BRANDWAGON | PAGE 9 ECONOMY | PAGE 3 INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 10 Noiceneedsmorethanvisual pulltowininacrowdedmarket Worldconfidentofstability afterIndia’stradedeals:PM NEW DELHI, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2026 GooglepullsaheadofOpenAI withstellar2025AIgrowth FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM VOL. L1 NO. 291, 42 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 READ TO LEAD SENSEX: 83313.93 ▼ 503.76 NIFTY: 25,642.80 ▼ 133.20 NIKKEI 225: 53,818.04 ▼ 475.32 HANG SENG: 26,885.24 ▲ 37.92 `/$: 90.35 ▼ 0.08 `/€: 106.44 ▼ 0.38 BRENT: $67.46 ▼ $2 GOLD: `151,519 ▼ `5,190 IN THE NEWS BACK PAGE PAGE 24 SHAH LAUNCHES BHARAT TAXI IN DELHI-NCR, GUJ UNION MINISTER AMIT Shah on Thursday launched BharatTaxi, the country's first cooperative-run ride-hailing platform, which will start services in Delhi-NCR and Gujarat initially & pan-India in the next three years, reports Anees Hussain. COMPANIES PAGE 4 RELIEF IN CUSTOMS DUTY TO LOWER COSTS FOR INDIA INC THE CENTRE’S MOVE to tweak customs duty levied on a range of inputs will help firms from durables to aviation, capital goods to nuclear power scale up production quickly, report Viveat Susan Pinto & Yaruqhullah Khan. Railway fare hikes unlikely to reduce passenger subsidy THE TWO BACKTO-BACK hikes in railway passenger fares in 2025 will unlikely reduce the subsidy burden on the national transporter that it provides on the passenger services significantly, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told Parliament on Thursday, reports Manu Kaushik. ■ PAGE 2 Class action suit against Jindal Poly admitted in NCLT THE NCLTON Thursday admitted a class action suit by Jindal Poly Films’ minority shareholders against the company, alleging diversion of funds to promoters as well value erosion for shareholders, according to an order seen by FE, reports Anjana ThereseAntony. ■ PAGE 7 RESULTS CORNER BHARTIAIRTELQ3 PROFITFALLS 2.4% Q-O-Q PAGE 4 LIC Q3 PROFITRISES 17%TO `12,958 CRORE PAGE 7 TATAMOTORS POSTS `3,483-CR NETLOSS IN Q3 PAGE 4 NYKAAPATRISES 142%, BEATS ESTIMATES PAGE 6 HERO Q3 NETPROFITRISES 12% TO `1,349 CRORE PAGE 4 DUTYREDUCTION BYINDIAAFTER MID-MARCH UStocutIndiatariff in4-5days:Goyal ● Signingofformal agreementlikely bymid-March MUKESH JAGOTA New Delhi, February 5 THE STEEP CUTS in tariff on IndianexportstotheUS,agreed on as part of the bilateral trade deal,will take effect‘in the next 4-5 days’ on the signing of the joint statement between the two countries, Commerce and IndustryMinisterPiyushGoyal said Thursday. India will lower its tariffs for American goods aftermid-March,he added. “On the basis of that joint statement,thefirstphaseofthis partnership will begin between thetwoofus(theUSandIndia),” the ministersaid. Immediately after the statement, the additional tariffs on Indianexportsto the US will be brought down to 18% from 50% through an ExecutiveOrderofUSPresidentDonald Trump. The US had imposed 50% tariffs - 25% reciprocal and 25% for buying Russian oil - through an order bythe President. Along with the joint statement a formal agreement is beingdrafted,whichmaytakea month or a month and a half.It is estimated that the formal agreement will be signed by mid-March and is an essential milestone for India to start bringing down duties on imports from the US. “That legal agreement will DEALSTREET ■ Immediately after the statement, the tariffs on Indian exports to the US will be cut to 18% from 50% through an Executive Order of US President Donald Trump ■ In 2024, India-US goods ■ Goyal clarified that as part of and services trade stood at the deal, India has not committed investments in the US $212.3 billion PIYUSH GOYAL, COMMERCE & INDUSTRY MINISTER Centrewidensstartupdefinitionto includedeeptech;turnoverlimitup AYANTI BERA Bengaluru, February 5 THE GOVERNMENT HAS expanded the scope of the Startup India programme by formally recognising deep technology companies as a distinct category, while also easing eligibility norms for the broader startup ecosystem by raising the turnover threshold. In a gazette notification, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) said the turnover limit for being recognised as a startup has been increased to `200 crore from the earlier `100 crore, with the age cap remaining NEW BIZ LAUNCHPAD ■ Under the new notification, the turnover limit for being recognised as a startup has been increased from `100 cr to `200 cr ■ The age cap remains at 10 years from the date of incorporation ■ For deeptech startups, the recognition period is for 20 years and turnover ceiling is unchanged at 10 years from the date of incorporation. In a significant policy shift, thenotificationalsointroduces a dedicated sub-category for deeptech startups, extending their recognition period to 20 years and raising the turnover ceiling to `300 crore. The notification takes effect immediatelyand supersedes the startup definition issued in February 2019. It marks the first time the government has formallydefined what constitutes a deeptech »INSIDE« INDIA, GULFBODYINK FTAREFERENCETERMS P2 These purchases would be over the next five years, Goyal said.Trump,while announcing the deal, had said that India would be buying US energy, technology, agricultural, coal and manyotherproducts. “Withthefast-pacedgrowth at which India is growing, we will need large volumes of energy, large numbers of data centreequipment,information communication technology products. We can clearly see before our eyes the potential thatwecanprocurefromtheUS over the next five years,” Goyal said. Continued on Page 10 Callratehits42-monthlow CHRISTINATITUS Mumbai, February 5 LIQUIDITY IMPACT THE RESERVE BANK of India’s (RBI) liquidityinfusion has led to a sharp drop in call or overnight lending rates. According to data from Bloomberg, the call rate fell to 4.40% on Thursday – the first time since August 3, 2022. Even the difference between the repo rate and call rate was at a 7-month high of 85 basis points. Call rate is the rate atwhich bankswith surplus funds lend to other banks, typically for one day. “The RBI’s liquidity injection of `1.36 lakh crore through term VRR (variable rate repo) operations led to an improvement in liquidity position.This eased borrowing pressures and pushed overnight call rates below the repo rate,”saidVRC Reddy, treasury head at Karur Vysya Bank. “Liquidity surplus, alongside government spending, appear to be working.I expect Call money rate (%) 8.0 ■ Call rate is the rate at which banks with surplus funds lend to other banks, typically for one day 6.0 7.0 ■ According to data from Bloomberg, the call rate fell to 6.0 4.40% 5.0 4.0 4.40 Jan 1, 2025 Feb 5, 2026 the surplus to be sustained now with some deviation during tax outflows,” said Alok Singh, treasury head, CSB Bank. He added that if the liquidity surplus goes down by March,the RBI would bring in support either through open market operations (OMO) or swaps. “The surplus should sustain above `1 lakh crore for a smooth transition to next financial year,” added Singh. on Thursday – the first time since August 3, 2022 The RBI has conducted two 90-day VRRs on January 30 of `25,000croreand`2lakhcrore. According to the RBI’s data, the banking system has come back to surplus liquidity after almost two months.The system liquidity averaged `66,000 crore in January and `72,000 crore in December, sharply below the 1% of net demand and time liabilities (NDTL). Continued on Page 10 AI boom, talent bust S SHANTHI Bengaluru, February 5 SKILL GAP INDIA’S AI STARTUP ecosystem is expanding rapidly on the back of generative AI, automation and enterprise adoption,butthenextphaseof growth is running into a hard constraint:asevereshortageof skilled engineers who can build and deploy productiongrade AI systems. Foundersandrecruiterssay the gap is no longer about entry-level AI skills, but about experienced talent that can translate models into reliable, scalable products. Startups are particularlyvulnerable,as they struggle to match the salaries and brand pull of large tech firms. “The expansion of AI businesses has outpaced the supply of talent that can actually meet development needs,” said Kanishk Agrawal, CTO at report, India may see more than ■ Globally also, experienced AI talent is limited ■ According to a 2.3 mn AI job vacancies by 2027 against an estimated 1.2 mn qualified professionals ■ Shortageismostly forengineerswhocan buildproduction-grade systems Judge Group. The shortage is set to worsen. A Bain & Company report estimates that India could face over 2.3 million AI jobopeningsby2027,againsta supply of about 1.2 million qualifiedprofessionals,leaving more than a million roles takes effect immediately and supersedes the startup definition issued in February 2019 `300 crore We can clearly see before our eyes the potential that we can procure from the US over the next five years give us the authority to reduce our tariffs,” Commerce SecretaryRajeshAgrawalsaid.TheUS tariffs are executive tariffs and India duties are most favoured nation (MFN) tariffs. Goyalclarifiedthataspartof the deal announced by Trump lateMonday,Indiahasnotcommitted investments in the US. The clarification came after White House spokesperson's remarks that India will be investing$500billionintheUS as part of the trade deal. The comment may have been due to some confusion as under the deal India has only agreedtopurchase$500billion worth of products from the US. ■ The notification ■ To address the gap, startups are adopting proactive hiring and training strategies unfilled. Industry executives say the scarcest profiles sit at the intersection of generative AI,naturallanguageprocessing and systems engineering — especiallyforregulated sectors such as BFSI. Continued on Page 10 New Delhi startup, a segment that policymakers and investors say has been constrained byregulatory frameworks designed for faster-scaling, softwareled ventures. Continued on Page 10