16 ECON0MY & PUBLIC AFFAIRS MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY, 9 MAY 2018 1>

MEGHA MANCHANDANew Delhi, 8 May

Hybrid-annuity model (HAM) projectsand monetisation of roads — initiativesby the Union government in the last

few years — have brought the spotlight back onroad projects that had seen banks shy awaydue to regulatory and other issues in the past.

Experts believe these initiatives and a thruston technology in the last few years havebrought the focus back on the road sector,which was earlier struggling with issues of landacquisition, non-performing assets, failure ofBOT (build-operate-transfer), and banks’ reluc-tance in giving loans.

“Earlier we had gone the whole hog inawarding road projects on BOT. But later whenenough roads were built on EPC (engineering-procurement-construction) mode, the compa-nies got their confidence back,” said formerroad secretary Vijay Chhibber.

With the introduction of HAM, the risk pro-file of bankers was reduced. In a HAM project,the government pumps in 40 per cent equity,the rest is made by the concessionaire.

The tolling risk was taken care of. UnderHAM, the government bears the revenue risk inprojects where traffic flow turns out lower thananticipated, leading to a reduced toll collec-tion. Earlier, in BOT projects, traffic, opera-tions, and maintenance risks had to be borneby the developer.

A new financing route - toll-operate-trans-fer (TOT) - was approved by the CabinetCommittee on Economic Affairs in August2016, when it authorised the NationalHighways Authority of India (NHAI) to mone-tise national highway projects that were oper-ational and generating toll revenues for at leasttwo years after commercial operations date viathe TOT model.

Experts believe the leakages in tolling were

addressed through TOT or the road monetisa-tion projects.

Besides tolling a lot of EPC projects whichwere complete or required maintenance in thefuture and with TOT, the government receivedupfront payment for investing it further infuture highway contracts.

In February, a joint venture betweenMacquarie and Ashoka Buildcon bagged theUnion government’s first batch of TOT projectsinvited by the NHAI, quoting a price bid of~96.81 billion. Another initiative of the gov-ernment, which is being seen as step in theright direction by experts, is the introduction ofFASTags for seamless commute on nationalhighways. The move, aimed at ending conges-tion at toll plazas besides ensuring leakage-proof toll revenue collection, was introduced inSeptember 2017. FASTags are affixed on thewindshields of vehicles and use radio-fre-quency identification technology to enablevehicles to pass through toll plazas, throughdesignated lanes, without waiting in queuesas the payment is made electronically.

“Technology has helped in tracking truckmovement. Together these initiatives ensuredthe road sector remained alive,” said VishwasUdgirkar, partner, Deloitte Touche TohmatsuIndia LLP.

Govt push putsroad projectsback in spotlightEarlier, sector wasstruggling with regulatory hurdles

GROUND REPORT| First bundle of 9 projects: 5 highways

in Andhra Pradesh and 4 in Gujarat

| 4 bids were received for the firstbundle: From Brookfield AssetManagement, Macquarie-AshokaBuildcon, IRB Infrastructure, andRoadis-NIIF

| ~96.8 bn: Total value of the firstbundle of projects

| ~62.6 bn: Macquarie-AshokaBuildcon bid was 1.5 times higherthan the base price

| 75: Operational highway projectsthat have been identified formonetisation via TOT model

URVI MALVANIAMumbai, 8 May

In a span of two years, DisneyIndia has managed to snapthe top two spots in the high-est earning Hollywoodmovies' list in India.

Marvel’s Avengers: InfinityWar has raced to the top ofthe list at ~1.92 billion (netafter taxes) in box office col-lection, beating 2016’s TheJungle Book (~1.88 bn). Bothmovies are products of theDisney stable.

Infinity War is the 19thmovie in the MarvelCinematic Universe (MCU),which started with the firstIronman film in 2008. Thefilm follows Mad TitanThanos in his quest for theInfinity Stones, so that he canwipe out half the universe. Itstars more than 20 of Marvel’ssuperheroes and is the culmi-nation of multiple storylinesestablished in the movies thatcame in the past decade.

Released on April 27, alongwith the rest of the world,Infinity War was one of thewidest Hollywood releases inthe country at 2,000 screens,and opened with ~313 million,second highest opening at thebox office this year.

“The phenomenal responsereinforces that with everyrelease, Marvel’s fan base isonly getting bigger, cuttingacross gender, boundaries andage-groups. We are thrilled bythe overwhelming response,”said Bikram Duggal, executivedirector and head, studio enter-tainment, at Disney India.

Analysts believe the successof the first two Avengers films,Avengers (2012) and Avengers:Age of Ultron (2015) helpedattract footfall for Infinity War.The increase in market shareof Hollywood films from 13 percent in 2013 to 20-21 per centhas also helped, as the audi-ence opting to see Hollywoodfilms has expanded. The recentsuccess of Black Pantheraddedto the footfalls, since the teamthere is part of Avengers:Infinity War.

Other movies in the topfive are two in the Fast andFurious franchise (F7 and Fate

of the Furious) and SonyPictures’ Jurassic World,reboot of the cult JurassicPark series. As a result, Disneyand Universal have twomovies each in the top five listand Sony Pictures has one.Incidentally, Disney India cur-rently markets and distributesonly Hollywood movies in thecountry, having exited region-al and Bollywood movie pro-duction a couple of years ear-lier.

The superhero flick hasalso been helped by the scaleat which Disney marketed themovie in India. And, the factthat it had a clear run of thebox office. Suniel Wadhwa,independent distributor abdbox office analyst, adds: “Interms of new releases, thereisn't any major competitionhitting theatres that shouldcause the superhero film tolose audience. I anticipate thelifetime box office should set-tle at ~2.35-2.4 billion. Thismeans 2018 will see a majorjump in terms of contributionfrom Hollywood films at thebox office, especially withreleases like Deadpool andJurassic World lined up thissummer.”

While the AmitabhBachchan and Rishi Kapoorstarrer, 102 Not Out, released aweek after Infinity War, thetwo managed to co-exist at thebox office.

Disney’s strategy for itsHollywood films, especiallythose with mass appeal, hasbeen honing a sharp focus onlocalisation in its distributionand marketing. Infinity Warreleased in three Indian lan-guages – Hindi, Tamil andTelugu, apart from English.Apart from dubbing the con-tent in these languages, thestudio also marketed the dubsextensively, especially wherethey tapped into visible localtalent like Rana Dagubattiwho has voiced Thanos in theTelugu version. As a result,revenue contribution fromthe language dubs (49 percent) has been almost at parwith the English version (51per cent).

More on business-standard.com

Disney lays claimto top 2 Hollywoodgrossers in India At ~1.92 billion, Avengers has pippedThe Jungle Book to take first position

ANTHONYAARONS8 May

Indian tycoon Vijay Mallyalost a UK lawsuit filed byIndian banks seeking to col-lect more than 1.15 billionpounds ($1.55 billion) amidallegations that he committedmassive fraud.

Judge Andrew Henshawin London Tuesday said thelenders, including IDBI Bank,can enforce an Indian courtruling that relates to allega-tions that Mallya willfullydefaulted on about $1.4 billionin debt for his now-defunctKingfisher Airlines. Henshawalso refused to overturn aworldwide order freezingMallya’s assets.

The 62-year-old is fightingnumerous lawsuits in the UKand his native country overfraud and money-launderingallegations. He was arrestedin London more than a yearago and is waging anotherfight to block extradition in adifferent court about threemiles across town. Lawyers forMallya declined to commentafter the hearing. Henshawrefused permission to appealTuesday’s ruling, meaning hisattorneys will have to directlypetition the Court of Appeal.Attorneys at law firm TLT inLondon, who are represent-ing the lenders said the rulingwill allow them to enforce theunderlying judgment by theIndian debt recovery tribunalimmediately.

The asset freeze order hadforced Mallya to live on 5,000pounds a week, but hisallowance was increased toroughly 20,000 pounds aweek earlier this year, lawyersfor the lenders said after thehearing.

Mallya was arrested inLondon April 18 on a warrantissued by Indian authoritiesaccusing him of conspiring todefraud India’s IDBI Bankthrough a 91 billion-rupee($1.4 billion) loan to KingfisherAirlines — a premium airlinehe founded in 2005 and shutdown seven years later. Mallyaleft India in 2016, saying hewas moving to England to becloser to his children. He hasrefused to return to India andsaid he fears an unfair trialamid the “media frenzy and hysteria” over unpaiddues. BLOOMBERG

Mallya loses$1.55 billionUK lawsuit byIndian banks

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