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 ■ ■ visakhapatnam l tuesday l january 13, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Germany’s Friedrich Merz on Monday | PTI Trade talks back, India on Pax Silica: Gor Modi, Merz agree to What is Pax Silica and why is India joining now? J ayanth J aco b @ New Delhi Signalling an early effort to stabilise India-US ties that have come under strain amid tariff disputes and market jitters, Washington’s new ambassador to New Delhi, Sergio Gor, on Monday said the two sides will take up the outstanding trade issues during a call on Tuesday . In a parallel strategic move, Gor said India will be invited next month to join US-led Pax Silica initiative to secure silicon and critical tech supply chain. Speaking on his first day in office, Gor sought to portray E x p r e s s Re a d AP focusing on ‘speed in governance’: Naidu Vijayawada: CM Chandrababu Naidu said at a high-level meeting on Monday that AP is determined to achieve ‘best results through speed in governance’ in 2026 | P4 Australia puts curbs on Indian students New Delhi: Australia has put Indian students in the highest risk student visa category, along with those from Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh. Checks will become more stringent | P7 2 nurses critical after testing +ve for Nipah Kolkata: Two cases Nipah virus were reported in West Bengal on Monday with two nurses being infected. They are on life support at a private hospital in North 24 Parganas district | P8 Sergio Gor during a press meet at the US Embassy in New Delhi on Monday | pti Pax Silica is a US-led economic security partnership to protect critical technology supply chains, including AI, semiconductors, minerals, etc. Members include UK, Israel, Japan, and Australia. After a month on the sidelines, India is now set to join, a move widely seen as a diplomatic warm-up current frictions as manageable within a mature partnership. “Real friends can disagree, but always resolve their differences in the end,” he said. Stressing that talks remain active, Gor said: “The next call on trade will occur tomorrow.” He did not elaborate on the level at which the discussions would PSLV’s third-stage fails for second time in a row its designated path. At the space centre, tension The most-awaited first com- was palpable when the compumercial satellite launch ter screens tracking the of 2026 by the Indian rocket started showing Space Research Organierrors. Errors appeared sation (Isro), the PSLVfrom the 378th second C62 carrying EOS-N1 of the launch, and after and 15 other satellites, 425 seconds, the failure failed to reach its desigwas noted. nated orbit on Monday . “During the end of The rocket lifted off the third stage, we saw from the first launch disturbances in the vepad of the Satish Dhahicle. Deviations from wan Space Centre, Sriits designated flight harikota, at 10.18 am. path were observed. We The first two stages PSLV-C62 lifts are collecting and anawent as planned, Isro off from SDSC on lysing data,” the Isro chairman V Narayanan Monday | PTI chief said. said. Then, during the This is the second third-stage separation, there consecutive failure of the was a drop in chamber pres- PSLV’s third-stage. In May last sure during engine firing, caus- year, the third cryogenic secing the rocket to deviate from tion of the rocket failed. Bosky K hanna @ Bengaluru take place but noted: “India is the world’s largest nation, so it’s not an easy task to get this across the finish line, but we are determined to get there.” Gor also linked trade to a broader recalibration of US diplomacy. Citing Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he said 2026 would be “a year of reciprocity defined by “fair trade, mu,” tual respect, and shared security.” He stressed that while commerce is a key pillar of the relationship, cooperation would continue across security coun, ter-terrorism, energy technolo, gy education and health. , New labour codes eat into IT profits Even as AI-driven deals lifted revenues for India’s top IT firms in the December quarter, new labour codes weighed heavily on profits The country’s largest IT services company, TCS, reported a 13.91% decline in December quarter net profit to `10,657 cr, down from `12,380 cr in the year-ago period HCLTech’s net profit fell 11.2% to `4,076 cr from `4,591 cr `2,128 crore is the amount TCS set aside to meet requirements under the new labour codes, which increase in payroll costs by mandating a 50% basic wage, higher employer contributions to PF and gratuity and overtime pay for extended working hours | P10 upgrade bilateral strategic relations nouncements across defence, trade, critical minerals and semiconductors. Both sides IN a big push amid rising glo- noted that bilateral trade in bal protectionism, German goods and services crossed Chancellor Friedrich Merz $50 billion in 2024, amounting on Monday was optimistic of to over 25% of India’s trade sealing a landmark with EU. EU-India free trade They signed joint agreement by Janudeclarations of inary-end, with top tent on boosting biEU leaders likely lateral defence inOur growing trade visiting New Delhi dustrial ties. and investment to sign it, following Modi and Merz ties have infused wide-ranging talks etched a bilateral new energy into with Prime Minisdialogue mechaIndia and Germany’s ter Narendra Modi nism for the Indorelationship in Ahmedabad. Pacific, besides the Welcoming Merz establishment of Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad, PM Track 1.5 Foreign Modi framed the Policy and Security visit as historic, coming at a Dialogue. Germany also antime when India and Germa- nounced visa free transit for ny have completed 25 years Indians. of strategic partnership and Further, they signed an are commemorating 75 years offtake agreement for green of diplomatic relations. ammonia between AM Green The talks, accompanied by (India) and Uniper Global a delegation of 23 German (Germany). Germany comCEOs, resulted in the signing mitted 1.24 billion euros for of 19 MoUs and several an- renewable energy projects. D ilip S in g h K shatriya @ Ahmedabad focus onrule notification players in sports ministry’s Outstanding sportspersons with Olympic credentials to get Indian Olympic Association spot as new rules kick in | P11 SC allows TG to drop plea over Polavaram proj S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ Express News Service IN a significant development, the Supreme Court on Monday in its order allowed the State of Telangana to withdraw its writ petition against the Union and Andhra Pradesh government, challenging the expansion of the Polavaram Multipurpose Irrigation Project. The top court allowed the State government to raise the challenge in the form of a civil suit under Article 131 jurisdiction before an appropriate authority . The bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi disposed of the writ petition of the Telangana goernment after hearing a petitions filed by the State of Telangana under Article 32 of the Constitution against the Union’s extension of financial assistance to Andhra Pradesh to expand the Polavaram Project, also known as Polavaram -Banakacherla” Link Project.