The Himalayan Mail8 JAMMU SUNDAY APRIL 18, 2021 NEWS

BENGALURU, APRIL17: The year 2020 has shownthat it is urgent and neces-sary, not just desirable, to hu-manize leadership, says San-jiv Mehta, chairman andmanaging director of Hin-dustan Unilever Limited(HUL), India’s largest fast-moving consumer goods(FMCG) company. Fordecades, leadership has beenpractised as a cocktail of vi-sion, passion and skills. Thismakes leaders ill-prepared torecognize and alleviate hu-man suffering, let alone ad-dress the systemic issues thatcause and perpetuate it.

“It is time for those whocare for good leadership toput compassion at the centreof leadership,” says Mehta ate-commerce firm Amazon’sflagship event Smbhav."People need care, not thebattle cry."

Mehta was sharing in-sights about leading the busi-ness through the global pan-demic. There was noplaybook for a global crisisthat threatened the lives andwellbeing of a society withthe potential to fundamen-tally reshape the world.

Mehta said that for anybusiness to survive andthrive, the focus must be ona few critical areas. Hindus-tan Unilever has always be-lieved that if ‘you take care ofyour people, your people willtake care of your business.’While this is a mantra that allbusinesses should live by, atall times- the pandemic putpeople safety, front and cen-

tre. HUL not only ensuredthat employees and work-men were safe and well butalso took steps to ensurewell-being of people whoworked across extended op-erations. Based on globalbest practices, the firm set uptiered SOPs (standard oper-ating procedures) for healthand safety in operations. Thiswas accompanied by trainingand readiness drills to ensurethat it minimized the risk oftransmission across thevalue chain, from suppliersto customers. Also, the com-pany’s office-based employ-ees transitioned to the workfrom home model even be-fore the national lockdown.

The pandemic highlightedthe need for a nimble supplychain that can be dynami-cally managed to cater to ex-ternal changes. In fact, tostay agile and resilient, itbrought home the point thatbusinesses need collabora-tion, partnerships and al-liances. For instance, HULdrove the fast recovery of op-erations through strategicpartnerships. It even collabo-rated with manufacturersand other industries to meetthe rising demand for someproducts.

There were several con-sumer trends emerging outof the pandemic such ashome cocooning, need forhealth, hygiene and nutri-tion. Being close to con-sumers and understandingshifts in demand had neverbeen as important.

HUL had to innovate not

only in products but also incommunication and route tomarket to stay relevant andcater to evolving consumerneeds. The production ofsanitisers had to be rampedby a factor of 100x. The firmlaunched over 50 new prod-ucts and pack innovations tocater to the rapid changesand demand in hygiene andsanitization.

It crafted communicationkeeping in view the changingconsumer sentiments. Forexample, Lifebuoy was thefirst brand to talk about thecriticality of washing handswith soaps or sanitisers man-ufactured by any brand orcompany. The Brooke BondRed Label (tea) campaigntalked about being together,even while being physicallydistant. The Vim (dishwash)campaign talked of menhelping out in the kitchen.The latest Surf Excel Holicampaign was about bring-ing people together in a phys-ically distant world.

“So it’s very important tokeep your finger on the pulseof the changing demand andto cater to it,” says Mehta.

Organisations need to beadaptive and resilient. Evenwith the best predictionmodels, one cannot predict away to a no-risk world. Thecrisis has shown adaptableteams retool in a matter ofdays. On the other hand,seemingly successful organi-sations with vast predictioncapabilities paralyzed as thevirus spread. During the cri-sis, Mehta said many organi-

sations driven by low cost,high efficiencies and capac-ity utilization were caught onthe wrong foot.

Businesses also need to re-spond to crises with speedand agility. But this is easiersaid than done. Speed is notsimply an attribute of an or-ganization activity tied toclock time. Rather, speed is acomplex, performance-en-hancing organisational capa-bility that requires a holisticapproach to its developmentand execution. During a cri-sis, businesses must alsodemonstrate agility. This is acapability that allows the or-ganization to pivot to adja-cent or entirely new productdomains.

The pandemic has also ac-celerated the country's digi-tal journey. Enterprises thathad adopted digital tech-nologies in the core of thebusiness, were less impactedthan others.

Many SMEs (small andmedium enterprises) in In-dia are at a low level of digi-tisation, and there is growingawareness of the handicap itcreates. The RBI’s financialstability report of July 2020,stated that it will be criticalfor small and medium busi-nesses to navigate to a digi-tal-first business model forthe whole business valuechain to survive and recover.Mehta said leveraging tech-nology in businesses willhave a bigger impact on col-lective productivity gain thatcomes from widespread dig-itization.

Turn Covid-19 crisis into an opportunity,says HUL CMD Sanjiv Mehta

MUMBAI, APRIL 17:Fitch Ratings has affirmedFuture Retail Ltd's (FRL's)issuer default rating at 'C'and the rating on its $ 500million 5.6 per cent seniorsecured notes due 2025 at 'C'while revising the recoveryrating to 'RR5' from 'RR4'.

Fitch has also removed therating watch positive, whichhad been placed on both rat-ings on September 2 lastyear after FRL's announce-ment it was selling its busi-ness to Reliance Retail andFashion Lifestyle Ltd(RRFLL), an indirect sub-

sidiary of Reliance Indus-tries. "The removal of ratingwatch positive underscoressignificant delay in complet-ing the sale, contrary to ourprevious expectations, after alegal challenge to the deal byan entity controlled by Ama-zon.com Inc which indi-rectly holds 4.8 per cent ofFRL," said Fitch.

"FRL may also face morechallenges in securing therequired shareholder andcreditor approvals for thesale. This is because thefounding Biyani family'sstake in FRL has been re-

duced following lenders' in-vocation of pledges on FRLshares."

FRL and other FutureGroup entities that are partof the sale are negotiatingwith the lenders under theReserve Bank of India's Au-gust 2020 one-time restruc-turing framework that wasintroduced to help compa-nies during the coronaviruspandemic.

Fitch said the sale will becredit positive if completedsuccessfully, although it nolonger remains the immedi-ate rating driver due to the

uncertainty over the timingof its completion and the po-tential downward rating im-plications from the debt-re-structuring process in thevery near term.

The revision in the US dol-lar notes' recovery rating re-flects the lowering of recov-ery estimates after includingin the waterfall analysis un-paid interest and accrued lia-bilities on onshore obliga-tions from March 2020,when FRL opted for a debt-servicing moratorium, al-lowed by the central bank.

FRL's issuer default ratingof 'C 'reflects its continued fi-nancial stress amid the pro-longed impact of the coron-avirus pandemic,particularly in its highermargin non-food businessthat faces more restrictionsdue to its classification as anon-essential category.

"The second wave of virusin India could further delaythe recovery in FRL's cashflows during the financialyear ending March 2022(FY22) if the curbs are im-posed more widely in thecountry," said Fitch.

"Failure to secure lenders'approval for the one-time re-structuring scheme or a trig-gering of a change-of-con-trol event on its US dollarbonds will also cause imme-diate liquidity pressure.

Fitch revises positive outlook on Future Retail Ltd, affirms rating at 'C'

NEW DELHI, APRIL17: The Department for Pro-motion of Industry and In-ternal Trade (DPIIT) has no-tified the Production LinkedIncentive (PLI) scheme forwhite goods -- air condition-ers and LED lights, with abudgetary outlay of Rs 6,238crore.

With this, the new schemehas become operational andall eligible manufacturerscan now take the benefit of fi-nancial incentives providedunder it to boost capacity.

The PLI scheme for WhiteGoods (PLIWG) proposes afinancial incentive to boostdomestic manufacturing andattract large investments inthe White Goods manufac-turing value chain. Its primeobjectives include removingsectoral disabilities, creatingeconomies of scale, enhanc-ing exports, creating a robustcomponent ecosystem andemployment generation.

As per the notification, thePLI scheme for white goodswill extend an incentive of 4-6 per cent on incrementalsales of goods manufacturedin India for a period of fiveyears to companies engagedin manufacturing of air con-

ditioners and LED lights.The period of five years willbe calculated subsequent tothe base year and one year ofgestation period.

The applicant will have tofulfill both criteria of cumu-lative incremental invest-ment in plant and machineryas well as incremental salesover the base year in that re-spective year to be eligible forPLI. The first year of invest-ment will be FY 2021-22 andthe first year of incrementalsale will be FY 2022-23. Ac-tual disbursement of PLI for arespective year will be subse-quent to that year.

One entity may apply forone target segment only.However, separate Groupcompanies may apply for dif-ferent target segments. Fur-ther, sales by entities to theirgroup companies should beat an arm's length price asthose to outside group com-panies.

Different segments havebeen earmarked for differenttypes of components sepa-rately to specifically targetglobal investments into de-sired areas.

Selection of companies forthe scheme shall be done so

as to incentivise manufactur-ing of components or sub-as-semblies which are not man-ufactured in India presentlywith sufficient capacity, saidthe notification, adding thatmere assembly of finishedgoods shall not be incen-tivised.

Companies investing inbasic/core components shallhave a higher priority. Also,within a target segment,'Large Investment' shall havea higher priority over 'Nor-mal Investment'. The actualnumber of beneficiarieswithin a target segment shallbe decided on the basis of theresponse of the industry.

Companies meeting thepre-qualification criteria fordifferent target segments willbe eligible to participate inthe Scheme. Incentives shallbe open to companies mak-ing brown field or green fieldInvestments.

Thresholds of cumulativeincremental investment andincremental sales of manu-factured goods over the baseyear would have to be met forclaiming incentives.

An entity availing benefitsunder any other PLI Schemeof the Centre will not be eli-

gible under this scheme forthe same products but theentity may take benefits un-der other applicable schemesof the union government orschemes of state govern-ments.

An Empowered Group ofSecretaries (EGoS) chairedby Cabinet Secretary willmonitor the PLI scheme, un-dertake periodic review ofthe outgo under the scheme,ensure uniformity of all PLIsand take appropriate actionto ensure that the expendi-ture is within the prescribedoutlay. In addition, EGoSwill be empowered to makeany changes in the modali-ties of the scheme within theoverall financial outlay of Rs6,238 crore.

As per the government, itis estimated that over the pe-riod of five years, the PLIscheme will lead to incre-mental investment of Rs7,920 crore, incrementalproduction worth Rs 1.68lakh crore, exports worth Rs64,400 crore, earn direct andindirect revenues of Rs49,300 crore and create ad-ditional four lakh direct andindirect employment oppor-tunities.

Govt notifies Rs 6k cr PLI scheme for AC, LED light manufacturing

MUMBAI, APRIL 17:Crisil has downgraded itsrating on long-term bank fa-cilities and non-convertibledebentures (NCDs) of PVRLtd to AA-minus negativefrom AA negative.

The rating on short-termbank facility has been reaf-firmed at A1-plus and therating on Rs 75 crore NCDshas been withdrawn as theinstruments have been fullyrepaid.

The rating actions reflectCrisil's expectation of weak-ening of PVR's business riskprofile over the mediumterm. It was earlier expectedthat with resumption of op-erations in October 2020,the occupancy will improvegradually with return of con-tent to the multiplexes.

However, with the recentspike in COVID-19 cases, re-covery in operating perfor-mance of multiplexes will bedelayed. Many states have al-ready announced localisedlockdowns, night curfewsand restrictions over occu-

pancy levels in cinemas.These restrictions will also

result in deferment of the re-lease of strong content,which was earlier scheduledto be released in the firstquarter of fiscal 2022,thereby impacting opera-tions, said Crisil.

PVR had undertaken stepsto reduce cost and augmentliquidity over the past oneyear. It has negotiated withmajority of mall developersfor waiving off rentals for theentire period of closure of op-

erations with revenue shar-ing arrangements from re-sumption of operations untilMarch 31.

In fact, rentals for the ninemonths ended fiscal 2021was lowered by 89 per centas compared to the corre-sponding period of the pre-vious fiscal. Besides, thecompany has also conservedcash by reducing its work-force and deferring mainte-nance outlay and capital ex-penditure (capex).

In August 2020 and Feb-

ruary 2021, the companyraised Rs 300 crore (rightsissue) and Rs 800 crore(qualified institutional place-ment) respectively, whichaugmented liquidity.

Cash and bank balance,undrawn committed banklines and other liquid invest-ments stood at above Rs 790crore as on March 31 shouldbe adequate to cover operat-ing costs and debt obligationfor the next few months.

However, Crisil said thecredit profile of multiplex op-erators including PVR mayfurther weaken if the Covid-19 pandemic worsens. More-over, multiplex operatorswill have to initiate fresh ne-gotiations with mall owners,given new restrictions tocontain the pandemic.

Improvement in the cur-rent situation leading to re-turn of content and ramp-upinoccupancies while opera-tors continue to contain op-erating costs and maintainliquidity will remain a keymonitorable, it said.

Crisil downgrades its PVR's long-term rating to AA-minus negative

BENGALURU, APRIL17: Amazon Pay, the digitalpayments of the e-commercegiant Amazon.com, said ithas empowered over 5 mil-lion neighbourhood storesand businesses with its digitalpayments infrastructure.These SMBs (small andmedium businesses), most ofwhom earlier transactedonly in cash, can now acceptpayments from their cus-tomers using Amazon Pay’sQR (quick response) code.

This milestone was re-vealed by Amazon’s seniorvice president, RussellGrandinetti, in conversationwith Nandan Nilekani,founding architect of Aad-haar and co-founder of In-fosys, at Amazon’s flagshipevent Smbhav.

Amazon is wanting to tapmultiple opportunities rang-ing from insurance to creditvia Amazon Pay. The firm israpidly making inroads intoIndia’s booming digital pay-ment market and competingwith Walmart-ownedPhonePe, Alibaba-backed

Paytm, and Google Pay.Amazon Pay has now

launched the “Amazon PayFor Business” mobile app tosimplify accepting digitalpayments for SMBs. Cur-rently available on Android,the app can be used by busi-nesses across the country toregister themselves, generatea unique QR code and startaccepting digital paymentswithin minutes. Customerscan use any UPI app to scanthe Amazon QR code andmake a payment to thesebusinesses.

“Small and medium busi-

nesses are the backbone ofour nation’s economy,” saidMahendra Nerurkar, CEO,Amazon Pay India. “By en-abling more than 50 lakh (5million) small business own-ers and entrepreneurs to ac-cept digital payments, we areexpediting their inclusioninto digital India. The Ama-zon Pay For Business appwill further catalyse thisadoption and enable mer-chants to enter the digitalpayments ecosystem in min-utes.”

Nerurkar said the com-pany has built and scaled its

digital payment acceptancefor SMBs using UPI that isinarguably one of the world’sbiggest digital paymentsplatforms. “We look forwardto creating more productsthat transform the way Indiapays.”

Over 5 million small andmedium businesses who useAmazon Pay constitute a di-verse set of merchants andentrepreneurs. More than2.5 million operate retail andshopping outlets such as ki-rana stores. About 1 millionoperate food and beverageoutlets such as restaurantsand small eateries. Over500,000 offer services suchas salons, close to 400,000offer health and medical carewhile the remaining com-prises of vocations such astaxi drivers, auto drivers andplumbers.

Digital payments in Indiawill rise fivefold to reach $1trillion by 2023, led by thegrowth in mobile payments,according to a report by fi-nancial services companyCredit Suisse.

Payments space heats up as Amazon says 5 mn businesses using Amazon Pay

NEW DELHI , APRIL17: India's largest privatelender HDFC Bank on Satur-day reported a 18 per centyear-on-year growth instandalone net profit for thequarter ended March 2021(Q4FY21) at Rs 8,186 crore.It was Rs 6,927.6 crore in theyear-ago period (Q4FY20).

However, sequentially, thestandalone net profit de-clined 6.5 per cent comparedwith Rs 8,758 crore in theDecember quarter(Q3FY21).

The lender's board of di-rectors decided against de-claring any dividend for FY21in light of the second coron-avirus wave.

Net Interest Income (NII) --- the difference between in-terest earned through lend-ing and interest paid todepositors --- of the Banksaw a 12.6 per cent rise to Rs17,120 crore in the reportingquarter, compared to Rs15,204 crore in the same pe-riod last year.

The lender said the coron-

avirus-induced slowdownled to a decrease in loan orig-inations, the sale of thirdparty products, the use ofcredit and debit cards by cus-tomers and also the effi-ciency in collection efforts.

"This may lead to a rise inthe number of customer de-faults and consequently anincrease in provisions," itsaid. "The extent to which thepandemic, including the cur-rent “second wave” that hassignificantly increased thenumber of cases in India, willcontinue to impact theGroup's results. The Bank's

results will depend on ongo-ing as well as future develop-ments, which are highly un-certain, including, amongother things, any new infor-mation concerning the sever-ity of the pandemic and anyaction to contain its spreador mitigate its impactwhether government-man-dated or elected by us,"HDFC Bank said in a filing.

Other income or the non-interest revenue during thequarter rose 26 per cent to Rs7,593 crore as againsr Rs6,032 crore in the year-agoperiod.

The Bank’s net revenues(net interest income plusother income) grew to Rs24,713 crore in Q4FY21 from21,236 crore in the same pe-riod a year earlier.

The Bank’s gross non-per-forming assets (NPAs) rosesequentially at 1.32 per centin Q4FY21. In Q3FY21, grossNPA of the bank was 0.81 percent. Meanwhile, net NPAsof the lender stood at 0.40per cent in the March quar-ter. Capital adequacy ratio ofthe Bank at the end of Marchquarter stood at 18.8 percent, well above the regula-tory requirement of 11.075per cent.

Provisions and Contingen-cies for the March quarterstood at Rs 4,693 crore asagainst Rs 3,784 crore in theyear earlier period. Total de-posits in Q4FY21 saw an in-crease of 16 per cent over theyear-ago quarter.

On Friday, the company'sscrip closed marginallyhigher (0.056 per cent) at Rs1,430.90 a piece on NSE.

HDFC Bank Q4 net profit rises 18 pc YoY to Rs 8,186 crore