DayStarter

Market snapshot

Equities, sectors, F&O movers, commodities, currency and bonds at the 6 August 2026 close.

Equities: Thursday close

The Nifty opened almost flat at 24,641 despite positive global markets. It remained in a narrow range during the morning, mostly between 24,612 and 24,660.

Buying picked up around 11 am and pushed the index to an intraday high of around 24,675. The gains did not last, and the Nifty quickly gave them up before the first half ended.

Trading remained volatile in the afternoon. The index touched an intraday low of around 24,605 at 1:45 pm before closing almost unchanged at 24,636. The session extended the market’s recent period of range-bound trading.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report.

Sector performance

PSU Bank was the strongest sector, rising 2.20%. Nifty Bank gained 0.56%, while Consumer Durables rose 0.31%.

Realty was the weakest sector, falling 1.32%. Media declined 1.28%, Auto fell 1.01%, and Metal lost 0.99%.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report.

F&O winners and losers

Mazagon Dock was the strongest F&O stock, rising 6.28%. Hindustan Aeronautics gained 5.92%, while Kalyan Jewellers rose 5%.

Blue Star was the biggest loser, falling 5.65%. Power Grid declined 3.90%.

Source: Zerodha Technicals.

Commodities

Crude oil futures rose 1.62%. Copper gained 1.27%, while zinc rose 1.17%.

Gold increased 0.81%. Silver fell slightly by 0.10%, while natural gas declined 0.55%.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report.

Currency and bond yields

USDINR rose 0.13% to 95.34.

The US 10-year bond yield fell slightly to 4.61%. India’s 10-year bond yield remained unchanged at 6.77%.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report.

Macro view

Monetary policy and inflation

The RBI kept the repo rate unchanged at 5.25% for a fourth consecutive meeting. The Monetary Policy Committee also kept its neutral stance, which means future decisions will depend on incoming economic data.

The RBI raised its FY27 GDP growth forecast to 6.7% from 6.6%.

It lowered its FY27 CPI inflation forecast to 5.0% from 5.1%.

However, the RBI increased its Q4 inflation forecast to 5.5% from 5.4%. This keeps the possibility of future rate increases open.

Source: Mint.

Manufacturing and services activity

The HSBC India Manufacturing PMI fell to 53.5 in July from 54.2 in June.

This was its lowest level since August 2021. New orders weakened sharply and companies reduced purchases of inputs. Export demand improved, while inflation pressure became weaker.

The HSBC India Services PMI fell more sharply to 53.3 in July from 57.4 in June.

This was the slowest expansion in nearly four years. Difficult market conditions, slower growth in new business and delayed orders affected activity.

A PMI above 50 still indicates expansion.

Source: Mint; HSBC; S&P Global.

FCNR(B) inflows

Indian banks received around $28 billion in net new FCNR(B) deposits between 5 June and 30 July.

The RBI introduced special incentives to attract foreign currency and help the rupee.

The remaining inflows went to small finance banks and co-operative banks.

The banks with the largest net inflows were:

These figures measure the change in outstanding balances between 5 June and 30 July.

Source: Mint; Finance Ministry; Lok Sabha answer dated 3 August 2026.

Tax and appropriation bills

The Lok Sabha passed the Taxation and Other Laws Amendment Bill, 2026.

The Bill seeks to amend:

• The Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.
• The Income-tax Act, 2025.
• The Finance Act, 2026.

The change to the Payment and Settlement Systems Act could allow banks to charge merchant discount rate, or MDR, on large UPI transactions in the future.

The Rajya Sabha also returned the Appropriation No. 3 Bill, 2026, to the Lok Sabha after approving it.

The Bill allows the government to withdraw and use additional money from the Consolidated Fund of India for expenditure relating to financial year 2025-26.

Source: Mint.

Kharif crops and rainfall

The kharif season has received 13% less rainfall than normal so far.

Total kharif acreage is almost 3% lower than a year ago.

Crop trends were mixed:

• Urad acreage rose nearly 11%.
• Tur acreage fell 9.2%.
• Paddy acreage fell 2.6%.

Urad was planted across 2.108 million hectares as of 31 July 2026, up from 1.9 million hectares a year earlier.

However, acreage remains below the five-year normal of 2.96 million hectares.

The price of fair average quality Myanmar-origin urad rose around 6%, from approximately $789 per tonne in late October 2025 to $835 to $840 per tonne for June and July 2026 shipments.

Government estimates suggest Brazil and Myanmar could together export nearly 900,000 tonnes of urad to India this year.

Source: Mint; Agriculture Ministry.

GOBARdhan bioenergy scheme

The Union Cabinet approved GOBARdhan, India’s National Circular Bioenergy Scheme.

The programme has an outlay of ₹23,731 crore and will run from FY27 to FY36.

It aims to convert:

• Agricultural residue.
• Cattle dung.
• Municipal organic waste.
• Other biomass.

The output will include compressed biogas, organic manure and additional rural income.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report.

Non-fossil power capacity

India’s non-fossil fuel electricity-generation capacity crossed 300 GW.

The government remains on track towards its target of 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.

India added 30.58 GW of non-fossil capacity between January and June.

Source: Mint; PTI.

Railway locomotive exports

RITES is developing a standard-gauge version of Indian Railways’ diesel locomotives.

The aim is to create a much larger export market for locomotives that India no longer needs domestically.

Indian Railways has more than 10,000 electric locomotives and around 5,000 diesel locomotives.

Many diesel locomotives still have another 10 to 15 years of useful life.

Source: Mint.

Weather

Heavy rainfall may continue across parts of north-western, central, eastern and north-eastern India during the coming week.

The India Meteorological Department warned of possible localised flash floods in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Source: Mint; India Meteorological Department.

RBI recovery rules delayed

The RBI delayed its new rules on loan recovery and the use of recovery agents by three months.

The rules will now take effect on 1 January 2027 instead of 1 October 2026.

The RBI also clarified that the rules will not apply to employees directly employed by lenders.

Banks must create a dedicated system for handling complaints related to loan recovery.

Source: Mint.

SEBI priorities

SEBI’s priorities for FY27 include:

• Simplifying regulations.
• Reducing compliance requirements.
• Deepening capital markets.
• Increasing the use of technology in supervision.

SEBI also plans to introduce a fast-track system for launching Alternative Investment Fund schemes.

A single-window approval system will be created for intermediaries operating across several market infrastructure institutions.

Appeals against SEBI orders before the Securities Appellate Tribunal fell to 429 in FY26 from 533 a year earlier.

Settlement collections fell sharply to ₹109.8 crore from ₹798.9 crore in FY25.

Settlement applications declined to 439 from 703.

Source: Mint; SEBI annual report.

Corporate filing gap

More than one in three eligible Indian companies failed to file annual returns or financial statements in 2024-25.

Companies failing to file annual returns increased from 252,394, or 22.6% of eligible companies, in 2020-21 to 664,576, or 37.7%, in 2024-25.

Enforcement remained limited.

Of more than 664,000 companies that did not file annual returns in FY25, action was started against only 277.

Of more than 662,000 companies that did not file financial statements, only 291 faced action.

Source: Mint; Lok Sabha data dated 20 July 2026.

Drug approval rules

Pharmaceutical companies and other applicants may be banned from submitting new drug-approval applications if they provide fake or fabricated data.

India’s drug regulator is also preparing a new system for importing bulk drugs and finished medicines.

The approval process will move online.

Source: Mint; Health Ministry.

Truck fuel testing

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency will regularly review the development of Bharat Vecto.

The review comes during disagreements with the automobile industry over stricter Constant Speed Fuel Consumption testing rules for medium and heavy commercial vehicles.

Source: Mint.

Numbers in focus

• 2.9%: Decline in kharif crop sowing as of 31 July compared with a year earlier. Better July rainfall narrowed the shortfall from around 4% to 6% earlier.
• 40%: Increase in the FY27 apprenticeship target to 600,000 students. The programme has an allocation of ₹1,250 crore.
• ₹31,552 crore: Amount raised through LIC’s offer for sale, the largest public share sale by an Indian company. The Centre’s ownership fell to 90%.
• 2.37 million tonnes: India’s LPG consumption in July, the highest in six months.
• 37: Sanctioned number of Supreme Court judges, excluding the Chief Justice of India, up from 33 after Parliament passed the Supreme Court Number of Judges Amendment Bill, 2026.
• 34: Number of companies where more than 90% of promoter holdings were pledged at the end of Q1FY27, up from 30 in the March quarter and 32 a year earlier.

Source: Mint.

Corporate action and earnings

Tata Sons remains an upper-layer NBFC

The RBI kept Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd on its list of upper-layer non-banking financial companies for FY27.

Tata Sons will therefore continue to face stricter regulatory requirements while the RBI considers its application to surrender its core investment company registration.

Tata Sons is one of 17 upper-layer NBFCs under the RBI’s Scale-Based Regulation system.

Its inclusion does not determine the outcome of its pending deregistration request.

Tata Sons had standalone assets of ₹2.01 trillion at the end of March 2026.

It is the only unlisted company among the 17 NBFCs on the current upper-layer list.

PNB Housing Finance and Sammaan Capital no longer meet the revised criteria but will remain in the upper layer because companies must stay under the stricter framework for at least five years after being classified.

Source: Mint; Zerodha AfterMarket Report.

Closing auction and option-expiry risk

The new closing auction system could create unexpected stock-delivery obligations for derivative traders and institutional funds during monthly stock-option expiries.

Final settlement prices are known only after the closing auction order-matching process ends.

The first important test will come with monthly stock-option expiries on:

• 25 August for the NSE.
• 27 August for the BSE.

Index derivative traders will not face this delivery issue because index contracts are settled entirely in cash.

Source: Mint.

Clearing and settlement changes

SEBI proposed broad changes to settlement and risk-management rules.

The proposal would:

• Give clearing corporations more operational responsibility.
• Remove outdated rules.
• Reduce compliance and reporting requirements for market infrastructure institutions.

Source: Mint.

LIC

LIC reported Q1FY27 standalone net profit of ₹13,492 crore, up 23% year-on-year.

Net premium income rose 7% to ₹1.27 lakh crore.

The insurer sold 31.02 lakh individual policies during the quarter, an increase of 2%.

Annualised premium equivalent was ₹13,692 crore.

Value of new business increased 61.32% to ₹3,136 crore.

The net VNB margin improved by 750 basis points to 22.9% from 15.4% a year earlier.

Chief executive and managing director R. Doraiswamy said the improvement came entirely from a better product mix.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report; Mint.

Trent

Trent’s Q1FY27 net profit rose 26% year-on-year to ₹532 crore.

Revenue increased 18.5% to ₹5,666 crore.

Growth was driven by continued expansion of Westside and Zudio beyond major cities.

Revenue was below the Bloomberg consensus estimate of ₹5,870 crore.

Slower demand at existing stores kept overall performance below market expectations.

During Q1, Trent:

• Added 22 Zudio stores.
• Added one Westside store.
• Consolidated three Zudio stores.
• Entered nine new cities.

Its store portfolio reached:

• 301 Westside stores.
• 982 Zudio stores, including seven in the UAE.
• 29 stores across other lifestyle formats.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report; Mint.

Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel’s consolidated EBITDA grew 6% from the previous quarter to ₹33,302 crore.

India mobile average revenue per user rose 2.7% quarter-on-quarter to ₹264.

The postpaid customer base grew 3.6% to 30 million.

India mobile EBITDA rose 4% quarter-on-quarter to ₹18,187 crore.

Enterprise EBITDA increased 5.7% to ₹2,492 crore.

Home broadband subscriber additions fell 58% from the previous quarter to 473,000.

Source: Mint.

Berger Paints

Berger Paints India reported Q1FY27 consolidated revenue of ₹3,583 crore, up 12% year-on-year.

Decorative-paints volumes rose 8.4%.

Gross margin was 40.9%.

EBITDA margin increased to 16.9%.

The company retained its FY27 operating-margin guidance of 15% to 17%.

Source: Mint.

Samvardhana Motherson International

Samvardhana Motherson International’s Q1 consolidated net profit rose 77.5% to ₹1,075.66 crore.

Revenue from operations increased to ₹35,243.77 crore from ₹30,212 crore a year earlier.

Source: Mint.

Input costs and margins

A review of standalone results from 642 non-banking, financial-services and insurance companies showed higher input-cost pressure in Q1FY27.

Raw material costs represented almost 45% of net sales and around 50% of total expenditure.

In Q1FY23, the figures were 42% and 47%.

Aggregate net profit fell nearly 9% year-on-year.

Operating margins fell by around 450 basis points to 15.3%.

Net profit margins declined almost 300 basis points to 8.4%.

Both margins were at their lowest levels since FY23.

Source: Mint.

KKR acquires Medicover Hospitals India

KKR agreed to buy Medicover Hospitals India at an enterprise value of EUR 1.2 billion, or $1.4 billion.

The transaction will generate EUR 740 million of gross cash proceeds for Medicover.

Medicover India was established in 2017.

It operates:

• 24 hospitals.
• Around 4,800 beds.
• More than 80 clinical specialities.
• More than 1,900 doctors.

The network operates across South and West India.

Kotak Investment Banking advised KKR.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report; Mint.

Swiggy FY31 plan

Swiggy set a five-year target to build a ₹10,000 crore adjusted EBITDA business by FY31.

It plans to more than triple consolidated gross order value to around ₹2.5 trillion by FY31.

This would imply a compound annual growth rate of more than 30%.

Adjusted EBITDA margins are targeted at around 4% of gross order value.

Swiggy also expects earnings per share to improve from a loss of ₹16 in FY26 to a profit of ₹30 to ₹33 by FY31.

At the end of the June quarter, Swiggy had:

• B2C gross order value of ₹18,926 crore.
• 27.5 million average monthly transacting users.

Swiggy shares rose nearly 5% after the announcement before giving up most gains and trading 0.5% higher at ₹297.90.

The company said it has no debt and holds ₹14,400 crore in cash.

Source: Mint.

Shiprocket IPO

Shiprocket’s ₹1,618 crore IPO will open on 12 August.

The price band is ₹92 to ₹97 per share.

The IPO includes:

• Fresh issue of up to ₹885.5 crore.
• Offer for sale of up to ₹731.9 crore.

The total issue is smaller than the ₹2,342 crore planned in the draft prospectus filed in December.

Shiprocket reported FY26 operating revenue of ₹2,024 crore, up from ₹1,632 crore in the previous year.

Source: Mint.

Milky Mist IPO

Milky Mist’s IPO will run from 11 to 13 August.

The price band is ₹133 to ₹140 per share of face value ₹2.

The issue size has been reduced to ₹1,553 crore from the ₹2,035 crore proposed last July.

The company previously raised ₹357 crore before the IPO.

Source: Mint.

OfBusiness IPO plans

OFB Tech Pvt., which operates OfBusiness, is considering reviving plans for an IPO.

The company could raise as much as $800 million.

It may file its draft prospectus as early as November.

Source: Mint.

Nazara fundraising

Nazara Technologies plans to raise ₹733.5 crore through a preferential issue of shares.

The shares will be issued at ₹306 each.

The entire issue will be subscribed by the founders and senior management of Bluetile Games and BestPlay Systems.

Source: Mint.

Vedanta Aluminium borrowing

Vedanta Aluminium Metal Ltd is raising ₹13,500 crore from at least three banks.

Axis Bank signed a loan agreement for ₹5,500 crore.

HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank are together lending another ₹8,000 crore.

Source: Mint.

Steel expansion strategies

JSW Steel and Tata Steel are following different strategies for future growth.

JSW Steel aims to double steelmaking capacity to 80 million tonnes per annum by 2031.

Growth will come from:

• Expansion of existing plants.
• New plants.
• Joint ventures.

JSW has joint ventures with Japan’s JFE Steel and South Korea’s Posco.

These partnerships are expected to add 16 million tonnes of capacity.

JSW also raised its standalone capacity target to 62 mtpa by FY32 from an earlier target of 50 mtpa by 2031.

Tata Steel is focusing more heavily on higher-margin, value-added products.

Its domestic capacity target is 40 million tonnes, compared with current capacity of 27.4 million tonnes.

A major increase in volumes is not expected before 2031, when the 4.8 mtpa expansion at Neelachal Ispat Nigam is expected to start operations.

Source: Mint.

Coal India iron ore bid

Coal India became the highest bidder for the Gadadharpur iron ore block in Odisha’s Keonjhar district.

The block covers 265.05 hectares and contains estimated iron ore resources of around 258.04 million tonnes.

The auction premium was 114.05%.

Source: Mint; Stock exchange filing.

Two-wheeler strategy

Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor are changing their organisations and retail strategies to grow in electric vehicles and premium motorcycles and scooters.

In FY26:

• Electric two-wheeler sales rose 22% to 1.4 million units.
• Premium motorcycle sales, meaning motorcycles above 125cc, rose 15% to 3.5 million units.
• Entry-level sales rose 3% to 9.5 million units.

Source: Mint; SIAM.

Vehicle retail sales

India’s vehicle retail sales rose 25.9% year-on-year to a record 25.9 lakh units in July.

All six major vehicle segments recorded strong registrations.

Compared with June, overall sales were almost flat, falling 0.2%.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report; FADA.

super.money

Flipkart-backed fintech platform super.money plans to add a commerce-linked credit product called splitStore.

The product will sit inside its UPI-based financial-services app.

Chief executive Prakash Sikaria expects splitStore to contribute as much as 20% of platform revenue by December.

Source: Mint.

Omnivore

Venture capital firm Omnivore plans to invest most of the remaining money from its ₹1,800 crore Fund III over the next year.

It will focus on deep science and consumer brands.

Around 55% of Fund III has already been invested.

Average investments range from ₹30 crore to ₹80 crore.

Source: Mint.

Metropolis Healthcare

Metropolis Healthcare is expanding more quickly into tier-II and tier-III cities.

Around 27% to 28% of its business now comes from tier-III cities and smaller markets.

These markets are growing by around 25% to 26%, much faster than the company’s overall growth rate.

Source: Mint.

Groww and Fisdom

Fisdom co-founders Subramanya S.V. and Anand Dalmia are expected to leave Groww after completing the integration of Fisdom.

Groww bought the wealth-management company last year.

The all-cash transaction closed at around $150 million in October.

Source: Mint.

Standard Chartered at GIFT City

Standard Chartered received in-principle approval from the International Financial Services Centres Authority to distribute capital-market products from GIFT City.

The approval will allow the bank to launch its wealth-management business there.

Source: Mint.

ONGC Videsh in Venezuela

ONGC Videsh is seeking operating control of two shallow onshore oil blocks in Venezuela from state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela.

ONGC Videsh currently owns:

• 40% of the San Cristobal field.
• 11% of the Carabobo-1 block.

Source: Mint.

Bajaj and Swiss Re

Bajaj General Insurance and Swiss Re Corporate Solutions signed a memorandum of understanding to explore a commercial-insurance partnership in India.

Source: Mint.

Upcoming events

Earnings calendar: 7 August 2026

Economic calendar

Global pulse

Strait of Hormuz and crude oil

Crude oil traded above $76 per barrel after three consecutive sessions of declines.

Iran said it had reached an agreement with Oman on a temporary shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz.

Officials clarified that this would not amount to a full reopening of the strait.

An Iran-Oman agreement remained under discussion on Thursday.

Iran said the proposed shipping-lane arrangement was in its final stages.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said there was an agreement in principle on almost all major issues, including the map for entry and exit routes.

The arrangement could remain in place for two to four months.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report; Bloomberg via Mint.

UAE oil shipments

The UAE moved more oil through the Strait of Hormuz than any other producer over the previous two months.

ADNOC sold more than 130 million barrels through seven tenders since the beginning of June.

Source: Mint.

Gold and copper

Gold moved towards $4,300 per ounce.

It rose for a fourth consecutive session and gained nearly 6% during the week.

Progress towards a partial reopening of the Strait of Hormuz pushed oil prices lower and reduced concerns about inflation.

Copper futures rose to a record above $6.70 per pound.

The rise came from concerns about tighter global supply and continued strong demand.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo also announced an immediate ban on exports of copper concentrate.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report.

Lebanon

Two Israeli soldiers were killed in an explosion in southern Lebanon.

These were the first Israeli deaths since a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah began nearly two months earlier.

Source: AP via Mint.

Trump and the Federal Reserve

US President Donald Trump has spoken by phone several times with Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh since Warsh took office.

The discussions were described as another sign of Trump’s attempt to influence the central bank.

Source: Bloomberg via Mint.

Google AI leadership changes

Google is losing several senior AI researchers and executives during a major restructuring.

Alphabet shares fell 4% after the news.

Jeff Dean is leaving to start a company called Discovery Loop. Several senior colleagues are joining him.

Demis Hassabis is moving into the role of chairman at Google DeepMind.

Koray Kavukcuoglu was promoted to senior vice-president of Google DeepMind.

Source: Bloomberg via Mint.

Anthropic develops its own AI chips

Anthropic is building an internal custom-chip team for its Claude AI models.

The company wants to reduce dependence on third-party hardware while shortages of AI chips continue.

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report.

Possible US tariffs on generic drugs

Biocon is not making major changes in response to proposed US tariffs on generic medicines.

Executive Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw views the proposal more as a negotiating tactic than an immediate threat.

The proposal would introduce tariffs on imported generic medicines in stages:

• 100% in 2028.
• 200% in 2029.

Generic medicines and biosimilars make up around 90% of US prescriptions but only around 10% of drug spending by value.

Source: Mint.

Global markets

Source: Zerodha AfterMarket Report.

Global numbers

• 22,149: US F-1 student visas issued to Indian citizens in 2025, down 62% from 2024.
• 220: Employees being laid off by Etsy, equal to 12% of its workforce.
• 3,437: Candida auris cases detected across 27 US states as of 25 July, down by almost 1,000 from 4,290 during the same period last year.

Source: Mint.

Management commentary

“Margin debt is the highest it has ever been. There is a lot of margin debt you don’t see because it is not called margin debt. It is called other things.”

Jamie Dimon
Chief executive officer, JPMorgan Chase

“Seating as a product has consistently been adding a lot of value. It is going up to almost ₹30,000-40,000 as a kit value per car.”

Management, Uno Minda

“We depend on the disposable income of the customers, and when that income gets impacted, there will be an impact certainly on the way people save.”

R. Doraiswamy
Chief executive and managing director, Life Insurance Corporation of India

“Yes, we would like to be one of the largest steel players globally and I think this brings us to the top few in the world.”

Jayant Acharya
CEO and joint managing director, JSW Steel

Feature: Private equity vs venture capital

How private equity and venture capital differ

Private equity and venture capital both involve investing in privately held companies, but they usually target different kinds of businesses and use different investment approaches.

Private equity firms typically invest in established companies that already have stable operations.

They often buy a controlling stake and work closely with management to improve the company and increase its value.

Venture capital firms usually invest in younger companies with high growth potential.

These companies are often startups operating in fast-changing sectors such as technology, biotechnology and clean energy.

Venture capital firms provide funding in exchange for equity but usually take minority stakes.

Source: Corporate Finance Institute.

Leverage and funding structure

Private equity deals often use debt.

A private equity firm may borrow part of the money needed to buy a business. This is known as a leveraged buyout.

Debt can increase returns when the investment performs well, but it also increases risk.

Venture capital investments are usually funded mainly with equity.

VC investors normally do not seek control over daily operations.

Source: Corporate Finance Institute.

Private equity and venture capital compared

Source: Corporate Finance Institute.

India’s regulatory structure

In India, both private equity and venture capital investments are usually structured through Alternative Investment Funds registered with SEBI.

AIFs can register under three broad categories and their sub-categories.

Venture capital funds fall under Category I AIFs.

Category I also includes:

• Angel funds.
• SME funds.
• Social venture funds.
• Infrastructure funds.

Private equity funds generally fall under Category II AIFs.

Category II also includes real estate funds and distressed-asset funds.

Source: Invest India; SEBI Alternative Investment Funds Regulations, 2012.

Private equity and venture capital in India

Private equity and venture capital investment in India fell around 17% in 2025 to $36 billion.

Traditional private equity activity weakened, but venture capital and growth-capital investment continued to grow.

The number of deals increased by around 10%.

Average deal size fell by approximately 25% year-on-year.

This indicates that investment activity remained active, but capital was spread across smaller deals.

Exit activity was broadly stable.

Exits rose around 3% to approximately $34 billion in 2025.

Public markets remained the largest exit route.

Source: Bain & Company; IVCA.

Venture and growth equity

India’s venture capital and growth-equity market reached around $16 billion in 2025.

This was the second consecutive year of growth.

Capital raised by VC and growth-equity funds doubled to approximately $5.4 billion.

Growth was led by more funds of $100 million or larger.

Investment themes increasingly focused on:

• Artificial intelligence.
• Deeptech.
• Climate.
• Space.
• Industrial technology.

The Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association represents more than 490 funds with combined assets under management of more than $350 billion.

Taken together, the Bain and IVCA reports show that PE and VC deal volumes increased around 10% in 2025, while average deal size fell around 25%. VC and growth-equity fundraising doubled to approximately $5.4 billion.

Source: Bain & Company; IVCA.

Career differences

Both private equity and venture capital involve fast-moving and demanding work.

Private equity professionals usually spend more time on:

• Detailed financial analysis.
• Due diligence.
• Financial modelling.
• Deal negotiation.
• Portfolio-company operations.
• Strategies to improve company performance.

Venture capital work is usually more focused on:

• New technologies.
• New business models.
• Meeting founders and entrepreneurs.
• Evaluating young companies.
• Helping portfolio companies manage rapid growth.

Source: Corporate Finance Institute.

Compensation

Private equity compensation often includes:

• Base salary.
• Annual bonus.
• Carried interest, which is a share of profits from successful investments.

Venture capital compensation follows a similar structure but may place more weight on long-term incentives tied to portfolio-company success.

These are US-market averages and are not specific to India. Compensation can vary significantly by firm, fund size and location.

Source: Corporate Finance Institute, citing Glassdoor.

Choosing between PE and VC

Private equity may be a better fit for people who prefer working with established businesses and improving operations and strategy.

Venture capital may suit people more interested in innovation, emerging technologies and working with entrepreneurs building companies from an early stage.

Moving from private equity to venture capital is possible.

Transferable skills include:

• Financial analysis and valuation.
• Due diligence.
• Negotiation.
• Deal structuring.
• Understanding industries and business models.
• Relationship building.

The main difficulties in making the move are:

• VC requires more comfort with uncertainty and speculative investments.
• Sector expertise in high-growth industries becomes more important.
• Deal structures are often different from traditional private equity transactions.

Source: Corporate Finance Institute.

Examples in today’s brief

Two items in today’s corporate section show the two models in practice:

• KKR’s acquisition of Medicover Hospitals India represents a traditional private equity-style buyout.
• Omnivore’s planned investments from Fund III represent venture capital deployment into younger companies.

Source: Corporate Finance Institute; Bain & Company with IVCA; Invest India.