Kristin Dziczek

Well, thank you so much for coming back and staying with us. This you won’t want to miss. So it’s my pleasure to introduce our next session, managing transformation in a dynamic environment. [Operator Instructions] I’d first like to introduce our moderator, Mike Colias. Mike is the U.S. Auto Editor for Reuters. He’s long covered the auto industry and for the Wall Street Journal and Automotive News, and he’s the author of a 2025 book, Inevitable: Inside the Messy, Unstoppable Transition to Electric Vehicles. So he’s pretty ideally positioned to lead today’s fireside chat with GM’s CFO, Paul Jacobson.

And speaking of which we are tremendously honored that Paul has decided to join us. He’s a well-known around Detroit and in the auto industry since he joined General Motors in 2020 as the Executive Vice President and CFO. He’s established himself as an exceptional leader on GM’s executive team, demonstrating a remarkable financial stewardship during some very unprecedented business and industry challenges.

From navigating the post-pandemic supply chain disruptions to orchestrating GM’s strategic pathway to EV profitability and tariffs and what we can all agree has been a very uncertain policy environment. Under Paul’s guidance, GM has delivered impressive results in 2025 with robust earnings and a strong outlook. We are again thankful that Paul has agreed to join us today to share his insights.

I’ll bring Paul up for a few remarks, and then Mike will join him on stage for the Q&A.

Paul Jacobson
Executive VP & CFO

Well, thank you all. I was having to look around to figure out who

FSN E-Commerce, which owns Beauty & Personal Care (BPC) brand Nykaa, is expected to report a strong set of numbers in the December ended quarter, led by robust festive demand, sustained momentum in its BPC segment. Brokerage estimates show the company could deliver up to 192% surge in its Q3FY26 net profit falling in the range of Rs 60 crore to Rs 78 crore. The revenue growth is pegged at 26%-28%, estimates revealed, forecasting the topline in the range of Rs 2,859 crore to Rs 2,902 crore.

The estimates from ElaraCapital, Nuvama Institutional Equities and JM Financial have been taken into account. The margins could take a hit in the October-December quarter.

The company will announce its earnings on Thursday, February 5.

Here’s what estimates say about these four key parameters:

1) PAT

— Elara Capital: Rs 60 crore, up 128% YoY and 88% QoQ
— Nuvama: Rs Rs 64 crore, up 139% YoY and 89% QoQ
— JM Financial: Rs 78 crore, up 192% YoY and 117% QoQ
2) Revenues
— Elara Capital: Rs 2,869 crore, up 27% YoY and 22% QoQ
— Nuvama Institutional Equities: Rs 2,902 crore, up 28% YoY and 24% QoQ
— JM Financial: Rs 2,859 crore, up 26% YoY and 22% QoQ

3) EBITDA
— Elara Capital: Rs 202 crore, up 43% YoY and 27% QoQ
— Nuvama Institutional Equities: Rs 209 crore, up 48% YoY and 31% QoQ
— JM Financial: Rs 215 crore, up 52% YoY and 35% QoQ

4) EBITDA margin

Nuvama has pegged the Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) at 7.2% in Q3FY26, down 100 bps YoY and down 40 bps QoQ. Meanwhile, JM Financial sees margin expansion of 130 bps YoY, indicating sustained operating leverage.

Read more: Tata Motors PV Q3 Preview: JLR hit to weigh on profits; revenue may slip up to 9% despite festive, GST tailwinds

(Disclaimer: The recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times.)

NEW DELHI: India and the United States have struck a trade deal to cut ‍U.S. tariffs on Indian goods to 18% from 50% in exchange for New Delhi halting purchases of Russian oil and lowering trade barriers.

Both ⁠sides have shared the broad outlines of the deal but not the details, with early indications suggesting India will grant the U.S. only limited access to its agricultural market.

WILL INDIA LOWER TARIFFS ON US CORN, SOYBEANS OR SOYMEAL?
India, which bans genetically modified (GM) food crops, is unlikely to ‌lower tariffs on ‌imported farm goods such as corn, soybeans and soymeal as it seeks to protect millions of small farmers who eke out a living on meagre incomes.

The United States ‌primarily produces GM corn and soybeans, limiting the scope for market access in India.

Unlike China, which buys millions of tons of corn and soybeans from the United States, India’s import requirements for both crops are relatively small.

India is holding large stockpiles of corn and soymeal, an animal feed derived from crushing soybeans for soyoil.
While India is the world’s largest importer of soyoil, sourcing supplies mainly from Brazil, Argentina and the United States, its overseas purchases of soybeans remain negligible, including from Africa where non-genetically modified oilseeds are produced. India also has ample supplies of domestically produced ethanol, made ‌from corn, rice ‍and sugarcane, making it unlikely to concede to requests for imports of either ethanol or ‍corn as feedstock for ethanol production.

While the U.S. has pushed for greater access to ‌India’s dairy market, long protected by high import duties and non-tariff barriers, New Delhi is likely to keep the sector off the table given its importance to farmer livelihoods.

The average herd size in India is only two to three animals per farmer, compared to hundreds in the United States – a difference that puts small Indian farmers at a disadvantage, Indian officials have argued.

WHERE ELSE COULD INDIA CEDE GROUND IN AGRICULTURE?
India could agree to lowering tariffs or allowing expanded import quotas on farm products such as almonds, walnuts, pistachios, apples, pears and berries. New Delhi could also lower ‍trade barriers for fruits and vegetables, wine and spirits – the areas that do not tend to hurt Indian farmers.

Since India is already import-dependent for almonds, walnuts, pistachios, apples, pears and berries, it ‍would be easier for ⁠Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata ⁠Party to sell any lowering of import barriers on these premium farm products to voters and other political constituencies.

Similarly, President Donald Trump’s administration can tout access to Indian markets as a major win for American farmers.

WHY AGRICULTURE REMAINS SENSITIVE ISSUE FOR INDIA
Although the farm sector contributes a relatively modest 15% to India’s almost $4 trillion economy, it sustains nearly half the country’s 1.4 billion people.

Nearly 80% of Indian farmers are smallholders, owning two hectares of land or less, which limits their income. But farmers form an influential voting bloc, and successive governments have sought to avoid angering millions of growers.

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella group of farmers’ organisations, and its top leaders including Rakesh Tikait have already taken Modi’s government to task over its trade deal with Washington.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which enforces workplace discrimination laws, announced on Wednesday it has demanded company records going back to 2018, including the use of race and ethnicity data, and whether such information influenced executive pay.

New Delhi: As many as 88 per cent of individual taxpayers have moved to the new tax regime and the government is not thinking of bringing in a sunset clause for filing income tax returns under the old regime, CBDT Chairman Ravi Agrawal said on Wednesday.

He said selecting a particular tax regime is the choice of the taxpayers, but the response to the new regime has been “very good”.

“I can tell you that when ITR 1, 2, 3 and 4 are taken together (income tax return forms used by individuals), about 88 per cent of people have moved to the new tax regime.

“And insofar as presumptive tax cases, about 97 per cent of the taxpayers have moved to the new tax regime. For corporates, about 60 per cent of the income is now being reflected in the new tax regime,” Agrawal told PTI during a post-Budget interview.

We believe, he said, with the new MAT (minimum alternate tax) provisions coming in the FY27 Budget, “it will also persuade people to move to the new tax regime”.

MAT, meant only for companies, is calculated at the rate of 15 per cent of book profit and is chargeable only when it is more than the tax on income. The Budget has proposed MAT to be the final tax and has reduced the rate from 15 to 14 per cent for companies in the old regime.
Asked about the hike in STT (securities and transaction tax) proposed in the FY27 budget, the CBDT chief said it is hoped that this will “certainly dissuade retail investors from very aggressively taking up this exercise”. “Only time would tell how much it would curb, but this is an attempt from the department and the government to actually at least address this issue and flag this issue,” he said.

The Budget 2026-27 has proposed an increase in STT on futures contracts to 0.05 per cent from 0.02 per cent. STT on options premium and exercise of options are proposed to be raised to 0.15 per cent from the present rate of 0.1 per cent and 0.125 per cent, respectively.

Agrawal said he was confident about meeting the direct taxes collection target for the 2025-26 fiscal that has been revised to Rs 24.21 lakh crore in the Budget.

The old tax regime refers to the income tax calculation and slabs that existed before the introduction of the new tax regime in 2020. The old tax regime has higher tax rates, but taxpayers get the option to claim various tax deductions and exemptions. In contrast, the new regime offers lower tax rates and allows full exemption for those earning up to Rs 15 lakh a year.