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News

BriefEstd residentialrealtors toplineto grow

Mumbai: There has beena significant recovery in theproperty market as the es-tablished realtors reportedsale of Rs 34,000 crore inthe first nine months ofFY22, equalling the amountachieved in the entire FY21,a report said.

The established resi-dential realtors' topline isexpected to rise by 35 percent in FY22, compared to14 per cent in FY21, itadded. This jump in salesfor the 11 listed players wasattributed to affordabilityand a preference for largerhomes, owing to a surge inremote working driven bythe COVID-19 pandemic, asper the report by ratingagency Crisil. This has ledto an improvement in themarket share of these play-ers to about 22 per centagainst the 14-16 per centbefore the COVID pan-demic struck, it said.

Apart from the highersale of residential dwellings,this set of developers hasbeen able to navigate thepandemic, courtesy equityraising and monetisation ofland and other assets, it said.

Increased affordabilitydue to low-interest ratesand flattish capital values,rising demand for biggerhomes, and governmentmeasures in the past twofiscals have provided a fillipto residential realty, AnandKulkarni, a director at theagency, said.

India’sdisinvestmentproceeds to fallshort of revisedestimates for 2ndtime since ’14

New Delhi, India willmiss its revised disinvest-ment target for the secondtime in the past eight yearsby a wide margin, as thegovernment may not beable to raise an expectedover Rs 60,000 crore fromthe IPO of insurance behe-moth LIC in 2021-22.

Since the Modi govern-ment came to power in2014, it was only in the fi-nancial year 2019-20 that itfailed to achieve the re-vised CPSE disinvestmenttarget of Rs 65,000 crore.The mop-up during the yearwas only Rs 50,304 crore.

In the ongoing financialyear 2021-22, the govern-ment was all set to goahead with the share saleof Life Insurance Corpora-tion (LIC) this month anddraft papers for the samewere also filed with mar-kets regulator Sebi.

However, the Russia-Ukraine war has severelyimpacted the stock marketsforcing the government torethink about the timing ofthe IPO.

VOL. 55 * NO. 239* AHMEDABAD MONDAY 21/3/2022

Rupee plummets 84 paise toall-time low amid Ukraine crisis

Mumbai,The rupee tanked 84

paise to close at its lifetimelow of 77.01 (provisional)against the US dollar onMonday as intensifyinggeopolitical risks due to theRussia-Ukraine conflictpushed investors to safehaven assets.

Forex traders said esca-lating tensions betweenRussia and Ukraine keptcrude oil prices at an el-evated level and height-ened worries about domes-tic inflation and wider tradedeficits. Sustained foreignfund outflows and alacklustre trend in domes-tic equities also weighed oninvestor sentiment.

At the interbank foreign

exchange market, the ru-pee opened at 76.85against the American cur-rency but lost ground andsettled for the day at arecord low of 77.01, down84 paise from the previousclose. The rupee fell by 23paise to close at 76.17 itslowest closing level sinceDecember 15, 2021.

The Indian rupee hasplummeted to a lifetimelow against the US dollar asthe deepening Russia-Ukraine conflict has sappedrisk appetite in the marketwhile prompting safe-ha-ven flows into the US dollar,said Sugandha Sachdeva,Vice President Commodityand Currency Research,Religare Broking Ltd.

Besides, the parabolicrise in crude oil prices to-wards multi-year highs andspiralling commodity pricesare fuelling inflationaryrisks, which is a keyheadwind for the rupee-dollar exchange rate,Sachdeva added.

According to Sachdeva,the overall trend for the In-dian rupee is skewed to-wards the downside and aconvincing close below the77 mark would pave theway for further downsidetowards 77.50 mark in nearterm, while we envisagethe local currency to testthe 79 mark from a me-dium-term perspective.

Meanwhile, the dollarindex, which gauges the

greenback's strengthagainst a basket of six cur-rencies, was trading 0.46per cent higher at 99.09.

Global oil benchmarkBrent crude futuresjumped 6.55 per cent toUSD 125.85 per barrel. Onthe domestic equity mar-ket front, the 30-shareSensex ended 1,491.06points or 2.74 per centlower at 52,842.75, whilethe broader NSE Niftyplunged 382.20 points or2.35 per cent to15,863.15. Foreign institu-tional investors remainednet sellers in the capitalmarket as they off-loadedshares worth Rs 7,631.02crore, according to stockexchange data.

India likely to grow at 7.8%, says CrisilNew Delhi, Indian

economy is expected togrow by 7.8 per cent in2022-23, mainly driven bythe government's drive topush infrastructure spend-ing and likely increase inprivate capital expenditure,rating agency Crisil said.

The rating agency, how-ever, cautioned that theongoing Russia Ukraine warand rising commodityprices do pose a downsiderisk to the growth.

The country is expectedto register a growth rate of8.9 per cent in the currentfiscal ending March 31.

Any potential upsidedue to the early end of amild third wave of COVID-19 infections will be offsetby the ongoing geopoliticalstrife stemming fromRussia's invasion of Ukraine,which is creating a damp-ening effect on global

growth and pushing up oiland commodity prices. Therisks to growth are also tiltedto the downside.

Private consumptionremains the weak link,owing to reduced directfiscal policy support, CrisilChief EconomistDharmakirti Joshi saidwhile unveiling 'India Out-look, Fiscal 2023'.

As for the average Con-sumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation, he said, itwill stay firm at 5.4 per centnext fiscal - if the price ofcrude oil averages USD 85-90/barrel - and takes intoaccount the excise dutycuts announced last year.

However, upside riskswill build if the geopoliticalstrife prolongs, keeping oiland commodity priceshigher for longer.

Interestingly, when theprice of crude oil averaged

USD 110/barrel betweenfiscals 2012 and 2014, in-flation was in double digits.That situation is unlikely torepeat this time due to therelatively benign domesticprices of foodgrains follow-ing sumptuous agriculturaloutput, and comparativelylower core inflation.

During that period, hesaid, food and core inflation,which together have 86 percent weight in CPI, had av-eraged 9.8 per cent and 8.6per cent, respectively.

We believe the fiscalpolicy will need to be de-ployed more aggressivelythan envisaged in the UnionBudget for next fiscal. Thiscan be done by increasingallocation for employment-generating schemes andfood subsidy, and cuttingduty on petroleum prod-ucts, Joshi said.

This can be a relief

bridge for those most af-fected by the pandemic tillsuch time the virtuous cycleof investment-led growthplays out in the labour mar-ket, and private consump-tion demand becomes self-sustaining, he noted.

The higher price ofcrude oil will widen India'scurrent account deficit to2.2 per cent in fiscal 2023,the report said, adding typi-cally, a USD 10 increase inthe price of crude oil raisesthe current account deficitto GDP ratio by about 40basis points.

The near-term impactof high oil prices on infla-tion, assuming a significantpassthrough, will be morepronounced than ongrowth, it said, adding allbets are off if oil staysaround or above USD 100/barrel for a prolonged pe-riod.

India ranks 2nd for global investmentLondon: India is the sec-

ond-largest global venturecapital investment hub fordigital shopping compa-nies, growing by a whop-ping 175 per cent from USD8 billion in 2020 to USD 22billion in 2021, according toan official analysis.

On a global scale, Indiacame in second to the USlast year, which attractedUSD 51 billion in invest-ment, followed by China atthird with USD 14 billion andthe UK at fourth with USD 7billion. Within India,Bengaluru comes out ontop globally with USD 14billion worth of VentureCapital (VC) investments indigital shopping in 2021,followed by Gurugram atNo. 7 with USD 4 billion andMumbai at No. 10 with USD3 billion. Bengaluru almost

tripled its investments fromUSD 5 billion in 2020 totake the top spot, ahead ofother leading cities in theworld - New York City (sec-ond), San Francisco (third),London (fourth) and Berlin(fifth). According to theLondon & Partners analysisof Dealroom.Co invest-ment data, increasing de-mand for online purchasesduring a series oflockdowns across theworld during the COVID-19pandemic led to global in-vestors showing a strongappetite for backing e-commerce companies.

The UK and India aretwo of the world's leadinghubs for digital shoppingcompanies with high levelsof global investment andunicorns, said HeminBharucha, Country Director,

India at London & Partners -the Mayor of London's in-ternational trade and invest-ment agency. It's fantastic tosee Bengaluru emerge aglobal leader for digitalshopping investment lastyear. This surely creates sev-eral opportunities for col-laboration with an alreadystrong market in London.

As Europe's largest hubfor digital shopping invest-ment, there has never beena better time for India'sstrong pool of fast-growinge-commerce companies tochoose London as the des-tination to scale their busi-ness outside of their homemarket, he said. The dataalso shows that Bengalururanked number 5 amongcities with the potential forfuture unicorns, just behindLondon.

Bulk of trouble due to labour laws,States need to act: DPIIT Secy

Mumbai: A bulk of thelaws still making it difficultfor businesses to operate ison the labour front, and StateGovernments will have toadopt the simplified labourcodes passed by Parliamentto make it easier for enter-prises to thrive, a top UnionGovernment official said.Reacting to a think-tank'sreport of there being 26,000laws where a breach canland an entrepreneur in jail,Department for Promotionof Industry and Internal Trade

secretary Anurag Jain saidthe Government found outthat 70 per cent of those re-late to labour laws. On study-ing it with the same groupof people the think tank, wefound that almost 70 percent relate to labour lawsand as far as Parliament isconcerned, they have en-acted four Labour Codes.They have really simplifiedthose laws, Jain said, speak-ing at an event organised byIVCA, a lobby group repre-senting the venture invest-

ing industry. Now, the nextstep which is required is stategovernments adopting thenotifications and thereaftera formal notification will bedone. So, we expect that tohappen a few months downthe line, Jain added.

The bureaucrat said weneed to work together withthe state governments, toensure that they come onboard quickly and the req-uisite notifications are is-sued to make it easier forbusinesses to operate.

Artists perform during a cultural exhibition in Capital Governorate,Kuwait. The cultural exhibition was held here on Saturday with the par-ticipation of embassies of more than 30 countries in Kuwait. UNI

Loktantarik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadavbeing presented a garland by supporters during the marger of LoktantarikJanata Dal into Rastriya Janata Dal, in New Delhi. UNI

Australia expected to announce Rs 1500 crore investment in IndiaNew Delhi: India and

Australia will conclude anearly harvest agreement bythe end of this month, saidsources on Sunday (March20). An early harvest agree-ment is aimed at liberalisingtariffs on the trade of cer-tain goods between twocountries or trading blocsbefore a comprehensiveagreement.

The developmentcomes as Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and his Aus-tralian counterpart ScottMorrison will hold the sec-ond India-Australia VirtualSummit on Monday (March21) to lay the way forwardon new initiatives and en-hance cooperation in a di-verse range of sectors be-tween the two countries.

According to the

sources, the two countrieswill sign a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) in thefield of critical minerals,which will help increaseIndia`s access to metalliccoal and lithium in Austra-lia. Australia will also an-nounce a Rs 1,500 crore in-vestment in India in mul-tiple sectors, which will bethe largest ever investmentby the Australian govern-ment in India, addedsources.

Further, the Union Min-ister of Coal and Mines inIndia, Pralhad Joshi, will visitAustralia soon, as per thesources. The second India-Australia Virtual Summit fol-lows the first Virtual Sum-mit in June 2020 when therelationship was elevatedto a Comprehensive Strate-

gic Partnership.During the upcoming

virtual summit, the leaderswill take stock of progressmade on various initiativesunder the ComprehensiveStrategic Partnership. TheLeaders are expected tocommit to closer coopera-tion in trade, critical miner-als, migration and mobility,and education, among oth-ers, the Ministry of ExternalAffairs (MEA) said in a pressstatement. According to theMEA release, views on re-gional and international is-sues of mutual interest willalso be discussed by theLeaders. It also said theSummit highlights the im-portance attached by bothcountries to their bilateralrelations as also their closecooperation on regional

and global issues.On Friday (March 18),

Morrison had underlinedthat the strong bilateral re-lationship between the twocountries is based on ashared vision of an open,inclusive, and resilient Indo-Pacific. In an official state-ment, he said, "Australia andIndia`s strong bilateral rela-tionship is based on mutualunderstanding and trust, acommitment to democracy,and a shared vision of anopen, inclusive, resilientand prosperous Indo-Pa-cific." "Prime Minister Modiand I will discuss deepen-ing our trade and invest-ment relationship and har-nessing new economic op-portunities to support ourmutual economic recoveryand growth.

2FromEditor’sDesk.......

Hexagon Nutrition gets Sebi'snod to garner Rs 600-cr via IPONew Delhi, Hexagon

Nutrition has received capi-tal markets regulator Sebi'sapproval to raise up to Rs600 crore through an initialpublic offering (IPO).

The company's publicissue consists of a fresh is-sue of equity shares aggre-gating to Rs 100 crore, andan offer for sale (OFS) of upto 30,113,918 equityshares, according to thedraft red herring prospec-tus (DRHP).

The OFS comprises saleof up to 77 lakh shares byArun Purushottam Kelkar,up to 61.36 lakh shares bySubhash PurushottamKelkar, up to 15 lakh sharesby Anuradha Arun Kelkar,up to 25 lakh shares byNutan Subhash Kelkar, up to1.22 crore shares by

Somerset Indus HealthcareFund I Ltd. and up to 73,668shares by Mayur Sirdesai.

Hexagon Nutrition,which filed preliminary IPOpapers with Sebi in Decem-ber 2021, obtained its ob-servations letter on March4 2022, an update with theregulator showed on Mon-day. In Sebi's parlance, itsobservation implies its go-ahead to float the initialshare-sale. As per marketsources, the issue size willbe approximately in therange of Rs 500-600 crore.

Proceeds from fresh is-suance will be used fordebt payments, funding in-cremental working capitalrequirements, supportingcapital expenditure for ex-panding an existing facility,investment in subsidiary

and financing capital ex-penditure at the existingfacility and general corpo-rate purposes. Mumbai-based Hexagon Nutrition isa fully integrated companyengaged in product devel-opment and marketing, in-cluding research and de-velopment and nutritionmanufacturing. Founded byArun and Subash Kelkar in1993, Hexagon Nutritionstarted as a micro-nutrientformulations player, and to-day it has moved up thevalue chain to developbrands like Pentasure,Obesigo and Pediagold,which are leading names inthe health, wellness andclinical nutrition space. In2016, offshore private eq-uity firm Somerset IndusHealthcare Fund-I, alongwith Mayur Anand Sardesai,an advisor and director atSomerset Health CapitalAdvisors, had invested Rs25 crore for a 10 per centstake in the company.

Hexagon Nutrition hadset up a trading companyin South Africa in 2019 andhas plans to build a facilitythere. The company is alsosetting up a factory inUzbekistan that is expectedto commence operationsby the first quarter of 2022.Equirus Capital and SBICapital Markets are thebook running lead manag-ers to the issue.

FPIs pull out Rs 17,537crfrom Indian markets

New Delhi, Foreignportfolio investors (FPIs)pulled out as much as Rs17,537 crore from the In-dian markets in just threetrading sessions of March asinvestors' sentiment gotdented by the uncertaintytriggered by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and risingcrude oil prices.

As per depositoriesdata, they pulled out Rs14,721 crore from equities,Rs 2,808 crore from debtsegment and Rs 9 crorefrom hybrid instrumentsbetween March 2-4.

This took the total netoutflow to Rs 17,537 crore.The market sentimentshave been impacted glo-bally by the uncertainty trig-gered by the war and thesurge in crude, said VKVijayakumar, Chief Invest-ment Strategist at Geojit Fi-

nancial Services.Besides, they were sell-

ers in the debt segment aswell, amidst a depreciatingrupee.

As per HimanshuSrivastava, Associate Direc-tor Manager Research,Morningstar India, geopo-litical tension of such amagnitude doesn't augurwell for emerging marketslike India with respect toforeign flows.

High valuations of theIndian equity markets, riskto corporate earnings andslow pace of economicgrowth have been keepingforeign investors at bayfrom investing substantiallyin Indian stock markets, hesaid.

But the pace of out-flows shot up sharply afterUS Fed decided to unwindstimulus measure and in-

crease interest rates soonerthan later. The outflowspicked up pace further dueto the war between Russiaand Ukraine, he added.

Shrikant Chouhan, Headof Equity Research (Retail),Kotak Securities Ltd., said:FPI flows in the emergingmarkets in the month ofFebruary 2022 was positive,except for India.

Indonesia, the Philip-pines, S.Korea and Thailandwitnessed inflows to thetune of USD 1,220 million,USD 141 million, USD 418million and USD 1,931 mil-lion, respectively,

FPI flows are expectedto be volatile in the com-ing months, due to the on-going Russian invasion ofUkraine and its fallout in theform of sanctions, high in-flation and likely increase ininterest rate by Fed, he said.

Centre plans exportincentives in textile sector

New Delhi, Textile ex-porters may soon get afresh set of incentives toexpand their business inEuropean and other mar-kets, according to propos-als being considered at thecommerce ministry.

Textile ministry officialswere in talks with the com-merce ministry to finalizethe incentives, they told aparliamentary committeelast week.

These incentives, if andwhen they come, will go along way in helping Indiantextile firms enter the Eu-ropean markets, which cur-rently slap high levy on In-dian exports, a parliamen-tarian involved in the dis-cussion said on condition ofanonymity. The proposedincentives will be aimed tooffset these levies.

While the rate of incen-tive is still being debated, itwould offset the proposedcarbon tax of the EuropeanUnion and a few other lev-ies, officials said, decliningto be named.

The proposed incen-tives are being discussed ata time when the EuropeanUnion’s proposed CarbonBorder Adjustment Mecha-nism can see higher tariffon Indian goods. NewDelhi is opposed to theproposed levy as it mightmake it more difficult forIndian companies to com-pete against China andother manufacturing hubs.

Europe is India’s third-largest export destination;the country exportedgoods worth $41.36 billionto the continent in 2020-21, official data show.

India does not have freetrade agreements with theEuropean bloc and the US,but have entered into suchpacts with Mexico and theUnited Arab Emirates. Thetwo countries are also seenas potential launch pad forIndian exports to the West-ern countries, said anofficial.New Delhi and AbuDhabi agreed on free tradelast month. India’s majorexports to the emirates in-

clude refined petroleumproducts, minerals, cereals,sugar, fruits, vegetables, tea,meat, seafood, textiles, en-gineering, machinery prod-ucts, and chemicals. Indiaimports petroleum and pe-troleum products, preciousmetals, stones, jewellery,minerals, chemicals andwood products from theWest Asian country.

We were also informedthat the government is inadvanced stages of talkswith the UK and Australia,said the parliamentariancited earlier. The officialstold us that the Centre hasa target of reaching $500billion in exports by the endof the next financial year.

A boost for textile ex-ports will have a significanteffect on the domesticmarket. The textile sectorprovides employment to atleast 45 million people andis regarded as one of thelargest employers in thecountry, besides the agri-culture and services sec-tors.

Petrol, diesel prices set to rise asCrude to range around $95-125

New Delhi, Hostilities between Russia and Ukraine,along with sustained demand, is expected to keep glo-bal crude oil prices in the range of $95-to-$125 per bar-rel in the short term. Consequently, the geopolitical cri-sis-led global hike in crude oil prices is expected to pushIndia's domestic prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 15-22per litre. It is widely expected that the OMCs will revisethe current prices on or after March 7, which is the lastday of voting in the ongoing state assembly elections.

However, an excise duty cut may dampen the impacton petrol and diesel prices to an extent, but not entirely.At present, India imports 85 per cent of its crude oil needs.Besides, the cascading effect of higher fuel cost will trig-ger a general inflationary trend.

Mumbai: The Sensexand Nifty lurched lower forthe third day running, inlockstep with global equi-ties, as risk-off sentimentprevailed amid Russia step-ping up its military offen-sive against Ukraine. A de-preciating rupee, elevatedoil prices and heavy sellingby foreign investors alsocontributed to the decline,traders said.

The 30-share BSESensex opened weak andslumped over 1,200 pointsto the day's low of53,887.72, before recoup-ing some losses to close at54,333.81, down by 768.87points or 1.40 per cent.

Similarly, the broaderNSE Nifty slumped 252.70points or 1.53 per cent to

Mkts retreat for third dayas Ukraine war drags on

end at 16,245.35. Titan,Maruti Suzuki, Asian Paints,Mahindra & Mahindra,Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Fi-nance and Axis Bank werethe biggest drags on theSensex, tumbling up to5.05 per cent. In contrast,Dr. Reddy's Laboratories,ITC, Tech Mahindra,UltraTech Cement, SunPharma and Wipro wereamong the gainers, spurt-ing as much as 2.95 percent. Market breadth wasnegative, with 23 of the 30Sensex counters closing inthe red.

Global bourses are wit-nessing a sharp sell-off asreports of Russian attack onEurope's biggest nuclearplant in Ukraine kept ten-sion levels elevated.

Proposed metro cess in Mumbai, Pune toimpact recovery in residential realty: JLL

New Delhi, The pro-posed metro cess inMumbai and Pune is likelyto have a detrimental im-pact on the residential mar-kets in the regions which arecurrently recovering, saidproperty consultant firm JLL.As per reports, an additional1 per cent cess will be lev-ied on all property pur-chased from April 1 inMumbai, Pune and Nagpur.While Mumbai recorded 96per cent of pre-Covid salesin Q4 2021 (compared toQ4 2019), Pune's sales were252 per cent of pre-Covid

numbers. On an annual ba-sis as well, Mumbai andPune saw sales improve by30 per cent and 130 percent on a Y-o-Y basis in 2021,the firm said in a note. Giv-ing reference to the salesvolumes, the firm said it wasa clear sign of the demandmomentum returning andat a time like this additionalcost burden will be felt bythe affordable and mid-seg-ment buyers. One has torecognize that the RBI hasretained its accommodativestance by prioritizing eco-nomic growth and sup-

ported residential sales re-covery by keeping the reporate unchanged, despite in-flationary pressures. At sucha moment, the state govern-ment could have looked atdeferring the metro cess,given the fact that thestamp duty concession isalso slated to end by 31stMarch 2022, it said. It addedwhile the metro cess will beutilized for infrastructureupgradation, the timingcould have been pushedfurther to allow for a sus-tained recovery to play outin the residential market.

RBI asks Paytm Payments Bank tostop opening new accounts

Mumbai: The RBI asked Paytm Payments Bank to stopopening new accounts amid material supervisory con-cerns observed in the bank.

Reserve Bank of India has today, in exercise of its pow-ers, inter alia, under section 35A of the Banking Regula-tion Act, 1949, directed Paytm Payments Bank Ltd to stop,with immediate effect, onboarding of new customers,the central bank said.

The bank has also been directed to appoint an IT auditfirm to conduct a comprehensive system audit of its ITsystem. Onboarding of new customers by Paytm PaymentsBank Ltd will be subject to specific permission to begranted by RBI after reviewing report of the IT auditors.This action is based on certain material supervisory con-cerns observed in the bank, it said.

Paytm Payments Bank was incorporated in August2016 and formally began its operations in May 2017 froma branch in Noida. In December 2020, the RBI had barredHDFC Bank from launching any new digital products orservices and issuing new credit cards till the lender re-solved recurring tech issues.

AHMEDABAD MONDAY 21/3/2022

Govt finally admitsirregularities in IIM-Rohtak

director appointment;the Board should rethink hissecond term

The disclosure, made to the Punjab and HaryanaHigh Court, that the director of IIM-Rohtak was ineli-gible for a post he held for five years, must embarrassboth the government and India’s premier institutesof management. It reveals extraordinary lapses andloopholes in the appointment process, first reportedby this newspaper, and must prod the government totake swift action against those who looked the otherway or let it happen. Even though IIM-Rohtak directorDheeraj Sharma failed to meet a minimum criterion— he secured a second class in his undergraduateexaminations, instead of the first class required — hisname was green-lit by the Appointments Commit-tee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by the Prime Minis-ter, as was the norm till the IIM Act came into being. Asecond class undergraduate degree per se may be asilly reason to block the best candidate but if that’sthe criterion, any waiver needs a reasoned explana-tion to ensure that the playing field is level.

Not only that didn’t happen, Sharma refused tosubmit his undergraduate degree to the Ministry ofEducation despite three reminders. And whenSharma’s candidature was challenged in court, theMinistry of Education last year consistently denied anyirregularity and asked for the plea to be dismissed. Ithas now filed an affidavit, conceding that it was wrong.But Sharma has now got a second term as the IIM-Rohtak director — even if his first term stands invali-dated. While scams involving inflated degrees andqualifications are not unheard of in many colleges,the unearthing of such a deceit at an IIM does dim itssuccess story. Justly celebrated as institutes of aca-demic excellence, the IIMs pride themselves on be-ing uncompromising when it comes to talent, anddiscouraging mediocrity. They have also fought a longbattle to protect and preserve their academic au-tonomy, even if that has involved wrangles with thegovernment. But the appointment —and now, a sec-ond term — of the IIM-Rohtak director suggests abreakdown of a system of checks and balances, and aculture of procedural impropriety.

Whether it was political influence or corruptionthat allowed Sharma to game the system, or convincedthe system to lower its scrutiny, the revelations nowsend a warning to the IIMs. Since 2018, the IIMs havethe power to appoint directors, chairpersons andboard members, without any role of the government.But such processes must remain open, transparentand credible — and be seen as such. For the IIMs, thetask now is to tighten the verification processes. BothIIM-Rohtak and the Ministry of Education must inves-tigate the sins of omission and commission that ledto this scandal. Yes, under the IIM Act, the institute hasautonomy to choose its leader but does it want togive a second term to one who, on evidence, hasbeen, dodgy? For, this has little to do with the tran-scripts of an undergraduate degree, this is about aca-demic honesty and integrity.

PM Modi pushes for innovative,futuristic financing measuresNew Delhi, Prime Min-

ister Narendra Modi hasasked financial institutionsto devise innovative andfuturistic financing mea-sures to fund the burgeon-ing economy and urgedthe Union and state gov-ernments to implementBudget 2022-23 from dayone to sustain the growthmomentum and make thecountry self-reliant.

The tenth post-budgetwebinar, he said that thegovernment has taken sev-eral steps to maintain thehigh growth momentum inthis budget. By encourag-ing foreign capital flows, re-ducing tax on infrastructureinvestment, creating insti-tutions like NIIF (NationalInvestment and Infrastruc-ture Fund), Gift City, newDFIs (development financeinstitutions), we have triedto accelerate financial andeconomic growth.

He said that the pur-pose of these webinars is

expeditious and effectiveimplementation of budgetannouncements betweenApril 1, 2022, and March 31,2023, in a coordinatedmanner. This is a new initia-tive which is an example ofsabka prayas, where consul-tations happened at threestages before preparingthe budget, after presenta-tion of the budget and be-fore implementation, sothat it is carried out in letterand spirit, he said.

This, in itself, is a won-derful experiment of de-mocracy, the Prime Minis-ter said. The topic ofwebinar was Financing forGrowth and AspirationalEconomy. Wider consulta-tions and outreach havebeen institutionalised withregard to the budget as fi-nance minister NirmalaSitharaman, along with topbureaucrats of her ministry,has been visiting variousparts of country to interactwith stakeholders.

Cabinet clears bodyfor land monetisation

New Delhi, The Unioncabinet gave its nod for thecreation of a government-owned entity, NationalLand Monetisation Corpo-ration (NLMC) to monetiseunused and under usednon-core assets such asland and buildings of pub-lic sector firms, includingthat of companies identifiedfor strategic disinvestmentor closure a move that couldpotentially raise tens ofthousands of crores for thegovernment.

Government would beable to generate substan-tial revenues by monetiz-ing unused and under-usedassets, Union informationand broadcasting ministerAnurag Singh Thakur said ina tweet after the Cabinetmeeting that was chairedby Prime Minister NarendraModi.

NLMC will undertakemonetisation of surplusland and building assets ofcentral public sector enter-prises (CPSEs) and othergovernment agencies, theminister added in anothertweet.

The company will be

professionally managedwith an initial authorisedshare capital of Rs5,000crore and paid-up sharecapital of Rs150 crore. Un-like disinvestment, assetmonetisation is not alwaysan outright sale of land andproperties. Its purpose is tomaximise value of assetsthat are either idle or un-der-utilised and that couldbe done through lease andother arrangements. TheSPV will take appropriatedecisions on case-to-casebasis, a government officialaware of the developmentsaid on condition of ano-nymity.

The idea of assetmonetisation was ex-plained by finance ministerNirmala Sitharaman in her2021-22 Budget speech.Idle assets will not contrib-ute to AtmaNirbhar Bharat[Self-reliant India]. The non-core assets largely consistof surplus land with govern-ment Ministries/Depart-ments and Public SectorEnterprises. Monetizing ofland can either be by wayof direct sale or concessionor by similar means.

The Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu during an interaction with the participants of ‘Ad-vanced Management Programme in Public Policy’ conducted by Indian School of Business, in NewDelhi.

The Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Labour& Employment, Shri Bhupender Yadav at the release of the DPRs for Reju-venation of 13 Major Indian Rivers through Forestry Interventions, in NewDelhi.

A high level delegation led by the Danish Minister of Health, Mr. MagnusHeunicke calling on the Minister of State for Science & Technology andEarth Sciences (I/C), Prime Minister’s Office, Personnel, Public Grievances &Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh, in New Delhi.

kasahisolution.”Abhinav Chugh, Cat-

egory Manger, HimalayaWellness Company, said, “Inour new campaign, we aretalking to young boys who,as teens, encounterpimples.It is at this age thatboys get conscious abouttheir looks - especiallywhen they become inter-ested in a girl. Through thiscampaign, we aim to per-suade all young boys to optfor the right solution fortheir pimples. Our BrandAmbassador, Rishabh Pant,is the right influencer forthese young boys, bustingtheir myths and sharing theright solution.”

The commercial openswith a group of friends re-turning to their dressingroom after a cricket match,with the focus on a boy withpimples. A friend is seenplayfully teasing him abouthow a girl at the match waslooking at him,and the boysays that she was actuallylooking at his pimples,whilehe looks into the mirrorworried. His friends then goon to give him various sug-gestions like applying soapandpopping the pimple.Then Rishabh Pant joins thegroup and tells them thatthere is only one right solu-tion for men’s pimples andintroduces Himalaya MENPimple Clear Neem FaceWash,which is specially for-mulated for men’s skin andhelps manage pimples ef-fectively.

Himalaya MEN Launches New CampaignAddressing Pimple Concern Among Boys

Mumbai, HimalayaWellness Company, one ofIndia’s leading wellnessbrands, unveils a new cam-paign positioning HimalayaMEN Pimple Clear NeemFace Wash as the most ef-fective solution for men’spimples,with the power ofnature and science.

With the offering of“Ladkonke pimples kasahisolution”, the campaignprompts young boys tochoose the right solutionfor solving theirpimplesproblems, insteadof experimenting withweird suggestions. RahulPanchal, General Manager-

Marketing, HimalayaWellness Company, said,“Every Himalaya productaims at solving consumers’day-to-day personal careproblems, and this visionembodies the brand’s mis-sion of bringing Wellness inevery Home and Happinessin every Heart. Our ongo-ing consumer studies re-veal that boys too hatepimples, and they experi-ment with pimplesolutions.Hence, the new campaignfor Himalaya MEN helpsbreak myths on various ex-periments to solve pimpleproblems and positions thebrand as Ladkonke pimples

3Global Data cuts Indianeconomy growth forecast

New Delhi, GlobalData,a London-based dataanalytics and consultingcompany, on Friday said ithas lowered India'seconomy growth forecastto 7.8 per cent for 2022 dueto the nation's exports be-ing impacted by the Russia-Ukraine war and spiking oilprices causing ripple ef-fects. It said rupee is likelyto further depreciateagainst US dollar while soar-ing commodity prices willpush inflation up. However,Indian banking sector willlikely remain resilient.

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war will have anegative impact on India's

exports and spike in oilprices will cause ripple ef-fects on input prices andconsumer goods leading toinflationary pressures.Against this backdrop,GlobalData revises downthe country's economygrowth forecast by 0.1 per-centage point to 7.8 percent for 2022.

Ukraine and Russia to-gether accounted for 2.2per cent share of total im-ports of India in 2020. Indiamainly imports mineral fu-els (34 per cent of the totalimports), natural pearls andsemi-precious stones (14per cent), fertilizers (10 percent), petroleum oils and

crude (5.6 per cent) fromRussia, and animal or veg-etable fat and oils (74.9 percent of the total imports),fertilizers (11 per cent), andinorganic chemicals (3.5per cent) from Ukraine.

The prices of theseitems are projected toshoot up in the short-term,GlobalData said.

Gargi Rao, EconomicResearch Analyst atGlobalData, commented, Inthe short-term, Indian trad-ers may feel the pinch ofhigher oil and gas pricesalong with delays in ship-ment and movement of as-signments across BlackSea.

Microsoft to set up Rs 15,000 croredata centre in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Tech giantMicrosoft will set up its larg-est and fourth data centrein India here with an invest-ment outlay of over Rs15,000 crore over a periodof 15 years. I am very happyto say that Hyderabad willbe the destination forMicrosoft's largest DataCentre investment in Indiawith an investment of overRs 15,000 crore over a pe-riod of 15 years.

This will be one of thelargest FDIs that Telanganahas attracted, TelanganaMinister for IT and IndustriesKT Rama Rao on Mondaysaid at an event marking theannouncement ofMicrosoft's latest data cen-ter region in Hyderabad.

This will indirectly sup-port local business growthand facilitate job creationacross IT operations, facili-ties management, data andnetwork security, networkengineering and muchmore, he said.

Microsoft is also keenon supporting the govern-ment with cloud adoptionand usage of advancedtechnologies, he said.

Microsoft said it expectsto make the data centre atHyderabad operational by2025 and it comes in addi-tion to the existing threefacilities located in Pune,Mumbai, and Chennai.

It will offer the entireMicrosoft portfolio acrossthe cloud, data solutions,

artificial intelligence (AI),productivity tools, and cus-tomer relationship man-agement (CRM) with ad-vanced data security, forenterprises, start-ups, de-velopers, education, andgovernment institutions.

Microsoft India Presi-dent Anant Maheshwarisaid the company's latestdata centre region inHyderabad will be the larg-est data centre that wewill have in India going for-ward.

Typically it takes at least24 months to create an in-frastructure like that. Thetarget data for theoperationalization of thisdata centre will be 2025, hesaid.

India signs deals to export5 lac tonnes of wheat

New Delhi, India hassigned contracts to exportabout 500,000 tonnes ofwheat in recent days, trad-ers said, cashing in on asharp rally in internationalprices and signalling a biguptick in overseas salesfrom the world's secondbiggest producer of thegrain.

Traders said last weekthey had received inquiriesfrom buyers seeking alter-natives to Black Sea cargoesas Russia's invasion ofUkraine threatened sup-plies from two producerswhich together account for30% of world wheat ex-ports.

After five consecutiverecord annual crops, Indiahas large wheat invento-ries, and traders are keen tocapitalise on any exportopportunity. A high domes-

tic price guaranteed by thegovernment tends to deterexports unless world pricesare high.

The surge in globalprices has made it easier forIndian suppliers to meetthe rising demand forwheat, said one dealer at aglobal trading firm, declin-ing to be named becauseof company policy.

India guarantees pro-ducers about $257 a tonnefor domestic sales, whilebenchmark Europeanwheat jumped above 400euros ($435) on Mondayand benchmark wheatprices in Chicago settled attheir highest in 14 years.

India is set to export arecord 7 million tonnes ofwheat this year. The buyers,who are worried aboutsupply disruptions fromUkraine and Russia, know

that only India can be a big,steady supplier of wheat atthis point of time, and that'swhy they have turned toIndia.

India has sealed dealsto export about 500,000tonnes of wheat in recentdays, he said. Two other trad-ers, who also did not wishto be named, confirmedthe figure.

Most suppliers havesigned these deals ataround $340 a tonne freeon board (FOB) to $350 atonne, said trader RajeshPaharia Jain at Unicorp PvtLtd. Traders earlier soldwheat at $305 to $310 atonne FOB. An Indian gov-ernment official, who de-clined to be named, saidNew Delhi was supportiveof wheat exports and willfacilitate shipments by pri-vate players.

Indian rupee hits lifetime low asglobal crude oil prices soar

New Delhi, The Indian rupee hit a lifetime low in open-ing deals on Monday as a sharp surge in global crude oilprices threatened to push up imported inflation and widenthe country's trade and current account deficits.

The partially convertible rupee was trading at 76.92/93 per dollar, after touching 76.96, its weakest level ever.It had closed at 76.16 on Friday. The benchmark 10-yearbond yield was trading at 6.86%, up 5 basis points on theday.Oil prices soared more than 6%, touching their high-est since 2008 on Monday after the United States andEuropean allies mull a Russian oil import ban while delaysin the potential return of Iranian crude to global marketsfuelled tight supply fears. Indian shares tumbled over 2%,with investors dumping risky assets as oil prices soaredafter the United States and European allies were said tobe mulling a Russian oil import ban. The blue-chip NSENifty 50 index was down 2.39% at 15,857 by 0349 GMTand the S&P BSE Sensex dropped 2.52% to 52,963.78.Both the indexes extended losses to a fourth straight ses-sion. Last week, they also posted their fourth consecutiveweekly loss.

India is the world's third-largest importer of crude oil,and rising prices push up the country's trade and currentaccount deficit while also hurting the rupee and fuellingimported inflation.

Jet Airways appoints Sanjiv Kapoor as CEOMumbai: Grounded car-

rier Jet Airways announcedthe appointment of SanjivKapoor as the chief execu-tive officer.

His appointment to thepost comes days after theairline brought in former SriLankan Airlines CEO VipulaGunatileka as the chief fi-nancial officer.

Kapoor, who is currentlythe president of OberoiHotels and Resorts, hasbeen associated with bud-get carriers SpiceJet andGoAir as well as with full-

service carrier Vistara invarious capacities in thepast.

He will join Jet Airwayson April 4, the airline said.

Jet Airways, which hasnot flown since April 17,2019, is in the process ofrelaunching operationsunder its new promotersJalan-Kalrock Consor-tium.

Sanjiv (Kapoor) is a sea-soned aviation professionalwho has the right blendand demeanour to stitch ateam together.

I always believe in in-vesting in human capitaland by having Sanjiv as theCEO and Vipula as the CFO,I am certain Jet Airways willreclaim its lost glory andsurpass everyone's expec-tation, said Murari Lal Jalan,lead partner of the Jalan-Kalrock Consortium andproposed non-executivechairman of Jet Airways.

Kapoor will be able tolead Jet Airways and makeit become the most pre-ferred full-service carrier ofIndia, Jalan added.

NCLT to hear Suraksharesolution plan

Biden signs order oncryptocurrency as its use explodes

Washington: PresidentJoe Biden signed an ex-ecutive order on Govern-ment oversight ofcryptocurrency that urgesthe Federal Reserve to ex-plore whether the Centralbank should jump in andcreate its own digital cur-rency.

The Biden administra-tion views the explosivepopularity ofcryptocurrency as an oppor-tunity to examine the risksand benefits of digital as-sets, said a senior adminis-tration official who pre-viewed the order Tuesdayon the condition of ano-nymity, terms set by theWhite House.

Under the executiveorder, Biden also has di-rected the Treasury Depart-ment and other federalagencies to study the im-pact of cryptocurrency onfinancial stability and na-tional security.

Brian Deese and JakeSullivan, Biden's top eco-

nomic and national securityadvisers, respectively, saidthe order establishes thefirst comprehensive federaldigital assets strategy forthe United States.

That will help positionthe U.S. To keep playing aleading role in the innova-tion and governance of thedigital assets ecosystem athome and abroad, in a waythat protects consumers, isconsistent with our demo-cratic values and advancesU.S. Global competitive-ness, Deese and Sullivansaid.

The action comes aslawmakers and administra-tion officials are increas-ingly voicing concern thatRussia may be usingcryptocurrency to avoid theimpact of sanctions im-posed on its banks, oli-garchs and oil industry dueto the invasion of Ukraine.

Democratic Sens. Eliza-beth Warren, Mark Warner,and Jack Reed asked theTreasury Department toprovide information onhow it intends to inhibitcryptocurrency use forsanctions evasion.

Not authorised any entity toaddress public grievances: RBI

Mumbai: The ReserveBank said it has notauthorised any externalagency to redress publiccomplaints against regu-lated entities.

Instances ofmisinformationbeing spreadthrough certainsections of thesocial mediaabout the Re-serve Bank - Inte-grated Ombuds-man Scheme2021 (RB-IOS) -have come to thenotice of the RBI, the cen-tral banks said.

These messages areconveying to the public atlarge to lodge their com-plaints against entities regu-lated by the RBI throughthird parties for a charge/fee or otherwise for earlyredress of grievances, itsaid.

It is clarified that RBIdoes not have any such ar-rangement with any entityfor (the) redress of griev-ances against the Regu-lated Entities (REs). RBI haslaid down a cost-free griev-ance redress mechanism

under RB-IOS, which doesnot involve payment offees or charges in any formor manner.

Customers havinggrievances against REs fordeficiency in services,

which is notr e d r e s s e dsatisfactorilyor in a timelymanner bythe REs candirectly lodgetheir com-plaint on theC o m p l a i n tManagement

System (CMS) portal (https://www.Rbi.Org.In) or by e-mail at crpc@rbi.Org.In, theapex bank noted.

Complainants havingqueries on RB-IOS or desir-ing information relating totheir complaints lodgedthrough the above meth-ods, can reach the ContactCentre of RBI at toll-free14448 currently availablefrom 9:30 am to 5:15 pmon working days in Hindi,English and nine regionallanguages Bengali, Gujarati,Kannada, Odia, Malayalam,Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil andTelugu.

Hiring will not be impacted by anynew coronavirus variant: SurveyMumbai: As the country

is recovering from the pan-demic, a majority of C-Suiteexecutives and employees(73 per cent) across sectorsfeel hiring will not be ad-versely impacted due toany new wave of COVID-19, according to a survey.

As COVID-19 cases con-tinue to decline across thecountry, 73 per cent re-spondents believe that thenew wave will not have anadverse impact on the hir-ing trends across sectors,while 27 per cent are un-sure about the situation inthe future, according to thesurvey by Genius Consult-ants.

The survey was doneamong 1,468 C-Suite ex-ecutives and employeesonline across sectors in-cluding banking and fi-nance, engineering, educa-tion, FMCG, hospitality, HRsolutions, IT, ITeS and BPO,logistics, manufacturing,media, oil and gas, andpharma. Further, the surveyshowed that over 69 percent respondents are notanticipating a rise in job in-security with the advent ofthe new variant.

The remaining fear thatstate-imposed restrictionsand lockdowns could againhalt businesses and possi-bly could result in salarycuts and layoffs, it noted.

When asked if the fearof the new variant could be

more detrimental, over 71per cent said it will not beas serious as hospitalizationhad been low during Omi-cron and had a high recov-ery rate, which was encour-aging. Meanwhile, 64 percent respondents feel thatmost companies will en-courage 'hybrid work mod-els' if there is a surge in

COVID-19 cases, to ensurethe safety of their staff andfor uninterrupted businessoperations. The new variantcausing the sudden rise incases had been an ex-tremely worrisome subjectfor industries across. The in-dustries were slowly recov-ering and were performingquite satisfactorily.

European gas futures surge 30%as Russia threatens to cut flowsEuropean gas futures

jumped as much as 32% af-ter Russia threatened to cutnatural gas supplies to Eu-rope via the existing NordStream pipeline. In a furtherdeterioration relations be-tween Moscow and the Eu-ropean Union, Russia threat-ened to halt gas flowingalong the pipeline to Ger-many. The warning is part ofRussia’s response to interna-tional sanctions imposed onthe country following its in-vasion of Ukraine. No deci-sion has been taken yet, ac-cording to Deputy Prime

Minister Alexander Novak.Gas prices surged afterclimbing as much as 79%on Monday in the most vola-tile trading conditions mar-kets in Europe have everseen. Nord Stream, the big-gest route for Russia’s gassupplies to Europe, shipped59 billion cubic meters ofgas last year around 40% ofthe nation’s exports to thecontinent. Europe’s relianceon Russian energy has beena key factor in efforts by thecontinent’s leaders to agreeon how to respond to theinvasion of Ukraine. Last

month, Berlin shelved the$11 billion Nord Stream 2pipeline project, and Euro-pean Union officials saythey’re working on a planthat could cut the bloc’s im-port needs from Russia byalmost 80% this year.

EU Aims to Cut RussiaGas Dependence by Al-most 80% This Year Novak,who is also in charge ofenergy affairs, said Russiahas information about pos-sible action being plannedagainst the Ukrainian gastransport system, accordingto Interfax news agency.Amazon's battle with Reliance

for India retail supremacyNew Delhi,

For more than a year,Amazon.com Inc and India'sFuture Group have beenlocked in a complex legalstand-off that has stalledFuture's $3.4 billion sale ofassets to rival Reliance In-dustries , the country's big-gest conglomerate.

After trading barbs incourtrooms for months,Amazon and Future unex-pectedly agreed on March3 to hold discussions to re-solve their dispute.

Here's what the dispute,seen as key to decidingwho gets an upper hand inone of the world's fastest-growing retail markets, is allabout and what led to thesudden change in tone.

In 2019, Amazon andFuture, number two playerin India behind marketleader Reliance, becamebusiness partners when theU.S. company invested$200 million in a unit of theIndian group.

That deal, Amazon ar-gues, came with non-com-pete clauses that prohibitedFuture from selling retailassets to certain rivals, in-cluding Reliance, run by oneof India's richest men,Mukesh Ambani. The dealalso included clauses forsettlement of any disputesunder rules laid down bythe Singapore InternationalArbitration Centre.

But in 2020, Future - hithard by the COVID-19 pan-

demic - decided to sell as-sets to Reliance. Amazonthen approached Singaporearbitrators and successfullystopped the sale. Both par-ties have also challengedeach other with lawsuits inIndian courts, including theSupreme Court, since theseat of arbitration remainsin New Delhi and Indianlaw governs the proceed-ings.

Amazon argues variousagreements signed in 2019with Future gave it specialrights over Future's retailassets, some of which it hadalso hoped to ultimatelyown should India's rules forforeign investors be eased.The potential Future-Reli-ance deal destroys the lat-

ter prospect, the U.S. com-pany has said.

Future denies anywrongdoing, saying Ama-zon is illegally seeking toexert control on Future's re-tail business. Future Retail -the group's flagship retailarm - says it faces liquida-tion and its more than27,000 employees can be-come jobless if the Reliancedeal fails.

Both sides have de-ployed a battery of lawyersand top Indian legal firmsare involved in the high-profile matter. Two lawyerswho formerly occupied theposition of Solicitor Generalof India have played a keyrole in arguing for Amazonand Future.

Industrial growth at1.3 pc in Jan: Govt data

New Delhi, Industrialproduction expanded by1.3 per cent in January onan annual basis, mainly onaccount of improved per-formance of mining andmanufacturing sectors, of-ficial data said.

The Index of IndustrialProduction (IIP) had con-tracted by 0.6 per cent inJanuary 2021.

As per the data releasedby the Ministry of Statisticsand Programme Imple-mentation, the growth inthe mining sector was 2.8per cent against a contrac-

tion of 2.4 per cent in Janu-ary 2021. The manufactur-ing sector expanded by 1.1per cent in January, com-pared to a contraction of0.9 per cent in the year-ago month. However,growth in power genera-tion decelerated to 0.9 percent as against an expan-sion of 5.5 per cent in Janu-ary 2021. In the April-Janu-ary period of the current fis-cal, the IIP growth stood at13.7 per cent as against acontraction of 12 per centin the corresponding pe-riod of 2020-21.

AHMEDABAD MONDAY 21/3/2022

New Delhi,The National Company

Law Tribunal (NCLT ) willhear on March 7 and March9 matters related to ap-proval of the Surakshagroup's bid to acquire debt-ridden realty firm JaypeeInfratech Ltd.

In a regulatory filing,Jaypee Infratech Ltd. (JIL)said the listing of matter ofresolution plan, along withrelated pleas, is listed forconsideration before theNational Company Law Tri-bunal, Principal Bench,New Delhi, on March 7 andMarch 9.

In June last year,Mumbai-based Surakshagroup received the ap-proval of financial creditors

and home-buyers to takeover the JIL, raising hopesfor around 20,000 home-buyers of getting posses-sion of their dream flats.Suraksha group got the ap-proval of the committee ofcreditors (CoC) to acquireJIL, after the 10-day-longvoting process. Surakshagroup won the bid with98.66 per cent votes and itgot 0.12 per cent morevotes than NBCC. As manyas 12 banks and more than20,000 homebuyers havevoting rights in the CoC.Homebuyers and creditorshave 56.63 per cent and43.25 per cent votingrights, respectively. Fixeddeposit holders have 0.13per cent voting rights.

The Governor of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Rajendra Arlekar calling onthe Union Minister for Defence, Shri Rajnath Singh, in New Delhi.

The Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, ShriGiriraj Singh releasing the book titled “Empowering Citizens, PoweringIndia”, in New Delhi.

The Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Youth Affairs andSports, Shri Anurag Singh Thakur meeting Yogi Adityanath, in New Delhi.

4 Monday Montage

Sumeet Vyas unveils his characterin web show 'Jugaadistan'

New Delhi, (IANS) ActorSumeet Vyas says he faced a lotof challenges while playing hischaracter in the Akarsh Khuranadirectorial web series'Jugaadistan'.

Sumeet says: "It was challeng-ing because I was playingsomeone who is com-pletely opposite to who Iam. This is a guy who isslightly aggressive, menac-ing, and deceitful in his life.On top of that, he is aHaryanvi guy so I wanted toget my accent right and atthe same time not overdoit. We wanted to keep it col-loquial so more people canunderstand what he is say-ing."

The actor who is known forhis role in 'Permanent Room-mates' shares more about his char-acter and says: "He is someonewho has hung around in collegemore than an average studenthas. In my opinion he is a fairlyscary individual who doesn't ap-pear to be scary."

"That's a character trait that I con-sciously try to bring in because that'ssomething that I've observed in a lotof people who are very powerful -they have the ability to cause dam-age but don't come across as scarypeople," he adds.

While talking about the effortsput by him to make his character re-latable, he shares: "Generally, thepreparation for me starts from thescript. I work on my script really hard.In this case, I was hanging out withmy friends who are from Haryana. Iwould listen to them and record theirvoice secretly to practice the accent

with my script. Then you bring inthe back story a little bit. That'sthe kind of preparation I wentthrough." Sumeet says that it isalways fun to be part of such ashow which is unique in terms ofstoryline and sends a strong mes-

sage to those watching it."It's a show based on collegestudents, but it isn't fluffedor dumbed down. It is a veryintelligent show and every-one is shown in an intelli-gent light. They aren't talk-ing about drama or sillythings, they're talking aboutpolitics, the future, socialismetc. I thoroughly believe thatcollege students in today'sday and age are smart andadept." "I'm happy that

they've shown them in a moremature light. Also, the characterarcs in the show are absolutelyphenomenal. It's very hard tohave so many characters and somany arcs and make them go ina full circle. It's very hard to writefull credits to the writing team,"he concludes.m

Vikram Singh Chauhan in awe of AjayDevgn while working in 'Rudra'

Mumbai, (IANS) Dehradun-bornlawyer-turned-actor Vikram SinghChauhan, who was seen in 'Mardaani2', is receiving good response for hisperformance in Ajay Devgn starrer'Rudra: The Edge of Darkness'.

Vikram shifted to Mumbai to workin a law firm and soon he was keento pursue his dream of becoming an

actor. In 'Rudra' the actor plays Cap-tain Ashok Nikose, a person suffer-ing from Post traumatic stress disor-der (PTSD).

Vikram shares his experience ofworking with Ajay in the web series:"Its one of the best learning experi-ences for me. I had my scenes withAjay sir, Atul (Kulkarni) sir and Ashwini(Kalsekar) ma'am . Their hold on their

craft is so strong that just to watchthem perform is so serene."

"I specifically took a lot from Ajaysir , not just nuances of acting but away of life . He doesn't talk much butis always listening and aware ofwhat's going around him. Super fo-cused, always greeting people witha gentle smile," he adds.

The actor believes thatthe Covid break gave himthe time that he requiredto prepare for the role andsays: "I got a lot of preptime during covid break. Isaw a lot of documenta-ries on war veterans suf-fering from PTSD and onabused childhood. Iworked on my body lan-guage to get that of AshokNikose."

"It's small things donedaily to get closer to the vision ofour director Rajesh Mapuskar . Hemade me understand every detailof Ashok Nikose which helped mework on myself .The best thingabout this craft is you get to lead somany lives in one life. I was alsogiven weapon handling training toadapt to guns and knives," he con-cludes.

Tom Cruise's 'Top Gun: Maverick'to screen at Cannes Film Festival

Los Angeles, (IANS) Hollywoodstar Tom Cruise's upcoming film 'TopGun: Maverick' will be having a spe-cial screening at the Cannes FilmFestival.

As 'Variety' predicted earlier thismonth, the 'Top Gun' sequel willscreen during the French fest, whichcelebrates its 75th anniversary thisyear.

Described by Variety's ElsaKeslassy as the "planetary blockbusterThierry Fremaux has been dreamingof since 2020," the Cannes directorfirst aimed to get the movie securedfor an out-of-competition slot beforeCovid-19 delays upended the film re-lease calendar.

Cruise's long-awaited return tothe cockpit as hotshot pilot Lt. Pete'Maverick' Mitchell was likewise de-layed by the pandemic, whichpushed the movie's planned releasedate several times.

The film is now set to hit theaterson May 27, while the Cannes FilmFestival runs from May 17 to May 28.The full lineup of selections will berevealed in the third week of April.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski, the

high-flying movie also stars MilesTeller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm,Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, DannyRamirez, Monica Barbaro, Ed Harrisand Val Kilmer, returning as Iceman.'Top Gun: Maverick' official world pre-miere is planned for San Diego andwill reportedly take place ahead of

the Cannes screening.Other notable titles predicted to

be in the running for a premiere spotin the lineup include Baz Luhrmann's'Elvis', George Miller's 'Three ThousandYears of Longing', David Cronenberg's'Crimes of the Future' and Disney-Pixar's 'Lightyear'.

'The Batman' stays strong with $66mn during 2nd weekend in US

Los Angeles, (IANS) Hollywoodstar Robert Pattinson's latest release'The Batman' has earned $66 millionfrom 4,417 th American theatres inits second weekend of release, pro-pelling its domestic tally to a whop-ping $238.5 million.

After only 10 days on thebig screen, 'The Batman' nowranks as the highest-gross-ing movie of 2022, as wellas the second-highestgrossing since the onset ofthe Covid-19 in early 2020,reports variety.com.

Only 'Spider-Man: NoWay Home', which has gen-erated a stellar $792 millionin th America, has earnedmore money at the domesticbox office in the past two years.

Ticket sales for 'The Batman' de-clined 51 per cent from its $134 mil-lion debut, a better hold than mostcomic book tentpoles -- pandemic ornot. Recent Covid-era releases, suchas 'The Suicide Squad', 'Eternals', 'BlackWidow' and 'Shang-Chi and the Leg-end of the Ten Rings', plummeted any-where from 53 per cent to 71 per centin their sophomore outings. And otherDC adaptations, including 'JusticeLeague', 'Batman v Superman: Dawn

of Justice' and 'Wonder Woman',dipped between 43 per cent to 69per cent after its inaugural weekend.At the

i n - t e r n a -tional box office, 'The Batman' earned$66.6 million from 75 overseas mar-ket, taking its global total to a huge$463.2 million, reports variety.com.Positive reviews and strong word-of-mouth have kept audiences comingback to 'The Batman', which co-starsZoe Kravitz as Catwoman and PaulDano as the Riddler. Directed by Matt

Reeves, the PG-13 'The Batman', whichruns at a butt-numbing three hours,takes a gritty look at Bruce Wayne'searlier days as "the world's greatestdetective". The $200 million-bud-geted film has been a needed com-mercial smash for Warner Bros. After

releasing its entire 2021 film slatesimultaneously on HBO Max, 'The

Batman' is the studio's first ex-clusive theatrical release inmore than 12 months. Goingforward, Warner Bros. has an-nounced plans to keep itsmovies in cinemas for 45 days

before putting its new titles onHBO Max. Without any new na-

tionwide releases, 'The Batman'had no trouble towering over do-

mestic charts. In a distant secondplace, Tom Holland's video game ad-

aptation 'Uncharted' nabbed $9.2 mil-lion from 3,725 th American venues.After four weeks of release, the PG-13action-adventure has earned $113million. 'Uncharted' has also been popu-lar internationally, adding $11.2 millionover the weekend and taking its over-seas total to $187.9 million. With $301million globally, it continues Sony'sstreak of box office smashes following'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' and 'Spider-Man: No Way Home'.

'Section 375' directorto helm Hindiremake of Tamilneo-noir film

Mumbai, March 14 (IANS) AHindi adaptation of ThiagarajanKumararaja's debut award-win-ning 2010 film, 'AaranyaKaandam', is in pre-production.The neo-noir thriller film, whichalso launched the career of GuruSomasundaram, had got theNational Award for the Best FirstFilm of a Director. The project isto be helmed by Ajay Bahl, whois known for his Akshaye Khannaand Richa Chadha-starrer 'Sec-tion 375', the 2019 courtroomdrama named after the provi-sion of the Indian Penal Codecriminalising rape. ProducersRamesh Taurani (Tips Industries)and Akshai Puri (12th StreetEntertainment) have acquiredthe exclusive rights to the Hindiremake of 'Aaranya Kaandam',which revolves around a day in thelives of the six protagonists, playedby Jackie Shroff, Ravi Krishna,Sampath Raj, Yasmin Ponnappa,Guru Somasundaram and MasterVasanth. The film's music was com-posed by the talented YuvanShankar Raja, the youngest son ofthe maestro, Ilaiyaraaja. Althoughthe Tamil original under-per-formed at the box-office, over theyears it has acquired the status of acult classic.

'Elvis' to have its world premiereat Cannes Film Festival

Los Angeles, (IANS) Actor AustinButler's upcoming movie 'Elvis' on therock-and-roll legend is all set to haveits world premiere at the Cannes FilmFestival, according to 'Variety'.

Directed by Baz Luhrmann, thedrama film also stars Tom Hanks.

The movie currently has a June24 release date, which means it couldnot open the festival unless WarnerBros. Pictures decides to have it bowon May 17 to kick off the milestone75th edition.

Cannes introduced a new rulesseveral years ago that require everyopening night movie to be releasedon the same day in French theatres.

Luhrmann previously opened theFrench Riviera festival with a bangwith 'Moulin Rouge!' in 2001 and 'TheGreat Gatsby' in 2013.

Besides Butler, who stars as theKing, and Hanks, who stars as Col. TomParker, Presley's all-controlling man-

ager, the cast also boasts OliviaDeJonge and Natasha Bassett. Thetrailer was released last month and

garnered positive buzz. Luhrmann'sfirst movie since 'The Great Gatsby','Elvis' explores the life and music ofElvis Presley, seen through the prismof his complicated relationship withhis enigmatic manager. The story

delves into the complex dynamicbetween Presley and Parker span-ning over 20 years, from Presley's riseto fame to his unprecedented star-dom, against the backdrop of theevolving cultural landscape and lossof innocence in America. Central tothat journey is one of the most sig-nificant and influential people inElvis's life, Priscilla Presley (DeJonge).Luhrmann wrote the script with CraigPearce. Variety had predicted the filmwill play at Cannes, along with 'TopGun' and George Miller's new film'Three Thousand Years of Longing',David Cronenberg's 'Crimes of theFuture', Hirokazu Kore-eda's 'Broker'and Park Chan-wook's 'Decision toLeave', among others.

Raashi Khanna: My family wasshocked to see me in 'Rudra'

Mumbai,(IANS) Actress Raashi Khanna recently made her OTT debutwith 'Rudra: The edge of darkness', where she played the role of DrAliyah Choksi, a sociopath. She says her family was shocked to see her inthe series, but in a good way. Talking about her role, Raashi said, "Pullingo f f an eccentric character like Aliyah was the only thing

that mattered to me, I guess I had always beenlooking for something that threw me out of my

comfort zone and this character did just that. Igave it my best and was selected and that'show I got on board. She adds,'It was a wonder-ful experience working with all the actors inthe series. Especially Ajay sir and Atul sir. Ajaysir was a pillar of support from day one. He issuch a good actor and I learnt a lot from him.Atul sir also is a brilliant actor and workingwith him was a blessing too. Raashi receivedall kinds of praises for her role, people on the

sets feared seeing her in the character, herfamily was surprised too when they saw her in

Rudra. "My family and friends were shocked butyes, in a good way. The way I am, they must have

never thought I could pull a character like this off.C o m e to think of it, I never thought I could pull it off! But, Theyare all happy and proud" adds Raashi Produced by Applause Entertain-ment in association with BBC Studios India, Rudra - The Edge of Darknessis now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar

Rajshri Deshpande reveals how shesketched her 'The Fame Game' character

Mumbai, (IANS) Actress RajshriDeshpande, who has been receivingpositive response for her portrayal ofShobha Trivedi, a homosexual cop inthe recently released web series 'TheFame Game', credits her experienceof working as a social activist forsketching her character in the show.

She has been working with theLGBTQ+ community and that kind ofbrought in a certain perspective forher character in the show.

Talking about her prep and theresearch process for her role in 'TheFame Game', Rajshri informs, "Alongwith being an actor I am a social ac-tivist too, and have founded the NGO'Nabhangan Foundation' five years

back, through which I closely workwith LGBT Community, especially inMumbai."

She adds, "I know what kind ofdifficulties, mental trauma they gothrough especially for acceptancefrom society, including their families,friends and difficulties they face intheir day to day life like earning theirlivelihood, etc."

The actress considers it an honourto portray an LGBTQ+ person onscreen, "Since I have worked withLGBT community and their families,it was an honour and opportunity forme to portray them on screen, whichwas of course very challenging as Ihad to break the stereotype and cre-

ate a new world of imagination formy audience, where all my peoplefrom LGBT community can live withrespect and honour."

She continues, "On playingShobha Trivedi, I'm often asked abouthow I embodied her since she is abold character. But I choose to re-spectfully differ on the perspectivehere. Honestly, I don't understandwhy we label certain characters asbold and brave just because theyhaven't been represented enough inmainstream media." However, play-ing such a character was not some-thing challenging or different for heras she regularly interacts with peoplefrom the community. Hence, she has

a better understanding of their psy-chology. The actress says, "For me itwas no different than getting intothe psyche of any other character be-cause these are the people I see inmy everyday life, who acknowledgeand honour their vulnerabilities,strengths and complexities alike. Ac-ceptance does not always have to beloud to raise a point." "Sometimes tostand out we just need to blend inand fix the binaries of the 'mal' thatexists in the society. That I feel is thekey to reclaim what has been deniedto certain communities and to cre-ate more equal and safe spaces forevery single person," Rajshri con-cludes. During Covid pandemic time,team Nabhangan worked with morethan 30 villages and the whole teamis replicating Pandhari village andworking with all those villages tomake them self-reliant.

Vikram Prabhu-starrer'Taanakaaran' torelease on OTT

Chennai, March 16 (IANS) Di-rector Tamizh's much-awaitedaction drama 'Taanakkaran', fea-turing actors Vikram Prabhu,Anjali Nair and Lal in the lead,will release on Disney+ HotstarTamil.

Taking to Instagram, actorVikram Prabhu put out a posterof the film and said, "Here yougo, 'Taanakkaran' coming soonon Disney Plus Hotstar Tamil."

The film has raised huge ex-pectations for several reasons.One of the primary reasons isthat it has been directed byTamizh, who played the antago-nist (a police officer) in the criti-cally acclaimed courtroomdrama, 'Jai Bhim'.

Not many know that direc-tor Tamizh was actually a policeofficer in real life before turninga film director.

"I was a policeman for almost12 years. I've served in severalplaces, including Tihar. In 2014, Iquit my job to enter films,"Tamizh had told IANS in an ear-lier interview. 'Taanakkaran' is astory that takes place in a policetraining college. Lal plays atrainer in the police training acad-emy in which Vikram Prabhuplays a cadet. The film's trailerhad triggered emous interest inthe film among fans.

AHMEDABAD MONDAY 21/3/2022

5Joint study on India-Bangladesh trade

pact to be finalized soon: Comm MinNew Delhi, India and

Bangladesh will soonfinalise a joint study on theprospects of entering intoa bilateral free trade agree-ment, which aims at furtherstrengthening economicties between the countries,the commerce min-istry said.

The issue wasdiscussed during ameeting betweenCommerce Secre-tary BVRSubrahmanyam andBangladesh's SeniorSecretary, Ministry ofCommerce, TapanKanti Ghosh onMarch 4. Both sidesheld extensive discussionson a variety of issues includ-ing the development ofrailway infrastructure, portinfrastructure, joint study onComprehensive EconomicPartnership Agreement(CEPA), Border Haats, re-gional connectivity throughmulti-modal transportation,harmonization of standards,mutual recognition agree-

ment. CEPA study to be fi-nalized at the earliest, theministry said. CEPA is a kindof comprehensive freetrade pact under which twotrading partners signifi-cantly reduce or eliminatecustoms duties on the maxi-

mum number of goodstraded between them. Theyalso liberalize norms to fa-cilitate trade in services andboost investments.

Bangladesh is the sixthlargest trade partner of In-dia. To facilitate bilateraltrade between India andBangladesh, several stepsare underway includingapproval of a Detailed

Project Proposal for devel-oping container handlingfacility at Sirajganj Bazar.

Other steps includeconstruction of a new 900meter siding line atBenapole for runningfreight trains between In-

d i a - B a n g l a d e s h ;completion of con-struction of a loadingand unloading plat-form at Darshana forallowing import of allcommodities from In-dia by rail, it said.

Besides, there wasa consensus over theuse of returningempty railway wag-ons/containers by

Bangladesh as this wouldreduce overall logistics costof India's exports toBangladesh.

Closed Border Haatsdue to COVID restrictionwould be opened soon and24x7 operationalization ofPetrapole-Benapole Inte-grated Check Post (ICP)would be implementedsoon.

Govt revised OMSS policy,restored transportation charges

New Delhi, The govern-ment has revised the OpenMarket Sale Scheme(OMSS) of foodgrains forbulk consumers and privatetraders by restoring trans-portation charges that werewaived last year due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, FoodSecretary SudhanshuPandey said on Saturday.

Under the OMSSpolicy, the governmentallows state-run FoodCorporation of India (FCI)to sell foodgrains, espe-cially wheat and rice, atpredetermined prices inthe open market fromtime to time to bulk con-sumers and private trad-ers.

The policy aims to en-hance supply of grains es-pecially during the lean sea-son and thereby to moder-ate the general open mar-ket prices, especially in thedeficit regions.

In the revised OMSSpolicy, only one change hasbeen made and restored

the transportation chargeswhich was borne last yearby the Government of In-dia due to the COVID-19pandemic, Pandey told re-porters in a virtual pressconference.

That was an aberrationand a departure from the

normal policy. This year, thetransportation chargeshave been restored backand buyers will have to payas per ex-Punjab or Haryanawherever the commodity istransported, he said.

The Secretary alsomentioned that the sale ofgrains under the OMSS thisyear has been the highest

ever and crossed the targetof 75 lakh tonne. Total saleshave reached 85 lakhtonne, he said.

The revised OMSSpolicy is a stable policy andwill help considering therise in global prices in thecoming months, he added.

For transparency inoperations, the FCI hasswitched over to e-auc-tion for sale under theOMSS to bulk consumerand private traders. Itconducts a weekly auc-tion and even state gov-ernments are allowed toparticipate in the e-auc-tion if they require thegrain.Wheat production in In-

dia, the world's second larg-est producer, is estimatedto touch a new record111.32 million tonne in the2021-22 crop year (July-June) as against 109.59million tonne in the previ-ous year, as per the Agricul-ture Ministry's second ad-vance estimate.

Oil surges 10% in Asia, euro skids as bonds rallyNew Delhi, Oil prices

soared more than 10% inhectic trading on Mondayas the risk of a U.S. and Eu-ropean ban on Russianproduct and delays in Ira-nian talks triggered whatwas shaping up as a majorstagflationary shock forworld markets.

The euro extended itsslide, hitting parity againstthe safe haven Swiss franc,and commodities of allstripes were on the rise asthe Russian-Ukraine con-flict showed no sign of cool-ing.

Russia calls the cam-paign it launched on Feb.24 a special military opera-tion, saying it has no plansto occupy Ukraine.

Brent was quoted$12.73 higher at $130.84,while U.S. crude rose $9.92to $125.60.

That will act as a tax onconsumers and the poten-tial blow to global eco-nomic growth saw S&P 500stock futures drop 1.4%,while Nasdaq futures shed

1.9%. U.S. 10-year bondyields also dropped to theirlowest since early January.

Japan's Nikkei sank1.9%, while MSCI's broad-est index of Asia-Pacificshares outside Japan lost0.3%.

Having climbed21% last week, Brentcrude was further en-ergized by the risk of aban of Russian oil bythe United States andEurope.

If the West cuts offmost of Russia's energyexports it would be amajor shock to globalmarkets, said BofAchief economist Ethan Har-ris.

He estimates the loss ofRussia's 5 million barrelscould see oil prices doubleto $200 a barrel and lowereconomic growth globally.

And it is not just oil,with commodity priceshaving their strongest startto any year since 1915, saysBofA. Among the manymovers last week, nickel

rose 19%, aluminium 15%,zinc 12%, and copper 8%,while wheat futures surged60% and corn 15%.

That will only add to theglobal inflationary pulsewith U.S. Consumer pricedata this week expected to

show annual growth at astratospheric 7.9%, and thecore measure at 6.4%.

All of which compli-cates the policy picture forthe European Central Bankwhen it meets this week.

Given the potential forstagflation is very real, theECB is likely to maintainmaximum flexibility with itsasset purchase programmeat 20 billion euros through

Q2 and potentially beyond,thus effectively pushing outthe timing of rate hikes, saidTapas Strickland, an econo-mist at NAB.

Higher CPI forecasts,though, mean rate hikeswill be needed on the hori-

zon. The near-termprospect of a moredovish ECB combinedwith safe-haven flowsto drive German 10-year bond yieldsdown a huge 32 basispoints last week. U.S.10-year yields weredown at 1.69%, havingalready dropped 23basis points last week.

.Fed fund futures were

also gaining as the marketpriced in a slower pace ofrate rises from the FederalReserve this year, though aMarch hike is still seen as adone deal.

With the outlook forEuropean growth darken-ing, the single currency tooka beating and fell 3% lastweek to its lowest since

mid-2020. It was last down0.6% at $1.0864 and in dan-ger of testing its 2020trough around $1.0635.

The euro was also tum-bling against the Swissfranc to hit 1.0000 for thefirst time since early 2015.The dollar was broadlyfirmer, supported in part bya strong payrolls reportwhich only reaffirmed mar-ket expectations for a Fedhike this month. The dollarindex was last at 98.877having climbed 2.3% lastweek.

Events in the Ukraineare increasingly over-whelming the euro, saidRichard Franulovich, headof FX strategy a Westpac.With safe-haven flows likelyto continue for sometimeyet and Fed officials eagerto press on with their policynormalization plans, 100+for (the dollar index) is justa matter of time. Gold ben-efited from its status as oneof the oldest of safeharbours and was last up1.0% at $1,988 an ounce.

Shriram Housing loan-book grows 45%to cross Rs 5,000-cr so far this fiscal

Mumbai: Affordablehousing player ShriramHousing Finance has said itsAUM or live loan grew 45per cent so far this fiscal tocross the Rs 5,000-crore-mark, making it thefifth-largest in thelow-cost housing loansegment.

The company,however, missed thetarget by two monthsdue to the third waveof the pandemic,which delayed collec-tion and disbursal. ItsRs 5,000-crore AUMtarget was set for De-cember 2021.

Shriram Housing Fi-nance, promoted byShriram City Union Finance,commenced operations inDecember 2011 and oper-ates around 100 stand-alone branches and over200 branches inside its sis-

ter concerns Shriram CityUnion and Shriram Trans-port Finance branches. Itsfootprint will cross 105 ownbranches up from 77 lastyear and 218 kiosks by the

end of this month.Had it not been for the

third wave and the result-ant curbs on our opera-tions, which impacted col-lections, the AUM wouldhave already crossed the Rs5000-crore-mark in De-

cember as planned. Thisalso will impact the annualtarget of Rs 5,500 crore oflive loans, and we shouldnow be closing the yearwith Rs 5,200-5,300 crore

of AUM,Ravi Subramanian,

MD and chief execu-tive of the city-basedfirm, told. But, he wasquick to add that thegood news is that theyare now the fifth-larg-est affordable hous-ing lender and hope-fully will be the fourth-largest by the end ofthis month.

Aadhar Housingleads the segment with aloan book of around Rs14,000 crore, followed byAwas and Repco witharound Rs 10,000 croreeach, and Homefirst isslightly more than Shriram'sbook.

Investors lose Rs 11.28 lakhcrore in four days

New Delhi, Investors' wealth has tumbled by over Rs11.28 lakh crore in four days, tracking a heavy decline inequities amid intensifying conflict between Russia andUkraine. Sliding for the fourth straight day, the BSE bench-mark Sensex plummeted 1,491.06 points or 2.74 per centto settle at 52,842.75, weighed by weak global equitiesand elevated crude oil prices. During the session, thebenchmark tanked 1,966.71 points or 3.61 per cent to52,367.10.

In tandem with the heavy sell-off in equities, the mar-ket capitalization of BSE-listed companies plunged by Rs11,28,214.05 crore in four days to stand at Rs2,41,10,831.04 crore. In the four sessions, the BSE bench-mark has shed 3,404.53 points or 6.05 per cent.

Markets plunged sharply lower and lost over 2 percent, tracking a continuous surge in crude and feebleglobal cues. Markets are rattled with a sharp surge in crudeamid fear of further sanctions on Russia.

Besides, there's no sign of de-escalation of tensionbetween the two nations. In short, we expect volatility toremain high and suggest keeping a close watch on glo-bal markets for cues. On the domestic front, state elec-tions exit polls and actual results on March 10 would beactively tracked, said Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, ReligareBroking Ltd.

China cuts GDP growth to5.5% to target slower growth

Beijing: China cut itsGDP target to 5.5 per centto focus on slower growthto stabilise its economicfundamentals this year, asthe world's second-largesteconomy beefed up sup-portive measures to shoreup growth against strongheadwinds.

In his annual work re-port submitted to the open-ing session of the NationalPeople's Congress, (NPC),the country's parliament,

Chinese Premier Li Keqiangannounced the lowering ofthe GDP target from six percent to 5.5 per cent amiduncertain global recoverydue to COVID-19 andUkraine turmoil as wellslump in China's vast prop-erty sector rising concernsof its impact on theeconomy. In 2021, China'seconomy grew by 8.1 percent to about USD 18 tril-lion- stated to be the bestin a decade. The pace of the

growth was well above thegovernment target ofabove six per cent in 2021.In his work report, Li saidChina plans to create morethan 11 million new jobs in2022. The government hasset the deficit-to-GDP ratiofor 2022 at around 2.8 percent in a move to boost fis-cal sustainability, while thespecial-purpose bonds forlocal government will total3.65 trillion yuan (USD onetrillion).

TDS on EPF withdrawal?Here's what you need to know

New Delhi, The Em-ployee Provident Fund Or-ganization (EPFO) releasedan important notificationlast month regarding liabili-ties about tax deducted atsource ( TDS) that all itsmembers must know.

EPF is the government'sretirement scheme to sup-port an employedindividual's future. That be-ing said, any person whohas invested in it can with-draw money after retire-ment at the age of 60 years,or even before it. However,in case a person wants towithdraw their money fromthe EPF account before re-tirement, there are a fewimportant conditions andguidelines to follow tomake the process hassle-

free.The provident fund has

various tax rules for with-drawing money and a taxdeducted at source (TDS)is applicable on withdraw-ing money before fiveyears of service.

The government hasannounced a new rule ontax deductions, applicablefrom April 1. According tothe revised guidelines, onan EPF deposit of more thanRs2.5 lakh, the interest willalso be taxed. In the currentfinancial year, employeeswho have an EPF accountare getting an interest of8.50 per cent on their de-posits.

If money is withdrawnfrom the EPF before fiveyears of service, a TDS of 10

per cent is imposed on theamount, if it is more thanRs50,000. However, if he orshe submits Form 15G/15Halong with their PAN, noTDS will be imposed on theamount.

At the same time, oncean employee completesfive years of service as apermanent employee, heor she will not be taxed onwithdrawing money fromtheir PF account.

The term 'permanentemployee' is of special im-portance here because if anemployee joins on proba-tion or contractual basis fora year and then serves as apermanent employee in acompany for four years, theemployer will deduct TDSon withdrawal from EPF.

Investors' wealth slumps over Rs 5.59lakh cr in three days of market fall

New Delhi, Investors' wealth tumbled more than Rs5.59 lakh crore in three days of market fall as sentimentsremained muted amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict and itsimpact on the global economy.

Continuing its decline for the third day on Friday, theBSE gauge plummeted 1,214.96 points or 2.20 per centto 53,887.72 during the day. It settled at 54,333.81, adecline of 768.87 points or 1.40 per cent.

In three days, the benchmark index tanked 1,913.47points or 3.40 per cent. Tracking decline in equities, themarket capitalization of BSE-listed companies plunged Rs5,59,623.71 crore to Rs 2,46,79,421.38 crore in three days.Markets ended the week with a sharp cut, reflecting thefeeble global sentiment. After the sharp reaction in earlytrade, the benchmark oscillated in the broader range tofinally settle around the day's low, Ajit Mishra, vice-presi-dent (research) of Religare Broking Ltd., said.

AHMEDABAD MONDAY 21/3/2022

Markets rebound after four-dayrout; IT, pharma stocks sparkle

Mumbai,Market benchmarks

ratcheted higher in a see-saw session on Tuesday af-ter four days of steep de-clines as investors accumu-lated recently-battered IT,pharma and finance stockseven as the Ukraine crisisremained an overhang.

World equities weremixed as participantstracked Russia's intensify-ing attack on Ukraine andthe cascade of sanctionsagainst Moscow.

The 30-share BSESensex opened on a weaknote and tumbled 581.93points or 1.10 per cent to52,260.82 during the dayamid firming oil prices andrelentless selling by foreigninstitutional investors.

Overcoming bouts ofvolatility, the index gainedmomentum in the last hourof trade to close 581.34points or 1.10 per centhigher at 53,424.09.

On similar lines, thebroader NSE Nifty darted up150.30 points or 0.95 percent to 16,013.45.

Sun Pharma topped theSensex gainers' chart witha jump of 3.99 per cent, fol-lowed by TCS, NTPC, Wipro,Tech Mahindra, Dr Reddy's,UltraTech Cement andInfosys.

In contrast, Tata Steel,PowerGrid, Titan, Nestle In-dia, Reliance Industries and

SBI closed with losses of upto 1.73 per cent.

In the broader market,the BSE midcap indexgained 1.46 per cent andthe smallcap gaugejumped 1.33 per cent.

Domestic indices re-versed its trend and tradedwith gains led by export-oriented sectors likePharma and IT which wit-nessed buying interest asthe rupee fell to its recordlows. Favourable exit pollresults of state election andlow-level buying seen inmid and small caps alsohelped in adding optimismin the domestic market.

Major western marketswere also trading in thegreen while other Asianpeers continued to trade innegative territory on fear ofthe impact of global infla-tionary pressure, said VinodNair, Head of Research atGeojit Financial Services.

Bourses in Hong Kong,Shanghai and Tokyo settledlower. Stock exchanges inEurope were trading mostlyhigher in the afternoontrade.

Meanwhile, interna-tional oil benchmark Brentcrude jumped 2.87 per centto USD 126.6 a barrel. Afterpurchasing resurfaced atlow levels, benchmark in-dices returned to green.Early trades on Europeanmarketplaces show a slight

upward trend, said MohitNigam, Head PMS, HEM Se-curities.

Among BSE sectoral in-dices, realty, IT, Teck andhealthcare were the big-gest gainers, climbing asmuch as 3.19 per cent.

The rupee slipped 6paise to close at 76.99 (pro-visional) against the US dol-lar on Tuesday amid a weakgreenback overseas.

Google unveils new tools to buildhigh-quality Android games

New Delhi, (IANS)Google has showcased sev-eral new features for threebillion global players acrossplatforms, as it ramps up itsCloud gaming service Sta-dia and help developersbuild high-quality Androidgames.

At the virtual 'Google forGames Developer Summit',the tech giant announcedAndroid Game Develop-ment Kit updates, newImmersive Stream forGames and shared latesttools to help people takegames to the next level.

"We're committed tosupporting developers of allsizes who are buildinghigh-quality Androidgames. Updates to the An-droid Game DevelopmentKit simplify the develop-ment process, while newdata insights in Play Consolecan help you make smarterbusiness decisions," Googlesaid in a blog post late onWednesday. The company is

also enabling games on newscreens and devices, includ-ing the Google Play Gamesfor PC Beta. With Clean Chat,a new open source AI frame-work for games, studios cannow proactively detectnegative dialogue in bothtext and voice chat. Devel-opers and publishers inter-ested in building a direct-to-consumer business can nowdeliver their titles directly toplayers with ImmersiveStream for Games, saidGoogle. Developed by theStadia team in partnershipwith Google Cloud,Immersive Stream for Gamescombines advanced stream-ing technology with cheaperand easier game porting,powerful discovery featuresand analytics. Advertisers canalso improve target return onad spend (tROAS) perfor-mance with App campaignsby integrating AdMob andthird-party ad revenue datainto Google Analytics for bidoptimisation.

The Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Smt. NirmalaSitharaman and the Union Minister for External Affairs, Dr. SubrahmanyamJaishankar meeting the Finance Minister of Sri Lanka, Mr. Basil Rajapaksa,in New Delhi.

The Union Minister for Ports, Shipping, Waterways and AYUSH, ShriSarbananda Sonowal at the signing ceremony of the ship building agree-ment between CSL (Cochin Shipyard Limited) and DCI (Dredging Corpora-tion of India), in New Delhi.

The Union Minister for Defence, Shri Rajnath Singh visiting the FlightControl System Integration facility after its inauguration at AeronauticalDevelopment Establishment, a laboratory of DRDO, in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

6AHMEDABAD MONDAY 21/3/2022

Privacy features you probably didn’trealize your phone already hasNew Delhi,

Security applicationsare what most users lookfor in order to lock downand protect data, and re-duce tracking by appsand web platforms onsmartphones. However,smartphone platformsnow have a variety ofbuilt-in tools that canstep in if you configurethem correctly. TheApple iPhone has Pri-vate Relay and Hide MyEmail, for instance. An-droid phones have a pri-vacy dashboard that getsyou pointed in the rightdirection.

Beyond that, otherphone makers are in-creasingly adding fea-ture layers too. Samsunghas options such as Se-cure Folder, Wi-Fi secu-rity and Knox encryptionon Galaxy phones.OnePlus has includedPrivate Safe withOxygenOS 12. Xiaomiphones give you the op-tion to sandbox a secondinstance of an app, aswell as app locks. These,if you set them up, canshield your data.

With iOS 14 and iOS15, Apple now givescontrol over a bunch offunctionalities to keep

your data private and youridentity hidden. It is quiterelevant, at a time whendata collection by apps andweb platforms, often with-out explicit permission, isthe norm. You may haveheard of the app trackingcontrols called App TrackingTransparency, but the op-tions go much beyondthat.

You may not have real-ized this, but often, emailsthat you send include pix-els that are inserted in theheader, footer or body ofemails that track your IP(internet protocol, yournetwork location identifieron the internet) addressand location as soon as theemail loads on your phone.You will not see them andor know they are there. Ifyou keep Mail Privacy Pro-

tection enabled (SettingsMail Privacy Protection), itwill hide your real IP ad-dress, which means track-ers will not be able to de-termine your location orlink back to your otheronline activity.

This will only work withthe Apple Mail app, andnot third-party apps suchas Gmail and Outlook thosemay have their own op-tions to prevent imagesfrom automatically load-ing.

The other privacy op-tion is called Private Relay(Settings iCloud), which as-signs you a temporary IPaddress and all web trafficthat exits your iPhone is en-crypted and sent to twoseparate pathways. Thismay sound like a VPN (vir-tual private network), but

is not in the truest sense,since your access locationis not changed and neitherdo you have any manualoptions for the same.

Samsung’s Galaxyphone lineup gives you anoption called Secure Wi-Fi,which when enabled en-crypts all outgoing internettraffic from your phone.Even more important, itblocks apps and websitesfrom tracking you, thoughyour mileage on that frontwill vary depending onhow aggressive it is withthe clampdown on track-ers. This does not work onmobile data connections,that is 3G or 4G, whichmeans there are still somegaps in the protection cov-erage. One UI onSamsung’s Galaxy phonesalso includes the SecureFolder option, which as thename suggests, is a goodway to add another au-thentication layer to yourimportant documents, filesand media, while also pre-venting any and all appsinstalled on the phonefrom accessing them. Thisisn’t new, but Samsung’sKnox encryption now hasa four-stage protectionprowess. The securitymodule is built from chipspowering the phones,

which means it can au-thenticate every mod-ule and component in-stalled in the phone.Secondly, Knox claimsthat it will isolate datain case someone man-ages to break into yourphone, while all dataremains encrypted un-less you authenticateyour credentials. There isalso a layer of protectionthat prevents access toany malware that mayattempt to modify thesoftware’s core func-tionality. OnePlusphones received a newoption called PrivateSafe with the OxygenOS12 update. You can putdocuments, images andvideos, audio files, andpretty much any otherpiece of data you don’twant, on the phone toaccess. Remember,many apps must have atsome stage asked forpermission to accessfiles in your phone’s lo-cal storage or gallery,and the safe blocks ac-cess for those filesyou’ve put inside. If youdon’t want a paymentapp from accessing yourpersonal photos or docu-ments, this could be agood option.

Govt plans strategy to shieldconsumers from fuel price hike

The government isevaluating amultipronged approachto shield consumers tothe extent possible froman imminent spike inpetrol and diesel pricesby reducing central ex-cise duty, persuadingstates to cut value-added tax, directingstate-run oil firms to ab-sorb some revenuelosses, and leveragingIndia’s trade ties withenergy producers suchas the United Arab Emir-ate (UAE) to ensure un-interrupted supply at af-fordable rates.

International oilprices surged to a 14-year high of over $139a barrel on Monday withRussia’s ongoing inva-sion of Ukraine. Westernsanctions against Russiaand the American deci-sion to ban Russian oilimports will furthertighten the supply situ-ation and make energyimports costlier for al-ready bleeding Indianstate-run refiners. Thiscalls for an equitablesharing of the burden byall stakeholders, includ-ing the consumer, threepersons with directknowledge of the mat-ter said requesting ano-nymity.

They said efforts arebeing made to pass on mini-mum burden to the con-sumer, but the timing andthe quantum of hikes inpetrol and diesel have notyet finalised. On an averagetaken since November 4,state-run oil marketingcompanies (OMCs) are los-ing about Rs7-10 per litreon petrol and diesel, one ofthem said. India has frozenfuel prices from Novemberthey are effectively deregu-lated, but the governmentstill calls the shots on pric-ing on account of the latestround of state electionswhich ended on March 7.

In our view, a coordi-nated action involving ex-cise cuts, VAT reduction andRSP [retail selling Price]hikes are required as OMCsalready operate with waferthin EBITDA a measure ofoperating profit margins,Sabri Hazarika, senior re-search analyst at EmkayGlobal Financial Servicessaid in a report. The OMCshave made inventory gainsin the fourth quarter, thereport explained, whichmakes the impact of theprice freeze absorbable ,but it is necessary to revertto normative margins goingahead.

A second person addedthat “on the principle of

equitable burden-sharingat the time of crisis, the gov-ernment may also directstate-run energy producerssuch as Oil and Natural GasCorporation (ONGC) andOil India Ltd to share theirwindfall by supplying do-mestically produced crudeto public sector refiners ata discount.

That should help, but notmuch India imports about85% crude oil it processeswhile balance is suppliedby domestic sources. Theprice of India’s crude oilbasket was Rs9,729.39 abarrel. It was Rs5,994.04 onearly November 5.

According to officialdata, ONGC reported about597% jump in its net profitat Rs31,446 crore in the firstnine months of the currentfinancial year compared tothe same period previousyear. This surge was due torising international oilprices. The realisation willbe further up significantlyin the fourth quarter due tothe rally in internationalcrude prices, the secondperson said.

International oil pricessaw unprecedented rallyrecently. They rose to theirhighest since 2008 duringthe trading session onMonday after the US said itwas considering banning

Russian oil imports. Itsaw benchmarks Brentcrude surging to$139.13 a barrel andWest Texas Intermediate( WTI) $130.50 in theMonday session. Thesame day, the rupeealso breached the 77-mark against the dollar.

OMCs and govern-ment are expecting thatthe spike in oil priceswill be temporary asproducers should raiseoutput to calm the oilmarket, a third personsaid. Brent crude closedat $127.98 a barrel onTuesday, down around3%. Market nervescalmed as Europe re-frained from banningRussian energy exports,Kotak Securities ana-lysts Madhavi Mehtaand Anup Sahu said.

The governmentdoes not expect anymajor disruption in oilsupply to India due tothe conflict . “India hasclose ties with energyproducers in the Gulfregion. Besides, UAEthat is one of the majorsuppliers of energy toIndia, has recentlysigned a free tradeagreement, which willhelp us, the third personsaid.

Panel to scrutinise impact of Russia sanctions on India's economyA top interministerial

panel has been formed toscrutinise a barrage of eco-nomic sanctions imposedby the West on Russia fol-lowing its invasion ofUkraine and their likely im-pacts on India’s economy,an official familiar with thedevelopment said.

As the Ukraine conflictdeepens, India has steppedup efforts to secure criticalimports from Russia, par-ticularly potassium chloridepopularly known as muri-ate of potash, a keyfertiliser, and sunflower(edible) oil.

Led by economic affairssecretary Ajay Seth, thehigh-level panel also in-

cludes top bureaucrats ofthe ministries of food andconsumer affairs, fertilisers,commerce, external affairs,agriculture and petroleum.

The panel is scouringfor avenues to set up a ru-pee-ruble bilateral pay-ment system to escape awave of unprecedentedsanctions on Russia, whichhave crippled the formerSoviet state’s financial sys-tem.

Official talks with Rus-sians will be needed to setup an alternative paymentmechanism but the gov-ernment will be given vari-ous options after a com-prehensive review of thesanctions, the official cited

above said, requestinganonymity.

India fears disruption tosupplies of murate of pot-ash ahead of its main sum-mer-sown kharif seasoncould hobble its farm sec-tor, which is a major sourceof income for half of thecountry’s population.

The Russia-Ukraineconflict has already begunhurting Asia’s third-largesteconomy, which had onlystarted to revive after apandemic-induced reces-sion in 2020-21. The rupeesunk to a record low to76.9, falling 1% against thedollar as oil prices soared.

At least $400 million ofpayments and receivables

by Indian exporters to Rus-sia are now stranded be-cause the sanctions havecut off Russia’s ability totransact in dollars, the cur-rency for internationalpayments. Russian bankshave been severed from aglobal payments highwayknown as SWIFT.

The panel has repre-sentatives from the Re-serve Bank of India, whichis looking to designate asmaller Indian bank withminimal exposure to dol-lar or euro transactions,where a Russian bankcould open an account

because the sanctionsdon’t prohibit a rupee-ruble exchange system,the official said.

India had successfullyused a similar payment sys-tem to pay for oil importsfrom Iran when that coun-try faced sanctions fromthe West. At that time, theUCO Bank was set up asthe main payment gate-way.

An alternate mecha-nism for payments, how-ever, is not easy to set up.While the idea is that a Rus-sian bank will set up a so-called “vostro account” in

an Indian bank and bothcountries will deposit acertain amount to guaran-tee for payments to im-porters and exporters, de-termining the rupee-rubleexchange rate will be a keychallenge.

One reason is that evenif a rupee-ruble exchangerate is pegged to the dol-lar for determining a no-tional exchange rate, wemust keep in mind that thevalue of ruble is continu-ously sliding vis-a-vis thedollar, said AmarendraPatil, a trade economistwho formerly taught at the

Indian Institute of ForeignTrade.

This could make thepayment system ineffec-tive because of continuouserosion of one of the twocurrencies (ruble), headded. The government,which last week reviewedstocks of fertilisers, isscouting for alternativesuppliers to fill the fertilisergap at prices similar tothose charged by Russians.According to official data,11-11.5% of total importsof edible oils and fertilisersare sourced from Russia-Ukraine region. The two

countries also account forover 90% of sunflower oilimports. Within a basket offertilisers India imports,Russia accounts for over17% of MOP (muriate ofpotash) and 60% of NPK(nitrogen, phosphorus andpotassium). In response,the government is identi-fying alternate supplysources for both edibleoils and fertiliser, althoughthese will be expensive,said Sonal Varma, an ana-lyst with Nomura Holdings,a global financial advisoryand securities firm, in a re-search note.

EPFO processes allpending claims of women

New Delhi,,Retirement fund body

EPFO said it has processedall pending claims ofwomen across the countryto mark the occasion of In-ternational Women's Day ina unique way.

The Employees' Provi-dent Fund Organisation(EPFO) began a massiveexercise on March 25, 2022and processed about 1.39lakh claims filed by women.

Out of the 1.39 lakhclaims, 73 per cent weresettled and 27 per centclaims were found defi-cient and returned for duecorrections.

The Chennai Zone ofthe body received and pro-

cessed maximum claims.As per the statement, afunction was organised on

the theme 'Value and em-power the womenworkforce' in New Delhi.

On the occasion, UnionLabour Minister BhupenderYadav lauded the EPFO andEmployees' State InsuranceCorporation (ESIC) for run-ning a special campaign forwomen while celebratingthe International Women'sDay.

While EPFO symbolizesTrust, ESIC complimentsthrough Services, Yadavsaid. He also appreciatedclearing of all women'sclaims in EPFO and ESIC.

The pilot for processingall pending claims of

women to mark this occa-sion was done last year atEPFO's regional office of

Delhi West situatedin Dwarka.

Uttam Prakash,former RegionalProvident FundCommissioner, DelhiWest, said, it is over-whelming when anidea takes a policykind of shape. Repli-cation on a largercanvas gives me im-mense satisfaction.

Over 7 lakh e-nomina-tions were filed by womenmembers, from just the top100 establishments interms of e-nominations.Dedicated e-nominationcamps for women employ-ees were organised by allthe Regional Offices.

More than 10,000 es-tablishments in this drivereported 100 per cent e-nomination of their womenemployees, the statementsaid.

The EPFO is chasing themagical number of onecrore e-nominations by theend of 'Azadi Ka AmritMahotsav'.

The labour ministry cel-ebrated InternationalWomen's Day by clearingall claims of women byEPFO and ESIC, launching aWomen EmpowermentDesk, and excellenceawards.

Telecom tribunal says TRAI'sorder on port out facility forusers needs no interference

New Delhi,The telecom tribunal

ruled that TRAI's directivethat enabled users to portout of their network via SMSrequest, regardless of thevalue of their tariff plansrequires no interference, asit dismissed a petition filedby Vodafone Idea.

The Telecom DisputesSettlement and AppellateTribunal (TDSAT), however,asked sector regulator TRAIto provide a reasonabletime to Vodafone Idea Ltd(VIL) to implement the im-pugned directions for all itssubscribers, irrespective ofthe value of the tariff offersor vouchers.

The tribunal, in its order,said the TRAI directivedated December 7, 2021requires no interferenceand is found to be withinthe regulator's powers.Thetribunal was hearing VIL'sappeal against the TRAI di-rective.

VIL's argument that byopting for a voucher or packwithout SMS facility, thesubscriber may choose tosurrender right to avail portout facilities, does not meritconsideration, TDSAT said.

The port out or MobileNumber Portability (MNP)norm, independently cre-ates an obligation upon ac-cess providers to facilitateall subscribers to requestthrough SMS and avail thefacility of port out on a non-

discriminatory basis. Suchobligation flows from care-ful reading of the MNPRegulations. TRAI cannot befaulted for issuing direc-tions to enforce such obli-gations, the TDSAT ordersaid.

The petition is, there-fore, dismissed, it said. It ispertinent to mention thatin December 2021,Telecom Regulatory Au-thority of India or TRAI haddirected telecom operatorsto enable port out SMS fa-cility for all mobile usersrequiring it, irrespective ofvalue of their tariff offer,vouchers, or plans theyopted for.

TRAI's stern missive onsmooth network portability,assumed significance asReliance Jio had, at thattime, written to the regula-tor complaining that thenew tariff structure of VILallegedly restricts entry-level customers to port outtheir mobile number fromits network.TRAI had takena strong note of telecomservice companies not pro-viding outgoing SMS facil-ity in certain prepaidvouchers.

TDSAT, in its order saidthat reading the obligationsupon operators under MNPregulations in a restrictedmanner as pleaded on be-half of appellant wouldmake the norms unwork-able for many subscribers.

Indian fintech payment firms have nodata advantage over banks: Moody's

New Delhi, (IANS) Asthe Reserve Bank of India(RBI) barred Paytm fromtaking on new customersfor its Payments Bank, anew report on Thursdaysaid that fintech plat-forms' dominance in digi-tal payments may not re-sult in a significant dataadvantage over banks.

According to Moody'sInvestors Service, the in-troduction of the UnifiedPayment Interface (UPI) in2017, which allows funds to

be transferred instanta-neously, has been a key

catalyst to the develop-ment of digital payments

due to the ease of use ofapps running on the

system."However, theirdominance may not leadto significant advantagesover banks, because theUPI's open architecturemeans that a large userbase does not necessar-ily make a particular ser-vice provider more com-petitive than others onthe system," saidSrikanth Vadlamani,

Moody's Vice President andSenior Credit Officer.

Google I/O 2022date set for May11 with limited in-personattendance

San Francisco, (IANS)UGoogle has announcedthat its big annual devel-oper conference 'Google I/O' will take place on May11 and 12. The event willbe online and some of theconference will bestreamed live from theShoreline Amphitheatre, afrequent Google I/O venue."We will be back live fromShoreline Amphitheatre forthis year's GoogleIO! Join usonline May 11-12," SundarPichai, Alphabet andGoogle CEO said in a tweet.In a statement given to TheVerge later, Google spokes-person Alex Garcia-Kummert said: "This year'sevent will be broadcast infront of a limited live audi-ence, and is completelyfree and open to everyonevirtually."The companyhasn't hinted about theproducts it may announcethis year.

The Union Minister for Minority Affairs, Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi cel-ebrating Holi, at his residence, in New Delhi.

The Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu celebrating Holi with theschool children, in New Delhi.

The Union Minister for Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food& Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal at the ACMAAatmanirbhar Excellence Awards & Technology Summit 2022, in New Delhi.

7BIZ NEWS IN NUTSHELL

A H M E D A B A D * M A R K E T * G U I D E

MediaTek captures 46% share inAndroid tablet apps chips

New Delhi, (IANS) MediaTek, driven by increasedtraction with leading Android tablet OEMs, captured46 per cent of the Android tablet applications pro-cessors market (AP) during AQ3 2021, a new reportclaimed.

According to Strategy Analytics, the global tab-let AP market declined 14 per cent in unit termsbut grew 8 per cent in revenue terms in Q3 2021.

Apple, Intel, MediaTek, Qualcomm and SamsungLSI captured the top-five tablet AP revenue sharerankings in Q3 2021. "After the revival in 2020 andearly part of 2021, the tablet AP shipments declinedyear-on-year for the second straight quarter in Q32021. However, shipments fared better and grew11 percent compared to the pre-pandemic period(Q3 2019)," Sravan Kundojjala, Director of HandsetComponent Technologies service at StrategyAnalytics said in a statement.

MakeMyTrip forays into NFTs todisplay unexplored domesticlandscapes

New Delhi, (IANS) Online travel platformMakeMyTrip on Monday announced to foray intothe world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to cel-ebrate the popular as well as unexplored travel land-scapes in the country.

The first batch of these digitally-crafted artworkscover the majestic landscapes of Goa, Ladakh, Orissa,Himachal, Kashmir, Kerala, Meghalaya, Rajasthan andAndamans.

MakeMyTrip said it will pass on all proceeds fromthe sale of these NFTs to promote sustainable tour-ism in the country.

Each artwork has been designed using Ad-vanced AI Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs)wherein the AI tool is uploaded with several im-ages and trained to produce realistic, creative andunique images, the company said in a statement.

"We are offering travel enthusiasts a never-be-fore-chance to be owners of this beauty in the digi-tal domain," said, Sunil Suresh, Group Chief Market-ing Officer, MakeMyTrip.

Apple supplier Foxconn haltsfactory ops in China due tolockdown

Beijing, (IANS) Apple supplier Foxconn has an-nounced the temporary closure of two of its manu-facturing sites in Shenzhen, China, in response toanother Covid-19-related lockdown. To reduce theimpact of the lockdown, the company has relocatedproduction to other sites that are still operating regu-larly. The lockdown is expected to last until March20, reports 9To5Google. The Chinese governmentopted for a new lockdown after more than 3,000cases of Covid-19 were reported in Shenzhen onSunday and this lockdown is also expected to delayMac Studio desktop shipments. Apple unveiled thenew Mac Studio during a special event recently.

Over 60% of mid-sized Indianfirms faced data breach in 2021

New Delhi, (IANS) Morethan 60 per cent of mid-sized Indian organisationsfell victim to a cyberattacklast year, a new reportshowed on Monday.

Just under one fifth (19per cent) of respondentssurveyed said they discov-ered the attack within twoweeks, but 22 per cent tookthree to four weeks torealise they had been tar-geted, according to Sophos,a global leader in next-gen-eration cybersecurity.

Even then, many onlylearned about the attackfrom an external source.

"Organisations in Indiaare at significant risk of acyberattack, includingransomware, which canhave a far-reaching impacton customers, reputationand operations," said SunilSharma, managing director,sales, Sophos India andSAARC. "In addition, manyorganisations may be un-der-prepared to detect andrespond to an attack," headded. While half of the re-spondents said they haddiscovered the attack whenthey were unable to accessdata or systems (21 percent overall) or were con-tacted by the attackers (19per cent), a significant 40per cent of them onlyrealised they'd been tar-geted when they foundtheir company data ex-posed online or were noti-fied by customers or themedia. Almost a quarter(23 per cent) of victimorganisations said it tookmore than a month for theorganisation to recoverfrom the impact of the at-tack.

"Attackers can remainin victim networks forweeks before being de-

tected, and a considerablenumber of organisationslearned of the attack fromexternal sources after thedamage was done,"Sharma noted.

Human-led, activethreat hunting is now a keycomponent of a defense-in-depth security strategy.

While it was encourag-

ing to find that 80 per centof the cybersecurity lead-ers believe that threathunting is an effective ap-proach for strengtheningtheir cybersecurity de-fenses, the findings sug-gest that someorganisations may needsupport in putting that intopractice, the report said.

AHMEDABAD MONDAY 21/3/2022

DisclaimerA d v e r s t i s e m e n tappeared in this NewsPaper have not beenverified factually and“WESTERNTIMES”does not standresponsible for thesales proposition.

Gujarat Urban Development Company Limited(Govt. of Gujarat Undertaking ) CIN:U75140GJ19995GC036051Karmayogi Bhavan, Block No.1, B1 Wing, Ground Floor,Sector-10/A, Gandhinagar. Telefax : 079-23246126, 27,28Email:contact@gudcltd.com Website : www.gudcltd.com

Gujarat Urban Development Company Ltd. invites online tendersby e-Tendering for Anand-Bakrol SEW under AMRUT: Rs.2.15Crore, on EPC basis.Tender shall be uploaded from 21/03/2022 on the websitehttps://gudc.nprocure.com. All subsequent information,notification, changes and amendments would be posted onlyon the aforesaid website.

INF/3452/21-22

E-Tendering NoticeRef.No.GUDC/AMRUT/SEW/39

Gujarat State Tribal Education Society

On Line E-Tender NoticeThe Gujarat State Tribal Education Society (GSTES), Gandhinagar invites online Tender from reputed (1)

Contractors having “AA” - Class works contractor with Special Category-1 ( Building ) Registration with R&B/WRD,Government of Gujarat for Construction of EMRS Sagbara Complex and Its allied infrastructure Works At SagbaraDistrict Narmada (GITEP-84) (2) Contractors having “AA” - Class works contractor with Special Category-1 ( Building)Registration with R&B/WRD, Government of Gujarat for Construction of GLRS Babarghat Complex and Its alliedinfrastructure Works At Babarghat District Tapi (GITEP-88) (3) Contractors having “AA” - Class works contractorwith Special Category-1 ( Building ) Registration with R&B/WRD, Government of Gujarat for Construction of 1Hostel building ( 300 Capacity ) with enabling infrastructure Works Kharedi At District Dahod (GITEP-71/B) (Re-Tender), (4) Contractors having “B" - Class (Building) Registration with R&B/WRD, Government of Gujarat for Up-gradation Of Pardi EMRS School complex and its allied Infrastructure works At Balda Taluka Pardi Dist. Valsad(GITEP-74/B) (Re-Tender) (5) Contractors having “B” - Class (Building) Registration with R&B/WRD, Government ofGujarat for Renovation of existing School Complex, at various locations of the Arvalli, Sabarkantha and BanaskanthaDistrict (GITEP-86) (Re-Tender) (6) Contractors , having “A” - Class works contractor with Special Category-2 (Building)Registration with R&B/WRD, Government of Gujarat for Renovation of School Complex at various locations of theChhotaudepur District. Contractor not having prescribed Registration with R&B/WRD need not apply.

Important Dates:- Downloading of Tender Documents: From Date : 21/03/2022 to Date : 20/04/2022 up to 18.00 hrs.- Submission of DD in original (for Tender Fee/EMD) and Tender documents through RPAD only at

the office of GSTES, 3rdFloor, Birsa Munda Bhavan, Sector-10A, Gandhinagar by Date 27/04/2022upto 18.00 Hours.

- Pre-bid meeting: Date 30/03/2022 at 12.00 hrs. at Conference Hall, 2nd Floor, Birsa Munda Bhavan,Sector-10A,Gandhinagar

- Bid opening: Date 28/04/2022 12:00 hrs. at Conference Hall. 2nd Floor, Birsa Munda Bhavan, Sector-10A, Gandhinagar

- Interested bidders are requested to submit the tender through e-Tender process.TendefSdocument can be downloaded from the website www.nprocure.com. &https://eklavya-education.gujarat.gov.in

Executive DirectorGSTES, GandhinagarINF/3448/21-22

(Government of Gujarat)3rd Floor, Birsa Munda Bhavan, Sector 10-A,

Gandhinagar-382010 Telephone No. 079-23243748/49

An autonomous society promoted by Tribal Development Department

Visa, Mastercard suspend all Russia operationsSan Francisco: In an-

other blow to Russia's fi-nancial system, Visa andMastercard have an-nounced to suspend all op-erations in the country inthe wake of Ukraine inva-sion. Visa said that it willwork with its clients andpartners within Russia tocease all Visa transactionsover the coming days.Once complete, all trans-actions initiated with Visacards issued in Russia willno longer work outside thecountry and any Visa cardissued by financial institu-tions outside of Russia willno longer work within theRussian Federation, thecompany said. We arecompelled to act follow-ing Russia's unprovokedinvasion of Ukraine, andthe unacceptable eventsthat we have witnessed,said Al Kelly, chairman andCEO of Visa.

We regret the impactthis will have on our val-ued colleagues, and on theclients, partners, mer-chants and cardholders we

serve in Russia, he added.Mastercard also decided to

suspend its network ser-vices in Russia.

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Newsin a Nutshell

Gold rises above $2,000 anounce on soaring Ukraine fears

New Delhi, Gold rose to more than $2,000 inAsian trade on Monday morning as investors fledto the safe-haven commodity over fears about theimpact of the Ukraine war on the global economy.

The precious metal hit a peak of $2,000.86 anounce, its highest level since September 2020.

Traders have been sent running to safety asRussia continues with its invasion of Ukraine, whichhas battered equity markets and sent oil prices toa near 14-year high, adding further upward pres-sure to already high inflation.

Enhancing medicalinfrastructure

New Delhi, With aim to strengthen infrastruc-ture by providing access to advanced medical fa-cilities and radiology services, Goodyear India pro-vided high-grade radiology equipment to the ra-diology department Asian Institute of MedicalSciences, Faridabad, as part of it CSR initiative.Sandeep Mahajan, CMD, Goodyear India Ltd., said,supporting healthcare initiatives which positivelyimpact communities around us is a key focus andthis partnership is another step in this direction.

FPIs pull out massive Rs 17,537crfrom Indian markets

New Delhi, Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs)pulled out as much as Rs 17,537 crore from theIndian markets in just three trading sessions ofMarch as investors' sentiment got dented by theuncertainty triggered by the Russia-Ukraine con-flict and rising crude oil prices.

As per depositories data, they pulled out Rs14,721 crore from equities, Rs 2,808 crore fromdebt segment and Rs 9 crore from hybrid instru-ments between March 2-4. This took the total netoutflow to Rs 17,537 crore. The market sentimentshave been impacted globally by the uncertaintytriggered by the war and the surge in crude, saidVK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist atGeojit Financial Services. Besides, they were sell-ers in the debt segment as well, amidst a depreci-ating rupee. As per Himanshu Srivastava, Associ-ate Director - Manager Research, Morningstar In-dia, geopolitical tension of such a magnitudedoesn't augur well for emerging markets like In-dia with respect to foreign flows. High valuationsof the Indian equity markets, risk to corporate earn-ings and slow pace of economic growth have beenkeeping foreign investors at bay from investingsubstantially in Indian stock markets, he said. Butthe pace of outflows shot up sharply after US Feddecided to unwind stimulus measure and increaseinterest rates sooner than later. The outflows pickedup pace further due to the war between Russiaand Ukraine, he added.

AHMEDABAD MONDAY 21/3/2022

Govt may defer LIC IPO to next fiscal amid Ukraine crisisNew Delhi,

The government isexpected to defer themega initial public of-fering (IPO) of LIC tothe next financial yearas the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war hasdampened fund man-agers' interest in thepublic issue, marketexperts said on Sun-day. The governmentwas looking to sell 5per cent stake in LifeInsurance Corporation(LIC) this month,which could havefetched over Rs60,000 crore to theexchequer.

The IPO wouldhave helped meet thecurtai led dis invest-ment target of Rs78,000 crore this fis-cal.

The current geo-pol it ical issue be-tween Russia andUkraine makes theglobal equity marketsjittery. Indian marketsalso reacted nega-tively to this develop-ment and correctednearly 11 per centfrom its all time high.

Thus, the currentmarket volatility is notconducive for the LIC

IPO and the governmentis most likely to defer theissue to next fiscal year,Ari j it Malakar, Head ofRetail Equity Research,Ashika Group, said.

Generally, in a highlyvolatile market, investorstend to play safe and re-frain from making freshinvestments. Thus, theequity market needs tobe stable, so that inves-tors can get the confi-dence to make the in-vestment in the LIC IPO.

Echoing a similar sen-t iment, TanushreeBanerjee Co-Head of Re-search-Equitymaster, saidthe weak market senti-

ments, especially in thewake of the Ukraine-Rus-sia war, have been adampener for the IPO.While there is a possibil-i ty of the IPO gett ingpostponed, the issue re-mains cr it ical to thegovernment's disinvest-ment plans.

Atanuu Agarrwal, co-founder, Upside AI, said inmacro uncertainty, thereis always a flight to safetyto the dollar, away fromriskier assets like emerg-ing market equities. Thismeans liquidity drying upin the domestic markets.

FPIs have anywaybeen net sel lers in

emerging markets forthe past few months.While domestic investorshave been net buyersand have staved off amarket crash, given thesize of the IPO of USD 9-10 bi l l ion, i t wil l needsufficient liquidity to beabsorbed. This means itwill need FPI support -government is cognizantof this and hence cabinetapproved 20 per cent FPIinvestment in the LIC IPOunder the automaticroute, Agarrwal said.

The IPO of LIC ispurely an offer-for-sale(OFS) by the governmentof India and there is nofresh issue of shares byLIC. The governmentholds 100 per cent stake,or over 632.49 croreshares, in LIC. The facevalue of shares is Rs 10apiece.

The LIC public issuewould be the biggest IPOin the history of the Indianstock market. Once listed,LIC's market valuationwould be comparable totop companies l ike RILand TCS.

So far, the amount mo-bilized from IPO of Paytmin 2021, was the largestever at Rs 18,300 crore,followed by Coal India

(2010) at nearly Rs15,500 crore and Reli-ance Power (2008) at Rs11,700 crore.

Vijay Singhania, Chair-man, TradeSmart said thewar is now going on in aregion where nuclearpower plants are opera-tional and any mishap willbe disastrous for man-kind.

For the government, afew months' delayswould not matter muchgiven the times we areliving in. Yes, the budgetnumbers will go haywire,especially for FY22, butthe divestment credit canbe taken in the new fis-cal. Further, risking an is-sue that can bomb in themarket is worse than de-laying an issue, he added.

According to AnkitYadav, Wealth Manager(USA), Director of MarketMaestroo Pvt Ltd., major-ity of successful IPOs al-ways come in Bull Run inthe stock market.

Last few weeks themarket corrected heavily,so this may not be theright time to push the LICIPO due to volatility. So,policy makers may deferthis for now and bring iton next fiscal year, Yadavsaid.

Furthermore, IPOsgenerally come in lowrates scenarios. So,now central banks ofdeveloped nationshave already startedhiking rates. So thereis very little room toadjust the LIC IPO inthe coming time.

I think due to pos-sibil it ies of hikingrates from developednations, LIC IPO maycome by the end ofApril, just as soon asthe Ukraine crisiseases, he added. Fi-nance MinisterNirmala Sitharamantoo had indicated a re-view of the IPO inview of the evolvinggeopolitical situation.

If the initial share-sale is deferred to thenext fiscal, the gov-ernment would missthe revised disinvest-ment target by a hugemargin. So far, the gov-ernment has raised Rs12,030 crore throughCPSE disinvestmentand Air India's strate-gic sale this fiscal. Thegovernment had ear-lier projected to gar-ner Rs 1.75 lakh crorefrom disinvestmentduring 2021-22.

RBI’s new UPI service doesn’t need asmartphone or internet

Mumbai: The ReserveBank of India on Tuesdaylaunched a new service toenable UPI payments fornon-smartphone users. UPI'123PAY' is a three-stepmethod to initiate and ex-ecute services for userswho have less advancedmobile phones or aninternet connection viatheir phones.

Till now, multifacetedfeatures of UPI are mostlyavailable only onsmartphones, which ex-cludes people from thelower rung of the societyfrom an economic per-spective, especially in ru-ral areas, from accessingthe popular service,quoted RBI GovernorShashikant Das.

The UPI volumes havetouched to Rs76 lakh crore

in FY22 so far, as againstRs41 lakh crore in FY21. Theday is not far when theoverall volumes will touchRs100 lakh crore, he added.

UPI has emerged asone of the most popularmodes of payments in In-dia over the past few years,especially afterdemonetisation and theCovid-19 pandemic. It is thesingle largest retail pay-ments system in the coun-try in terms of volume oftransactions.

Feature phone userswill now be able to under-take a host of transactions,such as payments tofriends and family, pay-ment of utility bills, re-charging of vehicle FASTTags, payment of mobilebills, and to check accountbalances.Devottees in a queue darshan of the trinity of Sri Jagannath Temple, in Puri. UNI