CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ■ ■ kollam l tuesday l January 13, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l city EDITION Trade talks back, India on Pax Silica: Gor What is Pax Silica and why is India joining now? J ayanth J a c o b @ New Delhi Signalling an early effort to stabilise India-US ties that have come under strain amid tariff disputes and market jitters, Washington’s new ambassador to New Delhi, Sergio Gor, on Monday said the two sides will take up the outstanding trade issues during a call on Tuesday . In a parallel strategic move, Gor said India will be invited next month to join US-led Pax Silica initiative to secure silicon and critical tech supply chain. Speaking on his first day in office, Gor sought to portray Sergio Gor during a press meet at the US Embassy in New Delhi on Monday | pti Pax Silica is a US-led economic security partnership to protect critical technology supply chains, including AI, semiconductors, minerals, etc. Members include UK, Israel, Japan, and Australia. After a month on the sidelines, India is now set to join, a move widely seen as a diplomatic warm-up current frictions as manageable within a mature partnership. “Real friends can disagree, but always resolve their differences in the end,” he said. Stressing that talks remain active, Gor said: “The next call on trade will occur tomorrow.” He did not elaborate on the level at which the discussions would Sonia calls Jose, invites KC(M) to rejoin UDF A B H I L A S H C H A N D R A N @Kottayam ISRO’s PSLV-C62 lifts off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, on Monday | PTI ISRO suffers another PSLV mission failure Bengaluru: In a second consecutive setback, ISRO’s PSLV-C62 rocket carrying 16 satellites, including a foreign Earth Observation payload, failed to place them in the intended orbit after encountering an “anomaly” in the critical third stage of the launch on Monday. P7 In a swift political move ahead of the assembly elections in the state, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has reportedly reached out to Kerala Congress (M) chairman Jose K Mani, extending an invitation to rejoin the Congressled UDF. According to reliable sources, the overture, reportedly initiated by Congress general secretary in charge of organisation K C Venugopal, involved a recent phone conversation between Sonia and Jose. While sources close to Jose confirmed Sonia’s call, the KC(M) chief himself was unavailable for comment. The strategic move by the Congress cen- tral and state leaderships, reportedly with the backing of the Catholic Church, aims to bolster the UDF’s position in the run-up to the assembly polls. The Indian Union Muslim League, the second largest constituent of the UDF, has also given a green signal to the move. Speculation on Jose’s favourable response to the UDF’s overture has been fuelled by his absence from a recent LDF meeting and the state government’s satyagraha against the Centre’s ‘fund blockade’ held in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday . The question now is whether Jo s e w i l l p a r t i c i p at e i n the LDF’s upcoming ‘Kerala ● More on P6 Yatra’.  take place but noted: “India is the world’s largest nation, so it’s not an easy task to get this across the finish line, but we are determined to get there.” Gor also linked trade to a broader recalibration of US diplomacy. Citing Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he said 2026 would be “a year of reciprocity defined by “fair trade, mu,” tual respect, and shared security.” He stressed that while commerce is a key pillar of the relationship, cooperation would continue across security coun, ter-terrorism, energy technolo, gy education and health. , New labour codes eat into IT profits Even as AI-driven deals lifted revenues for India’s top IT firms in the December quarter, new labour codes weighed heavily on profits The country’s largest IT services company, TCS, reported a 13.91% decline in December quarter net profit to J10,657 cr, down from J12,380 cr in the year-ago period HCLTech’s net profit fell 11.2% to J4,076 cr from J4,591 cr I2,128 crore is the amount TCS set aside to meet requirements under the new labour codes, which increase in payroll costs by mandating a 50% basic wage, higher employer contributions to PF and gratuity and overtime pay for extended working hours | P12 Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Germany’s Friedrich Merz on Monday | PTI In talks with PM, Merz hints at EU FTA deal by month-end nouncements across defence, energy, education, mobility, and sustainable development. IN a big push amid rising glo- Both sides noted with satisbal protectionism, German faction that bilateral trade in Chancellor Friedrich Merz goods and services crossed on Monday was optimistic of $50 billion in 2024, amounting sealing a landmark to over 25% of InEU-India free trade dia’s trade with EU. agreement by JanuThey signed joint ary-end, with top declarations of inEU leaders likely tent on boosting biOur growing trade visiting New Delhi lateral defence inand investment to sign it, following dustrial ties. ties have infused wide-ranging talks Modi and Merz new energy into with Prime Minisetched a bilateral India and Germany’s ter Narendra Modi dialogue mecharelationship in Ahmedabad. nism for the IndoWelcoming Merz Pacific, besides the Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad, PM establishment of Modi framed the Track 1.5 Foreign visit as historic, coming at a Policy and Security Dialogue. time when India and Germa- Germany also announced ny have completed 25 years visa free transit for Indians. of strategic partnership and Further, they signed an are commemorating 75 years offtake agreement for green of diplomatic relations. ammonia between AM Green The talks, accompanied (India) and Uniper Global by a delegation of 23 German (Germany). Germany comCEOs, resulted in the signing mitted 1.24 billion euros for of key MoUs and several an- renewable energy projects. D i l i p S i n g h K s hat r i ya @ Ahmedabad focus onrule notification players in sports ministry’s Outstanding sportspersons with Olympic credentials to get Indian Olympic Association spot as new rules kick in | P13 Sabarimala probe HC flays SIT for not arresting Sankar Das E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kochi A single bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday criticised the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Sabarimala gold theft for not arresting K P Sankar Das, an accused in the case. Sankar Das is a former member of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB). “A p e r s o n has been admitted to a hospital ever since he was arraigned in the case. His son is a superintendent of police. What nonsense is happening in this state? I completely disagree with the investigating officer,” Justice A Badharudeen said. The SIT investigation into the Sabarimala gold theft is being held under the supervision of a division bench of the High ● More on P6 Court.