ECONOMY | PAGE 2 COMPANIES | PAGE 4 Das to industry: Diversify supply, production chains INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 9 Building resilience will be critical in FY27:TCPLMD BENGALURU, TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2026 SoftBank plans to invest up to $100 bn in France FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XXXIX 21, 18 PAGES, `12 P U B L I S H E D F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , B E N G A L U R U , C H A N D I G A R H , C H E N N A I , H Y D E R A B A D , K O C H I , K O L K ATA , L U C K N O W, M U M B A I , N E W D E L H I , P U N E SENSEX: 76,015.28 ▼ 1,312.91 NIFTY: 23,815.85 ▼ 360.30 NIKKEI 225: 62,417.88 ▼ 295.77 HANG SENG: 26,406.84 ▲ 13.13 `/$: 95.31 ▼ 0.83 `/€: 112.15 ▲ 0.95 BRENT: $103.43 ▲ $2.14 GOLD: `1,50,007 ▼ `512 IN THE NEWS DELHI MAY HOST NEXT ROUND OF INDIA-US TALKS THE NEXT ROUND of India-US trade talks could see American officials coming down to New Delhi to give a final shape to the trade pact, whose framework was finalised in February, a senior official said, reports Mukesh Jagota. ECONOMY PAGE 2 MANUFACTURING PUSH: GOVT EYES 100 PRODUCTS THE CENTRE PLANS to identify 100 products not currently manufactured in India for special policy focus, in a bid to address technology gaps so that local capacities for domestic and export markets are created, reports Mukesh Jagota. 'Garuda' boost: Sebi plans quicker AIF scheme rollout SEBI ON MONDAY proposed a new green-channel mechanism— GARUDA—allowing regular alternate investment funds to launch schemes within 10 working days of filing their placement memorandums, reports Kushan Shah. ■ PAGE 6 Life insurers post sharpest monthly growth in 2 years LIFE INSURERS POSTED their highest monthly growth in new business premium in more than two years in April, on robust inflows and sustained momentum following the cut in the GST, reports Narayanan V. ■ PAGE 7 Bajaj at 100: PM hails nation building role THE BAJAJ GROUP, having interests in auto and financial services, turned 100 years old on Monday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the group's work through the decades, noting that it has helped in the cause of nation-building, reports fe Bureau. ■ PAGE 4 RBI toTatas: Peace deal collapsewounds markets No exemption from listing 77,328.19 PM’S CALLFORAUSTERITYMEASURESADDSTOTHE PRESSURE ● Sensex plunges MONDAY MAYHEM 1,300 points; investors lose `6 lakh crore 10-yr govt bond yield (%) Brent crude prices ($ per barrel) p l) 94.48 (Previous close) Rupee vs dollar (Intra-day, May 11) KISHOR KADAM Mumbai, May 11 1,312.91 points MARKETS FELL FOR the third straight session on Monday, tracking weak global cues as Brent crude oil prices soared by 5% to touch $106 a barrel after US President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s response to the peace proposal.On the domesticfront,PrimeMinisterNarendra Modi’s remarks on fuel conservation, deferring nonessential gold purchases, and curtailing foreign travel to conserve foreign exchange further weakened investorsentiment. Starting the week on a weak note, the Sensex crashed 1,312.91 points, or 1.70%, to close at 76,015.28, while the Niftyslumped360.30points,or 1.49%, to settle below the 24,000-mark at 23,815.85. Both the benchmarks recorded their steepest single-day fall of the current fiscal so far and 5 bps 95.31 (Close) 101.29 6.98 (Previous close) (Previous close) 76,015.28 SENSEX (Intra-day, May 11) (Close) RUPEE LOGS WORST SINGLE-DAY JEWELLERY, TRAVEL STOCKS FALL ON PM’S AUSTERITY CALL PAGE 6 »INSIDE« FALL IN OVER A MONTH PAGE 6 1.05%, respectively. Investors sufferedanotionallossof`6.16 lakh crore as the total market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies fell to `467.31 lakh crore. The India VIX Index surged 10.16% to 18.55, indi- ‘TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE’: US PREZ ON IRAN RESPONSE PAGE 9 catingariseinmarketvolatility. SiddharthaKhemka,headof research,wealth management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said Indian equities are expected to remain cautious in the near term amid escalating OMCsface`2L-cr Fertilisersubsidy under-recoveries mayshoot up by inQ1,saysPuri `15Kcra month SAURAVANAND New Delhi, May 11 the impact,”Puri wrote on X. The statement is believed to signal an imminent hike in HOURS AFTER PRIME Minis- retail prices of auto fuels. The ter Narendra Modi exhorted prices have been on hold since citizens to reduce energy con- theonsetofthewarinlateFebsumption, limit gold pur- ruary,thoughthedisruptionof chases and stop travelling the Strait of Hormuz led to a abroad to conserve foreign sudden spike in crude prices. exchange in the wake of a Under-recoveries are spike in energy costs after the notional losses incurred by oil West Asia war, Petroleum companies when selling fuel Minister Hardeep Singh Puri below the cost required to said state-run oil marketing import or produce it.They are companies’ computed via the (OMCs) losses HARDEEP SINGH PURI, formula of Trade from retail fuel Parity Price PETROLEUM MINISTER sales are which is expected to hit a weighted average India is among massive `1 lakh of 80% import very few councrore in the parity and 20% tries which have export parity. April-June quarter, with not raised energy Analysts have “under-recoverpointed out that prices...Our ies” being for OMCs, the energy sector twice as much. refining segment is absorbing “India is remains stable, the brunt among very few supported byadecountries which quate margins have not raised due to healthy energy prices product cracks. and has mainThe outlook on tained steady the fuel retailing supplies to the segment, howcitizens even as we ever, is negative see crises unfold in driven by the steeply many parts of the negative marketing world. Our margins. energy sector Continued is absorbing on Page 7 the brunt of position conveyed to Tata Trusts (Close) Inverted scale emerged as the worst performers among major Asian equity indices on Monday. Broader indices outperformed the benchmarks,with the BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap declining 1.28% and ● Regulator’s 7.03 0.88% 1.70% 103.62 (Close, 8 pm IST) (Previous close) SANDIP DAS New Delhi, May 11 IF GLOBAL PRICES remain at the current level, the requirement for fertiliser subsidy would jump by `10,00015,000 crore a month, the fertiliser ministry has estimated and conveyed to the finance ministry. This implies a sharp spike in the subsidy on soil nutrients in the current fiscal fromthebudgetestimate(BE)of `1.77lakhcrore,ifthesituation doesn’t improve. “We have informed the financeministryaboutthespike in subsidy outgo in the current quarter as prices of some of the fertilisers have doubled from thelevelsthatprevailedpriorto thecommencementoftheWest Asiawar,” an official said. In FY26, the expenditure towards fertiliser subsidies was `2.17 lakh crore-`1.42 lakh croreforureaand`74,999crore fornutrient-basedsubsidy.This wasanincreaseof17%overthe revised estimate (RE) of `1.86lakhcrore.This,according to officials, was due to the rise in fertiliser prices from March 2026. The closure of Strait of Hormuz since February has led to severe disruption in supplies of raw materials like LNG and finishedproductsofsoilnutrients. The last time global conflict BUFFER STOCK 2.51 2022-23 Fertiliser subsidies (` lakh cr) 1.88 2023-24 1.81 2024-25 geopolitical tensions, with stock- and sector-specific action likelyto continue alongsidethefinallegoftheQ4FY26 earnings season. Continued on Page 7 Govt mulls urgent steps to save forex THE GOVERNMENT IS considering emergency measures to shore up foreignexchange reserves, including curbing non-essential imports like gold and electronic goods, and hiking fuel prices, to help cushion the economyfrom the fallout of the US-Iran war, people familiar with the matter said,reports Bloomberg. ■ PAGE 2 NO RELIEF URVI MALVANIA Mumbai, May 11 THE RESERVE BANK of India (RBI)hasinformallyconveyedto TataTruststhatitisunwillingto makeanexceptionforTataSons on the question of listing, according to people familiar with the matter. People aware of the discussions said the regulator has already obtained internal legal opinion and shared its position with the government. “Thebroadregulatoryviewis that exempting Tata Sons from listingrequirementscouldopen the door for similar demands from other large entities, complicating the regulatory framework governing upper-layer non-banking financial companies (NBFCs),” a person aware of the development said. Thedevelopmentcomesata sensitive time for the Tata group, with the question of whether Tata Sons should remainprivatelyheldemerging asoneofthesharpestfaultlines withinTataTrusts. Email queries sent to the RBI,Tata Trusts and Tata Sons remained unanswered. At the centre of the issue is Tata Sons’ 2024 application to surrender its registration as a coreinvestmentcompany(CIC). The holding company argued that after repaying more than `20,000 crore of standalone debt,it no longer accessed public funds and should therefore be exempt from tighter NBFC regulations, including the list- ■ RBI believes granting an exemption to Tata Sons may encourage other large conglomerates to seek similar relief ■ Tata Sons had in 2024 applied to surrender its core investment company registration ing requirement. However, recent clarifications by the RBI have significantly weakened that argument. The regulator has adopted a “look-through” approach,underwhich indirect access to public funds through group companies is also taken intoaccount.TataSonssitsatop several listed entities—including Tata Consultancy Services, TataSteel,TataMotorsandTata Power—allofwhichaccesscapital markets. A recent report by governance advisory firm InGovern Research Services noted that listedTatagroupcompaniescollectively own about 13-14% of Tata Sons,reinforcing the RBI’s “look-through” approach on indirect access to public funds. Continued on Page 7 ● INDUSTRYTITANS HONOURED 2.17 2025-26# 2.3 2026-27* # final expenditure, *preliminary estimate *pr inst est against budget estimate `1.77 lakh cr impactedthesubsidyoutgowas inFY23,whenthefertilisersubsidy was a record `2.54 lakh crore because shipping of supplies through the Red Sea was impacted due to the UkraineRussia conflict.An official with afertilisercooperativesaidthat in FY23, the government paid muchhigherpricesforfertiliser importscomparedwiththecurrent scenario due to the depreciation of the rupee against the dollarsince then. (Left) Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw presents the CII President's Award for Lifetime Achievement to Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal. TVS Motor Chairman Emeritus Venu Srinivasan also got the award ■ INDIA INC’S FUTURE PLAN, P4 Continued on Page 7 EXPRESS PHOTO: ABHINAV SAHA Govt mulls one nation, Vaishnaw’s 48-minute threat to airlines one app forEVcharging Minister says bullet trains would eventually wipe out short-haul flights FE BUREAU New Delhi, May 11 IF RAILWAYS MINISTER Ashwini Vaishnaw has his way, India’s airlines may soon discover that their biggest competitor isn’t flying at 35,000 feet.Itrunsontracks.MumbaiPune in 48 minutes; Bengaluru-Chennai in 78 and Hyderabad-Bengaluru in a little over two hours. The Railways Minister on Monday sketched out a future in which bullet trains do to short-haul aviation what budget airlines once did toAC First Class — make it look slow, expensive and slightly unnecessary, in the process redrawing India’s travel map and potentially give airlines sleepless nights. At the CII Annual Business TRAVEL PLANS MUM-AHD PROJECTWILL BE INDIA’S FIRST BULLET TRAIN CORRIDOR ■ In Japan & China, high-speed rail networks have sharply cut air traffic in shortdistance sectors ■ Govt is currently executing the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail project ■ India’s aviation market remains structurally underpenetrated, say analysts Summit 2026, Vaishnaw declared that bullet trains would eventually “wipe out short-haul flights”, arguing that high-speed rail could fundamentally alter domestic travel economics on some of India’s busiest routes. The government is cur- rently building the MumbaiAhmedabad bullet train corridor while evaluating a much wider high-speed rail network connecting major economic hubs. Corridors such as Mumbai-Pune, Pune-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Bengaluru and Bengaluru-Chennai are ■ This means even if rail infra improves, aviation demand may still go up increasingly being viewed as natural candidates because of dense passenger traffic and relatively short distances. Vaishnaw laid out travel times thatwould sharplycompress intercity movement: Mumbai-Pune in 48 minutes, Pune-Hyderabad in 1 hour 55 minutes, Hyderabad-Bengaluru in 2 hours 8 minutes, Chennai-Hyderabadin2hours 55 minutes and BengaluruChennai in 78 minutes. That puts bullet trains squarely in competition with airlines, especially on business-heavy routes where passengers value total journeytime more than cruising speed. Unlike airports located on city outskirts, high-speed rail stations offer city-centre access and eliminate lengthy security checks, baggage procedures and boarding queues. The government’s argument is that once door-to-door travel time is calculated, bullet trains may beat planes despite travelling slower. Continued on Page 7 NITIN KUMAR New Delhi, May 11 SOON, ELECTRIC VEHICLE (EV) owners may no longer needmultipleapps,walletsand logins to charge their vehicles. Thegovernmentispreparingto roll out a unified national platform that will connect fragmented charging networks across the country into a single interoperable system. The Unified Bharat eCharge (UBC) platform, being developed under the Ministry of Heavy Industries, aims to bring charging networks operated by automakers, oil marketing companies and private charge point operators onto BENGALURU a common digital architecture. The move comes as EV adoption accelerates, but charging infrastructure remains patchy and scattered across closed networks. TheNationalPaymentsCorporation of India (NPCI) has developed the framework for the National Unified EV Charging Hub, while Bharat Heavy SUNEESH K Electricals (BHEL) will oversee the platform. Envisaged as a “one nation, one app system”, the platform is expected to go live in the comingweeks. Under the framework, EV userswillbeabletolocate,book, accessandpayforchargingstations across operators through one interface, irrespective of whetherthe chargerbelongs to Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Indian Oil, ChargeZone, Statiq, orothercharging providers. The initiative seeks to address one of the biggest pain points for EV users today—the needtonavigateseparateapps, payment systems and credentials to access different charging networks. Continued on Page 7