe change in our exchange rateassumption. Reiterate 'buy'.In Q4FY20, revenue ($)/Ebit

(`)/PAT increased 4%/7%/6% y-o-y(v/s our estimates of 5%/8%/3% y-o-y).As client approvals forWFHwerenot received in certain cases, revenuewitnessed ~$32million (~1% revenue)

drop. Infosyswitnessed broadbaseddecline across geographieswith itsIndian businesswitnessing themostpronounced impact (-8.5% q-o-q, $).Adjusted for a couple of one-offs, Ebitmarginswere largely in linewithexpectations. Decline in utilisation (-90bp impact), H-1B visa costs (-40 bpimpact) and receivables hit (-50 bpimpact)were themargin headwinds. `depreciation (+50 bp impact), reducedtravel and other cost optimisationmeasures (+50 bp impact)were thekeymargin tailwinds. Large dealbookings in Q4FY20 stood at~$1.7 billion (~56% - newdeals).In linewith our expectations, the

company suspended its tradition ofguiding for revenue growth/profitability because of the heighteneduncertainty. Despite encouragingmedium-termprospects, Infosys hashinted at a challenging near termwithno clear viewon recovery. Given thecompany’s track record of adapting tomultiple challenges and technologychange cycles,we believe it’ll be ableto navigate through theCovid-19headwinds.The stock is currentlytrading in linewith its long-term crosscycle average. OurTP implies 18xFY22E EPS. Retain 'buy'.

In thewakeof theCovid-19pandemic,Kar-nataka Bank is on a‘conserve and consoli-date’mode,saysKarnatakaBankMD&CEOMahabaleshwara MS. In an interviewwithHariprasadRadhakrishnan,Maha-baleshwarafurthersaysdigitalproductutil-ityshouldimproveinthecurrentscenario.Headds that thebank is going througha trans-formation ahead of its centenary yearthrough a tie-up with BCG in humanresources,creditandIT.Editedexcerpts:

About25daysintothelockdown,whatdoyouthinkwouldbetheimpactofthepan-demiconyourbankandthesector?OnaccountoftheRBI’scoronareliefpack-age,thestressgotpausedforthreemonthsacross the sector.The future depends onhoweffectiveweareasanationtocontainthe pandemic andhowquicklywe restartour economic activities once the crisis isover.As of now,we at Karnataka Bank areona‘conserveandconsolidate’mode.

Whatwouldbeyourcreditgrowthoutlook

giventhecurrentmarketconditions?Fortheentirebankingsector,Ibelievecreditgrowthwill be in single digit forFY20.Forourbank, itwould be in the same level orslightlyhigher.For the first ninemonths,credit growthwasnotverysignificant.Forthe next financial year, it could be in therangeof12-15%forourbank.Inourbank,theretailcredithasgrownat11.5%forthefirst ninemonths.Themid-corporate seg-menthasgrownatarateof10.5%,whereasin the corporate segment,wemade a con-scious decision todegrow.There is anega-tive growth of 9.5% in the corporate seg-ment. As a result of the fundamentalrealignmentof theportfolio,credit growthwouldbe impressive in the retail andmid-corporate,andtheoverallcreditgrowthmaygetmoderated.Wehavemadea shift fromconsortiumandbig-ticketadvancestomid-corporate and retail segments,where theriskiswell-diversifiedandtheyieldishigher.

With the gross NPAs having risen to4.99%inQ3FY20,doyouthinkthestress

inyourbookhasbeenalreadyrecognised?Yes. It was mainly on account of stressrecognised in a few of the NBFC sectoradvances. Further,we have taken a cau-tious approach of reducing the exposureto the corporate sector gradually by con-centratingonretail andmid-corporate.

Do you expect any slippages in youragricultureandMSMEbooks?Slippages in agri &MSMEbooksmaynotrise,rather they maycontinue at the pre-sent rate. Loanwaiver schemes for agri-

cultural loans introduced by some of thestate governmentsmay also help reducestress to some extent.Hence, the chancesof furtherslippageappeartobe less.

As customer behaviourmay change inthetimeofsocialdistancing,howareyoutailoringyourproductsandservices?It’sanexcellentopportunityforthebankingindustryandcustomerstogodigital.Digitalproduct utility, especially in mobile andinternetbanking,shouldimprove,andcash-less and less-cash transactions shouldgainmomentum.Wearefurtherpopularisingallourdigitalproducts.Thereisincreasedtrac-tionintermsofmobilebankingandutilisa-tionofinternetbanking.Wearealsoincreas-ingthenumberofe-lobbiesofthebank.

Did you see any significant outflowofdepositsaftertheYesBankcrisis?For a short period, therewas doubt in themindsof someof the customers regardingthesafetyoftheirdeposits.Itwasfuelledbyaprivate TV channel, which had given an

adverseopinionbyinventingtheirownratiocalled ‘M-cap to deposits’ ratio. This hadcaused someanxietyamongsomedeposi-tors,but ithasnowbeenallayed.Moreover,wehavebeen in this space fora longperiodof96years.WehavebeenprofitableandourCapital to Risk Weighted Assets Ratio at13.17%isoneofthebestintheindustry.

For small- and medium-sized banks,do you see any challenges in capitalaugmentation?Capital augmentation is a continuousprocess.Once in2-3years,wemayhave toapproachourshareholders.Inthepast,therewas good responsewheneverwewent forourrightsissue.Infact,lasttime,itwasover-subscribedbyalmost1.85times.Ofcourse,there are otherways of capital augmenta-tion, viz, through private placement orthroughqualifiedinstitutionalplacement.

How’syourtie-upwithBCGhelpingyou?Thishasbeenoneofthebestthingstohap-pen to our bank as we aimed for holistic

transformation.Weareafirst-genbankandwouldbe celebratingourcentenaryyear in2023-24.Topreparethebankforitssecondcentury,wewanted to repositionourselvestoemergeasthe‘bankofthefuture’.Forthis,we have treated our own staff as changeagents so that the transformation is sus-tainable.We are going throughHR,creditandITtransformation.AlloftheseinitiativesaredrivenbyIT.SeveralinitiativeshavebeentakeninHRtofine-tunetheattitudeofourstaff and reskill them.In the areaof credit,the future belongs to digital sanction ofloans.Ifyouwant ahousing loan,ouroffi-cerswouldapproachtheprospectiveclientsattheirpreferredlocation.Theywouldgetalltherequiredinformationandwithin15-20minutes,wewill be in aposition togive in-principlesanctionforhomeloansbasedonaBRE (business rule engine) developed in-house at ourdigital CoE in Bengaluru.Wehave alreadyrolledout thedigital sanctionsolutionsforhomeloans,salaried-classper-sonal loans and car loans, and would beextendingthistotheMSMEsectoraswell.

Open Close

Intra-day, April 21

19,812.05

Bank Nifty

19,409.35

19,200

19,400

19,600

19,800

20,000

Open Close

Intra-day, April 21

30,836.19

Sensex

30,636.71

30,200

30,400

30,600

30,800

31,000

ICICI Bank confirms exposureto troubled Singapore oil firmSHRITAMABOSEMumbai,April 21

ICICI BANK ON Tuesday confirmed ithas an exposure to troubled Singapore oilfirmHinLeongTrading(HLT).Thelender’soutstandingloanstothecompanystandat$100 million, of which $75 million hasbeensecuredoverinventory,accordingtoareportbyS&PGlobalPlatts.

“We confirm the bank, in the normalcourse of its business,has exposure to theborrowergroup in question, is taking duestepstoprotectitsinterests,andwillappro-priately reflect the same in its financialstatements,asitwoulddoinrespectofallitsexposures,”ICICIBanktoldtheexchanges.

The S&Preport ,quoting corporate fil-ings,saidICICIBankhasalreadyissuedwritsagainstthevesselsWuYiSanandChangBaiSan with a cargo owner’s claim, and thebanks, Societe General and ABN AMRO,issued a charge onHin Leong’s assets andbookdebts as farback asMarch.HLTowes23securedcreditorsatotal$3.64billion.

ICICI Bank’s stock took a beating onMondayandTuesdayafternewsofitsexpo-sure toHLTbecamepublic,ending8.28%lowerthantheirpreviousclose.

Experts saidwhether ICICIBankwouldbe able to enforce anyunilateral action forrecoverywill depend upon the nature ofsecuritysupporting its loans as also on thelawsgoverning financial insolvencyinSin-gapore.“ICICIcanalwaysworktogetherwith

theother lendersandthe regulationsasso-ciatedwiththerecoveryofproceeds inthatjurisdiction.Within the frameworkof thatlaw,theywillhavetotryandrecoverasmuchaspossible,”anexpertsaid.Ifthebankhasapari-passuchargeonassets,itismoresensi-bletoworkwiththeotherlenders,headded.

The regulatory normswith respect toprovisioningandassetrecognitionareuni-formforIndianbanks’domesticandforeignexposures.Itisnotpossibletodeterminetheamount of provisions ICICIBankwill haveto hold against its HLT exposure as it isunclearifandwhenthelatterhasdefaultedonitsduestothebank.

HLThadnot reported its dire financialsituationtillApril17,whenoneofitsdirec-tors LimCheeMeng,also known as EvanLim,filedforasix-monthdebtmoratoriumfor another family company, OceanTankers. In the application,Lim clarifiedthatHLT’sfinancialpositionwasnotwhatithadbeenmadeouttobe.

FPIs cut stake inmostNiftyfirmsRupee slips30 p to 76.83 onoil price slumpPRESSTRUSTOF INDIAMumbai, April 21

THERUPEEonTuesdayslidby30paisetocloseat76.83againsttheUScurrencydueto forex outflows and strengthening ofthedollar inoverseasmarkets.

Investors rushed to safe-haven bet,thedollar,duetomarketuncertaintyafteroil prices slumped into negative territoryin the US markets hit by weak demandafter coronavirus-related lockdowns,traders said.

Therupeeopenedweakat76.79attheinterbank forex market and during theday,lostfurthergroundandfinallysettledat76.83,down30paiseover its last close.Therupeehadsettledat76.53againsttheUSdollaronMonday.

During the session, the rupeewitnessed high volatility and touched ahigh of 76.62 and a lowof 76.84 againstthedollar.

WTI crude oil futures collapsed tonegative; while Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, fell 14.47% to$21.87perbarrel.

Sensex sheds1,000points,Niftybelow9k-markondowngrades,crude crash

● INTERVIEW: MAHABALESHWARAMS, MD & CEO, Karnataka Bank

‘We are in conserve-&-consolidatemode; crisis a great time to go digital’

Our own survey shows that only 12members (microlenders), onewith 'AA' and 11with 'A', have investmentgrade ratings, and, therefore, they are the oneswhoaremost likely to get themoney underTLTRO 2.0.

—Harsh Shrivastava, chief executive, Micro Finance

Institutions Network

EXPERTVIEW

LEADINGMORTGAGELEND-ER HDFC onTuesday slashedits lending rate by 15 basispoints amid a gradual declineincostofborrowingacross thesystem.

Themovecomesafterafewlenders, including the coun-try'sbiggest lenderStateBankof India, trimmed their lend-

ing rate.“HDFC reduces its retail

prime lending rate (RPLR) onhousing loans, on which itsadjustable rate home loans(ARHL) are benchmarked, by15 basis points (bps), with

effectfromApril22,2020,”thecompanysaid.ThechangewillbenefitallexistingHDFCretailhome loancustomers,it said.

Rates will range between7.85%and8.15%forsalariedclass.

Rates across the bankingsystem have headed south in

the last fewmonths,astheRBIand the government work in

tandem to propel the slowingeconomy.The RBI last monthcut the policy rate by75 basispointstospurgrowthamidtheCOVID-19crisis. —PTI

MARKETS 11FINANCIALEXPRESS

WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

HDFC Asset Management Company LimitedA Joint Venture with Standard Life Investments

CIN: L65991MH1999PLC123027

Registered Ofice: HDFC House, 2nd Floor, H.T. Parekh Marg, 165-166, Backbay Reclamation,Churchgate, Mumbai - 400 020. Phone: 022 66316333 • Toll Free Nos: 1800-3010-6767 / 1800-419-7676

Fax: 022 22821144 • e-mail: cliser@hdfcfund.com • Visit us at: www.hdfcfund.com

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that HDFC Trustee Company Limited, Trustee to HDFC Mutual Fund(“the Fund”), has approved the declaration of dividend in HDFC Balanced Advantage Fund, anOpen-ended Balanced Advantage Fund (“the Scheme”) and ixed Monday, April 27, 2020 (or theimmediately following Business Day, if that day is not a Business Day) as the Record Date for thesame as given below:

Name of the Scheme / Plan / Option Net Asset Value(“NAV”) as onApril 20, 2020(` per unit)

Amount ofDividend#(` per unit)

Face Value(` per unit)

HDFC Balanced Advantage Fund - Regular Plan -Dividend Option^ (Payout and Reinvestment)

20.406

0.230 10.00HDFC Balanced Advantage Fund - Direct Plan -Dividend Option^ (Payout and Reinvestment)

21.894

^ Dividend option- Monthly Frequency# The dividend will be subject to the availability of distributable surplus and may be lower, dependingon the distributable surplus available on the Record Date.

Pursuant to payment of dividend, the NAV of the Dividend Option(s) of the aboveScheme would fall to the extent of payout and statutory levy, if any.

Income distribution will be done / Dividend will be paid, net of tax deducted at source, as applicable, tothose Unit holders / Beneicial Owners whose names appear in the Register of Unit holders maintainedby the Fund / Statements of Beneicial Ownership maintained by the Depositories, as applicable, underthe Dividend Option(s) of the aforesaid Scheme on the Record Date (including investors whose validpurchase / switch-in requests are received by the Fund till cut-off timings in respect of the aforesaidScheme, on the Record date, subject to realization of cheques / demand drafts). However, in respectof subscriptions for an amount equal to or more than ` 2 lakh (at Unit holders’ PAN and holding patternlevel), the Applicable NAV shall be based on realization of funds as per the provisions of SEBI CircularCIR/IMD/DF/21/2012 dated September 13, 2012 and No. CIR/IMD/DF/19/2010 dated November 26,2010, as may be amended from time to time, on uniform cut-off timings for applicability of NAV.

Unitholders who have opted to receive dividend by way of physical instruments may note that due tothe unprecedented COVID-19 situation and depending on availability of postal / courier services, theremay be a delay in delivery of dividend payment instruments.

With regard to Unit holders of the aforesaid Scheme who have opted for Reinvestment facility underthe Dividend Option(s), the dividend due will be reinvested by allotting Units for the Income distribution /Dividend amount at the prevailing ex-dividend NAV per Unit on the Record Date. The amount of dividendre-invested will be net of tax deducted at source, as applicable.

In view of individual nature of tax consequences, each investor is advised to consult his / her ownprofessional inancial / tax advisor.

For HDFC Asset Management Company Limited

Place : Mumbai Sd/-Date : April 21, 2020 Chief Compliance Oficer

MUTUAL FUND INVESTMENTS ARE SUBJECT TO MARKET RISKS, READ ALL SCHEMERELATED DOCUMENTS CAREFULLY.

Canara Robeco Mutual FundInvestment Manager : Canara Robeco Asset Management Co. Ltd.Construction House, 4th Floor, 5, Walchand Hirachand Marg, Ballard Estate, Mumbai 400 001.Tel.: 6658 5000 Fax: 6658 5012/13 www.canararobeco.com CIN No.: U65990MH1993PLC071003

NOTICE NO. 03

Declaration of dividend in Canara Robeco Mutual Fund Schemes

Notice is hereby given that the Board of Trustees of Canara Robeco Mutual Fund has declared dividend inthe following schemes, subject to availability of distributable surplus:

Scheme Name Investment Option Dividend(` Per unit)

Face Value(` per unit)

NAV Per Unit ason 20.04.2020

Canara RobecoShortDurationFund

Regular Plan - Monthly Dividend Option 0.06 10.00 15.0656

Direct Plan - Monthly Dividend Option 0.06 10.00 16.3995

Canara RobecoConservativeHybrid Fund

Regular Plan - Monthly Dividend Option 0.10 10.00 13.0084

Direct Plan- Monthly Dividend Option 0.10 10.00 14.2773

Canara RobecoEquity Hybrid Fun

Regular Plan - Monthly Dividend Option 0.60 10.00 68.0700

Direct Plan - Monthly Dividend Option 0.60 10.00 75.7200

Pursuant to payment of dividend, the NAV of the dividend option of the schemeswould fall to the extent of payout and statutory levy (if any).

Record Date for the purpose of distribution of dividend is27thApril, 2020 or the next business day if the recorddate happens to be a non-business day. All unit holders, under the abovementioned Plan/Option, whosenames appear on the register of unit holders of the Scheme as on the record date, are eligible for the dividend.

Declaration of dividend is subject to availability of distributable surplus on the record date/ex-dividend date.In case the distributable surplus is less than the quantum of dividend on the record date/ex-dividend date,the entire available distributable surplus in the Scheme/plan will be declared as dividend.

Unitholders are requested to visit www.canararobeco.com to claim their amounts remaining unclaimedor unpaid and follow the prescribed procedure therein.

For and on behalf of Canara Robeco Asset Management Company Ltd.(Investment manager for Canara Robeco Mutual Fund)

Date: 21-04-2020 sd/-Place: Mumbai Authorised Signatory

Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully.

Registered Office: 12th Floor, Narain Manzil, 23, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi - 110 001.Corporate Office: One BKC, 13th Floor, Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai - 400 051.Tel.: +91 22 2652 5000, Fax: +91 22 2652 8100, Website: www.iciciprumf.com,

Email id: enquiry@icicipruamc.comCentral Service Office: 2nd Floor, Block B-2, Nirlon Knowledge Park, Western ExpressHighway, Goregaon (E), Mumbai - 400 063. Tel.: 022 2685 2000 Fax: 022 26868313

ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company LimitedCorporate Identity Number: U99999DL1993PLC054135

No. 012/04/2020

To know more, call 1800 222 999/1800 200 6666 or visit www.iciciprumf.com

NSE Disclaimer: It is to be distinctly understood that the permission given by NSEshould not in anyway bedeemedor construed that the Scheme InformationDocument(SID) has been cleared or approved by NSE nor does it certify the correctness orcompleteness of any of the contents of the SID. The investors are advised to refer tothe SID for the full text of the Disclaimer clause of the NSE.

BSE Disclaimer: It is to be distinctly understood that the permission given by BSELimited should not in any way be deemed or construed that the Scheme InformationDocument (SID) has been cleared or approved by BSE nor does it certify thecorrectness or completeness of any of the contents of the SID. The investors areadvised to refer to the SID for the full text of the Disclaimer clause of the BSE Limited.

Capital Protection Oriented Fund disclaimer: The Scheme offered is “orientedtowards protection of capital” and “not with guaranteed returns”. The orientationtowards protection of the capital originates from the portfolio structure of the schemeand not from any bank guarantee, insurance cover etc. The ability of the portfolioto meet capital protection on maturity to the investors can be impacted in certaincircumstances including changes in government policies, interest rate movements inthe market, credit defaults by bonds, expenses, reinvestment risk and risk associatedwith trading volumes, liquidity and settlement systems in equity and debt markets.Accordingly, investors may lose part or all of their investment (including originalamount invested) in the Scheme. No guarantee or assurance, express or implied, isgiven that investors will receive the capital protected value at maturity or any otherreturns. Investors in the Scheme are not being offered any guaranteed/assured returns.

As part of the Go Green Initiative, investors are encouraged to register/update their e-mail idand mobile number to support paper-less communications.

To increase awareness about Mutual Funds, we regularly conduct Investor AwarenessPrograms across the country. To knowmore about it, please visit https://www.iciciprumf.com

or visit AMFI’s website https://www.amfiindia.com

Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks,read all scheme related documents carefully.

Notice to the Investors/Unit holders of ICICI Prudential Capital Protection Oriented

Fund - Series XI - Plan B 1222 Days and ICICI Prudential Fixed Maturity Plan -

Series 80 - 1125 Days Plan S (the Schemes)

Notice is hereby given that ICICI Prudential Trust Limited, Trustee to ICICI Prudential

Mutual Fund has approved declaration of the following dividend under the dividend

option of the Schemes, subject to availability of distributable surplus on the record date

i.e on April 27, 2020*:

Name of the Schemes/Plans Dividend

(` per unit)

(Face value of

` 10/- each)$#

NAV as on

April 20, 2020

(` per unit)

ICICI Prudential Capital Protection Oriented Fund - Series XI - Plan B 1222 Days

Dividend 0.0500 11.8805

Direct Plan - Dividend 0.0500 12.2880

ICICI Prudential Fixed Maturity Plan - Series 80 - 1125 Days Plan S

Dividend 0.0500 12.6668

Direct Plan - Dividend 0.0500 12.7722

$ The dividend payout will be subject to the availability of distributable surplus andmay be lower depending upon the extent of distributable surplus available on therecord date under the dividend option of the Schemes.

# Subject to deduction of applicable statutory levy.

* or the immediately following Business Day, if that day is a Non - Business Day.

Dividend will be paid to all the unit holders/beneficial owners whose names appearin the register of unit holders/Statement of beneficial owners maintained by theDepositories, as applicable under the dividend option of the Schemes, at the close ofbusiness hours on the record date.

It should be noted that pursuant to payment of dividend, the NAVof the dividend option of the Schemes would fall to the extent ofdividend payout and statutory levy (if applicable).

Suspension of trading of units of the Schemes:

The units of ICICI Prudential Capital Protection Oriented Fund - Series XI - Plan B 1222Days (CAPRO-XI-PlB 1222 D) are listed on BSE and the units of ICICI Prudential FixedMaturity Plan - Series 80 - 1125 Days Plan S (FMP-80-1125D PlS) are listed on NationalStock Exchange of India Limited (NSE). The trading of units of CAPRO-XI-PlB 1222 Dwill be suspended on BSE and the trading of the units of FMP-80-1125D PlS will besuspended on NSE with effect from closing hours of trading of April 22, 2020.

For the purposes of redemption proceeds, the record date shall be April 27, 2020.

For ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company Limited

Place : Mumbai Sd/-

Date : April 21, 2020 Authorised Signatory

PRESSTRUSTOF INDIANewDelhi, April 21

SEBI ON TUESDAY extendedvalidityofregulatoryapprovalfor launching initial publicofferingandrights issuebysixmonths in thewake of coron-aviruspandemic.

The step comes followingrepresentations fromvariousindustrybodies,theSecuritiesand Exchange Board of India(Sebi) said inacircular.

ThevalidityofSebi'sobser-vations,where the same haveexpired orwill expire betweenMarch1,2020andSeptember30, 2020, has been extendedby 6months from the date ofexpiryof suchobservation.

This is subject to anunder-taking from leadmanager ofthe issue confirming compli-ance with the ICDR (Issue ofCapital and DisclosureRequirements) Regulationswhile submitting the updatedofferdocument toSebi,it said.

As per the norms, a publicissue/rights issue needs to beopened within 12 monthsfrom the date of issuance ofobservationsbySebi.

Sebi'sobservation isneces-saryforanycompanytolaunchpublic issues.

The regulator said that anissuer,whose offer documentfor IPO, followon public offerand rights issue is pendingreceipt of its observation,willbe permitted to increase ordecreasethefreshissuesizebyup to 50% of the estimatedissuesizewithout requiring tofilefreshdraftofferdocumentwith theSebi.

The relaxation is subject tono change in theobjects of theissue,andtheleadmanagerwillneed to ensure that all appro-priatechangesaremadeto the

relevant section of DRHP,andan addendum in this regardshallbemadepublic.

Therelaxationonchangeinfresh issuesizewillbeapplica-ble for offerdocuments pend-ingreceiptofSebiobservationsuntilDecember31,2020.

Under the norms, anyincrease or decrease in esti-matedfresh issuesizebymorethan 20 per cent of the esti-mated fresh issue size requirefresh filing of the draft offerdocumentalongwith fees.

Sebi said it has decided togrant these one-time relax-ations inviewof the impact ofCOVID-19pandemic.

The circularwill come intoforcewith immediateeffect,itadded.

Sebi extends regulatoryapproval validity for IPO,rights issue by6months

HDFC slashes home loan rate by 15 basis points

FE BUREAUMumbai, April 21

THE MULTI COMMODITYExchange (MCX) and BSE onTuesday announced revisionof trade timings allowing allnon-agriculture commoditieswithinternationalreferencetotradetill11:30pmasopposedtotheearlierpracticeofclosingtheexchangesat5:15pm.Thiswill come into effect fromThursday.

The exchanges have rein-stated theusual tradinghoursfornon-agriculturecommodi-ties with international refer-ence. This includes preciousmetals, metals and energycomplexsuchascrudeoiltobeallowedtotradefrombetween9 am to 11:30 pm fromApril23onward.

The client codemodifica-tion session would continuefrom 11:30 pm to 11:45 pm.However, all other commodi-ties including internationallyreferenceable agri commodi-ties which consist of Cotton,CPO, Kapas, and RBD Pal-moleinwill tradefrom9amto5pmwiththeclientcodemod-ification timing extending to5:15pm.

The MCX and BSE statedthatthedecisionwasarrivedatafterdiscussionswiththemar-ket participants and the Secu-rities and Exchange Board ofIndia (SEBI).

“In viewof the representa-tion received from themarketparticipants and pursuant todiscussions with SEBI, it hasbeendecided to revise tradingtimings,”saidMCX.

Thecommoditiesexchang-es keeping inmind the earlier21 day lockdown had decidedto curtail the trade timings inMarch.

The commodities exchan-ges were trading for fewerhours fromMarch 30 toApril14 in line with the decisionthatwastakenbycommoditiesexchanges on account of thenovel coronavirus pandemicandbecausethereweredisrup-tions caused in spot marketsacross the country during thelockdown.OnApril 14 too,theexchanges decided to restrictthe trade timings till furthernotice.

The move on part of theexchanges comes after thecentral government easedlockdownguidelines forselectbusinesses fromApril20.

MCX and BSE revise tradetimings for non-agriculturecommodities

Themarkets regulator said

that an issuer,whose offer

document for IPO, follow

on public offer and rights

issue is pending receipt of

its observation,will be

permitted to increase or

decrease the fresh issue

size by up to 50%of the

estimated issue size

without requiring to file

fresh draft offer document

with the Sebi

FE BUREAUThiruvananthapuram,April 21

RUBBER FUTURES ON Indian CommodityExchange (ICEX), which had surged to a 4%upper limit onMonday,dropped nearly half ofthegainsinearlytradeonprofitsales,amidstthehumongous fall in crude prices. With theextended lockdown casting a shadowover themoves of Kerala's green zones to go aheadwithrubber processing, the local cues alsoweigheddownthe futureprices.

“TheMayrubberwasat`112.5perkilo,down1.4%.Open interest is down 6 lots indicatinglong liquidation. The contract has support at`112.10 per kilo and `110 per kilo in the nearterm,while`115.20perkilo is akeyresistance,”AjayKedia,KediaSecurities,toldFE.

Crisisincrudeoilmarket,wherepricesofMaycontract sunk in the negative territory for thefirsttimeinhistory,onMonday,weighedonrub-berfutures,accordingtothecommoditymarketanalysts.

Benchmark September rub-ber on Tocom were also downover2%toaround151yenakg.

The brakes on the plantationtoprocessingyardhaveimpactedthefuturespricemovement.TheKeralagovernmenthasbeenhes-itantaboutrestartingthe rubberprocessingmovement,althoughglove-making firms have beenallowed to do so. Some of therelaxations that were earlierannounced in the Covid-freegreen zones like Kottayam andIdukkidistricts,wererolledback,at the behest of Union homeministry.

AkshayAgarwal,MD,AcumenCapital, opines that “the recentuptickinNRpricewaslargelydueto short covering and prices arelikely todecline toprevious lowsthisweek”.

He believes that the loss ofmajordemandfromtheautomo-bile sector is unlikely to bemiti-gated in the short-termand thatthe steep fall in oil prices shouldcontinuetokeepNRpricesunderpressure.“WeseeNRpricefallingto `110 to `105 per kilo thisweek,”saidAgarwal.

MARKETS12 FINANCIALEXPRESS

WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COMWEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

M/S WHIRLPOOL OF INDIA LIMITEDCIN No : L29191PN1960PLC020063

Regd. Office : Plot No. A-4 MIDC, Ranjangaon, Taluka- Shirur,Distt.- Pune - 412220, Maharashtra.

Corporate Office : Plot 40 Sector, 40, Gurugram - 122002, Haryana.Website: www.whirlpoolindia.com, Email: investor_contact@whirlpool.com

NOTICE OF LOSS OF SHARE CERTIFICATESNotice is hereby given that the following Share Certificates have been reported lost/misplaced and the

registered holders thereof/claimants thereto have requested to the Company for issuance of Duplicate

ShareCertificate(s) in lieu of lost share certificates(s):

Any person(s) who has/have and claim(s) in respect of the aforesaid Share Certificate(s) should lodge theclaim in writing with us at the following address within 15 days from the publication hereof. The Companywill not thereafter be liable to entertain any claim in respect of the said Share Certificate(s) and shallproceed to issue the Duplicate Share Certificate(s) pursuance to Rule 4(3) of the Companies (Issue ofShareCertificate)Rule 1960.

forWhirlpool of India LimitedSd/-

Place:Gurugram (Haryana) Roopali SinghDate: 22.04.2020 (CompanySecretary)

Sr. No Folio No. Name Shares Dist. No. S/c No.

1 001716K Kailash Nath Khanna 369 561933-562301 692063

2 0115358 Payal Bimal Chadha 25 1693821 - 1693845 703349

Bimal Kumar Chadma

3 000846A Anjana Prakash Parikh 510 287264 - 287773 690725

Prakash Ramanlal Parikh

4 0066310 Rahul Madanlal Wani 25 1424032 - 1424056 698129

5 0041589 K B Jain 100 1056786 - 1056885 695781

6 000834A Amita Shantikumar Toprani 75 285173 - 285247 690708

7 0107582 Jitendra Dalichand Shah 25 1568761 - 1568785 700876

8 0036993 Gautam Seth 10 928999 - 929008 694775

Madhav Seth

9 0041856 D K Verma 200 1060650 - 1060849 695821

10 005639S Satya Prakash 25 1320688 - 1320712 697397

Jank I Prakash

11 004241M Malathi Yedla 50 1074486 - 1074535 695903

Siva Rama K Yedla

12 0058730 Hemant Kumar Luthra 300 1345051 - 1345350 697581

13 000712B Bharti Shantikumar Toprani 25 252756 - 252780 690541

14 0102450 Babu Joseph 25 1489208 - 1489232 699175

Sally B Joseph

16 000554L Leelavati Nanalal 830 185783 - 186612 690213

17 000442N Nalini Dharamsi Kapadia 150 154716 - 154865 690040

Mr Jaysinh Dharamsy Kapadia

Miss Nina Dharamsy Kapadia

18 0127415 Shilpa Gupta 50 1303579 - 1303628 697241

Rajesh Kumar Gupta

For NIPPON LIFE INDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED

(formerly known as Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Limited)

(Asset Management Company for Nippon India Mutual Fund)

Sd/-

Authorised Signatory

Mumbai

April 21, 2020

Make even idle money work! Invest in Mutual Funds

Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks,read all scheme related documents carefully.

(Formerly Reliance Mutual Fund)

Nippon Life India Asset Management Limited(formerly known as Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Limited)

(CIN - L65910MH1995PLC220793)

Registered Oice: Reliance Centre, 7th Floor, South Wing, OfWestern Express Highway,Santacruz (East), Mumbai - 400 055.

Tel No. +91 022 4303 1000 • Fax No. +91 022 4303 7662 • www.nipponindiamf.com

NOTICE CUM ADDENDUM NO. 6

Notice is hereby given that Mr. Pratibh Agarwal, Research Associate – Equity has resignedfrom Nippon Life India Asset Management Limited (NAM India) with efect from the closeof business hours on April 17, 2020. Accordingly, the details pertaining to Mr. PratibhAgarwal shall stand deleted in Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”) under the paratitled “INFORMATION ON PERSONNEL INVOLVED IN EQUITY / ECONOMIC RESEARCH” ofNAM India.

This addendum forms an integral part of the SAI. All other terms and conditions of theaforesaid documents readwith the addenda issued fromtime to timewill remain unchanged

801, 802 & 803, 8th Floor, Windsor, Of C.S.T. Road, Kalina, Santacruz (E), Mumbai 400 098

NOTICE

RECORD DATE FOR PAYMENT OF DIVIDEND

NOTICE is hereby given that Edelweiss Trusteeship Company Limited, Trustee to Edelweiss Mutual Fund, has approved declaraion of

dividend under the following Schemes Edelweiss Mutual Fund, as per the details given below:

Name of the Scheme/Plan/OpionAmount of

DividendRecord Date

NAV per unit as on

April 20, 2020

Face Value

per unit

Edelweiss Equity Savings Fund - Regular Plan - Monthly Dividend Opion 0.09

Monday,

April 27, 2020**

` 11.6740

`10.00

Edelweiss Equity Savings Fund - Direct Plan - Monthly Dividend Opion 0.09 ` 12.2022

Edelweiss BalancedAdvantage Fund - Regular Plan -MonthlyDividendOpion 0.20 ` 16.59

EdelweissBalancedAdvantageFund -DirectPlan -MonthlyDividendOpion 0.20 ` 17.90

Edelweiss Aggressive Hybrid Fund- Regular Plan - Dividend Opion 0.19 ` 16.16

Edelweiss Aggressive Hybrid Fund- Direct Plan - Dividend Opion 0.19 ` 17.08

Pursuant to payment of dividend, the NAV of the aforemenioned Dividend Opions of the Schemes will fall

to the extent of dividend payout and statutory levy, if any.

*Distribuion of the above dividend is subject to availability of distributable surplus as on the Record Date and as reduced by the amount

of applicable statutory levy, if any. Considering the volaile nature of the markets, the Trustee reserves the right to restrict the quantum of

dividend upto the per unit distributable surplus available under the Schemes on the Record Date in case of fall in the market.

**or the immediately following Business Day if that day is a Non-Business Day.

All Unit holders whose name appears in the Register of Unit holders of the aforemenioned Dividend Opions of the Schemes as at the

close of business hours on the Record Date shall be eligible to receive the dividend so declared.

Investors are requested to take note of the above.

For Edelweiss Asset Management Limited

(Investment Manager to Edelweiss Mutual Fund)

Sd/-

Place : Mumbai Radhika Gupta

Date : April 21, 2020 Chief Execuive Oicer

For more informaion please contact:

Edelweiss Asset Management Limited (Investment Manager to Edelweiss Mutual Fund)

CIN: U65991MH2007PLC173409

Registered Oice: Edelweiss House, Of C.S.T Road, Kalina, Mumbai - 400098

Corporate Oice: 801, 802 & 803, 8th Floor, Windsor, Of C.S.T. Road, Kalina, Santacruz (E), Mumbai 400 098

Tel No:- 022 4093 3400 / 4097 9821, Toll Free No. 1800 425 0090 (MTNL/BSNL), Non Toll Free No. 91 40 23001181,

Fax: 022 4093 3401 / 4093 3402 / 4093 3403, Website: www.edelweissmf.com

MUTUAL FUND INVESTMENTS ARE SUBJECT TO MARKET RISKS,

READ ALL SCHEME RELATED DOCUMENTS CAREFULLY.

● INTERVIEW: K PAULTHOMAS, MD and CEO, ESAF Small Finance Bank

Rubber futuresdrop 1.4% onlockdownblues,crude effect

In just two years of operation,ESAF SmallFinanceBankbecameascheduledbankfromDecember2018and also got Sebi approvalinMarch 2020 to raise capital through aninitialpublicoffering.Managingdirectorandchief executive officerKPaulThomas tellsRajesh Ravi on the concerns and conse-quential problems due to the lockdown.Editedexcerpts:

What is ESAF’s experiencewith branchbanking during the lockdown period?HaveyouseenasignificantchangeinnetbankingorATMtransactions?

Mostofourbranchesareopenandfunc-tioningbut the footfall is less than10peo-pleperday.Wehavenoticedthatcustomersareonlydoingthebareminimumbanking.OurATMtransactionsfortheperiodis3.12lakh with a disbursement of `73 crore,which isalsoonthe lowerside.Butwehaveseen thegold loanproductbeinguseda lotforemergencypurpose.Onasingleday,wesawdisbursement of `59 lakh in the goldloansection.

Doyouexpectan increase indemandforcreditafterthelockdownperiod?

Weexpect credit offtake to increase inthe SMEsegment after the forty-day lock-downperiod.We estimate that themicroandMSME sectorwill need funds for re-startingtheirestablishmentsandalsoneedworking capital.Our strength and focus isthemicrosegment.

Many people and establishments arelikely to sufferdue todecline in incomeduringthelockdown.Doyouexpectdelin-quencies and NPAs to increase signifi-cantly?

ESAFhasmorethan96%ofitsexposureinthemicrosegmentwiththeaverageticketsize of the loan being `33,000.We havegiven a moratorium of three months tillMaytoallourcustomersandareconstantlyin touchwith them through ourbankingcorrespondents.The customers are confi-dent that they can repay the loanwithinsome timeafter themoratorium.Wehave

pastexperienceindealingwithsuchcalami-ties likethefloodof2018anddon’tseeanyproblem.However,weestimatealittlemore

delay in theMSME segment as theymaytakemore time to comeback tonormalcy.Wedon’thavemuchexposureinthecorpo-ratesectorasourfocusismostlyintheretailsector.

Are you thinking of a new product tohelp them tide over the current situa-tion?

We have a new product for the smalltraders—amicro business loan—andareexpanding it through the traders associa-tion.Forourexistingcustomers,wearegiv-ing a‘Covid Care Loan’of `30,000with afour months moratorium. This is a pre-approvedloanandduringthefloods,wehaddisbursed`89crore to ourcustomerswhowereinasimilarsituation.

NRIremittanceisamajorsourceoffundformost of the Kerala-based banks.Doyouseeanyshift intheremittancegiventhe pandemic and other problems inWestAsia?

Wedoexpect adisruption in the short-term,but in the long-term, we don’t seemuchproblem.OurexpatriatesareveryvitalfortheeconomyofWestAsiaandIthinkwewillovercometheproblems.

What is your outlook on the economypost-Covid?

Myobservation is that the short-termimpactwillbesevereinallsegments.There-coverwill take aminimumof sixmonths.Thesmallsegmentislikelytorecoverfaster.I think India hasmore opportunities andwill recover in 18-24months.I expect theautomobileandtelecomsectorstodobetterpost-Covid.Keralamayagain significantlybounce back due to its better handling ofthesituation.

ESAF received Sebi approval for an IPOrecently.Haveyoutakenanydecision?

Wehavenot taken anydecision on theIPO so far.We received approval inMarchandwehaveone-yeartimetogotothemar-ket.Wemaytakealittlemoretimeforapub-licissue.

‘We expect credit offtake to increasein SME segment after lockdown’

❝

❝

ESAF has more than 96% of itsexposure in themicro segmentwiththe average ticket size of the loanbeing `33,000.We have given a

moratorium of threemonths till Mayto all our customers and areconstantly in touchwith them

through our bankingcorrespondents. The customers areconfident that they can repay theloanwithin some time after the

moratorium

FE BUREAUMumbai, April 21

HDFC MUTUAL FUND has settled thematterpertainingtoinvestmentsofFixedMaturity Plans (FMPs) in debt instru-mentsofEssel groupcompanieswith themarkets regulator.

The Securities andExchangeBoard ofIndia(Sebi) issuedthesettlementorderinthematterofshowcausenotices issuedtothe asset management company. In itsorder,Sebi said thatHDFCMFhad paid alittle over over `4.20 crore towards thesettlement.

Market regulator had sent two showcause notices to HDFCAMC onMay 10,2019, in relation to their investments ofFMPs indebt instrumentsofEsselGroupcompanies.

Later,on June1,theregulatorhad ini-tiatingadjudicationproceedingsagainstcountry's top fund house HDFC TrusteeCompany Ltd,managing director and afew other officials of the company, inrelation to their investments of FMPsindebt instrumentsofEsselGroupcom-

panies.According to Sebi, applicants which

includes HDFCAMC,HDFCTrustees andotherofficialsof thefundhousehadfiledsettlement applications in terms of theSEBI (Settlement Proceedings) Regula-tions, 2018, proposingtosettle,withoutadmittingordenyingthefindingsof factand conclusions of law, through a set-tlement order.

The HDFC AMC (the applicant no.1)had invested on behalf of the MutualFund in the debt instruments of Esselgroup of companies through variousmutual fund schemes of HDFC AssetManagementCompany.

It is alleged that theMutualFund haddefaulted in complying with thevariousregulations, adhering to the requisitestandards and failed to exercise properdue diligence and hence the captionedsettlement applicationswere filed.

Sebi in its order said,“While forward-ing the revised settlement terms theapplicantsalso submitted that there areno subsisting complaints by the unitholders with regard to thesaidmatterin

respect of the various mutual fundschemes of HDFC AMC and that theHDFC AMC has already compensatedthe unit-holders of the affected mutualfund schemes for an amount of`4,46,00,000(rupeesfourcroreandfortysix lakhonly).”

Theorderalsostatesthatitwasfurtherproposed that, the settlement amountwould be paid out of the funds of HDFCAMC and that the liabilitywould not bepassedon to theunitholders.

The High PoweredAdvisory Commit-tee in its meeting held on March 2,2020, considered the proposed settle-ment terms by the applicants and rec-ommended the case for settlement uponpayment of `4.20 crore towards the set-tlement terms.

According to the settlement orderpassed by whole time member, SKMohanty and Ananta Barua stated thatSebi would not initiate enforcementaction against the applicants for the saiddefaults and the order disposed of theenforcement proceedings in respect ofthe applicants.

Toavoid fresh Sebi notice,HDFCAMCpays`4 crore to settle Essel investments case

*An initiative byADVERTORIAL

PROF. (Dr.) R.P. Banerjee is arenowned Professor of Man-agement with Ph.D. and PostDoc. in Management. He has

lectured at many universities aroundthe world including Pennsylvania StateUniversity, Arlington State University,Stockholm University Sweden, TexasUniversity Austin and Dallas,Tarleton State University, TexasWomen’s University,University of Ten-nessee, University ofKansas USA, Univer-sity of Hamburg, Ger-many, and NorthWestern University,Switzerland.

He is the editor of“Satyer Path” andGuest Editor of specialissues of InternationalJournal of HRD andManagement.‘MotherLeadership’ and‘Stress Managementthrough Mind Engi-neering’ are amonghis important booksand contributions inthe field of thoughtand practices. Hispublications includemore than 200 arti-cles/papers in na-tional and international journals and14 books he has authored/co-authored.Dr. Banerjee is the Ex-Vice President ofInternational Association for Account-ing Education & Research (IAAER). Cur-rently, he is the Chairman & Director,Eastern Institute for Integrated Learningin Management, Kolkata.

ABOUT EIILM-KOLKATA

EIILM-Kolkata’s legacy goes back to1995 when it was established andsince then the institute has been serv-ing the nation by providing quality ed-ucation and rewarding opportunities.It has reached great heights under theable leadership of Prof. (Dr.) R.P. Baner-jee, the current Chairman and Director.EIILM-Kolkata boasts highly accom-

plished faculty members, smart classesand modern teaching aids, fullyequipped computer labs and an overallenriching teaching/nurturing environ-ment. EIILM-Kolkata’s success story iswell-narrated by a large numberof students, past and present. The in-stitute ensures 100% placement of all

its students.Activities in EIILM-Kolkata are not lim-ited to imparting of knowledge only.Seminars and conferences (national aswell as international), CxO Forums, Fac-ulty Development Programmes are reg-ularly organised. Faculty members areencouraged to take part in various re-search endeavours in and outside the in-stitute to ensure the institution’s collec-

tive contribution to knowledgegeneration.

ASIAN INTEGRATION INITIATIVE

SERIES

With the ambition to unite Asia in vari-ous aspects, Prof (Dr.) R.P. Banerjee pi-oneered a series of International Sem-

inars conducted in some of the promi-nent cities of Asia. The first Interna-tional Seminar was held in Bangkok,the second in Singapore and the thirdSeminar was held in the City of Joy,Kolkata, which is also the Capital ofthe state of West Bengal.✦International Seminar on “Businessin Borderless Asia – the Hurdles, Possi-bilities and Prospects” organised by EI-

ILM-Kolkata in collab-oration withVidyasagar Universitywas held atHotel Novotel Plat-inum Pratunam,Bangkok, the capitalof Thailand.✦International Sem-inar on “Asian Inte-gration – TowardsCreating a Homoge-neous Asian Mind”organised by EIILM-Kolkata in associa-tion with VidyasagarUniversity & Interna-tional College – Raja-mangala Universityof Technology,Krungthep, Thailandwas held at HotelNovotel, Clarke Quay,Singapore.✦International Sem-

inar on “Leadership for EmergingAsian Business: The Knowledge andTechnology Dimension” organised byEIILM-Kolkata in collaboration withPathumthani University, Thailand,washeld at Bhasha Bhavan, National Li-brary, Kolkata.

ASIAN INTEGRATION

INITIATIVE SERIES

Prof (Dr.) R.P. Banerjee,Chairman & Director, EIILM-Kolkata, delivering his speech at the Third Edition of the Asian Integration Seminar

* ( READ. ENGAGE. DELIVER.) IS THE MARKETING SOLUTIONS TEAM OF THE INDIAN EXPRESS GROUP

13FINANCIALEXPRESS

WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

14FINANCIALEXPRESS

WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

STARTED in 1995,EIILM-Kolkata has traversed aunique journey through thelanes of academics, facilitatingthe career onset of business

students in companies within the Na-tion and across the seven continents ofthe world. The accumulated number ofalumni has reached the coveted mark ofalmost ten thousand with the institu-tion’s former students embracing disci-plines like finance,marketing, corporatestrategies,managing manpower and onthe whole running enterprises.There area good number of alumni who havereached top positions in their compa-nies, helping set international bench-marks with their brands andproducts/services in territories which ex-tend beyond national boundaries.Thereis no dearth of goods news of EIILM-Kolkata alumni receiving acclaim andaccolades from various competent au-thorities and corporations. The under-graduate programmes which haveflourished at the institution are:

✦ BBA✦ BBA in Hotel & Hospitality

Management✦ BBA in Hospital Management✦ B.Sc in Media Management✦ BBA in BusinessAnalytics✦ BCA

The latest feather in EIILM-Kolkata’scap has been the Ph.D. programme inManagement which covers all relevantand related areas, meeting the normsset by the UGC and the University.

EIILM-Kolkata is a name acclaimedby business and industry in India ingeneral and corporate houses, domes-tic and global, operating from the in-tellectual capital of India, in particular.Scaling this height has been possiblefor EIILM-Kolkata because of its topquality business academics who blendacademic knowledge and corporateexpertise and an ongoing spirit of busi-ness and corporate research. Everyclassroom of the institute is equippedwith Smart Boards and the entire cam-pus is Wi-Fi enabled. Apart from theusual classroom teaching, emphasis isput on case-based learning method,role-playing, live projects, group dis-cussions and several other activitieswhich facilitate the process of practi-cal learning.

Once admitted, students go througha one-month orientation course beforethey start with their actual course. In thisway, from day one, students become ac-quainted with true professionalism anddevelop their business acumen. Profes-sionals from industry and distinguishedalumni visit the institute from time totime to conduct interactive sessions andworkshops with the students, therebypreparing the students for the campusplacement drives.

With this, I welcome you to join EI-ILM-Kolkata, and experience and scalehighs in your career that will be un-matched by many others.

- Prof (Dr.) R P Banerjee

Chairman & Director,

EIILM-Kolkata

JoinEIILM-Kolkatatogiveyourcareeraboost

At EIILM-Kolkata, students getopportunities to get exposed to the globalenvironment. To fulfil this objective, wehave collaborated with various foreignUniversities which provide our studentsthe much-required global exposure. Weare presently conducting InternationalImmersion Programmes in co-untries such asThailand,Taiwan, Indone-sia, Singapore and the UK.We are also fa-cilitating International Internship Oppor-tunities for our students in these countriesalong with final placement.

EIILM-Kolkata, a popular name in themanagement sector, seeks to fulfil the as-pirations of the YoungIndia.As the Co-ordinator - Corporate Re-lation & Placement of theinstitute, I am committed to the goal ofgetting my students placed in reputedcompanies, both national and interna-tional, keeping in mind the present indus-try requirements. Besides this, I also giveprominence to our candidates’ choice-based placement, so that they cangrow, nurture and excel in thecorporate world.

EIILM-Kolkata has a diverse pool ofIntellectual Capital across all departments.Being theAdministrative Officer, I extend mycontribution to all major functions and try tocoordinate with all major departments to un-derstand their essential functional require-ments, task assignment and accordingly putmy effort, which enables the respectivedepartments to accomplish their tasks ontime, effectively and efficiently.

Prof. Surajit ChatterjeeCo-ordinator - Corporate Relation

& Placement

Tamal Jyoti Chakraborty

GM - Finance &AdministrationProf. Tapas Chakraborty

Campus Head, (Hare St.) & Senior Faculty(Marketing)

Prof. Supriya Paul

Administrative Officer &Asst. Prof.

Dr. Jayanta SahaHead- Admissions & Global

Outreach

The Finance department plays a pivotalrole in an educational institute. I, as theHead of Finance, look after all the affairsconcerning our day-to-day activitiesand/or special events. I ensure good rap-port with all other departments for thesmooth functioning of the institute.

As a Marketing Professional having over25 years of Industry exposure rangingfrom FMCG,Personal Care to FMCD, I amassigned to teach,enrich and groom theyoung minds with marketing skills andknowledge. This enables them to per-form and deliver successfully in the in-terview process as well as at their re-spective workplaces.

Students attending the CxO Forum 2019 at the National Library, Kolkata

Inauguration of MBA 2019-2021 batch

EIILM dignitaries

2

ADVERTORIAL

15FINANCIALEXPRESS

WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

EIILM-Kolkata has signed a memo-randum of understanding (MoU)with Mingdao University, Taiwanfor student and faculty exchangeprogrammes. The institute has also

signed an MoU with InternationalCollege, Rajamangala University ofTechnology, Krungthep as well asPathumthani University, Thailandfor Academia – Industry relation-

ship. EIILM- Kolkata has also signedan MoU with leading Govt. HotelManagement Institutes in Asia tocreate a world-class Hotel & Hospi-tality School.

COLLEGE CAMPUS:

Currently we are in possession of 5 different cam-

puses at the following addresses:

✦ 6,Waterloo Street, Kolkata – 700069

✦ 9, Hare Street, Kolkata – 700001

✦ DN-14, Sector –V, Salt Lake City,

Kolkata – 700091

✦Chatterjee International Centre, 33A,

JL Nehru Road, 15th Floor, Kolkata – 700071

✦Rudra Complex, 2nd Floor, Jalpaiguri

Siliguri Main Road, Jalpaiguri – 735101.

CLASSROOMS:We have a total of 45 classrooms,

half of which have a seating capacity of 100 or more.

Each classroom is fitted with the latestAudioVisual

Gadgets, Projectors, Smart Boards and the entire

campus is Wi-Fi enabled, which helps the students

keep a record of the documents, lectures, interac-

tions,presentations and other classroom activities for

future use.

LIBRARY: The library consists of more than 50,000

books and subscription of over 2,500 national and in-

ternational journals.The library houses around 800

volumes of periodicals,project reports,dissertations

and 6,000 items of non-book materials like reports,

pamphlets and newspapers. Renowned interna-

tional management journals like EuroMoney, Har-

vard Business Review, Economist, Sage Business

Cases,among others,are also available in the library.

COMPUTER LABS: The institute has four large

computer labs with a total capacity of 500 computing

terminals.

CAPITAL MARKET LAB: EIILM-Kolkata has cre-

ated one of the largest “Online Simulated Capi-

tal Market Laboratories” in the country – the

largest in Eastern India. It has 65 terminals to fa-

cilitate students acquiring hands-on training on

stock-market trading using required data-feed.

The lab provides hands-on, real-world training in

Securities, Derivatives, Commodities and Foreign

Exchange Trading using required data feed. This

set-up features actual exchange software from

NSE, required data feeds from Newswire TV18

and charting tools from Meta Stock and Eviews.

Access to a wide range of industry research

through the CMIE Prowess, the EBSCO Journal

Database, CYGNUS Database as well as high-end

dedicated data server allow the students to get a

feel of

realistic simulations of Marketers’ Instructor

workstation.

LANGUAGE LAB: A multi-dimensional lan-

guage lab catering to diverse functions is in op-

eration at the institute. It provides technology

aided language training in small groups for a

more focussed, individualistic, stress-free and en-

joyable learning experience. This contributes to

improvement in the communication skills of the

students of the institute. Here, special attention is

paid to phonetics teaching, particularly aimed at

enhanced ear-training and accent neutralisation

so as to arm the students with the skills that are

required for overseas placements.

ACADEMIC INFRASTRUCTURE COURSES OFFERED

COLLABORATIONS WITH UNIVERSITIES ABROAD

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Sports and cultural activities are im-mensely encouraged at EIILM-Kolkata.Students enrol themselvesin the Sports Club, Cultural Club,

and Entrepreneurship Cell, according totheir area of interest. Students participatein various Corporate Cricket and FootballTournaments, Inter-college sports andfests organised by institutes all over the

nation. During their leisure hours, stu-dents access the common room of the in-stitute where they can enjoy various in-door games like chess, carom andtable-tennis.

The institute organises an Edutain-ment programme in which students aretaken for an excursion and their manage-rial skills are developed through a num-

ber of games. EIILM-Kolkata periodicallyorganises Inter-school and Inter-collegeFootball and Cricket tournaments inKolkata and the adjacent districts to pro-mote sports among the youth of the state.Besides these, the institute also takes theinitiative of conducting social activitieslike sapling distribution, blood donationand dengue awareness drives.

In order to uplift the lives of the under-privileged community in Kolkata, thepavement dwellers, EIILM-Kolkata haspromoted a charitable trust, “TowardsLife Foundation India”. The trust hasdedicated itself to enabling the impov-erished community of pavementdwellers to initiate activities for their so-cial and economic empowerment. The

centres of teaching started in January2009. Children got education and first-hand training on the use of computers.Nutritious meals were also provided toeach child on the days of teaching.Med-ical camps were organised at regular in-tervals in all the centres for the healthcheck-up of the children as well as theirparents.

Rajamangala University ofTechnology, Krungthep

Mingdao UniversityTaiwan

Pathumthani UniversityThailand

HOSPITALITY as an industry has scaledhighs globally,offering required services topeople in all aspects of human movementfor a plethora of reasons. It has grown tothe stage of catering to the economicneeds of people and nations in the realmsof work as well as leisure.One of the mostimportant observations by Nobel laure-

ate Samuel Beckett in his Nobel Prize-winning work Waiting for Godot high-lights three aspects of being a civilised in-dividual on earth:1. Free-thinking for making good andbeautiful things on earth2. Developing, maintaining, spreadingand honouring goodness

3. Leisure and drawing pleasure fromleisure to support free-thinking and de-veloping goodness in the global systemThe observations of Beckett touch theright chord in the enterprise to replacean old world order with a new and a bet-

ter one. In the present society, our activi-ties should be oriented towards achieve-ments destined to support and sustainthe cause of the individual on one handand that of the global system on theother. However, the system we live in is

highly individualistic, with little care orregard for spiritual introspection.It can be claimed that the Leisure Industryhas the potential to bring out the best in usthrough its attention to detail, apprecia-tion of tastes and uniqueness and anoverall contribution to the developmentof a nation’s economic backbone. In India

especially, this industry is yet to tap intoall the available resources. EIILM-Kolkatahas launched the BBA in Hotel and Hospi-tality programme,determined to look intoand explore the uniqueness in the industrywith combined inputs from the facilita-tors, stakeholders and a newly definedholistic leadership approach.

HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT: TAPPING THE UNIQUENESS OF INDIAN INDUSTRY

BBA (H&H) Students of EIILM-Kolkata

3ADVERTORIAL

16 FINANCIALEXPRESS

WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COMWEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020

4

EASTERN INSTITUTE FOR INTEGRATED

LEARNING IN MANAGEMENT- KOLKATA

✦ Featured in “Dun & Bradstreet” –Leading Business Schools of India, 2019.✦ India’s greatest B-School Brand award2018-19, presented at the India’s Great-est Brands & Leaders Award 2018-19 inMumbai.✦ Asia’s Greatest B-School Brand &Leader Award 2018 presented at theWorld’s Greatest Brands & LeadersAward

2018-19 in Dubai.✦ “Best Placements among B-Schools”Education ExcellenceAward presented byZee 24-Ghanta, Kolkata in 2019.✦ “CSRTop Institutes of IndiaAward”fornine consecutive years.✦ Best B-School in Non-IIM Category inWest Bengal by CSR-GHRDC B-School Sur-vey in 2018.

RANKING,ACHIEVEMENTS,AWARDS & ACCOLADES

MBA Placements

A few of our Recruiters

Arnab Kumar Basu

AssistantVice President - HumanCapital & GeneralAffairs (HCGA),

Welspun India Limited.

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