COMPANIES | PAGE 4 BACK PAGE | PAGE 20 ITfirms split overAI use in coding recruitment INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 12 It's India’s era; will need 100 new RILs:Ambani MUMBAI, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2026 Vance:USseekstocreate criticalmineralstradingbloc FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL LXVI NO. 30, 30 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: 83,817.69 ▲ 78.56 NIFTY: 25,776 ▲ 48.45 NIKKEI 225: 54,293.36 ▼ 427.30 HANG SENG: 26,847.32 ▲ 12.55 `/$: 90.43 ▼ 0.16 `/€: 106.82 ▼ 0.37 BRENT: $67.13 ▼ $0.20 GOLD: `156,709 ▲ `4,851 ECONOMY PAGE 2 ‘ENERGYBASKET EXPANSION CORE OFOUR STRATEGY’ COMMERCE MINISTER PIYUSH Goyal on Wednesday said the diversification of energy sourcing is at the core of India’s strategy for energy security. ECONOMY PAGE 2 JAISHANKAR MEETS RUBIO, BESSENT IN US A DAY AFTER the trade deal was announced, Union Minister S Jaishankar met top US officials Marco Rubio and Scott Bessent in Washington DC, reports Shubhajit Roy. India pushed long behind the scenes for US deal ■ P20 No new rules for F&O planned: Sebi Chairman SEBI IS NOTplanning any further reforms for equity F&O segment, ChairmanTuhin Kanta Pandey said, report AnjanaThereseAntony & ChristinaTitus. ■ PAGE 6 INTERVIEW WITH FINANCE MINISTER NIRMALA SITHARAMAN Reforms to continue beyond Budget: FM ● MINISTERSAYSGOVTWILLINCREASEOUTREACHTOGLOBALINVESTORS PRASANTASAHU, KG NARENDRANATH & SHOBHANASUBRAMANIAN New Delhi, February 4 Free Trade Association such as Norway,while continuing efforts to improve the investment climate. “Reforms don’t happen THE BUDGET 2026-27 only through the Budget; would have been no differthey are continuous. The ent—neither more nor less Budget need not be the only aggressive or ambiinstrumentorplatform tious—even if the through which all India-US trade deal this happens. Outhad preceded it, side the Budget too, Finance Minister policy measures will Nirmala Sitharaman continue,”she said. said on Wednesday. Asked what mesShestressed,however, PAGE 10-11 sage she would like that a fresh wave of to send to overseas reforms would now unfold investorsnowthatthe outside the Budget’s explicit US tariff on Indian ambitinthecomingmonths. goods has been In an exclusive interview reduced to 18%—at with Financial Express, parwith orlowerthan Sitharaman said the governmajor competitors in ment would step up its itslargestexportmarglobal investor outreach, ket—Sitharamansaid: including to Canada and “If China-plus-one is countries in the European for the world’s bene- & INMANYWAYS,INDIA ISTHEBESTINTERMS OFRETURNON INVESTMENT.IAM PLANNINGTOVISIT NORWAY&CANADASOON. EFTANATIONS’$100-BN INVESTMENTPLEDGEIS VERYMUCHINTHEPIPELINE fit,they should be in India.” Her remarks come amid concerns over prolonged portfoliooutflowsandathinning of net foreign direct investment into India. While the trend predates recent developments, several global investors appear to haveturnedcautious, particularly after the US imposed an additional 50% tariff on most Indian exports. The Economic Surveytermedthisaparadox, notingthatIndia’s“strongest macroeconomic performance in decades” has coincided with a global system unwilling to reward such successwith currency stability, capital inflows or strategic insulation. Continued on Page 12 ‘SaaSpocalypse’wipes `1.91L cr off IT stocks ● Investors hit selloff after new AnthropicAI tool sours sentiment URVI MALVANIA& KISHOR KADAM Mumbai, February 4 THE INDIAN IT sector’s rally on the back of India-US trade deal proved to be short-lived as stocks took a heavy beating on Wednesday.The Nifty IT index registered its sharpest ever fall of 2,286 points. In percentage terms,it fell 5.87% -- the highest since March 23,2020. ThesharpfallcameafterUSbased artificial intelligence firm Anthropic announced that it is launchinganewsetofAItoolsfor corporate legal teams and hit IT and SaaS (software as a service) companies across the globe, IN THE AI OF STORM Nifty IT Index 39,500 38,611.8 38,500 Previous close -191,614 Total Mcap loss (` cr) 37,500 « IN THE NEWS 5.87 % 36,500 35,500 Open Close ■ AnalystsarecallingitSaaSpocalypse,a shiftfrom‘AIhelpsthesecompanies’to ‘AIreplacesthesecompanies’ includingIndiansystemintegrators.Infosysledthedeclinewitha 7.26% dip on the NSE,followed by Tata consultancy Services (TCS) at 7.01%.Analysts called this development a‘SaaSpoca- 36,345.65 ■ NiftyITindexsawarecord singledayfallintermsof points(2,286points) lypse’, which wiped out `1.91 lakh crore of market capitalisation from the top 10 Indian IT firms. Continued on Page 12 CCI to probe IndiGo for unfair biz practice MANU KAUSHIK New Delhi, February 4 THE COMPETITION COMMISSION of India (CCI) on Wednesday ordered a detailed investigation into IndiGo for alleged abuse of its dominant position in the domestic aviation market, following large-scale flight cancellations in December 2025 which the regulator said may have caused an appreciable adverse effect on REVENUEBUOYANCY MIGHTTAKESOME TIMETOPICKUP.BUTFOCUS ISONGROWTHTHROUGH MANUFACTURING.SO, FISCALTIGHTENINGCOULD NOTBEEXCESSIVELY AGGRESSIVEOR AGONISINGLYSLOW 3 4 1 . 8 3 competition. In a 16-page order, the CCI said that by cancelling thousands of flights during a peak travel period, IndiGo effectively withheld services from the market, creating an artificial scarcity and limiting consumer access to air travel. The regulator said that the conduct prima facie appeared to fall within the scope of Section 4 of the Competition Act, which deals with abuse of dominant position. 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