DayStarter

Market snapshot

Equities and sectors

Indian equities rose for a second session. The Nifty 50 opened 47 points higher at 22,603 and closed at 22,776.10, up 0.98% from the previous close of 22,555.75. The index finished around 170 points above its opening level. Positive global markets, record highs in the US, range-bound oil prices and some easing in negative positioning ahead of the RBI policy decision helped sentiment.

The Nifty moved above 22,650 and briefly tested 22,700 around noon. Buying strengthened after 12:30 PM and pushed the index towards 22,730. It slipped below 22,700 around 2:20 PM, then stayed in the 22,700 to 22,725 range for most of the final hour. A sharp rise in the closing minutes took it to the day’s high. The day’s low was 22,561.60.

The Sensex closed at 73,067.81, up 0.95%, after trading between 72,384.83 and 73,067.81. Broader markets also rose. The Nifty 100 gained 1.00% to 23,881.70, the BSE 150 MidCap rose 1.23% to 16,256.35, and the BSE 250 SmallCap gained 1.38% to 7,026.97.

Broad market

Every broad index in the table rose on the day, but each remained lower over the last 20 sessions except the Nifty Microcap 250.

Sector performance

Twelve of the 15 sector indices rose. Chemicals led with a 1.98% gain, while IT fell 0.59%. Pharma, Media and Healthcare remain the relative leaders over both 20 and 60 sessions.

Winners and losers

Trent rose 12.64% on 9.5 times its usual volume, while Honasa Consumer gained 8.19% on 16 times usual volume. Voltas saw a sharp increase in delivery activity, and GMR Airports recorded the largest jump in implied volatility. Nykaa has gained 4% since its 4 October business update, taking its 2026 return to 28%. APL Apollo Tubes fell as much as 6% intraday after its Q2 update before recovering part of the fall.

Commodities and currency

At 19:04 IST, MCX crude oil was down 2.2% at ₹ 8,479 and had fallen 4.8% over five sessions. Gold rose 0.4% to ₹ 1,49,950, natural gas rose 1.9% to ₹ 300.80, and silver gained 0.3% to ₹ 2,26,819.

Brent crude fell below $100 a barrel as Middle East oil exports continued to recover. JPMorgan estimates crude shipments have returned to 98% of pre-war levels. The rupee weakened to a more than two-month low of ₹ 96.42 per dollar as foreign equity outflows continued ahead of the RBI policy decision. Dollar sales by state-run banks helped limit the decline.

Institutional flows

FIIs net sold ₹ 4,281 crore on 6 October, while DIIs net bought ₹ 5,089 crore. Foreign investors have now been net sellers for seven straight sessions. Implied volatility fell from 14.5% to 12.2%, while the put-call ratio rose from 0.94 to 1.24. FIIs still held only 8.5% of their index-futures positions long, although they were net buyers of 8,666 contracts during the session.

Foreign portfolio investors have also reduced some of their short positioning. Their incremental net shorts in active Bank Nifty futures fell from ₹ 1,980 crore on 25 September to ₹ 1,074 crore on 5 October. Their cumulative net short position in index futures fell from ₹ 62,706 crore to ₹ 54,444 crore.

From January to September 2026, FPIs sold ₹ 3.16 trillion of shares through exchanges and invested ₹ 55,524 crore through the primary market, leaving net equity outflows of ₹ 2.6 trillion. In September alone, they sold ₹ 45,537 crore through exchanges and invested ₹ 9,676 crore in the primary market.

The Nifty 50 traded at 20.5 times trailing 12-month earnings on 30 September, down from 25 times at its September 2024 peak. In dollar terms, the index fell 18.4% from January to September. Over the same period, South Korea’s Kospi gained 72.4% and Taiwan’s Taiex gained 64.5%. SIP contributions reached a record ₹ 32,297 crore in August, while 5.38 million SIPs were discontinued or reached the end of their tenure, the highest since January 2026.

The macro view

Monetary policy

The RBI’s rate-setting committee concludes its meeting on Wednesday. Nine of the 10 economists polled by Mint expect a rate increase. A 25-basis-point hike in the repo rate to 5.50% is widely expected. It would be the first hike in more than three and a half years. The RBI is also expected to keep its policy stance neutral.

CPI inflation rose to 4.82% in August from 4.45% in July, its highest level since December 2024. The RBI had estimated FY27 inflation at 5%, while some experts now expect 5.2%. The US Federal Reserve raised its policy range by 25 basis points to 3.75% to 4% on 16 September. Goldman Sachs expects the RBI to raise rates by 25 basis points in October, another 25 basis points in December, and a further 50 basis points in the first six months of 2027.

India’s economy grew 7.8% in the first quarter of FY27, above the RBI’s 7% estimate. Some experts therefore expect the RBI to raise its full-year FY27 growth forecast from 6.7%.

Growth and activity

The HSBC India Services PMI rose to a three-month high of 55.2 in September from 54.1 in August. A PMI above 50 indicates expansion. Even so, quarterly services growth was the weakest in more than four years. New export business grew at its slowest pace in nearly three years, while input price inflation eased to its weakest level since November 2025.

The World Bank raised India’s FY27 GDP growth forecast by 50 basis points to 7.1%, citing resilient domestic demand. It also warned that growth could slow in the second half, with oil prices, El Niño and volatile capital flows among the main risks.

Festive-season hiring rose 7% year-on-year to 1.27 lakh jobs in 2026, led by quick commerce, e-commerce and logistics. Overall white-collar hiring, however, fell 11% in September. Ficci’s manufacturing survey of around 225 firms found that sentiment improved in July to September and capacity utilisation increased. MoSPI plans to expand the Index of Services Production so that it covers about 80% of services GVA, compared with around 60% today.

Cabinet decisions

• The Cabinet approved a ₹ 10,000 crore commitment to the SME Growth Fund. The fund is intended to address the shortage of long-term equity capital for growth-stage SMEs. MSMEs account for around 35.4% of manufacturing, 48.6% of exports and 31.1% of GDP, according to the Economic Survey 2025-26.
• The Cabinet also approved the Integrated Transport and Logistics Authority as a special purpose vehicle. It will prepare a National Transport Master Plan with at least a 10-year horizon and technically evaluate central infrastructure projects costing ₹ 500 crore or more.
• The Centre notified 375 permissible works under the new VB-G RAM G rural employment framework, 41% more than under the previous scheme. Of these, 128 are related to water security.
• The defence ministry signed a ₹ 661 crore contract for BrahMos fire-control systems and launchers for Navy ships.

Tax and regulation

• The 57th GST Council meeting on Thursday will consider allowing GST rate changes only once in a fiscal year, with changes taking effect from 1 April. It may also cut GST registration time for most businesses to three working days from more than three weeks. The changes would be rolled out in phases through 2027.
• The Council may also allow GST data to be shared with the statistics ministry and add seven rare genetic diseases to the list whose imported drugs are exempt from IGST. The current IGST on these drugs can be as high as 18%.
• SEBI’s Investor Protection and Education Fund grew almost four-fold to ₹ 969.8 crore in FY26 from FY23 levels. Expenditure rose only 2.2% over the period to ₹ 4.7 crore, or 0.4% of the corpus. SEBI’s 2025 survey found that 62% of investors make some or most investment decisions based on finfluencer recommendations.
• The Insurance Brokers Association of India will meet Irdai on Friday to ask for more time, until December instead of 25 October, to respond to proposed changes in distribution rules. Only 3.7% of Indians are insured, compared with a 7.3% global average.
• Financial services secretary Sanjay Lohiya asked banks to process loans fully online, expand credit for micro-enterprises, and participate in a financial inclusion saturation campaign from 21 October to 31 December.

Energy and infrastructure

India’s solar capacity increased from less than 3GW in 2014 to 168GW by August 2026. The country installed 44.6GW in FY26, almost double the previous year. However, capacity growth remains uneven across the supply chain. In the first half of 2026, India added 50.6GW of solar module capacity but only 9.7GW of cell capacity.

Battery storage is also scaling up. India commissioned about 2.6GWh in FY26, while 45 to 50GWh is due over the next two years, according to JMK Research. In September, the US finalised anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Indian solar cells and modules.

Jet fuel in Delhi rose 13.22% in October to ₹ 137 a litre from ₹ 121.28, taking it to around 25% above its July level. Civil aviation minister K. Ram Mohan Naidu said the ₹ 10,000 crore ATF price-stabilisation fund is being reworked after no airline applied for it.

IEX’s Day-Ahead Market clearing price rose 105% year-on-year to ₹ 7.3 a unit in September. Real-Time Market prices rose 108% to ₹ 6.9 a unit, while total volumes increased 10.4% to 12,220 million units.

NTPC plans to buy around 10 million tonnes of coal from commercial mines in the second half of FY27 and expects its FY27 coal requirement to reach around 300 million tonnes, up 11%. The civil aviation ministry has put Mumbai airport’s plan to move 265 of 770 weekly international flights to Navi Mumbai from 25 October on hold. Adani Airport must now submit a transition plan agreed with airlines after 13 October. Ecuador is in talks to supply more crude oil, copper and critical minerals to India. Bilateral trade fell 14% to $574.16 million in FY26.

Mint, 7 October 2026; Zerodha Top Stories in India

Corporate action and earnings

Domestic headlines

Auto retail

Passenger vehicle retail sales rose 32.1% year-on-year to a record 4.27 lakh units in September. Overall automobile sales increased 31.8%, with two-wheeler sales up 33.1% and three-wheeler sales up 22.3%. Commercial vehicle retail rose 37.62% to 1,03,557 units. Total first-half FY27 retail reached 1,55,12,319 units, up 20.77%, the strongest first half of any financial year, according to Fada. Petrol accounted for 41.27% of the September passenger-vehicle fuel mix, compared with 41% for alternative fuels.

Fada president Sai Giridhar said price increases and a possible RBI rate hike will affect the outlook. Maruti Suzuki has raised prices three times this year, while Hyundai and Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles have also raised prices three times each.

Automakers are increasing captive renewable power use. Renewable electricity accounted for 37% of Mahindra & Mahindra’s FY26 consumption. Captive power accounted for 51% at Tata Motors’ commercial vehicle business and 22.8% at Maruti Suzuki, which has earmarked around ₹ 1,000 crore for green energy by FY31.

Consumer and FMCG

• FMCG companies reported strong Q2 business updates. Marico’s domestic underlying volume growth reached double digits. Godrej Consumer Products expects high-teens revenue growth, while Dabur expects double-digit revenue growth.
• AWL Agri Business reported 12% volume growth and 24% revenue growth, with food and FMCG revenue crossing ₹ 2,000 crore. Titan’s consumer business sales rose 25% year-on-year in the second quarter, driven by jewellery, watches and eyewear.
• Nykaa expects consolidated gross merchandise value to have grown 30% in Q2. Its store count reached 338 as of 30 September, and JM Financial expects Q2 EBITDA to rise 61% to ₹ 256 crore.
• APL Apollo Tubes’ Q2 sales volume rose 13% to 963 kilo tonnes, but first-half FY27 growth of around 4% remains below its 15% to 20% FY27 guidance. UAE volumes fell 55%.

Deals, courts and companies

• L&T Realty aims to double its portfolio to around 150 million sq. ft by 2031 from 70 to 71 million sq. ft in FY26. Residential projects are expected to make up around 85% of the portfolio.
• Tata Steel and the Netherlands extended talks by five months, to 1 March 2027, on a deal under which Tata Steel Nederland could receive up to €2 billion to decarbonise its IJmuiden plant. Tata Steel must spend €4 billion to €6.5 billion in total.
• The Andhra Pradesh High Court allowed work on the $15 billion Google-Adani data centre in Visakhapatnam to continue at the developer’s own risk and cost while it hears a public interest litigation over environmental approvals.
• The Delhi High Court stayed FSSAI orders restricting the term “energy drink” for Monster Energy, PepsiCo and Reliance Consumer Products. Existing labelled stock can still be sold, and the pleas will be heard on 5 November.
• RPSG Group is exploring the sale of a 15% to 20% stake in Lucknow Super Giants at a valuation of $1.5 billion to $2 billion. Goldman Sachs is the front-runner to advise, according to three people. RPSG bought the franchise for ₹ 7,090 crore in November 2021.
• ElevenLabs plans to invest “hundreds of millions of dollars” in India, co-founder Mati Staniszewski said. The Nvidia-backed company was valued at $22 billion in September and has worked with 250 enterprises in the region across 14 Indian languages.
• Adani Power signed a shareholders’ agreement with Bhutan’s Druk Green Power for the 770MW Chamkharchhu-I hydroelectric project, with construction expected to begin in the first half of 2027.
• Lupin launched Formoflo-G MDI, a fixed-dose triple-combination inhaler for COPD, in India after DCGI approval.

Startups and deeptech

• The Startup Policy Forum launched DeepVerse, a platform for policy dialogue in quantum technology, semiconductors, spacetech and defence tech. It is backed by Skyroot Aerospace, Ather Energy, Accel, Lightspeed and Speciale Invest, and members pay a fee to join.
• Indian deeptech investment rose from $348 million in 2020 to $2.55 billion in 2026 year to date. US deeptech funding rose from $46.8 billion to $365 billion over the same period, according to Tracxn.
• Defence electronics maker Sanlayan has begun raising $35 million to $40 million at a $150 million to $200 million valuation. It last raised a $22.4 million Series A in June 2025 at a $64.5 million post-money valuation.
• Cybersecurity startups say enterprise onboarding has lengthened from two to three weeks to one month or 45 days as buyers ask for more evidence of data-security practices. Brahma AI raised $150 million in media and entertainment.

Primary market and fundraising

• Jio Platforms is likely to seek a valuation of around ₹ 11 trillion, or $114 billion, in its IPO. The issue is expected to open in the week of 19 October and list before 30 October. Its 270 million new shares would be worth around $3.4 billion.
• Listing proceeds exceeded $9 billion in July to September, the highest ever for that period. This took 2026 fundraising above $13 billion. Domestic banks are taking most of the equity capital markets business, while JPMorgan fell to 12th place from first last year.
• FirstCry-backed Swara Baby Products received SEBI approval for a ₹ 1,000 crore IPO, including a ₹ 500 crore fresh issue and a ₹ 500 crore offer for sale.
• McDonald’s and KFC supplier HyFun Foods plans to raise up to ₹ 2,000 crore through an IPO by late 2028, according to CEO Haresh Karamchandani.
• ASK Alternates raised ₹ 500 crore for its second private credit fund, which has a target corpus of ₹ 1,000 crore.

Mint, 7 October 2026; Zerodha Top Stories in India

Upcoming events

Global pulse

Global indices

Seven of eight overseas markets rose in their latest session. Japan’s Nikkei 225 led with a 1.3% gain and is up 9.0% over five sessions. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq reached record highs as US Treasury yields eased and oil prices fell. Nvidia gained 1.2%, taking its market capitalisation close to $6 trillion.

Global macro

• The US trade deficit widened 13.7% to $105.6 billion in August, more than expected, as strong domestic demand led to a sharp increase in goods imports.
• Elon Musk’s net worth reached $1 trillion on Monday after gains in SpaceX and Tesla shares.
• In China, 670 lenders ceased to exist in 2025 as Beijing accelerated mergers and closures, according to Fitch.
• Two US district courts have halted President Trump’s $100,000 fee on new H-1B applications. Around 57,000 new H-1B visas were approved for Indians last year, down 28% from FY24.

Geopolitics and energy

• Saudi and Yemeni forces continued a counteroffensive to retake the port of Mokha from the Houthis, with around 100 jet fighters providing air cover, according to a coalition spokesman. The Houthis said they launched missile and drone attacks on targets in Saudi Arabia, including an Aramco refinery in Rabigh.
• Türkiye and Pakistan are reported to be joining Saudi Arabia in its defence against Houthi attacks. This is the first time the all-for-one clause of the trilateral Mecca agreement signed in August has been invoked.

Global business and tech

• Paramount Skydance completed its $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros Discovery, creating a combined entertainment company called Skydance under CEO David Ellison. Skydance will manage nearly $80 billion in debt and has pledged more than $6 billion in annual synergies within three years. Paramount sold $52 billion of loans and bonds in one week to fund the deal.
• AT&T will form a fibre joint venture with BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners and CPP Investments to accelerate the expansion of its US fibre network.
• OpenAI is in talks with UAE funds including MGX, which have discussed investing as much as $10 billion, to anchor a funding round of at least $30 billion at a valuation of around $1.4 trillion.
• Anthropic’s IPO filing shows CEO Dario Amodei earned $18 million last year. The IPO could value Anthropic at more than $2 trillion, and its co-founders pledged 80% of their personal equity to charitable causes.
• DeepSeek is close to raising at least 80 billion yuan, or $12 billion, in a round backed by Tencent and CATL ahead of an IPO in early 2027. AMD CEO Lisa Su predicted “very high” chip demand for the next few years.
• Francis Halzen won the Nobel Prize in physics for his work on cosmic neutrinos, which was instrumental to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica. The chemistry prize is announced on Wednesday.

Zerodha Global Markets and Top Stories Globally; Mint Global pages, 7 October 2026

Management chatter

Verbatim quotes from named individuals, as published by Zerodha and Mint.

Zerodha; Mint

Feature: Deeptech from the lab to the market

In February 2026, India created its first legal definition of a deep tech startup. The new framework gives these companies a longer recognition period and a higher turnover ceiling than other startups. The distinction reflects the different economics of businesses built around scientific discovery and complex engineering.

India’s legal definition

On 4 February 2026, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, or DPIIT, notified G.S.R. 108(E), replacing the 2019 startup framework. It defines a deep tech startup as one “developing solutions based on new scientific or engineering knowledge, demonstrating high research and development (R&D) expenditure, and owning or creating significant novel intellectual property with clear commercialization plans.”

A deep tech startup can keep its DPIIT recognition for 20 years from incorporation and can have turnover of up to ₹ 300 crore. Other startups receive recognition for 10 years and have a ₹ 200 crore turnover ceiling. Deep tech applicants must also provide additional evidence that they meet the criteria.

Where the term comes from

The term “deep tech” is credited to Swati Chaturvedi, co-founder and CEO of the investment platform Propel(x). She defined deep tech as “companies founded on a scientific discovery or meaningful engineering innovation”. Sources differ on the year the term was coined. BBVA dates it to 2014, while MIT’s Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program, or REAP, dates it to 2015.

A 2019 report by BCG and Hello Tomorrow described deep technologies as “novel” and offering “significant advances over technologies currently in use”. It said these technologies require “substantial R&D” to move “from the lab to the market”. The report highlighted three common business traits: large potential impact, a long time to market and high capital needs. In June 2026, Jussi Hätönen, head of the European Innovation Council division at the European Investment Bank, said deep tech is defined by the fact that “the solution is in the technology”, rather than only in the business model.

India’s first attempt to define the sector came in the draft National Deep Tech Startup Policy released by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser on 31 July 2023. It described deep tech as “early-stage technologies based on scientific or engineering advancements, which are yet to be developed for any commercial applications”. The draft set out nine policy pillars, covering areas from R&D and intellectual property to procurement and talent. A June 2024 report said the final draft was awaiting Cabinet approval.

How deeptech economics differ

MIT REAP identifies five common traits of deep tech ventures: long R&D cycles with high uncertainty, physical products that require complex regulation and industrialisation, links to universities, a mission-driven orientation, and a process of reducing risk through technical milestones.

BCG’s 2021 survey found that 83% of deep tech ventures designed and built physical products, 96% used at least two technologies, and 70% owned patents related to their offerings. The European Investment Bank describes deep tech development cycles as “long, capital-intensive and driven by the science”. These cycles can last many years, sometimes more than a decade, before the outcome becomes clear.

The fields listed across these sources include artificial intelligence, robotics, quantum computing, synthetic biology, solid-state batteries, advanced drones, sensor fusion, personalised medicine and precision agriculture. In India, IVCA data show AI and generative AI as the largest deeptech category, EV and battery technology in second place, and semiconductors and spacetech as the fastest-growing areas.

Global deeptech funding

Global deep tech investment rose from $15 billion in 2016 to $60 billion in 2020, according to BCG. Venture funding then reached $160 billion in 2021 before falling to around $105 billion in 2022. In 2023, deep tech received around 24% of all venture funding, or $79 billion. The US accounted for more than 60% of deep tech venture capital, Europe 14% and China 12%. BCG counts 427 deep tech unicorns worldwide, including 242 in the US.

The latest full-year figure available is for Europe, where deeptech companies raised a record $20.3 billion in 2025. That represented 32% of all European venture capital, according to Dealroom data.

India’s policy push

The Cabinet approved the ₹ 1 lakh crore Research Development and Innovation, or RDI, scheme on 1 July 2025. A Special Purpose Fund within the Anusandhan National Research Foundation channels money to second-level fund managers, mainly as long-term loans at low or zero interest. The scheme also allows contributions to a Deep-Tech Fund of Funds. The FY26 allocation was originally ₹ 20,000 crore, later revised to ₹ 3,000 crore. The FY27 Budget estimate is ₹ 20,000 crore again.

On 14 February 2026, the Cabinet approved the ₹ 10,000 crore Startup India Fund of Funds 2.0, which prioritises deep tech and technology-driven innovative manufacturing. Its predecessor committed its full ₹ 10,000 crore to 145 alternative investment funds, which invested more than ₹ 25,500 crore in over 1,370 startups.

Sector-specific missions run alongside these funding programmes. The National Quantum Mission, approved in April 2023 with ₹ 6,003.65 crore to 2030-31, targets intermediate-scale quantum computers with 50 to 1,000 physical qubits. Under the India Semiconductor Mission, 10 projects worth ₹ 1.60 lakh crore had been approved across six states as of December 2025. The 2026-27 Budget provides ₹ 1,000 crore for ISM 2.0.

India’s deeptech ecosystem in numbers

The Nasscom-Zinnov report counts more than 4,200 deeptech startups in India, with more than 550 founded in 2025. They raised $2.3 billion in 2025, up 37%. AI accounted for 84% of the startups and 91% of the funding. IVCA’s Bharat DeepTech Report 2026 puts cumulative deeptech funding from 2015 to mid-2026 at $11.4 billion and finds that only 15% of surveyed funds invest in the earliest research stages, technology readiness levels 1 to 3.

The India Deep Tech Alliance, led by Celesta Capital with Accel, Blume and Premji Invest, launched in September 2025 with more than $1 billion pledged. New members, including Qualcomm Ventures, added $850 million in November. Nvidia joined as a non-financial technical adviser.

In spacetech, Skyroot Aerospace’s four-stage Vikram-I placed two satellites in low Earth orbit on 18 July 2026. According to ISRO, this made Skyroot the first private company to launch to orbit from Indian soil. India’s space economy is around $8.4 billion and includes 399 space startups.

Nishith Desai Associates; Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan; BBVA; MIT REAP; BCG and Hello Tomorrow; European Investment Bank; Tracxn; Dealroom; Nasscom-Zinnov; IVCA; ISRO; PIB

At a glance

• The Nifty 50 rose 0.98% to 22,776.10 and the Sensex gained 0.95% to 73,067.81, with 12 of 15 sectors advancing.
• Trent rose 12.64% on 9.5 times its usual volume, while Honasa Consumer gained 8.19% on 16 times usual volume.
• FIIs net sold ₹ 4,281 crore on 6 October, their seventh straight session of net selling, while DIIs net bought ₹ 5,089 crore.
• Brent crude fell below $100 a barrel and the rupee weakened to a more than two-month low of ₹ 96.42 per dollar.
• A 25-basis-point hike in the repo rate to 5.50% is widely expected, the first hike in more than three and a half years.
• The HSBC India Services PMI rose to a three-month high of 55.2 in September, while the World Bank raised India’s FY27 growth forecast to 7.1%.
• Passenger vehicle retail sales rose 32.1% year-on-year to a record 4.27 lakh units in September.
• Jio Platforms is likely to seek a valuation of around ₹ 11 trillion, or $114 billion, in its IPO, expected to open in the week of 19 October.
• Seven of eight overseas markets rose, led by Japan’s Nikkei 225 at 1.3%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq reached record highs.

Closing

The RBI’s rate-setting committee concludes its meeting on Wednesday, 7 October, with a 25-basis-point repo-rate hike to 5.50% widely expected. The 57th GST Council meeting will be held on Thursday, 8 October, and TCS reports results the same day.