COMPANIES | PAGE 4 MARKETS | PAGE 7 M&M ramps us after-sales infra for EVsegment INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 10 NBFCs may need model rejig to meet new norms Pakistan, Saudi &Turkey pledge mutual defence NEW DELHI, SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 2026 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL LII NO. 138, 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 SENSEX: 78,499.17 ▼ 455.59 NIFTY: 24,570.65 ▼ 65.35 NIKKEI 225: 65,606.71 ▼ 76.55 HANG SENG: 25,668.03 ▲ 137.75 `/$: 95.21 ▲ 0.01 `/€: 109.77 ▲ 0.10 BRENT: $82.24 ▼ $0.25 GOLD: `149,197 ▲ `1,216 CONSUMERS AND SMALL merchants will continue to enjoy free Unified Payments Interface (UPI) services even as the Lok Sabha passed a Bill to amend the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, the Payments Council of India said on Friday, reports PTI. ■ PAGE 2 Forex kitty swells by $10.5 bn, most since January end FOREX RESERVES JUMPED by $10.51 billion to $692.86 billion for the week ended July 31, the RBI said on Friday, putting them within the striking distance of their record high of $728.5 billion set in February, report agencies. It was also the sharpest increase since the end of January. ■ PAGE 7 (reduction in time frame) clause but many others, taking into account our negotiation experience and evolving international practice,” she said. The government is considering one approach: identifying only the essential red lines and providing greater flexibility elsewhere, the secretary said. “At the same time,we also have to think about Indian investors investing abroad.As India's outward investment grows, our own companies will increasingly require treaty protection in foreign jurisdictions,” she said. in annual revenue legacyplayers’topline growth. Marico leads the pack. Its digital-first stable—Beardo, Plix,True Elements,Just Herbs, Cosmix and 4700BC—has crossed an annual revenue run rate (ARR) of `1,500 crore, contributing over11% of consolidated revenue. Hindustan ● Asset quality REPORT CARD improves Hindalco Inds consolidated financials Q1FY26 Q1FY27 Net interest Operating income profit Net profit (` crore) MANJU AB Mumbai, August 7 STATE BANK OF India (SBI) on Friday turned in a strong set of numbers, posting a 10.2% year-on-year (y-o-y) rise in net profit to `21,121 crore for the June quarter. Profit was driven by robust domestic loan growthof18.15%y-o-y,higher core income and a significant drop in bad loan provisions. The country’s biggest lender saw its asset quality improve as it reported nonperforming asset ratios (NPA) that were the lowest in over two decades. Net interest income (NII), 14.9 9.8 or the difference between interest earned on loans and interest paid on deposits, rose 14.88% y-o-y to `46,992 The smaller players are scaling with intent. Emami's digital and strategic investment portfolio contributes around 6% of consolidated revenue—nearly`226croreon FY26 revenue of `3,780 crore—andthecompanywants that share at about 25% by 24,570.65 CAS closing 24,557 0.82 2026 Aug 5 Aug 4 0.62 0.22 Aug 6 0.03 Continued on Page 10 TITAN PROFIT JUMPS 63%, BEATS STREET ESTIMATES PAGE 4 BLOOMBERG August 7 Open Aug 3 crore. Operating profit increased 9.77% y-o-y to `33,529 crore, while noninterest income fell 9.07% to `15,923 crore. The results beat analysts’ estimates and lifted the SBI stock 3.6% to an intra-day high of `1,124.50 apiece on the BSE. The stock closed 1.03% higher at `1,096.05. SBI Chairman C S Settysaid profits had come from good growth in advances and a healthy cost-to-income ratio. He guided for a credit growth of 14-15% and a deposit growth of 10-11% forthe current year. “We believe nominal GDP growth would be around 1212.5% and SBI has always grown 2-3% more than that. That'sthereasonwehavegiven the credit growth guidance of 14% to 15%,”Setty said. IndiGo in talkswith Embraerforjetorder 24,538.9 Normal session closing CAS closing % chg Webelievenominal GDPgrowthwould bearound12-12.5% andSBIhas always grown2-3% morethan that STROND DEMAND BOOSTS GCPL PROFIT, REVENUE PAGE 4 Regular closing Nifty movement CHAIRMAN, SBI 10.2 UP 75%ON »INSIDE« HINDALCO NETSHOW PAGE 4 RECORD INDIA Nifty Intra-day, August 7 CS SETTY, y-o-y % growth CAS DAY 5: CALM AFTER CHAOS VOLATILITY IN THE new closing auction session, or CAS, which dominated the week’s trading was relatively low on Friday, reports Kishor Kadam. The sharp spikes seen earlier in the week, especially in the Nifty50, had spooked traders keeping them away. With the regulator reaching out to market participants and exhorting them to join the session, more players should start trading in the CAS session in the coming weeks. That would drive up volumes, which are currently thin, enabling better price discovery. Unilever(HUL) follows closely: its premium digital beauty portfolio, led by Minimalist, OZiva, Simple and Nexxus, reached an ARR of around `1,400 crore in FY26. ITC’s future-readybrands,including Yoga Bar and Mother Sparsh, exceeded `1,350 crore. SBI net profit rises 10% in Q1 21,121 17.3% to $94.5 bn in FY26 from $80.6 bn a year ago `80-90 cr in FY26 19,160 ■ Gross FDI inflows rose GCPL's digital brand Muuchstac generates `1,400 cr 33,529 already cut the local remedy requirement to three years in its UAE treaty `226 cr HUL's digital beauty portfolio reached ARR of 30,544 ■ India has THE ACQUIRED DIGITALFIRST brands sitting inside India’sbiggestfast-movingconsumer goods (FMCG) companies are no longer experiments—theyare fast becoming growthengines.Theircombined annualrevenuecrossed`4,500 crore in FY26, as premium beauty,wellnessandfunctional foodscontinuedtooutpacetraditional categories. Builtlargelythroughacquisitions over the past fewyears, these portfolios are expanding at more than 20% annually and now account for an increasingly material share of Aug 7 0.06 Source: NSE Free UPI services to stay for consumers and small traders BIT framework will also serve as a flexible basis for future negotiations Emami's digital brands contributed 6% of FY26 revenue, or nearly 24,570.65 DATACENTRES: HUNGRY ENGINES OFTHEAIAGE, WRITESANILNAIR PAGE 8 ■ The revised in ARR in FY26 in FY26 24,557 » INSIDE « strengthen investor protection while safeguarding sovereign interests `1,350 cr `1,500 cr 24,636 INDIA HAS FIRMLY ruled out supporting the creation of a common BRICS currency, reiterating its preference for trade settlements in national currencies over a unified monetary system, reports fe Bureau. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal announced the stance on Friday following the conclusion of a two-day meeting of BRICS trade and industry ministers in Jaipur. ■ The Centre is aiming to ASHUTOSH MISHRA & VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO New Delhi/Mumbai, August 7 46,992 INDIA RULES OUT COMMON BRICS CURRENCY INVESTMENT FRAMEWORK ITC's future-ready brands crossed Marico's digitalfirst brands crossed annual revenue run rate of 24,627.95 PAGE 2 THE CENTRE IS finalising a revised Model Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) for the Cabinet’s consideration soon.This revision is expected to shorten the timeframe for investors to exhaust domestic legal remedies before initiating international arbitration to resolve disputes,Economic Affairs Secretary Anuradha Thakur said on Friday. The review seeks to balance strongerinvestorprotection with India's sovereign interests while reflecting evolving global investment practices and the growing international footprint of Indian companies, she said, speaking at the NCAER India Policy Forum 2026. The revised BITframework willalsoserveasaflexiblebasis for future negotiations,allowing India to tailor provisions based on the strategic importance of the partner country and the nature of the bilateral investment relationship. “We’ve already reduced the period (for local remedies) to three years in our agreement with the UAE. The fiveyear requirement was introduced in the 2015 Model BIT, largely in response to a large number of investor-state disputes India was facing at the time,” she said. FE reported recently that the domestic remedy timeframe may even be reduced to two years depending on the bilateral negotiations. “The Model BIT is currently under review. We're examining not only this acquiredportfolios cross`4,500crore inFY26 40,907 ECONOMY FE BUREAU New Delhi, August 7 WHO HAS WHAT 24,624.65 THE RESERVE BANK of India (RBI) on Friday revised its priority sector lending framework, easing norms for certain advances against fresh foreign currency non-resident (bank) deposits and nonresident external (NRE) term deposits, reports, fe Bureau. NewBITmodel togobefore Cabinetsoon ● Topcompanies’ 24,570.2 RBI REVISES PRIORITY SECTOR LENDING NORMS Digital-firstbrandsenterFMCGmainstream 24,463.45 24,614.9 PAGE 7 24,774.3 MARKETS QUICKER LEGALREMEDYFOR INVESTORS COMING: DEASECY 24,573.35 IN THE NEWS INTERGLOBE AVIATION, THE parent company of India’s biggest airline IndiGo, is in talks with Embraer SA over a possible large regional jet order, according to people familiar with the matter. IndiGo is considering purchasing dozens of Embraer E2 aircraft to replace its fleet of turboprop-powered ATRs as well as to bolster capacity, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is confidential. The discussions are at an early stage and there’s no guarantee of an order, they said. A deal, which could be valued at billions of dollars before customary industry discounts are applied, would be the biggest for the Brazilian manufacturer in India and brings it closer to establishing a full aircraft assembly line in the country. Embraer CEO Francisco Gomes Neto has previously said the planemaker needs to win orders for at least 200 of its E175 regional jets before it considers an Indian assembly facility. Continued on Page 10 WE DON’TSEETHEATRESAS COMPETITION…WHATWE COMPETE FOR IS SCREENTIME: NETFLIX CO-CEO ‘Indiahasagreatstorytellingculture,butunderscreened...’ TRISHA MUKHERJEE New Delhi, August 7 CONTRARY TO POPULAR beliefthatstreamingisincompetition with theatres, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos wants viewers to keepwatching films on the big screen. “We don’t see it as a competition at all,” Sarandos said Thursday at the Express Adda in New Delhi.“People on Netflix love movies, (they) love to go to movies and watch them at home. An individual watches an average of seven movies in a month and sees one or two in the theatre. We are not saying one (medium) is better than the other. It is a rich,beautiful ecosystem and I want our viewers to go to the theatres because it strengthens their relationship with movies. That’s where we will benefit.” The Netflix co-CEO, who was in conversation with Anant Goenka, Executive Director, Indian Express Group,said,“Whatwecompete for is screen time. We want to become the first place you check for something great to watch and the last place you would want to cancel.” Considered one of the architects of the streaming revolution, Sarandos has played a pivotal role in transforming Netflix into one of the Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos at Express Adda in New Delhi on Thursday RENUKA PURI world’sleading entertainment companies.Expanding into all areas of entertainment programming, he led the company’s transition into original content production with the launch of the series House of Cards,Arrested Development, and Orange Is the New Black, among others. Named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2013 and 2025, Sarandos led the platform in investing in diverse voices, reshaping the way audiences discover and experience films and series, and championing bold, innovative and engaging storytelling from around the globe. Sarandos was in India to mark 10 years of Netflix in the country and for the premiere of one its most ambitious Indian projects yet — Safed Sagar, which spotlights the Indian Air Force's role in the 1999 KargilWar.Headlined by actors Siddharth and Jimmy Shergill, the series was shot at 16,800 feet,"the highest altitude production we’ve ever been involved in". The scale of the show, said Sarandos, speaks to the suc- cess Netflix has had in India, “oneofthegreateststorytelling cultures in the world but dramatically under screened.”“In India, there are fewer movie theatrescreensperpersonthan inanycountryintheworldand it is the country with the biggestappetiteformovies,”he said,adding,"We can solve that problem.We can tell those stories to audiences that want them and otherwise didn’t have access to them.” Netflix enteredtheIndianmarketwith the thriller series, Sacred Games, and has since brought in productions that oscillate between classy and massy. Continued on Page 10 New Delhi FY30. Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) is nurturing earlystage digital assets such as Muuchstac, which generates `80-90 crore annually, alongside newer premium brands. The numbers point to a broader transformation underway in Indian FMCG, where incumbents are using acquisitions to buy their way into premium, wellness-oriented and digitally discovered consumer segments. “We have the foundations oftwostrongdigitalplatforms. One in beauty and personal care and anotherinfoods.Both platforms offer significant growth opportunities,”Marico Managing Director & CEO Saugata Gupta told FE this week,adding that the strategy is anchored in building scalable and profitable businesses in categories with a long runway for growth. Continued on Page 6 PLIfor10-GW polysilicon capacity soon SAURAVANAND New Delhi, August 7 INDIA IS WORKING on an incentive scheme to build more than 10 giga watt (GW) domestic polysilicon manufacturing capacity,seeking to plug a critical upstream gap in the solar supply chain and reduce complete dependence on China for the key raw material, Union New and Renewable Energy Secretary Santosh Kumar Sarangi said on Friday. The move would extend India’s domestic manufacturing push from modules and cells to the upstream solar value chain. The material is used to »INSIDE« manufacture ingots TRUMP SETS and wafers, 15% TARIFF ON which are POLYSILICON TO COUNTER subseCHINA quently PAGE 10 processed into solar cells and modules. It also has applications in semiconductor manufacturing. “We are coming up with a support scheme for manufacturing of polysilicon in the country, and we should be able to come up with something which will support our manufacturers to dive deeper into polysilicon manufacturing,” Sarangi said at the 7th CII International Energy Conference & Exhibition in New Delhi. The government has not yet disclosed the proposed outlay or launch timeline. India has built more than 213 GW of solar module manufacturing capacity and around 32 GW of solar cell capacity. QUICK PICKS AIiscreating morejobsthan itcuts:Nomura INDIA IS EMERGING as a key test case for AI’s impact on employment, with AI-related hiring outpacing job losses so far, according to Nomura. India recorded 83,100 AIrelated hires compared with 31,921 layoffs and attrition, reports Bloomberg. ■ PAGE 3 Jefferies sees brighter India outlook INDIA'S MARKET OUTLOOK is strengthening, according to Jefferies, as bank credit growth reaches its fastest pace in more than a decade, foreign equity inflows return and central bank measures support the rupee, reports Reuters. ■ PAGE 7