Business

The Board of Directors of Jaguar Land Rober (JLR ), in its meeting on Monday (August 4, 2025), approved the appointment of P.B. Balaji to succeed Adrian Mardell, as the CEO of JLR, when he retires upon completion of his contract.

Mr. Balaji will be joining in this role from November-2025. Mr. Mardell will continue to help with the transition and support until the end of his contract, Tata Motors the owner of JLR said in a filing with stock exchanges.

N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman – Jaguar Land Rover PLC, Tata Motors and Tata Sons said, “I am delighted to appoint Balaji as the incoming CEO of the company. The search for a suitable candidate to lead JLR has been undertaken by the Board for the past few months and after careful consideration it was decided to appoint Balaji.”

“He has been associated with the company for the past many years and is familiar with the company, its strategy and has been working with the JLR leadership team. This move will ensure that we continue to accelerate our journey to Reimagine JLR,” he said.

Mr. Balaji said, “It is my privilege to lead this incredible company. Over the past eight years, I have grown to know and love this company and its redoubtable global brands. I look forward to working with the team to take it to even greater heights. I thank Adrian for his immense contributions and wish him well for his next innings.”

Mr. Balaji has been serving as the Group Chief Financial Officer of the Tata Motors Group since November 2017 and is a well-regarded global leader with 32 years of experience in the Automotive and Consumer Goods industries across finance and supply chain functions.

He has successfully led large, diverse, global teams in multi-cultural environments out of Mumbai, London, Singapore and Switzerland, and has been closely associated with the successful transformation at the Tata Motors Group.

He holds a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from lIT-Madras and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM-Kolkata.

The asset under management (AUM) of India’s mutual fund (MF) industry as of June 2025 was estimated at ₹74.40 lakh crore, marking a more than seven-fold growth in 10 years, Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund said in a report.

The report said equity commanded the largest share at 59.94%, followed by debt at 26.53%, hybrid at 8.28%, and other categories accounting for 5.26%.

A steady rise was witnessed in passive investing, which now accounts for about 17% of the total AUM, it added.

“While active funds continue to dominate in absolute terms, the increasing share of passive strategies reflects broader adoption of low-cost, transparent, and benchmark-aligned approaches. In the quarter ended June 2025, total estimated net inflows stood at ₹3,98,000 crore,” Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund said.

“This was largely led by the debt segment, which drew ₹2,39,000 crore, reversing the previous quarter’s outflows. Equities contributed ₹1,33,000 crore, while commodities added ₹9,000 crore.

Active strategies accounted for ₹3,62,000 crore of total inflows, with passive funds contributing ₹36,000 crore,” it added.

Pratik Oswal, Head – Passive Business, Motilal Oswal Asset Management Company Ltd., said,“This quarter reflects a notable shift in portfolio allocation —a growing tilt toward well-diversified, resilient portfolios, complemented by a measured return to debt.”

“What’s particularly encouraging is the increasing traction seen in passive investing. Indian investors are gradually recognising the structural benefits of passive funds—simplicity, cost efficiency, and alignment with market benchmarks.” he added.

As per the report within equities, broad-based funds emerged as the dominant category, garnering ₹86,000 crore in net inflows. This category captured 64% of total equity flows—55% from active funds and a notable 106% from passives—indicating increased allocation to passive equity strategies.

Green logistics operator GreenLine Mobility Solutions Ltd., an Essar Group venture, has announced to invest ₹400 crore to deploy 100 Electric Trucks, for inter-unit concentrate movement between Hindustan Zinc Ltd.’s (HZL) mines and smelters, and adding 100 new LNG trucks in HZL’s fleet, to double the fleet size to 200 for long-haul finished goods transport.

GreenLine will also establish a commercial-scale battery swapping infrastructure with 3 high-capacity stations for round the clock operations. The EVs will replace diesel trucks.

Arun Misra, CEO, HZL said, “This large-scale deployment of EVs and LNG trucks, a bold step in our journey to net zero, solidifies our dedication to driving meaningful impact through innovative green logistics solutions and strategic partnerships, shaping a cleaner, more sustainable supply chain.”

Anand Mimani CEO of GreenLine, said, “This deployment powerfully reflects our shared urgency to decarbonize logistics at scale, setting a scalable model for industrial decarbonization across sectors.”

“With our LNG and EV fleet, manufactured by Blue Energy Motors, we are bringing together innovation, sustainability, and real-world impact in a way that’s practical and powerful for industry,”

GreenLine currently operates over 650 LNG trucks, serving clients across FMCG, e-commerce, metals & mining, cement, oil & gas, and chemicals. The company plans to expand to more than 10,000 clean trucks, supported by a nationwide network of 100 LNG refuelling stations, EV charging hubs, and battery swapping facilities.

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) nation-wide campaign for saturation of financial inclusion (FI) schemes and re-KYC at gram panchayat level has achieved one-third coverage of the targeted area. 

During the first month of campaign which started on July 1 and continue till September 30, saw 1.05 lakh camps being conducted in the GPs.

During this period, more than six lakh PMJDY accounts were opened, and seven lakh plus enrolments under PMJJBY took place with approximately 12 lakh enrolments under PMSBY and three lakh enrolments under APY, according to data provided by the RBI. 

Re-KYC has been done in 14.22 lakh bank accounts through the camp mode. The camps are conducted by various commercial banks. 

As part of the campaign, banks are holding camps at GP level to provide these services at the door step for re-verification of KYC of existing Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts as well as other bank accounts, opening of PMJDY accounts for unbanked adults and enrolment under social security schemes, i.e., Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojaya (PMSBY) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY).

The camps are also being utilised to create awareness about unclaimed deposits and to redress grievances.

The local administrative machinery is supporting the initiative and Department of Financial Services (DFS), Government of India and Reserve Bank of India are monitoring the progress closely.

Given the magnitude of the coverage to be achieved over the ensuing months, banks have been permitted to use the services of Business Correspondents in the re-KYC process. 

Accordingly, BCs are also participating in the camps along with banks present in the GPs to facilitate customers in updating their KYC status.

JSW Cement, whose ₹3,600-crore IPO is opening on August 7, is not looking to acquire new businesses, but is set to focus on organic growth, said MD Parth Jindal.

“We don’t have the aukat [stature] right now to fight the big boys and I don’t want to go to my father for help in this business,” said Mr. Parth Jindal, the son of leading industrialist and the Chairman of the JSW Group Sajjan Jindal.

Explaining further, he said that the firm was not interested in competing with either Ultratech or Adani, currently the top two players in terms of market share in the cement industry.

India’s cement players have been competing to expand through acquisition in the industry in the past two years. Adani Group has been eyeing the top spot which is now occupied by Birla-owned Ultratech Cement. The latter holds 22% of the 637 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of capacity, according to the prospectus of JSW in Fiscal 2024.  Adani, with its Ambuja and ACC acquisitions, controls 16% of the capacity. It has also acquired smaller players like Penna Cement and Orient Cement. Ultratech, too, acquired India Cements and a minority stake in Star Cement. 

In this context, Mr. Jindal said that the company would not consider acquisitions until they touch a capacity of 42 million tonnes. Currently, the company has a capacity of 20.6 million tonnes, which is 3% of the total capacity in fiscal 2024. “We are working on getting to 10% (market share). Visibility is about 6% to 8%,” he said in a media briefing after the announcement to list.

The company is also not looking to enter the South Indian market as Mr. Jindal said he believed that it is “overcrowded and lacks pricing power.” JSW plans to stick to expansion in North and Central India.

The company’s shares are priced at ₹139 to ₹147 per equity share in lots of 102 shares and multiples thereafter. The IPO is for ₹1,600 crore of fresh issue and the rest on offer for sale. The company plans to use the proceeds to finance its cement unit in Rajasthan, debt payment and general costs. The bidding closes on August 11.

Less than a week after he announced a 25% tariff on imports from India “plus a penalty”, U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday (August 4, 2025) once again raised the issue of India buying oil from Russia and profiting from it. He stated that he would be “substantially” raising the tariff “paid by India to the USA”. 

It is important to note that such tariffs are paid by importers in the U.S., rather than the country on which the tariffs are levied. 

“India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits,” Mr. Trump posted on the social network Truth Social. “They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine. Because of this, I will be substantially raising the Tariff paid by India to the USA. [sic]” 

Responding to Mr. Trump’s latest announcement, New Delhi said, “Targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable. Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security.”

An official statement late on Monday (August 4, 2025) said, “India has been targeted by the United States and the European Union for importing oil from Russia after the commencement of the Ukraine conflict. In fact, India began importing from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict. The United States at that time actively encouraged such imports by India for strengthening global energy markets stability.”

The statement added that India’s imports were meant to ensure predictable and affordable energy costs to the Indian consumer and that they were a necessity compelled by global market situation.

“However, it is revealing that the very nations criticizing India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia. Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion,” the statement said. “The European Union in 2024 had a bilateral trade of Euro 67.5 billion in goods with Russia. In addition, it had trade in services estimated at Euro 17.2 billion in 2023. This is significantly more than India’s total trade with Russia that year or subsequently. European imports of LNG in 2024, in fact, reached a record 16.5mn tonnes, surpassing the last record of 15.21mn tonnes in 2022.”

“Europe-Russia trade includes not just energy, but also fertilizers, mining products, chemicals, iron and steel and machinery and transport equipment. Where the United States is concerned, it continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilizers as well as chemicals. In this background, the targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable. Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security,” the statement said.

The U.S. President had on July 31 signed an executive order that authorised a 25% tariff on imports from India. A day earlier, he had posted on Truth Social that he would be imposing this tariff plus a penalty “because their [India’s] tariffs are far too high, among the highest in the world, and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary trade barriers of any country”. 

Apart from this, he also cited India’s energy and military equipment purchases from Russia as an irritant.

Editorial | Soured relations: On Trump’s 25% tariff, ‘penalty’

Following this announcement, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal informed both Houses of Parliament that the government was “studying the implications” of Mr. Trump’s announcement, consulting all the relevant domestic stakeholders, and would “take all steps necessary to secure our national interest”.

The 25% tariff places India at a relative disadvantage compared to some of its competitors such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Mexico, and the Philippines. So far, Mr. Trump’s new tariffs are expected to take effect from August 7.

India emerged as the world’s fifth biggest aviation market, handling 241 million passengers, while Mumbai-Delhi was one of the busiest airport pairs in 2024, according to data released by global airlines’ grouping IATA.

The International Airport Transport Association (IATA), which represents around 350 airlines, on Monday released the latest edition of the World Air Transport Statistics (WATS) for 2024.

India saw 211 million air passengers last year, a growth of 11.1% compared to 2023, ahead of Japan, which handled 205 million passengers with an annual rise of 18.6%.

“The U.S. remains the world’s biggest aviation market with 876 million passengers in 2024 on the strength of its domestic market, growing 5.2% year-on-year.

“China was the second-biggest passenger market, with 741 million passengers, a growth of 18.7% compared to 2023,” it said in a release.

While India stood at the 5th place, the U.K. at the 3rd spot (261 million passengers) and Spain at the 4th position (241 million).

The figures include all international and domestic passengers departing or arriving in each country.

Among the top 10 airport pairs, Mumbai-Delhi was the 7th busiest, carrying 5.9 million passengers in 2024.

“Asia Pacific dominated the ranking for the world’s busiest airport pairs, with Jeju-Seoul (CJU-GMP) the most popular route globally, with 13.2 million passengers flying between the two airports in 2024.

“In the top 10, only one airport pair — Jeddah-Riyadh (JED-RUH) — was not in the Asia Pacific region,” IATA said.

As per the grouping, international premium class travel — business and first class — grew 11.8%, outpacing growth in global economy travel of 11.5%.

In 2024, the total number of international premium class travellers was 116.9 million or 6% of the total international passengers.

“Leading the regions in terms of percentage growth was Asia Pacific with a year-on-year growth of 22.8%, with 21 million premium passengers — although it was outpaced in growth by economy class passenger numbers, up 28.6% to 500.8 million.

“Growth in premium travel exceeded economy class travel in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North America. Europe remained the largest market for international premium travel, with 39.3 million premium passengers, while premium travellers as a percentage of all travellers were highest in the Middle East at 14.7%,” IATA said.

Last year, narrow-body planes of Boeing and Airbus were among the most used ones.

Boeing’s B737 alone flew 10 million flights with 2.4 trillion Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs) in 2024.

“This was followed by the Airbus A320 with 7.9 million flights and 1.7 trillion ASKs and the Airbus A321 with 3.4 million flights and 1.1 trillion ASKs,” it said.

ASK is an indicator of capacity.

The rupee depreciated 52 paise to close at 87.70 (provisional) against the U.S. dollar on Monday (August 4, 2025), as sustained foreign fund outflows and trade tariff uncertainties dented investors’ sentiment.

Forex traders said U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs triggered fresh concerns over a much wider disruption in the global trade landscape.

The domestic currency declined during the day on demand for dollars from Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 87.21 against the greenback, touching an intra-day low of 87.70 against the American currency.

At the end of Monday’s trading session, the domestic unit was at 87.70 (provisional), down by 52 paise over its previous close.

On Friday, the rupee recovered sharply and ended 47 paise higher at 87.18 against the U.S. dollar.

“We expect the rupee to remain weak amid uncertainty over India-U.S. trade deal and FII outflows. However, weakness in the U.S. dollar amid chatter over rate cut expectations in the US amid weak economic data may support the rupee at lower levels,” said Anuj Choudhary – Research Analyst, commodities and currencies, Mirae Asset Sharekhan.

“Traders may take cues from factory orders data from the US. Investors may remain cautious ahead of the RBI monetary policy decision this week,” Choudhary said, adding that USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of 87.40 to 88.

The RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra-headed rate-setting panel on Monday started the three-day deliberations to decide the next bi-monthly monetary policy.

The six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is scheduled to announce the next bi-monthly policy rate on Wednesday (August 6).

Meanwhile, Brent crude prices fell 1.06% to $68.93 per barrel in futures trade, as OPEC+ agreed for a production hike in September this year, while concerns over a cooling U.S. economy and trade tariffs also weighed.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell by 0.37% to 98.77, “The U.S. dollar fell on Friday amid disappointing economic data from the U.S. According to the non-farm payrolls report, the U.S. added 74,000 jobs in July 2025 vs forecast of 106,000 jobs. The June data was also revised lower unexpectedly to 14,000 vs initial projection of 147,000 jobs,” Choudhary said.

In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex advanced 418.81 points, or 0.52%, to close at 81,018.72, while the Nifty rose 157.40 points, or 0.64%, to settle at 24,722.75.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹3,366.40 crore on a net basis on Friday, according to exchange data.

The government’s PAN 2.0 project, which aims to bring onto one platform all the services relating to Permanent Account Numbers (PAN) and Tax Deduction and Collection Account Numbers (TAN), is expected to be made operational in 18 months, according to sources in the Central Board of Direct Taxes.

The bid for the implementation of the project was won by LTI Mindtree at an adjusted bid value of ₹792.5 crore, it has been learnt.

Also Read | PAN 2.0 Project: All you need to know

“The PAN 2.0 Project of the Income Tax Department which was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has been awarded to the successful bidder LTIMindtree Limited,” according to the source who did not wish to be identified. “The project is expected to go live in 18 months.”

According to officials, the PAN 2.0 will comprehensively handle all issues related to PAN and TAN, including allotment, updates and corrections, Aadhaar-PAN linking, re-issuance requests, online PAN validation, etc. Earlier, such services were spread across three platforms — the e-filing portal, the UTI Infrastructure Technology And Services Limited portal, and the Protean e-Gov Portal.

“The PAN 2.0 project is envisaged to simplify the PAN and TAN processes for improved quality of service to the public, faster service delivery and improve grievance redressal mechanisms by leveraging latest technologies,” the official explained.

LTIMindtree will be tasked with designing, procuring, developing, installing, commissioning, operating, and maintaining all the infrastructure components, including hardware, software, networking, and PCs for the entire PAN 2.0 system 2.

It will also have to ensure the complete migration of relevant legacy data to the new system and ensure seamless integration with other internal and external systems, among other services.

Watch: What is the PAN 2.0 project?

LTI Mindtree beat out three other bidders, according to the bid documents viewed by The Hindu. CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd did not meeting qualification criteria for the bid, NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited did not qualify past the technical evaluation round, and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd’s bid was rejected on the grounds of it submitting a non-responsive bid. That is, it did not meet some of the bid criteria.

The PAN 2.0 project was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) November 25, 2024.

Benchmark BSE Sensex rose by nearly 419 points to close above the 81,000 level while Nifty jumped 157 points on Monday (August 4, 2025) following gains in metal, commodities and auto shares amid a firm trend in global markets.

The 30-share Sensex gained 418.81 points or 0.52% to settle at 81,018.72. During the day, it climbed 493.28 points or 0.61% to hit an intraday high of 81,093.19.

The 50-share NSE Nifty jumped by 157.40 points or 0.64% to close at 24,722.75. In the intraday session, it rose 169.3 points or 0.6% to hit a high of 24,734.65.

Among Sensex firms, Tata Steel, BEL, Adani Ports, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, HCL Technologies, Trent, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries, UltraTech Cement and Larsen & Toubro were the major gainers.

However, Power Grid, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever were among the laggards.

“The domestic equity market edged higher, supported by strong performance in the metal and auto sectors. A weakening U.S. Dollar, along with robust monthly auto sales and encouraging quarterly results from leading automakers, helped renew investor interest in these sectors.

“The Q1 earnings summary indicates that consumption-driven companies are benefiting from a rebound in volume demand. Meanwhile, rising unemployment and slower job creation in the U.S. have reinforced expectations of a potential Fed rate cut. However, there still remains room for caution due to high U.S. tariffs,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments, said.

In Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, South Korea’s Kospi and Shanghai’s SSE Composite index closed in the positive territory while Japan’s Nikkei 225 index in the red territory.

Markets in Europe were trading in the green. The U.S. markets ended in negative territory on Friday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.15% to $68.87 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹3,366.40 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

On Friday, the 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 585.67 points to settle at 80,599.91, and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 203 points to close at 24,565.35.