THE BIG IDEA | PAGE 20 BRANDWAGON| PAGE 9 What defines Purplle now is not just distribution, but data BACK PAGE | PAGE 20 Air purifier firms cash in on winter pollution NEW DELHI, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2025 Meta pulled up for hiding mentalhealthharm claims FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL. L1 NO. 227, 20 PAGES, `12 (PATNA & RAIPUR `12, SRINAGAR `15) 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 IN THE NEWS BACK PAGE PAGE 20 LAKSHMI MITTAL QUITS UK AHEAD OF SUPER-RICH TAX: REPORT INDIANORIGIN STEEL MAGNATE Lakshmi N Mittal, until now based in Britain, has decided to quit the UK as the government's feared tax shake-up for the super-rich nears, a UK media report said on Sunday, reports PTI. ECONOMY PAGE 2 FTAWITH ISRAEL LIKELYTO BE CONCLUDED IN PHASES INDIAAND ISRAEL may negotiate FTA in two phases so that in areas where convergence of views is faster, business communities from both the sides can start benefiting, Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Sunday, reports FE Bureau. CONSENTSYSTEM,DATAAUDITS,CYBERSECURITYKEYSPENDAREAS DPDP rollout to increase tech budgets by 10-30% ● Companies have 12-18 months’ transitionwindow URVI MALVANIA Mumbai, November 23 THE IMPLEMENTATION OF the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) rules is expectedtodriveasharprisein technology and compliance spending across enterprises, with industry estimates indicatinga10–30%increaseinIT and tech budgets, depending on organisational scale and data maturity. Following the government’s notification of the rules,companies have a transition window of about 12–18 months to rework their systems to meet new requirements.This includes redesigning consent and notice mechanisms, updating dataretention procedures, preparing for mandatory breach reporting and enabling userrights features.The overhaul is expected to influence legal, operational and technology functions simultaneously, PRIVACY OVERHAUL influence legal, operational and technology functions simultaneously, leading to a broadbased rise in compliance costs organisations may already have mature systems, but even they are likely to incur a 10–15% increase ■ Tech spending could rise by nearly 25-30%, or even more if architecture needs rebuilding leadingtoabroad-basedrisein compliance costs. “Enterprises now have a cleardirection on howpersonal data must be collected, processed and governed. The phased rollout gives organisations time to build privacy into operations, but obligations are fixed and will increase compliance-related costs, not just on technology,butalsoonlegaland operational fronts,” Murali Rao, partner and leader, cybersecurityconsulting,EYIndia,toldFE. Technologyupgradesrepre- ■ Structured data audits become a recurring requirement and add to the overall cost of compliance sent the most significant component of the shift.Companies are now assessing requirements spanning data consolidation, consent-management tooling, tightened security frameworks and changes to back-end architecture. These interventionsmaytriggeroverhaulsinITsystems,particularly forfirmswithfragmenteddata environments. “For small and medium enterprises, tech spending couldrisebynearly25-30%,or even more if theirarchitecture are now allocating 15–20% of their legal budgets needs rebuilding. Larger organisations may already have mature systems,but even they are likely to incur a 1015% increase,” Chetan Jain, founder and managing director, Inspira Enterprises, said.A substantial portion of this spending will be directed towards external cyber and data-security service providers,he added,especially for businesses lacking dedicated internal teams. Continued on Page 11 Prime Minister Narendra Modi with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (left) and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (right) during IBSA Leaders' meeting, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, in Johannesburg (South Africa) on Sunday. PTI BOARD OFTRADETO MEET ONTUESDAY PAGE 2 SATISFACTORY OUTCOME ATCOP30 PAGE 3 OPINION ■ Early-stage startups ● MODI PUSHES GLOBALAI SAFEGUARDSATG20 » INSIDE « PAGE 8 FROM BIHARTO BENGAL: DOLEVS DEVELOPMENT, WRITE ASHOK GULATI & BIDISHACHANDA States’ capex likely grew 10% in April-October CAPEX BY STATE governments likely grew 10% YoY in the first seven months of FY26, but revenue expenditure growth was 4%, reports Prasanta Sahu. ■ PAGE 2 DESPITE THE EXIT of Mehli Mistry from Tata Trusts,there is still pain and rancour within the organisation over the manner in which a group of trustees led by Mistry blocked the nomination of Vijay Singh to the board of Tata Sons at the September 11 meeting. Tata Sons is the principal investment holding company andpromoterofTatacompanies. Responding to a recent letterfromDariusKhambata,who isaseniorlawyerandtrusteeon the boards of Sir Ratan Tata TrustandSirDorabjiTataTrust, aseniorTatagroupdirectorsaid Demand for FMCG revives in October on GSTboost VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO Mumbai, November 23 Continued on Page 3 Continued on Page 11 Tension persists at Tata Trusts the September11 meetingwas “botched”andtriggeredaseries of developments that went against theTrusts’interests. “I don’t know if there was a coup ornot,butwhateverhappened was certainly botched. It resulted in the loss of a Trusts seat on the Tata Sons board, the attention of the Government of India, and a great deal of unwelcome publicity,” the Tata group director said in a written response. In his November 10 letter to Tata Trusts Chairman Noel WHEN BIRLAESTATES,partof Aditya Birla Real Estate, sold a 2,434 square feet apartment in luxury project Birla Niyaara inWorli earlythisyear,the selling price was `85,090 a sq ft. The propertygot registered in March this year. Next month, another property by a local developer got registered at `42,007 a sq ft,according to data provided by Zapkey,a real estate data analytics firm. The difference between Birla property and that of the local developer's was 103%. This is just one example of the widening price difference between residential properties of top and local brands. When an apartment in OberoiSkyCityinBorivaliEastin Mumbaiwassoldandregistered thismonth,thesellingpricewas `51,712 a sq ft.As per registrationdata,alocaldeveloperinthe samelocalitysoldanapartment for `26,463 a sq ft, which was lower by 95%. Though the branded properties are featureheavy and come with the promise of qualityconstruction ascomparedtothoseofthelocal players, it gives an idea of the Tata and other trustees, Khambata said, “We felt absolutely nothing against Vijay (Singh), and we regretted that he was not present at the meeting so that we could explain our position to him face to face.”Singh’s nomination was blocked at that September 11 meeting. Singh, who retired as India’s defence secretary, had joined Tata Trusts in 2018 on the invitation of Ratan Tata. Agritech funding plunges more than 50% in 2025 GEORGE MATHEW Mumbai, November 23 rakeitinwiththe promiseofquality INDIA'S FAST-MOVING CONSUMER goods (FMCG) market has rebounded in October after seeing a moderation in growth levels in the September quarter due to GST transition issues. Data shared by retail intelligence platform Bizom shows that all-India value growth for October 2025 touched 6.8% versus 6.2% reported in the July-September period. Bizomdoesnotprovidevolume growth figures. It tracks valuegrowthacrosscategories. The improvement in value growth was led by urban growth which revived on the back of greater affordability of products due to GST cuts, Harshit Bora, analytics head, Bizom, said. Urban growth in October stood at 6.3%, while rural growth was 7.1%. In the September quarter, urban growth was 5.4%, while rural growth was 6.7%, the retail intelligence platform said. ■ REPORT ON PAGE 3 FUNDING FOR AGRITECH startups has fallen sharply this year. Capital inflows have slowed by more than 50% in 2025, reports S Shanthi. ■ PAGE 4 ● Brandeddevelopers RAGHAVENDRA KAMATH Mumbai, November 23 ■ The exercise is expected to ■ Larger Premiumfor‘experience’ widensinrealtyprojects BRAND DOMINANCE Project Name (Location*) Area (sq ft) Rate (` per sq ft) Difference 85,090 42,007 103% Oberoi Sky City (Borivali East) Local Developer (Borivali East) 2,434 880 1,855 820 51,712 26,463 95% Panchshil Eon Waterfront (Kharadi, Pune) Local Developer (Kharadi) 2,397 798 25,907 Rustomjee Paramount (Khar West) Local Developer (Santacruz West) 1,990 78,392 1,217 59,526 Birla Niyaara (Worli) Local Developer (Prabhadevi) 85% 13,979 32% *Alllocationsare Mumbaiexcept Panchshiland compareddeveloper whicharebasedinPune extentofpremiumisationofthe propertymarketinIndia. Considerthis:thedifference was 20-30% a couple of years ago. It has now on average reached a minimum of 5060%. And the trend is not restricted to Mumbai alone. In Pune, Panchshil Realty sold an apartment in a project in the Kharadi locality in June for `25,907 a sq ft. Inthesamearea,alocaldevel- Source: Zapkey oper sold apartments at almost halftheprice—`13,979asqft. A consultant,who did want to be quoted, said while DLF's ultra luxury property The Camellias in Sector 42, Gurugramsellsbetween`80,000to `100,000 a sq ft,its other projects — The Aralias and The Magnolias—inthesamelocality sell at `60,000 a sq ft. Continued on Page 11 India-US deal to keepweighing on rupee: Poll CHRISTINATITUS Mumbai, November 23 THEINDIANRUPEEisexpected to remain under pressure until India signs a trade with the US, said economists and treasury heads in an FE poll. However, 75% believe that itmaynotbreach90againstthe dollar in the next one month unless the Reserve Bank of India does not support the currencythrough interventions. According to VRC Reddy, treasury head, Karur Vysya Bank, the 90 level will be protectedfora fewmoreweeks.He expects the positive trade deal outcome by December-end woulddrivetherupeeto88.20. “The sharp fall in the rupee was led by speculation on the trade deal. There has been constant depreciation pressure on the rupee due to capital outflows. Moreover, recent widening in the trade deficit due to gold imports has also increased demand for dollars,” said Gaura Sengupta, chief economist, IDFC FIRST Bank. Most participants are quite optimistic about the trade deal MARKET FORCES 1 month 6 month 1 year Anitha Rangan, chief economist, RBL Bank 90 GopalTripathi, treasury head, Jana Small Finance Bank 89.9 90.5 91.25 Guara Sengupta, chief economist, IDFC FIRST Bank 88.50-90 Madhavankutty G, chief economist, Canara Bank 89-89.5 89.5-90 90 Madan Sabnavis, chief economist, Bank of Baroda 89-89.5 happening soon, which will help the rupee to return to the 88 level. Continued on Page 6 ● RAVI LAMBAH, HEAD, STRATEGIC INITIATIVES AND INDIA OPERATIONS, TEMASEK Temasek,which is looking to invest $10 billion in India over the next three years if the right deals come its way,is betting big on the consumption space. Ravi Lambah,who heads the India operations and strategic initiatives atTemasek,tells Raghavendra Kamath and Shobhana Subramanian that while valuations in India may be a few standard deviations higherthan in other markets,the growth is here and efficiency is being created. Lambah believes one is seeing a whole new paradigm in India which is creating opportunities.Excerpts: Wherearetheopportunities inIndiatoday? We’ve been here formore than 20years and about30-40% of ‘Everything doesn’t have to be always online’ ourportfolio is in financial services,primarilybanks,aswell as newerareas like insurance, which is just takingoff.We’ve also put moneyin telecom, healthcare,consumer,and tech.We are basicallyunderwriting the Indian consumer. As the economygrows from roughly$3 trillion to $5 trillion,the gainswill come from consumption and flowto consumption. & Withintheconsumer space,whicharethe excitingspots? There are two main areas that we look at in the consumer space:on the tech side,such as in Eternal orPolicybazaar wherewe invested earlyon when theywere pre-IPO startups; and on the branded side, forexample ourinvestment in Haldiram’s.Wewould like to do more in brands ifwe can get them at the right price.We like brands that arewell- known to a broad consumerbase,andwe also see luxurybrands developing in India.We think retail is growing,both offlineand online,andsowewill tryand do more in retailwherewe haven’t done as much,including the infrastructure that makes omnichannelwork. Thereishighaggregate demandinsomesectorsbutprofitsare splitacrossplayers… That depends on the sectoryou are looking at.In healthcare,for instance,we first invested a minority stake in Mani- ❝ WE THINK RETAIL IS GROWING, BOTH OFFLINE AND ONLINE, AND SO WE WILLTRYAND DO MORE IN RETAILWHERE WE HAVEN’T DONE AS MUCH, INCLUDING THE INFRASTRUCTURE THAT MAKES OMNICHANNELWORK pal when it was much smaller, then we moved to a majority stake where we could be more hands-on,help scale and create greater long-term value.In that journey, there was a lot of consolidation in the space – not just with us,but others were acquiring and consolidating small chains.Manipal scaled as it recently acquired Sahyadri Hospital in Pune.Same for Medica Synergie in the east. Many of those hospitals were profitable,but this was an opportunity to scale further. Therewasalsorecentnews aboutyourpartnershipwith SchneiderElectricIndia… Yes.Partnerships matterto us, and theycan help drive strong value creation.Thiswas about partneringaworld-class operatorwith deep local expertise. Ourthesiswas to help build an India-based electrification championbycombining Schneider’s global low-voltage and automation techwith L&T E&A’s brand,manufacturing and distribution.We protected channelswith a“two brands, two sales”approach,scaled the India hub,and benefitted from post-Covid tailwinds.By2024, Indiawas Schneider’s thirdlargest market and a global hub.Earlierthisyear,Schneider decided to take full ownership andwe agreed to sell our35% stake — reflectingthevalue created — subject to approvals. Whatabouttechconsumer space,beautyforinstance? Beautyas a segment remains fragmented and D2C is not easyto build becauseyou need to burn capital to scale.But onceyou scalethenyou can defend the space as new entrants must repeat the same journey.What’s happening is thatconsumption is forming its own following,there is a segmentof the population that stayswith one price point and is aspirationallytrying to move up to the next point.But the questioniswhich companydo New Delhi you underwrite?We prefernot to playthat niche game.We want to underwrite the consumeron a broad base. Howdoyouplaytheconsumertechspace? We’ll choose segments accordingly and avoid areas that are hard to consolidate. We are long-term in our outlook. We’re not a fund,so we can stay invested in cycles, and we can keep investing more when the opportunity arises.We have“old-economy”businesses that are trying to digitise faster and there is a new income stream they will get and so we’re trying to focus our portfolio on that as against buying a native digital business because not many have scaled. Continued on Page 4