OPINION, P10 WELL BEING FE LINES ACROSS THE AISLE, P CHIDAMBARAM India is seeing an unhealthy rise in cases of the chronic disease affecting kids, but awareness remains low Page 7 Measures are coming into place to screen fraud calls Page 9 THE BITTER TRUTH ABOUT CHILDHOOD DIABETES MoF: Accept or reject,don’t ignore Cybersecurity as a default setting SPOTLIGHT Follow us on Twitter & Facebook. App available on App Store & Play Store WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM VOL XX NO. 04 A LITERARY ESCAPE AHMEDABAD 22 Pages, `12 FINANCIAL EXPRESS ON SUNDAY SUNDAY, JUNE 29, 2025 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 , Book lovers are coming together to uncover the joy of reading for leisure Page 5 READ TO LEAD H Y D E R A B A D , K O C H I , K O L K A T A , ● From Ajay Devgn to Yuvraj Singh, stars entering alco-bev biz KUNAL DOLEY New Delhi, June 28 WHAT DOES Ajay Devgn, Yuvraj Singh and Kevin Pietersen have in common? Well, these well-known figures,besides being the masters in theirownright,haverecentlystarted their liquor brands to grab a slice of the$52.4-billionalco-bevindustryin IN HIGH SPIRITS ■ In 2024, Cartel Bros launched The GlenWalk, in collaboration with actor ■ Yuvraj Singh is co-founder of FINO, a Sanjay Dutt premium tequila brand, that made its way into India after launching in the US ■ Kevin Pietersen ■ Ajay Devgn has partnered with has become an investor & brand ambassador for luxury spirits house Cartel Bros to launch premium single-malt 'The GlenJourneys Pioneer Edition' India.“Venturing into the world of tequila was a very intentional move for me—one driven by both passion and purpose,” said former cricketer Ardent Alcobev Yuvraj Singh, co-founder of FINO, a premiumtequilabrandthatrecently madeitswayintoIndiaafterofficially launching in the US. Singh is not MERGER NORMS UNDER COMPANIES ACT MAY EASE ■ LEISURE, P6 Old script, new story Urdu poetry still inspires people. While finding a sher or shayar can be an issue, some platforms are giving a renewed push to a tradition in crisis Monsoonsessiontosee heavyeconomicagenda ● Insolvency, insurance, I-T Bills likely to be taken up ■ WORDS WORTH, P4 The unpredictable skies PRASANTA SAHU New Delhi, June 28 An honest take on climate science and its challenges DII equity inflows surge 49% in H1 2025 69,176* Jun-25 May-25 28,228 Apr-25 Mar-25 Feb-25 may be taken up if the select committee report is tabled in time ■ Government may also introduce amendments to Companies Act, 2013; call yet to be taken ■ MCA has proposed widening fast-track mergers to ease biz processes ■ Monsoon session scheduled from July 21 to Aug 12 ■ IBC amendments likely to be introduced to speed up resolution of stressed and bankrupt companies Select Committee, that legislation could also be taken up for passage in thesamesession,thesourceadded.A callisyettobetakenonwhethertotry andcarryoutcertainamendmentsin the Companies Act,2013 also in the session,the source said. TheMinistryofCorporateAffairs (MCA) had earlier proposed changes to the Companies Act with a view to widening the scope of “fast-track mergers”underthe Section 233. Continued on Page 2 Shukla’s space sojourn marks newera: Modi N E W D E L H I , P U N E PRESS TRUST OF INDIA New Delhi, June 28 THE 'BHARAT MATA ki Jai' slogan reverberated on the International Space Station as Prime Minister NarendraModitoldastronautShubhanshu Shukla that his space travel marked the beginning of a new era and was the first step towards Mission Gaganyaan,India's own human spaceflightproject. “Shubhanshu, today you are the farthest from the land of India,but the closest to the hearts of every Indian,”the prime minister told Shukla in an interaction through a video link from the International Space Station, which is orbiting the earth at an altitude of 400 km. Modi said Shukla’s name carries the word ‘shubh’ (auspicious), and that his journey marked the auspicious beginning of a newera. ‘BharatMatakijai’chantfilledup thespacestationastheprimeministerraisedtheslogantowardstheend of the 18-minute conversation, whichwas reciprocated byShukla. Shukla told the PM that his space sojournwas“notmyjourneyalone but also ourcountry’s”. PRESS TRUST OF INDIA New Delhi, June 28 SHUBHANSHU SHUKLA, INDIAN ASTRONAUT Not my journey alone but also our country’s Continued on Page 2 Senate draft reduces remittance tax to 1% FE BUREAU New Delhi, June 28 IN WHAT COULD be a significant relief for non-resident Indians (NRIs), the latest draft from the US Senate has reduced the proposed remittance transfer tax to 1%, down from the earlier 3.5%. Crucially, the Senate draft exempts transfers made from accounts held at banks and other financial institutions, as well as transfers made via debit and credit cards issued in the US.“This should come as a huge relief to the NRI community in the US as they will not besubjectto thisremittancetax if the remittances are made through accounts held with designated US banks and financial institutions orfundedvia debit orcredit cards issued in the US,” said Lloyd Pinto,partner,US tax,GrantThornton Bharat. According to the draft, the remittance transfer tax will apply only when the sender uses cash, a money order, a cashier’s check, or similar physical instruments to initiate the transfer. Continued on Page 2 Monsoon to cover entire country in two days THE IMD’S ANNOUNCEMENT on Saturday that southwest monsoon is likely to cover the entire country in the next two days will give boost to planting of kharif crops and will replenish ALL INDIA AREA WEIGHTED RAINFALL (mm) reservoirs, reports Sandip Das. In the first three weeks of the current month, overall sowing of kharif crops has been 10% above the normal area at 13.78 million hectare. Actual Normal % departure 162.6 149.8 8.6 State-wise rainfall (%) against benchmark J&K Punjab 8 Ladakh 292 Deficient (-59 to -20%) Normal (-19 to 19%) Excess (20 to 59%) Large excess (60% or more) Himachal Pradesh 6 Meghalaya -44 Uttarakhand 9 Sikkim -33 UP -3 Bihar 19 Haryana 19 PARAG JAIN, ONE of the brains behind the meticulous planning of ‘Operation Sindoor’, has been appointed as the new chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), according to an official order issued on Saturday. The two-year tenure of Jain, an Indian Police Service officer from the 1989 batch of the Punjab cadre, officially begins on July 1. He takes overfromRaviSinha,whoretireson June 30. Before this, Jain was the head of the Aviation Research Centre, an organisation that deals with aerial surveillance, SIGINT operations,photo reconnaissance flights (PHOTINT), monitoring of borders and imagery intelligence (IMINT). Continued on Page 2 alone.Agrowing number ofA-listers is entering the liquor business in India and shaking up the market. In April, actor Ajay Devgn part- nered with luxury spirits house Cartel Bros to launch‘The GlenJourneys PioneerEdition’,apremium21-yearold highland single malt scotch whiskythatwillbeavailablethrough select travel retail channels worldwide. “Bringing The GlenJourneys 21-year-old highland single malt to lifehasbeenajourneyofpassionand precision,” said Devgn, who has becomeaninvestorinCartelBros, the company that launched another Scotch whisky brand,The GlenWalk, last year in collaboration with actor SanjayDutt. Rainfall for June 1 – 28, 2025 ParagJain appointed as new RAWchief Rajasthan 152 Arunachal Pradesh -38 Assam -32 -30 Nagaland MP -3 48 Gujarat 127 Goa NA Karnataka 13 3 Maharashtra 10 Jharkhand 80 Chhattisgarh -24 AP -28 Mizoram -17 Tripura NA Gangetic West Bengal 2 Telangana -27 Tamil Nadu Lakshadweep -32 Manipur -27 Odisha 20 Kerala -1 Source: IMD. Benchmark: Long period average Andaman & Nicobar Islands 35 Continued on Page 2 Skoda-VW India growth plan hits market share ceiling Total PVs sold 1.52 1.45 1.17 2.15 2.41 2.08 2.02 4,301,848 1.91 4,218,746 Car sales in units Volkswagen Skoda 100,000 VW-Skoda market share (%) 60,000 40,000 20,000 0 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 the Volkswagen Polo, Vento, and Ameo,leading to a period of declining sales. Combined sales of Skoda and Volkswagen dropped from 3,890,114 80,000 3,069,499 SKODA AUTO VOLKSWAGEN India’s ambitious India 2.0 project, initiated in FY19 with an investment of 1 billion euros by the Volkswagen Group, appears to be losing momentum.Despitelaunchingfive newmodels aimed at boosting sales andgainingmarketshare,thegroup has managed to secure just a 2% share of the passenger vehicle marketinFY25,farfromitsoriginalgoal of 5% by2025. The project was envisioned as a comprehensive relaunch of the group’s operations in India, with Skoda leading the charge. It began withasignificantphase-outofolder modelssuchastheSkodaRapidand HITTING ROADBLOCK 2,711,457 VIKRAM CHAUDHARY New Delhi, June 28 2,775,679 THE CENTRE has extended the tenure of CBDT chairman Ravi Agrawal by one year, till June 2026. The 1988-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer was supposed to retire on June 30. ■ New Income Tax Bill 3,377,436 Centre extends CBDT chief RaviAgrawal's tenure by one year Source: BSE THE UPCOMING MONSOON session of Parliament will have a heavy economic agenda,aimed at giving a push to investments and value creation in the economy.The Insurance (Amendment)Billthatseekstoallow 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) and composite licensing,and a clutch of amendments to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016,designed to expedite the pace ofresolutionofstressedassets,areset to be tabled in the House for consideration and passing,according to an official source. Besides,dependingonthetabling of a report on the new simplified Income Tax Bill by the Parliament's KEY REFORMS ON THE CARDS 3,287,965 SOFTBANK-BACKED Meesho has received shareholders' approval to raise up to `4,250 crore through an initial public offering (IPO), according to the company's regulatory filing. Jan-25 H1-2025 H1-2024 H1-2023 H1-2022 H1-2021 -2,925 86,568 37,586 64,029 231,967 87,744 H1-2020 67,642 DII equity inflows in ` crore 86,592 DII equity inflows in ` crore 353,254* investors offloaded shares worth `76,826 crore ($8.9 billion) in H1 2025. Despite these, benchmark indices recorded gains of up to 8.43% over the same period. Compiled by Kishor Kadam 237,032 DOMESTIC INSTITUTIONAL investors (DIIs) invested `3.53 lakh crore in Indian equity markets during January–June 2025, marking a 49%rise, compared to `2.37 lakh crore in the same period last year. Notably, DII inflows in the first half (H1) of 2025 accounted for over twothirds of the `5.26 lakh crore invested throughout 2024.In contrast, foreign portfolio Meesho gets nod to raise `4,250 cr through IPO M U M B A I , Celebs raising the bar with own liquor brands WHAT'S INSIDE *up to June 27 L U C K N O W , FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 62,716 units in FY18 to 31,759 in FY21.InJune2021,Skodalaunched the Kushaq,amidsizeSUV,marking the first new model under the India 2.0 umbrella.Volkswagen followed with the Taigun SUV in September 2021. These launches led to a revival, with combined sales reboundingto65,863unitsinFY22. The momentum continued into FY23 with the introduction of two midsize sedans, the Skoda Slavia in FebruaryandtheVolkswagenVirtus inJune.Theseadditionshelpedpush sales up by 42% that year,reaching 93,595 units. However, the upward trajectory did not last. In FY24, sales declined to 87,719 units,followed bya slight furtherdip to 87,098units in FY25. This resulted in a market share of just 2.02% out of the total 4.3 million passenger vehicles sold in FY25, essentially returning the brand to where it stood at the start of the project,when it held a 1.91% share in FY18. Automotive analysts pointto thehighlycompetitive passenger vehicle market and a mis- match between product design and localexpectations askeyreasonsfor the slowdown. Last year, Skoda Auto CEO Klaus Zellmer acknowledged that their cars may have been “over-engineered”forthe Indian market,leading to higher price tags that weakened their competitive edge. “We build a car according to our own expectations.They tend to be overengineered. And that comes at a price tag … that weakens your competitiveposition,”Zellmersaid,while noting that changes were being made. Some signs of improvement have emerged. The Skoda Kylaq, a sub-4 metre SUVlaunchedon January27,2025,has performed well. Continued on Page 2 Ahmedabad