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In two days’ time, from April 1, new corporate governance rules as mandated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) will become operational. The top 1,000 companies ranked by market capitalisation will be required to include Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR) in their annual reports. This, many experts see, as the precursor to formalisation of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosures in India through a set of standard metrics.

The actions that corporations take for sustainability, and to protect the planet, is important for investors to understand corporate purpose, strategy, and management quality of companies.

From an investors’ point of view, ESG rankings can be a useful way to hold companies accountable, and measure them on their sustainability actions and efforts. That said, it may well be worthwhile to flag a caveat. How does one measure outcomes, and impact on a quantifiable scale that are not nationally, if not globally, standardised?

Paul Clements-Hunt, who coined the acronym ESG, said that the ESG fund industry is headed for a “shakeout” over the next five years. He is of the view that the finance sector has “sprinkled ESG fairy dust” on products that do little to account for environmental, social and governance risks.

“Anybody who uses ESG, sustainability or green purely as a marketing device is really heading for trouble. You’ll see a developing queasiness from marketing departments where, perhaps, ESG funds aren’t all what they’re cracked up to be,” he said in an interview to Bloomberg.

Experts have been cautioning about the risks associated with opaqueness in ESG measurement. In an essay in the Harvard Business Review last year, Jennifer Howard-Grenville, Diageo Professor of Organization Studies, at the Cambridge Judge Business School, said that the “current focus on ESG measurement is dangerously narrow. It fails to capture the complex, systemic nature of social and environmental systems, and indeed that of business organizations themselves”.

ESG funds and their managers from across the world are gradually, but increasingly, showing signs of acknowledging that a more restrained approach may be required in ESG investing, which may also be partly drawn by disproportionately greater commissions that incentivises them to skew their portfolios towards such investments.

The key question for asset managers is: What are classified as ESG investment, and what are not?

A recent Schroders Institutional Investor Study, ‘Gearing up against greenwashers: investors seek clarity on sustainability terminology,’ has revealed that investors want a better understanding of sustainability terminology so as to avoid ‘greenwashers’. ‘Greenwashing’ happens when companies falsely communicate and make unsubstantiated claims about environmentally-friendly products, and processes.

“A dearth of clear, agreed sustainability definitions present a challenge to investors looking to invest sustainably”, it said. The study surveyed 650 institutional investors across 26 countries during April 2020.

Tariq Fancy, who was BlackRock’s first global chief investment officer for sustainable investing between 2018 and 2019, has also cautioned about the errors that are beginning to creep into these investments, guided by incomplete information, and interpretation.

“Green bonds, where companies raise debt for environmentally friendly uses, is one of the largest and fastest-growing categories in sustainable investing, with a market size that has now passed $1 trillion. In practice, it’s not totally clear if they create much positive environmental impact that would not have occurred otherwise,” Fancy said in a recent online essay.

This is because “most companies have a few qualifying green initiatives that they can raise green bonds to specifically fund while not increasing or altering their overall plans. And nothing stops them from pursuing decidedly non-green activities with their other sources of funding,” he added.

Financial institutions may have an extra motivation to push for ESG products, driven by higher fees that they earn.

According to data from FactSet and published by the Wall Street Journal, ESG funds had an average fee of 0.2 percent at the end of 2020, whereas other more standard baskets of stocks had fees of 0.14 percent. The Wall Street Journal said that “socially focused exchange-traded funds give asset managers higher fees in a low-fee industry.”

The lack of reliable and standardised data and metrics has opened up the precarious possibility of pitting one investors’ views against another, meaning one portfolio manager could classify a firm as ESG-friendly, while another might view the same firm as not doing much on sustainability efforts.

Sheila Patel, chair of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, underlined this with caution. “When you think about the composition of ESG funds it’s first of all important to remember they are still meant to be a fund invested to get a return for the portfolio. And so they can tilt based on industry groups, based on sector views and that may or may not relate to an ESG view,” Patel told CNBC.

There is no gainsaying that ESG investing today is big business. Trillions of dollars are at stake, based on the individual fund managers’ interpretation about companies. This can be fraught with risks as the absence of a standardised, transparent system of gauging sustainability efforts may allow fund managers’ biases to influence ESG investment decisions, rather than informed choices guided by prudent, globally accepted norms, and audit.

Addressing the programme via video conferencing, Modi said his government has given topmost priority to providing houses to the poor people.

So far, 2.5 crore houses have been constructed under the PMAY scheme in the country, including two crore in rural areas, he said.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan participated in the programme from Chattarpur in the state.

On the occasion, PM Modi also said that under the Nal-Jal scheme in the country, six crore families were provided pure water tap connections in their houses.

“We have the policy to ensure that even the last man in the queue gets the benefit of government schemes,” he said.

Ruchi Soya Industries has said that the SMSes pertaining to investments in its follow-on public offering (FPO) have not been issued by the company or its promoters. The company has filed a first information report to investigate the origin of the messages doing the rounds on social media.

“We understand that there is a SMS/message in circulation in social media, speculating about investment opportunity in our company’s issue and about equity shares of our company being available at discount to the market price. We wish to bring to attention of the investors that this message has not been issued by our company or any of our directors, promoters, promoter group or group companies. A first information report bearing number 0188 dated March 27, 2022 has been logged by our company with a police station at Haridwar to take up investigation in respect of the message, under section 67A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860,” Ruchi Soya said in a newspaper advertisement.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has directed Ruchi Soya Industries to give the investors who participated in its Rs 4,300-crore follow-on public offering (FPO) the option to withdraw their bids due to “circulation of unsolicited SMSes advertising the issue”.

Ruchi Soya, in the advertisement, has stated that the last day for withdrawal of bids will be Wednesday. The company has also issued an indicative timeline for listing of the new shares that are being issued in the FPO. As per the timeline, the new share will list “on or about” April 8.

Sebi’s diktat to the company follows a message circulated on social media which said that the FPO was a “good investment opportunity” and that the shares were available at 30 per cent discount.

“Great news for all beloved members of Patanjali parivar. A good investment opportunity in Patanjali Group. Patanjali Group company - Ruchi Soya Industries has opened the Follow-On Public offer(FPO) for retail investors. The issue closes on 28 March 2022. This is available in the price band- Rs 615-650 rupees per share , i.e discount of about 30 per cent to market price. You can apply for shares through your bank/ broker/ ASBA/UPI in your Demat account,” read the message.

In a letter to the three investment bankers handling Ruchi Soya’s share sale, Sebi has said prima facie the contents of the SMSs appear to be “misleading/fraudulent” and not in consonance with the ICDR (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations.

Ruchi Soya’s FPO, which closed on Monday, has garnered 3.6 times subscription. The issue was undersubscribed in the retail category at 90 per cent but saw strong demand in all the other categories.

Shares of Ruchi Soya dropped 6 per cent on Monday to close at Rs 815. The company priced its FPO in the range of Rs 615 and Rs 650 per share – 20 to 25 per cent lower than the last close.

Baba Ramdev-led Patanjali Ayurved owns 98.9 per cent in Ruchi Soya, while only 1.1 per cent is with the public. With a miniscule free-float, there are doubts over whether trading in Ruchi Soya’s shares is leading to fair price discovery.

Following the FPO, Patanjali’s shareholding is expected to reduce to 81 per cent, while public shareholding will rise to 19 per cent. The move would help the stock discover its fair price, experts say.

Also Read:-Goa cabinet decides to provide 3 cooking gas cylinders free to households

The Goa government has said it will provide three cooking gas cylinders free of cost to households in the coastal state, as promised by the BJP in its election manifesto. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant made the announcement on Monday after chairing the first meeting of the new cabinet, comprising him and eight other ministers.

In a tweet on Monday evening, Sawant said, Chaired the first meeting after taking oath as CM. The Cabinet has decided to formulate the 3 free cylinder scheme as promised in the BJP manifesto from the new financial year. Before the Goa Assembly elections held last month, the BJP had in its poll manifesto promised three LPG cylinders free of cost per year, if voted to power.

Sawant also told reporters on Monday that resumption of iron ore mining and creating employment were his priorities during the current tenure. On his opponents referring to him as an accidental CM, Sawant said this time he is elected and not selected as the state's chief minister.

Indians are holidaying lavishly now, spending more on five-star hotels and booking business-class seats as the country emerges from the coronavirus pandemic that restricted travel for two years, according to the South Asian nation’s second-biggest online travel agency.

“People are living their lives and splurging on travel,” Prashant Pitti, a co-founder of EaseMyTrip, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Monday. “It’s a shift which is happening for good, for long-term.”

More and more Indians are taking to the skies as travel curbs ease and the country opens up international travel, with pent-demand driving travel needs for millions stuck at home. India, the world’s fastest-growing major aviation market before the pandemic, expects local traffic to exceed pre-pandemic levels of 415,000 daily fliers within a year. Indian airlines are also adding capacity to capture the revival in demand as international flights resumed from Sunday.

Bookings for business class seats on flights and five-star hotels have already doubled compared to pre-pandemic numbers as a percentage of total reservations, Pitti said. Indians are now planning holidays of 4.7 days on average, compared with 3.2 days before Covid, he said. Operated by Easy Trip Planners Ltd., EaseMyTrip offers online bookings for flights, trains, hotels, buses and cabs.

EaseMyTrip, which sold shares to the public last year, will continue to grow profitably, Pitti said. The company’s net income likely surpassed 9 billion rupees ($118 million) for the year ending March 31, jumping from 6.1 billion rupees ($80 million) previous year, he said.

While airfares have jumped “quite dramatically” in the last few weeks as carriers tried to offset a rise in oil prices, the increase will be short-lived, said Pitti.

“India is looking great, in lines to recover very rapidly from the onslaught which we all have been through in the last two years,” he said. “The pent-up demand won’t shorten for next couple of years.”

Also Read:-Banks never got back money from defaulters under UPA govt: Nirmala Sitharaman

Sitharaman also said in the Lok Sabha that actions have been taken, including registration of FIRs, against those who have cheated small savings depositors through various fraudulent activities.

She said the Reserve Bank of India is also monitoring activities of App based financial companies.

Responding to questions by DMK’s T R Baalu about the government’s action against loan defaulters and NPAs, the minister said “writing off” loans does not mean “complete waive off” and the banks are following every loan to recover the outstanding amount.

“Over Rs 10,000 crore, I am saying ‘over’ as I don’t want to disclose the actual figure, have been recovered by PSU banks from loan defaulters after taking over their assets.

Sitharaman’s remarks invited sharp reaction and protests from Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

The finance minister said the opposition party must listen to the “bitter truth” and alleged that the loans were given during the previous UPA regime due to political considerations.

Earlier, the minister said the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill, 2017 (FRDI Bill) was introduced in the Lok Sabha in August, 2017 and thereafter was referred to the Joint Committee of Parliament for examination and report thereon. The main objective of the FRDI Bill was to create a specialised resolution mechanism for select financial sector entities.

The government had withdrawn the FRDI Bill in August, 2018 for further comprehensive examination and reconsideration of the subject.

The government has not taken a decision to bring a new law to provide for a legal framework for resolution of financial firms, she said.

Sitharaman said with a view to provide a greater measure of protection to depositors in banks, the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) has raised the limit of insurance cover for depositors in insured banks from the level of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh per depositor with effect from February 4, 2020 with the approval of the central government.

Also Read:Travel insurance to gain prominence in post-COVID world

The minister said the government has already notified the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Insolvency and Liquidation Proceedings of Financial Service Providers and Application to Adjudicating Authority) Rules, 2019 on November 15, 2019 to provide a generic framework for insolvency and liquidation proceedings of systemically important Financial Service Providers (FSPs) other than banks.

Subsequently, she said, the government has also notified on November 18, 2019, that the insolvency resolution and liquidation proceedings of the Non-Banking Finance Companies (including housing finance companies) with asset size of Rs 500 crore or more shall be undertaken in accordance with the provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC, 2016).

Accordingly, the framework to deal with the select Non-Banking Finance Companies is already in place under IBC, 2016, she said.

India’s tourism sector is counting on the upcoming May-June travel season to finally leave the pandemic blues behind, with people already starting to make their summer vacation plans.

Almost 84 percent of Indians plan to spend on leisure travel either domestically or internationally in the next four to six weeks, according to a survey by SurveyMonkey. About 35 percent of the respondents are considering travel overseas in the next few months and the remaining are looking to unwind at popular local destinations.

Airlines in India expect domestic traffic to recover to pre-pandemic levels from May – compared with the 85 percent mark hit so far – if another wave of Covid-19 infections does not hit the country. Hotels and the tourism sector are also eyeing a recovery after two years of disruptions.

According to Vipul Prakash, chief operating officer at MakeMyTrip, an online travel company, sentiment is rising every week and will hopefully surpass previously recorded numbers in the coming months.

Prakash said his company has already achieved 100 percent recovery in the flight segment compared to pre-Covid levels and leisure travel bookings will continue to lead the recovery as the summer holiday season approaches.

Pradeep Shetty, joint secretary of the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India, said there has been a gradual uptick in hotel bookings since March, and May and June are expected to be even better on account of the holiday season.

Travel demand is likely to increase by 150 percent on-year in hubs such as New Delhi and Mumbai, according to a report by RateGain Travel Technologies.

Domestic Tourism

Holidaymakers domestically are eyeing popular hotspots Goa, Srinagar, Dehradun, Pondicherry, Mysore and Kochi for their planned vacations.

Search queries and bookings for May-June have so far risen about 200 percent and 40-70 percent, respectively, compared to January-March, according to data from MakeMyTrip, Yatra.com, Thomas Cook, EaseMyTrip, Ixigo and domestic airlines.

Also Read | Travel planner: Things and places to consider as regular international flights resume

“For the upcoming summer vacations, we are witnessing a 40 percent rise in bookings for Goa, Kashmir, Jaipur and Himachal. We are also witnessing a sharp growth in air ticket bookings to and from tier 2 and 3 cities,” said Nishant Pitti, co-founder of EaseMyTrip.

Rajeev Kale, president & country head, holidays, MICE, Visa at Thomas Cook (India), said his company had witnessed a three-fold surge in demand for the May-June compared to March-April.

Demand for travel to places of worship like Shirdi, Vrindavan, Ajmer and Bodh Gaya is also rising. Online travel agencies expect spiritual travel to rise 60-80 percent during the summer vacations.

Daniel D’Souza, president & country head - holidays, SOTC Travel, said travellers are also looking at experiences such as cruises, biking trips, wellness and yoga retreats, ayurveda treatments, vegetarian special food tours and safaris at leading national reserves.

“Based on customer interest, we have witnessed multi-generational families taking that much needed holiday, especially during festivals and extended weekends at eclectic accommodations like villa stays, tea/coffee plantations, and eco-lodges,” D’Souza said.

International tourism

Indian travellers are eyeing popular overseas tourism hotspots that are closer to home such as Dubai, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Maldives to unwind, data collected by tourism companies shows.

Major online travel agents and airlines say that search queries have risen 90-130 percent while bookings have increased by 20-30 percent compared to levels in March.

Search queries to Dubai, Thailand, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Singapore have doubled since the government announced earlier this month that international flights will be opened up from March 27.

“Current data patterns on the platform indicate that 96 percent of the searches are for the coming summer holiday season, with Dubai, Thailand, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, London, Paris and Amsterdam ranking high on the consideration list of international destinations,” MakeMyTrip’s Prakash said.

International tourism continued its recovery in January, with a much better performance compared to the weak start to 2021, according to the UN World Tourism Organization. However, the Russian invasion of Ukraine adds pressure to economic uncertainties, coupled with many Covid-related travel restrictions still in place, it said on March 25.

VFS Global, the world’s largest outsourcing visa processing company, said applications for travel to Dubai, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Singapore and the Maldives have risen almost 30 percent in the past month from February.

According to Yatra.com, international travel queries have risen 130 percent in March from levels in February, while overseas bookings have risen close to 30 percent.

“Our travel queries have even surpassed pre-Covid levels in March as Indians are looking to travel to international destinations again after two years,” an official from Yatra.com said.

EaseMyTrip said enquiries for destinations such as Dubai, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, the US and Australia have seen a strong jump between May and June.

“International destinations such as Dubai and Sri Lanka have been witnessing a surge in demand, not just for longer vacations, but for short-haul weekend trips as well,” Pitti said.

Rise in luxury travel

Indian tourists are not only looking to vacation internationally but are also willing to spend more on travel with queries and bookings for premium hotels, private villas and eclectic stays rising significantly in the past month.

Our customers are displaying a clear preference for private villas with a personal chef and concierge services, villas with a backyard, pool with a deck and more for luxury stays and relaxation – with multi-generational family or groups of friends,” Kale said.

Data from Yatra.com shows that the average per person expenditure on booking a week-long holiday has risen by almost $200 (Rs 15,270), with customers booking luxury experiences like private accommodation, valet services and adventure experiences on their trips.

Booking patterns also indicate that travellers are choosing slow travel, leading to long stays when planning their first international trip after the pandemic.

Infosys was caught in a cross-fire over its operations in Russia, as UK finance minister, Rishi Sunak was questioned on his wife's stake in the company. Co-founder and Chairman Emeritus N R Narayana Murthy's daughter Akshata Murty holds less than 1 per cent stake in the company.

Meanwhile, in a statement to the media, Infosys denied that it has any business relationships with local Russian enterprises.

"Infosys has a small team of less than 100 employees based out of Russia, that services some of our global clients, locally. We do not have any active business relationships with local Russian enterprises," said the company statement.

When asked if operations were impacted by the European conflict, the company said, "At this point we do not foresee any impact on delivery or services for our clients from our Eastern European centres, and have activated necessary business continuity protocols."

The statement further stated that Infosys is focused on extending support to the community. The company has committed $1 million towards relief efforts for war victims from Ukraine.

During an interview with the Sky News, Infosys founder Narayana Murthy's son-in-law said, "I am an elected politician and I am here to talk about what I am responsible for. My wife is not."

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