THE BIG IDEA | PAGE 22 EXPLAINER | PAGE 6 Howsearchforbackpainrelief helpedbuildamattressbrand INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 11 New CAS rules: Changes for investors and traders BENGALURU, MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2026 France counts cost of worst unrest in years FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XXXIX 156, 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 Equity MF inflows rise in spite of market volatility INVESTORS MAY BE opening fewer systematic investment plan accounts and showing less enthusiasm for new fund offers, but their appetite for equity mutual funds remains undiminished, reports Kushan Shah. Despite prolonged market volatility, net inflows into actively managed equity schemes rose 5% in the first half of FY27. ■ PAGE 6 RCom RP’s curative petition in SC over spectrum ruling THE RESOLUTION PROFESSIONAL of Reliance Communications has filed a curative petition in the Supreme Court seeking recall of its ruling that telecom spectrum cannot be subjected to insolvency proceedings, reports fe Bureau. ■ PAGE 4 THE HUMAN FACTOR THE BOSSWHOWANTS TO BE ROASTED PAGE 8 MARINE PRODUCTS SANDIP DAS & NARAYANAN V New Delhi/Chennai, October 18 ■ Festive season and the kharif harvest could support demand in the near term tion stood at 8.06%, higher than the overall food inflation rate of 7.74%, while onion prices surged 108% year-onyear.Withfoodaccountingfora largershare of rural household spending, the increase leaves less money for discretionary purchases, including personal care products, two-wheelers and agricultural equipment. Thepressureiscompounded by a sharp slowdown in rural wage growth. Labour Bureau data show that wage growth in July-August slowed to just over 3% for men and below 4% for women, from more than 16% and 21%,respectively,in AprilJune.Ifearningsfailtokeeppace with living costs, households coulddeferpurchasesorshiftto cheaper products,even as companieslooktothefestiveseason to sustain the recovery. Continued on Page 11 SINGAPORE LEADS DECLINE IN FPIs’ASSETS Dec 2025 % change -20.6 -15.7 Singapore -9.8 Sept 2026 -15.5 -13.9 -13.7 -11.8 -10.0 Japan Luxembourg France UK Norway Mauritius Super-luxuryhomes stay unsold amid supplyglut ● Inventory rises 65% in a year across top 8 cities WARNING SIGN US -9.9 Canada Other Ireland Source: NSDL JAGADISH THOTA IS relieved, but not relaxed. US President Donald Trump has just signed anexecutiveorderwaivingtariffs of up to 100% on goods from the five largest buyers of Russian oil and gas, India among them. The reversal cameamonthafterheimposed sanctions under the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and IranAct. “Until last week, we were reallyworriedaboutthat100% tariff,” said Thota, whose Bhimavaram-based Jagadeesh MarineExportscountstheUSas its biggest market.“We got a bit ofrelief,butwearen’tfullycomfortablebecauseeverydaysome newthings keep coming up.” That unease runs through India’s seafood export industry. Over the past year, Trump has threatened India with tariffs from 10% to 100%, including penalties tied to its Russian oil purchases. Many threats never became duties, but the constant shifts rattled STRATEGY SHIFT $8.46 billion Seafood exports hit a record in FY26 despite US tariff uncertainty Year-on-year increase in launches of `20-50 crore homes to 981 units in 2026 year-to-date 14 quarters: 86% increase: Growth in unsold inventory over two years, from 857 units in Q3 2024 Across India’s top eight cities, unsold inventory in the `20-50 crore segment surged 86% over two years, from 857 unitsinQ32024to1,593units inQ32026.Inventoryrose65% inthepastyearalone.Thegrowingstockofunsoldhomesisalso pushingupthetimedevelopers need to cleartheirinventory. Estimated inventory overhang, up from eight quarters two to three years ago Source: Knight Frank Vivek Rathi, national director, research, at Knight Frank, said the inventory overhang in this segment has climbed to 14 quarters from eight quarters two to threeyears ago.“In some markets, inventory has overtaken demand,” Rathi said. Continued on Page 11 RISING COSTS, SHORTERTENANCIES FUELDEMAND FOR HOME RENTALS Fromsofastofridges,rentinggains groundforIndiansonthemove ANEES HUSSAIN Bengaluru, October 18 A HOME FURNISHED with rented sofas, beds, refrigerators and washing machines is becoming a more compelling proposition for the mobile urban workforce, as rising appliance prices and shorter tenancies make ownership harder to justify. ForcompaniessuchasRentomojo and Furlenco, the opportunityis to move beyond furniture rentals and become subscription providers for the entire home. The challenge is to make money from a business that requires substantial investment in assets before they generate rental income. The economics can favour renting for people who move frequently. Furnishing a one- FITTING CHOICE ■ Furnishing a 1BHK flat is estimated to cost 8-9 months of average income in India, against 1-4 months in the US, Japan and South Korea ■ Two-year rental from Rentomojo costs `3.33 lakh, against `4.02 lakh for outright purchases and `4.41 lakh via EMIs at about 16% interest bedroom flat costs eight to nine months of average income in India, compared with one to fourmonths in the US, Japan and South Korea, accordingtoRedseerestimates cited in Rentomojo’s investor presentation. ■ Average tenancies in metros fell to 1.3 years in 2025 from 1.8 in 2021 ■ Appliances accounted for 47% of Rentomojo’s FY26 revenue ■ Furlenco is combining rentals with manufacturing and outright furniture sales Renting furniture and appliances from Rentomojo for two years costs `3.33 lakh, against`4.02lakhforoutright purchases and `4.41 lakh through a 24-month equated monthly instalment (EMI) plan at about 16% interest. 20% Fall in seafood to export volumes the US in FY26, with 14.22% decline in value 13% Year-on-year growth in exports to $4.5 billion in AprilSeptember, led by the EU, China, Japan and Vietnam exporters and pushed US buyers to rethink sourcing. Exporters responded by front-loadingshipmentsahead of tariff announcements and moving swiftly into new markets.Seafood exports touched a record $8.46 billion (`73,890 crore) in FY26. “The tariff issues in the US market affected India’s seafood exports to the US during FY26, with shipments declining 20% involumeand14.22%invalue. However, this was offset by increasedexportstotheEUand China,”saidPJawahar,chairman of the Marine Products Export DevelopmentAuthority. 196% surge: RAGHAVENDRA KAMATH Mumbai, October 18 UNSOLD INVENTORY OF super-luxury homes priced between `20 crore and `50 crore is piling up in majorproperty markets, including Mumbai,BengaluruandtheNational Capital Region (NCR),as a surge in launches and slowing demand put pressure on the segment. According to Knight Frank, unsold inventory in this price bracket rose nearly 70% yearon-year in Mumbai, from 639 unitsinQ32025to1,079units in Q3 2026. NCR witnessed a sharper,16-fold increase,from just12unitsto192unitsduring the same period. -3.4 -3.1 11.3 10.2 FPI equity assets (` lakh crore) 4.8 4.6 SINGAPORE-BASED FOREIGN PORTFOLIO investors (FPIs) saw a 20.6% decline in their Indian equity assets in the first nine months of 2026, the steepest among the top 10 investor nations, according to NSDL data. Their equity assets fell to `3.81 lakh crore in September from `4.79 lakh crore in December 2025. FPIs based in Japan and Luxembourg saw declines of 15.7% and 15.5%, respectively. Total FPI assets fell 10.9% to `66.2 lakh crore. — Compiled by Kishor Kadam Seafoodexportersnetnew markets,butremainwary ODDS – I to smaller packs and cheaper products, while deferring discretionary purchases Year-on-year surge in onion prices put rural household budgets under pressure exporters,yetshipmentsreboundedbyFebruary.Afive-part seriesexamineshowindustriesarenavigatingtheuncertainty THETARIFF ■ Rural consumers may shift 1.9 1.9 AGGREGATE SUBSIDY SPENDING by 20 major states is estimated at `5.39 lakh crore in FY27, only marginally higher than the `5.31 lakh crore spent in FY26. Over `4.94 lakh crore was spent on this front in FY25, reports Prasanta Sahu. 3-4% in July-August from double-digit levels in Apr-Jun 108% ● Washington’stariffswingssinceApril2025rattledIndian DEFYING ■ Rural wage growth fell to at 8.06% outpaced the overall food inflation rate of 7.74% in September 32.6 29.4 STATES’ SUBSIDY SPEND IN FY27 MAY REMAIN FLAT ■ Rural food inflation 3.0 2.7 PAGE 2 RURAL CONSUMPTION RECOVERYfacesafreshtestas rising food prices erode household purchasing power and slowing wage growth, coupled withunevenrainfall,cloudsthe outlook for farm incomes. Whilethefestiveseasonandthe kharif harvest could support demandinthenearterm,economists and industryexecutives warn that the squeeze on rural incomesmaybecomemorevisible in the second half of FY27. Retail inflation rose to 5.54% in September, a 23month high, with rural inflation at 6.08%, against 4.88% inurbanareas.Ruralfoodinfla- FEELING THE PINCH 2.9 2.6 ECONOMY VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO, AKBAR MERCHANT & SHUBHAM RANA Mumbai/New Delhi, October 18 3.4 2.9 INDIA’S EXTERNAL POSITION is expected to deteriorate in the second half of the current financial year, despite a big balance of payments surplus in the first half, reports Shubham Rana. This is because the ongoing war in West Asia might keep energy prices high and FPI flows could remain under severe pressure. Rural demand faces fresh test as food inflation bites 1.8 1.6 ECONOMISTS CUT ESTIMATES FOR FY27 BOPSURPLUS 5.5 4.6 PAGE 2 1.9 2.2 ECONOMY SLOWWAGEGROWTH,UNEVENRAINFALLEMERGEASTWINTHREATS 4.8 3.8 IN THE NEWS ■ Beyond furniture, rental firms are looking to shift to whole-home subscriptions Buying on EMI becomes cheaper only after around 33 months, while average tenancies in metros have shrunk to 1.3 years in 2025 from 1.8 years in 2021. Continued on Page 14 BENGALURU $1.25 billion Shipments to the US rose 1% in the first five months of FY27 Formany,diversificationwas survival,notstrategy.“Wehadno option but to diversify our exports to the European Union, Southeast Asia and the Middle East to offset some of the losses because of huge inventories,” saidAlexKNinan,partneratKerala-basedBabyMarineGroup. The shift is still paying off. Exports rose 13% year-on-year to $4.5 billion inApril-September, led by the EU, China, Japan and Vietnam.Thota has added Europe, Russia and China, cuttingtheUSshareofhisbusiness to 50% from a peak of 80%. Continued on Page 11