RELIANCE

Nov 13 (Reuters) - Reliance Industries Ltd RELI.NS:

• RELIANCE INDUSTRIES-CENTRAL GOODS AND SERVICES TAX, APPEAL COMMISSIONERATE - AHMEDABAD IMPOSING ON COMPANY A PENALTY OF 570.7 MILLION RUPEES

Source text: ID:nBSETzNgT

Further company coverage: RELI.NS

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** Investec says Reliance Industries' RELI.NS $100 mln JV with Meta Platforms META.O a major step in India's AI-driven digital growth

** RELI announced the JV at its AGM on August 29

** Adds, JV a "strategic collaboration" that combines RELI's strong infra, digital network with META's AI expertise and will deliver affordable, secure and scalable AI services

** Avg rating from 34 analysts on RELI at "buy"; median PT is 1,680 rupees - data compiled by LSEG

** On the day, RELI climbs 2% to 1,480 rupees

** Benchmark Nifty 50 .NSEI up 0.5%

** YTD, stock up nearly 22% vs Nifty's 9.6% climb

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru)

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NEW DELHI, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Reliance Industries Ltd RELI.NS, the top Indian buyer of Russian oil, will abide by Western sanctions against Moscow while maintaining its relationship with current oil suppliers, its spokesperson said in a statement.

Reliance, which is controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani and operates the world's biggest refining complex at Jamnagar in western Gujarat state, has a long-term deal to buy nearly 500,000 bpd of crude oil from Russian oil major Rosneft ROSN.MM.

The refiner also buys Russian oil from intermediaries.

U.S. sanctions target Lukoil LKOH.MM and Rosneft ROSN.MM, Russia's two biggest oil producers.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Joe Bavier)

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NEW DELHI, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Reliance Industries Ltd RELI.NS, the top Indian buyer of Russian oil, plans to adjust crude imports from Moscow to align with guidelines from the Indian government, a company spokesman said, after the U.S. and Europe ramped up sanctions against Russia.

"Recalibration of Russian oil imports is ongoing and Reliance will be fully aligned to GOI (Government of India) guidelines on the extent of recalibration," Reliance said in response to a Reuters query on whether the company plans to cut its crude imports from Russia.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Writing by Florence Tan; Editing by Sonali Paul)

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** Shares of India's largest co by market cap Reliance Industries RELI.NS rise as much as 3% to 1460 rupees

** Stock top gainer on benchmark Nifty 50 index .NSEI, which is up 0.7%

** Co's Q2 profit rises nearly 10% yoy

RETAIL SEGMENT BEATS EXPECTATIONS, O2C IN LINE

** Morgan Stanley ("overweight", PT at 1,701 rupees) says earnings quality strong across divisions

** Jefferies ("buy", cuts PT to 1,780 rupees from 1,785 rupees) says oil-to-chemical business in line with expectations, retail segment delivered above estimates

** Bobcaps ("buy", PT at 1,655 rupees) says retail growth momentum to continue in Q3 on festive demand, supported by GST rationalisation

** Emkay ("buy", raises PT to 1,680) says healthy quarter for RELI, driven by better than expected growth in retail segment

(Reporting by Komal Salecha)

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Recasts headline, paragraph 1, context in paragraph 2, India Oct imports in paragraph 6, oil price in paragraph 10, background in paragraphs 8, 11-16

By Jarrett Renshaw and Nidhi Verma

WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI, Oct 17 (Reuters) - India has halved its purchases of Russian oil, a White House official said, but Indian sources said no immediate reduction had been seen, as President Donald Trump's administration presses New Delhi and other nations to buy less Russian crude.

Russian oil is a main irritant for Trump in prolonged trade talks with India - half of his 50% tariffs on Indian goods are in retaliation for those purchases. His administration says Moscow is using petroleum revenue to fund its war in Ukraine.

The White House official told Reuters on Thursday that talks with an Indian delegation in Washington this week have been productive and that Indian refiners were already cutting Russian oil imports by 50%.

But Indian industry sources said on Friday that New Delhi had not informed refiners of any request to cut Russian imports.

TRUMP SAYS MODI PLEDGED TO HALT RUSSIAN OIL PURCHASES

Refiners have already placed orders for November loading, including some cargoes for December arrival, so any cut could be visible in December or January import numbers, said the sources, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

Indeed, India's imports of Russian oil are set to rise about 20% this month to 1.9 million barrels per day, according to estimates from commodities data firm Kpler, as Russia ramps up exports after Ukrainian drones hit its refineries.

The Indian oil ministry and refiners that buy Russian oil did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Trump said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had assured him on Wednesday that India would stop buying Russian oil. India's foreign ministry did not respond to Trump's assertion except to say it was not aware of any telephone conversation between the two leaders that day.

Still, India's oil minister on Thursday sought data on Russian oil imports from all the refiners, including their loadings and arrivals tied up for November and December.

Oil prices fell on Friday, with Brent crude futures LCOc1 down 48 cents, or 0.79%, to $60.58 a barrel at 0720 GMT, amid uncertainty over global supply as Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin prepared to discuss ending the war.

US-INDIA TRADE TALKS HAVE FLOUNDERED

India has become the biggest buyer of seaborne Russian oil sold at a discount after Western nations shunned purchases and imposed sanctions on Moscow for its 2022 invasion of its neighbour.

New Delhi initially hoped to secure a quick trade deal with the U.S. due to Modi's warm relationship with Trump, but the talks have floundered and the president has slapped some of the highest levies in his global tariff regime on India's products.

When Modi visited Trump in February, India pledged to more than double its annual U.S. energy purchases to $25 billion, with both nations targeting $500 billion in bilateral trade by 2030.

U.S. negotiators have said curbing India's Russian crude purchases would be crucial to reducing its tariff rate and sealing a trade deal. Indian refiners are looking to buy at least 10% of their liquefied petroleum gas needs from the U.S. to help narrow India's bilateral trade surplus, sources told Reuters this week.

Russia accounted for 36% of India's oil imports, some 1.75 million barrels per day, in the six months through September, trade data shows.

Moscow said on Thursday it was confident its energy partnership with India would continue. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia could supply oil more cheaply to countries that Trump is trying to persuade to stop buying Russian oil.

(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in Washington and Nidhi Verma in New Delhi; Editing by Chris Reese, Jamie Freed and William Mallard)

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The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own. Refiles to add conversion of Indian rupee into US dollar in the second paragraph.

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, Oct 16 (Reuters Breakingviews) - All that glitters isn't gold when it comes to India's richest man. When Mukesh Ambani lists his telecom business in Mumbai next year, it will be a blockbuster event for the country's capital markets but it also will crystallise underwhelming returns for the world's biggest tech companies, private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds who backed his consumer unit in 2020. It heralds a reset of how foreigners view tycoons and competition in the country.

Five years ago when the Covid pandemic was shaking the world, Ambani's conglomerate Reliance Industries RELI.NS sold 1.5 trillion rupees ($16.99 billion) of stock in Jio Platforms to investors led by Meta Platforms META.O, KKR KKR.N and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund; the flood of funds into India at the time was so large it caused a spike in foreign direct investment.

At 5.16 trillion rupees including debt, or $59 billion at current exchange rates, the landmark fundraising valued Jio's enterprise at 23 times its EBITDA, a multiple twice its nearest rival Sunil Bharti Mittal's Bharti Airtel and one reminiscent of a fast-growing technology startup.

Part of the hype was justified. The telecom unit Ambani founded in 2016 rose quickly by launching a bruising price war and was given a wide berth by India's competition authorities. Jio became the country's top provider of mobile services and helped to push down data tariffs to the lowest in the world. It even accelerated the bankruptcy of Reliance Communications RLCM.NS, led by Ambani's brother Anil. By the time Ambani welcomed outside investors, India's telecoms market had shrunk to a quasi-duopoly with a joint venture between Britain's Vodafone VOD.L and Kumar Mangalam Birla as a weak third player.

Fast forward and Jio had 498 million voice and data customers as of June 30 . Yet while this consumer business within Ambani's oil-to-retail conglomerate has continued to grow, it also has failed to live up to expectations in some striking ways.

Five years on from its fundraising, Jio's enterprise, including net debt, is valued at 10.6 trillion rupees, based on an average estimate of six brokers. That is nearly twice the value investors assigned it in 2020 or equivalent to an annualised return of nearly about 15%, one percentage point more than the annualised gross return of the MSCI India Index over a five year period. Private equity investors typically target returns of 20% and much higher in India.

Measured a different way, Jio's potential return could be even lower. The enterprise is worth just 8.7 trillion rupees if it is valued on 10 times its EBITDA, the same multiple Bharti Airtel commands. At that valuation, Jio would hand its backers including KKR, Silver Lake and TPG, an annualised return of just over 10%.

One problem is that Jio does not look like a "next generation technology platform". In 2020, Jio talked up a dazzling list of investments across its "digital ecosystem" including in "smart devices, cloud and edge computing, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, augmented and mixed reality and blockchain". Although Jio doesn't have legacy 3G infrastructure to manage like its rivals, it still makes 87% of its revenue and 94% of its EBITDA from its basic communications unit Reliance Jio Infocomm RELJ.NS rather than from digital services, per CLSA analysts.

What's more, Jio's customers spend less than Airtel's. Average revenue per user has grown 60% over the last five years to 209 rupees ($2.37) but that lags the 250 rupees Airtel's India users churn out. Airtel's EBITDA margin for India and South Asia is also higher than Jio's by a staggering 770 basis points and its current offerings in cloud and artificial intelligence services closely mirror its challenger's.

Nor does Jio appear to have delivered on its strategic ambitions. Meta's Facebook pumped $6 billion in for a 10% stake but Ambani - whose Reliance conglomerate is also the owner of India's biggest retailer - did not lure millions of small grocers to transact on the payments system on WhatsApp, the U.S. company's social messaging platform - as was widely expected.

The rise of quick-commerce operations by Prosus-backed Swiggy SWIG.NS and Zomato-owner Eternal ETEA.NS killed Reliance Retail's 2022 attempt to enable grocery shopping through the messaging app. Similarly, Alphabet's Google GOOGL.O invested $4.5 billion in Jio but demand for the low-cost smartphone the duo launched in 2021 was weak; the telecom operator's wide reach didn't guarantee it a market.

Ambani's backers underestimated the strength of competition in India. They would have been better off if they had backed Bharti Airtel. Its shares have returned roughly 40% annually, including dividends, since 2020, significantly more than Jio looks set to deliver. Google enjoyed some of those spoils by hedging its bets: In 2022 it invested up to $1 billion in Jio's rival.

If Jio's returns are underwhelming, crystallizing them will be tough too. Ambani will need to launch one of India's largest initial public offerings. If 5% of the company's outstanding shares swap hands at a $120 billion valuation, Jio's bankers would need to find new owners for $6 billion of stock. That would be far too much for India's capital markets to swallow: Hyundai Motor India's HYUN.NS 279 billion rupee offering in 2024 remains the country's largest IPO, followed by Life Insurance Corporation's LIFI.NS 210 billion rupee deal in 2022.

Ambani could offer half the amount of stock or roughly $3 billion, using new rules from the Securities and Exchange Board of India but that would leave financial investors with billions of dollars of investments in Jio waiting for an exit; strategic investors, who may be willing to sit on their positions, bought about half of the $17 billion Jio initially raised.

Some of Jio's backers may still conclude that the investment was worth it. The dominance of family-led businesses in India often means that striking partnerships is increasingly seen as a matter of survival rather than choice for global companies and a way to protect themselves in the market. Global asset manager BlackRock BLK.N and China-founded online fast-fashion Shein are among others who are partnering with Ambani.

Yet an underwhelming payoff from Jio will strengthen the case for more scrutiny when foreign investors choose their local alliances in the future.

Follow Shritama Bose on LinkedIn and X.

CONTEXT NEWS

Reliance Industries will list its telecommunications unit by mid-2026, Chair Mukesh Ambani said at the conglomerate's annual shareholder meeting on August 29. "We are aiming to list Jio by the first-half of 2026, subject to all necessary approvals," he said.

Jio Platforms is targeting India's largest-ever initial public offering, IFR reported on September 5, citing unnamed bankers.

(Editing by Una Galani; Production by Aditya Srivastav)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on BOSE/[email protected]))

Repeats story published during Asian hours; no changes to text

By Munsif Vengattil and Aditya Kalra

BENGALURU, Oct 15 (Reuters) - At a startup office in this Indian city, developers are fine-tuning artificial-intelligence chatbots that talk and message like humans.

The company, LimeChat, has an audacious goal: to make customer-service jobs almost obsolete. It says its generative AI agents enable clients to slash by 80% the number of workers needed to handle 10,000 monthly queries.

"Once you hire a LimeChat agent, you never have to hire again," Nikhil Gupta, its 28-year-old co-founder, told Reuters.

Cheap labor and English proficiency helped make India the world's back office — sometimes at the expense of workers elsewhere. Now, AI-powered systems are subsuming jobs done by headset-wearing graduates in technical support, customer care and data management, sparking a scramble to adapt, a Reuters examination found.

That's driving business for AI startups that help companies slash staffing costs and scale operations — even though many consumers still prefer to deal with a person.

This account of the disruptive changes transforming India's $283 billion IT sector is based on interviews with 30 people, including industry executives, recruiters, workers and current and former government officials. Reuters also visited two AI startups and tested voice and text chatbots that handle increasingly sophisticated customer interactions in human-like ways.

Rather than pump the brakes as the technology threatens jobs built on routine tasks, the country is accelerating, wagering that a let-it-rip approach will create enough new opportunities to absorb those displaced, Reuters found. The outcome of India's gamble carries weight far beyond its borders — a test case for whether embracing AI-driven disruption can elevate a developing economy or render it a cautionary tale.

The global conversational AI market is growing 24% a year and should reach $41 billion by 2030, consultancy Grand View Research estimates.

India — which relies on IT for 7.5% of its GDP — is leaning in. In a February speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said "work does not disappear due to technology. Its nature changes and new types of jobs are created."

Not everyone shares Modi's confidence in India's preparedness. Santosh Mehrotra, a former Indian official and visiting professor at the University of Bath's Centre for Development Studies, criticized the government for a lack of urgency in assessing AI's effects on India's young workforce. "There's no gameplan," he said.

Business process management employs 1.65 million workers in call centers, payroll, and data handling in India. Hiring has plummeted due to increased automation and digitalization, despite rising demand for AI coordinators and process analysts, said Neeti Sharma, CEO of staffing firm TeamLease Digital.

Net headcount in the segment, which represents one-fifth of IT output, grew by fewer than 17,000 workers in each of the past two years, down from 130,000 in 2022-2023 and 177,000 in 2021-2022, TeamLease Digital figures show.

Reuters spoke to three current and five former customer-service workers, who described increasing job insecurity and integration of AI, including tools that suggest responses and bots that handle nearly all routine queries autonomously.

Megha S., 32, was earning $10,000 a year at a Bengaluru-based software solutions provider. She said she was laid off last month, just before India's festive season, as the company moved to implement AI tools to review the quality of sales calls.

"I was told I am the first one who has been replaced by AI," said Megha, who spoke on the condition that her full name and former employer not be identified. "I've not told my parents."

Sumita Dawra, a former labor ministry secretary who oversaw an Indian government taskforce on AI's impact on the workforce before retiring in March, said while the technology offered productivity gains that would lead to new jobs, India could consider stronger social security measures, such as unemployment benefits, to help those displaced during the transition.

However, a senior Indian official told Reuters the government believed AI would ultimately have little impact on overall employment. India's IT and labor ministries, and Modi's office, didn't respond to requests for comment.

AUTOMATION GOLD RUSH

Besides AI, factors clouding the outlook for India's IT sector include U.S. tariffs; a proposal by a U.S. lawmaker for a 25% tax on firms using foreign outsourcing services; and President Trump's $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas, which are widely used by tech firms to sponsor Indian workers.

Investment bank Jefferies predicted in September that India's call centers would face a revenue hit of 50% — and around 35% for other back-office functions — from AI adoption over the next five years.

That would spell near-term job losses in India, which accounts for 52% of the global outsourcing market.

"The biggest impact is going to be on young students coming out of college," said Pramod Bhasin, who in the 1990s established India's first call center with 18 employees for GE Capital, where workstations were partitioned by saris strung from the ceiling.

In the longer run, India could transition from "back office" to the world's "AI factory" by capitalizing on demand for AI engineers and automation deployment, said Bhasin, who went on to found IT services firm Genpact.

One beneficiary of that demand is LimeChat, which Reuters visited in August. Gupta, the co-founder, said his developers and engineers have helped automate 5,000 jobs across India. The company's bots handle 70% of customer complaints for its clients, and it plans to achieve 90-95% within a year, he said.

"If you're giving us 100,000 rupees per month, you are automating the job of at least 15 agents," said Gupta. At that price — about $1,130 — the service costs roughly the same as three customer-care staff, he said.

LimeChat's sales soared to $1.5 million in 2024 from $79,000 two years earlier, regulatory disclosures show. Last year, the firm began integrating Microsoft's Azure language models and algorithms in a partnership to launch a new e-commerce chatbot.

Among Gupta's clients is Indian ayurvedic products firm Kapiva, which has deployed a LimeChat bot for customer interactions over WhatsApp.

Keying in a prompt — "What kind of diet should I have to reduce weight?" — yielded an AI meal-plan creator. A follow-up query in English and Hindi about how a slimming juice differs from another item was also answered, with the chatbot eventually sharing links to Kapiva products with a smiling emoji. Kapiva didn't respond to Reuters questions.

LimeChat's rivals include Reliance RELI.NS, the conglomerate chaired by Mukesh Ambani, which acquired Indian startup Haptik in 2019.

Haptik says it offers "AI agents that deliver human-like customer experiences" that cost $120 and can cut support costs by 30%. Revenue skyrocketed to almost $18 million last year from less than $1 million in 2020, disclosures show.

Haptik promoted a webinar in September by posing the question: "What if you had a full-time employee who never sleeps and costs just 10,000 rupees?"

"We are seeing a huge shift," Haptik product manager Suji Ravi said in the webinar, which Reuters reporters attended. "Brands are not investing in human agents and they want to deploy AI agents."

For LimeChat client Mamaearth, an Indian personal-care brand, the main attraction of AI chatbots is scalability, said Vipul Maheshwari, head of product and analytics at parent firm Honasa Consumer HONA.NS.

"Providing good customer support is make or break for us," he said. "But can we infinitely scale my customer support team? Absolutely not."

The chatbot used by Mamaearth could go beyond simple assistance like order tracking, and help users with queries such as recommending the right products during pregnancy or, in some cases, handle an agitated customer, Maheshwari said.

COFFEE WITH NEHA

The promise and perils of AI are evident at The Media Ant. The Bengaluru-based advertising agency cut 40% of its workforce to about 100 over the past year and vacated space in another building to save on rent, said founder Samir Chaudhary.

The firm eliminated 15 salespeople, replacing them with AI bots that identify leads and send emails to prospective customers, Chaudhary said. A six-member call center was replaced with a voice agent called Neha that speaks in near-flawless, Indian-accented English.

When a Reuters reporter asked Neha about advertising on YouTube, she sought details about the budget and target markets, noted the requirements, and ended the conversation cheerfully: "I will email you the details ... have a great day."

"Ask her out for a coffee and she will laugh it off," Chaudhary said.

Yet the race to embrace AI isn't always smooth for companies.

Take Sweden's Klarna. Chatbots helped the fintech firm cut thousands of jobs last year, but its CEO told Reuters in September the company is now "trying to course correct" and use the technology to improve products rather than reduce costs.

Chatbots have limitations. While most generic e-commerce-related queries posed by a Reuters reporter were handled well by LimeChat bots, some stumped them.

When LimeChat client Knya's bot was asked for proof of its claim that a million medical professionals trust its products, such as its stethoscopes, it replied: "I am sorry, I don't have enough information to answer your question." Knya didn't respond to a request for comment.

Customer surveys show chatbots are still disliked by many.

An August 2024 EY survey of 1,000 Indian consumers found 62% made purchases influenced by AI recommendations, compared with 30% globally. Yet, "the desire for a human connection remains strong," EY noted, with 78% preferring online platforms that provide human support.

LimeChat's Gupta, though, said well-trained AI agents could resolve queries faster than humans. He said many standard bots pass conversations to a human agent when they encounter angry customers: "You need a very small number of people to just handle negative experiences."

FROM JAVA TO AI

In the 1990s and 2000s, India's tech boom fueled rural-to-urban migration. Cities like Bengaluru became outsourcing hubs as domestic firms, including Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, Infosys INFY.NS and Wipro WIPR.NS, grew into global juggernauts.

That expansion trickled through to Ameerpet, a Hyderabad neighborhood where university graduates fill classrooms to learn IT skills and earn certifications for tech jobs.

Ameerpet's training centers traditionally offered courses in Microsoft Office and programming languages like Java. Visiting in April, Reuters found these centers are increasingly focused on AI training.

Outside one, Quality Thought, a banner featured a robot overlooking a globe with the letters "AI."

The center was offering a nine-month course in AI data science and prompt engineering for about $1,360, more than double the price of a traditional web-development program.

"Recruiters are asking for students with basic AI skills," staffer Priyanka Kandulapati said. "We are going to streamline our courses even further to suit the demand."

In a discussion with startup founders last month about the pace of change, venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, who co-founded Sun Microsystems, offered a stark view of the future for India.

"All IT services will be replaced in the next five years," he said. "It's going to be pretty chaotic."

(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru and Aditya Kalra in New Delhi. Additional reporting by Haripriya Suresh and Rishika Sadam in Hyderabad, Jatindra Dash in Bhubaneswar, Saurabh Sharma in Lucknow, Sai Ishwarbharath B in Bengaluru, and Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai. Editing by David Crawshaw.)

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NEW DELHI, Oct 14 (Reuters) - India's Reliance Industries Ltd RELI.NS, which operates the world's biggest refining complex, increased its Russian oil imports by 7.5% in September to about 635,100 barrels per day (bpd), data from industry and trade sources showed.

The share of Russian oil in Reliance's overall intake rose to 51% in September from 41.5% in August, the data showed.

The private refiner has a long-term deal to buy nearly 500,000 bpd of crude oil a year from Russian oil major Rosneft ROSN.MM. The refiner also buys Russian oil, sold at a discount, from the spot markets.

Following are details of Reliance's crude and condensate imports, according to the data. Volumes are in 1,000 bpd.

NOTE: The total may not tally as numbers in tonnes have been rounded off after converting them into barrels per day using a conversion factor of 7.2 barrels in a tonne divided by the number of days.

Numbers for previous months have been revised.

Data includes some crude parcels that arrived in August but discharged in September. It also includes some oil parcels that arrived in September and were discharged in October.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

(([email protected]; +91 11 49548031; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

By Shritama Bose

KOLKATA, Oct 13 (Reuters Breakingviews) - A power struggle at one of its largest business houses is the last thing India needs as it grapples with punitive U.S. tariffs. The government has intervened unusually quickly in a boardroom battle at the Tata group; India's finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, met last week with the $300 billion conglomerate's unlisted holding company and the charitable trusts that are its 66% owners and urged them to resolve their internal disputes. It confirms the systemic risks posed by India's family-led businesses.

One year on from the death of the group's patriarch, Ratan Tata, the conglomerate is battling multiple operational crises: the country's top manufacturer and employer is reeling from the deadly crash of a plane at Air India – a carrier it acquired from the government in 2022; a cyberattack has crippled production at Tata Motors' TAMO.NS luxury marque Jaguar Land Rover; and growth is weak at its IT software services giant, Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS.

Yet the board of Tata's main holding company, led by Natarajan Chandrasekaran, is at only three-fifths of its March 2024 strength after a tussle between trustees at the charitable trusts resulted in the ousting of a director of Tata Sons in September. Noel Tata, who succeeded his half-brother as the chair of Tata Trusts, is struggling to stamp his authority on the group, and his position is complicated by his marriage to the sister of former Tata Sons chair Cyrus Mistry, whose family wants to exit Tata Sons; their 18% stake might be worth up to $38 billion.

India is no stranger to drama at its family businesses, but the Tatas, like Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries RELI.NS and the Adani group, are increasingly embedded in New Delhi's strategic planning. Tata group is Apple's AAPL.O domestic partner, leads the charge in India's chipmaking ambitions and produces defence gear through joint ventures with Lockheed Martin LMT.N and Boeing BA.N. The boom in software services over the past two decades means TCS alone has a headcount of over 593,000.

New Delhi needs its leading businesses putting their best foot forward to offset the impact of Trump's trade war. But on top of the Tata woes, the $160 billion Adani group has slowed capital expenditure and is more reliant on Indian banks after U.S. authorities charged its founder Gautam Adani with fraud, allegations the group denies.

The government's intervention at Tata group may accelerate an exit for the Mistry family. If nothing else, it shows India recognises the dangers of depending on a chosen few.

Follow Shritama Bose on Linkedin and X.

CONTEXT NEWS

Two senior Indian ministers met top executives from the Tata group and urged them to resolve internal boardroom disputes, Reuters reported on October 8, a day after the meeting took place, citing unnamed sources.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was one of the ministers present at the meeting in New Delhi, which Tata Sons Chair N. Chandrasekaran and Tata Trusts head Noel Tata attended, the report added.

(Editing by Una Galani; Production by Ujjaini Dutta)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on BOSE/[email protected]))

MUMBAI, Oct 10 (Reuters) - India's Jio Credit accepted bids worth 5 billion rupees ($56.4 million) by selling bonds maturing in two years, bankers said on Friday.

The company will pay an annual coupon of 7.05% and had invited bids from bankers and investors on Thursday, they said.

Jio Credit, formerly know known as Jio Finance, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Jio Financial Services.

Jio Credit did not reply to a Reuters email for comment.

Here is the list of deals reported so far on October 10:

*Size includes base plus greenshoe for some issues

($1 = 88.6950 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia, Khushi Malhotra; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

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By Arpan Chaturvedi and Aditya Kalra

NEW DELHI, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Hollywood and Bollywood groups are lobbying an Indian panel for stricter copyright protection that will prevent artificial intelligence firms from using their intellectual property to train AI models, letters show.

AI companies remain at loggerheads with content owners globally and governments are fast developing regulations that lay down rules for the new technology. While Japan gives broad exemptions to AI firms in using copyrighted content, the European Union has stricter rules that allow content owners to opt-out of such use.

The movie industry is particularly concerned that AI tools could scrape their copyrighted videos, images and clips online - like trailers and promos - and more critically ingest pirated content onto their platforms.

India's current copyright law does not account for use by AI. The government formed a panel this year consisting of lawyers, government officials and industry executives to review if existing copyright law is sufficient to tackle AI-related disputes, and make recommendations.

WORRIED FILM STUDIOS LOBBYING HARD

Motion Picture Association (MPA), which represents Warner Bros WBD.O, Paramount and Netflix NFLX.O, and the Producers Guild of India have argued India should not tinker with its copyright law and instead promote a licencing regime.

In response to the panel's private inquiry on why India should not allow blanket training exceptions to bolster AI innovation, MPA India Managing Director Uday Singh said in an August 2 letter the move could "undermine the incentive to create new works and erode copyright protection in India."

The Indian guild's CEO Nitin Tej Ahuja told the panel in his letter "licensing copyrighted works is essential for creators' revenue and business sustainability."

MPA declined to comment, while the guild did not respond to Reuters queries on the letters, which are not public.

India's commerce ministry official Himani Pande, who chairs the panel, did not respond to Reuters queries. The panel is finalising its recommendations which it will present to senior officials in coming weeks, a source with direct knowledge said.

INDIA'S VIBRANT MOVIE MARKET

India has one of the world's most vibrant film industries. A Deloitte-MPA study in May said India's film, TV and online content industry generated $13.1 billion in revenues last year, growing 18% each year since 2019.

The deliberations come just when a Bollywood couple has gone to court to challenge YouTube's AI policies after their manipulated videos started spreading online.

The film studios' position is in contrast to the Business Software Alliance, which represents AI firms like OpenAI, and which argued in public submissions in July that New Delhi should ensure exceptions to permit lawful AI use.

MPA members however remain concerned.

The association has said India should not consider allowing use of content in AI models with an opt-out system as it will put the burden of responsibility on the movie studios, a move that could force them to individually track and block sharing of their work on scores of AI platforms.

Such exceptions "would hinder future investments, development of high-quality local content," MPA India said.

In September, Warner sued AI service Midjourney in Los Angeles by saying it brazenly stole the studio's works to generate images and videos of Batman, Superman, Bugs Bunny and other copyrighted characters.

Midjourney maintains the way it trains its AI model amounts to fair use.

(Reporting by Arpan Chaturvedi and Aditya Kalra; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

(([email protected];))

MUMBAI, Oct 7 (Reuters) - India's Jio Credit plans to raise 5 billion rupees ($56.4 million) by selling bonds maturing in two years, bankers said on Tuesday.

The company will pay an annual coupon of 7.05% and has invited bids from bankers and investors on Thursday, they said.

Jio Credit, formerly know known as Jio Finance, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Jio Financial Services.

Jio Credit did not immediately reply to a Reuters email for comment.

Here is the list of deals reported so far on October 7:

*Size includes base plus greenshoe for some issues

($1 = 88.7220 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia and Khushi Malhotra; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

(([email protected]))

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, Oct 3 (Reuters Breakingviews) - India's artificial intelligence angst may be premature. OpenAI and Perplexity's aggressive entry into the country has sparked fears that it's falling behind the U.S. But the emergence of China's DeepSeek shows early movers can be disrupted.

In August, Sam Altman's OpenAI launched its cheapest ChatGPT subscription plan to target India's billion-odd internet users, following rival Perplexity, which is offering its Pro service to 360 million Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS telecom customers at no cost. The duo's entry into the country follows an outburst from a federal minister in April, admonishing local startups to emulate China, rather than make "fancy ice cream and cookies".

Complacency fears are understandable. India has yet to develop an answer to Western and Chinese large language models despite being home to the second-largest pool of AI professionals in the world behind the U.S., as well as home to top outsourcers like Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS and research hubs of multinational businesses from JPMorgan JPM.N to SAP. Falling behind in the AI race might jeopardise the country's status as a global IT services hub. Fraying ties between Washington and New Delhi will also make dependence on American tech politically unpalatable.

At the same time, though, it's still early days in India's $7.8 billion AI industry. Unlike in social media and payments, chatbots and other tools rely less on network effects, leaving room for local challengers to emerge. New Delhi's struggle lies in strategically tackling the biggest constraints holding its companies back.

The first is funding: Indian investments in AI between 2013 and 2024 were just 9% of those in China and a fraction of U.S. investments over the period, per statistics from Bernstein. Officials are stepping up their efforts, with a 103 billion rupees ($1.2 billion) startup fund to support both large language models and applications targeting the 500 million Indians that are not yet online. That should encourage the development of multilingual and mobile use cases, such as in crop management and school-level learning. More initiatives should follow.

New Delhi is also supporting the sector with subsidised computing power available at less than 100 rupees ($1.14) an hour, half the global average, as part of its broader IndiaAI Mission initiative. It can go further by encouraging Indian talent to stay in the country, via research grants and schemes at a time when t he U.S. is tightening access to skilled worker visas.

Over time, these steps should help encourage greater risk-taking by not just deep-pocketed firms like Reliance Industries RELI.NS, which in August announced a joint venture with Meta Platforms META.O to offer AI services to enterprises, but also the country's startups. Promising companies like Lightspeed-backed Sarvam, which specialises in Indic-language and speech models, and e-learning assistant Entri, are making steady progress. Moreover, government-backed digital infrastructure, such as mobile payments, should offer plenty of opportunities for new upstarts.

India's position is unenviable, but at least there is still time.

Follow Shritama Bose on Linkedin and X.

CONTEXT NEWS

OpenAI on August 19 launched ChatGPT Go, a new India-only subscription plan priced at 399 rupees ($4.53) per month, its most affordable offering yet.

Indian telecommunications company Bharti Airtel said on July 17 it was partnering with U.S. artificial intelligence firm Perplexity to offer a 12-month complimentary subscription to the latter's Pro service to its 360 million customers.

(Editing by Robyn Mak; Production by Ujjaini Dutta)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on BOSE/[email protected]))

Repeats story with no changes to text

By Mohi Narayan and Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Indian oil refiners are increasing gasoline and diesel exports to their highest levels in several years, driven by expanded crude processing capacity and increased domestic ethanol blending that has freed up fuel supplies for overseas markets, traders and analysts said.

Refiners in India, which sources about a third of its crude from Russia, are boosting runs and redirecting surplus barrels abroad.

The rise in exports is expected to help meet Europe’s winter heating oil demand and support Indian refining margins, after refiners turned to discounted Russian crude when Europe and the U.S. imposed sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Washington D.C. has accused India of profiteering by importing Russian oil at lower prices and reselling refined fuel at higher rates; India has said its purchases have stabilised markets.

This year, India's crude processing is expected to increase by 130,000 to 160,000 barrels per day to about 5.51 million bpd, with gasoline exports hitting a record high of around 400,000 bpd, according to consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

An Indian refining source, who declined to be named due to company policy, said exports are rising because of weaker domestic demand during the monsoon season and fewer scheduled maintenance outages.

Data provider Kpler pegs India’s 2025 gasoline exports at 387,000 bpd, mainly to Asia.

"The growth in gasoline exports is supported by a rising share of ethanol blending in domestic gasoline consumption," Woodmac analyst Priti Mehta said.

The world's second-biggest crude importer and consumer increased ethanol blending in gasoline to 20% this year, up from 12% in 2023.

Refiners, led by Reliance Industries RELI.NS and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd MRPL.NS, are boosting exports to capitalise on strong Asian gasoline margins GL92-SIN-CRK, which have risen 51% since the start of the year to about $11 to $12 a barrel.

The companies did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

EUROPE'S DIESEL BUYING SPREE

India’s gasoil exports are also expected to hit a four-year high this year, with most volumes heading to Europe to meet winter heating demand, analysts said, as global supply may tighten during the fourth quarter because of heavy refinery maintenance in Europe and the Middle East.

Wood Mackenzie expects India's 2025 gasoil exports to reach 610,000-630,000 bpd while Kpler's forecast is at 560,000 bpd.

The rise in India's exports comes as shipments from Saudi Arabia are set to fall by 300,000 bpd to around 400,000 bpd in October–November with several Aramco 2222.SE refineries scheduled for maintenance, according to consultancy Energy Aspects.

In a sign of the shift, Reliance Industries in late August shipped about 2 million barrels of diesel to Europe on the Very Large Crude Carrier Atokos, an uncommon move aimed at accommodating bigger volumes, ship‑tracking data showed and two Singapore‑based fuel traders said. Diesel cargoes are typically moved on smaller product tankers.

The European Union said in its 18th package of sanctions against Russia in July that it will stop importing petroleum products made from Russian crude after a transitional period of six months. The exemption will continue to apply to imports from Norway, Britain, the U.S., Canada and Switzerland.

(Reporting by Mohi Narayan and Nidhi Verma; Editing by Florence Tan and Tasim Zahid)

(([email protected]; https://twitter.com/_mohi_;))

By Mohi Narayan and Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Indian oil refiners are increasing gasoline and diesel exports to their highest levels in several years, driven by expanded crude processing capacity and increased domestic ethanol blending that has freed up fuel supplies for overseas markets, traders and analysts said.

Refiners in India, which sources about a third of its crude from Russia, are boosting runs and redirecting surplus barrels abroad.

The rise in exports is expected to help meet Europe’s winter heating oil demand and support Indian refining margins, after refiners turned to discounted Russian crude when Europe and the U.S. imposed sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Washington D.C. has accused India of profiteering by importing Russian oil at lower prices and reselling refined fuel at higher rates; India has said its purchases have stabilised markets.

This year, India's crude processing is expected to increase by 130,000 to 160,000 barrels per day to about 5.51 million bpd, with gasoline exports hitting a record high of around 400,000 bpd, according to consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

An Indian refining source, who declined to be named due to company policy, said exports are rising because of weaker domestic demand during the monsoon season and fewer scheduled maintenance outages.

Data provider Kpler pegs India’s 2025 gasoline exports at 387,000 bpd, mainly to Asia.

"The growth in gasoline exports is supported by a rising share of ethanol blending in domestic gasoline consumption," Woodmac analyst Priti Mehta said.

The world's second-biggest crude importer and consumer increased ethanol blending in gasoline to 20% this year, up from 12% in 2023.

Refiners, led by Reliance Industries RELI.NS and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd MRPL.NS, are boosting exports to capitalise on strong Asian gasoline margins GL92-SIN-CRK, which have risen 51% since the start of the year to about $11 to $12 a barrel.

The companies did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

EUROPE'S DIESEL BUYING SPREE

India’s gasoil exports are also expected to hit a four-year high this year, with most volumes heading to Europe to meet winter heating demand, analysts said, as global supply may tighten during the fourth quarter because of heavy refinery maintenance in Europe and the Middle East.

Wood Mackenzie expects India's 2025 gasoil exports to reach 610,000-630,000 bpd while Kpler's forecast is at 560,000 bpd.

The rise in India's exports comes as shipments from Saudi Arabia are set to fall by 300,000 bpd to around 400,000 bpd in October–November with several Aramco 2222.SE refineries scheduled for maintenance, according to consultancy Energy Aspects.

In a sign of the shift, Reliance Industries in late August shipped about 2 million barrels of diesel to Europe on the Very Large Crude Carrier Atokos, an uncommon move aimed at accommodating bigger volumes, ship‑tracking data showed and two Singapore‑based fuel traders said. Diesel cargoes are typically moved on smaller product tankers.

The European Union said in its 18th package of sanctions against Russia in July that it will stop importing petroleum products made from Russian crude after a transitional period of six months. The exemption will continue to apply to imports from Norway, Britain, the U.S., Canada and Switzerland.

(Reporting by Mohi Narayan and Nidhi Verma; Editing by Florence Tan and Tasim Zahid x)

(([email protected]; https://twitter.com/_mohi_;))

Sept 22 (Reuters) - Reliance Industries Ltd RELI.NS:

• RELIANCE INDUSTRIES - RELIANCE GLOBAL PROJECT SERVICES HAS BEEN DISSOLVED

Source text: ID:nBSE55Htpv

Further company coverage: RELI.NS

(([email protected];))

Updates with comment from law firm representing ACTP in 18th paragraph

By Aditya Kalra, Arpan Chaturvedi and Ricardo Brito

NEW DELHI/BRASILIA, Sept 20 (Reuters) - This is a story about a bird and a family. But this is no ordinary bird, and this is no ordinary family.

Spix's macaw, a vivid-blue parrot with elaborate mating rituals, was declared extinct in the wild in 2019. A captive-breeding program has since seen some of the birds reintroduced to their native habitat in Brazil.

For more than two years, officials on three continents have been agitating over why 26 of the creatures ended up at a private zoo in India run by the philanthropic arm of a conglomerate controlled by Asia's richest family, the Ambanis.

Indian investigators cleared the sanctuary of any wrongdoing this week. But European officials say they are keeping a close watch on any exports to Vantara, while Brazil, Germany and India are working toward a possible resolution at a United Nations-administered body that monitors wildlife trade.

The 3,500-acre Vantara animal rescue and rehabilitation centre in Gujarat state says it is home to some 2,000 species. The venue featured in pre-wedding celebrations last year for the centre's leader Anant Ambani, the youngest son of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, whose guests included Ivanka Trump and Mark Zuckerberg.

The zoo, adjacent to an oil refinery operated by the Ambanis' Reliance Industries, was inaugurated in March by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A Reuters analysis of 2,500 commercially available customs records shows that since 2022, the wildlife centre has imported an extraordinary range of exotic species from countries including South Africa, Venezuela, Democratic Republic of Congo and the United Arab Emirates.

The haul resembles a modern-day Noah's Ark: 2,896 snakes, 1,431 tortoises, 219 tigers, 149 cheetahs, 105 giraffes, 62 chimpanzees, 20 rhinoceroses and scores of reptiles, including spiny-tailed lizards and veiled chameleons.

The shipments were recorded with a declared value of $9 million, which a Vantara spokesperson said reflected freight and insurance charges, not payments for wildlife.

"They are not commercial transactions in animals," the spokesperson said. "There has never been any commercial consideration paid for any animal transferred to Vantara."

In August, India's Supreme Court ordered investigators to examine whether Vantara's acquisitions and treatment of animals complied with Indian laws and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The court this week said investigators found no illegality.

THIS PARROT ISN'T DEAD, IT'S IN INDIA

The biggest bone of contention has revolved around the Spix's macaws that the park sourced in 2023 from the Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots (ACTP), a Germany-based non-profit that had partnered with Brazilian authorities to breed the birds, according to customs records, Brazilian officials and CITES documents.

The macaws' journey is detailed in a customs bill of entry seen by Reuters. It shows the birds were flown to Ahmedabad from Berlin on February 4, 2023, with costs, insurance and freight amounting to $969 per macaw, for a total of $25,194. Customs taxes and local duties of $19,000 were waived in line with Indian practice.

Brazil says it didn't consent to the parrots' passage to India, and has raised its concerns at CITES meetings.

"The Vantara zoo has not yet joined the Spix's Macaw Population Management Program, which is a fundamental condition for the official involvement of this institution in the species conservation effort," the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, a Brazilian government agency, told Reuters by email on September 8.

"At the moment, no Indian institutions are participating in the program, so there is no reason for Spix's macaws to be sent to India."

Brazil ended its agreement with ACTP last year, saying the group had sent Spix's macaws to other countries in "commercial transactions" without Brazilian consent. The nonprofit has previously denied that the parrots' transfer was commercial in nature; it didn't respond to a request for comment prior to publication. After the story was published, German law firm Cronemeyer Haisch, acting for ACTP, reiterated in an email to Reuters that the conservation group didn't receive any payment for the transfer of the macaws to India.

The Vantara spokesperson told Reuters the macaws' transfer was "entirely lawful, non-commercial, and undertaken as a conservation breeding arrangement with ACTP."

India's Central Zoo Authority didn't respond to queries.

Germany's federal environment ministry told Reuters it had cleared the 2023 transfer of macaws to Vantara in "good faith", but didn't consult Brazil at the time.

Last year, after consulting with Brazilian authorities, Germany rejected an application for a further transfer of Spix's macaws to Vantara on the grounds that the zoo was "not a participant" in the species' population management program, a ministry spokesperson said.

"This decision is currently subject to legal proceedings," the spokesperson added, declining to elaborate.

POPCORN FOR ELEPHANTS

In the year ended March 2024, only 20% of the 6,355 animals that reached Vantara came from India, the centre's annual report shows. Overall, it has imported species from 40 countries.

Vantara developed from barren land in 2020 to an area of manicured lawns and jungle-like greenery, satellite imagery provided by Maxar Technologies shows.

In media tours, Anant Ambani has showcased kitchens stocked with premium products used to prepare fresh juices, sweets, and even popcorn as treats for elephants.

When Modi visited Vantara this year, his office released an eight-minute video of him feeding lion cubs, elephants, rhinos and giraffes. One picture showed a Spix's macaw perched on a prime ministerial hand.

India's government defended Vantara at CITES meetings in Geneva in February, saying the facility is a "recognized center for conservation breeding", according to a summary published by CITES.

CITES documents published ahead of its next meeting in November show progress in resolving the inquisition. The CITES Secretariat told Reuters there had been consultations involving Brazil, India and Germany, and that Brazilian officials would provide an update.

Still, European officials recently indicated they are keeping an eagle eye on any applications to ship wildlife to Vantara.

In an August 1 response to a lawmaker's concerns about wildlife trade, European Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall said EU states "will pay particular attention to any export requests directed towards India and the facility in question" and assess them with "increased scrutiny". Roswall's action hasn't been previously reported.

Judges in New Delhi this week released a summary of the Indian investigators' report.

Among the findings: The export-import permits for Spix's macaws were in order, and Vantara was now holding direct talks with Brazil about "rewilding".

"Their deliberations are at a preliminary stage," it said.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra and Arpan Chaturvedi in New Delhi, Ricardo Brito in Brasilia; Additional reporting by Anand Katakam in New Delhi, Rachna Uppal in Dubai and Danial Azhar in Kuala Lumpur; Editing by David Crawshaw)

((Email: [email protected]; X: @adityakalra;))

** Jefferies removes Reliance Industries RELI.NS and Axis Bank AXBK.NS from its India long-only portfolio

** Adds Ambuja Cements ABUJ.NS, Ixigo LETR.NS and Lemon Tree Hotels with 4 percentage points weight

** RELI and AXBK down 0.6% and 0.2%, respectively, on the day; LETR and LEMO rise 2.4% and 1.2%, respectively

** Jefferies reduces weight of ICICI Bank ICBK.NS, JSW Energy JSWE.NS and REC RECM.NS each by 1 percentage point

** ICBK down 1.25%, JSWE and RECM up 1.7% and 0.6% respectively

** SBI Life Insurance SBIL.NS and Adani Ports APSE.NS have the highest weighting of 6% each in GREED & Fear's India long-only portfolio

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran)

(([email protected];))

** Shares of Reliance Industries RELI.NS rise 1% to 1,373.6 rupees

** RELI's oil-to-chemicals profit growth for quarter to-date is 20%, aided by strong auto fuel sales, compared with the full-year forecast of 8% growth, Jefferies says

** Brokerage maintains "buy" rating on stock with a TP of 1m670 rupees, reflecting a 22% premium to the last closing price

** Adds, co's petrochem division to benefit from China’s anti-involution focus – cutting excess capacity and reining in price wars – across energy and solar supply chains

** RELI's enterprise value divided by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, a key metric of valuation, is set for improvement, driven by better earnings growth visibility and Jio's impending IPO - Jefferies

** Avg rating of 33 analysts covering stock is "buy", their median PT is 1,660 rupees - data compiled by LSEG

(Reporting by Nishit Navin in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]))

Updates shares in paragraph 2, adds new quotes

Sept 4 (Reuters) - India late on Wednesday announced tax cuts on hundreds of consumer items ranging from soaps to small cars to spur domestic demand, and simplified its complicated goods and services tax structure to two rate slabs from four, with some exceptions for luxury and "sin" goods.

The benchmark BSE Sensex .BSESN and Nifty 50 .NSEI rose as much 1.1% on Thursday. By 11:55 IST, they pared some gains and were up about 0.5% each.

Here is how the industry has reacted so far:

ANISH SHAH, GROUP CEO & MD, MAHINDRA GROUP

"The next-generation GST reforms... mark a defining moment in India's journey towards building a simpler, fairer, and more inclusive tax system.

"At Mahindra, we view these reforms as transformative. They simplify compliance, expand affordability, and energise consumption, while enabling industry to invest with greater confidence."

SAURABH AGARWAL, PARTNER & AUTOMOTIVE TAX LEADER, EY INDIA

"The rationalization of GST rates on automotive vehicles and parts is a truly welcome and significant development. By making vehicles more affordable across all segments, this move will not only boost consumer spending but also simplify complex classification disputes that have long burdened the industry."

SAMIR SHAH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & CFO, HDFC ERGO GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY

"The GST Council decision to exempt individual health insurance from GST is a welcome development. This move aligns perfectly with the broader ambition of the regulator of 'Insurance for All by 2047,' providing a tangible step forward in that direction.

"While it is anticipated that there will be lowering of the premiums due to lowering of the taxes, we are yet to understand the extent of this reduction as this will also depend upon availability of the input tax credit, which will become clearer over the coming days."

NILESH SHAH, MANAGING DIRECTOR, KOTAK MAHINDRA ASSET MANAGEMENT CO

"The GST announcement lowers inflation, increases growth, boosts consumer sentiment, doesn't disturb the path of fiscal consolidation, improves ease of doing business and partially offers adverse effects of tariffs."

SHAILESH CHANDRA, PRESIDENT, SOCIETY OF INDIAN AUTOMOBILE MANUFACTURES

"This timely move is set to bring renewed cheer to consumers and inject fresh momentum into the Indian automotive sector. Making vehicles more affordable, particularly in the entry-level segment, these announcements will significantly benefit first-time buyers and middle-income families, enabling broader access to personal mobility."

C S VIGNESHWAR, PRESIDENT, FEDERATION OF AUTOMOBILE DEALERS ASSOCIATIONS

"The 56th GST Council meeting marks a watershed moment for India's automobile retail industry. This is a decisive step that will boost affordability, spur demand, and make India's mobility ecosystem stronger and more inclusive.

"One area that may need earliest clarification is about levy and treatment of cess balances currently lying in dealers' books, so that there is no ambiguity during transition."

SANJEEV ASTHANA, CEO, PATANJALI FOODS LIMITED

"At Patanjali Foods, we are fully committed to passing on these benefits to our consumers. This initiative will not only enhance FMCG penetration across urban and rural India but also act as a catalyst for broader economic revival by lifting consumption and supporting allied sectors.

"Our categories such as ghee, soaps, biscuits, noodles, honey, and chyawanprash will benefit from this reduction."

RADHIKA RAO, SENIOR ECONOMIST AT DBS BANK

"Lower GST rates will be positive for growth in the second half of the year and FY27, besides improving operational efficiency and expanding the size of the formal economy."

SHRIPAL SHAH, MD & CEO, KOTAK SECURITIES

"The GST rate cuts come at the right time which is just ahead of the festive season and against the backdrop of U.S. tariff tiffs. Lower taxes on essentials, FMCG products, autos and cement will leave consumers with more money in hand.

"This should directly boost demand, help traders and businesses see higher volumes, and may even favourably impact next quarter's earnings. It also carries the potential to ease inflation. The key will be how quickly companies pass on the benefits to customers."

DEVARSH VAKIL, HEAD OF PRIME RESEARCH, HDFC SECURITIES

"The GST reforms represent a paradigm shift toward economic rationality, with rate reductions on essentials like dairy, medicines, and food directly benefiting consumers due to their inelastic nature.

"Combined with RBI rate cuts, FY26 income tax rebates, and moderating inflation, these reforms create multiple stimuli for consumption and economic growth."

SUDARSHAN VENU, CHAIRMAN, TVS MOTOR COMPANY

"The GST tax cuts are a major move by the government to further turbocharge growth. For our industry especially, it’s a welcome move as it will help two wheelers become more accessible and also help those looking to upgrade."

NEERAJ AKHOURY, PRESIDENT, CEMENT MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, SHREE CEMENT

"Bringing GST down to 18% corrects a long-standing anomaly, aligns cement with other core building materials, and enhances global competitiveness. As a key input for infrastructure and housing, fairer taxation is expected to boost consumption and support projects from affordable housing to large-scale infrastructure."

NITIN RAO, CEO, INCRED WEALTH

"History has shown that such measures add significantly to GDP growth and a repeat is expected.

"Positive this will play out, though a small concern remains wherein recent measures like the rate cuts + budgetary measures taken on reduced taxes have not created necessary consumption boosters. We will have to wait and see if this welcome third step reverses the consumption trend or there is a deeper problem around availability of money with consumers."

RAHUL SINGH, CIO-EQUITIES, TATA ASSET MANAGEMENT

"The GST rate rationalisation, following the income tax cuts and lower interest rates, is a serious effort to boost consumption and hence the overall economic growth outlook.

"This coupled with certain process reforms is also positive for SMEs (small and medium enterprises). While the direct beneficiaries include consumer, autos, cement, healthcare and insurance sectors, the second order beneficiaries in terms of growth will be retail banks & NBFCs (non-bank financial companies)."

RAJNEESH KUMAR, CHIEF CORPORATE AFFAIRS OFFICER, FLIPKART GROUP

"By lowering input costs for farmers, simplifying compliance for MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), and enabling small sellers, artisans/weavers and smallholder farmers to seamlessly join e-commerce across states, these reforms will further strengthen India's growth engine.

"Timely implementation of these reforms ahead of the upcoming festival season will surely give a huge boost to consumption across categories, widen market access, and accelerate our collective journey towards a Viksit Bharat."

SHEETAL ARORA, CEO, MANKIND PHARMA

"The GST revisions go beyond tax rationalization, they represent a structural shift in how India is enabling healthcare access. By removing GST on lifesaving rare-disease and oncology therapies and reducing it on essential medicines and diagnostics, the government has signaled that affordability and innovation can go hand in hand."

AMIT PAITHANKAR, CEO OF WAAREE ENERGIES

"The recent GST rationalization reflects the government’s commitment to India’s clean energy transition. The reduction will lower project costs and accelerate the capacity addition needed to meet India’s clean energy targets. It also sends a strong signal to investors, improving the financial viability and attractiveness of the renewable energy sector."

(Reporting by Chandini Monnappa, Bharath Rajeswaran, Manvi Pant, Kashish Tandon, Meenakshi Maidas, Nandan Mandayam, Yagnoseni Das, Vivek Kumar M and Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)

(([email protected]; https://www.linkedin.com/in/chandini-monnappa-8a37b013b/;))

Sept 2 (Reuters) - India's Reliance RELI.NS, led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, is set to raise approximately 180 billion rupees ($2.06 billion) through asset-backed securities, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

($1 = 87.5060 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Bipasha Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)

(([email protected]))

Aug 29 (Reuters) - Reliance Industries Ltd RELI.NS:

• RELIANCE CHAIRMAN: FORMATION OF A NEW UNIT OF RELIANCE

• RELIANCE CHAIRMAN: NEW WHOLLY-OWNED CO TO DRIVE AI IN INDIA

• RELIANCE CHAIRMAN: DEEPER, HOLISTIC PARTNERSHIP FOR AI WITH GOOGLE

• RELIANCE CHAIRMAN: PARTNERSHIP WITH GOOGLE FOR AI

• RELIANCE CHAIRMAN: FORMATION OFUNIT FOR RELIANCE INTELLIGENCE

• RELIANCE CHAIRMAN: RELIANCE INTELLIGENCE WILL BRING GLOBAL TECH COS

• RELIANCE CHAIRMAN: RELIANCE INTELLIGENCE WILL DELIVER EASY TO USE AI SERVICES

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: RELI.NS

(([email protected];;))

By Nidhi Verma and Krishna N. Das

NEW DELHI, Aug 27 (Reuters) - India saved billions of dollars by stepping up imports of discounted Russian oil in the wake of the war in Ukraine, but punitive tariffs imposed by the U.S. that came into effect on Wednesday will quickly undo the gains, with no easy solutions in sight.

Analysts estimate India has saved at least $17 billion by increasing oil imports from Russia since early 2022. U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to impose additional tariffs of up to 50% on Indian imports could slash exports by more than 40%, or nearly $37 billion, this April-March fiscal year alone, according to New Delhi think-tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI).

The fallout from the tariffs will be lingering, and could be politically debilitating for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with thousands of jobs at risk in labour-intensive sectors such as textiles, gems, and jewellery.

India's response in the coming weeks could reshape its decades-old partnership with Russia and recalibrate its increasingly complex ties with the U.S., a relationship Washington sees as vital to countering China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific, analysts said.

"India needs Russia for defence equipment for several more years, cheap oil when available, geopolitical support in the continental space and political backing on sensitive matters," said Happymon Jacob, the founder of Delhi's Council for Strategic and Defence Research. "That makes Russia an invaluable partner for India."

But he added: "Despite the difficulties between Delhi and Washington under Trump, the United States continues to be India’s most important strategic partner. India simply doesn’t have the luxury of choosing one over the other, at least not yet."

Two Indian government sources said New Delhi wants to repair ties with Washington and is open to increasing purchases of U.S. energy but is reluctant to fully halt Russian oil imports. Discussions with the U.S. are ongoing, India’s foreign secretary told reporters on Tuesday, with officials from both countries holding virtual talks on trade, energy security including nuclear cooperation, and critical minerals exploration.

CRUDE AT $200/BBL?

Russian crude now accounts for nearly 40% of India’s total oil purchases from nearly nothing before the war, and analysts say any immediate stoppage would not only signal capitulation under pressure but also be economically unfeasible. Indian purchases are led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries RELI.NS, which operates the world's largest refining complex in Modi's home state of Gujarat.

Global crude prices could more than triple to around $200 a barrel if India, the world’s third-largest oil consumer and importer, stops buying oil from Russia, according to internal Indian government estimates reviewed by Reuters. It would also lose the up to 7% discount Russian oil offers compared to global benchmarks.

In an unusually sharp statement this month, India accused the U.S. of double standards in singling it out for Russian oil imports while itself continuing to buy Russian uranium hexafluoride, palladium and fertiliser. New Delhi says other countries that have stepped up purchases of Russian oil, like China, have not been penalised.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has accused India of profiteering from its sharply increased purchases of Russian oil and called it unacceptable. He told CNBC in an interview last week that unlike India's surge in Russian oil imports after the start of the war in Ukraine, China's purchases had increased to 16% from 13%.

India's foreign ministry has said its crude imports from Russia are "meant to ensure predictable and affordable energy costs to the Indian consumer. They are a necessity compelled by the global market situation".

New Delhi warns that halting Russian oil imports, which is currently around 2 million barrels per day, would disrupt its entire supply chain and send domestic fuel prices soaring. It has said the previous U.S. administration under Joe Biden had backed its purchases of Russian oil to keep global prices stable.

Russia has said it expects India to keep buying oil from it.

Modi has not directly commented on the tariffs but has repeatedly pledged support for India’s farmers - seen as a veiled response to Trump’s demands to open up India’s vast agricultural sector.

Farmers are a key voting bloc, and Modi faces a tough election in the rural state of Bihar later this year. He has also pledged major cuts in a goods and services tax by October to lift domestic demand.

TRILATERAL TIES

In a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at multipolarity, senior Indian officials have travelled to Russia in recent days, while Modi is set to visit China this month for the first time in over seven years. India-China relations began thawing about a year ago, following a deadly border clash in 2020.

Modi is expected to meet both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit meeting starting on Sunday of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional security bloc. But the sources said India is still very cautious in its relations with China and not yet considering a trilateral summit between the three leaders, as hoped by Russia.

Other countries could take their cue from how India reacts to the U.S. tariffs, experts said.

"The key takeaway for other countries is that if India - an emerging major economic and military power - is under immense pressure from the U.S., they might have even less capacity to withstand American pressure," said Jacob, the analyst.

"Additionally, some might interpret the current dynamics as indicating that China could potentially serve as a counterbalance, especially given Trump’s unpredictable and aggressive geopolitical moves."

International relations experts say Trump's recent moves have plunged the U.S.-India relationship back to possibly its worst phase since the U.S. imposed sanctions on India for nuclear weapons tests in 1998. Besides trade, the row could affect other areas like work visas for Indian tech professionals and offshoring of services.

And even if India is able to eventually get some of the tariffs reversed, several consequences will linger, especially in trade.

"Competitors like China, Vietnam, Mexico, Turkey, and even Pakistan, Nepal, Guatemala, and Kenya stand to gain, potentially locking India out of key markets even after tariffs are rolled back," said GTRI founder Ajay Srivastava, a former Indian trade official.

(Reporting by Krishna N. Das in New Delhi; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

(([email protected]; https://x.com/krishnadasassam;))

Refiles to fix typographical error in paragraph two

By Aditya Kalra

NEW DELHI, Aug 26 (Reuters) - India's Supreme Court has ordered an investigation into a wildlife rescue park run by Reliance Foundation, the philanthropic arm of billionaire Mukesh Ambani's group, although it said allegations of unlawful animal acquisitions and mistreatment were not supported by evidence.

Vantara is a marquee project of the Ambani family located in western Gujarat state and led by the billionaire's son, Anant Ambani. Its website says it has rescued and treated thousands of animals, and built the largest elephant hospital.

It was also one of the venues of pre-wedding celebrations of Anant last year, that saw global celebrities in attendance who were advised to don "jungle fever" outfits when visiting the animal rescue centre.

The Supreme Court late on Monday ordered an inquiry as it ruled on public interest litigations that referred to complaints by non-profit and wildlife groups alleging mistreatment of animals at Vantara and how they were taken in, and alleging the Central Zoo Authority failed in its duties.

In a written order, the court said although the allegations were without proof, an independent investigation was needed given the petitions allege authorities were unwilling to discharge their duties.

"We consider it appropriate in the ends of justice to call for an independent factual appraisal," the court said in its order.

In a statement, Vantara spokesperson told Reuters it remains committed to transparency and legal compliance. Vantara added it will extend full cooperation to the investigation panel, and its "mission and focus continues to be the rescue, rehabilitation and care of animals."

The Central Zoo Authority did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The panel will be led by a former judge of the Supreme Court and will submit a report on the acquisition of animals, particularly elephants, look at complaints regarding creation of a vanity or private collection, as well as check for complianceswith India's Wild Life Protection Act.

The panel needs to submit a report to the court by September 12.

Located in Jamnagar, Gujarat, Vantara is home to more than 150,000 animals across more than 2,000 species. It also has a an elephant welfare trust spread across 998 acres which it says is the world's largest care facility for rescued elephants.

In March, Prime Minister Narendra Modi toured Vantara, and said it "provides a safe haven for animals while promoting ecological sustainability and wildlife welfare."

Anant Ambani is also an executive director of oil-to-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries, and is involved in its technology and telecoms business, Jio Platforms.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

((Email: [email protected]; X: @adityakalra;))