MARKETS | PAGE 6 COMPANIES | PAGE 4 Equity MF inflows set to see first dip since Covid INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 7 Hybrid poised to define edtech’s next chapter Tesla surrenders EVcrown to BYD after 8.6% sales decline NEW DELHI, SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 2026 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM VOL. L1 NO. 262, 20 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 READ TO LEAD SENSEX: 85,762.01 ▲ 573.41 NIFTY: 26,328.55 ▲ 182.00 NIKKEI 225: 50,339.48 ▼ 187.44 HANG SENG: 26,338.47 ▲ 707.93 `/$: 90.20 ▼ 0.23 `/€: 105.72 ▼ 0.06 BRENT: $60.32 ▼ $0.53 GOLD: `1,34,143 ▲ `1,202 IN THE NEWS ECONOMY PAGE 2 MANUFACTURING PMI DROPS TO TWO-YEAR LOW INDIA’S MANUFACTURING ACTIVITY slowed to its weakest pace in two years in December, reflecting softer demand conditions and cautious production strategies by firms, according to the latest HSBC survey, reports FE Bureau. ECONOMY PAGE 3 PROJECTS WORTH `85 lakh crore, spanning roads, railways, power and urban infra, were accelerated under the Centre’s PRAGATI platform, underscoring how tech-driven coordination has reshaped project implementation, reports FE Bureau. » INSIDE « TANKERSWITH RUSSIAN OIL SAILTOWARDS RILPLANT P2 STUDYABROAD PLATFORMS PIN HOPES ON US DEAL P20 Two-wheeler firms log robust growth in Dec TWO-WHEELER MANUFACTURERS REPORTED strong year-on-year growth in December 2025, led by a sharp recovery in domestic volumes, reports Akbar Merchant. Hero MotoCorp emerged as the strongest performer, posting a 43% increase in domestic dispatches to 419,243 units. ■ PAGE 4 Centre unveils `7,295-crore export package THE CENTRE ON Friday announced two incentive schemes with a total outlay of `7,295 crore to reduce the cost of credit for small exporters over the six years through March 2031, reports Mukesh Jagota. The interest subvention scheme has made a comeback under the Export Promotion Mission after a year. ■ PAGE 2 Nifty smashes record ● Earnings outlook, NEW YEAR HIGH 26,328.55 positive global cues drive rally; investors NIFTY Intraday, Jan 2 richerby`4.33Lcr KISHOR KADAM Mumbai, January 2 STARTING THE NEW year on a strong note,the benchmark Nifty scaled a new peak on Friday, supported by firm global cues and improved earnings expectations for the recently concluded quarter. The Nifty surged 182 points,or 0.70%,to settle at a record closing high of 26,328.55, driven by gains in banking, metal and realty stocks. Intraday, the index touched a lifetime high of 26,340. The benchmark Sensex jumped 573.41 points, or 0.67%,to close at 85,762.01, just 74.11 points, or 0.09%, shy of its all-time closing high of 85,836.12 recorded on September 26, 2024. The index is 397.06 points, or 0.46%,below its recent intraday peak of 86,159.02 hit on December 1, 2025. “India enters 2026 in a stronger position than most emerging markets,supported by healthy domestic earnings and improving corporate balance sheets,” said Trideep Bhattacharya, president and CIO-equities, Edelweiss Mutual Fund. “We are beginning to see early signs of an earnings close 182 points 0.70% Open BANK NIFTY TOP SECTORAL GAINERS (% gain) Intraday, Jan 2 2.71 2.26 1.58 1.53 1.46 Utilities 0.74 % Power Ene y Energy PS PSBs Me Metal TOP SENSEX GAINERS (% gain) 60,150.95 59,757.40 Clo Close Open Previous close 4.67 2.58 59,711.55 26,146.55 NTPC Trent Previous clo close vio cl 40 years of BSE Sensex 1.84 1.57 Po Bajaj Power Finance Grid 1.49 SBI PAGE 6 Over the past four decades, the Sensex has stood the test of time as a robust market indicator, mirroring India’s economic transformation and the growing maturity of our capital markets TUHIN KANTA PANDEY, CHAIRMAN, SEBI upgrade cycle, which strengthens the case for India’s outperformance versus other emerging markets in 2026,” Bhattacharya said. From a sectoral perspec- tive, consumer discretionary stocks appear well placed, aided by a likely income boost from the 8th Central Pay Commission,while financials should benefit as credit X gets a govt message: Fix Grok or face action ● Platform asked to file compliance report in 72 hours OJASVI GUPTA New Delhi, January 2 26,155.10 « PRAGATI PUSHTO PROJECTS WORTH `85 LAKH CRORE INDEXTOUCHESALL-TIME HIGH OF26,340 INTRADAY growth recovers from around 8-9% to 12-14% over the next year, Bhattacharya added. Continued on Page 7 THE GOVERNMENT ON Friday issued a formal warning and binding directive to Elon Musk-owned X over what it described as repeated failures to prevent the generation and circulationof obsceneandsexually explicit content through its AI tool Grok. It cautioned that non-compliance could lead to the loss of legal immunity and criminal action against the platform and its senior executives. The ministryof electronics and information technology (MeitY) directed the company’s chief compliance officerforIndia operations to submit an action taken report within 72 hours and to immediately overhaul its technical and governance safeguards around Grok. Failure to comply, the ministry said, could result in the withdrawal of X’s intermediary protection under Section 79 of the InformationTechnologyAct,exposing it to liability under multiple criminal and civil laws. The letter stated that the ministry had received repeated representations, including from parliamentary stakeholders,flagging content on the platform that may violate Indian laws on decency and obscenity. It said Grok, which is integrated intoX,was being misused to generate and circulate “obscene images or videos of women in a derogatoryorvulgarmanner”,including through fake accounts, image manipulation and synthetic AI outputs. Continued on Page 7 BANKS ARE EXPECTED to report double-digit growth in both advances and deposits in the December quarter, according to the provisional figures of 10 banks. Punjab National Bank is expectedtoreporta10.1%yearon-year (y-o-y) growth in advances to `11.68 lakh crore. Sequentially,the growth rate is 4.5%.Whilethedepositgrowth forthebankisseenat8.3%,the global credit-deposit ratio is at 74.21%as on December31. Indian Bank and Bank of India too are expected to see a double-digit credit growth of 14.5%and15.1%,respectively, for the quarter ended December 2025. Private lenders such as Tamilnad Mercantile Bank andCSBBankarealsoexpected to continue to outperform peers on a y-o-y basis, with advances rising 16.3% and 28.7%,respectively. RECENTYEARS OF reforms in thecoalsectorsuchascommercial coal mining by the private sectorandfreeopenmarketsale from captive mines have produced a surplus in the market, promptingthestate-runminer Coal India on Fridayto open up its e-auction to buyers from Bangladesh,BhutanandNepal, reports FE Bureau. With last summer being moderate, the demand forcoal from the ther- mal powersectorhas been subdued, resulting in surplus stocks at pitheads. The development assumes significance because India had HEALTHY SHOW Q3FY26 Union Bank of India 3.4 Punjab National Bank Bank of India Indian Bank Tamilnad Mercantile Bank UCO Bank Karur Vysya Bank South Indian Bank Punjab & Sind Bank 7.4 10.1 8.3 15.1 12.8 14.5 12.5 16.3 12.5 17.5 10.2 17.2 15.6 11.3 12.2 15.2 9.3 CSB Bank Source: NSE/BSE 21.1 Advances y-o-y (%) Among the 10 banks that reported provisional business data, Union Bank of India saw the lowest growth in loans as wellasdeposits.Thepublicsector bank is expected to see a 28.7 Deposits y-o-y (%) 7.4% rise in its loans on ay-o-y basis.TheCASAratioisseenrising139basispointsonquarter to 33.95% as on December31. Continued on Page 7 Zomato founder’s posts on strike draw brickbats and some bouquets Gig debate raises an online storm ANEES HUSSAIN Bengaluru, January 2 A PUBLIC DEFENCE mounted by Deepinder Goyal, CEO of Eternal, over the handling of a December 31 gig worker strike has sharply polarised opinion, with his claims and tone drawing sustained criticism from netizens and »INSIDE« labour groups EDIT: WHEN even as a section of startup ‘FAIR’ IS TONE-DEAF founders, investors and PAGE 8 industry executives rallied to his support. Goyal’spostsonXsoughtto project operational resilience amid the protest. He said Zomato and Blinkit operations on New Year’s Eve ran “unaffected by calls for strikes,” adding that the platforms deliveredatarecordpacewith- DEEPINDER GOYAL, KUNAL KAMRA, RAGHAV CHADHA, CEO, ETERNAL COMEDIAN-ACTIVIST MEMBER, RAJYA SABHA Support from local law enforcement helped keep the small number of miscreants in check (on day of strike) If you (Goyal) tell me they were at least paid `50 every hour they were on the app, I’ll never tweet about gig workers again It’s time companies start treating riders as human beings... Gig cannot become a guilt-free exploitation economy out offering any additional incentivesbeyondroutineNew Year surge payouts.According to him,450,000 delivery partners across both platforms completed more than 7.5 million orders, an all-time high, with local law enforcement helping “keep the small number of miscreants in check”. Continued on Page 7 Deliveryworkers get `102/hour ETERNAL CEO DEEPINDER Goyal on Friday shared earnings data for delivery partners on his platforms, claiming average earnings per hour reached `102 in 2025, up 10.9% from `92 in 2024, excluding tips, reports FE Bureau. In a ADAM MOSSERI, CEO, INSTAGRAM For most of my life, it was reasonable to assume that photographs and videos largely reflected real moments. That assumption is no longer valid PAGE 20 CILopens up auction to foreign buyers Bankstoseedouble-digit growthinDecquarter KSHIPRA PETKAR & CHRISTINA TITUS Mumbai, January 2 ERA OF POLISHED POSTS OVER five-part thread on X,Goyal said delivery partners working full-time (10 hours daily for 26 days monthly), would hypothetically earn around `26,500 in gross earnings. Average tip per hour stood at `2.6 in 2025, he added. ■ PAGE 5 New Delhi seen coal imports surging a couple of years ago, as thermal powerstationsincreasedcapacity utilisation to meet power demand. Imported coal based plantsatsomepointwereasked bythegovernmenttooperateat full capacity, despite their higher cost of power generation.Coal India stock extended gains on Friday to trade more than 6% higher, the highest in more than ayear. ■ PAGE 2