THE BIG IDEA | PAGE 20 COMPANIES | PAGE 4 Dehaat: Sowing seeds of growth INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 3 ‘Leaving Nestlé stronger, agile and future-ready’ MUMBAI, MONDAY, JULY 28, 2025 Japan PM Ishiba signals he won’t step down FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL LXV NO. 177, 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 IN THE NEWS US tariff deadline of Aug 1 is firm, says Lutnick US COMMERCE SECRETARY Howard Lutnick on Sunday reaffirmed that the Trump administration’s August 1 deadline for imposing new tariffs on key trading partners, including the European Union, is nonnegotiable, warning that customs officials will begin collecting duties from that date. "So no extensions, no more grace periods. August 1, the tariffs are set. They'll go into place. Customs will start collecting the money, and off we go," Lutnick told Fox News on Sunday, signalling the administration’s firm stance on the trade front. ■ PAGE 3 Uneven monsoon: Rain deficits hit 33% of districts Close to halfway through the monsoon season (June–Sept), a third of the 738 districts have received ‘deficient’ rainfall, even as overall rainfall is 8% above the benchmark, or in the ‘above normal’ category, reports Sandip Das ■ PAGE 2 Sebi’s true-to-label proposal divides fund industry Sebi latest proposal to cap the overlap between thematic/sectoral schemes and other equity schemes at 50%, in a bid to promote true-to-label investing, has divided the industry. Some players believe the proposed limit is too low and should be increased, reports Ananya Grover ■ PAGE 2 FE S P EC I A L S ■ BRANDWAGON, P9 Pension funds,global PEs play TCS to let go 2% of safe in private credit space ABOUT12,000 EMPLOYEESTO BEAFFECTED workforce in FY26 ● The move comes amidAI-led transformation FE BUREAU New Delhi, July 27 THE COUNTRY'S LARGEST IT services provider, Tata Consultancy Services,will let go of 2% of its global workforce, which will be about 12,260 employees, over the next year,as it is undertaking a major restructuring exercise aimed at becoming a more agile and future-ready organisation. The move,whichwill affect employees primarily in the middle and senior levels, will be implemented over the course of FY26.TCS had a total employee base of 613,069 at the end of the June quarter. ThecompanysaidinastatementonSundaythatitisundertakingawide-rangingtransformation to align itself with changing technological and businessimperatives.“TCSison STRATEGIC SHIFT ■ The move will affect employees primarily in the middle and senior levels ■ TCS had a total employee base of 613,069 ■ The company is undertaking a wideranging transformation to align itself with changing tech and business imperatives ■ As part of the transition, TCS has launched several reskilling and redeployment programmes at the end of the June quarter ■ The transition is being planned carefully to ensure it does not affect delivery of services to clients a journey to become a futurereadyorganisation,”itsaid.“This includes strategic initiatives on multiple fronts, including investing in new-tech areas, entering new markets, deployingAIatscaleforourclientsand ourselves, deepening our partnerships, creating next-gen infrastructure and realigning ourworkforce model.” As part of this transition, TCS has launched several reskilling and redeployment programmes. However, it acknowledged that not all roles could be absorbed under the new operating structure. Continued on Page 5 Outlet malls gain ground asvalue retail accelerates VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO Mumbai, July 27 FOR SHOPPERS IN Mumbai seekingyear-rounddiscountson big brands,Ambedkar Road in Parelhaslongbeenthepreferred destination. Delhi has its fair shareofbargainhuntinghavens, from Chattarpur to Karol Bagh, GTBNagartoLaxmiNagar. While high streets have traditionally attracted factory outletsofbigbrandsfromNike to Puma, Adidas to Calvin Klein,there is a new retail concept that is catching the attention of mall developers and retailers alike: Outlet malls. At least eight to ten such outletmalls,whichareone-stop shopping destinations for bargain hunters, are coming up BARGAIN BOOM ■ The area for each mall is around 300,000600,000 sq ft ■ High streets ■ Atleast8-10outlet malls,one-stopshopping destinations,comingup acrossthecountry ■ These malls will house different brands across clothing, footwear and accessories acrossthecountry,accordingto retailers and mall developers that FE spoke to. These malls will typicallyhouse around 80100 different brands across clothing, footwear and accessories, offering 50-70% dis- within cities are also increasingly becoming chaotic and crowded countsyear-round.The area for each mall is around 300,000600,000sqft,withtherent(per sq ft for retailers) being a tenth of that in regularmalls. Continued on Page 11 Go deep by going small HC stays Pune Stateslikely RelianceGroup court order in liftedQ1capex chartsitsnext Kirloskar case bysolid30% phaseofgrowth ■ PERSONAL FINANCE, P7 A DIVISION BENCH of The Bombay High Court has temporarily stayed a January 9, 2025, order by the Pune District Court in the ongoing trademark dispute within the Kirloskar family. Nestlé’s branded retail points face a plethora of new challengers Multi-caps for the long haul A five-year horizon allows the strategy to ride out market whipsaws ■ PAGE 5 STATES’ CAPITAL EXPENDITURE likely rose by a solid 30% in April–June of the current financial year, reflecting the broader public capex push to support economic activity amid global uncertainties. ■ PAGE 2 ANIL AMBANI'S RELIANCE Group will focus on defence, power and clean energy sectors to chart the next phase of growth that will train resources on innovation, it said on Sunday. ■ PAGE 5 GenAI courses ride the next wave in tech learning Edtech firms have a growing clientele: 6- to 15-year-olds S SHANTHI Bengaluru, July 27 SIX-YEAR-OLD VEDAANT AND his 12-year-old sister spend an hour on their tablets every evening after school. Unlike some of their peers, they are glued to artificial intelligence and generative AI classes. Codingisnolongerthegold standardwhenitcomestotech learning for children. In what appears to be the next wave in edtech, AI, Gen AI, and machine learning courses are seeing a spike in interest among the 6-15 age group. And edtech startups are quickly stepping up to meet this demand. Companies like BrightCHAMPS, eduSeed, Smart Tech Junior, Codingal, FUTURE BUILDERS ■ Companies like BrightCHAMPS, eduSeed, Smart Tech Junior, Codingal, Codevidhya and GeSetLearn are offering structured programmes designed specifically for younger learners ■ The pricing typically ranges between `250 and `600 per session, depending on whether the class is a group session or a one-on-one Codevidhya and GeSetLearn are offering structured programmes designed specifically for younger learners. Thecurriculumoftenbegins with simple concepts like sequencing and pattern recognition for kindergarteners and The current favourite among both parents and students is the Gen AI course ■ 50% of parents feel that traditional school education alone doesn’t sufficiently prepare children for the future A third of parents globally believe AI/ML and robotics will be the most important skills for kids over the next decade ■ graduallymovestoblock-based coding,machinelearningbasics and even ethical aspects of AI forolderchildren. The pricing typically ranges between `250 and `600 per session, depending onwhetherthe class is a group session or a one-on-one, and most courses run over 30 to 150 one-hour sessions. Thecurrentfavouriteamong bothparentsandstudentsisthe generativeAIcourse. Continued on Page 5 RAGHAVENDRA KAMATH & MAHESH NAYAK Mumbai, July 27 RECENTLY, WHEN VISHESH Shrivastav,managing director, investment (India), Temasek, said the Singapore stateowned investor would look at the Indian private credit marketwhen it matures and offers opportunities with the right risk-reward balance,not many were surprised in the private debt circles. According to senior executives in the segment, beyond limited deals in the $200–300 million range that global funds find attractive, tough debt resolution processes have made large LOCAL ISSUES ■ Longer debt resolution process ■ CPPIB investing through local partners Piramal, Kotak ■ Lower dollar returns due to hedging costs The IBC framework has been a mixed bag, and resolution timelines have been long—factors that affect how attractive the market appears to global funds ■ Pacific platform PE leverage is not allowed in India, and once that changes, deal activity could pick up significantly. A large portion of global private credit deals are sponsor-backed investors, especially pension funds and global PE funds, less enthusiastic about India’s private debt space. “Large deals here are small. More importantly, the resolution process is not easy,which keeps global LPs (limited part- ners) away…GPs (general partners) are okay with it as their risk appetite is high,” said a former CPPIB executive. The executive agrees with Temasek’s Shrivastav that even if a deal offers 18–19% returns in rupee terms, post- ■ KKR doing deals from Asia ■ forex and hedging costs shave off about 5%,reducing dollar returns to around 12–13%. “12% deals are available in Europe and the US… why would they need to come to India?” he said. Rupeefindsfairvalue,buttrailspeers MAHESH NAYAK Mumbai, July 27 THE INDIAN RUPEE (INR) has entered a phase of recalibrated valuation, as the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) June 2025 bulletin reports a Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER) of 100.36, huge shift from 105.28 in March and 101.12 in May. A REER close to 100 signals that the rupee has transitioned from an overvalued zone into fair value territory. REER is a weighted index that compares a country’s currency against a basket of 40 MAKING ADJUSTMENTS Taiwanese Dollar 12.5 South Korean Won 5.1 4.9 4.7 Malaysian Ringgit Thai Baht Singapore Dollar Indian Rupee -1.2 foreign currencies, adjusted for inflation. Despite this adjustment, the rupee has emerged as the worst-performing currency among its Asian peers, shedding 1.23% since the begin- 6.4 (FY26 YTD return in %) Source: Bloomberg ning of April and 1.06% since January 2025. The Hong Kong dollar is the only other currency apart from the rupee that has lost this financial year. Meanwhile, on Friday, the rupee continued to remain weak for the eight consecutive session to end at a one month low of `86.52 against the US dollar. From July 16 to July 25,the rupee lost 58 paise or 0.7% due to consistent outflow of foreign funds from the domestic capital market. Currency strategists suggest this under-performance has helped maintain the rupee's fairvaluation in global terms.RBI’s tactical intervention in the forward market has played a central role. Continued on Page 11