INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 7 INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 7 COMPANIES | PAGE 4 Apple @50: Buffett says sold the stock 'too soon' Oracle layoffs deepen in India asAI bet falters AHMEDABAD, THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2026 Trump hints atwar exit soon; Iran targetsAmazon offices FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XX 255, 34 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: 73,134.32 ▲ 1,186.77 NIFTY: 22,679.40 ▲ 348.00 NIKKEI 225: 53,739.68 ▲ 2.675.96 HANG SENG: 25,294.03 ▲ 505.89 `/$: 94.83 ▼ 0.02 `/€: 109.00 ▲ 0.21 BRENT: $101.25 ▼ $2.72 GOLD: `1,50,102 ▼ `3,976 IN THE NEWS MARKETS PAGE 6 F&O VOLUMES MAY TAKE A 10-15% HIT AMID STT HIKE WITH THE HIKE in the securities transaction tax on equity derivatives kicking in, market experts believe that volumes are likely to be hit by 10%-15% in the short term, reports Anjana Therese Antony. Curbs on gold, silver jewellery imports THE GOVERNMENT on Wednesday announced curbs on imports of gold, platinum and silver jewellery with immediate effect, a move aimed at checking misuse of FTAs, reports PTI. ■ PAGE 2 Duty relief to SEZs for domestic sales THE CBIC HAS introduced a one-time relief measure to facilitate sales by eligible manufacturing units in special economic zones to the domestic tariff area at concessional duty rates, reports fe Bureau. ■ PAGE 2 War takes a toll on capex plans ● Manufacturing’s shareinnew projectslowest sinceQ4FY23 20 BENCHMARK INDICES ROSE on Wednesday, the first day of the new fiscal, on hopes that the West Asia war could end soon. While the Sensex was up 1.65%, the Nifty rose 1.56%. ■ PAGE 6 73,134.32 Close Open Nifty 1.65% 1,186.77 Intra-day, Apr 1 22,679.4 Close points 22,331.4 71,947.55 1.56% Previous close Previous close Top sectoral gainers FE BUREAU Mumbai, April 1 % chg, y-o-y (RHS) 200 150 25 THE VALUE OF new investment projects announced declined by a sharp 57% year-on-year to `10.9 lakh crore in the March quarter, a sign that the war in West Asia has created a ripple effect on the economy. »INSIDE« Worse, the private secINDIA INC PROFITS tor’s share in MAY SHRINK new projects fell to 65% PAGE 6 during the quarter after touching an all-time high of 88.5% in the September quarter. In the just-concluded quarter, both government and private investment announcements declined by 53% and 58%,respectively,datafromthe CentreforMonitoringofIndian Economy(CMIE) showed. In absolute terms,the value of private projects unveiledwas `7.2 lakh crore in Q4FY25, a 73,762.43 non-deliverable forex contracts SLOWDOWN Total (` lakh crore) 30 SAIKAT NEOGI New Delhi, April 1 Intra-day, Apr 1 ● Banks can’t offer New projects announced Markets enter new fiscal on a high Sensex RBI tightens forex norms again PRIVATE SECTOR’S SHARE FALLSTO 65% IN Q4 (% gain) 4.99 3.66 3.40 3.29 Services PSU Bank Industrials Capital goods 15 10 18.4 100 -2.3 10.9 5 0 0 -50 -56.7 March 2024 50 March 2026 -100 Share of private sector in projects announced 90 80 76.5 76 (in %) 65.3 .3 50 40 March 2024 Source: CMIE NITIN KUMAR, AKBAR MERCHANT & SAURAVANAND New Delhi/Mumbai, April 1 March 2026 three-quarter low. In contrast, government investment announcedwas`3.8lakhcrore, a four-quarterhigh. Typically, the March quarterseesaspurtindeclarationof investment intents.Total projects announced had peaked at `25.4 lakh crore in the three months to March last year (Q4FY25),drivenbyrobustprivate sector project announcements of `17.2 lakh crore, the highest ever. Continued on Page 11 GSTreceipts up 8.8% to `2Lcr KULDEEP SINGH New Delhi, April 1 94.8325 Mar 30, 2026 ■ However, this can only be done if clients are not maintaining offsetting nondeliverable positions elsewhere 89.8763 Dec 31, 2025 Rupee vs dollar (in inverted scale) Banks may continue to offer deliverable forex derivatives for genuine hedging needs ■ 5.51% change (YTD2026) Banksmaycontinuetooffer deliverableforexderivativesfor genuine hedging needs, but onlyifclientsarenotmaintaining offsetting non-deliverable positions elsewhere. The move comes amid sustained pressure on the rupee and is aimed at curbing speculative activity. Since the onset of theWestAsia conflict, the currency has weakened 4.24% in a month and nearly 11% in FY26, touching a recordlowof94.83 againstthe dollar on Monday. The RBI’s intent is to identify the true holders of arbitrage positions and ensure banks do not warehouse or pass on such exposures to clients. Lenders have been empowered to seek any informationordocumentationnec- essary to verify compliance. In a further clampdown, the central bank has prohibited the rebooking of anyforex derivative contract—deliverable or non-deliverable—once cancelled after the issuance of the circular, shutting down a commonly used tactic to time currency movements. Continued on Page 11 Govt capsATFhike; IndiGo raises levy 70 60 JUST DAYS AFTER it clamped down on banks’ local currency limits,theReserveBankofIndia (RBI)onWednesdaysteppedup efforts to curb speculation against the battered rupee, restricting lenders from offering certain offshore foreign exchange derivative contracts. The central bank barred authoriseddealers(banks)from offering non-deliverable forward (NDF) contracts in the rupee to both resident and non-resident clients. In effect, corporates and treasury desks can no longer take NDFpositions. WAR WOUNDS THE GOVERNMENT ON Wednesday stepped in for the second time in recentweeks to shield households and consumers from a spike in fuellinked costs, capping the rise in aviation turbine fuel (ATF) fordomestic airlines at about 8.5%. This comes after earlier cutting excise duties on petrol and diesel to contain retail prices.However, it did not seem to have the FLIGHT PLAN ■ IndiGo revises fuel surcharge structure, replaces flat `425 per domestic ticket with slab-based charge ranging from `275-`950 ■ Rise in aviation turbine fuel for domestic airlines capped around 8.5% desired effect. The calibrated move ensured thatATFprices rose to around `1,04,927 perkilolitre in Delhi, instead of more than ■ Midpoint works out to around `600-`620, implying average increase of about 40-45% doubling in line with global benchmarksamidtheongoing West Asia conflict. Continued on Page 7 Commercial LPGpricegoes upby`195 THE PRICES OF commercial cooking gas were hiked by `195.50 per 19-kg cylinder fromWednesdayevenasstaterun oil marketing companies (OMCs) stare at cumulative lossesof`40,484crorebyendMay due to mounting underrecoveries triggered by the West Asia conflict, reports SauravAnand. ■ PAGE 3 MORE IN KITTY GROSS GOODS AND services tax (GST) collections crossed `2lakhcroreinMarch(forFebruarytransactions),registering a strong 8.8% year-on-year increase. This is the first time that the collections have crossed the `2-lakh-crore mark after the GST rate rationalisation in September, signalling strong consumption sentiment and a year-end spurt in transactions. According to official data released by the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday, net GST revenue (after refunds) grew8.2% to `1.77 lakh crore, even as refunds rose 13.8% to `22,074 crore. Gross GST collections for the full financial year (April–March) recorded an 8.3% rise to `22.27 lakh crore. Significantly, effective February1,theGSTcompensation cess ceased to exist, and new rates of excise duty on tobacco products and health and national security cess on pan masala came into Gross GST collections (` lakh cr) 2.6 2.37 2.2 2 1.8 1.4 1 Apr 2025 Mar 2026 Source: Finance Ministry »INSIDE« STRONG SUV DEMAND DRIVES UP CAR SALES P4 UPI TRANSACTIONS AT RECORD HIGH P11 effect. The year-on-year growth rates exclude the compensation cess proceeds of March 2025. Continued on Page 7 High fuel prices,war disruptions, operational inefficiencies hurting performance AirIndia’s losses seen doubling to `20,000 crore in FY26 DEV CHATTERJEE Mumbai, April 1 TATA GROUP-OWNED Air Indiaislikelytoreportafull-year lossexceeding`20,000crorefor the fiscal ended March 2026— nearly double the previous year—raising concerns at BombayHouse.Theairline’sdeteriorating financialscome at atime when the broader aviation sector itself is under severe strain, suggesting that the pain is far from being company-specific andcoulddeepenifgeopolitical tensionspersist. The carrier posted a loss of about `16,000 crore in the nine months through December 2025 on revenue of `70,000 crore, according to people familiar with the matter.This is sharply higher than HEADWINDS `16,000 crore loss reported in nine months through Dec 2025 `2,000 crore earlier internal projection of a full-year loss of Tata Sons `10,864 crore Air India's consolidated loss in FY25 »INSIDE« LOYALTY PROGRAMME GETS ATWEAK P5 anearlierinternalprojectionof a full-year loss of around `2,000 crore by Tata Sons. In FY25,Air India had reported a consolidated loss of `10,864 crore on operating revenue of `76,754 crore. While it remains one of the group’s largestrevenuecontributors,it is also its biggest lossmaker. A combination of factors has weighed on performance: elevated fuel prices, airspace disruptions linked to the Iran conflict, the Ahmedabad accident last June, and persistent operational inefficiencies. Nearlyfouryearsafteritsacquisition in 2022, a sustained turnaround remains elusive. Continued on Page 7 Ahmedabad