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 villupuram l tuesday l september 23, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l 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 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 also cial officer at Tata Motors Pas, coincided with the start of the senger Vehicles, said the rate festive season. Fuelled by the cut has led to a surge in enquirpent-up demand and sharp re- ies and bookings, with a spike duction in prices on the back of in showroom walk-ins, higher lower tax rates under conversions, and a the new GST regime, growing order book. shoppers flocked to “Our dealerships marketplaces as busihave opened early and nesses lined up addiextended their working tional discounts to cash hours to welcome the in on the rush. festive rush. With a Partho Banerjee, senstrong pipeline of bookior executive officer, ings and scheduled demarketing & sales at liveries, we are fully Maruti Suzuki, said geared to meet the fesNex-Gen GST customers’ response tive demand and are oprate cuts on has been phenomenal. timistic about setting many stationery “On the very first day new records this festive items have (of GST 2.0), we record- reduced prices, season,” said Kumar. ed 80,000 enquiries, and According to early esbenefitting students and have already delivered timates, the automobile parents over 25,000 cars, with industry is likely to deliveries expected to have recorded a 20-30% Nirmala touch 30,000 shortly. surge in bookings. Sitharaman, Since September 18 The white goods segfinance minister when we announced adment also witnessed an ditional price reduction uptick in bookings and (over and above GST), we have sales on 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 . express read 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. P5