visakhapatnam l tuesday l september 23, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 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 | P10 ■ ■ 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 | P10 -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 ARSHA D K HA N @ New Delhi 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. 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 Make farm visits, CM Naidu directs MLAs boost irrigation, reduce cultivation costs, and promote value addition through food processMaking a strong appeal to ing, while addressing challengpeople’s representatives, Chief es in aquaculture and the exMinister N Chandrababu cessive use of fertilisers. Naidu has directed all MLAs Naidu, hailing from a farmand MLCs to visit farmlands ing family, dismissed the noevery month from October, in- tion that his focus is solely on teract with farmers, under- IT. “Every decision I take is for stand their issues, and farmers. From Neeruexplain the gover nChettu to building resment’s efforts to make ervoirs and canals, our agriculture viable. A policies aim to strengthstructured action plan en ag riculture,” he will support this said. initiative. He stressed the need Participating in short to ensure Minimum CM Naidu discussion on agriculSupport Prices (MSP) ture in the Legislative for crops, encourage diAssembly on Monday, the verse and organic farming, and Chief Minister reaffirmed his set up farmer markets to align government’s commitment to w i t h c h a n g i n g f o o d farmers’ welfare, emphasising preferences. policies to make farming profRaising concerns over fertiitable and sustainable. liser misuse, Naidu pointed out Presenting a detailed Power- that AP ranks second in the Point on the agriculture sector, country in fertiliser and pestiP4 Naidu outlined initiatives to cide use.  E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Time to decriminalise defamation, says sc SUCHITRA K ALYA N MOHA 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. express read 1 mn smart TVs to roll out from Kadapa plant ‘Fair compensation for land to Google facility’ AP HC reserves order on MLC Jayamangala case Kadapa: Elista on Monday announced that Phase 1 of its new manufacturing facility in Kadapa has become operational, with the capacity to produce 1 million smart TVs and 1 million LED monitors annually | P3 Visakhapatnam: Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu assured farmers that their concerns regarding compensation for lands given for the Google Data Centre at Tharluwada would be addressed Vijayawada: The HC on Monday reserved its verdict on a petition filed by MLC Jayamangala Venkataramana, seeking directions to the Legislative Council Chairman to decide on his resignation 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. pious start Devotees queue up for the darshan of Goddess Kanakadurga as Dasara festivities begin atop in Vijayawada on Monday | Express AP govt opens doors for JVs in metro tenders E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada The Andhra Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation Limited (APMRCL) has announced that joint ventures (JVs) will now be permitted to participate in the metro rail tenders for Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam. The decision was taken after several contracting companies made the request during the pre-bid meeting. APMRCL Managing Director NP Ramakrishna Reddy said international tenders have been floated for 40 per cent of the civil works, covering 46.23 km in Visakhapatnam and 38 km in Vijayawada, under Phase-I of the metro projects. He clarified that up to three companies can form a JV and bid together. However, he made it clear that the works will not be split into smaller packages, as doing so could raise costs and delay project timelines. “The projects are targeted for completion by 2028, and splitting packages could escalate costs,” he explained. The coalition government has set ambitious plans to implement metro rail systems in both cities, with a combined estimated cost of `21,616 crore including `11,498 crore for Visakhapatnam and `10,118 crore P4 for Vijayawada.  Display of double standards: HC raps Centre E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday came down heavily on the Centre for its stance that teachers in Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) and other institutions under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) can only be hired on an annual contractual basis and not as permanent staff. A division bench of Justice Battu Devanand and Justice Avadhanam Hariharanath Sharma has expressed dissatisfaction with the Centre’s affida- vit, which described the policy as a ‘matter of government decision.’ The judges observed that such reasoning was unacceptable, questioning: “For whose benefit are these decisions being made? On one hand, the Right to Education Act man- dates education for every child, yet on the other hand, denying permanent teaching staff undermines the quality of education. Is this not a display of double standards?” The bench also reminded the Centre that SSA was launched to ensure quality education for children from disadvantaged sections. “You cannot lose sight of the constitutional mandate. Ultimately the students will be , the ones who suffer if permanent staff are not appointed,” the court stated. In 2023, several part-time Post Graduate Teachers (PGTs) in KGBVs approached the High Court challenging their abrupt ter mination. Justice Nimmagadda Venkateswarlu, hearing the petitions, had ruled that their removal was illegal and arbitrary, ordering that their services be continued even afP4 ter contract expiry  .