COMPANIES | PAGE 4 ECONOMY | PAGE 2 Will address IBC-PMLA conflict soon: IBBI chief INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 11 LG aims to make India a global manufacturing hub HYDERABAD, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2025 Shutdown grips USwith GOPweighing massive cuts FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL. NO. XXII 130, 46 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: 80,983.31 ▲ 715.69 NIFTY: 24,836.30 ▲ 225.20 NIKKEI 225: 44,550.85 ▼ 381.78 HANG SENG: 26,855.56 ▲ 232.68 `/$: 88.69 ▲ 0.10 `/€: 104.09 ▲ 0.22 BRENT: $65.36 ▼ $0.67 GOLD: `116,933 ▲ `2,172 THE EUROPEAN FREE Trade Association is seeking a bilateral investment treaty with India to provide comfort to its companies as they the bloc seeks investment opportunities in the country, reports Mukesh Jagota. ■ PAGE 2 loans against shares, units of REITs/InvITs enhanced Top self-made women in 2025 2025 Jayshree Ullal, Rank Mukesh Ambani & family Gautam Adani & family GSTcut drives Sept car sales up 5.4% Arista Networks `50,170 cr 2 1 3 4 Manufacturing falls to 4-month low Aravind Srinivas Perplexity `21,190 cr INDIA’S MANUFACTURING ACTIVITYsoftened in September, with the S&P Global PurchasingManagers’Index(PMI) falling to 57.7 from 59.3 in August. ■ P2 Roshni Nadar Cyrus S Kumar Malhotra & Poonawalla Mangalam family & family Birla & family Source: Hurun Research Institute; M3M Hurun India Rich List 2025 100 YEARS OF RSS PM hails Sangh’s role in nationbuilding PAGE 9 89.6 -46.0 5.2 Sept 2025 Mar 2025 22.7 30.1 6.2 1.8 9.4 Dec 2024 Jun 2025 109.1 Continued on Page 7 PM-Trumpmeet likelyinMalaysia Sept 1.89 Jul 1 1.96 Aug 1.86 2025 Passenger Vehicle sales (units) 361,797 Sept 2024 381,437 Sept 2025 Manufacturing PMI 61 59 56.5 57.7 57 55 Jan ‘24 Sept ‘25 Source: PMI by S&P Global MALAYSIA HAS INFORMED IndiathatUSPresidentDonald Trumpwillvisit Kuala Lumpur for the summits of Asean and EastAsia leaders from October 26-28. This has opened a window for Delhi to look at a possible bilateral meeting between PrimeMinisterNarendraModi and President Trump on the sidelines of the East Asia summit. While there has been no official announcement about Modi’s travel to Malaysia, preparations are underway. There has been no official announcement from the US side too,either from theWhite House or the US State Department,onTrump’s travel plans. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is the host of the Asean and East Asia summits and Kuala Lumpur & Delhihavebeenintouchabout India’s participation. Malaysia has also conveyed that Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Russian President Vladimir Putin are also expected to travel to Kuala ALL FOR A DEAL ■ Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is the host of the Asean and East Asia summits from October 26-28 ■ There has been no official word about Modi’s tour but the preparations are underway ■ From the US side too, neither the White House nor the US State Department has officially confirmed Trump’s travel plans Lumpur for the summit. A possible meeting between Modi and Trump has been in the works since Washington and Delhi have resumed work on a trade deal thatwas stalled overthe impositionoftariffsandIndianpurchase of Russian oil. Continued on Page 7 LG Electronics’ Indian unit announces `11,500-crore issue, second biggest offer in October behindTata Capital D-Stsetforitsbiggest-everIPOmonthwith`44K-crissuances FE S P EC I A L RAJESH MASCARENHAS October 1 ‘We are tipping the scales in favour of defenders’ INDIA’SINITIALPUBLICoffering marketissetforarecordOctober, withcompaniesexpectedtoraise over`44,000crorehighlighting stronginvestorappetiteinoneof theworld’sbusiestequityhubs. Big-ticket deals, including offerings from Tata Capital and LG Electronics’s local unit, are boostingconfidencethatIndia’s stock market can absorb large issuance,even as US tariffs and weak earnings leave equities trailingotherAsianmarkets. The rush is being fuelled by strong inflows from domestic mutualfunds,whichhavehelped Daisy Chittilapilly, president, Cisco India & Saarc, highlights the India business opportunity. ■ EFE, P9 (` lakh crore) PASSENGER VEHICLE SALES picked up pace in September as the GST cut boosted demand, reportsSwarajBaggonkar.Dispatches of cars & SUVs rose 5.42%to381,437units.■ P4 Richest among young billionaires 5 cally,the March quarter of any fiscal year sees more project announcements compared to other quarters. Governmentinvestmentin the second quarter of the current fiscalwas the lowest since Q1FY21, when it was around `70,000 crore. SHUBHAJIT ROY New Delhi, October 1 Jun 1 1.85 GROSS GST COLLECTIONS came in at `1.89 lakh crore in September (August transactions), up 9.1% on year. However, net GST receipts grew by 5% to `1.6 lakh crore. ■ P2 Continued on Page 7 Apr 2.37 GST mop-up rises 9.1% to `1.89L cr rates (single group exposure) is expected to be withdrawn. Instead,the concentration risk is proposed to be managed through specific macroprudential tools. C S Setty,chairman at State Bank of India, said “The RBI policy statement was an authoritative one towards unveiling of market reforms and moving beyond the rate actions.” Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) will get relief for investing in operational and high-quality infrastructure project through lower risk weights. May 2 2.01 THE RESERVE OF India (RBI) on Wednesday announced a raft of measures – 22, to be precise – to support growth by improving ease of doing business, increasing the flow of credit as well as giving a boost to stock markets. To improve the flow of credit, the banking regulator has proposed to provide an enabling framework that will allow banks to fund mergers and acquisitions of India Inc – something the banking sector hasbeenseekingforsometime. In addition, there are plans to remove any regulatory ceil- ing on lending against debt securities, the limit of lending against shares has been increased from `20 lakh to `1 crore and the upper limit for financinginitialpublicoffering (IPO)from`10lakhto`25lakh. These measures are expected to give a significant boost to the IPO market that has been bustling with action. In September alone,25 IPOs – thehighestsince1997–raised as much as `13,302 crore. In all,there are expectations that over `2 lakh crore could be raised in FY26. Further, the 2016 framework that disincentivised lending more than `10,000 crore by banks to large corpo- Mar 1.96 JOYDEEP GHOSH Mumbai, October 1 New projects announced ` lakh crore % chg, y-o-y 9.6 Onagenda:Fundingfor M&A,easymktlending THE VALUE OF new projects announced in the country declined 46% on year and 16% sequentially to `5.2 lakh crore in the September quarter, according to data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). The Q2FY26 projectvalue was also a five-quarter low,making the wait for a robust investment cycle longer and its viability somewhat doubtful. What offers a silverlining is a consistent rise in the share of the private sector in total projects announced in recent quarters – this share was 88.4% in Q2FY26,the highest level since Q3FY11. Besides, some progress was visible in the completion of announced projects, especially in the June quarter. Newprivate-sectorprojects contracted 24% on year to `4.6 lakh crore in Q2FY26, while value of new government projects fell by much sharper rate of 83% to `60,000 crore. The high base of Q2 last fiscal made the year-on-year fall sharper in Q2 this year. Typi- Sept 2024 ■ Change in premium from 12p per `100 of assessable deposits riskbased framework 2021 PICK-UP AWAITED SAIKAT NEOGI New Delhi, October 1 MUKESHAMBANI HAS reclaimed the title ofrichest Indian from GautamAdani, according to the latest M3M Hurun India Rich List 2025.The list marks a breakthrough for HCLTech’s Roshni Nadar Malhotra for becoming the firstwoman to enter the top three on the list. The rise in self-madewomen entrepreneurs & the growing clout ofprofessional -- URVI MALVANIA managers at global firms is the highlight ofthis year’s list. (5-year growth, ` cr) projects’valueinQ2 46%loweronyear borrowers with credit limit >`10,000 crore to be dealt on a case-tocase basis Ambani back on top Project intent falls to five-qtr low in July-Sept ● At`5.2Lcr,new ■ Ceiling on lending against listed debt securities removed 2,32,850 EFTA eyes bilateral investment treaty with India ■ Lending limit for RoshniNadarthirdinrichlist 1,22,200 CEMENT PRICES ACROSS the country eased in September after producers fully passed on the benefits of GST rationalisation to customers, reports Urvi Malvania. The all-India average selling price declined by `25-30 monthon-month to about `325 per bag. ■ PAGE 5 2,46,460 GST cut trims cement bag prices by `25-30 now allowed for banks ■ Concentration risk to to emerge before charting the next course of action.” The good news: The inflation target has been further THE MONETARY POLICY pruned from 3.1% to 2.6% in Committee (MPC) decided to FY26 while the growth target keep its policyrate unchanged has been revised upwards to on Wednesday but kept the 6.8%.While the implementadoor open for further rate cuts tion of the Goods and Services in the nearfuture as it assesses Tax 2.0 guidelines is expected the impact of domestic tax to offset some of the impact of cuts and punitive US tariffs. the US government’s tariffs, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) the growth outlook for Q3 and governorSanjayMalhotra said Q4 has been pruned to 6.4% the current macroecoand6.2%,respectively. nomic conditions and The stock market »INSIDE« the outlook have reacted positively to TAP OPENED opened up policy space FOR STEADY the RBI’s action plan, for further supporting with the Sensex rising CREDIT growth, after the six715 points to close at FLOW member MPC voted PAGES 6 & 7 80,983 points, largely unanimously to hold led by banking stocks. EDIT: the repo rate at 5.50% Therupeerose10paise DOVISH andretaineda"neutral" to close at 88.69/$ PAUSE policy stance, though while bond yields PAGE 8 twomembers–Nagesh slipped as much as 6 Kumar and Ram Singh basis points to 6.52%. – were of the view that the “While prima facie the stance be changed from neu- unanimous ‘hold’ may appear tral to accommodative. hawkish,webelievetoday’spolThe impact of the front- icyguidancefromthegovernor loaded monetary policy has opened the door for more actions and the recent fiscal rate cuts, and if RBI’s projecmeasures is still playing out, tions for growth and inflation Malhotra said. “The trade hold, then rate cuts might be related uncertainties are also unavoidable forthe RBI,”wrote unfolding.TheMPC,therefore, Rahul Bajoria, India & Asean considered it prudent to wait Economist,Bofa Securities. fortheimpactofpolicyactions to play out and greater clarity Continued on Page 7 1,63,700 TESLA’S LONGAWAITED debut in India has begun on a modest but steady note, with the company selling 60 units of its Model Y in September, the first full month of deliveries after opening bookings in July, reports Nitin Kumar. ■ PAGE 4 The MPC thought it’s prudent towait for… greaterclarityto emerge before charting the next course of action ■ Acquisition finance is KSHIPRA PETKAR & JOYDEEP GHOSH Mumbai, October 1 2,84,120 Tesla sells 60 units in September, matches EV peers RBI GOVERNOR overlap of activities between banks and group entities removed growth estimate goes up to 6.8% New THE MULTIPLE SCHEME Framework (MSF), which came into effect from Wednesday, for non-government NPS subscribers with equity exposure up to 100% of funds will cater to different investor preferences, giving them greater flexibility, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. ■ PAGE 2 SANJAY MALHOTRA ■ Proposed ban on 8,14,720 NPS changes to cater to investor preferences: FM ACTION PLAN ● FY26 inflation target pruned to 2.6%, 5,05,900 THE CABINET ON Wednesday announced annual hikes of 4-10% in the minimum support prices for the winter-sown crops for the marketing season 202627, reports Sandip Das. The Centre also approved a sixyear plan to boost production of these staples, with a budgetary allocation of `11,440 crore. ■ PAGE 3 RBI keeps rate cut door open 9,55,410 Cabinet hikes MSP of winter crops by 4-10% PAUSEONRATE,FAST-FORWARDONEASEOFDOINGBUSINESS 7,18,000 IN THE NEWS offset foreign outflows and turnedIndiaintoabrightspotfor bankers in an uncertain global economy. Firms including Jefferies Financial Group and JPMorgan Chase are betting momentum will carry forward fromlastyear,whenIndianIPOs raisedarecord`1.8lakhcrore. “Cash holdings by mutual funds,continuously buttressed by consistent domestic flows, havewhettedinvestors’appetite and positioned the market to absorb such substantial fundraising,” said Dhiraj Relli, managing director of HDFC SecuritiesinMumbai. The pipeline is packed. WeWorkIndiaManagementwill ROBUST PRIMARY MARKET ■ Big-ticket deals are Record IPO pipeline set for October (in ` crore) 15,500 Tata Capital 11,500 LG Electronics* 10,000 ICICI Prudential AMC* 6,000 Pine Labs* WeWork Canara HSBC Life Others 3,000 2,500 900 Source: Bloomberg/Stok Exchanges *Tentative size launch its `3,000 crore IPO on October3,followed byTata Capital’s`15,500croresharesaleon October6.LGElectronics’Indian unit is expected to raise about `11,500 crore that week, BloombergNewshasreported. Other deals may follow.Pine boosting confidence that India’s stock market can absorb large issuances ■ The rush is being fuelled by strong inflows from domestic mutual funds Firms like Jefferies are betting IPO momentum will carry forward from last year ■ Labs,adigitalpaymentsprovider, planstoraiseasmuchas`6,000 crore later in October, while Canara HSBC Life Insurance is preparing a `2,500-crore IPO, people familiarwith the matter said.ICICIPrudentialAssetManagement is awaiting regulatory approval for its public issue, which may be launched at the endofOctober. “As India is seen largely as a tariff-resilient and demand-driven market, IPOs of scale and quality will continue to attract strong interest,” said Ranvir Davda, co-head of investment banking at HSBC Securities and CapitalMarkets(India). To be sure, foreign funds, while still participating in primaryofferings,havescaledback. TheirinvestmentsinIndianIPOs andplacementshavedroppedto HYDERABAD `43,000crorethisyearfrom`1.2 lakhcrorein2024,thedatashow. Indian firms have already raised over `97,000 crore via IPOsfromJanuarythroughSeptember,according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Another `70,000-90,000 crore could be added in the final three months of the year,according to Kailash Soni,headofIndiaequitycapital markets at Goldman Sachs Group. “Investor engagement remains strong, with multiple companies currently on roadshows and both domestic and global investors eager to deploy capitalintoIndia’sgrowthstory,” hesaid. -- BLOOMBERG