The Bombay

HC has sug-

gested that the

feuding pro-

moters of Yes Bank cut their

stake to less than 10% in the

bank to resolve the conflict

over the right of one of the

promoters to nominate di-

rectors to the board, report

Anita Bhoir & Maulik Vyas

from Mumbai. Justice

Gautam Patel, who is hear-

ing the dispute between

the promoters, asked Mad-

hu Kapur and Rana Kapoor

to jointly nominate inde-

pendent directors, failing

which bank’s board could

decide. A final order on the

dispute has been reserved

till Tuesday.��7

Owners of YesBank Advisedto Cut Stake

Doordar-

shan will

from July

present a weekly

Sanskrit news mag-

azine focusing on

events from around

the world.��4

Sanskrit to be Back onDoordarshan

MUMBAI | 22+ 4 PAGES OF CORPORATE DOSSIER + 12 PAGES OF ET PANACHE | * .̀ 4.00 OR .̀ 7.00 ALONG WITH THE TIMES OF INDIA

MC Govardhana Rangan & Bodhisatva Ganguli

Mumbai: Indian industry is barkingup the wrong tree in criticising PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s governmentfor its woes, instead it should focus onsetting its house in order, says KV Ka-math, chairman, ICICI Bank.

The business climate has changed un-der Modi with few complaining about abacklog in Delhi unlike the previous

government where fre-quent visits were neces-sary to get projects mov-ing, says the banker whoshook the Indian bank-

ing industry from its slumber with hishard-driving style and use of technolo-gy in the first decade of this century.

Businesses are not exploiting the levelplaying field created by the governmentas they are saddled with debt, he said.

Any other reason that they come upwith are imaginary, he added.

“There is no policy paralysis,” Kamathtold ET in an interview. “I can say thisexplicitly. I have had clients in the firstsix months come and tell me there isnothing pending in Delhi. These were

It’s not Modi, It’s WeakBottom Line: Kamath

large clients who always had somethingpending. This time there is no externalshock. (It is) their own domestic woes interms of bottom line, or debt. That Iclearly see in their balance sheets. That,I see as the clear reason. All other rea-sons are imaginary reasons.’’

‘Need to Have Faith’��21

FRIDAY, 8 MAY 2015BENNETT, COLEMAN & CO. LTD.THE ECONOMIC TIMES

WWW.ECONOMICTIMES.COM

LOSING ON THE SWINGS, GAINING ON THE ROUNDABOUTS A year into Modi Sarkar, the initial euphoria seems to be waning a wee bit, but the India Storystill remains a crowd-puller. The PM is making all the right noises, but India Inc could be standing on shaky ground because of its own faults

PURE POLITICS

Our Bureau

Mumbai: As the NarendraModi government’s first anni-versary approaches, are themarkets headed for an inflec-tion point? The exuberancethat had investors in thrall atabout this time last year

seems to haveworn off. Theimposition ofminimum al-ternate tax, re-forms gettingblocked, poorcorporateearnings,rains hurting

farms and leading to a squeezeon the rural economy — allthis has contributed to a dis-tinct feeling of unease on thepart of foreign institutionalinvestors (FIIs). Meanwhile,oil is getting costlier, Greece islooking vulnerable to defaultagain and other markets aregetting more attractive.

Foreign portfolio investorshave dumped stocks worth al-most .̀ 6,500 crore so far in May

and about .̀ 1,100 crore inApril (excluding the SunPharma block deals). That’ssent the rupee plummeting.

The selloff has dragged theSensex and Nifty down 8% inthe last three weeks. OnThursday, the Sensex fell0.44% to close at 26,599.11points, following Wednes-day’s 2.63% slide. The Niftyfell 0.49% to close at 8,057.30 af-ter slipping below the psycho-logical 8,000-mark for a briefwhile. With all that money get-ting sucked out, the rupeeslipped to a 20-month lowagainst the dollar, the lowesteven from before Modi was an-nounced as the Bharatiya Ja-nata Party’s prime ministe-rial candidate. It ended at64.24 to the dollar, about 1%below the previous close, hav-ing weakened 0.16% onWednesday. Custodian bankswere said to be buying dollarsand importers rushed for cov-er, adding to the pressure onthe local currency.

Senior brokerage officialswho travelled to the US andEurope to pitch the India storyrecently were met mostly withpolite indifference, in sharpcontrast to the reception in2014, when investors couldn’tget enough of the action.

Earnings Fail to Keep Pace��20

It Has Begun To Hurt

Dragon Blows Past Modi’s IndiaThe Chinese economy may be hurting, but its stock markets are on a tear. It has outperformed India in dollar terms comprehensively in the past one year

Sensex Returns (Since May 15, 2014)

IN RUPEE TERMS 11.3%

GAIN

490

470

450

430

410

390

32000

30000

28000

26000

24000

22000

(`)

($)

IN DOLLAR TERMS3.2%GAIN

Return In % (Period May 15, 2014 to May 7, 2015)In Local Currency In Dollar Terms

NIFTY

17.474.98 5.28 -23.34

BRAZIL

6.87-2.55

KOREA

9.16 7.16

TAIWAN CHINA

10

2.9

2

10

3.74

Our Bureau

New Delhi: Overseas inves-tors may be voting withtheir feet, but the Interna-tional Monetary Fund(IMF) still sees India as a“bright spot” and expects itto be the fastest-growinglarge economy in the worldover the medium term.

The IMF also lauded the Na-rendra Modi government’sreform initiatives in its Asia-Pacific regional outlook re-leased on Thursday.

“Following its landslide vic-tory in May 2014, the new gov-ernment of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi introducednumerous economic re-forms,” the report said.

Global Woes may Threaten��20

BIG APPLAUSE

Our Bureau

New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi hassaid there is no place for “imaginaryapprehensions” about the rights ofminorities in India and declaredthat it was his responsibility to en-sure “complete and total protec-tion” to people of all faiths and com-munities. Modi told US magazineTIME that for his party and the gov-ernment, all religions and commu-nities had the same rights and therewas no room for hate speech.

“In so far the Bharatiya Janata Par-ty and my government are con-cerned, we absolutely do not believein this type of ideology. And wherev-er an individual view might have

been expressed with regard to a par-ticular minority religion, we haveimmediately negated that,” Moditold TIME in an interview, referringto a subject that has become anAchilles heel of sorts for his nearlyyear-old administration.

“So far as BJP and my governmentare concerned…, there is only oneholy book of reference, which is theConstitution of India. For us, theunity and the integrity of the coun-try are the topmost priorities.”

The Modi government has be-come vulnerable to criticism fol-lowing provocative remarksagainst minorities by elements ofthe Sangh Parivar.

‘Restored Confidence’��20

No One will Cross Minority Line: PM

ONE YEAROF MODISARKAR

NARENDRA MODIPrime Minister

There is no place for imaginary apprehen-sions with regard to the rights of minorities in India

The gov-

ernment

wants

land acquisition

rules eased for five

categories. But

finmin data doesn’t

seem to support the

Centre’s reason for

seeking so.��2

Finmin DataCounter toGovt Claims

The home

ministry

has

agreed to decide on

security clearances

for investment

proposals before

the FIPB within

30 days.��2

Home MinPushes Easeof Doing Biz

PM Modi

is deter-

mined to

ensure his visit to

China doesn’t get

overshadowed by

border tiffs, with

several meetings

along the LAC to

ensure this.��3

Flurry ofMeetingsAlong LAC

Industry should focus on setting its house in order: KVK

FULLINTERVIEW��14

KV KAMATHChairman, ICICI Bank

There is no policy paralysis...(It is) their (companies’) owndomestic woes in terms ofbottom line, or debt

Manu.Pubby@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: A ‘Made in India’ Americangun may finally boom for India’s army.And the potential list of Indian compa-nies as partners of American defencemajor BAE includes India Inc blue chipsTata, L&T and Mahindra. The govern-ment will soon take a call on an army pro-posal on acquiring BAE’s M777 Howitzerafter the company offered to shift themanufacturing and testing facility fromHattiesburg, Mississippi, to India. Thedeal size is around $700 million.

BAE’s howitzer was first considered in2008 by UPA regime but the idea was bur-ied in 2013 due to differences over priceand offset commitments. The current‘Make in India’ offer from BAE will comeup for approval before Defence Acquisi-tion Committee (DAC), said defence min-istry officials familiar with the matter.

Looking at $200 m Investment��21

Gunmaker BAE Set toBite the Bullet in IndiaMake in India: Tata, Mahindra & L&T in race for howitzers

Rica Bhattacharyya & Kala Vijayraghavan

Mumbai: Large established compa-nies and new-generation startups aredangling substantial joining bonuses— sometimes up to six months of to-tal annual cost to company — acrosssenior and middle management lev-els in a bid to woo top talent in a com-

petitive job market.Executive search firm EMA Partners

International recently hired a CXO fora manufacturing company with a totaljoining bonus of .̀ 4 crore worth ofstocks payable over three annual in-stalments. This March, Indian Hotelsshareholders approved a .̀ 1.92 crore($300,000) joining bonus for RakeshSarna, its new managing director.

Startups, loaded with cash recently

raised from venture capital funds, arenot far behind. Companies such asFlipkart, Jabong, Snapdeal, UrbanLadder, Zomato, among others, aredoling out far greater number of join-ing bonuses to senior hires this yearthan a year or two ago.

“We are trying to improve our com-pensation structure to make it moreefficient and in the process we arepaying much greater number of join-

ing bonuses this year,” says AshuMalhotra, head-HR at fashion andlifestyle ecommerce portal Jabong.“The number was much smaller lastyear,” he adds.

Joining bonus, or sign-on bonus, hasmade a comeback in recent timeswith companies willing to shell outhuge premiums to woo top talent.

Win-Win for Both Sides��3

Gravy Train of Joining Bonuses Rolls AgainDesperate for talent, India Inc’s established names and startups alike dole out sign-on bonuses

Inside story

Govt may Set up Debt Office inPhases, to Start Talks with RBI SoonThe government is proposing to set up an

independent debt management office in a

phased manner and will begin discussions with

the Reserve Bank of India on its contours after

the completion of the ongoing budget

session, a government official said.

Economy��19

Telecom Minister Ravi

Shankar Prasad reit-

erated his support for net

neutrality on Thursday,

saying the Centre would take the

final decision on the matter, reports

Anandita Singh Mankotia from

New Delhi.��7

Net Neutrality: Govtto Take Final Call

Is Market BlockbusterFast Losing Its Appeal?FPIs dump stocks worth almost .̀ 6,500 crore so far in May

The selloffhas draggedthe Sensexand Niftydown 8% inthe last threeweeks

But IndianScript Still aCracker: IMF

AN

IRB

AN

Says BJP-led govt working to a clear economic plan that is still unfolding

It’s Boom TimeDefence acquisition panel to discuss project revival under Make in India after Army moves new proposal

Tata, Mahindra, L&T, Punj Lloyd, Vem Technologies, Midhani in contention

$700 mEstimated value of M777 Howitzer deal for 145 guns

2 YearsDelay in govt-to-govt deal, which has been stuck over offsets, pricing issues

BAE committed to set up assembly & testing facilities in India

$200 mLikely investment to set up the greenfield facility

BULLISH: IMF chief Lagarde

Day-traders in the com-

modity markets of Mum-

bai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata

and Rajkot are trying to make a

quick buck from hardening crude

prices on the international mar-

kets, reports Ram Sahgal.��13

Local Punting Jumpsas Oil Crosses $60

Shares of software ser-

vices companies such as

TCS, Infosys and Wipro

surged on optimism that a falling

rupee and discounted valuations

may lead to a rerating of IT shares,

reports Biswajit Baruah. ��13

Softer Rupee MakesStreet Bullish on IT

India on Thursday

announced it was form-

ing a high-level panel to

look into the contentious issue of

levy of minimum alternate tax

(MAT) on foreign portfolio in-

vestors, reports Our Bureau.��19

Govt Panel to HelpResolve MAT Tangle