DayStarter

Market snapshot

Equities and sectors

The Nifty opened 144 points lower at 24,190. The weak start followed a sharp rise in crude oil prices as tensions in the Middle East increased. Investors were also reviewing weekend results from HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.

The index initially fell to around 24,160. It recovered to 24,220 by approximately 10:30 AM and reached an intraday high near 24,260 at around 2 PM. Trading was relatively stable during the second half, with the Nifty moving between 24,220 and 24,260. It closed at 24,238.50, nearly 100 points above its intraday low but slightly below its opening level.

The Nifty 500 closed at 23,338.05, up 0.01%. The Nifty 100 closed at 25,286.45, down 0.16%.

Sectoral indices

PSU banks were the strongest sector, rising 2.78%. Pharma, Media, Energy and Metal also gained. Bank, Service, Auto, IT and Realty ended lower.

Winners and losers among F&O stocks

Commodities and currency

Crude oil readings also differed

The sources used different benchmarks and quotation times:

• MCX crude oil futures were at 7,915.00, down 0.38%.
• Brent crude traded around $88 per barrel after briefly moving above $91. Renewed diplomatic efforts between the US and Iran reduced some supply concerns.
• Mint’s front-page ticker placed oil at $86.33, down $1.26.
• Mint’s Economy & Policy section said Brent reached a five-week high of $90 per barrel on Monday.
• Mint’s Global section said benchmark Brent moved above $90 per barrel on Monday.

The rise in Brent crude, driven by geopolitical tensions, has put pressure on emerging-market currencies such as the Indian rupee, according to Dilip Parmar, senior research analyst at HDFC Securities.

Institutional flows

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in each of the five sessions shown. Domestic institutional investors were net buyers.

Thematic movers

The Zerodha AfterMarket Report did not include thematic index data for the 20 July 2026 close. Current thematic index performance is available through the NSE and BSE portals or the Tijori App.

Zerodha AfterMarket Report, 20 July 2026; Mint, Mumbai edition, 21 July 2026

Macro view

Inflation: Rural and urban prices moved apart

India’s retail inflation moved above the Reserve Bank of India’s 4% midpoint target in June for the first time in approximately a year and a half. Rural inflation crossed 4% in May and rose further to 4.74% in June. Urban inflation remained lower at 3.92%.

The gap between rural and urban inflation was 80 basis points, or 0.8 percentage points. This was the widest gap in 18 months. The difference began growing in February as higher food prices placed more pressure on rural households.

Rural consumption has a 55.4% weight in the overall inflation basket, compared with 44.6% for urban consumption. Food and beverages account for 23.2% of the rural basket but only 13.5% of the urban basket. Food inflation therefore has a larger effect on the rural inflation rate.

Urban inflation has risen by 304 basis points since reaching a record low in October 2025. Rural inflation has risen by more than 500 basis points over the same period.

The largest rural-urban difference among non-food items was for biogas and gobar gas. Inflation for these products was 17.7% in rural areas and 4.64% in urban areas. Rural inflation for coal was 10.4%, more than 400 basis points above the urban rate. Inflation for dung cake was 4.6%, more than 250 basis points higher than in urban areas.

Inflation for gold, diamond and platinum jewellery was 37.5% in rural areas, 1.3 percentage points higher than in urban areas. Within this group, 16 of the 28 items had higher inflation in rural areas. Clothing and footwear inflation rose to 3.78% in rural areas but remained at 2.32% in urban areas.

Most items still had inflation below 4%. Based on CMIE data, this was true for two-thirds of the 358 rural items and three-fourths of urban items. However, the number of rural items with inflation above 4% rose from 88 in April to 119 in June. For urban India, the number increased from 88 to 90.

Several items moved from inflation below 4% in May to above 4% in June:

• Diesel inflation reached 8.4% in both rural and urban areas.
• Petrol inflation reached 7.5% in both areas.
• Onion inflation was 5.9% in rural areas and 2.4% in urban areas.
• Edible oil inflation reached 5.8% in urban areas and 7.9% in rural areas.

Monsoon and agriculture

The monsoon has been highly uneven. A large rainfall shortage in June left the country with a deficit of nearly 40% by the end of the month. Conditions improved somewhat in July, but only the week ended 8 July was exceptionally wet. Data for the week ended 15 July showed renewed stress, with nearly 80% of India’s area receiving deficient rainfall.

Kharif sowing has already been affected in several regions. The total area sown was reported as 6% lower than last year. Data from the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare showed that crops had been planted across 65.8 million hectares as of 17 July, down 4.2 million hectares from a year earlier.

During the last 12 years for which inflation data is available, India experienced two strong El Niño years: 2015-16 and 2023-24. Rural inflation in those years was 5.57% and 5.56%, respectively. It was 145 basis points above urban inflation in 2015-16 and 40 basis points higher in 2023-24.

Basmati rice acreage is expected to rise this kharif season. Strong prices and export demand are encouraging some farmers to move away from conventional paddy. However, uneven rainfall has delayed overall paddy sowing. From 1 June to 17 July, paddy was planted across more than 16.6 million hectares, compared with 16.7 million hectares a year earlier.

India produced 13.5 million tonnes of basmati rice from 2.4 million hectares in the 2025-26 crop year. Basmati exports reached 6.5 million tonnes and were valued at $5.67 billion, compared with $5.94 billion in the previous year. Basmati accounts for approximately 5% to 6% of India’s total paddy area.

Premium varieties such as Pusa-1121 and Pusa-1509 traded between ₹3,200 and ₹4,000 per quintal last year. This was above the minimum support price of ₹2,369 per quintal for common paddy. Short-duration varieties accounted for 38.2% of India’s basmati acreage.

The India Meteorological Department forecast widespread rainfall across Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh between 20 and 25 July.

Onion prices and buffer-stock release

The Centre plans to begin a calibrated release of onions from its buffer stock in September. The government aims to procure 200,000 tonnes. On 4 July, it raised the procurement price by 13%, from ₹1,875 per quintal to ₹2,125 per quintal.

The all-India average retail price of onions was ₹34.51 per kg on 18 July. This was 22.2% above ₹28.25 a year earlier and 26% above ₹27.39 a month earlier.

The average wholesale price was ₹2,716.21 per quintal. This was 22% above ₹2,225.67 a year earlier and 30.3% above ₹2,084.83 a month earlier.

Retail prices in major cities were:

Trade and external sector

India’s crude oil import bill reached nearly $50 billion in the June quarter, 60% higher than a year earlier. The war in West Asia removed discounts that had previously reduced India’s energy costs.

India paid $49.8 billion for crude oil during April to June. The amount rose even though import volumes fell to approximately 60 million tonnes from 62.6 million tonnes a year earlier. Brent crude reached a five-week high of $90 per barrel on Monday. The June-quarter import bill was already equal to 40% of India’s total FY26 oil purchases.

Non-resident Indians deposited $17.41 billion in Indian banks through foreign currency non-resident deposits under a new incentive scheme. The scheme was announced on 5 June and started three days later. It allows leveraged deposits and will remain open until the end of September. The central bank takes the hedging risk, while overseas investors may earn returns of up to 14%.

The RBI’s dollar swap facility had received $20.72 billion by 17 July. FCNR-B deposits accounted for the largest share. The facility also received $1.97 billion through overseas foreign-currency borrowings and $1.34 billion through external commercial borrowings.

The FCNR-B window will remain open until 30 September. The facilities for overseas foreign-currency borrowings and external commercial borrowings will remain available until 31 December.

India recorded one of the strongest foreign direct investment recoveries among major emerging markets in 2025. Inflows rose 44% to $38.9 billion after declining for two years, though they remained below pre-pandemic levels.

Mint, Plain Facts, 21 July 2026; Mint, Mumbai edition, 21 July 2026; CMIE; RBI; Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Department of Consumer Affairs; World Investment Report 2026, UN Trade and Development

Policy and regulation

• Long-term capital gains tax: The finance ministry told Parliament that there is no proposal to remove LTCG tax on equities for domestic investors. The clarification came after foreign portfolio investors were exempted from LTCG tax on government securities. Capital-gains tax policies are reviewed during the Union Budget process. LTCG tax collections from equity transactions rose nearly 79% to approximately ₹2.01 lakh crore across FY24 and FY25.
• Core sector output: India’s core sector output rose 5% year on year in June, its fastest growth in five months. Output had risen 3.2% in May and 1.1% in June 2025. Cement and electricity production increased 9.8% each, while iron ore output rose 43.9%. These gains offset declines in crude oil, natural gas, refinery products and fertiliser. The data uses the revised 2022-23 base-year series.
• Capital expenditure: The Centre’s effective capital expenditure, including grants to states for building public assets, reached ₹90.87 trillion during 2014-26. This compares with ₹17.04 trillion during 2004-2014.
• Ethanol blending: The government has not decided whether to raise ethanol blending in petrol above the current 20% level. Any increase would follow scientific and technical studies and consultations with relevant stakeholders.
• Supreme Court strength: The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026 was introduced in the Lok Sabha. It seeks to raise the number of Supreme Court judges from 34 to 38, including the chief justice of India.
• CAFE III rules: The latest draft of the Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency 3 rules was released on 16 July. The first CAFE period ran from 2017 to 2022, and the second runs until 2027. CAFE III is scheduled to begin on 1 April 2027. Penalties range from ₹25,000 to ₹50,000 for each non-compliant vehicle sold, along with an additional flat penalty of ₹10 lakh.
• Super credits for vehicles: The draft proposes three super credits for range-extended electric vehicles, the same as for battery electric vehicles. Plug-in hybrids would receive 2.5 super credits. REEVs would still be classified as hybrids rather than pure electric vehicles.
• Dengue vaccine: India approved its first dengue vaccine, QDENGA, developed by Takeda Biopharmaceuticals India Pvt. Ltd. The Drug Controller General of India approved the live-attenuated vaccine for people aged four to 60 under the CT-20, New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019. India accounts for nearly one-third of the global dengue burden. Reported cases exceeded 113,000 in 2025.
• Tobacco testing: The Union government is tightening rules for collecting and testing tobacco products. Samples collected by states and Union territories must include at least seven cigarette packets and 10 bundles of bidis. Tobacco causes 1.35 million deaths each year in India. The country has 268 million tobacco users and a tobacco market worth $62 billion. The annual economic burden from treating tobacco-related illness is ₹1.77 trillion.
• Television ratings: The information and broadcasting ministry directed the Broadcast Audience Research Council to stop publishing ratings for both news and non-news genres until its licence is renewed under the Television Ratings Policy, 2026.
• India-Tibet barter trade: Annual barter trade between Indian and Tibetan traders is scheduled to resume on 1 August through Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh district. The trade had been suspended during the Covid pandemic in 2019. Around 28 Indian traders were waiting for approval from Chinese officials.

Mint, 21 July 2026; Zerodha AfterMarket Report, 20 July 2026

Corporate action and earnings

Results

Banking results: Q1 FY27

Investors were also reviewing weekend results from HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.

HDFC Bank

HDFC Bank’s standalone net profit rose 5% year on year to ₹19,060 crore. Net interest income increased 6.7% to ₹33,536 crore. Its shares fell more than 5% after the results.

Loans grew 16% to ₹30.4 trillion, while deposits increased 15%. The loan-to-deposit ratio was 96%. Return on assets fell to 1.9%. Gross non-performing assets were reported at approximately 1.2%, while net NPAs were 0.41%.

The two sources reported different net interest margins. Zerodha placed NIM at 3.26%. Mint’s Mark to Market said it fell approximately 10 basis points during the quarter to 3.4%. Both figures are presented as reported.

The liquidity coverage ratio remained at 115%, compared with 114% in Q4 FY26. This was below Kotak Mahindra Bank’s 144% and ICICI Bank’s 122%. The bank’s CASA ratio reached its lowest level at 32%, which may constrain retail-led growth, according to JM Financial Institutional Securities.

High-cost borrowings are expected to fall by ₹40,000 crore to ₹50,000 crore over the next few years. Management expects the cost of funds to decline by 40 to 50 basis points over time. The share of higher-yielding retail loans is expected to increase from 52% to 60%.

Nuvama valued HDFC Bank at two times estimated FY28 book value, compared with 2.5 times for ICICI Bank.

ICICI Bank

ICICI Bank’s Q1 FY27 net profit rose 15.9% year on year to ₹14,805 crore. This was 11% above consensus estimates. Its shares gained more than 1%.

Loans grew nearly 20% year on year to ₹16.3 trillion, compared with industry credit growth of 18.6% as of 30 June. Net interest margin increased four basis points from the previous quarter to 4.36%.

Mint reported net profit of approximately ₹14,800 crore, up 16% year on year. Return on assets increased from 2.4% in Q4 to 2.5% in Q1. Gross NPA was 1.4%, credit cost was 50 basis points and the loan-to-deposit ratio was 89%.

Axis Bank

Axis Bank’s standalone net profit rose 23% year on year to ₹7,114 crore. Net interest income increased 8% to ₹14,646 crore. Gross NPA fell to 1.28%, while net NPA fell to 0.39%.

Its net interest margin narrowed to 3.46% in the June quarter from 3.80% a year earlier. The shares fell more than 5%.

Punjab National Bank

PNB’s Q1 FY27 net profit rose 214% year on year to ₹5,253 crore. The rise was helped by lending income and better asset quality. Net interest income increased 2% to ₹10,798 crore. The shares gained more than 5%.

Corporate and strategy

UltraTech’s profit rose nearly 17% and beat consensus

Consolidated net profit attributable to owners rose nearly 17% year on year to ₹2,599 crore. This was above the Bloomberg consensus estimate of ₹2,476 crore from 23 analysts. Revenue increased 16% to ₹24,648 crore, above the consensus estimate of ₹24,107 crore from 24 analysts.

UltraTech reported revenue from operations of ₹24,648.20 crore, up 15.85%. Net profit attributable to shareholders was ₹2,599.28 crore, up 16.77%. Power and fuel costs rose 11.45% to ₹5,418.65 crore, while freight and forwarding costs rose 12.08% to ₹5,210.61 crore. Profit before interest, depreciation and tax increased 12.09% to ₹5,146 crore. Ebitda per tonne rose 1.34% to ₹1,214.

Domestic sales volume increased 13.1% to 39.2 million tonnes. Capacity utilisation was 81% on installed domestic capacity of 200.1 million tonnes per year. Consolidated operating Ebitda rose from ₹4,591 crore to ₹5,146 crore. Ebitda per tonne increased from ₹1,198 to ₹1,214 even though power, fuel and freight costs rose approximately 12%.

UltraTech crossed 200.1 million tonnes of domestic grey cement capacity in April. Acquisitions contributed 90 million tonnes. Including overseas operations, global grey cement capacity reached 205.5 million tonnes. The shares rose 1.45% on Monday, while the Sensex fell 0.57%.

The cement industry faced an estimated cost increase of ₹300 to ₹400 per tonne, while UltraTech limited its increase to approximately ₹230 to ₹240 per tonne, according to Girija Shankar Ray of Nirmal Bang.

Reliance reports record profit and Ebitda

Consolidated net profit reached a record ₹23,196 crore, up 6.1% year on year. Ebitda rose 10.1% to a record ₹54,067 crore. Gross revenue increased 24.5% to ₹3.4 lakh crore, led by Jio Platforms and the oil-to-chemicals business. The shares closed 0.4% lower.

L&T wins metals and mining orders worth up to ₹15,000 crore

L&T won multiple domestic metals and mining orders worth ₹10,000 crore to ₹15,000 crore. The projects include an iron ore handling plant in Chhattisgarh for India’s largest iron ore producer. The orders are connected with plans to raise production capacity to 100 million tonnes per year by 2030.

Nuvoco Vistas targets five million tonnes in Gujarat by 2030

June-quarter revenue rose 9% to ₹3,129 crore, while net income increased 19% to ₹158 crore. The company sells approximately 1.5 million tonnes of cement a year in Gujarat and aims to raise this to five million tonnes by 2030, giving it approximately 12% market share. Total capacity is expected to reach 35 million tonnes by FY28.

Havells grew revenue almost 20% as its Ebitda margin fell

Revenue rose almost 20% to ₹6,518 crore, but the Ebitda margin fell 230 basis points to 7.2%. Advertising and sales-promotion spending doubled to ₹286 crore. Such spending was approximately ₹600 crore during FY26.

Havells’ cable revenue rose 27% to ₹2,455 crore. Revenue from renewables increased 236% from a low base to ₹314 crore. Lighting and fixtures revenue rose 4.5% to ₹390 crore, while switchgear revenue fell 4%.

Motilal Oswal Financial Services cut its Havells Ebitda forecasts for FY27 and FY28 by approximately 6% and 8%. It reduced its earnings-per-share estimates by approximately 8% and 10%. Havells shares were down approximately 16% during 2026 and traded at 43 times estimated FY27 earnings, based on Bloomberg data. Of the planned FY27 capital expenditure of ₹1,400 crore, approximately ₹800 crore will be used for cables and ₹200 crore for a new research and development centre.

Singapore Airlines weighs further capital for Air India

Singapore Airlines, which owns 25% of Air India, said it would consider requests for additional capital after reviewing the group’s other funding needs and Air India’s business strategy.

Singapore Airlines recognised 945.2 million Singapore dollars, approximately US$742.4 million, as its share of losses from Air India. Its annual report indicated that Air India may report an FY26 loss of approximately 3.76 billion Singapore dollars, nearly three times the estimated FY25 loss. Air India is India’s second-largest airline, with a 25% market share. IndiGo reported a net loss of ₹2,400 crore. Air India chief executive Campbell Wilson is scheduled to step down in September.

A Sir Ratan Tata Trust board term ends next month

Vijay Singh’s future on the board of Sir Ratan Tata Trust is uncertain as his second term ends next month. Sir Ratan Tata Trust and Sir Dorabji Tata Trust together control 51.4% of Tata Sons. The wider Tata Trusts group owns 65.9% of the holding company.

Westside plans as many as 100 new stores a year

Westside plans to open as many as 100 stores each year, twice its current pace. The brand had 300 stores at the end of the previous financial year. Trent shares rose as much as 2.6% on Monday while the Nifty 50 was down as much as 0.8%. The shares were flat for 2026 and 48% below their peak two years earlier.

CX Partners starts selling its Thalappakatti majority holding

CX Partners has started the process of selling its seven-year-old majority holding. It is seeking a valuation of approximately ₹1,000 crore, compared with ₹860 crore in the previous funding round. Revenue rose from ₹340.3 crore to ₹406.2 crore in 2024-25, while profit increased from ₹4.4 crore to ₹7.3 crore.

Sterling Holiday Resorts leans on resort operations

The company stopped selling vacation-ownership memberships approximately two and a half years ago. Resort operations contributed 85% of FY26 revenue, up from 79% a year earlier. FY26 revenue was ₹548.7 crore, Ebitda was ₹170.1 crore and profit before tax was ₹114.2 crore. It operates 78 resorts, hotels and retreats, with more than 3,800 rooms across 65 sites. It aims to exceed 95 properties and 4,500 rooms by 2027.

Coca-Cola appoints bankers for a 2027 IPO

Coca-Cola appointed JPMorgan and Citi as bankers for a planned IPO in 2027. One source also named Kotak and Morgan Stanley as appointed bankers.

Godrej Agrovet opens an oil palm complex in Telangana

The company opened an Integrated Oil Palm Complex in Khammam, Telangana. Total investment will reach ₹300 crore when the complex is fully operational. The mill has started with capacity of 30 tonnes per hour and can be expanded to 60 tonnes per hour.

IL&FS has repaid ₹50,387 crore to creditors

The group had repaid ₹50,387 crore to creditors by June 2026. This was approximately 4% above the ₹48,463 crore reported in September 2025. Debt resolution reached approximately 82.6% of the ₹61,000 crore target.

SBI Funds’ IPO banks will share fees of ₹46.25 million

The nine investment banks managing the IPO will divide fees of ₹46.25 million, or $479,000. This is 0.05% of the deal value and approximately 97.5% below the fees paid in the 2025 ICICI Prudential Asset Management offering. That offering paid ₹1.88 billion, or $19.5 million, equal to 1.8% of the offer size. SBI Funds’ prospectus estimates total issue expenses of ₹1.13 billion, or 1.16% of the offer size.

Exim Bank plans a $300 million floating-rate bond sale

Exim Bank plans to raise $300 million through three-year floating-rate dollar bonds. The proposed pricing is 90 basis points above the Secured Overnight Financing Rate.

Startups, deals and tech

• TCS, HCL Technologies and Wipro said customers are changing the mix of artificial-intelligence models they use to reduce rising token costs. Routine work is moving to smaller models, while larger models are being kept for more complex tasks.
• HCLTech ended the latest quarter with advanced AI revenue of $171 million, up 10.3% from the previous quarter in constant-currency terms. HCLTech defines advanced AI as revenue from agentic AI, AI factories and physical AI.
• PhillipCapital analysts Karan Uppal and Krunal Khandzode discussed the case for a tiered or hybrid AI model stack in a note dated 14 July.
• Physical AI startup Skylark Labs is in talks to raise between $100 million and $150 million at a valuation above $1 billion. Approximately 70% of the planned funding has already been committed. The company raised $6 million at a $250 million valuation in April. Robotics and physical AI startups received a record $16.3 billion across 492 deals in Q1 2026, based on PitchBook data.
• Transition VC is raising a second fund of ₹1,500 crore, approximately $155 million. This is nearly twice the size of its first ₹800 crore fund, which closed in December 2025. The first close of Fund II is expected in the December quarter of FY27.
• Veriqus Group raised approximately ₹387 crore in a round led by Norwest Venture Partners. The firm was founded by Ashish Gumashta, former chairman and chief executive of Julius Baer India, and Roshi Jain, a former senior fund manager at HDFC Asset Management.
• Alibaba Group launched a preview of its Qwen3.8 Max model. The company described it as comparable with leading frontier models and second only to Anthropic’s Fable 5.
• Britain’s CuspAI raised $450 million from investors including the UK government and the investment fund of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. It also launched the AI Materials Foundry, a coalition of more than 45 companies.
• Agrizy is targeting 67% revenue growth in FY27 to approximately ₹900 crore. The company was founded in 2021 and has raised nearly $12 million. Founder Vicky Dodani said revenue grew approximately 55% in the previous financial year from ₹350 crore in the year before that.
• Quick-medicine delivery platform Plazza raised $15 million in a Series A round co-led by Accel, Elevation Capital and Nexus Venture Partners.

Money and market structure

The number of demat accounts has continued to grow, but a smaller percentage of them are active. Active clients represented 26.32% of India’s 152 million demat accounts in FY24. The ratio fell to 20.1% in FY26 and to 19.1% during the three months through June of FY27, even though the total number of accounts increased to 232 million.

The number of active clients still increased 10.5% from FY24 to 4.42 crore. However, a SEBI study published in July 2025 found that 8.7 million of the 9.6 million individual equity-derivatives traders lost a combined ₹1.05 trillion in FY25.

SEBI introduced several derivatives-market measures from November 2024:

• The minimum contract size for index derivatives was tripled.
• Each exchange was limited to one weekly options expiry.
• The method for calculating open interest was changed.
• A gross daily exposure limit of ₹10,000 crore was imposed on equity-derivatives participants.

Monthly active options traders across the industry fell from approximately 50 lakh to around 30 lakh, according to Shripal Shah, managing director at Kotak Securities.

Since the US-Iran conflict began, Nifty 50 turnover has fallen 30.22% to ₹28,825.71 crore. Sensex turnover has fallen 31.68% to ₹1,549.49 crore.

The Nifty Defence index has risen nearly 20% in 2026, while the Nifty 50 has fallen 8%. The defence index’s price-to-earnings ratio increased from 51.8 times to 56.5 times, a re-rating of 9.2%. The Nifty 50’s price-to-earnings ratio fell from 22.8 times to 20.8 times.

The Defence Acquisition Council approved procurement worth nearly ₹16.6 trillion between FY24 and FY26. Most approvals were under the Buy Indian-IDDM and Buy & Make (Indian) categories.

Kotak Institutional Equities started coverage of Hindustan Aeronautics with an Add rating. It assigned Sell ratings to Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders and Solar Industries India, maintained a Reduce rating on Bharat Electronics and assigned a Sell rating to Cochin Shipyard. A note dated 8 July placed the FY26 defence-export opportunity at ₹384 billion, with a target of ₹500 billion by FY29.

Indian household spending on education increased from ₹1.8 lakh crore in 2012 to ₹8.43 lakh crore in 2024. Educational inflation has consistently been 10% to 12% a year, according to Ramesh Vishwanathan, chief executive of FPSB India. A two-year integrated IIT-JEE course for classes 11 and 12 costs between ₹3.5 lakh and ₹4.5 lakh. Nearly 35 lakh candidates appear for NEET and JEE, while the IITs together offer 18,951 seats.

Punjab Police attached or confiscated properties worth ₹319 crore during the first 500 days of its anti-drug campaign.

The Fifa World Cup final increased late-night demand for restaurants, bars, hotels and food-delivery businesses. Wow! Momo recorded a 28% to 30% increase in late-night sales across dining and delivery. The Beer Café, which operates more than 50 outlets, recorded an approximately 1,200% rise in post-midnight dining business compared with a normal night.

Major Indian law firms are expanding their white-collar crime and investigations practices. Enforcement Directorate searches nearly doubled to 2,892 in FY26. Enforcement Case Information Reports rose 39% to 1,080. The value of attached assets rose 171% to a record ₹81,423 crore.

The Enforcement Directorate also filed a record 812 prosecution complaints and restored ₹32,678 crore to banks and victims. The Income Tax Department conducted search and seizure operations against 1,437 groups in FY25 and detected more than ₹30,444 crore of undisclosed income.

Synthite Industries reached $500 million in revenue in 2025-26. The company is the world’s largest producer of spice oleoresins and controls approximately 30% of the global market. Its extracts business contributes around 80% of revenue. Five products, black pepper, paprika, capsicum, turmeric and ginger, contribute 60%.

Mint, Mumbai edition, 21 July 2026; Zerodha AfterMarket Report, 20 July 2026; Bloomberg; Reuters; Tofler; PitchBook; NSE; SEBI; MoSPI; Enforcement Directorate; Department of Revenue

Upcoming events

Scheduled releases, not confirmed outcomes.

Earnings calendar

The following companies are scheduled to report results on 21 July 2026:

The original calendar notes that one additional row was not shown.

Upcoming economic events

Upcoming corporate actions

Corporate actions, ex-dates, dividends and buyback information were not available in machine-readable form in the Zerodha AfterMarket Report. The current calendar is available through the NSE and BSE corporate-action portals or the Tijori App.

Zerodha AfterMarket Report, 20 July 2026; Zerodha Economic Calendar

Global pulse

Global indices

International headlines

West Asia conflict and energy

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis announced a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia, opening another front in the conflict involving Iran and the US. A complete closure of the Bab el-Mandeb strait could remove 7% of global oil supply because most Saudi oil exports would be unable to leave the region. The Gulf war has already reduced shipments by an amount equal to 10% of global supply.

An Iranian official said Tehran had received a proposal for a 10-day ceasefire from mediators. The ceasefire was intended to preserve an interim deal and create a path towards a permanent agreement. The conflict began on 28 February with US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

The US conducted another series of airstrikes on Iran early Monday after announcing the death of an additional American service member. Iran responded with attacks targeting Bahrain, which hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, and Kuwait.

Explosions were reported in Tabriz, Chabahar, Konarak, Bandar Mahshahr and Bandar Imam Khomeini. One person was killed and several were injured southwest of Tabriz, according to Iranian state news agency IRNA.

Benchmark Brent crude moved above $90 per barrel on Monday. Regular petrol in the US rose to an average of $4 per gallon. The national average retail price reached $4.003 per gallon, more than 30% higher than in late February, according to the American Automobile Association.

Brent later gave up some gains and traded around $88 per barrel after briefly moving above $91. Renewed diplomatic efforts reduced supply concerns. Iran said it had received proposals from international mediators and indicated that discussions with the US could continue if they were consistent with its national interests.

Four Indian seafarers were killed and one was hospitalised in critical condition after the MV Golden Leo was attacked. The vessel had 17 crew members, including five Indian nationals, and had left the Ukrainian port of Odesa on Sunday evening. More than 310,000 Indians work as seafarers on merchant ships, making India the world’s second-largest supplier of sailors, based on BIMCO estimates.

The Airline Pilots’ Association of India asked the civil aviation minister and the DGCA to suspend commercial flights to the UAE until a complete security assessment is conducted. Alpa India has more than 2,500 members. The Federation of Indian Pilots, which has more than 6,000 members, opposed suspending flights.

Global macro and markets

US import prices rose 0.3% in June. Higher prices for non-fuel goods more than offset lower petroleum prices. Import prices were 7.1% higher than a year earlier, the fastest annual increase since August 2022. Non-fuel import prices rose 4.2%, their largest annual increase since June 2022.

US debt held by the public moved above 100% of GDP. Of the country’s total gross debt of $39.5 trillion, $31.8 trillion was held by the public. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the budget deficit at 6% of GDP for the financial year ending in September. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to nearly 4.6% on 15 July from 2.9% four years earlier.

Bearish positions in US shares reached record levels. Short interest in S&P 500 companies was close to 3.79% of free float, the highest in S3 Partners data going back to 2010. For Russell 3000 companies, short interest reached 6.3%, also a record. The S&P 500 had risen 18% from late March but fell 1.6% in the latest week.

Short interest in companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange reached a record 9% of outstanding shares in late June, based on data compiled by Reynolds Strategy.

A quantitative fund at DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng’s investment firm fell 15.7% in the week ended 17 July. Zhejiang High-Flyer Asset Management manages more than 70 billion yuan, or approximately $10 billion.

A similar fund at HanTak Investment Management lost an estimated 16.1%, while its CSI 500 strategy fell 14.3%.

The CSI 1000 index of Chinese small-cap shares fell more than 12% during the week, its largest decline since the February 2024 sell-off that affected quantitative funds. The average excess return generated by Chinese quant funds fell by more than 10 percentage points from a year earlier to 3.5% in the first half.

Global corporate developments

• Samsung Biologics: The company will acquire Swiss contract drug manufacturer PolyPeptide Group in an all-cash transaction valued at 1.46 billion Swiss francs, or $1.81 billion. The offer of 44.31 Swiss francs per share represents a 6.1% premium to the previous closing price.
• Domino’s Pizza: Quarterly revenue was slightly above Wall Street expectations. Growth in the supply-chain business offset weaker restaurant demand. US same-store sales rose only 0.1%, below the expected 0.62%. The shares gained approximately 7% in pre-market trading but remained approximately 23% lower for the year.
• AMC Entertainment: The company reported an unexpected adjusted profit and record second-quarter revenue. Both figures were above Wall Street expectations. The shares rose 16.5% in pre-market trading.
• The Odyssey: The film, written and directed by Christopher Nolan, opened with estimated worldwide revenue of $264.1 million. Its domestic opening was $124.5 million. Based on Rentrak data supplied by Universal, 53% of viewers said the director was their main reason for attending. IMAX screens generated nearly 20% of the worldwide gross even though they represented less than 1% of all auditoriums. Premium screens of all kinds accounted for 45% of tickets sold in the US and Canada, according to EntTelligence.
• Fifa World Cup: Spain midfielder Rodri was involved in 1,803 plays, the highest of any player, and won the Golden Ball. Spain defeated Argentina 1-0 after extra time at MetLife Stadium to win the 2026 Fifa World Cup.
• Russia-Ukraine war: Russia has lost 1.43 million troops in Ukraine since its full-scale invasion began on 24 February 2022, based on figures from Ukraine’s General Staff of the Armed Forces.

Zerodha AfterMarket Report, 20 July 2026; Mint, Mumbai edition, 21 July 2026; IRNA; BIMCO; American Automobile Association; US Bureau of Labor Statistics; US Treasury Department; Congressional Budget Office; S3 Partners; Reynolds Strategy; Bloomberg; Rentrak; Universal; EntTelligence; Ukraine’s General Staff of the Armed Forces

Management chatter

The following quotations are reproduced from the Zerodha AfterMarket Report and the Mint Mumbai edition.

Daga also warned of a softer September quarter “as the seasonal monsoon slowdown and the cost effects of West Asia disruption weigh on the quarter”.

Zerodha AfterMarket Report, Management Chatter, 20 July 2026; Mint, Mumbai edition, 21 July 2026

Feature: Why quarterly earnings and management guidance matter to equity research analysts

The Q1 FY27 results season is underway. Quarterly results and management guidance are central to equity research because they provide regular information about a company’s performance, financial position and expected direction.

This section summarises the published research and regulatory requirements from CFA Institute, the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and SEBI.

India’s regulatory requirement: Regulation 33

Regulation 33 of the SEBI Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements Regulations, 2015 requires listed companies to submit quarterly financial results to the stock exchanges.

The main requirements are:

• Results for every quarter other than the final quarter must be submitted within 45 days after the quarter ends. This requirement comes from Regulation 33(3)(a).
• Results for the final quarter and the annual financial results must be submitted within 60 days after the financial year ends. These requirements come from Regulations 33(3)(d) and 33(3)(e).
• For companies whose specified securities are listed on an SME Exchange, references to quarterly reporting under Regulation 33 are treated as references to half-yearly reporting.
• Newly listed companies must submit results for the quarter or year immediately after the period disclosed in the offer document. The deadline is the normal Regulation 33 deadline or 21 days after listing, whichever is later.
• A company operating in only one segment must still disclose segment information.
• For the final quarter of a financial year, the company must include a note explaining that the figures are balancing figures for the full year.

Investor views on quarterly reporting

CFA Institute published a report on 10 June 2026 examining investor views on quarterly and semiannual reporting. The research was released while the US Securities and Exchange Commission was considering whether public companies should be allowed to report less frequently.

The report is titled Investor Perspectives: Quarterly Reporting: What Investors Tell Us About Quarterly Reporting, Why It Matters and Why They Support It in an Era of Artificial Intelligence.

The findings came from a 46-question survey conducted in January 2026. It included 2,500 CFA Institute analysts and portfolio managers, who also provided more than 1,000 written comments.

The main findings were:

• 62% opposed replacing quarterly reporting with semiannual reporting.
• 63% believed the benefits of quarterly reporting were greater than the costs.
• Approximately 70% opposed allowing companies to choose or change their own reporting frequency.
• Nearly 85% were concerned that flexible reporting frequency and formats would reduce comparability between companies.
• 82% supported allowing voluntary quarterly reporting if semiannual reporting became the rule.
• Only 32% expected companies to continue reporting quarterly if it became optional.
• 78% did not want the Form 10-Q filing requirement removed under a voluntary quarterly-reporting system.

Investors generally treated earnings releases and Form 10-Q filings as complementary. They did not consider them substitutes.

Depending on the issue examined, between 60% and 80% of respondents were concerned about less frequent reporting. They believed that six months was too long between mandatory disclosures in current markets.

The concerns included:

• A higher cost of capital.
• Greater share-price volatility.
• More information asymmetry between different investors.
• Lower comparability between companies.
• Less frequent dividends.
• Greater dependence on voluntary disclosures.
• Greater use of non-GAAP measures.
• Unequal access to information.
• Delayed reporting of negative developments.
• More opportunity for insider trading during longer gaps between mandatory reports.

The survey also found that 85% of respondents considered management incentives and compensation structures more important causes of short-term decision-making than the 90-day reporting cycle.

When companies stop providing quarterly guidance

Baruch Lev of NYU Stern School of Business describes quarterly earnings guidance as a public forecast by management of the company’s upcoming earnings. The practice is common but remains controversial.

The study To Guide or Not to Guide? Causes and Consequences of Stopping Quarterly Earnings Guidance was written by Joel F. Houston, Jennifer W. Tucker and Baruch Lev. It was accepted for publication in Contemporary Accounting Research.

The study examined 222 US companies that stopped providing quarterly guidance between 2002 and the first quarter of 2005. These companies were compared with 676 businesses that continued issuing guidance.

Supporters of guidance argue that it helps keep analyst earnings estimates within a reasonable range. Analysts produce forecasts whether or not management provides guidance. Without guidance, the estimates may vary more widely, increasing the risk of large earnings surprises, sharp share-price movements and higher risk perceptions among investors.

The study found that poor performance was the main reason companies stopped providing guidance. These companies generally had:

• Falling earnings before guidance stopped.
• A weak history of meeting or beating analyst consensus forecasts.
• A worsening outlook for future earnings.

Stopping guidance was also connected with changes in senior management, limited guidance from other companies in the same industry and greater difficulty in forecasting earnings.

Companies did not replace earnings guidance with more alternative forward-looking information. Instead, these other disclosures also declined.

The information environment weakened after guidance stopped. Analyst forecast errors increased, forecasts became more widely dispersed and analyst coverage declined.

The evidence indicated that the companies stopping guidance were mainly troubled businesses. Ending guidance did not benefit those companies or their investors.

Feature sources

• CFA Institute, CFA Institute Survey Finds Investors Strongly Support Quarterly Reporting, Oppose Reducing Disclosure Requirements, press release dated 10 June 2026, and the accompanying report Investor Perspectives: Quarterly Reporting. www.cfainstitute.org
• Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, Baruch Lev, To Guide or Not to Guide? Causes and Consequences of Stopping Quarterly Earnings Guidance, 29 September 2008. corpgov.law.harvard.edu
• Securities and Exchange Board of India, SEBI Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements Regulations, 2015, Regulation 33, and SEBI FAQs on LODR Regulations. www.sebi.gov.in

No forecast, recommendation, valuation judgement or description beyond the cited sources has been added.

CFA Institute, 10 June 2026; Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, 29 September 2008; SEBI LODR Regulations, 2015, Regulation 33

The day at a glance

Closing thought

Compiled from the Zerodha AfterMarket Report (20 July 2026 close) and Mint, Mumbai edition (21 July 2026). Market data reflects the Monday, 20 July close. Not investment advice.