KOLKATA, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2026 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL 35 NO. 92, 44 PAGES, `12 (NORTH EAST STATES `12 & ANDAMAN `20) 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 CBC 06124/13/0012/2526 SENSEX: 83277.15 ▲ 650.39 NIFTY: 25,682.75 ▲ 211.65 NIKKEI 225: 56,806.41 ▼ 135.56 HANG SENG: 26,705.94 ▲ 138.82 `/$: 90.65 ▼ 0.01 `/€: 107.55 ▼ 0.05 BRENT: $68.18 ▲ $0.43 GOLD: `1,53,782 ▲ `1,052 PAGE 2 US MAY BRING DOWN RECIPROCAL TARIFF THIS WEEK: GOVT COMMERCE SECRETARY Rajesh Agrawal said the US is expected to cut reciprocal tariffs to 18% from 25% this week and India’s Chief Negotiator will travel to the US next week to finalise the legal text of the interim pact, reports Mukesh Jagota. Wholesaleprice inflationrisesto 10-monthhigh WHOLESALE PRICE INFLATION rose to a 10-month high of 1.81% y-o-y in January, up from 0.83% in December, mainly due to an increase in prices of basic metals and other manufactured goods, reports Kuldeep Singh. ■ PAGE 2 » INSIDE « SC NOTICE TO CENTRE ON DPDP ACT PROVISIONS P12 INDIGOADDS71AIRBUSPILOTS FROMDEC5-FEB10 P4 Indiaahugeplayground, saysAnthropicCEO POULOMI CHATTERJEE Bengaluru, February 16 ● PM inauguratesAIImpactSummit PM Narendra Modi with Reliance Jio Infocomm Chairman Akash Ambani at the India AI Impact Expo, in New Delhi on Monday. The summit features over 600 startups and 13 country pavilions showcasing international collaboration in the AI ecosystem ANTHROPIC'SREVENUERUN rateinIndiahasdoubledinfour months,ChiefExecutiveOfficer Dario Amodei said on Monday, addingthatthecountryistoday thebiggestmarketforitsClaude AI model afterthe US. “Anthropic’s business run rate revenue within India has doubled over the last four months, and Claude Code may haveevengrownfaster,”Amodei said at the firm’s Builder Summit in Bengaluru without sharing furtherdetails. Continued on Page 9 DARIO AMODEI, CEO, ANTHROPIC The efficiency of the Indian market greatly exceeds anywhere else ■ DETAILED REPORTS PAGES 6 & 7 TCS-AMD to take on Nvidia FE BUREAU Mumbai, February 16 INFORMATIONTECHNOLOGY MAJOR Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and US-based chipmaker AMD will co-develop a rack-scale AI infrastructure design,based on the latter’s Helios platform, to support India’s national artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives,the two companiesannouncedonMonday. Thetie-upwillseeTCS,viaits subsidiary HyperVault AI Data Center, bring AMD’s state-ofthe-artAIarchitecturetoIndia. AMD’s India push positions it more directly against Nvidia in thecountry’srapidlyexpanding AI infrastructure segment, as enterprises and government- backedinitiativesscaleupcompute capacity. Both companies will offer an AI-ready data centre blueprint supporting up to 200 MW of capacity and will work with hyperscalers and AI firms to accelerate data centre buildouts in India. Continued on Page 9 TradedeficitswellsinJan onhighergoldimports ● Exports to the US decline 22% MUKESH JAGOTA New Delhi, February 16 INDIA'S MERCHANDISE TRADE deficit widened to a three-month high of $34.68 billion in January, driven bya significant jump in imports of gold and silvereven as exports stagnated due to high additional US tariffs. The goods exports grew an anaemic 0.61% to $36.56 billion during the month, as shipmentstotheUSfell21.7% on-year to $6.6 billion. Exports to the US still remained in positive territory TAKING STOCK Trade deficit ($ billion, RHS) Merchandise trade 50 30 Growth (% chg, y-o-y, LHS) Export Import 20 10 10.3 0 40 19.2 -2.6 -10 -20 30 0.6 34.7 ECONOMY AI FIRM SEES INDIAREVENUE RUN RATE DOUBLE IN FOUR MONTHS 22.9 IN THE NEWS January 2025 January 2026 during the April-January period, growing at 6.73% to $72.46 billion. Merchandise imports dur- 20 10 0 ing January were up 19.2% to $71.24 billion. Continued on Page 9 Markets recover on power, banks boost THE SENSEX SNAPPED its three-daylosingstreak,ending 650.39 points (0.79%) higher at 83,277.15,largelydriven by buying in power, realty and banksharesamidmixedglobal cues, reports Kishor Kadam. The Nifty also broke its twodaylosing run,gaining 211.65 points (0.83%) to close at 25,682.75. ■ REPORT ON PAGE 8 Kolkata IN THE GREEN Feb 16 (close) 83,277 Sensex Feb 13 (close) 82,626 0.79% (650points) Top sectoral gainers (%) oral 2.40 2.15 Power Utilities 1.65 PSU banks 1.44 Realty 1.13 Energy
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