ECONOMY | PAGE 2 MOTOBAHN | PAGE 9 Don't give comfort to dishonest taxpayers: FM INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 7 Tax change can force EVs to win on value Trump ends Canada trade talks over Reagan tariff ad KOLKATA, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2025 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL 34 NO. 298, 14 PAGES, `12 (NORTH EAST STATES `12 & ANDAMAN `20) 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: 84,211.88 ▼ 344.52 NIFTY: 25,795.15 ▼ 96.25 NIKKEI 225: 49,299.65 ▲ 658.04 HANG SENG: 26,160.15 ▲ 192.17 `/$: 87.85 < > 0.00 `/€: 102.01 ▼ 0.16 BRENT: $66.30 ▲ $0.31 GOLD: `1,26,854 < > 0.00 — — FESTIVAL OF SAVINGS, SEASON OF JOY GST RELIEF FOR BENEFICIARIES OF Utsav IN THE NEWS Sebi bars MFs from pre-IPO investments IN A SURPRISE development, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has directed mutual fund houses not to invest in pre-initial public offering (IPO) share placements, reports Nesil Staney. Sebi sources and an Amfi official did not comment on the reasons that led to this development. ■ PAGE 6 Kotak Bank completes IDBI due diligence UDAY KOTAKPROMOTED KOTAK Mahindra Bank is said to have concluded its due diligence process for acquiring the government’s stake in IDBI Bank, sources close to the development told FE, reports Kshipra Petkar. ■ PAGE 6 RBI more hands-off on exchange rate now: IMF official THE RESERVE BANK of India is taking a more hands-off approach to exchange rate under its new chief and should continue with it, according to a senior official at the International Monetary Fund, reports Bloomberg. ■ PAGE 3 Flash PMI falls to 59.9 in October from 61 in Sept INDIA’S AGGREGATE OUTPUT rose at the slowest pace in five months in October, partly due to the drag from US tariffs on new export orders, according to a survey by HSBC Holdings, reports fe Bureau. The seasonally adjusted index fell from 61 in September to 59.9 in October. ■ PAGE 2 IN ADDITION TO ASSISTANCE OF UPTO ₹1.3 lakh SAVINGS OF ₹30 PER CEMENT BAG NEWSANCTIONS ON RUSSIAN OILFIRMS MAYHELPRESOLVE KEYISSUES India-US deal ‘very close’ MUKESH JAGOTA New Delhi, October 24 PUSH TO BILATERAL TRADE INDIA AND THE United States are “very close” to the first tranche of a bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with broad convergence reached on most issues, a senior official said on Friday,addingthatthetwosides have begun drafting the pact. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, added that the negotiators were about to find some common ground on “pending issues”, without elaborating what thesewere.“We don’t see anynewissue arising now...We are discussing non-tariff barriers,”the official said,hinting that the key sticking point of tariffs has been resolved. The official, however, hastened to add that“no deal is finalised as yet, as this is done at a much higher political level.” He said it was possible that a US team might visit India soon, but did not specify whether this was for the announcement of the deal. The comments came in the backdrop of stringent sanctions imposed by the US Treasury Department on Russia’s two biggest oil com- »INSIDE« ■ The India-US BTA aims to more than double bilateral trade by 2030 to $500 billion ■ The US remained India’s largest trading partner for the fourth consecutive year in 2024-25 PIYUSH GOYAL, COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY MINISTER panies — Rosneft and Lukoil — a move that will necessitate Indian companies, chiefly Reliance Industries (RIL), which account for half of India’s oil imports from the Eurasian country, to cut back on these purchases, with long-term contacts with these firms now out of bounds for them. USPresidentDonaldTrump EDIT: BLESSING IN DISGUISE? PAGE 8 The US accounts for about 18% of India’s total goods exports, 6.22% in imports, and ■ 10.73% in the country’s total merchandise trade RILwill ‘adapt’ operations to meet norms ofcompliance RAGHAVENDRA KAMATH Mumbai, October 24 RELIANCE INDUSTRIES (RIL) has been putting relentless pressure on India to stop buyingoilfromRussia.AfterspeakingtoPrimeMinisterNarendra Modi earlier this week,Trump said the talk was chiefly about trade and repeated his earlier claim that Modi had assured him India would limit its oil purchases from Russia. onFridaysaiditisassessingthe implications of recent restrictions announced bythe US,the UK, and the European Union on crude oil imports from Russia, and “will be adapting the refinery operations” to meet the compliance requirements. Reliance is the country’s largest buyer of Russian crude,accounting for roughly half of the country’s 1.7 million barrels per day of imports from Moscow. “We have noted the recent restrictions announced by the European Union, United Kingdom and the United States. Reliance is currently assessing the implications,including the newcompliancerequirements,” a companyspokesperson said. Continued on Page 7 Continued on Page 7 Tradedealsarefora longerduration.Itis notonlyabouttariffs oraccesstogoodsand services,itisalsoabout trustandrelationship OIL IMPORT LOSSES SHOULD BE MORE THAN OFFSET BY GAINS FROM LOWER US TARIFFS: NOMURA PAGE 5 WHY SINGLE OUT INDIA FOR RUSSIAN OIL PURCHASE? ASKS GOYAL PAGE 2 Markets halt six-day RBLintalkstoonboard rally on profit-taking 160mnZerodhaclients BENCHMARK EQUITY INDICES ended their six-day winning run on Friday on profit-booking and outflow of foreign funds. Compiled by Kishor Kadam Sensex Intra-day, Oct 24 ,6 84,667.23 Top sectoral losers (% loss) p Open 0.41% -0.77 -0.75 -0.71 -0.51 -0.47 Bank Healthcare FMCG Financial services Power 84,211.88 close 84,556.40 Previous close CBC 15502/13/0041/2526 Bachat PM AWAS YOJANA (GRAMIN) Now my dream of owning a home is coming true, with added savings! MAHESH NAYAK Mumbai, October 24 RBL BANK IS in advanced discussionstoopenbankaccounts for Zerodha’s 160 million broking clients — a move that could unlock up to `40,000 crore in sticky deposits and deliver more than 30% overnight boost to the bank’s deposit base — said sources close to the development. “Thepotentialinflow from Zerodha’s client pool represents a strategic leap in RBL’s retail franchise and CASA ratio,” a source said, indicating thattalksbetweenthetwohave been going on forsome time. “We would not like to comment,” said Zerodha’s spokes- person, while a query sent to RBL Bank went unanswered. Zerodha’s client base is essentially traders, making theirfunds particularlyattractive forCASAmobilisation.The `40,000-crore potential deposits are not just a quantum, they represent low churn and high retention money. For RBL, this could mean a significantimprovementincostoffunds and liquidity profile. This could also be a good start for RBL Bank, which has plans to enter the broking and asset management business afterthe acquisitionofamajoritystakebythe UAE-based Emirates NBD. Continued on Page 7 SAVINGS OF UP TO ₹600 ON SAND-LIME BRICKS WORTH ₹10,000 RBIproposes70%capon financingforacquisitions ● Suggests raising banks’exposures to capital market CHRISTINATITUS Mumbai, October 24 IN A DEVELOPMENT that will encourage banks to participate more aggressively in funding acquisitions by India Inc,the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday issued a draft circularon acquisition financing that proposes to allow banks to finance as much as 70% of the acquisition value, provided the rest 30% comes from the acquirer. “Acquisition financing can be extended by banks to Indian corporates for acquiring equity stakes in domestic or foreign companies as strategic investment… by the core objective of creating longterm value… rather than restructuring for short-term RESHAPING DEAL DYNAMICS Aggregate capital market exposure capped at 40% of its Tier 1 capital Banks can fund purchase of shares of PSUs under disinvestment Direct capital market exposure up to 20% ofTier 1 capital Loans to subscribe to IPOs, FPOs, ESOPs, capped at `25L per person Total exposure to acquisition finance at 10% of Tier 1 capital Loans against securities, other than G Secs, capped at `1 cr per person Financing capped at 70% of deal value; at least 30% to be funded by acquirer Loans to acquire securities in secondary markets limited to `25 lakh per person gains,”the draft circular said. The regulator asked banks to put in place a policy on acquisition finance, which defines the overall limit under the “direct capital market exposures”, eligibility of borrowers, security, margin, risk management and monitoring norms,among others. Continued on Page 11 Blackstoneacquires70%in AceInsurancefor`1,700cr NARAYANAN V Chennai, October 24 GLOBAL PRIVATE EQUITY giant Blackstone has acquired a majority stake in New Delhibased Ace Insurance Brokers for around `1,700 crore, marking one of the largest transactions in India’s insurance intermediary market. According to sources, the US-based investor has purchased about 70% stake inAce Insurance Brokers,which providesawiderangeofinsurance and reinsurance services including property,transit,liability,aviation,andmarinehull insurance, along with protection and indemnity coverage. The firm is also known for arranging major insurance covers for the Adani Group. “Blackstone has acquired majority stakes in Ace Insurance Brokers. However, we don’t want to comment on the valuation,” a Blackstone India spokesperson told FE. Founded by Raj Vinay MAJOR DEALS (` cr) Emirates NBD-RBL Bank 26,850 PEgianttobuy minoritystake inFederalBank for`6,196cr MAHESH NAYAK Mumbai, October 24 GLOBALPRIVATE EQUITY giant Ajmera and Anil Arora, Ace Insurance Brokers operates across 15 cities and employs over 350 professionals. Blackstone is set to acquire a 9.99% stake in Federal Bank through a preferential allotment of warrants, marking its first-everminorityinvestment in an Indian company. The deal, valued at `6,196 crore, will see Blackstone, through its Singapore-based affiliateAsia IITopco XIII,subscribing to 273 million warrants at `227 per share. In October,the stock of the Kerala-based bank has gained 20%,compared to a 4.8% rise in the BSE Sensex. Continued on Page 7 Continued on Page 7 SMBC-Yes Bank 8,888.97 Warburg Pincus & ADIA-IDFC First Bank 7,500 Aon-Global Insurance Brokers 250 HE REMINDED USTHATBEINGYOURTRUE SELF IS EVERYTHING,WRITES PRASOON JOSHI Piyush believed in celebration — of life,people,and stories IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE THAT PIYUSH’S LAUGHTER IS NOW ONLY A MEMORY. What a remarkable era he defined — a man who made work feel like life itself. For him, emotion was strategy, and simplicity,a form of craft. Piyush made a generation believe you could be yourself — rooted in your culture — and still create work that connects with everyone. He showed us that being real and emotional could be your greatest strength, not something to hide behind polish. Once, at Cannes, we were on a bus heading to the venue. Out of nowhere,Piyush began humming a Rajasthani folk song and soon had the whole bus — people from all over the world — singing along. That was him: proud of who he was, wearing his roots After late nights of work, I’d get his early morning call, his booming voice full of cheer: ‘Kahan ho, Tiger?’ That spirit of tireless energy and joy in work continues to guide me today »INSIDE« ADLAND'S HEART LOSES ITS BEAT, WRITES BOBBY PAWAR P4 THE CREATIVE GENIUS WHO FOUND THE EXTRAORDINARY IN THE ORDINARY P4 like a medal, never pretending to be anyone else. Anyone who met Piyush recognised the warmth he brought into every interaction. He had a wonderful way of twisting words, playing with phrases,and making you laugh when you least expected it. That was how he connected — through humour, language, and a sense of apnapan. He made everyone feel included, reminding us that creativity is a shared joy. He believed in getting his hands dirty. Never one to cut corners, he’d brainstorm ideas at a family gathering and join the festivities moments later. After late nights of work, I’d get his early morning call,his booming voice full of cheer:“Kahan ho, Tiger?” That spirit of tireless energy and joy in work continues to guide me today. In an age when families drift apart, Piyush made sure PIYUSH PANDEY 1955-2025 his stayed close — his proud brother Prasoon, his wonderful sisters, nieces, nephews, and his wife Nita. He learnt that sense of sharing and togetherness from his mother, whom he spoke of with immense love. We’d often sit late into the evening, talking about them, eyes moist, hearts full. I’ll never forget a walk with him on the promenade in Cannes. I asked, “At this stage in life, what would you tell me?” He smiled and said,“Don’t change the authentic you.” It reminded me of my own song — Rehna tu hai jaisa tu. Piyush was about celebration — of life, people, and stories. He believed that what we create can shape culture and makepeopleproudofwhothey are. He encouraged us to bring ourrooted,authenticselvesinto the mainstream — to never be apologetic about being emotional,grounded,orreal. There used to be a misconception, especially among those from smaller towns, that the language we spoke at home didn’t belong in agency corridors. Piyush changed that. He urged everyone to use their own voice, to blur the line between who you are and what you create. That’s what I learnt from him — that ideas don’t come from pretending. They come from honesty, from what you’ve lived, from who you truly are. Piyush will always be remembered for his fertile, generous, and genuine approach to creativity.For his laughter.For his courage.And for reminding us that being true to yourself is not just enough — it’s everything. The author is CEO & chief creative officer, McCann Worldgroup India NARENDRA MODI, PRIME MINISTER Shri Piyush Pandey Ji was admired for his creativity. He made a monumental contribution to the world of advertising ANAND MAHINDRA, CHAIRMAN, MAHINDRA GROUP He reminded us that even in the serious business of persuasion, joy, humanity must never be forgotten Kolkata