COMPANIES | PAGE 4 ECONOMY | PAGE 2 BACK PAGE | PAGE 20 Tata Motors gives Tiago a facelift Sitharaman hints at GSTslab reduction Stand byAdani report, says Hindenburg founder LUCKNOW, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2025 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL 18 NO. 56, 44 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: 78,583.81 ▲ 1,397.07 NIFTY: 23,739.25 ▲ 378.20 NIKKEI 225: 38,798.37 ▲ 278.28 HANG SENG: 20,789.96 ▲ 572.70 `/$: 87.08 ▲ 0.12 `/€: 90.03 ▼ 0.84 BRENT: $74.81 ▼ $1.15 GOLD: `82,792 ▲ `479 ■ PAGE 4 No HC relief for Saluja; Religare AGM on Feb 7 DENYING RELIEF TO Rashmi Saluja, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to further delay the annual general meeting of Religare Enterprises, scheduled to be held this Friday. ■ PAGE 7 FE S P E C I A L S 86 77,186 Co-founder & CEO, Talented, talks about challenging the ad biz ■ BRANDWAGON, P9 Will a premium cap help seniors? Irdai decision for health insurance policies covering the elderly offers relief amid inflation ■ EXPLAINER, P9 Currency boost Dollar vs rupee 87.0 87.076 87.1 Top Sensex contributors (%) 87.2 87.3 HDFC Bank 19.62 3.28 Reliance Ind Reliance Ind 3.38 Top Sensex gainers (%) 17.02 L&T 11.25 Infosys 7.87 ICICI Bank 6.80 87.195 (Inverted scale) Feb 3 (close) 0.14% Feb 4 (close) CRUDE OIL PRICES fell on Tuesdayas US tariffs on China took effect and Beijing retaliated with its own measures, heightening trade war fears, while US President Donald out that the uncertaintyin the market will continue, thanks to Trump’s tariff flip-flops. “Until Trump makes up his mind, the markets will continue to be on tenter- Trump delayed steep levies on Canada and Mexico for a month. US West Texas Intermediate(WTI)crudewasdown $2.03, or 2.77%, at $71.13 a barrel,while Brent futures lost hooks,”Bhat said. On Tuesday, China reacted tothe10%tariffslappedonits goods with a slew of measures against American companies such as Google and others.The Chinatargets Google,other USfirmsin titfortat REUTERS Beijing, February 4 White House, meanwhile, has said Trump will speak to his ChinesecounterpartXiJinping in a“couple of days”. CHINA ANNOUNCED A wide range of measures on Tuesday targeting US businesses including Google,farm equipment makers and the ownerof fashion brand Calvin Klein, minutesafternewUStariffson Chinese goods took effect. Beijing also slapped tariffs on US products such as coal,oil and some autos in a rapid response to the new duties on Chinese goods imposed by US PresidentDonaldTrump,escalating trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies. China’sstateadministration for market regulation said Googlewassuspectedofviolating the country’s anti-monopolylawandaninvestigationwas initiatedinaccordancewiththe law. It did provide further details on the investigation or on what it alleged Google had done to breach the law. Google products such as its search engine are blocked in China and its revenue from thereisabout1%ofglobalsales. Continued on Page 6 Continued on Page 6 Seeing a drop Brent crude prices ($ per barrel) 76.0 75.5 75.59 75.0 74.5 74.35 74.0 73.5 9 am IST 8 pm IST Source: Bloomberg Crude oil prices fall on trade clash $1.41, or 1.86%, to $74.55. Ongoing trade tensions betweentheUSandChinamay dampen demand for oil,leading to continued pressure on prices. —REUTERS Traipaveswayfor fresh`18K-cr5G spectrumauction ● Asks DoT to add 37-40 GHz band in next round JATIN GROVER New Delhi, February 4 THE TELECOM REGULATORY Authority of India (Trai) has given its go-ahead for the auction of `17,940-crore new 5G spectrum in the 37-40 GHz band in all 22 circles.The band, inthemillimetrewave,iscrucial for capacity additions by telecom operators and is ideal for high-density areas where highspeed connectivityis required. A total of 3,000 MHz spectrumpercircleisavailableinthe 37-40 GHz band.Trai has recommended that the department of telecommunications (DoT) bring the spectrum in the forthcoming auctions and provideittotelecomoperatorsfora validityof 20years. Among the circles, the re- BANDWIDTH 3,000 MHz per circle available in 37-40 GHz band `76 lakh per MHz reserve price for Delhi circle `67 lakh per MHz reserve price for Mumbai circle Retail investors set to join algo trading fromAugust THE SECURITIES AND Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has allowed the participation of retail investors in algorithmic trading starting August for faster order exe- cution and improved liquidity, reports Ananya Grover. Currently, only institutional investors are allowed to use the pre-defined programmes for trading. ■ PAGE 7 DPIIT SECRETARY The fund will address the needs of startups operating in the space between deep tech and service delivery MUKESH JAGOTA New Delhi, February 4 THE NEW `10,000-CRORE Fund of Funds Scheme (FFS) for startupsannouncedintheBudgetwillfocusonmanufacturing and high-tech sectors, rather thanmereservicedeliveryunits. The scheme will also look to mobiliseaggregatecapitalof`2 lakh crore as equity and debt, Amardeep Singh Bhatia, secretary in the department for promotionofindustryandinternal trade (DPIIT),said onTuesday. The funds supported bythe extant FFS scheme, launched in 2016, have received commitments of more than `91,000 crore, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said in the Budget speech. The new FFS would not be topping up the currentlyoper- SANJIV, DPIIT JOINT SECRETARY We will frame the scheme in such a way that fund mobilisation will be 20 times size of Fund of Funds scheme ational scheme, which funds typically serves service delivery startups. “It would be an entirelydifferentfundthatwill address the needs of startups that operate in the space between deep tech and service delivery,"Bhatia said. The new FFS will be looking beyondequitysupportforthese startups and seek to mobilise debt,and will have a horizon of more than 10years,he said. Sebi-registered venture capital funds and other categoryI and II alternative investment funds (AIFs) have already infused `21,700 crore in 1,180 startups, aided by the existing FFS. Continued on Page 6 Chinese fast-fashion brand’s app sees 10,000 downloads in four days Markets giveTrent a dressing down as Shein re-enters India VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO Mumbai, February 4 FAST-FASHION FORWARD TWO OF THE country's biggest conglomerates — Reliance and Tata — will face off in thevalue fashion market following the relaunch of Shein in India after five years. The Chinese fast-fashion brand, ranked among the world’s largest fashion retailers,with sales in excess of $30 billion, staged a low-profile comeback last weekend in Mumbai,Thane,NaviMumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru in partnership with Reliance Retail. The comeback was via a website and app, crossing 10,000 downloads within four days of relaunch on Google Playstore ■ The banned Shein app has made a comeback through a partnership with Reliance ■ NextGen Fast Fashion, which will make, market & distribute Shein products here, to have no equity ownership of Shein Chinese fast-fashion brand among the biggest in world with over $30-billion sales ■ and prompting shares of rival Trent to see its biggest singledayfall — 6.2% on the BSE and 6.4% on the NSE — in three months on Tuesday. Trentwas also the top loser on the Nifty50 Index during the day as investors remained nervous of heightened competition in the $65-billion value fashion market in India. This segment has been the fastest-growing over the last few years at 12-15% per annum,say experts,as players such as Trent's Zudio, Shop- validity of spectrum period Continued on Page 6 AMARDEEP SINGH BHATIA, long-termfinance tobepriority 20 years servepricefortheDelhicirclein thespectrumbandhasbeenset thehighestat`76lakhperMHz, followedbytheMumbaicircleat `67 lakh per MHz, the Maharashtra circle at `54 lakh per MHz, and the Andhra Pradesh circle at `49 lakh perMHz. NewFund of Funds for startups to target `2Lcr ● Deep-tech, ‘Large ad agencies have started to look homogenous’ 78,583 (1.81%) Tata Motors DOMESTIC EQUITYAND currency markets made a sharp turnaround on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump deferred the tariffs slapped on Mexico and Canada. The Sensex surged 1,397.07 points,or 1.81%, to close at 78,583.81, while the Nifty jumped 378.20 points, or 1.62%, to 23,739.25 — largest gains for both the benchmarks in a month. The rupee, which had slumped to a new record low on Monday,also clocked gains, rising 12 paise to close at 87.076 against the dollar. Besides the Trump factor, positive comments from S&P on the Budget, along with expectations of liquidity easing in the upcoming RBI monetary policy, also boosted the sentiment. “The Budget will boost growth over the next few years through domestic demand,driven bytax cuts for households,” the global rating agency said on Tuesday. RBI is set to announce its bimonthly policy on Friday amid hopes of a rate cut. Deepak Shenoy,CEO,Capitalmind, and UR Bhat, director,Alphaniti Fintech,pointed Feb 4 (close) 1,397 points Feb 3 (close) lose) 3.50 ANANYA GROVER, ANUPREKSHA JAIN & KISHOR KADAM Mumbai, February 4 Sensex IndusInd Bank FOODS MAJOR NESTLE India will persist with price increases for categories, including coffee due to higher production costs, Suresh Narayanan, chairman & MD of Nestle India, said, reports Raghav Aggarwal. 12 paise on positive cues D-STREET PARTY 3.83 Input costs: Nestle hints at more price hikes in coffee ● Rupee rises Adani Ports BAJAJ FINSERV IS still talking to Germany’s Allianz SE to part ways in their life and general insurance JVs, as the firm seeks greater control of the businesses. “You can have only one captain of the ship,” Sanjiv Bajaj, chairman and MD, Bajaj Finserv told Bloomberg TV. ■ PAGE 7 Bulls play theTrump card 4.76 Talks are on with Allianz on likely JV exits: Sanjiv Bajaj SENSEX,NIFTYCLOCK BIGGESTGAINS INAMONTH ON US PRESIDENT’STARIFFPAUSE L&T IN THE NEWS TRENT Feb 3 `6,134 ■ Tata Group-owned Trent shares tumbled amid fears of heightened rivalry ■ Trent largest player in fast fashion with over 577 Zudio stores across India Feb 4 `5,754.5 (close) pers Stop's Intune,Aditya Birla Retail's Style Up and Reliance Retail'sYousta tap aspirational young consumers and families with trendy garments priced affordably. Continued on Page 6 Lucknow
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