NATION | PAGE 22 COMPANIES | PAGE 4 CJPfirmonPradhanexit;10-yr jail,`10-crfineforpaperleak ECONOMY | PAGE 2 Aimtoskill20mnIndiansinAI by2030:MicrosoftIndiaCTO CHENNAI/KOCHI, SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2026 Taxcertaintyisaneconomic imperative:FMtoCBDT FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL NO. XLVII 68, 28 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: 76,059.77 ▼ 331.62 NIFTY: 23,767.45 ▼ 102.15 NIKKEI 225: 64,611.15 ▼ 1,811.45 HANG SENG: 24,963.23 ▼ 247.58 `/$: 96.57 < > 0.00 `/€: 109.97 ▲ 0.23 BRENT: $97.60 ▼ $3.09 GOLD: `143,238 ▼ `853 — FIFTH DAY OF FALL 78,500 July 24 at 8.30 pm IST 10.43% -2.68 % July 20 96.20 5,454 2,947 96.30 -2,607 96.40 96.50 -3,893 -418 July 22 Rupee vs Dollar 96.2 96.28 DIIs July 21 ly July 24 RBI KEEPS RE IN CHECK Brent crude prices ($ per barrel) FPIs 76,059.77 Sensex July 17 FPIs STAY IN SELLERS’ ZONE ■ REPORT, PAGE 6 77,000 76,000 July 23 July 24 »INSIDE« PRIVATE-SECTOR GROWTH AT OVER 4-YEAR LOW IN JULY PAGE 2 96.60 CKYC 2.0TO BEGINWITH BANKS,INSURERS Common KYC set forAugust rollout JAYSHREE P UPADHYAY & ASHWIN MANIKANDAN Mumbai, July 24 77,500 « July 17 (in ` crore) 78,000 76,500 88.10 85 78,1 78,151.45 « 97.29 326 BY PUTTING A ban on import of goods produced using forced labour, India has managed to reduce the additional tariffs that the US had proposed to impose on its exports to 10% from 12.5%, reports Mukesh Jagota. This gives the country a tariff advantage over competitors like China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Türkiye, which will be charged 12.5%. India, which imposed the prohibition through a notification on July 13, is among 17 countries, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia and the United Kingdom, with lower tariffs. WEIGHED DOWN BYa sharp rise in crude oil prices, benchmark equity indices ended the weekwith losses of up to 2.68%, marking their steepest weekly decline in four months, reports Kishor Kadam. Brent prices surged 10.43% during the week, hitting the $100-a-barrel mark onThursday. Investors lost `5.23 lakh crore in the last five trading sessions. The benchmark indices were the third-worst performers in Asia after Vietnam (down 5.51%) and Japan (down 3.89%). -657 ADVANTAGE INDIA AS US PROPOSES NEWTARIFFS WEAKWEEKSEESCRUDESHOCK 3,617 PAGE 3 1,312 ECONOMY 1,928 IN THE NEWS -0.30 % Inverted scale July 17 96.57 7 July 24 INDIAN BANKS AND insurers will launch a common customer identification system in August, with asset managers joining later, two regulatory sourcesandindustryexecutives said, allowing customers to access financial productswithoutseparatelysubmittingidentification documents. The new system, known as Central Know-Your-Customer 2.0(CKYC),willonlyrequirethe customer’s consent for these institutionstofetchdatastored atacentralregistrywhenopening an account or updating theirdetails. India has spent more than a decadetryingtocreateasystem similar to those in countries such as Singapore and several Europeannations,wheredigital identityframeworks allowcus- E-commpolicyopensexport doorwiderforMSMEplayers ANEES HUSSAIN & ASHUTOSH MISHRA Bengaluru/New Delhi, July 24 FOREIGN-OWNED E-COMMERCE platformssuchasAmazon and Flipkart are set to deepen their export sourcing operations from India after the government allowed them to hold inventory exclusively for exports, a move that industry executives said could significantly widen the country's exporter base by shifting complianceandlogisticsresponsibilities from individual sellers to theplatforms. Thechangeallowsplatforms to move beyond their existing marketplaceroleandfunctionas merchant exporters by procuringgoodsfromIndianmanufacturers,warehousing them and exportingthemdirectlytooverseas customers.Until now,platforms merelyconnected Indian sellerswithforeignbuyers,leavingownershipofinventory,customsdocumentationandexport compliancewiththeseller. Industry executives said the new framework could encourage thousands of smallerenterprisestoenterexportsbyremoving procedural hurdles and improving working capital cycles. Sellers are expected to benefit from faster shipments, quickerrealisationofexportproceeds and lower currency conversion losses as platforms assume responsibility for overseasfulfilment. Continued on Page 7 EASE OF DOING BIZ ■ The change allows platforms to move beyond their existing marketplace role and function as merchant exporters by procuring goods from Indian manufacturers ■ Sellers are expected to benefit from faster shipments, quicker realisation of export proceeds and lower currency losses Until now, platforms merely connected Indian sellers with foreign buyers ■ …butplatformclout raisesconcerns VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO/ NANDINI OZA/V NARAYANAN Mumbai/Ahmedabad/ Chennai, July 24 becoming merchant exporters could gradually alter the balance of power within the export ecosystem. As platforms begin procuring directly from manufacWHILE THE DECISION to turers instead of merely conallow foreign-funded e-com- necting buyers and sellers, merce companies to own exporters, particularly inventory for exports is smaller ones, could become expected to widen exporter increasingly dependent on a base and make crosshandful of global »INSIDE« border trade more platforms for overefficient, sections of seas sales. EDIT: RIGHT the trading commu- CARVE-OUT The All India Connity and industry sumer Products DisPAGE 8 have voiced concerns tributors Federation that the move could (AICPDF), which repalso concentrate procure- resents distributors across ment power in the hands of a the country, has opposed the few large global market- relaxation, saying the frameplaces, putting pressure on work requires stronger safesupplier margins. guards before implementaDistributor bodies said tion. that the shift from platforms acting as marketplaces to Continued on Page 7 CaseagainstRajasthanRoyalsbytwominorityshareholders Lakshmi Mittal’s IPLdeal dragged to a UK court UPMANYU TRIVEDI July 24 LAKSHMI MITTAL’S PLAN to acquire the Rajasthan Royals cricket franchise has sparked a London lawsuit, with the minority shareholders in the company that owns the team alleging they are being forced to give up their shares worth about $50 million for just £1 ($1.33). Emerging Media Ventures, which indirectly owns a majority stake in the Indian Premier League franchise Rajasthan Royals, was sued by two minority shareholders who alleged the company wrongly accused them of WRONG ‘UN ■ Halla Bol & Bajan Boys Gully Cricket are minority shareholders in Emerging MediaVentures ■ Emerging Media Ventures indirectly owns a majority stake in Rajasthan Royals ■ They said they are being forced to give up shares of about $50 million for just $1.33; Mittal led a consortium to buy the team “serious misconduct”, denying them their cut from the proceeds of the $1.65-billion sale of the franchise. Emerging Media Ventures hasn’t filed its defence to the lawsuit yet. The company’s lawyers didn’t respond to a request for comment. Continued on Page 7 CHENNAI/KOCHI IDENTITY CHECK ■ Capital markets firms, including MFs and brokerages, are expected to be able to use it later this year ■ About 89% of adults owned bank accounts in 2024, as per World Bank data ■ CKY 2.0 will allow consumers to access financial products without separate identification tomers to access multiple financial products through a commonverification process. It will also help combat fraud through easier monitoring,theregulatorysourcessaid. Capital markets firms, including mutual funds and brokerages,are expected to be able to use it later this year as regulators work through sec- ■ India is trying to create a system similar to Singapore & some European nations tor-specific requirements, they said. The Reserve Bank of India, the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the insurance regulator, all of whom are jointly executing the project, did not answer Reuters emails immediately. Continued on Page 10