COMPANIES | PAGE 4 BACK PAGE| PAGE 16 Slow fleet electrification hitsTata Motors INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 7 Mumbai most forgetful city on Uber rides Musk's DOGE usingAI to snoop on US govt staff CHENNAI/KOCHI, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2025 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XLV 286, 16 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: 74,227.08 ▲ 1,089.18 NIFTY: 22,535.85 ▲ 374.25 NIKKEI 225: 33,012.58 ▲ 1,876 HANG SENG: 20,127.68 ▲ 299.38 `/$: 86.25 ▼ 0.40 `/€: 94.19 ▼ 0.09 BRENT: $64.67 ▲ $0.46 GOLD: `88,047 ▼ `267 TCS, ACCENTURE AND Infosys have secured the top three positions in LinkedIn’s 2025 Top Companies list for India, according to a report released by the professional networking platform. ■ PAGE 4 ITC to benefit as FDI rules relaxed for prohibited sectors THE GOVERNMENT HAS allowed Indian companies that are operating in areas where FDI is prohibited to issue bonus shares to its existing foreign shareholders.The clarification is likely to benefit companies like ITC. ■ PAGE 2 FE S P EC I A L S The MSD dilemma Chennai Super Kings in a cleft between brand Dhoni and what’s next ■ BRANDWAGON, P15 Are our cities becoming unlivable heat islands? Big cities are prone to experiencing the urban heat island effect ■ EXPLAINER, P15 Continued on Page 13 74,227 1.49% Top sectoral gainers (%) 2.6 2.4 2.3 2.1 Sensex Apr 7 (close) 73,137 73,137 3 37 Titan Company 22,535 Apr 7 (close) Bajaj Finance SBI 22,161 Nifty L&T 1.69% Bajaj Finserv phases; thorny issues FASTER CONCLUSION to be tackled later ■ Core issues MUKESH JAGOTA New Delhi, April 8 ■ India and EU began talks on the FTA in June 2022; it has 23 chapters or policy areas 3.3 3.2 3.0 2.9 2.8 IOC set to invest `61K cr in Odisha petchem project ● Conclusion to be in include trade in goods & services, rules of origin, customs, technical barriers to trade ■ Negotiations in tranches to allow faster implementation of liberalisation in areas with least differences China vows to fight US ‘blackmail’to the end ● Awaiting China LIN JIAN, SPOKESPERSON, AGENCIES Beijing/Washington, April 8 Pressuring threatening and exhorting China is not the right way to engage with us INDIAN OILCORPORATION (IOC), the nation’s largest oil firm, will invest over`61,000 crore in setting up a mega petrochemical complex at Paradip in Odisha to meet the rising demand for petrochemicals in the world’s fastest-growing economy, chairman AS Sahney said, reports PTI. IOC has signed an MoU with the Odisha government at the state’s investormeet,committingtoinvest `61,077 crore in the complex. Besides IOC, Petronet LNG, India's biggest LNG importer, signed a pact to invest `6,500 crore to set up an LNG import terminal at Gopalpur port. ■ PAGE 2 CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY call,says Trump THE US AND China seemed headed to a full-blown tradewaronTuesday with Beijing vowing to fight America’s“blackmail”totheendandretaliateagainstDonaldTrump’sthreatto impose an additional 50% tariff. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said China is ready to fight to the end if the US is bent on waging a tariff war or trade war.If the US president executes the additional tariff, the total tariffs on goods imported into the US from Chinawould be 104%. Trump, however, said he is waiting to hear from China before duties ofover100%takeeffect,butotherUS officialssaidtheywouldnotprioritise negotiationswith the nation. Continued on Page 13 Top Sensex gainers (%) Apr 8 (close) India-EU FTAsoon with tariff cuts on merchandise FACED WITH THE deadline of the endof2025toconcludenegotiations on the proposed free trade agreement (FTA),India and the European Union(EU)arenowconsideringcompleting the task in phases so that businesses on both sides can benefit fromincreasedmarketaccesssooner. This could mean faster liberalisation of the merchandise trade by tariff reduction and easing of nontariff barriers. Resolution of thorny issues of services trade, as well as competition, government procurement,labour standards,and investments could be explored later. The move is in the wake of the global trade uncertainty due to the tariff war triggered bythe US. “Concluding the India-EU FTAin phases is under discussion between the two sides. Every option is being exploredgiventhedeadline,”asenior officialsaid.Thetalksintrancheswill allowfasterimplementationoftrade liberalisation in areas where there are the least differences.In the next phases, more contentious issues would be taken up. A similar approach has been adopted with regard to the IndiaAustralia pact earlier where both sides promptly concluded an EconomicCooperationandTradeAgreement (ECTA) in 2022.Now,talks are 2.4 Capital goods TCS, Accenture, Infy lead LinkedIn’s list of top companies Apr 8 (close) Telecom THE CENTRE HAS issued new guidelines for the disbursal of `87,000 crore, or nearly 60% of the `1.5 lakh crore interest-free 50-year capex loans, to the state governments and Union Territories for FY26, reports Prasanta Sahu. ■ PAGE 2 THE STOCK MARKET staged a smart comeback on Tuesday, a day afteraglobalstockmarketroutwiped out over$10 trillion inwealth. Tracking gains in major Asian markets, benchmarks Sensex and Niftysnappedtheir »INSIDE« three-day losing streak, during RUPEE DROPS which they recorTO OVER ded losses of up to TWO-WEEK 5%, following the LOW reciprocal tariffs PAGE 6 announced by US President Donald Trump onApril 2. The Sensex gained 1,089.18 points, or 1.49%, to close at 74,227.08, while the Nifty rose by 374.25 points,or1.69% — its highestpercentagegaininthreemonths — to settle above the 22,500-mark at 22,535.85. Investor sentiment was buoyed bythe hopes of positive outcomesfrombilateraltradetalks, as several countries affected by the US tariff announcement reached out to Washington. Consumer durables Centre revises norms for FY26 capex loans to states RECOVERY RALLY KISHOR KADAM Mumbai, April 8 Realty THE RESERVE BANK of India’s (RBI) massive liquidity infusion has fuelled expectations of a repo rate cut on Wednesday, reports Sachin Kumar. The RBI has injected nearly `7 lakh crore into the banking system through a host of measures. ■ PAGE 6 Day after rout, bulls pick up the pieces Oil & gas RBI’s liquidity bazooka raises rate cut hopes DOMESTIC,GLOBALMARKETS RALLYONTARIFFTALKHOPES ILLUSTRATION: SUNEESH K IN THE NEWS ‘Verybadtous’: Trumprejects EU’snil-for-nil tariffproposal BEN SILLS April 8 US PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP has rejected a European Union proposal to drop tariffs on all bilateral trade in industrial goods with the US,meaning that his 20% tariff on all EU imports is due to come into force on Wednesday. Speaking at theWhite House on Monday, Trump said the offer from European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is not enough to reset the transatlantic trading relationship, accusing the EU of maintaining other barriers to trade. “The European Union has been very bad to us,”he said.“We’re paying them to guard them militarily and they are screwing us on trade, so that’s not a good combination.” —BLOOMBERG DONALD TRUMP US PRESIDENT Chinaalsowantstomakeadeal,badly,but theydon’tknowhowtogetitstarted.We arewaitingfortheircall.Itwillhappen! China initiates WTO dispute CHINA HAS REQUESTED WTO dispute consultationswith the US over measures to impose a 10% additional duty on imports from all trading partners starting April 5, and a 34% additional duty on India’s local demand a big magnet,says FM PRESS TRUST OF INDIA London, April 8 THE RESILIENCE OF the economy and strength of domestic demand will continue to make India an engine of growth amid the rapidly evolving global trade landscape as a result of US tariffs, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in London on Tuesday. In an interaction entitled the ‘Opportunities and challenges for India’squesttobecomeadeveloped economyby2047’at the high commission of India in London at the start of her first UK visit in her current Union Cabinet term, the ministerasserted that the economywas well-placed to capitalise on domesticefficienciesandcompetitiveness as it tackles global headwinds. She also expressed her optimism over the successful conclusion of the India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations “sooner rather than later”, along ● DUBAI CROWN PRINCE MEETS PM ■ A similar approach has been adopted with regard to the India-Australia pact earlier IF YOU ARE a Delhi resident still holding on to your petrol-powered two-wheeler, the clock is ticking. StartingAugust15,2026,fossilfuelpowered two-wheelers, including those running on petrol, diesel, as wellasCNG,willnolongerbeallowed on Delhi roads, according to a draft electric vehicle (EV) policy 2.0 of the Delhi government. Thepolicy,whichcomesintoeffect from April 15, marks an aggressive shift in the Capital's push towards electric mobility to tackle chronic air pollution.It is currently awaiting the DelhiCabinet'sapproval. Total FY25 sales (units) Overall 2W Cars 3W Delhi sales Overall 3 Delhi EV share (%) 721,080 26,229,391 Private car buyers are not off the hook either. Under the new rules, any individual who already owns two registered vehicles will be Source: Vahan 2 Cars 4,094,448 680,324 12 2W 18, 899,925 5 192,165 4 3W 2 11,439 53 455,446 required to purchase an EV if they wish to buy a third one.This clause will come into force as soon as the policy is formallynotified. We think India, and a few emerging markets, are going to be the engines of growth with a bilateral investment treaty. “The world has seen depressed growthforoverseveralyears,earlier it was low interest for long and now it's going to be low growth for long, and that's not happy news for anybody,”said Sitharaman. Continued on Page 7 Skymetexpects monsoontobe normal,predicts asluggishstart sideDelhi’slegaljurisdiction.Experts said that without a coordinated regionalapproach,thepolicymaynot fully succeed in curbing vehicular emissionswithin the Capital. The policy also bars registration of new CNG auto-rickshaws from August 15, 2025, and ends the renewal of permits for existing ones.Onlyelectric autoswill be permitted post that date. Older CNG autos, those over 10 years, must either be decommissionedorretrofittedwithelectrickits. Similarly,three-wheelergoods carrierspoweredbyfossilfuelswillalsobe phased out startingAugust 2025. Continued on Page 13 Continued on Page 13 Delhi goes full throttle on electricvehicles from 2026 Share (%) FINANCE MINISTER PRIVATE WEATHER FORECASTER Skymet onTuesdaypredicted a‘normal’ southwest monsoon season (June-September),withacumulative rainfall of 103% of the benchmark long period average (LPA), boosting hopes fora robust kharif crop. The agency expects around 80% chancesofmonsoonrainstobeinthe range of‘excess’to‘normal’this season.Theforecastcomeswithamodel errorof +/- 5%. However,theseasonisexpectedto commence with relatively less rains withapick-upduringthesecondhalf of the four-month period (June-September). Intermsofmonthlydistributionofrainfall,theSkymetforecast stated that the rainfall is likely to be 96% (June), 102% (July), 108% (August) and 104% (September) of the benchmark,respectively. If the prediction by the Skymet andotherforeignagenciesholdstrue, itwillbethesecondconsecutiveyear of normal monsoon rains for the country in 2025, after a below-normal precipitation seen in 2023.Last year,Skymethadpredictedmonsoon rainfall to be 102% of the benchmark,while the actual precipitation was higherat 108% of LPA. Rainfallintherangeof96-104% of LPA is considered ‘normal’ and 105-110%‘abovenormal’.TheLPAis the average rainfall received during 1971-2020 at 86 cm. During the June-September period,the country receives about 70-75% of the country's annual precipitation,and a normal monsoon boosts crop prospects aswell aswaterreservoirs levels. Crown Prince of Dubai and deputy PM of UAE, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, during a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in New Delhi on Tuesday. During talks, the two nations agreed to boost defence ties, including possible co-development of military equipment PTI Continued on Page 7 CLEANER PUSH NIRMALA SITHARAMAN SANDIP DAS New Delhi, April 8 on to convert it into a broader trade agreement and sign the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA).With the US too, the discussions are currently going on for the first tranche of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA). India and the EU began negotiations on the FTA in June 2022.The FTA has 23 chapters or policy areas. The key chapters dealing with core trade issues are trade in goods and services, rules of origin, customs, technical barriers to trade, trade remedies and dispute settlements. Draft EVpolicy suggests ban on fossil fuel-powered two-wheelers NITIN KUMAR New Delhi, April 8 imports from China that effective April 9, according to a statement on the WTO website. The request was circulated to WTO members on Tuesday. BLOOMBERG 6 Accordingtoindustrydata,Delhi accountedfor3%oftheoverall26.2 million vehicles sold nationwide across categories in FY25.The city madeup2%ofthe18.9milliontwowheelers and 0.7 million threewheelers sold, while contributing 5%tothe4.1millionpassengercars sold during the year. In terms of EV penetration, the Capital stood at 12%oftotalvehicleregistrations.EV adoption was highest in the threewheelersegmentat53%,whiletwowheelers and cars lagged behind at 6% and 4%,respectively. Industry experts said the state government would face serious implementationhurdles.Nearlyhalf thevehiclesoperatingonDelhiroads are registered in nearby cities like Noida, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, and Gurgaon -- areas that fall within the National Capital Region but are out- CHENNAI/KOCHI