ECONOMY | PAGE 5 COMPANIES | PAGE 6 India andThailand plan strategic ties, dialogue BACK PAGE | PAGE 20 FMCG firms expect mixed show in Q4 HYDERABAD, FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 2025 Air of discomfort: SAto play DelhiTest in Nov FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL. NO. XXI 286, 20 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: 76,295.36 ▼ 322.08 NIFTY: 23,250.10 ▼ 82.25 NIKKEI 225: 34,735.93 ▼ 989.94 HANG SENG: 22,849.81 ▼ 352.72 `/$: 85.44 ▲ 0.07 `/€: 94.25 ▼ 1.86 BRENT: $70.11 ▼ $4.84 GOLD: `90,121 ▼ `643 TRUMPIGNITESGLOBALTRADEWAR SEMICONDUCTORS & GOLD EXEMPT Markets bear the tariff heat INDIAN MARKETS WERE largely unscathed by the US tariff measures. The benchmark indices opened sharply lower, but recouped more than half their losses during the day. The Sensex closed down 322.08 points, or 0.42%, while the Nifty finished down 82.25 points, or 0.35%. ■ PAGE 7 IN THE NEWS Startups optimistic of high growth over next three years Continued on Page 7 76,617.4 (Previous close) 76,295.4 (Close) 75,811.9 Bangladesh INASIGNIFICANT decision, all 31 judges of the Supreme Court will publicly declare their assets.The declaration made to the ChiefJustice of India is likely to be uploaded on the Supreme Court’s website. Sources said the decision was taken at a full court meeting onApril 1. Waqf Bill tabled in RS; won't snatch Muslims' rights: Rijiju HAVING GOTTHE Waqf (Amendment) Bill cleared in the Lok Sabha in a midnight vote, the government on Thursday introduced it in the Rajya Sabha, report Abhinaya Harigovind & Vikas Pathak. Tabling the Bill, Union minister Kiren Rijiju said the legislation aims to empower Muslim women and protect the rights of all Muslim sects. »INSIDE« JIOSTAR DIGITAL CEO ON CONTENT & PRICING STRATEGY BRANDWAGON, PAGE 9 32 Malaysia 24 Pakistan 30 S South Korea 26 Sri Lanka 44 Thailand 26.05 Diamonds, gold products 29.12 Chemicals 28.06 Pharmaceuticals 0.1 Electrical, telecom, and electronics 27.41 31.38 Plastics, articles Machinery, computers Products of iron, steel & base metals 37 28.3 29.06 Textile and clothing PTI Minerals and petroleum 35.99 6.67 Source: GTRI India pins hopes on BTA Somepain&somegain: to mitigate tariff impact IndiaInccountsthecost MUKESH JAGOTA New Delhi, April 3 INDIA WILL USE the dialogue mechanism put in place for the bilateral trade agreement (BTA) to deal with the reciprocal tariffs imposed by the US, a government source said on Thursday. “The BTAis a pathway,a window togettheserescindedorsettlethese bilaterally.Through the BTA we will resolve all outstanding issues,” the official,whodidnotwishtobeiden- tified, said.“India has got an early mover advantage,” the official added,referring to the possibilityof manyothercountriestoooptingfor bilateraltalkswiththeUS.Indiaand the US have been engaged over the last 50 days on the BTA and are working with a tight deadline to conclude it bythe fall of 2025.India is the only countrywhere the US has sent a team for trade discussions sinceDonaldTrumpassumedoffice. Continued on Page 5 TEXTILE EXPORTERS SEE EDGE OVER COMPETITORS PAGE 2 Limited (TAFE), a company that her grandfather founded and had her father as its growth architect, Srinivasan has gone global with a vengeance.Underherleadership,the `10,000-crorecompanyhasbecome the third-largest tractor manufacturer in the world and the second largest in India by volumes,with an VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO Mumbai, April 3 CORPORATE INDIA IS gearing up for a challenging trade environment in the wake of the 27% reciprocal tariffs imposed by the US on Thursday.While theTrump administration has described the move as its moment of liberation, India Inc leaders feel there are some pain as well as some gain. From India’s perspective, key sectors such as gems and jewellery, TARIFF MAY ERASE UP TO 60 BPS GDP GROWTH: ANALYSTS PAGE 2 More than a tractorqueen MALLIKA SRINIVASAN CAN be describedinmanyways:India’s‘tractor queen’ making an indelible impression in a heavily male-dominated industry, a thought leader, a strategistaswellasawell-knownphilanthropistwithanabidinginterestin ensuringdevelopmentofagriculture, education,andhealthcareinIndia. Aschairmanandmanagingdirector of Tractors and Farm Equipment 27 Indonesia EXPRESS AWE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNER, 2025 MALLIKA SRINIVASAN E KUMAR SHARMA Mumbai, April 3 20 India 32.29 Automobiles 34 European Union US President Donald Trump announces tariff measures. Hours later, he posted, “The operation is over! The patient lived, and is healing.” Agriculture, meat & processed food 37 China THE STARTUP ECOSYSTEM in the country is past the slowdown phase and is likely to witness high growth over the next two-to-three years, founders and investors told FE at the Startup Mahakumbh 2025 in New Delhi on Thursday, report Raghav Aggarwal & Anees Hussain. ■ PAGE 6 SC judges to now make declaration of assets public Total tariff payable by Indian exports to US (%) Reciprocal tariff (adjusted, %) »INSIDE« (Open) AROUND THE WORLD AS IT STANDS annualsalesofover180,000tractors and presence in over100 countries. No wonder, she was the unanimouschoicefortheLifetimeAchievementAwardbytheillustriousjuryfor the Express Awards for Women Entrepreneurs (ExpressAWE),2025. The jury, led by Deepak Parekh, former chairman of HDFC, also had KiranMazumdar-Shaw,founderand chairperson of Biocon; Meher Pudumjee,chairperson,Thermax;Zia Mody, co-founder and managing partner,AZB & Partners; and Sachin Bansal,chairman,Navi Group. Her academic credentials are impeccable. Srinivasan was a universitygold-medallistinEconometrics from the University of Madras. Continued on Page 5 automotive,and engineering goods are expected to bear the brunt of higher levies,impacting their competitiveness in global markets.The silver lining is that some sectors have been exempted from the steep reciprocal tariffs for now. These include pharmaceuticals and energyproducts.Indian electronics companies are seeing clear gains over China and Vietnam in the current round of tariff hikes. Continued on Page 5 EDIT: INDIA SHOULD AVOID OVERT REACTION TO TARIFF SHOCKER PAGE 8 Sebi nod to govt stake raise inVi THE SECURITIES AND Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has approved the government’s debt-to-equity conversion in Vodafone Idea (Vi) without triggering an open offer. In an order on Thursday, the market regulator cited “special circumstances” to exempt the transaction from open-offer obligations. As per regulations, an entity that takes on more than 25% share or voting rights in a company is obligated to launch an open offer to execute the transaction. Earlier this week, the government converted part of its spectrum debt — amounting to `36,950 crore — into equity in Vi, raising it from 22.6% to 48.99%. The Sebi said the exemption was given considering that Vi owed “a substantial sum of money” to the government and an open-offer obligation would have involved “huge sums of cash outflow”. —FE BUREAU EXPLAINER: IS THERE A SILVER LINING? PAGE 9 China and EU vow retaliation THEUS’MAJORtradepartnersChina andtheEuropeanUnion (EU) vowed to initiate countermeasures. European Commission president Ursula vonderLeyensaidthesetariffsare“a major blow to the world economy... Wearealreadyfinalisingafirstpackage of countermeasures in response to tariffs on steel. And we are now preparing for further countermeasures...”“China firmly opposes this and will take countermeasures to safeguard its own rights and interests,” its commerce ministrysaid. US neighbours, Russia spared THE US SPARED its neighbours Canada and Mexico aswell as Russia and Cuba from its tariff measures. Officials said Canada and Mexico were not in the list because theyhad alreadybeenslappedwithadditional duties that they would continue to face,inadditiontotheuniversal10% duty. On Russia, Cuba, and North Korea,theofficialssaidexistingsanctions had“effectively stopped”bilateral tradewith the US. Global stocks fall, US the worst hit GLOBAL STOCKS FELL sharply and the US dollar hit a six-month low. Nearly$2trillionwaserasedfromthe S&P500 Index at the start of trading on Thursday. The S&P 500 opened morethan3%lower,ahugedropfor the index.The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1,204 points, or 2.9%.While stocks fell, the price of gold,which is seen as a safer asset in timesofturbulence,touchedarecord high. The Stoxx Europe 600 was down 1.9%,while a broad gauge of Asian stocks fell as much as 1.7%. Two-wheelersalesride highonyear-endoffers FE BUREAU New Delhi, April 3 AFTERREGISTERINGAsalesdecline for three consecutive months, twowheeler makers posted gains in March. Of the four major manufacturers,three — Hero MotoCorp,TVS Motor, and Honda Motorcycle & ScooterIndia(HMSI)—reportedhigh double-digit year-on-year sales growthinthedomesticmarket.Bajaj Auto was the only major player that sawflat sales during the month. Analysts said this growth is primarily due to higher dispatches to dealerships before the end of the financialyear,andaslightriseinsales duetoyear-enddiscountsandoffers. “In March every year,many twowheeler makers offer cashbacks, exchange bonuses, extended warranties, and free accessories,which leadtoaslightuptickinsales,”saidan auto analyst.“Some dealerships also offer zero processing fees on twowheeler loans.This, combined with IN TOP GEAR FY25 y-o-y (% chg) 11 17 Hero TVS MotoCorp Motor 0.1 Bajaj 1,05,736 US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump’s move to slap additional customs duties—“reciprocaltariffs”—inthe range of 10-50% on nearly 60 countries saw India at the median levelwith a 27% extra levyon most products acrossindustrial andfarm categories. The full additional impostwill take effect fromApril 9, while a 10% baseline duty will be put in place by Saturday. The additional tariffs will apply over and above the current US levies, which averages 3.3% on a most favoured nation basis. While these levies are applied country-wise,certain product-level tariffs will also take effect concurrently on all countries — a 25% duty on steel and aluminum products became operational on March 12, and a 25% impost on automobilesandautopartstookeffectfrom Wednesday. The US had earlier announced special extra tariffs for three of its largest trading partners, namely China,Mexico and Canada. Trump’s new set of tariffs made no distinction between rich or poor countries orthe US’allies,friends or foes. Though the stated objective behind the decision is to re-invigoratetheUSmanufacturingindustry, which has lost much of its famed global edge overthe recent decades, most independent experts feel it is faulty and could boomerang. The move could slow global growth, potentiallypushingtheUSitselfinto a recession, and stoking inflation worldwide,they feel. India’s GDP growth in FY26 is expected to take a hit of 0.5-0.6% owing to the combined effect of a globaleconomicslowdownandahit to its own exports to the US, economists say. DISRUPTIONS, PREPARE RESPONSE 1,83,659 A‘mixedbag’for India:27%tariff withkeywaivers MUKESH JAGOTA New Delhi, April 3 ● COUNTRIES EVALUATE IMPACT OF 4,14,687 TO 50% LEVY FOR 57 NATIONS FROM APR 9 ● PHARMA, PETROLEUM PRODUCTS, 5,10,086 ● UNIVERSAL 10% DUTY FROM APRIL 5; UP 23 Suzuki Source: Companies the fact that there was a lean buying periodoverthelastcoupleofmonths which was coming to an end, led to more dispatches from automakers and slightlyhighersales.” Continued on Page 7 Set for global attention after aTyeb Mehta painting sells for `61.8 crore Withnewsalesrecord,Indianartatinflectionpoint IVINDER GILL New Delhi, April 3 CLOSE ONTHE heels of MFHusain painting Gram Yatra selling for a record `118 crore at a Christie’s auction in New York recently, Tyeb Mehta’s work Trussed Bull, 1956 wassoldat`61.80crore($7.27million), nearly nine times its higher estimate, at Saffronart’s 25th anniversarylive auction in Mumbai on Wednesday. This makes it the second-most expensive piece of Indian art sold at an auction, tying with Amrita Sher-Gil’s The Storyteller that was sold for the same price in September 2023, also by Saffronart.While the identityof the buyer is not known, sources said it is an individual of Indian origin. The auction house’s anniversary sale also set a world record for the highestvalue sale of SouthAsian art at an auction, achieving total sales valueof`217.81crore($25.62million), with 100% items being sold, known as a white glove sale.Speaking with FE after the auction, SaffronartCEOandco-founderDinesh Vazirani said the total sales value was almost double their estimates. Theauctionfeatured75lots,with 80% lots surpassing their higher estimates.Included in the sale was a stilllifebyAmritaSher-Gil,titledStill Tyeb Mehta and his record-setting work Trussed Bull, 1956 Life with Green Bottles and Apples, 1932, which sold for `24 crore,surpassingitshigherestimate.Supperat EmmausbyFNSouzasoldfor`15.30 crore, more than double its higher estimate.VaziranitoldFEthatallthe progressive artists, including SherGil,Mehta,VSGaitonde,SHRaza,had the potential to break the `100crore barrier achieved by Husain. “Thesekindofvalues,asachievedby Husain and Mehta,put the focus on modernIndianart,actingastriggers for global attention,” he said. Right now,about70%ofbuyersforIndian artarewithinthecountry,withNRIs mainly making up for the rest. But Vazirani said the new highs will surely act as an inflection point for Indian art to be catapulted onto the global stage. Indianarthasbeenslowtomake a mark globally, to say the least. Some initiatives like the Guggen- HYDERABAD heim Museum in New York showcasing works of modern painter Vasudeo Santu Gaitonde in 2014, The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York showing Nasreen Mohamedi’s works in 2016, and Arpita Singh’s first solo show abroad, currently on at Serpentine Gallery in London, have been encouraging, but few and far between. Domestically, the Indian art auction market has almost doubled in the past five years, to over $200 million. With private gallery sales,the Indian art auction market would be around $400 million. Continued on Page 7