Business

The rupee traded in a narrow range and appreciated 5 paise to 87.67 against the U.S. dollar in early trade on Thursday (August 7, 2025), after U.S. President Donald Trump slapped an additional 25 per cent duty — doubling it to 50 per cent — on Indian goods over New Delhi’s continued imports of Russian oil.

Forex traders said Mr. Trump’s aggressive move, which kicks in 21 days, threatens to raise total duties on select Indian exports to as high as 50 per cent — making them among the most heavily taxed U.S. imports globally.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 87.69 against the U.S. dollar then touched an initial high of 87.67, higher by 5 paise over its previous close.

On Wednesday (August 6), the rupee rebounded from a record low level and closed 16 paise higher at 87.72 against the U.S. dollar.

Mr. Trump’s tariffs on Indian exports are likely to hit sectors such as textiles, marine and leather exports hard and was slammed by India as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.

With this action singling out New Delhi for the Russian oil imports, India will attract the highest U.S. tariff of 50 per cent along with Brazil.

The United States has imposed this additional tariff or penalty for Russian imports only on India while other buyers such as China and Turkey have so far escaped such harsh measures. The 30 per cent tariff on China and 15 per cent on Turkey is lower than India’s 50 per cent.

“The escalation adds to concerns over the economic impact. If no breakthrough happens within the 21-day window, FY26 GDP growth may have to be revised below 6 per cent, factoring in a 40–50 basis point hit — twice the earlier estimate from tariff effects,” CR Forex Advisors MD Amit Pabari said.

Mr. Pabari further noted that amid these rising tensions and economic concerns, the rupee remains vulnerable and could see further downside as uncertainty continues to mount.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India opted to hold the repo rate steady at 5.50 per cent and retained a neutral stance during its latest policy review.

“The decision suggests policymakers are adopting a wait-and-watch approach as they weigh the uncertain trade backdrop against an already slowing global economy,” Mr. Pabari said, adding that the room for manoeuvre is tightening.

India’s foreign exchange reserves fell by $9.3 billion to $688.9 billion as of August 1, reflecting Central Bank’s active rupee defence operations amid rising external stress, he said.

Meanwhile, Brent crude prices rose 0.99 per cent to $67.55 per barrel in futures trade.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.04 per cent to 98.21.

In the domestic equity market, Sensex dropped 335.71 points to 80,208.28 in early trade, while the Nifty declined 114.15 points to 24,460.05.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹4,999.10 crore on a net basis on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

India’s largest IT services company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Wednesday (August 6, 2025) informed employees that it will roll-out wage hikes for about 80% of workforce, covering mid to junior levels.

The wage hikes come at a time when TCS is set to lay off about 12,000 employees this year.

The wage hikes will be effective from September 1, TCS CHRO Milind Lakkad and CHRO Designate K Sudeep said in an email to employees on Wednesday (August 6, 2025).

“We are pleased to announce a compensation revision for all eligible associates in grades upto C3A and equivalent, covering 80% of our workforce. This will be effective 1st September 2025,” says the email seen by PTI.

The extent of wage hikes could not be immediately ascertained.

When reached for comment, the company in a statement said: “We can confirm that we will be issuing wage hikes to around 80% of our employees effective 1st September 2025.” The move to reward and retain talent comes at a time when TCS has decided to lay off over 12,000 employees as part of what it describes as a broader strategy to become a “future-ready organisation”. This entails focus on investments in technology, AI deployment, market expansion, and workforce realignment, according to the company.

“TCS is on a journey to become a future-ready organisation. This includes strategic initiatives on multiple fronts, including investing in new-tech areas, entering new markets, deploying AI at scale for our clients and ourselves, deepening our partnerships, creating next-gen infrastructure, and realigning our workforce model,” the company had said last month as the news of layoffs shook the IT industry.

“Towards this, a number of reskilling and redeployment initiatives have been underway. As part of this journey, we will also be releasing associates from the organisation whose deployment may not be feasible. This will impact about 2% of our global workforce, primarily in the middle and the senior grades, over the course of the year,” TCS had then said.

The layoffs at TCS have, in fact, ignited larger conversations on whether or not the IT industry itself may be headed for a major reset, amid turbulence from global macro uncertainties, impact of U.S.’ crushing tariffs on overall outsourcing sentiments, and the AI-led disruptions.

As it is, India’s top IT services companies have delivered single-digit revenue growth in Q1 FY26, capping off a somewhat-sobering June quarter as macroeconomic instability and geopolitical tensions have weighed on global tech demand and delayed client decision-making.

Uber is in talks with private equity firms and banks to secure funds to build its robotaxi business, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said, as the ride-hailing giant bets on a mass roll-out of the nascent and much-scrutinized technology.

Uber, which offers robotaxis from Alphabet-owned Waymo, has been strengthening its foothold in the self-driving taxi industry through partnerships with automakers such as Volkswagen and Lucid, just as Tesla seeks to expand its fledgling robotaxi business.

Mr. Khosrowshahi on Wednesday (August 6, 2025) pitched the tie-ups as part of a larger plan that involves three robotaxi business models: paying partners that own such vehicles a fixed rate, sharing revenue with fleet operators and owning vehicles while licensing software for self-driving technology.

“We are talking to private equity players, we have talked to banks,” the CEO said. “Once we prove the revenue model, how much these cars can generate on a per day basis, there will be plenty of financing to go around.”

For now, Uber said it was planning on using a “modest” portion of its around $7 billion in annual cash flows to fund deployments. It might also sell minority stakes in companies to aid the expansion, it said.

Analysts have said that mass robotaxi deployment could lower driver-reliant Uber’s operating costs and boost profitability.

The company has been offering Waymo robotaxis on its ride-hailing app in Austin, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia. In April, Uber entered a deal with Volkswagen for thousands of autonomous electric vans in the United States over the next decade.

It also struck a $300 million partnership in July that will allow it to deploy more than 20,000 autonomous taxis, made by EV startup Lucid and powered by self-driving tech from Nuro, over six years.

Despite strong regulatory scrutiny, doubts about wider adoption, and high costs forcing many firms to shut down, Tesla and Waymo have been pushing to expand robotaxi services, a business Elon Musk has said could be worth trillions of dollars.

Waymo is present in five U.S. cities, including San Francisco, while Tesla launched a limited robotaxi service in Austin in June and started ride-hailing operations in the Bay Area last month.

Uber said it has not yet seen any changes in demand trends in Austin or San Francisco since Tesla’s services were launched in the cities.

“To a lot of these companies, it does seem this will be a worthwhile endeavor … as there are lofty predictions about the robotaxi industry’s total addressable market,” said Ken Mahoney, CEO of Mahoney Asset Management.

Apple CEO Tim Cook joined U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday (August 6, 2025) to announce a commitment by the tech company to increase its investment in US manufacturing by an additional $100 billion over the next four years.

“This is a significant step toward the ultimate goal of ensuring that iPhones sold in the United States of America also are made in America,” Mr. Trump said at the press conference. “Today’s announcement is one of the largest commitments in what has become among the greatest investment booms in our nation’s history.”

As part of the Apple announcement, the investments will be about bringing more of its supply chain and advanced manufacturing to the United States as part of an initiative called the American Manufacturing Programme, but it is not a full commitment to build its popular iPhone device domestically.

“This includes new and expanded work with 10 companies across America. They produce components — semiconductor chips included — that are used in Apple products sold all over the world, and we’re grateful to the President for his support,” Cook said in a statement announcing the investment.

The new manufacturing partners include Corning, Coherent, Applied Materials, Texas Instruments and Broadcom among others.

Apple had previously said it intended to invest $500 billion domestically, a figure it will now increase to $600 billion. Mr. Trump in recent months criticised the tech company and Mr. Cook for efforts to shift iPhone production to India to avoid the tariffs his Republican administration had planned for China.

While in Qatar earlier this year, Mr. Trump said there was “a little problem” with the Cupertino, California, company and recalled a conversation with Mr. Cook in which he said he told the CEO, “I do not want you building in India.”

Targetting India

India has incurred Trump’s wrath, as the president signed an order on Wednesday to put an additional 25% tariff on the world’s most populous country for its use of Russian oil. The new import taxes to be imposed in 21 days could put the combined tariffs on Indian goods at 50%.

Apple’s new pledge comes just a few weeks after it forged a $500 million deal with MP Materials, which runs the only rare earths producer in the country. That agreement will enable MP Materials to expand a factory in Texas to use recycled materials to produce magnets that make iPhones vibrate.

Speaking on a recent investors call, Mr. Cook emphasised that “there is a load of different things done in the United States”. As examples, he cited some of the iPhone components made in the U.S. such as the device’s glass display and module for identifying people’s faces and then indicated the company was gearing to expand its production of other components in its home country.

“We are doing more in this country, and that is on top of having roughly 19 billion chips coming out of the U.S. now, and we will do more,” Cook told analysts last week, without elaborating.

News of Apple’s latest investment in the US caused the company’s stock price to surge by 5 per cent in Wednesday’s midday trading. That gain reflects investors’ relief that Cook “is extending an olive branch” to the Trump administration, said Nancy Tengler, CEO of money manager Laffer Tengler Investments, which owns Apple stock.

Despite Wednesday’s upturn, Apple’s shares are still down by 15% this year, a reversal of fortune that has also been driven by the company’s botched start in the pivotal field of artificial intelligence.

Active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturer Divi’s Laboratories reported consolidated net profit for June quarter increased nearly 27% to ₹545 crore compared with ₹430 crore a year earlier.

The net profit came on an almost 14% increase in the revenue from operations to ₹2,410 crore (₹2,118 crore). Sequentially, however, both the net profit and revenue from operations declined.

The company, which specialises in generic APIs, custom synthesis and nutraceuticals, had for the March quarter posted ₹662 crore net profit and ₹2,585 crore revenue from operations. Divi’s shares on Wednesday closed 4.29% lower to ₹6,134.25 each on the BSE.

The MPC’s decision to hold rates was mostly on expected lines anchored within the uncertainties posed by the lagged response of policy, trade and bottoming of inflation in some advanced economies, said C.S. Setty, Chairman, State Bank of India (SBI) and Chairman of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).

He said while inflation would remain under check at 3.1% for FY26, growth impulse was expected to be intact despite the concerns of external demand and supply shocks.

K. Balasubramanian, CEO, Citi India & Banking Head Indian Subcontinent said, “The RBI’s decision to not effect another rate cut after three successive reductions is prudent, reflecting a balanced approach amid global uncertainties. This would preserve flexibility to navigate emerging global challenges and provide time for consolidating the gains from earlier easing.”

Akhil Puri, Partner, Financial Advisory, Forvis Mazars in India said, “The RBI held the repo rate steady at 5.5% with a neutral stance, signaling a cautious equilibrium amid rising global uncertainty. The U.S.’s recent 25% tariff on Indian exports added fresh external pressure, but the RBI maintained confidence in domestic resilience.”

“CPI inflation for FY26 was revised down to 3.7% (from 4%) after June retail inflation hit a six-year low at 2.1%, suggesting a shift in underlying price dynamics. FY26 GDP growth remains robust at 6.5%, reflecting sustained domestic momentum,” he said.

According to Rajiv Agrawal, Promoter and Co-Founder, Saarathi Group, “The decision of RBI to maintain the repo rate at 5.5% is a bid to spur growth. The status quo will provide crucial support to the ongoing wave of redevelopment projects across Mumbai.”

“With no rise in cost of borrowing, real estate developers involved in cluster and society redevelopment can borrow cheaper capital enhancing the financial feasibility of complicated long-gestation projects for timely completion of projects,” he said.

“No change in the repo rate will also boost homebuyer sentiment, which is likely to spur growth in the real estate sector. We can expect more buyers to opt for homes in upcoming redevelopment projects,” he added.

Shriram Life Insurance Company reported a 21% year-on-year increase in individual New Business Premium (NBP) for the quarter ended June to ₹257 crore from ₹212 crore a year earlier.

The increase was driven by a broader distribution footprint, higher average ticket size and branch expansion, the company said. Renewal premium across individual business rose 25% year-on-year to ₹323 crore (₹259 crore). Total premium for Q1FY26 increased 27% year-on-year to ₹863 crore (₹679 crore).

SLIC has been systematically deepening strategic partnerships to broaden its reach into the remotest corners of the country and reinforcing its commitment to financial inclusion, MD and CEO Casparus J.H. Kromhout said.

The Assets Under Management (AUM) in the quarter went up 17% to ₹13,799 crore (₹11,841 crore). The insurer sold 86,750 policies. The solvency ratio for the quarter stood at 1.75.

The average ticket size or the average premium amount per policy sold for individual policies stood at ₹24,799 (₹15,192). In comparison, the average ticket size for the private industry for the quarter was ₹87,373, the company said.

This growth in average ticket size is also reflected in the individual New Business APE (annualised premium equivalent), which rose 9% year-on-year to ₹215 crore (₹198 crore).

Hylenr has raised around $3 million in a pre-series A funding round that is expected to aid the clean energy startup accelerate product commercialisation.

The fresh capital enables it to fast-track from pilot to market launch. It signals growing investor confidence in Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR) as a viable alternative to fossil fuels, Hylenr said on Wednesday.

The round was led by Valour Capital and Chhattisgarh Investments, early-stage investors focused on deep-tech/energy transition technologies. Individual investors Karthik Sundar Iyer and Anant Sarda also participated.

Hylenr is focused on harnessing LENR to develop scalable, carbon-free heat energy systems for industrial heat and power. “LENR has the potential to be the safest and most energy-efficient thermal and electrical generation technology of the future,” CMD Siddhartha Durairajan said.

“We have begun early proof-of-concept tests, with several government bodies and large corporations showing interest in our LENR systems. The next phase will focus on scaling manufacturing and expanding globally,” he said in a release.

Co-founder, executive director and CEO Ram Ramaseshan said the funding allows the firm to accelerate product development and market reach, addressing industry needs for clean, high-yield thermal and electrical energy solutions in the U.S., Europe, India and Japan markets.

“The startup’s LENR technology is disruptive… what excites us most is the scalability and safety profile of their systems, coupled with the perfect mix of technological and entrepreneurial expertise within the team,” said Karan Goshar, Partner at Valour Capital.

The Hyderabad-based startup said its product pipeline range from 7.2KW for domestic consumption to 1MW for large-scale industrial applications. It is targetting $25 million in the next fundraising round.