DayStarter

Market snapshot

Holiday note: Indian markets are closed on Friday, 2 October for Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti.

Equities: Wednesday close

Indian equities ended lower again on Wednesday. The Nifty 50 opened 51 points lower at 22,665, rose as high as 22,809 and fell to 22,595 before closing at 22,620.45, down 0.42%. The index briefly tested 22,800 around 12:45 PM, reversed after 1:30 PM and reached its intraday low around 2:40 PM. It closed about 45 points below its opening level.

The Sensex closed at 72,480.31, down 48.76 points. The Nifty has now fallen for seven straight weeks, losing 5.82% over that period. The four earlier seven-week losing streaks produced declines of 18%, 20%, 22% and 33%.

The Sensex fell nearly 4.9% during the September quarter, its sharpest second-quarter decline in more than a decade, after gaining 6.3% in the June quarter. Over the same quarter, the Nifty 100 fell 4.3%, the Nifty Midcap 150 fell 3.8%, while the Nifty Smallcap 250 rose 0.6%.

Broad market

Over the last 20 sessions every broad index in the table was lower, led by the Nifty 50 and Nifty Midcap 150.

Sector performance

Nine of the 15 sector indices rose. Media gained 2.74% and led the market, while Healthcare fell 2.57% and was the weakest sector. Media, Pharma and Healthcare remained ahead of the Nifty 500 over both 20 and 60 sessions.

Winners and losers

IRCON International rose 14.27% on 48 times its usual volume, while RITES rose 8.70% on 156 times its usual volume. Healthcare stocks occupied four of the five worst F&O positions. Fortis Healthcare fell 6.3%, Apollo Hospitals fell 5.7% on 6.9 times usual volume, and Max Healthcare fell 5.3% on 7.3 times usual volume. Adani Green recorded the sharpest delivery spike.

Commodities and currency

Commodity moves were limited at the 17:45 IST MCX snapshot. Gold rose 1.0% to ₹ 1,50,287, while silver was flat at ₹ 2,25,457. Crude oil moved back above $90 per barrel and was on track for a monthly gain of more than 5%, as uncertainty around US-Iran negotiations kept prices firm.

The rupee was unchanged at ₹ 95.95 per US dollar. The euro was at ₹ 108.85 and the pound at ₹ 127.26. The rupee has been weakening since early September and crossed the 96-per-dollar level in early trade on both Tuesday and Wednesday.

India’s benchmark 10-year government bond yield rose from 6.72% at the end of June to 7.17% at the end of September. The US 10-year Treasury yield was at 5.21% on 30 September, its highest level in 20 years.

Institutional flows

Foreign investors sold a net ₹ 10,743 crore of Indian equities on 30 September, while domestic institutions bought a net ₹ 11,272 crore. Foreign investors have now been net sellers for four consecutive sessions. FIIs held only 8.6% of their index-futures positions long.

Overseas investors withdrew a net ₹ 25,662 crore in September, although the July-September quarter still recorded a positive foreign inflow of ₹ 24,170 crore. Domestic institutions bought ₹ 1.5 trillion of equities during the same quarter. FIIs were net sellers in six of the first nine months of 2026.

The macro view

Public finances

• India’s fiscal deficit reached ₹ 7.10 trillion in April-August FY27, equal to 41.9% of the full-year budget estimate. This compares with 38.1% a year earlier and 26.8% at the end of July.
• The Centre has budgeted a fiscal deficit of ₹ 16.96 trillion, or 4.3% of GDP, for FY27.
• Total expenditure reached ₹ 20.78 trillion, or 38.9% of the budget estimate. Total receipts were ₹ 13.68 trillion, or 37.5%. Net tax revenue reached 29.2% of the ₹ 28.67 trillion target, while non-tax revenue reached 68.2% of the ₹ 6.66 trillion target.
• The government reduced planned FY27 market borrowing by nearly ₹ 1.2 trillion. It now expects to borrow ₹ 15.995 trillion through dated securities, compared with ₹ 17.2 trillion in the Union Budget. ₹ 7.86 trillion is planned for the second half of the year.
• Interest rates on small-savings schemes were kept unchanged for the October-December quarter.

Cabinet decisions

The Union cabinet raised minimum support prices for all mandated rabi crops for the 2027-28 marketing season. The government said the decision would result in a payout of ₹ 90,962 crore to farmers.

• Sudhir Panwar, former member of the Uttar Pradesh planning commission, said the increases of 0.96% to 10.32% were lower than the rise in input costs for several major crops.
• The cabinet also approved the ₹ 1.86 lakh crore Green Energy Corridor Phase-III to integrate and evacuate 135 GW of renewable energy. The plan includes ₹ 50,000 crore for 50 GWh of battery storage and is targeted for completion by FY33.
• It also approved a ₹ 1,790 crore project to overhaul Delhi’s traffic-management system across 42 corridors over 24 months.

Growth, prices and the monsoon

• In August, eight of the 16 high-frequency indicators in Mint’s Macro Tracker were better than their one-year average, seven were worse and one was in line. In July, five were better and eight were worse.
• Foreign investors invested ₹ 29,631 crore in Indian equities in August, the highest monthly inflow since September 2024. The rupee strengthened 0.4% and the trade deficit narrowed as exports increased.
• Brent crude moved above $100 per barrel on 9 September, while the Indian crude basket is averaging $116 per barrel. Real wage growth turned negative in July.
• The southwest monsoon ended at 87% of the long-period average, a 13% deficit. Around 313 of 741 districts received deficient or large-deficient rainfall, and 15 states and union territories recorded below-normal rainfall.
• Cumulative rainfall was 759.4 mm, making this the fourth-lowest monsoon since 2001. Rainfall was 35.4% below normal in June, 1% above normal in July, 16.3% below normal in August and 7.6% below normal in September.
• The PM Fasal Bima Yojana covered 27.3 million farmers and 29.7 million hectares during the 2026 kharif season, with 10.6 crore applications and a total sum insured of ₹ 1.86 trillion.
• India’s registered manufacturing sector added more than 1.4 million workers in FY25, taking employment above 20 million. Fixed capital rose 10.54%.
• The RBI’s net forward dollar liabilities rose to a record $200 billion in August.

Policy and regulation

• The government notified the CAFE-3 fuel-efficiency rules, which apply from 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2032. The final framework does not include a separate concession for small cars.
• The final rules ease the overall CAFE-3 targets by around 7% to 10%, with more relief for lighter cars. Supercredits for strong hybrids were reduced to 1.6 from 2, flex-fuel vehicles to 1.1 from 1.5, while electric vehicles remain at 3. Carmakers will also be allowed to buy credits from the regulator.
• Sales of mini cars such as the Alto and S-Presso nearly doubled to 65,190 units in April-August from 33,197 a year earlier.
• Some banks are offering large companies a way to raise dollar funding by issuing rupee bonds and swapping them into dollar liabilities. With a forward premium of around 3% to 3.5%, bankers estimate an all-in cost of 4.75% to 5%, compared with around 6% to 6.2% for a five-year offshore AAA borrowing.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump discussed trade, defence, energy and critical technologies in a phone call on Wednesday as India seeks an interim trade agreement with the US.
• The Department of Financial Services will meet the SBI chairman and the heads of all public-sector banks on 6 October to review financial inclusion schemes.

Mint, 1 October 2026; Zerodha AfterMarket Report

Corporate action and earnings

Domestic developments

• Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata filed 21 caveats and his son Neville Tata filed 15 with the Maharashtra charity commissioner, asking to be heard before the regulator acts on complaints made by vice-chairman Venu Srinivasan. Tata Trusts holds 65.9% voting power in Tata Sons, which has until 18 November to hold its AGM.
• Hanno One Warehousing, owned by Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran’s wife and son, is developing a ₹ 330 crore industrial park in Karnataka for TVS Motor. It is the company’s second project involving TVS Motor, with the two projects together worth ₹ 436 crore.
• JSW Cement will merge listed subsidiary Shiva Cement into itself. Shiva Cement shareholders will receive five JSW Cement shares for every 41 shares held.
• JSW Group sourced components for its first electric bus from CHTC Kinwin, the electric commercial-vehicle arm of China’s CHTC, between August 2025 and January 2026. JSW Greentech’s plant begins with annual capacity of 10,000 units.
• Tube Investments will invest ₹ 250 crore in electric-mobility subsidiary TI Clean Mobility through Series C preference shares.
• Blackstone-backed ASK Investment Managers will acquire PMS and AIF manager SageOne. An industry executive valued the deal at around ₹ 2,000 crore. The combined platform will manage more than ₹ 85,000 crore.
• A General Atlantic-Renova Hospitals consortium is close to acquiring American Oncology Institute from Siemens Healthineers at a valuation of ₹ 1,200 crore to ₹ 1,500 crore. AOI’s operating entity reported FY25 revenue of ₹ 434.73 crore.
• Apple launched Apple Pay in India, initially for Axis Bank credit cards on Visa and Mastercard. PayU partnered with Apple for merchant acceptance.
• LG Electronics India will raise air-conditioner prices by 5% to 7% from 1 October. Global copper prices are up 35% so far in 2026 and aluminium prices are up 20%.
• Air France-KLM will not split long-haul passenger operations between Mumbai’s two airports. It plans 54 weekly India flights from November, up from 42.
• Swiss Re is entering India’s direct commercial-insurance market for the first time through a partnership with Bajaj General Insurance signed in August.
• IndiGo appointed former Tata Payments CEO Gaurav Hazrati as business head for loyalty, marketplaces and financial services.
• Goldiam International targets ₹ 600 crore to ₹ 800 crore of revenue from its lab-grown diamond retail brand Origem over five years. Its network of 26 stores reached store-level break-even in August.
• FSSAI carried out 62,014 restaurant inspections in FY26, more than 70% higher than three years earlier, as law firms report that food-company compliance issues are increasingly reaching boards.
• Actis plans to invest around $2 billion in a new renewable-energy platform in India, its fourth clean-energy platform in the country.

Mark to market

• PSU banks: India’s 10-year government bond yield rose from 6.72% at the end of June to 7.17% at the end of September. Treasury gains made up nearly 20% of SBI’s net profit in FY26 and Q1FY27, compared with 2% of HDFC Bank’s standalone profit in Q1FY27.
• ICICI Securities’ FY27 estimates imply a price-to-earnings ratio of 7 for SBI and 11 for HDFC Bank.
• GE Shipping: Average Suezmax rates more than tripled to $143,000 per day in Q1FY27. The company held ₹ 8,000 crore of cash at the end of Q1FY27, equal to 40% of its balance sheet, and its shares have gained 40% this year.
• Options: The number of individuals trading up to ₹ 10,000 each in equity options rose to 440,000 in August from 420,000 in July. The total number of equity-options traders fell to 3.3 million from 3.44 million after the closing auction session began on 3 August.

Primary market and fundraising

• Wadhwa Group Holdings, the holding company of the real-estate developer, filed pre-filed draft IPO papers with Sebi through the confidential route.
• Peak XV Partners and an affiliate sold a 4.06% stake in Honasa Consumer for ₹ 597 crore through bulk deals. Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund bought 1.02% for ₹ 150 crore and ICICI Prudential Life bought 0.54% for ₹ 80 crore.
• Reliance Industries completed a ₹ 13,000 crore, 10-year bond issue at a 7.90% coupon. SBI bought nearly ₹ 5,000 crore. The issue followed RIL’s ₹ 12,000 crore five-year bond sale at 7.47% two weeks earlier.
• Vedanta raised ₹ 2,000 crore through a private placement of non-convertible debentures.

Mint, 1 October 2026; Zerodha AfterMarket Report

Upcoming events

Global pulse

Global indices

Four of the eight overseas markets in the report rose in their latest session. Japan’s Nikkei 225 led with a 3.1% gain.

Global macro

• The US economy grew at an annualised 2.2% in Q2 2026, revised up by 0.7 percentage point, after 2.5% in Q1. Data-centre construction made a significant contribution to non-residential investment.
• US PCE prices rose 0.3% month on month in August, up from a revised 0.1% in July but below expectations of 0.4%. Gasoline and other energy goods rose 4.4%.
• The US Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 basis points earlier in September, its first increase since 2023.
• Germany’s inflation rose to 3.3% in September, the highest since December 2023. Energy inflation was 14.9%.
• China’s official manufacturing PMI rose to 50.1 in September from 49.8 in August, returning to expansion after two months of contraction.
• The UN food commodity index climbed to an almost four-year high in August. A Zero Carbon Analytics study linked all but one of the 2026 food-price spikes it examined to extreme weather.
• A proposed EU rule could restrict metal-scrap shipments to India from 21 May 2027. India imports around 13 million tonnes of metal scrap a year, and Europe provides around 22% to 23% of India’s non-ferrous scrap imports.

Geopolitics and energy

• Iran said it received a US response to its latest proposal to revive the collapsed Gulf ceasefire. Under Iran’s proposal, the US would lift its blockade of Iranian ports and Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days.
• US and Iraqi officials announced the withdrawal of the last American troops from Iraq on Wednesday.
• Abu Dhabi’s L’imad Holding plans to take Abu Dhabi Ports private at a valuation of almost $9 billion. It also has an agreement with BlackRock, Temasek and ADNOC to target up to $30 billion of infrastructure investments.

Global business and technology

• Accenture shares are down 57% from their record high at the end of 2021, reducing the company’s market value by about $150 billion. The stock is down 34% this year, and analysts expect a 6% decline in new bookings for the quarter through August.
• OpenAI unveiled an always-on AI agent called Dots and a new $500 paid tier. It is seeking at least $30 billion of fresh funding at a valuation of around $1.4 trillion.
• President Donald Trump endorsed independent audits of AI systems through a non-binding agreement signed with nearly two dozen technology executives.
• DeepSeek partnered with Huawei to develop and open-source programming tools optimised for Huawei’s Ascend AI chips.
• Tesla secured $30 billion in credit facilities, including a $20 billion delayed-draw term loan, as it increases spending on AI computing, solar-cell manufacturing and a chip-fabrication project with SpaceX.
• The Pentagon awarded Boeing a $20 billion contract to develop next-generation fighter jets for the US Navy.

Zerodha AfterMarket Report; Mint

Management chatter

Feature: Why companies go public

India’s secondary market weakened during the September quarter, but the IPO market remained active. Companies go public for different reasons: to raise fresh capital, give early investors an exit, let a parent company monetise part of a subsidiary, comply with a regulator’s listing rule, create employee liquidity or establish a publicly traded share that can be used for future fundraising and acquisitions.

In the first half of FY27, from April to September, 78 companies listed on the mainboard, up from 65 a year earlier. Together they raised ₹ 94,184 crore, compared with ₹ 69,533 crore in H1 FY26, a 35% increase. The average issue size rose 12% to more than ₹ 1,200 crore.

IPO proceeds in July-September reached almost $10 billion, the highest ever for that quarter, helped by large offerings from the National Stock Exchange and SBI Funds Management. September alone saw 30 mainboard IPOs raise ₹ 38,785 crore, with many issuers listing before their regulatory approvals expired. EY counted 367 Indian IPOs raising $22.9 billion in 2025, making India the global leader by IPO count for a second consecutive year.

Two routes: Fresh issue and offer for sale

An IPO can contain two different types of shares. In a fresh issue, the company creates new shares and receives the money raised. In an offer for sale, or OFS, existing shareholders sell part of their holdings and receive the proceeds. The company receives no money from the OFS portion.

OFS transactions have represented the majority of IPO proceeds in recent years. In 2026 so far, OFS accounts for ₹ 66,630 crore of the roughly ₹ 1.12 lakh crore raised on the mainboard, around 59%.

Ten large listings and their main purpose

Motive 1: Raising growth capital

One reason to list is to raise money for the business. Fresh equity can fund capital expenditure, expansion or debt repayment. Unlike debt, equity carries no interest cost and spreads business risk across a larger group of investors.

NTPC Green Energy’s ₹ 10,000 crore IPO in November 2024 was entirely a fresh issue. ₹ 7,500 crore was earmarked for subsidiary NTPC Renewable Energy to repay or prepay borrowings. Swiggy’s ₹ 4,499 crore fresh issue the same month allocated ₹ 755.4 crore to dark stores, ₹ 423.3 crore to dark-store lease payments, ₹ 703.4 crore to technology and cloud, and ₹ 1,115.3 crore to brand marketing. Meesho, which listed in December 2025, raised ₹ 4,250 crore of its ₹ 5,421 crore issue as fresh capital for cloud, marketing and acquisitions.

The largest pending example is Jio Platforms. Sebi approved its roughly ₹ 37,700 crore issue on 28 August 2026. The issue is structured entirely as fresh shares, with up to ₹ 27,500 crore planned for repayment of borrowings. The listing dates have not been announced.

A Bank of Baroda study of 189 offer documents found that 28.8% of planned fresh-issue proceeds were earmarked for debt repayment and 25.9% for capital expenditure.

Motive 2: An exit for early backers

An IPO also gives promoters, angel investors, venture-capital funds and private-equity investors a public market in which to sell part or all of their holdings.

NSE is the latest large example. Its ₹ 22,563 crore IPO, India’s second-largest, was entirely an OFS of 12.64 crore shares, so NSE itself received no proceeds. Sellers included SBI, a Morgan Stanley entity, CPPIB, Temasek’s Aranda and public-sector insurers. NSE first filed draft papers in 2016. The listing was delayed for years by the co-location case and cleared by Sebi only on 30 January 2026. The shares listed on BSE on 24 September at ₹ 1,800, a 0.84% premium to the ₹ 1,785 issue price.

Groww used the same structure on a smaller scale. Of its ₹ 6,632 crore IPO in November 2025, ₹ 1,060 crore was fresh capital and the rest went to selling investors including Peak XV, Tiger Global and Y Combinator.

Motive 3: A parent monetising its Indian subsidiary

Some multinational companies list their Indian subsidiaries through a pure OFS. Hyundai Motor Company sold up to 17.5% of Hyundai Motor India in October 2024 for ₹ 27,870 crore, still India’s largest IPO. Its filing said the listing would ‘enhance our visibility and brand image and provide liquidity and a public market for the equity shares in India.’ The stock listed at ₹ 1,934 on NSE, 1.32% below its ₹ 1,960 issue price.

LG Electronics followed in October 2025 with an ₹ 11,607 crore OFS of around 15% of its Indian subsidiary. All proceeds went to the South Korean parent. The issue was subscribed 54 times and listed at a 50% premium, taking the Indian arm’s market value to around ₹ 1 trillion. In December 2025, Prudential sold ₹ 10,603 crore of ICICI Prudential AMC shares, retained a stake of around 35%, and said about ₹ 13,000 crore of net proceeds from the IPO and a pre-IPO placement would be returned to Prudential plc shareholders.

More such issues are being considered. Coca-Cola may file draft papers in December for an IPO of Indian bottler Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages. The deal is expected to be made up largely of shares sold by existing investors and could value the company at around $10 billion. EQT-owned Virtusa is sounding out domestic banks about a 2027 India listing that could value it at $7 billion, or around ₹ 67,000 crore, or more. Like Cognizant, it is exploring India to capture higher local valuation multiples.

Motive 4: A regulator requires listing

Under the RBI’s scale-based regulation framework, an upper-layer non-bank lender must list within three years. Bajaj Housing Finance raised ₹ 6,560 crore in September 2024 and more than doubled on debut, listing at ₹ 150 against an issue price of ₹ 70. Tata Capital’s ₹ 15,512 crore IPO in October 2025, the largest IPO of that year, included around ₹ 6,846 crore of fresh shares to strengthen Tier-1 capital and an OFS by Tata Sons and IFC. HDB Financial Services raised ₹ 12,500 crore in July 2025, including a ₹ 10,000 crore OFS by parent HDFC Bank.

The same rule is central to the Tata Sons debate. Days before the 17 September Tata Sons board meeting, the RBI refused to allow Tata Sons to surrender its core investment company registration, which was the route to avoid a mandatory listing. The board then voted 4:1, with Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata dissenting, to give N. Chandrasekaran another five-year term and start the listing process. Noel Tata told the board that ‘Tata Trusts has not agreed to a public listing of Tata Sons and wants all permissible alternatives to be thoroughly explored and assessed.’ On 28 September, Tata Trusts proposed merging Tata Electronics Systems Solutions and Tata Consulting Engineers into Tata Sons as a way to change the classification and remain unlisted.

Shapoorji Pallonji Group owns 18.37% of Tata Sons and carries estimated group debt of up to ₹ 60,000 crore. It offered to sell back up to three percentage points of its holding for around ₹ 25,000 crore, implying a Tata Sons valuation of about ₹ 8.3 trillion. A day after the board meeting, chairman Shapoor Mistry said a listing ‘can become a bridge. A bridge between shareholders and Trusts, between private heritage and public accountability, between generations of stewardship.’

Motive 5: Turning paper wealth into cash

For employees, stock options create paper wealth that often becomes liquid only during a funding event or IPO. Swiggy’s listing made around 500 employees crorepatis and unlocked about ₹ 9,000 crore of ESOP value.

Flipkart shows the other side. Its IPO timeline remains uncertain, so the company is considering another ESOP programme around early next year. Eligible employees could sell 20% to 25% of vested holdings, with existing investors providing the liquidity. Flipkart’s ESOP terms prevent employees from selling independently in the secondary market. A two-part programme worth around $50 million ran between July 2025 and July 2026. Walmart told employees: ‘An IPO remains an active part of our strategic roadmap, and we will move forward when the timing is right.’

Motive 6: A currency for future transactions

A public listing creates a priced and tradable share that can be used again. The BSE lists the ability to raise further capital, ready marketability and the collateral value of securities among the benefits of listing.

Zomato used its listed shares to acquire Blinkit in 2022 in an all-stock deal worth ₹ 4,447.48 crore, around 11 months after its IPO. Swiggy returned to the market 13 months after listing and raised ₹ 10,000 crore through a QIP at ₹ 375 a share in December 2025. Indian companies raised a record ₹ 1,21,321 crore through QIPs in 2024 up to November, according to PRIME Database.

The cost of being listed

Listing also creates ongoing obligations. Under Sebi’s listing regulations, a company must publish quarterly results within 45 days of quarter-end, disclose material events within 24 hours and keep at least one-third of its board independent. It must also reach 25% public shareholding. Under rules amended in March 2026, issuers with a post-issue market value above ₹ 1 lakh crore get five years to reach 15% public ownership and 10 years to reach 25%.

In the SME segment, Primeinfobase founder Pranav Haldea said weaker post-listing performance has made investors more risk-averse, while higher compliance costs have made smaller issuers more selective. SME listings fell to 137 in H1 FY27 from 156 a year earlier, while funds raised fell 11% to ₹ 6,012 crore.

Some businesses choose to remain private. Godrej Enterprises Group, which operates 14 businesses ranging from padlocks to turbine-engine parts, has no plans to list. Executive director Nyrika Holkar said listing is a financial decision and the group can fund investments through internal accruals, although individual businesses could list if they need significant capital.

Others are moving towards the market. Cremica Foods bought back the 35% stake held by Kroll and is shifting from a planned ₹ 500 crore private fundraise towards a listing next fiscal that could value it at ₹ 1,500 crore to ₹ 2,000 crore. At the other end of the scale, OpenAI delayed its IPO plans and is seeking at least $30 billion from private investors at a valuation of around $1.4 trillion.

Who is buying new issues

Demand for IPOs has increasingly come from domestic investors. Domestic institutional ownership of the Nifty 500 rose to 21% in June 2026 from 19.6% a year earlier, while foreign ownership fell to 17% from nearly 19%, according to Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Monthly SIP contributions reached a record ₹ 32,297 crore in August, according to AMFI.

Devang Bhatt, head of research at Spark Capital Private Wealth Management, said investors have become more cautious and selective, and that the strong first half does not necessarily mean IPO momentum will continue into the next fiscal year.

The day at a glance

Closing note

Market data: Zerodha AfterMarket Report, 30 September 2026 close; Mint, Mumbai edition, 1 October 2026. Indian markets are closed on Friday, 2 October for Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti. This is a news aggregation brief. Not investment advice.