BACK PAGE | PAGE 18 COMPANIES | PAGE 6 IIMAsummer placements at 13-year high of410 offers INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 10 Byju’s unit ‘roundtripped’ $533 mn: US court filing MUMBAI, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2025 Bangladesh's ousted PM Hasina sentenced to death FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL LXV NO. 272, 26 PAGES, `12 P U B L I S H E D F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , B E N G A L U R U , C H A N D I G A R H , C H E N N A I , H Y D E R A B A D , K O C H I , K O L K ATA , L U C K N O W, M U M B A I , N E W D E L H I , P U N E SENSEX: 84,950.95 ▲ 388.17 NIFTY: 26,013.45 ▲ 103.40 NIKKEI 225: 50,323.91 ▼ 52.62 HANG SENG: 26,384.28 ▼ 188.18 `/$: 88.64 ▲ 0.10 `/€: 102.84 ▲ 0.30 BRENT: $64.68 ▲ $0.29 GOLD: `1,22,902 ▼ `1,800 Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivers the sixth Ramnath Goenka Lecture in New Delhi on Monday TASHI TOBGYAL FINANCE PANEL SUBMITS REPORT TO PRESIDENT THE 16TH FINANCE Commission, headed by Arvind Panagariya, submitted its report for the 2026–31 award period to President Droupadi Murmu on Monday, reports fe Bureau. » INSIDE « PHASE 1 OF INDIA-US DEAL NEARING CLOSURE PAGE 2 SEBITO DOUBLE NUMBER OF INVESTORS IN 3-5YRS PAGE 7 COMPANIES PAGE 4 ARUNACHALAMVELLAYAN, EX-MURUGAPPAGROUP CHAIRMAN, PASSESAWAY Groww shares zoom over 17%, m-cap tops `1L cr SHARES OF BILLIONBRAINS Garage Ventures, the parent firm of Groww, gained over 17% on Monday, taking the firm's market capitalisation past `1 lakh crore, reports fe Bureau. ■ PAGE 7 Over 40 Indian pilgrims dead in Saudi bus crash FORTY-TWO INDIAN UMRAH pilgrims from Telangana were among 44 people killed in a collision involving their bus and a fuel tanker near Madina in Saudi Arabia on Monday, reports PTI. Q4 Q2 Q4 FY21 FY22 Q2 Q4 FY23 Q2 Q4 FY24 12,75,733 12,57,822 10,70,986 10,54,946 Cash & bank balances (in ` cr) 14,56,350 429 listed companies from BSE 500 index (excluding banks and financials) -Consolidated Q2 Q4 FY25 11,72,683 12,30,484 Q2 Q4 FY25 Q2 FY26 14,19,075 Q2 Q4 FY24 10,73,278 10,70,130 9,15,441 9,07,451 7,78,324 7,82,499 Q2 Q4 FY23 9,17,501 PAGE 3 Q4 Q2 Q4 FY21 FY22 9,06,126 ECONOMY 7,13,481 BUDGET KISHOR KADAM Mumbai, November 17 Cash & bank balances (in ` cr) 8,26,959 THE FY27 BUDGET may be presented on February 2026-27 1, 2026, despite it being a Sunday, sources said. Though a final call will be taken in December, officials noted the FY26 Budget came on a Saturday despite it being a holiday. —FE BUREAU ROBUST RESERVES 7,04,187 BUDGET: GOVT MAY STICK TO FEB 1, A SUNDAY ● Exports to US up sequentially after four months,but down 8.5% y-o-y MUKESH JAGOTA New Delhi, November 17 INDIA’S MERCHANDISE EXPORTSfell11.8%inOctoberon a strong base,while shipments to the US declined 8.5%, as exportersfacedheftyadditional tariffs of 50% in the biggest market, according to official data released on Monday. Trade deficit widened to a recordhighof$41.68billionin the month, as a surge in imports of high-priced gold during the festive season led to aspikeintheimportbillforthe yellow metal to $14.72 billion from $4.92 billion in the yearago month. Some of the decline in exports in October GLOBAL UNCERTAINTIES BITE Merchandise trade data for October 2025 Export growth (%) 30 Imports (%) Trade deficit ($ billion) (RHS) 20 10 41.68 26.4 0 -10 Apr -20 May Jun Jul Aug Sept 50 40 Oct 30 20 10 0 »INSIDE« TARIFF EXEMPTION TO BOOSTAGRI EXPORTS PAGE 2 was due to the high base of October2024,Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said. The October exports to the US at $6.31 billion were higher than in September — the first month of the application of 50% additional tariffs — when the shipments were at $5.47 billion as against $6.21 billion in September 2024.Merchandise exports to the US recorded a 14.5% rebound from September and the first month-on-month rise since May. ForApril-October, exports to the US are up 10.14% to $52.12 billion. Continued on Page 10 India Inc sitting on cash pile OMCsinkfirstmajorLPGimportdealwithUS 8,11,651 IN THE NEWS destroyed the Indian education system. India paid a heavy price for this, Modi DELIVERING THE SIXTH underlined,and the belief that Ramnath Goenka Lecture in what is western or foreign is the national capital on Mon- superior became ingrained in day — in which he recalled the the minds of people. Express Group founder’s fight “We looked abroad for against British rule as well as innovation. Imported ideas the Emergency — Prime Min- and goods were considered ister Narendra Modi superior,” Modi said, said the country adding that by2035, should, within 10 Modi and the 200 years after years, remove its Macaulay’s policy BJP always colonial mindset was rolled out, the remain in that is a result of country would put a emotional Macaulay’s 1835 lock on this mindset. policy of colonising He asserted that mode, not Indian minds election mode manycountries take through destruction pride in their lanof India’s own guage, and India’s knowledge systems and new education policy also imposition of colonial educa- focuses on mother tongues. tion on people. The PM underlined that he In 1835,Macaulaydecided was not an opponent of Engto produce Indians who were lish, but wished to promote Indians by appearance but Indian languages. British at heart, the PM said, adding that for this, he Continued on Page 6 16.68 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, November 17 -11.8 India an emerging model: PM Trade deficit hits record high in Oct on gold rush 9.02 19.13 MODI’S 10-YEAR PLAN: NATION MUST GET FREEDOM FROM COLONIAL MINDSET Q2 FY26 3,596 listed companies (excluding banks and financials) - Consolidated Source: Capitaline INDIA INC CONTINUES to remain flush with funds. With their businesses doing well,companies are sitting on a cash pile estimated at `14.19 lakh crore at the end of September 2025. While cash and bank balances are more or less similar to those at the end of the March 2025 quarter,they are nearly 11.2% higher than the levels in the year-ago period. The bulk of the cash of about 83% is with 429 top companies, excluding banks and financials. The high cash levels can be attributed to improving financial performance and a big jump in other income. Continued on Page 6 ● To bring in 2.2 MT cooking gas in 2026 ARUNIMA BHARADWAJ New Delhi, November 17 IN THE FIRST structured contract, India’s state-owned oil companies have concluded a one-year deal for imports of 2.2 million tonne of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from the US in 2026, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said on Monday. The imports, accounting for close to 10% of the country’s annual inbound shipments, will be sourced from the US Gulf Coast. Continued on Page 10 DIVERSIFIED SOURCING India’s LPG imports in 2024 (in tonne) UAE 8.3 mn 5.1 mn Qat Qatar 3.4 mn 3.5 mn Sau Saudi Arabia Kuw Kuwait US 114.7K Source: Bloomberg/Kpler Source