COMPANIES | PAGE 4 ECONOMY | PAGE 2 US desires to advance ties with India: Rubio INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 10 Targeting `16,000-crore capex in FY26: BPCLCMD CHENNAI/KOCHI, THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2025 Netflix sports bet reap rich results in latest qtr FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XLV 221, 24 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: 76,404.99 ▲ 566.63 NIFTY: 23,155.35 ▲ 130.70 NIKKEI 225: 39,646.25 ▲ 618.27 HANG SENG: 19,778.77 ▼ 327.28 `/$: 86.33 ▲ 0.25 `/€: 90.19 ▼ 0.55 BRENT: $79.17 ▼ $0.12 GOLD: `79,765 ▲ `588 H-1B visa norms changes to barely impact Indian IT THE ANTICIPATED CHANGES to the H-1B visa programme under US President Donald Trump’s administration are unlikely to have a significant impact on Indian IT companies, reports Padmini Dhruvaraj. ■ PAGE 4 Relief to Mauritius investors on capital gains IN A MAJOR relief to foreign investors in India from Mauritius, Singapore and Cyprus, the CBDT has clarified that investments from these countries made prior to April 1, 2017 would be eligible for benign or zero capital gains tax. ■ PAGE 2 Govt raises raw jute MSP by 6% to `5,650 per quintal THE CABINET COMMITTEE on economic affairs on Wednesday hiked the minimum support price (MSP) of raw jute by 6% to `5,650/quintal for the 2025-26 marketing season, reports Sandip Das. ■ PAGE 2 FE SPECIAL Recalibrating the fiscal policy The government's primary focus is to reduce the debt-toGDP ratio rather than to trim the fiscal deficit ■ EXPLAINER, P9 memorandum leaves room for bilateral deals ■ Sources said that no action plan has been firmed up yet and decisions would be taken at the appropriate time MUKESH JAGOTA New Delhi, January 22 INDIA IS EVALUATING multiple options to cope with the Trump 2.0 administration's imminent tariff policies, including sector-specific giveand-take arrangements, official sources said here on Wednesday, requesting anonymity. The sources, however, maintained that no action plan has been firmed up yet. Decisions would be taken at the appropriate time, they said, adding that these would be fully on a transactional basis. While President Trump persisted with its aggressive stance on Tuesday, by announcing a 10% tariff on China, government functionaries here saw‘positives’in the America First Trade Policy Memorandum issued by him. Thedocument,theynoted,laid ■ India hasn't yet found a mention in his tariff announcements, except indirectly in his statement regarding BRICS ■ Government functionaries see ‘positives’ in the America First Trade Policy Memorandum issued by Trump ■ India had a merchandise trade surplus of over with the US in FY24 emphasis on bilateral trade agreements,which India could take advantage of. The trade memorandum authorisestheUSTradeRepresentative (USTR) to identify countries with which the world's largest economy can negotiate agreements on a bilateral or sector-specific AI JOBS SURGE HIRING BY CORPORATE India rose to a 12-month high annual rate of 31% in December 2024, in what signalled a surge in job openings in the formal sector, according to data released by foundit Insights Tracker. The latest number also showed an acceleration of hiring activity in recent months, with average July-Decembergrowthcoming in at 12% on year. “The growth is reflected across 22 of the 27 sectors monitored, with consumer electronics, manufacturing, and construction & engineering leading the charge with 60%, 57% and 57% year-on-year, respectively,” foundit said. Moreover, artificial intelligence (AI) jobs have seen exponential growth of 42% in the pasttwoyears.Tobesure,inthe past six years, the number of rolesexpandedfrom40,000to 253,000, growing at an impressive CAGR of 36%. The IT sector remains the biggest driverofAI hiring,with Pythonbeingthemostsought- of the view that India should not be making unilateral offers $35.3 bn IndiaIncDechiring at12-monthhigh MANU KAUSHIK New Delhi, January 22 ■ Trade experts are Consumer Electronics 60 Manufacturing 57 57 Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals 51 Real estate 49 BFSI 37 Rupee rises 25 paise to 86.33/dollar Revenue VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO Mumbai, January 22 THE COUNTRY'S LARGEST consumergoodscompany,HindustanUnilever(HUL),reported a19.5%year-on-yeargrowthin its net profit the »INSIDE« for December URBAN 2024, driven WOES by a one-time WORSEN gain from the FOR HUL divestment of PAGE 4 itsPureitbusiness. Excluding the `509 crore received from the sale of Pureit, HUL's Q3 earnings reflected Q3FY25 (` cr) 15,188 1.4 15,408 Net profit# 2,519 y-o-y % chng 3,001 Ebitda 19.1 0.8 includes exceptional gain; excluding gain, net profit is `2,492 crore Source: Company results # weak demand environment within fast-moving consumer goods(FMCG),analyststracking thecompanysaid.Thecompany indicated the same. In a postresults media briefing, HUL CEO and managing director ROHIT JAWA, CEO & MD, HUL ...demandtrends remained subduedwith continued moderationin urbangrowth whilerural sustainedits recovery RohitJawasaid“FMCGdemand trends remained subdued with continuedmoderationinurban growthwhileruralsustainedits gradual recovery.” Continued on Page 10 Minimalist deal closed HUL ANNOUNCED THE acquisitionofMinimalist, a premium beauty brand, as part of its strategy to expand into the masstige beauty segment. The company also completed the divestment of its Pureit water purification business. Ice-cream demerged HUL has approved a scheme for the demerger of its ice cream division. Shareholders will receive one share of the new ice cream company for every share theyown in HUL. BadloansweighonHDFCBank’sQ3 SACHIN KUMAR Mumbai, January 22 ASSET QUALITY DIPS HDFC BANK ON Wednesday announced a 2% year-onyear rise in net profit to `16,736 crore for the December quarter, impacted by rise in bad loans and slowing growth in advances. The profit was in line with analyst estimates. The private sector bank’s net interest margin remained steady at 3.43% in Q3 from 3.46% in the September quarter. The lender’s net interest income, the difference between interest earned and Net profit Q3FY24 Q3FY25 (` cr) % change Net interest income 8.0 28,470 30,650 Net interest margin (%) 2.2 3.46 3.43 paid, rose 8% y-o-y to `30,650 crore. Shares of the bank closed 1.4% higher at `1,665 apiece on the Bombay Stock CASA ratio (%) 38 34 Gross NPA (%) 1.3 1.4 Exchange, post the earnings announcement. Srinivasan Vaidyanathan, chief financial officer, HDFC Bank said in a post earnings call the bank aims to grow deposits higher than advances. “Our endeavour will be to grow deposits faster than credit in FY26,” Vaidyanathan said. Asset quality dete»INSIDE« riorated as BANK SEES its gross PRE-MERGER non-perCD RATIO IN forming TWOYEARS assets ratio PAGE 6 rose to 1.42% as of December end, compared to 1.36% in the September quarter. Continued on Page 6 ITrallyaids Sensex,Nifty rebound Construction & Engineering 38 Continued on Page 10 Q3FY24 THE RUPEE APPRECIATED 25 paise to close at 86.33 against the US dollar on Wednesday, supported by positive domestic equities and softening of the dollar index, reports PTI. Forex traders said the rupee is likely to witness high volatilitywith a negative bias ahead of key events in the global and domestic economic landscape. ■ PAGE 6 y-o-y growth in Dec 2024 (in %) Telecommunications basis.India and US had,during Trump’s first stint as US President, discussed truncated trade deals. “Theministryofcommerce is speaking to and consulting various ministries on the emerging situation. DEMAND OVERHANG 3,570 ACTION PLAN subdued without one-time gain 3,540 ● Trump’s trade ● Dec qtr largely 16,736 SEBI HAS SOUGHT responses to its 'Small Ticket Systematic Investment Plan' (`250 SIP). Comments and suggestions can be shared by February 6. ■ PAGE 7 India open to deals as US tarifflooms HULprofitup19.5%onPureitsale 16,373 Small-ticket SIPs: Sebi invites comments TOWAITFOR‘SIGNAL’FROMWASHINGTON Source: foundit IN THE NEWS after skill. IT hub Bengaluru leads as the top location for AI talent. Continued on Page 6 ASMARTRALLYininformation technology shares on Wednesday helped the benchmark indices rebound from a sevenmonth low they had hit on Tuesday, reports Kishor Kadam.The rupee’s appreciation against the US dollar also lifted investor sentiment.The Sensexgained566.63pointsto close at 76,404.99 while the Nifty rose 130.70 points close at 23,155.35. ■ PAGE 6 Project Stargate to create more than 100,000 jobs Trumpannounces$500-bn investmentinAIinfrastructure STEVE HOLLAND January 22 US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump on Tuesday announced a private sector investment of upto$500billiontofundinfrastructure for artificial intelligence, aiming to outpace rival nations in the business-critical technology. Trump said that ChatGPT’s creator OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle are planning a joint venture called Stargate, which he said will build data centres and create more than 100,000 jobs intheUnitedStates. Thesecompanies,alongwith otherequitybackersofStargate, havecommitted$100billionfor immediate deployment, with the remaining investment expected to occur over the next fouryears. HIGH ON AI ■ These companies, along with other equity backers of Stargate, have committed ■ Stargate is a joint venture between OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle. The first of the project's data centres is already under construction in Texas $100 billion for immediate deployment ■ SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Oracle chairman Larry Ellison joined Trump at the White House for the launch »INSIDE« INDIA NEED TO ACT FAST ON AI PAGE 24 ■ It was not immediately clear whether the announcement was an update to a previously reported venture by The Information in 2024 EDIT: RACE FOR AI DOMINANCE PAGE 8 SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Oracle chairman Larry Ellison joined Trump at the White TRUMP'S $500-BN AI ODYSSEY PAGE 9 Houseforthelaunch.Thefirstof the project's data centres is already under construction in Texas, Ellison said at the press conference. Twenty such centres, spanning half a million square feet each,will be built,he said.The project could powerAI that analyses electronic health records and helps doctors care fortheirpatients,Ellisonsaid. Continued on Page 6 CHENNAI/KOCHI
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