COMPANIES | PAGE 5 CarTrade-CarDekho deal may hit a funding hurdle NEWS POINT | PAGE 4 INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 7 Groww's quiet billionaire poised to build a legacy AHMEDABAD, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2025 Japan unveils biggest stimulus since Covid FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XX 146, 26 PAGES, `12 P U B L I S H E D F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , B E N G A L U R U , C H A N D I G A R H , C H E N N A I , H Y D E R A B A D , K O C H I , K O L K ATA , L U C K N O W, M U M B A I , N E W D E L H I , P U N E SENSEX: 85,231.92 ▼ 400.76 NIFTY: 26,068.15 ▼ 124.00 NIKKEI 225: 48,625.88 ▼ 1,198.06 HANG SENG: 25,220.02 ▼ 615.55 `/$: 89.41 ▼ 0.70 `/€: 103.13 ▼ 0.87 BRENT: $62.87 ▼ $0.51 GOLD: `1,22,572 ▲ `337 OVERHAULOFWORKFORCE GOVERNANCE CONSOLIDATES 29 LAWS Five years on, 4 labour 7.35 codes come into effect PSB APNA GHAR P R E M I U M ● Rules expected IN THE NEWS ECONOMY PAGE 3 GOVTTO RELEASE NEW GDP SERIES ON FEBRUARY 27 THE CENTRE WILL release a new series of national accounts with FY23 as the base year on February 27, 2026, reports fe Bureau. Ahead of the revision, it has issued a discussion paper on methodological improvements in compiling national accounts. ECONOMY PAGE 3 RUSSIAN URALS DISCOUNTS TRIPLE SINCE AUG DISCOUNTS FOR RUSSIAN flagship Urals crude in Indian ports have tripled sinceAugust against dated Brent – to $5–$6 a barrel from $1–$2 – as US sanctions drive key buyers away from Moscow-supplied oil, three sources said, reports Reuters. » INSIDE « MEESHO'S IPO COULDVALUE THE FIRMAT$6 BN PAGE 4 KOTAK BANK BOARD OKAYS 1:5 STOCK SPLIT PAGE 6 At 59.9, flash PMI in November falls to six-month low INDIA’S ECONOMIC ACTIVITY slowed in November, weighing on job creation, a flash survey by HSBC Holdings showed, reports Bloomberg.The manufacturing PMI fell to 57.4 from 59.2 in October, while the services index climbed to 59.5 from 58.9.That pushed the composite index down to 59.9, the lowest in six months. ■ PAGE 2 in a week: Official KULDEEP SINGH New Delhi, November 21 MORE THAN FIVE years after Parliament passed four labour codes, the Centre on Friday formally brought them into effect, marking a watershed moment in India’s labour governance. The move aims to modernise working conditions, strengthen wage protection, improve productivity, and accelerate job creation — key prerequisites for sustaining high economic growth over long periods. For decades, India’s labour regime had been criticised for being rigid, complicated and outdated. Investors and businesses routinely pointed out thatthecomplextangleoflaws discouraged expansion and hiring, restricting job creation in a country where millions enter the workforce each year. To streamline this framework,the government consolidated 29 labourlaws into four comprehensive codes between August 2019 and September 2020, aimed at improving the ease of doing business and attracting investment. Continued on Page 7 SOCIAL SECURITY NET WIDENED, WAGES REDEFINED MINIMUM PAY All workers to get appointment letters, and are guaranteed minimum wage & timely payments GIG WORKERS All workers including gig & platform workers will get social security coverage and benefits of PF & ESIC WOMEN WORKFORCE Women are permitted to work at night and in all types of work, subject to consent and safety measures PREVENTIVE HEALTHCARE Employers must provide all workers above the age of 40 years with a free annual health check-up Codestoaccelerateformaljobcreation: Experts THEFOURLABOURcodeswill goalongdistancetowardsuniversalising minimum wages andsocialsecurityforallworkersandacceleratingformaljob creation,experts said,reports SuryaSarathiRay.Thecodes, theysaid,willalsosignificantly ease the compliance burden andtheretrenchmentprocess. “It is a major reform that will »INSIDE« PLATFORMS WILL NEED TO FUND SOCIAL SECURITY FOR GIG WORKERS PAGE 2 accelerate formal, non-farm, high-productivity job creation,”Teamlease Vice Chairman Manish Sabharwal said. Some, however, say a lot would depend on how these codes are enforced.“Now, the executive has the power to notify many provisions of the codes...To what extent investment and decent jobs are created remains to be seen,”said Partha Pratim Mitra, former principal labour and employment advisor,the Union ministryof labour. ■ PAGE 2 Rupee rocked,breaches 89 level forthe first time ● Records biggest single-day fall in over six months TARIFF TOLL Rupee vs dollar (Inverted scale) CHRISTINA TITUS Mumbai, November 21 THE RUPEE BREACHED the 89 level for the first time,hitting a record low on Friday on account of delay in the IndiaUS trade deal. It closed at 89.41, down 70 paise — the biggest single-day fall since May 8. Intra-day, the rupee hit a low of 89.48. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI),which has been defending the rupee »INSIDE« at the 88.80 level, also did EDIT: A not intervene WEAKER on Friday, surRUPEE prising traders. PAGE 8 On Thursday, the rupee slipped 12 paise to close at 88.71 against the US dollar. “The market was anticipating the RBI to intervene at around89level,butitchosenot to step in, signalling its intent to avoid creating speculation aboutspecificinterventionlevels,” said Anindya Banerjee, headofcurrencyandcommodityresearchatKotakSecurities, addingthatthereisaclearriskoff sentiment weighing on emerging market currencies, including the rupee, due to trade uncertainties. Continued on Page 7 Real effective exchange rate of Close: Nov 21 rupee (on 40 currency 89.41 101.83 Nov 21, 2025 0.79% 106.56 88.71 88.71 .71 Jan 1, 2025 Previous close Peformance of Asian currencies in FY26YTD Change (%) 7.01 5.60 Malaysian ringgit Taiwanese dollar 4.44 Thai baht 2.06 Chinese renminbi -0.67 -0.84 -2.74 -2.98 -4.44 Bangladesh Taka Indonesian rupiah Philippine peso Vietnamese Dong Indian rupee Source: Bloomberg; Standard Chartered Markets snapwinning streak AFTER CLOSING IN on their all-time highs, benchmark equity indices took a break on Friday, reports Kishor Kadam. Both the indices — Sensex and Nifty — fell 0.47% each to close at 85,231 points and 26.068 points, respectively. Marketexpertssaidthatthis was primarily due to better- than-expected US non-farm payrollthatdampenedexpectationsofUSFederalReserve’srate cut in December. There were alsoworriesthattherecouldfurther delayin the US-India trade deal. Foreign institutional investors sold shares of `1,766 crore while domestic institutionalinvestorswerenetbuyers of `3,161 crore. ■ PAGE 6 Targetsustaineddouble-digit growth:Irdaichieftoinsurers KSHIPRA PETKAR Mumbai, November 21 THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY should aspire to grow in double digits and in a sustained manner,Insurance Regulatory and DevelopmentAuthorityof India (Irdai) Chairperson Ajay Seth said at the FE Insurance Summit 2025 here on Friday. “Growth has been in single digits. But in a country with a (large) young population, the growth has to be nominal growth of the economyplus 45%. And that should be sustained over the next two decades. That is the kind of a number we should be looking for,”Seth said. According to the Irdai annualreportof2023-24,total insurance premiums across categoriesstoodat`11.19lakh crore. Life insurers accounted for `8.30 lakh crore, posting a 6.06% growth. General insurers reported premiums of `1.73 lakh crore while health insurance, including personal accident and travel cover, Industry must evolve product designs and explore new areas such as climate and calamity risk coverage »INSIDE« BOND INVESTMENT RULES NEED REJIG: KHARA PAGE 6 contributed `1.17 lakh crore. Seth also said that the issue ofcapitalrequirementsisunder review, with the industry acknowledging the need for more capital but also stressing the importance of its optimum utilisation. He said that while the prescribed solvency ratio is 1.5, the industry average is closer to 2, raising questions aboutwhetherbusinessopportunities are lacking, whether returnsfromidlefundsareseen as more profitable, or whether capital allocation across risks remains inefficient. Continued on Page 7 Bloc of29 countries opposes draft for skipping fossil fuel phase-out road map FamiliarcrisisatCOP30asnations rejectdraftagreementonfinalday PRATIP ACHARYA Belém (Brazil), November 21 THE COP30 CLIMATEmeeting staredatadeepcrisisonFriday, the last day of the two-week event, after a new draft text on a political package skirted each ofthefourlong-standingissues it was meant to resolve,leaving almost everyone unhappy. A group of 29 countries, Activists participate in a demonstration under a globe at the COP30 climate summit in Belem, Brazil, on Friday AP mainly small island states and those from Europe, rejected the draft text because it skipped any mention of a road map on fossil fuel phase-out — one of their key demands. “Wecannotsupportanoutcome that does not include a road map for implementing a just, orderly and equitable transition away from fossil fuels. This expectation is shared by a vast majority of parties…in its present form, the proposal (draft text) does not meet the minimum conditions required for a credible COP outcome,” the 29 countries said in a joint letter. The political package was meant to address four longstanding concerns of different groupsofcountries.Theseconcerns could not be accommodated in the official agenda of the COP30 meeting because of the deep differences between countries on these issues. Continued on Page 10 Ahmedabad