BACK PAGE | PAGE 24 NEWS POINT | PAGE 24 Rajasthan Royals gets billion-dollar offers INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 9 Arare artistry that did not demand attention KOLKATA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2026 SoftBank mulls investing $30 bn more in OpenAI FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM VOL 35 NO. 76, 28 PAGES, `12 (NORTH EAST STATES `12 & ANDAMAN `20) P U B L I S H E D F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , B E N G A L U R U , C H A N D I G A R H , C H E N N A I , H Y D E R A B A D , K O C H I , K O L K ATA , L U C K N O W, M U M B A I , N E W D E L H I , P U N E READ TO LEAD SENSEX: 82,344.68 ▲ 487.20 NIFTY: 25,342.75 ▲ 167.35 NIKKEI 225: 53,358.71 ▲ 25.17 HANG SENG: 27,826.91 ▲ 699.96 `/$: 91.79 ▲ 0.07 `/€: 110.03 ▲ 0.98 BRENT: $68.13 ▲ $0.56 GOLD: `1,64,621 ▲ `5,736 IN THE NEWS AJIT PAWAR, MAHA DEPUTY CM, DIES IN PLANE CRASH MAHARASHTRA DEPUTY CHIEF Minister Ajit Pawar died on Wednesday after a chartered aircraft carrying him and four others crashed near the edge of a tabletop runway at Baramati airport in Pune district. ■ Who takes charge of NCP now P24 ■ AAIB starts probe P24 STRUCTURALREFORMSTOTAKEPRECEDENCE;CAPEXFOCUSTOSTAY Budget may double down against external threats GLOBAL HEADWINDS RUN-UP TO THE BUDGET 2026-27 ● Steps to boost »Q3 SCORECARD« MARUTI MISSES PROFIT ESTIMATES P6 L&T PROFIT DROPS 4% ON LABOUR CODE IMPACT P6 RECORD SALES DRIVE TVS MOTOR PROFIT P6 SBI LIFE PROFIT RISES 5% TO `576 CRORE P8 New Delhi, January 28 The proposed outlay is being examined as part of a possible incentive or PLI-linked framework aimed at reducing import dependence in critical components and improving supply chain resilience in the renewable energy sector. ■ REPORTON PAGE 2 Continued on Page 9 % chg, m-o-m (2025) Mar 12.5 26.5 Apr 10.5 -16.0 2,000 May 11.0 4.4 0 Jun 10.5 -4.0 (in $ million) 6,000 4,000 -2,000 -4,000 Jul 4,325 3,682 Jul -2,688 -446 Net FPI investments Nov 2025 Equity ($ bn) 37.3 FINANCE MINISTER NIRMALA FY22 FY23 SITHARAMAN may seek to FY21 -17.1 reinforcetheexternalfirewalls Source: NSDL -6.0 of the Indian economy and financial system by taking concerted steps in the policiesoftheTrumpadminisUnion Budget for FY27 to tration—including a hefty arrest capital outflows and 50% tariff on Indian goods boost forex inflows into the in the US markets—have current account. changedthecontextof The budgetary the upcoming Budget »INSIDE« measures would significantly, sources complement the INDUSTRIAL privy to the governOUTPUT ongoing aggressive ment’s thinking on the import tariff liberalisa- GROWTH AT matter said. 26-MONTH tion through free The trend of capital HIGH trade agreements flight,which nowlooks PAGE 3 (FTAs), with sweeping persistent,isprovingto Customs duty cuts be both the cause and under the most favoured effectoftherupee’sfallagainst nation (MFN) route. the dollar,they added. Global headwinds, caused primarily by the whimsical Continued on Page 9 25.0 FY24 Jul 10.5 0.1 FY25 -14.6 FY26* -9.2 *Up to Jan 23 Aug 9.0 -14.3 Sep 7.8 Jan 2024 -13.7 Oct 8.3 6.0 Nov 9.2 10.9 Solar ingot,wafer making may get `6,000-cr push THE UNION BUDGET may provide `5,000–6,000 crore in incentive support for domestic manufacturing of solar ingots and wafers, as the government looks to strengthen the country’s upstream solar supply chain, officials familiar with the discussions said, reports SauravAnand. AYANTI BERA Bengaluru, January 28 AMAZON IS SETtolayoffmore than 500 employees in India as partofitslatestglobalworkforce reduction,which will see about 16,000 roles cut worldwide, according to people familiar with the matter. TheIndiaimpactisexpected to be split almost evenly betweenthecompany’se-commerce operations and Amazon Web Services (AWS),with AWS likely accounting for a slightly highershare of the exits. The latest round of job cuts follows a similar exercise in October, when Amazon had announced the elimination of around 14,000 roles globally. Taken together,the two rounds amount to nearly 30,000 job losses, or close to 10% of the company’s global corporate workforce,marking the largest downsizinginAmazon’shistory. In India, Amazon employs about130,000peopleacrossits e-commerce, cloud and corporate functions.Sources said the layoffs in the local e-commerce businesscomeagainstthebackdrop of weaker performance in recentmonths,particularlyduring the last three major sales events,where the companylost groundtorivalFlipkartinterms of traction andvolumes. AtAWS,the impact is linked largely to the nature of work handled out of India. $ bn Net FDI capital inflows, FTA with EU: India exports likely came out on ‘top’: Trump aide Greer PRASANTA SAHU INDIA CAME OUT on “top” in the trade deal with the EU and is going to have a heyday with this, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has said in the first reaction from the Trump administration on the free trade agreement, reports fe Bureau. ■ PAGE 3 India's exports to US Amazonto cut500jobs inIndiaamid globallayoffs Kolkata It’sturnaround timeforVi:Birla ● Post-AGR relief, focus to shift from survival to revival URVI MALVANIA Mumbai, January 28 ADITYA BIRLA GROUP ChairmanKumarMangalamBirlaon Wednesday said Vodafone Idea can finallymove out of survival mode and begin planning for sustainable growth after the long-running adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dispute was resolved, marking what he described as a structural reset for the company and the wider telecom sector. In his‘MyReflections 20252026’note,Birlasaidregulatory clarity on AGR has removed the single-biggest uncertainty hangingoverthebusinessforyears, allowing the operator to recalibrate its strategy beyond shortterm firefighting.He described the development as a decisive breakfromthepast,statingthat the operating environment had fundamentallychanged. “For the first time in years, thefoghascleared,allowingthe business to look beyond survival, and focus on sustainable growth. The Vodafone Idea experienceunderlinesmybelief that ‘tough times don’t last, toughcompaniesdo’,”Birlasaid. The comments come after more than two decades of volatilityinthetelecomsector,a period marked by policy shifts, pricingwarsandprolongedlitigation.BirlasaidthattheAditya KUMAR MANGALAM BIRLA CHAIRMAN, ADITYA BIRLA GROUP For the first time in years, the fog has cleared... India deserves a successful Vodafone Idea »INSIDE« TELCO LAYS OUT `45,000-CR ROADMAP PAGE 6 Birla Group’s jointventurewith the UK’s Vodafone Group had operated through one of the most uncertain phases in the industry’shistory,withtheAGR dispute emerging as the most destabilising factor. Hedescribedthesettlement of the issue as an inflection point that removes the overhang which had constrained decision-making and investment planning. Continued on Page 9