BACK PAGE | PAGE 16 NEWS POINT | PAGE 16 IAF chief details Pak losses: F-16s, JF-17s, C-130,AEW&C Serum CEOismostindustrious whenopportunitybeckons CHENNAI/KOCHI, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2025 VOL NO. XLVI 127, 16 PAGES, `12 INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 7 GIP in talks to buyAligned Data Centers for $40 bn FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD P U B L I S H E D F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , B E N G A L U R U , C H A N D I G A R H , C H E N N A I , H Y D E R A B A D , K O C H I , K O L K ATA , L U C K N O W, M U M B A I , N E W D E L H I , P U N E SENSEX: 81,207.17 ▲ 223.86 NIFTY: 24,894.25 ▲ 57.95 NIKKEI 225: 45,769.50 ▲ 832.77 HANG SENG: 27,140.92 ▼ 146.20 `/$: 88.78 ▼ 0.09 `/€: 104.21 ▼ 0.12 BRENT: $64.55 ▲ $0.44 GOLD: `1,16,438 ▼ `495 IN THE NEWS Marico expects Q2 revenue to grow 30% on price hikes CONSUMER GOODS MAJOR Marico on Friday said it saw September quarter (Q2FY26) consolidated revenue growing at about 30% yearon-year, driven by sharp price hikes and higher sales of its premium hair oils, reports Viveat Susan Pinto. ■ PAGE 4 Anil Ambani's plea against SBI fraud tag dismissed THE BOMBAY HIGH Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by industrialist Anil Ambani challenging the State Bank of India's (SBI) decision classifying his and Reliance Communications' accounts as fraud. ■ PAGE 5 To boost FDI, Niti proposes wider presumptive tax IN A MOVE that will help accelerate foreign investments, a NITI Aayog paper on Friday suggested introducing an optional presumptive taxation regime with sector-specific benchmarks to reduce permanent establishment and profit attribution uncertainty on overseas investments in India, reports fe Bureau. ■ PAGE 2 Rice stocks with FCI surge to 10-year high RICE STOCKS WITH the Food Corporation of India (FCI) have risen to a 10-year high of 36.3 million tonne (MT), 2.5 times more than the buffer, reports Sandip Das. ■ PAGE 2 Correction IN RESPONSE TO the report, “Love blooms for swadeshi dating apps" on October 3, Tinder has termed “incorrect” the claim that it is scaling down in India. Tinder said it has been steadily growing its teams in India and continues to invest in the market through new initiatives, campaigns, and partnerships. The error is regretted. RBI PROPOSES EASIER FOREIGN BORROWING RULES,SCRAPPING COSTCAPS India Inc may get higher ECB limits FE BUREAU Mumbai, October 3 IN A MOVE to ease fundraising through external commercial borrowings (ECBs),the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday proposed a framework to »INSIDE« link corporate REVISED FRAMEWORK foreign borFOR LENDING rowing limits TO RELATED fromabroadto PARTIES financial PAGE 6 strength and scrapping cost caps.Thisispartoftheeasingof banking regulations that RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra announced onWednesday. The regulator proposed to linkthelimitwiththefinancial strength of the borrower. Undertheproposedguidelines, 450bpsovertheprevailingyield of the government securities. RBI also simplified the enduse restrictions and minimum averagematurityrequirements. The borrowers can raise ECBs with a minimum maturity of three years.In the case of manufacturing firms, the maturity canrangefromoneyeartothree years.Withtheproposednorms, the proceeds of the ECBs can be utilisedoutsideIndiaindeposit, certificate of deposit or other similar product offered by a bank,which has a highest quality rating.The proceeds can be also invested in high quality treasury bills with maturity up to one-year or in a deposit with aforeignbranchorforeignsubsidiaryof a bank in India. BOOSTING CREDIT FLOW ■ Under the proposed norms, a company can raise ECBs up to $1 bn or 300% of net worth ■ Proposals include raising funds at marketdetermined interest rates ■ Earlier, borrowers were able to raise ECBs up to $750 mn in a financial year acompanycanraiseECBsupto $1billionor300%ofnetworth as per the last audited balance sheet,whicheveris higher.Earlier, borrowers were able to raise ECBs up to $750 million ■ RBI also simplified end-use restrictions and minimum average maturity requirements ■ It has also expanded the eligible borrower and lender base in a financial year. The central bank also proposed to raise funds at marketdetermined interest rates and removed the cost caps. According to the previous norms,therewasaspreadof450 basis points (bps) over the applicable benchmark for ECBs raised in foreign currency.The maximum spread for ECBs raisedindomesticcurrencywas Continued on Page 7 Tata Capital IPO M&As:Privatecreditfunds anchorbook unfazedbyentryofbanks sees 5x demand FUND FLOW RAGHAVENDRA KAMATH & MAHESH NAYAK Mumbai, October 3 ● `4,642crraised from135investors FE BUREAU Mumbai, October 3 TATA CAPITAL, THE flagship financial services company of the Tata Group, has raised `4,641.8 crore from 135 anchor investors on October 3, a day prior to the launch of its IPO for public subscription, accordingtoanexchangefiling. Subscriptions overshot allocation byfive times. According to sources, Morgan Stanley’s Counterpoint Global, WCM Investment Management,Goldman Sachs AssetManagement,WhiteOak Capital Partners and Nomura AssetManagementalsoplaced bids to be anchor investors. Most of the top mutual fund funds also participated. Sources said, among the main Indian investors are LIC (`700 crore), HDFC Mutual Fund and ICICI Mutual Fund (`175 crore each) and Kotak Mutual Fund (`100 crore). ThebiggestIPOofthecurrent calendar year and largest since HyundaiMotorIndia’s`27,859crore offerlastyearwill open for thepubliconOctober6andclose onOctober8.ThetotalIPOsizeof Tata Capital is `15,512 crore at theupperpriceband. Tata’s offering will involve thesaleofasmanyas475.8million new and existing shares by Tata Capital, its parent and International Finance Corp, accordingtotheIPOprospectus. Tata Capitalwill start taking orders from the broader public fromMonday,withsharesbeing offered at `310 to `326 apiece throughWednesday.Thatwould valuetheshadowlenderathigh as`1.4lakhcrore.Thesharesare scheduled to begin trading on October13. Of the total number of sharesbeingsoldintheIPO,half will be earmarked for qualified institutional buyers, 35% for retail investors and the rest for non-institutional investors, including wealthy individuals. As much as 60% of the institutional portion can be allocated toanchorinvestors,accordingto the prospectus. PRIVATE CREDIT PLAYERS seem unperturbed by the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision to allow banks to fund mergers and acquisitions (M&As). According to these entities, acquisition funding is one among the several types of dealstheyundertake,comprising 15-25% of their total books.Promoterfinancingand loan against shares are among the other areas of operations. Kapil Singhal, managing partner – private credit, True North, said the RBI’s decision will have a miniscule impact on private credit funds. “Acquisition financing is only one of the many uses. Other uses include shareholding consolidation, pre-IPO ■ H1 2025 saw record high pvt credit investments reaching $9 bn, marking a 53% jump from $5.9 bn in H1 2024 ■ Infra sector gained highest allocations from private credit funds followed by real estate and healthcare sectors ■ Around 17% ■ Larger private funds channelled into growth capital, capacity expansion, acquisitions holdco deals, loans against listed shares, repayment cash flow mismatches,etc,”Singhal said in a LinkedIn post. He added that only two out of 27 True North private credit deals (23 executed and fourintheprocess)wereacqui- credit deals with transactions over $100 mn made up 18% of total count & 80% of total deal value sition financing. Private credit investments reached $9 billion across 79 deals (above $10 million) in the first half of 2025, according to EY India. Continued on Page 7 Lenskart gets Sebi nod for IPO FE BUREAU Bengaluru, October 3 EYEWEAR RETAILER LENSKART has reportedly received Sebi approval for its initial public offering (IPO). According to its draft red herring prospectus, the IPO includes a fresh issue of equity sharesworth `2,150 crore and an offer for sale of up to 132 million shares by existing investors and promoters. The offer for sale includes SoftBank-backed SVF II, Alpha WaveVentures,Temasek affiliates, Premji Invest, and Kedaara Capital. PromoterPeyushBansalwill sell 20 million shares, while Neha Bansal,Amit Chaudhary, andSumeetKapahiwilloffload smallerstakes. Promoters hold around 19% of the company, with institutional and other shareholders owning the remaining around 80%. The company will use the fresh issue proceeds for expansion. Lenskart posted a net profit of `297.3 crore in FY25, against a loss of `10.2 crore in FY24. Growth driven bydomestic factors: FM ● Calls India a stabilising force in uncertain world FE BUREAU New Delhi, October 3 FINANCE MINISTER NIRMALA Sitharaman on Friday said India’seconomicgrowthwasfirmly anchored in its domestic factors,but cautioned that there’s noroomforcomplacency. Stating that the country’s rise as a “stabilising force” on the global stage is “neither accidental, nor transient”, the FM,intacitreferencetotheUS, said the “absolute dominance once enjoyed by a hegemon is now contested”. SpeakingattheKautilyaEconomic Conclave, she said the foundationsofglobalorderwere shifting,and“whattheemerging countries are facing today are not a temporary disruption but astructuraltransformation”. Trade imbalances hollowed out industries in some nations, whiletheycreatedovercapacity NIRMALA SITHARAMAN FINANCE MINISTER The absolute dominance once enjoyed by a hegemon is now contested inothers,shenoted.TheFMsaid these imbalances made some countries “chronically dependent” on costly imports,while others were subsidising their industries with cheap, carbonintensive power. Continued on Page 7 Inflation targeting workedverywell, says RBI governor FE BUREAUS New Delhi/Mumbai, October 3 The governor made it clear that when it comes to setting the target,the RBI has no indeINDIA'S FLEXIBLE INFLATION pendence, but “only a view,” targeting framewhich is commuwork has worked nicated to the SANJAY MALHOTRA “very well”, government. RBI GOVERNOR Reserve Bank of “Indiahasdone India (RBI) govvery well in giving You cannot ernor Sanjay the Reserve Bank Malhotra said on of India,its central control the Friday, amid an bank,theindepenstorm, but ongoing review dence where it's you can of the 4% target required, but with certainly with a tolerance accountabilityfeaband of +/-2% tures built into it,” steer a ship adoptedin2016. the governorsaid. Speaking at Only in the Kautilya Ecothird lever of the nomic Conclave framework is how 2025 in Delhi,he to align the opersaid,“...it’s the ating target to the government which policy repo rate,where there sets the target,not the iscompleteflexibilityorindeRBI for itself. The RBI pendence to the central is consulted (on bank,Malhotra said. the target) every five Continued on years.” Page 7 Smaller companies may take a big hit, say experts FE S P EC I A L Online gaming firms fearcosts going up on reset of rules ANEES HUSSAIN & OJASVI GUPTA Bengaluru/New Delhi, Oct 3 The tech-cruise: Inside Maruti’s new flagship The carmaker’s Gen Z strategy, and will the Victoris beat Creta. ■ MOTOBAHN, P9 THE ONLINE GAMING sector may face higher compliance costsifthedraftPromotionand Regulation of Online Gaming Rules,2025,releasedforconsultationsbytheelectronicsandIT ministry on Thursday, gets finalisedwithout changes. While the framework is being seen as a step towards long-awaitedregulatoryclarity, analysts and legal experts said that registration, reporting obligations and in-house grievance systems will see costs rising,especiallyforsmallerfirms. Forinstance,Rule17requires gamingcompaniestonotifythe proposed Online Gaming AuthorityofIndia(OGAI)ofany “material change”in game features or revenue models. Analysts said that the provision is intended to prevent legitimate games from being converted into prohibited online money games,but smaller players may finditonerous. “The compliance cost and burden will definitely rise, but then the rules are for greater public good and strengthening theproposedregulatoryauthority,” Pavan Duggal, cyber law expert,told FE.“However,these draft rules are for consultation so one needs to wait and see theirfinal shape,” he added. NEW NORMS ■ Govt has released the draft norms and invited public comments until Oct 31 ■ Registration, reporting obliga- tions & in-house grievance systems may lead to higher costs ■ Costs could likely rise by 20-30% for earlystage firms ■ Rules propose in-house grievance redressal systems with escalation mechanisms ■ Several industry leaders have also welcomed the broad direction of the framework “Even adding a new ad format or tweaking monetisation couldtechnicallytriggeracompliance event.This could lead to constant legal review, filings, andpossiblynewhires,”saidPrateek Gupta, founder of Blue Ivory Business Solutions and Gamio Technologies, adding thatcostscouldriseby20-30% forearly-stage firms. Some lawyers feel that, as a result, product rollouts may slow down.“Frequent notifications for gameplay or revenue changes will prove onerous, especiallyforentitiesthatoperate on fast product cycles,” Aditya Bhattacharya,partnerat King Stubb & Kasiva,said. “If every update or monetisationfeaturerequiresnotificationandreview,patchesorgame updatescouldbedelayed.Foran ecosystemthatthrivesonspeed, even small slowdowns can disrupt tournaments and raise costs across the chain,” said Shiva Nandy, founder and CEO of Skyesports. The rules also propose inhouse grievance redressal systems with escalation mechanisms. Companies will need to recordcomplaints,resolvethem within timelines, and periodi- CHENNAI/KOCHI cally update the regulator on outcomes. According to legal advisors, such obligations may divert resources away from product development. “This frameworkcouldcreateanother layerofredtapewhichcouldstifleinnovation,” saidtechnology and gaming lawyerJaySayta. Accordingtoindustryexecutives,the definition of“material change” should be narrowed. “Features that introduce monetarystakesshouldbeconsidered material,whilecosmeticchanges oruserinterface updates should not trigger reclassification,” according to Rohit Agarwal, founder&director,AlphaZegus. Continued on Page 7