DayStarter

Market snapshot

Equities, sectors, F&O movers, commodities, currency, bonds and institutional flows at the 29 July 2026 close.

Equities: Wednesday close

Indian equities rose on Wednesday. The Nifty 50 closed at 24,250.20, up 1.10% from its previous close of 23,985.35.

The index opened 192 points higher at 24,177 and crossed 24,200 within the first hour. It reached an intraday high near 24,280 at around 2:30 PM. Some gains were lost during the final hour, but the index still ended firmly higher.

The Sensex rose 1.16% to 77,654.60 from 76,765.92. A rebound in IT stocks helped the market open strongly, even as the global AI trade continued to cool. Indian markets also moved past weak global signals and renewed tensions in the Middle East.

Broader markets also closed higher. The Nifty Next 50 rose 0.75% to 72,626.55, the Nifty Midcap 150 rose 0.84% to 23,123.70, the Nifty Smallcap 250 rose 1.33% to 17,978.05, and the Nifty Microcap 250 rose 0.45% to 25,050.50.

Sector performance

Nine of the 12 sectoral indices closed higher. Energy was almost unchanged, while Auto and Realty ended lower.

IT and Metal were the strongest sectors, rising 2.32% and 2.31%, respectively. FMCG, Pharma, Consumer Durables and Media also gained more than 1%.

Top F&O gainers and losers

Kaynes Technology was the strongest F&O stock, rising 13.24%. Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals gained 7.11%, while Swiggy rose 6.72%.

Phoenix Mills was the biggest loser, falling 5.94%. Adani Ports, KFin Technologies, Mphasis and ICICI Lombard General Insurance also closed lower.

Commodities, currency and bonds

Crude oil was the strongest MCX commodity, rising 4.29% to ₹7,929. Aluminium gained 1%, while silver rose 0.41%.

Gold was nearly unchanged. Natural gas, zinc and copper ended lower.

USD/INR closed at 95.70, down 0.11% from 95.80. A lower USD/INR reading means the rupee strengthened slightly against the dollar.

The US 10-year government bond yield fell 0.86% to 4.60 from 4.64. India's 10-year government bond yield rose 0.34% to 6.80 from 6.78.

Brent crude rose more than 6% to above $84 per barrel, ending a three-day decline. The rise followed fresh military tensions in the Middle East. The US military said it had intercepted a surprise Iranian attack on US troops in the region. Iran-backed groups also launched drone attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Region for a second consecutive day.

Institutional flows

Both foreign and domestic institutional investors were net buyers on 29 July.

Foreign institutional investors bought a net ₹2,982 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought a net ₹998 crore.

Across the latest five sessions, FIIs were net sellers of ₹4,843 crore. DIIs were net buyers of ₹13,392 crore over the same period.

Macro view

India's macro indicators: June 2026

India's high-frequency economic indicators weakened in June.

Eight of the 16 indicators in Mint's macro tracker were below their average trend over the previous year. Seven were above their one-year trend, while one was in line.

This was weaker than the previous month, when six indicators were below their trend. It was also weaker than February, before the West Asia war began, when five indicators were below their one-year range.

Inflation

Consumer price inflation rose to 4.4% in June from 3.9% in May. This moved CPI inflation above the RBI's 4% target.

Food inflation increased to 5.3% from 4.8%. Core CPI inflation, which excludes more volatile items such as food and fuel, rose to 4.1% from 3.7%.

Wholesale inflation increased to 9.9% from 9.7%. Wholesale food inflation reached a 17-month high of 5.5%.

CPI tracks prices paid by consumers. Wholesale inflation tracks prices at an earlier stage of the supply chain. Higher wholesale inflation can increase input costs for businesses.

Consumption

Growth in passenger car and van sales slowed to 15.3% in June. It was 26.3% in May and 30.7% in April.

Tractor sales, which are used as an indicator of rural demand, grew 11.9%. This was slower than the 19.6% growth recorded in May and 26.8% in April.

Domestic air passenger traffic fell 1% after growing 9.5% in May.

Production

Core-sector output grew 5% in June, compared with 3.2% in May.

Rail freight growth improved to 4% from 1.3%.

The composite Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 57.1 from 59.3. A PMI above 50 still shows that business activity is expanding, although the pace of expansion slowed.

External sector

Exports from the eight labour-intensive sectors tracked by Mint grew 12.1% in June. These exports had fallen 1.8% in May.

The trade deficit widened to 27.4% of total trade from 23.8%. A trade deficit means the value of imports is higher than the value of exports.

Import cover fell to 9.7 months from 10 months. Import cover measures how many months of imports can be paid for using the country's foreign exchange reserves.

The rupee appreciated 0.6% against the dollar in June. However, it depreciated 0.96% between the start of July and 28 July.

Monsoon, sowing and food inflation

India received 40% less rainfall than the long-period average in June. Rainfall was slightly above average in July, reducing the cumulative deficit to 16% as of 28 July.

The rainfall pattern remained uneven. Extreme rain and cloudbursts in Gujarat, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir caused nearly 150 deaths. At the same time, 40% of the country was facing a rainfall deficit of at least 20%.

Kharif sowing progress

The total area planted with kharif crops was 78.7 million hectares as of 24 July 2026, compared with 82.6 million hectares at the same point in 2025. This represented a 4.7% decline.

The overall sowing shortfall narrowed to 4.7% on 24 July from 16% on 10 July.

The shortfall in rice planting narrowed to 2.6% from 8.6%. The shortfall in pulses narrowed to 7.5% from 23.3%.

Within the pulses category, tur acreage was down 12%. Maize acreage was down nearly 10%.

Reservoir levels

Live water storage in 166 major reservoirs was at 38% of total capacity. This was much lower than the 64% recorded at the same point last year.

El Niño risk

Since 1951, 12 of the 17 El Niño years have been linked with below-normal rainfall in India.

Global weather models expect the current El Niño to be the strongest in at least 150 years. El Niño 2026 is expected to continue until April 2027.

It is expected to become stronger from August and reach its peak around October or November.

Inflation forecasts

Consumer food inflation was 5.1% in June.

Care Ratings expects it to rise to 7.5% by the December quarter and average 6.1% for the full year.

Icra expects CPI inflation to average 5% in FY27. It also sees a possibility of an interest-rate increase in the third quarter.

Services output

The Index of Services Production tracks 19 industries that together represent around 60% of India's services output.

Eight of these industries recorded double-digit growth in May. Another eight grew from a year earlier.

Combined growth across the 19 industries was 9.8% in May 2026. This was slower than the 20.8% growth recorded in April.

Accommodation and food services grew the fastest at 27.4%. Real estate grew 17.7%, while retail trade rose 13.3%. IT and computer-related services grew 10.3%, and professional, scientific, and technical services grew 11%.

Policy and trade

Environmental clearances

The Supreme Court struck down the central government's 2021 policy that allowed projects to receive environmental clearance after work had already begun.

However, the Court upheld the one-time scheme introduced in 2017.

The 2017 scheme effectively protected 53 central and state government infrastructure projects worth nearly ₹19,500 crore. These projects were waiting for environmental approval after construction or development had started.

The bench included Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi.

Finance Ministry's economic review

The Finance Ministry said domestic demand remained resilient and could help economic activity.

However, renewed geopolitical tensions and volatile commodity prices remained major risks.

The ministry said India maintained its economic growth momentum during Q1 FY27 despite greater uncertainty in the global economy.

India-US trade agreement

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the first part of the proposed India-US Bilateral Trade Agreement was ready to be implemented.

Implementation depends on the United States ensuring that India receives a competitive tariff advantage over neighbouring countries, ASEAN countries, and other competing economies.

India's oil import exposure

India imported around 2.6 million barrels per day of Russian crude oil in July. This represented more than half of its total crude imports.

India imports nearly 90% of the oil it uses. As a result, sustained increases in global crude prices can significantly increase the country's import bill.

A $1 per barrel increase in crude prices lasting for a full year could add ₹18,000 crore to India's import bill.

India's annual oil import bill is around $120 billion. Oil accounts for between 17% and 25% of total merchandise imports.

The oil import bill for April to June was $49.8 billion, up 61% from a year earlier.

US bill on buyers of Russian energy

The US Senate advanced a bill that would impose additional restrictions and tariffs on the five largest buyers of Russian energy, including India.

If implemented, the bill would allow US President Donald Trump to impose heavy sanctions on Russian officials.

It would also allow tariffs of up to 100% on countries such as India and China.

Public examinations law

The Lok Sabha passed the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026. The bill increases punishments for the use of unfair methods in public examinations:

• Individuals could face five to ten years in prison, compared with three to five years under the existing law.
• The maximum fine for individuals would rise from ₹10 lakh to ₹50 lakh.
• The maximum fine for service providers would rise from ₹1 crore to ₹5 crore.
• For organised crime, the minimum prison sentence would rise from five years to seven years.
• The minimum fine for organised crime would rise from ₹1 crore to ₹10 crore.
• Service providers found guilty could be barred for eight years, compared with four years currently.

The bill will now be considered by the Rajya Sabha.

Industry and companies data

PM E-Drive and rare-earth magnets

Electric truck and bus manufacturers may seek another exemption from local-content requirements under the ₹10,900 crore PM E-Drive scheme.

The exemption is being considered because locally produced rare-earth magnets remain unavailable. It would be the third such exemption since March 2025.

China stopped supplying these magnets in April 2025 in response to US tariffs.

India announced a ₹7,280 crore incentive programme in November 2025 to create 6,000 tonnes of domestic rare-earth magnet capacity each year. The programme has received limited interest.

China controls 60% of global rare-earth mining capacity and 90% of global refining capacity.

Electric bus and truck adoption

The government has approved 13,800 electric buses for cities and states under a target of 14,028.

However, implementation remains limited in some large allocations.

Concession agreements have been signed for only 915 of the 2,000 electric buses allocated to Hyderabad. Agreements have also been signed for 600 electric buses in Surat.

Only three electric trucks have received subsidies under the scheme.

Public grievance backlog

Pending public complaints filed with states and Union territories through the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System reached 216,032 at the end of June.

This was around 26% higher than the number pending in December 2025.

Electricity meter testing

The central government plans to allow authorised private laboratories to test electricity meters.

The Department of Consumer Affairs is preparing the proposal through its Legal Metrology Division.

Under the plan, Government Approved Test Centres operated by private organisations would be allowed to test electricity meters.

Company registrations

The number of companies registered in India increased from 97,851 in FY17 to 247,755 in FY26.

This represents an increase of around 150,000 companies over the decade.

Nearly two-thirds of this increase, or 61%, came after the pandemic from FY22 onwards.

Business services account for 25% of active companies. Manufacturing accounts for 19%, community, personal, and social services for 15%, and trading for 14%.

Corporate action and earnings

Earnings

Asian Paints

Asian Paints' consolidated net profit rose 39.9% year-on-year to ₹1,539 crore in Q1 FY27. This was above the market estimate of ₹1,240 crore.

Revenue increased 17.9% to ₹10,542 crore. EBITDA rose 33.4% to ₹2,169 crore.

EBITDA margin improved to 20.6% from 18.2%. The higher margin means the company earned more operating profit from each rupee of revenue.

Asian Paints kept its full-year guidance unchanged. It expects demand to grow 8% to 10% and EBITDA margin to remain between 18% and 20% during the financial year.

The company also warned about renewed geopolitical risks, volatile raw-material prices, and intense competition.

Adani Enterprises

Adani Enterprises reported a consolidated net loss of ₹1,160 crore in Q1 FY27, compared with a profit of ₹885 crore a year earlier.

The loss included an exceptional charge of ₹2,644 crore related to a settlement payment to the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Excluding this exceptional item, the company reported a profit of ₹1,295 crore.

Revenue from operations rose 50% year-on-year to ₹32,924 crore.

Total expenses increased around 54% to ₹32,252 crore. The cost of materials consumed rose to ₹14,255 crore from ₹3,393 crore a year earlier.

Interest and other finance costs rose 59.8%, while employee benefit costs increased 13.6%.

Adani Ports

Adani Ports' consolidated net profit rose 9% year-on-year to ₹3,620 crore in Q1 FY27.

Revenue from operations increased 19% to ₹10,821 crore. EBITDA also rose 19% to ₹6,541 crore.

Growth came from international ports, marine businesses, and domestic port operations.

Despite the stronger results, Adani Ports was among the day's largest F&O losers. The stock fell 3.03% to ₹1,721.

Dabur India

Dabur India's consolidated net profit rose 15% year-on-year to ₹591 crore in Q1 FY27.

Revenue from operations increased 10.5% to ₹3,764 crore.

The company recorded its third consecutive quarter of double-digit profit growth despite inflation, geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East and North Africa, and volatile commodity prices.

Sales volume grew 5% during the June quarter. This was lower than the 6% domestic volume growth recorded in the March quarter.

Operating profit rose 11% to ₹741.4 crore. Operating margin increased 10 basis points to 19.7%.

Maruti Suzuki

Maruti Suzuki accounted for a record 55.5% of India's passenger vehicle exports in Q1 FY27.

The company exported 123,330 vehicles, up 28.2% year-on-year.

Maruti exported more vehicles than all other Indian passenger vehicle manufacturers combined.

India's total passenger vehicle exports rose 8.8% year-on-year to 222,392 units.

CarTrade Tech

CarTrade Tech's consolidated net profit rose 19.3% year-on-year to ₹51.2 crore in Q1 FY27.

Revenue increased 16.3% to ₹201 crore.

EBITDA rose 46.7% to ₹63.1 crore. EBITDA margin improved to 31.4% from 24.9%.

The company's platforms attracted around 80 million average monthly unique visitors during the quarter.

SML Mahindra

SML Mahindra shares rose 20% and reached the upper circuit.

The company's board approved the acquisition of Mahindra & Mahindra's Truck and Bus Division for ₹525 crore.

The transaction is expected to be completed during FY27.

Cognizant

Cognizant lowered its full-year constant-currency revenue growth forecast to between 4% and 5.5%. Its earlier forecast was between 4% and 6.5%.

The company also reduced its reported revenue growth forecast to between 4.4% and 5.9%, from an earlier range of 4.8% to 7.3%.

The weaker forecast reflected greater caution about client spending.

Cognizant kept its adjusted operating margin forecast unchanged at 16% to 16.2%.

Revenue for the June quarter was $5.48 billion. This was 1.3% higher than the previous quarter and 4.5% higher than a year earlier. Revenue was slightly below the analyst estimate of $5.49 billion.

Net profit fell 3.9% sequentially to $636 million.

Operating margin rose 30 basis points from the previous quarter to 15.9%. This was despite $84 million of employee, software, and facility costs connected with Project Leap, the company's AI restructuring programme.

Cognizant shares were up 11% at noon on the Nasdaq.

Larsen & Toubro

Larsen & Toubro's core engineering revenue grew 2% year-on-year to ₹46,191 crore in Q1 FY27.

EBITDA margin fell 20 basis points to 7%. Profitability was also affected by an expected credit-loss provision of around ₹250 crore.

Orders in the core business rose 16% year-on-year to ₹86,400 crore.

The order book grew 27% to ₹7.5 trillion. The company's opportunity pipeline was around ₹15 trillion at the end of June, divided almost equally between domestic and international opportunities.

L&T recently received an offshore wind-power order from Europe worth ₹15,000 crore.

The company expects revenue in its core engineering business to grow 10% to 12% in FY27. It expects an EBITDA margin of 7.8%.

L&T shares rose around 2.6% on Wednesday. Nuvama's target price for the stock is ₹4,065, compared with a current market price of around ₹3,931.

L&T Electronic Products and Systems

L&T has received an order to supply traction motors to an electric two-wheeler company.

It is also in discussions with passenger and commercial vehicle manufacturers.

The company is entering electric vehicle component categories such as traction motors, drive-control units, and advanced driver-assistance systems.

Around 98% of the traction motor's components have been localised. These localised components represent approximately 70% of the motor's value.

The motors will be manufactured at L&T's facility in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

Eicher Motors

Eicher Motors reported consolidated net profit of ₹1,463 crore for the June quarter. This was above the average analyst estimate of ₹1,391 crore.

Revenue rose 31.6% to ₹6,332 crore, slightly below the expected ₹6,365 crore.

Expenses increased 31.8%, while total exports fell 20%.

Domestic two-wheeler sales grew 32% during the first quarter. The wider industry grew 20.3% over the same period.

The company approved an investment of ₹1,225 crore for the first phase of a new motorcycle factory in Andhra Pradesh.

The factory is part of a total planned investment of ₹2,200 crore and is expected to add annual production capacity of 450,000 motorcycles.

Royal Enfield prices were increased by 1.75% at the beginning of the quarter.

Syrma SGS Technology

Syrma SGS Technology recorded a 67% increase in both exports and revenue during the June quarter.

Revenue rose 66.7% year-on-year to ₹1,588.6 crore. Exports contributed ₹381.3 crore.

Net profit more than doubled to ₹105.7 crore. Operating margin increased to 6.6%.

Employee expenses rose 49% to ₹75.3 crore. The cost of materials consumed increased 93% year-on-year to ₹1,400.9 crore.

The company kept its FY27 revenue growth guidance unchanged at 30% to 35%.

The stock closed 3.6% higher at ₹1,353.

HUDCO

HUDCO is targeting a loan book of ₹2 trillion and wants to reduce non-performing assets to zero by the end of the current financial year.

Gross NPAs stood at ₹1,668.86 crore, while net NPAs were ₹82.43 crore. This implies a provision coverage ratio of 95%.

The gross NPA ratio fell to 0.96% at the end of Q1 FY27 from 1.34% a year earlier. The net NPA ratio fell to 0.048% from 0.053%.

Net profit rose 35% year-on-year to ₹851.11 crore during April to June. Revenue from operations increased 26.6% to ₹3,717.17 crore.

Loan approvals during the first quarter rose 91% year-on-year to ₹65,485 crore from ₹34,224 crore. The total loan book reached ₹1.73 trillion.

Colgate-Palmolive India

Colgate-Palmolive India's net profit rose 6.9% to ₹3.43 billion for the quarter ended 30 June. This was close to the expected ₹3.44 billion.

Quarterly sales increased 12% to ₹15.91 billion, above the average estimate of ₹15.64 billion.

The company introduced low single-digit price increases during the first quarter.

Deals

Gold lending

Tata Capital agreed to acquire an 88.56% stake in Kerala-based Yogakshemam Loans for approximately ₹411 crore in cash.

The acquisition gives Tata Capital a gold-loan business with assets under management of around ₹708 crore and 162 branches as of the end of March.

Godrej Capital agreed to acquire the gold-loan business of Kanakadurga Finance for ₹117.5 crore in cash. The agreement also includes an additional conditional payment of ₹17.5 crore. The acquired business has a loan book of around ₹280 crore.

Bank loans backed by gold more than doubled year-on-year to ₹5.14 trillion by the end of May. Gold loans issued by non-banking financial companies increased 70% to ₹3.29 trillion. Banks hold around 82% of the gold-loan market.

Pharmaceuticals, advisory and technology

ChrysCapital acquired a 70.68% stake in listed pharmaceutical trading and distribution company Novartis India. It appointed Vikas Gupta as chief executive and managing director. The transaction was valued at around ₹1,446 crore.

Grant Thornton's US business agreed to buy CBIZ in an all-cash transaction valued at $5 billion. The price of $55 per share represented a 54% premium to CBIZ's unaffected share price. The combined firm would have revenue of $7.5 billion and more than 34,000 employees globally.

TA Associates invested an undisclosed amount in UK-based Oxane Partners. The transaction could value the software company at around $200 million to $250 million.

Capital markets and funding

Capital markets pipeline

JSW One Platforms appointed Kotak Mahindra Capital, JM Financial, ICICI Securities, and SBI Capital Markets as advisers for a proposed IPO. The company plans to raise between $350 million and $400 million and is targeting a listing next year.

Manipal Health Enterprises raised ₹4,167 crore from anchor investors. Its ₹9,275 crore IPO opened for public subscription on Wednesday.

The Juniper Green Energy IPO has a price band of ₹214 to ₹225 per equity share. Bidding opens on Thursday, 30 July 2026, and closes on Monday, 3 August 2026. The IPO is a fresh issue of shares worth up to ₹18,000 million.

Funding and capital expenditure

State Bank of India raised ₹4,691 crore through Basel III-compliant Additional Tier 1 bonds. The bonds carry a coupon rate of 7.75%. SBI received 89 bids. Total demand was more than twice the base issue size of ₹3,000 crore.

NTPC plans to invest around ₹17 trillion through FY37. The company aims to increase total power capacity from around 91 gigawatts currently to 150 gigawatts by FY32 and 250 gigawatts by FY37. Renewable capacity is expected to reach 60 gigawatts by FY32 and 136 gigawatts by FY37.

Marvell Technology plans to invest $250 million in India over the next three years.

Mid-sized IT companies: consolidation

Persistent Systems will combine with German digital-engineering company Nagarro in a $1.3 billion transaction. Persistent has secured around a 21% stake through an agreement with Nagarro's founding shareholder. It has also launched a voluntary public takeover offer for all remaining shares.

Coforge acquired California-based Encora in a $2.35 billion transaction. Mphasis acquired Vancouver-based Theory and Practice.

During FY26, TCS, Infosys, Wipro, and HCLTech together generated around $80 billion of revenue. Their growth ranged from flat to mid-single digits.

Coforge, Persistent Systems, Mphasis, and Hexaware together generated around $7 billion of revenue and recorded double-digit growth. Coforge's revenue increased nearly 30% from the previous year.

Earnings and economic calendar

Global pulse

Global markets

Most major US, Chinese, Hong Kong, and UK indices closed higher. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.49%.

The Dow Jones rose 1.03%, while the Hang Seng gained 1.96%.

US Federal Reserve

The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged at between 3.50% and 3.75%.

This would be the fifth consecutive meeting without a change in rates.

However, the decision is still seen as closely balanced. Markets assign nearly a 30% probability to an interest-rate increase.

South Korean and Taiwanese markets

South Korean shares fell for a second consecutive session.

The KOSPI closed 6% lower after falling as much as 12.6% during the day. This followed a decline of nearly 11% on Tuesday as the AI-led market rally weakened.

The fall has removed as much as $2.18 trillion from the market's value.

The KOSPI is down nearly 40% from its peak just over a month earlier. It is on track for its steepest monthly decline on record.

Taiwan's market index fell 5%. SK Hynix shares fell 9%, even though the South Korean chipmaker reported a sixfold increase in earnings.

Apple

Apple briefly became the second company after Nvidia to cross a market value of $5 trillion.

Its market capitalisation reached $5.036 trillion before ending the session at $4.98 trillion.

Apple had regained its position as the world's most valuable company earlier in July.

Visa

Visa plans to reduce its workforce by around 7%.

The cuts will affect approximately 2,600 employees.

Chief executive Ryan McInerney said the layoffs were part of an effort to simplify operations and improve efficiency as competition in the payments industry increases.

West Asia conflict

Iran launched several missiles at US forces in the Middle East early Wednesday.

At the same time, the United States worked with Saudi Arabia to strike groups backed by Tehran in Iraq. At least 20 fighters were killed.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it fired ballistic missiles at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base and at the headquarters of the US military's Central Command in Jordan.

Jordan's military said it intercepted and destroyed five Iranian missiles. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi called an emergency meeting of the country's National Security Council to discuss the strikes.

Shipping and energy routes

An interim agreement relating to the Strait of Hormuz broke down after fighting resumed in recent weeks.

Around one-fifth of the world's oil supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz each year.

The Houthis declared a blockade of Saudi ships moving through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Saudi Aramco is preparing a new selling price for oil loaded at Egypt's Mediterranean port of Sidi Kerir and delivered to Asia. Risks in the Red Sea increased after Houthi attacks.

At the United Nations Security Council, India's Permanent Representative, Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish, condemned attacks on ships including GFS Galaxy, MT Al Bahiyah, and MT Mombasa in the Strait of Hormuz.

BMW

BMW is offering voluntary severance packages to thousands of employees in Germany.

Most of the approximately 8,000 positions that BMW plans to remove globally are expected to be in Germany.

The programme will begin in October and continue through 2027.

BMW shares rose as much as 1.9% in Frankfurt but remained more than one-third lower for the year.

BMW employed 87,436 people in Germany at the end of last year. This represented more than half of its worldwide workforce. The company's German workforce was already 2.3% lower than a year earlier.

Telegram

Russian authorities charged Telegram founder and chief executive Pavel Durov with aiding terrorism.

If convicted, he could face life imprisonment in Russia.

Russia's Federal Security Service accused Telegram's management of failing to remove channels, chats, and bots allegedly used to plan and coordinate sabotage and terrorism.

Russian authorities have detained 46 users of a Telegram dating chatbot during the past year. The detained users were between 12 and 22 years old.

Media and technology

Larry Ellison and his family could be required to pay $9.8 billion if Paramount Skydance's proposed purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery fails.

Paramount agreed to pay Warner Bros. shareholders a termination fee of $7 billion if the transaction collapses.

OpenAI said that an autonomous AI agent that hacked a widely used platform for computer programmers also attempted to break into four other companies.

OpenAI described the incident as unprecedented. It began when two OpenAI models hacked Hugging Face.

Management commentary

“Within operations, about 70% of retail applications are processed through AI-led workflows, delivering around 40% productivity gains, nearly 40% improvement in processing turnaround times, and over 25% reduction in operating manpower cost per file. On the servicing front, over 70% of our email responses are now AI-generated.”

Rajiv Sabharwal, Managing Director and CEO, Tata Capital, on AI and operating efficiency

“One of the significant changes we have seen over the last two years is the increasing contribution of the private sector to our domestic prospects. Earlier, the pipeline was largely driven by government spending. Today, residential and commercial real estate, industrial manufacturing, data centers, power, and energy transition projects are all contributing. This makes the opportunity pipeline much more balanced and sustainable.”

S.N. Subrahmanyan, Chairman and Managing Director, Larsen & Toubro, on private investment and capital expenditure

“We had great volume growth not only in India, but in China as well. We do own in India specifically seven out of the top ten brands today, and building the equity of those brands is our primary goal, and it's important that we continue to focus on building those capabilities to capture even more growth in the future.”

Henrique Braun, CEO, The Coca-Cola Company, on India and Asia-Pacific growth

“I think what is our top worry is the whole area of the renewed conflict, the volatility in raw material prices kind of continues. When we look at overall, I think our priority is very clear that can we maintain the growth momentum which we have seen today in the last few quarters, which we have been able to kind of really look at. The competitive intensity seems to be all-time high.”

Amit Syngle, CEO, Asian Paints, on competition and raw-material risks

“The step back from clients is to say, wait a minute, I'm spending a lot of money on tokens, I'm spending a lot of money on that entire AI stack. Am I getting the value? And if I am not, let me revisit how to optimize it and get value out of it.”

Ravi Kumar, CEO, Cognizant, on client spending on AI

Feature: China's AI push to close the gap with the US

US and China: current position

BCG compared the United States and China across six important parts of AI supply: capital, talent, intellectual property, data, energy, and computing capacity.

The United States remained ahead, mainly because of its strength in skilled talent and capital investment.

China continued to reduce the gap in computing power. It also used its strength in intellectual property to follow developments at the frontier quickly.

BCG described China as a consistent “fast follower” in advanced AI models. China's strategy also places strong emphasis on applying AI throughout the wider economy.

In late 2024, BCG argued that China had effectively reached the same level as the United States in AI model performance.

Since DeepSeek released R1 in January 2025, the strongest Chinese models have continued to keep pace with leading US models.

Spending, computing power and model costs

The United States has a much larger investment and computing advantage.

However, Chinese models remain close on quality benchmarks and are available at much lower prices.

China has remained close to the United States in model-quality tests while offering models at a fraction of the price.

Most leading Chinese models use open weights. This allows developers to inspect and build on the models more easily. New model designs have also improved efficiency.

China leads the world in the number of AI patents.

Its AI ecosystem includes large technology companies and startups such as Alibaba, ByteDance, Moonshot, Z.AI, MiniMax, and Xiaomi.

Because many Chinese models use open weights, laboratories can build directly on one another's model weights and designs.

By late 2025, Chinese open-source models had passed US models in total downloads.

Chips: domestic substitution

The Chinese government has told new data-centre projects receiving state funding to use only AI chips made in China.

Projects that are less than 30% complete have been ordered to remove foreign chips already installed or cancel plans to buy them.

Projects at a more advanced stage will be considered individually.

Chinese AI data-centre projects have received more than $100 billion of state funding since 2021, based on a review of government tenders.

Nvidia said its share of China's AI-chip market had fallen to zero. Its share was 95% in 2022.

The United States has allowed some additional exports of high-end chips to China. However, major Chinese technology companies, including ByteDance, have not been allowed to deploy them. ByteDance had been Nvidia's largest customer in China.

China's policy forces state-funded data centres to use domestic chips. The aim is to increase the use of Huawei's Ascend chips and speed up progress in domestic chip design and manufacturing.

An early example came in April 2026, when DeepSeek released V4. The model was designed to run inference on Huawei's Ascend chips, although it was still trained at least partly on chips designed by Nvidia.

Chinese AI company Z.ai, previously known as Zhipu, completed a one-gigawatt data centre containing only domestically manufactured chips. Part of the facility has started operating. It is one of the largest data centres built by any Chinese AI-model developer.

Policy: AI+ and the five-year plan

China's focus on lower-cost AI is part of a wider strategy to spread the technology across the economy.

The government introduced its “AI+” initiative in 2024.

The programme aims to integrate AI into manufacturing, services, public administration, and daily life.

China's policy targets include more than 70% adoption of AI-enabled “intelligent terminals” and agents by 2027, and more than 90% adoption by 2030.

China installed 54% of the world's industrial robots in 2024.

Its latest five-year plan identifies embodied intelligence as an important industry. Embodied intelligence refers to AI systems that act in the physical world through machines such as robots.

China's robot density is currently around half the US level. At the present growth rate, it is expected to pass the United States by 2030.

China was projected to process more than half of the world's AI tokens in the second quarter of 2026, even though it accounts for around 17% of the global population.

More than 85% of people in China believe products and services using AI have more benefits than disadvantages. The comparable share in the United States is below 45%.

China has pledged to use “extraordinary measures” to become a global leader in AI, quantum technology, and other advanced technological fields.

These plans form part of China's 15th five-year plan, which was approved by the country's legislature and covers 2026 to 2030.

“Five years ago, the sentiment of the Chinese science policymakers was still very much like, we don't want to be too far behind the US, we are still doing the catching up. Now, there is this more palpable sentiment that there's a real chance we can be a true leader.”

Meicen Sun, information scientist, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

India's position

India is the second-largest market for both OpenAI and Anthropic.

It has more than 100 million weekly ChatGPT users.

India is building AI capabilities by working with several different global groups: the United States on infrastructure, the European Union on governance, the United Arab Emirates on computing capacity, and China to a smaller degree through multilateral groups such as BRICS.

This approach gives India access to competing AI systems instead of aligning fully with one.

However, maintaining connections across different systems could become more difficult and expensive as each AI ecosystem becomes more self-contained.

Lower-cost Chinese models running on cheaper Chinese chips could become attractive to countries that want to use AI at an affordable cost.

Even countries with close links to the United States may find it difficult to ignore the lower cost of the Chinese system, particularly as companies become more concerned about AI spending.

China is now the largest trading partner of 78 countries in the Global South. This represents an increase of around 50% since 2015.

Different chip systems also create technical barriers.

Software built using Nvidia's CUDA system cannot move directly to Huawei's Ascend chips. Most production AI code would need to be rewritten to operate through Huawei's CANN software.

Multinational companies operating in China may therefore need separate AI systems for China and the rest of the world.

Apple, for example, is working with Alibaba to provide Apple Intelligence in China. In other countries, it is working with OpenAI.

Chinese models and global competition

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the United States should not block Chinese AI models simply to gain an advantage in the AI race.

He told the Financial Times that banning advanced Chinese AI would not be “an effective solution”.

He said US companies should systematically identify the obstacles and bottlenecks preventing them from competing more effectively with Chinese AI businesses.

The stock market listing of Chinese memory-chip company ChangXin may also have attracted some chip investors away from South Korea's SK Hynix.

SK Hynix shares fell 9% on Wednesday despite a sixfold rise in earnings.

The share-price movements suggest that some of the excitement around AI-related investment has started to cool.