COMPANIES | PAGE 4 COMPANIES | PAGE 4 RaidsatOlashowrooms forfloutingrules INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 7 UnilevernewCEOsees IndiasalesrevivalinH2 LUCKNOW, SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 2025 Trump threatens Russia over attacks on Ukraine FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL 18 NO. 83, 18 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: 74332.58 ▼ 7.51 NIFTY: 22,552.50 ▲ 7.80 NIKKEI 225: 36,887.17 ▼ 817.76 HANG SENG: 24,231.30 ▼ 138.41 `/$: 86.88 ▲ 0.24 `/€: 94.37 ▼ 0.29 BRENT: $70.45 ▲ $0.99 GOLD: `85,730 ▲ `262 IN THE NEWS Muted response for VRR as liquidity strain eases THE 14-DAY VARIABLE rate repo auction on Friday received bids worth `8,375 crore, against the notified amount of `50,000 crore, indicating initial signs of ease in liquidity conditions, reports Anupreksha Jain. ■ PAGE 6 Bajaj reclaims top spot in E2W sales in Feb BAJAJ AUTO HAS reclaimed the top spot in electric two-wheeler category with 21,389 registrations of Chetak in February, reports Swaraj Baggonkar. ■ PAGE 4 Nippon Life set to buy minority stake in IndusInd Bank NIPPON LIFE INSURANCE’S India unit is considering buying a minority stake in IndusInd Bank, people familiar with the matter said, reports Bloomberg. ■ PAGE 6 »WOMEN’S DAY SPECIAL« WOMEN FINDING VOICE IN STARTUPWORLD, PAGE 18 SHARE IN CORPORATE BOARDS JUMPS 4-FOLD SINCE 2013, PAGE 18 TRUMPREITERATES STAND ON RECIPROCALTARIFFS Indiamustopenup:Lutnick Time for a ‘macro’ trade deal, says US commerce secretary MUKESH JAGOTA New Delhi, March 7 THE UNITED STATES on Friday asked India to bring down import tariffs under an allencompassing trade deal that won’t leave even the latter’s sensitive agriculture markets out.In a televised address to an Indian audience from Washington, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick made it clear that the US is not interested in negotiating tariffs with India on product-byproduct basis, and instead wanted a “macro and grand” pact that covers all areas. Lutnick’s statement at the India Today conclave came shortly after President Donald Trumprepeatedhiscriticismof India’s “high tariffs,”and indicated the country remained a prime target of reciprocal duties set to take effect from April 2. It suddenly boosted expectations about the scope andscaleoftheproposedbilateral trade agreement between the two countries. An Indian team, led by commerce and industry minster Piyush Goyal, is currently in the US to hammer out the deal.There has been no official word yet on Goyal's meetings or itinerary in the US. The pact is crucial for India given that the US is India's sin- PRECURSOR FOR TRADE DEAL ■ US is India's single-largest trading partner with $190 bn of two-way trade ■ New Delhi enjoys trade surplus with the world's largest economy ■ India's tariffs are 4.8 percentage points higher than those maintained by the US HOWARD LUTNICK, US COMMERCE SECRETARY ■ An Indian team, led by Union minster Piyush Goyal, is in the US for a trade deal You can’t just say it (agriculture) is off the table... It's time to do something big, not productby-product percentage points gle largest trading »INSIDE« higher than those partner with annual SPECIAL maintained by the two-way trade in COVERAGE: US, and for farm goods and services US THREAT & goods, the gap is worth $190 billion; ITS IMPACT much larger. New Delhi enjoys ON INDIA PAGE 2 “TheUnitedStates trade surplus with the EDITORIAL: is interested in doing world's largest econRECIPROCAL a macro, large-scale, omyinbothgoodsand TARIFF broad-based trade services. TURMOIL agreementwithIndia A host of Indian PAGE 8 that takes everything industries have already recommended tariff into account and that I think concessions to the US – even can be done..it will require a zero-for-zero tariff – as they different kind of thinking, big fear reduced market access to thinking,”Lutnick said at India the country when reciprocal Today Conclave. tariffs are imposed. On an average India's tariffs are 4.8 Continued on Page 14 Sebichiefbatsfor‘conflict of interest’framework China sounds out India for better ties ● Says ready to engage with FPIs, AIFs to address difficulties TUHIN KANTA PANDEY, CHAIRPERSON, SEBI K J M VARMA Beijing, March 7 FE BUREAU Mumbai, March 7 ...wewillcertainlynot belookingfor maximumregulation butforoptimum regulation CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTER Wang Yi said on Friday that India-China relations have made “positive strides” and achieved a series of encouraging outcomes at all levels after last year’s breakthrough ending the over four-year-long military standoff in eastern Ladakh. Addressing his annual press conference here, Wang also said the boundary question or specific differences should not affect the bilateral relations between the two countries. “China-Indiarelationshave made positive strides over the past year” after the successful meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at Kazan in Russia,Wang replied to a question on how Beijing views the course of bilateral ties afterthe two countries ended the prolonged stalemate in the ties. Both Xi and Modi provided strategic guidance for the improvement of ties at the Kazan meeting, Wang said on the sidelines of the annual sessionofChina’sparliamentcurrently underway in Beijing. TUHIN KANTA PANDEY, chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), in his first speech after taking over last Saturday,emphasisedon Continued on Page 14 moretransparencyfor disclosure of conflict of interest of its boardtothepublic. “Trust and transparency arecrucial not only for regulated entities Ifsomestatutesare redundantandnot servinganypurpose, wearehappyto reviewthesame but also for functioning of Sebi as well,” Pandey said in a speech ataMoneycontrol-CNBCGlobal Wealth Summit. He added that Sebi will bring in a transparent and accountable regulatory framework that fosters confidenceandclarityinthemarket. Continued on Page 14 Retail inflation likely eased to 3.9% in Feb PRIYANSH VERMA New Delhi, March 7 INDIA’S RETAIL INFLATION, based on the consumer price index (CPI), is seen to have eased to a six-month low of 3.9% in February from 4.31% in January, according to a median of 15 estimates. The decline in inflation is primarily due to cooling vegetable prices. With the fall in economic growth being sharper than projected earlier, and the eas- ing of price pressures, the chances of another rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its April monetary policy review appears brighter. At the projected 3.9%, inflation in the first two months of Q4FY25 will average 4.1%. Therefore, in order to average 4.4% in Q4, in line with the RBI forecast, retail inflation in March will have to soar by 100-130 basis points (bps). Continued on Page 14 CPI FORECAST India Ratings I-SEC PD HDFC Bank Kotak Mahindra Bank IDFC FIRST Bank DBS Bank QuantEco Research Crisil Lucknow 3.7 (%) 3.7 3.8 3.8 3.9 3.9 3.98 4