COMPANIES | PAGE 4 COMPANIES | PAGE 4 OpenAI offers one-year free ChatGPTGo access in India INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 15 Lower price points gaining traction: Bata India MD KOLKATA, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2025 Microsoft-OpenAI deal values latter at $500 bn FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL 34 NO. 301, 26 PAGES, `12 P U B L I S H E D F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , B E N G A L U R U , C H A N D I G A R H , C H E N N A I , H Y D E R A B A D , K O C H I , K O L K ATA , L U C K N O W, M U M B A I , N E W D E L H I , P U N E SENSEX: 84,628.16 ▼ 150.68 NIFTY: 25,936.20 ▼ 29.85 NIKKEI 225: 50,219.18 ▼ 293.14 HANG SENG: 26,346.14 ▼ 87.56 `/$: 88.27 ▼ 0.02 `/€: 102.88 ▼ 0.19 BRENT: $64.86 ▼ $0.76 GOLD: `120,909 ▼ `5,945 IN THE NEWS Amazon India to lay off 800-1,000 as part of global rejig AMAZON INDIA IS set to lay off 8001,000 employees as part of a global restructuring plan, according to sources familiar with the matter, reports Anees Hussain. The move is part of a reduction of 14,000 corporate roles announced by Amazon. ■ PAGE 21 Amid regulatory fallout, HDFC Bank benches execs HDFC BANK HAS placed two senior executives on gardening leave amid an internal probe into the alleged mis-selling of Credit Suisse’s Additional Tier 1 bonds, according to Bloomberg, reports fe Bureau. ■ PAGE 6 RBI rejects Jana SFB’s universal bank application JANASMALL FINANCE Bank on Tuesday said the Reserve Bank of India has returned its application to become a universal bank due to nonfulfilment of criteria, reports PTI. Earlier this year, the RBI granted an in-principle nod to AU Small Finance Bank to become a universal bank over a defined timeline. ■ PAGE 6 MAJORITYVOTEAGAINSTREAPPOINTMENTOFRATANTATACONFIDANT Mistry loses Tata Trusts battle; legal war looms URVI MALVANIA Mumbai, October 28 MEHLI MISTRY, REGARDED as one of Ratan Tata’s long-time confidants,lost his bid to reappointment on Tuesday after a majority of trustees voted againsthiscontinuationonthe boards of Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trusts, the twoprincipalentitiesthatalong with other group trusts hold a combined 66% stake in Tata Sons, the Tata Group’s holding company. Following a circular resolution last week »INSIDE« in which three of the six EDITORIAL: WIDENING trustees ‘TRUST’ opposed his DEFICIT reappointment, PAGE 8 Mistry is poised to exit the Tata Trusts board. The latest crisis potentially plunges the philanthropic entities that control Tata Sons into turmoil, with the outgoing trustee almost certain to challenge the move in court. Tata Trusts has the authority to appoint a third of the holding company’s board as well as veto major decisions. This ownership structure has become the primary lever in an ongoing power struggle over control of the Tata Group. Continued on Page 15 Against Noel Tata Venu Srinivasan Vijay Singh For Pramit Jhaveri Darius Khambata Jehangir HC Jehangir Mehli Mistry Noel wants to be RatanTata within a year: Mistry camp FE BUREAU New Delhi, October 28 THE OUTCOME OF the Tata Trusts voting process hasn’t takentheMehliMistrycampby surprise as it was on expected lines and is being seen as a “directrevenge”bytheotherfaction for not approving Trustee VijaySingh’scontinuanceonthe Tata Sons Board. Singh had to quitastheproposalwasrejected byfourof the trustees. Sources close to the Mistry camp saidwhile a future course of action has not been finalised as yet, the crux of the problem was Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata’s “hurry” to acquire the “supreme status” that Ratan Tatagotafteryearsofhardwork at the top. Ratan Tata’s involvement in the Tata Trusts began in 1965 when he was inducted as a Trustee for the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT). By 1989, he became chairman of the Sir RatanTataTrust,andlater,ofthe Sir Dorabji Tata Trust in 1993. The late chairman-emeritus of the Tata Group achieved an exalted status only after those manyyears of providing strong leadership.But his half-brother wants to be in that position in just ayear,the sources said. Asked to elaborate, the sources said all that the four trustees wanted was “more respect and the courtesyof gettinginformationonissuesconcerning Tata Sons”. But those requests were denied as the chairman and the vice-chairman (Venu Srinivasan) wanted tokeepeverythingclosetotheir chest. Continued on Page 15 ● ASHWINI VAISHNAW, ELECTRONICS AND IT MINISTER ‘Developing entire setup for electronics manufacturing’ AdayaftertheCentreapproved sevenprojectsworth`5,532 croreundertheelectronicscomponentmanufacturingscheme, ElectronicsandITMinisterAshwiniVaishnawtellsRishi Rajthatthenextstep willentaildesigning andmanufacturing equipmentandmaterialsusedinelectronics production.Excerpts: In domestic manufacturing, the beginning was made with smartphones,then to IThardware,semiconductors,AI missionandnowelectronicscomponents manufacturing. What'snextontheagenda? Inelectronicsmanufacturing,wehavefollowedaclear andsteadystrategy.Webegan withmanufacturingfinished productsinIndia.Thishelped usbuildscaleandskills.Next, wemovedtomodulesand components.Weareworking ondesigningandmanufactur- ingequipmentusedinelectronicsproduction.Next,we willgoformanufacturing materialsusedinelectronics production.Stepbystep,weare developingtheentire ecosystemforelectronics manufacturingin India.Forthesemiconductorecosystem, globalleadersinchemicalsandspecialtygases areplanningtosetupoperationsinIndia. & Any thoughts on extending smartphone PLI beyond 2026? Today,Indiaisthe second-largestmobile phonemanufacturer intheworld.In thelast11 years,our mobile phone productionhas grown29times,reaching nearly`5.5lakhcrore.Exports haverisen131times,crossing `2lakhcrore.IntheJuly-Septemberquarter,weexported 4.9millioniPhones.Thisisa newrecord.Theindustryisin constantdialoguewithusand wevaluetheirfeedback. The US Administration has turned very protectionist & China also keeps putting hurdles in our path. How do you view these developments in our quest to emerge as a hub for global electronics manufacturing? Theworldiswitnessingamajorrealignment ofsupplychains.Indiahas emergedasastable andtrustedpartneramidglobal uncertainties. Continued on Page 7 IIPsteady at 4% in Sept TradingatMCX Newmodelfor hitbyglitch NHAI bidding MANUFACTURING, SUPPORTED by the surge in demand for consumer goods due to festive season and GST cuts, enabled industrial growth for September to settle at 4% despite sharp contraction seen in mining, reports Mukesh Jagota. ■ PAGE 2 TRADING AT MCX, which starts at 9:00 am daily, was delayed by more than four hours on Tuesday due to a technical issue. Operations were shifted to the Disaster Recovery site and trading started at 1.25pm,a release by the exchange said. ■ PAGE 6 THE CENTRE is working on a new model for highway development that will further reduce the risk for private developers and will, in a couple of days, unveil an overhauled concession model for building roads, reports Mukesh Jagota. ■ PAGE 2 Trust an expert who knows when to switch the tune Flexi Cap Fund^ for agility Scan to know more or contact your MFD/RIA Benefits of investing in Flexi Cap Fund 1 Flexibility to adjust Market Cap allocation 2 Managed by experts with experience across market cycles 3 Flexible approach helps mitigate risk over the long term ^An open ended dynamic equity scheme investing across large cap, mid cap & small cap stocks. 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