Wall Street ends lower as taper acceleration worries pile onto virus angst

 The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 652.22 points, or 1.86%, to 34,483.72

Wall Street's main indexes closed lower on Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled that the US central bank would consider speeding up its withdrawal of bond purchases as inflation risks increase, piling pressure onto a market already nervous about the latest COVID-19 variant.

In a testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, Powell indicated that he no longer considers high inflation as "transitory" and that the Fed would revisit the timeline for scaling back its bond-buying program at its next meeting in two weeks.

"Powell's comments threw a monkey in the wrench in market thinking in terms of potential taper timing. You're seeing as a result of that, risk-off across the board," said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.

"You also have to factor in the Omicron variant concerns.

You can argue whether they're more headline risk or real risk but regardless, it's having a significant impact on oil, and everything that's tied to economic growth." Powell's comments also prompted speculation among some investors about a potential acceleration in interest rate hikes.

"The principal contributor to the decline in stock prices today is the Powell commentary, regarding the upcoming Fed meeting, about accelerating the tapering of their bond-buying program, which obviously leads to the prospect that rate hikes come sooner next year," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia.

"That somewhat hawkish shift in tone caught the market flatfooted," Luschini said.

Meanwhile, the market was also left waiting for information about how dangerous the Omicron variant might be, the degree to which current vaccinations could offer protection and the additional restrictions governments might have to impose that could hurt the economy, Luschini said.

Vignesh Sundaresan paid $69.3 mn for an NFT so you can download it for free

 Indian cryptocurrency entrepreneur and investor says technology 'can bridge cultures from all over the world'.

Vignesh Sundaresan, also known as MetaKovan, spent $69.3 million on a Beeple non-fungible token earlier this year, but he’s not very possessive about it.

The beauty of an NFT is that everyone gets to enjoy it, the Indian cryptocurrency entrepreneur and investor said in an interview with Bloomberg News. In fact, he’d be happy if everyone downloaded a copy of “Everydays: the First 5000 Days.”

The blockbuster price he paid helped bring attention to the burgeoning market for NFTs, which has exploded in popularity since then. It’s gotten attention for the potential of the technology as well as the numerous brands and celebrities piling in. Yet, it’s also been the subject of questions about trading scandals, valuations and what an NFT purchase actually gives the buyer.

Sundaresan spoke with Bloomberg about his thoughts on NFT property rights and what he’s watching next. Below are highlights from the interview, edited for length and clarity.

What do you think about property rights on NFTs?

At the end of the day, information wants to be free. You try to have paywalls, you try to do so many things. But even those methods of having information or data inside walled gardens of any kind of security, they’ve not done very well on the internet.

If someone is releasing music, maybe it gets pirated. All these issues seem to be very naive to the internet. If you try to fight that, I don’t think it’ll be useful at all.

What NFTs do, instead of giving importance to that copy of the file, kind of gives importance to something else big. The idea was that some person supported an artist at some time and this was memorabilia.

If you have an NFT, I believe everyone gets to enjoy it. But you don’t need everyone to pay for it. There can be a few people who pay for this production, and they get credit to have been part of this production. And that’s it.

It’s fine to download. I’m happy if someone were to download Beeple -- The 5000 Days -- everyone in the world.

OPEC+ begins two days of talks amid oil rout, fears for Omicron variant

 Oil prices fell to near $70 a barrel on Tuesday from as high as $86 in October.

OPEC and its allies begin two days of meetings on Wednesday to decide whether to release more oil into the market or restrain supply amid an oil price rout and fears the Omicron coronavirus variant could weaken global energy demand.

Oil prices fell to near $70 a barrel on Tuesday from as high as $86 in October, posting their biggest monthly decline since the outset of the pandemic, as the new variant raised fears of a supply glut.

For November, Brent fell by 16.4%, while WTI fell 20.8%, the biggest monthly fall since March 2020.

"The threat to oil demand is genuine," said Louise Dickson, senior oil markets analyst at Rystad Energy. "Another wave of lockdowns could result in up to 3 million bpd (barrels per day) of oil demand lost in the first quarter of 2022." Also pressuring prices, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. central bank likely will discuss speeding its reduction of bond purchases amid a strong economy and expectations that a surge in inflation will persist.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will meet on Wednesday after 1300 GMT, followed by a meeting on Thursday of OPEC+, which groups OPEC with allies including Russia.

Several OPEC+ ministers, including from Russia and Saudi Arabia, have said there was no need for a knee-jerk reaction from the group.

But some analysts have suggested OPEC+ might put plans to add 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) to supply in January on hold.

Does Parag Agrawal's elevation as CEO mean Twitter's coming of age?

 Twitter has followed Google and Microsoft to place an Indian-origin techie at its helm. Does Parag Agrawal's elevation mean Twitter's coming of age, like Microsoft when Satya Nadella took over

Twitter has finally decided to transfer its reins from founders to professionals. India-born Parag Agrawal has succeeded co-founder Jack Dorsey as the CEO of the social media giant. So will a more diversified board, with an Indian at the helm of affairs, help the company at a time when it is aiming to double its revenue by 2023 and reinvent its image amid several allegations in recent times?
In a statement, Dorsey said the company was ready to move on from its founders. The board of directors of Twitter unanimously selected Agarwal as CEO and a member of the board.
This was not Dorsey’s first exit from the company. After co-founding the social media giant in 2006, Dorsey had been forced out in 2008. But he returned as CEO in 2015 after Dick Costolo stepped down. In 2020, Dorsey was accused of paying little attention to Twitter.
Agrawal, meanwhile, had joined Twitter in 2011 with a focus on ad products. He became the first recipient of the company’s “Distinguished Engineer” title.

According to several media reports, as CTO, Agrawal encouraged Dorsey to allow Twitter to explore decentralization and other related technologies.
A 2005 computer science and engineering alumnus of IIT Bombay, 37-year-old Agrawal is the youngest CEO leading a Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 company.
Agarwal, a known face in Silicon Valley, has a long and tough road ahead. By the end of 2023, the company wants to have 315 million monetizable daily active users. It also wants to double its revenue by then.

CEOs who cant' sit still: Jack Dorsey's Twitter departure is a sign

 Jack Dorsey, who is stepping down after six years as Twitter's chief executive, is one of the tech leaders who seem to have grown tired of managing their empires

In 2015, when Jack Dorsey rejoined Twitter as its interim chief executive, he raved about the app with quasi-religious fervor, calling it “the closest thing we have to a global consciousness.”

But on Monday, Mr. Dorsey left the pulpit. He resigned, saying in an email to Twitter employees that he believed the company should “stand on its own, free of its founder’s influence or direction.” He announced that Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s chief technology officer, would take over as C. E. O., while Bret Taylor would become its board chair.

In some ways, Mr. Dorsey’s departure is far from surprising. He has faced pressure for more than a year from the activist investor Elliot Management to boost Twitter’s growth and improve its financial performance. He’s also been running Square, the fast-growing financial services company he co-founded, and it always seemed that at some point he would decide that one C. E. O. job was enough. (In his email, Mr. Dorsey said that leaving Twitter was his choice.)

But there’s something else going on with Mr. Dorsey and some of his fellow tech moguls. They seem to be getting bored and restless with their jobs, and they’re striking out in search of adventure.

Jeff Bezos’ wanderlust led him to step down from Amazon this year and fulfill his childhood fantasy of going to space. Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, stepped down in 2019 and have since been investing in futuristic projects like airships and flying taxis. Mark Zuckerberg is still running Facebook, but it’s called Meta now, and the company’s big metaverse pivot seems to be designed in part to infuse some novelty and excitement back into a staid, big-company culture.

As Recode’s Peter Kafka wrote this year, this year’s big wave of tech executive departures partly reflects the fact that the biggest Silicon Valley giants are so huge and profitable that they no longer need visionary founders in charge — just competent managers who can keep the money-printing machines running and avoid any catastrophic mistakes.

Asian factories shake off supply headaches but Omicron presents new risks

 The newly detected Omicron coronavirus variant has emerged as a fresh worry for the region's policymakers, who are already grappling with the challenge of steering their economies out of the doldrums

Asian factory activity grew in November as crippling supply bottlenecks eased, but rising input costs and renewed weakness in China dampened the region's prospects for an early, sustained recovery from pandemic paralysis.

The newly detected Omicron coronavirus variant has emerged as a fresh worry for the region's policymakers, who are already grappling with the challenge of steering their economies out of the doldrums while trying to tame inflation amid rising commodity costs and parts shortages.

China's factory activity fell back into contraction in November, the private Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) showed on Wednesday, as soft demand and elevated prices hurt manufacturers.

The findings from the private survey, which focuses more on small firms in coastal regions, stood in contrast with those in China's official PMI on Tuesday that showed manufacturing activity unexpectedly rose in November, albeit at a very modest pace.

"Relaxing constraints on the supply side, especially the easing of the power crunch, quickened the pace of production recovery," said Wang Zhe, senior economist at Caixin Insight Group, in a statement accompanying the data release.

"But demand was relatively weak, suppressed by the COVID-19 epidemic and rising product prices."

Beyond China, however, factory activity seemed to be on the mend with PMIs showing expansion in countries ranging from Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Japan's PMI rose to 54.5 in November, up from 53.2 in October, the fastest pace of expansion in nearly four years.

Understanding provident fund and public provident fund

 Those working in the private sector don't have retirement benefits like pension. The retirement corpus they build over the years is through provident fund (PF). But what are PF and PPF? Let's find out

A provident fund is a mandatory retirement savings scheme for employees that are managed by the government. An employee gives a portion of his or her salary to the provident fund every month. And his employer to make a contribution on behalf of the employee.
Month after month, these savings continue to build the retirement corpus, which is managed by the government. It also attracts an annual compound interest. For fiscal 2020-21, the government has approved an 8.5 per cent rate of interest on the employees’ provident fund. And on retirement, the employee gets a good amount of money when he needs it the most.
If an employee holds a rightful claim to the PF associated with their company or firm, they will be given a Universal Account Number, which enables them to transfer their PF funds from one employer to another whenever they move from one job to the next. Apart from India, several other developing countries like Singapore have the compulsory provident fund.
There are three types of provident funds. The first one is the general provident fund.

It is a type of PF that is maintained by government bodies such as the Railways, local authorities, and other similar bodies. Then there is the recognized provident fund. This is the one that applies to all privately-owned organizations that have more than 20 employees.
And the third one is the public provident fund or PPF. It is voluntary in nature. The interest earned and the returns under this scheme are not taxable under Income Tax. An employee has to open a PPF account under this scheme. The amount deposited into the account during a given year will be claimed under section 80C deductions. The PPF has a minimum tenure of 15 years. Also, a minimum investment of Rs 500 and a maximum one of Rs 1.5 lakh is allowed for each financial year.

Pee Safe plans to launch more than 50 retail outlets over next 12 months

 The stores being planned will be franchise-owned brand exclusive stores (FOFO) and the time frame is 12 months

Hygiene and wellness brand Pee Safe on Monday said it aims to open more than 50 retail outlets across the country over the next 12 months. The company has set up its first company-owned offline retail outlet in Gurugram. Pee Safe's products are currently available in modern trade, general stores, airports, and organized stores across more than 150 cities, a statement said.

The brand currently has four retail outlets in Gurugram, Bhubaneshwar, Bengaluru, and Ahmedabad, and plans to launch 50-plus stores over the next 12 months.

The stores being planned will be franchise-owned brand exclusive stores (FOFO) and the time frame is 12 months, it said.

Pee Safe has been undertaking aggressive expansion offline. While four of these stores are based on the FOFO model, the one we have opened recently is company-owned. Pee Safe has always been a digital-first D2C brand but now we are reaching out to our customers where they are by offering an omnichannel experience," Pee Safe founder and CEO Vikas Bagaria said.

The brand has diversified into multifarious product categories including eco-friendly sanitary pads, organic tampons, menstrual cups, and a maternity care line. It also owns other rapidly growing brands such as Raho Safe, Domina (sexual wellness), and FURR (beauty and skincare) which have been consistently posting high growth.

No proposal to recognise Bitcoin as a currency: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

 The government plans to introduce a Bill in this regard - the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021 - in the ongoing session

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed the Lok Sabha on Monday that there is no proposal before the government to recognize Bitcoin as a currency. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said the government does not collect data on Bitcoin transactions.

To a question on whether the government has any proposal to recognize Bitcoin as a currency, Sitharaman said, “No, sir”. Bitcoin, a digital currency introduced in 2008 by programmers as a cryptocurrency, allows people to buy goods and services and exchange money without involving banks, credit card issuers, or other third parties.

The government plans to introduce a Bill in this regard — the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021 — in the ongoing session. The Bill seeks to ban all private cryptocurrencies but might allow the underlying technologies.

In a separate reply to a written question, Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said the government received a proposal from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in October seeking an amendment to the RBI Act, 1934, to enhance the scope of the definition of “banknote” to include currency in digital form.

The RBI has been examining use cases and working out a phased implementation strategy for the introduction of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) with little or no disruption, he said in reply to the question asked by Adoor Prakash.

Chaudhary said the introduction of a CBDC has the potential to provide significant benefits, such as reduced dependency on cash, higher seigniorage due to lower transaction costs, and reduced settlement risk.

“Introduction of CBDC would also possibly lead to a more robust, efficient, trusted, regulated and legal tender-based payments option. There are also associated risks which need to be carefully evaluated against the potential benefits,” he said

India's spending helps fuel growth but risks from Omicron variant loom

 The South Asian nation remains on track to post the fastest growth among major economies as most sectors, including services and exports, show momentum

India’s effort to boost consumption through government spending and low-interest rates is paying off, with the economy gaining strength just as a new coronavirus variant emerges as the top threat to a global recovery.

The South Asian nation remains on track to post the fastest growth among major economies as most sectors, including services and exports, show momentum. Gross domestic product will expand 9.3% in the fiscal that ends March, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists, a touch faster than the 9.2% forecast last month.

The recovery is “led by the services sector, with individual mobility back to pre-Covid levels, and ultra-accommodative financial conditions,” as well as higher government expenditures, said Gaura Sen Gupta, an economist with IDFC First Bank in Mumbai, forecasting growth of 10% this year.

While she said it’s too early to predict the impact of the omicron strain, the cost of lockdowns has been falling as they become more targeted and shorter.

Official data due later Tuesday will likely show GDP in the July-September quarter grew 8.3% from a year ago, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. That’s slower than 20.1% growth in the previous quarter -- which largely reflected a bounce back from last year’s crash -- but marks a fourth straight quarter of expansion.

CAG flags lack of transparency in food subsidy for FY17 and FY18

 The CAG report said the government undertook to fund of revenue and capital expenditure using extra-budgetary resources in both the years

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has flagged the use of extra-budgetary resources for payment of food subsidy in a report tabled in Parliament on Monday for the financial year 2017-18 (FY18) and FY19.

Experts said making the books of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) public in the Budget for FY22 would go a long way in plugging this loophole. The CAG report said the government undertook to fund of revenue and capital expenditure using extra-budgetary resources in both years.

Referring to food subsidy, it said there was a carryover liability of Rs 81,303 crore of unpaid food subsidy during FY18 and then there was a fresh subsidy claim of Rs 1.16 trillion, resulting in a total pending liability for food subsidy of Rs 1.97 trillion. Against this, the government released only Rs 61,982 crore to the FCI, leaving a pending liability of Rs 1.35 trillion at the end of FY18.

It was noted that the budgeted provision of Rs 1.45 trillion for FY18 for meeting food subsidy expenses was not fully utilized and there were savings of Rs 48,228 crore at the year-end. These savings were due to a provision of a Rs 42,919 crore loan from the National Small Saving Fund (NSSF) to FCI instead of payment of food subsidy using the budgeted funds.

In the next year, FY19, along with a carry forward liability of Rs 1.35 trillion from the previous years, there was additional liability towards a food subsidy of Rs 1.2 trillion for FY19. However, despite a budgetary provision of Rs 1.69 trillion for food subsidy in the BE of FY19, only Rs 70,098 crore was released from the Budget to partly clear carryover liability of previous years.

Bessemer Venture Partners raises $220 mn for early-stage India investments

 The company's global portfolio includes Pinterest, Shopify and in India, it has funds in PharmEasy and BigBasket.

Bessemer Venture Partners is setting up a $220 million fund for India and sees "massive growth opportunities" in the country, said the company.

The fund will focus primarily on early-stage investments, consistent with Bessemer’s practice of starting with early funding and sticking with companies throughout their growth lifecycle. Bessemer plans to use the new capital in consumer internet and cloud software, including marketplaces, digital health, social commerce, vertical and global SaaS (software-as-a-service).

“We’ve always had a global investment approach and India has long been a focus for us. This new capital allows us to go deeper into the market while continuing to support our portfolio with Bessemer’s global network and resources. The dedicated fund exemplifies our confidence in the massive growth opportunities within India,” said Vishal Gupta, partner and managing director of the firm’s Bengaluru office.

Bessemer’s global portfolio includes Pinterest, Shopify, Twilio, Yelp, LinkedIn, PagerDuty, DocuSign, Wix, Fiverr, and Toast and has $9 billion of capital under management

“We see a sizable market of India-based companies that will disrupt global markets,” said Bob Goodman, a partner in Bessemer’s New York office.

Bessemer first invested in India 15 years ago and has had a dedicated team of investors ever since. The firm has multi-stage investments in Indian leading companies. These include PharmEasy (pharmacy benefits), BigBasket (online grocery), Swiggy (food delivery), Urban Company (home services), and Perfios (credit underwriting platform).

The partnership has realized seven IPOs within India including Home First Finance, IEX, and Matrimony.com. In India it today has five companies within its portfolio valued at more than $1 billion, including Livspace (home interior platform) and MyGlamm (direct-to-consumer beauty).

Why's govt keen on keeping 26% stake in PSBs it wants to privatise

 The govt is set to privatise two state-run banks but may hold on to a 26 per cent stake. What merits does the government see in this stake and will this complicate its efforts to attract investors?

The Centre is tabling a Bill in the upcoming winter session of Parliament beginning November 29 to amend two banking laws. Amendments in Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Acts, 1970 and 1980, and the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, will pave the way for privatisation of two public sector banks, as announced in the Union Budget in February.
It is being speculated that the Indian Overseas Bank and the Central Bank of India are most likely to go under the hammer. The Centre owns more than 90 per cent of both these banks.
Business Standard on Friday reported that the Centre may continue to hold at least a 26 per cent stake in these banks for now. The quantum of the initial stake sale will be decided while finalising the contours of the transaction.
It would mean an about-turn in the government’s privatisation strategy, after its successful sale of Air India to the Tata Group. The national carrier had failed to attract any bidders in 2018 when the government tried to offload a 76 per cent stake in it.

This prompted the government to offload its entire 100 per cent stake, for which it received buyers from all the quarters.
Earlier, the government had reaped a bonanza by following a similar model with its sale of a 45 per cent stake in Hindustan Zinc to Vedanta in 2002 and 2003, along with the transfer of management control. The 30 per cent stake the government retained is today valued at Rs 42,000 crore. It may be looking to cash in on a similar upside in the privatised banks in the future as a strategic buyer is expected to bring in improved efficiency.
With a 26 per cent holding, the government would have the power to propose or block special resolutions. But if it can give up the other powers that it enjoys under various laws, private buyers will be more than interested to control a bank. So far, it looks like the government is on the right path.

Reliance considering bid for UK telecom firm BT in early talks: Report

 Reliance might make an unsolicited offer to buy into the group or will try to get a controlling share, says Economic Times

Reliance Industries Ltd is considering an offer for British telecom company BT Group Plc, the Economic Times reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

Reliance might make an unsolicited offer to buy into BT Group or will try to get a controlling share in it, the report said.

Alternatively, the Indian company may propose to work with BT’s networking or fiber optic arm and fund its expansion.

It is not known if Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani has met with BT chief executive officer Philip Jansen and outgoing chairman Jan du Plessis.

Reliance was outbid in September by a consortium of Apax and Warburg Pincus for control over a Dutch unit of T-Mobile.

Economic Times said talks were in the early stages and there might not be a transaction. BT, which was privatized in the eighties, is the UK’s mainstay operator for fixed line telecom services.

Paytm in focus again as analysts question CEO on profit, business model

 Paytm's top executives spent 90 minutes on a call with investors and analysts on Saturday as they raised questions on monetization.

After a turbulent debut for the company behind India’s largest initial public offering, Paytm’s top executives spent 90 minutes on a call with investors and analysts on Saturday as they dissected its business model and raised questions on monetization.

Whether officials have done enough to ease doubts on revenue streams and profitability prospects remains to be seen when markets reopen. One97 Communications, the parent of the digital payments giant, ended last week 17% below its offer price of 2,150 rupees ($28.68), after falling to as low as 1,271 rupees at one point.

Over the weekend, One97 reported losses widened to 4.74 billion rupees in the July-to-September quarter from a year ago amid rising expenses. Revenue rose more than 60% in the same period, boosted by growth in financial, commerce and cloud services.

“Strong momentum in revenue growth will continue,” Chief Financial Officer Madhur Deora said on the call. Contribution margins jumped “with clear trends towards continued year-on-year improvements,” he said in the presentation that was later filed to stock exchanges.

Chief Executive Officer Vijay Shekhar Sharma highlighted the company’s ramp-up in the key segment of lending -- an important and fast-growing market in credit-starved India, where digital fintech such as Paytm are serving millions of consumers and merchants.

Jio joins Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, goes for 20% hike in tariffs

 Analysts had guided for a tariff revision from Jio after competitors decided to go for a hike

India’s largest mobile service operator, Reliance Jio, hiked its rates by 20 per cent on Sunday, joining industry rivals Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) which went for a price revision earlier last week. Jio’s new rates will come into effect from December 1.

In a press release, the telco announced new unlimited plans. “Upholding the promise of providing the best quality service at the lowest price globally, Jio customers will continue to be the biggest beneficiaries,” it said.

The move will impact tariffs in all the existing slaps (Rs 75-2,399). While Airtel and Vi went for a 25 per cent rise in their entry-level slabs, Jio hiked the rate in this segment by around 21 per cent.

Though companies, especially Airtel and Vi, had long been clamoring for a price revision, they were reluctant to take the first step for the fear of losing customers. Airtel bit the bullet last Monday, and Vi quickly followed suit.
The tariff hikes, which come two months after the telecom reforms package, are being seen as important steps towards improving the financial sustainability of the sector. These companies have indicated that the average revenue per user (ARPU) needs to go up to Rs 200 initially and then to Rs 300 to improve their financial health.

Airtel currently has the highest ARPU among the telecom companies. In the second quarter of FY22, it reported an ARPU of Rs 153. Jio and Vi reported ARPUs of Rs 143.6 and Rs 109, respectively.

Analysts had guided for a tariff revision from Jio after competitors decided to go for a hike. “In our view, not raising tariffs will be an opportunity loss for Jio, as it may find it difficult to gain 20 percent upfront incremental revenues by attracting price-sensitive subscribers, presumably at the lower end from Bharti and Vi. The quantum of the hike from Jio will be a key factor to watch out for, although we expect it to maintain a similar level of discount to the peers as previously in order to maintain its value proposition for customers,” Kotak Institutional Equities said in a report last Thursday.

CCI won't be intimidated by the arrogance of Amazon, says Future Retail

 The company says US e-com major showed disregard to Indian law by walking out of CCI proceedings

Future Retail said on Sunday that it firmly believes that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) will not be intimidated by the arrogance of Amazon. Future hopes that instead, CCI will take action on its show-cause notice against the US-based e-commerce company, in accordance with the law.

This statement comes after Amazon walked out of CCI proceedings on Nove­mber 24. “The counsels to Amazon, in utter disregard to the norms and utter disrespect to the Indian statutory regulatory authority, refused to argue the matter. They walked out of the proceedings in an attempt to browbeat the CCI,” the Indian retailer said in a stock exchange filing.

In a letter addressed to Future Coupons, CCI said it heard the counsels appearing on behalf of Future Coupon and Confederation of Indian Traders (CAIT) at length. It also called Amazon’s counsel to make its submissions on merits and learned about its inability to argue the matter and stated that making submissions may compromise its special leave petition (SLP) and render it infructuous. Its SLP was to come up before the Supreme Court on November 25.

CAIT had filed public interest litigation in Delhi High Court against CCI, asking it not to delay its ruling in the Amazon-Future Coupons deal. The high court then asked CCI, on November 16, to rule on revoking its approval to the Amazon-Future Coupons deal within two weeks.

“The learned counsel also made a grievance that Amazon did not get sufficient time to file its rejoinder. Accordingly, despite grant of opportunity, the learned counsel did not make oral submissions,” CCI said in its letter to Future Coupons.

Future Coupons lawyer responded to CCI in a letter stating, “The conduct of Amazon smacks of arrogance. It has shown scant respect to the Delhi High Court, the Supreme Court, and to this commission.” Future Coupons also said, in its letter, that the e-commerce major could have moved the Delhi High Court for an extension of time or for a suspension of the order. But it moved the Supreme Court by an interim application relating to the arbitration proceedings, establishing its mistaken belief that the Supreme Court would not deny relief to Amazon.

“When it failed to get relief from the Supreme Court, it then sought an adjournment from the CCI. When that was refused, in a display of outright contempt for an Indian statutory authority, this trillion-dollar American company walked out of the hearing,” the letter said.

Amazon executive says Omicron's impact on holiday spending uncertain

 The United States and other countries are now imposing travel restrictions after the emerging Omicron variant, first detected in South Africa, began spreading to other parts of the world

By Mike Spector

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A senior Amazon.com Inc executive said it remains too early to predict how the Omicron coronavirus variant will impact consumer spending during the holiday season but suggested that shoppers will press ahead for now.

"It's very early in the process of understanding what's happening with the new variant," said Dave Clark, chief executive of Amazon's worldwide consumer business, during a Sunday morning interview on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Clark said he was "incredibly optimistic" about the ability of scientists and pharmaceutical companies that have developed effective vaccines to respond to the new variant while shoppers take stock of developments.

"Consumers are going to wait and see in terms of what happens ... but are going to move on with their lives into this holiday season," Clark said.

Clark's comments came amid a backdrop of recent supply chain disruptions the Biden administration has linked to the spread of another coronavirus variant, Delta.

The United States and other countries are now imposing travel restrictions after the emerging Omicron variant, first detected in South Africa, began spreading to other parts of the world. In the Netherlands, Dutch health authorities said 13 cases were found among passengers on two flights that landed in Amsterdam on Friday after departing South Africa.

Britain, Denmark and Australia have also found cases in recent days. While there are not documented cases yet in the United States, health experts said the variant could already be present.

MG Motor India ties up with CleanMax, adopts wind-solar hybrid energy

 MG Motor India has collaborated with CleanMax to become the first passenger car company to adopt wind-solar hybrid energy, a statement said on Thursday.

MG Motor India has collaborated with CleanMax to become the first passenger car company to adopt wind-solar hybrid energy, a statement said on Thursday.

Under the collaboration, Clean Max Enviro Energy Solutions (CleanMax) will supply 4.85 MW of wind-solar hybrid power to MG Motor's manufacturing facility in Halol.

"With this partnership, MG will abate approximately 2 lakh MT of CO2 over 15 years which is equal to planting more than 13 lakh trees," the statement said.

The carmaker has been at the forefront of promoting EV adoption in India with the launch of India's first Pure Electric Internet SUV MG ZS EV, it stated.

CleanMax is the first renewable energy company to set up a wind-solar hybrid power park in Gujarat to sell clean energy to private consumers and corporates. It plans to expand to 150 MW by 2022. MG's Halol facility is expected to begin drawing power in February 2022 from CleanMax's hybrid park in Rajkot and will continue to do so for 15 years.

Joyville sales bookings jump three-times to Rs 450 cr in April-September

 Business conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji's housing platform Joyville has clocked a nearly three-fold jump in its sales booking at Rs 450 crore during the first half of this fiscal year on strong demand for mid-income residential properties, a top company official said.

Business conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji's housing platform Joyville has clocked a nearly three-fold jump in its sales booking at Rs 450 crore during the first half of this fiscal year on strong demand for mid-income residential properties, a top company official said.

Joyville, which is a Rs 1,240 crore platform established by Shapoorji Pallonji, ADB, IFC, and Actis, had sold properties worth Rs 160 crore in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

In an interview with PTI, Joyville Shapoorji Housing Managing Director Sriram Mahadevan said, "the real estate market is doing well because of improved market sentiments driven by progress in the vaccination program."

Moreover, COVID-19 cases have also come down significantly, he added.
"We have sold over 700 apartments for around Rs 450 crore in the first six months of this financial year. The sales bookings have grown almost three times compared to the year-ago period," Mahadevan told PTI.

Sales have been good in all four cities, but projects in Pune have performed exceedingly well, he said, while expressing confidence about maintaining the momentum.

Mahadevan attributed various factors for growth in its sales bookings including "positive consumer sentiment, improved affordability of consumers on higher income and stable housing prices, low interest on home loans and more importance of homeownership during the pandemic".

Joyville platform had sold properties worth around Rs 1,100 crore in the last financial year, double from the previous year. The financial year 2020-21 was "the best year" for Joyville despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Future Retail guilty of financial irregularities, says Amazon

 Amazon is fighting a legal battle with FRL to stop the Kishore Biyani-led retailer's $3.4 billion deal with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)

US e-commerce giant Amazon has written to the independent directors of Future Retail Limited (FRL), including Gagan Singh, Ravindra Dhariwal, and Jacob Mathew, and its audit committee, providing data and alleging that there have been significant financial irregularities to the prejudice of public shareholders, banks, creditors, and third-party suppliers. Amazon has said this warrants a thorough and independent examination of all relevant facts and related-party transactions, including of past financial years, by an independent agency.

Separately, Amazon has written to Securities and Exchange Board of India Chairman Ajay Tyagi, seeking the withdrawal of the regulator’s conditional approval granted to FRL related to the merger deal between the Future group and Reliance. The letter has also been sent to top officials of the stock exchanges.

Amazon’s letter to the FRL independent directors, dated November 24, which Business Standard has accessed, states: “Given the nature of disclosure and findings, a careful and detailed examination must be made by statutory authorities/regulators/enforcement agencies also to enquire and investigate into the financial statements, and records, including related-party transactions and discussions in board, and audit committee meetings, in the interest of public shareholders, banks, creditors, and third party suppliers.”

Equity fund mobilisation slows in October, shows Amfi data

 In the current financial year, equity funds mobilized over Rs 30,817 crore per month, on average

The volatility in the Indian equity markets has led to a slowdown in mobilization by equity funds, with inflows trending downward in the past few months as lump-sum investors have stayed away due to lofty valuations.

According to data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), equity funds mobilized Rs 28,671.39 crore in October, against Rs 36,656.66 crore in September. In the current financial year, equity funds have mobilized over Rs 30,817 crore per month on average.

Between July and September, mobilization rose above Rs 30,000 crore each month as investors favored the new fund offer (NFO) route— inflows touched Rs 42,100 crore in July, the highest so far this year, as equity NFOs collected Rs 13,709 crore.

“Investors have been investing only through NFOs in the last few months. The industry has been aggressive in pushing NFOs and I believe this will be a big worry if there is a sharp correction in Indian equities,” said a senior industry official.

Since July, fund houses have raised over Rs 27,151 crore through NFOs in equity funds alone. The amount increases to Rs 57,000 crore in the last four months if NFOs of all categories of schemes are considered.

DBS says banking services back to normal after 2-day outage, systems secure

 The bank's services, including its payment app, were disrupted on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Singapore's DBS Group said its online banking services had been fully restored after suffering disruptions for about two days in its biggest outage since 2010, prompting the central bank to consider taking supervisory action.

In a Facebook post late on Thursday, Southeast Asia's biggest lender said customer logins and transaction activities have returned to normal pre-disruption levels since Thursday morning.

The bank's services, including its payment app, were disrupted on Tuesday and Wednesday

DBS said its systems remain secure and were not a target of a cyber-attack. "We will continue to monitor and review the events of this week and are taking steps to prevent future recurrences," the bank said.

The disruption drew the ire of thousands of customers just hours after the bank, Singapore's largest, announced a fix after the first day of the outage on Tuesday.

Amazon asks Sebi to withdraw $3.4-bn Future-RIL deal approval

 Amazon is now fighting a legal battle with FRL to stop the Kishore Biyani-led retailer's $3.4 billion deal with RIL

US e-commerce giant Amazon has written to Ajay Tyagi, chairman of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), and other top executives, to withdraw its conditional approval granted to Future Retail Limited (FRL) related to the $3.4-billion merger deal between Future Group and Reliance. The letter has also been sent to other top officials at stock exchanges such as BSE Limited and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE).

In Aug 2019, Amazon acquired a 49 percent stake in Future Coupons, the promoter entity of Future Retail, for about Rs 1,500 crore. Amazon is now fighting a legal battle with FRL to stop the Kishore Biyani-led retailer’s $3.4 billion deal with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL).

Amazon has requested Sebi and the stock exchanges to act in aid of the binding injunctions operating against FRL, FCPL (Future Coupons Pvt Ltd), and the Biryanis, in terms of the EA Order and the Order on Vacate Application and recall the Observation Letters forthwith.

“We refer to our earlier correspondence including the October 30, 2021 Letter. We wish to reiterate that the EA Order was passed by the Emergency Arbitrator restraining FRL, FCPL and the Biyanis from taking any steps in relation to, in furtherance or in aid of, the Impugned Transaction,” said Amazon’s letter dated November 24 and seen by Business Standard.

Future Group and Amazon didn’t respond to the query related to this issue.

In the letter, Amazon said it reiterates that FRL precipitated the Observation Letters from the SEBI and the Indian Stock Exchanges in violation of the binding directions contained in the EA Order. Consequently, it said the Observation Letters are in violation of the EA Order, have no legal basis and constitute a nullity.

Will oil prices cool off after tapping Strategic Petroleum Reserves?

 The US will release millions of barrels of oil from strategic reserves in coordination with China, India, South Korea, Japan, and Britain to control oil prices. But will this be enough? Let's find out

India, along with the US, People’s Republic of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, has decided to release five million barrels of crude oil from its strategic petroleum reserves in a concerted effort to bring down global crude oil prices.
This is the first of a kind coordinated move globally to tame the flaring crude oil prices.
Brent, the most popular benchmark in international trade for crude oil, hit $86.40 a barrel on October 26.
While prices cooled off since then to nearly $79 a barrel, they rose over three per cent in two days to hover around the $83 per barrel mark after the announcement.
While sector watchers say the quantity is not big, the release of five million barrels of crude oil from its SPR is a symbolic gesture on India’s part.
On an aggregate basis, too, the release of oil reserves by all the countries may add about 70 million to 80 million barrels of crude supply, smaller than the more-than-100 million barrels the market has been pricing in, say analysts at Goldman Sachs.
That said, all eyes now are on the OPEC meeting on December 2 that will set the tone for oil prices. Market watchers fear, the coordinated efforts by oil-consuming countries may slow their output increase pace.
Going forward, global crude oil prices are likely to remain volatile given the fresh surge in Covid-19 cases in European countries and persisting energy crisis.

Open network for e-commerce: Beneficial for sellers and consumers?

 The government plans to democratize e-commerce with Open Network for Digital Commerce and end what it says monopolistic practices in India. Let us find out how ONDC may benefit sellers and consumers

Today, someone who has a Google Pay account can send money to another person who uses PhonePe, because both are using the common Unified Payments Interface or UPI platform. The government is planning a similar experiment in the e-commerce space, which is currently dominated by Amazon and Flipkart. Open Network for Digital Ecommerce, or ONDC, promises to provide a playing field to small merchants too.    

Its proponents say that ONDC will move Indian eCommerce away from the current platform-centric model, dominated by market leaders Amazon and Flipkart, to an open network.

It will do so by making several operational aspects like onboarding of sellers, vendor discovery, price discovery, and product cataloging open source. That will allow more and more traditional retailers to benefit from selling their wares online and compete with large e-commerce firms.

It is envisaged that ONDC will eventually cover everything from clothes to food delivery to mobility. From what we know so far, the ONDC will mean the creation of a separate digital platform with easier processes for onboarding sellers. So, if a buyer is looking for, say, a white shirt, they will find the products hosted on Amazon and Flipkart. And they will also find the white shirt being sold by local shops in their neighborhood. 

ONDC is expected to give a leg-up to offline retailers, helping them compete with online sellers, thus boosting hyperlocal deliveries. For sellers, ONDC will mean their products becoming visible on multiple e-commerce websites without them having to register on each platform separately.

Indian mobile gaming sector revenues to grow to $5 bn by 2025: Report

 There are now over 300 million gamers in India, and revenue across all gaming devices reached $1.8 billion in 2020

India’s mobile gaming sector will grow from $1.5 billion in revenue in 2020 to $5 billion by 2025, according to a report published by VC firm Sequoia and management consulting company BCG on Wednesday.

While India’s gaming company initially monetized through in-game advertising, 80 per cent of the $1.5 billion generated by mobile gaming in 2020 came from in-app purchases and real-money game (RMG) spending, the report said. There are now over 300 million gamers in India, and revenue across all gaming devices reached $1.8 billion in 2020, up 500 percent from 2016.

Investors are bullish on gaming platforms because they mitigate the hits-driven nature of individual games. Such platforms accounted for over 88 percent of all VC funding in gaming in 2020 -- which was more than $400 million.

Although China and the US are bigger markets, India’s gaming sector is growing faster at a CAGR of 38 per cent, the report said.

“There’s also a strong correlation between sociability and spend. Close to half the gamers surveyed for this report play games to keep in touch with family and friends, and high engagement gamer archetypes tend to spend more across monetization models. These gamers tend to gravitate towards real money gaming (RMG), which is key,” said authors Prachi Pawar and Pushpak Kedia of Sequoia.

Digital tax for US companies to stay until OECD pact comes into force

 The US to withdraw the threat of retaliatory trade action

The 2 percent equalization levy imposed by India on digital players will continue for US companies until a global agreement on taxing multinational enterprises (MNEs) comes into effect on March 31, 2024, whichever is earlier. The United States, on the other hand, has committed to withdrawing its threat of retaliatory trade action against India, according to an agreement reached between the two countries on Wednesday.

New Delhi and Washington have agreed to count the benefits of a global agreement on taxation from the next financial year. However, the benefits would actually accrue once the global pact comes into effect or March 31, 2024, whichever is earlier, in the form of credit, according to the reading of the pact by experts.

According to the bilateral agreement, India’s equalization levy will not go away in the interim period, which starts from April 1, 2022. However, once the global agreement (Pillar-1) comes into effect, it would be calculated whether MNEs have paid higher tax in the form of an equalization levy than what is liable under the agreement. The excess amount will be calculated on the basis of the first year of Pillar 1 implementation.

In case they have paid the higher tax, the excess amount would be given as credit to the companies. It is expected that global taxation would be less than the equalisation levy. The exact modalities of the credit would be decided later.

According to the agreement reached under the aegis of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and later endorsed by G20 in October, there is a two-pillar approach to taxation.

Under Pillar 1, MNEs with global sales above €20 billion and profitability above 10 per cent -- the kind of companies that can be regarded as the winners of globalization -- will be covered by the new rules, with 25 per cent of profit above the 10 per cent threshold to be reallocated to market jurisdictions. This will generate additional tax revenues of $125 billion annually.

As crypto slips, young investors resist urge to press panic button

 With no amount too small to begin with, many youngsters have been experimenting with investment in digital portfolios

Earlier this month, 19-year-old Sumit Dewan (name changed) borrowed Rs 2,000 from his elder sister to “stack” on his initial investment in various virtual currencies. Within two hours, he had earned Rs 100 on it. In the five months that Dewan has been investing in cryptocurrencies, he has seen a good 12.5 per cent profit on his investments. The money usually comes from his monthly allowance.

With reports of the government venturing to prohibit private cryptocurrencies in the country through a Bill in the upcoming winter session of Parliament, Ghaziabad-based Dewan is holding out on selling off his investments. “The Bill is not out yet and I don’t want to panic without knowing anything for sure. I know this market is volatile and was prepared for such a fall. It is like seeing a market correction after a bull run,” says the second-year BCom student.

Trading and investing in cryptocurrency has had a firm grip on youngsters for a while now. A horde of advertisements, many of them featuring Bollywood celebrities including Ranveer Singh and Ayushmann Khurrana, have added to the excitement and chatter around digital currencies and, by extension, their pitfalls.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had chaired a high-level meeting on the way forward to manage the cryptocurrency sector. And at the Sydney Dialogue last week, he said that international order should ensure regulating cryptocurrency to prevent any harmful impact on youth.

Sharan Nair, chief business officer, CoinSwitch Kuber, a crypto exchange that crossed 11 million users in 15 months, says, “Most Indian crypto enthusiasts are digital natives, usually first-time investors from non-metro cities and less than 28 years of age.”

With no amount too small to begin with, many youngsters like Dewan have been experimenting with investment in digital portfolios.

Amazon seeks to pause antitrust review of 2019 deal with India's Future

 The Competition Commission of India (CCI) in June accused Amazon of concealing facts and making false submissions.

Amazon.com Inc has asked India's Supreme Court to pause an expedited review of allegations that the U.S. firm concealed information while seeking antitrust clearance for a 2019 deal with India's Future Group, legal papers seen by Reuters showed.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) in June accused Amazon of concealing facts and making false submissions when it sought approval for the $200 million investment into a Future unit in 2019, a deal that is now at the heart of protracted legal disputes between the two sides.

Amazon told Reuters at the time that it was confident of addressing the watchdog's concerns.

The Supreme Court approach by Amazon comes as the CCI on Wednesday held a closed-door hearing where the U.S. firm's lawyers declined to argue and explain their position on the matter, saying they had asked the top court to pause the process.

The watchdog noted in an internal document - seen by Reuters - that it had decided to give no extensions to the company to explain its position and will now issue an order in due course.

Amazon and the CCI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The CCI decision is critical to Amazon's legal challenges. If the CCI rules against Amazon and revokes the 2019 approval, it could have wide-ranging ramifications on the U.S. firm's ongoing legal battle with Future, people familiar with the case say.

That's because Amazon has so far successfully used the 2019 Future unit deal to argue breach of certain contracts when the Indian company announced plans to sell its retail assets to rival Reliance Industries for $3.4 billion last year.

Future, which denies any wrongdoing, accuses Amazon of illegally interfering in its business decisions and derailing a potential deal without which it says it will face liquidation.

Will Indian conglomerates also go the General Electric way?

 Johnson and Johnson, GE, and Toshiba recently announced a split into multiple entities. Do the demands of an emerging market like India require a different approach? Let's find an answer to this question

Conglomerates, and the demerits of being one, are once again in the news. This month, General Electric broke up into three public companies. Experts suggest the development was long overdue. General Electric’s revenue for 2020 was $79.62 billion, a far cry from the $180 billion-plus revenue it booked in 2008. In India too, Vedanta took a similar call of restructuring.

Market imperatives obviously drive such decisions. This is why conglomerates have come to be regarded as dinosaurs in the western world, a relic of a bygone business climate that favored such company structures. Diversification into multiple businesses was once considered to be an effective way to mitigate risk. The logic was that when one industry was in a downturn, another might be thriving. However, this strategy doesn't have many buyers today, at least not in the West anyway.  

But as former Business Standard editor Shyamal Majumdar pointed out in his latest column, conglomerates continue to remain relevant in emerging markets such as India. Majumdar highlighted two important reasons. First, there are too many dwarf companies that fail to make an impact because of scalability issues. And second, diversified business groups have the advantage of low-cost capital, as money earned from performing businesses can be invested in new businesses, which have the potential to become hugely profitable over the long term. 

While on the flip side, even among Indian firms, there is the view that moving away from the conglomerate structure could actually unlock great value. That is what Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta is counting on. 

Online frauds: The precaution we should take to protect ourselves

 The country's march towards a digital economy gathered pace in the last two years. At the same time, the country witnessed a jump in online payment frauds. Here's how we can protect ourselves online

The Reserve Bank of India in its annual report said that the Covid-19 pandemic fuelled the proliferation of digital modes of payments. As money grew on virtual platforms, so did the tech-savvy fraudsters. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, the cyber-crimes saw a surge of 12 percent last year. And just like the real world, the law enforcement agencies are on their toes to curb frauds in the virtual world too.

And if you thought that just the elderly and technically-challenged people fall prey to cyber frauds, then you are mistaken. Seasoned fraudsters who work full-time to cheat people have spared none. Let us see what methods these fraudsters adopt to swindle money.

As the maximum financial transactions take place through United Payments Interface or UPI, this platform witnesses the most attacks. The fraudsters use a basic feature of UPI apps called ‘collect request’ for cheating. The collect request feature on UPI apps lets you request others to pay you a specified amount.
This type of fraud is most prevalent on platforms like OLX, Quikr, and Telegram. Assume that you are a seller who just listed your phone for sale on OLX. The fraudster will call you to show interest in purchasing the phone. He may even insist on paying an advance even without taking a look at the product. And in the next step, he will send you a UPI collect request after taking your phone number or the UPI ID.

The scammer promises to transfer the money to you but instead sends a request demanding money. But the unsuspecting seller, thinking that it is a request to accept money, approves it following which money is debited from his account.

The most important thing to remember here is that receiving money via UPI takes no effort and you are not required to enter a PIN for that.

Sometimes the fraudster may also send you a collect request in the form of an image of a QR code and ask you to scan that in order to receive money. One need not even open the UPI app to receive money. If you receive such a money request, you can simply decline it.

Hinduja family feud puts their century-old business empire in jeopardy

 With dozens of companies, the closely held Hinduja Group employs more than 150,000 people in 38 countries.

As a child in London, one of Karam Hinduja’s favorite pastimes was watching Bollywood movies with his grandfather Srichand Hinduja, the patriarch of a sprawling global business empire.
“He and I, without fail, once a week, whatever was new, whether it was good or bad,” Karam said in a recent interview in Geneva. “That’s a lot of how we bonded.”

Little did he know then that a quarter-century later the two of them would be embroiled in a real-life family drama more gripping than any Bollywood plot. And unlike most of the tearjerkers they watched, this one may not have a happy ending.

His grandfather, SP as the 85-year-old is known, now suffers from a form of dementia, and Karam, his sister, mother, aunt, and grandmother are locked in a battle with the rest of the Hinduja family over pieces of the $18 billion British-Indian group. Karam’s side of the family is effectively asking for what was once unthinkable — the group’s assets to be broken up. SP’s three brothers, Gopichand, Prakash, and Ashok want the group to stick to its age-old motto that “everything belongs to everyone and nothing belongs to anyone.”

As clashes pile up in courts in London and Switzerland and the SP side suggests misogyny may be driving actions against his daughters, there may be no going back. The increasingly bitter feud has raised the possibility of a messy unraveling of the 107-year-old group, putting at risk one of the world’s largest conglomerates. With dozens of companies — including six publicly traded entities in India — the closely held Hinduja Group employs more than 150,000 people in 38 countries in truck-making, banking, chemicals, power, media and healthcare.

Dozen Indian IPOs now under extra investor scrutiny after Paytm debacle

 Planned smaller IPOs could have a harder time pricing share if there is a reduced appetite for new listings

At least a dozen Indian companies working on initial public offerings are now under extra investor scrutiny following the disastrous debut of digital payments startup Paytm, the country’s biggest-ever IPO.
Offerings on the radar include that of Oravel Stays Ltd., the operator of hotel-booking startup Oyo, which is looking to raise nearly $1 billion. Other sizable listings include API Holdings Ltd., the parent of online pharmacy PharmEasy, and logistics company Delhivery Ltd.
Planned smaller IPOs could have a harder time pricing share if there is a reduced appetite for new listings. The shares of Paytm rival One MobiKwik Systems Ltd. have fallen about 40% in the so-called grey market.
Paytm shares have fallen about 30% since it started trading last week, with a rebound on Tuesday not enough to erase losses from the two previous sessions. Some companies that were seeking to benefit from the flood of transactions in India’s booming IPO market so far this year may now rethink the timing and pricing of their issues, according to Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd.

Valuation is likely to become the main sticking point for those seeking to tap the market. Paytm’s valuation -- around 26 times price-to-estimated sales for the financial year 2023 -- towers above the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex Index on about 4 times.

Baby Austin to Cadillac Sedan, 20 vintage cars to go on auction in Dec

 From a preservation-class 1934 Cadillac imperial sedan to a vintage Fiat 'Topolino', 20 old automobiles are set to go under the hammer in December

From a preservation-class 1934 Cadillac imperial sedan to a vintage Fiat 'Topolino', 20 old automobiles are set to go under the hammer in December as part of a "first-of-its-kind auction" in India, organizers said on Tuesday.

As the country is celebrating Swarnim Vijay Varsh this year to commemorate 50 years of India's victory in the 1971 war, the auction will also mark the occasion, and an old Mahindra Jeep CJ-3B, earlier owned by the Indian Army, will also be auctioned, in an unrestored condition, they said.

The proceeds from this sale will be donated to an Army veteran welfare group, the organizers said.

On Tuesday, a preview of nine of these collectible cars was held by Mumbai-based auction house, Historic Auctions, at the Museo Camera, a museum dedicated to vintage cameras in Gurgaon.

It will hold auctions of cars in December, and it will be held online, the organizers said.

Renowned filmmaker and artist Muzzafar Ali's 16 paintings, inspired from his "childhood experiences of vintage cars", were also put on display at the museum during the preview. These would also be part of the auction in December, they said.

"It is great to see people in India showing such a wonderful taste when it comes to cars. My paintings in the last couple of years draw from my experiences of childhood when I used to play in old cars. And, these paintings have this surrealistic, dream-like elements. Owning such cars is like a dream for people," Ali told PTI on the sidelines of the preview event.

The chief guest at the preview was Gaj Singh, the titular Maharaja of Marwar-Jodhpur.

Actress Gul Panag, ambassadors of a couple of foreign countries, and various vintage automobiles collectors and enthusiasts also attended the event.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max review: Adding some zing to mediocre screens

 Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max's top-notch performance, rich app library, excellent connectivity, and easy-to-use remote control breathe life in screens that otherwise disappoint due to modest hardware

I own a smart TV which I bought in 2019. It was rich in specifications and features back then, but it now seems to have aged prematurely. Not that it has a bad picture or audio quality, but it lags behind newer smart televisions in performance, connectivity, and user experience. Thankfully, there are streaming devices like the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max which bring to speed these otherwise mediocre televisions with their faster internet connectivity, sleek performance, and support for tons of new and updated apps.

How? Let’s find out:

What is Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max?
The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max is a streaming device with an HDMI interface that turns any screen with HDMI input into a smart screen connected to the internet for online streaming of content available on supported apps like YouTube, Prime Video, Apple TV, Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, etc. It boots Android operating system-based Amazon’s Fire OS with Amazon services like Prime Video and Amazon Music built-in, and an app store for users to download and install other supported apps, including games.

The flagship model in Amazon’s streaming devices portfolio, the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max boasts sleek performance, top-notch connectivity, support for most high dynamic range (HDR) formats, Dolby Atmos audio, and Alexa voice assistant for hands-free operations and smart home set-up.

What’s inside the box?
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max
Remote control with dedicated Alexa button, and hotkeys for Prime Video, Netflix, and Amazon Music
HDMI Extender cable
USB-A to micro USB cable
Power adaptor
2 x AAA batteries

How to set up the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max
You need Wi-Fi and an Amazon account to set up the Fire TV Stick 4K Max. Plugin the stick into the HDMI port (ARC, if available) of the compatible screen – TV, monitor, projector, etc; power it up using the supplied adaptor and cable; change the screen input to HDMI; and follow the on-screen instructions – connect the stick with the wireless internet network and input your Amazon account details. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max supports HDMI CEC. Therefore, you can use the Fire TV remote to control the TV and other supported peripherals without needing a separate remote for each connected device. However, the controls are limited to basic functions, and you may still need the remote for the screen and other peripherals to manage and control things like screen native display and audio settings.

Will Airtel's tariff hike turn a corner for India's telecom sector?

 Airtel took a bold step of raising tariffs by 25% starting this Friday, notwithstanding the risk attached to it. Does this mean brighter days ahead for the telecom sector? Take a look at this report

India’s second-largest telecom operator has taken the lead in hiking prepaid mobile tariffs to give itself some elbow room to roll out 5G in India and also make further investments in network and spectrum. Effective from November 26, Airtel’s prepaid plans will get costlier by up to 25 per cent as the company has instituted a sharp broad-based hike that will affect all packs.

The most notable is the hike in tariff of its entry-level 28-day voice-only plan to Rs 99 from Rs 79. According to India Ratings and Research, Airtel could be aiming at shifting non-data customers to data customers, which can lead to higher average revenue per user.

Indian telecom market being an oligopoly, the other two private players Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio are widely expected to follow suit. The last industry-wide price increase came two years ago in December 2019.

Airtel’s average revenue per unit or ARPU at the end of the September quarter was Rs 153, and with the latest tariff hike, analysts expect this number to hit Rs 185. The company has always maintained that the ARPU needs to be Rs 200 in the near term and ultimately at Rs 300.

Airtel’s move could signal the end of the aggressive price war that had started with the entry of Reliance Jio in late 2016 with free voice calls and dirt-cheap data. The telecom industry’s average revenue per user touched Rs 67 in September 2018. Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal has long been arguing that tariff hike was the only way forward for the industry.

The tariff hikes combined with the relief measures approved by the Union Cabinet in September this year can put the telecom sector on a path to sustainability again.

Redmi India partners Jio for conducting 5G trials for Redmi Note 11T 5G

 Redmi Note 11T 5G will launch in India on November 30, 2021

Redmi India, a sub-brand of Xiaomi India, on Monday said it has joined hands with Reliance Jio to conduct 5G trials for its upcoming Redmi Note 11T 5G smartphone.

To verify the capability and performance of their upcoming device, the two companies conducted a 5G standalone lab trial, and tested the device through various scenarios, thereby ensuring enhanced 5G end-user experiences, according to a statement.

The upcoming addition to the Note series, Redmi Note 11T 5G was utilized for rigorous lab trials where it achieved stellar results by attaining a high downloading speed, it said adding that with support for seven bands, the device offers improved performance to the users.

"We were one of the first companies in India to put a 4G smartphone into the hands of our consumers with the launch of the Redmi Note 4, back in 2017.

"As the 5G era arrives, we are working relentlessly towards bringing feature-packed smartphones that can enhance the overall user experience," Xiaomi India Chief Operating Officer Muralikrishnan B said.

He added that the partnership with Reliance Jio for the Redmi Note 11T 5G is an endeavor of democratizing technology by making it easier for customers to get access to 5G smartphones that are future-ready.

"Our latest trial with Reliance Jio is an indication of the development of the 5G ecosystem in India and the encouraging outcome highlights the true potential of the device and brings a high-quality 5G experience closer to reality," he said.

Being one of the first devices under the Note Series to have access to seven bands, Redmi India is focused on providing users with a smoother, efficient, and powerful connection experience after 5G deployment at scale in India.

RBI floats draft scheme for amalgamation of PMC Bank, Unity SFB

 In September 2019, the RBI had superseded the board of PMC Bank and placed it under regulatory restrictions

Inching closer to resolving the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank issue, the Reserve Bank on Monday came out with a draft scheme for the takeover of the crisis-hit bank by the Delhi-based Unity Small Finance Bank (USFB).

The draft scheme of amalgamation envisages the takeover of the assets and liabilities of PMC Bank, including deposits, by USFB, thus giving a greater degree of protection for the depositors, the RBI said.

In September 2019, the RBI had superseded the board of PMC Bank and placed it under regulatory restrictions, including a cap on withdrawals by its customers, after detection of certain financial irregularities, hiding and misreporting of loans given to real estate developer HDIL. The restrictions have been extended several times since then.

USFB, promoted by Centrum Financial Services along with Resilient Innovation Pvt Ltd as a 'joint investor', was granted a banking license in October 2021. USFB started functioning on November 1.
Earlier, Centrum Financial Services, as promoters along with Resilient Innovation as 'joint investor', had expressed interest in February this year in acquiring the PMC Bank through a suitable scheme of amalgamation with a new Small Finance Bank to be registered by the promoters.

Under the draft scheme of amalgamation released on Monday by the RBI, retail depositors have been permitted to withdraw money in a phased manner in case they do not wish to continue their account with the next entity. Initially, the insurance money received from the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) will be paid to all eligible depositors subject to a ceiling of Rs 5 lakh.

Thereafter the retail depositors will be permitted to withdraw additional amounts in a phased manner: Rs 50,000 at the end of two years; Rs 1 lakh at the end of three years, Rs 3 lakh at the end of four years, and Rs 5.5 lakh at the end of five years. They will be permitted to withdraw their entire amount from the bank after 10 years.

Paytm's listing flop likely to hit other IPOs: BharatPe's Ashneer Grover

 He said the debacle was a collective failure of the management and investment bankers

Paytm’s catastrophic stock market debut could impact other initial public offerings (IPOs) including that of state-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), Ashneer Grover, founder and chief executive officer of BharatPe, said on Monday.

He said the debacle was a collective failure of the management and investment bankers.

“There is a company which for the last three years has stagnated in terms of growth and then it comes to the market saying it wants to do a $20-billion IPO, positioning itself as the largest start-up out of India and positioning it as the biggest IPO. When you are doing that, the basic thing that you have to take into account is do you have the demand at those price levels. In this case, the company did not look at where the market is and went ahead and priced itself where it wanted to,” Grover told CNBC TV18. Paytm’s Rs 18,300-crore managed to garner just 1.89 times subscription, with mutual funds and wealthy investors largely shunning the issue. The offering managed to scrape through on the back of large investments by foreign funds such as BlackRock and Canada’s CPP. “It’s a cumulative failure of the management and the bankers to keep the management honest,” Grover said. The company had valued itself at Rs 1.39 trillion ($18.6 billion) in the IPO. At the last close, Paytm was valued at less than $12 billion. “Paytm has been losing market share ever since UPI came in. Companies like PhonePe, Google Pay, and even BharatPe took away market share from Paytm. If PhonePe, the largest UPI player, is valued at $9 billion, how can you value yourself at $20 billion. What is the basis for it? It’s just because they got a valuation of $16 billion in their last round of funding,” he told CNBC TV18.

Mukesh Ambani looks to USA's Walton family playbook on succession: Report

 Reliance may over time become a holding company for three underlying businesses which are likely to be listed separately in the future, says Bloomberg

For years, Mukesh Ambani has studied the ways in which billionaire families, from the Waltons to the Kochs, passed on what they’d built to the next generation. Recently, that process has intensified, with Asia’s richest man eyeing a blueprint for the next stage of his $208 billion empires that seeks to avert the succession warfare that’s torn apart so many wealthy clans — including his own.
The 64-year-old Indian tycoon’s favored plan shares elements with that of Walmart Inc.’s Walton family, people familiar with the matter say, and could provide the framework for one of the biggest transfers of wealth in recent times. Ambani is considering moving his family’s holdings into a trust-like structure that will control the Mumbai-listed flagship Reliance Industries Ltd., the people said, asking not to be identified on a topic they’re not authorized to discuss publicly.

Ambani, his wife Nita, and three children will have stakes in the new entity overseeing Reliance and be on its board, along with a few of Ambani’s long-term confidantes as advisers. Management, though, will largely be entrusted to outsiders, professionals who will handle the day-to-day operations of India’s most influential company and its businesses that span oil refining and petrochemicals to telecommunications, e-commerce, and green energy.

In his desire to manage the next stage, Ambani is not alone.

A generation of aging tycoons across Asia is grappling with the transition from creating wealth to passing it on. Products of the region’s explosive post-Second World War growth, these empire-builders founded industries, turbo-charged development, and made unprecedented fortunes, with close to $1.3 trillion set to change hands between Asia’s first-generation founders and their heirs over the next decade, according to Credit Suisse Group AG.

Bears on prowl: Indices retreat most in 7 months, RIL falls over 4%

 Reliance's decline, rollback of farm laws weigh on investor sentiment

The Indian markets posted their sharpest decline in nearly seven months on Monday as a tsunami of factors impacted investor sentiment.

Paytm’s listing fiasco, the sharp drop in shares of index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL), and the rollback of farm laws were among the domestic factors that weighed on sentiment. The resurgence of Covid-19 in Europe and fears around US tapering, too, played on investors' minds.

In intraday trade, the Sensex dropped as much as 1,624 points or 2.7 per cent. The 30-share index recouped some losses to end at 58,466, down 1,170 points, or 1.96 percent, wiping Rs 8.2 trillion of investors' wealth. The Nifty, on the other hand, ended the session at 17,432, a decline of 332 points or 1.8 per cent. This was the steepest single-day decline for the indices since April 12 this year. In the past four sessions, Sensex has lost 2,253 points or 3.7 per cent — underperforming most global peers.

The stock of India’s most valuable company RIL fell 4.4 per cent and dragged Sensex down by 318 points. This after RIL announced that it is re-evaluating Saudi oil major Aramco’s proposed investment in the company. Reliance and Aramco, in August 2019, had signed a non-binding agreement for a 20 percent stake sale to the Saudi firm in the former’s oil-to-chemical business.

The sharp decline in shares of digital payment’s major Paytm also dented investor confidence. Since its debut, Paytm’s market capitalization has plummeted by Rs 51,194 crore.

"The decline in Paytm shares was sharp, and it dampened the sentiment of retail investors, who have taken a big hit. Some of them may sit on the sidelines for a while. The news about RIL came on the back of a weak market, adding to the volatility. But it has been a well-performing market; a 5-10 percent correction is expected. If it consolidates at that level, we don't have much to worry about. Liquidity is still there," said Andrew Holland, CEO, Avendus Capital Alternate Strategies.

Will the market cheer withdrawal of farm laws?

 Inflation and rising Covid-cases are haunting investors. Besides, PM Modi has decided to withdraw the farm laws in the upcoming Parliamentary session. How will these affect the markets? Find out here

The benchmark Sensex index erased over 1,000 points, or nearly two percent, last week to end at 59,636. The Nifty50, too, declined two percent to settle at 17,765.
This sell-off was triggered as a flare of new Covid-19 cases world-over made investors cautious on the global economic recovery.
Meanwhile, back home, multiple rating downgrades by global brokerages, coupled with margin pressure faced by India Inc in Q2, worried investors.
Going forward, as trading sentiment is expected to remain subdued this week too given the absence of fresh triggers, analysts suggest investors accumulate quality stocks at lower levels.
Overall, central bankers’ commentary on interest rates and inflation, bond yield trajectory, foreign fund flow, and monthly Futures and Options expiry will steer the indices this week.
In the primary market, the Rs 1,013-crore initial public offer of Go Fashions will close today. So far, the issue has been subscribed 6.8 times with retail investors’ portion seeing a subscription of 24.6 times. That apart, Parsons Products may also debut on the bourses later this week.
In another development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced the repeal of all three controversial farm laws.