COMPANIES | PAGE 7 BACK PAGE | PAGE 16 Several FIITJEE centres closed as teachers exit INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 11 Sri Lanka power pact on, saysAdani Group LUCKNOW, SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 2025 BoJ hikes interest rates to 17-year high, yen jumps FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL 18 NO. 48, 32 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: 76,190.44 ▼ 329.94 NIFTY: 23,092.20 ▼ 113.15 NIKKEI 225: 39,931.98 ▼ 26.89 HANG SENG: 20,066.19 ▲ 365.63 `/$: 86.21 ▲ 0.026 `/€: 90.47 ▼ 0.44 BRENT: $78.81 ▲ $0.52 GOLD: `80,105 ▲ `475 RUPEE APPRECIATED 22 paise to close at 86.22 against the US dollar on Friday, as a decline in the US dollar index supported investor sentiments, reports PTI. Traders further noted that the upcoming Union Budget will play a crucial role in shaping market sentiment and the rupee's trajectory. ■ PAGE 10 Flash PMI falls to 14-month low of 57.9 in January THE HSBC FLASH India Composite Output Index, or Flash PMI, fell to a 14month low of 57.9 in January from 59.2 in December, due to weak expansion in services activity, a release by S&P Global said. ■ PAGE 2 Food inflation may decline to 6% in near term: Analysts AN IMPROVEMENT IN rabi sowing, favourable weather conditions, and above normal monsoon rains are expected to soften food inflation sharply from the current levels in the next three-to-four months, say analysts, report Sandip Das & Priyansh Verma. Prices of cereals and edible oils still remain a concern, they say. ■ PAGE 2 RIL’s3-GWdata centresettobe world’sbiggest SARITHA RAI January 24 RELIANCE INDUSTRIES (RIL) is building what may become the world’s biggest data centre by capacity in India, the latest in a blitz of global investments to capitalise on booming demand for artificial intelligence services. RIL is buying Nvidia’s powerful AI semiconductors and setting up a data centre in the town of Jamnagar that’s expected to have a total capacity of three gigawatts, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the details aren’t public. That would make it far bigger than any data centre now operating. RIL CMD Mukesh Ambani is joining a growing cohort of tech companies including Microsoft, Alphabet andAmazon.com that are pouring billions of dollars into data centres to deliver AI capabilities to customers worldwide. This week, OpenAI, SoftBank Group and Oracle pledged to invest $100 billion to $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the US through a new entity called Stargate Project. A Reliance spokesman declined comment,directing Bloomberg to a PROJECT JAMNAGAR ■ RILis buying Nvidia’s powerful AI semiconductors and setting up a data centre in the town of Jamnagar ■ The largest data centres operating now are less than 1 gigawatt, according to data provided by DC Byte ■ RIL, the group’s primary listed entity, has equivalent of about $26 billion on its balance sheet ■ The Jamnagar facility would boost India’s data centre capacity ■ Jamnagar is the hub of Reliance’s oil refining and petrochemicals complex recent speech from Reliance Jio Infocomm CEO Akash Ambani, Mukesh’s son. The executive said at the time the conglomerate was building a data centre to be completed within two years. Continued on Page 11 Liquiditydeficit tops `3Lcr SACHIN KUMAR Mumbai, January 24 THE LIQUIDITY SHORTAGE in the banking system has shot up to over `3 lakh crore, a level that a Bloomberg report said is the highest in over a decade. The total amount of liquidity injected by the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) stoodat`3.15 lakhcrore on January 23, as per data on its website.However,experts point out that adjusting for the gap in the maintenance of reserves by the banks, the deficit was a little over `3.3 lakh crore. “Persistent dollar sales to defend the currency as well as seasonal drivers,suchas taxoutflows,havemagnified the squeeze in recent weeks,” said Radhika Rao,senioreconomist, DBS Bank. The RBI has stepped up the VRR or variable repo rate auctions to support banks which are grappling with a cash crunch. It is nowconducting dailyauctions. AT A DECADAL HIGH ■ The RBI has stepped up the VRR or variable repo rate auctions to support banks ■ The total amount of liquidity injected by RBI stood at `3.15 lakh cr ■ The cash squeeze has intensified since the second half of December on January 23 ■ Adjusting for reserves by the banks, this deficit was a little over `3.3 lakh crore According to Vivek Kumar, economist at Quanteco,alongwith otherfactors there has been a build up of government cash balances with the RBI. “We expect government spending to pick up pace in the last quarter, both on the capital and revenue fronts and so some of this balance will be drawn down, easing the liquiditysituation,” Kumarsaid. ■ The RBI reduced the CRR to 4% of their net deposits in two equal tranches of 25 bps each Meanwhile, the yield on the 10year benchmark bond fell two basis points to 6.71% on Friday and is down five points thisweek. Bloomberg reported there were bondpurchasesbya‘groupthattypically includes the central bank’ on Thursdaytriggeringspeculationthat the authoritybought notes. Continued on Page 11 Mineralstatesleadfiscalindex PRASANTA SAHU New Delhi, January 24 MINERAL-RICH STATES ODISHA, Chhattisgarh, Goa and Jharkhand baggedthetopslotsinanewcomprehensiveannualindexlaunchedbythe NitiAayogtogaugethefiscalhealthof state governments.The index placed debt-ridden Punjab at the bottom of the rankings, followed by Andhra Pradesh,WestBengalandKerala. Themovebythethinktankcomes ahead of the Union Budget FY26, which is expected to articulate the Centre's medium-term fiscal policy withgreaterclarity.Whilethegovern- DEBT DIAGNOSIS Niti Aayog’s Fiscal Health Index Ranking for states* Odisha Chhattisgarh Goa Jharkhand Gujarat *18 major states ment'scommitmenttofiscalconsolidationisamplyclear,intheFY25Budget speech,FM Nirmala Sitharaman indicatedthatfromFY26onwards,the endeavourwouldbe‘tokeepthefiscal Punjab Andhra Pradesh West Bengal Kerala Haryana Bottom five Rupee rises 22 paise to close at 86.22 against dollar FACILITY LIKELYTO COST $20-30 BN Top five IN THE NEWS deficiteachyearsuchthattheCentre's debtwillbeonadecliningpathaspercentageoftheGDP.” Continued on Page 11 TataElectronics acquires60%in PegatronTech FE BUREAU New Delhi, January 24 TATA ELECTRONICS ON Friday said it has acquired a 60% stake in Pegatron Technology India, which manufacturesApple products at its plant near Chennai.Tata Electronics had earlier acquired the operations of Wistron India, also an Apple contract manufacturer, in March 2024. The two acquisitions will help Tata to strengthen its foray into electronics manufacturing.The company will now have two plants in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.“The acquisition of a majority stake in PegatronTechnologyIndia fits into Tata Electronics’ strategy of growing our manufacturing footprint. We look forward to a new era of AI, digital and technology-led manufacturing as we bring up these new facilitiesandexpandouroperations in India,”said RandhirThakur,CEO & MD of Tata Electronics. As part of the deal, in addition to acquiring a majority stake in Pegatron Technology India, both Tata and Pegatron Technology India will integrate their teams to work seamlessly. Continued on Page 11 RESULTS CORNER JSW STEEL PROFIT DECLINES 70% AT `719 CRORE PAGE 6 INDIGO MISSES ESTIMATES, Q3 PROFIT FALLS 18% PAGE 6 DLF PROFIT RISES 61% TO `1,059 CRORE PAGE 7 Lucknow