BACK PAGE | PAGE 16 COMPANIES | PAGE 5 OpenAI unveils GPT-4.5 model after hurdles HyundaiseesIndiacrossing Europesalesthisyear LUCKNOW, SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 2025 VOL 18 NO. 77, 16 PAGES, `12 INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 7 Make no compromises on Russia: Zelenskyy toTrump FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD 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: 73,198.10 ▼ 1,414.33 NIFTY: 22,124.70 ▼ 420.35 NIKKEI 225: 37,155.50 ▼ 1,100.67 HANG SENG: 22,941.32 ▼ 776.97 `/$: 87.51 ▼ 0.32 `/€: 90.99 ▲ 0.44 BRENT: $73.10 ▼ $0.94 GOLD: `84,789 ▼ `436 FEBRUARYBLUES EXPANSIONAT6.2% IN Q3; FY25 GROWTH SEENAT6.5% IN THE NEWS Retail auto sales down 17% in Feb; all segments drop RETAILAUTO SALES fell sharply in February, with all major segments registering a decline compared to the same month last year, reports Nitin Kumar. Total vehicle sales dropped by 17% year-on-year to 1.7 million units compared to 2.1 million units in February last year, according to Vahan data. Even the EV segment, which has been a growth driver in recent years, saw a contraction. ■ PAGE 4 EPFO retains interest rate for FY25 at 8.25% THE EMPLOYEES’ PROVIDENT Fund Organisation’s (EPFO) Central Board of Trustees (CBT) recommended retaining an interest rate of 8.25% for the current financial year, according to official sources, reports Priyansh Verma. In 2023-24, the interest rate fixed was 8.25%, the highest in three years. ■ PAGE 3 FE S P E C I A L S Tata Sierra reborn: The icon’s second act is even classier The design story of the second coming of the first car designed in India. ■ MOTOBAHN, P9 Don’t file updated ITR to get tax refund Total income must be equal to or more than that in original return ■ PERSONAL FINANCE, P9 9.3 9.5 7.8 6.5 4 FY25# -5.8 FY24 2 Second advance estimates # 0 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 FY24 FY25 Key performers in Q3FY25 GVA (% chg, y-o-y) Public administration, defence 6.7 8.8 Financial, real estate & professional services Construction 7.2 MAHAKUMBH TO HELP REACH 7.6% GROWTH IN Q4: CEA P2 NEED TO REVISIT GDP COMPUTING: EXPERTS P2 economists expect Q4 growth to be sub-7%, chief economic adviser V Anantha Nageswaran said the implied growth for the quarter Trade, hotels, etc Agriculture, etc 5.6 7.0 5.1 Electricity, Source: MoSPI »INSIDE« 5.6 gas, water might not be unrealistic. He cited, apart from the non-petroleumnon-jewellery exports and government capex, the huge spending boost on account of Mahakumbh. The growth in FY24 has been revised sharply up by 100 basis points (bps) to 9.2%, and the FY23 figure by 60 bps 7.6%. This means growth in FY24 was the highest in Feb 27 (Close) 74,201.8 MUKESH JAGOTA New Delhi, February 28 European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in New Delhi on Friday RENUKA PURI exited the bloc. As an economic bloc, the EU is just behind the US in terms of importance as a trading partner, even though China is second in terms of two-way trade with Delhi having a huge trade deficit with the neighbour. India’stradeingoodswiththeEU was at $137.41 billion in 2023-24, with exports at $75.9 billion and importsat$61.4billion.Tradeinser- vices in 2023 was estimated at $51.45 billion.Along with the FTA, IndiaandtheEUarealsonegotiating agreements on investment protection and geographical indications. The India-EU FTA will be the largest deal of its kind anywhere in the world,von der Leyen said. Continued on Page 7 ■ India, EU to address concerns over carbon tax, Page 2 India needs 7.8% India in talks growth to become for 10 moreAirbus high-income:WB C-295 aircraft RBI’s $10-bn forex swap auction gets bidsworth $16 bn INDIAWILL NEED to grow by 7.8% on average over the next 22 years to achieve a high-income status by 2047,theWorldBanksaidinareport on Friday. Recognising India’s fast pace of growth averaging 6.3% between 2000 and 2024,it said India’s pastachievementsprovidethefoundationforfutureambitions. ■PAGE 2 THE RESERVE BANK ofIndia’sforex swap auction on Friday saw strong bids with the apex bank receiving bidsworth$16.23billionfrombanks againstthenotifiedamount$10billion, reports Sachin Kumar. The three-year forex swap is expected to injectnearly`85,000croreofliquidityin the banking system. ■ PAGE 6 INDIAISINtalkstopurchase10more Airbus C-295 military transport aircraft than the 71 it had planned, as the country ramps up efforts to replace its ageing fleet with locally built planes, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The talkscomeasaboostforAirbus’partnershipwithTata Group. 2.06 Shanghai (China) 1.98 Nifty 50 (India) Sensex Nov ‘24 Nifty 1,414.3 points Taiwan Taiex (Taiwan) All Ordinaries (Australia) Stock Exch of Thai (Thailand) 1.90% 1.86 1.49 1.20 0.99 *over previous close; at 5PM IST 73,198.1 Investors wealth loss in (` lakh crore) -29.6 Feb 28 (Close) Oct 2024 Nov 2024 -4.7 2.0 Dec 2024 Ja Jan 2025 Fe Feb 2025 KISHOR KADAM & ANANYA GROVER Mumbai, February 28 THE BENCHMARK INDICES lost nearly2%onFridayasUSPresident Donald Trump’s tariff threats saw foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) selling as much as `11,639 crore —one of the biggest sell-offs — in their rush to exit India.Indian investors have lost `40 lakh crore in February — the worst ever monthly loss — after Friday’s sell-off. TheSensexfell1,414.33points,or 1.90%,to close at 73,198.10 points, while the Nifty declined 420.35 points,or 1.86%,to 22,124.70.Both stronger ties in tech, mobility,investment Psei - Philippine SE (Philippine) Dec ‘24 Jan ‘25 Feb ‘25 Return in (%) Oct ‘24 Nikkei 225 (Japan) 2.88 Feb 28 (Open) -40.0 ● Blueprint ready for Hang Seng (Hong Kong) 3.28 -18.0 Continued on Page 7 India-EU FTAbyyearend INDIA AND THE European Union (EU) on Friday decided to conclude theirmuch-awaitedfreetradeagreement (FTA) by the end of 2025.They also finalised a blueprint for increased collaboration on a broad rangeofareas,includingtrade,mobility,technologyand investment. “We have directed our teams to conclude a mutually beneficial bilateral free trade agreement by the end of thisyear,”Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after the delegation-level talks with European Commission president Ursula von derLeyen and the European College of Commissioners here. India and the EU resumed negotiations on an FTA in 2022, and since then, nine rounds have been held between officials of both sides. The 10th round of talks is scheduled for March 10-14 in Brussels. Bothsidesfirstmadeanattempt for an FTA in 2007, an effort which was abandoned in 2017 as the UK 74,612.4 -5.6 -5.9 6 Kospi Major global 3.39 (South Korea) indices performance on 3.31 Jakarta Composite (Indonesia) Feb 28 (% fall*) Intra-day -0.8 -0.6 4 8 9.7 over $25 billion in 5 months Sensex -2.1 -2.0 6.5 6.2 0.5 10 current GDPseries (baseyear201112), barring FY22 (9.8%), the year which saw a rare statistical boost duetothepandemic-inducedabyss. Year-on-year trends on the expenditure side revealed a lot of volatility and dichotomy with the headlinenumbers.Privatefinancial consumption expenditure, the largest component, for instance, grew at just 5.6% in FY24, despite the high GDP growth and solid 8.6% expansion in the gross value added (GVA). The Q2FY25 growth was revised to5.6%(from5.4%),andQ1FY25to 6.5% (from 6.7%). For FY24, the quarterly growth rates were revised as follows: Q1 (to 9.7% from 8.2%), Q2(to9.3%from8.1%)Q3(to9.5% from8.6%),Q4(to8.4%from7.6%). TheNSOalsouppedthenominal GDPforecastforFY25to9.9%from 9.7% earlier. As a result, the fiscal deficit for the current year is now seen at 4.7% of GDP, from 4.8% pegged in revised estimates (RE). One reason for the sharperthan-usual revisions in data across the last three years is believed to be the availabilityof information from unlisted companies from the ministry of corporate affairs. ● Foreign investors pull out wiped out during the month -0.3 7.6 9.2 FY23 INDIA'S GROSS DOMESTIC product (GDP) expanded at 6.2% in the December quarter, compared with an upwardly revised 5.6% for the previous quarter, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said on Friday, thanks to robust growth rates of agriculture, construction and government consumption. Somewhat steady services sectors, and an uptick in private consumption which carries the most weight in GDP, also boosted the headline number. With this and revisions of the data since the first quarter of FY23, the direction and magnitude of which surprised most analysts, the NSO has now put real economic growth in the current fiscal in its second advance estimates at a fouryear low of 6.5%. That is 10 basis points higherthan the first released in early January, and would require growth in the current quarter (Q4FY25) to be 7.6%. While most 9.8 Real GDP (% chg, y-o-y) Quarterly Real GDP (% chg, y-o-y) FY22 PRIYANSH VERMA New Delhi, February 28 Yearly FY21 revisions in growth rates for FY23,FY24 KEY NUMBERS FY20 ● Sharp upward ● `40-lakh-crore investorwealth -5.8 -6.2 GDP growth picks up pace “Domestic investors went into the indices posted theirworstweekly loss of around 3% in 2025. Friday’s panicmodeandoffloadedequitiesat fallinthebenchmarkindiceswasalso will,asweak global market cues triggered a majorselloff,causing benchthebiggestsinceOctober3,2024. markindicestocrashnearly Besides, the nearly 6% »INSIDE« 2%,”said Prashanth Tapse, decline in February marked senior V-P (research), the steepest monthly fall in NO DRASTIC Mehta Equities. He also four months. The Nifty’s MACRO noted growing investor five-month losing streak is ISSUES: JEFFERIES discomfort over Trump’s the longest since 1996. announcement of import Calling the current PAGE 6 levies on several nations. market correction “rough”, The broader BSE Midcap and Deepak Shenoy,founder and CEO of Capitalmind,saidthedownturnmay BSE Smallcap indices also fell not be over yet.He advised investors sharplyonFriday,falling2.16%and to focus on quality companies and 2.33%,respectively. braceforheightenedvolatility,asthe correction could persist longer. Continued on Page 7 GlasTrust,EYIndia&IRPcolluded todestroyByju’s,saysRaveendran FE BUREAU Bengaluru, February 28 BYJURAVEENDRAN,THEfounderof troubled edtech firm Byju’s,has spoken out for the first time in months, addressing the firm’s financial crisis andlegalbattlesinaLinkedInpost.In the post, he directly accused Glas Trust, the trustee for Byju’s US lenders, and the interim resolution professional (IRP) overseeing the company,of activelyharming rather than protecting it. “Me and several employees receivedadocumentwithconclusive evidence of criminal collusion betweenEYIndia,whichIotherwiseheld in high regard, Glas Trust, which claimstorepresentthelendersitdoes not represent, and the IRP who was appointed byan Indian court to protect Byju’s but ended up destroying it,” he wrote. He urged authorities to investigate, confident that a thorough probewould reveal the truth. In the post, Raveendran also addressed speculation about his per- BYJU RAVEENDRAN, FOUNDER, BYJU'S I live with the regret of not being able to fulfil the promises I made to my stakeholders To all Byjuites, past & present, stay strong, stay proud. Forgive me for my mistakes sonal finances,pushing back against claims that he and his family had amassedwealthfromsellingcompany shares.“Youhavebeentoldmyfamily made a fortune by selling our shares. But that’s just half the story. You haven’tbeentoldthatallthat‘fortune’ hasbeenputbackinourcompany,”he said, revealing that he even sold his houseandriskedhisfamily’sfinancial securitytokeepthecompanyafloat. US court rules against Byju’s A US BANKRUPTCY court has ruled against Byju’s Alpha Inc and its affiliates in a case involving the fraudulent transfer of $533 million, reports fe Bureau. Continued on Page 7 Continued on Page 7 Unlike his predecessor, Pandey's term begins when stock markets are going through turbulence Marketwants newSebi chief to keep it simple ANANYA GROVER Mumbai, February 28 AFTER AN ACTION-PACKED three years of regulations,market participants are hoping for a steady hand when finance secretaryTuhin Kanta PandeytakeschargeasthenewSecurities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman. Pandey,whowasthelongest-serving secretary of the department of investment and public asset management(DIPAM),andwasresponsible forAir India’s divestment to Tata Group,will take over the reins from Madhabi Puri Buch at a time when the market conditions aren’t really investor-friendly.After four-and-ahalfyearsofbullrun,theIndianstock ANOTHER KEY ROLE ■ A 1987-batch Odisha-cadre IAS officer, Pandey is known to be a stickler for rules and has a clean image ■ He has been the longest-serving divestment secretary, serving for over 5 years markets seem to be in beargrip. UR Bhatt, director at AlphanitiFintech,saidthat too many regulations makethingsdifficult,and there should be simplificationofrules,especiallyformarginsin ■ He oversaw Air India's privatisation and the mega listing of LIC ■ Pandey, who was DIPAM & finance secy, assumed charge of the revenue dept on Jan 9 after Sanjay Malhotra's appointment as RBI governor ■ Played a key role in framing the tax measures, including raising the I-T rebate threshold to `12 lakh, in the 2025-26 Budget the futures and options market.“On risk management,while the regulator has done good,there is room for more,” he added. AccordingtoVinodKothari,consultant at Vinod Kothari & Company, the unfinished agenda of ease of doing business needs to be taken forward. Regulations are oftenlacedwithcomplianceburden. It needs to be addressed aswell. Headdedthattherehasbeenalot of action by way of consultation, proactiverule-making,bringingseveral stakeholders in the capital marketswithinthefoldofregulation,creatingnewinstrumentssuchassmall and medium REITs,etc.“The pace of such developments need to be continued,” he added. While tighternorms forprimary markets were a positive in Buch’s tenure, a market participant said they need to be stricter. He believes that the Indian markets should follow a US-market like approach for deeperanalytics and data.“24-hour trading of index futures should be allowed,”he added. Mahavir Lunawat, chairman of AssociationofInvestmentBankersin India (AIBI), believes that Pandey's tenure begins at a critical juncture when the market conditions are turbulent,andyetthereareahugenumber of companies waiting to tap the market.“Inthepastsixyears,851initial public offerings (IPOs) hit the market.Aspertherecentoutlook,the next two fiscals could even exceed thesenumbers,makingIndiaaglobal IPO hub,” he said. Lunawat believes that as the Indian economy continues to get stronger,capital formation remains a pressing need. Continued on Page 7 Lucknow