MARKETS | PAGE 6 INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 7 PNB Housing Fin MD bets on affordable growth Ternus to leadApple as Cook steps aside CHENNAI/KOCHI, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2026 VOL NO. XLVI 296, 22 PAGES, `12 INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 7 Amazon to invest up to $25 billion inAnthropic FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD P U B L I S H E D F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , B E N G A L U R U , C H A N D I G A R H , C H E N N A I , H Y D E R A B A D , K O C H I , K O L K ATA , L U C K N O W, M U M B A I , N E W D E L H I , P U N E SENSEX: 79,273.33 ▲ 753.03 NIFTY: 24,576.60 ▲ 211.75 NIKKEI 225: 59,349.17 ▲ 524.28 HANG SENG: 26,487.48 ▲ 126.41 `/$: 93.50 ▼ 0.38 `/€: 109.94 ▼ 0.39 BRENT: $94.91 ▼ $0.57 GOLD: `1,51,769 ▲ `187 INDIAN EXPORTERS, who were subject to $12-billion US tariffs, may recover some of the losses as the US Customs has opened refund applications, limited to importers on record and authorised brokers with valid US bank accounts, reports Mukesh Jagota ECONOMY PAGE 3 GADKARI: 100% ETHANOL BLEND MUST BE TARGET ROAD TRANSPORT & Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said India should aim for 100% ethanol blending soon, as oil supply vulnerabilities amid the West Asia crisis highlight the urgent need for greater energy self-reliance. asclockticksonceasefire JEFF MASON, BEN BARTENSTEIN & FIONA MACDONALD April 21 DONALD TRUMP, US PRESIDENT THE US IS still in the dark on whether Iran will take part in freshtalkstoendthewarbefore a ceasefire expires around Wednesday, with the sides deadlockedonissuesincluding access to the Strait of Hormuz. US President Donald Trump said Tehran had “no choice” but to send a delegation to negotiations in Pakistan, with his vice-president, JD Vance, primed to fly to Islamabad on Tuesday.The US is in a strong negotiating position, he told CNBC, and is “readytogo”witharesumption of bombing if a breakthrough isn’t reached. Iran has yet to confirm its attendance in Pakistan with Trump’s ceasefire deadline fast approaching, raising the risk of a resumption of fight- Tehran has no choice but to send a delegation to negotiations in Pakistan ing in a seven-week war that’s killed thousands of people and triggered a growing energy supply crisis. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led Iran’s delegation during the first round of talks earlierthismonth,saidhiscountry wouldnot“acceptnegotiations underthe shadowof threats”. Trump said he’s “going to MOHAMMAD BAGHER GHALIBAF, IRAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER Iran will not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats end up with a great deal” and that a US naval blockade on Iranian ports would stay in place until an agreement. He doesn’t want to extend the ceasefire with Iran, which is due to expire late Wednesday US time,he told CNBC. Referring to the US capture ofanunspecifiedshiponMonday, Trump said it “had some things on it,which wasn’t very nice, a gift from China, perhaps.” He added that this had come as a surprise due to what he called an “understanding” with President Xi Jinping. Trump didn’t provide further details on the incident. Trump said earlier this month that Xi told him Beijing isn’tprovidingweaponstoIran. Continued on Page 7 ● GOINGALLOUTON POLLBATTLEGROUND Banks hold back on NDFs despite RBI easing curbs THE LIFE insurance industry reported a threefold jump in growth, with new business premium (NBP) rising 16% year-on-year to a record `4.60 lakh crore in FY26. The growth was primarily driven by the goods and services tax rate cut from 18% to nil on individual life insurance policies, which triggered strong demand, particularly for pure protection products like as term insurance, reports Narayanan V. ■ PAGE 6 From left: Home Minister Amit Shah plays a traditional drum during a public meeting in Chandipur ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections; Tamil Nadu CM and DMK President MK Stalin takes an autorickshaw ride during his campaign in Chennai. Campaigning for first phase ofWest Bengal polls and the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections ended on Tuesday ■ PAGE 22 AGENCIES Secondarycorpbondmktsurges30% CHRISTINATITUS Mumbai, April 21 STRONG MOMENTUM THE SECONDARY MARKET for corporate bonds has witnessed a sharp uptick over the past two years. In FY26, volumes grew 30% to touch `22.07 lakh crore, data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) show, up from `17.1 lakh crore in FY25. Prior to this, volumes had remained stagnant in the `13-15 lakh crore range for nearly seven years. Market experts attribute the surge largely to regulatory changes introduced by Sebi and the Reserve Bank of India. No. of trades settled (in lakh) Amount (in ` lakh crore, RHS) 30 25 20 24 22.07 20 11.49 16 15 12 10 8 5 28.42 GST cut lifts life premium to record `4.6L cr 0 FY17 The rise of online bond platforms has further contributed to increased activityin the secondary market. 4 0 FY26 Source: Sebi The government, in the Union Budget, has also announced initiatives such as a market-making framework aimed at improving liquidity that provide a further boost. “Proactive regulations and efforts by market intermediaries to strengthen financial infrastructure, coupled with lacklustre and volatile equity market performance over the past two years, have pushed investors toward fixed-income diversification,” saidVishalGoenka,co-founder of IndiaBonds. He added that a benign interest rate environment, with multiple rate cuts last financial year, also supported highervolumes. Continued on Page 7 5Gturns4:Expansionrapid,signalsuneven STEP OUT OF a metro city and onto a highway, and the country's 5G story quickly shifts from blazing speeds to buffering screens. Four years after launch, the country’s telecom networks present a tale of two experiences:denseurbanpockets with strong, stable signals, and vast stretches where connectivity drops, fluctuates or disappears altogether. For millions of users, access to 5G still dependslessoncoverageclaims and more on whether a tower happens to bewithin reach. The scale of rollout is not in question. Operators have deployed over 500,000 5G base stations, with services extending to almost all dis- POINTS OF CONNECTION ■ Operators have deployed over 500,000 5G base stations ■ Services extend to almost all districts ■ Reliance Jio is estimated to have over million 5G users 250 ■ Uniform coverage, however, remains elusive ■ Drive tests by Trai show significant variation in data speeds, signal quality across locations tricts.Reliance Jio alone is estimatedtohaveover250million 5G users,accounting for more than half its subscriber base, alongside a nationwide standalone network. Bharti Airtel has matched this expansion across urban markets, though it has not disclosed a separate 5G user base and continues to rely on a non-standalone architecture.Vodafone Idea,in contrast, remains a late entrant, with services limited to a few dozen cities and a planned expansion to just over 100. The divergence across operators underscores a larger paradox: rollout has been rapid, but uniform coverage remains elusive. Part of the gap lies in how coverage is defined and reported.TheTelecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has mandated the publication of coverage maps to improve transparency,but these relyon permissive technical thresholds that do not always reflect usable signal strength. Its latest qualityof service data reinforces the point. Operators continue to meet most regulatory benchmarks, including call drop rates and network availability, but these are threshold-based metrics that allow for variability in realworld performance. Continued on Page 7 KEY CHANGES ■ `1 lakh limit for insurance premiums, subscription to MFs and credit card bills KSHIPRA PETKAR Mumbai, April 21 THE RESERVE BANK of India (RBI) on Tuesday issued a consolidated framework for digital payments e-mandates, aimed at simplifying autodebit systems while strengthening customer protection across UPI, prepaid payment instruments (PPIs), and cards, including domestic and cross-border transactions. Under the new guidelines, recurring payments of up to `15,000 will not require a one-time password (OTP). Transactionssuchasinsurance premiums, mutual fund subscriptions and credit card bills between `15,000 and `1 lakh can also be processed without additional factor authentication (AFA). However,the RBI has made both pre-debit and post-debit alerts mandatory. Pre-debit notifications must be sent at least 24 hours before each ■ Mandatory alerts, a big customer protection upgrade ■ Strong authentication at the start ■ No extra charges for using e-mandates ■ Full control for customers transaction,clearlystating the merchant name, amount and date, while giving customers the option to opt out. Post-transaction alerts must carry key details along with information on grievance redressal mechanisms. “This gives the customeran additional layer of protection while transacting, and also provides banks with data that can serve as evidence in case of disputes,” said Ashvin Parekh, managing partner at Ashvin Parekh Advisory Services. An e-mandate is a digital standing instruction that authorises automatic debits from a bank account forrecurringpayments,enablingseamless transactions.The RBI said the revised framework incorporates feedback from stakeholders and comes into effect immediately. Customers opting for an e-mandate must complete a one-time registration authenticated through AFA. Continued on Page 7 Benchmark indices rise; rupee takes a beating EXTENDING GAINS FOR the third consecutive session,benchmark indices rose nearly 1% on Tuesday, led by FMCG and realtystocksamidstrongcorporate earnings from select companies.Positive global cues and optimismsurroundingprogress in US-Iran peace talks further lifted investorsentiment. However, the rupee took another knock as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rolled back some forex market curbs. The currency settled at 93.49 against the dollar, down 38 paise,or0.41%,fromtheprevious close.According to market sources,corporates would have rolled over positions after the RBI allowed cancellation and rebooking of contracts. Continued on Page 7 MIXED BAG Sensex Intra-day, Apr 21 78,520.3 Previous close ● Profit rises 26% in March qtr; sales highest in a decade FOOD MAJOR NESTLE India beat Street estimates on the profit,revenue as well as operating margin fronts in the March quarter, as demand for packaged food & beverages, including Munch chocolates, Maggi noodles and Nescafe, remained robust. The company posted a 26% year-on-year increase in standalone net profit for Q4 at `1,114 crore, ahead of Bloombergconsensusestimates of `926 crore. Standalone revenue from operations grew 22.6% y-o-y to `6,748 crore in Q4, ahead of the `6,186-crore forecast byanalysts. The standalone financial performance was powered by double-digit volume growth and driven by an over 50% increase in advertising spends during the quarter. The company also delivered its highestever domestic sales in 10 years, at `6,445 crore,forthe quarter. Shares of Nestle India CHENNAI/KOCHI 79,273.33 0.96% Close Net equity investments (in ` crore) 10,000 5,000 Intra-day, Apr 21 -15,000 93.5 -20,000 Close -25,000 0.41% Q4FY25 Q4FY26 Revenue Ebitda 22.6 27.6 Net profit Chg (%, y-o-y) 25.8 Intra-day on BSE (`), Apr 21 1,378.7 1,450 Apr 21* *provisional Q4: HCLTech misses targets Nestle India standalone financials 7.09% 1,295.05 Previous close: 1,287.4 Open Close advancedover7%ontheBSEon Tuesday,afterannouncementof itsresults,beforeclosingtradeat `1,378.70 apiece. Continued on Page 10 HCLTECHNOLOGIES on Tuesday lowered its FY27 revenue growth guidance to 1-4% yearon-year in constant currency from 4-4.5% in FY26, citing a fluid demand environment and pressureondiscretionaryspending,while trimming IT services growth outlook to 1.5-4.5% from4.75-5.25%. ■ PAGE 4 AdaniPower formsnukearm ADANI POWER ON Tuesday said it has set up RawatbhataRaj Atomic Energy as a new subsidiary to expand in nuclear energy. Incorporated on April 20, it will operate under Adani Atomic Energy and handle nuclear power generation, transmission and distribution. ■ PAGE 4 Banks up hiring amidIPOboom 1,350 1,200 Apr 1, 2026 QUICK PICKS STRONG SHOW 1,250 -19,837 Source: NSDL, BSE (in inverted scale) 1,300 -1,919 -10,000 Previous close 1,400 DIIs 7,172 2,221 -5,000 93.12 (` crore) FPIs 0 Rupee vs dollar Nestle delivers double-digit volume growth VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO Mumbai, April 21 Gaps remain in real-world coverage and user experience RISHI RAJ New Delhi, April 21 give additional protection layer CHRISTINATITUS & KISHOR KADAM Mumbai, April 21 6.62 BANKS ARE STILL holding back from offering Indian rupee nondeliverable forwards to clients, despite the central bank lifting restrictions imposed three weeks ago when the rupee slid to an all-time low, four sources told Reuters. The RBI on Monday withdrew curbs imposed on April 1 that barred banks from offering non-deliverable forwards to clients. ■ PAGE 6 ● E-mandate rules 885 1,114 EXPORTERS EYE $12-BILLION US TARIFF REFUNDS `15,000 cap for digital Trumpsays‘readytobomb’ payments without OTP 1,388 1,772 PAGE 2 6,748 ECONOMY NO CONFIRMATION FROM IRAN ONATTENDING ISLAMABADTALKS 5,504 IN THE NEWS BANKS ARE ramping up hiring and offering pay hikes of up to 30% for investment bankers as booming share sales drive competition and demand for dealmakers. Firms plan to expand headcount by 15-20%, according to estimates by Sheffield Haworth and Native. ■ PAGE 6