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Mumbai: Tata Trusts is undertaking an internal restructuring exercise to streamline operational and management expenses, said people with knowledge of the matter.As part of the overhaul, the roles of chief financial officer (CFO) and chief operating officer (COO) are being eliminated and reliance on external consultants is being reduced.The cost-cutting move had been initiated much before the appointment of new Trusts chairman Noel Tata, the people said.The decision follows an internal audit and financial review by trustees, which highlighted a significant rise in staffing costs, estimated at around Rs 180 crore. Additional expenses linked to so-called direct implementation projects had pushed the total workforce cost to Rs 400 crore in the years before 2022, the people said.Direct implementation projects — executed by a trust directly through contractors as a donation — will also be reduced to a minimum and only to fulfil obligations, they said.Tata Trusts did not comment. 114664598Chief executive Siddharth Sharma is ensuring checks and balances are put in place for effective governance and that the process is monitored continuously, said people in the know.Tata Trusts, by reducing topheavy management roles, aims to redirect resources toward its core philanthropic missions while lowering administrative overhead. It will likely rely more on a leaner executive committee for decision-making and governance.“A trust is supposed to operate like a servant of the public. We have to be true custodians of the money and property within the trusts,” said one of the persons cited. “The charity is for the public at large and not for its own staff. We don’t need ceremonial posts at high costs and, hence, proper checks and controls are being put in place.” Tata Trusts has senior finance experts and internal talent to ensure smooth operations and the efficient handling of accounts, the people quoted earlier said.While the size and scale of operations will dictate the need for operational costs, including senior staff, cost consciousness is critical for philanthropic organisations, said Anand Desai, managing partner at law firm DSK Legal.“Organisations that benefit from such philanthropy can be made accountable through documentation, with appropriate oversight by the board and employees of the Trust,” said Desai. “Cost pooling is also a method often used, and domain experts can also selectively add to efficiencies.”PUSH FOR AGILITYTata Trusts, the umbrella organisation of various philanthropic entities of Tata group, has traditionally played a vital role in education, health, rural development, and other sectors across India. However, operational costs have come under scrutiny, especially as philanthropic models globally shift toward more agile and cost-effective structures. About 66% of the equity capital of Tata Sons, the group holding company, is held by philanthropic trusts endowed by members of the Tata family.Tata Trusts appointed Noel Tata as chairman on October 11 to head the philanthropic entities that control the group. Tata was already a trustee of the two main bodies, Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust.An executive committee set up under the late Ratan Tata has been closely monitoring costs and will continue to do so. The committee was created to ensure that a collective, rather than an individual, managed the trusts. It currently comprises four trustees—Noel Tata, Mehli Mistry, Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh.Managing a philanthropic trust typically involves a combination of governance, financial oversight and operational efficiency, said Uday Ved, partner at global tax practice group KNAV. “Such trusts implement cost-management strategies while maintaining effective project execution, by way of focusing on operational efficiency, proper resource allocation,” Ved said. This involves “the use of technology, innovation and collaborative approaches by partnering with local organisations and leveraging community resources.”Shafaq Uraizee Sapre, Mumbai managing partner of law firm Chandhiok and Mahajan, said, “While the costs of the Trusts are typically managed from its income, it may also include payment on the basis of certain employee benefit schemes to reduce the cash component. A fresh look at the management structure typically takes place before the start of the new calendar year to ensure the changes are implemented by the next financial year.”

ET Intelligence Group: Consumer companies - HUL, ITC, Tata Consumer Products, Nestle India, Colgate Palmolive, Godrej Consumer Products and Varun Beverages - have announced their September quarter performance. Those such as Dabur and Marico have shared an update on their quarter performance. Others such as Zomato and Pidilite having large B2C business have also announced their latest quarter results.Subdued consumer demand did not impact allWhile the topline performance of companies such as Dabur, HUL and ITC was impacted by the moderation of consumer demand - especially in urban India, it was not so in case of others like Varun Beverages, Godrej Consumer Products (India business), Colgate Palmolive (India), Pidilite and Zomato. Input cost inflation ate into the profitabilityRaw material cost inflation was a common factor that impacted profitability across companies. Rising prices of agri items such as edible oil, palm oil, copra, tea, salt, leaf tobacco ate into the operating margins and could not be fully passed on to the consumer amidst a subdued demand environment. For instance, in the case of ITC, the raw material cost as a proportion of sales rose to 44.6% in the September quarter from the year ago level of 40.2%. This resulted in a 330 bps drop in the company's operating profit margin.Quick commerce channel continues to grow the fastestQuick commerce as a subset of e-commerce continued to gain ground as the channel of the future. For instance, Zomato-owned quick commerce delivery platform Blinkit reported doubling of its revenues for the quarter to September. Tata Consumer Products reported a 51% rise in revenues from the e-commerce channel.Climate change impacted businessClimate change characterised by extreme weather conditions such as heat waves, heavy rainfall and floods hit the demand and adversely impacted business. "These days we're getting many more extreme weather events", said Bharat Puri, managing director, Pidilite Industries, in the post earnings media call."We have seen a clear one to one correlation between our sales performance and the areas where these extreme weather events, natural calamities etc have happened. So clearly that has impacted demand without any doubt".Bangladesh turmoilMarico, the Indian FMCG company with the highest exposure to Bangladesh, in its September quarter update shared that: 'Bangladesh posted high-single digit growth, demonstrating the strong resilience of our business model amidst a challenging operating environment which has now largely stabilized'. Likewise, Bharat Puri of Pidilite Industries said in the earnings call, "this year, despite all of the issues and disturbance, we are still growing healthily in Bangladesh".

Kolkata: India's central bank governor Shaktikanta Das has backed the role of legal digital currencies in fostering trade beyond national frontiers, underscoring how such monetary units limit the scope for intermediaries and help reduce transaction costs linked to the movement of funds."The biggest potential for CBDC (central bank digital currencies) going forward will be cross-border money transfer, which we expect -- because it avoids various intermediaries - to be low cost and faster and instantaneous," Das said Saturday night at a G30 event in Washington DC. "The way forward is to have multilateral arrangements to begin with and then scale it up to global level."He was speaking at the panel discussion on the future of money and payments. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey and Agusting Carstens, former Governor of Bank of Mexico and now general manager of BIS, also spoke.Das called for multilateral cooperation in every aspect of promoting CBDC especially on the designing part of it and legal arrangements."CBDC can become a model for fast, cheap and safer transfer of money across countries," he said.He has also outlined the possible risks - CDBC can create a situation of faster transmission of shocks across countries, can be used for currency substitution and can create capital flow volatility because of faster flow of money across countries; and has stressed on the need for finding technological and systematic solutions for these risks. Das has dismissed the apprehension on whether CBDC and the fast payment system like UPI can work together."They are two different systems. CBDC is a currency while UPI is a payment system. They can become interoperable. They can act as back up for each other at the time of crisis," he said.On the progress related to the use of UPI, the Governor expressed optimism of crossing the milestone of 1 billion transactions per day next year from 500 million per day at present.The central bank unveiled the digital rupee, India's version of CBDC, in 2022 and is trying to make it accessible to all by enabling non-bank payment system operators to offer CBDC wallets while UPI is gaining currency by the day.

Mumbai: The Mumbai bench of the bankruptcy court recently disposed of an application filed by Phantom Studios India (PSIPL), which sought to implement a merger scheme between Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) and Sony Group companies Bangla Entertainment Private (BEPL) and Culver Max Entertainment (CMEPL). The National Company Law Tribunal bench ruled that the application from a minor shareholder, seeking to enforce the scheme, is moot. It said that the shareholder's right to enforce the scheme lapsed after the companies' boards approved the scheme's withdrawal, despite his minor shareholding.PSIPL, formerly known as Mad Man Film Ventures, owned about 1.3 million shares of Zee Entertainment, valued at around ₹50 crore, at the time of the tribunal filing.Last month, the tribunal officially withdrew its approval for the proposed $10 billion merger between ZEEL and Sony's Indian media entities, CMEPL and BEPL."During the course of the hearing, we were informed that the PSIPL has attended the meeting of shareholders and voted in favour of the scheme. As Section V para 10 permits the withdrawal by parties, the PSIPL cannot insist on the implementation of the scheme," said the division bench of judicial member Lakshmi Gurung and technical member Charanjeet Singh Gulati in its October 24 order. PSIPL, represented by counsel Shyam Kapadia, argued that once shareholders approve a scheme, its essential terms cannot be changed without their consent. However, Sony's entities, represented by senior counsel Darius Khambata and Meghna Rajadhyaksha of Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, countered saying that PSIPL lacked the standing to file the application, being a third party to the scheme. In this case, Nitesh Jain of Trilegal appeared for the Zee Entertainment Enterprises. The companies also contended that the tribunal did not have the authority to enforce a scheme that had not taken effect and that the scheme was approved with conditions.Ruchi Khatlawala Pandya, a partner at law firm Little & Co, said shareholder rights are crucial, especially when a merger scheme includes a withdrawal clause. "The tribunal's order sets a precedent for cases where parties may reconsider implementation even after approval," she said.In August, ZEEL and Sony's Indian units agreed to a non-cash settlement to resolve all disputes over their failed merger. The companies agreed to withdraw claims in the ongoing arbitration at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre and all related proceedings in the NCLT.The settlement, aimed at independently pursuing future growth, followed Sony's January termination of the merger, citing ZEEL's unmet closing conditions and leadership disagreements. Sony then filed a $90 million arbitration claim against ZEEL.