BACK PAGE | PAGE 22 COMPANIES | PAGE 5 Isro’s PSLVmission fails again, deviates from path INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 7 Gaurav Munjal to stay at the helm of Unacademy CHENNAI/KOCHI, TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2026 Fed servedwith subpoenas; Powellvows to stand firm WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XLVI 212, 22 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: 83,878.17 ▲ 301.93 NIFTY: 25,790.25 ▲ 106.95 NIKKEI 225: 51,939.89 ▲ 822.63 HANG SENG: 26,608.48 ▲ 376.69 `/$: 90.17 < > 0.00 `/€: 105.32 ▼ 0.35 BRENT: $63.17 ▼ $0.17 GOLD: `139,967 ▲ `3,322 — VODAFONE IDEA WILL need its average revenue per user (Arpu) to nearly double by FY28 to around `340 from current levels to service looming spectrum payments that begin this year, analysts said, reports Urvi Malvania. » INSIDE « SURGE IN LISTINGS DRIVES IPO FEESTO NEWHIGHS PAGE 6 GOLD CROSSES $4,600 ON FED CONCERNS PAGE 7 INVESTOR PAGE 9 DMART READY SHARPENS FOCUS ON LARGE CITIES AS COMPETITION GROWS Intra-day, Jan 12 83,576.24 Previous close 83,878.17 0.36% 83,435.31 Open Top Sensex gainers (%) Tata Steel Asian Paints Trent State Bank of India Hindustan Unilever 2.75 2.54 2.05 1.51 1.36 SERGIO GOR, US AMBASSADOR TO INDIA Bothsidescontinuetoactively engage(ontradedeal) »INSIDE« BULLS BET ON REVIVAL OF US-INDIATRADE TALKS PAGE 6 It was not immediately known if the call that Gor referred to would be one between Modi and Trump. The impact of Gor’s comment was seen on Dalal Street as benchmarks Sensex and Nifty recovered to close 0.36% and 0.42% higher, respectively, on Monday. In a day of volatile trade, the Sensex tumbled 715.17 points,or 0.85%, and the Nifty tanked 209.9 points,or 0.81%,in the morning, before posting a sharp recovery. Continued on Page 7 Deutsche’sIndiabizgetsKotak,Federalbids SIDDHI NAYAK & SAIKAT DAS January 12 DEUTSCHE BANK’S INDIA retail assets and wealth management have drawn binding bids from Kotak Mahindra Bank and Federal Bank, according to people familiar with the matter, as the local lenders pounce on opportunities from foreign players seeking to exit the crowded banking market. The suitors are in advanced discussions with Deutsche Bank for the assets, which are estimated to have a book size of at least $2.5 billion, the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private. Emirates NBD, which plans to buy a majority stake in RBL Bank, had shown interest in the portfolio but ● SOARINGTIES later decided not to submit a bid, they said. Negotiations with Kotak, founded by Uday Kotak, and Blackstone-backed Federal Bank are ongoing and could still fall through, the people added. Deutsche Bank declined to comment. Kotak, Federal Bank Emirates NBD and RBL Bank didn’t respond to requests for comments. The German lender’s assets up for grabs include mortgage loans, small business loans and wealth management, the people said. In 2018, Deutsche Bank reportedly called off talks to sell its retail and private wealth business to IndusInd Bank as it didn’t get a price that justified selling the profitable unit. Continued on Page 7 URVI MALVANIA & POULOMI CHATTERJEE Mumbai/Bengaluru, January 12 EVEN AS REVENUE growth showed a gradual recovery for two of the country’s large information technology companies in the October-Decemberquarter,one-off provisions linked to the new Labour Code weighed on »INSIDE« profitability, pulling down SEQUENTIAL sequential DECLINE IN HEADCOUNT earnings for AT IT MAJORS bothTataConPAGE 4 sultancy Services and HCLTech, resulting in misses against Street estimates. For TCS, net profit fell 11.74% quarter-on-quarter to `10,657 crore, reflecting the sharper impact of exceptional costs. Q2 2.0 TCS GLOBAL SMARTPHONE SHIPMENTS rose 2% year-on-year in 2025, lifted by stronger demand and economic momentum in emerging markets, Counterpoint Research said on Monday, reports Reuters. ■ PAGE 4 OLA ELECTRIC ON Monday rolled out its first ‘Shakti’, a portable energy storage system for homes and offices, from its cell manufacturing Gigafactory in Krishnagiri,Tamil Nadu, reports fe Bureau. The launch marks the company’s entry into the residential battery energy storage system (BESS) market and takes it beyond the automotive segment. ■ PAGE 4 Continued on Page 11 »INSIDE« PM Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz during the International Kite Festival at Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad on Monday. ■ REPORTS, PAGE 2 FOOD INFLATION STAYS IN NEGATIVE ZONE PAGE 2 Counter-cyclical step amid external headwinds, particularly US tariffs Capexbudgetmayriseto`12.5Lcr CAPEX-TO-GDP TO STAY NEAR 3% Centre's capex (` lakh crore) RUN-UP TO THE BUDGET AFTER HOLDING THE Union government’s capital expenditure (capex) budget target at about `11 lakh crore for two successive years, the Centre is likely to step up its investment push in FY27, with the outlay possiblyrising to around `12.5 lakh crore. The increase is being seen as a counter-cyclical measure to support domestic eco- 11.21 39.2 30 5.93 20 4 6.8 0 50 40 8 2026-27 PRASANTA SAHU New Delhi, January 12 Ch Change,%, yoy (RHS) 12 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 FY26BE 10 0 »INSIDE« PLI FOR SMALLAIRCRAFT LIKELY PAGE 2 nomic activity at a time when global uncertainties — particularly those arising from tariff actions by the United States—could weigh on exports, private investment and overall growth. Even with the expected increase,the government is likely to keep the capex-to-GDP ratio close to 3%, a level widely regarded as fiscally prudent while still allowing for asset creation. From a public finance per- 6.0 HCLTech Olaforaysintobattery energystoragesystems INFLATION, MEASURED BY theconsumerpriceindex(CPI), rose to 1.33% in December from a series low of 0.25% in Octoberand 0.71% in November, largely on account of narrowing of food deflation and waning of a favourable base. According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), the inflation of personal care and effects, vegetables, meat and fish,egg,spices and pulses and productslargelycontributedto an increase in headline inflation in December. It is for the fourth straight month that the inflation has stayed below the lower end of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) tolerance band (4±2%). Apple leads global smartphone mkt with 20% share % change Ebit 2.0 TCS HCLTech reported a 3.75% sequential decline in profit to `4,076 crore. Both companies fell short of Bloomberg estimate, which KULDEEP SINGH New Delhi, January 12 MARUTI SUZUKI INDIA, the country's top carmaker, has received board approval to invest `4,960 crore in Gujarat to expand its manufacturing capacity, marking a significant step in its longterm growth strategy, reports Nitin Kumar. ■ PAGE 5 (` crore) Source: Company updates Retailinflation risesto1.33% inDecember Maruti Suzuki clears `4,960 crore for 2nd Gujarat plant Q3 Revenue spective, a 3% capex ratio is considered optimal,much like theoriginalFiscalResponsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act’s benchmark of a 3% fiscal deficit.In FY26,capitalexpenditureisestimatedat about 3.14% of GDP. The capex outlay could translate into roughly 3.18% of GDP in FY27 once nominal growth of around 10% is factored into the advance estimate of `357.14 lakh crore for FY26. Officials indicate that a rise in FY27 is likelyaftertwoyears ofstatusquo.“Thecapextarget has not changed in the previous two budgets, and the offtake in the current year has been very strong. So, there could be a 10–15% increase in capex outlay in FY27,” a government official said. Continued on Page 11 CHENNAI/KOCHI Net profit* -4.0 -11.7 -3.8 HCLTech TCS HCLTech 4,076 Sensex REPORT CARD 4,235 ARPU GROWTH IS NOWVODA IDEA’S TOP PRIORITY HOPES OF A trade deal between India and the US revived on Monday with the new US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor saying the two countries will discuss trade issues in their next call scheduled for Tuesday. Gor’s comments came close on the heels of US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s statement last week that the muchtouted deal with India did not happen because Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not call US President Donald Trump, after a deal was set up in May-July last year. India termed the claim “inaccurate.” remains steady 12,075 10,657 PAGE 4 COMPANIES MARKETS REBOUND MUKESH JAGOTA New Delhi, January 12 ● Revenue growth 5,550 5,329 NET DIRECT TAX receipts grew 8.82% to `18.37 lakh crore in the current fiscal till January 11, the Income Tax Department said on Monday, reports fe Bureau. NewUSenvoyraiseshopeof deal,saystalksresumetoday 16,565 16,889 GOVT’S DIRECT TAX RECEIPTS UP 9%TO `18.4LCR LabourCodeimpactdrags TCS,HCLTechprofitsinQ3 31,942 33,872 PAGE 2 ECONOMY TRUMP’S PICK SERGIO GORASSUMES OFFICE IN DELHI 65,799 67,087 IN THE NEWS *including exceptional cost had pegged net profit at `13,001 crore for TCS and `4,704 crore for HCLTech. Continued on Page 7 UK probes X over Grok deepfake concerns BRITAIN’S MEDIA REGULATOR has launched an investigation into Elon Musk’s X to determine whether sexually intimate deepfakes produced by its Grok AI chatbot violated its duty to protect people in the UK from content that could be illegal, reports Reuters. Malaysia joined Indonesia in temporarily blocking the tool over the weekend. ■ PAGE 7