COMPANIES | PAGE 4 COMPANIES | PAGE 4 Loyalty for automakers dips asmosteyebrandswitch INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 7 Mall supermarkets shrink as q-comm picks up pace AHMEDABAD, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 2025 Funds worth $2 billion to Harvard frozen FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XIX 267, 22 PAGES, `12 P U B L I S H E D F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , B E N G A L U R U , C H A N D I G A R H , C H E N N A I , H Y D E R A B A D , K O C H I , K O L K ATA , L U C K N O W, M U M B A I , N E W D E L H I , P U N E SENSEX: 76,734.89 ▲ 1577.63 NIFTY: 23,328.55 ▲ 500 NIKKEI 225: 34,267.54 ▲ 285.18 HANG SENG: 21,466.27 ▲ 48.87 `/$: 85.77 ▲ 0.28 `/€: 97.26 ▲ 0.72 BRENT: $64.91 ▲ $0.03 GOLD: `92,822 ▼ `305 IN THE NEWS JSW to set up 10 MTPA green steel plant for EU exports SAJJAN JINDAL-LED JSW Group is in the process of setting up a green steel plant dedicated to manufacturing steel to be exported to the European Union to adhere with the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) mandate, reports Urvi Malvania. The plant will be located at Salav in Raigad, Maharashtra. ■ PAGE 5 Above-normal monsoon maybring cheerto agri sector SANDIP DAS New Delhi, April 15 ON EXPECTED LINES ■ The forecast boosts hopes of a robust agriculture-sector output for a second year in row Forecasts^ vs performance (% of LPA*) Forecast 109 108 THE INDIA METEOROLOGICAL Department(IMD)onMondayforecast‘abovenormal’monsoonrainfall during June-September this year, with 89% chance of the rains being in the‘normal-to excess’range. Intermsofregionaldistribution, theMetdepartmentsaid‘above-normal’ rainfall is expected over most parts of the countrywith the exception of northeast,parts of Bihar and Tamil Nadu. Thisboostshopesofarobustagriculture-sector output for a second year in row, as kharif sowing,which istostartwiththerains,accountsfor Performance 100 98 ■ IMD sees ‘above-normal’ 105 106 rainfall over most parts of the country also 99 96 ^1st long range forecast, *LPA (long period average) is average annual rainfall (87cm) recorded between 1971-2020; 96-104% of LPA: normal; <96%: below normal, <90%: deficient; >104%: above normal, >110% plus: excess Source: IMD 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 about 60% of the crop production. Monsoon rains also provide soil moisture forthewintercrops. "This year's rainfall during the forthcoming monsoon season is likely to be 105% of the benchmark long period average (LPA) with an average error margin of +/- 5",MrutyunjayMohapatra,directorgeneral, IMD said. “There is a strong and higherprobabilityof monsoon rainfall to be above-normal range this season,”he added. According to agriculture ministry, food grains production in the Centre fears import surge from US, China FIRSTMAJOR EQUITYMARKETTO DO SO; FPIs BUYSHARESWORTH `6,066 CR amid trade war Southern states have emerged as the frontrunners in the latest edition of the India Justice Report (IJR), which ranks states on their capacity to deliver justice ■ BACK Apr 15, (close) LEADING THE CHARGE by `10.6L crore as indices rise over 2% 76,734 2.10% KISHOR KADAM Mumbai, April 15 GLOB MARKETS SINCE APRIL 2 OBAL GLOBAL Top gainer on Tuesday (%) gainers ga ers er Tue uesd Apr 2, 2025 20 6.8 4.5 4.5 4.1 4.0 76 76,617 3, 3,350 3,268 -2.5 Dow Jones Indus. Avg (US) -4.0 Nikkei 225 (Japan) -4.1 42 42,225 Apr 11 (close) Nifty 75,157 , 3.02% 0.2 76,735 Sh Shan Shanghai Se Composite (China) Sensex BSE Midcap % chan change Se Sens Sensex (India) Adani Ports WITH GLOBAL MARKETS continuing to swing to the tunes of US'tariff flip-flops,benchmarkindicesinIndia gainedover2%onTuesday.Notably, it became first major market to recoupthelossesmadesincethereciprocal tariffs were first announced onApril 2. The holiday-shortened week started on a strong note,led bypositive global flows. The Sensex rose by1,577.63 points or2.1% to close at 76,734.89, while the Nifty gained 500 points or 2.19% to settle at 23,328.55. Investors’ wealth surged by `10.6 lakh crore during the session. Among Asian markets,indices in thePhilippines,Indonesia,andSouth Koreaare still up to 1.1%lowerfrom theirApril 2 levels. Singapore, Hong KongandTaiwanindicesarelowerby 8.3%, 7.5%, and 6.8% respectively, Apr 15, 2025 35,726 2.19% -4.7 Hang Seng (Hong Kong) -7.5 8,608 3.39% while Japan,Thailand,Malaysia,and China are down up to 4.1%. "The market rally was largely fuelled by easing global trade tensions, notably a tariff reprieve announced by US President Donald 34,268 FTSE 100 (UK) BSE Smallcap BSE Auto 3.21% 40,525 23,203 Trump,which lifted investor sentiment worldwide," said Vaibhav Vidwani, Research Analyst at Bonanza Group. Continued on Page 14 8,201 21,466 »INSIDE« RUPEE SURGES 28 PAISE TO 85.77 P6 MORGAN STANLEY CUTS 2025 SENSEX TARGET BY 12% P6 Sebiordersforensicaudit,bars Gensolpromotersfrommkts FE S P E C I A L How LPG price hike will help OMCs The hike will help the OMCs offset the losses incurred due to subsidised gas prices ■ EXPLAINER, P9 China halts fresh trade with Boeing ANANYA GROVER Mumbai, April 15 PAGE, PAGE 22 At 5 pm IST THE LABOUR & EMPLOYMENT ministry on Tuesday inked an initial pact with food delivery platform Swiggy to enhance gig and logistics employment opportunities on the National Career Service Portal and create over 1.2 million job opportunities in 2-3 years, reports PTI. ● Investors richer L&T Axis Bank Govt-Swiggy pact to create over 1.2 million job opportunities D-StrecoupsTrumptarifflosses IndusInd Bank Tata Motors AMID ESCALATING GLOBAL trade tensions, the commerce and industry ministry is assessing the risks of significant trade diversion from other countries to India and is particularly concerned about the likely surge in imports of US farm produce and factory goods from China, Vietnam and Indonesia into the country, a government official said on Tuesday, report Ravi Dutta Mishra & Aanchal Magazine. ■ PAGE 3 BLOOMBERG April 15 UNDER THE LENS ■ The markets regulator also restricted promoters Anmol Singh Jaggi (left) and Puneet Singh Jaggi from holding the position of a director or key managerial personnel in the company ■ Sebi's investigation THE SECURITIES AND Exchange Board of India (Sebi) will assign a forensic auditor to examine the accounts of Gensol Engineering and its related parties after finding violationsofcorporategovernancenorms andfunddiversionbypromoterentities.In an interim order,the markets regulator also restricted promoters Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi from holding the position of a directororkeymanagerial personnel inthecompany. The regulatorhas also barred the company, along with its promoters, from dealing in any securities and has put a hold to the recently announced stock split of Gensol's shares in 1:10 ratio,which the order said is likely to attract more retail investors to the scrip. "Atthisstage,allowingthiscorporateactionmaynotbe inthe interest fied.CEO Anmol Singh Jaggi denied any involvement in the falsification claims.The rating agencies had initiatedareviewafterreportsconcerning defaultbyBluSmart,itsrelatedparty, which according to Gensol had no impactofthecompany. CHINA HAS ORDERED its airlines not to take any further deliveries of Boeing jets as part of the tit-for-tat trade war that’s seen US President Donald Trump levy tariffs of as high as145%onChinesegoods,according topeoplefamiliarwiththematter. Beijing has also asked that Chinese carriers halt any purchases of aircraft-related equipment and parts from US companies, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing matters that are private. The order came after China unveiled retaliatory tariffs of 125% on American goods this past weekend,the people said.Those levies on theirownwouldhavemorethandoubled the cost of US made aircraft and parts,making it impractical for ChineseairlinestoacceptBoeingplanes. Continued on Page 7 Continued on Page 14 found out that `977.75 cr was availed by the company from IREDA and PFC as term loans ■ Out of the total deployment of `829.86 crore for the purchase of 6,400 EVs, `262.13 crore remains unaccounted ■ The order stated that the present matter is a complete breakdown of internal controls and corporate governance of theinvestors,"itsaid. The order has taken into account the rating downgrades byCARE Ratings and Icra in early March for the fundandnon-fund-based creditfacilitiesavailedbythecompany. Icra found out that certain documents shared on its debt servicing track record,were apparently falsi- Hatchbacks, sedans now only account for 31% ofvolumes from 79% in FY09 SmallcarsfadeawayfurtherasUVs’sharehit65% SWARAJ BAGGONKAR Mumbai, April 15 BIGGER GETS BIGGER THEBIGANDburlySUVs(sportsutility vehicles) have become the most favoured vehicle type for the Indian buyer.Thisisevenasthesegmentfeaturingsmallcars,whichwasoncethe backbone of the Indian automotive market,hit a 15-yearlowlastyear. At1.35millionunitsinFY25,volumes of passenger cars (comprising hatchbacksandsedans)wereattheir lowest level since FY09, as per data sharedbytheSocietyofIndianAutomobile Manufacturers (SIAM).From 79% recorded in FY09, the share of passengercars slipped to 31% at the end of FY25. Much of this slide is to be attributed to the failing demand for entry Segment market shares in % 45 FY23 Utility vehicles FY24 FY25 52 37 Passenger cars 60 31 65 ■ Much of the slide is to be Source: SIAM levelcompactcarssuchastheMaruti SuzukiAlto,whichwas‘best-seller’for severalyears.Altohasnotfeaturedin the top10bestsellers listforlasttwo years. Companies including Hyundai, attributed to the failing demand for entry-level cars Honda, Toyota, Skoda, Volkswagen and Nissan have exited the small car segment altogether to focus on biggerSUVsastheygeneratebettermargins.Hyundai Creta,Mahindra Scorpio,TataPunchandMarutiBrezzaare ■ Maruti Alto has not featured in the top 10 best sellers list for last two years some of the best-selling SUVs in India. Powered bysuch SUVs,the utility vehicle (UV) segment clocked more than double the volume recorded by passenger cars at 2.79 million units during FY25,controlling 65% of the domestic passenger vehicle market. While UV volumes grew 11% yearon-year(y-o-y) during FY25,passenger cars fell by 13% y-o-y during the period,as perthe data. Recording a near-zero growth in FY25, car market leader Maruti Suzuki,which generates 55% of its domestic volumes from mini and compact segments, is betting on a revivalindemandforthissegmentin 2026.Itsseniormanagement,which hadpreviouslyblamedthesharprun up in car prices in the past 3-4 years, pushing them out of the reach of price-sensitive buyers, believes that improvingruralspendingwillrevive the segment. Continued on Page 14 cropyear2024-25(July-June)isestimated at 341 million tonne. Gross valueadded(GVA)inagricultureand allied sectors grew by robust 3.8% (second advance estimates) in FY25 compared to 1.4% in FY24. Crops account for roughly 54% of farmsectorGVA. The monsoon rains were 'above normal' last year with cumulative precipitationof108%ofLPAaspredicted by the weather department initially.This was the best monsoon season in four years after a patchy 'below normal' monsoon of 94% of benchmark in 2023. Last week, private weather forecaster Skymet had projected a ‘normal’ southwest monsoon season (June-September),with the cumulative rainfall of 103% of the LPA.The IMD will provide updated forecast on the forthcoming monsoon rainfall in the lastweek of May. M Ravichandran,secretary,ministry of earth sciences said,“It’s too earlytogiveaspecificforecastabout the regional distribution of rainfall across fourmonsoon months. “While the initial forecast of an abovenormalmonsoonisencouraging,the timing and distribution will be key for the implications for agri output and food inflation going ahead,” Icra chief economist Aditi Nayarsaid. Continued on Page 14 Retailinflationcools to67-monthlow of3.34%inMarch FE BUREAU New Delhi, April 15 RATE CUT IN OFFING INDIA'S RETAIL INFLATION, measured by consumer price index (CPI), eased to a five-year-andseven-month low of 3.34% in March from 3.61% in February, as food prices eased markedly. This, analysts feel,would give the central bank headroom for a rate cut of another 50 basis points or more in FY26 to support growth. The lower-than-expected inflation print augurs well for the economy,amid still-sluggish urban consumption, and fears of adverse impact of the global tariff war on aggregate demand.The income tax cuts announced in the Budget and a monetary transmission under way, with many leading banks cutting their lending and select fixed deposit rates, are likely to give a short-term boost to consumption. A sharp decline of 106 basis points was observed in food inflation in March 2025 in comparison to February 2025, according to the datareleasedbythe NationalStatistical Office (NSO) on Wednesday. Food inflation, at 2.69% in March 2025,was the lowest after November 2021. Core inflation, however, held firm at 4.1% in March, marginally higherthan 4% in February.In fact, the sub-index for non-food-nonmanufactured items created by independent analysts, has been looking up since December 2024 with sharper year-on-year rises. Core inflation excludes volatile items like food and energy and is a better gauge of domestic demand. Continued on Page 14 12.0 Consumer food price index 10.0 8.0 4.10 6.0 4.0 CPI 2.0 CPI Core 3.34 2.69 0.0 Apr 2024 Mar 2025 Source: Mospi Goods exports flat in FY25 MERCHANDISE EXPORTS GREW by a modest 0.7 % to $41.97billioninMarch,inwhat showed a marginal recovery fromthecontractionwitnessed in the previous four months, reportsMukeshJagota.Import of goods rose by 11.3% to $63.15 billion in the month, precipitating a trade deficit of $21.54 billion.For the whole of 2024-25, the goods exports stood at $437.42 billion, a flat growth of 0.08 %y-o-y. PAGE 2 IndusIndfaces`1.9Kcr hitfromderivativelapse CORRECTIVE STEPS 6.84% IndusInd Bank Apr 11 (close) ■ Its shares gained nearly 7% to end at `735.85 on the BSE 688.75 ■ The impact represents 2.27% of the bank’s net worth as of Dec 2024 SACHIN KUMAR Mumbai, April 15 INDUSIND BANK FACES a `1,979 crore hit from discrepancies in its derivative portfolio, according to a report submitted by an external agencyonTuesday.Theimpactrepresents 2.27% of the bank’s net worth as of December 2024,slightly below the 2.35% it had previously estimated.The amount disclosed by the external agency is more than bank’s net profit of `1401.3 crore in the October-Decemberquarter. “Basedonthereport,thebankhas assessedanadverseimpact(onaposttax basis) of 2.27% to the bank’s net worth as of December 2024 on account of these discrepancies,”the bank stated in a filing to the stock exchanges. Thebankaddedthatthehitwould Apr 15 (close) 735.85 ■ IndusInd Bank on March 10 announced that it had found certain discrepancies in accounts balances of its derivative portfolio appropriately reflect the resultant impactinthefinancialstatementsfor FY25 and continue to take suitable stepstoaugmenttheinternalcontrols relating to the derivative accounting operations. IndusInd Bank, country’s fifth largest private bank, on March 10 announced that it had found certain discrepanciesinaccountsbalancesof its derivative portfolio. It appointed an external agency to independently reviewitsinternalfindingsandtoget the final report to determine the accounting treatment of any resulting impact on its financial statements.OnMarch7,theReserveBank of India (RBI) granted CEO Sumant Kathpalia only a one-year extension, against the board’s application for threeyears. Continued on Page 14 Ahmedabad