KOCHI l thursday l april 10, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE city EDITION Modi-led cabinet approves J64,000-cr marine Rafale deal The Cabinet Committee on Security cleared buying of 26 Rafale Marine jets from France to boost air combat capabilities short-term replacement for its MiG-29K jets to operate from ins vikrant The deal includes 26 Rafale M aircraft, comprising 22 single-seaters and four twin-seater trainer versions. The Navy is acquiring Rafale M as a short-term replacement for its ageing MiG-29Ks until India develops its own twin-engine deck-based fighter. Their delivery will begin around five years after signing the contract under an inter-governmental framework ■ ■ Rafale M jets are designed for aircraft carriers, equipped with a reinforced undercarriage for carrier landings and a “Short Take-Off but Arrested Recovery” (STOBAR) system The jets will operate from INS Vikrant, with 80% commonality with IAF’s Rafales, reducing training and maintenance costs 3 Scorpene-class submarines are also proposed to be bought 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 Signals more rate cuts in future slashes fy26 growth forecast to 6.5% 90-day pause on tariff war; China faces 125% J ayan t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Hours after sweeping US reciprocal tariffs kicked in, raising concerns about a global economic downturn, President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause for all nations except China, though his 10% tariff on all global imports will stay. On China, he slapped a whopping 125% tax rate after it announced 84% retaliatory levy . Back home, the impact of Trump’s tariffs is still unclear, but New Delhi’s strategy is to secure a bilateral trade agreement with Washington by this fall, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday. Jaishankar who spoke with his US counterpart Marco RuDonald Trump and Xi Jinping bio on Monday on the early conclusion of the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) stressed that India is likely the only country to have reached an understanding with Washington to negotiate a trade pact after Trump assumed presidency for a second term. India has taken a cautious approach, engaging with the Trump administration on the BTA. “I don’t think it’s possible to speak about what would be the impact, because we don’t know. What is our strategy? I think that’s pretty clear,” Jaishankar said. “We decided that we will engage the Trump administration early on this set of issues and we were very open, very constructive with them.” Home, auto loan rates set to dip Home, auto loans to cost less as RBI cuts repurchase or repo rate by 25 bps to 6% Hours later, Bank of India, UCO Bank trimmed their lending rates Borrowing cost at lowest level since November 2022 RBI changes its policy stance to accommodative from neutral, indicating possibility of more rate cuts in future Growth estimate cut to 6.5% for FY26 from 6.7% earlier amid global tariff war Inflation projection lowered to 4% from 4.2% Central bank cuts rate for 2nd time to fuel growth Ben K o c hu v ee d an @ Mumbai The Reserve Bank’s rate-setting body on Wednesday shifted gears to support growth, having nearly achieved its objective of ensuring price stability. Acknowledging that the fast-changing global environment following the raging tariff wars would drag FY26 growth down from 6.7% to 6.5%, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the RBI voted for growth. Accordingly the six-member , panel unanimously reduced the repurchase or repo rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 6% with immediate effect and changed the policy stance to accommodative from neutral, indicating that the days of easy money are back again. “An accommodative policy stance means there are two options before us — to cut rate again or retain status quo,” RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra told reporters. With the second successive cut, the RBI has lowered the repo rate by 50 bps since February In the previous easing cy. cle, it had delivered a cumulative 250 bps cut, taking the rate down to a historic low of 4%. In the February policy review, the MPC, for the first time in nearly five years, reduced the repo rate by 25 bps. The second successive rate action will leave banks with no choice but to lower rates for existing customers who are on the floating rate regime based on the external benchmark linked loans such as home, personal, and vehicle loans in the coming days. This will also result in lower fixed deposit rates. Hours after the RBI decision, Bank of India and UCO Bank became the first banks to cut their lending rates. Apart from slashing the GDP growth forecast to 6.5%, down 20 bps from the previous forecast, the rate-setting panel also pared the retail inflation target by 20 bps to 4% this fiscal. I am more worried about the impact of tariff wars on growth than inflation now. FY26 has started on an anxious note and some global trade frictions are coming true - Sanjay Malhotra Dry day curbs to be relaxed, but conditions apply E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @T’Puram Making clear its intention to boost tourism, especially MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibition) tourism, the Kerala government has decided to relax the restriction on serving liquor on dry days, but with conditions. In the new liquor policy for 2025-26, the draft of which was approved by the cabinet on Wednesday, hotels ranked three stars and above that cater to tourism will be exempted from dry days observed on the first of every month on special occasions. Cruise vessels with IRS classification—vessels with star hotel amenities—will also be allowed to serve liquor for which bar licences will be issued. Sources said the exemption for hotels will require prior permission from the excise commissioner and be restricted only for the prescribed events. Bars attached to these hotels will remain closed on dry days. The concept of dry days for bar hotels and beverages will continue. It’s also learnt the licence fee for bar hotels will continue as such. CM’s defence Payment to Exalogic Solutions legal SFIO’s case against daughter Veena T smacks of political vendetta, says Pinarayi Vijayan | P4 Tahawwur Rana to reach India today M U K E S H R A N J A N an d Shekha r S i n g h @ New Delhi Tahawwur Rana, the mastermind behind the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, is being extradited to India on a special Indian Air Force plane that is expected to arrive by Thursday , sources said. A multi-agency team is in place to complete the necessary formalities, they added. The IAF aircraft carrying Rana will make a stopover in Europe for refueling before reaching Delhi. MEA spokesperson Randhir J a i sw a l c o n fir med Rana’s extradition is underway after the US Supreme Court rejected his plea. Discussions on the extradition of another 26/11 accused David Coleman Headley (alias Dawood Gilani) are still on. Rana’s last legal defence, citing humanitarian grounds, failed to convince the US judiciary . Authorities have made highsecurity arrangements at two jails in Delhi and Mumbai, where he is expected to be lodged initially . 16 pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express