DayStarter

Market snapshot

Equities, sectors, F&O movers, commodities, currency, bonds and institutional flows at the 31 July 2026 close.

Equities and sectors

The Nifty opened 44 points higher at 24,361, following positive global markets. AI-related chip stocks had rebounded sharply overnight.

After briefly falling towards 24,300 in the opening minutes, the index recovered. It traded within a narrow range of around 24,340 to 24,360 during the first hour.

Buying picked up later in the morning, taking the Nifty close to 24,370 by the end of the first half. The index crossed 24,400 in the afternoon and touched an intraday high of around 24,430 at 1:30 pm.

It then gave up some gains during the final two hours. After briefly returning to 24,400 at around 3 pm, the Nifty closed at 24,383.60.

Media was the strongest sector, rising 2.09%. Auto gained 1.64%, while Energy rose 1.09%.

FMCG was the weakest sector, falling 1.05%. Consumer Durables declined 0.44%. Nifty IT was unchanged at 0.00%.

Winners and losers among F&O stocks

Bajaj Finance was the strongest F&O stock, rising 8.32%. Hyundai gained 8.17%, while Bajaj Finserv rose 6.37%.

APL Apollo was the biggest loser, falling 4.50%. Dixon declined 4.09%, while Mankind Pharma fell 4.03%.

Commodities and currency

Gold and silver futures fell by 0.94% and 1.08%, respectively. Crude oil declined 0.32%.

Natural gas, zinc, copper and aluminium moved up. Aluminium recorded the largest gain among these commodities, rising 0.86%.

The rupee strengthened against the US dollar, with USDINR falling 0.31% to 95.58.

The US 10-year bond yield rose to 4.66%, while India's 10-year yield increased slightly to 6.82%.

Macro view

Monetary policy: MPC meets from 3 to 5 August

All 10 economists surveyed in a Mint poll expect the Reserve Bank of India to keep the repo rate unchanged at 5.25% on 5 August. They also expect the RBI to retain its neutral policy stance.

The Monetary Policy Committee is meeting from 3 to 5 August.

The median expectation is that the RBI will keep its FY27 inflation forecast unchanged at 5.1%. Eight of the 10 economists expect no revision. The median expectation for FY27 GDP growth also remains unchanged at 6.6%.

Headline inflation rose to an 18-month high of 4.4% in June. It was 50 basis points higher than in May because food inflation was stronger than expected. Core inflation, which excludes volatile items such as food and fuel, remained slightly below expectations.

Four of the 10 economists expect the RBI to raise rates later in FY27, most likely in October or December. IDFC First Bank and Emkay Global Financial Services expect no rate increase during the current financial year. The other four economists did not provide a view on the timing of future policy action.

The RBI's July bulletin said industrial activity remained resilient despite tensions in West Asia. Manufacturing and electricity output strengthened in May. The manufacturing PMI remained in expansionary territory in June, and automobile production grew strongly after GST rates were reduced.

Source: Mint, 3 August 2026.

Agriculture and the monsoon

The area sown for the 2026 kharif season was around 2.9% lower than in 2025, based on government data available as of 31 July. Coarse cereals and pulses recorded the largest declines.

June rainfall was around 40% below the long-term average. Better rainfall in July reduced the deficit to 16%.

Sowing conditions varied widely across states:

• Karnataka had sown 28% less area than in 2025.
• Tamil Nadu was down 23%.
• Odisha was down around 16%.
• Maharashtra was down 8%.
• Bihar was up 10%.
• Kerala was up 20%.
• Jharkhand was up 28%.

The latest India Meteorological Department forecast expects the monsoon to be 10% below its long-term average. The global consensus is that El Niño conditions in the Pacific will continue well into next year.

CareEdge Ratings said:

“Of the 23 years since 1951-52 in which agricultural gross value added (GVA) declined, 13 occurred during El Niño years.”

CareEdge Ratings

Agriculture's share of India's GDP fell from 53% in 1950-51 to 17% in 2025-26. At the same time, the share of irrigated agricultural land increased from 17% in 1950-51 to 50% in 2023-24.

CareEdge's poor-monsoon resilience index covers 19 states. A lower score means a state is less able to withstand a weak monsoon. Odisha had the lowest score at 26.1, followed by Chhattisgarh at 32.7 and Madhya Pradesh at 34.2.

Around 94% of the land used for sugarcane is irrigated. For cotton, only 33% is irrigated. Cotton production falls by around 2% during weak El Niño years and by around 13% during strong El Niño years.

Source: Mint, Plain Facts, 3 August 2026; Agriculture Ministry.

Fiscal policy and infrastructure

The Centre has prepared a ₹5,000 crore development plan for India's North-East region for FY27.

The plan includes:

• Around 270 kilometres of roads.
• All-weather connectivity for 225 villages.
• Construction or improvement of around 70 school infrastructure projects across the eight north-eastern states.
• Education projects expected to benefit around 292,000 students.
• Five hospitals with modern healthcare facilities.
• Healthcare services expected to reach more than 1.36 million people.
• Improvements that will help five district hospitals reach at least 22 beds for every 100,000 people.

The Department of Expenditure has allocated ₹2,306 crore for PM-DevINE and ₹2,500 crore for Nesids in FY27.

The projects are expected to benefit around 6,000 people during the year. This includes 3,000 people through social development initiatives, 500 through livelihood projects and 2,500 through infrastructure projects.

Source: Mint, 3 August 2026.

India's power regulator has proposed transmission charge waivers for clean energy projects delayed because transmission lines were not available.

The draft proposal from the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission would cover solar, wind and hybrid projects that missed their commissioning deadlines. The relief would apply to projects that sign power sale contracts of at least seven years by 31 December 2026.

The regulator has also proposed extending the benefit to battery storage systems built as part of renewable energy projects.

Source: Mint, 3 August 2026.

The Centre is preparing to expand water metro systems across Indian cities. The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways is drafting the National Water Metro Guidelines, 2026.

Four hybrid-electric vessels have already been deployed in Varanasi, Ayodhya, Patna and Kolkata. A hydrogen fuel-cell vessel has also been deployed in Varanasi.

Kochi Metro Rail Ltd and the Inland Waterways Authority of India have completed feasibility studies for 18 locations across the country.

Source: Mint, 3 August 2026.

Public health and other indicators

The Centre has asked states to improve dengue surveillance and increase mosquito-control efforts.

India has reported 13,336 dengue cases and 12 deaths this year. Tamil Nadu has reported the highest number, with 4,973 infections and two deaths.

Petrol sales by Indian Oil, BPCL and HPCL rose 9.7% year-on-year to 3.45 million tonnes in July. Diesel sales increased 10.7% to 7.12 million tonnes.

Source: Mint, 3 August 2026.

The RBI's concessional swap facility attracted $40.82 billion by 31 July. The facility was introduced to encourage foreign currency inflows.

The inflows included:

• $36.725 billion through FCNR(B) deposits.
• $2.575 billion through overseas foreign currency borrowings.
• $1.516 billion through external commercial borrowings.

Source: Reserve Bank of India, via Mint.

India recorded 23.66 billion UPI transactions in July 2026. This was up from 23.2 billion in May and 22.72 billion in June.

Axis Capital expects India's data centre capacity to reach between 3 GW and 3.6 GW by 2030.

Source: Mint; NPCI; Axis Capital.

The India Meteorological Department issued a low to moderate flash-flood risk warning for parts of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Uttarakhand for the next 24 hours.

Widespread rainfall was forecast for Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Punjab from 3 to 6 August.

Source: Mint, 3 August 2026.

Corporate action and earnings

Earnings

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries

Sun Pharma's Q1FY27 net profit rose 27% year-on-year to ₹2,895 crore. Adjusted net profit increased 3.1% to ₹3,089 crore.

Revenue rose 10.5% to ₹15,300 crore, while EBITDA increased 2.7% to ₹4,418 crore.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report, 31 July 2026.

ITC

ITC's Q1FY27 net profit fell 27% year-on-year to ₹3,579 crore. Revenue declined 14.5% to ₹16,907 crore.

The company linked the weak performance to the conflict in West Asia. The conflict raised crude-linked input costs and caused major disruptions to trade and supply chains.

ITC's reported cigarette-business revenue increased 73.71% to ₹16,596.67 crore from ₹9,553.86 crore a year earlier.

The company attributed the increase to its “staggered pricing approach amidst unprecedented increase in tax”. However, gross revenue in the cigarette segment, which removes the pass-through effect of duties, fell 31.45% to ₹3,769.11 crore from ₹5,498.93 crore.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report, 31 July 2026; PTI via Mint.

Maruti Suzuki

Maruti Suzuki's Q1FY27 net profit fell 10.8% year-on-year to ₹3,352 crore, even though revenue rose 35.9% to ₹52,456 crore.

EBITDA declined 14.5%, and the EBITDA margin narrowed to 8.2% from 13.1%. Material costs rose 46%, offsetting the benefit of higher sales.

The company's June-quarter volumes rose 29% to 683,000 units.

Maruti commissioned its second plant at Kharkhoda during Q1FY27. It also added a fourth assembly line in Gujarat in July. Together, these projects added 500,000 units of annual capacity and raised total installed capacity to 2.9 million units.

The company sold 219,000 utility vehicles during the quarter, an increase of 35% year-on-year. Its market share rose by 230 basis points to 41.2%. Dealer inventory stood at 13 days.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report, 31 July 2026; Mint, 3 August 2026.

Dixon Technologies

Dixon Technologies reported a nearly three-fold increase in consolidated Q1FY27 net profit to ₹663 crore. Revenue rose 21% year-on-year to ₹15,548 crore.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report, 31 July 2026.

Skoda Auto Volkswagen India

Skoda Auto Volkswagen India Pvt Ltd reported a 48% increase in FY26 net profit to ₹139 crore. Total revenue rose 11% to ₹22,338 crore.

The group more than doubled financial assistance to its Indian subsidiary. Assistance rose to a four-year high of ₹1,341 crore from ₹564 crore a year earlier.

After removing these payments, revenue from operations increased 8% to ₹20,649 crore.

Domestic sales of Skoda Auto rose 68% to 75,556 units in FY26. Volkswagen Cars sales fell 11% to 37,576 units.

Source: Mint; Ministry of Corporate Affairs filings dated 24 July; SIAM.

Godfrey Phillips India

Godfrey Phillips India's consolidated net profit fell 44.3% to ₹198.39 crore.

Revenue from operations was ₹3,819.56 crore. This figure largely reflected ₹2,614 crore in excise duty paid during the quarter.

Source: PTI via Mint, 3 August 2026.

Raymond Lifestyle

Raymond Lifestyle's consolidated revenue rose 6% year-on-year to ₹1,516 crore in the June quarter.

Its consolidated net loss widened to ₹23 crore from ₹20 crore a year earlier.

Revenue by business was:

The company ended the June quarter with 1,627 stores across its brands.

Policy, regulation and corporate action

Offshore oil and gas exploration

The Union Cabinet approved Samudra Manthan, an ₹84,084 crore National Offshore Exploration Scheme.

The programme aims to increase offshore oil and gas exploration through FY2030-31.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report, 31 July 2026.

Floating solar and battery storage

The Union Cabinet approved the Pradhan Mantri Surya Sarovar Yojana.

The ₹5,070 crore programme aims to develop 5,000 MW of floating solar capacity, together with 10,000 MWh of integrated battery storage.

Projects will be sanctioned between FY27 and FY31. Financial assistance will continue until FY33.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report, 31 July 2026.

Fiscal deficit

India's fiscal deficit stood at ₹3.08 lakh crore at the end of June. This was 18.2% of the full-year FY27 target, slightly above 17.9% a year earlier.

The deficit nearly doubled from May, when it was ₹1.62 lakh crore, or 9.6% of the annual target.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report, 31 July 2026.

Crude oil import bill

India's crude oil import bill reached a record $49.66 billion in Q1FY27, an increase of 61% year-on-year.

India imported 60.48 million tonnes of crude, which was similar to the previous year. However, higher oil prices and a weaker rupee sharply increased the value of imports.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report, 31 July 2026.

SEBI closing auction session

SEBI's closing auction session takes effect on Monday, 3 August 2026.

The NSE and BSE will move 208 stocks with derivatives trading from a continuous, volume-based closing-price calculation to an auction-based system.

The process will work as follows:

• Continuous trading will run from 9:15 am to 3:15 pm.
• The closing auction will run from 3:15 pm to 3:30 pm.
• Orders will be limited to a 3% price band around the volume-weighted average price reference.
• Orders will be matched from 3:30 pm to 3:35 pm.
• The final auction price will be announced at 3:35 pm.
• Derivatives trading in these stocks will continue until 3:40 pm, allowing contracts to settle using the auction price.

Source: Mint, 3 August 2026.

Zee Entertainment, Subhash Chandra and Punit Goenka

SEBI restrained Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, founder and chairman emeritus Subhash Chandra, and chief executive Punit Goenka from accessing the securities market.

The case relates to the unauthorised pledge of the company's land in Hyderabad for loans taken by Essel Group entities.

ZEEL has been barred for two months. Chandra and Goenka have each been barred for 12 months.

On Friday, ZEEL shareholders approved a ₹3,143.5 crore fundraising plan. The transaction would increase the promoter's stake from around 4% to 23.79%.

Source: Mint, 3 August 2026.

HCL Technologies and Google

HCL Technologies could lose around one-fourth of its annual business from Google, or up to $50 million. Google has decided to bundle that work into a separate deal.

HCLTech earned around $200 million annually from Google. A loss of $50 million would equal around 0.3% of HCLTech's $14.66 billion revenue and around 6% of its incremental revenue in the previous financial year.

The company also lost around $25 million of new application-development work.

Source: Mint, citing two people with knowledge of the matter, 3 August 2026.

Global insurers in India

Global insurers are increasing their focus on India after the country allowed 100% foreign ownership in the insurance sector.

South Korea's Hanwha Group and South Africa's Discovery are among the companies evaluating opportunities.

India's insurance sector had assets under management of ₹74.4 trillion in FY25. Insurance penetration stood at 3.7%.

Source: Mint; Economic Survey 2026; Press Information Bureau data from April.

Mahindra Lifespace Developers

Mahindra Lifespace Developers expects residential pre-sales of ₹4,500 crore to ₹5,000 crore in FY27, up from ₹3,405 crore in FY26.

The company aims to reach annual sales bookings of ₹10,000 crore by FY30.

Its FY27 launch pipeline across Mumbai, Bengaluru and Pune has a combined gross development value of ₹10,000 crore.

Source: Mint, 3 August 2026.

NTT Data Payment Services India

NTT Data Payment Services India plans to expand into consumer-facing commercial businesses.

The planned services include merchant solutions, direct customer onboarding, cross-border payments and, eventually, lending to small businesses.

Source: Mint, 3 August 2026.

Assetz IPO and Rolta India resolution plan

Real estate developer Assetz Ltd has filed preliminary papers with SEBI through the confidential route. It plans to raise around ₹1,200 crore through an initial public offering.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal dismissed the Department of Telecommunications' appeal against the ₹900 crore resolution plan for Rolta India submitted by Ashdan Properties.

The Department of Telecommunications had claimed statutory dues of ₹469.09 crore.

Source: Mint News Wrap, 3 August 2026.

Hiring among Sensex companies

Among the 30 Sensex companies, total new hires at nine companies fell 27% in FY26 compared with FY24. Two companies increased hiring.

Reliance Industries hired 170,000 people in FY24, 190,000 in FY25 and 100,000 in FY26.

HDFC Bank's new hiring fell from 89,115 in FY24 to 45,902 in FY26.

State Bank of India hired 10,661 people in FY24, 1,770 in FY25 and 25,633 in FY26.

Source: Mint, 3 August 2026.

Upcoming events

Economic calendar

The week ahead

Earnings calendar

Global pulse

Global market close

Global equity markets ended higher. Japan's Nikkei 225 recorded the largest gain, rising 4.03%.

The S&P 500 rose 1.65%, the Dow Jones gained 1.19% and the Nasdaq 100 increased 1.12%.

Global corporate and market developments

Brent crude rose above $88 per barrel and was on track for a monthly gain of more than 20%. Rising tensions between the US and Iran increased concerns about possible disruption to oil supplies from the Middle East.

Prices remained high even though tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz had improved.

Apple shares fell 7% in pre-market trading after the company issued a weaker-than-expected forecast. Apple said strong AI-related data centre demand had reduced the supply of some components.

If the decline continued during regular trading, Apple could lose more than $360 billion in market value.

Chevron reported adjusted Q2 earnings of $12 billion, or $6.06 per share. Earnings were above analyst estimates and were the company's highest quarterly profit in at least six years.

High oil prices caused by the US-Israel-Iran conflict helped Chevron's earnings. The company's shares rose around 2% in pre-market trading.

MediaTek approved a $5 billion discretionary financing budget for its long-term growth strategy. This includes its expansion into AI chips for data centres.

Linde signed a long-term agreement to supply ultra-high-purity industrial gases to one of the world's largest semiconductor manufacturers. The company will invest around $1 billion in Arizona to serve the project.

The South Korean won strengthened to around 1,435 per US dollar. It gained more than 8% in July, its strongest monthly performance since March 2009.

Reports of official dollar-selling intervention helped the currency rise.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report, 31 July 2026.

West Asia and energy

US President Donald Trump said he would order American forces to pause new strikes against Iran.

He claimed that US allies in West Asia had agreed on the main terms of a deal to end the five-month war.

Trump wrote in a social media post:

“would include the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran's nuclear threat.”

Donald Trump, US President

A regional official involved in mediation said the proposal would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and halt attacks across the region.

In exchange, the US would end its naval blockade on Iran and allow Tehran to export oil under the tentative ceasefire arrangement.

The official said that no final deal had been reached. Israel did not publicly comment on the announcement.

Israeli strikes across Gaza on Sunday killed at least eight Palestinians, including two children. More than a dozen people were wounded, based on information from local health officials.

At least 1,222 Palestinians, including at least 260 children, have been killed since the October ceasefire, according to Gaza's health ministry. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed during the same period.

Source: AP via Mint, 3 August 2026.

Seven OPEC+ members, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, agreed to increase their combined production target by another 188,000 barrels per day in September.

The increase completes, on paper, the reversal of two layers of production cuts introduced in 2023.

The seven-country group will next meet on 6 September.

Source: Bloomberg via Mint, 3 August 2026.

Markets, supply chains and climate

The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index fell 21% in July, its worst month since October 2008.

The decline removed $2.2 trillion from the index's total market value.

• TSMC's American depositary receipts fell 15%, removing more than $380 billion in market value.
• Micron Technology fell 29%, removing around $374 billion.
• Intel fell 35%, removing around $247 billion.

The index rose 8.3% during the final two trading days of July. Even after this recovery, it remained 23% below the record high reached on 22 June.

Water levels at Kaub, an important shipping point on Germany's Rhine river, fell to 25 centimetres on Friday. This matched the low recorded during the 2018 drought.

The level was forecast to fall to 24 centimetres during the week. This would be the lowest level since records began in 1880.

Low water levels make it difficult for ships to carry full loads. During 2018, low Rhine levels reduced German industrial production by as much as 1.5%.

Inland shipping's share of Germany's total freight transport fell from 4.7% in 2017 to 4.1% in 2024.

Source: Bloomberg via Mint; German federal data compiled by ETH Zurich.

Hungary is fully closing its only nuclear power plant for the first time in the plant's 44-year history.

The shutdown will remove 40% of Hungary's electricity-generation capacity and force the government to increase power imports.

Romania's energy sector will remain under a state of alert throughout August.

Source: Bloomberg via Mint, 3 August 2026.

Currency traders are watching for further joint intervention by Japan and the US.

Coordinated operations in Tokyo and New York during the previous week led to a recovery in the yen.

The yen closed at 157.40 per US dollar in New York on Friday, its strongest level since early May. It had earlier traded close to 164, its weakest level since 1986.

Source: Bloomberg via Mint, 3 August 2026.

Silicon Valley startup Arcee AI completed a 33-day pre-training run for Trinity Large, an open-weight AI model.

The model was trained using 2,048 Nvidia Blackwell B300 chips. The project had a budget of around $20 million.

AI startups raised $255.5 billion during the first quarter. Nearly two-thirds of this amount came from only three funding rounds involving OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI.

Source: The Wall Street Journal via Mint; PitchBook.

Management commentary

“Our sanctioned and sanctionable pipeline is close to ₹50,000 crore across around 100 accounts. We are seeing encouraging demand from battery energy storage, power evacuation infrastructure, green energy projects and data centres. These are largely new-age investment opportunities where companies are investing equity and seeking debt funding for expansion.”

Brajesh Kumar Singh, MD and CEO, Canara Bank, on sectors creating new corporate credit demand

“In sum, the financial markets required by a developed economy must be built before the economy reaches developed status, not afterwards. This will require more than an increase in issuance or trading volumes. It brings me to my second proposition: moving from scale to depth.”

Rohit Jain, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, on building financial infrastructure before the economy reaches developed status

“The money that would have gone to new employees is now going to AI and data centre costs, the latter due to the steep rise in server and memory prices.”

Sridhar Vembu, Founder, Zoho Corp

“One argument global investors are making is that India has not been a major participant in the AI trade.”

Nitin Bhasin, Head of Institutional Equities, Ambit

“This year is going to be about consolidation because there has been a lot of ups and downs in Raymond Lifestyle. We would directionally try to double in five years, but the whole piece is on the quality of growth rather than the quantity.”

Satyaki Ghosh, CEO, Raymond Lifestyle

Weekend recap

GST collections rise 15.4% in July

India's gross GST collections rose 15.4% year-on-year to more than ₹2.11 lakh crore in July.

Net GST collections also increased 15.4% to ₹1.81 lakh crore, despite high refunds.

GST collected on imports was the main source of growth. Import GST rose 38.8% to ₹66,511 crore.

Domestic GST collections increased 10.1%.

Collections from major manufacturing states, including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Telangana, also rose.

Manoj Mishra, partner and tax controversy management leader at Grant Thornton Bharat, said:

“The July GST collections are a compelling vote of confidence in India's economic resilience.”

Manoj Mishra, partner and tax controversy management leader, Grant Thornton Bharat

He linked the rise in import GST to higher merchandise imports, a weaker rupee that raised the taxable value of imported goods, and high global energy and freight costs caused by continued tensions in West Asia.

MS Mani, partner-tax at Deloitte India, said:

“The steady growth in GST collections each month on domestic consumption indicates that overall domestic consumption is becoming largely insulated from seasonal variations and external headwinds.”

MS Mani, partner-tax, Deloitte India

Source: The Economic Times, 2 August 2026.

Passenger vehicle dispatches reach a monthly record

Around 469,000 passenger cars, utility vehicles and vans were sent from factories to dealerships in July. This was an increase of 34% from a year earlier and the highest monthly total on record.

The previous record was 460,000 units in October 2025.

Improved affordability after GST rate reductions and continued consumer demand helped sales.

Passenger vehicle sales had already increased 25% in April, 27% in May and 24% in June. These figures include electric cars.

RBI's dollar window crosses $40 billion

The RBI's special measures for attracting foreign exchange brought in $40.81 billion by 31 July.

Most of this money came through foreign currency non-resident bank deposits, or FCNR(B) deposits.

FCNR(B) deposits contributed $36.72 billion. This was more than the $26 billion raised under a similar programme in 2013, even though the current programme had been running for less than two months after its launch on 8 June.

FCNR(B) inflows increased 77% from $20.72 billion reported on 17 July.

Inflows through other facilities grew more slowly:

• External commercial borrowing inflows rose to $1.51 billion from $1.34 billion.
• Overseas foreign currency borrowing inflows increased to $2.57 billion from $1.34 billion.

Banks can swap the deposits with the RBI using a zero-cost hedging facility available until 30 September.

Banks can raise money through external commercial borrowings and overseas foreign currency borrowings until the end of the year.

Total dollar inflows could reach an estimated $80 billion to $85 billion.

Source: The Economic Times, 2 August 2026; Reserve Bank of India.

UPI sets a July record

UPI processed a record 23.66 billion transactions worth ₹29.88 lakh crore in July.

Transaction volume rose 4% from 22.72 billion in June. Transaction value increased 3.1% month-on-month.

Compared with July of the previous year, transaction volume rose 22% and transaction value increased 19%.

The average daily value of transactions fell slightly to ₹96,383 crore from ₹96,466 crore in June. However, the average number of daily transactions rose to 763 million.

Reeju Datta, co-founder of Cashfree Payments, said:

“It is not larger purchases by existing urban users that is driving the numbers.”

Reeju Datta, co-founder, Cashfree Payments

In June, the combined UPI market share of PhonePe and Google Pay fell to 78.8%. Their combined share had remained above 80% for several years.

Source: The Economic Times, 2 August 2026; NPCI.

Centre releases ₹1.09 lakh crore early to states

The Centre released ₹1.09 lakh crore in tax devolution to states on Saturday.

The transfer was made before the regular monthly payment due on 10 August. The aim was to improve state cash flows and help states spend faster on infrastructure and development projects.

The finance ministry said the early release was part of the government's commitment to strengthen state finances and allow projects to move ahead without waiting for the normal monthly transfer.

Source: The Economic Times, 2 August 2026.

Visakhapatnam gets a chip plant and a new airport

Construction has begun on South India's first semiconductor packaging facility.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually laid the foundation stone for ASIP Technologies' ₹2,387 crore project in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.

The 30-acre facility will package and test 96 million chips each year during its first phase. ASIP Technologies plans to invest an additional amount of more than ₹2,000 crore.

The outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing project is expected to create more than 1,000 direct high-skilled jobs and 1,800 indirect jobs.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu joined the ceremony virtually.

The prime minister also inaugurated the new Visakhapatnam airport.

GMR Visakhapatnam International Airport developed the airport under a public-private partnership at a cost of ₹5,648 crore.

Commercial operations will begin on 17 August. The airport will initially be able to handle 6 million passengers a year, with room to expand to more than 40 million passengers in phases.

The existing Visakhapatnam airport will stop handling civilian flights and will continue operating as a naval base.

Source: The Economic Times, 2 August 2026.

Other weekend developments

Coal India's July production rose 8.4% year-on-year to 50.36 million tonnes. Supplies reached a record high for the month.

Zepto agreed with its major shareholders to close a pre-IPO equity funding round. The quick-commerce company has delayed its proposed stock-market listing.

Zepto plans to update its draft red herring prospectus after publishing its upcoming financial results. The company had cash reserves of ₹5,681 crore as of 31 March 2026.

Muthoot Finance reported a 25% year-on-year increase in standalone Q1 net profit to ₹2,550 crore. Its loan assets rose 43% to ₹1.72 lakh crore. Consolidated assets under management increased 43% to ₹1.91 lakh crore.

The delay in the NEET retest and the later postponement of medical counselling disrupted the higher-education admissions cycle.

Some medical aspirants continued to hold seats in engineering colleges while waiting for the medical admissions process. The NEET UG 2026 examination was held again on 21 June after a paper leak.

Recruiters and hospitals reported more hiring for obesity-care roles as demand for GLP-1 treatments increased.

Openings for nutrition professionals rose between 23% and 30% month-on-month from January, based on TeamLease data.

Roles in demand included clinical dietitians, medical nutrition advisers, patient educators and nutrition specialists focused on GLP-1 treatments. Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai were the main emerging hiring centres.

The UAE's Financial Intelligence Unit temporarily froze funds and digital wallets belonging to Sanpal and four companies connected with them.

Source: The Economic Times, 2 August 2026.