ECONOMY | PAGE 2 COMPANIES | PAGE 4 USTR pulls up NPCI for ‘favouring’ local players INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 7 DTH firm DishTVlooks to be a hybrid player Tesla sales tank amid backlash against Musk LUCKNOW, THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2025 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL 18 NO. 102, 20 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: 76,617.44 ▲ 592.93 NIFTY: 23,332.35 ▲ 166.65 NIKKEI 225: 35,725.87 ▲ 101.39 HANG SENG: 23,202.53 ▼ 4.31 `/$: 85.51 ▼ 0.05 `/€: 92.39 ▼ 0.30 BRENT: $74.24 ▼ $0.25 GOLD: `90,764 ▼ `33 IN THE NEWS PM arrives in Thailand today, to attend BIMSTEC summit PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA Modi will arrive in Bangkok on Thursday on a two-day visit, during which he will hold talks with his Thai counterpart Paetongtarn Shinawatra. He will attend the sixth BIMSTEC summit, which will bring him face-to-face with leaders such as Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli, Bangladesh chief adviser Muhammad Yunus, and Myanmar military junta leader Min Aung Hlaing, reports PTI. ■ PAGE 3 March factory activity expands at fastest pace in 8 months MANUFACTURING SECTOR GROWTH in India recovered the ground lost in February, picking up to its highest in eight months in March, as a faster upturn in total sales underpinned a sharper increase in output, according to a survey by HSBC Holdings, reports fe Bureau. ■ PAGE 2 Shah: Waqf Bill won't interfere with Muslim religious matters THE RULING NDA on Wednesday launched a feisty defence of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha, with home minister Amit Shah saying that the Centre had no intention of interfering in the religious matters of Muslims and was solely driven by the aim of transparent administration of Waqf properties, reports PTI. ■ PAGE 3 NHAI builds 5,614-km national highways, exceeds target THE NATIONAL HIGHWAYS Authority of India (NHAI) constructed 5,614-km highways in FY25 — 9% more than the target, but still fell short of its monetisation goal by a big margin, reports Mukesh Jagota. ■ PAGE 2 SEBI ON WEDNESDAY imposed a penalty of `5.2 crore on stock broker OPG Securities and its directors for unfair access to secondary market servers in connection with the NSE co-location issue, reports PTI. They have to pay it within 45 days. ■ PAGE 6 FE S P EC I A L S 'AI is reshaping the approach to hiring' Interview with Erran Berger, VP, Product Engineering, Linkedin Bond yields at 3-year low on RBI cash push JOYDEEP GHOSH Mumbai, April 2 LIQUIDITY INDUCED THE RESERVE BANK of India’s heightened action on providing liquidity has led to bond yields hitting athree-yearlowonWednesday.Bond yields closed at 6.48% shedding 10 basis points (bps) — the biggest single-day decline since October 6, 2022.Thelasttimebondyieldswere this low was on January 4, 2022, according to data from Bloomberg. Market participants said that the RBI’sannouncementofopenmarket operations(OMO)of`80,000crorein April helped bring down bond yields sharplyatatimewhenthereissurplus liquidityinthebankingsystem. “The liquidity situation has improved of late,with the RBI taking measures through forex buy/sell swaps, OMO and VRR (variable rate repoauction),buttherecent`80,000 crore of OMO is a positive surprise. Anykind of easing is good formarket but some are more conducive,especiallywhen it happens through bond buying as it is durable in nature and alsosupportsbondyields,”saidKunal Sodhani, vice president-treasury, ShinhanBank,addingthatthecentral bank’s consistent liquidity infusion through various instruments since December signals a clear intent — its focusisfirmlyonsupportinggrowth. Kaustubh Gupta, co-CIO, fixed income, Aditya Birla Sunlife AMC, said,“While the `80,000-crore OMO announcement was a surprise, the demandformoneyisusuallylowpost March.Also,inthepastcoupleofdays, whentheIndianmarketswereclosed, 10-year govt bond yield (%) 6.560 6.540 6.548 Open Previous close: 6.582 10bps of `80,000-crore OMO in April has helped bring down bond yields Close 6.500 ■ US bond yields fell 4 bps each on Monday and Tuesday, when it closed at 4.17% 6.480 HDFC,Yes Bank cut FD rates, others likelyto followsuit WITHTHE BANKINGsystemliquidity turning surplus, lenders have begun slashing interest rates on fixed deposits. HDFC Bank and Yes Bank have reduced rates on select fixed deposits (FDs) of below `3 crore,effective April 1,reports Sachin Kumar. HDFC Bank, the largest private lender, has cut rates by 35 basis points (bps) for deposits maturing in 2 years and 11 months, and by 40 bps for those maturing in 4 years and 7 rateshavebeensofteninggloballydue to the uncertainty around US President Donald Trump’s tariff movements.” For example,US bond yields months.YesBankhasloweredFD rates by25 bps on select tenures. More banks are expected to follow suit in the coming days as surplus liquidity will ease the pressure to raise funds. “It’s the start of a trend,which will be followed by other banks. Banks draw comfort from the factthatliquidityconditionshave improvedandcreditremainsrelatively low in the first quarter,” said an executive director of a public sector bank. ■ PAGE 6 fell 4 bps each on Monday and Tuesday.Itclosedat4.17%onTuesday. Continued on Page 7 Poonam Gupta heads economic policy think tank NCAER Poonam Gupta appointed RBI deputy guv denies charges RAGHAVENDRA KAMATH Mumbai, April 2 IN YETANOTHER twist in the battle between Lodha brothers,Macrotech DevelopersledbyAbhishekLodhaon WednesdayallegedthattheHouseof Abhinandan Lodha (HoABL),owned by his brother Abhinandan, has “forged”boardresolutionsoftheformer,containinganoobjectionforthe use of its trademarks, and filed the samewith government authorities. Macrotech,in an exchange filing, said no board meeting of the companywasheldonthedatementioned in these resolutions and the company’sboardhasneverconsideredor approvedtheminanyofitsmeetings. The board resolutions filed with the government authorities have signature of an independent director,thecompanysaid.Itislearntthat theindependentdirectorMacrotech is referring to is Ashwani Kumar, independent director of Macrotech Developers and former chairman & managing director of Dena Bank. When contacted, a Lodha Ventures spokesperson said, “We are ■ RBI’s announcement 6.481 1 6.520 ● Abhinandan Lodha Abhishek (left) and Abhinandan Lodha have been at loggerheads internally looking into the matter and shall revert with our detailed response.Suffice it to state that the House of Abhinandan Lodha does not admit any of the allegations of fraud and forgery sought to be attributed to us.” HoABL is housed under Lodha Ventures. Macrotech said the boards of at least two HoABL companies approved and procured a change in their corporate names to those starting with ‘LODHA’,which is the registeredtrademarkofMacrotech, from the relevant government authorities,submitting forged documents, and used the changed names of these companies for furtheranceoftheirbusinessactivities. Continued on Page 7 FE BUREAU New Delhi, April 2 India Inc guarded as world braces for‘inevitable’tariff disruptions FE BUREAU New Delhi, April 2 A LARGE SECTION of Indian industry,including sectors that are seen to be relatively more vulnerable to reciprocal tariffs by the US, appeared stoic on Wednesday ahead of the Donald Trump administration’s imminent disruptive move. The government, meanwhile, set up a control room to monitor the tariff announcements by US President Donald Trump at 1.30 am, sources said. Senior officials from key ministries, including commerce and industry, will be present in the control room for close watch of the announcements, they said. Several keyindustries that have high interest in the lucrative US market, including electronics, pharmaceuticals, auto parts, and gems & jewellery, feel import duty cuts by New Delhi would be the best way to mitigate any adverse impact on their shipments. This will reduce the tariff gap between the two nations, which is a substantive 5% on a country-wide basis and much higherforscores of individual products (see chart). Continued on Page 7 ■ NEWSPOINT, PAGE 20 RECIPROCAL TARIFF POLICY Likely additional US tariffs on India** If country-wide (all 4.9% products) approach is followed India's import tariffs Overall 17 Goods* (in %) 13.5 Agriculture 39 7.7% Trade-weighted (in %) Overall Non-agriculture (mainly industrial Agriculture 12 Going by the countrywide trade-weighted average Likely additional US levies in key sectors (tariff gap with India) Chemicals and 8.6 (in %) pharmaceuticals Textiles 1.4 9 65 Diamonds and jewellery Electronics 13.3 7.2 23.1 Automobiles *Non-agriculture (mainly industrial) Fish, meat and processed seafood New duties imposed by the US on India in recent weeks 27.8 **If product-wise reciprocity is followed by the US; Source: GTRI 25% On steel & aluminium products effective from March 12 25% On completely built vehicles (CBUs) and auto parts with effect from April 3 CHRISTINE LAGARDE, CHOI SANG-MOK, LAI CHING-TE, It will be negative the world over... I don’t think I have ever mentioned the word uncertainty as many times as I have in the last few weeks South Korea will prepare response measures to reciprocal tariffs in swift manner... We will step up consultations with the US on trade, foreign exchange Taiwan (is) an indispensable and important member of the global supply chain... We will continue to coordinate closely with the US PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK FINANCE MINISTER, SOUTH KOREA TAIWAN PRESIDENT Benchmark indices rise ahead ofTrump’s‘Liberation Day’ SACHIN KUMAR & KISHOR KADAM Mumbai, April 2 THE GOVERNMENT ON Wednesday appointed economist Poonam Gupta as a deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a three-year tenure to succeed Michael Patra,whowas in charge of the monetary policy department and whose four-year term came to an end on January 14. Gupta’s appointment ahead of themonetarypolicymeetnextweek assumes significance,given her rich exposure to monetary policy research and fiscal policies. Currently, Gupta is the director general of the National Council of Applied EconomicResearch(NCAER),India’s largesteconomicpolicythinktank,a member of the economic advisory council to the Prime Minister, and the convenerof the advisorycouncil to the 16th Finance Commission. HOWTHEY STACK UP A DAY AFTER declining by over 1.5% due to nervousness over US President Donald Trump’s looming reciprocal tariffs,Indian stock markets put up a brave face on Wednesday, with benchmark indices bouncing back and erasing over half the losses incurred earlier in the week. The rupee, on the other hand, closed a little weak, depreciating by 5 paise, or 0.6%, to close at 85.51 against the dollar, as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in equities for the third consecutive trading session. The Sensex rose 592.93 points, or 0.78%, to close at 76,617.44, while the Nifty gained 166.65 points,or 0.72%,ending the day at 23,332.35. Outperforming the benchmarks, the broader indices ended with higher returns. The SHEDDING FEAR Sensex y, (Intra-day, April 2) 0.78 % 76,617.4 (close) 76,146.3 (Open) 76,024.5 (Previous close) Top sectoral gainers % gain Top Sensex gainers Realty 3.62 Zomato 4.92 Consumer durables Consumer discretionary Telecom 1.22 Maruti Suzuki 2.09 TECK 1.18 Tech Mahindra 2.04 2.62 1.70 BSE Midcap rose 1.38%,while the BSE Smallcap gained 0.99%. Among their Asian peers, markets in China, Japan and Hong Kong ended roughly flat on Wednesday. China’s blue-chip CSI 300 Index ended lower by 0.1% and the Shanghai Composite Titan Company IndusInd Bank % gain 3.77 2.88 Index rose 0.1%, while the Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng was unchanged. Japan’s Nikkei finished up 0.28% after swinging between gains and losses during the day. Continued on Page 7 JSWMG Motor India’s market share more than doubles to 28%, whileTata's falls from 71% to 53% in FY25 MGaddssparktoFY26EVrace,closesgapwithTata NITIN KUMAR New Delhi, April 2 Why everyone is banking on the bullion THEELECTRICPASSENGERvehicle marketisgearedupforaninteresting race in FY26, with JSW MG Motor IndiaclosinginonTataMotorswhich has dominated the space forlong. MG’s market share more than doubled to 28% in FY25 from 13% in FY24, while Tata Motors’ fell to 53%from71%.Thisshiftinmarket dynamics stems from MG Motor’s aggressive expansion, spearheaded by its Windsor EV, launched in September2024.TheWindsorEV’srunaway success saw it surpass Tata’s bestselling models. Between SeptemberandJanuary,MGsold13,997 ■ EXPLAINER, P9 system liquidity hit a four-month high on Tuesday Lodhavs Lodha: Abhishek alleges fraud bybrother ■ EFE, P9 All factors point towards gold maintaining its upward trajectory ■ India’s banking On tenterhooks « NSE co-location case: Sebi slaps `5.2-cr fine on OPG Securities BIGGESTSINGLE-DAYDECLINE SINCE OCTOBER 2022 AS THEY STAND Tata MG M&M BYD Hyundai Others Source: Vahan 2 2 6 7 13 2 6 3 share (%) FY25 share (%) FY24 71 8 53 28 Total sales FY24 FY25 WindsorEVs,outpacingTata’sNexon (7,047 units) and Punch (5,708). Overall,MGsold30,116EVsinFY25, significantlynarrowingthegapwith 90,969 107,901 Tata,which sold 57,273 units. MG Motor’s rapid ascent is fuelled byits strategic push into the EV sector, with electric models accounting forover50% of its total sales in FY25, compared with just 10% forTata Motors.The company is aiming for 60% of its sales to come from EVs in FY26.“We anticipate double-digit growth, even if the overall industry grows in lowsingle digit,” Rajeev Chaba, CEO emeritus of JSW MG Motor India, said in a recent interview to FE. While MG’s rise has been noteworthy,theoverallEVpassengervehicle market grew at a slower pace of 19% in FY25, reaching 107,901 units.This was in sharp contrast to FY24’s near-doubling of sales. Despitetheslowdown,theEVsegmentcontinuestogaintraction,with sales climbing from 47,350 units in FY23to90,969inFY24,and107,901 in FY25.The competition is heating up,with other manufacturers readying a fresh wave of EV launches. Mahindra&Mahindra,whichholdsa 6% market share, is preparing to introducetheXEV9eandBE6.Maruti Suzuki plans to unveil the e-Vitara, whileHyundaiisreadyingthee-Creta. Tata Motors has lined up the Harrier EV, while MG has the M9 EV and Cyberster EV in the pipeline. BYD holds a 3% share,Hyundai 2%,and luxurybrandslikeAudi,BMW,andKia collectively account for 8% of FY25 sales.MG’s success has reshaped the landscape,presenting the strongest challenge yet to Tata Motors’ supremacy.Analysts said that as the market evolves with increased competition and innovation,consumers can expect more choices and a push towardsagreenerfuture. Lucknow