HYDERABAD l tuesday l september 23, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l LATE CITY EDITION Core sector output rises to a 13month high of 6.3% in August India’s eight key infrastructure sectors’ growth jumped to a 13-month high on account of expansion in coal, steel, and cement production august numbers flip muted july figures steel, cement production led growth The core sectors’ output growth was 3.7 per cent in the previous month of July. It was (-) 1.5 per cent in August last year. Earlier, the similar pace of growth at 6.3 per cent was recorded in July 2024. During April-August of this fiscal year, the eight infrastructure sectors expanded by 2.8 per cent, compared to a rise of 4.6 per cent in the same period last year ■ ■ Coal, steel, and cement production rose to 11.4 per cent, 14.2 per cent and 6.1 per cent, respectively, during August, the data showed Refinery products, fertiliser, and electricity output rose by 3 per cent, 4.6 per cent, and 3.1 per cent respectively within the same time span. However, crude oil and natural gas recorded negative growth | P12 -1.5% was the core sector output growth in august last year CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Car showrooms, retail outlets, online platforms witness record sales as lower tax rates kick in Festive buying rush on Day 1 of GST 2.0 Amit Kamat, chief commercial officer at Tata Motors PasCAR showrooms, retail outlets, senger Vehicles, said the GST and e-commerce platforms saw rate cut has led to a sharp surge brisk sales on the first day of in enquiries and bookings, with GST 2.0 on Monday which also a noticeable spike in showroom , coincided with the start of the walk-ins, higher conversions, festive season. Fuelled by the and a growing order book. pent-up demand and sharp re“ O u r d e a l e r s h i p s h ave duction in prices on the back of opened early and extended lower tax rates under the new their working hours to welGST regime, shoppers flocked come the festive rush. With a to marketplaces as businesses strong pipeline of bookings lined up additional discounts and scheduled deliveries, we to cash in on the rush. are geared to meet the demand Partho Banerjee, and are optimistic senior executive ofabout setting new no diwali ficer, marketing & gifts: Govt records this festive sales at Maruti Suzuseason,” said Kumar. ki, said customers’ re- While the Centre According to early sponse has been pheestimates, the autohas extended nomenal, adding that mobile industry is festive cheer to this is the first time in the public, it has likely to have record35 years that the firm ed a 20-30% surge in directed govt has witnessed such bookings (compared offices not to high demand. to bookings on the spend on gifts. “On the very first first day Navratri last “No expenditure day (of GST 2.0), we shall be incurred year) and high delivrecorded 80,000 eneries, thanks to a 10% on gifts... for quiries, and have al- Diwali and other cut in GST rates. This ready delivered over drop in rate, coupled festivals by 25,000 cars, with delivwith additional offers Ministries/ eries expected to by companies, has led Departments,” touch 30,000 shortly. to a sharp correction read a circular Since September 18 in the ex-showroom issued by P K when we announced prices of automobiles, Singh, joint additional price re- secretary, Dept of especially passenger duction (over and vehicles. Expenditure, above GST), we have The white goods Ministry of received 75,000 bookse gment also witFinance ings, with nearly nessed an uptick in 15,000 bookings combookings and sales on ing in every day—50% higher Monday as the GST on air conthan usual. Demand for small ditioners, refrigerators, washcars has been especially strong, ing machines, dishwashers, with bookings growing by near- and large-screen TVs dropped ly 50%,” said Banerjee. from 28% to 18%. Tarun Garg, whole-time diB Thiagarajan, managing director and COO at Hyundai rector of Blue Star, said there Motor India, said the festive has been a 20% growth in sales mood, boosted by GST reforms, on Monday, compared to the has infused strong positivity same period last year. “If things into the market. On Monday, go well, lost sales in the sumHyundai recorded 11,000 dealer mer season due to rain will be billings—its highest single-day made up between now and the performance in five years. New Year,” he said. ARSHA D K HA N @ New Delhi Actionpacked Monday Automobile, white goods industries record unprecedented surge in bookings compared with last year 1 Maruti gets 80,000 enquiries, delivers over 25,000 cars. The demand is so high that it may run out of stock on certain variants 2 Hyundai recorded around 11,000 dealer billings on Monday--its highest single-day performance in the past five years 3 Used car marketplace Cars24 sees 400% surge in car deliveries compared with normal daily averages 4 White goods maker Blue Star sees 20% sales growth compared with last year LETTER FROM THE PM Jaishankar discusses issues of ‘current concern’ with Rubio J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi GST Savings Fest begins, time to go Swadeshi My Fellow Indians, Namaskar! The Next Generation GST reforms have begun to make their presence felt, marking the start of a ‘GST Bachat Utsav’ or ‘GST Savings Festival’ across the country These reforms will boost savings and directly benefit every section of society, be it farmers, women, youth, poor, middle class, traders or MSMEs Heartening to see various shopkeepers and traders putting up ‘then and now’ boards which indicate taxes pre-reforms and postreforms Income tax cuts and Next Gen GST reforms taken together add up to savings of nearly J2.5 lakh crore for the people Your household expenses will reduce and it will be easier to fulfill aspirations such as building a home, purchasing a vehicle, purchasing appliances, eating out or planning a family vacation This festive season, let us also resolve to support products that are Made in India. This means buying Swadeshi products that have the sweat and toil of an Indian involved in their making, irrespective of the brand or the company that makes them Every time you buy a product made by our own artisans, workers and industries, you are helping many families earn their living and creating job opportunities for our youth. I appeal to our shopkeepers and traders to sell products that are Made in India. Let us proudly say – what we buy is Swadeshi. Let us proudly say – what we sell is Swadeshi. NARENDRA MODI EXTERNAL Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday held their first in-person meeting ever since Washington imposed steep tariffs on key Indian exports over New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil. Following the meeting in New York, Jaishankar posted on X that both sides “agreed on the importance of sustained engagement” on priority areas, signaling a mutual intent to keep the dialogue open amid rising trade and geopolitical tensions. “Our conversation covered a range of bilateral and international issues of S Jaishankar (left) and Marco Rubio current concern. Agreed on the importance of sustained engagement to progress on priority areas,” Jaishankar said. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the United Nat i o n s G e n e r a l A s s e m bly (UNGA) and comes as India-US trade talks resume in Washington, led by Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal. These negotiations follow a shift in Offset `7K cr loss due to GST 2.0: CM to Centre implementation. He said Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka had already proposed in the GST Council that compensation continue for at least another five years. “The Centre should cover the shortfall. We prepare our annual spending based on revenue estimates. The deputy CM will write to Union Minister G Kishan Reddy regarding this issue. He must take it up with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure Telangana receives the compensation,” Revanth said. Accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, the chief minister announced that 34% of the profits made by the SCCL will be paid to the employees and workers as bonus, including those who are working on contract basis. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad Stating that Telang ana stands to lose around `7,000 crore from the revision of GST slabs, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday urged the Union government to compensate the state for the shortfall. Addressing a gathering at the Secretariat while announcing bonus payments for Singareni employees, Revanth said the new GST structure would adversely affect state revenues. “The Centre should support states that are facing losses due to the revised GST rates. Telangana demands that these concerns be addressed,” he said. The chief minister recalled that the Centre had provided compensation for GST shortfalls in the first five years of Time to decriminalise defamation, says sc S U CHITRA K A LYA N M OHA N TY @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Monday said that the time has come to decriminalise defamation. A bench of justices M M Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma was hearing a plea of online news portal The Wire seeking to quash summons in a defamation case filed by a former professor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University . “I think the time has come to decriminalise all this (defamation cases). How long will you go on dragging these cases?” Justice M M Sundresh remarked. After hearing the petition filed by the Foundation for Independent Journalism, which runs The Wire, the bench issued notice to professor Amita Singh and sought her reply . The petitioner had ap- Section 356 makes defamation a crime Section 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita criminalises defamation. It replaced the earlier provision on criminal defamation — Section 499 of Indian Penal Code proached the Supreme Court challenging the issuance of summons to it in connection with the criminal defamation case filed by professor Amrita Singh. The defamation case was filed by professor Singh in connection with an article published by the news portal titled ‘Dossier Calls JNU Den of Organised Sex Racket’ in 2016. The article had hinted that professor Singh was among several teachers who had prepared the dossier that “set the script for the hate campaign against JNU”. This was followed by the criminal defamation case against The Wire. In February 2017, a trial court issued summons to the portal. Last year, the Supreme Court set aside those summons, after hearing the plea of The Wire. The court had then asked the magistrate to take a fresh call on the summons after examining the news article. The magistrate had in January 2025 again issued the summons to the news portal, following which the petitioner moved the SC. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, for the news portal, concurred with justice Sundresh. “Similar matter is being considered. Rahul Gandhi’s case,” he said. e x pr e ss r e a d OCI card valid for PG med counselling: HC CM to NHAI: Why new doubts at every step? Man tries to enter cockpit on AI Varanasi flight Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Monday ruled that an Overseas Citizen of India card was sufficient for provisional registration under the NRI quota in the NEET PG counselling, until Centre revises guidelines | P2 Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday questioned the NHAI for raising new doubts whenever an issue related to construction of the northern part of the Regional Ring Road (RRR) is resolved | P4 Bengaluru: A passenger on an Air India Express flight (IX-1086) from Bengaluru to Varanasi on Monday attempted to enter the aircraft’s cockpit, claiming that he tried to open it by mistake as he is a first-time flyer | P7 tone from President Donald Trump, who recently indicated his administration was working to resolve key trade irritants with India, which still remains a work in progress. Sources said the Jaishankar– Rubio discussion covered a wide range of bilateral and global issues, including economic cooperation, energy security, and regional stability in the Indo-Pacific. The New York talks are seen as a crucial step in stabilising the broader India-US strategic partnership, which remains strong on defence, technology, and Indo-Pacific coordination but faces friction on issues related to trade sanctions and visa issues. stranded! Vehicles moving from RGI Airport to Mehdipatnam stuck on the PVNR Expressway following a traffic gridlock in core areas of Hyderabad after a spell of rain during peak evening hours on Monday. The gridlock persisted for nearly two hours | PRASANNA RS Top Maoists from TG shot dead in Chhattisgarh E j a z K a i s e r @ Raipur Two Central Committee members of the CPI (Maoist) were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in the Abujhmad area of Narayanpur district, about 400 km south of Raipur, police said on Monday . The Maoists were identified as Raju Dada alias Katta Ramchandra (63) and Kosa Dada alias Kadri Satyanarayan (67), both from Telangana. They carried a reward of `40 lakh each in Chhattisgarh. The two had been active in the Dandakaranya zone, considered the most affected Maoist region in south Chhattisgarh, for over three decades. No security personnel were reported injured. According to officials, the operation was launched after intelligence inputs suggested the presence of senior Maoist leaders in the forested area near the Maharashtra–Chhattisgarh border. “A gunfight broke out between the security forces and the Maoists earlier in the day and continued intermittently. The bodies of the two leaders were recovered along with an AK-47 rifle, an INSAS assault rifle, a BGL launcher, explosives and daily-use items,” said Narayanpur district police chief Robinson Guria. The search operation was still on.  Related reports on P5 & 10 HYDRAA saved `50,000 cr assets so far: Ranganath S B a c h a n Jee t S i n g h @ Hyderabad The Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) has saved a whopping 923.14 acres of government land and public assets valued at over `45,000 to `50,000 crore, AV Ranganath, who heads the agency said on Monday , . The assets safeguarded include water bodies, open spaces, parks, roads and public spaces across Hyderabad, he said. HYDRAA has so far carried out 96 encroachment drives since its formation on July 19, 2024 and removed about 581 encroachments and reclaimed 923.14 acres of land, Ranganath stated. In action mode Encroachment cleared n  Government land: 424 acres n  Lakes: 233 acres n  Nalas: 15 acres n  Roads: 218.30 acres n  Parks: 25.65 acres n  Unauthorised structures: 7.14 acres n  Footpaths: 0.05 acres Complaints redressed n  5,000 complaints received addressed, focus on basthis & waterlogging Monsoon ops Over 2,000 truckloads of silt removed from drains, including 20 truckloads from Maitrivanam 75% Recent Drives n  Gajularamaram, Quthbullapur mandal: 260 houses demolished out of 900 (political leaders, land grabbers); 640 houses untouched Legal Action cases booked against builders including Vertex, Vamsiram, Vasavi n  Waterbody protection n  Drone-based Full Tank Level (FTL) notifications for lakes from October 2025 n  Buffer zones for nalas under progress n  Annual monitoring & geofencing planned 11 Mapping & Surveillance n  lakes and 4,932 1,252 km of streams/nalas mapped new encroachments detected waterlogging points, 680 culverts, 341 vulnerable colonies mapped n  Command dashboard, drones, satellite imagery, smart CC cameras in use 94 453 Lake rejuvenation lakes restored; area increased from 105 to 180 acres, reclaiming 75 acres 6 n  Bathakammakunta Lake at Amberpet to be opened Sept 26, 2025 14 more lakes 1,000 identified; CCTVs being installed