NEWS POINT | PAGE 14 MARKETS | PAGE 6 Rohit Sharma: Easy elegance matches bulldozer muscularity INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 7 Core sector has to invest now: SBI Chairman Setty Trump tariffon metals draw swift EU, Canada retaliation CHENNAI/KOCHI, THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2025 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XLV 263, 30 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: 74,029.76 ▼ 72.56 NIFTY: 22,470.50 ▼ 27.40 NIKKEI 225: 36,819.09 ▲ 25.98 HANG SENG: 23,600.31 ▼ 181.83 `/$: 87.21 < > 0.00 `/€: 95.18 ▼ 0.03 BRENT: $70.47 ▲ $0.91 GOLD: `85,765 ▲ `102 — 4.83 Consumer food price index CPI core ■ Upside risks from a likely spike in prices of commodities due to global tariff war 4.0 3.75 CPI 3.61 3.2 Apr 2024 Feb 2025 Source: MoSPI come in below 4% — the median of the target band of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) — after a gap of six months. Easing food prices,coupled with lower global crude oil prices, have provided a supportive backdrop for inflation to align more closely with the RBI’s 4% target going for- ward, say economists. Also, since the economic growth is turning out to be sharply lower than anticipated, they expect the central bank to cut the policy rate by another 25 basis points (bps) in April. ■ Prices of wheat, edible oils and key vegetables are likely to rise in the near term »INSIDE« FACTORY OUTPUT GROWTH RISES TO 5% IN JAN PAGE 2 FOOD INFLATION AT 3.75%, 21-MONTH LOW US INFLATION COOLS TO 2.8% IN FEBRUARY PAGE 7 Continued on Page 13 Equityinflows slip to 10-month low Inflows (in ` cr) Jan 2025 Feb 2025 %c change 26.2 Equity 29.4 6.4 33.8 34.9 5,712 SELL-OFF SETBACK 9,017 flow of `6,525.56 crore against the inflow of `1.29 lakh crore last month. EQUITY MUTUAL FUND schBenchmark indices — Nifty emes recorded their lowest andSensex—fellnearly6%last inflows sinceApril 2024 as the month on global uncertainty stock market sell-off and valuation con»INSIDE« continued in Februcerns.The BSE Midcap ary, data from Associfell over 10% and BSE INFLOWS ationofMutualFunds Smallcap by nearly IN LIQUID in India (Amfi) 14%.Thecontribution FUNDS showed on Wednesof systematic investDOWN 95% day. Inflows into MF ment plans (SIPs) PAGE 6 schemes stood at recordedasecondcon`29,303.34 crore, a secutive month of fall 26% decline from `39,688 — 1.5%lowerthan January. crore in January. At the same time, debt funds saw an out- Continued on Page 13 5,721 ANANYA GROVER Mumbai, March 12 3,722 INFOSYS CO-FOUNDER NANDAN Nilekani expects the number of startups to grow 20% every year to reach one million in the next ten years, reports Ayanti Bera. ■ PAGE 5 8.70 3,407 Expect 1 million startups in India by 2035: Nilekani 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 5,148 OLA ELECTRIC MOBILITY has said that its automotive segment will reach Ebitda breakeven in Q1FY26, reports fe Bureau. ■ PAGE 4 INDIA’S RETAIL INFLATION, based on the consumer price index (CPI), eased to a sevenmonth lowof 3.61% in February from 4.26% in January, according to data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Wednesday. The sharper-than-expected decline in the headline inflation was mainly due to a sharp fall in vegetable prices, which also pulled down food inflation to a 21-month lowof 3.75% in February. The retail inflation has (% change, y-o-y) ■ Economists expect cuts in the policy rate by 25 basis points each in April and June 2,866 Ola Electric’s auto biz to reach Ebitda breakeven in Q1 PRIYANSH VERMA New Delhi, March 12 COOLING PRICE PRESSURES 3,063 INDUSIND BANK RECOVERED partially with shares gaining around 4%, after promoters assured of healthy financials, reports Sachin Kumar. ■ PAGE 6 of another rate cut inApril 2,518 IndusInd Bank’s shares rebound after 2-day rout ● Raises chances 3,567 THE FINANCIAL BIDS for the strategic sale of IDBI Bank are expected in May-June after the share purchase pact talks end, reports Prasanta Sahu. ■ PAGE 2 29,303 Financial bids for IDBI Bank sale likely by June Blackstone aims Feb inflation falls below 4% to double India exposure: CEO EASESTO 7-MONTH LOWON SHARPDECLINE INVEGETABLE PRICES 39,688 IN THE NEWS 36.7 Multicap Largecap Midcap Smallcap Sector/ thematic ● To ramp up investments to $100 bn URVI MALVANIA Mumbai, March 12 GLOBAL PRIVATE EQUITY giant Blackstone will double its exposure in India to $100 billion overthe next fewyears, co-founder, chairman and CEO Stephen A Schwarzman said on Wednesday. “India has been a great marketforus,givingusbestreturns globally.We are not rigid about the (allocated) investments in India,”Schwarzmansaidduring a meeting with the media in Mumbai.He indicated that the company could double its AUM (assets under management)inthecountryoverthe next fewyears. The PE major, which has been in the country fortwodecades,startedits India journey with a commitment of $1 billion. It has an AUM of $50 billion in India currently, with nearly $30 billion inrealestateassetsthe rest in PE investments across sectors like healthcare, software, and support services such as VFS COMING UP ■ PE firm has already committed $6 billion towards digital infra ■ Its total The rest in PE investments is spread across healthcare, software, support services ■ India AUM is $50 billion with $30 billion in realty assets STEPHEN A SCHWARZMAN, CO-FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, BLACKSTONE The focus will be on infrastructure for the next phase of growth India is well placed to tackle the impact of US tariffs Global. Interestingly, the PE firm’s global AUM — currently at $1.1 trillion — when it enteredIndia20years ago was $50 billion. Continued on Page 13 AfterAirtel, Jio ties up with Musk’s Starlink JATIN GROVER New Delhi, March 12 A DAY AFTER Bharti Airtel inked a deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceXtobringStarlink’ssatelliteInternetservicestoIndia,Jio Platforms followed suit, signalling a strategic shift in the satcom landscape. With both major telecom players— each having their own satellite ventures—nowcollaboratingwith afirmonceconsideredaformidable rival, the long-standing regulatorytussleoverspectrum allocation appears to be over. The Telecom Regulatory Authorityof India (Trai) is currentlyworking on recommendations for administrative pricing of satellite spectrum, aligning with global norms where satellite spectrum is shared among multiple operators instead of being auctioned.Both Jio and BhartiAirtel had previously advocated foranauction-basedallocation to ensure a level-playing field. 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