COMPANIES | PAGE 4 INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 7 EXPLAINER | PAGE 9 Startup profitability gathers pace in Q4 Rainfallfutures:Uncertainty ofmonsoonnowhasaprice AHMEDABAD, WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 2026 Altman saysAI unlikely to lead to 'jobs apocalypse' FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XX 302, 38 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: 76,009.70 ▼ 479.26 NIFTY: 23,913.70 ▼ 118.00 NIKKEI 225: 64,996.09 ▼ 162.10 HANG SENG: 25,599.45 ▼ 6.58 `/$: 95.69 ▼ 0.45 `/€: 111.41 ▼ 0.55 BRENT: $100.44 ▲ $4.30 GOLD: `1,57,264 ▼ `888 IN THE NEWS ECONOMY PAGE 2 INDIAAND US SIGN CRITICAL MINERALS PACT INDIAAND THE United States on Tuesday signed a bilateral framework on critical minerals and rare earths, reports Saurav Anand. » INSIDE « GOAFESTIS NOTJUSTA FESTIVAL. ITISADVERTISING’S IPL,WRITES ROHITOHRI P16 Sebi proposes corporate bond tokenisation SEBI IS EXPLORING a pilot project to introduce distributed ledger technology for the tokenisation of corporate bonds, report Anjana Therese Antony & Christina Titus. ■ PAGE 6 5CEOsMAKEPRESENTATIONSBEFORETATASONSBOARD NoelTatatakesstock ofloss-makingbets ● June 12 meet may THE FRAGILE FIVE URVI MALVANIA Mumbai, May 26 IN A MEETING that stretched for more than five hours at BombayHouse onTuesday,the Tata Sons board undertook an unusually detailed stock-taking exercise of some of the group’s most ambitious — and most closely watched — businesses, amid growing chatter aroundissuesrangingfromthe future leadership of the conglomeratetothelong-pending question of aTata Sons listing. The special board meeting, called byTata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran ahead of the scheduled June 12 board meeting, saw chief executives from fiveTata Group companies presentturnaroundstrategies,capital allocation plans and longtermbusinessroadmapsbefore the holding company’s directors. The discussions began around 10:30 am and continued well into the afternoon, reflecting the seriousness with which the board is reviewing businessesthattogetheraccountforinvestmentsrunninginto several lakh crore rupees. Attendees included Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata, Chandrasekaran, Tata Trusts Vice-Chairman Venu Srini- India & Canada target $50-bn trade by 2030 TATA DIGITAL Investment: AIR INDIA Investment: discuss listing and Chandra’s tenure FY25 loss: `18,000cr (acquisition) `4,208cr TEJAS NETWORKS Investment: `7.6lakhcr `1,890cr (fleetexpansion) (acquisition) FY26 loss: estimated FY26 loss: `26,000cr `909cr Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran leaves after a board meeting on Tuesday. The meet reviewed performance of five companies URVI MALVANIA AGRATAS Investment: TATA ELECTRONICS Investment: `50,000cr `1.18lakhcr splitacross acrossIndia andUKunits DholerainGujarat andAssam Loss: NA Loss: NA vasan, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer Saurabh Agrawal, and independent directors Anita George and Harish Manwani. Topexecutivesmakingpresentations included Tata Electronics CEO Randhir Thakur, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson, Tata Digital CEO Sajith Sivanandan, Agratas CEO Thomas Flack, and Tejas Networks Chief Technology Officer Kumar Sivarajan. Evenbeforeformalproceedings began, the significance of themeetingwasevident.Chandrasekaran,NoelTataandSrinivasan arrived at BombayHouse around 8:30 am, nearly two hours before the scheduled start, and are believed to have held informal discussions before the board convened formally. Srinivasan was the first among the directors to leave the iconic South Mumbai headquarters at around 4 pm, followed about 20 minutes later by Chandrasekaran. Continued on Page 7 ● Airtel defends its consumeruse,Jio calls forchecks & Vi raises concerns WHERE THEY STAND Airtel argues that its Priority Postpaid plan does not violate net neutrality norms, and current capacity utilisation status allows it to support differentiated service RISHI RAJ New Delhi, May 26 DIFFERENCES HAVE EMERGED among telecom operatorsoverhow5Gnetwork slicing should be used for consumer-facing services, with Bharti Airtel defending its recently launched Priority Postpaid offering, Reliance Jio seeking safeguards around implementation,andVodafone Idea (Vi) raising concerns over discriminatory treatment, according to communications submitted to a parliamentary panel and reviewed byFE. The divergence surfaced afterAirtel last week launched PriorityPostpaid,aservicethat uses network slicing technology to provide a more stable and consistent network experience for users. Following the launch and the ensuing discussions around possible net neutrality implications, the Jio says slicing across categories satisfies net neutrality norms, but preferential treatment within categories should require additional regulatory scrutiny Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology sought responses from telecom operators on the issue, according to people aware of the development. Documents reviewed by FE suggest that the disagreement is not over network slicing itself,which operators broadly Vodafone Idea submits that services like Airtel's Priority Postpaid offering are discriminatory in nature acknowledgeasastandardised capability under 5G architecture. Instead, differences appearto have arisen overhow the technology should be deployed for retail customers and whether differentiated consumerexperiences require additional regulatoryscrutiny. Continued on Page 7 TAIWAN GETS PAST INDIA IN M-CAP TAIWAN OVERTOOK INDIAinstock marketvaluetobecometheworld’sfifth largest,poweredmainlybyabreakneck rallyinTSMC,theworld’slargest chipmakerwhichnowaccountsforabout 42%ofthebenchmarkindex,reports Bloomberg.Thechipmaker’sshares haverallied46%thisyearandtheTaiex Indexremainsamongtheworld’sbest performers,havingrisenmorethan50% thisyear.India’sguage,ontheother hand,isdown8%,headingforitsfirst annualdropafteradecadeofgainsasthe countrygrappleswithsurgingenergy cost,slowingcorporateearningsgrowth andthelackofcompaniesdirectlylinked totheAIbuild-out.Globalfundshave soldnearly$24billionofIndianequities sofarthisyearastheychasedtheAI boominTaiwanandSouthKorea. Market valuation ($ trillion) US China Japan Hong Kong Taiwan India South Korea 8.7 7.25 4.95 4.92 4.54 77.95 15.61 Our market diversified unlike theirs: Sebi chief Indiaisavery,verydiversifiedmarket.InTaiwan, thereareconcentratedstocks...TSMCandothers whicharevery,verycriticaltotheelectronicsupply chainare...leadingtotheirhighervaluations Tuhin Kanta Pandey USstrikesIranamidpeace talks,sendscrudesoaring REUTERS May 26 Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Ottawa. India and Canada target to seal a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement by the year-end and aim to triple their bilateral trade to $50 billion by 2030 ■ REPORT ON PAGE 2 PTI `24,000cr Telcos split on 5G network slicing IRAN SAID THE United States had violated a ceasefire after the US conducted what it called defensive strikes in southern Iran,while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said negotiating a deal to halt the conflictcould“takeafewdays”. Iran’s foreign ministrysaid US strikes in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province represented a “gross violation” of a tenuous ceasefire in place for nearly seven weeks. Both sides had previously indicated progress on a memorandum of understanding that could halt the war and restart shippingthroughtheblockaded Strait of Hormuz,while giving negotiators60daystonegotiate more complex issues including Iran’s nuclearprogramme. Brent crude futures climbed about 4% on Tuesday after the US strikes on Iran added uncertainty to whether adealwouldbereachedsoonto end the war and open up shipping flows through the Strait of Hormuz.Global benchmark Brent rose $3.78, or 3.9%, to $99.92 a barrel at 14:50 GMT (20:20 IST) while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $2.88, or 3%, to $93.72. On Monday, Brent closed at its lowest since April 20 on expectations the US and MOJTABA KHAMENEI, SUPREME LEADER, IRAN The clock cannot be turned back, and the nations and lands of the region will no longer be a shield for American bases Iran would soon reach a deal. The war,which began with USandIsraelistrikesonIranon February 28, has caused an unprecedented oil supply shock, pushing up the costs of fuel, fertiliser and food. Iran responded to the US strikes by launching drones and missiles atGulfstatesthathostUSbases. US Central Command said it had carried out the fresh strikes designed “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.”The US said the strikes targeted boats attempting to lay mines and missile launch sites. Referring to the strikes, Rubio told reporters on his plane in Jaipur that the Strait of Hormuz has to be open “one way or the other”.He added that negotiating a deal with Iran could“take a few days”, quashing hopes for an imminent end to the conflict. Continued Page 7 on IBBI considering direct role for real estate regulator after SC ruling RERAtogetaseatatrealtyinsolvencypanels MANU KAUSHIK New Delhi, May 26 IN A MAJOR step to speed up the revival of stalled real estate projects, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) is considering a proposal to involve the Real Estate RegulatoryAuthority(RERA) early in the insolvency resolution processes for builders. According to officials familiar with the development,the regulator may modifythe rules to allowRERArepresentatives to participate in themeetingsofthecommittee of creditors (CoC) — although without anyvoting rights. An official said that bringing in the real estate regulator at an early stage of the resolution process can help identify approval hurdles, compliance issues and feasibility concerns REALTY RELIEF 1,977 Real estate insolvency cases* 22% As percentage of total cases 25% 18% 19% Cases appealed/ Cases successfully Cases which ended withdrawn/reviewed resolved up in liquidation /settled * Data as on March 2026; Source: CareEdge, IBBI upfront. Besides, the authority’s role in resolution could help ensure that the project moves forward without fresh regulatory roadblocks. “The presence of RERAofficialsinthemeetingsconducted bytheCoCclosesapracticalgap in real estate insolvency. The idea is that resolution cannot succeedonpaperalone,ithasto workattheregulatoryandproject-implementation level as well,” the official noted.At the moment,RERAonlyenters the the IBBI was considering the scene indirectly and late in the inclusion of RERA in project corporate insolvency resolu- monitoring committees tionprocess(CIRP),oftenaftera which are formed after a resresolution plan has already olution plan has been beenpassedbythelenders.This approved. leaves the bidders unaware of However, some stakeholdthe legacy compliance issues, ers are of the view that early pending approvals, involvement of RERA »INSIDE« and past promoter could help identify violations. regulatory concerns NEW The move comes INSOLVENCY before the CoC votes after the Supreme CASES SLOW fora plan,allowpotenDOWN IN Court’s February vertial bidders to factor in FY26 dict in the Supertech compliance costs PAGE 11 case holding that in before submitting cases of real estate their bids, and give insolvency, the claims of all confidence to stuck homebuycreditors, including the ers for being “duly” reprebanks, would be considered sented. The official said that only after the promised incoming developers/bidders homes are delivered by the often face challenges pertaindeveloper to the homebuyers. ing to RERA’s domain after This makes RERA’s direct theirplanshavebeenapproved. involvement in the CIRP even more important.Till recently, Continued on Page 7 Ahmedabad