COMPANIES | PAGE 4 COMPANIES | OpenAI plans India data centre in major expansion INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 7 Ashok Leyland ties upwith China firm for battery foray HYDERABAD, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2025 Over 800 dead inAfghan quake; India offers help FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL. NO. XXII 104, 34 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: 80,364.50 ▲ 554.85 NIFTY: 24,625.05 ▲ 198.20 NIKKEI 225: 42,188.79 ▼ 529.68 HANG SENG: 25,617.42 ▲ 539.80 `/$: 88.20 ▼ 0.01 `/€: 103.36 ▲ 0.40 BRENT: $68.31 ▲ $0.83 GOLD: `1,03,969 ▲ `2,002 IN THE NEWS Current account back in deficit, 0.2% in Q1: RBI INDIA’S CURRENT ACCOUNT balance recorded a deficit of $2.4 billion or 0.2% of GDP in Q1FY26 compared with a deficit of $8.6 billion (0.9%) in the year-ago quarter and a surplus of $13.5 billion (1.3%) in Q4FY25, reports fe Bureau. ■ PAGE 2 FPIs remain bearish on Indian markets FPIS CONTINUE TO be bearish on Indian markets, reports Nesil Staney. The acceleration in sales of `37,823 crore in August marks the third biggest monthly outflow this year. ■ PAGE 6 REFORMING GST PART-I Lower tax burden? The first in a 3-part series looks at how tax experts & industry executives think the reformed GST & compliance procedures must look like ■ PAGE 24 INDIAOFFEREDTO CUTTARIFFSTO NILBUTIT’STOO LATE: US PREZ Trump targets India again ● Says bilateral trade a one-sided disaster YOSHITA SINGH New York/Washington, September 1 US PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP on Monday claimed that India has now“offered”to cut its tariffs to nothing,“but it’s getting late”,as he said that India buys most of its oil and military products from Russia and very little from the US. “What few people understand is that we do very little business with India, but they do a tremendous amount of business with us,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. He added that India sells to the US, its biggest “client”, “massive” amounts of goods, “but we sell them very little— Until now a totally one-sided relationship, and it has been formanydecades”.“Thereason is that India has charged us, untilnow,suchhightariffs,the most of any country, that our businesses are unable to sell into India,”he said. “It has been a totally onesided disaster! Also, India buys most of its oil and military products from Russia,very little from the US.They have now offered to cut their Tariffs to nothing, but it’s getting late. Theyshould have done soyears ago. Just some simple facts for peopletoponder!!!”Trumpsaid. His comments come as PrimeMinisterNarendraModi heldbilateraldiscussionswith Russian President Vladimir PutinandChinesePresident Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin,China. Continued on Page 7 ● PM’S LIMO-DIPLOMACY WITH RUSSIAN PRESIDENT Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin travel in the same car to the destination of their bilateral meet at the SCO summit in Tianjin, China, on Monday ■ P3 Rupee likely to stabilise at 88-88.50 CHRISTINATITUS Mumbai, September 1 AP GSTreceipts’growth Aug auto sales skid moderatesto6.5% on tax cut hopes UPI transactions cross 20-bn mark THE GROWTH IN gross GST collections moderated sequentially to 6.5% at `1.86 lakhcroreinAugust(basedonJulytransactions),partlyduetolowretailandwholesale inflation,but also reflecting a moderation in consumption, reports fe Bureau. Net GST receipts grew by 10.7% to `1.67 lakh crore inAugust. ■ PAGE 2 THE NUMBER OF transactions through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has crossed 20 billion in August, according to data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), reports PTI. In terms of value, it was `24.85 lakh crore against `25.08 lakh crore recorded in July. ■ PAGE 6 THE WEAK BUYING sentiment in the passengervehiclemarketgotaccentuated in August with consumers choosing to hold back purchases on expectations of a cut in goods and services tax, reports SwarajBaggonkar.Anticipationoflower rates saw manufacturers go slow on despatches to dealerships. ■ PAGE 4 FE POLL THE RUPEE’S SOUTHWARDS journey towards 89-90 is unlikelytocontinueinthenear term as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is not in favour of excess depreciation, economists and currency analysts said in an FE poll. On Friday, the rupee breached the 88-mark for the first time and closed at an alltime low of 88.20, days after the US’ 50% tariffs on Indian exports came into effect. On Monday too, the local currency plunged to a new intradaylow of 88.33 before recovering to close flat. Whilesomeofthembelieve that the rupee depreciation will make exports cheaper, thereby cushioning some impact of tariffs, the overwhelming consensus of the 10 expertsisthatRBIisunlikelyto let it happen anytime soon. “The rupee crossing 88was more sentiment-driven than fundamentals.Dollarhas been weakeningintheinternational markets and the dollarindex is below100.Theimporters’rush orthenegativesentimentafter imposition of the tariffs is a short-termphenomenon,”said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist,Bank of Baroda. He said the rupee will not breach the 89-mark. Continued on Page 7 Reliance Retail to license pvt labels to consumerbiz ● Glimmer,Enzo, Snactac on list of own FMCG brands VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO Mumbai, September 1 RELIANCE RETAIL,THE country’s largest organised retailer, will license its private brands in fast-moving consumer goods(FMCG)toRelianceConsumer Products (RCPL), sources in the know told FE. This is part of its move to hive off its FMCG business into a direct subsidiary of Reliance Industries (RIL),they said. Reliance Retail owns names such as Snactac (snacks), Puric (hygiene), Enzo (laundry), Glimmer (beauty)andGetReal(personal care) among other private labels in apparel,footwearand electronics, which were launched over the years as part of its private label push into retail. While private brands as a whole across categories contribute over 65% to Reliance Retail’srevenue,FMCGprivate labels,sources said,contribute around 5% or `10,000 crore to Reliance Retail’s topline. Reliance Retail is likely to charge a small licensing fee for the transfer of its FMCG private labels to Reliance Consumer once it is hived HYDERABAD BRAND SHIFT ■ Reliance Retail likely to charge a small licensing fee for the transfer to Reliance Consumer ■ Puric (hygiene) and Get Real (personal care) among the company's private labels ■ FMCG private labels said to contribute around 5% or `10,000 cr to Reliance Retail’s topline off into a direct subsidiary of RIL,they added. At RIL’s annual general meeting (AGM) on Friday, Reliance Retail director Isha Ambani had said the move to separate FMCG from retailwas aimed at ensuring dedicated and sharp focus on products, markets and customers. Continued on Page 7