Core sector output rises to 13-month high India’s eight key infrastructure sectors’ growth jumped to a 13-month high of 6.3 per cent in August 2025 on account of expansion in coal, steel, and cement production, according to official data released on Monday The core sector output growth was 3.7 per cent in the previous month of July. It was (-) 1.5 per cent in August last year chennai l tuesday l september 23, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 20 l late city EDITION 3% 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 | P14 was the growth rate of refinery products output 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 PM on Day 1 of GST 2.0 LETTER FROM THE into the market. On Monday, Hyundai recorded 11,000 dealer CAR showrooms, retail outlets, billings—its highest single-day and e-commerce platforms saw performance in five years. brisk sales on the first day of Amit Kamat, chief commerGST 2.0 on Monday which coin- cial officer at Tata Motors Pas, cided with the start of the fes- senger Vehicles, said the rate tive season. Fuelled by the pent- cut has led to a surge in bookup demand and sharp reduction ings, with a spike in showroom in prices on the back of lower walk-ins, higher conversions, tax rates under the new GST and a growing order book. regime, shoppers flocked to “ O u r d e a l e r s h i p s h ave marketplaces as busiopened early and exnesses lined up additended their working no diwali tional discounts to gifts: Govt hours to welcome the cash in on the rush. festive rush. With a Partho Banerjee, strong pipeline of While govt has senior executive of- extended festive bookings and schedficer, marketing & uled deliveries, we are cheer to the sales at Maruti Suzu- public, it asked its fully geared to meet ki, said customers’ rethe festive demand offices not to sponse has been and are optimistic spend on gifts. phenomenal. about setting new “No expenditure “We recorded 80,000 shall be incurred records this festive enquiries, and have season,” said Kumar. on gifts... for already delivered over Diwali and other The automotive in25,000 cars, with delivdustry is estimated to festivals by eries expected to Ministries/Depts,” have seen a 20-30% touch 30,000 shortly. read a circular by surge in bookings. Since September 18 The white goods P K Singh, joint when we announced secretary, Dept of se gment also witadditional price renessed an uptick in Expenditure duction (over and bookings and sales on above GST), we have Monday as GST on air received 75,000 bookings, with conditioners, refrigerators, nearly 15,000 bookings coming washing machines, dishwashin every day—50% higher than ers, and large-screen TVs usual,” said Banerjee. dropped from 28% to 18%. Tarun Garg, whole-time di“If things go well, lost sales rector and COO at Hyundai in the summer season due to Motor India, said the festive rain will be made up between mood, boosted by GST reforms, now and the New Year,” said B has infused strong positivity Thiagarajan, MD of Blue Star. ARSHA D K HAN @ New Delhi Actionpacked Monday Automobile, white goods record surge in sales and bookings 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 Hyundai recorded around 11,000 dealer billings on Monday--its highest single-day performance in the past five years Used car marketplace Cars24 sees 400% surge in car deliveries compared with normal daily averages White goods maker Blue Star sees 20% sales growth compared with last year 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 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 I appeal to our shopkeepers and traders to sell products that are Made in India. Let us proudly say – what we buy is Swadeshi EAM, Rubio hold wide-ranging talks J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi 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 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 Washing- S Jaishankar (left) and Marco Rubio ton, led by Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal. These negotiations follow a shift in 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 talks covered a wide range of bilateral and global issues, including economic cooperation, energy security, and regional stability in the IndoPacific. Monday’s talks are seen as a crucial step in stabilising the broader India-US strategic partnership, which remains strong on defence, tech and Indo-Pacific coordination . e x p r e ss r e a d CM okays `2.5 lakh crore mobility plan for Chennai CHENNAI: CM Stalin launched ‘Chennai One’ app, a transport ticketing application that will integrate metro, MTC, Namma Yatri autos and cabs, and MRTS & suburban trains. He also approved a `2.5 lakh crore Comprehensive Mobility Plan for Chennai Metropolitan Area | P2 2 sanitation workers die after inhaling toxic fumes NARENDRA MODI Tiruchy: Two contract sanitation workers of the Tiruchy City Corporation died on Monday after allegedly inhaling toxic fumes from a newly built underground drainage line in Muthunagar while carrying out repair works. Police said they did not have any safety gear | P5 Assets case: SC stays trial against Duraimurugan S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi In a major relief to Water Resources Minister M Duraimurugan and his wife D Shanthakumari in a disproportionate assets case, the Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Madras High Court’s order quashing their discharge by a trial court in the case. A bench of Ju s t i c e s D i pankar Datta and Augustine George Masih also sought the M Duraimurugan response of the Tamil Nadu government on a special leave petition filed by the senior DMK leader and his wife against the HC order of April 24, 2025. The petitioners had challenged the sanction for prosecution accorded by the Assembly Speaker, contending that it should have been obtained from the Tamil Nadu governor. P7